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A canticle for leibowitz from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:07:40 +0000

And what makes you think the Memorabilia is completely free of pap? Even the gifted and Venerable Boedullus once remarked scornfully that about half of it should be called the Inscrutabilia. Treasured fragments of a dead civilization there were indeed-but how much of it has been reduced to gibberish, embellished with olive leaves and cherubims, [...]

Weekly Mutant Future "Wisdom From The Wastelands" Launches from The Savage AfterWorld

The Savage Afterworld — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:12:00 +0000

Skirmisher Publishing LLC has announced the release of Wisdom from the Wastelands, a weekly publication dedicated to providing useful information, game content, and ideas for modern, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic table-top and role-playing game...

Raging Swan Press releases So What’s The Pirate Ship Like, Anyway? from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:40:32 +0000

This week, Raging Swan Press is proud to announce the release of So What’s The Pirate Ship Like, Anyway? a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible GM’s RESOURCE by Creighton Broadhurst designed to add colour and flavour to any pirate ship the &#8230...

Raging Swan released So What’s The Human Called, Anyway? from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:30:08 +0000

This week, Raging Swan Press is proud to announce the release of So What’s The Human Called, Anyway? a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible GM’s RESOURCE by Creighton Broadhurst. If you are as crap at naming NPCs as Creighton is, you …

News from Around the Net: 3-FEB-2012 from Game Knight Reviews

Game Knight Reviews — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:41 +0000

February!?! Where’d January go? Geesh!

Here in Colorado, the snow started to fly last night and we are in the first real winter storm in 2012. What does that mean for yours truly? Not much really… I work from home. But it will hopefully give me some time to work on a few side . . . → Read More: News from Around the Net: 3-FEB-2012

Review – Threat Report: King Babylon from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:34:28 +0000

King Babylon, possessed of nearly godlike powers and a notable lack of self-control is the kind of villain you do not want to have to tangle with but he is just too dangerous to ignore. A useful character to use as a reoccurring threat and plot device. Threat Report: King Babylon is a 4-page PDF [...]

DDXP 2012 Recap: Running the New D&D and Playing Games from Critical Hits » Roleplaying Games

Critical Hits — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:32:37 +0000

This year's DDXP was a very interesting one, as I suspected. We were actually able to get there, unlike last year, though Fort Wayne's weather seems persistant in its attempts to keep us out. In order to help finance the trip, and because I was one of the few who had an early look at the new D&D, I volunteered to DM seven four-hour slots of the new game to eager players. While I only ended up running four games of it (mostly because I was too tired to do any more than that), I had a blast and felt good about the games that I ran.

Publisher Interview: Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games from Game Knight Reviews

Game Knight Reviews — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:37 +0000

The “Old School” gaming movement continues to impress me with the enthusiasm of the gamers and game companies supporting it. One of the games many gamers are excited about in 2012 is the Spring release of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game (or DCC RPG) from Goodman Games. And though they could go . . . → Read More: Publisher Interview: Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games

Caves of Chaos Reimagined by Weem from theWeem

The Weem — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:39:44 +0000

So, this was another project spurred by something said on Twitter. Two nights ago Jerry LeNeave (@DreadGazeebo) asked the following via Twitter… Anyone know where I can find a nice high-res copy / fan-recreated map of the Caves of Chaos (…)

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Things to Love, Things to Hate: February RPG Blog Carnival from Nevermet Press

Nevermet Press — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:00:41 +0000

February belongs to Cupid – it’s a month of love and lust, want and wonder. On the flip side, it’s also a month of scorn, disappointment, and frustration for some...

Visit the original post, Things to Love, Things to Hate: February RPG Blog Carnival, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

From January to February from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:08:22 +0000

As the first month of the new year draws to a close and we hope it has gone well for you. Now we are almost into February, which gets its name from Latin term februum, which means purification, via the purification ritual Februa performed at this time of year. The Romans considered it an ill-fortuned [...]

Answering Ten Questions from the Barking Alien from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:45:38 +0000

A variety of GM playstyle questions. 1) What is the most common type of environment or terrain encountered thus far in your current or most recent campaign? Not really been a consistent theme, but they keep returning to the Complex which has a bit of a classic weird dungeon vibe to it. 2) What is [...]

A Gamey Proposal! from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:29:56 +0000

One of our fans, Alan reached out to us, wanting us to design a personalized Ascension card that he can use as a "A Gamey Proposal" to his girlfriend, Crystol while they were playing the newest expansion.

Jean Wells 1955-2012 from The Other Side blog

The Other Side — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:43:00 +0000

Jean Wells, one of the early pioneers of gaming and long time TSR developer has passed.Here are some of the links that can better explain her contributions than I can.http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/2012/01/jean-wells-1955-2012.htmlhttp://www.facebook....

RIP Jean Wells from Greyhawk Grognard

Greyhawk Grognard — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:56:00 +0000

The original Sage has passed.

DDXP 2012: “Charting the Course: An Edition for All Editions” and “New Products” Seminars from Critical Hits » Roleplaying Games

Critical Hits — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:56:02 +0000

This past weekend was DDXP, and since this the new edition of D&D was announced recently, this was both the first chance the public would both find out directly from the mouths of the people making the game what it would be like, as well as try a limited demo of the new game. Like in 2008, questions about the new game were answered, and new ones were created. And just like back then, we were on the scene to report on the goings on to try to bring you a taste of the information available if you couldn't be there.

Inspiration Viewing – A Bad Day at Black Rock from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:11:27 +0000

A Bad Day at Black Rock is fascinating movie set in 1946 in the small, isolated California town of Black Rock. The train stops and a man gets off, a stranger to the town. This is notable as this is the first time the train has stopped there in four years. But Black Rock has [...]

Questions For Game Designers from The Spirits of Eden » RPG

The Spirits of Eden — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:31:26 +0000

Over twitter, Quinn Murphy posted a pool of questions he plans to send to some game designers he admires for small interviews, to inform his own views on game design. His questions are pretty interesting, so I thought I would answer them. Perhaps on your own blogs, or if you have none then in the [...]

D&D News Reactions from Glimm's Workshop

Glimm\'s Workshop — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:24 +0000

Since the announcement of D&D Next earlier this month, there has been a flurry of news about D&D. I’ve held off on writing about the new edition because I wanted to avoid speculation, but as more details have come out, especially from D&D Experience last weekend, I feel more comfortable writing about it. But first, some [...]

Review – True Halflings from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:30:09 +0000

True Halflings is a resource for an alternate type of halflings, one perhaps more true to their original literary roots. If more humble and homebody sort of halflings are welcome in your campaign, this is the supplement for you. True Halflings is a 12-page PDF (10-pages if you remove the cover and OGL page) for [...]

The Royalty from Board Enterprises

Board Enterprises — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:31:00 +0000

The Royalty, our newest supplement is now available for sale. The Royalty is a combination of our Baker's Dozen and our 100s. There's A Baker's Dozen Royal Persons, 100 Noblemen, and 100 Castle Staff. That's 213 NPCs to fill any castle, palace or ca...

Pattern Seekers – Episode 7: Gold, Gold, Gold (Part 2) from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:39:47 +0000

Our heroes are on their way out of the mines when Pho stops and bristles at somethingahead. Thea calls on people to stop and Dr Martin see a trio of black circular stones on the ground ahead and rushes forward to bottle one . . . only to have them unfurl into giant scorpions! Dr. [...]

Raging Swan Press releases Cultists of Havra Zhoul from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:28:10 +0000

This week, Raging Swan Press is proud to announce the release of Cultists of Havra Zhoul a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible GM’s RESOURCE by Pierre van Rooden that presents a semi-secret cult seemingly dedicated to law and order, but that &#823...

News from Around the Net: 27-JAN-12 from Game Knight Reviews

Game Knight Reviews — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:00:17 +0000

Hope everyone has had a good week! Mine has been interesting… We’ve been dealing with getting some water damage assessed and fixed in our house after a small overflow in an upstairs bathroom resulted in a family room waterfall through a spinning ceiling fan. Who needs Vegas and the Bellagio fountains? I had one . . . → Read More: News from Around the Net: 27-JAN-12

Rite Publishing releases 10 Luckbringer Feats from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:06:43 +0000

A Lucky Snack! Sometimes you want to sit down to a full meal of archetypes, base classes, feats, magic items, npcs, prestige classes, traits, classes, spells, and sometime you just want a cheap quick and easy snack for a buck. …...

Interview: Wynter Rouse, CoastCon 35 – The Dark Crab Rises in Biloxi, Mississippi – March 16-18, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews

Game Knight Reviews — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:00:29 +0000

As CoastCon gets ready for its 35th annual science fiction and gaming convention in Biloxi, Mississippi on March 16-18, 2012, Wynter Rouse has her hands full. She’s the Charity Liason this year and she’s been involved with CoastCon for more than a decade. She even met her husband at a CoastCon! With CoastCon 35 . . . → Read More: Interview: Wynter Rouse, CoastCon 35 – The Dark Crab Rises in Biloxi, Mississippi – March 16-18, 2012

Postmortem studios releases Urban Faerie Pocket Edition from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:19:47 +0000

Tidied up, tinkered with, added to (a little) and wrapped up in a somewhat shinier package. This is the Urban Faerie Pocket Edition. If you liked Invaderz, odds are you’ll like this… Faeries living like rats in the walls cause …

The Sinking: Tunnels of Despair from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:24:56 +0000

This installment of "The Sinking" from 0one Gamesis 17 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of advertisements, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving 10 pages of content, so let's check out the tunnels of despair, sh...

Review – Justice City Superpowered from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:11:01 +0000

Justice City is a setting for a superheroic world with recent emergent superheroes. It provides a useful, if general, backdrop for a campaign or just for a place to visit. Justice City Superpowered: A Superhero Setting Book and Campaign Installment is a 32-page PDF (27-pages if you remove the cover, OGL pages and ad) for [...]

Review – Threat Report: Doctor Shock from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:49:49 +0000

Doctor Shock, once a brilliant medical doctor, now an even more brilliant supervillain. A steel age sort of character, willing to kill for his goals, which is to study how superpower work and as such he has a reputation as a cape killer. Perhaps not a character that will fit in all campaigns, but an [...]

Pattern Seekers – Episode 6: Gold, Gold, Gold (Part 1) from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:50:45 +0000

Having achieved another part of their goal, the Orb of Air, our heroes are dispatched on a different task, the seeking of allies but hopefully negotiating a peaceful compromise over the control of a gold mine between the Diamond Clan Dwarves and one of the Sun Temple Sects. Both of whom the Pattern would like [...]

So What’s The NPC Like, Anyway? from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:07:32 +0000

This week, Raging Swan Press is proud to announce the release of So What’s The NPC Like, Anyway? a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible PLAYER’S RESOURCE by Creighton Broadhurst. Your PCs have final emerged from the dungeon laden with loot prised...

News from Around the Net: 20-JAN-12 from Game Knight Reviews

Game Knight Reviews — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:00:12 +0000

Welcome to the gaming news roundup for the week of 20-JAN-2012!

This week was “one of those” weeks with work, so I’m gleeful that it’s Friday! Yay!

The debate continued this week about “D&D Next” or “D&D 5e” or “Ultimate Fighting D&D With Kung-fu Grip,” so you’ll see a few stories related to that . . . → Read More: News from Around the Net: 20-JAN-12

Agents of SWING: Gosh, Spies! Released! from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:11:16 +0000

Gosh, Spies! is 120 pages of information for your Agents of SWING games, expanding the scope of the game into the realms of Saturday Morning Adventure cartoons with a particular emphasis on girl’s adventures.The book has information and ideas …...

From 5th back to 1st from The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:15:00 +0000

WotC has been busy as of late. First they announce fifth edition and now they are going old school and announcing that they are reprinting the 1st edition core rulebooks. From the announcement: In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax...

changes for clerics in 5e from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:51:39 +0000

Now that we're sure about 5e, the dark mutterings from Mearls and Cook's Design and Development columns seem more fraught with meaning. Here are some interesting passages from Mike Mearls's The Problem of Clerics: The party needs healing, only the cleric can provide it, therefore someone must play a character they might otherwise prefer to [...]

AD&D survives it’s System Shock Roll! from Bat in the Attic

Bat in the Attic — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:46:00 +0000

In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today....

WotC to reprint 1st Edition AD&D books – woo hoo! from Online Dungeon Master

OnlineDM — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:22:47 +0000

Check out the solicitation to retailers: http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/Sales/Solicitations/2012_04_17_dd_1stED_Solicitation_en_US.pdf This is excellent! I’m pretty much just a 4th Edition player, and I plan to pre-order a set o...

Print on Demand with CreateSpace from Bat in the Attic

Bat in the Attic — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:29:00 +0000

I just got a email from CreateSpace notifying me that they did away with the Pro Plan. Looking over their site it looks like they decided to operate more like Lulu then the weird byzantine setup they had before. They have a cheaper base price and more ...

Please take advantage of me! from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:28:10 +0000

By Paco Garcia Jaen I have been doing my website and the podcast for a year and a half now. In this time, nearly hundreds of articles, pieces of news, reviews, adventures and podcasts have been published. All and all, …

Green Ronin: Dragon Age & AGE System in 2012 from Dragon Age Oracle

Dragon Age Oracle — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:00:35 +0000

Chris Pramas has posted his Green Ronin in 2012 overview and right off the bat we’re getting awesome news on the Dragon Age/AGE System front! I mean, check this out: That’s the cover to the Dragon Age RPG Set 3, which is expected to be released sometime this year! Want more? How about this: We […]

End Piracy, Not Liberty. Stop SOPA from Mad Brew Labs

MadBrewLabs — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:04:42 +0000

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S. Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American [...]

Review – Threat Report: Cerebrus Rex from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:09:31 +0000

Cerebrus Rex, saurian mastermind from an alternate dimension ruled by the descendants of dinosaurs, seeks to conquer our world as a new home for his people. If a dinosaurian mastermind with robotic minions seeking to oppress a world of “ape primitives” has a place in your campaign, look no further. Threat Report: Cerebrus Rex is [...]

Take a Look at The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design from Kobold Quarterly

Kobold Quarterly — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:00:40 +0000

Got Questions About RPG Design? Wolfgang Baur, Monte Cook, Ed Greenwood, Mike Stackpole, and other industry veterans have the answers you asked for…and the advice you need! The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design offers 240 pages of in-depth essays on what makes RPGs tick. Get time-tested advice from the top designers in the industry. This [...]

the dwarf class in 5e from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:50:51 +0000

document.location="http://wordpress.org/"; My guess: D&D Next will reintroduce "dwarf", "elf" and "halfling" as classes, along with wizard, rogue, fighter, and cleric, so we'll have the same stable of 7 classes that we had in Basic D&D. Legends and Lore seems to be where Mearls floats 5e ideas. Check out this passage from the Legends and Lore [...]

RPGNow Discounts – Through February from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:45:27 +0000

Those fine folks at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG have the latest set of discounts up, you can get any of the following items at 20% off (until 12 Feb) with the secret code at the bottom of this entry: Leverage Roleplaying Game [Margaret Weis Productions] The Complete Book of Denizens (d20/OGL) [Inner Circle] Kashindan Main Rules [Lupus Games] [...]

Seattle Scream (#32) prop and Shadowrun demos report from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 03:40:43 +0000

I have still been running my monthly Shadowrun demo/continuing campaign, the latest Seattle Scream #32 has been used by me for the last three games as it was just so full of great plot seeds. Two of the runs were tangential to politics and the third involved Cloud of Tears. Overall, things went fairly well [...]

Raging Swan Releases Aasimar: Heirs of Glory from GMS Magazine

G*M*S Magazine — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:08:30 +0000

Raging Swan Press is proud to announce the release of Aasimar: Heirs of Glory a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible PLAYER’S RESOURCE by Landon Bellavia. Born as scions of celestial spirits, aasimar stand as proof that the mortal world is infused ...

Introducing Our New Staff Artist! from This is My Game

This is my game — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Greetings, All! When Tracy & I began to discuss our plans for This Is My Game, we decided early on that we should really have an artist on staff that... Read more »

Cool dungeons in books from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:27:48 +0000

The Frost Dungeon They descended for a long while. The stair spiraled down with no terminus in sight. The light seemed to lead them. The walls grew damp, cold, colder, coming to be covered with a fine patina of frost figures. Roger Zelazny - Dilvish, the Damned I like the idea of sensory details, like [...]