And the Winner Is...

+Keith G Nelson!  He wins 8 issues of The Manor and a copy of One Waiting One Prisoner One Sacrificed.  Congrats to Keith! 

And so concludes my Christmas giveaways.  Thank you to all those who participated.  On to the New Year. 

3 of 3 Christmas Giveaways

Here is my third and final giveaway in +Erik Tenkar's 12 Days of Christmas.  A little late, but well worth it I think.  I'm giving away all eight issues of my zine The Manor and I'm throwing in a copy of my One Waiting, One Prisoner, One Sacrificed.  All you need to do to enter is comment by telling me what the worst Christmas of all-time.  My worst present was the year I received Tylenol, Tums and Aspercream in my stocking.  That was the year I knew I was old.

And the WINNER is...

+Jason GURPS!  He wins a random batch of micro-adventures and micro-locations. 

Tomorrow I'll announce my final giveaway.

2 of 3 Christmas GIveaways

My second give participating in +Erik Tenkar's 12 Days of Christmas, is a crap load of random micro-adventures.  There is an assortment of laminated half sheets and 4" x 6" cards and card stock zine style adventures.  All are built for a quick one-shot, or location to place on the map or just a side situations that party may run into.  These are made to enhance you game by filling the in between places.  Plus they are just cool.  But I'm bias.

To enter, all you have to do is comment and tell me what you favorite Christmas present of all-time was.  I'll pick a winner sometime tomorrow night.

And the Winner is...

+Will Tijerina come on down, you are the winner of the first giveaway. And Mick Red please send me an email at elder(underscore)sensa(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Later tonight I'll announce the second giveaway.  Everyone who participated, the answers were great.  Thank you.

1 of 3 Christmas Giveaways

I'm participating in +Erik Tenkar 's 12 Days of OSR Christmas.  The first giveaway is a print copy of Starter Adventures.  A good place to start new players and even GMs.  Lots of small adventures and situations to help teach the game.  In addition there is a fully developed tavern and when your new players can tell a d8 from a d12 you can graduate them to the full adventure in the back.

To enter, please comment and tell me what you would like for Christmas.  And you don't even have to sit on my lap.  I just grossed myself out a little.  Comment, present, enter.  This is the first of three giveaways I have planned. 

Star Wars Memories

I start this post with saying I haven't seen the new Star Wars.  I'll probably check it out after the holidays and the initial rush has died down.  I'm in no hurry to see it.  I prefer to have the theater as empty as possible.  In this day of cell phones it's hard for me to enjoy a film with people are texting or taking calls during a movie.  I get frustrated, it takes me out of the movie and then I'm wish I had the super power to destroy electronic devices with a thought and maybe cause the inconsiderate texting fucks 2nd degree burns.

And a few years back when Star Wars did a re-release of Star Wars, 25th anniversary I think.  They added like 14.87 seconds of new footage that everyone was eager to see.  Friends and I bought opening day tickets just for shits and giggles.  I spent most of the movie defending myself from kids running around the theater with light sabers and the parents thinking it was cute.  I enjoy the hell out of kids getting dressed up and having a blast, cracks me up, but when I'm at the movies I want to watch the movie and not get whack in the head by a kid dressed like a storm trooper.  I don't think that is much to ask.  I waited a few weeks to see the other two when they were released and was able to watch the movie without the fear of a concussion.

But I love Star Wars.  I am not a super fan where I can tell you how many doors are in the Millennium Falcon or even what the different light saber colors mean.  But I enjoy it enough to appreciate a good Greedo or Porkins reference.  But I still don't know what a nerf herder is.

My favorite Star Wars memory was going to the movies in May of 1977, just freshly turned 9.  As part of my birthday my mother took me to see Star Wars.  Back then I was just happy to go to the movies.  Didn't know much or anything about Star Wars, it was a movie and that meant enough popcorn, candy and soda to make me sick to my stomach.  Perfect.

When I got into the theater I saw two of my friends.  We talked and I asked if I could sit with them.  She let me and off we went to the front rows where your face is nearly smooshed into the screen.  This was the first time I got to sit with friends at the movies.  It was a huge deal.  Then the movie started.  Seeing the light saber for the first time, those scary ass sand people and Darth Vader was big, and I wasn't sure what to call the guys in white armor.  Han Solo was my favorite character, but not because he was cool and shot first, but because he could understand Chewbacca.  The movie stayed with me.  I was able to see it a second time when my dad took me to see it for my birthday.  And I couldn't wait until the next one.

Star Wars, The Phantom Menace was also the first movie my now wife and I went to.  While the movie sucked wookie balls, I didn't care.  I couldn't tell you what happened in the movie.  But it served as a backdrop to our first real date.

With the new Star Wars I've heard murmurings of good.  I am not one that is too critical, I'm there for a good time.  I know once I hear that opening music (is there any other music that gets you more excited for a movie?!?) I'll be 9-years old again, sitting a few more rows back, waiting for that first shot and sound of a light saber on screen. 

One Waiting One Prisoner One Sacrificed on Sale Now (Only 50 Available)

Howdy folks, I have a little adventure I would like to offer you and your gamers, One Waiting One Prisoner One Sacrificed.  This adventure is a combination of three micro-adventure I wrote for my patrons.  The adventure starts with the party looking for three missing children and the investigation takes them into the fey realm.  There, the party explores the strangeness of the forest as the search for clues of the children's whereabouts.  And why are the fey so terrified?  The last part of the adventure takes the party into a twist tower on the edge of chaos.  And in like true fairy tale fashion, there is no "and they lived happily ever after".

The zine is 20 pages long that feature my hand drawn color maps, artwork from Forge Studios and some helpful advice from my wife, she told me when you make children into stew, the stew is not boiled, it is simmered.  I stand corrected.

I am only selling 50 copies and I've set aside a few others for giveaways.  So if you want a copy grab one quick.  I hope they don't last long.  If you are in the US it'll be $6 and everywhere else in the world it is $7.  Just use the Buy Now button below!

Where am I sending it?

USA $6.00 USD Rest of the World $7.00 USD

Or if you prefer to TPK the party electronically, here is the PDF of One Waiting One Prisoner One Sacrificed.

Buck-a-Manor Sale

All Manor PDFs are $1 at RPGNow.  I've got 8 issues that I'm proud to say I've done and hoping to get out another issue soon.  But for now, it's Christmas time, but yourself something for yourself without breaking open your piggy bank.  Hey, these Manor PDFs are a lot cheaper than an XBox One or the latest Star Wars toy. 

Check out some of the fantastic artwork that decorates the pages of The Manor.

by Jason Sholtis

by Johnathan Bingham

by Emily Burnette

by Jason Sholtis

by Ivy Shorts

by Mike Varhola

by Jason Sholtis

by Jason Sholtis, he has several pieces in Issue #4

by Jay Penn

by Jay Penn

by Jason Sholtis

by Dylan Hartwell

by Dylan Hartwell

by Jim Magnusson

by Jarod Shaw

by Garrison J

by John Larrey

by John Larrey

by Denis McCarthy

Empire of Imagination

Last week I ordered a copy of Empire of the Imagination, I received it today.  I'll admit I am not all that interested in the history of the game.  Some folks do timelines of what came first and what led to what and so on.  Most of us who game are fairly versed in history of all types, but I've never taken the time or had the interest to read about how the game evolved.  But this book tells it from a different perspective.  I get a semi-accurate peek into how it evolved from the view of Gary Gygax.

I haven't read any previews or do I have any background on how accurate it is.  The author states in his introduction...

While to story's narrative is based on extensive research and interview process, I have also used a bit of imagination and informed judgement to fill in the gaps of this dynamic, yet largely unknown story, making it as complete and cohesive as possible.  In many cases, scenes and dialogue have been recreated, combined and in some instances imagined to best support the documentary record. 

I'm cool with that.  I read a small portion in the bookstore and I liked it so I ordered it.  And besides, its a book about the EGG, it wouldn't be right if some imagination wasn't involved.

Anyway, going to tuck in for the night and read some pages.  

Small Groups

 
Last week I had two game nights that were an absolute blast.  I got to kick back and play my characters in both of them.  Each group was comprised of three folks, back when I gamed in person all the time our group rarely went over three.  When you have a small gaming group there is a lot less noise and more room to allow characters to develop and shine during the evening.

While I enjoy watching others get something going with their character, there were many nights when we had a full crew of six to seven people that I would rarely get involved.  I don't mind playing the secondary character or sidekick, but when an hour or more goes by and there has been very little opportunity to contribute, it gets boring.  And for that, I can only blame myself.  After a long day of work I'm usually mental drained.  In a bigger group I'm not as active so I tend to get more tired and distracted.  In a small group I have to keep my energy up because there is no one else to hide behind. I have to contribute too keep the game moving forward.

Typical game night.

 On-line, for me at least, it's trickier to keep a large group involved.  I know the largest on-line group I like to GM is around four folks.  In person, I can handle double that number.  I ran a 7 to 10 person group through a 3-year campaign.  We had a lot of fun, but there is no way I could have done that on-line.  When I GM I like to stand and move around a bit.  On-line I'm tethered and its harder to feed off the energy from others.  

The draw back of course is your resources are stretched thin.  In my Wednesday night, Pits & Perils game, we've really taken advantage of henchmen.  We've nearly lost all of our first batch.  But they are needed to bulk up out group.  In the Monday night game the players fluctuate from two players to four.  This makes it difficult for the party to know exactly what resources we will have each night.  But that makes it fun also.  I like'n it to a garage band.  Sometimes that bass player shows up.  Sometimes his mother won't let him out of the basement until he cleans his room.

I hope that in the future I can get involved with some one off games.  Random sessions with folks I haven't got to game with before and reconnected with people I have.  I think one of my favorite part of each game is the BS session that proceeds the game.  Just talking about whatever.  Being completely inappropriate, flinging smart ass comments and making references to movies and see who gets where it came from. 

Speaking of which, game night tonight.  Fantasy/Dragon Age in City-State of the Invincible Overlord being visited by suspicious dimensional travelers.  I don't trust them, but they've got some really, really cool toys!

Blaspheemus Tower

I completed the last leg of a trio of Micro-Adventures tonight for my Patreon campaign.  I would not consider this a micro-adventure thought since it doesn't fit on the back of a note card, or on a half page sheet.  This one ended up being 11 pages long, including a cover and credit page.  I grabbed this image off of RPGNow a while back, one of +Jeremy Hart's great pieces.  I used another piece of his  for the cover of Stone Fields of Azoroth.  I dig his creepy, deep shadow work. 

I plan on doing a PDF and combining the first two adventures, Denizon's Folly and Village of Osmolt with Blaspheemus Tower.  Normally I share my micro-adventures with everyone, but once in a while I share things only with my patrons, a little special something for their support.  I released the PDF of this adventure tonight and hope to have the combined PDF done sometime in December. 

This is the grimmest of the three adventures.  I drew inspiration from old world faerie tales where the world is grim and harsh and the endings are brutal.  I like these types of adventures and endings because it creates the possibility that even when the heroes save the day, the people they save don't always win.  Their horrible fate is exchanged for another. 

It's a subject I hope to write more about in the future.  For me, these kind of endings, situations where the the heroes thought they were doing good just made it worse, makes the gaming world more interesting.  I love a good old smash the evil things, grab the gold.  We are good.  You are bad.  But to keep my interest I need that vast, gray area of morality to come into play.  

More on that later.  If you would like to get a PDF of the trio of adventure consider joining my Patreon campaign, Micro-Adventures.  If you get in on the $5 pledge, you'll get a print copy when it's finished. 

Now back to work.  The 5-day holiday weekend has crashed to a sudden and inevitable end.  Monday just kicked the door down and pissed in my Cheerios. 

Zine Vaults, a Kickstarter that Kicked Ass [Review]

A few months back +Carl Bussler and +Eric Hoffman, of Stormlord Publishing, created a Kickstarter, The Zine Vault.   I jumped in right away because I have quite a bit of interest in the OSR zine culture that has grown over the years.  And Carl and Eric do an incredible job with everything they do.  The Zine Vault scheduled completion date was November.  And last time I checked the calendar, it's November.  Carl and Eric delivered on time and, as always, produced an excellent product!

 There were five designs, six if you count a blank option, of Zine Vaults to choose from.  I got a sampling of all of them; Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Great Old Ones,  Sci-Fi, and Six-Guns & Sorcery.  Originally the boxes were going to have Zine Vault printed on the side, but that proved too costly from what I remember.  I was a bit disappointed by this originally, but now that I have the boxes I see it as an opportunity to personalize the boxes and to name the boxes for what is inside. 

Let's look at the inside of the these boxes.  They are made of heavy cardboard and lined with a dark matting.  Before the Zine Vault Kickstarter I looked around quite a bit for heavy boxes to store my zine, but I could never find the right size.  I found a couple of boxes that would have fit two stack of zines inside, but they were always Christmas themed.  I don't want a glittery, smiling snowman guarding my zines. 

Here's my stash of boxes I received.  Lots of boxes soon to be filled and given purpose. 

In the description, Zine Vaults are supposed to hold 6 zines.  I was able to easily fit 10, 24-page zines!  And if I chose to go over a little I think I could squeeze in one or two more without blowing the top off.  As a sire note, I just received my first shipment from Brave Halfling's Kickstarter, two copies of The Ruins of Ramat. 

So this concludes the Zine Vault tour.  I asked Carl and Eric if they would sell Zine Vaults after  completing the Kickstarter orders, and the answer is YES.  After all the KS order are complete, Zine Vaults will be available at Stormlord Publishing.  Indulge your zines, treat them with the luxury they deserve.

Questioning the Rules and Conversion

Monday night was Fantasy Age where I play a mage that is always one inch taller than anyone he meets.  He and the group are working for the Consortium (dimensional travelers who collect species of other dimensions).  We've contracted with them to collect five sentient beings.  We've opted to get some orcs.  The previous session we did the same contract and inadvertently grabbed five goblins.  And learned that the better shape they are in the more units (their money - the Consortium excels in magic item creation and only accepts units in exchange) are earned.

This time we thought we'd go for orcs...and we did.  But we killed too
many of them and were overwhelmed by their numbers.  We tuck tail and ran back to regroup.  I believe I failed the group on this one.  I'm Mr. Healer, I've got mad first aid skills and the only one with healing spells.  I let the fighter folk drop too far down instead of maintaining them through the entire fight.  While it is within the rules, I feel that it is an exploitation of a flawed rule.  I mentioned in a previous post that first aiding someone in the middle of a battle is ridiculous.  And while I understand it is a fantasy world with lots of ridiculous stuff that I don't even blink at, for what ever reason I get stuck on it being unrealistic rule.  The GM tweaked it this time though and added another qualifier to be able to use first aid in battle and the person must also have healing magic ability.  Which I do.  So my one inch taller than everyone else dude is super cool.

On Tuesday night we continued our Pits & Perils sessions.  It was the conclusion to my turn as GM.  Each of use has taken a crack at running adventures.  +Chris C. and +Ken H had adventures that required 3 sessions.  I hogged the microphone for 5 sessions.  They were searching for a death mask located in the Valley of the Dead.  They have been battling a religious cult, Memento Mori, that worships St. Hesta, the Plagued One.

The session ended with the party successfully getting the death mask.  But the more interesting event was when they encountered a cleric of St. Hesta trapped within the tomb.  They battled for a short time before the cleric fled.  The party found the cleric quivering being his work table pleading for mercy (when I have NPC of significance I usually label them with an actor's name and proceed to do a horrible imitation, this guy was Peter Lorre).  What happened Chris's cleric was able to convert the weak willed man and immediately changed his name to Pshaw.  So the party's cleric earned his first acolyte.

Chris's turn next week.

To those of you who are getting fat and watching football tomorrow, enjoy the holiday.  I am enjoying a 5-day weekend and the kitchen is already filled with incredible smells.  So excuse me while I sneak away to tear off a chunk of fresh bread and grab an apple spice cupcake.  It is a burden to live with a baker.  I must eat them for the good of all mankind.

Map: The Lost Temple of St. Hesta

Here's the latest map I've been tinkering with.  Not sure if I am dine tinkering, it is a little heavy on the right side.  I'm going to keep this one clean, no silhouettes.  I like the look of the numbers sitting in the center of the rooms. 

St. Hesta
St. Hesta the Plagued One is a Petty God who believes in the dualism of existence.  Her philosophy reflects that of the Cathars and Bogomils (to name two), they believe there is a good god and a bad god.  Anything that is of this physical world is evil and the spiritual world is good.  I'm simplifying the shit out of it, but that is the general premise.

St. Hesta believes the use of disease is the most efficient and righteous way to to transition from the material world into the spiritual world.  It provides someone time to giveaway all their earthly possessions to enter the spirit form unburdened and unhindered.

Her followers are divided into three castes and I blatantly ripped this part off from the Minbari of Babylon 5 fame.  There are the workers, warriors and clerical castes.  The workers are undead, common people or warriors who have fallen in battle that return as skeletons to assist a cleric in their duties.  The warriors see a black and white world, they are not prone to thinking through things, but reacting and defeating those who would interfere with St. Hesta's will.  And her clerics are potent disease spreaders that have the unusual ability to see the future.  The see a possible future and act upon it.

I created St. Hesta for our current Pits & Perils game.  I'll do a formal write up later.

Enjoy your Monday.  I only have a two-day work week.  Looking forward to some time off and too much food.

Age System with a How I Suck at Rolling Dice Rant Mixed In original

For the past two Mondays a group of has been getting together to play Fantsy Age set in +Rob Conley's  Majestic Wilderlands.  Dwayne, the GM, really likes the AGE system.  He wanted to give it a run and see how it works.  Cause just because it looks good don't mean it plays good.

I think it plays very well.

I rolled a character, ended up being a mage, human, poor, artist, but a charming fellow.  I took my magic in healing and lightning.  And the skills I took (or focuses) are in healing and lore.  So I am sorta of a glorified band-aid.  One of his quicks I gave him is he is always one inch taller than anyone standing next to him.  One of the first questions he asks when meeting someone is, "How tall are you?"

Different character, different system, different campaign, same horrible dice rolls.  I just don't get it.  How I can roll so bad, in 2d6, 3d6 and d20 systems.  Roll high or roll low.  I will find a way to destroy what the average is supposed to be.  Let's take the easiest (hey +Douglas Cole I'm doing number stuff, I know you like that), the average of 2d6 is 7.  I did a calculation of a few of my sessions using Pits & Perils and discovered that in my realm of existence, 7 is not the average, it is actually 5.6.  Now I m NOT a number dude, but I would say that is a signifcant difference.

And as for quantum number generators, don't believe the hype.  Quantum has feelings, cause it hates me.  I still remember the night in a d20 game I rolled 6 or 7 1s in a row.  And that was just the 1s I rolled in that one part.  There were lots of them sprinkled throughout.

Breathe, step away from the Quantumness.  Find that happy place where there are no 1s on the dice.  Somehow the dice bounce playfully upon the table and slowly spin and come to rest with a large 20 showing.  I cheer.  I point at the GM and laugh and then remember that I was rolling an ability check.

Back to my intended intent.

Age System, I love the combat.  I enjoy that there is defense, what you roll against to hit someone and armor, the bits that keep you from bleeding out.  In the AGE system these are two very different things which I like a lot.

Cobat is a blast.  This is where the AGE system works the best for me.  Stunts are the mechanic that sets the combat apart from other systems.  Stunts occurs when a roll is successful and doubles are rolled on the three dice.  The stunt die is a different color and if a stunt is earned, the number rolled on the stunt die is how many stunt ppoints you get.  So you can knock your oppenent down, do extra damage, do another attack, order a pizza or a combination of things.  The stunt mechanic shines in this area.  In other areas, like magic, it is less effective because the stunts are mainly geared toward combat.  There are also stunts for exploration and role-playing.  I don't think they work.  It seems forced.  If I were running a game I would keep the stunts strictly in combat.

Magic system is a bit generic.  I don't hate it, but can't say I am a big fan.  You select from school that specialize in fire, water, healing, wood, pickles and cookies.  There are four spells in each school.  They are independent on one another.  It's not like GURPS where the schools overlap and some requirements are in other schools.  With AGE it is a tiered system, you get the first two spells when you are a novice in that school, you get the third spell when you are a journeyman and whan you reach master level you get the 4th.

The spells are balanced, they don't overpower the mage, but if you can roll well (see rant above) they can be very effective.

The system uses spell points instead of slots.  Various things can happen to make a spell work or fail.  Most spells have a target number, if you don't roll above that, you lose your mana points and you have the pleasure of nothing happening.  I tested out this several times during our last session and yep, sucks not to hit the target number.  Some spell you can plaw  more points in to give it more power.

Then there are the skills and focuses.  They are different and I still get confused of which is which.  I get it for a while then I get distracted by a squirrel and I forget.  Happens.  Skills allow you to use or do things that others can't.  Like the first aid skill (that is called something I can't pronounce), I can do a minor action and first aid someone during combat.  You get a major and minor action for clarification.  So I can first aid someone then cast Get Back You Evil Bastard in one round.

Following up on what I just wrote.  A round is 15 seconds.  So in the AGEsystem I can first aid someone while in combat and then attack if I want....   Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong?  If I am then you are wrong and I am right.  I think if I ran a game I wouldn't permit first aiding in combat.  Being someone who has experience with first aid it just doesn't work in my mind.

Healing is always a big issue with me in games.  Most games make it too easy for adventurers to heal everything and move on without a scratch.  AGE does this also.  Not a fan.  They have a short and all night healing rate.  I would cut the all night rate, take the short rest rate and make it the all night rate.  I don't want sissy adventurers.  And sissy healing systems encourage entitlement and laziness.

Every class has specializations, like I plan on becoming a Miracle Worker so that increases my healing ability.  But I could choose to be a lore master or sword mage.  They are add on abilities to help enhance your character.  I don't see the need for these specializations, but I guess it helps me target my career track for being a mage.  Again, these are teired, novice, journeyman and master levels.

Experience is the same for each class.  2000 will get everyone to 2nd level.  AGE doesn't give experience points per monster, but has a system where the GM determines the difficulty of the encounter and assigns xp from there.  I do like this set up.

I really have enjoyed the AGE system, there is a lot I like about it.  I hope to run a few one off games soon.  I just wish I could find the system where I could roll better.

Sunday Night Investigation

Sunday, November 25th, 2015 (9:25pm)

Subject went to Barnes & Nobles.  Stayed in the cafe the entire time.  Drank a drink that looked like a caramel landslide.

Did not get up to pee.

He worked on a antiquated laptop that wasn't connected to the internet.  Worked on something called Hamlet of Hounds Head.

Listened to a iPod and ignored everyone around him except for a brief exchange with the barista who was already making him drink before he ordered.

A red-head, I'm assuming it was his wife, sat beside him reading gluten free magazines.  Not sure what the hell gluten is.  Noted it, Google later.  She sipped on tea and at the end of the night ate from a jar.  I cannot even guess what it was.  Did not look good.

The subject began packing once the closing in 15 minutes was announced.

Followed the subject and his wife to Wegmans.  Again he set up in the cafe section there.  This time he set up his laptop along side a tablet and was using both at the same time.  However, when the Sunday Night football game came on any work he'd been doing came to a halt.

When his wife came to visit the subject finally went pee.

His Sunday night concluded with watching football until his wife returned with groceries.  They packed and left for home.

Conclusion: Subject is too boring to follow any further.  This investigation has been a complete waste of time.

It's in the Mail

Pictured above are my October Micro-Adventures all printed and laminated.  There was a delay this month because of a vacation, a painted bedroom and when I returned to work, no vacation goes unpunished.  But now I've got them all set to mail. 

All the PDFs are available for free on my Patreon, but if you want to get laminated and/or the zine versions become a patron.  Join in on the fun and get a envelope of adventure in your mailbox every month.

Thanks to my super-duper patrons.  I'll be sending out your adventures on Monday.  For the rest of Saturday morning I'll be stuffing envelopes. 

Promise Broken

I promised Tim I would not post without his knowing. Well I had to break that promise. Guess what I will be doing all day tomorrow. Yep playing Fallout 4

Deal of the Day Results

On Monday my Starter Adventures was featured on RPGNow's Deal of the Day.  I submitted to be one of the Deals of the Day about two months ago and was just about ready to email them to see where I was on the cue and more to the point, to see if I was on the cue.  I didn't send the email, because on Sunday I received an email telling me Starter Adventures would be Monday's Deal of the Day.  Normally it sells for $7.99, but for the day it was priced at $4.

I did some light spamming on Google+.  A few good folks reshared my post and helped me get the word out.  Tenkar used his bullhorn to get the news out which always helps.

My Expectation: I wanted to sell 12 to 15 copies to consider a success and if I got 20 sales I would be extremely pleased.  Well, I got 50 sales.  Wow.  Thanks to everyone who grabbed a copy.

One Detail Fixed: For some reason Starter Adventures was listed in the 5E category.  I must have clicked the wrong category when I posted it.  Then when I tried to change it, it wouldn't.  But I see it is fixed now.  Yeah!  Before the sale I always received an email or two about how that stat blocks were not set up for 5E play.

Interesting Numbers: When I started the sale I there were 68 copies in wishlists and 9 in shopping carts.  When the sale ended there were 74 copies in wishlists and 8 in shopping carts.  So the sale did not seem to make a dent in those that already were interested.  And to my surprise there were more.  I would figure if you were interested trying something out when its 50% off.

Suggestions & Conclusion: If you have any products on RPGNow I highly recommend signing up for the Deal of the Day.  Be patient because their waiting list is long.  I waited two months.  But in the end it is worth it.  It costs a lot of promo points, but they well spent and WAY more effective than homepage impressions to get people to look at your work.  If you plan on doing the Deal of the Day I would select one of your higher end products.  Or a product you really like, but it never took off.  I plan on doing Deal of the Day again.  I'm not sure exactly what the promo will be for, but once I figure it out I'm spending some promo points and getting back in line.

Thanks: A huge thanks to those of you who helped spread the word, +Erik Tenkar, +Denis McCarthy, +Peter V. Dell'Orto, +Frank Turfler and I know I'm missing a couple more.

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. 

Deal of the Day: Starter Adventures!

Today my Starter Adventures is the Deal of the Day on RPG now.  The PDF is normally $7.99, but today it's only $4.  This is a great product to introduce someone into table-top RPGs.  I wrote this one specifically for folks who don't know a d20 from a ghoul.  A product that enhances what is fun and interesting in the game.  To hook newbies into coming back for more.

There are four adventure/situations for the the four main classes meant to be run one-on-one.  These scenarios will help a new player explore different aspects of the game.

There is a fully developed tavern filled with characters, secret doors and of course a basement that links into a sewer system.  Red Bear Tavern is a place where adventures begin, one ale at a time.

And the final piece is a full-fledged adventure.  After your newbies figure out that pyramid looking die is a d4, they can get busy being heroes. 

And to make it all come together, the incredible artwork by +Jason Sholtis and +John Larrey, the maps were created by my long time friend +Rob Conley and the unsung heroes of any written product, the editors +Tim Snider and my wife.  Any typos or grammatical assassination are on me because between those two they cleaned up a ton of my mistakes.

If you've had Starter Adventures in your cart or thought about checking it out, today is the day to do it.  If you have any questions about it, please just comment, Google+ me or email me.  I'll be glad to chat about anything gaming.

Zombie Museum Day Trip

Yesterday, Whisk and I drove to Evans City, a small, but busy place just north of Pittsburgh.  Why would I drive there?  Because they have The Living Dead Museum of course.  Evans City is also the home of Evans City Cemetery which was featured in the first scenes of Night of the Living Dead, the original zombie movie.  A few years ago Whisk and I went on the hunt to find Nicholas Kramer there and had a great day.  Since then they have rebuilt the chapel that was in the movie.  It was rebuilt with the donations from movie fans who wanted to see it restored.

Here are a few cool picture we got from the museum.

Today the Whisk and I are barricading the doors and windows with all the scrap wood we can find.  We'll watch scary movies all day and she'll make great food.  Perfect Halloween.