Unless you have not read all your blog roll today you know that Jack Vance has died.
http://www.jackvance.com/
Vance was one of the Godfaters of D&D to be honest. The "cast and forget" spell system D&D has used since day one is called a "Vancian Spell system". The Lich Vecna is an anagram of Vance. Ioun stones and a whole host of other things I am not thinking of too.
To me though the great contribution of Jack Vance to D&D is his Dying Earth series. There is a feel to those books are are so D&D. Even more so than say the worlds of Connan or Elric.
If you want another good source of inspiration, try his Lyonesse trilogy. I remember these from the 80s and thought they had a style and sophistication above and beyond the dross I was reading then.
Indeed we mark the passing of another giant.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Obscure Fantasy RPGs Appreciation Day
http://mesmerizedbysirens.blogspot.com/2013/05/announcing-obscure-fantasy-rpgs.html
I am just about ready to go myself.
Looking forward to this one. I love really obscure RPGs.
White Dwarf Wednesday #66
White Dwarf Wednesday #66 takes us to June of 1985.
Up first we have a more classical fantasy cover from Chris Achilleos. Interesting that this dragon has a lot of similarity to the kobolds of 3rd ed era.
Based on the success and popularity of Citadel Miniatures and the new Warhammer, Ian Livingstone is wondering about the return of the War Game. I don't recall if it ever really happened, but certainly Warhammer in its various guises remain popular.
Open Box is up first and it does something interesting. It brings in computer games into the reviews. Something that had been handled by a separate column. Reviewed are: Battledroids (part of what will become Battletech) by Trevor Mendham, 7/10. The Talisman Computer Game for the Spectrum 48k. Also a 7/10 by Trevor Mendham. The Halls of the Dwarven Kings is a generic game aid designed for many games (but AD&D in particular) B Y Rowe gives it 8/10. Two Fighting Fantasy books are also reviewed, House of Hell and Talisman of Death. Chris Mitchell gives them both 9/10. Finally, we get a review of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle Second Edition. Robert Alcock praises the changes, even if he does call them "predictable" and gives it an 8/10.
Critical Mass has praise for the "newest" Piers Anthony book "On a Pale Horse" the first part of his massive Incarnations of Immortality series. I will admit a love/hate relationship with Anthony myself. I loved the Immortality books, even if I thought the last book was actually kind of terrible. I read his Xanth books and they became part of the backdrop of my gaming past.
There is a full-color ad for a new game called GURPS from the American Steve Jackson. Wonder if it will catch on?
Graham Staplehurst has a long form review/advertisement of the Middle Earth Role-Playing Game from ICE. He makes a case on how MERP is better at MERP than AD&D would be. Ok. Though he is quick to mention that he doesn't like the magic system and gives too many powers to characters. I can see that. That is actually the issue I have with most Middle Earth games.
Heroes & Villains details two powers not found in Golden Heroes, Webslinging and Darkness Control.
Crawling Chaos has some clippings of clues for investigators in Call of Cthulhu, but could work with any horror/pulp game.
A larger article on Ambushes in Warhammer is up. One of the larger ones I can recall. Warhammer is certainly making a name for itself in the pages of WD. Wonder why...(not really, I know).
We have a nice long Call of Cthulhu scenario, The Horse of the Invisible. Again I want to point out that CoC has changed so little in the years I could run this without much in the way of edits under my newest 6th ed rules.
A long AD&D scenario (not "adventure"), The Philosopher's Stone, for 1st and 2nd level characters is next. It also includes some ideas for alchemy in AD&D. A nice touch really.
Fiend Factory looks like it is back to its old form with some interesting monsters and a short connected adventure. Most are swamp and marsh related creatures.
Treasure Chest has a good article with an interesting idea. The five rings of Alignment. There are rings of Law, Good, Evil, Chaos and Neutrality. Each is an artifact and each is also guarded by a specific spirit. This, of course, reminds me of Fred Saberhagen's Twelve Swords. The idea certainly has some merit and could be fun.
We end with some ads.
In general, I felt this was a much better issue of White Dwarf than we had been getting of late. The extended look into MERP was very interesting, the adventures all had some good utility and regular features like Fiend Factory and Treasure Chest were more enjoyable.
Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue for a while longer.
Based on the success and popularity of Citadel Miniatures and the new Warhammer, Ian Livingstone is wondering about the return of the War Game. I don't recall if it ever really happened, but certainly Warhammer in its various guises remain popular.
Open Box is up first and it does something interesting. It brings in computer games into the reviews. Something that had been handled by a separate column. Reviewed are: Battledroids (part of what will become Battletech) by Trevor Mendham, 7/10. The Talisman Computer Game for the Spectrum 48k. Also a 7/10 by Trevor Mendham. The Halls of the Dwarven Kings is a generic game aid designed for many games (but AD&D in particular) B Y Rowe gives it 8/10. Two Fighting Fantasy books are also reviewed, House of Hell and Talisman of Death. Chris Mitchell gives them both 9/10. Finally, we get a review of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle Second Edition. Robert Alcock praises the changes, even if he does call them "predictable" and gives it an 8/10.
Critical Mass has praise for the "newest" Piers Anthony book "On a Pale Horse" the first part of his massive Incarnations of Immortality series. I will admit a love/hate relationship with Anthony myself. I loved the Immortality books, even if I thought the last book was actually kind of terrible. I read his Xanth books and they became part of the backdrop of my gaming past.
There is a full-color ad for a new game called GURPS from the American Steve Jackson. Wonder if it will catch on?
Graham Staplehurst has a long form review/advertisement of the Middle Earth Role-Playing Game from ICE. He makes a case on how MERP is better at MERP than AD&D would be. Ok. Though he is quick to mention that he doesn't like the magic system and gives too many powers to characters. I can see that. That is actually the issue I have with most Middle Earth games.
Heroes & Villains details two powers not found in Golden Heroes, Webslinging and Darkness Control.
Crawling Chaos has some clippings of clues for investigators in Call of Cthulhu, but could work with any horror/pulp game.
A larger article on Ambushes in Warhammer is up. One of the larger ones I can recall. Warhammer is certainly making a name for itself in the pages of WD. Wonder why...(not really, I know).
We have a nice long Call of Cthulhu scenario, The Horse of the Invisible. Again I want to point out that CoC has changed so little in the years I could run this without much in the way of edits under my newest 6th ed rules.
A long AD&D scenario (not "adventure"), The Philosopher's Stone, for 1st and 2nd level characters is next. It also includes some ideas for alchemy in AD&D. A nice touch really.
Fiend Factory looks like it is back to its old form with some interesting monsters and a short connected adventure. Most are swamp and marsh related creatures.
Treasure Chest has a good article with an interesting idea. The five rings of Alignment. There are rings of Law, Good, Evil, Chaos and Neutrality. Each is an artifact and each is also guarded by a specific spirit. This, of course, reminds me of Fred Saberhagen's Twelve Swords. The idea certainly has some merit and could be fun.
We end with some ads.
In general, I felt this was a much better issue of White Dwarf than we had been getting of late. The extended look into MERP was very interesting, the adventures all had some good utility and regular features like Fiend Factory and Treasure Chest were more enjoyable.
Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue for a while longer.
Kickstarter Roundup
Here are some of the Kickstarters I have been keeping an eye on. Most of these are funded now so it is about the stretch goals. Most of these are also ending soon.
Tome of Horrors Complete - 28mm Heroic Scale Miniatures
For 200 bucks you can get close to 50 minis. They are white metal, like the old days, but not (as far as I can tell) painted. They look awesome, but even in my 3e game I am moving away from minis.
Still though these are very nice.
Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary
This one should be well known to all in the OSR crowd. 900+ monsters in a format that should be easy to translate to any old-school game.
The more backer's this one gets the more art it gets. See to me this is how to do a Kickstarter.
Joesph delivered on all his promises for his last Kickstarter and even got them in early. The next book in the series he didn't even need a Kickstarter for. So Bloch is quietly building his game, delivering quality books and supplements and generally just getting it done. So backing this one is the right thing to do. Really he kind of is the model of what you should do in a Kickstarter.
Cartoon Action Hour: Season 3
Loved Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2, so this one is a no-brainer for me.
Deluxe Exalted 3rd Edition
This one is just crazy. First off it needs $60k for the book. They go on to get close to half a million bucks!
I liked Exalted 2nd ed but I never got a chance to play it.
Jeff Dee: Re-Creating AD&D Module Cover Paintings Part 1
This one has not met it's funding yet. Some reproductions of some of Jeff Dee's module work. Featured are images from:
T1 Village of Hommlet (Back Cover)
D3 Vault of the Drow (Back Cover)
X1 Isle of Dread (Front Cover)
S2 White Plume Mountain (Front Cover)
I'd love to see this one get funded too.
Adventure Maximus!
From Eden's George Vasilakos. Funded, but still looks like a lot of fun.
And yesterday's newest one, Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed.
I was asked if I am going to back this one. I am not. It's not that I don't like CoC, I love it. But to me this is not what a Kickstarter should be about.
CoC7 is funded. I like to fund Kickstarters though that look like they NEED my help. The ones that won't see the light of day without my input. Makes me feel like I am accomplishing something really.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed on Kickstarter
The new Call of Cthulhu is now up on Kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/448333182/call-of-cthulhu-7th-edition
First off the $40,000 goal seems lofty for any game book, but it is likely that CoC can pull it off.
Afterall, funding just started and it is already at $10k.
No. The odd thing to me seems to be the changes in the rules.
Call of Cthulhu is one of the steadfast games in my collection. Book from my 2nd ed work with my 5th ed, 5.6th and 6th editions.
A change like this could introduce some new sort of horror to the CoC fans, the Edition Wars.
So I am not 100% certain on this one yet. I am certain it will be fantastic and quality work.
I'll be keeping an eye this one.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/448333182/call-of-cthulhu-7th-edition
First off the $40,000 goal seems lofty for any game book, but it is likely that CoC can pull it off.
Afterall, funding just started and it is already at $10k.
No. The odd thing to me seems to be the changes in the rules.
Call of Cthulhu is one of the steadfast games in my collection. Book from my 2nd ed work with my 5th ed, 5.6th and 6th editions.
A change like this could introduce some new sort of horror to the CoC fans, the Edition Wars.
So I am not 100% certain on this one yet. I am certain it will be fantastic and quality work.
I'll be keeping an eye this one.
Bloghop and Giveaways
Hey everyone!
May is winding down but there are still plenty of things to do here at the Other Side.
First things first.
I mentioned on the first day of the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia that I would donate all the money this site made to charity.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/05/blogfest-hop-against-homophobia-and.html
And the total is...$15.37 in affiliate sales and $5.90 in sales of the Witch for a total of $21.27.
Not bad for this site, I was hoping for some more. I will likely round it up to an even 25 or 50.
There is also the business of giving away a copy of the Witch!
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/05/bloghop-giveaway.html
Waiting to hear back from the winners (yes winners!) now.
I must be crazy because in June I am going to do some more giveaways.
Yes to celebrate 1,000,000 hits here I am going to give away copies of my books, gift cards and who knows what else. No contest. No promotion. Just me giving stuff to you as a thank you for supporting me over the years.
That's coming in June. So stayed tuned.
EDITED TO ADD: The winners have been notified. Rachel Ghoul and RQRobb both received a copy of the Witch!
May is winding down but there are still plenty of things to do here at the Other Side.
First things first.
I mentioned on the first day of the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia that I would donate all the money this site made to charity.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/05/blogfest-hop-against-homophobia-and.html
And the total is...$15.37 in affiliate sales and $5.90 in sales of the Witch for a total of $21.27.
Not bad for this site, I was hoping for some more. I will likely round it up to an even 25 or 50.
There is also the business of giving away a copy of the Witch!
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/05/bloghop-giveaway.html
Waiting to hear back from the winners (yes winners!) now.
I must be crazy because in June I am going to do some more giveaways.
Yes to celebrate 1,000,000 hits here I am going to give away copies of my books, gift cards and who knows what else. No contest. No promotion. Just me giving stuff to you as a thank you for supporting me over the years.
That's coming in June. So stayed tuned.
EDITED TO ADD: The winners have been notified. Rachel Ghoul and RQRobb both received a copy of the Witch!
Monday, May 27, 2013
Blogfest: Towel Day Blogfest
Towel Day Blogfest
http://lgkeltner.blogspot.com/2013/04/announcing-towel-day-blogfest.html
This one is easy. I am going to talk about what is the best RPG to play a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" game.
So what makes a good Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game?
Well it needs to have a lot of aliens, or at least the ability to make a lot of aliens. The weirder the better.
Faster Than Light travel is a must. Lots of different ways to get from A to B.
Things it doens't need. Details. Remember Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent didn't know how spaceships worked. Especially Arthur. They didn't care about the trillions of calculation Marvin could do. All Arthur knew was the ship's computer could not make a decent cup of tea.
So lets evaluate my choices.
Warhammer 40k
No. The HHGTTG is about fun and lighthearted romps through the universe. Warhammer is where fun goes to die. Not saying you couldn't do it, but it would break things too much. Though HHGTTG does have a Galactic Emperor who is also thousands of years old. Though he is in a state of perpetual death.
Traveller
Ah now we are talking. I like to ignore a lot of the tech in Traveller anyway. The publishing firm of Megadodo Publications of Ursa Minor Beta has some similarity to the Traveller's Aid Society, in that they are an organization that gives plot reasons to go all over the Galaxy. There are plenty of races in Traveller and I bet you there are online resources dating back to the Mainframe and FTP days of resources to play a Hitchhikers Guide-like game in the Traveller universe.
Star Frontiers
Another good choice really. In fact one of my SF characters was named Zaphod. SF though doesn't have enough aliens to fit the bill. Afterall this is a universe where mattresses are grown and not manufactured.
Star Wars or Star Trek (any Version)
In both cases there is too much emphasis on combat in these games. Star Trek at least has the exploration bits down. But really too much emphasis on combat really.
No there really is only one game perfect for playing in a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space
The new Doctor Who game is perfect for HHGTTG. With it's easy to use (and easy to get out of the way) rules fits the tone of what I want. The rules also focus on the talkers and the runners not the fighters, so that helps us get past that issue. Also let's not forget that there is a strong Doctor Who/Hitchhikers connection. Douglas Adams was the script editor on Doctor Who around the same time he was working on Hitchhikers Guide. I also always felt his episodes were very much the model of the of the Hitchhikers universe. I always thought the Zygons and Vogons were the creatures or at least closely related. There is also the overt connection, the 10th Doctor after his regeneration refers to himself as being "very Arthur Dent" and commenting "now there's a nice man". Establishing that at least some version of Douglas Adams' worlds exist in Doctor Who canon.
All the characters can be created using the basic Doctor Who rules, Trillian for example is pretty much a Boffin archetype. Ph.D. in Math and Astrophysics? She is like a 5th Doctor companion. Ford and Arthur are easy and Zaphod...well Zaphod he is just this guy you know...
So I think my next Doctor Who game might end up being a little bit Hitchhikers as well.
I think I have a few characters I could even use.
http://lgkeltner.blogspot.com/2013/04/announcing-towel-day-blogfest.html
This one is easy. I am going to talk about what is the best RPG to play a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" game.
So what makes a good Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game?
Well it needs to have a lot of aliens, or at least the ability to make a lot of aliens. The weirder the better.
Faster Than Light travel is a must. Lots of different ways to get from A to B.
Things it doens't need. Details. Remember Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent didn't know how spaceships worked. Especially Arthur. They didn't care about the trillions of calculation Marvin could do. All Arthur knew was the ship's computer could not make a decent cup of tea.
So lets evaluate my choices.
Warhammer 40k
No. The HHGTTG is about fun and lighthearted romps through the universe. Warhammer is where fun goes to die. Not saying you couldn't do it, but it would break things too much. Though HHGTTG does have a Galactic Emperor who is also thousands of years old. Though he is in a state of perpetual death.
Traveller
Ah now we are talking. I like to ignore a lot of the tech in Traveller anyway. The publishing firm of Megadodo Publications of Ursa Minor Beta has some similarity to the Traveller's Aid Society, in that they are an organization that gives plot reasons to go all over the Galaxy. There are plenty of races in Traveller and I bet you there are online resources dating back to the Mainframe and FTP days of resources to play a Hitchhikers Guide-like game in the Traveller universe.
Star Frontiers
Another good choice really. In fact one of my SF characters was named Zaphod. SF though doesn't have enough aliens to fit the bill. Afterall this is a universe where mattresses are grown and not manufactured.
Star Wars or Star Trek (any Version)
In both cases there is too much emphasis on combat in these games. Star Trek at least has the exploration bits down. But really too much emphasis on combat really.
No there really is only one game perfect for playing in a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space
The new Doctor Who game is perfect for HHGTTG. With it's easy to use (and easy to get out of the way) rules fits the tone of what I want. The rules also focus on the talkers and the runners not the fighters, so that helps us get past that issue. Also let's not forget that there is a strong Doctor Who/Hitchhikers connection. Douglas Adams was the script editor on Doctor Who around the same time he was working on Hitchhikers Guide. I also always felt his episodes were very much the model of the of the Hitchhikers universe. I always thought the Zygons and Vogons were the creatures or at least closely related. There is also the overt connection, the 10th Doctor after his regeneration refers to himself as being "very Arthur Dent" and commenting "now there's a nice man". Establishing that at least some version of Douglas Adams' worlds exist in Doctor Who canon.
All the characters can be created using the basic Doctor Who rules, Trillian for example is pretty much a Boffin archetype. Ph.D. in Math and Astrophysics? She is like a 5th Doctor companion. Ford and Arthur are easy and Zaphod...well Zaphod he is just this guy you know...
So I think my next Doctor Who game might end up being a little bit Hitchhikers as well.
I think I have a few characters I could even use.
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