Not a content-related post. Just setting up some SEO things.
ExactSeek.com
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Zatannurday: More SDCC 2013 Cosplay
So here they are for your enjoyment!
Also check out the Amazon Princess blog for some great Wonder Woman cosplay too!
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| Ani mia and Lady Pepper |
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| Ani Mia |
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| Ani Mia and Ivy Doom Kitty |
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| Valerie Perez |
Friday, August 2, 2013
A New Hope: DriveThruRPG Charity Bundle
Got this email the other day:
There you go. Pick this up, spend a little and get a lot. Click on the link to see what they have to offer.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/117320/A-New-Hope-%5BBUNDLE%5D?affiliate_id=10748
Fat Goblin Games has teamed up with a dozen great publishers to bring you an amazing bundle of products. A NEW HOPE Bundle includes 107 pdf books and game aids for only $25!
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/117320/A-New-Hope-%5BBUNDLE%5D?affiliate_id=10748
That's over $450 in gaming material! And all the money goes to helping out Fat Goblin co-owner and veteran industry professional, Rick Hershey and his family! Learn more about the charity from him:
A New Hope
My name is Rick Hershey. I've worked in the game industry for over 12 years now, doing illustration, graphic design, cartography, writing, game design, publishing, and much more. I love this industry, I love making games, and I love the people I've worked with over the years.
I have an amazing wife, Tristan Hershey, and four wonderful children (Mya, Marilyn, Madilyn, and Ricky). Shortly after my wife and I were married, she was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and all our hopes, dreams, and plans were altered. For the last six years we've struggled to fight her disease (which also has given her constant kidney stones, rhumatoid arthritus, anemia, and a mini-stroke) while raising our children and trying to better our lives. I support our family on freelancing and publishing as I need to be home daily in case she is
sick.
The NEW HOPE BUNDLE is a means for my family to get the start to prosper we would o! f had without her disease. It's a means to overcome the debt from her illness and to start a new life with a chance to succeed.
What We Need & What You Get
When you purchase the NEW HOPE BUNDLE you get tons of pdf books from your favorite publishers, including the bulk of Fat Goblin Games products. That is hundreds of dollars of gaming goodness for a small price.
The money we earn goes directly to the Hershey family and will allow us to pay off bills, move to a better residence, and help eleviate the burden this disease has caused.
In addition, a portion of the money raised will go to establishing a non-profit group to help aid other game designers, writers, artists, and members of the game industry in their times of need.
The Impact
Working in the gaming industry doesn't make most of us rich. I work hard to provide for my family as well as producing fun content for my own products and those of my clients. By purchasing the NEW HOPE BUNDLE you will remove an immense amount of stress from my family and allow us to worry about important things such as my wife's ongoing health and our children's happiness.
Other Ways You Can Help
There are many ways you can help, if you get the bundle or not. Please take a moment and share the link to this bundle on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. There are buttons at the top to make this even easier. Post in groups, on forums, and tell your friends. Make a big deal about this bundle and the value of these products and how everyone can help a family of the gaming industry.
If you are publisher and want to contribute to the bundle, that is great as well, and will be very m! uch appreciated. Contact me and I'll give you the info to add your own products to the NEW HOPE BUNDLE.
There you go. Pick this up, spend a little and get a lot. Click on the link to see what they have to offer.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/117320/A-New-Hope-%5BBUNDLE%5D?affiliate_id=10748
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Running the Classics
I don't consider myself to be one of those GMs/Players with "Gammer ADHD". I like to make a plan and stick with it. My BIG PLAN for some time now has been to run my kids through all the classic D&D modules in some form or another.
I have detailed my attempts here and here. Since that time we have gotten new reprints from WotC and the DNDClassics PDF store opened up. My kids also dropped 4e in favor of 1st Ed Ad&D.
So I have an embarrassment of riches here. I have the systems, I have the modules and I even have the willing players. What I lack is time to do it all.
I guess the only thing for it is to make the time. That and stop buying games.
In my kid's 3.x game we are going to do the Tomb of Horror and I'll talk about that one later.
In their 1st ed game they are still investigating the Caves of Chaos. After that that we are doing T1 and L1 before moving on to the A series, to eventually do the GDQ series. I'll work other classics in there where they fit.
Here is my plan so far.
The trouble is that living in a post-Drow world the impact of GDQ is just not the same unless I make them very different.
Also while Queen of the Demon web pits is fun, it lacks the final confrontation that I would like to do with a "big bad". Plus I'd like to go to 20th level.
I could scale everything up a little and stick I1, Dwellers of the Forbidden City in there before the A series.
Other candidates are X2 (I already took them through X1), C1 and C2.
That would round out the classics really. Here is how they stack;
Not to bad really.
It's not too difficult to turn the GDQ series up anyway, but are the drow and Lolth interesting enough?
Since this is the "NextGen" game after my 3.x one maybe Lolth is taking some revenge for her ally Tiamat, or moving into the recently vacated "most evil goddess" role.
While I don't need it a huge Lolth figure would be nice.
I have detailed my attempts here and here. Since that time we have gotten new reprints from WotC and the DNDClassics PDF store opened up. My kids also dropped 4e in favor of 1st Ed Ad&D.
So I have an embarrassment of riches here. I have the systems, I have the modules and I even have the willing players. What I lack is time to do it all.
I guess the only thing for it is to make the time. That and stop buying games.
In my kid's 3.x game we are going to do the Tomb of Horror and I'll talk about that one later.
In their 1st ed game they are still investigating the Caves of Chaos. After that that we are doing T1 and L1 before moving on to the A series, to eventually do the GDQ series. I'll work other classics in there where they fit.
Here is my plan so far.
- B1 In Search of the Unknown, levels 1-3 (played at Gen Con 2012)
- B2 Keep on the Borderlands, levels 1-3
- T1 Village of Hommlet, Intro-levels
- L1 The Secret of Bone Hill, levels 2-4
- A0 to A4, levels 4-7
- A5, The Last Slave Lord, levels 5-9
- G123, levels 8-12
- D12, levels 9-14
- D3, levels 10-14
- Q1, levels 10-14
The trouble is that living in a post-Drow world the impact of GDQ is just not the same unless I make them very different.
Also while Queen of the Demon web pits is fun, it lacks the final confrontation that I would like to do with a "big bad". Plus I'd like to go to 20th level.
I could scale everything up a little and stick I1, Dwellers of the Forbidden City in there before the A series.
Other candidates are X2 (I already took them through X1), C1 and C2.
That would round out the classics really. Here is how they stack;
- X2 Castle Amber, levels 3-6 (after L1)
- I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City, levels 4-7 (after A but before G)
- C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, levels 5-7 (after A but before G)
- C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness, levels 5-7 (after A but before G)
Not to bad really.
It's not too difficult to turn the GDQ series up anyway, but are the drow and Lolth interesting enough?
Since this is the "NextGen" game after my 3.x one maybe Lolth is taking some revenge for her ally Tiamat, or moving into the recently vacated "most evil goddess" role.
While I don't need it a huge Lolth figure would be nice.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
D&D TV
I don't think I ever remember seeing this one on TV.
Do you remember any D&D commercials on TV?
The only one I ever remember was this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1wGlOwn1pM&feature=share
Do you remember any D&D commercials on TV?
The only one I ever remember was this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1wGlOwn1pM&feature=share
White Dwarf Wednesday #74
The Frank Brunner cover could be the Necromancer that caused so much of a stir a while back. Or maybe I am seeing nostalgia where there is none.
Ian Livingstone bids us farewell in his last editorial, though he is sticking on as Editor-in-chief for a little while at least.
First up an extended look at Super Power a game of foreign policy that could have only been popular in the 80s. It is part Monopoly, part Risk and part Reaganomics The Game. Its from GW so I guess that is not surprise. I have no problems with a magazine showing off the house brands games. Dragon did it all the time.
Open Box is a big one covering all sorts of games. Dragon Warriors is up first along with The Elven Crystals and The Way of Wizardry. Robert Dale, a playtester of the game, gives it 9/10. Vikings for RuneQuest is next, though I recall using it as a system agnostic book. It covers, well Vikings. I remember the writing being good and the attention to detail nice. I should pick it up to see if it cleaves with my memories or not. Oliver Dickson gives it 8/10. Nightmare in Norway scenario for Call of Cthulhu gets 8/10. The big AD&D release Oriental Adventures is up. The start of what we have recently taken to call AD&D 1.5. It gets a solid 9/10.
The Pendragon Campaign is an odd one. It has quite the reputation these days and was/is obviously a quality piece of work. But it also repeats a lot of the material found in the main Pendragon book. One could look at this and see the likes of Forgotten Realms on the way; fully realized campaign settings. It gets 9/10. Lastly we have two Star Trek books, Termination: 1456 and The Outcasts. Both are lauded for their sense of belonging to the Star Trek universe and are given 10/10 each. The reviewers must have all been in a good mood.
Terror at Trollmarsh is one of the largest AD&D adventures I recall seeing in the pages of WD at 7 pages. It is also one of the more detailed ones.
Lycanthropy in AD&D is given another look by Peter Blanchard.
The Power of the Frog is another attempt in a long time at some game-related fiction.
Hide of the Ancestor is a 2nd Ed RuneQuest adventure. It's not very long and mentions that some things will need to be updated to 3rd ed.
Gentlemen and Players is an interesting take on Call of Cthulhu on how create unique British characters for the game. While the focus is the Pulp Era there is a lot here that I find useful for my own Victorian games.
Treasure Chest covers musical instruments in AD&D.
Some redesigned super-hero origins for Golden Heroes, but should work with any supers game really.
We end with a bunch of ads and Travellers.
It is hard not to look at this issue through the eyes of knowing what is to come. With little fanfare and announcement we got the last Fiend Factory last issue. This is a big deal for me and my retrospectives since FF was one of the reasons I enjoyed White Dwarf so much.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Top Ten Questions
I know. I am slow, but here are my thoughts on the top 10 Questions from Random Wizard.
(1). Race (Elf, Dwarf, Halfling) as a class? Yes or no?
No. I love my B/X, but I like to be able to choose race and class separately. Granted I just don't play many demi-humans.
(2). Do demi-humans have souls?
Halflings and Dwarves do, Elves and Gnomes do not. By that logic then neither do goblins and maybe not orcs.
(3). Ascending or descending armor class?
Ascending. Sorry it is just better game design and better for newbies.
(4). Demi-human level limits?
No. I understand why they were used, I just buy the logic.
(5). Should thief be a class?
Yes. Though an argument could be made that Assassin shouldn't be.
(6). Do characters get non-weapon skills?
Why not? If I want to play a skills-based game I have Unisystem and GURPS, but a few extra skills for characters in D&D never hurt.
(7). Are magic-users more powerful than fighters (and, if yes, what level do they take the lead)?
They should compliment each other. But Wizards take the center stage as soon as they get Fireball.
Also I think high level fighters should be able to wade through scores of enemies, knocking them down like a lawn mower does to weeds.
(8). Do you use alignment languages?
Only for religious purposes, using them in public should be viewed as the same as some one today saying "Thee" and "thou".
(9). XP for gold, or XP for objectives (thieves disarming traps, etc...)?
Both. Why not. I like to focus on solving problems, and sometime killing the monster doesn't actually fix anything.
(10). Which is the best edition; ODD, Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, Rules Cyclopedia, 1E ADD, 2E ADD, 3E ADD, 4E ADD, Next ?
Actually there no such thing as 3E ADD or 4E ADD since both were called D&D (no Advanced) and the answer is "what ever I am playing and having a good time with". Which was, at the last time I checked, all of them.
Bonus Question: Unified XP level tables or individual XP level tables for each class?
I am happy with either to be honest. Individual XP tables solve a lot of "balance" issues.
I'd get around the demi-human level limits by giving them more XP they need to get per level. To offset this they get some racial powers, ie dwarves get better at finding secret doors and the like.
You can see his answers here and many other replies here.
(1). Race (Elf, Dwarf, Halfling) as a class? Yes or no?
No. I love my B/X, but I like to be able to choose race and class separately. Granted I just don't play many demi-humans.
(2). Do demi-humans have souls?
Halflings and Dwarves do, Elves and Gnomes do not. By that logic then neither do goblins and maybe not orcs.
(3). Ascending or descending armor class?
Ascending. Sorry it is just better game design and better for newbies.
(4). Demi-human level limits?
No. I understand why they were used, I just buy the logic.
(5). Should thief be a class?
Yes. Though an argument could be made that Assassin shouldn't be.
(6). Do characters get non-weapon skills?
Why not? If I want to play a skills-based game I have Unisystem and GURPS, but a few extra skills for characters in D&D never hurt.
(7). Are magic-users more powerful than fighters (and, if yes, what level do they take the lead)?
They should compliment each other. But Wizards take the center stage as soon as they get Fireball.
Also I think high level fighters should be able to wade through scores of enemies, knocking them down like a lawn mower does to weeds.
(8). Do you use alignment languages?
Only for religious purposes, using them in public should be viewed as the same as some one today saying "Thee" and "thou".
(9). XP for gold, or XP for objectives (thieves disarming traps, etc...)?
Both. Why not. I like to focus on solving problems, and sometime killing the monster doesn't actually fix anything.
(10). Which is the best edition; ODD, Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, Rules Cyclopedia, 1E ADD, 2E ADD, 3E ADD, 4E ADD, Next ?
Actually there no such thing as 3E ADD or 4E ADD since both were called D&D (no Advanced) and the answer is "what ever I am playing and having a good time with". Which was, at the last time I checked, all of them.
Bonus Question: Unified XP level tables or individual XP level tables for each class?
I am happy with either to be honest. Individual XP tables solve a lot of "balance" issues.
I'd get around the demi-human level limits by giving them more XP they need to get per level. To offset this they get some racial powers, ie dwarves get better at finding secret doors and the like.
You can see his answers here and many other replies here.
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