Castles & Crusades Demo in Chicago

I will be running a demo of Castles & Crusades at Galactic Force in Chicago on this Wednesday, July 21st.  The fun starts at 6 PM and one lucky participant will walk away with a copy of the Castles & Crusades Player's Handbook.

If you are in the area, please drop by and join in.  I will give a quick introduction to the rules system, followed by character creation and a short dungeon delve.  If you have never played Castles & Crusades, I think you will find it to be a fast playing fantasy RPG with none of the fussiness of some other systems.  See you there!

Fantasy Flight Games Gets It

I have been watching Fantasy Flight Games with much interest over the past couple of years.  Their recent announcement of the Deathwatch role-playing game and the promotion surrounding it made me realize - they actually get it.

What do I mean?  First of all, take a look at the introductory adventure for Deathwatch that FFG released for Free RPG Day.  Unlike those released by some other companies (which I won't name), you can actually play this one with no other materials.  Dice, pen and paper are all you need!  And it looks great!  You didn't manage to get a physical copy from your FLGS?  No problem.  You can download the PDF right HERE.  What?  You just want a web version to read on  your laptop or fancy new iPad?  Try the version HERE.  Fantasy Flight Games gets it.

Let's say that you are interested in Deathwatch but want more information.  That's fine.  FFG has posted a short, professionally produced video HERE that gives you an overview of the game from the designers and some glimpses of what's in the book.  Filled with previews of the book's great art it looks like it would also be a great (and free) promotional tool for a game store as well.  Just set it up on a loop and let it run.  Fantasy Flight Games gets it.

Is all this not enough for you?  Do you want a FAQ for the game?  Extra pregenerated characters for the free introductory adventure?  Previews of the rulebook?  Try the game's website HERE.  I know I might be coming off sounding like an FFG fanboy, but I can't stress enough how much this impresses me.  Why don't other game companies spend this much effort promoting and raising their customers' awareness of their new games?  I have no clue.  I'm just glad that FFG does.  They get it.

Hexographer is Cool

I recently purchased a license for the Hexographer program and it is pretty darn cool.  I have zero artistic talent and I have still been able to create some quick maps that while they aren't exactly cartographic masterpieces, don't look too terrible.  While the user interface isn't completely intuitive, I still find it much easier to use than any other mapper that I have tried.

The advantages to Hexographer are many.  The basic version is free to use online and the pro version costs less than ten bucks right now for a year's license.  The program is also written in Java and so it should run happily on almost any platform.  I have successfully used it myself on both PC and Mac machines.

You can use the program to generate maps that are reminiscent of the old D&D 'gazetteer' series of modules, but that's not all.  You can also generate maps of cities and even star maps for sci-fi games.  If you are particularly adventurous, you can even import your own symbols (at least in the pro version).

Also exciting is that the author is planning to release another program called Dungeonographer that promises to do for dungeon maps what Hexographer has done for overland maps.  I can't wait!

Below is an example map that I literally banged out in five minutes.

Another Kind of WhiteBox

I got sick of waiting for my copy of the Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox to be delivered so I picked up a copy of the Castles & Crusades:Collectors Edition boxed set from Troll Lord Games.  So far I like it - a lot.  I will reserve final judgement on the rules until I get to conduct an actual playtest, but at first glance they are a masterful example of concise writing.  You get a rules set that looks and feels like old school D&D, but is much more unified with the addition of the SIEGE system.  I can't believe I hadn't picked this set up until now!

Rynn's World Review

Review of Rynn’s World

Let me preface my review of Rynn’s World by saying a little bit about my background with 40K and my motivations for picking this book up.  First is the fact that I am only casually familiar with the background ‘fluff’ of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Second is the fact that I picked up the book as much to enhance my knowledge of Space Marines in preparation for possibly running games of Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader (and now Deathwatch) as I did for just the pleasure of reading the book.  Last is the fact that this is only the third Black Library book that I have read.

Before I get into the actual contents, I want to comment on the format of Rynn’s World.  I assume this is something of a new direction for Black Library and I like it.  The book is an oversized paperback with large font and two pages of color maps in the center.  The large font is especially easy on my aging eyes.  Its size makes the book easy to keep open and read, while still making it small enough to stow in my backpack for the train ride to and from work.

If you are like me and are unfamiliar with the history of the Crimson Fists chapter of the Space Marines, they apparently have a long association with the Warhammer 40,000 game and its fictional universe.  Crimson Fists are even pictured on the cover of the game’s very first edition.  Unfortunately, assuming the reader is intimately familiar with this history did spoil one of the book’s pivotal events for me by revealing it in the overview blurb on the book's very first page!

The book's plot is a classic battle against hopeless odds.  The shattered remnants of the Crimson Fists chapter of the Space Marines attempts to hold out against an overwhelming invasion force of Orks until help can arrive.  One group defends the planet's fortified capital city.  The other group, led by Chapter Master Kantor and feisty, independent Captain Cortez,  attempt to make their way across hundreds of miles of ork-infested terrain and link up with their comrades.

I didn’t go into Rynn’s World with the expectation that I would be reading great literature, but I was still pleasantly surprised with the overall quality of the writing and story.  This is a fairly clichéd pulpy, action story with lots of big guns and explosions, but it is a darn enjoyable and well-written one.  The author does an outstanding job of both humanizing the Space Marines and providing them with individual personalities and motivations.  I actually cared about Captain Cortez and Chapter Master Kantor.  The interplay between the two was believable and they both came across as for more than cardboard cutouts.

I enjoyed Rynn's World quite a bit.  I also feel like I learned a lot about how to portray Space Marines if I get a chance to run a 40K RPG campaign where they play a part.  If I had one complaint it would be that the final climatic battle between the Space Marines and invading Orks takes place entirely 'off camera'.  I was really anticipating the battle between Titans and Gargants and I was disappointed that it was not included.  If you are looking for a solid Space Marine action book, definitely give Rynn's World a look.

WhiteBox Delayed...

It looks like a snafu with the box supplier has delayed the shipping of my copy of Swords & Wizardy WhiteBox - ARRGH!!  On the other hand, Brave Halfling is including a limited run module as their way of apologizing for the delay.  This softens the blow somewhat.

On the other hand, the delay gives me time to flesh out my starting village and campaign area a little more.  I still hope to run a Play by Post campaign too, but I haven't gotten much response over at GeekDo.  I might try RPGnet and Dragonsfoot and see if I can find any additional interest.

Play by Post Swords & Wizardy WhiteBox

I haven't gotten my physical copy of Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox  yet, but I do have the PDF.  I also just picked up Chgowiz's Swords & Wizards Whitebox Reference Sheets from RPGnow today and they are pretty keen.

While I am waiting for my boxed set to be delivered, I would like to go ahead and kick off a Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox play by post game over at GeekDo. The game will be wide open, with what I hope is a good mix of monster bashing, action and adventure. You can find out more about it HERE.

Join my for some old-school goodness!

First NPC for my Swords & Wizardry Project

I am working on a project for Swords & Wizardry.  It's my own little mini-campaign setting entitled the Hamlet of Hagreth.  I have been knocking out some NPCs pretty quickly.  Here is a sample:

Nick Hacken is a woodcutter that lives on the very edge of the hamlet. He appears to be in his forties. A life of hard labor has left him balding and weathered, but still strong and lean. His wife died in childbirth and now his only companion is his young daughter. Nick is handy with an axe and he knows every nook and cranny of the forest for miles around.
Nick Hacken: HD 1; hp 5; AC 9[10]; Atk 1 hand axe (1d6); Save 18; Special: +1 hit/dam.

It has actually been a joy to create NPCs for S&W.  Maybe it's just my old age, but creating ones for more 'modern' RPGs just makes my head hurt...

I Blame Dan Abnett

I place the blame squarely on Dan Abnett’s head. I really do. As a grown-up geek, with a life filled with work, family and God knows what else, I had made up my mind to quit running roleplaying games cold turkey. I told myself that I could still dabble in the odd miniatures or board game, but roleplaying games were out. Why? In my experience, running roleplaying games requires just too much of a continuing time commitment.

While other games require a similar amount of ‘front loaded’ time getting prepared to play (I am looking at you Flames of War) nothing else besides running a roleplaying campaign requires such a continuing commitment of time and energy. In my experience, preparing for and running an exciting and interesting campaign on a regular basis too often turns into a grind. On top of that, you have to actually find a group, travel to wherever you are going to play, deal with no-shows, etc. It’s just generally a pain in the butt. I love RPGs, but my mind was made up. I was going to put away the dice bag for good.

And then I picked up Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn omnibus on a whim. It was innocent enough. I was cruising Borders looking for something to read on my commute. The cover painting of inquisitor Eisenhorn caught my eye and I bought the book. Half way into Xenos, the first book of the trilogy, and I was hooked. Now I am not very familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe but Abnett’s vivid prose and pulpy action really sucked me in. Not even a week later, I was in possession of Dark Heresy and Rogue Traderebook

Back down the rabbit hole I go…

The 12 Days of Gamer Christmas - Day Two

Gamers can be tough to shop for. I hope you will find at least one useful gift idea for the gamer in your life in this series of posts. Merry Chistmas!

Day Two - Gaming Mats

Many RPGs use miniatures for tactical situations and combats.A vinyl gaming mat is always a useful tool for a GM to thrown down and sketch out an encounter on. Chessex makes some of the best in my opinion. Most are double-sided with squares on one side and hexes on the other. They also come in a variety of sizes. Don't forget to throw in some overhead projector pens to use for drawing on the mat. Do NOT use dry erase markers or anything else.

The 12 Days of Gamer Christmas - Day One

Gamers can be hard to shop for. Over the next 12 days I will try to make gift suggestions that will hopefully please even the pickiest gamer on your list. Merry Christmas!

Day One - Dice

It goes without saying that almost ANY gamer can use dice. You can't go wrong by choosing a set from one of the original and best dice manufacturers - Gamescience. I am particularly fond of their 'gem' dice sets, but they have a fine selection of opaque and specialty dice as well. You can purchase them from your Friendly Local Game Store or online from Gamestation.net.

If you need more proof that Gamescience dice are the way to go, check out THIS link for a YouTube video of Colonel Lou Zocchi himself extolling their virtues.

Looks Like I Bought A Book With Stolen Art

I don't know for sure yet, but according to THIS thread on RPG.net, it looks like the PDF of the unofficial 6th Edition Tunnels and Trolls rulebook that I purchased from DriveThruRPG used a piece of art without the authorization of the artist.

Not only that, it looks like James Shipman and Outlaw Press have done this multiple times with other products. If this is true, this sucks and I am sorry that I supported them with my purchase. Uggh...

UPDATE: It looks like the offending books (including the one that I purchased) have been removed. I will take that as validation of the accusations...

Tunnels & Trolls 6th Edition

5th Edition Tunnels & Trolls is one of my guilty gaming pleasures. Even with all of its warts, the game still brings a smile to my face. Years ago, I undertook the task of 'fixing' some of the things that I didn't like about the game, including multiplying attributes for non-humans, using strength to power spells, etc. but I never finished.

Now I have stumbled across an unofficial Tunnels & Trolls 6th Edition of the game on Lulu that looks like it has done the work for me. Is anyone familiar with it? I want to know more before I burn $16.00...

New Castles & Crusades Books on DrivethruRPG

The latest printings of the Castles & Crusades Player's Handbook* and Monsters & Treasure* are now up on DriveThruRPG*. The editing, art and layout has come a long way IMHO since the first printings. I picked up both books in dead tree form at Gen Con this year and I am very pleased with them. You could run a very satisfying campaign with these books and nothing else (although getting the Castle Keeper's Guide eventually sure would be nice!).

I really think C&C has almost the perfect amount of rules detail for me. Not too light and not too heavy. If you are looking for a new-school fantasy RPG with lots of old-school flavor, I can't think of a better choice.

*Full Disclosure: These links include my Affiliate ID. I don't want anyone to think that I am trying to be sneaky!

Knockspell #3 Hits the Virtual Stands

Just picked up the PDF of Knockspell #3 from Black Blade Publishing. The content is pretty nifty for fans of the old-school stuff like me. Tim Kask has another cranky editorial. There is an OSRIC/1E treatment of the anti-paladin (Dragon #39 was the second issue I ever bought!). And there is lots more, including two adventures for Swords & Wizardry.

My complaints are minor. The BBP web store is pretty unintuitive. Some of the bookmarks in the PDF do not work. And the PDF itself seems to display kind of 'funky'* in my version of Adobe Reader.

*This is sort of hard to explain. The reader seems to show one complete page and then the margin of the next page. Even if I resize and/or zoom out or in, the effect doesn't go away.

Horror at Dagger Rock

Paizo Publishing has posted a FREE module entitled Horror at Dagger Rock and, while it is designed for the Pathfinder RPG, it is dripping with lots of old-school style. I have only had a chance to have a cursory look at it but it seems to have a lot to offer; a fully populated village, rumors, various random encounters and a fairly extensive dungeon.

Ever since I read early modules like N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God and T1: Village of Hommlet, I have been of the opinion that the 'village and nearby dungeon' make for an excellent way to start a fantasy campaign. Download it and have a look.

Sword & Wizardry Quick Start on the Kindle!

Ok. It's not a 'real' Kindle book, but I did manage to convert my Swords & Wizardry Quick Start PDF and put it on my Kindle. Aside from some obvious glitches in the graphics, it is quite readable and I am happy with the results.

I am not sure if there is enough of a user base for rpg publishers to justify releasing books in Kindle format, but I do plan to try and convert some of my other gaming PDFs to see how they turn out.

Surviving an Old-School Game

One of the problems with playing in an old-school game is the inherent fragility of the player characters, especially for the first few levels. Making the assumption that this is a feature and not a bug, there are things that both the players and DM can do to make the game a little more survivable, while still maintaining the old-school style of play.

Hirelings

Players only familiar with the more modern incarnations of RPGs might not be familiar with the concept of bringing a group of henchmen and/or hirelings into the dungeon. Clever use of these NPCs by the players can go a long way toward keeping a group of player characters alive, especially at low level. Even a couple of 0-level henchmen wearing leather armor and armed with simple swords can make the difference between a TPK and a successful adventure.

Of course it goes without saying that the DM shouldn’t allow the players to misuse and abuse such NPCs. Cheating, failing to pay or putting them in excessive danger should at best negatively affect their morale and at worst result in their deserting the party at inopportune moments. Both original and retro-clone games have morale rules for this situation. Also, if multiple residents of a particular town or village fail to return from their adventures, the player characters may find it difficult to recruit future employees from that area.

Morale

As mentioned above, a staple of old-school game are rules for morale. These cover both NPCs, as previously outlined, and monsters. Not all monsters fight to the death. Intelligent creatures might flee or even surrender if they fail their morale checks as outlined in the rules. While the DM should feel free to modify or even ignore the morale rules, based on their unique game situations, they can be a useful tool. Even a mighty dragon might be subdued or barter for its life in the right situation.

Multiple PCs

Some DMs don’t allow 1^st level PCs to hire henchmen, but they do allow them to run multiple player characters. This increases the chance that at least one of them will survive the adventure and advance in level. It also pads out the party and even gives players a chance to experiment with different character classes. Not all DMs allow multiple characters to be run by a single player so check with yours first.

Ingenuity

The open style of old-school games is particularly suited for ingenuity and clever ideas from the players. For instance, if the DM designs an airtight room in his dungeon and the players come up with a solid plan to lure monsters into the room and suffocate them – great! While the DM shouldn’t allow just any crackpot idea or shoddily designed scheme from the players to automatically succeed, outstanding play on the part of the players should be actively encouraged and rewarded. If the DM deems that a particular idea has merit, he should decide on percentage chance of success and roll. Old-school games depend as much on player ability as they do on character ability.

I haven’t even attempted to comprehensively cover every method that can be used by players and DMs to help the harried low-level player character survive. But I do hope that at least some of my ideas will prove useful. Old-school games really are different than their modern counterparts and require different approaches to play in many cases. Good luck and may your sword arm never fail you!

Learning to Hack: Part One - Getting Started

This is the first in a series of articles that I will be posting about learning to play the new HackMaster Basic roleplaying game from Kenzer & Company. In this and upcoming articles, I will discuss character creation, combat, magic and more. I hope you enjoy it and your feedback is appreciated!

Part One - Getting Started

First things first. If you haven't done so already, you need to buy the HackMaster Basic rulebook. You can go down to your Friendly Local Gaming Store and demand a copy or you can purchase it online from the Kenzer & Company website. I will wait here while you get it...

...Ok. Now that you have the book we can take a look at it. Despite the word 'Basic' in the title, you can probably see from just a cursory read that this is not exactly a 'rules lite' affair. Real RPGs need rules. But don't despair. Learning to create a character and play the game is lots of fun and you won't even have to purchase a subscription to some fancy online character creation tool. If you do want some electronic help, however, you can head over to the Kenzer website and download several handy tidbits, including a character sheet, Quick-Start Rules reference sheet and an index.

My advice for learning the rules is to first scan Chapter One to get the basics of character creation down. After you have read that, have a look at the next five chapters to get a complete picture of how to create a character. If you have any questions at that point, head over to the Kenzer forums. The kind people there would glad to help you.

After you have given the character creation rules the once over, it's time to sit down and create your first character. I will cover that in Part Two.

Rebooting My Interest in Roleplaying

I admit it.  I have been burned out on roleplaying.  I even thought about just chucking the whole hobby, but I couldn't do it - it's in my blood.  Well, after lots of procrastinating and general teeth gnashing, I decided to pick up the banner again.

I also decided that I just couldn't do D&D (of any edition) for awhile.  I want something different.  I always liked westerns and so I seized on the idea of trying Aces & Eights.  Much to my surprise, my gaming group (composed completely of aging gamers with 1st Edition AD&D books gripped tightly in their fists) actually agreed to give it a try.

Unfortunately, I stupidly sold the core rulebook about a year ago because I thought that I would never get a chance to play.  Equally unfortunate is the fact that Kenzer does not offer it as a PDF.  However, I did download the Showdown PDF from DriveThruRPG.com, which is basically an abbreviated version of the combat rules.  This way I can least get familar with running combats.  Now I just have to locate a copy of the rulebook and I can get back in the saddle.