The Upside to Kickstarter

We have all been burned on Kickstarter at one time or another.  While Tenkar is doing a great job of keeping us informed with the failures, I do feel the need to point that more times than not people get what they paid for.

In some cases, like Troll Lord Games or Eden Studios get me what I paid for and often more.  Others like Joesph Bloch not only fund with very, very clear expectations of what is happening when, he also gets the materials out everyone either on time or early.

Here is another one.  Yesterday I mentioned two new games powered by Ubiquity, Revelations of Mars and Space:1899. Well if you fund both you will get a special PDF with two adventures.  Frankly it is something like that this making me consider up my PDF only pledge to get a Hard cover.

I think I am going to spend some quality time with Ubiquity here soon.  I already have some ideas on how I want to combine Space:1899, Revelations of Mars, Hollow Earth and Leagues of Adventure!
Gearing up for an Edwardian-times game based on all the ERB stories I have been reading of late.  Right now calling it "1901: A Space Odyssey". Should be a lot of fun!

Ennies Award voting is now live

The ENnie Award voting is now live.

http://ennie-awards.com/vote/

There are some great games in this batch so support your favorites!

Kickstarters go to Space!

Two new(ish) Kickstarters head out to Space with the Ubiquity System.  The same found in Hollow Earth Expedition and Leagues of Adventure.

First up is Revelation of Mars
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2085348754/revelations-of-mars

I didn't get on this one fast enough but it looks AWESOME.  I love the John Carter of Mars stories and I loved Pelucidar.  I am hoping that these games combine nicely (they should).  And honestly have a look at this Green Martian Princess.

Martian Princess by Will Nichols

Not exactly Edgar Rice Burroughs idea of a Green Martian, but I say this is an improvement.

Next is Space: 1899
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/440453703/space-1889-sf-role-playing-in-a-more-civilized-tim

I mentioned this one before.  But it looks really, really awesome.

White Dwarf Wednesday #73

We start out 1986 with White Dwarf #73.  The Lee Gibbons cover reminds me of the ones from around 1983; barbarian couple fighting and stealing gems.  It's a good cover but seems like a step back.  On purpose maybe? Is WD already feeling nostalgia?  In any case this issue is now larger than the previous one.

The editorial is about the chain store Boots now stocking RPGs and Citadel miniatures. I imagine that this is something similar to when Waldenbooks and B. Daltons began to carry games, though I suppose this is actually closer to something like Target or Wal-Mart carrying games.

Open Box is up and I am beginning to doubt the "independence" of some these reviews.  First up is a scenario for Golden Heroes, Queen Victoria and the Holy Grail.  The review is a mixed bag. Pete Tamlyn likes it, but admits it is tough and weird and maybe just a little bloody He mentions gripes and dislikes the ending and still gives it 8/10.   The Judge Dred game is up next. It gets a 10/10. I can't argue with the reasons Jason Kingsley gives, but for me it was an 8/10 at best.  Both games are from Games Workshop.  We have a couple of "Advanced Advanced" game books from TSR next and reviewed by Paul Cockburn.  First the Masters Rules for what we now call BECMI. Indeed it is the "M".  It gets an 8/10, but almost begrudgingly so. Lastly is Unearthed Arcana.  Bottom line is that Cockburn hates it and gives it a 3/10.

2020 Vision is the new Movie review section.  Covered are Back to the Future, The Goonies and the Bride.  I will admit I never cared for The Goonies.  I know it is supposed to be some culture touchstone for my generation, I never liked it.  Neither did this article.  Though I will admit I enjoyed The Bride.  I might need to rewatch it this Halloween.

Power & Politics is an interview with Derek Carver about the Warrior Knights game.   IT sounds like a good game to mine if you want to add some 1400s-style realism to your FRPG.

American Dream is a Golden Heroes scenario.  It looks fun. Reading it I am reminded of some of the scenarios I wanted to run for Silver Age Sentinels.  Though the coolest thing is the use of Chris Achilleos' "Miss America".

Starbase has a great article on navigating 3D Space on your space maps.  Overtly for Traveller, but it would work for anything really.

Star Spray is an adventure for MERP and AD&D. I just finished the Silmarillion recently and I have been wanting to find something just like this since my knowledge of MERP is limited.  But this adventure feel s a little flat to me. Graham Staplehurst did his homework and knows his Tolkien.  But anytime you involve PCs with great heroes and figures out of the past they can't help but be dwarfed.  I don't know, maybe Tolkien's epic is still too fresh in my head and it is coloring my interpretation of this adventure.

RuneRites covers non-lethal combat in RuneQuest.
Cults of the Dark Gods continues with more background for Call of Cthulhu.
Treasure Chest has some ideas on Magic Items. Namely that every item found is potentially magical IF you know how to awaken the magic inside.

Fiend Factory is back with some more AD&D Monsters.  This one is back to old form with mosters found in Rain Forests. Not a bad entry really.

Tabletop Heroes covers part 2 of doing dioramas.

We end with lots of ads.  I noticed the Message Board/Rumor Board now seems to be gone.

This issue is larger than the previous ones, but again most of that has been given over to ads.  Not a bad thing mind you, just no extra content.

The content we did get was good. I feel this was a better issue than many we have seen recently.

Dream of the Blue Orcs

I had the oddest dream the other night.  I am blaming all the allergy drugs. And the Absinthe I had on Sunday.

So the the other night I dreamed about this giant orc with a blue face. Not sure if it was painted blue or was blue.  It was wielding a giant axe, but one that looked like it was more chopping word than necks.  He was screaming and running at "me".  He was also wearing a kilt.

Now a lot of this can be explained away.  I have been reading a lot of Tolkien of late and his orcs are more, for a lack of better word, demonic than the typical D&D Orc or even the typical "new" Orc as first given to us by John Wick. I have talked about orcs before and how they fit into my world and the various sub-races.
I was also at the Bristol Ren Faire that day, so that explains the axes and even the kilt.

The idea of a blue orc is a cool one, so I looked for them online.  I see there are blue orcs in Heroscape and they have sabre-toothed tigers. That is a cool idea.  The axe makes me think northern climes and the kilt, well Scottish.  I have a "White Orc", but I was thinking that these Orcs would be south of the artic areas, but still northern and cold.  Think Canada.

Given my world's population they could even  be another offshoot of the Green Orcs, like the White.   Culturewise they are not much different than the Green.  Maybe more savage and certainly more tribal.   Wars with the Green and White keep their numbers in check.   To continue the metaphor, if Blue Orcs live in Canada then the Green live in the US and the White only the most northern places.  Greenland, Iceland, Siberia and Alaska.

Blue Orcs do not differ significantly from the other strains/sub-races of Orc in terms of stats.  Though if anything I would give them a bit better survival skills in colder climates.  Though this also reminds me of the Cailleach Bheur, the hag of Winter.    Maybe Blue Orcs worship the Cailleach as some sort of Goddess figure.  Pagan Orcs...the idea has some possibility and different than the other orcs.  Perhaps they believe that their Goddess carved them from ice and stone and then breathed on them to bring them to life.

The more I think about it the more I like it.  I'll have to use these guys soon.
Plus it gives me a chance to come up some Blue Orc witches.

Christmas in July

DriveThruRPG is holding it's annual Christmas in July sale.  Tons of great PDFs for sale.

How many is "tons"? Well right now a little over 14,000 products. All at 25% off.

Great time to get some of those items in your Wish List!

Sick Day

I don't have much to say today.  Feeling a bit under the weather.

Hopefully I'll have something new to post when I am feeling better.