The Mail-Troll Arrives...

...and he brought books! In particular, he brought me the copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics I ordered off of Amazon.

Wow, let me just say--this is a ridiculous book. For one, it's way too big(as one review on Amazon says "At almost 500 pages, the book is fat enough to club a kobold to death with."). Additionally, some of the rules are just way too extravagant, like the lengthy section of extravagantly long spell descriptions. Also the art takes excesses in both content and quantity.  And don't get me started on the annoying non-standard dice. No no, this is nothing like the clean, crisp Labyrinth Lord that I know and love.

And yet... the volume oooozes fun. And it drips with authorial love for Dungeons and Dragons. And the ridiculous Magic makes playing a spellcaster fun again. OK, so I'm actually quite pleased to be adding DCC RPG to my collection.

Speaking of which, I have a dirty little secret to tell you. When I add this to my shelf of gaming books, it will sit next to such modern classics as... the 1988 "Pool of Radiance Strategy Guide" and...that's it.

Ok, so I'm more of a PDF guy. I could blame the fact that shortly after emigrating from the US my parents split up and most of my old books got lost in the mix--but really there was only one RPG book there--"The Complete Book of Elves" published by TSR for 2nd edition AD&D in 1992--a surefire recipe for Mary Sue PC's if ever there was one, and not a big loss by my count...

Treasure Time

I recently got a shipment of goodies, care of Amazon.  Here's the goods:

1. Chessex Pound of Dice

I have to say, this is the way to buy dice.  Yeah, it's nice having a matching set, but this is both more economical and more fun!  There were some really weird ones included too, particularly among the d6's.  I was a little nervous about the quality, since they are supposed to be Factory Second, but besides a couple wonky-looking d12s, the vast majority look fine.  I split this 3-ways with my gaming group, which left me with 33 new dice.

2. GameMastery Flip-Mat: Basic from Paizo

We already got to try this out in a recent session.  I like it much more than our other two option: drawing on a small piece of paper and passing it around, or using cardboard dungeon-tiles.  Being able to draw on a large scale allows the DM to set-up encounters quickly and so that everyone can easily see.  I also got a set of wet-erase markers to go with these, and I already have dry-erase ones.

3. Chronicles of Amber, Volume 1

This was to complete the set, since I recently bought volume 2 at a used book store.  I started reading these and am loving them(though it's started to slow down a bit towards the middle of the second volume).

4. The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume 1

 I bought Volume 2 over a year ago and loved it, so I decided to get Volume 1 too.  I really enjoyed the variety of stories: not just Conan, Kull, and Solomon Kane, but boxers, pirates, cowboys, etc.

New Dice or No Dice

Well, I'm back from vacation feeling rejuvenated and ready to post.

I also received my Game Science dice that I ordered from Amazon.  These are actually the first gaming dice I have owned(until now I always used my friends').  I was a disappointed to see they sent me unpainted dice, rather than the more expensive ones I ordered, but I can't be bothered to return them so I just wrote them a nasty review.  Oh well.  On the bright side, they are still "Goblin Green".

What I ordered($10.99)

What I got($6.25)

Used Book Shopping Cart

I recently received a couple crates from my parents' storage, containing my old book collection from High School and various other doodads. So I made my first trip to the used book store to trade-in some old books!

I brought in 7 books from The Wheel of Time series and this is what I got in return. Did I get a good deal? You be the judge :)

The Chronicles of Amber: Volume II by Robert Zelazny

I've never read any of the Amber series, but I understand that it was very influential on classic DnD. I would have liked to start with Volume I, but thus is used book shopping and beggars can't be choosers.







Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
I have a weakness for Asimov short-stories. The retro robots, the (often corny) twist endings. I've never read any of his novels though, so this was an easy pick.







Beyond the Farthest Star by Burroughs
I didn't recognize the title of this one, apparently being one of Burroughs' less popular works, but I immediately recognized Frazetta's work on the cover and then saw the author. The weird space-plane leaves a bit to be desired, so apparently Frazetta later did another version of the cover with a dude with a raygun and a lion-thing, but I included the picture of the cover from the edition I have. I've only ever read A Princess of Mars so I'm interested to see how this compares.




Night World by Robert Bloch
I never heard of this, but I recognized Bloch's name from the introduction he wrote to The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. I see he wrote Psycho and was a member of the Lovecraft Circle so I'm curious to see if I can spot any of HPL's influence.







Hyperborea by CAS
I had just about given up finding any other books when I pulled this out from behind another book: a short story collection by one of my favorite authors! I've read plenty of his stories over at Eldritch Dark, but I've never owned any printings of them. Just goes to show: with used book shopping, persistence pays!