Sick or Not, the Game Must Go On

Well, not my game.  I Cancelled last night's game and tonight's game.  Feeling better, going to work, but that's about all the strength I can manage, plus with the Whisk down I need to find her weird shows to watch.  Last night was a marathon of Extreme Couponers off of YouTube.  Man, some of those people are a bit, wow.

Anyway, gaming news at the manor.  Lots of great stuff has been coming out.  Still reading through Weird Adventures.  I plan on doing a more in depth review soon when I can sit at my computer for more than five minutes without passing out.  I read it and keep imagining all the cool characters I want to play.  Someone please DM this soon!

I also got Christian's Lovitar issue 7.  I had it for about 10 minutes before bug also found it.  Needless to say, issue #7 got its ass kicked.  A forest full of basilisks is no match for The Bug.  She keeps this up I am going to need to stat her up just below the tarrasque.  Despite Loviatar's apparent vulnerability to the Bug, I renew my subscription.  Damn zine is too fun to miss.  If you have the funds treat yourself.

Then to my surprice Jason Sholtis released his new zine, Zogorion Lord of Hippogriffs.  It looks to be an adventure module featuring Jason's great artwork including on kick ass map.  At $2 the artwork is more than worth that.  And if anyone follows Jason's new Dungeon Dozen blog you know its going to be a crazy adventure.

And lastly I got off the snide about ordering Land of Nod.  I got my first issue, issue #5 because that's the one about Medieval Mining, and I am really enjoying it.  I plan on scooping up more soon.

Okay, I am late for work.  Just for the record, Tuesdays suck in general.

Which Trees of the Forest?

I've been messing with maps a lot lately and I have several variations of trees to depict forests.  Each one I like and dislike.  So out it goes to everyone to see what others think.  I guess this is my lame version are my tree hot or not.

'Puffy Tree' version.  One of my long standard forest version.  This one is outlined with a thicker dark green Sharpie then a color pencil used to fill it in.

'Blob Forest' version.  Simple shape outline.  Black pencil is used first to do the outline, then the dark green pencil to go over the outline and fill.

'Blog Version 2' Forest.  The main difference is the outline is done with a Sharpie.

'Brain Version' forest.  This one I've placed some texture in this version.  Outlined with a micro sharpie and color pencil fill.  Below is a map featuring this version of forest.

Let me know which version you like best.  I go back-n-forth on this one.

Sleestak Spartacus

Normally Enik is dressed in his snazzy orange metallic smock.  But since this is the start of new Spartacus season he was caught wearing this.

Of course you do Enik. 

For those interested in seeing the first episode here is the link to Starz.

Game Plans Hampered by Sickness

Usually I don't do posts on non related gaming posts so I'll loop around and duct tape this at the end to some sort of gaming relevance.  Maybe not.  I've been sick all week and this weekend its gotten worse.  Don't mean to complain, but it is really getting on my nerves right now.  Next week my Monday night group gets restarted after a two week hiatus and then the second session for my newbie group is on Tuesday night.  I'm trying to work a bit on stuff and can't because the pressure behind my eyes is getting to the point where I think they may pop out at any time.  At some point I'm not sure I would care if it stopped the pressure.

The Monday night crew just cleared out a big boss.  It is leading up to the second stage of the campaign.  If I can manage to play on Monday the party is about to learn something game changing.  I'm interested to see what they will do with it.  If they do what i think they'll do then I will have a lot of work to do, but that's okay by me.  I've already got maps drawn.

Monday they finished the initial adventure successfully although the party is pretty well beat up and their cleric is unconscious.  Part of the reason they went on this adventure was to earn the privilege to be healed at the local temple.  It's a week's walk to the next temple and Brother Owen knows he has a bit of a monopoly in the area so strutting into the temple with a sack full of coins is not enough.  In my campaign world, gods do not heal someone who serves them no purpose. 

The thief initially got mouthy with the cleric, but backed off on the insistence of his fellow party members.  There will be a lot of role-playing in the next session.  They will learn how the town works and making one person mad my have repercussions in other areas.  Should be interesting. 

Okay, back on the couch.  I'm watching a documentary on the mothman. 

What Makes You Support an OSR Product...or Not?

I've been having a discussion with a few other OSR bloggers about the reasons why someone would support an OSR product or why they wouldn't.  Some of the factors that came up were:

• cost of the product
• saturation of the product
• quality of the product

Other factors, more personal, that come into play are:

• buyer's current financial situation
• like or dislike of the author
• personal interest in the product

I'm aware this is not a complete list, but base to use.  Besides I need to be to work a half hour so time is precious.

There are tons of OSR products out there and more and more folks are getting into the game.  Two of my personal favorites recently released were Weird Adventures by Trey Causey and Blasphemous Brewery of Pilz by Dylan Hartwell.  It should also come to no surprise I really like both of their blogs.  I can say that I bought Trey's because I've been getting samples of Weird Adventures on his blog for a while, I like the genre he selected and the art was fantastic, so my interest in his product was a done deal when it came out.  As for Dylan's adventure, he released his soon after he had a discussion on his blog whether to sell it or not.  I encouraged him to sell it.  Did I know much about it?  Nope.  I bought it purely because I wanted to see his style and what kind of adventure he would create.  I was not disappointed.

But there are a ton of other products which I can't list them all, but just off the top of my head, Micheal Curtis's Stonehell Dungeon and Dungeon Alphabet (Three Castles Award winner) and how could I forget Realms of Crawling Chaos.  I bought Stonehell in print because at the time I wanted to check out how a mega-dungeon was built.  Michael came at it from a fresh approach that I think is still one of the best ways to go.  The ever changing dungeon.  Dungeon Alphabet I wasn't all that interested in, but after the hype and chatter about it I got it on PDF.  I like it, but haven't used it for much.  Then the Realms Of Crawling Chaos, I bought on PDF and will buy in print in the future.  I really enjoyed this one and will definitely use it in the future.  I use Micheal's three products because most everyone knows them and the important thing, at least to the publishers, I bought all three.  I like supporting Micheal's products, because so far he is given me value for my money.  So when he releases his next product and I may not know many details, but because I have enjoyed his work in the past I'll probably get it.  The only real decision is whether get it in PDF or print.


One of my favorite OSR publishers is Expeditious Retreat.  Before I knew to much about them I bought A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe on PDF.  Than I immediately bought it in print.  Then I purchased several other items from Joseph Browning and crew, A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture in print, and one of my favorite bestiaries Malevolent and Benign which I lucked out and was able to purchase from the damaged bin with a few adventures.  Great stuff.  But his Sorcery & Super Science! has not interested me.  Again, not because I think its bad, just at this time I'm not interested in mixing genres like that for my games.  Hell when S3 came out and all the PCs were running around with laser guns I lost interest in the game.


Magazine wise we have Fight On!, the original OSR backed magazine.  Which I like, but if I only have enough for one magazine I prefer Knockspell overall.  And Christian's zine Loviatar is a favorite of mine.  But if I have money for both I usually buy both.  Because you really can't go wrong with any of them.  I know there are other magazines out there like Land of Nod and though I am a big fan of John Stater I haven't bought any of his magazines yet.  And this is due to I only have so much money to go around.  And those who saw my running total for 2011 it was long, but still I have only so much I can spend on gaming.  So for Land of Nod, which I still want, the only reason I haven't supported it was money.

Rob Conley had a great success with his Majestic Wilderlands.  I helped him out with a small portion of it.  He's been running the same campaign world forever and it shows in its depth.  I got a free copy because of my help, but also bought a couple of copies to give away to others, to help support him.  Rob and I have been friends for 20+ years and if he ever needs help with a project he knows he can always call on me and the reverse.  But, we dropped the ball on this one a bit.  Rob was giving me small segments to edit then would give me another small portion with some of the last portion that was the unedited version so our organization stank for that.  Then as time wore on I got a new job that required a ton of my time and the second half of the book shows that.  Because of this we changed our strategy, when he wrote Blackmarsh it was given to me as a complete manuscript, I did the edits and then we went over it together.  Then we sent it out to test readers to catch things both of us had missed.  Again, I bought two print copies to give away to support him.

I can't go through every product out there or the reasons why I buy or don't buy a product.  I think my two main reasons why I buy is does the product fit my interest and do I have the mula.  Why I don't buy a product, I admit that if I am not a fan of the person I am less likely to buy it.  This rarely is the case, but it does happen.  And the other reason why I don't buy a product is mainly there are so many to choose from and that you just have to pick.  Doesn't mean the others aren't fantastic, but choices need to be made.  We only have so much money and time.  And real life demands its share.  Just like now.  I have to go to work.

So if you get a chance let me know what influences you to buy or not to buy a gaming product. 

Villians, Part 8

Mallard 'deadpan' Malkin, squatted next to the creek shoveling dirt into his pan.  He swooshed around the muddy water to wash away the stone, mud and crud to check for gold.  A few glittering golden specks came into a view and a pinky-nail sized nugget.  He nodded and grinned, only a few of his teeth remained.

Just as he filled another pan he heard the snap of one of his traps then heard a man cry out.  He took a deep breath and grabbed his shovel.  He walked down the creek a ways and chuckled when the man's cries sounded like a woman's.  He used the shovel to walk up the creek side and over the ridge.  From there he could see a young man struggling to get the trap off his ankle. 

"Weren't come off doin it like that."  He said in a slow drawl as he walked down the ridge.  "Got in one of my biggins."

The man's hands were soaked with blood that came from the wound.  "Please, help me.  Oh god please help me."

Mallard stood above the the man, maybe not even a man, looked like a boy who'd grown good.  "There be a lock on that there side.  Just pull it out and it'll release.  Why you runnin through my woods boy?  This ain't no place fer you and youins.  Traps set all over this here ridge."  He pointed along the creek.

The boy released the lock and the jagged metal teeth relaxed.  He fell onto his back trying to catch his breath.  "I need to get home.  Please."

"Well hell no boy, that foot is just a danglin."  He pulled out a crusty rabbit's foot he wore as a necklace.  "Hell, even a rabbit needs all his feet to be gett'n away."  Mallard spit on the ground then pulled out a large skinning knife.  "I guess we best start gett'n this done."

The boy put up a bloody hand.  "Wh..what are you doing?"  He tried to scream, but his voice failed him.  "Don't cut off my foot."

"Hell boy, what would I do with your foot?  I needs your skin."  He walked around to the head of the boy and grabbed his hair.  "Now don't a go a struggle'n.  Mess up my cutt'n."  The boy cried out and struggled.  Even though he's lost a lot of blood there was a good fight left in him.  Mallard jerk backed the boy's head, "I gots eight kids that needs to be feeding.  One boy just a shorter than you."  He took the knife and pointed it to the top of the hill.  "Up yonder is a lady give'n a handful of coin for a skin like yours.  I need to keep the cuts clean."

Mallard put the knife to boy's throat.  "Know you're doin a good thing.  A boy dies for nothin.  A man dies for somethin.  You a real man today."  The knife slid effortlessly through the skin of the boy's throat.  Mallard flipped him over a rock and let the blood drain into the creek.  He thought maybe the gold spirits would like that.  It didn't take long, being as he was draining from both ends.  With a flick of his wrist he change the position of his skinning knife and got to work.

Weird Adventures has Arrived, Bug Approved

I've been waiting for nearly a year for Trey to complete his Weird Adventures and tonight, the waiting has ended.  Bug wasn't even alive a year ago, but she endorses Weird Adventures.  So I had to get one for me and one for her.  My night is set, to read some of what Trey (of From the Sorcerer's Skull blog)  has to offer and then scour his blog and print another booklet of relevant posts that go along with his setting of The City.  I will do a more in-depth review in a later post.   Congratulations Trey.