It's Black Friday Weekend at RPGNow!

And do they have a crapload of sales going on.  Time to do some virtual window shopping.

Here's just a few:

Adamant Entertainment:  If you get just one RPG PDF this weekend, it should be ICONs.  If you already have it, get some of supplements for it.  In either case, it's a $1.99 a book.  Oh, and all purchases enter you in a contest to win an Amazon Kindle Fire.  Saweet!

Mongoose has put it's Runequest and Runequest II lines on sale as it wraps up it's license for the name, but not the system.  If you wanted to get your hands on some RQ Glorantha, Lankmaror Elric stuff, here's your change for some bargains.

Goodman Games is running a Half Off sale.  Perfect time to fill in the holes in your DCC collection as we wait for the DCC game and a whole new line of DCC adventures.

There's a lot more on sale, but these are the ones that struck my eye in particular.

Edit:  Knowledge Illuminates, a starting adventure for the usual OSR clones, written by fellow blogger  Time Shorts, is on sale for a buck!  You only have yourself to blame if you pass this one up. (thanks Ivy for pointing this out)

On the Fourth Day of Free Holiday Sawg, My Bartender Gave to Me... a Free Setting for 3e D&D (Codex Arcanis)

Codex Arcanis is the core book of the Arcanis setting for 3e.  It's also fairly easy to convert to any of the clones.  For me, I'll be using it as a source book to farm ideas from, and it's over 250 pages of free ideas ;)

From the blurb:

The Shattered Empires Await!

Turmoil grips the lands of Onara. It is the end of an era and the dawn of a new age. It is an age of struggle against the end of existence; and age, which shall witness the rise of history’s greatest champions. Will the world of Arcanis pass into Oblivion or will her heroes raise her up to new heights?

The Codex Arcanis is the essential tome for the critically acclaimed Arcanis: the World of the Shattered Empires campaign setting. Within one will find:

The history and geography of Onara’s greatest nations.

Races, feats and prestige classes – all approved for use with Living Arcanis.

A complete pantheon, unlike any fantasy religion in that it is left to mortals to interpret the commandments of faith.

Thousands of people world-wide play in the World of the Shattered Empires and now’s your chance to join them.

Mortals stumble in the darkness; Heroes light the way.

Be that Hero and Leave Your Mark Upon the Shattered Empires.

Giving Thanks on This Fine Day!

Thanksgiving is a day to reflect on things you are thankful for.  I don't have to dig all that far back this year, this month alone has been one I've been extremely thankful:

Got married on the 5th :)

Got a new, more responsible position at work on the 10th

Professional renovations (shit I can't or won't do) started on the 14th

Officially cancer free on the 16th (just took 5 1/2 years after being diagnosed ;)

It's been a damn good month!

Bonus! On the Third Day of Free Holiday Swag, My Bartender Gave to meeeee... Even More D6 Goodies

When you lose the license to Star Wars, but your system was built with star Wars in mind, you need a new Space Opera setting.  Septimus is that Space Opera setting (including the D6 rules).

Clocking in at 364 pages, it is a beast of a book.  It is a beauty.  It is free.

From the blurb:

As one galactic empire dies, billion of people from thousands of worlds flood to their last great hope -- Septimus.

Bill Coffin's Septimus sets the players inside a Dyson Sphere made from an unknown and unknowable alien technology. Faction pitted against faction to control the sphere and the amazing technology therein -- a technology so great that no weakness cannot be eliminated and even death is not final. But, even as the obsessed techno-cult, the Sindivar Extant seeks to build a Utopia around Septimus' many nanofoundries, a dark secret spreads. The same technology that is a boon to so many billions of people contains a flaw, a flaw that may have spelled doom to the great originators, a flaw that threatens to crush Septimus and its inhabitants, even before the greatest of secrets yet remains undiscovered.

Whether you fight alongside the Extant and the Cadre, or whether you join one of the many factions seeking to wrestle power and wealth from the Cult, you are sure to find a game that is right for you. This 360+ page RPG comes packed with everything you need for many hundreds of hours of gaming. This books needs no additional material to play. It comes with the OpenD6 core rules, huge amounts of setting information, complete with area maps, plus the most exhaustive character generation and character option information ever in a single D6 System book.

Inspired by, and meant to capture all the fun of the Classic Star Wars roleplaying game by West End Games, this free-wheeling Space Opera also takes you science fiction fun to the next level. More mature and multi-tiered that Star Wars D6, Septimus includes elements of Cyberpunk, Transhumanism, Light Mecha, all the way to fantasy elements. Septimus' vast territory only about 1 or 2% of which has been mapped, means an almost unlimited field to play in.

This is the biggest campaign setting published by West End Games in years, with more support content to follow, which means you'll continue to have the support you want and need, for a long time to come.

On the Third Day of free Holiday Swag, my Bartender Gave to Meeee...Some D6 RPG Gaming!

Yep, I've mentioned this stuff in the past, but as it is Thanksgiving here in the states, I'm giving thanks that the entire line was released for free.  This is the same core D6 system that powered West End Games' Star Wars, Xena, Men in Black and others.  It's only gotten better and the system has gotten tighter.  You literally can't go wrong with it.

Let's see some what they offer for free:

The new D6 System roleplaying game series offers fans of one of the most popular cinematic systems a new way to get their favorite game. Combining the best of over 15 years of D6 System design ? including systems appearing in Men in Black, DC Universe, Hercules & Xena, and the awarding-winning Star Wars roleplaying game ? each D6 System rulebook provides an attribute and skill set tailored specifically to the genre while using a game engine that's cross-genre compatible. The covers, when placed together with D6 Adventure in the middle, form a stunning panoramic image.

D6 Fantasy Rulebook- Suitable for any non-modern fantasy setting, including high fantasy, low fantasy, and swashbuckling.


Combining the best of over 15 years of D6 System design, D6 Adventure Rulebook provides you with the basics for playing in a wide range of modern settings, from the Wild West to the Near Future, such as pulp action, espionage, and low-powered super heroes. You'll get everything you need to add the popular D6 System to your favorite setting.







D6 Space Rulebook- Suitable for any far future setting, including cybernetics and space travel.

On The Second Day of Free Holiday Swag, My Bartender Gave to Meeeeee... The Medieval Mysteries Role Playing Game

Apparently there is a whole genre of fiction that has passed me bye.  I need to rectify that.

The Medieval Mysteries RPG, subtitled Sleuthing in the Middle Ages, is an RPG that covers the notch of, sure enough, medieval mysteries.  It uses the same stripped down OGL engine as yesterday's Go For Yer Gun! that I posted yesterday with one major change - Hit Dice progression stops at 4th level.

If you have a background of reading medieval mysteries, you have enough here to run a game.  If you don'y (I don't) you'll probably need to read from the suggested reading list for inspiration.  I plan to track down a book or two from the Brother Cadfael series after (virtually) thumbing through this.

From the blurb:

The Brother Cadfael novels of Ellis Peters, created a massive following of readers and spawned a whole new genre that was to become the biggest growing genre in new fiction. The Medieval Murder Mysteries RPG is designed to emulate the medieval detectives like Crowner John, Hugh Corbett and Owen Archer, found in the works of Bernard Knight, Paul Doherty and Candace Robb. It uses the same simplified version of the WoTC OGL system found in the popular Go Fer Yer Gun! rpg. It features nine character classes, including the Apothecary, Crowner and Scholar, a new simplified skill system, a grittier combat system where hit die stop at 4th level as well as rules for wound infection, details about crime and punishment and a sample adventure. The Medieval Murder Mysteries rpg contains all you need to go sleuthing in England in the Middle Ages. Includes a huge reading list of medieval mystery writers and their novels.

Thinking Critical - Some Thoughts on Rolemaster

I was thinking earlier about the rulesets I have installed for Fantasy Grounds 2 (VTT) and Rolemaster kinda stuck out in my mind.

I always had big ideas about running a Rolemaster campaign back in the 90s, but I never got around to it. I did run some MERP, and we had a short but intense Spacemaster campaign that I ran when we were short players, but we never stuck with it.

It always seemed like it was too complicated. We loved reading the charts, but we hated referring to the charts. Heck, I think I winged at least half the modifiers.

Fantasy Grounds 2 automates the modifiers and the charts. It ALMOST makes it a viable choice for me to run a game of Rolemaster. It still may be too complicated for me. Swords & Wizardry Complete, ACKS and the other clones are more my taste these days.

It would be nice to have some of those criticals pop up on the screen. I might just have to play around with it tonight and see how it plays out.

Yes, I'm getting much closer to getting my game on. Or games. Fun Fun!

Bits N' Pieces of Holiday Gaming

Actually, it should be better then fruitcake, but it is traditional.

I got an email from the Trolls that Troll Lord Games will be having it annual 12 Days of Christmas Sale again this year. If the prices are anything like last years, I'll be buying more C&C stuff that I don't need at prices I can't pass up.

There is a new version of a C&S initialed game being released next month (at least in PDF) - a more approachable version of Chivalry & Sorcery. At least it's billed as more approachable. I'm interested in finding out for myself, as the classic version I picked up on ebay earlier this year is damn near incomprehensible ;)

Short work week this week. Maybe I can get some Battlefield 3 gametime in tonight.

Bonus! On the First Day of Holiday Swag, My Bartender Gave to Me - Echoes of Olympus: A Novella

OneBookShelf now has a fiction site, named, aptly enough: DriveThruFiction.

And yes, they offer some free stuff - or at least one free book so far.

Echoes of Olympus: A Novella - I haven't read it yet, but it's free, so it will be going on my Kindle.

Enjoy the bonus Free Swag!

From the blurb:

Ebook Description

Heliodas, the Athenian born son of Zeus, rides to war in the armies of Alexander The Great of Macedonia in a bid to topple the Persian Empire, which has 

threatened Greece for hundreds of years.

Thermiandra, the adopted princess of Cyme, struggles with a hidden secret too terrible to imagine. After receiving a vision from the Athena, she leaves her family and life of luxury behind to follow the goddesses call.

Demosthenes, the great orator and general of Athens, face must face treachery from his rival Lysiemon.

Echoes of Olympus: A Novella is the first seventy pages of a novel of the same name. It is historical fantasy set in an ancient Greece in which the Peloponnesian War did not take place.

About the Author

Darrin Drader currently works as a staff writer for 38 Studios, the video game company founded by famed Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. Before entering into the electronic gaming field, he worked as a tabletop roleplaying game designer, and has written books for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, D20 Modern, Oathbound, Reign of Discordia, and others. He lives with his wife, four kids, two cats, and one temperamental chihuahua.

This book come in PDF, .mobi, and EPUB formats, which will enable it to be viewed on most readers, tablets, and computers.

On The First Day of Free Holiday Swag, My Bartender Gave to Me: Go ForYer Gun!

Alright, I'm starting a new tradition today.  Free RPG stuff that can be found on the internet for your Holiday enjoyment.  I do the searching, you get the free staff to enjoy, read, play or whatever else your heart desires.

Today's stocking stuffer is Go For Yer Gun!  It's an OGL based game with an Old School Feel.  Did I mention the 80 page PDF is fully bookmarked.  How come every publisher can't do the same?  Especially when they want me to dig deep into my pockets to buy their stuff?  I'm not going to mention names, but they know who they are.

It's got the six stats you know and love, hit points, classes, experience charts - it a D&D Western.  No where near as simple to use as Weird West, it would still be a bargain at twice the price.  Of course, twice the price is still free ;)

From the blurb:

Role-playing adventures in the Wild West. This role-game takes the OGL, shakes it up and lets only the necessary stuff back in again. What this means is that you are left with a straightforward, no nonsense role-playing game without feats and skills. It does feature a simple class-based system (Drifter, Gunslinger, Preacher and Wrangler to name just a few of the 10 character classes), so it has that 'old school' feel with a more modern slant. It is so easy to use, it can just as easily be used as a simple gunfight/skirmish game with as much or as little of the role-playing element as you like. If you like feats and/or skills, these can be taken from the SRD or any other OGL or d20 game you happen to like and slotted straight in seamlessly. Included in the game are several pages devoted to 73 real-life Wild West characters, 3 adventure ideas, a character sheet and rules for multi-classes. The word count is 33,000 words (including the WOTC OGL) and it is fully bookmarked.

Budget Gaming - An OSR Specialty

When you think about it, gaming on a budget is something that the OSR is made for.

Most of the rulesets are available for free (usually artless versions) in PDF, and really, everything else is optional.

This is, however, the week of Thanksgiving, which also means the week of Black Friday. I'm expecting lots of bargains over the next month or so.

Troll Lord Games always runs a nice promotion, as do many of the PDF vendors at the OneBookShelf sites. But I wan't more.

So, my goal is to get a small post up each night until the end of the year, showcasing a free RPG ruleset, products, art pack - whatever strikes my fancy and hopefully yours.

Time to see what my eye spies...

Royalty Free Art - Arcane Freebie - (from V Shane)

Well, one good thing about last weeks FUBAR with the OneBookShelf Freebie Section is that I'm now going back and having a better look at it.

Arcane Freebie (crappy name - great art) is one of those things that I should have discovered before.  Three excellent royalty free pieces of art for you to use, but this one is by far my favorite.  It's dying to be turned into an adventure or story of it's very own.

Might as well grab the rest, eh?

My Posting Has Slowed Down Due to Work...

But I'll find a way to fix that ;)

In any case, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming up fast.

I'll be keeping my eyes open for deals on Tablets, RPGs (both print and PDF offers) and anything else I feel my fellow gamers might have an interest in and will post them as I find them.  I'm off for 4 days (Gobble Gobble!) and i'll have my iPad with me on Turkey Day here in the States.

Oh, and for those with Android devices (phones and tablets), Amazon's free app for the day is Documents to Go.  Normally 15 bucks, still free for the next 6 hrs or so.

And Now For Something Completely Different - RPGNow Fixed It's Free Page

Yep, OneBookshelf / RPGNow / DriveThruRPG have fixed the glitch that made it all but impossible to find new free releases on it's sites.

All is well in the world now.  That is, if your world consists of Free RPG Products.

Nothing more to see here.  Move along and get your free stuff.  Like, from the column on the left side of this blog ;)

Kindle Fire and My Gaming PDFs - A Working Combination

It took a while for me to figure out the best (and simplest) manner to integrate my gaming PDF collection with my new Amazon Kindle Fire.  With the iPad, it was easy enough to use the relatively inexpensive GoodReader to access my DropBox account and read my PDFs.  As far as I can tell, there is no GoodReader app for the Android OS.

Luckily for me, Amazon was offering QuickOffice Pro for free last Monday.  Normally 15 bucks, this app connects directly to my DropBox account and allows me to read by PDFs.  The fact that it also allows me to work with MS Word and Excel documents is a plus.

I've also used Box.Net to bring my PDFs over and read them using Adobe Reader.  This is kinda the no frills, free method (assuming you have a Box.Net account).

I'm sure there are folks with more experience then I have with Android, just keep in mind, not all Android Apps work on the Fire.

As for how they look?  The Fire screen is pretty damn sharp.  I have no complaints.  The iPad's 10" screen makes for a better reading experience in general, but the Fire's screen and size makes for a better "in bed" reading experience.

Partial Fix to Get Your "Free Fix" at OneBookshelf

This only works at DriveThruRPG.com.  It doesn't work at RPGNow as far as I can tell, but if someone can replicate it there I'd be thrilled to hear about it.  I prefer the color scheme at RPGNow ;)

Go to the DriveThruRPG / DriveThruStuff homepage.  Below the featured product, you'll see a bunch of new products being shown and 3 tabs:  Sample New Products, All New Products and New Since Last Visit.  Sample New Products is the default.  Best I can tell, it doesn't show any of the free products.

All New Products WILL show new "free" products, as will New Since Last Visit, but since the latter only shows what has been added since you last visit, not what you actually saw since your last visit (and we haven't been seeing any new "free" stuff)it probably won't help much at the moment.

All New Products is the tab you want.  The FREE STUFF! graphic button is worthless at the moment.  If and when they actually allow you to sort by release date the story may change for the better.

More Thoughts on RPGNow's "Reorganization" of It's Free Products Section

Right now I'm beginning to feel like this guy.  You won't like me when I'm angry...

AD&D Grognard left this as a comment to the original post of mine regarding the current state of the Free Products section on RPGNow, but I feel his comment deserves to be a post of its own.  AD&D Grognard, if you don't want this to be posted, I'll take it down, but I think you put this into words better then anyone else so far and it needs to be heard.


Ok, it's done. They have till Tuesday and then I plan on starting a boycott.

Message as follows:

Just a comment to go along with the rest of those in the online game community who have contacted you and will continue to do so about the following matter. 

Your recent dismantling of your 'free' products area creates a very real situation. I make use of these products to do previews on my blogs and soon ezine.

This service provides me with a chance to preview work early, get people interested in new product and ultimately send them to your site. I do this without compensation from either of your gaming sites.

Now it is a pain in the ass and quite frankly too time consuming to track down the material as it now stands and as such will be dropped from my programs until such time as RPGNow decides to pay for ad space or brings back the free product filter in a usable form.

In other words, if you don't want someone driving traffic to your sites for no cost to yourself then just keep the free product situation the way it is. There are other online retailers providing much the same type of free program services that would probably appreciate the traffic boost.

(end message)

"Never try to appeal to a man's better nature. He may not have one. Instead appeal to his self interest'.

-Robert Heinlein


As I said on the top of this post, you said what needed to be said better then I.  


It's strange that I just recently remarked at how games like Old School Hack and Cascade Failure were finally finding distribution via OneBookshelf's sites, as the creators of these games are pretty solidly in the "We Work For Free" corner of our hobby.  With the current change to OBS's way of "showcasing" free products (and I use "showcasing" in the meaning of  "not showcasing at all") as they are released, these two products would never be found by the casual, or not so casual, shopper.


If you feel the same way, let OBS / RPGNow / DriveThruRPG know.  If folks don't show that they care, then the change to the Free Products Page will speak for itself.

What to Play When One Steps Away From the OSR

I'm looking for a system that is a bit more "episodic" then most of the rule sets in the OSR.  By default, they assume campaign play, which is awesome overall, and my preferred way to play, but sometimes you need something made for easy swapping out of PCs between sessions, which is damn useful if you plan on using any typo of VTT.

I'm leaning towards Trail of Cthulhu, using the recently released Apocalypse Machine Sourcebook.  Kind of a Fallout meets Cthulhu setting.  I'm reading through the sourcebook now, and I think it would work well in the type of pick up game Constacon tends to run.

More when I've gotten further into reading the sourcebook.

OneBookShelf Changes It's Sorting System For Free Products and I'm Not Happy

Maybe they are just trying things out.  Maybe its a programing glitch.  Maybe this is the new way they want things to be.  I don't know what the answer is, but I'm not happy.

Before, when you were at the RPGNow / DriveThruRPG homepage and clicked the "Free Stuff" graphic on the left side of the page, it took you to a page with the latest "Free Products" being offered.  If you wanted to go back further in time, it was as simple as clicking a button.

Now, when you click the "Free Stuff" graphic, you are taken to a page where the free stuff is sorted by "relevance" by default.  So, White Wolf's Tri-Stat DX RPG is now the top selection - originally added to the mix back in 2004 - 7 1/2 years ago.  I can also sort by Product Name, Publisher or, get this - price.  It's all FREE, what price is there to sort?

There is no option to sort by date added to the catalogue.  So, if you are adding a free product to OneBookShelf's catalogue, the chances of someone finding it are slim to none as it stands currently.  They do not appear on the home page with the other new products that are offered at a price.

Some may still come to my attention via my status as a reviewer, but I suspect a lot will escape my view unless others bring it to my attention.  You can always email me at trubluniteATgmailDOTcom if you come across something free that should get some added attention.

As I said at the start, this may be a temporary glitch, it may not be - but I certainly am not thrilled by it.

Just Another Hole in the Wall

So, my contractor started with a nice size hole in the wall. The hole should morph into a doorway over today and tomorrow. Assuming he ever made it to the house - he was running late with car problems.

Which, of course, leads me to the type of Hole in the Wall your players might experience - that's right, the small drinking establishment. The perfect place for the PCs to feel like extended family. A nice base to work from between adventures. A location that those "in the know" know about, and can find the PCs to offer their next adventure. As time goes on, it's also the place their foes can use to get at them - little hurts as much as having your friends and family hurt or threatened.

Gotta love them holes in the wall ;)

Review - d6 Magazine Issue 2

It seems like yesterday that the first issue of d6 Magazine hit the virtual news stand.  Actually, it was less then 2 weeks ago.  That's a damn nice pace.

What do you get for your FREE d6 Magazine dollars?

32 pages of d6 goodness:

An excerpt from the upcoming d6 RPG: The Black Desert covering robots and androids.  Pretty useful if you are planning on running a sic-fi campaign, or even used for making golems in a fantasy setting.

Graiv's Magical Curiosities - "A shop of useless magic items".  Pretty much everything here is adaptable to an OSR game or pretty much any RPG, as the majority are stateless and systemless.

Cinnamon and the Maco - Floor plans and sats for a sic-fi spacecraft.

Broken Wand -  an adventure using the Cinema6 rules.  At about 16 pages long, it's fairly sizable, although that does include a page and a half summary of the changes Cinema6 does to the cored6 rules.

Really nice magazine.  The fact that its free makes it priceless.

Remote Renovations and Other Assorted Stuff

The contractor started work on the renovations at the house earlier today. I had to work but my son was off today, so he's the point man, making phone calls to update me. I'm just glad it's started.

Today also marks a full 5 days in my new position. So far, so good. I have a motivated and competent staff. It's great, because they make me look good ;)

The same thing can be said about Game Mastering. No matter how skilled you are at it, you won't be able to overcome a poor group of players. At the same, a less skilled Game Master can really shine with the right group of players.

You also have to match play styles between GM and players. To some extent, the same can be said about supervisors and staff - if all are on the same page the work gets done in a more efficient manner. That, and everyone enjoys the day a heck of a lot more.

Alright, back to more game related posting tonight.

Alright, got my Kindle Fire (not my actual picture - I borrowed it from another site - the wife is currently playing with mine).

Here's my quick first impressions:

It's much lighter then my 1st Gen iPad.  Part of that is going from a 10" to a 7" screen.  Part of that is the metal case of the iPad.  Part of that is that the Kindle Fire is significantly slimmer.

The screen is bright and vibrant.  Works well for my Kindle book collection, playing movies via Amazon Prime (and the movies seem to load quicker then Netflix does on my iPad) and playing Angry Birds. ;)

I've uploaded Netflix and Hulu to it but I've yet to give them a try.  Didn't have a lot of time to spend with i tonight as the contractor is starting work tomorrow and we had to get things ready.  I need to upload some PDFs onto it still.  I didn't see a Dropbox app for it, but there is a Boxee app, so that should work.  I also need to upload some standard ebooks and some comics.

The touch screen responds well - better then the HP WebOS Tablet that was all the rage for $99 bucks 2 months ago.  I'll say it's about as responsive as my iPad.

My mother's reaction (she's knocking on 70 soon) upon seeing it and getting to play with it - she wants one for Christmas.

My wife's reaction - she has yet to put it down since she picked it up 20 minutes ago - and she wants her own for Christmas.

I'll play with it later when my wife relinquishes it ;)

Awaiting The Fire

Yep, I'm waiting on the delivery of my Kindle Fire today. Well, technically I'm at work and my son is waiting for the delivery, as he is off today, but lets not split hairs.

I'm hoping this is a viable and affordable alternative to the iPad. I love my iPad, but carrying a $800 piece of electronics on the NYC Transit System is probably the choice of fools. Carrying a $200 piece of electronics on the NYC Transit System is probably also foolish, but $600 less foolish ;)

I want to see how well the Kindle Fire handles my PDF collection. More tonight.

Free RPG - Cascade Failure - (Post Apocalypse)

I love it when Greg - I mean the Chubby Funster Guy, puts out a new game, or releases an update to a new one.  They are always well put together and full of amazingly evocative art.  The RPG systems he designs are no slouches either.

Cascade Failure is his first RPG system to be distributed via RPGNow.  It's a post apocalyptic sic fi setting build upon the OGL.  If you are familiar with any of the OSR games out there, the basic similarities should ground you pretty well.

It's a 95 page PDF optimized for tablet and on screen reading.  It is extensively bookmarked.  There isn't an included adventure and the setting could use some fleshing out.  Hmm, maybe the Funster can put out a setting book for this... hint hint ;)

You really can't go wrong by grabbing yourself a copy.  It's free, yet better produced then most of the gaming products that put major dents in your wallet.

From the blurb:


Cascade Failure is a post-apocalypse future RPG. Set in the aftermath of a devastating war that collapsed the interstellar economy, Cascade Failure is a survival RPG that casts the characters out into a dangerous and hostile universe. The game is built on a rugged OGL chassis that is melded with a variety of new subsystems to round out your character. You can jump into unique character classes like the Kinetic that can move objects with their mind or into a unique alien species like the insectoid Sahael with a hardened exoskeleton and powerful mandibles for biting attacks.

The Cascade Failure universe was once rich with technology and as a survivor you will struggle to bring it back online. Learn to pilot mechs, hovercraft, starfighters, foil-based watercraft, and more. Enhance your body with cybernetics or through the consumption of powerful pharmaceuticals left over from the before times. There is even a species of robotic Golems that are literally living and thinking technology.

If you enjoy the post-apocalypse genre, but tire of endless deserts and mutants, Cascade Failure can provide an alternative. Check it out! It's free!

Free Miniatures - Darkfast Classic Fantasy Set Zero: Basic Adventure

One day I need to take a screen shot of the email account I have with OneBookshelf, just so you all can understand how things like this can pass me by.  This is actually an email I "starred" for later - but I have over 500 of those, out of nearly 6000 emails, of which over 5000 are probably products I could review.

All those "starred" emails?  Stuff I'm probably interested in reviewing, but I won't download until I have the time to look at it.  I'm never going to catch up it seems ;)

I also get notifications of free products in the same manner.  Just got around to this one.  Heck of an oversight.

5 good guys and 5 bad guys, in front and back poses - perfect for printing out as miniatures, or for using TokenTool to make tokens / pogs for your VTT of choice.  Did I mention you can change the color scheme, effectively doubling the number of miniatures?

(can you also tell I'm fighting some major writer's block for Mike Monaco's Iron Chef Adventure Challenge?  I'm digging deep looking for inspiration.  I drew a very heavy Al-Qadim deck.  Sigh)

From the blurb:

Darkfast Classic Fantasy Set Zero: Basic Adventure gives you 10 original Classic Fantasy themed miniature figures perfect for roleplaying games or wargames.  All files are 300dpi and include front and back views.  This is a layered PDF giving you two options of colour schemes for the figures.

There are 20 possible miniature combinations in this set!  Please use responsibly.

Cardstock Miniatures are an affordable and attractive alternative to metal or plastic miniatures. Print as many as you like as often as you like.

You will need a colour printer, cutting tools, glue, foamcore and time.  Assembly instructions are included.

Snuggling Up With Crypts & Things

I'm on a bit of an art kick this weekend, and I find myself flipping thru the Crypts & Things PDF looking at the artwork.

Next chose (or commissioned) some really nice pieces of art for this book.  Effective without being overbearing.  Paizo can afford to splash painting and full color art throughout their books, but B&W line art can be very effective, as is the case with Crypts & Things.

If I have one complaint with The Secret Fire, it's with the artwork.  Going for gore and reaction more the effect, that book's artwork took away from the total package in my opinion.

With Crypts & Things, the artwork only adds to the total package.  Can you tell I'm enjoying myself?  heh

Falling Under the Spell of "The Clip Art"

I wish there was a better term for the royalty art one can find under the "Clip art" heading.  To me it seems to be a disservice, as prior to my recent finds, when I thought of clip art, I thought of really simple / lousy thumbnail sized pieces of art.  Thank God I'm proving myself wrong the last few days.

My latest find can also be found on RPGNow.  Eastern Raider Games has a Portrait Package of 36 images listed at $4.49 for the set.  The price drops to $1.99 for the set once I put it in my cart.  That's about 6 cents an image.  Heck, if I only like one, it's still less then 2 bucks for it's usage.

I'm very much liking the idea of using licensed art for inspiration ;)

Here's the very liberal license conditions:

The package also contains a license.txt file thus giving the buyer the right to modify the images
(crop, blend, rehue, resaturate etc.). Anyone who owns this license may use the artworks in
any way (s)he wants, in any number of commercial products without the need to pay
anything, not a cent of royalty. The only exception: the artwork (even derivative ones) cannot be
sold in themselves, they have to participate a specific project.

The package contains mostly portraits and mostly fantasy/SF/Horor themed ones.
Might be useful for Web sites, MMORPGS, forum avatars, DMs, players can impersonate their character/world

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!