Kickstart Your Weekend: Periodic Table of Elementals, by Catilus

 How about something to lighten the mood around here.

This was shared by a friend. I had seen it on my feed, but he reminded me that it would be good for today.

Periodic Table of Elementals, by Catilus

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/catilus/periodic-table-of-elementals-by-catilus?ref=theotherside

Catilus is giving us something that honestly we should have all figured out decades ago. But here we get her fantastic art and 5e monsters.

Catilus has been putting out some high-quality and fun 5e books for a while now, and I expect this one will be her best yet.

From her project page:

Periodic Table of Elementals is my third book on Kickstarter and (by far) my largest book to date. It features unique elemental creatures inspired by every actual chemical element, with lore and abilities based on each element’s chemical properties!

What’s in the Periodic Table of Elementals?

• 118 fully illustrated unique elementals representing ALL chemical elements
• Abilities and mechanics based on real chemistry
• Familiars, steeds, and gargantuan summonable elementals
• Science-inspired lore for each elemental
• An actual, fully usable periodic table with all the elementals from the book
• Adventure hooks, optional rules, tables, synergies, and more tools
• More than 120 detailed illustrations, including art for each elemental, by me!

Sounds fantastic really.  I am not really into D&D 5e these days, but my issues are with WotC/Hasbro not with independent creatives like Catilus. There will be plenty to convert over to other systems should you want.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Vampire Queen 10th Anniversary Edition

 Now, HERE is a treat and a perfect time of year for it. Friend of the Other Side Mark "The Mad Wizard" Taormino is back with another Kickstarter to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of his first, and maybe my favorite adventure of his, Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen.

Vampire Queen 5E and 10 Year Anniversary 1E Softcovers

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marktaormino/vampire-queen-5e-and-10-year-anniversary-1e-softcovers?ref=theotherside

At this point, do I need to tell you all about my love for all things Vampire Queen? No. I don't think so.

Do I need to tell you about how great Mark's Maximum Mayhem Adventures are? No. But just in case, they are great. Plus he runs a tight Kickstarter and ALWAYS gets his books out in time if not early.  I have not even gone too deep into his newest one and now this? Sign me up!

Ok so what do we have here?

There is the original OSR, overtly OSRIC, version of Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen with some new art. Additionally, there is now a 5e version as well. Which is great really. The first time I ran this was under 5e. 

So am I getting this? I think I was one of the first to pledge, to be honest. Given his usual track record I'll get this in a month or so. I can plan on running it next year for Halloween 10 years after I ran the first one. Perfect!

I am going to need a bigger box though.

Mail Call: The Wasted Lands

 Got a nice surprise in my mailbox this weekend. 

Jason Vey's The Wasted Lands has begun shipping. And the books are fantastic!

I feel this game has a good chance of replacing D&D 5e for the games I run. I have been doing playtests on it for months (longer if you count NIGHT SHIFT which uses the same rules) and have been using it to help detail some my gods in my Deities & Demigods II project.  Though I am thinking of pulling together some threads and starting a new campaign (or, rather, making one I have been doing here and there official) and calling it "The War at the Gates of Dawn."

You can get your copies, including the nice leather ones, at Elf Lair Games' website. If you backed the Kickstarter, then your games are on the way. I got mine early because I was a "test subject" for their new mailing system. I grabbed extra copies for our Sunday group since they helped play-test it.

You can also get your Wasted Lands books as PDF if you like. 

• Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Role-Playing Game (Core Rules)
• Wasted Lands: Campaign Guide and Gazetteer of the Dreaming Age
• Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Quick Start Rules
• Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Character Sheet
• Wasted Lands: Bundle

This is a great game and I really want everyone to give it a try. 

Kickstart Your Weekend: The Crooked Moon

 A quick one today and perfect for the first properly chilly day we have had this fall here in Chicagoland.

The Crooked Moon: Folk Horror in 5E by Legends of Avantris

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/the-crooked-moon-folk-horror-in-5e?ref=theotherside

Honestly, this one looks really damn cool. It has everything I love. I want the dice, the tarot cards, the minis, and the special edition core book.  I am just not 100% sure I'll ever get around to playing it.

But damn. It looks so great.

If they had an OSE version or even a Swords & Wizardry one I'd grab it in a heartbeat.

Anyway, check it out!

Reviews: I'm Going to Hell!

 It's October, and my thoughts turn to scary things. And honestly, what could be scarier than a trip to Hell? There are a lot of great adventures to take your characters through. I can't review them all, but here are a few.

I DO still want to do my "A Barbarian in Hell" adventure sometime. These will help me out. 

So come with me. Let's go to Hell!

666: The Number of the Beast

PDF, 20 Pages, DMsGuild. $6.66

This one is fun. It's 20 pages long, and it takes its inspiration from both Dante's Inferno and Heavy Metal music. Sounds like my kind of mix, to be honest! This one also takes cues from a few different video games. This works if you imagine that your characters are already dead and in Hell and not traveling there as a "Soujurn in Hell."

This PDF sets up seven "boss battles" for characters in Hell. It can be used as described or as a supplement to an ongoing campaign in Hell, which is what I am using it for.

This is obviously for D&D 5e via the DMsGuild.

Nine Hells Adult Coloring Book

PDF, 48 Pages. B&W art (by design). $6.95 PDF / $8.98 Print

This is overtly a coloring book, but it is also a great resource for the Pathfinder version of Hell and stat blocks for the rulers of each level. Again this could be in the form of a "boss battle" or as a resource. Buy it for the coloring book, but stay for the backgrounds, lore, and stat-blocks.

The art from Jacob E. Blackmon is excellent as well, and there are some pieces here that would be a lot of fun to color. Now, where did my kids leave their crayons?

 

Emirikol's Guide to Devils

PDF, 246 Pages. Color art. $15.00

From Sean McGovern, of The Power Score RPG blog.  So right away I knew this was going to be a well-researched product. Sean has been one of the best at deep lore D&D research in the blogging scene for years. He is meticulous and encompassing on any topic he tackles.

This is a massive volume at 246 pages and covers the Hells and its inhabitants. It takes D&D lore from as far back 1st/2nd Edition (I noticed that details from "Politics of Hell" are not really included though, but everything else is) and tries to bring them all together. It leans heavily into the 5th edition versions of Hells (naturally), and the book is presented like many of the newer 5e books, with notes from Emirikol the Chaotic and Natasha the Dark. 

The information makes for a great read, and there are some details I really enjoy. I like how the author explains the shift from Demon to Devil to Fiend for Succubi. There are plenty of stat blocks, which is good if you don't have all the devils and Archdevils. And there are plenty of new devils and backgrounds on playing characters associated with devils and the Hells.

The art is a mixed bag, as with any DMsGuild product, and I am not 100% on board with all the lore choices made here.  But there is enough text and information here to keep me busy. Plus any choice I don't like I can simply say "well, Emirikol got it wrong" or even "This was from Natasha when she was younger and not yet Iggwilv."

In any case, it is good to have multiple points of view on something as complex as the Nine Hells.

I do wish there was a printer-friendly version. This would be nice in my big red binder of devil information.

Dalor's Guide to Devils & Demons

PDF, 127 pages, Color art. PDF $19.99 / Print $34.99

Now this one was a bit of a pleasant surprise to me.  It is for 5e so I was expecting something akin to the DMsGuild products I had been reviewing. But this one reminds me of the best of the OSR in terms of look and feel, with solid 5e design and layout. Really the best of both worlds. The vibe I get from it is like the old Mayfair Demons series.

This book gives you a ton of new demons and devils and plenty of background and lore for them. There is even a fiendish language and alphabet. I am a little surprised this one doesn't have more sales because it is just a treasure trove of great stuff.

There are new demon lords, new arch-devils, cults and contracts, and even a new class. A little bit of everything really. 

--

See you in Hell!

Baldur's Gate: A Barbarian in Hell

 My son and I have been enjoying the new game, Baldur's Gate 3. He is much further along than I am and so is his D&D 5e group. One of his favorite characters is Karlach, the tiefling barbarian. I admit, she is great. Karlach is this 6ft+ tall tiefling warrior goddess who is also one of the funniest, most optimistic characters in the game. My son calls her a "cinnamon roll" because of how sweet and fluffy she is.

When your character is idle she will be humming to herself and dancing in place. She says things like "fuck! It is great to be alive!" and when she runs into combat she laughs. She calls everyone "soldier" and loves it when you stick up for the underdog, kids or find ways to keep the innocents alive. She has every right to be angry and bitter; instead, she is cheerful and optimistic. 

And sadly...she is also dying.

Spoilers ahead for the Baldur's Gate 3 video game.

Karlach has an "infernal engine" for a heart. It works great in Hell, where she was fighting in the blood war, but on the Prime Material, it is burning her up from the inside. One of your quests is to find a way to keep her from burning up. You can, for a while (and it is worth the effort!) but in the end...well the Devil has their due. 

There are a lot of different endings for all the "origin" characters, but Karlach's was particularly bleak. Her happy ending was to be able to say she loved everyone before burning up, leaving only ash.

What did Larian Studios do about this when players started complaining about it? Simple they did what any good studio would do.  They pulled back in the voice actress, reshot Karlach's ending with all new material, and patched it to the game in a matter of DAYS.

You can see her new "happy" ending here.

Personally, I love the idea that she and Wyll go off together since their backstories are so intertwined. If I do another run-through of this game, I want to do it as Wyll with the purpose of seeing what I can do to save Karlach. Karlach would never do it for herself; that is not who she is.

BUT. Even with the "they lived happily ever-after in Hell" ending my son and his group are less than happy with it. So we were talking about it one night while playing BG3.

He wants an adventure for his party where they go to Hell to rescue both Karlach and Wyll.  He wanted to know if I had anything.  

I told him that was a silly question.

I mentioned the adventure A Paladin in Hell does this, and it has somewhat the same premise as the newer D&D 5 adventure (and Baldur's Gate 3 prequel) Descent into Avernus.

I told him to use the basic outline of APiH, use details from BG:DiA, and make it a mission to rescue Karlach and call it "A Barbarian in Hell." However, in my current run-through, Wyll has rejected his warlock powers to become a Paladin. So I guess it still works.  I half-jokingly have called this "No Sleep Till Avernus" with my son.

In this adventure, Karlach and Wyll are defending a piece of Elturel that has remained in Avernus (let's say it was the temple in A Paladin in Hell).  The characters in Baldur's Gate 3 are limited to 12th level. "Descent into Avernus" takes the characters from level 1 to 13. The AD&D 2nd Ed "A Paladin in Hell" is for characters 15-20 level. So then A Barbarian in Hell is for characters 13th level and above. 

The motivation for most D&D adventures is glory and gold. The motivation for A Paladin in Hell is "the greater good."  For A Barbarian in Hell, the motivation is "Save our friends."  And that is a good motivation, really. 

Besides, if the roles were reversed, you know Karlach would have saved your ass a long time ago.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Cottages & Cerberus

Last year my family and I were playing a D&D 5e game, and we got to talking about our other 5e game. I had asked them what they wanted for their characters "after level 20."  My youngest wants to take over a town and fill it with artificers and build a community of "makers." My oldest wants his Dragonborn to build a mighty temple to the Platinum Dragon in his role as the "Sword of Bahamut."  When they turned around and asked me what I wanted for my NPC/GMPC witch character I said I wanted her to retire with her cat, have a garden of about 1000 different herbs, drink tea, and live that 100% Cottage-core life.  I had done all the "big endings" before.

Well it turns out that you can do that as well.

Cottages & Cerberus

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cottagesandcerberus/cottages-and-cerberus-new-system-pf2e-5e-support?ref=theotherside

This game is described as "A new monster hunting cottage core TTRPG system with PF2 & 5E compatible bestiary."

Sounds fun for the right groups really. 

Honestly I am happy that game designers are taking leaps and doing new things with their RPGs. This won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for someone out there this is the perfect game.

Given the number of pledges it has so far it seems like there is a pretty good market for this. 

The art looks great and there are all sorts of add-ons to enrich your current game. I am considering both the D&D 5e and Pathfinder 2e digital versions.  It might be worth it just for the stats of the "Leviathanus Rex." Imagine a Godzilla-sized narwhal. 

There is a 63-page preview and a character sheet.  I rather like the idea of "spoons" as a personal resource.

They are doing great so far and I wish them the utmost success.

Is Alignment Outmoded for D&D?

If I had to make a guess on what was one of the most controversial topics in Dungeons & Dragons games since the beginning, I would not say it was the inclusion of demons, devils, or monsters that you can just randomly kill, or who contributed more; Gary or Dave, or even TSR's early litigious past. 

No. Going back, the most hotly debated topic then and now is Alignment.

Reading some old Dragon magazines, Usenet posts, or modern social media, people still love to argue about alignment. I have read a lot of self-proclaimed experts on D&D that get alignment completely wrong both in terms of use and how it should be applied. 

I have used alignment in D&D and some other games, but most games don't even have it and they are not less off for it. 

And of late, I am thinking that D&D doesn't need it either.

I am not saying that "Evil" and "Good" do not exist in the game in some moral gray space. There is alignment as an idea, a universal moral concept, and alignment as a game mechanic. As a game mechanic, that time has now passed.

Cases in point.

I played a Lawful Good paladin in the AD&D 1st ed days. That's redundant because the only paladins were lawful good. However, he traveled with a Neutral Evil Assassin, which was explicitly against the rules. We solved that issue by having a prophecy that these two had to travel and adventure together because their fates were linked and they could not kill each other. What were their fates? Well we only found out later on (and there may have been some retconning) that the Paladin's son and the Assassin's daughter would fall in love.  In this case, the rule about alignment got in the way of a good role-playing opportunity. 

As time went on, the assassin was less and less evil. I eventually concluded that he was Chaotic Neutral with some evil tendencies. And my paladin became more and more Lawful Autocratic than anything. Rules have to be followed because they are The Rules.  Alignment never served them well despite the restrictions both classes had on alignment. Yes, the hard-core rule lawyers will point out I wasn't playing them right or some other nonsense to justify their memorization of rules, but that is the same problem my Paladin had. Rules for the sake of Ruling and nothing else. 

Another issue. I am playing the Baldur's Gate 3 video game now and I love it. While there is a Detect Good/Evil spell, nothing in the game is alignment-specific. 

There is a Hobgoblin named Blurg, a member of the Society Of Brilliance, an order of sages who want to study and bring culture and civilization to the Underdark. Talk to him about it, and he is obviously intelligent and wants to study the rich ecological conditions in the Underdark and it's vast richnesses that could allow everyone to live together harmoniously.  He even has a friend, a Mindflayer named Omeluum, who wants to help the PCs. Both are from "evil" species, yet they do not perform an evil action. Indeed the actions they do perform can best be described as good or at worst self-serving. So maybe Chaotic Good? Neutral is what the Forgotten Realms Wiki has him as.

What about Karlach the tiefling? She has killed, but yet she is one of the nicest, happiest characters in the game. Shadowheart worships the evil Goddess Shar, she should be evil by D&D rules, yet she dislikes needless violence and has a soft spot in her heart for kids and animals. And SPOILER: You can also convert her to the Goddess Selûne, effectively changing her cleric's alignment with no loss of powers. Granted Shar and Selûne have a complicated relationship.

At no point in character creation did I list an alignment. 

Even in the image above, the representative characters don't fit all that well all the time. Darth Vader was redeemed in the end. The Doctor has murdered millions even entire species. Captain America though might fit Lawful Good most of the time.

D&D 4 added the Unaligned alignment and made Succubi Lawful evil. D&D 3 made Orcs Chaotic Evil. D&D has published entire books where NPCs never had an alignment listed. 

I use alignment, but I am seeing less and less need for it in my games. Spells like "Know Alignment" and "Protection from Good/Evil" now will rely more on hostile intent.  

Now, Ill likely keep the Outer Planes as they are and will have to figure that out someday, but for now I am content ditching the whole system.

Baldur's Gate 3: Keller the Silent Monk

 I mentioned two weeks ago (already??) that I have been playing Baldur's Gate 3 with my kids via LAN and it has been FANTASTIC. We don't get much time to play D&D together anymore but this has been the next best thing. In fact it has been the best thing in it's own right.

But I am not here to talk about the gameplay.  I am here to talk about an orphan. In particular this one.

This is Keller, the Wood-elf Monk. I know nothing about her.

One night my son and I were playing in his multiplayer room, but he didn't close it (he was the host) so this random character joined us.  It was a wood elf paladin.  Well, we didn't need a paladin; I was already playing Johan. So he locked the room, and we restarted.

The player, whoever it was, was gone. But Keller remained. She tagged along as another character my son could control. We tried everything to get rid of her. Nothing worked. We shut down for the night.

The next day, Liam had told me he tried even more things, and nothing worked. So finally, he just paid the gold to have her retrain as a monk. One holy warrior to next? Ok, I am cool with that.

We still can't get rid of her. More to the point, since the program does not control her, we can't tell her to stay in the camp either. She can't even talk unless my son takes control of her (like the in the screenshot above), so we decided to roll with it.

MINOR SPOILERS for Baldur's Gate 3 follow. Well, so minor that if you play the game up till character creation, this is old news.

My son and I collect stupid hats in the game. It also looks like my eyes are closed.

Keller is a wood-elf monk. I figure she is one of the Siswa from the adventure B7 Rahasia.

She, like the playable characters and companions in the game, was taken by the Mind Flayer Nautilus ship. But unlike the characters, she was not in Baldur's Gate then. She and her kin were in their homes where Queen Rahasia ruled. The ship attacked, and the elves fought back and lost. Keller was one of the survivors taken on to the ship. She was there when it came to Baldur's Gate. (Yes. I am saying Rahasia lived. I am not going to do the Hickmans wrong like that.)

As one of the survivors, she feels guilt that she lived when so many of her brothers and sisters died. So, she has taken a vow of silence. Since she is also essentially uncontrolled (and therefore can't be romanced), she has also taken a vow of solitude. She will not break these vows until the threat of these mind flayers is gone from Faerûn. She will not become attached to anyone else who might die. 

In truth, she is kind of a badass. There have been a few situations in the last couple of sessions where her combat prowess essentially saved our asses. 

So. If you are Keller's original player. I am sorry you stumbled into our room just to be kicked. I am sorry you lost your character, too. But we will take care of her and make sure she sees the vengeance she so rightly deserves. 

Maybe she can also get a stupid hat.

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite tie-in FICTION

 Normally I avoid tie-in fiction for RPGs. 90% of the time, you can what I call, "hear the dice being rolled in the background." Most of it tries to cleave too close to the rules and less interested in telling a good story. 

But that is not always the case.

Back when I was gearing up to run the GDQ series for my family, I wanted to read what others had done, to immerse myself in the world and the adventures again.  That is when I discovered the writing of Pauli Kidd.

Pauli took the familiar locations and then gave me characters I really enjoyed. The Justicar, Escalla, even Cinders. They were a very rare treat. She did a fantastic job here, and I never heard the dice once.

Set in the World of Greyhawk, these books are less about these fabled locations and more about the characters. I had so much fun with them that I included Evelyn, the Princess Escalla as the daughter of the Justicar and Escalla (half-human/half-pixie, looks like an elf) in my own running of these adventures. Through interaction with the party, she became the lead freedom fighter to free the surface elves from their enslavement by the Drow across multiple planes. 

Another set are the Brimstone Angels series for the Forgotten Realms by Erin M. Evans. While the books focus on the twin tieflings Farideh and Havilar, the books cover some of the biggest events in Faerûn and even deftly cover things like the changes in world history from 3rd Edition to 4th Edition to 5th Edition.

Her books were so well received that it even added details to the rules, such as Mahen, Farideh, and Havilar to the list of Dragonborn names. 

There are few others, but these are the best in my mind.

#RPGaDay2023 Most RECENT game bought

 Not counting collections (I'll detail that later) the most recent game I have bought was bought FOR me and not BY me.  That would be my Spanish Language D&D 5e books.

I got these as Birthday presents back in June because I am learning Spanish now. They are actually a lot of fun and have been a great challenge.  I am looking for other RPGs in Spanish too.

Wasted Lands as a Dungeons & Dragons Replacement

All month long, I have been talking (rather obsessively so) about the Wasted Lands RPG. I make no apologies for this. It is a great game, and it shares DNA with my own NIGHT SHIFT, which is just a bonus.

I talked about how I can emulate superheroes, our modern Gods and Myths, as Wasted Lands Archetypes all last week. This week is going to be all about how I plan to use Wasted Lands (with a little help from NIGHT SHIFT) as my go-to Dungeons & Dragons replacement.

I have been talking bout this topic all year too, with examples from Castles & Crusades and Pathfinder 2e.  I hope to have some good examples this week to show how well this works.

Obviously, Wasted Lands shares some DNA with D&D. NIGHT SHIFT was an OGL game and Wasted Lands grew out of that. It also shares DNA with Spellcraft & Swordplay. This is why you will find the O.G.R.E.S. and O.R.C.S. from each game (respectively) in The Wasted Lands.

If you are a backer, you already got the preview of nonhuman species so you can play the likes of an Elf, Dwarf or every stranger things. This is one of the key D&D experiences there is and it is a welcome addition for those that want them. I have already shared my two Shadow Elf, or Dökkálfar, characters Runu & Urnu. 

Can Wasted Lands replace D&D at my table? Easily. In fact, it is has been doing that for a little while now.

Can Wasted Lands replace D&D in my heart? That is a different thing, but I aim to find out.

Mail Call (of sorts) Tuesday: Birthday and Father's Day gifts

 This is a bit late, but one of my birthday gifts finally came in.

I got the three core D&D 5 books in Spanish. I have been taking Spanish all year and wanted an RPG to read. So my wife an kids got me these. The Player's Handbook was back ordered and I just got it. 

Now to practice my Spanish some more!

For Father's Day, in addition to having some of the best smoked food and strawberry pie my kids have ever made for me I got this ridiculous toy.

Yup. A 3.5" USB floppy drive for my retro computers. I have to decide now if I want to mount it or leave it free to use elsewhere.

Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space from Cubicle 7

 I am now coming up on the next wave of Doctor Who RPGs. All from Cubicle 7. 

While there are technically three RPGs, they are all related.

First is the Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space. This is the one I have talked about here a lot already.

Second is the new Second Edition of the RPG, now just The Doctor Who Roleplaying Game.

And finally, we have Doctors & Daleks, a game based on the previous two, but using the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons OGC rules.

One thing that strikes me is despite all I have said about this game line over the years I have never really given it a proper full review.  Well I will change that next week.

In the meantime, here are some characters I have stated up for the Doctor Who RPG (1st Edition so far).

• Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (from Sherlock)
• Madam Vastra and Jenny Flint (before we had official stats)
• Mary Poppins
• Willow and Tara

I'll spend the rest of May with this system.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Mini-Dungeon Tome II

Late one today, but I still want to get it out to you all.

I am always in need of a quick adventure or two, so  120+ sounds like a good deal to me!

Mini-Dungeon Tome II

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adventureaweek/mini-dungeon-tome-ii?ref=theotherside

Form the Kickstarter:

Mini-Dungeon Tome II contains a wealth of one-shots and side quests for 5th Edition. It is the standalone sequel to the best-selling Mini-Dungeon Tome published by AAW Games in 2018, and continues the collection with over 121 new mini-dungeons.

The Mini-Dungeons in this book are designed to be grab-and-go, easy to run adventures with minimum preparation required, covering levels 1–20.

Looks great and even if just a few of them are good (and it looks like more than just a few) then this is a bargain.

Indeed the sample pack is great and worth clicking on just to get that. So give this one a look. It should be great.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Demons! Classes! Adventure! and Mice!

Lots for you this week. All worth your time to look into.

Demonology For Old-School Essentials - Zinequest 5

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamersandgrognards/demonology-for-old-school-essentials-zinequest-5?ref=theotherside

We always need more demons.  While I do have my own I have been using for a while now this will be a welcome addition to my OSE library.

Kibbles' Compendium of Legends and Legacies

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kibblestasty/kibbles-compendium-of-legends-and-legacies?ref=theotherside

I am still supporting third-party 5e folk. I am sure they panicked when the OGL fiasco broke, so I am here to boost their signal.  Still looks like a lot of fun.

After Winter Dark: Aihrde A Fantasy Campaign Setting

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ckg/after-winter-dark-aihrde-a-fantasy-campaign-setting?ref=theotherside

How do I love thee Castles & Crusades? Let me count the ways. Wait, that will take too long. Instead I'll just back this new book!

I mean this just looks so cool, and I have been dying to do something that I have been calling "endless Winter" in my mind.  Maybe this is it? 

Escape from Undergarden - RPG Adventure for 5e D&D

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jvcparry/escape-from-undergarden-rpg-adventure-for-5e?ref=theotherside

Another adventure and it looks like a lot of fun. I will admit a certain level of dissatisfaction with some of the D&D 5 adventures of late. This one looks like it could turn that trend around.  Of course I would run it under Castles & Crusades now.

Feathertail Falls

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peterelroy/feathertail-falls?ref=theotherside

Ok now this one looks like a lot of fun.  From the creator:

This adventure collection is a mouse-fantasy tabletop role playing game that builds on the free Mausritter rules, a deceptively simple system perfectly suited for mouse-sized expeditions. The collection’s adventurous yet melancholy tone is inspired by Over the Garden Wall, Hilda and Studio Ghibli’s Arrietty, as well as the art of Júlia Sardà.

The adventures take place in Feathertail Forest, a place little mice pups may know from bedtime stories, about mice that dream to fly. When you start to explore it, you will find that the unwelcoming forest has been petrified in time. It is up to you to decide if and how to reawaken it, and how to deal with the consequences as you discover more of the forest's secrets.

This would be great for the right group!

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So much great stuff and so little time and money.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Monsters and More!

More Kickstarters this week, and it is a good batch.

Dark Wizard Games: Fantasy Folder #1 - Dungeon Demon

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marktaormino/dark-wizard-games-fantasy-folder-1-dungeon-demon?ref=theotherside

A new one from Dark Wizard Games and Mark Taormino.  Mark always runs a great Kickstarter and this one looks no different. 

This time he gives us some folders that remind me of the old St Regis folders.  This would be great for nearly any purpose for your games, and I hope these are the first of many more. Yeah, a cheap folder from Mead is cheaper but nowhere near as cool.

Monster Rangers RPG

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/steamcrow/monster-rangers-rpg?ref=theotherside

This one looks fun. From the Kickstarter:

Occult Pulp Adventure set in 1913!

Join the cause (CAWS) as a Monster Ranger who takes on Monsterologists who exploit monsters for their majik in a veiled world of weird; Obscuria.

'La Notte Eterna': Horror-Gothic Setting for 5E

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aliribelli/la-notte-eterna?ref=theotherside

This is a dark fantasy setting for 5e with new sub-classes and monsters and it looks rather cool.

There is a LOT here too. Three books, minis, DM's Screen, PDFs. Just a lot of stuff to be honest and it looks great.  There is even a quickstart to get a feel for the game. 

The setting is right up my alley too. Something I was doing with my own "Come Endless Darkness" campaign.  THIS could be a world where the heroes failed and darkness took over. It is worth me getting it just for that!

Lots of great stuff out there in this one. More than I can post now, but check it out. My enthusiasm for 5e might be at an all time low, but this looks like a ton of fun.

Monstrous Mondays: The Future (???) of my Monster Projects

Wow. The OGL drama has been enough to give you whiplash. 

Where are we today? Have to ask because the situation has changed so much and so rapidly. While I have been following this on all sorts of social media outlets, I have to shout out to Robert Conley over at Bat in the Attic for constantly updating his blog with the details and expert commentary.  I like to be able to read what is going on, follow the links, and not have to wade through a ton of videos.

In fact, to get the latest run-down of what is (or at least was as of Saturday, January 28, 2023) going on, I am not going to repost it, I am just going to have you read his breakdown.  Go there. Come back here.

Back? Good! Let's talk Monsters. Or, more to the point, how these new revelations will affect me and my various monster projects for this year.

Here are my three current projects.

• Monster Mash. This one was released last week and the reactions have been great. It is getting downloaded at a steady rate and I'll have the hardcover version proof in my hands soon.  I have two others all mapped out with a lot of material ready to go for them. I am slowing down the process for now since the OGL 1.0a seems safe for the time being. 


• Basic Bestiary. This one was the biggest causality of the OGL change back at the start of the year. Now with the OGL 1.0a a little safer I want to get this one back on.  I have spent way too much time on it to let it languish on my hard drive any longer.


• Monstrous Maleficarum. Ah. I was so looking forward to this one too. While the newly uploaded 5.1 SRD to Creative Commons means I have even MORE freedom to do this one, my motivation for it is not really there anymore. Maybe I'll come back to this one. But for now a lot of my art for this one will be going to the other two projects.

There are also lots of new opportunities with the other licenses coming out.  There is the Paizo-led Open RPG Content License (ORC), there is Kobold Press and Black Flag, and the Creative Commons is now an option, not to mention whatever Troll Lords does with Castles & Crusades, what will happen with Labyrinth Lord 2, and what Bill Barsh does with his BX RPG (just three on my mind this week).

I will freely admit this latest change has reduced my ire against Hasbro/WotC. I will still play D&D5, but I am less enthusiastic about supporting it with my time and intellectual capital. Plus I have seen what happens when people start to support more 3rd party publishers and independent publishers. I'd like to see that continue.

So this week we have more options than we did last week and even more than last month. Let's use those options to make better games.

More Updates: Home Games

Frantically working on a lot of updates behind the scenes here. But one I want to address that I am looking forward too is what am I doing with the games I run.

Presently I am still in the middle of three different D&D 5e games. They are all part of my Come Endless Darkness mega-campaign:

• Order of the Platinum Dragon (my 5e run of the TAGDQ series)
• The Second Campaign (my run of other classic adventures)
• Into the Nentir Vale (my adaptation of some 1st ed and 4th ed adventures)

All are presently 5e.

My plan is to convert one to Castles & Crusades and the other to Pathfinder 2e.

The obvious choice here is to convert The Second Campaign to Castles & Crusades since it has a lot of old-school 1st material. The next obvious choice is to convert my Into the Nentir Vale to PF2 since it is a broader mix, and I think it is funny that D&D 4 is once again losing out to Pathfinder.

I am not sure how much I'll talk about them online. BUT I do want to talk about how the conversions go.

So in each case, I will grab a PC or NPC from them and see how they convert. I will post that since that is something people will be interested in. In fact, as I am writing this, I am thinking of two PCs in particular that would really make good examples of conversions.

I also might post the Big Bad for each in their new stats. The Second Campaign is overtly about Demogorgon, but I had always thought they would not actually encounter him.  The Nentir Vale is all about Orcus.

In any case, it should be a lot of fun.

Monstrous Monday: Álfar Skalds

We are almost at the Winter Solstice, and Christmas is less than a week away.  

My thoughts this month have been coming back to D&D 5e and what the future for that might be.  At least for the next year or so, 5e will be largely the same, so I will be getting some 5e content out here to enjoy it.  I also just finished reading the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. Really one of the foundational stories of D&D to be honest. You can see where so much of D&D came from; Gygax's interpretation of this tale, and Tolkien's use of it in the formation of Middle Earth and his Legendarium. 

So my thoughts on all of these are rummaging around and I was thinking I need more types of cold creatures, bards, and more magic.  Some of that I showed off last week with my Jötunn Troll. 

So here is some 5e content from the frozen lands of the far North.

Elf, Álfar Skald
Medium humanoid (elf), Chaotic Neutral

Armor Class 13 (Hide armor)

Hit Points 17 (3d8 +3)

Speed 30 ft

STR 12 (+1)
DEX 13 (+1)
CON 13 (+1)
INT 14 (+2)
WIS 11 (+0)
CHA 12 (+1)

Saving Throws Con +3, Cha +5

Skills Performance +5, Persuasion +5, Perception +3, Survival +3

Damage Resistances Cold

Condition Immunities Blinded

Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive perception 13

Languages Common, Elvish, Giant

Fey Ancestry. The Álfar has advantage on saving throws against being charmed and can't be put to sleep.

Innate Spellcasting. The Álfar’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). The Álfar can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: minor illusion
1/day each: animal friendship, healing word

Fleet of foot. Like all elves, the Álfar are fleet of foot and can travel over snow and ice with no restrictions.They are immune to difficult terrain caused by ice and snow.

Protected eyes. Álfar have a protective membrane over their eyes. They do not suffer disadvantage from blizzards or poor weather.

Actions

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft. one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 +3) piercing damage.

Sling. Ranged Weapon Attack. +3 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target, Hit: 5 (1d4 +3) bludgeoning damage.

Description

Álfar are the elves of the coldest reaches. Also known as “snow elves” they are tall (6’ to 6½’), with long straight white or light blond hair. Some, though, have long black hair. Their skin is pale and their eyes are so pale that they appear nearly white or light bluish-white. This is due to a protective membrane over the eye that allows them to see even in the coldest of temperatures or the blowing of snow.

Álfar are typically encountered in roaming bands of hunters or in warmer climes, herders of goats and sheep. They will typically be armed with a shortsword and sling with up to 20 sling stones handy.

Like all elves, they produce beautiful works of art, though they lack the raw materials of their forest-born brothers and sisters. They are a nomadic species, often following large game in their frozen territories. For this reason, their chief artistic expressions are saga songs.  These tales of ancient times, gods, and heroes can last from a few minutes to several days to perform, often with other singers (Skalds) joining in and taking over for others. Álfar skalds are revered by their communities.

Álfar bards are known as skalds. Their role in the Álfar community is to memorize the saga songs of these nomadic elves, some which take days to completely sing. Skalds advance as bards.