Exciting Times in the OSR

I always look forward to new developments in the OSR, but I think we are really heading for a great year with some of the projects already here.

For a start we've got zines - lots of them - and more on the way.  Even if some of them only last a few issues, they are a great testament to the health of our corner of the hobby.  My go-to resource for anything to do with zines is the page Matthew Schmeer maintains on his blog Rended Press.

We've also got some great crowd-funding projects.  I'm in on the following ones at the moment (if I had more funds I'd go for lots more of them).

Random-dungeon-generator-as-a-dungeon-map
Dwimmermount
Appendix-n-adventure-toolkits-dcc-rpg-modules
Barrowmaze
OSR Character Sheet Pad

Funding is finished on the first 2 campaigns in the list, and in the interests of full disclosure, that last one is my own campaign.

Games Workshop vs 3D Printing

Games Workshop are having a bit of a Space Sulk.  They've got stuck into a guy because he sculpted some figures which were similar in 'style' to their own ranges, and then put them up as a digital files for fellow 3D printer owners to download and er ... print.  Further details can be found on Wired.com.

I've talked about 3D printers before, and although the technology still isn't quite ready for the consumer market, there is even less doubt that it is going to happen in the next 2-3 years.  It might have been a lot early than that, but it now seems likely that consumer models will ship with an intergrated scanner unit which will be able to photocopy objects.  Basically, you will be able to put a Space Marine (sorry "Future Soldier") into the machine, press copy and print out a few hundred of them.

You can see why Games Workshop are worried, but it's ludicrous going after a fan who has uploaded a similar, but original design in the 'style' of one of their figures.  The reality is, as soon as their customers get access to a 3D photocopier which can produce half-decent, cheap copies of their models, the Comany's current business model is finished.  They might mitigate the damage by getting into the market themselves, where they could at least sell digital copies of their models.

From my point of view, I don't want to print out loads of Games Workshop figures, or rip-off recent figures from Reaper, Otherworld, et al.   However, I do have plenty of old out of production Asgard, Ral Partha and Grenadier minis which I would just love to able to make copies of.

Issue 8 Update

I'm busily working through layout of the next Issue, which should take me about another 7-10 days.  I've still got a couple of reviews to write and Marg has got some art to finish.  Once all that's done, we'll just have a couple of rounds of proofing to do.

Upshot of all that is the magazine should be out mid-June.  I'll put up a table of contents exactly one week before it's released.  I'm also working on the printed edition of Issue 8 and a printed Compilation of Issues 5-8 which will be out a week or so after the PDF.

Indiegogo OSR Character Sheet Pad

I've just launched a new campaign on Indiegogo.com for printed A5-sized pads of OSR Character Sheets.  Full details can be found here:

OSR Character Sheet Campaign on Indiegogo.com

The sheets are designed for use with B/X rulesets of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game, and retroclones versions such as Labyrinth Lord.

This is a small project to test the water, but if it succeeds, I have several other, larger projects in mind for the future.  A PDF of the character sheet is already on the site, so please help yourselves to a download (in the Gallery section of the project page) if you like the look of it.

If you want more detailed character sheets, the set I designed in 2010 for use with Labyrinth Lord's Advanced Edition Companion rules are also still available as free downloads on RPGNow.com.

UK Games Expo 2012 Report

Had a great day on Saturday at the Expo in Birmingham.  Seemed busier than last year, but the numbers seemed to thin out by mid-afternoon, thanks to the mini heatwave the UK is currently enjoying.  The stands and format seemed to be pretty much the same as last year.  It's a great show to visit if you are a boardgame fan with money in your pocket.

I had it in mind to pick up a copy of Stars Without Number.  Unfortunately, they had sold out by the time I got to the Mongoose stand.  There was also no sign of Dungeon Crawl Classics, but it may be a little too hot off the press for the UK distribution copies to have hit.  However, I was happy to come away with a Slayer's guide for one pound, to add to my collection from the ever popular bring-and-buy stand, and a bargain figure storage case from Chessex (of which I really should have bought two or three).

The highlight of the show for me, was a game of Living Munchkin, which is a semi-LARP version of the card game and was great fun.  We also sat in on Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson's TopTen Games seminar where they each listed their top 10 games.  They both opted to put D&D in the number 1 slot, and had on display a very rare original boxed set signed by both Gygax and Arneson.

Here's a list of the other games from their lists.  They are not in order and I'm missing about five of them as my recorder ran out (if anyone was there and can add to the list please do so):

•Ticket to Ride
•Puerto Rico
•Acquire
•Can't Stop
•Small World
•The Great Dalmuti
•Lost Cities
•1829
•Balloon Cup
•Diplomacy
•The Warlord
•Caylus
•Civilization???

Ian Livingstone also announced a new Zombie-themed Fighting Fantasy book, which will be released in August this year to mark the 30th Anniversary of the series.

Overall, a great day was had by all.  It will be interesting to see how the show does next year in its new, bigger venue.

Titanoboa Stats

It's always bugged me that, whilst D&D presents us with many giant-sized animals and insects, the snakes mostly seem to be just regular-sized snakes that exist today.  Last night, I caught the UK screening of the Smithsonian Channel's Titanoboa documentary, and decided to scribble down some of the giant snake's characteristics and create some stats for it.

Titanoboa for Labyrinth Lord (all open content)

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  60' (20')
        Swim:  120' (40')
Armour Class:  5
Hit Dice:  10-12 
Attacks:  2 (bite, constrict)
Damage: 2d6/4d8
Save:  F8
Morale:  8
Hoard Class:  None (see below)
XP:  1700/2000

Titanoboas are immense constrictor snakes, measuring 40-50 feet in length, with bodies 2-3 feet in diameter at the widest point (or more if they have just eaten).  They live in warm, tropical climates and spend most of their time in the water.  On land, their movement is slow, due to their colossal weight (2,500lbs).

In combat, a titanoboa will first use its bite attack and attempt to lock on to prey with its powerful jaws.  If successful, it will then throw its coils around the creature and begin to constrict it.  Once the prey has been crushed to death, the titanoboa will swallow it whole and digest it.  A large meal for a titanoboa would be a 15-foot long, half-ton crocodile, which would take the snake up to a year to fully digest.

A titanoboa, will not have treasure of its own, but there is a chance of finding undigested valuables in the snake's stomach.

One Page Dungeon Entry

Over the weekend, I took one of the adventures that will be in Oubliette Issue 8 and adapted it to fit on a single A4 page.  Considering the full version will be about 5-6 pages in the magazine I think I did quite well to manage it.  One thing that struck me when I did the layout, was that reducing the font size down to 7 or 8 points, instantly gives the text a more Old School feel.  I guess it's mostly nostalgia for all the hours I spent wrecking my eyes reading the DMG as a kid.

I wouldn't suggest trying to read the text of my entry from this image but if you pop along to the One Page Dungeon Contest site, it should be available as a PDF download when the site gets its next update.