Arrows of Indra Map

The RPGPundit has been working on his own retro-clone RPG called Arrows of Indra and there is a twist. This clone draws on the mythology of India specifically the Mahajanapada period. Along the usual material covered in an RPG he is detailing a fantasy India for referee to use. We talked and I agreed to provide the campaign map for him. Here is a sample of what to look forward too.

This the greyscale version of the northeast corner of the map.

Color version of the same map.

It was lot of fun working on this. Not only was a new and interesting locale it was my first project involving using real landscape as the base. The first map was also the first full blown test of a new greyscale mapping style I am trying by using fills and textures for vegetation and mountains so I can overlap the two seamlessly and clearly.

Fighting Giants is where AD&D went all wrong

Encouraged by the surprise success sales of G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl and G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King along with the blockbuster movie Clash of the Giants, Gygax calls the staff of TSR into his office.

From now on AD&D is going to be about fighting Giants. 

For the next two years a flurry of adventures was released. All of them about fighting giants including the classic Under The Storm Giant's Castle. Greyhawk was shelved in favor of a new setting which had as it's centerpiece a war against the giants. Unearthed Giants was quickly written and released giving new classes and new races revolving around fighting Giants.

However what seemed like a surefire way to capitalize on D&D's popularity and the excitement over the new Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was it death knell. Within two years of it's release, sales plummeted as gamers tired of fighting giants all the time and flocked other games like Chaosium's Runequest and SPI's newly released Dragonquest. There is growing excitement over Palladium Fantasy as many say it restores the wide ranging fantasy enjoyed by fans of original Dungeon & Dragons.  Now a 2nd Edition of AD&D is has been announced that promises to be a toolkit to allow referees to create any fantasy setting they desire. TSR is quick to note that fans of the Giant Wars will still find support in the 2nd Edition.

Cityographer

Another worthy Kickstarter campaign has come up. Cityographer made by the same people who brought Hexographer. This would be especially useful for wide ranging sandbox campaigns where the characters are constantly visiting new settlements.

Gothridge Manor publishes the Manor

Throughout last years the OSR has seen several print zines being established including Christian’s excellent Loviatar. This month my friend, Tim of Gothridge Manor, decided to release one of his own, The Manor. Obviously I am bit biased although in practice we rarely cut each other any slack.

Something I only discovered in the past years was how much I like reading Tim’s material. I read a lot and some books I find an easy read and some are boring. Tim’s writing has always been an easy read and Manor #1 is no different.

The first article in the Manor is the The Salt Pit. It is a little different in that is mostly vertical adventure. It makes for a good side adventure as the players adventure through the landscape. It also shows off one of Tim’s strength which is his ability to create interesting NPCs.

Jason Sholtis contributes one of his numerous, and excellent, random tables. There something shiny in that Troglodyte’s Dung. It has some immediate use for the Salt Pit adventure. And don’t forget you get to roll twice if your character rolls up his sleeves and digs in.

Next is my favorite article, Rural Pennsylvania: The Ghoul House. Tim and his wife take drives in the countryside and have various photos of interesting places. Tim decided to use them as part of a series of articles. I was a bit skeptical at how well it will turn but Tim wrote an evocative adventure involving a lich and buried ghouls.

Rusty Battle Axe contributes a neat poem about an Umber Hulk

Next is an article of 20 forest encounters and a table to go along with it.

And last but not least is a article about a street vendoer named Oren and his boots. This include background on Oren and what sells and along with several adventures.

The Manor is a good deal at $3.50 US/ $4.00 Canada/ $4.50 Europe, Australia

The Avengers Movie is Amazing

It doesn't quite knock off Superman, Dark Knight, or Spiderman 2 but it definitely belongs with them. It also one of the most pure comic book movies I have seen in the superhero genre. The action is good, the characterizations are spot on and consistent with the preceding movies. Best off all everybody gets a chance to shine. It has funny moments, amazingly the Hulk has the best line, moments that make you go woah! and serious moments. I don't think the 3D adds anything so you won't lose out by seeing it in 2D.

I think this will be an important movie for the superhero genre in that it brought some things that were missing in previous films.  While this being the climax of Marvel's introduction comic book style continuity is important, it also much more action oriented than previous films. The superheroes feel more like well superheroes.

Go see it.

I have one word for you

Glass

Imagine one of those tabletop glass displays used for gaming

XP Charts for custom classes

During the Swords & Wizardry/Majestic Wilderlands campaign I ran for the past several years, my players (Dwayne, Tim, Rusty Battle Axe) and I  decided that we didn't like the weird bumps that are in the regular XP charts. In addition I wanted to some up with a consistent set of charts that I could use in future books for new classes.

You can download the result of what we created together
Standard XP Charts

To use them with existing classes note the XP required to reach second level and that the chart to use. There are charts for 2nd level at 1,500 xp, 1,750 xp, 2,000 xp, 2,250 xp, 2,500xp, 2,750 xp, and 3,000 xp. The charts also displays the total xp required to go from one level to the next. This also show the method to our madness in creating these.

Hope you find some use for them.