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.