Old School RPG Planet

June 19, 2013

The Land Of NodEnter the Geo-Metrons [New Monsters]

Inspired by Adventure Time
In the vast cosmos there are many weird entities to encounter and fight. These are three of them.

Hell-Sphere
Small Aberration, Chaotic (LE), Average Intelligence, Gang (1d3)

Hit Dice: 4
Armor Class: 17 [Silver]
Attack: 2 fire whips (10-ft. range; 1d4 + 1d6 fire)
Speed: Fly 30
Save: F15 R14 W11
XP: 400 (CL 5)

Hell-spheres look like ruby colored spheres about the size of a human head. While they look solid, they are in fact only semi-solid, bridging the material and ethereal planes. Hell-spheres move by flying, and can also levitate in place. They attack by extending semi-solid whips of fire from their surfaces, and are also capable of taking control of living creatures.

To control a creature, a hell-sphere must envelop that creature’s head. This is considered a grapple attack, which the hell-sphere makes at a +2 bonus to hit. Once it has enveloped a creature’s head, the target is allowed a Will saving throw to resist the sphere. If this save fails, the …

The Eye of Joyful Sitting Amongst FriendsS&W and Quasqueton

Here is a session report from the Tuesday Night Group. We returned to the Swords and Wizardry game that went on hiatus a few months back.

We have been delving into Quasqueton from B1 - In Search Of the Unknown (No, not the city in Iowa).

In our last adventure, we were hired by the heating guild of Senzar, a large city we were planning on wintering in. Apparently, they were having trouble with the steam duct network under the city. Upon investigation, we found the place riddled with kobolds and giant rats. After a harrowing adventure where, Mordecai, the hobbit thief, sacrificed himself for the good of the city, we stopped the steam plant from blowing itself and a good chuck of the nice part of town to bits.

We ended up leaving town, because there were some rat plague issues, caused when the steam tunnels were flooded during our expedition. We traveled in the caravan of merchant Septimus and his family (his wife and his lovely 20 year old daughter, Zoandrea, whom was going to Zhakar to …

Dungeon of SignsDifferent Kinds of Dungeons - Thoughts on MegaDungeons Part IV.

Another rambling installment in my thoughts about GMing Megadungeons.  The previous installments can be found here for reference - Part I, Part II, Part III. In this post I've tried to lay out my thoughts on alternatives to the classic exploration dungeon.

Lately I've been running HMS Apollyon again, starting with a new batch of characters and taking the lessons I learned from the last game, from running ASE and playing a fair amount in the last year and trying to apply them.

It says it's a dungeon at the bottom - so it's a dungeon!

THE SETTING OF THE MEGADUNGEON IS LIMITING

This may be obvious to a lot of people, but an inclusive 'whole world' dungeon like the Apollyon is limiting in that it eliminates the 'overland travel' aspect of the game.  One can't hex or point crawl very well inside a dungeon (though with a giant level, such as Pat Wetmore has suggested for ASE level 5, or the classic D&D underdark are quite possible) and the HMS APOLLYON with it's fixed dimensions (even if …

Tenkar's TavernFor Those That Say a G+ Hangout RPG Session Can't Equal Face to Face...

This past Saturday was our group's first session in three weeks, not counting a short Hangout with a handful to test the new DSL at my folk's place in the Poconos two weeks ago. We usually take 30 to 45 minutes to get settled, catch up, tell stories, bitch - all the usual stuff that goes on in a Face to Face game, except we aren't sharing snacks and farts.

This time we never even got to game - we literally hung out for 3 hours just talking and laughing our asses off.

It's been damn near 18 years since I had that happen to a game I was running, and that was with my old high school / college group.

Our online group has come together and bonded much like most good face to face groups. That is a thing of beauty to behold, even if it did frustrate me a bit a the DM. Then again, the whole point of gaming is to socialize and have fun IMHO, and we certainly did all of that, so I really can't complain...

Le Verre VioletUpdate !

Ces derniers temps, je n'ai pas de temps à consacrer à mon blog. Mais je reviendrais très prochainement avec je l'espère plein d'idées extravagantes !
Au plaisir.

***

Lately, I do not have enough time to devote to my blog. But I would return very soon !
See you, guys.

Telecanter's Receding RulesItem Generator

Here is my take on a tool to help DMs come up with items.  I'm assuming that qualities of the items would be handled by a separate chart.  And if the items are magical that would be a separate chart as well.  This is just meant to help you come up with a random thing.Drop two different colored d4 on it.  Choose one color to correspond to the figures and one to the triangle shaped categories.  Where the figure die lands on the silhouette indicates what it is related to.  So, a die on the hand has something to do with hands or fingers.  The other die will tell you what type of item it is.  If it is aesthetic, the item might be a ring.  If it is warfare, it might be a gauntlet.

A die that doesn't land on either figure can be read as items that aren't directly related to the bodies: furnishings, wall-coverings, urns, coffers, statues, etc.  A category die that falls off the page will still be in one of the category triangles, which stretch to the horizon.

Most of the categories are pretty …

HeroPress[RPG REVIEW] Hero Kids by Justin Halliday


As the cover states, Hero Kids is a "fantasy role-playing ame for kids aged four to 10", and it does exactly what it says on the tin.

The print edition, a compact little digest-sized book, is basically divided in two with the first 40 or so pages explaining the very straight-forward rules and the balance of the book being made up of single-page pre-made player-characters and monsters.

Although the rules are very simple, using only basic math, they are clearly intended to be read by the designated adult who has decided to introduce a group of youngsters to our hobby.

As well as the rules there are some brief pointers on issues to take into account on how running games with young kids are different from the normal 'adult' gaming environment. These are neither patronising nor preachy, just a sensible reminder that some things we take for granted in our games may not be appropriate for youngsters.

After a bit of scene-setting - giving the characters a base of operations and a reason to …

Semper Initiativus UnumCryptid Wednesday: the Chupacabra

In the interest of developing some Swords & Wizardry content, and following through on my desire to make up some cryptids, I'm hereby declaring Wednesday to be Cryptid Wednesday on this blog. We'll start with a modern classic.


Chupacabra

Hit Dice: 3
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d3), 1 bite (1d6)
Saving Throw: 14
Special: Suck blood, fear effect
Move: 18
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 5/240

Best known for killing livestock (particularly goats), a chupacabra is a reptilian humanoid with scaly grayish-green skin. Sharp spines run down its back. They stand 4' tall but can jump as far as 20' in a single powerful hop. The chupacabra is a hematophage, that is, a blood-eater; it latches on with powerful jaws and if the victim fails a saving throw will extract blood, doing 1d3 damage per round. If over half of a victim's blood is drained in this manner, there is a 25% chance that a vital organ is sucked out by the chupacabra, and the victim will die in 2d6 turns without magical …

CirsovaCarcossa

So, I finally got around to reading the infamous, notorious, legendary, hideously eeeeevil and scary grimoire of doom, death and blaspheme known as “Carcossa”.  And I’m left sort of scratching my head. Now, I’ll go ahead and say now that the version I’ve read is the original “Supplement V: Carcossa” white book for OD&D, and […]

The Nine and Thirty KingdomsUndead Level Advancement

Old Geezer posted a story on RPGNet about a vampire PC and his flying undead army encounter another band of vampires and spectres in the sky. The GM of this particular group had newly-minted vampire victims rise as skeletons and "progress" through the standard undead types. And, therefore, when one undead drained an undead opponent, the opponent "regressed" to a previous undead type. (See his post for the humorous consequences.)

Now, some people in that thread objected that this broke their expectations of the way a fantasy world should work. A zombie with rotting flesh shouldn't become incorporeal as it gains level, then become corporeal with intact flesh when it finally becomes a vampire! Honestly, if you're going to use an amusing rule like this, you shouldn't be griping about "realism". But, for their sake, here's an idea: separate "tracks" for corporeal and non-corporeal undead (and a possible third track for mummies.) Actually, skeletons are half a HD, in Monsters & Treasure, not …

The Other Side blogDo you Remember This?

Do you remember this ad?


Pretty much sums up popular culture's romance with S&S.

So how many of you cut that ad out of Playboy er Popular Science and taped it to a folder?
Better yet, who among you based a character on her.

ETA my contribution:


Made around 85 or 86.

@ Padre'sThe New Groups roll out

Greetings all,
       Over the last few week a number of people have rolled up some characters. I have the prospects of two groups forming for future gaming.

The Adult Group (Two guys from my former days of gaming, looking for one to two more)
       Unnamed Githyanki Fighter. One of the uber-races of the setting. They are fearsome fighters and always have some magical abilities or are often equally competent spell-casters.  The one balancing act for the mighty Gith is the potential to backfire while using spells. Their presence in a group also draws the attention of Mindflayers and other enemies they have made through the ages. While no longer an evil race, the Gith are far from friendly and suffer from extreme issues of anger and paranoia. They still maintain an undying hatred of Mindlfayers and care little for the undead or demons that populate the lands of the Blood Moon. Most of the other races that one might find adventuring they view with contempt or suspicion. The emergence of the god of …

The Gallery: Russ NicholsonSpace, Doctor Who game, Warhammer and other bits...

Shocking I realise but here is another June post. Must be the weather [grin].

This post will feature some space related bits, including some sketches made as possible 'ideas' and as I found some 'original' drawings a bit about my involvement in the Doctor Who: The Game of Time & And Space.

So let's start there, in truth my memory is sparse but I was approached by Games Workshop around 1979 to do some counter designs for their new board game Doctor Who: The Game of Time & And Space. I had recently [I cannot remember which came first] produced some black and white playing card designs for another of their early board games called Warlock, which I will cover during another post. I was credited for the work I did for the Warlock game, but not on the Doctor Who game.

The original samples I've found, which I will post below, along with some scans I found of the counters from the game, were small. This was because as the final pieces were to be small, it was important to hold image without …

CirsovaArt – Landing Place in a Small Harbor at Rhodes

Dorkland!X-Files Season 10 - First Issue

There is a new X-Files comic hitting the news stands and comic shops today. Is it worth picking up? One of my personal criteria for adapted/tie-in media (whether comics or novels) is the (sometimes) simple question: Is this something more than just fanfiction? That question can be deceptively difficult to answer sometimes. I find with media tie-in stuff you often have to keep in the

Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger ThingsWarhammer (40K) Wednesday: Blood Cross Termies, Reclusiarch Stephanus Corrino, and the ETL Challenge

More Warhammer 40K this week. Over at Bolter & Chainsword, they're running the second annual E Tenebrae Lux challenge (ETL II for short).  That's Latin, gentle reader,s and means "Light from Darkness." Essentially it's a contest between Forum factions: Blood Angels, Black Templars, etc: whatever chapter has a Codex. Codex: Space Marines is subdivided into Ultramarines, Codex (Canon) Marines,  and DIY Chapters; they still count as a one group, however, since they all utilize C:SM. 
 
The challenge is simple enough. Participants vow for their faction x points worth of models to assemble and paint, to at least "tabletop ready" level. Points are determined as WYSIWYG. The participant has until 15 AUG to complete his vow. If he finishes before 15 AUG, he can vow up to 4 more times. However, if one fails to complete a subsequent vow, all previous completions DO NOT COUNT. Anyone who fails has to wear a "badge of shame" in their signature block until the end of the year. The faction that …

Lost in TimeGuinea pig, AC 6

I needed a chuckle today and this did the trick.

Tenkar's TavernFace to Face or Online - Which is Your Preferred Method of Playing Your RPGs?

There is a certain intimacy that in Face to Face gaming that you don't get with most Online / Hangout / VTT sessions. It's also easier to see if your players are distracted or fading.

Online offers a much larger pool of players for your group. Our current group consists of players ranging from the east coast of North America to the west coast, from Florida to Canada and in between.  Kinda impossible to pull that off Face to Face.

Running sessions online also cuts down on time lost to commuting to the game site. Oh, and you only have to clean up after yourself ;)

Both methods have pros and cons, and in the ideal situation I think I'd prefer face to face. That being said, my ideal gaming group spans 3 times zones and two countries, so I'll take the ideal group over the ideal method in this case :)

Face to Face or Online? Which is it for you?

Hill CantonsAttention By This Axe PDF Purchasers

One of those “how did I get this far into the party with spinach stuck in my teeth with no one telling me” moments. The full-color Bilibin cover for By This Axe that I had intended for both the print and PDF versions hasn't been showing up in merged in the PDF version (though it does appear on my publisher preview).

Since it was my intention to provide said cover, if you have purchased a copy of the PDF before today (the new revised version online now should have a cover merged in) drop me an email at kutalik at the gmail dot com with your Lulu receipt (you can excise info if that doesn't make you comfortable) and I will send you a copy of the new file AND automatically email you a copy of the two free supplements when they come out.

Mea culpa.


Aeons & AugauriesParrying on MOG

In my MOG campaign we use a parrying rule as opposed to a fixed AC bonus.
-----------------------------------
Parrying
High DEX does not constantly improve AC, a combatant may choose to parry/dodge to gain a benefit
of high dexterity but in doing so they loose access to their normal attacks in a round.
Missile weapons may be parried at any range if bearing a shield.
You may only dodge range attacks made from long range or dodge any attack if you have partial cover.
DEX
3...... parry +1 to AC
4-6.... parry +2 to AC
7-14...parry +3 to AC
15-17...parry +4 to AC
18-20...parry +5 to AC
21+.... parry +6 to AC
-----------------------------------

I opted against including a modifier to parrying based on initiative or weapon speed factors in interest of simplicity. I'm providing an advantage based on player tactics not a one time lucky roll of the dice alone. Each round a player must wonder... is it worth parrying now and losing my next set of normal attacks?

Not a brand new rule, it has it's …

Tower of the ArchmageGet Torchlight for Free!

Torchlight is a diablo-like game, made by some of the same people who made Diablo, and until Thursday 12:59pm GMT you can get it for free!


Now, I'd heard about it before, but never checked it out. No time, really. However, last night I got to see it in action, and if you liked Diablo, you'll like this. It does what the diablo games did so well, letting you run around and kill stuff, smash things, and have a good time without having to worry about much of a storyline.


It also avoids all sorts of unnecessary choices for a game like this. You get to pick one of 3 characters, and one of 3 animal companions that have some interesting options of their own. No picking hair color, or skin tone, or even what sex you are. Pick a class and play!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/4/

Then you go, kill stuff, get XP, better items, and kill more stuff.


It is, in some ways, very old school. And yes, it's a little more cartoony than Diablo, but does it matter in play? Nope. Not a bit.


So go!

The Eye of Joyful Sitting Amongst FriendsAfter Vacation: The Majestic Wilderlands

Now that was a vacation. The annual family car trip to Maryland for a week of cabin camping with a ton of friends was a big success this year. I really got a chance to relax, drink, eat, talk, drink. I spent one rainy day drawing maps and writing RPG-related stuff. The rest of the vacation was a break even from that, which I've been rather obsessed with lately.

I bought The Majestic Wilderlands by Rob Conley in softcover, and it arrived before I left. I almost took it with me, but decided not to risk it with the near certainty of rain and a 24-hour car trip on each end. Now I'm back and already digging into the book.

This book is a perfect example of how to build a campaign book. I'm not very far in, but I'm already impressed with the character classes. You can choose to be a generic fighter, cleric, or magic user, or you can pick a more specialized subclass. For fighters, there are Berserkers, Knights, Soldiers, Paladins of Mitra, and Myrmidons of Set, each having a different focus …

Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg BlogHartford Betamax Black Book Edition Stars Without Number Campaign Influence- Orbital Phasic Crystalline Vibration Mining Devices




Introduction 

Orbital Phasic Crystalline Vibration Mining Devices are grown and manufactured with love and care according to the teachings of the Varda. Each on of these incredible technological/organic devices can be placed in orbit. It uses the principles of sonic vibrational aptitude to create gentle waves of harmonic force that can be used to mine and stroke the fault lines of planets allowing the mineral wealth of worlds to be exploited for the benefit of all. 

Manufacture of Orbital Phasic Crystalline Vibration Mining Devices


The Akira have been growing these devices for thousands of years and each one is hand crafted to exact specifications and tolerances. These devices are controlled by very sensitive "organic syn" control boards allowing one to direct the massive sonic energies of the "Phasic Crystaline" arrays to precise locations. 
Akiraian technicians create these devices and their attendance crystalline orbital devices with the utmost care. These devices should run for over …

Lord Archaon's GrimoireMy latest #dndnext #Ravnica character: a Noble Gruul Ranger!


My moments of boredom very often result in new characters, and Ravnica is still all the rage as far as character themes go, here where I'm sitting!

My latest idea tries to "fix" the Ranger, considered by most players the weakest class in the current playtest packet.

While I'm at it, I also try to create an interesting character, using my custom "guild powers", and this time it's Gruul's turn.

The Gruul Mechanic.

I chose to give Gruul a somewhat direct "conversion" of their actual mechanic, in the form of a wild sure-critical charge which triggers an also sure-critical OA. So you deal high damage but risk a lot for doing so.

The current critical hit rules in Next are hopelessly underwhelming too, adding just one die of damage, so weapon selection becomes critical.

By the way, if wanting to maintain the custom "Guild Initiate" feat (which grants the guild "channel divinity" effect to non-Clerics) balanced with the equivalent feat (Magical Rejuvination), the power will be usable only …

Wrathofzombies BlogAnother Awesome D100 Encounter Table! This Time With a Theme: Swamp!

Last week I posted a d100 encounter table created through the collaborative efforts of several people in the Google + RPG community. Just like last time some have double entries (due to people posting at the same time).  If that’s the case, just choose the one you like. There is some real gold in this encounter […]

The Tao of D&DQuery Regarding Crazy Notions

I am beginning to worry my regular participants in the online campaign with all this nonsense ... since they now are beginning to feel I might change my mind and not run, preferring to play around with this.

Nothing has changed.  I will start the online campaign again.  I'm never quite sure how much of my time it will take, or what's practical, and the situation has changed for at least one of the players, so things will have to be taken a step at a time - but what the hell, we've been playing since 2009 and a lot of ground HAS been covered, given the fact that the whole thing is in text.  Most campaigns, I think, don't last as long or have this kind of continuity.  However slow or fast we're able to move, I'm sure we'll make progress and I'm sure the party will feel engaged.

Now, this other thing, this suggestion yesterday.  I think it goes without saying that any DM is a megalomaniac in some regard; that we tend to conceive of weird, wild, woolly things to try, and that in the …

Greyhawk GrognardVin Diesel on D&D and Riddick

I make these movies […] because somebody's paying attention. That's my motto about Hollywood and films, continuing these franchises. There's two lines of thought in Hollywood, one is the audience doesn't give a fuck — excuse me, it's late, I'm in Riddick mode, you're lucky I'm not killing you guys […] Then there's that world-builder, that D&D player that's really meticulous that believes the audience does care and can draw the similarity between Riddick's headdress and the headdress worn by Linus Roache [in Chronicles of Riddick] who reveals in one moment that he is a Furyan that went the wrong path. It's very subtle, but just the fact that you mention it means that it was worth the week-long dialogue about the construction of one little piece of [armor] […]
I haven't board-gamed in a while, and I have people that are asking me to board game. I have a buddy who wrote a beautiful Gary Gygax script. [Dungeons & Dragons creator] Gary Gygax's wife wants me to play him. [laughs] …

Dispatches From KickassistanMore Iron Coast

In yesterday's post, I left a few things without being fleshed out. This wasn't because I haven't given them enough thought yet, but rather because I wanted to hit the major players of the Iron Coast so I could actually finish the post. If I had delved into every bit of minutia, I'd still be writing that post! Anyway, here's what yesterday's post was missing about the Iron Coast:


More Places

The Orphan Baronies

During the last wave of colonization on the Iron Coast, many nations of Men sent forth representatives to claim some small portion of the land for their parent nation. While the rich soil and fertile fields of the Coast would have gladly supported all comers, Man's propensity to make war upon his brother caused most of these petty baronial colonies to fail or, at most, barely eke out an existence. Plagued by war with each other, nearby Iskurland and Orroztalan (and even the County of Tengh on occasion), the Orphan Baronies exemplify the constant warfare of the Iron Coast perhaps …

Ten Foot PolemicSo I Ran Death Love Doom

So I ran Death Love Doom.

Some choice quotes from my players:
  • "I'd like to buy 5 rumours please!"
  • "Uh guys I think we found where the horse's head went."
  • "Oh there's a picture of her? Ew gross."
  • "Sure whatever I'll go in first fuck it."
  • "Am I the only one who's going to stab this fucking baby!?!"
  • "Oh great something's moving in there. I wonder what's wrong with its vagina this time."
  • "Dude fuck you I've gone into all the rooms first it's your turn."
  • "What the fuck man. Did you pay actual money for this? Who the fuck wrote this."
  • "I told you we should have fucking left as soon as we saw that shit with the baby."
  • "Don't you dare fucking touch that fucking necklace."


All in all, a good time!

I've always thought that James Raggi's "Way too fucking dark man your players will flip shit gonna slap an 18+ on here" stuff is way more playable and far less your-players-will-never-play-in-your-game-again than he gives himself credit for.

But then, this one's a it different.
 I first read this on …

Venger's old school gaming blogModules wanted!


I just read an article / blog post / skyscraper-elevator-pitch for yet another OSR roleplaying game.  Now is the age of power, darkness, sword and sorcery... of fantasy heartbreakers and option overload.  We have almost too many choices out there.  To name but a few...

Dungeon Crawl Classics, Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, Monsters & Magic, Castles & Crusades, Microlite74, Adventures Dark & Deep, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyborea, Basic Fantasy Roleplaying, OSRIC, Dungeon World, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, etc.  Believe me, I could've gone on and on.

Suffice it to say that DMs and players have a plethora of RPGs to explore.  What sets these apart?  Why play one over the other?  I'm not going to get into that here and now.  Perhaps that's a blog post for another time.  This little piece is about something else...

What does each and every OSR RPG mentioned above need?  Great adventures!  Sure, a talented DM could write his own, week after week, campaign after …

d20 Dark AgesVPA-7: Gaming, Alcohol, and why they don't mix well

You're probably either thinking: "duh" or "what? a beer or two at the table is no big deal."

And I agree with both assertions.


I'm a fairly sober person, really. I drink once and a while, usually for special occasions. Gaming isn't one of them. When you drink, drink. When you game, game. Don't mix the two. Why? I've got three reasons.

First, I'd like to break the drunken depressed writer stereotype (Yeah, I know, good luck with that). I ruminate enough as it is. I don't want alcohol to release my inhibitions to speak about religion, philosophy, politics, and "life" at the gaming table. 

Second, I'd like to prevent that stereotype from being added to the gamer stereotypes already out there. That is, the "nerdy anti-social satanic overweight smelly gamer" stereotype doesn't need "drunken" and "depressed" added it to it.

Third, in the handul of times drinking and gaming went together, the drinking eventually took precedence--even if there was no alcohol being served. Sure, I've got a few …

Carto CacographyMonsters in Real Life

This flickr site proves that the real world can be just as scary as anything made up in fantasy.

The Nine and Thirty KingdomsTangling Attacks

Obviously, we can select specific aspects of the whip as a model for a couple other unusual weapons.

Lasso/Lariat: Basically, a thrown weapon that "returns" to the lasso user. Has a longer range than a whip (50 feet is a good average.) The initial attack does no damage, but is a long-range grapple: targeting the entire body of a human(oid) allows a "bear hug", targeting an arm can partially immobilize it, targeting the neck allows choking. Targeting both legs (actually, targeting the body and allowing the loop to drop to leg level) allows a takedown; if the roper is on a horse or other mount, the victim can be dragged, doing 1 point of damage per round if the mount's Move is higher than the victim's Con.

Net: Can be thrown or used to tangle on successful attack roll. Tangling just one limb is possible, but only useful as an attempt to disarm or trip. Tangling the victim's entire body slows the victim until the net is removed, but on a 5+ (1d6) the victim is immobilized and unable to …

HeroPressShiver Me Timbers! It's Prop Making Time...


I've chronicled a number of my attempts to make role-playing game props over the years, but the wonderful Propnomicon site has directed me to a natty little step-by-step guide by Janet at It's A Little Like Magic on "how to make a pirate map".

The tutorial comes in two posts: part one and part two.

I shall definitely take this more methodical approach the next time I embark on a bit of map-making.

Servitor LudiAlpha-Bytes: "Sound it out!"

More fun with alphabets can be found by recognizing that English spelling is quite messed up.  Even going back before there even was English, people have been trying to come up with more logical approaches to written orthography.  Last year, I talked about the Roman Emperor Claudius and his suggestions for some new letters.  Those letters didn't survive much past the end of his reign, but the impulse to muck with the status quo has never died out.

Pretty much since the dawn of modern English in the 1500s, there's been a steady stream of advocacy for English spelling reform, some of which was successful (it is a sinne to ghossip), some of which wasn't (I hav to gard the iland).  But for every dozen or so spelling reformers, there were one or two oddballs who suggested that the real solution is to change the alphabet.  Ben Franklin was a proud member of this cabal, too.  I think his suggested letters and ligatures are particularly pretty...


George Bernard Shaw had his own phonetic …

Tomb of TedankhamenEngland Abandoned - A 28 Days Later style system-free zombie adventure

Man, have I been busy! Since last I posted work, the PhD, job hunting and having a son (HOORAH!) really swamped me. Since I haven't been able to post on topics I had planned, I thought I'd dig through the vaults and offer up a 28 Days Later style infected adventure I wrote for a con awhile back (which I also missed due to being swamped by life!!).

The scenario is largely  system free, and ZMs can extrapolate stats and rules as they see fit. I originally intended to use AFMBE, but Kreg Mosier's 'The Dead' or 'Zombi' are both freely available on the web and would do in a pinch. It is written for me, so read through once and prepare your mental territory before running it. Sadly, there are no maps, but just scribble up some or spend some good time with Google maps.

If you like the adventure or (Zod forbid) actually run it, drop us a line!





England Abandoned          infected apocalypse scenario             Rated Mature.

BLURB

ENGLAND ABANDONED
England lays in ruins, overrun by psychoticinfected, …

Barbarians of ProvoCrypts and Things Session 3: The Temple of the Bull God and Free RPG Day

Tales of the past tell of a mysterious warrior cult that worshipped the Bull God.  Supposedly the warriors would meet in a hidden temple, high in the mountains to conduct their ceremonies and rituals.  They held a number of holy relics but chief among them was the Horn of the Bull God.  With time, the cult eventually died out and the temple was forgotten but the tales of the horn persisted and occasionally, someone would be brave enough to try to find it.  Among them was the wizard Zheng-Ya.  Commissioned by the slaver Aetius, Zheng-Ya put together an expedition into the mountains in search of the temple and the horn.  That was over two months ago and he had not returned.  Aetius turned to the group of adventurers that had taken up residence in Zheng-Ya’s abandoned mansion.  With the purchase of a wagon full of provisions and gear and the addition of two more men at arms, Zardoz, Motard and Ludaius began their mission to find out what happened to the missing wizard Zheng-Ya and, …

What a horrible night to have a curse...TSR's OA Adventure Modules

My Chanbara rules are in a playable form.  Not polished, far from being released (and I still need to finish the setting chapter).  But the rules are down.  I've got all of my work for grad school done for the semester.  Time to round up some players for a play test or five.

I'm looking at the old Oriental Adventures modules by TSR.  Most of them have a primarily Japanese theme.  I could just switch the setting to The Jade Islands (Yu Archipelago to the NE of Zhongyang Dalu), or even use Kara-Tur as the setting and just update mechanics when necessary.  It would save me considerable time and effort.

But are they worth playing?  Anyone out there have any experience with them as either a DM or a player?  A brief look through them shows they're almost all for the AD&D sweet spot of levels 5-8, if they even bother to give a level range.  Not the best for a play test, as I'd want to try out all levels of play in a short time if I can.  But if I can modify for setting and new mechanics, I'm …

B/X BlackrazorWar Games


I’m sure I’ve previously mentioned my interest and fascination with war and most things military in general...this despite being a real world anti-war conscientious objector type. I know…it’s a weird dichotomy that some might even perceive as hypocritical. I don’t. I can distinguish between doing violence to others in real life (“bad”) versus historically (“bad” but not much we can do except try to learn from our mistakes) versus in fiction and gaming (“good” and “fun” so long as it doesn’t carry over into real life).

Just to reiterate (from past posts): I don’t think humans are naturally violent, conflict-driven individuals. Sorry, I don’t. I know it can appear that way if one simply looks at the breadth of human history with a superficial eye (based on the murder and atrocity we’ve committed on each other over the years). But to write it off as “human nature” is ignoring the reasons behind the trends and trivializing the lives and choices of individual humans (you can reduce folks to …

Carjacked SeraphimReaper Bones - Ghostly Summons - PAINTED!

On Saturday, I went out to Bad Moons Gaming in Apache Junction, AZ for Free RPG Day.  I got some swag -- the Swords and Wizardry module "Hall of Bones" and the LotFP offering, "Better Than Any Man."

At first glance, both are excellent (in their own way.)  More on them later.

To support Bad Moons, I made a couple purchases.  I bought the Pathfinder Battles - Champions of Evil box.  Good stuff.  Reasonably priced.

And I bought one Bones mini - Ghostly Summons.

I have the Vampire box (and more) coming, but I wanted to try and paint one of these translucent minis.  The results are below.

In order to paint the clear parts of the mini and leave them translucent, I needed to paint that part of the mini with matte base.  It dries clear and it gives the wash something to stick to.  Without it, the wash just puddled up in dots on the plastic.

I'm no champion painter, but I think this turned out pretty good.



The Iron TavernParanoia at Origins

It is odd that such a niche game could become so popular and well known.  Comedy RPGs are very tough to do right.  Most games have comedy in them but that is not the focus of the game like Paranoia.  … Continue reading

MF WARSTerrainaholic's 2,000 Bricks

There are new videos on the Terrainaholic YouTube channel featuring 2,000 bricks and a plan for putting together a Lizardman WH setup.  Enjoy!

Creative Mountain GamesTor.com Appendix N Read-Along and Contest

Over on Tor.com, they have put together a Read-Along group covering the storied Appendix N from Gary Gygax's 1E AD&D DMG and included a contest to win one of five sets of dice.  Read more here!


MONDBUCHSTABENScheckkarten-Würfel

Die spinnen, die Japaner… Ein Beitrag auf Ubihex über den “Dial-Dice”-Kickstarter hat mich an etwas erinnert, was ich fast vergessen hatte. Als ich vor 6 Jahren in Tokio war (eine postitive Begleiterscheinung meines Jobs in der Manga- und Anime-Branche), habe … Weiterlesen

Realms of ChirakRift and the F2P Experience....A Veteran's Opening Perspective



Rift officially went free to play on June 12th. I've been playing less and less of Rift in recent months, due largely to limited time, which is always going to favor "games that are fun" over "games that are making me grind." I have a low tolerance for slow progression, and Storm Legion, unfortunately, was laboriously slow. Despite buying into a year long sub at a good discount, I barely made it to level 51 on my warrior before my "I care" quotient was overhwhelmed by my "what the hell is this dragging on so long for?!?!" sense.

Still, I like Rift, and have dropped in periodically to keep up, albeit slowly. Hoping, of course, that sooner or later they would make the XP gain at high levels somewhat quicker, to accomodate more than just those mad, mad players who live and breathe MMOs and disdain the casuals like me.

Well, the new F2P model seems to have done just that: it has provided XP bonuses and potions to "patron accounts," which is a fancy new name for what a monthly subscriber …

Hack & SlashOn the Ecology of the Minotaur

"What lairs in a maze is good hunting" - General Zaroff

Nomenclature: Minotaur, Tarus, Taurian, Bull-man, Brutal Beast

Description: Taurine humanoid, with the head of a bull

Things that are known:

  • They are fond of mazes
  • They are terrifically strong


Rumors and other whispers in the dark:
  • It is very important that the labyrinth the minotaurs inhabit contain no furniture. They must be bare of decoration
  • They are actually terrible at mazes. If they were any good, they'd all be living in sunny little villages retiring ,eh? No minotaur has ever escaped from a maze and they are all a bit sore about it
  • They fight and slay all intruders, because they are endlessly seeking someone worthy to end their eternal vigil over the infinite labyrinth
  • Any mortal that isolates themselves over a long enough period will slowly change and shift into the form of a minotaur. Dwarves who do so turn into particularly powerful monsters, larger and more powerful than the default beast
  • It isn't only isolation that …

Roles, Rules, and RollsBlog Shout Out: Spells and Steel

A recent exchange running through a couple of other blogs I follow led me to check out the back catalog of Spells and Steel, a blog focusing on developing a version of Basic D&D that's informed by facts and experience with medieval combat.

What I like about Charles Taylor's approach: he's intent on keeping the simplicity of Basic D&D throughout, resulting in a very boiled-down system that still relies mainly on d20 hit, d6 damage logic. So, multiple opponents are tough, trained fighters have a huge advantage in ability versus civilians, skill and not hit points helps heroes survive, etc.  Although my house-rules don't kill nearly the same amount of sacred cows, I do appreciate the impulse to consult reality instead of received "game" logic.

One observation of his that I want to put into my own rules: outside of the movies, combat with weapons actually takes place at about a 10' distance heel to heel, with combatants stepping in to attack. So a zone of attack should look more like the …

From the Sorcerer's SkullWarlord Wednesday: Vengeful Legacies

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Vengeful Legacies"
Warlord #131 (September 1988)
Written by Michael Fleisher; Art by Jan Duursema

Synopsis: Maddox and Morgan are having a drink in Xur-Chemosh, reminiscing about old times. That is until Maddox reveals he was the one flying the MiG that Morgan shot down just before ending up in Skartaris. Morgan is drugged by the wine and when he wakes up he’s in a dungeon. Maddox plans to make him pay for those years he spent in the gulag.

Meanwhile, Aoife wakes up on the beach. She’s captured by soldiers and brought to the palace before Maddox and Mariah. Maddox is interested in her jeweled headband and wants to take it. Aoife realizes Maddox is evil and tries to attack him. He has her taken away. He backhands Mariah when she tries to intervene, then apologizes in typical abuser fashion.

Mariah asks about Morgan. …

Wrathofzombies BlogHubris Occupation List for DCC Redone

A bit a go Jez over at Giblet Blizzard wrote a post about the DCC funnel and how the different races didn’t fit into the philosophy that well.  His post is awesome and worth a read. For me I find that it is the case that there is too high a chance to get a […]

Roles, Rules, and RollsNew 52 Pages Download and To Do List

Well, now that the 52 Pages system is a fully playable document I'm making the new pdf available for download, on the right. Still, the pdf is not complete. Here is my "to do" list for changes:
* There are 4 pages still to create, dedicated to adventure examples and GM/player advice.
* I want to rework the Prophet class so they operate by spells like the others (more on that soon)
* Do something different with starting equipment so a whole page of equipment cards is not required. Most likely, a starting party will get a standard shopping basket of equipment, and new members will get a pick or random roll of X pieces from the list.
* Reduce the character sheet to one vertical page. Perhaps include it at the back, outside the 52 page count, and add a character creation walkthrough of the kind that got me props back in the day.
* Other player aids: spell lists, GM's log
* Air out the combat section, make it less dense, with an extra page.
* There have been some problems interpreting the …

HeroPressTop Ten Movie Monsters...

Jeffro's Space Gaming BlogOn the Table: The Awful Green Things from Outer Space

This week, my wife expressed a lot of interest in The Awful Green Things From Outer Space. The non-occult theme and cartoonish violence meant that it didn’t trigger any negative reactions from her. That, and the kids have had their noses in books almost constantly due to library sponsored summer reading programs. Thanks to that, I […]

The Other Side blogWhite Dwarf Wednesday #69

White Dwarf for September 1985 takes us to the end of the 60s with issue #69.  This one is going to be interesting to try to do because my copy is falling apart.  In fact I have it in a bag to hold it all together. When I started this I wanted to see if I could find a new copy and then forgot about it till just recently.   I am not even using my own scanned image of the cover. It is in too bad of shape. The cover is an interesting one. It looks like it could be the demon Graz'zt.  Or someone similar. The artist is Mark Bromley.

Ian Livingstone discusses Games Day.  Here in reality Origins just completed. I had heard from friends that it  was great fun but really small this year.

We start of with an article on Golden Heroes.  Man, I really should dig this game up sometime.

Part 2 of Beneath the Waves is next.  I am missing page 1 of this.  I think it was due to the fact that we were gearing up an ocean based game.  But I could be wrong, 85 sounds too early for that.

Open Box has some …

Save Vs. DragonNew Oe/1e/BX Monster: Mind Hunter

This week's new monster comes at the request of Art Braun who commented on my June 3 post, "The Mind Hunter and Red Ether sound interesting." My apologies to Art for not publishing this last week as promised, but client demands and an unnamed personal project sidetracked my blogging schedule last week.

Before we dig into this week's new monster, I have to admit the headline is a bit misleading. It's really more of a Oe/1e monster, since it possesses psionic abilities. That means it's not so BX-friendly (though I have thoughts for a BX psionic rule-set, but don't see finishing it up for at least a year). You could strip the psionics away and still have a pretty nasty monster, though. The image was inspired by an old public domain comic book cover (Strange-something-or-other, I can't recall exactly; it's been a while since I drew this).

MIND HUNTER


DESCRIPTION
Mind hunters are spectral beings from the lower planes of hell that roam the prime material plane in search of sustenance in the …

Aeons & AugauriesInitiative and Weapon-Speeds

In my MOG campaign I'm using initiative and weapons speeds to differentiate weapons. Bigger heavier hitting weapons have less beneficial Weapon Speed Factors.

The house rules for initiative as it relates to the Weapon Speed Factor
Each round a d12 is rolled bu one of the players and modified by the character sheet at the top of their roster at the moment (fighting alongside clumsy folks is dangerous).
If the initiative score is under the WSF of the weapon in hand for the round wielded by a PC they are -4 to attack with that weapon. If drawing a weapon during a round the entire WSF is applied as a penalty (if worse then -4).

It's fairly simple and so far it has worked pretty well.

Trollish DelverOpen discussion: if you could choose any film to remake, what would it be?


The recent decade has seen a slew of remakes, from god awful to mildly disappointing. But if there were any remake you would want to see, what would it be?

Answers in the comments.

HeroPressWonder Woman Wednesday...

submitted by Al Bruno III
This is Kimberly Kane, adult movie actress, as featured in the io9 article on the Best Wonder Woman Outfit.

The Weirdlands of XhuulOkay, Lets Try This Again...

Pertaining to my last post where I basically </RAGEQUIT> GM-ing my Pathfinder game, the problem stemmed from a player who can be difficult to please apparently.  At the start of the campaign, I stated that I would only run the game if  I could do so in a more Old School style.  As soon as I laid down a list of house-rules, this player began his nit-picking away at them.  Instead of just going with the flow and seeing how it would play out first, he was already doing his Mr. Spock analysis to figure how this or that rule wouldn't be to his advantage.  I conceded from random ability rolls and adding back Attacks of Oppurtunity.  But that didn't seem to be enough.  One of the other conditions was that I would be using Slow XP Advancement.  After the game we played the other night he whined like a baby that they didn't level and it had already been 7 game sessions (they were about 50XP away from it and his assumption was incorrect).  To be fair I did start them off at 2nd Level.  That bit …

Rather GameyRecovery

Okay, life lesson time.  If you enjoy drawing - don't fuck up your hand by drawing.  Pace yourself and hold your god-damn pencil right.

So, my hand has been slowly recovering - and I've been doing exercises and working back some strength to it.  I get these odd aches in places that were not originally hurt.  I figure it's shifting muscles and stuff around.  Knitting.  Whatnot.

I've also been trying to do things with an economy of movement.  Where I might have once used like a billion scratches to evolve a line - I'm now saying FUCK IT and going with whatever falls on the paper - for the most part.  This method is  spitting out sketches that look a bit different that previous drawing.  I see more unintentional exaggeration - some of the stuff that I've been trying to do on purpose that I was failing at.  If I'm not trying to do it - it seems to just plop out there.  Odd - but I shoulda figured.

So here is a pilot lady.  Okay, I think she was cosplaying a pilot.  Dunno.  I was scared to …

What Do I Know?Iron Man 3 and Me--Spoilers Ho!

I'm gonna spoil stuff, so if you haven't seen Iron Man 3 yet and wish to be surprised or to have an unbiased, unadulterated view of the film without my words influencing you  (as if they should), get ye away from the blog now.



Are you gone?

Okay, it's safe to talk to myself then.

Going into this I was pretty sure I wasn't too happy with two things I detected in interviews with Shane Black.  The first was a kind of old school 80s and 90s disdain for trying to seriously adapt comics to the big screen, because clearly that can't be done well.  The second thing that kept surfacing was a sort of not all that well hidden Christopher Nolan envy when discussing how the movie was going to play out.



Before I delve back into Iron Man, can I point out something about Nolan's Batman movies?  Batman has been around twice as long as Iron Man, has had old movie serials, a television series, a ton of cartoons, and a previous set of movies dedicated to him, before Nolan came along.  Nolan's grounded, …

Tales of the Grotesque and DungeonesqueDeadlands: Ghost Towns Random Town Generator


I got a copy of Deadlands: Ghost Towns in the mail last week. In the back it has a random town generator that uses a deck of cards. Let's see how it goes:

Basic info: 8 of hearts = Medium town, a settlement created to make a profit.

Population's outlook: King of spades = Overly, creepily friendly populace at war internally with a powerful figure.

The Weird: Ace of hearts = Someone accidentally unleashed unspeakable evil; the town is accursed now.

Extra color: A mad scientist seeks funding for her research. A casino with a secret room that allows you to hear anything said in the gambling parlor.

Distinguishing mark: someone in the town is famous.

Plot hook: Investigation--players have to piece together what is going on in the town.

Okay, let's put this all together: Vulture's Chapel is a small frontier town that grew up around a trading post where Indians and settlers did commerce. All was well until Quick Thomas Cardew (a famous gunfighter) arrived, looking to buy land from the …

Tenkar's TavernThoughts on a "Mad Libs" Style Mini Dungeon

Sometimes thoughts come from out of the blue and trip you up bad - they derail your ability to think of anything else.

This is one of those times.

As I sit here thinking about some regular sections and such for the Unofficial OSR Zine, the idea of a "Mad Libs" styled Mini Dungeon came to mind. Instead of using nouns, verbs and the like, it would be things like "choose humanoid", "choose mindless undead" and "giant _____" in the room encounters. Could even work out a system for traps too.

Maybe it's silly, but no two dungeons would run the same. Besides, silly can be fun too.

If you have no idea what Mad Libs are, Wikipedia defines it as:
Mad Libs (from ad lib, a spontaneous improvisation) is a phrasal template word game where one player prompts another for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story. The game is frequently played as a party game or as a pastime.
Maybe under the title "Spontaneous Dungeons".

Or maybe i just need some sleep ;)

 

Elfmaids & OctopiGamelog: In the Barron's Dungeons



Well the party went to the city gates and got in line. Declared no artifacts, mutants, plague carriers. Went in best dressed and charged noble rates, except the drunk monk Forest who got in for a copper as a holyman. Someone shouted bards fee for entertaining the line up. Allowed in with 30 day guest visa. Went straight to money changer to swap over a 120lb of copper coins for gold. Sold baroque furniture and some fancy outfits from fish cult horde. Decided to cash in that reward certificate for 200gp from the Barron's secret police (gee that was nice of them, guess under their masks they are not so bad). Have adopted the name Triple A Dungeon Destruction Company for city red tape.

Party went into military fort district and escorted to secret police. Papers held for them at gate of entry. Taken to room in barbican and given food and drink while reward being processed. Huge gates slid over entry. Agent X941 discussed party prowess, offered more food and drink and ammo. Then offered …

Tenkar's TavernMini Review - Verloren The Rufescent and the Atramentous (LL Mini Setting and Adventure Hooks)

Where to start. Verloren is a city ripped from it's place in time, moved forward or backwards no one is truly sure. It is, effectively, an urban sandbox of sorts.

The map of the city is unlabeled, and in truth, probably not needed. The city is in the midst of moral decay. The hooks, and there are many, don't coincide to places on the maps - they are linked to personalities and events.

See, this isn't an adventure and to come to it with that expectation would leave the prospective DM frustrated. It's a series of hooks and story elements that can come together as a bigger picture, but the DM and the players are going to be the ones to put that together. It's a toolkit of sorts. A very disturbing toolkit at points.

Unless the DM is comfortable running game sessions from the seat of his pants, Verloren is going to need significant prep work, not the least of which is how the players react to the shift from normal city to one quickly decaying.

The big plot hook behind this all? Pretty …

Aeons & AugauriesARRGGH !!! No Game Tonight

Tonight a veteran player was supposed to come on by and join the MOG campaign but his daughter got in a car accident and he has to go fetch the damaged car (his daughter is doing fine considering).
Two other regulars had to cancel earlier today and a third thought there would be no game becasue they had to cancel, another couldn't make it because he has no gas money and two of the other players who couldn't make it are usually his alternate ride... and so goes the best laid plans of sorcerers, swordsmen, and a guy who sits in a cubicle.

Playing D&D With Porn StarsNot Immediately Obvious Feature of Occult Tome (Roll d100)


(Courtesy of everyone in this thread on Google + (add me if you can't see it).)

This took 2 and a half hours to put together.

1. If left in sunlight, always appears in shadow when next seen. 

2. Bookmarks rot within 1d6 days 

3. Information critical to understanding the rest of the book is written on the endpapers in ink that can only be seen in the light of a burning Hand of Glory. 

4. Earmarks straighten out whenever the book is left in darkness. 

5. Misquotes other occult books investogator is familiar with but author seems to mistranslate parts of sentences into an unknown tongue not understand that they are doing it 

6.  Gives those using it a papercut every damn time. 

7. Is a palimpsest in which the original writing can only be seen under the light of the harvest moon. 

8. Waterproof, but not blood proof. 

9. Sprouts centipede legs and scuttles off if given half a chance 

10. Consumes other books when shelved with them. Its ink begins to fade unless it eats another book at least …

BigDungeonNo Door Dungeon

Dungeons take lot's of forms and shapes in the planning stages when I'm designing. In this map there are no doors as of yet as I haven't set about stocking yet.


Swords & DorkeryOrcs, and Hordes of the things

Although the dictionary definition of orc is merely “monster,” modern authors universally follow the lead of Tolkien in using the term as a synonym for a large goblin.  These have not had a fair press. They are fanatically brave in spite of being weaker and less practiced than most other humanoids, and must be kind […]

Sea of Star RPG Design JournalTuesday Magic Item – Francyn’s Belt and Scabbards

Have you heard of Hassard Francyn?  He was a lawman in these parts, as well as a scout, a gambler, and an outlaw.  He was known for his black leather belt with a silver buckle and his matched sword and dagger in their black scabbards with silver fittings.  Francyn became famous in the Masulium Lands […]

. . lapsus calumni . .[book review] The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig

I purchased this book the day it was released, and reading it here and there over lunch, before bread, ten minutes here, five minutes there....but I am finally done!

I picked this book literally on the cover image and author recognition. I have attempted to read a few of his other books (Blackbirds, Double Dead, a couple other novels and 250 Things You Should Know About Writing) with no luck, I just could not get into them, 250 being the only exception. He has a sort of modern, brash way of writing. Some times I find this enjoyable, other times I find it annoying...just depends on my mood. This novel is no exception. Here Chuck is brash, foul, in your face, rude, and punch-in-your-face gritty.  Luckily, here is works.

This is a tale of two worlds colliding, the world we live in (albeit with a single New York sprawling crime organization with some over the top and silly gangs) and a demon and goblin filled Underworld. Trapped in between this is Mookie, a muscle headed enforcer type …

d20 Dark AgesMulti-classing--to the EXTREME! Has anybody done it?



In D&D 3.x, you could multi-class as many times as you wanted, but you suffered an experience point penalty (20%, if I recall) if any of your levels deviated more than 2 from your primary class.

In theory, you could tack on a new class every time you gain a character level under this system. Thus you could run through the entire base class list in the Player's Handbook, resulting in an 11th level character with a single level of Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard, all with first level abilities.

In theory, yes, but I'm curious: Has anybody actually done this in practice? 

About a year or so ago I did end up in multi-classing hell. We had a small group in 3.5e. I was playing a Bard 1/Druid 1, but our group lacked fighters. So, being a sport, I added a level of fighter when the character reached 3rd level. Then, suddenly three more players showed up and balanced things out. Suddenly, my character was the outlier, and it'd be along …

June 18, 2013

Barbarians of ProvoSessions 13 and 14 of my Savage Worlds: Beasts and Barbarians game. A battle avoided and double cross

With Shah Tokarim in a RAGE, the group of adventurers offers to ride off with the Shah to punish his banished nephew Jirro, who obviously took his banishment as a chance to run off with his beloved cousin, the daughter of the Shah Karmella.  The Shah has roughly one hundred men, about the same number of men that his nephew has.  With the edition of the adventurers and their twenty or so Amazons, the Shah believes that this will give him the edge that needs to crush his nephew and drag his daughter kicking and screaming, back to the alter.

The mounted group rides out immediately.  As they get closer and closer to the fort, Jimpah, along with all of the player characters except for Shangor, pickup on the fact that Jirro has not left behind any kind of rear guard or scouts.  Hawk and Sylph both suspect that Jirro has come under the influence of foul sorcery, having seen Shangor under attack by the mysterious assassin on the boat.  The Jimpah points out to the Shah that it is most unusual …

The Clash of Spear on ShieldAdventure Inspiration: Castles, Towers and Ramparts

It's taken me a while to organize my photos from the Strasbourg trip, but I've sifted through them and picked out all the blog-worthy ones, which I'll put up in several installments.

Today's episode, "Castles, Towers and Ramparts."

European readers will likely yawn at these (like "yeah, I've got one of those just down the street from my house"), but of course we in the States don't get to see such structures on a daily basis. Personally, no matter how many times I go back to France, I never get tired of visiting them.

Haut-Koenigsbourg (Restored Castle)

Outer Walls






Interior Court and Buildings




View from the Highest Tower



Rampart Remains in Obernai




Towers on the Covered Bridges in Strasbourg



Fisher's Gate in Hagenau




They Might Be Gazebos!The Dwarven Ricochet Hammer

Another little magic item popped into my head: THE DWARVEN RICOCHET HAMMER Long plagued by goblins pilfering their mines, the dwarves crafted this ingenious weapon to clear crowd tunnels of opponents. The Dwarven Ricochet Hammer is a +1 magical throwing hammer doing 1d6+1 damage and has a range of 60 feet. The wielder makes a [...]

Spes Magna GamesA Request from Spes Magna Games

I established Spes Magna Games roundabout December 2009. Between then and now, I’ve written and published almost 20 gaming PDFs, mostly for The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. On average, I guesstimate I’ve made about $25 a month from the sale of my PDFs. That’s not a lot; I’m in no danger of retiring early, but that’s [...]

Greyhawk GrognardBestiary Art

The prolific group of artists have begun to start sending in the first pieces for the upcoming Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary, and I thought I'd share a few with you all. First up is the giant boring beetle by Chris Letzelter:


And I thought I'd also show you one of the new undead dragon types, the tumulus dragon by John Bingham:


So far with more than 25 of the new pieces received, we're right where I want to be in terms of scheduling, and will (hopefully) be releasing the book in advance of the official March release date.

The Dwarven StrongholdDigital Orc: Verloren (Review)

I have a whole slew of potential posts that are bouncing around in my head, including a recap of Free RPG Day loot-gathering. Unfortunately, my personal and professional life was turned topsy-turvy last Friday when my boss decreed that, in two weeks, he was shutting down the law firm and I'd be "self-employed."

My head hasn't been in the game since then, although I'm getting a bit more emotionally stable with the passing days.

But I was heartened this morning when I slipped over to the Digital Orc's blog to see what Dylan had in store. Lo and behold! Dylan's newest offering for Labyrinth Lord is up for sale!

(Disclaimer: I was an editor/proofreader on this project. I am not being compensated for this review, but will receive a copy of the final product for my proofreading services.)

I have not yet seen the final, finished product, but based off of the preview copy I saw as part of my proofreading? Wow. I should say up front that I do not play Labyrinth Lord, but all of Dylan's stuff …

The Other Side blogFor those that say Mystara is dead

There is this, http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/20130618#87045

Ok, so yeah, it's not the same as having a game world or new product but it does show that Wizards is still interested in the IP and they still use it.

Either way I'll be buying this.

Requiem for a MuseBeautiful DCC RPG sheets

Following up my post on great RPG character sheets, I saw on Goodman Games’ site that they’ve released the character sheets created for Free RPG Day 2013. http://www.goodman-games.com/dccsheet.html The standard DCC RPG sheets were pretty good to begin with, but … Continue reading

Requiem for a MuseTorchlight free on GOG!

For a very limited time you can grab Torchlight for free from GOG! http://www.gog.com/gamecard/torchlight I already have this game on Steam, but I’m glad to get a non-DRM copy.  Now if GOG would just get Torchlight 2, I could throw … Continue reading

Mesmerized by sirensAnd the winners are...

Ok, it was hard to decide, and i am proud of the response i got from all of you out there for this first ORPGAD.

It was quite interesting and educational to read all the posts that came out for this celebration, and i want to thank you all personally for the light you contributed to shed on these lesser-known items of the past.

That said, i eventually finished reading all your posts (again, i apologize for the delay but i have been very busy recently), and the winners are (in no particular order):

CHEVALIER retrospective

http://d20d12.blogspot.it/2013/05/chevalier-of-obscure-rpg-day.html

(for the historical importance of the proto-edition of a titan among fantasy games, and for its ultra-rarity as well)

IRONHEDGE

http://theresdungeonsdownunder.blogspot.it/2013/05/obscure-rpg-appreciation-day-ironhedge.html

(for the great obscurity of this fantasy game, and because it probably deserves more attention as the author of the post points out)

Man, Myth & Magic

The Tao of D&DEven Crazier

Okay, I must be getting delirious.

Let's say, for the present, no money (what the hell, I don't need to be poorer).

Let's suppose you submit a character, very simple, along the lines of the stats produced on this post.

Every other round, one new player starts at the beginning of this map:


Orange = Level 1; Green = Level 2; Red (left side) = Level 3;
Purple = Level 4; Red (right side) = Level 5; Blue = Level 6

You get a two round head start.  You can run, you can wait for the next person ... or you can enter one of the rooms.

Everyone is first level, so ... a die is rolled on the 1st level monster table from the DMG, and whatever appears, that number of monsters is in that room.  If I roll orcs and you're on the second level, you get 2 orcs.  If on the fourth level, 4 orcs.  All combat in the rooms is straight rolling - enter, roll surprise, attack goes to whoever is not surprised, then roll initiative, then fight until you're stunned (still my general combat system) or killed.  …

Tenkar's TavernA Kickstarter That Needs a Priest - ZEITGEIST AP hardcover compilation (Pathfinder & D&D 4E)

Well, I gotta give it to Morrus - he certainly knows how to grab attention ;)

In all seriousness, what little work I've seen from E.N. Publishing has been fairly good (admittedly that is from the 3e days), but as I play neither Pathfinder nor 4e, this is all wasted on me.

If I did play either, the $60 price point for the color HC edition and all of the stretch goals in PDF is probably the sweet point.

Just 118 more backers for the "Divine Intervention" ritual attempt :)

Dorkland!Origins For Your 4C Space Games

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--> 4C Space Origins Origins in 4C tell you how the character became someone extraordinary. It is a combination of their background and how they became a

Dorkland!X-Files Season 10 Comic Preview

After the movies. After the television show. A new X-Files comic from creator/Executive Producer Chris Carter and IDW Publishing. Now you can see the cover and the first few pages of the book.

The Nine and Thirty KingdomsUsing Reach

One of the things to keep in mind during the spear discussions is that I'm not imagining spears being used in a vacuum. I do have some ideas about staying out of reach, which would affect how a spear is used. Specifically, a combatant with the higher combination of Move + Reach gets a bonus to attack and defense. (I said "attack or defense" in the linked post, but it should probably be both; I'm also considering upping this to 2 points each instead of 1 point each.) This abstracts opponents with short weapons trying to close distance and those with longer weapons backing away, so that we don't have to track each movement or roll multiple contests between two sides to see who can move outside or inside the other side's reach.

There is a proviso, though: even though I'm not a combat grid kinda guy, I wouldn't completely ignore position on the map. If someone is staying outside of an opponent's reach, they're backing up. If the opponent presses the attack, continually maintain distance …

RetroRoleplaying: The BlogFirst "Sponsor Lords & Wizards" Mini-Drive Giveaway Winners

A drawing was held at the end of my Sunday Game last Sunday for the first Sponsor Lords & Wizards Mini-Drive for the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund. The following announced items were given away: a Holmes Basic Set, The Manual of Aurania, Chivalry & Sorcery (1st edition) and FEZ I: Valley of Trees. In addition, two Steam Keys for the A Game of Dwarves PC game (see http://store.steampowered.com/app/200370/ ) were given away, both donated by one of my Sunday game players.

Our winners were:

James J. of Michigan gets the Holmes Basic Set.
Sal R. of Hawaii will receive The Manual of Aurania.
Thomas A. of California gets the first edition Chivalry & Sorcery book.
Georgia V. of South Carolina gets the original FEZ I module.
Robert G. of Louisiana and Guy S. of France each get a Steam Key for A Game of Dwarves.

I'd like to thank everyone who donated. The next mini-drive starts immediately with the same goal, $250 dollars. Giveaway items will be announced Wednesday or Thursday, but will …

Blood of ProkopiusInquisitor Class for ACKS

Over the years, I have converted various campaign worlds to different systems. Every time, whether I like it or not, the mechanical assumptions of the system affect the world in question. For example, in converting Averoigne to ACKS and its system of Custom Classes and Proficiencies, it virtually eliminates the need for all of my musings on level titles.

There is also a much clearer distinction between divine and arcane magic than in Holmes. Given a world where the arcane magic is more naturally aligned with Chaos, where magic can affect large populations and where sin can manifest physically, there is an institutional need for some kind of check on everything arcane. Historically, France did participate in the Inquisition. While this institution (rightly) is held up as a blemish on the history of Christendom, there is a (potentially positive) place for it in Averoigne, where all of the above are true. Thus, my conversion of Averoigne to ACKS now includes the Inquisitor Class:

Playing D&D With Porn StarsCinematic

The floor crumbled away and the cleric (of Man Pac) fell into the underground channel, moving swiftly west.

A fighter, keeping watch, bellowed loudly, causing something to stir on a channel bridge to the east.

The assassin threw a rope and rolled a 1 and fell in, too.

("Please do not penalize your players with 'fumbles' and 'critical misses'." There's actually an RPG book somewhere that says that. People play it.)

The druid and the other fighter threw a rope to the cleric. The cleric caught it, they pulled, the current was swift, they fell in, too.

The wizard cast Animate Rope and tethered the floating assassin to the channel floor.

The assassin threw one end of a rope at the dry fighter.

The dry fighter caught it and tried to anchor it to a corner of masonry.

Passing int he water, the druid grabbed hold of the tethered assassin.

The rope that the druid held still had the cleric on the other end.

The Rolangian 2-headed ogre attacked the dry fighter, who dropped his rope.

The wizard …

Dorkland!IDW Publishing's Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes Crossover In Review

IDW Publishing and DC Comics crossed over two of the venerable properties of science fiction: Star Trek and the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Legion has almost a decade on Star Trek, but they are both the product of the hopefully optimistic sub-genre of science fiction that was prevalent in the 50s and 60s. Thankfully, this mini-series (written by the ever prolific Chris Roberson) did not take

Hill CantonsThe Hill Cantons Cosmology “Appendix N”

One for the “showing my work” file, some of the inspiration points that went into the religion and cosmology series. Another post on the terrifying inimical gods of the Anti-Cantons may be in the making.

Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword and Three Hearts and Three Lions, Douglas Bachmann's Dragon article in #40 (the Weird and its cosmic juxtaposition to human civilization, the association of humanity with Law, the waxing/waning of gods being tied to the amount of human worship and the reduction of “Faerie”)


Jack Vance's Lyonesse, Dying Earth, and Planet of Adventure novels (absurdist satire of religious mores, weird gods and weirder religious doctrine)

Leiber's Lankhmar stories especially “Lean Times in Lankhmar” (more satire, petty gods and apotheosis)

Counter-Reformation Catholicism, Mediterranean hero-cults, Hellenistic and Roman sun-cults, Theosophy, Jewish neoplatonism and mystical traditions, Piper's Lord Kalvan, Early Christian theological disputes (Sun Lord sects, Ha-Vul the …

Gorgonmilk[TV] Brand vs Talking Heads

Bit off-topic here, but I love watching these twits squirm when Russell Brand commandeers their show.

Von der Seifenkiste herab...[RPC 2013] Der Eine Ring - Spielleiterschirm und Seestadt Quellenbuch

Nach etwas stürmischem Start scheint Der Eine Ring (DER) jetzt in ruhigeren Gewässern unterwegs zu sein. Pünktlich zur RPC erschien der fette Spielleiterschirm, dem ein 32seitiges Booklet - das Quellenbuch zu Seestadt - beiliegt. Zeit konzentriert reinzulesen hatte ich nicht, aber so vollfarbig sieht es schonmal wirklich schön aus - überhaupt machen die DER-Produkte mit ihren Hodgson-Illustrationen immer einen sehr stylischen und zum Herrn der Ringe passenden Eindruck.

P.S.: Keine Angst - der Stapel ist bald komplett zusammengeschrumpft, dann gibt es auch wieder andere Seifenkisten-Beiträge...

CyclopeatronAlternate XP Systems


I've always used the original method of calculating XP by counting up gold pieces and kills. Over the last few years I've also started awarding XP for magic items using the charts in the AD&D DM's Guide. A lot has been written about the pros and cons of this traditional approach, so I won't go into it here.

I have to admit, though, that I am certainly not alone in finding it frustrating when mid-level characters have to acquire swimming pools of gold pieces, impossibly huge gemstones, or Satan's Pitchfork itself to advance at a reasonable rate (at least given my gaming frequency, which is only two or three sessions per month). I don't have a specific objection to massive wealth accumulation - it worked for Conan, right? - but sometimes it doesn't jibe well with the flavor I want to go for in my games. I mean, goblins wearing jewelry is pretty weird and cool and I'm definitely down for that, but it gets progressively more difficult to keep monster stashes fresh and in line with a

Tenkar's TavernOf Blogger and G+ and the Piss Poor Mish-Mash of the Two

I'm an active blog poster. I probably post on average three to four times a day over here at The Tavern. Each of these posts also get shared on G+, and I guess I'm fairly active over there too. Heck, as of today over 4,000 fine folks have included me in their circles. I'm flattered.

My experiment of trying out the use of G+ for comments in Blogger lasted a few hours. It prevented those without G+ accounts from commenting, which I thought was pretty damn limiting as many of my blog readers and commenters aren't active on G+.

So, the communities overlap to a large extent, but the blog and G+ are also a bit separate.

Now, I posted a comment on a Blogger blog yesterday that had G+ integrated into the comments section, and it turned my comment into a publicly shared post by me on G+, which lost much of the context of the comment as the blog was linked to, but not quoted from by G+. I wasn't looking to fan any flames, but to get the original poster's thoughts on a specific question.

My …

Tower of ZenopusX-Wing Miniatures




(I may be one of the last interested parties to finally pick this up. I've been one of the holdouts on this because the pricing seemed really high, but I ended up receiving it for Father's Day so that makes it OK.)

My space-gaming goes back a long way. Star Fleet Battles was a big deal for us in the 80's (I'm from the "Designer's Edition" generation and stuck with it thru "Commander's" and into the early part of "Captain's") and morphed into Full Thrust in the 90's, then BFG in the early 2000's along with some Babylon 5 Wars and Call to Arms and later some Federation Commander to come full circle. All that experience aside the space thing has kind of quieted down here over the last few years. I have played some Gothic and some Fed Commander with the Apprentices once or twice but that's been about it. We skipped the WOTC Star Wars space game a few years back though I was tempted a few times.

So what makes this game worth picking up?

  • Pre-painted mini's - well done and not adding to the …

HeroPressTorn From The Headlines: Tacoma Bridge Collapse...



Not happy about their casual, off-hand, reference to the death of a dog!

This Pathe News footage of the collapse of the world's third largest suspension bridge (at the time),Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Washington, in 1940 will surely make you think twice about the use of bridges in your games as more than just tools for helping parties get across rivers and chasms.

Rended PressTuesday Morning Random Spew

First: Don't forget the Random Pit Trap Surprise Table Contest!



Second: Props to Zach for dropping by my office to let me fondle his copy of Better than Any Man that he scored on Free RPG Day. This is one sweet adventure and I wish I had been able to score a copy for myself. While I'm not a fan of gory gaming (splatterpunk, slasher horror, and full-on visual gore are not my thing), I recognize that Raggi is doing what all creative types should do: push limits in order to make us think and feel beyond the ordinary comforts of our lives.

Example: In "Queen of the Black Coast," Robert E. Howard writes:

. . . There was a confusion of movement, a writhing and
melting of lights and shadows, against a background of black jungle,
green stone ruins and murky river. Black men came up the river in long
boats with skulls grinning on the prows, or stole stooping through the
trees, spear in hand. They fled screaming through the dark from red
eyes and slavering fangs. Howls of dying men shook the …

The Tao of D&DMoving The Party To Charles Angus

If you haven't yet, take a look at this post here on principles of combat.  Quite good.  I await approval to have some questions answered.

Hill CantonsReligion and the Hill Cantons Part One: Sun-Lord Sects

I continue to plug away at Live Weird or Die, the obsessive compilation of house rules, variant classes, and Hill Cantons setting whoha. As the project grows it becomes unclear who I am actually writing for. The players? A broader audience? Or just myself?

At any rate I find it a pleasureable place to go in my mind when work gets overwhelming and it's helped fill in the holes during play so I take it as a good place to “procrastitask”.  And because the players have been recently eager as of late to suss out the various big-ticket cosmic mysteries in the campaign, I have been pounding the keys on the religion chapter.

Below is part one of that chapter, headed up by the simple system I am using to spit out the necessary D&D mechanical information. You will note my moving away from Clerics as a universal class for deities and one specifically tied to the ostensibly monotheistic dominant religion detailed here.
The first painting from Mucha's Slavonic cycle
Sect Characteristics
Attributed …