The D30 - Best Cat Toy Ever Invented

So, earlier today I had to determine the winners of the 1000 post giveaway.  30 commenters, so I broke out my 30 sided die that I recently ordered for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Beta.

Man, I thought D20s liked to roll for a long time... the D30 thinks it's nearly round.  Sucker goes nearly forever with a good roll.  Which is something my cat learned very quickly.

Ashely watched me roll it a few times before taking a few tentative taps to make it move a bit, then she swatted it off my desk and the chase was on.

It's too big for her to eat and rolls just far enough to really excite her without rolling forever like a ball.  She thinks I bought it for her.  I may need to get a second just for myself ;)

And The Winners Are...

Thirty commenters, so I get to use my new D30 (yes, a few opted out, so I'll just reroll if they come up.  If someones number get rolled a second time, it gets rerolled.  1 prize per person.

We have 2 prize packages of Dark Heresy: Inquisitor's Handbook and the Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn in PDF courtesy of OneBookShelf.  The winners are:

Joseph Browning (code sent)
Sully

Congrats!  Email me at erikATtrubluniteDOTnet so I can send your codes.

Next up we have 3 PDF copies of Resolute: The Splintered Realm.  I'm buying these copies as gifts, so you need to send me an email address you have that you use at RPGNow.com / DriveThruRPG.com.

The winners of Resolute: The Splintered Realm are:

ze bulette  Spawn of Endra (as ze opted out) (sent)
/Matt
Jagatai  C'nor (Outermost Toe) (as Jagatai opted out)

Congrats!

Lastly, we have 6 PDF copies of Action Castle.  I'm buying these copies as gifts, so you need to send me an email address you have that you use at RPGNow.com / DriveThruRPG.com.

The winners of Action Castle are:

Lecker ThAC0! (sent)
Dyson Logos (sent)
JDJarvis (sent)
Pere Ubu (sent)
A Paladin in Citadel (rpgnow is having problems with the address - email me at the above addy)
Tim Shorts (sent)

Congrats again!

I'll need the winners to email AND post in this thread (kinda like a double confirmation).  I'll get the prizes out as quickly as I  can,  but it is Father's Day weekend ;)

Congrats to the winners and a HUGE thank you to everyone that reads this blog!

1000th Post Contest Closes... Whenever I Wake Up In the Morning and Log In :)

Which means you still have a few hours to add your comment to this post (as in the link, not this actual post) and possibly come away with some free loot.

As a side note, did my LotFP's Weird Fantasy is Porn post really stir up this much crap?  The main point I was making is that for people less involved in the hobby (not bloggers / designers / forum and blog readers, etc but definitely gamers) going from say, Swords & Wizardry to Weird Fantasy is a HUGE leap in the type of content and style.  Art tends to stick out, as it's easier to notice then the written word on a quick flip thru.  So yes, they called it "porn".  It might not fit your definition of such, may or may not fit mine, but it fit someone's last saturday.

Besides, it's was a blog title that wrote itself the moment I heard it.

In any case, bloggers (including myself) tend to have huge opinions, but few if any of us are experts on anything.  Unless you subscribe to the theory that all TV and Radio Talk Show hosts are experts, in which case... I'm an expert too, cause a blog is a media outlet, so there!  Na-na-na-na!  :)

A Professional Hobby or a Hobby Run Professionally?

The way I see it, there are basically 2 types of successful RPG publishers once you get past the Industry giants.

You have the Professional Hobbyists - these are the ones that truly are attempting (or maybe even succeeding) with making a living off of RPG writing and publishing. LotFP, Troll Lord Games, Goodman are some examples.

Then you have the Hobbyists That Make Professional Games - professional releases for free or close to cost. Creativity before profit. Goblinoid Games, Mythmere, Dark Horse are some examples.

There are other tiers, but this are the main types you see in out little corner we call the OSR.

Both approaches are valid, although those attempting to make a living off of this hobby is by far the tougher path.

Still, it reminds me of my early days as a cop in the South Bronx. On weekends, my unit would come in early to do "Ho Roundups". If that sounds like herding cattle, there were some similarities. In any case, there are different "social classes" of prostitutes, even in the South Bronx. The "locals" that lived in the area and considered this a somewhat legitimate occupation, would literally get into fist fights with the girls that were from out of town, or in many cases, drug addicts. The fights were over a simple issue - the out of towners would do the same sex acts for about half the amount the locals charged. Even worse, they were happy with the amounts they made. The locals felt they were ruining the local economy (that's what they referred to it as. I remember the arguments that took place in the prisoner wagons). The 2 sides had to co-exist, but they didn't like it much, and the disputes often got nasty.

I most certainly am not likening the writers and publishers in the OSR to South Bronx Prostitutes, although the imagery is pretty funny. It's just that I see some similarities in the different attitudes and approaches from those that are looking to make a living off this hobby and those that treat it as a hobby.
No fist fights, no hair pulling - it seems to be more politics then anything else.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm just a "John". Whoever puts out the best product for the lowest price is where I'll be. I'll try not to feel too dirty ;)

Reviews in the Hopper

I've got a few reviews I want to get to over the next few days.  See, this is about me being organized... or at least trying to be organzied.

In no particular order:

LotFP Weird Fantasy: Grindhouse Edition (I need to finish this multi-part review)

Errant and Cascade Failure (yes Greg - way over due)

Simple Scenario Bundle and The Dreamers Awaken for Fantasy Grounds 2 from White Haired Man (OGL versions, and yes Viz, way overdue too)

Tavern By the Sea by Ken St. Andre (new Tunnels & Trolls solo)

Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest for Mutant Future (really enjoying what I've read so far)

Vornheim (I think I need to finish this review)

Blackmarsh from Bat in the Attic Games (free, professional sandboxie setting - its linked to the left)

Edit:  Forgot Dungeon Crawl Classics - add that to the list (thanks to JasonZavoda for the reminder)

Holy crap that's a list and a half!  I'm sure I missed something or two.  Time to get a crackin'.

Disorganized Thoughts

If any of you ever saw my desk, either at work or home, you would be amazed that I could find anything. Heck, I amaze myself at times. Organization is not my strong point.

It affects my blogging too. I start looking to do one thing, get sidetracked, and then shit falls to the side, only to rediscovered weeks or months later.

I'm going to try to keep a list of what I am working on, what i should be working on, what i want to work on. Basically, I'm attempting to organize myself.

Wish me luck ;)

Looking Back

I'm looking back at the past 1000 posts, and I do find it amazing that I've gotten to this point. In fact, I had such a hard time deciding on what to blog about at first, that nearly a year passed between the first and second posts.

It takes a lot of trial and error to not only find your blogging voice but also your writer's voice. This blog most certainly isn't now what it was 3 years, 2 years, 1 year, 6 months or even 3 months ago. Blogs evolve and change. They can take a life of their own. I embrace that concept myself. Sometime my blog surprises even me.

Getting readers to your new blog is mostly getting yourself out there. Posting insightful and interesting comments on other blogs is a good way to get your blog noticed. The simple fact is, for many bloggers (myself included) building your reader base is a slow process. For months, I was lucky to get 20 views a day (and i suspect about half of those were me checking out the page myself). My first big surge was my review of LotFP's The Grinding Gear. Raggi's mentioning of my review tripled my traffic that day.

I literally had no idea how to do a review early on. I'm not saying I know how to do one now, but I was really lost in the beginning. I tend not to review things that I have overly negative feelings about. Negative reviews are generally not fun to write.

Something that I used to do (and Gothridge Manor does) is spotlight new blogs that I find interesting. Adding them to the blogroll is nice, but posting about why a blog is worth reading has true value. I need to get back to that.

Hmmm, I need to post about Sex, Drugs and Dice Rolling... I'm sure that would drive lots of traffic ;)

To Infinity and Beyond - 1001, A Post Odyssey

I don't want to clutter up the comments section of the thousandth post, so let me say some things here.

First - Thank You!  Thanks to all for their well wishes and congratulations.  They make me feel all giddy inside :)

Oh, and Gaptooth - Way frikkin' cool!

Next - The copies of Action Castle and Resolute: The Splintered Realm really do belong to you, the readers of this blog.  When you buy from RPGNow / DriveThruRPG from the links to the left, or a mini review or such, that small commission I get is used for gifts like this.  It's my chance to thank you.  As I type this, the 1000th post thread has 20 comments... one more comment and the pot grows to 6 copies of Action Castle and 3 copies Resolute: The Splintered Realm.  Keep it growing lads and ladies!

Now, for my next thousand posts:
      -I really need to start writing some Tales of the Blue Knight again.  I'll do my best to get another entry posted by the end of the month.
      -Obviously, more reviews.  
      -More thoughts on Tunnels & Trolls.
      -Maybe some work on another class missing from Swords & Wizardry - the Illusionist (This may be tricky, and probably wouldn't hue too close to the original, but I'd want to keep the flavor intact)
     -Assuming my Bard submission for Knock Spell gets published, I have a few ideas for spells and bardic items that I'll add via the blog.  Or if it doesn't make the cut, the bard will appear here.
     -It's time for me to start work on the campaign I wish to run, probably via Fantasy Grounds 2 (although other VTTs are in the running).  The blog is where the details will get worked out.  The call for players will be on here too, but don't hold your breath.  I have lots of work to get to that point, and less free time to get there then I have been recently accustomed to.
     -Other assorted stuff as it occurs to me.  What a surprise ;)

Thanks for the company!

1000th Post Contest - Get Yourself Some Free Loot!

Yep, this is the mystical, magical 1000th post at the Tavern. Holy Crap!

In any case, I'm giving away some free loot.

Courtesy of OneBookShelf/RPGNow, 2 fine folk that add their comments to this post will each receive copies of (in PDF format) Dark Heresy: Inquisitor's Handbook and the Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn.

But wait! There's more! Add your comment now and you'll be entered for a chance to win a copy of Action Castle! or Resolute: The Splintered Realm. Here's how the second part works: for every ten people (or fraction thereof) that add a comment to this post I'll be adding two copies of Action Castle! and one copy of Resolute: The Splintered Realm to the pot. So, if 10 people add themselves to the comment thread - 2 copies of Action Castle! and one copy of Resolute: The Splintered Realm are up for grabs. 21 people add themselves to the comment thread, 6 copies of Action Castle! and 3 copies of Resolute: The Splintered Realm are in the pot!

I think I'll set the max at 20 and 10 copies respectively to give away, but that would require 91 different commenters to hit that number ;)

If you don't want to be considered for a certain item, say so in your comment.

I'll leave this open at least thru the end of the day on Friday, June 17, 2011.

I'll add hyperlinks and any pictures tonight when i get home from work.  (edit - or maybe tomorrow - I'm beat and ready from bed...zzzz)

Sneaking Up on a Thousand Posts

I never would have guessed if I hadn't seen it myself.  So, next post will list two freebies that I will be giving away to TWO lucky readers that add their comments to that post.  Yes, you need to be in it to win it.

So, what are the freebies gonna be?

Dunno, but I've got 20% off codes for:

Dark Heresy: Inquisitor's Handbook

and

Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn

use: HotJuneDrive2011 for either / or


hmmm... could that be a hint as to what is being given away tomorrow?     ;)

At What Point Do YOU Tap Out?

Sex.

Rape.

Torture.

Drug Use.

What is your "Tap Out" point in a RPG? As Padre stated in a comment to my earlier post, one can talk about rape and pillaging in a general sense without much response in most cases, but when it starts getting detailed - when it starts to become more "real" - many folks feel uncomfortable, and justifiably so.

With my old group, we hit that moment when they were torturing some humanoid to get the location of the rest of the clan. The PCs were trying to save a village, the orc (or whatnot) wouldn't talk, and they started cutting off his fingers one by one. It was all fine and dandy until the DM included the details of the torture, the blood, the screams - the shit became real, and we felt ill.

In RPGs, some details are best left behind the scenes. At least, that is my humble opinion.

Reaction From Outside the Blogosphere - LotFP's Weird Fantasy is "D&D Porn"

Yesterday, at the Gathering of Fools, one of the gaming items I brought to give away was the extra copy of LotFP's Weird Fantasy Rules & Magic book.  I got the extra copy as I preordered the Grindhouse Edition Boxed set.

The Tunnels & Trolls 7.5e Boxed set lasted mere seconds after hitting the table.  Damn, but that was grabbed fast.  Weird Fantasy was the second thing that grabbed attention.  The questions started with "Why is there a Pilgrim on the cover of a D&D book?" but quickly turned to "Holy shit dude!  Where did you get D&D porn?  And why?"

That was the reaction of my old gaming group to the full page art plates in Weird Fantasy.  Over the years, I've given out copies of C&C Player's Handbooks, Osric, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, Dark Dungeons and even had them fight it out as generic 1st level fighters for a copy of the Swords & Wizardry White Box.  The above is a main listing, I've given away other odds and ends.  One of my friends calls the collection that he has gained one of the coolest things he owns.

Never before has any one accused - maybe "accused" is too strong a term - let's say "voiced the opinion" that I brought over D&D Porn.

Heck, it's not that they were offended.  Mildly disturbed perhaps, but none of us are prudes.  Most of us are parents tho', and it never really occurred to me before that there might be products in my gaming collection that would be best stored out of the reach of children.  I've been too close to the whole blogging / insiders view of our hobby that I failed to see the forest for the trees.

Now, the nudity that was in the earlier Deluxe Edition of Weird Fantasy was more "artsy" then "porn" in my opinion, as I sit here and compare the two.  I think it is the erect penises and obvious sex act that puts the Grindhouse Edition over the edge.  Well, at least that's what got the initial reaction from the guys yesterday.  I found myself trying to defend the rules, not the art, but I shouldn't have had the need to do either.

In the end, it found itself a new home.  Wall Street Wizard should find a lot of cool gaming ideas held within that book.  He will need to keep it out of the reach of his curious young ones, which is a shame, as the book itself does not read of sex acts or anything else of the sort.  A picture says a thousand words, so perhaps James felt the less actually said, the better.  All i know is, if me and my fiancee decide to have children, I don't have all that much I will need to keep out of their hands, except the Weird Fantasy Grindhouse Edition Boxed Set, which is a shame.  It didn't need to be that way, and as written it is a good system to introduce new gamers to the hobby.  Just don't pass the rules on to any under the age of 18 ;)

Gathering of Fools - June 11, 2011 - Recap

Today was the Annual Gathering of Fools that my old gaming group does every year around this time.   We chose late May / early June so that we can remember the member of our circle that we lost on 9-11.  His birthday was in late May.  We miss ya Paul.  You are with us in spirit.

As for the Gathering itself, it was a blast as always.  We spent a good amount of time playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero on the Wii.  As I am the only member of our group that never learned how to play an instrument, I stuck with singing.  Belting out Rammstein's Du Hast was fun, but didn't leave me much vocal strength for a good Ramone's song.  Yes, I'm a Punk / Metal / Rock / Techno geek when it comes to my musical tastes.

Mexican food was on the menu for lunch - our host, Wall Street Wizard made an excellent choice.  Any more food and they would have had to carry me back to the car.

We watched Zombieland, which was much more enjoyable watching with a bunch of goofball friends then it was when I watched it on my own.  Heck, we usual watch Army of Darkness, and this hit many of the same sweet spots.

Movie time was followed by a game of Action Castle, a game that seeks to reproduce a Zork-like gaming atmosphere as a party / family game.  Once they got the hang of it, they had a blast.  It was Wall Street Wizard's idea for me to bring it along, so he was on a roll today ;)

Gave out some gaming loot to the guys.  Highlights were a copy of the Tunnel's & Trolls 7.5e boxed set (Davey grabbed that), and extra copy of LotFP Weird Fantasy Rulebook for the Grindhouse Edition (Wall Street Wizard), 2 copies of the T&T Corgi edition of the 5e rulebook, 1 T&T Corgi double solo, 2 Monsters! Monsters! reprints and some extra copies of the Sorcerer's Scroll that I picked up on Ebay.  Not a bad haul for the 4 of them to split.

Coming Off the DCC High

Now that I've had a chance to read thru most of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Beta RPG Release, I find it is neither as as great as I had hoped, nor as bad as I feared.

I still have issues with the 0-Level mob of starter characters, as it reminds me of the Paranoia (1st Ed) RPG's use of disposable clones. But, as I read later, there are rules for starting characters at level 1, or even higher (up to level 3). Clone-mob may be fun once or twice, but after that, the novelty (and the joke) will wear off.

I like the use of skills based upon previous (pre adventuring) training. We used something vaguely similar back when I ran AD&D 1e games.

Spells. I'd have to see this in play, although some high roll spell effects are great, they won't come into play much with certain spells, as the hight roll benefits will only benefit if you cast the spell assuming you'd get that benefit. Okay, that was confusing. In any case, some of the spell charts could default to one basic spell chart, which would lessen the need to constantly look crap up.

Criticals. Is it just me, or did others have a RoleMaster flashback? Personally, I've seen criticals do more harm then good, as sooner or later a crit is going to take PC out.

Dice. I have 'em. I foolishly ordered a set in the same color. The d24 and d20 look damn close, as do the d14, d16 and the d10s. Sigh.

I'll play a game or two of DCC (I better, I preordered), but I haven't fallen in love with it. It may be good for a one nite stand. Heck, it may even look better with beer goggles ;)

How to NOT Kill Things and STILL Take Their Stuff!

One aspect of roleplaying game that I feel is frequently overlooked in most rule books is the game outside the charts, tables, lists and rolls.  To some extent, 3e did us a disservice, as it went too far into defining a character, their abilities, feats, skills, etc.  It took much of the magic and imagination that the PC / Player shared and turned it into a multi-page character sheet.

A Basic D&D or even AD&D 1e character had depth beyond the sheet.  He HAD to, as there was so much left to be defined that wasn't covered by a rule or written on the sheet.  Heck, back then, you could have written your character on an index card with little problem - I know I did.

See, rules in our RPGs tend to be written to cover success and failure in events that can't be role played.  The thing is, with 3e (and even more so in 4e) events that were once role played were now played and decided with the roll of a die.

Still, there is an advantage to the mechanics, especially with the older systems - play them enough, the rules are learned to the point that they fall into the background - role play begins to trump roll play.

The OSR games that stick the closest to their sources seem to be the most successful at bringing out the "role play" in people, but I think that is more because our gaming muscles still remember the rules as we knew them.  Our gaming instincts are less distracted by rules.

From what I've read so far, it seems that Dungeon Crawl Classics, much like Hackmaster before it, adds too many complications to rules that most of us are already familiar with - to the point that gaming the rules will take precedence over ruling the game.

Or, to put it most simply - familiarity with the rules facilitates role play.  Learning and constantly referring to the rules (such as the numerous charts required for spell casting in DCC) will promote roll play.

When you know the rules you no longer need them (to take stuff from Things), when you don't know the rules you need them (to kill things and take their stuff)

X-Plorers Boxed Set Coming From Brave Halfling

I need to thank Ze Bulette for bringing to my attention Brave Halfling's latest release: X-Plorers Boxed Set.  I do love me some boxed RPG sets.  I'm already in for 2 sets - at $25 a piece it's a hard price to beat.

Maybe I'll finally have the SciFi RPG rules I want to use...

Dungeon Crawl Classics Beta - More First Impressions

Goodman Games must be enjoying the hell outa all the hype they are getting on the DCC Beta release. Personally, I LOVE the art. There, I've said it. No, I don't know of any High School friends that could have done better back in the day. Art can set the tone, and this art does.

Is DCC aimed at the RPG newbie? I doubt it. I think they would be both overwhelmed and not get many of the "Old School" references that the game includes. This seems to be more like a reinvisioned Hackmaster then anything else. Not that it's Hackmaster, but it seems to be aimed at a similar audience.

Race as class. Not my preferred method, but I can deal with it. My issue - from my reading of the previous professions table, the only way to have an Elf, Dwarf or Halfling is to have rolled it on the profession table (Dwarven armorer or Halfling gypsy and such). I don't like the idea of taking that much choice out of the players' hands.

Zero level characters. I ran them in AD&D once or twice (was it Under Ilfarn or something like that?) and while fun or novel as a change of pace, I'd hate to use it more then once. The novelty wears off fast, and how does a zero level peasant turn into a 1st level magic-user over nite? Doesn't make sense.

Zero level swarm parties. 15 zero level characters thru attrition become a 5 character 1st level party. Why are these untrained adventurers adventuring? Why, if 2 outa 3 are going to die, are they stepping into the unknown? This seems more like Paranoia then D&D. I might swallow it better if Goodman Games can supply the right backstory, but I doubt that is going to happen. Instead, it seems like a piss poor game mechanic. It really pushes my suspension of disbelief that is necessary to immerse myself in a RPG.

Wacky Dice. I'm mixed on this. I suspect when the Original D&D Boxed Set was released, folks were damn annoyed and confused by the "wacky dice". I've ordered my set of "wacky dice". I'm willing to give it a shot. The D7 that I found doesn't match any other dice in color or markings. What a PITA.

That's all for now. Back to the grindstone

Dungeon Crawl Classics Beta - Its All the Rage!

The frickin' thing is hotter then hot cakes!  Every blogger and their younger brother has something to say about the Dungeon Crawl Classics Beta that was released today - some good, some bad, some bad / good, some good / bad.  The simple fact is people are talking about it, more-so then any recent RPG release that I can recall.  Heck, I preordered sight unseen when it was first announced, and ordered my funky dice this past weekend.

I'm sure that  everyone is waiting with baited breath for my thoughts on it, but that will have to wait.  My initial impression, having virtually thumbed thru my digital copy is that the art rocks and the game definitely has multiple roots - Dungeons and Dragons, Tunnels & Trolls and Rolemaster immediately come to mind, but there might be more.

My thoughts come later ;)

WotC To Support Older Editions? It Will Cost a DDI Sub To Find Out

According to this thread on ENWorld, an article in the latest Dungeon Magazine (loose definition of magazine, but whatever) talks about adapting a 3E adventure, "The Lich Queen's Beloved" not just to 4E, but to AD&D 1E and 2E.

Much as I'd like to think this will be an ongoing theme, I doubt it.  I can't vouch for the article itself, as I have no intention of paying 10 bucks for the privilege of reading the single article I might be interested in.

Still, I find it interesting that they would even consider publishing an article dealing with anything other then the rule system they are currently publishing.  Would have made more sense to have this article available to non-paying subscribers, to bring those that might not normally check out the whole DDI thing to the WotC site.

Eh, time will tell.

In Case You Missed It: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Beta Available June 8th

I'm sure you've seen it announced already, but Goodman Games' DCC RPG Beta will be available for download at the Goodman Games website tomorrow.

I already ordered my set of funky dice.

Although I certainly don't NEED another set of Old School style RPG rules, I enjoy them none the less. Looking forward to reading them tomorrow ;)