New Blog

I have started up a new blog.

I wanted a place where I could talk about some things that really would not be in place here.  Namely my views on various world political topics, science advocacy and my atheism.

The Freedom of Nonbelief
http://freedomofnonbelief.blogspot.com/ 

You can read what it is all about in the posts there, but here is the selling blurb.

A blog about skepticism, atheism and the freedom of not believing in irrational or magical thoughts. I am not going to use this blog to attack religions, but instead talk about how throwing of the mental shackles off belief has been a freeing experience.

I seriously doubt there will be crossover between The Freedom of Nonbelief and The Other Side. But one never really knows.

Don't Forget!

EN World Game Day Chicago is this weekend!

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by coming to the the aid of Ireland in her darkest hour.


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, 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.

There is a sign-up thread over at EN World, http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/319338-chicago-gameday-31-3-17-sign-up-play.html



And because I can.
One of my favorite Irish "rebel" songs.

White Dwarf Wednesday Issue 8

Back at it!  Sorry for that.

White Dwarf #8 came out Aug/Sept of 1978.  The cover art for this is really cool.  I am not sure what is going on here, but it is cool and very evocative of what I feel was D&D at the time.
The editorial laments that there are so few gaming companies overseas, especially in England and Europe.
There is a neat article on making your own monsters.  Not stats, but making models of monsters.  They skew heavy on recent additions from the Fiend Factory, but the Carrion Crawler is rather cool.  I personally never had the skills for these "arts and crafts" sort of articles.

The Fiend Factory introduces to future Fiend Folio entries such as the Tween and the Coffer Corpse.

Lew Pulsipher gives us a simple critical hit system.

The Man-Beast is a new class/race of half-human/half-animal characters.  It is very reminiscent of the Wolf Man or Jekyll and Hyde.   It is an interesting class, and one that as far as I know never had any traction.

In Open Box we have a rare treat.  A review of the first AD&D book ever, the AD&D Monster Manual.  It is described as hard cover, but with the option of getting a soft cover in the UK.  Had anyone else ever heard this before?  Don Turnbull gives it the highest praise.  This was the game changer.  The review is joined by "Space Marines" by Fan Tac Games, "Starships & Spacemen" by Fantasy Games Unlimited and "War of Wizards" by TSR.

Kalgar is down to half a page, while the letters are now a full page.
Rowland Flynn gives us our first bit of fiction in the form of "Valley of the Four Winds".  It is par for the time.  Fiction in White Dwarf and even Dragon was never my thing really.  A few pages later we get a line of miniatures based on the story.  There is more here than I know obviously.

We are given a couple of pages of classified ads and more ads.

All in all this a larger issue, but like issue 7 most of the new space is given over to ads.  Again, this is not a bad thing.  Then as now, I like to look at the ads.  The ads of Dragon have been loving detailed by James at Grognardia.  Someone really should do the same for the ads of WD.

For example have you seen this one before in Dragon?

Maybe you have, I haven't.  It looks awesome!
I think that is what enjoy the most going through these old White Dwarfs.  Everything was so new, so exciting.

DriveThruRPG March Sale

Time for the DriveThruRPG monthly sale.

Here are the products you can get 20% off of:

SAWS+ Character Sheet [Dire Giraffe Publishing]
SAWS+ Character Sheet for Pathfinder [Dire Giraffe Publishing]
HELLAS: Princes of the Universe [Khepera Publishing]
Bard's Tales [Raging Swan Press]
Iconic Characters [Raging Swan Press]
So What's That Shiny Thing Like, Anyway? [Raging Swan Press]
Caladon Falls [Savage Mojo]
Castle Builder Volume 1: Strongholds [Skirmisher Publishing]

And here is the code to use: WhenIrishDiceAreRollin

This code is good until April 10th, 2012.

Enjoy!

Random links

On the run today.  Many meetings and much ado to do.

So here are some links I have found useful in the last couple of days.

Running an alt-history game? Thinking of writing one?  Well here are some things to keep in mind.
IO9: 10 Worst Mistakes That Authors of Alternate History Make,
http://io9.com/5884879/10-worst-mistakes-that-authors-make-in-alternate-history

Want to learn more about the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying system?
Well here is the site to go to.
Exploring Infinity: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Collected Miscellanies
http://atminn.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/marvel-heroic-roleplaying-collected-miscellanies/

Elizabeth J Kolodziej is working on getting her next book published.
Send her a buck or two for "The Last Witch Series"
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1960643778/help-publish-the-last-witch-series

Speaking of which (or witch), Strange Music has a witch class up for B/X
http://strangemagic.robertsongames.com/2012/03/witch-for-bx-d.html

And speaking of Kickstarters, here is a blog that keeps track of all the RPG Kickstarter projects out there.
http://rpgkickstarters.tumblr.com/

I know posted this one before, but it is really cool.
Hi-res maps of the Caves of Chaos.
http://www.theweem.com/2012/02/01/caves-of-chaos-reimagined-by-weem/

Don't forget to sign up for Ghosts of Albion at Chicago Game Day!
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/319338-chicago-gameday-31-3-17-sign-up-play.html

EN World Game Day Chicago

I am going to be running a game at EN World Game Day Chicago!

I'll be running Ghosts of Albion: Blight. Seems appropriate given that Game Day this year in March 17.

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, 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.

There is a sign-up thread over at EN World, http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/319338-chicago-gameday-31-3-17-sign-up-play.html

I have an afternoon slot 3:30pm to 8:30pm on Saturday, March 17 at Games Plus in Mount Prospect, IL.

Hope to see you there.
If you let me know that you found out about this by reading my blog then your character will get a free drama point!

Question to OSR publishers and authors

I have been getting a couple of products ready to go for release and I am not getting the look and feel I want.

So a question to OSR publishing community from the professionals all the way over to the enthusiastic amateurs.

What desktop publishing/layout program do you all use?

I have tried a few myself including picking up a new one this weekend.  I am hoping to get some better results than what I have had been getting.