Zatannurday: Super-Team Family

I have featured Zatanna covers from the great Super Team Family blog in the past.  But recently they hit their 1000th post and it featured two of my favorites.  Zatanna and Harry Potter.

Love the cards.

Other Zatanna covers are just as great.

This one of Zee and Doctor Strange would make for a great story, or adventure!

I personally think she could take him.

And one of my favorites,

Zee always seem to have the upper hand in these.  As it should be!

Great job.  Looking forward to more.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 7: Favorite Edition

Day 7: Favorite Edition

How does one choose this?
I really have enjoyed all editions of D&D.  Basic was my first, Advanced my most played, 3rd the most flexible in terms of how to play...

I guess in the end I will say AD&D 1.  I played it the most, I have some great old and new memories of just having a blast.  And it is still one that ignites those fires of imagination in me.

Wikipedia is irritating me

Well.  Not Wikipedia, but some of the deletionists.
Now they want to delete the article on Tharizdun, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tharizdun

So. Anyone know of some good 3rd party (not TSR or WotC) references?
I have a stack of magazines to go through, but I am running on fumes now.
Could use some help on Night Hag as well.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 6: Favorite Deity

Day 6: Favorite Deity

Tough one really.  As a kid I loved Hecate for obvious reasons. Her picture in the Deities & Demigods did nothing to dissuade me from my opinion either.

But it was Dragon #88 and Len Lakofka's Gods of the Suel Empire that introduced me to Wee Jas.
First I love that "Wee Jas" was a play on Ouija.  She was like Hecate, only more D&D.  I was a then (And still am to some degree) a fan of the Suel.  They nuked themselves out of existance, but very soon in our games "Suel" became our Shang-ri-la.
I liked Wee Jas because she was a witch goddess and a goddess of magic.  She was also a lawful goddess that hated demons and chaotic undead.  Since I also liked to play wizards and  Lawful Good clerics and paladins that hated undead and demons, she was the perfect intersection of all my interests.

Typically when I use her now she is a cross between Hecate and a little bit of Cardea.
 

And this is happening...

New cover for Eldritch Witchery.  Due out next month!

Eldritch Witchery is due out for Spellcraft & Swordplay.

Old School Systems Questions

One of the things the OSR was supposed to do (at least in my mind) was free us from the necessity of rules fundamentalism.  Making products for OSRIC for example was allow publishers to make "1st Edition" compatible products without saying "Compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons".
Basic Fantasy seemed close to this as well, but more of a melding of the "Basic" and "Advanced" ideas.

At the end of the day though a product that is compatible for one game should work with another.

In a couple of recent posts from Billy Goes to Mordor (love that blog name) suggests that there is still some form of system adherence in the OSR crowd.
http://billygoes.blogspot.co.il/2013/08/by-numbers-relative-popularity-of-dnd.html
http://billygoes.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-relative-popularity-of-various.html

His numbers, based on his survey came out like this:

1. DCC RPG 32%
2. Labyrinth Lord 31%
3. Swords and Wizardry 28%
4. LotFP 24%
5. ACKS 10%
6. OSRIC 8%

Granted this is limited to people that visit his blog, so not a random sample.  He is very open about his methods of data collection, so I am good with this.

He compares this to relative Google+ groups sizes as an index of popularity.

1. Swords &Wizardry 826
2. DCC RPG 776
3. Lamentations of the Flame Princess 498
4. Basic Fantasy 387
5. Labyrinth Lord 382
6. Adventurer Conquerer King 347
7. Castles & Crusades 303
8. OSRIC 110

Pretty good alignment there I agree.

But this brings up the larger question again.  Are eliminating the necessity of a certain rules system (D&D Basic, Advanced, 2nd ed) just to exchange it for another (Basic Fantasy, ACKS, DCC)?

So when looking for a OSR supplement, adventure or add-on do the clone rules matter to you?

Back in the day we used pretty much everything with everything else.  Still do in fact.

For example I mentioned a while back how you can use ACKS with the B/X Companion or even B/X Companion with Labyrinth Lord or Basic Fantasy.  Those are easy though due to their relationship back to Basic D&D.

What are your experiences? Do you ignore S&W's single save when using the Tome of Horrors with Basic Fantasy?   Do you convert on the fly?

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 5: Favorite Set of dice/individual die

Day 5: Favorite Set of dice/individual die

Unlike many players it seems I am not superstitious about dice.  My current favorite is the ones that I have at the table, 'cause anytime I am rolling dice is a good day.

I do have a few that have special meaning to me.  I have a blue d20 the my oldest son gave me and a steampunk d6 my youngest gave me.  They are favorites cause of who gave them to me.
I also have a clock-face d12 that use for Doctor Who (replacing the 2d6).

My kids' favorite is the d20 of mine that I got mad at and tossed behind our books cases.  They laugh cause it always seemed to roll 1s and no one will ever seeing again until those bookcases are torn out.