Last week I received Issue #1 of a new Zine called The Stronghold. Now I'm not a huge fanboy of Zines in general, but I've been wanting to make a Zine of my own for some time and so I've been wanting to take a look at what is already out there.

My first, quick glance through The Stronghold had me noticing a lot of little quirks and flaws with this Zine. I noticed the paper wasn't cut quite straight, which prompted me to break out a ruler to see it's been trimmed down, presumably to even-up the edges [...]

Joe Prince of Prince of Darkness games is known to Geek Native readers as an RPG designer. He wrote Is the Era of the GM over? for the blog; a subject that remains a hot topic today.

Prince’s latest project is a card game called Pro-Wrasslin’ Battle Royale. The Kickstarter is asking for just 1,000 to get going. You can read more on the campaign page.

[Back this Kickstarter]

The most cost effective way to get a copy of the game is a 3 pledge that unlocks a “print and play” PDF version of the game. If you want the deck [...]

Revisiting the way gaming modules should be, with high art, streamlined adventures, and crunchy nostalgia for all level of gamers. I backed The Folio #1 when it was released and its okay and for $5 I can afford to back this one.

“Can Acquisitions Inc. Unearth the Deception?” It looks like we might be getting our first look at the new Elemental Evil adventure! Date: Sunday, March 8th, 2015 Time: 1:30 PM (Eastern) Con Location: Main Theater Online Viewing:Streaming right here on this page! Our heroes arrive in Baldur's Gate only to find that something foul is...

“Can Acquisitions Inc. Unearth the Deception?” It looks like we might be getting our first look at the new Elemental Evil adventure! Date: Sunday, March 8th, 2015 Time: 1:30 PM (Eastern) Con Location: Main Theater Online Viewing:Streaming right here on this page! Our heroes arrive in Baldur's Gate only to find that something foul is...

We have another guest post by Robert Evans. I have a confession to make. I LOVE tables. As a GM that’s frequently too lazy to fully prep for what my players might do I learned pretty pretty early how to use tables to save my own hide. In fact it’s now gotten to the point...

We have another guest post by Robert Evans. I have a confession to make. I LOVE tables. As a GM that’s frequently too lazy to fully prep for what my players might do I learned pretty pretty early how to use tables to save my own hide. In fact it’s now gotten to the point...

Literally. Scientists recently discovered that baleen whales hear through the long bones of their skull. Apparently is always been a mystery how whales hear. We know they emit various sounds and react negatively to all kinds of human made ruckus (thank the powers that be that phones don't work under water), but we haven't really understand their mechanism for hearing

Turns out, its in the bones. Literally. Bone Conduction. The sound waves pass through the water, through the soft tissue and down their skulls. They skulls are long and possess design that conducts the sound wave through its length.

Back in the 70s, when I began my own journey into the hobby field, Davis, my brother, collected several magazines (collected is really the wrong word, because we didn't collect in those days, we bought and devoured). There was The Savage Sword of Conan in black and white. Marvel's Epic Magazine in full color.  Dragon Magazine in full color. And Heavy Metal in full color.

Heavy Metal was my favorite of all those. I read it from cover to cover. The stories were wildly different. They were eclectic, ranging from dystopian futures, to alien cultures, to the bizarre histories. [...]

There is a wonderful series of free D100 encounter tables that is perfect to bedevil your adventurers and I take a look at two of my favorites of these free downloads on the Dark Corner Blog Right overHERE

With this week of all the stupid ice storms, me not being able to get into work, trapped inside my own house, I got to thinking about using minis in the Far Away Land.
I quickly looked at my D&D minis and thought they wouldn't make due, because they were boring and didn't show off the wacky wonders found in FAL.
Then I got to glancing over at my hundreds of Star Wars Lego figs I had, and thought let me look. I wasn't let down at the Lego site, as with these couple of examples of [...]

My post at the House this week got a bit out of hand, trying to cover just a little too much. I did manage an approach to going inside the big kits, a look at character infection as a way to offset combat, and the idea of living delves and spaces.
But I had a lot more, so as a start on it, here are three related tables, for weird infections to replace more ordinary ones, for living landscapes, and for wargaming inside creatures.

Six alternatives to a typical infection (for tactical roleplaying, 1d6)

1. basilisk stones - swelling as [...]

 Iguazzu

Every time I watch a movie where something is coming out of the water, it always does so slowly. Sliding or crawling up and out of the water, onto the lake or river bank, slowly moving toward the intended victim.
As demonstrated by a baby Cthulhu I'm not sure that's how that would actually happen.

There was a shark movie that  had the s hark leap out and eat Samual Jackson's character that quick. Can't remember it off hand.

They have picked up the feud from Happy Gilmore. Worth the watch.

Shuffling from the same deck as thematic supervillain groups like DC Comics' Royal Flush Gang, The Tarot Gang is a team created by Ross Payton (author of Base Raiders) and converted to the ICONS RPG system by Walt Robillard.Published as a $2.99, 15-page PDF by Fainting Goat Games, The Tarot Gang consists of: The Fool - Master of Coincidences The High Priestess - Divinely Inspired Criminal The

March 4th was GMs day, so don’t forget to buy something nice for the GM in your life at the Drive Thru RPG GMs Day Sale. This post is dedicated to GMs everywhere, you lords and ladies rock! Secretly all of our posts are aimed at GMs, but nobody knows that, shhh. This week is […]

This week we saw a new survey from WotC on 5E. Also listed there is some feedback from the first survey, mostly Ranger and other issues. I find it interesting that they responded fairly fast and did not really hedge on their response. They readily acknowledged that a good percentage of people are unhappy with certain aspects of the Ranger class. They haven't revealed how they plan to "fix" it but

From nearly the first night of play, the GM has introduced an artifact into my character's possession that changes her personality. I find that I'm having a hard time roleplaying it.

This is a new character to me, one I don't know very well. I am the type of player who learns about my character through play instead of having my entire personality set from the get-go. In this situation, before I can learn about her personality, it changed.

The artifact has my elf acting more superior than I would have otherwise played. It has me looking down [...]

Go to Part 1

VESTIGIAL COLOUR

"From that stricken, far-away spot he had seen something feebly rise, only to sink down again upon the place from which the great shapeless horror had shot into the sky. It was just a colour -- but not any colour of our earth or heavens. And because Ammi recognized that colour, and knew that this last faint remnant must still lurk down there in the well, he has never been quite right since." – The Colour Out of Space, H.P. Lovecraft

Sometimes also referred to as a stunted colour, the vestigial colour is that remnant left [...]

In my first article for the Mad Adventurers Society three weeks ago, I wrote about using Rory’s Story Cubes to play a kind of free-flowing story game. It’s very light on rules, very strong on narrative and improvisation. In week two, I wrote about HeroQuest and other dungeon crawling board games. These are a goodfor introducingkids to more traditional roleplaying techniquessuch asexploration, combat,staying incharacter androlling dice to see if you succeed. They are also an excellent way to get kids and adults gaming together on a relatively even playing field.

Now I’m going to veer back towards the indie- story game [...]

This week's map was inspired by Genius Loci Games' Kickstarter,http://kck.st/1AqPzqF 

Is the Pharaoh's Tomb in the Pyramid of the Lost King or is it somewhere hidden in the Saragubi Desert, a wild and unexplored place that offers adventurers a chance at fortune, fame, and of course certain death? Made with one of this month's Patreon creations and SketchUp "The Pharaoh's Tomb" is presented in both isometric and plan view.

Get it here!

Toward the end of last year on entrepreneur.com, they shared "The 10 Biggest Social Media Myths for Small Businesses" here.


Also, on blogs.microsoft.com, they tipped us off to "10 tips to perfect presentation" here.


Finally, on selfpublishingadvice.org, they've compiled a list of "50 Book Awards Open to Self-publishers" here.


The Friday Grab Bag on CreativeMountainGames.com Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics not covered
elsewhere or needing a particular focus.Please Like, Share, Plus, Tweet, Follow, and Comment!

I am really trying to cut back on my Kickstarters. But this one looks seriously cool. WITCH - a dark, modern fantasy role play game https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1568822309/witch-a-dark-modern-fantasy-role-play-game The designer is Elizabeth Chaipraditkul,+Liz C.. She is new but she has a lot of neat ideas. You can find her at Angry Hamster Publishing. http://

I haven't taken a look at any Interface Zero stuff in a while...so today, we're going to Japan in the Interface Zero 2.0 sourcebook for Japan: Empire of the Setting Sun.
ETHICS IN GAME JOURNALISM DISCLAIMER: I was provided a comp copy by Gun Metal Games to review. I have previously freelanced for Gun Metal Games on Interface Zero, but I had no involvement in this book. This review does contain affiliate links to RPGNow, and purchasing this book via those links may provide me with store credit at RPGNow, which I typically use to buy more books to review. [...]

From Asgard to Zothique, there are many, many richly imagined worlds that have been created for books, games, movies, television and even just for fun. My favorite fantasy worlds feel like a real working place with their own currency, food, technology and magic. Last year, I decided it was finally time to tackle building my...

From Asgard to Zothique, there are many, many richly imagined worlds that have been created for books, games, movies, television and even just for fun. My favorite fantasy worlds feel like a real working place with their own currency, food, technology and magic. Last year, I decided it was finally time to tackle building my...

As befits a proper megadungeon, Gloamhold is huge. It has many different levels and sub levels for brave adventurers to explore.

 

A few weeks ago, I was asked to post a basic map showing how Gloamhold’svarious levels connect together. Here is the result:

Remember, when looking at this map that:

• It’s not to scale.
• I’ve only depicted the main levels, sub-levels and connections.
• I’m terrible at mapping.

I found drawing this map tremendously useful. It really helped me visualise the possible flow of any exploration. It shows three main ways into Gloamhold: either through Rivengate, via the Shard and its cellars or through the holes in [...]

So one of our articles were picked up by Tribality.com. For anyone coming from there to this little site I would like to thank you for checking me out and I hope you like what you find. Here's their post:Idea Flush. For anyone that reads this blog and hasn't checked them out I strongly suggest it. They are one of my daily "go to" sites.

I haven't taken a look at any Interface Zero stuff in a while...so today, we're going to Japan in the Interface Zero 2.0 sourcebook for Japan: Empire of the Setting Sun.ETHICS IN GAME JOURNALISM DISCLAIMER: I was provided a comp copy by Gun Metal Games to review. I have previously freelanced for Gun Metal Games on Interface Zero, but I had no involvement in this book. This review does contain affiliate links to RPGNow, and purchasing this book via those links may provide me with store credit at RPGNow, which I typically use to buy more books to review. Also, [...]

This book - 75 Years of Marvel - was my main Christmas present from Rachel last year and it is a monster! The enormous tome needs its own lectern to read safely, being both bigger - and heavier - than puppy Alice (check out the picture of her at Christmas, posing next to the book, in its dedicated carrying case), but it is a 'must have' for the dedicated Marvel Comics fan. You can read a

A little over a week ago I received The Stronghold, a new zine on the gaming scene created by none other than +Boric Glanduum of The Dwarven Stronghold.  Boric and I have been going back and forth about him putting out a zine.  And I've been nudging him in that direction as much as I could.  I was so glad when he told me he was going to go ahead with it.

Then Boric goes out and gets +Jay Penn to do the cover.  And +Jim Magnusson to do the interior art.  Boric went all out for [...]

While there will always be wizards who are popular due to their fireworks and other magical manifestations, there are others who find no solace in civilized society. Necromancers, demonologists, witches and practitioners of foul arts.

The Summoner’s Lair (with grid)

This small hillside excavation is the lair of such a wizard, witch or warlock. One who keeps generally to themselves, along with perhaps an apprentice or a skilled swordsman along with a few additional toughs who can handle most problems should they arise.

The Summoner’s Lair (no grid)

This map was drawn using Sakura Micron pens (a 03 for the walls, a 01 for doors and crosshatching and such, and a 005 for fine detail work) in anA6 wiro-bound gamer’s notebook from Squarehex (a really lovely and tough notebook perfect for carrying around and drawing in while at meetings, in waiting rooms and so on).

This map is made available for your free use thanks to the patrons of the Dodecahedron Patreon Campaign that keeps me fed and sheltered while I draw these fancy doodads for your enjoyment.

One step further – because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make this map free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is [...]

The fourth part of the dungeon font series (and the third expansion to the core set), has just been uploaded onto RPGNow/DrivethruRPG.

These have seen a steady stream of sales, and hopefully this new addition to the series will see a few more people interested in what the series has to offer. This time I've focused on furnishings and doors, which will make a wider range of underground environments possible.

Current rough planning :

• The search engine still has one bug (display issue when there are too many categories to list), work’s under way
• The database will have been fully recreated on the new server on the 16th of March
• The 5-day UX/UI engagement will be signed this week-end and will extend from about the 20th of March to about the 31st (which, again, means that people on the Yahoo! group who want to give their input will have to react quickly)
• I’ll start writing the redirects on the 17th of March and will likely go on until mid-April, hard [...]

Previously...
Back at the Keep negotiations between Idvard and the weird little Unchild representing the Grunters proceeds apace while Bujilli and Leeja attend to some other matters...
Hedrard's amulet pulsed three times.

"So; should we stay or should we go?" Leeja closed the door behind them. The negotiations would go along just fine without them for now. They'd check back later.

"Go to the mirror, boy."

Bujilli paused in mid-stride. He could feel the warmth of the amulet on his chest. Hedrard's amulet. She was trying to reach him. It was time to go see her. Almost.

The fifth of Steve Kenson's fortnightly ICONS' supplements has been published this week: E Is For Environments. The $1.50, six-page PDF - available from DriveThruRPG and RPGNow - looks at looks at different environments for superhero adventure, including aquatic environments; extreme heat and cold; underground environments; and environmental qualities. It also has some Assembled Edition

Need a female Armenian name? Roll a d20 and check below to see what you get!

D20 Female Armenian Name 1 Alidz Mesropian 2 Annman Markarian 3 Arousyag Kasbarian 4 Arshalous Gamburyan 5 Erato Taslakian 6 Isabel Garcha 7 Khosrovidookht Paboojian 8 Nunuphar Assarian 9 Parantsem Mechigian 10 Parantzem Stepanyan 11 Rehan Zeitunlian 12 Rozin Arslanian 13 Sara Kassarjian 14 Shoushanig Dermovsesian 15 Siranoush Azadian 16 Sylva Zornakyan 17 Tsoler Zakaryan 18 Varvara Khederlarian 19 Zarmouhi Ardashessian 20 Zmroukhd Ovesian

Need more? The get the PDF or check out the generator

Sam, Andy, and Mike get together to talk about their gaming in January and February of 2015.
Support the show, shop below...




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It’s no great secret that creating tutorial videos is always a great motivator to add features that have “been on the back burner” and to fix some workflow issues.

Working on the map editing videos, I’ve finally added the map alignment tools. The image options dialog will also be used for selecting parts of images for miniatures.

A few weeks back, in my itinerant internet wanderings, I came across an interesting video where a steampunk tavern is attacked by some undead cowboys and then saved by a few of the customers and a native american warrior. The violent, cgi driven, epic, and gratuitous music video gave rise to an interesting twist on getting a party together.

Instead of having the group meet in a tavern, or bringing them together in some forced way, why not have them be present at the site of an attack for a location that could become their homebase? If the attack is somehow [...]

Kieran's visit fit well with our inaugural playing of Cthulhu Wars. I first tried out this game back in October 2013 at Essen. There were four of us playing: Kieran as Cthulhu, Kathryn as the Crawling Chaos, Mark as the Black Goat, and me as the Yellows Sign.

The game puts Kieran off by himself in the South Pacific, while Mark, Kathryn, and I were fairly close neighbors. Kieran and Kathryn set about creating gates. I summoned the King in Yellow and tried marching about the map. I went to harass Kathryn, but she scared me away by summoning [...]

There are always contacts, beggars, thieves, snitches, and those willing to turn upon their fellow men. Here is a random encounter table of these wretches and scum within the ruins that dot the wastelands. All is not as it seems with these strangers and fellows, for sometimes they offer far more and less then they seem.Here then is a list of possible nemesis or party allies from among the

(Above is the 13th Age Main Theme. You can listen to it for free on 13th Ages Soundtrack page so I figure it’s ok to have it hear as well. Give it a listen as you read.) Today I picked up the13th Age Soundtrack. I’ve been listening to it while at work and I have...

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The post 13th Age Soundtrack appeared first on Ramblings of Jacob and Delos.

The sageHekabe claims that the ancestors of humans had two heads. It is pleasant to be kissed on the neck, she says, because it mimics the feeling of having a second head.

Imagine your party of adventurers caught up in a blood soaked land of an alternative South East Asia where two armies of incredibly dangerous beings of divine aspect are engaged in an eon old struggle. And your party is caught within the shadow of the forces of these beings.This is a wilderness adventure in a world torn apart by war, strife, incredible devastation and very deadly forces