Shaintar: Legends Arise Werewolf Page Preview

Pretty much what the title says. The revised PG is nearly ready to post, and last edits before upload on the full book are about done.

The Cover of Shaintar: Legends Arise

Pretty much speaks for itself...

And here's the "unadorned" version.

~SPF

The Dorkland! Roundtable Interview

Been a while since I've updated here, but this seemed like a good thing to share here. I talk a great deal about what the latest news with me, Shaintar, the OmniCosm, Modern Gods, and other Evil Beagle stuff, as well as getting into a bit of my history.

Oh, and the exclusive preview of the cover for Shaintar: Legends Arise.

You can explore Chris Helton's awesome Dorkland! for more great observations and gaming goodness!

The Friday Roundup (030113)

Kind of late with this tonight, with everything else I have going on. I have a lot to share, so I will be doing a new VLOG in the near future (now that I have a decent camera thanks to housemate Joey).

In the meantime, on with this week's Roundup -

Bulletproof Blues

Bulletproof Blues is a "rules light" superhero roleplaying game set in the world-famous universe of Kalos Comics, creators of Paragon, Rook, Antiope, Doctor Arcane, and the rest of the Justifiers, as well as sinister organizations like Aegis and GORGON, and mysterious entities like The Bride. From the ancient ruins of Lemuria to the far reaches of the Hausdorff Dimension, the Kalos Universe is now yours to explore.

The Kalos Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles published by Kalos Comics take place, including those featuring Kalos' most familiar characters, such as Paragon, Swan, and the members of Vanguard.

The Kalos Universe is further depicted as existing within a "multiverse" consisting of a large number of separate universes, all of which are the creations of Kalos Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Kalos universes". In this context, "Kalos Universe" is taken to refer to the mainstream Kalos continuity, which is known as Earth Zero or Earth-0.

The universe of Earth-0 has no particular significance in comparison to that of Earth-1 or any other universe -- the name is simply a convenience. A more technically accurate nomenclature would define the "Kalos Universe" in terms of its "location" in the multiverse within 196,883 dimensional space. Since this would require the listing of 196,883 coordinates, "Earth-0", "Earth-162", "Earth-4661", etc., is a convenient shorthand.

Complete Warrior (3.5)

Forge your name in battle!

The Complete Warrior provides you with an in-depth look at combat and provides detailed information on how to prepare a character for confrontation.

This title was not only compiled from various D&D sources, but contains new things as well, including new battle-oriented character classes, prestige classes, combat maneuvers, feats, spells, magic items, and equipment. The prestige classes included have been revised and updated based on player feedback, and there are rules for unusual combat situations. The Complete Warrior will assist all class types, including those classes not typically associated with melee combat. There are also tips on running a martially focused campaign and advice on how to make your own prestige classes and feats.

To use this accessory, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. A player needs only the Player's Handbook.

Reworking Class Options. The three new classes in this offering are the hexblade, the samurai, and the swashbuckler. At least two of these would previously have been prestige classes built for the fighter, and it's interesting that they've been broken out into full classes to allow players to embrace the concepts from day one. As base classes, all three provide solid and balanced character concepts. If you plan to be swinging on chandeliers and tossing cloaks over your foes' heads from early in your adventuring career, the swashbuckler is a good choice for you. The hexblade is even more intriguing, a cross between a fighter and a curse-tossing sorcerer who would make a superb anti-hero.

Even the previously published prestige classes revisited in this book have generally been reworked significantly for flavor and balance. Not all are 10-level classes, either, allowing players to expand their character options without major commitment. As always, beware the frenzied berserker (a common quote from a typical game: "Why won't he DIE?!?"), but the mixture of prestige classes gives players options that fill flavorful, specific niches. Several of these hearken back to earlier editions, with the cavalier modeling the original class in AD&D's Unearthed Arcana and the Bladesinger echoing 2nd ed. AD&D's elven “kit” for fighter/mages.

The best prestige classes are those that provide flavor without the expense of too little (or too much) combat power. The mindspy, for instance, is a 5-level prestige class often seen in doppelgangers and mind flayers. It allows the warrior to quickly scan opponents’ minds and anticipate their every move. Even in a game without psionics, this is a class that works just as well out of combat as it does within a melee.

Deadlands Noir Original Soundtrack (audio product)

Noir is about mood, and mood is made by music. Give your Deadlands Noir game a feeling you can’t get any other way—set the tone with the Deadlands Noir Original Soundtrack.

This download contains nine original tracks by Harry Mack. That’s a full hour of music made specifically for your Deadlands Noir game that you just won’t find anywhere else.

Deadlands Noir is a pen-and-paper roleplaying game set in the world of Pinnacle Entertainment’s award-winning Deadlands universe. It includes new Edges, Hindrances, and powers, as well as new rules for handling detective work, the state of the Union and the CSA in the Depression-era, a complete Plot Point campaign, and of course, more monsters and ghouls than you can shake a smoking .45 automatic at.

Deadlands Noir is not a complete game. It requires the Savage Worlds core rules to play. The PDF is fully bookmarked with a hyperlinked table of contents and index. The PDF is also layered to serve as its own printer-friendly version. Full color, full-size (8.5″ x 11″ pages), 144 pages.

Tenra Bansho Zero: Heaven and Earth Edition

Almost a decade ago, Japanese artist and game designer Junichi Inoue sat down to create what was, in his own words, a uniquely and unmistakably "Hyper Asian" Japanese world: a world of magic and technology, of samurai and Taoist sorcery, of powerful mecha and cultured geisha. The world was named Tenra, and the game was named Tenra Bansho, or "Everything in Heaven and Earth."

With a rulebook dripping cover-to-cover with high-quality anime-style art, a setting rich in culture both real and fantastical, and a revised and simplified rules system that focused with precision on roleplaying and character drama, this game took the Japanese tabletop RPG market by storm and spearheaded both a renaissance and revolution in the Japanese gaming industry.

Years later, this unique and revolutionary game has finally been painstakingly translated into English for play in the West!

TENRA BANSHO ZERO

Tenra Bansho Zero is a unique tabletop roleplaying experience, and it features the following:

PDF Optimization

This product contains two versions of the game:

The original high-quality art-filled, full-color setting and rules books, together in electronic tablet-optimized US graphic novel size (700 total pages)
A text-only indexed version of all of the content of the setting and rules books at US Letter/A4 size for easy reference and printing (510 total pages; with large font and spacing for readability; effectively 150 pages of text for normal book proportions)

Breathtaking Art

Over 300 unique pieces of art appear throughout; there are 33 full-color manga story pages that introduce players to the world and setting features, and ten rules explanations, also in manga form, assist with fast rules retention. The art is done by the formidable hand of Junichi Inoue, the fine brush-work of Hiroyuki Ishida, the comical impact of Hayami Rasenjin, and more!

With layout for the English edition by industry expert Luke Crane (Mouse Guard RPG, Burning Wheel RPG), you've never seen a game like this.

Incredible Content

Two books: A full-color Setting book and a black-and-white Rules and Play book. The books together boast a page count of almost 700 total pages! The huge amount of art, combined with the detailed deep-dive explanations and play advice, will give you your money's worth in usable content.

Incomparable Richness

A rich Japanese setting involving a planet in a constant state of war, where magic fuels technology and the culture is an analogue of the "Warring States" (Sengoku) era of Japan. Mecha, sorcery, samurai, geisha, monks, cyborgs, annelid-users, and more make this game a truly unique - and deeply Japanese - experience.

Quick to Learn

A simple-to-understand rules system utilizing regular six-sided dice, cleverly explained in both detailed text examples and amusing full-page manga art. On top of a woven system of skills, attributes, action, and combat is overlaid a deeper system of kabuki theater-style play: Focusing very specifically on play through Acts, Scenes, and Intermissions, the players of this game are both the actors and audience: As actors, they focus on roleplay in a scene with other actors; and as audience (much like the audience of a kabuki play), they focus on the drama that unfolds, rewarding the players for dramatic actions and cool ad-libbed lines.

Speed

An entire campaign, a story from start to finish, can be told over the space of one to two sessions! You can then choose to play the same characters in another tale, or perhaps retire them to look at another facet of life on Tenra.

All-in-One

The original Japanese game had a core rulebook, a supplement, and later several mail-order-only mini-supplements. The data/rules content and much of the art has been ported and folded into the English book set (originally $145 USD for all of that material if you were to buy it when it came out), including errata and designer suggestions.

This is a truly updated version of the game!

Due Vigilance- SixGun

Lock and load!

Vigilance Press is proud to present Due Vigilance Issue 3: SixGun!

Private Military Companies are becoming more and more common, exchanging higher costs for better trained and better equipped military specialists. In a world where people in spandex can juggle armored personnel carriers, they need to be even better trained and better equipped! Enter SixGun, a team of cybernetic super-soldiers who will work for anyone if the price is right. Author Rick Jones brings you a team of ruthlessly efficient, battle-hardened foes for your Mutants and Masterminds Third Edition campaign, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

No battle theater is off-limits for these six cyborgs. Marauder, Camo, 3Chelon, Headcase, Deadeye, and “Spot” have the technology and the skill to strike anywhere the money leads them. With art by Alex Williamson, Yad-Ming Mui, Denise Jones, and Jesse Justice, this full-color book brings illustrations for the team, their gear, and their support personnel. We also include full-color standees for you to use at the gaming table.

If you’re not familiar with Private Military Companies, fear not, we’ve included an essay on their history and how they operate… both in the real world, and in the world of your own Superhero campaigns. We also include background and history for the insidious Orion Private Security, whose mysterious connection to SixGun is still classified “Eyes-Only” for the Game Master.

So make one final gear check, and prepare for a fierce battle. SixGun is ready, are you?

“Sanguine et Aurum! Blood and Gold!”

~~~

I think this is one of the better collections I've presented so far. Lots of stuff very worthy of your interest.

Have a great weekend, and I hope you rolls some dice at some point.

~SPF

The Friday Roundup (022213)

A bit later than usual today - had a lot going on this Friday. So, off and running...

Abyss of Insanity (Savage Worlds ed.)

An ice shelf collapses in far-off Antarctica, revealing a geologic vent of staggering proportions. Satellite photos show a mysterious expedition camping on the edge of the newly-revealed ravine. The players are dispatched to expose the unknown agents and uncover their mission. Every truth discovered, each step taken, leads them deeper into the Abyss of Insanity.

• 56 pages
• + 3 pages of character stand-ups
• + 6 pages of player hand-outs
• + 6 pages of maps (1/4" scale)
• + 88 pages of maps (1" scale)
• New Psychic Powers
• Supplimental Rules for Equipment, Animals, Antarctic Dangers and Health Hazards
• History of Antarctic Exploration

All maps comes in .pdf and in 100dpi Virtual Tabletop-compatible format.

Usable as an independent adventure or as part of a R.E.A.C.T. campaign.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Essentials Edition)

AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE
A wave of invaders from the Negative Zone spreads from galaxy to galaxy, bringing chaos and ruin to everything in its path. Starfaring empires and intergalactic peacekeeping forces are torn asunder. When Annihilus and his conquering hordes threaten even mighty Galactus, can your cosmic heroes hope to stop the Annihilation Wave?

COSMIC-SCALED ADVENTURE
MARVEL HEROIC ROLEPLAYING Event Books capture the drama and action of pivotal Marvel Universe blockbuster events, with hero and villain datafiles, detailed sourcebook entries, and story material. Rewrite history, make your own choices, and change your hero’s fate. With MARVEL HEROIC ROLEPLAYING Event Books, the worlds of What If? are yours to explore.

This Essentials Edition Event Book includes:
Annihilation: Based on the sweeping cosmic saga of the blockbuster Annihilation storyline! Cosmic-level heroes and villains rising up against the invasion. Includes rules to scale up the game to cosmic level as well as key game Milestones and interstellar locations you expect from such a star-shattering event.

Hero Datafiles:  Game play sheets for many of your favorite cosmic Marvel Super Heroes, from fan-favorites like Nova and Quasar to the awe-inspiring Heralds of Galactus!

For two to eight players, ages 13 and up. Requires game dice.

You will need a copy of the Operations Manual to use this product. The Operations Manual can be found in the MARVEL HEROIC ROLEPLAYING Basic Game or in Premium Edition Event Books.

The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game Sale

At last, the seminal RPG created by Robin D Laws and John Snead is available for download.

Praise for the Dying Earth:
"Pick of GenCon: Dying Earth. Of all the new RPGs at GenCon, the one I want to run most is Dying Earth.

It's extremely stylish, which, of course, a game based on the Dying Earth ought to be. The detail that won me over is that characters need to do different things to "recharge" depending on which skills they've been using." - Jonathan Tweet, D&D 3rd edition author

"In a flood of fantasy fiction and games, there are fewer and fewer that are truly exciting, exotic, and strange. The Dying Earth is all of those, and exciting, too; reading over the rules makes you WANT to plunge into life and adventure in the setting---even if you've never read any of Jack Vance's delightful fiction! If you have, of course, the game skillfully expands, rounds out, and suggests new trails to adventure...in a setting that is at once whimsical, sinister, gloriously cynical and colorful, eccentric, and oh, so polite. A superb game and setting that could easily provide delightful play in a campaign lasting decades!" - Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms

"Hell, just buy it for the read -it's that good!" - Review of the game rpg.net

"[DERPG] is so well written that it could make even a group of strangers to the books play a perfect game of Dying Earth." - Review of the game rpg.net

The Dying Earth RPG

A future, unimaginably distant…
The sun, now in its dotage is a swollen maroon orb. It stutters and blinks. At any moment it may finally go out.

The sun, now in its dotage is a swollen maroon orb. It stutters and blinks. At any moment it may finally go out.

Earth, immensely old… Dig anywhere and find a buried city or the shore of a vanished sea. Deodand-haunted woods stretch from decadent Kaiin to the Land of the Falling Wall. Erbs and grue hunt in the wilds. Isolated villages embrace surprising customs. Larger towns favor debauchery and mincing murder.

Magic, rich and colourful… Enchantment shapes the world. Any dabbler may know a few simple cantraps. Magicians in lavish manses struggle to master Earth's last great spells, while all-powerful cabals intrigue against rivals or plot revenge for ancient feuds.

Enter this vivid world in this roleplaying game authorized by master fantasist Jack Vance. Here the importance of a flashing sword is matched by nimble wits, persuasive words,and a fine sense of fashion. Create an adventurer for any of three different kinds of stories: a typical mortal such as Cugel the Clever,surviving by wits and cunning an ambitious magician searching for lost lore,like Turjan of Miir a supreme mage to rank with Rhialto the Marvellous, commanding the omnipotent but quarrelsome sandestins The Dying Earth features easy, fast-playing rules that encourage creativity and interaction. No knowledge of Jack Vance's work is needed for play,but fans of the stories will enjoy the comprehensive summary of the world's places, creatures,and known spells.

The entire product line is on MASSIVE sale right now!

The Unspeakable Oath 22

Arc Dream Publishing is proud to present The Unspeakable Oath, a more-or-less quarterly digest of tools, scenarios, and reviews to make your Cthulhu Mythos games more terrifying than ever.

The Unspeakable Oath 22 includes:

“The Dread Page of Azathoth,” an editor’s column. Guest columnist Kenneth Hite pays tribute to Lynn Willis.

"The Saffron Book," a Mysterious Manuscript by Bobby Derie.

"Malyutin's Nightmare Matryoshkas," an Arcane Artifact by Daniel R. Robichaud.

"China Dolls: Children of Madam Yi," a new monster by Jo Kreil.

"Die High," a scenario for Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, or Cthulhu Dark, by Greg Stolze.

"The Found Phone," a Tale of Terror by Greg Stolze.

"St. Michael's Gate," a Tale of Terror by Adam Gauntlett.

"Starting Your Call of Cthulhu Campaign," a feature by Daniel Harms.

"Bargain Hunting," a Tale of Terror by Adam Gauntlett.

"Atlas of Arkham 1911," a Mysterious Manuscript by Bobby Derie.

"Remember, Remember," a Trail of Cthulhu scenario by Adam Gauntlett.

"Smedley House," a Tale of Terror by Ben Riggs.

"Alphonse's Axioms for Agents," a Directive from A-Cell by Adam Scott Glancy.

"The Thing In the Box," a Message in a Bottle by Ross Payton.

and much, much more!

~~~

I featured Gygax Magazine's 1st issue today, but as of tonight it's no longer available on DriveThruRPG. Not sure what's going on there, but oh well. If you want to order the physical version, click here.

Have a great weekend, and I hope your dice roll well.

~SPF

The Friday Roundup (021513)

It's that time again, and this is another Roundup that's all over the map, including stuff on DriveThruCards, D&D stuff, maps, and stuff about to go out of availability. So let's get started!

Shonen Final Burst

Enter a Universe of unbelievable power! This is Shonen Final Burst, the fighting anime RPG. Inside you'll find everything you need to make your own shonen warriors and go crazy in over the top battles.

Shonen Final Burst uses unique playing card-based mechanics that emphasize the awesome speed and excitement you'd expect from a real shonen fight, complete with fluid combos, amazing elemental techniques, and unexpected reversals. If it's in the shonen genre, it's in here: ridiculous super moves, ultimate transformations, the power of friendship, and more!

Customize your fighter with over 30 techniques and tons of other options, and customize your play style with our deck-building experience system. All your favorite fighters and shows can be recreated in Shonen Final Burst, or strike out on a new path and make a totally new Universe to play in!

This is Shonen Final Burst, and it's time to power up!

Ancient Temple Interior

Game Masters need quality maps for their miniatures. DramaScape™ is committed to bringing Game Masters the maps they need.

The Ancient Temple Interior is an expansion to our Ancient Temple product.

A secret door leads to the interior of the ancient temple from outside. From the secret door, descending the eastern staircase leads to a surprisingly well-lit area underground. Light from torches in sconces illuminates the floor below. Debris and skeletons lying on the ground serve as warnings to cease your journey now. Ancient statues look into the room from the corners, their eyes warning you to go now, for they will bear witness to your trespass and threaten to do something about it.

The ancient temple leads to many different adventures. Perhaps the Player Characters are captured investigating outside the temple and are brought in as a sacrifice to the gods. They have to escape their bonds during the ritual and fight their way out of temple to freedom.

The Player Characters could also find the secret door leading below and have to fight off temple cultists and traps. They could also have to thwart an attempted sacrifice of other people captured outside and help them escape by defeating the high priest. After fighting off the high priest, his cultists, and his traps, they could find a great treasure and procure it. But what if the treasure is trapped? Or what if the angry god of the temple curses the treasure as punishment for killing his high priest?

This is an Image of the Print on Demand Version laid out.

DA2 The Temple of the Frog (Basic)

Green Death...

That's what old hands call the Great Dismal Swamp. For centuries, this tangled maze of sluggish watercourses, stagnant ponds, and festering marshes has defended Blackmoor's southwestern frontier. Large armies and smaller parties have disappeared altogether inside its vast, dripping, claustrophobic corridors.

Among those who have dropped from sigh in this arboral hell is young Rissa Aleford, one of Blackmoor's most important leaders. Carried off to the sinister City of the Fron, she is now being held by the eccentric Monks of the Swamp. By making the baroness captive, the deranged monks have serioulsy weakened Blackmoor at a time when enemies already threaten it from all sides.

Yet, even as the Froggies gloat, the king of Blackmoor dispatches a small band of bold adventures to the rescue. Deep into the Great Dismal Swamp they must go ? far from sunlight and sanity? there to seek and save the Swamp. There to find? the Temple of the Frog.

Product History

DA2: Temple of the Frog (1987), by Dave Arneson and David J. Ritchie, is the second adventure in TSR's short-lived Blackmoor line. It was published in January 1987.

About Blackmoor. The story of DA2: Temple of the Frog carries directly on from DA1: Adventures in Blackmoor (1986). Like its predecessor, it was part of the second wave of Blackmoor products, and it was set in the historical past of TSR's own Known World.

Super RPS - Rock • Paper • Scissors

The classic game of outwitting and outguessing your opponent has evolved!

In the Super RPS strategic card game, you represent one of these three elemental forces in a duel of wits, using all of your cunning to manipulate them into exposing themselves to your ruthless attack.

Slice, crush, and smother your enemies in a game of shifting fortunes and short-lived alliances.

***

The Free Rulebook option above gets you a free PDF of the rules, a preview of some of the cards, and a printable box which you can cut out and tape together.

The Card Deck option above gets you high-quality, printed cards delivered to your door

Supernatural Role Playing Game

Important Note - The Entire Supernatural and Smallville lines will no longer be available after February 28th!

Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but the truth hurts and there’s no use sugarcoating it. Ghosts are real. Demons too, along with those bumps in the night and maybe even the monster under your bed. The world’s a scary place. If you’re lucky the nasties that creep around in the dark won’t get hold of you.

‘Cept maybe you aren’t lucky. Maybe you’ve already lost something – or somebody – to the darkness. All the booze and therapy in the world can’t put your life back the way it was. And evil has a way of finding you again once it’s had a taste of blood.

So you decide to fight back. It’s not gonna be easy — as this kind of on-the-job training can get you dead. But you can stop being the hunted and become the hunter. There’s no fame or glory in it, and there sure as hell isn’t any money. But if you get the job done, you’ll save lives and send the bad guys screaming back to hell where they belong. If that sounds good, then you’ve got some work to do.

In the Supernatural Role Playing Game you and your friends play hunters from the world of the hit television series. Play characters from the show or use the Cortex System rules to create your own hunter. You’ll also find gory details on ghosts, demons, and other nasties for the Game Master to throw your way. All you need to start the hunt is this book, some friends, some dice, and some time to kill…
~~~
All right, then - time for you to do some browsing, see what you like, and get your game on!

It's Shaintar this weekend at Silvermeet Manor!

~SPF

Wonderful Wednesday (02/13/13)

It's a good day.

I am feeling so much better after the spine shots I had on Monday; much more mobile with much less pain. I've lost a great deal of weight, and the downward trend continues. Physically, I feel I am improving a lot, and I want to keep going.

My career is also taking off by leaps and bounds, and the future looks very, very bright. Let me point you at a rather big deal that just launched yesterday -

My dear friend, Lee Ballew, did the primary design, and I was honored to be listed as helping with the design as well. He also did most of the art, though his wife, Susan Knowles, also added a lot of amazing pieces to it. Any fan of deck-building games will enjoy this tongue-in-cheek game where "Monty Python meets Anime Humor." Evil Beagle Games is proud to have this as a premiere and exclusive title on DriveThruCards, the latest site in the DriveThru family.

In addition to this, here's what else I am up to - 

• I'm currently finishing up my third Star Wars assignment for Fantasy Flight Games, with a fourth one already in the pipeline.
• I have some awesome stuff in development with Pinnacle.
• I am still involved with FASA Games, and am looking at doing some design and writing for their 1879 line down the road.
• I am in talks with Modiphius for a really great project!
• The Shaintar Kickstarter is pretty much worked out and we should be figuring out our launch date for it very soon.
• Shaintar: Legends Arise is in full development, and there is a huge announcement about that coming in a few days.
• Lee and I are currently working on a deck-building game set in Shaintar; more on that later.
• Susan and I have started working up our plans for a Shaintar comic series as well, which I am incredibly excited about. Again, more details about that in the near future.

On top of all that, I have a daughter who is doing well in school as well as her martial arts training and a loving partner in life who makes every single day of my life more magical and meaningful. I am surrounded by family and friends who do everything they can to help me succeed, making me the richest man I know.

Cheers to you all, and I hope you all have many great days to come.

~SPF

The Friday Roundup (020813)

It's another Friday, so it's another Roundup. This is a particularly eclectic bunch!

Not Every Day Is St. Patrick's Day

Ever wake up on St. Patrick’s Day in a panic because you have no Irish music?  Well, here’s a ready-made solution!

“Every Day is Not St. Patrick’s Day” adds to Marc Gunn’s considerable collection of Celtic music made accessible in any number of ways.  First of all, it’s a great listen.  Even if you never explore the music beyond that, you’ll be satisfied.  But Marc has made the lyrics to and chords for all these great songs available on his Irish Song Lyrics website.

Marc has also included an original poem by Hugh Scanlen, “The Alcoholic”, that touches on a theme familiar to Irish people and Irish music.  Hugh is a veteran of the war in Vietnam, whose struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism led him to write this haunting poem. A portion of the profits of the album go towards helping vets with PTSD.

You may already have Marc’s CDs that contain parodies of these songs.  Now, you get to hear the originals, delivered in Marc’s unique style.   I’m pretty sure you’ll listen to these songs on March 17 – which, in case you didn’t know, happens to be Marc’s birthday – as well as many other days of the year.  Enjoy!

D&D Expert Set Rulebook (Basic)

This is the 1981 edition of the D&D Expert Rulebook by Dave Cook, which was sold as a counterpart to the Moldvay D&D Basic Set.

Product History

The Dungeons & Dragons Expert Rules (1981), by David "Zeb" Cook, was released simultaneously with the second edition Basic Rules (1981) in January 1981. For the first time ever, it offered the opportunity to achieve levels 4-14 in TSR's introductory game.

Beyond Basic. The story of Basic D&D begins with J. Eric Holmes simplifying the original D&D rules (1974) as the first Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977). After that, TSR didn't put any more work into the Basic D&D game, instead focusing on AD&D (1977-1979).

Enter the "James Dallas Egbert III affair" (1979), where a college student disappeared and D&D somehow took the blame in the media. Ironically, this controversy caused sales of Holmes' Basic Set to soar and resulted in a new directive for the newly created Design Department at TSR: supplement Basic D&D (which only covered levels 1-3) with Expert Rules that would allow players to play "through at least 12th level of experience."

About the Creators. Though Cook had previously written A1: "Slave Pits of the Undercity" (1980) for TSR's Slave Lords tourney, the Expert Set was his biggest project to date when he took it on. Cook would work his way through a few of TSR's other lines in the next few years - including AD&D, Boot Hill, and Star Frontiers - before returning to the Known World around 1983.

Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Part 1 - Three Kings - For Savage Worlds & Realms of Cthulhu

Wartime roleplaying…

…with tentacles!


Achtung! Cthulhu brings you a two-fisted wartime SAVAGE WORLDS roleplaying game setting for REALMS OF CTHULHU, packed full of fiendish Nazis, terrifying ancient mysteries, legendary war machines, and enough writhing tentacles to fill ten Reichstags!

Three Kings is the first in a series of standalone adventure supplements in the globe-spanning Zero Point campaign for Achtung! Cthulhu written by Sarah Newton (Legends of Anglerre, Mindjammer) and converted to Realms of Cthulhu by Dave Blewer (of Sundered Skies fame). Join a band of heroic soldiers, agents, and partisans behind enemy lines on the eve of World War Two, as they discover the unspeakable horrors of Castle Karlstein in occupied Czechoslovakia!

Inside you will find everything you need:

• A standalone multi-episode adventure for hours of play!
• New rules for Call of Cthulhu wartime investigations
• Maps of Europe, Czechoslovakia, Castle Karlstein, and the surrounding area
• An “Operational Briefing” handout
• Setting information on Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia
• Four pregenerated characters to get you playing immediately!
• Packed with inspirational artwork by Dim Martin

Requires the Savage Worlds rulebook & Realms of Cthulhu supplement to play.

Rogue Trader: Stars of Inequity

Stars of Inequity is a supplement for Rogue Trader that presents tempting new opportunities for those brave few who make their livings in the Koronus Expanse.

This detailed resource focuses on the perilous worlds of the Expanse. Game Masters can create their own new realms with the World Generator, a system designed to craft unique planets filled with terrible risks and unmatched potential for profit. Players can brave the dangers of planetside missions, crossing the surface of shadowy worlds to explore deadly jungles, ancient ruins, crashed voidships, and more. And with the Colony Creation rules, your group can construct, expand, and control its own outposts on the lost and forgotten worlds of the Expanse!

This is not a complete game. A copy of the Rogue Trader core rulebook is required to play.

Note - A lot of folks wonder why I am willing to promote a product with ties to Game Workshop properties after vilifying GW recently over their attempt to bully the rest of the world into giving them mastery of the term "space marines." In this instance, I am promoting a product produced by my friends and colleagues at FFG, who already paid for the 40K license some time ago. I have no desire to see them cheated out of a chance to make money for their excellent efforts. It's as simple as that.

Texter

This short thriller is told entirely in phone texts.

A group of friends are hiking Mt. Rainier when something goes horribly wrong. At first it seems some members of the party suffered terrible accidents, but as the police recover their cell phones and begin to piece together their text messages, a very different story emerges.

For Mature Readers, contains some strong language.

Texter was written by Shane Hensley, best known for his gaming work (Deadlands and Savage Worlds among many others.) You can learn more about him at www.peginc.com.

Note: This digital edition includes the ePub and Mobi (Kindle) versions of the book.

And there's the Roundup for this week. A little something for everyone, I should think.

Keep those dice rolling!

~SPF

The Friday Roundup (020113)

Well, I've not done a lot of other blogging (unless you count the frequent posts and teasers here and here), but at least I am keeping this up...

ACKS Player's Companion

The Player’s Companion is the first expansion for the Adventurer Conqueror King System™ (ACKS) and an invaluable resource for players and Judges of the original fantasy role-playing game and its retro-clones. With this book you can do the following:

Expand your campaigns with 19 new character classes, including the anti-paladin, barbarian, dwarven delver, dwarven fury, dwarven machinist, elven courtier, elven enchanter, elven ranger, gnomish trickster, mystic, Nobiran wonderworker, paladin, priestess, shaman, Thrassian gladiator, venturer, warlock, witch, and Zaharan ruinguard.

Quickly create vivid characters using 248 templates featuring pre-selected prociencies, spells, and equipment options. Eight archetypes are presented for every class in the ACKS core rules and the Player’s Companion; customize your barbarian to be a Berserker or a Sea Rover, or let the dice choose!

Make your own character classes using a balanced point-based system 100% compatible with every class in the ACKS core rules and the Player’s Companion. Achieve your own perfect blend of fighting, thievery, divine grace, and magical power!

Bring wonder to your game world with a dynamic spell system. Invent your own new spells during play with advanced magic research rules that allow your characters to experiment, make breakthroughs, and suffer side effects. Comprehensive guidelines let Judges determine what level a proposed spell will be and gauge its balance with all existing spells.

Expand the options available to new characters as well as old with new equipment and proficiencies.

The Player’s Companion allows you to customize your fantasy game to an unparalleled degree. Open up the hood of the Adventurer Conqueror King System™ and gain new insights into the foundations of the fantasy RPG!

Call to Arms: Crusader

The Crusader is an anointed warrior who’s taken up a sacred quest in service to his beliefs. Like a Priest the Crusader is empowered by the divine, but where the Priest works miracles by channeling divine power the Crusader enacts the will of the gods through force and conquest. Whether a shining knight battling for all that is good and just, a killer in service of malevolent forces, or something in-between, the Crusader is always a force to be reckoned with — and woe be to those who stand in his way.

Depending on the campaign, a Crusader could be...

• A holy knight, dispatched to conquer far off lands
• An idealistic warrior fulfilling a vision-quest to prove his worth
• A vigilant witch-hunter tracking down horrors from beyond our world
• A true believer whose unwavering faith grants extraordinary abilities
• A sanctified harrier hunting down apostates in the name of the Church
• A vicious zealot committed to spreading his beliefs by fire and sword

This base class expansion also includes 2 new Basic Combat feat chains for locking foes in one-on-one standoffs and making the most of your ritual weapon, as well as a new Spellcasting feat letting you walk Paths outside your Alignment and a Style feat granting you an extra Edge against opponents with opposing Alignments.

Blue Planet Game Master's Guide (Revised Edition)

Welcome to Poseidon, 2199 AD

Prepare for a compelling journey into humanity’s future on a distant planet, where life is hard and dying is easy. A world where GEO Marshals enforce the peace and wired mercs patrol deep waters in deadly fighter subs. A place where corporate greed and human desperation ravage an alien ecology, threatening to plunge humanity into a war of survival with an ancient legacy.

Welcome to the world of Blue Planet.

Whether you are new to the Blue Planet universe or a veteran Game Master, this book contains information vital to running exciting and effective adventures on the new frontier.

• Regional maps and descriptions detailing the topography and history of the most heavily-colonized region on Poseidon—the Pacifica Archipelago

• Key maps and detailed descriptions of more than twenty Colonial, Incorporate, and Native settlements

• Information on how to quickly create GM Characters to challenge players

• Dossiers on more than a dozen of the planet’s most famous and infamous personalities

• Biological survey data on the planet’s wondrous, but often-deadly, indigenous lifeforms

• Revealing biological and cultural information on Poseidon’s aborigines

The Revised Edition of Blue Planet™ supersedes the BPv2 (second) edition, previously published by Biohazard Games and Fantasy Flight Games. The Blue Planet Game Master's Guide™ combines and updates the content previously published in the BPv2 Moderator's Guide rulebook and Natural Selection sourcebook.

This core rulebook is for Game Masters. For a complete Poseidon game experience, the GM will require a copy of the Blue Planet Player's Guide.

Deities & Demigods (1e)

Deities & Demigods (1980) was the fourth hardcover release for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the final book that Gary Gygax conceived of when he originally laid out the plans for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line in The Dragon #14 (May 1978).

The AD&D Line. Deities & Demigods followed the Monster Manual (1977), the Player's Handbook (1978), and the Dungeon Master's Guide (1979). Whereas Gygax called the previous three books "the main parts," he acknowledged that Deities was a "supplement." It was released around August 15, 1980, which means that many gamers would have seen it for the first time at GenCon XIII (August 21-24, 1980).

Despite being "just" a supplement, Gygax saw Deities & Demigods as integral to the AD&D line. This was because he thought that GMs were alternately either neglecting deities (by never mentioning them) or abusing them (by bringing them constantly on stage). He wanted to offer a middle-ground where deities could take their proper spot in D&D campaigns as the patrons of clerics and as the exemplars of alignment.

Sadly, despite Gygax's original intent, Deities & Demigods was very much a list of deities that could be killed - especially after the release a few months later of Q1: "Queen of the Demonweb Pit" (1980), in which the players (probably) killed the goddess Lolth. It wasn't until the second edition of AD&D that the focus on deities turned toward their religions rather than their stats.

A Second-Generation Book. Of all the AD&D hardcovers, Deities & Demigods was the only one that purposefully and directly revamped material from the Original Dungeons & Dragons (OD&D) game - more specifically from Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976).

About the Creators. Deities & Demigods was officially written "by James M. Ward with Robert J. Kuntz." This reflects the credits for Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes, which was bylined "Kuntz & Ward." Kuntz had actually left TSR some years previous, in early 1977, because he wasn't getting to do sufficient creative work, so Ward did all of the writing for the new edition - as is reflected in the ranked credits. James Ward, meanwhile, started work in the Sales Department of TSR shortly after submitting Deities & Demigods to them. Though he wouldn't be writing D&D books in his day job, Gygax noted, "there are evenings and weekends to write new material and design modules." As it happens, Ward's RPG writing went largely on hiatus after he joined TSR, until various gamebooks got him back into writing around 1983.

Matt Forbeck's Brave New World: Revolution

Ask Not What Your Country Could Do For you. Ask What It Could Do To You.

John Cruise — better known as the superpowered delta Patriot — only wanted to serve his country, which has suffered under martial law since the assassination of the First Lady back in 1963. For years, he did so as a member of Delta Prime, the federal paramilitary organization dedicated to keeping deltas and the rest of the population in line. Then, during the Bicentennial Battle, Chicago disappeared in a blinding flash of light, taking the world’s most powerful deltas with it, along with Patriot’s wife.

Today, in 1999, Patriot leads a group of rebel deltas known as the Defiance, all of whom are on the run from Delta Prime. He hopes to find a way to break scores of their imprisoned friends out of New Alcatraz, the only place on the planet strong enough to hold them all. But then, while rescuing college student Lisa Stanski from a pack of Primers, the unthinkable happens.

Patriot gets caught.

Now it’s up to the rest of the Defiance, including Lisa, to figure out how to break Patriot out of New Alcatraz before his old pal Ragnarok, now the leader of Delta Prime, has him executed without trial, under the direct orders of President John F. Kennedy himself.

This is Book One in the Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World Trilogy.

(Note that this is specifically mentioned due to the sale on the Trilogy's hardcover options.)

And that's it for this week, friends! I'm running two Shaintar games this weekend, and getting to play in a third. Lee and I will probably also be talking quite a bit about this Shaintar deck-builder game we're developing; more on that later.

I hope you all get to roll dice this weekend. Have fun!

~SPF

The Friday Roundup (012513)

Once again, it's time to give y'all a recap of all the Picks of the Day from this week. Not surprisingly, there's a couple of D&D Picks; the return of WotC to DriveThruRPG has had a tremendous impact on the entire hobby.

Quantum Sliders: Krishna's Riddle

The great god Krishna is at it again! He once set a riddle to a mortal, and now has to go back and see if her descendant has the answer. If so, he will grant her wonders beyond earthly power. Unfortunately, he’s forgotten the riddle.

IT’S A RIDDLE, WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY, INSIDE AN ADVENTURE!

Krishna’s riddle is a scenario for Heroic rank Savage Worlds* characters, part of our Quantum sliders range of adventures that’ll take your gaming group to new and exciting points in time and space, or to versions of reality that exist just over the horizon (or beyond).

Product contains: A 19-page high resolution PDF with layers so you can switch between full-art and print-friendly views. A copy of Savage Suzerain is also recommended to get the best out of this book.

B2 The Keep on the Borderlands (Basic)

This module includes a cover folder with maps and a complete description booklet to form a ready-made scenario for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Basic Set. It has been specially designed for use by beginning Dungeon Masters so that they may begin play with a minimum of preparations.

Within are many features to aid novice players and Dungeon Masters: legends, history and background information, a list of adventuring characters, tips on how to be an effective Dungeon Master, plus an interesting area for characters to basethemselves in (the Keep) before setting out to explore the Caves of Chaos!

"Keep on the Borderlands" was positioned as an "introductory" module; it provided instructions not just on how to run the campaign contained within, but also on how to run combats and to be an effective GM. However, it varied notably from its predecessor B1 in one area: Where the previous adventure had been a bit of a toolkit - with GMs learning to create dungeons by actually filling in the monsters and treasures - this one was a complete, ready-to-run adventure.

The Caves of Chaos themselves showed off the introductory nature of B2 in another way: They're pretty much a who's who of the humanoids you could meet in Basic D&D, with separate caverns inhabited by kobolds, orcs, goblins, ogres, hobgoblins, bugbears, gnolls, and even a minotaur. Gygax later admitted that the result wasn't "ecologically correct," but that wasn't really the point.

WINTERHAWK: Church

WINTERHAWK CHURCH is the latest addition to our growing 'Fold Flat' terrain system. Designed to come apart and have the majority of parts fold flat for easy storage and transport, the Winterhawk Church features user selectable graphic options that allow you to customize your model before printing.

This set includes:

• 28mm scale church model
• User selectable graphic options
• Ground tiles
• Full color instructions and Beginner's Guide to Card Modeling

D&D Basic Set Rulebook (Basic)

This is the 1981 edition of the D&D Basic Rulebook, which was sold as part of the boxed D&D Basic Set and also on its own. It was the first true standalone edition of what became "Basic D&D" as previous editions had instead been based on OD&D play.

The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules (1981), by Tom Moldvay, was the second edition of Basic D&D, with the previous edition created by J. Eric Holmes (1977). It was released in January 1981, leading off the year.

Holmes D&D. When Eric Holmes put together the original Basic D&D, his purpose was simply to clean up and organize the original Dungeons & Dragons (1974) along with some content from Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975).

He wanted to create a game that was easier to learn (as the original D&D was considered notoriously bad in that regard) and that could be better understand by the high school and junior high demographics, toward which the game was then trending. However, the expectation was that players would go on to the original D&D games from there. Basic D&D was never expected to be its own game system - at first.

Holmes' Basic Set was widely successful - sufficiently so that TSR was wary of sending its players on to the more challenging original D&D game or the more complex AD&D game (1977-1979) game. Thus, as early as fall 1979, work began on an Expert Set which would allow the hundreds of thousands of players who had learned the game from Basic D&D to continue on, past the three levels available in that game.

A new version of the Basic Set was required for release with the Expert Set.

Monte Cook, "Working in the Game Industry" [Recorded Seminar]

Veteran roleplaying game designer Monte Cook discusses his background in gaming as well as offering observations and experiences after decades working in the game industry.

This product is a recording of a live online seminar held using Adobe Connect software. You will be provided with a link to the recording upon your receipt of this product.

There you go, and have a great weekend of gaming!

~SPF

The (Inevitable) Return of the King

This pretty much speaks for itself -

Some pre-answered questions: 

1. Yes, this is all DriveThruRPG/RPGNow with a different skin. Your account with those sites works for this one.
2. Yes, if you bought D&D PDFs from DriveThruRPG or RPGNow before, those are back in your libraries and can be downloaded; you don't have to re-purchase them.
3. All extant editions of D&D are supported and present (or will be).
4. No, I don't believe "D&D Next" will be on there, at least not for a while after it launches.

All for now.

~SPF

The Friday Roundup (011813)

It's the first Friday Roundup of the new year; yeah, I've been slack with this. However, if you've read some of my previous posts, you know how busy I am with other stuff going on. 

Without further delay...

Deadlands Reloaded: Trail Guides, Volume 1

Take a tour of the less-traveled Weird West with your Epitaph correspondent Phineas P. Gage for the first three Deadlands Trail Guides, now compiled into one volume for ease of reference.

In Trail Guide: South o’ the Border, visit beautiful Mexico. Bask in the sun as centuries-old hatred festers in the midst of a three-sided civil war.

In Trail Guide: Great Northwest, you’ll see the snow has its own beauty. But in this land gripped by Famine, you might give your left arm for some jerky, and that might be what it’s used for! When a war between the unnatural beasts in the woods threatens to wipe humanity from the region, will your posse be up to the challenge?

Finally, the Trail Guide: Weird White North takes you to the tundra of Alaska and British Columbia, a land locked in ice north of the amazing Winterline, a fence made by Hellstromme Industries to hold back the cold itself! But something more sinister, more malevolent than mere winter is being held in check…for now!

EachTrail Guide offers you a closer look at the people, places, and—perhaps most important—things you’ll see in each region. And don’t forget the mini-Plot Point Campaigns and Savage Tales in each, as well. You’re bound to have fun or die tryin’!

Deadlands Trail Guides, Volume 1 is not a complete game. It’s a supplement for the Deadlands Reloaded setting for the Savage Worlds game system.

This is an  Explorer’s Edition sized PDF (6.5″ x 9″). Full-color. 320 pages.

Please note that this gathers three previously released Trail Guides--South o' the Border, the Great Northwest, and the Weird White North.

150+ Male Norse Names and Their Meaning

This PDF gives you over 150 different authentic Male Norse Names for your games and their meaning.

(OK, so not much for wordy descriptions, but really, what else do you need to know? Check out the rest of their offerings while you're at it.)

Deadlands Noir: The Old Absinthe House Blues

The new favorite songbird goes missing from the stage of the Old Absinthe House, and the owner turns to you for help. Can you find the missing dame with the velvet voice, or will the mystery remain as murky as the bayous and darkness that shroud the Big Easy? And if the goin’ gets tough, is the promise of a big bar tab enough to keep you goin’?

The Old Absinthe House Blues is the first adventure for Deadlands Noir.

Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits

Hobbit drinking songs for fans The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

There you are at the Sign of the Prancing Pony in Bree, when you hear the sounds of rollicking song inside.  You push open the heavy oak door to see small hobbits dancing on the bar, spilling beer and singing at the top of their lungs.

Little did you know that there are scores of great hobbit drinking songs.  Marc Gunn, The Celtfather, met up with Daisy Brambleburr of Bindbale Wood (aka Rie Sheridan Rose) in Hobbiton to discuss and share the drinking songs of the hobbits.  He came back with a plethora of great hobbit songs and tunes to share in his newest album, Don’t Go Drinking With Hobbits.

About the Album

Three years ago, the Brobdingnagian Bards were invited to perform at the first A Long Expected Party where they celebrated a reenactment of Bilbo Baggins’ birthday party. It was an amazing event, a weekend of high adventure, stories, songs, legends, languages, art, and more.

Now, the same folks who brought us that bring us There & Back Again for another weekend of Tolkien bliss. Once again, Marc Gunn will be there to perform.

It was the first party that inspired the idea this album of hobbit drinking songs. Gunn loves Lord of the Rings. It is one of the reasons the Brobdingnagian Bards recorded Memories of Middle Earth. While Memories of Middle Earth featured music inspired by Lord of the Rings, this album also shares Marc Gunn’s love of drinking songs and fun songs with which you can sing-along.

With this album, Gunn asked the question, what kind of songs might the hobbits sing in a pub in The Shire?

Together with many lyrics by Rie Sheridan Rose, Gunn composed music from the hobbit’s perspective. Most of the songs you might hear in a pub. It’s music for people… with character, heart, and passion. It’s music for the olde times and new. It’s music for me and you. It’s music for hobbits and those who love them.

There's only four this week, since the Monday item was a sale that's no longer in play. Enjoy, and keep those dice rolling!

~SPF

Gonna Be a Good Year

If anyone had told my 1970's self that I would, in a few decades, ever type to a friend via a chat window on a computer the following phrase -

"Time to blog; been too long since my last one."

- I would have looked at them oddly, shrugged, and said "pass the controller, it's my turn to see if Indy can get through that damn tunnel."

My life is online now, there's no denying it. All I do, and all I aim to accomplish, is directly tied to this thing that was originally developed to ensure our military and government could stay connected in the event of Communist H-Bombs (a rather ridiculous proposition when you consider how vulnerable the network actually is to EMP, but I imagine there's a hard-shielded part of it they can rely on). My future success with Evil Beagle and Shaintar relies almost entirely upon my developed capacity to navigate and manipulate the tools at my disposal to reach all of you.

Thank you, Cheryl Curry, for teaching me so much and getting me started with your home PC. Thank you, America Online, for being my first major lesson in social media.

So 2013 is already looking up as a watershed year for me and all who are working with me via Evil Beagle Games. Here's what I can say so far -

- My partnership with my old friends at Savage Mojo is firmly in place. They are currently working on the full version of Shaintar: Legends Arise and will be working with me on future Shaintar products.

- As soon as DriveThruCards finally launches, Evil Beagle will be one of the premiere publishers with Lee Ballew's Colossal Clash deck-building game.

- I have a final draft of OmniCosm: Alpha in hand. As soon as I've had a chance to do a final read-through on the draft, it will go to Scott Corum for layout and preparation for release.

- My planning document for the impending Shaintar: Legends Unleashed Kickstarter is done and is currently being studied by my "brain trust." Once again I will be partnering with Savage Mojo to make this sing, and I think you will all be very excited to see what we've got planned there.

- The aforementioned Lee Ballew and I are working on a new deck-building game concept that will tie directly into the Shaintar property. More on that down the road.

- I've recently completed a new project with Fantasy Flight Games for their Star Wars line, and I am excited about seeing that come out in the near future.

- I'm going to be handling the Hero-to-Savage translations for the Blackwyrm KS Project, Imaginary Friends.

- I've recently signed on with a very dear friend to work on a really amazing new product idea. I can't say anymore than that, but I am telling you, this is massively exciting stuff and I am proud to be a part of it.

- The gang at FASA Games is up to some exciting stuff as well, and you will want to keep an eye on their site and their forums.

That's all for now (and more than enough, as you might imagine). I hope to be able to get back into my Modern Gods development, among other things, but priorities are what they are, so that's on the back burner for a bit.

Thanks again for all your support. Like I said, this is going to be a great year!

~SPF

It's My Birthday! Buy Stuff!

I am going to be celebrating my birthday with my beautiful Gamer Girl of My Dreams, Carinn, today, and with gaming all weekend.

Meanwhile, if you click on the banner, you can get some incredible deals at DriveThruRPG - and if you use this particular one, and you buy anything, you're giving me a birthday present! My Affiliate ID means I get a % of every sale.

So you get me a present while getting yourself one! Win-Win!

[EDIT - The sale doesn't start until Monday, 1/7 - so do it then!]

~SPF

Achievement Unlocked

It. Is. Done!

So, knowing I wouldn't have money to get my friends and family gifts the way I wanted to, I decided to set up and run games featuring all of their favorite characters - in some cases, Legendary characters they've not had a chance to play in many months.

I also wanted to run a Big Epic Game for my daughter, who turned 13 on New Year's Eve, and I wanted to give all of our friends who could make it multiple chances to enjoy Shaintar after so long. Some had storylines they really wanted to get back to; some had major personal goals they wanted to achieve; most just wanted to revisit old friends and discover new adventures.

And a few wanted to go out in the kind of Epic Adventure Finale that apparently is a specialty of mine.

As I sat down to work out the schedule - taking into account travel schedules, works schedules (especially the unfortunate holiday schedule of my dear Betty Law Morgan), and other factors, it became clear that the only way I could do all I wanted to for everyone was to schedule 7 sessions in 5 days.

Seven game sessions. Not re-run adventures, but unique, campaign-driven events featuring personal stories as well as epic events.

Five days. Saturday and Sunday, the first two days, had a morning and an afternoon session. Monday - Wednesday, one session each.

In all my years as a GM (starting back in 1977, and including decades of multi-session convention gaming), I have never done anything quite like this.

Tonight was the last game - "The Battle of Blue Vine River." Last night was "Interdiction of the Inquisition." As with all of the others, the players left with smiles and great satisfaction, fully invested in Shaintar and their characters once more, greatly looking forward to future sessions.

That I have any grey matter left to even write these words is a minor miracle, but I wanted to commemorate this while it is still fresh in my mind. I am, I will readily admit, a tad bit pleased with myself.

With that said, I am done, and I am now going to complete relax for a time. Tomorrow and Friday (my birthday) will be spent primarily just enjoying myself, playing some board games, maybe watching some TV or movies. This weekend, Carinn Seabolt runs her SW-driven modern fantasy/horror campaign, "The Crew," and I get to actually be a player!

I'd say I'll never do this again, but we all know better, right?

Truth is, I'll end up trying to find a way to top it.

But not tomorrow...

~SPF

Beagle On Vacation

I never got around to actually saying so, but with New Year's, my birthday, and the Shaintar Marathon still ongoing, I am taking this week "off."

More Picks, blogging, and other business next week.