Temporary Insanity

Everyone take a SAN check. Zoltar, King of the Wicker People has apparently seized control of The Stronghold.

Something's going on with my posts. I just had one of my new posts disappear from view, even though it's still showing on my blog roll.

Dang Blogger.

We hope shortly to return you to your reading pleasure. Do not panic. Do not take rash actions.

The Wicker Overlord thanks you for your patience.

[review] Pathfinder Comics Issue #1

Back in the day, I was obsessed with and addicted to comic books. In the early 70s, my brother gave me a huge collection of early Spidey comics that he had built up. From there, I became a constant fixture at our local FLCS (Friendly Local Comics Store) from junior high through my undergraduate years. I loved me some Marvel, but there was the occasional DC mixed in. My monthly holds cost me more than I was earning, first from allowance and then from my job. Monthlies? Graphic novels? It didn't matter; I didn't discriminate. I have boxes and boxes in my basement office right now.

And then I got married.

While my wife loves her Geek, she didn't appreciate the expense of comics. So I gave it up, nearly cold turkey. Yeah, I still picked up the occasional random issue, but NOTHING on the scale of what I had once been. I had convinced myself that there really wasn't a reason to pick up ongoing monthly issues, not when the story was never resolved in a month. Plus, they seemed to becoming less about the story and more about advertising...besides, I could always pick up a bound collection next year, right?

So when Paizo announced the production of their new Pathfinder comic book, I wasn't overly excited. It barely registered as anything other than "another publication on the FLGS Pathfinder shelf." I certainly didn't look at the details.

I should have.

My FLGS has a "preferred customer" punch card: you get a punch for every $10 you spend, and with $10 punches you get $10 off any item. So...last week, I was perusing that stacks looking for something with which to get a $10 punch. I found (as I said yesterday) a copy of the WotC module from 2000: The Forge of Fury. Problem: it was only $7. So I need to find something else to make $10 in order to get a free punch. Minis were out, because where I was vacationing I didn't have access to my paints. Dice were out, because I had already picked over the dice sets they had in stock and the inexpensive ones were not calling to me. And then I turned the corner and found the last copy of the comic book.

Fate.

At only $4, it was the perfect padding to my purchase.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot; I never saw a lot of value in WotC's attempts to "comic-ize" their iconic characters. I just didn't enjoy them. Little did I know; remember: I hadn't read anything about what to expect inside. There was some folded poster in the center--from what I could see of it, the image was the same as on the front of one of the Pathfinder tomes. I left it folded up and tossed it aside, unexamined.

First off, the story: it was a pretty tame "intro" story. It's weak and contrived, but aren't all "Issue #1" stories? You got a bit of insight into the interactions between the characters. There was a little combat, a little repartee. I admit that I was not enthusiastic at this point. While the art was pretty good, there were some small continuity problems in that I had to go back to a previous page to determine if two images were actually the same character. As for the story line, it seemed to take for granted that a reader knew what Pathfinders were, who the iconic characters were, and that the reader already had a little background. But it was an OK attempt at a "Issue #1" comic story--I've certainly read worse in my day.

Then I got to the middle of the book and found the tagline: "CONTINUED." I started to fume. Really?!? Only half the freaking book is story?!? WHAT A FREAKING WASTE!!

And then I turned the page, looking for the self-stroking "Coming soon in our other comics" pages.

Instead I found a write-up of the village of Sandpoint, including game stats and interesting NPCs. I got a little bit excited at this point. As I kept turning the pages I saw game stats and backgrounds for a couple of the iconic characters introduced in the comic, which made them perfect NPCs for my game. And then I came to a mini-adventure, a game version of an encounter described (or foreshadowed) in the comic.

And then a little light went on in my brain and I thought, "What if....?" I reached for the discarded, still-folded poster. I began to unfold and, yes, my initial guess was right: it was the cover of the Core Rulebook. And then I flipped it over.

Holy cow, the comic not only comes with a story, game information, NPCs, and a mini-adventure.... It also comes with a map. A FREAKING MAP.

I love maps. But you know that.

As I told my wife: how do you pack this much entertainment and game material into $4? You don't. At least, WotC doesn't. This, to me, shows Paizo's smarts yet again. They're offering the entertainment of the comic story as well as game material. The only thing they didn't do is include a special edition polyhedral die.

I'm impressed. And subscribing.

Like I said, I have some issues with the art style and the story-telling style. But to get this kind of value at only $4? You can't miss.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Reborn...with Miniatures!

Well, I'm back at the office today after a well-deserved and well-used ten days off. Those days were spent in a borrowed cabin up in the mountains, away from the cell phone and internet, and spent lying around, watching movies, and sitting in a hot tub while watching the kids swim in the pool.

I fully intended to get some gaming done with the kids, but whoops! Time just zoomed by, so that didn't happen.

I did have the time to peruse a couple new items to my collection. The first was the first issue of the Pathfinder comic book. Review coming soon on that one.

The second was an old 3.x module I picked up second-hand and cheap: The Forge of Fury. I don't know why I never picked this one up before. It didn't even sound familiar, but was apparently published in 2000. Hmm... I had to pick it up, though, because my kids are almost at 3d-level. Also: abandoned Dwarven stronghold? Hello? Is there really a question here? Seriously, I needed a good module to throw at my kids, a proven product. I've started another page here at the Stronghold for the game reports (also a way to review the module as we go).

But now I'm back to the grind. A bit refreshed, but also a bit under the weather. I suppose that's what I get for enjoying myself too much. The only highlight of being back is the fact that I have a truly wonderful, understanding wife.

"Why?" I hear you ask.... Well, for my birthday she "dragged" me to the FLGS, pulled out some cash that she had saved up, and allowed me to purchase an entire brick of the new Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder minis...as well as the Gargantuan Runegiant miniature. Needless to say, she bought a lot of goodwill and "honey-dos" with that gift.

The unboxing was a blast, although I'm quickly approaching the point at which my miniature storage needs to expand somehow. There were quite a few points at which I confess I squealed like a little girl when I opened a booster, particularly when I encountered the Warchief Ripnugget. He was one of the rare figures that I've wanted ever since the previews from Paizo. True, I've heard others express a reserved appreciation for this figure...saying that it's a great looking piece, but "how often will I need a goblin on a gecko?" Excuse me? My answer: I now have a great cavalry officer to LEAD my goblin attacks from now on. I'm going to LOOK for an opportunity to place this guy on the field. In fact, I may have to seek out a few more singles of this miniature, just so I can field a cavalry force.

Anyway: reviews of some of the other afore-mentioned products coming soon, I hope. I have to live through this infection first.

Ugh.

Anyone in the party have a spare Potion of cure moderate wounds they can spare?

Character Punishment.

I've been staring at a blank post page for over an hour now.

Yeah. That's what my life is like right now. There's a lot of stuff that's hit--personally and professionally--in the past couple weeks and gaming, unfortunately, has taken the back seat. We're talking rumble seat, here. I've barely had a chance to meet my financial obligations to a couple of OSR friends' products, products I haven't had an opportunity to read because of those aforementioned concerns.

Writing and creating has been squelched nearly completely.

But, figuring on vacation upcoming where I'll have severely limited access to the internet, I figured I have to get a post down somehow about something to prove I'm still alive.

Hence the hour-long staring contest with the blank screen.

Sigh.

So I go to thinking about the only gaming I've been able to do: a PBEM solo game with one of my long-time gaming buddies. And by "gaming" I mean "stolen moments here and there when my paralegals leave me alone long enough between document drafts where I can roll a die and tell my buddy what's just happened to him." And by "PBEM" I really mean Yahoo! Messenger. It's choppy and can be slow and frustrating, but hey...it's still gaming.

So, at the risk of boring some all of you, let me tell you where we are and what we're doing with this solo game. Trust me, it has some bearing on the title of this blog entry: Character punishment.

As some of you may remember from a couple posts back in October of last year, our long-time gaming group picked up out original characters, rebuilt them for "Epic" use (meaning post-20th level and certainly NOT using the Epic Level Handbook) and went off on a "last" adventure to tie up some loose ends from some 10 years ago. At the end of some well-scripted encounters, the group found itself circled around an unconscious female NPC that had caused us no small amount of grief and pain in the several iterations of our original campaign: she had been welcomed into our party when, unknowingly, she was our red dragon nemesis in disguise. Make the assumptions that you want about the trouble she caused--you're probably 90% correct. She was so much trouble that the miniature the DM used for her was permanently cursed. He tried to use it in a different campaign and we all reacted so poorly to the miniature (with distrust, hatred, and anger) that he literally had to retire the miniature.

So we had angst toward the NPC.

And found ourselves surrounding her unconscious body.

And my friend "D", the elven Rogue...cut her head off.

Well, the DM didn't appreciate that all too much. He stopped short of calling for an alignment check. Instead, he had all of our various deities appear and take away the magnificent god-gifted weapons from the entire party. Yep....*poof*...our artifact/legacy level weapons were gone. That was how our adventure ended.... That and the final retirement of our original DM from gaming.

So...it's obvious that we were all a bit unsatisfied with that conclusion. Our group's "first-alternate DM" happens to be "D" and in the week following the conclusion, he came up with a continuation-adventure hook. You see, it was a joint idea a year ago between "D" and myself to re-visit our original characters...then our original DM jumped in and took over from there. But "D" came up with a great "postscript" story line in which the deities involved with each of our characters visited the Rogue and "expressed their displeasure." They gave him a good tongue lashing, then presented him (as part of his penance) the various artifacts to be returned in person to the rest of the group. So, we all got back our stuff...except for him. He had to go on a Quest to learn, among other things, patience, wisdom, etc. I played around with the story for a bit, added some color and flavor with the gods' different voices, and then we threw it out for the other guys to approve. Obviously, all the players approved of getting their stuff back.

Then what to do with the Rogue. You see, we all agreed (after hearing the original DMs exposition on who the NPC really was, her situation, background, etc.) that the Rogue had screwed up. He may have acted in character, but it was still a huge boo-boo. Even the Rogue agreed that he should be punished, somehow. Well, as penance, the deities would take away his animal cohort, most of his abilities, equipment, etc. (or rather, force him to leave them behind) and to temporarily reduce his XP to next-to-nothing. This effectively dropped him down to first-level, although he retained most of his skills and attribute levels. As "third-alternate DM" for the group, I then proposed putting him through several modules and adventures -- alone -- and allow him to rebuild his XP back to his 26th level. This would represent his "re-education" and "repentance." It also gave him a chance to restructure his character into a new class: one that we created that better fit his idea of his character.

It hasn't been easy for him. He's confessed to me that every time he leaves the camp or the door to the inn, he feels ready to wet himself. He's alone, remember. Even though he has most of his skills and attributes, he has no feats, no special abilities...nothing beyond second level abilities. He has none of his magic items, except for a bag of holding. He has no special weapons. Indeed, he started out with darts, a dagger, and a sap. He's since picked up a short- and long-swords, as well as a crossbow, but he's been very good at limiting his weapon use. I started him in a 1st-level adventure from Paizo (I'm not going to name names here; I was at first, but I think I won't, so as not to tempt him with metagaming and spoilers.) which, while not easy for him, went quickly. I'm now using a sequel adventure, which has yet another sequel after that. He should go up a couple levels by then.

It's been entertaining to watch. I threw a gelatinous cube at him and watched him panic; I threw some darkmantles at him and he nearly fled the ruins. In the past 12 years of gaming, we've never encountered either. It's amazing what a little lack of knowledge and surprise (and creative description) can do to a player. And to a character. I've come close to killing him a couple of times--really close--but he's pulled through. No fudging on the die rolls, either. It's all been straight up. He's done some unexpected things that have made me stretch myself as a DM and make some on-the-fly rulings. And it's been a lot of fun.

So...I suppose I can open it up to thoughts and suggestions. We, as a group, have never had to punish a character before. Did we do it the right way?

[review] Delve! #1

After much angst and worry on my part, the inaugural issue of Delve! 'zine finally reached my mailbox this past week.

Go ahead, ask John. I really WAS angsting about it.

Anyway, this little packet of loveliness was a joy to dive into. It gave me something to read last weekend. I spent a good amount of time savoring the adventure, the critters, and all the fresh stuff that John Bingham packed inside. All in all, I really enjoyed it.

However, in the interest of an honest review, there were a few things that detracted from the experience for me.

I am, at heart, a reader. I come from a genetically-good speller on one side and a line of English teachers on the other. I was an English major in college. I've worked at times in my early career as a proofreader, editor, and writer for the Chief Justice of a state Supreme Court. Heck, I'll admit it: I'm anal retentive. Especially when it comes to proofreading...just ask Dylan Hartwell or Jez Gordon about that.

The things that detracted from the Delve! experience for me were, probably, little things that others wouldn't notice. For me, it pulled me out of the Delve! world for a moment as the proofreader in my head went "Whoa!" There were some spelling errors, some punctuation errors, and some formatting problems. They didn't really affect the content in any way, except for--as I said--pulling my own proofreader out of the moment.

The content is statted for OSRIC, but I'm sure it's easily converted to any old-school or retro-clone. I've already started doing some conversion for use in my 3.x sandbox game. Even more amazing: all of this was done by one man...the content, the artwork, everything. The content is compelling and the art is amazing. I have no complaints about the content whatsoever.

Overall, I probably would give the 'zine a 3 out of 4 stars (I'd say 4 out of 4, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt for future, greater content!) For myself, it probably rates 2.5 out of 4 just for the formatting and other issues. As I said, that's ONLY for myself, because the issues I found probably wouldn't bother other readers.

In any case I'd still highly recommend picking up a copy: the .pdf is available for $3.99 from RPGNow while the hand-assembled print copy is available from John's blog for $5.00. I'd say splurge and get yourself the hard copy, simply because (1) the quantity is limited and (2) I love holding the 'zine in my hands, knowing how much love, sweat, tears, and work has gone into producing it. I'm just old fashioned that way.

Whichever you choose, GET IT NOW.

OSR Monster Project

Just a heads up to my readers of a new OSR project swiftly reaching its (scheduled) conclusion.

The OSR Monster Project over at Rended Press is scheduled to wrap up on Wednesday, August 1, 2012.

This was originally intended to be a collection of craziness: all the monsters created in June 2012 from the OSR blogosphere, collected in one place and then .pdf'd for general consumption. It was then extended to any monster blog-created in 2012. I came late to the party, so I was glad to see the extension. I took the opportunity to add in the eight critters that have crawled from my brain through my pen in the past eight months.

I'd urge everyone to take the next 24 hours or so to jump on over to the Google Docs site and plug in their own creations. Mine are in 3.x format, but they come from someone in the OSR blood flows. I consider myself part of the OSR, even if no one else does. I use OSR materials and theories in my games and have nothing against previous versions of D&D or clones.
================================

Re-blogging today's post from Rended Press.
http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/07/status-update-osr-ogl-blogosphere.html

As of today, the OSR OGL BLOGOSPHERE MONSTERS PROJECT has 26 entries.

I'll close the file sometime during the afternoon of August 1.

Remember: This is open to any creature you've posted on your blog at any point in 2012!

So come on, people. Do the cut & paste!

Note: Please only share material that you feel comfortable appearing in a half-assed, crazy, DIY fan compilation.

================================
The count's increased from 26 this morning to, well, 39 at last count. I wanna see some more, though...monsters are like dice: you can never have too many.

My contributions:
32. Brain Ghoul
33. Howler Snake
34. Iron Hide Zombie
35. Lung Leech Swarm
36. Quickdeath
37. Ragehawk
38. Slimeclaw Wyrm
39. Soul Beetle

[From the Mailbag] Runed by Pathfinder

Around these parts, the 24th of July is a state holiday, one for which our firm closes down. This year, with it falling on a Tuesday I figured there was no reason to work on Monday and so I took a long four-day weekend.

While I was away from the firm, I got a package. A package of goodness and light that was awaiting me when I returned. Something to salve the pain of returning to work.

I had THIS.

Five years ago, I had the chance to sign up for the Adventure Path. The first one. I almost did. I couldn't convince myself or my wife that it was worth it. It took me a long time. Last year I picked up my first Adventure Path: Carrion Crown. I enjoyed it thoroughly; just waiting to finish my current adventure with my kids to throw them into this one. Then I picked up the next one: Jade Regent. I've never liked having fortune cookies in my D&D, but having lived in the Orient for several years, I thought I'd try it out and see. I was right--I didn't enjoy it as much...but I have monsters, I have ideas. Then came the pirate Adventure Path. I don't even know what it was called. I. Don't. Like. Pirates. In. My. RPG. (I know, this is heresy in some circles.) So I canceled my subscription.

Since the second Adventure Path, I've regretted not picking up the Rise of the Runelords. As I said, some of the ones since have not been that enjoyable to me. But I enjoyed the ideas and the presentation enough that when the Rise of the Runelords was announced I started saving. And saving. And saving.

And now it's here.

And the potential adventures are just lining up for my kids and my players.

It looks terrific. Nice sturdy hard-bound. Glossy pages. I'm told it has new artwork and new material. Granted, there are some things missing: Paizo did not want to repeat creatures, items, and rules that have since become part of the Core Rules. They updated it to formal Pathfinder rules. It's PURTY. I haven't had a lot of time to actually thumb through it, but I've discovered one problem with it. A big one.

The problem? Now I have to take a serious look at the upcoming pre-painted plastic mini release from Paizo.... The Rise of the Runelord miniature set.

Time to start saving.

And saving. And saving.

More 'Morphs!

I'm going crazy with the Community Geomorph Project. Rather than sitting and drooling at the television (or the judge), I take the chance to whip out my clipboard and a pencil and throw a quick geomorph or two onto paper.

And I think I'm driving Richard crazy as well.

Again, I'd urge you to check it out if you haven't already. Jump on board, if for no other reason than to give Richard something to look at other than MY geomorphs!

Here are my latest offerings:

A Grim Day

I had several posts that were nearly ready to go live today. One in particular that I was quite excited about.

All that changed when I heard the news coming from Aurora, Colorado. I have friends and family that live in Denver and Aurora. I haven't been able to reach them yet; I don't know whether that's because of the early hour or something more dire.

Needless to say, I won't be posting anything about gaming today. It's a game, and a darn fun one, but it's only a game. This is real life. This is tragedy.

This is Evil at work.

It is a grim day.




As a gun owner, I pray that this creep won't color the rest of us in the eyes of the public.

As an attorney, I pray that everyone waits to get the full story before running off half-cocked, strewing blame about without cause or reason and pointing fingers. I would also pray that everyone remember that the suspect is innocent until proven guilty.

As an American, I pray for the community, that it can come together, remember what is most important in life, and most importantly, HEAL from this.

As a human being, I pray for the victims and their families. My thoughts and prayers are truly with them this morning. I cannot even imagine the pain, the grief, and the horror that has enveloped the lives of those in Aurora--and indeed, across the country--that have friends or relations that were involved in this nightmare.

Join with me. Kneel. Remove your helms and lay down your arms. Bow your head. Remember the victims and their families. May God bless them and comfort them.

God bless us all.

Sack of Swarms (New magic item)

Wondrous Item: Sack of Swarms

This small bag appears normal and empty. However, any creature reaching into the bag feels a small ball. Touching this ball causes a peculiar tickling sensation, much like thousands of tiny pinpricks, across their appendage. If the creature grasps and removes the ball, and the ball is tossed up to 30 feet away, it turns into a swarm. The summoner has no control over its target or direction of travel. If no living creatures are within the area of the swarm, it attacks or pursues the nearest creature as best it can. The swarm persists for 10 minutes (or until dispersed or slain), at which point it disappears.

Vermin produced are always random, and only one swarm may exist at a time. Up to ten swarms can be drawn from the bag each week. Use the following table to determine the type of swarm.

Faint conjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, summon swarm; Price 900 gp.

d%	Animal
1-15	Wasps
16-30	Centipedes
31-70	Spiders
71-85	Locusts
86-100	Scorpions

[From the Mailbag] Gamer Generosity

I've tried to write this blog entry a dozen times and I've deleted my efforts just as many times.

You see, I want to express my gratitude to several people and I want to laud the generosity of the RPG blogging community. But at the same time, I worry that others will try and take advantage of the same generosity for which I'm so grateful.

In the end, I've decided that I have to go ahead and make my thank-yous and count on the same gamer goodness that spawned this entry in the first place.

Now that my dithering is out of the way, I guess I should explain myself.

I've mentioned recently that my father passed away in June 2011. A year later, my mother decided it was time to pick out a headstone design and get it installed on the grave site. She enlisted the help of my older brother and myself and set up an appointment with the monument company's designer.

The problem: the appointment fell on the same day as Free RPG Day 2012: June 16. I'd waited a year for this date and found that I could do nothing to accommodate both my familial duty and my hobby cravings. I resigned myself to missing out and relying on the release of free PDFs from some of my desired Free RPG day materials. I explained my predicament online in a couple places and took care of my mother on the day in question.

I've spent the last 18 months or so in a spiral of depression. My father's passing did nothing to help the spiral; problems at the Firm and with my family's finances have piled additional weight on my shoulders. My back isn't broken, but the straw of missing Free RPG Day this year was close to a final one.

And then something happened, something that strengthened my faith in humanity and reassured me that the RPG community is full of good-hearted and caring individuals.

I had three friends respond to me...people that I know only from online correspondence, people that I have never met face to face. These three friends took it upon themselves to share with me their Free RPG Day bounty. In fact, I received an extra bit of gaming goodness that took the act of kindness to a level above and beyond.

Once the envelopes arrived, this is what my desk looked like.

1. Q-Workshop Free RPG Day 2012 Forest Dice (d4, d8, d10, d20, d100)
   
2. Harn Map, by Columbia Games
   
3. Dead in the Eye, by Wizards of the Coast
   
4. Cosmic Patrol Quickstart, by Catalyst Games
   
5. Dungeon Crawl Classics Free RPG Day 2012 Module, by Goodman Games
   
6. Dawn of the Scarlet Sun, by Paizo
   
7. Cardboard Heroes: Castles Walls and Towers, by Steve Jackson Games

Most of these items were on my "Wanted" checklist for the purpose of teaching my kids to game. Because of the generosity of others, I can do it.

I want to thank the three individuals publicly; in the spirit of effective alms-giving, I want to keep them anonymous, however. They know who they are, and hopefully they know how grateful I am to their kindness. They went out of their way to help a friend who was unable to help himself. I do not think that I could find the words sufficient to show my gratitude to them. At the least, I can try and pass along the kindness to others in the community in the future.

Thank you my friends. You've given me a bit more than simply RPG products. You've given me some hope and faith. The depression isn't gone, but this experience has thrown me a little life preserver.

Community Geomorph Project

I've taken the plunge.

I just sent off my first four pages of entries to the Community Geomorph Project.

For those not in the know, Richard over at Save Vs. Dragon and the creator of the d30 DM Companion was inspired to begin a Geomorph project among the d30/OSR/RPG community. I was intrigued and decided to spend a day laying some lead down onto paper.

For the most part, I'm pleased with the results so far. It's a lot of fun to throw these small rooms/areas together without worrying about what "the whole" looks like. I've varied between caverns, temples, corridors, and single rooms. Lakes, ramps, chasms, and balconies are all found therein.

Ultimately the goal is to compile all of the community-generated geomorphs into one large PDF. They may also be thrown onto Dave's Mapper as well.

I'd urge you to check it out if you haven't already. It's for a worthy cause, after all...because you can never have too many maps!

Here are my first offerings:

[From the Mailbag] Son of The Manor! A Review!

One day after the postal worker brought me the twin happiness of Barrowmaze and the d30 DM Companion, I returned home to find that our personal postal worker (or would that be "mail distribution facilitator"?) had left another present for me.

Yup. I had an envelope with the scary moth. Inside was the lovely mug of Hugo staring up at me. The envelope had a laugh-inducing personal message from the Author himself, Tim Shorts. Unfortunately, my laughter meant explaining the message to my wife.

You see...I like 'zines. I'm sure this comes as a surprise to my long-time readers. Yeah. Really. I like 'em. I get excited about a good product too. So when the two sources of excitement combine in one? Well, loss of reason isn't out of the question. I was so eager for The Manor #2, I went and purchased my copy mere minutes after the PayPal button went live over on GM Games. Within minutes I had a confirmation e-mail from Tim thanking me for my purchase, but advising me (what I had apparently forgotten) that I had purchased a subscription when I bought issue #1.

Yep. That's what I did. And I told Tim that he was free to not let me live it down. And now my wife won't let me live it down either. At any rate, it was a nice personal touch that I certainly wouldn't have gotten from someone like Wizards of the Boast. (Full disclosure: To be honest, I HAVE actually received something similar from Paizo's customer service on one occasion, but I digress.)

So, what did I get for my $3.50? 24 pages of gaming goodness. First, The Manor #2 has a nice, striking yellow (is that Canary?) cover. It looks great on the shelf next to the red cover of Issue #1.

The title page has a few humorous touches--a great disclaimer, for one, that my attorney-side appreciated. These are the kind of things that I love about 'zines. The personal touches, the inside jokes, the foibles.

The introduction contains, in part, a nice piece of software pimpery. I actually wanted to go out and buy a copy of Office Publisher myself, even though I hate Office products. Then a nice personal note from Tim about the contents and the history of Issue #2.

Now for the meat: 14 pages devoted to [u]Hugo's Healing Potions Shop[/u]. Honestly, I feel like it should be "Shoppe".... But Hugo's feels real. We have mechanic generic bios of Hugo and his staff. We have a nice map with a detailed key. Tim also gives us a random customer table for the Shop as well as adventure hooks. Great fluff that really makes the place come alive. I particularly love the little touches Tim adds to his descriptions; they add atmosphere and realism. I mean, "During business hours, the door is held open by a rock." I love it. I have a player that WOULD ask how the door is being held open, and would probably take the rock and use it for nefarious ends.

The next 8 pages are devoted to Smugglers Inn and the surrounding environs. Jason Sholtis contributes to the cause with a table of "things you might find under the cot at Smugglers Inn." Great stuff.

The inside back cover gives us a rampaging orc (pig-faced, of course) and a Poetry Slam by the Rusty Battle Axe. Any poem that can work in 'cockroaches' and 'destruction' pretty much gives the poet my nod for Poet Laureate.

More than anything else, I think I may like and appreciate about Tim's work is that it is SO mechanic- or game-generic. One could easily use the Potion Shop and the Smuggler's Inn in a Labyrinth Lord, DCC, Pathfinder, 4th Edition game, not to mention
Call of Cthulhu, d20 Modern, or whatever your flavor-of-the-month may be.

Finally, the back cover. Here we have something that, to me, epitomizes so much of what I have found in the RPG blogosphere. Tim has included an advertisement for The Horrendous Heap of Sixteen Cities by Dylan Hartwell over at Digital Orc. The advertisement was, according to Dylan, completely unsolicited and unexpected. Maybe because it's so rare in my professional life, but I really enjoy the comraderie and brotherhood that RPG gamers share in the online world. I've been touched in the past month by some outreach from some fellow bloggers and gamers; that's a topic for another, well-overdue post. Suffice it to say, it's a nice refreshing change from real life for me, to know that there are good, honest, and caring people that just want us all to get along, have fun, and promote a good, fun hobby. It makes it even better to see these same people band together and try to help the fellow gamers in real life situations, concerns, hiccups, tragedies, etc.

So...back to the Manor #2. If you couldn't already tell, I would recommend it to anyone who games. Period. Anyone can use this material; if you can't, you're really not trying. Excellent work, Tim.

Wait...I take it back. There IS a major problem with The Manor #2. I just discovered it. It's nearly insurmountable.

The problem is this: now I have to WAIT impatiently for The Manor #3. This makes me... unhappy.

[From the Mailbag] Oh Frabjous Day!

Callooh! Callay!

When I came galumphing into the office today, I had to chortle with joy because of what awaited me.

Sitting on my desk were two brown cardboard mailers. Inside I found these:


RPGNow came through with my print copy of Barrowmaze and Lulu came through with my print copy of the d30 DM Companion.

A mailbag full of Gaming Goodness and inspiration. I can't wait to get home and break these open. I have reading material for the evening. Hopefully I can get to running Barrowmaze soon so I can get a review posted up.

Admit it.... After just a bit of uffish thought...you're just a little jealous, aren't you?

Magic Missiles at the Stronghold

I hope you all had a happy, safe, and relaxing 4th of July -- both to my American readers and international readers. (As the question goes: "Do they have the Fourth of July in England?")

For myself, it was fairly relaxing. A little sleep-in followed by hours of American Revolution documentary-goodness on the Military Channel. The gaming material for the new campaign was right at-hand for the commercial breaks.

That was followed by a picnic in the backyard with the family. Homemade Onion/horseradish burgers; Jell-o, corn on the cob, etc. Fantastic food; the wife is a stellar cook, so the burgers were amazing and the corn on the cob tasted like candy. Truly the sweetest corn I've had in ages.

Then, once we were stuffed with food, the kids demanded that I try and run away from dangerous pyrotechnical objects. Well, semi-dangerous. We couldn't afford much more than the budget pack from the local supermarket. But we can always count on our neighbors for assistance. They pull out the big guns every year; this year they said they spent over $200, just in the past week alone. So the kids were still entertained; the younger ones don't mind the little fountains we purchased and the older kids (and mom and dad) were entertained with the neighbors' fireworks. Here's a sampling of the night...once the neighbors brought out the mortar shells.

All in all, a relaxing change of pace. Good times and good food with the family; what more can you ask? And honestly, with entertainment like this, why fight the crowds, parking, heat, etc. just to see "professional" fireworks?

Other than not having another day feel like Monday in the same week, of course. Sigh. The crazies are out on the telephone in full force today.

But I have a new campaign starting up, so that kinda balances things out. More on the new campaign soon.