Akratic Wizardry

Clockwork and Cthulhu

2012-01-24T17:11:00.005-05:00

Well this certainly looks cool:

From here:

Horror Roleplaying in the world of Clockwork & Chivalry
“Then she did confesse that she gained her powers from a Devill which did come to her out of the baye on moonless nights. And upon examination, we did find the markes of evill upon her, for she bore scales like unto a fish about her bodie. And so was she hanged as a witche, and upon the scaffolde she did crie out “Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!” and those who did witnesse this were sore afraide, but her Devill answered her not, and she did die in that place.”
– Fear-the-Lord Grimshaw, Witch Finder, 1645
England has descended into civil war. The earth is tainted by alchemical magick. Giant clockwork war machines lumber across the land. In the remote countryside, witches terrorise entire villages, while in the hallowed halls of great universities, natural philosophers uncover the secrets of nature.
War, plague and religious division make people’s lives a constant misery. But even greater threats exist. Witches whisper of the old gods. Royalist alchemists pore over John Dee’s forbidden translation of the Necronomicon, dreaming of powers that will allow them to win the war. Parliamentarian engineers consult with creatures from beyond the crystal spheres and build blasphemous mechanisms, unholy monuments to their alien overlords. Vast inter-dimensional beings seek entry into the world, while their human servants, corrupted, crazed and enslaved, follow the eldritch agendas of their hidden masters.
Clockwork & Cthulhu brings the horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to the 17th century alternate historical fantasy world of Clockwork & Chivalry. Inside you will find:
· Mythos creatures and gods, cults and secret societies for 17th century England.
· New rules for Mental Damage in the Renaissance system.
· Three complete scenarios which take the Adventurers into the rain-shrouded Coniston Fells, the shifting sands of Morecambe Bay, and the corridors of the Royalist court at Oxford.

I've been intrigued with Clockwork & Chivalry for well over a year now, as it was, in my opinion, the most novel setting produced for the (short-lived) RuneQuest 2. And my fondness for Call of Cthulhu is longstanding.

So once I get my hands on this book and the second edition of Clockwork & Chivalry (which employs the Renaissance system, which, in turn, is based upon OpenQuest), I plan to inflict some 1645 eldritch horror upon my players!

Original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is Back!

2012-01-19T01:45:00.006-05:00

Wow.

First Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons -- yes, the version penned by the Grand Sorcerer Gary Gygax himself -- will be sold by Wizards of the Coast again.

Think I've been sniffing too much of the black lotus leaves? Well, check out their online catalog (scroll down a bit).

Here is the blurb for the '1st Edition Premium' versions of the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide:

In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.

To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release. Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America.

Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize the “Father of Roleplaying Games” with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI.

I'm not sure exactly what the blurb means by "an attractive new cover design", but I hope that the original cover art by Trampier and Sutherland will be included in some form. Also, I'm annoyed, but not surprised, by the omission of Dave Arneson's name in reference to the original 1974 version of D&D. (Poor Dave still gets inadequate recognition...)

Nonetheless, this is pretty amazing news. A victory for the 'Old School Renaissance' indeed!

These books will be available April 17th.

Sorcerer Klarkash-Ton

2012-01-15T11:57:00.008-05:00

Over the past several months, I have had the pleasure of reading through a considerable number of the tales penned by the formidable Clark Ashton Smith. I started with the collection The Return of the Sorcerer, and subsequently moved on to The Tsathoggua Cycle (from Chaosium). After that, I simply printed up and read numerous stories from the wonderful 'Eldritch Dark' website.

I think that I've now read through all, or at least most, of Smith's Zothique, Hyperborea, Poseidonis, and Averoigne stories, as well as many others.

I have enjoyed thoroughly my exploration of Smith’s writings. He is an evocative and witty storyteller, clearly is the peer of his better-known contemporaries and fellow ‘pulp’ and ‘weird fiction’ authors, H. P. Lovecraft and R. E. Howard. Indeed, in many respects, I think that Smith is their superior. His stories possess a dark humour and whimsy that those of his contemporaries generally lack, or do not manifest in equal measure.

If you enjoy the tales of Howard and/or Lovecraft – or, perhaps more so, the fantasy fiction of Jack Vance – I strongly recommend that you check out the work of Clark Ashton Smith. ‘The Tale of Satampra Zeiros’ is probably as good a place as any to start one’s exploration.

(And thanks to Grognardia for keeping the eldritch flame of Klarkash-Ton so effulgent.)

Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition is Coming

2012-01-09T11:24:00.004-05:00

The official announcement concerning the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons at the Wizards of the Coast website is here.

This claim in particular caught my attention:

We want a game that rises above differences of play styles, campaign settings, and editions, one that takes the fundamental essence of D&D and brings it to the forefront of the game. In short, we want a game that is as simple or complex as you please, its action focused on combat, intrigue, and exploration as you desire. We want a game that is unmistakably D&D, but one that can easily become your D&D, the game that you want to run and play.

While I think that this is an interesting and ambitious goal, it strikes me as quixotic. I have no idea how a single version of D&D could possibly appeal to the diverse D&D-descended role-playing communities that exist today (the stalwarts of earlier editions, the splintered 'Old School Renaissance' folks, the Pathfinder/3.x fans, the 4e people, etc.).

Still, as someone who is a fan of neither 3e nor 4e D&D, I must confess that I'm somewhat curious to see what WotC does for 5e, given this mission statement.

The 5e announcement has been covered by the New York Times, Critical Hits, and Forbes.

Especially interesting is this comment from David M. Ewalt (the author of the Forbes piece):

Wizards is on the right track.

I’m not a fan of fourth edition. I find the combat slow, the powers limiting, and the rules inhospitable to the kind of creative world-building, story-telling and problem-solving that make D&D great.

But so far, the fifth edition rules show promise. They’re simple without being stupid, and efficient without being shallow. Combat was quick and satisfying; we got through most of an adventure in just a few hours. And I get the sense that fifth edition will bring back some of the good complexity of previous versions, allowing players to create unique characters and new worlds.

Most of all, it feels like D&D, not a console video game, or an MMO, or a card game. That’s the first step towards bringing old players home.

While I'm not holding my breath for a '5th edition miracle', I do look forward to seeing what happens with Ye Grande Olde Game. I try to remain curious and open-minded, even in my old age...

RuneQuest PDFs available for One Dollar each

2012-01-08T17:42:00.002-05:00

The official announcement from Loz at the RPGsite:

We're delighted to announce that Design Mechanism, Issaries and Mongoose Publishing have reached an agreement that allows us to continue making available RuneQuest and Glorantha titles (originally published by Mongoose) through DrivethruRPG and its affiliated sites.

Under the RuneQuest Archives you'll be able to buy a special selection of the very best of the old Mongoose RQ and Glorantha titles at only $1.00 per book.

This means that certain titles that would have disappeared are now available at a really great price. The titles are split between the first and second editions of Mongoose's RuneQuest iteration (MRQ1 and MRQ2 respectively).

Get Into Glorantha for Only $10!
It also means that, if you've ever hesitated about getting into Glorantha because the cost has been prohibitive, you can now take the plunge at a nominal cost. The entire set of these Glorantha titles, bought as a bundle, costs only $10 and includes:
An extensive but accessible guide to the world
A comprehensive and detailed guide to Glorantha's Second Age cults
Two complete campaigns
A highly detailed deep-dive into the culture of the God Learners
A complete overview of one major Gloranthan region (Fronela), including a starting scenario.
The titles available through RuneQuest Archives are:

RuneQuest

RuneQuest Empires (MRQ2)
Monster Coliseum (MRQ2)
Vikings (MRQ2)
Land of the Samurai (MRQ1)
The Price of Honour (MRQ1)

Glorantha

Glorantha: the Second Age (MRQ2)
Cults of Glorantha (MRQ2)
The Abiding Book (MRQ2)
Pavis Rises (MRQ2)
Dwarfs (MRQ1)
Dragonewts (MRQ1)
Ducks (MRQ1)
Elfs (MRQ1)
Blood of Orlanth (MRQ2)
Dara Happa Stirs (MRQ1)
Fronela

Both MRQ1 and MRQ2 books will be highly compatible with RuneQuest 6th edition and, of course, MRQ2 books are fully compatible with Mongoose's Legend system.

All these books contain a wealth of background information, history, cultural detail and ideas that are, of course, system agnostic. The Glorantha titles in particular include some information unexplored in any previous Gloranthan works and, in the case of the four races books, provide huge and detailed insight into their respective species.

Definitely an amazing deal! I'm not a huge fan of Glorantha myself (although I certainly have nothing against it, and would be happy to play in a Glorantha campaign), but at these prices I may have to pick up a few titles to learn more.

And the non-Glorantha MRQII PDFs are all definitely worth getting, in my opinion.

Happy Adventuring in 2012!

2012-01-01T12:42:00.007-05:00

Russ Nicholson Dungeon Crawl Classics Gallery

2011-12-25T14:13:00.005-05:00

I praised the work of Russ Nicholson in an earlier post. Much to my delight, Goodman Games has posted a gallery of some of his work for their forthcoming ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics’ RPG here.

While I’m not thrilled about the DCCRPG – at least based on the 'beta' preview provided several months ago – the art for the game may get me to purchase a copy nonetheless!

Hobbit trailer

2011-12-21T08:03:00.001-05:00

Check out the new Hobbit trailer!

Legend (formerly MRQII) News

2011-12-08T20:06:00.003-05:00

From the ‘State of Mongoose 2011’:

Legend

Legend has gone with a far, far bigger bang than we expected. As I write this, we have already blasted through the first printing run and the book sits at the top of the Drivethru charts with the first supplement, Monsters of Legend, fast chasing it.

We had intended this game to be a continuation of the RuneQuest II mechanics, allowing us to provide support indefinitely for existing customers. Instead, it rather seems to have taken a life of its own!

This is, I believe, due to a number of factors, not least of which is that Messrs Lawrence Whitaker and Pete Nash designed a rock solid fantasy system that ticks all the right boxes. Added to this, the new format and the low price of £10/$19.99 means that instead of just buying one book, you can now get one for every player at the table for much the same price. We released the PDF version for just $1. We made the entire book (in fact, the entire core range) Open Content – not via an SRD but literally all the text of the books. Finally, we promised a quick amount of support material, from Monsters of Legend and the free Spirit Magic download, to brand new material for our various settings.

So, what have we got planned for Legend through 2012?

We are busy converting all our ‘historical’ settings over to the new format, so you will see Vikings of Legend, Pirates of Legend and Samurai of Legend in the first few months of the year. Again, all of these will also be 100% Open Content.

Cities of Legend (also Open Content) will start appearing fairly early on, each providing a full fantasy city that can be placed in just about any campaign. Each city will be mapped out, a short history included (just enough to start linking it with the rest of the campaign world, whichever one that may be) and all the interesting locations, characters and events detailed. And then there is Arcania of Legend, introducing new and varied magic systems to the game, allowing you to pick and choose which you want to use in your campaign worlds. That kicks off with Blood Magic.

We weren’t going to do a GM’s screen for Legend but, given the demand we have seen for one of late, we may have to! And yes, it would be landscape format.

Elric of Melnibone will be getting two new supplements early in the year, Secrets of the Steppes and Talons of Winter. The first describes a vast wilderness in the Young Kingdoms we have yet to touch, the latter a true sandbox campaign set within the steppes. We are already talking to several writers about new Eternal Champion material for later in the year, and we hope to have both Hawkmoon and (finally!) Corum out before too long.

Then there is Historia Rodentia, a new setting for Legend that came about from a chance meeting at Gen Con 2011 with On The Lamb Games, when I saw their range of miniatures for Brushfire, the tabletop version of the RPG. This is a very cleverly constructed setting that looks simple on the surface but has all kinds of interesting subtleties when you start digging beneath the surface. The basic premise is that of a world populated by intelligent animals, but one that mirrors our own.

For example, the soldiers of Axony appear as bulldogs in British Army colonial uniforms (think Zulu). However, Axony is populated by both cats and dogs, and has recently come out of its Civil War and… well, I think you can see where this is going. The English Civil War in this world was not fought between parliamentarians and royalists but cats and dogs. Other nations around the world get similar treatment and I personally am planning a campaign based on the exploits of Sharpe and the Chosen Men in their wars against the Empire of Aquitar (France, populated with moles, badgers and weasels). Overall, Historia Rodentia is not entirely serious but the characters within take themselves very seriously indeed. We’ll be previewing this soon, and it is one to look out for.

Our own RuneQuest II settings, Deus Vult and Wraith Recon, will be continuing apace. Our own Charlotte Law has been working on a sourcebook for Deus Vult, covering the city of Rouen (if you have read our Deus Vult novel, Sister Devout – available at Drivethru and on Kindle – then you will already know what a hotbed of cults and corruption 12th Century Rouen can be!), and we are talking to other writers for more material to appear later in the year. The RQII books for both of these games are already fully compatible with Legend, and we will be keeping them available until their stock is gone, then republishing them in the new Legend digest format.

And then there is third party setting, Age of Treason, for which we believe a new supplement is already in the works! One way or another, 2012 will see an awful lot of support for Legend.

I’m glad to see that Legend is doing well, even though I’m confident that RuneQuest 6 will prove to be the superior RPG. (After all, RQ6 is not simply a ‘scrubbed’ version of MRQII, but rather a revised and improved version of MRQII by that system’s co-creators.)

Especially interesting is Mongoose’s plan for the Eternal Champion series. It looks like Mongoose will not simply be ‘repackaging’ their back catalogue for Legend, but actually will be coming out with some new products for the line. While I’m not holding my breath for a Legend-based version of Corum, I certainly will pick it up should it ever appear!

The Cities of Legend supplement also sounds intriguing. On the other hand, Historia Rodentia sounds positively dreadful, the kind of product that makes my day a little worse simply by implanting an aesthetically unpleasant concept in my sluggish brain.

More positively, Age of Treason sounds intriguing. And it’s nice that everything in the core Legend book is Open Content!

Sale on Lamentations of the Flame Princess PDFs

2011-12-08T10:32:00.002-05:00

Fans of the old school RPG products of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess publisher may be interested to know that there is a sale on a number of LotFP pdfs over at DriveThruRPG. Many items are available for only 1.35 USD.

I (finally) picked up Vornheim, about which I have heard many positive things.

Here Be Monsters

2011-12-04T11:57:00.001-05:00

There is an interesting – though very speculative and somewhat rambling – article entitled ‘Why We Invented Monsters’ over at Salon. People familiar with this blog may find it to be an enjoyable, if unusual, read. It’s not really scientific (despite its pretensions), but certainly grist for a chat over a few pints…

2011-12-01T11:18:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Cakebread & Walton have taken Newt Newport’s excellent OpenQuest system (essentially a ‘rules light’ version of RuneQuest, with some bits from Stormbringer thrown in), and retooled it for Renaissance-era fantasy role-playing. Their new system – called, appropriately enough, ‘Renaissance’ – will fuel the second edition of their excellent campaign setting, Clockwork & Chivalry.

Today Cakebread & Walton announced some exciting news concerning Renaissance and Clockwork & Chivalry at their website:

Cakebread & Walton are pleased to announce the launch of the Renaissance System Reference Document, available for free download. The Renaissance system is a new D100 system based on Newt Newport’s OpenQuest, and is designed for historical and fantasy gaming in the age of black powder weapons. Released under an Open Gaming License, which allows companies and individuals to incorporate the rules into their own games, it features familiar mechanics, grim and gritty combat, extensive period weapons and equipment lists, dozens of professions, and rules for factions and belief systems. It also includes two magick systems – the powerful battle alchemy first introduced in Clockwork & Chivalry 1st Edition, and a streamlined and expanded version of the witchcraft rules from the Silver Oggie Award-winning supplement Divers & Sundry.

Renaissance can be downloaded in two forms: as a zip folder containing all the Word files needed to introduce the rules into your own system, or as a printable PDF for use at the gaming table.

Also released today is a 40 page preview of the forthcoming Clockwork & Chivalry 2nd Edition Core Rulebook, due out from Cubicle 7 Entertainment in January. This 400 page rulebook incorporates the Renaissance system into a fantasy world of mud, blood, mayhem and magick, in an alternate 17th century England where the giant clockwork war machines of Oliver Cromwell do battle with the battle alchemists of the Royalists, and Adventurers struggle to survive in a world of religious persecution, splintered politics, corruption, ghouls, witchcraft and chaos.

The Renaissance system will form the engine for all future Clockwork & Chivalry releases, as well as other exciting new Renaissance products for 2012 and beyond. Products in the pipeline include the first four volumes in the Kingdom & Commonwealth campaign re-released in two omnibus editions (currently in preparation), followed by the final two adventures in the series, Hobbes: Leviathan and London Calling; a series of “pick-up-and-play” books for the Renaissance system, including Clockwork & Cthulhu and Clockwork & Deviltry; and a new “airships and flintlocks” fantasy world, Realms of Gold, featuring, faeries, shape-changing lizardmen, plunder, pirates and revolution in a world almost, but not entirely, unlike our own.

I’m especially intrigued by the reference to a ‘Clockwork and Cthulhu’ book, which is something that I would snap up in a second!

Overall, I must say that it is good to see that Cakebread and Walton not only have survived the unexpected early end of MRQII, but now are authors of their own destiny with Renaissance!

Cover Art for RuneQuest 6

2011-11-23T20:59:00.004-05:00

Here is the blurb from the Design Mechanism website:

We're delighted to share with you the stunning cover art for RuneQuest Sixth Edition.

By Pascal Quidalt, the picture is, of course, an updated version of the iconic original RQ cover (originally painted by Luise Perrin). Pascal, who has done some outstanding covers for roleplaying games, has taken that original and created a beautiful and unique take on the imagery.

The artwork depicts Anathaym, a Meerish warrior of the Cult of Theera, under ambush by a cunning, predatory, Slargr (pronounced SLAR-guh) when she mistakenly wanders into its hunting territories. The hulking creature tears away her shield - a typical slargr tactic - leaving the shocked Anathaym to rely on her spear and its Bladesharp matrix.

Will she survive? The RuneQuest rules, using Anathaym as our example heroine, will give you the answer...

It’s a gorgeous picture, in my opinion. Kudos to Pascal Quidalt!

I would love if it were available as a print — I want it framed on my wall!

Moreover, as the blurb indicates, it’s a nice tribute to the classic cover of RuneQuest 2, while nonetheless clearly establishing a distinctive identity for RuneQuest 6.

Now I'm very much looking forward to seeing previews of some internal art…

Gygax Memorial Tile

2011-11-09T11:35:00.004-05:00

Here is a picture of the memorial tile for Gary Gygax at the Riveria in Lake Geneva, WI. (Photo gained from Ignatius Umlaut via that facebooky-thingie.)

Very nice. (Although the 'nitpicker' in me thinks that it should say "Co-creator".)

I really have to go to Lake Geneva one of these days. I've been based (partially) in Milwaukee for over three years now, but the only other place in Wisconsin to which I've ventured has been Madison.

Exciting Crypts and Things Update

2011-11-08T01:38:00.005-05:00

Newt Newport of d101 Games has announced that PDFs of Crypts & Things have been sent out to everyone who has pre-ordered the game! I hope that they like it.

Crypts & Things is based on the 0e 'retro-clone' Swords & Wizardry by Matt Finch (a.k.a. 'Mythmere'). In addition to Newt's many additions and modifications to 'core' S&W, it draws upon some of the 'Akratic Wizardry' house rules that I developed a couple of years ago. It also includes Newt's dark continent of 'Zarth', ideal for 'swords and sorcery' style adventuring in a dying world of savage barbarians and eldritch horror.

More information on C&T, including details on how to pre-order the game, available here.

Order now, and you'll be as cool as this dashing hipster:

Cthulhu and Lovecraft Political Campaign Posters

2011-11-07T11:29:00.003-05:00

More here!

(Hat tip: Christopher Robichaud.)

Happy Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:31:00.002-04:00

Mr. Lovecraft meets Dr. Seuss

2011-10-29T00:40:00.002-04:00

From here!

(Hat tip: Geek Art Gallery)

Cliffs of Dyrhólaey

2011-10-15T22:29:00.004-04:00

The Cliffs of Dyrhólaey, on the south coast of Iceland. (Suitable for use as a visual aid in any fine fantasy role-playing game.)

Zothique

2011-10-04T23:06:00.003-04:00

The beginning of Clark Ashton Smith’s short story, The Dark Eidolon:

On Zothique, the last continent on Earth, the sun no longer shone with the whiteness of its prime, but was dim and tarnished as if with a vapor of blood. New stars without number had declared themselves in the heavens, and the shadows of the infinite had fallen closer. And out of the shadows, the older gods had returned to man: the gods forgotten since Hyperborea, since Mu and Poseidonis, bearing other names but the same attributes. And the elder demons had also returned, battening on the fumes of evil sacrifice, and fostering again the primordial sorceries.

Many were the necromancers and magicians of Zothique, and the infamy and marvel of their doings were legended everywhere in the latter days. But among them all there was none greater than Namirrha, who imposed his black yoke on the cities of Xylac, and later, in a proud delirium, deemed himself the veritable peer of Thasaidon, lord of Evil.

Those two paragraphs alone make me want to run a campaign set in ‘Zothique’!

(The entire story is available on line here.)

Crypts and Things Final Cover

2011-09-28T16:58:00.003-04:00

Here it is:

Great work, as always, by Jon Hodgson!

Apparently the scene was inspired in part by this cover of Dark Horse’s The Savage Sword of Kull collection (a reprint of the Marvel Comics’ ‘Kull’ tales from the late 1970s and early 80s):

As always, more information on Crypts and Things can be found at Newt Newport’s blog, Sorcerer Under Mountain.

(FYI: Newt used my ‘Akratic Wizardry’ house rules in writing C&T. So, needless to say, I’m a huge supporter of this project!)

A Real Hobbit-Hole

2011-09-25T20:37:00.007-04:00

There now exists a real 'hobbit house' in Wales (as reported in this article):

It looks rather nice and livable. And, at £3,000, surprisingly affordable!

The article refers to it as a 'hobbit house', but Tolkien fans will know that the proper English term is 'hobbit-hole', and that hobbits themselves refer to them as 'Smials' (widely believed to be one of the few words that they retained from their pre-Westron tongue).

Conan, Lecturer at Trinity College

2011-09-16T19:35:00.004-04:00

I taught at Trinity College Dublin for three years. And although I was a lecturer in a different department, I am amazed that I did not encounter this remarkable academic during my time at that venerable institution!

Dr Conan T. Barbarian, B.A.(Cimmeria) Ph.D. (UCD). F.T.C.D.

Long Room Hub Associate Professor in Hyborian Studies and Tyrant Slaying.

Dr Conan T. Barbarian was ripped from his mother's womb on the corpse-strewn battlefields of his war-torn homeland, Cimmeria, and has been preparing for academic life ever since. A firm believer in the dictum that "that which does not kill us makes us stronger," he took time out to avenge the death of his parents following a sojourn pursuing his strong interest in Post-Colonial theory at the Sorbonne. In between, he spent several years tethered to the fearsome "Wheel of Pain", time which he now feels helped provide him with the mental discipline and sado-masochistic proclivities necessary to successfully tackle contemporary critical theory.

He completed his PhD, entitled "To Hear The Lamentation of Their Women: Constructions of Masculinity in Contemporary Zamoran Literature" at UCD and was appointed to the School of English in 2006, after successfully decapitating his predecessor during a bloody battle which will long be remembered in legend and song.

In 2011/12, he will be teaching on the following courses: "The Relevance of Crom in the Modern World", "Theories of Literature", "Vengeance for Beginners", "Deciphering the Riddle of Steel" and "D.H. Lawrence". He strongly objects to the terms of the Croke Park agreement and the current trend for remaking 1980s films that he believes were perfectly good enough in the first place.

He is happy to hear from potential research students with an interest of any of these topics, but applicants should note that anyone found guilty of academic misconduct or weakness in the face of the enemy will be crucified as an example to the others.

(Found on this [seemingly legitimate] webpage. It looks as though a practical joke had been played on the TCD English Department?)

In Praise of Erol Otus

2011-09-13T17:20:00.011-04:00

Ranking my top five favourite fantasy role-playing artists of all time is a difficult endeavour. On any given day, any one of the five artists I’ve selected could be my ‘number one’.

Perhaps I should not have bothered with an attempt to ‘rank’ them at all? It certainly would’ve been simpler to declare them all to be my ‘five favourites’.

Nonetheless, given that I’ve started this ‘countdown’, I may as well continue with it. And so I declare my third favourite FRPG artist of all time to be the truly unique Erol Otus.

Here is the cover to the first issue of Dragon that I ever purchased:

Even after thirty years, I still find Otus’s cover to Tom Moldvay’s version of the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set strangely evocative:

Otus’s pictures for the Cthulhu Mythos in the AD&D book Deities and Demigods forever shaped how I view H. P. Lovecraft’s alien, eldritch creations.

Here is Cthulhu himself (looking slightly hung-over, I think):

And a Shoggoth!

Also from Deities and Demigods, from the section on the Michael Moorcock’s world of Melniboné and the Young Kingdoms, is this picture of Elric’s great nemesis, the Pan Tangian sorcerer Theleb K’aarna:

Here is the creepy Mad Hermit from the classic module, “The Keep on the Borderlands” (B2):

(I wonder how many player characters, over the decades, have been ambushed by this unsavoury fellow’s pet cougar?)

No survey of Otus’s work would be complete without a picture of the seductive Queen of the Demonweb Pits, the Drow Goddess Lolth:

Here is one of Otus’s own player characters from the Rogues Gallery:

And finally, here is a very recent tribute to Gary Gygax:

Anyone interested in seeing more of Otus’s work should definitely check out Jeff Rients’ ‘Erol Otus Shrine’!

(FYI: my post on number 5, Russ Nicholson, is here, and my post on number 4, Pete Fenlon, is here.)

Clockwork and Chivalry Second Edition Cover

2011-09-12T17:14:00.002-04:00

Quite Pretty!

(From here.)

Drunk Swedish Elk in Apple Tree

2011-09-09T17:15:00.004-04:00

This story has absolutely nothing to do with FRPGs, but I found it too entertaining not to post here, if only to get this blog up and running again.

End of Summer 2011

2011-08-31T20:02:00.003-04:00

It’s with some sadness that I note the approaching end of summer. I’ve been living in Toronto since January, thanks to a research grant that gave me one term of ‘teaching relief’ from my regular job ‘professing’ in Wisconsin. This enabled me to focus on writing a few academic articles.

(Why did I choose to do this in Toronto instead of Milwaukee? The main reason is that my partner, Jo-Anne, has a full-time job in Toronto. Yes, like many academics, I presently am trying to solve my own version of the ‘two-body problem’. Additional reasons for spending 8 months in Toronto include my old friends here, and the fact that I love this city, despite its warts.)

During the past eight months I’ve enjoyed some great gaming. I ran a sporadic but fun Call of Cthulhu campaign, set in 1923 Toronto. We only managed to complete three adventures (in four sessions), but I look forward to restarting it again in the future.

Of greater note is the epic Elric of Melniboné campaign that was ‘game-mastered’ by MRQII co-author Lawrence Whitaker. We met about 2-3 times per month since late January (although somewhat less frequently, unfortunately, in June and July). It was probably the greatest campaign in which I’ve ever played. Much to my relief, despite some difficult schedules over the summer, we managed to get a couple of thrilling sessions in during the last half of August, which brought the campaign to a pretty astonishing ‘holding point’. We all hope to continue the campaign, even if in order to do so we may have to play online. (Not only am I moving back to Milwaukee this week, but another player is moving to Paris in September. The gang is dispersing!)

I’m horribly far behind in the logs for both the ‘Cthulhu Canada’ and the ‘No Reason for Waking’ (Elric) campaigns. But I have good notes for both, and look forward to bringing them up to date during my gaming hiatus in September.

Since I’m about to move back to Milwaukee, and have to get ready for the autumn term, I doubt that I’ll have time to post anything new here for at least a week (possibly longer).

On an unrelated note, here is a picture of yours truly with the Wizard of Hope:

(While travelling through British Columbia during my vacation in July, Jo and I stopped in the charming town of Hope. There are numerous chainsaw woodcarvings throughout the town, and this one in particular appealed to me, for obvious reasons.)

Free Swords and Wizardry Downloads

2011-08-27T16:18:00.001-04:00

Frog God Games kindly has made available a number of free downloads for the Swords and Wizardry FRPG here (go to the August 26^th, 2011 post, if the blog has been updated).

(Hat tip: Mythmere’s Blog.)

Conan the Insipid

2011-08-25T16:39:00.002-04:00

Contrary to my earlier declaration, I ended up seeing Conan the Barbarian 3D.

One of my best friends was desperate to see it, and he wanted me to see it with him, as I am one of the few fellow fans of Robert E. Howard’s stories, and even the 1982 ‘non-Howardian’ John Milius film, that he knows. He went so far as to purchase my ticket. (I protested once we got to the ticket booth, but he insisted, no doubt dreading my future grumblings should I have spent my own money on a film that I didn’t really want to see. Not that I’m cheap or anything. Really! But I do tend to grumble a lot.)

As expected, the film was rubbish. The opening scene especially was awful. Fortunately, the rest of the film was not quite as bad, and there were a few fight scenes that I rather enjoyed (such as an early one with young Conan and a Pictish raiding party, and a later one in which Conan fights a number of magically-created ‘sand demons’). But overall, the story, to the extent that there was one, was insipid, and the dialogue often groan-worthy. It was not exactly worse than I expected, but then I had very low expectations!

Also grating was the 3D. I’m not a fan of 3D in general, and very much hope that its days are numbered (or at least that it becomes standard that 2D versions become available for all films). But the 3D for this film was especially bad. I often felt like I was watching the film through a muddy lens. This is a pity, since I think that some of the vistas might have been quite impressive, had they simply been filmed normally.

In short, the 24 percent ‘freshness’ rating at Rotten Tomatoes seems pretty spot on.

Despite my low opinion of the film, though, I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the film’s ‘script doctor’, Sean Hood, given the thoughts he expresses in this post.

The OpenQuest ‘Renaissance’

2011-08-24T11:18:00.003-04:00

An OpenQuest ‘Renaissance’ is coming soon!

No, I do not mean a ‘rebirth’ of interest in the OpenQuest FRPG (the game was only recently ‘born’!).

Rather, I refer to the new system that Cakebread and Walton will be publishing in December. The system, entitled simply ‘Renaissance’, is based upon OpenQuest, but has been adapted for Renaissance-era games.

Cakebread and Walton plan on using this system in order to re-launch their brilliant Clockwork and Chivalry setting, as well as to complete the C&C ‘Kingdom and Commonwealth’ campaign. Fortunately, for those who already have purchased the MRQII C&C books and/or who plan to continue to use MRQII for their games, Cakebread and Walton promise to make available helpful conversion documents.

Here is the full announcement:

Mud, Blood, Alchemy and Clockwork in a 17th Century That Never Was

1645: England has descended into civil war. Prince Rupert and his Alchemist-Cavaliers fight on behalf of their exiled king against the clockwork war machines of Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army. Between them, a host of political and religious factions struggle for survival.

First launched to critical acclaim as a series of supplements for RuneQuest II (“The best British fantasy setting since WFRP 1st edition” said Newt Newport), Clockwork & Chivalry now returns in a standalone 2nd edition featuring the new Renaissance rules, a D100 open gaming system based on OpenQuest and compatible with 1st edition supplements. Fast, brutal, and geared up to a world of black-powder weapons and political machinations, the new rules will also be the bedrock of a series of RPGs forthcoming from Cakebread & Walton: Purveyors of Fine Imaginings.

Alchemists, diggers, dragons, engineers, mercenaries, puritans, ranters, royalists, satanists, thieves, witches, zombies... which side are you on?

***

As many of you probably know, Mongoose Publishing will cease to support the RuneQuest II license in the autumn, and this has left us with a big decision to make regarding the future of Clockwork & Chivalry. Giving up on the line was never an option – we were determined to finish the Kingdom & Commonwealth Campaign, and have other ideas we want to develop for the game world. At the same time, we value our autonomy as a small independent games company. The new Renaissance system will be based on OpenQuest and will aim to be as compatible as possible with existing C&C supplements. At the same time, this rule-set, stripped of the C&C background but incorporating some of the rules (such as Righteousness Points and Factions) will be released under an Open Gaming License as a free download. The rules will be aimed squarely at role-playing in the age of black powder weapons. The creation of Renaissance will give Cakebread & Walton a solid rules set for the development of further games in the future, as well as allowing others to use it in their own games under the terms of the OGL.

Once Clockwork & Chivalry 2nd Edition is released, we'll be re-issuing the first 4 parts of the Kingdom & Commonwealth campaign with minor tweaks to fit the new rules, and then the last two books in the campaign, Hobbes: Leviathan and London Calling. We'll also release a small conversion document so that those playing C&C with the existing RuneQuest II Core Rulebook need not change rules to finish the campaign.

C&C2, a 400 page core rulebook including all the rules you need to play as well as all the background in the original worldbook and then some, will be out in December. The other revised volumes and new C&C2 supplements are to follow in 2012. As usual, our games will be distributed by Cubicle 7 Entertainment and will be available from all good game stores!

It’s good to see that Clockwork & Chivalry will continue, that the Renaissance FRPG will enable Cakebread and Walton to be ‘masters of their own domain’, so to speak, and that OpenQuest will enjoy some excellent support!

Tome of Horrors for Swords and Wizardry

2011-08-19T08:23:00.001-04:00

I recently purchased the PDF of The Tome of Horrors (the Swords and Wizardry version; there also is a Pathfinder version) from Frog God Games.

This thing is huge!

It is 688 pages long (but with 14 pages of advertisements at the end), with a monster description on almost every page (some have two). Some of these creatures are taken from classic AD&D (1^st edition) volumes, such as The Fiend Folio and the Monster Manual II.

Along with each monster description is a brief ‘sample lair’ that can be used when designing encounters.

Normally I prefer paper books over PDFs, but in this case the PDF is ideal, as one can print up the relevant pages for a gaming session without having to lug around a massive volume.

I haven’t had time to look at the PDF closely yet, but my initial impression is very favourable!

Conan the Barbarian 3D: not very fresh

2011-08-18T21:16:00.003-04:00

It's unsurprising -- but disappointing nonetheless -- that the new Conan the Barbarian film has a 'freshness' rating of only 27% at Rotten Tomatoes.

By Crom, it's crap! (Or so that is the consensus amongst the critics. I doubt that I'll be seeing it anytime soon, as I don't think I've ever liked a film with a freshness rating less than 65%.)

Where in the Young Kingdoms is Nassea-Tiki?

2011-08-10T01:48:00.001-04:00

I’m reading the final ‘Elric’ story written by Michael Moorcock (well, the final one so far; hopefully we’ll get a few more!). It’s called ‘Black Petals’, and is included in the sixth volume of the recent Del Rey series of Elric tales, entitled Swords and Roses. (I’ve read the other five volumes over the past several months, and hope to summarize my impressions once I finish this one and have some time.)

The story, which was written in 2007, mentions a few places that have not been mentioned in any earlier Elric stories (to my knowledge), are not shown on any existing maps of the Young Kingdoms, and are not mentioned in the most recent RPG game based upon the series (MRQII’s ‘Elric of Melniboné, by Lawrence Whitaker).

These places include the bustling port-city of ‘Nassea-Tiki’ and the ruined city of ‘Soom’. Apparently ‘Soom’ lies upriver, deep in a jungle, from the coastal city of Nassea-Tiki. Moreover, Nassea-Tiki, while some distance from the Young Kingdoms detailed in Moorcock’s stories, clearly has extensive trade relations with those realms. Neither city, though, was ever ruled by the Bright Empire.

Since this story is so recent, I certainly cannot fault Lawrence for not including it in Elric of Melniboné (which is remarkably comprehensive). And it is obvious why Nassea-Tiki and Soom would do not appear on any maps yet produced.

I’m curious, though, as to where in the Young Kingdoms Nassea-Tiki could plausibly be located. Looking at the Young Kingdoms map, and taking into account that the city is adjacent to a jungle, and that Soom lies ‘upriver’ (inland), I have no idea!

The ‘Unknown East’ clearly is ruled out by the large number of merchants from the Young Kingdoms present in Nassea-Tiki. The northeast continent looks impossible (no jungles, etc.). The southeast continent looks implausible, although I suppose that the city might be located south of Yu or (less plausibly) south of Dorel. That leaves the northwest continent, west of The Silent Lands, or somewhere on the southwest continent.

The southwest continent looks most promising, as it’s covered with jungle. But the presence of a major port city there would seem to conflict with Moorcock’s earlier descriptions of that continent. But perhaps it should simply be ‘retconned’ there?

Finally, I should mention that I actually haven’t finished reading the story, so perhaps I’ll discover the answer soon enough…

UPDATE: I finished the story last night. A very good read, but I still have no idea where it could possibly be located...

Real Life Ruins Gaming Yet Again

2011-08-08T13:37:00.002-04:00

I’ve been really excited about going to OSRCon for a couple months now. However, thanks to an unforeseen ‘real life’ issue (work-related), it turns out that I will not be able to go this Friday and Saturday.

That means that I will not be able run my Swords & Wizardry game, take part in one of the games that James Maliszewski (of ‘Grognardia’ fame) is running, meet Stuart (creator of the ‘Weird West’ RPG), meet some other ‘old school’ Toronto gamers, and enjoy the con events.

I’m grateful to the con organizer, Chris Cunnington, for being so understanding. I really hope that OSRCon is a great success! Hopefully it will happen again next year, when I’ll be back in Toronto.

My Young Kingdoms campaign also has suffered lately, thanks to travel and work (no sooner does one participant get back from Germany than another heads off to France, etc.). We only met once in June and once in July. Hopefully we’ll be able to squeeze in at least two more meetings – including one ‘mega session’ – before the end of August.

By Crom, 'real life' can be so annoying!

The One Ring Rules Preview

2011-08-03T02:11:00.001-04:00

Despite being a huge Tolkien fan for 30 years now, I haven’t been following the development of the Cublicle 7’s The One Ring RPG too closely. However, I recently noticed that a summary of the main rules of the game (except combat) has been posted here.

I must confess that I’m somewhat intrigued! I’m still not sure whether it’ll be my cup of tea, but I think that I’ll definitely check it out.

My main concern remains that it seems overly focused on a particular era and region of Middle-earth. It’s definitely a different approach to a Middle-earth RPG than my beloved (but long out-of-print) MERP.

Irrespective of the quality of TOR’s rules, though, art by John Howe and Jon Hodgson ensures that this will be one very attractive product!

Fantasy Flight acquires Star Wars license

2011-08-02T14:17:00.003-04:00

It seems that Fantasy Flight Games has acquired the license to produce 'Star Wars' games, including (eventually) a RPG.

From the official announcement (available here):

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce that it has entered a comprehensive licensing partnership with Lucasfilm Ltd. for the worldwide rights to publish card, roleplaying, and miniatures games set in the popular Star Wars™ universe!

I've never been a big Star Wars fan (aside from a brief period during my 'pre-RPG' life, around 1977-80), so I'm not terribly excited about this development myself. Nonetheless, it clearly is 'big news' for the RPG 'industry', and evidence of FFG's growing importance.

'Tea Party Hobbits'?

2011-07-29T12:36:00.005-04:00

I (almost) never talk about politics on this blog, and I don't really intend to start now, but I found this piece on the current brouhaha in Washington over lifting the debt ceiling at Talking Points Memo rather amusing. Especially this part:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) liked the analogy so much, he worked the piece into a floor speech calling on said "Tea Party Hobbits" to back a compromise on the debt ceiling.

Clearly hurt, Tea Partiers responded with LOTR reference of their own. Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots told CNN that "Clearly he's been corrupted by the ring of power." Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), an avowed fan of fantasy-inspired prog rock, took to the Internet to embrace his new title. "To those referring to 'Tea Party hobbits': I'd rather be a hobbit than a troll," he wrote, attaching a picture of Gollum. His followers quickly corrected him, however, noting that Gollum is not actually a troll but a corrupted hobbit. Go figure.

I find it hilarious that some of Rand Paul's 'followers' felt the need to correct him on Gollum's hobbit heritage!

(Also somewhat amusing is that Legolas, a Sindarin Elf, is used in the picture instead of, say, Frodo.)

Anyway, back to talking about RPGs...

Gygax Memorial Fund at Gen Con 2011

2011-07-27T14:16:00.003-04:00

If you’re going to Gen Con this summer (August 4-7), be sure to drop by the Old School Renaissance Group booth (#1541), which will have an exhibit for The Gygax Memorial Fund. You can donate to the fund there, as well as pick up some cool Gygax-related items.

The Gygax Memorial Fund website is here.

And here is a recent Onion A.V. Club article on the proposed Lake Geneva WI statue.

Milwaukee has a Bronze Fonz. Surely Lake Geneva deserves a Bronze EGG?

My Top 5 FRPG Artists – Number 4 – Peter Fenlon

2011-07-27T00:41:00.005-04:00

I started a countdown of my ‘top-5’ FRPG artists in May, with Russ Nicholson at #5. Unfortunately, I subsequently dropped the ball on this series. Time to change that!

So here is some work from my fourth all-time favourite FRPG artist, Peter Fenlon.

Yes, Fenlon’s works are maps – specifically, maps from ICE’s Middle-earth campaign modules. Yet they also are works of art. I believe that they do an excellent job in capturing the ‘spirit’ or ‘ethos’ of Tolkien’s creation (even if other aspects of ICE’s Middle-earth series failed to do so).

This is an ‘artist’s interpretation’ of the continent of Endor, of which only the north-western corner will be familiar to readers of Tolkien’s works. The entire map is beautiful, and the ‘unexplored’ areas to the east and south really helped to fire my imagination as a young lad.

Here is a close-up of North-western Middle-earth, the regions famously covered in Tolkien’s novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Here is a map that depicts the region around Bree, including Fornost Erain and part of the Shire. Like all of the ‘detailed’ Middle-earth maps, the scale is 1 inch = 20 miles. I loved that all of ICE’s detailed maps fitted together in order to create an amazing, massive, and beautiful map of Middle-earth!

And here is one of the earliest maps for ICE’s Middle-earth series (I believe that Umbar was either the first or second to be published). It depicts the bay around the city of Umbar, Haven of the Corsairs.

Well, that’s it for this instalment of this series. I hope to post the work of my #3 favourite FRPG artist sometime in August.

(Oh yes, if you are interested in maps of parts of Middle-earth, I should mention that Daniel Cruger has made some of his own superb work for ICE from the mid-1990s available at his blog ‘Tales from the Tower’!)

OSRCon Toronto: a quick reminder

2011-07-24T02:54:00.003-04:00

I'm taking a quick break from my epic journey to post a short reminder of the forthcoming 'old school' conference in Toronto on August 12 and 13: OSRCon - The Old School RPG Weekend!

I'll be running a Swords & Wizardry game on Saturday Afternoon, and playing in a Call of Cthulhu game, and one of Grognardia's 'Dwimmermont' sessions.

Hope to see some Toronto-area bloggers there!

In the Western Lands (and some brief notes)

2011-07-23T13:07:00.001-04:00

1. I’ve been travelling for the past week, and will continue to do so for another week. (Seattle, Vancouver, and the Okanagan valley – thankfully I’m escaping the heat wave afflicting the east!). So I probably will be unable to post anything until the end of the month.

2. I would like to apologise to my fellow bloggers for not keeping up with what they’ve been writing lately. It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and now I’m wandering around in the Western Lands. I hope to be a better citizen of the RPG blogosphere in August.

3. I’ve deleted a number of blogs from my ‘blog roll’ (located on the right hand side of this blog), namely, those that are now defunct or haven’t been updated in several months. I hope to do some more fixing up once I return.

4. I’ve added a few blogs to the roll.

5. While I’m away, please feel free to recommend (in comments to this post) any blogs or websites to which you think this blog be should be linked. I’m especially interested in blogs that cover ‘old school’ role-playing games (including – but not limited to – TSR-era D&D, anything BRP-related, such as Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and RuneQuest, and anything related to MERP or ‘classic’ Rolemaster). Blogs or websites covering fantasy art or fiction also are of interest. I suspect that I’m missing out on a lot of cool stuff out there, but I just haven’t had the time or energy lately to track down the newest exciting blogs and websites. Thanks in advance for your help!

That’s it for now. I hope that you’re all enjoying the summer! (Or winter, if you’re in the Antipodes.)

RuneQuest 6th edition is coming!

2011-07-16T06:51:00.005-04:00

I've been exercising an uncharacteristic amount of self-discipline for the past few weeks, somehow managing to keep my lips sealed about this exciting development, but now, finally, Loz (a.k.a. Lawrence Whitaker, the co-author of MRQII) has made it public:

RuneQuest VI is on its way!

The official announcement:

Its with great pleasure and excitement that I'm able to announce that The Design Mechanism, the new company formed by myself and Pete Nash, has successfully reached an agreement with Issaries Inc to become the new licensee for RuneQuest. The full Press Release can be found on the RuneQuest page at www.thedesignmechanism.com along with a detailed Q&A sheet for those who want to know more about what we have in store for RQ.

Greg Stafford, Issaries President, had this to say on the agreement: "RuneQuest is an old, highly respected brand that requires creativity, dedication and knowledge of the product. I know that Loz and Pete have that, plus enthusiasm and professionalism that will keep up the reputation and good name. I am pleased."

Clearly its early days for both Design Mechanism and RuneQuest's 6th edition but we have exciting plans for the game building on the work Pete and I have already done with Mongoose's RuneQuest II and we look forward to sharing them with the roleplaying community as we develop the new rules.

Lawrence

This is very exciting news! I look forward to learning more about RuneQuest 6th edition from Lawrence in future weeks, and will be posting more about it here.

Fight On! #12 now available!

2011-07-15T21:18:00.005-04:00

Issue # 12 of Fight On!, the premiere fanzine of the 'Old School Renaissance', is now available!

Calithena's blurb:

Mutants! Androids! Robots! Pure Strain Humans! Fight On! is back, with another 88 pages of gut-wrenching, laser-pulsing, fist-pounding action! Rules variants, tables, adventures large and small, science fiction and fantasy, races, classes, monsters, spells, magic items, NPCs, history, opinion, and lore can be found herein! Featuring art and articles by Mark Allen, Ian Baggley, Lee Barber, Erin "Taichara" Bisson, Daniel Boggs, David Bowman, Simon Bull, David Coleman, Fat Cotton, Michael Curtis, Liz Danforth, Ndege Diamond, Ron Edwards, Kelvin Green, Tim Kask, John Larrey, John Laviolette, Lester, Gabor Lux, Heron Prior, Jeff Rients, Chris Robert, Zak S., Alex Schroeder, Jason Sholtis, Tim "Sniderman" Snider, Jennifer Weigel, and this issue's dedicatee James M. Ward, alongside many others! If want to take your FRP experience to the next level, don't delay - buy this issue and Fight On!

The table of contents:

Champions of ZED (Daniel Boggs) 3
Fast Company II – Nonhumans (Schroeder & Shieh) 11
It’s All in the Cards (Michael Curtis) 12
The Tomb of Kaman-Doh Rey’d (David Coleman) 17
The Apen (Andrew “The Venomous Pao” Trent) 20
Geologians (Tim “Sniderman” Snider) 22
The Witch Doctor (Scott Moberly) 24
Knights & Knaves (Barber, Green, Rients, & Cal) 25
Grognard’s Grimoire (Erin “Taichara” Bisson) 27
The City State of Dusal Dagodli (Gabor Lux) 28
The Darkness Beneath (Heron Prior & David Bowman) 32
Education of a Magic User (Douglas Cox) 44
Doxy, Urgent Care Cleric (J. Linneman & K. Green) 45
Sir Tendeth (Tim “Sniderman” Snider) 46
Creepies & Crawlies (T. Snider and Jeffrey P. Talanian) 60
Monstrous Ecology (Ron Edwards) 63
Random’s Assortment (Peter Jensen & Random) 64
Curses Gone Wild! (John Laviolette) 65
Artifacts, Adjuncts, & Oddments (Jason Sholtis) 67
Treasure Types (Simon Bull) 68
Dungeon Modules: The Rondo Rooms (Jeff Rients) 69
Pigdivot! (Chris Robert) 72
Where the Action Is (Zak S.) 80
Merlyn’s Mystical Mirror (Gabor Lux & Jo Kreil) 84
Notes from a Master (James M. Ward & Tim Kask) 86

Here are the Lulu links for the print version and the pdf.

(And here is Calithena's full RPGsite blurb, including some information on discounts and other products!)

ICE's Middle-earth Ad in Dragon

2011-07-14T10:35:00.002-04:00

This one is from Dragon #67 (November 1982).

I remember finding that ad incredibly evocative as an adolescent infatuated with The Lord of the Rings.  

I loved ICE's Middle-earth products during the 1980s and early 1990s. I still love them, although my fondness for the system has cooled off somewhat (and even more so for Rolemaster).

Around 1985, MERP supplanted entirely AD&D as my high-school group's main game. I ran it (and occasionally played it) almost every week for three years. I remember being impressed at how much more information was included in a typical MERP campaign module than an equally expensive TSR AD&D module.

I especially loved Peter Fenlon's gorgeous colour maps! (I’ll talk more about these maps in a future post.)

Even today I still pick up the occasional ICE Middle-earth book if I can find one reasonably priced. (Much of my high-school collection was 'borrowed' and never returned by a 'friend' once I went away to university. Since then I've gradually replaced most of the lost books, as well as gained some I never owned back then.)  

Just thinking about ICE's Middle-earth books makes me want to break some out and run a campaign!

(Thanks to this post at Grognardia for the image of this ad, and for prompting me to write this post.)

Eldritch Graffiti

2011-07-13T22:52:00.003-04:00

(From the Lovecraftsman.)

Call of Cthulhu 30th Anniversary Edition

2011-07-07T08:40:00.004-04:00

The announcement (from here):

2011 MARKS THE THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY of the release of our Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. To celebrate this important and rare occasion in our Adventure Gaming industry, Chaosium is proud to offer a special binding of the current edition (6th edition) of the Call of Cthulhu rulebook. It features thick (3 mm) leatherette hard-covers with the front cover and spine stamped with luxurious gold foil. The interior pages are printed in black ink, on 90 gsm matte art paper, and each book is individually numbered on the title page. The binding is thread sewn; square backed. Each book is individually shrink-wrapped, with the barcode stickered onto the wrapping so as to not mar the book cover.

I'm somewhat surprised that this will be a special printing of the 6th edition rules, as I had been under the impression that the 7th edition would be released this year. But given how little difference there is, rules-wise, between different Call of the Cthulhu editions -- one of the game's enduring virtues, in my opinion -- this hardly is a big deal. I merely was hoping for better layout in the special anniversary edition (I find the 6th edition too 'grey' and somewhat unattractive in places).

'ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!'

The Journal of Edvund Yrvim - Entry 12 - The Demon and the Sorcerer

2011-07-06T22:29:00.004-04:00

Trapped in dead Nhagren’s apartment, the seconds felt like hours, as the guards banged away at the door that we had barred. Weapons drawn, Bōdric and Adralat stood ready, while Aneera and I tore up and tied together the silk sheets of the dead Pan Tangian, in a desperate effort to create a rope by means of which we could flee the tower.

After several minutes of frantic tearing and tying, a strange eldritch scream emanated from below. The guards’ pounding ceased, only to be replaced by screams of horror and the sound of strange, pulpy explosions. Unnerved by these noises, I paused in my work with the sheets, and looked at my comrades. Worry was plain in their eyes.

A thudding noise became louder and louder from beyond the door. Some entity, much larger than a man by its sounds, stomped up the stairway. It reached the door and seemed to pause for a moment.

A scream of anger, no doubt belonging to the sorcerer Malagan, commanded: “Slay them all!”

Then the door burst open, revealing a demon from beyond the bounds of this mortal plane.

The hellspawn leapt straight for Bōdric, lashing out with its fearsome claws. My half-brother’s abdomen was slashed, blood flowing from cuts that, thankfully, were not too deep. Adralat struck at the creature, but his blade was turned easily away, as though it were a pesky gnat. In return, the demon’s claw banged onto Adralat’s breastplate, dazing him and knocking him back.

It seemed clear to me that we were in deep trouble. I began chanting my rune of Reflection.

Ignoring his dripping wound, Bōdric darted past the demon, and headed straight for the sorcerer Malagan, who was lost in concentration. My half-brother thrust forward with his rapier, which swerved past Malagan’s desperately raised arm. The Melnibonéan steel slid into the sorcerer’s mouth, forever silencing the foul orifice. After a brief gurgle of saliva and blood, Malagan slumped to the ground.

Alas, the demon still remained, now liberated from any form of control by its summoner. It chose to use its newfound freedom in a most unfortunate way: by pressing its attack against Adralat.

Fortunately, the dreamthief had recovered his wits, and, with what was no doubt the best backward slice of his life, severed the hellish creature’s head!

(By the Grey Lords, I continue to be amazed at my human companion’s propensity for beheading foes.)

The demon’s skin burst as its body collapsed, and the stench of sulphur became thick within Nhagren’s room. Its remains then desiccated into a vile black ash.

“Well done, human,” I muttered in gratitude.

The One Ring RPG Characters Preview

2011-07-01T15:56:00.005-04:00

Cubicle 7 has started posting previews for its forthcoming The One Ring Middle-earth RPG. The first one concerns 'Characters':

Adventures over the Edge of the Wild begins the epic of The One Ring in Wilderland – the land that ranges from the Misty Mountains in the West to the Iron Hills in the East, and from the Grey Mountains in the North to the Southern tip of Mirkwood.
Players create their characters from the heroic cultures that inhabit those regions of Middle-earth that Bilbo the Hobbit explored along his journey to the Lonely Mountain:
Bardings: Led by King Bard, the Bowman and Dragon-slayer, the Bardings have rapidly rebuilt Dale and are the fastest-growing power in Wilderland. A prosperous culture, Barding merchants seeking new markets for their goods are the driving force in the efforts to reclaim Wilderland in the name of civilisation.
Beornings: The followers of Beorn are a rugged and self-reliant people. Their loyalty to their chief and his teachings is strong, and they protect their lands and oppose the Shadow with matchless ferocity.
Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain:Having reclaimed their ancestral home of Erebor, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain are rebuilding their domain. Their successful re-occupation has caused some of their number to consider which other long-lost holds could be likewise recovered.
Elves of Mirkwood: Centuries of battle with the Shadow has left the Elvenking suspicious of all other peoples. But with the alliance made between Elves, Men and Dwarves for the Battle of Five Armies and the eviction of the Necromancer from Dol Guldur, perhaps he and his people can forge stronger links with their neighbours.
Woodmen: The Woodmen, aided by the wizard Radagast the Brown, have endured in the Shadow of Dol Guldur for many years. Now, with the Necromancer gone, their culture has the opportunity to flourish and grow.
Hobbits: Mainly a cautious people, content to stay at home and tend their gardens, Hobbits are not usually given to adventures. But inside many young Hobbits is a thirst for adventure, a desire to see first-hand those things described in the old tales.
The first set of a trilogy of core publications, The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild puts players on the road to different realms and regions, towards the final confrontation against the Shadow many years later: the War of the Ring.

(Taken from here.)

I have to confess that I'm not especially keen on the approach that Cubicle 7 is taking with this game, namely, providing rules and information only for certain regions of Middle-earth in different products. (There apparently will be 3 'core' publications.)

Nonetheless, this approach will certainly distinguish TOR from its predecessors, ICE's Middle-earth Role-playing (MERP) and Decipher'sLord of the Rings RPG. In any case, given my abiding love for Middle-earth, I remain curious about the final product, even if I never end up playing it.

Dominion Day 2011

2011-07-01T09:52:00.005-04:00

Happy Dominion Day! (Yes, I know that it's been called 'Canada Day' since 1982, but I have a nostalgic attachment to the older name.)

Above is an image of the Canadian flag from 1921 (which reminds me, I really need to update my 'Cthulhu Canada' campaign log!).

I hope that everyone in North America enjoys the long weekend! Sláinte!

Jedi Knight Plato

2011-06-26T11:13:00.001-04:00

More on the two forthcoming 'Hobbit' films

2011-06-25T10:27:00.002-04:00

From The American Prospect:

Jackson is filming The Hobbit as a two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings, and as such, the film will feature many of the same characters. In particular, Ian McClellan, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee and Orlando Bloom, and Elijah Wood will reprise their respective roles (Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman, Legolas and Frodo Baggins), despite their thin or nonexistent presence in the book.

Fans of The Hobbit might cry foul at the inclusion of these characters (particularly Frodo, who isn’t even alive at the time of Bilbo’s journey), but they’re in line with J.R.R Tolkien’s stance toward his work. The Hobbit was originally written as a standalone story that took place in the mythology Tolkien had developed years earlier (and would continue to develop over the course of his life). The novel’s huge success prompted Tolkien’s publishers to ask for a sequel, which he subsequently commenced. This sequel would eventually become The Lord of the Rings, and its substantial departure from The Hobbit prompted Tolkien to make revisions to the original story, in an effort to better align the stories. Via Wikipedia, here is one prominent change made in later editions of The Hobbit:
In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum willingly bets his magic ring on the outcome of the riddle-game, and he and Bilbo part amicably. In the second edition edits, in order to reflect the new concept of the ring and its corrupting abilities, Tolkien made Gollum more aggressive towards Bilbo and distraught at losing the ring. The encounter ends with Gollum’s curse, “Thief! Thief, Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!” This sets the stage for Gollum’s portrayal in The Lord of the Rings.

In the same vein, Peter Jackson’s additions are an attempt to add more and greater continuity between the two film series. For my part, I’m very excited to see what Jackson does with this element of Tolkien’s mythology.

That’s a pretty positive perspective (spin?) on what Jackson is doing with these two films. Nonetheless, I too am starting to get excited to see these films.

No Way to Make a Living: Freelance Writing

2011-06-24T17:28:00.001-04:00

The job market for philosophy professors is appalling bad. It has been for a long time, and only has gotten worse in recent years. For any given job, it is not unusual for 200+ people to apply. These are very smart people (well, for the most part) who spent 5+ years in graduate school, reading very difficult books, grappling with very difficult arguments, interacting with (not infrequently) very difficult advisors, and eating very difficult Raman noodles. So I feel incredibly lucky to have a job doing what I love, in a supportive and stimulating department (even if the location is not ideal, given the location of my partner, friends, and family).

I’m also grateful that I didn’t try to pursue a career in my other great love: fantasy role-playing games and literature. As soul crushing as a career in academia can be in the 21^st century, it seems to be considerably less dreadful than pursuing a career as a freelance RPG or fiction writer.

Don’t take my word for it. A recent post by Robert Schwalb – entitled, appropriately enough, ‘Crapping on Your Dream: Freelancing 101’ – explains how suicidal it would be for someone to try to make a living as a freelance writer, either for RPGs or fantasy fiction, in this day and age.

Mongoose RuneQuest II to become 'Legend' with an 'Open' License

2011-06-16T10:17:00.005-04:00

Instead of renaming their RuneQuest II system 'Wayfarer', Mongoose instead has opted for (the vastly superior, in my opinion) name 'Legend'. Moreover, it will be released under an 'open' license!

From here:

Henceforth, the core RuneQuest II rules will be known as Legend.

We are still putting together the release schedule of this line for 2012 (though it is filling up fast!), but we can reveal the following books and their availability;

October
Legend: The core rulebook, providing all the mechanics you need to start playing - these rules will be 100% compatible with the current RuneQuest II line and _nothing_ will be invalidated. If you are using it now, you will be able to make the switch to Legend in October without so much as fluttering an existing campaign. They are the same game.

Monsters of Legend: The central bestiary for the game, it will draw material from all RQII settings thus far, plus include a few surprises you have not yet seen.

November
The Spider God's Bride: A real Hyborian-esque sword & sorcery romp with a classic extended adventure.

Rouen - City of Sanctified Sinners: A brand new supplement for Deus Vult, detailing the city of Rouen and the movers and shakers that trouble the people there. If you have read Sister Devout, you will know what to expect!

January
Arms of Legend: Every piece of equipment your fantasy or historical adventurer could ever need will be in these pages!

February
Vikings of Legend: We have a soft spot for these guys, so RQ Vikings will be converted into the new format sooner than most.

There will be many more brand new releases for Legend, but these are the ones we have currently locked into the schedule.

Three more points to be made...

First off, we have to stress that Legend will be 100% compatible with your current RQII books. If you have an RQII book now, you will be able to use it with Legend. If you buy a Legend book, you will be able to use it with your RQII books. So it is written, so it shall be.

We have had a few requests about tweaking the core RQII rules or adding some bits and pieces to them, and we are considering this. However, _if_ we add or change anything to RQII (and _if_ we do, it will be minor) then we will post any such changes, in their entirety, on our weeb site for free download. We are not looking at doing this lightly but where a tweak will make for a better game, we will have to consider it.

Second, All Legend books will be in 'digest' format, literally half the footprint of the current RQII line. The maximum price for these books will be $19.99, and a few will be less than that.

Finally, we have decided to proceed with an 'open' licence for Legend. This will allow anyone to publish pretty much anything they like using the RQII/Legend mechanics.

However, we are going to make it easier to operate and be a part of. There will be no registration required and no complicated contracts or agreements. You will simply abide by a few very easy rules (such as not copying the front cover designs of our books), put a Legend Compatible logo on the front, and you will be good to go! There will be no SRD - instead, you may freely use anything that appears in the core book range - from the schedule above, this will include the main rulebook, Monsters of Legend, Arms of Legend and Vikings of Legend. And yes, when they appear (likely in summer 2012), Samurai and Pirates of Legend too!

So, if you want to construct your own Viking saga, for example, you can do so using Vikings of Legend as the foundation, and then publish it alongside our core book. We recommend sticking to the digest format, but there is absolutely no requirement to do so.

We have lots more coming up for Legend, material both old and brand new, and we will be revisiting classic settings while exploring all new ones. The future is looking good!

I had been quite pessimistic about the future of 'Wayfarer-now-Legend', doubting Mongoose's commitment to the system. But this is very good news, and I'm feeling much better about the future of the system now!

My only disappointment with this announcement is that there is no mention of any future 'Eternal Champion' books. If Mongoose has no intention on producing any future Elric, Hawkmoon, or Corum supplements, I wish that they would simply drop the license so that someone else could give it a try. But perhaps I'm being too pessimistic again, and will be pleasantly surprised in due course...

I am very much looking forward to the 'Legend' version of The Spider God's Bride, and will definitely be picking it up once it becomes available.

Finally, as had been noted widely when Mongoose first announced their new name for MRQII, there already exists a 'Wayfarers' FRPG. It looks like Mongoose will be publishing and distributing the original Wayfarers for Ye Olde Gaming Companye:

Wayfarers RPG
First up, we have been chatting to those nice chaps at Ye Olde Gaming Companye and found out that they were not only prepping a new version for their Wayfarers RPG but that they were in need of distribution. Being familiar with their game and seeing they were obviously such nice chaps, we immediatly offered to print and distribute their game!

The Wayfarers RPG will be released by Mongoose in December this year, likely in the second week. We will be following it up with the first supplement in January, World of Twylos. Look for them in all good game stores.

I own the PDF for Wayfarers and quite like it, so I'm happy to learn that it will be enjoying greater distribution in the future.

In short, lots of unexpected good news over at the Mongoose website today!

The Journal of Edvund Yrvim – Entry 11 - Just Deserts

2011-06-16T01:24:00.007-04:00

As my half-brother and Adralat relaxed in an opulent room in Nhagren’s Oldside mansion, I engraved a rune of Sleep onto one of my sling bullets, and infused with some of my power the rune of Speed that I had engraved onto my boots many days ago.

A couple of hours passed before Graive entered the antechamber, informing us that Nhagren had returned. Sure enough, the Pan Tangian noble entered a few moments later.

We explained to Nhagren that we were forced to burn down the Frozen Gem. I made a point of emphasizing the fact that while Zherez had discovered that we were the ones responsible for absconding with his most popular prostitute, we had not revealed to him Aneera’s actual location.

The Pan Tangian nodded gratefully. “While this turn of events makes things more difficult for my work in Ryfel, needless to say, I shall continue to help you for what you have done for me,” said Nhagren earnestly. “I believe that you should accompany me now to the Citadel, my friends. For your own protection, of course!”

Since this was the course of action that we already had decided would be best, we readily agreed. As soon as we were outside of the mansion, though, the serpentine Pan Tangian lunged away from us before we could react. Surrounding us were six Black Guard warriors, their spears at the ready.

“Seize them!” shrieked Nhagren viciously.

I attempted to flee back into the house, my magical boots moving me more swiftly than before, but the door had been slammed shut by that weasel Graive before I could reach it. Blast!

A glance between the three of us confirmed that we were not going to be taken by this snake and his minions alive. We would fight to the death! Perhaps this was a rash decision – but my half-brother and I would never surrender to any Pan Tangian.

“Arioch take your souls!” yelled Bōdric defiantly, as he pulled out his blades.

Immediately, I was tripped by one of the soldier’s spears. Bōdric was ignobly disarmed before he could attack. Adralat’s arm was cut as he reached for his sword. Things were not going well for us.

Suddenly, though, ignoring his wound, Adralat deftly leapt to the side of the house, and grabbed Nhagren before any of the spearmen could react. Placing his dagger at the scoundrel’s neck, he shouted, “Call your men off, Nhagren, or I’ll slice your miserable throat!”

Shocked by this remarkable turn of events, the Pan Tangian’s pants suddenly dampened.

“Stand down, men of the Black Guard!” yelped Nhagren, his voice cracking.

I picked myself up and joined my human friend. Bōdric, recovering his rapier and dirk, did likewise. Adralat’s blade firmly held, we instructed Nhagren to tell the spearmen to drop their weapons and enter the house. The cowed Pan Tangian complied with our command. Once the Black Guard soldiers had entered the house, Bōdric and I moved a massive stone urn to obstruct the front door.

“Why did you betray us?” I asked Nhagren, genuinely puzzled by what struck me as a rather premature action. (I had no doubt that the Pan Tangian would eventually turn on us; but I had been confident that he would wait until we had at least first removed Malagan.)

“Need you ask, Melnibonéan?” snarled the sweating Assistant Governor, gesturing at his bandaged knee. It would never recover fully from the wound that I had inflicted just days ago.

Shrugging in irritation, I muttered my rune of Sleep, and placed Nhagren in a dreamless slumber that would last at least three hours. “Such petty foolishness,” I muttered to myself.

Realizing that it would not take long for the spearmen to escape from Nhagren’s manor, the three of us decided to proceed immediately to the Black Citadel. Fortunately, we had the letters of entry that Nhagren had given us a day ago still with us.

Looking at the pale gibbous moon as we trudged up from Oldside to the forlorn citadel’s entrance, I judged the time to be around midnight.

“We are helping the Assistant Governor return to his quarters,” said Adralat smoothly to the guards. “As you can see, he is not feeling well! Some shellfish seems to have disagreed with him. In case you doubt our friendship with the Assistant Governor, we have letters signed by him with us, giving us permission to enter the Black Citadel.”

The guards eyed us suspiciously, but our letters were clearly legitimate, and Nhagren unharmed, if strangely sound asleep. Grunting apathetically, they moved aside and allowed us to enter.

We rushed into the manse, not pausing to enjoy its spacious splendour, which was a marked contrast with the weary squalor found everywhere else in Ryfel. Asking a servant for directions, we carried Nhagren to his apartment, which was located in one of the dark fortress’s three towers. The apartment was opulent, filled with silk cushions, well-crafted ornate furniture, and exotic carpets.

Also within the apartment, chained to Nhagren’s luxurious bed, was the naked and barely conscious Aneera. It was clear that she had been abused viciously by the wretched Pan Tangian. Shocked and disgusted, we recovered a ring of keys from Nhagren’s cloak, and unlocked the captive woman’s shackles. We then gave her some clothing and water.

In silence, Bōdric and I looked through Nhagren’s items, taking a few coins and some clothing, but finding little else of use to us. In the meantime, Adralat comforted Aneera as best he could.

“My lady, I am pleased to inform you that we have liberated your sisters! The Frozen Gem has been destroyed and your sisters are on their way to our ship, away from this vile port,” said the dreamthief, his voice warm yet serious.

Tears of happiness flowed from Aneera’s emerald eyes. “By the Blue Lady, thank you so much for what you’ve done!” She hugged Adralat. Despite her dire condition, she was smiling brilliantly, her face full of joy and relief.

A few minutes passed as we readied ourselves to leave the apartment.

“Er, lads, what should we do about Nhagren?” I asked, pointing at our comatose captive, which we had deposited on a carpet in the corner.

Shrugging, Bōdric suggested, “Perhaps we should simply slay him? He certainly deserves it, by Mabelode, and we wouldn’t have to worry about him causing us trouble later. We need to recover Cora-Dru and Lord Salamir now, this very night, and it’s unlikely the Pan Tangian could be of any help to us any further, especially in his current state.”

“Besides, I’m bloody tired of carrying him.”

Adralat nodded in grim agreement. Sighing, I conceded the force of my brother’s argument.

In a brittle voice, Aneera asked, “If the snake is to die, may I be the one to have the satisfaction?”

We nodded in silence. Bōdric handed her one of his dirks.

“Is there any way to wake him, before I take his life?” inquired Aneera, her voice calm and icy. “By Eequor, I want this beast to know that he dies by my hand.”

“I’m afraid not, m’lady,” I replied, “My spell will last for a few hours yet.”

Nodding in regret, the former courtesan paused in silence for a moment, and then thrust the dirk forcefully into Nhagren’s neck, twisting it as crimson blood spurted and flowed from the gruesome wound. In seconds the life drained from our nemesis, the carpet on which he lay turning a vivid red.

I turned away from the Pan Tangian’s body. While I could not deny that he deserved death, the slaying of a helpless man sickened me somewhat. Perhaps my Melnibonéan blood was even thinner than I had suspected.

Ready now to leave the apartment, Bōdric opened the door to the stairway. Much to our shock, though, right in front of us was a massive wolfhound. Grey and black in colour, with shaggy hair, a scarred muzzle, and single eye that radiated savage malevolence, the beast seemed more demon than dog!

This was ‘Cur’ – the familiar of the sorcerer Malagan.

Immediately the hound bit at Bōdric, who barely managed to knock the beast’s maw away from him with one of his blades. Using my sling, I fired the bullet on which I had inscribed a rune of Sleep. The rune proved to be superfluous, however, as the bullet burst through the dog’s one remaining eye, slaying it instantly.

A second later, coming from another part of the manse, we heard a mighty scream of rage. And then an inhumanly loud shout: “Take them alive!”

The voice, I was certain, belonged to Malagan, enraged at the death of his beloved pet. No doubt some kind of mystical bond existed between the Pan Tangian sorcerer and the gigantic wolfhound.

Barely having time to recover our wits, we heard the stomping of soldiers’ boots from the stairway. As swiftly as we could, we shut the door, locked it, and then moved some of Nhagren’s furniture against it.

Gesturing at the window at the back of Nhagren’s sleeping chamber, I said urgently, “Any chance we might escape that way?”

“It’s worth a try, by Balo’s balls!” shouted Bōdric, drawing his blades again. “You and Aneera, tie the sheets into a rope; Adralat and I will stand ready!”

Nodding, I tucked my sling into my belt, and began ripping up the beautiful silk sheets, while Aneera began tying them together.

In the meantime, the Pan Tangian guards started pounding on the door...

OSRCon Toronto: I’ll be Running a Swords and Wizardry Game

2011-06-14T09:44:00.004-04:00

That was quick! Only hours after finding out about OSRCon, I’m signed up to run a Swords and Wizardry game – using my Akratic Wizardry house rules, of course!

Here’s the blurb for my game (to take place the morning of August 13):

Shipwrecked! The characters have washed up on an eldritch shore, and must work together in order to survive. Can a conniving merchant, a savage barbarian, an unscrupulous burglar, a decadent nobleman, and an enigmatic sorcerer overcome their mutual distrust and find a way off this unnatural island? (This is a ‘swords and sorcery’ themed adventure, using the GM’s ‘Akratic Wizardry’ house rules. Characters provided.)

I also will be taking part in a RuneQuest game (not sure which edition) and one of James Maliszewski’s ‘Dwimmermount’ games.

The current schedule of games is here. More likely will be added.

This should be fun! It’s been years since I’ve done any gaming at a con.

If you’ll be in or near Toronto August 12 or 13, try to come by and roll some dice.

OSRCon August 12 and 13

2011-06-13T20:47:00.004-04:00

As reported today over at Grognardia, there will be an 'Old School Renaissance' RPG convention this summer, August 12 and 13, in Toronto.

Here is the website for OSRCon. And here is its blog.

I hope to be there, in order to play a couple of games, and possibly run one!

Inexpensive RuneQuest II PDFs

2011-06-13T13:49:00.003-04:00

I don't think that I've mentioned this already, despite my earlier posts on Mongoose's decision to drop the 'RuneQuest' license (see this and that), but the PDFs for the RuneQuest II books are now quite inexpensive!

I recently picked up the 'core bundle' and PDF versions of the three 'Elric' supplements. If you are fond of 'd100' games at all (BRP or earlier versions of RuneQuest), I highly recommend purchasing at least the MRQII core rulebook.

Mongoose's RuneQuest 'I' PDFs also are quite inexpensive these days, although, obviously, less useful for people who prefer RuneQuest II (and what sane person wouldn't?). Still, I may pick up the 'Hawkmoon' PDFs soon, as I think it's quite unlikely we'll ever see a MRQII/Wayfarer version of that setting.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Beta – Some Impressions

2011-06-09T11:21:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Goodman Games released the free ‘beta’ version of its forthcoming Dungeon Crawl Classics Role-playing Game (you can check it out yourself here).

This is how Goodman Games describes their ‘old school’ RPG:

Glory & Gold Won by Sorcery & Sword
You’re no hero.
You’re a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them.
Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended you to, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword & sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you: turn the page…
Rules Set: DCC RPG, an OGL system that cross-breeds Appendix N with a streamlined version of 3E.

It is one day later, and Ye Auld Skül blogosphere has been flooded with ‘first impressions’ of the beta version of DCCRPG.

A sample:

• Bat in the Attic

• Lamentations of the Flame Princess

• Unto the Breach

• The Fantasy Game

• Retro-Role-playing

• Grognardia

• Tenkar’s Tavern

• No School Like the Old School

• Strange Magic

• Greyhawk Grognard

Well, I certainly do not want to be left out of the fray! So here are my initial impressions:

Positive:

1. I very much like the art. (Perhaps there is too much? It is almost overwhelming. But it creates a wonderful overall ethos for the game.) Here is a sample piece by Pete Mullen:

2. I like that the game is dedicated to the recently departed Jim Rosloff (a fine artist from TSR's early days, whose work influenced some of my earliest impressions of D&D). Here is one of Rosloff’s pieces (from page 7 of the DCC RPG beta):

3. I dig the critical and fumble charts (they bring back some good memories of my MERP and Rolemaster days!). Not sure how well they would work in practice, obviously.

4. I like that magic is unpredictable, but I think that it may be too unpredictable. (The consequences for Wizards if they roll a natural '1' when casting look to be pretty dire [see pp. 97-99]. I suspect that higher-level wizards frequently will have beaks, bull’s horns, scales, gills, etc.)

Negative:

1. I dislike the ‘funnel system’ for creating player characters. Apparently, players are expected to start with four 0-level PCs, which subsequently are ‘culled’ in an initial dungeon adventure. Now, it might be cool to have this as an option for beginning players, but these days I prefer to let players choose what kinds of characters they want to run.

2. There is a certain haughty 'old school machismo' tone that runs through much of the text that I find grating. (E.g., all ability scores must be rolled randomly and in order; most of your 0-level ‘peons’ will be killed in their first adventure; the brutal 'corruption' spell failure chart; etc.). The tone reminds me of the ‘grumpy old man’ character that Dana Carvey used to play on Saturday Night Live. (“Back in my day, our 0-level characters died every twenty-minutes by impaling themselves with their own pitchforks while fighting house cats – And We Liked It!”)

3. The game, overall, seems to have a very specific interpretation of what 'old school' role-playing is like, and this interpretation has been hard-wired into the rules. Unfortunately, it's not my view of what 'old school' role-playing is like (but then maybe I'm getting too soft in my old age).

Overall:

Based on this skim, I doubt that I'll ever play this game, but I'll likely get a copy of the core rules simply for the art. However, this is only a beta release, and I haven’t read the rules fully, so perhaps I’ll change my opinion in the future...

The Journal of Edvund Yrvim - Entry 10 - Burning Down the Inn

2011-06-07T23:19:00.003-04:00

Bōdric, Adralat, and I returned to our room at the Frozen Gem. Our warrior-slave Myluk poured each of us a cup of cool wine. We sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping our wine and contemplating our predicament.

Then we heard a knock at our door. “This is Zherez, mates. Open up please!”

I gestured at Myluk for him to do so. Upon opening the door, however, the innkeeper and five of his henchmen burst forcefully into our room. Much to my dismay, the herbalist Auhora was with them.

[Zherez Zheringen]

“Are the men you saw yesterday here, old woman?” snapped Zherez.

Auhora nodded meekly, gesturing at Adralat and myself. The innkeeper glared at us, his face flushed with anger.

“So, you lot did take her! Where is she? Tell me now!” he shouted.

After a moment of tense silence, Adralat suddenly blurted out, “You know, man, you’re a complete and utter arsehole.”

The innkeeper stared in amazement at the strange human. His thugs drew their crude blades, clearly intending to intimidate us.

Our charade of innocence was clearly at an end. I said as calmly as I could, “The human female Aneera, whom you have quite unjustly been keeping captive here, is now halfway en route to the Isle of the Purple Towns. So Zherez, I think that you may as well forget about her. We are willing to compensate you a few hundred silver coins, but what is done…”

Cutting me off in mid-sentence, hatred burning in his eyes, the innkeeper snarled, “Look, you Melnibonéan scum, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours.”

Sighing in frustration, Bōdric snapped his Melnibonéan blades out of his scabbards, and muttered grimly, “We’ll try the hard way, then, you piece of walking offal.”

And so violence broke out, yet again. The elderly herbalist prudently fled.

Initially, Zherez’s thugs batted away the blades of Adralat, Bōdric, and Myluk – and vice versa. Adralat broke this cycle, and smacked the miscreant with whom he was engaged in the head. Stunning his opponent, the dreamthief struck again, this time cleanly severing the man’s head.

Myluk, who was engaged with two brutes that had flanked him, was less fortunate. A blow to his leg left him on one knee. He deflected further blows, eventually burying his axe in the face of the Frozen Gem’s main bartender. Myluk’s other foe, however, managed to trip him, leaving our mighty warrior-slave flat on his back.

My half-brother, in the meantime, had been knocked down thanks to a massive blow to his head. While Bōdric’s steel helm prevented any serious damage, the strike had left him stunned and quite vulnerable.

While my compatriots were engaged in mêlée, I muttered my rune of Reflection, and proceeded to march up to Zheren, hoping that he would assault me. My wish was granted, and the innkeeper thrust his rapier at me, only for it to rebound at him, cutting his thigh. Shocked at this evidence of sorcery, Zherez immediately turned about and began to flee. I pursued him, but as I left the room I saw him vault over the banister onto the second floor and disappear. Apparently his wound was not deep enough to slow him. As I tried to catch up with the villain, I slipped and fell on the stairs. Fortunately, the only damage done was to my pride.

Returning to our room, I saw that Bōdric had somehow managed to extract himself from his unfortunate position, and slay his attacker as well, his dirk implanted in the corpse’s eye socket. Adralat, remarkably, seemed to have severed another thug’s head! In contrast, Myluk’s luck continued to be poor, as had suffered a gash to his forehead. Shaking blood from his eyes, our warrior-slave continued to deflect further blows from the remaining thug with his shield.

Impatiently, I uttered my rune of Sleep, placed my hand on the back of the last of Zherez’s henchmen, and thereby caused him to collapse in a sorcerous slumber.

“Well, that went reasonably well,” quipped Adralat, obviously pleased with himself.

“Not that well, I’m afraid,” I replied. “Zherez has fled, and no doubt will be returning soon with reinforcements. I’m sure he won’t be taking any chances this time. That wolf will want our blood!”

I bound Myluk’s head with some torn sheets as we discussed what to do next.

“Well, I think we have no choice, brother,” said Bōdric, an evil gleam appearing in his eyes. “I think we have to burn this inn down!”

“What?” I exclaimed in reply. “How could that possibly help?”

“Well, it would keep Zherez distracted, surely, while we escape!”

Nodding, Adralat spoke up, “I agree with Bōdric. A fire would create a useful distraction. While it rages, Myluk, who is now wounded, could accompany the eleven prostitutes, the sisters of Aneera, to our ship to the north. My promise to her would thus be fulfilled. Myluk would be able to recover away from here, and we could go to Nhagren’s house and hide there until the time of the banquet.”

I spent a few moments thinking over the plan. Despite myself, I had to concede that I could think of no better alternative.

“Very well. Bōdric and I will stay here and ready this vile place for Kakatal’s burning embrace. While we do that, Adralat, you should take Myluk and the human prostitutes to the edge of the city. Once you’re beyond the city walls, I’m sure that Myluk alone can accompany the females to the cove where our ship is hidden. Once our respective jobs have been completed, we should meet up at Nhagren’s house, and hide there. It is, of course, a gamble whether that wretched Pan Tangian will give us succour. But I suppose that we have little choice in the matter.”

And so our human companion gathered the prostitutes from the inn, and departed with them and Myluk. My brother and I, in the meantime, ransacked the bar’s supply of liquor. Strangely, the patrons in the common room seemed largely oblivious to what we were doing, delighted simply by all the free ale they were enjoying during the unexplained absence of Zherez’s staff.

Bōdric and I poured the liquor throughout the various upper halls and rooms of the inn. We set fire to the top floor, and then proceeded to flee with great alacrity. As we walked down the street away from the inn, we heard shouts of alarm coming from within, as the drunken patrons realized what was happening.

People shouted as they fled, “Fire! Fire! The Gem’s ablaze!”

As flames consumed the largest inn of Ryfel, Bōdric and I met up with Adralat at Nhagen’s house. After informing us that Nhagren and Aneera were now at the Black Citadel (apparently the Pan Tangian had an apartment there), we were shown into the antechamber by Graive.

Sipping gratefully from a glass of fine wine proffered by the painfully obsequious manservant, I commented, “Well, Gentlemen, this was quite an eventful day, no?”

Alas, life was only to become even more eventful…

Ray Gun versus Nazgul

2011-06-04T09:32:00.004-04:00

Here is a rather cool picture by Ian Baggley for North Wind Adventures forthcoming Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (posted by Benoist).

More of Baggley's work for AS&SH can be found here.

I must say, I quite like the look and 'feel' of these pictures. They're a bit dark, grainy, and mysterious, but full of tension and energy.

Crypts and Things News

2011-06-03T00:08:00.001-04:00

Newt Newport reports that things have been quite active over at d101 Games as of late. Exciting things are happening for OpenQuest (the d100/RuneQuest variant rules system produced by d101 Games) and Crypts and Things.

Crypts and Things, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a darker, ‘swords and sorcery’ flavoured variant of the Swords & Wizardry game (which, in turn, is a 0e D&D ‘retro-clone). C&T draws on my ‘Akratic Wizardry’ house rules for S&W, as well as Newt’s own fertile ideas and his intriguing ‘Zarth’ world setting.

It looks like ‘external play testing’ is starting up now, so if you’re interested, drop Newt a line!

(I just finished up the third adventure of my current Call of Cthulhu campaign tonight, so it may be a good time to take a break from the 1920s and run a few Crypts and Things adventures in between our Young Kingdoms sessions!)

Some News on the Future of Mongoose's RuneQuest II System

2011-06-02T09:54:00.008-04:00

I missed this statement when it was first posted a week ago by Matt Sprange of Mongoose Games. It addresses some of the concerns with 'the-game-formerly-known-as-RuneQuest II' that have been expressed at various forums and blogs, including my worry that 'Wayfarer' was simply an attempt to prevent Mongoose from being stuck with a backlog of MRQII books. It also broaches the general interest amongst MRQII fans in the possibility that the game might be re-released under the OGL.

Here are the relevant bits:

With the announcement of RuneQuest II becoming Wayfarer, the internet forums briefly lit up in a spark of debate and the inevitable analysis followed. Some of it was correct, a lot wasn't. So, time for a spot of rumour control!

First, we are not planning for Wayfarer to just limp along. It is not a ruse to keep selling stocks of RuneQuest books in the warehouse. If we were not serious about supporting the game, we would not be doing it - it has to be understood that we do not simply hang around the office all day playing games. The people here work extremely hard and they all have better things to do than prop up a game we are not serious about supporting.

It also makes perfect sense for us to have an in-house fantasy system that we can readily apply to any new settings we develop or licence, just as we have a science fiction system in Traveller. If we were to relinquish all fantasy RPGs, it would be a noticeable gap in our line up.

It has been said that all we are planning to do is shovel existing books into a new format so they can tick along. Well, that is rather a negative way of looking at it, and a little further analysis would reveal that producing existing work in the new format is a logical course of action. It has the following advantages;

1. It is quick, easy and economic for us. This means we can support the system indefinetly because the costs are greatly reduced. At the same time, we can release the books at a much lower price point, making them a much more attractive proposition for you. We are aiming for a £9.99 price point for most books, and it is difficult to see how even a big fat one would be priced at more than £14.99 - this is exactly what we have been doing with the Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebooks, so we know the concept works.

2. The new format does not require existing players to buy a new book (in fact, it gives them the Pocket version people have been asking for since RQII came out). If we asked people to do that it _would_ kill the game dead.

3. If there are people out there who have been wavering on the edge, hearing about how good the game system is (and, as you will know if you have played it, it really is very, very good), then the new format is practically an impulse purchase.

We will re-release the core book (the mechanics unchanged, with the exception of integration of errata and a few clarifications - anything new will be posted, for free, on our web site for owners of the RQII rulebook), Arms & Equipment and the Monster Coliseum (renamed and potentially with the arena rules removed - we wanted the book to be more than just a monster manual, but it seems that is exactly what most people wanted!). Those will appear fairly quickly, as they form the core of the game, but we will also bring back Empires and Vikings, and likely Necromantic Arts a little further down the line.

However, we will also be bringing brand new material into play relatively quickly. We are currently looking at a one-shot Hyborian-esque grand adventure, new material for Deus Vult and some bits and pieces for Elric - we will be adding to this list over the next few months, and we have a strong interest in working with more historical settings, be they extensions to Vikings or brand new areas (and Land of the Samurai could certainly make a return in one form or another).

We have been asked whether we will make Wayfarer OGL. This will be a decision made later but, at this time, we are leaning towards it. However, I don't think it will be the usual OGL/logo licence combo, as messing around with SRDs is very time-consuming for us. If we go ahead with this, it is more likely to be a case of everything in the core book range is ripe for picking, just stay away from the setting books - aside from using a 'Wayfarer Compatible' logo, there will be nothing to sign or register for. Just pick up the rules and use them.

(Thanks to the rune under water for the link.)

The reference to only 'bits and pieces' forthcoming for the 'Elric' line is not encouraging. (And there is no mention of any other potential 'Eternal Champion' books, e.g. 'Hawkmoon' or 'Corum'.)

However, Sprange also has announced recently that a MRQII/Wayfarer version of the Spider God's Bride will be forthcoming (from 'Xoth.net publishing'; more on the world of Xoth here). This would be, I assume, the "one-shot Hyborian-esque grand adventure" that Sprange mentions in his post.

If MRQII/Wayfarer is supported with more similar third-party products, then perhaps the future of MRQII/Wayfarer is not as grim as I had feared!

I think I'll have a couple of pints on that happy thought...

On the two forthcoming 'Hobbit' films

2011-05-31T23:14:00.003-04:00

The latest news on the two (two?) forthcoming Hobbit films (from here):

We have names for the two films (carved out of the single novel by J.R.R. Tolkien) — The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again — and we have release dates, Dec. 14, 2012, and Dec. 13, 2013.

Several veterans of The Lord of the Rings trilogy will appear in the prequels to Jackson’s smash-hit, Oscar-winning film trilogy. Returning stars include Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Andy Serkis as Gollum and Orlando Bloom as Legolas.

British actor Stephen Fry has also been assigned a role.

The $500 million 3-D project began filming in New Zealand in March, following months of wrangling, delays, financial woes and health problems for Jackson.

By Morgoth's iron crown, why, oh why, must it be 3-D? I hate 3-D films! Hate, hate, hate them... L

That complaint aside, it's good to hear that Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis will be back. (And I'm fine with Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom, although I'm deeply puzzled as to why they would be appearing, given that neither 'Frodo' nor 'Legolas' appear in the novel!)

I'm curious to know which character Stephen Fry will be playing. Perhaps Thorin?

And who will play Elrond (assuming it's not Hugo Weaving), Beorn, Bard, and Thranduil (the 'Elvenking')?

Cthulhu Cappucinno

2011-05-30T08:05:00.002-04:00

Not only will a cup of this stuff wake you up in the morning, it'll totally blow your mind!

(From the Lovecraftsman; hat tip to Chris Robichaud)

Mythic Iceland for BRP

2011-05-27T13:43:00.002-04:00

This looks interesting. Here’s the blurb from Chaosium’s site:

MYTHIC ICELAND

by Pedro Ziviani

MYTHIC ICELAND brings to life the world of the Icelandic Sagas and fairy tales.

The Nordic and Celtic peoples settled Iceland in the 9th century coming from lands with rich traditions of folklore, where the mythical and supernatural are part of daily life. They discovered an island of striking beauty, with inland valleys, richly grassed and forested lowlands, massive glaciers, and impressive volcanic mountain ranges. They also found the land to be teeming with spirits of nature and mythic creatures.

This small country produced the largest body of medieval literature anywhere in Northern Europe. Mythic Iceland mines this rich tradition, and weaves background and adventure with the roleplaying experience of the Basic Roleplaying system.

Those pictures that I posted earlier this week would be quite useful for a campaign using this supplement!

Pictures of Iceland

2011-05-24T21:40:00.008-04:00

My friend Peeter (who plays 'Adralat Na-Keth' in our RuneQuest Young Kingdoms campaign) recently was in Iceland. Here are some of the pictures that he took while there. I think that these could be useful as 'visual aids' in a fantasy role-playing game campaign, especially one set in a 'Nordic' environment (say, one involving Vikings).

Some Reactions to the Mongoose-RuneQuest Divorce

2011-05-23T23:27:00.002-04:00

Here is Newt Newport’s take. It’s wonderful, of course, that OpenQuest will continue to be available and supported by D101 Games into the future!

Here is the Swordsman’s take over at ‘Rune Under Water’. The future of the MRQII fanzine, Impale!, that the Swordsman was working on looks uncertain now, unfortunately. I was very much looking forward to reading, and possible contributing, to Impale!.

The perspective of James Maliszewski of ‘Grognardia’ can be found here.

Finally, the future of Cakebread & Walton’s excellent Clockwork & Chivalry series for MRQII (I own every module produced so far the remarkable ‘Kingdom & Commonwealth’ campaign) is unclear. However, Cakebread & Walton seem committed to the series and setting.