Kickstart Your Weekend: Demons in the Darkness

A new comic that deals with some subjects close to home.  School bullying, horror, and D&D.

Demons in the Darkness

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/demonsinthedarkness/demons-in-the-darkness?ref=theotherside

It covers something I think many of my readers can relate to; high school bullying and using D&D as an escape.

From the Author:

Demons in the Darkness is a story long in the making.  I’ve had the idea for a while but I’ve struggled to tell it properly.

At its core, Demons in the Darkness, is about Bullying and the collateral damage bullying causes.  It’s about children as they awkwardly grow into adults, as they try to understand their differences from the “norm”.  It’s about the frustration of being different and accepting who you truly are.  All wrapped up in the trappings of a horror story so it's easier to digest and explore.

I have seen the comic already and it is good. It would be a good story to get out there.

The basic pledges levels are very easy. $5 for a digital and $10 for a print.  Not too bad.

There are also several bonus tiers of signed copies.  There are also tiers for digital RPG books from:

• Ayu Sakata - http://www.ayusakata.com/  
• Malcom Harris - https://www.facebook.com/Channelmpublishing 
• CL Stegall - https://www.clstegall.com/  
• Luke Green - https://www.deviantart.com/thrythlind

And comics:

• Hannu Kesola - https://www.facebook.com/bloodskullschrome/
• Es Kay - http://sigmatestudio.com/
• Ale Juvera - https://www.facebook.com/redvisorgo/
• Bill Williams - https://www.facebook.com/punchlinecomic/
• Joseph Duis - https://www.heresystudiosllc.com
• 656 Comics - https://www.facebook.com/656comic/

And artists.

All in all some really fun stuff.
Definantly worth checking out!

Favorite Basic Clone? You Tell Me!

I ran this poll over on Facebook, but I wanted to collect some more responses.  Since this is my year of "Back to Basic" I wanted to hear about what you are all playing and enjoying.

So please, answer the survey below and let me know.  This is 100% anonymous and I am not tracking anything but the choices you make.


I believe I have the top choices here, but there is also an "Other".
Note: I am considering Swords & Wizardry its own thing for the purposes of this survey.

The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games

The next book in my Back to Basics series is now out!

The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games

Old Gods Rise! 
“Who knows not Circe, The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling swine?”  - John Milton

Sumer. Egypt. Greece. Rome.
These are the foundations of civilization. Where mythology, religion, and magic collide in a fertile land.

It is a time of Gods and Witches!

This book introduces the Classical Witch Tradition. Witches from the ancient time of myths and legends.

• The witch class and four new combination classes
• Guidelines for playing any species of witch
• Six witch covens of the Classical Tradition
• 120 Spells and Rituals for witch characters
• 24 Monsters to challenge or be allies
• 29 magic items and six artifacts
• Three Non-player character witches from pages of mythology

Fully compatible with BLUEHOLME^TM and other Basic-Era games.

Fully compatible with other witch books from The Other Side.

Print on Demand copy available soon! 
Just waiting on my proofs.

Also, check out my other Back to Basics witch books, The Daughters of Darkness for Basic Era Games and The Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games.

Monstrous Monday: Organizing my Monsters

It's Labor Day Weekend on a Monday.

So no Monstrous Monday post today, but in monster related news, I am trying to organize my 3-ring binders for Castles & Crusades and for AD&D 2nd Ed.  I am going to end up with extras and duplicates.  Not sure what to do with those yet.

See you tomorrow!

#RPGaDAY2019: Last

Today's topic is Last.

Here we are at the Last.  The last post of the 2019 #RPGaDay.  What have we all shared and learned?

It has been a real treat to interact with so many people here on my blog and online.

I found a lot of great new people on Instagram and Twitter and that has been great.
I discovered a couple of new games that I hope to get to try out someday.

My personal goal was do all of these.  Last year I was going through some health issues that prevented me from getting last year's done (nothing major and it is taken care of now), same with the October Horror Movie Challenge.

I am of the frame of mind that the ending of one thing is the start of something new.  I am a big believer of “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

So with that I close the door on #RPGaDAY2019 and look forward to the October Horror Movie Challenge and #RPGaDAY for 2020.

#RPGaDAY2019: Connection

Today's topic is Connection.

While in games this is an easy thing to do, in the online-related world of selling games it is a bit harder.

One of the big reasons I wanted to do this #RPGaDay was the potential of connecting with others.  To see what sort of cool things we are all doing and share it that.  Like my post yesterday I mentioned I enjoy a lot of games. I also enjoy talking to people that make games.  All sorts of games really.

Ultimately I want more people to see my games and me to see other people's games too.

Drop me a note if you discovered me through the #RPGaDAY2019.  I am very curious.

#RPGaDAY2019: Evolve

Today's topic is Evolve.

I think most gamers would agree that their play style will evolve over the years.  How have their games evolved?

I have had the pleasure and the privilege to have run many games over many years. Decades really.

The way I played in the late 70s and early 80s is very different than what I was doing in the late 90s and early 2000s and those are both very different than today.

I think if I had to describe my growth or change (who knows if a change is better until you test it) it is not Evolution but rather Assimilation. 

Even in the very beginning, I was taking ideas from other games and making them part of my own game.

I have talked at length about my love of the RPG Chill.  I have also talked at great length of my love for story and character of Dracula.   I always wanted a vampire like Dracula in my games. But more than just the stats in the Monster Manual or the D&D Expert book.  A real, un-breathing, un-living character to go after the characters. Or, more to the point, the character to go after.

Enter Chill Vampires.

This book and the Vampyre mini-game from TSR gave me something D&D was not. A playable Dracula (and Elizabeth Bathory and Jackson Dela Croix and more) with Dracula's castle.  I worked it in and came up with a 13 HD version of Dracula and a brief adventure stolen from the pages of Marvel Comics version of Dracula.
Then in 1983 the Hickmans did it all several orders of magnitude better with Ravenloft.  So yeah I grabbed that and all vampires in my games became named NPCs.  There was no such thing as a random vampire, lich or spectre in my games after that.

I suppose then it is no surprise I ended up working on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.

In a way, Ghosts of Albion is that assimilation in reverse. Starting with my then pinnacle of achievements (the Buffy line) and adding in elements from my past (Chill, D&D, and WitchCraft).

Even today I grab what I want from other games and mix as I need.  It is one of the reasons I have a Plays Well With Others feature here.  I have a new one coming up too that is a subset of that.  Can't wait to debut it.

This is also the reason I don't understand the attitude of "One True Wayism"  even if I didn't take material from other games in my playing I would still change over the years, so I know there is no one true way.  I have also worked on too many different games to believe that.

When I hear someone say "I only play D&D." or "I will never try game X." my first thought is "wow, how sad for you."  There are so many great games out there and even if I never play them all (and I couldn't possibly) that does not diminish their worth. Who knows, maybe the next love of my life is out there now sitting on someone's computer waiting to be published.  I might get to play it, but I will certainly adapt it for games.