Noble Knight Does Something Amazingly Classy - And Gives Ken Whitman a Big "Fuck You!" at the Same Time

There is class and then there is Noble Knight. I need to make some more purchases at their website this week to thank them.

Also a huge "thank you" to all those that have raised their voices to point out the low life piece of scum Ken Whitman is (allegedly ;)

AltspaceVR - A Virtual Reality Virtual Table Top Licensed for D&D 5e - You Can WTF AFTER Watching the Videos ;)

Alright, I saw a short article on this over at ENWorld. My reaction to the promo video linked there was literally "WTF?"

So I moved on to the company's actual website at AltVR.com It appears that this is an actually licensed "something" for Dungeon & Dragons 5e.

I'm head scratching at the moment. How this is more like playing at a "real" table instead of using Roll20 or the like is beyond me. I guess we need virtual avatars to more virtual pieces.

Layers upon layers of virtual reality...

Kickstarter - Car Wars Drives up a Month Early

The Car Wars Arenas Kickstarter arrived earlier this week. I would have posted it earlier, but more pressing current news and events took precedence. I am to play so catch up today ;)

Estimated delivery date? December 2015.

Well done.

The Wandering Wizard Lives! (Mike Nystul has a Good Sense of Humor)

Tonight I received my immensely huge and over stuff Death & Taxes Boxed Set (more on that later.) Inside the shipping box was the above.

Now, the wait for the Infinite Dungeon Kickstarter to complete might be infinite itself, but this is just damn cool. I tip my hat to Mike Nystul or to whoever forged this for him :)

Thank you +Zach Glazar . A better gnome would be hard to find. Even a lesser one ;)

White Box Thoughts - How to do Subclasses Without Doing Subclasses - Kinda Sorta...

Today kicks off a week of vacation (well, after waking at noon yesterday I was kinda on vacation, but I had "uncle duty" so not sure it counts ;) and my mind has already turned heavily in the direction of all things gaming.

I laid in bed last night thinking of Swords & Wizardry White Box and how easy it is to house rule. That simplicity is also a trap, as you can house rule things to be way more complicated than White Box needs.

I want barbarians, paladins, rangers and "expert treasure finders" in my campaign (and maybe various types of clerics and magic-users) but I don't want the class bloat. So, this is what I'm toying with.

- Let's take Fighters. At 2nd level, a fighter has to make a choice. They choose a path for lack of a better phrase:

• Most fighters in the campaign (at least NPCs) would choose the Path of the Warrior. Warriors would receive + 1 and + 1 damage with a single chosen weapon type - ex. long sword, short sword, battle axe, long bow, etc)
• Some fighters would choose the Path of the Barbarian. Barbarians would get to enrage once per day for 5 rounds and receive + 2 hit and + 2 damage with any hand held or thrown weapons when enraged.
• Others may choose the Path of the Ranger. They would get + 1 to hit against ogres, orcs, goblins and kobolds (certain campaigns may add or subtract to this list.) They would also track outdoors on a 4 in 6 chance and indoors on a 2 in 6 chance (dwarven rangers would reverse those numbers.)
• The Path of the Paladin requires a "just cause" to follow. Laying of Hands would heal for up to 2 HP per level per day, distributed as the Paladin wishes. He could heal 2 wounded companions for 1 HP each after a battle or 1 companion for 2 points. Or heal 1 companion for 1 HP and save the other point for later in the day.
• The Path of the Expert Treasure Hunter requires a choice of specialization of sorts. Lock Expert or Trap Expert. Expertise gives a 4 in 6 chance of success with normal locks and traps. The non-chosen specialization would have a 2 in 6 chance. Most locks and traps would be of normal difficulty, but some may be simple or more difficult and as such would adjust the chance of success up or down by 1 in 6)

I'm happy to take feedback, criticisms and such. I believe the above is broadly balanced but what the heck do I know?

Ken Whitman - 25K In Debt by his Own Account - "I'll Gladly Refund You - In Six More Months"

Thanks to my anonymous source who who forwarded me this email chain. There were four previous email requests for a refund dating back to April 3 that went unanswered.

I think the above speaks for itself...

Reminder - Tavern Chat Tonight - 930 PM Eastern

Yep. Another week, another Tavern Chat.

We've had a few sizable releases in the OSR in the last week so there should be plenty to discuss.

I am on "Uncle Duty", so I may be a few minutes late ;)

Now to work on yet ANOTHER Ken Whitman post...

Free OSR Adventure - Vault of the Faceless Giants (New Big Dragon Games)

Vault of the Faceless Giants is +Richard LeBlanc 's (New Big Dragon Games) free release for use with their Basic Psionics Handbook, which is itself a supplement to Labyrinth Lord (but usable with just about any classic / OSR ruleset with minimal work.)

Vault of the Faceless Giants isn't in it's final state, therefore it's considered a "beta" and is currently free. If you grab it when it's free, you'll get all the updates to the file, even the final ones. So, the "free" part is time limited. Grab it while you can ;)

Although designed for use with the Basic Psionics Handbook, it can be used without with minor modifications. Vault of the Faceless Giants is a solid, low level adventure.

More Ken Whitless / Ken Whitman / Whit Whitman Dishonesty - Unloads Undelivered Kickstarter Stock at Noble Knight While Backers Still Wait for Thiers

The man who has put the "thief" back in the "rogue" class, Ken Whitman / Whitless / Whit Whitman (he has many names) has outdone himself again.

The books that the backers of the KotDT Live Action Series have been waiting for forever (it's in the mail - right, Ken?) have been found - at Noble Knight. Backers aren't getting theirs, but you can get your own copy at Noble Knight.

Way to go Ken!

So, how that movie career going for ya?

edit: I have it on good authority that Noble Knight had no idea and they are sending the books back to Ken

Swords of the Petal Throne - Kevin Crawford Does Tekumel

+Kevin Crawford , he of Stars Without Number fame and many other OSR releases, has thrown down the gauntlet and has produced an OSR ruleset for Tekumel, aka Empire of the Petal Throne.

Yes, that Tekumel.

While the current release is just a beta and not official, Kevin would like to see a free 128 page PDF release that includes his trademark adventure generator system. It might come to pass, too:

You can grab the Swords of the Petal Throne beta here.

Kickstarter Update - The Lost Lands: Borderland Provinces - Less Than 10 Hours Left (Frog God Games)

The Lost Lands: Borderland Provinces Kickstarter has been picking up speed in it's final days and now it's in it's final hours. I posted about it earlier here and I'm not going to go into full details a second time, but Frog God is putting out a campaign setting for their adventures and you can get in for as little as $35 in print for the campaign OR adventure book, $70 if you want both. It comes in Pathfinder, 5e and Swords & Wizardry flavors.

It's hit a number of stretch goals. I'm just going to highlight the ones that add more content.

$46,000 Walls of Broch Tarna: Free short-story fiction, set in the Borderlands. “The Walls of Broch Tarna” by Nathan Shank.

$48,000 Alternative Wilderness Tables (Basic tables): Region-Level Wilderness Encounter Tables as further described below.

$50,000 Stretch Goal #3:   Perilous Places #1. Specific encounter tables for those foolhardy enough to venture into the Forest of Hope or (even worse) the Creeping Mire in Keston Province.

$52,000 Stretch Goal #4:  Gods of the Borderland Provinces (Basic)! Pages added to the book, describing the most prominent of the region's deities. 

$54,000 Stretch Goal #6: Perilous Places #2: Specific encounter tables for the Lorremach Highhills, the Wilderland Hills, and the Duskmoon Hills. 

$56,000 Stretch Goal #8: Archeillus. The basic form of the deities appendix will contain the descriptions of Thyr, Freya, Muir, and Belon the Wise. If we unlock this stretch goal, the less-known god Archeillus is added to the appendix of Borderland deities.

$57,000 Stretch Goal #9: Yenomesh. Yenomesh is the god of glyphs and writing, and appears to be responsible for a miracle that happened in one of the towns of Suilley. He’s a good patron for wizards.

$59,000 Stretch Goal #11: Perilous Places #3. Specific encounter tables for the Forlorn Mountains, the Kal’Iugus Mountains, the Meridian Range, the Rampart Mountains, and the eerie peaks of the Cretians.

$60,000 Stretch Goal #12: Telophus. Telophus is a very commonly worshipped deity among the peasantry, a god of farming and grain. His church is becoming more active in the face of the oppression of farmers in some parts of the Borderlands, and would be an excellent patron for clerics who like to go around rescuing settlements on the edge of the wilderness. 

$62,000 Stretch Goal #13: Free adventure PDF “Vindication.” If we hit this stretch goal, we will give a free pdf of the Borderland Provinces d20 adventure Vindication to all backers. Vindication is not converted from the original d20 format, so it would require a bit of work to use it directly, but it provides tons of information about the Lorremach Highhills. It’s a very useful resource.

The Kickstarter just passed the $62 k threshold. The following stretch goals are due up next:

$63,000 Stretch Goal #14: Kamien and Dre’uain the Lame. Kamien is a goddess of the rivers, and Dre’uain the Lame is a god of industry and hard work, and his church in Keston is dedicated to re-settling the wild, depopulated lands ruined by the chaos of the Wilderland Clan Wars that took place 10 years ago. If we hit this stretch goal, Greg will do the research and writing to add details about Kamien and Dre’uain the Lame into the appendix of deities. LOCKED

$64,000 Stretch Goal #15: Spire of Iron and Crystal (paid). This module has already been published for Fifth Edition in its “Director’s Cut” format, in Quests of Doom 2. If we hit this stretch goal, we will publish the pdf of the Director’s Cut for Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry, and sell it as a $5 add-on to the Backer Kit. LOCKED

$66,000 Stretch Goal #16: free PDF of Bard’s Gate. If we hit this stretch goal, we will give a free pdf of the Bard’s Gate d20 version to all backers. This is a very large book; it is not converted from the original d20 format, so it would require a bit of work to use it directly, but it provides tons of information about one of the key cities of the campaign area. The influence of Bard’s Gate is extremely strong in the northern and western parts of the Borderland Provinces. LOCKED

$68,000 Stretch Goal #17: free PDF of Durbenford. If we hit this stretch goal, we will give a free pdf of the Borderland Provinces d20 adventure Trouble in Durbenford to all backers. This is a very large book; it is not converted from the original d20 format, so it would require a bit of work to use it directly, but it provides tons of information about the regions just to the west of the map of the Provinces. Like Vindication (Stretch Goal 13), it’s a very useful resource with many pages of Borderland goodness. LOCKED

$71,000 Stretch Goal #18: free PDF of Spire of Iron and Crystal. If we hit this stretch goal, we will give away the Fifth Edition, Pathfinder, and Swords & Wizardry PDF of Spire of Iron and Crystal to all backers. LOCKED

Lots of good stuff added already and some very attractive free PDFs potentially to be added in the next few hours.

If you haven't checked out The Lost Lands: Borderland Provinces Kickstarter, your time is running out. Frog God does some extremely high quality releases and this looks to be up there with their previous ones.