It's been busy time this Christmas. So far I have gotten a lot of gaming in.
We went to my in-laws to see my wife's sister and her kids and my kids brought out D&D. I got hit with some allergies and could not run, but my oldest decided to run some games. He got both of my nephews to play some D&D 5. They had a great time. So great in fact that I went out got them some dice, minis, a Starter Set and the Basic Rules.
We went back out to visit and Liam ended up running Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Instead of Tiamat he used his own creation, Aži Dahāka. It went fantastic. Really fantastic.
Even their other cousin and her boyfriend joined in for a couple of sessions.
They had such great time that the brand new Xbox One went largely ignored. Not to bad really.
So I got 4 new people into gaming this holiday. How did you do?
Showing posts with label 5e. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5e. Show all posts
Monday, December 28, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Kids vs. Krampus
Had a great time this weekend.
We went out to see my in-laws on Saturday. My wife's sister was in and she also has two boys close to the same ages as my boys. We took out Dungeon! a game they really love and on the advice of my wife took out some D&D 5th edition, some minis and the Krampus adventure I was going to run for my kids.
Once out there I didn't want to get right into playing; long drive and I wanted to visit first. So my oldest took it upon himself to help them roll up new characters and he started running them through some quick and simple adventures. He was hesitant at first, but soon really got into a groove DM'ing his first game. He was having fun doing the voices and playing all the npcs and really coming up with a cool little adventure on the fly. I was very, very pleased with him. The kids enjoyed it because they played they played till almost 1:00am; about 12 hours straight! So now I need to pick up a D&D5 starter kit for the other two boys so they can play at home.
On Sunday I ran the Krampus adventure, "Twas the Night Before Krampusnacht". I had been working on one for a little bit but something was not quite right about it. So I was reading through some adventures for another campaign and I came across +Pete Spahn's Stealer of Children. It did 90% of what I wanted to do I just made some tweaks. The Grombel was now Krampus, the dryad Merrit was now La Befena the Christmas Witch, I even used the Burgomeister Meisterburger and Grimsley from Santa Claus is Coming to Town (though here they were good) and the village became more like Whoville. The kids discovered that Father Christmas was also captured by Krampus and if he is killed on the eve of Krampusnact the entire area will be plunged into endless winter. They were able to defeat Krampus, thanks to a potion cooked up by La Befana.
The boys are already talking about when they will play next and my oldest is considering running the Rise of Tiamat adventure for them on Christmas eve when we seen them next.
We went out to see my in-laws on Saturday. My wife's sister was in and she also has two boys close to the same ages as my boys. We took out Dungeon! a game they really love and on the advice of my wife took out some D&D 5th edition, some minis and the Krampus adventure I was going to run for my kids.
Once out there I didn't want to get right into playing; long drive and I wanted to visit first. So my oldest took it upon himself to help them roll up new characters and he started running them through some quick and simple adventures. He was hesitant at first, but soon really got into a groove DM'ing his first game. He was having fun doing the voices and playing all the npcs and really coming up with a cool little adventure on the fly. I was very, very pleased with him. The kids enjoyed it because they played they played till almost 1:00am; about 12 hours straight! So now I need to pick up a D&D5 starter kit for the other two boys so they can play at home.
On Sunday I ran the Krampus adventure, "Twas the Night Before Krampusnacht". I had been working on one for a little bit but something was not quite right about it. So I was reading through some adventures for another campaign and I came across +Pete Spahn's Stealer of Children. It did 90% of what I wanted to do I just made some tweaks. The Grombel was now Krampus, the dryad Merrit was now La Befena the Christmas Witch, I even used the Burgomeister Meisterburger and Grimsley from Santa Claus is Coming to Town (though here they were good) and the village became more like Whoville. The kids discovered that Father Christmas was also captured by Krampus and if he is killed on the eve of Krampusnact the entire area will be plunged into endless winter. They were able to defeat Krampus, thanks to a potion cooked up by La Befana.
The boys are already talking about when they will play next and my oldest is considering running the Rise of Tiamat adventure for them on Christmas eve when we seen them next.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Slavers Defeated!
Last night the Order of the Platinum Dragon crushed the gnolls working in Slave Pits of the Undercity and defeated the slavers! The slaves were freed, including some orcs which vowed to help the PCs when and if they could. Detailed maps were discovered and the group is off to stop an even larger threat.
We finished module A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity last night. I ran it under 5th Edition and made a lot of tweaks along the way. While I felt the players had an easy of a time when going through Castle Amber, I made som changes in how monsters were dealt with and felt that last's night session was much more balanced. Plus a lot of great things went on.
I used gnolls instead of orcs. In truth I am tired of orcs and wanted something new. So I used a lot of material from +James Mishler's Hercynian Grimoire #1. I included his Gnoles, werehyenas, and even a gnoll assassin and a gnoll witch. It made for a lot of fun.
Since I am also tying in more to the Out of Abyss adventures I included some gnoll demonic adepts which was great fun. I took the old adage that the campaign is written by the paranoia of the players my oldest son decided that these demonic-gnolls must mean that ultimately demons are in control of the slavers. Sure. Let's go with that!
To really have some fun since there were ghouls in this adventure I added a Thoul enforcer. Now back in the day I always thought thouls were part ghoul, part troll and part gnoll, forgeting all about hobgoblin. So I decided I would honor my 35+ year-old mistake and have a thoul in my game that was decidedly gnoll in heritage. If you never played Basic/Expert D&D then you might not know the thoul. Well here is the man himself, Perdustin over at Thoul's Paradise to educate us on what is a thoul. Mine was a little different than the one in the BECM(I) Rules Cyclopedia.
Thankfully I found this great tool that helps create a D&D5 style monster stat block.
http://thegeniusinc.com/dd-monster-maker-download/
I can build monsters all day!
The characters are on their way to the Slaver's Stockade (A2) but along the way they are going hit our "Christmas Special" and have to deal with Krampus! Hey since I have the software open...
Here is Krampus.
Can't wait to tell you all about it!
We finished module A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity last night. I ran it under 5th Edition and made a lot of tweaks along the way. While I felt the players had an easy of a time when going through Castle Amber, I made som changes in how monsters were dealt with and felt that last's night session was much more balanced. Plus a lot of great things went on.
I used gnolls instead of orcs. In truth I am tired of orcs and wanted something new. So I used a lot of material from +James Mishler's Hercynian Grimoire #1. I included his Gnoles, werehyenas, and even a gnoll assassin and a gnoll witch. It made for a lot of fun.
Since I am also tying in more to the Out of Abyss adventures I included some gnoll demonic adepts which was great fun. I took the old adage that the campaign is written by the paranoia of the players my oldest son decided that these demonic-gnolls must mean that ultimately demons are in control of the slavers. Sure. Let's go with that!
To really have some fun since there were ghouls in this adventure I added a Thoul enforcer. Now back in the day I always thought thouls were part ghoul, part troll and part gnoll, forgeting all about hobgoblin. So I decided I would honor my 35+ year-old mistake and have a thoul in my game that was decidedly gnoll in heritage. If you never played Basic/Expert D&D then you might not know the thoul. Well here is the man himself, Perdustin over at Thoul's Paradise to educate us on what is a thoul. Mine was a little different than the one in the BECM(I) Rules Cyclopedia.
Thankfully I found this great tool that helps create a D&D5 style monster stat block.
http://thegeniusinc.com/dd-monster-maker-download/
I can build monsters all day!
The characters are on their way to the Slaver's Stockade (A2) but along the way they are going hit our "Christmas Special" and have to deal with Krampus! Hey since I have the software open...
Here is Krampus.
Can't wait to tell you all about it!
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Review: GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri
Still spending a lot of time thinking about witches, wizards, schools of magic and witch queens. So naturally my thoughts turn to +Bruce Heard's masterpiece, GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri.
I have mentioned Glantri here a few times. It was the homeland for my characters back in my D&D/AD&D days. I built up the country from the small bits of information from D&D Expert Set, Isle of Dread and Castle Amber. It was not till much later I discovered the Gazetteer series and picked up Glantri that I discovered how really interesting and fun the place was.
GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri
The pdf is 102 pages (the original book was 96 pages, a detached cover and large map of the country and Glantri City). The PDF is a good quality scan and retains all the information found in the print book. The cover art was done by the fantastic Clyde Caldwell. While this book is a D&D "Basic" book, there is so much here of use that it can really be used with any D&D system. This book really set the stage for all the other Gazetteers to follow.
The first part, Welcome to Glantri, gives a very brief overview of what the country is and what this book sets out to do.
Up next is the History of Glantri. I spent hours and hours reading this over and over. I won't go into great detail, but linking Glantri to ancient Blackmoor was wonderful in my mind. Mostly because I loved the link but also I had done something similar for my own games. What follows next is a time line from 3000 BC, The Rain of Fire* (Before Crowning of the first Emperor of Thyatis) to 1000 AC (today) and even on to 1200 AC. *I always wondered if the Rain of Fire that destroyed Blackmoor was related or even just the same spell that destroyed the Suel in the Greyhawk world.
Geography of Glantri is next. Like much of Mystara, Glantri is a mix of all sorts of races and people, but Glantri also has it's fair share of "monsters" those will be detailed later. Glantri's climate is also touched upon, making it one of the colder lands.
The is followed by The Glantrian Economy. I really enjoyed this section because it really breathes life into the people that live here. Each of the Principalities is detailed here for the first time. A quick read and one immediately recognizes analogues to Scotland, Italy, France, and even Transylvania. Glantri is very cosmopolitan. We move into the Grand Army of Glantri and Politics and Rivalries of Glantri. Glantri is the place to play out political intrigue where everyone is mage of some sort or has one on retainer. Like the Economy section, this section breathes more life into the people of the land, in this case all the great houses. I will admit once again that the interior art by Stephan Fabian links this to Ravenloft in my mind. Not only are there humans here, but vampires, werewolves and liches ruling. We will get to witches in a bit.
Guilds and Brotherhoods are also one of the more important features of this book and life in Glantri. There are so many here that characters could each belong to many and none overlap. Some are complimentary to each other and others at cross purposes. Really good fodder for role-playing.
Glantri City by Night details what happens to the 39,000+ residents when the sun goes down. The book is like a what we now call Modern Supernatural. So all sorts of "monsters" come out and mingle with everyday people. It says "by Night" but really this an overview of the city itself and all it's sections. It reminds me of a travel guide to London I once read, so I am rather fond of this section.
Living in Glantri City details life in the city including the laws, who is in charge, magic use and various holy/high days. There is no religion in Glantri, but there is a state philosophy. Of course it is tied in with magic.
The Great School of Magic. Outside of Hogwarts or Professor Xavier's school has a school been so rich detailed. Though there is enough here to make me want more, a lot more. This is followed by Creating Spells and Magical Items and The Secret of the Radiance. The source of Glantri's magical power.
Nest we get into The Seven Secret Crafts of Glantri. If you only buy this book for this section then you will be well rewarded. Think of these as schools or even colleges of magic. Each one ads something special to the Magic-User class, almost like a Prestige Class or Paragon class feature. They include, Alchemy, Dragon magic, Elemental magic, Illusion, Necromancy, Rune magic, and of course, Witchcraft.
We wrap up with Adventures in Glantri.
The Gazetteer series were works of art and none more so than the Glantri book.
I mentioned before that this book would work fine with other versions of D&D. Looking deeper into the Seven Secret Crafts of Glantri, one could EASILY replace the Arcane Tradition feature of the 5th Edition Wizard and replace those powers with the craft powers. The 5e wizard gets 4 Arcane tradition powers/features and the Basic craft wizards get 5. They work out to about the same levels too.
So if you have not picked this up, do so. I highly recommend it.
I also recommend Bruce Heard's latest Calidar kickstarter Beyond the Skies.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambreville/calidar-beyond-the-skies
Calidar is a load of fun and this promises to be great.
I have mentioned Glantri here a few times. It was the homeland for my characters back in my D&D/AD&D days. I built up the country from the small bits of information from D&D Expert Set, Isle of Dread and Castle Amber. It was not till much later I discovered the Gazetteer series and picked up Glantri that I discovered how really interesting and fun the place was.
The pdf is 102 pages (the original book was 96 pages, a detached cover and large map of the country and Glantri City). The PDF is a good quality scan and retains all the information found in the print book. The cover art was done by the fantastic Clyde Caldwell. While this book is a D&D "Basic" book, there is so much here of use that it can really be used with any D&D system. This book really set the stage for all the other Gazetteers to follow.
The first part, Welcome to Glantri, gives a very brief overview of what the country is and what this book sets out to do.
Up next is the History of Glantri. I spent hours and hours reading this over and over. I won't go into great detail, but linking Glantri to ancient Blackmoor was wonderful in my mind. Mostly because I loved the link but also I had done something similar for my own games. What follows next is a time line from 3000 BC, The Rain of Fire* (Before Crowning of the first Emperor of Thyatis) to 1000 AC (today) and even on to 1200 AC. *I always wondered if the Rain of Fire that destroyed Blackmoor was related or even just the same spell that destroyed the Suel in the Greyhawk world.
Geography of Glantri is next. Like much of Mystara, Glantri is a mix of all sorts of races and people, but Glantri also has it's fair share of "monsters" those will be detailed later. Glantri's climate is also touched upon, making it one of the colder lands.
The is followed by The Glantrian Economy. I really enjoyed this section because it really breathes life into the people that live here. Each of the Principalities is detailed here for the first time. A quick read and one immediately recognizes analogues to Scotland, Italy, France, and even Transylvania. Glantri is very cosmopolitan. We move into the Grand Army of Glantri and Politics and Rivalries of Glantri. Glantri is the place to play out political intrigue where everyone is mage of some sort or has one on retainer. Like the Economy section, this section breathes more life into the people of the land, in this case all the great houses. I will admit once again that the interior art by Stephan Fabian links this to Ravenloft in my mind. Not only are there humans here, but vampires, werewolves and liches ruling. We will get to witches in a bit.
Guilds and Brotherhoods are also one of the more important features of this book and life in Glantri. There are so many here that characters could each belong to many and none overlap. Some are complimentary to each other and others at cross purposes. Really good fodder for role-playing.
Glantri City by Night details what happens to the 39,000+ residents when the sun goes down. The book is like a what we now call Modern Supernatural. So all sorts of "monsters" come out and mingle with everyday people. It says "by Night" but really this an overview of the city itself and all it's sections. It reminds me of a travel guide to London I once read, so I am rather fond of this section.
Living in Glantri City details life in the city including the laws, who is in charge, magic use and various holy/high days. There is no religion in Glantri, but there is a state philosophy. Of course it is tied in with magic.
The Great School of Magic. Outside of Hogwarts or Professor Xavier's school has a school been so rich detailed. Though there is enough here to make me want more, a lot more. This is followed by Creating Spells and Magical Items and The Secret of the Radiance. The source of Glantri's magical power.
Nest we get into The Seven Secret Crafts of Glantri. If you only buy this book for this section then you will be well rewarded. Think of these as schools or even colleges of magic. Each one ads something special to the Magic-User class, almost like a Prestige Class or Paragon class feature. They include, Alchemy, Dragon magic, Elemental magic, Illusion, Necromancy, Rune magic, and of course, Witchcraft.
We wrap up with Adventures in Glantri.
The Gazetteer series were works of art and none more so than the Glantri book.
I mentioned before that this book would work fine with other versions of D&D. Looking deeper into the Seven Secret Crafts of Glantri, one could EASILY replace the Arcane Tradition feature of the 5th Edition Wizard and replace those powers with the craft powers. The 5e wizard gets 4 Arcane tradition powers/features and the Basic craft wizards get 5. They work out to about the same levels too.
So if you have not picked this up, do so. I highly recommend it.
I also recommend Bruce Heard's latest Calidar kickstarter Beyond the Skies.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambreville/calidar-beyond-the-skies
Calidar is a load of fun and this promises to be great.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Class Struggles: Psionics, Part 2
Last week I went over the various Psionic systems that have appeared in print or digital for the D&D game. This week I want to look at the classes.
One thing that you first discover that psionics were always something that was added on to the game later. Often there are powers, but no classes to speak of really. This is certainly true for AD&D1st ed and OD&D. Interestingly enough (compared to my discussion last week) that in Eldritch Wizardry it is stated rather plainly that Monks (and Druids) can not be psychic.
1991 was a good year for psionics. We saw the release of the official Complete Psionics Handbook from TSR for 2nd ed and the unofficial Psionics from Mayfair Games Role Aids line.
Both books changed psionics from it's added on system and made something that seemed to fit into the game a little better. They sacrificed a little of what made the psionics system so alien and different for playability.
The Complete Psionics Handbook introduces the Psionist class. This class has access to all the powers in the book. Psionic powers are divided into six groups with major powers, called sciences, and minor powers, called devotions. Just like AD&D1, but now they are sorted and there are more powers. The attack and defense powers, for example, are now part of Telepathy. The system works well and while the psionists has less overall powers than say a wizard has spells the psionist is not limited to how many times they can use their powers, save by PSPs.
Mayfair's Psionics takes a slightly different approach. In this there is a Psionist class with five different traditions or schools of psionics, Sonimancers, Telepaths, Telekineticists, Pyromancers, and Empaths. So...every Stephen King psychic ever. The psionist usually stays in that tradition. Powers are categorized by school and then divided by power level, similar to spell level. There are six levels of powers. Largely it plays the same as the TSR book, but this one feels more like a spell system. Getting these two books to work together would be a feat to be honest. There are so many differences between the levels of the powers, the assumptions of the psionist class and even the PSP vs MP power point costs. Best to choose one system and adapt the other as needed.
I want to give brief mention to the Deryni in Mayfair's Witch book. While presented as a witch class the are obviously better suited for Psionic use. Converting them to Mayfair's psionic system would be easier than converting TSR Psionic to Mayfair's.
3e and the OGL comes around and we get a ton of new psionics options including three new classes (and a spell like system). This in turn gives birth to Pathfinder and the OSR. One of the first 3rd party books to support psionics was The Quintessential Psychic Warrior from Mongoose. But like most of Mongoose's products from this time it's not very good.
Pretty much everything for 3.x era psionics can be found in the d20 SRD. Pathfinder, as a system, had not used psionics or psychic powers till this year with the release of the Occult Adventures book. I am still going throuhg my copy from Gen Con. Other companies though built off of the SRD and came up with their own books.
Ultimate Psionics is by far the largest at 450+ pages. This takes the three basic psionic classes from the SRD and expands it to 10 (7 new). Not to mention pages and pages of powers. I am hard pressed to think of a more complete book.
But sometimes you don't want a 500 page tome. Sometimes you just want a couple of pages. Well if the OSR is about nothing else it is about "less is more". These books are designed for your old school games and are much smaller.
If you are playing Castles & Crusades then the Mentalist class from Amazing Adventures! would port over with hardly an issue at all. In fact I have done it before and it works so good that Troll Lords should really consider doing it offically.
White Box Options: Psychic Talents [Swords & Wizardry]
At 10 pages this book really exemplifies what people love about S&W. Quick and easy rules that slot in nicely with the game they are playing. This is more of a psychic wild talent add on. Feels similar to the wild talent powers in AD&D1 or even OD&D. Random table of powers and descriptions of all the powers. Not a bad deal for just under 2 bucks.
Old-School Psionics
Designed to be a new psionics system for OSRIC this book introduces the Mentalist class. Powers are divided out among disciplines going to 7th level. Powers are treated mostly like spells, but that works well for adding into OSRIC. Also some psionic monsters are detailed including my favorite (and worth the price of the book) the Doppleganger as a proper psionic monster. 22 pages including cover and OGL. Very nicely done.
OSRIC Psionic Combat
This book has a lot of charm. A quick look at the author, artist and contributors leads me to believe this was something a whole family put together and then played. I can relate and honestly the book gets an extra star just for that. The books covers a very simple psionic combat system and a psionist class. Nothing more really. But that is all it set out to do, so great. I might not play as written, but the detail here is great and would convert nicely to any of the other systems I have used.
Crypts & Creatures Psionics Handbook
At 12 pages for 50 cents this looks like a deal. But what we have here is a stripped down version of the psionic classes from the d20 SRD for the OSR crowd. I would have liked to see some more to be honest. There are classes and powers listed, but not really detailed. Now for someone this will be just perfect, but most people I think will want some more.
Psionics
This book is designed for the White Star game.Though it can be ported over to Swords & Wizardry with no issues. The psionist is introduced and powers are detailed. The psionist chooses a focus power area and sticks with that in the game. A nice, simple system with some useful powers. 11 pages with cover and OGL.
There is a psionic system in Realms of Crawling Chaos as well, but I well detail that one on a later date.
And of course the Basic Psionics Handbook.
So if you love psionics and psionic classes there are plenty of choices out there.
One thing that you first discover that psionics were always something that was added on to the game later. Often there are powers, but no classes to speak of really. This is certainly true for AD&D1st ed and OD&D. Interestingly enough (compared to my discussion last week) that in Eldritch Wizardry it is stated rather plainly that Monks (and Druids) can not be psychic.
1991 was a good year for psionics. We saw the release of the official Complete Psionics Handbook from TSR for 2nd ed and the unofficial Psionics from Mayfair Games Role Aids line.
Both books changed psionics from it's added on system and made something that seemed to fit into the game a little better. They sacrificed a little of what made the psionics system so alien and different for playability.
The Complete Psionics Handbook introduces the Psionist class. This class has access to all the powers in the book. Psionic powers are divided into six groups with major powers, called sciences, and minor powers, called devotions. Just like AD&D1, but now they are sorted and there are more powers. The attack and defense powers, for example, are now part of Telepathy. The system works well and while the psionists has less overall powers than say a wizard has spells the psionist is not limited to how many times they can use their powers, save by PSPs.
Mayfair's Psionics takes a slightly different approach. In this there is a Psionist class with five different traditions or schools of psionics, Sonimancers, Telepaths, Telekineticists, Pyromancers, and Empaths. So...every Stephen King psychic ever. The psionist usually stays in that tradition. Powers are categorized by school and then divided by power level, similar to spell level. There are six levels of powers. Largely it plays the same as the TSR book, but this one feels more like a spell system. Getting these two books to work together would be a feat to be honest. There are so many differences between the levels of the powers, the assumptions of the psionist class and even the PSP vs MP power point costs. Best to choose one system and adapt the other as needed.
I want to give brief mention to the Deryni in Mayfair's Witch book. While presented as a witch class the are obviously better suited for Psionic use. Converting them to Mayfair's psionic system would be easier than converting TSR Psionic to Mayfair's.
3e and the OGL comes around and we get a ton of new psionics options including three new classes (and a spell like system). This in turn gives birth to Pathfinder and the OSR. One of the first 3rd party books to support psionics was The Quintessential Psychic Warrior from Mongoose. But like most of Mongoose's products from this time it's not very good.
Pretty much everything for 3.x era psionics can be found in the d20 SRD. Pathfinder, as a system, had not used psionics or psychic powers till this year with the release of the Occult Adventures book. I am still going throuhg my copy from Gen Con. Other companies though built off of the SRD and came up with their own books.
Ultimate Psionics is by far the largest at 450+ pages. This takes the three basic psionic classes from the SRD and expands it to 10 (7 new). Not to mention pages and pages of powers. I am hard pressed to think of a more complete book.
But sometimes you don't want a 500 page tome. Sometimes you just want a couple of pages. Well if the OSR is about nothing else it is about "less is more". These books are designed for your old school games and are much smaller.
If you are playing Castles & Crusades then the Mentalist class from Amazing Adventures! would port over with hardly an issue at all. In fact I have done it before and it works so good that Troll Lords should really consider doing it offically.
White Box Options: Psychic Talents [Swords & Wizardry]
At 10 pages this book really exemplifies what people love about S&W. Quick and easy rules that slot in nicely with the game they are playing. This is more of a psychic wild talent add on. Feels similar to the wild talent powers in AD&D1 or even OD&D. Random table of powers and descriptions of all the powers. Not a bad deal for just under 2 bucks.
Old-School Psionics
Designed to be a new psionics system for OSRIC this book introduces the Mentalist class. Powers are divided out among disciplines going to 7th level. Powers are treated mostly like spells, but that works well for adding into OSRIC. Also some psionic monsters are detailed including my favorite (and worth the price of the book) the Doppleganger as a proper psionic monster. 22 pages including cover and OGL. Very nicely done.
OSRIC Psionic Combat
This book has a lot of charm. A quick look at the author, artist and contributors leads me to believe this was something a whole family put together and then played. I can relate and honestly the book gets an extra star just for that. The books covers a very simple psionic combat system and a psionist class. Nothing more really. But that is all it set out to do, so great. I might not play as written, but the detail here is great and would convert nicely to any of the other systems I have used.
Crypts & Creatures Psionics Handbook
At 12 pages for 50 cents this looks like a deal. But what we have here is a stripped down version of the psionic classes from the d20 SRD for the OSR crowd. I would have liked to see some more to be honest. There are classes and powers listed, but not really detailed. Now for someone this will be just perfect, but most people I think will want some more.
Psionics
This book is designed for the White Star game.Though it can be ported over to Swords & Wizardry with no issues. The psionist is introduced and powers are detailed. The psionist chooses a focus power area and sticks with that in the game. A nice, simple system with some useful powers. 11 pages with cover and OGL.
There is a psionic system in Realms of Crawling Chaos as well, but I well detail that one on a later date.
And of course the Basic Psionics Handbook.
So if you love psionics and psionic classes there are plenty of choices out there.
Monday, November 9, 2015
Attack on the Slave Lords!
While searching for a ship that will take them home the Order of the Platinum Dragon discovers that there has been an increase in the slaving activity to the north. They decided to put a stop to it.
The first half of A1 went very well. The characters discovered a lone cart from a caravan with slaves. A few well-placed sleep spells and a few more well-placed arrows and the slavers were dealt with and the slaves freed. An illusion later the party, with a couple of freed slaves looking for revenge manage to get into the north entrance. So now they have an orc helping them.
Things went rather well so far. The cleaned up much of the upper temple and have now dealt with the apis and the giant ants.
I did replace the orcs and half-orcs with gnolls and gnoles, respectively from the Hercynian Grimoire #1. Replacing Gruumsh with Yeenoghu was an easy swap. It also allowed me to play up the whole "demon" aspect since Gruumsh is considered a god and not a demon.
The high priestess in the chapel on the first level was also turned into a were-hyena witch.
Can't wait to see what the next session brings me!
The first half of A1 went very well. The characters discovered a lone cart from a caravan with slaves. A few well-placed sleep spells and a few more well-placed arrows and the slavers were dealt with and the slaves freed. An illusion later the party, with a couple of freed slaves looking for revenge manage to get into the north entrance. So now they have an orc helping them.
Things went rather well so far. The cleaned up much of the upper temple and have now dealt with the apis and the giant ants.
I did replace the orcs and half-orcs with gnolls and gnoles, respectively from the Hercynian Grimoire #1. Replacing Gruumsh with Yeenoghu was an easy swap. It also allowed me to play up the whole "demon" aspect since Gruumsh is considered a god and not a demon.
The high priestess in the chapel on the first level was also turned into a were-hyena witch.
Can't wait to see what the next session brings me!
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Assault on the Slave Lords
Things are heating up for the Order of the Platinum Dragon this weekend. They have been dropped into some unknown part of the world after they left Barovia.
While trying to charter a boat they hear some rumors of a group of slavers.
I went through this series years ago myself, so I am really looking forward to running it. I think I still have a thief that was trapped in the basilisk room.
Of course I am going to make some changes to these adventures. The Slavers themselves are working for a group of vampires. One or more of them are vampires themselves in fact. Not sure who though.
Also, I am going to replace some of the orcs with gnolls. I am planning on incorporating some more gnoll themes in the Slavers series. I am replacing Gruumsh with Yeenoghu and capitalizing on his role as "King of Ghouls" and "Vassal to Orcus". I am going to use a lot of the material in Hercynian Grimoire #1 from +James Mishler too. It's just too good NOT to use.
I am also considering throwing in thouls just for the fun of it.
Here are some other postings on this module. Always interesting to read what others have experienced.
http://www.metagamemastery.com/2011/09/26/annotated-a1-slave-pits-of-the-undercity/
http://www.thedelversdungeon.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=227
http://bloodofprokopius.blogspot.com/2012/02/re-imagining-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/11/retrospective-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/search/label/a1-4
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/12/review-a1-4-scourge-of-slave-lords.html
Edited to Add, Peter's detail into each adventure.
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a1-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a2-secret-of-slavers-stockade.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a3-assault-on-aerie-of-slave.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/11/review-a4-in-dungeons-of-slave-lords.html
While trying to charter a boat they hear some rumors of a group of slavers.
I went through this series years ago myself, so I am really looking forward to running it. I think I still have a thief that was trapped in the basilisk room.
Of course I am going to make some changes to these adventures. The Slavers themselves are working for a group of vampires. One or more of them are vampires themselves in fact. Not sure who though.
Also, I am going to replace some of the orcs with gnolls. I am planning on incorporating some more gnoll themes in the Slavers series. I am replacing Gruumsh with Yeenoghu and capitalizing on his role as "King of Ghouls" and "Vassal to Orcus". I am going to use a lot of the material in Hercynian Grimoire #1 from +James Mishler too. It's just too good NOT to use.
I am also considering throwing in thouls just for the fun of it.
Here are some other postings on this module. Always interesting to read what others have experienced.
http://www.metagamemastery.com/2011/09/26/annotated-a1-slave-pits-of-the-undercity/
http://www.thedelversdungeon.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=227
http://bloodofprokopius.blogspot.com/2012/02/re-imagining-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/11/retrospective-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/search/label/a1-4
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/12/review-a1-4-scourge-of-slave-lords.html
Edited to Add, Peter's detail into each adventure.
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a1-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a2-secret-of-slavers-stockade.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a3-assault-on-aerie-of-slave.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/11/review-a4-in-dungeons-of-slave-lords.html
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Class Struggles: The Warlock
There have been a number of warlock classes, but unlike the wizard, fighter, cleric or even thief, everyone has had their own take on what a warlock should be.
I have talked about the warlock as a class, distinct from the witch, in the past.
I do like keeping my warlocks separate from my witches in terms of class. In my mind they are just too different. Similar yes, but still very different. I would allow any warlock to use the same spell list as a witch unless there was a good reason not to do it.
I think the first ever warlock class I ever saw was the "Warlocks: A New Magic-User Sub Class" by Anthony Barnstone in The Dungeoneer #16. It had some great spells, "Pentacle of Fire", "Aura of the Occult", "Curse of the Bloody Revenge" to name a few. This was certainly meant to be an evil character class to play, not just as an NPC. Interestingly enough this the same issue that featured the mystic class. I have to admit it was one of the things that made me like the Dungeoneer magazine. It didn't treat it's audience like little kids.
To my knowledge, there has never been a warlock class in the pages of Dragon magazine. I know there was not one in the pages of White Dwarf.
The Arcanum and Bard Games had a witch/warlock class, making them the same thing. I am not a fan of that really.
In my mind the witch and the warlock began as the same class, but the warlocks broke off from the witches sometime in the ancient past. Either warlocks wanted to become more like wizards and mages OR they were responsible for the first wizards.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has a great Warlock class. It is a sub-class of the fighter but calls upon dark powers to give them some magical power and spells. Mor to the point I like how the warlock and the witch are very different sorts of classes.
The AS&SH warlock is something more akin to a swordmage. We see something similar in D&D4 Essentials Hexblade. In general I liked the D&D4 Warlock. They were a class that wanted quick access to power and none of the work that Wizards had to do. That was a fine role-playing excuse, but not something that played out in the rules. Warlocks gained powers just like the Wizards did and had no more or no less requirements.
There is a Warlock I created in Eldritch Witchery. It is a type of Wizard really. I liken it to "Wizard Grad School" to be honest. They use the same spells as the witch and gain a few extra powers.
The Warlocks in Fantastic Heroes & Witchery are another sort. It is a chaos aligned wizard and has a lot of the same features really. It uses the same xp per level tables, same HD and same spell progressions. The FHW Warlock does gain some power, similar in many ways to my own witch, but at a cost. On the surface this doesn't make it much different than a wizard, with a different selection of spells. What makes this class, and really this book, different are the selection of spells (the book has 666) and the additional rules for acquiring magic and casting spells. Adding this material makes the Warlock a much more interesting character.
The Pact-Bound in Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is another warlock-like class. Again the idea here is a class that takes a quick path to power for a price, usually to an other-worldly power.
There is a similar one in the pages of the ACKS Player's Companion. Again the nice thing with this book is that the witch and warlock are separated.
In the 3e era we have a couple of "warlocks". There is a warlock in the Complete Arcane and the witch in Pathfinder, which always felt more like a warlock to me. Just staying focused on 3e we have a warlock class from WotC and a witch class for Pathfinder. For 4e there were also very different witch and warlock classes. 5e only has a warlock.
In the case of the official D&D warlock, he is less of a spell caster and more a raw magical power wielder. His pacts give him this power.
The question becomes one of whether the warlock should have spells or just weid raw magical power and thus have "blasts". I am torn myself. I like the warlock to have access to spells to be honest, the idea is these guys have sold their souls for power, but the "blasty" warlock really isn't all that powerful compared to a "spelly" warlock or wizard.
A good example of what I call a "blasty warlock" is Jeremy Reaban's The OSR Warlock. Like his Witch Hunter book this book has a number of nice features in addition to the class. The class does not cast spells, it does have lot of special powers. This is by design and owning to the stated OGC and pulp sources. The warlock here does get some spell like abilities in place of powers. It actually works rather nicely What I think makes this book special is the level advancement tables for "First Edition", "Original Edition", "Basic/Expert" and "Cyclopedic Edition". Plus the author has a section of notes on the class.
I have to admit one of my favorite "warlock" books and one that captures the Pulp Era warlock well is Green Ronin's "Warriors & Warlocks" book. Yes it is for their superhero game Mutants and Masterminds (2.0 version) but it was my goto guide for a proper pulp warlock will AS&SH came out, and it is still a lot of fun.
I am certain I have missed some here. Let me know in the comments below!
I have talked about the warlock as a class, distinct from the witch, in the past.
I do like keeping my warlocks separate from my witches in terms of class. In my mind they are just too different. Similar yes, but still very different. I would allow any warlock to use the same spell list as a witch unless there was a good reason not to do it.
I think the first ever warlock class I ever saw was the "Warlocks: A New Magic-User Sub Class" by Anthony Barnstone in The Dungeoneer #16. It had some great spells, "Pentacle of Fire", "Aura of the Occult", "Curse of the Bloody Revenge" to name a few. This was certainly meant to be an evil character class to play, not just as an NPC. Interestingly enough this the same issue that featured the mystic class. I have to admit it was one of the things that made me like the Dungeoneer magazine. It didn't treat it's audience like little kids.
To my knowledge, there has never been a warlock class in the pages of Dragon magazine. I know there was not one in the pages of White Dwarf.
The Arcanum and Bard Games had a witch/warlock class, making them the same thing. I am not a fan of that really.
In my mind the witch and the warlock began as the same class, but the warlocks broke off from the witches sometime in the ancient past. Either warlocks wanted to become more like wizards and mages OR they were responsible for the first wizards.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has a great Warlock class. It is a sub-class of the fighter but calls upon dark powers to give them some magical power and spells. Mor to the point I like how the warlock and the witch are very different sorts of classes.
The AS&SH warlock is something more akin to a swordmage. We see something similar in D&D4 Essentials Hexblade. In general I liked the D&D4 Warlock. They were a class that wanted quick access to power and none of the work that Wizards had to do. That was a fine role-playing excuse, but not something that played out in the rules. Warlocks gained powers just like the Wizards did and had no more or no less requirements.
There is a Warlock I created in Eldritch Witchery. It is a type of Wizard really. I liken it to "Wizard Grad School" to be honest. They use the same spells as the witch and gain a few extra powers.
The Warlocks in Fantastic Heroes & Witchery are another sort. It is a chaos aligned wizard and has a lot of the same features really. It uses the same xp per level tables, same HD and same spell progressions. The FHW Warlock does gain some power, similar in many ways to my own witch, but at a cost. On the surface this doesn't make it much different than a wizard, with a different selection of spells. What makes this class, and really this book, different are the selection of spells (the book has 666) and the additional rules for acquiring magic and casting spells. Adding this material makes the Warlock a much more interesting character.
The Pact-Bound in Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is another warlock-like class. Again the idea here is a class that takes a quick path to power for a price, usually to an other-worldly power.
There is a similar one in the pages of the ACKS Player's Companion. Again the nice thing with this book is that the witch and warlock are separated.
In the 3e era we have a couple of "warlocks". There is a warlock in the Complete Arcane and the witch in Pathfinder, which always felt more like a warlock to me. Just staying focused on 3e we have a warlock class from WotC and a witch class for Pathfinder. For 4e there were also very different witch and warlock classes. 5e only has a warlock.
In the case of the official D&D warlock, he is less of a spell caster and more a raw magical power wielder. His pacts give him this power.
The question becomes one of whether the warlock should have spells or just weid raw magical power and thus have "blasts". I am torn myself. I like the warlock to have access to spells to be honest, the idea is these guys have sold their souls for power, but the "blasty" warlock really isn't all that powerful compared to a "spelly" warlock or wizard.
A good example of what I call a "blasty warlock" is Jeremy Reaban's The OSR Warlock. Like his Witch Hunter book this book has a number of nice features in addition to the class. The class does not cast spells, it does have lot of special powers. This is by design and owning to the stated OGC and pulp sources. The warlock here does get some spell like abilities in place of powers. It actually works rather nicely What I think makes this book special is the level advancement tables for "First Edition", "Original Edition", "Basic/Expert" and "Cyclopedic Edition". Plus the author has a section of notes on the class.
I have to admit one of my favorite "warlock" books and one that captures the Pulp Era warlock well is Green Ronin's "Warriors & Warlocks" book. Yes it is for their superhero game Mutants and Masterminds (2.0 version) but it was my goto guide for a proper pulp warlock will AS&SH came out, and it is still a lot of fun.
I am certain I have missed some here. Let me know in the comments below!
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Class Struggles: The Necromancer
Very, very few classes or class concepts have been gone over more than the Necromancer. For a class that was never part of the original game, and never actually a proper class in it's own right, a lot of ink and pixels have been spent on this class. So much that I am sure to miss things and might even need a part 2. Where do we start?
Well to begin with what exactly is a necromancer and what is it that appears in so many games?
Taken from the Greek a necromancer is someone that communes with the dead. So spells like Speak to Dead are a good example. Historical necromancers, like for example John Dee, spoke to the dead to get advice. or foretell the future. In modern parlance and certainly in games (maybe one caused the other) necromancy has come to mean a wizard that controls or manipulates the forces of death and unlife.
The easiest Necromancer is simple. Play a Wizard/Magic-User and then only choose necromancy spells. Wear a lot of black and hang out with undead. This is also a very satisfying necromancer since all the trappings have to be role-played. Alternately one could play a cleric of a god of death, take only reversed necromancy spells and command instead of turn undead.
I think though as time wore on people wanted something that wa little bit of both.
The first, or at least one of the first was from White Dwarf Magazine #22 from December 1980/January 1981. Lew Pulsipher gives us an article about evil priests, the "Black Priests". While these are more cultist, there is a lot of necromancy being thrown around. This is followed by a true necromancer class also by Pulsipher in issue #35 from November 1982. Either of these classes is fine and represent the design philosophy of the times. Namely take and rearrange already familiar elements. The Black Priest and this Necromancer have the same shortcomings though; a reliance of human sacrifice.
The Necromancer is turned up to 11 with the publication of Dragon #76 in August 1983 and Len Lakofka's death master class. Designed to be an "NPC Class only" I remember seeing it first in the pages of Best of Dragon Magazine Vol. 3. I admit, I rolled up a death master right away. He became a major antagonist in my games for many years to come.
In AD&D1 the example of the Illusionist gave birth to the speciality wizards of 2nd Ed. One of those speciality wizards was the Necromancer. This continues in practice to the most current version. Though unlike the Illusionist, the Transmuter or even the Evoker, the Necromancer got it's own book. The Complete Book of Necromancers was one of those books that everyone seemed to want. I remember picking it up back when it was first published. I paid $15 for it. Later the cover price jumped to $18 and soon it became very rare. No idea why. The aftermarket price jumped considerably and I ended up selling mine on eBay back in 2000 for $81. Not a bad deal really. I recently picked up a copy at Half-Price Books for $9. The PDF just about the same price. Though the book is crammed full of necromancer goodies. Spells, magic items, undead familiars.
Moving out into the world of Fantasy Heartbreakers there is the near-compatible Quest of the Ancients. This necromancer reads like the Death Master, but has some interesting spells and some powers. The Arcanum/Bard Games also has a necromancer class.
3.x had, at the last time I looked, at least 3 different kinds of official Necromancer classes. The two best are from Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead and Heroes of Horror. Heroes of Horror featured the rather popular Dread Necromancer class. There is also the Death Master class from Dragon updated to 3.0e. The Crypt Lord from the aptly named Necromancer Games. Not to mention dozens of others from other third party publishers. Most take the same elements and reorganize them, but every so often something new is produced.
4e had necromancers as well. It was a type of wizard (much like the witch was) and was introduced in the Player's Option: Heroes of Shadow book. It had some rather neat features to it as well.
For the OSR things are really no different, dozens of different types and sorts of necromancers. I am only going to talk about a few.
One of the simplest also belongs to one of the simplest OSR games. Basic Fantasy has a necromancer class on their downloads page for free. It has a lot of spells and weighs in at an appropriate 13 pages.
I would have to say one of my favorites, at least in terms of style, is the one from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The necromancer here is cut from the "evil cultist" mold like their warlock and has a lot of great spells and powers.
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts also has a great necromancer and the big feature of this class (and this book) is the number of spells. While this book as more spells, the AS&SH class is slightly better in terms of what I want. Right along with that is the necromancer from the great Theorems & Thaumaturgy. A basic class, but some really nice spells.
Another really cool one in terms of how the necromancer is presented is the one from Adventures Dark & Deep. Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer is certainly in the vein of the "this is an evil class" but +Joseph Bloch makes no bones about the fact that players will be playing these as evil characters. It's sort of the point of his "Darker Paths" series. In that respect this is a good one to pick up just to get some ideas on how to play an evil character. Plus it has some unique spells.
Back at home I have most of these printed out and put into a folder. I also have a number of character sheets of all the different types of necromancers. Basically I have six characters with two sheets each; a 3.x sheet and an OSR compatible one (the five above and an old fashioned MU with necromancy spells). This gives me 12 different sorts of necromancers for 6 characters. I call them the Order of Six based on a group I introduced in my Buffy games. I am planning on using them as my bad guys in my games, but right now I am only playing 5e! So I can't really judge how well they all work. Similar to what I did with the Witch's Nest. Sounds like a plan to me.
By the way. My son has a 5e game he is in charge of. He has a 15th level necromancer in that game and it is wicked.
I feel like there is alot more to say but I have only scratched the surface.
What is your favorite necromancer class?
Well to begin with what exactly is a necromancer and what is it that appears in so many games?
Taken from the Greek a necromancer is someone that communes with the dead. So spells like Speak to Dead are a good example. Historical necromancers, like for example John Dee, spoke to the dead to get advice. or foretell the future. In modern parlance and certainly in games (maybe one caused the other) necromancy has come to mean a wizard that controls or manipulates the forces of death and unlife.
The easiest Necromancer is simple. Play a Wizard/Magic-User and then only choose necromancy spells. Wear a lot of black and hang out with undead. This is also a very satisfying necromancer since all the trappings have to be role-played. Alternately one could play a cleric of a god of death, take only reversed necromancy spells and command instead of turn undead.
I think though as time wore on people wanted something that wa little bit of both.
The first, or at least one of the first was from White Dwarf Magazine #22 from December 1980/January 1981. Lew Pulsipher gives us an article about evil priests, the "Black Priests". While these are more cultist, there is a lot of necromancy being thrown around. This is followed by a true necromancer class also by Pulsipher in issue #35 from November 1982. Either of these classes is fine and represent the design philosophy of the times. Namely take and rearrange already familiar elements. The Black Priest and this Necromancer have the same shortcomings though; a reliance of human sacrifice.
The Necromancer is turned up to 11 with the publication of Dragon #76 in August 1983 and Len Lakofka's death master class. Designed to be an "NPC Class only" I remember seeing it first in the pages of Best of Dragon Magazine Vol. 3. I admit, I rolled up a death master right away. He became a major antagonist in my games for many years to come.
In AD&D1 the example of the Illusionist gave birth to the speciality wizards of 2nd Ed. One of those speciality wizards was the Necromancer. This continues in practice to the most current version. Though unlike the Illusionist, the Transmuter or even the Evoker, the Necromancer got it's own book. The Complete Book of Necromancers was one of those books that everyone seemed to want. I remember picking it up back when it was first published. I paid $15 for it. Later the cover price jumped to $18 and soon it became very rare. No idea why. The aftermarket price jumped considerably and I ended up selling mine on eBay back in 2000 for $81. Not a bad deal really. I recently picked up a copy at Half-Price Books for $9. The PDF just about the same price. Though the book is crammed full of necromancer goodies. Spells, magic items, undead familiars.
Moving out into the world of Fantasy Heartbreakers there is the near-compatible Quest of the Ancients. This necromancer reads like the Death Master, but has some interesting spells and some powers. The Arcanum/Bard Games also has a necromancer class.
3.x had, at the last time I looked, at least 3 different kinds of official Necromancer classes. The two best are from Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead and Heroes of Horror. Heroes of Horror featured the rather popular Dread Necromancer class. There is also the Death Master class from Dragon updated to 3.0e. The Crypt Lord from the aptly named Necromancer Games. Not to mention dozens of others from other third party publishers. Most take the same elements and reorganize them, but every so often something new is produced.
4e had necromancers as well. It was a type of wizard (much like the witch was) and was introduced in the Player's Option: Heroes of Shadow book. It had some rather neat features to it as well.
For the OSR things are really no different, dozens of different types and sorts of necromancers. I am only going to talk about a few.
One of the simplest also belongs to one of the simplest OSR games. Basic Fantasy has a necromancer class on their downloads page for free. It has a lot of spells and weighs in at an appropriate 13 pages.
I would have to say one of my favorites, at least in terms of style, is the one from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The necromancer here is cut from the "evil cultist" mold like their warlock and has a lot of great spells and powers.
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts also has a great necromancer and the big feature of this class (and this book) is the number of spells. While this book as more spells, the AS&SH class is slightly better in terms of what I want. Right along with that is the necromancer from the great Theorems & Thaumaturgy. A basic class, but some really nice spells.
Another really cool one in terms of how the necromancer is presented is the one from Adventures Dark & Deep. Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer is certainly in the vein of the "this is an evil class" but +Joseph Bloch makes no bones about the fact that players will be playing these as evil characters. It's sort of the point of his "Darker Paths" series. In that respect this is a good one to pick up just to get some ideas on how to play an evil character. Plus it has some unique spells.
Back at home I have most of these printed out and put into a folder. I also have a number of character sheets of all the different types of necromancers. Basically I have six characters with two sheets each; a 3.x sheet and an OSR compatible one (the five above and an old fashioned MU with necromancy spells). This gives me 12 different sorts of necromancers for 6 characters. I call them the Order of Six based on a group I introduced in my Buffy games. I am planning on using them as my bad guys in my games, but right now I am only playing 5e! So I can't really judge how well they all work. Similar to what I did with the Witch's Nest. Sounds like a plan to me.
By the way. My son has a 5e game he is in charge of. He has a 15th level necromancer in that game and it is wicked.
I feel like there is alot more to say but I have only scratched the surface.
What is your favorite necromancer class?
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Demons Run...
Picked up the latest D&D5 adventure Out of the Abyss this weekend. Part of their whole Rage of the Demons.
I am not planning on running this but there are a lot of cool ideas in it. Heck it was worth it for me just for the D&D5 stats of the various demon lords.
There is a lot of similarities between this and the GDQ series, which is good for me. Since I am still planning on running GDQ with my kids this all fits nicely. The events of this module are what is going on in the Forgotten Realms while over in my little corner of the multiverse Lolth, Camatoz and *maybe* Orcus are doing their thing.
Time for good men and good women to go to war.
I am not planning on running this but there are a lot of cool ideas in it. Heck it was worth it for me just for the D&D5 stats of the various demon lords.
There is a lot of similarities between this and the GDQ series, which is good for me. Since I am still planning on running GDQ with my kids this all fits nicely. The events of this module are what is going on in the Forgotten Realms while over in my little corner of the multiverse Lolth, Camatoz and *maybe* Orcus are doing their thing.
Time for good men and good women to go to war.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Rage...Across the Multiverse.
Wizards of the Coast is pulling out the stops for it's new Rage of the Demons campaign and I have to admit I am rather excited about it myself.
There is a lot going on here. Including the new Out of Abyss book and Rage of the Demons minis.
Though how is any of this going to affect the Order of the Platinum Dragon? Simple. This is a multiversal event. While all that stuff is going on in the Realms and the Sword Coast, over here in my world we are still running through what I call the "Great Greyhawk Campaign" in my campaign of the Endless Darkness.
The two campaigns are obviously linked. I'll adapt bits and pieces from the Rage of Demons to put into my campaign.
I am excited to see Demogorgon in this and the mindflayers. Mindflayers working with Orcus, that is like custom made for my games.
There is a lot going on here. Including the new Out of Abyss book and Rage of the Demons minis.
Though how is any of this going to affect the Order of the Platinum Dragon? Simple. This is a multiversal event. While all that stuff is going on in the Realms and the Sword Coast, over here in my world we are still running through what I call the "Great Greyhawk Campaign" in my campaign of the Endless Darkness.
The two campaigns are obviously linked. I'll adapt bits and pieces from the Rage of Demons to put into my campaign.
I am excited to see Demogorgon in this and the mindflayers. Mindflayers working with Orcus, that is like custom made for my games.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Review: Fantastic Heroes & Witchery
This week I want to spend some time with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery.
Full Disclosure: I have worked with the author, Dominique Crouzet, in the past on a couple of projects. I think Dom is a great guy and I love the work we had done together. I am going to review FH&W on it's own merits.
For this review I am looking at the PDF copy found at DriveThruRPG and the print copy hardcover from Lulu.
Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Reto-RPG (FH&W hereafter) is a newer "retro-clone" of the classic D&D rules.
The book itself is a massive 430 pages. This includes the table of contents (4 pages), index (4 pages), spell index (4 pages) and OGL statement (2 pages). The PDF also has a "quick click" index to get to sections in the book faster.
A while back I referred to this as the "Rosetta Stone" of OSR games. It still works like that, but this really more of an meta-analysis of OSR RPG elements put into a cohesive whole. The game feels like Basic era, BEMCI, D&D, but it also has the options of both 1st and some of 2nd Ed AD&D. Other games like Swords & Wizardry have also contributed to the DNA of this game. A quick look at the OGL statement in back makes it clear that this game is very much a product of many, many games. This is not a slight, there is an absolute ton of new and original material here. It takes the best and develops more to make it all work well. In fact this book is a good point of translation between the various clones and 3rd Edition. Not that translation is difficult, this helps smooth out the "local idioms" to some closer to normal.
A note about the art. Dom is not just the author of this game he is also one of the primary artists and graphic designer. The art is reminiscent of both B/X D&D and AD&D, on purpose. In fact there are a few tongue in cheek references to old AD&D books. To further this feeling there is also art by Jim Holloway.
Chapter 1 deals with character creation. Here we are given the details about Ability Scores (OSR standards here) and then we get into races. The usual suspects are here, but some of the newer folk as well like tieflings, and some new ones. The new races include tainted humans, primates, reptilians, revenants (undead), winged folk, and witchlings. I love the idea behind the primates, intelligent apes and wonder why we have not seen more of those in other fantasy games. A personal aside, the Witchlings are very much something I would expect out of Dom. I am very intrigued by the race and plan on exploring in more.
The next section of the chapter is Character Backgrounds. These are more role-playing options with suggestions of mechanical advantages (Foresters are better at climbing trees for example, but no pluses are given). This is a nice section that does better than it's inspired materials but doesn't quite go as far as the newest edition of the D&D game. That is likely a perfect sweet spot for the types of games that are going to be played here. We end with a discussion on alignment.
Chapter 2 discusses character classes. We have the expected list and then some more. Again since this is a merging of Basic and Advanced ideas there are some "racial" classes here. I like the idea myself and will discuss those in a bit. There is also a section on "Weird Tales" pulp-era classes.
Classes are divided up into groups much like 2nd Ed or Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. We have Warriors which include Fighters, Beserkers, Knights and Ranger. Rogues which include Thieves, Acrobats, Assassins, and Bards. Divines which consist of Friars, Mystics and Templars and the racial classes. Dwarves include Clans-dwarf and Gothi. Elves are split into High and Sylvan they include Eldritch-archer and Fae-mage (High) and Forestal and Warden (Sylvan). Gnomes get Illusionist and Trickster. Halflings get Folk-champion and Scout. Finally there are the Weird Tales classes; Necronimus, Occultist, Psychic, Rifleman, Savant, Sky-lord, and Wild-brute.
Like editions 3.x and beyond, all classes use the same Experience Level chart. So 2,000 xp is 2nd level for everyone. This has a number of nice benefits including easier multi-classing.
Like newer editions each character class has a base to hit modifier. So for fighters this goes up +1 per level. Each class has HD, Base to Hit, Saves and abilities per level. Saves are standard Sword & Wizardry style, but there is an Appendix for conversions later in the book.
An note about levels. Like B/X, AS&SH or Adventurer, Conqueror, King, FH&W assumes that 13 is the max level. There are XP values given for 14 and above, but the abilities stop there.
I will discuss the Wizard classes later when I talk about the spells, but for now I want to say that racial classes are really some of the nicest new classes of the book. It is easy to create a bunch of human centric classes, but these different cultures would naturally produce some professions or heroes of their own.
The Weird Tales classes are an interesting bunch. Some would fit right in with the Ranger or Knight, others, less so. The Necronimus is basically a spiritualist or speaker of the dead. The occultist learns spells as the find them from old tomes, the psychic is what is says on the tin. Others like the Rifleman or the Savant (aka Weird Scientist) could work with some good role-playing and a lot of help from the GM. The Sky-Lord...is a great class, but it is very Sci-Fi or at least Sci-Fant. The wild-brute would work anywhere to be honest.
Hit-dice and hp are discussed in the next section as well as saving throws. The model of saving throws in the Swords & Wizardry one but also it could be said the D&D 5 one or the Castles & Crusades one. Conversions and notes are given for how to translate a Fortitude save or a Breath Weapon save over to this system. Honestly this is a gem and worth printing out these pages for any game you play. Next are skill checks and how to handle them.
Chapter 3 covers Equipment. This is what you expect but there is a lot to choose from here. In fact t might be one of more comprehensive collections. Worth the price of the PDF to be honest to have all of this in one place. The section on Sci-Fantasy equipment is an added bonus.
Chapter 4 details Combat. There is your garden variety melee and missile combat, but also vehicle based combat and psionic combat (for the psychic class). Stuffed in the last paragraph is the very interesting Duels of Rhetoric. Basically, combat of words. There is a lot of potential here and something I want to use in my next D&D5 game. Yes it works with any version of D&D or OSR game.
Chapter 5 is Moving and Exploring. A lot of what becomes a goo dungeon crawl is more than combat. This also details carrying capacity. What you expect is here, but there is also a nice section on "Chase rules" to go with your vehicle based combat. Suddenly I want to do a Stephen J. Cannell-style chase with chariots or even dragons!
These two chapters have a logical conclusion found in Chapter 6, Hazards and Injuries. This includes a Wound and Vitality system for use in any D&D-like game. Other topics include massive damage (like AD&D 2), subdual (a feature of my Basic D&D games) and healing. There is a section of Threats and Hazards. This details a lot of conditions PCs can find themselves in; Blind, Fearful, Drunk, Poisoned and so on. Congrats, we just worked in the best parts of D&D4! Beyond that the Conditions/Afflictions also extend to the Supernatural. So Energy drain, Lycanthropy and so on.
Chapter 7 covers Monsters and NPCs. There are no monsters in FH&W. Not that there can't be, but the book does not list them. It does talk about how to use monsters and how NPCs can also work as monsters. By default FH&W assumes an OSRIC style stat block for monsters.
Chapter 8 is an interesting one. It covers Priests and Religions. Different types of world views are discussed. Also the priest classes are mentioned with different "templates" one can use to make the priest feel different. Some concepts of gods are later detailed. One could add names to these from any myth rather easily. Names are not provided though. Each God archetype also has a suggestions for their clergy. After this we get into a discussion of Law vs. Chaos. This includes another class, The Agent of Law/Chaos. If you are thinking Elric or other Eternal Champions (but also I will add, He-Man from the Masters of the Universe media is a great example of an Agent of Law). In fact so engrossing is this concept I might create three agents using this as my outline for Law, Chaos and Neutrality. If you pick this up, really consider this chapter and what it could mean for your game.
There is even a treatise on the immortal soul and some details on the outer planes.
Chapter 9 covers magic and spellcasting. There is a lot here. One of the better sections is acquiring arcane spells. There are equally as good sections on getting spell-like powers. Also covered is an optional rule on Incantations, which are spells that anyone can use. As expected the schools of magic are covered, with the different specialists such as Illusionists, Necromancers and so on. Also presented is a War-Mage class.
The next section deals with the craft of magic. This includes a lot of information on magic circles, scrolls, and even creating magical talismans! My favorite is part on ley lines and power nexuses.
We get into the bulk of the chapter with spell lists by class. Spells are divided into Psychic, Gray, Black and White magic, Nature and Delusion spells.
Chapter 10 is the Alphabetical listing of all the spells. 164 pages worth of spells, 666 spells in all. Thats 2/5s of the entire book. I know some are new, but I would have to read each in detail to know which ones. There are a lot here in any case. Personally I LOVE that the Mordenkainen's spells have been changed to Morgane's. While many of the spell casting classes stop at level 6, these spells do go to 7th, 8th and 9th levels.
Chapter 11 covers the Appendices. These are:
Appendix 1: More About Ability Scores. - Ability scores above 18 to 25.
Appendix 2: Physical Appearance. - height and weight by race.
Appendix 3: Personality.
Appendix 4: Allegiances.
Appendix 5: Cultural Background.
Appendix 6: Social Background.
Appendix 7: Rolling Hit-Points.
Appendix 8: Sanity / Insanity. - I am not a fan of sanity in a FRPG. but this is a simple solution option.
Appendix 9: Skills in More Detail.
Appendix 10: Talents (Custom Abilities).
Appendix 11: Fighting Schools and Maneuvers.
Appendix 12: Adding More Character Classes.
Appendix 13: Epic Levels (14th to 20th / 25th level). takes the characters into epic levels, in this case 14th to 25th.
Appendix 14: More About Saving Throws. - more Saving translations.
Appendix 15: Domain Spells. - divine spells by theme
Appendix 16: Critical Hits (Complete Table of Secondary Effects).
A bit more about Appendix 12. This is a GREAT section about adding other classes including 3e prestige classes. This includes note on how to add my own Witch to this game. There are also more classes here including: The Adventurer, the Animist, the Scary Monk (the monk from AD&D), the Sea-Dog, the Sea-Witch and the Thick Brute.
We end with the OGL notice and a character sheet.
What can I say at this point really?
This is an awesome resource. It is a great game in it's own right, but it shines when added to other games. Use this to play an OSRIC game while importing some 3.x style classes and as Swords & Wizardry monster book. Or whatever you like. There is so much here that there is no end of what you can do with it.
A serious high mark for all OSR products in terms of utility.
Full Disclosure: I have worked with the author, Dominique Crouzet, in the past on a couple of projects. I think Dom is a great guy and I love the work we had done together. I am going to review FH&W on it's own merits.
For this review I am looking at the PDF copy found at DriveThruRPG and the print copy hardcover from Lulu.
Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Reto-RPG (FH&W hereafter) is a newer "retro-clone" of the classic D&D rules.
The book itself is a massive 430 pages. This includes the table of contents (4 pages), index (4 pages), spell index (4 pages) and OGL statement (2 pages). The PDF also has a "quick click" index to get to sections in the book faster.
A while back I referred to this as the "Rosetta Stone" of OSR games. It still works like that, but this really more of an meta-analysis of OSR RPG elements put into a cohesive whole. The game feels like Basic era, BEMCI, D&D, but it also has the options of both 1st and some of 2nd Ed AD&D. Other games like Swords & Wizardry have also contributed to the DNA of this game. A quick look at the OGL statement in back makes it clear that this game is very much a product of many, many games. This is not a slight, there is an absolute ton of new and original material here. It takes the best and develops more to make it all work well. In fact this book is a good point of translation between the various clones and 3rd Edition. Not that translation is difficult, this helps smooth out the "local idioms" to some closer to normal.
A note about the art. Dom is not just the author of this game he is also one of the primary artists and graphic designer. The art is reminiscent of both B/X D&D and AD&D, on purpose. In fact there are a few tongue in cheek references to old AD&D books. To further this feeling there is also art by Jim Holloway.
Chapter 1 deals with character creation. Here we are given the details about Ability Scores (OSR standards here) and then we get into races. The usual suspects are here, but some of the newer folk as well like tieflings, and some new ones. The new races include tainted humans, primates, reptilians, revenants (undead), winged folk, and witchlings. I love the idea behind the primates, intelligent apes and wonder why we have not seen more of those in other fantasy games. A personal aside, the Witchlings are very much something I would expect out of Dom. I am very intrigued by the race and plan on exploring in more.
The next section of the chapter is Character Backgrounds. These are more role-playing options with suggestions of mechanical advantages (Foresters are better at climbing trees for example, but no pluses are given). This is a nice section that does better than it's inspired materials but doesn't quite go as far as the newest edition of the D&D game. That is likely a perfect sweet spot for the types of games that are going to be played here. We end with a discussion on alignment.
Chapter 2 discusses character classes. We have the expected list and then some more. Again since this is a merging of Basic and Advanced ideas there are some "racial" classes here. I like the idea myself and will discuss those in a bit. There is also a section on "Weird Tales" pulp-era classes.
Classes are divided up into groups much like 2nd Ed or Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. We have Warriors which include Fighters, Beserkers, Knights and Ranger. Rogues which include Thieves, Acrobats, Assassins, and Bards. Divines which consist of Friars, Mystics and Templars and the racial classes. Dwarves include Clans-dwarf and Gothi. Elves are split into High and Sylvan they include Eldritch-archer and Fae-mage (High) and Forestal and Warden (Sylvan). Gnomes get Illusionist and Trickster. Halflings get Folk-champion and Scout. Finally there are the Weird Tales classes; Necronimus, Occultist, Psychic, Rifleman, Savant, Sky-lord, and Wild-brute.
Like editions 3.x and beyond, all classes use the same Experience Level chart. So 2,000 xp is 2nd level for everyone. This has a number of nice benefits including easier multi-classing.
Like newer editions each character class has a base to hit modifier. So for fighters this goes up +1 per level. Each class has HD, Base to Hit, Saves and abilities per level. Saves are standard Sword & Wizardry style, but there is an Appendix for conversions later in the book.
An note about levels. Like B/X, AS&SH or Adventurer, Conqueror, King, FH&W assumes that 13 is the max level. There are XP values given for 14 and above, but the abilities stop there.
I will discuss the Wizard classes later when I talk about the spells, but for now I want to say that racial classes are really some of the nicest new classes of the book. It is easy to create a bunch of human centric classes, but these different cultures would naturally produce some professions or heroes of their own.
The Weird Tales classes are an interesting bunch. Some would fit right in with the Ranger or Knight, others, less so. The Necronimus is basically a spiritualist or speaker of the dead. The occultist learns spells as the find them from old tomes, the psychic is what is says on the tin. Others like the Rifleman or the Savant (aka Weird Scientist) could work with some good role-playing and a lot of help from the GM. The Sky-Lord...is a great class, but it is very Sci-Fi or at least Sci-Fant. The wild-brute would work anywhere to be honest.
Hit-dice and hp are discussed in the next section as well as saving throws. The model of saving throws in the Swords & Wizardry one but also it could be said the D&D 5 one or the Castles & Crusades one. Conversions and notes are given for how to translate a Fortitude save or a Breath Weapon save over to this system. Honestly this is a gem and worth printing out these pages for any game you play. Next are skill checks and how to handle them.
Some of the games that are compatible with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery |
Chapter 3 covers Equipment. This is what you expect but there is a lot to choose from here. In fact t might be one of more comprehensive collections. Worth the price of the PDF to be honest to have all of this in one place. The section on Sci-Fantasy equipment is an added bonus.
Chapter 4 details Combat. There is your garden variety melee and missile combat, but also vehicle based combat and psionic combat (for the psychic class). Stuffed in the last paragraph is the very interesting Duels of Rhetoric. Basically, combat of words. There is a lot of potential here and something I want to use in my next D&D5 game. Yes it works with any version of D&D or OSR game.
Chapter 5 is Moving and Exploring. A lot of what becomes a goo dungeon crawl is more than combat. This also details carrying capacity. What you expect is here, but there is also a nice section on "Chase rules" to go with your vehicle based combat. Suddenly I want to do a Stephen J. Cannell-style chase with chariots or even dragons!
These two chapters have a logical conclusion found in Chapter 6, Hazards and Injuries. This includes a Wound and Vitality system for use in any D&D-like game. Other topics include massive damage (like AD&D 2), subdual (a feature of my Basic D&D games) and healing. There is a section of Threats and Hazards. This details a lot of conditions PCs can find themselves in; Blind, Fearful, Drunk, Poisoned and so on. Congrats, we just worked in the best parts of D&D4! Beyond that the Conditions/Afflictions also extend to the Supernatural. So Energy drain, Lycanthropy and so on.
Chapter 7 covers Monsters and NPCs. There are no monsters in FH&W. Not that there can't be, but the book does not list them. It does talk about how to use monsters and how NPCs can also work as monsters. By default FH&W assumes an OSRIC style stat block for monsters.
Chapter 8 is an interesting one. It covers Priests and Religions. Different types of world views are discussed. Also the priest classes are mentioned with different "templates" one can use to make the priest feel different. Some concepts of gods are later detailed. One could add names to these from any myth rather easily. Names are not provided though. Each God archetype also has a suggestions for their clergy. After this we get into a discussion of Law vs. Chaos. This includes another class, The Agent of Law/Chaos. If you are thinking Elric or other Eternal Champions (but also I will add, He-Man from the Masters of the Universe media is a great example of an Agent of Law). In fact so engrossing is this concept I might create three agents using this as my outline for Law, Chaos and Neutrality. If you pick this up, really consider this chapter and what it could mean for your game.
There is even a treatise on the immortal soul and some details on the outer planes.
Chapter 9 covers magic and spellcasting. There is a lot here. One of the better sections is acquiring arcane spells. There are equally as good sections on getting spell-like powers. Also covered is an optional rule on Incantations, which are spells that anyone can use. As expected the schools of magic are covered, with the different specialists such as Illusionists, Necromancers and so on. Also presented is a War-Mage class.
The next section deals with the craft of magic. This includes a lot of information on magic circles, scrolls, and even creating magical talismans! My favorite is part on ley lines and power nexuses.
We get into the bulk of the chapter with spell lists by class. Spells are divided into Psychic, Gray, Black and White magic, Nature and Delusion spells.
Chapter 10 is the Alphabetical listing of all the spells. 164 pages worth of spells, 666 spells in all. Thats 2/5s of the entire book. I know some are new, but I would have to read each in detail to know which ones. There are a lot here in any case. Personally I LOVE that the Mordenkainen's spells have been changed to Morgane's. While many of the spell casting classes stop at level 6, these spells do go to 7th, 8th and 9th levels.
Chapter 11 covers the Appendices. These are:
Appendix 1: More About Ability Scores. - Ability scores above 18 to 25.
Appendix 2: Physical Appearance. - height and weight by race.
Appendix 3: Personality.
Appendix 4: Allegiances.
Appendix 5: Cultural Background.
Appendix 6: Social Background.
Appendix 7: Rolling Hit-Points.
Appendix 8: Sanity / Insanity. - I am not a fan of sanity in a FRPG. but this is a simple solution option.
Appendix 9: Skills in More Detail.
Appendix 10: Talents (Custom Abilities).
Appendix 11: Fighting Schools and Maneuvers.
Appendix 12: Adding More Character Classes.
Appendix 13: Epic Levels (14th to 20th / 25th level). takes the characters into epic levels, in this case 14th to 25th.
Appendix 14: More About Saving Throws. - more Saving translations.
Appendix 15: Domain Spells. - divine spells by theme
Appendix 16: Critical Hits (Complete Table of Secondary Effects).
A bit more about Appendix 12. This is a GREAT section about adding other classes including 3e prestige classes. This includes note on how to add my own Witch to this game. There are also more classes here including: The Adventurer, the Animist, the Scary Monk (the monk from AD&D), the Sea-Dog, the Sea-Witch and the Thick Brute.
We end with the OGL notice and a character sheet.
What can I say at this point really?
This is an awesome resource. It is a great game in it's own right, but it shines when added to other games. Use this to play an OSRIC game while importing some 3.x style classes and as Swords & Wizardry monster book. Or whatever you like. There is so much here that there is no end of what you can do with it.
A serious high mark for all OSR products in terms of utility.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Friday, August 7, 2015
Kickstart Your Weekend: Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.'s Marmoreal Tomb
This was one of the big ones I was reading about at Gen Con last week.
Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.'s Marmoreal Tomb Campaign Starter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1709227718/ernest-gary-gygax-jrs-marmoreal-tomb-campaign-star
Though it doesn't really need my support at this point, it is full of Original Old School street cred and even newer OSR Old School cred.
Frankly I like the idea that it will have addons to work with D&D 5 and White Star.
Personally I am looking forward to the Modern Horror and Castles & Crusades conversions too.
In any case this looks like a lot of fun.
Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.'s Marmoreal Tomb Campaign Starter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1709227718/ernest-gary-gygax-jrs-marmoreal-tomb-campaign-star
Though it doesn't really need my support at this point, it is full of Original Old School street cred and even newer OSR Old School cred.
Frankly I like the idea that it will have addons to work with D&D 5 and White Star.
Personally I am looking forward to the Modern Horror and Castles & Crusades conversions too.
In any case this looks like a lot of fun.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
RPG a Day 2015, Day 6
Day 6: Most Recent RPG Played
The last RPG I played was at Gen Con and it was Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
I took my family through Castle Ravenloft.
It was an absolute blast!
The last RPG I played was at Gen Con and it was Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
I took my family through Castle Ravenloft.
It was an absolute blast!
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
RPG a Day 2015, Days 1-4
Well. I am bit slow on this and wasn't going to do this, but the questions intrigued me.
Once again +Dave Chapman of Doctor Who and Conspiracy X fame presents his RPG a Day for 2015.
You can find him and more information on #RPGaDay2015 here:
http://www.autocratik.com/
http://autocratik.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY
https://twitter.com/hashtag/RPGaDay2015?src=hash
So here we go!
Day 1: Forthcoming Game I am Most Looking Forward to
That is an interesting one. I just got off of Gen Con so most of the "new" stuff is now out. But I would have to say Leagues of Gothic Horror by Triple Ace Games.
Day 2: Kickstarted Game I am Most Pleased I Backed
Most recently, Baker Street. But anything I have ever gotten from +Joseph Bloch's BRW Games has been on time (when not early) and exactly what I ordered.
Day 3: Favorite New Game of the Last 12 months.
It might be a little bit more than 12 months, but D&D 5th edition. It has been a great game and my family loves it.
Day 4: Most Surprising Game
I think I am going to have to go with Baker Street again. My expectations were low because there was no magic and I love magic in my Victorian games. But this one was a total surprise because of how fun it was and how well everything worked. +Bryce Whitacre did a bang up job on this one and I am really, really pleased to own it.
More posting tomorrow!
Once again +Dave Chapman of Doctor Who and Conspiracy X fame presents his RPG a Day for 2015.
You can find him and more information on #RPGaDay2015 here:
http://www.autocratik.com/
http://autocratik.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RPGaDAY
https://twitter.com/hashtag/RPGaDay2015?src=hash
So here we go!
Day 1: Forthcoming Game I am Most Looking Forward to
That is an interesting one. I just got off of Gen Con so most of the "new" stuff is now out. But I would have to say Leagues of Gothic Horror by Triple Ace Games.
Day 2: Kickstarted Game I am Most Pleased I Backed
Most recently, Baker Street. But anything I have ever gotten from +Joseph Bloch's BRW Games has been on time (when not early) and exactly what I ordered.
Day 3: Favorite New Game of the Last 12 months.
It might be a little bit more than 12 months, but D&D 5th edition. It has been a great game and my family loves it.
Day 4: Most Surprising Game
I think I am going to have to go with Baker Street again. My expectations were low because there was no magic and I love magic in my Victorian games. But this one was a total surprise because of how fun it was and how well everything worked. +Bryce Whitacre did a bang up job on this one and I am really, really pleased to own it.
More posting tomorrow!
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
AD&D 1e Players Handbook on DriveThruRPG
That's right. The book that started it out for so many of us is now on DriveThruRPG.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17003/Players-Handbook-1e
This is a big deal really.
Prior to this the wisdom was that the reprints would not be released on PDF.
So I supposed there is hope that some PDFs might get reprinted. Maybe.
But in any case the Gary's Magnum Opus, AD&D, will now be available as PDF.
Also if you are playing the newest edition of the game, Unearthed Arcana has Psionics for the price of a click.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/awakened-mystic
The days of complaining about Wizards not giving us what we want are over.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17003/Players-Handbook-1e
This is a big deal really.
Prior to this the wisdom was that the reprints would not be released on PDF.
So I supposed there is hope that some PDFs might get reprinted. Maybe.
But in any case the Gary's Magnum Opus, AD&D, will now be available as PDF.
Also if you are playing the newest edition of the game, Unearthed Arcana has Psionics for the price of a click.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/awakened-mystic
The days of complaining about Wizards not giving us what we want are over.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Halfway, Fortunes of Ravenloft and the Foreshadowing
Got in a lot of gaming this weekend!
Saturday the Order of the Platinum Dragon found themselves still stuck in the mists. They stumbled on to Halfway. Here they met the Dealer and had the Fortunes of Ravenloft read. We are not going to play Ravenloft till Gen Con, but I have 5 nights to run it.
I used Tarot cards for the Fortunes (because why not). I have done that in the past, but I also found this AD&D1st Ed to D&D5 conversion of Ravenloft that also used Tarot cards.
With the PDF out I can print both of these out and run it from those.
Sunday we went "back in time" to the Dragonslayers. They finished up their exploration of the Barrier Peaks. Here they encountered, for the very first time, the Illithids. Something that was not lost on my kids.
The "Order of the Platinum Dragon" characters are all the children or grand children of the "Dragonslayers". So I am setting up the Mind Flayer threat a generation early.
I know what I have in store for the Order, I just need to figure out what is next for the Dragonslayers.
Saturday the Order of the Platinum Dragon found themselves still stuck in the mists. They stumbled on to Halfway. Here they met the Dealer and had the Fortunes of Ravenloft read. We are not going to play Ravenloft till Gen Con, but I have 5 nights to run it.
I used Tarot cards for the Fortunes (because why not). I have done that in the past, but I also found this AD&D1st Ed to D&D5 conversion of Ravenloft that also used Tarot cards.
With the PDF out I can print both of these out and run it from those.
Sunday we went "back in time" to the Dragonslayers. They finished up their exploration of the Barrier Peaks. Here they encountered, for the very first time, the Illithids. Something that was not lost on my kids.
The "Order of the Platinum Dragon" characters are all the children or grand children of the "Dragonslayers". So I am setting up the Mind Flayer threat a generation early.
I know what I have in store for the Order, I just need to figure out what is next for the Dragonslayers.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Castle Amber, Butterbeer and the Order of the Platinum Dragon
Sunday was a humid, rainy day in Chicagoland. So what better to do than stay inside and play some D&D!
We decided to finish up Castle Amber taking them straight through all the wilderness encounters. The boys meet Skylla, though true to her rumored appearance in the D&D cartoon she appears as an old woman. They also have no idea that she is evil.
She did help them a bit on where various towns were. She wanted out of the Averoigne to get back to Glantri. There is a small problem now, but I will get to that.
The boys decided that the name of their group is The Order of the Platinum Dragon. We celebrated with some homemade butterbeer.
It was quite good, but we could saved time and had the same amount of calories and fat with we had just drank some melted butter with a couple tablespoons of sugar.
The Order managed to dispatch the Beast of Averoigne and The Colossus of Ylourgne. They were able to con and bribe the Ring of Eibon from the Archbishop. All in all, a really good session.
The Order summoned the Tomb of Stephen Amber and the mists closed in on them. Normally that is where the adventure ends and they are back in their own world. Instead when the mists cleared they discovered they are in Barovia. Well, they don't know that yet, all they know is they are not home yet.
The Sword of Sylarie was not destroyed as per the module. It is half of what will become the Sun Sword.
So up next it is the Order vs. Castle Ravenloft.
Time to grab my copy of Ravenloft and start reading again. Should not be to bad, I have run this many, many times.
It's going to be a lot of fun!
We decided to finish up Castle Amber taking them straight through all the wilderness encounters. The boys meet Skylla, though true to her rumored appearance in the D&D cartoon she appears as an old woman. They also have no idea that she is evil.
She did help them a bit on where various towns were. She wanted out of the Averoigne to get back to Glantri. There is a small problem now, but I will get to that.
The boys decided that the name of their group is The Order of the Platinum Dragon. We celebrated with some homemade butterbeer.
It was quite good, but we could saved time and had the same amount of calories and fat with we had just drank some melted butter with a couple tablespoons of sugar.
The Order managed to dispatch the Beast of Averoigne and The Colossus of Ylourgne. They were able to con and bribe the Ring of Eibon from the Archbishop. All in all, a really good session.
The Order summoned the Tomb of Stephen Amber and the mists closed in on them. Normally that is where the adventure ends and they are back in their own world. Instead when the mists cleared they discovered they are in Barovia. Well, they don't know that yet, all they know is they are not home yet.
The Sword of Sylarie was not destroyed as per the module. It is half of what will become the Sun Sword.
So up next it is the Order vs. Castle Ravenloft.
Time to grab my copy of Ravenloft and start reading again. Should not be to bad, I have run this many, many times.
It's going to be a lot of fun!
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