Black Pudding 8 Print Edition Out Now!

The print edition of Black Pudding Issue 8 is now available to order from the Squarehex site using the following link:

https://www.squarehex.co.uk/collections/black-pudding/products/black-pudding-issue-8

You can also get a bundle of the first 8 issues at a special price:

https://www.squarehex.co.uk/collections/black-pudding/products/black-pudding-issues-1-8-bundle

Black Pudding Issue 7 Kickstarter is Live!

The Kickstarter for Black Pudding Issue 7 and The Black Pudding Adventure Journal is now live. I launched it with minimal fanfare on Sunday afternoon and in less than 24 hours it's already closing on raising £4,000!

Check out the project here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/black-pudding-issue-7-and-the-black-pudding-journal

Black Pudding 6 Print Edition Out Now!

The print edition of Black Pudding 6 is now available to order from the Squarehex site using the following link:

https://squarehex.myshopify.com/products/black-pudding-issue-6

Black Pudding 5 Print Edition Out Now!

Printed editions of Black Pudding 5 are now available to order from the Squarehex site using the following links:

https://squarehex.myshopify.com/products/black-pudding-issue-5

Black Pudding Issue 5

FOSSIL Booklets and new Mapping Pads

Hot on the heels of Black Pudding Issue 4, which landed last week. I now have the print copies of the FOSSIL B/X Character Generation booklets. They cost £1 each, or you can buy 3 for £2, or 10 for £5. This makes them cheap enough to buy in bulk and give one to each player to keep.

You may find them here:
https://squarehex.myshopify.com/search?q=fossil

Also new to the site are 3 new DL sized (210mm x 99mm) paper pads:

Double Grid Pad
https://squarehex.myshopify.com/collections/square-hex-pads/products/dl-double-grid-pad

Dot Grid Pad
https://squarehex.myshopify.com/collections/square-hex-pads/products/dl-dot-grid-pad

Tri List Pad
https://squarehex.myshopify.com/collections/square-hex-pads/products/dl-tri-list-pad

Black Pudding 4 Print Edition Out Now!

Printed editions of Black Pudding 4 are now available to order.

Black Pudding Issue 4

Copies may also be ordered from the Squarehex site using the following link:

https://squarehex.myshopify.com/products/black-pudding-issue-4

FOSSIL B/X Character Generation Booklet

FOSSIL (Fantasy Old School System Index Lite) is a bare bones OSR system that is roughly compatible with B/X rules and retroclones (the rules have parity with Labyrinth Lord). This first booklet covers character generation and advancement.

The booklet is just 12 small pages (landscape DL 210x105mm) yet includes everything needed to generate and equip a B/X character. It also includes advancement rules to tenth level, combat and damage tables, full descriptions for first level cleric and magic-user spells, and a blank character sheet.

There are two versions of the PDF. The first one gives clerics a spell at first level. Whereas the second one gives clerics their first spell at second level and follows strict B/X spell progression for clerics thereafter. Otherwise they are identical.

Professionally printed copies of this booklet will be available from Squarehex.co.uk in April 2018. I hope to include a sticker with each printed copy that will allow the alternate cleric spell advancement to added as an option. My aim with the printed edition is to make it very low cost so that a GM can give out a copy to each player at the table for minimum outlay.

Work on the second booklet with Game Mastering rules is underway. Following that there will be a Spells booklet and possibly a Monsters booklet. In addition there is also my B/X Monster Reference Index which is already available in print and PDF.

The PDF cost $1 from RPGNOW.com: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/237131/FOSSIL-B-X-Character-Generation

Black Pudding 3 Print Edition Out Now!

Printed editions of Black Pudding are now available to order.

Copies may also be ordered from the Squarehex site using the following link:

https://squarehex.myshopify.com/products/black-pudding-issue-3

Black Pudding 2 Print Edition Out Now!

Printed editions of Black Pudding Issue 2 are now available to order.

Copies may also be ordered from the Squarehex site using the following link:

http://squarehex.myshopify.com/products/black-pudding-issue-2

Black Pudding 1 Print Edition Out Now!

Printed editions of Black Pudding are now available to order from the Squarehex site using the following link:

Black Pudding Single Issue 1 £5.00

Dragondaze Show Offers

Dragondaze in Newport is this Saturday. The Squarehex stand will have lots of Reaper Bones Minis, Mapping Pads & Books, Cthulhu & Random Dungeon Posters, OSR RPGs, Savage Worlds RPG Books, and a selection of board and card games.

Here's a few selected offers on popular games and a few hard-to-find items. Everything is limited stock (most items 1 or 2 only):

• X-Wing Core Set £22
• X-Wing Millenium Falcon £20
• X-Wing Slave I £20
• Colt Express £24
• Pandemic £24
• Love Letter £7
• Coup £10
• Dungeon Roll £12
• LotFP Carcosa £30
• LotFP Red and Pleasant Land £28
• Dwimmermount Package £50
• Warpstone Issue #30 £9
• Creature Compendium £6.90
• Petty Gods Softcover £12
• Scarlet Heroes Hardcover £20
• DCC Chained Coffin Boxed Set £24
• Castle of the Mad Archmage Package £30
• Classified Spy Retroclone £10
• Fight On! 1-4 Compendium £13.90
• Fight On! 5-8 Compendium £13.90
• Labyrinth Lord Hardcover £20
• Labyrinth Lord AEC Hardcover £20

All items are first-come, first-served. See you at the show!

Squarehex January Sale

The Squarehex sale starts today and will run until Thursday 15th January. In it you will find savings on a selection of printed mapping pads along with a small range of games and books. Some of the items are limited stock so order early to avoid disappointment.

Squarehex January Sale Link

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.

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.

The Pre-strike Poison Percentage

I've been editing a short article for Oubliette #9 today.  It looks at the percentage chance of a character being killed by a venomous creature in the first round of an encounter, before the character has a chance to take any actions.  I call this the Pre-strike Poison Percentage.

For example, if a 6th level fighter (AC1) opens a door to find an angry pit viper waiting for him, there is an 11% chance that the snake will deliver a poison attack which will prove lethal to the fighter.  And that is before the fighter gets a chance to attack, close the door, run away, or take any other action.  If we make it a pair of vipers, then the likelihood of death for the fighter doubles.

This article for Oubliette is just a bit of fun really, but it serves as a good warning to all players: to take extra care if there's a chance of running into a fight with anything poisonous.  Even a 15th level fighter (AC -2) has a 0.5% chance of being killed the instant he encounters a solitary (1-4 hit point) giant bee.  In our own Stonehell this means that that as soon as my cleric gets to 7th level, his top priority is to pray for neutralize poison as his solitary 4th level spell.

Be careful out there and mind you don't get bitten.

FREE Character Sheet PDFs - 1st Ed and B/X

To help promote my Kickstarter project for pads of printed Character Sheets, I've decided to make the PDFs of both designs FREE to download from RPGNow.  Here's direct links to them and the Kickstarter project:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/110487/1st-Ed-Advanced-Character-Sheet
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/110488/A5-B-X-OSR-Character-Sheet
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/advanced-rpg-character-sheet-pad

1978 Advanced Character Sheet Redux

Finished!

This character sheet is a reworking of a D&D character sheet produced by Games Workshop in 1978.  I've remade it from scratch in Scribus and exported it to PDF.  It is a great sheet, but a few things struck me as strange whilst I was putting it together.  Firstly, there are no sections for recording Saving Throws or  Movement Rate.  Also Magic Attack Adjustment (Magic Att. Adj. on the sheet) is listed under both Wisdom and Constitution so I removed it from Constitution.  Finaly, there are spaces to record 15 languages and 15 weapon proficiencies, which seems to be overly generous on a sheet that is missing arguably more important sections.  These are not major issues though, as the Notes section can take care of any extra details.  I may take another look at the framework of this sheet in the future.  It would be interesting to see how it would look if it were reworked for Labyrinth Lord and/or the AEC.

Backers of the OSR Character Sheet Campaign will get a copy of this emailed to them at the weekend.  I will also include the PDF as one of the extras in Oubliette Issue 9.  However, as that is a long way off, if any Followers of this blog email me (oubliettemagazineATyahoo.co.uk), then I'll send them the PDF when I do the other emails this weekend.

Oubliette Issue 8 - OUT NOW!

Download your copy of Oubliette Issue 8 from RPGNow.com, FREE for a limited time only!

Oubliette 8 Link

Oubliette Issue 8 for FREE!

Issue 8 of Oubliette is one week away from publication.

Following the terrific response we had to the giveaways of Issues 5, 6 & 7, Oubliette Issue 8 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 Cartoon
• Editorial
• The Maslow Dungeon 
• Monster Club #14: The Death Gate
• The Lands of Ara - Special Feature
• Newland Campaign Setting Part III: Factions in the Forest
• Monster Club #15: Newland Bestiary Part II
• Forest Mini-Adventure: The Kobold & Goblin Resistance
• Forest Location: Moot Point
• Forest Mini-adventure: The Bloodbeard Bugbears
• Forest Mini-adventure: The Burnt Tree Clan
• Monster Club #16: Dungeon Random Encounter Tables: Levels 7-8 
• Goblin Quest Cartoon
• Fanzine Frenzy
• Found Familiar: The Cat 
• What's in the Oubliette? Reviews
• Mouse Watch Cartoon
• The Song of Sithakk Part 8

As soon as the Issue is released, I'll post the news here directly.  The printed edition of Issue 8 will follow the PDF release once I get a proof copy to check.  The Compilation of Issues 5-8 will take a little longer, as it requires some additional layout work over and above the single issues.

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.