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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The LotFP 2013 Free RPG Day Adventure Kickstarter is Live

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

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

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

Butt Kicking For Goodness! Slip Sliding Away...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slate, Gargoyle Wanderer and Guide of The Gut

Artwork by Bruno Balixa

Slate, Gargoyle Wanderer and Guide of The Gut

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If D&D Sessions Had NFL Commentators in Their Dungeons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Super Bloodbowl Sunday - Organized Sports in Your Fantasy Worlds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, hand wave or heavy hand for your weather?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dwimmermount Update #44 - Video Link and Summary

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

Where We Stand

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

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

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

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

X and Y Challenges

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Proposing New Kickstarters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the blurb:


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

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

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

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

Lessons Learned From Moderating the Dwimmermount Update On Air Session

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dwimmermount Video Update for 1/31/13 is Live

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

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

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

This was recorded last night.

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

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

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

So yes, a huge thanks to all!

Now the question:

Should we do this again next month?

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

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

Give me your thoughts if you will...

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

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

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

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

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

Should it have campaign tracking software?

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

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

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

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

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

"Basic Fantasy Role Playing Blog Appreciation Day"

So, last week +Christopher Helton and I got around to discussing the Basic Fantasy RPG. We both remarked that for a very complete, well written and free OSR role playing game, it often got overlooked in general discussions of OSR games. I know I've been guilty of it in the past on this very blog. This is out attempt to rectify that to some extent.

My first encounter with BFRPG was memorable to me, not in the day that I found it, but in the amount of material that was available for the (at that point) unfinalized set of RPG rules. I mean, more free goodness than I had found elsewhere on the net. Quality goodness.

If I recall correctly, the first thing I downloaded was BF1 Morgansfort: The Western Lands Campaign. Yep, I downloaded the setting before I grabbed the rules. I grabbed the rules shortly thereafter, but I was still amazed that anyone could put out such a complete, enjoyable and yet free game setting. If only there had been G+ Hangouts at the time, I might be running a BFRPG game and not an AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign.

Over the next day or so (as it is already tomorrow in some parts of the world ;) you will find a series of posts from different bloggers and posters on G+ talking about the Basic Fantasy RPG.

This is your chance to board the train in case you missed it before.

All of the downloads at the Basic Fantasy RPG site are free. The books sold on Lulu are at cost. It's a game by gamers, for gamers.

Here's a list of the current posts that have gone "live" (I'll try to update this as the day goes on).

The Basic Fantasy RPG Blog - The blog of the Creator of the Game

Dorkland - Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Appreciation

Aeons & Augauries - Healers, Hunters & Monsters for BFRPG

Mythopoeic Rambling - BFGs to meet in Tenkar's Tavern

What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse - Got Basic?

The Other Side - Basic Fantasy Role Playing Blog Appreciation Day

Frothsof 4e - Basic Fantasy RPG Blog Appreciation Day!

Raven Crowking's Nest - Basic Fantasy RPG Appreciation Day

They Might Be Gazebos  - Basic Fantasy RPG: Don't Forget About This One

Castelli & Chimere (Castles & Chimeras) - Basic Fantasy RPG Blog Appreciation Day (English)

In The Shadow of Puzzled Vikings - Back to Basics: Basic Fantasy!

Curmudgeons & Dragons - Props to BFRPG

Gamers & Grognards - Honoring Basic Fantasy Role Play: A Rule I REALLY Like

Once More Unto the Breach! - Basic Fantasy Role Playing Blog Appreciation Day

Tabletop Diversions - Basic Fantasy Appreciation Day!

Chronicles of Ganth - Basic Fantasy Role Playing Fun Time Action Hour in Fantastic Color-Scope 1600 Vision!

Kyndalanth - Basic Fantasy Role Playing Blog Appreciation Day

The Space Cockroach's Hideout- Basic Fantasy Role Playing Blog Appreciation Day

The Crazy GM - What I Like About My BF…

In the Shadow of Puzzled Vikings - Back to Basics: Basic Fantasy!

Graphs, Paper and Games - Basic Fantasy Role Playing Appreciation

A Life Full of Adventure  - Get the Word Out: Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game

Places to Go, People to Be - I’ve Always Liked Redheads

Here's some other Basic Fantasy RPG Downloads

Sycarion Diversions and more

We've Picked a Wayward Kickstarter - Doppelganger: The Universal Game Piece

Well, so far we're 0 for 1 in picking Wayward Kickstarters (Kingdom: The Space Exploration RPG did not fund).

This time around we're doing something a little different. We're backing a piece of gaming electronics - an LCD miniature, if you will.

I find Doppelgänger interesting enough to give it a shot.

Will it fund?

Dunno. If it does I get a cool toy, if it doesn't, the money gets recycled into yet another Wayward Kickstarter ;)

From the Kickstarter site:


The Tabletop Doppelganger is a customizable playing piece that can replace any role playing game or board playing game piece.  This piece has a 1” by 1” square base and an LCD screen on the front and back, and allows you to upload photos to the piece through a USB connection to your computer. You can then use the buttons on the top of the piece to select a photo loaded to the piece, and use the piece in place of any RPG, d20 game or board game playing piece.

With the capacity to hold over 30 pictures, you can carry all of your RPG characters on one piece simply by uploading photos of your favorites to the Doppelganger. You can add multiple pictures of your characters performing various actions, such as fighting, raging, singing, casting spells, or using different weapons, and change the photos on the displays as your characters perform different actions. You can even play with characters and monsters that you do not have in miniature form, since you can simply add the pictures of these characters to the piece!

My "Teratic Tome" Arrived Today!

Yep, my hardcover copy of the Teratic Tome arrived this morning. I picked a good day to bring my car to the dealership for maintenance it seems.

Damn, I may very well need to put my 1e books on a shelf to give the Teratic Tome the proper company ;)

If You Were to Publish an OSR Magazine, What Types of Articles Would it Include?

With the recent release of the first issue of Gygax Magazine I got to thinking. There are very few "In Print" options (PDF doesn't really expand that much) for RPG mags. We recently had the ending of Kobold Quarterly (not OSR but a very well put together RPG mag) and well over a year since the last issues of Knockspell and Fight On!

Which is a shame. Gygax is not by any means a bad magazine but the first issue was a tad  lacking and it is not focused on Old School Gaming (old school reminiscing? sure). I'm sure it will get better in time.

Still it leaves us, the old School gamers, without a true magazine to call our own at the moment. Which led me to think about the type of articles my "Old School Magazine" would have.

It would ideally consist of a variation of the following regular features:

A section on new spells.

A dungeon adventure and an outdoor setting / encounter / adventure.

A section with a new monster, monsters, races, etc.

Game theory, balancing, ideas, tangents - this part would be very open to interpretation and would probably have more than one article an issue.

A gamer's blog highlight section - highlighting some of the best plog posts and ideas in the OSR and pointing out overlooked blogs that really deserve more attention.

Artist highlight - there are some amazing artists that could use some exposure - this could be such a vehicle.

Anyway, that would be my idea of an OSR Styled Gaming Mag. I'll think about it in my dreams tonight ;)

So, any ideas what you'd want in your ideal OSR Styled Gaming Mag?