Sometimes even the Beholder needs a 12 step program.
I bit the bullet and got myself my own domain and hosting. From now on all my gamer/tech/nerd blogging will be at http://capheind.com/blog and my new RPG podcast is at http://TheOSRPodcast.capheind.com/. Additionally I have a new parenting podcast (explicit) at http://HalfDeadDadCast.life/. I’ll leave this blog up in case things change again.
Shardlands: Muskets, Blades, Words of Power! by Judith and Christian Vogt Self Published Setting for Fate Core
I tend to think of myself as primarily a Basic/eXpert Dungeons and Dragons (1981) player and game master. Thinking of Elf as a class, descending armor class, and creating a rags to riches story at the table gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Like a warm blanket on a cold morning, these utterly fallacious thoughts keep me cozy in my descending years. The truth of the situation is that I’ve played more Fudge than anything since the fateful day I found a certain text file on the AOL boards. Of all Fudges children Fate is probably the most successful, and I’ve played a bit of it in the last few years. Anyway, here are my thoughts on an English translation of a German book about a setting based on Russian myths.
“Still, if some are occasionally begotten from demons, it is not from the seed of such demons, nor from their assumed bodies, but from the seed of men, taken for the purpose; as when the demon assumes first the form of a woman, and afterwards of a man; just so they take the seed of other things for other generating purposes.” –Thomas Aquinas
As near as I can tell Labyrinth Lord does not have stats for a Cambion, so even though the Race Class I present here isn’t anything like the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons race… I don’t care 🙂 Classic AD&D Succubi can be Psionic (as per the Monster Manual). Note that this class is for LL without the Advanced Edition Companion, strait up B/X goodness, and making use of PX1 Basic Psionics Handbook.
Nigra Arbo is the starting village for, what I am hoping, will be an ongoing (0r series of ongoing) Adventurer Conqueror King Campagnes.
Nigrarbo is set in the March of Evono, a small cluster of boarder counties set between the Indego Pashaluk, and the Reĝlando of Sibilo. The Reĝlando of Sibilo is already dealing with conflicts to the north and east, and as such keeps an inadequate garrison on the lightly populated marches, whats more the Pashaluk to the west has all but fallen, with the former Pasha having gone mad and being sequestered in one of the families disused palaces, and the current pasha in the south trying to keep his ailing cousin in power, the Pashaluk has become a breeding ground for the savage beast-men mercenaries they used to conquer the land in the first place.
This is for an ACKS setting I’ve been spitballing.
Nigra Arbo, the Black Tree, so named because of the blackened bark of the centerpiece oak at the former ducal manor. Legend has it that, in the time before the Indego Pashaluk the Duko of Northern Evono was betrayed by the woman he’d sworn himself to. A few years after the young Edmundo was was sent to the Duklando of Southern Evono to reign, he met a beautiful maiden whom he swore himself to wholly. Indeed in the entire kingdom the love of Edmundo is taught as a cautionary tale regarding young overly-passionate love. Little is known of the days leading up to the end of Edmondos reign, what is known is that in the three years leading up to his fall every woman in his court was with child except for his beloved, and when he found that a vagabond had sired the sons of half his vassals he accosted the man, only to have the incubus transform into its succubus form, that of his wife and lover, and after the dispute she tore his manor asunder and burned the mightiest oak in his courtyard as she fled.
This is for an ACKS setting I’ve been spitballing.
History
Amongst the Dwarves of Cera it is told that the earthen womb in which the dwarven race was born/reborn lies deep in the Talta mountains which encrust the northeastern peninsula of the same name. In the time before time the land turned against the forbearers of dwarf kind, and in this time the matriarchs led their families to safety deep within a vault of stone protected beneath the mountains. Under the guidance of the matriarchs, the Dwarven race dwelt in safety within the earth mother for untold centuries.
A few new races to fit a game of Labyrinth Lord set in space. The Ponguila are my take on the Monkey Birds from Pirates of Dark Water, the Andrulate are a take on the various herbivore legged people from mythology, and the Koth are just neat…
So these are ideas I had for a Spelljammer like game using either Fate or Swords and Wizardry. Though these don’t reflect my ideas for the B/X Spelljammer game I’ve been considering, they are still somewhat interesting, and likely to be exploited for ideas in whatever game I do eventually run.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Al4l4TQs8]
This is a short review, or first impression, of the Deck of Fate produced by Evil Hat. This is also my first youtube video so please be gentile. If your not familiar with Fate or Fudge the rules can be found by following the links on my Big Bad List of SRDs.
The Deck of Fate can be purchased here.
It came out of this kickstarter
One of the key differences between OD&D and 3.5+ is the way the game handles Armor Class (AC) and Attack Rolls. Early Editions of Dungeons and Dragons (LBB, Supplements, Holmes, BX, BECMI, and Cyclopedia) make use of a simple chart based system for resolving attack rolls. You find the attackers row on the relevant chart, slide over to the defenders armor class, and you’ve got your target number (To-Hit) for the attack roll. Later editions of D&D (3, 3.5, 4, Pathfinder) utilize Ascending AC where the AC is replaced by the first row of To-Hit numbers on the Attack Table such that a first level PC’s To-Hit number is identical to the targets AC. The attack roll has to be ≥ the To-Hit number to succeed, Swords and Wizardry offers both systems.