Some Sample Art: Catacombs

Experimenting for a cover for the Catacombs sourcebook... which will describe the undercity of Samaris, for both players and Game Masters.

Now I wonder, where did that Vampyre go?

Random RPG Thoughts #13: Away From Keyboard...

Just noticed that I haven't posted for a month! That's rather long, especially as past month my blog was "RPG BLOG OF THE MONTH" on Stuffer Shack!

Now that's a strange thing to occur... All right I was busy, doing lots of real life stuff, and waiting for proofreaders who are hopefully vigilantly on a vacation somewhere, and so was I, for part of these weeks. And even Grognardia is slow last month. It's summer!

But, I guess it's also one of these periods that occurs just before or after a storm. A period of contemplation. A period of gestation. A period of something new that need to grow.

So hopefully I'll find some new innovations, new ways of thinking, or new ways of playing after thus period of being AFK - away from keyboard. And that's what I wonder about now. Do you (whomever you are, reading this) also have a need for such silent periods at times? A period to recharge, and change your game into something new?

I know I had periods of more than a few years, in which gaming went on a real low fire. Sometimes I really thought that I'd never game again - and was sorry for that at the same time. But eventually play always  re-emerged with a vengeange, and in a a new form.

How about you? Are such silences good? Are they there? Do we need them? What do they mean - these times of recuperation?

Free Download: Ringworld Zombie

Update: Ringworld Zombie is now available with all new artwork, as a print-on-demand high quality card deck from DriveThruCards. It's most fun with three or four players, but you can play solo too!

According to Rob Lang I now probably deserve a place in the special padded room for those who could not resist doing two 24-hour RPGs for the same competition. Yet, here is my second one:

RINGWORLD  Z O M B I E

It's a fast, fully illustrated, game-masterless card game (and a simple role playing game) involving a Ringworld, you playing prisoners, and... Zombies!

You can order the game from DriveThruCards here. Rules are on the cards, and/or a free pdf ruleset can be downloaded from here.

WARNING - CONFINED SPACE - NO SURVIVAL GUARANTEED

Pick #83: More Hobbit Ponderings

Never guessed that the set of the Hobbit would be blessed by Maori.



But you all knew, didn't you? I just was slower to watch ;-)



I wonder if my family who went to live in Wellington NZ noticed anything of the filming there.

Here's a silly note to the teaser with alternative lyrics. No, it's not official, whatever it says.



Just to make sure, by now I do think it's a good idea to split the Hobbit into two parts, and not just because of increased funding opportunities - as in "two movies pay out more than one". The story is quite extensive for just two hours. Better to give it the length it needs.

On yet another note, if you could not get enough of the short eerie version... here's all 27 verses by ShaDoWCa7.

Free Download: SSN-589 USS SCORPION DOWN

I'm at it again! Instead of doing normal work, I've just finished an entry to the 24-hour RPG competition "Little Spaces". I'll put it here so you can download and play (test) it straight away!

SSN-589 DOWN is a role playing game written for the 24-hour RPG competition of May-June 2012. It's fast paced, game-master-less, cooperative and competitive at the same time, and best with three players or more. All you'll further need is these rules, a deck of playing cards, a different pawn for each player, and a coin.

It is late in May 1968, in the middle of the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict. Far out in the Atlantic, Nuclear Attack Sub Scorpion breaks all radio contact. Then, for reasons unknown, the vessel sinks to critical depth. Its hull cracks. 99 men and women are lost. What happened?

You are captain, crew and VIP guests on board, starting twenty-four hours earlier. Will you learn what went wrong? Can you change history, and save their lives?

You may download the 24-hour version for free here - or go to 1kM1kT to get it there.

Pick #82: The Hobbit on a darker note... through Dungeons Deep

Some time ago, I noted that the Hobbit teaser almost suggested a movie of horror - being much darker than the book. Now, some people who have spoken to people who spoke to the insiders suggest that I may be right.

The Hobbit will be a more grown up, darker movie than the book. As it seems, J.R.R. Tolkien tried to rewrite the Hobbit in the 1960s, to make it lead up more naturally to Lord of the Rings. Apparently, he abandoned the attempt, as the Hobbit would have changed too much.

Peter Jackson picked up this idea, and seems to be extending on it. The movie thus will not only contain elements from the Hobbit, but also from other, more mature Tolkien works. At least, for as far as copyrights allow, that is. To ponder on what this may mean... listen to the chilling Misty Mountains (Cold) and Dungeons Deep from the trailer. For twenty-five minutes.



Or take to this eerie enchanting version by ShaDowCa7. It's spine tingling, believe me.



Makes you look forward to the film after all, doesn't it? It does to me.

Real Flashing Blades Revisited

Looking for inspiration I flipped through some old posts about real fighting. And then I mean the flashing, fierce, furious kind, which we try to simulate in our role playing games.

Then I noticed one of my linked through videos about bucklers was gone (copyright reasons)... So I looked up a few other nice SCA and swordfighting ones. As food for thought.



Here they try to hit each other harder, with foam blades.



Guess that Armour Class, Hit Points and THACO don't really simulate this for me!

Or how about Pennsic, with a full scale battle? Notice how both parties don't seem to look forward to full contact for a while. Even if they carry foam blades.



And then there's this view of the 2011 Viking festival in Wolin, Poland... with more realistic weaponry.



How to get that kind of feeling in to your RPG? Would be nice eh?