Zatannurday: Team-ups

For the most of her career Zatanna has been a solo act. She has worked in groups; Justice League or the JL-Dark (not really the team's name) and some pairings.

But I'd like to see her in more team ups with other supers.

Here she is with Raven, pairing up with her dad Zatara, with other DC Women,  with Black Canary, and a couple times (here at least) with Scarlet Witch (here and here).

So here are some other team ups with Zee!  Enjoy!

Scarlet Witch and Zatanna 3 by ~Thetrainingartist on deviantART

Zatanna v Enchantress (Marvel) + Enchantress (DC) by ~Nick-Perks on deviantART

Gen Con 2012

It dawned on the other day that I am in no way shape or form ready for Gen Con 2012 yet.

Hotel was booked back in January, badges bought, games registered for.Google calendar updated.
But I am not mentally ready.  I am not running anything this year officially, maybe something for my kids.  Most likely the continuation of theForgotten Temple of Tharizdun.

I plan to pick some things up at the OSR booth, but there are not many purchases I want to make this year to be honest.

Who is going to the Best Four Days in Gaming? 
What are your plans?

The Complete B/X Adventurer

I got my copy of the Complete B/X Adventurer in the mail about a week or two ago.

What do I think of it?

Well, it certainly lives up to it's hype and to it's predecessor the B/X Companion (BXC).  Though there is no emotional investment on this one for me.  I waited for the B/X Companion for almost 30 years.  I waited for this one for only about a year or less.

I am going to make comparisons of it to B/X Companion AND to the old Bard Games "Compleat Adventurer" series (Adventurer, Spellcaster, Alchemist).   I think both comparisons are fair.  The first is obvious, but the second I want to explain.  It is obvious in the construction that this book owes a lot to those previous books.  The author, Jonathan Becker, acknowledges this in his Introduction.  I did the same with the first book on Witches I ever wrote back in 1999, so I might be predisposed to like this.
There is also a feel to this book that reminds me of the later Bard Games books, The Arcanum and the Atlantis series.

In all three cases the books provide additional classes, spells and magic with additional rules that can be added with little effort to your game.  We saw something similar from the official D&D books in the Unearthed Arcana books.

But getting on with the review proper.

The physical book is now perfect bound, not stapled, and it comes in at 62 pages. The cover doesn't try to invoke any other old-school product I am aware of, but I could be wrong.  This is a good thing really since it should have it's own identity. BXC very much wanted to invoke the images of the old Basic and Expert sets.
Table of Contents is on a page, not the inside cover.

Ready to play!

Now on to the meat.  We get a nice introduction from Jonathan Becker about how the book should be used.  It does indicate compatibility with Labyrinth Lord, LoftFP and Swords & Wizardry.  Though I don't see the compatibility licenses those products require.  I hope that is not an issue, but something that the author should look into.  Also this is not an OGL product, so no license and no OGC.  May not matter to you. In terms of buying.  I supposed if someone wanted to use some of this material in say an adventure that was broadly compatible Becker would give his permission (and he has said as much if I recall correctly).  For me I like to operate in the safe harbor of the OGL.  But this doesn't detract my opinion from the book at all.

First up we have charts on random head gear.  While this section is very good, it feels completely random. Not in terms of the tables, but why does the book lead off with this?  I would have made this an appendix or part of a later chapter.  Oddly enough the class table does not include any of the new classes in this book.  Move this to the back in future printings I say.  This follows with class exceptional traits.  Also very cool.  This one would belong here, but I would have put it after all the new classes.  Again, this does not have all the new classes listed.  Sure use the sub-class idea with Witches as a type of Magic-User.   Follwing this firearms. Again move to equipment.  I might not ever use this, but my son wants too (he read the book before I did).

Next up are all the classes.  These are the gems of the book in my eye.  The classes get about a page each.  So this will be nice to print out the PDF pages and re-org as needed.   The classes are Acrobat, Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, Centaur, Duelist, Gnome, Mountebank, Mystic, Ogre-Kin, Scout, Summoner, Tattoo Mage, Witch, and Witch Hunter.

The classes are about what you would expect if you have been in this game for a number of years, but they have their twists.  The gnome, centaur and ogre-kin are obviously race-classes in the Basic/Expert style.  The Summoner is really cool.  You summon creatures to do your magic for you.  So part demonologist, part Pokemon trainer! (ok ok) only really awesome about it.  It is one of the neatest takes I have seen on this ill-used fantasy archetype.  I will discuss the witch and the witch-hunter in detail in a bit.

This is followed by all the new spells that these classes need. It's a good amount, taking up the remaining 20 pages of the book.   The spells are of a good sort and there are a lot of them here.

The art is good and similar in style to BXC, sharing a couple of the same artists. Each class gets an art piece (another similarity to the Bard Compleat books) but the spells doesn't get much if any.  That is too bad since the art is generally very good.

My Thoughts
Again I think I would have put some the beginning material in the back to focus on the classes more.
But I really enjoy all these classes and I think that for my kids old-school AD&D game I would let them choose from this as a possible source.  I can see my youngest wanting to play an Acrobat and my oldest a Bounty Hunter.   I would some tips I have written in the past about converting "Basic" classes to "Advanced" ones, but honestly there is not much here I would change.

Another thought is that most of these classes are stated out to 14th level.  This makes them perfect, obviously, for pure Basic/Expert style D&D.  But there is something else they would work well with, ACKS.
In fact I have mentioned before how well BXC would work in extending ACKS.  Well now you can use the TCBXA as an add on to ACKS.  These two games have different purposes in life, but they fit together rather nicely, and this gives you some new classes to play around with till ACKS Player's Companion is out.

NOW all we need is Jonathan to give us a B/X Companion boxed set.  It can include the B/X Companion, the CBXA, and a brand new module.  I think that would be great!

The Witch

Ok, I have to play special attention to the witch.  Not just because it is a witch class, but because it is different than the other spell using classes.  For starters the witch can cast in groups to cast higher level spells. That is a nice feature really and something very much in tune with the archetypal witch.  The witch is the class in the book that is stated up all the way to 36th level AND built to gain powers to that point, also something I rather like.  Why?  Because a 36th level witch is the only class that can cast 10th level spells.  Yup.  This one goes to 10!

Crafting spells.  The witch does not memorize a spell, but she does have a limit on how many she knows.  The witch needs both a high intelligence (to know the spell) and a high wisdom (to learn and scribe it down in the first place).  So a first level witch with a high Intelligence knows 1+Int mod 1st level spells.  She can also scribe spells of 1st level + how ever many extra levels equal to her Wisdom mod.  I like it.  It is a nice quick way to know what can be done.  In fact I would like to use that for clerics since gods should know ahead of time what spells their flock need and then they just give them to the cleric at that time.

For the witch though I would reverse it.  Intelligence to write or scribe the spell and Widsom to know how many they can cast.  Witches are often called the "Craft of the Wise" afterall.   But all in all I like it.
10th level witch spells are nothing at all to sneeze at.  This is a powerful witch class.

The 10th level spells are a nice solution to the "Coven spells"/"Powerful magic" vs independent witches.  I can't see too many witch covens in groups.  Maybe two or three at a time.  With what JB has done here is given us a way to have powerful magics in groups at lower levels and keep those same magics out of the hands of solitary witches till much later.  This then does not make them a more attractive solution over Wizards/Magic Users.

Witchhunters
If you are going to have witches then you should have witchhunters. The ones here are fairly straight forward but they have some nice features.  I like that they get magic, but not as spells but powers.  Sure you could do a multi-classed Cleric-Ranger, but this is B/X not 3.x.  I'd like to give this witchhunter a spin sometime.

Bottom Line
If you enjoyed BXC or even Basic/Expert or other Old School play then this is a great buy.  If you enjoy old school play but are sticking with your clone of choice then I still say get this.  Look at the class list above and decide if any of those sound interesting to you.

I like it and I recommend it.

I'll stat up a witch after a bit and compare her to other OSR witches.

Blog Roll clean-up

First of the month, time for clean up.

I want to add some new sites, but Google puts a limit on how many I can follow, so some have to go.
Normally it is very easy.  But as I deleted older blogs and replaced them with newer ones I have added more than fall out naturally.

So have to make some hard cuts.  I am not lobbying for one site or another, I am just bemoaning that Google limits how many I can follow.

White Dwarf Wednesday #26

Summer of 81 is ending but White Dwarf 26 is ready with all sorts of new ideas! Let's get started.

First off, how awesome is this cover?

In this issue's editorial Ian Livingstone discusses the prospects of a monthly White Dwarf.  Bottom line they need more to write about (and more people to do the writing) to make it work.   We know that they will, but that is a bit off yet.

First up is "The DM's Guide to the Galaxy" or Space Travel in D&D by Marcus Rowland.  Two pages of what looks like the genesis of the Spelljammer products or even Space: 1899.  Very interesting to my eyes now, but back then I would have rejected it as being too odd.  I never mixed my D&D and SciFi back then. ;)

Open Box is next with our reviews.  We learn about the Apocalypse board game for 2-4 players from Games Workshop.  John Olsen gives it 9/10, downgrading the otherwise superb game due to the amount of time it takes to play.  Book 5 High Guard for Traveller is up.  It also gets a 9/10 from Robert McMahon.  Up next is a favorite of mine, and an admission.  I mixed Sci-Fi and D&D all the time and Marcus Rowland knows this.  He reviews module S3 The Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.  The hours I spent reading and re-reading that module.  He gives it a 9/10.  Knights of Camelot reviewed by Charles Vasey only fairs a 7/10.

Roger Musson is back with the Dungeon Architect.  Prat 2 is The Constructed Dungeon. Two pages of various physical features of the dungeon.  Such items like traps, one way doors and use of vertical space are covered. Lots of great ideas and certainly worth a look the next time you are designing an old-school dungeon crawl.

Star Base details the problems with Jump Drives in Traveller.

Letters covers topics from the last issues (24 & 25).

Character Conjuring is next with one of those articles I think everyone had a copy of or knew some one that did "Lizardmen as Player Characters". Simply put Roger E. Moore and Michael Brown spell out how to use the Lizardman as a player race.  I remember using this a a template for all sorts of odd-ball races.  What I like is they get everything onto one page.  Easy to read and use.  We should be seeing more stuff like this in the OSR.

Neil Cheyne presents his winning Traveller scenario, Amber to Red.  Three pages long.  I always admired how Traveller did more with less when it came to scenarios.

Lew Pulsipher is back with "An Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons" with part 4, fighters and thieves.  In both cases we are asked to look at these characters a bit differently and play to their strengths.  I can't but help think of the old Dragonlance modules/books here which had in their group 5 fighter types, but each acted differently from the other and had different strengths in the group.  That was this article in action.

Treasure Chest is back with some good treasure this issue.  The Potion of Quiet Spell casting is so cool I am disappointed I never thought of it myself.  A magic dagger, a curse potion that makes your words come out wrong, a tarot like deck and all sorts of other useful items.

This issue's Fiend Factory continues with the themes, in this case the Dire Tribes.   We get spell casting Shadow Goblins (which I have used before), the Asrai (water elemental or fey types),  Forest Giants and Winter Kobolds.  All of these are really cool monsters and the type of thing I bought WD for back in the day.

We have the results of both the White Dwarf questionnaire and the Monster Quiz.  The results were as expected really.  More coverage of other games, go to monthly.  Most people loved the cover to issue 23.   I likes 22 and 24 better myself.  The top three games are still the same, D&D, Traveller and RuneQuest.

Some news. Some Classifieds/Small ads. Then many pages of ads. Cover to cover 36 pages.

In truth a solid issue and one that has a lot of material that stands up to the test of time.
In fact I might drop a couple of Shadow Goblins into my new 4e game just mess with the players some.

And Another Kickstarter

Just when you thought your wallet  was safe there is another "must join" kickstarter, and this one has some serious Old-School roots.

Jeff Dee is recreating all his old art from the old B/X Basic and Expert sets.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffdee/re-creating-my-artwork-from-original-dungeons-and

Here is one of my faves.

And of course he did the immortal Morgan Ironwolf.

So check it out and you too can get some cool art from and old-school master.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffdee/re-creating-my-artwork-from-original-dungeons-and

Band of Zombies Kickstarter

The newest Kickstarter is now up for Eden Studios' "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" Zombie RPG.

Band of Zombies is coming for your WWII Zombie fun!

I was a playtester for this one and I can tell you it was a lot of fun.  But what makes this one cool are all the add-ons, stretch goals and things you can get for being a backer.

Eden has a history of high quality products and this book looks like it will live up to that.

OSR Monster project

Re-blogging this from Rended Press.
http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/07/status-update-osr-ogl-blogosphere.html

As of today, the OSR OGL BLOGOSPHERE MONSTERS PROJECT has 26 entries.

I'll close the file sometime during the afternoon of August 1.

Remember: This is open to any creature you've posted on your blog at any point in 2012!

So come on, people. Do the cut & paste!

Note: Please only share material that you feel comfortable appearing in a half-assed, crazy, DIY fan compilation.

I have sent a couple of monsters in.   It would be nice to see some more!

Edits

Eldritch Witchery and The Witch are both back from the editors.

Which means that I am working on edits and in some cases rewrites.  Nothing major, but if I want to do it correctly it will cut into my blogging.

So please don't mind the silence here this week.

Zatannurday: Zatanna and Raven

My love for Zatanna is well known and highly documented, but she is not the only magic-using character in the DC Universe.
There is another character that honestly I like just as much, but never really focused on around here and that is Raven.

Since we are getting a new, renewed, Teen Titans on TV ("Teen Titans Go!") I thought I'd talk a little abotu Raven.

Raven is the daughter of Trigon the Terrible, one of the most powerful demons in the DC universe.
In fact when we are first introduced to Raven in "The New Teen Titans" she goes to the Justice League first. Where she meets Zatanna.  Zee tells the league not to trust her because she can sense Trigon's evil in her.

Raven has had some ups and downs. She went evil, tried to kill her teammates, she died, came back as a teen again, been a target for sacrifice and/or marriage by a cult.  Daddy issues are the least of her issues.

Outside of some special editions though Raven and Zatanna have never really worked together.  There was speculation that she might be in Justice League Dark (she would fit) but I guess she is now back with the Titans.

Anyway here some pairings of the two, official, other worlds and cosplay.

Of course who could forget this one.  Sort of a prelude to JLD.

Some Deviant Art pieces.

zatanna and raven colored by ~gianmac on deviantART

Justice League of... yeah, just Justice League by ~luanklebers on deviantART

My 52: Sentinels of Magic by ~EddieD0129 on deviantART

Ok, so Zee is known for pulling rabbits out of her hat. Sort of a gimmick, but yeah. Well on the Teen Titan's Raven was turned into a rabbit in the episode called, odly enough, "Bunny Raven".

Zatanna and Bunny Raven by ~red-wolf7 on deviantART

Nuth'n Up My Sleeve by *LEXLOTHOR on deviantART

Here are some cool Cosplay.

Looks like I'll have to create an adventure that includes both Zee and Raven for DC Adventures/Mutants and Masterminds 3.

Banners on the Cheap

So you might recall the map I had made from Banners/Signs on the Cheap.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-new-map.html

Well I was not the only one who had one made.

Here are some others, check out their map/banners too.

Greyhawk Grognard has a cool hex map, http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2012/07/banners-on-cheap.html
RPG Blog has a HUGE dungeon, http://www.rpg-blog.com/2012/07/my-rpg-map-banner.html
and Blond Nerd has a cool map as well, http://www.blondenerd.com/gaming/banners-on-the-cheap-review

All pretty good reviews and nice looking maps.

Art Sale!

So I am taking advantage of the DriveThruRPG Christmas in July sale and buying up a bunch of art for all my upcoming projects.

I figured you all might like to see some of them.  This is not everything mind you, nor will everything listed here get used.  But I thought it might be fun to share.

If you want to see what they look like and what I said, just click the link.  I liked most of these.  Or rather I reviewed the ones I liked the most and listed them all here.    I just hope I make enough on my books to pay for my shopping spree! ;)

Enjoy!

Clipart Critters 220 - Live, Dead, Girls
Cerberus Stock Art - The Next Decade of Fantasy: Volume 1
Horror figures and clipart 2
Fantasy Clip Inks:: Spot Art set 1
Fantasy Clip Inks:: Spot Art set 2
Fantasy Clip Inks:: Spot Art set 3
Clipart Critters 210 - Studying Wizard
AoV: Fantasy Art (Reflections of Voldaria)
StockArt Covers: Leather Bound Book IX
Stock Art: Sketches #1
Standard Stock Art: Issue 6 - Vile Beasts
Barbarian Princess Art Pack
Clipart Critters 197 - Demonic Pact
Call of the Moon Half-Elven Art Pack
Stock Art: Dragons
Standard Stock Art: 9 Fantasy Portraits
Fae Folk Stock Art Pack
Dawnbreaker Stock Art Pack
Clipart Critters 148 - Squid Face
Stone Lizard - Stock art
TobyArt 1: War Priests
Clipart Critters 163 - Dragon Woman
Nathan Winburn Illustration: Dark Fantasy Vol. One Stock Art
Clipart Critters 150 - Elven Harem Girl
Inkwell Stock Art: Skeletal Dragon
Stock Art: Forlarren Sorceress
XXX vampires stock pack
Stock Art: Magical Cat
Stock Art: Evil Tree
Inkwell Stock Art: Dragon, Blue
Inkwell Stock Art: Female Vampire

Dragged back into Wikipedia

Well I got dragged back into a Wikipedia sourcing issue.

I am looking for 3rd party sources for the following monsters:

Algoid
Al-mi'raj (Dungeons & Dragons)
Ascomoid
Atomie (Dungeons & Dragons)
Aurumvorax
Axe beak
Basidirond
Blindheim (Dungeons & Dragons)
Bonesnapper
Buckawn
Bunyip (Dungeons & Dragons)
Caterwaul (Dungeons & Dragons)
Cave cricket (Dungeons & Dragons)
Cave fisher
Coffer corpse
Cooshee
Crabman
Crypt thing
Death Watch Beetle
Slicer beetle

If you have any old books or magazines NOT published by TSR/WotC or were in White Dwarf, let me know here.  Thanks!

White Dwarf Wednesday #25

White Dwarf #25 puts White Dwarf into it's 5th year of publication.  It is the summer of 1981 (June/July) and let's get into it.

Again, another really cool cover.  Maybe artistically not as good as last issue, but I have always liked this one.
Ian Livingstone celebrates WD fifth year with an editorial of basically saying we are going to keep doing the stuff you like and stop with the stuff you don't.  he mentions another survey on page 27.

Again in "Must Read Again" articles we have Lew Pulsipher's Part III of an Introduction to Dungeons and Dragons.  This time it is on the magic using classes.  Frankly

I'd love it if these were sent off to the D&D Next team as critical essays on what the game was.

Page 10 is a fun little item.
Called the Creature Quiz, it is a quiz on various elements of "S/F and Fantasy Gaming".
An aside: Was it purely a British thing to call this S/F & F games rather than RPGs?  Anyway the quiz is fun. Answers are not given but you need to send your completed quiz to WD no later than July 1, 1981.

Probably good I missed the date, I am sure I did poorly on this one.

Click to see bigger version

After that we are back in Traveller land with Optional Skill Acquisition. 


Open Box only has three reviews for us.  For Traveller we have "Double Adventure 2: Across the Bright Face/Mission on Mithiril"  It gets are (although less so these days) 10/10 from Trevor Graver.  He liked Across the Bright Face a little more of the two but thought both were great.  "Plunder" and "Runemaster" both from Chaosium are play aids for RuneQuest. Oliver Macdonald gives Runemaster 9/10 saying it contains a lot of useful material and is well worth the cost.  Plunder though only gets a 5/10 stating it's limited usability and redundancy. Finally we get the classic "Space Opera" from Fantasy Games Unlimited reviewed by Andy Slack.  This is the first real competition we see for Traveler and it is Science Fantasy (more or less) and not Science Fiction.  It gets an 8/10, partially for it's complications and a long time to properly set up, but otherwise a fantastic game. 


We get a new series called The Dungeon Architect.  Part 1 is about designing an interesting dungeon.  To begin with we start out with the typical "lather, rinse repeat" style dungeon.  The one where you open door 1, kill monster A, open door 2, kill monster B.  And so on.  The author deconstructs the entire dungeon raiding experience into why and how and for what reason.  Very interesting take on it really.  While we in 2012 have had this discussion before in 1981 it is an interesting new point of view and the start of the growth of D&D in the minds of gamers as something more than just killing monsters underground.  Looking forward to the next two parts.


The Letters page covers various AD&D rule questions.


The Lower Canon Court is an AD&D "Skirmish for a large number of players."  The idea here is a cleric was found guilty in a court and wants revenge.  The characters are all members of the court when the pandemonium breaks loose.  There are a lot of NPCs and a map of the court room.  It's different idea and I like the attempt but I can also see it only appealing to a small crowd of gamers.


Treasure Chest has some new magic items like the Bowl of Everlasting Porridge and Bell of Watchfulness.  Some are still a little silly, but all can be played straight.  


Andy Slack has Traveller rules on Vacc Suits. 


Fiend Factory continues its run of themed monsters.  This time a mini-scenario (more of a plot really) called the Black Manse.  We get Dream Demons, the Incubus, Brain Suckers and a Guardian.  The monsters all designed to challenge a party of levels 5-6.

Starbase is back and celebrating their first year with some suggestions for reading.  Interesting really.

In Character Conjuring Lew Pulsipher talks about what makes a good AD&D character class.  He makes the case that classes should be internally balanced. That is weaknesses to set off strengths.  A wizard can't use armor or swords for example. He is also talkas about between class balance and that not all characters of say 3rd level should be the same power.  Another issue he brings up are the serious use of joke classes (like the Jester and Idiot from Dragon a few years back, but oddly not any of the WD joke classes are mentioned).

The new questionnaire follows on the other half of the page. Results are promised in a future issue.
Again, get yours in by July 1st, 1981.

This is followed by the Classifieds/Small ads, and a few more pages of ads.
In the end we get an ad for the AD&D lead figure line.  Back when they were lead and you had to pain them yourself.  I loved those as a kid.  AND I might add I just acquired a bunch of these in fantastic shape.  Pictures soon.

WD ended up being 4 pages less this time around.  Not really sure why.
After a period of growth WD seems to be content to keep on with what works, though the gaming world is now showing unprecedented growth. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months.

My Kids are Awesome!

With the new reprints of 1st Ed AD&D now out my kids want our next game to be a 1st Edition one!

How freaking cool is that?

We have done just about everything we have set out to do in 3rd Ed and our 4th Ed game is still moving right along.

So what should we do then for 1st Ed?
I know I am going to throw in some house rules.

• 1st level HP will be equal to Con scores for all characters and NPCs include 0-level humans.
• I will be using bards, I am just not sure which one yet.
• Double damage on a natural 20.
• Will use strict multi-class and dual-class rules.
• If it is written down somewhere and it works with AD&D1, 2 or Basic D&D then it will be considered for this game.

I know I am going to use ideas from ALL the retro-clones where appropriate.  So it will be less of a 1st Ed game in rules, but certainly one in terms of tone and spirit.

Here are the adventures I want to use.  Again, I like sticking with these old school modules.

T1 Village of Hommlet, levels 1-2 (IF I don't use it in the D&D4 game)
B1 Into the Unknown, levels 1-3 (my go to starting module)
B2 Keep on the Borderlands, levels 1-3 (how can I NOT do this?)

L1 The Secret of Bone Hill, levels 2-4
X2 Castle Amber, levels 3-6 (love this freaky module, though it sticks out as the only Non-Greyhawk one)
A1-4 Slave Lords, levels 4-7
C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness, levels 5-7
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, levels 8-12
G123, Against the Giants, levels 8-12 (I also have the Stone Giant one from Dragonsfoot)
D12,3 Against the Drow, levels 8,9-14
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits, 10-14
S1 Tomb of Horrors, levels 10-14 (IF I don't use it in the D&D4 game, it is an AD&D classic)
CM2 Death's Ride, levels 15-20. (Again, unless I use it in my current 3.x game which the boys want me to do)

AND if their 4.e group does not get to the end, then I could use the Bloodstone H series too.  But that is getting WAY ahead of myself.

If you look over my previous plans here and here, you see I am sticking with the modules. 
I am running the HPE Orcus ones for 4e, and used many of the other classics in my 3.x games.

So far the boys have gone through B3, B4, S2, S4, WG4, I1, and X1 for 3.x (and a bunch I made up when they were younger like "Cave of the Rainbow Dragon" and "The Stinky Cave"), and H1 Keep on the Shadowfell for 4e.  So they are getting, as my youngest put it this morning, a full Dungeons & Dragons education.

Again.  This is going to be a lot of fun!  I am not expecting this one to start anytime soon, I still have a 3.x game to finish with them. 

The Complete B/X Adventurer is Mine!

NOTE My updated review is here:
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-complete-bx-adventurer.html

I got my copy of the Complete B/X Adventurer in the mail yesterday.

It certainly lives up to it's hype and to it's predecessor the B/X Companion.
You don't need the B/X Companion to use this, but it certainly helps.

It reminds me a lot of the old Bard Games "The Compleat ______" books. That is a good thing in my book.

I will get a proper review up soon.  But here is the brief one.
I like it.  I like the witch class but the summoner might end up being my favorite.
Can't wait for the PDF so I can have it on my tablet.

Adventures in Oz

With the Christmas in July sale going on I thought I would point out that one of my favorites games is on sale.

Adventures in Oz

Ever since I was little, I mean really little, I have enjoyed "The Wizard of Oz".  I can recall being about 4 or so and being frightened of the flying monkeys, the Winkies and of course the Wicked Witch.  I also remember we had this old copy of the Wizard of Oz book in the house and I remembered how different it was than the movie.

Oz is a fascinating place really, and I was amazed the first time I learned how much of it was there beyond Dorothy and her friends. I learned about names like Mombi and Ozma.  I will admit I have always wanted to put a "pumpkin head" in my games largely in part due to "Journey Back to Oz".  In my WitchCraft games we also used to call witch hunters "Dorothies".

I think Oz is a bit under rated to be honest.  It's not the drug referenced lands of Alice or even the purely fantasy of Peter Pan, it is, in a way, pragmatically American.  But it is fertile land as well. It gave us "The Wiz" and "Tin Man" and of course, "Wicked".

So I was thrilled when I heard of F. Douglas Wall's Adventures in Oz RPG.
It is, like the literary Oz, a great game for the younger set. The rules are fast, simple to learn and you can be up and playing in no time at all.  They game is also really, really fun. If you never play it, the book offers a good resource to using Oz in your own games.

The game is simple, fast and fun.

If you have kids and want to introduce them to the world of Role-playing then this is a great bet.  Just like Oz you get a fantastic land that is kid friendly with characters we all know (or at least, mostly know) and like Oz there is a lot more to this game than seen at first glance.

This is also a great game for adults.  I would recomend a game of Oz as a palette cleanser.  There are no Tolkien dwarves or elves in this game, but plent of Muchkins, Winkies and Gilikins.  There is magic, but it's not the same as all the other games you have played.  Plus it is rules lite so Narators and players can get up to speed fast.

All in all this is a great game and worth picking up.

DriveThruRPG Christmas in July

I know it has been 100+ degree out, but DriveThruRPG is thinking cool winter thoughts.
They are having their annual Christmas in July sale again.  The sale begins today (at 9:00am Central) and continues for a week!

They are featuring 25% off hundreds of titles (I found nearly 11,500).

This might be your best chance to get that game you want before GenCon.

Review: Wizard's World (1983)

What can one say about Wizard's World?

Well for starters it could be easily dismissed as yet another fantasy heartbreaker, but I don't think that would be fair really.
Yes it's AD&D roots are showing and there is a lot about the this game that is derivative.  But that is looking at it in 2012.  To look at this game as it was meant to be seen you have look at it with 1983 eyes.

This game offers some interesting twists beyond the typical D&D knock-off.  First I love the art in this book.  Sure there has been better art, much better art, even in books from the same time. But there is such an honesty about it that I enjoy.  And I LOVE that cover.
The attributes are nearly the same, enough that conversions are easy.  The charts all go to 30 which is nice.

Ok so we have a bunch of classes, many of which would drop right into AD&D, OSRIC or what ever Clone you enjoy.  There are a number of fighter-like classes, that honestly only differ a little bit from each other, but that is fine.  Some martial artists, some magic using types, 14 total.  What is cool is there is Vampire class!  Something we won't see again till D&D4 or until I did my own (link).  We have all the standard races plus some new ones, Metamorphic Dwarfs and Demon Halflings.  Honestly the book is worth it just to be able to say "Demon Halflings"!

There are 22 pages worth of spells that go all the way to level 10.
Rules follow next which is primarily about combat, weapons, poisons, potions and the like.   A little bit on magic items.
Monsters follow. There are a few, but almost no overlap between here and what you might find in a typical monster manual for a game.  There are dragons, but very different from what we are used to seeing in "D&D".
Some suggestions for play and threadbare character sheet.

Ok what is good about this game?  Lots really.  If you play D&D or some old school game you would be hard pressed not to find something here to use.  Did I mention the Demon Halflings yet?  There are plenty of monsters and lots of spells.

What is bad?  That is subjective.  If you are not a fan of old-school play or expect full color art then you will be disappointed.

What did I like? Nearly everything really.  I have to hand it to Dan Procter and Goblinoid Games for becoming an old-games preservation society.   This game isn't going to win any awards now nor would it have won any then, but it is a fun trip into the past when many games were little more than a few pages, a staple and your friend's brother to do the art.

At 80+ pages this is packed.

If you wanted to play this system and say use one my of witch classes from either The Witch or Eldritch Witchery then I say you would need an INT 11 and WIL 11.  Choose spells from the witch lists and use those or the WW spell that was most similar.

Games You Never Get to Play

When people talk about influences on their games and gaming life they typically mention the works of Fritz Leiber or Jack Vance or Tolkein or the other Appendix N names.

Not me.  Well, yes I have read those, but they were not biggest effect on my games.

My Appendix N is full of Hammer Horror and In Search Of... and any more dozens of bad-wrong-fun horror and occult material from the 70s.  It should be no surprise then that I gravitate towards games that let me do that sort of thing, Chill, Call of Cthulhu and of course WitchCraft.

But just as I am a product of 70's and 80's horror, there were other things going on then.  Still lots of "leftover hippie shit" as I used to call it.  Zodiacs, crystals, psychic powers.  All the stuff that gets mixed in with magic and the occult, plus aliens, Atlantis, secret societies, Erich von Däniken and all that.

Basically all the stuff left over when you take out the horror and the magic from the big occult boom of the 70's.

What has this have to do with gaming?

Lots!

There is one game I have always wanted to play but doubt that I ever will.

It's not a game per-se but rather a campaign.

The game is one set in the 70s where all the characters are teens.  They are also, unknown to them until the game starts, the children of the first successful alien-human hybrids.  They look completely human, but each one has unique pyschic powers.  No magic, all psychic.  The drama comes in when the teens discover what they are and the government comes in to take them to a secure facility.

So you can see where this gets it's genesis.  There were a ton of shows in the 70s about kids with powers or people being chased by the government.  I want to put it in the 70s so I can avoid cell phones, gps and the like.  Plus it was the last time teens could hitchhike across the US without people calling the cops.   I'd work in mysteries of Atlantis, crystals with magic powers, strange MIB agents, aliens out to kill them all that great stuff.  Setting it in the 70s also lets me bring in "future tech" like more powerful computers and things we use today.

The list of influences of this game go on and on.  Basically I'd go to Wikipedia's Psuedoscience category and pick and choose.

My game system of choice would be Conspiracy X since I can use most of the mythos intact.  The Unexplained would also work well as would a low powered Mutants & Masterminds game.  Something like Damnation Decade, but with more danger and horror, and none of the alt-history.

I'd love to play it or even write it.  But I doubt I'll have the time.
If I were to write it all out I'd call it "Star Child" sounds very 70s.

What games or campaigns do you really want to play but don't think you will?

My New Map!

I got my new map from Banners on the Cheap!

A bit of background.  I was approached back at the end of  June about the possibility of printing up a large vinyl banner for an RPG map.  Consequently I have also wanted a large map of Victorian London to put up in my game room.

Well I went to the website and setup my new map.  All you need is really is the image.  The layout interface is ridiculously easy to use.

Here is the original image I used, 1890s Map of London and here are the results below!

As you can see the map is huge.

The banner itself is 4 feet tall by 6 feet long.  The image I had when printed at it's best resolution would have been 6 feet by 7 feet.   So a good fit really, with some space on the edge.

I might print up Places of Interest (occult locations, the Swift's Home, St. Erisian’s School) and pin them in place.  I'll more than likely use stickers since I don't want to poke any holes in this.




This picture does not do it justice, but the print is very clear, clear as the source image, to the point where I can read the street names.

The color is great.  It really is an absolute gem of a map.

I have not tried it yet with water based or dry erase markers yet, so I can't confirm if those work.
What I do know is I am looking for other maps I have laying around here that I would like to get blown up onto a huge banner like this.   A scale map of Castle Dracula would be awesome.  Failing that, a scale Castle Ravenloft.

My expectations were pretty high and I am happy to say they have been met!

If you want to try them out for yourself then here is the link. I highly recommend them.

Custom Bandit Signs

Read more here:
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-game-room-needs-huge-map.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/07/london-map-updates.html

White Dwarf Wednesday #24

White Dwarf gets a little bit bigger again in April/May of 1981.  And again we get a great looking cover.

The editorial doesn't get started till page 9, where Ian Livingstone talks about the growth of the hobby. Games in plastic zip-lock bags are a thing of the past and now we get games in boxes with full color cover art.  He notes that D&D alone sold more 500,000 sets.  I am unclear whether these are considered the Golden Age or the Silver Age (I think 1983 is the cut-off most people agree on) but they were certainly the Halcyon Days.

Lew Pulsipher is back with his Part II of an Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons.  Again this reads so fresh to me today that I am going to xerox the whole series and use it with my new groups.

Andy Slack provides the coverage for the other big game of the day, Traveller, in "Backdrop of Stars". This article deals with setting up a Traveller campaign.  So much of this article has been personally ingrained with me on what Traveller is that I am a little surprised re-reading it all these years later.  I didn't know it was separate from the game.  As an aside my oldest got to play some Traveller this past weekend.  He ran into the issues that most of did 30 years ago; characters dying or being so horrible that they were next to useless.

Open Box has some interesting reviews up this issue.  Quirks is an odd little game of plant and animal mutation.  It reads like Pokemon set in Gamma World, but I am sure that is not it (though that sounds cool).  Ian Livingstone gives it 9/10.  Shooting Stars from then giant Yaquinto Publications is a ship to ship tactical space game.  It gets 8/10 from Nick Henfrey calling it "delightful to play".  Valley of the Four Winds (the same as the fiction that used to appear in WD) is a new game from Games Workshop.  It was designed by Lew Pulsipher and is given a 9/10 by Alan Paull.  GDW gives us a new Traveller book, Adventure 3 Twilight's Peak.  Andy slack gives this classic adventure a 10/10 calling it the "best FRP scenario of any kind I have ever seen".  I recall this one as being good, but the best of the best?  Well it has been 30 or so years.

Marcus Rowland presents another new class, the Detective.  This class is very much cut from the same cloth as Sherlock Holmes, but re-crafted to fit the D&D world better.  In many ways this is offered as a "good" alternative to the Thief and Assassin classes; with similar skills, progression and attacks.  The Detective also gets a bit of spells. As a custom class goes it looks pretty solid, but I can never recall seeing one in play even in the wild and crazy days of Jr high where everyone was playing some weird class they found.

Letters has some rule questions for D&D and one on the Fiend Factory from Issue 22.

An AD&D mini-module by Mark Byng is up next.  I do note that it is referred to as a Mini-Module and not a Mini-Adventure.  The Lair of Maldred the Might spans the next few pages and it is layout like a an old tome.

Starbase is back with more Traveller material and an article I remember reading many times.  Laser Sword and Foil was about bringing lightsabers into Traveller.

O.C. Macdonald discusses Alignment in Role-Playing Games.  The discussion begins with D&D and then moves on to AD&D and C&C.  The article generally pro-alignment even if it admits that it adds little to the games.

Fiend Factory falls into the April Fools trap and gives us some joke monsters.  I used to enjoy these sort of features, but anymore I don't find them as funny.  Granted at 40 something I am no longer the target audience of 1981.  So what do we have, the Bonacon which is a cow that stinks. There is an alternate version that is a flying cow.  Llort is a Troll with nilbogism. The todal which is some sort of monster sent to punish evil doers for not doing enough evil. The unique Tali Monster which is so huge it has to be carried by 35 goblins. Finally there is the Dungeon Master, which I am loathe to explain.

Treasure chest renew my faith with some interesting and deadly tricks and traps for dungeon rooms.

News is very interesting this issue.  It is telling us about the arrival of the D&D clones!  In particular the new Expert Set.  I recall seeing the picture back in the day and to me it looked like a metal tin with rounded edges and I thought for sure there were Expert Sets (and Basic Sets) that were metal tins.  Sadly that never happened.   In more back to the future news Yaquinto is going to give us a space game called Demon's Run.  No idea if it includes Sapphic 19th century Silurians or not. 

We have classifieds, and ads till the end.

A good issue marred by some silly monsters.
Lots of space given over to D&D and Traveller this issue, but not so much for the other big game, Rune Quest.

AD&D Reprints

The AD&D reprints are now in.

They are really nice too.

Newer paper that feels thicker, if glossier.  "Gilded" edges.  Nice covers.  These are nice enough to be collectors' items and still sturdy enough to be able to play with them.

The covers are a nice homage.

Gilded pages are always a nice touch.

It might be hard to see here, but the text is not an "exact" copy, there are some minor formatting issues.  The books though have the same page count as before and my quick glance tells me that things that show up on page X in the old books still appear on page X of the new ones.

I also like the ribbon book mark.

This copyright statement and the new ISBNs are the only clue you will get inside that this was not a TSR publication.  Many companies wold have altered the text inside to a degree I am sure.  These pages, even considering they were completely re-done, are the same.

I think we are going to be playing some First Edition here soon!

There is your history of D&D right there.  Original Edition, Basic, Advanced 1 & 2 (and OSRIC), RC, 3.0, 3.5, Pathfinder and 4e.  And my new books have a new home.  That is till my kids see them in a couple of hours and they end up upstairs in their rooms.

I am not sure how much of my purchase went to the Gygax Memorial fund, but as long as it was some then I am fine.

Major kudos to WotC for getting these produced.

Putting my Monster where my Mouth is. Baobhan Sìth

Rended Press is working on an OSR monster book.  I think it is a great idea, especially if they are all OGL complaint. The issue with me though was "any monster posted in June".  Well that is cool, but I didn't post any in June.  So I mentioned that on the blog the other day and gave the suggestion that if it was say all of 2012 then I could do something.

They opened it up to all of 2012.  And I looked.

Sheepishly I noticed that I didn't post a single OSR/OGL monster in 2012.  Plenty for other systems, but nothing an OSR book would need.

So here is one of mine from "The Witch".

All text that follows is considered Open under the OGL.  Full OGL text is listed here, OGL Declaration/Statement.


Baobhan Sìth
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 9d8+2** (43 hp)
No. of Attacks: 2 claws, 1bite
Damage: 1d4+2 / 1d4+1
Special: Blood drain, captivating dance, dying words, spell-like abilities, vulnerable to iron
Movement: 30’
No. Appearing: 1-3
Saves As: Fighter 9
Morale: 9
Treasure: None
Alignment: Chaotic (Chaotic Evil)
XP: 1,800

The Baobhan sìth (bavaan shee, “faerie woman” in Scottish Gaelic) are evil female fey that feed on the blood of living creatures.  By entrancing creatures with their dance, they lure men to their deaths.  Baobhan sìth are always female; no males of this race are known to exist.  These creatures are generally found in remote locations such as unclaimed forests or overgrown and ruined keeps, castles or the like; always a secluded location, but close enough to a populated area that the baobhan sìth can feed when hungry.

Often called the “White Woman” of the Scottish Highlands, the baobhan sìth are often confused with vampires.  Though they are not undead, they do have a lot of similarities.  Both feed on blood and use seduction in order to lure their prey into their grasp.  Baobhan sìth also are vulnerable to cold iron, much like a vampire to silver.  The baobhan sìth also avoids bright sunlight, it is not dangerous to her, but they avoid it all the same.

Local legends claim that when young women fall to the allure of witchcraft and lie wantonly with men they will die and return as baobhan sìth.

Their lairs are typically clean; the monsters have disposed of the rotting corpses of past victims.  They are solitary creatures and rarely work in groups.  There is however a popular tale of a group of four men traveling in the Scottish Highlands that were seduced and attacked by three or four (depending on the tale) Baobhan sìth working together.  Baobhan sìth each have their own hunting ground and to intrude on another’s is certain death.

Baobhan sìth prefer to use their abilities against male humanoids, particularly elves or humans, and most of all bards.  They generally avoid dwarves and halflings, though if food is scarce they have no qualms about draining the blood of just about any living creature.  They do not drink the blood of animals; no matter how hungry they are, as they see this as primitive and savage.

A baobhan sìth stands 5 to 5-1/2 feet tall and weighs roughly 120 pounds.  Her hair ranges in color from black or brown to golden yellow.  Eye color varies but is usually brown or green.  A baobhan sìth wears flowing, loose fitting robes or tunics of white or green often tied at the waist with a scarf of red or black.
They speak Common, Elven, and Sylvan.

A baobhan sìth prefers to attack a lone target and generally avoids combat with groups, fleeing if confronted by such a party.  Stragglers are often the subject of the baobhan sìth’s attention if the straggler is far enough behind its comrades.

When first encountered, a baobhan sìth opens combat with her captivating dance.  Creatures that fail to succumb are entangled (saving throw vs. Paralysis).  Once she has captivated at least one foe, she moves in and uses her sharp nails to draw blood from the victim’s chest or throat and then it drains the victim’s blood.  It deals bite damage and drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of permanent Constitution drain each round it maintains the hold.  At Constitution 0, the victim dies.

The Baobhan Sìth may cast spells as a 3rd level witch.

If overwhelmed or outnumbered, the baobhan sìth uses her entangle ability (if she hasn’t already used it) and tries to slip away into the surrounding forest.

Leanan Sìth (Leanan Sídhe, Lhiannan Shee, “faerie mistress”): The Leanan Sìth is the Manx (Isle of Man) counterpart to the Baohbhan Sìth.  This creature can be found all across the British Isles.  She has the additional power of being able to turn invisible at will, as a spell like ability (9th level).  The Leanan Sìth will typically feed on the blood and life force of young poets.  They drain the victims slowly, and in a state of ecstasy.  Such poets create works of unsurpassed brilliance while in the clutches of these women.

Section 15 Copyright Notice

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks is Copyright© 2003, Timothy S. Brannan and the Netbook of Witches Team.
Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2006-2008. Chris Gonnerman.
Labyrinth LordTM. Copyright © 2007, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.

"Baobhan Sìth" Copyright ©2012, Timothy S. Brannan