The special effects look a little dated, but I still love them.
These movies fueled a lot of game ideas that's for certain.
Stats
28 Watched / 20 New
Saturday, October 31, 2015
October Movie Challenge: Ghostbusters (1984, 1989)
Total cheats on my part. I have seen these both so many times, but there are so much fun.
The special effects look a little dated, but I still love them.
These movies fueled a lot of game ideas that's for certain.
Stats
28 Watched / 20 New
The special effects look a little dated, but I still love them.
These movies fueled a lot of game ideas that's for certain.
Stats
28 Watched / 20 New
Zatannurday: The Return of Constantine!
What better way to celebrate than the return of John Constantine.
Well he is back on Arrow, and it looks like not a moment too soon.
I am contractually obligated to say "I hope this also means we get Zatanna soon!" ;)
Friday, October 30, 2015
Friday Night Videos: Scary Songs
So here are 13 Scary songs and videos to keep you going till Halloween. Presented without comentary for your enjoyment.
Play at your hHalloween Party!
Not scary, but part of the season.
And what I consider the first goth song.
This is Halloween
I have some projects I need to get done today before I can truly celebrate Halloween this weekend.
Posting might drop off a bit in November as well. I have some projects that NEED to get done and something has to give a little.
Posting might drop off a bit in November as well. I have some projects that NEED to get done and something has to give a little.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Organizing via Diigo
Doing some research for my day job and I came across Diigo. It's a social bookmarking site that allows users to bookmark and share websites, pages, articles and so on. There is more to it than that, but I am just getting going on it.
I thought it might be fun to create a group where we could all share various OSR and RPG blogs and sites. There is very little RPG on Diigo so far (at least what I could find) so this would be helpful.
To that end I created a group and I am inviting everyone to join and link your sites or site you like.
Right now there is only me.
I am on a free account but I am likely to upgrade to a full professional account if this works half as nice as I hope. Once I do that then the group will have some more features.
I have added some blogs. Mostly those from my own blogroll starting from the bottom up, but I would love it if you all added your own and commented on the ones added. Just keep it nice, we are community here.
You can even add this to your own blog or website.
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://groups.diigo.com/user_mana/link_roll_data?group_name=OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites&icon=true&width=250&count=10&title=Group%20OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's%20best%20content&tags=&token=03f4ad7c34cfe7a31674868e9a7499eb" ></script><noscript><a href="https://groups.diigo.com/group/OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites" >Group OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's best content</a></noscript>
I know we have sites out there that list all of these blogs, but this is something we can all contribute to and help maintain.
Plus it is kind of fun.
Edited to add: I just discovered I can "auto-post" from Diigo to here. So as we add things an automated posting can go out say every Sunday.
I thought it might be fun to create a group where we could all share various OSR and RPG blogs and sites. There is very little RPG on Diigo so far (at least what I could find) so this would be helpful.
To that end I created a group and I am inviting everyone to join and link your sites or site you like.
Right now there is only me.
I am on a free account but I am likely to upgrade to a full professional account if this works half as nice as I hope. Once I do that then the group will have some more features.
I have added some blogs. Mostly those from my own blogroll starting from the bottom up, but I would love it if you all added your own and commented on the ones added. Just keep it nice, we are community here.
You can even add this to your own blog or website.
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://groups.diigo.com/user_mana/link_roll_data?group_name=OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites&icon=true&width=250&count=10&title=Group%20OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's%20best%20content&tags=&token=03f4ad7c34cfe7a31674868e9a7499eb" ></script><noscript><a href="https://groups.diigo.com/group/OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites" >Group OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's best content</a></noscript>
I know we have sites out there that list all of these blogs, but this is something we can all contribute to and help maintain.
Plus it is kind of fun.
Edited to add: I just discovered I can "auto-post" from Diigo to here. So as we add things an automated posting can go out say every Sunday.
Endless Darkness vs. The Outer Darkness
No game this weekend. It's my son's birthday so he is taking over my game room this weekend.
This gives me some time to work on their next adventure (well, future adventure), the D series.
I have been re-reading the D series for a bit now. It's funny how when reading it today I have a really different perspective on things than when I was going through the adventure 30 years ago. That's not a surprise really, nor is how much of it I had forgotten. What is the surprise is how much of it I remembered. Not from reading it or even the printed page, but what my characters were doing at the time.
I remembered how much I HATE Blibdoolpoolp.
Not the goddess herself actually, but the deception. 20 foot tall nude human with a lobster head? Why would Kuo-toa worship something that looked so different than themselves? Well the answer was obvious even to my then pre-teen and teenaged mind. It was an excuse to draw a naked woman.
Now generally speaking I don't have a problem with this, but I would like to think I am a bit more sophisticated today.
Since Kuo-toa are supposed to be stand-ins for Deep Ones anyway, why not go all the way and use Mother Hydra instead of Blibdoolpoolp. I can keep all the same names, Kuo-toa are a more "fishy" offshoot of the Deep Ones and they call their Goddess Blibdoolpoolp instead of Mother Hydra, but they are the same thing. She would become one of those things that is a mix of demon, goddess and what those things are from the outer darkness of Lovecraft's mind.
vs. 
I have been adding more "Lovecraft" to this adventure series anyway. Castle Amber was already very steeped in the mythos of Clark Ashton Smith. I have a bunch of Yithan minis now too. Plus I have wanted to bring the Mind Flayers closer to their Lovecraftian step-fathers. So in this sense it all works out. I also have all of these books at home with the monster stats; Deities and Demigods, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Realms of Crawling Chaos and what I call neo-Mythos books like the Teratic Tome.
My kids are really into reading about the mythos, but not the actual stories yet. My oldest doesn't read horror and my youngest is working his way up to Lovecraft now.
Ok. For the record, I know there is so much more to Lovecraft than the Mythos. But that is the part I want to use here.
I am not planning on bringing in the big C himself. But I can see Dagon showing up sometime.
In any case it is going to be a lot of fun.
This gives me some time to work on their next adventure (well, future adventure), the D series.
I have been re-reading the D series for a bit now. It's funny how when reading it today I have a really different perspective on things than when I was going through the adventure 30 years ago. That's not a surprise really, nor is how much of it I had forgotten. What is the surprise is how much of it I remembered. Not from reading it or even the printed page, but what my characters were doing at the time.
I remembered how much I HATE Blibdoolpoolp.
Not the goddess herself actually, but the deception. 20 foot tall nude human with a lobster head? Why would Kuo-toa worship something that looked so different than themselves? Well the answer was obvious even to my then pre-teen and teenaged mind. It was an excuse to draw a naked woman.
Now generally speaking I don't have a problem with this, but I would like to think I am a bit more sophisticated today.
Since Kuo-toa are supposed to be stand-ins for Deep Ones anyway, why not go all the way and use Mother Hydra instead of Blibdoolpoolp. I can keep all the same names, Kuo-toa are a more "fishy" offshoot of the Deep Ones and they call their Goddess Blibdoolpoolp instead of Mother Hydra, but they are the same thing. She would become one of those things that is a mix of demon, goddess and what those things are from the outer darkness of Lovecraft's mind.
vs. 
I have been adding more "Lovecraft" to this adventure series anyway. Castle Amber was already very steeped in the mythos of Clark Ashton Smith. I have a bunch of Yithan minis now too. Plus I have wanted to bring the Mind Flayers closer to their Lovecraftian step-fathers. So in this sense it all works out. I also have all of these books at home with the monster stats; Deities and Demigods, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Realms of Crawling Chaos and what I call neo-Mythos books like the Teratic Tome.
My kids are really into reading about the mythos, but not the actual stories yet. My oldest doesn't read horror and my youngest is working his way up to Lovecraft now.
Ok. For the record, I know there is so much more to Lovecraft than the Mythos. But that is the part I want to use here.
I am not planning on bringing in the big C himself. But I can see Dagon showing up sometime.
In any case it is going to be a lot of fun.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Class Struggles: The Warlock
There have been a number of warlock classes, but unlike the wizard, fighter, cleric or even thief, everyone has had their own take on what a warlock should be.
I have talked about the warlock as a class, distinct from the witch, in the past.
I do like keeping my warlocks separate from my witches in terms of class. In my mind they are just too different. Similar yes, but still very different. I would allow any warlock to use the same spell list as a witch unless there was a good reason not to do it.
I think the first ever warlock class I ever saw was the "Warlocks: A New Magic-User Sub Class" by Anthony Barnstone in The Dungeoneer #16. It had some great spells, "Pentacle of Fire", "Aura of the Occult", "Curse of the Bloody Revenge" to name a few. This was certainly meant to be an evil character class to play, not just as an NPC. Interestingly enough this the same issue that featured the mystic class. I have to admit it was one of the things that made me like the Dungeoneer magazine. It didn't treat it's audience like little kids.
To my knowledge, there has never been a warlock class in the pages of Dragon magazine. I know there was not one in the pages of White Dwarf.
The Arcanum and Bard Games had a witch/warlock class, making them the same thing. I am not a fan of that really.
In my mind the witch and the warlock began as the same class, but the warlocks broke off from the witches sometime in the ancient past. Either warlocks wanted to become more like wizards and mages OR they were responsible for the first wizards.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has a great Warlock class. It is a sub-class of the fighter but calls upon dark powers to give them some magical power and spells. Mor to the point I like how the warlock and the witch are very different sorts of classes.
The AS&SH warlock is something more akin to a swordmage. We see something similar in D&D4 Essentials Hexblade. In general I liked the D&D4 Warlock. They were a class that wanted quick access to power and none of the work that Wizards had to do. That was a fine role-playing excuse, but not something that played out in the rules. Warlocks gained powers just like the Wizards did and had no more or no less requirements.
There is a Warlock I created in Eldritch Witchery. It is a type of Wizard really. I liken it to "Wizard Grad School" to be honest. They use the same spells as the witch and gain a few extra powers.
The Warlocks in Fantastic Heroes & Witchery are another sort. It is a chaos aligned wizard and has a lot of the same features really. It uses the same xp per level tables, same HD and same spell progressions. The FHW Warlock does gain some power, similar in many ways to my own witch, but at a cost. On the surface this doesn't make it much different than a wizard, with a different selection of spells. What makes this class, and really this book, different are the selection of spells (the book has 666) and the additional rules for acquiring magic and casting spells. Adding this material makes the Warlock a much more interesting character.
The Pact-Bound in Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is another warlock-like class. Again the idea here is a class that takes a quick path to power for a price, usually to an other-worldly power.
There is a similar one in the pages of the ACKS Player's Companion. Again the nice thing with this book is that the witch and warlock are separated.
In the 3e era we have a couple of "warlocks". There is a warlock in the Complete Arcane and the witch in Pathfinder, which always felt more like a warlock to me. Just staying focused on 3e we have a warlock class from WotC and a witch class for Pathfinder. For 4e there were also very different witch and warlock classes. 5e only has a warlock.
In the case of the official D&D warlock, he is less of a spell caster and more a raw magical power wielder. His pacts give him this power.
The question becomes one of whether the warlock should have spells or just weid raw magical power and thus have "blasts". I am torn myself. I like the warlock to have access to spells to be honest, the idea is these guys have sold their souls for power, but the "blasty" warlock really isn't all that powerful compared to a "spelly" warlock or wizard.
A good example of what I call a "blasty warlock" is Jeremy Reaban's The OSR Warlock. Like his Witch Hunter book this book has a number of nice features in addition to the class. The class does not cast spells, it does have lot of special powers. This is by design and owning to the stated OGC and pulp sources. The warlock here does get some spell like abilities in place of powers. It actually works rather nicely What I think makes this book special is the level advancement tables for "First Edition", "Original Edition", "Basic/Expert" and "Cyclopedic Edition". Plus the author has a section of notes on the class.
I have to admit one of my favorite "warlock" books and one that captures the Pulp Era warlock well is Green Ronin's "Warriors & Warlocks" book. Yes it is for their superhero game Mutants and Masterminds (2.0 version) but it was my goto guide for a proper pulp warlock will AS&SH came out, and it is still a lot of fun.
I am certain I have missed some here. Let me know in the comments below!
I have talked about the warlock as a class, distinct from the witch, in the past.
I do like keeping my warlocks separate from my witches in terms of class. In my mind they are just too different. Similar yes, but still very different. I would allow any warlock to use the same spell list as a witch unless there was a good reason not to do it.
I think the first ever warlock class I ever saw was the "Warlocks: A New Magic-User Sub Class" by Anthony Barnstone in The Dungeoneer #16. It had some great spells, "Pentacle of Fire", "Aura of the Occult", "Curse of the Bloody Revenge" to name a few. This was certainly meant to be an evil character class to play, not just as an NPC. Interestingly enough this the same issue that featured the mystic class. I have to admit it was one of the things that made me like the Dungeoneer magazine. It didn't treat it's audience like little kids.
To my knowledge, there has never been a warlock class in the pages of Dragon magazine. I know there was not one in the pages of White Dwarf.
The Arcanum and Bard Games had a witch/warlock class, making them the same thing. I am not a fan of that really.
In my mind the witch and the warlock began as the same class, but the warlocks broke off from the witches sometime in the ancient past. Either warlocks wanted to become more like wizards and mages OR they were responsible for the first wizards.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has a great Warlock class. It is a sub-class of the fighter but calls upon dark powers to give them some magical power and spells. Mor to the point I like how the warlock and the witch are very different sorts of classes.
There is a Warlock I created in Eldritch Witchery. It is a type of Wizard really. I liken it to "Wizard Grad School" to be honest. They use the same spells as the witch and gain a few extra powers.
The Warlocks in Fantastic Heroes & Witchery are another sort. It is a chaos aligned wizard and has a lot of the same features really. It uses the same xp per level tables, same HD and same spell progressions. The FHW Warlock does gain some power, similar in many ways to my own witch, but at a cost. On the surface this doesn't make it much different than a wizard, with a different selection of spells. What makes this class, and really this book, different are the selection of spells (the book has 666) and the additional rules for acquiring magic and casting spells. Adding this material makes the Warlock a much more interesting character.
The Pact-Bound in Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is another warlock-like class. Again the idea here is a class that takes a quick path to power for a price, usually to an other-worldly power.
There is a similar one in the pages of the ACKS Player's Companion. Again the nice thing with this book is that the witch and warlock are separated.
In the 3e era we have a couple of "warlocks". There is a warlock in the Complete Arcane and the witch in Pathfinder, which always felt more like a warlock to me. Just staying focused on 3e we have a warlock class from WotC and a witch class for Pathfinder. For 4e there were also very different witch and warlock classes. 5e only has a warlock.
In the case of the official D&D warlock, he is less of a spell caster and more a raw magical power wielder. His pacts give him this power.
The question becomes one of whether the warlock should have spells or just weid raw magical power and thus have "blasts". I am torn myself. I like the warlock to have access to spells to be honest, the idea is these guys have sold their souls for power, but the "blasty" warlock really isn't all that powerful compared to a "spelly" warlock or wizard.
A good example of what I call a "blasty warlock" is Jeremy Reaban's The OSR Warlock. Like his Witch Hunter book this book has a number of nice features in addition to the class. The class does not cast spells, it does have lot of special powers. This is by design and owning to the stated OGC and pulp sources. The warlock here does get some spell like abilities in place of powers. It actually works rather nicely What I think makes this book special is the level advancement tables for "First Edition", "Original Edition", "Basic/Expert" and "Cyclopedic Edition". Plus the author has a section of notes on the class.
I have to admit one of my favorite "warlock" books and one that captures the Pulp Era warlock well is Green Ronin's "Warriors & Warlocks" book. Yes it is for their superhero game Mutants and Masterminds (2.0 version) but it was my goto guide for a proper pulp warlock will AS&SH came out, and it is still a lot of fun.
I am certain I have missed some here. Let me know in the comments below!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)