Mail Call Tuesday: AD&D 1st Edition PoD

 Our Sunday game is doing great, 8 years running! We split it up now between the regular 5th Edition game AND this new game everyone wanted to play. AD&D 1st Edition! My oldest is the DM for the 1st Ed games.

So I picked up some AD&D 1st ed books from DriveThruRPG's Print-on-Demand.

Honestly I like these quite a bit. I grabbed a "players bundle" of the AD&D 1st Ed Player's Handbook and Unearthed Arcana. 

The binding is sturdy, and the paper is crisp white, so the text is very easy to read. We already had a PoD set, so I picked up enough for all the players that didn't have their own copies. 

These guys are all in their 20s, so they don't have nostalgia for the original covers like I do and my oldest does. So they are extremely thrilled with these. 

Mail Call Tuesday: Star Trek Adventures, 2nd Edition

 I have been watching so many of my friends, both online and in real life, go on about the new Star Trek Adventures, 2nd Edition game from Mōdiphiüs. Both Carl Stark's Character Creation Challenge and Adam Dickstein's RPG Campaign Tour Challenge, along with my friend Greg Littlejohn's Trek game, and new Trek on TV,  convinced me it was time to take the plunge. But the final and ultimate motivation was DriveThruRPG offering "retail" copies of their books, not print on demand, but retail version of their offset printed books.

Well, they came last weekend. Shipped to me faster than some print-on-demand books I had ordered a few days prior. 

Now, keep in mind I am fiercely loyal to my FLGS. But I really wanted to see how these products looked. I am very impressed. Mōdiphiüs shipped these out, and I got them really fast. 

The books are gorgeous, as expected. A nice mix of new art and some art from the shows. All eras and shows are represented here. If there is a Trek you love, you can do it. If there is one you hate (*blasphemer!*), then you can ignore it.

Two of my favorite ships!

I have not gotten deep into the rules yet, but they seem simpler than the First Edition.

My oldest and I are going tomake some characters and ships here soon. Last week was Valentine's Day, and today is Fat Tuesday, so it's the busiest time of year. But I am looking forward to working out the Mercy, the Protector, and my various Challengers.

Mail Call: Aquelarre

 Treated myself to a game I have been wanting for some time now. The Spanish RPG Aquelarre.

This is the English version, but it is still a great RPG.

And it is massive. Can't wait to dig into it.

Mail Call Tuesday: October Adventures & Witches

 It is proper chilly today in Chicago. And in my mailbox are some new witchy-themed books.

The Cooked Moon for 5e

I backed this Kickstarter and got the book a couple of weeks ago...or so I thought! My oldest saw it on my desk and has been taking his group through it.

He loved it so much, saying it is the best D&D 5e adventure out in years, that he went out and bought the special edition version.

As it turns out the Special Edition on he grabbed was for D&D 5.5 (labeled 5e|2024) mine is for 5e|2014. The page number is the same, but the pages don't exactly line up. The content is still the same. There are differences, but we have not found them yet.

The book is huge, 632 pages, and gorgeous. It has a bit of everything. A 350-page adventure for levels 1 to 13. New subclasses, new species, new monsters, spells, feats and more. There new mechanics, curses, dark bargins.

Honestly, this feels like they are flirting with me.

It really is top-notch, and kudos to Avantris for getting it out in time for Halloween.

Sickest Witch

Another Kickstarter delivery in time for Halloween. 

I only got this one yesterday so I have not had the chance to go through it all yet. But it is a damn attractive book.

It feels like a stripped-down OSR-like game with some other design elements. Looks really fun.

All writing, development, and art was done by Justin Sirois. So it has a solid, united, vision throughout. 

Both are great for Halloween fun!

Mail Call: Witch and Stone by Pacesetter Games

 Just in time for Halloween is Pacesetter Games' latest adventure, Witch and Stone.

This Basic-era (B/X) adventure is designed for 3rd-level characters. I would say 6 characters. 

The premise is simple enough, yet effective; the PCs need to investigate an old wizard's stronghold that a witch has taken up in. 

I have not played it yet. Just got it today, but it looks fun and I plan to slot it into my War of the Witch Queens campaign. 

Mail Call: Dragons from the Eric Harshbarger Collection

 I got another email from Eric Harshbarger recently offering to send me some more Dragon Magazines for my "This Old Dragon" reviews. I mean, how could I say no.

Well, the package I got was beyond my expectations!

I have not checked if I have duplicates yet, nor have I checked which ones already have posts. But I will say this, they are in far better shape than the one I know I have duplicates of.

Looking forward to getting these out to you all.

Thank you, Eric for sending these along! 

If you can, check out Eric's website.

Mail (and Yard Sale) Call Tuesday, 80s Style!

 Double hitter today. Went out on a hunt for some old-school D&D and came home to some mail.

Dragged my wife and youngest out to a yard sale way north of Chicago because I saw online they had a ton of D&D books. A box of adventures, hardcovers, a box of Dragons, and a bunch of old Ral Partha minis. We got there in plenty of time, but the boxes were stanched up by, well... I never got a satisfactory answer. My wife and kid suspected (with some good reason) that the people running the sale held it back for someone. I kept getting a different answer from the workers (it was a managed sale) and the person buying them all didn't seem like a gamer because they really couldn't answer and questions.

Oh well. I did get a chance to look into the boxes, and I had about 95% of it all anyway.

I DID manage to score boxed sets of Top Secret and Indiana Jones. This gives me more evidence that person buying didn't know what they had. These were right next to the books and were ignored. That's fine, I didn't have these, so score for me! I also got the Doctor Who Technical Manual to replace my old one that was lost. 

The boxes are in worn shape, but the contents are good. Missing dice, save for the saddest looking d10 I have ever seen.

On the mail front, this was waiting for me when I got home.

The Folio Black Label #3 White Witch and Black Stone from Art of the Genre.

And it looks like I got the last copy! Sorry all. But honestly, how could I have said no? It features Duchess and Candella as NPCs and the main antagonist is "the White Witch."  I mean, come on? 

While print is sold out, the PDF is still available. 

I'll get a proper review of this up soon. Now I just need to figure out where I am going to slot this into my War of the Witch Queens.

Mail Call: Daggerheart is Mine!

 I was supposed to get this as a Birthday/Father's Day gift, but it was backordered. It finally came in the mail on Monday.

The game is gorgeous. Production values are top-notch.

I can easily see this game replacing D&D 5.5 on many people's game tables. My oldest, after flipping through mine, went and ordered his own copy as well. We may give it a run soon. 

But yeah, I am rather excited for this one!

Mail Call: Nightshift Board Game

 A while back, there were three games called Night Shift. There was ours, NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars. Another RPG, which became Nightbound when they discovered our trademarked name. And another, a board game about exotic dancers.  I already had Nightbound, and last week Nightshift came in the mail.

The box and contents are great. High-quality material with a really sturdy game board. Rules are fun and easy to learn. Exotic Cancer also lets you have the rules for free.  There is even a "How to Play" video.

The game pieces are your characters in the game. Each has their own personality, advantages, and goals.  You can meet them all here: Ruby, Topaz, Emerald, Sapphire, and Amethyst.

The minis are a bit taller than your average D&D mini. Reminds me of that couch meme. Just don't spill my coffee, ladies.

I can't help but think this would be a perfect representation of my own Mayfair's Gentlemen's Club from our NIGHT SHIFT.

It would work more or less exactly the same way. Only my version the dancers are all demons, vampires, and fae creatures. Amethyst is certainly a vampire. Topaz is fae. Sapphire is some sort of daimon or spirit of gnosis. Emerald is a demon. And Ruby? Ruby is human. The fact she can hold her own may make her the most mysterious of all!

But the game is great and the creator, Exotic Cancer, knows her stuff. This is another example of Kickstarter working out fantastically. 

Yes. There will be a Plays Well With Others post for all the Night Shifts! Maybe I can grab Exotic Cancer's Tarot set for it. 

You can find this game and the designer here:

• Night Shift Game
• Exotic Cancer site
• Instagram
• Patreon
• Twitter/X

Tuesday Mail Call: Baldur's Gate 3 Origin Characters

 I have been on the record both for my love of Baldur's Gate 3 and for my disappointment in how Wizards has mishandled the property. In a case of almost too little and almost too late comes the Baldur's Gate 3 Icons of the Realms Origin characters pack.

The minis are from WizKids, so you know what to expect here. They are not bad.

Comparing them to my Hero Forge versions, each has pros and cons.

No mini yet, that I know of, for my current obsession Mizora, but I also have not really been paying much attention.

I have to admit I really do not see me buying much of the new D&D 5.5 material. 

Mail Call: Nightbound by Creative Jam Games

 Nice little weekend mail call this past weekend for today. A game I backed due to interactions with the creators.

Nightbound is a Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) game from Creative Jam Games of modern urban horror. It was originally named "Nightshift" but we (Elf Lair Games that is) had to let them know that name was being used for our modern urban horror RPG already. They were super cool about it and changed their game to Nightbound. Because of that we all (ELG) promised to back their Kickstarter.  Well, the books are now coming in.

The game is great looking as you an see. While I am not a huge fan of Powered by the Apocalypse games, this one has a lot of potential. Plus they have a lot more titles than I knew about. 

I have a "Plays Well With Others" for this coming up, but I am waiting on one other thing first. 

Also, and I said this before, there is room on my shelves and table for more than one modern horror game, and I am certain that whatever version of "Night Shift" people choose to play, there are plenty of ideas from the other game to use as well.