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.
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.
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.
It was "mini-con" this past weekend at the Brannan household.
Saturday my oldest son played old school Traveller and had some of the crappiest dices rolls in the history of dice. He was disappointed, but not in the rolls themselves but he was looking forward to playing rather than rolling up characters.
Saturday evening was Ghosts of Albion at EN World Game day. I didn't have a full roster so I invited him to come along (my youngest had a friend spending the night). He played William Swift, Protector of Albion. He did a great job. He thought I had made the character especially for him! Everyone else had a great time and it was great to run Blight one last time. It dis give me some ideas for new adventures and maybe even a hook to bring my boys into this game.
Sunday was D&D 4: Keep on the Shadowfell with the kid's group. The group agreed to take out the Kobold lair for the nice price of 100gp each. The got past the kobold ambush and the kobolds outside the lair, but they have not gone it yet. The kids did great really. They are learning to work together more and that is a good thing. I have a couple of players that want to retrain or swap out some feats. It is a generally accepted house rule here (and at the games my son and three of the other players play at) that you can make "free" modifications to your character to better suit you, the party or whatever. My youngest is playing a Bard, he is thinking he wants to add a little bit of warlock to that and maybe rearrange his stats for a better Dex. My oldest is playing a Paladin multiclassed with Warlord, which works, but he did this thinking we would not have any "Leader" types. With my youngest now playing a Bard (instead of his usual ranger) and one of the others playing a cleric, he wants to drop the Warlord in favor of Sorcerer, his other favorite class. So the idea is that he had some military training (was Warlord, now it will be more of a background) and during his adventures the stress of combat has awakened the Celestial Dragon blood in his veins and now he can call on Dragon magic. It works. I still need to talk to the other players too to see if they want to make any alterations.
The kids' 4e Group still doesn't have a name of their own yet. In the game they are called the Heroes of Winterhaven. Though in the arc a better name for them would be Death's Champions; though that sounds darker than it is supposed too (they will be making sure that that Death and Life are saved from Orcus). They have an unknown ally in the form of a mysterious girl named Nera and one of the Arch Dukes of Hell will offer his aid as well. 'Enemy of my Enemy" and all. Should be a great time!
There was no single tabletop map I wanted, but I have always wanted a large map of Victorian-era London for my game room. I finally settled on a map.
Click for a really, really big version
It is London of 1890, rather than my preferred of 1838, but that is cool. This is the "classic" Victorian London and good enough for me. It will work great for nearly all the Victorian games I own.
The process could not have been easier and frankly the prices were a lot cheaper than I expected. I'll get this one by the end of the month and I will let you all know how it works out.
If you want to try them out for yourself then here is the link.
NOTE: This is something I had submitted to WotC during their open submission window for Dragon. They took a pass on it. But that is cool, because it means I can expand it and pass it on now to you for free.
From the Ancient Dragon Scrolls, #54:
Selûne was created from the primordial essence of the universe, along with her twin sister, Shar. Together, they created Chauntea (the embodiment of the world of Abeir-Toril) and some other heavenly bodies and infused these areas with life. The two goddesses then fought over the fate of their creations. From these struggles emerged the original deities of magic, war, disease, murder, death, and others. Selûne reached out of the universe and from a plane of fire, brought forth a flame and ignited a heavenly body in order to give warmth to Chauntea. This greatly enraged Shar, and she began to erase all light and warmth in the universe. Desperate and weakened because of Shar's actions, Selûne hurled some of her divine essence at her sister. Selûne's essence tore through Shar, bringing some of Shar's essence with it. This magical energy combined to form the goddess Mystryl, the original goddess of magic.
"So says the legends of the Realms. Selûne and Shar, sisters locked in eternal battle, eternal struggle. But this is not the observations of a few; the chosen to know the truth. It is true that siblings fight, they argue, yet do they also not love each other still? Are they not more alike than different?
These were the first questions asked by the first of our order, the truths they lead to though would make us shunned by both the Light and the Dark. Shunned, because deep down they know their own teachings are only half-truths their litanies incomplete. Shunned because we know the terrible, wonderful truth that the Goddesses of the moon, Sehanine, Selûne and Shar, are in truth aspects of the One Triple Goddess."
Followers of the Triple Goddess, known amongst themselves as the Sisterhood of the Triple Goddess (aka Sisters) believe that the Goddess always has been, it is mortals that have artificially split Her into component Goddesses because they can not comprehend Her in Her true form. She is Sehanine, Selûne and Shar individually and all at once. There is no contradiction. Followers of the individual Goddesses fight among themselves because their doctrines are so close to each other, yet they only have a small piece of the truer picture.
Each Aspect is much as the Goddess she represents; Sehanine is the ever youthful Maiden, Selûne the powerful Mother and Shar, the most misunderstood but still shrouded in shadow, decay and death.
The Maiden. In Her guise as Sehanine Moonbow, the Maiden is ever young. She is represents new beginnings, youth and re-birth. It is the Maiden that represents the freedom of youth but also growth. She is most often seen in lush green vegetation, the eternal Spring, the Waxing Crescent Moon. For this reason she is also most often associated with the elves and the Feywild. She is young, capricious and fickle as befits Her nature. She dallies with Gods (and sometimes Goddesses) to sow the next generations. When she does she becomes the Mother.
The Mother. In Her Aspect as the Mother, She is most often worshiped under the name Selûne. Here She is the Goddess of the Summer, the Full Moon. She is associated with the Prime Material and the practical. She is the Mother. Strong, proud, and stern if needed, but loving and understanding. Since the Spellplauge She is depicted as being full with child. Some say she is pregnant with the reborn Mystra and it is through the Mother that Magic enters the world.
The Crone. The most misunderstood of all the Aspects of the Goddess. Though to be evil She is demonized as Shar, the Dark Moon. The Crone is far, far more than that. True, She is responsible for death, darkness and decay, but these are natural processes of Life, Death and Rebirth. She is the Crone of Winter and all souls pass by Her. Forgive her if She seems bitter or cold, She only knows of Death. For this She is most often associated with the Shadowfell. She honors the followers of Shar, but does not understand their fascination with death. Death is needed so that others may live and grow. The harvest must be sown, the fields must be cleared, sometimes burned, so that new seeds and growth can occur. The Crone knows much, but the price of Her wisdom is high.
The Worshippers of The Triple Goddess
The lay worshipper of the Triple Goddess is typically female (thus the name Sisterhood), as the Goddess waxes and wanes in course with the moon, so does a woman as she progresses in life as Maiden, Mother and Crone and through only monthly cycle.
Tenets of Faith The Triple Goddess is worshiped by anyone that worships one of her Aspects, but Her faithful know the truth.
• She is the Moon, waxing and wanning as the Moon does
• She brings Light, Life and Darkness to the World.
• She is the Goddess of Rebirth, Life and Death. Therefore her true believers can never use, or have used on them, any Raise Dead Spell; only Reincarnation.
• Share the word of the Triple Goddess, but do not attempt to convert others. They will come into the fold when they are ready.
• Do what you can to help followers of the Goddess' Aspects.
• Destroy undead. They are an abomination to the Rebirth, Life, Death cycle and therefore an affront to the Goddess.
Relations between the Worshipers.
The Sister of the Triple Goddess share many of the same practices of faith as do the followers of Sehanine, Selûne and Shar. In fact it is not uncommon that a follower of the Triple Goddess will be part of one of the other members' sects. She (and the followers are most often a she rather than a he) will quietly perform her duties next to her unsuspecting sisters, all the while knowing that only she knows the whole truth.
If discovered the follower is usually asked to renounce their heretical beliefs, other service or punishments may be required depending on the sect she belongs too.
Sehanine
The followers of Sehanine view the Triple Goddess as an interesting curiosity. They are more than willing to assume that Sehanine and Selûne could be the same and of course there are still many among the elves that believe that Sehanine is part of a Trinity with Hanali Celanil and Aerdrie Faenya, so this is not a stretch for them. Sisters are usually only asked to maintain pleasant relations with the rest of Sehanine's followers.
The Sisters see the followers of Sehanine as sweet, but hopelessly naïve. This they see as a consequence of only following the Maiden Aspect of the Goddess. They lack the experiences and wisdom that would come to them from learning from the Mother and Crone.
Angharradh
There is much similarity between the Elven Goddess Angharradh and the Triple Goddess. Cheif among these are Sehanine and their similar symbols. Sisters see Angharradh as a separate Elven Goddess more representative of the deep-seated desire in the elves to reunite their race. Unlike Angharradh, who is both the same as and seperate from her aspects, the Sisters believe that The Triple Goddess is One and Three as the same time. There is no separating Sehanine from the Goddess.
Selûne
The Selûnites see the Sisters as also being naïve, but not about the true nature of their Goddess, but instead underestimating the evil and influence of Shar. Some of the more Orthodox members even see the Sisters as a threat set up by Shar Herself to undermine them from within; something they refer to as the Heresy of the Dark Moon (in which they completely ignore Sehanine). It is not the Triunity or even Trinity they have the issues with, it is the fact they include Shar in it.
Though it is speculated that there are Sisters in some of the highest ranks of the Selûnite church.
The Sisters see the Selûnites as being blinded by their hatred of "Shar" to see the full reality; there is no "Shar" as a separate Goddess. Shar, The Crone is necessary for life to continue and grow.
The Orders Swords of the Lady: The "Lunatics" appreciate The Sister's stance on undead, but feel their belief that Shar is part of their Goddess to heresy in the extreme. The Sister's see the Swords as dangerous fanatics. Oracles of the Moon: The Oracles and the Sisters actually get along quite well. The Oracles tend to see more than the other followers and the Sisters find the Oracles very knowledgeble, but removed from worldly concerns. Silverstars: Silverstars are wary of the Sisters, feeling like the Swords, that cleave a little too closely to Shar for their liking. However individually they do tend to get along since Sisters value life above all else. The Sisters admire the Silverstars and feel their cause is worthy and just. They just wished they could find the way to seeing the full Goddess.
Shar
The Followers of Shar tend to be a dark, evil lot. They view the Sisters as cowards for not embracing true evil and watering down their belief with the likes of Sehanine and Selûne. They have nothing but contempt for them. Punishments can include forced re-conversion by torture. When the Sisters were first discovered within the ranks of the Sharites they were captured and infected with Werewolf Lycanthropy. What shocked and surprised both sides were that the Sisters so infected retained their own minds when transformed; something even the Selûnites could not do.
The Sisters see the Sharites as perverters of the Goddesses true form. Yes, the Crone is shadowy and surrounded by death, but it is the ultimate destination for us all. To focus on that aspect alone is perverse. The Sisters run the greatest personal risk from the Sharites, but they are also the ones the Sisters feel the need to reach out to the most.
The Orders Dark Justicars: The Justicars consider the Sisters to be dangerous heretics and usually kill them on sight. The Sisters avoid the Justicars at all costs. Some souls can't be saved.
Order of the Dark Moon: More accepting of the Sisters since their own tappings into the Dark Weave has lead them to believe that is of the same nature as the Weave. If this is true, then the teachings of the Sisters, as radical as they are, could also be true. The Sisters find the Order to be very austere in their thinking and are not surprised that their single minded dedication to the Shadow Weave also blinds them to the greater being of the Triple Goddess. They are not to be taken lightly, but represent the best inroad into Shar's cult they have.
Nightcloaks/Nightbringers: The Orthodoxy of the Church of Shar see the Sisters as a threat and one that must be destroyed. The Sisters view the Nightcloaks as the true poison in Shar's worship. If this dangerous element can be removed the Sisters feel the rest of the followers of Shar will become followers of the Triple Goddess.
Others
As an unaligned deity the Tripple Goddess is misunderstood by the clergy and lay member of most of the other faiths. The followers of Chantea in her form of the Great Mother have much in common with the Sisters. While the dogman and tenets of faith are very, very similar, there are enough differences to keep them from being close.
Centers of Worship
The Sisters are found everywhere that the worshipers of Sehanine, Selûne and Shar. In particular they are located in the Moonshae Isles. There are centers of worship in Waterdeep as well.
Fourth Edition
The Triple Goddess is the Unaligned Goddess of the Moon, Magic and Change.
Type: Greater God Alignment: Unaligned Gender: Female Sphere: Moon Symbol: Three interlocking circles Domain: Arcana, Change, Moon
Special: Worshipers may take any feat or Paragon Path that is limited to Sehanine, Selûne and Shar, with alignment considerations.
The Triple Goddess find worshipers among all sorts of peoples. She is predominantly worshiped by Witches, Celestial Sorcerers, Fey and Dark Pact Warlocks, Moon Elves and Half-Elves. She is also worshipped by good or unaligned Half-Orcs. Regardless of race or class Her faithful are mostly women. Those that devote themselves to destroying Undead will also pay Her homage, especially if they hunt at night.
The worship of The Triple Goddess is strongest anywhere where the Prime Material, Shadowfell and the Feywild overlap. There is known activity in Winterhaven.
Third Edition D&D
The Triple Goddess Goddess of the Moon, Change, Magic and Mysteries Greater Deity Symbol: Three interlocking circles Home Plane: The Moon Alignment: Lawful Neutral Portfolio: Moon, Magic, Night, Mysteries Worshipers: Women, witches, Astrologers, Cleric Alignment: Any Domains: Arcana, Change, Moon Favored Weapon: None (magic)
Dogma
The world is more complex than you know and there are still great mysteries. The Triple Goddess is the keeper of these mysteries, but to understand them you must first understand Her.
Issue 23 puts us into 1981 proper. February and March to be exact. We have an interesting cover by someone only listed as Emmanuel.
We start off with a few pages of ads and then an interesting editorial from Ian Livingstone. The editorial talks about the future of games, RPGs, as computer games. Could you imagine being in 1981 and seeing the games we have today? Skyrim or World of Warcraft or any of them? I know exactly what I was doing then, trying to get a Radio Shack TRS-80 to do simple graphics in BASIC and saving them to a cassette tape. It would have blown my mind. But interestingly enough this editorial, unlike the others, is not as timeless even if the debate is still going on.
First up we have a milestone article from Lew Pulsipher, his grand "An Introduction to Dungeons & Dragons". Frankly this one still works right now and I am considering making copies of it when I give my "What is D&D" speech when I bring in new players. There will more parts of this article in future issues. While the numbers of players might be off, the "feel" of the article is right.
Next up we have the White Dwarf interview with Traveller's Marc Miller. While this could be debated, I think Marc Miller has contributed just as much to the RPG hobby as did Gygax and Arneson. Oh note they use the term "FRP" where we would use "RPG" today. The article is an interesting read into the genesis of one of the "old guard" games.
Fiend Factory is back, this time with a theme of Flymen (no Flygirls in sight) as previewed in Issue #20. These monsters are all connected to the adventure later on. The Flymen are insectoid-humanoid creatures. Or more to the point, humans with fly heads. They are only 1/2" tall/long but have magics that can alter their or other's sizes. The associated adventure, "The Hive of the Hrrr'l, is an interesting one and I give them credit for really trying something new. The over effect is great. New monsters and a good hook. I am not sure they would make for a great recurring enemy.
Open Box has reviews for us. Up first is Warlock, a game I owned at one time. Charles Vassey gives it an 8/10 and that roughly meets my memory of it. Cults of Prax from Chaosium is next. I never played this one, but it gets a rare 10/10. Might have to find that one. We are also treated to TSR's Deities and Demigods, the first AD&D Hardcover I owned. This one of course does feature the much sought after Elic and Cthulhu mythos. The book gets a 8/10 from Andy Slack, mostly due to the fact that he likes his own gods and this is a "DM's only" book. We wrap up with Adventure 4 for Traveller, Leviathan. It gets a respectable 9/10.
In Character Conjuring Stephen Bland gives us the Elementalist. As you can imagine it is an elemental based Wizard. This is the first one of this type I recall seeing, but there were many more after it.
This one seems pretty good to be honest. Spells up to level 9, but only 5 per level at max.
Starbase and Roger E. Moore present the Khazad-Class Seeker ship for Traveller. I remember this article as another one from a collection I had from 81-82 or so. I loved the idea of creating my ship.
Bill Milne writes "A Spellcaster's Guide to Arcane Power", one of the first Mana/Spell-point systems I can recall seeing. It is a reasonable effort and shares traits with a number of other like systems, costs for spells, differeing rates of power recharge.
In Treasure Chest we get a number of "non-magical" items such as a knuckle dagger, a garrotte and a sword with a dagger in the hilt.
We wrap up the issue with Classifieds and a few more ads.
All in all a solid issue, what I'd call a utility issue. I remember back when I first read this of using the Elementalists and only allowing him to use the Spellpoint system. I thought it would be the best way to bring them both into a game. It struck me later, after I had made a character, that these two systems really don't play well with each other. So I dropped that idea.
Primeval is the latest game from the fine folks at Cubicle 7, the same that gave us the excellent Doctor Who RPG.
There is an absolute ton to like about this game. First, things first, yes. It is the same system as C7's fantastic Doctor Who game. That end and of itself is enough to merit it a good review. The system is simple and gets out of the way to allow you to just play the game they way you like. Secondly let's talk about the art and layout. Plenty of stills from the series, but the layout is still top notch and the text is easy to read.
So what is Primeval? Well if you have not watched the series in England (or on BBC America here State-side) then you are missing out on some fun. Basic premise: Anomalies in Time are opening up allowing all sorts of creatures from the past and the future to walk through, whether it is a Dodo or gigangantic Giga-Rex. The team at the Anomaly Research Center have to deal with it. Which means of course now YOU have to deal with it. Of course maybe your cast is not with the ARC, instead you could be independent. Frankly I can't wait to run a game with an investigate news team seeking out anomalies to get them on the news or net.
Like many games, you have basic Attributes. In this case six of them that are ranked 1 to 6. These are all point buys, so choose wisely. You also have skills, whit general skills and areas of expertise. You could be great with Technology, but your specialty is Computer Hacking or Surveillance Systems. These are also ranked 1 to 6.
The basic rule is Attribute + Skill + 2d6 vs. some Target number. Simple as it can get really.
You also have various Good and Bad traits that can be bought. Sometimes these add to your roll, but could subtract from others. These help define who you are.
You character is then topped off with Story Points, which can be used in play.
After all the character creation rules we get a nice bit on Group Creation where you can also buy some Group Traits.
This is followed by the official cast stats including the human adversaries. We also get some tips on playing ARC-related games. This is followed by something completely different and we given tips on how to play a "Dinosaur Hunter" style game. So two campaign models for the price of one.
We get into the basic rules section, including combat and chases. You spend a lot of time running away from things in Primeval. There is a nice overview of gadgets and equipment.
Next up descriptions of the various epochs of time.
And the Monsters. The Monsters of course are the real treat of this book. Plenty of examples are given and advice on how to create your own beastie from the past, or future.
A Gamemastering section is included on how to run the games. Followed by chapters on Adventures and Conspiracies.
A look into the Future is up next. Primeval tends to focus mostly on Dinos, I think because Dinosaurs are cool. But the creatures from the future are also very interesting.
Primeval is a fantastic game that should give a creative GM many, many sessions of adventure. While there is certain emphasis on dinos coming in from the anomalies, there is no reason to limit it to that. What about Neanderthals? or worse a victim of the Black Plague wanders into modern London? The possibilities are endless really.
Now of course I have to mention that the game is compatible with Doctor Who. It opens up an exponentially growing amount of stories when the two games are combined. The game becomes worth it for the dinos alone for Doctor Who, or the creatures in Who for Primeval. Honestly there is no way to go wrong here.
Interestingly enough my original playtest for Doctor Who was called "The Ghost Tower of Inverness, Illinois". The premise was that there was a Time Beacon in Inverness, IL (which is next door to my town) that malfunctioned and pulled in characters from all over time. They had to get into the Tower (which looked like a Light House) and fix it.
That playtest would have worked just as well for Primeval. In fact I might even run it again one day.
Well after my post I got a number of offers to fix my hard drive.
I looks like for 60-75$ I can get the data pulled off of it. Which is, to me, great.
Meanwhile I have 2 dead computers and a dead laptop. So through some careful configuring I have assembled one Frankencomputer! Currently it has an 80gig drive running Ubuntu 10.04. I'd like to upgrade to Ubuntu 12 or Fedora, but I'll need a new video card and memory.
Of course I need to decided whether or not to stick with a Linux OS.
The open software scene is a bit like the OSR. I feel that the ethos are mostly the same, but I could be wrong.
Course the thing I am missing the most on a Linux-box is I can't play my Doctor Who DVDs and frankly I don't have the desire to go out there and dig up codecs and use crazy Linus-speak to install them.
My wife says I should just forget it all and just buy a new computer.
I picked up this really simple super game a bit back called Supers Unleashed. To say it is simple is an understatement.
It has a lot of potential and extremely easy to learn and play.
I have a feeling though that eventually that player of this game will want more.
So here is Zatanna, stated up for Supers Unleashed.
Zatanna
Super Points: 100
Powers: Magic 110
Limitations: Limit, must speak backwards: -10
Archetype: Magician (like Mage, only not as stuffy).
That is it!
I told you, very simple.
Sure I could reallocate points to mental or psychic powers, but she does all that stuff with magic.
I had forgotten how much fun I had with D&D 4th Edition.
The kids are in bed, the wife is out seeing "Magic Mike" and I am sorting through my D&D4 collection.
I know it gets beat up a lot, especially in the OSR blog-universe, but you know what? It is still fun to play and reading it there is a lot of nods to the older editions and a lot of love. They just wanted to do their own thing.
I am really, really pleased that this is the system my son picked for his group.
My hard drive died a couple weeks ago. Normally this is a cause for panic, but I didn't because having been doing this for a while I thought I had everything backed up. Well. I didn't.
I didn't lose any of my PDFs save for maybe the most recent ones I bought since May, but I can always go back to DriveThruRPG and re-download those. My current OSR/Old-School books were in the hands of editors, so they were saved.
I did though loose all my documents for my Ghosts of Albion adventures Blight, Obsession, Wilderness and Synchronicity. I have printout of Blight and Obsession, so that isn't too bad. And I lost all my personal emails from 2011-2012.
Figuring it was the circuit board (given the errors I was getting) I worked with a company that specialized in this brand of hard drive (Seagate Barracuda) called PCB Solution.
I worked with Kevin to find a new board for this drive and in truth my hopes were high, even if he felt (and he did tell all this upfront) that my drive might be further gone that I thought it was. Undaunted I picked up their repair kit and got it in a couple of days. It easy easy to do as long as you have no fear of cranking open your computer or drives. I got it in installed and slapped it into a new external drive enclosure and ... nothing.
I worked on a few other tricks I have picked over the years. Back in the day I ran the official usenet alt.sys.pc-clone.gatewat2000 FAQ, so I consider myself a bit smarter than the average bear in this respect. But if there is one thing I have learned, there is always someone smarter. And it will take someone smarter than me to fix this one.
Here is what I have learned (and should known already):
1. It doesn't matter how much you back up. Back up more.
2. Stop buying Seagate drives. Every single one has died on me and took much valued data with it.
So that is what I know.
I do want to publicly thank Kevin at PCB Solution. He really went above and beyond the call of duty to help me.
This article is about all the D&D clones, near clones and other such games we love in the OSR.
Please be sure to include any external and third-party refs.
So I hope you all had a great July 4th Independence Day! And for my international readers I hope it was a nice day for you all as well.
I had the chance to talk to the parents of the kids (and a couple of the kids) of my son's D&D4 group.
The big news is that they all had a good time. The biggest surprise to me though was the the ones that enjoyed it the most were the youngest one in the group. My youngest (9) loves his Bard. The two younger kids (almost 9 and 8) also really like their characters and they like the system.
All three were told by their parents that if they didn't enjoy it they did not have to stay. But so far all three are staying.
The older kids had fun too. They had more opinions on what worked and what didn't. My oldest son still enjoys 3.x more he thinks, one of the twins loves his character so as long as he is playing that he is happy. The other twin prefers C&C, but that is fine.
The next game is July 16. We have mysteries to solve, some kobolds to take care of, and there is that rumor of a dragon's graveyard.
We close out 1980 and start 1981 with more subtle changes to White Dwarf. We are getting to the tiem where so many of us started that these magazines now elicit memories of games past.
Let's start with this awesome cover. Warrior riding a giant beetle while the Death Star-ish thing rises on the horizon. Really, does anything scream 80s Sci-Fi/Fantasy more? Sure I suppose if he had a scantily clad barbarian queen/space princess on his side. But this is good.
Page 1, we get what I think is the first full page ad for the Fantasy Trip. I could be wrong. All in all five pages of ads. Our editorial this issue is the discussion of what is the best Fantasy role-playing system. Ian Livingstone is asking what the readers think is the best and why among D&D, C&S, RuneQuest, The Fantasy Trip and others.
Pictures from GamesDay '80 cover the next couple of pages and the 1980 awards results.
Mervyn Lemon gives us some advice on how to build 3-D dungeons. A good one for today's world to be honest.
Rick D. Stuart writes "Robe and Blaster" upgrading Aristocracy in Traveller. Page and a half.
Treasure Chest is up next. It's a mixed bag. Crystal Fruit (magical crystals full of fruit juice) and the Assissin's Quill (brass knuckles with crossbow bolts), Stonerings (turns you to stone till taken off), the Stones of Li-Chao (all sorts of cures), Tenser's Shield (floating disc turned on it's side) and others.
Open Box gets a little facelift and some new games. Charles Vasey gives Mythology from Yaquinto Games a glowing 9/10. Likewise John Lambsehd gives Metagaming's Stellar Conquest a 9/10. Not doing as well are Runquest's Bestiary (Andy Slack gives it a 6/10) and Task Force Games' Asteroid Zero-Four (also a 6/10 from Alestrair Brown).
Lew Pulsipher pulls out all the stops and gives us an article about evil priests, "Black Priests" that also includes art of a nude woman about to be sacrificed. Certainly not something we would see to today in any gaming magazine. Odd, when I first saw this pic I thought her right arm had been cut off. It is just how the blood spill is.
The class is, well, evil. The have abilities of clerics, some Monster Summoning ala magic-users and even some thief and assassin talents. They use cleric spells and cleric level titles only with the word "Black" added to them so Black Curate and so on. Their experience point per level is more inline with magic-users. We got a few "evil" classes around this time. Anti-Paladins, the revised Witch and Death Master from Dragon. Not sure what this trend was about really. I am guessing it was because the "normal" classes were very safe and played to be good.
Barney Sloane presents "The Search for the Temple of the Golden Spire" an AD&D min-module for 7 2nd-4th level characters. It was used as a competition module at Dragonmeet III. It is four pages long, but no scoring for competition. Just good little adventure.
Letters concerns itself with alignments, again showing us there are no new arguments.
Star Base, the Sci-fi regular feature. This is one of the first reader submissions, this time from S.L.A McIntyre on Port Facilities for Traveller. And to understand how much Traveller was the only game in town, the game's name is not even mentioned till 3/4 of the article.
Fiend Factory is back and again sporting the new design. This time we get some heavy hitters. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are undead vassals of Orcus. They remind me of Skeleton Warriors under the control of a Death Knight, and in fact that is probably how they were played, save that these warrirors have 12 HD and the leader is 16 HD. We also get Ungoliant the (Demonic) Queen of the Spiders. Yes we do. She is more powerful than Lolth, but not as much personality. There is the Capricorn (in case you forgot how close the 70s still were) which is an aquatic goat of some power and good. Actually the concept of the monster is so interesting that it would be worth reviving it as a powerful celestial beast. Might need to come back to this one. We end the article with the Crystal Golem. Not a bad little creature. Described as the only golem that an Illusionist can build.
Lew Pulsipher is back with a treatise on character stats in AD&D and what the numbers mean. It is one of the first "Simulation" articles I ever recalled reading back in the day; and that is that AD&D is not a Simulation game. But he does refer to it as a wargame.
We get News of the newest game company, Steve Jackson Games. Chaosium is coming out with a boxed set for Runequest. More news on their new Elric game. TSR releases A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity (one fo the first modules I went through in AD&D). And plenty of Traveller news with Games Workshop getting the ok to produce official Traveller material in the UK.
Classifieds and more ads follow.
A very solid issue that highlights the growth WD was experiencing at the time. The switch in my mind will be complete over the next year or so. D&D/AD&D and Traveller still reign supreme among the games. That's fits my experiences as well. I bought Traveller because of the ads in Dragon and White Dwarf.
Is there anything better than a new game? Sure! Lots of new games.
Here is what I picked up over my lunch break. Cause new games are fun.
B/X Companion. The Book We Never Got. You can now take your Basic/Expert characters past 14th level.
Deadlands: Hell on Earth Reloaded. I don't know a lot about this game, but it has a good pedigree, and it is Savage Worlds, so it can't be all bad. ;)
Primeval RPG Core Rulebook. I loved this show when it was on. A bit like Torchwood, a bit of Doctor Who. All British. Well Cubicle 7 has finally got it out to us and it is great. This game uses the same game system as Doctor Who (which is very nice) so you can have all your Time Travel shenanigans in one place. This book will sit nice on the shelf next to my Doctor Who game.
Extreme Edge Volume Two Collection. Ok, so. I like the Hot Chicks RPG. It's silly fun and it doesn't take itself seriously at all. Plus I know Dakkar and he is a good guy.
Supers Unleashed. A simple supers game that has a lot of potential. The layout is beyond simple into the sparse category and the artwork is the cover only. So think of it as a minimalist game. It has a price to match.
One of the things I like most about the OSR are the products that don't give me things I already have, but things I have always wanted or never knew I needed.
I still don't have a name yet for my new Realms based 4e game, but things are coming together really nice.
Now back when I said I didn't know anything about the Realms. Well that wasn't true. I don't know much about the lands or the peoples. I have no idea where Elminster is from, but I could pick him out in a police line up. But one thing I do know about is the gods of the Realms.
Back when I was working on my first Witch netbook I picked up what was at that time my only Realms specific book, Faiths & Avatars. I wanted some more info on various gods, various 2nd ed Kits and the human deities. Later I picked up Powers & Pantheons and Demihuman Deities.
So Gods, I know.
I have been playing around with the plots lines of the Spellplague and the events in HPE modules.
And I have decided that I have killed of a number of the Gods.
Here is who is living and who is dead and why.
Bahamut has taken on Tyr's and Torm's portfolios. Torm was killed by Asmodeus. Is now a greater power.
Bane - Dead. Why? can't stand him. Plus I need Asmodeus as a greater threat. He killed Bane and absorbed all his power and portfolio. Part of his Reckoning of Hell. Asmodeus is still keeping Tharizdun chained up deep in Hell.
Kelemvor - Was killed by Orcus in the demon lord's attempt to regain his godhood. In my games Orcus was not a human that rose up through the ranks of demon-hood, but rather he was Death Primordial/Titan that had the powers of a god. He had been denounced and banished to the Abyss. He is searching for an artifact to give him ultimate power.
Mystra is dead, as per the book. But she won't stay that way for long.
The Raven Queen - from the D&D core and not the Realms I know. She is alive, but she has not come into her power at all. In fact she is currently in the guise of a teenage girl ala Death from the Endless. She is the vessel of Kelemvor's power.
Sehanine, Selûne and Shar are much as they are in the books. However in my world there is also a heresy and a cult dedicated to the "Triune Goddess" or the "Triple Moon Goddess" who believe that all three deities are merely part of the same greater goddess. They are respectively the Maiden, Mother and Crone.
The mother, Selûne, is pregnant with the infant Mystra. Since Kelemvor is dead, Shar is pulling double duties till the young Raven Queen is ready.
The first session of my kids new D&D4 group happened yesterday and fun was had by all.
The road to Winterhaven has it's issues, but yesterday the band of heroes-to-be gathered together to defeat the kobold ambush. Present were Dracnil, a Dragonborn Paladin/Warlord, Swift aka "The King" a Bard, Hunter a Ranger, Glock the Halfling theirf, Calinndin an Elandrin Swordmage, Drac of the North a Mul Barbarian and Nevar Bloodbrow a Dwarven Cleric.
Some time was spent on getting characters made and the first encounter. There was also an impromptu skill challenge when one of their fellow passengers was missing after the combat. Even the natural 20 from the Ranger could find no trace of her.
So far they have the mystery of the missing girl, a symbol they are sure represents some cult, and three of the seven have been hired to investigate the rest of the kobolds.
I am going to add in some bits of the Winterhaven I was working on back in 2003. It was conceived as a town where witches roamed free. The D&D4/Nentir Vale Winterhaven is different, but it sits on a nexus point of the Material World, the Shadowfell and the Feywild. So there is more here than meets the eye.
I thought the kids did really well yesterday, especially the two that had never played before (though I guess their mom was a big player of Werewolf back in college). In fact I think the extra XP award for best role playing has to go to one of the new kids (who is the youngest) and the next oldest (though he has been playing a lot longer). In fact it was Drac of the North (one of the youngest) that got extra experience points for being the first to notice the missing girl.
Given how yesterday went the combat was long, but not much different than my 3.x game. That will change I know. Also as the kids (and I for that matter) become more accustomed to the rules things will move along better.
Next session is not for another 2 weeks, so progress will be a bit slow, but I think it will be fine.
No name for the group yet, I am going to let the kids choose.
We are playing D&D 4th Edition with the plan of going from 1st to 30th level
I will have *7* players aged 8 to 12 1/2
We are playing in the Forgotten Realms as it is in the 4th Ed books.
We are going to do the H-P-E Modules starting with "The Keep On the Shadowfell"
Two of the kids are mine. Three are the sons of my friend Greg and two are friends of my oldest son. The two new kids have never played anything before.
Greg's kids have played a lot of games, mine have played a variety of D&D games, most notably our 3.x Dragon Slayers game.
We are going with the Orcus wants to become the God of Death plot line. The differences will be that it's Kelemvor that has died due to the Spellplauge and the Raven Queen is only a Godling, her power untapped. This makes her a more likely target to Orcus than the mature Raven Queen. I'll admit there are some things from Amber Benson's "Death's Daughter" that I want to try out too. I am still doing many of the ideas from this post back in 2010, except these characters are not the descendants of the 3.x characters and I am going to smash a world into this one.
Honestly I think it is going to be great. 4e has it's detractors, but we still had fun with it. Plus my son plays in a Castles & Crusades game with 3 of the other kids listed above and my two boys are still finishing up their 3.x game where I used all the old 1st Ed modules. We get to do all sorts of schools here.
Well I have been trying out LinkWithin on my blog for the 3rd time (or maybe the 4th) and this time it seems to work much better.
In earlier versions of the Other Side layout I had written large parts of my own CSS. The new Blogger layout now gives me the advanced features I wanted without needing to muck around with coding. That is nice since my own coding also has disabled some of the nicer comments features. It also was not very compatible with LinkWithin.
Well now it seems to work better. I am not seeing how the algorithm works; for example how a post on the Zatanna and Hex Girls will also direct you to Dracula, Shakespeare, and D&D Basic. But I guess in my world that makes sense.
The one thing I am noticing that my hits for older pages are way up. That is a good thing. I have over 1200 posts here now, some of that older stuff has to be good too!
Do you like the LinkWithin widget? Are you finding any hidden treasures, not just here, but any blog that uses it?
So a bit ago I was approached by Nathan Beddome of "Signs on the Cheap" and "Banners on the Cheap" with an idea of printing up a large game map for my game room.
Well I have always wanted a large map of Victorian London on my wall so I responded back and we got to chatting.
Today I got the file formats I needed to know about so I am going to give it a try.
This is a very different kind of market for both me and his company. Afterall I rarely if ever need vinyl banners and I am sure they print up much stuff for gamers. So I am quite curious to see how this will all turn out.
I will keep you all posted on how it works out and all that good stuff.
Now I just need to find a good image file (that I own) for this! So far though things have been pretty easy going.
Miss me? Sorry for the delay last week. This has been a busy time at work and I have been taking it home with me at night to do instead of this. Let's get down to business.
Issue #21 is from Oct/Nov 1980 and it is off to a good start with some cool late 70s/early 80s wizard art. A lone star focused through gems reveals a fighter in battle. If it were redone today the gem would be d20 shaped.
We have an ad for Ariel games which in a bit of neat synchronicity features a game reviewed earlier today by James at Grognardia, The Mystic Wood. This and four other pages of ads follow.
The editorial is another "Ripped from todays blog roll" on whether or not the Vancian magic system is outdated. Interesting really. This is 1980, not 2012 and the D&DNext playtest discussion. Though maybe they should read this editorial. Not that the offered solution, the power point system in RuneQuest, is much more modern today, but it bears thinking about. There is also a note about their production artist, Robert Owens, who was killed in a crash.
Andrew Finch gives us a new D&D class based on The Chronicle of Thomas Covenant. "Lore of the Land" features the Lore Lords. They are an uber spell casting class that can combine their spell casting levels to cast more powerful spells and increasing the fighting ability of others. Something like a hyper-bard. Also detailed are Rhadmaerl, or a new type of magic user based on the Lore of Stone and the Hirebrand or Lillianrill, magic uses based on the Lore of Wood. And finally the Bloodgurd, a type of fighter. If you are a fan of the novels then these might be fine, but as character classes they look a little over powered, with the exception of the Bloodguard.
Roger E. Moore gives us a bit on Merchants. Including what they do and an NPC class for them. Very much an example of the early days when every profession had to be detailed as a class.
Open Box review Azhanti High Lightning, one of the classic classics of Travleler. Andy Slack gives it 8/10, James gives it a little bit more detail. Roger Sandell reviews Intruder from Task Force Games, giving it a 6/10. He states it is a "good idea, but needs improvement". John Lambshed reviews another Task Force Games entry, Valkenburg Castle. This one fares better at 8/10.
Letters deals with important issues like alignment and why does a lantern burn for 24 hours but the same flask of oil thrown lasts only a round.
Up nest is another complete mini-game Survival by Bob McWilliams. Seems simple and quick to play.
Treasure chest is upping their game this issue with a bunch (15) new spells.
Fiend Factory gets a huge makeover this issue. For starters the layout is better and the monsters are all grouped by a theme. In this case wilderness monsters for characters of 5th to 7th level.
The font used to write the monsters' names is now a plain one, not the stylized art font unique to every monster. Monstermarks are still included. The monsters themselves also seem to have been taking up a notch in terms of design. The jokey monsters are gone, replaced with real threats. This issue gives us The Brothers of the Pine (undead full of magical pine sap), Chthon (a living rock), Enslaver (a small pool of mercury that controls others), Micemen (the results of Brownie/Orc crossbreeding), Dragon Warriors (created from the teeth of dragons), Grey Sqaargs (a race of evil automata) and a Cyclops.
Starbase, the Traveller feature, continues with a mini "situation" for Traveller. We would call these an Encounter today.
S. Hartley presents the Tomb of the Maharaja, an AD&D mini-module for 6-10 3rd and 4th level characters. It is a nice little dungeon crawl that could be completed in one night.
Up next are some ads, including this one from Games Workshop that really got my attention.
Remember when I said at the start of this that anything British was automatically cool in my teenaged mind.
Here is a better scan of the Doctor Who board game that I mentioned last time.
With issues 20 and 21 we see a shift in WD to a more mature gaming magazine. The jokey monsters and classes are going away and focus on other games, like Traveller, is keeping the focus more of serious gaming material.
Let's see if this trend continues.
Links
Some links to other White Dwarf retrospective reviews
Back when I was working on Ghosts of Albion I became aware of the game Victoriana.
I picked up the game, but since I was deep into playing Ghosts at the time I didn't look at it much. Finally I did and then learned a 2nd Ed was going to come out. Of course I did eventually get the 2nd edition (and signed no less!) and know I hear there is a 3rd Edition on the way.
I spent some time reading the 1st Edition rules and thought it was interesting, if odd. For starters I am not sure why there was no U.S. Civil War. I was also not a fan of the Fuzion system. I liked all the odd races for the game (even if it did lead to the infamous Orc from Africa debate) and felt like it was, as it has been later described, Victorian Age Steampunk.
The thing that struck me though is how similar that cover is to the Ghosts of Albion BBC logo. In particular the silhouettes of William and Tamara. I am sure it is nothing but coincidence, but I could not help but notice it all the same. Save for the pointy ears on the Victoriana cover that *could* be Tamara and William.
I still like this game though. It has a soft spot in my heart really. It is like Ghosts of Albion gone all gonzo and turned up to 11. Plus it is one of the few games I always try to play at Gen Con; well it or 2nd Ed.
Here are the books I own. What I feel they lack in system, they make up for in style. They can be used with the 2nd Edition of the game with the conversion guide in the back of the 2nd Ed core book.
What if "Hounds of the Baskervilles" was a true story? Well in the world of Victoriana, it can be!
This is a "Penny Dreadful" or an adventure for Victoriana 1st Edition (aka 1867 Edition).
This adventure though is based more on the old legends of the Black Dog or Old Shuck on the English countryside. As such it is a good adventure for any Victorian era game with a heavy emphasis on magic or the supernatural. One could easily run this under Ghosts of Albion or Cthulhu by Gaslight.
This is one of the best Victoriana 1st Ed products. At 128 pages it is a very comprehensive guide to London in 1867.
Granted there is the Victoriana-universe spin on everything, but otherwise it is perfect for use with ANY Victorian era game. It especially works well with the 2nd Edition of the Victoriana game. The book is sans-game stats, so there is no system conversion to worry about, just thematic conversions.
The maps are fantastic and I especially enjoyed the descriptions of all the neighborhoods.
Very good resource indeed.
Another adventure for Victoriana 1st Ed. The set up is very nice and it captures the feel of the game right away.
The adventure itself deals with strange eastern magic and mysticism, missing children and a cursed statute. Plenty of really good plot elements to keep your players guessing.
This adventure also includes some rules on using martial arts.
While I am not likely to play Victoriana 1st Ed these days, it still holds a special place for me. Though these products listed here are my favorite.
This one has me scratching my head. I can still buy 3.5 books new at my FLGS. My 3.5 books are actually in really good shape (picked up the leather bound ones a while back).
I think I would rather see the Rules Cyclopedia reprinted than 3.5.
I'll be running Ghosts of Albion: Blight. I have had requests to run this one, so here it is for what might be the last time. Working on some new adventures.
Here is the blurb for the game:
Ghosts of Albion: Blight Ireland is dying.
Her Protector has been murdered and you are the primary suspects. Can you clear your name, regain your magic and stop whatever necromancies befoul the land? Time is short, yours and one million lives hang in the balance. Set in 1847 this is an adventure for the Ghosts of Albion RPG.
Game System: Cinematic Unisystem
Rules Edition: Ghosts of Albion
Players: Minimum 5-6, Max 8.
Minimum Age: Teen (13+) (PG for some violence, and problem solving)
Experience Required: None (never played before), some knowledge of "Ghosts of Albion" is helpful.
Materials Provided: Yes, materials are provided for this game. You do not need to bring your own. One d10 is needed.
