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.

$195 For A FREE Game? What The Hell!

Quite often I will take a flick through Board Game Geek and the web in general to see what's happening on the Print and Play front. There are a lot of great games out there for literally nothing more than your time and effort.. And obviously a little toner and card stock.

That's not always the case though as this shocker has shown me!

Dungeon Plungin' came up on my Print and Play radar a long time ago as a freebie, so imagine my shock when I found someone retailing it for $195! Make that $235 if you want to go "Deluxe".. And for deluxe, read some components mounted on chipboard. Hardly deluxe in my book. Other than that you're looking at shelling out all that money on card stock, but no matter which way you look at it, this mark up is a disgrace!

I mean, given the current value of the USD ($195 is roughly worth £121.69) let me put that into context for you. For less I could buy any one of the following dungeon crawls (with frankly vastly superior production values):

Dungeonquest (£49.95)

Descent 2nd Edition (£63.00)

Super Dungeon Explore (£74.99)

Hell, I could even find a copy of Warhammer Quest for that kind of money! Warhammer Quest of course not being freely available right here. Now tell me what part of this game being sold at such a ridiculously high price doesn't scream of all kinds of wrong!?

Alchemy Bytes #32: WINNING!

Following on from previous posting on the excellent Castle Panic, I decided to have a look over the Fireside Games website to see what else they might have to wet my gaming whistle.

Then I found this. A free print-and-play game of Sheenisms! WINNING!! A free game that I just had to share.

Although I do notice that Fireside Games have made yet another typographical screw-up (which is becoming something of a theme), labeling the web page as "Fireside Games - Bloodsuckers Card Game". Another one of their fine products, but nothing to do with Charlie Sheen.. I hope.

Still, typo's or no typo's, the products are still great, and that's the main thing. :0).

Alchemy Bytes #21: Warrior Dice

This awesome little game is one that I have been wanting to post for a while but, through a combination of a lack of time to look for it and, not being 100% sure what it was called, it's taken a while but, I'm sure you'll think it's worth it.

So, for your gaming pleasure, I present you with Warrior Dice from the wonderful folks over at Warpspawn Games.

Not just an awesome freebie but, one that is easily customized and, I love customization! Why not take a look over the system and design a champion of your very own.

Surely I am not the only one thinking Jedi with all this talk of force points. ;0).

Awesomesauce: It's Awesome!

Want an RPG that you can play straight out of the book? Now wouldn't it be great if that same RPG was a freebie? Wouldn't that be awesome?

Well it sounds like that what you need is Awesomesauce, yours for the low, low price of $0 (or your preferred currency of choice) and available at RPGNOW.

Awesomesauce is what I like to term "an anything RPG" much like Risus, as it's truly generic, unlike many mainstream generic role playing products that make the claim but only deliver if you buy a handful of supplements. Awesomesauce is the real deal and, as I say, it's free!

So being an awesome game, from a couple of awesome guys, at an awesome price, I can't recommend this download more highly.

Also check out the awesome Troll Hammer Press here and, the equally awesome Dice Monkey here.

Awesome! ;0).

Alchemy Bytes #18: Dungeon Words

With all my recent talk of random dungeon generation, it seems like a great time to share this great little freebie that I dug up a month or so ago.

Finding it was purely a matter of chance (as your finding it here may well be too) and, I am yet to have the opportunity to use it but from the outset it looks great and I really look forward to breaking it out.. I mentioned that this great product was free too right?

Of course anything anyway associated with Risus: The Anything RPG, the author, Tim Ballew has not limited himself to the confines of a cramped dungeonscape. Why not take the show on the road WilderWords or, into the Weird West with WestWords?

If you have a few minutes to spare, why not check the Risus Monkey out here.

The Solo Dungeon: An Odd Specimin

What on earth is that adventurer doing!?

I found this little obscurity whilst doing some research into early gamebooks, which has now been made freely available by the author, Richard A. Bartle, here.

But why call it odd? Why call it an obscurity?

Well at the date of publication (1978) the only solitaire adventures I am aware of being out there (and I could be wrong) where designed to be run with the Tunnels and Trolls rule set, yet in the introduction the author states that this adventure was written for use with "the most widely used, Fantasy, Character Role-playing rules which most of you will be using". By which I assume he means Dungeons and Dragons.

So it's certainly odd and obscure in the sense that it would appear to be a one of it's kind at the time of publication with another Dungeons and Dragons solo not to follow it for another 5 years but, I also find it odd that it doesn't simply just mention the system by name.

Personally, I smell a licensing issue. He does sight the adventure as using "D&D Type Rules" at the bottom of the page here that links to the Online version now but, it does seem odd that he didn't say as much back in the day.

So, there you have it at any rate, a freely available solitaire adventure for old-school Dungeons and Dragons for your downloading pleasure.

It's Competition Time Again!

It's that time again and, the good folks over at Tenkar's Tavern have quite the haul up for grabs.

• Crawl! Fanzine (Printed copy).
• The Manor Fanzine (Printed copy).
• DCC #67: Sailors of the Starless Sea (Printed Copy).
• The Forgotten Fortress (PDF).

You can learn more about the competition as well as entering it yourself here. I have! In fact, I've submitted several entries because every time I found myself posting one up, another one just seemed to jump in, in it's place.

So why not give it a shot yourself? It's free to enter after all!

More Light Strategy: Numerix

After my recent post on Super 3 by MB Games I felt the urge to break out and post up another great light strategy I picked up at the UK Games Expo a couple of years back, Numerix by Tied to a Kite (who are coincidently a great bunch of guys).

No need to write up the rules for this one though as they are freely available from the designers website, along with a printable board.

Definitely worth checking out. It's free at any rate, so what have you got to lose?

Alchemy Bytes #16: Judge Dredd

With the recent release of Dredd 3D it seems like a perfect time to share this great little find with you all.

Whilst it is far from being officially licensed, it is a cracking fan effort that for print and play gamers and, carries a disclaimer much to that effect.

If you like what you see, why not check out some of the other excellent games over at Warp Spawn Games? It's all pretty good stuff!

How Do You Roll?

Something that I have been mulling over of late is the myriad of ways that you can knock up some character attributes. In particular, I have been thinking about attributes and Tunnels and Trolls.

Here you have a system who's creator has said much to effect that you really can't have a character that's too powerful! So, what I'm wandering is just how far can you push dice rolling (without actually cheating) to achieve favorable results? How many different ways are there?

3D6 TARO

This is the given standard for Tunnels and Trolls, roll 3D6, triples add and roll over (TARO).

Using this method most of your characters will fall within the average of 11 in each attribute, giving them no distinct advantages beyond those granted by their kindred but, leaving an open ended ceiling that makes it possible but unlikely to roll up exceptional starting characters.

All-in-all though, no great whoop.

4D6, Drop the lowest

An older method from other old-school roleplaying games which offers a slight advantage over 3D6 TARO. True, you're throwing away the opportunity to create an exceptional character but you do improve the odds of creating a better than average character by the virtue of rolling more dice and getting rid of the worst one.

XD6 TARO, Drop a dice

Using four dice as above but giving you an even bigger edge as you can now also TARO, which again opens up the possibility of generating something amazing.

Unlike the above method however, you may not want to drop the lowest dice (if the lowest dice forms a triple for example). A similar method using 5D6 is used to generate characters in Beneath the Arena by W. Scott Grant (featured in the freely available zine, TrollsZine #5) which is probably the upper threshold of this method before it begins to produce ridiculous results.. 6D6, 7D6 or more though are of course possible, it's your game after all and it's up to you.

AD6, TARO chaos!

Last but not least is a crazy little concoction of my own which almost certainly guarantees a handful of TARO's, maybe a TARO in every attribute!

For this method, take ALL of the dice that will be used during character generation, including those to be rolled for your gold and roll them all at once.. Nothing says Tunnels and Trolls like rolling a bucket of dice does it?

Now pick out all of the trebles and assign them to the attributes of your choice, being sure to roll them over when you do. This should produce some pretty awesome attributes, even for humans!

Lastly pick out all of your remaining dice, group them into threes and assign them normally.

In summary

So there we have it, four different methods of rolling and four very different probable outcomes but interestingly only two variables, the number of dice rolled and whether to TARO or not.

That's not really the end of the discussion though as gamers are both a creative and intuitive bunch and, as long as they have time to think there will always be new stuff hitting the tabletop.

There is also the possibility of point buy systems similar to the one I devised here for Fighting Fantasy which I plan to follow up on in another post at a later date.

Well, That Didn't Take Long Did It?

Less than day after the creative folks over at Hobb Sized Adventures have posted up there new short solo adventure, The Challenge of the King, the less than creative (and frankly sub-human) James Shipman has usurped it.

Not that this will be much in the way of news to anyone who knows anything about the shady shenanigans that he considers ethical business practices.

Say no to the crook, visit Hobb Sized Adventures and enjoy the original.

Alchemy Bytes #15: Headless Hollow

One of the biggest problems with being a modern day gamer is the sheer volume of games that are available and, subsequently the sheer volume of games that most of us end up owning.

How is that a problem?

Well, with so many games on your shelf, how can you be expected to remember the rules to every last one of them? You can't really. Especially with how complex some modern releases are (not that old Avalon Hill was anything like simple!)

So when you want to break out that game that you've not played for a few months one of the first things that you have to do is sit down and have a flick through that rule book.

Which has to be in all honesty one of my pet peaves.

There is a solution at hand however. I had seen it suggested before that the thing to do was to create quick cheat sheets to include with your game that would remind you of all the key rules and, get you up and running straight out of the box. In fact a lot of newer games do include similar reference sheets that do just that. So it was an idea well received by many of the major publishers.

But what about your older games or, the newer ones that haven't followed this pattern? Do you really have to sit there and type up your own reference sheets?

Not if you can find it over at the Headless Hollow you don't. Whilst they may not have every game ever printed covered, they do have a fine range of cheat sheets and rules summaries for you to download, currently supporting (and listed here as there was no way in hell that they'd all fit into the limited space given for labels by Blogger):

#0-9

7 Wonders

A

Advanced Space Crusade, The Adventurers, Age of Conan: The Strategy Boardgame, Agricola, Android, Arcana, Archeology: The Card Game, Arena Maximus, Arkham Horror, AT 43, Ave Caesar.

B

Babel, Battle Ball, Battlecars, Battle for Armageddon, Battl Khaos, Battlelore, Battle Masters, Battleship Galaxies, Battles of Westros, Battlestar Galactica, Beowulf: The Movie Boardgame, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Black Beard, Blood Bowl, Blood Bowl: Team Manager, Blue Moon, Blue Moon City, Britannia, Broadsides and Boarding Parties, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

C

City of Thieves, Call of Cthulhu: The Collectible Card Game, Call of the Cthulhu: The Card Game, Camelot, Catan: The Card Game, Cave Troll, Chaos in the Old World, Chaos Marauders, Citadels, Civilization: The Board Game, Claustrophobia, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects, Cold War: CIA vs KGB, Colossal Arena, Colloseum, Commands and Colors: Ancients, Condottiere, Conquest of Nerath, Conquest of Planet Earth, Conquest of the Empire, Cosmic Encounter, Curse of the Mummys Tomb, Cutthroat Caverns, Cyclades.

D

Dark World, Descent: Journeys in the Dark 1st Edition, Descent: Road to Legend, Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition, Doom: The Board Game, Doom of the Eldar, Dracula, Drakon, Dreadfleet, Dream Blade, Duel in the Dark, Dungeons and Dragons: The Fantasy Adventure Boardgame, Dungeons and Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Boardgame, Dungeonquest, Dungeon Twister, Dust Tactics.

E

Earth Reborn, Endeavor, The End of the Triumvirate, Warhammer: Epic 40,000, Escape from Atlantis, Escape from Colditz.

F

Fire and Axe, Formula D, Fortune and Glory, The Fury of Dracula.

G

Galactic Emperor, The Game of Thrones: The Board Game, The Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Gears of War, Ghost Stories, Gloom, Guillotine.

H

Hammer of the Scots, Hannibal, Hellas, HeroQuest, Heroes Incorporated, Heroscape, Horus Heresy, Hour of Glory, Hybrid.

I

Iliad, Il Principe, Incan Gold, Incursion, Invasion from Outer Space, Isla Dorada.

J

Jamaica, Jambo, Judge Dredd.

K

L

Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game, The Legend of Robin Hood, Letter of Marque, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings: Card Game, The Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, Lords of Waterdeep, Lost Cities.

M

Maharaja, Mall of Horror, Man O' War, Mansions of Madness, Mare Nostrum, Marvel Heroes, Memoir '44, Merchants and Marauders, Mesopotamia, Middle-Earth Quest, Minotaur Lords, Monsters Menace America, Monsterpocalypse: Collectible Miniatures Game, Mordheim, Mutant Chronicles, Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citadel, Mystery of the Abbey.

N

Necromunda, Neuroshima Hex, Nexus Ops, Ninjato.

O

Odin's Ravens, Okko.

P

Pandemic, Pirate's Cove, Prophecy, Puerto Rico.

Q

R

Rattus, Red November, Rex, Road Kill Rally, Rogue Trooper, Rune Age, Runebound, Runebound: Sands of Al-Kalim, Runewars, Rush N Crush.

S

Saboteur, San Juan, Scarab Lords, Shadows Over Camelot, Shazamm, Silk Road, Small World, Space Crusade, Space Hulk, Space Hulk: Death Angel, Star Craft: The Board Game, Star Wars: The Queens Gambit, Summoner Wars.

T

Tales of the Arabian Nights, Talisman, Tannhauser, Thebes, Thunder Road, Ticket to Ride, Tide of Iron, A Touch of Evil, Traders of Carthage.

U

V

W

Warhammer: Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer: Invasion, Warhammer Quest, Warlock: The game of Dueling Wizards, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, War of the Ring, Warrior Knights, Wings of War, Witch of Salem, Wiz-War, World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game, Wreckage.

X

Y

Z

  Zanziar, Zombies!!!, Zombie Plague.

Win A Fully Painted Rogue Trader Era Imperial Guard Army!

Yep! You read that right. A fully painted Imperial Guard army from the Rogue Trader era is up for grabs.

I came across this great give away run by the folks over at Bell of Lost Souls whilst searching the web for research material (amazing the things my research keeps digging up of late) and just had to share it with you all.

The best bit? It's free and, you still have time to enter. Hell, you can enter the draw up to six times if you have the means.

For full details, check out their competition posting here.

The Trollish Grapevine

With such a close-knit community like that of the Tunnels and Trolls fans, it really doesn't take long for news to spread like wildfire.

So what's today's burning issue that has just made it to my mailbox?

Shipman is at it again! That is he's trying to sell TrollsZine, a FREE Tunnels and Trolls E-zine produced by the fans for the fans, in yet another feeble attempt to profit off of the hard work of others... Again.

So, I'm here again to go on record as a contributor to the first two issues of TrollsZine to ask you all not to buy from this crook. No-one that has EVER contributed to TrollsZine has done so with the intention of making money and, we sure as hell don't want some hack coming from the outside and damaging our name by doing just that.

Download your copies of TrollsZine from the links below for FREE and say no to this con man that would have your money for nothing!

Downloads

TrollsZine #1
TrollsZine #2
TrollsZine #3
TrollsZine #4
TrollsZine #5

Alchemy Bytes #13: World Wide Web Of Wonders

I found this amazing little wonder in my Facebook feed today and just had to share it.

I have been pondering doing something similar for quite a while. Ever since I first saw this in fact.

Personally I found the art in Toy Mallet: 40c quite evocative. It set me thinking on just how much fun it could be to field a cutesy and fluffy force in such a grim setting.

Also I expect the looks on the faces of other gamers and, indeed the Games Workshop staff as you began to unpack your army ready for battle would be priceless!

In fact, the only factor that has stopped me creating such an army is budget. Admittedly a Battleforce would probably suffice but that's still £80 to spend on what is essentially a one-shot practical joke. Not Cheap.

Still very tempting though...

Alchemy Bytes #11: One Thousand Mokeys With One Thousand Typewriters

Have they produced the complete works of Shakespeare?

Not yet but, who wants Shakespeare when you can have your pick of their vast range of free RPG products?

Including full blown rulebooks, popular independent productions like Dungeon Squad and, solitaire games where everything fits on to one sheet of A4 (such as Hex), this site has a lot to offer.

Check them out here and fit your boots with a trove of free booty.

Alchemy Bytes #8: Board Game Arena

One of the greatest resources I have found for the solo gamer in the past year has to be Board Game Arena.

I initially came across them not long after purchasing Race For The Galaxy. I had read through the rules and, I was pretty sure that I had understood them but I figured it doesn't hurt to check and, popped over to Board Game Geek to see if I had made any glaring errors, figuring that if anyone knew, they did.

When reading through the resources however, I came across a link to Board Game Arena, a site that I could apparently play the game on freely against real opponents. No way was I going to pass an invite like that up and, I am so glad that I didn't.

The site was 100% on the level. Not only hosting the game I had been looking for but also Dominion (which is another favorite of mine) and a load more Rio Grande games besides. Best of all, the site is 100% free to join and, free to play!

Definitely worth a look.

Diablo Day: A Ground Breaking D&D Release... That You've Probably Never Heard Of

Fast-Play Goodness

Diablo II is arguably one of the greatest PC titles ever to be coded and, Dungeons and Dragons the best know roleplaying game ever to be written. So what do you get when you cross these two leviathans of their respective fields and give it away for free?

Yet another gem doomed to relative obscurity it would seem.

This is probably in no small part due to the sheer volume of roleplaying products now available freely on the Internet. It's very easy for such a small release, even of such a major brand, to get lost in the crowd and, Wizards did very little to prevent this.

It's a shame really as this is not only a nice little standalone product but, also a bit of a Pandora's Box...

Despite being clearly advertised as a "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game" product on the front cover, there's not a funny shaped dice in sight. Now a Dungeons and Dragons product running purely on D6 is nothing short of an oddity in itself (especially in this D20 day and age) but, a little further investigation uncovers something that can only be described as epic!

When compared to the other Diablo / Dungeons and Dragons crossover products available, it becomes clear quite quickly that the fast play rules have been cut from the same pattern as the small Diablo II boxed set, which in turn was based upon AD&D 2nd edition.

So what you have here is more than just a freebie. It's a completely new take on the D&D system from Wizards themselves! In my opinion this is nothing short of ground breaking and, certainly deserving of more attention than it has received, Diablo or no Diablo.

What makes this discovery so important however has to be the timing.

This whole system uses AD&D 2nd edition as a foundation and, AD&D has just been re-released! In real terms this means that there is likely to be a massive nostalgic surge in the number of AD&D players out there. One that Wizards is unlikely to miss cashing in on.

So we should certainly expect more products in the range and, probable re-releases of many of the classics. All of which can be easily converted for play with the "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game"... Which really needs re-branding, renaming  and, knocking into production.

Stay tuned into Diablo Day as we continue our exploration of this forgotten system and I answer what seems to be the most popular forum request surrounding it.

More monsters!

Links

Download your free copy of the Diablo II Fast Play RPG

Week Of The Troll: More Free Stuff!!

From the outset of the week of the troll I promised freebies and boy do I ever plan to deliver.

So far we've had a free copy of the rules, a couple of free solo adventures and, a bunch of new playable character types. A good showing admittedly but, hardly the treasure trove that I painted the picture of in my earlier posts..

So here comes the cavalcade!

A gaming explosion is about to go off. So brace yourself, sit tight, read on and, enjoy the show.

Free Solos

Barony of Sanris by Patrick Witmer.
Buffalo Castle by Rick Loomis.
Dargon's Dungeon by Bill Hart. Rewritten by Liz Danforth, Pat Mueller, Paul O'Conner and, Michael Stackpole.
Dark Side of the Desert by Patrick Witmer.
Hela's House of Dark Delights by Peter Lewerin.
Khost by Ken St Andre.
Labyrinth by Lee Russell.
Old Dwarf Mine by Roy Cram and Ken St Andre.
No Rest for the Weary at War by Patrick Witmer.
Queen Scorpions and Lady Nymphs by Tori Berquist.
Sorcerer Solitaire by Walker Vaning.
The Eye of the Serpent by A.R. Holmes.
The Sunk of Tarsus by Tori Berquist.

Sites Well Worth Checking Out

Gristlegrim: The ever changing fortress in the sky, home of the Trollgod himself and, the graveyard for countless adventurers.
Hog Tunnels: An excellent site that contains a lot interesting items as well as being the home of Tunnel Quest, a lite gaming system built around Tunnels & Trolls.
JongJungBu's Tunnels and Trolls 5th Edition Gathering and Paraphernalia (JJB's TnT 5e GAP): A site housing three downloadable solo adventures as well as some excellent house rules.
The Dark Isles: A complete campaign setting ready prepared for use with Tunnels & Trolls.
The Lone Delver: An excellent gaming blog looking at many interesting facets of Tunnels & Trolls. Highly recomended and well worth a look.
The Tunnels and Trolls Archive: A site offering three solo adventures and a number of other articles relating to the roleplaying game.
The Vital Spot: A collection of nicely presented Tunnels & Trolls articles as well as some aditional magic items and, GM adventures.
Trollgod's Trollhalla: A free to join membership only club created by Ken St Andre, author of the Tunnels & Trolls roleplaying game. Now with an added blog. Well worth checking out.
Tunnels and Trolls.com: An excellent website that showcases a number of great products and is constantly updated with new information. A must see.
Tunnels of the Trollamancer: My own website. It's not been updated for sometime but remains the home for a wealth of Tunnels and Trolls materials, including another site archived within it!
Vin Ahr Vin's Trollbridge: An active forum that discusses all elements of the game as well as hosting several play-by-post games.

Free Zines

 

TrollsZine #1
TrollsZine #2
TrollsZine #3
TrollsZine #4
TrollsZine #5