Zatannurday: Cosplay special!

It's SUMMER! The first day of summer in fact.
Summer means a lot of things, but around here it means Cons and Cosplay!  So let's start up the summer with great Zee cosplays.




Anime Banzai 2013-007 by fujifangirl75 on deviantART


Mistress of Magic by gillykins on deviantART


Time for The Show by ArienReign on deviantART


Gotham Girls Photoshoot by MishyMisheru on deviantART


Zatanna by UndiciSmaug on deviantART


Nightwing and Zatanna Cosplay - DC Comics by SylunaHirokashi on deviantART


Demons worry when the wizard is near by S-Lancaster on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara - Otakon 2012 by mariegreycosplay on deviantART


It s a kind of magic by Ikari-Gendo on deviantART


Zatanna by Ivy95 on deviantART


Zatanna 02 by RyuuPhotoAlchemy on deviantART


Zatanna at wondercon by HobbesTCat on deviantART


Zatanna and Batman by Aquamaureen13 on deviantART


Zatanna Cosplay by Daisy-Cos on deviantART


Yay, it's me:) Zatanna cosplay by cosplayerotica on deviantART


Gotham party/backstage by BazingaCosplay on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara Cosplay by Aicosu on deviantART


Zatanna Cosplay by pinknekophile on deviantART


zatanna DC cosplay injustice by GhiandaiaCosplay on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara by emokittylover23 on deviantART


Zatanna - Dc Comics by Daisy-Cos on deviantART


Zatanna at Mago's Magic Shoppe by zeraphie on deviantART


What do you want to tell me? by revien-fiennes on deviantART

Skylla: Adventures Dark & Deep witch

I had planned on doing a Skylla write-up today, but for a different system.  But given that +Joseph Bloch is running a sale this weekend, I think it would be better to use his witch.

I reviewed his witch a while back and I enjoyed it even if there are couple things I didn't like about it. But it is still a fun class and I have enjoyed it.

So here is Skylla using The Darker Paths 2: The Witch and the Adventures Dark and Deep RPG.

Skylla
CE Female Human
Witch 7

Abilities
STR: 9
INT: 11
WIS: 15
DEX: 11
CON: 10
CHA: 12* (initial)/5 current

Saving Throws
Paralyzation, Poison, Death: 7
Petrification, Polymorph: 10
Rod, Staff, Wand: 11
Breath Weapon: 13
Spells: 12
+1 to Magical attack saves

Special Abilities (class)
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar (Quasit)
Charisma degradation
Limited to 13th level
Wisdom Bonus Spells (2 1st, 1 2nd)

Secondary Skills
Alchemy

HP: 13
AC: 6 (Bracers)

Spells
1st: Charm Person or Mammal, Detect Magic, Infravision, Protection from Good, Witch Shot, Wither
2nd: Blight Field, Command, Magic Broom, Misfortune, Wizard Lock
3rd: Bestow Curse,  Hand of Glory, Magic Missile
4th: Polymorph Self, Sleep
5th: Season of the Witch

Skylla is a good fit for his style of witch i think. I would have to play more to be sure.  Limiting her to 13th level might the fit the narrative I have for her. She would later go on to take more mage classes.

BRW Games Summer Solstice Sale

I make no secret of my enjoyment of Joseph Bloch's, aka The Greyhawk Grognard's, work.
I enjoy his blog, his games and frankly he has helped tremendously in improving the perception that OSR-based Kickstarters are always late.

So it is my pleasure then to let you all know about his first, and maybe only sale.
All his products (and there is a lot there for a one-man shop) are on sale.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=3728&affiliate_id=10748

Everything from Castle of the Mad Archmage to Adventures Dark & Deep his "what if" 2nd edition game.

Stop by and pick something up.  Honestly I say grab something, anything, if for no other reason than to tell Joseph that he is doing a good job and sales are appreciated.

Here are some of the books I have reviewed here and really enjoy:
A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore
Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual
Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit
Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary
Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer
Darker Paths 2: The Witch

Universal Horizons: Naïve or Patent Trolls?

There is has been a lot of talk in gaming circles about Universal Horizons and their attempt to patent an RPG mechanic.

You can find most of the details here:
http://www.bedroomwallpress.com/2014/06/patent-trolling-comes-to-rpgs.html
http://www.bedroomwallpress.com/2014/06/following-up-on-patent-issue.html

And here is their patent application:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=20140038722.PGNR.

Now as is it read it is vague on what "Game 1" and "Game2" could be and some people are claiming that this patent could be used to convert from different games instead of the games within Universal Horizons' own catalog.

Also there is the fear of what happens if the patent is bought by someone else. You see it all the time in the tech market.

I don't have much more to add to this, outside of my realm of expertise, but I do know I have been converting from games to other games for years and have been posting about them for years too.

So then in my efforts to give back, here is my "super secret" method of converting and the tool I used to do it.  My "All Conversions" excel sheet.  I figured out the math and works for me. Let me know if you see ways to improve it.
https://app.box.com/s/ooffm0xcqwgy82ufnlip
You can also download this sheet from my Downloads area.

Guest Post over at The Insecure Writer's Support Group

I have a guest post over at The Insecure Writer's Support Group today.

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

I talk about game writing but also how we various "Masters" to serve while writing.  Just doing my own little bit of community outreach.

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/2014/06/the-art-of-writing-for-games-serving.html

Stop by and check it out.

A Chill in the air

It has just been announced that Growling Door Games has just purchased the rights to classic horror RPG Chill.

Here is their press release:

For Immediate Release: 6-13-2014

Growling Door Games Acquires License For Chill RPG

US Roleplaying Game Publisher Brings Back Classic Horror Game

 Cleveland, OH: Today, Growling Door Games, Inc. is proud to announce that they have entered into a licensing agreement with Martin Caron, the owner of the Chill RPG. The agreement gives Growling Door Games the English-language rights to publish the Chill RPG core book and supplementary materials for that game, setting the stage for a new release of a classic property that helped make horror gaming a staple of the RPG landscape.

 Matthew McFarland, President of Growling Door Games, said, “We’re thrilled to bring such a classic of horror gaming back to print. Chill has a great history of success in the market. There’s been a lot of enthusiasm for the game even during its long stint out of print, and we hope both those fans and new ones will enjoy our revival of Chill.”

Growling Door Games is planning on releasing the new core book for Chill, 3rd Edition in August 2015, with a Kickstarter in late summer 2014 to launch the project. The initial release of the core book will be as a full-sized hardcover, available in both print and PDF.

Now I have been a fan of Chill for a very long time.  I even participated in Otherworlds Creations own Chill 3.0 playtests. A quickstart was produced after years of work but soon disappeared after dispute over who owned Chill came up.  Also all the Mayfair Chill products have been transferred to Martin Caron on DriveThruRPG.
I also wonder what this means for Goblinoid Games and their line of Pacesetter books, especially Cryptworld their Chill clone.

Of course I will be following this one closely.

Summer Reading

School is out for my kids and we did our annual Summer Reading purchases.  We head out to a couple of different bookstores and get books for all summer.

My youngest has some books assigned to him by the school so that was pretty much his choice.  My oldest is going to read the Dragonlance Chronicles.  He is 14 so that really is the best age for that.

I didn't find anything myself. But I have some Amazon gift cards burning a hole in my pocket so I need to get in and find some books.

Myself, I have fond memories of riding my bike to the local library and getting books to help out my D&D game or books on science, I have always been a big science geek.

How about you?  Do you have a Summer Reading ritual?