To this day I think one of the best quickstarts was for Dark Matter and the Alternity System. I know I still have my handout.

So we’ve done the logical thing, and handed the Heavy Gear RPG back to DP9. It’s too bad that we can’t be involved, but the setting deserves the attention that DP9 can give it. Sometimes you just have to let someone else play with those cool toys, and be satisfied with your own.

More details from the Illuminator here.

The past several years have seen growth in consumer acceptance of PDFs and eBooks. With an eye on using this to drive customers to their friendly local game stores, a coalition of publishers have formed Bits and Mortar, a pro-retailer, pro-brick-and-mortar, pro-PDF, pro-eBook initiative.

Bits and Mortar uses simple methods and existing technology to allow retailers the ability to quickly and easily offer their customers PDF versions of the physical games they purchase in store at no additional charge.

Read more here.

It was about five years ago and my wife’s parents passed away in a tragic car accident a week or two after I spent christmas at their home. They left behind three children. Obviously the moment was full of raw emotions on all sides. The impact that is hard to comprehend or put into words unless you experience it yourself. However during this time the family was searching for meaning into it all. One of my wife’s brothers almost went with her parents, her parents almost took the van but it would not start that particular day for no apparent reason yet it worked when we needed to drive it. Coincidences…

However a few days after the events my wife and I were settling in for the night in bed with the cat all curled up. I am not sure if anyone has ever experienced a house where someone has passed away but there is a palpable weight. That particular night though as we settled in bed, a heavy feeling came over myself. It was a feeling that something was not right. Nerves perhaps. I was doing my best at the time to fill a certain emotional void. Maybe it was stress but I wasn’t feeling stressed. It was simply unsettling.

Suddenly the cat stared at the doorway to the room and fixated there. She was ready to run from something. My wife mentioned how odd it was and then noted the same thing that I felt. A heavy feeling to the room. It was sudden. The cat indeed bolted out of the room and you could almost feel the heavy feeling move along in the room. We were just scared because we both felt something was there.

Years pass and we move into our current home with our son who is only a few months old. We managed to settle in and life was good. Our son would play with his toys and act like any baby. However we started noticing something strange. Sometimes our son would lay on his back and start giggling or cooing as if being tickled and interacted with. We knew it from our interactions with him but it just happened. It happened only on a few occasions that he would do this. We questioned if it was just natural or maybe someone was checking in on him.

Now two years old our son is running around, speaking more and growing very fast. But we still have the same odd experiences. Since our son has a small set of vocabualrly to go with he talks and talks with what he has. When we put him to bed his gabs to himself. But sometimes he talks to ’something’. There is his typical playful talking but again it’s like he is interacting with someone.

A week ago as we were in bed we suddenly hear a bang coming from the bathroom of the toilet seat closing. We wondered what happened. Was it a cat or our dog. The dog was in our room, the cats were downstairs. Going into the bathroom I find a candle we keep on top of the toilet as decoration turned upside down near the end of the closed seat. Looking at it I could not understand how it could happen. The candle would have rolled off the seat or if it somehow landed flush would have been more to the rear.

Today my son looks to a picture we keep of my wife’s parents. We showed it to him maybe twice before but today he looks at it and says grandma. We found it odd but pass it off as maybe he just connected it with that previous time somehow. Sometimes kids bring up the strangest things right. Then we are all sitting at the table for dinner and our son turns around and says grandpa gone while pointing.

Finally two nights ago my wife is sleeping and I have the annoying habit of waking her up as I slip into bed after watching a movie or The Daily Show. So we both curl up and try to get some sleep when my wife suddenly lets out a loud Ahhhh!! while shifting to my side. I was just about to doze off when this startled me awake. I was a tad annoyed about almost being asleep and waking up and also concerned. I asked her what was wrong and she turned to me and said something had grabed her foot.

Believe what you will of course and mind you all these things could be explained but coincidences, false perceptions and emotional distress however these are indeed odd occurences. I cannot help but simply wonder. Being a fan of gothic horror, horror, mystery, etc rpg settings I cannot help but be intrigued by it while at the same time somewhat fearful of the unknown. What lurks in the space between? Do we want to know? Will we end up there?

Do you have any experiences?

Ennie Awards

I decided on a recent trip to visit this strange and mysterious location which was highly recommended by Curt. All I knew was that it was somewhat tricky to find and that the entrance was rather terrifying. There are three Hairy Tarantula locations, mind you, so to be clear I went to the 354 Yonge Street one. We almost passed it too, as the number 354 was only visible on top of a tattoo shop. My wife, however, pointed out the stairs. The stairs leading to the the second floor is a bit deceiving. It’s small, dim, dirty and plastered with posters (posters are ok, just not dirty everywhere else. The duck-taped door was also a bit of a put off but once you entered, it was a magical kingdom.

At first sight the inside seems very small and cramped. It really does seem like an apartment at one time converted into a shop as the room layout would suggest. I can’t say it carried a lot of Wizards of the Coast books as I saw a meagre 4th edition selection which were 20% off that weekend but they also had some 3rd edition books too. In fact there was probably more 3rd edition than 4th edition, which is a bit odd when operating a gaming store.

Their specialty, as Curt told me, is indie companies and smaller publishers. He was right about that too as I saw things there that I didn’t even hear of. In fact their main display had lots of Savage Worlds books, some Chaosium, Fantasy Flight’s Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and a few other indie games. Comparable to other places I have been where you see a wall of Wizards of the Coast it makes a difference to find new things outside of the big publishers.

The shop itself, as mentioned, is like a former apartment. It’s configuration is used for various sections. Your entrance has your new RPG books and off to the right you have a pretty massive used book section. Dare I even say the used section is bigger than your main section of books. You can find comic books in the used section as well. It’s a veritable library of used material. In fact it was a bit daunting. Where to start? I wished there was maybe some markers to help find what you were looking for. The books were organized by company but still a marker would have been cool.

They also have some trading card game material as all shops tend to as well as Manga books and comics. Boardgames are also prevalent in the location as they tend to be placed up high all around. Literally they use every nook and cranny to place material. For instance, there is a stairway leading to a closed off second floor however there is a small book case somehow fitted along it’s wall on the bottom with books, as well as things placed on the stairs themselves.

There were two rooms I missed as I was not sure if it was simply storage and off limits or not. Actually one of those sections was a miniatures section for Warhammer and the like that I only noticed on the way to pay for my item. The staff that day were very nice and helpful. Two offered to help me and my wife find things even though we mentioned we were just looking but it was still kind of them to ask.

A rather welcoming feature are the two cats that make their home there. You can find them sleeping on the floor, sitting by the cash or even lying down on some used books. They too are friendly and accustomed to people, as my wife was able to pet one by the cash. If you have allergies to cats though this can actually ruin your experience so yes I would give this place an allergy warning for cats.

I highly recommend this store for anybody in the downtown Toronto area. It’s a small step away from the Eaton Centre and worth your RPG dollars to support. So go check it out!

Hairy Tarantula Official Website

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Official Website