Teach Your Kids to Game Week

DriveThruRPG is running a special all this week.

Teach Your Kids to Game Week.

Lots of kid and family friendly games that are easy to learn and fun to play.
While my boys are beyond this stage now (thy jump back and forth between 3e, 4e and AD&D1) there are a lot of great games here.

My favorites on the list include:

• Hero Kids
• RPG Kids
• Toy War

Be sure to check these out.

Starships & Spacemen 2e

Just picked up Starships & Spacemen 2e.

So far I like it.  I like that it is compatible with Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future and I like that it specifically has a cool Star Trek vibe about it.
Love to try it out sometime.

The Return of the OSRIC Player's Guide

Last year you might remember the drama concerning the OSRIC Player's Guides.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/10/other-osric-players-guide.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-osric-players-guide-woes.html

Well one of them is now back.

This is the OSRIC Player's Guide that was the stripped down and edited version of OSRIC just for players.
It was/is edited by Steve Robertson (formerly of the Bree Yark blog)  and features a bunch of art from him as well.

You can get the PDF fro free at his website or pick up a soft or hard cover at Lulu.
http://www.vanquishingleviathan.com/ and you can see some pics of it over at RPG.Net:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?665558-OSRIC-Player-s-Guide-is-up-for-sale!

Of the two Player's Guides, this one was the better of the two.  This one does feature a lot of new art from the editor (he does not call himself the author which is good) and it was edited.
The other was just a copy-and-paste job with some art found on the internet.

It is worth checking out.

Zatannurday: Zatanna Covers

Recently the Justice League Detroit Blog recently did a post  on the top 20 Zatanna covers.  It is worth checking out.
http://justiceleaguedetroit.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-top-20-zatanna-covers.html

While I liked the covers that were picked I didn't always like the reasons or the order.
So here are some of my favorite covers and why.  I am not putting them in any particular order.

Up first a Catwoman cover from Catwoman 50.  I like how you know this is a Catwoman book but Zee is larger  than life.  Plus it is a great bit of art and sets up the story well.

Zatanna #1 of the legendary Paul Dini run.  MUST reading for any Dini or Zatanna fan.

Not the first Justice League Dark cover, but I like how Zee is front and center here.   Surrounded by magic and featuring her new costume.  Love the look on her face. 

I rather like this one. It has all the things we expect to see in a Zatanna cover except for maybe her top hat.

 Fishnet on the arms didn't start in JLC.  I love how her eye seems to be glowing.

Love this cover too.  I like the black/dark blue lipstick.

 Everyday Magic is just a great collection I love the title.  I also love this cover.  Zee is not hyper-sexualized, but still attractive and feminine in her tux.  Plus I dig the boots.

More stars and more "Cute" Zee.  I like Adam Hughes art and I think he does a particularily good job of drawing women that look like women.  Like Frank mentions on Justice League Detroit. This reminds that Zee can be sweet, but she is no stranger to the dark.  Speaking of which...

I am on record as not being a big fan of Identity Crisis.  But it is/was such a pivotal moment in the history of the character I would be remiss if I didn't include it.  Plus this cover has other things going on.  First it features Zee in her "Supers" costume.  Not often seen anymore.  Also she is once again front and center here.  She is the focus, not the Gods standing around her.

An iconic cover.  More of the fishnet gloves too.

I like this cover. It has a lot of the iconic Zatanna imagery.  Her hat, fish nets, magic.  It has been said that among the supers a woman in a tux, top hat, tails and fishnets looks sorta...well dull.  I don't think so.  They have messed with her style before and this really is the one that works the best.

Going back a bit here.  This is the collection of the earliest Zatanna stories.  The cover is newer than that rest of the book, but that is cool.  I think it also very evocative of what Zatanna is all about.

There are others to be sure.  But these are the ones I most wanted to talk about.

TBBYANR: Two "new" blogs

Well they are new to me.

D20 Dark Ages
http://d20darkages.blogspot.com/

D20 Dark Ages is run by Stelios a writer and historian.  The blog mostly focuses on his one gaming exploits from the time period of 1989 to now.  There is a strong old-school vibe to his blog and details on what really were the Dark Ages in my mind as well, the period of the death of TSR but before 3.0.

Interesting site and I hope to see a lot more.

Comiccritique
http://comiccritiqueblog.wordpress.com/

Coniccritique was turned on to me by an old friend.  It's not an RPG blog, but as the name suggests, a comic review blog.  There is quite a bit of good critical insight.  It is a work in progress, but the writing is good.
I enjoyed his reviews of Batwoman and Justice League Dark and honestly he reminded me why I was reading two of the best New52 comics.

So go out read them, follow them.  I am expecting them both to get bigger and better.

Kickstarter Pros and Cons

If you have not read it yet please go over to Tenkar's Tavern and read his posts on Kickstarter.

If you are considering supporting one you should read it.  If you are considering starting one then you certainly need to read it.

http://www.tenkarstavern.com/search/label/kickstarter

Here is the point I am getting in all of this.  Unless your game is close to being done I am not likely to suport the Kickstarter.   I gladly supported Eden Studios on their ConX and AFMBE kickstarters because I knew where they were on things.  I was a play tester, I had seen the doc files, I had even seen some concept art.  I knew they were well on the way.

This is also why I am confident in backing Adventures Dark & Deep.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/623939691/adventures-dark-and-deep-players-manual

Joe has a lot of the work done. He has said on the page things are written and he is looking for some art.  That is cool with me.  Art is expensive.  I am certain that a Hardbound copy of AD&D will be on my shelves in the future.

I am not going to support projects though that still need to be written or developed.  To much of a risk.
By my count I am still owed about $150 worth of RPG products that I might never see. So my next $5 is going to come a lot slower.

Playing with Earth

One of the things I love to do in gaming is also learn something.  One of the things I like to learn is geography.  While knowing the ins and outs the City of Greyhawk or Glantri is fun, it rarely has a use in real life.  Walking the streets of London in my games though has some out-side-of-the-game utility.

But sometimes I like something for the pure fantasy sake. So I like to use maps of the Earth in different times.

Long time gamers already know of the Paleomap Map project of Earth History.  It has many maps of the different stages of Earth history and potential future maps.  I will admit when I first saw maps of the really old Earth it was disquieting to me.  I love maps and throughout all of human history the Earth has been the same. Not so throughout ALL history and prehistory.

If you ever played in the Known World of Mystara you know this map:

Did you also know about this one?

(image from here, http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm)

That is the Late Jurasic of the Earth, 150+ Million Years Ago.

I was on the site and I also noticed this one:

(image from here, http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm)

That is the Earth in 150 Million Years.  Take a look at Africa-Eurasia.  Remind you of anything?  It did me.  How about if I rotate it about 40 degrees.

Now compare that with this:

Not perfect, but a good fit for Robert E. Howards Hyboria.  Yes, I know. The Hyborian Age was in the mythical past.  And my "North" is really more North East.  Well...uh..pole shift!  Worked for Mystara!

Going even further into the future we have this little gem.

(image from here, http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm)

Earth in 250 Million years.  The new continent is called "Pangea Ultima".  I call it "Zothique".

Also not quite-perfect, but they are the same thing.  Pangea Ultima is the future when all the continents have merged back to one.  Zothique is more or less the same thing.  If the Hyborian age is some post-post apocalyptic world, then Zothique is the Dying Earth of Jack Vance, Clark Ashton Smith and others.  Scientists are equally grim on the chance of life on Pangea Ultima.

There are other maps of the ancient Earth there.  The Permian looks like it would be fun to use sometime too, or even the Eocene for something that is similar but yet alien.

Jason Vey has been tinkering on his home campaign of "The Wasted Lands" for a number of years.  Here is a maps of the Paelocene and the Eocene,

Here is Jason's map

Not exactly the same, but very close.  I like how it is a nice blend of REH's Hyboria and HPL's work.  Plus it has Atlantic, Mu and Lemuria which I really like.

There is so much that can be done with the world we already have.  So much adventure.
I know there were no humans around in the Eocene, but doesn't this look exciting? I mean even the name of the time is exciting; Eocene, the Dawn Epoch.  

Maps speak to me. They always have. That one freaking sings.  More than that, it is a Rock Opera.  It's The Wall meets Tommy meets Operation Mindcrime and maybe just a little bit of Kilroy Was Here to keep the masses happy.

What maps get you excited?