Non- Blair, Non- D&D Planet Algol Campaign...

Check out local Red Box maven Johnstone's Planet Algol hackof Apocalypse World.

Of course I'm always gratified when people find my pastiches useful,but what really has me jazzed is that I've read a draft of his rules and JOHNSTONE TOTALLY GETS ALGOL; the little mini-essays about the setting are completely spot on, only more eloquent than my mashings.

Semi-related, I'm completely exhausted with my work & school schedule (night classes after 8 hours of hard work, good grief!), and I've been an unconsciable turd in keeping up with my emails, blog comments and gaming.

I have a two or three week break halfways through June, which grants me the breathing space to hash out The Jewel Throne (!), actually game, play some Dwarf Fortress, do some bong rips, and see some bands (Martyrdod!! Knelt Rote!! Anhedronist!!); afterwards I'll be working 5 hour days for a school term in an attempt to get some balance back in my life. So hopefully things will be more regular in my RPG life shortly.

Anyways, all of you wonderful people take care, I'm gonna tear into a brutal nap!

"I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced."

EDIT: My apologies; I've been so immersed in school that I was unaware that Google was acting up AND forgot that I had Jeff's email address. I blame it on posting while half asleep while on my work commute.

Regardless, I'm insanely jealous that Chicago Wiz is on a texting basis with Jeff ;)

"Zak: Jeff's Gameblog, always. He's so good at being a human being. He reminds me of in Twin Peaks when Agent Cooper gets shot and he's lying there talking into his tape recorder "I wish I had been nicer to people"... Always trying to be better, that guy."

A Quick Mini-Review of Fight On! Compilation #s 1-4

Some of the adventures feature pages of giant-paragraph exposition at the beginning; take a cue from Mela/Gabor Lux folks, brevity is indeed the soul of wit.

The Empire of the Petal Throne adventures (the main offenders of the aforementioned quibble) are pretty dang rail-roady as well.

Horses Scream/Viking Dream...

Stonefaced dog, swirling fog, gates open on the dark dark night
Standing stone, skull and bone, dead witness to an unseen fight
Beat the drum, beat the drum, beat forever on the endless march
Stricken dumb, Cut and run, someone is screaming and the sky is dark

Sword and shield, bone and steel, rictus grin
Deaf forever to the battles din

March or croak, flame and smoke, burn forever in eternal pain
Charge and fall, bugle call, bone splinter in the driving rain
Horses scream, Viking dream, drowned heroes in a lake of blood
Armoured fist, severed wrist, broken spears in a sea of mud

Sword and shield, bone and steel, rictus grin
Deaf forever to the battles din

Deaf forever, Stone Deaf Forever

Mother earth, mother earth enfold you in her cold embrace
Sinking down, killing ground, worm crawling on your cold white face
Win or lose, nought to choose, all men are equal when their memory fades
No one knows, friends or foes, if Valhalla lies beyond the grave

Sword and shield, bone and steel, rictus grin
Deaf forever to the battles din

I'm Ridin' On The Thunder Chief...

Spit in the Devil's Eye
No Force on Earth Can Stop Me Now
I'd Like to See Them Try...


Trigonometry is surprisingly easy.

Dear PDF Publishers: Please DON'T Do This...

So when I download a freebie or purchase a D&D/OSR/RPG PDF, I generally take it to my friendly local small independant print shop where the absolute dear of an owner uses an Acrobat plug-in to output the PDF in booklet format (although lately I've been handling the mouse-clicks) which is than printed, folded, and stapled into assembled booklet form by the absolute behemoth of a printer in the back.

However, whenever I've tried that with a purchased or free watermarked PDF, the plug-in is denied permission to output in booklet format. Which kind of defeats the purpose of exporting the file into an easy to read, store and use format (with the amount of reality TV that The Warden watches on MY computer, referencing the file on the computer is not a practical option, nevermind that I HATE using a computer while DMing).

So yeah, watermarking PDFs, please don't waste my time with that jive...and I seriously doubt it is going to help you make a living with your hobby publishing venture. Considering that EDIT 95%+ of purchased PDFs I own don't have watermarks, it really makes you look like a worried dork.

My Watermark is integrity and dedication to supporting the publishers that produce material that I use, there's no way that I'm going to be part of cash-blocking any of the awesome dudes out there in OSR publishing land!

Boatmurdered!

I'm at a loss for words; just google Boatmurdered (and Bronzemurdered and Oilfurnaces) and read the 40-odd page epic.

Those diabolical elephants! This may be enough to reverse my official "disgusted by dwarfs" position...

Blair's Lifeblog

or "It's My Turn To Make One Of These Posts..."

In addition to a full time gig as a Lead Hand Mechanical Insulator in the construction industry, I'm currently engaged in "academic upgrading" involving 3 hours of classes Monday through to Thursday nights in preparation to pursuing a Physics degree; this is in addition to having a home life with Her Nibs, commencing band practices, and being an insomniac. Obviously this is a weak sauce burden in comparison to full-time studies or being a parent, but it is a huge adjustment from a leisurely lifestyle of reading Jack Vance novels; listening to records; bong rips; working on dungeon maps; playing video games; and the like, and come mid-week I've been coming up exhausted. While doing some exercises in preparation for Monday's exam, my math skills took a turn for the "Chris Farley-esque..."

I'm still doing the D&D & -ishes, DMing, playing, mapping, writing; and I'm just waiting on a couple of pieces of artwork before laying out The Jewel Throne. I'm also enthused to have lined up an "administrator figure" to handle the administration of handling the Doctors Without Borders donations.

Regarding Algol, the Babbling King is waiting, muttering...

And local Red Boxer and all-around awesome dude Johnstone is running an Algol hack of Apocalypse World; I'm stoked to see what ensues with that.

Anyways, posting will likely be sporadic for a bit; come mid-June some schedule changes will be implemented that will free up some of my time & energy. Right now, I get to sleep!

[PHASIC ORANGE ALERT!!1] Fight On! Issues 1-4 Compilation Available Again!

http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fanzine&action=display&thread=5755
&
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/fight-on-compiled-compilation-+4/15671664

Use coupon code MAYBOOK for a 20% discount.

Hopefully the issues 5-8 compilation becomes available again; I'm still hating myself for missing out on these compilations when they were available last year!

EDIT: Another AWESOME detail is that there's now a $4.99 shipping option for Canadians, which is preferable to paying $8 per book!

Whomever Invented the Riding Dog for 3rd Edition...

....obviously did not own a dog.

The Vornheim Hardcover is Too Pretty...

..as in, similar to certain records with especial packaging, I'm afraid to handle it with my biological meat-hands, feeling as if I should don nirtile gloves before leafing through the pages (It's a good thing I already have my print shop digest sized "beater copy" from the PDF). It looks especially stark w/o the cover-sheet, like a Man Is The Bastard Record. I dig how the map looks like my imagination pictures a medieval manuscript map.

I mean this in the best possible way, but it does not at all even vaguely look like a RPG book. It also smells "really book-ish", like a new encyclopedia or something; no other OSR product I own is even close as book smelling as it. I guess it's an effect of being printing by Finland's oldest bookbindery; authentic old-tyme book smell?

I dig the small, thin hardcover format, and it makes me thing of the unique intersection of durability and creativity that occurs with many childrens books. I'm even more looking forward to the new edition of Exquisite Corpses after handling Vornheim.

Leech-Things - Wretch-Thralls of the Babbling King

LEECH-THING
# APPEARING: 10-40
ARMOR CLASS: 7
MOVE: 60'
HIT DICE: 1
ATTACKS: Bite & blood drain 1-4
SPECIAL: Attach (see below)
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: M
MORALE: 12
TREASURE: Nil
Said to be the transformed bodies of those ensorcelled by the Hag-Concubines of the Babbling King, the Leech-things are man sized, liver-colored flatworms with the bald, earless head and face of an angry toothless man. When agitated they make a stuttering repetative "Buh... Buh... Buh... Buh..." sound while large bubbles of mucous emerge from their slack mouths.
While in combat Leech-things rear up and attempt to bite their victims, chewing into them with horny cartiliginous mouthparts; on a successful hit the Leech-thing will have attached itself to it's victim, automatically inflicting 1-4 points of damage on subsequent rounds and impairing their victim (who suffers a -2 penalty to armor class and attacks) until slain or torn off (which requires a free hand and a successful open doors roll, but will also inflict 1-2 points of damage upon the victim).
It is said that the servitors of the Babbling King use these wretches as a currency in their dealings with depraved sorcerers; extradimensional entities; and other factions of the Court of Change.