Holy Crap! Ten Days! What Gives?

Man, time really flies, and it's easy to let blogging get away from you. I'm still working on the next entry in my "Reading OD&D" series, as well as my "Reading AD&D" series. Unfortunately, I'm into monsters and magic items in both, and that takes a lot longer to carefully read and parse than general rules and character classes. I also feel like it's going to yield less useful information, so it may be worth it just to finish reading, truncate those particular entries with some general observations and move on.

What else is going on? My friend and colleague Tim Brannan (of The Other Side blog) and I are working on a pretty big project at the moment. I don't want to say much right now, because there's still a million things that can go wrong between here and release (not the least of which is funding) but if we can get it together it's going to be really badass. I'll be releasing it through Elf Lair Games when it's ready to go. I can say it's related to a recent blog I did...



I'm still working on Amazing Adventures for the 5e rules set, and I got the good news that it should be going into Kickstarter (at long last!) sometime in March or early April. Dare I hope for a release at Origins? Probably not, but I can hope. Playtest for that one continues and is going great. I'll be at Gary Con next week and am running a sneak preview adventure of it, which is currently sold out. I can't wait! I'm also running a D&D 5 game with the Troll Lord house setting of Aihrde that will function as a sneak preview of the 5e Player's Guide to Aihrde, and I'll be running an Amazing Adventures "classic" (SIEGE Engine) module. I'll be running the same scenarios at Origins.

Truth be told, the playtest, getting those scenarios ready, and working on the new project with Tim is what's occupying most of my time these days, and why I fell off the blogging wagon for the last 10 days.  Just wanted to give everyone a heads' up that I'm still alive and haven't fallen off the face of the earth again!

Comments

  1. Scott AndersonFebruary 28, 2019 at 2:30 PM

    Don’t worry about it. This should be fun! Write when it’s fun. We will be here :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Darkness Spell in 5e is Pointless

Image
 Here's a fun observation. The spell darkness, in 5e, has absolutely zero mechanical effect in 5th edition D&D. Darkness creates a heavily obscured area .  Creatures within that area effectively suffer from the blinded condition. Blinded characters suffer disadvantage on attacks, and creatures attacking them have advantage. The spell negates darkvision . All characters within the sphere of magical darkness have disadvantage to attack, but advantage to attack other creatures in the darkness. This advantage and disadvantage cancel each other out . All creatures within the space of a darkness spell battle as normal. The spell is, from a mechanical sense, pointless and negated. Certainly this discounts a proper GM who looks past it and says, "no, that's stupid," but yeah, strictly BY THE BOOK it's a pretty gross oversight by the designers of the game from a mechanical standpoint. Also, I pointed this out to the Sage Advice people some time ago and they confirmed
Read more

Lembas - Elvish Waybread: a real-world recipe

Here's a recipe I put together for Lembas bread. Didn't know I could bake, did you? Well, I can, and I'm pretty durned good at it when I want to be. Note: Okay, this isn't exactly directly related to OD&D, but we all know that there is a relationship between OD&D and Middle Earth, and this makes for a good holiday treat, or a nice, filling and fairly healthy snack at the gaming table. Here's how it came about: we were doing a Lord of the Rings marathon at my buddy Mike's house when the RotK extended edition came out. Mike has a 42" widescreen and a really kick ass surround sound system, so we got together at 9:00 AM on Saturday and watched all twelve-plus hours of the epic trilogy back to back. It was awesome. Anyway, I wanted to contribute something so I started searching for recipes for Lembas bread. My efforts that year were futile, but flash forward to last Christmas. I got the hankering to try again, so I looked up some recipes onli
Read more

Tech Blog: Xiaomi Mi Box S vs NVIDIA SHIELD TV Android TV Boxes

Image
Yeah, I know, this is an old-school gaming blog, but I needed somewhere to put this, and it's a bit of a ramble, so bear with me. If anyone is cutting the cord, this may come in handy for you. Juliette and I upgraded our streaming box today to an NVIDIA Shield TV. I had originally purchased a Xiaomi MiBox S as a test case for cutting the cord. I can now compare the two for anyone interested in going for an Android TV box.  Note that I did NOT go with the $190-$200 SHIELD Pro, which is the high end gaming version of the Shield TV, and comes with double the memory and an extra USB port. I went with the NVIDIA SHIELD TV "base" model, which looks like a cylinder. Xiaomi Mi Box S NVIDIA SHIELD TV Price  The MiBox S EASILY wins in this category, going for between $64 and $66 on Amazon. The Shield TV goes for $149 on Amazon and at Best Buy, where we bought ours.  Looks Again, I have to give the edge to the MiBox, here. It's a very unassuming small, black, square box that sit
Read more

Psionics in Dungeons & Dragons Part I: Original D&D

Image
I'd like to take a couple blog entries to explore the concept of psionics in the early editions of D&D--specifically, original D&D and AD&D first edition. Psionics, traditionally, have been a much-reviled part of the D&D opus, and those who do not include them in their game are certainly far more common than those who do include them. It's no secret that even Gary Gygax lamented and regretted their inclusion, and didn't use them himself. As with any aspect of the game, ask 100 players why they don't like psionics, and you'll get at least 50 different answers (if not more). The vast majority, however, will come down to one of two major points: They are science-fiction feeling and simply don't have a place in a fantasy game They are overcomplicated, confusing, and simply arcane and unworkable.  I can't really address point one. If you simply don't like the idea of psionics, if you feel like they're not fantasy-feeling, and y
Read more

Psionics in Dungeons & Dragons, Part II: Advanced D&D

Image
Now that we've looked at how Psionics work in original Dungeons & Dragons, let's examine how they work in Advanced D&D. Readers may be shocked to discover that psionics in AD&D are, in many ways, much easier and more straightforward than they are in OD&D. The two systems are very similar, but there are some important and notable differences. The next blog entry in this series will compare and contrast the two systems, but for now I want to focus on how they work to keep a clean exploration and explanation of these two rules sets, both of which offer a lot of fun and something different and mysterious for D&D games that have become a bit rote in their approach. Psionics can present an interesting approach to mysticism in an AD&D game, particularly one that seeks to represent certain styles of 1970s and 80s fantasy, particularly those of writers like Mercedes Lackey, Ursula K. LeGuin, Andre Norton, and Marion Zimmer Bradley, which in modern terms system
Read more

MCU Films: Multiversal Order

Image
Now that we have the multiverse officially in place with the MCU, that makes pretty much every single media property throughout the history of the company part of the MCU. In case anyone was wondering, and just for fun, I’ve put together the correct chronological order of ALL of the Marvel films across the entire Multiverse, including all theatrical films since the 1990s. Here they are. All 64 of them so far, should you want to watch them in chronological order. I did not include the TV series in here because let’s be realistic.  I have also added Earth designations from the official Marvel database, modified with additional designations where crossovers may theoretically exist. It is possible, for example, that the Deadpool movies take place in the X-Men universe, but by no means certain, and it is likely that the intent of Logan is to present an endgame for the Earth-10005 timeline, but it was given its own designation "just in case".) According to the Marvel Database, real
Read more

Review: Original Dungeons & Dragons Premium Reprint

Image
  (Stock Image) Source: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/45390000 Introduction To put a crown jewel on their “Premium Reprint,” series, Wizards of the Coast has re-released the original Dungeons & Dragons rules. Specifically, this reprint is of the sixth printing, or “OCE” (Original Collector’s Edition) version of the rules. Like many fans of the old school, I was rather excited and more than a little nervous about this product. For $150, would they screw it up? Would it be handled properly? Would it, unlike the reprints for second and third editions, truly be premium? Yesterday, I headed to my FLGS and picked up my OD&D Premium Reprint. Here are my thoughts. Presentation This set is really nice. It comes in an actual wooden box, a nice nod to the original rules which came in a printed woodgrain box. The box construction is sturdy and just overall excellent. It has a nice velvet pad on the bottom to keep from scratching you
Read more

Wasted Lands - a Completely Customizable RPG

Image
Here we go, folks! The final blog before the Wasted Lands Kickstarter launches ! Stay tuned for more behind the curtain looks as the campaign progresses, but this one completes the big lead-up!  Previous blogs in this series: Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is Imminent! Will Wasted Lands be a Retroclone? What Are Divine Touchstones? Races (Species) and Cultural Backgrounds How Do Tiered Abilities Work?   Class Abilities in Wasted Lands For some time now we've been pushing "Your Game, Your Way" as a slogan for Powered by O.G.R.E.S. games , and many wonder what kind of meaning that carries. After all, everyone claims that their game is the one you've been looking for, and the concept of a universal game system has been around almost as long as RPGs themselves. Even the earliest versions of D&D had sci-fi elements and the first edition DMG discussed melding the system with a range of genres.  So what do we mean exactly when we talk about O.G.R.E.S. as a customizable s
Read more

Gummi Bears - Bouncing Here and There and Everywhere

Image
I don't care what anyone says, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears was a damn great fantasy cartoon back in the day, and it deserves a D&D treatment. If you've never heard of it, here it is on YouTube for free, or you can watch it in a less clumsy format on Disney+ www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcdHhJ83WveO5S9AeAeDKD-qQrsfB4dpw Also, the theme song is one of the catchiest cartoon themes ever. Okay, so...   Source:  https://www.deviantart.com/tomarmstrong20/art/Adventures-of-the-Gummi-Bears-1985-1991-566374688 GUMMI BEARS (Stats for Original, Basic, Advanced and most OSR games) No. Appearing: 1-8 Hit Dice: 1-5 Armor Class: 7 (2 with gummi berry juice) / 13/18 high AC Attack: By weapon or bounce slam (1d6) Special: Gummi Berry Juice, Stealth Move: 12 (18 with gummi berry juice) / 30ft/45ft Modern games Size: Small % in Lair: 60% Alignment: Lawful Treasure: C XP: Varies by hit dice Primes (for Castles & Crusades): P,M Description
Read more