Why is the OSR not producing a fanzine like this?

There are many fine amateur and semi-professional publications out there in the OSR, but I sense there’s a niche that needs to be filled. We need our very own “armpit slick” fanzine complete with covers done in the style of the men’s adventure magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. Hell, most every cover blurb for the stories inside scream to be transformed into a roleplaying adventure (OK, maybe not “The Diet That Can Double Your Sexual Batting Average,” but still I make a good point).

I can’t do it. I’m booked solid and I’d make a lousy publisher anyway, but couldn’t you see a quarterly OSR fanzine done in this style and containing adventures for Call of Cthulhu, Weird Adventures, and other RPGs of that ilk? Man, I’d be all over that slick, especially if it occasionally did tell me about “The Nation-Wide Shame of Teen-Age Sin Clubs” and where I might find one in my neck of the woods.

The Secret Fire is Burning Down Tenkar’s Tavern

I’ve been concentrating on other things for most of the summer (and some announcements about those things may be cropping up in the near future) and I completely missed the progress and changes that Legends & Labyrinths had been undergoing since I sat in on a playtest back in June. Luckily, Tenkar of the Tavern seems to be covering the game post-release in painstaking if random detail.

Obviously, the biggest change was the fact that it got a new title: The Secret Fire. It also seems that some folks have been coming out of the woodwork to praise George Strayton’s creation. As I said after the playtest, the game incorporates elements from all the editions, utilizing them and improving on some of them to very good effect. I’ve not had a chance to read the released version of the game yet (ahem), but from what Tenkar’s been reporting, it sounds like the playtest was very indicative of the final result.

There are some interesting game mechanics in The Secret Fire and even if the game turns out not be the one you going to be playing, those on the lookout for different options and unconventional designs will want to take a look at the game. But don’t take my word for it: Keep reading Tenkar’s coverage and make up your own minds.

Fight On! For Five Dollars

This just in: Effective immediately, all Fight On! PDFs are just $5. This is a price reduction, not a sale. And, until June 29th, you can save an additional 25% with the coupon code TIME305. That means you can grab your first, third, or twelfth issue of Fight On! in PDF form for a measly $3.75. Drop by the Fight On! site to buy yours today!

Fight On! to the Twelfth Power!

Mutants! Androids! Robots! Pure Strain Humans! Fight On! is back, with another 88 pages of gut-wrenching, laser-pulsing, fist-pounding action! Rules variants, tables, adventures large and small, science fiction and fantasy, races, classes, monsters, spells, magic items, NPCs, history, opinion, and lore can be found herein! Featuring art and articles by Mark Allen, Ian Baggley, Lee Barber, Erin "Taichara" Bisson, Daniel Boggs, David Bowman, Simon Bull, David Coleman, Fat Cotton, Michael Curtis, Liz Danforth, Ndege Diamond, Ron Edwards, Kelvin Green, Tim Kask, John Larrey, John Laviolette, Lester, Gabor Lux, Heron Prior, Jeff Rients, Chris Robert, Zak S., Alex Schroeder, Jason Sholtis, Tim "Sniderman" Snider, Jennifer Weigel, and this issue's dedicatee James M. Ward, alongside many others! If want to take your FRP experience to the next level, don't delay - buy this issue and Fight On!The print version is available here:

http://www.lulu.com/product/16258333

and the PDF is available here: http://www.lulu.com/product/16258563

To encourage you to check us out, we have put two other products on SALE along with the release of Issue 12. These prices won’t last forever! The Fight On! Compiled Compilation +4, combining our first four fabulous issues under one cover, can currently be purchased for $19.99; and Roll the Bones, our well-reviewed collection of fantastic fiction, is available for just $14.99. We’d be honored if you checked one or both out!The compilation is available here:

http://www.lulu.com/product/15712103

and Roll the Bones is available here: http://www.lulu.com/product/14939306

If you buy by the end of the day TOMORROW (July 15), you can save even more on all of these – lulu is offering a site-wide discount of 20% off everything with the coupon BIG (BIG305AU, BIG305UK for some foreign readers), making this one of the best times to check us out for the first time or check back in if you’ve missed a few issues! While you’re at it, check out some other lulu gaming products – there is a ton of good stuff on there from all kinds of producers.Thanks for your interest, and whether you pick up an issue or not, keep fighting on!

Table of Contents

Champions of ZED (Daniel Boggs) 3
Fast Company II – Nonhumans (Schroeder & Shieh) 11
It’s All in the Cards (Michael Curtis) 12
The Tomb of Kaman-Doh Rey’d (David Coleman) 17
The Apen (Andrew “The Venomous Pao” Trent) 20
Geologians (Tim “Sniderman” Snider) 22
The Witch Doctor (Scott Moberly) 24
Knights & Knaves (Barber, Green, Rients, & Cal) 25
Grognard’s Grimoire (Erin “Taichara” Bisson) 27
The City State of Dusal Dagodli (Gabor Lux) 28
The Darkness Beneath (Heron Prior & David Bowman) 32
Education of a Magic User (Douglas Cox) 44
Doxy, Urgent Care Cleric (J. Linneman & K. Green) 45
Sir Tendeth (Tim “Sniderman” Snider) 46
Creepies & Crawlies (T. Snider and Jeffrey P. Talanian) 60
Monstrous Ecology (Ron Edwards) 63
Random’s Assortment (Peter Jensen & Random) 64
Curses Gone Wild! (John Laviolette) 65
Artifacts, Adjuncts, & Oddments (Jason Sholtis) 67
Treasure Types (Simon Bull) 68
Dungeon Modules: The Rondo Rooms (Jeff Rients) 69
Pigdivot! (Chris Robert) 72
Where the Action Is (Zak S.) 80
Merlyn’s Mystical Mirror (Gabor Lux & Jo Kreil) 84
Notes from a Master (James M. Ward & Tim Kask) 86

Front cover by Mark Allen (marjasall.com). Back cover by Kevin Mayle. Fight On! logo by Jeff Rients. Jim Ward photos by John Sapienza, Jr. and Breck Ward. Interior art and cartography by Jason Sholtis (4,9,21,67), OSRCon (osrcon.ca: 6), Fat Cotton (7,80), karenswhimsy.com (10), Anthony Stiller (12,64), Black Blade Publishing (blackblade publishing.com: 13), Liz Danforth (15), Hudson Bell (16), David Coleman (17), Netherwerks (netherwerks.blogspot. com: 18,42), Lawrence Raymond (18), Ndege Diamond (19,33,40,47), Lester (22,60,61,86), Centers for Disease Control (24), Kelvin Green (25,45,65), Lee Barber (26,51, Creepies & Crawlies logo, Knights & Knaves logo), Alex Schroeder (27,34), Gabor Lux (28,29,30), Antonio Sant’ Elia (31), Robert S. Conley (batintheattic.com: 32), Heron Prior (37,48,51,52,53,57), Bronze Age Miniatures (bronze agemin.com: 41), Douglas Cox (44), Tim “Sniderman” Snider (46), DEI Games (deigames.com, 46), John Larrey (54,63), Ian Baggley (62), Jennifer Weigel (69,74,79), Matthew Howerter (70), Kevin Mayle (72), Greengoat (75), Peter Schmidt Jensen (83), Henchman Abuse (henchman abuse.blogspot.com: 84), and F. Douglas Wall Publishing (fdouglaswall.blogspot.com: 85).

Nevermind

After successfully running the PDF of Stonehell Dungeon through the eBook Wizard, I’ve since downloaded the converted file to discover that it was converted into…a PDF.

When I originally uploaded my PDFs, there was no eBook category available to list them under so I chose to label them as digital files (others who put PDFs on Lulu prior to my own may have done the same). It seems that Lulu is using the term “eBook” in a generic sense and not a specific format for tablets, Kindles, Nooks, etc. I’m both relieved and puzzled at this, but unless there are other factors I’m unaware of, I don’t think there will be a problem down the line.

Stay tuned to be safe, however.

Strange Things Are Afoot at the Double Ell

I received an email yesterday from Lulu.com informing me that they “must retire certain products and services that have not proven to be as popular with our community of customers as we initially thought they'd be. As a result, we will no longer be offering your Multimedia for sale on Lulu.com.” Maybe you got one too.

The short of it is that Lulu will no longer support and sell digital projects such as CDs, DVDs, images, and (here’s what affects me) “digital files.” This means that all the various PDFs I have on Lulu will removed after September 18th. This confused the hell out of me at first, but I now see that they're trying to push these projects into an eBook format.

Lulu offers a free eBook Wizard service to convert PDFs and other files into that format, and it seems that I’ve successfully managed to convert the two PDFs I’ve used as trials. I’ll admit that I’m not quite up to speed on the differences (if any) between PDFs and the various eBook formats and readers so I’m not certain what this going to mean down the line. In a perfect scenario, all my PDFs will convert, you’ll be able to read them in whatever format you choose, and I’ll just have to alter the links to the new eBook versions and we’ll all get along fine.

The worst case is things go all pear-shaped and I have to stop selling my books via Lulu completely, which would likely mean that I start investigating other options like going through RPGNow or perhaps even another game publisher.

I’m not going to sweat this too much at the moment as I’ve got other irons in the fire and a few months to worry about it, but I thought I’d bring it up now to keep you all abreast of possible changes in the future. If you haven’t bought or downloaded any of the various Stonehell PDFs but keep meaning to, my suggestion is to do so before July 19th, which is the date when the first wave of alterations to the Lulu Marketplace will begin and prohibit the editing of currently offered digital files. After that, I can’t be confident what will happen over there at Lulu.

You will all be informed as more on this develops.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Beta: 6/8/11

Word on the street is that the Open Beta of Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG begins on Wednesday, June 8th. You can grab a PDF of the rules off of the Goodman website on that day, and then on June 18th, go down to your FLGS for Free RPG Day to pick up the DCC RPG Adventure Starter module. Then go home and see what all the fuss has been about.

Topographical Mapping Help Wanted

At the risk of biting off more than I can chew, I’ve had an idea for a project in my head now for several months. This would not be a for-profit piece, but rather a submission for one of our beloved fanzines. I’ve already talked with Iggy of Fight On! and got the go ahead to submit it, but I got sidetracked and had to put the piece on the backburner. Now, to give me an outlet from Stonehell 2 when one is needed, I’d like to continue to tinker with it for eventual submittal.


Without going to much into it, the piece really needs a map to accompany it and I have the perfect topological map for it. I’ve taken a stab at it, but I’m not satisfied with my efforts. The map I’m working from is an old U.S. Geological survey map so it is quite detailed. What I’m now looking for is a gifted mapmaker who could render such a map into one more suitable for a roleplaying aid, but retain the character and sense of realism found in the original. It would end up being a large map, roughly 11” x 17”, suitable for a two-page spread and lots of room for adventuring locales. This is not necessarily for a fantasy world, so an eye for the realistic is a plus on this. If you could give it a 1920’s feel too, that’d be even cooler. In return, I’d gladly share the byline on the eventual article with you.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please drop me an email at poleandrope AT gmail DOT com. If you’ve got a sample of your work or a link to some, feel free to include that as well.

Save on Stonehell Dungeon and Other OSR Stuff

If you haven't already taken advantage of the Game Master's Day Sale over at RPGNow or DriveThruRPG to save you a few bucks and you'd like to complete your collection of books written by me, Lulu is also offering a sale through March 7th. Enter the code GIANT305 at checkout to save 20% off the cover price of Stonehell Dungeon or any other Old School goodies available through them.

Tales of Dragons and the Shaping of Perceptions and Expectations

In the nearly three-years that I’ve been following and participating in this thing of ours, I have read hundreds if not thousands of blog and forum posts written by people who wanted to muse upon the hobby and the sources that birthed and shaped it. These discussions invariably lead to what gaming products form the core of fantasy roleplaying by virtue of establishing the tropes and atmosphere that we now take for granted almost forty years later.

These posts typically contain the usual suspects list of sources: For fiction, it the great Appendix N and the authors and works listed therein; for game products the titles “Keep on the Borderlands,” “Tomb of Horrors,” “Against the Giants,” “Arduin,” “Wilderlands,” and other appear again and again for good reason. But perceptions and expectations are formed by unique, personal experience, shaped by forces as varied as those affected by them. It is perhaps due to this that I have yet to see anyone speak of the book that had more effect on my nascent understanding and expectations of the game than any other. It is time to put that to rights.

It was Christmas of 1981. My interest in fantasy role-playing was formed the previous holiday season while visiting relatives and I was given a copy of the Moldvay Basic set earlier in that year. As I opened my presents, I found a slim parcel mixed amongst them. It was the right shape and size for an adventure module (something I had undoubtedly asked for), but when I opened it I discovered something else awaiting me. I was now the owner of a special issue of Dragon magazine entitled Dragontales.

This anthology of stories was the first (and to my knowledge, only) collection of fantasy fiction produced under a separate cover by Dragon Publishing. Released in August of 1980 under the editorship of Kim Mohan, the book features ten fantasy short stories written by a collection of authors ranging from the renowned to the unknown—some are even quite surprising.

In the months and years to come, I would pour over this anthology again and again, reading and rereading each story within until I knew them by heart. They covered quite a gamut of style so it was difficult to grow bored with them. Some were pulp sword and sorcery; others, trippy fantasy whose roots grew out of the psychedelic landscape of the previous two decades.

Remember that this was 1981, a time before TSR began churning out game fiction by the truckload and the fantasy genre in general was not as glutted as it stands today. My exposure was swords & sorcery fantasy had so far been limited to the Bass-Rankin productions of The Hobbit and Return of the King and whatever my local library had on its shelves—which was not a lot. To me, Dragontales was a fantastical feast that not only whetted my parched thirst for fantasy but also used the races, classes, monsters, and terms that I had been reading about for the last year in my rulebooks. It was a dream come true.

Somewhere along the line I lost my copy of the book. It was probably discarded after I read the thing to pieces and could recount the tales within by memory. As time went on, the stories began to grow dim and my interests moved on to other things. The market was now flooded with fantasy and straight-out game fiction, so the novelty of these stories was no longer there. It is not surprising that Dragon never produced a second anthology of tales.

Just a few years ago, not long after I started this blog, I discovered that a friend owned a copy of Dragontales and I asked to borrow it so that I could reacquaint myself with its stories and authors once again. I requested this with more than a little trepidation. Would the stories stand up to my memories of them after all these years or would a more mature palette find them lacking and result in another fond childhood reminiscence sullied by an ill-advised revisit to the halcyon days of the early 1980s? To my delight, I found that the stories not only retained their ability to entertain but in some cases were actually improved by a greater understanding of both the genre and its authors.

Looking back on those stories again also made me realize how much they helped shape my attitudes and expectations about D&D. With the exception of Leiber’s Fahfrd and Mouser stories (which I didn’t read until college), no other single source had more of an impact on my fantasy campaigns than these ten stories. Reading them again was not only a passport back to my own youth, but also to a different time in fantasy fiction and the gaming business. It was a rougher, wilder time back then, not sleek and slick as the pages of a splatbook like they are now. Dragontales reflects that time, a snapshot of a place impossible to return to.

This past weekend I asked my friend if I could borrow the book to take that journey once again. In the weeks to come I will be doing a post on each of the tales included in the anthology, talking about how they influenced me and returning the favor by using the stories as inspiration (or outright burglary) for new game material. I’ve started to read the first story today and I can already feel the mixture of nostalgia, expectation, and sheer entertainment rising up within me. In fact, I had to break my resolution regarding the purchase of books this year and order my very own copy of Dragontales to replace the one I lost long again. Until it shows up though, I have the borrowed version to peruse. If you’d like to come along for the trip and are missing a copy of your own, both Noble Knight and Amazon have some for sale. Place your order now or dig out your own copy and meet me back here next week when we take a look at “The Wizards Are Dying” by John L. Jenkins.

Miscellaneous is the Largest Category

Here’s a few bits and pieces that I wanted to touch upon before I forget. Look for real posts tomorrow and the weeks to come.

1) RPGNow and DriveThruRPG are having a Game Master’s Day Sale from now until next week (somewhere around Tuesday or Wednesday). Enjoy 25% off or more from a slew of publishers including old school favorites like Brave Halfling Publishing, Fat Dragon Games, GM Games, Goblinoid Games, Goodman Games, Rogue Games, and more (apologies to those I missed). If you haven’t picked up a PDF copy of say The Dungeon Alphabet (let’s get it to a Popular Electrum Pick, people!) or Realms of Crawling Chaos for that shiny new iPad, now is the time to do so. It’s also the perfect opportunity to buy something nice for your own poor, beleaguered game master who puts up with your antics week after week with no thought of himself…

2) Obfuscate and Deny: Remember that thing I said about starting the Stonehell sequel as soon as I finish my current manuscript? Well, forget it. Another gig stepped in to take its place in the queue. The good news is that it’s not only a funky fresh opportunity, but it’s something that any old school gamer would be a fool to not be a part of. The turnaround time is short so there will still be plenty of time for me to finish Stonehell before year’s end (crossed fingers knocking wood).

3) Local Gamers Take Note: To anyone in the tri-state area looking for something to do on the weekend of April 15-17, turn your browsers to the homepage of ICON-30, Long Island’s biggest science fiction convention. This year’s gaming guest of honor is Mr. Frank Mentzer.

4) All the finalists’ entries for the Three Castles Award have been sent to their doom the judges for adjudication. Quote one unnamed judge: "The package arrived today, in good condition. Since there were no gold coins hidden inside, I doubt any of them will win... In fact, I was astonished by the excellent quality and professional appearance! I was afraid I would be judging amateurish entries hand-written on legal pads (well, maybe not that bad). What a great group of products for the first award. I hope all five get good recognition from this. Looking forward to judging them." I knew I forgot to put something in my parcel…

Minutes from the Society of Torch, Pole and Rope – February Edition

I suppose I should make one more post before February becomes a memory and the winds of March begin to wail. My latest silence is the result of a mixture of intense activity and general malaise which is never the best of combinations. Let me bring you up to date before I dive back into the mess I have wrought.

I’m currently working on finishing up another book, one that’s been being honed for the better part of a year. With each refinement, the book comes closer and closer to what I envisioned when I originally pitched it, and I’m pleased with its growth. I’m nevertheless looking forward to when the final words are written and it moves off my desk and on down the line. I’m certain that if you’ve liked what I’ve done in the past, this next book will tickle you in all the right (and sometimes wrong) places.

As soon as this book is finished and I get the OK to move on to other things, I’ll be starting on the Stonehell sequel—no bullshitting around on that. As much as I love my megadungeon, knowing that I still owe the final book to you fine folks has been weighing on me like a quarrel-pierced seabird. I need to make sure that I have enough time to not only write the best book I can, but to deliver it before year’s end. Having been down this path once before, I’m fully aware of the detours and outright catastrophes that can cripple a book’s chances odds of meeting a deadline. The sooner started, the sooner finished, and that’s best for everyone.

Once Stonehell 2: Wrath of Kobolds is completed I will emphatically state that it is unlikely that I’ll be returning to the world of self-publishing any time soon. The occasional PDF or 32 p. module, maybe, but no more full length books—at least not ones that I have to do every damn thing to make happen. I enjoy writing them; I like better it when someone else works the magic to turn the manuscript into a book.

On the home front, I’m running out of steam on my Labyrinth Lord campaign. I wish I had better news, but between finishing the new book and looking at doing the Stonehell sequel, I just can’t muster up the gumption to get excited about my own fantasy world. A sea change is most definitely in the air, and I’ve already apprised my players that a sabbatical from "Watchfires & Thrones" may be in order for a time. Potential candidates have been discussed with no consensus on a replacement. We will be helping playtest a certain unnamed RPG in the weeks ahead, and if that proves to be to everyone’s satisfaction, the prospect of running a regular game of said unnamed RPG before it sees actual publication has an allure I find difficult in resisting, especially since I’m pretty impressed by what I’ve read so far.

To completely contradict the last paragraph, I’m doing work on another fantasy setting for another group, a world that’s been tremendously entertaining and inspiring. I get together with friends every two months or so for a night of board and card games, and these sessions have been a lot of fun. We manage to try out at least one new game each time we meet and the results have been 95% positive. One of the regulars at these sessions expressed an interest in trying out a fantasy roleplaying game (she’s never played before, but has an interest in the genre) back around Christmas time and I agreed to put one together. The book has slowed down my progress in assembling the introductory adventure, but that’s changed in recent weeks. I finally found a hook and system that works best for the mostly inexperienced players attending and also scratches all the itches that are being left untouched by the Labyrinth Lord campaign. It may just be the greatest setting I’ve ever developed.

What I like best about the setting is that it is personal. I’m crafting a game world that is not intended to see publication in a book or be blogged about here. I’m not writing it with one eye trained on commercial consumption concerns, but instead on the entertainment of just myself and a close circle of friends. After having spent so much time over the past two-and-a-half years writing with the public in mind, it’s nice to have that freedom again. I may talk about the setting some day, but for now it’s most definitely a case of “You have to be there” to enjoy it.

And that, my friends, is that. See you when I see you again.

The Siege of Fort Wolf’s Head

Last Sunday saw the players in my Labyrinth Lord campaign defending a remote frontier settlement against a horde of goblins. The scenario was lifted directly from Night’s Dark Terror, although the events leading up to the siege were a result of the players’ own actions. Putting them in charge of the fort’s defense was a great way to shake up the game for a session before returning to the dungeon crawl that seems to be the preferred style of play. I almost, almost sent out an email to players to suggest they watch Zulu or Assault on Precinct 13 before the game, but decided to not tip my hand ahead of time. Michael Caine references were made nevertheless.

The biggest problem in preparing for the battle was that I didn’t have a map of the frontier fort that accompanied the module. My copy of B10 is secondhand and is missing the big map and counters. If I was dealing with people who maintain a reasonable business model, I would normally have the option to buy a PDF version of that adventure and print out the map in pieces to tape together. Alas, Hasbro has an interesting method of doing business. Thankfully, someone was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the map so I could reproduce it on a sheet of Gaming Paper ahead of time. I’m attaching a photo of that reproduction to this post—just in case anyone else out there was wondering what the map of the outpost looks like.

Ideological Conflict at the Temple School for Young Amphibians

I’m still waist deep in projects this week, but the level of work is slowly dwindling. I have a few things in the pipe for later this week or the next, but until then, here’s a little something I found on my old computer during the Great File Transfer of 2011:

This is also a reminder that The Fane of St. Toad, one of my first contributions to this thing of ours and a tribute to both Dave Arneson and C.A. Smith, remains available as a free download here. If you’ve missed it before, check it out now.

The Stars Are Right…And Much Sooner Than Expected

Start off your week with soul-searing revelations and alien vistas of non-Euclidean geometry. Realms of Crawling Chaos is now available as a PDF or saddle-stitched paperback. The tome is expected to go into distribution early this summer, but be sure to tell your FLGS about it now. Orcus…I mean Great Cthulhu commands it!

Labyrinth Lord Text Documents Available

After much pleading from the DIY crowd, Goblinoid Games has finally made the text of Labyrinth Lord, Original Edition Characters, and the Advanced Edition Companion available on their website. Here’s Dan Proctor with the announcement:

Hi all, I know a number of you have been waiting for the text files for these books, and they're now up.

An important note about the text files: These files are merely text versions of the books. Therefore they still contain product identity. This may or may not be relevant to you depending on how you use them. FYI.

Enjoy!

http://goblinoidgames.com/ogclibrary.html

Rejoice, oh ye who hath dreamed of making a "Rules Compendium" of your very own for your home game or just wanted to cut and paste the rules you use and leave out the ones you don’t. Quite frankly, I’d love to be able to make my own “house rules” version but I don’t have the time right now. Put it on the “to do” list.

Iä!!!

At long last I can break my silence since Dan Proctor has officially announced it.

Without saying too much about the supplement just to be safe, this is an incredibly cool book and I’m honored that I was asked to be a part of it. My response on seeing Dan’s manuscript was, “It’s like you took the Cthulhu Mythos chapter from the unexpurgated Deities & Demigods and turned it into a sourcebook of its very own!” Dan did an amazing job on this one and I think a lot of folks are going to impressed by the stuff in there. You’ll find it awful stuff, by which I mean you be both “full of awe” and hopefully disgusted too. I know I blew out the “weird gear” in my mental transmission doing my section of the book and I hope the pain and madness comes through in the text.

Pick this one up when it hits the market. The psionic system is worth the price of admission alone. Your players will hate you for it.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Now Available for Pre-Order

Today is Dungeon Crawl Classics Day over at the Goodman Games website.

Glory & Gold Won by Sorcery & Sword

You’re no hero.

You’re a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them.

Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended you to, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword & sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you: turn the page…

Rules Set: DCC RPG, an OGL system that cross-breeds Appendix N with a streamlined version of 3E.

Designers’ Diary: Learn more about the RPG design in our regular entries.

• Designer’s diary #1: What It Is, And What It Isn’t

Community: Discuss the DCC RPG on our forums!

Open Playtest: The core rules for the DCC RPG will be released in a free, open playtest in mid-2011. Watch this page for more details.

Support: Goodman Games will support the DCC RPG with an extensive line of adventure modules and select other materials going into 2012. More details coming soon!

Licensees: Select publishers will be offered licenses to publish supplemental material for the DCC RPG. If you are a publisher interested in learning more, please contact us.

Designer and writer: Joseph Goodman
Additional writing: Harley Stroh
Cover art: Doug Kovacs
Interior art: Jeff Easley, Jason Edwards, Tom Galambos,
Friedrich Haas, Jim Holloway, Doug Kovacs, Diesel Laforce, William McAusland, Brad McDevitt, Jesse Mohn, Peter Mullen, Erol Otus, Stefan Poag, Jim Roslof, Chad Sergesketter, Chuck Whelon, Mike Wilson Special thanks to the playtesters at DunDraCon, CondorCon, GenghisCon, GaryCon, North Texas RPG Con, Mount LeConte, GameFest, SaurusCon, Anaheim Mini-Con, Tacticon, Fal-Con, Dicehouse Games, Comic World, and elsewhere!

GMG5070, hardcover, $34.99. Pre-order now!

So What’s Next?

Now that the Stonehell Supplement Two is out the door and working as intended (and I again thank you for your patience in the early hours of the day when things were amiss), it’s time to look at the last item on my “To Do” list for 2010.

Some folks remember that way back in June, I had a moment of inspiration and a new book idea exploded from out of nowhere. Several people kindly stepped forward to assist me on that project and I’ve gotten most of their contributed elements now. All that remains is some of the maps and for me to finish writing the damned thing. The draft is about half-way done and still needs some heavy beating with blunt objects to form it into the shape I want, but this is going to be my final project for 2010 and I expect to be putting all my energies into this one. It wants to be a bigger book than I initially imagined and I’m currently torn between giving it a little freedom and reining it in hard. In either case, I think some people will enjoy it while others maybe not so much. That’s why I’m doing it in-house rather than shopping around to see if some publisher has interest. If it face-plants on release, the suck stops here.

Without going too much into a book that’s still under construction, I’m going to be shooting for more of a high fantasy feel with this one instead of the grittier pulp vibe that’s been the backbone of the OSR. My design goal is, stated loosely, “What if Dragonlance was done more as a sandbox for starting characters instead of a railroad that led to the Big World-Ending Evil?” Now you see why I say some will like it and others will loathe it. I’ve got some ideas I think are nifty to bolt onto the Basic D&D/Labyrinth Lord framework without turning it completely into another beast, but it will ultimately be you folks who determine if I did it right or not.

I’m going to take a day or two of “creative palette cleaning” by scrubbing my brain with sci-fi, but then it’s back to high fantasy. I’m hoping that the book will be out in time for the holidays or to at least take advantage of the money you get for returning that crappy gift from Aunt Sheila. If you’ve already contributed art to the book, have no fear—the project is moving forward and you haven’t been forgotten. I’ll be contacting those folks again in a few weeks as I get closer to the finish line. I’ll likely be looking for someone to help slash the book to ribbons with an editorial pen since it’s too big and I’m too close to the material to do so myself.

A new Radiation Theatre will be up tomorrow, but here’s a short recommendation for another film. If you’re running or will be running a Metamorphosis Alpha game, I’d suggest checking out Pandorum. This is especially true if you’re starting the game using the alternate “We’re All Clones” beginning or are going for a darker, nastier feel to the campaign instead of wild and zany. The film is not high cinema, but it does feature folks running around an adrift spaceship while being chased by weird, murderous creatures without a clue of what went wrong. No robots, unfortunately.

Stonehell Dungeon Supplement: Buried Secrets Now Available

Stonehell Dungeon Supplement Two: Buried Secrets

The second in a series of supplemental material for Stonehell Dungeon, this twenty-page PDF is an anthology of three adventuring sites located in and around the ancient prison suitable for exploration by low-level characters. Included are “Modnar’s Cellar,” the undercroft of a ruined tower owned by a magic-user with a strange agenda, “The Nest of Otrogg,” a cave system once occupied by a loathsome cult, and “The Sanctuary of Chthonia,” a secret sub-level located inside Stonehell Dungeon and overseen by an undead witch. It also introduces two new spells, eight new monsters, two new magical items, and a pair of minor deities for your Labyrinth Lord™ game. This supplement contains three maps but no other interior illustrations.

Suitable for use by characters of levels 1-4, the adventures found within will provide several sessions worth of entertainment and their stand-alone nature makes them easy to insert in any campaign regardless of whether you're using the Stonehell megadungeon in you world. And, at the low price of $2.99, that's less than you'd pay for that party-sized bag of chips for your game table.

Click here to buy your copy today or visit the Lulu storefront for more Stonehell Dungeon game products.