A Plethora of PDFs

I think I am currently suffering an RPG PDF overload.  It's not lack of quality, its that there is too much quanitity for me to keep up with. 

Cubicle 7 recently released the Clockwork & Chivalry Core Worldbook for Runequest 2 (I'm tryng to figure out how much work would be needed to make it work with BRP or Openquest).  A nice twist to the historical time of the Musketeers.  Cubicle 7 has been putting out some interesting releases recently.

Troll Lord has released an updated and expanded A1:  Assault on Blacktooth Ridge, for Castles & Crusades.  From what I can tell it now includes some of the web enhancements to the original release.  I've already caught a typo, which may be a hold over from a print release, but I'm not sure (when you rfer to pages 50-51in a PDF that is 43 pages, you might be Troll Lord Games).  Despite the typo(s) I'm a big fan of Assault on Blacktooth Ridge... it has some Keep on the Borderlands-ness to it, and it presents a nice low level sanbox.

The Sanctuary Ruin from Ludibrium Games is a module for the OSR rules of your choice.  It clocks in at 10 pages, so maybe I should hit this first.

That's just what I'm trying to dig thru at the moment... I've got a larger pile waiting to be even looked at. Well, actually, at the moment I've got the Jets game calling my name.  Hey, this is a tavern, you need to watch the game :)

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Picking Nits in the 4e Essentials Starter Box

First, it is what it is. It's not a basic set like old, but a starter set with limited options and theoretically a shorter learning curve. I'll try that learning curve out on my girlfriend at a later point.

Let's see...

Tokens. Not bad, surprisingly enough. Fairly thick, decent art... They will be reusable by the owner as / if they continue gaming.

Cards. Used to describe powers, magic items and such, the paper they are printed on is not going to withstand any amount of actual gaming. Reusability is next to nothing. Still, they are thicker then the covers of the rules booklets.

Dice. Full set of gaming dice, but they could have used an extra d10 for percentiles. They have come a long way since the "rounding with play" set from my First Edition of Gamma World. Nothing special but they are keepers. Black is a dull color for dice in my opinion.

Character sheets. Nothing special. Better then not being included.

Battlemaps. I hate them in general principle. A reusable battle MAT is my preference. I haven't even bothered to u fold it.

Coupon. Free downloadable adventure. I guess I should check it out at some point, not that I'll ever use more then the included solo tutorial, and even that is a big maybe.

Player's and DM's booklets. The covers suck, at they are paper thin and the same quality as the rest of the booklets' pages. I know the starter set isn't meant to get much reuse, but it might have been a nice gesture to quality to give them a little sturdiness.

Might try to give the solo a crack later tonight. I'd run a Tunnels & Trolls solo instead, but I don't have enough D6 in the Poconos.





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Aftermath of the Big KABOOM!

So, the storm that crashed thru the New York City area last night left a decent swath of destruction where the "not a tornado" passed.  I took some pics about a mile from my house, at Juniper Valley Park.

Here we have an Ent, arms outstretched to the vengeful god of nature.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

An uninvited guest.

Off with his head!

Beyond words, I'm still amazed only one person was killed in this storm.

Nature is the opponent you can't ever defeat, only survive.

Back to gaming stuff this weekend...

Update to the Big BABOOM!

Well, I tried to drive in to Manhattan to pick the kid up... wasn't happening.  Roads are effectively shut down in my part of Queens County.  I actually parked my car a half mile from my house and walked the rest of the way, or else I would still be making my way home.

The kid is taking the subway... hopefully that works out okay.  In the meantime I'm being serenaded by numerous car horns.  Joy.  This better clear up by morning or I'll be pissy ;)

A Big KABOOM!

NYC got hit with a nice line of thundershowers, and we even had a Tornado Warning in my neighborhood.  That wasn't the excitement.  Lightning striking the telephone pole at the corner as I stepped out on the front porch to see if I needed to blanket my car from the hail was the excitement.  Sparks and flames and downed electrical wires, oh my!

If I can get around to writing a quick review of the new Cubicle Seven release for Runequest 2 I will, but it might have to wait as my internet is spotty at the moment.  Gotta love Mother Nature.  At least my kitty has come out from under the bed now ;)

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Soon to Roll the (Virtual) Dice Again

It looks like the Castles & Crusades game I play in, that has been on hiatus for the summer months, will be resuming on October 2nd. With the exception of rolling up a few characters with my group of players I can never seem to get together on the same day and time, I haven't done any playing in months. I've done a crap load of reading tho'. That should count for something ;)

Allergies have been knocking me for a loop the past week or so, and I've been more dopey then usual. Not that anyone noticed but myself. At least, I don't think they noticed.

I'd like to try and herd my cats... er, players for some regular gaming, but the moment I herd 3 or more, one squirms away :)


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Gifting the Reimaged Past

Today was my brother in law's birthday.  He was a gamer thru college, and still proudly displays his AD&D 2e (and earlier), Traveller, GURPS and other gaming stuff on his shelves in his home office.  He hasn't played in years, but he still reads the stuff to relax and unwind.

In the past I've given him the 4e set of rules, the Mongoose Traveller Pocket Rules, some Mayfair Games classic items I've found on sale amonst other stuff.  Tonight, in addition to the traditional Amazon Gift Certificate, I game him a copy of the D&D 4e Essentials Starter Boxed Set.  Needless to say he recognized the artwork.

Is this going to get him back to active gaming?  I doubt it.  He barely has free time now, and with a baby on the way in December he'll have even less.  Still, I suspect he'll enjoy running the included solo.

Just think hom much cash WotC could make with Limited Edition Classic Reprints of some of the old boxed sets.  Number them with a certificate of authenticity.  My bro in law would snatch that up in a heartbeat.

Might not grow the hobby much, but I am damn sure the market it there.

Just look at the 4e Essentials box...

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Just How Essential is the New D&D Starter Set?

By now I'm sure you've already read a good half dozen reviews of the new D&D Red Box. If you've read what I've read, much of that is lamenting how much in fails in comparison to the D&D Red Box of old. Some folks are missing the obvious.

The old Red Box was a Basic Set... enough rules to get you going and playing for as long as you want within the range of levels 1-3. When you were ready, an Expert Set was awaiting you.

The new Red Box is a Starter Set. It is there to show you what a roleplaying game is (in this case, D&D 4e). It spoon feeds you the rules and concepts as if you were a neophyte, which is fine. As others have pointed out, it is not there for you to run campaigns out of the box. For that you need to go beyond the Starter Set.

4e is not my bag, but I can see the use of the solo / tutorial included to bring new people into the hobby. The fact that you can run it solo, before you even find a group is great... maybe WotC will see some value in further solo adventures.

Taking the New Red Box for what it is, and not what we as old timers expect it to be, is the key. Well, that and I got it for less then 14 bucks on Amazon. It's not going to turn me into a 4e player, but it might serve as a nice introduction to roleplaying for my girlfriend, and I really can't ask for much more then that.


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Mini Review: Castles & Crusades Adventure - The Rising Knight

First things first.  I'm a big Castles & Crusades fan.  It brought me back to the Old School way of thinking.  Despite the typos and editing problems of the initial releases (okay, and later releases) I've found the system to be alot of fun, with an AD&D 1st edition feel without actually being AD&D.

Castles & Crusades A0: The Rising Knight is an introductory adventure for C&C.  It introduces the local setting that will be used further in the rest of the A series, which can be placed in either the default C&C world (Aihrde) or fairly easily into the setting of your own choosing.

I thought I recognized it, and I do: it is included in the C&C boxed collector's set, and it is also included in the Fantasy Grounds C&C Module, so an aspiring DM can get running pretty much from the start.  That being said, it is not a tutorial for a new DM.  Instead, it is a good starter adventure for a new C&C campaign. 

As with most of the Old School products out there, it is usuable without to much effort with any of the OSR rules out there.

From the publisher's blurb:

This is an introductory adventure for those playing Castles & Crusades. The module has been designed to allow for the players and Castle Keeper alike to begin using the Castle & Crusades rules in a fairly non-demanding game setting. The goal is to familiarize the Castle Keeper and players with the basic rules and their applications while undertaking an exciting adventure.

The adventure is also designed for modularity and expansion. Many of the encounters, monsters, settings and non-player characters can be removed from the context of this adventure and placed within those of your own making. We here at Troll Lord Games encourage all gamers to do so as this is the quickest route to ever more fulfilling game-play. As with the Castles & Crusades rules, this module is a tool to use as you will. Please do so.

Further, should the players or Castle Keeper care to continue with the adventure and follow its thematic development, the follow-on module, Assault on Blacktooth Ridge and The Slag Heap is now available. Several references and avenues for continuing the adventure are mentioned within the text, but the Castle Keeper must devise the most meaningful manner in which to carry this out.
√

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Mini Review - The Lonely Coast

The Lonely Coast is a Campaign setting from Raging Swan.  I first covered it back in July here,  If you want more of a (short) review, hit the previous link. They have recently added it to their offerings at RPGNow.

My opinion on it remains the same.  It's a great value (free) and although written for 3e / Pathfinder it should be an easy conversion to any Old School set of rules.

Lazy Man's Weekend

I've been fairly low key this weekend, at least posting-wise.  Said what I needed to say yesterday, and figured I'd leave it up in it's primary place.

Of course, the kid had a different idea for yesterday.  He wasn't about to leave me stewing in my own thoughts... then again, neither was my girlfriend.  So they dragged me out to see Machete... if being the one who drove to the theatre can actually be counted as being dragged.

Over the top blod and guts... which had me laughing my ass off, which is good, as I suspect that was the intended reaction.  Probably would have mae a decent session of Macho Women with Guns or the like.

Today I bought myself a new digital camera, mostly using a gift certificated from my birthday in July.  If I can find more sights like the one I did last week, I'd like to be using something better then my iPhone.  It's New York City - there has to be TONS of stuff I can find to take pics of that could be game related ;)

Back with more reviews and other assorted thoughts tomorrow...

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Nine Years Ago Today...

Nine years ago today my gaming group lost one of core members.  Not that we actively gamed anymore at that time... that kind of ended when I (as the main DM /GM) graduated the Police Academy in 97 and had to work every weekend for six months.  Even tho we had stopped gaming, the friendships that we made back in 84 were stronger then the games themselves...we were, and still are, very tight.

On 9-11, 4 of the 6 members of that gaming group worked at the World Trade Center (either the towers or Building 7).  I was the one member that didn't, but I was there by the time the first tower was coming down.  We lost one of our brothers that day, the one who was to be the best man in a November wedding - the rest of the group was to be the groom and the ushers.  We were more like extended family then friends.

Our loss was but one of thousands our nation lost that day.  It doesn't make our loss, his family's loss, any more or less.  It is, however, another reason I will never forget, nor forgive, what happened to this nation on that September day nine years ago.  In my profession, I am no stranger to death.  I am no stranger to senseless destruction.  9-11 was the first time it became personal to me, and that was before I knew I had lost a dear friend.

Strange, how for me, 9-11 and gaming will always be intertwined.  If I can ever get my Gamer's ADD mind focused enough to actually write something publishable, Paul Benedetti will be more then deserving of the dedication.

God Bless you lad.  Enjoy your rest.

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Accessorize Your iPad

Recently I posted about some of the iPad apps I get decent use from ( pretty much geared to PDF viewing) Today I'm got give you a short post on accessories you can use for typing on your iPad... The key to blogging from your iPad

Probably the most flexible accessory for the iPad is the Camera Adaptor. With this, you can plug your camera via a USB cable to the iPad or use a SD card to view your pics. All that is nice and dandy. Surprisingly you can also plug a USB keyboard into the adaptor and now you have a full Suzette keyboard for your iPad. I tried it with one of those roll-up rubber keyboards that I found at a flea market for 7 bucks.

For my birthday I received Apple's keyboard and stand / dock for the iPad. Superb quality. Excellent key feel. Regretfully, as the ipad's port is on the bottom, you don't get to set this up horizontally. Also, it won't fit on the base if you have any kind of case on the iPad, even the official one that Apple sells - pretty big oversight if you ask me.

Right now I'm just using the virtual keyboard, as the other stuff is a bit bulky to carry around on a daily basis. Thank god the virtual keyboard on the iPad is pretty good... As long as I resort to the 2 finger typing method ;)




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Traveller - Secrets of the Ancients "The Hunt" and Traveller Compendium 1

It seems like this week is Traveller week, as Mongoose has just released 2 products for the Traveller RPG.

Mongoose has updated the Traveller: Campaign 1, Secret of the Ancients to include the new chapter "The Hunt".  This is the third part in the series, not including Chapter Zero, which is the intro to the series.

I think really appreciate what Mongoose is doing with Secret of the Ancients.  A whole campaign, offered for free, released in chapters is a great way to support the line.  Signs & Portents magazine is also a great free Traveller (and other Mongoose RPG lines) support vehicle.  Great stuff.








Talking about Sign & Portents Magazine, Traveller Compedium 1 is a collection of adventures and articles pertaining to Traveller that previously appeared in various article.  That is both it's strength and its weakness.  It's a strength in that the articles are pretty good, the adventures are nice, and its awesome to have it all in one place.  That being said, you are being asked to pay 21 bucks for stuff that previously appeared for free.  Shame.  Not saying its not worth the cash, but for those willing to spend the time you can pretty much piece this together for free.

Anyhow, here's the blurb:

This first volume of the Traveller Compendiums collates all the most popular articles that have appeared in Signs & Portents over the years, and presents them for the tabletop! Inside you will find new careers, new ships, adventures, patrons, advice on running games, new equipment, newly revealed aspects to Aslan society, and much more!

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Rebooting the Never Fully Booted

Now that summer vacations are behind us I'm going to try and start my Castles & Crusades game via Fantasy Grounds. Summer hours made it impossible to organize anything, I'm hoping September will offer better results.

At the same time, I'm thinking of running a one shot or two using in Basic Roleplaying or CoC. I have both rulesets for Fantasy Grounds, and a skill based game system is more suitable for one shots in my opinion. Maybe a session or two with pregens will get the group in the mindset for regular once a month or so gaming.

Wish me luck ;)


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First Looks - The Laundry and C&C Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde

Two new RPG products have entered into my gaming vision in the last 24 hours or so.

The first, The Laundry, from Cubicle 7, drew my attention as it uses the Basic Roleplaying System and is Licensed by Chaosium.  Intriguing to say the least.  The last two Cubicle 7 games I looked at are driven by the FATE gaming engine (Starblazer Adventures and Legends of Anglerre).  278 pages is going to take me a while to dig thru, and I may need to find some of the (British) fiction this is based upon.  Give me time before I even attempt a review.

From the blurb:

CAPITAL LAUNDRY SERVICES - WHAT NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP?

There are things out there, in the weirder reaches of space-time where reality is an optional extra. Horrible things, usually with tentacles. Al-Hazred glimpsed them, John Dee summoned them, HP Lovecraft wrote about them, and Alan Turing mapped the paths from our universe to theirs. The right calculation can call up entities from other, older universes, or invoke their powers. Invisibility? Easy! Animating the dead? Trivial! Binding lesser demons to your will? Easily doable!

Opening up the way for the Great Old Ones to come through and eat our brains? Unfortunately, much too easy.

That's where the Laundry comes in - it's a branch of the British secret service, tasked to prevent hideous alien gods from wiping out all life on Earth (and more particularly, the UK). You work for the Laundry. The hours are long, the pay is sub-par, the co-workers are... interesting (in the Chinese curse sense of the word), and the bureaucracy is stifling - but you do get to wave basilisk guns and bullet wards around, and to go on challenging and exciting missions to exotic locations like quaint, legend-haunted Wigan, cursed Slough and Wolverhampton where the walls are thin.

You may even get to save the world.

Just make sure you get a receipt.

***

The Laundry RPG is a standalone game using the Basic Roleplaying System (Call of Cthulhu). Players take the role of Laundry agents, saving the world from extradimensional, Lovecraftian and occult threats.

The other RPG product I've been peeking at is Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde for Castles & Crusades.  So far at first glance this is a very pleasant surprise.  I'm sure there are typos, but they haven't popped out at me.  176 pages of monsters and treasures for use in C&C, but I'm sure they could work in most Old School games. 

Some of this has already made appearances in Crusader magazine and some previous adventures and short PDFs, so perceived value will depend on how much of this one already has in different formats. 

I'll come back to this once I've given it a more thorough read thru.

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I Know This Can be Used in a Game Session

I took this pic yesterday morning in Lower Manhattan as I parked for work. Maybe Christian can work it into his Changling game. WoD Vampire that brings it's own portable shade from the sun.





No political commentary intended, just a New York City sight I'm sharing with my readers. Which reminds me, I need to get working on some more Tales of the Blue Knight shorts.

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Blog Spotlight - Synapse Design Blog

I've discussed different blogs at the Tavern... some overlooked, some pretty popular but all deserving more attention.  This time around, I'm tagging Synapse Design Blog from Greg (who's a fairly frequent commenter on this fine blog - everyone say "Hi Greg").

Synapse Design Blog  is a blog about game design, both in theory and actuality.  I mean it, the lad has actually designed a game.   It's also about RPGs in general. and bits and pieces of the writer's life.  All the good stuff you want in a blog and then some.

Stealing from Synapse Design Blog  to explain a bit of Greg's vision:

What is Synapse? 

Synapse is an RPG that brings character depth to a new level. It allows you to create a sophisticated personality, character background, and virtually any race or species you can imagine. You build a culture from which your character emerged, the life experiences they had within that culture, and a network of NPCs that they know well... If you can imagine it, Synapse can make it real. Leave the limitations of your current RPG system behind and enter a fantastical world of your own creation.  

Synapse will be released as a free PDF once it reaches a Beta state and will remain free forever even as it is perfected.

Greg actively seeks advice from the readers and particpants of his blog.  Want to get in on a new RPG on the ground floor?  Here's your chance.  Want to influence future products?  Follow SNB and let your mind be heard. 

Did I mention the Synapse Beta RPG PDF looks really nice on my iPads virtual bookshelf?

At the moment Greg is looking for some advice on module / adventure formatting / layout.  Give him your thoughts here.

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You Got Your RPG PDFs on My iPad!

Yep, you guess it, this post is about reading PDFs, in our case RPG PDFs, on the iPad.

Now, I've been reading PDFs on electronic reading devices since BEFORE the release of the Kindle DX.  The solutions were far from perfect, as PDF reflow wrecked havok with the formating of most  RPG PDF tables, and those that chose to show their pages in real format were impossible to read on a 5" screen.

Then came the Kindle DX, a 9" electronic book reader from Amazon with a screen large enough to show PDFs in their true format and still be readable.  Still, at times the print was a bit on the small size, and some PDFs choked on the Kindle DX (not many, but enough to be annoying).

Along came the iPad this past spring.  Billed as a "do everything" device, it does an awful lot... some things great, some not so great... but for our purposes, as a PDF reader of RPG materials, I have found it to be second to none.  If it wasn't for the glare in direct sunlight, it would be nearly perfect. 

An iPad is nothing without the proper set of tools and apps.  Below you will find some of the ones I find most helpful.

DropBox - free "cloud computing" storage, you can save a file in your Dropbox folder on your PC, open it on your iPad, then grab it later on your Macbook.  It is the definition of awesomeness.  There is a limit to the amount of online storage you get for free (which can be added to for free when adding free referrals).  I can't see paying for the service at my usage level, but I'm sure some folks obviously do.  Yes, if you sign up via my link, I'll be able to add more RPG materials to my DropBox account.  I'll just thank you in advance ;)

BTW, you can delete files from your DropBox folder without deleting it from your iPad.  I'm just addicted to syncing the damn stuff accross all my devices.

GoodReader - my "go to" PDF reader in the iPad.  It has handled evey PDF I have thrown at it without a problem:  trust me, that's alot of PDFs.  It is 2 bucks in the Apple App store.  DropBox in my method of choice for getting the PDFs into Goodreader.  You just open your DropBox folder within the app and it syncs up to the files you want to the iPad.  No muss, no fuss.

iAnnotate PDF - this is either a gimick or an awesome tool, depending on whether or not you can get use out of it's main features:  the ability to highlight, annotate, add pinned remarks / notes, tabbed PDF reading.  It will not work with well with scanned pages (so some old school scans might be limited in mark-ability).  Update PDFs are save seperate from the original, can be uploaded to your PC and can be read by your PDF reader, higlights, remarks and all.  10 bucks, so make sure you will have a use for it before your spring for it. 

You can DropBox your file into the app, and send the marked up file to DropBox for distribution on your other devices.  You can also use the DropBox app to open the file into iAnnotate PDF (which is confusing, I know.  The first method opens up your DropBox folder in the iAnnotate App to grab the file, and the second opens the folder in your DropBox app and allows you to choose the application to read it with.)

Fast PDF - advertised as the fastest PDF reader for the iPad, I'm not going to dispute that.  I still prefer GoodReader for my PDF reading.  That being said, this app has a really cool feaure that is worth the 3 buck price of admission on its own:  a virtual bookshelf.  Have you seen the bookshelf that Apple displays your books purchased from the app store?  Same concept, except for your PDFs.  What fun is telling someone you have 157 RPG PDFs on your iPad, then showing the LIST on Goodreader.  Instead, show them the BOOK COVERS on your virtual bookshelf.  'Nuff saif, its a damn cool gimmick and it works.

There are many more PDF reader apps, some I own, some I've never touched, but these are the ones I use constantly.  As you can guess from the amount of mini-reviews I do, I have access to alot of PDF content.  I need apps that make them a pleasure to read on my iPad, and these are them.

Thanks to Andugus from White Haired Man for asking the questions that got me thinking that led to me writing stuff that ended up on this page.

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And the Winner of a PDF Copy of Realms of Chtulhu is...

Lets see... Six entries (and a Marvel "No-Prize" is awarded to Greg - Cheers!)... can never find a frickin' D6 when you need one... okie... here we go:

I rolled a 3 "three" - Ara Kooser, come on down... you are the winner of a PDF copy of Realms of Chtulhu (I've typed that so much I think I've learned how to spell it... or I learned a wrong spelling).

Ara, you have 7 days to hit me with your valid email address (and a comment here so I know it is you emailing me).  I can be reached at:  tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom.  Yes, it is a stupid way to type an email address, but it has fooled the spam bots so far ;)

Congrats to Ara, and thanks to all those who entered.