A Life Full of Adventure

What am I running at SnowCon this year? Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay! (Naturally.) The first game is actually a D&D module that I have adapted and run as a Warhammer module previously at PortCon. I'm altering it again and changing the race of enemy creatures. Here's the blurb I gave my listing: A sickness has come unto the simple mining community of Duvik's Pass, poisoning their wells and blighting their crops. With the pestilence leaving the strongest men of the town's guard a few short days away from death, the burden of descending into the mines and purging the wellspring of whatever Chaos has settled there falls to less obvious heroes. For PC choices I have a Jailer, Rat Catcher, Hunter, Pharmacist, Beggar, and Servant. Luckily, between career skills and starting skills, all the PCs have Immunity to Disease. Still I almost feel pity on this sorry lot. We'll see how they do.

I hope you had a very nerdy/geeky Christmas! Wolverine Comics pack #35-#50 Jim Butcher: Wizard for Hire (Dresden Files 1-3) Jim Butcher: Wizard by Trade (Dresden Files 4-5) Jim Butcher: Wizard at Large (Dresden Files 6-7) Jim Butcher: Wizard Under Fire (Dresden Files 8-9) DC Comics Deck Building Game 12 canister shell fireworks 36 Granite speckled d6s Citadel paints (White, Black, Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Metal) Captain America Pez dispenser Star Wars Wood Coaster Set (4 pack) Monty Python's Wafer Thin Mints 4 pack of special retro Garbage Pail Kids Dots StarWars Metal Earth Millennium Falcon 3D model StarWars Mad Libs Design socks ( Hobbit feet , shark attack , sneakers, loafers) Jeans Sweater Cash Serenity schematic T-Shirt Speakers (computer. Logitech z506) Personalized pocket watch StarWars Mace Windu light sabre

For a convention (4 hour time slot): PCs: Dual-class fighter characters in a coliseum.  This allows a straight fighter, fighter-thief, fighter-mage, or any other fighter-combo desired to spice up the game. Background: The PCs are gladiators who are about to fight some fantastic monsters in an arena, but there is a twist. Under the coliseum is a "dungeon" of sorts. The rooms are either empty or contain items to make the arena fight more interesting.  The coliseum itself is warded by magic so that the gladiators and monsters cannot leave the arena (or the sky directly above for flying creatures). The stands directly in front of the king/ruler are further guarded. There are armed troops for the first many rows. Then there are troop commanders armed with magical weapons. Then there are powerful mages surrounding the king/ruler's viewbox.  First three hours: Exploring the dungeon below.  The PCs are allowed to recruit 4 of the monsters they find...

Tristan Tarwater's new book Red Moon Rising is now out (on Kindle, at least). This is book #3 set in the Valley of the Ten Crescents. I've really enjoyed the other two books as well as the short story in this series. It almost reads like a novel based on someone's game character, but very well written instead of the little blubs we post on our blogs. I highly suggest checking this series out. From the description: The rise of a deadly cult threatens life in the Valley of Ten Crescents. Alone, betrayed, and on the run from the law, Tavera finds herself charged with rescuing Kella, a priestess with a powerful secret who has been kidnapped by the cult. Tavera finds she can no longer be a little girl lost, but must become a leader and a savior if she is to survive the RED MOON RISING. Somehow, book #1 is still FREE in Kindle format. Born in poverty, a half-elf in a human city, Tavera lives in a world where she doesn't belong -- until the day she meets Derk. Ini...

James Maliszewski of Grognardia has returned to science fiction, admittedly his main love, and released a sourcebook for his Thousand Suns RPG. This is good news for those of us who were concerned that James would be writing or releasing no more.  I have a system I plan on using when I get around to playing sci-fi, but I'm going to give Thousand Suns a read-through since James was kind enough to provide me with a copy.  Who knows, it might draw me in...and not let go. About Five Stars : A Sector on the Frontier. On the far reaches of the Thousand Suns lies the Marches sector of Kvin Steloj. Consisting of twenty worlds, the sector is home to the alien species known as the Chabuli, whose territories the expanding Terrans annexed by force. In the century since, Kvin Steloj has become a vital center of colonization, commerce, and exploration—much to the chagrin of the conquered Chabuli, some of whom think the time is ripe to reclaim their worlds by any means necessa...

Magnus is the pony of the halfling Maximillian Morningglory. Maximillian claims Magnus is most devout and that the pony insists on stopping at each shrine of Sigmar to pay his respects.  Since the pony has nothing to give at the shrines, he leaves the only thing he has: manure. The halfling also claims that the pony's saddle blanket is actually (a section of?) the shroud of Magnus .

In Gygax Magazine #2, Vincent Florio tries to teach people how to play old school style RPGs. His advice consists of 1) "First pick up A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming by Matthew Finch," 2) "Decide if you want to go further," 3) "Preparing Phase," 4) "Its game night, play the game!", and 5) "Remember you are playing the old-school style." I think its easier than this. If people really want to know how we played in the old days, don't send them to a primer or a website. Tell them to buy an RPG, read it, and play it. That's it. That's all we did. If you want to recreate how we played, just pick up the game and play it.

You can't necessarily tell from this gaming blog, but I am a HUGE fan of Knights of the Dinner Table. From issue #1 on, I have been a loyal, drooling fan. The big news, if you haven't heard it already, is that they are doing a live-action webseries Kickstarter. Watch BA, Bob, Dave, Sarah, Brian, Weird Pete, and maybe even Squirrely live! I jumped in at $50 to begin. The more I see, the harder it is to keep uping my pledge...

My Complete Elmore books arrived yesterday from Larry Elmore's Kickstarter campaign! The book is big, with thick pages. It's an artistic autobiography of sorts with his art spread all over the place. And there are copies of prints from his BECMI covers. And there's a BW sketch book. So much goodness!

My PC Maximillian Morningglory , Halfling Agitator Magnus the Pony My companions Udrin Sor-Valdir  - High Elf Wizard Ludovic Hasselhoff  - Human Entertainer Absent Players/NPCs Gustav Jaeger  - Human Priest of Verena (Became GMPC) Farnoth  - High Elf NPC From Maximillian's journal: ( Previous update) Our time as guests at the Verenean temple was soon to come to an end. They had wrung from us all the knowledge they thought we were worth (or that we were willing to relinquish), and the temple was excited to lodge some new guests from Bögenhafen. Ludovic and I decided on one last trip to the tavern known as the Bucket for some parting games of chance. We were having a dandy time playing cards and making friends when the cultist scum from our previous tavern (and subsequent back alley) encounter entered with a grim patsy in tow. The two took a seat at the bar and sent their patsy to our table to join our game. It was at this point that I star...

Thwacker is a magic sling that gives a +10% bonus to its wielder's Ballistic Skill. Any stone slung by Thwacker gains +1 to damage, and any creature subject to Instability* must make an immediate check to see if they have become unstable (a 6 on a d6). Instability rules can be found in the WFRP book, page 215 *Undead include Carrion, Skeletons, and Zombies. For more creatures, see Ethereal Undead, Demons, and Elementals.

I have been remiss in not alerting you to the upcoming gaming convention. My school semester should be lightening up, and I hope to be more frequent with my postings. For now, if you're in the area, sign up. Come. Play. Have fun. I hope to see you there! Ugg. Why does that look crooked? From the website: The first SnowCon Gaming Convention was held in 2009, motivated by the BangPop! team’s mutual love of games and gaming. With a crowd of nearly 200 in the first year, it seemed that we were on to something. Our focus is on tabletop games of all types: board games, card games, roleplaying games, LARPs, miniatures, demo games, strategy games; as well as a packed game library, vendors, exhibitors, costume contests and more for gamers of all ages and experience levels. SnowCon is held annually at the Black Bear Inn Conference Center & Suites in Orono, Maine, just north of Bangor near the University of Maine.