Pilgrimage to the Warzone

Saturday, Rob (Bat in the Attic) and I went travelled to the mysterious city-state of Eerie, built upon the shores of a massive lake from which the city-state took its name. Knowing the reputation of Eerie of allowing the undead to roam the streets unfettered, we slipped into the southern edge of the city where the merchants gathered. Disguised as locals we found our first stop, Books Galore. We'd heard the merchants were giving away wares. And so they were. I managed to get a six sided die with the engravings of the event on one side and also obtained information left behind by a Pathfinder to warn us of the Master of the Fallen Fortress. The merchant became suspicious when we did respond to a praise given to the local gods. Luckily, others seeking the merchant's wares allowed us to sneak out of the merchant quarters and slip out of the city-state.

The next leg of our quest to us the brutal barony of Cleave Land. There we traversed the well worn roads of the barbaric land until we reached the infamous cave called the Warzone Matrix. It had been nearly a year since we last found the notorious cave and amazed by the treasure inside. Although we came away with our favorites last time, this time we were prepared to explore thoroughly. Again. there were so many treasures, but our backs could carry only so much.

The first trinket I collected was tome of Dark Folk unveiling the secrets of the foot soldiers of evil. Then high upon a shelf, among the thick dust I uncovered a sheaf of pages that describe various Country Sites where creatures could be found and conquered. I quickly slid it into my bag and continued to search the mounds of tomes. A soft bound, peculiar looking book, I swear its cover is made of kobold skin, tells of Sages & Specialists. There were three such books so I took the least worn. The final volume was expansive, one I owned, but needed a cleaner more concise version of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe.

We'd spent too much time searching the cave and the native ogres awakened from the deeper sections to begin their night's hunt. After two close calls, Rob and I managed to escape once again, although Rob suffered a minor wound. He tried to reason with one and learned never to attempt to speak with a hungry ogre. Our trip out of Cleave Land needed to be quick. Our time on this quest was quickly depleting.

The third leg of our journey found us at the Temple of the Golden Star. There Rob and I were able to relax and with some of the silver remaining in my pouch I decided to purchase a few more interesting items. I'd heard much of the Swords & Wizardry book and Adventure Design Deskbook, both exquisite copies to add to my collection. After the purchasing the wares, Rob entertained us with a story about adventurers, bandits, orcs and a lost elven village. When the fires burned low we parted ways promising to return.

The last leg of our journey returned us home. Exhausted and satisfied, arms heavy with our treasures we parted ways. The day, the quest had been a success. Though it was good to explore the strange realms it is always best when I return home and share the stories over a warm meal with my wife.

Go Hunting

I haven't felt like blogging much lately. I was on vacation this week and figured I would pound out a dozen entries, but that never happened. I've been taking a short hiatus from it. One large reason was Modern Warfare 2 came out this week and I've been having fun swearing at the TV since then. I went to the midnight sale and there were two to three hundred people in line. I was surprised. This is not a large town and to see that many standing in line got me more excited to play it. I won't go into the internet problems I had. That swearing at the TV was not so fun.

Seems like my batteries are recharged and I am ready to get more involved in my work involving gaming. Complete some of the billion and one projects I start and never finish. Then I go onto Ebay. Dangerous place. With my renewed buzz for gaming I come across this lot of 19 new Hackmaster Books for $60 bucks with an additional $12 for shipping. Well slap my ass and call me Betty. I've always wanted to take a look at Hackmaster and now I pretty much get the glut of the game in one shot. At the game store I go to all the Hacklopedias are half off and even then those are $10 a piece. So now I wait by my PO Box twiddling my thumbs, thinking of adventures and how to hard it will be to convert my other adventures into this system.

Now I am all set to head to the gaming store in Erie. I'm going to go look at some products and see what they have available. Look at the Hackmaster list of books and see what they might have that is not included in the list. I like going to a gaming store with a purpose. I'm going hunting.

Free RPG Day

This time last year I return to the gaming community. Rob Conley got me involved in a few products he was working on, 4th edition of D&D was ready to hit the shelves and the 1st issue of Fight On! had been released. There was a lot of buzz and excitement going on. Then on a Saturday I visited a used book store I like to visit and one of the few stores (if not the only) that sold RPGs. Outside the bookstore was this weird sign, Free RPG Day. What the hell was that? I went inside and asked. The clerk explained that if I came in the next week they were giving away free RPG products. Holy shit, I love free stuff. I love gaming stuff. I penned in a visit for next Saturday.

The next Saturday I pulled up to the book store and expected a crowd, but there wasn't one. I thought maybe it got cancelled. I went inside and the clerk said nope it was still going on and I was welcome to choose 2 things. Hmm. There were so many to choose from. Then the clerk told me if I bought a membership I could choose 3 things. Okay, ya got me. Sign me up. I selected Iron Heroes, Bloodwood, Revenge of the Kolbold King by Pathfinder and then Field of Daises from Harnworld. Every single one of these was excellent. And my favorite, Field of Daises I thought was exceptional. (The first two are still free PDFs. Field of Daises is now $16.99. yowch.)

Using my gamer's keen strategic mind I sent my wife inside to select two more things. I carefully described which ones I wanted and scored two more freebies. This time I felt generous and got some dungeon tiles for Rob in case he didn't make it up for Free RPG Day. Then I thought of Rob, man, if he made it up here he had a wife and two kids. Good god he could score eight things. Later I found out he did not use his family for freebies. Rookie mistake.

But, I was not done. I came up with another plan. I waited for the shift change. Bam, four more. I rule. I nearly got one of everything except the miniature and dice. Got another tile set for Rob. I also bought a handful of other supplements they had for sale. It was nice to see a change on my gaming bookshelf. It had remained unchanged for years. With the influx of new items it got me excited about gaming again. I was impressed with the quality of every item.

Next Saturday Free RPG Day returns. It looks like there are 12 participants. I was interested to see what Flying Buffalo was going to put out, but instead they pulled out. Most look to be quick start adventures. The forerunners of favorites look to be the Troll Lord and Pazio offering.

This simple little thing, this Free RPG Day, is really what sparked me into buying new gaming items, exploring different systems and hell I even gave 4th edition D&D a go. I've been pumping a lot of money into the gaming community since then. I hope everyone out there has a participating store nearby to take advantage of the offerings. Support your gaming store. Let them know that 45 copies of Stephen King's The Stand on the shelves is fine, but to make a little room for few RPG adventures.

And before I sign off this blog I want to give my thanks to Books Galore in Erie, PA for participating in Free RPG Day. I'll see you next Saturday. I'll be the guy with the fake mustache, the dark sunglasses, the wife and two fake kids.