The Light From Below Map

Below Clearspring, lies a danger long forgotten.

This map does belong to me, I give permission to use it for non-commercial purposes with attribution, per CCNA.  Enjoy

DCC RPG World Tour stop at Gam3rCon May 18th, 2013

So I'll be breaking out the Light from Below once more, Probably one of the last times before I move these characters to become the iconics for the 1st level adventure.

Help shape the town of  Clearspring and make an impact of the world....come on down and get your death on....errr...game on.



Gam3rCon Gam3Day at the Tenth Avenue Theater.

Blog, it's what's for Dinner

So what all is on my plate currently? A Lot, it's definitely a full plate.

I have the Interface Zero 2.0 additional writing that I'm working on. I'm redesigning the Golemmech rules, once that's complete I'll need to verify that the existing designs can be designed per those rules.

I have the Legend of Sinbad writing that I'm going to do,  writing two small chapters, Carolingians and the Eastern Roman Empire (aka Byzantium) as it is set in 801 A.D. only 3-6k words, but it should be fun writing, I actually picked up reference material at the Library today.

I have DCCRPG to work on, with Clearspring mapping for round 0 needing to be finished. I need to work on a 1st level adventure, as I was thinking of running that for Free RPGDay as part of the World Tour.

Gamma Crawl Classics as soon as I get the IZ2.0 Golemmech rules sorted out.

Then I have my Unleashed rules to work. I figure I'm no longer interested in the Pathfinder crowd for an audience, so as I continue to tweak the rules, expect them to change more and more from OGL.
All classes will be MAD, but in a balanced way. Skills will be more than a black and white success or failure. Combat will still revolve around margins. Aspects in, Feats out. Heroic points will fuel combat.

I have Malifaux figures to prime and paint. I have Judge Dredd MG figures to paint, especially if my orders get in. CitiDef and SovBloc.

If I'm not at SDCC this year, I will be at SDGC. I have the entire time off. So much fun shall be had.

Clearspring updated

So for my DCC RPG starting town of Clearspring, I'm going through all the starting occupations, and making sure I have a starting building for pretty much every occupation.  (Clearspring will be my starting city/focal point for the DCCRPG World Tour.) Characters surviving the funnel, will become prominent citizens of Clearspring...should be fun! Alright, I got all the starting character occupations a place to come from!!!

NOTE! The names are boring on purpose, the characters that survive the funnels will get their characters helping name places on the map. If a character named "Mollok" makes a mistake and pays the price perhaps  the place where he died will become Mollok's Folly.

I reserve the right to toss out ridiculous and exceptionally boring names...also copyright names DEFINITELY won't be making it into Clearspring.

The Forge
-Armorer
-Blacksmith
-Locksmith

The Chantry & Orphanage 
-Beadle
-Healer
-Orphan

Clearspring Inn and Gambling Hall
Main Point of interest for the following occupations
-Confidence Artist
-Guild Beggar
-Gambler
-Halfling Moneylender
-Halfling Vagrant
-Minstrel

Laborer's Hall
-Ditch Digger
-Dwarven Miner
-Dwarven Ratcatcher
-Dwarven Stonemason
-Grave Digger
-Gongfarmer

Woodworker's Guild
-Cooper
-Dwarven Chestmaker
-Elven Forester
-Wainwright
-Woodworker

Community Hall 
-Elven Barrister
-Scribe

The Mill
-Miller/Baker

Butcher's Alley
-Butcher
-Halfling Chicken Butcher

Farms dot the fertile hillsides, and the lowlands
-Potato Farm
-Wheat Farm
-Turnip Farm
-Corn Farm
-Rice Farm
-Parsnip Farm
-Cabbage Farm
-Rutubaga Farm
-Tomato Farm

The Pasturelands
-Beekeeper
-Dwarven Herder

Stars and Stones
-Astrologer
-Elven Chandler
-Elven Sage
-Fortune Teller
-Halfling Gypsy

Clearsping Husbandry and Stables
-Animal Trainer
-Elven Falconer
-Ostler

The Heartwood
-Dwarven Mushroomfarmer
-Elven Forester
-Herbalist
-Hunter
-Outlaw
-Shaman
-Trapper

Hawker's Lane
-Alchemist
-Barber
-Caravan Guard
-Cobbler
-Costermonger
-Cutpurse
-Dwarven Apothecarist
-Elven Artisan
-Elven Glassblower
-Farmer
-Halfling Haberdasher
-Jester
-Mendicant
-Merchant
-Mercenary
-Urchin

The Cheese Shoppe
-Cheesemaker


The Docks
-Elven Navigator
-Halfling Mariner
-Halfling Trader
-Smuggler
-Slave

Textile Yard
-Halfling Dyer
-Halfling Glovemaker
-Indentured Servant
-Rope Maker
-Weaver

Tower of the One
-Noble
-Tax Collector
-Soldier
-Squire

Creepy Shack at the Edge of the Swamp
-Wizard's Apprentice

Edit: Started working on the Clearspring Inn & Gambling Hall, a 3 story inn with a road north that goes underneath it, between the Gambling House and the Inn. It is the most well-built structure in the entire Clearspring village.

Here's the In-Work Map for Clearspring

DCC RPG Clearspring

So for my DCC RPG starting town of Clearspring, I'm going through all the starting occupations, and making sure I have a starting building for pretty much every occupation.  (Clearspring will be my starting city/focal point for the DCCRPG World Tour.) Characters surviving the funnel, will become prominent citizens of Clearspring...should be fun!

Clearspring Inn and Gambling Hall
Main Point of interest for the following occupations
-Confidence Artist
-Cutpurse
-Dwarven Ratcatcher
-Guild Beggar
-Gambler
-Halfling Vagrant
-Halfling Haberdasher
-Halfling Moneylender
-Minstrel


Laborer's Hall
- Ditch Digger
-Grave Digger

Woodworker's Guild
-Cooper
-Dwarven Chestmaker
-Elven Forester
-Wainwright
-Woodworker

More to come.

More Lambas Bread...errr GM's Day Goodness

More GM's Day goodness!!!

DCC RPG PDF!! Sale for $14.06 A priority for judges.



Marvel-Heroic-Roleplaying by Margaret Weis



And Sarah Newton's Legends of Anglerre for FATE

This is what I like about the old school

Again, still working my butt off, trying to make the best damn Equipment section ever produced for a core game, beyond BL23C even. That is the book I gauge an equipment section on. I sent the first playtest material to David Viars for in-house play-testing, and it's working well. Couple of minor tweaks, but other than that, over 7k words were in play-testing, and I'm over 10k total currently I think. I'm still in major brainstorming mode. Coming up with all sorts of future tech.

I remember the Dart of the Hornet's Nest, which was kind of the inspiration for a shotgun round. The Tazmanian Devil Tazer Swarm 10 gauge shotgun round. Yup, a shotgun firing 24 micro tazers in a flamer template. Talk about riot control...


Anyway...So check out http://fromkickassistan.blogspot.com for a rock'n DCC/OSR kind of blog. And Game-ON!!!
This is the most recent Monster Monday....Look how easy it is to create when you don't have to crunch specific numbers worrying about balance...Old-School Rules! ( I love parts of OGL, but I also love parts of OSR!)

Attack of Ver-Men

Enjoy, Epic Prime!

Gamma Crawl Classics on G+

Over on G+ we've been talking about creating a DCCRPG based Gamma Crawl....Now that would be pretty fun. Gamma World was ALWAYS one of my favorite games. I remember when I was in A-School for the Navy, that a buddy and I would sit there and roll up characters for arena combat using the 5th? edition rules. The book version.

I've actually been thinking of resurrecting my Epicmonsters.blogspot site and creating weekly DCCRPG monsters instead of Pathfinder monsters. While the PF monsters were fun, the amount of work that went into those stat blocks was STUPID. It's the reason I stopped that site, it just became too much work to continue after I got a job again. But creating DCC monsters, man that's pretty easy.

Now new classes, that's a bit harder to do.

So for a Gamma Crawl Classic game there wouldn't be so many races

Pure Strain
Altered Human
Mutant Animal
Mutant Plant

Anyway, there's now a GCC G+ community. Want to Help out?

Come on By!

Crawl Magazine - call for submisisons

Crawl Magazine for DCC RPG is putting out a call for submissions, think I'll submit some stuff, probably a couple of monsters and some deadly traps!

If you're interested, here's what they said:

DCCRPG Crawl #7 submissions.

So Crawl! number six is off for approval. This gives me time to work on the next issue. The next issue is going to be focused on Judges. It's going to be full of Tips, Tricks & Traps. I want some unique stuff for Judges to do behind the screen to make the game fun and challenging to their players. A short adventure or encounter would be cool. As would some traps, especially some fun unique Grimtooth's style stuff. I particularly like multi-part, initiative based traps... I'll take some new critters too. How about some tips from you experienced Judges on running games?

crawl@straycouches.com

Monday Updates

So today I'll be updating some previous threads, for now,

Update#1
The Judge Dredd Miniatures Block War Kickstarter is approaching 60k, with 4 days remaining.

more updates to follow later this evening.

Update#2
DCCRPG Contest, 23 days remain for the DCCRPG design contest. Entries are due by  October 31st.

Reviews - The Dungeon Alphabet (Goodman Games)

As I needed a quick review to do, without a lot of analysis of game rules and such (like I have to do with any of the Abandoned Arts Class Acts supplements), I decided to review The Dungeon Alphabet tonight.


The Dungeon Alphabet (Goodman Games)
System-less reference supplement.

Designing dungeons is as easy as A, B, C! The Dungeon Alphabet compiles twenty-six classic dungeon design elements in one place to assist the game master in creating subterranean challenges. A is for Altar, B is for Books, and C is for Caves: the Dungeon Alphabet has advice, hints, and randomized tables that bring new life to your adventures. Suitable for any rules system, the entries are accompanied by outstanding art from classic fantasy illustrators, with a foreword by noted game designer Zeb Cook. 

This is a great little supplement. Whether you're needing something fast, like a book title, or you're trying to design a classic feeling adventure, this is great reference. For example; You know you want the treasure to be hidden, so you open up to N for "No Stone left Unturned", and roll on the Hidden In/By table with a d20, rolling a 15 you determine the gem is hidden inside a fireplace, hidden under the ashes or stashed in the chimney.
This book gives lots of advice for making OSR more fun, and frankly, even newer systems can benefit from this. Actually with this book, you can make those newer games less sterile, and more fun, because, while there have been some amazing advances in the rules systems, some of the newer mods have lost it, which is why I really like DCCRPG so much lately.

The book features some amazing artwork which definitely invokes in my mind, the incredible worlds of the old school dungeons, with classic feeling artwork by Erol Otus, Jeff Easley, Jim Holloway & Jim Roslof, how can you NOT be inspired?

This is a hard-bound book, with a low $9.99 price tag. Or $7.99 for PDF at DrivethruRPG. It's fun, and filled with great tables, and advice.

Critical Hit! 20/20



Now, I remember seeing that a Dungeon Alphabet 2 is in the works also, that will be sweet.

Dungeon Crawl Classics - Map Adventure Design Competition

So, this has been out there for quite awhile now, DCC RPG with their Free RPG Day offering have a $1000 design contest, basically it's an 1000 word outline of an adventure in addition to completing the map in the DCC RPG style. So it's pretty cool, it combines artistic cartography with creative design.

Now I haven't been able to find a free version anywhere, so unless you got it at Free RPG Day, if you want to get in on the action get it from RPG Now for $4.99, and you get two adventures for DCC RPG also.

Edit: Free version is here: http://www.goodman-games.com/mysterymap.html Thanks Anony! I had tried navigating to it, but I couldn't locate it.

DCCRPG Play report

So last night and tonight we ran the 0-level starter adventure for DCC RPG.

We had a blast, Sarah, Ian & Sean each created a stable of 6 0-level characters. All-in-all 6 characters were lost. Sarah losing 3 characters, Ian losing 2 and Sean losing 1.

What I'm most impressed by, is the quality of the 0-level adventure. Joseph Goodman wrote the adventure and man it's probably one of the best intro adventures I've ever run. It was balanced with danger and reward, even for 0-level characters who die at 0 hp...and we had several characters with 1 or 2 hp.

The most important thing to remember when playing with 0-levels in DCCRPG, is DON'T get attached to any one character, most things do 1-6 HP and out of 18 characters they rolled up, ONE had 5 HP, a few had 4 and many had 1HP...

Now we get to convert 6 0-level characters to 1st level! Woohoo!

Looks like we have a Halfling, Wizard, Elf, Cleric, Warrior and Thief....nice mix...

SDGC Saturday

Saturday
San Diego Gam3rCon 2012
Saturday was pretty good, Got the Traveller game run, unfortunately, it was just one player, so I had the boys jump in again to fill the gap. I think for my next events, I'll just run a prepared Mongoose Game from what I have ready, whatever people want to play, sweet lets do it. My Traveller player also showed for the Paranoia game, but...You just CAN NOT run Paranoia with 1 player, even if the boys jumped in 3 players isn't quite enough to have it be the level of Mandatory Fun required by the Computer! So the boys went down to the Video Game Lounge, and I talked to the USAopoly people about the risk games they've been releasing. I hadn't really looked into them too much, just kind of glanced at them, but once I had the Solid Snake version and the new Halo Legendary Risk explained, I must say, there are some pretty slick mods in there to speed up play, and make each game different, because let's face it, normal Risk is normal Risk, once you past the first few turns, your single preferred strategy usually takes over, and the rest is up to luck.    

     I wasn't able to get Luke to spill the beans on what the new edition is coming out, but he did say there's going to be a big announcement soon. This is pure hopeful speculation, what if there was a Game of Thrones Risk...now that would be sweet. I thought that after I saw a map of Westeros at SDCC....

The new USAopoly Halo Legendary, with Achievement victory conditions, and a ship that moves from port to  port making things really interesting.

New Starcraft Risk map for the soon to be released StarCraft Risk

   After talking Risk for awhile, I decided my Paranoia game wasn't going to happen so I decided to look for something to play, well at the Game Day in January, I played DCC RPG, and it was a blast, this time, I was given a pre-gen, and Steven told me NO CHAOTIC Character (due to the near TPK that my chaotic character created in January.) ...This was a play-test for a module that's in development currently. One of the actresses and the guitar player from Spider Baby the Musical were in the game as well (and another of the actors joined us later.). The module was fun, I had a blast with Smalls the halfling, a haberdasher by trade, who did carry his shears, and actually killed one of the goblinoid creatures with them. Steven Thivierge ran the game, and ran it well. Well enough that I'm pretty convinced I do need to pick up DCCRPG.
Thanks to everyone who played, I had a blast! And thanks to Steven for running such a fun game.

You can even see "Small's" prop scissors where I was sitting!

Last Chance for DCCRPG pre-orders

Last Chance for DCC RPG Pre-Order Offer!
Expires April 1: Pre-orders Receive an Exclusive Adventure Module!

The DCC RPG pre-order offer ends April 1! Place your order before it's too late to receive:

• A free PDF e-book edition of DCC RPG, sent via e-mail when DCC RPG goes to the printer (in early April)
  
• A free copy of DCC #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings, shipped with your pre-order copy of the core rules, available exclusively in the first 1,000 printed copies of DCC RPG.

DCC #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings is available exclusively by pre-ordering DCC RPG before it releases. The first 1,000 copies of DCC RPG will have this adventure module inserted as a free pre-order incentive. It is not available for sale separately. Did we mention the limited edition gold foil cover? The awesome one with the vintage 1970's styling, complete with a hidden message in the art? The pre-order offer is valid with pre-orders of both the regular color-cover version of DCC RPG and the limited edition gold foil cover (available only at launch).
Visit our web site for additional details on pre-ordering at a retail store and upgrading an existing pre-order to the gold foil edition!

News - DCCRPG

Re-posted from my email:

Goodman Games Update February 27, 2012 Quick links: Contact Us • Coming Soon • Forums • DCC RPG

Pre-Order DCC RPG and Get an Exclusive Adventure Module! Pre-order DCC RPG for a great special offer! Place your order by April 1 to receive: A free PDF e-book edition of DCC RPG, sent via e-mail when DCC RPG goes to the printer (approximately 4-6 weeks before it is available to the general public). A free copy of DCC #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings, shipped with your pre-order copy of the core rules, available exclusively in the first 1,000 printed copies of DCC RPG. DCC #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings is available exclusively by pre-ordering DCC RPG before it releases. The first 1,000 copies of DCC RPG will have this adventure module inserted as a free pre-order incentive. It is not available for sale separately. Did we mention the limited edition gold foil cover? The awesome one with the vintage 1970's styling, complete with a hidden message in the art? The pre-order offer is valid with pre-orders of both the regular color-cover version of DCC RPG and the limited edition gold foil cover (available only at launch). Visit our web site for additional details on pre-ordering at a retail store and upgrading an existing pre-order to the gold foil edition!

Gamesday Report & 200th post

The Gamesday was a blast, Not enough people showed for Traveller, however I was able to play some Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG...not the beta, the GM had an editing copy of the final rules, and they definitely seemed better than the beta rules!! Well done. We played a standard kill the kobolds/goblins game and bring back their right ear...

Not being constrained by good and evil in the alignment system, we decided to dominate capture and harvest said ears rather than killing them all for the ears. My character, being a cleric and chaotic was a real nutjob...Cujo the Confused...Got himself killed when he decided to relieve himself in the sewage filled room. The giant centipedes didn't approve. (technically it would have gotten 4 of the 6 players killed had he used the actual save or die rules for the centipedes..instead it did Stamina damage...my character had 8 Stamina, lost 3 during the surprise round, and then keeled over dead at -2 Stamina before he could react in the first round.) Ian picked up the table in the card room and then rushed the 6 kobolds from the secret passage...the magic user charmed one and I commanded another to surrender, the warrior killed one and the others then surrendered!!! Several great rolls in the final encounter really made it a cake walk....Especially since both the Warrior (played by an old-school player in his 60s, that used to play with his sons since he picked up the old red box for them in the 80s) and Sean who joined after he finished with the Pathfinder Game he jumped into, both got criticals in the final battle. All in All a GREAT time was had at that table.

What I like about DCCRPG is that it is designed to be like OD&D dungeon crawls, but it uses some cool table-related mechanics to change it up, and having a luck score is quite fun. The different mechanics for each class actually make the game REALLY REALLY interesting because they all feel unique, and not at all confusing. I love that the game uses the weird dice, d16s, d22s, d24s and d30s!!! While I still hate d20s, it's neat to see other dice being used!! I bet Game Science is giddy about that...I have a d16 that I used for Bloodbowl, I may just have to pick up DCCRPG when it drops in April. I'm glad I got to play during this Gamesday.

After DCCRPG, the boys joined MIB Robert and 4 other players in a massive 4 board game of FRAG!.
I joined on the third turn when I wasn't able to secure enough players to attempt to run the Traveller game. I popped in the spawn zone, rolled 4 on my move which was enough to close with Ian with the Chainsaw 2H+1D=3D, however I had also drawn the HUD (+1 accuracy), so I had two attacks....Fragged Ian, then used my teleport hack to get into one of those fun rooms with lots of guns and equipment tiles. Second Turn, Sean was close enough to close with, Fragged! picked up his flamer. Third turn, rolled a nice 8 on my move...closed within 4 squares of Robert....6 dice rolled 17 to his 9, 1 wound...+1 wound for no armor. Fragged!!, Second shot just for fun...Fragged Ian again...3 Turns 4 Frags, I win...Robert likes to give out prizes, So I got a "My Little Cthulhu" munchkin card and a Undead Task Force hat he picked up at SDCC last year.

Pathfinder Game that Sean played in...note: 3 girl players, 2 guy players!!! Epic!

Let the games commence

Still early in the day, the afternoon session all the tables were full

Savage Worlds Deadlands...wanted to play in it, but my table was downstairs, and I wanted to keep an eye on my stuff...

Brian Bialewski at the far left enjoying some gaming

MIB Robert running some Munchkins

DCCRPG Ian across the table, GM to the bottom right! Thanks for the fun game

Munchkin

Love this shirt!!! He happened to be our 3rd thief player...Thief of 3 faces.

?

Carcasonne, a family favorite

Munchkin

Didn't even know this game existed...

I believe this is Arkham Horror, want to try this some time.

Star Trek co-op game! Didn't get a chance to play that one either...definitely interested though

Munchkin!!!

There might be another Gam3rCon Gameday in Spring...have to wait to see what happens...Watch this blog for updates!!!

DCCRPG by Goodman Games

So, Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is coming out in April (not February like the poster says.) I did do some beta testing of this game, let's just say it's just brutal, you actually roll up multiple 0 level characters, and proceed into a killzone....err dungeon. If you have a character survive, then you will make it to level 1. 

It's designed like an OD&D game, not the modern role-playing game, but a deadly, haphazard, monster-strewn dungeon crawl. I would definitely love to play this at cons though! Some of the best old school D&D modules were convention tournament modules.