Ostensible Cat

Wahoo!!!! This Saturday it's game time. I finally managed to have the time, motivation, and opportunity to assemble a gaming group and play some OSRIC/AD&D this weekend! I'm testing out my adventure idea for Polstrus Lev City of Degenerates. I'm a bit nervous as its been years since I've gotten my game on. However, the good news is that none of my group is really experienced in gaming (other than a recent foray into trying out some 3.5) and extremely excited to try out Old School game play. I had them read Matt Finch's excellent Quick Primer to Old School Gaming to familiarize them with the old school gaming ethos. So Saturday it is. Here's an excerpt of my background for Polstrus Lev: Over six hundred years ago, the citizens of Dustchapel Downs established the colony of Polstrus Lev as a detention camp for the diseased, malformed, mentally infirm, and other such undesirables believing that they were the cursed of the gods and they thus sought t...

Joe Browning posted a blog article about a scholarly analysis that was done on the Advanced Adventures Line and how it relates to nostalgia.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to read the article since my at home Internet connection is not working.  However, I think it is incredibly cool that something I contributed to in a small way was part of such an academic undertaking.  Hopefully, I'll be able to read the paper soon and see what was said.  Ah well, at any rate, I've got several pictures I'm illustrating for the Advanced Adventures line still on my drawing board so the fun continues! 

I have to admit that I'm pretty excited about the news of several Old School publishers setting up a booth at GenCon this summer (see link in yesterday's post for more info). I'll admit to not being much of a convention goer and I've never been to any of the big conventions. At most, I tend to check out the local cons and play a game and browse the vendors. This year, I'm going to make a concerted effort to get to GenCon. It looks like I might just be able to pull it off too. Getting from Italy back to the Midwest and back can be pricey. It will work out well too since pretty much everything shuts down in August here in Italy since everyone goes on vacation. Never thought I'd be excited to fly from Italy to Indiana. Ironically enough I'm going to make a business trip to Indy the first week of February so I'll try and get the lay of the land and scope out possible hotels and the like. Any suggestions from experienced folks?

Looks like there will be some real Old School Gaming love at GENCON this year. Joe Browning of Expeditious Retreat Press will have a booth along with Brave Halfling, Goblinoid Games, Frog God Games, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I've never been to a GENCON but I'm thinking that this year might be the time to go. It'd be really fun to actually meet folks I've talked with on message boards, blogs and email. I think this is a great step for the OSR and am excited for all involved. Now, to check on air fare from Venice, Italy to Indianapolis and back...

If you’ve looked at my Appendix N, much of my influences are pre-medieval for the most part. I have a real fascination for post Roman pre-medieval era Europe. Otherwise known as the Dark Ages, there is some pretty interesting stuff going on here. I don’t know much about RuneQuest, but reading through the very first few pages of RuneQuest Second edition, they make it clear that Glorantha is a Bronze Age setting. My setting that I’m working on for my own Old School project will be very Dark Age/Bronze age (of course with the much loved anachronisms and such) world. I’d be interested in hearing good sources of Bronze Age Gaming material. I already have quite a bit of real world historical material so I want to see how things were handled by other fantasists out there. I know about Glorantha, but what would be the most valuable supplements. I’m only heard a little about the Slaine setting (I think there was some d20 material). Thoughts/suggestions?

Chicago Wiz asks in is blog where the next step in the OSR is. Where is the OSR Blackmoor or Tekumel? I think it's out there. I think there are several folks coming up with all kinds of stuff like Trey over at From the Sorcerer's Skull or John Stater over at The Land of NOD or Shane at Swords Against the Outer Dark or Al at Beyond the Black Gate . Heck, that's not even mentioning some of the more talked about alternative rule sets that are out there in the OSR like Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa or James Raggi's Lamentations of the Flame Princess. One thing that I've kind of noticed about folks in the OSR is that we tend to be clickish and hang on to our familiar little groups and not venture out too to check out new stuff. We may say that we want new stuff, but often it seems that if it diverges too far, then we get scared. I speak with some experience as I've been an active part of the OSR starting with OSRIC and the Knights and Knaves Alehouse gang...

I was looking through various message boards and it seems that there is a bit of flareup about the term Old School Renaissance and what that entails. Not that it is unusual for there to be flareups here on the Interwebs about gaming, play styles, editions, play balance, fantasy tropes, etc but it did get me thinking about my own gaming outlook. I've simplified the agrument (very much so - I'm sure I'm not capturing everything, but oh well) of the OSR debate into the Bob Seeger and Billy Joel camps. What I mean by that is, the Bob Seeger types want the Old Time Rock 'n Roll to the exclusion of everything. They don't really care for the retro-clones but tolerate them in as much as they allow new modules to be published. The Billy Joel Types are more accomodating and see the proliferance of new add ons, new takes, different directions as a good thing for the hobby. After all, it's still Rock 'n Roll to them. I tend to stay out of the edition wars or any ...

Work continues on the Project that Shall Not Be Named (actually, I can't be bothered to give the campaign world a name yet). I'm still working on the Basalt Keep Maps. I've tweaked them a bit from my last posting. As I've mentioned, mapping really is something that I've struggled with but I think I'm begining to come around. As for the map of the campaign world, I'm still working it but I need to decide on the scope that I wish to encompass. I'll get back to that at some point, I just want to go with the Basalt Keep and flesh that out. At any rate, I was lurking around the message boards as I am wont to do and was reading up on some projects that are very much of interest to me. Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea ( here's a link to the product and one for the thread at Dragonsfoot here ) by North Wind Adventures and Swords and Cthulhu: the World of Zultoom ( link ). These two projects are very similar in flavor to what m...

Here's this week's creature feature. This week is a creature that haunts the far north and stalks those foolish enough to venture into the northern wilds at night. Loosely based upon a Native American legend, this is the Amarok. As with my last creature feature, the Amarok is designated open content so feel free to use it as you wish (aside for the art which is not open content and is copyright John Bingham - me). Again stated out for use with LL, it should be a fairly simple matter for a DM to convert to suit the DM's needs. Name: Amarok (wolf) No. Enc: 1 Alignment: Chaotic Movement: 200’ (70’) Armor Class: 4 Hit Dice: 8 Attacks: 1 (bite) Damage: 1d12 Save: F4 Morale: 8 Hoard Class: None Description: An amarok is a monstrous wolf akin to normal and dire wolves. However, amaroks are much more cunning and malicious than even dire wolves (6’ at shoulder). Native to the coldest reaches of the northernmost tundra and woodlands; these beasts hunt ...

From time to time, I see people talking about collectors vs. players (especially in the old school gaming arena). Much of these discussions tend to look down on the collector and praise the player. I’m in a position right now where I guess I’d fall into the collector definition since 1) I have amassed a large amount of 1970’s/1980’s gaming material and 2) I’m not in an active gaming group (and haven’t been trying TOO hard to get one together). However, even though I have a nice sized collection, I don’t keep it hermetically sealed and under lock and key. I actively use this stuff to mine for ideas. OK, I don’t have a gaming group at the moment, but I have a son who at some point will become an experiment for some of my ideas. If it does occur (and I hope it does) that I have a regular gaming group that meets at least once a month, I’ll use the material on them. So, I’m a player (DM) forced by circumstance to become a collector. And my collection habits really are directed into purchasi...

What I'd like to try is to do a monster a week (LL stats w/art) as well as an encounter site a week and post them here. Everything but the art will be open content (meaning, feel free to use everything except my artwork). I'll state what isn't open conent. Now, having said that, I've got a few ideas for encounter sites that I'd like to work up. Happy gaming!

Ok, so here's how I spent my lunch, creating a new critter based upon a mythological reference. Alito was a grain goddess in ancient times (her name apparently means grain or is associated with grain in Greek). Over time, Alito became associated with disease and death (don't you just love it). At any rate, in true Old School spirit, I took a limited reference and created a new group of creatures based off of this reference (similar in spirit to Medusa, the Minotaur, Gorgons, etc). At any rate, this is stated out for use with Labyrinth Lord. I am also designating the Alitae open conent, so feel free to use it as you wish (but if you happen to publish it elsewhere, I'd be grateful for attributing it to me). Please note: the artwork is not open content is is copyright John Bingham (me) 2010. Name: Alitae No. Enc: 1 Alignment: Chaotic Movement: 60’ (20’), Special Armor Class: 6 Hit Dice: 3 Attacks: 1 Damage: by weapon, disease Save: M3 Morale: 6 Hoar...

Well, not really but to be honest, I've been reading, playing, talking about and dreaming about fantasy gaming for many a year. In that time, I've become a bit jaded with the standard fantasy tropes (say it ain't so). No, I'm not some disgruntled grognard or some young kid that prefers Dragonball to Dragonlords of Melnibone. No, I don't think it's the fantasy tropes in and of themselves; it is just the way that they are used that really gets me. Over the past four years or so (coinciding with my interest and involvement in the Old School Renaissance), I've become much more of a fan of humanocentric gaming (and I suspect that contributes to my growing appreciation of basic forms of Dungeons and Dragons over my life long love affair with the Advanced rule set. You see, I like my fantasy to be somewhat mysterious. The human experience of interfacing with the unknown and/or the fantastical. I can't make any authoritative comments, but it is my impress...