Mail Call Wednesday: Art Edition, Djinn Unboxed

 A very special Mail Call on a Wednesday today. A book I have been eagerly anticipating. Djinn Unboxed!

This art book from my very good friend Djinn just landed on my shores this morning all the way from her home in Italy. At 330+ pages it is crammed full of her wonderful, often D&D-inspired, art. 

And there is not a lot I can show you here either! Djinn's art tends toward the risqué and sometime pornographic, but always tastefully so if not outright fun. 

Much of the art features her D&D character, the witch Solaine, and some of it is also her alter-ego Djinn.  

But there is an entire feature on my little witch Larina!

There is a lot more than that, but these are the ones I feel safest sharing. Besides, want to see more? Buy the book!

Djinn's D&D world is a fun place where Solaine battles seas monsters on a pirate ship, accidentally summons amorous demons, and libraries are anything but quiet. 

Not sure when this book will go on general sale, I know she is working on getting copies out to her Kickstarter backers now. But I hope to see a lot more.

Links

• Linktree, https://linktr.ee/djinnintheshade
• Website, https://www.djinnintheshade.com/
• Pateron, https://www.patreon.com/djinnintheshade/posts
• Twitter/X, https://x.com/Djinninthebox
• Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/djinnintheshade/
• Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/djinnintheshade

Mail Call Tuesday: Swords & Wizardry, Basic Sorceress

 Some good things in my mail this week!

Up first the new Swords & Wizardry books from their most recent Kickstarter.

The books are top notch and look fantastic.  There are lots of new classes and monsers.

Even the GM's Screen is good.

Also got my Glow in the Dark Sorceress from ReAction / Super 7.

Pretty cool, really.

Maybe I should stat her up as a S&W Warlock sometime. There is no S&W Sorcerer. Or maybe I should make one.

Mail Call: Vecna Returns

 It's Tuesday, let's see what I have in the mail from the week. It was my birthday two weeks ago, and Father's Day, so I splurged and bought myself some Print On Demand titles from DriveThruRPG.

I am starting an AD&D 2nd Edition game with my oldest and I thought these might be fun. He is running the 5e Vecna adventure for his own group and he has used Vecna, or at least the Critical Role version, in his Tal'Dorei campaign as well.

The adventures make for a loose trilogy that spans the 1990s and AD&D 2nd Edition. From Greyhawk, to Ravenloft, to system agnostic (more or less).

• Vecna Lives!
• Vecna Reborn
• Die Vecna Die

Again, I am reading these and thinking of a universe-spanning adventure. Add in some elements from the 5e adventure and then bits from 3e and 4e for the hell of it.

OR. I could put the same effort into my "Necromancer" adventures. The Necromancer largely fills the same role in my games as Vecna. 

In any case, I am happy to have all of these now.

Mail Call Tuesday: Golem

 Got a nice surprise in the mail this past week. My latest adventure in the Frightshow Classics line of "Chilling" adventures from Yeti Spaghetti & Friends.

Golem is my first adventure written to take place in NYC and honestly I really came to understand why New Yorkers love their city so much. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am not moving out of my beloved Chicago. But I do understand them a little better.

You can get your PDF copy from DriveThruRPG.  Or contact the publisher directly for Print copies. 

While you are at it, you can get both of my adventures!

The Nightmare is also available at DriveThruRPG along with other great Frighshow Classics adventures.

Mail Call Tuesday: Mini Duchess & Candella, Spanish WitchCraft

 Got some things to support two of my new on-going obsessions.  

Up first, some new HeroForge "standee" minis of Duchess & Candella.

They are flat, made of plastic about 3 mm thick. Their colors and design perfectly match those I used on HeroForge. 

They got here rather quick to be honest. Much faster than the 3D-printed color minis. And cheaper too.

I always wanted to try these, and since I needed these minis in a hurry I opted to go this route for these two. I am happy with them, but I do prefer the 3D color minis. But they do come with nice little bags to store the mini or dice in.

Next up a "new to me" version of one of my all-time favorite games.  The Spanish Language version of CJ Carella's WitchCraft RPG.

The Spanish Language version from Edge most resembles the Eden Studios 2nd Edition. The text is the same and the art is the same.

The difference of course is this new Edge version is in Spanish.

I am happy to have this as this was one of the other "Holy Grail" items for my Spanish collection of RPGs. It was also the last CJ Carella WitchCraft book I am likely able to buy. 

I am pleased that I was able to read a lot of it. Granted, my Spanish is still very limited, but I know this book very, very well. 

My collection of Spanish Language RPGs is not huge, but it covers my favorite games and about 85-90% of the games I like to play.

Not a lot, but enough to keep me busy for a while.

Mail Call Tuesday - Frightshow Classics Adventures

 Got a a nice little treat in the mail yesterday.

The latest print versions of the Frightshow (formerly Fright Night) Classics Adventures designed for Chill.

Included was a 2nd printing of my own The Nightmare!

This completes my print editions (so far) of all the Frighshow Classics Adventures from Yeti Spaghetti & Friends. I know a couple more are in progress now, including my Golem adventure, though they won't be out until the spring or later.

PDFs are available at DriveThruRPG.

If you want a print version, send an email directly to Frightshow Classics at cryptworldrpg@gmail.com.

They are all quite fun and really great for any sort of Horror RPG.

New Releases Tuesday: Adventure Time!

 Normally, Tuesday is a great time to talk about the sort of RPG goodies I got in the mail. But nothing new this week (or last), and I am waiting for the local Games Plus RPG auction before buying anything else.  So, imagine my delight when one of my recent adventures got published over the weekend.  Then, my delight doubled when another adventure I wrote got its own stand-alone treatment!

Frightshow Classics: Golem is published by Yeti Spaghetti & Friends and is for the Chill 1st Edition RPG. It also works with Chill 2nd Edition, Chill 3rd Edition (with some mods), and Cryptworld and can even be used as a rules lite adventure. 

A rabbi and a neo-nazi have been found murdered in Queens, NY. Is there a connection? People have spotted a large figure near the synagogue and a former professional wrestler is being held for questioning. But is something stranger going on?

I really loved writing this one and it made really appreciate all the great things about New York. As a Chicagoan, I don't give New York enough credit. But I approached this with the frame of mind of "write this with the same love as I would if this were Chicago." Cause one thing I know for sure. New Yorkers LOVE their city, and I wanted that to show.

Adventures in Aldea: Witching Weather from Green Ronin is older, but I discovered it while working on my Blue Rose characters last week. This adventure appears in the collection Six of Cups. But here, you can buy it as a stand-alone adventure for Blue Rose AGE 2nd Edition. 

A group of orphans have turned up in Garnet, and now the weather is out of control, and the forces of darkness want them. One believes they are his children, and another wants to eat them to gain even more power. You have to stop them both. 

This one was so much fun to work on. Blue Rose is sometimes described (somewhat unfairly) as a "Fantasy Seattle," but my Garnet here is "Fantasy Alton, IL," a blue-collar river town (now sea town) with a deep history and pride. And maybe a monster or two hiding in the bluffs. In addition to the adventure, there is a gazetteer for the City of Garnet with some history and background on some major NPCs.

Grab both if you can! I already got paid, so I don't get anything more from the publishers, but if the sales are good, they can hire me back! 

Mail Call: ¡Anuncio por correo! Spanish BECMI and Pacesetter Adventures

Or at least the BE part of BECMI.  So many of you know I have been learning Spanish. I mainly use Duolingo, but I also print books and audiobooks from Audible. My progress is quite slow I will admit, but the journey is half the fun really. 

Back in 2023, I got copies of the Spanish Language D&D 5th edition books for my birthday and Father's Day.  But something I have wanted since 2020 are copies of BECMI in another language. I thought I might grab one in German (a language I can still -somewhat- speak) but they are always quite expensive.

So imagine my surprise when, after posting my search for Spanish language ones, actually came through!

They look great, even if I can only sort of read them at the moment. But I know what is in these quite well, so that helps.

It is also fun to compare them to the Spanish D&D 5e books I got last year.

I am NO WHERE near ready to run a game in Spanish D&D. But maybe I could play one later this year.

I might just stick with Basic and Expert. I have not seen a Companion edition out for a very long time. If the price of the German one I was looking at is any indication then it is way outside of my price range.

I also got copies of some adventures (in English) from Pacesetter Games.

I gave Venger's Final Wish to my oldest. He is working on taking his group through all the editions of D&D.  More on that later.

Of course, I am a sucker for anything about the Vampire Queen. So this is a nice addition to my collection.  Since the Vampire Queen adventure is for B/X then maybe a "Castillo de la Reina Vampiro" is in order. 

Mail Call: Gary's Other Grandkids

 Maybe "stepchildren" might be a better moniker. We are coming up on the first anniversary of WotC's attempt to murder the OGL 1.0. This sent many publishers (myself included) on various paths of re-discovery on what to do about it. Some looked for new licenses. Others stuck with the OGL 1.0 to show it can't be removed.

Myself? Well, it knocked the wind out of my sails, to be honest, and I have spent the better part of 2023 figuring out where I want to go next. But while I am over here contemplating the various Gods, others have moved on.  So here are a couple of recent purchases that embrace the two paths of the OGL.

Pathfinder and OSRIC

Undoubtedly two of the biggest success stories of the OGL and 3e era has been Pathfinder and OSRIC. Both gambled on the OGL and spent a long time enjoying the fruits of that gamble.

OSRIC of course used it to go back to "1st Edition style" play and Pathfinder to extend and enhance their own flavor of "3rd Edition style" play.

The OSRIC Players Book covers everything the Player needs to know. It is a great resource and a good replacement for your Player's Handbooks and Unearthed Arcana books that might be showing their wear.

This one embraces the OGL 1.0 and keeps it alive.

Pathfinder has taken a different path (sorry) and taken their own 2nd Edition and revised it into two new books for Players and GMs.

This uses the new OGL-free version of Pathfinder. I have not spotted many differences yet, but I am still working through the game. The new books combine the older OGL Corebook and some of the Advanced Player's Guide.

These are supposed to be the same system, Pathfinder 2nd Ed, so there are far more similarities than differences.

I am looking forward to delving deeper into both games.

 

Mail Call: Back to Basic

 Been down with COVID-19 so most of my posts have been things I wrote a while back.

But here is something new, some of my latest mail calls. All with a Basic, as in B/X, theme.

Up first is the OSE version of Dark Places & Demogorgons.

I like the idea of an OSE version, but I am more likely to play it using its original rules.  Still nice to have and the Cryptid Manual is a great addition to any OSE game.  My only question is do I shelves these with my OSE books or my Dark Places & Demogorgons ones?

Speaking of Demogorgons.

Ryan Thompson's Demonology for OSE is now being shipped. I have already stated most of these creatures for myself (and many posted here) but it is always nice to see more and different takes on the same creatures.

This is OSE so it is compatible with B/X and DP&D OSE above. Bring in the real Demogorgon into your DP&D game!

Since it was Halloween, I treated myself to another adventure.

Witch, Grave, and Haunt from Pacesetter Games is for BX and 5e. I got the BX version.

The "Witch" portion is an updated version of The Witch of Monte Rosa. There are some changes to the adventure which is fine. The other two are not unknown to me, but this is the first time I have them in print.

This and the Demonology book will work great for my War of the Witch Queens campaign.

And finally, I have been playing a LOT of Baldur's Gate 3 so I treated myself to a little Print on Demand fun.

This is Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate II, released to support the Baldur's Gate II game back in the late 1990s. It would be nice if Wizards put out something to support the new game, given how popular it is.