Ghosts of Albion Quickstart Review

A GREAT  5-Star review for the Ghosts of Albion Quick Start Rules.

Read it here:
http://diehardgamefan.com/2013/09/26/tabletop-review-derby-day-ghosts-of-albion-quickstart-rules/

Pick up your FREE copy here:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/119094/Derby-Day---Ghosts-of-Albion-Quickstart?affiliate_id=10748

Thanks to Die Hard Game FAN for the review.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 26: Favorite Non-magic item

Day 26: Favorite Non-magic item

Not sure about this one.  I think the list maker was seriously running out of ideas at this point.
Weapons maybe??

New Kickstarter: Double Spiral War

I have a love/hate relationship with Traveller.   Though the siren song of nostalgia has been making me look back on previous mishapps as youthful ignorance and things were never really that bad.

I also have to admit it is Kickstarters like this that give a reason to pull out the old books.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1292093911/warren-c-norwoods-double-sprial-war-traveller-edit

Battlefield Press is producing a Traveller powered game based on Warren C. Norwood's Double Spiral War books.

The project is reasonably funded and nearly there.  This would be a good thing to get me interested in Traveller again.

White Dwarf Wednesday #81

White Dwarf #81 takes us to September 1986.  The cover is Chris Achilleos' "Eagle Rider"  which had appeared on "The War of Powers" Part 2 cover prior to this.  Never quite got how they recycled covers like this, but they really, really liked Achilleos.
Paul Cockburn's editorial covers some of the new staff and their duties.  More Warhammer is promised. Two anniversaries are also mentioned.  Issue 100 and 10 years of WD.  Though they are still under 2 years for issue 100 (and my terminus for these retrospectives).

Open Box covers Paranoia, Clones in Space. One of the very few Paranoia adventures I ever played in.  The reviewer called it fun, I just never got into the frame of mind for Paranoia I guess.  West End Games gives us a Star Trek boardgame, the Enterprise Encounter.  After playing around with FASA Trek I kind of avoided Trek games for a number of years. Also included here is "A Doomsday Like Any Other" for FASA Trek. Griffin Island for Runequest is reviewed.  I owned it at one point and thought about a Runequest/CoC crossover, but never did anything with it.  West End also has out, Ghost Toasties for Ghostbusters.  Never played it.

For the truly curious an overview, review of Play By Mail is next in "How Mighty, the Pen".  I think by 1986 I was getting online (at 300 baud!) so the death knell was not ringing yet for Play by Mail, but it was near.

The next two articles are interesting, jousting rules for Pendragon and then again for AD&D.  Together they give a bit better of a picture of what you can do this Medieval past time.  I have to admit. I never had a Joust in my games.  I have been in games where they have occurred, but never ran one myself.

Letters is now two pages long.  Didn't see anything there that caught my eye except for someone complaining that Gobbledigook is smaller.

Critical Mass covers some SciFi.  Reviewed are Songs of A Distant Earth, which I absolutely enjoyed.  It was a book I just could not put down.   Also mentioned was Dragons of Autumn Twilight which my son just started last night.
20-20 Vision talks about Highlander. Again.  Though this time it is the British cut (pardon the pun) of the movie which is better than the American.  I recall seeing different versions back in 88 or so while in college, but nothing about an American vs. British version.  But it was almost 30 years ago.   Also reviewed is The Karate Kid.  Here is you brain buster for the day.  Pat Morita was 51 when The Karate Kid was filmed.  How old is Ralph Macchio?  He will be 51 on his birthday in November of this year.

Part 2 of the Call of Cthulhu/AD&D adventure Ancient and Modern is next.  Sad to say, but part two doesn't live up to the promise of part one.  It's still a great idea and I'd love to try it out.  I took it to work yesterday to xerox so I could mark up a copy as I like.

Brian Lumley gives us some short fiction. A rarity in White Dwarf.

A horror themed Paranoia adventure is next.  Like all Paranoia material is sounds interesting, but quickly devolves into farce to me.  Hard for me to judge this one.  Though the horror cliches are fun.

'Eavy Metal gets a facelift.  More color pages and the photography seems better.

Fracas covers some new releases, D&D Immortals, Wildernees Survival Guide AND an interesting rumor of Unearthered Arcana II.  Anyone know anything about that one?  WD mentions that is was on the schedules for early 86 to be replaced by Dungeoneer's Survival Guide.

Next is an article on Time Travel in RPGs.  I have a pretty strict rule.  No time travel in RPGs unless I am playing Doctor Who.  I have fudged that rule a bit more recently, but I stick to it.

We end with small ads and ads.

Overall a less satisfying issue than last month. The jousting article is neat and I like the idea behind "Ancient & Modern" The magazine is looking more like it's modern incarnation, but it was it's older incarnation that I found so pleasing.  Still though, some more issues to go.  Cheating and looking ahead a bit (I try not to read ahead) there are still a couple of gems waiting.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 25: Favorite Magic Item

Day 25: Favorite Magic Item

So many.
I always had fun with a Staff of the Magi, AD&D's closest thing to a magical shotgun.
So much so that I knew I had to do an equivalent staff for Witches.

Witch’s Staff: This staff of hawthorn wood is topped with a rough-faceted crystal. It is a potent magic item that allows the use of the following spells:

• command (1 charge)
• sleep (1 charge)
• magic circle against chaos/law (1 charge)
• polymorph other (1 charge)
• veil (1 charge)
• bestow curse (2 charges)
• eternal sleep (2 charges)

Additionally, the wielder of a witch’s staff has a +2 bonus to AC and all saving throws. The staff itself is a +2 quarter staff and can be used as a weapon in mêlée combat.

Kim Possible: Superbabes

I think I need some sort of 12 step program...

One last build for Superbabes.
This one is another Batwoman like build. Heavy on skills and gadgets. It is a place where Superbabes really works well I think.

I had done Kim is other systems in the past, but interestingly enough, never posted here. Odd really. I am going with a modern version here as well. So if her high school graduation was in 2007 she would be 23 or 24 now.
I am going easier on her Primary stats here.  No good reason other than I want to see how her points shake out.

Kim Possible by MachSabre

Character: Kim Possible
Secret ID / AKA: Kimmie, KP, Kimberly Ann Possible
Age: 23-24   Apparent Age: early 20s
Origin: Adventuress (0cp)
0 CPs

Primary Stats
Muscles: 16  ("Strong") Damage: +3 Max Press: 800lbs
Health: 16  ("Robust") Regen, Combat: - Regen, At rest: 1pp/4rds  HTK/Day: 1d20
Moves: 20  ("Fast") Bonus to hit: +3 Movement: 8" Hittability: 8 Initiative Bonus: 1
Brains: 17 ("Genius")   Mental Attack Bonus: +2 Mental Hittability: 6
Will: 18 ("Driven") Regen Rate: 1pp/4rds HTK Regen/Day: 1d6+2
Personality: 18 ("Sparkling")
Looks: 16 ("Babe")
242 CPs

Secondary Stats
PP: 121
HTK: 52
Fame: 15
Bimbo Points: 0 ("So not the drama...")
XP:
Level: 8
CPs: 18 left to spend

Powers
Hit Em Harder +2d6 20cp
20 CPs

Gizmos
Grapple Gun (Obvious) 20cp
- Go places, line of sight

Kimmunicator 30cp
- Communication
- analysis (Super Senses)
50 CPS

Skills
Martial Artist 9 levels 450cp (knows 16 styles of Kung-fu)
Athelete 80cp
- Acrobatics
- Catwalk
- Climbing
- Skydiving
- Swimming
- Swinging
- Tumbling
Communications 20cp
Contacts 20cp
Fire One Pistols 10cp
Languages (English, French, Spanish) 15
Melee Weapons 25cp
Stealth & Concealment 30cp
Survival 20cp
670 CPs

Character Description
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 130 lbs
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Skin: Caucasian
Unique Characteristics: 
Quote: "What's the sitch?"

This one turned out pretty nice.  I might go back and look over the powers again, but in truth I am rather pleased with it as is.

So that's my team.  Ready to stop the evil of the vile Refrigerator!

Now in retrospect I kinda wish I had used David Reynolds art for all the postings.  Though I don't think he has done any art of Tarot.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 24: Favorite Energy Type

Day 24: Favorite Energy Type

Again the post 3.x bias of this list is showing.
Energy...I guess Radiant or Necrotic.  Opposite ends of the same spectrum.
I think the question author was running out of ideas here.