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.