Taberna Celeris Is Out Now!

I even printed a few copies.

I've hit the Publish buttons on my Itch store and my RPG Trader store to get Taberna Celeris out into the world. I realized I didn't publish Tabula Mortis to my DriveThru RPG shop, so I'll rectify that oversight this week for both trifold products.

Go grab a copy while it's still Pay What You Will:
Get Taberna Celeris On Itch, and At RPG Trader.

I told y'all it would only be a few days, and here we are.

Yes, this is title number 2 in what I'm calling the Trifold Triptych. It'll be three trifold zines containing random tables for generating things in your TTRPGs. I'm still brainstorming a topic for #3, but stay tuned. I'm hoping to get that one published sometime in September.

Bolthaven Folio #4 Is Live

Space Marine
by blanketfort

Howdy, all!

I just hit the "Make Public" buttons for Bolthaven Folio #4: On Our Honour at my itch.io and DriveThruRPG stores. I wrote the first draft of this zine back in 2019, when I first conceived of Bolthaven Folios, and then I sat on it for 7 years. Thanks COVID-19, undiagnosed depression, and the general enshittification of America.

BUT WE'RE BACK NOW. I overhauled what I wrote, and my kid wanted a second crack at the art (and I love what they did!). So we spent most of June making this zine to unleash upon you and your tabletop game cohorts. Head over and download a copy, kick in a few bucks if you're able, and don't forget to rate and review.

Go grab your copy:
Folio #4 at itch
Folio #4 at DriveThruRPG

Tabula Mortis

I made another weird little game add-on for you.

It's filled with a dozen random tables that detail horrific scenes of murder, mayhem, and death.

You'll love it. It's right up your alley.

Timing Isn't Everything...

Preliminary layout and art.

...but it is most things.

Bolthaven Folio Update

Suffice to say that the Bolthaven Folio Kickstarter will not happen in February. I had enough to go live with, but I'm waiting for Kickstarter to approve me before they can review the project. Part of me is bitterly disappointed. Part of me knows better.

With the delay I take get a better crack at a header. I can continue layout tweaking and figure out how to format the tables that I want to include in the interior pages. I have time to edit the text and get the second draft out to pre-readers for feedback. My daughter can finish the cat samurai artwork - she just has to tweak the katana and do some finish work on the piece.

I'm excited at the prospect of getting something out the door, and I'm thrilled at having another dozen issues worth of ideas. Let's get this one done and shipped, then I can poll the backers and figure out which few ideas to develop next.

NanoRegent, a Tiny Game of Countries

Here's the second game I wrote for the 200 Word RPG Challenge. You can download it (50K PDF) or run it directly from the text below.

This design springs from my love of Birthright and roleplaying a country using domain turns. It's roughly Fate-based, though in NanoRegent you burn Stats like Advantages. This could use a few playtests, as I think it would support episodic campaign play. I'm not sure the renewal rate for Cities is quite right - I originally had a City give +1 every 3 turns, but that could make early turns into more of a death spiral.

I bet it'll take another 20-50 words to explain some concepts more fully, but even that should still fit on both sides of an index card.

Feedback welcome!

Provenance, a Nano RPG

I blame +David Schirduan for making me aware of the 200 Word RPG Challenge he's running until Friday, 01 May 2015. If you're interested, write something and submit it, and go read the dozens of entries so far.

You can download a PDF of Provenance here (335KB PDF), or from the challenge page when it's up. I'll work on making a more useful/pretty PDF version and make it available, possibly pay what you want on DriveThru. Stay tuned for details.

The funny thing is, this game interrupted the one I actually spent time working on. It demanded to be let out first. So be it.

If you play, please let me know how it goes. I love to hear stories.

And yes, the section names are intentionally alliterative. Because I find language fun.

I blame Lovejoy.

So I Wrote a Kickstarter Bonus...

If you haven't looked at the Deck of Legends Kickstarter, please do so now. It's being created by an artist I featured in a previous Art Spotlight article and fellow member of the Gamer Assembly Kaitlynn Peavler (aka @thedandmom).

You've got about 2 weeks left to pledge and get a kickass tarot-sized deck or two. It's only $15 for one deck, but there are still opportunities to design jokers. As of this writing, we're spitting distance from releasing all the art under a Creative Commons license. So become a backer and tell your friends, as we're still a ways off from opening the poker deck option. If 300 people pledge there will be a 5th suit (Cosmic) added to all decks at no extra cost.

Here's a look at the different deck options.

I wrote up a list of effects, one for each card in a manner strikingly similar to a certain Minor Artifact, and called it the Deck of Many Legends. It's available for backers to download for free; check out Update #16 for the download link. I'll make sure it's available to non-Kickstarter folks at some point after the deck comes out. You can use it with a regular deck of cards while waiting for your Deck of Legends, but the art and the effects have started feeding off of each other in a very cool symbiosis.

Here's a sample of some of the art.
More cards are finished every week.

I wanted to keep the effects vague so the Deck of Many Legends could be used in a variety of systems. It obviously has D&D roots, as it mentions bonuses to ability scores, but the effects are open to a wide variety of interpretations.

The Star suit will add science fiction flavored effects and art.

Some of the effects could seriously change or even kill a campaign, but hopefully the built-in vagueness will prevent any cataclysmic effects. I encourage you to talk through any potentially game-damaging effects with everyone at the table so your campaign survives.

The Coven will answer
one vexing question.

Like the Deck of Legends itself, the Deck of Many Legends is meant to inspire creativity. I welcome feedback, as it'll help improve the list when I go back and edit it before general release. If you use it in your game, please let me know how it goes.

I invite you to go pledge if you haven't already.

Thanks for reading!

Randomness and Trends

Trends first, randomness throughout.

The Editing Gig
...is going swimmingly. I'm focusing on smaller projects, which fits better with the scraps of time I have available and coincidentally works out to a higher pay rate. I also find myself having more fun in tackling a wider diversity of content.

Bicycling in the ionosphere.
Yeah, it's kinda like that for me.

The numbers: I edited 7 projects last year, 2 of which were quite sizable. By March 1st of this year I'll have 5 projects done. For the list of projects I've worked on, head over to my editing CV. Yes, I'll update that project list in the next week or two as the products become publicly available. I may need to split off an archive page to keep load times reasonable.

The trend? This year will be busy, but so far it's been a great ride. I like the quicker turnaround, but the downside of smaller projects is the endless quest to fill the pipeline. As of now, I have only vague promises of more projects after March 1. If you've got a project you need a second set of eyes on, it's a great time to give me a shout.

Random Disasters: The Parsonage
I became the chair (chairdude? chairperson?) of my church's Buildings & Grounds committee (B&G) as of 2 weeks ago. We have a new senior minister that started work this past Monday. 2 weeks prior to that, the parsonage (maintained as living quarters for the senior minister) was cleaned out by a team of volunteers and ready for move-in day. Two days after the cleaning was done, the previous head of B&G went over to install fresh batteries in the smoke detector and discovered water damage down two stories worth of interior walls.

Needless to say, our minister is currently couch surfing, and we're scrambling to get the damage repaired as quickly as possible.

Fraggles and tuneage. Rawk.

Y'know when you roll a random event in your game that will totally screw the players and you look over the screen weighing the impact of making it happen, and your players see the look in your eye and say, "Don't you dare do whatever you're about to do to us! We just fixed all this crap and just barely survived!" and you feel bad? Fuck it. Do it anyway. Trust your dice and your random tables and let the chips fall where they may. Give your players too much to do. Grant them a break occasionally, but make those breaks sweeter for the random real-world crap that falls out of the sky and totally hoses them.

There's a real-world precedent for it, and it keeps life interesting in your game.

Tool.

The Right Tool for the Job
This morning was the first time this year my car door latch stuck open when leaving home on my commute. Normally it takes 5-10 minutes of blasting the heater before it lets go and allows my door to stay shut on its own. This morning I broke out the can of ice melt that I've been carrying around in my backpack for the past few months and I was off within 30 seconds.

Reward planning ahead, no matter how obscure or inconvenient.

PAX East Is Coming
We've got 2 panels to run and we're waiting for the final schedule before publicizing our faces off. I've got a few prizes to give away lined up personally, in addition to the other swag we'll dig up. I'm psyched. And it's 29 days away now. I'll be busy between now and then. I have games to gather and an idea that I'm not sure I can prep in time...

Games I'll Have With Me

Now to print Stinger vehicle sheets
and fit an arena map in the box.

I bought a first edition pocket box version of Car Wars. I'll also have Car Wars the Card Game. Zombie Dice should be on my person, and probably Cosmic Wimpout if anyone wants a slightly longer classic dice game. I'll be prepping an intro adventure for Classic Traveller, which shouldn't take terribly long as I'm revamping the adventure I ran years ago in college. I'm on the fence about bringing Nuclear War, or anything else in a box larger than the Traveller LBB box set. We'll see what else I can fit into my kit.

The D&D Edition Wars Gauntlet
Here's my crazy idea. Prep a simple encounter in an ogre's cave, then run variations of it back-to-back in OD&D, Moldvay Basic, AD&D, 2e, 3.5e, and 4e. It'll probably be a 4-hour run to play the full Gauntlet, and all the pre-gens and pertinent rules will fit on index cards for quick start-up. Just add players and dice, and you can taste 6 editions of D&D in one sitting to get a sense of the evolution of the game.

Just play the damn game.

I don't have any 2e books, so I may skip that version for the initial run. I'm weak in 4e development, and I haven't looked at AD&D in years. Time will be a factor here, but I'll do my best to make it happen.

What do you think about the Gauntlet? Good idea? Is running the Gauntlet an interesting experiment or a waste of time? I'm interesting in hearing your feedback, especially if you're interested in playing.

Thanks for reading!

Meanwhile, In The Game Box...

So I'm dealing with a VPN issue which makes working nearly impossible. I'm waiting for updates to install, and I dig out my Game Box.

The Game Box

Yes, that's my original name tag from freshman orientation at WPI way back in 1987 on the lid. I open it, which I haven't done in a while...

Idea Treasure!

...and I start digging. I find my old Hero System binder for the modern-day game...

This is Blade. He's basically Wolverine
with more sharp edges and more issues.

...and I see the character sheet for Gregor Ramon, a swarthy chap. He's a gypsy art thief, one of Derek's characters. Derek has been gone a long time, and losing him still cuts me when I least expect it.

Digging deeper, I find Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, which still rocks.

Still a great resource for fantasy gadgets
and high magic pseudo-steampunk inventions.

And I found the 7-pointed star of correspondences, lining up my system of gods, colors, WoD magic spheres from Mage: The Ascension, Chakras, and Egyptian souls.

And this is why an Elder Sign works.
It doesn't have Time nor Prime, so it'll eventually fail.

For those of you wondering how a systems guy tries to make the world fit together, keep staring at the star until something clicks for you.

I found the notebook from my several Highcastle games, started back in 1985.

Highcastle and northern environs.
Includes the Rat Cave, where normal rats
made for the scariest adventure ever.

The Tomb of Tor-Kantor.
He's an insane undead elven general.
The PCs lived, but set him free to seek revenge.

I even kept my visual aids from when the Lizardmen and Dragons tried to invade Highcastle.

Priests of Kreigan try to cover for the
routed conscript spear units, heading for the walls.

I remember they had to rebuild a few wall sections after the battle, but they held firm and pushed the invaders all the way back into the sea, 20 miles away.

I even found some magic items I had made and transferred to 4x6 index cards for reference.

This is Water Brand, a Footman's Mace
with a Decanter of Endless Water in its head.

And yes, I colored the pictures in my Player's Handbook. At least I used colored pencils and not crayons.

I'm never selling it.
Don't judge me. You did similar things.

Every piece of paper holds something precious. The smell of old line printer paper, a scribbled map, a jotted idea, photocopied flags of Japanese Prefectures. Research of things never quite real to begin with, but cast in concrete memory of challenges and laughter. And I miss diving into the guts of a long campaign and juggling the rest of the world while the players dance on center stage.

So that's the photo diary of this morning's trip into my Box of Games Past.

What's in your archives?

Irons in the Fire

Occasionally, I need to write something just to keep the projects I'm involved with straight. This is one of those times. I thought that I'd have more time after PAX East, but the Universe has conspired to keep me busy.

Hacking ahoy.

I say, "Dear Universe: Bring It On."

Writing Projects
I should be getting some editorial feedback in the next week for something I'm working on for Don't Hack This Game. I'm also getting ideas together for Dragon and Dungeon pitches. For those of you interested in submitting pitches, check out the list of dos and don'ts in Sweet Rejection.

Editing Projects
I've managed to make a site to offer RPG Editing services. In a bit of blind luck and timing, I managed to score an editing gig for an Open Design project. More details on that as it gets closer to release. I'm also wrapping up editing for Bare Bones Fantasy - check out this preview of the Adventure Idea Generation foldout. Suffice to say I'm fairly well booked editing-wise until mid-May.

The Site of the Year Contest
As I posted about previously, Wombat's Gaming Den of Iniquity is in the running for the 2012 Stuffer Shack RPG Site of the Year Award. You can vote for me on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 - I'll be putting out reminders on Twitter and G+ and probably post another article asking for your vote then. I've also added an icon to the sidebar, which I'll update with a link to the voting site on Wednesday. It'll be a hoot, so come on back in two days and vote. Thanks in advance!

The Traveller Adventure Arc
I managed to finish this before PAX East, and if you're interested in reading it I'll direct you to the Adventure Arc Cover Page. I'm happy to not have it on my outstanding projects list any more. I'll transition over into editing, expanding, and reformatting it for sale as a PDF. I will absolutely maintain the hyperlinking to make the PDF more useful, though it may take me a bit to wrangle into a form that I feel comfortable releasing.

Truth on a shirt.

Art Spotlight Series
I'm featuring a visual artist almost every week in the ongoing Art Spotlight Series. This past week it was Brian Patterson of d20 Monkey - go give the man some love for his excellent webcomic and awesome gaming shirts. I'm more than happy to feature you or someone you know in this series. If you have an idea for someone to feature, give me a shout on Twitter or on Google+ or via email (jim AT twwombat DOT com).

Schrödinger's Gun GMing
Yes, I'm still plugging away at Schrödinger's Gun GMing. I've got an article planned for this week, so stay tuned. And yes, I'm getting to how to handle encounter prep and improvising monster stats. Thanks for your continued patience as I wrangle this idea.

Cool gamers here. Come chat!

The Gamer Assembly
I'm still curating the weekly collection of links which we post under the name The Weekly Assembly. We call this week's post The Crunchyfluff Debate. What can I say? I like showcasing awesomeness. We're always exploring and tinkering with RPGs, so feel free to use the group to help brainstorm if you're stuck for what to do next in your game. If you want to chat, feel free to drop by the Gamer Assembly Web Chat.

Actual Gaming
Need more. I'll be scheduling another potluck gaming day sometime soon, probably sticking with board games, but we'll see what happens. Between the writing and editing and my day job, it feels like there's no time left for playing games. This must change.

Plenty of irons in the fire. Good thing I have my positive attitude to fall back on. Thanks for reading!

Decrapifying

Warning: This may not be game-related at all. Consume at your own risk.

So our go-live date at work has been pushed off by at least 3 weeks. While this is good for the project, it flattens a lump of stress and stretches it out for another few weeks. Between this and my laptop not playing nicely with the train's WiFi most of the time, my posting has suffered.

I want to write, but there's a Prismatic Wall between the ideas in my head and the will to forge the words into something intelligible. So I'll tease off a few ideas here and go back to give them shape in future posts.

The Schrodinger's Gun Approach to GMing
This is how I roll. This is a look inside my GM toolbox and tips on how to keep game elements and plot points flexible enough to plunk them into a sandbox game. Yes, there's the danger of presenting PCs with choices that don't matter, so that'll be something I'll try to deal with when I write it up. I don't know how big it'll be either. I may have one big intro post and a bunch of other focused posts to follow up. We'll see how it goes.

The Traveller Arc of Mini-Adventures
I got halfway through the OSR Challenge in September and got sidetracked by Winter Is Coming. I've got most of it stubbed out and titled, I just need to get it done. I may gather these and put them all under one cover and provide it for easy download.

Phobias and Irrational Hatreds
Inspired by A Night in the Lonesome October, I've had this kicking around in my head for a while. In looking at how big it's getting, I think I may pitch it to Dragon before the submission window closes. Not sure it'll fit what they're looking for, but it's at least something different that may interest people. We'll see what happens.

RPG Editor-At-Large
Yes, I'm making a run at becoming a freelance RPG Editor. I'm starting to organize an online presence and other marketing jargon like that. I also have a couple of small projects lined up. I want to help people produce better games, and if that means there's a tiny payday in it for me, so much the better. I don't think this'll pay the bills, at least not for a long time, but an income to defray the costs of my gaming addiction would help out, I think.

The Adris game continues, but I fear I won't be able to run another game until January. The holidays fill up with obligations in a hurry. I'm looking forward to PAX East next April. Hopefully I can pick up a 3-day pass in the next few weeks, even though I won't even be there on Sunday since it's Easter and all.

So I just wanted to let y'all know that I'm not dead though there are days it feels like it may be a step up. Hopefully more soon.

Bizy. Bak Son.