October is coming...

Starting at Midnight tonight October is here.

I have all my vampire movies queued up on Amazon and DVD.  Though a DVD I bought back in the summer to watch now is missing.  I am sure I will find it. Can't even remember what was on it to be honest.

http://krelllabs.blogspot.com/

My youngest wants to join in with me, so I am going to be watching some vampire movies that are good for him to watch as well.  Maybe some I have already seen. Lost Boys is on the list now.


It is also my oldest birthday coming up and he has requested a midnight D&D game.
It has to be scary (his request) and have vampires (mine).  I am thinking it will either be the original Ravenloft module or the Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen.

I am leaning towards the Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen.

The module is so gonzo. Plus this is a group of 14-15 year old boys.  So yeah.
I have run this group before and I have taken them through the Pacsetter Vampire Queen modules (here and here).

I am also planning on getting some more reviews done in October/November.

Busy month ahead!

Old Games

Contrary to some belief I am not an obsessive collector of games.  I have things I like and genres I follow and I usually stick to that.  Outside of those I am pretty much open.

This week the Games Plus Fall auction begins and I still have some time to get some of my books in.
I am planning on selling of some of my more recent Tunnels & Trolls purchases as well as the last of the True20 material I still have laying around.

I figure anything I have not played in 5 years is good to go and anything I am not likely to play in the next 3 is also good to go.  

Do ever pare down your collection?
If so, how do you decide what to sell and what to keep?

Kickstart Your Weekend - Gamer Pins

So I have a confession to make.  I love pins. I know, it's not big as far as confessions go.

Since I was in High School I would put pins on my book bags, backpacks or what ever.  I stopped when I started taking my laptop bag to work (save for a pink Breast Cancer Awareness one) but my gamer bag is almost covered in them.

Almost.

Which means I have room for some more!

The Sloping Companion Gamers Series Pin 1.0
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1551544047/the-sloping-companion-gamers-series-pin-10

This Kickstarter, now in it's final hours, have some great looking metal pins.
Frankly I love the d20 and d10 ones.  They even have the oft-neglected d12.

So please do them a favor, they are so close to making it and these look really, really nice.

Don't forget the Amazing Adventures RPG kickstarter is also in their final hours too.
Support them both!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676918054/amazing-adventures-rpg

Doggerland = Middle Earth?

I saw this map on the internet last night.

It is Great Britain and North West Europe circa 15,000 BCE.

Tell that doesn't just fill you with all sorts of ideas.  This was during the Upper Paleolithic era, or late Stone Age.

NOW.  compare that to this map we all all know and love.

I don't know about you all, but my head is full of ideas!

The Amazing Adventures of Rachel Morgan

Wow. What a great week.  I finally got copy of "The Witch With No Name" and I have been doing a lot of stuff with Amazing Adventures.   I have also been going through all my material for the Castles & Crusades witch class.  

So I am seeing a lot of convergence here.

Amazing Adventures works well as a fully modern game as well as a Pulp era one.

I am toying with the idea that WIS is for casting Earth Magic, INT is good for Ley Line magic and CHA for Demonic and Elf magic.  Though I also really need for Rachel to be able to cast Astral Projection, she is 18th level.  True, the only real Astral plane is the Ever After so it should be a lower level spell.  But Rachel in WWNN is pretty damn powerful.

Camille as Rachel Morgan

Rachel Morgan
18th Level Witch (Amazing Adventures/C&C) (Arcanist)
Eclectic Tradition* (I have not worked out any traditions yet)
Race: Witch, now uncursed Demon

Strength: 12 (0)
Dexterity: 11 (0)
Constitution: 12 (0)
Intelligence: 15 (+1) P
Wisdom: 13 (+1) P
Charisma: 18 (+3) P

Hit Points:  70
Alignment: Chaotic Good
AC: 13 (Rachel likes leather)
BtH: +4
MEP: 114

Languages: English, Latin, Elven (native language is English)
Background: Runner (Law Enforcment) +4,
Traits: Spellgifted (demon curses)
Skill: Knowledge (Arcana)

Powers
Familiar: Bis the Gargoyle (ok Bis is not really her familiar, but close in this world).
Herb Use
Ritual Magic


Spells
Cantrips: (9) Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Illusion, Detect Magic, Light, Magical Aura, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Stun
First: (5+1) Change Self, Command, Daze, Identify, Shield, Sleep
Second: (5+1) Blur, Burning Hands, Hold Person, Knock, Pyrotechnics, Scare
Third: (4+1) Aid, Fear, Heat Metal, Nondetection, Remove Curse
Fourth: (4) Dispel Magic, Fear, Polymorph Self/Other, Seeming
Fifth: (4) Contact Other Plane, Magic Jar, Projection, True Seeing
Sixth: (3) Guards and Wards, Mislead, Veil
Seventh: (3) Power Word Stun, Teleport without Error, Word of Recall
Eighth: (2)  Symbol, Trap the Soul
Ninth: (1) Astral Projection

Magic Items
Splat-ball gun* (a paint ball gun with sleep potions in the paint balls).
Various charms, pain amulets, charmed handcuffs.

I like her!  I might need to fiddle with her stats just a bit to get the right feel, but I like what I have here.
Plus this will give a chance to try that Hollows/Dresden Files crossover I have been dying to do.

Don't forget the Amazing Adventures Kickstarter. Last Days!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676918054/amazing-adventures-rpg

BTW Witch With No Name is Awesome! Love it.

Strange Brew Updates

You may have noticed a drop in posts here over the last month and half or so.

That is because I am working diligently on Strange Brew.

So far the spells, feats and skills are all done.  I should finish hexes in the next day or so.
I have completely re-worked my idea for witch traditions to play nicer with Pathfinder and I really like them a lot.

The Warlock class is done and we getting feedback from the backers now.

Still to do:
- Rework the base witch class just a little. Mostly some minor edits.
- Get the chapters on traditions, covens and patrons done.

When that is all done I will move on to the Castles & Crusades version.   I am so excited about that one.  I have so much I want to do with that.  The trick now is to edit things down to our promised page count.  Right now I am at 230% OVER page count.

I have other games on other burners too.  Lots of new Victorian stuff for at least 3, maybe three, different systems.

It's good to be busy!

Owl & Weasel Wednesday #11 December 1975

Today's look into the Owl & Weasel takes us all the way back to December 1975.  What do we have this month?  Well O&W has increased in size to 20 pages.  True the cover is now a proper cover and there are a lot more ads, oh and one page is for "notes" but still there is more content.

The biggest feature of this issue is the Game Day guide.  I love how intimate these old cons used to be.  Whether true or not it seems like everyone knew about everyone else.  The only thing I can relate it too was back in the 80s meeting up with various computer user groups; small, intimate and while not a lot to see, all of it very exciting.

Steve Jackson talks a bit on the changing nature of the British Gaming Scene and the "Adult Gaming Scene" in general.  His discussion links Monopoly to Diplomacy and to various "Com-Sim" games (Combat Simulation) and bookcase games (see Avalon Hill).  He discusses the growth of game magazines from 1974 on as well.  Of course he squarely puts the future of games on Dungeons & Dragons and Empire of the Petal Throne.  Though he also mistakenly states that games could give television a run for it's money.  Maybe not such a crazy idea in mid-70s Britain, but crazy by American standards (though TV here in the 70s was fairly dreadful).

Letters section is the first full page devoted to Empire of the Petal Throne.  A reader expresses his enjoyment of the game and Ian Livingstone gives us some more details about the game.   It's obvious that most fantasy is very Tolkien inspired at this point so EotPT must have felt like something so new and exciting.  Actually I still get that reading articles like this and only learning about the game much later in my gaming career.

There is another set of Chess variants mentioned.  Some ads. Actually, a lot of ads.
The "centerfold" covers Game Day events and a map.

The last page (ok page 18) is the Dungeons & Dragons page. It discusses hirelings and, interestingly enough, the release of the Strategic Review 4.  I guess at this point O&W and SR did not see themselves as competition to each other.  A nice change from how magazines today often work or act.  Even in the early days of White Dwarf and The Dragon there was more of a give and take between the two, at least until Imagine came on the scene.

I think what I am getting most out of these, as opposed to my overviews of White Dwarf, was the origins of the gaming culture.  Sure this is a very particular viewpoint based on a particular set of ethos.  The picture painted here is one were Wargamers and Role-Players (even if that word wasn't used just yet) got along in harmony or at the very lease stayed out of each other's way.  Given some of the posts on other gaming blogs, particularly Grognardia, that this was not always the case.
That being said there is a certain "yes we can do this!" attitude that is infectious and one I think would be good to adopt.  A time before edition wars.  I am not trying to glorify the "good old days" at all .  But the feeling of it is rather nice.