Game Prep

No, not game prep for a rousing session of dice rolling. I'm talking about prepping for tomorrow afternoon's Jets game.

Already have the beer. Getting the Pizza Hut Pizza today to heat up in my tabletop pizza oven tomorrow.

Sorry to hear Christian is cutting out his Nerd Sunday cooking. I feel like it's the end of an era.


- Posted from my iPhone

The Trollish Taproom - The Tangled Web of Tunnels & Trolls 7.5e

I love my Tunnels & Trolls 7.5e Boxed set.  The thing is so jam packed, the lid doesn't even close properly.  The same thing I love about it is probably the main issue with it.

The extras compared to the 7e Tin Set are the addition of the Monstrum Codex, Codex Incantum, Strange Destinies and Hot Pursuit.  These add an excellent value to the set.  They are also Outlaw Press products.

The Delver's Pack for 7.5e is all Outlaw Press stuff: Monstrum Codex II, Codex Incantum II, Trollgod's Exciting Random Rooms of Ruination and Hunting Party are also Outlaw Press products, repackaged by Fiery Dragon for the Delver's Pack.

I guess I never realized how linked T&T 7.5e is to OP, at least I didn't until I sat down and did a survey of what I own.  I never realized how much of 7.5e was just some repackaging by Fiery Dragon.

No big statement, just an observation.

My biggest problems with 7.5e (from a player / GM perspective) is the leveling / stat increase system.  To me, it feels broken compared to 5/5.5e.  Oh, and the included solo is totally the wrong choice to include in the initial boxed set.  You want a solo a newbie can play, not die in the first encounter.

The Games I Own, But Have Never Played - West End Games Star Wars

To be fully honest, I own the core rules to each version of the Star Wars RPGs, and have yet to play any of them. That being said, WEG's D6 Star Wars is the one that I really wanted to play.

The system was easy enough to understand, the books were really evocative of the first three Star Wars movies (not to be confused with Chapters I-III of the Star Wars Saga). I could read the rules and have a pretty good idea of how it would play out in my head.

It's just that no one else wanted to play Star Wars. Heck, they would choose Star Ace before Star Wars, and I did run a decent 3 player campaign using the Space Master rules. Sci-Fi wasn't the issue, I think it was a fear of the Star Wars canon. Sometimes its easier to be the hero where the setting wasn't already decided on the major plot line.

Maybe one day I can use the now Open D6 rules for a decent Sci-Fi campaign, without the light sabers and the Jedi Mind Tricks ;)

The Trollish Taproom - Tunnels & Trolls Starter Kit (via the Trollish Delver)

The Trollish Delver put together a pretty nice and complete Tunnels & Trolls Starter Kit back in November of last year that had a zero cost buy in. Yep, all the downloads were free. That's the link above. Go there. Get some stuff. For free. I'll wait.
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Back? Cool, because I'm gonna send you to places to get more Tunnels & Trolls stuff for free. Legit and all that. Ready?

FreeDungeons.com - some free T&T solos that you can play right on your computer screen. How cool is that? Know what is even cooler? There is a variant ruleset based on the Tunnels & Trolls 4e rules available for free download, as well as links to the free Tunnels & Trolls Trollzine.

Trollmancer - a whole lotta solos - more then 3 or 4 (sorry, Bugs Bunny on my brain). Truly, a goldmine of T&T gaming, between The Trollish Delver's links and the two above, you can game for weeks... even months.

Remember, always use safe gaming methods when playing by yourself ;)

Oh, and solos also work pretty well as a GM and one player adventures if you are so inclined.

The Games I Own, But Have Never Played - FATE

I really dig FATE. I liked it in SotC, I was excited with what I saw with Starblazer's Adventures, Strands of FATE kicked my imagination into high gear - and I'll probably never play it.

Believe it or not, I'm okay with that. I'm actually afraid that FATE might not play as well as it reads, because it reads very well. Okay, maybe that doesn't make the most sense. The thing is, SotC reads better then any game I could run, and I'm not sure my old gaming group would be able to sink their teeth into the FATE system, as they are big on crunch, which FATE seems to grind under its capital letters.

I won't pack SotC away, as it is a good read unto itself. The rest of my FATE is in PDF, so I have access to it wherever my iPad is. I may not get a chance to play with FATE, but I'll read it. That can't be too bad.

I've Got a Ticket to Ride

Saturdays are the day that my girl, my mother and myself often sit down for board games. Last year we did a lot of Carcasone. When we added in the Big Box, it became one hell of a production.

Recently we started playing a lot of Uno, more for the ease of set-up and play then anything else. I didn't have the energy to be the point man keeping all the various rules from then big box in line, and neither my mother nor my fiancée were so inclined to me the rule master.

Last Saturday I broke out Ticket to Ride for the first time. It was a blast. Nice change of pace from Uno and Carcosone. If my folks weren't going away for the weekend, its a safe bet it would be returning to the table. It may need to wait a week or two, but it shall return.

Hmmm... I don't think I could get them to play Decent...

Serenity RPG License Coming to an End

Margaret Weis Productions' license to produce and distribute Serenity (aka Firefly) is coming to an end on January 31st.  You can pick up a full set of the RPG books in deadtree for $100 bucks at their site,  or you can pick it up piecemeal in PDF over at RPGNow.

I'm sure it will remain on shelves of game stores for a bit, but the PDFs at RPGNow will be coming to an end on January 31st.

I loved the TV series and enjoyed the movie.  I haven't really checked out the game.  I'm pretty sure I'd never have a chance to play it, but if the rpg books make for good reading I'm all in.  The prices seem fairly reasonable on RPGNow for the line.

Anyone have Serenity already and can offer some advice?  Is it worth picking up just to flesh out what I've already watched on my TV screen?

Another Near Miss

Mother Nature struck a glancing blow to NYC last nite, as the snow was no where near as bad as had been predicted. Five minutes of shoveling and my car was commute ready. Not saying all the roads were, but by the time I head home I expect clear driving.

Whenever I see snow forecasts of 8-14", of 12-18" I wonder if snowfall amounts are as variable as D&D combat damage - "Roll 2d4 plus 6 for your snow accumulation - make sure you mark it off on your weather sheet."

I want to see Weatherman written up as a D&D class one day ;)

The Games I Own, But Have Never Played - Savage Worlds

There are a crapload of games I own but have never played.  Strangely enough, back in my high school and college years, pretty much every game I bought was played at least once, even if I didn't really understand the system completely.

The Pacesetter line was played, the Fantasy Games Unlimited line was played, Runequest, Traveller, MERP, Rolemaster, Spacemaster, GURPS, Rifts... on and on the list goes.

I think we even ran a session or two of Deadlands (1st Edition), which went over about as well as Boot Hill - everyone had the Star Trek episode with the Tombstone shootout in their heads I think.  Not a good scenario for a western.

All this leads me to Savage Worlds.  Apparently a system loved by many, with a decent number of assorted genre sourcebooks and adventure paths, I just have never been able to wrap my head around it and it's "dice size" for stats concept.  I want to.  The SW Explorer Rules Digest has been in the backseat of my car for years, handy when you have time to kill and need something to read.  Still, I'm left scratching my head.

I can never seem to figure out just how the powers / spells system works, probably because this game isnt well suited for fantasy and that is where I am fairly rooted.  More likely, I'll need to actually play in a session or two before it really "clicks".

Then again, there is just so much other stuff out there that is also good, why should I keep at trying to grock a system that I'll probably never play anyway.  Good thing everything I own for Savage Worlds, with the exception of the core rules, is in PDF.  Not much to pack away ;)

The Trollish Taproom - The Elusive Third Edition

Well, what info I've found indicates the Third Edition of Tunnels & Trolls was an British publication. I haven't seem any pics of it, so I think it is safe to assume it is pretty scarce.

In the meantime, some early printings of T&T solos have been popping up on Ebay recently. Not sure if I'll be throwing my coins into that bidding.

Snow is on its way. We've already been told "no excusals" at work, which really isn't a big deal, as i managed to get in to work with the storm that shut NYC down.

Bean! - Another Cool Free Adventure

You just have to luv Bean! The D2 RPG - The game itself costs just 2 bucks, and free stuff is continually being released for it.  Gone to the Dogs is the latest, a free GM adventure by Mike Holcomb.  16 more pages of Bean!ie goodness.

From the blurb:

Mike Holcomb's latest BEAN GM adventure is a fun mystery full of monsters and puzzles geared at younger gamers. Gone To The Dogs can be played as the follow up to Princely Ransom, or as a stand alone adventure.

Doing Less With More

Looking at my list of D&D games in one of my recent posts has led to the following decision:

It's time to pack up any and all that won't be seeing use from me anytime soon. Box them up and put them in the basement - above the flood line ;)

Those that will escape the purge:

Castles & Crusades - I do play it monthly - I'll pack up all but the Player's and the Monsters &Treasures books

Swords & Wizardry Complete - I like the rules presentation - Besides, its a recent purchase

Labyrinth Lord and the AEC - This is my current go to D&D variation

Everything else RPG related (aside from my Tunnels & Trolls and other solo gaming products) are going into storage. Besides, much of my gaming material is in PDF format these days anyway.

Maybe pruning the tree of RPG-ness will allow me to focus on - gaming. Go figure ;)

The More Things Change, The More They Get Screwed Up

The wonderful City of New York put down so much salt for the storm that wasn't last week, that driving the city highways kicked up salt like a wagon train on a dusty plain.

Lets see how well we do with tomorrow nite's storm, which is predicted to dump 6-12". Has to be better then the way they handled the Christmas Weekend Storm.

Maybe I should bang out Wednesday and do some solo gaming... and shoveling.

The Trollish Taproom - Wherefore Art Tho 3rd Edition?

Lets see, I have a reprint of the Tunnels & Trolls 1st Edition rules.

I won an auction for the Trollgod's  personal copy of the T&T 2nd Edition of the rules.

I found a copy of the 4th edition of the Tunnels & Trolls rules on Ebay.

I've had a copy of the 5th edition of the T&T rules for ages.  Went and got myself a copy of the Black Box 5.0 rules too, just to be a completist.  (and not at the extortionist price that one vendor is asking for on Ebay)

Recently picked up a boxed set of the 5.5 T&T rules.

Have a copy of the Unofficial T&T 6e rules.

Have the 7.0 Collector's Tin, the 7.5 Boxed set and even the 7.5 T&T Delver's pack.

I haven't found / seen / identified a copy of the 3rd edition of the Tunnels & Trolls rules anywhere?  Is this the British Boxed set I've seen on Ebay once or twice, cause the ones I've seen looked like 5.0 based on the pics.

Can't find much / anything on the 3rd edition of the rules.  Help!  heh