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.

Figure Box #1 Giant Cave/Rock Troll

I have a love/hate relationship with miniatures.  I love playing games with them, and I enjoy painting them, but the time I have available to paint them is very limited.

To combat this I've adopted a two pronged strategy.  Firstly, I look for clever ways to acheive reasonable painting results with minimal effort (using products like Army Painter's Quickshade for instance).  Secondly, if possible, I buy pre-painted miniatures on eBay.  However, whilst looking for figures on eBay, I often stumble across more than just piles of Warhammer regiments and WOTC D&D minis.  For a start, there's plenty of Old School lead miniatures from the 1980s.  Some of them are rare and expensive (Citadel AD&D, Grenadier Giants, etc.), but many are very reasonable.  With a bit more searching, you can also find miniatures that are not strictly intended for gaming but can still be used to great effect.

A good example is the Lord of the Rings Cave Troll from the Eaglemoss Collector's Range (in the UK they sold these in newsagents for £5.99, for a pre-painted, 60-70mm tall lead figure and magazine).  I think the Cave Troll must have been a special issue as he's 80mm tall.  Anyway, these things often pop up on eBay and many of them only reach a pound or two:

Completed eBay Auction 1
Completed eBay Auction 2

After reading Carter's Rock Troll in The Lands of Ara Compendium , I immediately thought of this figure.  Mine is shown below up against a small (soon to be even smaller) party of adventurers.  The second picture shows the troll in close-up with an Asgard Dwarf to demonstrate scale.

Game of Thrones Abridged Script

Really looking forward to season two of Game of Thrones. Here's a quick recap of the important bits of season one (originally published in Oubliette Issue 6):

King Robert Baratheon: I’m King of the Seven Kingdoms. I’m a fat bugger. I like to drink wine and f+&k girls (I tell the viewers that every episode I’m in an’ all). I used to be fit and gorgeous, but after I usurped the Iron Throne with the help of Ned Stark, I married the richest blonde bint in the kingdom, and being all salt o’t’earth and northern, frittered my youth away on alcohol, feasting and trying to get as many STDs as possible.

Sean Bean: I’m Major Eddard Sharpe of the 95th Rifles …

King Robert Baratheon: No yer not. Yer Lord Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Lord Paramount of the North, and Warden of the North. But as yer me best mate, ah calls you Ned.

Lord Eddard Stark: Oh ar. I’m northern as well, so I’m all gruff and loyal with lots of gravitas. Isn’t that right, yer Grace…Yer Grace?

King Robert Baratheon: Shurrup, I’ve made a mess of running my kingdoms and I need you to be the King’s Hand and rule in my stead so I can drink wine and f*&k girls.

Lord Eddard Stark: Weren’t the last Hand killed suspiciously?

King Robert Baratheon: Nononononono. It were totally unsuspicious. There’s no way my wife could be having an incestuous relationship with her brother and producing progeny that has nothing to do with my loins, despite the fact that they’re all blond and I only produce dark, swarthy kids because I have a dominant dark, swarthy gene. There’s no way she could have killed the last Hand – have you got some wine and some buxom girls for me?

Lord Eddard Stark: My wife’s not going to like me running off. Last time I did that I returned with a baby saying that it was mine – I suppose this’ll give me a chance to get rid of my bastard son John Snow on the wall that guards us all against the Scots.

King Robert Baratheon: Ned, Neddy, Nedling … we don’t use racist terms like Scots. They’re The Wildlings.

Queen Cersei Lannister: Robert, I’m just off up that tower over there where Ned’s son, Bran, goes climbing, to … um … do some … quilting.

King Robert Baratheon: Whatever, wife. Ned I wish I’d married your sister, whom I revere above all other women, but who died before I became King – where’s the wine and girls, man?

Jamie Lannister (Inflagrante with his sister Cersei, wife of King Robert): I killed the last King, and now I’m into killing kids to protect my incestuous secret. I use Timotei shampoo and conditioner to keep my hair this good.

Bran Stark (surprising Cersei and Jamie inflagrante): What are you and your sister doing?

Jamie Lannister: Ah – the things I do for love (tosses his golden hair and pushes Bran out of the tower window).

Tyrion Lannister: I may be a dwarf, but I’m going to act everyone off the screen every scene I’m in.

Jon Snow: I have a grudging respect for Tyrion – he may be short, but what a fine actor. Oh look, The Wall! I get to kill the Scots.

Daenerys Targaryen: My dad was the mentally-ill King who went all Nero on the Kingdoms. I’m a pawn of my vicious and depraved brother Viserys who’s married me to a big horse-riding savage lord called Khal Drogo who only has one sexual position.

Khal Drogo: Bend over.

Daenerys Targaryen: Dammit. I’ve just fallen in love with Drogo and some witch has turned him into a vegetable. I’ll have to pillow him and burn myself with him. Day-um, I don’t burn! And look – the dragons' eggs which we all thought were fossilised have hatched, and the dragons are now my babies. Right, now I have to get back the Iron Throne which is my birthright. Might take me a few seasons though.

King Robert Baratheon: I’ve just been gored by a boar. Wine! Girls! Ned? Neddy? Nedling?

Lord Eddard Stark: I’m here yer Grace. I’m going to depose your first born after yer dead because he’s not actually your son. He’s yer wife an' her brother’s son.

King Robert: (expires)

Cersei Lannister: Right Ned, you’ve given me a chance to escape with my kids but I’m going to imprison you so you have to accept my cruel, mentally-ill son Joffery’s reign.

King Joffery: Behead Lord Stark!

Sean Bean: Bum. Now I can’t ask for more money next season!

The Stark Kids: They've killed Dad! Let's declare war. I'm taking my dire wolf with me. It's been woefully under-used – if they've got a budget for CGI dragons, then surely they can afford a big dog in a bearskin rug.

George R. R. Martin: Bugger ... I’ll need to pull my finger out and finish those last two books, but all I want to do is drink wine and f**k girls.

Does Fantasy Sound Better with a British Accent?

The BBC have got an interesting article up today discussing the fact that many characters in fantasy film and TV productions talk with British accents. They cite The Lord of the Rings films and TV adaptation Game of Thrones as examples where most, if not all the voices are British. Indeed in Game of Thrones, Peter Dinklage is singled out as being the only US actor who, for the show, puts on a very convincing RP (Received Pronunciation) accent – very apt for a Lannister.

To my British ears, these shows would just sound wrong to me with US voices, and I say that as someone who generally prefers US TV shows to British ones. However, in using British accents all of these productions face another problem with the use of regional accents. In The Lord of the Rings the hobbits all have different accents, suggesting they are all from very different locales. In Game of Thrones the voices in Winterfell are all essentially from the North of England, but even amongst those there seems to be a mix of Yorkshire, Lancashire and a bit of Scottish. What's the US perspective on how they sound?