Showing posts with label old-school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label old-school. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Biggest List of Retro-clones I have seen

This list was posted to my Facebook feed today.
http://taxidermicowlbear.weebly.com/dd-retroclones.html

It is easily the biggest list of Retro-clones, near clones and other Old-School games I have ever seen.

Do yourself a favor and check it out.
The website's owner is also the author of Full Metal Plate Mail and Grey Six.
Grey Six includes an interesting take on the Warlock class and uses a lot of my OGC witch spells.


Friday, July 11, 2014

30 Years Later The White Queen's Revenge


Got my copy of Gygax #4 in the mail the other day. Most striking of course is the cover by Den Beauvais.
Den contributed to some of the best covers for Dragon including the series of Chess themed covers that this is the fifth part of.


 

 

While exciting and full of great geek-fueled nostalgia, I fear that Gygax Magazine runs the risk of been only compared to early to mid 80s Dragon.

Sure. I enjoyed Dragon then. I still like picking up issues for then and rereading them looking for something I missed the first time.   While Gygax is new and covers new games it hasn't really done anything to pull it away from it's roots.

And maybe that is fine.  I enjoy Gygax Mag for the same reasons I enjoyed Dragon back in the day.
I think though now with the first four quarterly issues out it is a good time for Gygax to find it's own voice. Do something extra to make this their own.


Gygax Magazine #1
Gygax Magazine #2
Gygax Magazine #3
Gygax Magazine #4

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Best of the Best

I am very pleased to have replaced my lost Best of The Dragon vol. 1.


As you see my Vol. II is a little worse for the wear.

I loved these growing up. Even though some of the articles were only a few years old when they got into these "Best of"s they seemed like some lost artifact of a bygone age.

Gygax's first details of what has come to be known as the Great Wheel cosmology was and still fascinating reading.  Sure I had already seen it a 1000 times in the Player's Handbook but here and in color no less was a rare treat.

The famous (or infamous) "How Green was my Mutant" was the article that got me interested in Gamma World more than anything else.

Here are also reprints of the first versions of the Illusionist and the Witch.  Not to mention a different version of the Bard class and the original version of the Ranger.

I am struck with the overall feel of the magazine. It reminds me what I loved the most about old-school gaming and gaming back in the day; the complete DIY feel of everything.   Granted there was a lot more undefined areas back then.

Still. I love reading this old stuff. I love my Dragon magazine CD-Rom set, but holding on to the actual old mags is really nice.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Skylla: Adventures Dark & Deep witch

I had planned on doing a Skylla write-up today, but for a different system.  But given that +Joseph Bloch is running a sale this weekend, I think it would be better to use his witch.

I reviewed his witch a while back and I enjoyed it even if there are couple things I didn't like about it. But it is still a fun class and I have enjoyed it.

So here is Skylla using The Darker Paths 2: The Witch and the Adventures Dark and Deep RPG.

Skylla
CE Female Human
Witch 7

Abilities
STR: 9
INT: 11
WIS: 15
DEX: 11
CON: 10
CHA: 12* (initial)/5 current

Saving Throws
Paralyzation, Poison, Death: 7
Petrification, Polymorph: 10
Rod, Staff, Wand: 11
Breath Weapon: 13
Spells: 12
+1 to Magical attack saves

Special Abilities (class)
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar (Quasit)
Charisma degradation
Limited to 13th level
Wisdom Bonus Spells (2 1st, 1 2nd)

Secondary Skills
Alchemy

HP: 13
AC: 6 (Bracers)

Spells
1st: Charm Person or Mammal, Detect Magic, Infravision, Protection from Good, Witch Shot, Wither
2nd: Blight Field, Command, Magic Broom, Misfortune, Wizard Lock
3rd: Bestow Curse,  Hand of Glory, Magic Missile
4th: Polymorph Self, Sleep
5th: Season of the Witch

Skylla is a good fit for his style of witch i think. I would have to play more to be sure.  Limiting her to 13th level might the fit the narrative I have for her. She would later go on to take more mage classes.

Friday, May 23, 2014

PWWO: The Basic Illusionist

Time for another edition of Plays Well With Others.

The one thing you can say about the entire OSR Gestalt that despite it all there is still a sense of community and of giving back.  Case in point, The Basic Illusionist.

The Basic Illusionist is the brain-child of +Nathan Irving and was first seen during the S&W Appreciation Day Blog Hop.

Go to his blog now and grab a copy.  Oh. Did I mention it was 100% free?
http://secretsoftheshadowend.blogspot.com/

Before I delve into the book itself. Lets take a moment to look at this cover.
Seriously. That is a cool ass cover. I am not sure what made Nathan Irving choose this piece ("Beauty and the Beast" by Edmund Dulac) but I love it.  The title works in seemlessly, like they were meant for each other.  The woman in foreground is no longer the "beauty" but she is now an Illusionist.

Ok.  So the book is overtly for Swords & Wizardry, but there isn't anything here keeping you from using any Original of Basic inspired system.  I know it works out well in Labyrinth Lord and Basic D&D and it really should work well in ACKS, Spellcraft & Swordplay or any other system.  Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea might be a trick, but they have an Illusionist class already (more on that later).

Getting into the book now we have 34 pages (with cover) on the Illusionist class. The book starts off with a helpful FAQ.  Personally I think Nathan should also put that FAQ on his blog as a page so every knows why they should get this.  The Illusionist class itself is in S&W format, but the only thing keeping you from using this in any other Basic or Advanced Era game is a table of Saving Throws.  Copy over what ever the Wizard or Magic-user is using in your game of choice and give them -1 bonus to saves when it comes to illusions.
The Illusionist gets a power or feature every odd level, but nothing that is game breaking when compared to the wizard.  The Illusionist trades flexibility for focus in their magical arsenal. There is even an Illusionist variant class called the Mountebank.  Which is more of a con-artist.  Not sure how it compares to other classes of the same name.

One of the best features of the book is a guideline on illusionist magic and how to play with illusions.  Great even if you never play the class.

What follows next is over 150 Illusionist spells.  Many we have seen before and come from the SRD.  That is not a bad thing. Having all these spells in one place and edited to work with the class is a major undertaking.  I for one am glad to see them here.  Spells are alphabetical instead of sorted by level.
A list of conditions ported over from the SRD is also included. I like that personally.  We all love how the older games and the clones play, but in our zeal we tend to forget that 3.x and later games did in fact have some good innovations and ideas; this is one of them.

We end with a couple of monsters and a two page OGL statement.

Really, this is a fantastic piece of work and really should be the "go to" document if you ever want to play an illusionist.

Playing Well With Others
The design of the Illusionist class (and the book) is such that adding it to any game should really be a breeze.  Adventurers enter a new land and discover a new brand of wizard.  Compared to other custom wizards out there the illusionist is more powerful than his counterpart in 1st Ed. AD&D.  This is not power creep in my opinion, I think Nathan has has actually fixed the classic Illusionist and brought it more in line with the Wizard.

Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
+Dyson Logos' Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is an excellent book for playing all sorts of wizard types.  That is oddly enough except Illusionists.  This however is not issue; The Basic Illusionist fits in quite nicely here.  The Enchanter from MT&DP would have some spells that might be good for the Illusionist as well.

Theorems & Thaumaturgy
Another great free product. Theorems & Thaumaturgy comes to us from +Gavin Norman and introduced his Vivmancer class.  Vivimancers and Illusionists are about as different as one can get really.  But Theorems & Thaumaturgy does have some things that the Basic Illusionist can use.  For starters there some more Illusionist spells in T&T that the Basic Illusionist could use.  Both books make the assumption that Illusionists should have access to 8th and 9th level spells.  If you are going to play a Basic Illusionist then it is worth your time and effort to get a copy of Theorem & Thaumaturgy.
Nathan, I would talk to Gavin and see if you can use his spells if you ever expand your Illusionist book. Maybe toss over some elementalist spells his way if you have them.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
+Jeff Talanian's fantastic Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea also has an Illusionist class. Like all the classes in the book it is limited to 12th level.  I had a quick glance over the spell lists last night and there wasn't anything that jumped out at me; the spells are drawn from similar sources.  There is is information though that owners of either could use. Obviously the Basic Illusionist cover many more spells but more importantly it has the guidelines for covering how illusions in the game work.

The Witch
Of course I want to mention my own book. Witches and Illusionists share the ability to cast various figments and charms/mind affecting spells.  I would say that in any game that has both classes that Illusionists should be limited to charm spells up to 5th level and witches any type of figments up to 5th level.  Illusionists then get all (or most) of the Illusion spells and witches get all the curses.

What I Would Want Next
I know. I sound greedy.  Nathan Irving works his butt off on this, puts it together and gives it away for free and I am over here saying "yeah, but do you have any more?"
But my motives are pure.

I would love a print version of this. It would really be awesome.  At 34 pages it is a bit smallish for print, but that is easily fixed.  Add a few more spells (plenty of OGC), some illusion based magic items, a couple more monsters (not a lot) an appendix for using this class in different retro-clones (LL, OSRIC, ACKS) and maybe even stats on adding gnomes as player characters.  Call it "The Complete Illusionist" sell it for a couple of bucks on DriveThru and get a print copy made.  OR Keep it free as a PDF and have print copies up on Lulu.  In any case it would look good on my "OSR" shelf. There is enough OGC out there now to do all of this in fact.  There is enough OGC in the 4 books mentioned above!

Bottom Line:  This is a great book. I loved the awesome art and the fact that it is free. Though I would have gladly paid for it.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

David Trampier

Many of you by now have heard about Dave Trampier's death.

I am really at a loss of what to say here.

So I guess instead I will leave this here as my testament to a person I never knew, but whose art had a profound impact on my life.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Kickstart Your Weekend!

So next week I am getting my Kickstarter for Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch and Warlock up and running again.




But there are couple of other Kickstarters I'd like to draw your attention to first.

City State of the Invincible Overlord
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/judgesguild/city-state-of-the-invincible-overlord?ref=card

Judges Guild is back with the book that made them the most famous.  Ah the times I spent adventuring here in the early 80s.  It also became "the evil empire" in my AD&D games.  So looking forward to seeing this one hit the shelves.

Crone: A Tabletop Roleplaying Card Game
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erikthebearik/crone-a-tabletop-roleplaying-card-game

A new one from +Erik Bernhardt and it looks great. I mean serious how could I not love this?
There is a lot going on in this game and I really want to try it out.

Is it a bad idea to promote other people's Kickstarters and potentially take away bakers to my own?  No idea, but in truth I like these projects and I would like to see them do well.


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Building a Shared World

There are so many cool projects and products out now that fly under the loose banner of OSR.

It occurs to me that there might be enough to fill an entire campaign world.

For locations there is Dolmvay, Gamington, The Shrine of St. Aleena, Dunsmouth (and more from LotFP), Blackmarsh, Castle of the Mad Archmage, Dyson Delves I and IIThe Majestic WilderlandsVerloren, and  Vornheim,

For monsters (important to give the world a nice unique feel) we have, The Big book of SpidersThe Cartographer's Guide to the Creatures of EiraRealms of Crawling Chaos, Teratic Tome,

There are even campaign worlds with built in rules (visa-versa) like Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and Adventurer Conqueror King System.

Plus all the material from James Mishler Games and others.

This is just the stuff I know about.  What else is out there?
Has there been enough published "OSR" material to populate an entire campaign guide ala the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk?

Has anyone tried fitting it all together?

Thursday, December 19, 2013

The Odyssey

No. Not Homer's epic exactly.  Well. there is an epic here. But let me get to that.

This Odyssey is an epic through the generations of video gaming consoles.
You can read more about over the Trollish Delver blog (also home of Trollish Delver Games).

In Odyssey you travel through the history of the gaming consoles, so each level is the next generation. The graphics get better and better and more difficult.


I played it a bit this morning instead of getting my Pathfinder post ready. It is fun and addictive.
But what I really liked was it's sense of history.  Like old RPGs I also like old technology.  One of my side projects is to get this older computer I am calling Son of Frankencomputer up an running and putting on a bunch of old computer and console emulators.

Odyssey is really a bit like a retro-clone.  It emulates earlier modes of play, it just does it one step better than the OSR crowd by progressively getting better/more detailed.  Though one could argue that while computer and console software has demonstrably gotten better over the years, RPGs maybe not as much.  D&D Next for example might become the biggest "retro-clone" on the market.

In any case Odyssey captures the same spirit of the Old-School movement and for me that is enough.
It also happens to be fun. Which is important to me at least.  It is epic in the sense that you have to pass through all the levels of video game generations to get to your goal.

Terrible time though for me to find a new video game. I need to be ready for Spring term by the end of this week!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Cancer Fundraiser for RetroRoleplaying

I have long been of the frame of mind that gamers, in general, are some of best people when it comes to helping others.  Is it because our hobby is one of pure social interaction? Is it because we learn the value of helping each other out in the game very early one?  Not sure why, I can only say I have seen it work.

One only needs to look no further than the fundraisers at DriveThruRPG for various disasters or even the Bad Myrmidon fundraiser.  I have raised a little money myself for various charities.

So I wanted to let you know about another one that I think is worthy and not really getting the attention it deserves.

Randall over at RetroRoleplaying is raising some money to help treat his wife's cancer.
He is asking for donations, but he is giving away an absolute trove of treasures from the early days of gaming.  It's insane the stuff he is parting with, but I would do the exact same thing.

So please. Go to his site. Donate what you can. It's Christmas after all.
How about this.  Instead of that large coffee you get before work today or while doing your last minute Christmas shopping, you donate $5 to Randall's wife.  Make her life a little better, and hopefully a little longer. Not trying to sound overly maudlin here, but this community has given so much for lesser reasons (myself included and especially) that maybe this also something we should do.

If everyone that reads this blog here, via Facebook or even Twitter gave something, well that would be great.

Start here:
http://blog.retroroleplaying.com/2013/11/holiday-2013-cancer-fund-drive-with.html
http://www.retroroleplaying.com/content/retroroleplaying-cancer-fund-special-downloads
http://blog.retroroleplaying.com/2013/12/holiday-cancer-fund-drive-17-away-from.html

I can't promote this one enough.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Return of the Dragon

So I got this in the mail the other day.



I had this poster when it first came out.  I honestly have no memory of how I got it except that it was something I had to send off for.
I had it till college and had it hanging on my wall in typical college fashion.  That is till my idiot roommate got mad at me one day and ripped it down.

Ever since then I have wanted one.  Well thanks to magic that is eBay I finally got another one.
I am not going to tell you what I paid, save it was more than most people would have been willing to part with, but enough that I am happy. It was still rolled up in the original tube in fact!  

The poster is actually in very, very good shape for being 30 years old.

The timing is great since the Dragonslayers (my kids group) need something from a "rainbow dragon" to finish their quest.

Friday, December 6, 2013

TBBYANR: Old School Edition

I have not done one of these in a long time so I thought this might be a good occasion.  There are a few old-school blogs out there I follow and really enjoy.  I think you should add them to your reading list.

Halls of the Nephilim
http://punverse.blogspot.com/
I have talked about Justin Issac's blog in the past.  He recently hit 200 posts so he has been chuggin along doing his thing for a little bit now.  Justin spends his time looking for a good Old-School game to play, currently he is trying out the home team favorite from Elf Lair Games, Spellcraft & Swordplay and Pathfinder.  He is know currently working through the 30 days of Dungeons & Dragons, so that will be interesting. Other topics that come up are Doctor Who, Mutants & Masterminds and one of my favorites Succubus Sunday.
If you enjoy my blog then check out Halls of the Nephilim. Justin is doing a lot of cool things.

Dark Corners Of Role Playing
http://darkcornersofrpging.blogspot.com
Eric Fabiaschi runs this and Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog.  Both are great, but I want to focus on his Dark Corners blog today.  DC is a great resource for anything vaugly D&D-pulpy.  The blog mostly focuses on the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea RPG.  Maybe it is my new-found love of this game, but everything posted here is brilliant. Recently he has posted links to a number of out-of-print pulp mags for use in your games. Also a good number of new monsters, all with a pulp-D&D feel to them.  Sure they are all 100% compatible with any Basic-era D&D clone of your choice, you miss a bit not using AS&SH.
Eric is right around 230 posts or so, but there is a lot great stuff; so a high signal to noise ratio.

Both of these blogs are great resources and both are currently tackling a lot of the same topics that interest me.  So there is more value there too.

My advice is to take some time and go over both blogs. Read their past posts and comment.
But most importantly add them to your reading lists!

Special Note: If you are looking for other blogs to read Dyvers has a huge list of gaming blogs he has linked to and reviewed. Go there and check it out! http://dyverscampaign.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-great-blog-roll-call.html

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Skylla: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

My love affair with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea continues. Please don't tell my other games.

Given that I was thinking about an AS&SH witch yesterday and in light of their sale that it might be a good idea to give Skylla a try.  Also I would like to compare this Skylla to the Dragon Magazine and Eldritch Witchery versions since I think thematically they will be the closest.

In many ways the Witch from AS&SH really captures the concept I have of Skyll very, very well.  Not just in terms of being a witch, but as something half forgotten out of a misty past.  AS&SH Skylla might be the most dangerous one yet.

Skylla in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 
As with the other write-ups I am going with 7th level.  I will try to find similar spells, but when the option arises to take a "witchier" spell, I'll take that.

If I had to name a Tradition for her it might be something like a Cthonic or even a Hyperborean one.
Abilities with an asterisk are her prime abilities. In this case, Intelligence and Charisma.

Skylla, 7th Level Witch (AS&SH)
Race: Common (but could be Atlantean or Hyperborean)
Secondary Skill: Scribe

Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 15*
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 12*

Casting Ability: 7
Fighting Ability: 3

Hit Points:  20
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)

Powers
1st level: Brew Potions (x3), Read Magic, Scribe Scroll, Familiar (small demon - raven)
3rd level: Brew Love Philtre
5th level: Dance of Beguilement, Effigy
7th level: Animate Broom

Spells 
First: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Light, Sleep, Shocking Grasp
Second: Detect Invisibility, Levitate, Locate Object, Ray of Enfeeblement
Third: Phantasm, Witch Fire
Fourth: Shock Wave

Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Broom

More powers and a wider variety of spells. Plus in these rules she gains bonus 1st and 2nd level spells due to her high intelligence.  The powers are most similar to the Dragon #20 witch which is no surprise; we are all pulling from the same sources.  I honestly was not expecting huge differences here.

Looking over the spells and some of the magic items I can see how you can get a whole lot of play out of just 12 levels in this game.

Other Skylla writeups

Monday, November 11, 2013

Swords & Wizardry Complete

Frog God Games has announced that it is giving away Swords & Wizardry Complete.
Not a no-art version or even limited version, but the entire game free of charge.

You can go to their website and grab a free PDF (print still costs you).
http://froggodgames.org/swords-wizardry-complete-rulebook
or you can also get it here (from my downloads).

You can also get copies of their other rule sets based on it for free as well.


While not my go-to game, it is a lot of fun and great set of rules for old-school gaming.

Though I do have to admit that Erol Otis cover is rather cool.

If you have The Witch or Eldritch Witchery then you can download my S&W conversion guide to play a Swords & Wizardry Witch.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Eldritch Witchery Print Proof

Got a preliminary print proof of Eldritch Witchery.


It's not the final proof yet, but it is close! And I am pleased as hell with it.


EW with the Spellcraft & Swordplay core rules.


Core rules and boxed set.


Eldritch Witchery and The Witch


Eldritch Witchery with some of my other favorite old-school games.  No indication of compatibility is implied.


And my two most recent games.  No indication of compatibility is implied here either, but they are awfully fun together!

I hope to get the print versions out to you very, very soon.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Unboxing: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Every Halloween I buy myself a new game or game supplement.  Usually something with a horror theme.
I got mine 2013 one last night.


Nice big box from Noble Knight Games.  What's inside?


OOOO  a Game in a Red Box!


Nice thick spiral bound books and dice that I have to color in!  No crayon though.


The Witch class looks awesome.


Lots of character sheets!


And a big hex map of the lands beyond the North Wind.


Cool back of the box.



Looks great with my other boxed games.


And I saved some space for it on my OSR/Clone shelf.

So far I am far, far more pleased with this game than I have a right to be!  In fact I like it even more than the when I reviewed the PDF back in March.   I think it is because I have been spending most of my summer and fall reading the Pulp/Appendix N classics.  I was always a fan of Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, but I have been reading Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter,Pellucidar) and Robert E. Howard.
This game is called "Weird Tales: The RPG" in the Forward, I think that is very, very apt.  And since Weird Tales is my new current favorite thing to read, I really enjoy this.

I talked before about wanting to add a Hyborea/Hyperboria to my own world/playing and this might is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to do.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea covers a lot of the same ground as Adventurer, Conquer, King. But the ground in AS&SH is older, colder and has the foot prints of unnamed horrors.

Among other things this game is one of the best I have seen that mix the Lovecraftian Horrors and classic "AD&D" demons together into a believable whole.

Expect me to be going on (and on and on) about this game in the future.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Reading Appendix N

The Dungeon Master's Guide Appendix N is well know to many gamers of a certain age.  Maybe too well known really.
In case you are curious, never seen it before, or don't have your DMG handy, here is the list:
Source: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/Appendix/N

Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The Broken Sword
Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost
Brackett, Leigh.
Brown, Fredric.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice, Pellucidar series; Mars series; Venus series
Carter, Lin. "World's End" series
de Camp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall; Fallible Fiend; et al.
de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" series; Carnelian Cube
Derleth, August.
Dunsany, Lord.
Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" series; et al.
Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al.
Howard, R. E. "Conan" series
Lanier, Sterling. Hiero’s Journey
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al.
Lovecraft, H. P.
Merritt, A. Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al.
Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre.
Offutt, Andrew J., editor. Swords Against Darkness III.
Pratt, Fletcher. Blue Star; et al.
St. Clair, Margaret. The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit; "Ring Trilogy"
Vance, Jack. The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al.
Weinbaum, Stanley.
Wellman, Manly Wade.
Williamson, Jack.
Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows; "Amber" series; et al.

Certainly a worthy list to be honest.

But it isn't my list.

Yes I read Tolkien during my formative years, followed quickly by Moorcock and Lovecraft. I dabbled in Norton.  But I didn't read any Conan till almost a year ago. I had read "A Princess of Mars" before I played D&D, but nothing more till recently and none of the Pellucidar series till almost two years ago.

I have joked, half seriously, that my Appendix N is mostly Hammer Films, 70's exploitation horror, Led Zeppelin, Twilight Zone and Dark Shadows.

But semi -serious for a moment Appendix N was never supposed to be passed on as Holy Writ and there are some notable omissions.  Here are some things I would add.

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan:  CARMILLA. Natch.

Lucas, George: STAR WARS.  Star Wars, the first movie, is a D&D adventure writ large.  Star Wars and D&D are so forever linked together in my mind it would be hard to tease them apart in terms of which one colors my perception of the other more.  This one though is a total cheat as a movie and as one of the "newest" item on my list.

Poe, Edgar Allen. Lots.

Robbins, Russell Hope. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology: This book has been long out of print, and I got mine at a used book store, but it is the indespensible work on witches, the witch craze and demonology. The book takes a very pro-witch point of view as it frankly discusses the murder of women, children and even men in the name of god. Not to be missed, this book has been THE source for most of my writings. Several editions are out there, mine is the 1959 edition. I have seen them on Ebay as well.

Smith, Clark Ashton: Everything.  No seriously.  I discovered CAS after reading about his friendship to Lovecraft.  I found a copy of his unfinshed works in the basement of my university library (no joke).  I was RIVETED.  He spoke to me in ways Lovecraft never dreamed.  In particular I recommend his Averoigne series and his Zothique series.
http://www.eldritchdark.com/

Stoker, Bram: DRACULA;  Need to know what else a cleric can do in your group? Let me introduce Prof. Van Helsing.  I suggest getting the Annotated Dracula by Leonard Wolf.

There are many others.  But these are the ones I keep coming back to.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Tomb of Horrors

I am gearing up for the Tomb of Horrors.
I finally got a copy of Return to the The Tomb of Horrors for 2nd ed, so now I have a copy for every editions of D&D including 3rd and 4th.

I am hopping to take my kids through the same week everyone else is at Gen Con. They are somewhat higher level than the module recommends, but I don't think that will be an issue since there are not a lot of monsters in this anyway, but a lot of traps.  I will be running this under D&D 3.x.

Sure. It's not the "Classic" version, but that is fine for me really.  Plus I can't help but want to add some monsters from the 3.x/Pathfinder Tome of Horrors too.

I picked up this printout of the maps for minis, so running it unnder 3.x would be nice.

Past conversations on this:
Plus these goodies on the internet
WotC's 3rd Edition conversion
WotC's humorous walkthrough map

So how about you? Have any stories about the infamous Tomb?


Monday, August 5, 2013

Happy Birthday Larry Elmore

Today is Larry Elmore's birthday. I have not posted this in the past because I am usually at Gen Con at this time and wish him a happy birthday personally.

Elmore usually gets shorted by the proponents of pure  old-school proponents.  Some associate his art with what they have felt was the decline of the old-school or even 1st generation mentality of *D&D.  His art appears very prominently in the Mentzer versions of the D&D Basic rules, and on through the BECMI series.  His art is central to the Dragonlance modules and books, so he gets lumped in with people feelings about that; good and ill.

I am a fan. I always have been. I like his work and I like the man.  Plus he does some damn fine witches.
So I want to wish him a Happy Birthday today!





Monday, July 8, 2013

Gygax Magazine?

Gygaz Magazine was released to much pomp and circumstance this past winter.  The idea was to capture the feeling and joy of the Dragon magazines of old and it did this. For one issue.

I was/am a yearly subscriber but yet I have no idea really when Issue #2 will arrive.  This is despite the communications on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

The main trouble here is trying to release a new print magazine in this day and age.  Most print magazines are failing and some, like Newsweek and Dragon, have gone over to all digital format.

Gamers can be be obstinate to the point of pig-headedness (and old school gamers even more so) when it comes to print, but sometimes economic reality is, well, reality.

It's not as if the content of the magazine doesn't have value, sales of the print and pdf versions can attest to that.  Is the value worth more than the cost to print, sell and ship.  One issue I have heard coming up is the rise of shipping costs which I am sure is the killer for most magazines.

I hope things get worked out for Gygax.  I'd like to see it succeed.