Oh look, Thanksgiving is coming up!

     Where did the time go? I have been working on my secret NaGa DeMon (National Game Design Month) and time just seems to be move too fast. Today I pause for the 51st anniversary of Doctor Who, happy that I now own a custom Pat Troughton sonic screwdriver. It is a welcome addition to my costume that I hope to improve for next year's Con on the Cob!

Troughton's sonic was basically a penlight.

Being black and white, the color of his sonic isn't clear, so I went with red. Pretty spiffy, eh?

     Pete Spahn at Barrel Rider Games is running a project through Indie Gogo, a class compendium for Labyrinth Lord. Pete Spahn puts out some great OSR content and this is shaping up to be amazing. Five dollars gets you a pdf of the compendium, and ten gets you that and extra pdf's. Check it out here. This upcoming year, I would love to run Dwimmermount at my flgs (Ravenstone), and in addition to the standard pregens, I may have some from the aforementioned compendium. More on that in the time leading up to the new year.

     Well, take care and see you all later!

Fall down five times, get up six!

     Since messing up my thumb, I have been laying off it. No writing (with a pen/pencil) and no drawing. Since yesterday, I have stepped on the path back to where I once was. It is weird that just a couple of weeks can change how I approach art and follow through with it. Previously it was something of a habit that I took for granted, now it is like a muscle that needs retrained, almost like I need physical therapy. Last night I did a couple little sketches, tonight I became a little ambitious and realized I was overreaching.

     I really want to get back into the groove, and I hope at the end of the week I will have some of that magic back. I will keep you guys posted, take care everyone!

Veteran's Day 2014

     Thanks to all of the people out who have/and are currently serving in our countries armed forces. My first experience with role-playing (specifically Dungeons and Dragons) was through a cousin who later went on to serve in the army. Thanks George, and all of the other veterans out there. Semper fidelis, semper anticus!

Getting back on the horse

     Nearly two weeks ago I injured my thumb, thankfully I only damaged the ligament but I was unable the write, or more importantly draw. This swelling has almost completely gone and I feel up to the challenge of creating again. Crawling Under a Broken Moon #4 just came out, featuring the Mighty Kizz- Intergalactic God of Rock n Roll! Lots of great art in there by Frank Turfler, Jr, Todd McGowan, Claytonian JP, and something from little old me. Seriously awesome art and content, Reid San Fillipo with additional writing from Sean Ellis and Ryan Moore. If you love DCC RPG and/or post apocalyptic weirdness you owe it to yourself to check it out.

     Going to get some art done tomorrow, as well as some work on a secret project I have going on. Also I need to figure out what I will be doing at Gary Con, whether I am running games or just playing. Either way I know it will be amazing, especially since several of my friends will be there as well. If anyone reading this has anything to say about Gary Con, the upcoming or past, leave a comment below. I will be back later, take care guys!

Con on the Cob 2014!!

    

Tim, Ken, and Dave

     Things have been busy around here with conventions, artwork and real life taking my time. Last weekend was Con the Cob 2014, and man was it fun. I ran two scheduled games plus a pick up game, and played in two games. I arrived Thursday just in time to run my first game, Dwimmermount using Labyrinth Lord. Three people showed up including Tim shorts (Gothridge Manor), Ken H. (Rusty Battleaxe), and Dave (Forgotten Runes). The session went well, the group made two forays into the dungeon, their characters needed a break midway through the session. Just before the end, one of them got a bit greedy and died from a trap. Later that evening I got to play in Tim Snider's (Savage Afterworld) Death in the Dust Cryptworld game. The Pacesetter system is amazing, plus Tim runs a fantastic game. Our Pc's were investigating an old mining town being turned into a theme park(?) where terrible vandalism has taken place. A couple friends of mine joined me, as well as Tim Shorts and Ken H. Everyone had a great time, if you have a chance to play in a game run by Mr. Snider then I highly recommend it.

     Now, before I get into Friday, I should talk about two important aspects of the dealer's room. Tim Snider was manning the Goblinoid Games/Pacesetter booth and Roy Snider was in charge of the Goodman Games booth. From Tim I acquired Rotworld and Time Master, and from Roy I worked on completing my DCC fanzine collection, I'll write more about what I got later.

     First thing Friday, I played in Tim's Thundarr the Barbarian game. I got to play the mokk in training,Oosoo the mokk. My die rolls fit in with the neophyte angle, since I couldn't make any decent rolls. Oddly I was the only person to damage Thundarr. Thankfully my luck turned around and I dealt the final blow to the villain. Next I ran Mutant Future for four, this was one of the scheduled games but apparently I talked it enough that they were all my friends. We had a great time as they explored the last tower of Ol' Bus, scavenging for supplies and artifacts.

My friends Jason, Chuck

Mysti and Derrick

     I was really looking forward to Saturday, since that was when I would unveil my Patrick Troughton second Doctor costume.

Wow, look at those pants! The next thing I was looking forward to was three of my friends (Jason, Chuck and Derrick) wanted to play Dwimmermount. I had my notes from the previous game, since my plan was to run subsequent games as if they had occurred in real time (ie. doors that were battered down would be that way, dead monsters would be laying wherever they fell) Ironically the entered a different way and therefore it never came into play. It was lots of fun and ended on a tpk.

     Con on the Cob, once again, was awesome. This year even more so, and I will be back next year, definitely running games again. Hopefully showing some artwork as well.

New Doctor Who

     First off, Capaldi is amazing. Second, this new season has me wanting to run some more DW:AiTaS. Whenever I watch the show, I am always looking for new technobabble that I can use. My flgs has the limited edition rulebook from cubicle 7, and I am debating whether to pick it up and get rid of my old David Tenant set. I am such a hoarder that sometimes I need to stop and put things in perspective, and the new hardback is shiny, ooh. Here it is...

Look at how shiny I am!

     Maybe I could run some more games of it at Ravenstone, open table sort of thing. *sigh* wish there was more time in the world, oh well. See you all later!

     By the way, let me know what you all think of the new series of Doctor Who!

Here we go again....

     Lately many things have kept me busy, one of those being my illustrations. Whether it is for a fanzine or my own personal use, I have been stretching my artistic muscles and remembering how fun it is to create something visually. For my upcoming Crawljammer DCC game I drew a lizardman that my wife incorporated into flyer for the store.

Before

 

After

 Collaborating on these with her makes it even better, and we have been together long enough that we sync pretty well. I am going to run a zero level funnel using Reid San Filippo's "Mall Maul" from Crawling Under a Broken Moon #3, and I am finishing up a flyer for that one as well.

     Reminder, September 27th 12:30 at Ravenstone Games (Columbus, Ohio) I will be running the Bat Men of Venus level 1 adventure from Crawljammer #1. No experience necessary, pre gens will be provided. Looking forward to seeing some new faces there as well as familiar ones! Take care, until next time.

    

Ye Gods, I am back!!

     The month of August was a crazy time, Gen Con kind of did me in and then I had to send one of my spawn off to college. The RPG a Day fell by the wayside, my rpg experiences do not seem to fit some of those questions. Well now I am back and you will be hearing from me a bit more often. There is still more about Gen Con and my upcoming DCC rpg games I am running! As of now I have a game scheduled for Saturday September 27th, 12:30 at Ravenstone Games in Columbus, Ohio. Be there or be rhomboid.

This is the flyer heralding my game, I drew the lizardman, but my wonderful wife put it all together! Classy, eh?

Gen Con 2014: day two

     Here I am, typing away. After posting yesterday I went back to the exhibit hall visited Goodman Games booth (again) to pick up their program guide. When you purchase this item, you roll on a table to see if you get anything else, examples are getting the guide itself for free or one of the giant posters that adorn the booth. I happened to get the 50 dollars off my purchase at the Troll Lord Games booth, with a qualifier that it is not endorsed by Troll Lord. I was nervous as I approached the Troll Lord guys, but they werepretty cool about it, they liked the note that Joe Goodman wrote for me.

     Today started off well, I went to play in a DCC game at Embassy Suites, and it was amazing. I have a picture but my tablet does not want to load, bleargh! I got to play a dwarf,and I almost died once. Out of the six of us that started, only four survived. I got to watch a spell duel and the halfling jumped off a platform and landedthe villain who had been hovering out of range. That has been all of what I have done so far today. More to come!

Gen Con 2014: day one

   
     So, here I am at Gen Con, surrounded by gamers of all stripes. I am not a big fan of enormous crowds, but for this I can make an exception. I have visited with friends and swung by the Goodman Games booth to pickup my kickstarter adventures and a few fanzines I neededto pick up. So far it is looking pretty good. I have pictures, but I cannot get them to load, so you will get visuals later.

     One of my highlights today was meeting Reid San Fillipo, creator of the awesome zine Crawling Under a Broken Moon. I talked with him for a bit, hopefully I will talk with him later. I also got to talk a bit with Nick Seidler of the Diary of Doctor Who rpg's online zine(at facebook.com/ddwrpg). Really cool stuff there. More stuff later, fingers crossed!

RPG a Day #6 and #7

     What is your favorite rpg you never get to play? Most of the time I am running the game, but usually I have at least played most of these games once. I have yet to play in a DCC game, though that will be fixed this Friday at Gen Con. I think, truthfully, I would pick just to be able to play more often, no matter the game.

     What is the most intellectual rpg I own? I feel Fate, which I have on pdf, fits into that. Creating connections with the other players is a big thing, at least when a friend tried to run Spirit of the Century, and sometimes my brain just does not want to work in that way. So there is my criteria, if I have to really concentrate, then it is intellectual. sorry folks, I am not that deep, lol.

RPG a Day #4 and #5

    

     Most recent rpg purchased? Technically it is the D&D starter, but as I have owned some iteration of D&D since I was a kid, so besides that box I recently got a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics. I was able to run the free rpg day adventure, Elzemon and the Blood Drinking Box. Incidentally, this comes in second to most old school rpg owned

      The top spot, for me, goes to Labyrinth Lord. You can do race as class, or use the advanced edition companion to do simulate AD&D. It feels the same, except that someone polished up the rules a bit. It is compatible with most any D&D module I have and the amount of third party support adding to it is inspiring. The best part of these rules, as with most other retro clones, you can download the rules for free. Anyone get the rules and play, with an easy way to try it.

RPG a Day #3

     So, the first rpg I purchased? The first one that I bought using my own money was ....

Dungeons and Dragons expert set, Mentzer rules with the Elmore cover. I found it in a corner store that was a cross between dollar store and a mini Target store, set in the early 80's of course. That was when I discovered that each boxed set covered only a certain level range. Despite that, it was still pretty cool, especially the art! I used the crayon to color in my dice and dreamed of adventuring on the Isle of Dread, which had been included in the box.

     More to come later!

RPG a Day 2

     What was the first rpg I GMed? Came home from work to find my wife, brother in law and a couple of his friends wanting me to run Call of Cthulhu for them. They had been reading my third edition of the rules and were quite persuasive. They made characters, and I ran The Haunted House for them.

We had a blast, most memorable part was during the climax when one of the players tried to remind the villain of his humanity. In return, the villain slashed open the character's belly. I allowed him to receive first aid to survive. This was my first time involved in CoC and I could see why people loved it. As a group I only ran them the part of one other adventure before it fell apart, but while we were playing, it was wonderful fun.

First RPG I Ever Played

     Running behind on these, and despite not being in the loop I will try to follow along here. So day one is what was the first rpg you ever played.

     While visiting relatives, an older cousin had the Advanced rules books and he let me look at them. I was totally mesmerized and at some point he ran me through some adventures, starting with forays into the Caves of Chaos. So my introduction to role playing was a mix of advanced and basic. The fact that he lived an hour and a half away saved him from my constantly pestering him, and he was around eight years older so he soon was out of the house. Thankfully I would soon find friends who played, but that is a different post.

   

Hiatus and moving on

       I have busy lately, and isn't even game related. Dealing with annoying neighbors and finishing up work on my bathroom here, in addition getting a kid ready to go to college. Meanwhile life moves ever onward, with Gen Con looming ahead! I plan on being there from Wednesday through to Sunday, as long as nothing surprises me.Working on more art for Crawling Under a Broken Moon, really exciting stuff coming up from that. I'll be back Monday before I leave for work, fingers crossed. See ya then!

Fanzines, setting alternative?

     This seems to be the case for the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg, with Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad and Crawling Under the Broken Moon leading the way. Metal Gods fleshes out the great city of Ur-Hadad, with info on it's gods and a street urchin character funnel. Crawling is a post apocalyptic zine set in Murica and each issue so far (issue two just came out) has a new character class, a weapons article, new creatures and new location/encounter. These two are fairly new to the scene, thankfully I caught an interview with one of the Metal Gods creators on Spellburn (I think this is the one) and I have a copy of CUBM #2.

     Unfortunately I know less about Crawljammer, a pulp sci fi zine (Bat Men of Venus) with new classes and creatures. Along with Crawl! we seem to have the bases covered; fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy. Since Goodman Games has been concentrating on releasing adventures for DCC, 'zines have been where you can get new additions for your campaign, and from what I have seen and heard, the quality is fantastic. From new and amazing artists to great and groovy writers, you can find them here. It is kind of like a new generation for rpg. I realize there was stuff like Alarums and Excursions back in the day, but unless you were in an active gaming community you would never know about it. The internet and podcasts allow creators and fans to talk about these things and "boost the signal" when it comes to these 'zines.

     So, what if we had a 'zine that was almost like the old gazeteers? Maybe something giving flavor to different creatures, regional goblin tribes? Perhaps the Festering Slit tribe is fond of using poison? The Copperclaws might be open to negotiation. This can be done with so many things in so many ways it is really exciting. That is all I have time for now, I'll get back to this later.

     

    

Deviant Database 2.0

     From Sniderman over at Savage Afterworld, we have the Deviant Database 2.0! Over forty new mutated monstrosities for your Mutant Future games. Some really freaky things have sprung from his fertile imagination, further enhanced by some wonderful illustrations by various artists (of which I am one) Some of the names are cute, basically a puns like the ayteeum (ATM) that poops gemstones or the pwnee who are humans with a horse's head. Each entry reminds me of the old "ecology of" in the old Dragon magazine, with a description and motivation for what the creature does. They are not all hostile, but they can all be pretty dangerous, and they are all interesting. I am looking forward to getting the physical copy, as well as the first database (currently I have the pdf) So give it a look, you'll be glad you did.

Happy Birthday USA! Also, I'm sick *bleargh*

     Holiday weekend here in the states, lots of parades, fireworks and cookouts. The annoying part is I started to get sick partway through it all. Saturday I thought it was allergies, now I feel like my head is constantly being squeezed, so it is probably in my sinuses. Enough of that, let's see what is happening in gaming.

     D&D Basic dropped on the third, with the pdf being available here, I downloaded it and skimmed through it a couple of times. Looked good, they give you just enough to whet your appetite, five backgrounds (starting on page 36; acolyte,criminal, folk hero, sage, and soldier) two sub races per non human race (starting on page 11; dwarf-hill and mountain, elf-high and wood, halfling-lightfoot and stout) The cleric starts with the life domain, and the wizard entry has the evocation school of magic. The fighter has six fighting styles (archery, defense, dueling, great-weapon fighting, protection, and two-weapon fighting) and though the rogue only includes one archetype, the thief. I am sure I am missing something here, but that's how it goes when you are ill.

     So, I had not planned to get the starter set, but when I heard that they had been selling out I checked my flgs and they still had two, so of course I snatched one up. As Mike Mearls mentioned, it has no character creation rules, since those are in the basic pdf, but there is plenty of things for running the adventure included. I am currently going through the starter box between bouts of nose-blowing and grumbling/coughing.

     When I am sick, I usually make a nest so things I want to read are within easy reach, when I am not crashed asleep in bed.

     Well, enough of that, anyone out there want to drop a comment, feel free to do so. I am hoping to be back to my old self in a day or so. Take care everyone!
    

Crawling Under a Broken Moon issue two

   

     Issue two of this great post apocalyptic fanzine (Dungeon Crawl Classics compatible) is available, check it out! This issue introduces a new class: the Mutant! Included in that article are some mutation tables that come in handy to mutate various animals, as they demonstrate later in the 'zine. As we all know, tables can be used universally, whatever system you use, I may just use them for Mutant Future if I ever get a campaign of that going. Twisted Menagerie showcases three new creatures, two of the which of use in the following section: Interesting Places to Die. The Floating Tower of the Cyberhive, an enticing location to be sure, has such promise for adventure I desperately wish for a group to terrorize, um I mean run through it. Don't just take my word for it, check it out!

     For the record, I have a couple of illustrations in this issue with more to come. My small contribution aside, this is a great supplement for DCC and post apocalyptic games in general. Let me know what you think and take care, folks!

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

     So with Free RPG Day came the LotFP adventure Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children, with it's wildly imaginative plot and craziness. I retrieved my grindhouse copy of the rules from my game shelf and looked through the books. Taken as they are, besides the art there is not much that is "weird" about it, that comes from what the referee puts into it. There is a section, that I suddenly cannot find, where he suggests using the ordinary as a veil for the weird (not in those words, mind you) like travelling trough a small village and having a woman ask for help to find her son named Andrew, and then another, and another. What began as just passing through town turns into a mystery of these women and their lost, identical sons. It escalates from there. The website is here, the game is by James Raagi who currently resides in Finland. The free no art/rules pdf can be found at the site as well.

     The rules have the standard race as class with the four human classes and then dwarf, elf, and halfling. What I really like here is that the thief is called a specialist, and you can actually focus on different aspects, like maybe he is very sneaky, or an expert at tinkering with locks. Basically each class gets better at what it does, the fighter is the only class to get attack bonuses beyond first level, specialists get more points to specialize, magic users more adept at magic, and clerics cleric like no one's business. Oh, and the same goes for the dwarf, elf, and halfling. As lamentations has advanced, I could not really say matured, James has moved towards using historical settings and putting a weird spin to it.

     So now I feel compelled to run at least one game using Lamentations, I want to set it in Italy around 1500. Now if I could get some folks to sit around a table to play. Anyone want to try it out with me?

Looking forward to 5E

     Well, at least the free pdf. I want to see what people make of it, literally hacking the basic rules to build something new or slightly different. Each update is like a little nugget to parcel away saying "Oh, if I work this, maybe I can run a game in this random exotic locale." I personally have nothing in mind, just feeling the anticipation building behind my eyes. Maybe that's just a sinus issue, who knows.

     Looking forward to July 3rd, hope to hear what you all try out with it! Take care.

Free RPG Day: Elzemon and I

     This would have been posted earlier, but I took a nap. Priorities, what are you gonna do, eh? Got to Ravenstone an hour early to get set up for the game. Savage Afterworld's Tim Snider had stopped by earlier, had to return home. Ultimately I had three players who picked from amongst the pre gens Goodman Games provided, and at 2:15 (giving any late arrivals a chance to get in on the game) they began their trek to retrieve the blood drinking box. Talonir the Warrior, Ziwdang the Wizard and Ahlrick the Cleric! They decided to purchase a donkey to help carry the box back to town. Unfortunately throughout the expedition, they were plagued by crappy rolls on their part and shortly after the halfway mark, the wizard got dropped. I allowed him to be revived by being force fed a healing potion, since he was at zero. At the final "encounter", though the die rolls seemed to rally to the cause, the dice betrayed them once again. Naturally the wizard was the first to fall, followed by the cleric. The warrior held on a bit longer, but like his fellows succumbed to grievous wounds.

     Despite my having killed off their characters, they had fun and are looking forward to future events. I am crossing my fingers that there will be more folks joining in to give DCC and other games a try. Gaming is more than D&D and Pathfinder, right? In addition to running the DCC adventure, I picked up James Raagi's Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children. It has some fun ideas behind it, though I have only read the first part of it. I like it when I see something that takes a different path, and boy is it different! Enough of this, I am running another DCC game tomorrow so I am signing off. Take care all!

Dungeon Crawl Classics/Free RPG Day Reminder

     This Saturday is Free RPG Day and I will be running the DCC game Elzemon and the Blood Drinking Box at 2PM, Ravenstone Games in Columbus, Ohio. Come on down to play or just watch the action. Also I will be running a zero level adventure for DCC on Sunday starting at 1:30 that I am hoping will turn into a regular game. New players always welcome, come on in and try it! Pre-gens will be made available for both events.

Origins 2014: Odds and Sods

     Here are a few things that slipped by my original set of Origins posts. First off, the Kenzer and Company booth had this cool gladiatorial mini setup.

Do we not die for your amusement? Oh, we're getting packed away? Never mind then.

Sadly I never thought to take a picture of the caves set up that I had played in earlier in the con.

     The Crowne Plaza hotel was home to the Munchkin Tavern, where you could buy some cool Munchkin stuff (Also Pocket Sized Ogre!!) and they had a wheel you could spin for cool swag! In the bar they had these place mats you could color, with crayons provided.

My place mat

My wife's, I like hers better than mine!

     Then finally we have...

David Lee Pancake

     I got to hang out with David Lee a little bit throughout the con, if you stopped by his booth you know he has some amazing art. He won the best 3D award for Ophelia, which I think you can see part of in the picture above, to the right of Dave. Again, sorry for the blurry pics, I was rushing around like a mad man.

     So, another Origins has come and gone, here's hoping next year is even better and that any problems that cropped up this year are fixed for the next. Take care all!

Origins 2014: Day Four

     It should read "Day Four-The Final Hour", since I made it to the con and realized I had forgotten my badge. So back home and worked out a plan where partner in crime (the wife) drops me off and runs a couple errands with the kids while I go in and say my goodbyes.

     I stopped to congratulate Jason Hardy on Shadowrun fifth edition getting the Origins fan favorite rpg award. Look at this guys, he knows where his towel is.

I took my leave and then said adieu to these folks

Tony Steele

Kay Steele

      These two are amazing, as artists and human beings, plus they put up with my grousing about teenagers (of which I still have one) Mr. Steele won the award for best professional digital color work (Baseball Monster), so congratulations, sir!

Next stop, Demon central!

Heather Kreiter, Queen of demonic steeds!

     Heather has recently taken the step into working on her own stuff, and with the popularity of her My Little Demons, who could blame her. I am sad the pic came out a little blurry, but I was worried I would run out of time. What can I say that has not already been said.

Across the way, I found a familiar Leezard

Kirk "Leezard" Hardtle

          Kirk works in his Liquid Leezard studio, lately he has been zombifying different characters to great effect. Plus he is just a fun guy to hang out with, just look at his partner perched on my shoulder there.

I then spotted someone returning to his table....

A blurry Scott Frank

     He typically shares digs (read-table) with the Steele's but was gone when I first arrived. Scott does a lot with miniature painting and 3d printing, great designs. Makes me want to get my own 3d printer. Then I realize I don't have the money, nor the skill. Mr. Frank, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

Next is the father/son duo of...

James (left) and Bill Stolpin

     Bill is fantastic, whether he illustrating dragons or painting a watercolor landscape. Unfortunately I never asked what James does, I guess that means I should interview them sometime. Ooh, something to look forward to!

Douglas Bushong

     Here is Douglas Bushong, 3d image and animation master. He has these awesome little viewers that work like the view masters from when I was a kid. A great guy with some wonderful skills, he has a pretty wicked sense of humor as well.

     Said goodbye to the delightful Jeff Carlisle, but due to his popularity and the fact he was in a tiny space, I did not get a picture with him. His natural good looks probably would have broken my camera anyways.

Andy Hopp

     Next to last, we have Andy Hopp, weirdo extraordinaire. I finally caught him alone at his booth, his thousands of adoring fans had been temporarily sated. This undergraduate of the unusual is at the top of his game. This is another hoopy frood who knows where his towel is.

Finally, we have...

Charles Urbach

     This man always has a crowd showering him with acclaim, I can't believe he hasn't collapsed under the weight of it all. It was during this time that I got the message that my ride was outside. I said my goodbyes, snapped a picture and dashed out of there. Maybe not quite like that, but you get the idea.

     All in all it was a marvelous four days hanging out with friends, making new ones and relaxing. I could leave knowing I had not wasted my time, maybe other people's but I was alright. Plus, I still had the rest of Father's Day to come, woohoo! Take care everyone.

Origins 2014: Day two/three

     When I stay late at the con, I have a hard time posting after or first thing the next day. So here we go.

     This year they are using even more of the convention center than before. This space marine was guarding a door at the end of a long, empty hallway. "Can I see your ID? I guess you can see the miniatures hall now." You can hear the disappointment in his voice that he can't vaporize you "Man what a worthless post!" and inside.

     The terrain is awesome, as usual. I love when you can look at a setup and guess what they used to build it. Here is another one.

     I did some hanging out with friends, and in one instance of trying locator someone, I got into a game of Xcrawl, run by the inimitable Brendan LaSalle (I hope I got his name right) Xcrawl is set in a modern day fantasy world where Xcrawl is a televised sport/dungeon crawl. It was cool seeing the other players get into character, shouting catch phrases and busting out moves. I kind of lock up when I am playing a game I am not familiar with, alongside complete strangers. Despite that, it was a lot of fun, but I had to hurry back to the dealer's room!

     My friends were going to BD.s for dinner, eventually forming a fairly large group. Thankfully we had made reservations. The food was good, the company even better. There was a drawing, if you signed up for their (BD's) club they would randomly pull an application and that individual got a free desert. They winner was Kay Steele who picked the biggest desert and shared with her end of the table.

Left to right; James and Bill Stolpin, Kay Steele, Tony Steele (obscured by Scott's hat) and Scott Frank

     Afterwards we retired to the Crown Plaza where we lounged around their fire pit (?) drank and socialized.

     Afterwards I went home, tired but content, and not willing to stay up long enough to post. *sigh*

     Each day, before heading to the con, I have stopped by my local coffee shop to get a cuppa. If anyone happens to be in Westerville, the Java Joint is a great place for coffee! One of these days, I might try to run a game there. Enough of that, onto day three!

     Saturday I stopped to pick a friend up so he could go to the con for a day. When we arrived there was a pulsing mass of humanity awaiting him at registration. I wished him luck and headed off. Now that I think about it, that was a little mean. The first part of the day, I had my daughter with me. Since she had no desire to see the dealer's room, we skipped the ginormous line and just wandered around downtown and hung out. We then left to have lunch with my wife and boy assistant #2 (my youngest) and then my wife and I returned. We basically visited friends for the rest of the day, but we did stop and try Mayfair's Witches board game. Based on Terry Pratchett's book series of the same name, you are one of four witches roaming the countryside helping out. As you solve the various problems, you accumulate victory points, though if certain things happen on the board then everyone loses.

     We then went to the Happy Greek with friends and had dinner with friends, topping it all off with a "galactic burrito" (the nickname our friends gave it when they came Thursday night)

devouring the galactic burrito

     So ended Saturday. More to come later!

Origins 2014: Day One

     My first day at Origins this year has come to a close. I just wanted to give the dealer's room a once over and visit with friends. In addition to talking to all my friends that I happened to run into, I got to tell Carolyn Stogdill of Hack Princess that I enjoy her blog. I don't play or run Hack Master, so I can live through her stories, and it is nice that here is someone who loves the game and here is this cool thing that happened at the table. Also, the modified fortune cookie fortunes are pretty cool. While I was at the Kenzer & Company booth I decided to try Hackmaster. Their setup was amazing and as we ventured through the labyrinth we gained party members (Hey, wanna try this, we could use a hand) and eventually escaped with the wizard making a noble sacrifice. It was fun, but I don't think I would feel comfortable enough running it, it was a little heavy on the crunch in my opinion.

     Of course, I realize as I am leaving that I did not take any pictures, so got one of the outside of the convention center. Hopefully I will not be so absent minded tomorrow. I am planning a basic schedule even as I push send. Take care and hopefully I will see some of you later this week!

Ps. I am hoping to run at least one pick up game of Labyrinth Lord at the con, let me know if you are interested!

Origins 2014 is nearly here!!

     Starting this Wednesday, Origins 2014! I have nothing planned, but I am hoping to get some games in when I get there, most likely me running them in the open gaming area. I will bring my Mutant Future adventure as well as Labyrinth Lord and Dungeon Crawl Classics. Speaking of DCC I have my game Wednesday evening, since there typically is not much scheduled for that evening at the con. It most likely will be relocated to the con itself instead of Ravenstone, though. If any of you will be attending, let me know. I am often curious about those that read my posts. There are already a number of friends that I know are attending, hopefully we can make an event out of it! Enough of that, let's get this week started so I can get to the con, hehe!

    

Running Dwimmermount!

     I will run Dwimmermount at Con on the Cob this year. The pdf, which is the "We are done except for looking for typos." version and that is what I will be using until I get the final version.There will be at least two Dwimmermount slots and there will be overlap. Example being if the second expedition follows the path of the first, they will see evidence of the first group. Now if they are the same folks, then it wont be a surprise but I am looking forward to it and am hoping I get two groups going through.

     Anyone new to this mega dungeon, Dwimmermount is set on the world (planet) of Telluria, and the titular mountain is a prison. One ginormous prison filling a mountain. Rumors abound about this place, but it has been sealed off from the rest of the world for two centuries! Until now. There are folks ready to pay lots of money for what they think/know is in their, also folks who do not want the wrong people poking around in there. Which group will you side with?

     I will be using the regular Labyrinth Lord rulebook, meaning you can use the free pdf at Goblinoid Games website and not have to spend a penny. In Dwimmermount the only races available, besides human, are dwarf and elf. James Maliszewski has weaving a fascinating back story for the history of Telluria and beyond which explains the creation dwarves and elves. Seriously amazing stuff. There are also two new(ish) classes, the cultist and the paladin. You can start off as a cultist or convert from a cleric, and paladin converts from a fighter. There are locations and people in the dungeon that you go to for conversion.

     I hope to run this at my local flgs as well, so if there are any folks out there who want to play then let me know. I still have some more reading to do, but I could be ready to roll with it soon! Leave a comment if you're feeling froggy, folks! Take care everyone!

Con on the Cob 2014: site update

     In case you are out of the loop or have not signed up yet, registration is different this year than in the past year or two. Andy and his merry band of mavens are handling registrations this year, including game sign ups. Therefore gaming will be free once again, and you wont need to sign into a separate site to sign up. Personally I am in favor of this change, since I always forgot my sign in info for MSBT (?) since I only used it for Con on the Cob. I will be putting a couple games into the system soon, and I encourage anyone thinking about it to go ahead and sign up to run some games. That is all, carry on.

Dwimmermount:disappointment and hope

   

    Dwimmermount was originally expected to be out in August of 2012. When it's creator dropped off the 'net due to health concerns (which I will not go into here) it eventually was turned over to others to finish his work. I admit I do not know all of the intricate details, who messed up or whatever, but I do know that it continued to be worked on as opposed to folks just running off with the money. It looks like we may finally see a finished product.

     So why are people not at least happy or interested that it is coming out? The tone is that they are relieved they were not in the kickstarter, not "Wow, it's finally coming out? I wonder what it's like?" The mega dungeon and it's environs still captivate me as much as it did two years ago, and I am hoping to run it sometime. The sci fi/fantasy aspects as well as the larger world it is set against is very intriguing and I look forward to holding the book in my hands.

     I prefer to be positive about these things, which is good for my well being. I would save my vitriol for something that truly deserves it, as opposed to this which is only an inconvenience.

Free RPG Day, 2014

   

      Free RPG Day is happening here in Columbus, I credit my ability to bug my local flgs into action. I plan to run Elzemon and the Blood Drinking Box (DCC RPG) that day from 2-6 and I encourage anyone who feels like it to come and run something. Currently there is no Pathfinder Society games planned, so I will have the table up front, but if there is any overlap I am sure something can be worked out. I suspect the fact that it is the first weekend after Origins is why nothing is scheduled at Ravenstone. Since Elzemon is a first level adventure, I am hoping people show up to play June 11th to run that 0 level funnel and have first level characters. Otherwise I will have some first levels rolled up, though I would prefer something the players were a bit invested in.

     Enough of that, if you are in the Columbus, Ohio area and wish to try out Dungeon Crawl Classics or feel like running something else then head over to Ravenstone Games and let them know. The sooner the better. Take care, and happy gaming!

Con on the Cob: running games

     Con season is moving along with North Texas RPG Con next weekend and then Origins. I have to look ahead to October and Con on the Cob, since I will be running at least a couple games there. Goblinoid Games will have a booth there, so I feel I should run Labyrinth Lord and/or Mutant Future. I have adventures written up for both systems, so that should not be an issue. I am also tempted to run something in DCC rpg.

     Currently the games list for the con is practically nonexistent, so please head over and sign up. If you have not been there, but want to give it a try, do it. It is like ten pounds of fun in a five pound bag. Er, or something like that. If you have been then what are you waiting for, you know how fun it is. So there you go, see you all later!

D&D coming soon...

     In just over a month we will get our first 5E product in the starter set, well July 15th but still. Though my love for OSR products is boundless, I am looking forward to seeing what they have done this time. At the very least I can use any ideas I like for whatever rules set I choose, which is pretty much how I operate now. I have an abundance of rpg adventures and supplements that I plan to or have already done that very thing. This interview with Wolfgang Baur and Steve Winter (Kobold Press) regarding their upcoming 5E adventure modules is very promising. It sounds like they have packed a lot of action into it, not just fights but exploration, role play opportunities, taking advantage of the flexibility of the new rules. I can only hope it all turns out as cool as it sounds.

     Just wanted to put that out there, felt the need to put my two cents in. Feel free to let me know what you think, leave a comment below. Let yourself be heard! Or not, whatever.

June 1st, getting this month rolling

     Here we are, beginning of June and I am looking forward to it all. Went to breakfast with Boy Assistant #2 at a nearby field office (coffee shop with wifi) when I discovered I had left my tablet and sketching supplies behind. Oh well, just means we get to hang out and chat.

Yep, kind off how it goes with Boy Assistant #2

 

 

     Eventually getting home, I then decided to dig into another illustration for the Deviant Database 2.0. The chitterer, ie. a squirrel headed crab. Here is the rough pencil sketches I just finished up.

Did separate sketches of crabs and a squirrel so I could get a feel for how their bodies work, I gave the hybrid a shot. Next is coming up with a good pose for it and then diving in. Should be a lot of fun.

     In other news I will be helping get something together for free rpg day at my local flgs. The people in charge of the event were able to get something together to send to him, so I will run a game that day and hopefully there will be other games going on. Stay tuned for further updates! Take care, and hope everyone is having a good start to their month!