New Review: Northlands

Northlands

The Northlands is a very cool campaign setting for a Norse/Viking like area for use with Pathfinder. Not a setting by itself, it is designed to be easily inserted into your game world. Though there is nothing stopping you from just using this book all by itself.

In its 110+ pages you will find a area ready for adventure. There are new classes, skills, feats, weapons and spells. There are rules for variant races (humans and Dwarves) and new races from the bestial Trollkin to the Hyperborean. Everything is given a new look to reflect the cold lands of the north. The culture here is a very different one. It’s not just colder, the people (and thus the characters) are different.

The magic chapter is very cool, with new spells, and new types of magic such as grudge magic and runic magic.

The lands are detailed in both chapter 2 and chapter 5. So there is plenty to work from here. The chapter on monsters contains quite a nice number of creatures and they are not for the faint of heart.

The author capture not only the rules of playing in these lands but the feel as well. Author Dan Voyce obviously has a love for this setting and their real world counterparts that show through the writing. This is a well researched book.

The art is equally fantastic and even though it is spare and black and white, it adds to the overall feel of the book. The cover is one of the best I have seen in a very long time.

The legends of the Scandinavian countries are ripe for adventures and part of the very fiber that makes up the core of the FRPGs. The Northlands helps bring these tales to life.

I originally grabbed this because my local Pathfinder group is called "the Northlands Group" and I thought this might be a cool thing to have.  But once I got it and started reading it I realized I wanted to keep it all for myself! I plan to use it for the areas in my Mystoerth games, specifically the areas right around my version of Hyborea.

Now this Northlands has nothing to do with the Frog God games Northland Saga for Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry.  But they are not incompatible.

I enjoyed it and I think you all might too.

5 out of 5 stars!

...here there be dragons...

School is winding down for my little guys and that means the summer of no school, no homework and no reading right?

Wrong!

You can't be the kid of an educator and not expect something.  But this time it was my son that surprised me.  I was talking with him the other day and he wants to write a book, and not just any book.  He wants to write one on dragons.
 
Liam has been playing D&D now for years.  He loves dragons and has read dozens of books on them and of course he is the original Dragonslayer in my games.  

We talked and I talked with teacher, so this summer Liam will be writing his first book, "Here There Be Dragons".  There will be stats, histories and all sorts of goodies about dragons.  He wants to do it all for Pathfinder and maybe 4e.  I also suggested doing it for OSRIC and Basic era games too.

He wants spells, prestige classes and even has come up with some very specialized dragon hunting weapons including the dragon hunter's spear ("Because getting close enough to a dragon to use a sword is stupid.")

I will be doing the layout and editing, but all the ideas will be his.

The best part?

We are going to make the book available to everyone.

I don't know all the details yet.  But expect a book of dragons coming from us sometime later in the summer.

Reviews at DriveThru

Working on cleaning up some of my "to be reviewed" files on my flash drive.

Trollops Of Destiny
At $1.19 I was not expecting a lot. I did get a book of 7 NPCs that I could use in any fantasy/historical style game. With a bit of work I could use them in almost any game, so the utility seems to be pretty high. But the issue I have this (one of them anyway) is there is not really enough information here. There are background sketches and motivations. There is an idea of how each character compares to the commoners of the time (intelligence, skills, wealth) and presented in a way to aid conversions into any system. There are also some adventure hooks and use ideas.

But there are some issues I have with it. First the art, that is there, is not really related to the text. Some art of the women in question would be nice. And "Trollops". Really? Why not just women or Femme Fatales but Trollops? And I am not sure what the whole "Destiny" thing is about. I know these are supposed to be archetypes, but they are very close to being stereotypes.

At the end of the day, it's nine pages for under a buck and a quarter. I would have rather paid more and gotten more I think.
3 out of 5 stars

Dudes of Legend (Full Version)
Be Epic.

Semi-serious, but very much tongue-in-cheek, this started out as an joke that people really loved. Is it irony to use it seriously in a game or self-referential humor? Sometime to break through the cliche is to embrace it.

It is the source book on how we wish the guys at White Wolf really were.

Every White Wolf player cliche of the 90s and on is here, and not just presented, but embraced and loving brought to us as if it were the only True Way to play. What is so funny here is that the stats for everything seem rock solid. They really put some care and attention to this.

White Wolf's April Fools jokes are usually pretty good and this one is no exception.

Grab your katana, trenchcoat and this book and be the Epic Awesome Legend you are.
5 out of 5 Stars

Player Races: Dragon Men
Misfit Studios gives us another fantasy race for Savage Worlds. This time we have Dragonmen, humanoid dragons. The document is not large, but does exactly what it needs to do. Description of the race, point values as a race and ways to use them in your game.

Good product for the price.
5 out of 5 Stars

Forgotten Foes Clip Art 1
Forgotten Foes Clip Art 3
Forgotten Foes Clip Art 4
12-14 excellent pieces of art to use as monster or character art or use in your own products with included license. All are black and white, but have a feel about them like you are reading a high-end bestiary. What would be nice if someone came up with stats for these for their own games. These are more inline with the classic monster books of the 1980s. The quality is great and the monsters/characters are good fantasy fare.
Includes a PDF for easy viewing.
4 to 5 out of 5 Stars

The Northland Saga Part 1 - Veangeance of the Long Serpent, Swords and Wizardry Edition
The Northland Saga Part 1 - Veangeance of the Long Serpent, Pathfinder Edition
I picked this up because I am playing in a Pathfinder game called "The Northlands Group" (unrelated). I am glad I did since this is a very interesting little adventure for low-mid level characters. Combining different cultures (Eskimo, Viking/Norse and others) and working on the "Lot's of planets have a north" theory, this adventure can be easily dropped into any campaign world. Brought to us by Frog God Games, which is what was Necromancer Games, it has the same high quality layout and writing you would expect from Necromancer.

This adventure comes in both Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry versions, but I did not see any loss of fidelity from one version or the other, just the mechanics have changed. The Pathfinder version is longer by 4 pages, but that is entirely due to stat blocks. It would be interesting to me anyway to hear how the playtests for the different versions went. Is there that much of a difference in playability. In any case this adventure is a very good example of how the game design can change in 3+ decades, but game play is still what matters.

Designed as part of Frog Gods new Northlands campaign setting it shows a lot of promise and certainly will be something I am going to want to pick up and use.
5 out of 5 Stars

Undefeatable: The Collected Feats Sourcebook (PFRPG)
The collected volumes of Undefeatable for d20/Pathfinder. 90+ pages of feats for all sorts of characters and situations.
A good resource to have. Nothing jumped out at me as particularly broken or munchkin, and I read many feats that were of the very useful sort. Some do seem to blur the line a bit between 3.x feat and 4e powers, but that is not a big deal to me.
4 out of 5 Stars

[PFRPG] Moon's Folly
I love little towns with a lot of mystery. I love weird, freaky cults and weird, freaky goings on. And I love material that I can use in any setting, especially my own.
So I snatched up Moon's Folly in a hurry.
So take a town, plant it near a pre-historic megalithic structure. Fill it full of humans, elves, fey and lycanthropes and all peacefully worshiping the Moon Goddess, add your PCs and I am sure something is going to happen. But in case you are at a loss for ideas, there are plenty in this book. Did I mention that there some lumberers wanting to cut down the forest for profit? Yeah they are there too.

Reminds me a bit of the Village of Hommlet, if Hommlet was in the Scottish Highlands surrounded by dryads.
There are plenty of other secrets and plenty of NPCs to keep a Game Master occupied.

The one thing it is missing though is some sort of threat the Characters can solve the old-fashioned way, with sense violence. Not a requirement mind you, but players do enjoy a good combat session. The Keep had the Caves of Chaos, Hommlet had the Temple of Elemental Evil and Moon's Folly could do with something similar.

All in all, an enjoyable work and a great starting place for a group of new adventurers.
4 out of 5 Stars

Tobyart 006
Tobyart 007
Tobyart 008
Tobyart 009
Tobyart 010
Good line art to use as a character portrait, stock image or even for your own publications.
The license is included and easy to understand
5 out of 5 Stars

Bill Coffin's Septimus
Bill Coffin's Magnum Opus Septimus is yours for the asking.
Using the D6 system you can now play in this far future setting of a dying empire and a huge Dyson's Sphere.

This book is the ultimate in expression of the D6 system. Everything you need to play for years is here. Like the characters, there is so much to uncover here that it would take a group years to run out of ideas. If you area fan of Dune, Foundation or of the D6 system, then this really is a must have.
4 out of 5 Stars

Arcane Flavor
Need more background for your wizards or a cool place for them visit? Then this is the book for you. Living in a world full of magic should make for some magical lands and people, Arcane Flavor present five such cultures. Easily added to any campaign world. Each city, culture or locale also comes with new powers, spells, feats or rituals that are common to that region (and no where else!)
Cailleath is a fey city like no other. It's people are a strange assortment for any world and getting stranger all the time! It is a magic cosmopolitan filled with wonders not possible anywhere else in the world, or worlds, given it's nature.
The Valok are nomadic peoples with their own stories and songs and these contain power.
The Merry-Bedlam Company stretches this idea even further with a large extended theater family whose original race is no longer clear.
Karxal is a arid nightmare of a land, all the more reason to find arcanists devoted to beauty.
And finally to strike fear into hearts of power mad wizards everywhere are The Ternion.

The product has good layout and everything is very clear to read. The art is also good.

The rules are 4th Edition, but there is enough background here that it would be good for any game.
5 out of 5 Stars

Smallville High School Yearbook
An excellent source book to use with Smallville focused on the what really is the core concept of the show; Clark in High School. As expected the layout and art is top notch, this is a fantastic looking book. I love the whole "Yearbook" motif, very clever.

In you play Smallville, then this is a must have.
If you play any other game based in or around a High School then this is also a great resource to have on hand for character development. I loved the idea of the cliques and think I see a bit of the "Leverage" design philosophy in this game as well. In the end it makes for a much cool game.

Very much worth the download.
5 out of 5 Stars

[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to Fire Magic
Every group has one. I have had several. That wizard that is a complete pyro. It makes sense, fire causes a lot of damage, cleans up dungeons and the preferred weapon against most undead. Now the Super Genius' have given us this useful tome.

Tons of fire magic (including a new one, Steam) and ways to use your fire based spells and spellcasters. I got this one for my sun and his "Fire Wizard" so I am going to be getting a lot of use out of this one.
5 out of 5 Stars

DriveThru Reviews: Fantasy Heartbreakers

The term "fantasy heartbreaker" is a term coined at The Forge to describe a then new breed of fantasy games that were very detailed, but obviously not far from the root game that spawned them, D&D.  To me Fantasy Heartbreaker games always come across as someone's house rules of D&D or how they would have made D&D.  Now sometimes they are supposed to be a game in their own right, a supplement to another game or in the case of more recent years, an OGC/d20 ruleset.

Most times the rules are nothing more than D&D with a different coat of paint, though sometimes were are treated to something new.  Take Pathfinder.  It is basically a Fantasy Heartbreaker that cleaves very close to the original source.  So close in fact that it even has some of the same staff on it as the 3.x version of the D&D rules.  Plus it gives a few new things.

World of Lykarnia

World of Lykarnia certainly feels D&D-ish.  There are 6 traits that map perfectly onto the 6 standard abilities of D&D. There are skills, classes, levels, the standard races. Everything we expect in a FRPG.  The equipment list the same weapons we have seen dozens of times. Granted I am not expecting much there.
A couple of things I felt were odd.  The table of contents is huge, even for a 169 page book.  I think the author could have collapsed a level or so; give us the broad categories, not ever thing to a Level 3 Header.  Secondly the book starts off with (Chapter 2) with an example on combat.  We don't even know what some of the words being used are (Spirit Score?) but we are supposed to follow along?  Didn't like that.
The system is a simple d10 based one, not all that different than Unisystem or True20 (with a d10 instead).  I found that more interesting since I could use this with Unisystem fairly easy (Characters are even ranked 1 to 5 on their traits).  The magic system is interesting, but the spells are not all that different than what can be read in the Basic D&D books.  I do like how they were grouped into classical elements.
The bit about psychotic disorders seemed way too modern for a fantasy game to be honest.
The monsters are just descriptions with their stats at the back of the book in a big table.  Like OD&D.
There is a introductory adventure in the back as well, which I thought was a nice touch.
The author obviously put a lot of work into this book but there is nothing here that we have not seen already.
The included JPG map is very nice.
I give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

Tome of the Lost Realms Players Handbook

Released not long after the world had heard about 4th Edition, Tome of the Lost Realms does what Pathfinder also sat out to do, extend the life of the 3.x ruleset. Also like Pathfinder, this is a massive book at near 480 pages. The fonts and typography are meant to bring another Realms to your mind I am sure.  The realms themselves are interesting as far as that sort of thing goes. the races section is rather large with all sorts of fantasy races, again many we have seen before. The same classes as 3.x/Pathfinder, with the Warlock replacing the Sorcerer in all but name.  There are skills, feats, equipment and spells just like 3.x but it is hard to tell if anything here is new or not since there is so much of it.  The Section 15 of this book leads me to believe that there is a ton of stuff in this book above and beyond the SRD, but nothing jumped out at me.
In the end this is 3.x or maybe 3.6.  It is not quite Pathfinder and it has not moved past it's D&D roots to be completely unique either.
I gave 3 stars out of 5 since there is nothing really new here.  But the price puts it at a fifth of the cost of Pathfinder, so maybe 3.5 out of 5.

I think the issue here is that if you are going to make a new fantasy RPG you have ask yourself what are you giving us to overcome D&D-inertia.  What is new, interesting or otherwise different than before.  Retro clones will start to fall into the same issues, if they haven't already.

Upcoming Projects

I have been very busy over the weekend.

In addition to all the normal stuff I do (work, being a dad, being a student, doing this new consultant gig) I also finalized some projects I hope to get out to you all soon.

The playtesting and writing is done for the most part, the longer editing process is now underway.  All three of these products are related and each one has different focus and a different goal in mind.

Without further ado...

The Witch

A Class for Basic Era Games

This book is designed to be used with Basic era games, such as the Basic Set and Expert Sets as well as the clones they inspired, Labyrinth Lord, Basic Fantasy and so on.   I am not making it explicitly compatible with any version/edition/brand but instead making it something that can be used with any "Basic" game circa 1978-1983.

The book features the witch class, as well as traditions, hundreds of new spells, tons of new magic items and even some monsters to use in your game.  Plus plenty of ideas to use in your game and material for other classes.

Right now there is just too much material in the book to make it a viable download/book for a basic game.  So editing is on going.

I am hoping to have this ready by Halloween.

Eldritch Witchery

For Spellcraft & Swordplay

This book was announced a bit ago for Jason Vey's Spellcraft & Swordplay, though it should be fine with any Original Edition game clone.

This witch is actually a bit different than the Basic Witch.  This will have two classes, the Witch and the Warlock, present a couple of new races, monsters, as well as a bunch of new spells and magic items.

This book will also feature demons and devils and new magical combat options.










The last one (no picture yet) is an untitled Pathfinder options book.
I might actually have that one done first.


So that is what I am doing.  Comments? Questions? Suggestions?

Return to the Tome of Horrors

Frog God Games, which is from what I can tell Necromancer Games minus Clark Peterson, will be releasing TWO new versions of the wildly popular Tome of Horrors Complete.


http://www.talesofthefroggod.com/index.php/products/the-tome-of-horrors

This three book series was full of old school monsters from the like of the first Edition Fiend Folio and other sources and let them free thanks to the magic of the OGL.

Well the flumph is free once more and the the Complete book has the creatures from the first three books in one cover. It's all been updated to Pathfinder in one book and Swords & Wizardry in another.

I have the three original books and have updated a few of the monsters on my own, so I do find this rather interesting. But I am not 100% sold on it all yet. Looking at FG's products it looks like the same standards that we used to see at Necromancer are still being used. Their publications for both Pathfinder and for S&W look great. So really there is no reason to assume that this product won't be worth every penny. Except, I have them all now. I can use them almost as is for Pathfinder, and retro-scaling them should not be an issue.

I think I am going to wait on this one till I see some reviews.

Weekend Recap

Had our first Northlands game group on Saturday.  It was fun. We are playing Pathfinder and have a good group. I am looking forward to more.  The world we are in is one the GM has made, so there are some familiar names mixed in with some that are not, so I am looking forward to seeing how this all works out.

Speaking of Pathfinder. I went to one of the closing Borders books here in the Chicago area and picked up a new Pathfinder core book for my kids to have. It was 30% off.

Mike Mearls has a new column up on WotC's D&D page called "Legends and Lore" which is designed to talk about D&D and it's past, present and future.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20110208
Of course, as expected the OSR glitterati have weighed in, most with predictable comments.
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/02/legends-and-lore.html
http://platinumwarlock.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-which-warlock-has-bone-to-pick.html
http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2011/02/mike-mearls-plea-for-unity.html
http://moldyvale.blogspot.com/2011/02/mike-mearls-whines-for-solidarity.html
http://wondrousimaginings.blogspot.com/2011/02/oh-yeah-mearles-then-put-your-money.html
http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2011/02/wizards-needs-to-take-leadership.html

I am one of those people that sees more similarities in the games than I do differences, so Mearls' post, while written toward me is not actually directed at me if you know what I mean.  Nor is it really directed at the OSR (which is frankly  too small to be a concern).  While most of the reaction is the same knee-jerk stuff I'd expect, there is a point that nearly everyone makes that I think is worth WotC's time to look in to.  Bringing back older edition in PDF form.  Yes the cynic in me says why should they bother to sell rules to people who already own them, the deeper cynic in me knows that people will buy them anyway (I have) and make money for WotC.
I think a perfect world in WotC's eyes would be that people play what they want, but still buy a DDi subscription.

Gonna be a busy week.  Posting might be light.

Updates

Various updates to some hanging threads.

New Game Group
The Northlands Game group met over pizza.  We are going to be playing Pathfinder as I expected, which is good.  We are using variations of of our former Pathfinder characters (so yes, starting at 1st level AGAIN).  I am going to be playing Oisín, a Cavalier (not a Paladin).  All the characters are half-brothers; Dad got around a lot.  I need to read up on the Cavalier some more and decide what cause he takes up as his own.

Gen Con Updates
I will be going to Gen Con this year.  So far I think I am only going to run three games.  Dinosauria! (one for adults and one for younger people) and a revised Obsession. Obsession was a HUGE success in my mind, but every group wanted to kill the wrong guy from the start, which is fine, but not at all what I wanted to see happen, so the adventure is the same, the first Act will be slightly changed.  So if you played Obsession before, this will not be different enough to play again.  I do want to run a kids game, there are more families coming to Gen Con than ever before and I want to support that.

Sci-Fi game
I think the issue with me not finding a good sci-fi game is I tend to link Sci-Fi more to properties (Star Wars, Star Trek) more than I do Horror or Fantasy.  The closest thing I ever got was Star Frontiers.  I think, given what I am mostly likely to do with a Sci-Fi game, is stick with d20 3.x.  There are plenty of good sci-fi games that use d20, including some of my faves Star Wars and Star Frontiers (sort of d20-there are SF elements in d20 future).  I am going to have to give it a try sometime to see how it all works out.

Fortune Cards, Critical Hit Decks, Tarot Cards all in my game!

Heck with it.

One day I am going to going to let my players in whatever D&D-type game I am playing at the time use WotC's Fortune Cards, Paizo's Game Mastery card decks and maybe I'll through in some Tarot/Tarokka Cards and the Deck of Many things all in the same game.

And I'll let my "Boss" or "Big bad" monsters have the same.

What the hell right?  It should be a blast.

Pathfinder today

Have the "Little Kids" game today.  Playing Pathfinder and going to the Keep on the Borderlands (again).
I am actually playing, not running, this one.  Playing the new Pathfinder witch, which I like but it needs some tweaking to be perfect.

Now the biggest obstacle.   Getting my game room cleaned before the other players and the DM gets here. ;)

Gen Con Haul, quick and dirty reviews, Part 1

Here are some of the things I got at Gen Con this year.

Ok, that is a small lie.  I actually didn't buy anything this year, but instead bought some on PDF before the Con and others afterwards.

First up Pathfinder, the big Ennie winner of 2010.

Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide

OR "Bought it for the Witch, Stayed for the Paladin"
The one thing I see here is some serious influence on what I will call "new School" D&D.  Pathfinder and D&D4 took the same base idea (D&D 3.5) and then went in very different directions.  I think Pathfinder is exactly what we would have gotten in D&D 4 had the same team stayed at Wizards/Hasbro.  That is more evident with this book.
The race section is interesting, but I am not sure what I'll do with that all yet. Though I like the potential of what they have here.  I can see similar options for various countries or lands the characters grow up in.
I love the new classes.  The Alchemist, Oracle and the Witch are all kinds of awesome.  The cavalier is a nice throwback to the old UA.  The Witch Hunter Inquisitor is also quite cool.   The Oracle and the Witch are like Divine and Arcane versions of the same thing really.  That is how it should be.  A multiclassed Oracle/Witch (a Seer? A Sybil?) would be very cool if built properly.  I love all the archetypes (Mysteries, Orders and the like) really gives each class some style.  Speaking of the witch, I love how much she is reliant on her familiar. Something I think other witch classes for *D&D over the years has forgotten. Though I am not a fan of the witch needing a hag for a coven.  I don't mind that she can count as a hag, but I still think three witches should be able to form a coven on their own.
The section on expanding the existing base classes is equally as awesome.  Again, this book seems to deliver on the promise of the old Unearthed Arcana.  All sorts of new archetypes are detailed.  Think of what they did with the Sorcerer and bloodlines and now apply that to every class.  Sorcerers get new bloodlines, fighters get new fighting styles (which helps move them away from the Cavalier.  This is a good thing). Wizards get new schools (Earth, Wind and Fire...and Water.  Benders or 70's Soul.  You decide).
The Zen Archer Monk is cool beyond words.  In one of my Pathfinder games I am playing a Paladin, so I am looking at the various archetypes (Divine Defender, Hospitaler, Sacred Servant, Shining Knight, my faves Undead Scourge and Warrior of the Holy Light) really closely.  There is also an Antipaladin class, not a prestige class.
Plenty of new feats.  New equipment (no new polearms). Lots of new spells. And Prestige Classes.
While there is nothing here that screams witch or oracle, there are some neat ones for the cavalier, inquisitor and paladins.  The Holy Vindicator certainly looks fun. There are some new magic items, cursed items and artifacts.
There are some new rules, including Hero Points, which is nice and the whole section on Traits; which I am unsure if this is the same as what come out before or not.

All in all a really awesome book.  If you are playing Pathfinder then it really should be a must have.
The best comparison is of course to the old Unearthed Arcana of the 1st ed days (not the 3rd Ed one).  The rules here are designed to be added right into your game with a minimal of fuss.
As a publishing model I can see Pathfinder coming out with these every so often, like WotC and their Player's Handbook X model.  But the issue with that is there is so much in this book now and it adds so much flexibility that I am uncertain where they would want to go next.  Mind you I do have my own ideas, but would those support a line?

Other Random bits:
I like the witch. I like her a lot.  But there are things I would change about her to be honest.
I guess the Witch iconic character is named Feiya, but I have not seen her stated up yet, other than she is Chaotic Good and has white/blond hair like the iconic sorceress,  Seoni.

While the expanded races are neat, I think I would have liked to see something new too.  A new race really should not be out of the question given the races that both 3.x and 4e have given us.  Not a dragonborn or a wilden, but a demonic type like the Tiefling might be cool.

The three core Pathfinder books, the Core Rules, Bestiary and Advanced Player's Guide, use the same color on their bindings as the core D&D4 books.  Red, green and blue.  Granted these are the most common colors, but it bears mentioning.

With the release of this book would it be safe to call Pathfinder "Advanced D&D 3rd Edition" instead of D&D 3.75?  I personally like that better.  So once again you could say we have AD&D and D&D.

I mentioned it before, but the art is fantastic.  It is still the "dungeon punk" feel of 3.x, but updated to the D&D4 style a bit.

What is missing here I think and needed is some information on Pathfinder Epic level play.  I was never thrilled with the Epic Level Handbook from WotC and I also don't think it will work very well with this book. But I would like to see something.

Pathfinder APG

I now have my hands on the Advanced Player's Guide for Pathfinder.

Still dig the witch, but would rather see her stats based on Wisdom or even Charisma. 

Love the art.

More once I have had a chance to go over it proper.

Would have liked to see more witchy Prestige Classes too.

Gen Con 2010 in retrospect

All things considered Gen Con 2010 was a great time. It was the first time I took the wife and kids and everyone had a blast. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of my time.

Best:
- Playing the Red Box D&D4 with my kids. It was awesome and it felt like "old D&D" to me. I know there is a lot of FUDing about this (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about the new Essentials line, but I can tell you this it was fast and fun.
- My Ghosts of Albion games went great! Ran Obsession and I loved seeing how the different groups dealt with the same problems.  Kurt Wiegel of Game Geeks fame played in one of my games and it was great time.  Earlier in the same day Andrew Peregrine of Victoriana fame also played in my games. I always try to get in a game of Victoriana at Gen Con, but couldn't this year.  So it was nice to get Andrew in a Ghosts game instead.  By the way, Andrew got a silver for Best Writing  for Victoriana at the Ennies this year!
Wanted to run some more games, but didn't have the time.  Having the boys with me made the social and gaming dynamic very different.
- Playing our regular D&D 3 game in the hotel lobby with my boys.  I wanted them to have the full Con experience.  We only played for about an hour, but they managed to get pretty far.

If you have that Facebook thing on teh internets at home then you can see my photos.

Looking Forward to:
- Ravenloft board game.  Saw it run at the Con and it looks fun as hell.
- D&D4 Red Box.  I know this send hordes of people that like to read my blog scratching their heads in disbelief, but I played and it was fun.
- Ravenloft campaign setting.  That was totally unexpected!

Sorta Bad: I bought nothing the entire con. I decided to pick up the books I want at my local game store instead.  I am buying Advanced Player's Guide, Smallville, and DC Adventures.  I might also pick up Icons, even though I have all of these on PDF already.  So I'll head to Games Plus and buy my stuff.

What was up with the White Wolf booth anyway?  Were they selling anything at all?

Kinda Bad/But also Good: Son and I tried to get into a D&D4 game but the line was longer than his stamina. We wanted to play but went down and had chili dogs and soda instead.  Again, the full Con experience.  I have to admit I was getting tired too and having a chili dog and a soda with my little guy was a fantastic way to spend the time.

Worse: Some guy fell asleep on I-65 back to Chicago and hit us doing 75 miles an hour. We went across 2 lanes of traffic and landed in a ditch on the side of the road.
Kids and wife are fine, no one was hurt. Had a lot of help from some really nice locals. Really killed the post-con high we had going.   We will be back next year of course. But I might be taking back roads home.

Other News

The Ipad seemed to be to tool of choice this year.  I can easily understand why.  Once they have one big enough to hold all my PDFs then I am there.

Ghosts of Albion did not make it to print for Gen Con this year.  But I understand that we are going to be seeing it in game stores in a couple of months.  Frankly a Halloween release would be awesome.  I'll write a new Halloween themed adventure for it to run when it is out.

Not Gen Con related

Amber Benson has some updated information about Drones on her blog.  I support Amber. Mostly because I know her and I have known about Drones for a while. Long enough to support her claims.
http://amberbensonwrotethis.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-are-these-two-things-different.html

I made the OSR News!  And not for any of my OSR support or my insane liking for the new Tomb of Horrors. ;)  They liked my Dark Druid adventure!  Thanks for the nod guys.  It really made my day today when I saw that.

Revised Plan; Generational Mega Plots

I plan to come back to Cartoon Action Hour here in a bit, but I have something I want to get organized first.

So a while back I posted a plan for the adventures I wanted to run with my family using 4E.

Well since that time, some gaming has happened, some looking over various adventures and some tests on my part has brought me to the conclusion that I can't run some of those old school modules under 4E after all.  Certainly I am still working on my current 3.x adventures with my kids.

Now mind you, this is not a bad thing nor is it reflective of the modules, 4e or "Old School".
But it has forced me to change my plans.

So for the "Dragon Slayers" game I am running I'll add some of those classic modules.  The characters are all right around 13th level now, with one just on the verge of 10th.  The ultimate goal of this game is to defeat Tiamat in the "Graveyard of Dragons". What can I say, my kids like the old D&D cartoon.    The rules are under 3.x edition, which has an odd mix of D&D 3.0, with some 3.5, minor bits from Pathfinder, BESM d20 and Star Wars d20 (the revised one that came out after Attack of the Clones).

Also some of these modules are going to be played by me under Pathfinder in either my "Big Kids Group" or the "Little Kids Group".  Currently the LKG is going through "B2 The Keep on the Borderlands".  I have already used bits of "X1 Ilse of the Dread" and "B4 The Lost City".  I know that in the one of the Pathfinder groups we will go through the GDQ series at some point, most likely the Little Kids Group.  I will be running "C2 Ghost Tower" under the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space game.

After that those characters will retire and their descendants will complete a new Quest.  The defeat of Orcus.
I'll run this one under D&D 4E and I do plan on it taking many years.

I am not 100% certain how the adventures will pan out, but I do want to use the D&D4 ones for ease.

• H1 Keep on the Shadowfell
• H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth
• H3 Pyramid of Shadows
• P1 King of the Trollhaunt Warrens
• P2 Demon Queen's Enclave
• P3 Assault on Nightwrymn Fortress
• E1 Death's Reach
• E2 Kingdom of the Ghouls
• E3 Prince of Undeath

Part of this is my desire to have them battle Orcus at the end. Plus I like to overall plot of involving the Raven Queen vs Orcus and Orcus getting a hold of some ancient artifact of Tharizdûn.

Those modules will get them from 1st to 30th level.  But I might want to add a couple here and there.  Not sure yet since I have not read them all in detail.   I also know some people have had issues with these modules, both in terms of how they fit together, plot and playability.  So I want to get things that are out now, and then tweak them as I need.  Afterall, if this is about fighting Orcus who gets an artifact from ancient Tharizdûn then I can lay some ground work in my 3.x game now for that.

So after all that I have some modules left over.

• B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, levels 1-3 (using bits from both the "Green" and "Orange" versions).
• L1 The Secret of Bone Hill, levels 2-4
• X2 Castle Amber, levels 3-6 (place it in the Shadowfell, which is the new Ravenloft anyway)
• I6 Ravenloft, levels 5-7. That is if I don't use it as a convert Ghosts of Albion adventure. Use some of the Ravenloft campaign/world setting stuff here too.
• S2 White Plume Mountain, levels 5-10
• I10 Ravenloft II, House on Gryphon Hill, levels 8-10.
• S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (with some of the info from the 3.5 update), levels 6-10
• WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, levels 5-10
• S1 Tomb of Horrors, levels 10-14 (though I might just wait for the new D&D4 version)
• S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, levels 8-12
• CM2 Death's Ride, levels 15-20. 

Then there are these modules:

• H1 Bloodstone Pass, levels 15+
• H2 The Mines of Bloodstone, levels 16-18
• H3 The Bloodstone Wars, levels 17-20
• H4 The Throne of Bloodstone, levels 18-100

Like the E series for D&D4, these send you to Orcus's layer to defeat him.   Of the lot, H4 would be the best one to use, maybe as a buffer between E2 and E3.   The others seem more suited for the Dragon Slayer's Pathfinder game.    Of course, I could convert the H1-H4 Bloodstone series to feature Tiamat instead of Orcus.   S4 and WG4 are linked and deal with Iggwilv, her Demonomicon and Tharizdûn.  They are good to set up the history of Orcus and Tharizdûn.  They can happen in either game. In the 4th Ed game I'd stick it in between H and P.  CM2 Death's Ride has some cool stuff in it. Good to set up the whole Orcus wants to be a God thing in the 3.x game.  Plus it would give me a good arch-nemesis for the characters to fight throughout.

The Ravenloft ones would be great for the Sunsword (a good weapon against the undead) but there is the Board Game coming out and I want it.  Plus I'd rather run Ravenloft these days under True20.  So I might have to find something similar.  If I use the new Tomb of Horrors then I could place a good aligned sword there.  There is a D&D4

There is a lot to do and figure out here.  But I see this as a good thing. Look at all the time I have.  I can plan out a mult-year arc of adventuring that would take my kids all the way to college.  Wouldn't have died to have done something like that?

Though I do need to figure out a way to get more dragons into the 4th Ed game for my oldest.

Now this is my attempt to bring Old Schoolers and New Schoolers together.

NEW SCHOOLERS:  What things should I be aware of when running the HPE series?

OLD SCHOOLERS: What classic, epic modules are a "must run" for a group of kids that were not even alive when Clinton was in office, let alone Carter.  What memory of "D&D" is a must have?  Barrier Peeks?  Tomb of Horrors?

Clarifications on Games being Played
- "Dragon Slayers" is a 3.x game that I play with my two sons and sometimes my wife joins us. The goal of this game is to defeat Tiamat.
- "Big Kids Game/Group" is a Pathfinder game where I play a Paladin.  In this group are my kids and the DM's kids (6 players, 1 DM)
- "Little Kids Game/Group" is a Pathfinder game where I play a Witch (same witch as I do in Dragon Slayers).  This is the group with the Problem Player.
Both Pathfinder games have the same DM.
- "Untitled 4th Ed Game" is a 4e game where the players are the same as Dragon Slayers, but the characters are their children or descendants. The goal of this game is to defeat Orcus.

Blog Pimpin'

I wanted to give a shout to my DM.

He has a blog now and will be doing more with it including detailing the "Big Kids" Pathfinder game I am in and how we dealt with the Problem Player.

http://rhoninsramblings.blogspot.com/

Go by his blog and "follow" him so he writes more. ;)

Weekend Recap

My big birthday weekend is coming to an end and it was a blast.

Pathfinder
Finally leveled up in Pathfinder yesterday! Yeah!  We are all still making tweaks to our characters which is to be expected. Still enjoying this game but there are some minor rules tweaks we are still getting used to after 3.5 and 4.0.  I am also playing a Paladin.  Something I have not done in maybe 20 years or more, so I have to get used to being a front line fighter again and not the sneaky arcane type that fires magical bolts from the background.  So I have combat tactics to read up on.

New Games
Got Dresden Files.  Wow that is a good looking book, can't wait till the dead tree version is out.  Great stuff and I love the city creation guidelines and it does have one of the most detailed character creation systems I have seen.  I am not sure if I will like it as a game yet, but it goes a long way toward's selling Fate to me.

Mentioned this one on Friday, but I am still loving my new Monster Manual 3 for D&D 4.  The guys over at Wizards know their audience, all the monsters in this book appeared (more or less) originally in the various AD&D modules from the Golden Age of AD&D.  So there are your GDQ monsters, your S series ones (some, not all) and more.  It was nice to see some old faces.  There were new ones as well to keep things interesting.

I worry about D&D 4 though.  It seems to me that the wind is gone out of it's sails (and maybe sales too).  I like the game, but I see why some gamers don't.  The market is more factionalized than ever before and it is somewhat due to the one thing that was supposed to bring us all under one system to rule them all; d20.

I have new Witch Girls Adventures book on the way, so I want to talk about that soon too.

Wedding
Next week I have a Civil War reenactment wedding to go to.  I am in the wedding so I'll be wearing my Victorian suit.  I will be wear a full wool suit, in Illinois, at the start of Summer, outside.  I must be insane.
I want to get XP for this like it was a LARP and be able to apply to any of Ghosts of Albion characters.
In any case I won't be posting near the end of the week.

Random Stuff before the Weekend

So some little posts today.

Monster Manual 3 for D&D 4
Picked this up earlier in the week.  I love it.  You can never get too many monsters or monster books.  IT's too bad we are not playing D&D4 in my adult group.  I might have to move to D&D4 in my kids group just so I can use this.

I am torn. My kids' game of D&D 3.x is going great I almost hate to change things on them.  But then there are all these nice new D&D4 books...

Pathfinder

As typical tomorrow is ENWorld Game Day at my favorite local game store, and I am going to be at home in my game room playing a marathon game of Pathfinder.  Not that I am complaining mind you! I will just have to be there in spirit.  Anytime there has been an EN World Game Day or a D&D Game Day we are gaming at my place instead.  I am fully expecting my paladin, Johan Werper the V, the great-great grandson of my first ever D&D character to reach 2nd level tomorrow.  One can always hope.

I am totally digging using Hero Lab for this as well.  Great to keep track of things and even explore "what ifs" on skills or class choices.




Tempting FATE
Bet that title hasn't been overused!  Anyway. I have a bunch of new(ish) Fate and Fudge games that are screaming at me to try out.  I regular GM is bringing over his printed out copy of Icons, I have Dresden Files and few others.  I am still not 100% sold on Fate/Fudge even if they are Indy darlings.

More Games
Look for reviews, overviews and commentary of games like Dresden Files, BASH, Icons, Cartoon Action Hour 2  and more.  Plus I have a stack of old games I want to go over.  Mostly horror.

AND....
It is my birthday this weekend!  So happy birthday to me.

Reflection time!

Lot's going on around the ole' Other Side over the last few days. Let's recap.

New Followers
Welcome all new followers and thank you for your continued support to all!  If there is anything you would like to see me opine about, shoot me an email or a post.  I turned off moderation, which means I do get the occasional spammer, but I thought it would be better for ease of communications.

Ronnie Jame Dio
RJD died.  Truthfully he was as much an influence on my games as are names like Moorcock and Tolkien.  OK, maybe not that much, but he was still an influence.

Twilight the RPG
WOW. That struck a nerve.  I want to spend some more time on this one.  Just not sure what else I want to say yet.

Pathfinder weekend
Got to play Pathfinder with "the big kids" again this weekend.  I am just 125 XP for leveling up!   IT was a great time.  We were also just a table down from where Mike "Chgwiz" was playing his old school OSRIC game.  I didn't talk to him about his leaving the blog scene (I thought that would be rude), but it sounds like he has a hell of a game going.  So that is awesome.

More later today I think.

Pathfinder + Hero Lab

I have been playing in two separate Pathfinder games recently and I really like the system.  But the one thing that I didn't have that 4e gave me was a kick-ass character builder program.

I love character builder programs,   I think I have tried them all over the years.  I had the Core Rules CD-Rom, I had the character builder from Wizards for 3.0 and back in the day my DM and I built one for our Tandy Color Computers.  And I love DDi.  I know some people complain about it and others even claim that Wizard's or Hasbro are looking for more ways to make money.  To that I say how dare they give me an awesome product that does exactly what I want it to do for a fair and reasonable price! ;)  Seriously what is up with people.  Don't like the DDI, then don't pay for it.  I happen to love it.  I can play around with it and try out different characters, multi-classes and hybrids.  Yes I can do that with paper and pencil and books, but I don't alway have my books with me, say at work on my lunch break or relaxing in front the TV on the couch, or at the airport waiting for a plane.  The DDi is fantastic.

It's just too bad that I can't use it with Pathfinder.
I can't use it with Unisystem either, but that is not the point.

So I went out and I tried Hero Lab, from Lone Wolf development.  I remember getting a free CD from them one Gen Con and I couldn't find it anywhere, so I just downloaded it and tried it out.

Here is what I liked:
- I like that there are multiple games for this product.  Currently I use DDi, Uniforge, Simpson's M&M sheet, and Metacreator installed on my computer.  I like flexible systems.
- The interface is nice.  Not fantastic, but nice.
- Using it is rather easy after a few times.

Here is what I didn't like:
- Not 100% sold on the pricing structure here.  I think the d20 SRD derived content should be cheaper.
- I would like more systems, Unisystem is the top of my list.
- The interface, while nice, is old looking.

Comparing this to DDi though is not really fair.  They are designed to do similar, but different things.  Comparing it to Metacreator though is a better choice.

The pricing structure is about the same.  Metacreator though only charged 15.00 per module download, Hero Lab charges 20.00.  The core product is also priced similar with Hero Lab at about 30.00 (with a module) and Metacreator at the same with one module.
Both have the d20 SRD, Savage Worlds, and Call of Cthulhu.   Metacreator has Unisystem as well some others.  Hero Lab has WoD and Cortex.
Despite my nit-picking on the interface, Hero Lab is slightly better than Metacreator.  Both though look like "older" technology.  Metacreator in fact looks like something for Windows 95.
Both produce very function character sheets for printing or PDF.  Metacreator gets a not here since it produces sheets that look like the ones from the game itself.
Hero Lab is easier to navigate and the tabs are very nice.

In the end it depends I guess on what game you want to play.  If you play World of Darkness, Cortex, Ars Magica, Unisystem or Fudge then your choices are made for you.

Same with D&D4.  Yes, Hero Lab can do D&D4, but you need a DDi account to get the updates and if you are  going to do then just the D&D Character Builder.

Both have sizable fan-related content and forums.

So I broke down I bought Hero Lab because I wanted Pathfinder support.
I have to admit that some of the concerns I first had about Hero Lab changed after I bought it.  Now that could be because I had been playing around with more and knew the program better.

Side by side Hero Builder does actually compare nicely to the DDi Character Builder.
Here is a screen shot of my new Pathfinder Paladin and his D&D 4 alter-ego.  (big screenshot).

Having access to the new Pathfinder classes is nice too.
What would totally sell me on this of course is Unisystem support.  I would love to be able to put my Ghosts of Albion characters into something like this.
Chance are good I'll be getting the Cortex and maybe the SavageWorlds one in the future.  If/When I do I'll review them here.

Pathfinder, Game 2: The Big Kids

We started what will hopefully be a long running Pathfinder game with the "big kids".  This is my normal play-test group of the last few years, plus some guys that my DM Greg knows.  So far it has been a lot of fun.  Some of our players are missing the over the top acrobatics and "cinematic fantasy combat" of 4e and we are still making references to 4e in the game, I think it will go over well.

Our DM Greg is posting the play reports over on his blog, Rhonin's Ramblings, so some of my discussion about the game might end up over there as well. http://rhoninsramblings.blogspot.com/2010/04/pathfinder-campaign-chapter-11.html

We call it the "Big Kids" game since it is not the Pathfinder game I am currently playing with our kids; Greg's three boys and my two. In both games I am playing very different characters.  A witch in the "little kids" game and a paladin in the "big kids" one.  It is working out well I think.  I have made "mirror" versions of them in 4e and it will be interesting to see how they evolve together, but separate.  Or rather I made the 4e versions first and am now playing the Pathfinder versions.  One day I'll come up with a crossover adventure that involves all four characters in one world.

I still have my D&D 3.x (3.0, 3.5, BESM d20 and other d20 stuff mixed in) that I play with my two sons and we are supposed to get a 4.0/1st Ed cross-over game going sometime too.

That's a lot of D&D.

The cool thing is it gives me a chance to really get a feel for all the versions of D&D.  When my 3.x games ends I have to decide where to take it next.  The choices are continue with the hybrid 3.x game (throwing a bit of Pathfinder in), move up to 4e or even try something "new" like Labyrinth Lord or the D&D RC.

Our Big Kids game is once a month (or so) and the Little Kids game is about the same.  Advancement will be slow, but I am looking forward to it all.