Scheduling April's game

     I dropped the ball setting up my game for April, so here it is. Mutant Future!! If you like Gamma World, crazy post apocalyptic stuff, then give it a shot. I guess living nearby helps, too. Sunday, April 27th at 1:00 PM, Ravenstone Games. I will be rolling  some pre gens for everyone, the artless pdf is free, just go to this page and click core rules. That way you can check out the rules, and if you have a tablet or some such device, you can have your own set of the rules. Kind of a try it before you buy it type thing. I am in the the middle of setting the adventure up, elbow deep in it's guts as it were. Take care everyone!!

Is Low Life the new Gamma World?

     Since the fourth edition version of gamma world came out a year ago, I have been tempted to pick up a copy. The wild characters you can create held a twisted appeal to me but something stopped me from following through with an actual purchase. I already own a copy, it is called low life, and you can really come up with some crazy characters with it. It takes place on a Earth that has suffered many calamities, a post, post, post apocalyptic world you might say. There are no humans, but croaches, werms and sentient snack cakes roam the land. Compared to gamma world's random character generation I feel low life is close, players are able to come up with some wild creations if they put their minds to it. Here is the synopsis from the low life site:     Sword & Sorcery Adventure in a shattered world inhabited by the descendants of cockroaches, worms, snack cakes, and stranded aliens. Discover the arcane secrets of hocus pokery, dementalism, smellcasting, and holy rolling. Battle hideous beasts, risen from the rubble of ancient civilizations. Enjoy a light lunch at the Primordial Soup Kitchen. Mutha Oith is a world of grand adventure and deadly peril; a world of conflict and danger. It is a land of epic heroism and great evil, a realm of horror and violence, a bold land where even the lowliest cockroach can become a king by his own sword and the most wretched gob of filth can become a gawd.
     Are you werm enough to follow your destiny? Do you have the nuggets to take your rightful place among Oith's most valiant heroes? If so, strap on your esophagator hide shield, pick up your poo flinger and your big ass cleaver, mount your pygmy slog, whisper a prayer to Jelvis, kiss your larvae goodbye, and open the goosin' book. The muck-riddled road to epic adventure stands before you... 

     How does that sound? In addition to playing any of the several wild races (bodul, creamfillian, croach, horc, smelf, oofo, pile, and tiznt) you can customize your weapon. I saw someone playing a creamfillian (sentient snack cakes that hate the ancient human race for imprisoning their ancestors in little plastic bags and devouring them) who was wielding a rubber chicken with nails in it! As long as gamers have a little imagination, stuff like this is possible. How about a tiznt, which is a mix of different animals picked by the player, riding a green caterpillar toy from when I was a kid.

     That is another thing, artifacts of the "hooman" race can still exist, just like in gamma world, so you can have a werm living in a potato chip can that is now tall enough to be a house. Really, gamma world sounds fun but since I already own a product that can do practically the same thing, I think I will just stay with low life.

     Any questions please leave in the comments section below, and if you are curious, here is a link to the low life site http://www.muthaoithcreations.com/lowlife.html and a link to my first post which where I spoke of running a low life demo game http://randomencountersohio.blogspot.com/2010/05/first-blog-ran-low-life-rpg.html Take care guys!!

Diggin old "Dragon"s

Recently I acquired ten Dragon magazines from a used bookstore nearby, more precisely, issues 71-72, 75, 79, 87-89, 108, 110, and 151. Amazing artwork abounds, as well as the first installment of Snarfquest. These range from March '83(AD&D) to November '89(2nd edition). From Boot Hill/ Top Secret adventures to Oriental Adventure support, it is amazing the diversity of information just waiting to be bent to my will, a-hahahahahaha. Ahem, excuse me for that outburst.

Number 71 starts with a Clyde Caldwell cover and a missive in the letters section about Mazes and Monsters, I can almost feel like a kid again. Next, Gary Gygax comes up with some new druid spells and fleshes out some quasi(and non quasi)deities from the Greyhawk setting. The big thing here is "The Taming of Brimstone", an adventure for the Boot Hill game. It is just begging to be adapted for Deadlands or any other western rpg you like. Of course it ends with the comics, What's New with Phil and Dixie, Dragonmirth, and Wormy. Ahh, memories!

Another Caldwell cover on issue 72, as well as the new cavalier class and the ecology of the piercer! Ed Greenwood has an extensive treatise on gemstones that is interesting. As this is an April issue there are a few April fool's type articles included such as valley elf song lyrics(parody of valley girl) and Duh Jock (new class). As usual, it ends with the usual comics fanfare, woot!

Jack Crane has a whimsical cover for Dragon 75, and the letters include a few about play by mail games. Ed Greenwood gives us the ecology of the mimic and two or three articles give some depth to devils and the Nine Hells. Gamma World gets some more creatures, while an aquatic adventure (Can Seapoint Be Saved)is featured for AD&D. An article giving tips to dungeon masters is informative, and I also learn Origins was held in Detroit in 1983!

Jack Crane(whimsy be thy name) is once more our cover artist and we are treated to the ecology of the treant as well as the winners of the Gen Con miniature competition. A Top Secret mission "Wacko World" is included, with a short article about freelance submissions.

Our third and final Crane cover has various animal plants attacking some adventurers, this is followed up inside with an article by Mr. Crane about these various plants. We learn how to take our game out of the dungeon as well as the ecology of the dryad. More Greyhawk deities get fleshed out and Stalking the Night Fantastic gets a poor review. Operation: Whiteout, a Top Secret mission, is featured as well as the Ares section for sci-fi content such as Star Frontiers, Traveller and Gamma World.

Well, I have to go, but I will be back with the rest of those, if anyone is interested. The ads are great, with the 007 game, ICE's Middle Earth rpg, just all kinds of games and merchandise. Catch you guys later, and take care!!