Traveller, Beta the Devil You Know, DTRPG Charity and Sales, White Star, TnT Deluxe and Inked Adventures goes sci-fi self-promotion slot

Savage September is still happening at DTRPG and RPGNow which means money off adventures, rules and supplements for the Savage World system.  Correction: "System" September - it seems to be for all sorts of different rules, inc. d20 titles. Or did Savage September become System September?  I'm not so sure now...  Also there's a charity drive for Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (US).  > $25usd for $200usd value in titles RPG Bundle Here < (Edit: I took too long to type this and the link is no longer valid, d'oh)

Right, Traveller something old-school something something classic something science-fiction RPG, it's new, it's classic, it's rebooted, it's revised etc ...

Mongoose Publishing has
returned Traveller to us (again)
but it's an unfinished beta
playtest rules,
which you have to pay for.
?

If you're into sci-fi RPG pen and paper games and cut-price PDFs, you will not have failed to have noticed a current bestseller is the Traveller Core Rules Beta.  I enjoy reading Traveller rules for the original setting background (i.e. the Imperium cannon borne out of GDW's game of the late 70s).  For me, Marc Millers T4 Traveller, and to some extent Mongoose's earlier adaptation edition of "classic" Traveller  contextualise that setting in clear and concise terms, more so than the LBBs did.  To be fair my collection of for the original system is eclectic: a Starter Set, a bunch of LBB supplements, bits from the past, extras from Ebay, Judge's Guild guides, purchased PDFs, website wikis and a hankering to buy the complete collection from FFE.  What I'm saying is that I enjoy acquiring Traveller rules and modules, old and new, just for the love of the game and perhaps to "mine" material from all sources for the ultimate campaign using which system takes my fancy, however ...
With some many existing systems why would I want to pay for an incomplete "Beta"?  After typing the above, I realise, with irony, that maybe I'm the ideal market for Mongoose.

"Traveller Has Returned!"

No, wait, you did this before and never let it go away.

"The Beta Playtest Core Rulebook, laid out and ready to go! After many, many moons of writing and internal playtesting, this book is now ready to be seen (and commented upon!) by dedicated Traveller players. All that is missing from this PDF is a few pieces of artwork!"

I know community playtesting is a real thing, (and Oh God the secretive DnD5 playtest seemed to go on forever), but I'm still having trouble not seeing pre-release launches and community chartered kickstarters as lazy and cynical tickbox marketing, i.e. it's just how they do things now.  There's also some flaws in these approach.

Imagine, you pay for this system, a mere $20usd/£13gbp*.  Let's say you like the rules, you run a campaign, you know that you will get a reduction on the final publication (committing you to the first official print of this new edition).  But wait, there's feedback from the community as a whole, they don't like the rules you like and they are dropped some favourite content of yours from the final piece, leaving your campaign incompatible with new supplements.  But, surely, I hear you say, the final publication will not be that different, maybe they will be just a tinkering with the odd rule here and there?   Well, if that's the case, what's so very wrong with an old fashioned "errata sheet"?  Also, you must ask if Mongoose are pledging that they will support this line for as long as they have the license and won't be releasing a newer edition?

In Mongoose's defence, at least they are still selling their previous publications (I appreciate this brave new world where publishers embrace the past with pride, looking at you, Wizards').  So, is this a relaunch? Why and how is this greatly different from other systems which you can own whole volumes of at modest price?

I'm guessing that for the almost-oldies like me that this will be a curiosity purchase and maybe for new players it's a chance to start from scratch. Maybe it's a competitive response to the prolonged GDW Traveller 5 hardback kickstarter.  By the way, us non-backers of us can buy the PDF for that gem now as well ( T5 Traveller5 Core Rules Book )

Maybe I expect betas to be free and faulty, not alphas claiming to be betas.  A programmer friend had to explain the terminology to me. I guess it's snappier than "work in progress, pre-publication preview".

*I'm so broke at the moment that I'd really have to justify this to myself so I haven't bought it, even out of curiosity, yet.

White Star is finally available in print. :)

If you didn't know, White Star -White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying is an old-style of D&D intersecting with Star Wars and other space operas. Simple, fast, familiar, with blasters.

I printed the rules as an A5 booklet but it didn't turn out too well, so I’m assuming the DTRPG POD versions will be superior.
Naturally, I'm broke this week/ month, but it looks so shiny.
I still have to pay off that freighter, not to mention those bounty hunters we ran into in Milton Keynes.


A D&D Dragon Quest Game boxed set (TSR) thudded heavily onto my door mat last week.  This is a flashback to the missing years.  I didn't play D&D much in the early 1990s, I was playing mostly in the middle of the 80s. In the 90's AD&D went to 2nd edition and for the newbie players TSR brought out several introductory box sets.  Also Game Workshop (my Mecca, my dealer) by then had stopped importing RPGs.   Naturally, I've collected more games since, but one box missing from my collection was D&D Dragon Quest (not to be confused with DragonBall-Z or SPI's DragonQuest RPG). Any how, long story short, a chat in a facebook group led to me buying this shrink-wrapped gem for a song.  If you are fond of the B/X style game or want to introduce people to AD&D or AD&D2e this game is very accessible. Also it's a "complete" game system, much like boxed games such as Hero Quest, with some simplified and unlimited experience rules.  If you choose to keep playing with just this set using your own campaigns, you can.  I feel this is important to mention, since so many of the gateway boxes after BECMI (from TSR and Wizards') were deliberated hobbled to encourage purchase of the main products.  I think I had seen this set in the past and had ignored it, possibly confusing it with Dragon Strike which has that VHS tape and employs photos for PCs instead of art.  I will always will art over oily barbarian photos any day.  This is another reason to perhaps seek out D&D Dragon Quest, because it is an archive of TSR colour art, pulled together from cover and filler art from the different editions and iconic Dragonlance images.
Entry on BoardGameGeek  Review on Lost and the Damned nabble forum


The following item has but been long awaited but is now bookmarked on my shopping list:

Tunnels & Trolls Deluxe Edition is finally available as a PDF (outside of the Kickstarter) on DriveThruRPG. Currently it is $20 USD.  Like many I'm a fan of the 5th edition (plus WIZ/POW house rules), and slowly 7.5 has grown on me.  The nice thing about T&T at it's heart the same authors have kept to similar rules across the editions, but what they have done is expanded aspects and provided a wealth of background and campaign information. Curiously, it was the lack of "world" which made 5 appeal to me, which meant I could fully own the campaigns with my own creations, right down to the monsters, because of the easy to use monster rating system.  Being T&T, the bestiaries only ever resemble the Monster Manual in part and even the seasoned D&D player might not know what to expect from a T&T manticore with regards to how it's special attacks are implemented.  There's usually enough eccentricity in T&T to make a player think twice about where they actually are and what they are actually doing.  Being slightly reserved and rather serious about my tabletop fantasies I sometimes agree that some of the humour throughout the rules isn't necessary for the fun, and it's a mistake to dismiss T&T as silly and puerile, or just for solo games, in the same way that it is wrong to dismiss old D&D as TPK dungeon crawling.  In the right hands, compared with other systems, T&T has always been very powerful and fast moving imagination vehicle.  I am in no doubt that this will still be the case in T&T Deluxe.

T&T Deluxe, Flying Buffalo.

This is it! The new and improved, Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls. T&T is the second ever fantasy role playing game, and the easiest to use. This book contains everything you need to play the game solo (with the many solo adventures) or with a group of friends. Includes a lot of extra material and descriptions of the worlds played in by the designer and his friends back in the late 1970’s. 

The first 166 pages are the core rules, followed by the Elaborations section which has optional rules and systems you can pick and choose from to add to your T&T games. There is also a 16 page full color section which includes color maps of Trollworld, Khazan, Khosht and Knor along with other paintings and maps. There is a 50 page Trollworld section that includes descriptions of locations on every major continent and three cities, plus a detailed Trollworld timeline. The book also includes a solo adventure that gives you the chance to bring dead characters back to life and a GM adventure on the continent of Zorr, plus a detailed weapons glossary and much much more - over 380 pages of material. 

Note that this version of the rules does not yet have the internal links, BUT once we have that done, you will be able to download an updated copy of the PDF for no extra charge.

http://bit.ly/TnTdeluxe (DTRPG affiliate link)

Inked Adventures - recent publications...

Rugged Explorer ATV

Having tried to justify this blog by typing about a selection of games which I can barely afford by different publishers, what now follows is shameless self-promotion in order for me to raise funds for this terrible affliction that many of us suffer from, the need to game and failing that, the need to procure and collect games.

As some of you may well know I draw maps and plans for Inked Adventures.  Okay, I sort of am Inked Adventures, but I like the idea of Inked Adventures as a sort of faceless megacorporation hell-bent of world domination, ... one hand drawn product at a time!

Hinged Dungeon Doors

My business plans usually reflect this.

My accountant said that I can't have the second helicopter, not until I sell at least three more pre-print copies Compact & Worn Starship Deck Plan 6x6 Tiles.

He says that I shouldn't be giving away the ATV for free and that no-one wants easy-to-assemble Hinged Dungeon Doors on their gaming table. 

Lord knows, he says, how many Map&Dice Playing Cards I need to fence, to pay for the marble lining in my office jacuzzi.  I swear that at this level of poverty the caviar will spoil!

From the Inked Adventures site, click for more photos and descriptions
Compact & Worn Starship Deck Plan 6×6 Tiles

Rugged Explorer ATV Inked Adventures Free

Hinged Dungeon Doors $3.50 $2.50

6×6 Starship Tile Sampler: Cargo Lifter Micro Freighter Free

Compact & Worn Starship Deck Plan 6×6 Tiles $10.00 $7.50

Inked Adventures Map and Dice Playing Cards $12.00

Inked Adventures main site: http://inkedadventures.com/main
Store of DriveThruRPG: http://bit.ly/IAstore

Thanks for reading. :)
- Billiam B. Terran Date 20150923.2140

Hand Drawn Geomorph Tiles by Inked Adventures are out!

Cross-posting, self-promoting and other obsequious acts, force me to announce that the following product is now available...

Available now at DriveThruRPG and RPGNow $5.50 (reduced from $7.50)

http://bit.ly/IAgeomorph

Tunnels and Trolls 4 for 4 dollars!

  

The original Tunnels & Trolls 4th edition is now available to buy in PDF form for $4!

This is a very cool thing to happen.

Highs and Lows of the currently not playing collector gamer shopping in the city

3.5e Reprints (at Wizards').  I know! I still don't believe it either... What does it mean?! The AD&D reprints tore a hole in time..

There's so many things happening in the RPG publishing industry it's hard to keep up, point at, deride, link to or generally comment upon.  I doubt anything I could say about D&D3.5 (or was it just 3? surely not) being reprinted that hasn't been said on the forums and by better bloggers than I.  Although I'm still amazed it's happening.  Never underestimate consumer power, or the maths.

Picking up the Pathfinder Beginner Box in a shop today, perhaps I was voting again for that d20/3e way of playing.  To be honest, that was a long way from my mind.  I've been "coming out" recently as more of a collector and reader of games (designing aside) than an actual player.  I'm telling myself that it's okay for rule books to sit on my shelves for nearly forever, and that even if you own 100 systems from across the decades that it's also okay just to only ever play one system.  I'm currently without a face-to-face gaming group, but these does not deny me the delight in choosing the play-out-of-box gateway game.  I'm pretty sure that Pathfinder BB doesn't have the infamous Attacks of Opportunity rules which used to put me off teaching D&D to new players - but this might be a hang-over from wanting to write simple solo game texts for fighter types.  Maybe that was because my earliest love was for the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (where complex magic or skills would be limited to special guest rules - even Sorcery! feels like that to me). Attacks of Opportunity would multiply the number of paragraphs somewhat.  I'm also stat-lazy.  The idea that a T&T dungeon can be prepared in minutes with a handful or Monster Ratings, SR vs traps and a sprinkling of treasure appeals to me immensely.  Of course, ten minutes into a game I'd probably start house-ruling and filling out attribute packed stat blocks for monsters (-when I was young DM/GM/Ref I wish that I'd had more confidence to make a system my own -nowadays I'd improvise and house rule myself stupid).  So, I guess, I have a real soft spot for boxes with abridged rules, tiles and figures.  Boxed games used to seem less threatening to non RPG players.  Imagine if Monpoly was published as three hardbacked books, where you had to make your own board and provide counters?   And perhaps maybe you and your nan had to learn a bit about real estate economics before picking up the little hat and that silly dog ...  Maybe D&D and Pathfinder look like that to newbie players. Time for a family-christmas-friendly box.

It's still true that there's a few concept leaps for new players to be had with boxed RPGs, but at least there's a board of sorts with good guys and bad guy counters.  I think what I'm trying to say is part of my shopping pleasure is derive buying something that isn't too challenging to imagine in play, it's familiar (i.e like 70s-early 90s RPG without dice pools, narrative mechanics, or CCG style cards) and has shiny pretty things - dice, counters, figures, and a battlemat - all of which can be cannibalised for other systems (mwhahaha - it's not a "game" it's a "resource").   At some point I'm pretty sure that my 'Ashardalon set will become hybridised with my Warhammer Quest game played using a system not too dissimilar to Basic D&D (of course!) - and that might be just a randomised solo game for myself(!)  To be honest,  I reckon that if I lost the internet for a week or went on a rainy holiday I would be building something like that out of plastic bottle tops and cereal card - because let's face it, inspiration always strikes when you're at least a hundred miles away from your games cupboard / shelve unit / walk-in Gygax Shrine. Okay, digressing slightly...  

So there I am in the middle of the mighty city Leicester (King Lear's City - no really, "Lei-Cester" that's what they tell us).  This is a happy accident since some training for work that morning was to be had in a place other than my poky home town.  Real training means a day out. ;)  I used to travel to Leicester and Nottingham as a teen exclusively to buy RPGs in both boxes and book form.  This seemed like a fairly big deal because the rest of the time I used to be outraged if I couldn't buy anything in my local highstreet - I still do (commercially spoilt for choice as a child, perhaps?).  Ironically/Aptly we've have now a Games Workshop in my home town, but it's half a lifetime since GW stocked RPGs that I want to read or play.  Teen years behind me, I don't feel the need to travel to the cities any more - Amazon and other web stores magically transport games to me, but I still associate Leicester with those little instant treats.  So it was fairly depressing to find that the large Waterstones (a bookstore) didn't have any D&D books near it's paltry selection of graphic novels, and in terms of complete systems, Forbidden Planet only had one copy of Death Watch or Dark Heresy - one of those, I forget which.  In fact in Forbidden Planet it was as if a rep for Fantasy Flight Games had bumped off reps from the other companies.  At least I was able to actually look at the back of a copy of the new edition of Descent: Journeys in the yadda yadda, and actually hold a copy of Super Dungeon Explore (I'll be honest, the tile art, looks terrible!  But then I'm Inked Adventures monochrome-fine-ink-biassed...)  That big posh incarnation of Talisman still intrigues me, with its figures and coins, but the Crown of Command ending still sucks.  There was a shelf of Munchkin spoofy games, and some sort of zombie-dice game.  There was lonely pad of hex-paper.  Hex-paper? :o  Keep browsing.  Never been sure about Wiz-War...   Magic expansion packs, so many booster packs, next to the comics and those strange ghostly white freaky no-face paintable dolls.  Even the Star Wars toys in the retro-Kenner boxes didn't grab me (my nostalgia gland was only aching for RPG rule sets).

I'd managed to find some 80's Fighting Fantasy books in a charity shop half an hour previously, so maybe I should have just cut my losses and got (Warlock of Firetop Mountain -first cover- and Seven Serpents - jagged banner top, not bad, I know, thanks for asking).  I hovered near the dice, and marvelled at the presence of women staff and customers and the lack of BO smell which is almost nostalgic for me.  Yes, buy the dice.  They are the consolation prize for gamers who can't find what they want.

Depression was setting in.  This was as good as RPG shopping in Leicester city centre was going to get, and my head-voice rattled out a mantra along the lines of "You don't even have a gaming group -20 minutes on Ebay will be more satisfying than this- what are you doing?"   Even the excitement of dissolve-in-mouth gem dice is lost on me now.

I picked up two tubes of polys - matt yellow and red - like the ones from the cover of Dicing with Dragons. :)  I scanned the boxes again. Descent, Talisman and SDE and those big glossy Cthulhu games by FFG- but they were in the £60-70 range.  I think there was a Star Wars mini vehicles space game as well - with a pathetic number of three fighters (come on FFG, you drug dealers!).  I swear many of the prices are literally dollar for pound.  Oh dear.  But there it sat, friendly and familiar, the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box for around £25.

No really, PF BB is just so very scrummy.
(a prior drool soaked post)
Perhaps it would make a perfect
Christmas present for jaded players
and collectors who need to rediscover
the magical learning process. ;)

Why not?  I have quite a collection of D&D "introductory" games to compare it to.  Even if it's never played I can set up a museum showing the similarities and differences of pamphlet rules, floor plans and figures or counters over the decades.  Not a bad idea, since "serious" gamers will often skip beginner/primer sets and go straight to core rulebooks and boxed games have a shorter longevity-durability (4 year lifespan, Roy... no, don't burn it...!).  Although at the time, as with the dice, the Beginner Box felt like a "consolation" purchase.  Later on, I was extremely happy that I'd bought it.  It's a beautiful and complete game, not just a glorified advert for the brand.  Having come to the Pathfinder relatively late, it'll slot in nicely with my new Core rules and Bestiary.

At the counter there were some sealed HeroClix boxes.  One mystery hero per box? ... Not today, thanks.  I'm sure a couple of years ago, this very same shop still had plastic D&D pre-painted minis at least.  Oh well. Tap in the pin number and wait for the receipt.

So by now I was again cursing the Bricks n Mortar campaigns which ask me to support my local book shops and gaming stores.  Maybe I just need to start reading comics - by which I mean the really new stuff - just for some sort of shelf-to-self-validation in those high-street temples to geekery. 

My dirty, shameful, guilty £18
purchase from Games Workshop .
Even this man cannot survive on
cardboard scenery alone.

I must have been hating myself, because on the way back to the train station I found myself in Games Workshop.
I mean, come on, really?   Again the sales-"which army do you collect?"-staff was a young woman - and the shop didn't smell too bad - maybe women players inspire better hygiene in young men?

Why was I in there?  It was the buildings, I think.  The scenery - those twisty house forts, and before I knew it, I was buying some Lord of the Rings ruins (... of Osgiliath) which I took peculiar pride in saying that I would be using as an interior piece for a "dungeon" ... Bearing in mind that their Balin's Tomb / Mines of Moria set is barely a doorway and some pillars and that's the closest that GW dare to go underground interiors since Dungeonbowl and Necromunda (hang on, did Mordheim have any underground settings?).

I mumbled something about Warhammer Quest and observed that White Dwarf magazine had changed their title font (quite the follower of current events, aren't I?).  Sometimes it's worth checking that the staff know their history.  Make them earn the commission, I say, check that they watched the induction video which might have mentioned Wh'Quest somewhen after Space Crusade... and long after the Great Purge of the Imported Games.  Then she did something clever, she mentioned that GW "didn't always make the best games" (wha-? *Ackbar*  It's a trap!) and perhaps I'd like to read about FFG's Relic board game, which, y'know, was a bit like Talisman.  (You had me at "board game", damnit).

It's very curious this cosying up of GW to FFG. So I said something pithy, which I regret, about FFG taking old games and adding a shed load of cards (which they do), but she forgave me (or didn't see it as a criticism of hallowed FFG, purveyors of glossy heavy boxes) I think because the customer is always ... allowed to be opinionated ... (and she knew that beyond the safety of GW cult, with their Flesh colour washes, grass flock, Dark Eldar and Necrons, she was probably out of her depth...).  Damn, I seem to have some serious issues.  My apologies.

I bought the ruins and the new-look White Dwarf and quickly left without so much of a cursory scan of those new-fangled resin-cast figures.   Things move too quickly, and the mantle of game system related alienation hangs heavy on me, maybe the OSR-ers are right: Why buy mainstream when you already own your favourite systems or can download a well written facsimile?

I felt a bit dirty, like I'd betrayed myself.  At least it wasn't the GW shop in my hometown - no-one knew me here.  Don't shit where you eat, as they say.  (Not that I've ever actually defecated on a tabletop battle between the Imperial Guard and those spiky Tyranids, and besides, I think food isn't allowed into GW shops)  My crack-habit chaos figure bankruptcy days are over!  Leicester had failed me a little.  I had expected more for my sweaty pennies.   I went for instant purchases in real shops.  Cities are supposed to be better than this!  Take my money goddamnit!   

Reality sucks.  Pass me the iPad and turn on one-click buying.

In all, with better perspective the following day, I decided that I was pretty fond of my new purchases - the Pathfinder Beginner Box especially.  The shiny lacquer on this is that there's even a soloplay game to help me through my contradictory, mostly solitary, existence of collecting and designing for group-play games.  It's perhaps no co-incidence that it's dedicated to D&D boxed game authors: Holmes, Mentzer and Moldvay (Hero's Book, p1) - I found this deeply reassuring. :)

 The dice? Well, you can never have too many dice - those yellows and reds make a nice addition to the pile in the Dice Mugs.  The LotR ruins can go into that box marked "Rainy Day Mental Enthusiasm Projects" - for the days which scare my friends when they see me unshaven, maps drawn on the bath tiles and hemmed in by 3D model dungeons covering the carpet...  The best kind of days. :)

The new-look White Dwarf? - Well, I always need something to read in the bathroom.

An unofficial Tunnels and Trolls character sheet

A Delver's Adventure Sheet …or  character sheet, record sheet, stats card etc… call it what you will.  I've been trying again to assemble some hand drawn elements using GIMP and Open Office, when maybe I should have just drawn the whole thing out by hand to start with.

Nonetheless, I'm sure someone will find a use for this character sheet.  I really hope it's not lacking anything too essential.


(Reblogged/x-posted from inkedadventures.com and IA on blogger)

Downloads:

The PDF:  aDelversAdventureSheet_billiambabble_inkedadventures_2012_v1.pdf (350KB)

Image file
(click on thumbnail, then right click on image to save):

Happy Delving!

Browsing, Wanting, Owning

I desperately need to babble at you about a collection of low priced products.  Not surprisingly my beady clockwork eyes -click-clack-whirrr- have been caught again by the mainly papercrafting side of role-playing (plus a T&T solo).


Little Books of Dungeons : MegaDungeon Level 1 (Kristian Richards / CSP) is a product which covers all bases.  I adore the greyscale style of CSP's maps.  In this pack the DM is treated to printable PDFs and jpg sections of a truly massive area.  Note sheets and maps with numbered labels are provided for the DM's own notes.  I haven't used any Virtual TableTop programs myself but I've experimented with using map jpgs on an iPad with figures (allbeit a tiny area) - so I now truly appreciate the power of zoomable jpgs.   It's hard to see what Kristian has left out of 'Level 1.  All a DM would have to do is "populate" the dungeon - or perhaps just play using random tables.  Usuable for any fantasy roleplaying game and adaptable to a variety of technologies (beyond just printing the PDFs) the $5 price tag is a very reasonable price.  This is a truly wonderful product.  Congratulations again to Crooked Staff Publishing.

Talking about cut-out figures ... The work of David Kiladecus Wears becomes yet more and more impressive as he solidifies his status as a professional figure artist.  Era of War: Xiarn Dynasty brings us original models of quality - which, although intended for his Era of War tabletop battle game,  would adapt well as NPCs and unique monsters in RPG settings.  Don't be put off by the instructions to trim such detailed work so closely - the figures work just as well with square or oval trimming.

Squid aliens, bubble helmeted spacesuits, shoulder fins, goggles, rayguns -  I would readily use Retro Space Set Four Hero Squad with Tales of a Space Princess and Cosmic Patrol, or any retro- Flash Gordon sci-fi space opera you can mention - ideal for characters.  This a layers based product which, again, like other Okumarts sets, maxes out out on colour choice, plus a bonus level with some weird robots and aliens.  At $2.50 - this is stupidly cheap and David Okum clearly plans to die penniless.

I briefly mentioned the, then forthcoming, Lord Zsezse's Works Modular Trench System in a post about his square tiles  because I like to compare square tiles to irregular shaped systems (it's an odd hobby, I know).  The solution here is the use of a terrain background poster over which are arranged the abundantly detailed trench segments.  Suitable for contemporary and post-apocalyptic play.  The versatility of these tiles means that they have a high reusuability value - and are ideal for wargamers and RPGers alike, which makes the current price of $5.50 good value - especially when compared to preprint floor plan products.

I haven't seen inside the unimaginatively entitled  E-Z DUNGEONS: Expansion Set 10 and if did I not already have my own rudimentary 3D card furniture I would snap this up pretty quick - definitely ideal for taverns and feast halls.  What I like about "props" sets is that whether or not you use battlemaps, floor plans,  paper walls or moulded dungeon scenery, the paper chairs, barrels and tables always complement your fantasy minis, and at a low cost.  Most of the pieces look box-shaped so I'm assuming that even the most clumsy of modellers would be able to cope with this set.  At $5 it's definitely one of there cheaper and more portable packs.  Sometimes I hate to praise Fat Dragon, because they make paper scenery look effortless. *Jealous*

Rapscallion is a solitaire adventure by veteran T&T writer Sid Orpin, designed specifically for Rogues (self-taught magic-using warriors)  using the 7/7.5 Tunnels & Trolls rules.  It has 142 sections which appear to cater for a wide selection of spells (no mean feat in solo-texts) - nice black and white art - amazing value at $2 for the PDF.


Okay, that out of the way.  I have some cool news - well, at least from a personal perspective.  Apparently I've been super supportive of my partner and as a result she's been treated me to a whole load of goodies.  Every man has a price and mine are RPG hardbacks.  So it really has been Christmas in July!

Firstly, to accompany my Pathfinder Core rulebook (which I've come to years later than everyone else because I was insisting to myself that my D&D3.5 rules were doing an "okay" job) - she's bought me a copy of the Pathfinder Bestiary, and I must say that the artwork and background layouts are absolutely gorgeous.   Since many of my RPG rulebooks end up being shelf-eye-candy (as opposed to becoming battered on an actual gaming table) I am happy very with this.  Also, I was desperate to know what I've been missing with regards to comparisons between Pathfinder and D&D3.5.  Rules-wise, not a great deal, but aesthetically speaking the Pathfinder products clearly have their own style and identity.
...[Deleted: dull digression about D&D Edition Wars and PF being some sort of counter-culture...]...
 I love the Bestiary - it looks mighty fine!

Whilst we're talking about good looking hardbacks, I now feel much more confident in my assertion that the AD&D Reprints are a luscious and worthy purchase even if you already own the original rulebooks.  For me the shiny bright white pages and darkest fresh new black ink make the rules easier to read.  The gold edging and metallic print on the padded embossed covers makes these books truly special.  (Check out The Other Side for comparative photos, also see my post regarding how to get them in the UK). It was nice to receive them as a gift from my partner, because this completely absolved me from the dilemma of buying something that I already own -she bought them at Leisure Games by the way.  So maybe do a deal with a gaming friend where you buy copies for each other.   My only confusion is that of "errata" - were the texts corrected or is it time for me to download errata texts? (see the Acaeum Library).  Rereading these rules in the new format is a divine pleasure.

AD&D Reprints?
with the gold edging ...?  and the special ribbon...?  and the shiny pages ...?
and the embossed metallic effect covers?
 MAEBEE  I HAZ DEM. :)

RPG book porn aside...



"TROLL!!!!!"

I watched Troll Hunter recently.  Darkly humorous - you'll either love it or you'll hate it.  Much of it's quirkiness may to come from the fact that it's a Norwegian film - but I am way out of my depth when it comes to citing contributions to world cinema by Norway. I bought it on budget in my local Tesco -  which gives you an idea of how sophisticated my film tastes are before I mention this next DVD - which was also a gift from my partner...


*Mexican whistle*

 Hawk the Slayer!

In terms of British cinema history, this film is a bit of a conundrum.  It's made by Hammer, those horror masters of cheap gore (years before Troma films were big on VHS) - but there's no blood on the sword blades - in fact it verges on being a family film.  There's also an assortment of comedy actors, including Bernard Breslaw and Roy Kinnear.  The hero and his nemesis are stalwart American actors, John Terry ("Hawk") and Jack Palance ("Voltan").  Even as a young chap, I could see that this was cynical casting where hero had to be American.  Even then it wasn't hard to see the costume likenesses of Hawk to Han Solo and Voltan to Darth Vader.  What had escaped me at the time was that the film's watchability stems from the fact that it's modelled on Westerns, with musical motives, fast draw duels and twitching eye shots.  It's the cliches being played straight which makes this film so special.  My parents were very aware age-related classifications on rented films and at the cinema (and my own thought-police morals perpetuated this) so when my friends were talking about Conan the Destroyer, Excalibur and Sword and the Sorcerer my main reference was this film, because it was a PG.  I think I may have seen it in a morning matinee at the cinema, but my memories are usually of watching tapes recorded from the TV.  The settings appealed to me, because the forests are English-looking and the main church looks like the sort of universal basilica church found in early medieval Europe - the kind which pre-date churches with steeples.  Hawk the Slayer ties closely to Basic/Expert D&D in my mind, where the some of more interesting low level encounters are often human (bandits, beserkers, pirates and so on).   The second half of the film essentially a stand-off by a D&D-ish party (human warrior, "giant", elf, dwarf, a magic-user, plus a wounded protagonist with a repeat-firing crossbow*) in a church surrounded by forest besieged by 0-level bandits.  If you think about it, most of the creatures - humanoid or not- in films at the time were fairly rubberised - so the lack of goblins or orcs or even muscley barbarians is perhaps to Hawk the Slayer's credit.  Just don't mention the scene with the glowing silly-string.  This film is a treasure.  Had it not been a gift it would have eventually have been a definite "guilty" purchase. ;)

*I was never very happy about the repeat crossbow with a loadable magazine - it just wasn't "low-tech" enough for me at the time.


I gave in, and bought Legend of Grimrock from Steam.  I regret nothing! 
(I also really hate giant squealing poisonous spiders, and trapdoors...)


A random book-"want" hereby follows:

I'm looking forward to browsing for this book in the shops,

"For Young Men and Literate Women..."

Dr Grodbort's TRIUMPH

Thrashingly good nonsense!  Tastes like Victory!  Not for the weak.  Steampunk for colonial fascists, better than all that foreign muck.

Happy gaming.
And if you're not actually gaming, don't do too much shopping. ;)

Achtung!Cthulhu and TrollsZine5

Achtung! Cthulhu 1
(Savage Worlds/
Realms of Cthulhu)
$9.99
http://bit.ly/achtungcthSW

The only good zombie is a dead NAZI zombie.  I'm not really into the whole zombie thing, but I enjoy the shear audacity of writers who mix-up bad guys in order to create the "ultimate" adversaries.  I reckon that shooting sluggish undead neighbours with a farmyard shotgun doesn't quite have the same thrill as sten-gunning Doktor Kammerstein's experimental Ungeziefer Zombies.   And that's just a very small part of Achtung! Cthulhu -Zero Point - 1: Three Kings. 

I'm not ashamed to say that just reading the title makes me grin from ear to ear.  ACHTUNG!!  The setting is tense, cinematic and perhaps intentded to be played straight (almost), but I can imagine that role-playing the PCs (pre-gens included!) and NPCs could also be enjoyed as period-parody.  I'm reminded of Castle Wolfenstein, the Colditz boardgame, the beginning of Hellboy, and the occult-curious Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark -not to mention films and comic strips depicting derring-do raids on enemy bases in World War II. 

Achtung! Cthulu 1
(Call of Cthulhu)
$9.99
http://bit.ly/achtungcthCoC

It's the sort of PDF that I wouldn't mind owning a book (printed) copy of.  Even the "printer friendly" (white background) copy is lushly presented.

I've been reading the Savage Worlds ("Realm of Cthulhu") edition, and I was going to post that it probably wouldn't be too hard to adapt to Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu mechanics, but the nice people at Modiphius have already provided a separate edition with CoC stats and rules.  For the undecided amongst you there's a special bundle including both products at a reduced price: $15 for both PDFs on DTRPG  http://bit.ly/achtungcthbundle. 

It may be worth pointing out that this product tends towards the more pulp style of play where players may encounter fearsome horrors directly and have access to wartime hardware and weaponry, but there's still enough conspiracy, back-story and a special forbidden tome to place this scenario firmly in the spirit of Lovecraftian gaming.  Pockets of horror and terror overlap with, and are contextualised by, real historical events in central Europe, meaning that material is very accessible, whilst being broad enough to allow for flexibility in campaign planning by the Referee. 'Three Kings can be played as a standalone adventure or as the first part of what may become a really fabulous series. 
 
Mein Gott in Himmel ... Shoggoths fur das Furhrer!
... and so on. ;)

FREE! on DriveThruRPG
http://bit.ly/trollszine5

A very quick word of praise for the superb free offering from the folks at the Trollbridge (endorsed by Flying Buffalo).  This new edition of TrollsZine puts some of the more expensive professional products to shame, since this 92 page PDF is utterly packed with wholesome Tunnels & Trolls goodness created by a community of writers and artists -and given to the gaming world for free.  Although many of the articles are tailored for T&T7/7.5, players of 5th edition will find that they are still in very familiar territory.  There is a move to standardize the format of this magazine, and the editors encourage new submissions, with the intention that TrollsZine will be appearing at a more rapid rate than in the past.  To be honest, with content is of such a high standard, being entertaining and applicable to most T&T players/appreciators, I'd be happy to wait between issues - even it was out only once a year.  This stuff is that good - it's Christmas in June, any more than this and we'll be feeling spoilt!
 
Okay, there's a little bias from me here because I happen to know that the Trollbridgers are a lovely talented bunch and also I'm honoured to have my very own piece of troll art featured on the editorial page (in a magazine which is hosting some real quality line-art!)

TrollsZine #5 -An entertaining resource for a very popular fast-play-friendly system.  

Did I mention that it is FREE?



Sleep well, lucky dice and all that.

Stock Art: Trolls (or orc and troll) playing an RPG -Inked Adventures

Self-promotion ...
Man, I'm feeling guilty for not producing more floor plan packs more quickly, so I'm peddling scribbles again.

Cross-posted to the Inked Adventures site and IA blogger.




New stock art for use in publications – available at DriveThru, RPGNow and Wargame Vault.
Currently $3.50 for files and rights usage in publications
http://bit.ly/trollsplaying

Trailbrazers solo, Cthulhu Japan, Sussurus Tomb Battlemap

Age of Cthulhu 6 A Dream of Japan $8.99 DriveThru http://bit.ly/dreamofjapan	Trailblazers! T&T Solo $1.57 DriveThru http://bit.ly/TTsoloTB	Battlemap Sussurus Tomb $4.95 DriveThru http://bit.ly/SussTomb

Stuart Lloyd is changing the way we play Tunnels & Trolls solos and he is changing the way I look at T&T as a whole.  (Stuart is also reporting daily from the front lines of a gamebook renaissance and revolution, but I don't have time to go into that right now)

Rather than moping back to Edition 5 of T&T (which would be my primary instinct when writing a solo game)  Mr Lloyd takes 7.5 with all it's suggested talents, he embraces the opportunities for customised skill checks (SRs), adapts to the new types/classes and tackles in-book spell-use head-on.  Text sections provide options to perform "stunts" which make even the most mundane encounter memorable to play.  The situations in Trailblazers! are refreshingly original.  The plot can switch from the lowly to the epic - from scrambling around about to saving the day - of this stuff heroes are born.

There's a sprinkling of humour and chagrin, very much in the style of older T&T solitaire games, so T&T old school regulars will like this.  The replayability factor is very high.  (Do not be discouraged by the charming public domain art!  This is high class content! High-production values of the mind!) - I should also add that his solos are easy on the ink cartridge and his PDF prices are kept extremely low.    Play Trailblazers! as part of series - pick up the first two booklets from his range on DriveThru.

I do feel obliged to say that I'm honoured for his thanks in the foreword - although I'm not sure for which favour owe this gratitude - I'm just backing the winning team here! ;)
 

Trailblazers! T&T Solo $1.57 DriveThru

http://bit.ly/TTsoloTB

I'm bursting to draw your attention to A Dream of Japan from Goodman Games, partly because (as you may know, dear reader, I'm a sucker for good line-art)  Brad "BKM" McDevitt adorns this adventure with some exquisite point-of-view pictures (think D&D Tomb of Horrors player pull-out). His Deviant Art page has a snippet of sample art.

I've been skim reading the adventure and I'd say it comes pretty close to being a perfect CoC mystery.  My only issue is that, like with nearly all CoC adventures, it needs a fairly resourceful Keeper to usher the investigators along the right path.  However, in this adventure there is a fail-safe - the investigators have been manipulated, possibly since birth (!) by unseen forces, so the Keeper now has a licence for contrivance.

This adventure is a perfect opportunity to plunge the players into a superstitions world, that's just alien enough (the Orient) to make the investigators paranoid about every lucky penny they find.  This adventure looks like it has the makings to be a classic - and perhaps even a whole campaign.  It has some really nice twists, great art (the maps are good too).  Designed for Chaosium/BRP Call of Cthulhu (5) but could be easily adapted or sourced for other games set in the '20's.

Age of Cthulhu 6 A Dream of Japan (Goodman Games)

$8.99 DriveThru

http://bit.ly/dreamofjapan

In Zseze's World The Sussurus Tomb Battlemap the quality of the computer art is arrestingly beautiful.  Make sure you print onto something glossy which does these tiles justice!  The sections in the PDFs have wide margins which is always a good thing if you don't want to fiddle too much with print settings.  Extra poster size jpgs will be ideal for use in computer programs, tablets, and for your own modifications.

Slick professional, eye-bleedingly good.

Zseze's World The Sussurus Tomb Battlemap
$4.95 DriveThru

http://bit.ly/SussTomb

Right.  Those will keep us all busy for a while!

Happy Easter and all that.  Alien eggs all around. :)

*Face-hugger squeal...*

More Mars! ERB Shadows of a Dying World (d20 OGL Skirmisher Publishing)

Man walks into a Bar(-soom) ... 
Barman asks "Why, the four arms?"

I was going to delete much of this (badly-written-brain-blah) post since it revealed far too much about my own fetishes.  Instead I shall leave most of it in as "filler" between product pictures and links, and I ask you, dear browsing reader, dedicated player, to treat it as thus.  Do not worry.  My family and doctor have been informed.

Free eBook, Sir?
A Princess of Mars at the Gutenburg Project
Over 30,900 downloads in the last 30 days.
Incidentally my local Waterstones doesn't seem
to be stocking any E R Burroughs at all.

And suddenly I'm a "co.uk".

Curse you Google!  And now the masks are off!  The English are exposed!  Hmpf.  Oh well, blogger is free I suppose.   ... For now... Mwhahaha .... Evil Capitalism always wins!  Google's stormtroopers are boarding their Boolean AT-ATs as I type.

(...and breathe...)

Back to the Mars!

This whole Mars settings thing is feeling like quite a fad for me, no doubt next week I'll be rattling on about how super Buck Rogers is or "Why won't my friends play Dungeon! with me?"  I'm even wondering whether it's worth going to see the John Carter movie at the cinema, when I know I'll acquire it on budget DVD in four months time.  I'm looking forward to it, it's just my life moves in slow time, but also since starting to read the original A Princess of Mars novel (I have a decaying 1920's copy - acquired by accident with a bunch of Tarzan books which I passed on as a gift for a friend) certain simple discrepancies have made me realise that there's just no point even having the "What Hollywood does to Literature" debate, when the planet Mars in the books does not even have dust, and everyone wanders around naked in a sort of naturist get-back-to-primal-basics fantasy.  Also, since the Green Martians ("Tharks") lay eggs, why is it that every illustrator in comics, books and fan-art they have breasts (all be-it sometimes covered with armour)?

On the subject of exposed boobies it would be amiss not to refer to the politics of attire regarding the, aforementioned princess, Dejah Thoris.  When talking to Carter in A Princess of Mars she implies that Earthmen are somehow perverse in their insistence to "cover their bodies with strange, unsightly pieces of cloth" and that Carter's origins are confusing due to his "absence of grotesque coverings" I mention all of this because I was surprised to read secondhand of a legal challenge by the Edgar Rice Burrough's Estate over Dynamite Entertainment rights to publish Tarzan and 'Mars related publications.

At some point the sexy covers of Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris has come in for criticism for being pornographic - I sort of doubt that this is the main thrust of the fight (just that we're all enjoying citing it ;) ). The irony here is that even with bejeweled thonged-kickers on she's still dressed more formally than in the book.  Perhaps out of this comes the idea that being a Disney movie, the John Carter franchise may be in need of a more wholesome, family-oriented image.  I doubt Burroughs was ever writing for the whole family, I doubt that he was even writing for women readers.  To be honest, the lawyers might as well be arguing about the number of legs different alien animals have and whether those numbers are loyal to the books.  But who knows what the original truth here is because I forgot to read any actual news threads because I had a lovely night in, Google searching Dejah Thoris with "Safe Search" turned off. :)  Not quite work safe, you probably wouldn't get fired, but it's harder to explain to the girlfriend though.  My guilty thoughts are currently being assuaged by me saying "this could be worse, I could Googling the Gor covers..."  Dirty, filthy, dirty boy!  Actually, I'm still in the doghouse for trying for being caught with the Red Sonja cosplay photos on the screen - I'm innocent m'lord!  They was in a game blog!  I'm still not convinced that they could claim "Armour Class 5" on the character sheet ...


Again, I need to say that I hadn't realised that in the original books that there is "no dust" on Mars.  In place of dust, soil or sand is soft coloured fungal flora covering the vast tracts of dried ocean.  So my visions of sword-fights in dusty deserts may have been misplaced.   (I wonder, did Disney at any point consider not to have Mars as particularly desert-like?)  But hey, I don't mind having deserts on Mars -reminds me of Tatooine.  Time for a skiff fight!  (I could have said "Deserts remind me of Frank Herbert's Dune", but no really, Star Wars bounces up and down in my brain first... I know, I know...)

On the subject of monsters with too many legs, I'm finding myself warming now to many RPG monsters of my past which I thought were somehow "improbable".  Come to think of it, the extra limbs on Displacer Beasts and Basilisks are pretty mundane compared to their other powers.  This also reminds me of the fact that two-legged wyverns made better "evolutionary" sense than four legged dragons, but then I was dissapointed that wyverns in D&D didn't breathe fire (okay, I was a bit of a doofus logic-wise and I still am).  I think it was some sort of four-limbed "believable aesthetic".  Burroughs on the other hand (pun! did you see that?) uses extra limbs to remind us that the environment is utterly alien, but then adds aspects of Earthly familiarity, like referring to a creature as a "white ape" (it just also happens have six limbs and a really weird face).  Slowly, I'm getting used to the fact that "many legs" and arms is okay, and I'll be honest Burroughs is way more fun than Wells whose writing 15 years before often tried to justify the look of things with scientific explanation.  Burroughs just goes for it: tusks, extra arms, green ... next!  Suddenly I'm remembering Volturnian monsters in Star Frontiers - no longer do the creatures they seem absurd, but now they are homages to writers like Burroughs.  This is a strange journey I'm on.  ERB is making me appreciate the naffly mutated!

But quick!  To the actual content, man!

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars:
Shadows of a Dying World
$5.99 on DTRPG
http://bit.ly/ERBMarsShadows

Skirmisher Publishing
http://www.skirmisher.com/

I've been particularily enjoying reading a review copy of the re-launched  Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars: Shadows of a Dying World (An OGL Guide to Monsters, Races, and Beasts) - Skirmisher Publishing.

The OGL system in this case is the d20 SRD (D&D3 friendly).  Whilst going crazy for mining customized OD&D books and the Savage Worlds MARS adventures (see blog post), I'd overlooked this well made gem.  A quiet voice is whispering that this probably isn't an "official" Burroughs' Estate approved document, so it might be worth buying it soon, in case it quietly goes underground, but maybe we're just too over cautious these days, after all, some of the actual book texts appear to be out of copyright - hence free ebooks.

Shadows of a Dying World is loyal to its source material.  Excerpts from the novels are used as part of the monster descriptions.  I especially like the fact that some of the monsters can be used as characters (using the Racial Ability Scores Modifiers - a hallmark of 3.5e).  I'd love to play an 8ft tall four armed green-skinned Thark.

But what about armour? Look, the characters in the books barely wear clothes, so D&D plate-mail doesn't really have a place here.  Also, no matter what flavour of D&D armour class you use, there is very little incentive for fighters not to strap metal and leather to exposed parts.  Appendix III in Shadows' provides us with Class Defence Bonuses - which give players just enough of a level-linked boost to AC so that even when they're standing still characters may still survive the slings, arrows and radium guns of outrageous Barsoom.  Loin-clothed barbarian-types are welcome here.

With Feats descriptions and Random Encounter Tables, this product comes over as a succinct, settings based, Monster Manual with extras.  It's all generic enough to make the Mars milieu your own.  Skirmisher Publishing have also included a document built from select tables and text in the SRD to assist with creature building and modifying what's already provided in the text. 

Because this is an OGL product, in theory all you would need is the d20 Source Reference Document and this product to play campaigns on Mars (but if I remember right, the SRD doesn't include character generation so you'll probably enjoy this more if you actual own the rules for Pathfinder, core DnD3/3.5 rule books or d20 fantasy-equivalent).

The many interior illustrations are in a variety of styles, black and white and printer friendly.

For many DMs who are fans of this genre, who use a d20 system, this document will be perfect starting point for encounters with monsters based on adventures from one of the grand-daddies of fantasy.

I'm really grateful that I've had a chance to see this product. It's certainly worth the $6.  It is definitely worthwhile considering if d20/PF/DnD/3-3.5 is your preferred system and you're dying to try out some classic, but brutal, sci-fantasy. :)

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars:
Shadows of a Dying World

$5.99 on DTRPG

http://bit.ly/ERBMarsShadows

_____oOo_____

Rare TSR Warriors of Mars
for OD&D -Taken from the
entry on the Noble Knight
Games site.They can email you
if they get one in stock,
so they can torture you hope
before  they finish you off
with an asking price ;) 
http://bit.ly/TSRWoMNK

Other Burroughsian Martian ("Barsoom") links for sourcing your campaigns:


A Princess of Mars - free book download at Project Gutenburg (other books in the series also available there, but sadly at the moment, no "Venus" books - not that I can find)

Mars/Barsoom settings for Tunnels & Trolls on Trollbridge forum:  "Trolls on Barsoom"

John Carter/Mars settings OD&D / Whitebox/ S&S -see my post here (inc. Grey Elf links)

Also see this respective look on Grognardia at the rare Gygax/Blume Warriors of Mars

> Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian Books - full list on Amazon.com <

Not quite ERB... Dejah Thoris Warlords of Mars (Dynamite Comics) -She's a very modern girl!

You may also want to see the new film.   Disney's website for John Carter.  Ah, look at cute Woola!
Blimey, a film?

Not sure, if I'm ready, myself, I'm too busy speculating on different archaic game systems, and shopping for new ones ... What a life, eh?


Thanks for reading, browsing, clicking, whatever.

Shopping is good for you - it's your duty to spend in the Recession!

RPG shops need your food vouchers.


Now get on that thoat and bag yourself a red-tinted princess!



EDIT 25.03.12
Pulp adventure Mars fans may also like:
 Cavaliers of Mars (Free Quickstart Rules)
and
Tales of the Space Princess RPG (Lulu Print Copy) / Tales of the Space Princess RPG E-Book