I have been meaning to do this every year and I forget.  So here I am this year finally remembering!

May 20th is the Birthday of Gardner Fox, the man that created Zatanna.  It is also, according to the 1978 DC Calendar, the birthday of Zatanna herself!





http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/5677896286/zeebirthday
http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/23412636790/520bd

By Mike Kevan
By Becca Rocks

So happy birthday Gardner Fox (and Zatanna)!

DIAMOND LAKE Part Two had the playing characters finding out a little more before sending them straight into the events in the “Whispering Cairn.” The players decided to head into Diamond Lake to have a look around and gather supplies. Rather than buying healing potions, they decided to raid a local temple and steal some […]

The Dungeon Bastard uses a Google+ Hangout to coach Edda the Barbarian in her efforts to properly rage. Enjoy!

Luke announced, due to hitting 300% of his funding goal, that he will be making all the cover gold foil stamped, adding some fancy end papers, and making the overall production values better. So, kudos to everyone who is backing this. If you aren't backing this, you really should. Not only is this is a different kind of game, it's a different kind of Kickstarter. There are no stretch goals, which is usually one of the biggest drivers of support. So when Luke announced the above, it was because he wanted show his support for the massive response this game [...]

Last night I had a couple friends over, they ran 2 characters each, and the understrength party took on the challenges of Devilmount.

After being sealed for 200 years, the doors to Devilmount just… drifted open. The government is worried. They posted soldiers “on maneuvers” to cover the entrance, and scooped up some local riff raff who is expendable to map the thing for them so when they get some real adventurers they can focus their efforts.

The party was a fighter, a martial artist, a gray man, and a wizard. They headed down, cautiously poked around, and mapped quite a bit. [...]

Hell.     Lucifer, the most beautiful angel, the bringer of light. He was an artist, a creator and mighty among the archangels. Though he felt that humans did not deserve the attention of God. Angels should instead take their rightful place besides Him. He tempted them, he wanted them to fail his love and he succeeded but the cost was high. God was angered and his wrath drove Michael, his mighty Archangel charge Lucifer in fury. The light bringer did not wish to battle with his brother but before he even realized he was cast off heaven and into the Abyss, the world of endless silence.       When Lucifer was cast down from Heaven and into the Abyss, his anger slowly grew. He lost all light from his spirit. Lucifer the light bringer, the artist [...]

Last week, we talked about the Overreacher Plot. Today, we're going to talk about the place of morality in the horror genre. It's no surprise that horror has such a connection with morality. Some of the most used horror stories have a connection to the religion, and many of them serve as a new and modern morality story. One of the leading examples for this can be found in Slasher Movies like Halloween.In Halloween for example, our masked killer preys on a very special kind of prey, on the teenagers who aren't modest. He usually catches them while they do [...]

So I'll be breaking out the Light from Below once more, Probably one of the last times before I move these characters to become the iconics for the 1st level adventure. Help shape the town of Clearspring and make an impact of the world....come on down and get your death on....errr...game on. Gam3rCon Gam3Day attheTenth Avenue Theater.

Do you need a bunch of random tables as inspiration for your game? Then you might like Roll XX and Roll XX: Double Damage by Rafael Chandler.

Roll XX is a system-generic book. You can find random tables for fantasy, sci-fi, superheroes and horror. These are not random monsters but adventure hooks, story seeds, NPCs, magic items, spaceships, demons and locations.
These tabels are full of weird humor and I really enjoyed skimming through them.

Roll XX: Double Damage is the second volume and also includes a monster generator.

Both are well worth their price of $3.99 and $1.99 respectively but today you [...]

One of the things I brushed on this week was a person being just that oblivious---and at least some of it possibly being my fault. I’m not sure how much of it is and how much of it isn’t. The phrase “It’s not fun anymore” came up, but wasn’t believed until one of our other group members delivered it.

I don’t think it’s that I didn’t say something. The problem in that game isn’t getting me to say something. On the other hand, the problem in that game sometimes is getting me to stop saying something, since… well, it’s a combat-heavy [...]

Star Trek: Deception is a short Kickstarter-funded eight-minute fan film which follows two Starfleet officers aboard a Danube Class Runabout, transporting a Klingon prisoner to a detention centre. On the way they are ambushed by a Klingon Bird of Prey that has been lying in wait.

Battle For Oz: Pumpkinhead undead rising from the grave (Pirate Press LLC)

Battle for Oz. Pirate Press LLC modernisiert L. Frank Baums World of Oz in Form einer Plot-Point-Kampagne fr das Rollenspiel Savage Worlds.

Das Projekt bentigt bis zum 25. Juni 2013 mindestens 3500 $.

“A plot point campaign and setting for the award winning Savage Worlds RPG based in a modernized version of L. Frank Baum’s Land of Oz.

 

Pirate Press, in conjunction with Pinnacle Entertainment Group and Savage Mojo presents this adventure setting in a re-imagined and modernized version of L. Frank Baum’s classic World of Oz. The events of Baum's original [...]

Mark Rein-Hagen (Ars Magica, Vampire: The Masquerade) talksabout games at TEDxTbilisi.

“Games open your mind.”
- Mark Rein-Hagen

“Game designer Mark Rein-Hagen advocates for the use of games as a valuable educational tool. In addition to designing the world’s first collectible action figure game, he was a writer and co-producer of the American television series Kindred: The Embraced.

 

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These [...]

After playing Dungeon again tonight for the umpteenth time, I finally got around to checking my set (the 1981 revision) versus the inventory list found on Boardgame Geek. As it turns out, I'm missing just a few treasure cards, and no unique ones.

I was also interested in the numbers from a design perspective, since I am toying around with making an alternate board to use with the game for some variety. So using inventory lists I made a summary of the numbers of Monsters, Treasures & Rooms/Chambers in the original (1975) and first revision (1980/1981) [...]

After weeks of bitching and moaning about declining hits on the site I discovered a quick and simple solution to overcoming this problem: I removed the widget that was supposedly counting hits!

I actually did this a couple of weeks ago on a day when I checked my hit count and the widget told me NO ONE had visited HeroPress for three days! It was at that point I realised the counter clearly wasn't working properly (as I'd had comments and I knew from Blogger that people were visiting the site).

So now I've entered a new state of blissful ignorance where I no longer care about hits - which is as it should be - and I'm back to writing - and posting - what I want to read and watch.

And it seems to be working as I'ver managed to attract some new [...]

Thanksgaming is just a few hours away. And I finally finally finished the minis I'm giving away for the raffle.

These models I grouped in three groups. The first group is composed of Pulp/ WWI/ Steampunk miniatures. These are a mix of Cobblestone and Old Glory. The two male models painted up pretty easily. The woman's scarf I initially planned on making a Union Jack on her scarf. But after two tries where it just looked horrible, I gave up and instead went with a cross of St George - the flag of England. I think it works well. [...]

Well, I have had a busy week with having to get all my reports done for my students (I am a teacher in real life), running three games, blogging here, blogging at the Iron Tavern blog and I have now finished the rules for Detritus the RPG that I am writing! I also have formulated the setting in  note form but need to write it all out so the initial draft for consideration of publishing can be made after some serious play testing.

I have a game that came out of the mid-90's called Aria.  It was heralded at [...]

After playing Dungeon again tonight for the umpteenth time, I finally got around to checking my set (the 1981 revision) versus the inventory list found on Boardgame Geek. As it turns out, I'm missing just a few treasure cards, and no unique ones.

I was also interested in the numbers from a design perspective, since I am toying around with making an alternate board to use with the game for some variety. So using inventory lists I made a summary of the numbers of Monsters, Treasures & Rooms/Chambers in the original (1975) and first revision (1980/1981) [...]

StikBash was my first frankengame. At its core, it’s just a mash-up of KootiKooti, 1000 Blank Cards and Z-G.

• The original KootiKooti rules form the basis of StikBash (at the bottom of the page).
• Figures have one of two default moves. If they are not armed with a ranged weapon, they move and attack in the same action. If they have a ranged weapon, they may shoot without moving, or they can move without attacking, but not [...]

+Jerrod Gunning hosted another excellent Google+ Hangout on Air in which I had the opportunity to be a part of a panel that included +Ron Blessing of The Game's the Thing, Smiling Jack's Bar and Grill, and RolePlay DNA, and +Robert Brumbelow. The topic for this chat was bennies in Savage Worlds and the variety of ways we use them in our own games. It was a blast, and I really enjoyed talking Savage Worlds with the group.

There were a quite a few ideas mentioned by all of the participants that inspired me as well, and I think I'll be adopting a few [...]

The Legend of Kyuss “Thousands of years ago, in or about the year -2995 YK, an elven mystic named Kyuss, gifted with an unusually strong Mark of Death, rises to prominence in Aerenal. But, he is exhiled from Aerenal for practicing obscene acts of necromancy and using his puissant dragonmark to pervert the dead in […]

THE RAT HILLS We played through this session on September 12, 2005. Professor Geldem had been doing research on something called “The Apotheosis” for Morgrave Univerity in Sharn, the City of Towers. After several years of research, the professor came to the horrible revelation that Apotheosis connected directly to the fabled Age of Worms. In […]

There are two reasons that can pretty much sum up why I am unsatisfied with hit points in Next: you do not start with enough, and you are largely reliant on magic to get them back.

When I tried running Age of Worms in 3rd Edition several months ago, the characters ended up having to rest every few rooms due to the lack of a cleric. In my Next campaign Hit Dice have made things a bit smoother, but ultimately it depends on how many cure wounds spells the druid and ranger have on tap.

The talk of a variety of [...]

I just thought I’d let you all know, I have put a new poll up on the site, this time concerning the forthcoming release of the Grinning Skull Miniature line by 15mm.co.uk. Since some of you will be getting your hands on some (hopefully!) I want to know what you’d like to see, and just […]

Though during the 1940s the existence of mutants was unknown to the public, a few individuals were aware of the coming of Homo Superior, and that they had the potential to replace baseline humans as the dominant species of Earth. Thus Weapon Plus was created to address the so-called mutant problem. What was ignored by […]

Lavishness is often the way, as exhibited by The Great Gatsby both in film and in Fitzgerald’s words from so long (and not very long, after all) ago.

There is something to be said for sublimity. For letting a thing just be, in its space. There’s a bravery found in its nakedness, for just letting a thing be what it is without any garnish or garishness or distractions. Form following function in the proper order of things.

While this can serve one well in game design, it also follows that extrapolating it outward enables one to create a resonance in scenario design. [...]

I should have known that titling my last few posts with obscure Red Leader quotes would lead to no good... the guy had a shot at taking down the Death Star and missed it. If you want something to go well the first time around, you send in your Jedi-in-training. That's what I get for invoking the lesser-known Star Wars quotes... that will teach me.

I digress.

Several backers reported problems getting the download of the first volume of comics from my direct link to the Google Docs account, so instead of trying to fix all of those, [...]

Meaganbrand's Axe of Giant Slaying 

Meaganbrand's Axe of Giant Slaying is a normal + 1 Battle Axe with the following special ability:

Upon rolling an "8" on the 1d8 for damage upon a successful hit, an additional 1d8 is rolled and added to the first 8 points of damage. This is done until the wielder no longer rolls an 8.
The + 1 magical bonus to damage and any strength bonus if aplicable is added to the title from any dice rolls at the end. (think "exploding dice")

For example: Tenkar hits an Ogre with Meaganbrand's Axe of Giant Slaying. He rolls an 8 on the 1d8 for damage, so he rolls again. He rolls another 8 and rolls again, rolling a 5. His total damage is 8 + [...]

Just a little eye candy to start the episode off right

It’s all come down to this. Oliver’s time on the Island, the List, the Undertaking have all led him here. With Malcolm Merlyn’s threat hanging ever closer there’s only one question remaining – who will save this city? Spoilers after the break.

So. That happened, guys. I’m still trying to mop up the puddle of tears and brains from my floor. There was a lot of hype surrounding this episode and I’m glad that they delivered. That was, hands down, one of the best season one finales I’ve ever seen. It [...]

Bent over the table, Piergeiron watched the battle unfold. A marvel of Gond, the table was a scale model of the city. The streets were slots in which tiny flags, colored to represent friend or foe, moved whirring along. Sparks would occasionally fly, representing magical battles. Turning back to the Paladinson, Lecarre studied the battle unfolding as well.
 "The harbor's clear, still. Thank the gods." murmured Lecarre.
 "The fleet has yet to have reached the bay," answered Piergeiron. "We've got the two ironclads assaulting them from the west. Don't know how much damage they'll do but we've got our secret coming up underneath-."
 "The Seaside Colossus?" a voice asked from the chamber's door way. Piergeiron and Lecarre whirled; the Open Lord pulling and aiming a pistol, the master spy palming a dagger. Bryan Kormallis sauntered into the room, the two guards outside the door, looked at each other in confusion, before raising their pole arms. Smirking over his shoulder, the former adventurer cocked an eyebrow at Lecarre.\
 Looking disgruntled, the pocketman sheathed the blade, saying, "I think this man is not a threat, Sai."
Piergeiron glanced at the older spy, uncocked the pistol's hammer and stuck the gun into his [...]

In true Arrow fashion, and gearing up for next week’s season finale, there was a lot going on this week. We’ve got a heist, a few reveals, a few sidesteps, one step forward and one potential slip to the Dark Side, two set ups, one epic fight, and a grappling hook mini crossbow. All the makings of a good drama. Spoilers abound.

Also, extra apologies for taking so long to get this review up. It was written before the finale aired, but we’ve been slow.

Things aren’t really going well for the Queen women this week. Thea got reprimanded by her brother [...]

For those of you who are anticipating the release of Pendraken’s 10mm modern zombie miniatures, take a look at the greens over on the Pendraken forum! Sculpted by the very talented industry veteran, Phil Lewis, these little survivors are going to be a great addition to the forthcoming range in this scale. I myself will […]

What's the status of the Dwimmermount project?


We are making the final approach to the mountaintop. We've:

-sent the drafts, discount codes, and sample layout to backers by individual email
-taken stock of the Dwimmermount material, including drafts, illustrations, maps, and Grognardia posts assembled our team for the remaining stages of editing, development, and layout
-pinned down our best options for printing and the timeline required
-gained play experience with prototypes of the mega-dungeon tracker and vinyl wilderness map
-received further design input and assistance from James Maliszewski
-made some conceptual breakthroughs into how to publish a mega-dungeon
-set up an internal schedule of conference calls and deadlines

We are on track to have the Labyrinth Lord version of Dwimmermount available [...]

Looks like I’m on at least two new books in Cubicle 7′sVictoriana line. Under NDA right now, so that’s about all I can say is “Back in the RPG writing game.”

Paizo Publishing, LLC, publisher of the world’s best-selling Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (RPG), and OffWorld Designs, Inc., the Best Shirts in Fandom, announce today the licensing of the Pathfinder RPG brand...

This pdf is 61 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page author's note/dedication, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 55 pages of content, so let's take a look!

The following morning the team regroup to discuss what to do next.  Despite Tokyo pushing for their first contact to be with her Minister, there was a concern that the Lion Ministry's people might be a little cross about their demonstration the night before.  Besides which, having the court's military people behind them would be helpful as it would be the Lions who would be sent after them if the Tyrant figured them out.  So they decided to head to the pizzeria to track down Garcia, using London as the figurehead and pretending that they were all his subordinates.  To [...]

I am currently in the process of collecting data for my MBA thesis.  To that end, I have designed a survey.  I don't normally post solicitations like this and this will not be a regular occurrence. 


You are being invited to participate in an opinion survey regarding a Television Viewing Behavior. The survey will run for one week only, therefore your timely participation is greatly appreciated. If you are interested in participating, please follow the link below.

https://calpolycba.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_ehx2jqbk2hOYODX

You can right click and choose "Open Link" or paste it into your web browser to [...]

I recently fell into a fey mood and felt the desperate need to:

Play Oblivion

a.As a Khajit

i. Named Mr. Pants
ii. Dressed in the finest imperial fashions

b.Who is a lordly swashbuckler

i. using ONLY a Cutlass
ii. wearing NO Armor (see also dressed in the finest imperial fashion)

c.Leveling up only when necessary

i. Stupid Anvil Mage’s guild quest
ii. Stupid Dark Brotherhood
iii. Stupid Dark Brotherhood
iv. Stupid whatever is going to make me level up next

I wish there were an “unarmored” skill like in Morrowind. Eventually I’ll probably enchant my fancy clothes for some shield bonus. Meantime, I’m trying to stay ‘under-leveled’ [...]

Apologies to those who received a welter of emails. I put extra free stuff into every download and the only way to be sure everyone knew about the upgrades was to notify on each title.Unfortunatelythat means those with the most Thistle Games stuff received the mostnecessaryemails.

Therewas also a fankle with [...]

http://www.evilhat.com/home/dice-dice-baby/

As a blogger and a signatory to the Joesky Accords I have a responsibility to talk about play. As a publisher I need to let you know that if you want to back theDomains at War Kickstarterbut haven’t yet, you should do so soon because it closes tomorrow, May 18th at 3:32 pm.

These may boil down to the same thing. I’m helping create Domains at War because I enjoy playing it. If you’re also excited about what having a wargame integrated with a RPG system for mass combat and strategic campaigns will mean for your gaming, your Kickstarter pledge is [...]

I can't believe I haven't started a thread about the Eye on the Realms articles found in Dragon (and sometimes in Dungeon) Magazine.

The latest article is called Masters of the Alluring Dungeons. It focuses on one cabal of young illithids, imparts several adventure ideas and details new dungeon locations (in Ankhapur, Arabel, Elturel, Iriaebor, Urmlaspyr and Yhaunn) and then gives lots of illithid love: eight(!) words in the illithid language, illithid names, details on illithids in the Heartlands (and the conflicts brewing amongst them) and describes four other illithid cabals.

Some mention of the history of [...]

Time may be linear, we may perceive ourselves to be caught in an existence trap with only asingle direction forward and the memories of the past behind us, but  are we simply blind to more possibilities.

This is a game about mages, super heroes, mutants, taoists who have reached alchemical enlightenment. They exist beyond the timestream, and through their power they can change much of reality...not all of it, but enough to either keep things running smoothly, or enough to cause problems for their enemies.

(head with "snowflake"/"fractal thougts") Some have the ability to change the way people [...]

This week I took a look at another free offering from Drive Thru RPG. I've used some of D20 Cartographer's One Dollar Dungeon's, but I haven't yet looked at their Mega Townscapes line.

The Tavern is a sample file from that Mega Townscapes line and I find it to be a pretty good little map. There were five files in this zip file: a easy-print PDF, a .rpmap file (MapTools map), a simple readme, and two jpgs.

The first jpg is the tavern with no roof on a background of grass and dirt. There are the edges and [...]

Wednesday's post on the Shaken rules in Savage Worlds got me thinking about health systems in games. I've been thinking about how certain systems, like D&D/Pathfinder's Hit Points, abstract damage to make things easier and how other games go for a more realistic damage system to represent how taking a hit would actually affect a character.

For awhile now, I've been toying with a post-apocalyptic game. Instead of going the more "gonzo" route of Gamma World, I wanted to make a game that was more gritty and lethal. I want it to be a game where combat is the last [...]

PROJECT REBIRTH

Cover: Bald Eagle punching a jetpacked soldier while Legionnaire wrestles with boilersuited animated corpses, in the background a giant High-Q is wrapped in black bands. A white male figure and a multicolored female one are seen from the back and they are saying “Do not worry, we will save you!” “Who are these New Heroes?!” is splashed across the bottom.

LA Stars Volume 2, Issue 10 (October 1967)
Sea, Sky and Black Sun!

Our Heroes:Bald Eagle, winged agent of justice and symbol of America.
Hi-Q, genius with size changing powers.
Legionnaire, the latest attempt by the US military to build a [...]

1. Keetsa Quick: a kobold courier. She’s fast enough on her own, having an extra two squares’ worth of movement (or whatever unit you use) on foot per round, but she usually rides an Acrotholus audeti or war dog for wilderness jobs. She’s not allied with any particular tribe, instead serving as a neutral go-between discreetly ferrying small goods or messages. She and her mount can hide and move silently as a ranger. Keetsa advertises in a local tavern as a “communications and shipment solutions expert” and charges 10 g per item / message per day of travel, with double pay [...]