When the Game Ends...

Fourteen years ago, I graduated from the Police Academy. It was a great moment, as it marked the true beginning of a great career, but it also marked the end of an era - the end of my gaming group, at least as far as gaming went.

For the first time, I was not going to be off on Sundays (our normal gaming day). Heck, I wasn't going to be off on Saturdays - my new weekend was Wednesday / Thursday. Working steady evenings, there was no way I could game. As my house was the weekly gaming location, a group that had been gaming regularly since high school, over 12 years... ended. I'm not sure we realized it at the time tho'. The campaign was never wrapped up properly.

Thankfully, the group has still remained close friends, even if we don't roll the dice anymore. MMORPGs with voice chat allow us to continue some of the social aspects of our old game sessions, but I do miss my time behind the DM screen. Oh, and filling Ring Dings with canned cheese... those reactions were priceless ;)

Mini Review - Knockspell #5 (Swords & Wizardry)

It's aways nice to have another issue of Knockspell to read.  Issue # 5 is no exception.

Nicely filled with an assortment of gaming goodness, it hits a sweet spot between adventures and articles.

Actually, the article on how to create adventures using Scrabble tiles as aids still has me scratching my head -  the concept works, I just don't understand how anyone thought up the concept... heh

There's a lot of stuff to read in this issue, to be used in S&W, LL or your clone of choice.

Lets see, here's the table of contents for this issue:

 2   Editor’s Note, Matt Finch

 2   Adventuring at Conventions, Tim Kask

 3   Teach Your Children, Bill Webb

 6   Out of the Bag: Generating Encounters with Scrabble Tiles, Jim Pacek

 9     Dark Gods, Al Krombach

 12   WhiteBox Weaponry, Richard Lionheart

 18   Where Dwells the Mountain God, Bill Silvey

 28   Operation Unfathomable, Jason Sholtis

 49   Weird Watery Magic of Vats and Pools,  Richard Hart

 53   Five Portable Rooms, Andrew Trent

 56   Magic Items of the High Seas, James E. Bobb and Kim Nicholson

 57   ‘Don’t Touch Anything ’: Traps in Swords &  Wizardry  WhiteBox Edition, Scott A. Murray

 59   Sorcerous Servitors, Jason Sholtis

 61   NPCs of Note, Rob Hewlett

 62   The Bestiary, Matt Finch

 62   Legal

63   Forthcoming Publications

You might recognize some of these names from other OSR type blogs.  

Good stuff.  

Only $4.95.

see?  OSR goes to the top of the review pile ;)

Are Your PCs Rock Stars?

Charlie Sheen is a bit over the top lately, especially with his own self-importance (understatement), but how far is he from long term PCs in some campaigns?

Yes, I know the difference between reality and gaming, but think about it. When your PCs hit name level in AD&D, they are living on the edge. They could retire and live off their found treasures for a lifetime, but instead they continue to adventure, face danger, gain even more fame - they must have tiger blood or something ;)

Of course, you can't "win" in AD&D (another recent Sheenism).

Yeah, I'm rambling, but not as bad as Charlie. I'm watching the train wreck, and it seems to be in slow motion... it really is occupying too much of my brain these days ;)

Looking For GM Week Purchase Suggestions

As I mentioned earlier this week, there is a crap load of stuff on sale during GM Week over at RPGNow. What I'm looking for is suggestions for purchases - I get access to a decent amount of comps, but there is still great stuff that I don't catch right away (I don't get notified of all new products to hit RPGNow).

The next few days is my chance to fill in some holes in my OSR collection. Give me some ideas of what I may be missing (if I didn't review it, and its OSR, I probably don't have it).

Thanks in advance.

I Have Soul(s)

As I mentioned before, I've been playing the latest MMORPG - Rift. Don't ask me if it's a WoW killer, I have no idea. I do like it tho. I has the usual 4 man class branches - warrior, cleric, rogue and mage, but strangely enough, the sub classes (referred to in game as "souls") don't necessarily mean that your warrior is a tank, or that your mage can't be a healer. As each character can have 3 souls active from its main class (and swap out others at later levels), you can truly customize your character.

When it comes to Tabletop RPGs, much of that customization comes from the actual roleplaying, which is generally not at the forefront of a MMORPG, even on servers that are Role Play tagged.

Even if every Fighting Man in 0e is pretty damn close on paper, they play different due to player interactions. It is the very nature of the game. 3e gave us feats and skills, and allowed us to further customize our PCs, but it is still the role-play that defines the memories and highlights.

All that being said, I am enjoying Rift. I've found 2 character combinations that work well both solo and in group, so I should be able to keep on around my son's level (and that of my gaming group).

Now I am left wondering if anyone ever tried to convert a MMORPG class pet using class like Necromancer to Tunnels & Trolls, or some other RPG. Damn, I may need to dig out the Everquest RPG (that was OGL based if I recall) and borrow some ideas from there. If only I knew where I stored it.

Looking For an Old Advenure

With all the stuff going on in great state of Wisconsin, my memory has been partially prodded. I seem to recall an adventure in the pre-3e days, where the theme was the unionization of a bunch of overworked workers. I doubt it was in a stand alone adventure, so it was probably in Dungeon Magazine.

Anyone else have a better recollection? Or is my middle aged addled mind doing things to me again?

Crap, it could have been a Paranoia mission...

RPGNow GM Sale is Live Thru March 7th

RPGNow and a host of publishers are running a GM Sale from now thru March 7th (next Monday).  There's a boatload of stuff marked down 25%, and a good portion is from some the great OSR publishers.  In no particular order of preference:

Brave Halfling Publishing - Castles & Crusades modules, Labyrinth Lord supplements and more

Goblinoid Games - Labyrinth Lord and a whole lot more

Fiery Dragon - Get your Tunnels & Trolls 7.5e rules at a reduced price

GM Games - Knowledge Illuminates on sale

NBOS Software -  Great mapping programs, amongst other goodies

Troll Lord Games - Finally, the Castle Keeper's Guide at a more reasonable price

White Haired Man - If you run games via Fantasy Grounds, this is a no brainer

Necromancer - Swords & Wizardry Complete and on sale.  Need I say more?

Goodman Games - The Grandaddy of Old School

Looking for Thoughts on RPG Campaign Wiki Website... Thingies

I know of two Campaign Wiki Websites: Obsidian Portal and Epic Worlds.

Do any of you use these for your RPG campaigns? Do you use the free versions or the upgraded versions?

Are there other Campaign Wiki Website thingamawops out there besides these two?

inquiring minds want to know ;)

The Trollish Taproom - The British Invasion

Over the weekend I received my first copy of the Tunnels & Trolls 1st UK Edition.  This took forever to ship from across the pond, but as it came with Buffalo Castle and Uncle Ugly's Underground, in beautiful condition, and from the same run as the T&T UK edition, so it makes a really nice set and was worth the wait.

Today I received my 2nd copy of the T&T 1st UK Edition rules - I was bidding on it as the price was right, and this made it to me in a week.  Woot!

Of course, this means my reprint copy of the T&T 1st UK Edition is now a bit obsolete.  I may have to run a contest to give it away.  I'm open to suggestions ;)

Back to the Grindstone

Today was "Back to Work Day" after my nice Staycation. It's also the first day of the work week, the last day of the month, and the day before a new month - so paperwork galore was awaiting my return. I really appreciated every single moment I could steal to read the latest posts on the gaming blogs I follow.

I also was hit with the realization that I still have a crap load of stuff I want to review, or at least pick over, as I didn't dig thru the pending review pile nearly as much as I would have like. Then again, OSR stuff goes right to the top of the pile when I get them, and it was a good week for OSR releases.

I'm also enjoying a MMORPG for the first time in 2 years or so... time to see if Rift has staying power. It is, most certainly, stealing time from me that would otherwise be spent reading blogs and forums ;)

What the Heck is "Old School Hack"?

I stumbled across this when I read my latest email from the fine folks at Kobold Quarterly just a few minutes ago... what exactly is the Old School Hack RPG?

I downloaded it, skimmed thru it, and can't figure out if it's an RPG, a quasi-board game... I'm kinda  confused as you can tell.  You seem to roll characters, but no more then one player per class - which is heavy handed in an rpg, but fine in a board game.

You can check it out here for free.  I need to look at this more.  Presentation is nice, just not 100% sure what is being presented ;)

Watching the Real Life Ranger

I spent last nite and part of this afternoon watching Survivor Man.  Les Stroud is a modern day ranger.  Less of a showman then Bear Grylls, he spends a week in the wilderness each episode, with just a handful of equipment and no camera crew.

His knowledge of edible plants is amazing, and I enjoy watching him build shelters and fires, and watch him set snares and traps for game.

Just taking a few choice bits and pieces from watching the show should add some nice realism to any wilderness trek in your choice of RPG, and give real flavor to any ranger's skills.

Watching on Netflix on Demand.  God, I love my Netflix ;)

Coming Distractions

As my vacation runs towards its end, I am looking at my upcoming time sinks.

The most immediate time sink is going to be Rift, the latest MMORPG.  The main reason this is going to steal away a nice sized chunk of time is the pure joy in jawing with my circle of friends on a fairly regular basis.  Would that I could coral them for some real RPGing via a VTT, but it's hard to get everyone on a set schedule.  The easy of dropping into and out of a MMORPG session with Teamspeak running does an end run around most needs to set a time / day.

Of course, work is a damn time sink - I need to win lotto or something.  Then I could take over the world!  Heh, or buy an RPG Company for a real money sink ;)

As an aside, just received my set of Tunnel & Trolls UK 1e, Buffalo Castle (UK) and Uncle Ugly's Underground (UK).  I was surprised to see the layout of the T&T UK1e and it's reprint are slightly different, as is the size.  The whole set is in great condition.  Nice addition to the collection.

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe... Pick a Clone By the Toe

The next RPG I plan to run is Tunnels & Trolls, but if I were to run one of the D&D clone / simulacrum that are available today, I'd probably opt for Swords & Wizardry (Complete).  It seems to cover all the bases that I want in a clone, and at the same time is very easy to house rule without breaking anything.

Besides, the S&W Complete book is a beauty to behold.  If I were to join a new group (via VTT or face to face), I'd be looking for a T&T or S&W game preferably.

Which reminds me, my next Castles & Crusades session is a week from Saturday.  I'm sure the pricing of the CKG PDF will come up.  Should be interesting.

Rift (the latest MMORPG) went live yesterday for pre-orders.  With Teamspeak  connecting us all, about the only thing missing from our old D&D sessions was the sound of the dice... oh, and a DM directing everything.  Still, we had a blast, even with the ungodly queues to log in.  I went and had dinner during my wait ;)

Mini Review - The Sun Fury Gazette: The Rising Dark Supplement I (Swords & Wizardry)

The Rising Dark was just released a few days ago, and we already have the first release in a line of supplements for it.  The Sun Fury Gazette is 8 pages of free (the price is right) additional information for use a Rising Dark campaign, but it's all ripe for stealing for use in your own campaign world.

The writing is good, but the use of classic (read old) clipart distracts a bit, at least for me.  There is a decent amount of clipart available at sources like RPGNow for fairly cheap that made for products like this.  Just my 2 cents on it.  Again, the price is right, the articles are good... the art distracts.

From the Blurb:


The Sun Fury Gazette: The Rising Dark Supplement I is the first issue of a series of resources for the Rising Dark campaign setting, written specifically for use with Swords & Wizardry and other old school game systems. This first issue is free, and features:

Three new spells presented for use with original edition mechanics

monster stat-block presentations of all the new player character races

additional data on the deities for the world of Agraphar as well as the god of vermin

an article on the kobolds of Agraphar

Future issues will feature more content as well as scenarios for use with The Rising Dark. Enjoy!

Staycation Update - With Norm McDonald

Alright, Norm McDonald is not doing the update - but it sounded good ;)

Anyhow, as the Staycation winds down, I'm looking at what I did, and did not, accomplish so far.

Cleaning?  Check, but much more is needed.  I accumulate way too much junk.

Gaming?  Check, but not as much as I would have liked (only ran one solo so far, but it was a blast).  Still, I have accomplished game related reading.

Adding new time waster to the mix?  Check - Rift (a new MMORPG, not to be confused with Rifts) opens with it's pre-release head start later today.  My old gaming group (and later MMORPG group) is going to see if this is the game that sticks.  My son and I will join them.

I'd rather corrupt my son with real gaming (tabletop RPGs), which may happen sooner then later, as he is definitely paying attention (and ribbing me) when I play my monthly C&C game via Fantasy Grounds.

Ah well, off to babysit my 2 month old niece today.  First time running solo.  Pray for me.  I'd like to avoid the really messy poops ;)

New Zealand Red Cross Earthquake Relief - RPG Bundle (OneBookShelf)

OneBookShelf (aka RPGNow and DriveThruRPG) is offering a bundle of RPG products for $20 (current value $338.91) to raise money for the New Zealand Red Cross Earthquake Relief.

OBS has done this before, and the bundles have always been well worth the donation, and of course, the donation is for a good cause.

If $20 isn't within your range, you can make a $5 donation (no bundle).


Some of my picks from the bundle:


CthulhuTeck Core Book

Mecha-RPG

RPGPundit's Gnome Murdered RPG

Tegal Manor - Revised and Expanded Edition

Tales From the Floating Vagabond

Supernatural Role Playing Game

(these are the ones that really stick out for me)

Mini Review - The Rising Dark: An Introduction to Agraphar (Swords & Wizardry)

I'm always a sucker for a new campaign setting.  Even if I never use it as written, there are always ideas for me to steal.  As far as resources go, they are more valuable and flexible then an adventure.

The Rising Dark: An Introduction to Agraphar is a campaign setting for Swords & Wizardry (but usable with you OSR ruleset of choice with little issue).  It is sandboxie in nature, which is always a plus in my book.

So, what do we get for our investment?  5 new races, 27 gods (some of which give their clerics special abilities - which is nice to keep things unique), magic use that can be detrimental depending on the roll (referred to in the rules as Corruption), maps, a breakdown of localities, an adventure, lots of adventure hooks.  All in all, theres a lot packed into 48 pages.  Not bad at all for $2.99.

From the blurb:

The world of Agraphar...a young land, center of an eternal conflict between chaos and order. Will you join with the forces of Ymaltar, the Sun Fury who stood strong against the darkness and created the world, or side with the darkness, trumpeting Dymachas and the lords of chaos in their quest to extinguish the creation of the Lord of Order?

A complete adventure setting compatible with the Swords & Wizardry rule system and sufficiently mechanics-lite to be easily adapted to other fantasy RPGs
Designed for the GM who is interested in a new setting that provides a sandbox setting for adventures, but doesn't overwhelm with detail.

Features:27 new gods
Corrupting magic
Aasimar, satyr, tiefling, gnome and faerie character races
A Gazetteer of northwestern Tariach
Hand-rendered maps
A detailed adventure location in "The Doom of Zeramath"
New monsters
Plot ideas and advice

The Trollish Taproom - A Closer Look at Spite Damage

Spite Damage as a concept is great.  Each 6 rolled on a d6 is damage that makes it thru, even against the side that wins.  In a Tunnels & Trolls game with a GM and a full party, it adds to the drama and the tactics of the party.  It also makes the Poor Baby spell even more valuable then it was before.

In Solo Play, spite sucks.  Big time.  Unless you are willing to declare it is a player ability only, and deny it to the monster side of things, it makes the solo adventures unplayable.

Look at it this way.  Each encounter a player survives, he carries over his spite damage to the next encounter.  The next adversary will be fresh.  Spite was added to prevent the endless combats of evenly matched and armor opponents, but instead it whittles the player down to nothing as the adventure goes on.

This problem goes is worse with the 7e rules of T&T - monsters no longer lose attack dice as their MR goes down, just Combat Adds.  So yes, even more potential spite damage.

Pretty much every T&T solo published by FBI is pre-T&T 5.5e - pre-spite in other words.  They are not balanced for spite, and they are not balanced for monster's not losing combat dice as their MR gets whittled down.

This was all pretty obvious as I sat down to game last nite.

So, if you are going to run any of your 7.5e characters thru an earlier solo, these are my recommendations:

- Only your PC's attacks generate spite.  It won't make much of a difference, but every little bit helps.

- Damage to a monster's MR results in a loss of CA and Combat Dice (if appropriate)

- As long as you CA are appropriate for the adventure, you wont need to worry about adjusting monster MRs - 7.5e characters tend to be more powerful then earlier editions, but solos are balance against CA, so it all works.

Taking a Look at Chivalry & Sorcery

I never had a copy of Chivalry & Sorcery.  I had heard about it when I picked up roleplaying back in the early 80's, but no one in my group owned a copy.  Heck, no one in my group had seen a copy outside of a game store.  I do remember the ads in Dragon Magazine.  The ads seemed to me to infer the game was damn complicated.  The ads were probably right.

So, here we are, nearly 30 years later, and I am the proud owner of a previously owned copy of Chivalry & Sorcery.  It's a beat up copy, that appears to be well used, but I question how well read it actually was.  It seems that a previous owner underlined and otherwise marked up the first 10 1/2 pages and then just stopped.  Which I can understand, as this looks like a textbook, and the font is damn tiny.

Unlike Tunnels & Trolls,  this is not a line I'll be looking to complete, but I did need to actually see what all the fuss was about.

I'm not sure if I'll ever read thru this whole thing myself, but if I do, it will be in very small chunks ;)