What to Buy Yourself on Xmas day

Today Dec 25th only Lulu is offering 30% discount coupon code 25DEC.  These are some items "off the beaten path" that you should take opportunity to acquire with this discount.  I've bought (the paperbacks) and recommend all the following. (prices sans discount)


Engines & Empire $9.99 - Intriguing mixture of Victorian, fantasty, steampunk based on D&D Rules Compendium).  Interesting rules to lift and use elsewhere. (Free PDF)

Backswords & Bucklers $7.74 - S&W Whitebox based Elizabethan fantasy adventure. Inspired by works such as Michael Moorcock’s Gloriana and Sir Walter Scott’s Kennilworth.  Neat!  (Free PDF)

Oubliette 1-4 Compilation $12,37 - 148 pages of Labyrinth Lord goodness.


And of course the latest Fight On! #13 and Knockspell #6.

It's d20 day!

I bet thinking about polyhedral dice monsters led to modrons. Clicky for more.

The 2nd Annual Three Castles Award

[Posted on behalf of Michael Badolato]

The 2nd Annual Three Castles Award is still accepting submissions through the end of the year (December 31st) for next year's award, to be given out at the 4th annual North Texas RPG Con. If you published a RPG adventure, setting, rulebook or sourcebook between October 1st 2010 and October 1st 2011 you are eligible. The focus of the award is on design, and last year's nominees (LoTFP Boxed Set, Stonehell Dungeon, Dungeon Alphabet, Majestic Wilderlands and B/X Companion) and initial winner (Michael Curtis' Dungeon Alphabet) exemplifies the type of excellence in small press products we want to publicize with the award. The NTRPG Con makes nothing off the award; on the contrary, we will NEVER break even considering the amount Doug paid for the absolutely beautiful statuette award given to the winner!

This is a designer award, not a publisher award, although the publisher is welcome to submit anything they wish for one of their authors. The only way this award will one day be able to boast an impressive run of quality winners is if the VERY BEST items are submitted every year, and that is up to the writers/designers themselves. So please, if you have neglected submitting your item so far, take the time to visit the site (ntrpgcon.com), go to the 3CastlesAward tab, fill out the required paperwork and send in three copies of your product for the initial selection process. Every year the judges are shuffled, and this year they are going to be Dennis Sustare, Rob Kuntz, Sandy Peterson, Dave "Zeb" Cook, and Steve Marsh....a group with an impressive list of skins on the wall in terms of products and ideas in the industry.

Share this with as many RPG designers as you can, and if you know of someone with an impressive RPG product release in the last year, encourage them to send in a submission for the award. Besides obviously promoting our convention, we really want to promote the industry and some of the great products out there that may be overlooked by gamers who only pay attention to the biggest companies releases each year.