The Tenkar's Tavern Overdue Kickstarter List - Updated 2/12/13

The below is a list of RPG Related Kickstarters that were estimated to ship (I am using the ship date for the physical item, not the PDF if there is one) February 2013 or earlier.  I was going to add Indiegogo projects to the list, but they are so few (and this list got so long) I'll summarize as follows: LotFP stuff that I supported over the summer has not shipped, but Indiegogo doesn't force an estimated shipping date . Barrowmaze II shipped on time!

Updated 2/12/13

Small side note - I find that the longer a Kickstarter goes past it's due date, the less I care about the product. Running long leads to apathy and kills good will.

I'll be moving the shipped items to the bottom, and the long overdues to the top. Yes, it's spring cleaning in January ;)

Colors for Actual Ship Date are as follows:

Red: Hasn't shipped and is (or will be based on new estimates) significantly overdue. This includes projects that have been shipping in dribs and drabs for months. If all backers dont have what they pledged for, it's in red.

Orange: Late but shipped, or recently missed a shipping date and hasn't shipped

Green: Shipped on time. Holy Shit!

Far West

Goal: $5,000     Total: $49,324     Funded: August 25, 2011

Estimated Ship Date: December, 2011     Actual Ship Date: Not Shipped (and has missed interim ship dates)

Far West - last update 2/8 -   updates are becoming weekly  -  First the main / lead artist flaked out in the middle of the job (and claimed to have finished work he hadn't completed), then Gareth got sick, "Far West" as a title will now be cropping up in unrelated media, making marketing a pain I suspect , then Gareth and everyone got sick again for flu season - Either they are breeding new strains of the plague at Adamant or the company is cursed -  Cubiclde 7 has gotten involved in the process, so the new guarantee of Dec 2012 for the PDF is hopeful, I've lost fucking hope - NEVER FUCKING HAPPENED -  5 out of 12 Chapters are not complete yet - Note - this project will be OVER one year late.

"Oh, and as an FYI -- I have to go to Los Angeles in mid-week (to work a convention), so I'm not expecting that I'll get a lot done, and will probably have to skip next Friday's update." At this point, does it even make a difference?

Know what the sad thing is? I've gotten to the point I no longer care. This will be going directly to a shelf. Nice concept but unable to produce a finished product  

Quantum Roleplaying Game
Goal: $13,000     Total: $47,747     Funded: December 30, 2011
Estimated Ship Date: April, 2012     Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped

Quantum RPG - last update 2/11  beta is now over - a month between updates, but now promises to do them weekly - To be honest, this is another project I'm no longer excited about.   I suspect when it ships it's going straight to the bookshelf if not traded away. I'm beginning to see a trend here. I seem to no longer care about shit I already paid for, because publishers can't get their shit together.  Still no new estimated completion date. But hey, we're already being told the list of products to follow, if the core book ever gets published.

Josh, just so you know, the reason why the city book never got funded on Kickstarter has nothing to do with it being a city book, and everything to do with trying to fund another product for a line that was funded with Kickstarter and STILL has yet to release.

Appendix N
Goal: $1,000     Total: $18,893     Funded: July2, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012     Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped (New Estimate Late September November December ? 2012  Pick a card, any card...)

Appendix N - Last Update 1/17 - A month between updates - Brave Halfling is like your cousin who is always late to appointments - whether it's a Kickstarter or a pre-order, the quality has so far been excellent, the timeliness has been poor. PDF versions of the releases look to be on time or close to it going forward - physical products are going to be a wait n see in my opinion.

The first batch of adventures should be shipping in early March. I'm willing to let John surprise me.

Dwimmermount
Goal: $10,000     Total: $48,756     Funded: April 14, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: August 2012     Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped (No longer giving an estimate)

Dwimmermount - Last Update 2/9 Updates Weekly. You know what? It feels more late that Far West even though it isnt - I suspect that is due to all of the initial hype. And recent drama.

Read the latest update for what little actual news there is. Each week that goes on like this brings us closer to the project never bring finished.

Myth & Magic Player's Guide
Goal: $5,000     Total: $24,076     Funded: May 7, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: August 2012     Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped

Myth & Magic Player's Guide - Last Update 1/26. 1/14 was the first update since 9/29 (probably due to this post at 2000 Coppers) , and that was in relation to it's sister project. PDF released to the wild, no hard copies yet. Last update related to this project was 9/21, about 3 months ago. Not the way to remain in contact with your customers. NO SHIP DATE  The forum folks are getting angry, especially at the lack of communication. - I'm gonna break that shelf if any of this shit actually ships ;)

CHAMPIONS OF ZED: Zero Edition Dungeoneering

Goal: $4,600     Total: $8,077     Funded: June 16, 2012

Estimated Ship Date: August, 2012     Actual Ship Date: Not Shipped

Layout MAY be completed by the middle of February as per the latest update 1/31 (1 month after the previous update) - so sad I no longer care, but might get good value in trade for this.

Nystul's Infinite Dungeon
Goal: $2,000     Total: $16,017     Funded: June 3, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: September 2012 (New Estimate October November  2012? February 14th (?) for the PDF

Nystul's Infinite Dungeon - infrequent updates - Last update 2 / 1 Estimate for physical delivery is November 2012.  pre-layout version in PDF for backers - no idea when it will release - just realized, theres been no talk i can remember about the resin reward levels

King For a Day
Goal: $800     Total: $4,844     Funded: May 1, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: September 2012     Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped (new estimate -December 2012)  No F'n idea, but Jim now says January 15th for completion. I don't believe it.

King For a Day - Last update 2/1 Updates frequently now. Jim has learned that being joking about your project's lateness while announcing your new Kickstarter isn't the way to keep your supporters happy. Late is late. But now since he's so late, he's offering a free gift if you support his other project. PDF apparently shipped. I guess i need to look for the email.

Axes & Anvils

Goal: $1,000     Total: $35,000     Funded: August 11, 2012

Estimated Release Date: November, 2012     Actual Release Date: ?

Axes & Anvils - 2/1.  Updates once a month. Doesn't say much. Playtest document available to backers. My guess? Jan / Feb  March? 2013 for release.

Swords & Wizardry

Goal: $10,000     Total: $78,000     Funded: September 4, 2012

Estimated Release Date: November, 2012     Actual Release Date: ?

Swords & Wizardry - Last update 1/23. It recently went past due date. There was a screw up with the module printings and I think we are still waiting on the Monster Book - so if your order is anything but just the rulebook, you'll be waiting.

Monster Book PDF is now finalized and it is huge. Waiting on delivery of the monster book so everything can ship.

Race To Adventure

Goal: $40,000     Total: $52,117     Funded: July 24, 2012

Estimated Release Date: Dec, 2012     Actual Release Date: Early March 2013 (?)

Race To Adventure - Last update 2/4-Updates about once a month - Board Game - 

"The games are printed. They're printed, assembled, shrink wrapped, all that jazz, and are sitting on the pallet ready to go. In fact, we would have shipped them a little earlier, but...

Safety testing. The safety testing results are expected at the end of this week. This is practically a pro forma process, as Ludofact, our manufacturer, has a sterling reputation and a strong drive to produce products that comply with Europe's exacting safety standards. And because of that...

We're starting shipping now. In fact, we're starting shipping as of last week, but because this is an international operation there's some variation to how all that will work out.

International shipments will head out straight from the warehouse. This just makes sense for us: we'd be making poor use of our resources (and your money) if we shipped our international packages to the United States and then back out; the shipping subsidy we took for international customers doesn't really cover more than a third of what it would run us to ship them that way. So straight from Germany it is! Some of the earliest packages have already arrived in the UK and other locations within the European Union. 

The rest of the games for US customers are getting on a big slow cargo boat across the Atlantic. Just this morning we got the lowdown on what that means, from Ludopackt -- the shipping arm of Ludofact. "Ets. 13.02.2013 Eta. 26.02.2013" was the coded transmission... fancy Euro-speak for estimated shipment date of Feb 13th, estimated arrival date of Feb 26th. Granted, that's just the time it'll take to reach the USA. For all we know it'll take a few weeks or more past the 26th to clear customs and make it to our shipping service in Fort Wayne, Indiana. But once the shipment arrives there, we'll spin up that part of the shipping operation and get the games out to all the United States customers within a couple weeks of their warehouse debut."

Maelorum, an epic Gamebook

Goal: $5,000     Total: $8,444     Funded: November 19, 2012

Estimated Release Date: January, 2012     Actual Release Date: Soonish?

"all of which is just a long process that must be done over and over until I am satisfied the bugs are out and the text is error free. I want to place my order for the books by the end of the first week in February"

tremulus: a storytelling game of lovecraftian horror

Goal: $5,000     Total: $62,723     Funded: October 2, 2012

Estimated Release Date: January, 2012     Actual Release Date: ?

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

These words ring true, especially in the game industry, and despite all the preparatory work we had done to ensure everything was on schedule, there was one thing we could not account for, such a tremendously horrible flu season from which there has been little respite for the Blurry Ones, and especially yours truly. I have been terribly ill off and on since mid-November, and have labored under the illusion we'd still be able to achieve our release schedule with no one being the wiser. Suffice to say, this will not be the case. We can only ask for your patience and understanding, and let you know we're working to minimize the delay."

Tales From the Fallen Empire: Sword and Sorcery Setting

Goal: $4,500     Total: $12,435     Funded: July 18, 2012

Estimated Release Date: January, 2012     Actual Release Date: ?

Last updated 2/5 - Updates evet 2 weeks or so. Prject is in proofreading and final art stage

--------------------- DUE THIS MONTH ---------------------------

-------------------------- SHIPPED ----------------------------------

DungeonMorph Dice

Goal: $5,000     Total: $20,620     Funded: May 22, 2011

Estimated Ship Date: July, 2011     Actual Ship Date: December, 2011

Adventurer Conqueror King System

Goal: $4,000     Total: $11,648     Funded: August 6, 2011

Estimated Ship Date: November, 2011     Actual Ship Date: April, 2012

Adventurer Conqueror King System Player's Companion

Goal:: $4,000     Total: $20,622     Funded: March 16, 2012

Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012     Actual Ship Date: January, 2013

ACKS Player's Companion - I now have the Companion in hand. Shame I'm no longer running an ACKS Campaign.

C&C Classic Monsters

Goal: $4,000     Total: $9,108     Funded: December 2, 2011

Estimated Ship Date: January, 2012     Actual Ship Date: May, 2012

Artisan Dice
Goal: $300     Total: $91,542     Funded: April 7, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: April, 2012     Actual Ship date: May, 2012 and still ongoing completed now I do believe - this suffered from overwhelming response. If you are going to be late, let it be because you have too many customers ;)

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
Goal: $6,000     Total: $13,216     Funded: January 15, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: April, 2012     Actual Ship date: July, 2012 and still ongoing completed I believe

Adventures Dark & Deep
Goal: $2,500     Total: $7,459     Funded: April 15, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012     Actual Ship Date: Shipped September, 2012 - I was only in at the PDF level, but congrats for hitting the ship date ;)

Story Forge
Goal: $12,000    Total: $21,736     Funded: March 20, 2012
Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012     Actual Ship Date: July, 2012

Fantastiqa

Goal: $10,000     Total: $23,580     Funded: August 9, 2012

Estimated Release Date: Oct, 2012      Actual Ship Date: November 2012

I need to find time to play this with my family. Box weighs a ton and a half ;)

Dwarven Adventurers Boxed Set

Goal: $1,250     Total: $136,487     Funded: July 25, 2012

Estimated Ship Date: September 2012 Arrived 12/3

Dwarven Adventurers - Shipped

Tabletop Forge

Goal: $5,000     Total: $44,413     Funded: July 9, 2012

Estimated Release Date: August, 2012      Actual Release Date: Not Yet Released (Beta Released)  Merged into Roll20

TTF recently announced it is merging into Roll20. Goodbye TTY, we hardly new ya.

There's a crapload of RED now.

If I missed any I'll post them, then add here for the next update.

Just as a quick note, Spears of the Dawn is on track to possibly ship MONTHS early.

If this happens, Kevin should get a special award ;)

Not due yet, but funding is complete:

Horror on the Orient Express: Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium

Numenera

Maelorum, an epic Gamebook

Magicians: A Language Learning RPG

Boss Monster: the Dungeon-Building Card Game

Dungeon Heroes - Your Lunch Break Dungeon Crawl

Agents of Change: The Time Travel RPG

Spears of the Dawn

FATE Core

To Be or Not To Be

Adventures Dark & Deep Player's Manual

The Skies Over Danbury

The Three "White Boxes" of D&D and It's Clones

I find it interesting that the Delving Deeper box is more subdued in coloring. The "white" is less white than the S&W WhiteBox and the black ink has a built in fade to the color - almost like the box was aged.

Something you can't see in this photo is that the S&W WhiteBox and the Delving Deeper have their title on the short end sides and artwork on the long end sides. Pretty nifty.

It's similar with the X-Plorers boxed sets (I have numbers 52 and 60).

Anyhow, I'll continue with the comparison look tomorrow.

Mini Review - The Manor # 3 (OSR Fanzine)

I know for sure I could never do a fanzine where I did all of the writing. It's not that I'd run out of ideas, but I'd find myself jumping back and forth between them to the point that nothing would ever get completed. I tip my hat to +Tim Shorts . It may have taken longer than you might have liked to complete the latest issue of The Manor, but you did it and it is good.

The Manor #3 starts off with an adventure - Mine of Rot & Disease. Tim labels it as a One-Shot, but I feel it could even work as a campaign kick-off. I like it because it has the potential to to truly involve the players emotionally, especially if this is their starting town. It's written for the S&W Complete ruleset, but should work with any OSR rules of your choice.

I miss the Rusty Battle Axe and his postings, but here we get a small snippet of poetry from the man. In truth, I wish we had his postings. Anyway, where was I?

Pog Nog's Cart - I am so fucking stealing this. Seriously, it is many layers of awesome, as is Pog Nog. I may just have to have him wandering The Gut in Rappan Athuk ;)

Aszeer: God of the Monster Hunt - The Monster Hunter gives us a new class for Blood & Treasure. It's an interesting take on the specialize multi-class cleric type. I'd be interested in playing with and / or tinkering with the class for other OSR systems. I may need to tone it down just a tad as it seems to be more powerful than other multi-class options in B&T.

So, is it worth $2.50 for the PDF ($3.50 for the print copy)? Hell's yes! I already ordered my print copy to go along with my PDF version.

From the blurb:


The Manor is back with more old school gaming goodies.  Within these pages you'll find:

The Village of Aberton is suffering from a mysterious sickness.  Undead have been spotted on the dark countryside.  The Baron has not responded.  The monks of Ambrose Abbey seemed to have abandon Aberton.  Only a group a kick ass adventurers can cure this disease.

Pog Nog strolls through the streets with his creaky wheeled cart.  He's got a surprising selection of trinkets.  He's got stuff you don't even know you need, but he'll make sure the right item gets the right person.

And the Monster Hunter class.  This class was created for the Blood & Treasure RPG, but can kill monsters in any edition of any game...ever.

Comparing OD&D to it's Nearest Clones - S&W Whitebox and Delving Deeper - Part I: The Abilities

I really need a better title for this series of posts i if you think of one, let me know;)

Anyhow, with the recent arrival of my Deeper Delving Boxes set, I thought it might be fun to compare it to the Original Dungeons & Dragons Boxed Set. Then I figured "Why not add in S&W Whitebox to the mix?" Really, why not? My boxed set is packed away in storage, and my paperback version is currently hiding on me, but I do have the PDF of the 3rd printing.

Remember, if you want to play along at home, the PDFs for Delving Deeper and S&W Whitebox are free. You can find links to both to the right of this post, under the heading FREE OSR GAMES.

The character book for OD&D is called Men & Magic (it also includes the spells), it's called Forging a Hero in DD and the S&W PDF isn't really broken down into separate books.

Original Dungeons & Dragons Abilities Section -

Horribly organized, but the same could be said about most of the LBBs. I'm sure some of this info is hidden in other books.

Prime Requisite of 13 or 14 for 5% expo bonus. 15+ for 10% expo bonus. 8 or 7 1-% penalty. 6 or less 20% penalty.

Strength: no bonuses listed. Mentions in description "will also aid in opening traps"

Intelligence: no bonuses listed. "Allows additional languages to be spoken"

Wisdom: no bonuses listed

Dexterity: above 12 (that's confusing) + 1 missile fire, under 9 - 1 missile fire

Constitution: 15+ + 1 HP per hit die. 13 or 14 "Will withstand adversity" (huh?) and some other survival %'s for lower cons

Dexterity: above 12 (that's confusing) + 1 missile fire, under 9 - 1 missile fire

Charisma: full chart breaking down number of hirelings and loyalty bonus based on Charisma score

Delving Deeper Player Characters Section -

Much better organized than OD&D, but what isnt? (answer - Tunnels & Trolls 5e)

Prime Requisite of 13 - 15 for 5% expo bonus. 16+ for 10% expo bonus. 6 - 8 10% penalty. 5 or less 20% penalty. So, a bit harder to get + 10% expo.

Strength: 15+ + 1 damage in melee. Full chart for opening door and movement by weight load.

Intelligence: Languages Known chart (applies to Wisdom too - use higher of the two)

Wisdom: Languages Known chart (applies to Intelligence too - use higher of the two)

Dexterity: 15+ for + 1 missile fire. 6- for -1 adjustment.

Constitution: 15+ + 1 HP per hit die. Includes a proper chart with "Survive Shock" %. 13+ will always survive. So, makes more sense than the original.

Charisma - full chart breaking down number of retainers and loyalty bonus based on Charisma score. Mirrors original exactly except for max number of retainers / hirelings (max is 10 in DD, 12 in OD&D)

Swords & Wizardry White Box "Getting Started" -

Puts Con before Dex on the character sheet. Weird. Crapload of optional rules baked in for you to choose from that bring things closer to OD&D (or further, depending on the alternate rules). Why the original method wasn't default and the new methods weren't the alternates? no idea

Prime Requisite: 15+ 5%, Wis 15+ 5%, Cha 15+ 5%. Very different

Strength: No bonuses listed

Intelligence: 1 additional language for each point of Int above 10

Wisdom: No bonuses listed

Constitution: 15+ + 1 to each Hit Die. 6- - 1 to each Hit Die

Dexterity: 15+ + 1 to hit bonus with ranged weapons. 8- -1 penalty.

Charisma: Chart maxes out with even lower Max # of Hirelings (7) and a lower max Loyalty Bonus (+ 2 instad of + 4)

Charisma slipped to the next page

Further Thoughts on "Save or Die" (as I Know I've Discussed This Before)

As I mentioned in an earlier post today, last night's "Game That Almost Wasn't and Wasn't Much" had a Save or Die situation pop up.

In case you don't recall, I like the concept of Save or Die, but I generally dislike it's presentation - it sneaks in on folks unannounced, and that just seems wrong to my sensible sensitivities. Last night worked for me.

The character playing the "Rappan Athuk Slots" knew he could come up with a Save or Die result. He knew he was putting himself in that situation. Sure, he had to roll 1-1-1 on 3d6 (which is one chance in 216 or something like that). Again, he knowingly put himself in that situation.

Which is why I really dislike creatures that have death poison that kills instantaneously or the trap without warning that crushes one to death.

For Save or Die there should be an amount of player choice to the situation - I'm willing to gamble my life for a bigger reward. Yes, that can be a trap, but with a cryptic warning that may not easily allow the players to overcome it, but should also be fairly clear what potential failure has.

Now, I know we don't all share the same views on this, and that's okay. It's one of the many reasons I love this hobby. Ask a dozen gamers the same question, and you'll get 11 different yet very valid answers. Oh, and 1 goofball answer, but that's to be expected.

Thinking of Comparing the Delving Deeper and Dungeons & Dragons OCE Boxed Sets, Side by side

The thought has occurred to me to compare to Delving Deeper Boxed Set with the Original D&D Boxed set (with Greyhawk included for the purpose of the Thief Class).

The Thief classes do not match up, but that was discussed earlier, and I received a nice history lesson at the same time. It still irks me though ;)

What I really should do is break out my Swords & Wizardry White Box, but I believe that's in storage. I do have the paperback version floating around though.

I will say this much - the originals lie flatter, allowing me to fit more stuff in the box ;)

I'll be making some observations throughout the week I expect. On of the benefits of being on vacation...

The Session That Almost Wasn't - And a Random Application of "Save or Die"

So, last night was the game session that almost wasn't, or to be more accurate, the game session that mostly wasn't. It was to be out first session using Roll20, so I expected some hiccups. Our issues weren't with the interface, but with lack of players.

Two bowed out a few hours before game time (but after I'd already turned down some guests for lack of virtual seating) and the third wound up being 2 hrs late - but we called the game after 90 minutes ;)

In any case, the players that were there got to play with the Roll20 interface, and we even had +Joshuha Owen as a lurker to help us with our questions.

You would think with half the party missing - in this case all 3 of the party's fighters, there would be no gaming to be had. You would be wrong.

One of the fighters ( +Craig Brasco )  had forwarded us his character sheet   - he intended for his character to participate even if he couldn't. That gave the party a fighter with HP and damage dealing. It also gave +Joe D a chance to use the "Rappan Athuk Slot Machine" Chamber. And use it he did.

Joe's character Glabe hit the 100XP numbers twice, but he also hit the Save or Die (1-1-1). Glabe needed a 13 or better for his save, and I was already thinking about how to work Joe's next character into the campaign when Joe rolled - a 13. Go figure.

Joe also rolled (6-6-6) TWICE. Which resulted in the appearance of two demons (individually) that wanted to return from whence they came with Glabe's soul. It didn't happen, and a decent amount of expo was gained by those that were there. Well, decent for the 90 minutes we were logged in for ;)

Hopefully next week we'll finally get the party into "The Gut".

Fight On! is Coming to an End...

You know, even with my assorted thoughts on what I in particular would want in a magazine devoted to the OSR, and with the huge amount of time between the last issue of Fight On! and what may now be the last issue (it may go on for two issues, but the end is still near) I didn't expect this announcement.

Here's a pint of Newcastle on tap that I'm tipping back for Fight On! and the hope it goes out on the top of it's game. It will be sorely missed.

Crawl! Nearly Sweeps the RPGNow 5 Hottest Items (at least on The Tavern)

I like how 4 out of the top 5 hottest items at RPGNow are PDF issues of Crawl! Now that the latest issue, #6, releases tonight on RPGNow, maybe Dak will score a sweep.

No, I don't know why the deed they feed me is different than the one at the RPGNow home page. Heck, I don't know why the DnD Classics feed is down. I do know that Crawl! rocks.

That is all ;)

Grab Crawl! #6 in Print Here!

Tonight Will Be My First Attempt at Running an RPG Session Using Roll20 - Any Hints or Suggestions for the Newb?

Nearly 2 weeks ago, right after out last session of Rappan Arthuk and just before +Joshuha Owen announced the merger of Table Top Forge into Roll20, I had decided to give Roll20 a try. I really wanted to try out the map interface with the Fog of War feature, as redrawing my party's map week after week was getting - tedious.

Now I have 4 map pages set up with fog of war, a handful of handouts" prepped and even a macro or two prepared.

I fully expect a learning curve (and I'm excited to think about the types of sound effects I can mix into things down the line) and unforeseen difficulties to crop up tonight, as basically the whole group will be new to the interface

Any helpful hints, secrets, self made user guides or the like I should be looking for?

Red Tide Sourcebook for LL in Hand - Now I Need to Strip It

At the end of January I ordered the Red Tide sourcebook by Sine Nomine Publishing. I already had it in PDF, but sometimes you just want something you can hold.

I find myself wanting to use some of the "Site Tags" in Rappan Athuk's "The Gut", as you know there are devious little quasi villages that have popped up along (or just off) the main routes. Come to think of it, an underground ruin would work vert nicely too.

God, I really like the seeds I find in this book.

Time to plot a few out for the current campaign.

And strip wall paper. And paint. And wall paper. Yes, that has nothing to do with gaming.

What is Your Favorite OSR Release?

I know there are hundreds of OSR releases over the last few years. Rules, adventures, supplements, monsters, classes, etc, etc, etc...

It is really hard to choose.

So I'm going to choose to. One classic and one recent.

The classic choice for me is Barrowmaze. It's an exciting tweak on the classic Megadungeon set up, and really begs to be used. I also want to learn more about the world of Barrowmaze.

Recent has to be the Terratic Tome. It really is a most amazing monster supplement. I want to know more about the world these monsters inhabit.

So, what are your favorite releases?

The Delving Deeper Box Has Arrived - Much Delayed But Bursting at the Seams

The Photo is Askew, Not the Box ;)

Delving Deeper arrived today. Holy shit but the box was packed. It included the 5 rulebooks, Blackmarsh as the setting (I think you need to download the map on RPGNow, as I didn't see one - but hey, it's free there too) and a stack of character sheets. Definitely a nice touch.

It seems that everything couldn't fit into the box, so there will be a second shipment at a later point which will include dice, sample modules and Zack Howard's Holmes supplement (I need to research this).

I'll dig through this over the weekend and give it a proper review.

BTW, Delving Deeper is free on RPGNow

My Next Kickstarter to Support: The Michael T. Desing's Army Ants War Effort

Real quick, as I'm about to hop in my car and brave the elements her in NYC.

I've been following Michael Desing's stuff since the Resolute RPG line. It was one of the first (only?) indie games that I groked, and I liked it  even more due to the concise presentation of the rules - no bloat here.

So, now he's got a Kickstarter for his Army Ants comic and RPG. I'm all over this like ants on a picnic basket. Others must be too, as he's nearly hit hit modest 1k goal in less than 24 hours. I'll officially be a backer tonight.

Taking the Temperature of the OSR - or - It Ain't Quite Dead Yet!

There's been a lot of talk from some pretty big personas in the OSR about where the OSR is going (or even where it is now) especially considering the recent release of many of the early D&D / AD&D books via the DnDClassics site. You can catch some of the talk here, here, here and here.

The sky is falling. Or the ground is rising. Maybe the ground is falling and the sky is rising. Really, who the fuck knows.

Simple fact. The OSR isn't going anywhere. Putting the originals back into PDF format isn't going to gut the OSR of "old school players" anymore than DnD Next is. If anything, making the originals available in PDF format is likely to bring us the newly curious: "Wait, you mean there is a version of B/E that I can download for free and the rules are clearer than the originals? Score!"

This isn't us losing from a limited pool of  "old school gamers" but having the opportunity to expand that pool with the release of the classic PDFs. The question shouldn't be "how do we not lose players to the re-released classic rules?" but it should be "how do we embrace the players that are just now finding  Old School Gaming (or returning to Old School Gaming) thanks to the classic PDF reprints?"
 
It's the time to remind the gamers out there that Labyrinth Lord is a clearer rewrite of the BX/EX rules,  Swords & Wizardry is the OBS with some of the original supplements. OSRIC is AD&D 1e much like how it was played. Why stress these three? All are free and they cover much of the Old School Experience.

Then, once they are here, once the assimilation process starts, you hit them with LotFP Weird Fantasy, BFRPG, Microlite 74, ACKS, ASSH, C&T and all the rest.

I mean, folks do remember you can play more than one game, right? It isn't "one and done". You aren't stuck on the first game your find.

Will the OSR "change"? New blood always bring changes. Still, the OSR at it's very root is "Old School Gaming", and that will never change.

I'm on Vacation Next Week - Let's Do a Tunnels & Trolls Friday Night Kickoff!

I've been looking to kick off a "once a month" Tunnels & Trolls game for a while now, and with vacation coming up for me next week, it seems like the perfect time.

So, Friday, February 15th at about 8pm Eastern Time using G+ Hangouts and the Roll20 app.

I have 2 spots reserved, so 4 spots are open.

Using T&T 5.5 rules with some house rules drawn from 7.5.

Let me know if you're interested. If I have too many for a single session, I might run a second, but that entails balancing "wife agro", so i can't guarantee it ;)

Do You Write Up Campaign Specific Spells?

One of the hardest things to tweak in an OSR ruleset (original or close) is the spell lists. Sure, you can remove spels from the available selection, but do you ever add new spells?

I ask, because in general, when I see new spells in an OSR adventure, they are rarely there to be added into the PCs hands, and accurate spell level / power is largely irrelevant. It's when you write up a spell for the players to actually use, that you realize how hard they are to correctly balance.

I wrote up a couple of cleric / druid spells last year and posted them on the blog. They were well received, but they weren't really adventuring spells (which is what occupies actual spel lists - non-adventuring spells could be a whole 'nother post).

Do you write up spells as a DM for your players? Do you allow or even encourage your players to write their own?

Reoccurring Villains - Do You Use Them?

(can you tell I'm trying to get ideas for use in my current campaign? ;)

So, do you use reoccurring villains in your campaigns?

I used to in the way back days, but I found they either died to early or I had to pull off that mysterious "He weren't quite dead it seems" bullshit to bring them back. Neither was satisfying.

Now, I know you can keep the Big Bad Evil Dude offscreen for the longest, and just allow the PCs to interact with henchmen, "Left Hands" and "Number Twos (Who does Number Two work for! heh) but that seems like it will play out after a while.

So, do you use reoccurring villains? If so, how do you make them work? If not, why not?

Is There a "Core" Fantasy Race That You Tend to Leave Out of Your Campaigns?

If there is a core race from the AD&D 1e Player's Handbook that consistently seems to get the short stick it's Gnomes.

Heck, I really want to like gnomes, but I can never seem to see where they fit. Are they Dwarven / Elven hybrids? Remember, they can cast spells as Illusionists.

Are they Dwarven / Halfling hybrids? Could be from the looks of it.

That being said, others look down on the portly halfling (LotFP Weird Fantasy makes them a "Saves" specialist, and ACKS leaves them out as PCs all together?

Is there a particular "core" fantasy race that you would rather not see in the next game you run or play in? Why?

Crawl! Issue #1 Now Available in PDF (DCC RPG)

I'm not going to bore you with my review of Crawl Issue #1 (which you can read here). Suffice to say I thought it was a bargain at $3.50 for a print issue.

$1.75 for the Crawl #1 PDF? Not only is it an impulse buy at that price, it's just a fucking amazing price for an awesome product. Crawl! is consistently one of (if not THE best) RPG fanzine currently being produced.

If you play the DCC RPG and haven't checked out Crawl! yet, why not? Heck, even if you play other fantasy RPGs you'll find stuff to steal ;)

The D&D Expert Rulebook Isn't the Only Recent Release at the DnD Classics Store

Yep, putting the D&D Expert Rules into a clean PDF is certainly big news. For a grand total of $10 you can get your Basic and Expert D&D rules and have years of playing ahead of you with original (not cloned rules).

See, it's times like this that I regret starting my RPG experience with AD&D and mistakenly thinking of B/X as D&D "rules for kids". It took me years to get past that idea.

Still, I am most comfortable with the AD&D rules, which is where I learned (and ignored) a crapton of rules. Today, WotC added a few more titles to the AD&D selection:

Monster Manual II - This was the the third of the AD&D monster books, and probably the only one that stuck to the actual AD&D rules (MM1 was released before the AD&D rules were completed, and often feels like a D&D book to me. As for the Fiend Folio, those wacky Brits produced a lovely wacky monster book). I still love the cover even today.

The Wilderness Survival Guide and the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide introduced Non-Weapon Proficiencies to core AD&D (they made their first appearance in Oriental Adventures). Aside from that, I don't recall getting much use from them. Maybe someone else did. The came out on the tail end of AD&D 1e, and I remember them being sold at a steep discount at the Complete Strategist in Manhattan when 2e released.

Tunnels & Trolls, You've Come a Long Way...

As I write this there are about 2 hours left in the Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls Kickstarter. It's blown away it's $26k goal and is past $122,700 at the moment.

Simply amazing.

It's nice to see all of the T&T love.

I expect to see a lot of T&T gaming popping up this summer on G+. I need to get my own off the ground, and with a vacation next week that I had forgotten about, I would probably do well to get that first session set up for some time next week ;)

What's in a Name? - The Difference Between a Monster and an NPC

Yesterday I wrote up a unique monster for my campaign, a Gargoyle named Slate. The name isn't original, but precious little is these days.

It didn't occur to me until today that I had basically turned the monster into an NPC.

Really, what is an NPC? It's a monster interesting enough for the players to interact with prior to or instead of killing it. Because lets be honest, most groups in fantasy RPGs are thinking about the body count ;)

If the highwaymen don't have names, they're monsters. If they have names and motivations they are NPCs.

A gargoyle is a monster, unless it's named Slate and can converse in the common tongue, at which point it becomes an NPC.

Now, if the NPC becomes a DMPC we have a whole 'nother problem ;)

Letting Magic Items Fall Where They May - or - Sometimes the Cool Sh!t Just Never Gets Found

I enjoy making up cool and unique magic items that have both good and bad attributes. Most of the time, the good outweighs the bad, which makes for a nice, non-generic item for the player that finds it.

When I decided to use Rappan Athuk, I knew I wanted to swap in some of my creations. My party has done a decent job of missing a handful. They almost missed the last one they found. I had to reread to them a "player's note" they had stumbled across 2 weeks earlier real time, but maybe a day game time.

See, I've been running games via G+ Hangouts and (the soon to be no more) Tabletop Forge. It was a pretty decent combination, except that you had to redraw the map with each session and there is no way to give players an actual "handout". What should have been a fair clue was forgotten over the intervening weeks. So, the other week I reminded them of their "handout". They were able to overcome (and then release and run from, foolish party) their adversary, but not before one of the party's thieves found an item I had placed weeks prior.

Strangely enough, it was the one section of the second level that they had bypassed when moving on to the third, before backtracking.

I have no problem letting my creations "rot away" unfound. It's the nature of fate. If they weren't hard to find in the first place, they wouldn't be as memorable ;)

I expect forgotten player's handouts will not be an issue in the future. Last weekend, before the announced merge of TTF into Roll20, I'd already decided to give Roll20 a shot. In part, it was for the mapping with a decent Fog of War, but it was also for the Player's Handouts feature. I expect I'll be giving both features a decent workout in the coming weeks.

The LotFP 2013 Free RPG Day Adventure Kickstarter is Live

James Raggi is attempting to Kickstart funding for a Free RPG Day product. You are NOT getting the Free RPG Day release by funding this Kickstart, you are instead getting PDF and possibly print copies of new LotFP adventures (depending on your pledge level), and the funding of this project will find a PDF release (@ $2,500) or a Print & PDF release (@ $15,000).

The funding period is only 16 days, so it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

I'm not even going to try to explain the different funding levels and their rewards as I'd lose my sanity check. You'll need to read them for yourself ;)

Butt Kicking For Goodness! Slip Sliding Away...

The projects that were long in the tooth? Generally speaking, little progress is being made in many of them.

Far West - 2 Backers Portraits were completed over the course of the last 4 updates. 4 chapters of the book still aren't completed, which means layout isn't done and incidental art is still needed. 13 months past estimated delivery date.

Dwimmermount - currently dead in the water. Backers were encouraged to put their own stamp on the current pre-release PDF of Dwimmermount and exchange such with other backers in the Dwimmermount Community. Each week that goes by without hearing directly from James makes it less likely that this project will actually get completed in my opinion. Silence certainly is not golden.

King for a Day - The PDF was finally released yesterday. At 5 months late, that's almost on time for an RPG Kickstarter.

Myth & Magic Player's Guide - PDF was released but the Hardcover, which was due back in August, still has no indication when it will be released.

Quantum Roleplaying Game - The "beta" is now being rewritten fairly extensively for the "final" version. This project was due in April of 2012. Last fall's Kickstarter add-on for this project (which thankfully never funded) would have been due this month. Imagine how long we would have had to wait for both of these projects if it hand funded.

Appendix N Adventure Toolkits - from the Feb 2 update: "Third - shipping your modules. I have tested out trying to ship just one or two of these modules at a time (which was my original plan back when I thought only 100-150 people at most would support this kickstarter). I have discovered that unless I put $1.50 worth of packaging around each module, the chances of them getting bent or damaged during shipment are pretty good. I do have tons of nice shipping boxes already on hand, so I have decided to ship as many of these modules to you at once as possible. I hate to put off shipping until the first of March, but I would rather have folks fuss about a delay than see hundreds of images of damaged modules emailed to me or posted online. " (just a reminder, these products were supposed to start shipping in July 2012)

Spears of the Dawn RPG - dead tree copies are expected to ship this week - a month EARLY. WTF? You mean it CAN be done?

Slate, Gargoyle Wanderer and Guide of The Gut

Artwork by Bruno Balixa

Slate, Gargoyle Wanderer and Guide of The Gut

While it is true gargoyles by nature are some of the most vile, evil things about, there are always the exceptions that prove the rule. Such is "Slate". It's not that Slate isn't evil, but his own morbid curiosity tend to keep his evil nature in check.

Slate has found himself an unlikely occupation - guide to wandering adventurers in The Gut, the underground highway that connects different parts of Rappan Athuk. It wasn't always such for him, but he doesn't recall much of his early days after his creation. Blood and violence are the only images he has retained of those times.

He does not recall eating the young ranger named Eramus nearly 100 years ago, but the event changed him. Slate become self aware and found he had desires beyond killing. He desired to wander, to explore and strangely enough, to be around people. It didn't hurt that he understood the common tongue  and with some effort could even speak it.

Slate knows most of the factions operating in The Gut and can help parties negotiate safe passage in many cases. All he asks in return is to be allowed to observe the violence when negotiations fail or are impossible. Oh, and be allowed to eat the slain from either side.

When Slate talks, the words tend to be said slowly and enunciated clearly and distinctly.  If at all possibly, he keeps his sentences short and to the point.

(I think I'm going to go through many of the standard D&D monsters and write up some "unique" variants on the some ole' same ole'. Should be fun ;)

The Brave Halfling Online Store Will Shortly Be No More - Brave Halfling to Move to POD

John Adams posted on his blog Confessions of an RPG Publisher  on Friday that he's shutting down the Brave Halfling Online store at the end of February.

John goes into his reasons and they all make a lot of sense. I think an unspoken reason is the huge delay in getting Delving Deeper out on time as well as the delay in the print rewards from the Appendix N Kickstarter. He's gotten flak for it, and it's deserved.

When you sell in PDF and Print on Demand, your products are actually on hand, not a preorder. The fact that someone else gets to mail out your orders with POD must be huge too, as I've found just mailing out prizes from the blog is a PITA when you need to work out the horrors of the US Postal System after a full week of work.

I am tempted to get extra boxes. At 10 bucks a pop Otus and Mullen boxes, they are a decent deal and they do look great.

If D&D Sessions Had NFL Commentators in Their Dungeons

"I believe the coaches and the players are going to deal with it best they can." said by a stupid commentator from the field of the Superdome regarding the current power outage.

Wait, is the other option that the coaches and the players are going to deal with it as poorly as possible?

I can only imagine what would happen if RPG sessions had commentators on the field of battle:

"Yes, the players have taken a setback with the TPK, but I suspect they will be back with a vengeance."

"The goblins say that they are willing to parley and it's always an option in their playbook."

"The party's thief expects there will be traps but he's trained hard for such an eventuality and is ready for whatever is thrown at him."

"I spoke with the ogres in room 13 and their keeping themselves mentally prepared for their encounter with the PC party by exchanging mind twisters. They're still working on '2 plus 2'."

"The DM states that he always plays fair and never fudges a roll. Back when I was a DM I can't say I never fudged a die roll, but I always played fair."

God, I really hate the fucking talking heads, especially when they have nothing worthwhile to talk about.

Super Bloodbowl Sunday - Organized Sports in Your Fantasy Worlds

I have the first edition of Games Workshop's Bloodbowl. I'm not sure we ever played a game to completion, as the rules were suitably confusing in the way of most Games Workshop's first editions were back in the 80's. Still the concept was awesome in so many ways.

I always wanted to find a way to integrate a Bloodbowl like game into a D&D campaign, even if it was just winging it with combat rolls, but I never found a way to work it into an active campaign. I think I feared that the players would regard it as, well, if not silly, certainly far out of the realm of normality.

I no longer think it's a silly idea. I think it's a damn awesome idea. All I need to do is work out a one-sheet of rules / regulations and then find a way to throw my party smack dab in the middle of it.

Anyone ever work a Bloodbowl type game into their fantasy campaigns? If so, how did it play out?

Inclement Weather in Your Games - Hand Wave or a Heavy Hand?

As I sit on the now winterized front porch at my parents' place in the Pocono Mountains, looking at maybe 2 inches of new snow on the ground, it's making me think. A couple of inches of snow is no big deal here on the east coast (the west coast is a whole 'nother ball of wax).

I pretty much ignore seasons and weather in my games unless they are there to set the mood. I haven't snowed a party in with a 4' snow storm since my high school / early college years (damn you Dragon Magazine of old!)

The thing is, you don't need 4' of snow to make folks miserable in a fantasy setting. Half a foot is going to make travel a real pain in the ass. Flooding and muddy paths and roadways after the snowfall is probably even worse.

Then there is the Weather Control spell. Just think of the advantages a village / town / city could have if it controlled it's own weather. Walk out of a snow storm in a brisk spring day with birds chirping and the sun melting the snow right off your cloak.

On that note, I should step out into the 15 degree weather and clear the snow from the patio and my car. I do want to be home in time for the Super Bowl.

So, hand wave or heavy hand for your weather?

Wayward Kickstarters - "You reach down and discover 10 GP..."

The full quote actually is: "You reach down and discover 10 GP that have been discarded. When you inspect the coin, there's a strange name on it: Maelorum".

So, it appears that one of the Kickstarters I supported (or a fellow backer) has donated $10 to the Wayward Kickstarters fund. I reinvested our last $10 (plus matching funds) already, and now we have yet another $10 donation (which I back dollar for dollar).

That means $20 to place on a Kickstarter: hit me with more ideas, as this money is burning s hole in my Kickstarting pocket ;)

Further Thoughts on What I Would Like in an OSR Magazine - A Sample Platter and Full Course Meals

Yeah, the idea of an OSR magazine is still on my mind.

What I really would want from on OSR magazine is a stronger community. An active community. A community that would feel that the magazine is theirs.

So, I would want to see some of the bigger names in the OSR contribute, writing what they are known for (or expanding their reach). So, maybe +Greg Christopher would write a new class for Ambition and Avarice, +Greg Gillespie might add a small and previously unknown barrow to the Barrowmaze, +Dyson Logos  and +matt jackson would be showcasing a new map, a new piece of insanity from +James Raggi, it's a nearly endless list. That's not even including the amazing and unsung artists that we have. Not huge articles (unless that's what they wanted) but an opportunity to expose the community to creators whose work they might not have sampled yet.

And it can't be fluff pieces, it would need to be content that stands on it's own. None of this "here's a sample of the Big Bamboozle's Book of Wonderous Wonderings and Wombats". It could be unuesed material for such, but again, it has to be able to stand on it's own.

At the same, I'd like to see others in the community write the bulk of such a magazine, as the more we create the stronger we are, and the more the community creates, the stronger the community is.

I truly believe the OSR community has more creative personalities by percentage than RPGs in general, but we have to be that way. If the community doesn't support the games we play, who will?

Yeah, this goes way beyond the actual type of content I was talking about before and goes right to the content creators. As a community we would need to take a sort of collective stewardship of the magazine, because without content there would be nothing.

I'd like to think it could be done. I've got ideas kicking around my head. I may need to kick myself in the head and see what happens with the ideas.

I'm open to all thoughts in this. Feel free to call me an idiot if you think I'm off track on this ;)

Dwimmermount Update #44 - Video Link and Summary

(The video update recorded Thursday night was supposed to alleviate the need for a huge weekly update this week, but Tavis touched on enough new stuff that this week's update is a pretty sizable recap of the 45 minute video - I'm going to highlight via italics and bold what I feel are the major points of this week's update - Erik)

Where We Stand

For a lengthy discussion of where the Dwimmermount Kickstarter is at, you can check out the video record of a G+ hangout with myself and backers Erik Tenkar, whose blog Tenkar's Tavern often acts as a watchdog for Kickstarter projects, and Miguel Zapico who is working on the MapTools framework for running Dwimmermount as a virtual tabletop. The video is attached to this update, and can also be viewed at this link.

Next week I'll be doing another hangout and taking questions from backers. The hangout will be scheduled via the Google community Mages of the Mountain. If you're not already part of this community, please provide us with your Google+ username using this form - you can also let us know your Minecraft username and I'll add it to the Dwimmermount server whitelist.

Here's a summary of things discussed on this video:

Through his friend Victor Raymond, Dwimmermount's author James Maliszewski has shared the news that his father is very ill and not expected to live much longer. Autarch understands his needing to take some time to deal with this difficult situation, and we trust in his honor and integrity to fulfill his responsibility to the Dwimmermount backers as soon as he's able. We feel that the best way to support James, and to uphold our own responsibility to you as backers, is to keep working to realize his vision of the Dwimmermount mega-dungeon.

X and Y Challenges

The difficulty Autarch faces is that our contract with James transferred to him the funds we raised on Kickstarter, along with the responsibility for fulfilling the Dwimmermount rewards. James maintains copyright to his work and the rights to the use of the art he commissioned and paid for. In the video, I assigned these two issues - money and copyright - to the x and y axis of a chart. (In future updates I'll hope to have a graphic of this chart to embed in these updates). Placing the different rewards and bonus goals into the four quadrants of this chart helps determine which aspects of the project need to wait on James, and which we can make progress on in the meantime.

The upper right quadrant is rewards that need both copyright and funding. Things in this zone will have to wait on James' return. The hardback is furthest out in this quadrant; it is costly to print and crucially relies on his copyright. The map booklet is closer in. As a print reward it needs funds to produce but is less expensive, and its IP situation is more nuanced.

The upper left quadrant is rewards that need copyright, but not funding. Things in this zone may be produced as fan and community efforts, but can't be published by Autarch. The PDF is at the edge of this zone. Professional editing, development, and layout would require some funding, but the lack of hard printing and shpping costs makes it feasible for fans to create for their own use and sharing. The PDF's dependence on IP means this is something Autarch can't do while remaining within the law. 

Many rewards in this upper left are already finished, or well on their way. James' draft of all sections of the Dwimmermount text is complete and available for backers to download. Miguel's MapTools framework is largely complete; work is proceeding on levels 7 and 9, but all the other areas of the mega-dungeon are available to run online with an integrated dungeon key and sophisticated features like lighting and fog of war. The Minecraft server is up and running and making progress; we have large sections of Dwimmermount levels 1, 2A, and 2B excavated, including some dungeon dressing. (The server would benefit from minimal funding; right now it is hosted by my home PC and is vulnerable to household outages.) Another bonus goal, to share James' original notes, is partially complete - some existing materials like character sheets have yet to be scanned. Progress can be made on sharing the existing scans at the Play-Generated Map and Document Archive, but preserving the original papers and adding more scans will need to wait on James.

The lower left quadrant is rewards that need neither money nor copyright. These can be done by anyone, whether it's Dwimmermount fans, backers, or companies. The main reward in this quadrant is backstage access: the chance to watch the process of realizing a mega-dungeon. This won't be complete until everything else is, but progress here is good; the Mages of the Mountain G+ community is a recent advance.

The lower right quadrant is rewards that require funds to produce but don't need copyright. These are things achievable by a company rather than a collective effort of fans. Two rewards in this quadrant are the megadungeon tracker and the wilderness vinyl mat. Both are concepts that Autarch set up and haven't been contracted or paid for, so copyright remains with the artists and cartographers. These are physical items that cost money to produce and ship. Autarch could plan to cover these expenses by making these products available for sale to backers who didn't originally pledge for these rewards and to the wider world of gamers, since these items would be useful not only for Dwimmermount but for other dungeons and kinds of RPG play.

My idea here is that, by offering for sale to the general public, Autarch would be able to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of delivering these rewards without having to wait for James' return. (The costs would be eventually invoiced against the original pledge funds). Dwimmermount backers who pledged for the wilderness mat and mega-dungeon tracker would have these items shipped to them. Everyone at the Zealot-Phantast level and above would get the electronic versions, and could apply this as a discount on the physical items if desired.

Proposing New Kickstarters

I think that the megadungeon tracker and wilderness vinyl mat are sufficiently viable as commercial products that their general sale could cover the cost of fulfilling these Dwimmermount rewards. However, Autarch doesn't have the money on hand for the production necessary to have items to sell. To get around this limitation we'd be looking at launching new Kickstarters to create these items, with the expenses of fulfilling existing rewards factored into the funding target. This is a controversial and risky proposition, which is why I want to get community feedback before we go ahead.

Last week I met with Luke Crane, Kickstarter's Games Project Specialist, to discuss these plans. (Luke is also the co-designer of FreeMarket, a game in which characters engage in radically futuristic economic schemes, so this conversation was a little like being lost in a dungeon and getting the chance to to ask Dave Arneson about best practices for dungeoneering.) Luke said that there is ample precedent for this move. His recommended approach to handling it is consistent with Kickstarter's recent requirement to disclose risks. People backing any new project Autarch crowdfunds should know that we have outstanding unfulfilled rewards on Dwimmermount, so that they can take this into account before deciding to extend their trust on anything else we do.

The wilderness mat is the reward that I think can most immediately be fulfilled by a second-order Kickstarter. I'd like to use crowdfunding to get these rewards into the hands of the Dwimmermount backers who pledged for it. My feeling is that we'd all benefit as a result, regardless of whether you pledged for the wilderness mat, because having this cool play aid will encourage playtesting which makes the ultimate Dwimmermount release more robust and suited to the actual needs of gamers. I think this new Kickstarter could succeed by learning from the mistakes Autarch has made in the past - or, at least, be set up in such a way that if it succeeds in reaching its funding target it is likely to succeed in delivering its rewards on time. In the video, I explain some of my reasoning; unfortunately if I'm going to keep my commitment to post these updates on Friday, I don't have time to write these out before midnight.

Autarch is also considering launching a Kickstarter for Domains at War, a project we have in hand but don't have the money to produce. I fully understand that people who feel burned by Dwimmermount may feel like we're rubbing salt in their wounds if we take money for another project while this one remains unfinished. It may help to explain that Autarch is divided between two cities, NYC and Durham, with accordingly separate resources. As I've been spending time on Dwimmermount things like writing these updates, the Durham crew - with the assistance of many volunteer readers and playtesters - has been finishing the Domains at War manuscript. It's now at the point where the only thing it needs to be finished is funding for illustration, layout, printing, and shipping. Domains at War is a key piece of what we created Autarch to do, and I'm confident that by supporting our growth its Kickstarter will enhance rather than detract from our ability to deliver the rewards we've promised our Dwimmermount backers.

One of the bonus goals we proposed for the Dwimmermount Kickstarter was a scenario for Domains at War that would use its mass-combat system to play out the ancient battles between the Thulians and Red Elves seen in pedestal-visions on the Path of Mavors. We didn't reach that funding level originally, but as a token of our continuing dedication to doing right by our Dwimmermount backers we'd like to offer you this bonus goal as part of our Domains at War launch. The essential rules for mass combat in D@W, similar to the War Machine in the Rules Compendium, will be released for free. Your enjoyment of this Dwimmermount-exclusive scenario won't depend on your having to buy Autarch's new thing, because that would be lame.

There's a Jack Vance story in which Cugel is lured into a monster's cave and can only escape by tricking other people to enter. I really don't want Autarch's continuing use of Kickstarter to be this kind of situation, so I need your help to avoid such a fate: Cugel may be clever but every GM knows that many heads are easily able to outwit one. In the comments to this update, and at the Mages of the Mountain community, please help me identify the flaws in what seems to me like a good idea so that we can fix them and move forward together.

Sine Nomine Publishing Releases the Spears of the Dawn Art Pack to the Public Domain!

As Kevin promised during the Spears of the Dawn Kickstarter, he has now released the art from the SotD book into the "public domain". Do with it as you see fit. Holy shit but that is so awesome!

From the blurb:


Free African-inspired fantasy art for your own campaigns and projects!

Need African-styled locations, adventurers, and creatures? Thanks to the generous backers of the Spears of the Dawn RPG Kickstarter, these images and resource files are yours to do with as you please. With the consent of the artists, I've relased all these images into the public domain, and you may use them freely in your own gaming products and personal campaigns.

Included in this trove of black-and-white line art are roughly 60 images fit for fantastic adventure, plus Nicole Cardiff's color cover of Spears of the Dawn for you to remix or reuse. All are provided in their original .tiffs.

Not only that, but an InDesign CS6 file is provided, one containing a sheaf of objects, styles, and the full source file for the game's first chapter for you to use as a worked example. Go ahead and rip it to pieces, and rebuild it in a way you like better. While the actual content of the chapter is not public domain, you should feel free to reuse, recycle, and remix all the InDesign component parts in any way you like.

Lessons Learned From Moderating the Dwimmermount Update On Air Session

Talk about being unprepared. I wound up moderating a Q&A that had all of two incoming questions.

Lesson #1 - Have your own set of questions ready - This is a big one. I figured if we ran out of questions, I'd be able to think of some on the spot. Ain't happening if you are trying to listen to the actual conversation.

Lesson #2 - Be prepared to fill in the silence - I need to learn the gift of gab. Well, you know, filler gab. ;)

Lesson #3 - Pacing - This goes hand in hand with the lessons #1 and 2.

Lesson #4 - Solicit questions prior to the hangout - I really should have asked for questions on the bog side and the G+ side prior to this. Live and learn.

Lesson #5 - Forget the Buttkicking Hat of Justice / Inquiry / Doffiness - My Sherlock Holmes Hat, although better with headphones than the Viking Helm Tavis had generously offered to load me, itched the living shit out of me. That and it made me hot. Screw the hat next time ;)

Lesson #6 - Drink Heavily - there was just water in my stein. Next time there will be beer ;)

Dwimmermount Video Update for 1/31/13 is Live

Yep, that is me wearing the Butt Kicking for Goodness Sherlock Holmes Hat of Inquiry. It was that or a bararian helm that Tavis would have loaned me.

There is a lot of good info in this video if you are at all interested in Dwimmermount. Or if you want to see me stumbling along on occasions. If nothing else, there is that for entertainment value ;)

My only regret is that I did not seek questions earlier from the community. So yeah, I kind of handicapped myself in my first (last?) moderating gig on G+ Hangouts. Go figure.

This was recorded last night.

A Huge Thank You To All That Participated in the BFRPG Appreciation Day, and a Question

I want to thank all of the bloggers that participated in the Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game Appreciation Day. You were all awesome. We hit 24 blogs involved in the event. Amazing!

I also want to thank the readers of this blog and all of the other blogs that were visited. I want to thank everyone that took the time to go to the Basic Fantasy RPG Site and gave it an honest look. I hope you found it to be rewarding.

So yes, a huge thanks to all!

Now the question:

Should we do this again next month?

If so, who / what do we "appreciate"?

This was certainly a huge success. Can we repeat it?

Give me your thoughts if you will...

What Would You Want In Your Perfect RPG "Hub" Site?

To take a step away from critiquing what you aren't finding to fit your desires, what would those desires be?

Would your ideal site list recent blog posts from blogs in the OSR? RPG Blogs in general? Be customizable and list the blogs you follow? Not list blogs at all?

Would it have a forum? If so, how expansive should that forum be? Would it have sub-forums for all the different OSR games and other RPGs, or should they be all in one general forum?

What about sections run by different people? Or would that just duplicate G+ Communities?

Should it have campaign tracking software?

A section to upload community created works for use by the community?

I'm not even sure what my ideal RPG website would entail. It would definitely integrate the blogs that I enjoy reading the most, it would have a forum (at least for the exchange of ideas - G+ is a pain to look up old threads for this purpose) but most importantly, it would be a link repository of gaming goodness.

Links for blogs, free RPG resources, other RPG Forums (perhaps with the last 5 posts from Dragonsfoot and RPGNet and others showing - so you can link right to an interesting post right on another site).

What don't I want? Ads. Minimal ads if any. They just kind of take me out of my zone when I'm trying to immerse myself. Or, if there are ads, they should be from other RPG sites - kinda of expanding the reach of all of them.

Oh, and virtual 3d chatting. Hey, if I'm going to ask for things that aren't going to happend, I mayas well ask for the world ;)