Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGnet.

Here we go again...

Well it looks like it's on again. after months of nothing, the Red Nails website is back up and running. there are promises of frequent updates and creator blogs and an actual future release. Uh-huh.




I refuse to get excited over this though. Remember those Peanuts comics where Lucy would try to convince Charlie Brown to try and kick the football just one more time? Unfortunately that's how I feel about ever seeing this project completed.

A new look for an old friend

It looks like the "Old School" gaming renaissance is going full speed ahead. We have OSRIC for 1st edition AD&D, Four Color for the FASERIP (AKA: The Marvel Superheroes RPG), a new re-mastered facelift for Star Frontiers, and now one of my personal favorites; The TSR Conan Game is getting the SRD-style treatment with ZeFRS (Zeb’s Fantasy Roleplaying System). ZeFRS is aptly named because the system is extremely light and fast playing. There is an active discussion thread going on over at RPGnet. So all you Conan and Sword and Sorcery fans come on by and join in. It’s a good chance to get in on the ground floor of a fan based revival of a great game that has flown under the radar for too long.

I wanted to like it

Okay kids here is the hook:

From the exotic, mysterious East they come to menace western civilization, to challenge all that decent, God-fearing men hold virtuous. With hatchet and knife, pistol and poison, they strike from the shadows. These are the Perils of the Orient, the sinister villains who swarmed across the pages of pulp magazines from the very beginning in the late 1800s to the very end in the 1950s.

Written by novelist C.L. Werner (Witch Hunter, et. al.), Pulp Villains: PERILS OF THE ORIENT is your complete guide for including these villains in your d20-based pulp campaigns. In these pages are presented some of the most common themes that were evoked in the pulps -- from Mongol warriors dreaming of a new empire to sinister Tibetan monks with terrible powers of mysticism and mesmerism; from the Tongs of Chinatown to the nefarious machinations of the sinister Oriental Mastermind.

This supplement contains details of the most common archetypes of the genre, with fully-statted generic NPC examples of each, ready to use. An armory of exotic oriental weapons is included, for use against (or indeed, by) your pulp heroes. Horrific creatures appear as well....including the dreaded Mongolian Death Worm!

Now here's the skinny:

Let’s have a look by sections…

First of all – the product starts off with ten pages of flavor text. A bit excessive in my opinion. Anyone buying this product probably has a good handle on just what this supplement is all about, the reader is most likely a pulp gamer who has purchased this in the hopes of finding some crunchy inspiration Death traps, exotic locales, ports of call, villains, etc. instead ten pages are wasted on what could be summarized in a paragraph or two, at ten pages this section is just too fluffy. It could easily be reduced by half, giving over the remaining pages to more crunch.

Introduction
A standard introduction that speaks to this particular sub-genre of pulp. The author is very careful to point out that none of the information in this work is to be taken in any context other than a reflection of this particular genre of fiction and the style of the writing of the period.

The Mastermind revisited
In this section we are given an overview of the Oriental Mastermind and some of the particular traits that make the Oriental Mastermind special. That was the good part. The disappointing part is that we are given a set of stats for an Oriental Mastermind but no background on him. No history, no motivation, no information on his empire, secret base, connections, family, nothing-just abilities skills and numbers- this is one of those areas where we could use a page or two that was wasted on the flavor text in the beginning.

East meets west
In this section we are given a light overview of the history and struggles of Asians in America, with particular focus on the Chinese, “Chinatowns” and the Tongs.

The Dragon lady
Here we are treated to a section on that most alluring of pulp fixtures the “Dragon Lady”. Real world examples of powerful Asian women are offered in addition to a nice section on the motivations and behaviors of this Femme fatale as presented in the Pulp genre. A sample character write-up is added, but here again no specific background, or details about her organization, etc.

The Mysterious Orient
At the halfway point of the product we reach a gazetteer of sorts that takes us on an all too brief (two page) tour of the Orient, touching briefly with paragraphs on China, Japan, Mongolia, and Tibet. What’s lacking is any detail whatsoever on the cities that make the “Mysterious Orient” so Mysterious- Shanghai, Singapore, Manila, Macao, just to name a few. There is a huge map of China though, which looks like it was photocopied from a 1930 high school textbook and takes up three quarters of a page; pure filler.

Enemies from the East
This section deals with the exotic adversaries that are in the service of the Oriental Masterminds. This section proved the least disappointing of the entire product. Besides your run of the mill Ninja, Mongol, and Martial artist write-ups, there are two foes that showed particular promise for my campaign: The Dacoit and the Black Monk.

Oriental Armory
Here the weapons of the Orient are described with stats and descriptions.

Horrors of the Orient
The monster manual section of the product. Three monsters are presented-a snake, a lizard, and a yeti. That’s it. What was I expecting? I don’t know- choking vines maybe, brain worms that are inserted in the ear and make their way to the brain, more stuff along those lines.

Adventure seeds
The product ends with three one-paragraph adventure seeds.

When I saw this product at RPGNow I was so excited I bought it instantly. I wanted it to be great; I knew it could be great. Man was I disappointed.

Nothing on deathtraps, exotic locales, or hidden bases. No detail on how the Oriental Mastermind’s organization operates, nothing on the various illicit rackets (dope smuggling, prostitution, white slavery, piracy, extortion), nothing on how the Oriental Masterminds empire influences city hall, the state department, or small countries. None of that.

On one hand it was only six bucks, but on the other hand I felt I spent four bucks too much.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to Midnight's Lair.

Just a little Respect

Today I read the news about Dragon magazine. The news saddened me. And then I started to read the posts on various gaming forums and message boards where many of my fellow gamers callously dismissed this event with snide remarks and a pretentious attitude of indifference. And that made me angry. I’m one of those gamers for who Gaming means D&D. I enjoy other systems and other genres, but I give credit where credit is due. In the beginnings my personal gaming history there was the occasional game of Traveller, Boothill, Gammaworld, etc. but I always came home to D&D. And a huge part of that D&D experience for me was Dragon magazine. In a time before PDF’s, before Splat books, before endless D20 campaign worlds, before the internet, before most of you reading this could even read, there was Dragon magazine.
Dragon magazine was a monthly life-line for gamers. It helped us through some rough times, times when it wasn’t chic to be geek, when the media labeled us Satan worshippers, when our parents sat us down and had a talk to us about “That game”. Dragon magazine let us know there were others like ourselves out there. And that we weren’t any more weird or obsessed than any other dedicated fan of a sport or hobby.
Dragon Magazine connected gamers around the globe and allowed us to push the boundaries of our gaming worlds. Dragon magazine opened our minds to countless NPC classes (nowadays you kids call them “Prestige classes”) –The Alchemist, the Bounty Hunter, The Jester, The Anti-Paladin (remember him?). Dragon magazine helped us define the heroes of classic literature in D&D terms and opened debates on subjects such as alignments and “the politics of hell”. Dragon magazine took us beyond the dungeon and the nearby village- The nations of Oerth, Toril, and the farthest reaches of the “Known world” were first explored in the pages of Dragon magazine.
Right now I can go online and visit hundreds of gaming websites, forums, and message boards in an instant. Back then, all many of us had was Dragon magazine. We would scoop up copies eagerly every month to discover stats for new weapons, armor, and equipment. We would use Sage Advice to settle disputes, crack up reading “Fineous fingers”, and try to sneak a peek at the free module in the middle of the magazine.
But that was then, and this is now. Dragon will soon be going away. You may never have read it, you may never have cared for it, it may no longer do what it once did for you, and you might not miss it when it goes, but have a little respect for it. Because chances are many of today’s systems and campaign worlds that are so “cool and edgy”, were created by guys who, at one time, waited every month for the next issue of Dragon to hit the shelves.

Ziggurat Con June 9th-Camp Adder Iraq

When I was in the Army back in the big 80's a good 70% of my off-duty hours (and much of my on-duty hours) were spent gaming.
From basic training to my duty station my fellow soldiers and I played many a game of AD&D, Traveller, Car Wars, Recon, GURPS and Twilight 2000.

After moving to Hawaii in the 90's I joined a great group of guys known as the D.O.G.S (Dedicated Oahu Gamers Society). Over half of our membership consisted of Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, Coasties, and Marines. Anywhere you find US military personnel, you will eventually find a game happening. Even in a Warzone.

Ziggurat Con will be held in June at Camp Adder in Iraq. If you can find it in your pocketbook to send a box of Heroclix, a bag of dice, or maybe even a game- I know for a fact it will be played and appreciated.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to Midnight's Lair

I'm guilty, you may be too

For more useful nuggets go to the get it in writing blog. thats where this came from:

Top 20 Words You Use in Speech or Copywriting That Make You Look Stupid When You Misuse Them.

adverse/averse
"Adverse" means unfavorable. "Averse" means reluctant.


accept/except
"Accept" means to to receive with consent."Except" means With the exclusion of.


affect/effect
"To affect" means to influence, change or produce an effect "To effect" means to accomplish, complete, cause, make possible or carry out. If you're looking for a noun, you're probably looking for "effect." If you're using a verb, you're safest with "affect."


allude/refer
"To allude" means to speak of without mentioning. "To refer" means to speak of directly.


all right
not alright


allusion/illusion
An "allusion" is an indirect reference. An "illusion" is a false impression or image.


around/about
"Around" should refer to a physical proximity or surrounding (I'll look for you around the front of Baker Hall). "About" indicates an approximation (Let's have lunch about 11:30 a.m.).


between/among
Use "between" to show a relationship between two objects only.Use "among" when it's more than two.


complement/compliment
"Complement" is something that supplements. "Compliment" is praise or the expression of courtesy.


farther/further
"Farther" refers to physical distance. "Further" refers to an extension of time or degree.


historic/historical
"Historic" means important. "Historical" refers to any event in the past.


imply/infer
"Imply" means to suggest or indicate indirectly. To "infer" is to conclude or decide from something known or assumed.


insure/ensure
"Insure" means to establish a contract for insurance of some type. "Ensure" means to guarantee.

General rule? Use "ensure."


irregardless/regardless
The word is "regardless." "Irregardless"? No such word.


literally/figuratively
"Literally" means in an exact sense. "Figuratively" means in a comparative sense.


lose/loose
"lose" means to To fail to win, or misplace. "loose" means Not fastened, restrained, or contained.


peddle/pedal
To "peddle" is to sell. To "pedal" is to use pedals, as on a bicycle.


principal/principle
"Principal" as a noun is a chief person or thing; as an adjective, it means first in importance. "Principle" is a noun meaning a fundamental truth, doctrine or law; a guiding rule or code of conduct; a method of operation.


toward/towards
"Toward" is correct. "Towards" is not.


who/whom
We rarely see the word "whom" in writing. But if your sentence has an objective clause referring to a person or animal with a proper name, you're being ungrammatical if you don't use whom.

The word "who" substitutes for subjective pronouns‹he, she or they; "whom" must be used in the sense of him, her or them. If you don't want to use "whom," restructure your sentence. Don't just stick in "who" when it is incorrect.


-wise
Do not use this suffix to coin words like "weatherwise."

Motivational Monday

Special thanks to Midnight's lair

Sword and Planet Pulp coming Soon!

More pulp goodness coming in August. I am in serious need of a nice sturdy copy of Almuric. This story has been out of print way too long.


Introducing Planet Stories: Classic Science Fantasy Novels
New Paizo Novel Line to Feature Moorcock, Howard, Gygax
Fri, Mar 30, 2007, 04:30 PM
Paizo Publishing®, LLC announced the creation of a new line of classic science fantasy novel reprints called Planet Stories. With large printing houses distancing themselves from backlisted novels, Planet Stories brings back some of the long forgotten classic inspirations for much of today's science fiction and fantasy genres. Planet Stories will be available at your local book or hobby store and will retail for around $12.99 each.

This August, Planet Stories launches with two venerable titles from classic veterans of the science fiction and fantasy genres:

Almuric, by Robert E. Howard, is a savage planet of crumbling stone ruins and debased, near-human inhabitants. Into this world comes Esau Cairn, Earthman, swordsman, murderer. Only he can overthrow the terrible devils that enslave Almuric, but to do so he must first defeat the inner demons that forced him to abandon Earth. Filled with vile beasts and thrilling adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Almuric is one of Howard's few novels, and an excellent yarn from one of America's most distinct literary voices. Robert E. Howard is most known for creating the fictional character, Conan the Cimmerian (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian), who has been featured in comic books, short stories, novels, and feature films for over 70 years. Howard's work is often credited as the source of the sword-and-sorcery genre and influenced everyone from J.R.R. Tolkien to George R.R. Martin.

The Anubis Murders, by Gary Gygax, weaves a fantastic tale of warring wizards that spans the world from the pyramids of ancient Egypt to the mist-shrouded towns of medieval England. Someone is murdering the world's most powerful sorcerers, and the trail of blood leads straight to Anubis, the solemn god known by most as the Master of Jackals. Can Magister Setne Inhetep, personal philosopher-wizard to the Pharaoh, reach the distant kingdom of Avillonia and put an end to the Anubis Murders, or will he be claimed as the latest victim? Gary Gygax co-created the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game over 30 years ago and has watched it grow to become one of the largest entertainment sources in the hobby gaming industry. Dungeons & Dragons has been played by tens of millions worldwide and the name Gygax is instantly recognizable to any fans of the game, past or present.

Planet Stories will release one classic science fantasy novel each month beginning this September. Additional planned releases include:

City of the Beast/Warriors of Mars, by Michael Moorcock, features the return of Moorcock's Eternal Champion, Kane of Old Mars, a brilliant American physicist whose strange experiments in matter transmission catapult him across space and time to the Red Planet. Kane's is a Mars of the distant past, a place of romantic civilizations, fabulous many-spired cities, and the gorgeous princess Shizala. To win her hand and bring peace to Mars, Kane must defeat the terrible Blue Giants of the Argzoon, whose ravaging hordes threaten the whole planet! Adventure in the Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition from the creator of Elric of Melniboné. The first stand-alone American printing since 1979, City of the Beast/Warrior of Mars will be available this September.

Black God's Kiss, by C.L. Moore, was first published in the pages of Weird Tales in 1934. C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry is the first significant female sword-and-sorcery protagonist and one of the most exciting and evocative characters the genre has ever known. Published alongside seminal works by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, the five classic fantasy tales included in this volume easily stand the test of time and often overshadow the storytelling power and emotional impact of stories by Moore's more famous contemporaries. A seminal work from one of fantasy's most important authors, Black God's Kiss is an essential addition to any fantasy library and will be available this October.

To learn more, visit Planet Stories online at paizo.com/planetstories.

The Spider's Test

I’ve always enjoyed frontier type stories, settlers in a new land hacking out an existence on their own. One of my favorite books in this vein also happens to be related to gaming.
TSR came out with a Campaign set for the 2nd edition AD&D game called Birthright. Birthright was never a major success but it had high production values and a good amount of support, including several novels. My favorite of the Birthright novels is The Spiders Test by Dixie Lee Mc Keone. The novel deals with young Richard Endier, a landless freeman, and his cousins who gain permission from the local Baron to settle in a wild borderland area near a Goblin infested forest. They are soon joined by others including several warriors looking to settle down, a few farmers, a Druid, and a warrior-priest who serves a martial Deity similar to Helm in the Forgotten Realms campaign. Eventually they go through several trials and tribulations of creating a new settlement- fighting off raids, deciding a chain of command, trying to keep folk from splintering off on their own, religious differences, etc. It’s a fun read that applies frontier style adventure in a AD&D setting. I would actually really enjoy playing in this type of campaign. Past the adventures offered in the novel I could see taking scenarios from various frontier style stories and TV shows like Daniel Boone and The High Chaparral and giving them a fantasy twist. The Spider’s Test offers a different spin to the average D&D campaign, and it would take a different type of group to play it out. Though there is plenty of action, it really isn’t of the Hack n Slash variety. It’s easy to invade a kobold lair, kill all the monsters, take the treasure and move on to the Ogre lair. Compared to trying to keep the peace between two religious groups in your camp that insist on building a chapel in the same spot, or fighting off a combined assault of goblins and river pirates who are threatening to burn your crops and set fire to the fort.
In fact, this may be why Birthright the campaign never really made it begin mainstream gaming. It may not have been hack n slash enough. Maybe it took a certain type of gamer who enjoyed the detail and the richness offered in the play of the campaign, the political intrigue, large scale battles, and international diplomacy.

whats on my PC?

In other words I'm too tired to write about anything.

I have quite a few map makers strewn about my hard drive. one of my favorites is still the one that came in the 2nd edition core rules. Man, I wished they would have expanded on it.




Here is an old Kitbash I did with a Remco Warlord figure and a wrestlers head. he makes a decent Dwarf.


This is one of the first maps I ever did of my old homebrew campaign world of Erisa. I actually did this at work on MSPaint. not too shabby.


Kaliman the original Pulp superhero from Mexico!


I love Heromachine. I hear Jeff is working on a new and improved version! I can't wait.




Arnie My Governator.


Just having some fun with the comicbook creator software.


Danger International. Action and Adventure in the BIG 80's!




Viva Villa!

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet.

"Why I love Pulp era gaming" - summed up in one picture

Star Frontiers - Revisited

I know I mentioned this several weeks ago, but it really begs repeating, Bill Logan is doing a bang-up job of resurrecting the Star Frontiers game.
The game is the same one “Old timers” like me remember, but the layout and text have been given such a nice facelift that the whole thing looks brand new. And this guy has been kicking ass and taking names as far as getting content out on the net.
Right now at his site he has:
• The Alpha Dawn rulebook
• The Knight Hawks Ship combat book
• The Zebulon’s guide to the frontier supplement
• The Gamma Dawn supplement
• Four complete modules
• Three issues of a webzine called the Starfrontiersman
• Several different character sheets and Star maps

All of this material is complete, downloadable, and 100% free. In my opinion it’s one of the best gaming bargains out on the net.

Heropress

Tim, one of my Internet buddies has a nice Blog going on called Heropress. It’s a great daily collection of posts on movies, books, comics, gaming etc. Tim calls the U.K. home, so he covers some stuff that you may not find yet in the US (such as a review of Dog Soldiers). Give Heropress a look.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet

Just like the Hulk...

Hey guys,
about a year ago I went in for an MRI for an unrelated ear problem. the doctors discovered a tumor in my brain near my pituitary, sitting right above my optical nerve. It was a dicey place to go into with a knife so they started me on a medication to slow the growth of the tumor. the treatment worked well enough to actually make it possible for them to perform a Gamma Knife procedure. the concentrated Gamma rays sterilize the tumor keeping it from re growing and eventually it dies and no more tumor. That's what we are shooting for.

to do this they drill four screws into your skull and attach your head to a frame, so that you don't move around as the machine shoots the Gamma rays (moving around too much while being bombarded with radiation is a bad thing). the screws are the worst part of the procedure, it hurts like all fuck, even with the anesthetic. when they drive the screws into your skull it's a wicked kind of pain, very Hannibal Lecter. I'm told the procedure went of like a charm (though they always say that right?). I was sent home with "The Mother of all headaches" and a swollen head. that was on Thursday, Friday was a long headachey blur, and today my forehead and eyes are swollen, I look like i just got my ass kicked, but according to the release notes that's all normal.

As you can probably understand the anxiety over this and the discomfort after it has kept me off the net for the last few days.

Thanks to all you guys who sent in Emails of support and prayers, Scarlette and I really appreciate it. I didn't try to hide the news of the tumor, but I didn't want to announce it either. I figured if I didn't make it a big deal, it wouldn't be.

What does The Evil DM want for his birthday?

I'm not too sure when this is coming out. but I guarantee you I'll be the first on my block with it!

This also looks great! Amazon has it for pre order for under $12.00

Motivational monday

Thanks to rpgnet

Broadsword update

I'm taking a very brief hiatus from my work on Legends of Steel. I just got news the other day from Deep7 games that "Broadsword" my Sword & Sorcery supplement for their 1PG system is finally in the last stages of formatting. I was asked to contribute a few short scenarios for the project, so with the help of Doc Rotwang’s tried and true Adventure Funnel system, I’m working up a couple mini adventures.

Another reading from the book of the universally clueless

A follow-up to my Bob Seger moment.

I'm sitting here working on a file for someone named Schultz. and of course my mind starts to wander to Sgt. Schultz of Hogans Heroes fame. I start thinking about the other main German character Colonel Klink. then it hits me: Klink. Klink is slang for jail. Colonel Klink is the Commander of a Prison camp (do you see where I'm going here...) Klink / jail.
I'm gonna be 43 next month and I've watched Hogan's Heroes all my life, and I just got the joke today...

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGnet.

I finally found a Pulp supplement I can do without.

New Horizons is a new supplement for Spirit of the Century. Each chapter addresses a marginalized group from the pulps, kept outside by their sex, their race, their lifestyle, or their beliefs. In New Horizons you’ll find information about real-life heroic individuals and teams, the challenges they face and some of the solutions they find to the problems of dealing with 1920s society. You’ll also find heroes and villains ready for use, plot hooks, and ties to the mysteries around the Century Club. The life of heroes outside the mainstream may seem as strange as the secret language of Atlantis, but can be as exciting and powerful in play as a zeppelin armada.

Bleh.
I simply don't see the need for it. There comes a point when these things stop being games and become...something else. This may be an ideal example.

When you agree to play an RPG you are suspending reality. RPG's are a dressed up version of "let's pretend". Why would you even want to go where this is going? How is this fun?

I've ran quite a few Pulp games and my players and npc's have run the gamut from Filipino boxers, Australian P.I.'s, Mexican Priests, and an Oxford educated Punjabi physician (who happened to be a were tiger). Never did racism or bigotry show up in the game. It didn't need to. My players and I are all too aware of the historical racism of the period and the ethnocentrism inherent in the pulps, but we chose to ignore it to have fun playing the game. Remember fun?

It's almost condescending in the way Black history month is. here Black people you can have this month, Mexican's you get Cinco de Mayo (whatever that is), Italians you used to get Columbus day but the Native Americans got mad so were gonna have to find you something else...

By creating a supplement of this nature, it seems that the publishers are saying:
Attention ladies and people of color. you now have your own supplement. so if your character is a Wong or a Gomez please convert your PC to comply with this new "special" supplement we have made for all of you.

The publishers may think they are doing something neat or noble but all they are doing is making race an issue where it never was. Justice Inc. Mercenaries, spies and private eyes, GURPS Cliffhangers, Top secret: Agent 13, none of them went to this extreme in making race an issue.

Visit the various Pulp boards. we all know that racism and bigotry is a fact in the pulps. It's discussed and grudgingly accepted as a reflection of the times. We are well aware of it's existance, you dont have to shove it in our face during a game.

"Old Skool" Revival

In the last few weeks there have been a couple of outstanding efforts by the gaming community brought to a boil over at RPGNet.



FASERIP
Phil Reed a well known industry name has proposed an Open license version of the FASERIP system. He offered his services in developing such a system and was funded by the gaming community in less than a week. Phil has quite an impressive gaming resume so color me confident. The project is a go and may see completion of the first draft come April. I was happy to see how many people jumped at the chance to pitch in with real cash to get this project started. I did a FASERIP pulp game a few months ago, now I have new incentive to dust it off and finish tweaking it.




Star Frontiers (digitally re-mastered)
Bill Logan has taken the venerable Star Frontiers game and revamped it, giving it a whole new look and feel. Once again a thread at RPGNet has spawned a movement that has snowballed into all the SF rules being given a shiny new look as well as some of the modules. Bill has even started a fanzine with new SF equipment, optional rules, adventures, etc. Check it out here. And by all means contact him with your ideas and article proposals.

Legends of Steel update

The responses from the Legend of Steel review team are in, discussions have been held and the re-writing of some portions and "beefing up" of others has begun. Spell casting PC's will remain a part of the core rules (It was a 50/50 split on that one. Some feeling it wasn't' true to the genre of S&S, others citing characters such as The Grey Mouser, Kane and Elric as magic wielding S&S characters), the skills system has been revamped, the experience point system has been tweaked. The most requested thing is the easiest to fix but the most time consuming- giving examples. The guys on the team want more examples of character creation- by the numbers, so to speak. Also expanded examples on combat and task resolution. Several fully fleshed characters were also called for.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET

Team Players

I found this online the other day, what great Saturday matinee memories(Jim Kelly was all about cool). I’ve always been a fan of the team concept. Individual heroes with exceptional abilities getting together to kick some bad guy ass- The Magnificent Seven movies, DC comic’s “The Losers”, the IMF from the Mission Impossible TV series, and so on. Maybe that’s why gaming has such an appeal to me. The Paladin, the Thief, the Mage, the Priest. Different powers, different backgrounds, common cause. Adventure!

Shellendrak Manor

This just in from the “Too Damn Cool” department-
Here is a new multi genre cardstock model from the guys at Worldworks.
It looks awesome! I want it. I want it yesterday! Just $20.00 (and probably about three cartridges of printer ink). Imagine the “oohs” and “awes” as you whip this baby out at your next pulp or horror game. I’m gonna buy it. I just wish I could get someone to build it for me.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET.

LoS Update

The long road to a final published version of Legends of Steel has gotten a bit shorter. I recently submitted a PDF copy of my first draft to about a dozen friends for a preliminary review. The feedback has been very positive. And a few revisions have taken place. I began a discussion forum for the “LoS Review Team” and we have had several lively discussions on what exactly defines the Sword & Sorcery genre and the spell casters place in Legends of Steel. I belong to several game discussion forums, and while they are amusing, I don’t take too much away from them. This forum is a bit different for me as the whole purpose of it is to improve my game and get it ready for eventual release. I’m really thankful to my team for all the assistance and advice they have given me. Some of the suggestions will be implemented some not, but all of the advice is appreciated and seriously considered.