Blog Rolls and OSR

O.K. what started me down this path was post on Tenkars Tavern pointing to his friend +Charles Akins list of list of Blogs at Dyvers and claiming it as most complete. Dyvers has a pretty good list and the fact that it has a paragraph review of each certainly makes very useful. Shear numbers is not always the best metric and its Tenkar not Akins who is making the claim of completeness, but the numbers are worth looking at. At 170 blogs it's pretty large, certainly more than the 119 I tracked for Swords and Wizardry Day, or the number of blogs I track on my rulenomicon page. However this far less than the 245 blogs tracked for growth by Cyclopean in 2011,  or the 289 Blog snapshot I took of my blogroll last year and certainly less than the 320 Roleplaying blogs I am tracking on Feedly (which includes wordpress and other blogs not well tracked by blogger, and is not capped at the 280 something maximum of the blogger blogroll).  The RPG Roleplaying Alliance clocks in at 594 members. One could try to claim that the Dyvers is exclusive to the Old School Renaissance, but he includes  GURPS and 4e sites, so this clearly not the case. Personally I have always struggled with the OSR label, it is an arbitrary designation, but has caused me to think twice about posting on the 4e Dungeons and Dragons I am actually playing these days, for fear of losing OSR cred. I have apparently diluted it enough not to make Dyvers list (Hey! he could pick up one more by linking to me). **Update Akins indicates here that he will trying to add another 50 blogs soon so perhaps I will be in the second round***

P.S. Akins effort has inspired me to actually finish my long neglected Blognomicon page, look for it on the header tabs (although I have not got around to adding commentary, sometimes just reading the names gets my imagination going).
P.P.S Warning, the Blognomicon is based on my year old snapshot. Although the links were live at the time, some may have gone dark, or worse turned into Zombie blogs selling used cars and washing machines

End of days for Dungeon a Day *Updated*?

Update on a kickstarter winding down. I signed on for the original Dungeon a Day with Monte Cook but petered out at the first year renewal (87 bucks was a lot of money, having to screen capture every room for download a total pain, but I sure as heck wasn't paying extra for .pdfs). I think the dungeon could have used a few empty rooms as well. However, I always wonder about how it finished (Monte himself hit the silk about year two). As such I was quick to sign up for the renewed kickstarter (see prior post) when it appeared a year ago summer. After all a pledge level with all .pdfs was only $50, significantly less than what I payed for the yearly subscription model. Although it took a little time for the site to be up and running (I didn't get my login until October), once I was in I went and grabbed all the .pdfs I could lay my hands on. Posted a few comments on the forum, read a few other posts (mostly on the lack of posts) and forgot about it. When I got another note this September about my subscription running out, I logged on again grabbed everything I had missed the first pass and prepared to call it over. Tried the "renew here" button, as least to get price for renewal (Unfortunately Monte is still better than Hyrum Savage, so I was unlikely to pay $50 for another year), when the "renew here" page crashed I figured it was the end. However, here's where it gets weird on the day after expiration a kickstarter message goes out saying no one is expiring, everyone will be carried forward until the pathfinder update of the original dungeon is complete. So I log in again, the site accepts my login, but I can't access any of the the downloads (today I seem to be able to access the forums). I send a e-mail to complain, I receive no response. I read in the gaming news feeds that the guy who I am e-mailing has left Super Genius Games to found his own company. Based on the above I am declaring this kickstarter over (note that I am not very good at predicting the end of these, I seem to still have stuff dribbling from kickstarters over so long ago I had forgotten them [thanks for my subscription adventures Frog God]). What does this mean? well I will cease to worry about dungeonaday.com and won't hold my breath for another update. Am I disappointed in this kickstarter? No, not really, I got my $50 worth and I din't really need a Pathfinder conversion (I have no trouble converting to Pathfinder on the fly by substituting similar monsters from the pathfinder monster book and using those). I am a bit disappointed in Super Genius Games inability to keep their promises, and may not sign up for another kickstarter with them. I am bit concerned whether the departing individuals new company Rogue Genius Games will be more reliable. I also wonder if the split had anything to with the dungeonaday renewal. I suspect the onus of completing the promises of the kickstarter fall to Super Genius Games, but I am not holding my breath.

P.S. Both Super Genius's and Rogue Genius's websites are non-functional, but it appears that Rogue Genius is having a clearance sale on DriveThruRPG

P.P.S. I received a notice that my subscription was expiring December 31th, so it must have been active. Hyrum also sent a nice update to everyone saying that their subscriptions will be renewed again without further payment. However, since there has been no new content at my subscription level for month, I am not sure I'll worry about it.

Numenera first pass (halfway) through

Numenera leaves me conflicted. I gave a pass to the kickstarter because Science Fiction isn't really my thing. However once the game hit the street, the buzz was that it was really Science Fantasy (more planescape than star wars) and had several unique and novel play features that sounded intriguing to me. Was going to buy the .pdf, but the local game store owner indicated he had some hardcover copies on order. Unfortunately the hardcover didn't make to the store I had requested them from until November, so I am bit behind the power curve. However, I am doing my best to get through the book, so I can give you a review. No actual play experience, never the less here are my comments based on my read through.

First impressions include gorgeous artwork, well written prose, a sidebar annotation layout which really very helpful. Owners of Monte Cook's previous masterwork Ptolus will recognize these features. The combat and skill system core mechanic is straight forward, roll a d20 try to beat a target number. I thought the idea of being able to spend effort to lower the target number was intriguing. The character creation system at first glance seems very free form and open. One starts one character by filling in the statement "I am an adjective noun who verbs". So far very good, similar to my favorite character generation system from Over the Edge (Pick three things your good at, one weakness, and one secret).

However, pursual of the subsequent chapters on characters begin the to reveal the dark secret lurking beneath the surface. It turns out there are only three permissible nouns: Glaive, Nano, or Jack (by the way, Monte, use of glaive in this fashion is almost as heinous as the movie's Krulls use of glaive to describe a six pointed psychic shuirekan. True polearmists know that a glaive is a long knife on a stick). There are only twelve permissible adjectives:  Charming, Clever, Graceful, Intelligent, Learned, Mystical/Mechanical (yea, I though that would be two different things but it is only one), Rugged, Stealthy, Strong, Strong willed, Swift, Tough.There are twenty verbs (which I won't bother to list) however no two members of the party are allowed to have the same verb. In balance the character creation is closer to 4e character class, theme than Over the edges free form.

Also surfacing in the character creation chapters is another concern for me, the system is a tri-stat system having only might, speed, and intellect. While tri-stat systems are not completely fatal (I have been playing Ultima Online for years, Skyrim is a more recent example), I find most of them have trouble dividing mechanics between only three stats so that one does not become significantly more important than others. Another source of trouble begins to appear in the equipment section, fixed weapon damage versus fixed armor class. Again a system which requires careful balance, it does look like it is reasonably under control, since both medium, and heavy weapons can get through heavy armor, but armor bonuses will quickly make a character vulnerable only to critical hits (this reliance on requiring critical hits to penetrate armor is what soured me on first edition Runequest).

Now we reach the chapter on rules of the game. I found this chapter the most difficult to read. Monte's narrative style is ill suited  to something that could be be explained "Old school" with a chart or table. He spends seven paragraphs explaining to make an attack you roll a d20 add or subtract the appropriate modifiers and compare it to the target number. He explains the mechanics of much of the standard stuff on climbing, healing, jumping etc. I like the guarding action which similar to a readied action in D&D but with a bit more flexibility. The defense roll instead of  the DM making an attack roll is kind of cute (However I like rolling dice as a DM). Unfortunately these next items is where it all falls apart. He makes the same mistake that soured me on the "The Fantasy Trip" more than 20 years ago, both  your initiative and chance to hit are based on speed. In the "The Fantasy Trip" this made speed archer the only viable character class. Oh sure you could try playing an armored fighter or spell caster, but you were going to get filled full arrows before you could do anything. Numenera does allow you to use might instead of speed for melee, so there is some hope for fighters. However,  Numenera compounds this with another couple errors. First as you take damage your ability fight back decreases, making hitting first even more important. Second all the fancy maneuvers such as "effort"  and "nano" are drawing from the same pool you are using for hit points. This results in making comeback options from a poor start close out real fast. Since I favor a "Heroic" style of play where players are are taking long shots to comeback from seeming overwhelming odds, I am putting the book down and slowly backing away. I had hoped for better, from the author of the books of Eldritch Might, one of my favorite 3.5e expantions. Many people do enjoy playing games with as badly flawed mechanics (Tunnels and Trolls, The Fantasy Trip, GURPS, [Champions had a slight different flaw with speed, but if you build a slow character you would never do anything but watch the speedy players mop the board]), but it is not my cup-of-tea. I may pick up the book again to pursue the campaign setting chapters and magic items (cyphers seem an interesting idea for one shot items), but right now I will leave it there.


P.S. I have not investigated this thoroughly, but it appears there are only six levels for each character class as well. C'mon Monte in this age of 80th level characters in on-line games, what were you thinking.

Beyonder slacker backer

So to avoid working on the review of Numenera which I picked up recently and planned to blog about, I have been off surfing the web. Looking for wilderness geomorphs I landed on the Talisman Island web site (happy 30th birthday talisman!). Although I think Talisman as a game is a bit "beer&pretzel"ly I love the Gary Chalk artwork of the first and second edition (I have everything from those except the timescape expansion). Gary has made a new card in honor of the 30th Birth which you can download from this page.

Clicking through I landed first at Robert Harris' (the author of talisman) and then the Fortress Ameritrash (love the name) website. Fortress Ameritrash had on it an ad for Beyonder which had some cool art world and said it was an RPG. Clicking on the ad lead me to the Flying Night Bear games web site, where it was reveled that Beyonder was an actual pen and paper game rather that the online MMG I had expected. Watching the kickstater video and looking at the awesome artwork on the website I decided this was something I wanted. Unfortunately, the kickstater ended Oct 6 I guessed I was ... but there's a link on the web site to the slacker backer page (really cool idea for you kickstarterers). I am now signed up at $50 for pdfs of the Rulebook and Bestiary. The features that sold me on Beyonder are: Cool artwork, someone's home campaign (I find home campaigns have more heart and soul invested in them, than the write for hire adventures many game companies rely on) and a shipping date not too far off. The cautions I worry about are a "mom and pop" operation and no prior track record of publishing anything. Stay tuned!

P.S. Now that the "afterglow" of the kill has worn off, it occurs to me that $25 a .pdf is a bit beyond my usual price point. Oh well! Hope its worth it.

Con of the Cob post-mortem

Had a great deal of fun at Con-on-the-Cob, even though She-who-must-be-obeyed became ill and missed the whole thing. Did meet Tim Shorts who gave me copies of his 'zine the Manor. Awesome 'zine, the folded 8" x 11" sheets stapled in the middle brought back memories. It seems to follow a one full dungeon, one setting concept format, with short new monsters, new spells, new magic items articles sprinkled in. He also had a couple 4"x 5.5" booklets which were just one dungeon. Played Dementalism with Andy Hopp on Thursday Night at the Drink and Draw. It kind of like the card game Concentration but with three cards for each match rather than two (two cards pair as normal, however if another player finds the third card and correctly guess which face down pair is a match, he can steal the pair from you). The card are decorated with the denizens of Andy's "Mutha Oith" and his usual zaniness for all sorts of special cards. I of course had to buy the game and sign up for the expansion pack kickstarter. You can sign up for the kickstarter too if you hurry.

Did a whirlwind tour of the dealers room with my son on Friday. He was more interested in the "Toys are Us" we visited on the way home, although he did get a couple of Star Trek action figures at the con. Picked through the used bins for more Mystara Gazetteers, but since it was mostly the same dealers as last spring's AnCon, I had already cleaned them out. One dealer had a good collection of print versions of the OSR small press rules. However, since I had .pdfs of the ones that interested me already and only limited space for dead tree editions (at least until I can talk She-who-must-be-obeyed into converting more of the living room into a library). My son did wait patiently while I sat in on a seminar on game design (I missed the RPG one, but the Board game one was interesting too).

Saturday was devoted totally to the fourthcore "Fane of the Heresiarch" (***Update*** new link found here). Although the adventure was a great deal of fun, and while its location in a private room near the con suite made it easier to hear the DM and concentrate, it did mean I missed my chance to stop by Digital Orc's Menagerie of the Ice Lord and say hi to my fellow bloggers (other than Tim Shorts, whom I have already mentioned). Was going to stop by at diner, but since we were running behind we only took a half hour (which is enough time to drive to the restaurant pick up diner to go and come back, DM packed a sandwich). When I got out of the game at 11 PM most of the gamers had packed things up already.

Didn't get a chance to go down Sunday. Filled my time with kickstarters instead. New ones include:

1. Legendary Games Pathfinder Books in Print (I only signed up for the .pdfs)
2. The Lost Lands: Sword of Air (Being a big fan of Bill Webb and Frog God games this was inevitable)
3. Adventures in the East Mark - Red Box (a bit of a risk, but worth a $30 bet for a boxed set)
4. Dementalism Expansion sets (See above, I am signed up to get all three expansions)

Con-on-the-Cob and odds and ends

I will be definitely be at Con-on-the-Cob this week (at least some of the time). I will not be DM the 4e games I usually ran, as the 4e organizers jumped ship for pathfinder, and I could not get my you-know-what together to add events on my own. I am signed up for the Saturday afternoon 4core game, but when I last checked  was the only one signed up, so I'll have to play it by ear. I am on furlough from the federal government, so you'd think I'd get lots done. Unfortunately furlough (especially one this stupid) is not conducive to a creative mindset. I spent most of last week trying to get signed up for unemployment just in case our illustrious Congress reneges on the House proposal to pay us (She-who-must-be-obeyed thinks they make unemployment extra hard to keep the applicants down). Finished up my long postponed taxes (thanks to automatic extensions Oct 15th is the new April 15th). Filled the rest of the time with reading books, and watching way too many Yogcast videos (Wool Race is a four part 80 minute video of the crew getting killed because they are too lazy to build a path of torches from the spawn point to where they are digging for the wool. Moonquest sounded more promising, but after four half-hour videos they have succeeded in building a base underground with a door {added in episode 4}. Simon's team at least seems to run on the sensible strategy of when in doubt dig. Sips team wasted the first six minutes of their video talking about "twerking in microgravity". I didn't watch the three other videos available for Sips team). Books a bit more profitable, got through five last week. Finally finished "Toll the Hounds" which I bought for my nook last spring. Steve Erikson  "Toll the Hounds" is a bit of a slog, too much angst, not enough action. However, it is still filled with those wild flights of Fantasy I read Steve Erikson for. "Dust and Dreams" seems to be going a bit better. Also noteworthy was "The Amber Room" about the fate of the Catherine the Greats Czarist treasure a room paneled in amber, and what happened to in World War Two. The Room still remains on the missing list, but the authors attempts to review the iron curtain archives on it read like a spy novel. I definitely recommend the "The Amber Room". Hopefully I'll get going on my Dungeontangle geomorphs inspired by reading the "Zentangle Untangled" book (If your already a doodler like me, don't waste you're time with the book, Zentangle seems mostly a marketing ploy {although some of the patterns are pretty cool}, and more information is available on the web than in the book). Lets close with some Gypsy Punk!

The Saga of a Zahr-Tann Army

Guest post by she-who-must-be-obeyed

Zahr-Tann is the name of an Eldar Craftworld in games workshop’s game 40 K.  About four years ago Himself found some bargains in a garage sale or some place and picked up a few previously used Eldar tanks. Then he happened upon a partially worked on army at the Warzone.  Fortunately for me the work that had been done was just gluing so I did not need to repaint like I did with the bargain tanks, oh and he got some kits to make the painted falcons into wave serpents. Plus he actually bought a new kit of guardians for me to make up.  Much scraping, ungluing, re-gluing and painting later he mentioned the name of the Craftworld.  It has no Craftworld insignia but he found someone working on one who is on a forum that will not recognize my plea to join it. So I played with my favorite of his suggestions and came up with my own version.  Since I am not allowed to post it there I decided to post it in his blog.  At least it gets the thing out into cyber-space.

Let us know what you think.

P.S. The pick of Zahr-Tann is not quite capricious as she-who-must-be-obeyed indicates. It is based on the paint scheme of my favorite cool-mini wave serpent "Last trick of Loyso Pandokhva" which uses a blue and bronze color scheme closest to that of Zahr-Tann. Its not my fault GW only mentions this craftworld once on a webpage which has since disappeared (given the silliness associated with many official craftworlds, perhaps its disappearance is a good thing). I'll try and get some pictures of the tanks she-who-must-be-obeyed painted later.

*****New****
Here is a picture of the first painted tank. Although most of the army will be Waveserpents the Falcon was already assembled from a prior effort, so she-who-must-be-obeyed painted it first.