Alea Tools Kickstarter

To finish out Trifecta of Kickstarters, I humbly present Alea Tools Color Boost Kickstarter. These colored, magnetic 1" and 2" inch are produced by Alea Tools. I have a bunch of there existing colors and related tools. The Kickstarter is for additional (or existing) colors. Primary meant to be used under minis to represent various conditions, etc. I've used them for that and much more.

In Hackmaster, one disk under mini, another of same color on initiative trac (which is continuous in Hackmaster), and for monsters a third on hitpoint trac.  Those tracs where on magnetic surface which the magnetic Alea disks work awesomely with.  BTW each disk comes with adhesive, magnetic circles to stick on bottom of mini to keep them stuck on Alea disks. I've also used them just by themselves as markers for monsters (when traveling light without minis).  To mark which characters are carrying torches, to indicate elevation.  On ammo, time, and other ad hoc tracks I draw on dry erase board as needed.  They, of course, work great on magnetic dry erase boards.

If you use minis and/or a game system with lots of conditions or other things to track, I heartly reccomend getting some Alea Tools. Either directly from Alea Tools' online store or via the ...

Alea Tools Color Boost Kickstarter

"The Wilderness Alphabet", a review

[Several months ago a kindly dude, James Pacek, asked me to proofread a project he had been working on.  A while after (but still several months ago) he sent me a gratis printed copy of his project, "The Wilderness Alphabet" (thanks James!).  I've owed him a review for a long while now (sorry it took so long).  This is one slick supplement, I would be enthusiastically reviewing it even had I not received a free copy.]

In the mold of "The Dungeon Alphabet"'s randsomely description of the dank below, "TheWilderness Alphabet" takes on the great expanse of adventure between civilization and the local mad wizard's dungeons.  The subtitle says what this fun, little book is all about.

"A Collection of Random Charts, Tables, and Ideas for use with various Games of Imagination."

[aside: Games of Imagination, that's pretty bad ass description of how I view RPGs.  Very much like that "game" is first.  Imagination encompasses much more of the fun I have than 'role playing' (which always made think of maid costumes...).]


Digest sized, little more than 60 pages, nicely printed and perfect bound by Lulu, $9.00.  The cover art is
 great.  In fact the whole design/art direction of the book is great.  One of the best "indie self-publication" (and I imply no belittlement by that label) I've seen.  The art is mostly public domain.  But there's lots of it and it has been expertly chosen/laid out. Greatly complimenting the various charts and tables.  Just like the in the best RPG products the art spurs the reader's imagination and gets their ideas flowing.  Included is a list of illustration credits.  It's not only classy to give attribution but also enables the reader to pursue a particular artwork or artist that caught their fancy.  A small touch, but a nice one.


"The Wilderness Alphabet" contains 26 "chapters". One for each letter of the alphabet (in case you were vague on the concept).  Not satisfied with just those the author included additional material at the end; Bonus Tables (undead, places, powers, weapons and the like), Colorful NPCs, Strange Sounds, Gods and Goddesses, Mines and an alternate letter 'L' is for Labyrinth.  Built into the Table of Contents for the 'letter' chapters is a d100 chart, very cool.  One feature I especially like is how the author has put little anecdotes from his own games/campaigns here and there. For example;

"... an annual tournament called the "Mythrilman" competition. Fighters Paladins and Rangers (some Monks too) would compete in a series of three events. Each event testing a different element of their martial prowess. ..."

Mythrilman, that's straight up cool.

Overall "The Wilderness Alphabet" is a great book/tool for DM's, I highly recommend it.  It's handy, short (not overwhelming), fun to read and use.  It inspires.  Immensely useful when creating a wilderness (I recently used it to help fill in some blank spots on my GnG campaign map).  Or even more so, for when your players take the "other" road.  The one that leads to "you have no idea".  Call a 5min snack/bathroom break.  Grab your copy of "The Wilderness Alphabet", some dice, and rock out.  Games of the Imagination indeed!

This week I be Pimpin Emperor's Choice Games

Just so there's no confusion, no one has asked me to pimp anything.  These will always be products which I own a copy of, believe deserve exposure, and believe maybe worth your time/money.  The pimping idea totally stolen from The Underdark Gazzette. Hopefully I'll remember to change it every week.


Emperor's Choice Games

I'm biased, for good reason.  And, I suspect many of the gamer's who would enjoy Emperor Choice's Products have already bought them.  But, in case not...

I own Arduin Eternal, and The World Book of Kas. And have recently ordered the Arduin Map and the Megaset of Arduin Grimoires.  Which includes the three Classic Arduin Grimoires in a hard cover bound set, the five Hargrave authored in the 80's, one new one from Emperor's Choice.

If the planet's align I might stop buying stuff and actually get to reviewing some of it. 

Troll Pimping A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe

I added a new widget: This Week I Be Pimpin

Just so there's no confusion, no one has asked me to pimp anything well not this thing anyhow. These will always be products which I own a copy of, believe deserve exposure, and believe maybe worth your time/money.  The pimping idea totally stolen from The Underdark Gazzette. Hopefully I'll remember to change it every week.

This week it's XRP's A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe 2nd Edtion. One of the best, thorough, and RPG useful source books for medieval Europe I've read.  Lots of reviews for the 1st edition.