Wizards of the Coast Print On Demand: The Results, Part 3

Today is Tuesday so that means new releases.  Wizards of the Coast has some new classic D&D books up for POD today.  Be sure to check them out.

Today I want to compare the POD 3e Draconomicon to the one I bought my son when it first came out.
A bit of background.  The Draconomicon is a watershed book for the Brannan family.  I got it for my son because he loved dragons. Still does really.  Well he carried this book with him everywhere for years.  Needless to say it is in pretty bad shape.  I have wanted to get him a new one for years and I have seen many at Half-Price books and of course at my FLGS, but none have jumped out at me saying "buy me".  We I opted to spend some of the money from the sales of my own books on the POD version.  I splurged and got the "Premium Heavyweight" paper.

In the pictures the original print in on the left side of your screen, the POD on the right.

Side by side it is hard to know which is which.  The art on the POD version seems a little bigger.  You will notice there is a spot on the bottom where the cover doesn't quite make it to the bottom.  I have seen this before on other books.  Sometimes it prints like this other times it doesn't.

The Heavyweight POD is noticeably thicker than the original print.

The POD does not have the dragon art printed on the inside cover.  The images are repeated in the original printing but only one of each in the POD.  The POD actually looks more interesting.

Inside the books are remarkably identical.

My son was 6 when I got this for him.   He carried it to school for two years straight.

This is the LightningSource/OneBookShelf page added to all the books.   So no chance someone will mistake these for originals if they know to look for this.

Equally, the original features an ISBN barcode.  The the POD has a different one that is not an ISBN.

The spines are also very different. This of course is by necessity to accommodate the varying thickness of the paper choices.

In all I am happy with it.  It doesn't look like my original, but that is fine with me.  It makes it more of a "new" book in some respects.  Yes, just like the original I am giving this to my son for Christmas. Don't tell him.

Strange Brew: Book of Shadows

My next book out for Pathfinder is now out!

Strange Brew: Book of Shadows

From the blurb:

Legends say that witches keep their spells inscribed into a Book of Shadows that holds their accumulated wisdom and power.

Here, in Strange Brew: Book of Shadows, you’ll find magic drawn from real-world legends, mythology, and folktales, as well as pure flights of fancy. Within Strange Brew: Books of Shadows, you will find over 100 spells and a half-dozen rituals, enough to delight your characters, bedevil your foes, and make your witch (or other spellcaster, whether arcane or divine) a formidable opponent.

Witches are magical creatures.

All for your Pathfinder Role-Playing Game!

50 pages, full color.
Again. Special thanks to +Rich Howard  and +Robert Hudson  for helping me get this together. And of course my editor/publisher +Christina Stiles The cover art is by +Jacob Blackmon,  whom I have featured here many times.

Pathfinder Strange Brew: Book of Shadows

My next book out for Pathfinder now has a cover!

Part of the Strange Brew line from Misfit Studios this book contains a few hundred spells for the Witch class (and others) for the Pathfinder game.

Special thanks to +Rich Howard and +Robert Hudson for helping me get this together. And of course my editor/publisher +Christina Stiles.  The cover art is by +Jacob Blackmon whom I have featured here many times.

The character on the cover is my iconic half-elf witch Taryn. Here she is seen casting the spell "Moonbow".

Not exactly sure when it is hitting the shelves but I'll keep you all posted.

RPGaDAY2016: Day 28

What film or novel would you be most surprised that a friend had not seen or read?

I have to admit I am always very surprised when someone in RPG circles tells me they have never read J.R.R. Tolkien.

To me it is so integral to what I consider my own RPG experience.

Now I am not surprised when I hear people have not read H.P. Lovecraft.  I find that more people talk about his works than have actually read them.

For movies.  I am in shock when I hear that someone has never seen Star Wars.  That is also so central to my own RPG upbringing.

http://www.brigadecon.org/rpgaday2016/

A Treasure Trove! With Pics!

So no "real" post today.  I spent my writing time going through my latest treasure trove.

I joined a bunch of area online "Garge Sale" groups on Facebook and one panned out yesterday.  So cash in hand I drove to nearby Schaumburg, IL and picked up a couple of milk crates full of old-school goodness.   It was not till this morning that I discovered what I really had.

Lots of minis including a wizard's lab.

A D&D Electronic board game in working condition and from what I can tell all the parts.

Modules, Top Secret and even a few Marvel Super Heroes books and some Star Frontiers.

Two Greyhawk folios with maps.  They are in rough condition though, between the two I might be able to salvage one.

More character sheets!  Always need these.

No idea what these are.  But I can't wait to find out!

A lot of the books have water damage like this.  This was not a collector's collection, but a users and a player's one.  There are also a few duplicates.  This was because the husband and wife that sold them merged their collections.

The B/X boxes are empty but the books have been cut up and put into that brown binder.  See I KNEW someone had to have done this.  The BECMI Master's box has both the Master's set and the Immortals set inside. The hardbacks are in decent enough condition. The Monstrous Compendium is in fantastic shape.

I have NO idea what this is.  It is made by TSR and it is from 1974.  The product list on back doesn't even list D&D.

Their old Gen Con folder with the games they were going to choose for 1983.

Some JG stuff.

Cut out minis.  From 1984 I think.

And this was a surprise, a 6th printing of Swords & Spells in near perfect condition.

An absolute ton of modules and books.  Some duplicates within the group and some with my own collection, but still enough "new" stuff to make it worthwhile to me.

It's going to take me some time to sort through all of this stuff that is for sure. But I will have a blast doing it.

New Releases Tuesday. Witch Edition.

It's Tuesday and that means new releases.

Today I am very excited to report that The Witch is now available on iTunes and Amazon Instant Video.

I am going to be staying up tonight to see this one.

Also out is the third book in Barb Hendee's Mist-torn Witches series, To Kill a Kettle Witch.

While not exactly a new release for today, it was released on Friday.  Rob Zombie's The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser.

On the D&D/OSR side of things The Rogues Gallery is now out.
I remember getting this and being quite excited.  I remember years laters rediscovering it and recognizing some of the names.

Strange Brew: Warlocks

I am interrupting this A to Z Challenge to talk about my newest book. The first part of "Strange Brew" is now out.  This book features Warlocks for the Pathfinder game.

Strange Brew: Warlock

Power.

Sorcerers are born into it. Wizards spend their lives in rigorous study for it. Witches gain it through devotion to their patron. But some who seek power are unlucky enough to have been born mortal, with no access to or desire for arcane education; ordinary people who know little of witchcraft’s ancient traditions. Unlike witches, who are called by their patrons, warlocks seek out powerful beings to grant them the power they crave or desperately need.

That power can now be in your hands.

Included in these 30 pages is the new Warlock class for the Pathfinder RPG.

• Also inside are new rules on Grimoires, the ancient and living texts of warlocks.
• Details on new warlock pacts, including unique powers and spells.
• Examples of several new warlock Patrons.
• New feats
• New hexes
• New spells
• And a new warlock NPC

All for your Pathfinder Role-Playing Game!

Mail Call: WITCH Fated Souls

Mail call from yesterday.
I just got my copy of WITCH: Fated Souls by Elizabeth Chaipraditkul.

The book, screen and Tarot Cards look great and can't wait to try it out.

Review: The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

I have been researching a bunch of witch books and winter witches in particular.  I found bunch of books so here is the first.  Paula Brackston was recomended to me as a fan of Harry Potter. In this book, The Winter Witch, I didn't quite see it, but I think other books of hers might be a closer fit.

There was a lot about this book that attracted me. Set in the early 19th Century, set in Wales and it dealt with a witch from a line of witches.  Interestingly enough her parent that was a witch was her father.

The story revolves around Morgana and her new husband Cai.  The characters are both likable and you really root for them throughout the book.  Morgana has a quiet...sorry no pun meant; she is a mute...sort of witchcraft.  She can move things with her mind, see far away places and other subtle powers.  I really like how her powers were protrayed and how they grew throughout the story.

The story of course is not without conflict. This arrives in both mundane issues such as the villiage getting used to Cai's strange new wife, a priest who is accusing her of witchcraft and a rival witch that wants Cai and his land.
The story built rather slowly and honestly I felt it dropped a bit in the middle, but near the end Brackston turns it all the way up and it becomes a magical adventure and battle worthy of it being mentioned in the same reviews as Harry Potter.

I listend to this book as an audiobook from Audible.  Marisa Calin was fantastic as all the characters and really did do a good job of giving Morgana a voice.  I am happy to see tht she has read other books from Paula Brackston, so that also makes her books more attractive to me.

In the end I am giving the book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

For gamers this is a good set piece to show how well you can involve low level character in epic battles.  I will have more to say about Winter Witches when I am done with the other "Winter Witch" book in my TBR pile.

This book qualifies for the following reading challenges.

No surprise it fit so many, I was joining all these while I was reading it!

Mail Call, Part 2

When it rains it pours around here!

Look what else was in my mail box today.

A collection of Basic Psionics books from +Richard LeBlanc including a sticker and a pin.

Alpha Blue and Liberation of the Demon Slayer from +Venger Satanis!

Looks great with the batch I got on Saturday.

Now to come up with something that ties all these together!

Though I do want to point out that the Basic Psionics and White Star books have been BEGGING me to mix them up into something different.  I already talked about how well the B/X Rogue and the Psionics books work together.

Reading Challenges

I am going to participate in a few reading challenges again this year.

Once again I am participating in The Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge at Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf.

I doubt I will do as well as I did last year, but I am going to give it a try.

Also I "read" a lot of audio-books.  So this year I am also going to participate in the Book Nympho's 2016 Audiobook Challenge.  This one I expect I will do well on.  I have to commute everyday to work so I have lots of time in the car.

I have already started on both.

Another one I would like to do is the 2016 Victorian Reading Challenge.  But I don't currently have anything in my TBR piles that qualifies.  Except for games really.

Still.  I enjoy these and it is a fun way to talk about something I was going to do anyway.

ETA: A few more.

2016 Prequel & Sequel Challenge

Retellings Reading Challenge 2016

2016 EBook Reading Challenge

Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge

2016 Horror Reading Challenge

New to You 2016