Old School Session 3 - Davids Campaign - "Assbulance" - Part Two

2 giant crocodiles just came out of the water, and my character had the last watch and noticed.  I yelled and everyone starting waking up.  The wizard nikola decided against putting any clothes on and ran out firing magic missiles.  He also grabbed his 10 foot pole to try and swipe at the crocs.

I managed to roll 2 crits in the first couple of rounds doing double damage.  (House rule, you roll a crit, and you get to roll 2 damage dice, not a duplicate of whatever you roll).  Mr. Wizard Nikola throws some oil and basically makes a mall-toff cocktail.  Thankfully most of us are out of the way when the crocs get lit up.

I decide 2 things.  My non-descript shortsword I grabbed is now dubbed "Crocsbane".   Secondly my character has decided to start collecting teeth of the victims of his sword.  So now I got a small sack with croc teeth in it.

We all get into it start fighting these buggers off, and its really close.  Everyone is pretty beat up afterwards.

The decision is finally made to make our way north to the town of FOB, first off to find some kind of healing if at all possible, and secondly to track down this army we are supposed to spy on.

We set off, and the rest of the day goes by with nothing out of the ordinary.  We have all slightly recovered, but are still pretty beat up (let's say half the hit points that we started with).

We make camp for the night along the shoreline, and only a couple of watches go by and all of a sudden 7 pirates (including a 2HD captain) come ashore.  They request all of our money.  The bugger of that plan was we honestly needed the money, basically for any kind of healing.

And a big fight ensues.  The wizard attempts to knock them over with his 10 foot pole, there's some meager results.  Everyone is going down like flies.  The thief, wizard and dwarf warrior are down for the count.  My wife (Roseanna the cleric) and I are fighting these pirates like crazy.  We are backed up against a corner, fighting shoulder to shoulder.  I roll another 20! and slice the captains head clean off.  The pirates panic, one makes a run for it.  And we finish off the remaining couple.

Roseanna is completely out of healing spells.  So we load up the 3 other characters onto the back of the donkey we got.

Who has know been dubbed, ASSBULANCE!

And we head off to FOB.  Thankfully all the various gods were looking out for us, and we make it to the small destroyed village.  (It had previously been lit up by a raiding army).  We start off looking for some kind of healer, stumble into one who of course has a quest for us! (Atleast I believe he has a quest for us). And that's were we capped off the night.  So much fun.

Oh and these are my new favourite dice!  I got a pound of whiz dice awhile ago, and in the bag there was a small cloth bag with green ones.  These are now going to be my dice, (well until they fail miserably).

The other thing I decided was that originally my name was Grendel "No use for a last name".  Now its going to be Grendel Sheet (as I wrote sheet for some dumb reason, while filling out a +James V West character sheet).  His nickname is going to be "The tooth fairy", cuz of reasons above.

You can get James's basic fantasy character sheet on the website here: http://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html

Old School Session 3 - Davids Campaign - "Assbulance" - Part One

First off, Egad it was epic! It's been quite a few months since we played some old school dnd, specifically Davids campaign.  Everyone had started university and stuff just got hectic, then the holidays, this happens.

When last we left off we had murdered a bunch of priests, which apparently WE WERE NOT supposed to do!  So the group made a beeline outta town.

We had been tasked with attempting to get a prisoner from the church back to his home safely.  His name was RD and he was a farmer.  Apparently we were hitting paydirt getting this guy home.

We also have a side quest to scout another army, find their location and report back.  In the world there's a pile of different factions and armies all fighting with each other.   We haven't quite picked a side yet.  My plan is to remain neutral and play them all off each other until such time as they figure it out.  At that point back pedal out of the room!

For whatever reason no one chased us out of town.  We got very close to RD's farm, the DM laid a grid map on the table for us.  We split the party, my wife (roseanna), myself (Grendel no use for a last name) and RD went one way.  The thief (niles), the wizard (nikola, super eastern European accent guy!) and Edil (dwarf fighter) went another direction.  We noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the cabin and got midly worried.  At one point I attempted to lift Edil the dwarf on my shoulders.  To failed dex checks and we were on the ground!  The field is filled with very tall wheat so we were not able to see much.

The other party (niles, nikola and edil) were captured by a bunch of soliders camped out in the farm yard.  Well specifically nikola, who went off to negotiate.

Cue hillarious negotiation with the Captain of the army who has made his home in RD's farm house.  RD's mother was also there, and she had a terribly silly accent (very similar to howard's mom on big bang theory).

"Alright, mr captains, I'd like to get this farmhouses back for rd's and his mothers, whats is its thats you'ds like us's to dos, with yous????"

(note honest to god so funny).

The gist of the negotiation was the Giacom (capn of army) had seized the farmhouse property and all gold etc.   He was however looking for RD as he had some information for him.  Of course we didn't get our reward for returning RD, but we got a new quest.  South of the farmhouse Giacom's brother was having a crazy orgy and we were supposed to bring his ass back and have him swear allegiance to his brothers army.  (this guy is basically tyrion lannister).  In return for bringing Giacoms brother back we would get some pay, and we were allowed to load up on all kinds of gear before we left.  (This guy was a crazy negotiator, basically Hans Grubber). At one point I passed a note to Nikola that said "We shouldn't negotiate with terrorists".


The gear shopping basically became a trip to walmart with a open credit card.  The dwarf grabbed some plate mail (which has the symbol of Giacoms army, which could be problematic as hell later).  Piles of sacks (with logo), a donkey!!!! rations, etc.  I had previously had 2 terrible daggers and I grabbed myself a rather boring short sword.  Nikola desperately wanted some oil and a 10 FOOT POLE! 

With all our awesome new gear in tow, bellys full and max hit points we set off for the coast.  Which is about a days ride.  We get to the beach in the evening and start discussing what we should do.

Options are as follows;
1.  Find the brother in the south
2.  Go to the town of FOB and scout different army, report back to big major city.

Both of which are a equal distance away from us.

We decide to sleep on it and take watches.

I get the last watch, the sun is barely rising and I notice to large crocodiles out of the corner of my eye, coming out of the water.

I shout "GUYS!!! WE HAVE COMPANY!"

Google Plus Yadda

You may or may not have noticed this image yesterday that I posted.  As some of you may know the "legacy" version of google plus that we all seem to like is going to be dismantled sometime at the end of January.  Prompting some people to move to a different social media platform.

I myself am staying, unless it gets extremely quiet.  The last little while I've trimmed down the communities that I'm involved in (mostly because of a lot of cross posting).  And I've gone thru and basically un-followed any collection that has a political spin.  I've also went and basically deleted my Facebook account, for the simple reason that I'm just done.  I'm done with politics, I'm done with drama, I'm done with the noise honestly.

As the next few days go by I am going to take a long hard look at everyone I'm following on Google plus, the criteria will be the following:

1.  If they post political stuff and it's not in a collection that I can unfollow, I will probably stop following that person.

2.  If they post RPG related stuff, or have a cool collection I will continue to follow it.

The reason that I have loved G+ was because I tailored it to basically be all RPG content, and less noise (like facebook).  I know some people are annoyed about the hangouts issue (I'm guessing when it comes to it working with roll20 or fantasy grounds).  Just pointing out that the chat feature of hangouts is available in gmail when you are logged in.  As well on my tablet it is its on separate app.

So speaking as a typical polite Canadian, if I by chance unfollow you its because of statement #1.  Hopefully no offence is taken.  I promise to post things about RPGs in my collection "Shane's RPG musings".  I have a few other collections that you can un follow.

As a side note, I am a big fan of blogger as a platform for blogging.  And I spent an inordinate amount of time reading old school blogs (most of which are on the right hand side of this blog).  If for whatever reason G+ dies a slow death of no more RPG people, I will continue to blog here regardless.

Alright that's my piece for the day.  Hopefully you have a good one!
PS It's been soooo nice outside the last week with temperatures in the actual +'s I'm amazed.  The weather honestly affects your mood, and I've realized in the last few years that I do get the "seasonal effective disorder".

Poppin Tags In Barovia - Session 6 Curse Of Strahd

Saturday afternoon we reconvened in Barovia.  When last we left off we had just met Strahd and he was an asshole.  We managed to kill off all his wives, which I'm sure probably pissed him off.  He seems like he's totally cool with polygamy.

All of us were pretty beaten up so we decided in our infinite wisdom (of which I have 18!) that the best bet would be to lock ourselves into Strahd's tomb and have a nap!

Yes really.

So we sleep thru the night, get up in the morning, my character Keln decides to make some eggs, cuz they travel well in a dungeon.  All of a sudden Strahd shows up!

and blasts one mean fireball at us.

Cue "RUN!"

This was totally the DnD meme with monthy phyton and LOTR.  We make a break for it and run thru the damn castle back the way we came.  Strahd for whatever reason just laughs and laughs at us.  We high tail it back to the gypsy camp, have another nap, meet up with Madame Ava to discuss where in the hell the vines are?  

We decide that it would be in our best interests (meta) to level our asses up a bit before going back to that damn castle.  After a brief discussion we decide to head to the village of barovia.  Which by the sounds of it is a sad place.

On the way we see the crazy skeleton guy on the horse, try and talk with him a bit.  I cast speak with animals and the horse basically screams at me, so that's fabulous.

Next encounter, a strange carriage with 2 horses and no rider.  Creepy.

We of course check it out.  I ask exactly what kind of wheels are on this carriage?

The DM says "The ones that go round and round".

CUE crazy laughter.

We check out the carriage, get it going, which it appears to be taking us right back to Strahd's castle.  A few heroics later and we are all tumbled off into the ditch and the carriage just keeps going. At one point the mage used mage hand to attempt to unfasten the horses from the carriage.  It worked, but they both kept going, one following the other.

I was extremely happy that no one rolled a 1 trying to get off the carriage.

Alright, so off to barovia.

The town is creepy, I peer into a window of a beaten up house and it's filled with rats.  My character is not hungry so we keep on.

We hear some sad wailing of someone crying.  Find the house which is conveniently right in the middle of town.

We scout the joint and we opt to go thru the window.

Super dirty joint, dust everywhere.  My wife's character says "I get it she's depressed, but she could atleast move a broom around this place once a week!".

CUE crazy laughter.

The crying is coming from upstairs, we totally swat team the situation and clear all the rooms.  Stumble upon a lady bawling cuz her daughter is missing.  We decide that we will help her out.

3 of us head to the tavern for much needed refreshments and sleep.

During this whole session I've had the "Something magical of ravenkind" which requires that I attune myself to it.  And I kept forgetting to do so.  It's basically a vampire killing item.  Oh well next "long rest" maybe.

Our gnome wizard decides to pop some tags at the mercantile.  He even attempts to charm the proprietor, but no dice.  Ebeneezer won't budge on his overly pricey items.

The mage does take a mental snapshot of the map of barovia for later, which is good.

And we are all in the bar.  Gnome wants to purchase bar, but its a no go.  Besides its not the busiest tavern in Barovia.  The decision is made to look for another establishment.

We discuss a few things with a nice solider dude who has a bit of a quest for us.  Getting his daughter out of town before Strahd takes her up to his castle.  (I mean we killed his wives, he's looking for more I guess).  Which also makes me wonder about the other girl who is missing.

We decide that next session we will help out the solider, spirit away his daughter and head west.  Apparently there is a vineyard there, and since we are all part time wino's, things should work out.

I still haven't attuned myself.

A brief history of the continent of Crimhuck

10,000 years ago

The race known as the Thaylians lived on the continent of Crimhuck.  They were harmonious and brilliant.  The thaylians built huge cities powered by steam from the underworld.  The cities have since been covered by years of sand and wear, most of them cannot be located.  Nothing is widely known about this race, as it has been lost in time.  Above ground they used Neanderthal slaves to build tracks of metal to transport goods to and from their cities.

8,000 years ago.  

During a time of relative peace between the nations of the Thaylians, a huge event happened.  A race of aliens resembling huge eight foot tall lizardmen came to Crimhuck.  These were known as the destroyers.  They wreaked havoc on the continents resources, warred against the Thaylians, and albeit destroyed the civilization.  During this outright devastation most of the Thaylian cities and population were destroyed, the remaining Thaylians moved into the depths never to be seen or heard from again.  The alien race known collectively as “the Yat” settled in the southern part of the continent deep within the swamp lands.  There they interbred neanderthal humans and giant lizards, to create a race similar in their own image.  The thought was of course to re populate their losses and interbred.  As time passed the Yat were successful in creating a lizardmen race, however experiments to colonize failed.  Slowly most of the Yat died off from exposure and disease. 

7000 years ago

A different race of Aliens showed up on Crimhuck, this was a race of Greys, their main intention was as explorers.  Learning from different worlds.  They made contact with the Gar in the throes of their extinction.  A rift was caused between the two, and a ruler of the Gar was killed during treatment.  The Greys spent what time they could, learning about the continent, and left as quickly as they came.

2000 years ago

The humans of the Isle of Tunga managed to create water vessels and started to explore.  They found the continent and quickly built the city of Yahleui.  Slowly they started to explore the continent but were thwarted more oft than not from the harshness of the land.  A few sister cities were created, some of which have lasted. 

500 years ago

From a different land came the Harr Gar, raiders and adventurers.  Their sole purpose was to take as many riches as they could find and go home with them.  As time went on they built the small village of Tilla, a bounce off point for raids further to the south.  The city of Yahleui has been sacked many times over the years by the Harr Gar and their descendants.  .

Present Day

Most of the past is buried in the sand and the world has overgrown back to it’s original form.  The old civilizations have crumbled and been lost in time.  Rumours of course exist but nothing has been proven.  The city of Yahleui does a roaring trade in silver, the ruler continues to explore the vast reaches of space on Crimhuck.  Hoping to find new mines and resources to make a tidy profit.  Up along the coast the Harr Gar raid small villages, destroying all in their path.  The Lizardmen of the swamp go about their business shunning the outside world.  Deep within the desert something evil grows, mercenaries and slavers following a new and vicious religion.  Everywhere Neanderthals come out of caves shading their eyes to the warmth of the two suns that hang over heard.  In the swamps and forests large blood thirsty dinosaurs hunt their prey.  Occasionally a metal construct appears out of nowhere struggling to walk, steam blowing from its joints.  And in the sky there are always unexplainable things being seen.  This is Crimhuck.  

Note: Obviously Crimhuck is in the writing stages, eventually all do a big assed edit!  I noticed going thru previous posts I haven't been quite consistent as far as wether or not there are elves/dwarves etc.  That of course will be blow away at some point.  There are not any of those races, nor where there ever any.  This of course is a exercise in fun.  I haven't quite decided if the setting needs "steam punk" yet, and the existence of Aliens.  I'm leaning towards the space travelers, not quite sure on the steam guys yet.  Once again editing.

Not a lot going on today, just some pondering

Been pondering a few things. Here is what is on the agenda today.

Mega Dungeons
In order to write a good mega dungeon i need to A.  Run one or two, B.  Read a bunch of them (ruins of under mountain and maze of the blue medusa are on my list).  and of course C.  playtest the one I write.  I dreamt a bit about the dungeon I was working on.  Well I starred at the ceiling thinking about it.  I am about 4 years behind at this point (who's counting really?)  The adventure started out as very vanilla D&D, and I think that might be the wrong way to go about it.  I've discussed openly about this silly idea, and I have a few good core things that are floating around in my brain.  First and foremost I need to re draw those maps, as they are terrible.

Here's a link to a discussion about the ruins of under mountain.  It's a interesting read.
http://dmdavid.com/tag/why-dungeons-dragons-players-stopped-exploring-megadungeons/

And that's all I gotta say about that for awhile.  Other than I really need to edit my current drivethru products because they state "coming in 2014 a NEW mega dungeon".  And yes its 2017 and I'm aware.

Reading. 

Just lately I started reading a terrible book.  More oft than not when I start a terrible book, I don't finish it. I just give up.  I decided to grab something off the shelf that I've read before.  I remember it not being the best book, or at the very least not as good as the original author (douglas adams).  Coincidentally, I seem to almost always pick up a hitch hikers book every few years in January.  I have no idea why.  I'm currently reading "And Another Thing!" By Eoin Colfer.

Reading this book, I keeping thinking it would be fun to write some fan fiction.  Did a quick google search and holy crap! there's a pile of stuff out there already.   That said I think I might write about the Encyclopedia Galactica instead of the HHG2G.

Gaming
Not a helluva a lot at the moment. This weekend we return to Barovia.  Play report will follow.  I must email old school group and see if we can get the mutant future game (or something) up and running soon.  Shooting for Feb.

Collaborative Dungeon 
The collab dungeon is going extremely well!  I've got pretty much everyone's rooms in and there's a few left which I'm going to slowly tackle as inspiration strikes.  'm hoping to have the whole thing done by the end of February.  That is my deadline date.

Once it's done I'll put it up on the blog as a free download and share the pdf with all the collaborators so they can do the same.  I intend to release 2 versions of it, if time permits.  And official 6x9 version and a printer friendly 8x11 version.

d20 Random Desert Encounters

Venturing out of the city of Yahleui on the continent of Crimhuck you enter into the the barren wasteland of the Regla desert. 

Obviously this could work for any (some) desert encounters. 

1.  A drunken wastrel sleeping under a cactus.  

2.  A small colony of unintelligent humans living in sand caves. 

3.  Group of hunters looking for a particular type of large snake.

4.  A very old stone structure, filled with weird runes that are unreadable. 

5.  An area that is extremely hazy, walking thru it could lead to another dimension entirely. 

6.  Sand storm!  find shelter. 

7.  A encampment that includes a witch who apparently can see the future. 

8.  Built into the side of a cave is a small gambling drinking den called the "Snake bite".  

9.  Weird metallic tracks that go on for miles, separated by 2 feet between them. 

10.  A very large, covered in sand half destroyed airship. 

11.  An eroded stone with markings on it, leading to a long lost treasure, (or certain doom?) 

12.  Two hungry pack animals tied to a cactus, beside them are the bodies of two humans, they are quite disheveled. 

13.  Over heard the vultures circle, the farther you travel, the farther they follow. 

14.  A pack of wild boars fighting a very large cat.  

15.  The skull of a giant beast, of which is four times the size of a horse. 

16.  A large nest made of random bits of vegetation.  Within it is a large human sized egg. 

17.  A group of travelers that are extremely lost, they are looking for a lizardmen city. 

18.  30 warriors dressed in light armour brandishing spears, emblazoned on their chests a red rose.  (These are members of a group of slavers).  

19.  Huge holes in the ground that are 20 feet wide, and unfathomably deep. (very large sandworm tunnels).

20.  A skeleton staked to a large wooden pole.  Around its neck is a pendant.  Inside a small note detailing a lost city and its whereabouts. 

Crimhuckin!

It's facking cold! I got a ride to work this morning so I had an hour to kill.

I spent sometime revising Crimhuck as it stands and made a pdf.  You can download it here.

Obviously its a work in progress, as time goes on I'll update each region.  I plan to use hexographer to create a detailed hexmap for the entire continent.  As well I've found a few other cool resources for building cities.  This will eventually become the open source project that I had eluded to so long ago.  I would also like to flesh out each region with inhabitants and encounter tables as time permits.  Eventually character classes (race as a class in most instances).  As noted the continent is a human place, however things like the Viking-esq "Harr Garr" will get their own character classes, based somewhat obviously on Vikings themselves.  In the south of the continent are the swamplands, which are inhabited by Lizardmen, those will also get their own class.  And of course Aliens! 

In other news I received a review on the latest Crimhuck adventure.  "Troubling Events".  You can read the review here. 

I had posted on the google + OSR community the following question the other day.  

Could you write a clone without looking at any source material whatsoever?

(Imagine if you will that you had played the game, but it was lost in time and there was nothing but your memory to look back on)

Which makes me wonder if I could do it? I'm guessing probably.  +Michael Thomas hit the nail on the head with his comment, 

"The best thing would be that, writing from memory, you wouldn't need the OGL! ;-)

The idea of writing a simple OSR type system has always intrigued me.  Stealing bits from here and there.  But what is really intriguing me now is if I could do it from memory!  I'm sure I could.  So Crimhuck may end up with its own set of rules eventually.  Time will obviously tell.  

In the meantime I'm going to bundle up, it's currently -45 Celsius with the windchill.  

New mantra for 2017

I wasted my evening last night.  My wife was watching the bachelor, I had a long day and spent the evening on the couch staring at social media not getting anything actually done.  This needs to stop.  I've also come to the conclusion that I'm highly addicted to social media.  Honestly I think we all are a little bit right?  So the absolute last thing I did before I shut off my tablet last night was looking up "social media addiction".  I stumbled upon this link, and it's helpful.  http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/technology/social-media-addiction

The funny thing is that after I leave the 9-5 and start on my path home, my brain fills with all the things I should do.  Being a creative person is difficult sometimes.  I've also realized that I'm extremely good at deadlines.  If left to my own devices I will figure out a way to procrastinate.  Every time.  However when something needs to get done, give me 2 cups of coffee and a half hour.

I bought a brand new scribbler a little while ago, that has sat empty.  One of the things that I've been wanting to do and haven't got to yet is to sit down with the "Classic Traveller" book I got and start working on a star system map.  That was one of the chapters that just made my creativity bound.  Coincidentally that was one of things I was thinking about on my way home last night.  Basically fill the damn book.

Another thing that crossed my mind sitting on the couch was the maps in my copy of Elemental Evil.  The scan was terrible.  I don't think it would take much to attempt to redraw all those maps.  Print em off and start figuring it out.  Another project!  And honestly beats the crap out of sitting on the couch starring at my tablet.

Of course there's work to be done on my MF campaign, and I've also planned on working on the city of Yahleui (which I have to change the damn name).  First step in that process is to create a map.  I really want to attempt something similar to the Port Blacksand map, with naming streets and everything.  Actually that book is perfect for fleshing out a city, and what little shops etc are in each district.  With a set of d6s and a blank map I could pretty much get most of it done reasonably quickly.  Of course adding a bit of inspiration.

I was talking with a friend lately about music, and I said "I hadn't really written anything lately, no songwriting muse".  And he goes "why don't you write D&D songs".  I laughed, but honestly could be fun!  I mean who cares right? So that is also rolling around in my head.  Speaking of, here's a interesting little drumloop I created.  It's very NIN, which was the plan.  I created it from industrial samples.

https://soundcloud.com/shaneward-1/industrial-drumloop-120bpm

I always say "you only got so many hours on this earth".  Especially when I'm involved in something that I don't really want to do.  I need to remember to spend the time that I'm given on things that make me happy.  So the 2017 mantra is "be creative".

Random Table Of Black Hole worlds

There have been a few instances in the last little while that I’ve thought “you know what would be cool? A black hole portal”.  Whilst planning my Mutant Future campaign, I had a discussion with one of my players regarding the Cern supercollider.  The possibility of a catastrophic event opening up black holes, is actually a bit more fact than fiction (at least for the purposes of this blog).  This topped off with the fact that I’ve considered creating a Classic Traveller campaign where the players visit worlds, or fall thru blackholes into different realms.  For example they start off in a mutant future campaign, travel thru a black hole and wind up on a space ship, only to realize that they are in fact members of the imperium on a trade mission.  And then at some point they wander thru another blackhole and viola greyhawk campaign.  All the while they are mildy aware that they are in fact spacemen & women.

Note:  http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/565315/Scientists-at-Large-Hadron-Collider-hope-to-make-contact-with-PARALLEL-UNIVERSE-in-days

The other idea I had, IF our 5e group ever gets me to DM again and we finish the starter set.  They travel into some caverns, and at some point they have a cross roads leading in 3 different directions.  When the players walk thru one of these they are magically transported to another world that needs heroes much more than the current world (damn you FR, we are going to the Known world).

Sounds crazy, its role playing whatever.

Random Table Of Black Hole worlds

1d20	World Description
1	A lost world setting ala Isle Of Dread.
2	Hyperborea.
3	A island that is in reality purgatory.
4	Ancient Mars complete with alien barbarian hordes.
5	A planet that is a huge city.  (Coruscant-esq).
6	Post-apocalyptic medieval steam world.
7	A world in which everything is turned upside down.  The internal structure is hollow.
8	The Fairy mists, a place in between worlds.
9	Jungle world.
10	Westoros-esq world.
11	An extreme future world, similar to the world presented in The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
12	The inside of an alien mothership heading towards a world they plan to destroy.
13	A colony planet, with extreme resources and unknown dangers.
14	The black pits, a world that is unbearable above ground, but filled with life underground.
15	The meridian, the centre point of the entire universe.  Somewhat similar to the clockworks D&D plane.
16	The Abyss.
17	2040 Earth, Zombie apocalypse.
18	A desert world, filled with strange monsters and low intelligence life.
19	A moon base with alien competing factions
20	The Labyrinth.  A maze above ground, the centre of which contains a prophecy.

Take me down to rehash city!

I had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine last night about the new wotc product release "Tales from the yawning portal".  Which by the way my friend already pre-ordered, for the most part because he intends to collect all of the 5e adventures/splat books etc.

The first part of the discussion was "why are they releasing this right now?" My opinion because I think they need a first quarter release, and whatever big module they are working on is probably still in development.

But the thing that somewhat grinds my gears is the fact that there's been so many rehashes of old modules, and this one is just another in a long line of this kind of thing.  How many times has Tomb of horrors been released???? 

Let's check. Well as per wikipedia  looks like atleast four times, this new release will make 5! Funny thing is if you go and grab the original you can just restat the darn thing for whatever new fandangled system you are using. (BTW the pdf is $4.99, tales from the yawning portal is going to clock in at $50)

Alright, here's a brief breakdown of the releases to date from my friends perspective.

Tyranny of dragons - new 
Princes of the apocalypse - rehash 
Out of the abyss - new 
curse of Strahd - rehash 
Storm kings thunder - new

I am sure one could argue that the new modules are ideas from other modules as well.

As far as the upcoming release, here's my friends theory on it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/5eve2f/theory_labyrinth/

I'm just going over my copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters, and I'm thinking about what the upcoming module, codenamed "Labyrinth" could be.

Fact 1: The current Monster Manual depicts the Xanathar on the cover.

Fact 2: There is a large section of VGtM highlighting beholders.

Fact 3: There is a large subsection in the Beholder section of VGtM going into great detail about The Xanathar Guild.

Fact 4: Chris Perkins has told us in previous interviews (I can't cite the source but I'm sure there are people out there who can) to look to source books for clues as to what future modules will be.

From these clues, I theorize that the upcoming module, codename 'Labyrinth', to be centred around beholders in general and The Xanathar Guild in particular. This next adventure will take us far underneath Waterdeep to overthrow the tyranny of Zushaxx and The Xanathar Guild.

If I'm right, this is going to be one of the best published adventures yet, and I'm really looking forward to it.

This whole thing makes me realize how much I like all the exciting things that are happening in the OSR movement.  I get it, WOTC like any company needs to make money.  What I question is, why do people still keep buying the same adventures over and over again? I guess the world is made up of a bunch of different people right? For instance my buddy who is collecting everything.  Bearing in my he just got into D&D in the last year or so, and hasn't followed it from the beginning or at the very least earlier editions. 

On another note, +Zak Sabbath  posted a interesting topic the other day.  This sort of goes to the whole wotc thing, and my mild detest for FR.  

1. Favorite WOTC/TSR/Judges Guild module
2. Favorite OSR/DIY D&D/modern indie module*
3. Mash them up
-
*that you didn't write

My response:  

Sword of the dales and liberation of the demonslayer. From the beginning they are similar. Quest for a sword. The real twist is taking a bunch of players with far too much meta knowledge of forgotten realms canon and throwing them into the gonzo world of liberation. Specifically if the whole thing is setup as a vanilla fr campaign. Using sword of the dales as the starting point. 

Now just to point out, Sword of the dales is not my favourite module, however it is the first one I received when I got my 2e books for Christmas a long time ago. But yes, it would be mildly entertaining to take my players who as above have far to much knowledge of the FR canon and throw them into the craziness of Liberation. 

Obviously this is the internet, and this is just my rambling opinion, so don't take it to hard.  I'm not bashing wotc, as I said they are a business (go and make all the money).

That said, go and buy these things.

Specifically this cool assed module. 

or these.  

Oh and if you didn't catch the earworm, here's some Guns N' Fucking Roses. 

Ice Witch

Ice Witch

No. Enc:                  1

Alignment:                Chaotic

Movement:               120’ (40’)

Armour Class:            2

Hit Dice:                  6

Attacks:                   2 (Icy Blast)    

Damage:                  1d4/1d4

Save:                      MU6

Morale:                    10

XP:                         570

Ice witches are young women from the North that have taken a vow to the Evil gods, in return for their power they must sacrifice men to appease their Gods.  Ice witches are quite beautiful, with young supple skin, charismatic features.  They normally have white hair, and intensely blue eyes.  Any man in the general vicinity of an Ice Witch must save vs spell, or be charmed for 1d4 rounds by their presence.  Ice Witches have been granted the power of an Icy Blast, which they can cast at will throughout the day.  Heroes can attempt a saving throw vs spell to half the damage of the Icy Blast (Roll 2d4 damage then divide in half).  Ice Witches have access to levels 1 – 3 of Magic User spells and can cast as a sixth level magic user. (2-1^st level spells, 2-2^nd level spells, 2-3^rd level spells per day). 

It's your turn! An interview with Pits & Perils Designer James George

1.       How did you get your start roleplaying?  What system did you use?

I started playing in 1978.  It was OD&D, judging by the books the DM used, although I think I spotted some Judges Guild stuff as well.  Back then, players only needed to know what was on their character sheet, so I was an enthusiastic player more than anything else.  Long story short, we moved and I lost touch.  No more D&D until 1980, when I found the Holmes Basic set at K-Mart and (not too subtly) asked to get it for Christmas.  Robyn played some 2nd Edition D&D in the early 90s (as an indulgence to me), but started really getting into it in 2002, around the same time I started feeling the itch to return to the hobby.  

  

2.       Tell me about Pits & Perils, what was the genesis of the game?

I'd been away from the hobby for over a decade.  Career and family rightly took precedence, and the military was pretty demanding.  But by 2002, things had settled down and I began to feel the itch.  Robyn had discovered Morrowind and few other computer RPG's, so she was game (so to speak) as well.  Unfortunately, we had no rules and nothing but the Monopoly dice in the kitchen drawer.  No problem.  I knew how the games worked and put myself into developing an original system that was simpler and would emphasize our personal interactions.  The rest developed over time, and Robyn, my principle player, had a HUGE hand in how it evolved. 

Anyway, we tried to formalize the kind of negotiation and on-the-spot rulings typical of these games and make them a part of the rules.  P&P is a game where the referee can say: The dwarf and fighter have the ogre pinned down, so the elf can fire their bow at +2.  And there's specific provisions in the rules to allow for this and to give it some sort of objective underpinning while HIGHLY encouraging house rules.    

    

3.       What was the first adventure you published?

The RuinedAbbey of Saint Tabitha, which was actually a pivotal episode in our campaign.  Nargh converted and is now a saint!  If you've played the adventure or just read it, you'll know what this means! 

4.       What is your favouite OSR clone?

White Box.  I don't know, it just captures the feeling of OD&D + Holmes Basic.

5.       What are you currently playing?

Pits & Perils (it's a game we designed for our own enjoyment), White Box, and One DiceSupers.  Oh, and too much Mount & Blade: Warband and Fallout 4!

6.       What is your favouite published module other than yours?

The Keep onthe Borderlands.  It's just THE essential starter adventure and campaign toolkit.

7.       If you could campaign in any world which would it be?

Blackmoor with Arneson running or Greyhawk with Gygax at the helm.  Hey, you asked...

8.       What are the plans for the future of Old House Rules?

We're working on an expansion to Blood of Pangea called Opherian Scrolls, which is based more on Lieber and Moorcock: the OTHER swords and sorcery tradition.  There's also a (small) combat companion booklet and a hardcover collection of the Blood of Pangea rulebooks (much like the collected Pits & Perils) with an exclusive cosmic horror supplement.  We're basically trying to finalize out existing titles and get them into hardcover.

9.       When you get a chance to play a character, what type of PC’s do you like to play?

Atypical fighters with something other than strength as their strongest ability.  There's actually MORE room to be flexible and creative.  Robyn does elven thieves.  Very well, I might add (she's scary). 

10.   What are you most excited about in the RPG scene currently?

The ability for people to correspond online (and in real time) and share their creations.  It's everything the early gaming scene aspired to be and more.  Oh, and the DIY ethos of the hobby absolutely THRIVES here.

11.   Any funny gaming stories you would like to share?

This one time, at Band Camp.  No, maybe something else.  Ok, there was this AD&D adventure in 1988 where a friend's thief stole from my character and I avenged myself with a clever Ventriloquism spell when we were taken before the throne of the Elf Queen.  The details aren't safe for work or particularly wholesome.  He didn't like it, but I had a blast.  As I recall, he had to roll up a new character!  And the moral is...   

12.   Buck Rogers or Duck Dogers?

Duck Dodgers.  Yeah, absolutely.  Robyn agrees...

13.   Favourite gaming beverage and snack?

Diet Pepsi and Cool Ranch Doritos for me, Ice Mountain and a veggie tray for Robyn.  She'll live to be 100.  Me?  Not so much!

Note:  Shane needs to find out what the heck Ice Mountain is!!! 

14.   Where can we find you on the web?

There's our official page at http://www.oldehouserules.com/ and our home on google+ (just search for us by name).  We love hearing from folks, so oldehouserules AT yahoo DOT com is always open.  

Thanks again, and many thanks!  Stay warm up there...