Free Comic Book Day May 6th!

What a cool idea. Free comic book day is in it's 5th year. The idea is simple - comic stores around the country give out special editions of comic books out for free. everyone wins- the stores get increased foot traffic, kids get free comic books. whats not to love? so head out to the local comic store this coming saturday and bring the kids.

From the Blog of J. Steven York

I have the small distinction of being able to say that I am a published writer. I have had several gaming articles published in a real (not online) magazine. However, I do not consider myself an Author by any means. One fellow who is an author and makes his living by the word is J. Steven York. Steven is an online friend of mine; I was looking over his Blog the other day and came across this gem on aspiring writers.

Dave the Barbarian

Usually I'm too busy rushing around in the morning to do more than hear the headlines and weather. This morning however, I had a few extra minutes and found myself watching cartoons with my kids they were watching a show on the Disney channel called Dave the Barbarian. Being the Sword & Sorcery fan boy that I am I got quite a kick out of it. The show had the type of humor that was reminiscent of the old underdog series, many of the gags worked more for adults than for the kids. I think I just found something new to fit in during my morning regimen, plus I get a few more minutes with my boys so it’s all good.

I love this picture

I forgot I had this.
A player once had the audacity to question one of my rulings. Feh.

Thank Heaven

Being the gamer geek that I am, I enjoyed the hell out of Kingdom of Heaven. I’ve always had a n affection for period pieces, especially lavish ones, and KoH is truly lavish. Like many other fans I wish it would have done better at the box office, but the truth is that epics like this rarely do. The wonderful news is that KoH is scheduled to be released again on DVD in a “director’s cut” edition with over 45 minutes of unseen footage which goes a long way towards clearing up some of the movies more ambiguous scenes. Additionally there is a ton of bonus material and features including a much needed directors commentary. Read about it here.

Airfix memories

A few days ago I mentioned that my Grandfather would usually buy me a toy after Sunday mass over at the Payless drugstore. The toys I chose were usually either Mego action figures or Airfix HO soldiers. I knew nothing about war gaming or the miniature battles that these were created for, all I knew was that these figures kicked ass over the little green and tan soldiers everyone else had. There was no way I was going to settle for a plastic bag of 20 green soldiers and an out of scale tank when I could get Romans, Ghurkas, Hussars, paratroops, and commandos. And for a few dollars more ($8.00 back then I believe) you could get frontier forts, foreign legion outposts, and Sherwood Castle.
It really was a cool time to be a boy.

59 things a man should never do past 30

1. Coin his own nickname.
2. Use a wallet that is fastened with Velcro.
3. Rank his friends in order of best, second best, and so on.
4. Hacky sack.
5. Name his penis his name plus junior.
6. Hang art with tape.
7. Hang The Scream, unless he stole it from the Munch museum in Oslo.
8. Ask a policeman, "You ever shoot anybody with that thing?"
9. Ask a woman, "Hey, you got a license for that ass?"
10. Skip.
11. Take a camera to a nude beach.
12. Let his father do his taxes.
13. Tap on the glass.
14. Shout out a response to "Are you ready to rock?"
15. Use the word collated on his resume.
16. Hold a weekly house meeting with roommates.
17. Name pets after Middle Earth characters.
18. Jokingly flash gang signs while posing for wedding photos.
19. Give shout-outs.
20. Use numbers in place of words or locations, such as "the 411" for information, or "the 313" for Detroit.
21. Hug amusement-park characters.
22. Wear Disney-themed neckties.
23. Wake up to a "morning zoo."
24. Compare the trajectory of his life with those of the characters in Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant."
25. Request extra sprinkles.
26. Air drum.
27. Choose 69 as his jersey number.
28. Eat Oreo cookies in stages.
29. Volunteer to be a magician's assistant.
30. Sleep on a bare mattress.
31. End a conversation with "later skater."
32. Hold his lighter up at a concert.
33. Publicly greet friends by shouting, "What's up, you whore?"
34. Wear Converse All Stars with a tuxedo.
35. Propose via stadium Jumbotron.
36. Decide anything based on the ruminations of Howard Stern.
37. Call "shotgun" before getting in a car.
38. Dispute someone else's call of "shotgun."
39. Whine.
40. Mist up during Aerosmith's "Dream On."
41. Purchase fireworks.
42. Google the word vagina.
43. Ride a pony.
44. Sport an ironic moustache.
45. Hit 13 against a 6.
46. Organize a party bus.
47. Say "two points" every time he throws something in the trash.
48. Buy a novelty postcard in another country of topless women on a beach and write, "Wish you were here" on it.
49. Keg stands.
50. Purchase home-brewing paraphernalia.
51. The John Travolta point-to-the-ceiling-point-to-the-floor dance move; also that one from Pulp Fiction.
52. Put less than ten dollars' worth of gas in the tank.
53. Keep a minuscule amount of marijuana extremely well hidden.
54. Read The Fountainhead.
55. Watch the Pink Floyd laser light show at a planetarium.
56. Refer to his girlfriend's breasts as "the twins."
57. Own a vanity plate.
58. Whippits.
59. Say goodbye to anyone by tapping his chest and even so much as whispering, "Peace out."

**just a quick note: This aint my brainchild. In true Blogger fashion I stole it from the net...I can't even remember where.

There is a God

I’m not much into the celebrity gossip thing but when I heard that David Spade has been dating Heather Locklear, I just felt it was proof positive that every average Joe fan boy out there has a shot. I mean jeez, “Joe Dirt” is nailing “Sammy Jo”? How cool is that?
Growing up in the 80’s, if you didn’t spank it to Heather Locklear at least once through puberty you were either Gay or a Communist- probably both. Now Dave has also nailed Lara Flynn Bole and Kristy Swanson-which is nothing to sneeze at, but scoring with Heather is like finding the frickin’ Holy Grail. This chick is apple pie personified (crazy fact: Heather Locklear didn’t make the cut during cheerleader tryouts at her high school, WTF??).

David, well played-you could die tomorrow a winner in the game of life.
Nailed Heather Locklear…does he even play a guitar??

Rome on HBO

I spent Friday evening and the majority of Saturday enjoying a Rome marathon. Rome is a series on HBO there are 12 episodes in this first season. The series is some of the best television I have ever seen, not surprising since it’s made in collaboration with the BBC and the last time I sat through a Roman marathon was the BBC series “I, Claudius”. The intrigue, the characterizations, the action, the sex – simply great. The story is as follows from the Rome website:

The series begins in 52 BC, as Gaius Julius Caesar completes his conquest of Gaul after eight years of war, and prepares to return with his army to Rome. While Caesar's self-interested niece Atia and long-lost paramour Servilia anxiously await the general's return, ruling patricians despair that Caesar's homecoming will disrupt the status quo, and threaten the extravagant prosperity they've enjoyed at the expense of the lower class. In the Senate, old-guard leaders plot to undermine Caesar's influence by convincing his old friend, Pompey Magnus, that the general is a threat. Back at the front, two mismatched soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, see their fortunes rise following several serendipitous missions. As Caesars legions move closer to Rome, allegiances are put to the test for soldiers and civilians - and the escalating tensions climax with a full-scale conflict destined to change history.

What really sold me on this show was the authenticity that went into the writing. While there are good and evil characters, most of the Judeo-Christian ethics that we seem to naturally feel are the basis of a functioning society are non existent. The Romans have their own codes of ethics and honor and from our modern day standpoint they might as well be from Mars- there are universal themes such as honor and duty to family, but the way they approach these are completely alien. And as to your morals, well hang them at the door because Rome is a wild ride in a culture at the height of their hedonism. And lest we forget who we are, I have to say the fight scenes ROCK! Forget “Gladiator” Rome has one of the coolest, most brutal Gladiatorial battles you’ve ever seen. Titus Pullo (my favorite character in the series) kicks some major ass! I just checked Amazon dot com and the Rome series DVD isn’t out yet but once it hits the shelves I heartily recommend it.

Friday was a good day

Part of my Sunday ritual growing up was the visit to Payless and Woolworths after Mass. I would go there with my Grandparents and they would stock up on all of life’s necessities: Kleenex, sardines, Tang, Ben Gay, diet 7up, 1lb bars of Hershey’s chocolate, etc. One thing I could always count on is my grandfather buying me a toy at Payless. My two favorites at the time were the Airfix HO scale soldiers and the Mego action figures. Both cost around $2.50 which was low enough for my grandpa not to have to give it a lot of thought. One particular Sunday I made my way to the toy section at Payless and lo and behold, were the coolest figures I had ever seen. The Knights of the Round Table -Ivanhoe, Galahad, Lancelot, the Black Knight, and King Arthur, sitting on the shelf in all their glory. My grandfather must have seen the look of awe on my 10 year old face cause he bought me all five that same day.
Years have passed, and so have my grandparents. My childhood toys have long been lost to that place where toys go when boys stop thinking about Hotwheels and start thinking about girls. But on Friday I was at a thrift store with my wife, when lo and behold, I again found the coolest figures I had ever seen. They were all still in the box with the original price tags on them (Toys R Us- $2.96). They cost a little bit more than they did back then ($15.00 each), but I still had the same smile on my face from 1974 when I took them to the check stand. Friday was a good day.

Cerebus - AKA "Joey"

Behold the guardian which now defends the gates to the lair of the Evil DM!
Tremble mortals beneath his steely gaze and know fear! All hail the new puppy!

We finally played Heroscape!

And it was a blast! My son and I were one team. Fred and his son were on the other team. We lost but we took a lot of them with us. My forces consisted of a Sgt. Rock kinda guy, an angel and a bunch of airborne troops. My son had an elven archer, a horde of Vikings and a dragon. The other team had a combination of battlemechs, men in black, samurai, and slime monster guys. I blame my troops for the loss- the cool thing about the airborne troops is that they can land anywhere. The bad thing is they need a 14 or better roll on a D20 to get into the game- I kept rolling low- It was like Operation Market garden all over, and I was the Polish regiment grounded by fog. By the time I got my boys in play all their support had been eliminated. And we all know what happens to airborne troops without support…

All Jeff's all the time

Funny all the Jeff’s there are in my little net world:

Over at Jeff’s Gameblog, Jeff gives insight on a wide range of gaming topics.

Meanwhile Jeff G has updated Doom Island and gives us a look at his Joes and their adventures.

And when life is just too damn hectic come on out to the country and join Jeff down on the ranch for A Nerd’s country journal

Brother Stern

Brother Stern is a Warrior Priest of Heldar. He’s the latest of the characters being prepared for the Legends of Steel rulebook, and one of my favorite illustrations that Jeff has done. His kick ass axe is named “Red Pilgrim” in tribute to the late Brian Daley, author of “Doomfarers of Coramonde.”

Ellie Chidzey bikini pics!

just kidding...I could use the traffic.

Too Damn Funny!

A buddy of mine Ed W. found this over at the Strategy page.


If World War Two had been an online Real Ttime Strategy game, the chat room traffic would have gone something like this.

*Hitler[AoE] has joined the game.*
*Eisenhower has joined the game.*
*paTTon has joined the game.*
*Churchill has joined the game.*
*benny-tow has joined the game.*
*T0J0 has joined the game.*
*Roosevelt has joined the game.*
*Stalin has joined the game.*
*deGaulle has joined the game.*
Roosevelt: hey sup
T0J0: y0
Stalin: hi
Churchill: hi
Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0JO: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]; sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got **** to help, sry
Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
Roosevelt: get antiair guns
Churchill: i cant afford them
benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?
paTTon: stfu
Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys
deGaulle: eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick
Eisenhower: i cant do **** til rosevelt gives me an army
paTTon: yah hurry the fock up
Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded
deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck
*deGaulle has left the game.*
Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses
T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard
Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
Stalin: WTF u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
benny-tow: haha
benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa im gonna need help in italy soon sum1
T0J0: o **** i cant help u i got my hands full
Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
Roosevelt: yah thats right ***** im comin for ya
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
benny-tow: hahahh oh sh1t help
Hitler: o man ur focked
paTTon: oh what now biotch
Roosevelt: whos the cripple now lol
*benny-tow has been eliminated.*
benny-tow: lame
Roosevelt: gj patton
paTTon: thnx
Hitler[AoE]: WTF eisenhower hax hes killing all my sh1t
Hitler[AoE]: quit u hacker so u dont ruin my record
Eisenhower: Nuts!
benny~tow: wtf that mean?
Eisenhower: meant to say nutsack lol finger slipped
paTTon: coming to get u hitler u paper hanging hun cocksocker
Stalin: rofl
T0J0: HAHAHHAA
Hitler[AoE]: u guys are fockin gay
Hitler[AoE]: ur never getting in my city
*Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*
benny~tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself
Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL
Stalin: OMG LMAO!
Hitler[AoE]: WTF i didnt click there omg this game blows
*Hitler[AoE] has left the game*
paTTon: hahahhah
T0J0: WTF my teammates are n00bs
benny~tow: shut up noob
Roosevelt: haha wut a moron
paTTon: wtf am i gunna do now?
Eisenhower: yah me too
T0J0: why dont u attack me o thats right u dont got no ships lololol
Eisenhower: fock u
paTTon: lemme go thru ur base commie
Stalin: go to hell lol
paTTon: fock this sh1t im goin afk
Eisenhower: yah this is gay
*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY **** I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy ****holy****hoyl****!
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*
*The Allied team has won the game!*
Eisenhower: awesome!
Churchill: gg noobs no re
T0J0: thats bull**** u fockin suck
*T0J0 has left the game.*
*Eisenhower has left the game.*
Stalin: next game im not going to be on ur team, u guys didnt help me for ****
Churchill: wutever, we didnt need ur help neway dumbarss
tru_m4n: l8r all
benny~tow: bye
Churchill: l8r
Stalin: fock u all
tru_m4n: shut up commie lol
*tru_m4n has left the game.*
benny~tow: lololol u commie
Churchill: ROFL
Churchill: bye commie
*Churchill has left the game.*
*benny~tow has left the game.*
Stalin: i hate u all fags
*Stalin has left the game.*
paTTon: lol no1 is left
paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
*paTTon has been eliminated.*
paTTon: o sh1t!
*paTTon has left the game.*

Legends of Steel Q&A

For a while now you have seen reports on this blog regarding the progress of my Legends of Steel game. I decided to do a little FAQ on the project and add some of the fantastic original art that Jeff Hebert has come up with for the project. Enjoy!


Q. What is Legends of Steel?

A. Legends of Steel (LoS) is a role-playing game that pays tribute to the genre of sword and sorcery- specifically the movies, television shows and comics that deal with sword and sorcery- movies like Deathstalker, Red Sonja and Hawk the slayer- TV shows like Conan the Adventurer, The Beastmaster, and Xena; warrior princess- and comics such as Claw-The Unconquered, King Kull, and Thongor. LoS is light on the rules and designed for fast play. LoS is a perfect game on the fly and ideal for folks new to gaming as well as “old school” gamers who love more than a little hack n slash.




Q. What niche do you see LoS filling?

A. I have always envisioned LoS as a “beer and pretzel” type of game- light in tone and unpretentious-much like the genre LoS attempts to emulate. There are several exceptionally well-done “Rules Light” systems out there (Risus by S. John Ross and the 1PG system from Deep7 Games immediately come to mind). But none that I know of deal specifically with the Sword & Sorcery genre as it is presented in popular media.
We all know that fantasy has been extensively covered in the gaming world, from grand epics such as The Lord of the Rings to the grim and gritty world of the Black Company, but there has never been a “Deathstalker” game or a game based on Marvel comics’ “Skull the Slayer”.





Q. What are you trying to accomplish with LoS?

A. For as long as I can remember I have been a fan of the Sword & Sorcery genre- even longer than I have been a gamer. Since I began gaming I have often “tweaked” the systems I played by tossing out rules I disagreed with and adding others I came up with. In some cases I tweaked systems so much they became unrecognizable from the original. Then of course there was the eternal search that all gamers go through to find the perfect set of rules (hint: there is no such animal). After thousands of hours and hundreds of dollars, I decided that the only system that would satisfy me was one I created myself. And the genre I chose to anchor my game in was Sword & Sorcery.
I suppose you could call LoS a labor of love. I look at this project the same way a guy who restores classic cars sees a rusty old 57 Chevy, It’s a challenge that will very soon be met. Of course I would love to sell 20,000 copies of LoS, but I have no illusions- the reality for me will probably be a print run of maybe 50 copies through a small vanity publishing outfit, enough to give out to friends and family. If I do offer LoS to the public, it will probably be for a nominal cost to cover materials, with anything over that going towards buying more art for it or to maintain a LoS website. The bottom line for me is that my kids and my friends get a kick out of playing it. If that’s the case then the project was a success.




Q. LoS just sounds like another D&D clone, how is it different?

A. First off, in LoS there are a wide variety of advantages and nifty things that the characters can use right from the start. LoS characters begin the game as competent veterans who are able to perform feats and actions without having to wait several levels or banking away thousands of experience points, to gain a level of competency.
Secondly, the focus of LoS is more on the character than on the campaign. LoS is built on a much smaller scale than say Middle Earth or The Forgotten Realms. The adventures in LoS are intended to play out in a session or two, much like a television episode or a three-issue run of a comic book, rather than a grand campaign, but that’s not to say that LoS couldn’t carry campaign play – the rules will stand up to long term play as well as any other system.




Q. What mechanics are used?

A. LoS uses percentages for all attribute, combat, and task resolution rolls. Ten sided dice decide weapon damage. We wanted a system that would be quick and easy to figure out. Nothing could be simpler than a straight percentage chance.
Even if you have never played a role playing game in your life you can still comprehend that your character has a percentage chance of succeeding in their task and if that percentage is exceeded then the attempt fails. No convoluted charts or confusing tables of numbers- just a simple percentage chance to succeed or fail.


Q. Will there be illustrations?

A. Oh hell yes! I'm a very visual person. Good art is a must. I have always hated seeing a real cool premise for a game ruined by substandard artwork. It’s as if the writers were sitting around the table discussing artwork and one of them said, “My brother knows how to draw, let’s have him do the cover.” I hope to avoid that pitfall with LoS. The graphic portion of the project is an integral one. The tone for LoS is light but still heroic, similar to the style of superhero cartoon animation seen in recent years with the Justice League and the X-Men animated series. LoS was after all created partly in tribute to the Sword & Sorcery comics of the 70’s.
Currently on board with us is Jeff Herbert who not only has done illustrations for Hero games, but he is also the creator of the innovative Heromachine software. And we will be looking at other artists whose graphic style will complement his as well as translate well to the genre we are paying tribute too. Savage vistas, creepy ruins, chicks in chainmail bikinis, and of course undead villains, LoS will have it all.


Be a Hero…Be a Champion…Be a LEGEND!

Works in progress

Since its been awhile since I posted any kitbashes, I thought I'd post a couple of works in progress.

Bring on the bad guys!

We had a Joe show here in Sacramento a few weeks ago. I picked these up from Ed Cassar. I needed some bad guys and these boys totally fit the bill.

What does the Evil DM watch?

· Deadwood- It’s violent, gritty, has more Profanity per second than any other show in the history of television, and probably one of the most fascinating villains I’ve ever seen in a series.



· Rome- I just started following this series but from the first episode I find myself hooked. HBO has another winner on it’s hands.








· The Shield- Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey- the most corrupt cop you ever loved. He kills, steals, lies, cheats, and beats the shit out of anyone in his way. But you still end up rooting for the guy.

Bored at work?

Baen has a free Ebook library where you can download SF and fantasy titles from some very respectable names in the genre. Read them online or print them up and make it look like your reviewing reports.

Mystara friday

While searching the outpost the group makes its way to the HQ building. They peered in the building through the windows and see that the entire room was covered floor to ceiling with thick cobwebs. The cobwebs and the darkness obscured everything in the office. So Troilus decides to open the door and have a look in. the moment he does, several thick strands of webbing shoot out from the room and attach themselves to him, dragging him from the doorway into the giant mass of webbing. Some of the others try to attack the webbing but either their weapons are ineffective or they themselves are caught up by strands of webbing which wrap around their throats and threaten to choke them to death. In the mean time Troilus has been sucked into the center of the web and is slowly having his life drained out of him.

Next week…Holy Might

The God Squad

Catholic Heroes





I generally don’t delve much into religion or politics online but I found this website interesting –The religions of comic book superheroes. Check this link too

Mystara Friday

This week the group arrived at the outpost. The weather was most foul and the outpost appeared abandoned. Sgt Troilus had a plan to perform a recon on the outpost but that plan was quickly forgotten as Throd charged the front gate pounding and cursing it through the rain. Ignoring the dwarves actions, Troilus climbed the palisade and entered the out post, only to find it abandoned. He quickly opened the gates and let in the rest of the rain soaked party. As the group was preparing for a systematic search of the outpost once again Throd expressed his frustration at the rain, cold and lack of a killable enemy and began to howl and curse. Finally having enough of the dwarfs antics Corporal Chillum calls the dwarf out and begins to give the warrior a dressing down like a raw recruit. This did not set well with Throd who responded with a solid punch to the Corporals gut. Though winded Chillum responded with a roundhouse kick to the side of the Dwarves head, before the fight could progress any further, it was broken up by the rest of the group. A complete breakdown was averted but the tension was still very much there as the group split in half to begin the search of the outpost, half checking out the HQ building, the rest securing the gate and caring for the mounts.

LoS update

I received some feedback on a draft version of the game. The feelings were positive for the most part. It appears I need to clarify some of the combat procedures and make sure to give plenty of examples to illustrate the system. To that end I'm coming up with a group of Archetype heroes, which I will use as recurring characters to illustrate different examples of rules and their implantation. I’ve also been getting some suggestions on the layout of the cover for the game book. Things are shaping up and this project is becoming more and more tangible every week.

Mystara Friday – The Beginning

I’m going to try a new theme day dedicated to the Email Basic D&D game I’m running: The Mystara PBEM. Every Friday I’ll try and give a brief synopsis of what transpired in the game that week. First off, let me give you all some background.

The game is played on line via email using Yahoogroups. We are using the rules from the Basic D&D rules Cyclopedia. The setting is the Official TSR D&D campaign world of Mystara. For this particular adventure I am utilizing three multi media resources – a novel, a published module, and a Television series.

There are seven Player characters in the game:

• Callum- a Warrior
• Finn Askoldson- a Cleric
• Krondak- a Dwarf
• Pryolei- a Druid
• Rolmir- a Mage
• Throd- A Dwarf
• Troilus- A Scout (Thief)

The setting is as follows:
In the northwestern portion of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, in the heart of the Cruth Mountains, near the river Magos, is the mining camp of Ganik's Ridge. Ganik's Ridge is a lawless collection of tents and ramshackle buildings serving the needs of the miners in the region. Gold was discovered close to eighteen months ago and camp grew up virtually overnight. The area falls under the nominal protection of the town of Luln and the commander of Riverfork Keep. The garrison at the keep is kept busy combating river bandits and smugglers. Luln has been too preoccupied with keeping tabs on the Black Eagle Barony to expend resources on Ganik's ridge. This attitude is changing however as the gold from the strike continues to sustain itself, and the regions resources are beginning to be better appreciated. The Magistrate of Luln and the garrison at Riverfork have joined forces to build an outpost closer to the border to keep an eye out for incursions from Darokin as word of the gold strike spreads.

Into this setting rides Sgt. Troilus, A scout in the Army of the Grand Duchy. His last assignment before leaving the service is to deliver a small contingent (a corporal and three privates) of replacement troops to Outpost 23, a border garrison a days ride up-country from Ganik’s Ridge. While riding through Ganik’s Ridge, Troilus decides to bivouac his men in the camp for the night. While exploring the camp Troilus runs across his friend Krondak, a Dwarven adventurer and part-time bounty hunter. Krondak is in camp with his Dwarven comrade Throd who has just won a deed to a gold mine during a game of craps. Krondak and Throd invite Troilus to join them in examining the mine to see it’s condition. Since the Dwarves must go to the outpost as well to have the commander officially transfer the deed to Throd, they can all leave for the mine together, once Troilus droops off his charges and officially musters out. While discussing their various options at one of the local eateries, Troilus is recognized by his distant cousin Pyrolei. Pyrolei and his three companions, Callum Finn, and Rolmir have just returned from several weeks of gold panning in the river, with little to show for their efforts. Soon Bread is broken, tankards are drained, oaths are sworn, and wenches are spanked. And before you can say Gygax, we have a party of fortune seekers setting out on a bold new adventure!

Next week: The Outpost.

The coolest game I’ve never played.

I have the game.
I have most of the expansion sets.
I’m all over the premise.
But I still haven’t played the damn thing!
Never the less their website rocks!
Check out the downloads section, especially the movies and comic book.

Mystara PBEM

A couple of weeks ago I began to entertain the notion of running a Basic D&D game as a Play by Email (PBEM) game. The response I received after posting my intention on several forums was interesting the most prevalent comment was…why? With all the great systems and campaign worlds available in 2006 why do I insist on trudging through an archaic and out of print system that most of the gaming world has forgotten?
I really didn’t have an answer. But lo and behold I began to get emails trickling in late at night from other like souls who would like to brave the world of Mystara.
My players are all male and 30+ years of age, professionally they are teachers, artists(in fact the illustration above is from one of the players), businessmen, a journalist and a law student. Some were regular gamers and others hadn’t slung the dice since the big 80’s. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the players in my new game all possessed vivid and vibrant imaginations In the process of character creation I insisted on backgrounds for the characters. To my excitement, their back-stories for their characters were worthy of any being written up in the pages of Dungeon Magazine. So let the 3.5 boys have a good laugh. It’s not the system you play it’s the quality of the players, and with these guys I have a real good feeling.

Wrath of the Dragon God - My thoughts

I finally sat down and watched the Dungeons and Dragons movie: Wrath of the Dragon God. I suppose I could be a gamer snob and say it sucked, The Lord of the Rings trilogy has set the bar so high now that we tend to forget that there was a time when gamers would take whatever we could get movie-wise. But actually it was no worse than an episode of Xena. The budget was mediocre by today’s standards but they did what they could with it. If you play D&D you will recognize the classes, spells and monsters (It’s fun to point out to the wife “That was a Ring of the Ram, Honey”). My family enjoyed it, and my wife was interested enough to have me play it again for the parts she missed, when she went to the store during the first showing. There were several lines and situations that brought a laugh and you know the writers were having fun with the material (“Good Times”). All in all I’m happy I bought it and most likely will watch it again. My biggest disappointment with the movie was with the commentary. I expected the producer, director, and maybe a couple of the actors to discuss the technical parts of the movie, instead they have three managers from Wizard of the Coast, posing as a Cleric, ½ Orc and a Thief, giving in-character commentary. We could have done without that, the jokes fell flat and it came off as a lame rip-off of Mystery Science Theater.

In praise of PDF’s

Well we started up a group for the Basic D&D game called the Mystara PBEM.
We have a pretty good mix of guys. Some are dusting off the dice bags after years of neglect. One thing that we have been making use of is the availability of PDF copies of the entire out of print D&D stuff. Some folks don’t really care for the format, preferring to hold a “real book” in their hands. While I don’t exactly disagree, I feel that PDF’s definitely have their uses. The sad fact is that even when you can find a copy of these older games the prices some of them can fetch are insane. I remarked in an earlier post about a copy of the Five Shires going for like $80.00 on EBay. Over at drive thru RPG (See the link in the sidebar)or RPGnow you can get a PDF copy for under $5.00

Back to Basics

The other day a buddy of mine emailed me asking if I knew of any Play by Email games going on, (It seems that the one he had been playing in had gone on indefinite hiatus). I contacted the DM of the basher game to see if he could work him in, but we already had close to ten players, so I wasn’t too surprised when he said he couldn’t. Later while perusing several message boards I came across a post asking if anyone was running a Basic D&D game. The more I thought about it that day the more intrigued I became. I was familiar with the basic D&D game; having played when I was first introduced to gaming a century ago, but it had been decades since I last played it. Doing a bit of research I found that the Basic D&D world is as vibrant as any out there. And the Rules Cyclopedia is one of the best written and organized sets of rules ever published. Many dismiss it as beginner’s rules, but Basic D&D and its campaign world of Mystara has a definite presence on the net.
So I gathered a few of my dusty Gazetteers and downloaded a PDF of the Rules Cyclopedia, and decided to run a game for my friend. I put out the word on some of the gaming boards and got a couple of bites. So, If anyone else out there wants to play some REAL old school D&D drop me a line.

DEEP DISCOUNT

This weekend I found the Unknown Soldier figure at Tuesday Morning for $14.99
(Originally they were like $60.00). From what I understand they also have Mademoiselle Marie, but she appears to be harder to find. No doubt they were picked up in masse by some scalper scum, who will double the price and post it on EBay- and after they do I hope they choke and die in their own vomit- or better yet someone else’s vomit- I HATE toy scalpers- but I digress.



I hope they discount Miss Fear too!

Oh no.

Yeah I know the first one sucked some serious crotch. But The buzz on this one is that it ain’t too shabby. I guess an Evil DM’s gotta do what an Evil DM’s gotta do…. I’ll see if I can pull myself through it. The first one physically started hurting ten minutes into the movie. How could they get it all so damn wrong? Blechh.
I really hope this one is at least decent. I’ll let y’all know once my copy arrives. Suncoast video at the mall wanted $24.99 HA!! Amazon has it for $15.99.
There’s a trailer in French here. It kinda reminds me of a Xena episode; the effects are at about that level.

Keeping it real.

HA!

Geek Alert!

Yesterday at lunch I decided to get some fresh air. So I headed down the street to the mall and stopped by at the EB Games store to see if they had anything interesting in the clearance bins. I didn’t find anything on clearance but I did run across a neat looking program called Comic Book Creator. It looked interesting and only cost $19.99 so I filed it away mentally with plans to visit their website when I got home. Looking it over I was impressed enough to take the plunge and pluck down the cash. I'm a big fan of software that allows me to incorporate my other hobbies (Gaming, Action figures, Comics). Hopefully. CBC will be right up there with my other software toy favorites HeroMachine and XOW!

Stay tuned…

Here's a little something I whipped up tonight.