I'm a man with exceedingly good character...

...sheets.

Here's my latest creation.

A business card-sized B/X character sheet card. They measure just 85x55mm, yet still have room for the essential character details. I originally designed these as an extra item for an Oubliette PDF, but always intended to get some printed up. They have been professionally printed on sturdy matt card. You can buy them (£1.90 for a pack of 50) from my webstore: http://squarehex.myshopify.com/collections/role-playing-games/products/b-x-mini-character-sheets

As an added bonus all orders placed by 31st December can enjoy a 10% discount by adding the code: kick5 at the checkout.

You'll also find the rest of my character sheet pads on there.

A4 Numbered Hex Pad Kickstarter is Live

I've just launched a new Kickstarter project to fund a print run of A4 sized, numbered hex paper pads. The sheets will be litho printed with light grey (cool grey 5) 14mm tall hexes in a landscape format (giving 23 x 14 hexes per sheet). The pads will each have 25 sheets glued along one edge and be attached to a backing card. Here's a link to the project page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/a4-numbered-hex-pad

A4 Landscape Hex Sheet

Kickstarter #6 Imminent

The Pad of Hexagonal Content Kickstarter is done and backers have just started receiving their rewards.  Here's a photo of the finished pads.

For my next Kickstarter I will be printing some A4 hex pads with numbered, larger (14mm high) hexes.  The campaign has been approved by Kickstarter and is almost ready to launch.  The one thing I'm still undecided on is whether to print the pads portrait or landscape.  The default format I've created is portrait which gives 15 hexes across by 20 down.  If I switch to landscape they would be 22 hexes across by 15 down.  Has anybody got any thoughts or preferences?

10% Discount at Squarehex.co.uk

As there were no add-on options in my most recent Kickstarter campaign, I've created a discount
code which gives 10% off everything on my site. www.squarehex.co.uk The code is kick5 and is good for multiple uses until 31st December.  Please feel free to share the code as I'll also be posting it selected forums in the next few days anyway.

I'll be posting out the rewards from the Hex Pad Kickstarter next week. One of the fun little extras that was a Stretch Goal in the campaign is the Symbol Card shown below.  If you missed the Kickstarter the pads will be added to the site as soon as the last backer reward from the Kickstarter has been posted.

Kickstarter Window for Latecomers

Our Kickstarter finished on Sunday at a healthy 536% of the original goal. As Kickstarter takes 2 weeks to transfer the campaign funds, I'm happy to accept latecomers until Monday 18th November. If you'd like to join up simply message me via Kickstarter, or send me an email (oubliettemagazine AT yahoo.co.uk).

Last Day of the Hex Pad Kickstarter

The Pad of Hexagonal Content Kickstarter is entering its final hours and finishes at 9pm GMT tonight. We've had a strong influx of backers of the last few days and have two open Stretch Goals still to get. I've also added another batch of the highly popular Box of Trick Rewards.

Box of Tricks

Little Hexes PDF Out Now!

I've now released my Little Hexes PDF as a Pay What You Want download on RPGNow.com.  There's just 3 days left of the Pad of Hexagonal Content Kickstarter and I'm hoping the PDF will give a nice boost.

Here's a link to the PDF: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/121264/Little-Hexes

New Bag of Tricks #2 Added to Kickstarter

All 10 of the Bag of Tricks #1 rewards were snapped up in the first 24 hours of my Kickstarter. I've now sourced some more Bags (pencil cases) and am proud to announce the Bag of Tricks #2 reward. It casts the same as the first one and includes the following:

• Fabric zipped cream coloured
• 8 A7 hex pads 
• Lined A7 notepad
• 6 fineliner pens (1 black and 5 assorted colours)
• Folding ruler with fixed angle positions (random colour provided)
• 2 Papermate mechanical pencils
• 2 regular pencils
• d6 pencil sharpener (random colour provided)  
• 3d6 erasers (random colours provided)
• Plus any stretch goal items as they are reached

More Little Hexes

Following on from yesterday's post that featured some sample hexes I've now completed 8 more. Together with the first 6 these create a nice little cluster with plenty of locations for potential adventures.

I've written some rough notes for each hex and I'll now set about editing them. I'll also redraw the combined map on a single sheet so I can scan it. I hope to finish it this week so I can use it to promote my hex pad Kickstarter in it's final week.

14 Hex Cluster

Little Hexes

I've been busy drawing hexes using mocked-up sheets from the hex pads I'm Kickstarting. I've taken inspiration from the approach used by Christian Walker's Loviatar zine. The campaign setting starts with a single hex which then expands into new hexes depending on the route the party takes.

Starting Hex

I plan to draw about 10 connected hexes and then produce digital versions of them. I'll then write a paragraph or two about each hex and put the finished PDF up on RPGNow.

Hexes 1-6 and Hex Pad

Hex Pad Kickstarter is up

Our Pad of Hexagonal Content Kickstarter is now up and running:

Link to Kickstarter page

Over the next couple of days I shall add full details of the rewards at the higher pledge levels and get some marketing underway.

Hex Pad Kickstarter Preview

My next Kickstarter has now been approved, and I hope to launch it in the next day or two. In the meantime, here's a link to the preview page. I still need to add the video which needs editing. Other than that it's all good to go. As soon as the project is live I'll post a link here and send updates to backers of my previous Kickstarters.

Reaper II

I've had my Reaper Bones from the first Kickstarter for just over 2 weeks and now I find myself salivating at the thought of buying hundreds more of them and waiting a year or so to get them.  I actually think the models being offered are better than many of the last lot.  I'm sure they'll set Kickstarter records and can easily see it passing the $10,000,000 mark. If you haven't already taken a look check out the Kickstarter here.

Derby World Wargames Show Report

We had a good weekend at the Derby World Wargames show.  There was a lot of interest in the Reaper Bones miniatures (we only got our stock of these a week before the show) and we sold out of most of the dragons and other large monster figures we had.  We also sold a decent amount of hex and grid pads.  Some of the other traders said that attendance (and sales) were down on the previous year as the date of the show was pulled forward a week.  I didn't get much of a chance to look at the rest of the show but that's just as well as I could easily have spent most of our taking on miniatures and scenery.

Our Stand

Decent sized show with 70 trade stands

One of the many impressive display games

A project for my next show a display case with battery powered LED lighting

Derby World Wargames Show

I've booked a small stand at the Derby World Wargames show. It takes place at the Castle Donington Exhibition Centre on Saturday/Sunday 28th/29th September. As the title suggests it's a show for wargamers rather than RPGs. However, as the stand wasn't expensive, and it's only a 20 minutes drive away, I figured I'd give it a go. It looks like a fairly large event. I'll be taking all my own publications and pads, and whatever else I can find that will fit in the car. My biggest worry is being tempted by what other traders are pedaling and coming back with more stuff than I take to sell. Details of the show may be found at:

www.worldwargames.co.uk

I was very pleased with our takings at the 2013 UK Games Expo earlier this year. I plan to be there again in 2014. I've also penciled in a stand at Con-Quest which is another Derby show. If sales continue to grow I'll look at shows further from home.

Campaign Workbook PDF and POD Released

I've just released a Print-on-Demand version of the Campaign Workbook on Lulu.com. It costs the same as ordering direct from me at Squarehex.co.uk but if you are not in the UK you may find the postage cheaper if you order from Lulu.

The sheets from the Campaign Workbook (plus a couple of extra variations of them) are also available as a 'pay what you want' PDF download from RPGNow.com.

New Campaign Workbook Released

The Campaign Workbook is a 44-page A4 sized book of blank map sheets. Designed for planning and writing a campaign with hex maps for wilderness areas and grid maps for dungeons and structures. The workbook has a sheet of numbered hexes at the front and the back. The main content (10 sets) features double-page mini adventure pages with map sheet on one side and 3 columns for text notes on the other. The centre of the book contains 5 pull-out 4-page sections each ideal for larger adventures.

The cover of the workbook when folded flat features a 16"x11" grid.  It is gloss laminated allowing it to be used as a battlemat with suitable non-permanent marker pens (always test your pen on a small area to check it erases). Available now from www.squarehex.co.uk priced at £3.50.

Kickstarter #5 - Pad of Hexagonal Content

I've had a great time with my Kickstarter projects this year.  With four projects under my belt, the experience I've gained has been invaluable.  I have a long list of ideas for future projects, and would like to get at least a couple more done by the end of the year.

For me Kickstarter has allowed me to undertake 4 bespoke, niche, printing projects.  The success of these has also given me the confidence to invest my own capital in 3 further print runs, 2 trade stands, and a year's rental of a storage unit.  Aside from Kickstarter, I sell via my own webstore (www.squarehex.co.uk) and also on ebay (User ID: squarehexgames).  All this activity combined is turning into a nice little micro business.

Kickstarter #5 is a sequel to the PoGI (Pad of Geomorphic Intent).  It will be an A7 Hex pad (7mm hexes) which I'll be marketing as the Pad of Hexagonal Content.  I've still got some work to do on the stretch goals for the project but I hope to have it ready to launch in the next couple of weeks.  I've also been busy replenishing my stationery stocks so they'll be some great add-on/stretch goal items.  They'll also be a new and improved larger Box of Tricks reward on offer.  The photos below shows a mock-ups of the pads, along with the existing PoGI pad and A5 Hex pad, and some of the goodies I'll be including.

OSR Character Sheets Now Available

The pads of OSR character sheets from last month's Kickstarter campaign came in last week and the backers are already receiving their allocations.  If you missed out on the Kickstarter but would like to get hold of a pad they can now be ordered from my Squarehex webstore:

http://squarehex.myshopify.com/collections/role-playing-games/products/osr-b-x-character-sheet-pad

For UK customers I'm also now running flat-rate £2.90 shipping for all orders.

Last 2 Days of the OSR Character Sheet Kickstarter

The OSR Character Sheet Pad Kickstarter finishes on Sunday, so there's less than 48 hours to get in on it. I'm really pleased with how it's gone so far, but it would be nice to see it break the £200 mark.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/osr-character-sheet-pad

Savage Worlds Character Sheet Pads now on Sale

The Savage Worlds Character Sheet pads are now on general sale (the Kickstarter parcels were all sent a coupe of weeks ago).  A single pad costs £1.90 and a pack of 4 pads costs £5.90.  Packs of 50 Mini-Character Sheet cards are also available at £1.90.  All these items are officially licensed products and may be bought at my webstore: www.squarehex.co.uk

Single Pad Link

4 Pack Link

Cards Link

Savage Worlds 1 Minute Skirmish

A couple of weeks ago, myself and a couple of friends tried a Savage Worlds skirmish game. The two players had a 15-20 troops and a couple of Wild Cards. I had humans and the other player had dwarves. The humans had 5 cavalry and the dwarves had a wizard and a few scouts (which moved almost as quickly on foot as the horses!).

The background story involved a castle and small village being taken over by a large group of goblins and some ogres.  The enemy leader was a witch with the power to raise the dead.

We played about 7-8 rounds and almost took care of all the goblins, including their wolf-riders who showed up just as the last ogre was slain.  We didn't manage to get the witch and her undead forces as they were in the castle. We've had group fights before using Savage Worlds but this was the biggest fight yet.  I'd like to try the same sort of set-up using Song of Blades and Heroes to see how it compares.

Here's a few photos of the game as it progressed.

Kickstarter Update: Savage Worlds and OSR Character Sheets

Over the last couple of days I've been busy posting out Savage Worlds Character Sheet Pads out to backers.  Now that I've sent the last of them it's time for a new Kickstarter.  I've decided to revisit my previous OSR character sheet project and put up the A5 B/X sheet that featured in it.  Last year I tried to fund printing the sheets on Indiegogo, but the goal was too high and it didn't make it.  However, I did release a PDF of the sheet alongside my Advanced Character Sheet that I successfully Kickstarted a few months ago.

This time the project is being given a helpful little push as the printer that I use has offered a discount on any July orders.  This, combined with a little bit of subsidy from my last 3 projects means, I'm pretty certain that these sheets will now make it in to print even if there are only a dozen or so backers.  Of course if it gets a few more than that I'll be very happy indeed.

The project page may be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/osr-character-sheet-pad

Maelstrom RPG Kickstarter

There are several Kickstarters big and small that I regret not backing over the last couple of years. Until my friend mentioned it last week Maelstrom might well have been another one for the list.

However, now I'm in at the £30 level for a hardback rulebook and loads of extras from the stretch goals. Even if you never envisage playing the game, some of the extras and add-ons look like they would work well with other systems.

Here's a link to the Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2036759092/maelstrom-domesday-rpg


And here's some of the blurb:

The Maelstrom RPG was first published in 1984 and remains a classic to this day.  Fast and innovative mechanics, evocative characters, flexible magic and the preeminent RPG herbal made this a game ahead of its time.

Now it is time to bring this classic game to a new generation of gamers with a brand new edition.   Arion Games are taking the core Maelstrom game and reworking it with:

     Lifepath Character Creation

     Revised and updated Game rules

     Expanded rules for magic, The Maelstrom and the supernatural

     A comprehensive guide to life in 1086

     A complete regional setting

Free RPG Day in the UK

There isn't a retailer close enough to where I live to be my regular FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store).  However, as it's Free RPG day I took a drive down to to Escape Games in Coventry.  Their store is somewhat hidden above a Health Food store which you have to walk through to get access.  That almost certainly means they get zero passing trade.  However, because they put down some money to take part in Free RPG Day I now know about them and how to find them.

If I lived locally I'd be very happy to spend long hours in there every other Saturday running games.  I'd be delighted if a similar shop opened in Leicester (if one exists please let me know), but given the difficulties that all retailers in the UK face I can't see it happening unless a local gamer has a very big lottery win.

Of the Free RPG goodies I got the LotFP, DCC and Swords and Wizardry adventures.  They all look great, but I think LotFP wins the day for giving away a book that probably has more content in it than all the other Free RPG day products put together.

Last 24 Hours of the Savage Worlds Kickstarter

There's just 24 hours to go for my Savage Worlds Character Sheet Kickstarter.  I'm really pleased with how it's gone, especially as we've reached the Stretch Goal that unlocked the Mini-Character Sheets.

SW Mini-Character Sheet Test Prints

I got a welcome surprise today when my test print box of Mini-Character Sheet Cards turned up. I was hoping to get them by the weekend, but I only ordered them last Thursday so they were very quick. 

The main reason for doing a test print run of these is to check that everything fits on the card. The design really pushes the available "safe" print area on the card. Thankfully, nothing was cropped, so I'm happy to place an order for how ever many thousands of them the project needs. As I type theres just under 5 days left and we're only £30 off the Stretch Goal that unlocks the cards.

The card in the photo below features my current character who is part of a contemporary campaign (Warriors of Northwest Leicestershire 1978/2008) set in a post apocalyptic version of my gaming group's local area.