Hex Map Brushes in GIMP

I was hoping to help someone over in the forums at Goblinoid Games with some GIMP and large scaled, hex mapped based map issues, but the being the GIMP newbie that I am, I could only really steer him towards Inkwellideas' sweet GIMP hex map brushes.

I'm a bit confuseth with regard to shapes and paths in GIMP myself, having stumbed over some possibilities recently with the one page dungeon contest map I submitted. I finally resorted to just quickly hand drawing and scanning the map I'd made. At some point I'll play further with it, but it's hard to break with my Photoshop 7 experience. This custom GIMP brushes tutorial might come in handy at some point, but Inkscape might be the better tool for .svg scalable hexes for mapping purposes.

Villains of Volturnus

I found the book pictured here at the local used bookstore. I was looking for any early edition books or supplements, but this was the closest I could find. I don't think it'll be necessary to review this book, but I did buy it as a curiosity/collector's item!

Published in 1983 by TSR, its unfathomable cover includes one of the winged monkeys I'd mentioned in an earlier post. "Choose Your Own Adventure" books were pretty popular when I was a kid (are they still?), and this was TSR's take on the idea. Their version was "An Endless Quest Book", and in theory it does seem like a good way to both promote their games and introduce the idea of role playing fiction.

Anyone wanna caption this cover?

One Page Dungeon Contest - Submitted

Phew! I finally submitted my entry for the one page dungeon contest.

I included a few humorous bits and references to hopefully make the judges smile, and appeal to the particular era/setting I was aiming for... Nothing fancy, and a bit treasure heavy perhaps, but it was for a small group of low level characters, and they do need encouragement and a little extra to help themselves not die so quickly. :-)

Knockspell Magazine #1 Belatedly Reviewed

Now that the second issue has come out, I am going to very belatedly review Knockspell #1, which I ordered a print copy of long after it first became available.

Production value: The first thing I'll say is that it's a little pricey to be honest - $10 for a 61 page magazine (not including shipping). Still, it has almost no ads, and the few that it does have you're glad to see there (for example, there's an ad for Goblinoid Games' Labyrinth Lord). The print magazine is manufactured by Lulu.com on a print-on-demand basis - I think there's something about Lulu's printing process that turns things a slight shade darker than the original artwork, and I suspect this is why the front cover might be just a tad more black than originally intended - still, the art work lends itself to this effect, and I'm a big fan of what art I've seen by the cover artist (Peter Mullen). The 8.5"x11" pages are crisp, the font is very readibly sized. A lower priced electronic download version of the magazine is also available.

There are a few columns as well as about 15 articles in this issue, a few of which are dedicated to player and non-player character classes for use with Mythmere Games' Swords & Wizardry rules. The latter is essentially a clone of the original D&D rules by Gygax from about 1974. These are easily adaptable and could be used with the red/blue box versions or clones, or even with first edition AD&D/OSRIC.

Of these, my favorite is the Necromancer NPC class, which is an absolutely great contribution by author Scot Hoover. Necromancers as a class have been described before, in Dragon magazine if I remember correctly as well as at least one other fan zine I've read. This particular contribution is very well fleshed out, with extra spells, limitations, and upper level constraints and abilities. I can see some of my players being thrilled to see this article and they'd probably love to play the class as outlined here (even though it wasn't really intended for players).

Of the other articles in this issue, my next favorite was probably the short "Random Hireling Generator" by Richard Lionheart. The included tables will definitely find use in my campaign where hirelings figure prominently due to the low level of the PCs.

An adventure for 4-6 PCs of levels 4-7 is included, "The Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent", whose main villain is actually a Necromancer himself.

There's only one article that I really thought of as "filler" here. I'm looking forward to the much larger second issue to come - if you're a fan of the early editions of D&D or the so-called retro-clones, you'll enjoy this magazine. A great premiere and I fully expect even better issues to follow based on the intelligent editing and selection of contributions found in this first issue.

One Page Dungeon Contest Update

So I finished my One Page Dungeon Contest entry and submitted it fifteen minutes before midnight... However, I was informed by email that my submission couldn't be counted due to it being overdue - apparently the rules on one site indicated an EST time zone and but it was not mentioned what time zone on another. Twenty or so people either ran into the same problem at the last moment or got confused about the 12am time posted and which day the contest submission officially ended on...

Fortunately, the deadline has been extended for another week! I've been emailed and notified that my entry will in fact be counted and that (in answer to my question) I can go ahead and edit it further for re-submission if I'd like. Woohoo!

Honestly, although the prizes look great I'm really just interested in being a part of this. It's forced me to get to work on creating my own dungeon for the first time in many years too. I'm looking forward to seeing the many entries - it should be a goldmine in and of itself.

New Old School Products Available from Mythmere Games

Knockspell issue # 2, the "magazine of fantasy retro-clone gaming and the original editions: 0e, 1e, and Moldvay Basic" is now available, both in print and as a free PDF download.

Also now available in print and free download in Word Document format (sans artwork) is the"0E Reloaded Monster Book" (front page pictured above).

I ordered mine the other day from Lulu - word to wise though, if you order either or both, use discount code "MAYCONTEST10" to get a 10% discount!

Err, Questionable Monsters

On the heels of my Gelatinous Cube blog entry, I stumbled on headinjurytheater's "30 years of very stupid monsters" essay from over at basicroleplaying.com's forums. It is fantasy after all, but a number of the points made there are not exactly the first time they've ever been shared! And so a review of some of the more silly (I'll not venture to agree and say stupid, per se) monsters follows...

The Hero Machine

I don't remember whose blog I found this on now, but check out the HeroMachine (v.2.5 at posting). A quick way to create a fast generic PC or NPC graphic. Not a lot of personality to be found, but quick and dirty, it definitely is... Image to the right is of the dwarf I generated using this tool.

Miniatures in Early Edition D&D

The use of 25mm miniatures has always been kept to a minimum as far as my own gaming experience goes both when dungeon mastering and as player in Basic and Advanced D&D. The focus was always on the role-playing itself, with the needs of tactical combat being minimal and either waved away as unnecessary or else rules were made up on the spot as needed. Typically the few miniatures we had were to display a marching order. Rarely they were also used when a peculiar room or set of circumstances required us to state exactly what the characters' positions were. We didn't use battlemats or graph paper. I really suspect now that a lot of our use of miniatures was simply due to thinking that they were cool looking. The fact that the boxes they came in were labeled as not suitable for young children (due to the lead content) probably only made us want to use them more.

My favorites were the old Grenadiers, made for TSR, that came in yellow rectangular boxes with fantasy art on the front. I could never afford one of the larger box sets Grenadier offered, but our characters almost never got to the high levels necessary to battle the rarer monsters found in them anyway. The other brands I liked were Ral Partha, which was decent, and Citadel was fine if the others weren't available. I don't know if I'd feel that way now if I had a lot to review, but that's how I felt then for whatever reason.

Now that I've started playing and am planning to play more, I wondered if I should acquire some miniatures again. I bought some of the old figures I had as a kid on eBay partly out of nostalgia (ok, probably more than was necessary!) and partly because I thought they might be good to have on hand for future sessions. When my eight year old future player Josiah was over visiting one day, he saw the figures and was immediately intrigued. We'd talked a little before about playing some Labyrinth Lord, and even though he didn't fully know what the game was about, the fact that these figures were somehow involved made him even more interested.

I did end up printing out some graph paper and laying some clear acrylic over the top of it on our game table to serve as a visual aid in our first adventure. I had some dry erase markers, and they worked great on the acrylic sheet, wiping off easily with newspaper.

I'm glad I set that up, because for our first session, I think Josiah was very pleased to see a lot of miniatures. I think it was helpful for both new players to have something visual to focus on, being totally unfamiliar with the game. Though we haven't even used them inside a dungeon yet, having them in a town setting was still handy for introducing them as pieces to help the the players visualize their surroundings.

I've begun considering that I might need yet more of these, given Josiah's reaction to them, but I'm reluctant to invest heavily. I've found two solutions to this so far (aside from just outright not using them). One is Discount Hobby's Mega-Mini's, from whom I've ordered a few metal miniature samples. I'll post pictures and give a short review once they arrive. The other is Chessex's gaming stones. I remember using dice or other small objects in place of missing figures for NPCs and monsters, and these gaming stones will work nicely - they're cheap (a few bucks for a couple dozen), you can choose various colors (I bought some white for use as skeletons for example, and some green for goblins), and they fit my homemade battlemap's squares nicely. For now, I foresee using these along with more specific metal figures (representing the goblin chief or shaman, for example) as a compromise.

It may very well turn out that we dispense with figures entirely as we move forward. If we do, it'll be because they only slow down game play and enjoyment, so that'll be fine. I'll still have them for use with later editions of the game, should I ever decide to try them out (Paizo's 3.5 based Pathfinder 2nd edition has gone to the printer's after all). I can't imagine ever playing the newest version of D&D, but the use of miniatures in 4th edition seems mandatory and I'll have some if need be.

Labyrinth Lord Character Generator

Veteran LL players probably already know about the Character Generator linked to from the forums at Goblinoid Games, but if not, check it out - It was really helpful in setting up the game my wife and nephew played, taking just a few minutes to "roll" up a bunch of NPCs for them to hook up with in town (some of whom may be candidates for them to use should their own PCs die). I like the way it produces PDFs to print out that look just like the regular LL character sheets from the rules book, but next time I'll probably just copy the results down in pencil so the stats can be changed as necessary.

The Temple of Elemental Evil by Thomas M. Reid

I picked up The Temple of Elemental Evil paperback by Reid for almost nothing at a flea market and read it recently, mostly during time off from work due to the flu.

For that purpose, it was just what I needed - nothing too deep, nothing too complicated, nothing that would give me an even worse headache than what I already had. I thought it might be fun to read as Nick and I have been slowly working up to a play by post game of 1st edition AD&D with the Village of Hommlet module.

As one might expect, D&D rules were apparent throughout. For example, the elven wizard memorizing and preparing his spells at the beginning of the day and the thief-like character stealthily serving as the party's recon and continually sniffing out traps. And of course familiar spells like Ye Olde Magic Missile.

It's not Tolkien, but it was fun and got me more into the mood to game.

Gelatinous Cubes

The gelatinous cube boggled my brain as a kid. As my fellow players and I were eating lime flavored jello cubes our moms had made in the summer, it wasn't hard to imagine what one of these would look like full sized in a dungeon. Why or how they adapted to fit perfectly into a 10' wide dungeon passage (mirroring our graph paper's 1 sq=10') never entered our minds, nor apparently their creator's (Gygax). I reckon we unconsciously thought that scarfing these down was the monsters' just desserts.

This fantastic image of a Gelatinous Cube was created by Shockbolt at Deviant Art.

Creative Commons Licensed Monster Art?

Does anyone know of a SRD or OGL monster compendium with art licensed under the creative commons? If there isn't such a thing, I'd love to see one...and suggest to (esp. aspiring) artists that their work might reach a greater audience, be distributed widely, and be frequently referred back to if they were to contribute to such a project. I'd be willing to host the images if anyone wants to contribute, contact me here. The Monster Index at d20srd.org makes a decent starting point. Maybe if we dig around enough on the Creative Commons website we can begin to build a bestiary under the CC license immediately. An example is this post's wraith art (above), by Zufiel at Flickr.

Update: Having looked a bunch, I'm amazed at how few images have been open licensed (at least on Flickr). Maybe there's a better source... There IS the OGL'd Monsters of Myth book available at Lulu, but the images are obviously still copyrighted by the artists. What I'm looking for is an online warehouse of these things, just to show new players to give them an idea what they're up against, although maybe it's just best to let their imaginations come up with it.

The blog's name change

Well, as I'd indicated here previously, I was wanting to replace the unimaginative "writingrpgs.blogspot.com" url for some time, so I finally did. I have no idea how people will find it who might have been following it before, but I hope they do (it couldn't have been more than one or two!).

Originally, I was going to put up a poll before I did it, but I really didn't have that many (of what I thought were) good ideas.

btw, if anyone has a suggestion as to how I can center the blog title without the center tags being visible across the top of a browser window, I'd love to hear it. it worked fine before, but now that i've renamed the blog, it got broke.