Puerto Rico and Caribbean Hurricane Relief Bundle

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/220574/Puerto-Rico-Hurricane-Relief-Bundle-BUNDLE

“Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria a few short weeks ago, and is in dire need of humanitarian assistance and relief. We’ve organized this bundle to provide what help we can. The proceeds for this bundle will be going entirely to GlobalGiving’s Puerto Rico and Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund.” -DriveThruRPG

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/220574/Puerto-Rico-Hurricane-Relief-Bundle-BUNDLE

Bundle cost/donation $25.00 (USD)
(Total value of products provided is $545.33)

Inked Adventures Simple Caverns cut-up sheets (PWYW) and why modern gaming is so cool with colour printers (designer thoughts)

(Cross-promotional from Inked Adventures (on DTRPG) plus some extra thoughts.)



Simple Caverns Cut-Up Sheets
Pay-What-You-Want on DriveThruRPG


Check out the hand drawn goodness!  Celebrate the simple yet flexible design!
Although there's not much by way of actual cavern scenery in this set (stalagmites, pools etc) I'm rather proud of the floor. It's a good cavern floor, one that works for gaming.

Back when I first played D&D, the GW and TSR's Dungeon Floorplans sets were a much coveted resource. The early sets were very simple, but still more exciting on the table with figures than, well most things we were doing with plan or graph paper.  It was all mainly about room shapes, with colour and a grid (in the first set the wooden sheet was used for doors, chests and tables).  Back to today, I still can't get over the fact that people can print in colour at home and cut-up a colour map. I'm still fairly excited by the idea of making made-to-measure rooms with scissors - it feels so wanton! Unlike those early Floorplan packs, we can now print as many dungeon floor sheets as we want (I say this with total seriousness, my like a vinyl fan arguing with iTunes support).

Being the product illustrator, I think of my designs as disposable (test-prints spill out over the floor, begging to be binned), especially when printing straight to paper of card, but often people want to craft permanent tiles, perhaps applying them to foam core and so on.  "Reusable" is good for the environment I guess ;)  I'm sure it's gratifying to think of the longevity of a lovingly prepared tile, gained at a low price via the interweb, despite the devastation caused to ink cartridges. I think my point is that, as with a battlemat, you can almost instantly craft a very specifically shaped cavern, which you may only need once.  Naturally it's better if you can print straight to card, skip any mounting, but blue tack will also solve those slip and paper curl problems.  I'm talking about Dungeon Floorplans being an influence, but somewhere along the line the notion of the "cavern-flagstone" from 3D-mold sets has definitely infiltrated my thinking.  In games with a grid, caverns our hard to contrive.




I've included some graphics files as well as the printable PDFs  - just the 8x11 sheet graphics as PNGs.  what people do with them in an art package is up to them (as long as they don't resell the designs, or mass-distribute).  Also, I'm including there for the virtual tabletop players, with whom I can't provide IT support. ;) It's up to the purchaser to carve, crop and import cavern shapes into the VR_Table3000SoftBeta or whatever it is these boffins spend their time tweaking, whilst the rest of us elderly gamers complain that we can't get 3 people into the same room every Sunday ...   Okay, kidding, but what I mean this is still mainly a product for printing, chopping up and glueing perhaps.

Mock-up of a possible cavern layout because my photos are not good enough.

( Introduction PDF )

Actually, I'll let you into a bit of a secret here.  There's meant to be an Inked Adventures uber-sized sections, tiles and scenery counters pack (working title), but all of the art still lies in an unprepared state and is in a queue behind other just-as-awkward projects.  Somehow the floor illustration from part of that has slipped out and escaped into the greater world.  Maybe I should let the counters escape as well. ;)
 
Why is it "Pay-What-You-Want"?  I'm not sure.  It's a category I haven't sold through yet, and I can't give everything away for free, not whilst I can't sell both my kidneys.  Man, I'm broke,  Anyhow, I just needed to share about the pack and a little about it's provenance. Thanks for reading! :)


Simple Caverns Cut-Up Sheets
Pay-What-You-Want on DriveThruRPG

Cthulhu Mythos Sale on DriveThruRPG

Gahhh!  The tommy gun jammed.  The unpronounceable and indescribable thing was almost upon them.  If only they had foiled the cultist plot!  Bad accents and poison daggers had been nothing when compared to ... this ... hideous ... manifesting ... horror ...

Tentacles are being lopped off in the
Cthulhu Mythos Sale on DriveThruRPG

Ends: Sept 1st 2016  http://goo.gl/nCwmxb (affiliate link to sale page)

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

Inked Adventures Map and Dice Playing Cards

My labours of ink, love and print on demand ...

Yet again, I'm using this blog to cross-promote my Inked Adventures products. Seemingly mercenary, I genuinely want to share this with you, for some players, this product may, in fact, enhance your overall quality of life, in the way that practical, yet novel, luxuries always do.  I appeal, dear reader, to your honest must-have inner drive, which keeps our humble roleplaying industry, nay, capitalism itself, trudging along through recession, like a hardy soldier in mud, spurred on by a rolling of cents and shillings across counters.   

These playing cards (to call them merely "playing cards" seems so wrong) are a genuine labour of love, not merely a cynical recycling of my previous geomorphs (not a "cynical" recycling, at least).  It is a creation of a thing that I wanted in my own life.  No doubt there are many similar products out there, in your local store, on the web, but this feels one relatively unique as far as accessories go, at least aesthetically, and perhaps, conceptually. 

No, wait, come back!  I had strange experience this week.  I thought that I had saturated my social networks and circles with links to the Inked Adventures Map & Dice Playing Cards, but followers and friends are still asking "what is this?"  So, maybe I'm far too well mannered in my abuse of social sites for marketing.  Perhaps, as always, I'm a little embarrassed that the product isn't my next tile pack for 25-30mm minis (see IA products), since I tease my customers with pre-colour art for most of the year and promise glorious caverns, dungeon expansions, forests and now spacecraft, but completion is slow. This is my first printed product from DriveThruCards (my second on TheGameCrafter) and boy, I am proud of it.  

The idea is that if you're an improvising DM who is caught short without dice or a dungeon adventure, perhaps on a holiday ruined by poor weather, you can "wing it" with this pack of playing cards.  If all else fails, the people you are with can just play card games, such as poker, blackjack, or go-johnny-go-go-go-go.  

On each card (apart from the 2 jokers and a guide card) is (A) a reduced size hand drawn dungeon geomorph area map with descriptive title; (B) three random dice results and (C) a normal card suit and number.

A. Dungeon geomorph area maps.

A dungeon master can use the cards as an inspiration for drawing his/her own dungeon, or pre-planning a map or use the cards randomly in play (as a random dungeon builder).  The titles are purely for atmosphere and reference.  Naturally, there are some limits to the non-square format of the cards, but overlapping cards on the table can help with this. 

The area maps in the spades suit are main entrances/exits and "end of row" geomorphs, these can be removed if you to create an unending "mega-dungeon" level.   The geomorphic area maps on the cards can also be used in conjunction with the Inked Adventures large geomorphs set for minis. 

B. Dice rolls / random numbers

Although not tied to any specific system, the choice of dice is inspired by older D&D systems where the d20 and d6 are paramount (OD&D, Holmes D&D and clones such as S&W WhiteBox and Delving Deeper), and percentile based games.  The dice rolls represented are a d20, d6 and d100.  Now, I, know what you're thinking: the probability of those number ranges will not work when spread across 52 cards and that we must never mix cards and dice!  Granted, it's a bit of a fudge, so you may want to get the agreement of the other players at the table before you start using the cards for life and death rolls.  Playing cards retain fixed probability if cards are always returned to the deck.  In the gaps in the maths we've slipped in a few "critical" results, i.e. there's a few extra 1s and 20s on the d20 result and some a bonus 01 and 100 on the d100.  In some ways, cards can be better than dice. ;)  

(uncropped card art)

The optional Jokers prompt a drawing of two cards and a discarding of the most favourable or least favourable result, depending if it's the "Good Luck" or "Bad Luck" Joker, respectively (see above).

It's important to remember that if you're going to use the cards as random number generators that you may need the whole deck, so this may not be possible if you are using the cards to make a dungeon level map.  I'm guessing you can always buy a second deck. ;)

C. Normal Bridge Playing Cards. 

Many RPG systems use standard 52/54 card deck for special item effects, NPC traits, character rules, storytelling or even in-play Tarot card substitution.  So even as a plain old mundane deck of cards it's is still of use to the tabletop roleplayer.  (Hint: they make the perfect gift!)

Creating your own dungeon card games.

I've already been asked by several people whether or not this pack of cards is a game in it's own right.  Technically, it's not.  It's a map creation and dice accessory, plus it doubles as a novelty pack of bridge playing cards.  However, just playing around with the cards can reveal potential.  A simple (but flawed) solitaire game I play is a "route finding" adventure.  I draw cards at random and place them in a line - North-South or East-West.  The object is to escape the dungeon by heading in one direction. Generally cards cannot be rotated (unless the edge of the table is reached or it's an end of row/dead end card).  I usually start by heading North (overlapping the cards so the maps join). You must be able to travel from a corridor exit/entrance on the South of the card to the North side of the map on the card.  If your way is blocked, you must double back to the starting card and then lay out a new row, heading South or East or West.  You win by dealing any (main) stairs or a dungeon exit/entrance card (one of several in the spades suit), but it also depends that the corridors take you there without a dead-end or bypass.  The trick is to get out in the fastest time (the least number of cards), but the reward for a slow exit is a pretty dungeon map.  Two player race-to-win variants with counters are also possible. In a more advanced game, the d100 result can represent gold coins found in an area, or a "danger rating". A high or low total at the end of play may influence the choice of winner.  This probably doesn't read very clearly, but it's an example of random fun which can be had with the deck on it's own, no rpg rules etc.  I'm fantasising about designing an extra deck of monsters and treasure with simple system for solitaire dungeoneering, but you may find that you can come up with something far superior using your own system mechanic.   The dice results can also be compared like stats in a Top Trumps deck, where the player declares his/her choice of stat (d6, d20, d100 or card value) against their opponent, and the highest wins the card.

On DriveThruRPG$12 USD + p&p

Not nominated for an "Ennie"; not on a Kickstarter; and dinosaurs with dice tattoos

I would like to point out that this deck of cards has not been seen at GenCon and has never been on a nomination list, and is not on a Kickstarter, so there will be no reminders of deadline dates and level-up pledges or whatever they are called.  But I am fickle man, and it a moment of self-criticism I will tear them from the shelves, to be burnt with other older works in the Stalinist fires of historical perfection.  I do, however, reserve the right to spam all my own accounts, until I have a new favourite in my life. Next week it might be dinosaurs with dice tattoos, but for now I worship at this humble altar.

Thanks for reading. May your dungeons be beautiful.

Map & Dice Playing Card Links

DriveThruCards: http://bit.ly/IAcards

DriveThruRPG: http://bit.ly/IAcardsDTRPG

The Game Crafter: http://bit.ly/IAcardsTGC

Home site: http://inkedadventures.com/main

Try-before-you-buy micro-cards download: 

http://inkedadventures.com/main/2015/05/inked-adventures-mapdice-playing-cards/ 

Finally! The three main AD&D rulebooks are available on DTRPG and DnDClassics

The AD&D 1e premium reprints are now available as PDFs on DriveThruRPG and DnDClassics.  We are living in strange and interesting times. After so many downloadable retro clones, after the mighty OSRIC, finally the three main rulebooks for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st edition) can be bought together in an electronic player-tear-proof format. :)

DriveThruRPG:

• Dungeon Masters Guide http://bit.ly/DTRPG_DMG
• Players Handbook http://bit.ly/DTRPG_PH
• Monster Manual http://bit.ly/DTRPG_MM

DnDClassics:

• Dungeon Masters Guide http://bit.ly/DnDclassics_DMG
• Players Handbook http://bit.ly/DnDclassics_PH
• Monster Manual http://bit.ly/DnDclassics_MM 

I’ll probably be picking up Fiend Folio too because of my love for Russ Nicholson’s illustrations. ( http://bit.ly/DTRPG_FF )  :)

(Some of these links are affiliated, but that doesn't detract from the awesomeness that is AD&D)

Bring a little OSR into your Star Wars Day

For Star Wars (I have a lisp) Day, I couldn't resist a special offer over at Tenkar's Tavern for a copy of White Star - a scifi game which builds on the simplicity of Swords&Wizardry's WhiteBox rules (OD&D simulcrum).  Naturally the Star Knights aren't actually called "Jedi". But we know. ;)  It could be just the terminology, but so far it reminds me a bit of Tales of the Space Princess.  These games go to the heart of cinematic soap opera, conjuring images of swashbuckling Flash Gordon right through to the battered technology in  Star Wars.

May The Way/Force/Psionics Be With You!

Get White Star at a reduced rate:
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2015/05/white-star-is-now-get-it-at-discounted.html

If code has expired the White Star PDF is here on DTRPG: http://bit.ly/WhiteStarRPG

Nepal Earthquake Relief Charity Bundles on DTRPG

I shouldn't do this but this is a direct cross-post from my Inked Adventures site but it's in the name of a good cause and involves several different games publishers. :)
__

It’s really cool to see that many game publishers have been so willing to set up and donate profit directly from their products to charities who will, and currently are, helping in the utterly tragic Nepal earthquake disaster zone.  Inked Adventures were pleased to have been approached by Kabuki Kaiser, who has allowed us to submit our Crypts, Tombs and Catacombs pack to their Game For Nepal charity bundle.  The bundle includes some really high quality Asia/Wuxia fantasy themed Old School Renaissance RPG rules and accessories.  Already this PDF bundle is going down a storm with tabletop gamers, who were willing to donate to the fund whilst picking up some damn fine tabletop RPG products.  Check out the description and you’ll see that it is really something very special as far as gaming deals go.

  http://bit.ly/Game4Nepal 

Charity Bundle on DTRPG – Donate $15 in exchange for superb bundle of RPG PDFs.

We are also donating four products to the (yet to launch) Cardboard Warriors charity bundle.  This will contain 20+ printable papercraft minis, vehicles, monsters, floorplans etc from some of the most innovative publisher-designers in the industry. Cardboard Warriors Forum.

Check out the other charity donation deals on DriveThruRPG: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/rpg_charity.php

Thanks for reading.

Adventures in the East Mark PDF on DTRPG $10 usd

Adventures in the East Mark for nine dollars ninety-nine cents.
I was about to write something shockingly jaded about seasonal sales when it comes to RPG PDFs: a world in which there is no piles of virtual stock in a warehouse that need to be shifted; and that since Halloween last year every publisher and his dice wielding dog have been blathering non-stop about percentage reductions for their online files; and perhaps cynically I'd sneak in my affiliate and associate links, making me something of a hypocrite by supporting the pre-Apocalyptic Happy-Holidays-New-Year-Brown-Thursday sale of rulebook and adventure data direct to your paypal-machine or tablet before it all goes pop in the Valentines-Easter-Spring-Is-Coming Sale... ;) but then I got distracted by ... THIS!

RAAAAAR ! 
(Foolish, yet ambitious, low level hero takes on Dragon in high quality homage to D&D red box)
Aventuras en La Marca del Este IN ENGLISH!

It's like BECMI/BX D&D and you love it.  You know you do.
Perhaps this is how we finally get the kids hooked...

The DM's Screen.

Nine classes ... and in colour!
Wait a sec,
I was expecting four classes plus demi-humans.
(reads ...)
.... Cleric, Dwarf, Elf, Explorer, Halfling,
Mage, Paladin, Thief and Warrior... 
Paladin - you may enter. 
"Explorer"? Who-He?
(reads on ...)
"These adventurers become specialized in wilderness survival
and are expert trackers."
A type of ranger, naturally...
Phew. 
The 1eAD&DsqueezedintoBasic cosmic order is restored!

Half of a very cool map.
Don't panic - you can see this in full in the
PayWhatYouWant Quick Start Rules
I paid $2 btw. I know, I know...
but if they wanted to give it away for free,
surely they would have listed it as
"Free to download"?
Surely?

Beautiful on the screen,
and okay, even in black and white it may be a little tough on a home printer,
but I am seriously considering trying to get a boxed set, because... just look at it!
JUST LOOK AT IT.

You had me at "candle skull"...
(from the b/w pdf)
And that must be the "homebrew" depicted (see below)

Away with your typewriter fonts and black and white historical stock art - here's an OSR D&D retro-clone (with tweaks) with high production values !  Naturally, I haven't read all of the rules yet because my mind is still being melted/blown/singed by the visuals!  (Insert list of talented artists here...)


The Spanish game “Aventuras en La Marca del Este” began from the mind of Pedro Gil as a homebrew campaign for some friends in Spain playing the world’s most famous game as devised in Frank Mentzer’s (BECMI) Red Box with 9 starter classes and new rules on mounted combat, aerial combat, seafaring and ship battles. Now, many years later, it is one of the most popular role-playing games in Spain. By enlisting incredible artists that are now rising stars in the RPG industry such as A.J. Manzanedo, Jorge Carrero and Víctor Guerra, the “La Marca” team produced an incredibly captivating “retroclone” role-playing game that is an old school experience wrapped in old world flare. The game is published in Spain by Holocubierta Ediciones.

  Supported by Kickstarter, this is the first ever English edition of the game, now called “Adventures in the East Mark”. This Basic Rule Set has everything that you need to play a game with the deep traditions of the original fantasy roleplaying game and imbibe it with an authentic European flavor.



- Extra-Dimensional Publishing / DTRPG

To summarise, adapted from 1980s D&D, but with super high production values, Adventures in the East Mark Basic Rule Set (Red Box) is available as a bargain price PDF (currently) on DriveThruRPG http://bit.ly/EastMark
Physical hard copies in real boxes (in a real warehouse) available from: 

Extra-Dimensional Publishing http://xdpublishing.com/


Basic Fantasy Adventure Anthology 1

This is one seriously packed set of short adventures, suitable for Basic Fantasy, but also LL, D&D B/X, BECMI, S&W etc. (some very minor tweaking may be required to bonuses and armour classes)

 http://basicfantasy.org/downloads.html#aa1 
Free PDF & Open Office file. (also links to hard copies on Lulu)

Hey, whaddawant? A proper review? It's good, it's free. If it's your choice of old school system mechanic or game-genre, just go and download it.

Sheesh.

Inked Adventures Crypts Tombs and Catacombs

Apologies for the lack of posts. I was going to moan sometime about the poor durability of the Age of Rebellion box set components and maybe say some nice things about the new D&D Starter Set. But, other things have been happening and one of them was ...



Crypts, Tombs & Catacombs is now on sale on the OBS sites (including DriveThruRPG) $7 USD reduced price.

http://bit.ly/CryptsTombsCatacombs



Apologies for the cross-posting if you're following any of my other feeds etc. :)