redneck damnation van
source[...]Read on >>
The Gygaxian Building Blocks
This post is nothing more than a quote swiped from a longer post over at theRPGsite, written by my favorite Prussian, Settembrini. I just wanted to save a copy and thought I'd share.The REAL and HUGE[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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 [...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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 [...]Read on >>
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%. [...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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?[...]Read on >>
New Campaign!
August 27, 2010 from How to Start a Revolution in 21 Days or Less
Filed under: Campaign, Old School, RPG, RPG Hub
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[...] Filed under: Campaign, Old School, RPG, RPG Hub
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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[...]Read on >>
Official Internet Meme of the OSR
So given the reactions to my post yesterday, I think we have found the official Internet meme of the OSR. Please use it as you see fit. Disclaimer: I did not create this picture. I first encountered it [...]Read on >>
black hobbits
So once upon a time I bought a module called Rat On A Stick, based solely on the name and cover art. Turned out it was a dungeon adventure for Tunnels & Trolls and/or Monsters! Monsters!, the obscure T&T va[...]Read on >>
On Production Values
Yesterday’s little flap over the whole Frog God Games business got me thinking a bit about production values, specifically how I’ve regarded them over the years.Keep in mind I come partially from a Palladium heritage[...]Read on >>
Frog God Games, the OSR, and a big ol’ "Huh?"
Ok, so first off, I'm a hardcore Necromancer Games fanboy. Without a doubt, they have made some of my favorite RPG products. So when Bill Webb (a.k.a. Tsathogga), an NG co-founder, announced its resurrection [...]Read on >>
New S&W Publisher To Audience: Your Work Sucks
EDIT: So, it looks like Bill Webb showed up in the comments at Chgowiz's blog and attempted to set things straight/explain/what-have-you. Thanks to him for taking the time to do so. I'll let you read it as well, to se[...]Read on >>
artifact project update
Wow! Since Thursday's open call for artifact submissions I've gotten about 25 magic items sent to me. Thanks everybody for all the great magic items! I was thinking that 20 or 30 artifacts would be[...]Read on >>
Using Random Dungeons
Recently, I came across Dizzy Dragon Games’ online random dungeon generation tool. I’m not a big old schooler, so at first I considered it a novelty. But I watched it roll up a cute little map and it got [...]Read on >>
TSR1-INSIDIOUS: Interview With Creator Devon Hibbs
It's been an interesting stretch for Die Cast Games. Not long after their TSR1-INSIDIOUS module was released, there was a firestorm regarding their use of the term "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" on the front of their[...]Read on >>
Open Call: minor artifacts & relics
Last week I talked a little about artifacts and relics as they appear in Eldritch Wizardry and the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide. I think it's time we all did something about the paucity of lesser artifacts in [...]Read on >>
Do dralasites smell like poo?
A few quotes from the canonical information on Dralasites linked from StarFrontiers.com:The internal structure of a Dralasite is very different from the other races. The Dralasite's central nerve bundle (brain), num[...]Read on >>
less a party and more like a circus
I run an open table. If you can make it to a session, that's super-keen. If you miss four runs in a row that's unfortunate but you're not treated any differently than any of the regulars. Last nigh[...]Read on >>
This will not end well
I like to keep an eye on the OSR movement since I like the spirit of what is going on, I love many of the products and most of the people involved are also very cool.But this is something that will not end well at all.ht[...]Read on >>
Unjustified Player Grinching
August 12, 2010 from How to Start a Revolution in 21 Days or Less
Filed under: Old School, RPG, RPG Hub
JB's had an interesting post up recently about how every campaign has a "Robilar." One player who's a lot more into the game, plays more, makes every session, even goes off on solo adventures if the DM is up for it. Appa[...] Filed under: Old School, RPG, RPG Hub
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X+1
In the comments to yesterday's post about beating monsters your sword can't hurt BigFella of Saturday Night Sandbox made a really great point:I think the trick is not having a certain "magic bullet" that's the only way t[...]Read on >>
plus items vs. plus something or better critters
In a comment to yesterday's post about magic items, Gameblog reader Lizard brings up a good point:I think there's game balance issues with doing away with magic items altogether, between expected "to hit" rolls and thing[...]Read on >>
Download the Microlite75 Final Playtest Draft
What I hope will be the final playtest draft of Microlite75 is now ready for people to download. No major changes in this draft, other than splitting the game into two books and adding an optional Vancian "Fire and Forge[...]Read on >>
Help Design a Beginner’s Microlite75 Dungeon
As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I thought it might be fun to create a "starter" dungeon for Microlite75 as a group. Just take the next room in a comment and go to town, following the basic format I use for the first[...]Read on >>
an idea for a magic item overhaul
My favorite scene in the film Dead Poets Society comes when Robin Williams, playing the new nonconformist English teacher at an uptight boys prep school, instructs his class to rip out the introduction to their poet[...]Read on >>
Podcast Update
The list of podcasts I listen to. Some old school D&D podcasts have joined the ranks.[...]Read on >>
you’ll probably need to turn up the volume
My wife wants me to note that I swiped that purple bag from her. The video camera is hers, too.[...]Read on >>
Ye Olde Book of Spells on sale
Just go this in the ol' email. If you're already ordering something from Lulu now's the perfect time to grab a print copy of Ye Olde Book. Or, you know, make your own booklet with this print-ready version.&nb[...]Read on >>
2?
Reading all the comments to Tuesday's proposal for "Jeff's Stupid Rules" it seems like folks want at least two different things:An old school rule book that basically allows you to play something recognizable as pic[...]Read on >>
Monkeying With Swords & Wizardry
One of the posts that I've been contemplating for some time is a mash-up of old school D&D and Risus. I don't mean using Risus to run old school games (though I'm a big fan of doing just that). Rather, I'm talking ab[...]Read on >>
follow up to a serious question
I have been informed that some people I respect are quietly putting together a Holmes retroclone, expected to be out this fall. (BTW I expected Ye Olde Book of Spells to be out almost three[...]Read on >>
a serious question
Does anyone know of a retro-clone rulebook specifically emulating the old blue book version of D&D edited by Dr. Holmes? Anybody know of one in the works? Over the weekend I had a couple ideas as to[...]Read on >>
Putting my money where my mouth is…
So I spent a lot of time and text ripping into Outlaw Press, James Shipman and his art stealing ways.See:http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2009/12/outlaw-press-uses-stolen-art-and.htmlhttp://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/01/[...]Read on >>
Free Microlite75 RPG Playtest Draft 0.5 Available Now
The latest playtest version of the free Microlite75 RPG is now available for download. There aren't a lot of major changes in this version, other than Saving Throws, but there are a lot of small tweaks and minor changes [...]Read on >>
the depths of Minaria
I've talked about the classic TSR boardgame Divine Right before, focusing on its eminent suitability as setting material for a D&D campaign. A while back Evan over at Swords of Minaria posted a nice scan of the[...]Read on >>
Old School Dice Pool Class Sketches
So, more sketches related to the Old School Dice Pool concept I’ve been playing with. (You need to read those to understand this.) Designing character categories is neat because you break out subsystems, see their [...]Read on >>
weirdest death in recent memory
So last night Loric the Bard, Kelgar the Dwarf and the two junior magic-users Orlen and Bob visited the Dungeon of the Unknown (i.e. the dungeon I have located at the Cave of the Unknown on the wilderness map for the Kee[...]Read on >>
a trap just for you!
So on Sunday I posted a couple of random screen caps. One of them was Eldrad, the villain from the old Doctor Who episode The Hand of Fear. Here's another look at her.Gameblog reader Jayson Peters commented that Ha[...]Read on >>
Swords and Sorcery — In Wargaming
Grendelwulf's Axe & Hammer blog reprinted an article by Gary Gygax from the May 1974 issue of Wargamer's Digest recounting a D&D adventure with Mordenkainen at 13th level and Bigby at 11th level. They are later j[...]Read on >>
More Old School Dice Pool Shenanigans
I’m still thinking about that OD&D and Chainmail inspired dice pool system from the other day. Let me add a few rules: Exploding Dice: I resisted it, but it looks like I’ll need it to help characters deal with lo[...]Read on >>
go read Jaquaying the Dungeon
FYI there's a great series of posts over at the Alexandrian looking at the design ethos of legendary dungeon creator Paul Jaquays. Great stuff.[...]Read on >>
Aspects and Fate Points as Universal Mechanic
I find that this system generalizes benefits and drawbacks, feats, stunts, beliefs, traits, instincts, and all those little extras. The use of aspects seems like a cool way to flesh out your characters, giving them optio[...]Read on >>
New Saving Throw Rules for Microlite75
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago (in this post Microlite75 Saving Throws: Change Them Or Keep Them?) that I was thinking of changing the saving throws in Microlite75 to be more like those in 0e/1e as the older saving th[...]Read on >>
Imperishable Fame, epilogue
Last month I wrote a four part series called Imperishable Fame that outlined some thoughts I had for a campaign set in mythical pseudo-historical Indo-European times. Last week I got an email from Gameblog rea[...]Read on >>
