Someone Took a Dump in the Taverns D&D 5E Scrying Pool

Joe the Lawyer (and occasional shite stirrer - he says so himself) brought to my attention Monte Cook's latest column over at the WotC website. No links, as the iPad sucks for linking, but they are easy enough to find on your own.

In summary, D&D 5E is going to be modular, so you can add or subtract to it, and even players in the same campaign don't need to be playing with the same rules. My 0e fighter, your 3e cleric and her 4e wizzie can all play in my 5e game. Or something to that effect.

I can see players using less modules (or an earlier edition) then the GM, but I suspect whatever the default system the GM is using / emulating / has modules for is the maximum generation the PCs can use.

Still, all that's not the point. The point is this. In my 5e campaign, you could bring your Pathfinder character intact.

Well played WotC. Well played.

One game to rule them all, and in the basement bind them ;)

(the actual article from the WotC website)

Looking at the Past and the Future

Legends and Lore

Monte Cook

---

If you haven't already done so, please read this announcement from Mike Mearls.
So, now you have a little better idea what I've been working on. For many of you, what you already suspected has simply been confirmed. In any event, I can't tell you how exciting and challenging it’s been getting this project off the ground—and how thrilling it will continue to be as we move forward.

Of course, I'm not doing this alone. While I am working with a lot of great people at Wizards of the Coast in this endeavor, at this point in the process, I spend most of my time with two excellent designers, Bruce Cordell and Rob Schwalb. It's a team effort to be sure, and we’ll be including more talented designers, developers, and editors as things progress.
In the weeks and months ahead, I want to elaborate on some of the goals that Mike put forth in his announcement. This week, however, I just want to hit the highlights of what I think is particularly exciting about the development of the next iteration of the game.

First and foremost, as Mike said, this isn't another salvo in the so-called edition wars. This isn't an attempt to get you to playDungeons & Dragons in a new way. This is the game you've already been playing, no matter what edition or version you prefer. The goal here is to embrace all forms of the D&D experience and to not exclude anyone. Imagine a game where the core essence of D&D has been distilled down to a very simple but entirely playable-in-its-right game. Now imagine that the game offered you modular, optional add-ons that allow you to create the character you want to play while letting the Dungeon Master create the game he or she wants to run. Like simple rules for your story-driven game? You're good to go. Like tactical combats and complex encounters? You can have that too. Like ultra-customized character creation? It's all there.

In this game, you play what you want to play. It’s our goal to give you the tools to do so.
This new approach comes out of a single idea. At its heart, D&D isn't about rules. It's about participating in an exciting fantasy adventure. The rules are just the means to enable that to happen. They're not an end unto themselves. The reason most of us play is for the story that arises out of our games. We talk about the green devil mouth in the Tomb of Horrors. The diabolical plans of Strahd in Ravenloft. The cowardly kobold Meepo in Sunless Citadel. These stories bring us together. As D&D players, we shouldn't allow rule preferences to separate us. In the end, we have a lot more in common than we have differences, even if some of us prefer the simple-yet-wahoo style of old school Basic D&D and others the carefully balanced elegance of 4th Edition—or anything in between.

So if this new endeavor is just like your favorite prior version of the game, why play this one? First, we hope you're going to enjoy the distillation of the things that make D&D the game we all love into a single, unified package, with the ability to pick and choose other options as you desire.

Second—and this sounds so crazy that you probably won't believe it right now—we're designing the game so that not every player has to choose from the same set of options. Again, imagine a game where one player has a simple character sheet that has just a few things noted on it, and the player next to him has all sorts of skills, feats, and special abilities. And yet they can still play the game together and everything remains relatively balanced. Your 1E-loving friend can play in your 3E-style game and not have to deal with all the options he or she doesn't want or need. Or vice versa. It's all up to you to decide.

Finally, we're seeking your feedback to help guide us as we move ahead. You can play a part in shaping the direction of D&D. I can't stress this enough. We're going to be doing extensive playtesting and engaging in open discussion about our ideas for this iteration of D&D. We want real feedback from our players, because if the goal is to make a game that all D&D players want to play, it's not going to work unless we actually hear from a wide variety of D&D players. So tell your friends. Tell the guy down the street who still plays OD&D. Tell the girl at the game store who left D&D to play other systems. We want to hear from them too. Spread the word!

Time For Some Paranoid Reading

Allen Varney was kind enough to give me three of his novels (in Kindle format) set in the Paranoia game setting to review. It's nice and slow at work today, so I expect I'll actually take a meal away from my desk and get some reading in.

I have high hopes for the novels. If they can hit anywhere near the humor and lunacy of the 1st Edition Paranoia Boxed Set, the man will have a winning set of novels.

Hopefully the Computer won't notice this post...

Getting My Game On

I'm pretty psyched as I'll be back to regular gaming this coming Saturday via Google+ Hangout.  I've never actually gamed via G+ yet (and only used the Hangout feature once), so thankfully I'm a player and not a GM.

At the same time, I'm getting the itch to run a game myself.  I guess that kinda explains my afternoon of Virtual Table Top experimentation.  I've noticed that "simple" and "full featured" tend not to be in the same product despite the designers' best intentions.

I am most familiar with Fantasy Grounds, but as a player, not a GM.  You can hand hold a player, but you can't hand hold the guy running the show.  BattleGroundsRPG is something I purchased a while ago, and it's come long way.  I think I need to watch the training videos for both of these, as I always learn better watching over reading.

And yes, I'll check out MapTools again, although I was never all that found of it's set up.  And Epic Table.  And D20Pro.  Klooge is so ugly even with the floating licenses I have I'll probably never use it.  Oh, and iTableTop (did they drop the Pandoren label now?)

I'm still juggling systems in my head.  So much coolness to choose from I probably can't go wrong ;)

Best Laid Plans (and all that crap)

So, the wife was out with her friends this afternoon, and my intent was to get a Feltothraxis video done, maybe some reading, write the next post from Saturday Knight Special... you know.  Be productive.

Instead I spent some time online with Star Wars - The Old Republic (because my son is out-leveling my ass) and a heck of a lot of time tooling around with various Virtual Table Tops.  Now that I have my iMac botcamped, I can use Windows and OSX programs.

I was never able to get Fantasy Grounds to work via Crossover, nor was I able to get Battlegrounds RPG running on OSX, so having access to two of the big guys is very helpful (and distracting).  And others.  So many others. 

Well, that and I was checking out all the new blogs that were brought to my attention.  I need to redo my Blog Roll in sections to make it a bit more manageable.

Mini Review - Toys For the Sandbox: Apothecary (Generic / Sandbox)

Toys For the Sandbox: Apothecary is another, short, sandbox scenario from Occult Moon.  Like Fairy Glade, it comes in at 4 pages for 99 cents.

As in Fairy Glade, it packs a lot into 3 pages (remove one for the cover).  Background and keyed map of the shop is one page, six different hooks each with three different ways to play them is another and the NPC write ups and encounter and rumor tables are the last page.

What I really like about this series so far is that most of the hooks and twists can be reused, or rather, used later.  If you're a GM that likes to work of the cuff, a sentence or two may be all you need to get your creative juices flowing in the right direction.  So yes, it's one adventure, but in reality it's at least 18 seeds for your imagination.  Well worth your 99 cents.

From the Blurb:


It is Game Night, you have spent the week developing an adventure for that will blow the party’s mind. Then it happens, they zig when you thought they would zag, and wind up traveling away from the dungeon you spent all week making.


Toys for the Sandbox is here to help. Each one contains a map, named NPCs, rumors, encounters and plot hooks all centered on a different location. With Toys for the Sandbox you can look prepared even when you are not. 

Pssst! Looking For Some Blogs...

I was going thru my Blogroll, and now I'm fairly certain I've missed some outstanding RPG blogs out there.  Lets be honest, I might be solidly in the OSR Corner of the Blogosphere, but I've covered independent RPGs in my reviews and no one says you must be true to only one type of play or style of game.

So, any suggestions for me to add to my blog roll?  Old or new, something that I've overlooked?  Heck, pimp your own blog if you want.  I feel it's time to expand my vision.

Besides, 5E is in the air.  I'd like to find the new blogs before the next edition war breaks out ;)

Mini Review - Monsters of Legend (Legend / MRQ2)

If somehow, someway you missed out on the Legend RPG Core Rulebook from Mongoose for a buck (still a buck, so you can grab Legend here - I'll wait).  Got it?  Good.  Now, that core book does not include the standard fantasy races (or any race besides human) nor does it include your monstrous adversaries.  This is where Monsters of Legend comes in.

Dwarves?  Check!  Elves?  Yep.  Pretty much your standard fantasy good and evil races are included.

The book is broken down by the following categories: Humanoids, Invertebrates, Dinosaurs and Reptiles, Creatures of Legend and Natural Life.  It's enough to start you off, but if you are used to the huge encyclopedic source of monsters nearly every edition of D&D has had, you might feel that it's a little light.  That's to be expected, as it is the core monster book.  I expect there will be further volumes later.

The artwork is very nice.  I'm no expert, so I can't tell if it's washed inks or charcoal (I think it's mostly washed inks) but it is very evocative.  It's all black and white, no color.

The PDF itself is bookmarked, but just the sections.  So you can go to the start of the Invertebrates section, but you can't go right to Crab, Giant.

It's basically a catalogue of monstrous adversaries for your players.  It fills that role well.  I just wish it was filled with a bit more.

Oh, and for the OSR crowd, it features a nice Chaos Creature Feature Random Table.  I'm going to yoke this.

From the blurb:


Foes, beasts and creatures from every corner of the world can be found in this tome, ready to use in your games of Legend! Whether you are looking to populate your world with rare and exotic fiends to foil your players, or simply provide them with some gladiatorial entertainment, this book contains just what you need for the new Legend rules.

Like the Legend Core Rulebook, Monsters of Legend is released under the Open Game Licence.

Tenkar's Tavern's Final Dungeons & Dragons 5E Predictions

Planescape - Because You Know Monte Wants To

The city authorities have informed me that a privy fed scrying pool in the tavern's basement is against the health code - who knew?  So, before we drain the pool for good, here's a few final Dungeons & Dragons 5e predictions:

6 - The "very core" of the system will probably be released in some sort of "SRD", but the bits and pieces, the optional rules included with 5e that allow you to tweak it into an infinite number of play styles - those specific rules will be covered under a separate license.  Yeah, doesn't make sense to me either, but I am looking in a shit filled scrying pool ;)

7 - A return of Planscape, either at release or shortly there after.  You know you want it.  I'm sure Monte does too.  Besides, multiple planes is an easy way to feed multiple play styles.

8 - A new D&D powered MMORPG - Dungeons & Dragons Unlimited is going to be TWO editions old when 5e releases.  Time for a revamp /  reboot / reinvention.

9 - Fiction - Whatever world they decide to run with (Greyhawk anyone?), it's going to spawn a new series of books.  There will be at least one coinciding with the release of 5e.

10- No "Edition Wars" - at least, not as bad as the last round.  No one will be pissing on 4e because a new edition is coming out.  Not even at WotC.  They are looking to unify, not divide.

10A - Gnomes - they're not going to fuck the gnomes like they did with the release of 4e.  Not that I particularly like them, but they are part of what most gamers see as the core D&D classes.

10B - Player Races in General - back to the core.  Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Half-Elf and maybe even Half-Orc.  The extra 4e races will follow up in a supplement shortly after release.

Alright, draining the pool.  I've hired some kobolds to cart out the waste and give it a scrubbing.  Also hired an angry halfling ranger to keep them in line and out of the pub's kegs!

Mini Review - Toys For the Sandbox: Fairy Glade (Generic / Sandbox)

It is generally pretty hard to pull off a truly "generic" RPG scenario, as the underlying system often shows through somewhere.  That happens with Toys For the Sandbox: Fairy Glade.  It's not a bad thing, as it obviously draws upon the OGL/D&D as it's base.  There are no stats, but trust me, it's are in roots D&D (and not 4e, but I'm sure it would work there too).

That's not what you want to know.  What you want to know is if you get value for your 99 cents.  The answer is, yes, you do.  A map, 6 plot hooks, each with 3 possible twists, allows you to tailor this in the direction you want it to go.  It IS perfect for throwing in front of your party as they are exploring YOUR sandbox (and we all know how important the sandbox is in the OSR).

Color me impressed.  I wasn't expecting much in 4 pages, and what I got is a lot, and it's good.

From the blurb:


It is Game Night, you have spent the week developing an adventure for that will blow the party’s mind. Then it happens, they zig when you thought they would zag, and wind up traveling away from the dungeon you spent all week making.


Toys for the Sandbox is here to help. Each one contains a map, named NPCs, rumors, encounters and plot hooks all centered on a different location. With Toys for the Sandbox you can look prepared even when you are not

How Many OSR Games Are Being Released in 2012?

All the talk about Dungeons & Dragons 5e got me thinking about the fairly large number of OSR games that I've preordered via Kickstarter and such that are due for release in 2012. I'm actually pretty amazed:

Delving Deeper - I mentioned this yesterday. Brave Halfling always puts out a top notch product.

Crypts & Things - Swords & Sorcery using the S&W engine if I am not mistaken.

Dungeon Crawls Classics - This has the chance to be a breakout hit - or not. I don't see much middle ground in this, and Goodman Games has a lot riding on it's success.

Adventurer Conquerer King System - the PDF may be going out to Kickstarter supporters this weekend. It's a nice system that handles everything from adventuring to running your own kingdom. If nothing else, great support material for your other OSR games.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea - Looks very cool from what I've read about it so far. Another Swords & Sorcery option for the OSR.

My lord, I'm going to have a crapload of options as to what system to run. Best thing is, my players won't need their own copies (although they should want one) as knowledge of any of the OSR systems should ground them fairly well.

Any that I missed?

Looking For an Announcement More Important Than "When Does 5e Release?"

Anyone know when Delving Deeper is going to ship?

It's not like I don't have enough OSR style games... but... I DON"T have enough OSR style games :)

Tenkar's Tavern's Bold Predictions For Dungeons & Dragons 5E

No, I'm not the Amazing Kreskin, nor do we have him working here at the tavern. We do, however, have a scrying pool in the basement. It's filled with runoff from the privy above, so you know what it's full of ;)

Anyhow, here's my 5E predictions:

1 - Boxed Sets - Because boxed sets can actually get retail shelf space in places like Walmart and Target. (Book stores and Hobby stores are so 2002) B/E/C/M/I type set, with one time codes to activate your boxed set via the DDI codes packaged inside, with "bonus material" only available online.

2 - Expect some really onerous DRM for the online DDI/Whatever they're gonna call it. Because that's going to be the only way they'll put stuff online beyond what they do now.

3 - D&D VVTT - The Vaporish Virtual Table Top - Wasn't this promised with the release of 4E? They even had this awesome die roller video (lifted from Fantasy Grounds). You were supposed to be able to buy digital figures and such. Would have been a nice money maker. I haven't checked on the VTT Beta in a while, but I suspect it's going to get a heavy push in 5E. Full release of the D&D VTT will come with 5E. Expect a fee system on a monthly basis, to get some of that World of Warcraft gold.

4 - A return to "RolePlaying" - shorter combats, less need for battle-maps (but a robust system for those that like battle-map encounters), more unique character building, stats that actually mean something, rolling for Hit Points, etc. Still, expect a rule for everything and everything has a rule. Which sucks for roleplaying.

5 - Even more "Organized Play" - Organized Play gives you repeat customers and brings people into their local game stores, which means more sales (at least one hopes so). If they can charge a small yearly fee, they will. I'm sure different fees will be part of a forthcoming survey.

Alright, the fumes from the scrying pool have become a bit much. I'll return with more D&D 5E predictions from Tenkar's Tavern's Privy-fed Scrying Pool after I disinfect myself. Talk about still waters, it almost looks like mud...

New Year, Old Themes & New Blogs

I've Always Loved the Art From Dragon Warriors - One of the Best Systems I've Never Played

Link to Free Introductory Book For Dragon Warriors - Mongoose Download

And no, I'm not talking about my other 2 blogs (that have been pretty much neglected as I'e been fighting  off my illness).  New blogs that have hit the RPG scene.  Or new blogs to me.  Or blog that have recently hit their stride.  Or whatnot.  So, I'll be bringing back the "Overlooked Blog Collection", where I highlight a blog I feel has been overlooked.  Aiming for once a week, but time will tell.

I'm also going to go back and re-explore the virtual table tops I own.  Yes, own, as in purchased.  Okay, I'll look at Maptools too, but I'll be putting fresh eyes on Fantasy Grounds 2, BattleGrounds RPG, iTableTop/Pandoren (which is free now, but expensive as all hell when i bought TWO lifetime licenses - but it went to a good cause), Klooge (if I can find my codes), ScreenMonkey, EpicTable (currently in Beta) and any others you might want to point me in the direction of.

It's a New Year, and I'm gonna run some gosh darned RPG campaign in 2012!  And it's gonna be via a VTT, cause that way I can play in my underwear and no one can complain (unless it's via iTableTop / Skype / Google+ or anything else with video - then I'll have to be presentable).  That, and it really cuts down on the game commute.

(in the meantime, feel free to read my previous look at Fantasy Grounds 2)

How Do You Leave A Bunch of Gamers in Suspense?

Announce a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons, yet give no details as to said edition.

Is it be called 5E? Doesn't look like it.

I'm going to place my bet and guess it's going to be called Dungeons & Dragons Unlimited (so they can continue with the theme that it encompasses players of all previous editions.)

I'm going to also state that I expect a return to Vancian Magic with some sort of "at will power".

I don't expect anything game changing to the point that 4e separated itself from 3x. I do expect something closer to 3x then 4e.

I DO NOT expect it to be OGL. Possibly released under a kinder, softer GSL.

I expect gamers to care whether or not WotC succeeds with the newest, latest and greatest version of D&D. Like it or not, D&D get's lots of shelf space at the few remaining books stores. It's a recognizable name. It's Kleenex when the rest of the hobby is "facial tissues". A successful release of a new edition of D&D can only help the hobby in general.

Me? I'm a gamer in suspense. I want to know more. Which I'm sure I will as soon as the 5e PDF starts making the rounds in the torrent sites. You know - the "pre-beta" version the press got to play with ;)

Mini Review - Loviatar #6

Picture "Borrowed" From Christian's Blog

One of the things that I want to kick myself for is not having a full collection of Christian's past zines.  I should, as I have his first zine, and I at one point had each and every one, but I never realized how much I missed his older stuff until Loviatar came along.  Loviatar hits the same buttons that the best of his past stuff hit for me.  It's just that good.

Now, I'm going to start out I love the Hex 00X series he started in issue #6,  By itself it is worth the price of admission (and as the price is 3 bucks an issue, mailed to you house, how can you go wrong?).   I don't recall what the scale of each hex is, but what he has given us in the last two issues is a growing sandbox to explore.  It should work with any of the OSR games that draw on D&D for inspiration, but could even work with Tunnels and Trolls with very little work.

Thursday Night Fight Club is Christian's first dabbling into Basic Roleplaying.  While I own the latest rules (and even the Fantasy Grounds 2 mod) I haven't played with the system or any of it's close cousins in years.  Still, Christian is always top notch with character descriptions - they are never just a bunch of stats - that knowing the system doesn't matter all that much.  A perfect NPC for any modern RPG system.

The last article details 2 NPCs for Vampire: The Requiem.  I owned the whole first generation of the World of Darkness Core books and never ran the system.  Could never get my group into it.  Maybe I didn't understand the whole setting behind the closed doors and I couldn't sell it to my friends.  Christian understands it.  Well done as always.

So, simply put, an excellent source for any game master to find inspiration.

Time to pour myself of free tap beer from my Beertender and toast Christian.  Heineken Light lad, but the wife is returning with a mini keg of Newcastle Brown Ale for when this run out ;)

Mini Review - D "Infinity" Magazine #3: Children of the Night (For Just About Every game System You Can Think Of)

D "Infinity" (because I can't end a font with an infinity symbol) is a strange little bird.  It's a magazine that tries to cover many different RPG systems from many different publishers.  It's hard to tie down the notch it covers as it covers so many niches.  The question then becomes, does it cover them well?

Surprisingly enough, I think it does.  That is due, in no small part, to some decent writing and editing.  For an article about a game I do not play to have value to me, the writing must be strong enough to go beyond game mechanics.  On the whole D "infinity" # 3 does it's job pretty well.

Oh, lest I forget:  The index is actually hyperlinked to the articles it lists.  Well done!

It starts with a Tile Based game called The Search for Bigfoot.  If you remember the old Tom Wham games that used to be stuck in occasional issues of Dragon Magazine, the concepts are similar.  For the price of a magazine, you get a free game included.  In this case, you have to print out the pieces, and I suspect you'll need to use some card stock or such to print it out if you want it to survive more then one sitting.  Can't  tell you how well the game plays, but the tiles look well done.

There is an interview with Andy Hopp.  I don't know his work as an author or artist, but the art used is pretty weird but very good.

There is a Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide.  Written fairly well, but all this should be pretty standard tactics for most Roleplayers.  Still, useable in an of your modern zombie games.

Digital Dice - It deals with mapping programs.  Including many free ones (I think they are already listed on the left side of this blog but I need to see if I missed any).  Nice article but fairly short.

One Starry Night - A Call of Cthulhu / Cthulhu Live scenario set in the modern day.  I'm about 20 years removed from my last CoC game and I've never run a "Live" style RPG.  So I was fairly lost reading this.  I need to refresh my CoC knowledge.  It does include some nice looking handouts.

The Prop Room is an article detailing how to make some fake dragon teeth (well, if you could make "real" dragon teeth it would be a different kind of article).  Not sure how useful it is as an article, but it was damn interesting and kinda cool.  I guess if I was a LARPer it would be much more useful.  I'm not ;)

A look at some of the guilds in the city of Kos.  Actually, it's one guild made up of multiple professions.  It's okay.

Then we get some stuff for use with "Basic System".  I though that meant it was going to be used with Chaosium's Basic RPG.  Nope, its for use with OSR type systems.  Go figure.  Still, 8 pages of naturalish type monsters is never bad and can keep players on their toes by keeping things fresh.  Did I mention the art if pretty good though out the magazine?  It is.  Oh, and an article on Mutation Artifacts for Mutant Future.  Wait, theres more:  Some Orc Spells.

Then we go OGL, or rather 3X.  Another preview of Cooper's Corrected Summon Monsters series of PDFs.  If I recall correctly, he did this with the monster manual too.  I don't play 3X, but this may be of value to those that do, assuming you believe it all needs to be fixed.

Next we get a page of Character Caricatures.  Decent art.  'nuff said.

Hey, an OGL article about Plague & Rabies, written by an MD, with game effects and treatment.  Wan't I just wondering about stuff like this?

Some sci-fi OGL stuff.  I forget, this is a partial house organ for Skirmisher Games.

Some hybrid races for Pathfinder.  Half-ghouls.  Damn!

Alien Vegetable Monstrosities for Pathfinder.  Yeah.  Interesting painted minis.

An article for 4e, but as the system is a dead system, I didn't bother reading it.  Doh!

All in all, a decent bang for you buck.  Which is surprising, as usually the attempt to please all means you please none.

Dungeons & Dragons - A Series of Half Editions

D&D is Dead!  Long Live D&D!

Had to get that outa the way.  Anyhow, ever since AD&D the game has grown progressed evolved changed in "Half Steps", although it was rarely honest in it's labeling of such.

AD&D had its Point Five moment with the release of Unearthed Arcana.  You either played with UA or you didn't (I never saw a group that had a middle ground back then), but the power level with UA changed the game play.  It was a Half Step Edition.

AD&D 2e had Skills & Powers as it's Point Five moment, although it could certainly be argued that the Complete Series of Handbooks to Remove the Player From His Cash were the Point Five Moment and that Skills & Powers were nothing more then a chance to experiment with concepts that were to come in 3e.

Dungeons & Dragons 3e (because calling it Advanced was so limiting) had it's Point Five moment with the release of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e, which was the first (and only time) that the publisher of the Dungeons & Dragons game was honest with an upgrade to the RPG in the middle of the life of the edition.  Then again, they didn't have much of a choice, as 3.5e had many compatibility issues with 3e.  God, I just love multiple editions, don't you?

Dungeons & Dragons 4e, under the glorious days of the GSL (which also was revised to go from Ominous to Slightly Less So) recently had it's Point Five moment with the release of the Essentials Line.  WotC refuses to call it a Point Five moment, but as the class abilities in Essentials are different than the ones in the 4e Player's Handbook, I'd call it a Point Five moment.  Oh, and a money grab, as it was a way to repackage and slightly revise material that was already published in an attempt to soak the loyal player base.  It's dangerous to be a loyal follower of the D&D Brand.  One needs deep pockets or a serious line of credit.  Thank God for the OSR.

Now, the game NOT to be Called Dungeons & Dragons 5e, for although it is the 5th glorious edition of ADVANCED Dungeons & Dragons (otherwise it would be 8e or 9e depending on who is counting) apparently want to shed it's edition counting, much like Microsoft shed it's numbering by year, and went to edition number.

I suggest we refer to the new Dungeons & Dragons game as D&D 2012.  Even though it will probably release in 2013, because that's how Microsoft usually did it, by lagging a year.  We can use the Mayan calendar and safely announce that it doesn't refer to the end of the world, but the end of Dungeons & Dragons as a table top MMO impersonator.

Nope, D&D 2012 is going to be full contact medieval reenactment combat.  Screw dice, it will require real player skill.  And if the DM isn't careful, he might just get himself killed.

On second thought, it's probably going to be more like Magic the Gathering.  You get a random assortment of pages from the Player's Skills & Powers Deck, and if you want more options, you need to buy boosters.

I really want Wizards to succeed, but they can't be The One Ring to Rule Them All (besides the fact that the Tolkien Estate probably has that trademarked already).  They won't be bringing back many that turned their noses at 4e and essentially stayed with 3Xe by going Pathfinder, unless they out do Pathfinder.  That's a tall order, and to do so they'll be working against the 4e they built up (and now have to bad mouth to start the tear down) and Pathfinder (which they essentially also built).  It's like a bunch of fucked up clones, same yet different, fighting each other to the death.

As for the OSR corner, some may dabble in the new edition, but few will fully give themselves to The Dark Side.  I'll probably dabble, as I'll be curious.  I might even, if it's really good, keep 5e as my "Bim on the Side".  But she better be damn good ;)

Building a Better Bard - LotFP Weird Fantasy Style - Part 3 - Hardly Anything to Wear

Just like Specialists in the Weird Fantasy Grindhouse Edition, Bards must be unencumbered to use many of their class skills.  The skills that fall under the encumbrance restriction are Inspire, Performance and Fascinate.  Oh, and Spell Casting, as that will generally require the use of an instrument.  I just thought of that.

So, less is more as far as what they carry.  The instrument will add to that encumbrance (or maybe that could be excluded as a class feature... hmm).

In general, Bards tend to be lightly armored and gravitate towards smaller, lighter weaponry.

They favor brightly colored clothing when in urban areas, but have been known to "tone it down" while adventuring.

I'd be open to letting Bards be of any race with no racial benefits given.

Next part - putting it all together.

The skills

Winner of Tenkar's Tavern's Top Ten List Contest of Reasons to Kill Things and Take Their Stuff is...

Where's my drum roll?  Anyhow, I was gonna break out Feltothraxis for this little contest die roll, but I'm not quite up to that.  So, 11 entries, D12 ignoring results of 12...

rolled a 9

matt jackson!, come on down!  your the next contestant on the Price is... oops

yes matt, you won a $10 credit to you OneBookShelf/RPGNow/DriveThruRPG account.

email me at trubluniteATgmailDOTcom with the email you use at OBS and I'll contact the fine and generous folks at OBS to get your credit to you.

Thanks to all who entered.

WotC Big Non-Event - D&D 5E is Coming (Surpised? Not!)

It's a huge announcement, right?  Lets see where Wizards of the Coast have it linked on their website:  Homepage?  Nope.  But look, Magic the Gathering comics are coming!  yay!  That's the headline announcement, from 9/1/11.  Four months ago.  MtG comics come before a new Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the game that launched the RPG industry.  I'd go with comics too!  Wait, if I check the Twitter feed on the page there is something about a big announcement - good going guys, your webmaster sucks!

How about the D&D Brand Homepage (and how depressing is it that D&D is a "brand")?  Well, if you wait long enough, the main graphic will rotate in a link so you can "Sign Up Today and Be a Part of Gaming History".  Clicking that put's you on a page for the WotC mailing list for the 5e play test info.  But wait, on the left side there is a small caption about Charting the Course of D&D!  Whee!  We found our link!

These are the fucktards that are going to make D&D viable in the eyes of Hasbro?  They can't even post the announcement on their site the right way.

Wait a second?  Didn't we just get D&D Essentials, the "essential" way to play 4e.  Oh, and when I say we, I don't mean me, as I don't play 4e, I mean "we" as in "you".

Not that this announcement is all that surprising.  Ever since Monte returned ("All Hail Monte, Lord of 3e and in turn, the trickle down known as The OSR") to WotC we (now I mean "me", but probably "you" too) knew that 5e was coming sooner then later.

So, 4e has run it's course.  Stick a fork it it and the abysmal GSL.  Game over Johnny.  Now, obviously they talk their parents at Hasbro that 2012 was going to be a wash for the D&D Brand, and they were saving all their pennies for the launch of 5e and the return of Wizards to a viable component of Hasbro.  Either that or we get the D&D RPG shelved for a few years, it whatever iteration it ends at.

What is 5e supposed to accomplish (besides making money for WotC / Hasbro in a shrinking market)?  Apparently they want to bring all the disillusioned D&D / Pathfinder / OSR / OGL gamers back into the fold.  Because then they might actually have a market sizable enough to keep the brand afloat.  Good luck with that one lads.  You fucked with a lot of gamers' (and publishers') goodwill when you released a Dungeons & Dragons game barely recognizable to it's long term fans, with a screwed up licensing scheme on top of that.   You think many will trust you this time?

Maybe that's part of the reason for bringing back Monte Cook.  He makes the newest, latest edition possibly redeemable.  He's also a face and a name that the 3e generation know and respect.  Monte's got impossible job if it's to integrate players from 0e to 4e, and all the "E's" between.

Me?  I hope they can accomplish 10% of what they hope for, as that will still be 100% more then 4e added to my gaming enjoyment.  Maybe I'll be surprised.  I'm certain this is far from the last I'll be posting on this.

How do you feel about 5e's announcement?

RuneQuest Archives Offers a Selection of $1 PDFs of MQ1 & MQ2 Releases

Going to give a big shout out to Akrasia from the Akratic Wizardry blog for bringing this to the attention of the Blogosphere. An assortment of Gloranthan and some other Mongoose RuneQuest products available in PDF at OneBookShelf  affiliated storefronts (RPGNow / DriveThruRPG) for a buck a piece.  The MRQ2 stuff is full compatible with Legend (Mongoose's OGL version of the RQ2 rules, also for a buck).  MRQ1 products are less compatible, but are easily mined.  MRQ1 and MRQ2 are both apparently compatible with the upcoming RuneQuest 6.  Follow all that so far?

Here's the list as posted on The RPG Site.

The titles available through RuneQuest Archives are:

RuneQuest

RuneQuest Empires (MRQ2)
Monster Coliseum (MRQ2)
Vikings (MRQ2)
Land of the Samurai (MRQ1)
The Price of Honour (MRQ1)

Glorantha

Glorantha: the Second Age (MRQ2)
Cults of Glorantha (MRQ2)
The Abiding Book (MRQ2)
Pavis Rises (MRQ2)
Dwarfs (MRQ1)
Dragonewts (MRQ1)
Ducks (MRQ1)
Elfs (MRQ1)
Blood of Orlanth (MRQ2)
Dara Happa Stirs (MRQ1)
Fronela


For that price I'm buying the lot.  I'm going to have WAY too much on my plate to read, but that is better then too little.  I haven't run a RuneQuest Campaign since RQ2 and RQ3 (I actually went back from RQ3 to RG2, but that's a whole other story ;)

Switching Gears to the Unknown and the Weird

I've been delving fairly heavily into Carcosa during my previous bed bound two days.  It was probably the prefect way to first really read Carcosa, as it made the sick stuff seem even sicker and otherworldly.  I haven't looked that closely at the rituals, as I suspect they won't come much into use except as tools for NPCs, plot hooks and the like, but I did start to poke around the Hex Crawl, and there is much to like.  I'll return to Carcosa later.

In the meantime, I've been spending more time reading the Isle of the Unknown, which is a more standard fantasy style Hex Crawl.  Much to like here.  I could run a campaign using this fairly easily with what I've reads far.  (Carcosa would be much harder for ME to run without some heavy tweaking - but that's me.

I've also spent some time with the Weird Adventures from Trey Causey.  This is actually fun to read!  I'm not saying that reading RPG material isn't enjoyable, but Trey works well with the Pulpy source material. He had fun putting this together and it show.  More when I've gotten thru more.

Off the next two days (thanks Doc!) so expect me to get some more non-feverish reading done. I still don't know which came first: me reading Carcosa or me getting sick ;)

Crap, I need to get back to building my LotFP Bard class too!

Sitting At the Local Doc in a Box

What every mega dungeon needs is a Doc in a Box. Why leave the dungeon when you can reup on healing without leaving the adventure?

Wish me luck. It the same place I took my wife when she broke one foot and sprained the opposite ankle.

What Do PCs Do When They Get Sick?

This thought often occurs to me when some virus or flu knocks me for a loop. PCs frequent cold, dank dungeons, sleep on floors, eat trail rations, horrid sanitary conditions and drink from water sources that may be less then fresh.

And yet I've yet to see a cleric spell that addresses illness. Wounds, diseases, blindness, lost limbs, even lost minds and the raising of the dead - yes. A cure for the common shits, flu, cold, rash, fever, etc - nada.

If I had to adventure the way I currently feel, the party would be dragging dead weight.

I wouldn't be in this soft, warm bed milking it for all it's worth, either ;)

Carcosa Has Kicked the Crap Outa Me

Alright, maybe not literally, but I've been mostly bed bound today, the day after I opened up the Carcosa hardcover for some stay at home reading.

Must have been one of the rituals I read (not that I was feeling all that great yesterday - its the reason I took off).

I just noticed there is a very slight, almost imperceptible color tint to the pages that changes depending on the section you are reading. Very cool.

And yes, the psionics section looks very workable, as long as you leave that daily random roll shit. Blows away the AD&D version of my youth. I always figured it was thrown in due to some otherwise empty pages in the back of the book.

Posted from my iPhone. Hot diggity dog!

Review - Carcosa - Part I - Impressions

The Look.  The feel.  Heck, touching the Carcosa book gives one a special feeling.  I said it before and I'll say it again, James really put together a nice package.  But how does it read?

Geoffrey McKinney writes well.  The imagery he draws with his written word compliments the art and the physical presentation (assuming you are reading a dead tree copy and not a PDF).  He writes over the top, and he writes it well.

The ideas presented are the key here.  Carcosa (so far - I've yet to reach the halfway mark) is one of those rare products where the parts are worth more than the sum.

I don't see myself running a campaign where Hit Dice and Weapon Damage are decided at the beginning of every battle - it adds too much randomness, too much bookkeeping, especially in the OSR corner of the hobby, where streamlined and basic is generally considered better.

Would it work as a diversion if the PCs get sent to an alternate dimension?  Definitely.  This is one of the reasons I think Carcosa is worth more for it's parts - as a toolbox / sourcebook hybrid - than a campaign setting of it's own.

Geoffrey has similar feelings, or at least expects a large number of readers to feel the same:

There is no right or wrong way to use Carcosa. Please
feel free to add to this book, or to delete or change anything
within. There is nothing in this book (or anywhere else) that
is “official” Carcosa. Following are only some of the possible
ways to use this volume:

ЖЖUse it as-is for a ready-made campaign.

ЖЖThe player characters in your regular campaign have
been transported by a curse to a terrible location:
Carcosa.

ЖЖUse Carcosa as a change of pace or for one-shot games.

ЖЖCherry pick contents (whether monsters, the psionics
system, the dice conventions, various encounters, the
sorcerer character class, or etc.) to use in your regular
campaign.

ЖЖSimply read the book as inspiration for your own
creations.

Above all, enjoy yourself.

There's a lot of stuff to borrow and steal.  I'll try and hit on it in the next part of the review.

Snuggling Up With Carcosa

I woke up this morning, realized I felt like crap, called my boss and took the day.

After trying to stay in bed as long as humanly possibly, the following hat up by a nice bath, I've decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in bed, under the sheets and reading Carcosa.

I'll either get better or die trying ;)

Free Stuff - Savage Worlds: Eye of Kilquato for Fantasy Grounds II

Eye of Kilquato fills three useful niches for me:

It's for Fantasy Grounds II, my favorite Virtual Table Top (and which is due an updated review at some point, as the current review is getting a bit dated)

It's for the Savage Worlds RPG system, which I had a blast when I had the chance to play with the guys from White Haired Man playtesting via, you guessed it, Fantasy Grounds II.

It free.  Damn, how can you beat that?

From the blurb:


A free simple adventure from Pinnacle Entertainment Games converted for play within the Fantasy Grounds virtual tabletop. It is perfect for inclusion in your existing Savage Worlds Pulp campaign or as a one-shot!

Danger awaits around every corner as the players venture to South America to search for the fabled "Eye of Kilquato." A mix of adventure and mystery, set in a 1939 backdrop, awaits the players.

This adventure showcases what a simple adventure looks like within Fantasy Grounds. The Savage Worlds ruleset is flexible enough to support a wide range of genres and provides as much or as little automation as you want. After playing a few sessions online with old gamer pals or newly made friends from the over 22,000 FG community members, you'll wonder how you ever played around a boring kitchen table.

Requires: A Fantasy Grounds full or ultimate license, the Savage Worlds v3 Ruleset

Tenkar's Tavern's Top Ten List of Reasons To Kill Things andTake Their Stuff

Tenkar's Tavern's Top Ten List of Reasons To Kill Things and Take Their Stuff:

10 - Because they're evil!

9 - Because we're an evil party - duh!

8 - The barkeep looked at us strange.

7 - They would have attacked us if given the chance!

6 - Just because the DM says he's a poor, innocent villager doesn't mean he really is.

5 - We don't take prisoners

4 - Did you see the lip he gave the halfling?

3 - How else are we going to earn our expo?

2 - Because the DM didn't want us to kill 'em, so we had to.

1 -

I leave the #1 answer in your able hands.

Add it to the comments section of this post. One random commenter will receive a $10 gift certificate from OneBookShelf.

Comments must be posted by 1159 PM, NYC Time on Sunday, January 8, 2012

Mini Review - Book 'Em! (Modern D20ish)

If you are a regular reader of this blog you probably have an idea that I am employed in Law Enforcement.  With that out of the way, how could I pass up on Book 'Em!, a short RPG product designed with the intent of letting the GM find out how the police investigation goes when the players go postal on someone's ass!  They will.  We all know it goes down that way.  It's the D&D training of "Go Forth & Kill & Take Their Shit!", but that's for another post at another time.

How does it succeed?  Well, it's a system.  It get's results.  Are the results realistic?  Uhm, it's a game, right?  Where does realism come in?

The thing is, there are so many modifiers and variables attached to the system that it sure as hell seems like the writer wants to go realistic.  At least, in depth, convoluted systems usually mean "attempted realism".  Then why does a highly competent police department potentially end investigations in 2 1/2 weeks, while the Mayberry Police will stick at it for months?  You get to roll each week for success, 2 successes are needed, more time means more successes.  Alright, I'm confusing myself here.

The resolution charts at the end help make sense of things, but even then, the results don't make sense to me.

I was hoping for more of a "what the PCs should expect" sort of product with a simple resolution system attached.  Instead, I got a convoluted system with no background depth attached to it.

Eh, maybe my issue is with more with the whole "roll for everything and everything with a roll" mentality that pervades 3.5 in its various incarnations.

From the blurb:


Ever wonder what happens when your players do something really bad and the cops get involved? Wonder no more! "Book 'Em!" provides the harried GM with a quick and easy means of figuring out how good the local police are at figuring out what the players did and to whom!

Designed for d20 systems with an eye on the contemporary rather than the fantasy, this simple system can be used with little or no alteration in nearly any game system.

Building a Better Bard - LotFP Weird Fantasy Style - Part 2 - The Skills

Because We All Know This is What The Bard
Will Look Like After a Few Failed Castings

You can't have a proper Bard without proper bard skills.  Here's the list I'm looking at (more or less) for Lamentations of the Flame Princess's Weird Fantasy RPG (now I know why I always abbreviate that).

Lore - The chance to know some of the history of important / magical items.  This isn't the same as the Identify spell we all know and love / loath.  As magic items are relatively rare in the default assumed Weird Fantasy setting, all will probably have a fairly unique history.  While knowing the history may certainly hint at the items powers, it shouldn't spell them out.

Inspire - This is a powerful ability, especially in a system that only allows fighters to increase in combat ability.
I'd say:
 +1 hit / +1 saves (never increases)
 - 5 rounds per pip
- 10' radius per pip
max persons effected - 1 pip=1  2 pips=2  3 pips=4  4 pips=8  5 pips=16  6 pips=32  (yes, at high levels they can possibly turn the tide of a closely matched, fairly large scaled, battle).

Performance - Work crowds for pocket change / food / beer lodging - the greater the success, the better the results.  Would also be used for Sleight of Hand and Picking Pockets

Charm Fascinate - I'm thinking of a Sleep like effect, but the the targets are sleeping standing up.  Or I just steal the Fascinate spell from another ruleset.

Read Languages - They are Bards after all.

Anything I'm missing?

Building a Better Bard - Prelude

Part 1- Spell Casting

Part 2 - More on Spell Casting

NYC Temperature Swing Is Worse Than the Carcosa HD Swing

Saturday Night / Sunday Morning I had to pick my son up from the police precinct he volunteers at as an Auxiliary Officer. He got off after working New Years Eve at 1:45 AM. I drove over in the pair of shorts I had been bumming around with. It was warm enough.

Today I woke up to 12 degree weather. I really REALLY need to break out my winter jacket ;)

I felt like a fighter that woke up to D4 HD in Carcosa (thanks to Dreams in the Lich House for pointing out this Carcosa quirk - I noticed it in my reading, then put it aside and forgot)

I was completely unprepared this morning ;)

A Word From White Haired Man

Andugus from White Haired Man posted this as a comment to yesterday's post about digital formats and such. I figured it was important enough to get a post of it's own.

Andugus: My goal is to eliminate the format issue in roleplaying. For example that ePub is a taste of what is to come for all of our adventures, in ePub format. Adventures are shorter than full blown resource books and ideal for holding in your hand while GMing.

That said, WHM has not abandoned the PDF format. We are currently laying out the Kith'takharos line in a new PDF format. This will of course be free to anyone who purchased earlier PDF versions. My goal as the designer is to make these new PDF's work well for self-printing (IE no background art) and Print on Demand through RPGNow. The Print on Demand option will sport a color cover and B&W interior pages due to cost. My goal is to offer our products in print under $10. About half the cost of a Paizo Pathfinder adventure product.

Summary. WHM will be publishing adventures for Savage Worlds and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game System in three formats: ePub, PDF, and POD.

Building a Better Bard - LotFP Weird Fantasy Style - Part 2 - More On Spellcasting

I've been having a small discussion of the Bardic Spellcasting on Google+ (small as in me +1 ;).

This is the alternate idea:

John Allder Stephens  -  As an alternative to using a control die, you could also have the Bard Save vs. Magic, with a mishap if d6 comes up 6 or if the Save fails. The Save vs. Magic would allow for the bard's magic getting more stable over time.

Yesterday 7:39 PM    

So, this would be harder on the caster initially but easier as they level.

Another possibility is just using the Pip to determine spell level / spells per day and requiring a save vs spells to have the spell go off unchanged.  A failed save can result in a minor change to the spell up to some fairly major issues for the caster.  The Pip could even be a saving throw bonus for this save only.

In either case there will a "Spell Mishap" table.  I like tables :)

I'll take any input you wish to offer, then I'll be putting the Bardic Spellcasting on the back burner and moving on to some of the bard's other abilities, such as Charm, Performance, Lore and such.

If a Product Is Free, But In a Format You Can't Use, Does That Make It Crap?

(damn Blogger's iPad app - sent to wrong blog - sigh)

I ask, because it came up in regards to White Haired Man's release if The Hideout in ePub format. Which means it was aimed at gamers with ebook readers that use ePub (all but the Amazon Kindle line).

There are lots of freely available stuff in the world that I either don't need, can't use or would use, but for some reason I can't. It doesn't make it useless, it doesn't make it worthless, it just means it's not for me, time to move on.

The world was not built for me. Amazingly, I am NOT the center of the world.

I don't expect every RPG product, especially the free ones, to be of use to me (or even usable by me). That's life.

I just don't see the anger that was directed at a free product as being viable. Then again, the reviewer may have been bitching about ereaders in general, but as the product is a digital product sold at RPGNow, which specializes in digital products, I fail to see the surprise.

Tales of the Blue Knight - Bring Out Yer Dead!

Another repost of one of my earlier Tales of the Blue Knight.  New fiction is in the mental hopper ;)

Building a Better Bard - LotFP Weird Fantasy Style - Part 1 - Spellcasting

For me, a Bard in a D&D styled game needs access to spells, or else he isn't a Bard.  That being said, LotFP's Weird Fantasy has pretty strict class roles with little if any overlap.  As Bards by many definitions (and most importantly mine) are Jacks-of-All-Trades, how do we rectify that with the Weird Fantasy Rules, let alone the implied setting?

For me, I'm going to link Bardic Spellcasting to the "Pip System" used for Specialists.  Yes, they'll have to roll to cast.  Additionally, the maximum spell level they can attempt to cast will correspond to the "Pips" they have in Bardic Spellcasting.  As their knowledge is imperfect, there will be a chance for some sort of spell fumble, and if they are attempting a spell that causes damage (HP loss), the price for failure, or even in some cases, success, may be high.

I'm figuring 2D6 when attempting to cast a Bardic Spell, the "Pip Die" and a control die.  If the control die comes up 6, there is an unwanted effect for a general spell.  If either die comes up 6 for a damaging spell, there is an unwanted effect.  Both dice come up 6's on a damaging spell, it's the nasty effect chart.

Obviously I'll need to work on some mishap charts.

New spells are learned through the gaining of a Pip (one spell learned when a Pip is gained) or while observing another casting a spell.  Spells may be mislearned (which won't be obvious until the first time casting) or impossible to learn (if a roll to learn is failed, it may not be rolled for again.  I think I'd still allow it to be gained from a Pip increase though.)

Figure a point may be spent on Bardic Spellcasting only at every odd level, keeping them from having access to spells before others.

Spellcasting in Weird Fantasy can be a dangerous proposition.  It shouldn't be something Bards (who really aren't properly trained) resort to all the time.  More likely they will cast when other options are gone.

All the above is subject to change ;)


Building a Better Bard - LotFP Weird Fantasy Style - Prelude

Mini Review - Fantasy Island Map by Chubby Funster

Currently Chubby Funster's Fantasy Island Map is listed on the sidebar of this blog as the 4th Hottest Item on RPGNow.  It may or may not be in that position when you read this blog post, but whatever.  It's there now, and for good reason.

CF's Fantasy Island Map is nearly a 100 MB zipped download.  Why, you may ask?  Because in addition to the main map, there are 9 maps that break that full map into 9 sectors.  He also includes icons for labeling purposes.  Oh, and each map is in JPG and PNG format.  So yeah, there's a lot in the download.

Included in the nominal price is a license to use these maps in the commercial works of your choice.  How sweet is that for a mere 5 bucks?  I feel like I'm coin an "As Seen On TV" commercial.  "But wait, there's more!"  heh

It's professionally quality maps priced extremely well for the use in a home campaign or in a commercial product.  At the very least, take a peek at the preview to see if it works for you.  It is that good.

From the blurb:

This is a poster size map file of a large island and a smaller island separated by a strait, along with a multitude of tiny islands off the coast. The map is set at a resolution of 3825x4950 placed onto a 25.5x33 inch canvas at 150 DPI (or nine 8.5x11 pages in a grid). In addition to this master file, several smaller files of each of the nine pages are included.

Some basic icon files in white are also provided for you to use when labelling the map as you wish for use in your publishing projects or at your roleplaying game table.

The zip file contains:
- The master map file (included in both JPEG and PNG format)
- The nine grid pages files for easy use and printing (also in JPEG and PNG)
- A set of 11 white icons for use in labeling


 This entire package is royalty-free and non-exclusive, allowing you to use all the components however you wish even for commercial projects. If used in a publication, please include the following citation: "Some artwork copyright Greg Christopher (c) 2011, used with permission"). The only limit is that you cannot directly redistribute or offer these images for resale on their own.

Building a Better Bard - LotFP Weird Fantasy Style - Prelude

I had a conversation with a fellow blogger last night via Google chat about LotFP Weird Fantasy RPG rules.  There was some clarification that was needed for one of the rules, which wasn't as clearly stated as it should have been, but we both pretty much knew where Raggi was going.  Bad math (either on our side or Raggi's, it was after midnite and I wasn't rechecking math) might have also played an issue.  Still, the conversation got me thinking about Weird Fantasy again.  Which inevitably led to thinking about Bards.

There are no Bards in Weird Fantasy (no Paladins, Rangers or Druids either, but I digress).  I happen to like bards.  I even wrote one for Swords & Wizardry that made the last issue of KnockSpell.  So, if I'm going to tinker with Weird Fantasy Cannon, I may as well start with a class I really enjoy.

One of the huge strengths of Weird Fantasy is the Specialist class.  The "pip" system is really neat, and I think it could be used fairly well with a Jack-of-All-Trades sort of class, like the Bard.  We just have to define his "pip" powered abilities.

He's a bard, so Charm is a must.   Some type of Lore ability.  Spellcasting, but using the "pip" system, so it is far from powerful but possibly useful (i've got an idea for this), Pick Pockets (expanded to include all types of "sleight of hand" activities) - an Inspire type of ability would be fairly powerful in the Weird Fantasy rules, as only Fighters advance in combat ability.  Or maybe not so powerful, as most classes should be avoiding toe to toe combat in any place.

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Suggestions?  Threats?  heh

Let me know what you think, I'm open for input.  It's in the brainstorming stage at the moment...

A Word To My Would Be Spammers

In December, I opened posting on my blog to Anonymous posters.  Almost immediately, spammers attempted to add comments to random blog posts here at the Tavern.

Since then, the score is Blogger's Spam Blocker 159, Successful Spam posts 0, as in Nada, Zero, Zilch.

You can continue to piss into the wind, but all you will get is wet feet.  Or you can go play somewhere else.

During the same time I think I've had 3 false positives that the spam filter wrongly caught and I had to approve.  Overall, I'm very happy with the numbers.

So, to summarize - Spammers, go fuck yourselves!     ;P

Stepping Around the Dragon's Foot

My big forum hangout location, when I hang out in forums, has been ENWorld.  I guess more for reason of habit then anything else.  I've noticed that posting has slowed down on the site, or at least, that's been my receipt perception.  As today is the start of the new year, I figured I'd pop on over to Dragon's Foot.

I had forgotten the atmosphere in the Dragon's Foot forums can be a bit more... confrontational.  Someone was complaining about the amount of reviews done by one poster and wondered if anyone else had even read the products in question.  Did he ever think if he wanted more variation in reviewers, maybe the complainer should step up and do some reviews himself?

Of course, now I remember all f the great free adventures available at Dragon's Foot.  More stuff for ME to review here at the Tavern.

I'll be hanging around Dragon's Foot more often these days.  Not sure how much I'll be posting on the forums, but I'll definitely be lurking.

Mini Review - Dwarf World - (Tunnels & Trolls GM Adventure)

(Tunnels & Trolls product releases are rare, and go right to the top of my review pile in most cases)

If there is one thing I've been lamenting on this blog on a semi-regular basis, is the lack of GM Adventures for Tunnels & Trolls.  With Dwarf World, Ken St. Andre himself gives us one such GM adventure, and in typical Trollgod fashion, it is far from typical.

It's total subterranean yet it lacks maps.  It is a sandbox setting of sorts, but it's up to you to put the final (even most) details on the setting.  Much of this will entail actual roleplaying, but for that to succeed, the GM better be a strong improvisor.

Actually, I think that is the key to Dwarf World.  A strong GM (a strong GM is always useful, but for Dwarf World I think it's necessary).  Dwarf World is more of a series of seeds then a full grown adventure.  A strong GM will bring those seeds to full growth, but that also means that no two GMs will run it the same way.  As a side note, it is almost system neutral, and it could easily be used to borrow ideas for use in other fantasy RPGs.

From the blurb:


This is a gamemaster adventure intended for Tunnels & Trolls version 7.5 (although it will work with any version of the rules). It is for Level 1 to Level 10 characters, and there should be at least one dwarf in the party. (Although for a REAL challenge, you could try it without a dwarf companion!) Although there is wealth and knowledge to be won in this scenario, the real challenge will be to get your characters back out alive. Good luck with that.

Carcosa (and Isle of the Unknown) Have Landed!

I guess there is an advantage to living in the Big Apple - I get Raggi's stuff from the other side of the pond relatively quickly.

Now, I've been slowly pouring over the PDFs of both Carcosa and Isle of the Unknown for the last few weeks.  They were impressive, but with so much else on my plate, both on the virtual review pile and at work, I never really gave them a solid look.  I have the dead tree versions in my hand now and I am beyond impressed.

Raggi (and of course, the writer of these two releases, Geoffrey McKinney) has added two amazing books that I'll be happy to pass around at the next Gathering of Fools, so as to show my friends the quality works of independent RPG publishers these days.

Carcosa is printed on high quality, parchment lile paper.  At least, that's what I'm calling it, I have no expertise in the field of paper.  Unlike Vornheim, I don't have to go blind trying to read it.  First printing of 2000 copies.  Woot!  I am very excited to snuggle up with this.

Isle of the Unknown uses a stiffer, smoother paper.  Why do I care about paper when 90% of my RPG purchase are in PDF?  How the f' should I know?  The full color artwork is on just about every page.  It looks good and feels good.  I'm going to need to break out my book light for these.

Carcosa includes a fold out map / periodic table / entities and ritual key on a thin glossy cardboard.  Isle of the Unknown includes a poster of the cover / keyed map of the Isle of the Unknown on the same type of paper / cardboard.  Pretty neat.

We also get maps for the two books printed on a vinyl / latex thingie (think of one of those maps thorn into you Ultima / EQ game box, but not on cloth).  The hex numbers aren't easily readable, but  these are more novelty then anything else, so that's forgivable.  All in all, an excellent surprise in the mail today.

I'll follow up with reviews over the next week or two.

Tavern Year End Retrospective

Another year slain!

Lets see, this post will put me at 827 for the year,  Fairly productive, if I must say so myself.  If this was my year end report at work I'd be comparing to last year's numbers and probably indicating the amount of posts that were actually reviews, broken down as a percentage, with average number of comments per post, etc... can you tell how the past week was for me?  heh

What were my biggest and bests posts of the year?

(in no particular order)

1 - First look, Pathfinder Beginner Box - This got picked up by Paizo's Facebook page.  By number of views, this was my post of the year.  By far.

2 -Is Wizards's Latest Cease and Desist an Introduction to D&D 5E? - pure conjecture on my part, but it does seem that 5e is going to be sooner then later.  47 comments in the thread too.

3 - Fool Me Once, Shame on You.  Fool Me Twice, - the Mazes & Perils fiasco.  I'm still going to label the author of this "product" an azzhole.

4 - First Look at the Tome of Horror Complete for Swords & Wizardry - I still love to look at my hardcopy.  I need to finish renovations just so I can display it properly.

5 - Reaction From Outside the Blogosphere - LotFP's Weird Fantasy is "D&D Porn" -   Second Third most trafficked post, exceeded only by the Pathfinder unboxing and Mage the Awakening.  Crapload of good comments too.

6 - The Draconic Archeologist: Mix n Match, The Dragon #8 - The draconic Archeologist post tended to do good traffic, little feedback.  I packed up my Dragon Archive CDs for the renovations, and the copies I had moved to the computer are on my other computer.  Still, I should probably return to these.

7 - Mage: The Awakening Demo Part 3 - This is right up there with the Weird Fantasy is Porn post traffic wise.  No idea why.  Interesting tho.  (Actually, It has over a hundred more views then the WF post - the strength of the WoD I guess)

8 - Castle Keeper's Guide for Castles & Crusades Released on RPGNow - this was like the spotting of a mythical beast.  The pricing of this mythical beast's PDF is still way too high tho'.

9 - Kindle Fire and My Gaming PDFs - A Working Combination - my mother bought herself one and my wife asked for one for Christmas (and is constantly on it, mores then her iPad).  It seems other's are also interested in using this for their gaming PDFs)

10 - The Red Headed Step-Children of AD&D - Classes - Wherein I talk about the classes that tend to fall by the wayside.

Of course, we also added some dragon puppet videos, and I started up two new blogs this month - Saturday Knight Special and Tales of the Blue Knight.  It's going to be a fun filled 2012.

Where the Damn Puppet?!?

I just realized I haven't posted a Feltothraxis video in nearly 2 months.

Boy, he's going to be pissed when I finally get around to him.  Hopefully some reviews and a Dragon puppet video this weekend.

I miss him ;)

RANT WARNING! Captcha Friggin' Hell!

Alright.  I'm not complaining about the Blogger captchas - those I can read.

I'm complaining about a forum for a new RPG (won't name it yet) where it uses "Chaptchas From Friggin' Hell!"  WTF were they thinking?  The letters would be hard enough to read if they weren't indistinct with multiple friggin' lines going thru them!  I gave up after 6 tries with the SAME DAMN LETTERS!  Even with the image changing and the letters staying the same I couldn't figure it out.  I finally settled on having it read them to me.  I might as well be blind at this point (for a while there I thought I might have been going that route).

Finally got the letters right, but then my password wasn't long enough.  Got it long enough, but then it told me I needed upper case, lower case and numbers.  Holy shit, it's a freaking forum for a frigging game!  This forum has more security then my bank, which is scary.  I was really close to saying f' it all, I was getting that frustrated.

I think I need to pour a pint from my Beertender to relax.

Not that I really need an excuse to pour a pint from my Beertender.  ;)

Tales of The Blue Knight - The Blog

I'm going to revisit Tales of the Blue Knight, where I took some of my experiences as a cop and translated them into a fantasy setting (with occasional game details).  The first 2 or 3 posts will be re-publishings of what I did here and I'll be writing new ones.  It should dovetail fairly well with the Saturday Knight Special blog.

So, first (re)post is up here.  Enjoy