Free Adventures: Ammersfurt #22

The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.

Adventure Seed 22: The Peace Treaty

The fields are full of blood, dead, cries and wounded. Whatever the odds of either party winning the war, it is not a nice prospect to have to continue. As the morning comes again, and all hold their breath expecting a new attack, something odd happens. A messenger with a white flag comes forward. The Duke of Gelre is ready to make peace. He invites the enemy army commanders, including the heroes, into his camp.

Download the twentysecond part of The Secret of Ammersfurt here!

Pick #64: Comix in Portugese!

No, you don't even have to speak Portugese to understand these short comics with a certain Order of the Stick flavor. You might not even need Google Translate. Just some basic sense of language. Okay, there's only a few of them as of yet, but let's encourage the artist! Have a look at Matadores de Dragoes (Tamers of Dragons, or something, I figure). Enjoy :-)

Free Adventures: Ammersfurt #21

The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.

Adventure Seed 21: The Battle in the Fields

Whether the battle for Ammersfurt went well or not, the Gelre army will at least in part retreat to the southeast. In a large field near the forest they gather, not far from the main road. They ready for another confrontation. Troops from inside and outside Ammersfurt prepare for a counterattack.

Download the twentyfirst part of The Secret of Ammersfurt here! 


Art in the public domain, picture of Maarten van Rossum.

Pick #63: Kings Quest Revisited... and yes I know it's a Computer RPG

It's 1984. One of the first computer adventures. One of the first graphic computer games. One of the first games on the march to change the face of table top-roleplaying. Into lap-top roleplaying.

Well, almost anyway. I'm still confused that I have to explain what D&D is by referring to World of Warcraft. "You know World of Warcraft? Well, D&D is just like it, only without a computer." It seems like the world is upside down. This used to be the other way around, right?

King's Quest was a Sierra game series which was hugely succesful. Until Shoot-em-ups and eventually MMORPG took over. They were puzzle games. And the graphics were revolutionary. At that time. Now, they're not.

A group of programmers named Anonymous Game Developers Interactive decided to give the games a new life, and remake the first three parts of the series up to the standards of Kings Quest V. With SVGA graphics, speech and an improved engine. For Free. And they succeeded - as you might know, because the first one already has been downloaded half a million times since re-release in 2002. Or you might not know, like me.

In that case, have a look at Kings Quest I, Kings Quest II, and Kings Quest III. New old style.

OSR Experiments #27: More (Almost?) Real Shield Bashing

How does a real fight with shields look? I still wonder - SCA gives an idea. Here's another one. Skallagrim, one of the founders of the Skjaldborg - that's "Shield Wall" in old Norse has a load of videos of what they do with their viking group. They look pretty cool. Even if they are semi-choreographed. More food for thought!

Or like this (no he's not dead):



And what it looks like if you're in it:

Free Adventures: Ammersfurt #20

The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.

Adventure Seed 20: The Assault

As the last snow is falling, a large army from Gelre is moving toward the city gates on the east side of Ammersfurt. Quickly the footbowmen and guards gather at the walls. The knights of St. Joris rally on their horses, and the burghermaster speaks to the troubled citizens on the Hof. Does this mean war? Is Gelre rally going to attack? It seems so.

Download the twentieth part of The Secret of Ammersfurt here!


Art repro public domain, Siege of Zierikzee by J.W. Kaiser.

OSR Experiments #26: Real Furious Shields

With all the talk about shields lately, I've started to wonder what a real shield fight looks like. If it's more than a stage or film fight. So I started to scour Youtube a bit, and found this one for example. Even if it's a left hander against a right hander it gives some idea.



Notice how the fighters use their shields to fix their opponent, and force them in a corner? With some luck you could push your foe off balance.
What that would have to mean in a game system, I don't know yet. But it sure makes me think once again.

Just saying you'll use your shield AND your weapon in attack seems a bit simple. Though that might do the trick.

Here's another SCA training, buckler vs shield. See how the buckler is at a real disadvantage. Be patient for the flurries or speed ahead.

Pick #62: FUDGE may not be Old Style, but it's good for Lazy Gaming

This may be a longish title for a pick post, but well... gotta draw your attention to Fudge anyway. To my shame I must admit that I never actually played the Fudge system. But it did always intrigue me.

Steffan O'Sullivan, a GURPS writer, authored the game more than fifteen years ago, as an easy system. And you might see it as a kind of GURPS lite. Simpler, without the numbers, but still generic and applicable to every genre. You have to supply the background yourself, but there are rules for magic, psionics, and some examples of what you can do.

Fudge to me seems to be both more role play oriented, and good for lazy game masters. Because you use descriptor words, like "scratched", or "injured" or "great" or "terrible", you might stay closer to telling an exciting story. There's less chance of using jargon or getting lost in number crunching.

Since it's a nineties game, you can hardly call it an Old Style game, but it is in a sense an attempt to make gaming simpler again.

So, why didn't I play Fudge? Don't know. There are a few GM's I know who do use it, and they were happy. It adapts fairly easily to every genre, they say. Also, there is still a dedicated Fudge community out there. So if you never tried, have a look at this golden oldie. It's still available for free in pdf, though you can buy it in paperback too.

Perhaps, if you're interested, I'll do a test run and review it, with today's gaming in mind. Let me know.

OSR Experiments #25: Attack of the Anguyverne Mother

As a nod to very creative Brit Satyre from Fame & Fortune, I thought I'd do another conversion.

Anguyverne Mother & Anguyvernes

't Is a monstrosity, wrote Sir Gwaraine, a monstrosity from the depth of the Lac du Dumbarton. Its wings span twenty feet on each side, more than forty feet in all. Pale and slimy its scales slide along its wings, four score teeth like daggers sharp. A poisonous tail thirty feet long, sting like a thousand bees on a long lance. No knight has defeated the Mother Anguyverne. No knight will, they say, until all her palid spawn are slain as well. For she takes her life's blood and will from them each time she is wounded.

The young wizards apprentice frowned. Then tell me about the spawn, where do they live, what do they eat, where do they breathe? They live in the deep caverns, guarding the treasures of Dumbartons Kings, breathing the silted waters and eating the carrion of the likes of you, young adventurer! Fifteen feet long, slithering like an eel, without wings nor eyes, but with even more teeth than their mother. No knight has survived their bites, even if they are weak. But then, none could breathe water. Only if they would have eaten the gills of the spawn, then they could have for an hour or so. But how to slay them then in the first place? No, 't is of no avail. Sir Gwaraine sunk on his knees and pondered over the still waters of the lake.

Anguyverne Mother

OSR: unique creature, HD 9+9, fly 180', swim 120', bite 3d8, tail sting 2d4 + poison

DD2: STR 10, CON 10, scaley hide (armor 4) bite 9 (weapon class 4), tail sting 8 (weapon class 3)
poison in sting (9+ on CON or die, 12+ or S in chest), fly 7, swim 6, INT 0


Anguyverne

DD2: STR 5, CON 5, scaley hide (armor 2), bite 8 (weapon class 2), sting 7 (weapon class 1), poison sting 6+ or die, 9+ or S in chest, swim 7, excellent senses 5

Pick #61: Diorama Heavens

Personally I'm not that into miniatures. They take time, space, and space... and time. And I never seem to be able to paint them as I think they should be painted.

But I do enjoy seeing dioramas and tiny works of art. Some of them pretty amazing, some of them astonishing, some just miniature, some just lead or plastic. So, while indexing even more sites for the Dark Dungeon Vaults, I spotted a few avid diorama builders I was really stunned by. I almost wanted to seriously pick up painting minis myself.

There's Scotts Wargaming, with some very impressive Pirates of the Caribbean inspired sets. Don't let the Sauron pic above his blog fool you, he can do a lot more.

Tim Eagling of Timmys Conflicting Interests is both a diorama builder and a reenactor. And a steampunk fan. And... he works on Warhammer, and... Well he has quite a few beautiful pics - so I guess he's a good photographer too.

Dampf's Modeling Page again by a Brit, Tony this time, shows a lot of his alternative historic mini buildings - and precise painted minotaurs.

And Plastic Legions also impressed me. By sheer numbers of minis, and massive army pic after massive army pic. Many well painted too.

There's many more, but these stood out for me as a non-miniature gamer. Have a stroll on their blogs if you ever thought of picking up a paint brush.

Free Adventures: Ammersfurt #19

The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.

Adventure Seed 19: The Enemy Army

Springtime is finally coming near. There is some snow now and then, and canals are still frozen, but the days are getting longer and longer. Our heroes are out for a hunting party. And that's when it happens. Two of the boys who went ahead scouting come running back. There are soldiers out there. Soldiers from Gelre. Hundreds.

Download the nineteenth part of The Secret of Ammersfurt here!

Pick #60: Firefly RPG goes AWOL

Remember that I was grieved that once I found out there was a Firefly game, publisher Margaret Weis pulled the product? Well, here's someone else who might have thought the same thing, and he cooked up his own version of a Firefly RPG. And posted it for free.

I'm talking about WrathofZombie, who also likes burgers and zombies. Not necessarily in that order or mix, I figure. He wrote a game on zombies too. But concentrating on the Firefly game - it looks fair, with many pages and some bootlegged photos.

Rules are based on Green Ronin's AGE, or more particularly Dragon Age, and Mike Evans (WoZ) makes no secret of it. Copyrights are respected, but this game is produced without permission. The game is free, fan fiction game, and I'd say some good free advertising for a canceled great TV series, a canceled Firefly game, and a nice publisher.

Have a look and see if it helps you running the 'Verse.

Pick #59: What? Cartman vs. Cthulhu?

Okay, you probably all knew, and I'm the last one to hear. But the recent evidence points out that the BP spill was actually the least of our worries. Just look at this news reel from Southpark. Poor Cartman!

You can view the episode of Southpark, Coon 2: Hindsight here, or else there you will find where to look if you're no US citizen.

Ye Olde Character Sheet #3: Gwarwain

Gwarwain was a Gnome. Sort of.

He was one of the faerie creature player characters of player Peter, who reveled in faeries. And in drawing all sorts of things. Instead of doing illustrations he went on to study Art History in Essex (as a Dutchman), which is still a loss to those who love pictures. Maybe he now illustrates books on the side, I don't know. Hey Peter, are you out there somewhere? Lost your address ;-)

Peters characters had one typical weird thing. They always seemed to have to die, or nearly die by fire. The same went for Gwarwain, the little illusionist. I believe he jumped burning off a pirate ship, just fireballed by an enemy. Or something like it.

My home brew system had evolved even further away from Dungeons & Dragons once Gwarwain was made. Wisdom as an ability was ditched at the time. Hit locations were added - about twenty of them, as you may see in the right hand corner of the sheet. 18 was neck, 19 face, 20 head. Each location could have its own armour. Which you could list on the sheet.

And if you could draw, like Pete, you could make your sheet shine with a dressed miniature of your hero. There were a kind of proficiencies, spell points (called "Mana"), and most of the specifics of my system at that time has slipped my mind. Can't be helped.

Anyway, still treasure this one. Another age gone bye.

Images are still copyright Peter van der Meijden, about 1986.

Update: just found him on LinkedIn!

OSR Experiments #24: Preview of "Shadows of the Haunted Keep"

Happy Independence Day! Unless you're British, of course.

Thought I'd share with you a preview magick item from my upcoming module Shadows of the Haunted Keep. A retro-style adventure kit for Dark Dungeon – with OSR stats too. Enjoy.

 Book of Confusions

Usually a tome of this sort has a name like “Booke of Ultimate Knowledge”, or “The Compleat Enchantre”. The tome intrigues the reader to the utmost, and makes him or her believe that he can do anything. Accomplish any goal, solve any problem. But the how is complex, and the more the reader reads, the more complex it becomes, until in practice the reader wastes all time and accomplishes nothing. The reader will experiment with the knowledge in the book, and talk, write and think endlessly, but all ideas will be misguided gibberish of no use.

A casual reader must roll 6+ on WIL to avoid being sucked in by the book. A reader who takes the time to study the book must roll 9+ on WIL. One who tries to read it from cover to cover must roll 12+.

To break the curse of the book, it must be burned, which the reader will violently resist. Or the affected reader could be blessed on 12+ to be released for a day (after which the book might be burned), or 15+ to be released permanently.

For old schoolers who use a D&D remix: any serious reader must save vs. spells or suffer the effects. A remove curse spell is the way to get rid of the book. Be sure to entice players to read the book by suggesting that it might have very powerful magick and knowledge inside. Such is the power of the book.

Image is a remix of the CC image of a latin dictionary by Dr. M Gossler. This image remix also belongs to our Creative Commons.

Pick #58: Stars Without Number is indeed Rather Good

What happens when you mix and match two of the most classic and earliest role playing games? If it's Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller, then you might end up with Stars Without Number. And it's not a bad mix at all. In fact, if you missed the buzz, you missed something good.

Science Fiction Role Playing with D&D like rules. Sci Fi with hit points. Endless world profiles. Adventure seeds by the hundreds. A universe to discover. Actually to discover - because it's not set. You just get a lot of tools to build your own. And you can actually use these tools in any system.

Designer Kevin Crawford somehow managed to capture the feel of both games, and preserve the better parts. And then add some more. Stars Without Number somehow invites to play. That's something most newer Traveller editions failed, compared to the first version. So I consider that a feat.

One gripe? Personally I would not have chosen to mix Traveller with D&D. Because I think D&D does not work well below 3^rd level characters or above 8^th – that's for beginning games and advanced games. Even if it works well enough in between. But SWN did it with flair, and makes me wonder – could it work? Download it for free, or buy a print (may well be worth the dollars) and decide. Or try it too.

Update 1: Just got mine in the mail, and am not sorry at all. Looks worth the money for the inspiration alone already. Good.

Update 2: Kevin is working on the Mongoose edition of SWN, with 40 extra pages, only to be printed in hardback, this september, for about $40.

Free Adventures: Ammersfurt #18

The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.

Adventure Seed 18: The Trebuchet

On a late winter night the heroes find themselves on the way from Ammersbrugge to Ammersfurt. After some business with Utrecht officials they heard their boat would not go because of the ice, and they tried to reach the city on foot instead. Now night falls and they are still trodding along the partly frozen Ammer river. Hungry wolves howl in the distance. And then they notice a big raft in the brush. With a huge contraption on it. And deep voices. Soldiers.

Download the eighteenth part of The Secret of Ammersfurt here


Art public domain with thanks to Wikipedia.

Pick #57: Lumpley Defies RSS Feeds...

But I'd like to call your attention to the Lumpley site Anyway... That's also it's name, in a sense: Anyway.

It's the Lumpley games site, which has been around for some time, and perhaps that's why it doesn't have such newfangled things like RSS feeds. Or maybe they have a friendly IT expert web master with particular idea about security and style - like I have with my own older Dark Dungeon site. Anyway...

Lumpley games seem quite intriguing to me. There are some nice deep thoughts out there on role playing. I'm not sure I understand them all, but the writers are on (and maybe over) the edge of the possibilities of role playing. I feel quite sure of that. Maybe you can understand what they write. Anyway...

They also have a sale of all their stuff in PDF. Until the fourth of july.
If you like titles like "Apocalypse World" or "I kill puppies for Satan", you might want to try and navigate their old style website. And perhaps shell out your money. Anyway...

Oh yeah, the link, old style:  http://www.lumpley.com/

OSR Experiments #23: Freaky Fungus Eaters

Recently I saw a freakish photo from an obscure Japanese horror movie. And I couldn't help but think how the creatures depicted could fit in my fantasy world. Freakish mushrooms... With some stats DD and OSR side to side. Enjoy.

Fungus Eater

The name of this species is rather confusing. It suggests that they eat fungi. But in fact, they are fungi. Ten foot high, carniverous, man eating fungi.

The Manango or "Fungus Eaters" have been reported at least twice by both Nipponese and Sung expeditions in the Southern ocean, infecting lost isles in the Emerald Archipello. A survivor of the disastrous Kobyashi shipwreck was the first. He was so stark raving mad that he wasn't taken seriously by the authorities. But a later expedition to recover the Kobyashi gold proved his report true. Only three of the eightyseven sailors and warriors came back to tell the tale. The gold was never found.

Manango are between four and twelve feet tall, and can hide as if they are mossy and fungus heaps of stones. They seem to lie dormant in groups for an unlimited time, until prey wanders into their vicinity. They seem to communicate with shrieks, but can also emit waves of "thought madness", so they might organize telepathically. Corpses left by the Manango eventually seem to grow into new Manango.

Dark Dungeon Stats:

STR 5
Armour Class 2 (tough leather)
claw 6 (weapon class 2)
telepathic communication 3
telepathic assault (cause madness) 3

OSR Stats:

HD 3 + 3
AC 6
claws 1d6
surprise 4 in 6
psionic assault 1/day
feeblemind 1/day