Inspiration is an Art Piece Away

Sometimes you need some inspiration.  Sometimes the inspiration finds you.  Most of the time you just sit there, looking at the computer screen.

I've found my inspiration for those times that I want to write but I'm having difficulty getting past the first gate - Clip art.

Yep, looking at the piece of art to my left, I have at least one post where I could draw upon it for inspiration (not counting this one here).  A picture can say a thousand words, or inspire you to write just as many.

This piece is from Outland Arts Fantasy Clip Inks: Spot Art Set 3.  Yeah, long title, but your 12 bucks gets you quality pieces like the one you see here.

Sure, if I was a publisher, I could be using the art in my latest publication, but I'm not, so I can't.  I'm a mere blogger and an occasional writer, and I can use this here art on my blog (the dice hanging out on top of the left column of this blog are from the same set - attribution is on the bottom of this page).

I'm looking forward to checking the other sets out, but the 30 pieces I have to start with should last me for a good amount of inspiration ;)

Old School Hack Now Available at RPGNow

I know it's been out for a while, but many independent games can get overlooked from the wider RPG community when they aren't available at the usual places one finds their gaming PDFs.

Old School Hack should suffer that no longer, it's now available at RPGNow, DriveThruRPG and OneBookShelf's affiliates.

I'd like to congratulate Kirin Robinson for getting their game into wider distribution, as well as keeping the price at a very attractive FREE!

From the blurb:


A table-top roleplaying system that's a hack of a hack of the original Red Box version of a certain popular hack-and-slash fantasy game.

That's a lot of hacking.

Friday Night at the Movies - Thor

Alright, so I'm a bit late to watching this one.  The thing is, I grabbed it as a twofer at Walmart earlier this week packaged with Captain America (still need to watch that one).

I was surprised how much I remembered from my comic book reading years - I was a DC kid, and Thor was never a Marvel favorite of mine.

It was a very entertaining movie.  It had enough references for me to catch that tied it to the rest of the Marvel Universe and yet kept things interesting so that my wife enjoyed it.  She was, or course, laughing at things I wasn't, but as a social worker who spent time in a hospital environment, she really enjoyed the hospital scene near the beginning - go figure.

Is it a must see?  No, but if you are waiting for The Avengers movie that is in the pipe, this has some pieces to the later puzzle.  It is still fun in it's own right, but watching Anthony Hopkins play Odin was just a wee bit much for me ;)

Mini Review - Trouble at Karam's Claim (Labyrinth Lord Adventure)

DwD Studios has putout another 1-Sheet Adventure.  Hmmm, maybe this should have been labeled a "Micro" review instead due to the size of the product ;)

Like Maidens of Moordoth (which I gave away in my last contest - if any are still owed a copy, email me at erikATtrubluniteDOTnet), Trouble at Karam's Claim is made to be printed one 2 sides of one sheet of paper, thus it being called a 1-Sheet Adventure.  It also costs a mere 50 cents (although if you aren't using store credit, they will add a 35 cent surcharge to all orders under a buck - so buy them both for a buck and save ;)

It's a low level LL adventure with 2 maps.  Heck, the product preview at it's RPGNow page shows you exactly what to expect.  Damn good deal at half a buck.

From the blurb:


When the miners at Karam's Claim depleted the hills, they set their sights on deeper wares.  They dug too deep, and uncovered an unusual orc clan lead by an exiled ogre lord.  The characters are in the right place at the right time, and must rescue the miners from the clutches of evil.

Trouble at Karam's Claim is a 1-sheet adventure designed for a party of four to six low-level Labyrinth Lord^TM characters, though it can be easily adapted to any old-school fantasy role-playing game. This adventure is combat-heavy. If the players lack sufficient front-line fighters, consider having miners they rescue take up swords from fallen orcs and fall in line with them.

Taking a Peek at Crypts & Things

It's all the rage these days.  Well. maybe not all the rage, but it's been making it's appearance on a bunch of blogs these days.  So what is Crypts & Things?

On it's simplest level, it's a reworking of the Swords & Wizardry Core rules to be more Swords & Sorcery in nature.

On a publishing level, it's the latest game from D101 Games, the fine folks that brought us OpenQuest, the open version of the MRQ rules.

One a purely gamiest level, it gives us the first true Swords & Sorcery set of rules to the OSR that I can think of.  There have been a couple of S&S rulesets for Savage Worlds recently, the latest being Beasts & Barbarians: Golden Edition.   It's becoming popular in the gaming circles, so the timing is right.

I jumped on the $40 level of the preorder / fundraiser earlier this week and have just started looking thru my PDF copy.  I like what I see so far, but that's no surprise, and Swords & Wizardry has become my go to OSR ruleset these days.

I'm going to quote from the PDF as to what makes Crypts & Things different from the rest.

How is Crypts & Things

different from Swords &

Wizardry Core?

Characters

The Fighter has optional fighting styles, to add more

options and fun and to differentiate between fighter

characters.

Adds the Barbarian character class based off the version

of the class originally published in White Dwarf 2 in

1977.

Adds the Thief class. This is a more martially-inclined

version of the Thief, inspired by the Grey Mouser from

Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories.

Adds the Magician class, which combines the spell lists

of the Magic-User and Cleric, and then separates them

into White/Grey and Black magic spell lists.

Higher Abilitiy bonuses (+1 to +3) to highlight

exceptional characters.

Removes the Cleric and Magic-user Class

No Elves, Dwarfs or Halflings..

No Turning the Undead either as a class ability or spell.

Life events. This takes the form of a simple table where

characters roll a single D20 three times for starting

characters to learn some of the events that occurred

before they started adventuring and the benefits that

they caused.

Rules systems

A simple skill system based off the Saving Throw

number. Used for class skills (such as the Thieves’

skills and Barbarian’s abilities) and other skills that the

character may have picked up along the way.

Sanity rules. Wisdom is used as a measure of mental

stability. This system is used for both taking mental

damage for witnessing horror and for magicians casting

Black Magic.

Altered damage rules. Hit points become a measure

of exhaustion and fatigue – and are lost as a Magician

casts spells. Constitution is used as a measure of

physical health, and is lost once Hit points have been

exhausted.

Back ground and Setting

Crypts & Things is based more upon the Sword and

Sorcery works of Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber

and Robert E Howard, than the more traditional

Tolkiensque fantasy.

First Day Back to Work and My Ass is Dragon!

Yeah, bad pun in the title to this blog post, but a fun play on words none the less.

Back to work after a week off and I returned to a new office. Well, new as in "you are no longer a glorified secretary with a gun... you may now command your own unit... oh, and you can keep many of your old responsibilities while you are at it." heh

New marriage, new work responsibilities... it can only mean one thing... new gaming opportunities right around the corner! Good things come in threes, right? ;)

TTopRPG 2.0 - A Free Virtual Table Top

I was browsing the ENWorld forums early tonight, and I came upon a thread that mentioned TTop RPG 2.0, a free Virtual Table Top for use mainly with OGL derived games.  The designer himself uses it for Pathfinder mostly.

It for Windows PCs, or OSX with the proper emulator software.

For a free VTT it looks pretty good, and with less learning needed then MapTools, the leading Free VTT these days.

I'm going to have to give this a proper checking out over the next few days.

It's been added to the Free Resources List on the left side bar.

From the website:

What is TTopRPG?

TTopRPG is a free virtual tabletop that can be used to play various RPG's online using a PC with XP or Vista (or a Mac running a Windows emulator - 2 button mouse HIGHLY recommended). I recently heard it also runs well on Windows 7.

I designed it around the minimal utilities I considered necessary to run an RPG game. It isn't yet in an officially released form, as I continue to tweak, rearrange and add new functions as I find them necessary. I primarily use it to run DnD 3.5 games. It can also run 4e games and supports most nWoD die rolls (although other aspects of the nWoD system are not supported).

Feltothraxis Takes on Vornheim, The Complete City Kit

It's like a constant tease.  Feltothraxis says he's going to look at The Secret Fire and yet another thing distracts him.  This time it was Vornheim.

Almost couldn't find the damn camera after getting back to NYC...

Felt Thoughts and Other Rumblings

So, earlier today I finally got around to filming a Feltothraxis (link to last month's video) video - it's been weeks since I have done so, and I brought him, my camera and my tripod with me on the short getway to do just such.  So, of course, the gremlins struck and the video only played back in ultra-fast motion (sound played back at normal speed - go figure).  So I filmed a new one tonight.  Totally off script.

Feltie does not do reviews.  He does thoughts about RPGs and RPG products, and his thoughts being driven by the thought pattern of dragons often means they are flighty thoughts.  I think that's why I enjoy him so much.  He is very much like a character that writes himself.

Vornheim was in my bag from a previous weekend getaway packing.  Feltie's thoughts on it should be posted tomorrow for viewing.

We still have renovations to be completed at the house (contractor starts next Monday), I got transferred to a new (more responsible) position (same location) at my job over the weekend (my new crew texted me to let me know) and we still need to move my wife out of her old apartment.  Wife.  I really need to get used to saying that ;)

Hopefully by the end of the year things will have settle down and I get get some gaming in on a regular basis.

Brady-Moon Suffers From Bad Brakes

Last nite while heading out to dinner, the car suddenly sounded like we were dragging something.  We weren't.  The passenger side front brake decided it was the right time to crap up.  We aborted dinner, headed home and dropped the car at a local shop at 0830 this morning.  My son is walking back to town to pick it up now.  Both front pads and rotors had to be replaced.

Guess it was better then having repairs needed while heading home tomorrow, with the pets in the car and some major distance to cover.

The brewpub tour we had planned for today will wait for another time.

Did a Feltothraxis video earlier this afternoon, but the video crapped up while recording.  I'll have to try another later tonight.

Mini Review - Winter's Herald (LL Adventure)

Knightvision Game is pretty much known for it's inexpensive adventures for the Labyrinth Lord RPG and Winter's Herald certainly is inexpensive at $1.99.  The question then becomes: "Is it good?"  The answer isn't so easy to find.

My main problem with the adventure is that it is set in an extremely cold climate.  So, it might work well with LotFP's Weird New World setting, but then the adventure includes magic and monsters that Weird New World won't comfortably support.

The hooks to get the party up north would generally have to be planted a session or two earlier, as it will probably be a trek from their normal stomping grounds.

For me, it is worth it for stealing some of the encounters for my own use, 7 new creatures for your OSR style game, rules for dealing with the extreme cold and a handful of new magic items.  YMMV.

from the blurb:

Icemoor is a land beset by winter at the top of the world. For years at a time snow blankets the tundra, ice grips the trees, and storms batter the coast. A pale sun shines weakly on the peoples battling for survival against their foes and the very elements. An ancient menace has reared its ugly head once more and threatens the entire world with its icy grip. Can the heroes survive in a frozen landscape where villains and monsters use the extreme cold as their weapons?


Labyrinth Lord/AEC adventure for 4-6 5th level adventurers set in a arctic-like environment.
24 pages (including front and back cover)

Several new monsters: Freeze Wyrm, SnowCap and the Ikra (Cold Spawn of Icemoor)

Free - d6 Magazine Issue #1 (Open d6)

I do love giving away stuff, especially gaming goodies to my fellow gamers.  That is why I always have something for my old gaming group when we get together a few times a year.  It's why I run the contests that I do.  It's also why I love finding free stuff on RPGNow that I can share with my fellow gamers.

d6 Magazine is a free magazine devoted to the Open d6 gaming system.  The system that finds it origins in the original Star Wars RPG is now an open system, much like D&D 3.5e.  Free magazine for a free RPG.  Amazing how things work.

Inside you get a very insightful interview with one the core writers for the old WEG company,  I love my gaming history articles, and this is a good one.

The article on the Wild Die is a good one, especially as I don't remember using a wild die in the few sessions I ran of Star Wars - must have been first edition.

Oh, can't forget the sample campaign for a d6 sci-fi campaign.

The price is right and it's well written and presented. 

The Winners of the Free Wedding Favors Are...

Everyone that entered!

Well, 24 fine folks will be getting copies of Maidens Of Moordoth , 5 others are getting individual prizes, as my count shows 29 total entries.  So, if you entered and you aren't named for one of the 5 prizes below, you are getting the prize above.

I broke out my trusty d6 and d10 (because even though I have every weird ass die used in DCC in my bag, I lack a d30) - ignoring any 30s that come up, I rolled 19, 21, 1, 20 and 12

Knockspell #6 (my first and only published article lies within) - JDJarvis

Oubliette #6 (cause it rocks) - NEMO235

6-Pack Adventures: Kiss of the Frog God - (you need something weird, and this is a LotFP WF compatible module) - Loquacious

Elder Tunnels:  Fall 2011 (i have to include something for Tunnels & Trolls on the list) - Tim Shorts

Resolute: The Splintered Realm (neat little system rolled into 20 pages) - Sir Timothy of Kent

I need you all to email me at erikATtrubluniteDOTnet.  I need to know your blogger name (so I know the prize) and the email address you use at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG/OneBookshelf.  These won't be coming as coupon codes - I'll actually be buying it for your account.  This may take me a few days to get them all out, but I'll do them in the order received.

edit:  post a commned to this post too if you could - that way i know that the person claiming the prize is who they are or should be or something along those lines... heh

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment.

It's a Brady Bunch Mini-Moon

Yep, the misses, the kid, the dachshund, my kitty and myself are away in the country for a few days to enjoy the new marriage / family / everything else.

The wedding ceremony / mass was perfect, the weather was amazing and the reception was a blast. Win-win-win! Thanks to all for their well wishes. I couldn't have asked for a better wedding day.

The contest can now be considered closed. I believe Andugus was the last post. I'll announce the prize winners later tonight or in the morning. Time to settle in and go out for dinner. My son is treating to Pizza Hut :)

Maintaining Radio Silence...

Alright, getting married in 3 hours.  It will be at least 24 hrs before I log back in,and probably later in the day tomorrow before I start awarding prizes from this post.

You can still enter through sometime sunday.  As it stands with the number of current entries, I'll be awarding a copy of Maidens Of Moordoth to everyone that doesn't win one of the other prizes.  Unless, of course, I have dozens more entries before tomorrow ;)

My Favorite Pre-Written RPG Adventure - Haunted Halls of Eveningstar

I can't let y'all have all the fun!  heh

My favorite adventure to run (favorite to read is probably Paranoia's Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues) has to be Haunted Halls of Eveningstar.  I must have started four or five campaigns with this module, and I'm sure those included some of the same players.

It was great, as it had an adventure, a nice amount of hooks and a sandboxie location for the players to start their explorations in.  After the first time through, I don't think I used the core adventure as is, but there was so much to play with, it was easy use it as a campaign starter.  Back in the day, if it was time to start a new campaign and I was relatively unprepared, tis was my go-to adventure.  I knew it well enough to run it with minimal referencing.

Something else I need to dig out when renovations are complete.

Remember to let me know about your Favorite Pre-Written RPG Adventure and you could win some free stuff.

Time is a Variable Thing

(free swag - post a comment to this thread by sometime in the morning of November 6, 2011)

The months leading up to my wedding on this coming Saturday seemed to take forever, but the days of this week so far have blown past me, and today has gone by in the wink of an eye it seems.

All this, of course, is the exact opposite of the typical RPG campaign.  There, days, weeks, months... sometimes years go by with a few words from the GM.  Then you hit combat, and 5 minutes of game time can take an hour or two of real time to complete.

I've been reading some more of Designers & Dragons in my spare time,  It's an amazing read, but I doubt I'd be reading it if I hadn't received it as a reviewer's comp.  Content wise it is a home run and a half, but I can't help but compare it to the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper's Guide - great piece of work, but the pricing is a bit high.  Maybe it will come down in price, maybe it will sell at it's current price.

Time to Give Out Some Free Wedding Favors!

Yep, time to give some shit...er, gaming material, away.  I may as well, it is YOUR money I'll be using, or rather the small commission that gets added to my OneBookShelf account when someone makes a purchase from one of the RPGNow / DriveThruRPG links on this blog.  I'm getting married this weekend, and in the spirit of the joy and excitement I'm feeling, I'd like to give back to the readers of this blog.

So, here's what we're doing.  Add a comment to this blog post and I'll be giving out goodies to some random readers that do so and follow the instruction in the next sentence.  The topic for the comments is: "My favorite pre-written adventure (any game system) of all time".  Hey, it could be worse.  I could make you suffer through some of those god awful songs they play at EVERY wedding reception (not ours tho - we have an actual living, breathing Irish Folk singer.  No damn "duck" song, no conga line, just good music).

Here's the list of goodies:

Knockspell #6 (my first and only published article lies within)

Oubliette #6 (cause it rocks)

Maidens Of Moordoth - (cause it's cool and at 50 cents a pop i can give out 5 copies ;)

6-Pack Adventures: Kiss of the Frog God - (you need something weird, and this is a LotFP WF compatible module)

Elder Tunnels:  Fall 2011 (i have to include something for Tunnels & Trolls on the list)

Resolute: The Splintered Realm (neat little system rolled into 20 pages)

1 of each, except for Maidens of Moordoth, of which I'll be giving out 5 copies.  So, 10 prizes in total.

Entries can be entered up until whatever time I wake up and stumble to my computer Sunday morning.  Prizes will be given out sometime thereafter, depending on internet connection and wife agro ;)

Things to Post, Places to Be, Vows to Exchange

I'm working on the OSR by complexity / simplicity list behind the scenes, just way too many distractions at the moment.

You know, the Pathfinder Beginner Box, some of the free Halloween stuff that I grabbed on OneBookShelf over the weekend and crunch time for my wedding this coming Saturday.  Four days.  Holy crap!  heh

Crazy busy but exciting times.  I'm sure the lass is gonna love my blog posting on the mini-moon (honeymoon will wait until the spring).

The thing is, when this calms down I should be able to get my gaming in again.  Woot!

Can D20 / OGL / OSR Be Used for an Effective Horror Campaign?

I know its the day after Halloween - so shoot me!

The thing is, I was thinking of effective horror gaming and it occurred to me that is hard to accomplish using most of the D20 / OGL / OSR rules.

Here's my reasoning: D20 is based on level. Skills and Hit Points increase with each level. Higher level characters by nature of the rules have less to fear. That is why Ravenloft never really satisfied my taste for "Horror Gaming". It felt almost campy. My players were never really afraid, at least not more so than in any other level appropriate adventure. Annoyed maybe that they were yoked to the Demi-Plane of dread, but scared? Nope.

Call of Cthulhu and such are skill based. There's no bucket of Hit Points to save your ass. A more skilled investigator may have a few tricks to pull out of his hat, but it's still very easy to die within the framework of the rules. Also, CoC is less geared to campaign play, which assumes some character survival to move the plot along.

D20 / OGL may be able to do effective horror at low levels, but even in a game like LotFP Weird Fantasy, higher levels will by nature of the rules be less scary.

Can D20 / OGL do an effective Horror Campaign? I'm leaning heavily on the side that the game is built against it, but maybe some of you can or have prove(d) me wrong.

Review - Pathfinder Beginner Box - Part 2 - Continuing With the Hero's Handbook

Yep, one last pass through the Hero's Handbook before I move on the the Gamemaster side of things.

Where was i?  Ah, Feats.  I love them and I hate them.  They flesh out characters, can help make them unique and can really screw with balance as time goes on.  Some of them need multiple paragraphs to detail and my eyes go screwy tying to read the reams available in the Core Rulebook.

There are only 4 pages of feats in the Hero's Handbook.  Most take only two or three lines.  Short, concise and sweet.  The only way to learn.

Skills take up 6 pages.  They're a bit more detailed then feats, because in general they are a bit more flexible in use.

What can I say?  I love the presentation.  I'm actually enjoying my read through of the rules.  They feel less like a text book and more like a hands on learning experience.  Not sure how that works actually.  It's not like anything has really been "dumb downed" (like the 4e Red Box was) but rather the presentation has been simplified without talking down to you.

So, who has a guide to removing the extra crunch from the Core Pathfinder Rules to make them nearly as easy to understand as the Beginner Box is?  heh

On to the Gamemaster stuff next.

Dowsing For Dummies

It Halloween. Nice way to top off an already spooky October with the number of individuals that just don't give a F' about doing things the right way.

The latest was the guy who decided to put epub and mobi conversions up on RPGNow of the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules and the Pathfinder Rules. without either publisher's authorization. Before I could finish a mini-review of the S&W conversion, it was already pulled. The Pathfinder version was pulled shortly thereafter. Neither was free (I think they were going for $2.99 each) so that famous excuse won't apply here.

What is with the currently free for all with the intellectual property of others?
Is it just in this corner of the hobby, or is there some movement I don't know about? Are these guys fools, or willful idiots? Playing stupid only goes so far, and I would think with the publicity the previous acts generated, the latest azz would have dotted his "i's" and crossed his "t's" before trying the latest blunder.

I keep stumbling into this shit like a professional water dowser steps in puddles. Problem is I keep finding sewer water. ;)

Mini Review - Maidens of Moordoth - (Labyrinth Lord Adventure)

1-Sheet.  An adventure that can be printed on one sheet of paper, often using both sides.

Maidens of Moordoth is a 1-Sheet Adventure for beginning Labyrinth Lord characters, but suitable for use with any of the Old School rulesets (did you really need me to tell you that?).  It actually uses 3 sides of a sheet of paper, but the third side is for the OGL - you can omit that when you print at home.

It has 13 labeled locations on the crypt map and it includes some undead.  Do you really need more for Halloween?  How about it's only 50 cents?  Yep, halfway between a buck and free. ;)

From the blurb:


Maidens of Moordoth is a low-level 1-sheet adventure designed for Labyrinth Lord^TM but easily usable in any old school fantasy role-playing game.  It provides all you'll need for a full night or two of play.
The elders of the village of Moordoth are the keepers of a grim secret.  They vowed to take it to their graves, but a pack of ghouls and the wailing haunts of six lost maidens seem to command otherwise.  The characters are hired by the town elders to put a stop to this madness.  The characters will soon learn that all is not what it seems as they unravel the secret of the Maidens of Moordoth.

Mini Review - Spellcraft & Swordplay (Revised and Expanded)

Ever have one of those situations, where something seems very familiar yet strange at the same time?  Spellcraft & Swordplay is one of those situations for me.

It starts up like one of your usual OSR games, usual stats, 3-18, familiar classes... and then it takes me for a side trip when I realize everything is resolved using D6s.  It's almost like melding Tunnels & Trolls with Original Dungeons & Dragons.  Well, not quite, but you get the idea.

The main change (there are others, but to me this is the biggest switch) is that, for the most part, an increase in combat ability comes from an increase in the number of attacks, not in an increase in chance to hit.  The number you need to hit is dependent upon the weapon wielded and the armor worn, level has little to do with it.  A strength bonus to hit is a mighty bonus in this game.

All in all it's a well written, well presented game.  I found some small editing gaffs (at one point in the rules, it refers to 2 "elite paths", but the third path, Ranger, is in the book) but nothing major.

Looking for a D&D / OSR like game that can be played with the dice in your Risk or Monopoly box and little else?  Spellcraft & Swordplay is what you are looking for.

From the blurb:

Join the new class of old school!

Hordes of slavering orcs close in.  You're tired, battered and bruised, but far from beaten.  You grip your heavy sword tightly, and blink at the sweat in yoru eyes.  You're all that stands between the goodly folk of the village, and a curtain of eternal night.  And going quietly isn't your style.

Between these covers lies everything you need to begin grand adventures of dark and gritty fantasy, high epic fantasy, or even fairy tale fantasy.  All you need is some imagination and a few friends, and you're off!  Inspired by the very earliest days of the hobby, Spellcraft & Swordplay uses a rules-light system that allows play in a fast, loose and cinematic style.  It evokes the spirit of the old school, while providing some character customization not always present in other old school games.

Explore ancient ruins, rescue captive princesses, slay dragons, and build your own legacy of adventure and excitement with SPELLCRAFT & SWORDPLAY!

When Less is More - Where to Go From the Pathfinder Basic Box

As I make my way through the Pathfinder Basic Box, I find myself really excited about the potential this box holds.  Not just in bringing new blood into this hobby of ours (it should accomplish that fairly well) but in the presentation.

The Basic Box works as well as it does not just because it removes some of the more complicated rules from the Pathfinder Core Rules, but because of the way way it presents the rules it does use.  The rules are introduced gradually, with limited selection / choices / options and then gradually branching out.  Why couldn't this be done with a revision of the Core Rules?

The book is huge, and I'm sure it's a great value, but I think at this point, players would be best served by breaking it into it's component pieces.

A Tome of Heroes or such could be used to codify the rules most used by the players, with the first part  written and presented in the way of the PBB Hero's Handbook, introducing the rules, and later parts of the book building upon them.

The Gamemaster's Guide wold also build upon the presentation in the PBB, then move on to fuller options and more complications and some insights on how to leave out certain complications without collapsing the house of cards.  The Bestiary would be it's own book.

I've read the posts on the Paizo Boards that some fear that supporting the Pathfinder Basic Box will lead to a dumbing down of Pathfinder.  I'd love to play Pathfinder as written, if I had the time to learn the tomes of rules.  I no longer do.  Certainly not to the point that I could GM a game.

Presenting the Core Rules in a manner that rules are presented gradually, even modularly, would allow gamers like me to enjoy the Pathfinder Rules without be crushed under them.  Isn't the point of the Basic Box to get Pathfinder into the hands of more players?  Well, I humbly summit the above as a possible method to accomplish the goal of expanding the base.

Mini Review - Swords & Wizardry Core Rules - Mobi & epub Formats

If you read this blog you should already have an idea of what the Swords & Wizardry Core Rulebook is.  If not, the PDF link is on the left - it's a free download, enjoy.

This is a conversion of the PDF S&W Core Rulebook to Mobi (read "Kindle") and epub (read "just about every other e-book reader on the market").   So this isn't a review of the rules in question, it's a review of the conversion of the format.

Simply put - charts always suffer in the translation from PDF to any of the e-book formats.  The charts here are serviceable, but not on par with PDF / dead tree.  That being said, as a reference to look things up quickly at the gaming table without the need of lugging along a book, this is a great solution.

and then "POOF", it was gone from the RPGNow store.  i'm beginning to think I'm cursed or something... i need to grab the Pathfinder version before it goes too...

It's a Snowy October Day - Time to Be a Stay at Stay-at-Home Bum

Snow in NYC in October is extremely rare - maybe a few flurries, but little more.  At the moment they are calling for 6-10" of snow.  Holy Cow!

Still, it gives me time to read, and read I am.  I am going to forcibly stop myself from reading Designers & Dragons, as I feel it sucking me in and I'll never put it down.  Instead, I'm going to go back to reading my Pathfinder Beginner Box and hopefully get the next part of my review posted.

Feltothraxis has some ideas for the PBB, but I'm not sure if the voice has recovered fully yet.

Mini Review - Designers & Dragons (Historical Overview of RPGs)

Mongoose Publishing recently released Designers & Dragons on RPGNow.  I'm going to give you the "blurb" first, and then my impressions, as this is NOT an RPG, but a history of RPGs, and it requires a different approach to review.

From the blurb:

Compiled over many years from hundreds of interviews and research projects, this book is a history of the roleplaying game industry, and forms the most complete record of all the games, companies and talented individuals that have propelled roleplaying games to where they are today.

Rather than being a simple, linear history, this book takes a unique perspective on the roleplaying industry. Reflecting that it is the creation of thousands of talented individuals and scores of talented companies, this book instead devotes individual sections to describing the histories and products of almost 60 different companies that have published roleplaying games from 1974 to the present day. The companies are laid out in a chronology based on when each began publishing in the roleplaying field.

Alright, so now you know what it is.  Time for me to tell you how it is: absorbing as the best historical write-up I've ever read, and I was a history major in college.  Reading the history of TSR took me back in time to my own heyday of roleplaying.  I had a pretty good idea of the rise and fall of TSR, but this really filled in the gaps of my knowledge, both big and small.  TSR / D&D / WotC is only the beginning.

Here's the ToC:

 FOREWORD 3

PART ONE 5

TSR: 1973-1997 6

PART TWO: The First Wave 33

Flying Buffalo: 1970-Present 34

Games Workshop: 1975-Present 43

GDW: 1973-1996 53

Judges Guild: 1976-1983, 1999-2010 65

Fantasy Games Unlimited 1975-1991 71

Metagaming Concepts: 1975-1983 78

Chaosium: 1975-Present 82

PART THREE: The Second Wave 97

SPI: 1969-1982 98

Steve Jackson Games: 1980-Present 102

Task Force Games: 1978-1996 114

FASA: 1980-2001 119

Gamelords: 1980-1984 129

ICE: 1980-Present 133

Hero Games: 1981-Present 145

Palladium Books: 1981-Present 155

Yaquinto Publications: 1979-1983 164

Mayfair Games: 1980-Present 166

Bard Games: 1982-1990 172

Avalon Hill: 1958-1998 175

Columbia Games: 1972-Present 181

West End Games: 1974-2009 186

Pacesetter: 1984-1986

 PART FOUR: The Third Wave 200

SkyRealms Publishing: 1984-1988 201

Digest Group Publications: 1985-1993 203

R. Talsorian: 1985-Present 207

White Wolf: 1986-Present 215

Lion Rampant: 1987-1990 232

New Infinities Productions: 1986-1988 237

Creations Unlimited: 1986-1987 240

Pagan Publishing: 1990-Present 244

Atlas Games: 1990-Present 252

AEG: 1990-Present 262

Phage Press: 1991-2005 268

Dream Pod 9: 1985-Present 271

PART FIVE: The CCG Years 275

Wizards of the Coast: 1990-Present 276

Hogshead Publishing: 1994-2002 304

Kenzer & Company: 1994-Present 309

Last Unicorn Games: 1994-2000 314

Grey Ghost Press: 1995-Present 319

Holistic Design: 1992-2006 322

Pinnacle Entertainment Group: 1994-Present 325

Imperium Games: 1996-1998 330

Guardians of Order: 1997-2006 335

Eden Studios: 1997-Present 340

Fantasy Flight Games: 1995-Present 344

Margaret Weis Productions: 1998-Present 351

Green Knight Publishing: 1998-2003 356

Issaries: 1997-2004 359

PART SIX: The D20 Years 364

Necromancer Games: 2000-2009 365

Green Ronin Publishing: 2000-Present 369

Troll Lord Games: 2000-Present 378

Pelgrane Press: 1999-Present 383

Goodman Games: 2001-Present 386

Privateer Press: 2000-Present 392

Mongoose Publishing: 2001-Present 394

Adept Press: 2001-Present 403

Paizo Publishing: 2002-Present 412

Part Seven: The Indie Revolution? 419

Evil Hat Productions: 2001-Present 421

Cubicle 7 Entertainment: 2003-Present 427

Catalyst Game Labs: 2007-Present 433

Bibliography and Thanks 440

Special Thanks 442

I have games from just about every publisher on this list.  Holy crap, I think I have stuff from just about every publisher this book covers.  Right on thru Evil Hat, Cubicle 7 and Catalyst Games.

The writer's voice is very comfortable to read, the book is well laid out and the topics and insights (from my POV) are interesting as hell.  I'm sure all of this knowledge is available in thousands  of bits and pieces strewn about the internet, but it would take me years to track down most of this.  Author Shannon Appelcline has done it for me, and wrapped it up nicely on top of all that.

The only thing keeping me from giving Designers & Dragons my highest recommendation is the price of $29.99.  If you have the cash to spare and an interest in the history of the RPG industry, it is money well spent.  However, if your gaming budget is tight, this is probably a luxury you'll find yourself passing on.  That's a shame, because this is really a great read.


(edit - the PDF is neither Bookmarked nor Hyperlinked - coming in at 442 pages, it needs at least one or the other for easier navigation - still love it, but this omission is annoying)

Just a Wee Bit More DragonQuest

I am VERY happy with my acquisition of the DragonQuest Boxed set.  The box is a little shelf worn, but the books are still fresh and crisp and all the counters and chits have never been punched out.

I feel like I'll be learning a new language, although the Pathfinder Basic Box is going to be stealing my attention for now, DragonQuest will be delved into when my time free up ):)

My Thoughts On a Pathfinder Basic Box - Extended

I'm really loving my trip thru the Pathfinder Basic Box. It's not what I expected (I guess I was expecting something like the D&D 4e Starter Set - thank God it's nothing like it) and that is a good thing. It has a lot of punch and value for the money. But I want more ;)

I can see the point of a second box set being both cost prohibitive and possibly splinting the Pathfinder market, but there is still a way for Paizo to extend the life of the Basic Box without going to a 2nd box. Heck, they are doing it now with adventures and a Barbarian class write up on their site - PDFs.

An expansion to the Basic Box could be as simple as a $5 (or whatever price) PDF extending play to 9th level, including new feats, perhaps introducing Attacks of Opportunity, adding some classes as new options, maybe adding back some of the lower level spells (maybe 5 more per level). It would be written and presented in the same format at the Basic Box material.

This would be the "bridge" product to bring the Pathfinder game together, because the natural progression from Pathfinder Basic Box - Extended would be to the Core Pathfinder Rules. I'm not sure if the Basic Box quite gets you there on it's own.

I would also love to see a PDF / posting / whatnot on how to bring the Pathfinder Core Book(s) to more Basic Box complexity without causing the house of cards to come tumbling down.

Free Stuff For Halloween @ OneBookShelf

Time for some scary treats!  Click the banner above to go to DriveThruRPG and hunt around for the Jack-0-Lanterns.  Click on the Jack-0-Lanterns for some free swag.

To get you started, I'll point you to two:

Kobold Quarterly Issue #15 - Go to the "FAQ PAGE" and click the Jack-0-Lantern.  It will appear in your cart for $0

All Flesh Must Be Eaten - Revised - Click the Jack-0-Lantern at the bottom of the "HOME PAGE".  Enjoy ;)

There are thirteen freebies in total.  I know I haven't found them all.  Feel free to post the others you find in the comments below, and I'll add more as I find 'em.

(don't switch between the various OBS sites without checking out with your free purchase, or else the free purchase may end up in the second cart at regular price)

When Your Quest is Dragons, You Need DragonQuest!

Yep, i snagged myself a copy of the DragonQuest 3e rulebook on Ebay, and I should have a boxed set coming from Troll & Toad.  Really, why should I let Padre have all the fun?  heh

It is in many ways the exact opposite of the Pathfinder Beginner Box, but that's okay.  I probably won't have time to give DragonQuest a real look until after my wedding, but as that's in a week and a half.  I plan on lots of reading and relaxing after the wedding ;)

Thoughts on the Pathfinder Basic Box

I can't stop singing the praises of the Pathfinder Basic Box, but I do have one issue with it - where to go from here.

I know that when the group has outgrown the PBB, they are supposed to move on to the full Pathfinder Rules, but is that really the best or only route to take?

I don't know if it's in Paizo's plans, but I think an Advanced or Expert Boxed set would be a perfect follow up. Include advancement from 6th up to 10th level, add in some classes (Ranger, Druid, Bard and possibly Paladin), give me back my halfling and you have a complete game in 2 boxed sets.

Key phrase here is "Boxed Sets". Boxed sets can sit on the shelf of your Walmarts and Toys R' Us when RPG books won't. They can expand the market.

The boxed sets can offer a streamlined Pathfinder system that is compatible to the existing line. If the players want, they can always move on to the full rules for more options. Or they could stay with the streamlined system.

The streamlined approach and intuitive presentation of the rules in the Basic Box certainly have my attention. If my sinuses hold out, maybe Feltothraxis can take a look at the Pathfinder Basic Box. I suspect he'll enjoy it as much as I do ;)

Review - Pathfinder Basic Box - Part 1 - Hero's Handbook

It's only 64 pages long, but I am still looking at the Hero's Handbook from the Pathfinder Basic Box.  All the rules you need for the four basic classes (Fighter, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard) covering the first 5 levels of advancement.

As far as races, I don't mind the Gnome omission at all, but halflings are a fantasy staple, and I would have appreciated their presence.  We do get Dwarves, Elves and Humans (no half races either).  I'll just need to remind myself it is a Basic Box, and if you put the kitchen sink in the box, you lose the focus.

For no particular reason, I'm going to hit on spells next.  Perfectly done.  Really.  Spell icon tells you the school of the spell, range, duration and short paragraph detailing the effects.  10 spells per level, and all spells for a spell level fit on one side of one page.  Concise yet extremely complete and useful.  It could (should) be a model for other RPGs down the line.

Jumping back to character generation, I'm going to remark upon the need for the character to have at least a cumulative bonus of +3, or you don't have a stat above 13, you can reroll your character.  Using 4d6, I expect there will be a lot of rerolls.  I do understand the power level in Pathfinder is on the Spinal Tap Scale ("But this one goes to eleven!"), but coming from the OSR side of the hobby I needed to adjust my focus.

Did I mention the pages are full color?  Same quality paper as the Pathfinder Monthies?  That weapons and armor are accompanied by artwork depicting the item in question?  Heck, they might as well have put the armor and weapons on slightly elongated business cards.  I'm tempted to print those pages out from the PDF (I love Paizo and their PDFs) and cut out the items in question so I can hand them out to my players.  Of course, I  game online, so that might be an issue.  Still, the idea is valid.

K, more later.

First Look - Pathfinder Beginner Box

I received my Pathfinder Beginner Box in the mail today and I think "Holy Shi!t" sums it up pretty well ;)  This is a box of gaming goodness.  Yes, I might be an OSR heretic for saying this, but Paizo has done the hobby on a whole a ton of good with this treasure chest.  This is an excellent starter for a person or group that is looking to get into RPGs.

First things first.  The box itself is nice and deep and sturdy.  Box alone blows away the D&D 4e Starter Set.  Then you open the box, and the components put the nail in the coffin of the 4e Start Set.  Paizo does it again.

64 page Hero's Handbook, 96 page GM's Guide, dice, over 80 full color pawns (stand-up cardboard cutouts with stands), 4 pregens, 4 blank character sheets and a large, markable battle map.  It's a heavy, complete box.

The layout of the books looks like everything is set up to help out starting players.  More importantly, you can level up to 5th level before needing to move on to the full game.

I'll need to spend some time with it before I can give a proper review, but color me impressed so far.

So, Does the OGL Not Cover Images of Creatures Covered By the OGL?

Apparently, the Rust Monster is in the OGL. It is also based on some cheap ass toy that EGG found in his travels, at least in appearance.

The Cease & Desist email that was this blog's topic yesterday was apparently in response to an illustration of a Rust Monster. According to the artist, it was his own piece of work: it wasn't traced or copied - apparently not even a homage.

So, if one draws a possible conclusion from this (requiring an "assumption" - and we all know where that can lead), WotC may be staking a claim that the OGL doesn't apply to images of elements that are covered by the OGL.

I really wish I knew the OGL better, but I'm not a publisher and I've only got one small article to my credit, so I'm hardly a writer, but if the OGL doesn't allow for visual interpretation of creatures described within, there's a whole lotta art that is in violation. The thing is, I don't think any of it would be in violation of copyright - but as my knowledge of such could fill a small shot glass, I'll leave such to those with more knowledge.

I do find the timing to be very curious.

Is Wizards' Latest Cease and Desist an Introduction to D&D 5E?

(see http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-osric-players-guide-woes.html for details)

Why is WotC suddenly getting defensive about the OSR? There are hints that D&D 5E, when it comes about, is going to be more "old school" in feel, if not execution, but is that a reason to issue a Cease and Desist on artwork that has been making the rounds of the OSR for years? Better question is does this Cease & Desist apply to those that have used the art in question over the past years, or just the latest OSRIC Player's Guide? If the offending art is removed from the book, is the book now in compliance?

Yes, I'm full of questions today. I'm just trying to figure out why artwork that has been in use for years is now in violation of WotC's IP. I need to look at the offending artwork and see if it replicates any WotC / TSR artwork. I sincerely doubt it does, but I'm not a lawyer (and I thank the Lord for that - I coulda been ;)

Free RPG - Lost Roads of Lociam - Core Rulebook - Light

This was released on RPGNow about 2 months ago and somehow escaped by Spidey Senses.  Ah well, no one is perfect.

Lost Realms of Locaim is listed as using the Basic Roleplaying rules.  Looking the rules over, it certainly seems like a house ruled version of the rules, but I'd have to pull our my copy of BRP out of a storage box and look a bit closer at this to be sure.  I poked around the web a bit to get a definitive answer, but what answers I've found kinda skidded around the actual answer.

The setting itself has been developed over 20 years, and the 1st part of the game is heavy on fiction and timeline to give you a feel for the world.  106 pages is a nice size free look. (141 pages in the full sized book)

It's certainly worth giving a look, especially if you dig D100 systems.

Does Anyone Have Experience With the Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebook?

Mongoose publishes the Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebook based upon the solo game books of yore.  Any of this blog's readers know anything about it, good or bad?  I here it's a pretty simple stem, and I like simplicity, but I have there is still a little meat on the bones.

I can see there are a crapload of releases for it.  Any suggestions as to what to pick up if I decide to give this a peek?

Do I need experience with the solos to truly enjoy this?

Greg is Now a Chubby

Heh!  Well, more accurately, Greg Christopher and the Errant RPG blog are now a Chubby Funster.  No, I'm not quite sure what it all means, but the new webpage he has to showcase his free games looks pretty neato.

I just hope he keeps the new site updates more then the old blog.  Google+ is fine and dandy, but if you miss a day it is certainly hard to catch up ;)

Listening to the Music - As I Shoot Stuff - In Fallout: New Vegas

I don't post much about computer games, even the RPG ones.  Very few can come close to reproducing an immersive environment that table-top roleplaying does.  For what it's worth, I think the Fallout series does a pretty good job at it.

New Vegas allows you to have radio stations playing in the background which adds some amazing depth to the game play (and even has my fiancee singing along at points).  Not bad at all.

I do wish more games would be like the Neverwinter series, allowing for a party to run through the quests and story line without all of the MMORPG crap (I enjoy MMORPGs a lot, but they aren't role playing experiences, they are level grinders).  New Vegas would rock with a 4 person party!

Ah well, time for me to kill some shite near New Vegas.

Feltothraxis Has a Cold :(

Or rather, the voice of Feltothraxis has a cold.  It started as seasonal allergies and has progressed into a mildly nasty cold.  I don't think I can pull off a Felty video until this passes, at least a bit.  That, or I need a better decongestant.

The good news is the future Mrs. Tenkar is no longer in a bootie and crutches due to a broken foot.  Nope, she's mobile again.  Great news for her and even better news for me... taking her too and from work on my way too and from work had more then doubled my commute.  Not to mention the $13 in bridge tolls I had to pay that I normally don't.  So, big win all around I'd have to say ;)

Taking a Peek at Realm Works (Campaign Organizer)

As I was flipping thru my virtual issue of Kobold #19 (more on that later) I came across an ad for Realm Works from Lone Wolf Development.  These are the folks who do Hero Lab, which is a character manager program for 3.5 / Pathfinder, which has impressed me with what I've seen of it.

From the screen shots, Realm Works look a lot like NBOS' The Keep software but upgraded four years later.  In other words, it looks like it might actually help run your campaign,

It is genre and play style neutral, so I'm assuming (hoping) that is is also system neutral.

It looks to me that this is something that could also be used to supplement a Virtual Table Top campaign (VTT), as there is mention of "ndependent player viewing and comments via the cloud"


Actually, there seems to be a decent amount of integration with online resources, as there is a private forum with full linking of game content.  I really need to look into this.  Looks to release in 2012.

Random Fall Thoughts

I've made it to October 20th with short sleeves and no jacket, but I think I'll have to dig into the closet shortly. While it would be fun to say I made it to November 1st without putting a jacket on, I don't think it is feasible ;)

There is a difference between taking pieces of another's work, adding your own name to it and claiming ownership and making a copy of a PDF or a music track for a friend. The first one, you are actually taking claim to another's creativity - in the second case, while you may be causing a publisher a loss of potential income, in many cases, the friend would never have made the purchase anyway. Torrenting and such is a whole other level - that is organized distribution of works one does not have the right to distribute.

Yes, it's all shades of grey. I think the responsibility of a writer / publisher to produce works that don't infringe on the rights of other writers / producers is huge. Not just from a legal standard, but a moral standard too.

So, if I were asked, I'd have to say a writer / publisher that improperly uses the work of others is more offensive to me then someone who torrents the works of others. Someone that copies a PDF for a friend to peruse? On the same level as the photocopied copy of Deity & Demigods I have with Elric and the Mythos stuff that was later removed

As for using somebody else's copyrighted work in a houserules project that is staying within your group? Have at it. That's what gaming is all about.

Delving Into the Kindreds in Tunnels & Trolls: Skeletons

Thanks to Captain Oblivious for pointing out that the invisible flesh skeletons were seen in the Lieber's Lankmar. It's been ages since I've read the books, but that is where the itch in the back of my noggin musta come from - familiar yet not.

I believe Mongoose has a Lankmar book out for use with it's Runequest rules - I could probably crib some info from there if I had the book, but I don't, so I'm just going to wing it.

"Skeletons" as a race (not the walking undead) are very similar to humans, both in appearance (well, except for the translucent / invisible flesh). Attribute wise, the only attribute with a modifier is Charisma, which gets .25 added to it. Not a huge modifier by far, and certainly not to an attribute that comes into play often.

In many ways, they are like normal humans, except that their flesh and skin are nearly invisible. When looking thru a Skeleton, one sees the bones and a slightly distorted view of what is behind them (think of looking thru a curved fish tank full of water). Because of this, when unclothed and unarmored, Skeletons can decrease the saving throw they need to successfully hide by one SR level, or increase the SR level by one of those looking to find the hidden skeleton.

Skeletons are not immune to the effects of temperature or weather, and generally wear clothes and armor like normal humans. As such, a clothed, gloves and deeply hooded skeleton can often pass as a human at a quick glance.

Defining the Kindreds in Tunnels & Trolls: Picking Over the Rare Pieces

There are (if I counted correctly) 32 "rare" kindreds in Tunnels & Trolls 7.5e. This includes the various varieties of trolls and such.

Some of the kindreds kinda stick out when I look at the list:

Merperson - safe to assume they can breath water, but can they survive on land?

Skeleton - I seem to recall from somewhere that these are humans with transparent flesh and organs. Could be interesting.

Urook - orcs?

Ghoul - although Vampires are also on the list, I don't think these are meant to be undead. Eaters of human flesh perhaps, but not undead.

Balrukh - dying to figure out what the heck these guys are.

So, when I start defining the kindreds, I'll pick and choose my way thru the list, depending on what strikes my fancy at the moment.

I hoping it's a fun trip for all ;)

I've Got Some Google Music Beta Invites to Give Out!

I just got invited to the Google Music Beta last nite by a friend, and lo and behold, I have four invites left to give out myself (had 8, but 4 are spoken for).

Google Music is cloud storage and access for your music. It can hold 20,000 songs if I remember right. Highly integrated with google android (i'm an iphone / ipad user myself) it still seems pretty good in linking my music between my computers.

First four to ask for it in the comments to this post should get their invites sometime tonight (I'm at work on my ipad, so you'll have to wait until I get home).

Obscure your email address in the usual ways ;)

More then four can ask, and if I get access to other invites, they'll be the next to get.

The Iron Chef Adventure Challenge: The Unwrapping

Mike Monaco over at the Swords & Dorkery Blog is running an Iron Chef Adventure Challenge using unopened decks of the 1992 AD&D 2e Collector's Cards (say that 5 times fast).  My deck arrived today.  Saweet!

16 cards.  Need to use at least 8. Shouldn't be too hard.

Ack!  3 checklists.  Effectively down to 13 cards before I even start.

6 Al-Qadim cards - 5 monsters and 1 character.  Half my effective deck.  I see a theme here ;)

2 Ravenloft - 1 monster, 1 character

2 Forgotten Realms - both characters

1 Spelljammer and 1 Dragonlance - both characters.

1 AD&D 2e character - which is really Oriental Adventures in this case.

Interesting challenge I've drawn.  Shame I never owned Al-Qadim :(

Washing Away the Piss n' Vinegar

I'm okay now. My piss and vinegar is gone. Time to breath deep of the beauty that is the hobby we call role-playing.

Which is good. I was close to doing a Feltothraxis video that, although it probably would have been funny as hell, would have channeled way too much of the piss and vinegar I was carrying over the weekend. Felty doesn't need that burden attached to him.

How did I let it go? Some G+ posts and comments about Occupy Wall Street. Cause the small pile of poo caused by someone that doesn't understand copyrights or the OGL doesn't compare to the powder kegs that are waiting for a match to go boom.

Defining the Kindreds in Tunnels & Trolls - The Basics - Leprechauns

What exactly is a Leprechaun in Tunnels & Trolls?  Is it the "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" little man in a green suit and a funny hat that talks with a brogue?  Not according to the artwork on page 25 of of the T&T 7.5e rulebook.  He stands about as high as a Hobb's shoulders, with a short beard and elvish ears.  So, to me this makes him closer to a gnome in appearance then a classic leprechaun of modern lore.

Leprechauns are one of the few races with a footnote (and the only one of the common kindreds to have such).  We are told that all leprechauns are wizards.  We are also told they have a natural Wink-Wing spell that they can do without any magical training... but as they are all wizards, aren't they all magically trained?  Oh, and the spell was moved from the core book to theCodex Incantatem - no idea why.  It is 4th level, so I guess the Leprechauns get to learn it early and for free.  It even costs them no WIZ points to cast it - it's totally free, but you won't know that until you read the spell description.

Stat-wise they take 1/2 hit to STR and and extra 50% to DEX, INT and LK.  Even with their hit to STR, they should still be able to tweak out decent combat adds if they want to.

Not sure how to tweak them.  Truth, I don't think they need any.  The free Wink-Wing spell is a great "get out of melee range free" card to play.  They make great scouts with it's use and should rarely find themselves cornered.  I think I've overlooked their sue in the past.  I need to make up for that.