Miniatures: Otherworld Skeletons

As you know, I've been painting Otherworld goblinoids with reference to the AD&D Monster Manual. To take the odd break I've also painted the first set of Otherworld Skeletons and the occasional PC. Here are some pict[...]
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Miniatures: OW and GW Undead II and PCs

Here are some additional undead and PCs.I painted up a set of old GW armoured skeletons. Some weeks ago a commentor asked for a comparative shot with an Otherworld skeleton and here it is (sorry it took so long, life has[...]
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From the Attic: An interview with David Wesely

If David Arneson was one of the father of the roleplaying game David Wesely is the grand father. His Braunstein games inspired Arneson to create Castle Blackmoor which led to all that followed.Theory in the Closet interv[...]
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Ettin Sampler

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post about the ettins who add humanoid heads to their bodies. I really do intend to get back to the elves, really I do. Hoss has six extra heads arranged about his waist like &[...]
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Monster: Lithira

Lithira Armour Class: 8Hit Dice: 3*Move: 180' (60')Attacks: 2 hoovesDamage: 1-4/1-4No. Appearing: 2-20Save As: C3Morale: 7Treasure Type: SpecialAlignment: NeutralXP Value: 50Found in oases and the grasslands th[...]
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“Let them eat static”

Much as I love the final trench run in Star Wars, and the destruction of Caprica from the original Battlestar: Galactica, I present to you the best space battle scene ever filmed. And the reason? Because it concentrates [...]
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Ubercon: Edison, NJ Nov 5-7

Is anyone interested in attending some AD&D games at Ubercon this year? I just got a very nice invitation from the good folks who run it. I'm sort of on the fence on this one, as it's the weekend after Halloween, whi[...]
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New Magic Item – Dragonwing Cloak

The knight leap off the balcony, his black cloak snapping into draconic wings which beat heavily, carrying into the air to give chase to those that had kidnapped his lady. Dragonwing Cloak These cloaks are made of scaled[...]
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quick artifact book update & query

Work continues on the artifact book. Submissions are now officially closed. Sorry if you missed the window of opportunity!  It looks like the final work will have 40 artifactish magic items.  Two contribut[...]
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Rethinking the Ettin

An ettin has multiple heads, but only one it was born with. Ettins sometimes remove the heads of their defeated enemies and attach them to their torsos. Within four hours, the ettin’s body has integrated the head, [...]
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Syrivald seemed better off when I was on vacation. Part I

The quote of the evening occurred after a bunch of Claws of Kalis ambushed the party in the keep of the Hill Fort. After letting loose with a web spell that ensnared a Claw, another came out of hiding and shot him with a[...]
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Secretary Day Special

Today, the 1st of September, is Secretary Day. Every year, on this date, South Africans recognise and show their appreciation for our secretaries. Spell Keeper (General) Your organisational skills are well-suited for sup[...]
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Encounter Critical webring

This is the closest thing you'll ever see to an official webring for the bestest game that was never written in the 70's but should have been.Official EC webpageEncounter Critical message board type thing - chock fu[...]
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Spells for Lonely Letters

After my dead-tree copy of Jeff Rients' Ye Olde Book of Spells arrived in the mail today, I was struck by a certain notion:To cheer up the poor lonely letters in the book.I'm also half out of my head in a murderous heatw[...]
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The Hundred Millionth Day, Session 3

Last session, monk Arisha was severely wounded in a fight with an armoured orc. After killing it, the adventurers dealt with turncoat bandits, cutting two down to the brink of death as they struggled against Quareth̵[...]
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Loot And Encumbrance

In the process of writing an RPG that at its core wants to support dungeon-looting play more than is usual, the idea of encumbrance plays an important part. In older editions of D&D, the particulars of how you are go[...]
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BEHOLD! (Part 2): My Otherworld Hobgoblins

Here are my Otherworld Hobgoblins.Tomorrow I'll have some Undead and PCs.[...]
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Best in town/best around

Here's a worldbuilding technique inspired by the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Spongebob Meets the Strangler".  SpongeBob and the Strangler are shopping at Barg'n-Mart and the Strangler wants to get SpongeBob [...]
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Interview With Frog God Games, Part 2

Yesterday was the first part of our interview with Frog God Games, the new publishers of Swords & Wizardry (and Pathfinder products, to boot). Today, in Part 2, we cover a bit about writing for 4th edition D&D, a[...]
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Come to me my jungle friends!

Recent events in my life have me thinking about pets. Be they familiars, animal companions or summoned animals, whatever way your system of choice calls them, why do we feel the urge to have pets in our games? I can see [...]
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Musings on Dungeons

The dungeon I am running at Gold Star Anime involves a new technique for me. In this post I talk about minimal dungeons and with the ruined Elven Temple I am applying the technique. So far it is going good and the playe[...]
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Magic Item: Tifani

Tifani: A small defensive construct beloved of the neu, a tifani is an orb of scintillating glass shards in a riot of colours, held in spherical shape by a delicate orichalcum frame.Some tifani are are triggered by touc[...]
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Harrowing Halls: Taking Dungeon Tiles to the 3rd Dimension

Harrowing Halls by Wizards of the Coast MSRP: $11.95 Buy from Amazon.com Note: This review is based on a review copy of the tile set Harrowing Halls is a Dungeon Tiles set for Dungeons & Dragons that takes the long[...]
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Trapsmith: Faneway of Air

“A man of conviction and piety will walk the fanes at least once in his life. To walk the fanes is to tread in the footsteps of the saints; it is a test of faith. A test where the righteous are rewarded and the false a[...]
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Maybe We Have Come Full Circle Already

There have been complaints about how 4th Edition is written a bit too childishly. That is, the general tone seems to be aimed squarely at twelve-year olds. For example the opening lines of the 4th Edition Player’s [...]
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Basic D&D part 16

Owl Bear: Like many other monsters in Holmes, the Owl Bear’s attack routine has been simplified. Instead of two claw attacks that deal 1d6 damage each and a bite that deals 1d12, it now has three attacks that deal 1d8[...]
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No More Dragon Warriors?

Courtesy of theRPGsite, it sounds like the Dragon Warriors RPG has reached the end of the line. Apparently, the company holding the rights to Dragon Warriors wanted an increase in royalties somewhere in line of 1250%. [...]
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[Review] Kobold Quarterly 14

Kobold Quarterly 14, the extra-large Summer 2010/GenCon issue, weighs in with an impressive 96 pages. The publication is filled with role playing goodness, with articles written by industry giants such as Monte Cook and [...]
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BEHOLD!: My Otherworld Kobolds!

Here's my Otherworld Kobold Warband. You should be able to click twice for close-ups.Stay tuned in the next couple days for Hobgoblins and Undead!Enjoy.[...]
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Of Scrolls and Flaming Oil

I've got to say, I am one of those DM's who never thinks to include scrolls in treasure hordes. It was an act of conscious will that I remembered to include them in Castle of the Mad Archmage, but they're really an incre[...]
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video blog: kiddie books

Heh.  I said "walk don't run" when I meant the opposite.Last week I wrestled with how to make an interesting video on Dave Hargrave's Arduin Grimoire and I came up blank.  So I decided to skip that altogether a[...]
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Interview With Frog God Games, Part 1

Today and tomorrow, we'll be featuring a Q&A with Frog God Games, the new publishers of Swords & Wizardry (and they of the late most recent online hobby dust-up). I asked them about their associations with Necrom[...]
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Descent into the Depths of the Gold Star Anime Part II

Part ICast of CharactersBob – The Wizard, 3rd level Human Thothian MageSeth – Dunnigan, 4th level Dwarven FighterJohn – Hazar, 6th level Human ThugJohn (“the other John”)– Alaghazar, 3rd level Human Thothia[...]
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Review – The Sensitive prestige class (for Pathfinder)

The Sensitive prestige class is very well-written and it is perfect for a gothic horror campaign but may prove difficult to fit into other sorts of game. The Sensitive: a ghostly prestige class for your gothic horror fan[...]
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Old School Harlotry

Topless Robot has a thorough breakdown of the infamous Harlot table from the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide: link (NSFW language).I wonder what the XP table for the Rich Panderer looks like?[...]
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New (Old) Red Box Character Sheets (Yeah, I know it’s 4E)

Looks like some retro character sheets have been prepared to go along with the launch of the new (old) Red Box.Yes, I know 4e is heinous in every way but the character sheets and portraits are cool.http://www.wizards.com[...]
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R.I.P. Charles S. Roberts

Charles S. Roberts, founder of The Avalon Hill Game Company and designer of games such as Tactics II and Gettysburg, died last week at the age of 80. If that name sounds familiar, it should, as there is a Charles S. Robe[...]
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Sunday Matinee: Westworld (1973)

Michael Crichton never met a technology he ever liked.His books and films are filled with alarmist bashing of the potential of robotics (Westworld), cloning (Jurassic Park), brain implants (The Terminal Man), time travel[...]
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Greyhawk Session #4

For some reason, this session was marked by a decided increase in the number of asides, jokes, puns, and other non-game-related chatter. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing! On the contrary-- I think it's a sign that [...]
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Module Retrospective: Red Hand of Doom

I recently chatted with someone about Red Hand of Doom. I cannot for the life of me remember who it was, where it was, or even what language it was in. However, the conversation gave me a push to reread the module, which[...]
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who gets to be the DM?

The 1983 Mentzer Red Box and the Essentials Red Box introduce the DM role in similar terms: Mentzer: "One person must also learn how to be a Dungeon Master (or DM) - the person who plays the role of the Monsters. The oth[...]
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Back of the Red Boxes

The back of the 1983 Red Box contains INFINITELY more ALL-CAP WORDS used for EMPHASIS! Most of them are the word "FUN"! A dragon "swoops TOWARDS you with a ROAR!" It's "more FUN than any other game!" "Start having "FUN"![...]
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Red Box differences

There are a few differences between the Red Boxes besides the depth and the publisher name. Below the picture, the 1983 box says, "This game requires no gameboard because the action takes place in the player's imaginatio[...]
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Elmore today

Seeing the classic Elmore art on another D&D Red Box made me think about the continuity of the hobby. It's good to know that another generation will grow up knowing that red dragons have knees. Also, is it possible t[...]
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liveblogging D&D Essentials Starter

I just picked up the D&D Essentials box, and I'll blog my thoughts as I read through it. The new Essentials Red Box is bigger than the 1983 Mentzer Red Box. The box is the same height and width, but about 50% deeper.[...]
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inns & taverns: the goblin’s head

The Goblin's Head is solidly-built, a long two-storey stone building amid taller wooden tenements at the corner of a street of smiths.  The rooftop is thickly thatched, ivy clings to the walls... Click the title if[...]
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KotM2 Fight! Broodiken

Welcome to the King of the Monsters 2 finals (see the list of finalists): the broodiken is random finalist 10 of 10. These submissions are left almost entirely as they were received with the exceptions that all submissi[...]
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New Campaign!

Starting up a new one tonight. The system is Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The players are all women. One is completely new to roleplaying, another has hung out with roleplayers for a while and played a single sess[...]
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here’s a campaign idea to steal

The Antillian Colonial War - 1827This one requires that we first postulate the existence of Antillia, that mid-Atlantic island—mythical as Atlantis—with which cartographers decorated their maps until well into the ni[...]
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There is no spoon … eh … OSR

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to prove that there’s no renewed interest in older editions of D&D and other games, but I want to share my thoughts on the perception of that phenomenon. Recently there was some[...]
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