Anyone have a spare $1500.00 they can give me?
Prime 1 Studio is releasing a "museum quality" deluxe Zatanna statue.
She comes in two versions, the "Regular" version which goes for the budget price of $1099.00, and the deluxe version which goes for $1499.00.
Here are some pictures of the Standard Version:
And the Deluxe one,
Gorgeous. But I don't think my wife will be happy with me if I get it.
A few Kickstarters that are ending in the next few hours, so jump on these now.
Old-School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy
This one you should all know. It should be a great one really.
Brian Pulido's Newest: Lady Death: Treacherous Infamy #1!
Not a game, but I have always been a fan of the Lady Death comics. Silly sure, but I enjoy it.
Into the Unknown: A Solo Campaign for 5e, B/X, and S&W!
This one is a game and you have a little more time on it.
This is a solo adventure, so only one player is needed. I am interested in seeing how well this might work out.
The spells include "Bloodglass", "Fistandantilus's Firequench", "Thultaun's Thrust", "Barrier Reaver" and "Dragon Breath". Magic items include "Helping Hands" and "Spell Mirror".
Gary loved my portrayal of Mordenkainen, which was a great relief to me at the time. Dalamar vanished because of publishing timing: we didn't know his fate in Margaret and Tracy's DL novels at the time, so had to sidestep. (And the series was an editorial assignment.)#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 10, 2020
My NIGHT SHIFT co-author Jason Vey has a bit to say on the design and innovation of our Modern Supernatural RPG.
You can read it about it all here: https://wastedlandsfantasy.blogspot.com/2020/09/whats-so-innovative-about-night-shift.html
Jason makes a lot of fantastic points. So many in fact that I do not feel the need to reiterate them here and now. Save where I want to talk about why I wanted to make this game. And even here I am going restate something Jason already said.
NIGHT SHIFT: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars was designed to be familiar.
For me though not just in terms of game design, in terms of the types of games I have been playing over the last 20 some odd years.
In 1999 I was facing something of a crisis of my RPG playing. I had been playing D&D for 20 years solid by that point, with minor breaks due to college, grad school, and getting married. I had bought a house and had a kid on the way. Plus in 1999 D&D was feeling tired and old. I had played some other games, namely World of Darkness and other horror games. I had recently picked back up Chill, but none of these had lit the spark the way D&D had.
That is until I found CJ Carella's WitchCraft RPG. Now here was a game I loved and it relit the long dormant fires of RPG creativity. From here I picked up Kult, found more and more games. Soon I was freelancing at Eden. Then Jason and I were working together on Buffy, Angel, Army of Darkness, and more. But D&D was still that first love. At the same time the d20 boon was happening and there were a lot of new great games coming out based on the d20 OGL and more still based on the principles of the OGL. I went from a "dark time" to a new Golden Age in just a couple of years.
NIGHT SHIFT hooks into that familiarity.
The rules are a streamlined version of the d20/OGC with an "old-school" bend.
The situations are modern supernatural, so there feels like there is a "world continuity" with games I was playing using Chill, Kult, CoC, Mage, WitchCraft, and Buffy.
I want a game that can take me to the next 20 years of gaming and I truly think this one is it.
You can get hardcovers of NIGHT SHIFT from my publisher's webpage or PDFs via DriveThruRPG.
My thoughts are still on Halloween. So time to bring back another monster from my younger days.
Galley Beggar
Medium Undead (Incorporeal)The Galley Beggar, also known as a Bull Beggar, is a type of ghost found in crypts, dungeons, and even old cellars. They appear as a thin, skeletal looking ghoul in the poor light of dungeons, but are semi-transparent. They are incorporeal (ghost-like) and are immune to physical attacks of any sort and any mind-affecting magics.
The Galley Beggar has only one attack, a scream that causes fear (as per the spell) in all who hear it. Everyone with 100 feet of the screaming monster must make a Save vs. Spells or come under the effects of the fear. Creatures greater than 6 HD are immune. A favorite trick of the Galley Beggar is to pull it's own head off of its body and then scream.
The only ways to defeat a Galley Beggar are with Clerical Turning, they will turn as Skeletons (1 HD) or via any magic like Bless, Remove Curse, Dispell Magic, or similar enchantments. If the bones of the Galley Beggar are found and destroyed (with fire or given a proper burial) then the creature is also destroyed.
It is believed that the Galley Beggar is formed when a novice spell caster is killed on an adventure and their bodies are not returned for burial. The Galley Begger will not form until the body has decayed to bones.
Got a nice little mail call last week.
Going to have to see how this one plays!
Well, this one looks like it will be fun!
Abracadabra: A Guide to Becoming a Magical Games Master
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegrinningfrog/abracadabra-rpg?ref=theotherside
Described as "an art book that educates. Something to flick through for inspiration, guidance and assistance." This book combines the author's areas of expertise of RPGs, training coach and graphic designer into one whole.
The art is very attractive and this looks like a "coffee-table" or what we like to call a "luxury book" though it has more value than just looking good.
I was pleased that the author mentioned Michael Shea's "The Lazy Dungeon Master" as the go-to guide for learning how to run your games better. This book looks like it is not competing with that and would either supplement or complement Shea's books.
The art in this looks fantastic and there are hardcover and PDF options for the book.
At the current rates, £22 is about $29.20 US (PDF). £32 is $42.22 US (Hardcover) and the combined bundle is £42, or $55.42, not factoring in any shipping.
Considering what you are getting those prices sound good.
I am not going to lie. I am really excited about the new Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. One of the things about this book that really grabbed my attention was the cover art of the special edition version of the book.
Dragon+ has a featured article on her now, so please check that out to learn more.
I love her artistic style. Kind of dream-like.
I'd love to see her do Elric of Melniboné some day.
She is also currently auctioning off the underdrawing for Tasha's Cauldron.
https://www.facebook.com/wylie.beckert/posts/10108311523986137
Please check out her links and especially her Patreon and website.
Links
Though I will admit I was at the same time worried that this would just be a rehash of the formulas used in Dragon Magazine #109. Well, I am happy to report it is not, and there is more to this book than just that. In fact, the author even points out in the book the original system. My back-of-the-napkin calculations tell me that for levels 1-14 they both should give you the same numbers. But more on that in a bit.
I am going to break this up into a normal review and then follow with a Class Struggles.
Review BX Options: Class Builder
The BX Options: Class Builder was released originally has a special edition print version via The Welsh Piper's website over the early part of Summer 2020. The book later came to DriveThruRPG in a 2nd Editon mid Summer 2020. I will be covering the DriveThruRPG version only today.
The PDF is 82 pages, full-color art covers, with black, white, and blue color inside. The interior art is all b/w from various stock art publishers from DriveThruRPG. The advantage of this is the style of the book is very likely to fit into all the other books you might have in your collection.
The book is broken down into two larger sections. First is the class builder itself and the calculations for it. Second is a collection of Classes and Sub-classes for B/X D&D and clones, with the math worked out. There are also a few Appendicies.
The layout of the book is very, very clean, and easy to read. The PDF is bookmarked and the table of contents is hyperlinked.
After the Introduction, we get right into the builder itself. There is a single page of explanatory notes (that is all that is needed) and then a worksheet (a plus for the PDFs!).
After this, there are descriptions of basic abilities (armor, weapons, prime requisites), special abilities (thief abilities, spells, powers), restrictions and "Locked" abilities. All with associated XP costs.
These numbers are then added up. The Base XP is then plugged into one of the four base classes (Cleric, Fighter, Magic-user, Thief) for experience levels 1 to 14 (B/X standard).
Simple really. And that is only the first dozen pages.
The rest of the book is dedicated to "rebuilding" each of the four base human classes and the three demi-human classes. All seven also include various sub-classes. For example, the Cleric is built first and the numbers match those found in most clones and the original sources. Class variants cover new variant classes that add, change and/or remove abilities from the Base class. In the case of the cleric different types of Gods they can worship are covered. These are designed not to differ too wildly from the base class.
After the Base class and Variant classes the Sub-classes, with calculations and full XP tables, are covered. Again in the case of the cleric there is a Crusader (more combat, less spells) and a Shaman.
This is repeated for the Dwarf (Elder), Elf (Archon), Fighter (Barbarian, Beast-talker, Beserker) , Halfling (Warden), Magic-User (Necromancer, Sorcerer), and Thief (Assassin, Bard, Scout) classes.
This covers the bulk of the book (some 50 or more pages) and really is a value-add in my opinion. Some of those classes we have seen in other sources, but others are new or have new ideas. The Necromancer for example can create golems. Great if you think that the golems have the spirits of the dead in them or created Frankenstein-style.
Since this system is aimed at B/X level play, the obvious clone to support it is Old-School Essentials. It is not an "Old-School Essentials Compatible" product as in with a logo, but acknowledgments to OSE are made. So it would be fair really to compare the overlap of classes between this and OSE-Advanced.
The overlap is where you expect it to be, what I call the common Advanced classes (minus a couple); the Assassin, the Barbarian, and the Bard. There are some "near" overlaps as well.
The OSE Assassin compares well to the BXO-CB Assassin. Their XP values do differ, but not significantly so. BXO-CB Assassins have more HP. Both classes have the same skills.
The Barbarians compare well enough with the BXO-CB Barbarian having more HP again.
Bards have the most differences. BXO-CB Bards have more XP per level, less HP, and fewer overall spells. I don't consider any of this to be "game-breaking" or even "game-stretching", just different flavors of the class. Rename one "Bard" a "Skald" and there you go.
Shamans are a little bit like Druids and Crusaders are bit like Paladins, but different enough to provide some nice flavor to the game.
The Appendicies cover a number of topics like adding various thief abilities, a break down of the core seven B/X classes, skills, equipment, spell failure, home terrain, animal special abilities and abilities for higher-level characters.
The book is very high quality and has a lot of utility for all sorts of B/X uses. Working through the numbers it works great for levels 1-14. If you extend it to level 20 this would affect the numbers for spell casters. For example, Magic-users in BX/OSE gain spells to level 6, for a 2,400 XP addition. If you take this to level 20 Magic-users gain up to 9th level spells, this would be 3,600 XP added to the base. GRANTED this book does not claim to support above level 14, or more to the point, spell levels beyond level 6.
Class Struggles
How does this work in the real world? Or more to the point can it work with classes I have worked on.
Up first is something I grabbed at the recent Free RPG Day.
Path of Horror is a Story Path Card collection From Nocturnal Media.
They retail for $11.99. DriveThruRPG also has them as PDFs you can print or POD for $3.99 and $11.99 respectively.
These cards in particular have a horror theme.
The Game Master keeps the "Theme" cards and then deals out 2-3 cards to each player. The play can then play their cards at appropriate times. In the end the Game Master can play the Climax cards.
The theme cards include things like "Lost Cause" or "Hint of Madness." Other cards are "Remembered Dream" or "Found Item" or "Lurker." The cards are all numbered, so lower number cards are played before higher ones. They add a bit of color to your game and a bit more roleplaying and input from the players. They also require the Game Master to think a little more on their feet than usual since not everything can be planned out.
Currently, my son is using them in his "Curse of Strahd" D&D 5 game and I am planning on using them in my "Ordinary World" for Night Shift and "War of the Witch Queens" for Basic-era D&D.
There is quite a lot that can be done with these cards and since they rely on player input they can also be reused a lot.
What attracted me to them originally was the cover of course. The art reminded me of this card deck I had as a kid.
Certainly worth giving them a try in your games.
I have a new banner up. I am planning to do a lot more with Night Shift in the coming months.
Night Shift was designed to replace many games in my library, but that doesn't mean I am ready to stop playing or talking about those games yet.
In fact last night I was reminded about a game I really love and I really should do more with.
Satyros Phil Brucato had posted about a book he had done and it really reminded me how much I love Mage. Both Mage: The Ascension and Mage: The Awakening. Though I lean more towards Mage: The Ascension. But the post was about his book, Mage Made Easy: Advice from That Damn Mage Guy.
Part of the Storytellers Vault (a bit like DMSGuild, but for White Wolf/Onyx Path games) this book is about...well...Mage, made easy.
Now. Anyone who has ever played any version of Mage is likely to be incredulous about now. I mean, Mage is many, many, many things. Sometimes too many. But easy? No. Easy is never a word used with Mage. But Phil is the Mage expert. Mage: The Ascension 20th is close to 700 pages and he wrote the bulk of that. So if he is telling me that MME is something I can read in 60 pages, well I am going to pay attention.
And I am glad I did.
While I am conversant in most Mage matters, I do not by any stretch consider myself an expert, or even an advanced player. I am quite enthusiastic though. I found Mage Made Easy to be a nice breeze guide of solid advice that did two things right away for me. First, it made me want to play Mage: The Ascension again and secondly it gave me solid advice that is good for many modern supernatural games.
The book is very heavily focused on Mage and Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary in particular.
It shows you how to use the vast Mage meta-plot OR discard it altogether (that's me!). It gives you some fantastic archetypes to try out and even solid advice on Mage's biggest issue, Paradox.
Plus the art, as expected, is fantastic.
While I do say there is good advice for any modern supernatural game, the advice is also very Mage specific. This means to use this book it helps to have a basic working knowledge of the Mage RPG. Once you have that then translating this advice to your own game, be it Mage or something else, is pretty easy. BUT that is going beyond the scope of the book and not the fault of this book if it doesn't work out. But advice like "start small" or "start with the characters" is ALWAYS good advice.
While the focus is on Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Ed. (Mage20), I found there was good advice here to apply to my particular favorite flavor of the game in Mage The Sorcerers Crusade.
Makes me wish I had a Mage game going, to be honest!
It might still be August, but tomorrow is September and for my family, that means trips to the apple orchards.
Apple Tree Man
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| Apple Tree Man © Andy Paciorek |
Similar to treants, the Apple Tree Man is an ancient fae that lives in orchards. They are often the oldest apple tree in the orchard. It is not completely clear if these creatures are fae that have become tree-like or a tree that has awakened. It could even be that the spirit of the apple tree man is present in the oldest tree in the orchard and he passes from orchard to orchard making him effectively immortal and unique.
The Apple Tree Man will not attack unless provoked or if his orchard is in peril.
The Epimēlides (q.v), dryads of apple trees, are considered to be his daughters and granddaughters. He can summon 2 to 8 (2d4) Epimēlides to aid him in protecting the orchards. Additionally, he can "awaken" 1-4 (1d4) normal apple trees to fight as 6HD Treants to fight.
If a party though respects the orchard, does not harm any trees, and only eats the apples they need, the Apple Tree Man will be obliged to show them the quickest path out of the orchard.
If they offer him hard apple cider, especially cider made for Apple Wassailing, then the Apple Tree Man will tell the party where they can find buried gold in the orchard. Usually 1d6x100 gp worth.
If a witch is present then the Apple Tree Man will hide their tracks and make the party undetectable by foes. A witch may also be gifted a special apple wand that will cast one 1st level spell just once. The wand can be used later for other magics if desired.
The Apple Tree Man will appear as a treant with apples growing from his hair, an old man or some combination of the two.
And here we are at the end of another #RPGaDAY for August. What new Expeiences has this given me?
From the start, this month has been about my reflection of a Summer with the BECMI rules and Basic-era rules in general. I spent a lot of time here thinking about what these rules do that is different than what I have been used too over the last few years (read: Modern D&D) and what I was used too back in the 80s (read: Advanced D&D).
My lens for this #RPGaDAY was these experiences. Because of that reading what others had posted gave me a very different viewpoint. It was not 2-3 blog posts and 5-7 tweets that were all identical and everyone talking about the same thing. This was nice. While I was not as responsive as I would have liked to have been to others on this, reading them all was fun.
Since I also spent a lot of time talking about my BECMI/BX campaign, War of the Witch Queens, maybe I'll use that map as a simple dungeon crawl. Maybe using ideas from my various posts here and when those don't work, well, I am sure I'll think of something.
Hopefully, next year when this starts I'll be at Gen con again with my kids. That would be really great.
There are all sorts of portals to be found in RPGs and D&D in particular, but one was the most important to me.
In these 16 pages, I got a glimpse of something more. More worlds than I knew existed out there and they could be mine...all I needed was more paper-route money.
Here I first learned the differences between D&D and AD&D, though it would be a longer before I really knew. Other games I have heard about but had not seen. Games like Dungeon! and Vampyre. I learned of Gen Con and I wanted one of those T-Shirts.
I am a little sad we don't have these anymore, but there are far too many products these days to make it practical.
I see Archive.org has a copy archived if you want to take a look.
