tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61400430142682685412012-02-12T21:28:52.664-05:00Beyond Time and SpaceStuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.comBlogger2961100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-2281865388109991312012-02-10T23:07:00.001-05:002012-02-10T23:09:23.801-05:00

I spent some time updating the design of Strange Magic tonight and looking at some artists new takes on the characters from Masters of the Universe.   I've always thought the characters from MOTU had a neat Science-Fantasy D&D sort of vibe to them.  When re-imagined in a less "cartoony" style I think they're excellent inspiration for gaming. Click the images above to visit the artists'

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-24366980134726078432012-01-21T15:32:00.001-05:002012-02-10T21:41:35.591-05:00

I'm spending some time reading through the new 5th Edition D&D rules today...

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-22376025568010786852012-01-14T12:09:00.001-05:002012-02-10T21:40:52.419-05:00

After posting about parenting and pictures there was a bit of discussion here on Strange Magic, G+, Twitter and even responses on other blogs. People in general seem to understand that a range of media at different ratings is good, and letting people choose the media they want is preferable to saying only one kind of thing is acceptable for everyone. However a couple of people seem to struggle

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-36859954908671497822012-01-12T09:31:00.003-05:002012-01-12T09:31:54.779-05:00

After the announcement of yet another iteration of the venerable Dungeons & Dragons brand of tabletop games this week the predictable edition waring and identity politics over "which version is best" was somewhat muted by the company assuring gamers that the new product would support all the styles of playing from all the different editions. A lofty goal for certain, but one that could be

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-25396003017140556322012-01-10T09:35:00.000-05:002012-01-10T10:05:27.295-05:00

Yesterday I was part of a discussion with Allen Varney and Kenneth Hite who were suggesting an approach to tabletop game design that I'd like to briefly talk about. Here's the basic premise about a way to let D&D players of different editions all play at the same table: If the assumption is that everyone at the game table has a tablet, you can make quite a lot happen. I suspect the technical

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-28808733849919409692012-01-03T21:25:00.000-05:002012-01-03T21:25:10.861-05:00

The Comics Code was established in the 1950s to restrict the type of content publishers could include and receive "Comics Code Approval". Without approval they would need to find non-standard (aka underground) methods of distribution. The Comics Code was finally abandoned by the last comic publisher in 2011 in favour of indicating the intended audience (all ages, teen, adult, etc) instead.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-48204592641402626112012-01-02T08:31:00.000-05:002012-01-02T08:31:28.504-05:00

Welcome to 2012! Still planning things for what I'm doing with Strange Magic , but I recently watched Forbidden Zone and some documentary films about Robert Crumb, Dave Sim, and various other underground comic artists and think a gaming goal for this year will be to take a few more risks with my art and games, and not play things quite as safe.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-32799135903933384112011-12-25T21:23:00.000-05:002011-12-25T21:23:40.610-05:00

As 2011 draws to a close I thought I'd look back at some of the highlights from the past year, and give some thought to what my plans for the next year might include. Highlight of 2011 PocketMod Spellbook - Introducing the idea of Origami books as an RPG accessory Gryph Con - My first time running a game at a convention Citadel of Evil - Wins Best Design in the 2011 One Page Dungeon Contest

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-21607032521011214822011-12-08T10:35:00.001-05:002011-12-08T10:42:48.581-05:00

One of the most frequently criticized monsters in AD&D used to show how nonsensical some of the mechanics became is… a regular domestic Cat. In Monster Manual 2 they included stats for a normal Cat giving it AC 6, 1-5 hit points, a bite attack for 1-2 damage and a claw attack that does 1 point of damage. They can also get all up in your grill with a rear claw attack for an extra 1-2 points of

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-21728440856406242802011-12-06T08:41:00.001-05:002011-12-06T10:19:34.986-05:00

We were suggesting nonstandard spells for Zak's D&D campaign last night on Google+. Here's my contribution: Hamsa Charm 2nd Level Magic-User Spell Range: 120' Duration: 1 round + the level of the caster, in rounds This spell can be used on any human, or human-like creature (see Charm Person) and takes control of one of the target's hands. The charmed hand can can be used to attack anyone

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-28639567211985486112011-12-05T09:18:00.001-05:002011-12-05T09:48:43.788-05:00

After talking about Elves vs Humans on Friday I've been thinking about what I could do to make this iconic fantasy race more interesting to me and not just a wish fulfillment race along the lines of a sparkly vampire from Twilight. A character in a game being an Elf shouldn't be incidental, even if we're playing a game with separate race and class. That's sort of boring to me and it feels like

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-56751132828127218362011-12-02T10:32:00.001-05:002011-12-02T10:58:19.026-05:00

Okay, people still have their torches and pitchforks out this morning so I think topics brought up by Atlantasia might still be worth discussing. Aside from criticisms for it being non-pro in quality the thing that seems to have people the most fired up is the way in which the game talks about Half-Elves: On Atlantasia you will NEVER find a half-breed elf (if a female elf was ever raped by

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-28625876194043300112011-12-01T10:27:00.001-05:002011-12-01T10:29:53.604-05:00

My Ninjas arrived in the mail! Still waiting on the other figures, but here's some progress photos of the board. The floor is finished and I'm thinking about adding an edge to the mats. Lots of progress! Next step: Spaghetti...

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-59821883612392733822011-11-23T22:50:00.001-05:002011-11-23T22:55:39.656-05:00

I've started on my Roi Du Ring board. Here are some in progress pics! The finished board will be 9" x 9" in total. The base is pink insulation styrofoam and the walls are foamcore. I used a black marker to cover up the pink so that it doesn't show through the cracks in the floor... The floor boards are wooden craft sticks and the 5x5 grid in the centre is carved out of a piece

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-74572717213615088532011-11-22T09:33:00.001-05:002011-11-22T09:43:38.916-05:00

Tous les messages "Roi Du Ring" sur le site de Chien Sauvage! This is one of the blogs I've been reading lately. Even if you don't speak french or don't want to run it through a translator there's still a lot of really neat photos on the site. Chien Sauvage is the creator of Roi Du Ring which was pretty popular in the French gaming scene a few years ago but never really seemed to catch on in

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-2703573634545260682011-11-14T10:38:00.001-05:002011-11-14T10:46:00.640-05:00

After posting my feelings about Fantasy Artwork on Friday I received a lot of feedback on it. Not just in the comments, but also on Twitter, G+ and in private conversations. I was really happy to see I was neither alone in my feelings, or broadly demonized for not being in lock step with the most conservative elements of "our community". And thinking about "our community" and reading a few of

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-5292997227788361982011-11-10T09:24:00.001-05:002011-11-10T10:02:32.785-05:00

Lately I've found myself reappraising my feelings about Fantasy and Sci-Fi artwork, both in the media I appreciate, and the media I want to produce. I think this is likely a factor of a few things: getting older, our changing society, and discussions with others on social media. In particular I find myself having changed my opinion on 'provocative' imagery in fantasy art. Basically I think I had

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-25130505808128125462011-11-08T09:04:00.001-05:002011-11-08T09:05:09.285-05:00

In yesterday's post about the Science based Cleric I included the idea that they could use fractions of spell slots based on the total duration of the spells. I broke it down into a single spell being 120 points - which is the number of minutes the longest duration 1st level spell would last. Some spells would take 1 point per minute (lasting up to 120 minutes in total) while others would use 2,

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-84034355618836455522011-11-07T11:47:00.000-05:002011-11-07T11:47:09.130-05:00

Instead of being a man of faith in the Gods, this character has faith in logic and science. Of course being a fantasy game that means we're talking about science fiction, but the cleric spell list from early D&D seems like it could work well. Holy Symbol: Tricorder or Sonic Screwdriver type portable device. It's not that the device is that rare, or expensive - you need specialized training

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-26724885119397074842011-11-07T09:24:00.002-05:002011-11-07T09:25:43.762-05:00

...does your group typically explore in an average game session if you are running a site based exploration type of adventure (eg. "Dungeon Crawl" et al)? How many hours of gaming would you expect it to take for your group to finish with an environment of this size: How many rooms per hour do you typically see at your game table?

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-41062059197874998272011-11-04T10:36:00.002-04:002011-11-04T10:36:22.087-04:00

DM: "Your party leaves the town and heads north into the hills. After travelling for about an hour you meet a warrior walking along the road towards you."Without being given any description of what the town, hills, or warrior looks like what did you imagine? Was it a Merry Olde England and a Knight? A rocky Hyborian Landscape and a brawny barbarian? Feudal Japan and a Samurai? Something else?In

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-37090498082549091942011-11-01T09:50:00.002-04:002011-11-01T09:50:48.502-04:00

New Illustration -- Work in Progress, Traditional Media.  I haven't done any shading on the figure yet. I need to get another drawing marker - the one I like best is getting low on ink.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-48908430369980706832011-10-28T09:34:00.001-04:002011-10-28T09:34:07.527-04:00

Yesterday someone was asking about the Tomb of Horrors (or so I thought) and it wasn't until part way into the discussion I realized they meant the Tome of Horrors which is a different book on a different topic. I asked in jest if that was anything like the Friend Folio. The Friend Folio. What a great idea! An OSR game book filled with Monsters both docile and helpful. The things that go bump

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-88286286719927267812011-10-27T08:50:00.001-04:002011-10-27T08:53:17.850-04:00

"Every night, he searches the entire earth. When he finds a misfit toy, one that no little girl or boy loves, he brings it here to live on his island till someone wants it." With Halloween fast approaching monsters are on our minds and everyone, not just gamers, is a bit more interested in make-believe stories of ghosts and goblins. Over the years different sorts of monsters have been en vogue

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-85006909244749101932011-10-26T09:14:00.003-04:002011-10-26T09:14:34.915-04:00

While working on the character section I was reflecting on a recent article by Monte Cook in which he said: "Two 6th-level fighters in OD&D were pretty similar, but if one had a flame tongue sword and the other wore a helm of brilliance, they felt very different in play." Now, this is something at first blush I don't really agree with since mechanically an OD&D character based on King Arthur

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-27938680061210966142011-10-25T09:37:00.003-04:002011-10-25T09:51:50.246-04:00

Back when Gary and his friends were first getting started with Ye Olde Fantasy Roleplaying Game, and they wanted to put some monster on the table for their toy soldiers to battle they didn't have the wide variety of dedicated sci-fi and fantasy gaming miniatures that we have today. They'd go to the dime store and grab a bag of rubber monster toys, put them on the table, and make up something

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-65691389917825798962011-10-21T09:44:00.000-04:002011-10-21T09:44:46.227-04:00

Arduin Volume 1 really reminds me of the OSR in many ways - although one without the benefit of easy and affordable word processing and it's associated benefits. The spirit of what David set out to do feels much like what I see many of the other bloggers posting content for D&D in 2011 are doing as well. However unlike the way "Evolution" gets bandied about by marketing teams to describe how

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-30689230845779325772011-10-20T20:27:00.001-04:002011-10-20T20:27:39.510-04:00

At first it was something new and wonderful, and ideas and information flowed freely among the players. About a year or so ago things began to change: the joyous game was becoming big business. Anq those non-amateur game designers took on all of the trappings of things that have profit as their main motivational force: greed, secretiveness, hunger to "control the marketl" and all of that other

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-8007542627025077502011-10-20T09:01:00.003-04:002011-10-20T09:01:47.146-04:00

The hot topic around the streets of OSRville this week is D&D's compatibility with Christianity. Some people feel it is, others feel it's a non-issue. I think the original game was a bit like a cultural Borg or Katamari Damacy that rolled around borrowing from just about every source it encountered. The Vampire and the Cleric are based on Christianity. More specifically the Hammer Horror

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-7962665524524184352011-10-08T20:46:00.000-04:002011-10-08T20:46:21.708-04:00

Experienced D&D players soon learn that when looking for extra muscle for their low-level adventuring party they can either hire a human retainer of 0 or 1st level and give them a share of the loot… or they can just bring some sort of fighting animal along with them. They're usually a bit more to buy, but they don't take a share of the treasure and their usually MUCH tougher than the local

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-52411368559947611012011-10-07T14:49:00.002-04:002011-10-07T14:49:33.913-04:00

While working on a new campaign setting and dungeon last night I was thinking about the role that adventurers could play in the game world. Instead of being MurderHobos wandering the countryside plundering whatever bit of gold isn't nailed down PCs are Privateers and have Letters of Marque from the King giving them permission to tomb raid, skirmish with enemies of the kingdom and otherwise act

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-57513064398966011702011-10-05T22:41:00.000-04:002011-10-05T22:46:22.123-04:00

Tonight I tried a Monster Making experiment. The Ultimate Powers Book for Marvel Superheroes was always fun to use to make crazy characters with... how would it be as a Monster Manual instead? I decided to roll on all the random tables of origins and powers and see if I could turn the results into an interesting monster. Origin: Mineral Powers: Magnetism, Dreamtravel Magnetism goes with a

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-76837522048472619962011-09-29T20:43:00.003-04:002011-09-29T21:21:06.834-04:00

I never used the Weapon vs Armor tables in the AD&D Player's Handbook. Mostly because I find the chart really overwhelming with all 44 rows of weapons and 9 columns of armor. I also didn't know what to do when characters were fighting monsters that didn't have "weapons" and "armor" per se. However, if we limit the number of weapons to the 19 in B/X D&D, and only include 4 columns for armor (

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-24363148183950608862011-09-29T11:32:00.001-04:002012-02-10T22:02:29.101-05:00

Lord Folderoy is venturing out onto the battlefield for the very first time. He would like to be one of the guys and have some Saturday fun dispatching a few uppity peasants. He's not much in the way of being a trained warrior, but he's rich so to keep himself safe he dons the best armour money can buy (see picture). He hits the peasants on a d20 roll of 11+ (50%) and his War Hammer does d6

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-78015157025911038482011-09-26T09:20:00.002-04:002011-09-26T09:20:14.125-04:00

In B/X D&D the game paints a very interesting picture of the Cleric character class. While the original concept was from Peter Cushing's Van Helsing, the list of spells and magic items for Clerics suggests another strong influence: snakes. Snake-like spells include: Snake Charm Speak with Animal Growth of Animals Sticks to Snakes Neutralize Poison and one of the limited number of magic weapons

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-11310114650562103502011-09-20T11:49:00.000-04:002011-09-20T11:49:04.759-04:00

This is a streamlined version of rules I wrote for B/X D&D in 2009, updated to make them easier to remember and less fiddly to use at the table. A character using a shield defensively can reduce damage they take in combat by d4 each round.  A Fighter can also choose to use their shield offensively instead of reducing damage. For one successful attack each round, roll a d4 and use the higher

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-28711637894722844372011-09-20T09:20:00.001-04:002011-09-20T09:20:21.321-04:00

The "Shields Shall Be Splintered" rules by Brian Murphy are popular amongst OSR bloggers. Basically the player's shield is splintered apart in battle before they are defeated. A nice simple rule that provides for more character longevity... but really one that's more cinematic than historic in origin. Here's some footage of the Samurai Kanabō a weapon designed for breaking armour being used

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-77705746625981688992011-09-15T13:17:00.002-04:002011-09-15T13:17:51.345-04:00

Here's an example from the Ancient Academy dungeon I wrote that after running it I really don't think works well for old school type D&D games. This is from one of my one-page dungeons and was recorded on the podcast if you're interested in more of the details. This was the encounter with the Giant Spider that killed Rob W's character.34. Ancient Lounge: This formerly plush room is now filled

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-7700149446186660652011-09-14T22:46:00.001-04:002011-09-14T22:46:29.783-04:00

You are playing a game of B/X D&D with your friends. One of the players has decided to have their 1st level Magic-User "Rodney the Inscrutable" (S:9 I:15 W:7 D:11 C: 10 C: 13. ac9, hp4, spell:Magic Missile) split from the party and head back down a long passage, down from the ledge they had to climb up onto (d20 roll under Dex), down a 50' passage and opens the barred door with crudely written

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-37181764152952539422011-08-23T08:45:00.000-04:002011-08-23T08:45:09.989-04:00

After getting a few requests yesterday, physical GM Merit Badges are now available. You can order 1" pins with the different icons for $2 US ($2.50 CA) via Cafe Press. For $12 you can display a half-dozen merit badges on your GM bag, jacket, or Girl Guides sash.  I added two new badges to the pool as well: 'Sexy' and 'Cloak & Dagger' after getting some suggestions about that yesterday as

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-12886675158198309142011-08-22T11:15:00.002-04:002011-08-22T22:06:36.227-04:00

Recently a number of gamers created the FLAILSNAILS Conventions to make it easier for players to move their characters between different campaign worlds, and participate in many different GMs games (particularly games being run on Google+). While I think this is a fantastic idea the game system specifics is only part of the experience of playing an RPG with different GMs. What's arguably more

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com69tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-33716002632341991012011-08-21T22:46:00.000-04:002011-08-21T22:46:25.986-04:00

It's interesting to see the different responses people have had to Hill Cantons challenge to name their best practices as a GM. Some, like keep the game moving, I completely agree with. If things are slowing down too much while you look up rules you might need to spend a bit more time learning the system or choose a game that doesn't require you to remember quite as much. Other suggestions

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-38319762367909975032011-08-20T07:27:00.002-04:002011-08-20T07:27:59.513-04:00

I  loved Robotech when I was a kid, and after D&D I have more Robotech RPG books than any other system. That's also what got me into Battletech. Unfortunately neither Palladium or FASA come anywhere close to being good choices for running a tabletop game recreating this sort of battle seen in the video. The closest I've found is some Modern Jet combat games... but they're not very fast

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-18292807667867084242011-08-15T23:14:00.003-04:002011-08-15T23:14:28.821-04:00

Tomb of the Overfiend is a free one-page adventure for Weird West RPG based on a map created by Matt Jackson to support our friend Christian Walker with his new RPG zine Loviatar. While this was designed for the Weird West, it's also compatible with other "old school" type roleplaying games with a few small changes to some of the statistics for the encounters.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-73210657321657602932011-08-13T20:24:00.002-04:002011-08-13T20:24:55.019-04:00

I'm back from OSR Con! I met some really nice people today, both at the table for our Weird West game and during lunch afterwards. I didn't end up staying all that long since I foolishly took the bus and left my family with the car for the day. This ended up turning it in a ridiculosuly long trip. Next time I'll drive. Or fly. All my photos turned out featuring the backs of people's heads, but

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-75969838219326413492011-08-07T08:10:00.005-04:002011-08-07T08:10:50.787-04:00

I'll be at OSR Con in Toronto next Saturday (August 13th) at Lillian H. Smith library - which is a great location, the front doors make it a very suitable looking venue for some classic roleplaying game! If you're going to be there make sure you say hello - I should be wearing a Weird West T-Shirt and pretty easy to identify. I'll be running a Weird West game in the morning at 9:30am.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-30685906051667854772011-08-02T21:51:00.003-04:002011-08-02T21:51:50.763-04:00

I'm back from vacation with a preview of the artwork from the next Weird West book!* When I did the cover for the first Weird West Book I decided to use the most iconic character I could think of for a Western: The Cowboy, and then follow it up with a strong female character for the cover of the next book: In other Weird West news it sounds like there might be some games being run at GenCon

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-87654117879891735602011-07-13T20:58:00.001-04:002011-07-13T20:58:59.489-04:00

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-83881565818572850842011-07-11T09:43:00.000-04:002011-07-11T09:43:17.595-04:00

Since last week tabletop gamers from Blogs, Twitter, Forums, Facebook and even "Real Life"(tm) have felt drawn to a distant land... It's a bit strange seeing all these previously disconnected online communities of gamers coming together in one place. I can't really predict what will happen with Google Plus in the next few months and how it will affect the amount of content posted to other

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-72618586622074907922011-07-08T14:44:00.001-04:002011-07-08T14:44:25.249-04:00

And now a Fireside Chat with the Mayor of the OSR. Tonight's topic: The ENnies. Hi. How are ya? I'm doing pretty good myself. Only my back went out last week… other than that, pretty good. I was listening to the radio the other day. They said 37% of people on the internet like to share lists of the things they liked best. Where do they come up with those facts? Well. Good night.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-12128408565086965222011-07-07T09:14:00.001-04:002011-07-07T09:15:25.271-04:00

After watching an online discussion with Jane McGonigal about gamification and business (worlds colliding!) I decided that I owed it to myself to give electronic gaming another try. Like a small number of other people I've seen write about it online at some point, maybe 10 years ago or so, I just stopped liking videogames. Before that I loved them... and at some point (possibly related to an RSI)

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-32956377746415166592011-06-30T11:52:00.000-04:002011-06-30T11:52:30.712-04:00

Like a lot of other people I've been checking out Goolge+ this morning, and like a lot of other gamers wondering about how it might work for running an RPG online. For the most part Google+ is a clone of Facebook. Really. It's surprisingly similar in features and layout. That on it's own is very underwhelming. However there's one really nice addition that's firing up people's imagination:

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-14464540850438130712011-06-24T22:53:00.000-04:002011-06-24T22:53:05.808-04:00

I loved this show when I was younger. I still do. It had a great soundtrack and was a really good TV show. We're going to some costume events this summer and fall and so I'm looking at putting together some sort of historical costume for myself. I'm not much of a LARPer, even though I went to a couple of SCA events in my early 20s. I figure you can't go wrong with Robin Hood / Will Scarlet /

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-71451159077402176222011-06-24T13:59:00.000-04:002011-06-24T13:59:16.128-04:00

There's an interesting news story today that touches on some of the issues members of the OSR have been discussing in recent weeks: "Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has formed a coalition to assist the defense of an American facing criminal charges in Canada for having manga comics on his laptop that Customs authorities allege are child pornography. He faces a minimum of one year in prison if

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-64852055642081995072011-06-23T09:17:00.001-04:002011-06-23T09:19:16.492-04:00

Like the faithful of some religions there is a subset of tabletop gamers that regard their favored text as being complete and without error. A frequent criticism of the OSR is that some bloggers will pour over old texts like scholarly theologians looking for better understanding of ancient and eternal truths. When something comes up in the rules where someone feels it doesn't work properly… this

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-81781916144154760762011-06-20T23:13:00.001-04:002011-06-20T23:13:22.604-04:00

Excellent Documentary from Canadian TV News in 1985. For Old School RPG Archaeologists this is another must-view video. Any debates about "what was 'old school' D&D like?" are answered here. At the very least what "old school" D&D was like around here. Accents and all. ;-) Pat Pulling, Satanic Panic, and Human Sacrifice included. And here is Part 2... This is a very accurate report on

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-11140165825086363242011-06-20T10:33:00.000-04:002011-06-20T10:33:46.024-04:00

It's been a while since our last gaming night, either online or in person. Summer schedules are crazy and on top of that my game room / studio is currently out of commission. The online games I've been a player in are on hiatus at the moment as well. So no gaming for a while, and nothing planned in the next few weeks either. To remedy this I've been considering two separate options. The first

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-45873487358812594172011-06-16T07:23:00.000-04:002011-06-16T07:23:40.760-04:00

What the hell? After posting that video about how some people in the 80s were worried kids could lose touch with reality after playing an RPG I wake up to see this in the news today. I remember one kid crying when his D&D guy died once. I don't remember anyone starting FIRES, looting, and attacking cops. Really disappointed with some Canadians this morning... :(

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-70420041202338927972011-06-15T22:37:00.001-04:002011-06-15T22:38:16.995-04:00

Some really good background material about the game, how people are playing it, and the violent content. Then a heated debate between both sides - concern over community standards and appropriateness of material on one hand and the publishers of the game on the other. Some great old school gaming material from 1985! The debate gets pretty heated, and it's interesting to hear the TSR rep and

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-74655710467599139712011-06-14T22:07:00.001-04:002011-06-14T22:08:27.702-04:00

In the early 1980s while Dungeons & Dragons was being targeted by pressure groups wanting to ban the game, Heavy Metal music was undergoing similar persecution. If you haven't seen this footage of Dee Snider vs the Parents Music Resource Center this is an important bit of history: What might things have been like if Dee hadn't made such a convincing case? Would you still be able to listen to

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-91072849212171267242011-06-13T09:06:00.000-04:002011-06-13T09:06:41.286-04:00

Building on our new streamlined one-point alignment system I've been thinking about how games can help, or hinder, with that. Certainly a thoughtful and determined group of gamers could take any RPG and use it for a long-running campaign where everyone had fun and nobody acted like a prat. All the same, I think we would all be in agreement that some games would make that more difficult than

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-31421586806123275442011-06-11T22:56:00.000-04:002011-06-11T22:56:26.823-04:00

Reflecting on the recent discussions about heroic vs common characters, good vs evil characters, and navel gazing "what is good?" and "what is evil?" discussions I'm thinking of streamlining alignment to a one-point system: Don't Be a DickAll characters (and players) get this as their alignment - it's non-optional. You can play a "good guy" like a Paladin... as long as he's not a dick. You can

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-84986967063162591942011-06-10T20:29:00.000-04:002011-06-10T20:29:51.061-04:00

It's been a busy week for the Old School RPG blog scene. :) There's been so many overlapping discussion topics that overlap from blog to blog it's hard to keep up with them all. Probably the most heated are the ones about games with 'unheroic' characters and splatter gore artwork. The one thing that everyone should easily agree on at this point is that there are some very different ideas about

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-28519439326893241582011-06-09T21:46:00.000-04:002011-06-09T21:46:58.468-04:00

When games start adding stuff because it feels "old school" rather than because they're recognizing the specific things in old school games that are good there's a problem. This is even worse when the people making that game haven't really thought about it themselves and are just regurgitating what other people have told them is "old school". When people talk about RPGs being about "killing

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-35156033067570147262011-06-09T09:07:00.001-04:002011-06-09T09:07:53.896-04:00

Among the influences I have for gaming are the usual sources like Lieber, Howard, Lovecraft, Tolkien, etc. but also some other stuff that's perhaps a bit less geek-mainstream. I really like DIY in gaming, and I like it in music and filmmaking as well - and so I get a real kick out of weird indie video stuff. Anyone who's been reading this blog for a while may have figured that out already. :)

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-48899557983104244812011-06-08T20:24:00.000-04:002011-06-08T20:24:22.723-04:00

Like many other old school RPG bloggers I downloaded the Beta release of Goodman Games new Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) Roleplaying Game today. I haven't had a chance to read the rules yet, but I did appreciate all the great artwork from a range of different artists in a suitably "old school" style. Some of it *very* old school style. Two pieces in particular caught my eye and, honestly, I don't

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-44282887883365533962011-06-08T13:31:00.002-04:002011-06-08T13:33:17.816-04:00

After I mentioned that the Shield is woefully less useful in D&D than it was in historical hand-to-hand combat a few other people have shared their suggestions for improving it. Back in 2009 I wrote a post that didn't get a lot of notice at the time, but that we used in our Ancient Academy game and I think worked fairly well: In Defence of the Shield. A character with a shield may roll a single

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-38333038890487761612011-06-07T20:57:00.000-04:002011-06-07T20:57:21.182-04:00

Thanks to everyone who's been reading and commenting here at Strange Magic. I was surprised to find out tonight that this is actually one of the fastest growing blogs in the OSR! There are a ton of really cool blogs on Cyclopeatron's list -- over *300* and more cool content for your Old School gaming enjoyment than I think there ever was back in ye olde days. Definitely a great time to pick up

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-66740709964876942712011-06-07T13:21:00.000-04:002011-06-07T13:21:17.090-04:00

This is *awesome*. :D I think the characters are a Street Samurai, Decker and Stripper/Mage. Thanks to Daniel Perez for sharing the link to this!

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-66765726482439983972011-06-05T22:46:00.002-04:002011-06-05T22:46:29.389-04:00

Since getting back into gaming I've been using a "no evil PCs" convention in my games. That of course requires some sort of alignment system that makes it possible to differentiate between the "Good Guys" and "Bad Guys". Some people dislike any sort of system like that in their games, as they prefer the shades-of-grey moral relativism in their gaming. I'd usually lump that sort of thing under

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-30538120927531622112011-06-03T10:57:00.001-04:002011-06-03T13:18:57.457-04:00

In the Weird West RPG the character paths are: Adventurer, Fighter, Gifted and Magician. As Jeff Rients noted in his review the 'Gifted' title is the weakest of the bunch as it's not as easy to wrap your head around what it's all about. It was intended to describe characters who aren't full-blown Magicians but have some sort of Weird ability or limited use of Magic. They're gifted in some way,

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-17712808714754252602011-06-02T21:19:00.000-04:002011-06-02T21:19:36.754-04:00

Unlike most other OSR games you won't find a page full of fine print legalese included in the Weird West Roleplaying Game Basic Rulebook. We had an interesting discussion about that on Twitter today and I'd like to spend a moment talking about my decision to publish with regular copyright, and the alternative to the OGL I've used for other OSR material. The OGL was published 11 years ago in the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-69685748498175947452011-05-31T11:57:00.000-04:002011-05-31T11:57:01.937-04:00

My kids have been watching a couple of new TV shows lately: Wipeout and the Medieval themed Splatalot. They both involve contestants racing through obstacles courses, and inevitably falling off things and into the water. They find this very amusing, and watching their reactions and listening to their laughter makes them fun shows for me to sit through as well. While watching the fun foam armour

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-12322260808820015972011-05-30T10:06:00.000-04:002011-05-30T10:06:18.021-04:00

Listening to discussions about roleplaying games both online (blogs, twitter, podcasts) and in person I think it's obvious to most people that the umbrella term 'RPG' (and even 'D&D') is used to describe some fairly different approaches to tabletop gaming. What makes a game appealing to someone with certain tastes may not be the same as someone else. From at least the mid-1980s I'd heard the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-24191112891341260932011-05-28T07:33:00.000-04:002011-05-28T07:33:06.123-04:00

The response to the Weird West game has been fantastic, and I'm really grateful to everyone who's bought a copy, played the game, and shared their experiences. I've had a number of people saying they wish there had been more material, game content, examples of play, and even setting material. The goal with the Weird West project was to make the game as streamlined as possible: could I fit an

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-51800304567376290842011-05-27T09:18:00.000-04:002011-05-27T09:18:37.151-04:00

I've been following the discussion about the Monk class in Oe/1e D&D and how even for the people who don't object to the theme in their game, the class doesn't work for them the way it's originally presented. That's certainly how I feel about it. I included a Shaolin Monk character option in the Weird West RPG and as some people have noted, it's not just limited to Westerns and could be used for

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-53376384692648327372011-05-25T22:20:00.000-04:002011-05-25T22:20:50.694-04:00

This is the Meazel. Watch it run in slow motion... The Meazel is another Fiend Folio monster. This time we have a solitary 4 HD creature that's slightly smaller than a man. It's stealthy, has a "nasty reputation" and despite being drawn with a sword either attacks with it's claws or with a crazy super garrotte attack that is lethal in 2 rounds (!) unless the Meazel is killed or the character

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-29801653413338019492011-05-25T20:44:00.000-04:002011-05-25T20:44:52.853-04:00

I was reading today about Goodman Games new Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, and the discussion about how much character death was typical in Old School D&D. In DCC they expect a lot of character death - so much so that you should have up to 20 characters for the intro adventure. This adventure is designed for 15-20 0-level characters or 8-10 1st-level characters. Remember that players should have 2-3

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-15646057669558714882011-05-23T22:58:00.001-04:002011-05-24T09:00:38.298-04:00

The original Hook Horror is another Fiend Folio creation that, while enjoying some limited popularity, is a rather unspectacular monster. It's basically an armored Ogre with a single claw instead of a hand on each arm. Most animals with claws (like my cats) have more "hooks" than the Hook Horror. It's described as a sort of bird / insect mash-up. With a not-so scary illustration. If this thing

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-34655446056921830472011-05-21T22:41:00.000-04:002011-05-21T22:41:58.652-04:00

I usually listen to thematically relevant music when working on something new. I've returned to something I've had on the shelf for a while... and this song as well. :)

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-40194083239971315372011-05-20T11:02:00.001-04:002011-05-20T11:03:28.316-04:00

It seems many RPG bloggers are once again posting about the "Edition Wars" and either adding their voices to the choirs of "I like all products with Trademark X on the cover" or "Get off my lawn!" respectively. Then I realized what the Edition wars remind me of... The Succession Wars ! :) The Succession Wars were a series of near constant conflicts that engulfed the Inner Sphere for three

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-49302594631601281542011-05-17T10:02:00.000-04:002011-05-17T10:02:25.414-04:00

One of the things I was hoping for with the release of the Weird West RPG was seeing other people get inspired to create games in the PocketMod format. An entire game that prints on a single sheet of paper and folds into a small Origami book you can fit in your pocket. C.R.Brandon has released his Rogue Space: Sci Fi Role Playing Game Basic Rules in PocketMod format and over on his Sword &

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-4222496770613625802011-05-16T10:55:00.003-04:002011-05-16T10:57:10.819-04:00

Tabletop RPG players sometimes talk about Crunch in their favorite game. Some games have it, some don't. The crunch this, the crunch that. And to be honest I'm not 100% sure what it means. I have a pretty good idea what people mean when they say a game is heavy but a game can be heavy without its rules being long, and I think sheer bulk of rules has something to do with The Crunch. Whether

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-58687680529228026272011-05-16T09:18:00.000-04:002011-05-16T09:18:57.584-04:00

The 2011 One Page Dungeon Contest winners have been announced and I'm happy to report that Citadel of Evil was voted "Best Design"! There were a lot of really excellent entries this year, and all 71 pages of dungeon delving fun can be downloaded for free. Here's the list of this year's winners: Meckwick’s Revenge by Aaron Frost & Mundi King Best Dungeon as Thunderdome Into

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-49110292956038946892011-05-13T12:55:00.000-04:002011-05-13T12:55:12.912-04:00

I think everyone is thinking 'Is it really such a good thing for us ALL to be using Blogger?' right about now. :) Despite the obvious setback of the last 24 hours, I have to say that I've had far fewer headaches using Blogger than I did self-hosting my own Wordpress blog over the last few years. I've also found more people are reading and commenting on my posts. Today I see *100* people are

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-62331106205228670082011-05-11T09:18:00.000-04:002011-05-11T09:18:42.976-04:00

Wow, it's only been 10 days since I released the Weird West RPG and I'm amazed by all the kind words, great feedback, and even gaming material people are starting to post. Here's a roundup of some of the links! Roberto ran a game of Weird West at at Kaisen in Puerto Rico on the weekend. He was nice enough to take a photo of his Weird West players and today posted his 6 pregen Weird West

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-32059066896318301662011-05-10T22:03:00.001-04:002011-05-10T22:04:09.272-04:00

Tonight's Work in Progress Sketch JB at B/X Blackrazor has released an updated version of his War of the Mecha game. I think it's a great system for running a game of giant battling robots if you want to keep things moving along quickly and don't want to get bogged down in a lot of rules. When I was a kid one of my favourite TV Shows was "Robotech", and the Destroids that somehow made their way

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-58436346869544454852011-05-09T09:29:00.000-04:002011-05-09T09:29:06.283-04:00

Just a quick sketch I did last night after reading a number of OSR bloggers talking about styles of art and games, and saying they like the aesthetic of B&W Underground Comics. :) I think artwork is very important for tabletop games and can really set the mood for the shared narrative world the players are creating. Dark, gritty artwork will encourage a similar style of play, while more

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-59191687657964385942011-05-07T20:41:00.000-04:002011-05-07T20:41:43.873-04:00

If you haven't listened to the interview I did with Flagons and Dragons you'll have missed our conversation about the OSR. I was asked what I thought about the Old School Revival / Revolution and I made two points that after listening to the recording I'm quite pleased with. The first is that there are a lot of different ideas about what OSR stands for... and I think that's great. Old School

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-2817876767263512122011-05-06T21:00:00.000-04:002011-05-06T21:00:44.868-04:00

After getting a comment on the previous Dalek post from the fall it got me thinking about what a Dalek would look like if converted for Dungeons & Dragons / Swords & Wizardry / Labyrinth Lord to the new Weird West RPG rules.  You know... just in case.* Here's my first take on a monster card for WW: Here's the previous Dalek Monster post as a comparison. I dropped reference to ranges as well as

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-29701289024150412872011-05-06T10:09:00.000-04:002011-05-06T10:09:19.178-04:00

Last night I got a chance to chat with Carl from the Flagons and Dragons podcast about the Weird West RPG, the OSR, how I got into gaming, music, and beer. I also talk a little bit about tother game publishers, and the DIY gaming scene. I had a lot of fun chatting with Carl about gaming and hopefully (I haven't listened to the recording yet) it's somewhat interesting to listen to as well. :)

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-19800203194284261522011-05-03T15:25:00.001-04:002011-05-03T15:28:52.440-04:00

The Weird West RPG only contains the essentials for running a game and doesn’t include a lot of material you’ll already have in your other rules light old school RPGs, like monsters. Fortunately it’s very easy to use your existing material in a Weird West campaign. Here’s how to convert a Swords & Wizardry monster for use in the Weird West. Hit Dice = FightingHit Points = Stamina AC Defence

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-61921597002103740152011-05-03T09:03:00.000-04:002011-05-03T09:03:37.897-04:00

Thanks to everyone who's picked up a copy of the Weird West Roleplaying Game Basic Rulebook so far! I'm really happy with the feedback I've been getting, and seeing photos of the pocketmod version on people's desks! We're currently #2 on the top 100 hot items at DriveThruRPG and seeing Weird West alongside games I've long admired is very cool indeed. We've also had our first review by Joe

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-81370037375272894662011-05-02T07:00:00.003-04:002011-05-02T07:00:00.306-04:00

The Weird West RPG Is now available! The streamlined and fast playing adventure roleplaying game for weird western worlds of cowboys, kung-fu, magic and otherworldly malevolence. The Weird West Basic Rulebook has been designed to make reading, creating characters, and starting a game as fast as possible: the fastest RPG in the west! We've cut out the 'what is an rpg', game fiction, and other '

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-85838400563286761752011-04-29T18:04:00.000-04:002011-04-29T18:04:05.563-04:00

Here is the cover for the Weird West Roleplaying Game book! With luck it'll be available early next week. Looking forward to releasing this and hearing what people think. We're doing some different things with it. :)

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-81829974155224185742011-04-26T21:59:00.000-04:002011-04-26T21:59:07.480-04:00

While I generally prefer roleplaying games in the "theatre of the mind" style of play, I also enjoy painting miniatures and associated model making. Most of my Wild West miniatures come from Knuckleduster and I have a fair number of figures waiting to be painted. Since it's Weird West I've been working on some more Horror and Fantasy themed figures to use in our games as well (assuming they get

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-59557554757314763262011-04-25T23:18:00.000-04:002011-04-25T23:18:15.372-04:00

I've been working on RPG rulebooks on and off again for years. I've never been as close to having something finished as I am with the Weird West RPG, and I'm really looking forward to sharing it with you. Some of it will be familiar to anyone who's been following this blog, but a fair amount of it is new and improved material. I think the text is just about done now, and I'll be working on the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-28517918309851406522011-04-25T13:21:00.000-04:002011-04-25T13:21:12.480-04:00

I've finished the rough draft of the Weird West rulebook! Now that I've finished that (wow, I actually did!) I'm moving on to editing, layout and illustration. While I'm working on this stuff I like listening to thematically relevant music. That of course includes my usual favourites and Spaghetti Western soundtracks, but also some tracks that really get me thinking "Weird West".  They have that

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-7211947998612492702011-04-21T23:01:00.000-04:002011-04-21T23:01:06.757-04:00

Join the new and exciting Zontar team! The A to Z blogger challenge was fun, and I think a really good exercise for me. I've always been a "bad" perfectionist - in that I spent too much time worrying about things being perfect and so didn't end up producing much AT ALL. At the same time I'm glad to be done with trying to mangle the post I want to make into an A - Z format. :) Here's the last

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6140043014268268541.post-73683207307947042182011-04-21T11:19:00.004-04:002011-04-23T21:20:13.075-04:00

A lot of Old School D&D type bloggers have been using an OSR Logo based on the old TSR logo. It's pretty nifty, but does feel like it's kinda sorta a bit close to infringing on the old logo to be honest. Which is probably okay, but it got me thinking -- what is it I like about the old logo, and how can I take that idea and make it better? Sort of like the entire gaming thing, really. :) So

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.com49