Mazes and Monsters-From Anti D&D Propaganda Film To Nostalgic RPG-Follow The Journey

Check out blog of holdings take on the 'classic' rpg that had tongues a waggin' back in the 80's.

Good stuff!

http://blogofholding.com/?page_id=370

The Heroscape RPG

Heroscape RPG is a modification to Heroscape that describes the rules to play a rather old-fashioned RPG with Heroscape models in Heroscape landscape. Each player acts with a single hero; monsters are being played by the gamemaster.
As the heroes explore the Heroscape world they gain experience, skills and items, while new terrain is being added during gameplay according to the Terrain Generator rules.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/38265/heroscape-rpg

Thought this might interest folks. I always knew those Master sets I have in the closet would be useful again someday :)

THE USE OF MINIATURES

It seems today that tiles and minis are all the rage.

I find myself designing the way I have always designed. And that is without a thought to the use of miniatures. During the ‘80’s when I first played the longest sessions of my life it came down to buying miniatures and devoting the time to at least ‘antique’ the pewter figures (involving a watered down black paint that gave a nice depth to the detail of the figure and didn’t take as long as a full color job) or spend the time and money on resource items.

Needless to say that chess pieces and pennies saw a lot of use as Player Character and Orc stand-ins.

We only ever seemed to truly need them when throwing down in some major combat with a near army size opponent.

I will however be directing those who like that aspect of the game to the resources I have located online (mostly free for download and printing in the case of the paper minis) whenever possible.

Hope you find them usable...now where did those links go?...:)

Eternal Keep-News of the old :)

Yes, I've done it again :)

http://eternalkeep.blogspot.com/

will bring you old school goodness from the blogsophere updated as it arrives. For those familiar with this gadget it will place the latest news at the top from the listed sites.

Hope you have a good read!

Ken St. Andre responds to James Shipman and news of Ken's retirement

Mike Monaco at Swords & Dorkery has posted a very good summation piece on Ken's retirement and a link over to the latest on the Shipman/Outlaw Press fiasco at Tim Brannan's The Other Side and I wanted to spread this message from Ken as far as possible.

An open letter to James Shipman from Ken St. Andre:

James,

I received your package yesterday with some surprise. Received six copies of the revised Gristlegrim Dungeon. This dismays me, as I told you to quit publishing it back in January of this year when I broke with you. If this parcel was an attempt at a reconciliation between us, then I appreciate the effort you took, but I reject it. Our friendship and partnership is broken and done forever. I do not wish to collaborate on Gristlegrim or any other project with you. Not now! Not ever again! You had no right to add your material to my work. You have no right to continue publishing and selling it. Please stop!

James, you no longer have any right to publish or sell my works. We have no written contracts. We have no formal accounting of royalties. Your habit of sending money and or copies of the items is no longer good enough. Any informal agreements we may have made in 2009 and earlier are terminated on my side of the deal. I no longer wish to associate with you, either professionally or informally.

Find some other outlet for your creativity. Leave me, and leave Tunnels and Trolls, alone. I am rejecting any further association with you.

I hope this is clearly understood. Do not publish anything with my name on it as author. Do not presume to collaborate with me on my projects. Do not keep attempting to infiltrate trollhalla.com under false names--you are banned and unwelcome on that site. Do not attempt to rewrite the history of Tunnels and Trolls on Wikipedia or any other online sources. Do not send me money. Do not send me product. I do not want it from you. However, I am under no legal obligation to send back things that arrive unsolicited in the mail. I won't waste the money or the effort to send them back. I am not interested in theatrical gestures. I simply wish to terminate our association and to move on with other things in life.

I hereby reclaim my rights to anything I ever gave you to publish. In particular, I assert my right to the novel Griffin Feathers which consists entirely of my own work with some input in the short sections of the book from the members of Trollhalla.

I am forwarding the "royalties" that you sent me to Jeff Freels, the artist whose work you have re-used to illustrate this version of Gristlegrim. He deserves compensation for his work.

James, I am not angry at you, and I do not hate you. I simply will not associate with you ever again. For several years we were, I thought, very good friends. Outlaw Press did a lot for Tunnels and Trolls. You know why that time has ended. Let it go. Move on.

James, I will be publishing this letter in open forums on the internet, so that all the world can see how I feel, and how I react to what I can only believe are attempts to manipulate me and to gain control of Tunnels and Trolls. If you have no ulterior intentions, then forgive me for being suspicious, but I no longer feel that I can trust you.

James, you have your own unique style of creativity. Please go and do your own thing, and stop messing with me and with Tunnels and Trolls.


Sincerely,
Ken St. Andre

He also posted it over on the Big Purple.

I will be posting guidelines on how to avoid bogus product and and keeping T&T true to its roots asap.

Stand By....

The Once and Future Game. Old Guard Gaming isn't going anywhere.-(Old Guard Gaming Accoutrements)

Just thought this hit the spot today. Click for the whole shebang :)

The Once and Future Game. Old Guard Gaming isn't going anywhere.

I know a lot of old gamers worry about the future of The Game, but I’m confident it’s not going to die off anytime soon.

When we’re discussing the future of Old Guard gaming, I think we’re discussing three different, but closely related things. The future of Dungeons & Dragons, (OD&D, AD&D, and the Retro-clones), the future of Old School gaming style and philosophy, and also the future of table top Role Playing Games themselves.

Each of these is seen as under threat from the same sources. You’ve got computer role playing games and shooters, the merchandising mentality that tries to insert the need for continual purchases of add-ons like cards, minis, splatbooks and new editions, which fractures the hobby and creates factions, and the disinterest of the kids who are creating their own diceless and freeform types of role playing over the internet. I think each of these things will have its day, but I don’t think any of them are a lasting threat to Old Guard D&D, or table top role playing in general.

This is why.

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Words To Live By

While engaged in my daily studies I ran across this bit of simple wisdom and under fair use wish to share:

ROLE PLAYING GAME MANIFESTO

THESE RULES ARE WRITTEN ON PAPER, NOT ETCHED ON STONE TABLETS.

RULES ARE SUGGESTED GUIDELINES, NOT REQUIRED EDICTS.

IF THE RULES DON'T SAY YOU CAN'T DO SOMETHING, YOU CAN.

THERE ARE NO OFFICIAL ANSWERS, ONLY OFFICIAL OPINIONS.

WHEN DICE CONFLICT WITH THE STORY, THE STORY ALWAYS WINS.

MIN/MAXING AND MUNCHKINISM AREN'T PROBLEMS WITH THE GAME; THEY'RE PROBLEMS WITH THE PLAYER.

THE GAME MASTER HAS FULL DISCRETIONARY POWER OVER THE GAME.

THE GAME MASTER ALWAYS WORKS WITH, NOT AGAINST, THE PLAYERS.

A GAME THAT IS NOT FUN IS NO LONGER A GAME-IT'S A CHORE.

THIS BOOK CONTAINS THE ANSWERS TO ALL THINGS.

WHEN THE ABOVE DOES NOT APPLY, MAKE IT UP.

-GUARDIANS OF ORDER


Amen