RIP Jack Vance

Like many of you, I've been playing D&D since 1980 (in other words A LONG TIME).  The term "Vancian Magic" is thrown around a lot and it wasn't until I read "Tales from the Dying Earth" that I knew what it meant.

In my younger years, I was a big reader of Moorcock and Leiber.  I read "The Hobbit" but I struggled with LOTR.  I read Robert Asprin, Larry Niven and Ray Bradbury.

I didn't read Vance until much, much later.

I'm so glad that I did.

I believe that I read somewhere that the word "libram" is a Vancian invention.  He does have a way with words and phrases.  His spell names are fantastic!

Ioun stones are his.  Prismatic Spray is his.  What else in our favorite game has it's origin in his stories?

If you haven't read "The Dragon Masters" you really should.

One tidbit that I learned only recently was that "Ellery Queen" was, in fact, Jack Vance.

My Dad loved Ellery Queen.  I love Jack Vance.  I guess that's one more thing that I had in common with my old man.  :)

Monster Book Word Cloud and Update

I've been working diligently to finish the Massive Monograph of Malignant Malefactors during my June vacation.  Whew.  No way that's gonna happen.  :(

This is a project that has (dare I say) a terrible case of mission creep.

What began as a reformat with the addition of morale and treasure type, has now blossomed into a massive tome that I hope will become the be-all, end-all of monster books... and it will be FREE!

I'm adding --

• Some Gygaxian Naturalism where the muse strikes me
• Two new stats that will modify combat and monster behavior
• BB -- Badly Beaten
• MD -- Mostly Dead
• My "Hits" system with supporting rules
• Adventure hooks for some monsters (once again, the muse...)
• A "random d6" system for modifying some individual monsters at the encounter and/or adventure planning level (muse, muse)
• Some sample lairs built from genuine Risus Monkey (!) gemorphs
• Treasure Tables from Mithril and Mages (!)
• Revised Encounter Tables
• Tons and tons of new* monsters
• Art!  (PS: if you are an artist and would like to donate some art to this effort, please leave a comment and an email address.  You will retain all copyright to your art.  It will be included in the print and PDF versions of this book (print will be available at cost and PDF for free)

* new is defined as new-new or new to the book (culled from other OGL sources and newly included).

In short, there's gonna be a lot of good stuff in this book when I finally get it done.  Seriously.  

While you are waiting, here's a word cloud generated using Tagxedo that you might enjoy.  It is based on the original text from the 0e Monster Book by Matt Finch and company.

click to embiggen

More exciting news and sample pages to come!

History and Overview of Dungeons and Dragons

I stumbled across this link at a site called "Jonny Nexus" while I was Googling for something else.  :)

It's a PDF of the "History and Overview of Dungeons and Dragons."  It seems to be well written, it has a lot of footnotes and it's 186 pages long.

Download it here

Time Marches On... Or Does It?

Here's wishing a happy and productive 2011 to everyone!

Rather than just post my wishes for the new year, I thought I'd post a little bit of historical trivia that amused me.  As a preview -- it's interesting how the past can interact and impact the future in strange and unexpected ways!

My sister sells books as a side-job.  She combs garage sales, book sales, library sales, etc. looking for just the right books to sell online and make a buck or two per book.  From time to time, she finds books that she thinks will be of interest to me for a few pennies, so she buys them.  They stack up in her garage and eventually they make their way to my house.

One such book, Strange Universe by Bob Berman (2003), has proven to be a goldmine of interesting, accessible scientific facts.  The one I'm presenting below made me laugh out loud.  I hope you enjoy it!

"(T)he (Space) shuttle's booster rockets were designed to fit on railroad cars so that they could be transported from their manufacturer in Utah.  The rockets' width was therefore constrained by America's railroad gauge of four feet, eight and a half inches.  This odd measurement arose simply because it exactly duplicated the British rail gauge, which originated with English streetcars - employed because existing roads had ruts that far apart, made by horse-drawn carriages.  The roads had all been constructed with that axle-width so that the carriage wheels would fit within the ruts, which in turn traced their origins to the Romans, who built the first English roads.  Purportedly, the Romans had standardized this breadth for their chariots because the rumps of two horses could fit into it without their hooves kicking the wheels.  The point is that even our high-tech rocket designs are dictated by such ancient measurements, revolving around such basics as horse derrieres.

What did I do now???

In the past couple of days, I've lost four (4) followers!

What happened?

Happy New Year to the 75 of you that are still around!  I appreciate you and am glad you enjoy reading the strange things that come out of my head...

PS: I just dug a bunch of minis out of storage and I've started painting an old Citadel troll.  I'm not a great mini painter, but I try really hard.  :)  I'll let you all have a peek when its done.  I plan on it being a special monster in my CotMA game, so I'll share his exploits with you as well (and his stats!)

PPS: Here's another book I've added to my OSR resource collection thanks to Al over at Beyond the Black Gate!  It's awesome!  Thanks Al!  Go get your own copy if you haven't already!

A Couple of OSR Additions to My Collection

I've printed and bound (into little paperback books) two great resources from out there in the blogosphere.

Hill Cantons Compendium has some alternate character generation rules and some class options.

Pars Fortuna - Basic is a new "retro clone" with a charm all its own.

Check them out and make your own books.  You won't regret it.

Maze of Peril - NOT a 4e Adventure!

I've just begun reading the "Maze of Peril" by John Eric Holmes and I plan on posting a full review once I'm done.  For now, I thought I'd post a few little tidbits from the first chapter as a way of setting the tone.

This is a seriously "Old School" adventure so far.  Here are some bits --

(I suppose some minor spoilers follow; I will be revealing some plot elements from the book)

• The adventurers meet in a tavern.
• They are hired by a wizard.
• They are heading down into "the fabled Underworld" -- obviously a mega-megadungeon.
• One character has a helm "with a long Norman nosepiece" and another curses "Mother of Mithra" -- the setting is a mish-mash of sources. 

"What race or races had built the original maze no one knew.  It seemed, in the opinion of the sages and magicians of the time, that there must have been many layers of dungeons and underworlds laid down, one atop the other, as the world crust was formed, so that now no one knew, ore even guessed, how many levels it extended below the surface."

• There's a halfling, an elf, a dwarf and a wizard in the party.
• The enter the underworld through a "secret door".
• They bring a pack mule down into the dungeon.
• Once the party gets together, the elf says, "I'll buy the next round.  Now, let us talk business."

Wanna guess what they talk about?  Here's a hint -- it's not healing surges or marks or anything like that...

 "The halfling and the dwarf launched into a discussion of magical detection schemes, march distances, horse power, mercenary men-at-arms, supply dumps, and rations."

I'm really liking it so far.  It's not as polished as some, but so far it has a charm all its own.

The Maze of Peril

Christmas came early for me today and I'm giddy with anticipation!

Look!

I just received my very own copy of John Eric Holmes' "Maze of Peril"

Back on July 5, James M over at GROGNARDIA mentioned that you can still order copies from Space and Time books.

Well, I clicked on the email at the bottom of the page and "natalia" suggested that I contact Gordon Linzner.  He said that he still had copies of the book and that I could send him a check.  Here's what he said in an email to me:

I've got a couple hundred left. $6.95 each, but the $2 postal charge applies to the whole order. Order 5 or more and there's no postage handling charge.

I'd verify that the offer still stands with him (glinzner@hotmail.com) before I send my check, but I was thrilled with the price and the service.

I sent my check last week and I found it in my mailbox today!  Just in time for some Thanksgiving reading!

Get your copy/copies while the supply lasts!  This is a classic that's a must have!

Look what I found in my attic...

I recently moved into a new house.  This has its advantages and disadvantages.

Posted below are some pics of the "advantages".  I probably put these books in the attic about 15 years ago... Wow...

Lucky Number 13

Thanks to all thirteen of you who purchased a paperback or electronic copy of my book. I enjoyed writing it and I hope you all enjoy reading and using it. I hope that you find some interesting, random ideas on the pages therein.

Well, look what arrived today...

It's a copy of my "Wilderness Alphabet Book"!

It's a hard copy, cuz it's my first book ever!  It will be available as a perfect bound (thin) paperback at Lulu soon!  I need to give it another serious look over before I'm satisfied.

Here are some pics!  Hope you like it!

The cover on the paperback will be REDish (in honor of the Moldvay Basic Book)

Sorry it's blurry -- I haven't eaten dinner yet and I'm taking the picture with my phone one-handed.  ;)

Ugh!  I'd re-post but it's MEGADUNGEON nite and I've got to get ready!

Wilderness Alphabet Book: Status Update

Lulu just sent me an email today, letting me know that my bound and printed (dead tree) copy of my "Wilderness Alphabet" book is ON ITS WAY!

I'm extremely excited about this.  It has always been a dream to write a book (of some kind) and that day is nearly here!

Once I've proofed it and am happy with the book, I'll be making it available at Lulu for any and all who are interested.  I'm planning on dead tree and PDF versions -- but I want to make sure that the PDF is printer friendly AND appropriately bookmarked, so the printed version will probably be delivered first.  I think the book can be a great reference for DMs who are running a sandbox campaign.  It's just chock full of ideas and random tables.

As an aside, just so everyone knows, I reached out to Michael Curtis (of the excellent Dungeon Alphabet) and asked him if he had plans to expand the franchise.  He said no and encouraged me to give my ideas a shot.  Thanks Michael!

Here's a pic of the Table of Contents so you'll have a sense of what's inside the covers.

Special thanks to a couple of proofreaders (and readers of my blog) Norman Harman and Dave Bargman for their assistance!

Wilderness Alphabet Book: Status Update

Well, I've been working like an obsessed crazy person, but it's done!

At least it's done enough to upload to Lulu and plunk down some cash for a proof copy.

I'm really happy with the results.  It's 57 pages and they have tons of random tables on them and lots of adventure hooks, ideas and red herrings.

I think that there's enough meat in this book that you could probably use it to pump up a sandbox campaign and that's kinda what I was hoping for.

When I get my copy, I'll post some pics and blog about my reactions.  Should take about two weeks.

I plan to make it available as a dead-tree book AND as a pdf once I'm completely satisfied with the proofing and layout.

I'll keep everyone in the loop.  For now, here's a look at the cover.  Hope you like it!