The Walking Dead - Season 1 - Revisted

So, last nite I introduced the future Mrs Tenkar to The Walking Dead TV Series. We watched the first episode and holy crap she got into it ;)

It was my second time watching and I found myself catching things this time around that I missed the first time - such as the fact that the bodies piled around the hospital had all been shot in the head.

In the midst of the all the excitement, her dog and my cat were getting to know each other, with the dachshund sniffing my girl from less then a foot away. My cat just laid there. I guess the good thing about Rachel breaking her foot was forcing the pets to spend more time together. The Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes ;)

Free - OSRIC Player's Reference (OSRIC)

You know how OSRIC is basically all 3 of the core 1E rule books packed into one book?  Sometimes you don't want your players having access to more then the rules that apply to them.  No monster lists, no magic item charts.  Just classes, spells and the like.

Well, here you go.  Player's Stuff only!

From the blurb:

People have asked for it, and now its out. The OSRIC Players Reference book! This book has all the player information ONLY in this book. So its safe for players to have at the table to read! Approved by Stuart Marshall!

Bits & Pieces

Tim Shorts - I have a PDF copy of Knockspell #6 waiting for you.

I need to train my fiancee's miniature dachshund to stop pooping in the house. She'll pee on a pad, but poop where ever. As the lady can't walk the dog these days, I need the pooch to poop when I walk her before and after I work.

Tonight is The Walking Dead Season 1 on DVD Nite. Saweet! Rachel has yet to see an episode.

The TrollGod himself sent me some past issues of the Hobbit Hole fanzine / magazine for Tunnels & Trolls. Good stuff in there. Hopefully I can talk about them in the next few days without the negativity attached to the later issues.

Did I mention I am anxiously awaiting my my preorders?

Looking For an RPG That is Fun to Read and Fun to Play

Well, the future Mrs. Tenkar is grounded for at least the next two weeks.  Which means I need to find an RPG that is entertaining to read, easy to comprehend and works well in a small group (or even one on one).

Sure, I put her thru a Tunnels & Trolls solo last year (I ran it like a one on one type adventure) and she had fun, but didn't have a grasp of the rules.  I figure now is a perfect time to find an RPG that she can check out in her abundant free time.  PDF format is a bonus, as she enjoys using her iPad to read.

Open for suggestions.

Heck, I might even own some of the ones you might suggest.

Mix and Match - Building the Perfect System, or Not

As I await the arrival of some of my pre-orders (most notably the X-Plorers Boxed Set on the Tome of Horrors Complete) I'm set to do a more through read of the Adventurer Conqueror King System, specifically the campaign rules.

The way I see most of the Old School / D20ish rules that have been released, they are fairly modular in nature. You can pick and choose subsystems fairly liberally between them, mix and match, and with a little tweaking you can have a mish mash of rules that do your bidding.

I really like S&W Complete. It feels closer to the AD&D rules that we used to play with then even OSRIC does.

I also like LotFP's Weird Fantasy. Not so much the rules (I understand what Raggi was going for, but it does not fit my style of play) but the GM advice and such.

The Secret Fire has a few things I want to lift, 'tho I'm not sure it would be the core I would build off of. TSF is something I'd have to run as is to run it well.

ACKS feels fairly close to S&W Complete to my eyes, and I think I could bounce back and forth between the two fairly seamlessly.

Why the hell can't I think of running a game without mixing or houseruling? Heh

And the Winners Are... (Tell Me About Your Favorite Bard Contest)

I lost track of which day of the week today was.  It's actually Tuesday.  Which means I have to pick the winners of Tell Me About Your Favorite Bard Contest.

Hmmm... I get to pick one and roll for the other.

My pick is... ::drumroll:: Tim Shorts - I loved the write up.  Thomas the Mad Minstrel did the Bard Class proud.

The random pick is  ::Rachel Rolls a d10 (divided by 2):: the result is 3 - kelvingreen is the second winner.

Tim and kelvin - email me at erik AT trublunite DOT net and let me know what email address you use at DriveThruRPG / RPGNow so I can gift you both with Knockspell #6.

Thanks to all who entered.

Brokefoot Pothole

So, my wife to be broke bones in her foot AND sprained her opposite ankle when she stepped into a pothole on Sunday morning.  Not fun.  I actually wish it were me - I get unlimited sick time off from work subject to my job's doctor's approval.  I also wish it were me because I hate seeing the people I love and care for in pain.

It has put renovations on hold, as we were to bring the contractor in tomorrow to explain what we wanted done.  As the kitchen is Rachel's vision, we need her a wee bit more mobile then she currently is.  Hopefully the ankle heals significantly by this weekend and we can get an estimate done next week.

We have Pre-Canaan this weekend, the wonderful Catholic ritual that couples must go thru before marriage.  We get to have a married couple who probably have a f'd up relationship tell us how to succeed in ours.  I could get that advice at work ;)

Good news is I just picked up the DVD of The Walking Dead.  I watched it on iTunes, but this way i can watch it on the big screen TV and have Rachel watch it for the first time.  Thursday nite should be fun :)

Hindsight Is Best With a Time Machine

Its funny. When I first started branching out beyond my core AD&D books, I didn't want to buy anything that looked old and cheap. So, in the early to mid 80's, TSR modules were in, Judges Guild and the like were out.

My God but I want to kick myself these days! I'm not saying most of the old non-TSR stuff was good, but I truly can't say most of the TSR stuff was all that good either.

I missed out on the Judges Guild stuff back then, although I did grab some Mayfair and Chaosium pieces that have stood the test of time.

Ygrs? Yggrsss? Some such nonsense with a yellow cover printed 4x6 laid out by typewriter is what killed me to the smaller publishers back then. I haven't stumbled across it during my renovations yet... I probably dumped it a while back.

If I only had a time machine. I'd be buying a ton of stuff that I passed on the first time around.

Mini Review - RPG Creatures: Bestiary 1 (Generic)

Generic used to mean something resembling "lowest common denominator".  That's certainly not true RPG Creatures - Bestiary 1.  Yeah, the title of the product is fairly lame, but the contents are second to none.  I love good artwork, and this PDF is somewhere between great and amazing in art quality.  This is a PDF full of framable fantasy art pieces - there is a market for these as prints.  Or just do this as a print on demand and I'll cut out my own prints ;)

The stats for the creatures that are illustrated are generic and will need a little conversion to stat it out for your system of choice.  That shouldn't be too hard, as many of "us old schoolers" are used to converting current RPG products for our sensibilities.

Bestiary 1 isn't bookmarked - it's full of hyperlinks instead, which works wonders.  Like the pog sized portrait the Nordjarimm?  Click it and go right to the page.  Greg Christopher himself would be proud ;)

I'm really stuck at what to say.  This should really speak for itself.  The artwork is extremely strong, the writing is good and the generic stats are very useful to tweaking the monsters to your own needs.

If nothing else, check out the free preview on the RPGNow page.  It will show you better then I can what it's all about.

Mini Review - Hex Crawls 3: Beyond the Black Water (Swords & Wizardry)

Hex Crawls can lead to a wonderful campaign, if the GM is up to the task.  They are never as simple as running a prewritten adventure, but in the right hands it can lead to many sessions of gaming.  This is why I find people either loved the old Judges Guild products or they hated them - they were ingredients to create your own masterpiece, with no two campaigns ever looking the same.  Some folks want more of a a detailed list of situations.

I find myself these days really appreciating the "Hex Crawl" type of products.  They are pretty much direct opposites of what WotC puts out for their settings.  Lean, mean and lots of green (outdoors) is what I like these days.

Beyond the Black Water fits the bill of what I look for in a Hex Crawl type products - lots of adventure seeds with hexes that aren't so large as to defeat the purpose of a hex crawl.  6 miles wide is just about perfect in my opinion.  It makes for a nice, localized campaign setting

The PDF is bookmarked (as well it should be) and we get a handful of new creatures at the end, but I do have one complaint.  The map takes up about half a page.  If they had changed it's orientation to sideways, it would have been a full page and much easier to use, never mind the increased usability.  As this is a PDF product I'm looking at, they could always tack on a full page map to an update of the file.  Just an idea.

Otherwise, it's a nice setting.  Dangerous as all hell, but still nice ;)

From the blurb:


When the game was invented and sold in a little woodgrain box, the author told us a required supplement was an Avalon Hill game called Outdoor Survival. This was a wilderness survival game that consisted of a hexagonal map system that players would travel around, trying to find their way back to civilization, all the while trying not to die of thirst or get eaten by bears. This game map was used as the first wilderness "hex-crawl" for what eventually became D&D. Later, Judges Guild took this to a whole new level with the Wilderlands series. For many years, hex crawling was just the way the game was played. This series brings that back, or supplements existing games that use that system of travel.


What a hex crawl is, literally, is a wilderness sandbox of areas, encounters and villages that players travel around in. It provides no story line, just hundreds of story hooks and possibilities. An example of what this looks like that I published a few years ago can be found at:
http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/lenap/lenap.pdf

3--Beyond Black Water
These books provide a sub-setting in your own campaign world. They populate the world, and allow you to let your players explore that world, rather than just "travel 20 days" to the dungeon. Written by John Stater of NOD fame, each of these supplements details an area with a specific theme. Monster and NPC statistics are provided for each encounter area detailed.

Among the reasons many adventurers choose to end their day in the cannibal-ridden, hurricane-savaged isles of the south is the immense distance it puts between them and the terrible land beyond the Black Water. The Black Water is a great inland sea filled with black, viscous water that sits as still as death. Nobody but a fool would willingly cross the Black Water, save for the strange men who sail the black arks, but many fools have crossed those waters in search of a lost love or a secret taken to the grave, for beyond the Black Water and its grey shores lies the icy Land of the Dead.

Doc In a Box

I took off from work today. My fiancee twisted her ankle and wrenched the opposite foot when she was walking the dog yesterday and she can barely walk. Thankfully a new walk-in emergency care facility opened nearby that takes her health insurance. If we are lucky, nothing is broken.

Still, it's giving me a chance to try out Blogger's new app as I sit and wait. It seems decent so far. For free it seems even better.

I have a feeling Rachel is going to be housebound for the rest of the week. Thank god she'll have Hulu and Netflix, as I haven't set the DishNet up in the new bedroom yet.

Ah well, I'll try squeeze in more RPG reading when I get home from here.

Mini Review - Knockspell Issue #6 (S&W / OSRIC) Part 2

Where were we in the review?  Oh, yeah, The Body in the Street.  It's a piece of fiction by Al Krombach. I was never one for short pieces of fiction, but then I started reading Solomon Kane and found I enjoy the medium.  I haven't read this piece yet, but it's on my list to read.

Ouch, My Brain Hurts! is a psionics article for S&W by Robert Lionheart.  I think Robert's first line sums my thoughts up pretty well: "Are psionics an unholy heresy or a valuable aspect of old School fantasy roleplaying?"  I'm on the fence on it myself, having experimented with it in AD&D 1E and I never found it very satisfying.  Robert's system requires PCs to sacrifice XP earned to acquire psychic powers.  It's a decent trade off for the additional power the PCs may attain.  Being that the powers are limited in the amount of uses per day, they may or not be worth the XP cost, but it may be a viable option depending on the type of campaign you plan on running.  It's a long article, and would have been a viable PDF in it's own right.

John M. Stater (best known for NOD magazine, and the man I borrowed some OGL content for my Bard class design) presents us with Catacombs of Ophir.  It's a nice little dungeon under the city-state of Ophir (itself detailed in part in NOD 2).  I don't recall a level range for it, but I'm going to guess 2-4.  Looks good, and it marks the second adventure for this issue of Knockspell.

Next up is A Duet if Bards.  The first part of this section is by Doyle Taverner.  Here he presents us with an adaptation of the original Bard class presented in The Best of the Dragon, Volume 1.  He cleans up the fuddilly bits, such as using thief abilities with heavier armor (aint happening) and spell casting in armor (also aint happening).  For me, the highlight is the page on magical instruments for bards.  Leaves me wishing I had included some, but I think Doyle gives a nice assortment to choose from.

The next part of A Duet of Bards is Tenkar's Bard.  It's short and sweet.  I like it, but then, I should ;)

Locks and Traps as a "Mini-Game" by Jim Pacek follows.  Not what I expected.  Holy Crap but I really like the system he uses.  Color me surprised, and I generally detest "mini-games in a game", but this isn't so much mini-game as a task resolution system.  It gets my "Kick Ass!" Award.  First time I've ever given one out.

Wow.  I need 3 parts for this review ;)

Pick a Card, Any card - Looking at the AD&D 2E Deck of Encounters

Probably the most useful thing ever to come out of AD&D 2E was NOT the endless collection of Complete Player Handbooks (hard to believe, I know).  Nope, the most useful accessory I found in my nearly complete collection of 2e books and assorted crap is my Deck of Encounters Sets One and Two Boxed sets.

These little treasure chests offer nearly limitless opportunities to challenge your players and work very well in a sandbox style campaign.

Generally, I'd grab a dozen or so cards before the party would head out to their adventuring destination (if they had one) and randomly pick a card when circumstances dictated.  Most were level appropriate, one or two would be weaker, one or two would be on the more dangerous end.

It was a great tool to lower prep time and still keep things exciting and different for the players.  They have been a great rediscovery as I've been doing renovations.  I'm sure to have more to say about them as I spend time perusing them again ;)

Free Adventure For X-plorers - Cleopatra Station

Brave Halfling has released a free adventure for the X-plorers RPG.  Cleopatra Station is a short adventure / mission to get your X-plorers campaign rolling.

You can get the game in a free (no art) version if you haven;t checked it out yet (link is on the page for the free mission)

From the blurb:

Owned and operated by RA-Industries, Cleopatra Station is a small, wheel space station that orbits around Mars's fast moving Phobos moon. This is a long-term lab that conducts experiments in the genetic mutation of Crain, a corn-like grain substance that grows very well on the dust plains of Mars. It is the home of several scientists and their families. Howver, all communications with Cleopatra Station have simply ceased. RA-Industries needs to find out if there is a problem, and your X-plorers team is just right for the job.

Cleopatra Station is a short sample mission. This mission is designed for 3-5 player characters of first level, and will take about 2-4 hours to complete.

It's Time For a Contest - Tell Me About Your Favorite Bard

Woot!  150 fine patrons of this tavern!  So let me tell you what I'm a gonna do.

I want YOU to tell me about your favorite Bard.  Fiction, movie, tv, comic book, player character, NPC, homeless guy you see near work - whoever it is that you think makes for an awesome Bard, I want to hear about.  Just add your comment to this post and you'll be entered.

What do you get in return?  I'm giving away 2 PDF copies of Knockspell #6 - one to my favorite entry and one to a random entry.  Winners will need to supply me with the email address they use with RPGNow / DriveThruRPG as the PDFs will be gifted to their accounts.

Contest ends at 1159 PM NYC Time on Monday, September 19, 2011.

Things to Do

We have a contractor coming Wednesday evening to give an estimate on the kitchen renovations we want done.  As I've been using the kitchen to store stuff during the rest of the renovations, I need to pack stuff into boxes and move stuff yet again.  It's almost like playing one of those old NYC street corner "shell games" - find the pea and win a prize.  Don't expect many hidden RPG finds to reveal themselves in the kitchen.  heh

I should get to the second part of the Knockspell #6 mini review later (at this rate it's becoming a full size review) later on today or tonight.  I really need some more time to catch up on reviews.  Got a crapload I'd like to get done and lack the time to do so.

The Tavern is a hair under 150 followers at the moment - I need to think of something to do when we hit the mark.  No idea yet.  Surprise surprise ;)

Mini Review - Loviatar Issue #3 (OGL)

Christian continues to do what he does best, which is write zines.  I've been enjoying his zones (and blogs and vidblogs) for years.  Today I received issue #3 of Loviatar in the mail.  Nicely done as always.

The cover is striking, as it has a nosferatu like creature on orange card stock.  Its the October issue and works well as an October / Halloween.

This issue we get a gang of thugs stated out for Pathfinder, some well fleshed out NPCs for your World of Darkness campaign, genetically engineered wolves for GURPS and an NPC for Planescape.  All of these articles have fiction that fleshes out stuff way beyond anything mere stats could ever do.

Christian is an excellent writer and it shows.  Well done lad.

I Have My HP Touchpad

My HP Touchpad arrived yesterday. It seems well worth the $99 it cost. It was worth the headache to track down.

I need to learn to stop procrastinating. The has to be 350 or more waiting to qualify on the last day the Outdoor Range is open this year. Normal days are about 100. It would be funny if it wasn't so annoying :(


- Posted from my iPhone

Mini Review - Knockspell #6 (S&W / OSRIC) - Part 1

Full disclosure - I do have a short article in this issue.  That being said, Knockspell #6 still a damn good issue ;)

As I mentioned yesterday, I love the cover.  Yes, it's a bit modern comic bookish, but it pulls it off.  It would look fine on the wall of a man cave.

The layout of this issue is top notch.  I really shouldn't have to say it looks extremely professional, but it does, and it is.  Even more importantly for those that will be reading this in PDF, it has bookmarks.  Nice work by Matt and his team.

First up we have the next installment of Allen Grohe's From Kuroth's Quill.  This time he offers us a new class for OSRIC - the Shadow Master.  It's a nice addition to the spell caster stable, and adds some new spells into the mix.  Part 1 of 2, the follow up will include the higher level spells, new poisons and some new monsters.

We follow this up with the Random Orc Generator by Robert Lionheart.  Orcs are boring, but a staple of low level campaigns - Robert gives us some random charts to make them exciting again.  If nothing else, there are some very good adventure seeds here.

Gabor Lux must be one of the most prolific and skilled "Old School" adventure writers out there.  This time he gives us Isles on an Emerald Sea IV.  I don't think I've ever come across a "normal" adventure from Gabor.  Short but sweet.

Random Perks and Flaws by Stefan Poag.  For me, I think the flaws outweigh the perks on this table, but the right perk can be a real advantage.  Roll if you dare!

Mr. Finch himself gives us Fire and Other Eldritch Energies.  It's kind of a game science article (initially) dealing with the energy types found in D&D, ranging from the aforementioned fire to necromantic nastiness and then some.  Add some delivery system and effects random tables and you'll be able to keep you players guessing the pain they are going to be for campaigns to come.  It's a good method to help find some unique powers for your unique badies.

Wow... not even halfway thru the issue yet... more to come tomorrow.

A Bit More About My Swords & Wizardry Bard

When I wrote my version of a Bard class for Swords & Wizardry (it's in Knockspell #6), I went with the "Tastes Great, Less Filling" method. By that, I mean I didn't want to try and reinvent the wheel. If there mechanics or charts I could use that already existed in an OGL source that fit what I needed, I used it.

Some of the Bardic abilities from the class write up in one of the issues of NOD were very useful as were the attack and saving throw charts in the S&W rulebook. Why reprint a chart if I can say "Save as X"? or "Fights as Y". Even the experience chart can usually fit that of a previous class when you decide where it falls in the power structure of the classes.

Spell progression was my own write up, as I saw the spells being limited to 4 levels and that had to be spread out a bit. The spells on the spell list were all from the S&W rules, taken from different classes (and with the spell level change in some circumstances).

I do have some ideas for additional spells and some bard specific items, but whether I'll submit them as an article to Knockspell or publish them on the blog is anyones guess. I sure don't know yet. Heh.