Oubliette Magazine

G'Ettin there, my son!

2012-01-24T10:29:00.011Z

Pencillings for the cover of Oubliette 8 are now finished. Pete's gone for the Ettin .

When I do the covers for Oubliette, I constrain my drawing with one question: How will it look as a thumbnail when it comes to sale?

About twenty years ago, I used to cartoon for a multi-cultural magazine called Dost (means friend in Hindi). One of things that they liked about my cartoons was that they could blow them up or shrink them down, and they wouldn't lose detail. I honestly don't know how that works, it's one of the weirdo features of my style.

Anyway, it may be of interest to note that the figures on the covers have deliberate geometric symmetry, for example, Issues no5 and no2 are based on a cross shape, Issues no7 and no3 are based on right-angled triangles. These shapes appear to translate well when shrunk down in size.

Right, enough bumf. Back to work. Mouse Watch time. Ye olde D&D-ers may particularly enjoy what I have planned...

Oubliette Issue 7 Giveaway Results

2012-01-09T01:40:00.000Z

The Oubliette Issue 7 giveaway is now over. I'm delighted to report that we managed over 1,500 downloads. A big thank you to eveyone who has taken the time to read Oubliette and helped us grow the magazine's circulation.

iPad-ding

2012-01-06T16:33:00.014Z

The last couple of months I have been toying with buying an iPad2 -specifically for my artwork, but also because it's a beautiful piece of tech. I've visited youtube in order to watch other people use their iPads in an artistic capacity, and have found myself much impressed.

I've also begun looking at what stylus I might use and the Wacom Bamboo stylus with its perfect weighting and elegant looks has me in the thrall of its promotional draw.

In a recent Radio Times article, there were paintings by David Hockney entirely manufactured on his iPad, and even my technophobe mother has expressed a desire to have one herself. In an effort to achieve a balanced view, I have flirted with the cheaper android equivalents, to little effect. For pure luxury and effortless art production, the fates seem to be pointing me in the direction of an iPad.

With the internet ablaze with rumours concerning the immanent launchdates of the iPad3 (February 2012-possibly Steve Jobs' birthday, or March at the latest) and iPad4 (October 2012-this rumour is seriously dubious), I feel I would be foolish to indulge myself and simply buy an iPad2 without waiting to at least see what will replace it. Even so, I'm close to licking my computer screen and drooling on my keypad everytime I look at an iPad, which is hardly attractive and rather hazardous for my keyboard's electrics.

It would appear I am Eve, lusting for the latest Apple. Will I regret buying one in due course? I'm sure I'll moan about it when I do, either unhappily or with inappropriate lustiness.

LOTR Lego Coming Summer 2012

2012-01-06T10:43:00.000Z

In December, Lego announced that they had secured a licence to produce LOTR themed sets. The first sets, due this summer, will feature characters and locations from the LOTR trilogy. Later in the year, we'll also get hobbit-themed sets to coincide with the release of The Hobbit movie.

Here are the provisional details of the first sets:
•9469 Gandalf Arrives – Minifigures: Gandalf, Frodo
•9470 Shelob Attacks – Minifigures: Samwise, Frodo, Gollum
•9471 Uruk-hai Army – Minifigures: x4 Uruk-hai with a siege crossbow, x1 Rohirrim Soldier, x1 Rider Of Rohan with his horse
•9472 Attack On Weathertop- Minifigures: Samwise, Frodo, Aragon, x2 Ring Wraiths
•9473 Mines Of Moria – Minifigures: Frogo, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, x2 Goblins, x2 Skeletons, Cave Troll
•9474 The Battle Of Helms Deep – Minifigures: Aragon, Gimli, Legolas, Theoden, x5 Uruk-hai

I think these sets could be very popular with collectors and investors - and a few may even actually get played with as toys by children.

The other 2012 Lego releases which caught my interest were a Star Wars Lego game (Battle for Hoth), and four (possibly 5) further Heroica sets. All of these look like Autumn/Winter products, but there's a chance they might be earlier.

Just 1 Week Left to Grab Oubliette 7 for FREE!

2011-12-30T14:18:00.000Z

I normally run the Oubliette giveaways for 1 month, but as it's holiday time, I'll leave it open for an extra week.

A big thank you to everyone that has already downloaded a copy. And an even bigger thank you to everyone that has bought back issues or printed versions.

Oubliette 7 Print Edition Out Now

2011-12-11T20:46:00.000Z

The print edition of Oubliette Issue 7 is now available to purchase from lulu.com

Lulu have been offering some generous discount codes over the last few weeks. Presently, the code COUNTDOWN will give 25% off any order until 14th December.

Lulu also has all the back issues of Oubliette along with a compilation edition of the first four issues.

Over 500 downloads of Oubliette Issue 7 in the first 24 hours!

2011-12-02T00:56:00.000Z

Downloads of the latest issue are really motoring. I sent out 1,300 emails through RPGNow.com earlier today and people started acting on them within minutes. I'm also really thankful to all the blogs that have given the free download a mention. In the first 24 hours of the Issue 7 giveaway over 500 have been downloaded, which is over 100 more than we had at the same point for Issue 6.

Tomorrow I'll catch up on promoting the giveaway on gaming forums and I'll also start my direct mail campaign to UK game stores.

Oubliette Issue 7 - OUT NOW!

2011-12-01T00:40:00.000Z

Download your copy of Oubliette Issue 7 from RPGNow.com, FREE for a limited time only!

Oubliette 7 Link

RIP Ken Russell 1927-2011

2011-11-28T13:30:00.000Z

Just heard on the radio that Ken Russell passed away on Sunday, after suffering a series of strokes.

My two favorite films of his are the rock opera Tommy, and his adaptation of Bram Stoker's Lair of the White Worm. They would probably appear at opposite ends of any film critic's list, but I think they are both magnificently camp and highly enjoyable. I'm tempted to pen an adventure based on one of them - no prizes for guessing which one.

Quite sad to read that he found it difficult to get funding for films from the 90s onwards. I can't help but smile when I try to imagine what else he might have come with and put on film.

Oubliette Issue 7 for FREE!

2011-11-28T10:02:00.002Z

Issue 7 of Oubliette is due for release later this week.

Following the terrific response we had to the Issue 5 and 6 giveaways, Issue 7 will also be available for a limited period as a free download from rpgnow.com.

Here's an advance look at the contents:

Editorial
Tales from Hell Cartoon
Monster Club #11: The Naughty Step
Miniatures Special: An Interview with Richard Scott of Otherworld Miniatures
Monster Club #12: Dungeon Random Encounter Tables: Levels 4-6
Newland Campaign Setting Part II: Raiders
Monster Club #13: Newland Bestiary Part I
Tomb of the Snake King: A Labyrinth Lord Adventure for 3rd to 5th Level Characters
The 10-Foot Pole
Found Familiar: The Toad
Goblin Quest Cartoon
What's in the Oubliette? Reviews
Mouse Watch Cartoon
The Song of Sithakk Part 7: A Dream of Blossoms

Dragonmeet 2011 Show Report

2011-11-27T23:27:00.000Z

I had an enjoyable day at Dragonmeet in London yesterday. It was my first visit to the show and it was great to see so many people in one place playing games.

There was a good trade hall with plenty of tempting stuff, although not as much variety as there was the UK Expo in Birmingham. My wife bought my Christmas present from one of the stands, but as it's a surprise, I'll have to wait to find out what it is. On the OSR front, Jim from LotFP had a stand and seemed to have a good flow of customers. There was also a Fighting Fantasy stand where Ian Livingston gravitated for a while (he was also one of the seminar guests) to sign books for visitors.

Even with those two stands, the OSR still seemed under-represented. No retroclones were on sale, and even Leisure Games did not seem to have their usual selection of OSR modules and supplements on offer.

I gave out just over 100 copies of the mini Oubliette (Issue 6.5) so hopefully, when Issue 7 goes on download later this week, we'll have a few new readers.

TMI (Too Much Information)

2011-11-25T10:18:00.006Z

My immune system has been rather lackadaisical in its approach to keeping me healthy. I have been ill the last week. On Monday, I insisted on working and ended up snotting clear mucas on two ink drawings (both now on sale for exhorbitant prices, complete with artist's DNA(not really)). I'm in catch up mode now. For every mag we've done, I've always been ahead of the game. I hate being behind.

Tomorrow, Pete and I are going to Dragonmee t in London, which I'm very excited about. Of course, I shall be taking my sketch pad and finishing off the Sithakk illustrations in the evening. We're taking a camera, so stand by for some bloggage.

Proof reading continues apace, and we're confident that next week, Oubliette Issue 7 will be ready for release. Hurrah.

A Tale of Two Characters

2011-11-18T11:51:00.001Z

I took the What Kind of D&D Character Would You Be? test yesterday. Here's the resulting character, which I though was a fair reflection of me:

True Neutral Human Ranger (5th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength- 14
Dexterity- 12
Constitution- 12
Intelligence- 14
Wisdom- 14
Charisma- 15

Alignment:
True Neutral- A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Rangers- Rangers are skilled stalkers and hunters who make their home in the woods. Their martial skill is nearly the equal of the fighter, but they lack the latter's dedication to the craft of fighting. Instead, the ranger focuses his skills and training on a specific enemy a type of creature he bears a vengeful grudge against and hunts above all others. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. His skills allow him to move quietly and stick to the shadows, especially in natural settings, and he also has special knowledge of certain types of creatures. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw on natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does, and like a druid he is often accompanied by animal companions. A ranger's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

A bit dull though, so I re-did the test. This time I answered the questions to reflect the type of character I like to play and how I have them behave in a game:

Chaotic Evil Human Sorcerer/Rogue (2nd/2nd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength- 17
Dexterity- 18
Constitution- 16
Intelligence- 14
Wisdom- 14
Charisma- 12

Alignment:
Chaotic Evil- A chaotic evil character does whatever his greed, hatred, and lust for destruction drive him to do. He is hot-tempered, vicious, arbitrarily violent, and unpredictable. If he is simply out for whatever he can get, he is ruthless and brutal. If he is committed to the spread of evil and chaos, he is even worse. Thankfully, his plans are haphazard, and any groups he joins or forms are poorly organized. Typically, chaotic evil people can be made to work together only by force, and their leader lasts only as long as he can thwart attempts to topple or assassinate him. Chaotic evil is sometimes called demonic because demons are the epitome of chaotic evil. Chaotic evil is the best alignment you can be because combines self-interest and pure freedom. However, chaotic evil can be a dangerous alignment because it represents the destruction not only of beauty and life but also of the order on which beauty and life depend.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Sorcerers- Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Secondary Class:
Rogues- Rogues have little in common with each other. While some - maybe even the majority - are stealthy thieves, many serve as scouts, spies, investigators, diplomats, and simple thugs. Rogues are versatile, adaptable, and skilled at getting what others don't want them to get. While not equal to a fighter in combat, a rogue knows how to hit where it hurts, and a sneak attack can dish out a lot of damage. Rogues also seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to avoiding danger. Experienced rogues develop nearly magical powers and skills as they master the arts of stealth, evasion, and sneak attacks. In addition, while not capable of casting spells on their own, a rogue can sometimes 'fake it' well enough to cast spells from scrolls, activate wands, and use just about any other magic item.

Now that's more like it!

Special Mini Oubliette Issue 6.5

2011-11-14T13:55:00.001Z

Oubliette Issue 7 will be out in the next couple of weeks and, as usual, I'll put up the contents page about a week before the issue is released.

In the meantime, I've created a special mini promotional issue of Oubliette (Issue 6.5) to use for promotional purposes. The issue is A6 sized, and is printed on a double-sided A3 sheet, and then cut and folded like a PocketMod. I'll be sending copies to UK games stores, to promote the free download of Issue 7. I'm also sending a batch of them to Otherworld Miniatures who will be including them with orders in the run-up to Christmas.

The content inside is mostly taken from the forthcoming issue, so our regular readers won't be missing anything if they don't get one (apart from the Succubus on the title page). However, if you simply must have one in order to complete your Oubliette collection, then you may order a copy using the paypal button below.

Nearly all of the purchase price goes to the Royal Mail and Paypal, but there's no easy way around that. If anyone wants to buy several copies at once, send me an email and I'll see what I can do. Also, if you are in the UK, I've still got a handful of the Oubliette Issues 1-4 Compilation available for £9.50 including P&P (which should work out cheaper and faster than ordering through Lulu), and I'll throw in a couple of the mini issues as a bonus.

It's official: I am an idiot

2011-11-12T16:47:00.003Z

"Why can't I work faster?" I asked Pete during a recent phase of self-hatred.

(I'm finishing the Goblin cartoon "Goblin Quest" at the moment, and it feels like the slowest work I've ever done.)

"Because you're doing twice as much as usual, you idiot," came Pete's reply. (He didn't even glance up from the Monster Club page he was sorting out on his computer.)

He's right. And it is official. I'm an idiot.

Lego Heroica £14.20/$19.99 at Amazon UK/US

2011-11-02T09:28:00.002Z

The main Heroica set Castle Fortaan (#3860) is on offer at both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

If you were thinking of buying a set pre-Christmas, now may be as good a time as any.

I recently received review samples of two of the smaller sets from Lego, and I have been playtesting them for a review which will appear in the next issue of Oubliette. Both of the games I have played have been great fun, and my five-year-old daughter is now routinely picking up the box sets and demanding a game. It is a fait accompli that she will find the other two sets in the range under the Christmas tree this year, and I am looking forward to playing with all four sets linked together, even if the likelihood is high that she'll thrash me.

Oublie-cartoons

2011-10-31T11:10:00.012Z

Yes, it's Sneak Preview time. Tales from Hell and Mouse Watch are Oubliette magazine's on-going cartoons.

Tales from Hell is an affectionate nod towards Michael Curtis's Stonehell Dungeon, detailing the lives of Kobolds(the sanitary engineers and trap-setters of the dungeons they inhabit), their Buckets, and the Adventurers who venture into the dark gloom of the Kobold's habitation.

Mouse Watch is our morally challenged version of David Petersen's beautifully realised Mouse Guard Series. The mice in Mouse Watch are amoral, filthy little critters, whose callous disregard for life and each other are the continuing subject matter of the cartoons.

Oublie-evolution

2011-09-29T13:48:00.008+01:00

Just finished a rehash of the Creeping Statues from Oubliette Issue 2. The original ideal, that I espoused, which was to keep drawings to a bare minimum line-wise in my endeavour to save people ink, has, by demand, now evolved to something a wee bit more complicated. Here's a comparison of the two styles.

Paint Log 1 - Otherworld Miniatures Giant Rats

2011-09-13T18:11:00.001+01:00

I had a great meeting with Richard Scott of Otherworld Miniatures a couple of weeks ago. As a result, not least because of the review samples I came away with, my interest in miniatures is renewed.

It's been about 20 years since I last painted miniatures on a regular basis, so I'm a bit rusty. Issue 7 of Oubliette will have an interview with Richard and a feature on miniatures. In the meantime, I plan to paint the selection of figures he kindly gave me, and post a paint log for each of them. I'll include brief details of the paints and materials used, the basic techniques, and step-by-step photos. I'm not claiming to be an authority on miniature painting, or to have a great talent for it, but beginners might pick up a few tips on how to paint miniatures to a reasonable gaming standard. I'll also find the painting logs useful in case I need to paint more of the same type of figures and need them look the same as ones painted previously.

Paint Log 1 - Otherworld Miniatures Giant Rats DV3a

Matt black undercoat (Humbrol Matt Black enamel). If you have a matt black spray it will save time. Sometimes I use a white undercoat, but as the rats are going to be quite dark, black gives a better base. The undercoat allows water based paints to be applied more easily and produces a stronger, more even finish.
Dark brown basecoat (Miniature Paints Umber). Gives a solid dark brown shade. Thanks to the black undercoat only a thin coat is required.
Medium brown drybrush (Vallejo Flat Earth). The whole miniature is drybrushed quite heavily so it looks much lighter.
Light brown drybrush (Vallejo Light Brown). Again over the whole miniature but with a much lighter touch. Then heavier drybrushing on the nose, paws and tail.
Light flesh drybrush (Citadel Elf Flesh). Only on the nose, paws and tail.
Dark brown wash (Miniature Paints Umber). Only applied to small areas as required to tidy up imperfections left by stray drybrushing.
White (Citadel White). Paint the teeth and also use as a base colour to help the eyes stand out.
Red (Citadel Blood Red). Paint the over the white laid down on the eyes.
The rats come with thin metal flagstone effect base and 25mm round plastic bases. For me these are a little large so I made my own bases using pennies and cork discs. I'll make use of the flagstone ones with some other figures though.
Glue rats to bases.
Black wash (Humbrol Matt Black enamel). Thin coat applied to cork base.
Varnish (Quickshade Stron Tone). This varnishes and shades the figure in one go. It softens the effect of drybrushing to give a neater finish.
Matt Varnish Spray (Army Painter Matt Anti-shine Spray). This is optional and gives the flat matt finish that most painters prefer.

Here's the step-by-step photos:

Judges Guild Nostalgia Rush

2011-09-10T19:06:00.005+01:00

I felt very lucky today when the postman delivered not one, but four gaming parcels. A couple were sets of miniatures snagged on ebay, another was an item that I'll be reviewing in the next issue of Oubliette, and the final and largest one of the bundle contained these goodies:

I ordered them from Different Worlds Publications who have an enticing range of JG and other titles for sale on their website. Best of all, many of them cost almost the same as their original prices from 30 odd years ago. I have James at The Underdark Gazette to thank for posting about his recent purchases from Different Worlds, otherwise I would have never heard about them.

Choosing a Projector for Gaming

2011-09-07T17:54:00.002+01:00

Following on from the photos of my projected game map yesterday, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the technical details about the rig I use. Here's a list of the kit in my set up:

Acer X1230PK DLP projector
10m VGA lead
Dell netbook
Cordless USB mouse
Old Paintshop Pro Software (just about any photo software should be ok)
Ikea 70x70cm Stave Mirror
50" Projection screen mounted on 6mm MDF
Selection of bolts, angle brackets, hooks and 4 turnbuclkes

Assembled it looks like this:

To generate a 50" image the projector needs to be 6'6" away from the screen. The only way to acheive this in a normal room is to use a mirror set at 45 degrees. The mirror needs to be fairly rigid otherwise the geometery of the image will be distorted. Initially, I wanted to buy a projector with a short throw range which would allow it to have been mounted directly over the screen. However, I spotted this one at almost 70% off so I was happy to put the extra work in.

Here's a list of what to look for in a projector:

Brightness of at least 2,000ansi Lumens. Most DLP projectors easily meet this.
A 4:3 or 1:1 aspect ratio. Widescreen is great for movies but not so good for gaming on.
XVGA (1024x768) resolution or better. Budget projectors are 800x600 which is ok at a push. Also make sure your computer can output the correct resolution.
Options to flip (mirror) the image if you are planning on a set up with a mirror.
Options to rotate the image 180 degrees
Vertical Keystone correction this allows you to make adjustments if the angle of the mirror/projector isn't perfect.
Noise level under 30dB. Depending on the setting used mine is 28-33db and I wouldn't want it to be any louder.
Some form of manual zoom for fine tuning the image to fit the screen.

In addition to these points, be very careful that the throw distance and range will allow the image size you want. www.projectorcentral.com has a great calculator which allows you to fine tune distance, zoom and image size for hundreds of different projectors. My projector is now discontinued, but here a link to the details of a similar spec model:

InFocus IN104 projection calculator

And here's almost the same as mine but with a shorter throw lens:

Acer X1230PS projection calculator

More Projected Game Maps

2011-09-06T17:32:00.000+01:00

I first posted about using a data projector in April. Since then, I've used it a couple more times and I'm really pleased with the results. The photos below show the playtest map for Tomb of the Snake King which I'm busy editing for Oubliette Issue 7. Each map has a second layer of solid black added which is then gradually deleted as the players explore each area.

Other Old Schools: Number 1 - The LaserDisc

2011-09-05T17:49:00.003+01:00

I really enjoy reading other blogs which discuss various aspects of the OSR. It got me thinking: what else am I interested in that might be given the Old School tag.

I'll try and think of a new item each week and you can judge whether or not it deserves a place on the Old School Cool Wall.

First up: LaserDiscs

Until the DVD format was launched in 1997 (1998 in the UK), LDs were the final word in quality home cinema. DVD pretty much killed the format overnight. As people dumped their entire movie collections, I took the oportunity to build up my collection. I still own about 300 LDs and a flagship Pioneer deck to play them on. I love my collection. I'll probably keep most of it even after my player kicks the bucket.

Much like Vinyl LPs, the discs themselves are a big part of the attraction. Many have gatefold covers, booklets, slip cases or other design features that make them worthy of admiration on a purely aesthetic level. A LaserDisc player in operation is quite a machine to behold. They're very mechanical devices, with genuinely smart engineering including: autoturn a feature that plays both sides of a disc without having to remove it from the player, and an additional pop-out mini loading tray for loading audio CDs.

At the weekend, I was reading about the imminent Blu-ray release of the Star Wars films, and the distress being caused by Lucas making even more CGI changes to the original films. Thankfully, I own both the Special Edition LD boxed set and the Definitive Edition Boxed set on LaserDisc. Which, along with my copy of The Star Wars Vault, is all I need to experience 1977 all over again.

Heroica - Heroes and Baddies

2011-09-02T13:22:00.003+01:00

I'm hoping to have a review of Lego Heroica in the next issue of Oubliette, but in the meantime, here's an image showing the range of different micro figures included in the range. One of the sets (Caverns of Nathuz) also includes some giant bats (which are not micro figures).

I think they look great, and I'm already dreaming up D&D stats for the Golem Lord and his Golem minions. However, given that there are 4 sets, I'd hoped that there would have been a wider range of monsters included. Hopefully, the range will grow with additional sets next year. They could actually do some very small encounter sets with half a dozen new micro figures, and a few new weapons and treasure items.

Oubliette Issue 6 Giveaway Results

2011-09-01T21:21:00.002+01:00

The free download period for issue 6 is now over. We chalked up an impressive 1,265 downloads, along with dozens of back issue sales. In print, the compilation edition of the first four issues is still selling strongly, but it was also great to see orders coming through for the individual print issues of Oubliette 5 and 6.

Special thanks must go to our issue 6 advertisers, whose ongoing support will enable us to offer Oubliette as a limited free download for the foreseeable future.

Want to Reach Over 1,200 OSR Customers?

2011-08-28T08:55:00.002+01:00

Book an advert in Issue 7 of Oubliette.

Issue 6 of Oubliette is available as a free download from www.RPGNow.com until the end of August. If you have not had a chance to look at an issue before, here is an opportunity to check it out.

Oubliette Issue 6 at RPGNow.com

Over 1,200 copies have been downloaded so far, making Oubliette probably the widest read publication in the OSR. I expect our next issue to reach over 1500 within its first month of release.

Issue 7 of Oubliette is scheduled for November and will once again be available as a free download for a limited period. If you would like to book an advertisement, here are the rates, deadlines and specifications. As a special incentive for Issue 7, bookings of full-page adverts will include a free print copy of the issue with worldwide delivery.

RATES: Full Page $60.00, Half Page $35.00, Quarter Page $20.00

DATES: Issue 7 Winter 2011, Book by 30th September, Copy by 31st October.

SPECS: 300dpi JPEG, TIFF, in Black and White or Greyscale (I can accept colour but will convert it to greyscale).

SIZES: Full Page: 178mm wide x 265mm high, Half Page: 178mm wide x 130mm high. Quarter Page: 86mm wide x 130mm high.

Hirst Arts - The Lazy Way

2011-08-27T17:45:00.000+01:00

I really enjoyed reading about Hirst Art Molds over at A Paladin in Citadel's blog. I have toyed with the idea of buying a couple of molds, to give it a go, but, so far, I have managed to restrain myself. I know I would really enjoy making them, but I also know I can't spare the time. Another member of my gaming group has just ordered some, so I may feel the urge to follow suit when I see his creations.

Not wanting to be completely left out, I snagged the ruined tower, pictured below, from ebay for a few pounds. I repaired the transit damage (suffered en route), and removed the cardboard base the ruin was stuck to. All it needs now is a little bit of paint to cover the repair work, and possibly a dark colour wash or two. Although I'm sure I'll be mainly sticking with my projected game board, the addition of some 3D structures will certainly enhance the experience.

New Developments in 3D Printing

2011-08-27T00:51:00.000+01:00

It's been a few months since I looked at how 3D printing technology is progressing. The price of the MakerBot machine has dropped $200 bringing it down to $999 (still about £800 from the UK site I checked though). I'm sticking with my prediction that by the end of 2012, we'll see a sub $500 consumer 3D printer on the market.

For a good snapshot on the different ways the technology is developing, take a look at the BBC video in the link below. It shows three different types of 3D printers in action.

BBC Click Video

Last 7 Days of the Oubliette Issue 6 Giveaway

2011-08-25T09:22:00.000+01:00

There's now just one week left to grab a copy of the latest issue of Oubliette for free.

The PDF can be downloaded from rpgnow.com

Then, if you like it, you can head over to Lulu.com and buy a printed version. You can get individual printed versions of all 6 issues along with a great value compilation of issues 1-4.

I did a quick search for Lulu discount coupons and found three, each offering 20% off. They may not all work with every account, but it's certainly worth giving them a go. Codes are:

2011SURVEY
SCHOOLED305
AUGUST305

Oubliette Issue 6 - Inspiration

2011-08-24T15:11:00.000+01:00

In preparation for one of the Sithakk pictures, in which a Sylvmorten warrior has been poisoned and is beset by tremors, itching, bleeding and fits, I looked up various images to assist with my art conception.

The disturbing artwork depicting inmates of various asylums by 18th century artists gave me all the visual stimulus I needed. It's possible I didn't go far enough, but sometimes, less is more, more or less.

Aghast at Radagast

2011-08-23T16:29:00.002+01:00

One of my players has a magic-user with a raven as a familiar. We play with miniatures, and although I've got several wizard figures, I thought it would be cool to try and find one with a raven. A few minutes on the internet turned up Radagast from Games Workshop's LOTR range. If you'd asked me to guess the price of this single 28mm metal figure, I would have said £4, maybe £5. The actual price is a shocking £7.70 or if you're in the US, that'll be $12.25 please.

I checked a couple of other places for prices of metal figures and, imported Reaper ones are £3.50 or £4.10 each, for most adventurers, and Otherworld Miniatures charge £10/£11 for 3 human-sized figures. I then turned to ebay, and snagged a part-painted Games Workshop Radagast for £1.47 + postage.

Although I'm not a fan of Games Workshop, I might buy some figures and scenery pieces from them, but they seriously need to sort out their prices.

The Hunter

2011-08-22T17:28:00.000+01:00

When I'm thinking up encounters in adventures, I often delve into natural history books for ideas. Ocassionally, I have the good fortune to come across something inspiring first-hand. This morning, that happened when I came very close to stepping on this beast. He might be just a common house spider, but when you close up to him, you can clearly see he is a beautiful killing machine. He sits just outside his lair, wating for a small insect to wander by, and then he strikes in a flash and drags his prey back into his cave.

I've got some notes on giant spiders that I keep toying with for the magazine, but just haven't got them quite right yet. Seeing this fellow has given me the inspiration I needed to go back to them with rekindled interest.

Open Doors

2011-08-17T15:27:00.000+01:00

I've got various scribbled notes on dungeon doors, but they still need a bit more work before they are ready for inclusion in Oubliette. This week, I got some more inspiration from news coverage of London looters being arrested.

Here's what you get when you roll a 1 to open doors:

Open Doors Success

and here's what happens when roll a 6:

Open Doors Fail

These also made me think about including rules for metal rams and wrecking bars as tools in the dungeon.

Looters Return Stuff to Games Workshop

2011-08-16T21:09:00.002+01:00

For the benefit of overseas readers, we had some bad riots and looting in England last week. On Monday, I was away from home, but thankfully not anywhere near any of the trouble hotspots. During the afternoon, I walked past a branch of Games Workshop which was closed and I instantly reasoned that it was one of there infamous one-man shops which closes so that the poor guy running it can go to the toilet. As I peered through the windows to see what they had on display, I joked to my wife, "I bet the looters give Games Workshop stores a wide berth".

Today one of my friends sent me this which made me laugh out loud. I've talked about Games Workshop before and said that I would write a follow-up piece after visiting a store. This has proved difficult as I've not managed to find one open during normal retail hours.

Examples of Miniatures Painted with Quickshade

2011-08-13T15:54:00.001+01:00

In the latest issue of Oubliette one of the reviews is about a product called Quickshade. As mentioned in that review, here are a few photos of the miniatures which I varnished with Quickshade.

The figures were all rescued from my dusty figure box in the loft and date back to the 1980s. In descending order, they are: DA1 Dwarf Thief by Asgard, FM63 Ogre by Asgard, and Half-Orc Cleric-Thief by Citadel.

I have a few more figures to paint in the next month and I intend to post some more photos to give more of a step-by-step guide.

Oubliette 6 Print Edition Out Now

2011-08-06T14:19:00.000+01:00

The print edition of Oubliette Issue 6 is now available to purchase from lulu.com

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out, and particularly like the glossy coating they apply to the cover.

Lulu also has all the back issues of Oubliette along with a compilation edition of the first four issues.

Oubliette 6 Hits 1,000 Downloads

2011-08-04T13:02:00.001+01:00

It's just one week since Oubliette Issue 6 was launched, and I'm delighted to report that over 1,000 copies have been downloaded already. That smashes the results of the previous issue and there's still a few weeks of the giveaway to go.

I'd like to thank everyone who promoted Oubliette Issue 6 on their blogs. Your support and enthusiasm have been instrumental in helping us spread the word. Thank you also to those who downloaded the mag and liked it so much you bought the back issues.

Die Society

2011-08-03T18:00:00.002+01:00

In response to this, here's my dice collection. Notice the natural defensive positioning they've taken when faced with the camera. The d6 minions instinctively move to protect the more esoteric polyhedrons.

Almost 400 Oubliette 6 Downloads in 24 Hours!

2011-07-29T13:09:00.001+01:00

We've had a terrific response to the first full day of the Oubliette Issue 6 giveaway. By the time I've finished this post, there's a good chance the total will be just over the 400 mark. I'll run another report towards the end of the giveaway but, given this flying start I'm sure that the latest issue will beat the 800+ chalked up by Issue 5. Thank you to everyone who has posted details of the giveaway on their blogs, as it really helps to spread the word.

Issue 6 Now Available for FREE Download!

2011-07-28T12:43:00.001+01:00

Issue 6 of Oubliette is now available for FREE download from RPGNOW.com Here's a link straight to the page for it:

Oubliette Issue 6

As a thank-you to everyone who has supported the magazine by buying it, reviewing it, and generally offering encouragement, Issue 6 will be available for free download from rpgnow.com until the end of August. If you like Oubliette please support its future development by buying a back issue in print or PDF form.

Here's the Full Contents:

Tales from Hell - Kobold Skool
Monster Club #9 - Animate Dead Special: Skeleton Lord
Petty Gods Preview - A Sneak Peek at this Exciting OSR Community Publication
Newland - A Fantasy Campaign Setting
Shame of the Shaman - A Labyrinth Lord Adventure for 3rd to 4th Level Characters
Whips in Labyrinth Lord
Monster Club #10 - Dungeon Random Encounter Tables: Levels 1-3
Goblin Quest
Found Familiar - The Raven
What's in the Oubliette? - Reviews of Alestorm, Quickshade, Game of Thrones and Ironwood Gorge
Mouse Watch - The Raven Ryder
The Song of Sithakk - Part 6 of our Serialized Story
Plus Bonus Material: Business Card-sized Labyrinth Lord Character Sheets and Customizable Dungeon Encounter Tables

Oubliette Issue 6 is nearly here!

2011-07-24T19:00:00.002+01:00

Just finished the last of the artwork for this issue, and Pete has dropped it into place.

Proof-reading began last week. But the grind continues as we have a horror of leapers. Leapers are the pictures, headings, and spelling errors that leap out at you screaming, "NOOOOO!" once you've published the magazine. We try and minimize the existence of the leaper in Oubliette, but inevitably, as the proof-reading continues, unbidden, even months after, someone will say, "Dammit! Missed a capital here!" or "That should have been in italics!" resulting in much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Here below is the team, as we strive to filter out human error.

Oubliette Issue 6 for FREE!

2011-07-18T14:34:00.001+01:00

Issue 6 of Oubliette is due for release next week.

Following the terrific response we had to the Issue 5 giveaway, Issue 6 will also be available for a limited period as a free download from rpgnow.com.

Here's an advance look at the contents:

Tales from Hell – Kobold Skool
Monster Club #9 – Skeleton Lord
Petty Gods Preview Feature
Newland – A Fantasy Campaign Setting
Shame of the Shaman – A Labyrinth Lord Adventure for 3^rd to 4^th Level Characters
Goblin Quest – A New Serialized Cartoon
Monster Club #10 – Expanded Labyrinth Lord Encounter Tables
Fighter in Plate – A Guide to Plate Mail
Found Familiar – The Raven
What's in the Oubliette? – A Selection of Gaming and Other Reviews
Mouse Watch – Legends of the Watch
The Song of Sithakk – Part 6 of our Serialized Story

Oubli-art for Issue 6

2011-07-12T12:27:00.017+01:00

(Previewed here The Skeleton Lord from Monster Club and a single frame from Mouse Watch both to be found in Oubliette Issue 6-out soon).

Infected with plague, and bellowing "unclean" periodically, I've had my head down getting the art together for our next issue.

With each magazine, I have attempted something a little different. I've mucked around with greyscale, attempted a higher degree of realism, experimented with block colouring, looked at all your blogs and the sorts of pictures you admire and attempted to incorporate elements of modelling and shading as used by the artists show-cased.

My style has been to reel off whatever is my head without too much forethought. Images appear suddenly and very vividly, and I get them on to paper as quickly as I can, and clean them up in photoshop. This sort of technique, produces pictures with immediacy and drive, but they don't necessarily tickle the connoisseur palette. But does a magazine require masterpieces on every page (my head is shouting, "Yes Marg-sort yourself out"). I recall a critic talking about Orson Welles in a stage production of Moby Dick saying for the first ten minutes he was the most magnificent thing he'd ever seen in terms of voice and presence, but after that, even that magnificence managed to be come mundane, because it was all the same-there was nothing which surprised, because it was all masterly.

Now such a comment is not meant to inspire people to be mediocre with occasional flashes of brilliance. Laurence Olivier struggled with recreating masterpieces: he exited the stage after an electrifying performance, to be greeted with "You were brilliant!", to which he replied "Yes! But I don't know why!"

These anecdotes and many others chase each other around my head whenever I draw or write, and whilst I'm not into suffering, pain and angst(okay, I occasionally indulge but I do know it's a complete waste of time), I do believe that life can be directed towards a process of continual self-improvement. I'd like to improve my drawing, and whilst I fight the good fight, I can enjoy spectacular failures and be modestly and most Britishly pleased by any accomplishments. If what I do is interesting and varied that's a bonus. Chief in my head is blanket accessibility. I'm into being inclusive-anyone should be able to enjoy this stuff-ah which leads to some of my naughty stuff. Yes, I did draw pole-dancing mice, and implied various unsavory happenings, but when I do things like that, I try and keep it all in the grand tradition of British Panto. Hopefully it's multi-layered enough that it can mean separate things to different ages and levels of experience. Maybe I won't be showing the raven eating the eyeball of the decomposing head on a spike to my five year old, but there's always next year?

Fixing the Encounter Tables Part II

2011-06-14T14:18:00.001+01:00

How tough should random encounters be?

In order to set encounters that pose the correct challenge, I've created a very average 1^st level party and worked out their Monstermarks.

1^st Level Fighter 2.00

1^st Level Dwarf 2.00

1^st Level Cleric 1.20

1^st level Thief 0.65

1^st Level Magic-User 0.40

Total Party Monstermark value 8.25 (we'll round it down to 8.00)

For this party, I think random encounters with a mean value of around 4.00, and a maximum value of around 12.00 (in effect the mean is -50% of the party's power and the maximum is +50%) are ideal. There's a degree of flexibility in these ranges. Indeed, for some creatures with a very low Monstermark, the existing number encountered ranges in the monster listings may be used without modification. For example, a Kobold has a Monstermark of 0.47. The Labyrinth Lord rules give the number encountered as 4d4 giving the encounter a mean Monstermark of 4.70 and a maximum of 7.52.

Here's some examples of popular monsters and my proposed number encountered ranges:

Kobold (MM 0.47) 4-16

Goblin (MM 0.99) 2-8

Skeleton (MM 1.17) 2-7

Orc (MM 1.27) 1-6

Hobgoblin (MM 2.51) 1-4

Zombie (MM 3.48) 1-4

Gnoll (MM 5.00) 1-2

Bugbear (MM 11.27) 1

Any one of these encounters has a chance of killing an unlucky party, but experienced players might handle several of them in succession regardless of luck. Although there is the potential for encounters that outnumber and/or overpower the party on paper, the party have lots of tools and options open to them including:

Tactics (eg: fighting in doorways, running away, etc.)
A Sleep spell
A Cure Light Wounds spell
Thief skills
Dwarf abilities
Turning Undead
Talking

Fixing the Encounter Tables Part I

2011-06-13T15:44:00.004+01:00

Yesterday, I listed the various first level encounter tables that I'm using to generate my own Monstermark driven version.

Today, I've gone through the Labyrinth Lord rules (including the AEC), and made a list of all the monsters with a monstermark low enough for the level one table. I may have missed a couple of monsters out, but this is still work in progress and when I've finished tables for the first few levels, I'll decide what needs to be moved up and down. In Oubliette 6, I plan to include the master tables in the magazine, with some additional tables in the supplemental materials section which can be quickly editied to add/remove creatures, and adjust the % chance of encountering them.

Next, I'll spend some time calculating Monstermarks for creatures in the list that I haven't already worked out. Then I can begin deciding what number encountered ranges to use, based on an average total Monstermark and the average number of saving throws a party might be required to make.

The picture is of Maow Miniature's Monster Dice

Level 1 Random Encounter List

Bat, Normal

Bat, Giant

Bee, Giant Killer

Beetle, Giant Fire

Beetle, Giant Spitting

Bugbear

Centipede, Giant

Dwarf

Dwarf, Duergar

Elf

Elf, Deep

Efl, Drow

Fly, Giant Carnivorous

Ghoul

Gnoll

Gnome

Goblin

Golem, Wood

Hobgoblin

Insect Swarm

Kobold

Lizard, Giant Gecko

Lizardfolk

Locust, Subterranean

Man, Acolyte

Man, Berserker

Man, Brigand

Man, Slave

Morlock

NPC Party

Orc

Piercer

Rat, Giant

Rat, Ordinary

Rot Grub

Shrieker

Skeleton

Snake, Spitting Cobra

Spider, Giant Crab

Stirge

Toad, Giant

Troglodyte

Wolf

Yellow Mold

Zombie

Broken Encounter Tables

2011-06-12T18:10:00.011+01:00

Today I've been working on my revised set of random encounter tables for Labyrinth Lord, ready for publication in Oubliette 6 next month. I'm using the Monstermark rules in the previous issue to try and make them a little more balanced. In researching the article, I've looked at various encounter tables from D&D books and modules, the AD&D DM's Guide and the ones in Labyrinth Lord itself.

Looking at them, what struck me was how varied the threat offered by some of the encounters are. Interestingly, some of the least deadly are the ones in the DM's Guide,which surprised me given the fact that AD&D characters will on average be tougher than basic D&D ones.

Out of all the first level encounters, the most deadly one - and I'm speaking from experience here* - is 1d4 of Giant Crab Spiders. Not only do these nasty beasts have a decent amount of Hit Points (2HD), they also surprise opponents on 1-4 on a d6. This means that if a first level party encounters 4 of them and are unlucky with surprise and initiative rolls, the spiders could get 8 poisonous bite attacks in before the characters make a move. After that, the spiders should easily survive a few more rounds. Unless the party magic-user has still got a sleep spell you've probably got a TPK situation.

*We met 4 of them on the first level of Stonehell. They killed my cleric - still bitter about it.

The photo is of Otherwold Miniature's way to real-looking Huge Spider

Here's the first level tables I've been using for research to save you having to look them up.

Holmes Basic D&D
d12

1 Kobolds 3-12

2 Goblins 2-8
3 Bandits 1-4
4 Orcs 2-5
5 Skeletons/Zombies 1-6/1-4
6 Bandits 2-5
7 Berserkers 1-4
8 Stirges 2-5
9 Orcs 1-4
10 Dwarves 2-5
11 Elves 1-6
12 Gelatinous Cube

Moldvay Basic D&D
d20
1 Acolyte 1-8
2 Bandit 1-8
3 Beetle, Fire
4 Dwarf 1-6
5 Gnome 1-6
6 Goblin 2-8
7 Green Slime 1-4
8 Halfling 3-18
9 Killer Bee 1-10
10 Kobold 4-16
11 Lizard, Gecko 1-3
12 Orc 2-8
13 Shrew, Giant 1-10
14 Skeleton 3-12
15 Snake, Cobra 1-6
16 Spider, Crab 1-4
17 Sprite 3-18
18 Stirge 1-10
19 Trader 1-8
20 Wolf 2-12

D&D Module B1 P8
d6
1 Orcs 1-4
2 Giant Centipedes 1-2
3 Kobolds 1-6
4 Troglodytes 1-2
5 Giant Rats 2-5
6 Berserkers 1-2

D&D Module B1 P21

d6
1 Troglodytes 1-4
2 Crab Spider 1
3 Kobolds 2-7
4 Orcs 1-8
5 Zombies 1-2
6 Goblins 2-7

Labyrinth Lord**

d20
1 Bee, giant Killer
2 Beetle, Fire
3 Centipede, Giant
4 Dwarf
5 Gnome
6 Goblin
7 Green Slime
8 Halfling
9 Kobold
10 Lizard, Giant Gecko
11 Morlock
12 Orc
13 Rat, Giant
14 Snake, Spitting Cobra
15 Skeleton
16 Spider, Giant Crab
17 Stirge
18 Toad, Giant
19 Wolf
20 Zombie
**No number encountered ranges given in the LL tables.

AD&D DM's Guide
d00
01-02 Ant, Giant 1-4
03-04 Badger 1-4
05-14 Beetle, Fire 1-4
15 Demon, Manes 1-4
16-17 Dwarf 4-14
18 Ear Seeker 1
19 Elf 3-11
20-21 Gnome 5-15
22-26 Goblin 6-15
27-28 Halfling 9-16
29-33 Hobgoblin 2-8
34-48 Human 5-15 or 3-9
49-54 Kobold 6-18
55-66 Orc 7-12
67-70 Piercer 1-3
71-83 Rat, Giant 5-20
84-85 Rot Grub 1-3
86-96 Shrieker 1-2
97-98 Skeleton 1-4
99-00 Zombie 1-3

UK Games Expo 2011 Report

2011-06-06T15:15:00.008+01:00

We had a great day out on Saturday at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham. I've attached some photos but they only show a few of the things the show had to offer. For the UK it's quite a big event, although it leans a little more towards skirmish games and board games than RPGs.

The OSR was represented by a small stand cleverly pitched opposite Otherword Miniatures. They had copies of Vornheim, which they said were selling well, along with numerous adventures and a couple of Fight On! Compilations. Leisure Games had a selection of OSR publications for sale; including the Oubliette Compilation which was nice to see. However, I didn't see a single Labyrinth Lord book and, come to think of it, I'm not even sure there was a copy of The Dungeon Alphabet either.

We reminisced with one of the guys running Talisman demos - a game we used to play as teenagers in First Edition form. We also played a cracking Gun Fight at the OK Corral game using 90mm figures and a giant scratch-built model of the town. The OK Corral game played out using some rules the guy had made up. It worked really well. He had a pack of cards with the names of characters on and he turned them over, one card at a time, and gave that character a single action. The more important the character, the more cards with their name in the deck.

We also sat in on a RPG seminar featuring; Lew Pulsipher who was good in a Grognardy sort of way, a OTT Finnish guy who was nuts but OSR friendly (it wasn't Raggi but he might have been cast from the same mould), and then a couple of others - one who'd written a setting that he really wanted to be a novel, and a lady from Cubicle 7, who had worked on Call of Cthulhu and a load of other stuff. They wasted a bit of time talking about what's great about RPGs and how kids today don't have the attention span to pick them up. They didn't talk that much about the industry, but the two publishers agreed that new products these days only have print runs of 500-1000 books.

I came away from the day full of ideas and with a bag full of goodies (mostly board games) to play with. However, I couldn't help feeling that, as far as the UK is concerned, there's a big OSR shaped gap in the hobby. Nealy all the OSR products I've picked up over the last year have come from the States, and it's not until you visit a convention that you realise the lack of representation by the UK in the OSR.

I'm planning on visiting a few more UK shows this year, but I'm already starting to formulate ideas for a stand to promote Oubliette and other OSR products at the UK shows next year.

Book an Advert in Oubliette 6!

2011-05-25T10:33:00.000+01:00

After the success of the Oubliette Issue 5 giveaway, I'd like to continue to offer future issues as free downloads for several weeks after they come out.

Issue 5 of Oubliette has reached over 800 people so far, which gives me every confidence that Issue 6 will have a circulation of over 1,000 copies - within one month of publication.

Commencing with Issue 6, I have decided to offer a limited amount of space to advertisers interested in reaching our readership.

The rate card below provides all the basic information for booking an advert in Oubliette Issue 6. Adverts will all be black and white in both the PDF and printed editions. Any adverts included will automatically appear in any future printed compilation of whole issues at no extra cost.

Monster Book: Apparition

2011-05-10T10:38:00.002+01:00

Here's the next A monster in the book:

Apparition

NO. ENC.: 1d4 (1d4)
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic (evil)
MOVEMENT: 240’ (80’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 0
HIT DICE: 8
ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE: See below
SAVE: F8
MORALE: 12
HOARD CLASS: XVII
XP: 2,060
AVG. HP: 36

Apparitions appear as translucent, skeletal creatures dressed in tattered rags. Their eyes burn with a crimson light.

Apparitions are undead spirits of creatures that died as the result of an accident. The twist of fate that ended their life prematurely has driven them totally and completely to the side of evil. An apparition is often mistaken for a ghost or spectre. Apparitions hate all living creatures and attack them on sight. Apparitions are essentially ethereal creatures. They exist mainly on the ethereal plane but can project their image onto the material plane. An ability akin to E.S.P. enables them to detect potential victims up to 100 feet away.

An apparition attacks by fear, implanting a suggestion in a victim’s mind that it is being strangled by the apparition’s bony claws. No to hit roll is required, and the apparition phases on to the material plane for one round per attack it makes. This is the only time the apparition may be struck and only magical or silver weapons will affect it.

Victims must make a roll under their intelligence scores on 3d6 to resist an apparition's suggestions. If they succeed, they are immune. If they fail, then they are stricken with terror. Next, they must roll 3d6 against their constitution. If they roll under their constitution score, then they flee in terror for 1d4 rounds. If the roll equals or exceeds their constitution, then they suffer a major seizure and die instantly.

Any humanoid slain by an apparition becomes an apparition after 2d4 hours. Victims may be raised from the dead, but only if the attempt to do so is made within one hour of their passing.

Apparitions are powerless in sunlight and will flee from it. They will also be reluctant to approach mirrors or objects made of silver.

Con-Quest Derby Show Report Saturday 30th April

2011-05-03T09:31:00.002+01:00

I had a great day at Con-Quest on Saturday. Con-Quest is a single day RPG con held at the Assembly Rooms in Derby (UK). The venue was very good, and the organisers did a great job: the main hall had traders set up on the periphery of the room and demo games running in the centre, the other rooms were divided into separate gaming stations using free standing office partitions, enabling several different style rpg games to run concurrently and without interruption.

Forty games were organised into morning and afternoon sessions, and they covered a wide range of systems and settings including: Pathfinder, Traveller, D&D, Savage Worlds, Realms of Cthulhu, and loads more.

I played in John Wilson's morning game of Labyrinth Lord, The Body in Question. Our party (all goblins) went on a mission into the big city for their master. It was really funny game, with some of the goblins getting a little over excited (eg. our attempt to avoid the town guards by hiding in an alley met with chaos when one of the goblins, unable to contain themselves called out to the guard, another goblin tried to throw off the watch by pretending to be a human drunk and singing a drinking song which had all the hallmarks of actually working when another goblin found itself incapable of handling the tension and shot one of the guards with a crossbow).

Here's some pictures of the show. The last one is of me and my fellow goblin players.

Lego Heroica Now Listed on Amazon UK

2011-04-23T13:43:00.002+01:00

Following up on the Lego Heroica post last month, here's an update with more details of the four Heroica sets and their prices. The details are from Amazon UK and Thistle Games (I checked the US site but they don't seem to have listed them yet).

Castle Fortaan
The Goblin King and his horde have captured castle Fortaan. Infiltrate, recover the Goblin King’s battle plans and do a runner with the Helm of Protection.
304 pieces/ £19.99

Waldurk Forest
Beat up on the Dark Druid’s monsters and rob him of the Chalice of Life. “Use all your skill and power,” probably tells us much of what we need to know about the Heroica rule set.
225 pieces/ £14.99

Driada Day
More goblins, busy starving the local populace. Slay the Goblin General and his evil minions before skipping off with the Crystal of Deflection.
101 pieces/ £9.99

Caverns of Nathuz
There’s a Golem Lord busy using the Sceptre of Summoning for what it was made to do. Guess what? Yeah, kill the monsters, dismember the Golem Lord and pocket the sceptre.
217 pieces/£14.99

The prices are in line with previous lego games. In anticipation of these games, I've bought a couple of older games, that I think could be used as diy expansion sets for Heroica. They are: Lava Dragon and Ramses Pyramid, both of which are often available at discounted prices. I suspect the Heroica sets will also be discounted at various outlets, but maybe after they've been released for a few months.

Dungeon Projector Rig

2011-04-18T20:58:00.002+01:00

In our Stonehell game on Saturday, I tried out an idea I've long been toying with - a projected game map. The idea is simple enough: take one data projector, rig a mirror at a 45 degree angle, and project a dungeon map down on to a 50 inch screen on the tabletop. Here's what the end result looks like:

Exciting New Robin Hood Production...

2011-04-08T21:16:00.000+01:00

...at my daughter's 5th birthday party tomorrow. Not had much time for writing this week as I'm busy learning my lines as The Sheriff of Nottingham, for a short play we're putting on at my little girl's birthday bash. If the photos aren't too embarassing I may put one up after the event.

Should be back to writing next week and I have a gaming session to look forward to next weekend as well.

Oubliette Giveaway Results

2011-04-04T14:08:00.001+01:00

I'm delighted to report that we gave away a total of 780 copies of Oubliette Issue 5. I was also pleasantly surprised by the additional sales that were made of the printed compilation of issues 1-4, and the PDF back issues. Thank-you to everyone who took the time to look at the magazine, and especially to those of you who bought back issues.

Going forward, I'd like to continue offering new issues of Oubliette as free downloads, for a limited period following their release. To facilitate this, I'll also be offering a limited amount of advertising space from Issue 6 onwards. I'll be putting up a ratecard with special introductory rates in the next few days.

Monster Book: Apes

2011-04-02T11:39:00.000+01:00

Here's all the Apes going in the monster book. Main changes from the Labyrinth Lord books are the heights and weight for each species.

Ape, Albino

NO. ENC.: 1d6 (2d4)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
MOVEMENT: 120’ (40’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 6
HIT DICE: 4
ATTACKS: 2 (fists)
DAMAGE: 1d4/1d4
SAVE: F2
MORALE: 7
HOARD CLASS: None
XP: 80
AVG. HP: 18

Albino apes are a white sub-species of gorilla. A fully-grown male stands 5 feet tall and weighs 350 pounds.

Albino apes are adapted to living in a subterranean environment, only venturing to the surface to forage for food at night. As such, they have lost all pigment. They will vocalize and act aggressively if other creatures come near their lair, and may attack. Albino apes may occasionally be found as pets to Neanderthals or Morlocks.

In addition to two fist attacks, albino apes can throw rocks for 1d6 hit points of damage per round.

Ape, Chimpanzee

NO. ENC.: 1d4 (3d4)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
MOVEMENT: 120’ (40’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 6
HIT DICE: 3
ATTACKS: 3 (2 fists, 1 bite)
DAMAGE: 1d3/1d3/1d6
SAVE: F3
MORALE: 9
HOARD CLASS: None
XP: 50
AVG. HP: 14

Chimpanzees are smaller than most other apes at 4 feet tall, and 120 pounds in weight. A chimp’s long arms, when extended, have a span one and a half times as long as the body’s height, and a chimpanzee's arms are longer than its legs.

What they lack in size, they make up for with aggression. They may attack with very little provocation, and have a taste for meat. However, if caught young, they can be tamed and trained to perform quite complex tasks. In the wild, they will often make use of improvised tools to obtain food or even scare away intruders.

Chimpanzees live in a wide variety of habitats, including tropical rain forests, woodlands, swamp forests, and grasslands.

Ape, Gorilla

NO. ENC.: 1d4 (3d4)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
MOVEMENT: 120’ (40’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 6
HIT DICE: 4+1
ATTACKS: 3 (2 claws, 1 bite)
DAMAGE: 1d3/1d3/1d6
SAVE: F4
MORALE: 8
HOARD CLASS: None
XP: 80
AVG. HP: 19

Gorillas are large apes that measure up to 5½ feet tall and can weigh as much as 400 pounds. Gorillas knuckle-walk using their long arms and shorter legs. They can stand and walk upright over short distances.

Gorillas are exclusively vegetarian, and will normally only fight when threatened, or to defend their territory. A typical group of gorillas will have one male silverback and the rest will be females (who are smaller) and youngsters.

Gorillas live in tropical rain forest clearings, wet lowland forests, and swamps - though they cannot swim. They are able to climb trees, but do not do so very often.

Ape, Man-Eating

NO. ENC.: 2d4 (3d4)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
MOVEMENT: 120’ (40’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 6
HIT DICE: 5
ATTACKS: 3 (2 claws, 1 bite)
DAMAGE: 1d4/1d4/1d8
SAVE: F5
MORALE: 10
HOARD CLASS: XIX
XP: 350
AVG. HP: 23

Man-eating apes are related to chimpanzees, but are much fiercer and larger than gorillas. They can grow to 7 feet tall and reach up to 600 pounds in weight.

They have an insatiable desire to consume humanoid flesh, attacking with powerful fists and a bite, and if both fists hit the same target in the same round, the victim suffers an extra 1d8 rending damage. Man-eating apes (average intelligence 8) are more intelligent than other apes and have sharp senses that give them only a 1 in 6 chance of being surprised.

Final Hours of the Oubliette Giveaway

2011-04-01T11:06:00.000+01:00

There's now just a few hours left to grab a copy of the latest issue of Oubliette for free, nada, gratis. Tonight I'll be putting it up to the normal selling price. Tomorrow I'll post details of the total number of issues that were downloaded.

The PDF can be downloaded from rpgnow.com

Then, if you like it, you can head over to Lulu.com and buy a printed version.

Monster Book: Ant Lion

2011-03-30T16:39:00.001+01:00

Here's the next A monster in the book:

Ant Lion

NO. ENC.: 1 (1)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
MOVEMENT: 90’ (30’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 2
HIT DICE: 8
ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE: 5d4
SAVE: F4
MORALE: 9
HOARD CLASS: VII
XP: 1,560
AVG. HP: 36

Ant lions are insect-like creatures that resemble giant grey or brown ants with leathery skin covered in coarse, black bristles. They have deeply inset, black eyes, and a mouth filled with rows of jagged teeth. Two large, silver mandibles protrude just above the mouth. Each mandible has a barb on its inside edge, midway between the creature’s mouth and the end-point of the mandible. An ant lion is about 9 feet long and weighs nearly 700 pounds.

Ant lions dig deep, funnel-shaped pits in which to trap their prey. They can sense tiny tremors (e.g. those caused by footsteps) up to 60 feet away from the source. An ant lion pit is about 60 feet across and about 20 feet deep. A creature that walks on the slope of the pit must make a dexterity check (roll under dexterity on a d20) or slip and fall down into the centre of the funnel. It is there the ant lion waits, buried just under the surface of the ground. When prey falls to the centre of the funnel, the ant lion surfaces and attacks, using its mandibles to grab and tear its prey. An ant lion that gets a hold does not release its prey until either it or the prey is dead. This means that on making a successful to hit roll, the ant lion does not need to make to hit rolls against that opponent in subsequent rounds.

Ant lions do not collect treasure, but remnants of the possessions of previous victims may sometimes be found buried in their pits.

Monster Book: Ant, Giant

2011-03-30T13:28:00.001+01:00

Here's the next A monster in the book:

Ant, Giant

NO. ENC.: 2d4 (4d6)

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

MOVEMENT: 180’ (60’)

ARMOUR CLASS: 3

HIT DICE: 4

ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE: 2d6

SAVE: F2

MORALE: 7

HOARD CLASS: VI

XP: 80

AVG. HP: 18

This creature is a monstrous version of the common ant that measures up to 6 feet in length and 150 pounds in weight.

Giant ants are hardy and adaptable. They are omnivores and will eat almost anything. An ant nest will have a total population of 14d6 ants and one queen. At any given time, 4d6 ants will be found in the nest with the queen, whilst the rest are out gathering food. The queen will be much larger than her offspring, reaching up to 12 feet in length and having 8 hit dice. However, the queen herself does not have any form of attack or movement. Giant ants will never retreat if defending their queen. Whilst their queen lives, giant ants have a morale of 12 and will sacrifice themselves to save her. If their queen in slain, or they are encountered away from the nest, they have a morale of 7.

Giant ants will tend to only have a small amount of treasure. What there is, will usually be just an accumulation of belongings from past opponents. In some rare instances, though, giant ants will inexplicably mine precious metals. This occurs in about 30% of nests, and there will be as much as 1d10x1000 gold pieces worth of raw gold nuggets stockpiled.

Monster Book: Ankheg

2011-03-30T10:54:00.002+01:00

Here's the next A monster in the book:

Ankheg

NO. ENC.: 1d6 (1d6)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
MOVEMENT: 120’ (40’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 3
HIT DICE: 3-8
ATTACKS: 1 (bite)
DAMAGE: 3d6, +1d4
SAVE: As HD
MORALE: 9
HOARD CLASS: XIX
XP: 80-2,800
AVG. HP: 27 (6HD)

Ankhegs are montrous, insect-like creatures that measure 10-20 feet long, and can be up to 800 pounds in weight. They have six legs, huge mandibles, a chitinous shell, and large black eyes. Their shells and legs vary from yellow ochre to earthy brown colours, and their undersides are a fleshy pink.

Ankhegs are omnivores with a taste for fresh meat. They spend most of their time underground, and burrow through earth using their legs and mandibles. When burrowing, they are able to move at half their normal ground speed. Their tunnel complexes vary in length, but tunnels will normally be around 5 feet in height and may descend 40 feet below the surface. Ankhegs favour areas with rich soil and plentiful prey, and will often be found in forests, or near farmlands with cattle.

An ankheg usually lies 5-10 feet below the surface until its antennae detect the approach of prey. Over normal terrain, it can pick up the surface movements of man-sized creatures up to 300 feet away. It will wait until the prey is almost directly above it before burrowing up to attack. In addition to bite damage, the ankheg has acidic, digestive saliva that inflicts an additional 1d4 damage each round. If desperate, an ankheg can produce an acid spray once per day that inflicts 8d4 damage, but this uses up the acidic saliva for a 24-hour period.

Monster Book: Aerial Servant

2011-03-29T12:03:00.005+01:00

Here's the next A monster in the book:

Aerial Servant

NO. ENC.: 1 (1)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
MOVEMENT: 240’ (80’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 3
HIT DICE: 16
ATTACKS: 1 (constriction)
DAMAGE: 8d4
SAVE: F16
MORALE: 10
HOARD CLASS: None
XP: 3,300
AVG. HP: 72

Aerial Servants are comprised solely of air, and if encountered on the material plane are completely invisible. On the astral/ethereal planes they are vaguely visible, appearing as 8-foot tall humanoid shapes.

They originate from the elemental plane of air and are normally are only found on the material plane as a result of being summoned by a cleric, and commanded to perform some task. Often, they are used to carry objects or aid the summoner with their immense strength. They may carry 1,000+ pounds in weight, or can hold a human-sized or smaller target immobile. To break free, the victim must have 18 strength, and even then there is only a 50% chance to break away. Victims with a strength of 19 or higher may escape with no roll. Aerial servants have keen senses, and are only surprised on a roll of 1-4 on a d6. An aerial servant that fails or is thwarted in its mission becomes insane and immediately returns to the caster who summoned it, and tries to kill him.

Monster Book: Adherer

2011-03-29T10:37:00.001+01:00

Here's the next A monster in the book:

Adherer

NO. ENC.: 1d4 (1d6)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful (evil)
MOVEMENT: 90’ (30’)
ARMOUR CLASS: 3
HIT DICE: 4
ATTACKS: 1 (fists)
DAMAGE: 1d3, adhesion
SAVE: F4
MORALE: 7
HOARD CLASS: None
XP: 190
AVG. HP: 18

Adherers are man-sized humanoids with an average height of 6 feet, and weight of 200 pounds. From a distance, they appear to be wrapped in decaying and rotting bandages. This often causes them to be mistaken for mummies, but the "bandages" are actually loose folds of dirty, white skin. Adherers give off a sour-smelling odour that fills the air around them.

These strange creatures are found in forested areas or underground caverns. They are not undead creatures despite their resemblance to mummies, but they are malign beings, and will attack just about any living creature they encounter. However, they will never attack spiders of any variety, and on occasion, have been known to ally themselves with giant spiders when hunting prey. Adherers understand Common, but do not speak.

Adherers attack by ambushing their prey. When lying in wait, an adherer covers its body with leaves, sticks, or debris to better blend with its surroundings. When victims wander too close, the adherer springs to the attack, surprising opponents on a roll of 1-3 on a d6. They are cowardly creatures, and if spotted before they attack, flee from their potential prey. An adherer's skin exudes a sour smelling glue-like substance that acts as a powerful adhesive, holding fast any creatures or items touching it, except for items made of stone. The adherer attacks by pummelling its foes with its fists. Those successfully attacked are stuck to the adherer.

A weapon that strikes an adherer sticks fast to the creature's skin and only deals half damage. An attacker may spend the following round trying to retrieve a stuck weapon by making a successful strength ability check (roll under strength on a d20). A bucketful of boiling water thrown on the adherer deals 1d4 points of damage to it (and to any creature stuck to it), and also weakens the adhesive for 1 round. This allows anyone that is stuck to the adherer to make a strength ability check (roll under strength on a d20) to free themselves. An application of fire deals damage to both the adherer and any creature stuck to it, and weakens the adhesive (as above) for 1d3 rounds. An adherer can dissolve its adhesive at will, and its secretions lose their adhesive properties 1 hour after the creature dies.

Monster Book: Aboleth

2011-03-28T16:38:00.003+01:00

Finished editing all the A monsters now. Here's the entry for Aboleth. I'll put some more up tomorrow. As a teaser I'm going to put a work-in-progress sketch up of the first monster for each letter of the alphabet. In the finished book I'm adamant that every single monster will have an illustration.

Aboleth

NO. ENC.: 1d4 (1d4)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful (evil)
MOVEMENT: 30’ (10’)
SWIM: 90' (30')
ARMOUR CLASS: 4
HIT DICE: 8
ATTACKS: 4 (tentacles)
DAMAGE: 1d6/1d6/1d6/1d6
SAVE: F8
MORALE: 10
HOARD CLASS: XVII
XP: 2,060
AVG. HP: 36

Aboleths are large, fish-like, amphibious creatures. They measure 20 feet long from head to tail, and weigh 6,000 pounds. They have a bulbous head with a rubbery, toothless mouth, and three, long, purple-red, slit-like eyes. Four 10-foot long tentacles extend from the back of an aboleth's head. Their bodies are a blue-green colour with grey splotches and a pink underbelly.

Aboleths usually dwell in underground lakes and caverns. They are highly intelligent, and hate most land-going forms of life. They will endeavour to enslave or destroy the beings of the surface world whenever the opportunity arises. Aboleths are an ancient race and they often live for 2,000 years or more. There are reports of huge underwater cities built by the aboleths and those they enslaved. But these reports, along with the stories of their vast stores of knowledge, have never been proven.

On land, aboleths are slow and lumbering, and use their tentacles to pull along their bulky bodies. In water, their powerful, large-finned tail allows them to move with surprising speed and agility.

In combat, the aboleth attacks with its 4 tentacles for 1d6 points of damage each. Any creature struck by an Aboleth's tentacles must save vs. spells or the victim's skin will change into a clear, slimy membrane over the next 1d4+1 rounds. This change can be stopped if a cure disease spell is cast on the victim. Once the change is complete, the membrane must be kept damp with cool water, or the victim will suffer 1d12 points of damage each turn because of intense pain. A cure serious wounds spell will change the membrane back to normal skin.

Aboleths are highly intelligent creatures and can create very realistic illusions with audible and visual components. However, whilst an illusion is being sustained, the aboleth must remain focused on it and may not take any other actions. They can also try to enslave other creatures 3 times per day. This ability can be used only against a single creature up to 30 feet away. The victim must save vs. spells or be filled with desire to serve the aboleth. Enslaved creatures will not fight for the aboleth but will attempt to follow any other telepathic commands. If an enslaved character is separated from the aboleth by more than a mile, a new saving throw may be made each day. This charm can be broken by remove curse or dispel magic spells, or the death of the enslaving aboleth.

In water, an aboleth will secrete a cloud of mucus a distance of 1 foot all around its body. Any creature drawn into the mucus must save vs. poison or it will inhale the stuff and be unable to breathe air. Thereafter, attempting to breathe air will result in suffocation in 2d6 rounds. However, the aboleth uses its mucus to give its slaves the power to breathe water in the same way as a potion of water breathing, for 1-3 hours. The mucus may be dissolved by soap or wine.

Monster Book: Sample Spread

2011-03-27T10:18:00.001+01:00

I've finished all the entries for the 'A' monsters now, and laid them out in Scribus (very good free DTP software). Here's a look at the first double page spread:

I'm also about halfway through compiling, editing, and expanding the text for the 'B' monsters, but as there's 37 of them it might take another few days work before they're ready for layout.

Next week I'll start putting up the stat blocks and descriptions for the monsters on the blog one-by-one.

Useful Planning Tool for Publishers

2011-03-26T15:00:00.000Z

When I put together Oubliette, I always end up drawing several versions of the page order out by hand. They look something like this:

However, now I've stumbled upon a useful site called corkboard.me which gives you a personal corkboard where you can organise post-it style notes. As soon as you visit the site it gives you a unique url for your board, and then you're free to begin adding notes. It's also great for to-do lists and other notes. I think it's perfect for planning layouts for short publications. Here's a screen grab of the one I just started for Oubliette Issue 6. Next, I just need to fill it up with the articles for the next issue.

Last 7 Days of the Oubliette Issue 5 Giveaway

2011-03-24T19:18:00.001Z

There's now just one week left to grab a copy of the latest issue of Oubliette for free, nada, gratis.

The PDF can be downloaded from rpgnow.com

Then, if you like it, you can head over to Lulu.com and buy a printed version.

Monster Book: Stat Block Contents and Format

2011-03-23T08:07:00.002Z

Here's an example of the Stat Block format I've settled on for the Monster Book.

It's almost identical to stat blocks in the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion as it features expanded alignment classifications. The only thing I've added at the bottom of the block is Average Hit Points, giving an average based on 4.5hp per hit die rounded up.

I've gone for bolded capitals for the legends, to help give the entries more visual impact, and to aid navigating the 9 point text size.

Monster Book: A is for Aboleth + 12 more

2011-03-22T10:17:00.002Z

Here's a list of the letter A monsters that I've been working on for my monster book. I've included the main research sources I'm using to assist with the stats and descriptions.

Aboleth - Monster Manual II, Monstrous Manual

Adherer - Fiend Folio, Tome of Horrors

Aerial Servant - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Tome of Horrors, Monster Manual

Ankheg - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Monster Manual, Monstrous Manual

Ant, Giant - Labyrinth Lord

Ant Lion - Monster Manual II, Tome of Horrors

Ape, Albino - Labyrinth Lord

Ape, Chimpanzee - Labyrinth Lord AEC

Ape, Gorilla - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Monster Manual

Ape, Man-Eating - Labyrynth Lord AEC, Monster Manual

Apparition - Fiend Folio, Tome of Horrors

Archer Bush - Creature Catalogue, Tome of Horrors

Axe Beak - Labyrinth Lord AEC, Monster Manual

New Monster Book Project

2011-03-21T12:14:00.001Z

In addition to Oubliette, I've been toying with tackling a couple of other OSR projects. The first of these is a Monster Book for Labyrinth Lord. I'm planning to produce a 200 page, QC sized book (7.4" wide by 9.7" tall), containing 500 or so monsters. I want the book to be a low-cost publication, suitable for use as a workhorse reference at the gaming table.

As a base, it will include all the monsters from the Labyrinth Lord and Advanced Edition Companion volumes. I intend to add other popular monsters, provided that they are open content. I will also consider other monsters which are not open content, converting/renaming them to avoid any IP issues. Every monster will have an illustration and, where possible, I will expand descriptions to include more detail.

As part of the development process, I will post stat blocks and descriptions for each entry as I produce them. Your feedback, corrections or suggestions on the monsters selected/ommitted will be most welcome.

The Black Dwarf

2011-03-20T16:34:00.001Z

Like many other gamers who grew up in the 80's, I have a soft spot for the art of the Monster Manual, and lots of other publications of the same vintage. However, to really hit my nostalgia buttons, I need to pull out some of the old Asgard Miniatures that, along with my friends, I would buy from the Asgard shop in Nottingham, every month or so.

Citadel Miniatures were also based in Nottingham, but they were almost regarded as the enemy - such was our devotion to Asgard's precious castings.

My favourite Asgard figures were sculpted by Jes Goodwin and Nick Bibby. Before Goodwin defected to the enemy, he sculpted a superb range of Dwarves.

Pictured here is The Black Dwarf (photo borrowed from the net), which I asked Marg to look at for inspiration for the cover of the next issue. I'm so chuffed with the outcome, I wanted to show it off straight away.

Here's the sketch, and the almost finished, photoshopped image. I think someone's made him angry.

Beware the Judderman, my dear, when the moon is fat...

2011-03-19T09:14:00.000Z

...Sharp of tongue and spindle-limed he is, and cunning...

Last weekend in our Dragon Warriors game, the party found a hollowed-out tree with a tiny stage set inside it. On the stage were a set of puppets. They were moving, but no puppeteer was visible. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the puppets were actually carved wooden representations of our characters. After watching for a few minutes, it bacame obvious that the story the puppets were portraying was in fact a retelling of real events from the past day. This was driven home when we saw the puppets climbing a cliff, and, esactly as had happened to us, a rock was thrown at them from above. The GM asked us to roll to dodge the boulder again - it was clear that anything bad that happened to the puppets was going to get us all over again. We rushed up to the stage in an attempt to stop the show and a goblin - who had been controlling the puppets - appeared and begged us not to hurt him. He offered us a goblin boon if we would spare him and his puppets so we let him be and went on our way.

This vignette made us reflect on an advert from the 90's, for the now discontinued schnapps alcopop, Metz. The lead advert for the brand is a 1m13second masterpiece (the version below is the slightly shorter TV edit)featuring the fictional Judderman. I think I first saw it at the cinema, and whilst I can't remember the film I saw, the advert certainly stuck with me. It created a bit of media fuss when shown on TV, with complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority from parents of frightened children. My wife still recalls the advert with a shudder. Inspired, I'm already scribbling notes for a Judderman article, so keep an eye out for it in the next issue.

Tolkien's Orc Wars

2011-03-18T11:08:00.000Z

I was browsing through a bookshelf of old film books, looking for inspiration last night, when I happened upon The Horrifc World of Monsters by Dulan Barber, fist published in 1974 by Marshall Cavendish. It's an old monster A-Z book full of creatures from films and mythology. I gleaned a few ideas from some of the entries I thought might be useful for future articles. Then I read the entry for Tolkien's orcs and I realized that anything I took from the book would need to be checked very carefully. Here's the entry in full:

The late J.R.R. Tolkien's celebrated book, The Lord of the Rings has provided a whole new series of monsters, many of which have found a permanent place in popular contemporary mythology. One of the most important of these is a dwarfish elf-race known as ORCS who act as the main fighting force of the Dark Lord, Sauron.

There are two different kinds of Orcs. The most numerous are small, dirty creatures with disproportionately long arms. For the most part they are bow-legged and squint-eyed, while their teeth are like fangs. They wear leather clothing and iron shod shoes which are said to bespoil and blacken everything over which they pass. They communicate in a strange, hissing language and are very argumentative and quarrelsome, sometimes even eating each other when holed up in the black caves of Mordor which is their home.

Although these Orcs serve the Lord Sauron and fight his battles in great hordes, they are essentially cowardly and, when not doing battle, are very badly treated. They are often fed to the monster Shelob and the air-steeds of the Ringwraiths and they are frequently beaten. These Orcs have an abiding hatred of the sunlight which they will avoid at all costs.

The second species of Orcs are not afraid of the sunlight and were fashoined by the Wizard Saruman. They are larger, better fed and braver than the other Orcs. They are employed in Saruman's battle against Sauron but, despite their man-size and appearance and their bravery they are doomed to be outnumbered by the dwarfish Orcs.

The book may have got this entry dreadfully wrong, but after I'd stopped laughing, I began to think that it might make quite a good setting for a campaign. Two warring orc tribes who dominate the land, with remnants of humanity scattered to remote locations. Adventurers could venture out to loot orc dungeons, or retrieve lost artefacts. I am already playing in a Stonehell campaign (see Inheritance in Oubliette Issues 1 and 2) set in a post-plague world, so I know this sort of set up works a treat.

Lego War of the Worlds

2011-03-17T18:08:00.001Z

Actually, Lego are calling it Alien Conquest, but it instantly made me think of Martians in Fighting Machines. Following on from the Heroica sets that I mentioned yesterday, this is another new theme from the brick makers which I think could be popular with gamers. The first sets are ready for launch in July according to Brickipedia, and include the following:

7049 Alien Encounter
7050 Alien Defender
7051 Tripod Invader
7052 UFO Abduction
7065 Alien Mothership
7066 Earth Defence HQ
7067 Jet-Copter Defender

With 9 new mini-figures in the range covering: aliens, astronauts and civilian characters, there's plenty of scope for a War of the Worlds or Independence Day style game with these sets. One good point about them is that the prices should be reasonable compared to the various movie franchised Lego sets.

Dungeon Salvage Project

2011-03-17T11:01:00.002Z

Over the last few months, I've had a good sort through my old gaming collection, and also taken the opportunity to snag a few bits and pieces from eBay. Some of these items are games that hold no interest for me as games, but are crammed full of good things that may be harvested, and bent to the will of the OSR gamer.

First up is Parker's 2003 Dungeons & Dragons: The Fantasy Adventure Board Game. If released today, this could easily retail at $60. On eBay they appear for next to nothing. In fact, I picked up my copy from a local seller for 99 pennies, as no one else bid for it.

Ignoring the rules, the character sheets, and most of the cards, the rest of the contents have real potential for using in a regular game of D&D.

Here's what you get:

5 double-sided, full-colour card gameboard tiles
3 slot together trees
6 slot together columns
100 small red counters
A selection of counters to represent: slimes, chests, doors, and runes
A selection of cards with magic items and traps that reworked for other games

Plus a good selection of plastic minis (all about 25/28mm scale). My box came with an additional set of painted versions of the adventurers, which was a nice bonus.

4 adventurers
6 goblins
1 lich
2 wights
3 ghosts
6 skeletons
2 carrion crawlers
3 trolls
5 gnolls
4 bugbears
4 ogres

The game itself might be okay, but I think I'd rather stick to Carcasonne.

Lego Heroica

2011-03-16T13:36:00.002Z

When I saw the post about this game on Grognardia , I was intrigued. There's a little more detail game on Brickipedia, but I think it will be a few months before we get much more. The first four products in the line are:

3860 Castle Fortaan (basic set)
3857 Draida Bay (expansion set)
3858 Waldruk Forest (expansion set)
3859 Caverns of Nathuz (expansion set)

On Brickipedia, one of the expansions is shown priced at $14.99, which may not be final, but seems about right when you compare it to existing Lego games. If that price is correct, I would expect the larger, basic set to come in at $24.99 or $29.99. Sadly in the UK, it will probably cost the same amount in pounds. Like most of the other Lego games, the scale uses tiny, micro lego figures, rather than the larger, mini-figures. This may disappoint people who have an existing collection of mini-figures, but the smaller scale does help keep the sets at reasonable price points.

Ashby de la Zouch Castle

2011-03-15T23:52:00.002Z

I'm quite lucky to have several castles, and a load of old churches and manor houses, all within 10 miles of my home in Leicestershire. One of my favourites is Ashby Castle. Until the 15th Century, it was little more than a fortified manor house. Then King Edward IV gifted it to Lord Hastings, who set about giving the I'm 9th Level build so I'll build a stronghold treatment.

Although the castle is now just a ruin, visitors can still climb 78 feet to the top of Hastings Tower. A later addition to the castle also survives in the form of an underground passageway, linking the kitchen and the tower. This dungeon isn't always open to the public, as it can get a little flooded, but luckily it was last time I was there. Only minimal artificial light has been installed for safety in the entrance chamber, and spending just a few minutes down there makes it easy to imagine you've just wandered into Stonehell. Another thought that struck me was how narrow the corridor was. It makes me wonder if dungeons with five foot wide corridors would be likely. Also, underground chambers would be fairly cramped places, with lots of irregular architectural features for nasty things to hide behind or in.

Here's my pictures of the castle. The ones in the dungeon were taken with flash, but they still give a sense of how dark it was down there (my wife and daughter are standing about 25 feet down the passageway in one of them, and are barely visible). I'll snap some pictures of some other local buildings as I revisit them throughout the year.

Dragon Warriors less than Half Price Sale!

2011-03-14T14:51:00.001Z

I had a great day of gaming on Saturday, and central to it was the Dragon Warriors adventure which features in the hardback edition of the main rulebook. Our group also welcomed back another old player from 25 years ago, so it was all the more fitting to play a game that we hadn't played since the 80's.

Our interest is Dragon Warriors has been largely rekindled thanks to Mongoose offering huge discounts on their edition of the rulebook and supplements. The hardback rulebook is on offer for just $17.99/£12.99, or you can get a bundle with an additional 6 supplements for $79.99/£49.99

Main Rulebook Link
Bundle Link

Mongoose are selling off all their stock, at what must be fairly close to cost price, as their license for the game is about to expire. A new company will picking them up though, so the game will continue to be supported with existing and new material. I may also start to include some Dragon Warriors features in future issues of Oubliette.

Oubliette 5 Printed Edition Out Now!

2011-03-12T08:17:00.000Z

The printed edition is now available to buy at Lulu.com. Back issues of the previous Issues are also available, along with a Compilation Edition of Issues 1-4.

Oubliette Issue 5 Print Edition

Oubliette 5 Chalks Up 500 Free Downloads!

2011-03-11T11:30:00.000Z

Just a quick note to say thank-you to everyone who has reviewed or given this issue a mention. The giveaway is proving to be very popular, and a short while ago reached 500 downloads.

Issue 5 Now Available for FREE Download!

2011-03-06T13:41:00.000Z

Issue 5 of Oubliette is now available for FREE download from RPGNOW.com Here's a link straight to the page for it:
Oubliette Issue 5

As a thank-you to everyone who has supported the magazine by buying it, reviewing it, and generally offering encouragement, Issue 5 will be available for free download from rpgnow.com until the end of March.

Here's the full contents:
• Tales from Hell – Words of Wisdom from the Soothsayer
• Monster Club #8 – The Monstermark System for Labyrinth Lord
• The Vampire – 12 Pages of Alternative Rules for Creating Labyrinth Lord Vampires
• Good Shop/Bad Shop – Mad Varto's
• What's on the Battlemat? – Dungeon in a Box
• PC for PCs – A Very un-PC Approach to Dealing with Paladins
• What's in the Oubliette? – A Selection of Gaming and Other Reviews
• Mouse Watch – Our Heroes Enter a Storytelling Contest
• The Song of Sithakk – Part 5 of our Serialized Story
• Plus Bonus Material comprising: Cleric Spell Cards for Labyrinth Lord, a Blank Vampire Record Sheet, and a Blank Template for Dungeon in a Box

Oubliette Issue 5 for FREE!

2011-02-26T21:33:00.001Z

Issue 5 of Oubliette is due for release next week.

With it, comes some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that the cover price is going up to a heady $2.50. This is mainly due to the size of the magazine. I originally planned for each issue of Oubliette to be 18-24 pages long, but it has consistently been much longer than that.

The good news is that as a thank-you to everyone who has supported the magazine by buying it, reviewing it, and generally offering encouragement, Issue 5 will be available for free download from rpgnow.com until the end of March.

Here's an advance look at the contents:

• Tales from Hell – Words of Wisdom from the Soothsayer
• Monster Club #8 – The Monstermark System for Labyrinth Lord
• The Vampire – 12 Pages of Alternative Rules for Creating Labyrinth Lord Vampires
• Good Shop/Bad Shop – Mad Varto's
• What's on the Battlemat? – Dungeon in a Box
• PC for PCs – A Very un-PC Approach to Dealing with Paladins
• What's in the Oubliette? – A Selection of Gaming and Other Reviews
• Mouse Watch – Our Heroes Enter a Storytelling Contest
• The Song of Sithakk – Part 5 of our Serialized Story
• Plus Bonus Material comprising: Cleric Spell Cards for Labyrinth Lord and Blank Vampire Record Sheets

Happy Groundhog Day

2011-02-02T12:32:00.000Z

Why not celebrate with your players by dropping one of these into an adventure?

Giant Groundhog

No. Enc: 1d2 (1d6)

Alignment: Neutral

Movement: 120' (40')

Armour Class: 6

Hit Dice: 2-4

Attacks: 1 (bite)

Damage: 2d4

Save: F2

Morale: 8

Hoard Class: VII

XP: 20/50/80

The groundhog or woodchuck is a husky, waddling rodent, belonging to the marmot family. Their fur is red or brown, with black or dark brown feet. Giant groundhogs are large beasts, measuring 4-6 feet in length, and weighing up to 200 pounds. The maximum size they reach depends entirely on the food supply in their territory. Their diet is mostly herbivorous, comprising wild grasses and other vegetation, and berries and agricultural crops when available. They will also eat eat grubs, snails, and even small animals if they are able to catch them.

They have a plump body, a broad head, and small, erect ears. The tail and legs are short, while the fingers and toes have strong claws, useful for digging. When riled, groundhogs can run as fast as a person, but they are normally slow, waddling animals, tending to stay close to the safety of their burrows. Their natural habitat is at the edge of a forest or in rough grasslands. Giant groundhogs are enthusiastic diggers, their burrows are particularly large, with up to 200 yards of tunnels and several entrances. This excavation can pose a serious threat to any structures above by undermining their foundations.

Giant groundhogs will aggressively defend their burrows and young. If encountered in the open, they will only normally attack if cornered without access to a burrow entrance.

Games Workshop Half-Year Results

2011-01-25T12:12:00.000Z

Just to follow up on the GW post earlier this month: They've now posted the results that the earlier profit warning foreshadowed. These results are in line with the earlier statement, sales in the six months to 28th November down 4% at £60 million. Profits for the same period were down 15% on the previous year at £6.7m.

Mark Wells, Chief Executive, said: "We made some changes to our staffing in stores, so in the school summer holidays, when our stores are busiest, we had inexperienced managers and we were a bit flat-footed. The focus remains on investing in openings and improving retail volume. Cash generation remains strong."

GW shares are down about 1% this morning, having already fallen around 20% on the back of the profit warning in early January. Next time I'm in town, I might venture into a GW store to see what's what. Failing that, I'll report back when they issue their full year results. I haven't changed my view that they may be in for a rough ride. Even though they are not directly comparable, Wizards of the Coast's decision to drop the D&D miniatures line also points to a shift in the market.

Stonehell Session 9 18th September 2010

2011-01-13T15:00:00.000Z

Following the nasty, surprise encounter with four giant crab spiders at the end of the last session, the party returns once more to Stonehell's first level, a little weaker, but maybe a little wiser. The reconstituted group now comprises:

3rd Level Cleric
1st Level Cleric
3rd Level Dwarf
2nd Level Magic-user
2nd Level Fighter
1st Level Fighter

When we met the spiders, we were planning on trying the wheel of fortune and revisiting a glyph we'd found in an earlier session. So having had our fill of the wheel last time, we make for the area we marked as having a glyph. We take the safest route possible and arrive without incident. After looking at the glyph for a while and asking various questions about it one of the fighters reaches forward and touches it. He disappears instantly, finding himself in a 10' x 20' room with no obvious exits. However, the room does have another glyph in it making the room essentially a secret safe room. He touches the glyph and is instantly transported back to the party. The entire group then use the glyph to gain access and search the room. There's a fair amount of rubble to look through, but the searching pays off when an old spell book is found. The wizard studies the book and identifies nine new spells that he can add to his own book. This is quite an impressive find, and the room itself may prove very useful as a place to recover in safety.

Building in confidence once more, the party head towards a new quadrant of the level and, after mapping a few corridors, we find several possible directions to explore but settle on a door with a small opening in it. Nearby, there is a sign saying 'Open Sore Tribe Keep Out!' There's an obvious light source in the room, so we decide to play a little knock and run with the occupants. The party cover the lantern and stand 20 feet back with crossbows at the ready. A stone thrown at the door has the desired effect, bringing out four orcs to investigate. One of the orcs drops instantly from a bolt to the chest and the other three run off down the corridor. We quickly check the room, but don't find anything of interest – clearly just a guard room. Aware that the survivors may have called for back-up, we throw a lit torch some 40 feet down the corridor to the corner they fled to. We shutter the lantern again and step back out into the corridor. Two orc archers step out from the corner and we give them a volley forcing them to retreat before they can return fire.

The orcs don't come back, but we anxiously keep a look-out, expecting an ambush from any direction. We slowly round the corner and the corridor opens out slightly. There is a door to the left and another in front. We try the door to the left and, upon opening it, find ourselves faced with what seems like the whole tribe of orcs – 19 of them in all. The fighter and dwarf take a couple of them out in the doorway and a bunch of the remainder fall to the ground courtesy of sleep spell. The orcs still outnumber us, so we retreat and they close the door as soon as we leave. Next, we make for our newly discovered safe room to rest and revise some spells. We've only taken a couple of minor hits, but we deem it wise to only tackle the 17+ remaining orcs if we are at full strength.

Some eight hours later, with full hit points and a couple of sleep spells ready to go, we carefully edge back towards the orcs. They are on full alert. As we approach the room of the last encounter we find seven of them in the wider section of the corridor. With little fuss all seven drop to the floor either dead or asleep. In the next round, 10 more orcs emerge from the room and charge us. The front runners manage a single attack before the second sleep spell takes them out. We're left with just four opponents and begin to hack them down. A single orc manages to escape into the room and we see him disappear through another door, which slams shut behind him. The sleeping orcs are quickly despatched and we search the bodies. From the rank and file corpses, we harvest a total of 140sp. Two of the bigger orcs each have gold necklaces, and an even bigger orc (their chief, we assume) has a platinum circlet.

Our attention now turns to the door through which the last orc made his escape. We approach it and have a listen. It's immediately clear to us that the room is home to the tribe's females and young. We're not butchers, and a negotiation ensues through the door. We essentially offer to spare them all if they open the door and allow us to search the room unhindered. They really don't have a choice and the door opens to reveal a single orc male and a dozen or so terrified females and young. The search quickly turns up a manky looking owlbear pelt and an iron chest. One of the females has a sapphire studded nose ring which she hands over pronto. We nominate the orc male to open the chest for us. Initially, he refuses. The points of three long swords pressing into his back quickly change his mind. He opens the chest and is promptly slain by the spitting cobra residing within. We get rid of the snake and orc corpse, drag the chest out of the room and bid the orc ladies, “good day”. It's a heavy chest, and on opening it, we can see why. It contains 2,000sp, 5,000gp and three gems. This amounts to a record haul for our party in a single visit to Stonehell.
Once safely back at home we hand in the most of the treasure to our community's elders, and walk away with almost 10,000xp (over 1,600 per character). All the first and second level characters level up, and, in the space of one short session, the party emerges even stronger than before the disastrous events of the previous session. Hackett, the community's elderly, and completely mad wizard is delighted with the owlbear pelt and takes to snuggling it and prancing around with it making hooting noises. It's rotting and worthless, he's welcome to it.

Make Your Own Miniatures with a 3D Printer

2011-01-12T16:07:00.001Z

I remember seeing a technology news piece a couple of years ago which demonstrated how a 3D printer could produce a complex object from a computer model. It was produced in a printer that could lay down hundreds of layers of hot plastic on top of each other. At the time the cost of such a device was tens of thousands of dollars, keeping it very much in the commercial sector for the use of car designers and the like. I was therefore somewhat surprised to open a newspaper yesterday and see such a machine. The MakerBot, is now available in kit form for just $1,200. I would estimate that the rate at which the technology is developing will see a $500 consumer friendly version of these printers by the end of 2012. The current model would do a good job of printing out 3D dungeons, and an improved version might even be able to turn out detailed miniatures. I'm sure that the consumer electronics giants will be taking a look at the market, but for the moment, one of the nice things about the Makerbot is that it's open source.

The Beginning of the End for Games Workshop?

2011-01-05T16:14:00.001Z

Games Workshop have today issued a profit warning on the back of declining sales for the 6 months to 28th November. In The Guardian an analyst revised his profit forecast from £17m for the year, down to £12m. This analyst maintains that there is still long term growth to be had from GW, but I'm not so sure. The city has responded by knocking 13% off the GW share price.

Personally, I think that unless GW can make substantial inroads into the computer and video game markets, they may be gone in as little as 5 years. GW have pretty much reduced their range to games that require and entice players to get into the hobby of collecting and painting toy soldiers. If they were just a manufacturer/distributor of their products, they might have been okay, as careful management would have allowed the business to expand and contract. However, having a large chain of retail shops that sell nothing but GW product leaves them vulnerable to even small shifts in the market. Other toy and games shops will have done exceptionally well this Christmas selling traditional board games, lego games and console/PC games, but GW has nothing to offer those customers.

Twenty five years ago, Games Workshop was a specialist games shop which offered a great range of RPGs and board games with miniatures and the then still very new Warhammer rules. I'm not bitter about the commercial direction they took and I certainly don't want to see the company fail and cost the UK hundreds more jobs. Nontheless, I can't help thinking: if the empire that is GW plc had evolved differently, or had been split into separate divisions, I might still have reason to go into my local GW store as a gaming customer.

Christmas Eve Celebrations

2010-12-24T21:36:00.002Z

Even though it's -5 degrees outside, our household is well on the way to enjoying a very merry Christmas. I'm not meeting up with my gaming pals until the 30th, so in the meantime, I thought I'd share a couple of OSR approved non-gaming reviews.

Although I'm not normally a beer drinker, at Christmas I usually make an exception. Here's a cross-section of winter warmers. I know the OSR is just small niche of a few thousand players, but clearly the beer marketeers are blissfully unaware of that. Look at these bottles - they scream old school.

I didn't think much of the Green Goblin cider; I'm guessing that it's probably a 'me too' product cashing in on the olde worlde goblin pictures to sell drinks to immature 40somethings (that would be me then). Doom Bar was my favourite, but I think it's more a drink to be enjoyed in a Cornish beer garden, a stone's throw from the brewery. Dark Lord is a dark ruby beer which, for me, was just a bit too malty and treacly. So that makes my top choice for Christmas beer, Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin Ruby Beer. It has a very pleasing taste pretty much slap in the middle of the other two beers.

What better way to accompany a warming flagon of beer than some traditional Christmas music. Our house normally awakes on Christmas morning to Mario Lanza's joyful tenor, belting out timeless Carols. For Christmas Eve, I've added a couple of albums to our server that offer new and varied takes on traditional English Carols.

First up is Annie Lennox: A Chistmas Cornucopia

Followed by Kate Rusby: Sweet Bells

Whatever you're playing, drinking or listening to this holiday, I hope you have a most Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Issue 5 Update

2010-12-20T11:47:00.000Z

I intended to publish Issue 5 of Oubliette just in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, the Unusually harsh early winter weather, an unexpected trip to London and several family members becoming quite ill with a nasty dose of flu, have all conspired to prevent me from completing the magazine with my usual gusto. Rather than present an inferior issue next week, I am going to delay realeasing it until the end of January. It will be worth the wait though as I'll have a nice surprise to announce with it.

Oubliette In Print!

2010-11-23T12:35:00.002Z

Printed editions of Oubliette are now available to buy from Lulu.com. All four issues are available individually for £2.99, or as a 140 page compilation for £7.99. You can get 15% off your Lulu order until 15th December using the promo code STOCKING305 .

Oubliette 1-4 Compilation at Lulu.com

Oubliette Issue 1 at Lulu.com

Oubliette Issue 2 at Lulu.com

Oubliette Issue 3 at Lulu.com

Oubliette Issue 4 at Lulu.com

If you are in the UK then I have a small number of copies of the compilation edition to sell directly at £9.50, including P&P. If you'd like one, send me an email and I'll send you a paypal request.

Halloween Tidy Up

2010-11-04T12:00:00.002Z

Every year we throw my daughter a Halloween party and set up the conservatory as a 'spooky cave' this year we did such a good job that none of the kids (aged 3-9) wanted to go in there. I think it might be down to the dozens of spiders hanging from webs we'd put up.

Inspired by this as we were putting everything away I bagged a few of them to go in my figure box.

Magic-User Spell Book & Spell Cards

2010-10-17T12:19:00.000+01:00

As mentioned in the current issue, here's some pictures of a mini Spell Book that I put together using the Spell Cards and a credit card wallet. I got the wallet from eBay, think it was this one.

Here's what it looks like inside:

Issue 4 On Sale Now!

2010-10-09T12:31:00.000+01:00

The fourth Issue of Oubliette is now available for download at www.rpgnow.com for just $2.00

80 jam-packed pages including: 34 Page Magazine, 13 Pages of Magic-User Spell Cards for Labyrinth Lord, and Character Sheets, Figures and Multi-Part Maps for this Issue's Adventure.

Full Contents:

Weapons Test - A Labyrinth Lord Adventure with Guns
Monster Club #6 - Zombies
Firearm Rules for Labyrinth Lord Part 3 - The Monsters Fight Back
Tales from Hell - Buckets of Legend
Monster Club #7 - Monster Scaling
A Hunting We Will Go - An Encounter for Labyrinth Lord
PC for PCs - Featuring G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
Purist to Puerile - The Orc
Seven Magical Mirrors
Reviews
Free PDF Round-Up
Mouse Watch - A Cartoon for Grown-Ups
The Song of Sithakk - Part 4 of our serialized story
Plus loads of Bonus Material including: Magic-user Spell Cards for Labyrinth Lord and Large Scale Maps and Character Sheets for the Adventure.

Issue 4 Contents

2010-09-30T10:24:00.002+01:00

Issue 4 of Oubliette is due for release next week.

Here's an advance look at the contents:

Weapons Test – A Labyrinth Lord Adventure with Guns
Monster Club #6 – Zombies
Firearm Rules for Labyrinth Lord Part 3 – The Monsters Fight Back
Tales from Hell – Buckets of Legend
Monster Club #7 – Monster Scaling
A Hunting We Will Go – An Encounter for Labyrinth Lord
PC for PCs – Featuring G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
Purist to Puerile – The Orc
Seven Magical Mirrors
Reviews
Free PDF Round-Up
Mouse Watch – A Cartoon for Grown-Ups
The Song of Sithakk – Part 4 of our serialized story
Plus loads of Bonus Material including: Magic-user Spell Cards for Labyrinth Lord and Large Scale Maps and Character Sheets for the Adventure.

Teatime at the Hill Giant Chief's

2010-09-22T17:06:00.006+01:00

Illustration for a new article in the forthcoming issue of Oubliette.

Mouse Guard

2010-09-21T13:28:00.005+01:00

At the outset, I just want to say how much I admire David Petersen's prolific and fastidious work. Mouse Guard, an epic tale of valour, selflessness and dedication as told through the adventures of a particular set of characters within a colony of intelligent mice, is a firm household favourite.

But what if. What if we were to pass Mouse Guard through a dark and perverted looking glass?

Welcome to Mouse Watch. Home to hedonistic, sociopaths, Hannibal and Nibs(don't EVER call him Nibbles). These horrid two, bully, mug and murder their way through life. They have no accountability and enjoy a rather suspect relationship based on psychopathic co-dependency. In Issue 4 they'll be Master-Chiefing bootcamp.

The horror. The horror.

Oublie-Art

2010-09-20T23:02:00.001+01:00

A quick welcome to Marg(Oubliette's in-house artist) whose blog posts are now appearing under the Oubliette banner.

Roland Depper MUST die

2010-09-20T13:20:00.001+01:00

Not content with giving me a migraine over his first Present Arms! article, where I had to look up so many guns, I took to eating the discarded, screwed-up balls of paper containing my first efforts. This time it's Monster Arms. Monster @#£$ing Arms. 'What?' you may all cry in unison,'Great fun! Flights of fantasy-right up your street!'. No. No. No. You don't understand. Depper describes these arms most eloquently. These are guns that actually should work, misfire, blow up. This means understanding how they work.

Now look here. I like kittens, puppies and pretty dresses (albeit the former two worn on Steve Buscemi's head as a hat, a la Con Air, and the latter on High Court Judges). Flintlocks, revolving barrels, pistons, air undergoing adiabatic heating to several hundred degrees-this is just out and out gender-biased cruelty.

Suffice to say: Any more extra-ordinary ventures of this sort from Mister Depper and I shall introduce him to the joys of my calligraphy pen in a most rude and unhealthy manner.

Or maybe, and actually, much more likely, I'll just occasionally rant and knuckle down to the joys of concentrated prep and creation.

Don't judge me.

Here's the line drawing of the Orc Pistol. The finished version is nestled safely in the layout of Issue 4 with it its brothers.

P.S. I'd only hurt you a little bit Roland.

Progression

2010-09-14T12:43:00.002+01:00

Zombies: Inking, Paint shopping,

Possibly finished?

I shall look at it over the next few days and be critical.

Stonehell Session 8 21st August 2010

2010-09-13T14:04:00.001+01:00

During the previous session, the party covered a surprising amount of ground in just a few hours play. Hungry for more, and after a short refreshment break, we headed straight back in. The mammoth haul from last time had also helped the rest of the party to escape the knife-edged existence that is first level. The line-up's now:

3^rd Level Cleric

2^nd Level Dwarf

2^nd Level Magic-user

2^nd Level Fighter

A party like this should have no problems tackling the remaining portions of Stonehell's first level. At least, that's what we thought. We decided that as this would be a fairly short session, to take us up to dinner-time, we'd revisit selected locations, rather than starting a whole new section of the dungeon. We first made our way back to the highly tempting, but dangerous looking sealed stone cover in an area where we've previously met and despatched lots of undead. We chickened out of opening it last time and, after yet more discussion and no little scheming, we lose our nerve and move on. Instead, we content ourselves with checking the surrounding area and find two groups of zombies. With a couple of 3^rd level clerics on hand, they are no threat and are turned easily, allowing us to help ourselves to some valuable looking gems and a scroll.

With seemingly nothing else to find in the undead quadrant of level one, we make for the portion of the dungeon that surrounds the stairs we use to enter Stonehell. We've spent several previous sessions exploring this area, and decide to take a fresh look at a glyph we found, and also give the Wheel of Fortune another spin.

The party gets to a room with a portcullis blocking the exit. The Wheel of Fortune is in a room on the other side of it. Unfortunately, we fail to lift it and decide to take a different route to bypass it. Big mistake! We head into a small group of caves that used to be home to some kobolds and their pet “Dragon”. Just as we are making our way through a cave with a well in it, we hear scrabbling sounds. Four giant crab spiders jump out of the well and attack.

Neither the party nor the spiders are surprised. The LL actually misses the rule that lets the spiders surprise opponents on a roll of 1-4 (I think we rolled a 3) but even though he spots this a minute later, he lets it go as we've fail to get initiative anyway. We use miniatures when we play, so the spiders go for the closest characters based on the positions of the figures. One goes for the Dwarf, another attacks the nearest fighter, and the two remaining spiders take a jump at the Cleric. All three characters are wearing plate armour, and this saves both the Dwarf and the Fighter. The Cleric, however, is AC3 rather than 2, due to his low dexterity. Two hits! Shock registers all round the table. He can take the damage but he's now got to make two saving throws or it's curtains. His save versus Poison is 10, so with a couple of rolls to make, that's just a 25% chance. A 5 and a 7. He's soon going to be an ex-Cleric.

The PCs take their turn, one of the spider gets hacked down, and the Magic-user sleeps the other three. The Cleric instantly starts to feel the effects of the venom, and the LL tells us he's only got a few turns at best. We have a desperate discussion about the options for saving him, including giving him a combo of five healing potions and all our cure light wounds spells. I can see the LL almost wants to go for it but ultimately, we all know he's dead according to the way we play the game. The party continues on to the wheel of fortune anyway – surely we deserve a break. The Dwarf gives it a spin and suffers a strange effect that leaves him feeling sluggish and slow. Then my dying Cleric spins. He gains an additional point of strength which takes him to 18. That would have made him a tank, had he lived to use it in combat. Last up, one of the Fighters spins, and just when we thought things were looking up, fate cuts us down to size. He loses a level, taking him all the way back to first level with zero experience points. We call it a day and head home. The LL is somewhat surprised that the dying Cleric didn't continue spinning the Wheel of Fortune to see what other outcomes there might be. He's got a point. I think we were still in shock at the imminent fatality and the loss of a level and by that stage just wanted out.

The treasure haul for such a short session is still impressive, with nearly 2,000gp in gems and coins. The scroll turns out to be cursed, but our leaders still seem happy to accept it.

Just before dinner I roll up a replacement character and settle on another Cleric. The dice aren't very kind and he's no match for his dead predecessor. In our game, we rule that replacement characters can join the party at the same level as the lowest level existing member. It suddenly dawns on me that, thanks to the level-drain the Fighter suffered, my new Cleric has to start at first level. Arghh!

The party will start the next session in a substantially weaker state. All except the Dwarf that is, he's the only original member of the party left, and has now made it to 3^rd level and an impressive 23 hit points.

The OSR in Numbers

2010-09-09T00:51:00.002+01:00

As a fairly new publisher to the OSR, I'm keen to gauge the size of the potential market to help plan print runs for future products. I've gathered together a small set of figures and thought these might prove useful to others. If anyone has any more figures to add please do so, provided that the publishers are happy for the information to be made public.

70 Sales required for a Hot Copper Pick badge at rpgnow.com
110 Oubliette PDF sales Issue 1
142 Underdark Gazette blog followers
150 Dark Dungeons print sales*
335 Majestic Wilderlands sales*
620 LOTFP Boxed Set print run
624 Grognardia blog followers
627 Oubliette AEC Character Sheet downloads
701 Goblinoid Games forum members
5000 Dark Dungeons free downloads*

*15th Sept figures for these added from here

As a fun comparison, here are some historic sales figures obtained from here all except for White Dwarf, which was taken from Wikipedia.

1,000 OD&D 1st print run
4,000 White Dwarf Issue 1 print run June 1977
5,000 Dragon Issue 4 print run December 1976
200,000 Sales for the most popular modules
1,000,000 D&D Boxed Set sales in 1989

Seminal Pencillings

2010-09-08T16:40:00.000+01:00

Okay, so it's been difficult to actually draw something that Peter, evil editor and slave driver to the artistic minion, hasn't liked. But after a decent amount of satirical begging I've been allowed to put on a spoiler. This one is going to be used in Issue 4. I've just finished the blocking and intend to ink it Friday. Basically, I like action. I like to show the moment when it all goes up the famous creek without a paddle. I also like money shots in terms of violence, menace and adventure. For those of you with a full vocabulary in porn terminology, steady. By money shot I mean a highly anticipated or satisfying end, but in a non-pornographic context.

Well that just sucks, Marg.