Zatannurday: Anyone have a Spare $1k I can Have?

One of the best things about running this series for so long is I get some great tips via email from people with the same obsessions as me. 

That is the case today.  Though to take advantage of it I am going to need an extra $1000.00.  New from XM Studios is a 21" tall Zatanna statue.

Absolutely gorgeous and utterly frivolous. Wish I could justify it. 

Maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list and hope Santa thinks I was a good boy this year.

According to XM Studios, each statue has:

• 2 headsculpt switch-outs: 1 with top hat, 1 without top hat.
• 2 right hand switch-outs: 1 holding a spellbook, 1 holding a top hat with Detective Chimp!
• Crafted in cold cast porcelain.
• Each handcrafted statue is individually hand-painted with a high-quality finish.

Still...looks fantastic.

#FollowFriday Pauli Kidd and 'Lace and Steel'

It's another #FollowFriday!   Today I'd like to draw your attention a new RPG review site from a great "D&D" author.   

Pauli Kidd gave us the great Greyhawk novels White Plume Mountain, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, and Queen of the Demonweb Pits.

Pauli is still writing, but now she has a YouTube Review channel, Lace and Steel.

In particular, she has done some great sci-fi reviews.

Great stuff really.   And I am looking forward to more.

You can find Pauli online at:

• Website
• Amazon Page
• Twitter
• Lace and Steel

Mail Call, Part 2: Another Return to Ravenloft

Well, I had forgotten I ordered this, but I am glad I did.  Waiting for me on my front porch after getting groceries today was a Print on Demand copy of I6 Ravenloft. 

It was not very expensive really, just under $9 for the book. I had bought the PDFs when it first came out so I just grabbed the Print on Demand version this time.  Getting both is $2 more than just the print but still cheaper than getting them separate like I did. 

It was about $4 for shipping and a buck something for taxes.  All in all, it came in just $15.   Sure more expensive than my original, but relatively speaking still cheap.

The scan is really nice. Not exactly what I would call crisp, but perfectly clear.

The maps are in the back of the book, as the pictures below will show. So not really useful. But when you buy it with the PDF you can print them out.  

It's not like I needed another copy of Ravenloft.  I have ran it so many times now already I don't think I'll run it again as is.  But it is nice to have this.  It does compare well to my original edition and my 25th-anniversary edition.

Not to mention the AD&D 2nd Edition House of Strahd, the D&D 3rd Edition Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, and the 5th Edition Curse of Strahd.  All of which are essentially the same adventure with tweaks to their respective systems.

I am likely to give my new copy to my oldest son who LOVES Ravenloft now.  This kid hated anything horror growing up and now can't get enough.

Maybe one day I'll run it with a distaff Strahd.  OR maybe Darlessa?

The New Golden Age of Star Trek

I have often thought that I was not doing a horror/old-school/vampire/witch sort of blog I'd be doing a Star Trek one.  I am that obsessed.  Thankfully for me there already is a great blog that does Star Trek and Doctor and more; TARDIS Captain.

Even so, I can't help but be excited for all the great new Star Trek heading my way.

Here are the previews of all the upcoming Star Trek shows on Paramount+.

I am very excited!

Mail Call: Chromatic Dungeons and Candy Corn Witches

Quick one today.  I got some great pre-Halloween goodies in the mail today.

Up first, my Kickstarter package of Chromatic Dungeons from Roderic Waibel and Izegrim Creations. 

The game is split between a Basic rule set and an Advanced rule set.  Unlike the games these take their names from there is 100% compatibility between the two.  You can start out Basic and move to Advanced. Stay in Basic with bits of Advanced or move back and forth as you desire.

The game is rather fantastic and I can't wait to give it a full review. 

This is not all I got this past weekend.

I got some "Candy Corn Dice" from Ice Cream Dice and to go with them a "Candy Corn Witch" mini from Hero Forge. 

The witch was supposed to be a "Pumpkin Spice Witch" but her hat is very much candy corn!

Yes. That is a PSL in her hand and the cup has a bat on it.  

I am ready for my Halloween games!

Monstrous Mondays: Bad Idea Dept. Fiend Folio II

I should be working on monsters. I have ones to do for my Basic Bestiary. I have ones to do the Night Companion (ok, those are basically done).  But this is my busy time at the day job so there has not been  a lot of time to work on monsters.

So why not add some more work on top of it all!

I was rereading the Fiend Folio the other day as inspiration for my books and it dawned on me that we never got, despite an abundance of monsters, a Fiend Folio II.

So I was looking over all my magazines and thought there could be enough monsters.  Between White Dwarf #2 and #75 there are about 380 total monsters.  Some of those are already part of the Fiend Folio's 188 monsters.  If I needed more I could even use Imagine Magazine's 50 or so monsters.

What is my awful idea?  

I'd like to put together my own Fiend Folio II.  

This is obviously not for publication or profit. Just so I can have it sitting on my desk. I keep my Lulu-made "orange spine" Fiend Folio on my desk as my "working" copy.  This would be the same.  I already used the cover depicted above for my Lulu pod. So I'd need something different by Jeff Easley.

Again. This would just be for my own benefit, but I would want to re-write it all to make it flow better. Much like Turnbull did with the FFI.  

It sounds like a really fun project.  More to the point it sounds like something fun to have.

I know there is a so-called "Fiend Folio II" to be found online. It just collects the various Fiend Factory articles into a single PDF.  Not really what I want. 

Trouble is, something like this will take some time to do, time that I could be using to get the Basic Bestiary out.  Unless of course doing this gives me better insight into how to do better monsters.

Friday Night Videos: Viking Music!

The day job was crazy today!  Didn't get my last post in for Norse Week, so I thought I'd throw in a Friday Night Videos for it!

So what are Viking Songs?  

Glad you asked! 

Well, maybe not Viking songs exactly, but certainly ones that want me to play a Viking/Norse-themed game.

So up first, the most Viking song there is.

Is this a Viking song?  No.  But the band, Saga, always makes me think of the TSR Mini-game Saga, and that is good enough for me.

Do you know who does know about Vikings?  The British. And who better to tell us about it than Iron Maiden.

Ok. So. This song is not at all about Vikings, not even if you try REALLY hard.   But it is a song Saxon and I dig it. 

Sabaton is a Swedish symphonic metal band that pretty much only sing about Vikings.  I want to include them here too since I feel my "Norse Week" might have weighted too heavily on Norway.

Let's not forget the haunting "If I had a Heart" from the series Vikings. 

Skol!