Zatannurday: Justice League Dark Review

Justice League Dark was released this week and since it features Zee as a main character I thought a review would be in order for today.

I like the idea behind JL Dark to be honest; cases and missions that are to dark, to scary and too dangerous for the Justice League.  In the first issue Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg get their asses handed to them by the Enchantress and she is still imprisoned.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

The story is by Peter Milligan and it is a good little mystery.  We have a woman, June Moon, that seems to be crazy and a bunch of copies of her getting killed all over the place. 34 copies according to Batman. All the while we get this voice over from Madame Xanadu about how the future is in trouble.  We are introduced to Shade the Changing Man (at least I have no familiarity with him except from the Flashpoint miniseries) and his girlfriend, who seems to only be a figment of his imagination.  Xanadu is shooting up.  Oh and John Constantine is here too.  Obviously this is not the Justice League.  What about the Justice League?  Oh yeah they are trying to stop Enchantress and getting their asses handed to them.  Not Booster Gold and Blue Beetle here, Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg.

And aside...I read Wonder Woman #1 as well and I liked it, but where is this in that continuity?  No idea.  Not sure I even care to be honest.  Anyway back to the story.

We get to see Zee chatting with Batman and she decides that if the best of the best can't deal with Enchantress she will have too.  She ties up Batman and heads out to where Enchantress is causing all this damage while still in prison. And insane.

What is good?  Well the Mikel Janin art is great.  There is such a cool style here and there is no cheese cake shots to speak of.

What is good?
I like the story so far, though it is not great or perfect, it is certainly a mystery.  This is story that gets this group together and it is bound to have some issues.  I like that all the characters are "damaged goods" somehow, but all have some great power.  And Constantine is still smoking, that is good since it is so much a part of his character.  He looks younger here, like many of the new 52s.  But really he should look more like Sting or Johnny Rotten. (see here)

What need work?
Not enough Zee so far.  AND we have not been given much on her background in this reboot.  She obviously is part of the JL proper and has had dealings with Batman and Enchantress before.  I'd like to know more about her costume change, but may that will be explained later.

I am not a fan of Deadman though.  His costume is too silly for someone as serious as he is supposed to be. I know his backstory, but I need to see a good reason for including him in this group. Other than of course he is dead.

Also if this is the JL Dark should we get Raven at some point?  Is she still part of the Teen Titans?  After all if Cyborg is now part of the JL (as he should be really) then Raven can be part of this league.  Especially since we seem to be using everyone else from the Flashpoint Secret Seven group.

Of course I am going to keep up with this one.  Magic and comics are a potent mix for me.  Plus I have always wanted to see more Madame Xanadu and Shade (a character I wrote off) seems more interesting.

Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Ed

It is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since Vampire the Masquerade had been released.

The effect of this game on the gaming industry (and on the whole "Vampire subculture") should not be understated.
I know at the time I dismissed this game and I didn't even bother to look at a copy till 2nd edition was out and I still didn't buy it till 2nd Ed revised hit the stores.

It came at a great time.  AD&D 2nd Ed was lagging, TSR was all but dead to be honest and games had gotten a little too safe because of the 80's backlash.  Still it was not just that V:tM filled a void.  It created it's own niche and genre of games that is still felt today.

White Wolf may not be as big as it once was and Mark Rein Hagen is out of the gaming industry all together.  But this game remains, and this "new" book take you back to a time when the nights were ruled by such things as Ravnos, Brujah and people spoke of Gehenna.

There will be a print version out sometime.  But for those who can't wait, the PDF is up at DriveThruRPG now.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=94815&affiliate_id=10748

DriveThruRPG Fall 2011 sale

It is fall and here are the products that DriveThruRPG has made available to loyal blog readers.

The code is DiceInTheFall and tt's good for 20% off for all of the following products.

* Games I own or have played.

Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment]  *Like SW and D&D? then this is great buy.  I use this with other systems too.
Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs]  *SW and CoC! Very cool book
Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages] *A deconstruction and reconstruction of d20 system into something new.  I like it.
FantasyCraft [Crafty Games]* another cool de/re construction of the d20 system for gritty play.
Fat Dragon's Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games] *Print and build cities.  My boys get excited anytime they see a Fat Dragon product on my desk because they know it is going to be fun.
Ninja Burger RPG (2nd Edition) [aetherial FORGE]
Heavy Gear Blitz! Locked & Loaded [Dream Pod 9]
Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn [Goodman Games] *Great stuff for your 4e Dragonborn character.
Splicers RPG [Palladium Books]
Caladon Falls [Savage Mojo]
Legend of the Five Rings (4th Edition) [AEG] *Epic role-playing with all the excitement of the far East.  Spent some time as part of D&D, and as it's own game, but this is the ultimate edition.
Fuzzy Heroes (2nd Edition) [Inner City Games]  *If you have kids then they have stuffed animals.  Here is the game you can bring them to life with.  Great fun and a great way to introduce the younger set to RPGS.
Ave Molech (2nd Edition) [Morbidgames] *Interesting genre mashup.  I need to play this one more.
Book of Alignment (OGL/Pathfinder) [Emerald Press] *164 pages of detail on the alignments.
Horrific Universe: 12 Months of Horror [Bailey Records] (audio product)
Directors Cut Survival Horror [Crispy Zombie Productions]  (interestingly enough I don't own this one.  Fight have to get it with a 20% discount!)
Friar's Almanac (Complete) [Dark Spire]
Distant Vistas [Draken Games]
Stories in the Ether, Issue 1 (Bundle) [Nevermet Press]
d-Infinity Volume #3: Children of the Night (Gen Con Special Edition) [Skirmisher Publishing]

That's a huge list.  I sure there is something there for everyone.

OSRIC Player's Guides: Do we need one?

After yesterday's little drama (and it is good to have these every so often to keeps things lively) I have a couple of random thoughts.

- First it looks like Vince made an honest mistake with the cover art.
This is obviously not a James Shipman deal.  But I'll counter with that if you are going to go through the effort of putting a product together, make sure that what you are doing is 100% legit.  Don't assume anything.  Unless you know 100%, don't use it.  Even then verify.  Even if you buy the art make sure the person you are buying it from actually has the rights to sell it.
Right now I think I am in about as deep as I can get with art for my witch books.  Depending on how these books are priced (I want them to be inexpensive) I might break even with the money I have spent on it so far.  That's not a complaint mind you, I like the art a lot and has a nice 70s-80s vibe to it.

- Secondly does the OSRIC community need a Players Guide?  
Given that this product got so much attention that even I noticed it (and I am far outside the OSRIC community) and there is another project of similar scope on the way.  I would guess so.  Personally I would think you could just print up the OSRIC book's first few chapters and be done with it.

I guess that is part of my confusion.  Is OSRIC a guide or compendium or is it a game in and of itself?
I am not involved enough with OSRIC to really know.  I like the idea of one.  I liked the idea of the one just recently out, but not as a guide or as a book itself but as something that extended the OSRIC concept and potentially raised the bar in terms of production; till it didn't.

Does anyone here play it?  Do you play it as straight OSRIC or are you playing 1st ED AD&D with OSRIC as guide book?

OSRIC Player's Reference - RETRACTION

EDITED TO ADD:  Looks like editor/creator of this project did not know the art was not PD and has taken down the copies.  I guess the lesson here is unless you know for sure, err on the side of caution.

So this morning I posted my endorsement of the new OSRIC Players Reference.

Only after did I learn of the drama behind it (which I am not getting into here, but you can read about it on your own here, here and here).

What really struck me was the cover art.
How cool it was and much better it was than anything else produced by the OSR (yes, present company included).  Soon I discovered why.  I wasn't produced by the OSR at all, but an old AD&D 2nd ed cover.
http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/dl/dl-lairs.htm
http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/museum/dlbooklairs.html

Well the painting is by Bruce Eagle and was owned at one point by Pat Wilshire.
The interior cover of the OPG book claims that the cover is public domain.  That, and the fact that cover is very pixilated made me curious.  So I contacted Pat Wilshire.

Turns out that the art is definitely not in the Public Domain at all. Pat is still friends with Bruce and contacted him about it.  It looks every bit like this art was stolen for use of this book.

This is exactly why companies pay for art. They say don't judge a book by it's cover, but on the net that is often all we have and this cover looked awesome, so I got the book.  Turns out the Editior, Vincent Florio didn't even pay to use this cover.

The more digging I did the less I like this product.  All of it is copied right out of OSRIC.  Which in and of itself is not a huge deal.  But it is tacky.

Here are the pages that detail it.  Click to enlarge.

The page on the left is the OSRIC Players Reference. The right is OSRIC (2.2) version.
The page has been copied with the new information added in, in a different font no less.

The thing that sticks out of course is the "Cover/Back artwork is Public Domain".
Well not according to the owner of the art in question.

I wanted to like this product.  But I can not in good conscious recommend it.

Please instead download OSRIC proper and just use the pages you need.

Next time I'll put a little more research into a product before letting you all know.

OSRIC Player's Reference

EDITED TO ADD: Please read an update here, http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/09/osric-players-guide-retraction.html

Original Post:

The new OSRIC Player's Guide (don't call it a Handbook) is out now for a price that can't be beat.
It's free!

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=95152&affiliate_id=10748

If you are looking to get started in OSRIC then this is a good place to start.
If you want to learn the basics and the thought of picking up the massive OSRIC tome is too much, then this is also a good place to start.

While there is nothing really new here (nor should there be) the cover art is fantastic.

Edited: Seems the cover art is copied from this book.
http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/dl/dl-lairs.htm

Not sure what the deal is there.

The Witch and Eldritch Witchery

I am working hard on putting the final touches on my next two books.  The Witch and Eldritch Witchery.

They are not quite ready for full on press releases or product announcements yet,  but I am very, very excited about them.

The Witch

"The Witch" is designed to be used with "Basic Era" games.  Games that were released in the late 70s and early 80s and whose legacy is being continued with games like Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy RPG.

The Witch will feature a new character class, the witch, and witchcraft Traditions so you can play any type of witch from fantasy, pulp or faerie tale.  In addition there are going to be new monsters associated with the witch as well as tons of new spells and magic items.  Many of which I have playtested over the last 12 years and some even dating back to my original notes I had written on the witch back in 1985.
Also included are appendices for extending the "Magic-User" class into a proper Wizard and Demi-human witches, something I had never considered doing in '85.


Eldritch Witchery

Eldritch Witchery is a bit different.  First it is for the Spellcraft & Swordplay game specifically.  Though it should be compatible with nearly any "old school" game or clone.

Many of the ideas that were used in "The Witch" found a home here as well, though in a different way that makes this a very different sort of class.  Actually it makes it two different sort of classes since Eldritch Witchery includes a witch and a warlock class.  As to be expected there are magic items and spells for both classes included.  This book also extends the magic of wizards, clerics and necromancers found in the S&S core rules and Monstrous Mayhem.

This book will also introduce demons to the S&S game and a new demonic hierarchy.  Make sure you know your stuff before you go into battle against the demons, a Baalseraph will have different abilities than the Calabim who are different still from the Lilim.

Which Book should You Get?
I am hoping both!  There is some overlap (I can only say "an athame is a ritual knife..." so many ways) but I am taking great pains to make sure each book has their own feel and unique material.  You could in fact get both and have three different takes on the witch, each one doing their magic a bit differently.  The traditions and lodges are not repeated between the books (save for one at present, but it makes sense to do so). Eldritch Witchery has demons, but the Witch goes into greater detail with everything.   I would say that either can be played with any version of the World's Greatest Fantasy RPG circa 1975 to 1985 and any clone based on it.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting some characters created with both books and we can see how they fare.

The planned release date is right around Halloween.