Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits! Maybe...

Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits! is billed as a beginners / introductory role playing game. How well does it accomplish its task?

Well, first things first: Ancient Odysseys - Treasure Awaits! can be played with or without a GM (referred to as a Director in the rules). Having read thru (yet to play) the game rules, I would say that it probably works okay without a GM, but if a group were to play more then once or twice a GM would be needed to add depth to the roleplaying experience.

Task resolution is resolved using a single d6 and adding and subtracting the appropriate modifiers.

The system is simple, as it should be for an introductory game. There are just three classes (Vocations): Warrior, Rogue and Wizard and four character races (gnome isn't one of them, so you can work that out on your own).

Character generation is simplified in that you roll randomly for one of 6 sets of predetermined ability stats based upon your class. So, random and not... kinda. Characters have 3 stats, ranging from a score of 1 to 5. Wizards will be higher ranked in Reasoning, Rogues will excel in Awareness, and Warriors will be the ones with the highest Fitness.

Choose four skills (Pursuits) for you character, roll for some armor, choose a weapon package, if a Wizard choose your spells and lastly pick your other gear (torch, rope, satchel or grimoire). They say you can be up and running in about 10 minutes... I suspect you can prepare a character in less.

Spells descriptions remind me a bit of OD&D. Short, simple and to the point.

So, overall the rules look workable. They are composed of three books: Basic Play is what is says it is, the game rules. The second book is The Dungeon. Here we find the introductory adventure, suitable for solo, group, or group with GM play. The third book, Further Adventures, give the GM information on running a game, some monster stats and a nice amount of simple but random tables too flesh out one's own dungeon designs.

The author states at the end of the book three that he was aiming for simplicity for beginners and nostalgia for veteran gamers. I definitely feel he found a decent introductory system for new players (but it would definitely work much better with an experience GM at the helm, but then, so do all RPGs. Does it hit the nostalgia mark? Maybe if RPGs weren't so rooted in wargames... there is a lot of abstractness in the system... you are either front line or in the back of the marking order for example. The Conflict Action Map has the positions of closest, farthest, sneaking or behind. You won't be measuring squares or flanking opponents. You will get to kill things and take their stuff - success is based upon killing things and taking their stuff. Wait, I guess that does make it a RPG that hearkens back to the early days of role playing ;)

I'm going to give Ancient Odysseys a 4 beer steins out a 5. Nice introductory RPG but long term re-playability may be lacking. AS for DX-ability, 5 steins out a 5. I've really enjoyed reading this on my DX in bed at night.

Oh, and it also includes a PDF suitable for printing in digest size, if you are into digest sized books in your collection ;)

I Kill Trees - Sometimes

I am very Pro-PDF.  Not because I am a left wing, save the snails, recycle toilet paper kinda guy, but because I am running out of space to store my dead tree / paper printed gaming materials.  It's pretty much a given that most folks that play RPGs don't get rid of too much of their "old stuff".  I might never read another Rifts Sourebook in my life, but if I see the cover of the Core book I get flashbacks of playing in an awesome campaign back in the day. Roleplaying makes memories, and the products we played with can invoke those memories.

Suffice to say I have lots of memories.

To combat the lack of storage for future memory enhancers, I've turned to buying most of my RPG goodness in PDF format.  Its not a perfect solution, but it doesn't need any storage besides a hard drive or two, and by transferring the PDFs that I want to read to my Kindle DX I get an extremely portable way to carry around part of my RPG library.  The thing is, its kinda awkward to read certain gaming PDFs on the Kindle.

We'll start with my latest dead tree (previously purchased in PDF), Stonehell Dungeon.  It looks fine on the Kindle DX, but at 130 or so pages, with maps that one likes to flip back and forth to reference, it just isnt the perfect solution.  It's fine if I want to read thru while away on vacation, but not so great when one is trying to prep for a game.  Besides, you can't notate on the Kindle DX - I can mark up my dead tree Stonehell as much as I need (in pencil - no desecration here;)

It's pretty much a similar reason I bought LL and S&W in print on demand from LuLu.  They look fine on the DX, and if you are looking to do a straight read thru its a sweet way to read, but as a reference at a gaming table I need it in paper please.  With LuLu, it's tree killing on demand.  I should probably feel more guilt than I do when considering that fact.

Now all I need to do is find some storage for those old memories.  Maybe those clothes I swore I'd fit in again... can always donate to Goodwill and reclaim that space.  I'll just buy new if I can get back into shape.  Damn things are probably outa style anyway.

The Valentine's Day Post

So, I'm on my weekend getaway to the Poconos with my girlfriend, my son, and the g/f's dog.  Needless to say I had to pack light, but I wanted to bring a good amount of reading material with me.  Therefore I loaded up my kindle DX with all my recent RPG PDF purchases, packed up the mini-notebook, a change of clothes and here we are.

How much reading will I get in?  No idea.  My son is eager to get every possible minute of driving in (16 with a permit - and he's a fast learner).  The g/f will give me some reading time, but will I have all the time I want?  Probably not.

Anyhow, on the top of that list is the World of Onn.  I want to borrow and steal for my upcoming LL game, and although World of Onn is written for S&W I know I can find some gems.

Crap.  Looks like its time to be driven to Pizza Hut for a late lunch.  I need a longer day )

After-Snow Day

So, I left the house with the intention to take the subway and get some reading in... but then I noticed my car was barely snowed in.  So I brushed it off, shoveled a little bit, and drove to work.

There went my idea to get some commuting reading time in on the DX.

Still, I was drawn back to The Dungeon Alphabet during my lunch.  I'm amazed at how well the DX reproduces the artwork from the book.  Might have to use the included table in my One Page Dungeon if I ever get closer to finishing it.

Oh, JoeTheLawyer has twisted my arm, so I will be at the Compleat Strategist in NYC on March 27 (damn, though it was in 2 weeks for a bit there).  Joe has the details here.  Not that my showing up is all that big a deal, but maybe a few more will show up and make it a BIG deal ;)

Snowy Reading Day

Otherwise known as the Blizzard that wasn't.  I hear the wind right now, and there is some blowing snow, but its not the 15+ inches they were all harping on.  I'll be surprised if I wake up to 8 or 9 inches in the morning.

All that being said, I still had to drag my lazy ass to work today.  It was one of the rare times I wasn't driving into Manhattan.  Nope, today I enjoyed the wonders of the NYC Transit System.  Not to be confused with the NYC Transient System (although I think I did spot one homeless person keeping warm and dry and sleeping on  the train) it is better run then it was in my college days.  Probably safer too.  Probably.

Now, there was one advantage to not driving in to work (besides saving on gas):  I had about an hour to and from that I was able to read some gaming goodness on my Kindle DX.  Yes, I gripped it tight, but use it I did.

Finally got around to giving The Dungeon Alphabet a good read.  I am truly amazed at how well the artwork is reproduced on the Kindle DX.  I did have to rotate the screen orientation to make the viewed page large enough to be read comfortably, but that is a minor quibble.  I kinda lost myself in the tables and art and before I knew it it was time to change trains from the express to the local... nice little time warp.

Tonight I need to move some of my more recent  PDF purchases to the DX.  Tomorrow looks to be another train day.  I plan to make it work for me ;)

Weekend Wrap-Up

First things first - Go JETS!  Nice game ;)

Now that that is out of the way.  Just got the latest (and probably my last) print copy of Kobold Quarterly delivered on Saturday.  My last print copy because I scored a deal on the PDF only sub, and truth be told, I'm short on storage space and it reads extremely well on the Kindle.  It's a great magazine that covers 3.5, 4e and Pathfinder.  Much of it is more fluff then crunch, so finding material  to crib for older systems is fairly easy.  If you liked the old Dragon Magazine when it was in print, thisis the magazine for you.

On the beer front, I just started 2 gallons of Whispering Wheat Weizenbier fermenting in the Mr. Beer keg.  Should be ready to bottle and carb in about 2 weeks.  The earlier beer still has a week of carbing left to go.  Then I have some blueberry and blackberry beers lined up for February.  Yum ;)

Teacher, My DX ate my PDF!

My Kindle DX displays the vast majority of my RPG PDF collection quite well, tho it chokes on a few and needs the Heimlich in one or two cases.  The Nine Towers gives the DX some isses... nothing that totally breaks usability, just a minor annoyance when it crops up.  Before I go any further, I wish to state that Adobe Reader 8.1 reads the PDF flawlessly.  Remarking that other programs or devices don't interact as flawlessly with it reflect more on the program or the devices shortcomings, not necessarily the PDF in question.

So, to answer White Haired Man games inquiry as to the problems my Kindle DX has with The Nine Towers PDF:

1 - The cover art doesn't display - its just a grey smudge (with the footnote on the bottom of the screen "some elements on this page could not be displayed").  It also lacks the Savage Worlds and FG2 Partner badges.  To be fair, Sumatra, an alternate PDF reader doesnt handle the art well either.  Adobe 8.1?  Perfect.

2 - Hitting the next page on the DX brings up a blank page with the same message as previously.  This might be a reference to the missing badges.

3 - The creature from page 4 is missing, but the Image: Token Outline is there.

I think I misspoke when I referred to layers i my previous post.  I am far from an expert at composing PDFs.  The problem the DX is having with this PDF is similar to others that have, what appears to me, to be "layers" of art / page shading or such.  Its all mumbo jumbo to me anyway ;)

In the end what matters is that the PDF is usable, well written, and appears like it would be fun to run.  The Nine Towers fits that criteria.  It is still readable and usable on the DX... just not a perfect fit.  I feel like I'm complaining I didn't get my "gift with purchase" that was neither promised nor offered ;)

Tomorrow  hopefully I get to the FG2 part of The Nine Towers.

Brewing Apprentice 101

So, over the weekend I bottled my beer.  The Red Ale will need to be filtered as it appears some hops and dead yeast made it to the bottles.  No biggie, its all good ;)  The Oktoberfest looks nice and clear.  Both seem to be carbing well, as the plastic bottles are firming up nicely.  It will all be ready in plenty of time for the Super Bowl... heh

A side note to yesterday's review.  The PDF is not very Kindle DX friendly.  The DX seems to have issues with PDFs that have multiple layers on the page... it tries to view each layer as a separate page.  I could go into the PDF with some editing software and take out the offending layers, but it looks damn fine using Adobe Reader.  Sumatra has some minor issues, but I've been finding the Sumatra has issues with just about all but the most basically laid out PDFs.  Minor quibble, and it probably only effects me :)

Supplement VI - The Majestic Wilderlands

It seems like everyone has their own spin on the classic Wilderlands line by Judges Guild. James Mishler has his spin on the Wilderlands and now Robert Conley is giving us his vision with the Majestic Wilderlands.

So, what do you get for your 7 bucks. 140 pages full of gaming goodness for Swords & Wizardry (OD&D). Actually, just short of half (the second half) of this PDF gives you setting material that could be easily used in any version of D&D, its clones, heck, just about any fantasy ruleset - it is system agnostic.

The first 80 pages or so detail new sub-classes, spells, optional rules for your S&W campaign and the obligatory spin on the rogue class. There's a hell of alot of crunch for anyone that is looking to expand their Swords & Wizardry game.

Final verdict? 5 stars - either section of this book is easily worth $7 bucks on their own. DX-ability is a solid 5. Nice, clean and simple layout.

The Grinding Gear - Not Your Mamma's Tomb of Horrors - Micro Review

The Grinding Gear from Lamentations of the Flame Princess (aka James Edward Raggi IV) is, in simplest terms, the Classic Tomb of Horrors adventure turned down from !! to about 8 on the lethality scale. Yes, your players have a chance, even tho small, to not only survive, but acquire some loot too. It's just not very likely ;)

This well written (and extremely well laid out if you want to read it on the Kindle DX) adventure is available from RPGNow in PDF format. Dead tree product is available from the author / publisher and I believe some distributors.

I'm not going to give an indepth review; Grognardia 's review did a good enough job to sell me.

I'm not big into "hose the party adventurers", and this, by nature, has the that capabilty, but it is well written and nicely presented.

4 of 5 for the adventure itself. 5 of 5 on the DX-ability scale

Amazon Updates Kindle Firmware... PDFs are Native to Kindle 2 Now

Yep, Amazon finally did a no brainer and updated the firmware on the Kindle 2 to read PDFs in their native format. What does this mean to gamers like us? It a real convenient way to read gaming material on your downtime... you know, in the waiting room, on the bus or train or even plane, all without having to reveal to the unclean masses that you are a gamer.

Well, that and it can hold oodles of gaming material.

So, after updating the firmware on my Kindle 2 (for some reason it didn't update automatically via Whispersync), I rebooted the puppy, connected my Kindle 2 with it's USB cable to my computer and dumped the first edition of the Labrynth Lord rules onto it.

The results? Can't really read it in its regular orientation (print is way too small), but it is very readable in the horizontal position. I still will prefer using my DX for reading PDFs I think, but the option to use the Kindle 2 is very much appreciated.

Oh, and the update promises a greatly increased battery time between charges.

The DX also got an update. The main thing there is that PDFs, when viewed in the horizontal position, will automatically have the white space borders cropped, thereby increasing the viewable size of the PDF on screen. Haven't seen it in action yet but I will give it a try soon.

Astak Pocket Pro has Shipped

My Astak Pocket Pro has shipped, but FedEx is supposed to make a Saturday delivery, but I won't be home most of the day, damn it!

At best it looks like I won't see it until Tuesday. I'm anxious to see how well it handles my RPG PDFs. I'd never give up my Kindle DX, but for portability the Astak Pocket Pro looks like it will have a real edge.

The World of Onn: Supplement 1 for Swords & Wizardry

Look at me. I'm actually getting around to doing yet another short and dirty RPG review. Swords & Wizardry has been getting lots of love recently, what with the excellent quickstart rules earlier this summer and now a fully loaded supplement.

The World of Onn: Supplement 1 (hereafter referred to as Sup 1) gives a lot of meat for its 5 buck price take in PDF format on Lulu. 145 pages of mix and match rules, new classes, new spells, new monsters, new treasure and even some maps and info on the world of Onn.

Hell, I'm still waiting to put a S&W or LL game together and just flipping thru the pages of Sup 1 has me even more hungry to do so. Use what you want and leave behind the rest.

Personally, I like adding classes, and the ones brought to the table: Ranger, Divine Champion, Illusionist, Bard, Druid and Shao Disciple bring back some of AD&D's options without all the complexity (but still more complexity them S&W unadulterated). Count me as pleased, as I was toying with doing some of this myself.

5 outa 5 for quality and value. DX-ability is also a 5. Looks very nice and extremely readable on the DX.

Kobold Quarterly 10 - Capsule Review

Well, I have a print and PDF subscription of Kobold Quarterly and just received the print copy in the mail today and it is a beauty to behold. 3.5e and 4e in the same package. Only problem was when I started flipping thru the magazine... I realized I read most of it already... in PDF on my DX. I downloaded my copy on sunday ;)

I give the mag a steady 5 for quality... you can pick up any issue and be sure that it will be top notch. DX-abiity is a solid 5.

On a side note, EnWorld is loading... slow as frozen molasses flowing uphill, but loading none the less.

Swords and Wizardry - Quick Start Rules - Capsule Review

Some might have noticed I spend a good amount of time reviewing retro clones.  There is a simple reason for that.  Most have their rules for free in PDF format, and I just loves me some free PDFs for my Kindle DX ;)

Anyhow, on to the quick and dirty review of the S&W Quick Start rules - Holy condensation Batman!  An amazing job was done in turning already concise rules into an even easier, more concise format.  Heck, over half of the 30 some odd pages are taken up by the module / adventure (which includes GM advise).  You'll need the full ruleset to level past 1st level, but that not the point.  This little PDF is an excellent introduction to roleplaying.

5 for the amazing product, and a 5 for DX-ability.  Damn good piece of work!

Intro to Dragon Warriors - Capsule Review

First things first, it's available as a free download from RPGNow. I like free. I also like ice cream, but I digress.

What does the reader get for his downloading time?

Two of the seven classes from the full rules. The rules of the game. A section detailing the setting. A sampling of monsters. A short adventure.

You get alot for very little.

I'm gonna give it a 5 for value and a 5 for DX-ability. It looks damn fine on my DX.

(full disclosure - I bought the full rules from RPGNow.com last nite and will be giving them a full read thru)

-- Post From My iPhone

The Secret of Ronan Skerry - Capsule Review

I haven't been able to update the blog in the last few days... life has been good but hectic. That being said, I received my dead tree copy of The Secret of Ronan Skerry, a Castles and Crusades adventure from Brave Halfling Publishing. No, I can't tell you how well it plays, because I have GM'ed it. I don't want to give a detailed description because its a module, not a source book or ruleset. What to do?

Physically, it is a professional looking piece of gaming material. It is digest sized (think the old White Box or the C&C Collector's edition for size). It runs at 32 pages, but that is probably closer to 16-20 if it was a full sized module. It adds four new critters to the C&C monster collection. It appears at first read to be a competently written adventure with a small twist.

Price vs quality ratio puts it at a solid 4, $6.99 give you both the dead tree and PDF versions.

DXability is a solid 5, as the digest sized pages reproduce sharply on the DX.

Dragon Roots Issue #3 - Capsule Review

Dragon Roots is an independent RPG magazine that is published quarterly in both print and PDF format.

I'd like to take some credit for the subscription option for the PDF version - Rocco, the CEO, Publisher, Editor and all around decent chap wanted a print magazine format. He saw the PDF version as a way for people to sample, but wanted folks to go with a physical copy they could hold, smell, touch and do all sorts of sundries to it. I communicated the desire of some folks (like myself) that prefer PDFs in most circumstances as over 25 years of gaming has really cramped my ability to store more stuff. He listened and has offered PDF subs ever since.

The magazine itself has articles that are for 3.5e, 4e and game system agnostic. Heck, most of the articles in the 4 issues out so far could be plugged into any fantasy system if desired with little to moderate tweaking.

Rocco has finally started sharing the load (although he still carries most it) of putting together the magazine and it shows. The first 2 issues were labors of love that were infested with typos (that comes with editing one's own work) but filled with mostly good gaming articles. The latest issue, issue #3, is the 4th issue (counting started with 0) is a much tighter production, and the effort shows. I esitate to say issue #3 is a professional production, because all the issues have been, but i think it hits its stride with the third issue. I give it a high 4 for quality and gaming goodness.

DX-ability is a 3 - typset is a bit small on the kindle and there is some minor shadowing that looks great in print but less so on the DX.

Magpie Quick Play Rules. Capsule Review

Magpie is a 3e variant rules set under the OGL. The quick play rules for Magpie are more like a sampler of the full rules system, one that seems to stray fairly far from the 3e rules they are based on.

Skills and feats are replaced by 5 Feats that are linked to the 6 base stats. These 6 feats are bonuses to saving throw. There are a total of 8 saving throws - 5 feats, attack, defense and magic. Need to pick a lock? Cast a spell? Smack the gobbie with your mace? Roll the appropriate save. The target number you need to roll runs from 5 to 30, but the degrees of difficulty run from 0 to 5, with a difficulty of 0 needing a 5 or better and a difficulty of 5 needing a 30 or better. Wouldn't it have been been easier to name the degrees of difficulty after the target number you need to roll?

Combat requires one to roll a 10 or better to hit, adjusted my your target's defensive bonus. Armor class is subtracted from your weapons damage, it does not effect your chance to hit.

Character power advancement appears to be slower then core 3e as a level gain allows the player to add +1 to a single save. Hit points are higher, with fighters having a d12 and barbarians having a d12 +4 for HP per level (as examples). Almost every class gets some sort of spell list and class balance may be an issue to some (the core 4 classes are to be used by beginners, the subclasses are more specialized and more powerful).

I appreciate the authors releasing the quick play rules so that prospective players can see if the rules are for them or not. They are not for me. The attempt to simplify game play by the removal of 3e's feats is admirable, but a think the "Siege Engine" mechanic used in Castles & Crusades is a smoother solution over all. Then again, it did take me a while to really understand just how flexible the "Siege Engine" is thru weekly game play. No play test of the Magpie rules, just a read thru and my impressions.

I'm going to give the Magpie system, as much as I've seen in the Quick Play rules, a 3 out of 5. They aren't my choice of rules, and I don't quite agree with the direction they went in, but I'd be surprised if there aren't others that will like what they see. For free it's harmless to check it out

DX-ability rating - The typeset is fairly small and there is an annoying shading to the pages that really makes this difficult to read on the kindle without turning it sideways - 2

RPG Books on the DX: How well does it handle PDFs? Part 3

This is going to be quick and fairly short. I was asked how WotC products look on the kindle DX. As WotC pulled their PDF products from the market place, and as they were priced fairly high compared to other PDF products, I never got to make a purchase.

Recently WotC posted the D&D Quick Start Rules and H1: Keep on the Shadowfell for free on their website. I've grabbed them and here's my impressions.

D&D 4e Quick Start Rules - Coming in at 27 pages and minimal artwork these pages refresh quickly. The formating and the font are very DX friendly, and are easily read without resorting to the horizonatal orientation. This rates a 5 for readabily and ease of use.

H1: Keep on Shadowfell - The formatting and the font are the same as the Quick Start Rules (as best I can tell). Text is clear and very readable. The problem comes with the maps: they appear mostly murky and suffer from the greyscale conversion (as does the cover, but who cares about covers?). Text alone would rate a 5, but with the maps suffering as they do I give it a 4 over all.

More when I can get to them. I think I need to stray from the DX for a post or two ;)