Well, maybe some of you never even noticed, what with the infrequent posting around here, but when Mediafire started dicking around with my files and not being helpful at all, I nuked my account there. Luckily, most of my downloadable files (over there --> at the top of the sidebar!) are back up thanks in no small part to Brad of Skull Crushing For Great Justice.
Did you know he's got a website devoted to hosting files for us in the OSR? RPGFiles.org? Heard of it?
No, I hadn't either, until he chimed in on the comments to the post I made complaining about the douchebags who tagged Flying Swordsmen as being in potential violation of copyright.*
Anyway, Brad is running http://www.rpgfiles.org/ and that's where all my documents are now being hosted. If you've got some game modules or your own retro-simulo-heart-breakero-Mine type game to distribute or whatever, I suggest you contact Brad and put them up on his site. It's free and it was pretty easy. And even though he's got an acidic wit on his blog (one of the reasons I like to read it), he was very patient with my annoying questions along the way.
What can I say, I've got no experience with web-site coding, or running servers, or anything. I'm lazy and like to just use services like Blogger that do it all for me. But Brad set me up with some server space to host my files, and helped with the FTP process, and all kinds of good stuff.
Now I just need to find where on my various hard drives the last couple files are (one went missing thanks to a missing USB flash memory stick, but I've got a hard copy I could use to recreate it) and get the last few files back up for people to download.
Thanks, Brad!
*Man, IP law is getting really fucked up. There's no "innocent until proven guilty" when Hollywood and publishing houses and the music industry have deep pockets and aren't afraid to buy a politician or two. I sent a rather abusive email to MediaFire during the dust-up. Granted, they were being unhelpful, but when a nice lady replied to my rant politely and explained that they're legally required to treat claims of copyright infringement as guilty until proven innocent, I felt kinda bad for her. They're just doing their jobs and following an unjust law because their bosses are too chicken-shit to fight it.
I need to be a) badgering my elected officials, and b) looking for the French douchebag company and trying to see if they have any materials on the web that I could then accuse of being in violation of my copyright and let them have to deal with what they dish out. But since I've got grad school presentations and readings to take care of, I probably won't get around to either.
Showing posts with label Unique Magic Weapons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unique Magic Weapons. Show all posts
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Friday, September 17, 2010
Funny what a change to the definite article will do
You've likely seen my Unique Magic Weapons documents over on the right side of the screen. Some of you have even downloaded them and given me a small amount of praise for them. Thanks, by the way!
Using them, plus this awesome idea from Netherworks, the Old School Heretic, plus the definite article, and magic items become a whole lot cooler.
Using my documents, weapons armor and wands/staves/rods become unique items with a bit of personalized flair.
Using Netherworks' idea, scrolls and potions if you extend it to them, become a bit more mysterious and fun.
Then where does the definite article come in?
Simple. For Miscellaneous Magic Items (and Rings until I get around to making a Unique Magic Rings document), simply add the article "the" to the front of the name, and never drop more than one of each item in the campaign, and they get valued as well.
The Bag of Holding is much more important to have than 'a bag of holding.'
Using them, plus this awesome idea from Netherworks, the Old School Heretic, plus the definite article, and magic items become a whole lot cooler.
Using my documents, weapons armor and wands/staves/rods become unique items with a bit of personalized flair.
Using Netherworks' idea, scrolls and potions if you extend it to them, become a bit more mysterious and fun.
Then where does the definite article come in?
Simple. For Miscellaneous Magic Items (and Rings until I get around to making a Unique Magic Rings document), simply add the article "the" to the front of the name, and never drop more than one of each item in the campaign, and they get valued as well.
The Bag of Holding is much more important to have than 'a bag of holding.'
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
More Magic Weapons? (non-ninja post)
Ninja Week will continue, even though I've been getting fewer hits this week. You aren't interested in ninja? Well, too bad. More to come.
Anyway, I've been reading through Myths and Legends of China for ideas for more monsters to put into Flying Swordsmen. And I realized there are a ton of cool magical weapons in the section on the gods.
Considering that just about anyone with a lick of fame could be turned into a god by the Chinese (and they have ranks, Immortals, Heroes, Saints, and actual gods), that means there are a ton. And they have lots of cool powers like blowing lasers out of their nostrils or belching up poisonous smoke, but quite a few of them carry magical weapons as well.
I purposely left out magical katana and, with the exception of pole arms and Sun Wu Kong's staff, other Asian weapons from my Unique Magic Weapons document.
Since it's been the most popular of the series (and I can understand why, although I really like the wands, staves and rods as well), it may be time to work on a sequel, focusing on weapons from Asian myths, from the Middle East through East Asia. Don't know if I could get 100 swords, 100 other melee weapons AND 100 missile weapon entries like the first one, but I could surely put together another list of 100 total.
That might be something to work on after I get the first draft of Flying Swordsmen finished.
Anyway, I've been reading through Myths and Legends of China for ideas for more monsters to put into Flying Swordsmen. And I realized there are a ton of cool magical weapons in the section on the gods.
Considering that just about anyone with a lick of fame could be turned into a god by the Chinese (and they have ranks, Immortals, Heroes, Saints, and actual gods), that means there are a ton. And they have lots of cool powers like blowing lasers out of their nostrils or belching up poisonous smoke, but quite a few of them carry magical weapons as well.
I purposely left out magical katana and, with the exception of pole arms and Sun Wu Kong's staff, other Asian weapons from my Unique Magic Weapons document.
Since it's been the most popular of the series (and I can understand why, although I really like the wands, staves and rods as well), it may be time to work on a sequel, focusing on weapons from Asian myths, from the Middle East through East Asia. Don't know if I could get 100 swords, 100 other melee weapons AND 100 missile weapon entries like the first one, but I could surely put together another list of 100 total.
That might be something to work on after I get the first draft of Flying Swordsmen finished.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Unique Magic Weapons
Well, they ain't pretty, but they're complete. And I haven't bothered to do any more editing in the past four months or so, so I guess I'm about satisfied with them.
What am I talking about? Look over on the right, above the blog's co-pilot and you'll see links to my three freebie documents designed to make DMing a little easier, and the game a little cooler for the players.
They're my Unique Magic Items series. I've been using them in my recent games as the ONLY magic weapons, wands/staves/rods and armors/shields that will be encountered. They've all got names (taken from a wide variety of fiction, cinema, video games, mythology, and general pop culture), descriptions, often a bit of history or fluff that can be fodder for rumors.
Of course you don't need to use them the way I do, you can always just use them as the specials among the mundane +1 swords and wands of paralyzation if you want. But hopefully players will feel a bit more attached to these items as they're given names and descriptions to work with.
Most of them come from the normal treasure tables, but there are a few specials I invented. Have fun with them!
What am I talking about? Look over on the right, above the blog's co-pilot and you'll see links to my three freebie documents designed to make DMing a little easier, and the game a little cooler for the players.
They're my Unique Magic Items series. I've been using them in my recent games as the ONLY magic weapons, wands/staves/rods and armors/shields that will be encountered. They've all got names (taken from a wide variety of fiction, cinema, video games, mythology, and general pop culture), descriptions, often a bit of history or fluff that can be fodder for rumors.
Of course you don't need to use them the way I do, you can always just use them as the specials among the mundane +1 swords and wands of paralyzation if you want. But hopefully players will feel a bit more attached to these items as they're given names and descriptions to work with.
Most of them come from the normal treasure tables, but there are a few specials I invented. Have fun with them!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Unique Magic Weapons series
Sitting here at work printing out what are likely the second to last drafts of my Unique Magic Weapons, Unique Magic Armors & Shields, and Unique Magic Wands, Staves and Rods documents.
Assuming I don't find any glaring omissions or typos or just plain wrong things, I'll likely finally be releasing them soon.
Assuming I don't find any glaring omissions or typos or just plain wrong things, I'll likely finally be releasing them soon.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Playing in the Sandbox III
My report here is a bit late. I've been busy at work, and didn't have time last night to write this up either. Now the wife and son are asleep, so I've got a bit of time.
Tuesday night I brought D&D to the Board Game Group. Once everyone was there--everyone for this week being myself, Pat, Chloe, Amy (Chloe's Korean friend), Dave, Lucy, Robin and Prada (Lucy and Robin's friend--yes, that's the name she chose for herself in English...).
We spent a bit of time giving Amy and Prada the basic rundown. Amy rolled up a Cleric, and Prada a Fighter. Lucy and Robin had a good laugh when Prada's Charisma ended up below average and I wouldn't let her re-roll. Well, she had a 17 Str, plus decent Int and Dex, so that should be good enough, right? Yeah, I'm an evil DM.
Pat only played his Fighter 3, Dave and Robin had Elves, Lucy had a Cleric 2, and Chloe has her Illusionist in addition to the two new characters.
They started out the session reviewing rumors. Several had gotten the rumor that demons infested the old Chapter House, but that there was lots of treasure there as well. Undaunted by demon rumors, they set out seeking more advice on the subject. They got the basic history of the place from the town historian, and then a bit more advice from the town's most unusual resident, Elmithrisar, an Elf said to be over 3000 years old (and he looks old, unusual for Elves). Elmithrisar wasn't sure what might lurk in the Chapter House, but thought the party might need some magical weapons before they ventured forth there.
Then they started wondering where to get magical gear. Elmithrisar pointed them in the direction of Cliodna, the leader of the local Elf clan that lives in the Black Wood just west of town. They decided to put that on hold for the moment, and investigate another rumor that Lizard Men had abducted a local farm family (I'd decided a little while ago that this was a false rumor--werewolves had killed the family and blamed it on the Lizard Men once they were back in human form).
They went to the farm, and found it deserted and trashed. They found the family dog in the barn, and used some scraps of clothes to get the dog to track by scent. It led them not to the Lizard Man stronghold (it would have eventually if things had gone differently), but to a lair on the path to the Lizard Men, which was the home of some bears.
They investigated the caves. The first bear they found was sleeping, and they left it alone. Dave's Elf snuck in to check out the bones that were on the floor, and found a human skull among them. This shook people up a bit. They assumed that it was from the farm family until they took it outside, saw that it looked old, and the dog didn't seem to find it familiar (not sure a dog could identify it's owner's bones though anyway...).
They went back in and took the other branch in the cave, and found two bears there. The bears were awake and threatening, so they started to back off, but then Pat suggested that they had enough numbers to take two bears. So the party attacked, rather than follow Dave's suggestion of going back to town for long spears to try to fight the bears while keeping them at bay.
It didn't end well. Dave's Elf went down in the first or second round, and Pat's Fighter followed him a few rounds later (bear hugs are nasty, even for a L3 Fighter!). The group managed to take the bears down eventually, once I stopped rolling so well to hit. Lucy's Cleric was damaged a little, but that was all.
Searching the room after looting their comrades for anything of worth (while Pat and Dave took the chance to make a run to the convenience store), they found a boulder blocking another passage. Inside, they found some loot stashed there by bandits long ago (the bones being those of dead bandits). There were some silver and copper coins, some large barrels of fish oil, and a falchion made of greenish steel. They took the loot back to town, paid the Grey Friars to bury their dead comrades properly, then met up with Pat's Cleric and Dave's new Cavalier. We decided to end the session there.
The sword is magical, of course. I rolled one off of my Unique Magic Weapons book which I still need to get around to giving a final edit. The sword wasn't there originally, but since they're interested in the Chapter House and they fought a tough battle with the bears, I decided to throw in a magic weapon for them. It's a +1 dancing weapon, but they have yet to identify it.
In other news, after 2 days of lots of emails and text messages exchanged, it looks like Alex will not be running Heroes Unlimited after all. Dave may be running d20 Conan instead. I've actually got an itch to run some Star Frontiers, but I really don't have the time right now to do it. Unless I ditched the D&D game. So it looks like we'll be running Hyborians and Turanians and Hyperboreans the next time we have a Saturday game.
Tuesday night I brought D&D to the Board Game Group. Once everyone was there--everyone for this week being myself, Pat, Chloe, Amy (Chloe's Korean friend), Dave, Lucy, Robin and Prada (Lucy and Robin's friend--yes, that's the name she chose for herself in English...).
We spent a bit of time giving Amy and Prada the basic rundown. Amy rolled up a Cleric, and Prada a Fighter. Lucy and Robin had a good laugh when Prada's Charisma ended up below average and I wouldn't let her re-roll. Well, she had a 17 Str, plus decent Int and Dex, so that should be good enough, right? Yeah, I'm an evil DM.
Pat only played his Fighter 3, Dave and Robin had Elves, Lucy had a Cleric 2, and Chloe has her Illusionist in addition to the two new characters.
They started out the session reviewing rumors. Several had gotten the rumor that demons infested the old Chapter House, but that there was lots of treasure there as well. Undaunted by demon rumors, they set out seeking more advice on the subject. They got the basic history of the place from the town historian, and then a bit more advice from the town's most unusual resident, Elmithrisar, an Elf said to be over 3000 years old (and he looks old, unusual for Elves). Elmithrisar wasn't sure what might lurk in the Chapter House, but thought the party might need some magical weapons before they ventured forth there.
Then they started wondering where to get magical gear. Elmithrisar pointed them in the direction of Cliodna, the leader of the local Elf clan that lives in the Black Wood just west of town. They decided to put that on hold for the moment, and investigate another rumor that Lizard Men had abducted a local farm family (I'd decided a little while ago that this was a false rumor--werewolves had killed the family and blamed it on the Lizard Men once they were back in human form).
They went to the farm, and found it deserted and trashed. They found the family dog in the barn, and used some scraps of clothes to get the dog to track by scent. It led them not to the Lizard Man stronghold (it would have eventually if things had gone differently), but to a lair on the path to the Lizard Men, which was the home of some bears.
They investigated the caves. The first bear they found was sleeping, and they left it alone. Dave's Elf snuck in to check out the bones that were on the floor, and found a human skull among them. This shook people up a bit. They assumed that it was from the farm family until they took it outside, saw that it looked old, and the dog didn't seem to find it familiar (not sure a dog could identify it's owner's bones though anyway...).
They went back in and took the other branch in the cave, and found two bears there. The bears were awake and threatening, so they started to back off, but then Pat suggested that they had enough numbers to take two bears. So the party attacked, rather than follow Dave's suggestion of going back to town for long spears to try to fight the bears while keeping them at bay.
It didn't end well. Dave's Elf went down in the first or second round, and Pat's Fighter followed him a few rounds later (bear hugs are nasty, even for a L3 Fighter!). The group managed to take the bears down eventually, once I stopped rolling so well to hit. Lucy's Cleric was damaged a little, but that was all.
Searching the room after looting their comrades for anything of worth (while Pat and Dave took the chance to make a run to the convenience store), they found a boulder blocking another passage. Inside, they found some loot stashed there by bandits long ago (the bones being those of dead bandits). There were some silver and copper coins, some large barrels of fish oil, and a falchion made of greenish steel. They took the loot back to town, paid the Grey Friars to bury their dead comrades properly, then met up with Pat's Cleric and Dave's new Cavalier. We decided to end the session there.
The sword is magical, of course. I rolled one off of my Unique Magic Weapons book which I still need to get around to giving a final edit. The sword wasn't there originally, but since they're interested in the Chapter House and they fought a tough battle with the bears, I decided to throw in a magic weapon for them. It's a +1 dancing weapon, but they have yet to identify it.
In other news, after 2 days of lots of emails and text messages exchanged, it looks like Alex will not be running Heroes Unlimited after all. Dave may be running d20 Conan instead. I've actually got an itch to run some Star Frontiers, but I really don't have the time right now to do it. Unless I ditched the D&D game. So it looks like we'll be running Hyborians and Turanians and Hyperboreans the next time we have a Saturday game.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
RPG Projects
So I'm working on some things. Have been for a while, so I can't really put up a "coming soon" banner or anything, but here are those things I'm working on. They'll all be free downloadables once I finally get around to posting them somewhere.
Unique Magic Weapons
This document is intended as a DM aid, detailing 100 magic swords, 100 other melee weapons, and a bunch of magical ranged weapons and ammunition (100 total entries, it's about 40/60 weapons to ammo). It's to avoid the 'another +1 sword?' problem.
This one's complete, and ready to go.
Unique Magic Wands, Staves, and Rods
Similar to the above, this details 100 wands, 50 staves, and 20 rods for use in adding a layer of coolness to these magic items. I've got quite a few new items on here, where the magic weapons tend to be mostly by the book.
This one's complete, but needs to be proofread.
Unique Magic Armors and Shields
The third document in the series (I may to Rings...or may not). Again, it lists and describes lots of magic armors and shields, so DMs don't have to give out generic magic armors. It's got 100 total entries, with 25 being just shields, 50 just armor, and 25 armor and shield sets (50 shields, 75 suits of armor total).
This one's still being written. I've got to do the descriptions for plate armors, suit armors, and all of the combination sets. And maybe rework lots of names so that they're not all "Gawain's Hauberk" or "Aragorn's Breastplate." Wands/Staves/Rods already suffers from that, whereas weapons tend to have names already, or they are easy to give a name that fits.
Unique Magic Weapons
This document is intended as a DM aid, detailing 100 magic swords, 100 other melee weapons, and a bunch of magical ranged weapons and ammunition (100 total entries, it's about 40/60 weapons to ammo). It's to avoid the 'another +1 sword?' problem.
This one's complete, and ready to go.
Unique Magic Wands, Staves, and Rods
Similar to the above, this details 100 wands, 50 staves, and 20 rods for use in adding a layer of coolness to these magic items. I've got quite a few new items on here, where the magic weapons tend to be mostly by the book.
This one's complete, but needs to be proofread.
Unique Magic Armors and Shields
The third document in the series (I may to Rings...or may not). Again, it lists and describes lots of magic armors and shields, so DMs don't have to give out generic magic armors. It's got 100 total entries, with 25 being just shields, 50 just armor, and 25 armor and shield sets (50 shields, 75 suits of armor total).
This one's still being written. I've got to do the descriptions for plate armors, suit armors, and all of the combination sets. And maybe rework lots of names so that they're not all "Gawain's Hauberk" or "Aragorn's Breastplate." Wands/Staves/Rods already suffers from that, whereas weapons tend to have names already, or they are easy to give a name that fits.
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