Shipslam #1: Hobbit Hole #24

Shipslam? What is a "Shipslam"?

Cover art by Jeff Freels

Well as many of you in the Tunnels & Trolls fraternity will know, one of the biggest problems that your average troll faces isn't a maddened Dwarf with a bright orange mohawk, it's a mad hobbit. James Shipman (hence Shipslam) to put a name to the shame.

Not content with pirating the work of hard-working creatives, he also pillages the web for anything he can find of a Trollish nature to fill the pages of his now widely defunct magazine, The Hobbit Hole. No self respecting Troll would ever buy it but, respect has never really been a consideration of the party in question, so he pointlessly persists. Personally, we think it's just because he likes seeing his name in print.

So what is a Shipslam already!?

Shipslam is a new feature that is going to show you just where he has lifted "his" new material from. He wants you to pay for it, we want you to have it for free, just as the original author had intended. We also want all of his Internet traffic too, but one thing at a time. ;0). So without further ado, here it is, his original advert for The Hobbit Hole #24, with hyper-links directing you to all the original content, gratis. Enjoy!

T&T NEWS -- (NOW IN STOCK) The Hobbit Hole #24 (T&T Magazine). This huge 120+ page, 8-by-11 sized magazine is packed full of T&T goodies we know you will love. How could you not? This is the only full-sized T&T paper magazine being published today! REGULAR FEATURES: Of Hairy Feet and Taters... Editorial. T&T ARTICLES: The Creating Wizard – By Ken St. Andre, Writing T&T GM Adventures, Magic Items and Enchantments, A Monkey Throwing Stones at Monsters, Novels that remind you of T&T, New T&T Character Types:Barbarian / Marksman / Huntmaster / Starwatcher / Storyteller &Minstrel, New T&T Spells To Rule Them All – By Ken St. Andre, Dragon Parts, I Live In Geekdom, Solo Gaming Record Sheet, The Trollish Tribune – By Ken St. Andre, Shippy's Interview, Writing Solo Adventures – By Ken St. Andre, Miscellaneous House Rules. SOLO / GAMING: Shipy's Cheap Ass Old School ASCII Solo, The Great Forest [A T&T GM Adventure], Zombie Apocalypse [A T&T Solo], Rock Monster Mayhem and Roll [GM/Solo]. FICTION: Reborn From Ashes [A T&T Short Story]. COMICS / OTHER: Trollwood, Sprite Chaos, Misunderstanding, Lonely Walk, Limericks, C&C Ash the Rogue, New T&T Character Sheets. This new brand new magazine is now selling for-- PRICE: $13.00

Alchemy's Workbench #10: Zombie-a-go-go

Speak Easy or Die Hard is a go!

After pitching the idea to a member of our little gaming group only yesterday, I already have two players signed up and, pitching characters. Characters which I have to say that I am very impressed with.

So far we have a Medical Examiner that is working as a Mob Doctor on the side to help settle their gambling debts to a local heavy hitter and, the fast talking construction worker who is running a speak easy to rake in the extra bucks. Not what I expected at all it has to be said. Far better in fact and, the choice in characters has really helped me gel elements of the story together.

All being well I'll set to work penning all the lose notes for the overall arc over the next few days and, I'll take it from there.

Alchemy's Workbench #9: Zombie Movie!

With so many incomplete projects sitting in a semi-permanent limbo state on the metaphorical workbench , the last thing I should probably be doing is throwing more fuel on the fire but, sometimes you dream up an idea that appeals to you so deeply, you just have to see where it's going to take you.. In this case a couple of ideas.

I'm really getting into Jerry Teleha's Campus Chaos adventure and, having at least a couple of zombie fans in my local gaming group, it's getting harder and harder to resist the idea of running a session of Stay Alive! myself. It's that good!

I do get the feeling that we'd be a lot more Shaun of the Dead than, Dawn of the Dead though, as even in our "serious" campaigns, humor tends to take over. Which is awesome! So I say, start as you mean to go on.

With that in mind, I have a couple of more absurd ideas in mind that I have spawned a few adventure seeds from:

Hold Out! A.K.A Zombies on a Boat: A generic corporation that may or not be related to a parasol has decided to smuggle their latest experiment overseas via civilian transport with disastrous consequences. Either that or it's a vile attempt to assassinate the head of the CDC who's holidaying on the cruise ship in question.. Whichever seems funnier at the time.

Speak Easy or Die Hard: Prohibition era America and, there's something in the bootleg moonshine. Grab your Tommy Gun and suit up, there's worse things than the "evils of alcohol" roaming the streets tonight.

Bloggish Hall Of Fame: Shout Out About A Shoot Out!

It's been a while since I admitted an entry into the bloggish hall of fame, the informal way I like to recognise fellow bloggers and say great job. It's not an easy job putting out quality content tirelessly, so I think a pat on the back for all the enjoyment they bring folks is the least they deserve.

As you've probably guessed from the graphic header, this kudos is going out to Jerry Teleha's Stay Alive! blog. A play-by-post survival horror that welcomes all those who want to drop in (and is going great guns).

Not only is this proving to be a great jaunt but, Jerry has also been kind enough to post up the rule modifications that he is using, that will allow you to run a session of your very own, providing that you have a copy of Tunnels and Trolls to hand (which are also free here and here).

Like what you see? Why not check out the The Delving Dwarf, Jerry's other blog that also hosts some early Stay Alive! content, including an in-depth look at how his zombie work. Essential for the GM looking to run a session of their own.

Calm Before The Storm

Image Property Of Monster-madness.com

There's no two ways about it. Blogging wise, the past couple of months have been pretty slow ones.

By and large this is down to real life commitments, but I am hoping that I can start to turn that around. Fast. In the next 72 hours in fact! The thing is that, just because I haven't been able to update here as often as I would have liked, the ideas have still been coming thick and fast. REALLY fast.

I now have a new abstract game on the workbench, along with an independent survival-horror roleplaying game, heavily spurred on by the sterling work that Jerry Teleha has been doing with Stay Alive! On top of that there have been the usual gaming musings, a solo conversion for the Munchkin card game that I think's pretty dapper, my old solo rules for ZOMBIES!!! that I have re-discovered in a pile of print-outs, new plunder for the cave, new thrift store finds. There is a LOT to blog about, and I finally have the time to sit down and do it all justice. :0).

So sit back and relax, there's a storm coming. ;0)

Alchemy Bytes #22: STAY ALIVE!

 

Ever wondered just how well you'd handle the zombie apocalypse? Well now you can find out!

The very talented Jerry Teleha is premiering his debut play-by-post solo adventure, Campus Chaos over at his new blog. Every post gives you the chance to vote on the course the story will take as you assume the role of Officer Mickey, a lone officer charged with the security at the local gaming convention.

Will you succeed in the gamers at the convention, whose knowledge of zombie B-Movies may be your only hope or, will it be case of every officer for themselves when hell literally breaks out in Toledo!?

As if frat boys weren't bad enough at the best of times! Check it out, cast your vote and, above all, STAY ALIVE!

Someone Already Did It!

Simpsons already did it!

I set my mind to "design mode" this morning, using Tunnels and Trolls as my framework and reached a somewhat startling realization that even with my fandom I had overlooked and, brought to mind some of the exploits of Professor Chaos.

It seemed that every idea that I came up with had already been done by someone, somewhere, some how.

Which ironically has still given me more than enough to write about! It's just not the post I was looking for. ;0).

So what have I found?

Pretty much that no matter what genre you want to set your game in, Tunnels and Trolls has you covered.

Now, that wasn't exactly news to me as I have always considered T&T to be a truly flexible gem but, keeping by and largely to high fantasy role playing I really hadn't given too much thought to just what else was out there on the market.

Each and everyone of these products is more than deserving of it's own post (which it will receive in the fullness of time) but, as a brief overview for those of you that want to jump ahead, here are some items that are well worth looking up.

Science Fiction: Peryton Publishing has really covered the genre well with their release of New Khazan, taking the familiar Tunnels and Trolls tropes to infinity and beyond!

Modern / Pulp: Mercenaries, Spies and, Private Eyes by Michael A. Stackpole, whilst not being true Tunnels and Trolls is so close to the original that adjusting to it's many nuances (all completely necessary I might add for the genre) should be light work for any budding gamer.

Horror: Currently being play tested but already looking amazing, Stay Alive by Jerry Teleha will no doubt become your one stop shop for Tunnels and Trolls Horror. Definitely one to keep a watchful eye on.

In the meantime however, it should be noted that there is an article within Mercenaries, Spies and, Private Eyes (called "Tunnels and Thompsons") for playing Call of Cthulhu style scenarios, which I believe was the original idea behind the re-write.

Supers: Ken St Andre has released a product in this field called Power Trip that has sadly fallen out of production as far as I can tell but, not to worry. The fine mind that is Dan Prentice has written up some great ideas for introducing supers into the existing Tunnels and Trolls rules here, at the Trollbridge.

There is probably, okay, almost certainly many more genres besides but in my opinion these are the biggies and, they're covered!

Someone already did it! ;0)