A to Z Challenge Ambassador

I am signed up for the A to Z blog Challenge again for this April.

Not only that, I am once again one of the "Ambassadors" for the challenge. Basically this means I am a cheerleader. It will be my job to go through the sites in the challenge and give them encouragement.  I am once again working with Master Blogger Arlee Bird over at Tossing It Out.
In addition to the list of sites that my group will monitor I am also going to be hitting all RPG sites in the hop.

I think this is a great outreach opportunity. My hits increase by 300% and some of those stay on.  It is my version of evangelism.  If you are part of my regular set of readers and you are going to do this let me know!  I will make sure I add you to my list.

I mentioned here and here that this year I am doing an A to Z of Vampires.  This hopefully will support two different projects I am working on.  These projects are still in draft phase now, in fact one is not even in that yet.  But Vampires are something I have always enjoyed.  In fact in most circles before I was "the witch guy" I was "the vampire guy".

Like last year there will be plenty of RPG stuff, but there will also be more general horror posts too.  Trying to please all my audiences.

Hope to see you in the Challenge!

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 13

Day 13: First miniature(s) you used for D&D.

This ties nicely into Question 1. I bought some minis with my then DM, Jon, for use in our game.

We ordered them all from the Mail Order Hobby Shop.
I got my cleric, dwarf, halfling, thief and wizard.

These were the old made of lead, lead miniatures.
I used them for years, but never painted them.

I sold them or gave them back Jon.  He painted them and held on to them for nearly 25 years.

He had a few more that he painted.  Most have "Ral Partha 1979" on them. I think he got them at Black's Hardware in Springfield, IL.

Recently Jon sold them all back to me.  He loved the idea that my kids would use them.

My favorite is that Intellect Devourer.

Of course here are some of my favorites.  My recent batch of witches.

Strange Brew. Take 2?

So we have pulled the plug on Strange Brew.

Here is the official word from the publisher:

HI, all:

Thank you for your support on this project, but we are not making the needed traction to make this kickstarter a go. Therefore, I am closing the funding down on this and taking some time to reconsider how we can better interest the market on this project--which I still strongly believe in. We aren't giving up, just regrouping.

Meanwhile, three of my friends are producing some interesting kickstarter projects that you may be interested in:

Naomi Tripi has the family Flip Flash card game going--art is going to be by Stan!

Eloy Lasanta of Third Eye Games has AMP, a game of modern supers, going strong.

Hal Greenberg has the Fall of Man, postapocalyptic game ending soon. They've put up some very nice artwork and an interesting video. I've been asked to edit the final book.

Stay tuned for more information on Strange Brew. Thanks again.

Christina Stiles

We have been talk within our group and we felt that we could do better with more art, a video and some other levels.  Plus revamping the project too in an effort to bring it to you all cheaper.

Yeah, I am disappointed, but the reasons are all sound.

I will be working on it and hopefully be getting you something great here soon.

If you can, throw in your support for Naomi Tripi's Kickstarter or Fall of Man.

White Dwarf Wednesday #97

We begin 1988 with White Dwarf #97.  This is another one I picked up to be complete.  I bought though because it was an "attack of opportunity" so to speak; it was there and I had cash.

The dragon on the cover is nice. It's the same cover as Dungeonquest by Peter Jones.
The editorial is a blast against nostalgia and favors looking towards the new.  It is using the metaphor of rock bands and "Classic oldies" stations, but the message is clear. White Dwarf is changing and if you don't like that, well you can always listen to your dad's 8-Tracks.

Marginalia covers the Judge Dredd Companion.  Of course given the 80s hair and giant shoulder pads it could have also been clothing catalog.  It was the 80s after all.

An interesting bit, a couple of pages from Games Workshop mail-order store.
The next 50 pages are devoted to Warhmmer.  Not that this is a bad thing, but I have nothing to contribute to it.

An article for Call of Cthulhu is next.  Three cases for 1920s Call of Cthulhu.  Seems like a weak effort to me.

The Madcap Laughs is next with Ruins in Madness for Stormbringer. At nine pages is also fairly long.  It is nice and detailed.

We end with Letters and ads including a Dungeonquest one.

We all knew this was coming.  Sure there are more pages, but less and less of the things I am interested and outside the focus of this blog.  I was just talking with my son on Tuesday about Warhammer (because if you don't talk to your kids about Warhammer then who will?) and how I never got into it.  We were at our FLGS and I showed him all the stuff you can buy for it and the new weekly WD.  It dawned on me then and there that WH is younger man's game.  Not that you need to be younger than me to play it, but you need a lot of time.  Frankly I don't have that anymore.   So I am popping in my 8-tracks.  Get off my lawn.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 12

Day 12: First store where you bought your gaming supplies. Does it still exist?

I actually devoted an entire post or two a while back to this.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/09/reflecting-on-d-sometimes-you-cant-go.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/04/o-is-for-otherworlds-club.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/07/alas-borders.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/12/in-praise-of-your-flgs.html

My first game store was Waldenbooks in the Mall over in Springfield. Later Belobrajdic's Book Store closer to home also carried D&D books.

All these places have closed.

When I was in college I was privileged to be around when Castle Perilous first opened their doors.  Bought most of my Ravenloft stuff there.   Now I spend most of my time at Games Plus.

A to Z Blogging Guest Post

I have a guest post up over at the Blogging from A to Z site today.
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2014/02/how-to-use-atozchallenge-to-help-your.html

I am going to participate again this year. Like last year I am doing "posting with a purpose" and will be doing the A to Z of vampires.

It should be fun!

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 11

Day 11: First splatbook you begged your DM to approve.

Hmm.  Not so sure.  There were not a lot of splats available then.

I think the first one had to be the Book of Marvelous Magic for D&D.

There were a lot of really cool magic items and I wanted my assassin (AD&D) to get some of them.

We used a few, but never all. It was one of the books I lost when all my AD&D hardcovers went missing in the early 90s.  Since then I was able to get a hold of another copy.  It is still a fun little book.