All filler, no killer

Unfortunately gremlins have got into my laptop and killed it, so posts will be few while I get it sorted.

Meanwhile, why don't you check out Ken St. Andre's new Tunnels and Trolls solo adventure, Deep Delving?

My sincere condolences to Tom Vasel and family

I've just heard the terrible news at Troll in the Corner that Tom Vasel's son, Jack, has died.

Tom is the enthusiastic and charming face of The Dice Tower whose videos I have watched for years.

My thoughts go out to the family in this dark time. It's something that none of us want to ever have to comprehend.

The good folks over at Board Game Geek have set up a charity auction to held the family pay the medical bills. Please go and check out the great stuff that's up for sale and get bidding.

Have I been too hard on 4e?

Last Thursday my group finally got back to playing our D&D 4e campaign after a brief break due to the holidays. Since I had a lot of time to plan the sessions, I've been writing as in-depth an adventure as possible, even going so far as to emulate the format that published adventures are written in. But I came across a realisation. The structure of 4e adventures are actually really good. Information is presented in an easy-to-digest way most of the time, making it easy to find what you're looking for.

I've begun writing adventures as if they were published modules, even though all the adventures are interlinked. I've started doing a set of three encounters for each 'module', which can vary from skill challenge to combat encounter.

Anyway, I ran the first game of 2011 last week and it went really well. The gripes I had previously were still there, but barely. It pleased me to no end that my players explored the city they travelled to, interacting with NPCs and taking care in what they said and did (harsh legal system). There must have been an hour of pure roleplaying in that game before any combat took place.

Combat is something I've been playing around with too. Previously I talked about how these tactical encounters became hour long wargames where ultimately the PCs would triumph. However, I'm now, like I'm sure many people do, mixing things up in encounters. For instance, the encounter the session ended with saw the players fighting three Cycops and a Winterclaw Owlbear on a moonlit moor. This in itself could have been boring with no effort, but I think combat really shines when you start to add new elements to it. For example, I made it low-light, since the moon was the only light source, which meant the players had to use different tactics that they're used to. I added the usual difficult terrain and cover, but I also created a bunch of squares scattered around that were full of marsh midges. Anyone attacking in a marsh midges square suffered a -2 penalty to attack due to them being distracted by millions of tiny insects flying around them. It was simple, but effective.

So yes, I think I have been a bit too hard on 4e. I still think that it has its flaws, but I think its down to the DM and players to make the game work. There is clearly scope for as much roleplay as ever before, even if it's handled differently. Combat is clearly the focal point of the show, so why not embrace that? Encounters should be exciting and different each time.

Cthulhu Mythic: session one

As I said last week, I've begun a solitaire Call of Cthulhu adventure because I'm a sad, sad loner. I'm using the fabulous Mythic GM engine that does most of the work of the GM, along with the Call of Cthulhu 5th edition ruleset.

My first session lasted around an hour I reckon and it's actually turning out quite nicely. However, I am finding that an investigative game is a bit fiddly to play, since the aim is to unveil stuff as you go on, but since I'm playing on my own it's difficult not to know what's going to happen and who the big bad is.

In a nutshell, here's what happened in my first game. My character, Harold Greengrove, a physics professor in the Miskatonic University (where else?) grew concerned that his assistant, Robert Tapert, had not returned to work in three days and won't answer his calls. Harold went to see Robert at his apartment and found the man a nervous, pale wreck. Apparently he had witnessed a cult of some sort summoning a creature as he was walking through the park. Harold decided to investigate but the park was swarming with police, who were there because of a seemingly unrelated incident, but they weren't forthcoming about it. Harold decided he would come back later that night. Robert appeared at Harold's door that night, appearing to have mostly got over the fright he had and asked if he could help Harold, if only to settle his mind. They set out into the park at midnight but found nothing except a burnt out fire.
The day after Harold went to the University library to check the newspaper records of anything suspicious going on in the park. He only found a story about the police in the park, but there was no other information. After asking around students and staff to see if they saw anything in the park, an art student called Emily Harris had witnessed the same thing and had drew a picture of it. Harold noticed the cultists' robes had symbols on them, so he spent the day researching to find out what they meat. He found that it was the symbol of Yig, a snake-like god that is said to communicate with snakes, sending them after anyone who he sees as a threat to his cause.

To be continued...

My top 10 RPGs of all time

Clearly I'm running low on inspiration, but I wanted to do a post and dammit I'm going to. I've been playing roleplaying games for the best part of 10 years, but much more regularly in the last year. I've definitely not played anywhere near as many as a lot of you guys have, and I'm looking to remedy that. However, I just wanted to post my top 10 RPGs to show you what my tastes are and perhaps you could give me some reccomendations.


10.Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition

9. Icons

8. Tales from the Wood

7. Risus

6. 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars

5. Dungeons and Dragons 4e Gamma World

4. Swords and Wizardry

3. Barbarians of Lemuria

2. Call of Cthulhu

1. Tunnels and Trolls 5th edition

Now, I have to qualify these and say that this is from both a player and GM perspective. I adore GMing Call of Cthulhu, but to be honest I haven't played it much as a character.

Minis for Song of Blades and Heroes

I'm awaiting a package today. Check out these babies that I ordered for Song of Blades and Heroes from 15mm.co.uk.



This is a Dwarf Skirmish Pack that gives you 20 Dwarves in all different poses for a mere £6.00. Seriously, that's a bargain. I think I'll also start using these 15mm minis in my RPGs, but I'll have to see how they look on the battlemat first.



I also bought a pack of 10 Human Characters, all in different poses. I figure this lot should give me enough to get a good game going. These were only £3.50.

I've also got my eye on some more minis to boost my warband.



You can't go wrong with a couple of ogres in your army. These guys are from the Hordes of Things range, as is this awesome Wyvern:



Yeah, I'm going to have a lot of painting to do.