DriveThru April Codes

It's a new month, and once again DriveThruRPG has provided codes for my loyal readers.

This month’s code is DTRPGAprilPodBlog2011 and you can use it to get 20% these PDFs

• Dirty Secrets Dark Omen Games
• Wraith Recon Mongoose
• Lexicon of Traps Ennead Games
• Shadow, Sword & Spell Rogue Games
• Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. Third Eye Games

AND there is a special code to get all these products for FREE.  

To get that code here is what I need:

In the comments section please post an adventure idea that uses elements from all these games.

Please include your contact in the post (such as email if it is not on your profile) so I can email you the code.

Have fun!!

J is for Jabberwock

Jabberwocky for Ghosts of Albion.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jub Jub bird
And shun the frumious bandersnatch!

The Jabberwock might be a type of dragon, a creature of faerie or even a demon of some sort.  Two things are know for sure.  The seemingly non-sense poem, Jabberwocky by Lewis Caroll is a clever bit of occult poetry in disguise, designed to keep the Jaberwock away from Albion's shores.
The second thing that is known is that the Jabberwock elsewhere is a very real threat.

There are very, very few occult texts on the Jabberwock, and the ones that do mention it refer to it simplly as a type of dragon.  The Jabberwock though is no mere dragon but a force of pure chaos; a creature of insanity made whole.  There is debate on whether or not Caroll actually encountered the Jabberwock himself, but if he did it would have been before his 1872 poem "Jaberwocky", and even possibly before 1855.

The Jabberwock is a terrible foe.  Difficult to hit and even harder to kill. It can reattach limbs that have been severed by common weapons, and even magic is deflected away from it.  It is usually found only in the tulgey wood where it can be heard "burbling" by the Tumtum trees.

Name: Jabberwock

Motivation: To cause chaos

Creature Type: Unknown

Attributes: Str 14, Dex 6, Con 9, Int 3, Per 6, Will 3

Ability Scores: Muscle 34, Combat 24, Brains 12

Life Points: 220

Drama Points: 2

Special Abilities: Armour Value 8, Attractiveness –6, Breathe Fire, Flash, Flight, half damage from Bash attacks, Increased Life Points, Innate Magic, Resilience, Unique Kill (Decapitation, Vorpal Sword).

Manoeuvres

Name              Score   Damage           Notes

Bite                 22        47                    Slash/stab

Claw               24        34                    Slash/stab

Eyes of Flame 24         10+SLx3         Fire damage 

Deflect            15       —                    Magic defence action; deflects spells 45º

The Jabberwock can send fire from it's eyes..  All bu the greatest magics will bounce off the Jabberwock.

Reducing it to 0 or fewer Life Points only slows down the might Jabberwock as it will begin to regenerate itself.  The Jabberwock can not regenerate lost LP during combat, but once it is dead it will regnerate at the rate of 9 LP per hour.  The only way to kill a Jabberwock is to cut off it's head with a Vorpal Sword.

The Vorpal Sword
All is known about a vorpal sword is that it is the finest weapon of the land and that even in the hands of a novice it can lead them to victory over a great opponent.  What is most well know about the vorpal sword is that on a perfect strike, it will sever the head from an opponent in one swoop.
There are many theories about the vorpal sword including ascertaining if there is more than one or if it is an unique weapon.   Rumors also include that it is the Word of Law, forged into a weapon. It would make it oddly appropriate then that the only thing that can kill a chaotic creature like this, is the Word of Law forged into a sword.
The vorpal sword adds +2 to die rolls for sword combat and is deadly sharp.  Damage is Strx6 and must be wielded in both hands. Decapitation damage for it is x6 regular damage.

Though if the true Jabberwock is unkown, the other creatures are a complete mystery; The Frumious Bandersnatch, believed to be some large pack animal, and the Jub Jub Bird.

My First Award!

Back when the Other Side was just my website and not a blog I used to love getting awards.  Well I finally got one for this site as a blog!

Deirdra Eden-Coppel of "A Storybook World" sent me her award!

http://astorybookworld.blogspot.com/p/awards.html

Go over to her site and check it out.  I had been to her site before, so I knew of her and her award.  Her site is cute and quirky and I like that.  I am going to have to check out her books sometimes as well.

So here is my very first blog award and I display proudly.

Besides, I can't say no to a woman in cute faerie wings no matter how hard I try.  It's a personal failing I know.

I is for Icons

ICONS

I enjoy Supers games. I don't get to play them as often as I would like, but I enjoy them all the same.  I had been playing M&M 2ed and just picked up BASH! so I was hesitant to also get Icons.  But Icons comes with a pretty good pedigree.  First it is written by Steven Kenson, who gave us Mutants and Masterminds and also worked on Silver Age Sentinels.  Steve obviously knows his supers.  It has Gareth-Michael Skarka of Adamant Entertainment and one of the minds behind "Hong Kong Action Theater". Walt Ciechanowski has a ton of game systems under his belt too including M&M, True20 and Victoriana (1st ed). And Morgan Davie, whom I'll admit I am not as familiar with.  But he is one of the guys that wrote Icons, so that makes him good in my book.

Comics are a visual medium.  Full of art and color and eye catching action.  Icons is the same.  It is a really good looking book, especially one that has such a "retro" or even "indie" feel to it.  It lives somewhere between the free flowing cartoon fun of Cartoon Action Hour and the slick, high production values of Mutants and Masterminds.  All three of these games are fantastic and their style really tells us a lot about what they are about.  Icons is a comic book game that is close to a Saturday Morning Super Heroes cartoon.  The art, which some people have disliked, I think sets the perfect mood for this book.  It is simple art, but it is good art and has a earnestness about that I like.  That is also true for the rules.

Icons, as you may or may not have heard, is powered by FATE. Though the typical FATE/Fudge trappings of naming the power levels is gone in favor of numbers (sort of a step backwards from the FATE perspective, but fine for me). There is the option for named levels too, and I think it would fit the style of comic book action, but I myself prefer numbers. The scale is pretty simple, 1 to 10, with 3 an average.  So very similar already to a lot of games I play.

The rules themselves are really simple.  It is a modification of the dF system.  Use 2d6 with one as positive and one as negative, roll and add, apply mods.  Easy.  You can be up and running in less time than it takes to say "Meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice..."

Hero creation is unique for a modern game, it is random.  Not that you couldn't do it as a "point buy" system, but the randomness is what I think sets it away from BASH which can fill similar needs.

I feel I must at this point call out the Character Sheet.  Long ago I was a reader of Marvel and I  loved their "Whos Who" of the Marvel universe where they would have bar charts to rank their heroes on various attributes.  It was almost very game-like and I loved them.  Icons does something similar and it really gives their characters a different feel.

I would be lying if I didn't see bits of pieces of Silver Age Sentinels or Mutants and Masterminds peeking out every so often.  That is fine with me.  That familiarity is a good thing in my mind.

Icons is not really the game I would use if I were going to run a multi-year, multi-arc long game; that's what Mutants and Masterminds is for.  But if I needed to run a supers game on a rainy afternoon or a convention or just something to have some fun with, then Icons is a great choice.

I also picked up The Mastermind Affair and it is a great little adventure that gives you the feel on how to run an Icons game.

Lantern Corp: Confidence

So my boys have been getting into Green Lantern a lot lately and have enjoyed all the new Lantern Corps in the whole emotional spectrum deal from "Blackest Night".

So I got them some rings, a green for my youngest and a blue for my oldest, their favorite colors.  Today my oldest decided that he needed a new one; Aquamarine.   Here is his logic:

"Aquamarine rings are for Green Lanterns that are exceptional. They are the best so they get a Blue Ring, but it becomes like Turquoise or Aquamarine.  Their power comes from Confidence."

So he drew a picture (then we later did it up in Photoshop) and he wrote their oath.

Here is the oath according to Liam:

In wounded day, in Bleeding night

Confidence shall rise

To the sight of Aquamarine Light!

If we come up with an Aquamarine Lantern character we will stat him up in M&M3/DCA for you all to see.

H is also for Hobbit and Halfling

I don't pretend to be particularly original with everything I do in my games for fun.  I produce a ton of original material all the time, but sometimes I like to let others do the heavy lifting.  In this case I like it when a 119 year old English professor does the lifting for me.

1980 was a good year.  I had been introduced to D&D the year before and got my copy of the Basic set and I discovered the world of The Hobbit.  Sure I had seen the cartoon movie on TV and remembered it, but this was the year I read the book.  From that point on I have made it a priority to re-read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings at least every three or so years.  Frankly nothing else in the literary world even remotely comes close in my mind.

So then it should be no surprise that my D&D worlds have halflings, and lots of them.
I pretty much use Prof. Tolkien's guide with my halflings too.  Short, stocky, prone to laziness or at least not having the desire to go anywhere, much less on adventures (make you late for dinner!).

I think it was this picture by Jeff Dee that made me look at halflings as a good character race.

I always figured this was the local halfling sheriff and he didn't trust "big ones" like this guy. And how cute is that halfling girl?

My first halfling was a easy going guy named Perrin. Perrin though liked human women. He was an odd one. My games steadily got more and more dangerous that a guy like Perrin would have easily gotten killed. He retired and lives in a folder in my basement. I kinda hope he retired, bought a nice little cottage in the country and married a Valkyrie Warrior Maid, 6 foot tall and cleavage you could ski off of.

In my world I have a lot of halfling sub-races.  I do stick with the common ones.
- Hairfoots (D&D) or Harfoots (Tolkien) are the most common types.  These are your classical hobbits with hairy feet, slightly pointed ears and a tendency to be home-bodys.  These halflings get along well with dwarves.  These are the stereotypical hobbits.
- Stouts or Stoors are a touch shorter and tend to be more adventurous.  They get along well with humans and while not as numerous as the Harfoots tend to be the ones most humans see.  Their ears are more pointed.
- Tallfellows or Fallohides are a taller breed than the Harfoots, though no where near as numerous.  They have more pointed ears and are commonly found in the same areas as elves.    There is even speculation that the Fallohides have elf blood in their lineage.
- Lightfoots are the halflings that became popular with the advent of D&D3. Roughly the same size as Harfoots, the Lightfoots are notable for their desire to travel more and wear shoes.  The hair on their feet is sparse to nearly non-exsistent.
- Docrae a race of "cursed" halflings from the Blackmoor setting.  I have them closer in nature to the nomadic Native American tribes of the north.  A sad, stoic but hearty race.  I use some information on the Strongheart halflings from the Forgotten Realms here as well.
- Kender, the race of Kender of the hidden island nation of Ansalon believe they were created from gnomes. This is only half true. Kender are a magical, but now true, crossbreed of Gnome and Halfling.  There is even some speculation that Lightfoots are halflings that have bredd back with Kender as the two races have a number of similarities.

Halfling witches are known as Herb Women.

Halfling witches see themselves as the hands of their Mother Goddess. Allow the clerics to be Her eyes and voice; the halfling witch has work to do! This does cause some friction between the two set’s worshippers, but rarely among the populace. Halfling witches are most like their human cousins. More females pick up witchcraft, which they just call “the Craft,” than do males, but there has not been the history of persecution among the halfling witches as with the humans.

Halfling witches tend to be open and honest not only about their Craft, but many of their other opinions as well. While this makes them appear to be crass at times, it has also given rise to a popular saying among halfling youth, “If you want an Answer, ask a cleric. If you want the Truth, ask a witch!”.
Adventuring halflings are known to be full of wanderlust and a desire to see the world. Non-adventuring ones prefer the simple comforts of home, hearth and family. The halfling witch then is the self styled guardian of both halves of the halfling heart. The halfling witch is rarely an adventurer, but has been know to have accompanied adventurers in the past.

Halfling Herb Women fill many roles in the halfling community. First she is a center of wisdom and understanding folkways. In some respects she acts as an informal teacher outside of the halfling home. She is a healer, often a seller of herbs, remedies and minor magic. She may perform marriages (handfastings) and most importantly she is also the community’s mid-wife. Few, except the most knowledgeable clerics can match her wisdom in the ways of bringing the young into the world.

As mentioned previously, halfling witches are very similar to human ones, except there is no history of prosecution for the Herb Women, so nearly all Herb Women display the sign of their trade openly for all to see–a broom propped outside of their door. Each morning the herb woman will rise and sweep her back stoop or porch to signify that she is open. She will then place the broom outside of the door and leave the door open. This is a welcome invitation for the community who may stop by to buy her wares or even to gossip. It is believed that if the broom falls as someone walks in then that person is either special or under a curse. Since the herb woman’s shop is often her kitchen she can very well be fixing dinner all day while chatting with customers. When the witch closes her store she places the broom across the door as a lock. The ritual tool for the halfling witch is of course the Besom, or witch’s broom.

Herb women get along very well with most human witches of all sorts, Elven Kuruni and of course Gnomish Good Walkers. They are typically any non-evil alignment, but individuals have their own choices.

Reviews at DriveThru

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

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

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

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

Dudes of Legend (Full Version)
Be Epic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good product for the price.
5 out of 5 Stars

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Very much worth the download.
5 out of 5 Stars

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

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