Mapping Contest

Hey, +Inkwell Ideas and +Joe Wetzel is having a mapping contest.  The theme for this one is it must include at least two buildings.  They can be located in a city, village, ruin or cavern if you like.  Joe extended the contest until November 6th.  The winners get a set of +matt jackson's Moleskin Maps.  You should have a copy of those already.  And a set of DungeonMorph Dice.

I got busy and did a map, Hamlet of Hounds Head.

Join in the mapping contest, its fun to do and hell, if you win, the prizes are fantastic. 

The Adventure Funnel: My Entry Into The One-Page Adventure Contest

Click, but step back.  I don't know how big this thing is going to get.

Last year I didn't enter the One-Page Dungeon Contest.  The year before that, I didn't enter.  I wasn't going to let another year go by.  I almost did.  Today I set a chunk of time aside to complete my adventure.  I was going to write a more traditional adventure, a little hamlet with a short underground crawl.  But my gaming mojo is running low.  So what I came up with was an adventure funnel by using maps and pictures.  From the campaign map, to the hex map, to interesting locations within the hex like monster lairs, towns and ruins, then funnel farther into the dungeon maps and then finally the inhabitants and the loot they are holding onto until you brave adventurers take their share.

The One-Page Dungeon Contest is a great OSR thing.  It's got some amazing prizes as it does nearly every year and some all-star judges.  You have a few days before the end of April.  Get yours in before its too late.

Winners of the 5-Year Giveaway

Thanks to those who responded.  Sometimes I like to hear from the lurkers who visit.  There were a batch of readers I don't think I've heard from before.  Glad you stopped by and said hello.  Much appreciated.

Now for the winners.  There was one print and three PDF giveaways.  Here's who won.

Print version goes out to Jeremy [Retro] who is indeed a very special person in need of a giveaway.  You win Jeremy.

The three PDF winners are:
+Christian Sturke aka the rorschachhamster
+Jay Murphy
+Moe Tousignant

Just Google+ me or email me at elder(underscore)sensa(at)yahoo(dot)com.  And let me know what you'd like to receive.  Anything it up for grabs: any of the Manors, Adventures or the soon to be released Starter Adventures. 

Thanks again to all the took the time to stop by.

On Judging the OSR Superstar

I just read over at Tenkar's there are 339 entries in the OSR Superstar competition and that the first round of entries is in the books.  Wow.  It's impressive, a book load of magic items.  I can't speak for the other judges, but sifting through that many entries is intimidating.  I have no idea what will catch my eye and what won't.  I imagine myself as a fantasy guy on Hoarders.  I have this mound of magic items I need to organize.  I'll have my no pile, good pile and the winner pile.  There might be some criteria as to judge them, I'm not even sure of that yet or if the judges need to get together and bring to the table our favorites and discuss which ones get in.  Should be a lot of fun.  +Rob Conley I've known for a million years (give or take a few months) and +Mark Gedak I've never met or spoken to except for a few exchanges on Google+.  Now I wait for the grump dwarf to get the items organized and sent to us.

Random thoughts on it as I look at the numbers

I certainly glad the opening round was expanded to 16 winners.  That mean 5% of the entries will make the playoffs. I imagine since you were permitted to submit 3 magic items most of you did.  There never seems to be a shortage of creativity in the OSR.  So I am guessing that there are 113 individuals who submitted.  Which means 14% of the people move on.  Even in the NFL 37.5% of the teams get to play in the post season.  And the generous prizes that people have donated...another example of why the OSR is a fun and supportive community.  Prone to spats, but in the end we're here to game, promote gaming and encourage others to share their gaming.

Friday Question

There are a lot of cool products being released and activities going on.  I panned on making a list of some of the cool items released this past few weeks, but I lost the list and I don't have enough time or brain power to remember them.  But there are some cool activities I do remember.

+Timothy Brannan is participating in a Live Chat on #RPGNet. Friday Night at 8:00pm Central time.  I asked him to remind me today because I wasn't going to remember, but hey, even I have the capacity to 'member something.  I think I'm going to listen in on it, but I've never been on RPGNet for more than a few minutes total.  Here's the link http://tinyurl.com/rpgnetchat.

+ConTessa is kicking off this weekend.  +Stacy Dellorfano is leading the way for this on-line convention.  You can find the event list at +Tavern Keeper.  I want to join in a game, but weekends are usually lousy times for me to play.  I'm hoping to sneak into one of the panels about Game Design.  Should be interesting.

+Gasp Games is having a game day tomorrow in the Pittsburgh area.  Another activity I really want to take part in as it's only 90 minutes away.  +Brianna Sheldon is going to have her hands full between +ConTessa and game day.  I'd like to go down there one time and check to see what its about then maybe run a few games.  I'd really like to get back to running a game now and then.

+Erik Tenkar is kicking off a significant contest.  The "So You Want to be an OSR Superstar?" competition.  There are some very cool prizes available.  The first stage is create a magic item using Swords & Wizardry Complete ruleset.  I imagine most of you already have cool magic items made, dust them off, polish and enter.  Erik asked me to be one of the judges.  And before you ask, yes I do accept bribes and my currency is gaming books.

+Douglas Cole has got a 2 hour interview with +Kenneth Hite.  You can find it on his Gaming Ballistic blog.  I've been reading Ken's gaming books for several years.  The guy knows his stuff and Douglas does a great job with the interview.

So my question to you is, doing any gaming the weekend?  I'm hoping to get in a few of the above.  So much great stuff going on.

And the Winners Are...

There were 29 votes for the map contest and there was a tie.  Number 2 and number 4 tied with 8 votes.  So it looks like I'll be giving out two maps.

Map #2 is going out to +Ben L. 

And map #4 goes out to +Brett Slocum.

I'll write these two up and send them off in the mail in the next couple of days.  I wanted to thank everyone for participating.  I had a much better turn out than I expected.

Want to Run Your Own Business?

I got this email from Staples and they are having a contest to give a start up business up to $25,000.  That's the grand prize, 1st place is $15,000, 2nd is $10,000 and there are 7, 3rd prizes for $5000.  All you need to do is use a 100 words to write what your business ideas is and a list of equipment you want.  Give them your name, email, and phone number.  So if you have an idea give it a go.  Why not?  I did it a little while ago and took about 10 minutes.  Just read the rules first.

Good luck!

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. 

Starter Adventures Cover

I've been working away on Starter Adventurers again now that I seem to have my headaches somewhat under control.  Jason of UNDERWORLD INK sent me the cover.  I've sent him what I did to the cover, which is put those words over his beautiful picture.  Overall I think it looks good.  I'm waiting to see what Jason thinks and tweak it from there.  And he sent me the back cover which is great. 

In a week or two a plan on having a caption contest.  John sent me an amusing picture that is crying out for a one liner caption beneath it.  I might actually have a couple of those and the winners will get free PDFs of Starter Adventures. 

Have a great Monday guys.  Normally this would be a game night for me, but I've asked my group for a break until after Labor Day so I can catch up on some stuff at home and Starter Adventures.

Zombies vs. Disney

Calling all gamers, time to show everyone that zombies are way cooler than Disney.  Happy Whisk has put out the call to vote for her friend Lo Mo to win a cake contest.  That's right, cake zombies!  All you have to do is go over and Vote Here.  This is a couple of pictures from her Plant vs. Zombies cake.  The red pepper still looks undecided.

Here is her main competition.

So here is your chance to show Disney in all its saccharineness and cavity created sweetness, to go to hell.  Show them that zombies rule the day....and the cakes.