[Found Items] Thrift Store Swords and Starships!

OK. I need to brag.

On a whim I stopped by the local thrift store on the way home tonight. Occasionally they'll have bags of Lego bricks (I've found a few bags of miscellaneous pieces; my son found an entire 10" tall Bionicle warrior once...and most recently an Imperial TIE Defender...missing only one piece and the pilot) or perfectly serviceable Nerf dart guns. I rarely look at the book section because it's dominated with either Stephen King titles that I already have or Harlequin romances.

Tonight? No Lego bricks, although there was a large bag of fake MegaBlok knock-offs that I passed over. Decided to wander through the books and videos, hoping to find a copy of Labyrinth somewhere. No luck on that, but the minuscule Sci-Fi/Fantasy section had a bit of a treasure.

Picked up all six of these titles for a total of $7.50, including tax. Books 1–3 of the Mageworld Saga by Debra Doyle & James D. McDonald and the three Books of the Sword by Fred Saberhagen.

Now, I've had the Mageworld Saga for years, and found copies of the first two Books of the Sword a couple years ago at a Convention. My Mageworld copies are pretty ragged, even with as careful as I am with books, they've been read and re-read—They're quite well-loved, actually. And my Saberhagens saw much better days years before I picked them up. They're pretty ragged; I only picked them up because I'd been looking for them for a couple years.

I wanted secondary copies of these, of course. But even better—aside from the price—was the fact that these 6 books are pristine. They don't look like they've ever been opened; admittedly, The First Book of Swords has a bit of a spine-crease and the front cover of The Second Book of Swords has some ink transfer on it. Apparently, a National Geographic Society membership card from 1990 (which was stuck to the cover) will adhere to—and the ink transfer to—a book cover if left pressed against it long enough.

If you've never read the Mageworld Saga, I'd highly recommend it. A ripping good space opera series, with a good bit of action and a nice helping of magic added in...good stuff. The Saberhagen also comes highly recommended; I enjoyed the first book and the others have been working their way to the top of my "To Read" pile.

This just five days after getting a neat little haul from a downtown used book store, the largest one in the state. Dropped in with my wife while walking to my office holiday party (yeah, a post-New Year's Christmas party). It's a dangerous place, because I could literally spend hundreds of dollars there if I was allowed to do so.

I've always wanted to read Asprin's "Myth" books and was pleasantly surprised to find a 2-in-1 copy. The Face of a Stranger is a great Victorian mystery (an English detective wakes up in the hospital with a bad case of amnesia, and must discover his own identity while solving an important case involving the nobility). And a neat-looking little mystery from Isaac Asimov that I'm looking forward to reading.

All told, I'm pleased with my finds this past week; it's been a long time since I've been quite so lucky with great books for my library.

And just so I don't run afoul of the Joesky tax, here's a quick little random d20 table of books (and things stuck inside them) that you might find in that mage's dusty old library—hooks and idea germs for encounters, adventures, or campaigns:

d20 Roll	Title
1	The Everyday Application of Novel Divination
2	The Axe: A Tutorial
3	Heretics Opposing the Fire God
4	The Storm God's Invocations
5	The Minor Powers of the Great Traveling Gods
6	The Wonderful Stories of the Mysterious Plant God
7	An Expose of the Theocratic Earldom's Early Pirates
8	Sleeping Patterns of the Bugbear
9	The Trident: A Tutorial to Maintenance
10	The Subtle Truths of the Sky God
11	A Treatise of Thaumaturgy
12	Legendary Warlords
13	Virtues of the Revenge Gods
14	Hunting Habits of the Basilisk
15	A Magus' Text on Remedial Summoning
16	An Examination of the Kingdom's Cultural Annals
17	A Study of Basic Magical Arts
18	Essential Alchemy
19	Classic Evocations of the Journeyman
20	Theological Crimes in the Empire

Roll d4 times on the following table to find out "What's Inside."

d20 Roll	What's Inside
1-6	Nothing
7	Dog-eared pages marking pages with underlined passages
8	A shopping list written in code
9	Several love letters stuck haphazardly into the book
10	Hand-written notes in the margins totally unrelated to the subject of the book
11	Personal notes in the margins of several concurrent pages warning of a coming doomsday
12	A hand-written dedication in the front of the book
13	Bookmarks (d6) marking pages with errors
14	Triangular scraps of paper with notes in a foreign language
15	A document with a list of dates in the back of the book
16	A list of foreign locations in an archaic language
17	Three scraps of parchment in some kind of code that seem to have no connection
18	A list of birthdays in an archaic tongue secreted in the binding
19	A map of a local castle or keep, including secret doors and passageways
20	A map of a lost city tucked inside the binding

[RPG Inspiration] Expedition to the Canaveral Cape

"I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it. [screaming] You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you!" -- George Taylor

The Planet of the Apes line was the first thing I thought of when this picture popped up on my Facebook feed this morning.

White Castle by Yuri Shwedoff

Unfortunately, in my pessimism, this picture paints what I fear is our space-faring future. It struck a chord with me, and not a good one. I'm one who firmly believes that mankind should be out there among the stars, exploring, learning, growing, and discovering as we have throughout our existence. I look out into the night sky now and wonder, "Where is our Columbus? Our Marco Polo? Our Thor Heyerdahl or Jacques Cousteau? Where is this generation's (or the next generation's) Neil Armstrong or Jim Lovell?" Forget what you may think of their supposed politics, alleged ethics, or remembered reputation: these men were explorers. They stretched our maps and widened our world views, risking life, limb, and possibly soul to do so. They were men of vision. They were heroes.

I still remember the thrill and adrenaline rush from the first shuttle launch. My father roused me early one morning and dragged me downstairs to watch. "Dragged" I say...I had always resented being born just a little bit late to see the moon landing; I wasn't going to miss this for the world. My father later had the opportunity to be present at a shuttle launch; he took pictures and, through his experiences--both there and as a bomber pilot--I watch the launches now and can almost physically feel the shock wave from the engine ignitions and the G-pressures from the acceleration. I remember looking at these men (and later women) as heroes. Certainly the crews of the Challenger and Columbia shuttles are heroes. Once we had vision and a drive to learn.

Now we're relegated to milk runs to a cramped little tin can in orbit. Especially as Americans, who have to humble ourselves to hitch a ride on someone else's bus to that flea-bag in space. Great way to honor the memories of the countless heroic astronauts who gave their lives to the space program and the idea of exploration.

We should be stretching out our hands and minds, embracing the wonder, the adventure, and the risk. From that activity comes growth, learning, and countless benefits to society. The other way--the way we're taking now--ultimately results in becoming Morlocks and Eloi.

That being said, the DM in me sees this image as a potential modern version of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. The "verticality" of the shuttle gives rise to some interesting environmental questions, though, like "how best to traverse the interior?" and "just how do we get inside that thing anyway?" Of course, the modern version of the dungeon--as suggested here--couldn't be much of a dungeon crawl; the size difference in the shuttle systems makes that unlikely.  I mean, just compare the potential maps between the two. Canaveral Cape would have to be extended to the base itself and the various outbuildings. The STS and the tank/boosters alone just wouldn't be enough for a full adventure.

Hmm. Now there is an idea.

Dang. Now I'm going to spend all day looking through online NASA files for blueprints and such. Sigh.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Twenty-three

Day Twenty-three: First song that comes to mind that you associate with D&D. Why?

Easy.

Hotel California, by the Eagles, 1977.

If you have to ask why... c'mon, have you never LISTENED to the lyrics? I know, I know, Don Henley has claimed that the song was an "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles" and that "It's basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America." All that symbolism aside, I still say:

Why has no one written an adventure based on Hotel California?!?

Let's take a quick look at the obvious: you have an adventurer, traveling in the dark. He sees a light in the distance, and immediately becomes sleepy. We have a mysterious woman whose motives are unclear who welcomes him into the house by candlelight. Charm spell, anyone? Once inside, he hears voices. Ghosts? Undead? Captives? Minions? Who knows?

This mysterious woman--Tiffany--has a bunch of boy toys pretty boys thralls in the courtyard, dancing. Honestly, some of them may actually be zombies, too. I can see in my mind both kinds: the thralls are in the middle of the courtyard, ball-room dancing while the zombies are around the edges, perhaps a few interspersed in the crowd, and every day they're shuffling, shuffling, shuffling. (I couldn't resist.)

Now, the idea that you entered the building willingly takes on a particularly dark and sinister note, doesn't it?

The hero asks for provisions, without any luck. And then, the voices come back, and loud enough to wake you up in the night. As you wander around investigating the building, you find garish, tacky, or out-of-date decor: mirrored ceilings, although despite the lyrics I always see them as a room of mirrors, like in the funhouse; fancy, cloying food and drink; and prisoners, but possibly willing prisoners. Maybe they're more thralls, maybe some of them are merely kept for occasional "snacks."

Then you find yourself in the "master's chambers." Perhaps Tiffany isn't the BBEG after all.... Whoever IS master, however, has a beast of some kind chained in his chambers. All of the thralls and his other subjects have gathered there for a ritual sacrifice: The Feast. No matter what they do to it, it will not die. Perhaps it's troll-kin. Perhaps they have a resident cleric who waits until the creature is on the verge of death and who then heals it back to normal. Whatever it is, the ritual is sufficient to cause the adventurer to run, nearly senseless, for the front door.

Only now he finds that there is no front door. The entire building is a trap. And the evil butler, himself likely a mid-level vampire, tells him that he can "check out" at any time, but cannot leave the building. He can die at any time, but he cannot escape.

Now you tell me.... Why would I possibly associate this song with D&D, hmmm? `

"Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light. My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim; I had to stop for the night."

[From the Mailbag] Gifts from the Golem

Back in November, I received a couple of promotional e-mails from Paizo. They were gearing up for what they called "the Great Golem Sale." (Hint: their logo, if you didn't know, is a golem. See?)

This sale was a chance, so they said, to make room in their warehouse by discounting their backstock: magazine back issues, board games, maps, books, accessories, even miniatures and plush figures. The sale was to run throughout November and would feature "over 900 gaming products...at up to a 90% discount!" The catch was that these items could not be combined with pre-orders, back orders, or subscription shipments if you wanted the discount.

So, I looked and looked. Nothing really grabbed my eye. Plus, with Christmas coming up, it was hard to devote much money in a month with no Paizo subscriptions to fund; all that discretionary money was going to go to Christmas.

Noble ideals, right?

Fast forward to November 30. One final look at the Sale List. Then I saw it. The Babylon 5 RPG Second Edition Handbook. Marked down from $49.95 to $3.00. $3.00! Being such a huge B-5 fan, and having already started to collect some Sci-Fi RPGs, I thought this was a perfect conjunction of planets. I confess, I picked up two copies: a reading copy, and another copy for...well, honestly, I'm hoping to run into a convention someday where the remaining cast members are present and I could get some signatures.

Whether you want to say that find primed the pump or that it burst the dam...either way, IT WAS ON.

I swept through Paizo's library of B-5 materials, adding them to my cart. Then I started on Pathfinder maps and found a couple that I really wanted. I moved from the maps, to the Pathfinder Chronicles and Modules. Somehow I'd missed all this stuff the first time I'd gone through the lists of merchandise. What the heck, I'll pull out my list of missing/loaned-and-never-returned Dragon Magazines; Lo! and Behold! They had a couple on my list. And then I found a miniature that I'd been watching for several years. Now it was on sale. Once the dust cleared and the ORDER button pressed, I was a bit embarrassed with myself. Although, I would have been much more embarrassed to have paid full price. I mean, really.

The wait began.

I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally I had to call Paizo and ask about my order; I was told that they were filling orders as fast as they could. I received an e-mail telling me that one of the maps was out of stock. And I waited. And waited. Another call, another promise that they were filling the orders as fast as they could, that the response was much greater than they'd anticipated. Oh, and "by the way" my order was being held up because they were waiting to receive the miniature from the manufacturer. So I told them to cancel the mini from my order. And I waited. I finally contacted the head of Customer Service through the Paizo website; it was the weekend before Christmas and they were still filling pre-Thanksgiving Great Golem Sale orders.

Then on the 23rd, I received an e-mail telling me that my order had shipped. It's a good thing that nothing I ordered was a Christmas gift. Why? Because I received the order a week later, on the 30th. Still, even with all the hassle and waiting, it was still worth it. This was the haul I received for just over $50.00. (Shipping, of course, hit me in the shorts, but that's always the way, isn't it?) That's a mighty stack, ain't it? I really should have put a ruler up to the side of that stack for reference.

What's even more impressive is the sight you see when you spread it all out. My kids walked in while I was taking the picture; they hadn't seen the order out of the box yet. They all stopped and stared and then cheered.

I've got great kids. It made me grin. And feel a little proud. Like I'd done my job as a role-playing father.

And you remember the Inn I mentioned in the New Year's post? The map that inspired me, and that I used for the Inn, is here at the upper right-hand corner of the stack. It turns out that it's a page-size pull-out from a Dragon Magazine (apparently, although I don't remember seeing it in MY collection) and folds out. to be 17" x 22".

All in all, I'd say it turned out well. Even though the shipping process made me gripe, I'm going to chalk it up to a larger-than-expected sale and give them the benefit of the doubt. And hope it doesn't happen again. I'm certainly going to keep my eyes open for a re-run of the Great Golem Sale this year. And maybe plan on ordering just a bit earlier than the 30th.

[Map Monday] Goblin Warrens of Weepcur Glen (Lvl 1)

Yeah, it's Tuesday, but I'm going to still call it Map Monday, because my internet was having fits of frozen rage all weekend. This was the first time I could get this uploaded.

I present for your viewing pleasure today, the Goblin Warrens of Weepcur Glen!

I don't have a lot of background for this map. I'd like to imagine lots of little goblin nests throughout, particularly right in the middle, on the top terrace, using the large stalagmite for cover to rain arrows down upon a bunch of murder hobos adventurers....

To be frank, I'm not sure I like this map much at all. I know, that's a ringing endorsement.... Don't get me wrong; I'm still putting it out here for y'all, and I'd love to hear if you use it. Honestly, I'd like to get any feedback on this, period.

It was more of a project, an experiment.

You see, I don't get to use GIMP as much as I'd like. In my professional day-job life, it's not really even vaguely required. And, honestly, I let so much time lapse between digitizing my maps that I truly forget some of the tricks and tweaks I've used in the past. For example, I've COMPLETELY forgotten how I did the various water effects in the Caverns of the Sceades map from last year. I've seemingly misplaced the graphic I used for the parchment effects on my previous maps. But also, I wanted to try out some new techniques with this map.

I have a confession to make. Maps can be tedious.

To digitize, that is. Especially if you're like me and you like lots of little elevation changes. Those little elevation lines on the ledges? If anyone could tell me a fast and simple way to do that in GIMP or Photoshop, you would instantly become my hero. If you could tell me a fast and easy way to put the elevation lines in the crevasses? Yeah. I may just put you in my will. It takes so much time and energy to put the little lines in, time after time...I think that's why I let so much time elapse between map uploads here.

So, with this map, I used a fine tip Sharpie marker (y'know, the ones that say "fine" but are really quite large and fat?) on 1/4"-graph paper. I uploaded it, then contrasted out the lines, and added in a layer of digital lines. I also created my own "cross-hatch" effect and threw that on their as well. I wanted to see what effects were possible by hand-drawing then simply digitizing, with minimal digital touch-ups and re-draws.

Yeah. Didn't turn out nearly as well as I'd hoped.

I don't like the smoothness of the lines. I don't like re-drawing over my lines after I digitize a map, but I think it may have a more organic feel when I do. I also don't like filling the page with cross-hatch; I'd much rather do a partial fill like Dyson Logos' and Matt Jackson's maps. I know there's got to be an easy way to do this digitally, rather than by hand, but I have yet to find it. And I really don't want to ask these guys about their professional tricks: this is bread and butter to them, after all. (And yes, I've tried it by hand. The results were...well...frightening.)

I also ran into a problem with "transparency." I found it difficult to add colors (like the parchment paper) without over-writing them with other layers. Again, I know I'm missing something, I'm just having trouble finding (or re-finding) the answers. If anyone knows of a good GIMP tutorial, especially in re maps and map drawing, I'd love a reference. I'd also, like I said, appreciate any other feedback or criticism you can offer. Hopefully someone out there can use it in their own world, at least as a hook or an idea. Drop me a line if you do, would you?

The JPG is here and the PDF is here.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 9

DAY NINE

What is your favorite character that you have NOT played?

Put simply: A Goliath rogue.

The goliaths were a race introduced by Wizards of the Coast into 3.5E in the supplement Races of Stone. The D&D Wiki calls them: "massive creatures unafraid of throwing their weight around in a fight. Highly competitive, these strong nomads can prove to be powerful allies and welcome additions to any adventuring party." They were a lot more than that, however. Their favored class was barbarians; they live in the mountains, have bluish-grey skin, and hard nodules randomly on their bodies. Picture giants, but of Medium size. Rather, they're Medium size, but so massive that you treat them in many respects as a Large character.

OK, you have that picture in your head?

Now make him a rogue. Blow up his Move Silently and Hide skills (a.k.a. Stealth). Maybe add in a Cloak of Elvenkind. Make him ultra quiet, ultra sneaky, and ultra...well, ultra rogue. But when you look at him, he's this big lumbering mass of flesh. It's a great contradiction. I want to play one just for the shock value, and I've been waiting for the right time to spring one on my group.

Until about 6 months ago. One of our other players--who does not like playing the same race twice--was looking for an innovative character idea. So I gave him this one, thinking he would never try it.

Well, he did. And he died within one session to the attack of three giant spiders. A very ignominious end. There was a lot of mocking and laughing. So I've shelved the idea.

For now.

Digital Orc: Verloren (Review)

I have a whole slew of potential posts that are bouncing around in my head, including a recap of Free RPG Day loot-gathering. Unfortunately, my personal and professional life was turned topsy-turvy last Friday when my boss decreed that, in two weeks, he was shutting down the law firm and I'd be "self-employed."

My head hasn't been in the game since then, although I'm getting a bit more emotionally stable with the passing days.

But I was heartened this morning when I slipped over to the Digital Orc's blog to see what Dylan had in store. Lo and behold! Dylan's newest offering for Labyrinth Lord is up for sale!

(Disclaimer: I was an editor/proofreader on this project. I am not being compensated for this review, but will receive a copy of the final product for my proofreading services.)

I have not yet seen the final, finished product, but based off of the preview copy I saw as part of my proofreading? Wow. I should say up front that I do not play Labyrinth Lord, but all of Dylan's stuff has been fairly easy to port over to my 3.x campaign(s). My players have been known to recoil over some of his monsters. (Hello, backpack spider! I'm looking right at you, buddy!) This is more of the same.... From the evocative settings to the weird mutants, from the death-gamblers to the manipulative alien beings, from the sexy werewolf sirens to the hive-mind giant rodents....

Well, Dylan has done it again. This is some great stuff. He self-described this one to me as "weird" and it is. But that's not a criticism. It's weird stuff, but a cool weird. I liked what I saw and I think you will too. I can't wait to hold Verloren in my hands and let the ideas germinate for my own campaign.

You can buy the PDF on RPGNow.com for $3.99 or the limited run print version for $4.99. That's a small price to pay for 32 pages of cool gaming content. In fact, the only page I saw that was of little-to-no-use was the OGL page. Everything else had great content, maps, hooks, or images for in-game use.

From his own ad copy:

Verloren is a city hanging in the balance. Either it will fall to an ancient evil or triumph based on your actions. Enclosed are city details, maps, nine original monsters, and interesting non-player characters for encounters in and out of Verloren. In this fantasy supplement, players will face powerful monsters and explore a decaying city to discover the secret of The Change and save the thousands of inhabitants.

• 9 Original Monsters
  
• Over 20 Original Illustrations
  
• 3 New Spells
  
• Lots of NPCs and Story Hooks
  
• 2 Maps

So take a moment if you would and jump on over to the Digital Orc: he's got purchase links for each option there. Verloren--GET IT NOW!

[From the Mailbag] Playing Catch-up from Los Angeles

The recently-completed A to Z April Challenge took more out of me than just physical and emotional stress. It also pretty much kept me from talking about some very generous and terrific things I received in the mail during that time.

First up are some offerings provided by Christian Walker. Old timers will remember him for his several excellent 'zine offerings, most lately Loviatar, a 'zine which I credit for a resurgence in interest and production of self-published RPG 'zines. He called it quits on Loviatar in late December 2012. Since then, he's been re-charging his batteries and taking a break. However, imagine my surprise in walking in from work one day and finding a LARGE envelope on my desk...a large envelope with his return address stamped on it. I tore into it with excitement and confusion, as I hadn't been expecting anything from him. I'm well overdue for saying THANKS, CHRISTIAN!!! Inside the package I found this little beauty:

I must confess, I've never seen this or heard of this setting before. I'm not well-versed in any Labyrinth Lord material, to be honest. This particular gem was first published in 2007 and is the basis for Mr. Bezios' "Phoenix Barony" setting (the end of the book promises several more adventures/modules in the setting). The gift was completely unexpected and utterly appreciated. It came on a very, very bad day and helped alleviate some emotional pain. The material within looks generic enough that it shouldn't be too hard to adapt and modify for my own 3.x/Pathfinder uses. In fact, I'm already plotting how and where to fit the Phoenix Barony in my campaign world in relation to Coldtreath.

Heh. Good stuff.


Speaking of good stuff, imagine my surprise when I received this in the mail on Thursday. Christian had, last year, started sending out one-page gaming material letters together with (and eventually in lieu of) Loviatar. I really enjoyed them and found them useful in my own campaigns. Well, he's started a new one-page letter 'zine: a Los Angeles-centered Cthulhu-oriented campaign setting, Shudde M'ell Confidential.

This first issue was intriguing to me. So much so that I sat right down and scribbled out a quick map and a letter to his newly-introduced first NPC regarding some mysterious runes discovered in an unusual excavation in the basement of a downtown building.

Yeah, I've got a set of brass ones. I'm a bit forward sometimes. But as I said, the material inspired me.

To be honest, I've never even played in a Cthulhu campaign. I'd do almost anything to live in Christian's neighborhood and take part in this one, though. Every Lovecraftian game I've heard any of my acquaintances run have all been New England-oriented campaigns. One friend had planned a northwest/Washington State-oriented game, but it never left the initial "wouldn't this be cool" planning stages. The idea of investigators in early 20th-century Los Angeles really sets off a spark somehow. There's a lot of interesting individuals, personalities, events, etc. that exist on the West Coast during this time period; certainly sufficient to make for a fun and realistic campaign setting.

Sigh. And here I am, stuck in the Rockies.

Kickstart THIS!

Two "new" Kickstarter projects have come to my attention that I want to pass on to the rest of you.

First of all are these Tavern Cards by Hannah Lipsky.

Some of you may know Hannah better as the operator of the random generator site, Chaotic Shiny. Hannah is a friend of mine, one that I've talked about here before. The random generators on her site are terrific and are a great spur for your imagination, gaming, and writing needs. Now she's taken the plunge from digital generators to physical--shall we say "analog"--generators with this Kickstarter.

From the Kickstarter description:

A gorgeous deck of full-color playing cards that you can use to randomly generate a tavern, then win at poker while you're there.

Tavern Cards is a random tavern generator in the form of a fully playable normal card deck....

You can play any normal card game with these cards. Or, you can draw a handful and use those to randomly generate a tavern.

All 54 cards have original full-color art. You can use the pictures as inspiration for your tavern, or just hand them to your players and say, "This is what you see." Many of the cards feature characters which you can use as NPC portraits.

The cards also have some cool features like tarot-style numbering. See the four diamonds on the Burly Bouncers up top? What about the seven clubs in the Gambling Game card? Each card will have some representation of the number and the suit hidden in the art.

Each card also had an adjective on one side and a noun on the other. Combine any adjective with any noun on the cards you draw for a tavern name like the Prancing Pony, Drunken Goblin, Daring Hostler or Crimson Duchess.

As with any Kickstarter, the different support levels offer various perks: multiple card packs, discounts on future card packs, signed art, etc. With nine days left to go, she's about $1,740 away from funding the project. So head on over, find a good support level for your pocketbook and gaming shelf and let's get some of these card packs started shipping out to the gaming community.

This next one happened across my radar purely by accident. I'll let the description speak for itself:

A Gallery of Rogues is a fantasy sourcebook of a criminal guild and its network of operatives. More than just a thieves guild, the provides details on operation, range of influence, adventure hooks, and numerous tools for GMs and Players to get involved right away....

The characters come from all backgrounds, including criminal, civil, and even political. The guild maintains a wide array of members, including at least one wizard and a few politicians — to keep things orderly and all that. Each has a deep background, linked to other members of the guild. This interwoven design promises for a realistic and complex web for your organization. Which in turns means months, if not years of rich game play.

Each character in the book includes game information for old and new editions of the world's favorite fantasy RPG, including Pathfinder, but not 4th.

This one looks pretty cool, if you ask me. Like monsters, I believe one can never have too many NPCs. This one has seven days left and is about $800 away from funding. I'm helping fund and would urge you to do so as well.

So head on over to Kickstarter, throw in a pledge to these two great projects, and then help get the word out!

Professional Cryptozoology

Image property of Para Abnormal

This morning I'm seriously considering a career change from the practice of law to Professional Cryptozoolozy.

No, seriously.

Part of that decision comes from the fact that I am spending the day at the back of a conference room learning about "The World of Depositions." You see, attorneys are required to participate in a set number of hours of "Continuing Legal Education" or "CLE" in order to renew and maintain their license.

I have a double-digit amount of hours left to take prior to June 30, 2012. I'm in a little bit of trouble and as a result, I'm taking a lot of hours that have nothing to do with my actual area of practice. For example, depositions...it's been twelve years and two months since I took or attended my last deposition. So obviously today's presentation is quite useful and relevant.

But I digress.

Today's CLE is only one reason for my desire to change careers.

The other was the episode of Grimm I watched last night. I've developed a real taste for Grimm. I wrote about it here at the start of the season.

I'm going to assume here that most of my readers know the premise behind Grimm. If you don't, hit IMDB or Wiki. Better yet, go here.

I badly wanted to like Once Upon A Time as well, but as that show quickly de-evolved into a soap opera, I stopped watching after the third episode (or so). Grimm on the other hand has not only maintained the quirkiness and intrigue throughout the season, most of the characters have grown, the story line developed, and even the mysteries and twists have been developed and followed without becoming contrived (see: Lost). While some may be irritated with its "monster-a-week" premise, I believe that we'll see that change once we, as viewers, have an idea of the breadth of the Wesen universe; i.e., as Nick learns, we learn along with him.

It's not exactly young-child-friendly, so our DVR saw great use this season. The wife and I have been squeezing in a couple episodes every couple nights the past week in an effort to get caught up with the story. Suffice it to say, I think most of the fears I had after the pilot have been addressed and countered.

My wife and I have also become addicted to Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet (check your local listings). It's kind of a guilty pleasure. It's where we go to slum, intellectually, when our brains are worn out. In case you don't know, the premise here is that a group of "researchers"--three true believers and one skeptic--go from state to state following leads and rumors of Bigfoot sightings. Much of the program is devoted to a "town hall meeting" where they call witnesses together and invite them to share their stories. Then, having documented the stories, they take the two or three most reputable (or promising) witnesses out in the field to the loci of their sighting(s). Then they spend the night running through the forest with night-vision goggles, cameras, and directional microphones while making various grunts and screeches.

Needless to say every episode ends with the true believers being sure that the state in question has a Sasquatch population, the skeptic still not convinced, and not a blessed piece of evidence or camera footage.

One of the true believers--a man that goes by the nickname of Bobo--may be their best evidence of the existence of Sasquatch. This guy literally looks like a freshly-shaven Bigfoot. Slack-jawed and shaggy-haired, somewhere around 7' tall, Bobo believes every twig-crack and animal-howl is "without a doubt" a "Squatch." In fact, this quickly becomes his catch-phrase: "It's a Squatch!" Of course, the veiwer is (hopefully) saying to him- or herself: Ummm... it sounded like a twig snapping or it sounded just like a coyote.

Yeah, I know, real brain-twisting, hard-hitting, overly-intellectual television fare. It's made me want to play in a good, d20 Modern paranormal game. Heck, a paranormal game of any ilk, actually, if I can find a good one.

So, back to Grimm. The episode we watched last night was entitled, "Big Feet." In the opening teaser/set-up sequence, we see a group of Bigfoot researchers doing guess what? They're out in the woods at night, with cameras and miscellaneous gear, making grunts and howls. Then they come face to face (off-camera) with some crazed being that tears through the researchers like they were paper. On camera we see a hint of the carnage: one researcher thrown at an enormous tree with bone-shattering force. We see the aftermath after the first commercial: one researcher lying on the ground with his torso torn open. Another researcher is transfixed on a five-foot-long, two-inch-diameter branch on a fallen log.

And that's when I turned to my wife and said, "This is what Finding Bigfoot is missing; I want to see Bobo thrown through the air. THAT'S when I will believe it's a Squatch."

But it made me think again: these guys with the BFRO ("Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization"). I want that gig. I want to be paid like that. (Yeah, before you say it, this is their hobby, their side-job. I understand that.) C'mon, who out there will throw me a wad of cash to go camping and looking for mythical creatures?

Call me. I'm your guy.

Will o' Wisps and Basilisk Smoke

Yeah, yeah.... Put your bestiaries and rulebooks away. I know that basilisks don't smoke.

Except on those rare occasions where starving adventurerers throw their recent kill on the spit. Yeah. I went there. Merry Christmas.

Instead, the title means to me the etherealness of my goals and dreams for this last week of 2011. I left my office on the Friday prior to Christmas with great goals and ideas of what I was going to accomplished over my ten-day holiday vacation. There were some great gaming goals: posts, adventures, maps, and even some miniature painting.

Ask me which of those have actually been accomplished. Go ahead.

Nothing.

I sat down Christmas afternoon and *POOF* it was all gone. Motivation, ideas, germs, drive, etc. It was all gone. Much like basilisk smoke in the wind, completely irretrievable. I've tried for days to remember, and all my ideas are gone.

That's depressing enough to drive me into a mini-buying spree. For that, however, I need to wait for my next paycheck. So...strike two.

I guess I'll go through and update my 2011 totals and see if a good night's sleep does any good. As for all of my friends: may you have sufficient creativity and imagination to get you to the New Year.

Stay dicing, my friends.

**EDIT: Wow. Could I be any more depressing? I guess I could if I really tried, but it's not worth the effort. I found a couple minis pictures on my hard drive and realized that I was going to do a review of some Pathfinder minis. So, hopefully, that means my brain is back on board!

[From the Mailbag] Dice

After my day yesterday coming to grips with my blogpression, and after a lot of encouragement and support from many of you, the entire day was eventually saved with a visit from the postman late yesterday afternoon.

After a long wait, my Dungeonmorph Dice finally arrived! And apparently I'm not the only one excited by these, as I've seen them all over the blogosphere this morning. Upon first inspection, the excitement is warranted and the wait was definitely worth it!

These dice were the project that introduced me to Kickstarter, an introduction that I am grateful for. (My wife and wallet? Not so much grateful, I'm afraid.) While they were originally conceived as OSR white-on-blue maps--a design later found to be too prohibitive for mass-production--the final black on white design looks terrific.

As you can see from the picture, I took the plunge and bought one of each set: The Explorer, The Adventurer, and The Spelunker. Of course, I now wish I'd purchased two of each set, but am grateful I at least have one of each. The range of random dungeon rooms that these dice make available is great: whether I use them to create a dungeon from scratch or just to add a bit of random personalization to an already-published dungeon, they're going to see a lot of use.

Joe has also produced a font based on these dungeonmorph designs as well as some cards; both tools are intended (and prove likely) to help use the dice to their fullest extent. He has also planned .pdf versions--battlemats--for use with miniatures and computer-aided games.

All it takes is a simple roll of the dice. They're oversized--I've been told that they are similar to casino dice, but having never been to a casino, I can't vouch for that. Rolling more than a couple at a time gets to be a handful, but that ain't much of a complaint; the size makes them more legible after all. One quick roll, though, and you have a dungeon area all ready to be stocked, beginning in the small temple complex, ranging through some meandering hallways and finally winding up in the caverns beneath the temple. All those delicious areas just waiting for terrifying creatures and diabolical traps. (My apologies for the quality of this picture; all I had was my cell phone and it decided to be a bit temperamental; this was the best of three attempts. My photograpic skills should not reflect on the actual quality of the project.)

Joe's to be commended. I look forward to his next Kickstarter project: Plastic 2D miniature card stand-ups. Visit him over at his website, Inkwell Ideas, for more information. He's also got some leftover Dungeonmorph Dice available for purchase, but my guess is: move fast on these dice or lose out. They're sure to go fast.

As an attorney, I feel obliged to add this legal stuff--the fine print, as it were: "The DungeonMorph designs may be republished by anyone (free of charge, even commercially) if 5 or fewer designs are republished in a given item or if the designs are less than 20% of the overall item containing the designs. In either case, you must also note 'DungeonMorph Design from http://www.dungeonmorphs.com' next to each map and copy this entire message somewhere in the item. An item refers to a website, magazine, book, etc."

Found Item: Lifebringer

I happened upon a new blog yesterday, Giblet Blizzard, hosted by Jez, a self-proclaimed illustrator, writer, and gamer from New Zealand. So far he's got some interesting content and I want to be one of the first to welcome him to the Gaming Blogosphere.

One post in particular grabbed my attention. In it he sets forth a premise, that being:

"Blood is life, life is sentience, thus blood is sentient. That which is imbued with blood, is alive."

He then goes on to set up some game rules by which blood splashed on an object in the course of a physical attack against a living being causes said object to become sentient. The idea intrigues me; Jez then proposes applying it to a setting, whether that be a castle, a city, a region, or a world.

I like the idea, but I'm not sure I want it to be an entire setting, even if only a castle or keep. Instead, I like the idea of it being imbued as a curse (or a boon, depending upon one's perspective) on an edged-weapon. Imagine the wielder's surprise as he stands over a fallen foe, when suddenly: the neighboring statue--now blood soaked--moves to attack him; the nearby urn (also blood soaked) speaks to him; and the now-gory carpet begins to sing bawdy ditties from beneath the corpse. The role-playing angles and opportunites are countless! And it's not just a one-time effect, either. Played well, the DM could keep the players' suspense and confusion going for quite a while. It's not going to happen all the time, after all.

On a side note, each time I've read and re-read Jez's proposal, I've taken it for granted that the blood-soaked object in question would be an inanimate one. However as I was writing this entry (and post-item creation below) it occurs to me that it could just as easily be an animate creature, but non-sentient, e.g., dog, cat, beetle, bird, etc.) I suppose a lot depends upon your idea of "sentience" and one of many different tests therefor. Take that idea for what it's worth.

------------------------------------------

Lifebringer, +2 Greatsword (with a hat-tip to Jez over at http://gibletblizzard.blogspot.com)

This greatsword is, for most wielders, simply a +3 greatsword. However, the sword carries with it a special ability; this ability is both a curse and a benefit, depending on the wielder’s perspective. The average wielder will notice that the blade is crafted so that there is a prodigious blood-spray created with even the merest successful strike of the blade.

When a killing blow is made with this weapon, the attack sends a splash of blood and gore in a 5'-radius area around the vanquished foe. Any inanimate object coated in this gory spray must then make a Fortitude save equal to or greater than the total damage done with the single killing attack. Should the object fail its save, the magic of the sword causes the object to become sentient and animate. The number rolled as its save is then assigned between the six base attributes and the newly-aware “creature” gains the dominant attitude of the vanquished foe, or “bloodgiver,” as a basis for its personality.

The newly-aware creature will gain the ability to communicate in (at least) those languages known by the vanquished foe. Should the newly-aware creature have a “natural” means of locomotion (e.g., a humanoid statue has legs and a bird statue has wings), the object gains a movement speed of 10. There is also a 50% chance that the newly-aware creature will animate sufficiently to attack Lifebringer’s wielder.

Legend holds that there exist other similar life-bringing edged weapons in the world; stories abound of a great-axe as well as a dagger. Any other such weapons appear, for now, lost to history.

**Image courtesy of http://www.freeclipartnow.com.

Found Items Friday: The Grimblade

So last night I was able to steal away for an hour and watch the series premiere of NBC’s Grimm. And yes, this was time when I should have been pounding away at my NaNoWriMo word count. Don't talk to me about that.

I haven’t been able to watch Once Upon A Time yet (broadcast TV’s other genre offering this season) so I cannot compare the two. Grimm, however, was a lot of fun. I gather it won’t be your typical police procedural, full of hard clues and evidence, but still a good romp nonetheless. Hopefully a little bit more of the detective's skills will come into play in future episodes, because I would hate to see him have to rely on what I feel was essentially a deus ex machina solution. That was my first real complaint. Also, the reveal at the end makes it feel a bit too much like last season’s No Ordinary Family from ABC. I stopped watching that one about three episodes in once it was clear that the boss was the villain and he knew who the heroes were and blah blah blah blah blah. I hope that Grimm takes a different direction because I think there’s real potential there. I won't talk about the characterizations because, let's face it, NO series ever gets the characters perfect in the first season; it also takes that first season to get writing style, acting style, etc. down pat as well.

Found Items Friday: Personal Library Additions

Stopped by the used book store this morning on a hunch.

It paid off.

[OSR Challenge] Gesundheit

Gesundheit: A Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3.5 Edition adventure set in a Dwarven Stronghold, but easily dropped into any stronghold or similar structure. [With apologies to Asshat Paladin; I should have waited to read his latest adventure. It got stuck in my head and all I could think about was summoning.]

Get Ready:

• The adventurers stumble upon a dark ritual being performed deep in a friendly stronghold. They have no time to summon help; they must deal with this on their own, or die trying.

[OSR Challenge] A New Skeleton For The Closet

A New Skeleton For The Closet: A Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3.5 Edition adventure set in a Dwarven Stronghold, but easily dropped into any stronghold or similar structure.

Get Ready:

• The adventurers find a secret door hidden inside a closet in the Hold Lord’s bedchamber. Opening the secret door brings the party more than it bargained.

[OSR Challenge] Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Potential Copyright Violation

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Potential Copyright Violation: A Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3.5 Edition adventure set in a Dwarven Stronghold, but easily dropped into any stronghold or similar structure.

Get Ready:

• The adventurers, seeking to relieve the stronghold of a priceless piece of art, break into the Hold Lord’s private study. Inside they find something quite unexpected.

[OSR Challenge] Midnight In The Garden Of Neutral And Chaotic Evil

Midnight In The Garden Of Neutral And Chaotic Evil: A Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3.5 Edition adventure set in a Dwarven Stronghold, but easily dropped into any stronghold or similar structure.

Get Ready:

• Rumors of fantastic treasure draw the adventurers to a dwarven druid’s small keep; even better: the druid has not been seen for weeks. Now is their chance.

[OSR Challenge] Keep A-Knockin’ But You Can’t Come In

Keep A-Knockin’ But You Can’t Come In: A Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 3.5 Edition adventure set in a Dwarven Stronghold, but easily dropped into any stronghold or similar structure. (This short adventure is designed to follow the short adventure entitled “Knock, Knock ... The Sky Is Falling” and assumes the adventurers move forward with their exploration of the stronghold.)

Get Ready:

• The young adventurers have been bloodied, but their resolve remains. The smell of treasure promise of exploration drives them forward.