Starting OSRIC(AD&D) T1-4 in Austin, TX

Play one of the classics T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil. OSRIC (same as AD&D but currently available in PDF or printed). Raise your characters from lvl 1 schmucks to heroes who can take on and defeat a demi-god! Experienced and new players alike are welcome.

Bonus: By popular demand, campaign will include Caves of Chaos action.




Inaugural session Sunday June 19th 11:00am at DM's, Norm's, house in south Austin (near Mopac and William Cannon). email njharman@knoggin.com for info directions. Possibly moving to King's Hobby* for future sessions. Probably 1or2/mo depending on groups availability desire.


*Went by Kings Hobby other day and they mentioned having space for and desire for people to run games.  Which is awesome.  And great news as there's was a dearth of decent public game space in Austin.

Vornheim The Complete City Kit Review

tldr; buy this unless you loath "off the cuff" style of DMing.


Another NTRPG Con 2011 purchase.  I've read some of Zak S. Vornheim blog posts but dropped off blogosphere several months ago and didn't even know this book existed.  I recognized the art style and name right off.

Was sadden by hardback (and slipcover) until I learned it was "only" $17.50 Which ain't bad for a 64 page book let alone a hardback one.  The entire book is, of course, in the proper digest size.  Since the cover and back of the hardback is actually used to roll dice on the hardbackness is nice and the binding lays perfectly flat.  The inside of slipcover is a map of Vornheim and instructions on using hardback.  Every inch (indside of hardback cover, the normally blank facing page, back cover, every bit of paper is filled.  And the fonts used are on the small side (but not microscopic).  This book is a stuffed with gaming goodness as much as a little book can be.

The art I believe is all Zak's. Whose style I'll wager is polarazing.  I like it.  Although, a few of his drawings are maps, even if you don't care for his art the amount is not so overwhelming and the other content is worth it.  The layout is nice, clean and seems that it would facilitate rapid, easy in game use.  The production values including printing, materials, and binding are high.  Props to author and publisher in equal measure.

Vornheim The Complete City Kit as the name might suggest is a schizophrenic work.  On the one hand it describe the cold, creepy city of Vornheim.  On the other it proffers a philosophy and tools to run city adventures "just in time".

Rough break down of what you get.  Page of introduction.  Page of regional map and key. Six or so pages of Vornheim overview, personalities, background etc.  Several more pages dedicated to various locations (actually cool mini dungeons) around Vornheim.  House of the Medusa, Immortal Zoo of Ping Feng, Library of Zorlac.  Typical Vornheim tower and player (this book is the content Zak uses in his game) commentaries.  Together provide enough meat to get a feel for the style and atmosphere of Vornheim as well as plenty of hooks/inspiration/space to make it your own.  And some ready to run for when DM is caught pants down.

Next are, for me, the exiting parts of running city "on the fly". Urban crawl rules.  Instant floor plans, chase system, libraries, shop locations/demographics, NPC connections.  And lots of charts and generation systems (the front/back covers), ~22 pages.  Tables: Aristocrats Books, city NPCs, City Shopkeepers, Contacts, Directions, Encounters, Fortunes, "I search the Body", Legal Situations, Magic Effects, Taverns and Games, Buildings.  There's also a further reading list (always like) and conversions to 3x.

I like/agree with the JIT style of gaming, I like this book.  It's maybe not perfect but for $17.50 it doesn't have to be.  It's a valuable addition to one's gaming arsenal and I recommend DMs pick it up if only to read/explore Zak's style of running city adventures.  Personally I'll be using it in my Gold & Glory campaign if the players ever make it to Nindus, The City of Necromancers.

Buy it in Print / Buy it in PDF

Good: bang/buck, the several extractable "systems" for city adventuring, Vornheim's not another squeee! clichéd, magic == technology, badly faux fantasy city.

Bad: (I dig it) but if you don't subscribe to the "on the fly", "off the cuff", a "100 entry table is better than a 100 page description" philosophy of DMeering this book is not for you. Some content has been published on Zak's blog (but like he said in intro it'd be kind of lame to call something complete if 1/4 of the tables were on the Internet.)

Ugly: slip covers are a PITA, but book is still 100% usable after I stuffed slip in drawer.

Sunday Links

Things I've seen around the interwebs last few days.


Huzzah!  http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/2011/06/thank-you-all-very-much.html

Dodecahedron RPG Zine from A Character for Every Game blog.

Pockets picked

Pretty http://matt-landofnod.blogspot.com/2011/06/deviant-friday-ilias-kyriazis-edition.html

A music Video!

EZ Happy Donut

[This was a writing exercise I did when I lived in SF and had a writing group.  Wave guys, I miss you.  Thought it is an interesting adventure hook.  Playing Paranoia at NTRPG Con made me remember this ;) Oh, lots of cussing below, if you're bothered by that, go away.]

EZ Happy Donut

Alphon was hungry.  He'd been picking neolopes out of hydroponic bays all shift long.  Ten hours, no break, only pick, no food, only pick.

The EZ Happy Donut sign pulsed green then orange as he stumbled up and slumped onto a plastic tool discolored by the asses of countless pickers before him. The sugary smell of freshed baked donuts that was pumped out of the circulation ducts all along this section made him sick, but he was too hungry to care.

"Gimme an old-fashioned and a..."

"Please restate order in 'product desired' - 'product quantity' form."  The supposedly soothing voice of the automat interrupted.

"Fucked up lame software."

"Order confirmed, insert Universal, PCA or Orbital3 debit card, now."

"What order? I haven't finished!"

"Insert debit card now, please"

"Tell me what you think I ordered."  Alphon knew this was way too complex of an inquiry for the version 3.x automats they installed in WorkerZone.

"Insert debit card or be in violation of Orbital3 code Title 372 Section G 'Ordering products or services from an automated device with no intent to pay or fraudulent intent'"

"Fuck this, cancel order & gimme a god damn old..."

"Order has been confirmed unable to comply with cancel request.  New order function not available until current order complete.  Please insert debit card."

Alphon looked at the only other automat at this EZ Happy Donut.  Someone had put what looked like a glide rail strut through its screen.  It didn't look very operational.  The girl who had been waiting behind him gave a sort of "thanks for breaking it, asshole" look and headed off towards the Qwicky Licky BBQ automats further down the corridor.

"Please insert debit card within the next 60 seconds or be in violation of Orbital3 code Title 372 Section G.  This is the official notification required by Orbital3 code Title 380 Sections A & C."

"Blow me!"  Alphon started checking the numerous pockets they put on Orbital3 duty jumpsuits for an old debit card.  One he hoped only had enough for a donut or two.  He had heard that some other picker was delivered 118 pairs of foul weather gloves from a fucked up automat.  Why foul weather gloves are even on the menu in climate controlled station was of no concern to the arbitration panel, they denied his debit reversal appeal.  That kind of shit Alphon didn't need.

"30 seconds until violation, please insert debit card."

"Yeah, yeah."  Alphon found the card that had been floating amongst the neolope roots just a few hours earlier.  Local Orbital3 issue, looked beat to hell, maybe it had a few creds left.  He stuck it in.  At least it wasn't in his name.

"Thank you, Chief Director Johnson.  One pink sparkles, $4.78 total debit."

Alphon stared at the name on the graphical display, not sure whether to push the card return or to bolt.  Sudden movements like that tended to get the camera systems to alert station security.  Instead he glanced around, he was relatively alone.  Then a thought occurred to him.

"Account balance" he asked?

"Current balance is three-hundred seventyfive-thousand eight-hundred sixteen point seventy-two credits."

He grabbed the card and left the donut.  Alphon's life had either gotten a whole lot better or a whole lot worse.  He wasn't sure which.


You can continue this tale at StoryMash.com

LotFP Grindhouse Review

[Disclosure: I don't like Raggi (or at least the person he plays on the Internet).  I don't believe this biases my review, but you may.  So, feel free to stop reading now.  Oh, another bias I may have and which probably **is** responsible for the central thesis of this review is, to me, anything ~$20 less seems cheap and a no thought "buy", anything over ~$35 had better be damn awesome.  Like more value than two editions of Fight On!, like that's gonna happen.]


tldr; If you're in a narrow niche (ha, gotta read to find out what niche that is) and willing to shell out a wad of cash, it's good and exactly what you want.  For "experienced" RPG'rs there's not enough to justify the price.

I'm sure everybody and their familiar has reviewed this already.  But, whatever, I've been off the blogs for months and it's new to me.  Just picked up mine last weekend at NTRPG Con 2011 (impulse buy cause box looked so damn cool and my rational mind was weaken from Con Spending Spree!).

The packaging is cool and packed. Three books (of the proper size, digest), dice, character sheets, everything you need.  The art is everywhere, really the most art I've ever seen even compared to some coffee table art books. (there's even 8 gratuitous full color plates in the middle of one book).  Most of the art excellent (some merely good).  It suits and compliments the material.  And I appreciate that it's (not sure word arranged? composed? directed as in Art Director) well.  Of similar quality and the styles synergize with each other.  Beautiful.  For a collector proly makes it worth the price of admission.  But I don't collect games, I play them.

"Tutorial" seems excellent.  Using programmed instruction and "choose your own" style adventure.  Along with an extensive 20 page! example of play. It truly is a tutorial.  I very much like the extensive Recommended Reading section which goes into detail on the lives and writings of the usual authors.  95 pages.  This should be a PDF download and would probably help spread RPGs to many.


"Referee", 95 pages, has much that a newb DM needs to learn.  It's opinionated which is better than being vague and useless.  I especially like how Monsters and Magic Items are handled.  Rather than having lists of them it's explained what they're for, how to use them, and how to create them yourself.  The sections on attracting players and survey of "Traditional"(their word not mine) RPG products are interesting.  But this whole book is written like the Internet doesn't exist and the reader is incapable of doing Google search.  (Which feeds into point below that product should have been less pages and price).  There's a sample adventure which should have been a separate book.

Final book, "Rules & Magic", is largest at 166pages.  Half taken up with spells to 9th level.  Cause newb players need that ultra high level content in the first product they buy.  This book is booring.  There's little (I saw) innovative here.  Even the encumbrance system I've seen people rave about isn't changing things from adding up what you carry apply all these modifiers.  It just made it more granular.  The rules seem to take bunches of finiggly bits from AD&D but none of the fun stuff like classes.  The Specialist is nice but like 3rd time I've seen that type of system.  So many rules.  Maybe that's what newb needs.  But, I'd much rather see emphasis on rulings.  More rule 0 and 1 from Referee book.  Do what seems fun, when in doubt roll d6 low is bad, high is good.  Less, much less, how many days can I survive without water and what do I roll... 

Overall this product from the tutorial to DM advice is squarely written for new players.  For a new DM with some friends.  Probably all younger (as in under 30) with no to little experience with paper RPGs.  This is that niche I mentioned.  And I just can't see a $45 product being the right one to target that audience.  The various pocket/field editions of various RPGs (e.g. Savage Worlds, M&M, Mongoose Trav) for $10-$20 are better price/product for that purpose.  Dump all the high level spells, nautical adventures, use a simpler rule system, be less verbose and this could have been one of those products.   For non-newbs the tutorial and most of the DM book is wasted paper.  It's priced, packaged, and stuffed with art like a deluxe edition but serves up intro edition content.  Satisfying no one 'cept star eyed fan boy/girls.


Good: Art, composition/style, "game in a box", tutorial and newb DM advice.

Bad: Price, ho hum system.  Miss-matched content/price/audience.

Ugly: It's full of rules.

South Texas Mini-con

UPDATE:  http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2011/06/south-texas-mini-con-august-20-save.html

In August, In New Braufels (which I guess qualifies as "South" and "Texas").  Details on the Hill Cantons blog.

Ignore the Austin

DCC RPG

I'm regretting not signing up for the play test sessions offered at NTRPG Con 2011.

Holy fucking crap that is a lot of really stupendously fantastic inspiring art in the Beta download.  If those images don't make you **ache** to roll dice and adventure across graphpaper, man I don't know.  Ask Data for you emotion chip back or something.


The biggest thing I'm giddy with excitement over is how this product will reach masses of players.  Who are going to be exposed (and hopefully indoctrinated ;) to most of my preferred style.

• Stats in order / in general random generation over "char building".
• Race as class, suck it gnome paladin!
• Death happens and it makes game fun.
• Rulings over rules / don't need a rule to do something, just a DM.
• Morale, shit don't just keep attacking until you beat the XP out of it.
• Magic is fickle and not entirely under your control.
• Weird is were it's at!
• Proper adventuring attire is pointy pg 44

There's differences but I'm willing to take the bad with the good. Esp if it's gonna be illustrated all funktacular like.

Half of Goodman's Games make me cry tears of suckyness but then they publish products like Dungeon Alphabet and this.  I can't hate'm but I can't love'm either.  Damn shades of grey!

NTRPG 2011 Quotes

Things I heard at NTRPG 2011 and remembered to write down.  Apologize in advance for misquotes as there's likely to be some.

"You're one of those fruity half-elves? Commit one way or the other!" 
-- Tim Kask


"We using those new-fangled variable damage rules or d6 for everything"
-- Frank Metzer


"Do we have an elf that can get oiled up and naked to do all the levers at once?"
-- thankfully forgotten


As I returned from the bathroom, "A flask of oil hits you in the back of the head"
-- forgotten


"Ticks falling from the ceiling like blood sucking confetti."
-- Mike Stewart

NTRPG 2011 Report

[tldr; you should have gone]

Some other people's reports on NTRPG 2011

Yeehaw! That was a blast. Over sooooo fast I couldn't believe it was already Sunday.  2nd time attending and will definitely be back next year.   Nice to see more of the Austin Region Crew.  Will try harder to convince more of them to go next year.  It's a fun con, run by great guys, at a really nice and convenient hotel.  But, for me at least, (even though I'm not a celeb chaser or signature collector) I get one hell of a kick out of being DM'd by and playing with people who wrote the games, modules, and magazines that thrilled me so much as a teenager it started a life long hobby.  I healed the guy who wrote the original Druid class.  That's bad ass in my book.

Thursday morning I was too excited I couldn't sleep so I headed north around 3:30 am, only took a few hours and had to spend the morning dozing in my car until I could check in.  That night Ben Burns ran my very first game ever of Paranoia.  A game that I've been curious about since first seeing ads in Dragon Magazine.  My communist mutant only lost two clones and succeeded in recruiting two comrades. Power to the Infrareds, down with the computer! 

Friday I returned to Matt Finch's Mythrus Tower.   An ongoing convention S&W campaign.  Father John (my character from last year) and party futz around on 1st level for a while before plunging to the 3rd level and totally p0wning some ghouls.  Early edition clerics turn undead is darn powerful.  Later on I played in Bill Web's Mythrus game which was wilderness adventure.  I died.  Fortunately I had made a pact with another cleric to use my raise dead scroll if I died.  Oh, death by Giant Coral snake bite, 1pt of damage save or die vs poison.  Over all this con was costly for Father John.  He expended all three potions of heal he had, a scroll of raise dead. Otoh, he gained a+1 mace, several thousands of  gold ;), and a level. Now 5th and able to cast 3rd level spells, woot!

That evening Dennis Sustare ran me and several others through his great module (written for NTRPG Con 2011) "Tourist Traps".  Emphasis on the plural in traps.  Swords & Wizardy rules.  Fun and different module where characters are at a resort town, Fort Charles, for some rest and relaxation.   Fun, funny and filled with "references" such as my favorite two crows Munin and Hugin.  I liked playing in this module so much I bought a copy and I'm not much of a module purchaser.   Btw Grognardia's interview with Dennis.

Saturday was the before mentioned Mythrus Wilderness, the auction in which I bought lots of art (more on that later).  After dinner I and several other brave Millenians plundered the Tomb of Amemnes, a Basic/Expert Hollow World adventure written and DM'd by Steve Winter for NTRPG 2011.  Travis was one of the funniest thieves I've every gamed with.  Several other good role-players eliminated the potential tedium of exploring trap infested tombs.  The well written module helped there as well.  Short, but varied and interesting.  I actually won a copy of this module in the raffle.  Pretty darn cool.

Sunday, wow already. It came fast but 3 days of junk food and 9am till midnight gaming was wearing heavy on me.  I lasted for a few more hours in which I explored a too small portion of Castle of the Mad Archmage DM'd by Jon Hershberger.  AD&D.  I'm very proud that my Paladin was able to topple the blasphemous rat god temple before I left early to drive home before I passed out.

See ya next year.

Three Castles Award

Announced at last years NTRPG Con.  This year's, 2011, winner was "The Dungeon Alphabet" and Michael Curtis.  Huzzah and congrats.  Not sure if I could decide between  that and "The Majestic Wilderlands".  The judges that did were Paul Jaquays, Tim Kask, Rob Kuntz, Dennis Sustare, and Steve Winter.

The nominees included:

• B/X Companion (Jonathan Becker) 
• LOTFP Weird Fantasy Roleplaying (James Raggi) 
• Stonehell Dungeon(Michael Curtis)  
• The Dungeon Alphabet (Michael Curtis)  
• The Majestic Wilderlands (Rob Conley) 

I own all but the first, the last three are awesome.  Just got LOTFP at NTRPG and haven't had a chance to really get into it.


More info (the symbolism is pretty cool) on The Three Castles Award.  Hmmm, but I see that link doesn't explain it.  Well the top castle is Dave Arneson's Blackmoor from which creativity flows down to G. Gygax's Castle Greyhawk and Robert Kuntz's El Raja castle.