[From the Mailbag] Mythoard January 2015

So.... Bad day yesterday, all day. As you may know if you read yesterday's post, it was a bad day made much better by the arrival of the Storyteller's Thesaurus.

Then I get home, and by 11 p.m. Google+ feed has blown up with people raving about the receipt of their January Mythoard package.

Wait a second, I think. I'm a subscriber...where's MY package?!? So I turn to my son (who was the first one home yesterday) and I ask, calmly: "BOY!" (for often I call him "Boy") "Boy!" I say, "Was there any kind of a package in today's mail for me?"

"Oh, yeah. There was one."

(silence for a moment or two)

"Um...son.... Where is it?"

"Oh, I left it on the table by the front door."

(facepalm)

(second facepalm as my boy has not yet moved to retrieve said package)

"Um.... Could I have it please?!?"

For those of you who may still not know about Mythoard, Mythoard is the first Tabletop RPG Subscription box! From the website: "From modules, minis and maps to rules supplements, accessories and dice, you'll be sure to find some great RPG treasure in every single box! Sign up today for your own hoard!"

Quest for the Mythoard, No.1  Randy Musseau 2015

And oh, baby...did it make my day even brighter. I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have pics, but let's look at a quick roster of what was inside:

• First was a pair of polyhedral dice in orange and black vortex: a d4 and a d8--these match the orange and black d6 from last month's Mythoard offering. Sweet, especially considering my motto. [Aside: for any new readers, I am firmly convinced that there is no such thing as "too many dice" because, well.... Hey! Dice! Ahem. Period. Your argument is invalid. End aside.] . Courtesy of Chessex Games.
  
• A button featuring Thopas, the gnome. Courtesy of Lesser Gnome.
  
• An unpainted metal miniature version of Thopas. Also courtesy of Lesser Gnome.
  
• Two Mythoard two-pocket folders with front cover art by Randy Musseau (see above), back cover art/maps/text by Monkeyblood Design and Chubby Monster Games. I found it kind of humorous that the map was for "Tenkar's Tomb." I can only imagine this refers to the infamous Tenkar, and that he went out in a spectacular fashion.
  
• Inside one of the folders were two cardstock sheets: one a preview of Old West firearm rules for the DCC game: Black Powder, Black Magic and the other a copy of "The Brimstone Epitaph," an Old West newspaper. Both courtesy of Stormlord Publishing.
  
• Next out was an encounter card deck of 54 system-neutral "monster inspiration" cards rather than stat cards. Clever idea; they'll be useful for at-table random encounter generation. My deck was the Fey, Constructs, and Wildlife deck. I understand that there were two other decks and inclusion in each package was random. The artwork is fantastic; I'm definitely going to try and pick up more of these. Courtesy of Inkwell Ideas. A pair of solid-cover card sleeves were included as well, for use with these encounter cards.
  
• Last out was a Pits & Peril supplement, "The Powers That Be." There's always room for another couple deities in a pantheon. I need to devote a bit more time to this one, but there's likely something good there for mining, at the least.
  

So. All in all, Groundhog Day came up good for me. I feel content today, and can't wait until the next Mythoard. The first two have been really great, full of good stuff. Well worth the price, in my opinion. As of this writing, there's 180 spots left of 250 for the February package...swing over and sign yourself up!

[From the Mailbag] MYTHOARD!

I just received the inaugural Mythoard package/bundle in the mail today. Great stuff. Really great stuff. Talk about an early Christmas; my wife suggested I leave it under the tree for a week.

Pshaw.

The first thing I saw coming out of the envelope was a poster of two baby phoenixes, courtesy of Baby Bestiary.

Next out was a book: 10+ Treasures by David Guyll & Melissa Fisher, published by Awful Good Games. Designed for Dungeon World, at first glance, most--if not all--of these items are easily translated to any OSR or 3.x version of that one RPG. Not only does the book come with 30+ detailed treasure items, there's also a section that walks through item creation, and the theory behind it. Excellent stuff.

Then there was a postcard from the incomparable Jim Magnusson. This postcard features the Mushroom King. As one of Jim's Patreons, I already received a copy of this; however, one can never have too many--it just means another framed piece of art for my office. (Let my clients figure THAT out.)

Also included was a pack of Blue Dungeon Tiles by Red Kobold. I didn't have the chance to support these when they came up on Kickstarter, as I was low on funds. I wish I'd made the effort; these look GREAT. They're double-sided, usable with wet-erase, dry-erase, or permanent markers. 4x4 grids of corridors, rooms, and stairways. I'll definitely be saving up to grow my collection of these babies.

Last, but not least, Tim Shorts' Mythoard Exclusive labor of love: Stone Fields of Azoroth. Three separate books outline the environs: The village of Bad Water, the Last Temple of Praxus, and the Prison of Azoroth. Each one comes chock-full of NPCs, flavor, and maps. Everything you've come to expect from Tim, and more. You won't be disappointed. Well, I guess you will...unless you were one of the subscribers to Mythoard.

Then, down in the bottom corner of the envelope were three little beauties. A random d20 and two random d6. Ain't they purty? They wanted to get photographed just as soon as they came out of the wrapping. As you know, I can never have too many dice. These will cap off my 2014 fairly well.

Thanks to Jarrod Shaw as well as Kevin Chenevert and all the other contributors. My day has been made! If you haven't already checked out Mythoard, do it now. Sign up. Well, as long as you don't take MY bundle.