Weekend Wrap-up

Busy weekend!

Started off by guest posting over at Angry Hamster Publishing, home of the fantastic new game WITCH: Fated Souls.   I posted my top 5 witches.  Have some you like? Post them there!

I also played a LOT of Pathfinder Deluxe Munchkin this weekend.  Didn't win a single game, but I still enjoyed it.

Sunday I was part of the next Roll For Initiative podcast.

I hung out with +Vincent Florio and +Erik Tenkar of the eponymous Tavern while we talked about social media, blogs and boards, Pay to Play DMs and Kickstarters.  I'll post a link when that is live.

In other news the proofs of "The Sisters of the Aquarian Order" are on the way.  That should be going live soon.

The Greatest Pen and Paper RPGs

I know it's silly, not at all accurate, not really an indication of anything really.
But it is fun.

Rank your favorite RPG!

The Greatest Pen and Paper RPGs

Vote for your favorites. Add something that isn't on the list.
Oh and if possible, spare a vote for Ghosts of Albion! ;) Thanks.

A to Z sign up is Live

The sign up for the 7th annual April A to Z blog challenge is now live.

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2016/01/sign-up-list-now-open-for-seventh.html

I am participating again this year.  Last year was a challenge for me to be honest.  But I hope I am better organized this year.  I already have an idea for my posts, I just need to check my Y and Z posts.

I do encourage others in our little corner of the internet to participate.  It not only helps grow your readership and blog, it also helps grow our hobby.  I won't lie, sales of my books go up in April.  People read what I have and they get curious.  My book plus Labyrinth Lord or my book plus Basic Fantasy is enough to get a newbie going for under the price of going to the movies.

Think about and join me if you can.

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

D&D 5th Edition SRD and OGL. Oh..and you can now write for the Forgotten Realms too.

Well no one suspected THIS I can tell you that.

Wizards of the Coast released the D&D 5th edition SRD along with the OGL 1.1 today.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/systems-reference-document-srd

They have also opened up something they call The Dungeon Master's Guild.
https://www.dmsguild.com/index.php?affiliate_id=10748

You can now release material under the OGL for 5e using the SRD.  OR if you want to say, write Forgotten Realms material, then you can do that too.

The SRD is nearly 400 pages of D&D 5th ed rules.

If you are a publisher and have something ready to go, you might want to consider your D&D5 options now.

So I have to ask.  Anyone interested in a 5e version of The Witch?

Review: The B/X Rogue

I love new B/X classes. If I have demonstrated nothing else here it is that.  So when +Gavin Norman of the excellent City of Iron blog and Necrotic Gnome Productions came out with a new B/X class, well I had to get it.
Gavin has already given us some great classes in his Theorems & Thaumaturgy and The Complete Vivimancer. Now he takes on the thief archetype in The B/X Rogue.

I say archetype because what this book tries (and succeeds, but more on that in a bit) to do is create a Rogue class that encompasses all of the various "sub-classes" we have seen on the thief over the years.  How he does it is both very elegant and very, very basic, if not Basic.

Like the thief the rogue has a number of talents at his/her disposal.  Instead of a percentile (or d20) roll the rogue is assumed to be fully proficient in their talent.  The differences lie in the choice of talents and some of the talents themselves.  The example given is the iconic Remove Traps.  If a rogue has this at 1st level then they can remove or disable a trap 100% of the time.  However the types of traps are now changed.  The rogue can only disable small mechanical traps. Not huge pits in the floor.

The rogue class begins with 4 talents. This increases by 1 per level.  Some talents have prerequisites and can only be taken at 5th level (Expert Talents, love the split of Basic and Expert Talents here).  Outside of that the class it remarkably like the B/X thief.  

The bulk of the book describe the 36 talents a rogue might take.  This allows for near infinite (or close enough for the amount of character sheets I'll print out) rogue types.  There are even magical talents for the Bards and Arcane Tricksters out there. Of course I immediately went to the magic section and quickly figured out an Occult Scholar, a rogue that raids tombs and libraries for bits of arcane knowledge and some spells to help them out. Won't help you when you need an orc killed, unless he has a scroll for it.

There is also a very useful table to help you with your archetypes.  Want an assassin? Great, take back-stab, hide, garotte, move quietly at 1st level.  There are 10 of these, so a d10 will also get you up and going fast.  Don't want a magic-one? Easy. Roll a d8 instead.

The PDF itself is 26 pages; a front cover, a back cover and two page OGL, all for a $1.50.  Not a bad deal at all really, especially when consider how flexible this class is now.

If you are a fan of the thief class, B/X or Gavin's other classes then this is a must buy.

Plays Well With Others
With the options of adding magic to the Rogue to come up with other classes (Bards, Dabbler's and Arcane Tricksters) you can add other powers to make even more classes.

Grab +Richard LeBlanc's Basic Psionics Handbook and use some of the wild talents for rogue talents to create a Psychic Dabbler or a Charlantan with some actual clairvoyance.

Take the Arcanve Dabbler and replace the magic-user spell at 1st level with a witch spell and then a minor or least occult power at 5th level and now you have a Hedge Witch.

I could go on and on, but for cheaper than a 20 oz Mt. Dew at the gas station you can have this book and make up your own!

I can see this replacing the thief in my B/X games easily.

Mythic Russia

There are tons and tons of great mythic stories in the world.  One of the ones I have always found to be interesting, though I know very little about them, are the Russian myths and fairy tales.  In particular Baba Yaga and Koschei the Immortal.  I found these pictures online from Amok Amokov.
https://www.instagram.com/amokrus/
https://www.facebook.com/amokanet

These pictures really capture what I think the Russian fairy tales should look like, or at least how they should be in my world.

Baba Yaga

Vasilisa the Beautiful

Vasilisa the Wise

Koschei the Immortal

Ilya Muromets

Alyonushka and Ivanushka

Elena the Fair

I certainly like this version of Elena the Fair, certainly worthy of the title Queen of Summer.

Diigo upgrade - Come join me!

I upgraded my Diigo account.  The "OSR Blogs" social bookmarking tool is now public.

Anyone can now add their own blog to the list.




If you want to add this code to your own website, just copy and paste.

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://groups.diigo.com/user_mana/link_roll_data?group_name=OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites&icon=true&width=350&count=20&title=Group%20OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's%20best%20content&tags=&token=" ></script><noscript><a href="https://groups.diigo.com/group/OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites" >Group OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's best content</a></noscript>

The red highlights are values you can change.

Join me and help increase this list.
I am also going to add more features as the week goes on.

Let me know what you think!

Edited to add: Adding another group to my "Witch Links" page.
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/p/witches.html.

Organizing via Diigo

Doing some research for my day job and I came across Diigo.  It's a social bookmarking site that allows users to bookmark and share websites, pages, articles and so on.  There is more to it than that, but I am just getting going on it.

I thought it might be fun to create a group where we could all share various OSR and RPG blogs and sites.  There is very little RPG on Diigo so far (at least what I could find) so this would be helpful.

To that end I created a group and I am inviting everyone to join and link your sites or site you like.


Right now there is only me.
I am on a free account but I am likely to upgrade to a full professional account if this works half as nice as I hope.  Once I do that then the group will have some more features.

I have added some blogs. Mostly those from my own blogroll starting from the bottom up, but I would love it if you all added your own and commented on the ones added.  Just keep it nice, we are community here.




You can even add this to your own blog or website.

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://groups.diigo.com/user_mana/link_roll_data?group_name=OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites&icon=true&width=250&count=10&title=Group%20OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's%20best%20content&tags=&token=03f4ad7c34cfe7a31674868e9a7499eb" ></script><noscript><a href="https://groups.diigo.com/group/OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites" >Group OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's best content</a></noscript>


I know we have sites out there that list all of these blogs, but this is something we can all contribute to and help maintain.
Plus it is kind of fun.

Edited to add: I just discovered I can "auto-post" from Diigo to here. So as we add things an automated posting can go out say every Sunday.

Hero Press: Six of the Best

Over the weekend I was featured on Hero Press' "Six of the Best".
http://heropresstwo.blogspot.com/2015/09/six-of-best-other-side.html

Pop on over and read my answers to Tim's interview questions.

Social Contract Thing (again)

So. Yeah that DriveThruRPG/OneBookShelf / Tournament of Rapists thing happened.

I am not going to bore with the details, others have had more to say on it. But I do want to talk about the fallout.

Over the weekend and into this week I have seen some exceptionally bad and unprofessional behavior coming from all sides of this issue.  All sides.  And from people I expected better from, and sadly from people that played the part I totally expected them to play.

The result of this is now OneBookShelf will have a system of some sort for people to "report" on suspected witches communists offensive material.   So far it sounds like a button of some sort.  No idea if the person reporting the material actually has to read it first.

Personally I can't change any of that.  But here is what I will do.  Again this is a social contract thing, I expect to do X, Y and Z in return for certain expected behaviors A, B, and C.

1. Under no circumstances will I ever use this system of reporting material to DriveThruRPG. Never.  If I have a problem with your product I will email you.

2. I will not blast a product I have not read on social media or this blog.  If I talk about a product here it is usually because a. I like it or b. have read it or plan too.  If I hate something and I talk about it here then be assured I have read it and reread it to make sure my impressions of it are sound.  I then invite debate.  You are free to use your social media or my blog here to tell me why I am wrong.

3. I will not go to social media and rally support to blast/flag a product.  I have seen this from a number of industry professionals and frankly they should be ashamed.  Again, if I have an issue with your product enough to do something about it, expect an email.  

This is what I see as being the biggest issue with the new system.  It is far too easy for a publisher to leverage their social media weight to get fans to tag or report a product that either they personally don't like OR because it is competition.

These are my expectations.  Granted I am under no illusions that people will abide by them, but at least I am putting these up here for those that might.

1. If something of mine is offensive you will email me first.  simple right?  No anonymous slack-tivism, no clicking on a button.  If you don't like something I have done then please have the courage of your convictions to tell me.  Don't want to confront me for some reason?  Fine. Have a friend email me on your behalf.

Simple right?  I promise to do three things, you promise to do one.

There is no reason why we can not act like professionals and adults here.

RPG a Day, James’ Appendix

+James Mishler also added some questions.

1. Best non-RPG property to licensed RPG you’ve ever played
Easy. Ghosts of Albion.

2. Best RPG you’ve ever read but never played
Keltia from Cubicle 7.  It looks amazing.

3. RPG core rulebook you would take with you on a desert island
Only one?  The D&D Rules Cyclopedia. One book, endless possibilities.
That or the WitchCraftRPG.

4. Favorite RPG vaporware.
I hate to throw another designer under the bus, so I won't mention the one I am thinking of.
So I will go historic.  I would have to say the B/X Companion from TSR.  There was a BECMI Companion and a couple of other B/X Companions, but the TSR one is the one I wanted back in the day.

5. Best houserule that ended up with the worst results
Using a d30 for anything.  I know they are fun looking, but damn a flat 1 to 30 range is nearly useless for most games.

6. Worst kerfluffle that ever ended an otherwise good, ongoing campaign
The biggest campaign killers for me have been time to meet.

The Witches of the Witches' Nest

I get a lot of spam from people telling me about "real magic" and people that can cast spells for me.

Since I have been working on a group of evil/non-good witches I figured make the best of the resources handed to me. These characters have pretty much begged themselves into existence.

The names come from these posts:

• http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2014/06/i-get-best-spam.html
• http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2013/11/spamming-hyperborea.html
• Plus some other unpublished spam that I get fairly frequently

And the idea of the Witches' Nest from this post:

• http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/06/more-content-theft-they-stole-my-content.html

They are going to be part of my "War of the Witch Queens" adventure path/campagin.

• http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/06/witch-adventures.html
• http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/06/saga-of-witch-queen.html

I haven't quite decided on the rule system, so here is a stab at using most of them.

Now I am generally very fond of all the other "OSR" witches, so I would like to present each one below in the most positive light possible. Designing the characters to take advantage of each of the class features in turn.
In each case their prime ability for being a witch or spellcasting is indicated with an asterisk*.

The Witches' Nest

The Witches' Nest, or more simply, The Nest, is a collection evil witches that operate outside of normal lawful society.
They are not above a little thieving of arcane literature, but mostly they will pass off others ideas as their own.  They are con artists, but each one it a powerful witch it their own right.  Their leader is a self-styled "doctor" Logan Zabaza.  Ozigididon is his second in command and in charge of "spiritual" aspects of their cult.    Each witch comes from a different tradition, but all serve the same goals and patron; they are all followers of Mammon.
A typical ruse will be to offer the party help, say magical or healing, to determine what they have and then steal anything that they can.  The prefer magical books over magic items, and magical items over gold. They will still steal gold if that is all that the party has.

Dr. Logan Zabaza
Male Witch, Malefic Tradition 13th level (The Witch)
Chaotic
Logan Zabaza is the defacto leader of the Nest only because he keeps the others in line with fear and intimidation.  He appears as a middle aged man with long black hair and olive complexion.  He prides himself on his looks and always dresses in the highest fashion for the occasion.  He carries a cane that contains his boline knife. He also uses this cane as his focusing implement.

Abilities
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 15*

Hit Points: 30
AC: 6 (talisman of protection)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Raven
7th level:  Evil's Touch
13th level: Devil's Tongue

Spells
Cantrips: Chill, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open, Palm
First: Cause Fear, Fey Sight, Ghostly Slashing, Increase Sex Appeal , Sleep
Second: Agony, Blast Shield, Death Armor, Evil Eye
Third: Feral Spirit,Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Tongues
Fourth: Dance Macabre, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Very goodPhantom Lacerations
Fifth: Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting
Sixth: Death Blade, Mass Agony
Seventh:  Wave of Mutilation


High Priestess Ozigididon
Female Witch, Gypsy Tradition, 13th level (Spellcraft & Swordplay: Eldritch Witchery)
Chaotic Evil
Ozigididon was a gypsy priestess until she threw in with Zabaza.  She had been thrown out of her own family due to the darker aspects of magic she prefered and is now making an living as the "spiritual leader" of the Nest.

Abilities
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 15*
Charisma: 11

Hit Points:  35
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 5 (Ring of Protection +1)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Ancestral Spirit (follower of Mammon)
7th level: Prophesy
13th level: Evil Eye

Spells
First: Bless Growth, Charm Person, Light, Minor Curse, Read Magic, Silver Tongue, Spirit Dart
Second: Augury, Detect Invisible, Discord, Knock, Levitate, Magic Broom
Third: Bestow Curse, Bewitch III, Liar's Curse, Mind Rash, Slow, Wizard Lock
Fourth: Cloudburst, Elemental Armor, Instant Karma, Masque
Fifth: Break Enchantment, Death Curse, Endless Sleep
Coven: Death Blade, Greater Scry

Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Staff of Enchantment


Drodinaka
Female Witch 11th level, Chthonic Tradition (ACKS Players Companion, +Alexander Macris & +Tavis Allison)
Chaotic
Template: Dark Oracle

Drodinaka is a young, attractive woman with long blond hair.  She and Drodu pretend to be sisters since they have similar features.  She often pretends she is an acolyte of some benevolent but unnamed faith.  She often acts as Ozigididon's second in command.

Abilities
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 15*
Charisma: 12*

Hit Points:  28
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection AC 4)
Attack: 7+

Proficiencies: Seduction, Black Lore of Zahar, Prophecy, Performance (Storytelling)

Powers
1st level: Divine spellcasting
3rd level: Brew Potions
5th level: Magic Aura proficiency, Spell research
7th level: Charm Person (1/day), Scribe scrolls
9th level: Create magic items
11th level: craft magical constructs

Spells
First: Detect Undead, Cause fear, cure light wounds, detect magic, light, protection from good, read languages
Second: Spiritual Weapon, augury, bane, choking grip, enthrall, hold person, sleep
Third: Necromantic potence, Alter self, Bestow curse, cause disease, charm person, ESP, Mirror Image
Fourth: animate dead, clairvoyance, chimerical force, dispel magic, fly, nondetection
Fifth: command person, magic carpet, polymorph other, scry, true seeing

Magic Items
Ring of Protection AC 4, Dagger +1


Drogu Dudu
Female Warlock 9th level (Death Lady) (Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, +Jeff Talanian)
Chaotic Evil
Drogu is a little older than her "sister" Drodinaka, but like her she is attractive and has long blonde hair. She dresses the part of a warrior woman from the north but is in reality a stone cold spellcasting killer.  Drogu is the Nest's muscle.

Race: Hyperborean
Secondary Skill: Hunter

Abilities
Strength: 13*
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 15*
Wisdom: 12**
Charisma: 11

Casting Ability: 9
Fighting Ability: 9+1,  Attacks 3/2

Hit Points:  28
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 5 (leather armor)

Powers
1st level: Read Magic,
Mastery: Sword
4th level: Mastery: Morning Star
8th level: Mastery: Crossbow
9th level: Stronghold (2 apprentice warlocks)

Spells 
First: Black hand, Chill touch, shocking grasp
Second: Danse Macabre, Forest of bones, scythe of the reaper
Third: Exploding skull, infrared vision

Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Leather Armor +3, Sword +1/+3 vs. Paladins


Dr.  Ewan Brave
Male Witch 8th level "Secret Keeper" (Complete B/X Adventurer, +Jonathan Becker)
Chaotic
"Dr. Ewan Brave" is the newest member of the Nest.  He has been responsible for finding new and valuable occult tomes.  He keeps back the most powerful for himself.

Abilities
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 16*
Wisdom: 13*
Charisma: 11

Hit Points:  24 (d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)

Languages: Common, Elven, Dragon

Special Abilities
1st: Book of Shadows, bind wounds (heal 1d4)
6th: Brew Potions

Spells
Maximum Spell Level: 3rd
Number of Spells known: 24
1st Level (6):  Detect Magic, Foretell, Hex, Read Languages, Speak with Animals, Witch Scribe
2nd Level (9): Cause Fear, Disguise, Eldritch Flame, ESP, Familiar Spirit, Hold Person, Levitate, Locate Object, Remove Fear
3rd Level (9):  Bestow Curse, Confusion, Haste, Hoodoo, Object Read, Speak with Dead, Spectral Knowledge, Wizard Lock


Lord Wakaman 
Male Half-orc Witch 7th level/Thief 7th level  (Adventures Dark & Deep, The Witch, +Joseph Bloch) 
Chaotic Evil

"Lord" Wakaman as he is known to most began life living on the streets of the city, a bastard child of an orc thief and an  underage unwed mother.  His cunning and wits kept him alive when other children would have died.

Abilities
Strength: 12
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 16*
Dexterity: 16 (-1 initiative adj.  -2 to AC)
Constitution: 13
Charisma: (12)

Special Abilities (witch class)
Magic bonus
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Affect Undead
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar: Crow
Charisma degradation

Special Abilities (thief class)
Back Stab
Pick Pockets: 55%
Open Locks: 62%
Find and Remove Traps: 55%
Move Silently: 55%
Hide in Shadows: 43%
Listening at Doors: 30%
Climb Walls: 99%
Read Languages: 25%
Thieves' Cant

Special Abilities (race)
Infravision 60'
Languages: Common, Orc, Gnome, Elven

HP: 26
AC: 6 (Bracers)

Spells
First: Affect normal fires, charm person or mammal, control face, direct gaze, push, witch shot
Second: Change self, command, fascinate, misfortune, trip
Third: Bestow curse, fear, hand of glory
Fourth: fiery breath, ill luck
Fifth: improved pass without a trace

Quick one and emails from me

Nothing ready for today yet.  Work has me pretty busy.

- I was at FreeRPG day, got some great books.
- Went to my local public library and got a box full of 70s and 80s fantasy book for $5.00.  Cant' wait to get into that.

Also an issue came up that I don't know how to solve. Mostly because I am not sure what the problem is.

So how many of you are getting email notifications from me about posts?

Does anyone know how this is set?  I'd prefer NOT to clutter your inbox every single time I post.

Please let me know.

The Witch Queen of Summer

Note: I am also submitting this as my entry to the RPG Blog Carnival.  Since the topic of June is Summer, this is a perfect post for me.

I have been reading a lot of adventures of late.  Having a lot of fun even if I don't get a chance to play these (but it is looking more and more like I will!).  So here is what I have so far.

A3 Wicked Cauldron (C&C)
B7 - Rahasia (Basic D&D)
Drmg083 (AD&D_1e)
Fane of the Witch King (3.0/d20)
Irrisen - Land of Eternal Winter (Pathfinder)
Night of the Spirits (C&C)
No Salvation for Witches (LotFP)
Reign of Winter Players Guide (Pathfinder)
Saga of the Witch Queen (DCC)
The Baleful Coven (Pathfinder)
The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga (AD&D_2e)
The Ruins of Ramat (S&W)
The Stealer of Children (LL)
The Witch Queen's Revenge (Pathfinder)
The Witchwar Legacy (Pathfinder)
The_Manor_Issue_6 (OSR)
Witch of the Tarriswoods (OSR)
Witches Court Marshes (AD&D_ish)

So a lot really to work with.

One of the things I noticed right away that there are LOT of Witch Queens associated with winter.   I have talked about Witch Queens many times before.  I even have a Pathfinder/d20/3.x Prestige Class and converted one over from another game.
But the one thing I don't have and what no one seems to have is a Witch Queen of Summer.

Well with Summer coming up this weekend I thought why not cover the Witch Queen of Summer.
Given the adventures above I wanted someone with a bit history, a bit of gravitas and if I can manage it, someone that is a "daughter" of Baba Yaga.

Thankfully everything I need is in Dragon Magazine #83.
This issue featured one of the early versions of Baba Yaga's Dancing Hut as an adventure.   Among other things it also featured two daughters.  Natasha, the evil one, who was also "Tasha" of "Tasha's Hideous Uncontrollable Laughter" fame and "Elena the Fair" a Lawful Good wizard.
If Natasha can become Iggwilv, the Witch Queen of Perrenland then Elena the Fair can become Elena the Witch Queen of Summer.

Of course there are tales of Elena the Fair from Russian folk tales.  I see no reason why those tales can't be true and she still became the Witch Queen of Summer.

Elena the Fair
Witch Queen of Summer
Witch (Daughter of Baba Yaga Tradition) 24th level

Strength:	11		Death Ray, Poison	5
Dexterity:	16		Magic Wands	6
Constitution:	10		Paralysis, Polymorph or Turn to Stone	5
Intelligence:	17		Dragon Breath	8
Wisdom:	17		Rods, Staffs, Spells	7
Charisma:	18

Hit Points: 50
Alignment: Lawful (good)
AC: 1 (Ring of Protection, Garter of Defence)

Occult Powers (Daughter of Baba Yaga Tradition)
Familiar: Mouse
7th level: Kitchen Witchery
13th level: Detect Bloodline
19th level: Boon (instead of Curse)

Spells
Cantrips (7): Alarm Ward, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open, Spark, Warm
First (7+2): Bewitch I, Burning Hands, Command, Drowsy, Faerie Fire, Far Sight, Minor Fighting Prowess, Sleep, Handfasting (Ritual)
Second (7+2): Alter Self, Biting Blade, Blast Shield, Ecstasy, Enthrall, Fever, Hold Person, Phantasmal Spirit, Rose Garden
Third (6+2): Astral Sense, Bestow Curse, Cleanse Air, Continual Fire, Feral Spirit, Fly, Mind Rash, Imbue Witch Ball (Ritual)
Fourth (6+1): Air Walk, Betwitch IV, Elemental Armor, Grandmother's Shawl, Moonlit Way, Neutralize Poison, Spiritual Dagger
Fifth (5): Anti-Magic Candle, Bull of Heaven, Dream, Primal Scream, Song of Discord
Sixth (5): Control Weather, Find the Path, Heroes' Feast, Moonbow, True Seeing
Seventh (4):  Ball of Sunshine, Breath of the Goddess, Etherealness, Serpent Garden
Eighth (4): Astral Projection, Creeping Doom, Greater Mislead, Mystic Barrier

As the Queen of Summer one of Elena's duties is to guard the gates of the Summerlands.  This is the afterlife of the Witches and where their spirits go for rest prior to being reincarnated to their next life.

She is also the Protector of Midsummer and sees to it that all witches are protected on the night of Mid-Summers' Eve.

Why I Love RPGS: Moldvay Basic

Note: This is part of the Dyvers Project on RPGs.  We are supposed to talk about RPGS we love and why we love them.  This is my first part.

RPGS I Love: Moldvay D&D Basic

Christmas 1981 will forever go down in my memory as the one where everything changed.  I was in Junior High and had been playing D&D for a about two years, off and on.  I had read the Monster Manual and I had a copy, badly xeroxed, of the Holmes Basic set.  Christmas though was the turning point. I got two box sets that year; the Ballantine Books boxed set of Lord of the Rings and the "magenta" Basic Set.
Inside was finally my own book, not a copy of someone else's book. I had my own dice (finally!) and a complete adventure.
I devoured that book. Cover to cover. Every page was read and read over and over.

A lot of people talk about "the Red Box". My Red Box was magenta and had Erol Otis on the cover.  For me this was the start of what became "my" D&D. Not someone else's game, but my own.

In 1981 I felt fairly proficient D&D. But with Holmes D&D I always felt like there was something I was missing. I only learned later of the "Little Brown Books" and how "Basic" actually came about.

The Moldvay Basic set had almost everything I ever needed for a game.  Plenty of classes and races.  More monsters than I expected (it had dragons!!) and what then felt like tons of spells.  I made dozens of characters, some that saw actual game play, but I didn't care, for me it was the joy of endless possibilities.
And that was just in the first couple of dozen pages.

Everything I know about exploring a dungeon, checking for traps, carrying holy water and 10' pole began here.  I learned that ghouls can cause paralysis (unless you were an elf!) and that zombies always attacked last in the round.  I learned Thouls were a magical cross-breed between a hobgoblin troll and ghoul. No I still have no idea how they are made. I got to meet Morgan Ironwolf herself.
There was a sample adventure in the book, but I never really looked over. I don't think anyone did. It was called the Haunted Keep by the way.

This magenta colored box with strange art on the cover also had other prizes. There inside was my first set of real D&D dice.  No more raiding board games for six-siders, though I learned that they were properly called "d6s".  I had a set of blue dice with a white crayon to color them in.  They are not great dice, even then I knew.  But they were mine and that is all that mattered.

I want to pause here a second and come back to that art.  Lets look at the cover again.  A woman casting a spell, a man with a spear. Fighting some sort of water dragon (that didn't even appear in the rules!). But look how awesome it is. Do you need to know anything else? No. They are fighting a dragon! That box is the reason so many gamers fell in love with the art of Erol Otis.  Inside are some equally important names; Jeff Dee, James Roslof, David LaForce and Bill Willingham.  They gave  this D&D a look that was different than AD&D.  I love that art in AD&D, but in this book that art was just so...timeless. It was D&D.

In that box was also the Keep on Borderlands. I don't think I need to go into detail there. We have all been to the keep. We have all taken that ride out along the road that would take us to that Caves of Chaos.  Nevermind that all these creatures, who should by all rights be attacking each other, never really did anything to me.  They were there and they were "Chaotic" and we were "Lawful". That was all we needed to know back then.

What treasures in such a small box!

The Moldvay Basic set was more than just an introductory set to D&D. It was an introduction to a hobby, a lifestyle.  The rules were simply written and organized. They were not simple rules, and re-reading it today I marvel that we all conquered this stuff at age 10-11.  It may have only covered the first 3 levels of character growth, but they were a quality 3.

I picked up the Expert Set for my birthday in 1982. Bought it myself, and for the longest time that was all I needed.   Eventually I did move on to AD&D. I also discovered those Little Brown Books and even picked up my own real copy of Holmes Basic. I love those game and I love playing them still, but they never quite had the same magic as that first time of opening up that box and seeing what treasures were inside.
I did not have to imagine how my characters felt when they had discovered some long lost treasure. I knew.

Today I still go back to Tom Moldvay's classic Basic book.  It is my yardstick on how I measure any OSR game.  Almost everything I need it right there.  Just waiting for me.

Time to roll up some characters and play.

More Content Theft. They "Stole" My Content

I don't even know what to say or think about this one.

So I was doing some more research today and I discovered this site using some art from my witch book and a similar name.  So I checked it out.
Sure enough it was one of my posts.

But the translation was so poor and so haphazard that I could barely tell what it was supposed to be about.
Anyway here is my original:
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2012/11/witch-traditions.html
and here is their copy:
http://witchnest.blogspot.com/2014/10/witch-traditions.html

And that is not all.
Mine:
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2010/01/what-should-osr-witch-do-or-be.html
Their copy:
http://witchnest.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-should-osr-witch-do-or-be.html

This one is great. The screwed up the picture and since they are adding these things at random and back filling dates their copy actually predates the TV I was posting about.
Mine:
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2012/04/zatannurday-y-is-for-young-justice.html
Their (really bad) copy:
http://witchnest.blogspot.com/2010/03/zatannurday-y-is-for-young-justice.html

I mean seriously?  It's like it was translating into Klingon then into German over to Chinese and then back to English.  And this is all supposed to be a "witch" site.  But the articles are a schizophrenic bunch.

I mean really.  I am trying to figure out the logic of this site (and the related ones linked out) and damn if I can.

Oh. And I am not alone.  +Joseph Bloch and +James Maliszewski also get a couple of articles in.

http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2012/03/banknotes-in-greyhawk.html
http://witchnest.blogspot.com/2014/04/banknotes-in-greyhawk.html

and

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/01/dwimmermount-sessions-60-61.html
http://witchnest.blogspot.com/2009/01/dwimmermount-sessions-60-61.html

I love how they were playing in Dwimmermount two years before James himself was!

There might be more.
At first I was thinking of emailing them to get them to take it down, but I dismissed it just as fast.
No one would listen and frankly I don't care.
Maybe they copied you too!

What Are You Good at GM's Challenge

A new GMs Challenge has been issued by the blog Barking Alien.  I figure I will join in.

What genres, settings, or games in general do you GM best? Which ones do you think you  totally rock? 

My Top Five:
1. Cinematic Unisystem
2. Dungeons & Dragons (circa 1980s is my best)
3. Horror games
4. Convention games. I have had many people tell me my Gen Con games rock.
5. Games for kids

Which games could you use to work on? That is, if your group wants to play one of these games, you yourself would probably recommend a different GM.

Tougher one. I am usually always the one in the GMs seat.

My Bottom Three:
1. World of Darkness
2. Anything historical, but not Victorian. (I do Victorian well).
3. anything Palladium

What elements of Gamemastering do you do best? What aspects do you nail more often than not?

My Top Five:
1. Engaging plots
2. memorable NPCs
3. Flexibility.  Years of teaching have taught me to stay light on my toes.
4. Fairness.
5. Fun.  Keep it fun.

Which elements are still a work in progress? Name some things that you don't do as well as you'd like.

My Bottom Three:
1. Newer D&D.  Don't quite have the rules mastery I would like.
2. Time management. Games tend to run over the time I have alotted and I never get as far as I would like.
3. Knowing when to shut up and let the players do their thing.  I get excited and want to gabber on, and on (and on).  I need to take more of the "Dave Arneson" style and let the players do the talking and work.


How about you?

Petty Gods in Print

I got my print copy of Petty Gods in the mail today.
It's a big book.

It's going to take me a while to go through it all.

Really proud to have been a part of this.

Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall

I know I have been going on and on (and on) about this one, but we are in the final hours now.

Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/665143704/guidebook-to-the-duchy-of-valnwall?ref=card

So much great stuff is going into this book and another 100 bucks would be great to get more authors.

Check it out, support or at the very least pass it on to others.