Friday Question

There has been a lot of posts about game balance lately so I am going to taking the lazy way out and pose that question here.  Is game balance an important part of your game?  But I also want to see what your answer is as a player, not just as a GM.

Since I am a player right now I'll answer from that side of the screen.  As a player nothing would be more boring for me to know that all the encounters were balanced for my/party's level.  I like that challenge of figuring out way to get around or trick tougher opponents or be tricked into thinking "oh, these guys will be cake" and charge.  Then find my ass on a silver platter.

If you've played for any length of time, when the GM says its this monster you can dial up the page of the Monster Manual in your head and have a good idea of its HD, AC ect.  So the players can assess fairly quickly if they plan on chopping away or sneaking away.  But I love the challenges where I know I am way outnumbered or out powered and finding away to defeat that foe.  One of the simplest examples I can think of is there is a bridge over a wide creek.  But there is a troll guarding the bridge.  If you can guess at his riddle then you may pass unharmed.  Wrong answer and he eats your head.  Why not just cross the creek the bridge spans?  Because there is a small army of orcs and ogres that aren't in the mood to talk and will just shoot things at you until you are chum.

As a GM it depends on the group I'm running.  If I have a newbie group like I was running earlier in the year I would run balance, but challenging encounters.  I want them to learn the game and adjust to the threat levels of different monsters.  I may put a big bad monster over yonder and if they stray to close I may have it scorch someone to show death is a very real possibility in the game and I'm not afraid to use it.

Old time gamers, I don't worry about game balance one bit.  I throw in critters I think make sense for the adventure.  If could be they only get half way through and encounter something they have no chance of defeating, but then return when they are a little stronger and take it on again.  Plus the old dudes I play with are very good at circumventing/manipulating/influencing a bad situation in their favor.  I think they would get very bored if I level the playing field.

So whatta ya think?  Go game balance or no game balance?  That is the Friday question of the week.

Other blogs the are talking about this same subject:
Beedo of Dreams of the Lich House  
And Mr. 2000cp himself, Erik of Tenkar's Tavern

Crapping Yellow Ink on My Desk

Or its really close to getting a ball bat up its backside.  A couple days ago I noticed when I was printing there were yellow dots here and there on the page.  Hmm, I did not like that.  I did a nozzle cleaning thing.  Did a head check.  Printed again, still specks.  Well, it says the ink was very low in the yellow cartridge and I have another.

Plug in yellow ink cartridge.

Print.

Big, yellow diarrhea streak through my page.   What the hell.

Clean head and nozzle and alignment.

Swoosh, printer shit itself again.  It was streaked with about a one inch of yellow ink with globs that dripped from the page.

Contacted Epson through email.  It's Christmas after all.  They got back quickly with suggestions that I do what I already did and had already put in my email to them.  Thanks for reading Epson.  One of my favorite answers was I was not using official Epson paper.  I didn't know Epson made toilet paper to wipe up the crap its spread across my documents.

Opened up my printed to check out the inside.  There was a pool of yellow ink at the bottom.  I tried to sop it up, but it just kept coming.  I'd taken the cartridges out.  I had no idea where it was coming from.

After a an hour of dabbing and dobbing in a space I can barely fit my hand the yellow ink was gone.

Recheck the ink cartridge.  Do another clean and alignment.

Print.

Big, yellow diarrhea streak through my page...again.

I was reading about my printer and it seems to be a fairly common problem.  I've had it since June of this year.  It worked like a charm.  Was my favorite printer until it started crapping yellow ink onto my desk.

 So as of now I got no printer.  I am guessing Epson is going to be less than helpful.  It is still under warranty, but everything I've read they just want to send you someone else's piece of chit.  I guess we'll see.  Or I may just have a post about the new printer I just bought.

NGR Indiegogo

Zzarchov over at his Unoffical Games blog has an Indiegogo campaign in progress.  He's releasing his 2013 version of his Neoclassical Geek Revival (NGR) system and I think its one of the more original systems out there.  What makes it different is his interesting way to handle encumbrance, his sub-system of awesome points and powers (known as slices of pie, Johnathan Bingham should approve).  And that's just a few of the very cool twists he puts into his game.  If you've never had the chance to check it out throw in $5 for the PDF or if you trust me when I say its a very cool system and worth the space on your gaming shelf go for the print version.

The very cool thing about this campaign is Zzarchov has already done the work.  It's done.  So you don't have to wait for all these extended goal products that seem to bog down the release.  And, this is no surprise to me, if the project fails to fund, Zzarchov will provide anyone who wanted to donate a free PDF version of NGR.  You cannot lose.

If you've been involved with Indiegogo or Kickstarter campaigns or this is your first, you can only improve your gaming knowledge and coolness by getting involved.

Click to go to NGR Indiegogo page.

Friday Question

So the world hasn't ended yet.  I know it was supposed to be today, but never did figure out what time it was coming around.  And if its supposed to be at 6pm is that EST, CST...ect.  If I had planned better I would have taken the day off, but since I didn't and the world hasn't got to bits I need to go work.

So let's say the Mayan's were wrong, which I think they are.  I mean the calendar for them ended a lot sooner than today.  Wonder if they had that day figured out.  Anyway so the world will not end for most of us today.  I'm hoping all your good gamers out there find yourself safe and sound and ready to get some gaming goodness.

So now the world is not ending, what game are you hoping to get into this year?  What gaming goal, if you have one, would you like to accomplish?

I've said it before, but I'd like to get into a few more games on Google+.  I think I found a VTT that will work well.  And goals I'm setting out to accomplish this year, get the Manor back into a somewhat schedule production and get out Starter Adventurers.  If I can do those two things I will be happy.

It's Friday, the snow is blowing like crazy outside, the dogs are acting up, I got a full schedule of annoying people and we have our company Christmas party today.  If the world is supposed to end it better fricking hurry up.

Locks, a Unexpected Element to Your Game

Sometimes I enjoy getting fiddly with aspects of gaming.  Right now I am enjoying the idea of lock qualities and complexity.  A while back a wrote a quick post about lockpicks and locks, there I broke down locks in five simple levels of complexity.  Then I had an example of a lock maker...cause they don't make themselves.  I'll use Frower as my lock maker example and game stats will be in italics. 

Frower of Ellon
 Lock maker for 15 years.  He has three styles of locks he makes, the simple catch lock which is a simple lock that keep out the curious, but not those who are determined.  A good thief can make do and sometimes manipulate this kind of lock with household items or...gasp...jimmy the lock.  It is a cheap lock and comes with two keys.  This would be considered a simple lock that provides no penalty and on failures the lock in not likely to jam. 

Frower makes a more complex three tumbler lock.  This lock take some skill to release.  He makes the lock chamber large enough for needle traps.  Where as Frower will now build the trap in he knows how much space to leave to allow that addition.  This kind of lock comes with two keys also.  This lock would be considered a difficult lock and give the player a -10% penalty.  However, if the player has been successful with Frower's locks in the past there will be no penalty. 

Both these locks are fairly common and known to thieves in the city.  They look for FE engraving above the keyhole.  A few of the more skillful thieves have copies of the keys that will open the locks.  A single key may open 10% of the doors in the city without ever having to use a lockpick.  Frower cannot make an endless combination for his cheap locks so he has a set of five different sets.  For the standard set of locks he makes 10 different combinations.  More combinations cost him time and money.  If people wanted real security they would spend a little more on a complex lock below.

Frower also does special orders for more complex locks.  In these cases he must have the container in the shop to shape the lock.  These locks are unique and difficult to pick.  More often than not a clumsy attempt to pick this type of lock will result in a pick breaking off inside the lock, thus jamming the mechanisms.  These locks take more time to fashion and Frower can add simple traps to the locking mechanism.  One key for each lock.  This would be considered a complex lock providing the picker a -20% penalty.  

Why go into this much detail over locks?  I like to add sub game to my game...sometimes.  If there are a few thieves in the party they enjoy this kind of detail.  If the don't like it I toss over my shoulder for another time.  The main reason I like it is it adds more possibilities to urban adventures I already love.  I can think of a dozen plots that could involve a lock maker.  Having details like this can add an an unexpected element to your game. 

Holiday Gaming

Holiday gaming is always interesting.  My Monday night group will be taking time off until next year.  This Wednesday Trey has something planned for the Weird Adventures adventuring squad, Go Team Victory then I'm not sure how much we'll play.

I hope to use the time to play in a few Google + games and I plan on running a couple adventures in the next few weeks.  I've been wanting to get more involved, but struggle to find the time.  I've been spending most of my free time on the couch with Ivy watch cooking shows on YouTube.  I'm not a cook, but I really enjoy watching them.  Also I have a thing for those gold digging shows, Gold Rush Alaska, Gold Rush Berring Sea, Goldfathers and so on.  It's interesting how much time and money goes into finding the smallest nugget of gold.  I think they spend twice as much digging the stuff out. 

What I am hoping to do this holiday is sample a few of the many games available.  And try some other systems.  In the grand scheme of things though systems are not really my concern.  Just sitting down and playing is my goal. 

If any of you have suggestions of cool games coming during the holidays, let me know.  I've joined a bunch of the Google+ communities and try to follow along there, but it gets noisy and don't follow up on all the new stuff. 

Cancelled Due to Weather

Game night went off without a hitch.  Actually we didn't play.  Fantasy Grounds was being particularly shitty tonight.  Most night we have a few issues, but dial it in.  Tonight, it wasn't having any of it.  And in the group we have one computer programer, one military computer information guru, one electrical engineer and one...I'm not sure what you would call it, he makes sure your cell phones work.  We'll call him God of the Signal.  Between all those electronically , computer literate masters none of them could get FG running.  Out of the group I am by far the least helpful and I guess never intend to be.  My contributions were, "Turn it off and on."  Or my favorite, I blamed it on the goddamn Harn weather chart.  Rewind five minutes before crash.

"Fantasy grounds is working great tonight."

"That new broadband you got Rob is making a huge difference."

"Everyone on Skype sounds great."

"What's the weather doing?"

"Light rain coming out of the south.  This is the third straight day of rain.  Everything is muddy."

"Damn you Rusty (Battle Axe)."

*chuckle*

CRASH.

CRASH.

CRASH.

CRASH.

Half hour later.

CRASH.

Goddamn Harn weather.

4 Shades of Sleestak

Who knew sleestak came in such a variety? 

Friday Question: To Drug or Not to Drug

It's Friday and this is a good thing.  A very good thing.  My question this Friday is this, going to the tavern and getting imaginarily sloshed before or after an adventure seems like a staple of gaming.  But how often do drugs enter the scene?  Do you have the thieves guild running drugs like in Thieves World, where brick of Krrf are sold away from the eyes of the city watch. 

Do you use drugs in your campaign?
If so, is it illegal and what are the consequences?

I've never went into detail for that kind of thing in my campaign I've hinted at it.  I've come up with a few concoctions and blatantly ripped off Krrf to use in my game.  Justifying the legality of it  is sometimes difficult without infusing modern day reasons.   Because I've never went into detail with the drug running I've never only thought about the reason why its illegal.  The main ideas that surface are guards getting hooked on the stuff and not staying at posts or getting involved with criminals and turning a blind eye to certain activities.  Or peasants loosing work due to being drug sick.  So I guess in my world what little I have thought about it ties to the productivity of a person and not so much the health.

Anyway, I'd be interested in how and if others make room for drugs in your campaigns.

Game Night, Game Fight

I've been trying to post about our game night session on Monday and haven't been able to complete the blog so here it is.

We beat up more Vikings and our spy ate a sandwich. 

The end.

Double Stak Sunday Poem

Red and orange sky, a promise sign

Forlorn groups huddle in shallow caves

Unhatched eggs wait as elders bend from time

The gods of pylons aid in our fight

gods of light we banish you from sight

blessed is the black

blessed is the dark

blessed is the ever night

*No apologies are given for crappy poetry on sleestak Sundays.  I put it in the title.  It's your own fault you read it.

Late Night Stak

Oh yeah, this sleestak is ready for fight.  Bring it on.

Villians, Part 9

Morgan sopped up the blood with the altar cloth given to him by the faceless man.  Runes of some sort were sewn around the edge.  Shotty work.  Looked like a child's rag playing at evil.  A man and a boy hung over him with their throats slit, hands tied behind their backs, slaughtered like pigs.  Hardly his concern.

When the altar cloth could hold no more blood, Morgan left the cabin with it balled in his red hands.  He held it in front of him as he walked carefully along the path only he knew towards the small cave where the faceless man lived.  The winter wind chilled his blood soaked clothes, but the fresh air removed the coppery stench from his nostrils. 

The cave was small, he'd walked past it hundreds of times through the years never paying it much attention.  Nothing adorned the entrance.  Morgan didn't know how the faceless man moved around inside.  Didn't care.  Give him the cloth and get back to work.  He wasn't one to indulge in bullshit spiritual matters.  Or matters of any kind except those that put food on his table and coin in his pocket.

He stood outside the cave aggravated and cold.  He held the cloth near the entrance hoping the faceless man would take his damn relic and never appear again.  The blood began to freeze on the hair of his arms and hands before he heard a rustling sound from inside the cave.  Morgan scowled and said nothing.  His words meant nothing.  Why waste the breath.  His time had already been wasted.

The faceless man's elongated body contorted out of the small cave entrance like an large thin insect.  It's head looked like a bag of skin.  No features.  It crawled forward then stood to its full height which was two heads taller than Morgan who was considered a large man by most.  The skin around its head vibrated slightly as it bent closer to the clothe.  Morgan would have guessed it was pleased, but who the fuck knew.  It reached out with elongated fingers that had extra joints and grasped the cloth delicately and draped it over its head.

Morgan grimaced.  He turned to walk away, but he only got a few strides when he heard the thing hiss, "Wait."

His hand went to the long knife at his side.  Enough of his time had been wasted and he wasn't about to play servant to some faceless cave dwelling god.  He'd take his chances with filleting the skin from its body.  Old gods tend to have an inflated sense of power and importance.  They were scattered across the land always scrapping for any crumb of awe.

"Your payment," the thing said under the blood soaked cloth.

Morgan snarled, "Payment is you fuck off and stay in your cave."

One of the creature's hands reached into the darkness of the cave and brought out a long golden chain.  Morgan's attention strayed to the golden chain that looked to measure the length of a horse.  It coiled the gold chain around it hand and offered it to Morgan.  "Payment."

His hand stayed on his hilt and he snorted.  Morgan reached for a dangling loop of the chain and pulled it towards him.  He braced himself for the creature to pull him closer and shove him into the dark of the cave.  Instead the creature let it fall to the ground as Morgan collected his reward.  The boy and his father from over the ridge whose blood soaked that cloth ended up being his richest victims.  Morgan figured with just a section of the chain he could buy a new horse, buy a keg of ale from the market, a woman for a few nights and a new knife.  A new knife made from Scarred Steel. 

Morgan looked up after a short while of thinking of all the things he could buy and saw the creature completing its transformation.  He knew the old gods could change their form.  Their original forms always seem so horrific.  It changed in size and looked human as it stood naked in the cold valley.  When it removed the cloth it appeared as the boy and began walking toward the ridge where the boy's family lived along with ten other families.

Morgan shoved the gold chain into his vest and walked toward town deciding what to buy first.

Shelf-by-Shelf Extravaganza

It's ironic that I had planned to do a shelf-by-shelf photo extravaganza of my game shelf last weekend then everyone one started doing it.  Ivy and I changed the living room around and I got it a bit more organized and wanted to take a few snap shots of it.  I finally got around to doing just that.  I have most of my gaming stuff on a single shelf.  A good size one, but it all fits and with a little lubricant can fit more stuff in there.  The only two books not currently on the shelf were my S&W Complete Rules and ASE 2-3 cause I just got it and was reading it.

While not as impressive as some collector's I think it represents my gaming history fairly well.  I'll be going through the shelves top left to bottom left and then right top to bottom right.

Pathfinder to the left of me Hackmaster to my right.  The purple box is a Brave Halfling Box of the purple worm and it contains my Crawls, Loviatars, WMLPs and an issue of Delve! inside.  It's getting pretty full so I may need to get another or find a better way to store them.  I've only played Pathfinder once, but really love the books.  The only Adventure Path I have is the King Maker.  HackMaster is such a blast to read, but wow, very aggravating to make a character.  HackMaster basic I haven't tried to play yet.  The Hacklopedia is an amazing looking book.

My oldest shelf.  Those AD&D books and the modules and Judge's Guilds were pretty much bought as they were printed back in the 70s and 80s.  Then I have D&D 3.0, but never got the 3.5 edition rules.  We played 3.0 a couple of times, but it never caught on with us.  And then all the way to the right my still very new, very lightly used 4th edition books.  I only addition core book I purchased was the 2nd Dungeon Master book.  And that was when Borders was still alive and handing out 30% coupons.

The box set shelf.  I think the oldest box set I have is Shadow World.  The T&T on top of it has a bunch of adventure signed by Ken St. Andre and a mixture of other T&T things I've gotten through the years.  Thieves' World is one of the box sets I've always wanted and finally gotten.  In the center are the Wizard's Compendium volumes 1-4.  I searched high and low for these bad boys.  I like the idea of spells being treasure or a precious commodity.  The other books on the inside are my graph paper Piccadilly books and sketch books.

On the left are books a reference quite a bit.  When I run or develop an adventure I like to have that tough of realism in it.  To the right are manuscripts I've worked on.  In the middle is the S&W White Box from BHP and my bulging Muchkin Box.

These binder are FULL of PDFs I've purchased.  I was burning up the bandwidth over at RPGNow when I first discovered it.  On top is the vinyl mat for gaming.  It still pretty new since I rarely get to use it.  And then beneath the mat is different size art pads for my maps.

More reference material.  But also this is the tallest bookshelf I have so my tallest books go here.  The Strange Stories and Amazing Facts books was the very first book I ever got.  I believe I got it when I was five.  I still look in it today and find stuff I missed.  So much cool stuff in there.

This is my main OSR shelves.  I believe C&C was the first retro clone I got interested in and then it went from there.

Another one of my old shelves.  My Pendragon and Citybook collection live here.  And a mixture of Slayer Guides, Harn, WoD and Role Aids.  This is the shelf I want to 'complete'.  I eventually want to get the Pendragons I am missing and Citybook 6.

The first of my two GURPS shelves.  The binders are full of PDFs.  My group got involved in GURPS just before 2nd edition started.

Final shelf is the rest of my GURPS collection.  Personally speaking I think GURPS has the best overall gaming supplements.  HARN is up there, but GURPS is more my level and cover ay more areas.

Hope I didn't bore you too much from my Game Shelf tour.

900th Post...Seems Like Deja Vu

Yup, 900th post at the Manor.  Who would have thunk it?  Never crossed my mind when I first started and I guess I don't think about the number of times I posted now until the odometer hits a nice round number.  I'll have to think of something cool to do when a 1000 rolls around. 

Migraines have been taking me out of circulation lately.  Missed Trey's Weird Adventures Wednesday night so trying to figure out a way to get those fuckers to stop.  I had a bought of them last year.  This year thought I was doing okay, but lately they've been about as severe as I've ever had them.  So that's fun.

Despite my stupid little maladies I continue to plug away on the next two issues of the Manor.  Jason Sholtis has masterminded a cool concept for them and I can't wait to see them.  And since we are talking number I thought I would so a GM Games sales update.  I want to thank everyone whose been ordering Knowledge Illuminates in print.  I really like how it turned out.  Had two reviews of KI and although tenfootpole took issue with some it, after reading other reviews consider myself to have made my save vs. review and came out alive.

Cave of Seiljua
PDFs: 163

Knowledge Illuminates
Print: 17
PDFs: 164

Manor #1
Print: 75
PDFs: 58

Manor #2
Print: 60
PDF: 21

You can see a large drop off in PDF sales from the first Manor to the second.  I'm thinking part of the reason is I did not have my PDF formatted as best as I could.  I am sometimes lousy with this part of it and need to improve.  I think with the 2nd issue I improved, but think I could do better.

The 3rd issue is 80% done.  And I am guessing the 4th issue is 50% done.  I'd like to do a double release, but I'm not sure yet.   I need to get one done before talking about a 2nd.  Tomorrow I have off so I'm going to try and get some writing done if I'm able.  I'm really wanting to get back to creating some cool stuff soon. 

Just Because...

Bumble is cool.

But you know what's cooler than Bumble?

That's right, Bumble and Wonder Woman.

I'm gonna let you guess which one is mine and which one is Ivy's. 

1.33 Rooms

Zzarchov invited me to a game where the theme was Arabian Night setting, Ray Harryhausen style.  How the hell could I refuse an offer like that?  I didn't even try.  I got to game with two new people, Shoe, played an assassin-type character and Matthew led the was with his cleric of a goddess who shall not be named.  I played Al Zabar, lucky mage not so extraordinaire.

We used Zzarchove NGR (Neoclassical Geek Revival) system.  I've been reading about it for what seems like years, have a copy of the first edition and PDF of the latest version.  It was good to see it in action.  I am used to playing in game where conflict is fairly a regularly.  In NGR it is considered a loss encounter.  From the general conversations I had with Zzarchov the point of the system is to go into the dungeon, avoid combat and get out with as much treasure as possible.

Out adventure started with going to a church we heard that had a yet unplundered basement of shiny stuff.   We questioned him for a bit.  He said 'The Manticore' lived below.  Not a manticore, but the big guy, the original.  Crap. 

We explored very little of the dungeon.  We found a room where someone had already kicked in the door.  Inside we explored and found a silver candelabra.  In addition we found a head, hand and...wait for it...his manhood in a pile near a secret door we found.  Inside was a small room with a burn silken pillow on the floor.  Each action we chose we needed to do checks to see how much suspicion we accrued.  Being a flashy dressed, not meant to be stealthy, but more for to draw attention I collected a heft amount of suspicion.   Once that happens the inhabitants of the dungeon bum rush you and leave your manhood on the floor for the next party to find.

We found another secret door into a harem room.  Ladies everywhere, but we felt something was very wrong and got out.  Before leaving we managed to grab a big fat gem and avoid some bad critters.  So we got out of the dungeon with our hides intact with a big fat gem and a silver candelabra.  Not too bad of haul.  We only explored 1.33 rooms.

Newbie Blogger Award 11-23-12

Wow, its has been forever since I have given out the fall knight of Newbie Bloggers, but I thought this would be as good a time as any.

This Newbie Blogger Award goes to Edgar's Game Blog!

Edgar has been very active on Google+ and I hadn't realized his blog hadn't been around for a while.  I'd thought he'd been around for a couple years.  He does some kick ass game reports.  He's a monster at developing stuff for the DCC system.  And he actually plays the games he talks about.  Please check out his blog and throw your support behind another old school blogger who is already putting out some great stuff.

Knowledge Illuminates Got a Second Review Today

Patrick over at Henchmen Abuse and ASE fame has done a review of Knowledge Illuminates.  His review is on the print version.  Patrick and I played a few sessions together in one of Trey's, Weird Adventure games and had a great time.  Thanks Pat for taking the time to do a review and have a great holiday. 

Knowledge Illuminates Gets Hit with a 10' Pole

Hehe, it sure did.  Well I did a little.  Bryce Lynch over at tenfootpole.org did a review on the PDF of Knowledge Illuminates.  Which I promptly thanked him calling him Bruce instead of Bryce.  Way to go me. 

I don't think he was all that thrilled about the adventure, but he was fair enough.  He pointed out what he disliked, thought sucked and what he liked.  All his criticisms were fair.  Bryce doesn't just say something sucked, he explains why it does.  Which is all you can ask. 

Thanks again Bryce for taking the time to do the review. 

Game Session : The Raid

Last night we continued our game where our band of mercenaries were hired on to quell a Scanadian (think Vikings) population that was infringing upon Nomar (think King Arthur) territories.  We were assigned to start raiding Scanadian manors along the border.  Kill the lords, free the slaves.  Simple.

We armed our battle wagon with a heavy arbalist (think turret on top) supplied with lots of oil and planned our attack.  After our actor/thief/con/intelligence gather did his initial survey.  He and I went in first to position ourselves near the keep in case any riders tried to report the manor had been attacked.  There are dozens of other manors in the area and reinforcement could be gotten fairly fast.

The main group came up the road, poised as entertainers.  They would hide their intentions for as long as possible before attacking.

The manor house was manned by a Scanadian family.  Two warriors and two sons of fighting age.  The fight was over fairly quick.  They weren't expecting the attack and were outnumbered.  I had to ride down one of the sons that tried to run for it.  He and the women we spared, but kept prisoner.  There was a short debate on whether to let them go, but we couldn't chance allowing them to alert the others yet.  We'll let them know on our own terms.

We looted the manor.  Spoke to the reeve of the village of slaves and gave them half of the loot and a couple carts and oxen.  We escorted them to our base where they will decide were to go and set up.

Next week we go on a series of lightning raids along the northern border of the Scandian homeland.  We will try to take out a handful then burn them to the ground letting them know their time on this land is short.

Sleestak Sunday Art

Adam Furgang has a Land of the Lost art page and even drew some ladies for our trio of Stakers above.  

He's got a lot of fantastic pictures if your a LotL connoisseur.  I would love to have a couple of those picture hanging in my office.  My favorite is this one...

Enik pondering the secrets of the crystal table.  Love it.

Friday Question

Did it take three weeks for Friday to get here?  Anyway, another simple Friday post that won't tax my brain, but a genuine interest in the answers.  This week's question...I'm asking this one this week since Black Friday is next week.  With Christmas rushing upon us and here in the States our mad rush starts the day after Thanksgiving, are there any products out there you would like for under your tree?  These products don't need to be in existence, just what you would like to have for Christmas.

Personally I would like to have the complete Pendragon RPG books.  I have several, but would like to get the missing ones.  Another product I'd love to have is Citybook VI.  Its the tough one to find.   Products in production I'd like to get Petty Gods, James Mal teased me with a glimpse of it not too long ago.  The Witch by Tim Brennan in print and also Patrick Wetmore's ASE2-3.  Those should be out soon so I better save a little money. 

Time to go make some dough so I can buy a couple of those things.  Make a wishlist and share.  You never know, Santa Claws may sneak into your house when you're asleep and deliver one or two.

Wand of Horrible Deaths

Tonight I decided to make a random table magic item.  Its called the Wand of Horrible Death.  It has random effects.  It can also harm the wielder.  It has no loyalty.  It has no charges.  You will see in the description where its still good or not.  The GM will need to decide if saves are allowed, what the damage is and blah, blah, blah.  I just added the description of he affect.  I also thinks it critical NOT TO LET THE PLAYER SEE THE TABLE.  They're smucks.  They'll try to will a roll.  Let them find out by pointing and shooting. 

Roll	Result (d20)
1	A small dart flies out of the end of the wand and strikes and enters the target.  There is a 6-second delay, before the target blows the hell up.  The wand may be reused.
2	Nothing happens.  The target is immune to the wand’s power this combat.  The wand may be reused.
3	The wand shoots out of the wielder’s hand and wraps itself around the target.  Take the target’s Con divide it by half and that is how many rounds of life it has remaining.  The wand continues to constrict even after the target is dead until it constricts upon itself and vanishes from existence.
4	Since this is Ivy’s favorite number only good things happen when this is rolled.  The wand shoots out 3d6 delicious cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles.  While this will not kill the target it will distract them for 1d4 rounds.  The cupcakes are edible and while have no magical properties they will make the eater happy.  The wand will be reusable after the frosting is wiped off the tip.
5	A dark gray puff of smoke envelops the target.  There is a 25% chance the smoke will envelop the wielder also.  In 1d4 rounds the targets skin will begin to melt and slide away from muscle and bone.  Sleeves of skin will fall to the floor moments before rest of the body crumbles.
6	The want turns into a big ass lizard that is fast as hell.  It will target the victim and will bit the target.  On a natural 20 the lizard swallows the victim whole.  The lizard will continue its ravenous, berserker attack one the victim is dead and likely to snack of the wielder.  The wand is gone, it’s now a lizard.
7	The obvious.  A gout of flame envelopes the target and reduces all its self and all its belongings to ash.  So if it had something good, you’ll never know.  The caught on fire and is no longer useful
8	No apparent effect.  But in 1d4 weeks.  The target will become will with a series of diseases and die in a day.  The wand is still good.
9	A high pitch noise with sound from the wand affecting everyone with ears (including the caster).  It will increase its volume each round.  1d6 1st round, 2d6 2nd round and so on.  The wand is still good but the wielder is no longer any good except for filling a ditch or being used as a carrion air freshener.
10	Tiny sea monkeys leap out of the end of the wand, 1000/round for 1d4 rounds.  The sea monkeys will coat the target and climb in any available orifice and run around in the targets guts until the too many monkeys go in.  Then the target explodes.  The sea monkeys will not attack the wielder, they simply die and make a mess.
11	The wand becomes an infinite reach blade.  The player can attack the target as if it were in melee range with the wand.  The invisible blade doe 1d10 damage.  It a natural 20 is rolled the target gets a limb lopped off.  Wand is still good.
12	Wand launches out of the wielder’s hand and embeds into the target.  Six legs will sprout from the wands and it will begin clawing itself into the target.  The wand is no good after this.  It’s a weird wand spider the player can use as a pet.  It doesn’t poop or pee, but its nasty disposition remains.
13	Simple.  Wand explodes showering a 100 hex area with magic death rays.  The wand exploded so you figure it out if it’s still good.  You’ll be dead so it don’t matter much.
14	A blue bolt erupts from the tip instantly killing the target.  There is a 5% chance for each god in the campaigns pantheon to take notice that someone used a blue bolt and it wasn’t one of them.  If a god notices it will hunt down whoever wields the wand.
15	All the bodily fluids in the target solidify.  Wand is shiny good.
16	The target is instantly transported to the date and time and place where death takes him.  The wielder is also transported to that time and place.  This is a one way ticket baby.  At least the wand is still working.
17	The wand turns into a copy of the target and attacks.  It will know everything the target will do and gains +3 to hit and to damage.  After the battle is done is will kneel and commit suicide.  Your wand is now dead.
18	Demons will reach out of the ground and drag the target into hell, the abyss, Wal-Mart, where ever your campaign’s bad place is.  The wand has now become a beacon for demons.  If there are any in the area they will play the player a visit.
19	The targets eyes, ears, mouth, pucker and other bodily holes grow shut.  Wand remains working.
20	The player is given a limited wish.  That wish must be used immediately and it must be in the form of a death for the target.  If the wielder fails to do this the wand will grant the target the wish.  The wand loses all its power and is kindling.

That's all I got tonight.  Have a good one.  And don't pull out a wand unless you plan to use it.