Dragon Warriors - I took the plunge

Bought the PDF at RPGNow for 22 bucks or so. Yes, I was that impressed by the Free Intro PDF that I read and the overwhelmingly positive thread on EnWorld. If the rest reads as well I might have my game system set for latter this summer. Now if they will only get around to finishing the next version of iTabletop...

Bits n' Pieces

Here I am, back in NY after spending the last 6 days in the Pocono Mountains of north eastern PA, and I have way too much to blog about. Which really means I have very little to blog about until I decided which of these great thoughts running thru my head deserve their own entry:

1 - More about VTTs - Its summer and I decided I will run at least one session this summer. Which VTT? Which game system? Which adventure?

2 - Dragon Warriors - The free intro PDF looks good, the reviews on RPGNow are stellar, and there has been some good talk on EnWorld. Do I take the plunge?

3 - The Day After Ragnorak - Conan meets post war America, mystical devastation and general mayhem in the 1950's. A great read, but it uses the Savage Worlds rules. Not sure if it would be my bag, or that of my players

4 - More converted pics - it sure is fun

5 - More PDF / DX reviews - my well seems endless here

All that and more, when I sort out some kind of order ;)

Cheap Trick - Hat Trick

I think I do prefer the pencil effect myself, especially for use in gaming. Cropping and photoshopping prior to conversion gives one lots of possibilities. Here's my feline daughter and the pencil conversion. Imagine her sitting at a height of 6' and asking the party a riddle...

Cheap Trick - Part 2 - Pencil Me In

Pencil effects of a pic I took last fall. One with some color, one without.

Cheap Trick - How to turn Pictures into Imagery for Your Game

Ever want to show your players what they see and not just describe it to them? How about while playing using a VTT? Doesn't that just scream visual aids?

Using real life photographs can be a real shortcut, but I find that using a photograph limits the players' imaginations and distracts one from the escapism. Here's my solution: photosketcher (did i mention it's free?)

It turns my photos into faux paintings that I can tweak for effect.

Here's an example using one of the sample pics supplied with Windows Vista.

I'll post more before and after pics later.

Ruins & Ronin... Not Quite Free

Another really short post: Ruins and Ronin is available for a buck at Lulu. Think D&D meets japanese samurai movies and you are on the right track.

This isn’t a game of tea ceremonies, haiku, or accurate historical
depictions of medieval Japan; it’s a game where the fictional world of the samurai movie becomes the basis for swords & sorcery adventure in a mythical, medieval culture that’s almost like Japan.

That is a snipit from the intro. For a buck can you really go wrong?

Spellcraft & Swordplay PDF Free July 8 - 10

From the Elf Lair Games Blog:

No strings, no catches: Wednesday, July 8 through Friday, July 10, head over to the Lulu store, and download the Deluxe edition of S&S for free!

Now, I haven't checked out the ruleset yet myself, but free is a price that can't be beat. I'll be adding this to my DX tomorrow.

What's Old is New that was Old... Sorta

July 4th was a gathering of my old gaming group for a holiday bar-b-cue. As I try to do at all of our gathering over the last few years, I distributed a gaming book to the other four. This time it was paperback copies of OSRIC. Earlier this year it was copies of Swords and Wizardry. Before that, Labyrinth Lord. Dice. Rolemaster Express. Castles and Crusades Player's Handbooks. I give memories packaged in new wrapping but recalling our earlier experiences.

We are married, have kids, stressful jobs, busy lives. We are no longer the high school and college students that could game 7 days a week during the summers. Heck, if it weren't for online games like Warhammer, these guys wouldn't be gaming together at all these days.

So I give re-imagings of our past so we don't forget the games that put us where we are in out lives today. I learned as much in those game sessions as I ever learned in school.

Besides, sooner or later I'll suck them into a VTT game... and then their souls will be MINE!!! heh

The Secret of Ronan Skerry - Capsule Review

I haven't been able to update the blog in the last few days... life has been good but hectic. That being said, I received my dead tree copy of The Secret of Ronan Skerry, a Castles and Crusades adventure from Brave Halfling Publishing. No, I can't tell you how well it plays, because I have GM'ed it. I don't want to give a detailed description because its a module, not a source book or ruleset. What to do?

Physically, it is a professional looking piece of gaming material. It is digest sized (think the old White Box or the C&C Collector's edition for size). It runs at 32 pages, but that is probably closer to 16-20 if it was a full sized module. It adds four new critters to the C&C monster collection. It appears at first read to be a competently written adventure with a small twist.

Price vs quality ratio puts it at a solid 4, $6.99 give you both the dead tree and PDF versions.

DXability is a solid 5, as the digest sized pages reproduce sharply on the DX.