Friday 27 July 2012

Beasts & Barbarians: Hero Construction Set - Okumarts Games


Beasts & Barbarians: Hero Construction Set - Okumarts Games

Super quick review of the super new!
I'm very grateful to receive a review copy of this paper minis product - and it's always a pleasure to share Dave Okum's work.   There are literally hundreds of possibilities with this set -using the PDF layers to flick between, torso, leg, head and arms options.  I always like OkumArt's style - it's clean, dynamic with a lot of character.  If you're in a rush there's a sheet of pre-made characters, which is always welcome.  Great stuff. :)
$5   downloadable PDF
DriveThru/RPGNow etc.

Thursday 26 July 2012

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Premium Reprints

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "reprints"?

No, really, you didn't know? ;)

In the words of Dr Seuss "Old Hat, New Hat" ;) 
AD&D 1st Edition Premium reprints of the Players Handbook,
Monster Manual and  the entertainingly eclectic Dungeon Master's Guide
-published by Wizards of the Coast for the Gygax Memorial Fund
-available online and in select shops-

They reprinted them - no, the originals - I don't know if they've started reprinting the reprints because that would make them re-reprints, which would just be stoopid.  I mean why would you reprint a reprint?

...But there was a delay, which sometimes implies a recount"Heebee Jeebies, we've got all of these pre-orders. Hasn't anyone heard that they sell copies on Ebay?!  Print more, print more! They won't be ready for May, move it to July!"
 
The money goes to a fund with "Gygax" in the title so it must be kosher.  This also this allows Wizards' to step back a little, dissociate from earlier brand and perhaps tell themselves "it's just a special fund raiser, not to be compared to today's state-of-the-art DnD4 or D&D Next"

("D&D Next" always makes me think of the Spice Girls).

Of course, these books are useless without Unearthed Arcana, Monster Manual 2 and Fiend Folio.

What am I saying!? I'm just kidding!  It's a complete game in three books.  -None of this "1974 Original D&D" plus "Chainmail" plus supplements business... It's the late 70's and TSR has decided that serious players need heavy hardbacks.  What's confusing me is that Wizards definitely infer that this is the "original" D&D - or am I reading between the lines?
In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.
To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide.
...Quoth the coastal mages.

The Monster Manual was not published until 1977, but hey what's a different edition between friends?   (Shush, don't mention The Edition War) Anyhow. I was in that slightly later generation who owned the copies with the orange spines.  In fact, I held off buying Fiend Folio for an aeon because I hoped that they would make the cover to match.  Never happened.  I'm very fond of Fiend Folio's older style cover now, but you can't beat a set of matching spines.  (I may just have to add some pictures here sometime)

Funnily enough, when I was playing D&D (D&D Basic), there was a perception held amongst myself, friends and readers of White Dwarf and Imagine that because Advanced D&D didn't come in a box that it was somehow more "grown-up".  Grown-ups clearly knew where to buy the funny dice which were not included as standard.  Toys and boardgames were bought in boxes, but academics and dads read "reference" books. :)

Flashback (skip if bored):
I was fairly overwhelmed by my switch as a B/X DM to AD&D.  I understood that the players liked AD&D for the extra class and race choices (a friend would boast to me about a half-elf druid in another DM's campaign - heretical upstart!  Human Clerics were good enough for the rest of us...), but some of the rules for DM were very strange.  One that sticks out was the different armour class for helmets and the fact that those weapons vs armour class table seemed difficult to apply to all but humans and demi-humans (and that the Monster Manual was often vague about what humanoids wear and whether or not a DM should adjust the AC for dexterity).  Damage vs. size didn't make much sense to me at the time either.   Then I discovered that DM friends had audacity to play AD&D as though it was Basic/Expert.  They picked and mixed the rules as they liked.  I was less confident that way.  Also, what I hadn't realised was that AD&D was not a continuation of Basic -not in terms of the levelling-up boxed sets - but as a general "step-up" for players.  I genuinely thought that the D&D mentioned in the foreword was the same D&D that I had been playing.  Nope, he meant "Original" D&D, -not Holmes, Moldvay-Cook or Mentzer - Mr GG was going right back to his original game.  He had rebuilt the game, rebalanced, re-categorised and "re-owned" rules from the supplements.  the AD&D DMG was respectably "definitive" - but with specialist appendices.  Compared with the small white, boxed sets, and pamphlet rules, it might have looked like the Encyclopaedia Britannica when it was first published.  It certainly had an aura of archaic wisdom for a select elite when I got my grubby paws on it. "Ooh, Advanced D&D - playing with the big boys now."

But I digress.  Suffice to say that I got over the fact that Armour Class 9 was now Armour Class 10, and that a normal sword was a "long sword" etc. 

What's great about AD&D at the time (mid-80s), when I was playing, was that it seemed to have been around forever and would probably last a while longer too.  And, boy, did we argue later about adopting the new Unearthed Arcana rules ...(that plus Oriental Adventures and ... oh, well you get the idea).  It became a type of game-comparison short-hand to add whether or not you allowed those logical new-fangled arrangements as class and race.  "yeah, we play AD&D every Saturday, but we don't use the Unearthed Arcana rules"  I still can't think of Acrobats without imagining the character from the cartoon.  (Don't mention the cartoon.  It was bad enough arguing with friends' Christian parents about the merits of role-playing vs. the occult, without that damnable cartoon making people think it was a bloody fair ride and that a Dungeon Master was a sort of ingenius-Yoda-gnome. But hey ... it's only been a few decades, and I'll get over it eventually... I'm making good progress, they say...)

I think I was trying to talk about the pros-and-cons of owning a piece of living history in a fresh wrapper in a post here, but frankly I've just tried to read some of it and managed to bore myself rotten (actually it's probably identical to what I have just typed - I edit nothing!).

Here's the original links over at Wizards, but there's no option to buy directly


If you don't know what the abbreviations stand for, you are not worthy of owning AD&D!

Okay, enough of the memories, what are the extras that Wizards' are offering us, which we couldn't already find on our bookshelves, attic or bid for on Ebay:
Tribute cover art, gilded edging, glossy pages and place-mark ribbon thing.
I'm sure that they don't smell like the originals, but at least they'll smell new.  As an ex-bookseller my partner is big on "new" - she won't touch most of the second-hand games I buy (she's still a bit confused of the fuss I made over buying the yellowing A5 booklet of the Tunnels & Trolls 4th edition rules).  

Shiny gold! All that glitters IS gold!
From The Other Side Blog
Mr Tim B. at The Other Side' has been posting some photographs other the Premium reprints -proving again that RPGs can be beautiful just as objects.

It does make you realise that the differences (between these and the originals), like the gilding and the ribbon, have been undersold.  The stores I've seen up to now only show a flat art graphic of the covers.*


(*Perhaps the cover art should have been exact copies of the originals - since the interior is a near-facsimile - but hey that's another debate which I'm sure has lit up a few threads on forums).
I'm very tempted to buy these books.  I've been looking around to see if they are available in many places in the UK.  There were some worries (just random posts I've seen) that people outside US wouldn't get to see the Premium Reprints.  Amazon.co.uk is just hopeless right at the moment with regards to these editions and I wouldn't trust half the links I'm seeing on Amazon (US).  So it looks like for now that they're mainly only in the specialist hobby shops.

I haven't been to a "bricks n mortar" store recently, but Leisure Games have responded to my queries that they stock them on the shelves as well as taking orders through their site:
AD&D 3-book bundle at Leisure Games (London) (add £7 for p+p in UK)

Spirit Games are selling through their site and I'm quietly confident they'll have them on the shelves:
Premium Edition Player's Handbook at Spirit Games (Burton-on-Trent)

Edit: 
Spirit Games had this to say about stock issues when I asked about availability of this product in the UK:
"We have one set of the AD&D reprints left, but current word is that restocks won't be a problem in the near future. With limited editions like this one, advance information about quantities is woolly at best - sometimes barely enough arrive to cover pre-orders, but this time a decent number came over. It's a bit of a nightmare for the UK distributors, having to guess how many to ask for with little idea of how many they will actually get."
And we're certainly not seeing the AD&D books in normal book stores - not locally anyhow. 

In comments on The Other Side Blog another poster confirmed that Esdevium Games were supplying the Premium editions to local gaming stores.   So I guess it's business as usual, I guess.  Man, I miss the days when Games Workshop used to sell imported RPGs.

I'm fond of Noble Knight for buying older RPGs, they've never had trouble shipping to the UK and since I'm an affiliate I feel I should at least post a link to their store. ;)
AD&D Premium Reprint Product Line at Noble Knight Games
If you're curious, Noble Knight also list AD&D 1st edition originals (TSR product line) - which can make a change from taking the random pick on the day on Ebay.

EDIT: 
Australian customers can buy from
Milsim's Games
http://milsims.com.au/catalog/2187
(link courtesy of Shane Harvey)

If I had to buy only one book and out these mighty three (assuming I didn't have access to the originals) I would buy the DMG, just because there's it's packed with character-full prose and reflective gaming advice directly from Mr Gygax himself.  If I were to buy one as a gift for a non-player (and why would I know this person?) it would probably be the Monster Manual - partly for the fact that it feels in many ways like a traditional C12th bestiary - with quaint imagery (to modern gamer eyes) and descriptive asides.  Naturally, the Player's Handbook would also make the perfect present ...

...Or...  just buy all three ...
- for yourself!

Forget all this "gift" business, because let's fact it, no-one appreciates AD&D (for a hundred reasons) more than you do.
And you deserve spare copies.  Lovely, new, shiny copies....

If WotC sell enough, you do realise that they will actually resurrect the original author? 

No, seriously, it's true.

I read it.  

... on the internet. 


Happy Shopping. :)

Saturday 21 July 2012

Pledge me not! Kickstarter Free Zone

There are many things that  have occurred since the middle 90s at which I find myself confused, bemused and sometimes a little threatened - to the point that I wonder if I am in fact twice my actual age. I could mention half a dozen ruled systems and company decisions here, but I mustn't digress.  Digression is the path for creative fools!  ;)  I am both, but your time precious!

A couple of months ago I was going to write a fairly predictable mini rant about kickstarters (and any crowd-sourcing) for RPG products, but now I'm coming to realise that they are just part of the modern way of doing things.  But that doesn't mean I accept them.

I've turned down a few collaborations / small contracts for art and abandoned some very interesting discussions for a bunch of reasons, but it was the mention of the pre-product launch kickstarter-style fund raising which always made things sour.  In effect, I was actually saying "I don't even want to be associated with your new product if you use target based sponsorship."  I'm still not sure about this.  Is this just another thing that I've just got to get used to?

Sometimes, it was language which had put me off RPG-related kickstarters.  Even when pledgers were being offered perks - i.e. they're getting a return of sorts - its the charity hard sell (and hey I can handle normal hard sell) which verges on emotional blackmail.   I paraphase: "Hey, don't be a party-pooper, get on board, in order to make these hand-carved Basic D&D character sheets on slate we need $3000 by Tuesday..." * Hey wait a second, you're saying if I don't donate this idea will vanish forever?  Naturally, the enthusiasm behind new projects is admirable and buoyant to the point that I seriously  doubt that when we don't pledge, that the entrepeneur will totally give up on his ideas and shelve it completely, especially if the initial funds were to help get his products into shops.  The kickstarter is certainly not his only way visualising these dreams - but the crowd-sourcing method obliges him to rush you. If you don't pledge by Tuesday, the kickstarter will actually "fail" but only in terms of crowd-sourcing methods.  If it is a market worthy product, then finding a small sum upfront should be possible even for the smallest of companies or individuals (even if they have to sell their vintage brown box D&D that sits in the display cabinet...).  That's if it's even necessary to have money in advance.

(* I'm trying not to provide examples of actual crowd-sourcing initiatives, but there's no shortage of the surreal proposals out there.)

I'm having to be careful not to become a hypocrite, because I think when I first heard about bidding on Ebay, as a concept, I was suspicious that Ebay would be rife with scams, and I now have trouble imagining a world without Ebay.  Maybe like Ebay, kickstarters are here to stay and will become more mainstream (I think they are less prevalent here in the UK).  Also, I've made many friends on-line who both don't have a problem with pledging or setting up kickstarters themselves, and I certainly don't want my opinions to look like a condemnation of their works.  Most of these people I really really respect - they are talented and gutsy.

My message to new project publishers is that, like many dedicated hobbyists,  I'm both a customer and a content-contributor to the industry, and that I can't be the only person who doesn't see why a product which will end up for sale online or in a bricks'n'mortar shop, with the right planning, needs to raise funds through it's fan (customer) base first.   My confidence in the wisdom of that publisher I don't know then drops.  The circles I move in mainly use downloadable products and print-on-demand stores, which have little to no upfront costs if you put in the initial work for free (which is was a lot of part time authors and designers do, hoping to reap rewards later).   There's all sorts of solutions out there which use traditional buy-and-sell methods.  Anything other than charitable missions or one-off statements, as in art (say, a Giant d20 in Utah, or an inflatable stone henge for school kids) can look like a bit of a scam.  You might understand how crowd-sourcing works and think it's respectable, but some of us are still getting used to Ebay, Amazon and Paypal.  Imagine for example, that it's hard enough explaining to concerned parents why their child spent £300 on Games Workshop figures and now they are being asked follow links of Facebook to raise money for life-sized Space Marine statues* ... Our secular hobbies come in for enough flack as it is.

It's been pointed out to me, that on the plus side, crowd-sourcing in an effective form of marketing feedback.   Not only will people pay for your Sci-fi and Dinosaurs RPG when it comes out, but they'll give you money just to keep the idea afloat! Bonus.  It's a good point, but somehow the ends do not justify the means.  On the other hand, as a potential customer, you may have just alienated me by asking me to pledge.

Originally I thought that kickstarters were mainly only for smaller companies and individuals (charities aside) and then to my surprise I get a email from Paizo wanting to raise money for an electronic product. Why would Paizo need to fund things this way? Are they broke? I'm guessing it's do with wanting to seal further bonds with their community.  In this perfectly pleasant email they inferred that they wanted to convert all of the "Likes" on Facebook into pledges.  Now, I do a lot of "liking" on Facebook, but I hadn't realised that my genuine message of "Good luck with your project" could be read as "I want to give you money, but I need convincing".   There are many noble endeavours - and maybe that's why it suddenly reminds me a bit of evangelism - because from the top-down everyone totally believes in what they are doing and that there is no room for doubt, doubt is the enemy, doubt kills the fund raising fervour.

Some of the ideas coming out of the old school revolution and retro-clones clique are notable because so many of them are effectively acts of counter-culture when compared the last 20 or so years of cynically marketed glossy collectables.  I like that.  Yes, sure, I cheer these plucky Davids vs the metaphorical Goliaths, but being asked to donate stones when I'm not even sure they have sling ready would make me responsible for encouraging them to walk into a big fight in a financial recession.  Sometimes I want to say, "I'll pay you *not* to embark upon this project "- "...Before you know it you'll have no room in your house, because it'll be filled with a 1000 copy print run of your Space 1999 revival comic (not to mention the copyright lawsuit which forbids you from selling any)".  We like the plucky underdog, hell yes, we'll give them $30, go for it, son, go! Bungee jump off Dead Drop Cliff with your fistful of game mechanics!  But pledge to big old Paizo?  Come on!

One of my day-jobs is working in a drop-in centre for people suffering with mental health problems, so I'm obliged to be alert to the fact that many of our members are classed as "vulnerable adults".  This is especially true when it comes to developing addictions and compulsive spending.  Like everyone else, they can all still vote, they have rights and certainly don't need patronising. But we sometimes provide a second opinion or advice if a person is doing things that may lead to them becoming more unwell, either mentally and physically.  Some addictions are less of a problem if they are being managed well -as long as the person is still paying the bills and still eating, and isn't suffering.  Apart from too much alcohol, too many bets and illegal drugs, it can be difficult to identify something as an unhealthy obsession or a compulsion where in other communities these things would just be classed as a dedicated hobby.  Incidentally, we look out for sudden changes in behaviour as these are sign of a worsening mental health, or medication not working or not pills being taken at all.  Perhaps I see the world through my work eyes, because sometimes kickstarter pitches remind me bi-polar friends who are on the "up" (i.e. "manic"). ;)    It's probably safe to say that many of us role-players are compulsive buyers and collectors - maybe this is how the industry and it's on-line fringes survive.     Most of us are grown-up, old enough to vote, spend money on what we like and have relationships (as are the users of my mental health drop-ins) - but are role-players and tabletop gamers as a type just slightly more vulnerable to exploitation?  Possibly not.  We're should be allowed to make bad decisions, but when I read that people are donating to Kickstarters on a monthly basis as part of the norm, I begin to wonder that there might need to be moral or psychological aspects to this which we are not addressing.  Consequentially, there's a small chance that crowd-sourcing (and RPG start-ups by association) might get a bad name, much like gambling has.    Okay I'm not saying that this is all about bi-polar entrepeneurs taking money from compulsive spenders (not a bad simile though?).  And this isn't even about large companies exploiting young customers. Is it about gamer-geeks pressurising and egging each other on until there's no money left to spend in normal stores(?).  Maybe, that's it, maybe I'm worried about one new capitalistic method replacing the one I'm used to (i.e. I see something, I buy it, store holder takes cash, publisher takes cash, I have a new thing, we're all happy). 

In summary, to me, sourcing is all a bit too odd, so just for now, I'm letting folks know that I don't mind talking about new products or concepts, but I won't be linking to their kickstarter pages and to some extent I shall avoid taking part in anything which uses crowd-sourcing as a way of raising funds for what will in the end be profit making products -which also may as well just be published at low cost through POD or similar.  That's where I am at the moment.  If I can turn down charities telling me that I'll be killing kids in other countries if I don't donate, I can certainly turn down an RPG-related kickstarter.  Actually no, that's my point, I don't even want to discuss your new kickstarter because you might think I disrespect you or your idea.  The truth is many of the ideas seen on crowd-sourcing sites are insanely fun and I really adore enthusiasm in publishers/writers/artists/gamers, it's just the method I'm not sure about.

If it exists already -it's been created in rough, share it, give it away, pimp it, sell it.  I might buy it, "like" it, read the review copy, post pictures, pimp it for you, but don't ask me to sponsor you or ask others to sponsor you.  But good luck, anyhow.

The Adventures & Shopping is a kickstarter/crowd-sourcing free zone.  The same goes for my work as Billiam Babble, freelance artist and writer and Inked Adventures.

We do things the old way here. :D

Thanks for reading. :)

Thursday 19 July 2012

Warriors of Tauria (Grey Matter Games)

A quick plug for a friend, but also I really like his art -especially since he helped me out on EL4 Barrow Tomb. ;)

Era of War: Warriors of Tauria
-Minotaurs with attitude!
by Grey Matter Games
$2.50 on DTRPG/RPGNow/WVault
http://bit.ly/Tauria
Era of War: Warriors of Tauria (downloadable PDF).  These figures are intended for tabletop wargaming (GMG's Era of War) but I reckon that they'd also be ideal in a dungeon in an RPG.  How often do you get to see variety amongst minotaur folk (8 different figures)?

Designed for 28-30mm scale, they come with a codex for Eras of War, bases and instructions.  Feasibility civilised and yet still brutish, bullish even,  the minotaurs are lovingly hand drawn and hand coloured by David Wears of GMG, who is a rising star on the paper minis stage. He's also quite a nice guy to boot. ;)

Pet Drake - Free 2.5D dragon-wyvern
drake creature. Free from GMG.
Also today saw the release of a nice little free "2.5D" product from Grey Matter Games:  Era of War Pet Drake.



One of David Wear's Warmancers riding the
Pet Drake (from the artist's Facebook page)

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Ground Set 14 Trenches (Lord Zsezse Works)

Ground Set #14 - Trenches
$5.97USD, 4,88 Euros, £3.81GBP
(25% off July Summer Sale)
on RPGNow / DRTPG / Wargame Vault
(Re-posted from a my thread on Lost and the Damned forum because I'm finding formal reviews way too difficult to write at the moment)

I've been lucky enough have been sent a review copy of Lord Zsezse Works' Ground Set #14 - Trenches for Adventures & Shopping. ( http://bit.ly/LZWtrenches )


Naturally, my own work has made me hyper-aware of the differences between square tiles and modular sections. LZW is pretty much pushing layered PDFs to the limits of what's possible with square floorplan systems.


They're also pretty beautiful to look at. I haven't printed any myself this week, since my cartridges are nearly out and these definitely come needing near-photographic quality printing.

Actually what kills me about LZW is why aren't enough people singing this company's praises?




On their Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/lordzsezseworks ) provide some photos of a modular system in action,



LZW Modular WWI trench tiles



-I don't think the set in the picture above is out yet, but I have to say that the square tiles (below) are something special to look at also.

(A thread on Cardboard Warriors presents the difference between irregular modular tiles and square tiles - a subject which burns my grey matter on a daily basis)


It occurs to me this would be a pretty good set for post-apocalyptic setting and maybe even 40K - perhaps an outdoor Space Hulk...
Here's some the blerb from their page RPGNow/DriveThru:



This set includes more than 100 tiles, since each tile can be altered to have different turns and exits.
With those three switchable paths, you can build up more diverse trench systems.
Ground Set Trenches
Type of trenches:
- Center Straights
- Lower Straights
- Straights with Firing Steps
- Straight with Bomb Hole
- Straight with Depot
- Depot Areas
- Angled Trenches
- Angled Connectors
- V Trenches
- Right Angle Turns
- Dead Ends
- Landscape Tiles
Image format:
6"x6" tiles
U.S. Letter, 200 dpi, PDF
Our Ground Sets are made for 1 inch based figures, where one inch = 5 feet in the real world.


Ground Set 14 Trenches Sample


The switch system seems to really work when selecting the exact angle and point of connection of the trenches depicted on the tile - the only problem being there's almost too much choice! the switches are a pretty sophisticated yet logical use of layers in PDFs.

As I have said I haven't actually printed any as yet, but I'm always totally knocked out by the level of detail and innovation in Lord Z's products. The non-trench ground tiles are also nicely textured with feasable scrub and debris scenery.


I'm guessing that on most tabletop battlefields it's easier to build upwards, but not so easy to dig down - so if you're able to alter line-of-site rules these tiles might be ideal for historical or sci-fantasy games.

Ground Set #14 - Trenches - currently $5.97USD, 4,88 Euros, £3.81GBP (25% off July Summer Sale) on RPGNow / DRTPG / Wargame Vault


Main site:
http://www.lordzsezseworks.com/

Saturday 14 July 2012

Inked Adventures Square Dungeon Tiles

I'm transmitting this one on all channels, so I must apologise if this is appearing as a multiple posts people's feeds. ;)
PRESENTING...

Inked Adventures Square Dungeon Tiles


I finally gave into market pressures and have decided to supplement the Inked Adventures Modular Sections range with geomorphic style square tiles. ;)  Perfect for random play!

Ta for reading. :)

Friday 6 July 2012

RQ6, Pathfinder Core Rulebook, Tumblr photos

Okay, I'm seriously behind on everything, especially anything which requires more than a status update banality - RITING MAEKS BRANE HERT.  The good news is that I'm a bit nearer to finishing a product for Inked Adventures (god, I'm broke, I hope I sell a few...)

PDF Download $25 on DTRPG/RPGNow
http://bit.ly/RQ6ed
Very quickly - a piece of  product news and some random photos (Tumblr is rewiring my synapses to the point that I only think in terms of snapshots - apologies for post-repeats)


Behold!  The latest official version of RuneQuest!  Just been looking at the PDF - very comprehensive and complete.  The printed version won’t be out until the end of the month but the PDF is on sale at DTRPG / RPGNow http://bit.ly/RQ6ed  - Also it’s worth browsing older $1 products in the Design Mechanism store.


EDIT 7.7.12
My gushing praise on DriveThru for this game:
This review might be a little premature, because I'm still at that excited-post-download phase when I'm feverishly clicking through the 458 pages.

I'll say again ...
Four-hundred-and-fifty-eight pages of RuneQuest goodness.

This definitely has the look and feel of an older RQ or BRP title. The mechanics and the writing style is very accessible, with the occasional black and white ink drawing.

The rules, setting and atmosphere (with a bent towards ancient, mystical, classical) is generic enough to adapt to different campaigns, whilst providing enough detail for interesting springboard points especially regarding character (and monster) backgrounds, magic, skills, "passions" cults -not to mention the gritty effects of chaos. As well as the dice mechanics, there's plenty of tips and guidelines and optional rules.

I'm also happy to say that it appears to be an "everything-you-need-to-play" publication. (I hate buying supposed "core" books only to find that there's no monster list or many references to "essential" accessories.)

As I type it's still $25 which is a good price for a volume of this size. I'm looking forward to seeing a hard copy -surely it will be a thick tome - so the PDF on a tablet will certainly be more portable for fast rule checking at the table.

Nice work, Design Mechanism! This is a respectable descendent of a noble line.

There's a type of mission statement in the introduction...

In designing RuneQuest Sixth edition we had several aims foremost in our minds:
  • To recapture the spirit and feel of the earlier editions of RuneQuest.
  • Provide a comprehensive fantasy roleplaying game that capitalises on RuneQuest’s strengths.
  • Streamline the system, but also introduce new mechanics and systems that reflect what is happening in 21st Century roleplaying games.
  • Bring RuneQuest to a new audience, and continue to care for its old fans.

Since I'm most familiar with pre-box RQ1 (an "earlier edition"), at first glance I'd say they've pretty much achieved what they've set out to do.  I must see if I can find all of these "new mechanics" ...
*suspicious* ;)

(EDIT ends)

Of course if you’re on a budget, Mongoose’s popular open source Legend RPG is going for pennies http://bit.ly/RQLegend 

Design Mechanism RuneQuest main page: http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/runequest.php



Random RPG shopping purchase news:


At last, I have my very own Pathfinder rules!  (Courtesy of a wise and loving partner.  Ace.)  Until now I've only had the old Beta rules PDF which was impossible to print economically due to those luscious backgrounds.  It's definitely worth owning in book form.

I'm a little concerned about how it bangs on about "all you need to play" (words to that effect) when The Bestiary is still compulsory for a starting DM (unless of course you're happy just using your D&D3.5 Monster Manuals)  ...

It is a truly gorgeous tome.

A little word of warning though.  We bought through Amazon and it's taken over 4 weeks to deliver to the UK.  Is this a conspiracy to make us order directly from Paizo?


Photos of something close to my heart ...





As I implied earlier, I'm playing about on Tumblr a little at the moment:

http://billiambabble.tumblr.com/
http://adventuresandshopping.tumblr.com/
http://inkedadventures.tumblr.com/

Sample check-em-out links...

D&D tags on Tumblr:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ad%26d
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/dungeons+and+dragons

Old schoolers might like:
http://oldschoolfrp.tumblr.com/
http://fuckyeahbritisholdschoolgaming.tumblr.com/

Pictures, photos, art, reblog, reblog!!!