September 30, 2010

Magic: The Gathering Dress

I haven't played Magic: The Gathering in years, but I still find this pretty damn cool.

From Geeks are Sexy - Magic: The Gathering Dress

September 29, 2010

I am a Remorhaz. Excellent.

I saw this over at The Dump Stat and had to give it a try. According to the WotC "What Monster Are You?" Quiz, I am a:


Excellent. Nothing like an old school, freezing death beast. Appropriate for a guy who often goes by "Frost." Although they spelled it wrong (should be "remorhaz").



September 28, 2010

Miniature Terrain and Painting, the Polymythic Way

polymythic
My good friend Polymythic Steve (not to be confused with Steve the Yuan-ti Party Hound) has  posted an excellent “how-to” series about creating terrain and painting miniatures for miniature wargaming.  Steve shows how he made his terrain and painted his miniatures for Ambush Alley, but this stuff is applicable for any game involving miniatures.  I think the terrain creation is particularly ingenious. 

Give it a look:AA-Terrain14

September 25, 2010

Let’s See What You Got – The Gestalt World Challenge

Fantasy_World_by_EvilDemonAkira Last year I entered a Castles & Crusades Society contest and managed to win a copy of Brave Halfling’s Ruins of Ramat module (see here: link).  The contest took place on the now-defunct C&CS message boards.  It was called the Gestalt World Contest and I think Robert Doyel, author of the excellent (and highly underrated) Engineering Dungeons, started it. (A quick side note, if you are interested in Engineering Dungeons, don’t let the fact it’s a C&C product put you off. It is damn near system neutral and well worth $10).

The contest was a lot of fun and generated some great content.  I say we bloggers do something similar.  It won’t be a contest, but rather simply a cool way to churn out some ideas.
  
Here is how it works:

1.) Take the name of a person, item, or location offered up by a fellow blogger.

2.) Write up your description for the name and post it on your blog.  Include a link to the name’s source.

3.) Include a new name in your blog post for another person to use.

4.) Rinse, wash, repeat.

Obviously the blog-o-world isn’t centralized, so we’ll have some redundancy, but who cares?  The worst that will happen is we’ll get alternate descriptions. That sounds fine to me.

I’ll kick this off with the description I used for the original contest.

Manistus the Scrivener

Manistus the Scrivener was renowned for his ability to transcribe magic writings, such as spells ink and scrolls. His transcriptions were works of art, containing beautiful calligraphy. However, the transcribed texts he provided were not quite the same as the originals: they were superior. A wizard casting spells from such transcriptions was able to empower his magics beyond his normal capabilities. Not surprisingly, Manistus' services were in high demand and he charged a pretty price.

Thirteen years ago, Manistus disappeared. Three wizards, clients of the scrivener, eager to protect their works (and possibly pilfer those of others) invaded his home, a nondescript outpost outside the city of Wavery. They discovered that not only was Manistus gone, but so were all of his instruments: papers, inks, quills, and so on. Much to their dismay, not one page of magic writing was to be found.

Although no proof has ever been shown, dark rumors still circulate as to the nature of Manistus' abilities. Some say that he made a dark pact with a devil. Others say that his transcriptions, often noted for their odd color, were penned in the blood of the innocent.

Next: The Green Gauntlet of Magla Lock

Go for it.
[*Fantasy World by EvilDemonAkira and  Blood Ink picture by Minutestocountdown]

September 22, 2010

Duke Omote’s Castles & Crusades House Rules, Enhancements, and Conversions

ACNCCastles & Crusades Society member and FPQ Member (president? founder perhaps?), Duke Omote has created some kick ass house rules for Castles & Crusades, which he calls Advanced Castles & Crusades.  One of the great features of C&C is that it is very easy to house rule the  hell out of it.  Omote demonstrates this with style with these rules, giving his take on elements of other editions of D&D.  Want to add Feats ala D&D 3rd edition?  Try his Talents rules.  Like those Secondary Skills from 1st edition? Check out his rules for ‘em.

All of his stuff is great for supplementing your existing C&C game or perhaps easing the conversion from another version of D&D (e.g., 3.5 to C&C).

On his Rules Expansions page, he has rules for:
Many thanks, Omote, for all the hard work and thanks for sharing this with the gaming world.

September 21, 2010

X Marks the Spot! - The Locations of DriveThruRPG’s Treasure Chests

If you’re like me, you’re too lazy to find all these DriveThruRPG.com treasure chests on your own.  I found these at the Something Awful Forums (many thanks to demota!), except for Number 20, which was found by fellow Castles & Crusades Society member, Treebore (he posted it at ENWorld.org).  Get yer booty!
1. d∞ (“d-Infinity”) Volume #1: The Adventure Begin
2. Artesia: The Book of Dooms Volume 1
3. Waves of Blood
4. RuneQuest Pirates
5. 50 Fathom's Player's Guide
6. Fading Suns Players Companion
7. City of Secrets
7th Sea: Players' Guide
9. Wild Cards
10. Transylvania (I can’t get this one to work though)
11. Dork Covenant (You MUST have something in your Wishlist to make it appear!)
12. Obsidian Twilight Campaign Setting (PFRPG) (This like takes you to product page, where the price is $0.00)
13. Dead Man's Chest (free Necromancer Games goodness!)
14.  Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. 
15.  Heaven & Earth
16.  [PFRPG] The Genius Guide to Feats of Subterfuge
17.  E-Z DUNGEONS: Expansion Set 2
18.  Instant Antagonist: The Selfish Succubus
19.  Cortex System Role Playing Game
20. The Great Below

September 17, 2010

GASPCon – Rolling dice in da ‘Burgh

smflogo

The Gaming Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania (GASP) will be holding its annual GASPCon on November 12 –14.  Get all the details here: link

I’ll be running some Castles & Crusades (that is a shock, I know) and the oft-mentioned Dave the Knave will be running Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Weird Fantasy RPG (which has to be the longest RPG title ever).

If you’re in the area, stop by. It’s a great, laid back convention.

DriveThruRPG’s Talk Like a Pirate Day Sale

booty-call-shirtStarting today and lasting until September 22nd, DriveThruRPG.com is having a Talk Like a Pirate  Day sale.  Tons of gaming stuff is on sale, pirate-themed and otherwise.  They have 20 hidden treasure chests with links to free eBooks.  Give it a look-see and score some booty.


DriveThruRPG.com

September 15, 2010

Arduino Dungeon Puzzle

Thanks for Jay at thecapacity for sharing this one.  This fellow named Frank Hernandez created a light-up dungeon puzzle for his players using Arduino and Hirst Arts molds

Give it a look (you can find the project site here: link and pictures on Flickr here: link):

Dungeon Puzzle from CodeSlayer on Vimeo.

September 10, 2010

Blatantly-Not-Fantasy-Related-Metal-Oh-Hell-Yeah-It’s-Game-Night Post

We have not played D&D since April 23, 2010.  It’s f@#kin’ Friday.  It’s f@#kin’ Rappan Athuk.  It’s the f@#kin’ last battle in the Upper Temple of Orcus.

September 9, 2010

Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus – An Overdue Update

[general Rappan Athuk spoiler warning]

[Update: 9/9/10 12:15 PM] After checking my notes again and conferring with my players, I realized I had a few things wrong. I've noted as such below]

[photos compliments of Dave the Knave]
It has been a long time since I mentioned the ol’ Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus scenario going on in my Rappan Athuk campaign. The campaign has been on hiatus for a couple months now, but we are firing it up again tomorrow.  Dice will roll.  Lionshead will be swilled.

Anyhow, here is the second update I promised… back in April

So after whipping the cadaver collector’s highly-susceptible-to-rust ass, the party added insult to injury, and used it to block one of the doors to the lower-level, hoping to blockade the seemingly unending freight elevator of death.  The party had previously used stone shape to blockade the other door, so both were corked at this point.  My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I believe the party then healed up, cast buffing spells, and generally prepared for the next wave of baddies.

The party had routed a vampire would-be bad ass last time and he came back with some friends for payback.  Here was the hit list:
You’ll note that these dudes all could become incorporeal, gaseous, or ethereal, and as such, were able to pass through the party’s blockades.


The battle was a lot of fun to DM, with the vampires harrying the party from the skies, the fumes of the nightmares thwarting various heroics, and such.  However, the Phantasm was a bust. It has this cool magic jar-like ability, allowing it to possess people.  But damned if that freaking NPC dwarf fighter, Lady Bombis (known to the group as Lady Marmalade) didn’t make every save to resist it.

I can’t remember too many specifics at this point, but the party eventually brought down the  vampires and their mounts (although one or both of the vampires might have escaped). [The vampire spawn couldn't breach the antipathy zone, so he was kind of screwed from the get-go. His mount had no problem, though. It's been confirmed both vampires lived to fight another day. Reoccuring villians, anyone?] I believe Bonnie’s Hunter of the Dead was lighting up the undead with her Radiant Sphere (from the Magic Item Compendium).  I had a lot of fun, especially with the nightmares. I can’t recall the last time I used that creature in play and I don’t think I ever have in 3rd edition.

There was a rather funny rules debate at one point when Sam tried to make a case for an AC bonus for being prone.  Ha, but his wizard was prone under the flying vampire who was about to toss a shortspear at him, so  technically he could have received a +4 versus missile attacks.  Suffice it to say, DM logic over-ruled by-the-book accuracy at that point. I’m not sure how being spread-eagle beneath a flying opponent warrants an AC bonus. (To clarify, this wasn’t a heated argument, rather Sam tossing out a rule and hoping the DM would go for it. I did not.)

Eventually one of the divine spell-casters, likely Rob’s Shaman, turned the Phantasm, the nightmares were brought down, and the vampires were slain or routed.

Shortly thereafter, a pair of carcasses (from the Creature Collection III) laid siege to both blocked entrances and finally removed the physical barriers to the room.  These things are basically undead transports, being hollowed out giants that carry undead within them.  They sound cooler than they are and are kind of a one-trick pony. It was pretty fun to surprise the players and launch black skeletons out of their bellies, though.  The carcasses did make attempts to envelope some of the PCs but to no avail.  The party made fairly quick work of this assault. [This combat actually just started at the end of the last session, so we'll be picking up with it tomorrow.]

So, there you have it.  This Friday we pick up here.  This whole showdown has been fun, but I’ve vowed to the group that the next session will be the last encounter.  I’ve something special planned for it and have little doubt it will make it a memorable session.  I’m pulling out the stops for this one. 

Damn,  I love this game.
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