RPG Blog Alliance Feed

[Aventuras en la Marca del Este] La clriga y los esqueletos

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:05 GMT

Recordarn las ilustraciones alargadas, apaisadas, que coronan los encabezados y ttulos de cada uno de los captulos en los libros en cada una de las cajas aparecidas hasta ahora, azul y roja. Pues bien, Jorge Carrero se encargar de disear las ilustraciones para todos los encabezados de los varios captulos con los que contar esta caja en ciernes. Hoy les mostramos un boceto muy preliminar de una de estas ilustraciones, mostrando a una clriga clsica rodeada de esqueletos, tras descender por una escala de cuerda al interior de una cripta olvidada. Una vez terminada, lucir sensacional.

[Points of Light] Dragon's-Eye View: The Making of an Owlbear

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:05 GMT

It has been hard keeping up with a homebrew campaign, a homebrew ruleset, blogging, and...well...Diablo III, so I will try to keep this brief:

I prefer the first owlbear he pitches, as it looks more bear than...gorilla, I guess? Do not get me wrong, the second one certainly looks menacing, even if it seems to be cribbing the krenshar's shtick. It just does not look like either what I have come to expect, or what I would expect.

Of course, assuming I am correct with the whole "made by a wizard" origin, there is always room for an owl-gorilla hybrid. [...]

[Adventuring Archives] Hey, I know you! Bertram Rone

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:05 GMT

Bertram Rone is a retired adventurer and collector of ancient artifacts and bizarre objects. Rone once saved a damsel from the clutches of an evil cult who were about to sacrifice her to a demonic fire god. He at one point searched for the phylactery of a Good Lich who sought to bring peace and healing to the land. When a comrade was fatally wounded during the battle to gain the phylactery, Bertram healed his comrade with the miraculous powers of the phylactery and lost it forever.
When Bertram retired from a life of adventuring he opened a museum where [...]

[Points of Light] D&D Next Chat

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:45:04 GMT

Here are some tidbits from the chat that I enjoyed:

Mearls: Hmmm... let's see. I've been DMing mostly, and the rules have changed a lot over the past few days. Probably the funniest thing was guest starring as a librarian in a playtest game at DDXP. Also, I got to test the DR rules when the players had to cut open a dead wererat's stomach to find a gem it had swallowed. That was not how I expected to test those rules.
The packet will have five pregen characters, Caves of Chaos adventure, bestiary for the adventure, and rules for [...]

[Bad DM's The Good, The Bad & The Gamer] D&D Next Chat with Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:30:03 GMT

Yesterday, WotC held an open D&D Next Chat with Mike Mearles and Jeremy Crawford where a few people got some of their questions answered by the lead developers of D&D Next. You can access the chat transcript here. If you encounter problems getting Cover It Live to work for you, you can find the chat transcript below, too.

10:51
Trevor: I've just opened the chat so people should be making their way in now. Once we're about to start, I'll do another couple announcements. 10:55
Trevor: Hah! You're all awesome with your questions, but we haven't started quite yet. You can keep them coming in, just know that we'll be starting this party in about five to ten minutes. 11:00
Trevor: For a few of you asking about a transcript - yes, the contents of this chat will be available on the site after we're done. 11:01

[Elthos RPG Blog] The Canary in the Salt Mine

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:15:03 GMT

Voices in the Dark The Adventurers could barely see by the light of Star of Justice's mystical 'Aura of Retribution'. There was a dark narrow corridor on their left while ahead of them the metal tracks lead to a soft gold light that came from a rectangular opening along the side of the corridor. "No! I need an A5312!" a gravely cantankerous voice could be heard echoing from where the

[Points of Light] DDN Blog: Skills and Task Resolution

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:15:03 GMT

"Characters get four things--skills or traits."

This model kind of reminds me of a combination of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons and Exalted, in that skills grant a flat bonus to a variety of related things, but you can opt to nab other things if you want. A workshop was specifically mentioned, but I could also see something like influence, followers, a familiar, and more. Not sure about languages. They would have to be pretty darned useful, or other things less so, to make them a compelling choice. This--along with wizards getting at-will spells without having to burn a feat, themes granting [...]

[Reality Refracted] New Game In An Established Setting

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:00:04 GMT

A friend of mine's L5R game just ended recently, and with the friend only going to be in the area for a few more months we've decided to pass the GMing mantle from him to me and switch games up. This works out just fine for me, because now I get to run another game and I can try out a new system. Now, my intention is to set this game in the Marvel universe, being as the system we'll be using is the new Marvel Heroic RPG. Today I want to talk about some of the things I've been [...]

[cheeseshop] Inkworld -- Source of Magic

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:00:04 GMT

There is a planet whose source of mana is Ink. There are two mediums used for the Ink. They are Parchment and Tattoos. The spells are written in Runes on the parchment or tattooed on the mage. The use of magic in this realm is very difficult to come by. Even though anyone has the opportunity to become a "magic user" the application of Ink is "taught" to those of worth. The Ink Masters decide who benefit from their craft. If one is fortunate enough to understand the use of Ink, then they decide who is taught its secrets. There [...]

[Neuroglyph Games] EN World Double Review -- Midgard Bestiary (Pathfinder RPG Edition) & Party of One by Open Design

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:00:04 GMT

Well met, gentle Readers! I hope this week finds you all in good spirits, and enjoying many wonderful gaming pursuits! Most likely, I'd imagine many fantasy gamers are giving the new Diablo III a try, since it just came out yesterday. I'm a huge fan of the game series myself, and just downloaded the client today -- and after I get this blog posted, I plan to storm the gates of Hell!

I had been trying out The Secret World beta a bit, but I'm not sure if I like it or not yet. What I like in the [...]

[Zenopus Archives] Following Blogs Made More Difficult by Google

Thu, 17 May 2012 04:30:03 GMT

I noticed recently that the "Follow" link/button no longer appears at the top left of my Blogger page when I visit a new blog. This isn't a glitch - Google recently removed this option, as discussed here.
This was how I normally started following new blogs, so it wasn't immediately apparent that I could still follow a blog. Poking around, I found there are still two ways to follow a blog, neither of which is as easy as the old way.
1. Go to your Blogger Dashboard, where there's a button right below "Reading List" that says "Add". Once clicked, [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Blok -- osoby

Thu, 17 May 2012 04:15:04 GMT

Dozorca Zdzisaw Mieszkacy Bloku nie szanuj Ci -- nie rozumiej, e dozorca, to nie tylko osoba, ktra, sprzta klatki schodowe. Ty jeste opiekunem Bloku. Opiekunem mieszkajcych w nim owieczek! Pokaesz, na co Ci sta! Podczas zebrania, za pomoc dedukcji i sprytu wykryjesz i zdemaskujesz Kurczakowego Zabjc! Wszyscy bd Ci podziwia i szanowa, bd mwi -- [...]

[The Savage AfterWorld] Official Gen Con 2012 Mutant Future Schedule

Thu, 17 May 2012 03:30:04 GMT

Hey Gang,

I'll be running three Mutant Future games at Gen Con this year (the only Mutant Future games, it appears). If you'll be in Indy and would like to traipse through the wastelands with yours truly, here are the events I'll be running:

RPG1230160 - Thundarr the Barbarian: Across the Dimensional Divide
Mutant Future - 6 players - 4 hours
Thursday, August 16 at noon
Location: Marriott :: Indiana Ballroom C :: Table 1
Demon Dogs! A dimensional time-rip has appeared near "Indeenapliss". It must be the work of an evil wizard, but who? Join Thundarr, Ookla, and Princess [...]

[Arcane Shield] Secrets of Necromancy -- Paragon Tier Powers

Thu, 17 May 2012 03:30:04 GMT

Used with permission from Dezilon @ http://dezilon.deviantart.com/

My powers grow daily. Soon I shall unlock the secrets of the soul itself! The ancient tomes I have been studying teach me of the powers of flesh and bone. The dead provide ample resources for those with the strength of will to use the forbidden magic. None can stand before the very forces of the grave!

This article is a doozy. Learn to summon banshees, flesh golems, shadowy steeds, and clouds of noxious fumes that raise the dead to fight on your behalf.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PDF

Special thanks to Dezilon for giving permission to [...]

[Hitting Dirtside] A to Zed - the rest of 'em

Thu, 17 May 2012 03:15:03 GMT

For those keeping track, I ended off with the Elder Scrolls in this challenge. I've been absent for quite some time. Between just not being around and a curiously dodgy internet connection, there's been little time for the web, or Blogger for that matter. Now, instead of spamming everyone's blog watch I'll condense the rest of my list into one post, that you may at least know where I was going to go.

Frank Herbert - the mastermind behind Dune and various other works of science fiction. Besides my long-standing love for Dune, his Destination: Void (The Jesus Incident [...]

[Just Add Heroes] Stark City Games Releases Golden Age Thrilling Action #1

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:59:47 GMT

I'm pleased to report that Dan Houser and I have released the first installment of Golden Age Thrilling Action from Stark City Press this week at RPGNow!

Written by Line Artist for ICONS Dan Houser and myself (Joe Bardales), this is a Golden Age character pack with a pair of characters from the classic public domain pulp comics of the 40s, and a sample battleground. Dan also does all the amazing artwork.

This supplement is to be used to either run a quick battle scene for one-on-one play, or to have a few more [...]

[Gamish Designer: Adventures in Game Design] Game Chef - 56 through 60

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:45:03 GMT

Our Last Best Hope (+ death cards) by Mark Truman / Magpie Games The Good: It's a good use of the theme, you've got that whole Armageddon, it's the end of the world thing and you have to fix it. The Death Cards are great though, here's you're one moment to beat the odds but you have to fulfill your destiny later. The Bad: It doesn't say how many tokens you start out with. Even if it's

[Nogrod.net] The Big Winner

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:15:03 GMT

I have just won the auction for the charity seat at the North Texas Role-Playing Games Convention (NTRPG Con, see here). I am so excited. If someone had told my younger self that someday I would be playing in a game with some of the big names of the early days of Dungeons and Dragons (and Call of Cthulhu as well) I would have immediately replied “how much?”.

Well it turns out the answer in my case was $152.50. For that amount I get to play in a game of AD&D with the following people: Tim Kask, Frank Mentzer, Jim [...]

[Dreams of Mythic Fantasy] Valley of the Azure Ziggurat ... And Hope to be back soon

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:00:06 GMT

Studying for my State Agent License exam. Hope to be back to regular posting, soon. Got a game, Friday night. Woo-hoo!

Made a map.

[Tenkar's Tavern] The Grumpy Dwarf Chews The Chat - Mike Mearls D&D Next Chat Session (Part 1)

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:00:06 GMT

This is a long chat to chew. I may have to break this into two separate parts. Lets see how much actual meat there is as I chew the fat ;)

10:51
Trevor: I've just opened the chat so people should be making their way in now. Once we're about to start, I'll do another couple announcements.

10:55
Trevor: Hah! You're all awesome with your questions, but we haven't started quite yet. You can keep them coming in, just know that we'll be starting this party in about five to ten minutes.

11:00
Trevor: For a few of you asking about a transcript - yes, the contents of this chat will be available on the site after we're done.

11:01
Mearls: [...]

[Reality Blurs] Keeping Up with Pop Culture: Mandatory or Madness?

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:00:06 GMT

As a writer/publisher/designer guy, I feel obligated to keep up with what’s going on in the wide world around me (at least, insofar, as it impacts my sphere and that of my demographic). I know. I know. It sounds so dispassionate and distant and absolutely uncaring. Not so, I avow. The thing is, the clock has so many ticks in each minute which, in turn, are swallowed up by hours and flow into days.

We are in a world where we are inundated with some fantastic stuff. These things assail us remorselessly. We, in turn, cannot help but be [...]

[Observations of the Fox] Hell on Eight Wheels: Fourteen - Traits

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:45:02 GMT

In Magic: the Gathering, most of the creatures traditionally have a single trait defining their race (eg. Elf, Dwarf, Goblin, Merfolk, etc.), some of the more recent sets have creatures bearing two traits, one of which is the race while the other might be an occupation (eg. Elf Farmer, Dwarf Miner, etc). But then there are specific game effects that might target cards based on their name, not just their traits. It's a simple system, and the forerunner for a lot of similar card systems.
I'm actually fonder of the trait system in the Asian inspired card game L5R. [...]

[Maximum Rock & Roleplay] Mach - Duck!

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:30:03 GMT

Just for the heck of it I'm posting a sketch I did of one of my "Super Citizens" members, Mach - Duck the avian speedster.

[The Artifact RPG] Guest Post On Stuffer Shack

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:15:04 GMT

Tourq Stevens invited me to put in a guest post over at Stuffer Shack. I’m honored to oblige.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Check it out and leave a comment with your thoughts.

[GMS Magazine] So What's For Sale, Anyway? V

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:15:04 GMT

The fifth installment of Raging Swan Press's So what's for sale..."-Series is 20 pages long, 1 page front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving 13 pages of content, so let's check out what exactly we get here!

[Rendered Nightmares] Price of Beauty

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:45:03 GMT

Rendered Nightmares is a website dedicated to the artwork of Tymothi. A native new yorker, who uses various computer art programs to create works of art, he hopes will inspire people to see how dark the world around us truly is.

[Land of Nod] Amazons, Archons and Azers [Blood & Treasure]

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:45:03 GMT

I'm now working my through the monster chapter doing a first pass on editing before it goes to Tanner for a more thorough look, and I decided "Why not preview a few monsters on the blog". (i.e. I needed a quick and easy post for the day because I'm busy as spit).

I figure this can give folks an idea about the format (different than in earlier previews - a format I liked but just became too difficult to layout effectively and make the info easy for the TK to access during play) and maybe preview a few of [...]

[Rendered Nightmares] My sweet Lord

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:45:03 GMT

I was born into a catholic family,my uncle was a brother in the franciscan order and he showed me what the power of real faith is. Now 42 years later, I do not find myself believing in one faction. I... Rendered Nightmares is a website dedicated to the artwork of Tymothi. A native new yorker, who uses various computer art programs to create works of art, he hopes will inspire people to see how dark the world around us truly is.

[Christian Lindke's Cinerati] [Gaming History] Power Gaming -- Boot Hill NPCs

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:30:05 GMT

As a fan of Westerns, I've always wanted to play Boot Hill. I've owned a copy of the Second Edition of the game -- the one that came in the box and was published in 1979 -- for many years, but I have never had the chance to sit down and actually play a session of the game.

This isn't to say that the players I have gamed with over the years haven't been up for Western themed gaming. I've played sessions of Avalon Hill's Gunslinger (not an rpg) and sessions of Deadlands. We've always had a [...]

[The Zhodani Base] My house rule for planetary size

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:15:04 GMT

A problem with the random generation of worlds in Traveller is that for small worlds (where size < 4) is that these worlds might get an ordinary breathable atmosphere. This is a problem, since the minimum molecular weight retained for a planet shouldn’t allow that. EDG has explained minimum molecular weight retained here, and here is a nice visual tool for checking what gases will be retained depending on size, density and temperature.

This problem leads to silly explanations. Like the one in both the GURPS and Mongoose Sword Worlds modules where a planet (Enos) is made of Osmium. Other explanations [...]

[ROFL Initiative] Dress for Success

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:15:04 GMT

A member of my regular D&D group is about to defend her master's thesis tomorrow. She posted a query to her Facebook today, asking what she should wear to her defense. Naturally, upon seeing the question, I popped over to that bastion for defensive clothing ideas, Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor.
I have picked out a couple of options. Which do you like best? Keep in mind, she is a bit of a crusader for education reform.
Alchemical Advocate for practical STEM education

A defender of the arts

She chose... wiselyA proponent of better school nutritionOr, dire-weasels, because... [...]

[Thistle Games] Zombies To The Left, Zombies To The Right

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:45:03 GMT

Werewolves and vampires may grab most of the headlines, but there’s no keeping those zombies down. For a long time they were all about movies and videogames, but there’s no stopping them now:

Alternate Reality Gaming: 2.8 Hours Later

Counter Boardgaming: All Things [...]

[Skyland Games] GeekOut 2012 -- Game ON!

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:45:03 GMT

The Asheville gaming community is buzzing with excitement about the awesome day of gaming at GeekOut 2012! If you live anywhere near the Asheville area, and you haven’t signed up for games at the warhorn, what are you waiting for?! IT’S TOMORROW!

My gold-foil copy of DCCRPG showed up on my doorstep just in the nick of time. I’ll be running Portal to the Stars for both the 10AM slot, and the 6PM slot. I’ve got other adventures too, so I could be persuaded to let you in to the Tower of Crowan the Conjurer (RIP Pamela), or we could try [...]

[Skyland Games] Putting the Fun in the Character Funnel of DCCRPG

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:45:03 GMT

I had the pleasure of GMing a zero-level DCCRPG session for most of the Skyland Games regulars on last Wednesday, and it was some of the most fun I’ve had playing RPGs, period. The picture attached to this post probably appears to be a complete non sequitur, but it will make sense in moment. I created my very own zero-level adventure, The Tower of Crowan the Conjuror, since some of the guys had already played Portal to the Stars. We’ll probably release it in one form or another soon, but it’s currently being revised and polished up a bit. Minor [...]

[Skyland Games] Pirate Pregens for Pathfinder Society!

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:45:03 GMT

Skyland Games is proud to present an ongoing weekly series for Pathfinder Society play.As a group, we have been enamored with both Pathfinder Society and the extensive character creation options in Pathfinder.This is probably why we love games with unique character creation systems such as Traveller, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Dungeon Crawl Classics.Having a well fleshed out character can make the difference between fun and flop at any event, whether it be gaming with your buddies or a table at an organized play event.Sometimes we just do not have time to create a character with the complexity that we [...]

[The Rhetorical Gamer] What is Player Skill?

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:30:03 GMT

This comes up a lot. Player skill vs. Character skill. I think about this way too much sometimes and it seems like, at the end of the day, it is the most important question for me when I sit down to philosophize about gaming (which despite two and half years of this blog is not [...]

[HeroPress] The Big Money Joust...

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:00:04 GMT

This quarter-of-an-hour clip shows the final round of the jousting from Sherwood Forest Faire - as featured on HeroPress earlier in the week - for the big cash prize.

Again, we have YouTuber GnonplussedGnome to thank for the footage.

[2d6] 2d6 Full Release!

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:00:04 GMT

Guess what? The full release of the 2d6 Roleplaying System is at hand!

To download the PDF File of the Full Release Core Rules, click this link.

Major changes from Delta:

Stat costs now scale the way skill costs do, and you get more points with which to buy them
Armor grants rerolls on results of 2, 3, or 4 depending on the type instead of 1, 2, or 3 times per day
Magic is now based on Resolve (which is now the combination of Toughness and Willpower, similar to Initiative)
Cast and Resolve are no longer skills
Cinematics cost 2XP and can no longer grant an [...]

[Flames Rising] Children of the Revolution Deluxe Kickstarter

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:00:04 GMT

Children of the Revolution tells the stories of noteworthy or notorious Kindred of the modern nights whose Embraces came intimes of unrest, rebellion, or open revolution. The circumstances of these revolutions might have been mortal or undead, martial or cultural. These Kindred joined the ranks of the Damned under tides of war or cultural upheaval, and their blood bears the mark of change from one paradigm into another. Sometimes they are the agents of change. For others, their revolution drags them in its wake.

The world of the Kindred is always fraught with blood and danger, and Embrace amid the fires [...]

[DMG 42] LCTN: Side Passage

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:45:03 GMT

THIS IS SCENE #5 IN A PLAY-BY-POST D&D GAME
Many elements of it are unique and innovative, with several key twists that will catch the players by surprise. The adventure is deadly and devious, with victory going only to those clever enough to take it. Though it may not be a traditional Fourthcore deathtrap dungeon, I assure you, dear reader, that it holds many of the ideals of Fourthcore close to its heart.
I will keep these posts easily collapsible, so that readers may easily skip past them if they wish. Although, really, you'd be missing out.

Read more

[Greyhawk Grognard] Mapping Beyond the Flanaess: The Tharquish Empire

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:30:04 GMT

At long last, another in my series of Darlene-style maps covering western Oerik. This time, we cover the Tharquish Empire and the remainder of the Tharquish Dominions. I envision the region as a Greco-Roman type place (which is attested to in the Chroniques de la Lune Noire, which shows a decidedly Classical Tharquatis about to get taken out by a tidal wave; but that's okay, because it's no more canonical than Tharizdun destroying Oerth in the Gord the Rogue books), with lots of hilly terrain broken up by smallish woodlands.

I also made a few changes to the Free [...]

[Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal] RPGNow Discounts -- Through June

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:15:02 GMT

Those fine folks at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG have the latest set of discounts up, you can get any of the following items at 20% off (until 14 June) with the secret code at the bottom of this entry:

Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment]
Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs]
Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages]
FantasyCraft [Crafty Games]
Fat Dragon's Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games]
Paths of Power (Pathfinder System) [4 Winds Fantasy]
Spycraft: Real AmericanH.E.R.O.es[Crafty Games]
Fellowship of the White Star Campaign Book [Thenodrin Presents]
Ninja Burger RPG (2nd Edition) [aetherial FORGE]
Heavy Gear Blitz! Locked & Loaded [Dream Pod 9]
Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn [Goodman Games]
Splicers RPG [Palladium Books]
Noir Knights (Savage [...]

[Between Are the Doors] The Vistani Fate Tradition

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:15:02 GMT

The Vistani come from Ravenloft. If you are ripping of Dracula or Eastern Europe for Gothic horror, you need gypsies. Ah, the Tarokka deck; did you know this year it is 20 years old? I have a deck, and looking at the back of the cards I saw that 1992, and just blinked.

Anyway, a “tradition” is different from a grimore and an overlay template; it is a pool of talents that have restrictions on who can take them that, together, represent a body of lore among an oppressed and marginalized people. (It is no more complicated than that.)

One of my [...]

[Between Are the Doors] Template: Purifier (Witch Hunter)

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:15:02 GMT

Before my reflections get totally out of hand, here’s something delightful for you.

The Purifier

I have very conflicted feelings about this template. See, the whole Warhammer Empire concept (my inspiration in this case) is designed to justify a Neo-Nazi worldview. Knowledge, open-mindedness, and embracing of diversity are cardinal sins that will bring the end of the world as you know it. So basically, what I believe in personally is antithetical to the concept of the witch hunter (and a setting specifically designed so that everybody has ample reason to fight everyone else.)

In my D&D setting, characters made treaties with goblin tribes, [...]

[Geek Native] Kickstarter cancels funding for anime tentacle game Tentacle Bento

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:05 GMT

Tentacle Bento raised more than $30,000 in half the time set aside for a $13,000 request total. The project was set up by Soda Pop, the copany behind Super Dungeon Explore and Relic Knights.

The concern? Kickstarter hasn’t said publicly but the implication is the funding site wasn’t happy with a game based around hentai tentacle action. Soda Pop haven’t addressed the issue head on either but in a Facebook post they say;

“To all our friends and new supporters from Kickstarter, and those who wanted to Tentacle Bento come to fruition, we are working on a solution to get us back [...]

[The RPG Athenaeum] 1e to 4e: Bringing wandering monsters back into D&D

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:05 GMT

Random monster encounters played an important role in character advancement in early editions of D&D and in many video RPGs, as this assortment of random monsters for Nintendo’s Dragon Warrior game illustrates. Image copyright strategywiki.org.

While perusing some old .pdfs of legacy editionDungeons & Dragonsmodules, I was struck by how common random monster encounter tables were in the old adventures, and was reminded of the prominence ofrandom encounters in the rules themselves. The first edition (1e)Dungeon Master’s Guidehad an entire appendix devoted to such encounters, and the 1e Monster Manual II included an index that groupedcreatures from three monster volumes by [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] Showing a Little More Sand in the Campaign

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:15:04 GMT

I suspect that my players will wrap up the current adventure this Saturday. They've already accomplished much of the current scenario and have indicated a desire to move up the game's start time - as 4 hrs of gaming was a hard place to stop last week. The next session will last as long as it needs to last I suspect.

So, afterwards, it will be time to lift the curtain, so to speak, and allow my players to explore more than just the initial surroundings of their starting town.

Initially, my plan was to use Christian's HEX 000 Series as is, but I think it will serve my purposes better to break the hexes up and use them where I [...]

[RPG Hacker] The Three Sentence Backstory

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:00:06 GMT

I usually like a bit of backstory for my own player characters. Player backstories can provide powerful game ideas; I partucularly like the idea in Mouseguard of having 'enemies' so that in the players' turn (the sandbox portion of a Mouseguard game) you have something to springboard off of. Backstories have some problems though:

As a GM though, I don't usually have time to read the long (2 pages or more) backstories some people write.
Not all players like to write long backstories.
Some players can't devote time outside of the game to create backstories.
Without backstories, background information like 'how did we meet' [...]

[...and the sky full of dust] The Tour Continues

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:45:03 GMT

Over at The City of Bones, the tour of the city continues with the Merchants Quarter.

[The Paladin in the Bag] Burning Wheel - A New Beginning

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:45:03 GMT

In a rapid turn of events, but not completely out of my control, our Friday night Skype game was changed from AD&D to Burning Wheel. Yes, I know. It was not supposed to be but I came to the conclusion our group, as a whole, is more into games where they have a larger degree of narrative control and where story trumps random events.
This was barely noticeable in our first sessions, but as time went by, I become more and more aware that they enjoyed the game while they were at the Keep on the Borderlands than when they were fighting [...]

[Ancient Scroll] True Gents

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:30:05 GMT

Subkultury cyberpunka- nowe grupy spoeczne do ubarwienia kampanii w wiatach przyszoci. True Gents Ta subkultura jest subkultur czarnych. Wyrosa z gett, gdzie bogaci narkotykowi bossowie postanowili przyj styl szanowanych ojcw chrzestnych. Styl zosta szybko skopiowany przez ulic. Rnica bya taka, e garnitury nie byy tak drogie, buty tak dobre, biuteria tak wyszukana. True Gents wygldali [...]

[The RPG Athenaeum] 1e to 4e: Bringing wandering monsters back into D&D

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:15:04 GMT

[HeroPress] Four Minutes Of The Amazing Spider-Man...

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:00:05 GMT

I have to say I'm far more jazzed about The Amazing Spider-Man than The Dark Knight Rises, but then I don't really hide my passion for the Marvel Comics Universe.

Now just to get Peter Parker into a film with The Avengers (and Ghost Rider, Blade, The X-Men etc) and my head would truly explode!

[Flames Rising] Bats about Bats

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:00:05 GMT

On Saturday, we headed to the Wisconsin Bat Festival where we not only learned about bats, why they are endangered, and why that’s bad for the environment — but we got to see a few live and in person as well. Here are some pictures of bats from the festival!

The Bat Festival featured live bat programs with bats from around the world, including Wisconsin's backyard bats. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources experts were on-hand with information about bat habitats, predators and white-nose syndrome.

Several authors were also at the event, including Brian Lies, author of the children’s books Bats at the [...]

[Troll in the Corner] One geek's board game collection.

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:00:05 GMT

I’ve been asked a few times by various people quite recently what I’m playing, what I have and what I wish I had. So, I took some not-to-terrible photos of my collection using my phone’s camera. Here’s most of what I have (a few games are on loan). As for what I want? Well, everything else of course! I’ve written up a very, very, very brief review/brain-dump on each game pictured that isn’t a kid game or Toys R Us game.

Click any picture to make it vastly larger.

Top Shelf

Talisman is the original Black Isle version, of which that one is [...]

[that70sgame] Saint Walker

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:45:03 GMT

Why Saint Walker? He’s the main blue lantern, and blue is the other side of green to yellow…and Mika picked him. Expect Indigo-1 next! Saint Walker (First Blue Lantern) Solo … Continue reading →

[JP On Gaming] Tales From the Auction: Cryx Army, Part 2

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:30:05 GMT

The Cryx Satyxis raiders are females imbued with dragon blood. After I bought them and began assembling them, I noticed that their horns were missing and that their whip-like lashes were broken off. So I added self-made whips and painted their horn-less heads. I did not want to paint them with a black scheme presented by Privateer Press. I never use black as a base color anyway. Their colors are dark reddish-brown, green and white.

The second group is not quite Cryxian in itself, but I will use them as part of my Zombie pirates army... I [...]

[Mythopoeic Rambling] Chinese Dragon

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:00:04 GMT

Ai Weiwei's dragon from his Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads at the Hirshhorn.

[Troll in the Corner] Disbelief 2: The Disbeliefening

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:00:04 GMT

Thanks to flickr user DaveOnFlickr! CC BY-SA 2.0

A few weeks ago, a commenter lamented that I didn’t give specific examples when it comes to the suspension of disbelief, breaking it, and potentially getting it back. I aim to misbehave please, and thus I’ll try to expand upon that idea a bit more. Here are some sure-fire ways to break the suspension of disbelief and rip your players out of the story:

Clunky Mechanics

Ultimately, they are called role-playing games, and there have to be some rules otherwise it’s just shared storytelling (nothing wrong with that, either). When there are rules, especially rules [...]

[Chilldren of the Unknown ] Orphan's Isabelle Fuhrman to Lead Suspiria

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:45:05 GMT

Isabelle Fuhrman (The Hunger Games, Orphan) is set to headline David Gordon Green’s Suspiria, Crime Scene Pictures announced today. The just-revealed cast also includes Isabelle Huppert (Amour, The Piano Teacher), Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs, The Woman in Black), Michael Nyqvist (Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Antje Traue (Man of Steel).

Based on Dario Argento's 1977 film of the same name, Suspiria is written by Green and Chris Gebert and centers on Suzie (Fuhrman), a bright and ambitious American student who travels to Europe to attend a world renowned school. After a fellow student is [...]

[The Other Side] White Dwarf Wednesday #16

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:30:04 GMT

We open the 80s with White Dwarf #16 for Dec 1979/Jan 1980.
First up we notice another step up in the cover art.

We have a few pages of ads and the editorial begins on page 7. Ian Livingstone talks about how WD was voted the best games magazine in the recent Game Day Awards. The questionnaire they did a few months back is reprinted here (later in the magazine) and they want to get feedback.

Lew Pulsipher has 3 pages on monsters from the Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series for AD&D. I was always one of those people who [...]

[The Warlock's Home Brew] ICONS Issue 5

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:30:04 GMT

DEATH AT 30,000 FEET!!
Lord Genovasis - The father of Meta-humans
Automaton - The Mechanical Marvel
Nate Brown - Lowly janitor (AKA The Sponge)
The Scarlet Hood - The bane of organized crime and political corruption
Prophylactica - The woman wonder of rubber!
King CobraCol. Francis "Popeye" Sanders
Trapped aboard a Nazi airship loaded with stolen American weaponry, Lord Genovasis, Col. Sanders and The Scarlet Hood plan their next move. They send their new ally, Tarpit, out to beat up the Nazi soldiers who have retreated offering him $5 a head. Tarpit gladly takes them up on that offer [...]

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] High Tech Mysticism & High Caliber Adventure Encounter -Random Artifacts Of The Space Gods Passing

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:15:03 GMT

Random Artifacts Of The Space Gods Passing

The corpses of several thousand encased with vibaranium & crystal lattices 40000 credits value
The remains of a city street of alien design & aspect its angles leading to different times & places.
Several Dozen Space Craft fused into one mass their power sources still salvageable 10,000 credits
Twelve ancient buildings spinning through space. 1d4 Space Spiders 4 hit points each feeding upon the corpses. Save versus poison or be infected with a nano plague of dissemblers 50000 credits in loose treasure & goods
1d6 cosmic machines left behind within an asteroid field that was a planet. They are a [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Zbrojownia Zajceva 1

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:15:03 GMT

Ben Hustler szybkim, wiczonym od lat ruchem wycign bro z kabury, kadc j do czerwonej skrzyni na bro osobist. Przechodzc przez wykrywacz metalu skoni si jednemu ze stranikw. Ten odpowiedzia uprzejmym umiechem. - Dzie dobry panie komendancie! Pracowity dzie?- Jak zawsze. Szef jest mam nadziej?- Tak. Prosz do nastpnego pomieszczenia. Stalowe drzwi otworzyy si niemal [...]

[The Geek Life Project] Web Clip Wednesday: The Good, The Bad & The Weird

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:00:05 GMT

While this looks like just an awesome movie (Yep, it’s on Netflix list.) I can’t but help think that our Deadlands posse is probably going [...]

[Black Campbell] The Offense Lies With the Offended

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:45:04 GMT

This is going to be a strange, possibly contentious little post in relation to most of the gaming advice given here. Bear with…

I was doing my morning cruise through the blogosphere today and came across a piece that prompted this piece. The author related a story in which they were at a gaming event in which, after their play, they realized that two of the players had quietly exited the game. Curious, the person asked a mutual friend why and was rewarded with an explanation that the mutual friend thought it was they were uncomfortable with their having been a [...]

[Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer] [Marvel Heroic Roleplaying] Play This Character: Johnny Gato, Hotblooded Bancho

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:30:04 GMT

Johnny Gato, Hot-blooded Bancho
Solo D10, Buddy D8, Team D6

Distinctions
- Ex-Delinquent
- That all you got?!
- Hot-Blooded Hero

Power Set:

Newton’s Third
Enhanced Durability D8
Powered Strike D8
Leaping D8

SFX: Absorption – On a successful reaction against a Physical attack action, convert your opponent’s effect die into a Power Set stunt or step up a Power Set power by +1 for your next action. Spend 1 PP to use this stunt if your opponent’s action succeeds.

SFX: Multipower – Use two or more Newton’s Third powers in a single dice pool at a -1 step for each additional power.

Limits: Conscious [...]

[Intwischa] How to Not GM

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:30:04 GMT

Those who remember some of our older posts might recollect that Bryan's our compulsive planner, Charlie's the inveterate improviser, and I use a sort of hybrid style. I tend to plan an outline of a plot, and improv the details. While that sentence did have the word "improv" in it, the "plan" part was pretty operative to my method. When I'm making up elements of the story, I usually have a structure to fall back on.

Readers of our more recent posts might also know that we've incorporated Houses of the Blooded into our repertoire. It might be counter-intuitive that I, [...]

[Held Action] [Skull & Shackles] We're On a Boat?!

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:15:05 GMT

Two Fridays ago, as promised, I joined a new role-playing group to kick off the Skull & Shackles adventure path for Pathfinder.

Eric (Felix Cailean), Joey (Lady Viola Leona Eudonius), John (Jetsam ibn Abbasid ibn Yunus al-Bhar; Jetsam al-Bhar for short), Tyler (Morley Bishop), gathered by GM Luke, expected to end the night on board the Wormwood, but none of their characters did.

One night in Port Peril, of all the unlikely souls wandering those streets, four in particular find themselves inside or just adjacent to the Formidably Maid, a raucous dive of a tavern: one of Cayden Cailean’s foundlings, Felix, on [...]

[Perpetual Geek Machine] Ep #00051: Perpetual Geek Machine Podcast

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:15:05 GMT

Cards Against Humanityis taking over the world. This isn’t an opinion, it’s not an observation, it’s a fact. Every time we’ve introduced the game to a new group of people the reaction has been the same: “This is the best game I’ve ever played”. Across the board. Maybe we just hang out with fantastic people [...]

[Troll in the Corner] Living Life By Playing The Game

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:00:05 GMT

My father views board games as a critical tool for learning concepts such as tactics, probability, and the importance of having flexible plans. This is why he had to beat me at every game of Risk for two years he claims. “I couldn’t just let you win. The game would have been pointless if you just win.” I didn’t win my first game against him until I was nearly thirteen years old, at which point I asked him if there’s any other games we can play. He went to the massive double door cabinets that held all his dusty games [...]

[HeroPress] MINDPROBE: "Superheroes Don't Get Oscars, They Get Action Figures!"

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:00:05 GMT

As The Strobe says in The Specials: "Superheroes don't get Oscars, they get action figures".

Short of having their home town or city erect a statue in their honour, a line of action figures is possibly one of the most concrete ways a superhero group is going to get recognition in a superhero roleplaying game.

Hulk roll low percentage! Hulk mad!Inspired by the comically disastrous roll-out of the line of action figures based on The Specials in their movie, I came up with a quick little formula, for an Icons campaign, to randomly measure of how accurately a superhero is represented by his "official action figure":

ACCURATE PORTRAYAL = [(1d6+2) x (2d6-2) + X-Factor] per cent

(A character's X-Factor is either the sum of his highest ability and highest power rating or twice his highest power rating, whichever is greater)

The lower the score the [...]

[Papers & Pencils] Page By Page: Gary Gygax's DMG part 2

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:45:03 GMT

The second in my continuing series on the 1979 Dungeon Master’s Guide, written by Gary Gygax. This post begins with the section “Money” on page 25, and continues through Loyalty of Henchmen and Allied Creatures on page 37. You can see the first post in this series here.

Player Character Expenses Gary recommends that players be forced to spend a certain amount of gold each month on general upkeep. This covers all the numerous costs which are too painstaking to track during the game itself: the cost of meals, lodging, ale, minor tools, etc. This is something which actually exists in Pathfinder. You can find it under “Cost of Living,” on page 405 of the Core Rulebook. In many ways, I think the Pathfinder system is more elegant than Gary’s, but I’ve never heard of anyone actually using it. I’ve even failed to implement it myself. That’s something I need to improve on.

Reputed Magical Properties of Gems Every edition the game has some type of list which itemizes the various values of gems, but I love that Gygax devoted half of a page to explaining the type of magic each gem is related to. I can’t speak for the historical accuracy of the list, but gems and other precious stones have been said to have magical properties throughout history. Gygax specifically states that simply owning a stone does not grant any magical benefit. Rather, the purpose of the list is to give game masters a frame of reference they can draw from when creating magical items. If an NPC gives the party a magical stone to ward off a curse, then the GM can make the stone Topaz, whereas if a wizard wants to make a Ring of Guile, the GM can require them to hunt down some Serpentine.

Helmets A common [...]

[Tagsessions] Soundtrack Suggestion: Silent Hill 2 - Akira Yamaoka

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:45:03 GMT

Silent Hill 2 - Official Soundtrack

Composed by Akira Yamaoka

I will this early admit a huge soft spot in my storytelling heart for the soundtracks Akira Yamaoka composed for the Silent Hill series of games. As much as the first album was filled with lots of tremendously jarring and disconcerting tunes, the soundtrack to the second game has a much more melodic approach. This approach seems apt given the second game explored the story of James Sunderland who visits the mysterious foggy town of Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his long departed wife who says [...]

[GMS Magazine] Kunia Gier to release 1984: Animal Farm at Essen

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:15:04 GMT

Today Kunia Gier officially announced their new Essen release. The game is entitled “1984: Animal Farm” and created by the team responsible for “Kingpin” and “Alcatraz” – Krzysztof Cywicki, Rafa Cywicki and Krzysztof Hanusz. It already has a BGG profile which is going to be regularly updated by the publisher, just as “Maximum Security”, announced [...]

[Troll in the Corner] A whole bunch of games from DriveThruRPG are 20% off -- here's how to get them

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:15:04 GMT

So you’re looking for something new to play? Maybe a nice addition to a system you’re already familiar with or something that’s totally new to you? I’ve got two things to say about that.

First, go grab the Wayne Foundation Charity RPG Pack while you still can (only available until the 18th of this month!) It’s $25 and you get $235 worth of stuff. You can’t beat that with a stick.

Second, here’s a bunch of awesome games that are 20% off. Hit up the links to see them at DriveThruRPG and then when you check out, use the codeDriveThruApril (Yes, we [...]

[Online Dungeon Master] What's the OnlineDM up to in May 2012?

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:15:04 GMT

Here are a few notes on what I’ve been up to lately.

Podcasting

I’ve now appeared on quite a few episodes of The Tome Show, including the recent review of Lords of Waterdeepand, before that, the review of Heroes of the Elemental Chaos. I’m currently reading Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook in preparation for recording a new episode with Jeff Greiner and Tracy Hurley next week.

Kickstarter

I backed the recently completed Roll20 Kickstarter, and I’m a backer for the currently active Prismatic Art Collection and Sentinels of the Multiverse. Check them out – they’re OnlineDM approved!

I also just received my [...]

[STUFFER SHACK] A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:15:04 GMT

People have options when it comes to how they want to be entertained. If you're anything like me, one of your first choices is your favorite RPG. The question is, how can we get more people to share that choice with us? As there are more players, there is more energy, talent and money that is invested in the community. When that happens, we get better games, better art and better writing. Who wouldn't want that? In short, the more interest in RPGs – the better the hobby becomes.

The biggest obstacle is how we try to sell RPGs to a [...]

[Mithril and Mages] Word Search: LBB -- Clerical Spells

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:04 GMT

A classic word search puzzle taken from the three little brown books (LBB) describing Original Dungeons and Dragons. This puzzle is the first of the series which will post on Wednesdays. Over the coming weeks, an additional 15 puzzles will be posted all derived from various tables, lists and text of the original volumes.

Download (PDF, 31.93KB)

[Wrathofzombie's Blog] Giving My Setting, Hubris, a Facelift Part 3- Mutations

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:04 GMT

For previous posts- Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)

One thing I really dug in Warhammer 2e was the descriptions of mutations and beastmen. I knew I wanted something tainted and pervasive in my world and thought corrupting mutations that can fuck up my players would be loads of good fun.

I got my hands on Tome of Corruption and the mutations tables are worth their weight in gold of awesome!

When I was recreating the races I had a good talk with people on Google + about how lame Half Elves always are. A few good ideas were tossed [...]

[Arcanos do Vale] Epic Levels

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:45:04 GMT

O abismo uma excurso nas tardes faceiras. Saudaes viajantes,

no moleza ser epic level, voc sai para comprar po na padaria da esquina e um portal do abismo se abre a tua frente e voc atacado por demnios energmenos do oriente ocidental da malsia do sul do norte agreste.
Nosso grupo de RPG na campanha atual, esta caminhando neste direo neste momento, por isso achei valido esta imagem.

Ha Ha HA(Gargalhadas malficas)

Pessoal aproveito para fazer um pedido, felizmente a iniciativa Arcanos do Vale tem sido extremamente positiva, tanta em taxa de visitas dirias quanto nas taxas de downloads dos casts. Todavia tivemos poucos emails [...]

[Hack & Slash] On Abundunt Wealth

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:45:04 GMT

Are you feeling a little dark? Gothic? Do the shadows creep long throughout the realm of your world?

Looking to add interesting flavor to your game? Useful tables.

Well, holy crap Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque is awesome. And he's compiled many of the useful resources from his blog in a free .pdf.

Then he went a step further, and expanded that .pdf and added the ability to purchase it POD in either hardcover or softcover.

No Kickstarter, no waiting (well, besides shipping). The background table is IMMEDIATELY thefted and now will replace the secondary [...]

[Untimately] The Gods are Fickle

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:45:04 GMT

Jack over at TOTGAD recently reminded me of his cleric spell preparation house rule: the referee chooses half (or all) of a cleric's prepared spells every day. Here is his original post on gothic character classes. I think that I would like to try out something similar: random spell determination for clerics. This would represent the incomprehensible and mysterious nature of the gods. In terms of game play, this would also differentiate the feel of the cleric from the magic-user even more. Intuition versus reason.

The only downside that I can see is that some players might feel best [...]

[The Signe of the Frothing Mug] The Hired Blade (conclusion)

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:45:04 GMT

Today I have the conclusion of The Hired Blade for you guys. I have also made a collection of my short stories available on amazon for the kindle here, if anyone is interested. The first portion of the Hired Blade is here, if you want to start from the beginning. I awoke again and found myself surrounded by sea-green darkness. Helena was there next to me, seated upon a chair by a silver mirror,

[Ancient Scroll] Fish Out of Water

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:45:04 GMT

Disclaimer: Ancient Scroll do not claim any rights to this adventure (or any part of it) copyrighted bySteve Jackson Games. Our goal is toshow our readers where they can find this great article in the web. Townfolks always like the Sheriff, but precious few a’ them take much of a shine to being one. It [...]

[Creative Mountain Games] Tracker Tokens from Faster Monkey Games

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT

The good folks at Faster Monkey Games have come up with a neat little solution to dealing with the many resources that players need to keep track of during tabletop roleplaying games and they've got the fun-loving Jim Wampler of Marvin the Mage fame doing the illustrations. Check out their Tracker Tokens and see if it is something that can help during your own gaming!

[Keith J Davies -- In My Campaign] Link of Fame: "That's Why You Don't Have Any Friends."

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT

I first saw this blog post from Joe the Peacock a few weeks ago. The link was posted to google+ and I decided to sit on it for a while before seeing if I could get it going again.

From the post,

This is a story about a boy who needed to hear something important.

It is important. In fact, I think it’s one of the more important things you can learn, and it’s sad that most of us have to learn it ourselves, the hard way, and experience a lot of pain until we do.

[19th Level] H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:15:04 GMT

I made my first attempt at reading H.P. Lovecraft in the summer of 1989, between high school and college. I was taking a pre-calculus class that summer to allow me to start my engineering studies at the University of Connecticut with that prerequisite met. It was an awfully boring class as I'd taken non-AP pre-calculus and calculus in high school (though regretfully didn't do well enough to test out of it). Summer classes were rather long and had an intermission. I usually brought along a book to read during break in case I wanted to be alone. One of the [...]

[The Dragon Fisters] Fantasy vs. Reality

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:00:05 GMT

Last time, I managed to upset quite a few people with my polarized view on the value of alignments and how vantage and idealistic perspective can alter what the meaning of those standards are.... A group of friends who ramble and shamble while dice rumble and tumble. Call us casually-hardcore role players of Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.

[Teleleli] The Infinite Extent of Teleleli

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:03 GMT

Just as our universe is said to be finite yet unbounded, I believe that Teleleli is bounded (by the city walls), but infinite. This seems the best explanation for its apparently inexhaustible variety.

[Game Knight Reviews] The Gassy Gnoll: Three (Plus) Elements of Comedic Necromancy (May of the Dead)

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:03 GMT

The Gassy Gnoll isn’t much of a comedian. Sure, he can occasionally come up with a witty quote or spontaneously create bad puns like joke grenades (that usually fizzle), but that’s about it. Farting on stage isn’t much of an act, no matter how much movies like Jackass try to make it so. But as we all know, gaming is chock full of comedic gold for a particular audience. And sometimes those gags can make even the most gruesome concepts seem funny.

Many, many, MANY moons ago I went to college and lived on a dorm floor with many other geeks, [...]

[Stargazer's World] Over The Edge RPG rules now available under the OGL

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:04 GMT

When I heard about Atlas Games releasing the rules under the OGL I was mildly interested. I have never read nor played Over The Edge and I didn't even have a clue what the game was about. The name ringed a bell, but that was about it.

But a [...]

[Tower of the Archmage] Diablo Dowager

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:04 GMT

Have you ever heard of WoW Widows? They're the partners of World of Warcraft players who can't step AFK and spend time in the real world. It isn't just limited to WoW either. Just about every MMO has some. It goes beyond computer games too as evidenced by other examples like football widows.

Now, my partner plays WoW, but it isn't an addiction. She's actually a responsible adult, for which I'm very thankful. It probably helps that

However, Diablo III came out yesterday. You might have heard something about it?

What you need to [...]

[Exchange of Realities] On Play-By-Posts and Social Contracts

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:04 GMT

Ah, the play-by-post game. You’d think it would be a supremely stable means of gaming; after all, it can work despite people being on opposite sides of the world, and people actually get to think about their turns without their fellow players being bored out of their minds.

But a vast majority of play-by-posts tend to die away before they’ve gotten very far---and, at least in my experience, most of them do because, without peer pressure right there to make sure that the posters are still posting, the flood of posts turns to a trickle, and then to a point where [...]

[HeroPress] Wonder Woman Wednesday (Twofer)...

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:04 GMT

[Ancient Scroll] Hunters in the Dark

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:30:04 GMT

Modern warfare horror adventure idea Somewhere in North Africa. Present Day. The players are soldiers or combatants in a modern day civil war. It does not matter which side of conflict they support. Their mission is to intercept enemy reconnaissance. Setting A medium-sized village on the front line. There is an old, destroyed (probably by [...]

[Really Bad Eggs] Wednesday Wyeth

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:15:03 GMT

[Gnome Stew] Troy's Crock Pot: 10 Steps To A DIY Map, Part 1

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:04 GMT

I have a hex map detailing the lands north of Steffenhold --- the barony town that serves as the central point of my home campaign.

The map is perfectly serviceable. The main geographic feature of each 10-mile hex is shown by a mapping symbol. There are lakes, rivers, roads and dots for towns.

Hex map of the lands north of Steffenhold.

Should the players wish their characters to go exploring, I could tell you that hex 0314 contains the imposing stone-gray castle of the Earl of Pennington Moors or that the hex 1304 holds the north end of The Hand, a large northern [...]

[Teilzeithelden.de] Rezension: Boneshaker (Cherie Priest)

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:30:04 GMT

Ich habe in den vergangenen Jahren eher wenig phantastische Literatur gelesen. Vor ein paar Wochen aber berkam mich spontan der Appetit, ich hielt Ausschau nach SciFi oder Fantasy und fand eine Mischung aus beidem: Steampunk. Ja genau, diese etwas krude Mischung aus dem Stil zwischen 1840 bis 1900 und moderner bis futuristischer Technologie. Im Kino liefen bereits einige Filme, die sich des Steampunk bedienen, siehe z. B. Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow, oder Der goldene Kompass.

Erscheinungsbild

Das Buch kam bereits 2009 ber das Label Tor" auf den amerikanischen Markt und wurde von Heyne im Mrz 2012 brand-neu" als klassisches [...]

[themandragora.com] May of the Dead

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:30:04 GMT

Undead and Loving It

As part of the May of the Dead blog carnival I’ve put together some thoughts on the undead and running them in RPGs. The core ideas is coming up with a single emotion or passion that drives each undead type, and applying that to their outlook and the ways of playing them. I’m focussing on specific types of undead, largely some of the standard ones that feature in D&D or similar FRPGs although they can be used for any other RPG (for example, Liches appear in Cthulhutech as well). I’m not going to bother dealing with non-intelligent undead, such as Zombies, as they have likely been done to death elsewhere (if you’ll forgive the pun).

Ghoul

Given that ghouls feast on the bodies of the dead, they’re something of a nuisance to necromancers and more powerful undead. They are driven by hunger and tend to congregate in packs, perhaps with an hierarchy (which explains ghasts). Their defining emotion is one of greed, tearing apart bodies to get to the choicest flesh, and perhaps squabbling over morsels. They may even start chowing down on the wounded of their own kind, abandoning combat to feast on the fallen or wounded of [...]

[Rising Phoenix Games] Do You Speak Sufeedak?

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:15:04 GMT

Our first guest post on Rising Phoenix Games is from a good friend of mine, the great GM, home brewer and scholarly gentleman MushroomAlien. MushroomAlien is one of those super intelligent guys who doesn’t make you feel like a moron when you talk to him, but rather like a bit of a genius yourself. He also has a cool user name. Please don’t get him started on Dungeons And Dragons Miniatures and how many times he has thrashed me at the game.

In virtually every pen and paper RPG, you will find a box or skill labelled “languages” somewhere on the [...]

[Between Are the Doors] The Vistani Fate Tradition

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:15:04 GMT

One of my [...]

[DMG 42] Magic Item: Silver Statue of Bahamut

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:00:03 GMT

Another item in Keep on the Shadowfell that I felt needed a boost was the Silver Statues of Bahamut, found near Sir Keegan's tomb. Written as is, I don't think they actually did any special effects at all. Or if they did, they were unremarkable and not very memorable. I wanted these hidden treasures to be a bit of a Chekov's Gun, foreshadowing the finale encounter and filling a starring role in that end piece. The items provided below have a negligible effect on actual game balance, but were clutched tightly in hand when the heroes were tasked with closing [...]

[Rather Gamey] Grrr . . .

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:00:03 GMT

I'm up waaaay past my bedtime. Time to put the stylus down. :)

G'nite.

- Ark

[Observations of the Fox] Hell on Eight Wheels: Thirteen -- Abilities

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:15:04 GMT

What is the point of a special ability if it isn't special?
Abilities need to have some kind of significant impact, otherwise players won't bother using them, and they might just forget to use them. If abilities aren't used, there isn't much point including them on the skater's card. This is especially true when the abilities and traits are the key things that differentiate one skate from another.
The core system of the game works on playing cards that are as high as possible, but still under the skaters relevant statistic. A special ability needs to twist this in [...]

[Aventuras en la Marca del Este] Nueva sesin de juego

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:06 GMT

Jornada de transicin en nuestro particular empeo por depurar posibles errores en la futura megacampaa de la Marca del Este. En esta sesin nuestros aventureros se han batido contra fieros enemigos mermando las fuerzas que se acantonan en el gran complejo. Lentamente van explorando sus inexcrutables salones, descubriendo a cada paso nuevos horrores. Sin atrevernos a desvelar el argumento de la trama, es lcito mencionar que los jugadores han tenido un fugaz encuentro con un viejo enemigo que comienza a convertirse en su nmesis particular durante su estancia en este gran complejo, pues ya es la segunda ocasin en que [...]

[Stocking the Dungeon] The Dungeon Stocking Twitter feed is now live

Wed, 16 May 2012 05:45:04 GMT

In my wanderings in the Classic D&D, OSR and Mystara communities, and surfing the internet at large, I often come across things I want to share that just don't make the cut as posts here at the Dungeon. I likewise don't want to over flood my associated Facebook and Google+ pages with tons of links that some people won't find interesting. So, I decided to start up a twitter feed, @dungeonstocking

[Reality Refracted] Most Games Just End

Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:05 GMT

Short post for today, but it is something I've found myself explaining to several people of late and figured it deserved a blog post of it's own.

Most experienced DMs will tell you this. Some will tell you it with a feeling of sadness for what could have been; others will just accept it. Either way, the fact is this: most games you run are not going to end naturally, and the longer term you hope the game to go on for the more likely that the game will have an unsatisfactory end or otherwise just die [...]

[The Other Side] Talk to me about C&C

Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:05 GMT

My son's group has moved from Pathfinder, to ACKs and now to Castles & Crusades.

I recall playing around with this game a little bit when it first came out. But now I see there are a bunch of new 4th printing covers that are green. Are they any different?

I have the Castle Keepers Guide and I have Tainted Lands. The C&C books that came with that are all that I have. For the record I was not thrilled with Tainted Lands. It just never really jelled with me I guess.

So tell me about [...]

[Dylan's RPG and Nerdery Blog] Deadlands Noir Kickstarter

Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:05 GMT

So Pinnacle has jumped in on the whole Kickstarter phenomenon with a new Deadlands setting, Deadlands Noir. Check out the Kickstarter page here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/545820095/deadlands-noir

Honestly, I can’t say I’m that enthused, as much as I love Deadlands. I can see the appeal of Deadlands + Raymond Chandler, but if I was in the mood for Raymond Chandler-esque, I’d probably just play Dresden Files – the actual time period doesn’t interest me much. Call of Cthulhu is already set around the same time and has a lot of the same feel. I don’t see what the Noir setting really brings to the table [...]

[The Wandering Gamist] Notes from the Road - Place Names

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:45:05 GMT

I've been doing the annual-ish roadtrip move for the last couple days, so I've had a decent bit of time to think on gaming topics. Not terribly productive, since I'm ever-so-slightly exhausted (haven't had an 8+ hour night of sleep in May so far that I recall, what with final projects and then 8:30 finals and now moving), but better today than yesterday or the day before that.

First, place names. The Midwest has some pretty good ones which may have to see use in ACKS. I submit for your consideration:

White Lake - lakes aren't usually white. Is [...]

[Live from the Dead Air] A Possible Connection

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:15:04 GMT

Something occurred to me the other day. You take apart an alien machine or weapon, and what do you find? Copper wires, dry-cell batteries, coupled-charge devices, Polyvinyl chloride plastic - nothing new under the sun. Physics and chemistry is the same across the universe - its more of a social thing how technology develops - we had gyrojet guns, but the guys designing them took shortcuts and they never worked right.

The one piece of technology we simply can't recreate, is the faster than light drive that brought them to Earth. So far as I'm aware, no alien captured [...]

[The Dragon Fisters] The Dragon Fisters Episode 013: Actual Play - BONUS

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:06 GMT

This Episode: You get to hear a little behind the scenes of the players rolling up their character flaws, along with some unedited haberdashery. Direct Download RSS... A group of friends who ramble and shamble while dice rumble and tumble. Call us casually-hardcore role players of Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.

[Ancient Scroll] RPG fan...

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:06 GMT

Life of RPG fan does not have to be serious all the time. Sometimes it is good to have a break from killing greenskins Related articles Huge gaming goodness, little tiny price – an update on the Wayne Foundation charity RPG Pack (trollitc.com) The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red to release new RPG [...]

[About Bruce Heard. D&D, and new stories] Ports of Mystara -- Updated May 16th 2012

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:45:04 GMT

"Savage Coast of Turan," from Age of Conan UnchainedHere's another file I dug up, written some thirteen years ago. It describes a system to rate ports. There are four separate categories, all of which are expressed in Hull Points (HP):

Total Capacity
Dock Size
Clearance
Traffic

Capacity expresses the total number of HP that may be moored at the docks or anchored within the port's harbor. Class rating is just an abbreviation. Ports rated C or better are often fortified and offer stone docks. D or smaller have wooden piers. Dry dock capacity equals [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] Mini Review - Toys For the Sandbox - The Abandoned Mine (OSR Generic)

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:30:04 GMT

I'm simply amazed that The Abandoned Mine is the 19th release in the Toys For the Sandbox release. There's a few reasons for that amazement. Let me count the ways:

I'm amazed that the series has hit 19 issues, as I've missed the last few between The Grumpy Dwarf riffing on D&D 5e and my own preparations for my recently kicked off ACKS campaign.

I'm also amazed that Quinn Conklin can keep on coming up with new and interesting locations and events, let alone 6 hooks or possibilities and 3 twists for each one. That's one hell of a lot of creative juice. Do each of the 18 combinations work for me? No, but each release has had several possible combinations that got [...]

[The ArmChair General] Beholder - gone in sixty seconds

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:30:04 GMT

The twelfth level superdungeon party decided to try to catch the patrol that had left the fort before they attacked it. Using the knowledge of Robert the Captain turned prisoner they avoided the double back and arrived safely at the meeting place where a Beholder and his group were plotting on attacking nearby settlements.

The sneaky party caught the force by surprise! I rolled a three for the deepwood snipers on sentry and a two for both the beholder and illithid.

Fifty eight points to the beholder before it even acted and the combination of fireball from bard and lightning bolt [...]

[Chronicles of Ganth] Painting with the Kids: 40k!

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:00:05 GMT

I know the models are not cheap, but my boys love 'em and love the game. We play 3e, it was the edition introduced to me and I have not decided to upgrade as of late after hearing the 6th edition is on the way.

Calli, on the right is "helping" with a Predator Tank for my own "Bad Company" Space Marine Chapter, while Caleb in the camo is working on his "Snow Orks" Clan. Kyle is Chaos Marines, called "The Golden Chaos" the boys love it. Calli wants to get involved but she has a bad habit [...]

[Mithril and Mages] Tweak and Tune: Labyrinth Lord Generators

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:45:03 GMT

As with all random generation systems, there are details which result that you just are not happy with. Tonight a few defective elements were tackled. #1 on the list was the Monster Stocker. Inline treasure generation was changed to be optional rather than assumed. Treasure should be a function of the situation not just implied by the default Hoard Class.

Next on the list was the over zealous approach to magical equipment for Non-Player Characters. The NPC code is utilized not only by the Monster Stocker but also by [...]

[Observations of the Fox] Hell on Eight Wheels: Twelve -- Teams

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:30:05 GMT

Getting back to work on Ho8W; it's been a while since I've looked at this, so it's probably good that I start on a completely different part of the rules.
I've been thinking about the ways in which skaters are differentiated. This seems to be the key method where this game will vary from the other roller derby games on the market, and I really love the idea of personality tension on the track, synergy within the team, and varying ways to play.
These are the things that keep a game evolving. Otherwise is becomes like monopoly, [...]

[Digital Orc] Map: Dungeon 5

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:30:05 GMT

Here is another map I've map for my upcoming module. While there are many monsters and physical dangers, there are also many cunning traps. Will you survive?

I hope to have it for sale before Gencon.

[Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal] Review -- Dreamchipper

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:30:05 GMT

Dreamchipper is a blast from the past, an adventure for the original version of Shadowrun. It is still a fun read and a fun adventure but a few additional pages with suggestions on ways to update and adapt it to the current edition and setting would not have been amiss.

Dreamchipper for Shadowrun written by James D. Long and published by Catalyst Game Labs (and originally published by FASA in 1989). It is an 84-page PDF which reproduces the original FASA module.

Dreamchipper is an adventure set in 2050 (22 years before the default date of the current edition of Shadowrun) and [...]

[Gothridge Manor] Click Here to See What Rocks

Wed, 16 May 2012 01:45:02 GMT

Loviatar's 9th issue does!

So somewhere in the shuffle of stuff I did not post my thoughts on the latest issue of Loviatar. To you not so smart people who have not subscribed to it, get an automatic +1 boost in Intelligence for doing so. And there is a cumulative 10% of each issue read your Wisdom will increase.

I reread it recently and think its Christian's strongest offering. The entire issue is dedicated to another hex. Hex 005 to be exact. It is a very, very cool hex. As a GM you have a lot [...]

[The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.] Deadlands Noir, or Take My Money, Please

Wed, 16 May 2012 01:45:02 GMT

So Pinnacle had been teasing a new setting by John Goff recently, and when they pulled the trigger on it, it was bigger than I had thought: Deadlands Noir. The Deadlands timeline moved up to 1935 and, presumably, wearing the trappings of both the Weird West and hard-boiled noir. Even more impressively, the Kickstarter has almost doubled the goal in less than a day.

I am a Deadlands fanboy. I dig noir. Needless to say, I am absolutely pumped. With pledge goals that include PDFs ($20), hardcovers ($50), a special deck of cards ($75), unique bennies ($125) and [...]

[Armchair Gamer] WaRP: OGL and Over The Edge?

Wed, 16 May 2012 01:45:02 GMT

Not quite. Atlas Games has apparently released the rule system (not the setting) to the classic Over The Edge RPG under the Open Gaming License. I'm quite interesting in seeing who will release books under this simple RPG system (called the Wanton Role-Playing system), because then I will just import all the interesting characters and plotlines from Al Amarja and plop them into the game! Haha!

[Boneyard] New Page

Wed, 16 May 2012 01:00:04 GMT

I added a new section for any useful free stuff I come up with, called freebies (whooooeeee, original there). On it right now is a complete alternate fantasy system that I had posted awhile ago as an experiment. I put it back up so anyone who missed it the first time can grab it and [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] Mike Mearls Live Chat 1100 - 1200 PDT May 16 (Tomorrow)

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:45:05 GMT

Yep, Mike Mearls and Some Other Guy are going to be having a chat about D&D Next and the upcoming play test tomorrow, May 16 from 1100 am to 1200 pm in a chat format with moderated questions.

Now, as the hours are such that most folks gainfully employed are working, I suspect the Q&A isn't so much intended to elicit true questions about the direction of the game, but more likely it will turn into a sort of posted FAQ for the play test after the fact.

Do I think that most of the questions will be from "ringers"? Yes. Or at the very least, the only questions that will make it through moderation will be "ringer" type questions. But hey, I'm [...]

[Reality Blurs] Savage Worlds and Kickstarters: A Noir Addition to the Deadlands Canon

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:30:04 GMT

Today, there has been a LOT of buzz about Pinnacle’s first foray into Kickstarters. It’s interesting because I had a talk with Shane about these over dinner at Origins last year. You see, I’ve been planning to do a Kickstarter of some sort for some time. I just have been gathering data, working on my own projects, and figuring out exactly how to execute the thing. A lot of my friends and industry colleagues have met with some great success and I’m happy to see that Pinnacle is taking a step out of the traditional publishing model as well as [...]

[Going Last] Build Your Own Monster

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:30:04 GMT

Build Your Own Monster
or Why Frankenstein remains disturbingly relevant
(by Iain Lowson, mad scientist behind award-winning RPG Dark Harvest: The Legacy of Frankenstein)

In the PR build-up to the release of the new Dark Harvest book, Resistance, I was interviewed recently for a Polish gaming website, Poltergeist. The interviewer, Pawel, asked about the relevance to modern times of the whole Frankenstein 'thing'. The background to Dark Harvest: The Legacy of Frankenstein (DH:LoF for short), begins where Shelley's book ends. It then travels through the politics and conflicts of the mid-1800's before leaving things to the players and GMs in 1910. [...]

[Chilldren of the Unknown ] How to roll dice in the forum

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:15:03 GMT

Dice Rolling

To roll dice, use the following syntax:
XdY

You can modify the roll with “+” or “-” Z at the end. So:
1d20+15

[The Geek Life Project] Kickstarting Deadlands Noir

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:45:04 GMT

Pinnacle Entertainment announced their new secret setting and it’s Deadlands Noir and their funding it via Kickstarter. It was only announced at noon Eastern time [...]

[GMS Magazine] Raging Swan Press releases So What's the Hoard Like, Anyway? II

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:45:04 GMT

This week, Raging Swan Press is proud to announce the release of So What's the Hoard Like, Anyway? II a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible GM's RESOURCE by Andrew J. Martin and Liz Smith. Your PCs are deep in the dungeon and have just defeated a terrifying dragon! As they bandage their wounds, and ready their [...]

[JP On Gaming] Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Trenches Characters

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:45:04 GMT

I have finally come up with the way I want to create the characters for Dark Trenches... Another little gem...

First off, each character is given a basic concept with a character sheet (clergyman, dilettante, drifter, journalist, professor, and policeman). To that base, I will add to each character a "military training" package taken from "No Man's Land". At this point we have a basic character.

Since I plan on running the adventure is a public setting, I want to make the characters unique, and give each of them some special, bonuses to skills, to give the PCs a [...]

[Trollish Delver] First DemonLord title and draft cover

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT

I've recently been working on DemonLord, the gamebook series based on USR and I just wanted to share a couple of things with you.

First off, the title I'm running with is DemonLord: Mountains of Ember, which may give a bit of insight into what the adventure may consist of.

Secondly, I've drawn up a mock cover of the book. It's not fancy at the moment, but it'll be something along these lines. I really like the artwork (public domain) and it links in well with what the book is about.

One thing I've [...]

[Alex Schroeder: RPG] The Forgotten Depths

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:00:05 GMT

As I wrote a few days ago, I’m using The Forgotten Depths for one of my campaigns. The blessing and curse of all the One Page Dungeon Contest submissions is that the monsters lack stats. Well, time think something up. As most of the players are kids and their characters range from level 3 to 5, I’ve started using the following stats:

Sharkmen HD 4, AC 5, 1 bite 2d6 and 1 weapon 1d6, SV 15, MV 12, ML 10; evil tyrants
Snakemen HD 3, AC 6, 1 spear or macahuitl 1d6, SV 14, MV 9, ML 7; on a 20: grapple and constric for 1d6 per round until slain; born hunters, always hungry, stuck in the stone-age, fear the sharkmen
Frogmen HD 2, AC 8, 1 sickle and crossbow with charged bolts 2d6, SV 17, MV 9, ML 6; jumping charge for +2; cruel servants of the sharkmen with nimble fingers and access to technology; the crossbows can charge a total of ten bolts before needing to be recharged themselves
Cave apes HD 4, AC 6, 2 fists 1d6, SV 15, MV 12 and climb 6, ML 7; savage and desparate
Rocketmen HD 6, AC 2, 1 ray gun 1d6, SV 13, MV 12 and fly 15, ML 9; ray guns ignore armor; aloof
Blood monkeys HD 1, AC 7, 1 bite 1d6, SV 18, MV 12, ML 6; on a 20: start sucking blood for 1d6 per round until slain
Minotaur HD 6, AC 5, 2H axe or heavy javelin 2d6, SV 13, MV 12, ML 9; extra attack with horns for 1d6 when charging
Pterosaur, young HD 2, AC 6, 1 beak 1d6, SV 17, MV 3 and fly 15, ML 3 10 ft. wingspan
Pterosaur, adult HD 6, AC 5, 1 beak 3d6, SV 13, MV 3 and fly 15, ML 5; 20 ft. wingspan

Since [...]

[The Labyrinth] Free Map Muesday

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:45:04 GMT

Here is this week's free map for you. Like all of our Free Map Monday Maps, this map is 100% free for your personal use. It is devoid of city/town markers, mountains, forests, or anything else which leaves you free to add anything you want to the map with ease. Please feel free to leave thoughts on this map or the series of free maps in general in the [...]

[Rather Gamey] Wild Hair Lady WIP

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:45:04 GMT

In case anyone is interested, here is a sketch of a picture I've been working on. I've been experimenting with Autodesk SketchBook Pro, at it is pretty nifty for sketching. I'm not so sure about using it for anything else, but for sketching, it blows away Photoshop.

In case anyone wonders WTF is going on up there, I sketch in different layers and colors, so I can keep track of newer bits as I experiment with different sizes, shapes, and positions of things. Eventually, I just take my favorite bits and trace over them in black, then blow everything else [...]

[Land of Nod] Will Kaanga Rue the Day He Met Bwana Black-Jaw?

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:30:03 GMT

See what I did there? Kaanga. Rue. Yeah - spent more time on the title than the rest of the post. As always, a hearty thanks to the Comic Book Catacombs for posting this story. Away we go ...

Right off the bat, I defy you to figure out what the @#$#%$ is going on. The story reads like they removed every panel. We start off with the finest jungle comic book poetry ever written ("Devil-Devil Wind", because the benighted love using the same word twice in a row to provide emphasis).

First, Ann watches Kaanga spear [...]

[The Time of Troubles] A Night of Dragons (The Wyvern's Spur)

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:30:03 GMT

Giogioni Wyvernspur floated in the blissfull ignorance of unconciousness. The first sense to come back was his hearing. He couldn't pinpoint when he started hearing the noises, screams and shouts as they had started building gradually. They became louder and louder, to the point to where he was awoken. Through bleary eyes, he saw that he was in a small private garden, maybe fifteen feet to a side. The plants were all in their winter-sleep, wearing the browns of that dead season. He also realized that he was freezing. Giogi was laying on the ground in this garden and the town or city was alive with the sounds of pain and fear.

Sitting up, he realized that he was battered and bruised, but that seemed to be the extent of his injuries. No broken bones, no heavy bleeding. His left knee poked out of a tear in his breeches, and blood was seeping through a scrape on his forehead but that was it. Now where was his cloak? As he stood, he searched his mind for any answers as to where he was and why he was here. He had fleeting images of... of being in wyvern-form, [...]

[Chaotic / GM] Deadlands Noir --- Kickstarter

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:00:05 GMT

Hello again, I wager most of you will have heard it by now. Pinnacle is doing a Kickstarter for the first time too and it is for a new book: Deadlands Noir. Set in the 1935 New Orleans it promises crime, mystery and the occult in the trademark Deadlands style transported into the time of [...]

[frothsof4e] Memorable Mechanics Part 4: Over-the-Top Conditions

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:00:05 GMT

ok welcome to what i think might be the last in this series on memorable mechanics in your games, at least until im inspired to write another one. i want to talk today about using unusual conditions in your game.

4e did some amazing things for the game, not least of which is codifying certain conditions. what this means is that you can play at multiple tables all over the world and be truly playing the same game. it makes DMing easy even if you have never met the table of players you are about to run a game [...]

[The Douchey DM] System Agnostic Writing

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:00:05 GMT

When writing down the first draft of your custom adventure, I suggest ignoring all gameplay mechanics. Don't draw maps, don't think on how many perception rolls should be allowed, don't even build monsters. Just concentrate on getting the story down on paper. I know this isn't a novel concept. People have been doing it for years.

I haven't. Sometimes I'm dumb that way.

The problem I've always run into, the roadblock I keep putting in front of myself, is the idea that I must finish each part of the story as I go along. If I was writing a Call [...]

[Battreps] 4 Chariots 4 A Race

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:45:03 GMT

[Chilldren of the Unknown ] Macedonian Vampires

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:30:05 GMT

Macedonian names for an unead vampire include:

Vompiras
Vampiros
Vrykolakas
Vorkolakas
Vroukolakas

The Macedonian undead is sometimes reported as being virtually identical to the undead of southern Greece and the Greek islands. It was often thought to be a corpse animated by a demon. But, while in southern Greece the ways to destroy a vampire were limited to excorcism and cremation, in Macedonia there were other means as well. These include scalding the corpse with boiling oil and then driving a long nail through its navel.

Also, there are vampire hunters who can destroy the vampire when he is outside his grave. This goes along with the [...]

[The RPG Guy] Red Space: Episode 4 -- Illusions

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:00:04 GMT

Episode 4 - Let's do this!

Need to catch up? No problem! Just readEpisode 1,Episode 2and Episode 3first.

After tallying up the votes from Episode 3you chose to “Ask nicely.”

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it!

Red Space: Episode 4

There is something odd about this creature that makes the hairs on your neck stand up. Then, you notice something.

It has purple cat-like eyes.

You focus on the eye.

At the center of the vivid purple the dark pupil widens. As it does the reflection of the spear-tip slowly comes into focus and brings you back to your predicament.

“There’s no need [...]

[HeroPress] Slash Fiction... Fact?

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:00:04 GMT

A Star Trek documentary called Mind Meld came out in 2001 focusing on the two main characters from the original (and best) Star Trek; as it says on the front of the DVD box:

Below that is the tagline:

But then, flipping the DVD case over, my eye was drawn to the certification warning:

Waitaminute, contains what now?

Around the globe slash fiction writers are punching the air and declaring: "We knew it, we were right all along!"

[Tenkar's Tavern] Is DnD 5e Retreating From Its Goal of Encompassing All Editions Feel in One Set of Rules?

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:45:03 GMT

I'm still a bit confused by Mike Mearls' latest article about Wizards in 5e.

I thought the plan was to have a Vancian styled wizard with minor at will powers like a bolt of force (so the wizard isn't useless when his memorized spells are spend - L&L Column from 2/27). Or maybe if he has a different specialty, he might instead get something like Tenser's Floating Disk as an at will.

Now it seems like the at will powers are being bumped up, and the vancian styled spells are getting throttled back.

It and of itself, not a big deal. It's a new edition, I expect change. However, it doesn't fit the initially stated goal of one [...]

[Emergence Campaign] Exalted -- Geomantic Emulation

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:30:06 GMT

Yeah, here looks good. The cow will just have to move.

And here we have a few more geomantic charms for Exalted. Why? Why not? Admittedly, these are a bit specialized – but they have their uses on occasion.

Geomantic Empowerment

Cost: —; Mins: Occult 3, Ess 2, Type: Permanent.
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None

The character becomes a living Network Node and Geomantic Nexus, linked to any manses with similar powers that he or she is currently attuned to. When within a manse, he or she may either channel points from available geomantic relays into it (whether to counter power failure or to boost [...]

[Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal] Tuesday Magic Item -- Mace of the Infernal Duke

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:15:04 GMT

The warlord styling himself the Emperor of the North paced his throne room, pausing to look at maps and reports. Snapping at servants and drinking rice wine.

His trusted lieutenant, his armor damaged and his head bandaged arrived with a long box under one arm. He kowtowed and offered the box.

“You have found it?” asked the warlord.

“Yes, my Emperor, it cost the lives of most of my command and all the wizards you sent to retrieve it, but the mace of the infernal duke is yours.”

Mace of the Infernal Duke

Despite the name this was made for a mortal, but not a [...]

[Greyhawkery] Castle Greyhawk: Day's End

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:15:04 GMT

Page eight of the Castle Greyhawk graphic novel adaptation is now available at our official blog where you can read it from the beginning.

You can also download the latest episode here, courtesy of Maldin's Greyhawk.

Commentary: This page was fun to put together. A) It had less dialogue, not that I mind wordy pages, but it just leaves more room for art. B) The city scenes while alot of work are starting to grow on me. Of course the comic is "Castle" Greyhawk not Greyhawk City, so I'm pretty sure we'll be leaving that soon. C) Scott Casper's direction doesn't need [...]

[Lurking Rhythmically] Pellatarrum: My Halflings are Different

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:00:04 GMT

In contrast to dwarves, halflings are always cheerful, even if they're not happy. In fact, many races find halflings so annoyingly perky that it sometimes results in fisticuffs. This suits the half-folk just fine, because they find as much pleasure in a good brawl as they do in eating, drinking, singing, and dancing.

Halfings come in two distinct varieties. Pastoral halflings live in lightly wooded areas of rolling hills, where they enjoy the simple bucolic pleasures of farming, fishing, and raising livestock. Nomadic halflings have an adventuresome spirit and frequently join the [...]

[The Troll Dens] Significance of five

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:45:03 GMT
In numerology, the number 5 is associated with many things. Amongst those aspects is adventure. ADVENTURE FREEDOM Etc. The 5th printing of the PHB is up, if you are seeking adventure, join in the fun. That, or go naked into the Bob Marsh Wilderness. Davis

[that70sgame] Sinestro

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:45:03 GMT
First up for the Lantern corps, MR Pink himself: Sinestro. I’m ignoring the whole Green LAntern bit and going back to bad guy sinestro…which will probably happen in GL anyway … Continue reading →

[Wampus Country] On The Trail

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:00:06 GMT
d100 madness will not abate!

Here's a d100 table of events for a wagon-train or overland journey.

Googledoc version

ill-formatted pdf version

About 1 in 6 results are an encounter. The rest of the results are mishaps, weather, terrain features, whatever. Everything's completely mundane; you'll have to add the laser dinosaurs yourself.

[HeroPress] When Is A Prequel Not A Prequel?

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:00:06 GMT

It's fantastic to see a film still using real giant sets and not succumbing to the lure of nasty CGI backdrops. Prometheus lands in UK cinemas on June 1.

[Mythopoeic Rambling] The Mythic Game of America

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:00:06 GMT
I'm in DC visiting my wife's family, and taking in a Nats game while I'm here. Not the usual king of gaming around MR, but baseball certainly has a mythic quality here in the US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmXacL0Uny0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Perpetual Geek Machine] I torture myself with the Zelda cartoon on DVD so you don't have to.

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:00:06 GMT
The Legend of Zelda: complete animated series is one of those DVD’s that appeals to the kid in you. It harkens back to a time where the name Nintendo was synonymous with the term video games. Companies knew these new fangled games were a hit with the kids, and set upon giving us product to [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Electro Riders

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:00:06 GMT

Subkultury cyberpunka – nowe grupy spoeczne do ubarwienia kampanii w wiatach przyszoci. Kolejne grupy wkrtce… Electro Riders Ta grupa charakteryzuje si podejciem do muzyki dawnych fanw rock and roll’a, czyli Sex Drugs and… no wanie -- czystego rocka ju nie ma, ale Electrorock rzdzi. Gitarowe riffy i industrialne bity przemieszane z dwikami otchani sieci! Electro [...]

[that70sgame] "Bad" Lantern Rings

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:45:02 GMT
The Last 3 rings are an odd bunch. The Yellow rings are basically exactly the same as the green rings. But the Orange and Red rings are very different. For … Continue reading →

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] 5 Alchemy Super Science Swords For Your Old School Space Opera

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:03 GMT

I your humble & most trusted sword smith would present you with these five treasured blades created from the finest materials from across the Human Empire. The sword doth cut both ways & its blades are of the sharpest that the hand can wield.

The Singing Swords Of Cor'ra - These blades are forged by the blind alchemist priests of Cor'ra your honorable one. They are created from the silicate crystal flowers of that world as they cry unto the sky. Shaped by the alchemist so that a single breath will cause them to vibrate with a [...]

[Flames Rising] Matt Forbeck's Brave New World: Revolution Available Now!

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:03 GMT

Ask Not What Your Country Could Do For you. Ask What It Could Do To You.

John Cruise --- better known as the superpowered delta Patriot --- only wanted to serve his country, which has suffered under martial law since the assassination of the First Lady back in 1963. For years, he did so as a member of Delta Prime, the federal paramilitary organization dedicated to keeping deltas and the rest of the population in line. Then, during the Bicentennial Battle, Chicago disappeared in a blinding flash of light, taking the world's most powerful deltas with it, along with Patriot's wife.

Today, [...]

[Teleleli] from The King of Elfland's Daughter

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:15:04 GMT

‘Come to Elfland,’ the troll said.
The child thought for awhile. Other children had gone, and the elves always sent a changeling in their place, so that nobody quite missed them and nobody really knew. She thought awhile of the wonder and wildness of Elfland, and then of her own home.
‘N-no,’ said the child.
‘Why not?’ said the troll.
‘Mother made a jam roll this morning,’ said the child.

Lord Dunsany.

[Really Bad Eggs] Off the Shelf: Plays

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:00:06 GMT
From time to time adventurers may find themselves in libraries and other places where books can be found. Some players will want to know exactly what's on those shelves, so with that in mind, Off the Shelf consists of lists of book titles for the referee to use in rolling or choosing exactly what the adventurers find.

Plays may be found on the shelves of many educated persons, or stuffed in the pockets of players. Roll 1D6 for the number of plays, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the [...]

[Zombie Toast] Podcast of Magnitude: Wrapping Things Up

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:45:04 GMT

   Just saw the Avengers movie last night with my gaming group. Very cool and very, very fun, although there was definitely at least one "DAMN YOU WHEDON!!" moment. Then of course we spent the rest of the night spouting quotes and reminding each other of scenes we had just seen less than an hour ago.

Anyway, I've also got a new Order of Magnitude recording. This one is pretty short and it covers the wrap-up of the Order's latest adventure and laying groundwork for their future games. Unfortunately one of the Order had to go off to [...]

[Underworld Kingdom] "Underworld" Day - Kowloon Walled City (part one)

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:30:05 GMT
If Ostankino Tower is the second most awesome thing built by mankind, Kowloon Walled City was the most awesome thing built by humans. It was demolished in 1993 so photos and films are only way to witness it now.

Part Two next week.

[The Delvers] There Is No Cow Level

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:30:05 GMT

Ancient, rotting texts were everywhere; water damaged books with broken spines were open on every flat surface and yellowed scrolls were unfurled over the backs of chairs. The room was permeated with a moldy smell of rotting paper in the Patriarch's main study in the Temple of Pelor. – LFH Tomb of Alaxis

Two birthdays later, while feeding the ducks at the park . . .

DM: Oh, Labyrinth Lord! Duh! We’ll just use LL when I’m writing about your games.
Sue: I like that. What are you going to use? Jon?
DM: I was thinking Jay. Both J names, heh.

Sue DMed [...]

[Flames Rising] Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Po'Kesteros, the Lostling RPG Review

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:30:05 GMT

Available at RPGNow.com

Po'Kesteros, the Lostling.
This is one of the Faces of the Tarnished Souk series NPC's for use with the Rite Publishing campaign setting/ adventure arc Coliseum Morpheuon. This is a setting of adventures and intrigues in the Plane of Dreams, where people can burn their dreams (Dreamburning) to influence fate and events. Not only can someone choose to burn a dream to control their circumstances but dreams can be stolen. On the Plane of Dreams, a dream is power. From what I can gather this high level setting, 16-20th levels, has roots in Planescape, with intrigue between [...]

[Untimately] 5E Wizards

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:15:04 GMT
Mike Mearls has a design column up talking about Wizards. There are a few interesting things here, and also a few possibilities that I don't think would suit the kinds of games I like to run. But before I talk about those things, let me observe that there seem to be an awfully large number of things that are still up in the air considering that the first public play test is in just over a week.

The aspect that is potentially most problematic from an old school point of view is the treatment of cantrips (basically, at-will powers [...]

[Intwischa] Useful RPG Blogs, Mechanics, and Mormons (Oh My!): Links for May 8

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:15:04 GMT

In this week's link post, we look at the proven-by-induction unexpected connection between Mormonism and roleplaying games, useful RPG blogs, and the elusive connection between John Parr and Indiana Jones.
Why do Mormons Keep Showing Up?
OK, I promise to avoid making this a political or religious statement. But when I read the title "Mormons and Morlocks" at Jeffs Gameblog, I thought "First Dogs in the Vineyard, now this... why do Mormons keep showing up in games?"

I'll admit readily that I know very little about Mormonism, and so have tried to take a default "thou shalt not judge" approach. And (no sacrilege [...]

[The RPG Athenaeum] Video: 'A Walking Song' from Tolkein

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:15:04 GMT

I recently came across the video below, produced by the immensely talented Shadowcat. It is a musical arrangement of part of the Poem, “A Walking Song” from Tolkein’s Fellowship of the Ring.

[Heroes Against Darkness] +2 Is Easy

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:15:04 GMT
One of the goals for the classes in Heroes Against Darkness was that each of them should be easily able to gain +2 to their Attacks, whether it's a melee attack, a ranged attack, or a spell attack. The game's combat powers are all based on class specialties, situational bonuses, or trade-offs, so each of the classes draws from these possibilities for their specific attack power that grants +2 to hit.

Heroes Against Darkness has an assumed hit chance of around 45% (hitting on a 12), based on the standard progression and monster stats, so the extra +2 on offer immediately switches this to 55% (hitting on a 10). Each of the classes gains this +2 in different ways, so let's take a tour:

WarriorWarriors have the most straightforward method of gaining their +2. The Careful Strike power allows warriors to trade off some damage (2 damage per damage tier), [...]

[Ask the Dungeon Master] Angry Birds, Swine and the Secret Cold War

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:30:04 GMT

This week we take a look at the Angry Birds conspiracy and Russian Swine hatred. Bleach Sandwich asks:

How do you feel about the Swine?

How do you feel about that? You know you love it. But seriously, this seemingly simple and innocuous question has roots that go deeper than you might care to know. Asking how I feel about the Swine necessitates taking a closer look at Angry Birds and the 2009 Swine and Avian Flu outbreaks.

We should all be familiar by now with the game Angry Birds unless you’re really old or really technologically inept, which both amount to the [...]

[Papers & Pencils] Looks Familiar...

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:30:04 GMT

Okay, I know we weren’t being very original when my designer friend and I decided on a sword-and-shield motif for the Papers & Pencils logo, but this still made me giggle when I found it in one of my old Dragon magazines. And what the hell? I can share whatever pointless minutia I want. It’s my blog.

I really wish one of us had thought of the D20 morning star. We had two really great ideas with the pencil swords and the paper shield, but a D20 morning star would have taken the cake. I may need to steal it if I ever do a redesign!

[HeroPress] MINDPROBE: My Super Ex-Girlfriend (repost)

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:06 GMT
I was a film geek before I even discovered roleplaying games and so it's only natural that I would seek inspiration for one from the other.

Mindprobe is going to be a sporadic section on HeroPress where I mine movies for inspiration and throw out some elements that I think might be useful for roleplaying campaigns.

[This is a repost of a supers feature I started last year, then it slipped by the wayside, so I shall be endeavouring to get the momentum going again]

I'm starting with My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which I saw on TV [last year].

This isn't a particularly good superhero flick; in fact it's not even a particularly good romcom, but it did have some ideas that I think could be worth exploring in superhero RPGs.

Obviously, first up, we have the idea of romantic liaisons between superpowered characters and non-superpowered characters - [...]

[Hereticwerks] Trouble with Troglodytes: Community Project at Rended Press

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:06 GMT
Matthew over at Rended Press is hosting a Community Project titled 'The Trouble With Troglodytes.' It's an Old School dungeoncrawl with an emphasis on troglodytes. There's still plenty of un-keyed spaces on the map to be filled-in, so if you have an idea or two you'd like to contribute, drop by Rended Press and have at it!

[JP On Gaming] Tales From the Auction: Cryx Army, Part 1

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:30:04 GMT

This post marks the last part of this series of posts on the armies I purchased at Gamers' Haven's auction in January. At the auction, I put my hands on a Cryx basic box. With the Legion, then the Circle done, these guys are all I had left to paint.
This first offering is for the two warcasters I own: Warwitch Denagra and the Pirate Queen Skarre.

JP

[DMG 42] Magic Item: Aecris

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:05 GMT
I'm in the process of clearing out all the flotsam and jetsam that has been floating around my list of Draft posts, ideas and snippets that I wanted to publish on DMG 42 at some point. Here's one of them.

Back a year or two ago, I ran a group through Keep on the Shadowfell, modified with lots of tweaks suggested by 11 ft. Pole, The Alexandrian, Demon Prince of Undeath, and of course some interesting new terrain powers from myself.

This post details the magic item I handed out when the dungeoneers recovered the enchanted blade of the Keep's last guardian, [...]

[Greyhawk Adventures 576CY] LEGACY the Path of Heroes - Session 013

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:56:58 GMT
TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL
SESSION 013 - Escape from the Moathouse

WATERDAY, 06 NEEDFEST (MID WINTER) 579CY
The last of Lareth's personal guard crumpled to his knees death mere moments away. The man looked up at the half-orc that stood before him, his face contorted in pain. "YOU w-h-y ....l" he coughed, his lips flecked with frothy blood, as he fell forward into a pool of his own freshly spilled blood.
The heavy blade of the half-orc's axe had moments earlier cleaved through the guard's midriff, shattering his ribs and piercing his heart.

Looking down and [...]

[Hack & Slash] On the Problem with Patronage

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:45:02 GMT
Ok, so I am pro-kickstarter.

But, I would also like to think I am not an idiot.

The world has been around a long time. And there are many different creative fields. And those fields have existed for a long time.

Ideas, well, they are a dime for -- are you kidding, I don't need any change?! Who uses change?! I could give you 1000 ideas for free. You can literally just sit there and spout off ideas for hours and it costs nothing. You have limitless immediate access to a functionally infinite number of ideas.

[Wrathofzombie's Blog] Giving My Setting, Hubris, a Facelift Part 2- Races

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT

Yesterday I mentioned how I was taking themes and inspiration from Warhammer 2e to give my current setting, Hubris, facelift after getting burnt out on writing it, and various other endeavors.

Yesterday I talked about the summary of the setting. Today is Races.

It should be warned that this is not standard happy fantasy fare. This is brutal and mature and generally going to go with the fucked up.

Races

Dark Elves- Most people are wary of Dark Elves and why wouldn't they be? You worship a spider goddess, can walk on walls, spew webs from your mouth, and drink the blood of others. [...]

[Creative Mountain Games] George R. R. Martin Talks GURPS

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT
Author and gamer, George R. R. Martin talks GURPS on MTV. Enjoy!

Get More: Geek: Event Coverage, Full Episodes

[The Signe of the Frothing Mug] These waters are wide but shallow

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT
A lot of players that grew up using 3.x and 4e have a real problem when coming back to 2e. I've noticed it repeatedly, and its very persistent across the board. Even one of my longtime regulars was once of this mindset before his complete and ultimate conversion to AD&D (I believe at my own hands). It's a strange hang-up that has to do with player choice and freedom and character creation, and I

[Big Ball of No Fun] Lords of Waterdeep as an RPG Adventure Generator

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:04 GMT
Lords of Waterdeep is a fairly popular board game recently released by WotC. And in my estimation it is fun. However, it would also make an excellent random adventure generator, especially useful on those nights when you have to prepare something in a hurry or are stuck for an idea while you prep. Simply ask yourself a series of questions and draw a card from the game... -Who is hiring the

[Arcanos do Vale] Dirio de Lanamento de Diablo 3

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:04 GMT
16h (12:00 pm horrio de braslia) faltando para abertura dos servers:

Chego em casa do trabalho e penso, "vou abrir o jogo pra conferir a instalao e talz n".
ERROR 108!
WTF at esses dias tava tudo ok, mas vamos l, um pouco de pesquisa... se voc j baixou o jogo a um
tempo atrs tem que baixar tudo de novo porque o ato 2 estava corrompido na battle.net (algo do gnero)!
Ufa, ainda bem que verifiquei isso agora ao meio dia, s deixar baixando os 7gb de novo enquanto trabalho a tarde e a noite quando chegar em [...]

[Between Are the Doors] Template: Purifier (Witch Hunter)

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:45:03 GMT

Before my reflections get totally out of hand, here’s something delightful for you.

The Purifier

I have very conflicted feelings about this template. See, the whole Warhammer Empire concept (my inspiration in this case) is designed to justify a Neo-Nazi worldview. Knowledge, open-mindedness, and embracing of diversity are cardinal sins that will bring the end of the world as you know it. So basically, what I believe in personally is antithetical to the concept of the witch hunter (and a setting specifically designed so that everybody has ample reason to fight everyone else.)

In my D&D setting, characters made treaties with goblin tribes, [...]

[The Paladin in the Bag] Inspirational Reading

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:15:04 GMT
Has it already happened to you to read something because of the game you play? This happens a lot to me. I'm a person with eclectic reading tastes, and some of it stems from my passion for roleplaying games. Until I started playing The Savage World of Solomon Kane, I did not have a clue who Solomon Kane was, and Robert E. Howard was just a name I had heard before mentioned in the same sentence as Conan. After I read the excellent Mongoose's Conan RPG, I devoured all his stories and then some such as El Borak's.
I guess [...]

[Digital Orc] More Fantasy Art

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:15:04 GMT
I am slowly adding more fantasy art to the home blog page here at the Digital Orc. I make sure to use only my own artwork (no copyright issues) and stuff that I think is pretty cool. I'm also trying to keep it all in the same basic style so, while I have a lot of color pieces, I'm sticking with black & white for now. Because most of the art is for my sidebar, I'm using mainly vertical-oriented layouts. This reduces my selection, but keeps a pleasant layout aesthetic.

I have two concerns about this. First, I hope [...]

[The Other Side] May DriveThruRPG May Sale

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:15:04 GMT
Here are the DriveThruRPG sales for May.
You can purchase any or all of these products for 20% off.
Please use the following code: DriveThruApril (yes, "April")

Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment]
Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs]
Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages]
FantasyCraft [Crafty Games]
Fat Dragon's Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games]
Paths of Power (Pathfinder System) [4 Winds Fantasy]
Spycraft: Real American H.E.R.O.es [Crafty Games]
Fellowship of the White Star Campaign Book [Thenodrin Presents]
Ninja Burger RPG (2nd Edition) [aetherial FORGE]
Heavy Gear Blitz! Locked & Loaded [Dream Pod 9]
Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn [Goodman [...]

[Game Knight Reviews] RPG Review: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG from Goodman Games, Part I

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:15:04 GMT

A few months back I had the pleasure of interviewing Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games. In that interview, he talked at length about the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game (DCC RPG) that was coming out and now that I have it in my hot little hands I want to work my way through it a bit at a time. At 450+ pages, this is a behemoth.

The first thing you notice is the gorgeous full color cover from artist Doug Kovacs… Then you open the book and the interior of the front cover is full color and gorgeous (again from [...]

[Gamerstable] Confined Campaigns -- Ep57

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:05 GMT

We're playing a confined campaign. Everyone erase your gear.

When the characters are kept in the same area (against their will or not) for an extended [...]

[Troll in the Corner] Thunderstone Advance -- The next generation of deck building dungeon delving

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:45:04 GMT

The Game
A few weeks ago a giant package arrived at the Troll in the Corner offices, and it contained a giant box of deck building happiness – Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin! I’ve now sat down and played this through several times and I’m ready to give you my honest assessment of the newest version of Thunderstone. To start things off on the right foot let me just say that I like this game a lot, but others in my gaming circles were a bit more on the fence. Here’s why!

Thunderstone Advance is a deck building game somewhat similar to [...]

[Legend4ry 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons] Legend4ry Soap-Box: Character Death and YOU! (And the Bodak, I guess)

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:30:03 GMT

Character death rocks. That's a pretty bold statement and one that comes from the heart of a player and not necessarily the cruel DM. To me, as I may have mentioned before, death represents validated choices. You make a good choice you live; you make a bad choice you die or worse. Or you can just Game of Thrones it up and no matter what you do, it's bad. Either way, the death of a character need not be a point of contention between player and DM.
As a child I consumed Choose Your Own Adventure books as well [...]

[The Time of Troubles] Thayan Gnolls

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:30:03 GMT
Thayan gnolls differ from the common variety most people in the Realms are familiar with. Indeed, when folk are asked to describe a gnoll, often their response details a hunched and feral hyena-headed humanoid--- taller than a man and covered in fur.

In Thay, alchemists for decades have bread a specialized gnoll for the needs of the Spell-casters in Red. Thayan gnolls are not hyena-like but instead are canine-headed like pit bull mastiffs. They are stronger, more intelligent and ten times as vicious---even after death a Thayan gnoll will hold its bite on a victim. The gnolls communicate with each other through pheromone secretions and their Thayan masters through a simple form of sign language as they are bred deaf so that they are less susceptible to charms and so they cannot share secrets to Thayan enemies.

They are excellent guards and loyal to the death.

[Teilzeithelden.de] Angebote DriveThruRPG.com Mai/Juni '12

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:30:03 GMT
Angebote
Es ist wieder Sonderangebot-Zeit! Wir knnen Euch 13 ausgewhlte Artikel beiDriveThruRPG.commit 20% Rabatt anbieten. Diese Bcher sind:

Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment]

Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs]

Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages]

FantasyCraft [Crafty Games]

Fat Dragon's Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games]

Paths of Power (Pathfinder System) [4 Winds Fantasy]

Spycraft: Real American H.E.R.O.es [Crafty Games]

Fellowship of the White Star Campaign Book [Thenodrin Presents]

Ninja Burger RPG (2nd Edition) [aetherial FORGE]

Heavy Gear Blitz! Locked & Loaded [Dream Pod 9]

Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn [Goodman Games]

Splicers RPG [Palladium Books]

Noir Knights (Savage Worlds) [Savage Mojo]

Ihr erhaltet den Rabatt, wenn ihr den Code DriveThruAprilbeim CheckOut angebt. Das Angebot ist gltig [...]

[Ancient Scroll] StoryCraft -- By Fate Enslaved (teaser)

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:30:03 GMT

During one period of the Byzantine Empire, it was legally permissible to enslave shipwreck victims when they washed up on one's shores. If that same group of people made it safely to the pier on an intact vessel, they were entitled to the full legal protection. Nor could slavers cause the ship to founder. But [...]

[Armchair Gamer] Real Life Update: Upcoming Anthology

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:30:04 GMT
My short story "The New Teacher" was recently accepted for publication in a local horror anthology. It's going to be titled Horror: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults. That's all. Back to your regular programming.

[Exchange of Realities] Making an Ally of "How Does That Even Work?"

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:06 GMT

When I’m designing worlds, or more often when I’m basing a plot point on some previously unexplored bit of metaphysics, one of the questions I most dread is "How does that even work?" A lot of the time, what happened did in fact pretty much bend around the plot, and while I hadn’t explicitly declared such a thing impossible, it wasn’t something that necessarily followed intuitively from the existing laws of metaphysics. When challenged, I freeze up; if I’m challenged face to face, rather than over text where I have a few minutes to think, I might get defensive, explaining [...]

[HeroPress] Knights: Are You Ready?

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:06 GMT
Some full-on jousting from the Knights Of Mayhem at the this year's Sherwood Forest Faire, shot by YouTuber GnonplussedGnome.

It takes a minute or so to get going, but after a couple of false starts, the horses are thundering and the lance's are splintering!

[Nearly Enough Dice Podcast] DriveThruRPG Second Chance Savings!

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:30:04 GMT

DriveThruRPG currently have a discount code for the following items:

Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment]

Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs]

Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages]

FantasyCraft [Crafty Games]

Fat Dragon’s Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games]

Paths of Power (Pathfinder System) [4 Winds Fantasy]

Spycraft: Real American H.E.R.O.es [Crafty Games]

Fellowship of the White Star Campaign Book [Thenodrin Presents]

Ninja Burger RPG (2nd Edition) [aetherial FORGE]

Heavy Gear Blitz! Locked & Loaded [Dream Pod 9]

Hero’s Handbook: Dragonborn [Goodman Games]

Splicers RPG [Palladium Books]

Noir Knights (Savage Worlds) [Savage Mojo]

Just enter DriveThruApril during the checkout process to get yourself 20% off any of the following games! I certainly will be taking [...]

[B/X Blackrazor] Sunny Weather and Injury

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:30:04 GMT
Last night I started composing a fairly looong post about the Mother's Day, The Avengers, sunny days and bicycle riding (and purchases). I fell asleep halfway through the thing...literally. I've been spending a lot of time outdoors lately due to the excellent Seattle weather the last few days, and the busyness during the daylight hours have precluded me keeping my eyes open at night for posting.
That and the pain.
DeQuervain's tendonitis is the diagnosis, according to witch doctor #1, and I'm pretty sure it's the correct one, as he was able to bend my thumb and apply pressure in [...]

[Gnome Stew] The Nine Forms of the Five Room Dungeon

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:30:04 GMT

The Five Room Dungeon has been around almost as long as RPGs themselves, and has been enjoying a surge of popularity in the past few years as a quick and easy way to build a dungeon crawl. Interestingly enough, it turns out there are only 9 base designs for the five room dungeon. With so few, it's very easy to simply grab one of the nine, populate it and run a crawl, but it's also easy to run the same basic layout multiple times until one of your players says: "Wait a minute! Isn't this the exact same dungeon layout [...]

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] The Tarot Of The Human Empire For Your Old School Space Opera

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:06 GMT

The turn of the cards may signal fortune or disaster for your crew captain. You would be wise to harken unto my abilities with the cards. For one turn of the card means the difference between adventure & ruin, life & death, infinity & beyond. The last words of Skiuiri Slim the navigator aboard The Galaxy Queen
The Tarot Of The Human Empire is a set of random (some would say chaotic) cards laser etched into complex metallic designs that change even as one looks at them. These cards are used to navigate the planar byways & gates across the [...]

[Aventuras en la Marca del Este] Mighty Armies: Fantasy Rules

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:45:03 GMT

Rebel Minis, una emergente empresa dedicada al mundillo de las miniaturas, con una extensa lnea, presenta la edicin remozada de su propio reglamento para miniaturas, Mighty Armies. El libro, muy completo, ofrece un conjunto de reglas completo, consejos para organizar, montar y pintar nuestro propio ejrcito, misiones de combate, reglas de asedio, sistema de campaa e historia de algunos de los ejrcitos presentes en el reglamento. Y todo ello por apenas 11 dlares... bueno, y las miniaturas, claro, que hay que comprarlas y pintarlas.

Siguiendo este enlace encontrarn la pgina de Rebel Minis donde venden miniaturas especficas [...]

[Teilzeithelden.de] Von alten Mythen und neuen Schrecken --- Teil II

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:30:04 GMT

Der erste Artikel dieses Zweiteilers stellte den modernen Menschen, wie wir ihn jeden Tag auf der Arbeit sehen, dem Instinktwesen" gegenber, welches auch noch in Zeiten von iPads und berwachungskameras von Glcksengeln spricht, um unsichtbaren Beistand bittet und am Morgen den Nachbarn auffordert Gott zu gren. Zustzlich wurde die Frage nach der Angst vor dem Unbekannten, welche heute eine immer grer werdende Faszination erfhrt, aufgeworfen. Moderne Schrecken, wie das als Weltuntergang interpretierte Ende des Mayakalenders im Jahr 2012, UFOs und Auerirdische, wurden den alten Mythoswesen wie Engeln und Dmonen fragend gegenbergestellt um mit der Frage zu enden, warum der heutige [...]

[Points of Light] Legend & Lore: Balancing Wizards in D&D

Tue, 15 May 2012 05:45:04 GMT
Fiiinally.

Stating that the wizard "casts spells" is basically a 30-year old mission statement. We got that figured out. What I want to know is how, and I would preferably like that how to make sense from a narrative perspective.

In 2nd Edition wizards had to study their spellbooks to "memorize" their spells. When they cast it, the spell was wiped from their minds and they had to go through the whole process again, and again, and again, because no matter how many times they memorized a spell they could never actually remember it. There was also the bit [...]

[Knightvision Games] New logo concepts

Tue, 15 May 2012 05:15:04 GMT

I’ve been working on some new adventures and decided it was time for a new logo for Knightvision Games. Here are some concepts.

[Reality Refracted] Same Character, Different Game - Part 2 - Making It Different

Tue, 15 May 2012 05:00:05 GMT
Yesterday we talked about the reasons why a player might want to bring a character they've already played into a different game, or at least four of them. Today I want to look at the player side of things. Namely, I want to touch on a few things you want to recognize, and a few things you might want to try to keep it fresh and exciting for everyone at the game table. So, let's begin.

Know Your Reason
I know I said yesterday's post was for the GMs, but there is something important there for you too. You [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Tervel's Haven

Tue, 15 May 2012 04:15:02 GMT
Disclaimer: Ancient Scroll do not claim any rights to this adventure (or any part of it) copyrighted bySteve Jackson Games. Our goal is toshow our readers where they can find this great article in the web. The castle which has no name stands as it has stood for 1,200 years. Its dark stone walls are [...]

[Neuroglyph Games] Wizards Watch: Skillful Rogues, Balanced Wizards, and Countdown to the Next Playtest!

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:45:03 GMT

I sure hope that's a Web Spell...
I think that everywhere in the D&D Community there must be the growing sense of anticipation, and possibly a little dread, as we countdown the final days to the Open Playtest of D&D Next. On May 24th, many players will finally get to experience firsthand what has been, up until now, a shadowy storm of supposition about what the newest edition to the Dungeons & Dragons family of role-playing games will be. Will we as a gaming community love the new edition, or absolutely hate it, or perhaps just feel indifferent to it and [...]

[Another Caffeinated Day] And now for something completely different... Cufn sux.

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:15:03 GMT
So... I've started seeing a lot of this JavaScript library called Cufn. Fonts for the People it says.

UGH! Please people, stop relying on JavaScript DOM hijacking for delivering web fonts. It's notoriously unreliable and requires just too much work to manage.

HTML5 and CSS3 are where web development is at, and both are fucking reliable and gracefully degrade. If you have not read HTML5 and CSS3: Develop Today with Tomorrow's Standards by Brian P. Hogan (Pragmatic Bookshelf) and have not read chapter 19, Using Real Fonts, please, if you use Cufn and/or you're a web dev, stop reading this, click the above link and get rid of Cufn.

Right.

Now.

[d20 Pirates] New Pirate-Related TV Show

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:00:14 GMT
While checking out Blastr.com, I found news of a new series on NBC starting this fall: Crossbones. The blurb for the show is listed below, and the full article is available on the website.

-Nate

It's 1715 on the Bahamian island of New Providence, the first functioning democracy in the Americas, where the diabolical pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, reigns over a rogue nation of thieves, outlaws and miscreant sailors. Part shantytown, part marauder's paradise, this is a place like no other on earth - and a mounting threat to international commerce.

To gain control [...]

[The Welsh Piper] Cityographer Kickstart

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:00:14 GMT

Joe Wetzel: Incapable of sleep

I’d like to bring the Cityographer Kickstarter to your attention.

This is an Inkwell Ideas project, brought to you by Joe Wetzel, who created (among other things) Hexographer, Dungeonographer, the Coat of Arms Design Studio, and the Dungeomorph Dice.
Cityographer Kickstarter
Cityographer generates random settlement maps based on inputs you provide (tech level, population size, proximity to water). It also generates floorplans for buildings, as well as what those buildings are and who’s inside.

Now, Cityographer needs support–about $6,000 in the next 31 days. I don’t normally hawk Kickstarters, but this is about my needs, so I want to see this kick-started [...]

[Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer] 20% Off On Selected Titles From DriveThruRPG!

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:15:04 GMT

Awesome Cover by Ben McSweeney

It’s that time of the month again where DriveThruRPG is giving a 20% discount off selected titles from their massive inventory of RPGs. Check it out!

Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment]
Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs]
Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages]
FantasyCraft 2nd Printing [Crafty Games]
Fat Dragon’s Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games]
Paths of Power (Pathfinder System) [4 Winds Fantasy]
Spycraft: Real American H.E.R.O.es [Crafty Games]
Fellowship of the White Star Campaign Book [Thenodrin Presents]
Ninja Burger RPG (2nd Edition) [aetherial FORGE]
Heavy Gear Blitz! Locked & Loaded [Dream Pod 9]
Hero’s Handbook: [...]

[Mithril and Mages] If I were an academic...

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:15:04 GMT

Most projects I start, end quite quickly. Inspiration must be found immediately to translate into something worth doing. Otherwise its tossed in the mental bin. For several months, my intention was to read the LBB’s in detail and try to produce at least something of an opinion. The scribbled notes are as chaotic as the source material. Mostly the bits indicate, ‘ahh, that’s where that started’ followed shortly by a number of things marginally related to the original thought.

The realization nothing will come of the effort is not new. The notes [...]

[Keith J Davies -- In My Campaign] D&D 5e's Chance of Success... Poor

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:15:04 GMT

The Grumpy Dwarf at Tenkar’s Tavern has been riffing on (and ripping up) posts at Wizards of the Coast regarding their next edition of D&D (and I see there’s a new one up tonight, in response to today’s latest post at WotC about Balancing Wizards in D&D).
Discussing the new WotC post at Google+, I realized what it is that bugs me so much about D&D 5e.
The designers are flailing around because don’t know what they are doing.
This is not to say they are not good designers, or that they lack skill.
What they lack is a clear goal to give a [...]

[TPK] Criminal Ties

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:45:03 GMT

Thanks for subscribing to TPK! For more posts, check out TPK - Theory, Planning, Knowledge
Secret Seeds
Today’s post is a little later than I’d like, but I’m still a little dead from the 21 hour Kalamazoo day. I forgot how crazy conferences can be, but I had a great time. For a roundup on that, you can check out my upcoming post at JimTigwell.com (link to come). But you’re not here for that, you’re here for secrets. I had so many ideas that I thought I’d do something a little different, by picking a single theme and coming up with ten [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] The Grumpy Dwarf Remarks on Mike Mearls' Attempt to Balance the Wizard in 5e

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:30:04 GMT

Mike's doing it again. Fixing problems that don't exists, or maybe do exist, but not to the extent that he believes. Still, game designers must tilt windmills at times, and Mike is good at such. Let's look at his latest, shall we?

You can read the original here.

Over the past few weeks, I've talked about the design goals for the core classes in D&D (yep, and each article has moved away from the initial design goals that we stated for D&D Doppleganger, the game that is all editions, all the time). This week, it's the wizard's turn. I'm going to do something a little different, though. The wizard's design goals are different from the other three classes (so, was it a useless [...]

[The Savage AfterWorld] Ancient Armory: Brain Wrap

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:30:04 GMT
Brain Wrap is a thin -- but dense -- heavy metallic foil. When this material is wrapped around the cranium, it has a profound dampening effect on mental mutations.

"Brain Wrap" is actually a lead-osmium alloy, pressed into thin sheets and stored as rolls of a foil-like substance. Made out of two of the densest materials on Earth, this alloy foil was used in Ancient Days as a spacecraft insulator for its ability to stop most forms of radiation and cosmic rays, as well as microscopic particles. It was also used to line reactor chambers, hazmat suits, and other [...]

[Troll in the Corner] Five Handy Resources For Almost Any GM.

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:15:02 GMT

Plotting out a decent campaign can be difficult, especially for us older hands who are used to keeping everything about our created worlds safely tucked away in a few spiral-bound notebooks. Luckily, things have progressed quite a bit since those golden days, and the vast wonders of the interwebs can make life a lot easier for us Storytellers. Let’s look at a few online resources that could come in handy for planning and running a campaign.

1. Wolfram Alpha

Most of you are probably familiar with this little wonder. If not, then I really suggest you give Wolfram Alpha a try. It’s [...]

[Arcanos do Vale] Evento: Evil is Back in Europe --- a Visual Celebration!

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:00:05 GMT
Acabei de ver no Facebook, achei muito louco - Evento do Diablo III - O Mal est de volta na Europa, uma Celebrao Visual.

Est foto, mais precisamente, do evento do jogo na Sucia - Estocolmo.

Agora s esperar at AMANH!!! =)))))

"No cair da ESCURIDO, surgem os HERIS".

[Points of Light] Ultramodern4 Review

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:00:05 GMT
Ultramodern4--or U4 for short--is a rules supplement that reminds me of D20 Modern in that it provides rules for a modern-to-futuristic game without an implied setting

Since it lacks rules on character building and advancement, skills, and combat it is really more of an attachment to the core Dungeons & Dragons rules instead of a stand-alone game, though at almost 240 pages it is quite a massive attachment.

Chapter 1: What is Ultramodern4 This short introductory chapter prepares you by explaining some deviations from the "normal" rules (such as no magic and non-combat powers), compatibility with Dungeons & Dragons content (which [...]

[Cobblestone Chaos] Monday Night Mordheim: Homebrew High Elves III

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:45:03 GMT

Monday Night Mordheim: Homebrew III- More Pointy Eared Wrong Headedness

So this week I actually got a chance to sit down and read the High Elf Army Book. That was an enlightening read. I've played against HE on several occasions, and I've got some HE models, but I've never actually looked over their fluff or crunch. I learned several things about elves, which I will elaborate on after the page break.

I mainly learned two things reading the HE rulebook. The first and the most important is exactly what Von had said in the comments of last [...]

[Wampus Country] Scenes from Wampus Country: Fairies & Spirits

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:45:03 GMT
The lines between 'fairy', 'spirit', and 'god' are extremely blurred in Wampus Country; creatures of spirit are ancient, powerful, and fickle. Attempting to make too much sense of their ways is ill-advised. Although such spirits can often be seen in the wilds of our world, wizards tell us that these strange visitors are, in fact, native to at least two other realms: the Summerland, a world of blazing color and eternal youth; and the City Behind the Moon, an infinite folding conurbation dangling amidst the empty void.

A young dryad cavorts in celebration of springtime.Pixies are considered pests by [...]

[Mythopoeic Rambling] Plastic Toy Jackpot

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:15:04 GMT

I've been crazy busy the past month. In addition to wrapping up my classes this semester, I've been preparing for my move and helping my dad finish up things at the house he shared with my mom. I was surprised by the amount of toys still in the house. My mom had kept toys at her house for my daughter, and some of my own toys somehow managed to survive various purges and intermingle with them to be joined over the years with new toys for my nephews. I went through several boxes of toys before my dad donated [...]

[The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.] May RPG Deals at RPGNow

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:15:04 GMT
Hey folks...been crazy busy with multiple projects, but I did want to take the moment to drop a line and point out that you can get a slew of PDFs at RPGNow for 20% off using the code DriveThruApril (yes, they have been told that it is, in fact, May). These offers are good until June 14th.

Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment] (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/64257/Savage-Worlds-Fantasy-Companion&affiliate_id=15975)Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs] (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/77953/Realms-of-Cthulhu&affiliate_id=15975)Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages] (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/58683/Karma-Roleplaying-System-Core-Rules-Book&affiliate_id=15975)FantasyCraft [Crafty Games] (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/63884/Fantasy-Craft-Second-Printing&affiliate_id=15975)Fat Dragon's Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games] (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/64254/DRAGONSHIRE%3A-Deluxe-Edition&affiliate_id=15975)Paths of Power (Pathfinder System) [4 Winds Fantasy] (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/65792/%5BPFRPG%5D-Paths-of-Power&affiliate_id=15975)Spycraft: Real American H.E.R.O.es [...]

[Land of Nod] How to Enchant An Item [Blood & Treasure]

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:05 GMT
Here's a draft for the whole "creating magic items" bit for Blood & Treasure. Still thinking about this, so feel free to make suggestions and such (unless you think it sucks, in which case keep it to yourself as I have a fragile ego and artistic temperament).

The overall idea is that games are always talking about all the cool ingredients that can be used in making magic items, but this one is going to codify it (in a very vague way, of course). It's also going to attempt to use the system for making these items as a [...]

[The FATE Archives] Dragon Age Rpg...the review.

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:05 GMT

So, Saturday, I picked up the Dragon Age Rpg...cuz it was dirt cheap at the game day here in Pittsburgh. I have wanted to read through it before, since I am such a huge fan of the game on my ps3. I must have beaten that game 5 different times. L O V E D it.
So, I was excited when I opened the box when I got home. Inside? A players guide, GM's guide, a map of Ferelden, and a bag with three of cheapest looking d6's I have ever seen. I think they took them out of yatzee [...]

[Exchange of Realities] The Generic Villain on Selective Villainy

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:05 GMT

Not all of us are all evil to all people---that’s ridiculously black and white even for us, makes it hard to hang onto our minions, and just plain gets boring after a while. Instead, a lot of us are selectively villainous; while Dramatic Necessity and the Laws of Causality may have clearly tagged us as The Antagonist, to whoever follows us we’re something much better. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, after all!

So how do we arrange to be selectively villainous?

The first thing to do is to find a clear conflict between two definitely-delineated sides. Race, nationality, class [...]

[Carapace King] Goblins

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:45:03 GMT
Goblins are a relatively new addition to the plains of Ig, having only appeared in numbers within the last few centuries. They are smaller than dwarves, rarely growing higher than three feet. Their skin ranges in color from a jaundiced yellow to noisome purple. No two goblins look exactly the same, as if their creator formed them from cast-off parts. According to goblin tales, if anyone were listening, their people came from a land deep below the surface. It was a land of endless tunnels crawling with vermin of all kinds, more or less heaven. They lived peacefully there until [...]

[Armchair Gamer] On the Radar: Eldritch Skies

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:45:03 GMT
Eldritch Skies seems like an interesting Unisystem RPG. Especially with the Mythos-inspired setting, and the MegaTraveller-inspired font choice and cover design (YMMV). This book is a complete role-playing game of Lovecraftian science fiction that uses the Cinematic Unisystem. It contains all rules needed to play, and requires no additional material beyond your imagination and a few dice.

[Reality Blurs] The Why of Writing: A Self-Examination

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT

Today, on the Reality Blurs’ Facebook page, I asked, “Why do I create so much work for myself?”
It wasn’t meant to be whiny or self-pitying or any of another hundred things. And no one took it that way. Not really. They said things varying from humorous to downright nice. The real question wasn’t that, at least not to myself, but I didn’t feel that was the place to peel back the mask and get down into it. I thought I’d do that here.
You see, I put a lot of myself into my work. It’s not like it’s any [...]

[Geek Native] Paizo launch Pathfinder comic

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT

More Pathfinder news from Paizo today and it’s not about the challenge the MMO faces on Kickstater. Paizo, in conjunction with Dynamite, are launching a Pathfinder comic book.
The series will be written by Jim Zubkavich, art by Andrew Huerta and covers from the likes of Lucio Parillo, Matteo Scalera, Dave Dorman and Erik Jones. The first issue is 40 pages (for $3.99) and includes 10 pages of character profiles as well as Pathfinder RPG game stats, an exclusive map and poster.
Issue 1 is out in August and follows Valeros and his friends the beautifil sorcerer Seoni and elven rogue Merisiel.
In [...]

[Between Are the Doors] Maptacular Monday: Midian

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT

So here is “Spain” in the World Between. We are aiming for maximum Gothic fun here, so it’s going to be a bit grim, but with enough brightness to serve as fantastic contrast. I hope this place seems like one you’d want to adventure.

Midian

Jack Shear’s original Midian post is here.

[Between Are the Doors] Strip D&D: Thirster

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT

I’ve made a rogue/cleric type. Here’s the idea; a vampire, but the strain is so shallowed out the creature is unliving instead of undead. So it is not affected by turning undead, holy water, etc. It doesn’t heal naturally, but must drink blood to live. Its blood can heal a human, too. So you’ve got a party healer through drinking blood instead of touching and casting.

I think this is pretty cool.

Strip D&D Thirster

[Between Are the Doors] Release the Compendium! Some more!

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT

Jack Shear is combining the “Flavors of Fear” and his “Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque” projects together in hardcover and softcover. Go check these very inspirational projects out!

My endorsement is on the “Resources for Old School Hack” page, where I’ve launched a massive conversion/adaptation project for his imaginative efforts. He’s a great guy, this is a neat project, and you should take a look at it. Besides, with his determined DIY ethos, you can look at them for free and decide if you want a hard copy or not.

[The Rhetorical Gamer] Getting it out of my system...

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:15:04 GMT
This one's really just for me. While it's true that all of my posting is primarily, for me, in that I post as a way of getting ideas out of my head and into words that I can then go back to, think about, and get feedback from others on -- this one is really [...]

[Exchange of Realities] Impractical Applications (A Few Fantastic Creations)

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:15:04 GMT

KJ Davies’ RPG Blog Carnival about Fantastic Creations got me thinking about my own systems for magic item design. I’ve been a go-to designer for my group for a while; if someone wanted quirky, one-of-a-kind and still decently effective, they had but to go to me, and I’d set them up with something that looked spiffy, did a combination of things nothing before it had done, and had its own unique history to fit with the looks and the effects. It was a pretty good trade overall.

Old-timers might remember Anathema, one of my better pieces. It’s not that swords that [...]

[Greywulf's Lair] Review: Elves With Shotguns

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:00:05 GMT

I’ve been playing rather a lot of Torchlight lately. Partly that is in anticipation of the imminent release of Torchlight II, but also because it happens to be one of my youngest son’s favourite games. That’s my excuse anyway.

For those of you who don’t know, Torchlight is set in a fantasy world much like that found in D&D, with one notable exception: guns. Your hero is as likely to be equipped with a Flintlock Pistol or Blunderbuss as they are with a Shortbow. Add in other steampunk elements, and this is one game which just begs to be given the [...]

[Risus Monkey] Candy Zombies Invade Solomon

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:30:04 GMT

Thanks to another one of Trey Causey's inspirational Weird Adventures nuggets, candy zombies invaded Solomon in this past weekend's Buffy: The Vampire Slayer RPG game. Rather than try out new preparation techniques, I went with the old standby to great effect. You ever have one of those sessions where you think "how the hell did I pull that off?" This was one of those sessions. A whole host of inter-related plot elements are starting to converge in preparation for the series/campaign finale. Not forcing this on the players has been quite an act of GM jujitsu.

Anyway, the update will eventually [...]

[Exchange of Realities] Slipped Details and How to Set Them Up

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:30:04 GMT

Those few of you who check back regularly may have noticed that the site hasn’t updated for a few days. I’m patching up the missing posts now---just because I don’t have, or don’t think I have, server access on a given day doesn’t mean I’m not going to write for it---but this little misadventure has gotten me thinking about plots, routines, and cues, and how easy it is for something important to get lost in a sea of expectations. What happened? Well, to be honest, I had no idea the site was up.

The main use? Every now and then, it’s [...]

[Inkwell Ideas] Monster Stock Art & Stand-Ins (PDF of Minis) Now Available

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:15:04 GMT

Stock Art of 4 Elementals

If you have a need for a PDF of 250 different minis (with great art) spanning nearly 150 different fantasy creatures or if you’re a publisher looking for collections of great color stock art, please do check out the details below.

But first a bit of background: We’ve caught up on sending out the Monster Stock Art & Stand-Ins digital rewards (PDFs & stock art files) for every Kickstarter backer (thanks backers!) who replied to the survey as of a few hours ago. We’ll continue to check for people who finish the survey later. We’re working to [...]

[Geek Native] How to score 20% off DriveThru RPG this month

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:15:04 GMT

About once a month DriveThru RPG bundle together a group of lucky RPG products and make a 20% discount available on them. The catch? You need to know the right code.
Geek Native has the code for May – it’s good up until June 14th. It’s… um, it’s a little quirky this month. Time travel may have been involved. Check it out below – when you come to order, enter the phrase you see below the Tardis.
Not every game in DriveThru’s vast library qualifies for the 20% off but the following impressive collection does. You can buy just one or as [...]

[Exchange of Realities] Things You Might Want to Know When Teaching Someone

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:15:04 GMT

We most often see teaching as a subplot, or as a necessary component of a more vital plot---the character, often young, is thrown into a situation for which his or her skills are not sufficient, and it’s up to the mentor to get the character up to speed. This is the case whether it’s a young hero learning swordfighting, someone who’s just been shoved into a position of reasonable authority in the court and is needing to get the hang of wheeling and dealing now… you name it. Either way, though, here’s what a character about to serve as mentor [...]

[Worlds in a Handful of Dice] Conan the Barbarian

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:00:04 GMT

It’s now May 14th, the 30th anniversary of the American release of Conan the Barbarian.

It’s not, unfortunately, the 30th anniversary of the world-premier. That was back in March. However, it’s the one I choose to observe because it coincides with my birthday. Fortunately, I’m a few years younger than the film.

I picked the day to rewatch the film. My friends can tell that this doesn’t exactly require a lot. It’s one of my favourites and moreover, one of the few films that I can watch over and over again without ever growing bored. Somehow, there’s very little in the film [...]

[The Warlock's Home Brew] Coming Soon!

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:45:03 GMT
I'm just about to polish off the layouts for Tales of High Adventure #2!
This one features all new original stories of mystery, science fiction and fantasy. Also the space-fantasty illustrated tale Homeworld continues here as well.

This is the cover as it is at this point. It will be available as a printed digest as well as a digital Kindle and eBook.

I'll keep you all posted but I should have it sent off in a in a couple of weeks.

[Black Campbell] Looking for Marvel Heroic RPG Stuff? Try This Site

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:30:08 GMT

Mark Meredith has an excellent fan site for the new MHR game here. There’s datafiles for heroes and villains, modular gear profiles and milestones for groups. It’s a must-stop for Marvel players.

[Solace of Savagery] Hael: Supplemental Books and Resources

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:15:04 GMT

Night of the Long Fangs

I reviewed the Hael Core Book a few weeks back in a previous post. Storyweaver released a couple of adventures around the same time the core book came out and just today uploaded their soundtrack to the Hael universe to RPGNow. It’s awesome that this setting just came out and there is already so much great support material.
Adventures
Night of the Long Fangs and Burning Bridges (16 and 17 pages respectively) are both presented with Storyweaver’s “Game in a Can” label on their covers. They are both unique sandbox style location based adventures that share a common [...]

[Solace of Savagery] Iron Dynasty -- Kesshi Tales 10

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:15:04 GMT

Kesshi Tales #10 is the newest Reality Blurs release for their excellent Iron Dynasty setting. Up until now each Kesshi Tales release has had a corresponding guidebook that further detailed the region where the adventure took place. This book is different in a couple of ways in that it both breaks from that symbiotic release schedule and also focuses on the introduction of some new mechanics.

Structurally, this 39 page book stays true to the aesthetics of the previous releases. It opens with an overview and synopsis of the adventure which has the players getting wrapped up in the affairs of [...]

[Solace of Savagery] G+ Zombie Game

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:15:04 GMT

The G+ Zombie PbP is going great so far. As I stated previously, this is my first foray into the world of play by post. I was initially concerned that the game would move so glacially slow that I’d lose interest but it’s been going along at a nice clip considering the medium. The GM and other players have all been fantastic and have been great fun to play with. We have a shared Google Drive folder for game materials and someone is always uploading some cool new map or other information.

I’m playing my combat medic “corporal jokester” type character [...]

[HeroPress] First Loves Blogfest...

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:00:04 GMT

Thanks to Tim Brannan, I've managed to jump on the tail end of this latest blogfest organised by Alex J Cavanaugh.

The First Loves Blogfest invites bloggers to share their first loves: first movie, first song/band, first book, and first person.

FIRST MOVIE: Before Star Wars, there was...

FIRST SONG/BAND: This might damage my street cred a bit, but the first band I was really "into" was:

Abba
FIRST BOOK (and still the greatest book ever written):

FIRST PERSON (as in 'first crush'): I've mentioned this before on the blog (and see above)...

Kim Richards as Tia in Escape To Witch Mountain

[Shaper and Maker] Terrain modelling: Four medieval -like buildings

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:00:04 GMT

The medieval buildings you'll see below have seen a lot of use in my rpg's. I love running games in cities, so it's no wonder - and the campaign I'm just about to finish is Ptolus, a huge book having a complete urban setting for D&D 3E.

The buildings are built almost completely from cardboard + surface materials - that's same old filler powder/PVA glue mixture I've used in so many of my models.

[Black Campbell] Quick Review: The Avengers

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:30:03 GMT

I had high hopes for this one, but due to the quality of the latest Marvel Studios product, and the strengths of Joss Whedon (Firefly,Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog) — I was not disappointed.The Avengers is a great popcorn movie and if not the best of the Marvel outings, it places.

The great bits of the movie are no surprise to Whedon fans: the dialogue and character interaction is superb, and occasionally subtle enough to miss. (Tony Stark, while still being snarky, manages to show a deep respect for Bruce Banner throughout the movie; something he doesn’t do [...]

[Lurking Rhythmically] Pellatarrum: Dwarven Body Part Trafficking

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:15:03 GMT
This was brought to my attention by Demonic Bunny, who has helped so much with the creation of Pellatarrum that he's basically earned the position of co-creator for the world. Anyway...

This is a pendant designed to ward off the "Evil Eye."

Creepy, yes? Not only does it look like an eye, it looks like an unfocused, dead eye. Eyes in living dwarves are more dynamic, having a kind of sparkle or internal light. This just looks... unclean.

It also highlights how only the lowest of the low traffic in the body parts of dwarves. [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] Level Advancement - Trying to Find the Right Pace

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:45:03 GMT

Well, the new ACKS campaign seems to be off to a strong start. Two sessions down, and I think the PCs have a chance to hit level 2 upon completion of the third session.

Assuming they level every third session (we skip one Saturday a month) and assuming the campaign remains vibrant, we could be looking at a game that covers all levels of play in about 12 months.

I have no idea if the leveling will stay at the same rate. As it is, I'n addition to the usual expo for overcoming adversaries and treasure looted, I'm also awarding expo for completing adventures, minor expo for successful proficiency use and a 10% bonus for completing weekly adventure [...]

[World of Alidor] Word of the Week: RAPACIOUS

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:45:03 GMT

Rapacious is to be aggressively greedy. An example of rapacious that comes to mind is Smaug, the dragon from “The Hobbit”. Smaug, like many dragons love to hoard gold and will kill and and even destroy villages for it. While adventuring we usually have a rapacious thief in the party, who is a little nicer about getting their loot than a dragon. At the end of an adventure will tell you that “there were Seven, um…, I mean three gems in the chest”.
Have you had any interesting rapacious characters during your adventures?

Possibly Related Posts:

No [...]

[Maximum Rock & Roleplay] My Guitar Hero Triad

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:45:03 GMT
Lot's of people have their opinions as to who the greatest guitarists were. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Pete Townsend, Brian May, Ritchie Blackmore.... the list goes on and on. The three greatest in my opinion are also three of the most overlooked guitarist in Rockdem, Dick Dale, Link Wray, and Davie Allan.

Dick Dale  is the pioneer of the Surf Sound with staccato rhythm and thundering reverb. A lot of generation X and younger know him only by the Pulp Fiction soundtrack and some of his appearances in various Beach Party movies. He's [...]

[KORPG Games] This is the system you're looking for...

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:30:04 GMT
Jedi d6-lite Once again I was reviewing mentions of KORPG and discovered this little gem on the Kobold Enterprise forums: May. May the 4th. Take a look at how easily M-Type was able to re-theme the Supers d6-lite to a … Continue reading →

[Lurking Rhythmically] Pellatarrum Week

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:30:04 GMT
I need to Get More Stuff Done on Pellatarrum, so I'm announcing a week of it. If anyone has any special requests for material, this is the place to make them.

[Occult Moon] The One That Got Away: The Abandoned Mine, Toys for the Sandbox #19

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:30:04 GMT

Yes, ten pages and still I am writing more then I can fit into a Toys edition.

Some of you may have found it odd that in just a few month's time the outside of the Rudolph and Grumblebearded Mine had become overgrown, the mine carts had rusted and the bones of the poor fools stranded there had bleached completely white. There is an answer to this conundrum, and it just might get your party in trouble.

The Aldishain in the Canyon

The Aldishain are temporal elementals that are attracted to old places and collections of ancient treasure. One has taken up residence [...]

[Arcanos do Vale] Os Vingadores ultrapassando 1 bilho de dlares

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:15:03 GMT
O filme realmente foi um sucesso. Em menos de 20 dias em exibio esperado que o filme chegue na marca dos bilhes.

Quem trouxe a notcia foi o Comic Vine. No primeiro final de semana, o filme j teria faturado U$207,4 milhes s nos Estados Unidos, quebrando o recorde de arrecadao para aquele perodo de exibio. A venda de ingressos no caiu depois da primeira semana, como seria o esperado e o estimado at ontem de que o filme comearia essa semana tendo faturado U$373,2 milhes nos Estados Unidos e U$628,9 milhes no resto do Mundo, j [...]

[The Dragon Fisters] 2012 RPG Podcast Listener Survey!

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:45:03 GMT
For the first time you get to tell people how much you love to hell out of The Dragon Fisters Podcast! Head on over to RPG Podcasts or just click on the link below. A few... A group of friends who ramble and shamble while dice rumble and tumble. Call us casually-hardcore role players of Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] H'zsandh - Phasic RNA Dagger - The Assassin's Choose

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:30:04 GMT

H'zsandh - Phasic RNA DaggerThis is not merely a piece of etched glass but rather a piece of artistry of the high planar sciences. Within the molecular walls of this glass are the realigned planar energies of the deepest depths of the Outer Darkness held within the atoms of glass itself.
One single cut of this weapon is enough to poison & damage the atomic structure of the victim. The H'zsandh - Phasic RNA Dagger have been used for centuries to deal death to its victims but it comes with a price to both target & murderer.
The target will [...]

[Maximum Rock & Roleplay] My Current 15mm Project...

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:30:04 GMT

... here's a sketch anyway, a not so subtle hint. I'v currently have two figs right now that I'm sculpting and if they turn out I'll post them. Who knows, maybe I can find someone who's interested in producing them.

[Flames Rising] You Say You Want a Revolution?

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:30:04 GMT

We have a new game design essay from David A Hill Jr. David tells us about his new RPG, which is currently on Kickstarter, Farewell to Fear.

Our new game, Farewell to Fear, is a dark fantasy game about revolution and enlightenment taking people out of the darkness. Your players choose a thing about the world they want to change, and they set out to change it. As we design Farewell to Fear, I've tried to keep this at the front of every effort. I'm tackling this through three main avenues, game mechanics, setting writing, and art direction.

In the game mechanics, [...]

[The Troll Dens] Language is the Key

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:15:04 GMT
Language has always fascinated me. The way we communicate is bound to our culture and our culture to it. So when there are finds like that one in Turkey, it is truly an open door to the past. It seems they have unearthed a 3000 year old cuneiform tablet.

Researchers working at Ziyaret Tepe, believe that the language may once have been spoken by deportees originally from the Zagros Mountains, on the border of modern-day Iran and Iraq. They suggest the unknown language could be Shubrian -- the indigenous language spoken in the Tushan area before the Assyrians [...]

[that70sgame] The "Good" Lantern rings

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:00:05 GMT
There is a lot of commonality between the green, blue, indigo and violet rings but there are also some differences. The stats for these rings can improve when held by … Continue reading →

[I Am The Warden!!] Probability Can Suck It!

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:00:05 GMT
I am the Warden!!

Seeing as this is a roleplaying blog, I don't have to get into explaining probability and how much it factors in game design, right? (I have talked about it before.) This time, I'm talking about the perception of probability in real life with an emphasis on the word "perception."

During my numerous therapy sessions last year - brought about from the trauma caused by the accident - I heard a lot about probability and traffic accidents. "Do you know what I mean when I say 'probability?'" my therapist asked me. I chuckled and gave [...]

[HeroPress] Tonight On Game Of Thrones (In The UK)...

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:00:05 GMT

And a recap of last week's episode:

[Age of Ravens] Secrets, Rumors, and Hearsay: Player-Facing RPG Materials

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:00:05 GMT
The more I GM, the more I want to share responsibility with my players. I want them as engaged in the process of world and story creation as I am. Having ownership and authority over those worlds aids in immersion...or at least spurs interest. In that vein, some game lines produced unique player-facing products, offering players information to explore and control. In this case I'm not talking about mechanical books with new powers, options or abilities. Or even books that present generic perspective or stories about class or the like (i.e. splat books). Instead these materials offer specific, detailed and [...]

[Wrathofzombie's Blog] Merging Warhammer 2e With My Hack, Part 3- Giving My Setting a Facelift

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:45:03 GMT

In two previous posts (one and two) I talked about merging Warhammer 2e mechanics (along with theSmall But Vicious Doghack) into my current Sword and Sorcery hack(the updated version will be out as soon as I finish everything). A few combats tests with some friends have shown me that I am dead on with where I want to go. Combat is extremely deadly, quick, and fun.

Prior to discovering the awesome of Warhammer I was taking a look at my current homebrew setting, Hubris, and decided it needed a facelift.

Quick Aside: When I created Hubris I wanted it to be weird, [...]

[Chilldren of the Unknown ] Those who came before

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:45:03 GMT

Dedicated to John Mccloud and Edward Fink – two incarnations of the two best players a chillmaster could ever ask for

Hicksville,NY – Three people gather around a archaic table in the kitchen at my grandmother’s home. We were here to continue the on going adventures of John McCloud, Scottish sword master and his stalwart partner Edward Fink, Canadian master thief turned bounty hunter. We started playing chill in 1986 and we stopped in 1999,when life took me from the cold climes of long island to the hot humid bayous of lousiana. No matter where life took us,we all have those [...]

[Chilldren of the Unknown ] Chilling Location : The Headless Valley

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:45:03 GMT

Headless Valley is a specific region (Lat: 61.25 Long: -124.5) of the South Nahanni River valley (Canada) said to encompass a lost world complete with tropical forests, murderously savage natives, and a myriad of mysterious creatures ranging from ‘Bear Dogs’ to Sasquatch. The legend of Headless Valley is unusual in that it is fairly modern, having originated in 1908, following the discovery of two decapitated miners in the region of the South Nahanni River. Since that time, several other disappearances and murders have been documented in the region.

In theNahanni National Park of Northwest Canadalies the Nahanni River. The area is [...]

[Chilldren of the Unknown ] Chill RPG play by post

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:45:03 GMT

Do you have what it takes to look the unknown dead in the eye?
Do you laugh at danger when faced with a horde of ravenous undead?
Do you sometimes feel like there is more out there?
Do you believe in ghosts?
Do you believe in the unknown?

well you should..the unknown believes in you...
Coming soon a Play by post Chill game hosted by Renderednightmares.com

Chillis ahorrorrole-playing game inspired by Shelley, Stoker, and Poe, where usual foes are vampires, werewolves, mummies, ghosts, goblins, and ghouls.Players take on the role of envoys,members of a secret organization known as S.A.V.E. that tracks down [...]

[Hereticwerks] Quivering Fungi

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:30:03 GMT
Handle With Care...Quivering Fungi
No. Enc.: 3d6
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: n/a
Armor Class: 9
Hit Dice: 1d4 hit points
Attacks: 1
Damage: Special
Save: MU1
Morale: n/a

Less a monster, more a hazard to underground navigation, Quivering Fungi are dimly luminescent subterranean relatives of puffball mushrooms. But they're more than just mushroom that glow slightly. Quivering Fungi are hosts to a wide range of symbiotes and parasites, their flesh is rife with colonies of bacteria, so much so that these thriving bacterial colonies are what cause the characteristic 'quivering' motion for which these things are known.

What makes [...]

[Teleleli] Real(?) zombies, part 2.

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:00:04 GMT

In a previous post I briefly discussed Haitian folklore about zombies (quite different to zombies in Western popular culture, which are largely based on the film Night of the Living Dead). In particular I mentioned Wade Davis’ theories that there’s some truth to the idea that Haitian bokors can turn people into zombies.

Anyway, I wanted to add that these ideas would be particularly useful for Carcosa, which tries to combine horror with a non-supernatural explanation for everything.

As I said before, this is a good introduction to the subject. But Wade Davis wrote two books about his investigations in Haiti: The [...]

[Flames Rising] Legend of the Five Rings 4th Edition Review

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:00:04 GMT

Available at RPGNow.com

Many of gaming's long-lived members began as mash-ups of other media. Dungeons & Dragons grew out of a love of Lord of the Rings, The Grey Mouser and Conan. Shadowrun mixed Gibson's cyberpunk with classic fantasy elements. World of Darkness grew out of Anne Rice and urban fantasy media. Legend of the Five Rings combined Asian fantasy elements like samurai, shugenja and oni with western mythology like Zeus that appeals to audiences that grew up on everything from Kurosawa films to Avatar: The Last Airbender. L5R, as it's known by its fans, released a fourth edition of [...]

[The Troll Dens] War of Arrows

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:45:02 GMT
Sat down over the weekend and watched a really cool movie: War of Arrows. Set in medieval Korea it charts the adventures of Korean, Nam Yi, who sets out to rescue his sister after she (and a whole bunch of people) are kidnapped by a Manchurian raiding party. Nam Yi is an extraordinarily good shot with the bow. The movie develops into a running battle between Nam Yi and these elite Manchurian soldiers. It has some amazing action sequences, is an excellent story and a darn fine movie. Very grounded, with no crazy shooting six shots a second or jumping [...]

[The Troll Dens] The significance of 5

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:45:02 GMT

Discordianism and the law of fives. The law of fives claims everything happens in fives. EVERYTHING!
For example, the 23 enigma claims all incidents or events are related to the number 23. And of course 2+3=5. Rule proved.
The fifth printing of the PHB is up. Which means someday there will be 500. I will long since be dead by then.

Davis

[Big Ball of No Fun] First Loves - The RPG Version

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:30:03 GMT
The A-Z Challenge crowd is running a First Loves Blogfest today. This entails simply listing your first loves in the movie, song/band, book and person categories. Since this is an rpg blog, I've decided to put a spin on this and list my First Loves as they pertain to rpgs and fantasy; those movies, songs, books, person that opened me up to the fantasy genre and made me fall in love with them.

[JP On Gaming] Commission: Pathfinder Society characters

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:30:03 GMT

It's been a while since I posted a "commission" post, and I'm very happy to post the latest of my work for others. All three of these miniatures are to be used for Pathfinder Society play. The first two were done for Eric P and the third one for Brad W.
One great thing Eric did: he gave me the minis and color illustrations of how he wanted the models to look. There are some small deviations (the minis and the illustrations were not exact, but very close). The first one is a barbarian-type with blue face paints. The [...]

[The Delvers] The Haunter of the Dark

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:15:03 GMT

Sea Axe entered a large room with four pillars on either side.The ceiling to the north was collapsed in.He poked the floor cautiously with his ten foot pole.Closer to the pile of rubble, his eyes saw the glint of coin. He poked into the loose stones. A Giant Rattler Snake emerged from behind a near pillar coiling back to strike.

Sea Axe smacked him with the pole.

Sea Axe: I need some help in here!

Baz and the men came rushing in, weapons drawn.Krisella made her way behind the pillars. Sea Axe drew his weapon. The Giant Rattler’s head shot down towards Sea [...]

[Scrolls of the PlatinumWarlock] In Which The Warlock Muses on Rewards...

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:15:03 GMT

In amongst all of the other numerous projects that I've been working on--and, y'know, my actual "real" job of teaching--I've been contemplating what exactly I need to do, when I start the Kickstarter for Cold Steel Wardens. Obviously, I'll need to officially incorporate as well as establish my copyright and trademark registries, all of which I hope to have finished by August of this year.

But, rather, I mean the actual Kickstarter itself. I've been reading numerous blogs dealing with the issue, as KS can be a massive boon when done correctly...and an utter disaster when not.

[The Geek Life Project] Our Posse Gets Official

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:15:03 GMT
A fun time last week with the Deadlands game. We started off by meeting the local officer in charge of the Rangers and get to [...]

[Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer] [Eclipse Phase] Reflections As A Player

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:00:03 GMT

Last weekend I had the chance to play through the Eclipse Phase module “Glory” that was generously run by Mappy, who some of you may recognize as one of my group’s longtime players. He’s a big fan of hard sci-fi and cyberpunk so I figured it would be a good chance for me to catch a break, and let him clock some extra GMing hours and learn what it’s like to GM.

I won’t go into great detail on “Glory” given that I don’t want to spoil it unintentionally for anyone else who might be looking to play it sometime in [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Wisielcza Kompania -- part 1

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:00:03 GMT
Sesja 1 ma dzia si rwnolegle do ostatniej inwazji chaosu. Gracze s dowiadczonymi banitami, przewodzonymi przez gwatownego pijaczyn (rednio lubianego). Podczas gdy oddaj si bogobojnym zajciom (takim jak upienie podrnych na szlaku i rabowanie biednych wieniakw), w okolicy pojawia si konkurencja -- oddzia dezerterw chccych przej kontrol nad okolic. Dezerterw jest wicej i s lepiej [...]

[Terruizeng] Gorn

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:00:03 GMT
Pack of 3d4 Gorns AC 14 HD 1 Move 15" Attack 1(bite 1d3, save vs disease or become infected by bloodmeat fever, at the beginning of the next 2+1d6 days make a save vs disease roll or take 1d3 damage to CON or WIS; or ram 1d4 and save vs. paralyzation or stunned for a round) Morale 8.
Description: Rat-like creatures about 3' tall with long hooved legs, a rack of twisted horns, able to climb up even the most sheer of cliffs. Eats mostly refuse and metals, attracted to shiny things, territorial. Diseased and filth ridden. Having bloodmeat [...]

[Land of Nod] Buy My Crap ... Save Some Money!

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:45:04 GMT

Quick post this morning to announce that Lulu.com is holding a 20% sale until May 18th. If you've been waiting to buy some of my stuff, or other RPG items, now would be a pretty good time. The code is "TENYEAR".

Later today, I'll have a preview of an unfinished idea for Blood & Treasure ... magic item creation.

[Really Bad Eggs] The Cat Out of the Bag

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:45:04 GMT
Jedidiah at Book Scorpion's Lair has another actual play log from his 7th Sea campaign, in which the intrepid adventurers learn something interesting about El Gato.

[Campaign Mastery] The Imperial History Of Earth-Regency Part 12: 1998

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:45:04 GMT

Pieces Of Creation is an occasional recurring column at Campaign Mastery in which Mike offers game reference and other materials that he has created for his own campaigns.

All images used to illustrate this article are public-domain works hosted by Wikipedia Commons, or derivations of such works.

This article is a work of fiction and no endorsement of the content should be attributed to any of the individuals or institutions named, photographed, or credited.

The Lunar Prospector was one of the science highlights of 1998. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.
The war on drugs
Total world sales of [...]

[The RPG Guy] Red Space: Episode 4 --

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:30:04 GMT

Episode 4 - Let's do this!

Need to catch up? No problem! Just readEpisode 1,Episode 2and Episode 3first.

After tallying up the votes from last week you chose to “Ask nicely.”

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it!
Red Space: Episode 4
You need to obtain a G-Bomb

Why the two options?

So, the guy or thing is getting away…

So, what do you do?

A. Steal the transport and follow him.
B. Throw a G-Bomb

A Note from The RPG Guy:
You have24 hours. You have one vote. Vote byleaving a commentbelow or onTwitter,FacebookorGoogle+.

Also, if you haven’t already,make sure to subscribe (below).

[The Delvers] The Winter Wolf

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT

Hanging above the bar were animal trophies of the tavern’s namesake.Yaen stood near the bar drinking alone. Tilith sat at a table with two farmers in deep in discussion. Galem and Rhen sat near the fireplace drinking ale.

The dwarves seemed irritated by the elf bard playing a harp, although Yaen seemed to appreciate it. He listened to the tale of how the winter wolves met their end.

Yaen reflected back on his past in silence.

Murri had promised to buy them drinks at the Winter Wolf for their help, but the halfling was a no show.

There were several hooks waiting for [...]

[Haste Podcast] Haste with guest host Jonathan Tweet: Fancy Dice, Pathfinder Online Tech Demo Kickstarter, 13th Age RPG

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT

|Episode 46 |
Announcements
Tonight we’re joined by Jonathan Tweet, one of two lead designers on the upcoming RPG 13th Age. Jon will be answering some questions and telling us a bit about the game later on in the show. In the meantime, you’ve still got 4 days to enter our RPG Stack Exchange contest! Also, don’t forget to nominate worthy folks of our Excellence In Innovation Award!
Topics Fancy Dice / Lucky Dice
There’s a great article up on Stargazer’s world about fancy dice, do we stray away from games with fancy dice? What about ones with odd shapes or pictures on the [...]

[Troll in the Corner] Huge gaming goodness, little tiny price -- an update on the Wayne Foundation charity RPG Pack

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT

It’s been a bit over a week that the 2nd Annual Wayne Foundation Charity RPG Pack has been on sale. To date 124 awesome people have purchased it, raising almost $2000 for The Wayne Foundation!

The charity pack is only available at DriveThruRPG and affiliates, and will vanish into the ether(net) at Midnight on Friday, May 18th. For $25 you get $235 worth of really, really fantastic things. Entire RPG systems, books to expand universes you already know and love, original novel length fiction and original character artwork. Hit the link above for a full list of what’s available.

Thanks!

Troll in the [...]

[Intwischa] They're Always After Me D6 Universal RPG Lucky Charms

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT

"I knew I shoulda stayed in bed this morning," Ailmer grumbled, sneaking a peek through the rough boards that had been hastily nailed over the broken window. "There's gotta be fifty of 'em down there, and that's just the ones I can see. Please tell me you got a plan for gettin' us outta here?" He darted a suspicious glare in Jax's direction.

Kilgore, who had been hastily scrawling something on the wall with a small, dirty piece of chalk, stopped for a moment to curse under his breath. Then he too questioned their leader. "I cannot currently conceive of an [...]

[HeroPress] Avengers Triumph!

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:00:04 GMT

As well as being all-conquering at the box office, The Avengers have triumphed in the informal HeroPress poll of readers' favourite superhero teams.

Even Adamant Entertainment's Gareth-Michael Skarka took time out from putting together the next big Icons publication (Icons Team-Up) to name his favourite teams!

So with a bit of numerical sleight-of-hand (e.g. votes for Abnett and Lanning's Guardians Of The Galaxy were combined with those for Rocket Raccoon and Groot), we present the first 'definitive' HeroPress Top Ten of superhero teams:

(1) The Avengers
(2) The X-Men
(3) Justice League Of America
(4) Fantastic Four
(5) Teen Titans
(6) Alpha Flight
(7=) Justice Society Of America
(7=) The Watchmen
(9) Guardians Of The Galaxy (inc. Rocket Raccoon and Groot)
(10) Excalibur
It's worth noting that the majority of those who voted for the Teen Titans specified the Wolfman/Perez era while X-Men votes were primarily for the Chris Claremont [...]

[Papers & Pencils] Board Game: Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:45:04 GMT

Ravenloft, both the adventure, and the setting which surrounds it, have always fascinated me. Partially because of my well known love for the macabre, but also because everything about them has a kind of mystique which I find enthralling. The dangers of Ravenloft are always unseen, always shifting, and you never know where you’re going to end up. And Castle Ravenloft itself stands as a figurative edifice among dungeons. My mind’s eye imagines an endless maze of corridors, filled with every kind of danger imaginable. And at the end there is Strahd, a villain so legendary that he’s withstood almost 30 years of marketing and re-marketing without becoming boring.

At least, that’s my view, as someone whose never been so fortunate as to venture into Castle Ravenloft himself.

When I first saw that Wizards of the Coast had created an Expedition to Castle Ravenloft boardgame, it piqued my curiosity. And when my gaming group recently began experimenting with board games (we all very much enjoyed Hero Quest) I took that as an excuse to spend $60 on the game, so the group could have some variety. Last night was the first time we played the game as a group, and we ran through three adventures before calling it an evening.

The game is quite clearly based on 4th edition rules, which I personally found a little off putting, as I have a strong aversion to that ruleset. But even though it uses the terminology of 4th edition (daily/utility/at-will powers, dragonborn, elradin, etc.)the board game is none the less a fully self-contained product. And while my personal feelings made me a little uncomfortable talking about “healing surges” at the table, they function perfectly well as a mechanic for the board game. Even if I do not approve of their use in a tabletop RPG.

The [...]

[STUFFER SHACK] Madame Hydra and the Hand

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:45:04 GMT

It may seem like an odd pairing, but this grouping is ripped from the pages of New Avengers. If you’re going to continue the events as they roughly happened after the Break Out! Mini Event, then you’ll soon find these two in Japan, helping to set the stage for Secret Invasion way down the line.

Madame Hydra is a near ageless villain devoted to, you guessed it, Hydra. She’s been a constant villain of Captain America, The Avengers, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and was even once married to Wolverine!

The Hand is an order of ninjas who worship a demon. They’ve actual come [...]

[Dungeon's Master] Epic Level Encounter Design -- Part 2: Developing Challenges Appropriate for Epic Level Characters

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:30:03 GMT

At the epic level the PCs are capable of acts that can change the path of history forever. The aim of this article is to help you embrace the capacity of the party and set a stage appropriately large for their abilities. This article is about spectacles that are just as big as PCs who can come back from the dead every day.
Enter: The Renascence Man, Woman or Child
In order to challenge the PC you need to respect their capability. By level 21 the party has a bag of tricks so deep that attempting to anticipate them is a fool's [...]

[Хроники Геров (Heroes' Chronicles)] Dropkick Murphys - Going Out In Style (Uncensored)

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:30:03 GMT

[Geek Native] Wall Street Journal reporter hacks RPG projects on Kickstarter

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:30:03 GMT

A Wall Street Journal reporter or a programmer working for him/her has exploited a bug in Kickstarter’s API. The result was some 70,000 unlaunched Kickstarter projects were exposed. The good news? Only 48 of these unlaunched projects were actually accessed by the Wall Street Journal.
It is highly likely that many RPG and game projects are among the 70,000 exposed but we can only speculate if there are any among the 48. The Shadowrun project on Kickstarter is an example of a gamer project that has received media attention and so any similar projects may have been probed by the hacker [...]

[Hack & Slash] On a Timewaster

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:03 GMT
I lost too much time on this already.

Sharing, because it is awesome and should be celebrated.

Parameters.

[Online Dungeon Master] New maps from Tobold -- Iron Keep from Reavers of Harkenwold

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:03 GMT

A few months ago, Tobold from Tobold’s Blog reached out to me for maps from Reavers of Harkenwold. I ran the adventure last year (review here) and had put up my own recreated maps for the adventure on my blog. (I later discovered that the official maps were available from the Wizards of the Coast web site for D&D Insider subscribers.)

Tobold made use of some of my maps, but he also took the time to create his own versions of the Iron Keep main tower maps using Campaign Cartographer. He was gracious enough to allow me to share his versions [...]

[Adventures in the Wildspace] Kalandok a Vadrben - 32. rsz

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:03 GMT

Ha nem is teljes ltszmmal (Kerr s Gale jtkosai csaldi gyek miatt nem tudtak rszt venni a jtklsen), de prilis utols vasrnapjn folytatdtak kalandjaink a d&d multiverzumnak rejtlyes "fvrosban", Sigilben...
A csapat:
Tefrit Do' Feamor- drow csatamgus (10. TSZ) - szerzetes/varzsl/csatamgus
Arastic Aramil- tnde jsz (10. TSZ) - harcos/erdei mesterlvsz
Takklin- trpe harcos pap (10. TSZ) - Celestian papja
Gale-- ember harcos (10. TSZ) vndor/mgus
Chaner-i Kerr-- ember harcos (10. TSZ) harcos/tengerszgyalogos
Agor Styr-- ember felfedez (10. TSZ) kalandor/vndor/csillagkzi felfedez
A helyszn:Jelenleg aMultiverzumkzppontja, aFjdalom rnjeltal uraltlebeg vros,Sigil, az Ajtk Vrosa(8 MB).
Httr:www.planewalker.comshttp://dotd.com/planescape/Sigil_and_Beyond.htm
Tudtk, hogy mr csak alig egy napjuk van arra, hogy valamit tegyenek a [...]

[Adventures in the Wildspace] Kalandok a Vadrben - 31. rsz

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:03 GMT

Egy httel ezeltt, szombaton jtszottunk. A mlt hten sajnos nem volt idm megrni a beszmolt, de most ptolom. A kaland ott folytatdott, ahol legutbb abbamaradt. Vagyis, hogy a robbans utnlassan ell porbl s fstbl elbukkan fekete srkny rjuk emeli vrsen izztekintett...

A csapat:

Tefrit Do' Feamor- drow csatamgus (10. TSZ) - szerzetes/varzsl/csatamgus
Arastic Aramil - tnde jsz (10. TSZ) - harcos/erdei mesterlvsz
Takklin - trpe harcos pap (10. TSZ) - Celestian papja
Gale -- ember harcos (10. TSZ) vndor/mgus
Chaner-i Kerr-- ember harcos (10. TSZ) harcos/tengerszgyalogos
Agor Styr -- ember felfedez (10. TSZ) kalandor/vndor/csillagkzi felfedez

A helyszn: Jelenleg [...]

[Adventures in the Wildspace] Kalandok a Vadrben - 30. rsz

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:03 GMT

Elmlt htvgn folytatdotta csapat kalandozsa aTSR ltal krelt vilgok (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Greyhawk) alkottaSpelljammer vilgegyetemben, azonban egy kis kikacsintssal, kitekintssela Planescape kampny,valamint askok s vilgok alkotta Multiverzumfel. A legutbbi jtkls ott fejezdtt be, hogy az elrabolt githzerai lny nyomban tlptek egy portlon, amely egy ismeretlen vrosba vetette ket. Egy vrosba, amelyrl kiderlt, hogy nem ms mint Sigil, az Ajtk Vrosa...

A csapat:

Tefrit Do' Feamor- drow csatamgus (10. TSZ) - szerzetes/varzsl/csatamgus
Arastic Aramil - tnde jsz (10. TSZ) - harcos/erdei mesterlvsz
Takklin - trpe harcos pap (10. TSZ) - Celestian papja
Gale -- ember harcos (10. TSZ) vndor/mgus
Chaner-i Kerr-- [...]

[themandragora.com] Signal to Noise

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:46:08 GMT

What we do in life echoes in eternity
- Maximus, Gladiator
I began clearing out a lot of old bookmarks the other day. I’m surprised at how many sites have disappeared from the ‘net over the last few years, many of which were actually quite useful! While sites like http://web.archive.org are useful, it got me thinking just how much stuff is lost on the net – looking back over some of my early blog posts, I’ve realised that I first started blogging in 2006. There’s something very sad about the disappearance of many of these other sites, many of which were RPG resources that at least some use. I currently have an online presence in a number of formats outside of themandragora.com so if the website ever becomes archived, most of the posts will at least continue to be available at places like Facebook, Twitter, and LiveJournal. So I guess there will always be a part of me out there on the ‘net.
Many independent websites likely continue to exist out there, but they are often rarely updated. Usually they start off with the best of intentions but run out of steam within a few weeks. Often the hosting provider folds or the [...]

[Creative Mountain Games] Fnord for Thought

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT
In a brilliant assessment by Eric D. Smith, "What a wonderful source of misinformation and paranoia!" If you love the game, you'll love this two-part video series about "your topic this evening - Illuminati: Game or Blueprint for World Domination" with "Ex-Satanist High Priest for the Church of Satan" Stephen Dollins.

[19th Level] RPG Review: Call of Cthulhu 6th Edition

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

One of my more enduring campaigns of late has been a Call of Cthulhu game. In a nutshell, Call of Cthulhu is a roleplaying game based on the works of the American horror author H.P. Lovecraft. Along with Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft can be considered the founders of American horror literature. It is difficult to imagine a Stephen King without an H.P. Lovecraft.

Lovecraft described the premise behind his works rather well in a letter that accompanied his submission of his short [...]

[The Signe of the Frothing Mug] The Silver Standard in a Fantasy Setting

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT
Before I launch into a discussion of fantasy economics, I'd just like to apologize for going dark last week. One of my two cats, Bodega Bay, had a stroke and I did not feel up to continuing the blog immediately following her death. Anyhow! I have heard the argument, repeatedly, that because D&D uses the gold standard it is somehow not as realistic or representative of the middle ages as certain

[Keith J Davies -- In My Campaign] Links of the Week: May 14, 2012

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT

Considering my last Links of the Week went up only five days ago, this one seems to have a fair bit in it. I’m still lagging way behind on my blog reading (and my own writing again; it’s been busy) but I’m still seeing a lot of good stuff out there.
Didn’t get a lot of reading or writing done this weekend. Spent Saturday going to the street market in town (those vegetables, especially the tomatoes!) and a few other errands. Spent today on Mother’s Day stuff — we went to Victoria to hit the Times Colonist’s annual used book fair, [...]

[Gothridge Manor] The Cover of Issue #2

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:15:02 GMT
I took off some time this weekend to play Secret World (MMO) and think its good. It'll be released in June. Also during the weekend I was fill out some orders for the first issue of The Manor and talking to a couple people about the second. And jotting down ideas for future issues. I've got a mock cover made for the second issue made and more than half of the second issue is written I just need to edit it. Boy does it need it.

This charming guy was drawn by Emily. Someone I work with. During a [...]

[Nearly Enough Dice Podcast] Awesome Ocarina of Time tshirt! Today only

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:15:02 GMT

Thanks to the guys over at Geek Nativefor pointing this out! For today only (according to the website you have 17 hours to purchase this) you can get your hands on this rather cool tshirt with a reference to a certain game involving a character called Zelda.

I heartily recommend getting one! I know I will be. If you haven’t actually gone over to look at Geek Native yet – I heartily recommend you do that as well!

[Cavaleiros Das Noites Insones] Arena E-Books | Roberto Mendona Fernandes

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:00:04 GMT

Olá gente, aqui em fala é o Canijan Crowley "CaN" um dos cavaleiros!

E como eu já postei aqui (se não viu clique aqui ), estou com um projeto para pessoas criadoras de e-books relacionado ao mundo do RPG, War Games, entre outros envolvido nesse tema. O projeto ajuda a divulgar o lançamento de algum material escrito. O projeto tem o nome de Arena E-Books onde é divulgado o e-book para alguns blogs, como o Arena Gurps, o World RPG Fest e inclusive o Cavaleiros das Noites Insones.

E o primeiro a postar o seu material e-book, ou melhor por assim [...]

[The Other Side] First Loves Blogfest

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:30:03 GMT

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/2012/04/friendly-to-z-challenge-and-next.html

Here are my first loves

First Album I loved: Thomas Dolby "The Golden Age of Wireless"

First Movie: Star Wars (I have no idea what "A New Hope" is...;) )

First Book: The Hobbit

First Person: Harder, I mean after all the first people you love are your family. So let's go with first person outside of your family. And that can only be...

BATGIRL!

Specifically, Yvonne Craig's Batgirl from the Adam West Batman TV series.
What's not to love? She is smart and kicks ass. [...]

[Stargazer's World] New Fire Interview

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:15:03 GMT

A couple of days ago I first heard about New Fire, a pen & paper RPG project on Kickstarter. That in itself is nothing special, because raising money on Kickstarter to fund your RPG has become quite common lately. What sets New Fire apart is its unique setting.

Jason [...]

[Stargazer's World] Blood of Morpheus

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:15:03 GMT

My good friend and former contributor to this blog, Michael Garcia of Occult Moon, has some serious medical issues and at this moment the medical bills are becoming a real problem.

In order to help to pay for medical expenses he created a small supplement for d20 or [...]

[Nearly Enough Dice Podcast] Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein 12.64 on RPGNow!

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:45:03 GMT

If you will remember our previous article screaming about Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein, you may even remember we thought it was rather brilliant (we are still stupidly excited about Frankenstein’s bodies as well).

Even better now if you have been debating whether to buy this book or not - RPGNow have the book at a tiny 12.64 ($19.99). This is a rather fantastic book, and we will be reviewing it (and something else!) rather soon. In the meantime – go buy this now! You will not regret it.

[Of Dice and Men] L is for Labyrinth Lord

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:30:04 GMT
Another cool retroclone, but this one has some very interesting features.

Aside from the usual cleanups of the OD&D (based mainly off the "Red Box") system, it has a very modular feel:

You start with the Basic Set, which replicates 1st Edition, including Race-as-Class and other "unique" rules that got lost over time.

With the Advanced Set, you can add in more rules to bring things closer to later AD&D - the separation of Race and Class (how very Marxist), racial class limits, and a few other optional rules.

There's even the Original Edition Characters book, which takes [...]

[Musings of the Grumpy GM] Nye'ddeth - The Thing in the Relic - Level 22 Solo Controller

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:30:04 GMT
So here are the statistics for the terrible, boiling mass of insanity that is Nye'ddeth; a sentient shard of the madness dimension, somehow awoken to sentience and unleashed in the physical plane.

[Of Dice and Men] Sorry For The Delay...

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:30:04 GMT
It's been an unexpectedly busy week!

My darling daughter just turned 4, you see... so it was a busy, busy time!

The A to Z should be back on track today...

[Geek Native] May of the Dead: Lesser Gloom Lich

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:30:04 GMT

Stuart Renton, author of the Lords of the Night series, returns to Geek Native for a second contribution to May of the Dead. This is the Lesser Gloom Lich – a horror for your Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e adventures.
All throughout May blogs from the gaming world are contributing posts to the carnival. You can re-read Stuart’s first tribue blood magic from the Gloom Lich’s grimoire or check in with him at the Geekest Link.
Lesser Gloom Lich
When we first encountered – the creature – I call it that for I have no idea what it truly was, only that we felt [...]

[Tolrendor DM's Blog] RPG Tech Talk: iBooks Author

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:15:02 GMT

In my last column, I talked about my opinion that current eBook formats are not really suitable for RPG publications, where typically a greater level of control is required over the precise layout – unlike a novel where the ‘flow’ formats of an eBook work well.

This month, I decided to [...]

[HeroPress] Musical Monday: Metal Who...

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:00:05 GMT

Thanks to The Wit And Weirdness of Al Bruno III for drawing this to my attention.

[The Time of Troubles] To: The Knights Council of the North Ward.

Mon, 14 May 2012 08:45:03 GMT
Bidder: Raine Lexicon Wands
Project: Replacement of the Cliff-Side Colossus. (Golem Project)

I propose, as the general contractor and supervising wizard of the Order of Magists and Protectors, to furnish all labor and materials required for the Golem Project and to construct the Golem Project in conformity with all plans and requests.

I, furthermore agree to enter into Contract for the Golem Project and to commence actual work on within the times specified in the contract documents issued in connection with the Golem Project and also to complete the Golem Project within the times specified, excluding non-work days, natural disasters, and holidays.

I acknowledge that I have examined the specifications and drawings for the Golem Project as provided by the The Knights Council of the North Ward and I have examined the North Ward job site on which the Golem Project is to be constructed and have also determined to my own satisfaction that all conditions or limitations existing or that may arise affecting the Golem Project are within acceptable margins.

R.L.W.

...

In the Year of the Lion, Waterdeep came under attack. Not from uthgardt barbarians---nor from savage orcs; in [...]

[Teilzeithelden.de] Von alten Mythen und neuen Schrecken --- Teil I

Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:05 GMT

Wir schreiben das Jahr 2012 in einer aufgeklrten westlichen Gesellschaft. Wir fahren morgens mit dem Auto oder der Bahn zur Arbeit, verrichten unser Tagewerk und kehren am Abend zur Familie zurck. Neben uns liegt ein Smart Phone, mit dem wir jede Kleinigkeit sofort unter Wikipedia nachschlagen knnen, das uns Routen berechnet oder uns die Nachrichten bringt. Der Fuboden ist beheizt. Der Flachbildschirm gegenber unserer IKEA Couch ist 3D fhig. Unsere Bcherregale fllen Werke von Voltaire, Rousseau bis hin zu Stephen Hawking.

Wir sind Kinder der Aufklrung. Wir wissen, warum wir atmen, warum die Sonne scheint, wo sich der Mond befindet, selbst [...]

[Gnome Stew] Recapturing The Excitement

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:45:05 GMT

A lot of things have recently got me thinking about recapturing the excitement in my game. The game is coming to it's preplanned end, but it has been plagued by a slew of minor issues recently. I've been rolling with them and delivering some fun sessions despite the issues, but my enthusiasm for the game has been waning and it just doesn't have the fireworks of the first few months. I want to end the game with a bang, so I've been thinking about how to recapture that excitement.

The Thoughts In My Head
I started this campaign with a [...]

[Worlds in a Handful of Dice] Review: Enter the Shadowside

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:30:06 GMT

Enter the Shadowside is a new roleplaying game from FableForge. It’s available as an affordable 75-page PDF. It’s a modern-day supernatural conspiracy game written by Marco Leon. The first thing it reminds me of is Unknown Armies. In Enter the Shadowside, player characters have spirits riding around inside their heads. The second thing it reminds me of is Sorcerer.

The Shadowside in the title refers to the game’s parallel universe, or alternate reality, or dimension of dreams, or whatever you wish to call it. It’s a reality overlaid upon our own, where the souls of the dead go and the ghosts [...]

[Worlds in a Handful of Dice] Some Paizo Fanboyism

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:30:06 GMT

I’ll do all the Paizo fanboy stuff in a single post.

First of all, the Pathinder Online project is moving forward. They put up a Kickstarter to raise funds for a tech demo, which would allow them to raise the kind of funds that are difficult to get by crowdsourcing and are needed when developing a MMO. They got the $50,000 they were after in about 24 hours. They’re now looking to just up the number of pledges – money is no longer the main thing, but the number of fans. This is to show investors that there’s a solid playerbase [...]

[Worlds in a Handful of Dice] Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Stalker RPG, Self-Aggrandizement

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:30:06 GMT

It is time for some commercials!

As you may know, I translated Stalker RPG for Burger Games, and the game was finally released in PDF back in March. Now, Burger Games finally got a print-on-demand option worked out that they’re happy with. Additionally, the PDF’s price has been lowered to 14 (which translates to about $19.30). The PDF is available on DriveThruRPG, and the PoD book can be purchased from Lulu, for an eminently affordable 29.90. For a refresher, here’s J. Tuomas Harviainen’s review of the game. Additionally, here’s a thread on EN World where I discuss the system in some [...]

[Between Are the Doors] Maptacular Monday: Midian

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:00:07 GMT

So here is “Spain” in the World Between. We are aiming for maximum Gothic fun here, so it’s going to be a bit grim, but with enough brightness to serve as fantastic contrast. I hope this place seems like one you’d want to adventure.

Midian

Jack Shear’s original Midian post is here.

[Undergopher Central] UnderDiscussion 72: Ramble on!

Mon, 14 May 2012 06:15:03 GMT
Please take the2012 Podcast Listener surveyand show your support for UnderDiscussion: The Undergopher Podcast. Today on UnderDiscussion I present what has to be the longest bonus episode we’ve recorded to date. Hooligan and I got together with the aim of recording “something” and something is what we got. For close to an hour we discuss [...]

[Aventuras en la Marca del Este] El Brbaro Verde

Mon, 14 May 2012 06:00:05 GMT
Pues s, finalmente, aqu tienen la versin definitiva y completa de la ilustracin de Manzanedo que acompaar el texto de la nueva clase de aventurero del Brbaro que aparecer en la caja verde. Las restantes ilustraciones para las dems clases irn apareciendo poco a poco, en el ismo estilo caractersticos del bueno y genial Manzanedo. Ganas que tenemos de verlas!
Por otra parte, el tambin genial Manu Saz ha terminado las ilustraciones de las armas de asedio y nuevo equipo para la caja verde. Les mostraremos alguna muy pronto.

[20ft Radius] D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen Preview

Mon, 14 May 2012 05:30:04 GMT

Hey everyone are you all stoked for the new season of Encounters? I am. I have decided to try to showcase this season as a podcast, starting with the sneak peek at the upcoming season.

Please note that the initial 5-10 seconds of the podcast is very loud, so before you play it, please turn your volume down.

Just to let you know that the things I am talking about in the podcast are attached to the post for your convenience.

Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!

[Reality Refracted] Same Character, Different Game - Part 1 - Reasons

Mon, 14 May 2012 05:15:03 GMT
Play enough games and you'll come across someone who is playing the same character from a different game. Some people frown on this practice. Some people love it. Most seem to fall somewhere in the middle. No matter what though, it is something that you should understand as a GM if you have a player doing it in the game. As a player you should also be looking at a few other factors to keep the character fresh for both yourself and the other people sitting at the table. As such, we'll be discussing this type of role playing in [...]

[Ancient Scroll] O co chodzi z tym wisielcem

Mon, 14 May 2012 04:15:02 GMT
Wisielec to tracker -- miejsce ledzenia postpw druyny do samozagady w kampanii Warhammer‘a Wisielcza Kompania. Pierwsz cz kampanii znajdziecie TUTAJ Kampania oferuje zdobycie 30 pomocnikw do sesji kocowej. Zakadam, e utrata ponad 10 sprawi, e gracze na kocu zadyndaj. Powinno to skoni graczy to opanowania przy "eliminowaniu" napotkanych NPC. Jak to ma dziaa. Gracze zaczynaj [...]

[The Dragon Fisters] The Dragon Fisters Episode 013: Actual Play - New Beginnings

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:30:09 GMT
This Episode: Our soldiers at a war-torn village, tasked with the mundane activities of everyday military deployment. However, things don't stay so bland and boring for long. Direct... A group of friends who ramble and shamble while dice rumble and tumble. Call us casually-hardcore role players of Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.

[Stocking the Dungeon] NPC Profiles: The D&D Animated Series: Eric the Cavalier

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:30:09 GMT
It is important to bear in mind that magical forces that brought the "gang" to Mystara, along with the extremely potent incantations of their "totem" items give the heroes their abilities. Class and level are assigned to make sense of saving throws, hit points, and so on, but in some ways, these guys just don't fit into the game as proper examples of their class. It's best to just treat them as

[The Wandering Gamist] Journal of Fjolkir the Beardless, Part 8

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:15:03 GMT
I suffered several surprises upon awakening. The first was that I awoke at all; I had not expected to return to sanity after sacrificing myself to Mavrilith.

This was immediately followed by a number of surprises inherent in the situation. I found in front of me Shin-Yao's mangled corpse, clearly having been slain by the six-strike pattern of my twin axe style. His adamantine hammer was shattered, and my right hand was a welter of blood and broken bones, while my left was encased in a bone-white gauntlet which I guessed to be the white chromata. Looking down briefly, [...]

[Terruizeng] Ruinsbug

Mon, 14 May 2012 02:30:02 GMT
6d6+6 Ruinsbug Swarm AC 16 HD 1 Wallcrawls 12" Attack 1(acid spit 1d8 save vs. dragons breath for half damage) Takes double damage from breath and area attack weapons Morale 5.
Description: Swarming beetles the size of large rats; smoothed turtle shell like carapace hides beetle wings; long ant legs and feelers; spits acid that dissolves anything into an oilly tar which it eats. Denser material makes more tar, liquids and vapors not much. Cannot swim but holds breath for a long time. Excellent quick climber. Can smell precious metals and gems for which it hungers most greedily.

Lair: [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] The Official Adventurer Conqueror King OR DIE! Obsidian Portal Page is Up

Mon, 14 May 2012 02:30:02 GMT

Yep, our little Obsidian Portal page is up and running. Adventurer Conqueror King or Die! is just 2 sessions old, but I'm blessed with highly skilled, entertaining and funny as all hell role-players in my group. To say I'm blessed is an understatement, as their game play brings out the best in me as a GM. If this is how the game is going after 2 sessions, I can only imagine the delightful insanity we will be experiencing after 20 ;)

So come, look at the psychotic lizard man gladiator, he who would box his own shadow if it would give him a fight. See the mage that seems so unlike a mage, yet has knowledge like a sage (and a goblin servant too). [...]

[Stranger Sojourns] Session 22: Tsar -- Alley Ambush and Hobgoblin Hold

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:45:03 GMT

For backgrounds on the characters played in this campaign, look here~

Emerging from the Cobbler’s Shop with the fiendish fellow’s work laid to ruin, the party regrouped in the street once more and turned a wary eye towards the rest of the Grunge that was the lowermost section of Tsar. The battle through the warehouse had been relatively brisk and only lightly taxing of their reserves–and so the party elected to continue scouring their surroundings, having come up empty handed in pursuit of the statues so sought.

Not long after a plan had been set, the group was startled by the sudden [...]

[Time Corps HQ] First Annual Labyrinth Lord Society Meeting At Gen Con 2012

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:30:05 GMT

Attention all Labyrinth Lord Society members (and those interested in joining...)
The Labyrinth Lord Society will hold its First Annual Meet-and-Greet at Gen Con 2012. Ever wanted to meet fellow LLS members? Want to discuss Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, and other Goblinoid Games RPGs with like-minded fans? Want some cool swag?

The First Annual Meet-and-Greet will be held during the Gen Con "Stink" (the annual kick-off party for the convention).
Date: Wed Aug 15
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Place: Union Station in the Grand Ballroom

There is a lot of activity going on during the Stink -- lots of folks meeting each other, swag [...]

[The Savage AfterWorld] First Annual Labyrinth Lord Society Meeting At Gen Con 2012

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:30:05 GMT
Attention all Labyrinth Lord Society members (and those interested in joining...)
The Labyrinth Lord Society will hold its First Annual Meet-and-Greet at Gen Con 2012. Ever wanted to meet fellow LLS members? Want to discuss Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, and other Goblinoid Games RPGs with like-minded fans? Want some cool swag?

The First Annual Meet-and-Greet will be held during the Gen Con "Stink" (the annual kick-off party for the convention).
Date: Wed Aug 15
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Place: Union Station in the Grand Ballroom

There is a lot of activity going on [...]

[Dark Dungeon 2nd Edition] Some Sample Art: Still Alive!

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:30:05 GMT
Here's another two samples of the upcoming rulebook.

Guess that in my time zone I should have been sleeping by now.

[Roving Band of Misfits] Weekly Roundup: Unhallowed Grove Map Edition

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:15:03 GMT

So this weekend, I decided to dust off Dundjinni and whip up a quick map for Friday’s Unhallowed Grove encounter. You can find it below, and I’ve also added it to the article’s page. The article’s page includes explanations. It’s not super fancy, but then, it’s been a while since I used the program. I’m beginning to remember how easy and fun the program is, so I hope to make some more maps in the coming months.

There was a great article at The Illuminerdy this week about how to make cons more fun. Everyone needs to add the phrase to [...]

[Teutonic Blogging] James Edward Raggi IV im Kamingesprch (Englisch)

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:00:04 GMT

Bangrimtakes some questions and asks the mastermind ofLamentations of the flame princess (LotfP) and also the Random esoteric creature Generator, James Edward Raggi IV, some of them. The translated version of this interview will follow soon.

Bangrim: Would you like to introduce yourself and Lotfp to our reader?

James Edward Raggi IV: I'm nobody, no reason to waste time with that.

LotFP is an awesome RPG publishing putting out all sorts of cool stuff. Rules, settings, adventures. You like traditional games? You like fantasy? Horror? You like unrestrained creativity that doesn't think the audience is made up of fragile children? Check out LotFP's [...]

[Hexgeneration] The word of Gygax

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:00:04 GMT
About a week ago I was at my FLGS and ran into one of the local gamer kids. He is someone that I admire for being open to playing different sorts of RPGs at a young age, but he tends to be a bit annoying at times. He came up to me while I was [...]

[Gaming Tonic] Marvel Super Heroes Magazine One Year Subscription Giveaway!

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:15:02 GMT

Avengers Assemble! Seriously that movie was amazing. If you don't see it on the big screen you will kick yourself. I have super heroes stuck on my brain now and Marvel Comics and Disney were kind enough to give me a one year subscription to the new Marvel Super Heroes Magazine to give away to one lucky reader in the U.S. only. That is eight issues, each 36 pages. That is nearly a $40 value. Just leave a comment about what Marvel character you would be and why. I will pick the winner Thursday May 17th, 2012. Marvel Super [...]

[Greyhawkery] Happy Mother's Day...

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:45:03 GMT

...to witch-queen IGGWILV, mother of Iuz, demigod of evil and his half-sister the vampiric vixen Drelzna. Whether going by the name Hura, Louhi, Ichbilch or Wilva - no woman in Greyhawk canon has done more to build up and support her family. From conquering Perrenland to exacting revenge on her children's deadbeat fathers to penning a best-selling series of Demonomicons, Iggwilv is always in the background scheming for the future. Not even death or imprisonment in the abyss can keep this ambitious mother down.

Iggwilv's legendary rise to Greyhawk infamy is especially remarkable when you consider she was once just plain Natasha, a simple village girl. That is [...]

[Untimately] Thulsa Doom is Skeletor

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT
While reading the excellent Del Rey Kull collection, I came across this passage (page 114):
Kull tore the veil away with one motion and recoiled with a gasp. Delcardes screamed and her knees gave way; the councillors pressed backward, faces white and the guard released their grasp and shrank horror-struck away.
The face of the man was a bare white skull, in whose eye sockets flamed livid fire!
"Thulsa Doom!"
"Aye, I guessed as much!" exclaimed Ka-nu.
"Aye, Thulsa Doom, fools!" the voice echoed cavernously and hollowly. "The greatest of all wizards and your eternal foe, [...]

[Dungeons and Drawings] Arcane Ooze

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:15:03 GMT

You know what's hard to design? Oozes. There's only so many ways you can try to design an amoeba. Still, this is a sight better than that catastrophe under the title of Reekmurk. Eegh. I should really redo that particular image.

Some people have a lot of complaints about D&D being really caster-biased. Wizards and such are really squishy early game, when in later levels they gain powers of deific proportions, leaving combat-based classes in the dust. Well, for the sake of balance in the game, you have to break out the occasional mage-killer. The kinda monster where [...]

[Alex Schroeder: RPG] More Recommended Dungeons

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:15:03 GMT

Limiting my nominations to less than twenty entries is going to be difficult! I’ve read fifty submissions and already I want to nominate twelve entries!
New entries I’d like to recommend:
Fco. Javier Barrera’s The River of Stars
Gene Sollows’ Holy Sword
Jason “Flynn” Kemp’s Sell Swords of Mars
Jasper Polane’s Ship of the Lost
Previous recommended entries are here and here. The first post in this series also has the scheme I devised to figure out which dungeons I like and why I like them. According to this system, my nominations mostly got five, one entry got six points and two other entries got seven points.
Actually, let me list the entries that I’d support if other judges are going to nominate them. These entries got four points according to my scheme.
Alan Brodie’s Splashdown in Fiend's Fen
C.M. Lebrun’s The Ichor of Vercingetorix
Chris Olson’s Tomb of the Vampire Pricess Sword
Dan Roy’s The Final Battle Ground
Eran Aviram and Aviv Or’s One Last Tribute
Greengoat’s Devil Gut Rock
Jeff R.’s Baron Fel's Vault
Tags: RPG 1PDC

[Flames Rising] Horrors: Great Stories of Fear and Their Creators at DriveThruComics!

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:00:06 GMT

That notorious evening at Villa Diodati when Lord Byron challenged his contemporaries to write a ghost story, his summons brought forth a mad doctor intent on reanimation and a vampire drunk with bloodlust.

The night modern horror was born was notoriously dark and stormy, as were the lives of those who wrote the most fearsome–yet beloved–tales in literature, for those so gifted were also cursed.

Horrors, a graphic novel by Rocky Wood and Glenn Chadbourne, reveals in gruesome detail how Mary Wollstonecraft, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and other masters of the genre were haunted by their monstrous creations.

Horrors: Great Stories of [...]

[Geek Ken] Off to the jungle...

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:30:03 GMT
... well not quite but I'll be travelling south and out of the country for a bit. Expecting hot and humid weather, not to mention consuming vast quantities of 333. Be back in about a week.

While part of a different canon, I always dug the Slann from Warhammer Fantasy. With a combination of brutes, dart shooting skirmishers, along with huge battle triceratops, and ancient psionic Old Ones, I might need to craft an adventure or two regarding them. They've got this combination of primal fury and potential of the far beyond that makes for some cool ideas. [...]

[Nearly Enough Dice Podcast] Episode 44 -- Magnum!

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:30:03 GMT

With your hosts, Liz and Mike! Our first attempt at a less than or equal to 1 hour podcast failed… This week, Mike goes into details about how his Vampire and L5R games went this week. Liz returns and froths over the latest Avengers movie and reviews Memorable Townsfolk by Purple Duck Games! Mike talks about cultural handouts (“What my father told me”), Chris Tregenza speaks of the dreaded Bottom Line, and Liz and Mike chat about RPGs and brick-n-mortar stores – will they ever really be able to get along?

Website: www.nearlyenoughdice.com

AIIECHOONS! Leave us a review! Rate us! Subscribe!

General [...]

[Nearly Enough Dice Podcast] Review of Rogue's Gallery by Little Red Goblin Games

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:00:03 GMT

Rogues in games are the surprising members of any adventuring party. You don’t generally think of the rogue as the good guy, but instead the guy who came along for the money. For that reason I have generally avoided playing rogues, in the fear that I would find them boring, and slightly one-dimensional. Little Red Goblin Games saw this interesting class and how under-used it was – and released a module for it!

The Rogue’s Gallery is all about the the rogue class in Pathfinder RPG and gives it a lot of love. With a massive pile of new feats, Equipment, [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] An OSR Styled Abstract Combat Map For Your Review

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:45:04 GMT

Ian Dimitri was kind enough to take me up on my challenge in regards to an OSR styled Abstract Combat Map. I really do like the resulting "map" Ian came up with, and I may start experimenting with this in my Google+ Hangout (using Tabletop Forge for the VTT) ACKS Campaign.

Shane Magnus also pointed me to one that he had created that was inspired by  3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars, but I think Ian is closer to what I need in an OSR style game. Thanks for the peek Shane, I appreciate it. I think yours works better with other system, and I may experiment with it when I run an Savage Worlds or Hollow Earth Expedition game.
Ian explains his suggested use as [...]

[Boneyard] Retro-clone compiled

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:45:04 GMT
I have taken all my posts on my theoretical AD&D retro clone and compiled them into a Google doc. I did this with the thought of polishing and expanding it a bit, then posting it on here. No idea of a cool setting or name for it though. The lack of a setting idea may [...]

[Battreps] On Parade

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:15:02 GMT
On a way back to his unit, Captain Andrzej Niegolewski stopped for refreshment in the camp of the 9th Light (the famous "Incomperable") regiment. When Major Lannes got the news that the owner of the L'Ordre national de la Lgion d'honneur is coming, he rushed to great his old war companion, since two men knew each other from Somosierra pass. Major made a parade for his guest, to show his famous light infantrymen.
His strongest men were elected into the company of Carabiniers (10 men with complete command, including officer, NCO, standard bearer and drummer)
Most numerous are, of course, [...]

[Claw Claw Bite] Ritual: Cloud Chariot

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:15:02 GMT

Borne on a flying cloud, you soar through the sky over the walls of the castle and past the startled guards on the watchtowers. ”Maverick!” cries one, shaking his fist at you in disapproval.

Level: 15
Category: Travel
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: see below
Component Cost: 2,000 gold
Market Price: 10,000 gold
Key Skill: Arcana

This ritual conjures a magical flying chariot made of cloudsthat the caster may ride into the skies. While the cater is aboard the chariot moves according to their mental commands. When unattended it will hover in place. The chariot provides no cover or protection against attacks, [...]

[Detrás de la Pantalla] La imagen del domingo: la Ciudad Imperial

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:15:02 GMT

Siento no indicar el nombre del autor, pero no lo he encontrado.

[HeroPress] Cuteness Overload...

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:00:05 GMT

Checking in on the new arrivals at Brooksville Zoo, USA, in 1941 in British Path's inimitable style.

[Live from the Dead Air] Still Not Dead

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:00:05 GMT
Its the middle of May again, time for another celebratory video.

Its this video that really turned me on to Metallica, and in conjunction with a similar video one based on Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas in Sarajevo" - spurred my interest in the Resident Evil Franchise.

To improve your zombie gaming night, a good session should include at least two scenes from this music video to really keep the players going. Last moment escapes, mad doctors with odd serum, a climatic showdown, doomed supporting characters - its all good for upping the [...]

[Хроники Геров (Heroes' Chronicles)] :)

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:00:05 GMT

, , - . .    .

- , , , . :)

.

[Battreps] On Parade 2

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:30:04 GMT

While Andrzej Niegolewski was visiting 9th light, not far from their camp British captain John Peoplefolks, widely known as The Bell
performed an review of his own troops.
What he had available was a company of 1st Foot Guard (with mounted officer, NCO, drummer and standard bearer)
company of Rifles with officer, NCO and trumpeter,
and a motley crew of Spanish rebel militia with rebel leader, his second in command, and a priest (his moral influence to the company equals him to standard bearer).

Long live the King!

[Trollish Delver] Revamped French Buffalo Castle hits Lulu

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:15:03 GMT
I'm incredibly jealous of the French. Not only have they got the 8th edition of Tunnels & Trolls, but now they have their own revamped version of Buffalo Castle, the original T&T solo.

Chteau Bison is available on Lulu for 9.68 and features not only brand new cover art, but all new interior art by Liz Danforth. While I don't think my French is terrible, I certainly don't know enough to play through it but I guess the good part is that I have the English version, so I'll buy this for the artwork and Steve Crompton's format.

[NERD TREK] Devil Bat Diary: The Journal of Johnny Layton -- A Book Review

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:15:03 GMT

Sometimes I think that being a non-American puts me at a disadvantage, that a lot of references tend to go over my head and I'm left with the barren perception of an outlander to try and understand a situation I have no reference for. I'm left to evaluate stories, books and matters from a new perspective, like coming in on the end of the punch line of a joke and not knowing why everybody is laughing or enjoying it.

This was my experience with Devil Bat Diary -- The Journal of Johnny Layton.

The book by Peter H. Brothers severed as a [...]

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] Otulinchauroba- Planar Glass Spiders

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:45:04 GMT
Otulinchauroba- Planar Glass Spiders Frequency: Rare No.Enc: 1d4 Alignment : Inimical(very aggressive & dangerous) Intelligence:Animal & Highly Alien (Hive mind existing in 6 or more dimensions at once)Size:Large 7' longMovement :120'(40')Armor class:3 Hit Dice:6 Attacks:3 (2 claws,bite)Damage:1d8/1d8/1d6 Special:poison(see below)Save:W3Morale:11 (Utterly fearless, Uses pack Tactics) Hoard Class:A (From Past Victims) Experience: 500 each
The Otulinchauroba- Planar Glass Spiders are a rare hazard in Human Space. These multi poly dimensional life forms exist within 6 or more dimensions spinning complex webs of shifting reality matrices. Ships passing through these webs may snag or even become entangled within these strange glowing strands of reality.
The spider itself can easily pass through several layers of [...]

[Trollish Delver] My Gamebook Adventures feature is online

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:15:03 GMT
Every month I write for the super awesome online videogames magazine, Thirteen1, and this month I did a feature about Gamebook Adventures and a preview of An Assassin in Orlandes for the PC.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Tin Man Games' work; Gamebook Adventures brings back the nostalgic feel of original gamebooks but I don't have to carry dice and a pencil around if I want to play them.

What's more is that the Judge Dredd gamebook will be shortly coming to iOS, which blends two of my favourite drokking things of all times.

[Gothridge Manor] First Dungeons and a Thank You to Mom

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:45:03 GMT

First dungeons. The discovery that got me started in developing dungeons was a graph paper tablet I found in my mother's supply closet at her office. I'd never seen one before. Didn't know they existed. Holy crap, I just found gold. I asked if I could have it and she said of course. Armed with a ruler and pencil I drew dungeon map after dungeon map.

After I finished a few dozen maps I chose the maps with the best personality and started room descriptions. There was no logic or theme to the dungeons, just rooms [...]

[Papers & Pencils] The Role of Military History

Sun, 13 May 2012 17:45:03 GMT

Someday, I want to get paid for this. Not necessarily for writing Papers & Pencils itself, mind you. I somehow doubt I’ll ever have the readership required to make advertisements a profitable endeavor. But I’d like to make a living off of writing or game design, or some combination of the two. I like to think that putting myself out there with this website is the first step in that quest, even if it is the first step of many I’ll need to take. Another step I’m working on is educating myself. I’m trying to take an academic approach to learning about games and game design. I read and analyze anything which seems as though it will help me traverse the long road towards a career I can be proud of.

I’ve noticed that many of the most renowned game designers – Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Steve Jackson – have been students of military history, and credited that knowledge with helping them in designing games. It seemed only prudent, then, that I should investigate this field of study to see what it had to offer. So while I was grocery shopping this past weekend, I picked up a copy of the June 2012 issue of “Military Heritage” magazine. It seemed like an inexpensive way to take my first glimpse at the subject, to see what I could see.

Most of the magazine deals with more contemporary wars, where firearms are used. Personally I’m much more intrigued in the medieval period, but there is a feature entitled “Fight in the Fog: Vercellae 101 BC,” which is more relevant to my interests. And the modern information is certainly not out of place. In many ways, a war fought with fantasy elements is more like a modern war than a medieval one. Wizards, elven archers, [...]

[Stranger Sojourns] Review: Barroom Brawls (PFRPG)

Sun, 13 May 2012 17:30:03 GMT

‘Barroom Brawls’ by Creighton Broadhurst provides quick, concise and easily accessible mechanics for a given gaming group to throw down, flip tables and get into a bawdy brawl at a moment’s notice. With a variety of fun prompts and at-a-glance inspirations, the material herein could be used for a planned out plot and introduction of hooks or characters–or simply spontaneous mayhem after a hard adventuring session for rowdy rabble-rousers to cut loose and let off some steam. Let’s take a look at what it entails to really get the fisticuffs flying!

It’s likely safe to say that there is a frightening [...]

[Greyhawk Grognard] Thirty Years Ago This Weekend, We Were Told of the Days of High Adventure

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:45:03 GMT
Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And onto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!
Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, came upon the world this weekend, 30 years ago. I know for me it was a seminal moment, not only because I was a huge fan of the [...]

[Armchair Gamer] CharGen: Brother Behemoth -- Horned Prince of Animals

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:30:03 GMT
Here's the last post on the creation of my ICONS character. I think I'll try a few more offline before I think about running an online play-by-post game of this. It's an interesting system. Here we go: BROTHER BEHEMOTH ABILITIES Prowess - Ideal Maximum Human (6) Coordination - Above Average Human (4) Strength - Superhuman (8) Intellect - Exceptional Human (5) Awareness - Above Average Human

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] Barrowmaze II Indiegogo

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:00:05 GMT

So Barrowmaze I was quality & pretty damn good! This one is shaping up to be finer yet! Here's some of the stuff from Indiegogo

Secret Doors? Check, Deadly Traps? Check, Hidden Treasures? Check, Terrifying Monsters?Check, Slim Chance of Survival? Check.Where Do I Sign Up?(p.s. Don't forget your 10 foot pole.)(p.p.s Ummm, yeah. Forget the pole, it won't really help you against THAT.)This indiegogo campaign is designed to support the creation of Barrowmaze II (BMII) and, while doing so, provide supporters with exclusive extras and cool bonus perks.  Barrowmaze II is the second part of a two-part exploration-style megadungeon for Labyrinth Lordand other [...]

[Ancient Scroll] !

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:00:05 GMT
http://www.squidoo.com/new-indie-role-playing-games http://www.squidoo.com/guide-to-world-of-warcraft http://www.squidoo.com/daily-rpg-idea http://www.squidoo.com/top-10-most-inspiring-music-clips-for-rpg-session http://www.squidoo.com/rcol http://www.squidoo.com/mudeaters http://www.squidoo.com/bargain-buys2 http://www.squidoo.com/dragon-miniatures-figurines http://www.squidoo.com/castle-legends http://www.squidoo.com/unusual-suspects http://www.squidoo.com/tale-of-war4 http://www.squidoo.com/tale-of-war4 http://www.squidoo.com/tale-of-war4 http://www.squidoo.com/tale-of-war4 http://www.squidoo.com/tale-of-war4 Link do tego scenariusza!

[Ancient Scroll] Ksigi Starergo wiata 2

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:00:05 GMT

Kolejna porcja fikcyjnych ksig stworzonych przez Pafnucego z Pafhammera z myl o wykorzystaniu w Warhammerze. Tym razem woluminy dla… jurystw. Przypomnijmy: pierwsza cz stanowia o woluminach dla magw. Corpus Iuris Sanctis, czyli kodeks prawa witynnego; Luigi del Penara z Tobaro -- drukowane wielokrotnie; 185 str.; j. klasyczny lub starowiatowy Dzieo napisane w 1567 roku K.I. [...]

[Hack & Slash] On The Esclation

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:45:02 GMT
This post on Roger's Roles, Rules, and Rolls blog, which is rapidly becoming the sine qua non of the OSR theory discussion group, inspired me to add an Escalation die to my game.

Why? Because it rips your arms out of your lazy boring sockets.

The short version: Every time someone rolls a seven or a thirteen, the escalation die gets incremented. This provides a bonus to hit and damage and a penalty to saves.

We tried it, and no one remembered.

On my character sheets, there is an escalation track. Anytime someone [...]

[Zenopus Archives] The Scroll Spellbook

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:30:04 GMT

Scroll by David C Sutherland III from Monster & Treasure Assortment Set One: Levels One-Three (1977)

     Yesterday I suggested a new optional rule for Holmes Basic:

     "...a Holmes DM could simply allow for re-memorization from scrolls. These could be bundled to create a dungeon-ready magic book (dungeon book). In B2, a blank vellum book costs 20 gp (at the Bank in the Keep). Adding a known spell to the dungeon book requires the same cost/time as constructing a scroll. In a pinch a spell can be cast directly from [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] ACKS Session 2 Recap - Playing With Tortured Fire

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:30:04 GMT

Remember a few months back when I remarked that just about every D&D session has either fire or torture i it, almost invariably introduced by the PCs themselves? Last night my party managed to introduce both, and in the same scene yet!

Investigating the reports that goblins were accessing the basement under the church in town, the PCs discovered a hole in the wall adjacent to the twins sewer. They waited in am bust for the return of said goblins, and when they made their entrance the party's mage threw a flask of oil, striking the wall just above the hole the gob's were entering from. As the gob's lost their footing, he followed it with a well placed lob of a lit torch. [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Out of the Chimney

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT

Many years ago, in the same place where the new castle is standing now, therewas an old fortress. The ruler of the fortress was a dirty, lustful baron. He was amean guy. There was no single girl in the castle and nearby villages whom hehadn’t tried to seduce. And very few ladies had managed to [...]

[The Grumpy Old Troll] Grot Wilderness Travel

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT
Travel across the face of Grot is an inherently hazardous and chaotic affair. As a group of adventurers progress, the inimical terrain around them is randomly generated. This is true even when traversing areas they have been through before. The perilous mountain ranges, caustic seas and the six great citadels stand as the only static landmarks of this percolating milieu of corruption. Below are two examples of the tables useful for inflicting this environment.

Basic Nature of Mid-Latitude Hex

Fungal Forest
Forested Swamp
Cyclopean Briars
Grasping Weedlands
Fungal Hills
Abyssal Valleys
Cinder Waste
Stomatic Canyons
Shattered Rock
Low Fen

Effects of Travel applied to all characters at end of [...]

[The FATE Archives] Game day in Pittsburgh

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT
My thoughts on yesterday's gaming.

It was nice to get back into it, I have not done as much as I would like in the last few years. But, since I moved to Pittsburgh, this is the second time in like 5 months.

Game 1. Mouse Guard. I have actually wanted to play this for some time, and even owned it before [...]

[HeroPress] DVD Of The Week: The People Vs George Lucas

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:15:03 GMT

Despite the documentary's title, The People Vs George Lucas is not a hatchet job on the man who created the generation-defining Star Wars movies.

Instead it is a very well balanced examination of the attitudes of fans and scholars to the changing nature of Lucas's films and the attitude of fandom.

Charting its story mostly chronologically, it looks at the timing to the release of the original Star Wars and the way that fans embraced the movie, and its universe, and then progresses through the evolution of fandom and its reaction to the "Special Editions" of the Original Trilogy that were released before the Prequel.

Questions are raised about the "rights" of an artist to tinker with his published work and the "rights" of the audience to feel a sense of ownership of the work they have grown up enjoying.

This segues into reactions to [...]

[Worlds in a Handful of Dice] Review: Enter the Shadowside

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:00:04 GMT

Enter the Shadowside is a new roleplaying game from FableForge. It’s available as an affordable 75-page PDF. It’s a modern-day supernatural conspiracy game written by Marco Leon. The first thing it reminds me of is Unknown Armies. In Enter the Shadowside, player characters have spirits riding around inside their heads. The second thing it reminds me of is Sorcerer.

The Shadowside in the title refers to the game’s parallel universe, or alternate reality, or dimension of dreams, or whatever you wish to call it. It’s a reality overlaid upon our own, where the souls of the dead go and the ghosts [...]

[Nevermet Press] The Trivium Proportion, Part 10 (A Cyberpunk Tale), by David Phillips

Sun, 13 May 2012 14:15:02 GMT

Uriel (by C.E. Zacherl see more at veyer.deviantart.com)

Goldie stared out into Club InZanity, soaking in every detail just as her tongue soaked in every note of the wine. This wine would be the first of an evening that looked to have a number of suspenseful sips.

***

The club's bar was not stationary; it orbited the venue like the ring on a space station orbits the main body. Small ledges lined the club so that all the patrons had a place to set their drink and their elbow, if they were so inclined.

Most of the patrons, however, wouldn't be found leaning on the ledge. Many of the patrons filled one of several moving platforms that rose and sunk in sync with the music, sinking and rising with more speed as the songs increased in BPM.

Another large group of patrons located themselves around three major hubs that were on sunken sections of floor. These hubs glowed with many bright neon colors and patrons jacked into the ports of the hubs with any number of various outputs. Many of the patrons in this part of the club had one aspect of appearance in common. These people had wires and jacks tangled into their hair. Some patrons had these items weaved through their normal hair, while still others had wholly artificial hair, made of tubes, some glowing. Some conservative people and outsiders from this subculture did not consider these people fully human anymore.

The music guaranteed an almost perfect level of privacy outside of a small social bubble. A small social bubble around a couch on the far wall from the door included Barry Lesco, Apple Edelman, Jarred Dobson, and Kayla Summers.

Barry Lesco looked out of place with his gears and archaic tech looking goggles and gas mask. If it was not for the sound of [...]

[Adventures and Shopping] IA Stock Art for RPG covers

Sun, 13 May 2012 14:00:03 GMT
Okay, I'm starting to sell the Van Goghs for beer and pennies. ;)

(Cross-posted to Inked Adventures and IA on blogger)

New stock art for publishers for sale on DriveThruRPG / RPGNow.

Click on graphic for detail sample:

[Happy Jacks RPG Podcast] Happy Jacks RPG Podcast Season 07 Episode 16

Sun, 13 May 2012 14:00:03 GMT

Season 07 Episode 16

Your hosts: Stu, Stork, Tyler, JiB, Fray

[Tower of the Archmage] Sunday Inspirational Image: Golden Armored Skeleton

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:45:03 GMT

[Creative Mountain Games] Knight Life Short Film

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT
There is a neat little film that Peter Adkison has made for a film class he is taking and since it is Medieval-adjacent, I thought I would blog about it. Enjoy!

[The Tome Show] Behind the DM Screen Ep 4

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:30:04 GMT

Recorded in April 2012, Mike, Jeff, and Randall continue to explore their campaigns.

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[Game Knight Reviews] Creighton's Corner: Ending it All

Sun, 13 May 2012 12:30:04 GMT

In previous instalments of this series, we've talked a lot about preparing for and starting a new campaign, but we've spent no time thinking about how we should end a campaign. Lots of campaigns come to a natural halt either due to participants moving away, a desire to try something new, waning interest or catastrophic in-game events. You shouldn't assume, however, that your campaign will suffer such a fate but when you start up a campaign it is important to have a good idea of how and when you want it to end.

Normally, in the case of an adventure path [...]

[HeroPress] For All You American Mothers!

Sun, 13 May 2012 12:00:04 GMT

Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor. Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin, surly Lord Macintosh and cantankerous Lord Dingwall. Merida's actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it's too late.It's not Mother's Day over here, but for my readers in North America, here's Disney's latest Brave trailers that also celebrate the occasion of Mother's Day.

While for the laddies...

[HeroPress] The Forgotten Avengers...

Sun, 13 May 2012 09:00:03 GMT

[Terruizeng] Animals

Sun, 13 May 2012 09:00:03 GMT
Encounter table build in progress...
Animal: 1*Assassin Lizard; 2*Boarbear; 3*Ropesnake; 4*Feathered Serpent; 5*Gorn; 6*Scavenger Grasslizard; 7*Boarnicorn; 8*Spiders; 9*Rhinoturtlebear; 10*Ruinsbugs; 11*Choking Centipedeswarm; 12*Electric Landeel; 13*Dragonowl; 14*Dogs; 15*Burrowbug; 16*Parasitic Slug; 17*Bloodgnats; 18*Rabbitpig; 19*Giantlandbird; 20*.Mimicbirds

* Clear, Grass, Scrub. 1: Assassin Lizard 2: Boarbear 3: Feathered Serpent 4: Scavenger Grasslizard 5: Bornicorn 6: Ruinsbugs 7: Electric Landeel 8: Dogs.
* Woods. 1: Assassin Lizard 2: Boarbear 3: Ropesnake 4: Feathered Serpent 5: Boarnicorn 6: Rhinoturtlebear 7: Spiders 8: Dragonowl.
* River. 1: Assassin Lizard 2: Ropesnake 3: Feathered Serpent 4: Scavenger Grasslizard 5: Boarnicorn 6: Rhinoturtlebear 7: Spiders 8: Electric Landeel.
* [...]

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] Harryhausen Dragon For Your Old School Space Opera

Sun, 13 May 2012 09:00:03 GMT

Taro may his comings & his goings be ever joyful. May you never fall under the gaze of the great destroyer Never be caught within his sharp claws, the teeth that catch or his breath that burns.
May Taro bless you & always guard against the evil of others. Be ever so joyful within the confines of his cavern
May he guard us all until the end of days
Amen The Book of The Ever Vigilant & Dangerous
Daily meditations & sayings Chapter 3
Frequency: Rare
No. Enc.: 1d3 (1d6)
Alignment: Chaotic with evil tendencies
Intelligence: Animal (1)

[Really Bad Eggs] Cinematic: The Three Musketeers

Sun, 13 May 2012 08:15:03 GMT

Unfortunately I can't embed this clip from Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers, but clicking on the picture will take you to it.

[Teilzeithelden.de] Rezension: Trail of Cthulhu --- Hell Fire

Sun, 13 May 2012 08:00:06 GMT

Hell Fireist ein weiteres Abenteuer frTrail of Cthulhu, entgegen des blichen bespielten Zeitabschnitts (1930er) findet das Abenteuer jedoch in der zweiten Hlfte des 18. Jahrhunderts statt und entfhrt die Spieler in die Welt derLords and Ladies.

Das Empire befindet sich gerade in Bewegung: einerseits wchst die Kolonialmacht, andererseits muss sich das Empire jedoch mit Reformen im Inneren sowie dem aufkommenden Unabhngigkeitswillen Amerikas zu Recht finden.

Die Geschichte beginnt mit der Verwicklung einigerGentlemendesHellfire-Clubin einen mysterisen Mord, da es sich bei dem Opfer um eine Dame von Stand handelt, mit weit reichenden gesellschaftlichen Folgen.

Schritt fr Schritt offenbart sich, was sich tatschlich hinter dem [...]

[Aventuras en la Marca del Este] Ilustraciones para el Codex

Sun, 13 May 2012 06:00:04 GMT
Como ya comentamos por otros medios, hemos adquirido los permisos para emplear un buen montn de ilustraciones de William MacAusland para el Codex de la Marca. De esta manera, podremos proveer de sus ilustraciones correspondientes a una buena cantidad de objetos e incluso localizaciones y personajes. Como saben, esta autor ya trabaj en suplementos roleros muy conocidos, como es el caso de un buen montn de mdulos de Dungeon Crawl Classics. Ahora mismo, William trabaja en su propio juego The Mutant Epoch, del que ya hablamos en la Marca hace ms bien poco.
Les dejos con algunas ilustraciones de ejemplo, [...]

[Emergence Campaign] Yggdrasil, the Tree of Worlds (Wood Manse *****)

Sun, 13 May 2012 04:30:04 GMT

Yggdrasil Classic

From far enough away, Yggdrasil is just a big tree – mildly impressive, yes, but nothing more. It's only when you get up close that it's tremendous width really becomes apparent – and it's only when you look straight up along the trunk that you can see that the trunk continues up for what may be miles – and that the trunk and upper limbs do not just trail off in the usual mass of twigs and leaves. They may appear to do so to distant observers – but that's simply because they are passing though the gate, and [...]

[The Savage AfterWorld] Issue 13 of Wisdom From the Wastelands Now Out

Sun, 13 May 2012 04:15:03 GMT
Issue 13 of Wisdom From the Wastelands has been released. The Mutant Future-themed supplement is now released in a bi-weekly format.

Issue 13 - Medical Devices: Fantasy has spells and potions to heal injuries and resurrect the dead. Science fantasy has similar ways of curing what ails, but through technology. Although the Mutant Future core book describes a plethora of drugs, there were only a handful of medical devices available as technological treasure. This issue provides several new pieces of medical equipment that Mutant Lords can use as rewards, or characters can use [...]

[Going Last] Session 68, Bacon, Pirates, and Gaming News

Sun, 13 May 2012 04:15:03 GMT

Hey Guys,

This week was a little late, but here is what we did chat about.

Misc.-

DaveArneson’spersonal gaming collection up for auction

D&D shirt design contest

Boy Scouts game design merit badge

Zombie Dice game has sold 65k

Board and Card

Andriod:Netrunner, Living Card Game from Fantasy flight inQ3

Small World: Realms preorder is available

Miniatures

English rules forGreebo’sfantasy football

Zombie mutant from Smart Max

Arachnoids,beetloids, and brutal giant fromMrDandy

Pathfinder minis previews

New Anima Tactics minis

Alien heads from Max Mini

Terrain

A few new items fromZiterdes

Frontier house fromEscenografia

Rotating room fromThormarillion

May of the Dead

Last Shift at the Hell-Temple

Resurrection ofNerull

Paper minis

Blood knightpainting

Skeleton warriors painting

Kickstarter

Nystul’sInfinite Dungeon

DragonshireE-Z Lock Buildings

Tentacle Bento

The Doom That Came To Atlantic City!

Pathfinder technology demo

RPG

Wayne FoundationChairityRPG [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Zbrojownia Zajceva 3

Sun, 13 May 2012 04:00:03 GMT
Kubek z destylatem po raz kolejny powdrowa w gr. Kapitan Ben Hustler wla parzcy pyn do garda, zagryz kawakiem woowiny z puszki i otar zy, ktre napyny momentalnie jak tylko alkohol podrani przeyk. Rozejrza si po pomieszczeniu: stare, poobijane ko polowe, nadgryziona przez szczury skrzynia po amunicji suca za szaf, solidna kasa pancerna i kilka [...]

[Greyhawk Grognard] Combat in RPGs

Sun, 13 May 2012 03:00:04 GMT
A question to the audience.

Do different styles of combat require different combat mechanics? Or is it possible for a single game system to portray widely disparate forms of combat coherently and in a way that make them workable against one another?

Consider the following examples:

The question becomes, can a single combat system handle all those disparate types of combat? Should any single system be expected to be able to handle them adequately, or do different genres (or sub-genres) require unique combat systems? And, of course, the other question is, [...]

[Emergence Campaign] Exalted -- Stargate Command

Sun, 13 May 2012 03:00:04 GMT

Well, sort of…

In Charles’s ongoing efforts to be nice to people, he wants to give them more room. In fact, he wants to give them the entire cosmos…

The Mirror-Shattering Method can allow travel between realities, and thus must be opening (or at least locating and establishing entry and exit points for) a route through Elsewhere. It can hold those openings ready, and the route open, for at least five days – the usual travel time.

Travel Thaumaturgy can modify travel times, and routes, and even allow very short jumps through elsewhere.

Manse Gates can bridge places and realities, and therefore operate through [...]

[Stuff for Nonsense] Physical Mice and Virtual Dice

Sun, 13 May 2012 02:45:04 GMT

So, I’m relatively excited about Plaid Hat’s new Mice and Mystics game. It looks like more of a story-driven coop board game than a true RPG, but it might be just the ticket for gaming groups like ours, since we sometimes have months where we can’t commit a full Saturday to playing our RPG of choice. Plus, it’s got awesome mouse miniatures! What could possibly go wrong?

(Lots of things, actually. I know that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t hope it will be AWESOME.)

In other news, I finally got around to looking at the Roll20 videos this week. Everyone on [...]

[Land of Nod] Dragon by Dragon - October 1976

Sun, 13 May 2012 02:45:04 GMT
Three issues into The Dragon and we have our first sci-fi cover! What lies within? Well - not much sci-fi ...

First up we have an editorial by Tim Kask about fantasy. He brings up at least one good point - your ability to imagine something is predicated on your past experience. To my mind, that means get out there and experience as much as possible, even if it is just through art. The more you have seen, the more you will see and can imagine. Tim then goes on to remark that fiction, in future, will be better [...]

[Stocking the Dungeon] NPC Profiles: The D&D Animated Series: Diana the Acrobat

Sun, 13 May 2012 01:00:04 GMT
It is important to bear in mind that magical forces that brought the "gang" to Mystara, along with the extremely potent incantations of their "totem" items give the heroes their abilities. Class and level are assigned to make sense of saving throws, hit points, and so on, but in some ways, these guys just don't fit into the game as proper examples of their class. It's best to just treat them as

[SinisterForces] Unexpected Turn of Events

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:45:03 GMT
So two days after my last post I was laid off from my job of 13 years. I was not only laid off, but I was laid off over the phone. On top of that my phone was cut in the middle of the call by the very people laying me off. Yeah, it went [...]

[Charisma Bonus] Damsels and Dragons: NWN add-ins

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:15:02 GMT

So what do you do when you're feeling tired and depressed?

Some girls might turn to ice cream and The Notebook, but me, I prefer tearing apart goblins with my bare hands, or that Namarra +1 Rapier I just picked up from my last dungeon. Heck, sometimes I aim my sights nice and high for a full on dragon. Yeah, those are the really bad days.

Now why things have been down isn't really here or there. The important thing to take out of this is that I've been playing a heck of a lot of Neverwinter Nights 2. Enough that I've been looking at (finally) doing a little bit of upgrading.

For those that aren't aware, Neverwinter Nights (1 and 2) come with a toolset that you can use to create all sorts of things: items, cosmetic changes, classes, heck, even entire campaigns.

Even better? They're free, or at least all the ones [...]

[Lost Papers of Tsojcanth] AFG: Work in Progress

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:15:02 GMT

Today it’s editing time here at the Lost Flat of yours truly, mostly spent fixing small bits and bobs and the horrible horribleness that was the Fighting Capability section, then adding items to the shopping list, writing up the Innumerable Demon Gods for the Divinity chapter and cleaning up the section concerning spell research, grimoires and transcription.

Then I decided that, damn, if I didn’t include a section on stating that introducing the printing press in a fantasy setting will upset mages and guild members everywhere I’d feel the worst possible typography nerd ever. So I wrote it and to be [...]

[Greyhawk Grognard] Worthy Cause: Karen Boomgarden, Former TSR Editor, Needs Our Help

Sat, 12 May 2012 22:45:02 GMT
Please read this post over at RetroRoleplaying. I realize that times are tough for everyone, but if you have anything you can spare to help our Ms. Boomgarden, even $5 or $10 could help. Plus you'll be helping out the RetroRoleplaying cancer fund, which has been one of the Worthy Causes in the upper-left corner of my own blog for some time, now.

[Хроники Геров (Heroes' Chronicles)] - 4 - 1

Sat, 12 May 2012 22:45:02 GMT

. , , . - :), . , , , .

, . , . [...]

[Tolrendor DM's Blog] May Update

Sat, 12 May 2012 22:30:03 GMT

Halfway through the month and I’m only just starting! As I mentioned here, there is a least a good excuse, but its certainly taken longer to get back on track than I’d hoped.

Still the Content Calendar is updated with May’s plans, so hopefully I’m on the way back…

It will also [...]

[The Iron Tavern] Mini Review: Pathfinder Lite PDFs

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:15:03 GMT

Paizo announced yesterday that they have released “Lite” versions of their hardcover rulebooks and Inner Sea World Guide in PDF format. The products released in this manner are:

Core Rulebook

Bestiary

GameMastery Guide

Advanced Players Guide

Bestiary 2

Ultimate Magic

Ultimate Combat

Bestiary 3

The Inner Sea World Guide

These versions of the PDFs are created with the idea of being tablet or netbook friendly. Paizo has achieved this by simplifying and compressing the background in the PDFs and other minor export options to help speed them up on mobile devices.

As tablets have seen increasing use at the game table this has been a frequent cry heard on the Paizo [...]

[Geek Native] Tweet RPG and Sam Richards

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:15:03 GMT

Sam Richards is the creator of the Twitter-based RPG experience Tweet RPG. The game, which has a site at tweetrpg.blogspot.co.uk is approaching 100 players. So far, in Tweet RPG the players have assassinated the evil leader of an invading army, investigated the theft of a time-machine and piloted a giant robot in a intergalactic battle.
Sam has kindly agreed to share more about Tweet RPG and himself in this Q&A interview for Geek Native readers.
Can you tell us about the mechanics of Tweet RPG? How does it work?
Happy to! Every week day, in the morning and the evening, I post a [...]

[D&D Revival] Short Diablo III Hiatus

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:00:05 GMT
Thanks for reading. This blog will be temporarily out of service while I focus my attention on Diablo III. My Google+ Labyrinth Lord game is still running, though, and I'll bring back the play reports and some other thoughts on OSR gaming once my index finger gives out from too many treks into the Burning Hells.

See you in Diablo III on May 15th!

[The Player's Side of the Screen] Death to Teal and Orange

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:00:05 GMT

If you haven't heard of the "Teal and Orange" effect, please do behoove yourself and read up on it, also being aware that it will literally tint your entire experience of movie-watching. Whenever this cheap trick is employed, it'll stick out like a sore thumb to you. At any rate, I have plenty of ranting about that, but it misses the real point I'm going to make, which uses Teal and Orange as a handy analogy. For what? You'll see...Read more

[The Spirits of Eden] About Potentials [Expedition RPG]

Sat, 12 May 2012 20:15:02 GMT

I had a bit of a discussion on twitter about this with someone, so I thought I would clarify some of this subject. However I would like to preface this with one of my philosophies when I make my games. I make a lot of elements in my games that are open to tweaking or interpretation. I don’t want to create a game where I’m always an infallible authoritative voice on everything therein -- there are games which do that, and which do it much better than I can because they have R&D and Q&A departments and bunches of designers [...]

[Gamish Designer: Adventures in Game Design] Game Chef - 51 through 55

Sat, 12 May 2012 19:30:04 GMT
This Match is Scheduled for One Fall by Nathan D. Paoletta The Good: One of the more unique games out there, This Match is Scheduled for One Fall is a great multiplayer game where you each have your own secrets. It's also that great dichotomy between your real self, and your work self and in the case of wrestlers that's kind of a big deal. The Bad: The exchange rules are a little confusing

[Points of Light] DDN Blog: Goblins Only Care About Your Axe

Sat, 12 May 2012 18:45:03 GMT
As I said in a previous blog post, sometimes a fight is just not worth the effort of stopping the game to draw out a tactical map. I cannot imagine the amount of time I have spend drawing maps and juggling Dungeon Tiles, whether it was for a hunting party of kobolds in the forest south of Winterhaven, a handful of undead lurking within the catacombs under Shadowfell Keep, or for the final confrontation against Kalarel, his undead guardians, and a life-sapping portal.

Out of those, the only time a map really made things cooler was the showdown with Kalarel, [...]

[Really Bad Eggs] Fifteen Goblins on a Dead Goblin's Chest

Sat, 12 May 2012 18:30:04 GMT
Beedo at Dreams in the Lich House explores a pirate "saltbox" setting for D&D.

[The Rhetorical Gamer] Re-Inspired

Sat, 12 May 2012 18:30:04 GMT
I've been a little quiet lately. The end of my first year as a PhD student and starting a new job feel like they've eaten my life. It's been affecting my creativity too. I've been a little stalled on working on my game... but last night I got an email with the first sketches from [...]

[Geek Related] Skull and Shackles -- Why Community and Open Licensing Are So Important

Sat, 12 May 2012 18:00:03 GMT

Paizo Publishing has started in on their next adventure path, the pirate-themed “Skull & Shackles.” They are supporting it well, with six books of adventure and rules material, the Isles of the Shackles campaign setting book, a Player’s Guide, and the Pirates of the Inner Sea player’s book.

But where it really begins to shine is the support that their rich ecosystem provides – third party publishers and fans, empowered by the OGL specifically and Paizo’s pro-community policies in general.

So from third party publishers, you can get paper minis for the AP from Pathfinder Paper Minis, which has done them for [...]

[Hack & Slash] On Interesting Treasure, A Crystal Sphere

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:00:04 GMT
A Crystal Sphere

The mages went predictably compulsive when they saw this, detecting magic before anyone else in the party could do anything.

But no dice, disappointing they walked away without giving it a second glance.

You too almost walked off, until you realized that a head sized perfect crystal sphere on a platinum display would have to be sold in a larger town, because no one locally could afford it. What's more, it's even easy to carry!

Now if you just could relax and stop thinking you're going to drop it.

Sale price [...]

[Alex Schroeder: RPG] More One Page Dungeon Recommendations

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:00:04 GMT

I think my system of having about twenty criteria to assign to the various submission is working out, although it seems that some of these criteria are either hard to find or figments of my imagination, ie. I want the dungeons to offer a challenge for sneaky characters but then I’m not a player of sneaky characters and that’s why I don’t see the opportunities. I wonder.
Well, here are some more entries I really enjoyed:
Boric Glanduum -- The Ebony Obilisk of the Snail Demon
Dale Horstman -- The Monastery at Dor Amon
David Gay -- Water Genie vs. Undead Mermaid Gladiator
Diogo Nogueira -- The Hidden Shrine
And now back to the pile!
Tags: RPG 1PDC

[Zenopus Archives] Magic Books in Holmes

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:45:04 GMT

     Let's look at how spell books are handled in Holmes Basic. First, note they are never referred to as "spell books" per se - instead they are called "magic books":

     "The magic-user acquires books containing the spells, the study of which allows him to memorize a spell for use ... More important, as the spell is recited it fades from the spell-caster's mind and he can not use it again! He must go back to his study and re-learn the spell. This takes at least 1 day. Magic-users can not bring their magic books [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Zbrojownia Zajceva 2

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:15:02 GMT
Padajcy od kilku dni nieg pokry biel szkielety zrujnowanych budowli. Kilka osb, brnc w zaspach, starao si czym prdzej uciec przed mron zamieci. Ponad pohukiwania wiatru wzbi si warkot silnika, a zapadajcy mrok ustpi, raony wiatem samochodowych reflektorw. Luksusowa limuzyna z platynowymi felgami podjechaa pod budynek dawnej komendy nowojorskiej policji. Targany podmuchami pcienny transparent zawieszony [...]

[Flames Rising] Edward R. Pressman ('The Crow') Options Archaia Graphic Novel 'Feeding Ground'

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:15:02 GMT

Edward R. Pressman, producer of such classic films as Wall Street, American Psycho, The Crow, Bad Lieutenant, and Das Boot, announced today that he has optioned the feature film rights for Archaia Entertainment's acclaimed graphic novel Feeding Ground. Created by Swifty Lang, Michael Lapinski, and Chris Mangun, Feeding Ground was the first full-length graphic novel to be published in hardcover simultaneously in English and Spanish. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is set to direct and screenwriter Carlos Coto will adapt for the screen.

Feeding Ground tells the story of a "coyote," a trafficker of illegal immigrants, forced to smuggle his family into America by [...]

[Awesome Dice] Balthazar Opens a Pound o' Dice

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:15:02 GMT

We asked Balthazar to open a Pound o’ Dice and give us his impressions of what he found inside. Balthazar got lucky with a particularly ugly 7-set and did not hold any punches.

Ultimately the Pound o’ Dice is a mix of awesome Chessex premium dice combined with less stellar dice, combined with strange frankenstein dice. What it gives you is a solid pound of dice, which usually averages to around 100 dice, though the exact count varies from pound to pound. Despite the mix of good and ugly — or perhaps because of it — the Pound o’ Dice remains [...]

[Awesome Dice] Dice Jewlery is Here

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:15:02 GMT

Something we’ve been trying to get our hand on for a while here at Awesome Dice finally arrived — sweet dice jewelry. Specifically in the form of awesome dice pendant necklaces.

The unique thing about this dice jewelry is that you can actually change out the dice in the pendant at any time — so you aren’t stuck with just one die forever. The pendants do come with a dark red die in them, but it can be replaced with any 16mm (standard dice size) die of the same type. The way the die mounting piece is shaped means that you [...]

[Awesome Dice] The Cthulhu Formula

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:15:02 GMT

My extended group of gamer friends are getting together for our annual RPG excess this coming weekend — sort of like a house con, with 3-4 games running per slot and 30+ people invading my house for a weekend. I’m only running one game this year, a Call of Cthulhu one-shot, which I have yet to write.

I know the premise of the game, and I know how it’s going to end (not necessarily with everyone dead, depending) but I don’t yet know how I’m getting there.

However, over the years of running Call of Cthulhu games, I’ve developed the generic Cthulhu [...]

[19th Level] On Bullying

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:00:05 GMT
Having written a political blog in the past I'd decided that this blog would be more focused on the more geeky side of life. This past week there was a Washington Post story on how current US Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney had bullied a fellow student. To quote the story:
Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school's collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber's hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to [...]

[Gothridge Manor] Breaking My Stuff Again and Subscription?

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:00:05 GMT
It is Saturday and my string of things not working continue. For what ever reason Skype has decided it is not going to work. Won't connect to the net. It stopped working after it insisted I upgrade. How many folks are sick of 'upgrades' that completely screw up a perfectly fine program? And my graphics on my computer are wonky.

Where I live I need to drive 35 to 40 minutes to a store that sells a graphics card. The Staples nearby has two, but they are low end cards that have less umph than the one I bought [...]

[Arcanos do Vale] Lawful Good - Para refletir

Sat, 12 May 2012 15:45:02 GMT
Leal e bom (justo), Pq algum tem que proteger sua vila de bost@! Problemas?

@alan_myla

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] Terror In The Wasteland -Post Apocalyptic Mars -Actual Play

Sat, 12 May 2012 15:30:05 GMT
Note: I had to move my game to Friday & due to work, commitments, etc. Two of my players didn't show. That didn't stop the rest of the players however.  The remainder were driving through the wasteland of Mars & nearly smacked into any number of tripods! The hover truck continued North & the first thing that happened is that the players almost ran smack into a group of red warrior slavers 2nd level fighters looking for prey. They pursued them for 3 miles before a tripod made short work of them. The party however hid from the tripod as it gathered [...]

[Worlds in a Handful of Dice] Some Paizo Fanboyism

Sat, 12 May 2012 15:30:05 GMT

I’ll do all the Paizo fanboy stuff in a single post.

First of all, the Pathinder Online project is moving forward. They put up a Kickstarter to raise funds for a tech demo, which would allow them to raise the kind of funds that are difficult to get by crowdsourcing and are needed when developing a MMO. They got the $50,000 they were after in about 24 hours. They’re now looking to just up the number of pledges – money is no longer the main thing, but the number of fans. This is to show investors that there’s a solid playerbase [...]

[HeroPress] [REPOST] Compare & Contrast: Comic Review Shows...

Sat, 12 May 2012 15:00:03 GMT
[This is a repost of a story from earlier in the week that got less attention than I hoped because I posted it as a stupid time]

We've had two slick-looking comic review shows launch "recently" on the Internet. Grace Randolph's Stacktastic (for Bleeding Cool/Think About The Ink) and Mask & Cape for Stan Lee's World Of Heroes.

Here are this week's episodes (beware, major Avengers spoilers - if you haven't seen the movie - in Stacktastic):

Which is working best for you?

Vote in my poll on the right-hand side of the blog.

Mask & Cape is the new kid on the block, but has the cachet of Stan Lee's name being attached to it. That said, the two hosts sometimes have an uncomfortable chemistry and the show's frequent attempts at forced comedy always fall flat with me and are often hard [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] Some Further Thoughts on The Abstract Battle Map

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:30:04 GMT

I'm not so sure if the Ancient Odysseys Conflict Action Map works perfectly as is for D&D and all of it's offspring, but it does plant the seed for a compromise between the Battle Grid and the Theatre of the Mind world views on running combat encounters.

My feeling is that the CAM as presented doesn't offer the GM enough options for adversary placement. This could be addressed by moving the enemies in combat to the lower edge of The Enemy section, leaving those not engaged or using missile / spells in the middle of The Enemy section and moving any engaged in a backstab styled attack on the right side of the section. I'd reserve the top of The Enemy section for enemies [...]

[Geek's Dream Girl] When the Gay Outweighs the Geek -- An Unexpected Encounter with Homophobia

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:15:03 GMT

I had a sudden encounter with homophobia in the relatively recent past. It kind of came out of nowhere, and, ironically, I didn't know about it until afterwards. Dealing with it, however, reminded me that it's still out there, even amongst gamers, who I think of as some of the nicest and most accepting people there are.

I was involved with a gaming event recently. I don't want to cause a scene, point fingers, or have people guessing. Suffice to say it was a big game with a lot of players that I was involved with. All of a sudden, we [...]

[Chaotic / GM] Beasts of the Dominions --- Indiegogo

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:00:04 GMT
Hello all, no, I am not dead yet! Just super busy with other things at the moment. I feel bad about it though! Anyway, I just popped in to share an Indigogo project that is currently running for Beasts and Barbarians by GRAmel. They are close to the goal and you still have time to [...]

[Creative Mountain Games] R.I.P. Tony DeZuniga, Artist

Sat, 12 May 2012 13:30:03 GMT
There's a fitting tribute over on goodcomics.comicbookresources.com to artist Tony DeZuniga who died just this week at the age of 79. Read more here.

[The Other Side] Zatannurday: Sindella

Sat, 12 May 2012 13:00:06 GMT
Last Mother's Day weekend I mentioned a bit about Zatanna's often absent mother Sindella.

I wanted to dive a little deeper into that character this year and looks at some the lineage she and Zee share.

We know very little about the witch named Sindella. We know she is a member of the DC universe's Homo Magi race. We know she can claim Atlantean Lord Arion as an ancestor (as can most of the Homo Magi). In some continuities then this makes her a somewhat distant relative to Power Girl. She even has some [...]

[Ancient Scroll] StoryCraft by Robin D. Laws

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:45:02 GMT

From 1st June only on AncientScroll.pl adventures by Robin D. Laws Both in Polish and English Every two weeks Od 1 czerwca, tylko na Scroll’u – przygody Robina D. Laws’a Po polsku i angielsku Zapraszamy Link do tego scenariusza!

[Teleleli] Interview on Horror Addicts

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:45:02 GMT

The website Horror Addicts has an interview with me, which is here. This is a bit of a milestone for me because, while I’ve had lots of interviews on the net, in this case they approached me rather than the other way round.

[6d6 Fireball] TheBeautificationof 6d6

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:45:02 GMT
One issue we need to tackle over the coming months is improving the appearance of 6d6 – its products and web sites. This will be a gradual process that starts with the storefront – 6d6RPG.com – as we update it inline with the one-product strategy. The storefront has a job to do – converting interest [...]

[Mythopoeic Rambling] So Much Art

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:30:04 GMT
Female Pan Queen by Marta Nael
Fantasy art is really thriving today all over the world. With all the crap art that has flown under the avant-garde film-flam flag of Art that us poor middlebrow orangutans can't get, we can exult that we live in the days of Donato Giancola, Alan Lee, John Howe, Todd Lockwood, Dan Dos Santos, Luis Royo, Victoria Frances, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, and Eva Widermann.

But in addition to all the names you know are many artists you have never heard of, though perhaps you have seen their work without learning or remembering their name. They are doing [...]

[Game Knight Reviews] Ancient Scroll's Secret Room: The Songstone -- a Story Seed from Miroslav Gavrilov

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:15:02 GMT

(Editor’s Note: This week, Robert has shared his space with new Ancient Scroll contributor Miroslav Gavrilov!)
The Pledge
Mental Floss - Nature's Stone Giants - England: Brimham Rocks

The latecomers entered the depths of the dwarven Dwellthrone fortress. They'd been individually summoned and the topic of their coming was kept secret even from themselves. After all, they would never doubt that such secrecy was needed, having been summoned by the Head Songshaper himself.

Here he was, his long beard split down the middle, his eyes gazing at the visitors. Dead. They didn't see it at first, but this was the main chamber: the Songstone [...]

[Digital Orc] More Illustrations

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:00:05 GMT
I'm still working on my next Labyrinth Lord adventure, SIX SECTIONS OF THE VEILED INVOCATION. It will have several detailed PCs based on real-world players from the blogosphere. The game should end up around 25-30 pages. It will include several unique monsters, a few maps, and lots of puzzles to solve! The PDF will sell on RPGNow for $2.99 (just like my others).

However, for the first time, I will also offer this adventure in print! I haven't decided on a final cost yet, but expect it to be in the 3-5 dollar range.

Keep 'em rolling!

[Thistle Games] Grace Under Pressure

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:00:04 GMT

At the point when the original RPG was first being developed the game was, for the most part, a movable feast of continual RPG homebrewing and invention. This was hardly a surprising, as the game’s designers and GMs had to rely as much on their own imaginations as on the short, moving-target of [...]

[Tower of the Archmage] Werewolf & Worm Part 2

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:00:04 GMT
Since it has been over a year since I last painted a mini, I decided that of the 3 packs I picked up, I would hold off on the kobolds, and work on the bigger minis, just to get back in the swing of things.

Once the minis were all glued to their bases I started blocking in the colors. For the worm, I just painted the whole thing a very dark blue. I had to put it on fairly thick for it to really cover. The relatively large and untextured body of the worm seemed to cause the [...]

[Trollish Delver] Trollish Delver quoted on CBR

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:00:04 GMT
I had a nice surprise this morning when I stumbled across Comic Book Resources' Chain Reaction column which quoted my review of The Shadow #1.

The Chain Reaction section looks at reviews of a certain book from around the internet, such as IGN, Geeks of Doom and The Comic Age.

The Shadow #2 hits stores on Wednesday, so I'll be reviewing it later next week. Hopefully we'll get right into the meat of the story after all the exposition in the first issue.

[Underworld Kingdom] I'm ready (and quick, meaningless report)

Sat, 12 May 2012 10:30:04 GMT
As you've seen, I was rather inactive during past two months. I focused mainly on playing guitar, running again my Dark Heresy campaign (now on Ascension level) and playing various PC games (NFS: Hot Pursuit, Cortex Command and Transcendence).
I needed that break. Now I'm ready to write again. PDF needs to be finished.
And quick and meaningless update:
Bandits & Basilisks were accessed more than 1000 times (566 downloads);
Almost 3000 Terminal Space downloads via Box, 2300 previews (via Box and Scribd);
As you probably noticed, I missed whole AtoZ challenge this year - and it sucks (but I was unable to [...]

[HeroPress] Murphy's Law...

Sat, 12 May 2012 09:30:03 GMT

From the creators of the legendary Fear Of Girls.

NSFW for language!

[Ancient Scroll] The Songstone

Sat, 12 May 2012 09:00:03 GMT

The Pledge The latecomers entered the depths of the dwarven Dwellthrone fortress. They'd been individually summoned and the topic of their coming was kept secret even from themselves. After all, they would never doubt that such secrecy was needed, having been summoned by the Head Songshaper himself. Here he was, his long beard split down [...]

[Gnome Stew] Happy Fourth Birthday, Gnome Stew! The State of the Stew, Year Four (2011-2012)

Sat, 12 May 2012 08:15:02 GMT

Today is Gnome Stew’s fourth birthday — we launched the site on May 12, 2008. (You can see all of our launch day articles here.)

Sometimes I think the Stew comes off as a more polished operation than it really is. Not in the sense that we don’t put time and energy into producing polished content, because we do. But we started out as a bunch of GMs who love GMing and wanted to write about it and hopefully help other GMs love it as much as we do, and that’s still what we are, and what Gnome Stew is about.

I [...]

[Teilzeithelden.de] Rezension: Strange, Dead Love --- Vampire: The Requiem

Sat, 12 May 2012 08:00:04 GMT

Mit Strange, Dead Love" hat White Wolf Ende 2011 ein Quellenbuch zur Umsetzung von Paranormal Romance" fr Vampire: The Requiem" herausgebracht. Eigentlich lngst berfllig, denn nicht nur, dass Vampire ohnehin zumeist stark mit Anziehungskraft und Erotik verbunden werden, sptestens seit der Begeisterung fr Geschichten wie aus Twilight" fragt man sich, warum derlei noch nicht verffentlicht wurde. Zwar erwhnten bereits etliche Bcher der Vampire: Die Maskerade"-Reihe romantische Beziehungen und sexuelle Gelste, doch zugleich galten diese Themen tendenziell als verpnt, denn: Vampire haben keine Gefhle. So simpel die Erklrung, die noch nie so recht mit diversen Geschichten, die in den frheren Quellenbchern [...]

[Between Are the Doors] Strip D&D: Thirster

Sat, 12 May 2012 07:15:03 GMT

I’ve made a rogue/cleric type. Here’s the idea; a vampire, but the strain is so shallowed out the creature is unliving instead of undead. So it is not affected by turning undead, holy water, etc. It doesn’t heal naturally, but must drink blood to live. Its blood can heal a human, too. So you’ve got a party healer through drinking blood instead of touching and casting.

I think this is pretty cool.

Strip D&D Thirster

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] 30 Saturday Morning Random Encounters In Time & Space For Your Old School Space Fantasy

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:45:04 GMT

30 Saturday Morning Random Encounters In Time & Space
An armored warrior 3rd level (choatic) in magical plate mail turns into a giant mollusk seeks one of the PCs
Zunder Cat warriors 2nd level are after a master assassin
A castle filled with mystical artifacts appears for 1d6 days & called all adventurers to it
An astronaut from a future Earth is trying to reach his home will you help him
A wizard 2nd level is fleeing through time & space on a mission for home planet
A goofy side kick 2nd level wizard is looking for his hero & has a [...]

[Detrás de la Pantalla] Desde la Bloguesfera... 12-5-2012

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:30:04 GMT
Expedition RPG News and a bonus from The Spirits of Eden RPG
I'm working on a sample adventure for Expedition soon that will hopefully give you something to start with on creating your own adventures with the system. If you're already familiar with fantasy games of any stripe, you can use adventures from other systems, and things you've..

Ver artculo original:
Expedition RPG News and a bonus from The Spirits of Eden RPG
D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen -- Preview from Dungeon's Master
The Drow are coming. On May 16 Rise of the Underdark gets into full swing as [...]

[fictitious entry] Sea Side Market

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:30:04 GMT

The Sea Ward Market

When enter a city and are not doing anything in particular, ask the GM to unlock this microfront.

Description: The sharp salty air from the sea mixes with the odors of raw fish, baking bread and roasted game. The small crowded alleys of the Sea Ward Market spread before you.
This is the kind of place you can find what anything you need to survive in the wilderness. You can also find trouble if you aren’t careful.

Danger: You lose face – or worse you lose gold!
Grim Portent: You spot the thief!
Grim Portent: You’ll have to fight your way out of here.
Grim Portent: A call for the town guard.
Impending Doom: You are left beaten and penniless.

Stakes: Catch the pickpocket before the party takes the blame.

Angry Merchant
Fists (1 damage) 3 HP

Well dresses and with a sharp tongue this merchant notices that items are missing and thinks you are to blame.
Instinct: To get as much gold as he can.

Punch

Cry for help

Call the Guard

City Guards
Clubs (3 damage) 8 HP

Picked for their size not beauty they travel in a squads of four. Armed with leather coats and stout clubs they keep the piece and sometimes keep a gold piece for themselves.
Instinct: to keep the peace.

disarm, deal no damage but remove a weapon from an opponent

work as a unit, deal damage and carry + 1 forward

call in reinforcements, deal no damage but call in another unit of guards

Pick Pocket
Dagger (2 damage) 2 HP

Wiley and quick – this street smart thief can disappear as if by magic.
Instinct: Not to leave empty handed.

snatch, deal no damage but take 2 gold

run, deal no damage but carry 1 forward to disappear

disappear, roll+3 on 11+ the pickpocket fades into the crowd [...]

[Beyond the Pale Gate] Northern Calanthas with Rivers and Cities

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:30:04 GMT
Northern Calanthas with Rivers and Cities
Here is an updated map, including rivers and cities. Now, only roads and labels left to do.

[Rather Gamey] That Man Is Playing Galaga

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:15:05 GMT

The Boy and I went to go see The Avengers today. I must say, I'm not sure how you could make a more perfect comic book movie. By letting Joss Whedon do a sequel maybe? And the lines - wow - just great. Robert Downey Jr. just lords over the screen. Galaga. Really. Just Galaga, man.

;)

- Ark

[Emergence Campaign] The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice LXX -- The Djinn of the Lamp

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:15:05 GMT

It’s getting the structure right that’s the tricky part!

Back at the museum, Matthew quietly took advantage of the press of other investigators – no longer restrained by his wards – to head out to get in touch with his Father and the rest of the House. He… hadn't been expecting to find that Elzeard's contact was a youthful dimension. What did you say to a child who was everything?

Oh by Chaos! "Made US"? "Fourteenth Soul"? That meant that there were at least thirteen more entities of similar power working for the "boy"… And there might well be even more "souls" [...]

[Aventuras en la Marca del Este] Segundo Podcast de El Palacio de la Princesa de Plata

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:00:05 GMT
Bueno, pues ah seguimos con otra grabacin de nuestra sesin viejuna, jugando a El Palacio de la Princesa de Plata. Esta segunda media hora es continuacin de la anterior. Estas cintas, como ya dijimos, fueron grabadas hace mucho tiempo, antes incluso de que existiera la Marca del Este como tal.

[Occult Moon] Blood of Morpheus

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:00:05 GMT

You can now pick up the Blood of Morpheusfrom RPGNow. Visit the page for more information.
Little Back Story
Back in 2007 I broke my lower back working for the Department of Corrections. I had hardware inserted, 6 titanium screws and 2 titanium rods. The surgery failed.

Recently I had an MRI done and it revealed that one of the lower screws is aggravating the nerves. As a bonus, tumour.

Now I have to meet with a neurologist.The doctor, MRI, neurologist, future visits, and transportation are becoming a problem.

I am releasing this product that is going to be “pay what you feel [...]

[Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog] Ultraman Monster Paintings by Toshio Okazaki

Sat, 12 May 2012 05:30:04 GMT

Back in the 70s I had an uncle who used to fly back & forth to Japan for the small appliance firm he worked for & used to bring me a metric ton of weird stuff back from Japan. The paintings from were done by an unknown artist to me until I stumbled across them tonight over at Pink Tentacle! Their site has some incredible stuff! You want to know what part of Carcosa's monsters look like to me? Check these out! The original article can be found Here
A pair of action-packed Ultraman Monster paintings by Toshio [...]

[Tenkar's Tavern] Delving Into Ancient Odysseys For an Abstract Battle Map

Sat, 12 May 2012 05:15:03 GMT

I'm beginning to wonder if an abstract "Battle Map" works best for a D&D type game. To the left is the Conflict Action Map from the Ancient Odysseys RPG.

AO is a fairly simple game, which can be played with a GM, w/o a GM or even solo, although I expect it would shine fairly well with a GM, especially as a pick up game or a con game (or even a pick up game via G+ Hangout). It isn't deep enough for me to want to run it as a long term campaign, but it's got more than enough meat for a couple of game sessions.

What I really like about Ancient Odysseys is the Combat Action Map. It breaks things down [...]

[Chronicles of Ganth] Lost my Group...

Sat, 12 May 2012 04:30:04 GMT
Tonight was a "game" night, but other than working with my buddy on Ganth, no game happen. Bums me a bit because playing was a blast. I'm in a bit of a Gaming deadzone, and because of adult responsibilities I dont really have the time to travel to the "City" to game at the local Game Store.

I have moaned about this before but Arkansas and the OSR don't mix to well it seems, I know a guy fix'n to run a Bi-Monthly Pathfinder Game, but I'm really not wanting that, and I'm really not super desperate about it.

I do [...]

[Ancient Scroll] Zoto Poudnia -- Postacie i wskazwki dla MG

Sat, 12 May 2012 04:15:03 GMT
Banda Billego Oczko: 1 – Billy Oczko 2 – Szrama Bob 3 – Johnny Wisielec 4 – Jack Gwaciciel 5 – Paco Maczeti Grasujecie razem w tym skadzie od, 5 miesicy temu Wasza banda zostaa wynajta do pozbycia si okolicznych farmerw, za wszelk cen. Robicie to na zlecenia Burmistrza Toma Yourka . Jestecie bezwzgldni i [...]

[Untimately] Chaotic Henchmen and WMLP

Sat, 12 May 2012 03:15:02 GMT
Some good stuff arrived earlier this week. Both of Guy Fullerton's modules (F1 The Fane of Poisoned Prophecies and F3 Many Gates of the Gann) and the Wizards Mutants Laser Pistols zine. I have started reading F1, and am loving it so far. Both have sweet covers (by Mullen and Poag). The second in the series is not out yet, but is supposed to be at least partly set on the moon (as I understand it, they are related but not sequential).

I haven't had time to more than page through the WMLP zine yet, but already I can [...]

[War Bear] No Thank You: Geek Culture

Sat, 12 May 2012 03:00:04 GMT
The phrase "Geek Culture" lives in a special place in my heart. A seething, angry and dark place full of hatred. In fact, I hate all of the negative words associated with the culture such as nerd, dork etc. I do not embrace it as a badge of honor or as some backwards way to get back at "the man." When confronted with accusations of geekery I am the first and usually loudest to respond. My original gaming blog was titled "Orcs and Dorks," and it took some time to realize why I hated the name.
I... We are not [...]

[Digital Orc] Where I Read, Write, & Draw

Sat, 12 May 2012 02:45:03 GMT
"Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude, and the society of thyself."
Thomas Browne
Lately this blog has been perfunctory and matter-of-fact. In this post, I want to take a more personal approach. I want to show you my study.

As a father and husband, I have slowly relinquished creative (but not cleaning, alas) control over nearly every room in the house. A corner of the garage and basement remain (mostly) under my control, but it is the study that is my stronghold, my holdout, my respite. I have selected [...]

[The Time of Troubles] Hater's Ball

Sat, 12 May 2012 02:30:04 GMT
Bordane Agundar, you are hereby invited to attend...
House Umbrusk's one-hundred year coronation anniversary.
This Feast of the Moon commemorates one century of Umbriskian hate and moneylending as nobles in Waterdeep.
As our family grows in both piety and power---we want to share with you our tactics that have made Umbrusk one of the fastest growing noble families.
Come brother in darkness, and share your vision of tyranny and join in the fellowship of like-minded haters. The Black Lord has not left us but rather invests us all with his divine ability to rouse fear upon the weak causing our lessers to toil and suffer, it makes us all holy vessels of Bane.
We hope you and a guest will help us observe this momentous occasion. Food and Drinks will be provided as well as entertainment. Carpet at dusk with opening ceremonies immediately following, venerations to the Lord of Darkness as are random acts of worship in the name of Bane are encouraged throughout the night.                                                                Power is in the Hand and how you use it: open to manipulate or closed to destroy.
Talk to the Hand
Halam & Anja Umbrusk

[Tenkar's Tavern] The Grumpy Dwarf Looks at Bruce Cordel's Goblins

Sat, 12 May 2012 02:00:03 GMT

Goblins Care Only About Your Axe (original article here)

I've played a lot of D&D lately (as Bruce works at WotC, i expect he plays a lot of D&D all of the time). But even when using rules prone to design iteration (in other words, different D&D Next versions), one thing has remained constant throughout: When I swing my axe at a goblin neck, the goblin's going down if I hit. (goblins used to have 1d6+1 hd - they should survive an axe swing just about half the time - unless they are 1HP minions like in 4e - now thats a thought)
That's true whether the fight occurs in the theater of the mind (TotM), in TotM with the aid of scratch paper [...]

[Armchair Gamer] On The Radar: Far West -- Weird and Wild

Sat, 12 May 2012 01:30:04 GMT
Far West is a different take on the Weird West. I've been seeing this come up for a while now, so I thought I'd put up a quick post on it. According to the Far West site, here's the premise of the game: Imagine: A fantasy world, but not one based on Medieval/Dark Ages European culture and myth, but rather one based on the tropes of the Spaghetti Western and Chinese Wuxia. Add steampunk

[Going Last] The Banshee

Sat, 12 May 2012 01:30:04 GMT

Once again, I offer up to May of the Dead a classic D&D monster, recreated for 4E. The banshee exists within 4E already, but again I wasn’t satisfied with the lethality. Sure the actual bean s may not have killed ancient Gaels with her wail, but I like the version of the myth where the banshee shows up at your house because it is your time to die (she of course speeds up the process).

With the banshee I wanted to do several things. First, and most obviously, I wanted something approximating a save-or-die effect. Secondly, I wanted a creature [...]

[Boneyard] New TRC thought

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:45:03 GMT
In addition to my earlier ramblings about what I would do to AD&D 2E, I had another thought. I would take the attribute rolling method from Palladium, rolling different numbers of D6 for attributes for different races. For example, Elves would roll 3D6 forintelligencebut 4D6 for Dexterity, or something similar.

[About Bruce Heard. D&D, and new stories] Ship Comparisons for the AD&D Game

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:15:03 GMT

Full Moon Rising, by George Grie I'll be adding this as an appendix in Ports of Mystara (see previous post).

Raft Hull Points are per 100 sq. ft. section (100x100). The sheer size of a War Raft may prevent it entirely from entering a harbor. It if actually can, double its HP as regard dock size needed. If its modifiedHP rating is more than 180, assume the raft cannot fit between the piers.
(*) Notes About Port Clearance
Reduce longship draft 50%, so a longship with 80HP has the draft of a 40 HP [...]

[Хроники Геров (Heroes' Chronicles)]

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:04 GMT

, . , . , , .

, , -.

- - , , " " ( [...]

[Canadian RPG Guy] Mantic Games...The Classic David vs Goliath Story

Fri, 11 May 2012 23:55:52 GMT
This week marked a milestone in the life of upstart Mantic Games. Almost 3 years of playtesting have lead to Wednesdays announcement of the first hardcover version of the rules. I know many of you haven't heard of Mantic Games but I suspect with the release of this new book that is about to change. I have been following Mantic's rise from the beginning, even before I started playing my

[Reality Blurs] Choppin' Broccoli: The Process of Game Design

Fri, 11 May 2012 23:30:04 GMT

Some folks liken any discussion about “The Process” as ugly work akin to making sausage. Well, you’re not gonna get that hear. Nope. The way we do it is is all assembly line vegetables. We give you what you need, and you will eat it.

Okay. Let me reel that back a bit. Game design requires one to be someone schizoid. Got that? A good, old fashioned mental disorder used for good.

You have these voices in your head. Some say do this. Some say do that. Ultimately, they are broken down into four discrete camps.

1. The Creator: This is the voice [...]

[Chronicles of Ganth] Ogre and Car Wars

Fri, 11 May 2012 23:00:04 GMT
I'm not a Ogre fan, but Car Wars...now that is really exciting. Steve Jackson has set a record with his Kickstarter for Ogre and that is just AWESOME! It looks like if Ogre has this much love I should check it out. I can't wait for the Car Wars Kickstarter!

[Tweet RPG] Hack 'N' Slash Hero: Story Summary - Votes 31-40

Fri, 11 May 2012 23:00:04 GMT

You choose to start off your attack with some gunfire, taking down one of the monsters, but missing the second. You take him down with hand-to-hand combat. Deciding to help the Visgarthian soldiers, you head onwards.
After a brief encounter with the Merchant, you make your way down to the entrance of the Arcalith. A fierce battle rages in the hall, with the Archmaester in the midst, fighting a giant beast. You leave him to his foe and help a group soldiers setting up a cannon.
With the gun ready to fire, you order the soldiers to shoot at the giant [...]

[Adventures and Shopping] Wizards World 1983 Goblinoid Games

Fri, 11 May 2012 22:30:04 GMT
Wizards' World RPG (1983)
Goblinoid Games
$4.99 on DriveThru
http://bit.ly/GGWW1983A second go at this entry...

I'll lie and say I've just written for you an incredibly witty, informative and incitefull review, before it got wiped away by the wrong keystroke, as opposed to my usual "GEE, LOOK AT THIS, IT'S AN OLD-SKOOL RPG! KEWL!" - naturally, I'm paraphrasing my own style here.

But, gee look at this ...!

I was planning to write about cackling Dark Lords kidnapping Space Princesses, but this week I managed to kill my main PC, after being distracted by yet more PDF [...]

[that70sgame] Booster gold

Fri, 11 May 2012 22:00:04 GMT
You can’t have Blue Beetle without Booster gold. Enjoyed him during 52, probably more when he was an ass. Who is booster? Fame-Hungry walking advert, or saviour of the timeline? … Continue reading →

[Skyland Games] GeekOut 2012 -- Game ON!

Fri, 11 May 2012 22:00:04 GMT

The Asheville gaming community is buzzing with excitement about the awesome day of gaming at GeekOut 2012! If you live anywhere near the Asheville area, and you haven’t signed up for games at the warhorn, what are you waiting for?! IT’S TOMORROW!

My gold-foil copy of DCCRPG showed up on my doorstep just in the nick of time. I’ll be running Portal to the Stars for both the 10AM slot, and the 6PM slot. I’ve got other adventures too, so I could be persuaded to let you in to the Tower of Crowan the Conjurer (RIP Pamela), or we could try [...]

[frothsof4e] Tiny 4e Forever Preview

Fri, 11 May 2012 22:00:04 GMT
so i have been steadily working on 4e Forever, my upcoming fanzine, but it sometimes feels like i have not gotten anywhere. there is a lot left to do but i wanted to share a sneak peek at one of the monsters in the adventure in the first issue, the Gaartal Bruiser. i will hold off giving you ecology or details about the monster right now so as not to reveal too much. i hope you like it, bc your PCs certainly won't!

Gaartal Bruiser preview pdf

Gaartal Bruiser preview monster file

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