Bestiary Cover

Christian N. St. Pierre, the artist who did the covers for the Adventures Dark and Deep™ Players Manual and Game Masters Toolkit, has come through again with the third and final cover in the series. I give you the Bestiary:The idea for the series of covers was to show a party of adventurers going through the various phases of dungeon exploration; the Players Manual shows them getting ready to face the unknown, the Game Masters Toolkit shows them...

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Dexcon schedule now up!

The complete schedule of events for this years's Dexcon convention in Morristown, NJ over Independence Day weekend is now up. Lots of really good stuff there, including some old-school stuff (a brief glance showed at least one Expert Rules game on the schedule, and there are doubtless others). I will be running/helping with:Friday 2:00 - 8:00: Q0003: "OGRE Macrotures 2013" by Steve Jackson Games. Steve Jackson himself will be there to oversee the...

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Vin Diesel on D&D and Riddick

From io9:I make these movies […] because somebody's paying attention. That's my motto about Hollywood and films, continuing these franchises. There's two lines of thought in Hollywood, one is the audience doesn't give a fuck — excuse me, it's late, I'm in Riddick mode, you're lucky I'm not killing you guys […] Then there's that world-builder, that D&D player that's really meticulous that believes the audience does care and can draw the similarity...

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Bestiary Art

The prolific group of artists have begun to start sending in the first pieces for the upcoming Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary, and I thought I'd share a few with you all. First up is the giant boring beetle by Chris Letzelter:And I thought I'd also show you one of the new undead dragon types, the tumulus dragon by John Bingham:So far with more than 25 of the new pieces received, we're right where I want to be in terms of scheduling, and...

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Review: Against the Slave Lords

As is well-known by now, Wizards of the Coast has been re-issuing a number of classic books and adventures in suped-up fancy versions, as well as making more and more of its back catalog available in pdf. While this is certainly laudable and speaks to their intention of serving fans of previous versions as well as new versions (doubtless with an eye towards bringing in the former when D&D Next rolls out next year), I've largely skipped the re-issues...

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Top Five Star Trek Episodes

I happen to be one of the lucky folks who can watch MeTV, and they play the original Star Trek series on Saturday nights. They recently restarted the series from the beginning, and I've been happily ensconced in the first season of my favorite television show ever. I thought I would grace you with my own list of top five Trek episodes; ST:TOS only. I might do an all-Trek top ten list at some later date.#5 Where no Man has Gone Before (Season 1, 2nd...

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Monster Books

Since I'm deeply in the final stages of putting together the Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary, I was wondering if there were any OSR-type monster books that I'm missing from my collection.I've got Malevolent and Benign, Teratic Tome, Tome of Horrors Complete, Varlets & Vermin, and Monsters of Myth. I've got the C&C books Monsters and Treasures and Classic Monsters. I don't have Treasures and Monsters of Aihrde or the three M&ToA supplements; can anyone tell me if they're significantly different than the regular Monsters...

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Essential High Fantasy

Over at io9, they have assembled some links to several fantasy authors' lists of essential lists of works of "high fantasy". There's no definitive definition of what, exactly, that is, so there are some odd choices, but it's certainly worth looking at. There are also some more links to additional lists in some of those links.Now, I do have something very specific in mind when it comes to high fantasy, and have a list of my own. I don't claim it to be definitive, essential, or exhaustive, but here 'tis, in no particular order. I don't include what...

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Magic as cargo cult

One of the standard tropes of both swords-and-sorcery literature and Dungeons & Dragons type game settings is the lost ancient civilization which was possessed of high technology, fell through some cataclysm, and is now known only through legends and a few obscure artifacts.In fantasy, we see this in many places. The Dying Earth is an obvious example, the World of Greyhawk has its Mighty Servant of Leuk-O and Machine of Lum the Mad, the Judges...

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My Favorite NPC: Vert

This month's RPG Blog Carnival topic is "Favorite NPCs". I have several that stand out in my mind.There was Beldo, the Rhenee crime boss with the vaguely eastern European accent who complained that the player characters once paid him off with a golden frog statuette ( "I send you for money and you bring me frog? Why don't you go someplace and sell frog, then bring me money. Then everybody happy!").There was also the witch who tormented a different...

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Climate, barbarian migrations, and icebergs full of trolls

One of the most profound developments in European history was the Migration Period, which lasted from roughly 400 to 800 CE and which saw the Germanic tribes come out of southern Scandinavia and Germany and into what is now western Europe (the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia, Hispania, north Africa, and Italy).There were doubtless several factors leading up to these migrations. Climate has been cited as a factor; in the winter of 535-536 written...

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Adventures Dark and Deep Character Sheet Contest!

Well now that the Kickstarter for the third and final core rulebook is in the rear-view mirror (and thanks again to everyone who was a supporter), the time has finally come to see about an official character sheet (or sheets) for the game.Up until now, I've been content to use the old goldenrod AD&D 1st edition character sheets in my own games, suitably scrawled over modified for the new and updated classes, or to just use notebook paper like in the good old days. But I'd like to have an official character sheet for the game, and that's where...

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Kickstarter after-action report

As is my wont, I thought I'd share some of the details of my just-concluded Kickstarter campaign in order to help those who might also be considering jumping into the crowdfunding ring. This pertains to the Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary.First, the basics. Here is the adjusted backers report day-by-day for the duration of the campaign, May 1 through June 1. It is "adjusted" in that I have removed one backer who pledged an unrealistically large...

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On Transhumanism in RPGs

From time to time, various RPGs present themselves that are billed as being transhumanist in nature. As a transhumanist myself for more than a decade, I find myself both disappointed and annoyed by the vast majority of such outings, as they clearly do not understand what transhumanism actually is.My own bona fides; I've been a transhumanist for more than a decade, served on the board of directors of the World Transhumanist Association for two years...

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Wikipedia is the GM's Friend: Hanna-Barbera Adventure Cartoons

For most of the latter half of the twentieth century, animation studio Hanna-Barbera absolutely dominated television animation. They're best remembered for shows like the Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and the Smurfs, but they had a large stable of adventure-type shows that were full of action, had humor without being wacky, and could definitely serve as inspiration for the game master in need of a quick jolt. The full list of H-B cartoon shows is massive....

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Bestiary Kickstarter in the home stretch!

As of right now we're about 60 hours from the end of the Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary Kickstarter (it ends Saturday night). About $9,500 has been pledged, which means more than 1/3 of the 900 monsters in the book will be illustrated.I've got to say, that is an enormous accomplishment and I'd like to thank everyone who has backed the project. Kickstarter being Kickstarter, I'm sure we'll see a bump at the end, and I'd be thrilled if we...

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Gamers helping Oklahoma tornado victims

Here's a great story from io9.com:The Merciful Cousins is an order of cavaliers for the Pathfinder role-playing game that functions as a sort of D&D Red Cross. Now, if you buy the PDF that details how to use them in your D&D campaign, you can help the actual Red Cross bring aid to Oklahoma tornado victims.The Merciful Cousins (aka the Masons of Recovery) were created by Super Genius Games, and the book was written by RPG journeyman and Oklahoma native Owen K.C. Stephens. Artist Wayne Reynolds donated a sketch for the book's cover. The PDF...

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RIP Jack Vance

Legendary fantasy and science fiction author Jack Vance has passed away at the age of 96.Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and role-playing games in general will surely remember him as the inspiration for so-called "Vancian Magic", wherein magic spells, once cast, leave the mind of the caster and must be re-memorized.However, his contribution to both gaming and the world of science fiction and fantasy writing is enormous both in quantity and quality. He is known for the Dying Earth, yes, but there were many, many more. Lyonesse, Space Opera, the Demon...

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What should come next?

If you cast your gaze to the upper-left corner of the blog, you'll see a new poll up there, asking opinions as to what you'd like to see next. With the Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary moving into the art stage, I'll have quite a chunk of writing time freed up. I'd like to get your opinion as to how best to fill it up. Nothing's binding, of course, but I'd like to get a sense from you guys.The first option is something I've talked about before; Adventures Great and Glorious™. It would cover rules for large-scale warfare, large-scale economics,...

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Thoughts occasioned by OOTS #890

If you're a reader of Order of the Stick, you've hopefully read the last couple of strips, including the latest one, #890. If you haven't, go ahead and do so, because this won't make any sense unless you have.All done? Okay.See now, in a real game, this is the point where the players collectively leap across the table and force the DM's dice down his throat through a funnel until his abdomen ruptures from within.Imagine this: After six months of...

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Wizards won't have a booth at GenCon

According to this article over at io9.com, "Wizards will not have a presence on the Gen Con exhibit floor" (the exhibitor's map at the GenCon site confirms this).Wow. Nothing. I realize they're trying to lay low in order to build excitement for D&D Next, you'd think they'd have something there to, I dunno, hump M:tG or something. This is the 20th anniversary of Magic: The Gathering, for crying out loud. You'd think they'd want to make a splash with that other than just tournaments.They will be running events, and are an official sponsor of...

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Remember those who have fallen

Thank y...

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A Setting Book That Would Hit a Few Buttons

So I was driving home today and was struck by an idea for a setting book. It's something that would definitely hit a few buttons, among OSR types in particular.The idea would be a "grand campaign" book, akin to The Great Pendragon Campaign, which would advance the timeline of the setting 25 years or so. So that's one button; I know a lot of folks don't like "advance the setting" things at all, and some do. (Please don't turn the comments into "advancing...

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Thoughts on Dragonspear Castle

So the announcement about the first D&D Next adventure, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, has hit the blogs, and there is a bit of buzz going on around it. They also seem to be cementing their relationship with Forbes, with a spiffy article all about it.Erik Tenkar isn't pleased (to say the least) that it's being offered as a GenCon-only offering. Meaning, you can pre-order the adventure, but there is no shipping option. You must be at GenCon this...

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Wikipedia is the DMs Friend: Medieval Demographics

Most (A)D&D worlds are generally sparse in population, with but a single village in an entire 30-mile hex, if that. Many find that sort of emptiness unsatisfying from an historical perspective, and seek to beef up their worlds' population accordingly.Many are probably already familiar with S. John Ross's excellent Medieval Demographics Made Easy page. In it, he crunches a bunch of numbers and comes up with likely numbers of people, occupations,...

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Original Art Reward Now Available

Thanks to the generosity of one of our artists, there is a new reward level now available for the Adventures Dark and Deep™ Bestiary Kickstarter:ORIGINAL ART SPONSOR: You get your name listed in the Bestiary as the sponsor of a particular monster illustration. In addition, you get a hardcover and pdf copy of the Bestiary, and your name in the back of the book as a supporter. PLUS, you get the original version of your sponsored piece of art!There are only five of these rewards available, and we're asking $145 (you're in essence paying $35 to sponsor...

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Forgive my gloating...

I've been collecting books and other products relating to the World of Greyhawk pretty much since there was such a thing to collect. So as you might imagine, there are very few lacunae in my collection. Today, I filled one of those lacunae with something rare and wondrous. It's a graphic novel called Vecna Hand of the Revenant by Iron Hammer Graphics, and tells the story of Vecna's early days in the ancient past of the Flanaess. It came out...

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On Intelligent Magic Items

Even back in the very earliest days of my RPGing career, it never made all that much sense to me that the only sorts of magic items that could be intelligent were swords. Perhaps the most famous intelligent magic item in fantasy literature, The One Ring, bucked that particular restriction:__________The One RingForged by the Dark Lord Sauron many centuries ago, the One Ring is filled with a portion of his malignant will. It has an INT of 17, an Ego...

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