Wayward Kickstarter Now Patreon Project? They Became Flesh Creator Elizabeth Sampat wants More of Your Money

Lets see, Elizabeth links to some of the games she's written. Strangely enough, They Became Flesh is not mentioned. Heck, her last update on the They Became Flesh Kickstarter was in October of 2013. Latest comments on the Kickstarter? From folks still waiting for their shit.

Oh sure, her husband has steadfastly taken blame for her failures, but the Kickstarter project, just like this Patreon project, are her's and her's alone.

Maybe she should set a milestone to make good on the promises she made to her Kickstarter backers. Or would that not be personal enough?

I make games: I started in 2007 with my self-published indie roleplaying games and eventually transitioned into digital four years ago. My games are digital and tabletop, personal and searching, and occasionally win awards. A good example would be Deadbolt, an art game about personal truth that you can read about in the LA Times. I have a bunch of stuff in the works I'd like to give you a sneak peek at. 

I make waves: I'm well-known for my advocacy for women in the game industry— I was on the inaugural #1reasontobe panel at GDC, I've appeared on podcasts and traveled the country talking about how to create and support diverse companies and inclusive games. I was the one who wrote that article you read about why you shouldn't support PAX, and the one who wrote the article about Zoe Quinn, and a bunch of other articles that went viral. (I've got the hate mail to prove it.)

Again, maybe she should be advocating for the backers of her still unfulfilled Kickstarter.

Shit. I'm obviously missing the boat on this Patreon thing. $95 a month and still not making her backers complete.

DM Support Group - WotC Ad for the New DMG - Just How Shitty a DM Are You?

Yes, I understand the video is meant to be funny, so maybe I'm over reacting just a wee bit when I find it to be insulting that "one book" can cure a bad DM or a bad campaign. Not to mention that I find the caricature of the bad DM here truly insulting.

Yes, it's over the top, but so were the 4e videos trashing gnomes. Insulting your user base for a few laughs seems counterproductive to my way of thinking.

Eh, maybe I am over thinking.

Maybe it's just a funny video and not meant to sell anything.

Right.

(hat tip to +Benoist Poiré )

Finally Have the Games Workshop release of RuneQuest 3e

I was introduced to RuneQuest with the Avalon Hill release of RuneQuest 3rd edition. I liked what I saw enough to track down a copy of RuneQuest 2nd edition. The Avalon Hill release was made to fall apart under heavy use.

The ads for the Games Workshop release of RQ3 that I recall from White Dwarf were amazing. The art spoke to me.

Now, years later I've finally tracked down the GW releases at a fair price on eBay.

So many good systems, so little time.

The Far Away Land "Play Document" is a GO!

Dirk Stanley, otherwise known as the man behind the +Far Away Land RPG , has kindly given me not just permission but any support I might need in putting together a Play Document or Quick Reference for my upcoming Far Away Land campaign. Talk about win / win :)

From the feedback I've seen not just here at The Tavern but also on G+, I suspect that the initial players in the "drop in, drop out" Far Away Land campaign will mostly have access to the rules, but I want it to be equally accessible to the FAL curious too.

I don't see this kicking off until sometime in March and I suspect sessions will be once a month or so thereafter. G+ Hangouts and Roll20 will be the platform used. I'll tap down details as it get's closer.

This does mean I have to get back to work on that FAL play document...

(as an aside, I think the Far Away Land art works as well as it does due to the excellent use of colors)

Some Near Thoughts on Far Away Land

I've been home from work these past two days, sick with an upper respiratory infection. I'll be returning to work on Friday. Needless to say, there's been lots of sleep and watching of Blake's 7 on my agenda.

There's also been some reading done. Far Away Land has been high on that list.

I'm thinking of running a once a month, drop in drop out, Far Away Land Campaign. No details yet, I need to see where I can steal the time from my already booked life. Consider this an inquiry as to the interest of others in such a campaign. Let me know in the comments.

I'll need to finish the FAL Reference Sheet before than. Not enough to run the game but enough to keep the player's questions of mechanics down to a minimum.

I've also notice there is no Far Away Land community on G+. Perhaps we should start one. That, and / or us the forums here at The Tavern to drive some discussion.

Can you tell I'm sick? heh

G4-9 by RC Pinnell Released for Free in PDF by the Roll For Initiative Podcast (1e)

Just in case folks don't remember, G4 thru G9 is a series of six adventures that pick up in spirit where the AD&D classic, G3 leaves off.

G4-9 haven't been available for a while, but thanks to +Thork Hammer and +Vincent Florio and the Roll For Initiative Podcast, these recent classics are again available for the one time only price of FREE ;)

Relive the early days of the OSR with the G4-9 Super Module and get your giant killing on!

Mini Review - Whoa! Here Come the Dead - (Far Away Land - PWYW)

I was home sick from work today (doc diagnosed me with an upper respiratory infection) so I've spent much of that time watching more episodes of Blakes7 on Youtube and reading gaming material in the moments I wan't sleeping.

One thing I read today was Whoa! Here Come the Dead, the 2nd mini adventure for Far Away Land.

There are six pages between the covers of this mini-adventure-sandbox.

Something I've really enjoyed with the FAL mini-adventures is that they steer away from the railroad. Here's the hook, here's the BBEG or dramatic ending and here's a couple of ideas and adventure opportunities for the DM to use or not as the party finds their way.

As usual, a random weather chart and random encounter tables.

The village on the edge of a swamp needs the players to deal with some undead and a skelet mage. Fun times for relatively new PCs.

From the blurb:

Your party finds that they are in a swamp, and on the edge of that swamp is the village of Grove. The village has recently been plagued by a skelet mage and his undead minions who have taken up residency in the old graveyard outside of town. Several residents have already fallen victim to the skelet mage. Grove needs heroes - that means you!

Whoa! Here Come the Dead is the second in a series of Far Away Land pay what you want (or nothing at all :) series of adventures. Pick up your sword, grab a set of armor, con a wizard, and help the swampmerls get their village back.

Deal of the Day - The Lost City of Barakus PDF (D20 Version) - $2.00

The Lost City of Barakus was the first D20 era adventure that made me want to run a 3x game, even though I didn't really feel comfortable with 3x. Barakus read much like a classic adventure and it hooked me.

Frog God is offering the D20 version of The Lost City of Barakus in PDF for $2.00 for today only.

Use the link to Frog God's webstore here and use the following coupon: DD-BARAKUS-2947

Deal ends at midnite tonight.

P.S. - I really can't recommend this enough, especially at this price.

How Lethal do you Like your RPG Campaigns?

In the last two session of +Joe D 's Blood Island (heavily houseruled LotFP Weird Fantasy) the party suffered a casualty in each. To tell the truth, I thought a TPK was certainly possible at one point.

You know the surprising part? It was exciting to think that we might suffer a TPK. Strange, I think, but there was some true fear.

Without the risk of character death, there is nothing to compare success to. There is no triumph. There is no reward.

I'm not advocating a DM should look for a TPK or to kill a character every session, but character risk must be real for the game to feel real. Joe is doing a fine job keeping the balance ;)

So, how lethal do you like your campaigns?

Haven't Watched Blake's 7 in Ages - Found it on Youtube - Thinking Thoughts Involving Far Away Land

Sure, Blake's 7 is cheese, but it is awesome cheese as only the British can do.

So, as I watch this, I'm thinking of how well Far Away Land's core system would be the perfect vehicle to play scenarios in the Blake's 7 universe. FAL's core system is simple and flexible and works just as well in a fantasy setting as a space opera sci-fi setting.

Notice I didn't say all types of sci-fi. While Fire Away Land can be lethal, it isn't a good fit in my eyes for hard sci-fi. Blake's 7 seems to be a decent fit. Heck, I suspect Red Dwarf would make an even better fit. I have the Red Dwarf RPG somewhere, so I may have to put that theory to the test.

Any Blake's 7 fans out there? Any thoughts on the idea of crossing the two?

Necromancer Games PDFs 50% Off - One Day Only

It looks like Frog God Games started their One Day Sales Promotion one day earlier than I expected. Today's sale covers all of the Necromancer Games releases in PDF, putting them at 50% off with coupon.

What's the coupon you may ask?

G-HOG-50


Do I have any picks?

City of Brass ($7.50 after coupon)

The Book of Taverns ($1.50 after coupon)

The Mother of All Treasure Tables ($10.00 after coupon)

Tomb of Abysthor ($5.00 after coupon)

Sure, they are made for 3e, but they are easy enough to convert.

For those that don't want to join the Frog God mailing list, I'll do my best to put these up each day.

I Can Write That Quick Start in 2 (or 4 half) Pages - Thoughts on a Home Game Quickstart Doc for Far Away Land

As most of you know, my weekly Saturday Night group plays via Roll20 / Google+ Hangouts. It has most of the benefits of playing at the dining room table without the drawback of driving and cleaning up after a half dozen people afterwards.

It does have a noticeable drawback - you can't pass the rulebook around the table as you would in a face to face game.

This hasn't been an issue with most of the games we play as most of the OSR rulesets are available for free in PDF (often in "art free versions") or they hue close enough to the rules they are modeled on that one can always pull out the original edition rules for the session.

The same is not the case with Far Away Land and I can't expect to strong-arm my group into ponying up for a game system sight unseen, even if a few have already expressed interest in playing, as in "When are you going to run FAL!?!"

I figure I can explain character creation, boons, flaws, gear and task resolution in about 2 pages with maybe a paragraph explaining the default setting. Or maybe 4 pages, so it could be printed out on a single sheet of 8 1/2 x 11, folded in half like a pamphlet and insertable in the printed book as a handy reference sheet.

I really want to run a session in 2 or 3 weeks, and I think something like this is really necessary for my group's situation.

Assuming I can put this together with all of the curve balls real life has been throwing lately, I'll reach out to Simian Circle Games and see is this is something they would allow me to distribute on a larger level (or if they would want to do so.)

Speaking of that weekly game, the time is near as I write this!

Android Users - Games Workshop's Talisman is the Free App of the Day at Amazon

Talisman was the go to board game for my gaming group throughout high school and college. It was a blast and a half.

Today only (and there are only 6 hours left in "today" as I post this) it is the free app of the day in the Amazon Android App Store.

The price is right and I've just installed it on my phone (I'll put it on my tablet later.)

Frog God Games is Kicking of a "Daily Deals" Promotion on Monday

The link to sign up is here.

I don't have any further information on this promotion (that's a hint to the powers that be that they may want to spill some more beans ;)

Deals start Monday and you can be sure I'll be highlighting some of the more exceptional ones (at least in my opinion) here at The Tavern but remember, these deals only last for 24 hrs each, so you need to strike fast for the ones you want.

Mini Review - Isle of the Rat Wizard (Far Away Land - PWYW)

If there is a single sentence that defines how Isle of the Rat Wizard is written and meant to be used, it is this:

Maybe the bridge is worn and once the PCs and ratlings are fighting, it begins to collapse or break apart?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

The DM decides.

Isle of the Rat Wizard is about options. It is effectively a mini sandbox. The players have a goal (get off the isle) and an offer for help if they help the small settlement in return, but that's it.

There is no script. There is no hidden flow chart.

NPC, monsters, locations, items, random encounter charts (and a random weather chart) and "go!"

From what I've read so far, the mini adventures in the Far Away Land series of adventures are episodic, with each adventure it's own little sandbox.

Isle of the Rat Wizard is 7 pages long, 5 pages when you remove the front and back covers. Priced at Pay What You Want.

From the blurb:

A mysterious island with a big skull shaped mountain. A jungle full of ratlings. A crazed ratling wizard with a magical amulet. A town who needs heroes. Are you up to the challenge? Isle of the Rat Wizard is the first module in a series of Far Away Land RPG mini-adventures.

This mini-adventure module is designed to be a primer for GMs. Each of our mini-adventure modules provide a history and context for the adventure as well as location descriptions, maps, weather guide, wandering monsters, NPCs, items/treasure, and a list of adventure ideas and scenarios that can be played out during the adventure. Isle of the Rat Wizard is 5 pages and full color.

Roll20 is Hiring - Part Time Online DM - If Only This Was February 2016 ;)

Roll20 is looking to hire a part time DM / GM for live game broadcasts and Q&A sessions. If only this were 12 months from now and I was a newly retired civil servant. Much like my bartender said on Wednesday, after I had 5 rounds bought for me by a guy that won $20 grand in one of the Superbowl pools - "Timing is everything."

So, it's not a good for for me, but it might be a good fit for you:

Note - US only apparently

Far Away Land - Tome of Awesome - Hardcover in Hand

I ordered Far Away Land - Tome of Awesome on Sunday. Five days later I have it in hand. That is probably the quickest turn around I've seen from Lightning Source / OneBookShelf.

The pages look nice and crisp. I don't see any bleed through, and this book is chuck full of full color art.

Tomorrow the plan is to look at the setting material. I must say the maps look very nice. I wonder if they used Hexographer.

I've got some ideas for adventure seeds or encounters using Far Away Land. I'm sure they'll be post here on the blogside, but I'll probably also cross post to The Tavern's underused forums. I'm surprised at the lack of activity on the official FAL's forums, so I'll see if we can have some success over here.

I apologize for the slow pace of posting, especially this week and probably into next. Wearing two hats at work, writing a "Dummies Guide" for every procedure and responsibility my unit has AND writing an updated section for the bureau's guide regarding my unit's responsibilities.

Far Away Land has been the perfect distraction ;)

If Only All Publishers Were This Responsive to Criticism (Far Away Land)

A few days ago, in my initial post about Far Away Lands (which for some damn reason I always want to pluralize. Much like my constant substituting of "Time Shorts" for +Tim Shorts ;) I mentioned I had two minor criticisms.

1 - copy / paste was disabled in the Far Way Lands: Tome of Awesome

2 - the PDF lacked bookmarks.

Lo and behold, what do I see in my email this morning?

Now that is a boatload of Simian awesome :)

Frog God is Offering 15% Off at Their Site Through Feb 15th

You can go to the Frog God website here> Frog God

The Myth & Magic Player's Guide Kickstarter - Still Shoveling Sh!t After Nine Months of Silence

Are you still waiting on delivery of your Myth & Magic Player's Guide? If so, you may be the victim of nefarious forces located within the US Postal Service. Seriously:

I just wanted to post an update, albeit terribly overdue (Hey folks. Grumpy here. Let me just state for the record, 9 months isn't "terribly overdue", it's "stick you head in a hole like an ostrich overdue"), to let you know things are back on track as of January 19th, the day I was able to secure some loan money and earmark personal funds to complete the GMG project and to ensure that all orders are fulfilled. It was senseless to update you during the process of securing the funds (because an update instead of 9 months of silence would be... senseless), since it was a total roller coaster and I had no idea what to expect. 

Player's Guide Domestic Shipping: I shipped all domestic orders via priority mail (emphasis mine) and although only a few came back to me, most show a confirmed delivery and some do not. I want to make sure that everyone receives their books. (not one comment to this update indicates a book received.)

If you did not receive your PG order, something happened (or didn't happen - most likely, Tom didn't mail shit). Either I did not have your correct address or something else got screwed up. I just set up a new email address to ensure I have your most up-to-date information. If you did not get your book(s), please send me your name, backer level and updated address. Use the following email: imfullofshit@wasteddreams.doh

Here's a telling comment to this update:

I'll be blunt - I do not believe you when you say you have shipped the domestic orders, because SURELY someone would have made mention of this fact (given that it would have been quite from the blue). 

I personally have received nothing, and I'm pretty sure that the same address information that worked for a KS that funded and delivered within the last year was what you got, given that I haven't moved in a decade. 

I'd love to be proved wrong on this, but I believe that this update is more owing to my repeatedly contacting KS Support about the GMG project not delivering ANYTHING and them then contacting you as opposed to any progress being actually made.

Because we all know Tom is a font of honesty (Update from December 5th, 2013)

I have a lot of returned mailings to send out (or un-mailed mailings - returned from "storage" perhaps), mostly wrong addresses, some mailings that slipped through the cracks, and a lot of international mailings. Everything will get done by or right after the holidays. The list grows and of course so too does everything else in my life at this time of year. I generally take a week right after the holidays to decompress so that will provide me the time necessary to punch it out.

Do I believe in Tom's honesty and integrity? Not after he posted my shipping info in the comments of the project for all to see. I had to complain to Kickstarter, and they promptly removed it. Why did he do such? Because Tom didn't appreciate me calling him on his shit.

BTW, I do have my copy. I may sign it and donate it to the NTRPGCon Midnite Auction. I know they got stiffed on the books themselves.

Want more perspective on this? +Jason Paul McCartan over at OSRToday makes some excellent observations.