Mini Review: GOLD - The Web Series That Does Double Damage - Complete Season 1 Special Edition DVD

GOLD - The Web Series That Does Double Damage - Complete Season 1 Special Edition DVD - - Now THAT's a Title.  Heck, I almost sprained a finger typing all of that out.  Damn, I'd no longer be a contender.

I'm sure most of us have seen The Gamers, a low budget spoof about, what else, gamers and gaming.  GOLD- TWSTDDD is a more serious approach of the topic.  Or if not more serious, then certainly less campy and with higher production values.



The premise is that gaming is a spectator sport, with teams, training, fans, sponsors - even televised championships.  Its every geek gamer's dream, and even the not so geeky.

There are other story lines going on, and in many ways the gaming story line is the background - characters, as in the player's themselves, come before the gaming.

To be honest, I had trouble caring for most of the characters until the second episode, so stick with it.  When I finished I was left wanting more, which is always good for a series, and I think this one can do well. 

The British accents are poorly done, or greatly done if one is looking for over the top.  Still, the series gets it's legs with the arrival of the Brits.

The DVD is well done, but I'm unsure how many will pay for something that is freely available on the web.  Still, you can't go wrong by giving the series a peek.

Random Thoughts

Al still hasn't stepped up for his prize from last week. If I don't hear from him by 6pm NYC time, Wednesday August 18, i'll reroll and award it to someone else. Can't let this stuff go to waste.

I've noticed a couple of companies are going the "free PDF with dead tree purchase" and I think it's great. It increases the odds of me making the dead tree purchase, as I make most of my gaming buys in PDF these days.

LofFP Weird Fantasy - thinking of the Ranger Class conversion, how do you have a damage or combat bonus against certain creatures when such creatures aren't included in the rules... Aargh!

Weekend get aways are fun, but I really need a nice week or two out sick, so I can be forced to stay home and read. I really need to catch up on my reading time.

I enjoyed doing yesterday's Overlooked Blog. It may become a semi-regular feature.

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The Overlooked Blogs Collection - August 15, 2010

Today I had one of those "Holy Crap!  I've overlooked this for how long?"  Sometimes it just takes a few minutes to see where some of your blog's traffic is coming from to find other blogs that you yourself have overlooked.

Such is Joseph Browning's Blog for Expeditious Retreat Press.  I've bought his products in the past, I've enjoyed reading the House of Blue men, and I'm seriously considering picking up Sorcery and Super Science! even though I have no idea when, let along if, I'd ever get a chance to run it.

Lo and behold, I'm checking where Tenkar's Tavern gets some of its traffic from, and I see http://josephbrowning.blogspot.com/.  That was the Holy Crap moment, I never even realized he had a blog.  Should have clicked yesterday when we had the OneBookShelf sales number discussion, but I can be a bit slow at times.

Do yourself a favor and give it a peek.  It's full of good stuff you can steal for just about any OSR RPG, and you can read up on the development of Sorcery and Super Science!. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

LotFP - Weird Fantasy - My Stab at a Paladin Class

Ever since I read James' take on the Thief (Specialist) I started thinking about how the 6 pip system (for lack of a better name) could be used to emulate other classic character classes in Weird Fantasy.  The Paladin is my first stab at it, and this is my first stab at the Paladin.  I'm sure it will be revised after feedback and y own further thoughts.

Paladins in Weird Fantasy aren't as powerful as Paladins in the classic rules.  Their over the top holiness has to be toned down for the default setting, which is grittier then most.

Here's the basics:

Paladins fight and save as fighters of the same level.  They advance using the experience chart for Wizards.

They have a permanent Protection From Evil - Self Only, in effect at all times.

The following Paladin abilities can be improved as the Paladin levels, via the "Pip System" used by Specialist in the main Weird Fantasy Rulebook, with changes as indicated as follows: all 3 abilities start with 1 pip.  1 pip is awarded with each level gained, to be used as the player sees fit, except that no ability can be 3 pips or more then any other.

Smite Undead - Undead attack bonus

Pip 1 - +2 hit, +2 damage, 1 use per day

Pip 2 - +2 hit, +2 damage, 2 uses per day

Pip 3 - +2 hit, +3 damage, 2 uses per day

Pip 4 - +2 hit, +3 damage, 3 uses per day

Pip 5 - +2 hit, +4 damage, 3 uses per day

Pip 5 - +2 hit, +4 damage, 4 uses per day

Lay Hands

Pip 1 - Heals 2 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 2 - Heals 5 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 3 - Heals 8 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 4 - Heals 11 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 5 - Heals 14 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 6 - Heals 17 points on 1 individual once per day

Cure Disease

Pip 1 - Self Immunity to non-magic disease - +2 save to magical diseases

Pip 2 - 1 Casting of Cure Disease once per week

Pips 3-6 - 1 Additional Casting per Pip per week

The restriction in pip levels keeps one from overspecializing, while allowing individualization of each Paladin.

Consider this still a work in progress.  Comments and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

All the Treasures of the World: Gems - Free Sample

Grognardia has a nice review of All the Treasures of the World: Gems here.  Depending on the campaign you run, it might be a handy reference piece, but that is often hard to know without taking a peek for oneself.  It is not the usual RPG supplement.

 

Faster Monkey Games has a free sample from the product available here.  Check it out and see if it works for you.

(back to the Paladin grindstone)

Sales Rankings on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG

I always assumed that the sales rankings on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG would be one and the same.  They are storefronts for OneBookshelf.  You use the same login, purchases made on one site are recorded on the other, etc.

But they apparently record sales separately, and this shows in the Hottest items rankings.  It seems that each site has a different demographic, and I find that very interesting.

LotFP's Weird Fantasy seems to do much better on RPGNow.  I'll be bolding James' latest releases below.

RPGNow.com
Hottest Items (Overall)
01.ION GUARD - ICONS Edition
02.WINTERHAWK: The Watchtower
03.Villains and Vigilantes
04.ICONS: Sins of the Past
05.Icons
06.Smallville Roleplaying Game
07.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
08.DC ADVENTURES Hero's Handbook
09.ICONS: The Skeletron Key
10.Sord Pf
11.ICONS Character Folio
12.E-Z DUNGEONS: Expansion Set 3
13.Sorcery & Super Science!
14.Tzak-Nal: The City
15.Eclipse Phase: NPC File 1: Prime

DriveThruRPG
Hottest Items
01.Return of the Scarlet Empress
02.Eclipse Phase: NPC File 1: Prime
03.Invite Only
04.Dudes of Legend (Full Version)
05.World of Darkness: Mirrors
06.Eclipse Phase: Sunward Hack Pack
07.DC ADVENTURES Hero's Handbook
08.Glories of the Most High: The Unconquered Sun
09.Glories of the Most High: Luna
10.Glories of the Most High: The Maidens of Destiny
11.Thousand Correct Actions
12.Mage Chronicler's Guide
13.Smallville Roleplaying Game
14.BattleTech: Technical Readout 3085
15.Yazata: The Persian Gods

RPGNow - Fantasy - Hottest Items
01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Sorcery & Super Science!
03.Tzak-Nal: The City
04.Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 2
05.Hero's Handbook for Resolute: Towers of Arvandoria
06.[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Time Thief
07.Tower of the Stargazer
08.[PFRPG] Krazy Kragnar's Alchemical Surplus Shop
09.Core Spell Card Sets - the Master Compendium (PFRPG)
10.World vs. Hero
11.Hammers of the God
12.Weird New World
13.Book of Beasts I for Resolute the RPG
14.Trailblazer
15.All the Treasures of the World: GEMS

DriveThruRPG- Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.Return of the Scarlet Empress
02.Glories of the Most High: The Unconquered Sun
03.Glories of the Most High: Luna
04.Glories of the Most High: The Maidens of Destiny
05.Thousand Correct Actions
06.Contagion of Law
07.Debris from the Fallen Races
08.Manual of Exalted Power: The Alchemicals
09.Splinters of the Wyld
10.Scroll of Exalts
11.ExXxalted: Scroll of Swallowed Darkness
12.Hellfrost Region Guide #18: The Freelands
13.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
14.Tannhauser: Revised Rules
15.Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters

RPGNow - Dark Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Tower of the Stargazer
03.Hammers of the God
04.Crypt 30mm Paper Model
05.Hermit's Hutch 30mm Paper Model
06.World War Ruins #1
07.Winds Of Magic: Advanced Magic and Wizardry
08.High Valor
09.Hyperborean Mice
10.Critter Cache 6: Lovecraftian Bestiary
11.Liber Mutatis: The Book of Change
12.Cropland Ground Tiles
13.High Ground Tiles 30mm Paper Models
14.Crosspiece Ruins Set 30mm Paper Models
15.Medieval Ground Tiles

DriveThruRPG - Dark Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Call to Arms: Mist Dancer
03.Call to Arms: Force of Nature
04.Call to Arms: Bloodsworn
05.Winds Of Magic: Advanced Magic and Wizardry
06.Liber Mutatis: The Book of Change
07.Call to Arms: Infernalist
08.Dark Heresy: Dead Stars: Haarlock Legacy III
09.Dragon Age RPG, Set 1
10.Ordo Draconis 2
11.Houses of the Blooded
12.The Gathering Storm
13.Earthdawn Third Edition Player's Guide
14.Tower of the Stargazer
15.The Darkest Hour

I wonder if RPGNow is regarded as more "Old School" in the traffic it receives.
As I said earlier, I find this interesting, although I really don't know what to make of it.  Food for thought I guess.

Weekend Getaway - Lets See if I Can Get Things Done

So, the moment I found out I was not going to be stuck working this weekend the decision was made to run away from the city and head to the Pocono Mountains.  It serves the dual purpose of getting the kid a lot of driving time in, and it removes me from all the distractions of the city... okay, almost all, as I do pay for the piss poor DSL at my parent's place.  A man (and his son) need the internet!  heh

Thankfully my son can entertain himself.  Now if my mother can do the same, I'll have time to accomplish stuff that's been rattling around between my ears for the past week or so.

Come to think of it, I need to give Weird Fantasy's Magic book a closer read. I skimmed my first time thru, but I've heard that James did some tweaking on the otherwise mundane spell entries.  

Oh.. and sleep.  Lots of sleep ;)

LotFP -Weird Fantasy - Unsorted Thoughts on a Paladin Class

Looking at the Paladin class, the conversion to Weird Fantasy shouldn't be too hard. Drop saving throw bonuses, detect evil, protection from evil 10' radius becomes self only, no undead turning and no spell gain at higher levels.

Lay Hands, Cure Disease and an Undead Power Attack (poor choice of attack name - consider it in progress) get increases based upon the "Die Pip" system used by the Specialist Class. I have an idea for this, probably won't get written up until tomorrow.

Only one pip awarded per level gain, and no power can have 3 pips or more then any other, which should keep them fairly balanced while allowing specialization.

Expo chart needs to be worked out.

Anyhow, that's a snapshot of my notes.

Hopefully this gets fleshed out better over the weekend. Then I'll attempt the Ranger ;)

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Blood Moon Rising - A New Labyrinth Lord Adventure

I'm sure all of you have been following the noise about Insidious, the adventure released using the AD&D trademark, under the OGL, and basically making a mess of thing but garnering lots of publicity.  If not, check out The Greyhawk Grognard's posting on it - its the best I've seen so far.  My main problem with this product?  It appears to be a crippled PDF, with a watermark on every page (apparently across the page).  I like my watermarks not to interrupt my reading, thank you very much.  I'll pass.


Blood Moon Rising is not the adventure you've been reading about all day.  Nope, this one is for Labyrinth Lord.  It appears to make proper use of the OGL.  Figure that one out.
Here's the blurb:

Garanton is a village like any other, except for five days out of the year when it hosts the Feast of St. Garan. During this time, fighters from abroad come to join in the revelry, mingle with other adventurers, and win fame and fortune fighting in the daily games. But all is not well in Garanton this year. Cruel orcs prowl the forest, dark wizards cast webs of treachery and deceit, and bat-winged demons fill the moonlit sky. Does your party have what it takes to ward off this evil before it consumes the entire town?

Blood Moon Rising is a Labyrinth LordTM adventure that is easily converted to other editions of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Designed for 3-6 characters of 1st through 3rd level, the adventure is set in and around the village of Garanton and involves a mixture of wilderness, dungeon, and urban encounters. Use your archetypical frontier village for more than just a rest stop between forays into the wild. Come enjoy the Feast of St. Garan today!

Hopefully Small Niche Games isn't penalized for actually following the rules as spelled out in the legal document they are apparently abiding by.
Still, I wish it was bookmarked.  I never used to care much, but LotFP has spoiled me for life i seems ;)

Working on the Weird (Fantasy)

Work has been relatively insane since I came back from vacation on Monday. I'm still working on the Paladin and Ranger for Weird Fantasy, but might not have much time free until the weekend (assuming I don't get ordered in for the weekend, which at this point in time is a possibility).

I'm also toying with a few more (minor) house rules for Weird Fantasy. Time is the adversary at the moment.

I've reread LotFP Weird Fantasy Referee book on my iPad. First, kudos to James for making an excellent PDF conversion. It looks awesome on the iPad. Secondly, the advice James gives is priceless, even the parts that I don't agree with in total. Magic is a rare, wonderful and scary thing in the default setting of Weird Fantasy. I still think this book is worth the price of admission on it's own, and it would be nice to see it for sale separately.

Okay, more when I have my next few minutes of lucidity in this insanity ;)




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The House of Blue Men - A Sorcery and Super Science! QuickStart

Sorcery and Super Science! is Expeditious Retreat's new RPG.  I don't think I can explain the game setting better then they do, so here it is:

After the cracking of the moon and before the rise of Atlantis the world was a place strange to the thoughts of honest men. The death throes of science amid the birth of magic sculpted new generations of conquerors who strode the lands forging civilizations of steel, sinew, and sorcery from the decrepit hulks of the ones that fell before.

Tyrannical wizards, amoral super-scientists, charismatic catalysts, and multifarious mutants battled for wealth, power, and honor. It was ten thousand years of barbarity; ten thousand years spent in the shadowy shells of past glories, hiding from horrible creatures that scratched and skittered for blood; ten thousand years of tyranny and injustice, ten thousand years of Sorcery & Super Science!

The House of Blue Men - A Sorcery and Super Science! QuickStart is a free peek at the setting and the rules.  At 48 pages, its a fairly large free peek.

It's written to be Old School at heart, or so they say.  I'll have to give this Quickstart a full read and get back to you on that.  First glance does show a professional prepared product.  Nice bookmarking in the Quickstart too.

And the Winner is...

We hit 50 Google Connect Friends / Followers today.

So I get to give away a prize... fun.

Rolling my wonderful crystal red (I've been told they look pink, but whatever) I've rolled:

a 14

"Al" is the winner of his choice of the following in PDF, courtesy of RPGNow / OneBookShelf:

     Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion
     Paths of Power (Pathfinder)
     Dark Heresy:  Inquisitor's Handbook

I'll be sending an email to Al's google email shortly.  Once he picks I'll send him his code.

Congrats!

Next prize at 60 members ;)

Let's Get to 50!

The Tavern currently has 48 Google Connect Friends / Followers. Let's hit 50 so I can randomly reward one of the 50 with a free PDF product from RPGNow.com.

I enjoy giving stuff away, so if you regularly pull up a seat at the Tavern, why don't you sign the book and possibly get some free swag.

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August Sales at RPGNow - 20% of Coupon for Selected Publishers

The following publishers are offering 20% off with the following coupon code for the month of August:

Code: DTRPGAugust2010BlogPCast

Publishers:

A Terrible Idea

Aethereal Forge

Bailey Records

Crucifiction Games

Dream Pod 9

Fantasy Games Unlimited

Final Redoubt Press

Gold Rush Games

Goodman Games

Highmoon Games

Morbid Games

OtherWorld Creations

Palladium Books

Rogue Games

RPG Objects

Savage Mojo

Tricky Owlbear

Vigilance Press

Enjoy ;)

OSR Rulesets - Art Free for Free

I think Goblinoid Games the first with the art free version of the Labyrinth Lord PDF given away for free and a version with art sold an a nominal price.

LotFP Weird Fantasy is the second OSR publisher that I know of that went art free for free, pay for version with art. (although Weird Fantasy's art enhanced set includes 2 books not in the free version).

Has anyone else gone this route? Did I miss a game or two?

Is this effective marketing? I suspect it is, but I have no way to know for sure.

Some people put little value on free. Does the fact that there is a pay for version that is essentially the same make the free version more valuable?

Please leave your thoughts after the beep. BEEEEP!

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Cartographer - RPG Mapping for the iPad

Cartographer is a mapping program for the iPad that allows for downloading of maps to your computer for printing or Virtual Table Top use.

At 12 bucks it's 18 dollars cheaper then it's only competitor I know of (whose name escapes me at the moment).

The mapping is fairly intuitive... It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to do a small 4 room dungeon complete with doors, stairs, pools and assorted trappings.

You can also use the map as a battle map directly on the iPad, and can move counters around on the virtual screen. A bit small for my use, but with a video out to a HD TV or computer monitor it might make a decent option

I only stumbled across this little gem late last night, so I haven't put it thru all of it's paces. My one peeve is that the zoom is not set to work with the ipad's pinching feature... Instead it uses preset zoom out /in settings.

Interesting so far, this might become a mapping program I can actually use ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

LotFP - Weird Fantasy Role-Playing Rules - On Sale at RPGNow

James put the Weird Fantasy Role-Playing Deluxe Edition - Rules Book, The Magic Book, The Referee Book and the Tutorial Book up on RPGNow - $12.50 for the lot of it.  The Referee Book might be worth that on its own, its just that good.

485 pages  of gaming fun, including character sheet, an info sheet and Raggi's Recommended Readings

(short review of the Referee Book here.)

 

Some might prefer a free peek, and James is doing you one better... he's offering the Rules Book and Magic Book as a free download on his website.  They are art free but the real deal.

I think it's awesome that you can get everything that was offered in the collectors box for less then $23 total in PDF (if you add in Tower of the Stargazer and Weird New World, reviews here and here).

Give Weird Fantasy a free grab if nothing else.  It's good, well written, and making me think of house rules and adding classes - that's amazing unto itself ;)

Back to the Grindstone

The joys of returning to work after nine days away... this morning was painful just to deal with the alarm. I'd like to know where all the time went on my vacation, as I have little of productive completed projects around the house to show for it.

At least i've found time to think of the ways to stat out the Paladin and Ranger classes for Weird Fantasy. It may be a few days before I have anything ready to post. Damn work and it's ability to destroy free time ;)

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LotfP - Weird Fantasy - More Thoughts on Houserules / Adding Classes

Driving has become a very relaxing way for me to think about life, love... and gaming.  If I could write and drive, I'm sure the products would be awesome, at least until the point the car I was driving went off a bridge or into a wall due to my attention being diverted.

Anyhow, I'm really digging the Specialist class in Weird Fantasy.  It is a great solution to a class with multiple abilities that increase with level gain.  It allows for the individualization of each character, specialized or jack of all trades.  It is very well thought out.

It's also a fine example as a baseline to design other classes with abilities, some that increase with level, some that are gained at later levels, or a combination of the two. I'm thinking of writing up a Ranger, Paladin and possibly Bard class for LotFP's Weird Fantasy.

If nothing else, it gives me a reason to reread the rules again, and the referee advice.  Oh, and run the damn tutorial.  Sigh.  Where the F' did my vacation go?

Open Game Table Volume 2

I remember vividly when Open Game Table Volume 1 came out last year.  It reinforced my desire to blog and really opened my eyes up to some of the blog sites in our corner of the blogosphere.  It also made good bathroom reading material, as it could be read in short sections and picked up next round.  Yep, I own the hard copy.

This year I have the PDF version of Open Game Table Volume 2, and I just started virtually flipping thru it.  There are some blogs that will be added to my blog role (how Gnome Stew has missed it for so long I do not know, but I shall soon rectify it).

Still, there seems to be something lacking this time around.  In all probability, it is my sense of wonder that is missing, as now I have become part of this thing we call blogging, and although I am not a major part of it by far, I have lost the sense of wonder I used to have.

No matter, it should be a good read, and I expect to find some interesting blogs to read in the future.