Review: Loviatar #12

Happy birthday Loviatar.  What an achievement.  Twelve issues in twelve months.  Not too shabby for a one man show.  I am only beginning to understand the amount of work it takes to get out an issue and there is no way I can see myself having the same production level as Christian.  Now on to the 12th zine.

This one weights in at 20 pages with the always atmospheric cover art by Jay Penn.   It's broken into four parts; Introduction, a GURPS werewolf, a Vampire (the Requiem) cop, and a BRP pair of dudes and one scary book.  Mixed in with these are QR codes that add a multimedia experience to his zine.  I'm glad he added the addresses because I don't have a smart phone or whatever it is you need to use them.  I think its a kick ass idea, one he's used in past issues.

This issue is heavily leaning toward characters and their situations.  Christian is great at capsulizing the people in his game.  He gives them subtle details that really make them easy to role-play if you choose to use them in your game.  

I'll end with the beginning, the introduction.  Christian is planning on shaking up the zine a bit.  He plans on having it become more of a personal.  Which I think will be a very interesting change.  He said he doesn't want to try to emulating an issue of Dragon every month.  Well for my money, I'll take a Loviatar over a issue of Dragon Magazine any time.  Except maybe the issue with the anti-paladins. 

Corpse Flies: A Repost for OSR Monster Month

Corpse Flies
HD: 1/2  AC: 14  Dam: 1-2* 

The smell of corpses was thick.  Same smell came from the flies.  Those goddamn flies.  I'd never seen such large flies before.  Black as night and as large as a man's clenched fist.  Their bite is like someone driving a nail through your flesh.  Don't let too many of those latch onto you or they'll drink you dry before you can collapse to the ground. 

Bury the dead.  Burn the dead.  If one fly finds a body within a few days you'll have hundreds of them.  For some reason they don't bother with animals.  Just people. 

I've heard of some getting bit by a single corpse fly and getting sick.  Very sick.  The corpse cough.  An old priest told me to wash out the wounds with rancid beer.  I told that old priest beer never lasted that long enough around my house to go rancid.  He nodded like I was being a amusing child and told me to flush out the wound as soon as I could.  He then pulled back a blood splattered sheet and showed me two people suffering from corpse cough.  Gaunt and mindless.  They just laid there and moaned until the cough was on them.  The cough jerked their bodies and blood sprayed from their mouths.  The priest told me to stay clear of the blood.  Then he thanked the gods that this would be their last day.  Said the corpse cough took a couple of weeks to eat a man from the inside.  Nothing but suffering.  Goddamn flies.

A Good, but Quiet Week at the Manor

Quiet, but not silent.  Look at the excellent items I got in the mail last week.  I was going to do a review of them, but decided each needed its own spotlight so I'll do individual reviews of each one.  In short, they are all very good. 

Gaming is back on Monday nights.  We're taking a break from the d20 world and tossing 3d6s around for GURPS.  One session in and we're playing a small group of mercenaries in a land that resembles a mixture of King Arthur and The Game of Thrones.  And sprinkle in some LOTR also. 

Wednesday nights are gearing back up this week.  Trey is adding a couple players for his Weird Adventures campaign and we're switching from the Pathfinder system to the WaRP system.  I have no experience with WaRP.  Looking forward to seeing how it works.  And to get into more trouble and explore that wonderful City of Trey's.

Sales for the Manor continue to do well.  I think the first issue of the Manor is creeping toward a 150 sales.  And the second is slowly climbing toward a 100.  Not quite there yet, but its been interesting to see how many PDFs of Knowledge Illuminates has sold because of the Manor. 

Starter Adventures is pretty much laid out.  I'll be sending it to a couple proofreaders this week.  Then grab a few pieces of art from Jason and it should be good to go.  I'm hoping to get it released by the end of August. 

Well, time for work.  I'm looking forward to rolling some virtual dice tonight. 

SIB

You choke on your morning coffee as an odd shadow passes before your kitchen window.  Too many late nights playing video games and the large extra cheese pizza you devoured has slowed your reflexes so by the time you get to the window whoever, whatever made the shadow was gone.  Being in the country its not unusual to see wildlife wandering through, but this was different. Must have been a cloud.  Maybe the wind blew the tree branch around. 

The toaster clicks and your Pop Tarts jump into view.  You grab them and regret it as they burn your finger tips.  Not wanting to do dishes you toss them on a paper towel and head back to the kitchen table.  But as you turn you drop them to the floor as a black reptilian head looks directly at you through the window. 

Before you can move you feel something hard on your shoulder as another one pushes you to into your chair.  Nearby you hear a high pitch whirl like the sound of an old camera that just took a picture.  A short hiss burst out of the creature's mouth as it looks to the floor at the fallen Pop Tarts. 

That's when you noticed they're dressed in suits made of black.  The light seems to slide off the material making it difficult for you to see any details.  Except when you glance into their face and feel your body involuntarily tremble.  All those horror survival video games should have prepared you for this. 

The high pitch whirling sounds gets louder as another one of the creatures comes into view holding a concave circular object that changed colors.  The slight ache you felt is now intensifying to the point where you eyes go blurry and the colored light from the object can be seen even with your eyes closed.  You feel the pressure in your building.  Your stomach lurches and the undigested remnants of the extra cheese pizza erupt from your mouth.  Some where you here a disgusted hiss and just a brief sense of satisfaction.

When you wake up your inside a net hanging over a pit with smoke rolling out.  You struggle to free yourself, but as you do a low horrific growl comes from the pit.  You see something coming out of the pit.  You scream, but you don't get to finish it. 

Map Time!

 

I'm going to bed so here's a map.  It's an old one.

You Gotta Check This Out

Dylan over at his Digital Orc blog has put out his first print product, The Veiled Invocation.  He's done a great video presentation to show off what he's done.  The layout looks nice and there is a lot of stuff packed in the 36 pages.  Not only did he write it, he did all the maps and illustrations.  He included a lot of interesting Easter eggs for his readers to find and if you figure out the grant puzzle there is a $10 RPGNow reward.

If you need something cool to come in your mailbox head over to Digital Orc and claim your copy of The Veiled Invocation.   At $3.99 USD you can run a mini campaign from 1st to 6th level.  Not to mentioned getting paid to play if you figure out the puzzle. 

Bat in the Attic is Buying

As I mention before I finished the edits on Rob's latest adventure.  Well over on his blog today he annoucned as a thank you to me, he would buy anyone who asked a copy of The Manor or Knowledge Illuminates.  So if you've had The Manor or KI sitting in your shopping cart head on over to Bat in the Attic and hit Rob up.  So far no one has taken him up on this offer.  Come on!  Get off your electronic butts and get something free.  Where have all the mooches gone?  I know Boric G could use a 3rd or 4th copy.

It's a pretty cool offer from Rob.  One I didn't expect.  Thanks Rob.  Now get to those edits.

Edits Are Done!

Editing is one of those jobs that is a grind.  Tonight I finished editing 90 pages of Rob Conley's upcoming adventure Scourge of the Demon Wolf.  There is a ton of stuff packed in that adventure.  I edited 90 pages of text.  I tried to break it up in smaller bites, but that didn't work out so I took big gulps and got it finished.  We'll go over it again once he does the layout and goes through the edits.  Just double checking that numbers match and are there.

With that behind me I can move onto my next endeavor.  Getting Starter Adventures complete.  I need to get a couple of pieces of art, of which I need to figure out what I need and then do I finally read through.  I'm shooting for mid to the end of August to get it done.

While I'm doing that I've got some stuff for the next issue of The Manor to write down.  I need to get it out of my head and on paper.  I've had a couple of idea banging around up there for a while. 

And lastly, the Monday night gaming group begins a new campaign.  Looking forward to it.  And I think this Wednesday Trey is starting up his Weird Adventures game again so I can break out Boris and has a shotgun full of fun.

Sleestak Posters

A couple of awesome posters by Tom Whalen.  One of my excellent readers let me know about this.  I'm sorry I forgot who it was.  I believe it was Doc Grognard at Crawdads and Dragons. 

I like the green one better.  Green is a sleestak's natural habitat. 

More Map Porn

A map a drew a while back.  Simple one.  The circle in the middle is a tower and grayish, discolored land around it is a field of bone dust.  I still need to detail it and write in the names.  I'm using a hex map to draw on I got a couple of tablets of them.  When I use them I really need to make sure the colors are strong otherwise the dark hexes take it over.

Grognardia Speaks

Sales for The Manor leveled out over the past week.  Which worked well since I am working on an editing project and work, blah, blah.  Won't bore you.  Then I open up my email and its full of orders this afternoon.  What the heck?  People ordering both issues which is great.  But what's with the spike.

I should have know.

James Mal did a review of the first issue of The Manor.  Thank you James for the review.  Each time someone does a review on an issue it equals to sales.  So basic math would tell you more reviews equals more sales.  But James brings a credibility that few of us bloggers can match.  I'm not sure if he likes this nickname, but he's kinda like the Oprah of the OSR.  He likes something people buy it.  I apologize ahead of time James for the comparison. 

The review gives you an excellent run down of the contents.  The only mistake I saw he did not include the excellent Poetry Slam by Rusty Battle Axe and the accompanying picture from Johnathan Bingham.  Good stuff.

Thanks again James.  Second issue will be headed north tomorrow.  And those who listened to James' sage advice and ordered copies, they will be headed your way early tomorrow.

Some Things I Learned from My AD&D Campaign

I started the AD&D campaign last September.  I wanted to use my old books and play the game I grew up with.  I played it as close to the original rules as possible.  I wanted to see how the old system held up and if I still liked it as much today. 

First thing I learned is I much prefer ascending armor class.  Eliminates the use of the matrix tables.  It also gets a little confusing when you have some that are trying to use THACO.  I've never played a game where THACO was used, but found out it does not match the matrix table in the 1st edition DMG.  I've never played 2nd edition or ever bought the books.  Having ascending armor class with 'to hit' bonuses for high levels is the way to go for me. 

Second thing I found I didn't like were the five saves included in AD&D.  There were so many situations where a save was called for, but did not fit into any of the categories.  I made some approximations with what a situation may be comparable to, but it still was a stretch most times.  I don't like the single save roll either.  Where as I've never played 3.5 and only Pathfinder recently, the Will, Reflex and Fortitude save make the best sense to me.  Those three options can cover almost any situation.

Third thing was I don't like a high magic campaign where magical items fall out of monsters butts when you kill them.  Sure I could have toned it down, but I was trying to play like we played back in the late 70s, early 80s.  There was a column on the character sheet just for magic items.  While I did switch it up with the type of magic items.  I used more unique items and sometimes the players discovered their powers and sometimes they didn't.  I prefer a low magic campaign where if there is a magic item it has a name and history.  Not number 4, +1 sword. 

Forth thing was the monsters.  I ran this campaign with lots of different critters and monsters, but I prefer the monsters to be like the magical items.  A monster with a name and history.  So when you do encounter a critter you better bring your lunch, its gonna be a fight.  Not just a quick glance at the Monster Manual..."okay, I need to use my +2 axe to hit this one and has anyone got any silver?"

Fifth, I don't really like the experience point system all that much.  I would prefer to streamline it and make all the classes need the same amount to get to the next level. 

Now you would think with all these things I didn't enjoy myself, but I did.  It was very cool to break out the DMG, PHB and MM and not just refer to them, but actually use them.  Dialing up an old style AD&D campaign was a lot of fun.  The players did an excellent job of keeping the story lines moving and solving problems.  Would I do it again, hell yeah.  But next time around I would do what any old school gamer would do, house rule it to fit what I like.

Sleestak Sunday Trailer

This trailer is great.  How could a 7-year old kid sitting on the couch in his pajamas eating Lucky Charms not want to watch this?  If there is one, I don't think I wanna know that kid.

Map Time!

I drew a map a while ago and decided to refine it a bit.  This is a village of horse wranglers and other exotic animals.  To the north is the whispering pylon.  And in the northwest corner is a small iron ore mine.  Those of you smart enough to buy The Manor will see this village in issue #3.

Friday Question

Fantasy fiction and RPGs.  Appendix N.  You hear about it all the time.  What book or series of books reflect your style of play best? 

For me, it's the old Thieves World series.  Primarily the first four or five.  I dig the grittiness, political overtone, religious intrusions and the cultures that co-exist next to each other. 

Character Creation, No Funneling Involved

by Jesse Riggle

With the conclusion of my campaign this past Monday, my group is already laying the plans out for the next one.  After playing over a year of Majestic Wilderlands Swords  Wizardry and about a year with my campaign playing a pretty much pure AD&D we decided to switch it up and get back to GURPS 4th edition.  Putting the d20s away for a bit.

Ron Conley will be running this one.  It is set in a different section of the Majestic Wilderlands I've rarely played in.  He said think of King Arthur/Game of Thrones type setting.  And our group has grown again.  We will have six players involved.  I rarely play in games where there is more than four, so this should be fun.

After a short discussion we decided to be a band of mercenaries with various skills and oddities.  I believe one guys is playing some sort of puppeteer.  In GURPS you can make the work for you.  One is going to be a disgraced knight.  Not sure about the others.  I was thinking of playing a ex-church knight who has some very strange beliefs about the religion he once served.

Unlike the current trend of character funneling in DCC, we put a lot of planning into the creation of characters.  It's fun and makes you really invest a bit more.  Nothing wrong with funneling and it can be a ton of fun, but so is sculpting a character you want to play for a while.  Get a concept and run with it.

I'm also thinking of getting involved in some pick up games on Google+.  I want to try different games/systems.  Would love to give Call of Cthulu a go.  Haven't had the chance yet.  If anyone has a suggestion let me know.  Have a good one.

New Manor Review and a Milestone

Reviews for the second issue of the Manor are rolling in as the creepy butterflies make their way through the world. Boric G over at The Dwarven Stronghold probably got into a little trouble with his wife from my note on the back.  I couldn't help myself. 

And the first issue of The Manor has surpassed the 100 sale milestone.  I've been getting several double orders today.  People ate grabbing up both the first and second issues.  It's been fun getting all those envelopes ready.  I need to print out copies of both cause I'm out.  I like that. 

Thanks everyone for their continued support.  I'm working on a map for issue #3.  I'm thinking of making it a semi-color issue...the text will still be all black....I think.

Manor Review from the Dungeon Workshop

The Manor received another good review from Socalcanuck (I was more careful with the spelling this time around) at his Dungeon Workshop blog .  Another generous review that helps put a little gas in my tank to keep churning on the zine.  If you have a moment, take a look at the review, but also take a look at his blog.  He's got a good one and could use some good old OSR support.

Manor Review with Awards

Mr. Blue over at The Cobalt Kobold did a short review of the second issue of The Manor.  He handed out awards within the zine which I find pretty funny.  It's a fun read.  Check it out.  Who knows when you could use a halfling ring of marriage?

Campaign Wrap Up

The campaign concluded last night with a series of Micheal Bay explosions.  It started out with a cleric who did not quite die awoken in the study of his dead goddess and was guided to so something he didn't quite understand.  It was my duty as a GM to make it confusing. 

Meanwhile the other party members were facing off with an old PC that managed to possess two very powerful artifacts.  Some were overwhelmed with awe and fell to their knees groveling.  Others managed to resist and picked away at the mage.  It wasn't until the cleric showed up with his rejuvenated sense of holiness that he fought back the dark power.

The ground shook under them as the mage they battle vanished.  Up from the ground erupted an undead Tarasque.  Within a chest cavity where its heart one was, the mage possessed the book that its dark tendril energies ran through the beast as if it was the heart pumping dark energy through it like blood. 

Here is an amusing picture of the undead Tarasque drawn by a player while in Fantasy Grounds.

Terrifying!

The cleric had gained a dagger in the study of his goddess.  One that heals rather than harms.  And when he plunged the dagger into the beast the white energy within fought back the black tendrils.   As this happened the Tarasque transformed.  Where the white energy traveled it left behind what looked to be human skin.  The players whittled down the beast.  Two of them nearly dying in the process.  When it was done a giant of man lay before them. 

The mage had been expelled from its heart and fled in the hole.  The Bard and thief gave chase and killed the mage and the artifacts of the helmet and black book fell at their feet.  That's when they noticed they were standing on a glass floor.  The cleric knew he needed to break the glass and he did so.

There me met is dead goddess.  She told him he needed to heal the giant.  The former god of the dead that had slain her and made war on the other gods before his final defeat and death.  To restore the balance he needed to be returned to his station.  The party was split on this, but they went ahead and agreed.


A battle commended.  As they found the current god of the dead sent a small force to kill the goddess so neither could be restored.  So as the cleric fought in the arena the other protected the goddess in the stands. 

Victory was had in both battles and both gods restored, but at some cost to themselves.  The other death god fled, but not before warning the players they were now his personal enemy. 

As the giant god and the goddess returned their realm, the party stood in the middle of a massive wasteland waiting for them to rebuild and conquer.

Waypoints #0: The Village of Cowfold

I saw Tenkar did a quick review of Waypoints #0, The Village of Cowfold the other day so I went and grabbed a copy.  It's free.  So there is reason not to grab your own copy over at RPGNow.  It comes in at 31 pages.  The last page was an advertisement for Moleskin Maps drawn by Matt Jackson.  I immediately marked up another product from Chubby Monster Games I'd be picking up and I haven't even had a chance to look at the first one.

Bryan Meadows wrote and edited it.  Matt Jackson did the layout and maps.  Artwork was by Carolyn Meadows.  And Keith Athey because he names things well.  

The lay out was simple one column, left justification.  I like the cover using Matt's map at the cover art and the subtle border is well done.  The fonts used were readable.  I liked the page number detail at the bottom with the number being in a shield shaped symbol.  There is a nice element used for the various price lists in the village.  It sets it off from the text nicely.  The artwork that's included by Corlyn is a lot like Matt's maps, simple but very pleasing.  Even though none of her work is featured, mainly small portraits within the text, it helps set the mood of the piece. 

The purpose of the product is provide GMs with a small village to plant in their campaign.  It starts with an overview map of Cowfold.  In typical Matt Jackson style it is simply drawn with an old school feel that I personally will never tire of.  From there it is broken into three sections.  A short journal entry from a traveler named Lexx who enters the village as a stranger and encounters some of what Cowfold has to offer.

The section section is the meat of the product and these are descriptions of Locations in Cowfold.  Each of these descriptions is accompanied by a small inset of its location on the village map.  Descriptions of the people within the village and how they interact with the others.  Then the best part is the Secrets section.  Gives a peek at what's going on behind those innocent faces.

And lastly there is a small section dedicated to three adventure hooks for a GM to tempt the players passing through.  There are many more hooks available in the secrets sections of the descriptions that a GM could plunder for adventure hooks.

This is a well done product.  It looks good, easy to read and easy to use.  There is no reason not to get it since it's free.  It's not like we all can't use a premade village in our games.  Overall, this is a great start for Chubby Monster Games.  I think they have good talent in their small group and look forward to the other products they develop.

Fake Sleestak Sunday

Before panic sets in, I want it noted that these are FAKE sleestak.  They would never wear such crappy shoes. 

Demon Wolf

Rob Conley over at bat in Attic has finally given me a complete draft to edit of his long awaited adventure, Scourge of the Demon Wolf.  I've been working on a little bit today and last night.  I'm hoping to dig in tomorrow and get a good chunk done.  This is adventure has some unique elements in it, its more of a sandbox style adventure, but with a solid storyline directing the event.  And as if you needed something else, there is a cool mystery to solve.  This is an adventure he's playtested several times throughout the years, with different systems and different groups.  Back in June 14, 2010 he posted a sneak preview.  I thought since it is coming to closure finally a new sneak preview would be in order. 

The artwork is done by Jason Sholtis and John Lorrey.  They've included over a dozen illustrations to the adventure. 

And of course, all the map work was done by Rob himself.  There are several maps for this one.  There are quite a few locations detailed. 

Not sure what the release date he's shooting for.  I'm sure a lot of it will be determined how fast I get the manuscript return.  So off I go.  Freshly sharpened editor pencil posed for the attack.

First Review of Manor #2

Erik over at Tenkar's Tavern did a great review of Manor #2.  And I did not have to spend one dime to have him say something nice.  He also did an excellent explanation about the PDFs.

I ran out of room at the end and I still wanted to include a Rusty Battle Axe ode to the Orc and when Jason sent me the kick ass piece of art I decided to put on the back cover.  Was going to be blank any way so why not.  I think it looks cool back there. 

Now I begin the task of editing a big beast of an adventure....or I may play Secret World. 

First Night of The Manor

The first batch of #2 Manors have taken flight on creepy butterfly wings. Anyone who ordered through last night, it’s in the mail. I forgot to count before I dropped them in the mailbox, but I think a total of 30 or more are on their way out. The first issue took five days to reach that number. So thanks to everyone who bought a copy.

This issue looks a bit different from the first issue. Publisher has made it so I can use the whole page. There aren’t one/two inch gaps on the top or bottom. I’ve already mentioned moving and adjusting the text and picture elements is a lot easier. But overall I can play with the elements and have more fun with what I can do. I’ll try not to go overboard.

I know I mentioned this in the introduction, but what I was amazed was the amount I could put in the zine now. I’m guess off the top of my head, but I believe the first one was like 4500 words or so and the second issue is over 6700 words.

The Paypal buttons are working well. No complaints so far there. But, I still struggle with the PDF. When I downloaded it to RPGNow I have a different file for the cover and one for the zine content. I downloaded a couple versions on RPGNow. One is for printing it out in the zine format. And I added another that is a more standard PDF. So if anyone has any problems or question please let me know.

Anyone out there wanting a copy can find the buttons on this blog or my GM Games blog. It was a lot of fun to make. A lot of hard work, but fun.

It’s Friday. Weekend can’t get here fast enough.

Manor #2 on Sale

  

It's done.  Finished up with Ivy today.  Did a read aloud and tweaked what I found and hopefully its a good clean copy.  Print and PDF is available immediately.  Those who have ordered or subscribed the creepy butterflies will be taking the issues to the post tomorrow.  

The print button is active on both sites and the PDF is available at RPGNow.  If your a thrifty one then go for the subscription and get a break in the price.  Oh, and if anyone has a problem with the PDF let me know.  I think I got it right, but won't know for sure until someone downloads it.

Have a good one folks. 

A Box Inside a Box

I got something very cool in the mail.  I got my storage box from Brave Halfling Publishing.  I got the Mullen version with the purple worm eating someone whole. 

It looks so shiny and cool.  Of course when I got it out of its mailing box I promptly whacked it against the side of my printer.  No dent though.  Whew. 

Can you see the little guy inside the purple worms mouth?  He ain't having a good day.  Bottom right, fighter is high tailing it outta there.  Even lost his sword.  Newb.  Mage is blasting the shit out of it, but they are going right through the worm and look to be getting close to their buddy inside.  Sometimes it doesn't pay to have friends.  Upper left another fighter is strolling behind.  Something tells me he's just going to go through his party's pockets for loose change after this battle.

But what does one do with such a good looking box?  Well you put stuff in it of course.  Let's take a look.

Look at that, it fits two stacks of zines side-by-side perfectly.  Big stack of Loviatar, little stack of Crawl!  Hmm, but I see something else in there.

ZOGORION, Lord of the Hippogriffs!  And what's that.  Oh yeah, my editing copy of the 2nd issue of The Manor.  Hugo looks good in yellow.  Working on the polish tonight.

But all good photographers have assistants.  Tonight Bug volunteered with the lighting and composition of the shots.  Al thought she didn't last very long.

She got sleepy half way through and decided it was time to take a nap.

Good help is hard to find these days.

The OSR Newsletter of Stuff

Wow.  I've been reading blogs a lot lately and was astounded by how much stuff is released or just about to be released.  I hope you have deep pockets OSRers because there is a ton of great stuff.  There are so many that I've broken it up into sections. 

Kickstarter/Indiegogo
I've been plopping money down on these lately.  At first I was a bit resistant.  I don't know why.  I guess it was a new concept for me, pay for something that doesn't exist? not a chance.  But that's all over with now since I have currently backed four projects...maybe its more...just don't tell Ivy.

Joseph Browning offers an OSR calander.  I love the concept of this.  And I really want to get in on this one, but I'll probably wait and hop on at the end.  And Joseph stuff has never disappointed.  Always quality stuff.

Tabletop Forge is churning out a Kickstarter to give players a lot of tools to enhance their game while using Tabletop Forge.  It's already funded and climbing closer to its final goal. 

Jon Marr is giving us The Crawler's Companion.  I recently got in on this one.  Last week I got my big fat DCC rule book and although I think its pretty cool there will be a lot of page flipping during a game.  In come the Crawler Companion which will simplify this and keep the game flow going. There is still time on this one to get in.

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit comes to us from John Adams.  This one is funded.  You really get a bang for your buck in the one.  I got in on this one also.  I'm not even sure how much I'm getting with this one.  It seems like I am going to need to clear a shelf just for it.

Oublieditor has created OSR character sheets for Indiegogo.  Get a couple tablets of character sheets so the next time your at a con or GMing a pick up game it makes it a ton easier to get people ready to go with these.  Very affordable.

Goblinoid Games is getting closer to fully funding Starships & Spacemen.   As it stands now they are $820 from hitting their $5000 set goal with 33 days left.  I love the bonus goal rewards on this one.  The little sickbay cracks me up.  If you need to explore the Final Frontier than get in on this one.

Then there is this beast called Rappan Athuk from Frog God Games.  Was it fully funded?  Yeah, just a little bit.  It has become the highest RPG product ever funded on Kickstarter.  Over a 1000 people got in on this one.  Amazing.

James Mal came out with his own megadungeon Dwimmermount.  No doubt this one was being funded.  I've been reading about it for a while on his blog and this was the first Kickstarter/Indiegogo I participated in.  He's been teasing us with pictures and updates lately so I am hoping to have that badboy in my hands soon.

Another megadungeon that is hugely popular is Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze II.  This one was easily funded with many of the bonus goals met.  Yep, got in on this one also.  I think it was pretty smart for Greg to follow up so quickly behind the hugely successful original Barrowmaze.  Iv'e used it a couple times in my own campaign already.

Then we have James Raggi who always takes it to 11.  Or in this case he takes it to 19 with his Grand Adventures Campaign.  He's got 19 adventures from a ton of talented people on Indiegogo.  This campaign of adventures has just begun so there is plenty of time to get in on any of them. There are more than a few that interest me.

Zines!

There are zines a plenty in the OSR.  Those little digest sized pieces of mail are the best.  I look forward going to the post office now.  

I have to start out with Loviatar.  Christian is ready to release his 12th issue.  Wow.  I got them all.  I'm glad he decided to keep the subscription and up the price.  Need to make it cost effective and a little money to kick back with a pizza once in while.  

Oubilieditor with his second entry has announced the 8th issue of Oubliette is available for print.  This is a magazine I've grown to appreciate and plan on getting the 4-8 issue compilation in print to add to my other.  He gets over 1500 downloads or more from his free PDF offering.  1500!  It is a great magazine to add to your collection.

Johnathan Bingham has announced he's in the final stage of editing Delve!  This is his first crack at zine writing.  I've had the privileged of to get an early peek at it (without all the fantastic artwork I know that's going to be included) and he better buy a lot of Italian postage and a very good printer.  This zine is going to get popular very quickly.  Its getting a final edit and should be out soon.

Matt Borselli over at Asshat Paladins is offering a free zone called Switching to Guns, Issue 33.  Head on over to his blog for the download.  Just seeing it tonight I haven't had a chance to look it over.  If you like it please give a shout out to Matt and let him know.  

Dak Ultimak the mad mind behind the thunderously popular DCC zine, has real the Issue 2 of Crawl!  I got the first one and now I am a subscriber.  This issue is the loot issue.  I'm hoping my copy is in my mailbox tomorrow. 

Oh yeah, and Manor #2 should be out by the end of this week.  Doing some editing and waiting on one final piece and it should be ready to go.  You'll be able to buy it in print or PDF.  And I have a 6 issue subscription button working if you fancy.  

Just for Fun

Tenkar over at his tavern has decided to run a monthly DCC RPG contest.  He's getting a lot of excellent backers for prizes.   The a fore mentioned Delve! zine is offering free copies and the a fore mentioned Purple Scourer Games is offering adventures.  Check out Tenkar's blog for details.  And who knows, by this time tomorrow night he may have Goodman agreeing to GM a game for the winner.

Rended Press is doing a month of monsters.  Create a critter and submit it and mwschmeer is going to make a cool little PDF for everyone to use.   I'm planning on contributing.  I just have to decide...tentacles or no tentacles.  

Independent Projects

I want to start off with Time Shadows world Urutusk.  I've been following her blog for years and looking forward to the chance of getting a copy of what she's come up with.  This has been a long time project of her's and now its at the editor.  The time for Urutusk is near.  UNtil then she has some downloads at her blog to get a taste of what's to come.

Omlet just released Towers of Krshal in print and pdf.  I have to admit I haven't too many details about it, but I've always been a fan of Underworld Kingdom and I really dig the title.  This one might be the sleeper of the this group.  

Matt Stater announced that Blood & Treasure is nearly done.  Matt is a writing machine.  I think he writes in his sleep.  This offering looks to be a game system.  He provides a list of the contents.  Another RPG for the OSR.  There always seems to be room for another.

JB announced (besides him being a slacker with blogging) that his second book is about to be unleashed.  And he's released the PDF version of his B/X Companion.  If you got the first one then I know you'll get the second.  I know I do and I will.

And last, but not least is my good friend Rob Conley mailed me over a copy of Scourge of the Demon Wolf the other night to edit.  I made him format it so I could do it proper.  It a big son of a bitch.  He's been working away at this one for a long time.  Its an adventure that takes full advantage of his Majestic Wilderlands supplement.  I haven't even looked at it yet, but very excited to start digging through. 

My god that's a ton of stuff the OSR is up to and I know I've missed stuff.  I tried to be as complete as possible.  If I've misspelled or misrepresented something please let me know so I can correct my error.  All the projects I've mentioned are all worthy of notice and success.  Good luck to all of them. 

Killing Off Your Villians

Yesterday, I sat at my computer, turned off all the distractions and worked through the last of second issue of The Manor.  There is one small section that needs completed, but that will take no time. 

This issue is primarily two-parts.  Both are locations that you can plug into your fantasy campaign.  First, is Hugo's Healing Potions, a full realized shop for a GM to plop down and ready to go.  No baking required.  The second part was inspired by maps from Matt Jackson that I shared on my GM Games blog.  Smugglers Inn is a rough high level place where every sort of criminal gathers.  And of course there is a nasty secret behind the place. 

Smugglers Inn was giving me fits.  I had a bunch of ideas swirling in my head I wanted to include, but they were getting in the way of one another.  So I had to whittle it down and capture the essence of what I wanted.  Keeping it simple and fun.  There's an old saying 'You Need to Kill Your Darlings".  In this case "I Needed to Kill My Villians".  Not all of them.  Just the ones that were taking the spot light away from the focus. 

Anyway, I'm thinking after the holiday the second issue will be ready to mail out.  Need to do a read through and a polish edit.  I'm pretty happy with this issue.  I hope you guys enjoy it.

PS I wanted to make this post longer so I can push the picture of Kirk and Spock farther down so i don't have to keep looking at it.  I'm not doing that again.

Delve!

Johnathan Bingham has announced he is in the final edits of his first issue of Delve!  He's a busy guy with all his art projects and his next project looks to include an adventure for Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  Check out his blog, Ostensible Cat, for details.  We all know Johnathan is a grade A artist now we get to check out his writing chops.  What doesn't he do?

Broke Back Trek

I got nothing for Sleestak Sunday.  Besides, I think Lurker is on vacation without my big-eyed friends creeping him out I'll save it for next week.  But I did find this funny and slightly disturbing painting.  It's done very well.  I put it on Ivy's computer so when she woke up this morning for work she would turn on her computer and wala, Kirk and Spock having a moment.  I think in some ways they are the sci-fi version of Bert and Ernie.  Bert being Spock of course.