YES! Good Things in the Mail

It has been a good week, as some post-holiday gaming purchases have arrived.

Blood & Treasure Monster Tome: This is John Matthew Stater's (The Land of Nod) companion for his excellent ruleset, Blood & Treasure, which we used for about 40 sessions in the Montporte Dungeon. John is the Isaac Asimov of gaming writers/designers, cranking out huge amounts of high quality stuff, which is all the more remarkable in that he has a full-time job doing something else. This also serves as a reminder that I want to pick up a copy of Bloody Basic: Classic Edition and also Bloody Basic: Contemporary Edition. And I am way behind on my NOD purchases. As a side note, John's PARS FORTUNA is my favorite d20 game when it comes to a very creative yet simple game.

Cyclopean Deeps Volume 1: I ordered the Swords & Wizardry version of this from Frog God Games. This is the first in a planned series of adventures that also serve as a mini-campaign setting. Cyclopean Deeps presents a very creative take on the Under Realm, the area below the deepest portion of the Rappan Athuk dungeon. I bought mainly for inspirational reading, as player characters are starting to delve deeper (and beyond?) into the Montporte Dungeon. I have just started reading it, but it is groovy so far.

The Dungeon Dozen: This book is a little treasure trove of gaming goodness by Jason Sholtis (The Dungeon Dozen). It has become my favorite dungeon book and sits on my dungeoneering bookshelf right next to Central Casting: Dungeons by Robert Sassone (my go-to dungeon design book). The Dungeon Dozen has 195 pages of d12 tables, most of which are dungeon related. How can you not love a book that has three tables dedicated to "Dungeon Love Connections." And there are tables like "The Lich's Downtime Activities" and "Underworld Cash Crops." The book is useful, highly entertaining and incredibly inspirational. And the art is awesome!

Starter Adventures: This is Tim Short's (Gothridge Manor) long-awaited book, aimed at players and GMs absolutely brand new to gaming. Tim presents 16 very short adventuring scenarios--four scenarios for each of the four core classes (cleric, fighter, magic-user, and thief). These scenarios give the newbie player and GM a chance to learn about each class, as well as the basic game mechanics. In addition to the 16 scenarios, there is a detailed tavern, "Red Bear's," with adventure hooks. There is also a simple adventure, "Betrayed at Bender's End" including in the book, which rounds out the collection rather nicely.

Goodies in the Mail

I have been playing a lot of music lately on the weekends which, when combined with work, has cut into the blogging time. On the flip side, more musical gigs means more gig money. And this has been reinvested into some game-related items. I did get the PDF version of the AD&D 2e Dark Sun setting, but the real joy comes when hardcopy gaming stuff arrives in the mail. Here is what has arrived recently in my mailbox:

The Hollow Ground: A Novel by Natalie S. Harnett: Okay, this is not gaming stuff but it is the debut novel written by +Erik Tenkar's (Tenkar's Tavern) sister. I figure that it makes it gamer-related (maybe? sort of?). My wife, Deb (World So Sweet), just finished reading it and gave it two thumbs up. Once she started, she didn't put it down. It sounds like she will be recommending it to her book club the next time they meet. It is on my "To Read" shelf for this weekend, right behind the latest Jim Butcher Dresden novel, Skin Game.

A Magical Medley (Fudge): A collection of magical systems for Fudge-based games, although it would fairly simple to convert to GURPS or Fate. African, Celtic, Chinese and Occult magic are all included, plus Bioenergetics (which seems like a bit of an outlier here).

A Magical Society: Silk Road: A supplement with lots of info and tables for using the Silk Road as an RPG setting (or at least borrowing from it). The print version is out-of-print, but I was able to order it used from Amazon for less than $15 (including shipping). The PDF version is still available for purchase/download. I have toyed with a Silk Road based setting that could be used with GURPS, Savage Worlds, or a D20 rule set. 

Red Tide: Campaign Sourcebook and Sandbox Toolkit: I decided to get this in print and PDF. It is quite good and it has a lot things that could be lifted to incorporate into another setting.

Goodies in the Mail

I should be finishing up my Manor #6 edits for +Tim Shorts (Gothridge Manor). Instead, I have been playing my wife's new guitar (purchased today), watching three Game 7's in the NHL playoffs, and reading my new gaming stuff. I send my apologizes to Tim and I know forgiveness will come more quickly when he checks out the good stuff arriving at my front door:

Fantasy Companion (Savage Worlds): I haven't played Savage Worlds, but I keep hoping. I am inching my way towards running a campaign by picking up a used copy of Fantasy Companion. I am wondering how well a Savage Worlds megadungeon campaign might work, particularly if I borrowed some stuff from the Solomon Kane setting for Savage Worlds. I like the idea of a flintlock dungeon and haven't found the rules for it. There are a couple of conversions from D&D to Savage Worlds out there (check out the free Dungeons & Savages, for example).

Kefitzat Haderech: Incunabulum of Uncanny Gates and Portals: Any book that starts with Hebrew on its title page and ends with a few paragraphs about Dr. Who is going to be fun read. Paolo Greco provides a quirky set of tables that allow the GM to generate gates and portals to send player characters into the great unknown. +Tim Shorts' mini-review of this little booklet convinced me to buy it. I do wish I had paid more attention when I took Hebrew in graduate school many years ago.

NOD #5: It is no secret that I am a big fan of all of John Stater's stuff. He is the Isaac Asimov of the OSR. He cranks out product after product after product. We have been using his Blood & Treasure ruleset for the Montporte Dungeon Campaign. His PARS FORTUNA is my favorite OSR-style ruleset. I have been acting out on my man crush for John by purchasing an issue of NOD every month. NOD #5 features an article on medieval mining and another on vampires in found in various cultures. There is also Ibis, a city crawl that continues his expansion of his world of NOD.

Good Stuff in the Mail

Another Amazon box arrived at work, bringing a delightful mix of history books and gaming goodness (plus a book for my wife, I should add...I am not all about me, just mostly about me).

The first gaming item is the Pathfinder GameMastery Critical Hit Deck. 52 cards of devastating fun. We had a chance to try them out during our Monday night Montporte Dungeon session when Duncan scored a critical hit while throwing a dagger (a natural 20 plus a second roll scored as a hit). Because we were playing in Google Hangout, I had to draw the card, but there was still a payout. His dagger did double damage to the intended target plus hit and damaged a second target. This turned the tide of the battle in a hurry. Realistic? Maybe not. Fun for our group? Definitely yes.

But the real fun starts when someone rolls a critical miss (a natural 1 plus a second roll that misses). It hasn't happened since we started using the card decks, but it will. I am a big fan of critical misses. Whether we are playing GURPS, Swords & Wizardry, or now Blood & Treasure, critical misses always create more tension and excitement than critical hits. So, to facilitate the fun, I also picked up the Pathfinder GameMastery Critical Fumble Deck. 52 cards of mishaps and mayhem. I can't wait to inflict them on my players use them in our game.

Treasures in the Mailbox

So I have not been buying much in the way of gaming stuff. Oddly enough, I don't buy much while I am in the middle of GMing a campaign. I also bought a bass guitar a few months ago and that seriously deleted my fun money account. However, I did get Tim's (Gothridge Manor) latest volume of The Manor. The Manor #4 is the best one yet, although I admit to being biased as I have a few critters published within. The monster cards are a nice touch.

I also ordered GURPS Mysteries (4th Edition) and it arrived today. I haven't had a chance to look through it yet, as we had our Monday Night Gaming Group session tonight, but I plan on starting my reading during my morning smoothie. I have heard good things about this book but it is out of print (still available in PDF). I have been keeping an eye out for a used copy on Amazon, but the price had been hovering around $50. I managed to score a copy for $17.00. Happy I am. There are still some copies available on Amazon for the same price. I am not sure why the price bounces around so much..maybe a group of speculators creating havoc in the market?

I also received some gaming goodness from my wife for Father's Day back in June. I finally have the hardcopy of The Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies. My wife and I talked about playing but we have not made any definite plans yet. I have not tried out the PDQ system (or, in this case, PDQ Sharp), but I am intrigued by it. Plus, the setting is awesome...it easily lands in my top 3 settings of all time. Thanks, Deb!!

Good Stuff at My Door

The last few weeks of work have been hellish. I even had to miss our Monday Night Gaming Night and Bard's first GURPS session. However, getting good stuff left at my door makes up for some of it. Here is what came my way:

The Mini Manor: Faces Without Screams. Great stuff from Tim (Gothridge Manor). BTW, you can now get your GM Games five ways.

This cover is awesome! Nice job, Jason.

And my booty from the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Sale at Frog God Games: Rappan Athuk

And, if that were not enough, I decided to empty out my piggy bank (my money from my music gigs) and get Swords & Wizardry Monstrosities, also from Frog God Games, on sale for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day:

The Postman Always Rings Twice...Good Stuff in the Mail

Hey, check out what came in the mail--a hardcopy of GURPS: Martial Arts, co-authored by Peter D of Dungeon Fantastic. It is no longer in print so I have been following the prices of used copies on Amazon. They have been hovering north of $50 for quite a while but some careless bookseller listed it for $22.77 and I pounced (the next cheapest copy was over twice that price). The book arrived yesterday and is in great condition.

GURPS books are always well-researched and well-written. GURPS: Martial Arts is no exception. It covers much more than the usual Eastern unarmed combat, although there is plenty of that sort of thing. Lots of options for melee weapons, too. And I now understand why I was often confused by GURPS...our Majestic Wilderlands group is using a lot of the MA options. Rob did create a handy cheat sheet, which helped a great deal. But now I can read the source as I hold it in my hands (not a fan of reading things like this as a PDF).

My only complaint is the illustration of the blow to the groin. Unlike most art, it doesn't get me psyched for gaming.

More Good Things in the Mail

Some goodies came in the mail over the past few days. The first was an Amazon box (with the smirky logo) and, after checking for traps before opening, I found The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelanzy. Thanks to Tim (Gothridge Manor) for recommending it (in the comment section of a recent post on my favorite fantasy series). I also have added Malazan Book of the Fallen series (Steven Erikson) to my wish list, recommended by JD (The Disoriented Ranger). JD also recommended the P.I. Garrett books by Glen Cook, so I put them on an Amazon wish list as well. Thanks, JD!

Tim also sent me some giant graph paper for giant maps of giant dungeons. They are 2' x 3', with 1/4 inch squares. Thanks, Tim, for being so generous. Maybe you'll find a giant roll  +2 paper of zine production in the giant dungeon.