White Dwarf Wednesday #91

Daleks in Sombreros.  oops sorry. Getting ahead of myself.  I'll get back to this.

Headed into the deep summer of 1987 with White Dwarf #91.  I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever flipped through this issue. This was not one of the ones I had in my collection I bought a few years back and had to later get.  Not really sure if this was money well spent or not.  I guess it completes my collection.

White Dwarf 91 does look different than its predecessors.  Not just the "10" on the cover, but on the interior as well.  I recall that Dragon was due to make some similar changes here around 1988-89 just prior to AD&D 2 being released.  Here it is the herald of the "Warhammer Magazine".

This month's cover is Blood Royle by Chris Achilleos again.  The date on it is 1986, but it doesn't seem quite up to his normal quality.

Mike Brunton is still our editor and he gives us another insight on how the magazine is made. Didn't we just do that?

Open Box covers Mayfair's DC Heroes' take on Watchmen.  Sad as this is to admit, but I learned of Watchmen from this book. Hey, we had no comic book stores where I grew up, but I did have access to RPGs.  It was an interesting take on the Moore's classic to say the least.  Ah. Now I get the cover.  It is the cover of the Blood Royal board game from GW.  If you are one of those Grognards that believe all the ills that happened to AD&D can be blamed on Dragonlance then the review of the "Tales from the Last Inn" is for you. It confirms all your preconceived notions and fears; well at least for this book anyway.  My recollection of this book is there is almost no game material in it and it instead focuses on Dragonlance^TM.
Book of Lairs II gets a mostly positive review.  Interestingly there is a picture for the Egg of the Phoenix (one of the last pre-packaged modules I ever went through) but I can't find the review.  I am sure I am not missing any pages.

Critical Mass is next with the list of what was hot in the summer of 1987.  This is the sign of my turning away from Sci-fi and Fantasy; that is I have not read a single book mentioned.  Each installment of Critical Mass had at least one book I had read, this one doesn't.  I was sticking with Piers Anothony's Incarnations of Immortality out of some blind sense of duty or loyalty, but otherwise I was done with SciFi/Fantasy at this point.  No my muse had become Lovecraft and Poe and soon Clark Ashton Smith.

As if on cue, "Ghosties & Ghoulies & ... Squid?" talks about the mythos behind the Cthulhu Mythos and the Call of Cthulhu game.  In truth this article is much more needed now than it was then.  A lot of so called "mythos" games are a thin pastiche of what Lovecraft wrote about.  You can put tentacles on some horror and say it is Lovecraftian.  It also takes the shine off of Lovecraft. I enjoyed his stories, but lets be honest here, he wasn't great. He has had lasting effect mostly I think because his stuff was so novel and struck a chord in people. It did with me.  I think this article, or ones like it, need to be required reading for anyone attempting to play any game inspired by the Mythos or has Lovecraft's themes in it.

Moving on we get fumbles in Warhammer Fantasy.  Reading it over it could be adapted to any game really.

David Langford gives us "Quotes for a Newer Testament" which is part story, part fluff and part post-apoc RPG background.

A Matter of Pride is a short D&D adventure for 6-8 characters 3rd to 5th level. It is actually a longer one and involves some NPCs, a goblin lair and an evil (chaotic actually) elf.  And yes it is for D&D and not AD&D.  While it reads like most other D&D adventures of the time it does seem to have a few new twists here and there.  Might give this one a try. Since I am going to xerox the Lovecraft pages, might as well do these too.

Little Lost Warbot is a Paranoia adventure featuring the aforementioned Daleks in Sombreros.  Let those words sink in a little.  Or better yet look.

It is a really long adventure about finding a lost warbot, but honestly it looks like an excuse to blow up PCs and make silly Dalek jokes.  Maybe I am old and bitter but I just don't get Paranoia anymore.

Nobelese covers Nobility and Royalty in Warhammer Fantasy. Mostly rules free, but certainly very much in the Warhammer world. It could be paired with some of the Nobility articles from the last few issues.

A Hard Act To Follow is a nice little guide to Law and Order in CoC games based in Great Britain.

Of interest is an ad for the Manual of the Planes.  The art is a little different than what we got later on.
Of course we would have to wait till Planescape to get stats for that Astral Dreadnought.

'Eavy Metal gets 4 full color, bright pages.  I can say this for sure the quality of printing is getting better since #89.

Moving on to a few ads I could not help but notice some art plagiarism in a Creations Unlimited ad.

These are things I notice.  Sure they are not exactly the same to the point of tracing, but very close.
Goes to show how long this sort of thing has been going on (and yes even Gygax did it on the cover of the original D&D boxed set).

Blood in the Snow is a Warhammer Fantasy adventure for 2-4 players. 8 pages, so a decent size to be honest.

End with Letters, ads, classifieds and full page ads.

Quality is up as is page count, but I am finding less that hold my interest here.  Crimony I am focusing stupid Daleks and art theft from 30 years ago.

Cancer Fundraiser for RetroRoleplaying

I have long been of the frame of mind that gamers, in general, are some of best people when it comes to helping others.  Is it because our hobby is one of pure social interaction? Is it because we learn the value of helping each other out in the game very early one?  Not sure why, I can only say I have seen it work.

One only needs to look no further than the fundraisers at DriveThruRPG for various disasters or even the Bad Myrmidon fundraiser.  I have raised a little money myself for various charities.

So I wanted to let you know about another one that I think is worthy and not really getting the attention it deserves.

Randall over at RetroRoleplaying is raising some money to help treat his wife's cancer.
He is asking for donations, but he is giving away an absolute trove of treasures from the early days of gaming.  It's insane the stuff he is parting with, but I would do the exact same thing.

So please. Go to his site. Donate what you can. It's Christmas after all.
How about this.  Instead of that large coffee you get before work today or while doing your last minute Christmas shopping, you donate $5 to Randall's wife.  Make her life a little better, and hopefully a little longer. Not trying to sound overly maudlin here, but this community has given so much for lesser reasons (myself included and especially) that maybe this also something we should do.

If everyone that reads this blog here, via Facebook or even Twitter gave something, well that would be great.

Start here:
http://blog.retroroleplaying.com/2013/11/holiday-2013-cancer-fund-drive-with.html
http://www.retroroleplaying.com/content/retroroleplaying-cancer-fund-special-downloads
http://blog.retroroleplaying.com/2013/12/holiday-cancer-fund-drive-17-away-from.html

I can't promote this one enough.

To Stranger Skies

I have been watching, but not participating in (yet, see below) Bruce Heard's World of Calidar Kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambreville/world-of-calidar

I will be honest, it looks fantastic and it should be a lot of fun.  But I was going to wait for the PDF since I never feared that he would get to his goals.  Plus I am trying to cut back on my Kickstarter addiction.

Bruce is a great guy and I have been a fan of his work since the Glantri Gazetteer first came out.  So I know this is going to be a good one.  Thorfinn Tait is doing the maps. If you don't know Thorf, well he has been doing maps for Mystara's fan community for decades; going all the way back to the MYSTARA-L list on MPGN.net.

I changed my mind this past weekend.  I was going through a stack of old notes and sheets for a different project that I found my old Spelljammer characters.  I say Spelljammer, but we never quite got that far.  The idea was loosly based on Star Trek and they characters all started on ship that would eventually get to the stars.  All the characters were officers  so even the 1st level wizard began as a 3rd level fighter.  It was going to be something very, very different than what I had done in the past.  But the realities of college life got in the way and we never got all that far with it.  I have no idea if my DM at the time even did anything else with it.  I think he did.  The game was going to be predominantly on the shared Mystoerth world my DM and I had.

There had been games that have arisen in the past that made me think back to that old game, but this is the first that has made want to try it out again.

World of Calidar is set up to be "edition neutral" so really I could use anything with it.
So I am going to support this one. I'll look for a good edition to try it with too.  I'll admit I am tempted to do this with 2nd Ed AD&D or Adventures Dark & Deep.

Saw the Hobbit

I saw the Hobbit yesterday and I enjoyed it.  I was not expecting the book, but I do think some of the changes were a bit too much.

I consider myself a huge Tolkien fan.  I have read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings 12-14 times over the last 30 years. I have read the Silmarillion a couple of times and I loved it. Really. I have read many of the lost tales, the Tolkien Reader and tons of his works.   So I am approaching this as a fan.

Spoilers follow.







I liked the bits with Gandalf at Dol Guldur, that was all in the Lord of the Rings and expanded tales, so I am 100% fine with that.
The CGI didn't bother me. In fact Smaug looked fantastic.
I liked the addition of Tauriel. Yeah she was not in the books, but I don't care.

But the movie was too long and some of the things added to the movie had no real benefit.
In many ways the movie was exactly like the giant golden dwarf statue in the movie.  Large, overwrought, a monument to excess and ultimately ineffective.

So in the end I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted, but it was still a lot of fun.

Zatannurday: ICONS

Digging through some characters and found some ICONS stats for Zatanna.  Time to share!

It's been a long time since I last talked about ICONS.  I would like to do more with it someday.

Zatanna

Zatanna Zatara

Abilities
Prowess: 3
Coordination: 5
Strength: 2
Intellect: 6
Awareness: 7
Willpower: 8

Powers
Wizardry (Magic) 8
- Blast
- Mind Controll
Telepathy 4
Teleport 5
Astral Projection 6

Specialties
Performance (Stage Magic) - Mastery
Sleight of Hand - Mastery
Occult - Mastery

Stamina: 10
Determination: 1

Aspects
Qualities
Connections
Epithet
- "World's Greatest Magician"
- "Mistress of Magic"

Challenges
Weakness - Must speak backwards to use her magic
Relationship issues.

Links

• Justice for ICONS
• Willow & Tara for ICONS

Happy Friday the 13th!

It's Zatannurday er Friday the 13th!

Hope is it a great one.

Bitten on SyFy

"Bitten" is the breakout novel from author Kelley Armstrong. It deals with Elena Michaels, the only female werewolf.

With Bitten Kelley began a 13 novel epic story of many lives and different types of supernaturals collectively known as "The Women of the Underworld".  The last novel of the series came out this last year and it was a very satisfying end to the series.

It is also the name of the new SyFy Channel's new series based on the book.



It stars Laura Vandervoort, in what might be the best bit of casting ever, as Elena.

Can't wait for this!

Of course I am looking forward to seeing Paige, Eve and Savannah; the Witches of Underworld. And Jaime, the Necromancer.

Tomorrow is her birthday, so stop by her site and wish her a happy birthday and a congrats on the new series.  http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

Lilith can be Yours

Normally I like to spend the profits from my books on more art for the next book or something like that. You know, put it back into the creative effort.  But this was a particularly good couple of months so I splurged and got something nice for myself and my game room.

I got this from the artist's, Israel Llona aka Isra2007, shop over at Deviant Art.

The great thing is, you can get one of these prints too!
Just go to the prints page, http://www.deviantart.com/art/Lilith-142131246 and choose one of the prints.
This is the 12" x 18" art print.

Plus all the money goes to the artist, well minus whatever DA takes, but I don't get any. Not even a commission.   So if you liked my book and the cover, or you picked up my book for the cover, grab an art print too! It will look great on your wall.

You can also see all his great art here, http://israllona.wix.com/isra
He has a few more that I think would make awesome book covers.

The 12 Days of OSR-Xmas

Tenkar over at his Eponymous Tavern will begin his "Twelve Days of OSR Christmas" where he will be giving away a TON of great OSR products.  Included in the mix are a copy of the Witch and Eldritch Witchery.
That tomorrow is also Friday the 13th makes it doubly fun for me.

So please make sure you stop by and give it a look.  Hopefully you will win something cool.

White Dwarf Wednesday #90

June 1987.  I graduated from High School and started working two jobs to have extra money for college.  White Dwarf also hit a few milestones.  The price increased to £1.25, we hit the 90s (issue numbers), the issue is larger (as promised last week) and celebrate 10 years of White Dwarf.  It is also nearing the final turn from a general games magazine to a purely Games Workshop one.  But first lets see what is inside.

The cover features the White Dwarf himself by John Sibbick. The cover is marred by the unfortunate choice of blue and yellow text.  Not sure what the thinking was here.

The editorial is the expected reminiscing over the past issues and the long two month wait between those early issues.  More of this stuff later on.

Open box covers the new Warhammer Battle supplement teased last issue, Ravening Hordes.  It gets a good review.  There is The Shattered Ilse for Stormbringer, but the highlight (for me) is Terror Austrails for Call of Cthulhu proving once again that games are not immune to the popular trends of the time.  You might recall that just the summer past (1986) one of the biggest movies was Crocodile Dundee.  At least Terror Australis is much better reminder of this time than Yahoo Serious.  One does not normally put Australia and Lovecraft together, but they really are a chocolate and peanut butter mix.  Aboriginal myths and legends are practically Lovecraftian anyway.  This book, one of the must haves for CoC in my opinion, really gets into that.
Open Box also covers local favorites Mayfair Games adventures, Wizard's Revenge, Pinnacle, Crystal Barrier and Beneath Two Suns.  I had real love-hate relationship with Mayfair at this time. I liked thier D&D products on principle even if I thought some of them were not very good.  My opinion would change in a couple years when I got to play more DC Heroes, 2nd Ed Chill and of course their famous book Witches.

Awesome Lies, the upcoming news and rumors feature lets us in on the next Bloodstone/BattleSystem module, H3 Bloodstone Wars.  I remember picking this one up only after I had gone through H4.  There is mention of two branches of the same Greyhawk novels tree, the New Infinities "it's not in Greyhawk honest!" Gord the Rogue book and Rose Estes' The Price of Power.

Green and Pleasant Language was supposed to be included in the CoC adventure A Green and Pleasant Land.  It covers various bits of colloquial British and American slang and well as words from Cornish and Welsh.  Great actually if you want to capture the feel of some NPCs from some rural areas of Great Britain.

Ian Livingstone is back with Ten Years On a retrospective of the early days of  White Dwarf and it's fore-runner Owl & Weasel. There is a lot of interesting tidbits about Brian Blume getting a copy of O&W because he subscribed to Albion.  This lead to Blume sending Livingstone a copy of the Original D&D rules.   They loved it of course and turned issue 6 into a "D&D" issue.  O&W had 25 issues till it morphed into White Dwarf.  It was named that to cover both Fantasy and Sci-Fi gaming.   I think it would be interesting to see those early issues of Owl & Weasel.  Though I stumbled on these WDs and there were no Owl & Weasels to be had.  I didn't even know about it till I started doing this retrospective myself.

The Magard Scrolls is an interesting article.  It's a bit like the old Ecology of articles from Dragon. This one deals with a particularly silly (on the surface) monster, the Jack O'Bear. A bear with the head of pumpkin.  Yeah.  Though in the elvish they are called Yalarvagoon. Ok less silly. And they are some foul chaos monster with a swollen head. Ok even less sill now.  Might need to adapt this one.

Fear & Ignorance covers being a better Paranoia game master.

Practice Makes Perfect is more career guidelines for Warhammer Fantasy, but can be used as a guideline in other FRPGS.

Killing in Silk is one of the last of the AD&D adventures in the pages of White Dwarf and it is not a very long one.  Though it has everything I would have loved back then, a city-based adventure, lots of NPCs and dubious legality of the actions of the PCs.  You won't find a bunch of monsters in this one, save the townspeople and no dungeons to speak of.

There is article on playing criminals in Judge Dredd, something I am sure came up a lot in the game but the rules didn't cover.  It's a longer piece and a pretty good one too.  While I don't play Judge Dredd I could see the potential in the game.  There are some neat ideas that I could see applied to Shadowrun.

Two parallel articles are next, The Difference and A Monstrous Regiment dealing with the female persona and the female warrior respectively.  Interesting reads, just odd it took THIS long to get into the pages of White Dwarf.  But I am coming at this from a Post-90s, Post-White Wolf age and from the point view of guy that likes playing witches.  The Difference deals mostly with female sterotypes in the game. Not how they are played or portrayed, but what those stereotypes, or even archetypes, are.   This isn't Mongooses' rather awful Guide to the Female Gamer, but nor is it Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress either. There is a quite a lot of myopia here that I am not sure if it was because of the 80s or England or this particular author.   A Monstrous Regiment provides a different point of view that is closer to what we except now as the role of the female character in a game; ie anything one gender can do, so can the other in terms of role-playing activity.

Graham Staplehurst covers Ley Lines and their connections to ancient monuments.  No game is specified though many are mentioned (including Traveller), though special attention is given to MERP, Warhammer Fantasy and some AD&D.  It is a general guide on how to use ley lines as a power source.

More Judge Dredd in Tales From Mega City 1.  A bunch of adventure ideas.
Letters is up to it's usual odd bits of nonsense.

Finally there are some new cards for the Rogue Trooper board game.

Ok so 10th anniversary.  I was expecting more to be honest. Now keep in mind I have been reading and rereading these a lot over the last two years, but I would have liked more articles like Ian Livingstone's. Maybe an article on the covers or one on the changes they have seen in gaming hobby in England or even more insight on where WD wants to go next.  Huge build up, but only a little pay off.

Dyvers: Best Reads

This has been making it's rounds and I even posted a little about it on Friday.

Charles Akins has posted, and updated, his massive list of all the "OSR" blogs.
http://dyverscampaign.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-great-blog-roll-call.html

Here is what he had to say about your truly:

An OSR blog that's biggest cause is the Witch class in Dungeons and Dragons style role-playing games. The author is quite persuasive and will make you jump on his bandwagon if you give him half a chance. Updates: An average of 45 times per month. Wow! An amazing amount of out put!

I wholeheartedly concur!

While some may claim that the blogging community is loosing steam, I prefer to think of it as gaining focus.  Instead of 25 posts a day on roughly the same thing we now get 10 posts a variety of topics.  It also shows that there is more going on than I even knew.

So stop by, read his massive list and stick around to read the rest of his blog.  It's some good stuff.

EW doing Well!

I popped on to DriveThruRPG today and was greeted with a nice surprise!

Eldritch Witchery is now a Copper Best Seller!

That was faster than The Witch made it to Copper.  By the way, The Witch is now a Silver Best Seller!

Ghosts of Albion is still doing well too.

It's not gold or platinum, but I am not complaining.

Thanks everyone for continuing to support my work.

Return of the Dragon

So I got this in the mail the other day.

I had this poster when it first came out.  I honestly have no memory of how I got it except that it was something I had to send off for.
I had it till college and had it hanging on my wall in typical college fashion.  That is till my idiot roommate got mad at me one day and ripped it down.

Ever since then I have wanted one.  Well thanks to magic that is eBay I finally got another one.
I am not going to tell you what I paid, save it was more than most people would have been willing to part with, but enough that I am happy. It was still rolled up in the original tube in fact!  

The poster is actually in very, very good shape for being 30 years old.

The timing is great since the Dragonslayers (my kids group) need something from a "rainbow dragon" to finish their quest.

Deviant Art: Nancy Downs (The Craft) Cosplay

Cosplayer Galla Gadget rocking an awesome Nancy Downs from The Craft.


Nancy Downs (The Craft) 5 by ~gadget-eneus on deviantART


Nancy Downs (The Craft) 4 by ~gadget-eneus on deviantART


Nancy Downs (The Craft) 3 by ~gadget-eneus on deviantART


Nancy Downs (The Craft) 2 by ~gadget-eneus on deviantART


Nancy Downs (The Craft) by ~gadget-eneus on deviantART


I think she nailed it.

The Greater Good

I'll admit it. I am a total Harry Potter fanboy.
Loved the books, loved the movies, loved the hype.  JKR can do no wrong in my eyes and I hope she sleeps on a bed made of gold like Smaug (though in truth she supports more charities than most groups of people).

I have read the books a number of times. Have seen all the movies multiple times and I want to throw it out there that if ever a Harry Potter RPG ever gets made then I want my name on the short list of authors.

So anytime there is something new in the Potterverse I am pleased.
The newest new thing is a fan movie called "The Greater Good".

It deals with the end of the friendship and relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald and the lasting effect it had on the Dumbledore family and eventually on a boy named Harry Potter.
This 17 minute film is based around a brief narrative in The Deathly Hollows.

Watch it and make the next magical battle between wizards you have this cool.



Links

• Home page, http://www.thegreatergoodfilm.com/
• Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/harrypottergreatergood

TBBYANR: Old School Edition

I have not done one of these in a long time so I thought this might be a good occasion.  There are a few old-school blogs out there I follow and really enjoy.  I think you should add them to your reading list.

Halls of the Nephilim
http://punverse.blogspot.com/
I have talked about Justin Issac's blog in the past.  He recently hit 200 posts so he has been chuggin along doing his thing for a little bit now.  Justin spends his time looking for a good Old-School game to play, currently he is trying out the home team favorite from Elf Lair Games, Spellcraft & Swordplay and Pathfinder.  He is know currently working through the 30 days of Dungeons & Dragons, so that will be interesting. Other topics that come up are Doctor Who, Mutants & Masterminds and one of my favorites Succubus Sunday.
If you enjoy my blog then check out Halls of the Nephilim. Justin is doing a lot of cool things.

Dark Corners Of Role Playing
http://darkcornersofrpging.blogspot.com
Eric Fabiaschi runs this and Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog.  Both are great, but I want to focus on his Dark Corners blog today.  DC is a great resource for anything vaugly D&D-pulpy.  The blog mostly focuses on the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea RPG.  Maybe it is my new-found love of this game, but everything posted here is brilliant. Recently he has posted links to a number of out-of-print pulp mags for use in your games. Also a good number of new monsters, all with a pulp-D&D feel to them.  Sure they are all 100% compatible with any Basic-era D&D clone of your choice, you miss a bit not using AS&SH.
Eric is right around 230 posts or so, but there is a lot great stuff; so a high signal to noise ratio.

Both of these blogs are great resources and both are currently tackling a lot of the same topics that interest me.  So there is more value there too.

My advice is to take some time and go over both blogs. Read their past posts and comment.
But most importantly add them to your reading lists!

Special Note: If you are looking for other blogs to read Dyvers has a huge list of gaming blogs he has linked to and reviewed. Go there and check it out! http://dyverscampaign.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-great-blog-roll-call.html

Krampus, The Christmas Demon

Today (December 5) is the eve of Saint Nicholas Day. It is also the time when the pagan demon Krampus walks the earth in search of bad girls and boys.

I had done Krampus a few years back for Ghosts of Albion.  Though today I'd like give him a try is old-school/retro-clone stats.  As before I am taking a large number of liberties with this write up.  So please keep that in mind.

Krampus, The Christmas Demon

Long ago, long before children would know of the kindness of St. Nicholas there was a demon that tormented the long Alpine winter nights.  This demon, know locally as Krampus (from the word meaning Claw) would torment children and punish wrongdoers. Sometimes Krampus would even carry off a child that had been particularly wicked.
The trouble was that Krampus was more or less in a pact with the parents of the region that had used him as a means of controlling unruly children. Over the decades since their un-witting pact Krampus had grown in violence and deceit.
That is till the coming of St. Nicholas.
St. Nicholas was able to confront the demon and was well on his way to dispatching the fiend (Santa was a bit more of a fighter in those days) when the issue of the pact was brought up.  The pact made with the demon was strong, and even though not one adult in area had made it an overt one, built up over the centuries with a little tale here, a story there, made it as strong as any pact sealed with a soul.  St. Nicholas then employed Krampus as a personal assistant, he could still torment bad children, but now under the eye of St. Nick himself.  Krampus also got more children as he traveled with St. Nick. Since St. Nicholas was know as Sinterklass in some areas and Father Chritmas in  others, Krampus also received more names such as "Belsnickel" or even "Black Pete".
Sometimes it is even said that his travels with St. Nicholas has tempered his evil.
Or maybe he is just bidding his time.

Krampus
Armor Class:  2 [17] (hide)
Hit Dice: 6d8+5* (32 hp)
No. of Attacks: 2 claws /  bite / birch switches
Damage: 1d4+2 (x2) / 1d6  (bite) / 1 (birch switch)
Special: Acute Senses (taste, sight, smell), Cause Fear (Cha: 2), Unique Kill
Movement: 60’
No. Appearing: 1 (rumored to be unique)
Saves As: Fighter 6
Morale: 12
Treasure: None, Krampus carries a bundle of birch switches to hit bad children with
Alignment: Chaotic (Evil)
XP: 500

Combat
Krampus will only attack bad children and typically only with a single whack with a birch switch.  If attacked though Krampus reveals that he is in fact a demon with claws and bite.

Description
Krampus appears as a particularly nasty looking satyr or demon.  He is covered in fur, but is sometimes wearing a coat covered in soot.  He has one cloven hoof and one animal-like paw for feet.  His legs are like that of a goat and his upper body is humanish.  His hands are human, but end in terrible claws. His face is a twisted snarl of evil, with goat like eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.  His long tongue lolls out of his mouth and constantly drips saliva.  Despite this he can still speak eloquently.  He uses his tongue to lick a person, typically their face, to know if they are naughty or nice.  His head supports to long curved horns.  He smells of burnt coal. He is sometimes seen carrying an old rusted chain. It is not clear if the chain is for himself or for the children he terrorizes. He also carries a satchel of switches that he uses to beat children with.
His overall appearance is menacing and demonic. He cowers though from any stern word from St. Nicholas.
Krampus does have a weakness.  If given a piece of fruit, typically an apple or an orange, by a child, he will sit down to eat the gift, sharing it with whomever is there and engage is polite conversation.  Krampus will then leave the area, harming no one.

Krampus may be a demon, but he is fair and impartial. "Good" children have nothing to fear from him, "Bad" children are only punished in relationship to the severity of their "naughtiness".  Of course Krampus will attempt to use any trick he can to get someone onto his naughty list. For truly evil children he carries a sack to put them in. He will either drown them or take them off to Hell.
It is suspected though that he in fact feeds on the children's fear and the tales told by the parents.

Krampus is most often seen during the first two weeks of December.  All other times he is bound to his cave somewhere in the Alps.  There is no known way to dispatch of Krampus permanently.

Like many of the supernatural creatures associated with Christmas, as long as one child believes then he will return next year. He can be killed but will return next year.

Krampus is kinda like the Grinch really.  Except a Grinch that eats bad children.
Though given how Cindy Lou Who turned out the Grinch might reconsider.

AS&SH and Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts: Plays Well With Others

I often buy games together. Recently my two purchases were Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts. While not explicitly designed for each other, they share a common DNA in terms of Basic D&D via the d20 SRD.

AS&SH has a number of new classes, in particular magic-using  ones.  MT&DP is nothing but new classes and spells. AS&SH is a grittier, almost primitive, experience. MT&DP is straight up Basic/Expert/LL with spells that go up to level 10.   So where does the commonalty lie?

Ok take the MT&DP classes and limit them to 12 levels only.  Typically not an issue. And in some cases also reduce the spells to just 6th level.  Use the Magician as the base class. As far as the powers each class gets, well I would deal with them on a class by class basis.  Maybe give them some of the spells as powers.

Let's take the classes in detail.

Cleric and Wizard 
These classes are pretty much the standard archetypes, use the classes in AS&SH instead and swap out spells as desired.

Elven Swordmage and Elven Warder
These classes can't be used, no elves, but you could make a Swordmage or Warder and split their Casting Ability and Fighting Ability evenly.

Enchanter
Similar to the other Sub-classes"

Fleshcrafter 
This class has so much potential in AS&SH.  Given the horror elements in the game (and even the mythos elements) this classes takes on a more malevolent tone.

Healer
A subclass of the cleric. I would reduce the fighting ability, so "0" for levels 1, 2, 3; "1" for 4, 5, 6 and so on for a maximum of of 4.

Inquisitor, Merchant Prince, Unseen
I think these guys would work a little like the warlocks.  The warlock is a bit of a fighter and mage, so these classes are all a bit like thieves and mages.

Necromancer
AS&SH has a necromancer. Just use these spells.

Pact-Bound
This is closer to the concept of the Warlock

Theurge
These guys are neat ideas.  They are close to what would be a cultist in AS&SH. Spellcasters learning from long lost liturgical texts.

So a lot of really good choices.   Honestly there plenty of class choices in AS&SH already, but these can give your game an interesting twist.  Plus they feel right together.

Links

• Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
• Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Red Sonja: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

My exploration of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea continues with one of the more iconic Barbarian characters ever.

Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes by BelleChere

Red Sonja of course comes with a Hyperborean pedigree. Though maybe not as much as say Conan, but Conan isn't a red head rocking a scalemail bikini either.

I went back to look over her builds for both Spellcraft & Swordplay as well as Barbarians of Lemuria.  The intersection of both games could be best described as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

I thought also that given the level maximums I'd raise her to 10th level.

Red Sonja of Hyrkania
Barbarian (Fighter): 10th Level
Race: Hyrkanian (similar to the Vikings)
Secondary Skill: Hunter/Trapper

Strength: 18*
Dexterity: 16*
Constitution: 17*
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 18

Casting Ability: 0
Fighting Ability: 10

Hit Points: 76
Alignment: Chaotic Good
AC: 4 (special scale mail)
Weapon Mastery: Sword, Battle Axe (2 attacks per round)

+2 bonus to all saves

I think it is a good build to be honest.  A lot of the Barbarian powers/abilities work well with the concept as to be expected.  I didn't list them all here; they are in the book.

Looking forward to seeing what else I can do with this game.

White Dwarf Wednesday #89

It's the end of the 80s for White Dwarf. Not the 1980s, but the issues.  White Dwarf 89 takes us to May, 1987.  Our cover art is another Chris Achilleos one. But unlike the past ones that invoked a strong Heavy Metal feel this one is pure Warhammer to me.  Of course this is tied in with their big Citadel Miniatures give away.

Mike Brunton discusses the give-away in the editorial.  They giving out £2,000 worth of minis, a grand prize of £1,000 and four £250 prizes.  The details are in the center pages, more on that when we get there.  In other editorial news WD will celebrate it's 10th anniversary (they say birthday) and they are raising the price to £1.25! Ok to be fair there has not been a price increase in a while and we are just under 70 pages. They are promising an extra 16 pages of articles. We are already at a lot more cool than the previous few issues.
There is also an apology to West End Games for the tone and content of their remarks made in WD87 about "The Price of Freedom".

Open Box covers a few of the "home team" games like the Rogue Trooper board game and supplement for Judge Dredd ("Slaughter Margin").  The one that interested me then and I'll admit now, it the slick new Traveller 2300 game.  I remember playing this one in college a bit my freshman year. I remember a lot of talk about merging it with Twilight 2000, but I never saw it happen.  In their token D&D review Graeme Davis takes on module X11 Saga of the Shadow Lord.  He was disapointed by it, claiming it was just like the like the adventures they were doing 5 years ago (1982) which I guess would make it a big seller now.  I also didn't care for it, but for different reasons.  My reasons were it wasn't what I thought it could be; a nice tie-in with Death's Ride.  Again it would not be for another year or so till I got my hands on this one.

Awesome Lies, the news/gossip column (if I can call it that) is next. But there are some tidbits here of interest. The mention West End Games grabbing the Star Wars licence. A note about the post-TSR career path of EGG at New Infinities with Frank Mentzer and Kim Mohan.

Critical Mass covers some of then new books. Fredick Pohl's The Coming of the Quantum Cats is reviewed and I ate that book up. Wow. It was one of those books that went right into my game playing.  My then DM and I, already big on the idea of the multiverse, went all out gonzo on it.  In fact a lot of what makes up my Mystoerth world had its beginnings here and with this book.  It's funny how even sitting here now more than 25 years later how much of the book is coming back to me.  Though this review seems rather down on all the titles.

Thrud battles the Ramones from Space. Or something. Can't tell and don't care.

Be Afraid Be Very Afraid covers phobias in Call of Cthulhu. It is a laundry list from the DSM.  Hell maybe even from the same DSMIII-R I still own.  Generally speaking I don't like how most games handle insanity, madness and mental disorders.  I was a QMHP for years working in a center for schizophrenics. Most games get it so horriblly wrong as to be laughable. Call of Cthulhu is a notable exception even if it is simplistic and hand-waves a lot of the details; it works for the game.  This article is neat reading, but not much in the way of good game content.  By that I mean that one gaming group might use 2, maybe 3 of these, ever.

Next is a Paranoia scenario, Do Troubleshooters Dream of Electric Sheep.  Is it me or do all of these look the same? I think it must be me.

On Ealden Bergen is an "Adventure" or is is a supplement from Iron Crown Enterprises about Robin Hood. It is designed to be a "system-less" system but obviously based on Rolemaster. It reminds me in many ways of the their later Nightmares of Mine horror book.   It could be adapted and used with other systems, but a working knowledge of MERP or Rolemaster is really needed.  So much for "Systemless".

No we get to the middle and the contest, Ravening Hordes.  Simple, write a Warhammer Battle scenario and send it in by August 3, 1987.  I'll update when the winners are announced.

Friends in High Places is a generic fantasy RPG article about deception and intrigue in your games.  It is a pretty good read really. It discusses who the npcs are, what are their motivations and then what are their means of getting to them. Heavy on court intrigue, I think it is a good thing to try out.  Granted, Vampire will come along in a few years and take this to the Nth degree, but this is a cool look at the state of FRPGs in a post AD&D world.

An ad for the Snarf Quest book. Which is interesting given that Larry Elmore is just now starting a Kickstarter for a new Snarf Quest book.

'Eavy Metal covers painter Phil Lewis. I know a couple of the guys that are big into painting these days and they have their own "stars" and "rogues" just like all sorts of other fandoms.  Me. I am lucky if I can draw a straight line with a ruler and laser guide.

Character advancement in Warhammer Fantasy.  I can't but help think that many of the topics that were covered for D&D 8 years ago, RuneQuest 6 years ago and Rolemaster 4 years ago are now being recycled for Warhammer now.  Still. If you are using secondary skills in your flavor of D&D today then there is some ideas here.

Three pages of Unearthed Arcana errata is next.  I am of the mind that if I didn't read it and my players never read it then the errata didn't matter.  Sure it made for some weird ass rules, but often we would house rule them away anyway.  The bits about Method V is a laugh though. It's like reading some grognard blog posts today about D&D4/Next.  More proof that gamers never really change.  If the pages were falling out I'd consider sticking them into my UA, but they are still in there.   Did any of you ever care about the errata for UA?

Letters are next. Do you  remember the old Monty Python skit where they read letters that were supposedly sent into the show? I recall one from Richard Nixon...that is the feeling I get here.  I think at this point people where writing in just to get their name published; the 1987 version of "First!".

Small ads and then more ads.  There is a great Citadel miniatures ad for Daleks and Cybermen.  I have a few of the Daleks still myself.

A big issue, but not really full of anything I found interesting for gaming, just nostalgia.  We will see where the next 10-11 issues take us.

Skylla: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

My love affair with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea continues. Please don't tell my other games.

Given that I was thinking about an AS&SH witch yesterday and in light of their sale that it might be a good idea to give Skylla a try.  Also I would like to compare this Skylla to the Dragon Magazine and Eldritch Witchery versions since I think thematically they will be the closest.

In many ways the Witch from AS&SH really captures the concept I have of Skyll very, very well.  Not just in terms of being a witch, but as something half forgotten out of a misty past.  AS&SH Skylla might be the most dangerous one yet.

Skylla in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 
As with the other write-ups I am going with 7th level.  I will try to find similar spells, but when the option arises to take a "witchier" spell, I'll take that.

If I had to name a Tradition for her it might be something like a Cthonic or even a Hyperborean one.
Abilities with an asterisk are her prime abilities. In this case, Intelligence and Charisma.

Skylla, 7th Level Witch (AS&SH)
Race: Common (but could be Atlantean or Hyperborean)
Secondary Skill: Scribe

Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 15*
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 12*

Casting Ability: 7
Fighting Ability: 3

Hit Points:  20
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)

Powers
1st level: Brew Potions (x3), Read Magic, Scribe Scroll, Familiar (small demon - raven)
3rd level: Brew Love Philtre
5th level: Dance of Beguilement, Effigy
7th level: Animate Broom

Spells 
First: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Light, Sleep, Shocking Grasp
Second: Detect Invisibility, Levitate, Locate Object, Ray of Enfeeblement
Third: Phantasm, Witch Fire
Fourth: Shock Wave

Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Broom

More powers and a wider variety of spells. Plus in these rules she gains bonus 1st and 2nd level spells due to her high intelligence.  The powers are most similar to the Dragon #20 witch which is no surprise; we are all pulling from the same sources.  I honestly was not expecting huge differences here.

Looking over the spells and some of the magic items I can see how you can get a whole lot of play out of just 12 levels in this game.

Other Skylla writeups

• AD&D Magic User (6th level)
• Spellcraft & Swordplay Warlock (7th level)
• Dragon Magazine #20

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea: Witch

I know I want to play a witch character from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea some time.  And I want to play it as the rules are written, not adding in anything from my own books.  I think that would be a lot of fun.

I am not sure when I am going to do this, or where, or what the character will be like, but I know what the witch will look like:


Witch (finished) by *bloodyman88 on deviantART


Witch by *bloodyman88 on deviantART

I love the colored version, but it was the B/W one that caught my eye first.

It might not really be pulpy enough for AS&SH, but I really think it is cool.
What do you think is this AS&SH or is it more Pathfinder?

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea on Sale now

From now till Dec 4 you can get the amazing Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea in pdf for only $7.50!

That is an absolute steal!
Get this now while you can. This is my current favorite Old-School game.

Elf Lair Games on Google+

Just a quick note today before gaming.

Elf Lair Games has a new Community on G+.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117818905017605352455

Come by to discuss Spellcraft & Swordplay, The Witch or Eldritch Witchery.  Or hear about new products they are working on.

It should be fun and they would love to hear from you.

Black Friday!

Today is the traditional "we ate like starving pigs, lets go out and spend an obscene amount of money on gifts" day.

But I like to use today (and tomorrow) to show my support to game companies.

This year I am throwing some cash at Kickstarter.  In particular Dungeon Module: The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marktaormino/adandd-1e-module-the-hanging-coffins-of-the-vampir

It just looks so much fun!

It also has a Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dungeon-Module-The-Hanging-Coffins-of-the-Vampire-Queen/488677724548095?ref=hl

Return to the Keep, part 2

Brief one this late post Thanksgiving night.

The 1st Edition group was back at to the Keep on the Borderlands for supplies and reinforcements.  Spent a while haggling with merchants and buying more equipment.  Never quite got back to the caves yet, but it was more than I expected we would do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you are in the USA then I hope you are enjoying some time with your families.

Rest of the world. I hope you are enjoying your Thursday.

Wednesday, No White Dwarf, but something you can do

I am getting ready to go see my in-laws.
So no White Dwarf Wednesday today.

But you can do something. DriveThru has another bundle up to help the victims of the terrible storms we had over the last few weeks.
The third bundle is up and among other things you can get a copy of The Witch.  You pay 20 bucks, the money goes to charity and you get a bunch of great products donated from people like me.

After the Storm III [BUNDLE]

The second bundle is still up and worth a look.

After the Storm II [BUNDLE]

Go. And do good.

Books of Magic

I have been going over all the materials I have written over the years.

I have binders full of classes, spells, magic items.  For tons of different systems.

That "Ghosts of Albion" folder includes all my original notes from the play tests of Ghosts.  It has tons of spells on its own.  I wanted to hold on to them for a possible Ghosts update, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.  It seems like a shame to let them all go to waste.

So I am thinking of gathering up all this stuff and getting it out to you all.  More spells, magic items, maybe a class or two. The classes would not be as detailed as the witch.

I would aim to have it compatible with any an all old-school games.

New post over at Elf Lair Games

New post discussing Eldritch Witchery over at my publisher's site.
http://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2013/11/eldritch-witchery-now-in-print.html

I have to say I am floored by the response EW has been getting.
It is has been selling great, far better than expectations, and the feedback is equally as positive.

Jason and I had a long conversation about the future of ELG and we are convinced that there is a little life in S&S and ELG after all!

Not sure what we want to do yet.  I have tons of material on my hard-drive.  But hopefully we will get some more things out to you soon.

Tomb of Horrors

Today the Dragonslayers ventured into the most fabled of all dungeons, the infamous Tomb of Acereak himself. The Tomb of Horrors!

I am running the 3e version of this module with ideas stolen from the 4e version and the 2nd ed Return to the Tomb of Horrors.  Additionally we are using this map set to help us along the way.

So far so good.  My youngest loves the traps and he very meticulous on checking each one.  It was even his idea to use a 10' pole on the Green Devil Face to check for traps and he found the Sphere of Annihilation. He loves the puzzles and really has a brain for them.  My oldest prefers good old fashioned combat.  They both were able to guess the correct sequence of the Yellow/Blue/Orange gems right away.  Sure a couple of characters have been hit with some poison, but the brought plenty vials of healing, curing and cure poison.   Though they have taken quite a bit of hitpoint damage.

So far it has been a great followup to S4/WG4.
The Dragonslayers have now finished S4, S2 and now working on S1.  I wasn't going to do S3 (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks) but now I think I might.  It would be a lot of fun.

We played for 6 hours (or more) today and I think we can knock this one out fairly quickly.

Stevie Nicks on American Horror Story Coven

The writers for American Horror Story: Coven continue to pick ideas out of my head and will be featuring Stevie Nicks on an upcoming episode.

Seriously, it is like they read this blog! (Ok, I know they don't)

New Orleans? Check and check
Witchcraft Traditions? check
Stevie Nicks? Check
Witch Queens? Check.

Ok all of that is to be expected really.  But it has still been a really fun ride!

In other TV-Witch news, "Witches of East End" has been picked up for Season 2.

Zatannurday: Bloodspell updates

The oft delayed Bloodspell has gotten some updates recently.
Posts by Paul Dini and DC Women Kicking Ass.

Welp, I just handed in my cover bio and now the book is up on Amazon, so you know it must be coming soon: http://t.co/egxS22ffRh
— Paul_Dini (@Paul_Dini) November 18, 2013

Here is the Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Black-Canary-Zatanna-Paul-Dini/dp/1401210546

DC Women Kicking Ass reported these images:

Other updates have been posted here:

• http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/04/zatannurday-life-in-fishnets.html
• http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/03/zatannurday-bloodspell.html

Skylla: Dragon Magazine #20 (and #5)

The first witch class that many people remember the best is the very good Dragon Mag #114 version.
It was the first one I remember seeing and using.

It was not long though before I discovered that there were other versions. In fact the 114 article mentions this.  I tracked down issue #43 (and 42, it had demons) and spent...well a lot on it.  That's how bad I wanted that issue.  It was worth it in my mind but I know I over paid.

The Witch in Dragon magazine has a nice long history.  The first version appeared as early as issue #5 (March '77).  It was basically an expanded NPC/Monster entry, but it introduced ideas adopted by every other witch class to appear afterwards; differences between good and evil witches, a mixing of clerical and magic-user powers and spells, and the High Secret Order.   I will go into these all in the detail they deserve in this and future posts.

The witch in Dragon #5 is an odd one for another reason. The editors claim that it was sent to them 18 months prior to publication.  So October 75.  There was no Dragon magazine then, just the Strategic Review which began in Spring of 75.  There is also no name on it. The claim is that it was sent to them anonymously.  It is possible I guess, though I also think it is likely that the authorship is known.   It had a number of new spells and magic items, but no advancement tables. This class/npc later appeared in the Best of The Dragon Vol 1.

Right now though I want to concentrate on the witch from Dragon #20 from November 1978.
For starters it is a complete class so that makes it ideal for comparing to my other classes.  It also marks one of the first of the Halloween themed issues.
This class was expanded by Ronald Pehr and based on the witch that appeared in issue #5.  This could also be one of the first examples of power creep in the game.  The witch gets a lot of powers (more so that other versions) and more XP per level than the Magic-user.
This witch gets spells up to 8th level. A split between the cleric's 7th level max and the magic-user's 9th level max.  The same thing I did for the Basic Witch.
The author says that the Witch has the same relationship to Druids as the Magic-User has to Clerics.
Witches in this variant are Neutral, but individuals can be good or evil.  Witches need a 13 in both Intelligence and Wisdom (I adjusted Skylla stats accordingly), they also need to have a minimum Charisma of 9.

Skylla from Dragon #20
Again I am making her 7th level, though 6th would have been just fine really.  If I had to name a Tradition for her it might the High Secret Order or even the Dragon Witch Tradition.

Not exactly Skylla, but really close

Skylla, 7th Level Witch "Enchantress" (Dragon #20)
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 14*
Wisdom: 13*
Charisma: 12

Hit Points:  20
Alignment: Neutral Evil
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)

Powers
1st level: Brew poisons, narcotics, hallucinogens
2nd level: Make a Bag of Holding
3rd level: Brew Love Potions
4th level: Dance of Seduction
5th level: Add Plus 1 to Charisma
6th level: Brew Truth Drug
7th level: Read Magic, Druid, Illusionist scrolls

Spells 
First: Give Wounds, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic
Second: Detect Invisible, Locate Object, ESP
Third: Charm, Phantasmal Forces

Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Staff of Enchantment, Skull of Death**

Skull of Death (from Dragon #5): A huge charred bejewelled dragon skull to be worn like a helmet.
The wearer may mentally command any undead characters (up to three dice in number) at any range. Other powers imbued in the wearer are “The Finger of Death” and “Animate Dead”, and these two powers may be used repeatedly. The wearer will regenerate from combat damage at the rate of 5 points/turn, even if killed (unless beheaded).

A LOT more powers, but a smaller and very different selection of spells.
I also gave her the Skull of Death from Dragon #5 since that is what it looks like she is wearing anyway.

Other Skylla writeups

• AD&D Magic User (6th level)
• Spellcraft & Swordplay Warlock (7th level)

BAMF Girls Club Special Guest. You will never guess Who!

Sorry couldn't help it.  Either with the bad pun or posting this.

The next episode of the BAMF Girls Club is up.



Are you ready for the 50th?

Across The Sea of Years

A dual stated adventure across Time and Space for.... well that is what I don't know yet.

I have always toyed with the idea of running a game at a con, say like Gen Con where I have multiple days, where it is the same group of characters, or their reincarnations or their children, across time and different systems.   My systems of choice would be Unisystem and some flavor of D&D.  Likely Basic.

I have done similar ideas in Season of the Witch, where I took in ideas from different games to get a different feel.  Generation HEX was conceived as using a different system each game, but that never worked out.

This idea though is two plan a game that takes place in the past, present and maybe future.  Each game is seperate unto itself, but builds a bigger story.

One idea I had was a adventure named "Synchronicity" where characters from Ghosts of Albion meet up with their counterparts from Buffy.  But that is only one, albeit long, game. Plus the system for Ghosts and Buffy is the same.

Another game I have played before is Blight for Ghosts of Albion.  It takes place in 1847 and is an unofficial sequel to my Dark Druid for Buffy (that takes place in an alternate 2001). There is a third adventure in the mix, All Souls Night, which was always designed to go with my Eire game.
I would retool Blight just a bit.  But the Dark Druid is designed for new characters, so the big bad introduced is not all that big and bad.  It works though if I run them in something like a past life regression.

The other idea I had was an adventure around the rise and fall of Elizabeth Bathory.
D&D for when she was alive and you have to stop her (though to be 100% fair, an adventure like that screams LotFP), Ghosts of Albion when she is prowling the streets of Victorian London, and something else (Call of Cthulhu maybe) for later.

I have also over the years toyed with the idea of Doctor Who, Star Frontiers, and Alternity (yeah I have been thinking about this one for a while) for the future.  I think the idea came to me when I wanted to run a hunt Jack the Ripper and I thought back to the old Star Trek episode "A Wolf in the Fold" and to the movie "Time After Time".  Jack the Ripper is still an interesting idea. A time traveling serial killer/entity could make a fun opponent.

Lots of ideas really, but nothing has really jelled yet for me.  Once I have the right story idea and roll for the characters then the system will be easier to decide on.

Anyone done anything like this before?  What did you do and what did you use?

White Dwarf Wednesday #88

April 1987 brings us White Dwarf #88 and thankfully very little of the silliness that plagued Dragon mag in the month of April.  Mike Brunton even parodies this (a little unsuccessfully) in the editorial page.  But before that let's get to the cover.  I like it.  It is named "Dragonlady" by David Gallagher.  I can't see a date on the cover, but it looks older than 87.  Love the whole punk rock look of the Dragonlady.

So there is a fallacy in many gaming circles that "older" = "better" for some games.  That is certainly not true with this issue.  There are a some stylistic changes that bring it closer to the modern WDs, but time wise it is still closer to the WD of the late 70s early 80s than it is with the ones of today.

Briefly in things that interested me:

Open Box covers H2 The Mines of Bloodstone module.  I have the H series. And I desperately wanted to make them work, but they really don't.  Everything that is disliked in the adventure is magnified in the last of the series, H4.  I went through H4 and I might run it again someday with some the information from the previous modules (H1, 2 and 3), but I wont use this module for many of the reasons listed here (time wasting encounters, killer funhouse style dungeon, ill-planned Battle System tie-in, way too much treasure).

Some reviews on various books for the big tie-in Supers games, DC Heroes and Marvel Super Heroes.  This was a golden age for Supers games in my mind.  I wish I had played them more, but at this point I was wrapping an epic AD&D game and working all the time for extra money for college.

The Paddington Horror is a scenario for Call of Cthulhu by Marcus Roland.  It doesn't seem bad and I do seem to remember this one begin planned when I checked out the SIU Strategic Games Society.  I remembered because it was an example of an adventure I knew I could get my hands on.  Plus I always thought it would be funny if the cover had that kids  book Paddington Bear only with tentacles.

Hm..some Judge Dredd stuff.  Miss the days when the ads were all at the end of the magazine.

Fate Points in Warhammer.

New cards for Chainsaw Warrior (also reviewed in Open Box) my issue does not have the cards.

A RuneQuest III adventure.  Not dual or multi-stated.

There are some pages about assassins for AD&D.  Not too different than things I have read elsewhere.  Must have been something in the water back then.  My favorite character at the time was an assassin.

A little on Blood Bowl. A game that looked really stupid to me in the past, but now I kinda want to play.

Ending with Letters and ads.

Ok so. Not a great issue by any means.  It's only saving grace in my mind was it did not fall into the stupidity that Dragon did every April.  But I'd take Nogard over boring any day.