Zatannurday: SDCC Part 3, Valerie Perez Edition

Valerie Perez is a top tier cosplayer.  Not only does she rock the outfits you can also tell she is having a great time.  I have seen pictures of her with little kids where you know that little kid is thinking "I just met Zatanna!" or "I just met Wonder Woman!"

Also check out the Amazon Princess blog today for some of her great Wonder Woman cosplay too!

Valerie Perez and Vegas PowerGirl

Tomb of Horrors

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

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

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

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

Past conversations on this:

• Tomb of Horrors for 4e. Is it REALLY that offensive?
• Itching for the Tomb of Horrors
• Return to the Tomb! Part 2
• Winners, Losers and the Tomb
• Running the Classics

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

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

What I Am Reading: Creativity Recharge

I have been working on some pretty big projects recently. I got two of them done and took a break from a third to do a couple of smaller ones and I am finding my creativity is running a bit dry.  So I am hitting some books to help recharge.  Here is what is on reading list right now.

Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226203921
http://wednesdaymourning.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=239
I have this belief that the 70s Occult revival was very much part of the zeitgeist of a bunch of other things going on in the 70s.  This also lead, I believe, to the 80s Satanic Panic.  That is the alchemy that produced my best gaming memories and something I would love to recapture in my Old School books like The Witch and the game I'll never write but really want too, Star Child.
Since I am not writing a dissertation I can make insane leaps in logic if I like. So I am reading this.  I also have a Chill game I am trying to run set in 1976.  The first adventure is called "Bell Bottom Blues" but it is not written yet.  This book will provide me some imagination fuel for Chill, my next Old-school book and maybe Star Child.
I picked up my copy at Orphic Vellum Books with a signed book-plate from Wednesday Mourning (who was not even alive yet in 1976).

Victorian Academy of Magick 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-voodini/victorian-academy-of-magick-paperback/paperback/product-21144159.html
https://www.facebook.com/VictorianAcademyMagick
I love Victorian era games. This book was written by Paul Voodini and I participated in the Kickstarter for it. Lots of great ideas here for Ghosts of Albion, Gaslight, Victoriana or any other Victorian game where magic is real.  It's a fun book really. Sort of an alt history of London before magic disappeared from the world.
What really gives this book an edge is all the photographs and the research that Voodini has done.  Not to mention the dry wit.


Not everything I read is about magic and game related though.

Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
http://www.amazon.com/Arguably-Essays-Christopher-Hitchens/dp/1455502782
Most people either love or hate Hitch. I find him vastly entertaining even when (sometimes especially) I don't agree with him.   One thing though that can't be denied is that Hitch loved the printed word and this book shows that.  Even when he is trashing a well known author or book, or praising a little known one his love for books, and to a degree authors, is obvious.  Hitchens makes me want to read better books.


What are you all reading?

White Dwarf Wednesday #75

White Dwarf #75 takes us back to March 1986 with new(ish) Editor-in-chief Ian Livingstone.
The cover is a very Call of Cthulhuesque one with Buckaroo Banzai and Elvira battling a creature on a chees board floor.  Just out of curiosity I wonder if One Night in Bangkok had be released in the UK at this point? (yes...almost a year before.)
Ian Livingstone gets right in and talks about the changes that have been happening and more are on the way.  But we knew that really.  The changes we are seeing here are not really abrupt; they have been happening for a while now, but they do become apparent in later issues.

Open box is getting into a wider variety of games, but a lot of them seem to come from Games Workshop:  There is the Supervisor's Kit for Golden Heroes (8/10), Terror of the Lichemaster for Warhammer (9/10), Judgement Day for Judge Dredd (9/10) and Cosmic Encounter Boardgame (8/10).  The only non-GW game this issue is Fragments of Fear by Chaosium for Call of Cthulhu (7/10).  Detecting a trend here.

Critical Mass is back.  I only want to touch on a couple of things here.  Dave Langford talks about how long C. J. Cherryh's Forty Thousand in Gehenna is.  I agree. But that didn't stop me from using it and going back to it time and time again for ideas for my AD&D games (despite it being Scifi).  There is also a title I have never seen before, "Sex Secrets of Ancient Atlantis".  Looks fun.

2020 covers some mid 80s horror  movies. The Return of the Living Dead and Fright Night are featured.  I enjoyed the heck out of Fright Night despite (or because of) the gruesomeness that reviewer Colin Greenland seems to disdain.  Word of advice, if you don't like gore, don't review horror movies.  He also mentions Teen Wolf which is horror only in the way that connecting puberty to lycanthropy in the hands of Micheal J. Fox can be.  Which is to say, not at all.  Granted it isn't a horror movie.  To see a much better take on this idea see Ginger Snaps.

Oliver Dickinson has some thoughts on the upcoming RuneQuest 3.
Pete Tamlyn has ideas on Superhero games. There are ideas here to make Superhero games, and by proxy comics, more adult oriented (not themed) and they are not bad.  This article though fails today because it was too close, but on the other side, of the great breakout of the Graphic Novel.  Yes, the Dark Knight Returns was just out and Watchmen was on the way, it was still just a little too late (or early depending on your view) for the masses.

Gamemanship covers some idea on how to put the mystery back into AD&D.  Some of the ideas would later see similar treatments in AD&D titles like Ravenloft and eventually story-based gaming.  Most of it is still good advice today.

Mass Media by Andrew Swift covers how the news is delivered in various Tech Levels in Traveller.  My personal favorite is his predictions of the smart phone-like device in which to read the news on (TL 10) AND Google Glass (TL 11).  I mock Traveller often, and really unfairly so, for it's ideas on computers.  But this one was really fun to read.  There are ideas for characters too.  I now have a desire to play or run a bunch of intrepid reporters and muckrakers for the Galactic News Service.

Graeme Davis gives us "Nightmare in Green" an AD&D adventure for 4-8 4th-6th level characters.   There is the adventure and a few new monsters which is nice.  I like adventures that introduce a new, maybe one-off monster. Also it helps make up for the loss of Fiend Factory.

The Heart of the Dark is a Call of Cthulhu scenario.  It deals with a murder and you know it only gets worse from there.  I have always liked WD Call of Cthulhu adventures.  Actually most of their adventures for any game are rather good.

Treasure Chest has something really nice, a system for Character Backgrounds for AD&D.  Today we add a +2 to some skill that you had before you took up the adventuring life, but since AD&D is not like that this works out rather nice.

Tabletop Heroes covers oil painting.

Not a bad start to the stewardship of Ian Livingstone.  The articles and adventures are good.  Open Box seems a bit doggy to me, even given the gushing reviews gamers typically give their favorite games.

Where do you create?

I have been watching more videos of late of various designers, hobbyists and writers of all stripes and it got me thinking.  Is that where their ideas are born?  Now I am not going to start posting video blogs. I don't honestly think anyone wants to see and hear me rattle on about things.  But all the same, here are pictures of where I do my own creating.

Here is my main computer, Frankencomputer.  It's not much more than a web-machine and word processor which is what I want when I am writing.  The keyboard is actually worth more to me than the rest of the computer.  If I am going to sit and pound away on a keyboard then it needs to be comfortable to me.

My new work laptop.  Since Frankencomputer is Unbutu and the laptop is Windows I have been using Google Drive to edit docs.  Underneath is "Son of Frankencomputer" which I still need to drop another harddrive into to get working.  I like to rebuild computers.

My game room.  Shelves full of games I am currently playing and/or reading. The rocker was from when my kids were babies.  Still the best chair to fall asleep in read a book in.

Underneath are my lower shelves. Or the stuff I am not using as much.  These are most of my Modern games.

So how about you all?  Where do you create worlds and fates of characters?
Share your work areas/game rooms!

Happy Birthday Larry Elmore

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

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

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

Doing some linking

Not a content-related post.  Just setting up some SEO things.

ExactSeek.com

Zatannurday: More SDCC 2013 Cosplay

Found a bunch of more Cosplay from San Diego Comic Con.
So here they are for your enjoyment!

Also check out the Amazon Princess blog for some great Wonder Woman cosplay too!

Ani mia and Lady Pepper

Ani Mia

Ani Mia and Ivy Doom Kitty

Valerie Perez

A New Hope: DriveThruRPG Charity Bundle

Got this email the other day:

Fat Goblin Games has teamed up with a dozen great publishers to bring you an amazing bundle of products. A NEW HOPE Bundle includes 107 pdf books and game aids for only $25!

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/117320/A-New-Hope-%5BBUNDLE%5D?affiliate_id=10748

That's over $450 in gaming material! And all the money goes to helping out Fat Goblin co-owner and veteran industry professional, Rick Hershey and his family! Learn more about the charity from him:

A New Hope

My name is Rick Hershey. I've worked in the game industry for over 12 years now, doing illustration, graphic design, cartography, writing, game design, publishing, and much more. I love this industry, I love making games, and I love the people I've worked with over the years.

I have an amazing wife, Tristan Hershey, and four wonderful children (Mya, Marilyn, Madilyn, and Ricky). Shortly after my wife and I were married, she was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and all our hopes, dreams, and plans were altered. For the last six years we've struggled to fight her disease (which also has given her constant kidney stones, rhumatoid arthritus, anemia, and a mini-stroke) while raising our children and trying to better our lives. I support our family on freelancing and publishing as I need to be home daily in case she is
sick.

The NEW HOPE BUNDLE is a means for my family to get the start to prosper we would o! f had without her disease. It's a means to overcome the debt from her illness and to start a new life with a chance to succeed.

What We Need & What You Get
When you purchase the NEW HOPE BUNDLE you get tons of pdf books from your favorite publishers, including the bulk of Fat Goblin Games products. That is hundreds of dollars of gaming goodness for a small price.
The money we earn goes directly to the Hershey family and will allow us to pay off bills, move to a better residence, and help eleviate the burden this disease has caused.

In addition, a portion of the money raised will go to establishing a non-profit group to help aid other game designers, writers, artists, and members of the game industry in their times of need.

The Impact
Working in the gaming industry doesn't make most of us rich. I work hard to provide for my family as well as producing fun content for my own products and those of my clients. By purchasing the NEW HOPE BUNDLE you will remove an immense amount of stress from my family and allow us to worry about important things such as my wife's ongoing health and our children's happiness.

Other Ways You Can Help
There are many ways you can help, if you get the bundle or not. Please take a moment and share the link to this bundle on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. There are buttons at the top to make this even easier. Post in groups, on forums, and tell your friends. Make a big deal about this bundle and the value of these products and how everyone can help a family of the gaming industry.

If you are publisher and want to contribute to the bundle, that is great as well, and will be very m! uch appreciated. Contact me and I'll give you the info to add your own products to the NEW HOPE BUNDLE.

There you go.  Pick this up, spend a little and get a lot. Click on the link to see what they have to offer.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/117320/A-New-Hope-%5BBUNDLE%5D?affiliate_id=10748

Running the Classics

I don't consider myself to be one of those GMs/Players with "Gammer ADHD".  I like to make a plan and stick with it.  My BIG PLAN for some time now has been to run my kids through all the classic D&D modules in some form or another.

I have detailed my attempts here and here. Since that time we have gotten new reprints from WotC and the DNDClassics PDF store opened up.  My kids also dropped 4e in favor of 1st Ed Ad&D.

So I have an embarrassment of riches here.  I have the systems, I have the modules and I even have the willing players.  What I lack is time to do it all.

I guess the only thing for it is to make the time. That and stop buying games.

In my kid's 3.x game we are going to do the Tomb of Horror and I'll talk about that one later.
In their 1st ed game they are still investigating the Caves of Chaos.  After that that we are doing T1 and L1 before moving on to the A series, to eventually do the GDQ series.  I'll work other classics in there where they fit.

Here is my plan so far.

• B1 In Search of the Unknown, levels 1-3 (played at Gen Con 2012)
• B2 Keep on the Borderlands, levels 1-3
• T1 Village of Hommlet, Intro-levels
• L1 The Secret of Bone Hill, levels 2-4
• A0 to A4, levels 4-7
• A5, The Last Slave Lord, levels 5-9
• G123, levels 8-12
• D12, levels 9-14
• D3, levels 10-14
• Q1, levels 10-14

The trouble is that living in a post-Drow world the impact of GDQ is just not the same unless I make them very different.
Also while Queen of the Demon web pits is fun, it lacks the final confrontation that I would like to do with a "big bad".  Plus I'd like to go to 20th level.

I could scale everything up a little and stick I1, Dwellers of the Forbidden City in there before the A series.
Other candidates are X2 (I already took them through X1), C1 and C2.

That would round out the classics really.  Here is how they stack;

• X2 Castle Amber, levels 3-6 (after L1)
• I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City, levels 4-7 (after A but before G)
• C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, levels 5-7 (after A but before G)
• C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness, levels 5-7 (after A but before G)

Not to bad really.
It's not too difficult to turn the GDQ series up anyway, but are the drow and Lolth interesting enough?
Since this is the "NextGen" game after my 3.x one maybe Lolth is taking some revenge for her ally Tiamat, or moving into the recently vacated "most evil goddess" role.

While I don't need it a huge Lolth figure would be nice.

D&D TV

I don't think I ever remember seeing this one on TV.



Do you remember any D&D commercials on TV?
The only one I ever remember was this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1wGlOwn1pM&feature=share

White Dwarf Wednesday #74

White Dwarf #74 is a major swan song of sorts.  Here we see the end of the White Dwarf I grew up with and the start of something new.  Of course whether that new is better or worse is a matter of perspective.
The Frank Brunner cover could be the Necromancer that caused so much of a stir a while back.  Or maybe I am seeing nostalgia where there is none.  

Ian Livingstone bids us farewell in his last editorial, though he is sticking on as Editor-in-chief for a little while at least.

First up an extended look at Super Power a game of foreign policy that could have only been popular in the 80s.  It is part Monopoly, part Risk and part Reaganomics The Game.  Its from GW so I guess that is not surprise.  I have no problems with a magazine showing off the house brands games. Dragon did it all the time.

Open Box is a big one covering all sorts of games. Dragon Warriors is up first along with The Elven Crystals and The Way of Wizardry. Robert Dale, a playtester of the game, gives it 9/10. Vikings for RuneQuest is next, though I recall using it as a system agnostic book.  It covers, well Vikings. I remember the writing being good and the attention to detail nice.  I should pick it up to see if it cleaves with my memories or not.  Oliver Dickson gives it 8/10.  Nightmare in Norway scenario for Call of Cthulhu gets 8/10.  The big AD&D release Oriental Adventures is up.  The start of what we have recently taken to call AD&D 1.5.  It gets a solid 9/10.
The Pendragon Campaign is an odd one. It has quite the reputation these days and was/is obviously a quality piece of work.  But it also repeats a lot of the material found in the main Pendragon book.  One could look at this and see the likes of Forgotten Realms on the way; fully realized campaign settings.  It gets 9/10. Lastly we have two Star Trek books, Termination: 1456 and The Outcasts. Both are lauded for their sense of belonging to the Star Trek universe and are given 10/10 each.  The reviewers must have all been in a good mood.

Terror at Trollmarsh is one of the largest AD&D adventures I recall seeing in the pages of WD at 7 pages.  It is also one of the more detailed ones.

Lycanthropy in AD&D is given another look by Peter Blanchard.

The Power of the Frog is another attempt in a long time at some game-related fiction.

Hide of the Ancestor is a 2nd Ed RuneQuest adventure. It's not very long and mentions that some things will need to be updated to 3rd ed.

Gentlemen and Players is an interesting take on Call of Cthulhu on how create unique British characters for the game. While the focus is the Pulp Era there is a lot here that I find useful for my own Victorian games.

Treasure Chest covers musical instruments in AD&D.

Some redesigned super-hero origins for Golden Heroes, but should work with any supers game really.

We end with a bunch of ads and Travellers.

It is hard not to look at this issue through the eyes of knowing what is to come.  With little fanfare and announcement we got the last Fiend Factory last issue.  This is a big deal for me and my retrospectives since FF was one of the reasons I enjoyed White Dwarf so much.

Top Ten Questions

I know. I am slow, but here are my thoughts on the top 10 Questions from Random Wizard.

(1). Race (Elf, Dwarf, Halfling) as a class? Yes or no?
No.  I love my B/X, but I like to be able to choose race and class separately. Granted I just don't play many demi-humans.

(2). Do demi-humans have souls?
Halflings and Dwarves do, Elves and Gnomes do not.  By that logic then neither do goblins and maybe not orcs.

(3). Ascending or descending armor class?
Ascending.  Sorry it is just better game design and better for newbies.

(4). Demi-human level limits?
No.  I understand why they were used, I just buy the logic.

(5). Should thief be a class?
Yes. Though an argument could be made that Assassin shouldn't be.

(6). Do characters get non-weapon skills?
Why not? If I want to play a skills-based game I have Unisystem and GURPS, but a few extra skills for characters in D&D never hurt.

(7). Are magic-users more powerful than fighters (and, if yes, what level do they take the lead)?
They should compliment each other.  But Wizards take the center stage as soon as they get Fireball.
Also I think high level fighters should be able to wade through scores of enemies, knocking them down like a lawn mower does to weeds.

(8). Do you use alignment languages?
Only for religious purposes, using them in public should be viewed as the same as some one today saying "Thee" and "thou".

(9). XP for gold, or XP for objectives (thieves disarming traps, etc...)?
Both. Why not.  I like to focus on solving problems, and sometime killing the monster doesn't actually fix anything.

(10). Which is the best edition; ODD, Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, Rules Cyclopedia, 1E ADD, 2E ADD, 3E ADD, 4E ADD, Next ?
Actually there no such thing as 3E ADD or 4E ADD since both were called D&D (no Advanced) and the answer is "what ever I am playing and having a good time with".  Which was, at the last time I checked, all of them.

Bonus Question: Unified XP level tables or individual XP level tables for each class?
I am happy with either to be honest.  Individual XP tables solve a lot of "balance" issues.
I'd get around the demi-human level limits by giving them more XP they need to get per level.  To offset this they get some racial powers, ie dwarves get better at finding secret doors and the like.

You can see his answers here and many other replies here.

Finally getting to PLAY some 4e

Well better late than never I guess.

I joined an online game of D&D 4th Edition as a player, not as a DM.
Got a couple of hours in tonight and it was really fun.  I am getting to play the character I want, a witch, which is great (and believe it or not a rarity for me recently).  I nearly got killed, even with the rests, extended rests and healing from a cleric.

It is taking place in Eberron, which I know jack about but that is fine.  But so far we seem to be going through the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. The DM hasn't said that is what we are doing, but it feels familiar enough.  Either way, I'll put my modules up and out of the way till then.
No idea how long the game will last, but right now it is fun and if I can get in a couple of hours here and there (depending on the other two) then it will be fine with me.

I'd still love to get my 4e game back up and running to be honest, but weekends have been shot due to work or other commitments.  Hell. I was supposed to be working tonight on a social psych course.

Prestige Class: Tempestarii

Trying my hand at some more witchy Prestige Classes.  This one has been rolling around in my mind for a while.  I have a couple of things going on here. First, I wanted another Prestige Class that a witch could take, but was open enough for others. I also wanted to try to convert one of my older Traditions into a Prestige Class to see how it might work.  To top it all off I found this wonderful bit of art from SirTiefling and he has graciously allowed me to use it for this post.

I chose the Tempestarrii because I felt I needed to go back and give the idea another, different go.  I am using some OGC here as well to do some of the "heavy lifting".

Section 15: Tempestarii (Storm Witch), Copyright 2013, Timothy. S. Brannan.
OGC Declaration: The following content is considered Open Content for term of the OGL.
Art is owned by SirTiefling and is NOT open and is used here with permission.
Based on the "Weather Witch" from Magic of Arcanis, Copyright 2005 Paradigm Concepts, Inc.

Tempestarii (Storm Witch)

Witch by SirTiefling

First Witch 
    When shall we three meet again 
    In thunder, lightning, or in rain? 

Second Witch 
    When the hurlyburly's done, 
    When the battle's lost and won. 

Third Witch 
    That will be ere the set of sun. 

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1

Witches have long been suspected of raising storms or foul weather against their foes.  King James even spoke of such witches and believed they were attacking him when he had visited Scotland.  The Tempestarii is the ultimate expression of the storm raising witch.
While any class that cast spells can become a Tempestarii. Witches, druids, wizards and sorcerers of an elemental bent, and even some clerics of storm Gods choose this path.
The first Tempestarii were mighty witches that used clouds as carriages and rode storms into battle.

Hit Dice: d4

Requirements 
 To qualify as a Tempestarii, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Concentration and Knowledge (Nature): 7 Ranks each
Feats: Iron Will
Spell casting: Ability to cast spells

Alignment: Any.

Class Skills
(2 + Int modifier per level): Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft (any), Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Profession (any), Spellcraft, Survival, and Swim.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of The Tempestarii prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Tempestarii gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies

Spells per Day: With the exceptions of 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the character’s caster level increases when a Tempestarii level is gained if she had also gained a level in a previous class that allows them to qualify for this class.

This affects her spells per day and spells known, as if they had gained a level, but she does not gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one qualifying class before becoming a Tempestarii, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day and caster level.

Resist the Elements (Su): Beginning at first level, a Tempestarii learns she has nothing to fear from a storm or a sunny day. She becomes resistant to weather conditions as if she had the relevant endure elements cast. This effect is continuously active.

Wind Dance (Sp): Starting at 2nd level, the Tempestarii may use gust of wind as a spell like ability once per day. At 5th level, the Tempestarii can use this ability an additional time each day. Whenever she casts gust of wind either as a spell or use of this ability it is treated as a 4th level spell, the range is increased to 90 ft., and affects creatures as if they were one size smaller then they actually are. At 9th level, the Tempestarii can use this ability three times per day. Whenever she casts gust of wind either as a spell or using this ability it is treated as a 6th level spell , the range is increased to 120 ft., and creatures are effected as if they were two sizes smaller then they actually are.

Air Domain (Ex): At 3rd level the Tempestarii’s connection to the weather is strengthened. She gains the special ability of the Air Domain, and adds all of the domain spells to her list of spells known. This ability does not give domain spell slots to Tempestarii who do not already have them. If the Tempestarii already has the Air domain she may choose another, appropriate domain or sub-domain with the GM's approval.

Rain Chant (Sp): At 4th level, the Tempestarii may perform a rain chant. After ten minutes of chanting, the Tempestarii summons a rain storm which causes a light rain to fall in a 500-ft. radius for one hour per caster level. At 8th level, the radius of effect increases to a 1,000-ft. radius.

Storms Embrace (Sp): Once per day as an immediate action, the Tempestarii can enwrap herself in a cloak of whipping winds. This ability mimics a wind wall spell cast at her caster level that only affects the Tempestarii.

Weather Domain (Ex): At 6th level, the Tempestarii’s connection to the fury of the storm is strengthened. She gains the special ability of the Weather Domain, and adds all of the domain spells to her list of spells known. This ability does not give domain spell slots to Tempestariies who do not already have them.  If the Tempestarii already has the Weather domain she may choose another, appropriate domain or sub-domain with the GM's approval.

Bend the Storm to Thy Will (Su): The Tempestarii learns to manipulate the currents of air and storms around her as her innate connection and knowledge of weather increases. This acts as a limited form of control weather. The Tempestarii can affect any naturally occurring storm, be it a mild rain or raging storm. She can either calm or intensify the storm. She may do this only once per day. Storms of divine origin, such as the storm created by the Wrath of gods.

Sudden Storm (Sp): Weather responds more rapidly to the Tempestarii’s call. Once per day the Tempestarii may cast control weather, except that the casting time only requires a full round action. The storm’s effects manifest in ten rounds, instead of the standard ten minutes described in the spell.

Furious Storm of Vengeance (Sp): Becoming almost one with the flow of air and weather, the Tempestarii discovers that the forces she is bound with can express her fury. Once per day, as a full round action, the Tempestarii can unleash her anger, creating the effects of an Enlarged Storm of Vengeance cast at her caster level.

Class Level	Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Resist the Elements	+1 level of existing class
2nd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Wind Dance	+1 level of existing class
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Air Domain	-
4th	+2	+2	+2	+4	Rain Chant	+1 level of existing class
5th	+3	+2	+2	+4	Wind Dance 2/day	+1 level of existing class
6th	+3	+3	+3	+5	Weather Domain, Storms Embrace	-
7th	+4	+3	+3	+5	Bend the storm to thy will	+1 level of existing class
8th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Sudden Storm	+1 level of existing class
9th	+5	+4	+4	+6	Wind Dance 3/day	-
10th	+5	+4	+4	+7	Furious Storm of Vengeance	+1 level of existing class

New Minor Artifact: Cloud Ship of the Magonians
The Sky Kings of Magonia called upon a group of Tempestarii to build for them giant ships of war out of clouds. From these clouds, they waged war by pelting huge hail stones and lighting on their enemies below. However, the Sky Kings failed to pay the witches for their ships. The witches chased them as they flew away in their ill-gotten magical clouds.
No one knows what happened to the Sky Kings after that. They have never been seen again, but the sky ships remain. The witches created these magic items as a way of getting back at the Sky Kings; now anyone can use their ships of war. This item appears a gallon sized earthen jug. Once the stopper is uncorked, thick cloud-like mist will roll out and form a cloud.
The cloud is secure and can carry up to 800 pounds of people and gear for 24 hours, or twice that much for 12 hours. After that point, the cloud will dissipate. Each jug contains only one cloud. The clouds themselves act much like carpets of flying, obeying spoken word commands for directions.

Well...

Yesterday's planned "Keep on the Borderlands" under 1st ed didn't happen.
I ended up with a migraine.  First real bad one since my MRI back in April.  Took my medicine for it and the next thing I knew it was about 8 hours later and I was watching Harry Potter with my kids.

So much for that.  But I did come up with some new ideas for magical backlash.

I'll try to get those written up today.

Zatannurday: Ani-Mia Cosplay

Still digging through the Flickr, Tumblrs and Picasas so you don't have to! (Yeah my life is rough...)

But this one was nearly handed to me on Facebook.

Cosplayer Ani-Mia as Zatanna at SDCC 2013.  She was such a hit she even made #2 on JoBlo's top 10 hottest at Comic Con list, http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/lists-comic-con-top-10-hottest-costumes/item#2

I think you can see why!

Signed by John "Captain Jack" Barrowman

And Tweeted by him!

Ani-Mia and YayaHan

You can find her on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Ani.Mia.Cosplaym Twitter, https://twitter.com/AniMiaOfficial and buy her prints at Storenvy, http://animia.storenvy.com/.

The Upside to Kickstarter

We have all been burned on Kickstarter at one time or another.  While Tenkar is doing a great job of keeping us informed with the failures, I do feel the need to point that more times than not people get what they paid for.

In some cases, like Troll Lord Games or Eden Studios get me what I paid for and often more.  Others like Joesph Bloch not only fund with very, very clear expectations of what is happening when, he also gets the materials out everyone either on time or early.

Here is another one.  Yesterday I mentioned two new games powered by Ubiquity, Revelations of Mars and Space:1899. Well if you fund both you will get a special PDF with two adventures.  Frankly it is something like that this making me consider up my PDF only pledge to get a Hard cover.

I think I am going to spend some quality time with Ubiquity here soon.  I already have some ideas on how I want to combine Space:1899, Revelations of Mars, Hollow Earth and Leagues of Adventure!
Gearing up for an Edwardian-times game based on all the ERB stories I have been reading of late.  Right now calling it "1901: A Space Odyssey". Should be a lot of fun!

Ennies Award voting is now live

The ENnie Award voting is now live.

http://ennie-awards.com/vote/

There are some great games in this batch so support your favorites!

Kickstarters go to Space!

Two new(ish) Kickstarters head out to Space with the Ubiquity System.  The same found in Hollow Earth Expedition and Leagues of Adventure.

First up is Revelation of Mars
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2085348754/revelations-of-mars

I didn't get on this one fast enough but it looks AWESOME.  I love the John Carter of Mars stories and I loved Pelucidar.  I am hoping that these games combine nicely (they should).  And honestly have a look at this Green Martian Princess.

Martian Princess by Will Nichols

Not exactly Edgar Rice Burroughs idea of a Green Martian, but I say this is an improvement.

Next is Space: 1899
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/440453703/space-1889-sf-role-playing-in-a-more-civilized-tim

I mentioned this one before.  But it looks really, really awesome.

White Dwarf Wednesday #73

We start out 1986 with White Dwarf #73.  The Lee Gibbons cover reminds me of the ones from around 1983; barbarian couple fighting and stealing gems.  It's a good cover but seems like a step back.  On purpose maybe? Is WD already feeling nostalgia?  In any case this issue is now larger than the previous one.

The editorial is about the chain store Boots now stocking RPGs and Citadel miniatures. I imagine that this is something similar to when Waldenbooks and B. Daltons began to carry games, though I suppose this is actually closer to something like Target or Wal-Mart carrying games.

Open Box is up and I am beginning to doubt the "independence" of some these reviews.  First up is a scenario for Golden Heroes, Queen Victoria and the Holy Grail.  The review is a mixed bag. Pete Tamlyn likes it, but admits it is tough and weird and maybe just a little bloody He mentions gripes and dislikes the ending and still gives it 8/10.   The Judge Dred game is up next. It gets a 10/10. I can't argue with the reasons Jason Kingsley gives, but for me it was an 8/10 at best.  Both games are from Games Workshop.  We have a couple of "Advanced Advanced" game books from TSR next and reviewed by Paul Cockburn.  First the Masters Rules for what we now call BECMI. Indeed it is the "M".  It gets an 8/10, but almost begrudgingly so. Lastly is Unearthed Arcana.  Bottom line is that Cockburn hates it and gives it a 3/10.

2020 Vision is the new Movie review section.  Covered are Back to the Future, The Goonies and the Bride.  I will admit I never cared for The Goonies.  I know it is supposed to be some culture touchstone for my generation, I never liked it.  Neither did this article.  Though I will admit I enjoyed The Bride.  I might need to rewatch it this Halloween.

Power & Politics is an interview with Derek Carver about the Warrior Knights game.   IT sounds like a good game to mine if you want to add some 1400s-style realism to your FRPG.

American Dream is a Golden Heroes scenario.  It looks fun. Reading it I am reminded of some of the scenarios I wanted to run for Silver Age Sentinels.  Though the coolest thing is the use of Chris Achilleos' "Miss America".

Starbase has a great article on navigating 3D Space on your space maps.  Overtly for Traveller, but it would work for anything really.

Star Spray is an adventure for MERP and AD&D. I just finished the Silmarillion recently and I have been wanting to find something just like this since my knowledge of MERP is limited.  But this adventure feel s a little flat to me. Graham Staplehurst did his homework and knows his Tolkien.  But anytime you involve PCs with great heroes and figures out of the past they can't help but be dwarfed.  I don't know, maybe Tolkien's epic is still too fresh in my head and it is coloring my interpretation of this adventure.

RuneRites covers non-lethal combat in RuneQuest.
Cults of the Dark Gods continues with more background for Call of Cthulhu.
Treasure Chest has some ideas on Magic Items. Namely that every item found is potentially magical IF you know how to awaken the magic inside.

Fiend Factory is back with some more AD&D Monsters.  This one is back to old form with mosters found in Rain Forests. Not a bad entry really.

Tabletop Heroes covers part 2 of doing dioramas.

We end with lots of ads.  I noticed the Message Board/Rumor Board now seems to be gone.

This issue is larger than the previous ones, but again most of that has been given over to ads.  Not a bad thing mind you, just no extra content.

The content we did get was good. I feel this was a better issue than many we have seen recently.

Dream of the Blue Orcs

I had the oddest dream the other night.  I am blaming all the allergy drugs. And the Absinthe I had on Sunday.

So the the other night I dreamed about this giant orc with a blue face. Not sure if it was painted blue or was blue.  It was wielding a giant axe, but one that looked like it was more chopping word than necks.  He was screaming and running at "me".  He was also wearing a kilt.

Now a lot of this can be explained away.  I have been reading a lot of Tolkien of late and his orcs are more, for a lack of better word, demonic than the typical D&D Orc or even the typical "new" Orc as first given to us by John Wick. I have talked about orcs before and how they fit into my world and the various sub-races.
I was also at the Bristol Ren Faire that day, so that explains the axes and even the kilt.

The idea of a blue orc is a cool one, so I looked for them online.  I see there are blue orcs in Heroscape and they have sabre-toothed tigers. That is a cool idea.  The axe makes me think northern climes and the kilt, well Scottish.  I have a "White Orc", but I was thinking that these Orcs would be south of the artic areas, but still northern and cold.  Think Canada.

Given my world's population they could even  be another offshoot of the Green Orcs, like the White.   Culturewise they are not much different than the Green.  Maybe more savage and certainly more tribal.   Wars with the Green and White keep their numbers in check.   To continue the metaphor, if Blue Orcs live in Canada then the Green live in the US and the White only the most northern places.  Greenland, Iceland, Siberia and Alaska.

Blue Orcs do not differ significantly from the other strains/sub-races of Orc in terms of stats.  Though if anything I would give them a bit better survival skills in colder climates.  Though this also reminds me of the Cailleach Bheur, the hag of Winter.    Maybe Blue Orcs worship the Cailleach as some sort of Goddess figure.  Pagan Orcs...the idea has some possibility and different than the other orcs.  Perhaps they believe that their Goddess carved them from ice and stone and then breathed on them to bring them to life.

The more I think about it the more I like it.  I'll have to use these guys soon.
Plus it gives me a chance to come up some Blue Orc witches.

Christmas in July

DriveThruRPG is holding it's annual Christmas in July sale.  Tons of great PDFs for sale.

How many is "tons"? Well right now a little over 14,000 products. All at 25% off.

Great time to get some of those items in your Wish List!

Sick Day

I don't have much to say today.  Feeling a bit under the weather.

Hopefully I'll have something new to post when I am feeling better.

More New Classes from Barrel Rider Games

A while back I posted about Barrel Rider Games.
Well they have some more classes out and just like a potato chips they are cheap, fun and I can't stop at just one.
These classes are all for Labyrinth Lord or your favorite Basic Era clone.

Dhampir
The Dhampir is another Labyrinth Lord compatible class from Barrel Rider Games. For less than the cost of a 20oz Mt. Dew you can get a complete class.

LL (and Basic before it) had an interesting artifact of the the original D&D game in that races were also classes. So you could be a 3rd level Elf for example. This book takes advantage of that and gives us a race class that works rather well.
The Dhampir is the mortal offspring of a human (usually female) and vampire (usually male). So think Marvel's Blade of Rayne from the Bloofrayne video games. There are a number of features to this class that give a unique spot in the party. Combine this with a few of BRGs other classes and you could have a kick-ass party of undead hunting experts.
6 pages -1 for cover and 1 for the OGL it has everything you need.

A couple of minor quibbles though.
The HD for this guy are d6. Vampires and Dhampirs have always been portrayed as robust. Honestly a d8 would be better.
The text also says that the Dhampir is not bound for evil, but the powers it gets at 7th and 9th level pretty much mean it is destined for evil. I suppose you could argue that to stay good a Dhampir needs to stop advancing and retire and grow sugar beets or something; such is the tragedy of the character. Doing he was born to do turns him in to the thing he hates the most.

In any case this is a fun class.

Fairy
Another fun class from Barrel Rider Games. The fairy is the counterpoint to the Lost Boy class.
It's a nice combination of thief, elf and magic-user.

Honestly this, plus Lost Boy, would make for a great introduction to LL/Basic for any young children.

$1.00, full class. Art + OGL statement. A steal really.

Lost Boy
What a really interesting concept.

You can play a "Lost Boy". The Peter Pan ones, not the Kiefer Sutherland ones.
The class is, like all of BRGs, classes, simple and easy to read and use.

My only gripe with this is a minor one. The Lost Boy can "Grow up" which is fine, but he gets to convert over to a new class. I say when a Lost Boy grows up he should retain some abilities from his past (but not all) but restart at 1st level.

Otherwise this is a fun class.

Tanuki
The Tanuki is new to me. I have heard of similar creatures from other myths, but this is the first time I have seen this one. So credit to BRG for giving me something new.

I have been following Barrel Rider Games' books for a while now and they have all improved with over the course of their publication, this one being no exception.

Presented here is a class/race that is similar in many respects to the halfling; that is if halflings could shape shift into raccoon-dog like creatures. Everything you need to play is here, XP per level, to hits, saves, and special abilities. Drop this little guy into your games and watch the fun.

Ninja
You can't buy a lot for just a buck these days. But Barrel Rider Games is in the business of giving you a class for a buck.
Not a bad deal really. I used to spend $3 for a Dragon magazine back in the day, often to get a new class.

This time BRG is giving us a Ninja class. Part thief, part assassin and part ranger this class has everything you would expect to see in a ninja class (almost, and I'll get to that). I have been following BRG classes for some time now and each of these pdfs gets a little bit better. So I am pleased to say that the class book here is complete. Saving throws, attacks, xp per level, and all the special abilities of ninja are here and ready for you to drop it into Labyrinth Lord...well like a ninja.

I only noticed one small, tiny thing. Typically with a ninja class we get a number of new weapons. This doesn't have those. I did not down-grade the pdf because of this because it is outside of the scope of the call books and that material is easily found elsewhere.

Shootist
I am one of those guys that despite all real world logic I DON'T have guns in my FRPGS. That being said I do know there is a history (both in game and out of the game) to include them.

If you are playing a "Basic Era" game and want to include guns then this is the class for you. Like all BRG classes you get about 5-6 pages of a class (with cover and OGL) for a buck. Not a bad deal at all really. You also get expanded rules for firearms in this one.
The class itself is solid and has everything you need to play.

Basic vs. Basic

With the release of Basic D&D at DriveThruRPG and DnDClassics I thought it might be nice for people to discuss their favorite version of D&D Red book Basic.

VS.

Moldvay Basic vs. Mentzer Basic.  

Who did it better?  What did you like or love about them? Or hate?
(I will do Holmes next time)

Let the "Edition" Wars begin!

Victorian Age Goodness

There are some great Victorian age products for your enjoyment.  I would say "new" but they are really new editions of old favorites.

Also, as much as I would love to provide full reviews for these games, I feel it is a conflict of interest since I am working on a book for Gaslight and I consider all the guys on the Victoriana line to be friends.  So instead of real reviews, I'll mention what I like about them both.

Victoriana 3rd Edition
From Cubicle 7, this updates the 2nd edition version of the game.  Using the same system from what I can tell, this version has been edited and cleaned up for greater clarity.  Some of the alt-history has been fixed as well.  Normally I don't care for alt-history games, but in Vic's case I can't fault them.
Victoriana is the one game I always try to play at Gen Con and I am going to miss playing it this year with the new edition.  I will have to get the hard cover next year.
When asked how to describe Vic the best analogy has always been Steampunk Shadowrun.  This new edition really emphasizes the steampunk and gearpunk.
The art has been greatly updated and looks a lot better, but I have to admit I miss the authentic photos.

Gaslight Victorian Fantasy 2nd Edition
Gaslight comes in both OGL and Savage World flavors. This is the new 2nd edition of the OGL edition.  It is a great resource for your existing d20/OGL game or as game you already know how to play.
At nearly 400 pages it is also a great resource for all sorts of Victorian Age games. This one take place in the later Victorian age and nicely covers the time right after Victoriana.

There is also the new Space: 1899 Kickstarter from former C7 designer Angus Abranson.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/440453703/space-1889-sf-role-playing-in-a-more-civilized-tim
It is going to use the Ubiquity system, which is the same as Hollow Earth and Leagues of Adventure, so your pulpy, steampunky, alt-Victorian fun will be complete.


All three are great fun and I can't have to have them in hardcover to add to my collection.