Prophecies!

I'm writing up 20 sample prophecies for the new Pathfinder locale but am finding it more difficult than I first thought. Up to 17 though so there's hope! I also resurrected a locale concept I was going to use during my Mystic Eye days called the Junkyard. It's an area where a decadent society ruled by mages sends its waste via portals. Just imagine the possibilities with residual energies, half-spent items and components, mutated monsters, etc.!

Abbey Review

The first review for Abbey of the Golden Sparrow at OBS has appeared!

I have to say that it echoes my thoughts as well. We won't be sticking to limiting the locales to one class in the future. I was cobbling a new locale yesterday called The Prophecy Stone which will be good for any characters who wander by. :)

Best Sci-Fi Soundtrack of all time?

Guessing #1 should be easy but some of the others on the list were quite a surprise (especially #10!). Have a look at the list!

Gas Prices Made Easy

I found out about this site awhile ago but not sure if I mentioned it before. If you need to know the current gas rates where you're headed (or en route to that location) and, like me, you want the best deal possible, then check this out.

If you're not in PA, then just inert "newjersey" or whatever into the url. Or, you can just click on one of the station's "map" links and bring up the google map. It's nice to pan along a route to see just where the cheapest stop is located. The prices are updated very regularly. Happy gas hunting!

D&D Soda

I'm a bit slow on the draw here with this post but in case someone's been dying for a cup of Illithid Brain Juice, here you go!

New & Free Music

Ottmar Liebert has a new CD that's a FREE download. It's a collaboration with oud player Rahim Alhaj: http://wp.me/pgATL-xu

Saw this little note posted on the Echoes facebook page. The whole Flamenco-meets-Middle Eastern flair isn't quite my thing but I thought I'd pass it along anyway.

The Greenwood Files

There's been (as of this writing) an interview in 3 parts featured over at Grognardia (link to your right) over the last week or so. I suspect more Q&A will appear before too long as Ed Greenwood (Forgotten Realms creator and author most prolific) always is happy to answer questions. I met him once at GenCon when I was on a mission from Brad to snap a picture of the man should I see him. He approached the Mystic Eye Games booth where I was toiling before the Con opened that day. I didn't get to speak with him too much except to ask for the picture. If I could go back I would have probably asked many questions about his dealings with TSR and the Realms in general which makes this series of Q&As most welcome. Check them out!

Foreign Affairs

Wow, had a recent visitor to the blog from Bombay. That's cool (unless it's some kind of spam bot of course).

Fall TV Begins!

I've probably missed the premiere of something that looked interesting before tonight but there's not many things I'm keeping on the radar. Tonight we've got the Fringe second season premiere which, by all accounts, is going to be pretty good. Do I really remember what was happening last season? Sure, Olivia gets sucked into an alternate dimension with Spock, er I mean William Bell. Fringe has had its highs and lows but you can't really judge a series with this kind of mythology too harshly from its freshman season. After all, if you did there most certainly would not have been more than one season of Star Trek: TNG (oh god, the first season pain!).

Also starting tonight is NBC's Community which marks the questionable big network debut of that guy from The Soup and the return of Chevy Chase to primetime. Unlike many people, I like Chevy so on that basis alone I'm going to give this a watch. Regrettably, these two shows are on at the same time so I'll need to tape the latter to watch later. A small price to pay for having some new stuff back on the tube.

What's next that I'm looking forward to? Stargate: Universe, Legend of the Seeker, and, yes I'll say it, season 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Communication

So I'm filing quarterly taxes now that I'm an independent contractor and, I must say, it's been nothing but a pain in the ass. Oh, I don't mind paying the taxes, it's not that. What I've been having a problem with is my tax preparer. He has another time-consuming day job besides being an accountant. I know and respect this so I try to not bother him until close to tax time (in this case, Sept 15). The history up to this point is that the man is also chronically last-minute with these things (maybe it's more dramatic?).

When he suggested setting up quaterly taxes for '09 I thought that was a good idea. He said, "Call me in June." This was around the time we did 2008 taxes so I just thought maybe it was too late at that point to make the quarterly April payment. No biggie. Well, June rolled around and it was like pulling teeth to get ahold of the guy. Again, I understand he's busy but the next payment was due 6/15 and, of course, I didn't get the info about the payment until the end of June. WTF? And even then, there was no interaction. A brief phone message informed me that my info was ready and so, when I went to the man's place of business to meet with him found only an envelope waiting for me. Inside was the info I had given him plus two payment vouchers (fed and state) along with the amounts to pay--very large amounts.

I would have loved to question the amounts but the guy had gone back into hiding and was incommunicado. Fine. I paid the taxes (on July 1) and life went on. But then before too long September rolled around. I made a phone call or two that wasn't returned and then discovered an email for the accountant at his day job. After sending an email on 9/3 and on 9/10 I was getting a bit peeved. I made a final request for aid this morning but, as of this moment, received no response.

I was lamenting my state to the woman where I get my coffee in town (we're pretty good friends) and she mentioned another accountant in town whom I had forgotten about (and who lives 30 seconds drive from my house). Immediately I went home, gathered my tax info, and went down to see Charlie(who I actually knew from my drug store days). Charlie brought me right back into his office and, after some quick and dirty figuring, came up with some lower numbers. I let him know how much I paid in June and he could not believe the numbers which, as it turns out, were enough to cover me for the year!! Charlie said not to make any kind of Sept payment but instead to contact him in Jan. Then we could check my year's pay stubs and make sure I don't owe any more for '09.

Ah, finally some relief. And, I suppose, this could be why the first guy wasn't contacting me--I had already paid enough for the year. Even so, how fucking hard is it to return an email? Thus, we come to the point of this post--communication: just do it. Whenever you deal with others, be it personally or professionally, you have to have communication. Nothing drives me up the wall more when someone doesn't get back to me. I don't care if you have good news or bad; whether you can get a project done or not.

You have to be up front with people in a timely fashion. Life can then move on. I'm happy I jumped ship to a new accountant. It was something that was long overdue (not unlike I believed my taxes were about to be!).

Old School Cool

As I ponder what neat challenges to put into What Goes Up, our first Swords & Wizardry adventure, I wanted to ask you blog readers what you remember from your formative years that was "cool" in an adventure. I realize that half of the cool things became so due to some brave/foolish action your character took but this question looks to the other half for my answer.

For example, I recall in DL14 when one of the PCs tried to excise a gem from a column and then a ghostly hand emerged from the stone to smash the aforementioned character's head into the column. It was just something that made me go, "Whoa!" and stuck with me for some reason after 20+ years.

Spellcraft 101

I saw a question on the Paizo pathfinder rules forum yesterday concerning using Spellcraft to identify a divine spell as it is being cast. I can see where they're coming from in that they don't like the idea of a mage identifying a divine caster's spell but why do you need to come up with yet another rule to govern it? Magic is magic. It's why they allowed psionic and spell resistance to interact in 3e, for example.

Consider this--if you draw water from the sink, whether you use a paper cup or a porcelain mug, I can still tell you're drinking water if I see you tapping it. To me, magic works the same way be it arcane or divine. Divine casters pray while arcane casters babble but both still use gestures (i.e. somatic components) and these are presumably the same. The magic may manifest from different vessels (cup or mug) but it is still the same. Otherwise, you'd have to have very different spell resistance rules et al to govern when arcane and divine interact.

Just sayin'.

Early Fall?

We'd had some damn fine days this week which are making me pine for autumn to just arrive already! There's a cool breeze blowing through the window as I type...ah...

So, you might be wondering what I'm getting done with my free time now that I'm only working in the afternoons. Answer: Not much. Looks like the more time I have to myself the less I feel the need to cram it with writing (or other work). But that's the trap I must not fall victim to. Tricky Owlbear had what was probably it's best month in August thanks to our two most recent releases. I've got to keep on writing and releasing products to keep the momentum but the trouble is that, as the company president, I don't get in trouble for being unproductive. Kind of makes me wish I was still a green freelancer trying to make a name for myself.

In other news, Linda and I hit Atlantic City all day Tuesday and had a friggin' blast! Didn't come home broke but also didn't manage to get ahead. We were at the Borgata (who comped us $50 in slots play and food) for 4.5 hours before heading over to park at Caesar's. We played enough there and at Bally's to earn free parking but I printed the voucher at Bally's. Thus, I was concerned it would not work for the Caesar's garage. But the guy at the guard station took it without batting an eye so that working out fine. We had some comp $$ for Bally's but didn't get to use the food ones as the valid places were either closed or too busy. We ate at a Wawa on the way home which working out just fine. All told, we were in AC for 9 hours, most of which saw us slots playing. I'm sure we'll do it again next year.

Campaign Notes: DL 1-2

Apologies for the quiet around here last week but I tend to go into a creative hibernation for module prep. :) We had our second module in my War of the Lance-era Dragonlance campaign yesterday and things turned out pretty much as I had hoped. If you checked here earlier and the entry ended abruptly, I now have it finished. Enjoy!

Title: Est Sularus oth Mithas
PC Level: 1st

Firstly, Brad couldn't make it due to health issues so the kender was off doing what kender do for this adventure. The other 3 PCs (Greg as Gundar, a cleric of Kiri-Jolith; Scot as Beam, a human wizard; Heather as Deedra, a minotaur fighter) were preparing to go to the local knights of Solamnia to tell them of the return of the gods. Gundar prepared his speech, complete with the medallion of faith to help prove his tale's validity. But before they left for the keep, the PCs encountered a group of refugees heading into Ironrock. These poor souls had been on the move for weeks from a city called Thelgaard (other side of the Vingaard mountains from Ironrock). Many citizens of Ironrock rushed out to meet and aid these refugees, as did the PCs once they knew what was happening.

Gundar decided to demonstrate his new divine powers by healing one of the injured with magic, prompting a swell of interest from nearby folk. The PCs learned that Thelgaard came under attack by...red dragons! The great beasts were thought to be little more than childish myths but that changed when those mythical beasts destroyed their city with fire. Following the dragons came an army of humans, ogres, goblins, and some kind of lizard-man. These latter creatures flew from the backs of the dragons to attack the people and, even when slain, wreaked havoc by either turning to stone (thus capturing their killer's weapons) or exploding with acidic gore (melting half the face of one of the refugees).

The knights soon emerged from their keep in the mountain to set up a triage area for the refugees. Gundar, again wanting to prove his talents especially to the knights, divinely healed another person in front of Sir Jiran, the knight commander. After securing things, Sir Jiran asked to speak with Gundar and his companions back at the keep. Only the knight commander and one servant were present then with the party, the other knights and servants attending to the refugees. Gundar and his friends explained what had happened with the fount of Kiri-Jolith last adventure. Sir Jiran could hardly argue against the evidence of the cleric's healing ability but was perplexed how his deity of choice could choose "children" as his emmissaries instead of the knights of Solamnia there. He studies the Measure daily (proper knightly conduct as laid out in 37 written volumes) and all of his men lived by the Code "Est Sularus oth Mithas" ("My Honor is My Life"). Conversation moved to what to do about the approaching evil army. The PCs want to get out there and do something and would very much appreciate knightly aid.

As the debate with Sir Jiran continued, a strangled cry of pain was heard down the hall. The old servant still in the keep was found dead, a round puncture wound through the chest. Deedra spotted a small shadow turning the corner at the far end of the hall. Sir Jiran immediately locked the front (and only) doors to the keep, saying that whatever evil committed this act could not be allowed to escape into the community. He then offered the PCs sanctuary in his quarters until he could hunt down the creature. The group refuses, pledging their aid and the hunt is on!

Room by room, the group searched the keep until they hit the library where 2 goblins were tearing apart the books there. One of the them possessed a bloodied spear, the likely murder weapon used against the poor servant. The group moved on to find two more small groups of goblins who are easily dispatched. Sir Jiran knew the goblins must have entered by a secret means so he takes the PCs to the catacombs. This short corridor has no obvious breach in its walls but all 6 corpses of the keep's founding family are missing. Sir Jiran is incensed and vows to kill every goblin they find for this desecration.

Beam discovers a secret door at the end of the hall and the group descends into the subterranean world. At a fork in the passage, Beam and Sir Jiran investigate one direction while Deedra and Gundar take the other. The latter pair fall victim to a goblin pit trap at the same time 2 monstrous centipedes attack the wizard and knight. Sir Jiran quickly slays one beast as Beam color sprays the other, knocking it out for the knight to finish off. The minotur and cleric try in vain to climb out of the pit as one goblin guard prepares to launch its javelin at them. Gundar summons a celestial dog to distract the goblin which does so in time for Beam and Sir Jiran to arrive to lend aid. Two more goblins arrive from a side tunnel on the other side of the pit and attack Deedra who climbs out of the pit just in time to meet them. Beam is able to balance his way around the pit's ledge but Sir Jiran is not so fortunate and falls in with Gundar. Wizard and minotaur fight bravely but when Beam withdraws after a few near-fatal blows things look bleak for the heroes.

Deedra is able to dispatch two of the goblins before Gundar finally climbs out of the pit to aid her. Beam sees a third monstrous centipede dragging off a part of its dead companion and then crosses the pit at the ledge again to join his friends. Beaten and now terribly low on spells, half the party wants to retreat to the keep but Sir Jiran wants to scout a bit more to see what they are up against (or if that was all of the goblins). The human bones from the catacombs are found after the fight being used as kitchen utensils by the goblins guards at a fire pit, which only pushes Sir Jiran to further explore for more foes. Deedra and Beam reluctantly agree to continue.

The group comes upon a dwarven "date stone" marking that they are nearing a dwarven mining settlement that only existed for 3 years some 40 years ago. After that comes a squat stone building of dwarven design that overlooks a large cave below. Two more goblins are slain before the group sees a larger goblin (the chieftain) in a "throne" inside the structure. The throne sits on some rubble from the collapsed ceiling but has a commanding view of the valley canyon below. Beam uses one of his last spells to disguise minself as a goblin. He then pretends to be a shaman (who the goblin refers to as Kriika) and claims he has brought humans to take over the tribe. During the conversation, the PCs learn that the tribe came from the east because they did not want to join the evil human army that tried to conscript them. The tribe's real shaman had a vision that no good would come to the goblins if they joined, so they ran and eventually settled in the cave there.

But when Beam-as-goblin again pronounced his takeover, the chieftain refused, prompting Deedra to throw the wretched thing down to the tribe the hard way. From out of the shadows then emerged the real tribe's shaman named Kriika. She was much more intelligent than the chieftain and negotiated for peace on her people's behalf. Sir Jiran whispiered to Gundar to keep the goblin busy as he returned to the surface to gather his knights for an assault against the tribe. Meanwhile, Beam dropped his disguise and negotiated in good faith that he and his friends would leave the goblins in peace as long as they did not attack the surface again (which Kriika claimed the chieftain and his guards did on their own). She only wants to be rid of the humans that want to control her tribe which now is mostly comprised of women and children.

Sir Jiran returns with his retinue of 15 young knights as Beam and Kriika trade spells. The knight commander orders his force to destroy the evil goblins but, upon seeing that the "enemy" is non-combatants, refuse their superior's order. Sir Jiran argues that knights are honor-bound to destroy evil wherever they find it. It is suggested by a knight named Sir Plaxus that perhaps Jiran is too closely following the letter of the Measure and not its spirit. The PCs argue for leniency for the goblins, with Beam even claiming that the knights will become his enemies if goblins are harmed. Deedra is none too happy about leaving the stinking things live but agrees with Beam. Gundar sides with Sir Jiran at first but soon realizes that slaughter of innocents does not aid Kiri-Jolith's cause and that these goblins are no different than the refugees on the surface. Eventually, Sir Jiran concedes and stands down, asking what the PCs propose.

Sir Plaxus suggests travelling to Thelgaard to see for themselves what has become of the area and the knightly estate near there with whom Ironrock's knights have had monthly communication. The PCs agree and Gundar takes Sir Plaxus under his tutelage as a cleric of Kiri-Jolith, even using his medallion of faith to make a duplicate one for the knight. The group then returns to the surface and begins preparations to head to the east--and to war!

Engage!

As mentioned previously, Star Trek: The Exhibition is taking place at the Franklin Institute until late September. So after seeing G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra Sat. afternoon with Scot and Zlaty (surprisingly great action flick!) we wandered down to Philly to take in the exhibit. There was a long walkway during which you could read some quotes from the films/shows and from Rodenberry and then we arrived at the first room. There were a number of outfits present here, most of which were authentic (such as Khan's outfit and Kirk's uniform from Wrath of Khan). But the real highlight for me came in the next area which housed a replica of the Next Generation bridge...

Here's me doing me best "Engage" pose with Scot as my Riker. This picture doesn't take in the rest of the bridge but the ops and navigation console-chairs were also present. Several of the monitors behind us were running cool little graphics as they had going on the show. That green light above us was projecting a star field onto the viewscreen. I have to confess that I could have played around in that room for hours! Mostly the exhibit was comprised of original series, Next Gen, and ST: Nemesis props (I'd say 75% authentic and 25% replicas) with a smattering of DS9, Voyager, and even the uniforms from the newest movie. All in all, a really nice setup and worth the $12 post-5pm admission (although I didn't feed the meter long enough and walked outside to find a $36 parking ticket!). They also had another famous captain's chair which we had to try out. Scot looks much better in Kirk's chair than me.

Avatar

I know precious little about this flick but I must say that, from the trailer, it looks like James Cameron hasn't lost a step.

Star Trek: The Exhibition

I don't know how these things get past me but now that I know there's authentic ST artifacts only an hour away, I simply must make a pilgrimage HERE.

A Perfect Storm

So, I received a call Friday afternoon from my work scheduler and she says, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but as of Monday you no longer have your routes." Bwa?! She went on to say that my morning route was being combined with a short pharmacy route so if I wanted to keep my normal day, "I suggest you get a mini-van by Monday."

Bwahahaha!

Right, like I'm going to go out and buy a frickin' van on the promises of this company. Well, that just pissed me the hell off for the whole weekend since I really had no idea what I was doing Monday (except that I'd be starting my day at Lititz instead of Reading and travel to York and back--twice!). I knew I was going to quit when, after stopping at the warehouse en route to Lititz to get a key and my manifests, the scheduler said, "You'd better get a gps since you're going to be a floater." Whoa. First of all, I didn't sign up to not know what the hell I was doing from one day to the next. And by the end of that Monday I had put more miles on my car than on my previous normal days and at (I suspect) much less pay. In effect, the scheduler had screwed me so bad so I would then buy a mini-van. Wrong move.

I returned to the warehouse and turned in my stuff saying, "I'm done." Outlining my grievances with the nice dispatcher in the afternoon, he didn't blame me one bit. I returned home, jobless but pleased at not being bullied into van work. It may not sound like a big deal to you, dear reader, but I know that once a van is in my possession the company would have worked me mercilessly. I did say on Friday to the scheduler, "I don't want to work from 7am to 6pm." Her response: "Why not? You're young and can handle it."

In any case, I don't think an hour went by before the dispatcher I gave my stuff to called me. Seems he contacted the head honcho to say what had happened and, apparently, my (very lucrative) afternoon run of Sovereign banks was never to be taken from me in the first place--more evidence of the scheduler's plot to just piss me off into purchasing a van (it didn't make sense that I'd lose a route with no pharmacy attachment). So the dispatcher said if I wanted the pm route back then it was mine. Since it's enough for me to survive on, I jumped back on the courier bandwagon.

Yesterday, I did the same arduous morning route around York but told the scheduler that it would be my last morning work. Surprisingly, it looks like my wish was granted and today was my first day of having only afternoon work. I plan on using my mornings to work on Tricky Owlbear products and activities (about time, right?).

To sum up, after a stormy weekend of uncertainty, the perfect schedule has emerged. Sometimes, you really can win.

Our First Pathfinder-compatible pdf!

Here's the scoop!

Campaign Notes: DL 1-1

I thought I might jot down some notes here from our new Dragonlance campaign which started up yesterday with character creation and a very quick adventure. The "DL 1-1" in the blog post title stands for "Dragonlance Season 1, Module 1" which is how I number modules for my campaigns (like TV seasons as I've mentioned previously).

We're starting in a small community called Ironrock (as found in the new DL books from Margaret Weis/Sov Stone) in Solamnia, on the west side of the Vingaard Mtns. My brief ideas for the intro adventure were for the PCs to get masterwork weapons from the deity that chooses to use them in the upcoming War of the Lance (we're about a month out or so from meeting the Dragonarmy) and to start out slow so we can get a good sense of the setting. DL at this time (Age of Despair) is rather sparse on magical items which is a change from our planar campaign. I also wanted the players to get the same sense of awe and wonder I had when introduced to DL 25+ years ago. To that end, I read some passages from the original DL 1 and DL 5 supplements. I think the players appreciated getting some world info that their PCs would already know from the original source material.

Gotta run for now but I'll add how the adventure went later on.

Okay, I'm back. So, why did I choose Ironrock? Well, I wanted to have the PCs in an area that will be exposed to the war before the Chronicles events. I guess to me it feels best to not start in medias res. We'll have a few more modules to set the mood and get the players up to speed who are not as familiar with the setting before the poop hits the fan. Ironrock also, according to the War of the Lance sourcebook, hides a secret that none have yet discovered.

As for the adventure itself, we have Heather playing a minotaur fighter, Greg playing a Plainsman cleric (of Kiri-Jolith but no spells or clerical abilities yet as the gods have "not yet returned"), Brad as a kender "rogue", and Scot as a wizard. I decided to have everyone know each other as they have been part of the same orphanage for some time. The woman who ran the place decided to move on since the 4 PCs are now the only people there and they are young adults. Now they have possession of a two-room shack with a partially collapsed roof. The game began with the Plainsman and minotaur sparring outside against the backdrop of the mighty Vingaard Mtns. The kender is cheering on the warriors while the wizard observes on the far side.

The kender is then approached by two men--one in bright clothing and one in armor and armed with a longsword. The first is some sort of entertainer who is interested in magical goings-on in the area. His bodyguard is, well, a mean-looking guy. The bard-type figure also has a pet weasel which the kender immediately recognizes as a "long rat." Sensing danger, the sparring duo and the wizard prepare for combat. However, the only offensive maneuver from the bard is a juggling act for the kender. The PCs speak briefly to the bard and direct him to the Ironrock Inn for more information (as they have none).

Being the inquisitive characters that they are, the PCs decide to head the Inn soon after to find the two visitors questioning the innkeeper about the old crone who lives in one of the caves in the mountain. Scot's wizard nearly causes an incident when his detect magic is noted by the bodyguard. The spell picks up magical bracers on the bard before the man calls his bodyguard away from the cleric and minotaur who jump to defend the wizard from the aggressive guard. As it's clear the party won't leave them alone, the bard offers the kender (who sat at the bar with him and his weasel) a business opportunity to lead him and his guard to the old crone's cave. The kender, in true kender fashion, denies an offer of payment in leiu of simply having fun leading them.

The group hikes 15 minutes west to the crone's cave, a place which the PCs have only seen the outside of as the woman has consistently run them off every time they've drawn near. Today, no one emerges. The PCs are increasingly concerned that the duo means no good for the old woman so the cleric tell the kender to distract the two while he goes inside to ostensibly prepare the woman for her visitors. The kender juggles while the two strangers move away from the cave entrance. The cleric moves inside and is stopped at the first turn by none other than the crone herself. She quietly warns the young man that the two strangers are evil and they must be killed because desire the secret of Ironrock and she is its guardian.

As the cleric, minotaur, and wizard begin to plan their next move, the kender intentionally whacks the bodyguard in the head with his juggling ball. The guard draws his blade and tells the bard to "end this charade!" A battle ensues during which the guard nearly slays the minotaur (-8 hp before she stabilizes!). The bard color sprays the poor kender who is knocked out for the duration but is in turn color sprayed by the wizard. The cleric slays the guard before then dispatching the bard in a show of righteous finality. The "bard's" disguise self spell dissipates to reveal an older black-robed wizard.

After stabilizing the minotaur, the crone reveals that the secret of Ironrock has been protected so that the PCs can take possession of it when they're ready--this moment! Deep inside the cave, the crone leads the group to a blank wall. The wizard dusts off the wall to reveal a carving of a bison's horn--the cleric recognizes this as Kiri-Jolith's symbol. A search of the wall reveals two fist-sized apertures on the wall's bottom corners. After the LN-aligned cleric gets zapped by a magical trap, the good-aligned kender and wizard put their fists in the nooks and the wall opens upward like a door. Inside, a fountain of pure water is active. A half-submerged dagger is rusty above the water line but below is in mint condition. The PCs dip their weapons and armor into the sacred waters of Kiri-Jolith (war god) and find their arms and armor repaired and made masterwork quality!

The wizard takes a vial of black liquid he found on the evil wizard's body and places it inside a scroll case he fills with sacred water. The black ichor fights with the pure water but soon evaporates, prompting Scot's wizard to theorize the pair meant to poison the fountain. Once their equipment is dipped, the fountain suddenly dries up, leaving behind a medallion of faith at the fount's center. The cleric takes possession of the item and hears the words of Kiri-Jolith to go out and preach the faith and that this medallion will make others for those of like minds. Already a war-minded cleric, Greg's PC experiences an epiphany and changes alignment from LN and LG to better serve Kiri-Jolith.

Thus ends the first adventure of the new campaign!

A Mileage Milestone

Hard to believe I bought my Fusion in Feb '06 and it now has....

My first vehicle was a 1998 (I think) Ford Taurus. Nice car but I decided I needed something new when it hit 70k+ miles or so after 5 years. After that was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I absolutely loved that thing but then gas decided to take its hike (and not return from the heights to which it soared) so I just couldn't justify the expense. Then came my Fusion. Guess I'll drive this until it dies while I'm doing the courier thing. Should be able to get 200k miles out of it, no?

In other news, I see ENWorld is finally loading up to snuff. 'Bout time!

A Monument in Gaming

So, we've got statues of the greats--Washington, Lincoln, etc.--but soon we'll have...Gygax?

Don't get me wrong. I'm deeply indebted to the man for what he created and it has been and forever will be a shaping force in my life. But a statue? Hey, whatever makes people happy.

Saturday Outings

I keep forgetting to mention that Scot, Zlaty, and I visited a new (new to us anyway) game store last Saturday. It is called The Games Keep, LLC and is located at: Parkway Center 929, South High Street, West Chester, PA 19382. I can't seem to find the web page for them but they do have an Amazon storefront. They had a surprising number of 3rd party products, most notable of which was some Expeditious Retreat OSRIC adventures. I asked the guy at the register how those sold and he said they were sporadic. I introduced myself and my company and he seemed genuinely interested in stocking books of ours once they were in print/distribution. Heh, he might be waiting awhile. The pic below is obviously the outside of the store. Scot is prominently displayed while I am mostly hiding off to the right.

Before this stop last week, our trio also spent some time at Delaware Park (where we walked out with delicious ice cream and a couple extra bucks each!), Kohl's and Best Buy for some tax free shopping (Scot and Zlaty picked up a new 42" screen tv which we just about fit into my car), and then a surprisingly tasty meal at the Arby's where Rts. 1 and 322 meet. A good day!

Not as many outings yesterday. I was working my normal bi-weekly route from Kutztown to Robesonia and the final drop-off at West Deptford, NJ. I then rushed home so Heather and I could catch a showing of Harry Potter. Haven't read the books yet so I had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, these flicks are normally good (if a bit confusing at times like the previous one where just too much was squeezed in) and The Half-Blood Prince was no exception.

Today, Heather and I are off again to aid my mom in packing up from her quilt show out at the Hershey Lodge. Before that, we'll be taking in some money (I hope!) from Hollywood Casino.

Khaaaaaaan!!!!!!

After 25+ years, we get an extended STII soundtrack. It must be mine!

AMoF art preview

Welcome to the Malbank Outpost...

Hey, A New Release Over Here!

A Matter of Faith is now a reality. Check out the official blurb!

Back to the Grind

I'm back in the regular routine following my brief hospital stay. My left arm seems to be the big issue now. The chest pain has mostly receded (until I lift something heavy) but now I've got these pinpricks of pain that are at specific spots on my legs and arms--very strange! I stopped taking the Naproxen as I believe it was making me drowsy and thought maybe its chance of causing easy bruising was somehow contributing to these pain eruptions. Just popped some ibuprofen so we'll see how that goes this afternoon. On and off numbness continues on the top of my left arm and up my pinky.

No work this Sat so I'll have 2 whole days to help my recovery. Next week the Hamburg Sovereign bank is closing so that has been added to my pickup next Friday afternoon as the person who normally does it cannot start at the different pickup time. That'll be another couple bucks without really any deviation of my "flight plan" so it's no problem.

Scot has finished layout of A Matter of Faith and I went through it one more time last night, discovering a handful of small edits that I must give to Scot. Then that puppy will be ready to make its debut!

Hospital Visit

Since Tuesday or Wed. of last week I've had on and off chest pains around my heart area which I attributed to some kind of pulled muscle. As with any pain, I waited to see if it would diminish/disappear on its own. Last night, when the pain became a constant ache and then was accompanied by left arm numbness I decided it was time to either die at the computer or go have myself checked. After consulting my brother on his similar circumstance of a year ago, I asked if he and Zlaty would taxi me out to the Lehigh Valley Hospital. Within a very short amount of time (Scot is part racecar driver!) we arrived at the ER.

When describing my condition at the desk, a wheelchair was brought out for me. "Dear God, a wheelchair?!" I thought. The three of us went back into a small room where many people flooded through to check things, ask me my symptoms, and repeatedly ask me my name and birthdate. It wasn't long before blood was drawn, x-rays taken, and medicine administered (3 bayer and 1 sublingual nitro tab which caused an interesting head swelling/chocking feeling for a minute). When the x-rays came up ok, the head doctor in the ER gave me the option to stay for the full round of tests and then a stress test the next day or to go home but then require likely weeks to set up the tests. After some deliberation, I decided to just stay.

My main concern (aside from my chest pain) was my lack of health insurance. Dumb? Yeah, I guess so. Hey, at least I went didn't I? :)

After seeing me to my room, Scot and Zlaty returned home (this was like at 2am). More blood was drawn at 3am and then around 9am with another EKG at each interval. Everything was coming back negative for bad things (the chief thing, I suppose, being clotting where there shouldn't be). After something like 1-2 hrs sleep I called into work to let them know I wouldn't be there. Marsha was concerned for a brief moment and then had to make alternate driver plans in my absence. She later called back to see how I was and, of course, see if I would be working Tues. Nice. I told her I planned on working since I was supposed to be discharged following the stress test.

That test came around 2:30pm today. After an eternity waiting for my shoes to come to me from my room (did you know they have "tubes" inside hospitals for transporting these things? Of course, they didn't use them for my shoes but they should have, according to the stress test doc). After being reunited with my footwear, I took the test during which there was some nice geek discussion of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and even D&D (got in my Tricky Owlbear plug despite being out of breath). I lasted 13 min. and 20 sec. on the treadmill, which caused me to run by the end. I then waited in my room for the results during which a nice financial planning woman stopped by to explain my insurance-less options.

Forunately, her husband had the same job as me--independent contractor for a courier company. That made the interaction very easy and it looks like most of the hospital bill will likely be forgiven wether through "medical assistance" or the LVH's own "charity" program. Following that, the final blood test and stress test results returned all with good news. Everything was fine with my heart. The only "bad" thing was a low good cholesterol rating which the RN said could be easily be aided by more exercise. Back to walking daily!

The chest pain was on and off throughout the day (mostly on) but not too bad. The Toradol injection last night and today seemed to diminish the pain and the RN agreed that my malady was likely being caused by a strained chest muscle. She prescribed some Naproxen (Rx Alleve) which I will dutifully fill and consume tomorrow. Now, I'm home, cleaned up, and well fed. That's the basics of my otherwise pleasant stay at the LVH. The people were very nice and the facility clean. I could share more tales (old man roomate and coming home with less chest hair) but my arms are now aching at the needle entry points so I guess it's time to stop typing.

Pathfinder Preview

Okay, not a preview of the actual rules but I wanted to post something from Tricky Owlbear's first Pathfinder-compatible product. Check out the art preview and tell us what you think!

Hump Day Ramblings

As of 1:30pm this afternoon, my mirror is fixed! A nice bonus on this otherwise normal "hump day" Wednesday. I asked Schlenker's if they had a cot I could sleep on as I've been there many times this week now and will be taking my car in for its 100K mile maintenance on Sat. Despite the mirror difficulty, Linda and I visited Delaware Park last night and returned with...uh, happy memories but no cash.

In writing news, I've been fiddling for BtM: Invisible Stalker but I really thought I'd be done with that by now. No rush, I suppose, as Scot now has 2 things for Tricky Owlbear layout to get done.

Been getting a bit more walking in this week (Sun and Mon); just normal town walks of 45 min/3-mile-ish length but that's better than nothing. What do you folks do to stay healthy and fit? Walking is, I've been told, one of the best things one can do.

Shattered Mirror!

When I stopped to grab some coffee today in Hamburg I was parked along State St. (or, as I like to call it, the "Death Star Trench"). I was waiting for some cars to pass by before exiting the vehicle and then I saw a school bus coming down the road. I waited and then noted, with some alarm, that the bus was awefully close to the parked cars and was not adjusting itself away. I figured I'd step on the brake pedal just to make the driver see the lights and, as normal drivers might do, give the car that might be about to move (although I wasn't) a wider berth. Instead, my side view mirror granted me the last image it would ever reflect--of the school bus decapitating it!

It was like watching the accident in slow motion as the bus shredded the poor mirror just inches away from me. The bus pulled over after the red light, obviously seeing what had happened, as I exited and retrieved whatever looked salvageable from the street. The driver apologized and said he had to get his kids down to the park but would return right away. I agreed even though I really needed to get my coffee and get up to my first bank stop. The man did return and we exchanged information before parting. Somehow, I made it to my first stop with no time to spare.

I called my State Farm woman and she advised me to just let the school's ins. company handle everything lest I need to pay my SF deductible. I didn't get the school's company's number but I was able to call the school (BCIU) and inquire. The woman there said after the driver reported everything then I would get a call. This is all well and good but I need the car to be in one usable piece since it's my livelihood. So, I got an estimate from Schlenkers (the dealership where I bought the vehicle and take it for anything it needs) and they said they could get the parts in as soon as tomorrow! Fortunately, they have one less piece to order as the rear housing of the mirror somehow escaped intact. Good thing I didn't impulsively throw it away. The estimate is less than $150 so I'm hoping the other insurance company won't balk when I get the thing repaired hopefully tomorrow. I don't have time to run around to whatever repair places they'd like an estimates from. I'm the victim here and they will pay. In the meantime, what's left of the mirror's casing has been duct taped to make it less noticeable to roaming police. :)

Lazy Day

Do you ever have one of those days where you just wake up and think, "Nothing's gonna bother me today." That's today. The weather is perfect. Work is normal and I'm gonna leave a bit early to my first run and grab some Sheetz breakfast blend coffee--yum! I'm working with artist David Hamilton on a few small pieces for Abbey of the Golden Sparrow and I guess I'll get back to some "BtM: Invisible Stalker" today as well. Maybe I'll get more brainstorming done on what else Tricky Owlbear should do with the Pathfinder rules. Whatever; doesn't matter. It's a lazy day. Enjoy yours!

Tricky Owlbear Turns Two!

I made a post regarding the company's status on ENWorld here.

Overall, it's been a fun experience so far. Mainly, I just wanted to see the Compendium in print but now we'll have a 3rd edition "revival" with Paizo's Pathfinder RPG releasing next month. We'll be ready with a freelance-written product Abbey of the Golden Sparrow. It's about 14 pages of content regarding monks in their mountain abbey. There's plenty of fluff and crunch to go around for both players and GMs to use so I'm hoping it will sell well to both those camps.

I'm also excited about jumping into Swords & Wizardry. I just think it's going to be so much easier a system to write for. The grognards don't like a whole slew of rules info to be included in their adventures so I'm only too happy to comply! The first adventure for that is tentatively entitled What Goes Up and I'm still just in the planning stages for it. Scot's away for a few days at the beach but he'll be finishing the layout for A Matter of Faith (our medieval adventure using 3.5 rules) as well as for Abbey.

Don't worry, I'm not abandoning the two "Behind the..." series quite yet. It's true that sales are dismal but I think we'll see renewed interest once the Paizo fans see we're an active company (much less one producing content for their game of choice). And there's no reason you can't use the spell and monster info from those pdfs with your Pathfinder game either.

Here's to many more years of fun!

Jim Holloway

One of my all-time favorite TSR artists has been Jim Holloway. I just discovered that you can not only buy some original pieces (if you have the $$) but you can have some of his work on a shirt, mug, etc. via cafepress through this website! I thought of fellow gamer/blogger Mike Ferguson's recent B4 post when I saw the first image after following the link. :)

3e: A Fix for Jerk DMs?

That's what Skip Williams appears to be on about in this interview: http://grognardia.blogspot./com/2009/06/interview-skip-williams.html

I don't know why I don't have Grognardia on my blogroll here. I'll remedy that! Ooh, looks like a "Zeb" Cook interview was just posted today there too.

Taxes!

Alright, I knew quarterly taxes were going to be steep but not to the tune of $3,000!! Sure, I didn't file for this year until now but gee whiz government. Fortunately, I had most of that already put aside so now it's a matter of transferring it to the checking acct. Combine this news with getting a call to do 3 pharmacies stops early this morning and it's been a *bleh* day. It'll be extra nice to settle in for some reflexology tonight. Ahh...

RIP Chuck Cuthbert

On Friday night the world lost a great man in the form of friend and fellow gamer Chuck Cuthbert. As his obituary indicates, he was a long-time army man although I really only knew his off-duty self well. But whether on-duty or off, I can tell you that Chuck worked tirelessly to better family, friends, and country.

Chuck and his lovely wife Heather first appeared in my life back around 2000-2001 when they walked into the drug store and asked if I was Bret. "This is odd," I thought, "I hope they don't want money or something." As it turned out, all they wanted was friendship. My dad and Chuck had been members of the same Emergency Management group in my hometown and my dad must have mentioned my affinity for D&D. Long-time players themselves (Heather and Chuck had a Ren Faire-type wedding in fact), they were eager to find a group in Hamburg where they must have just moved to a short time before.

After having just lost 2 players to non-D&D distractions, I was more than happy to have the Cuthberts as part of the regular crew. Not long after we met, the Cuthberts were kind enough to offer their furnished barn in which to host our games and it is where we've enjoyed each other's company for the last 8 years. My group had never experienced such comfortable surroundings! Chuck and Heather always provided refreshments and proved to be better roleplayers and friends than I could have ever asked for.

No matter what character he played, Chuck would always be attentive and ready with a plan to save the beseiged party's collective asses in some outrageous fashion (often forcing me to rethink my bad guy's actions and, overall, make me a better DM). In his final game, a couple weeks ago, his character wrenched a poisoned scythe blade from a trap and hurled it at the 4-armed demon in the next room. It wasn't until after the combat when he learned the creature's immunity to poison, but here's what he wrote on the XP sheet he handed in: "Disabled Scythe Trap and used it to attack Mr. Fourarms (who was immune to poison, but I didn't know that so it was still cool!!!"). As a GM, Chuck was incomparable. Attention to detail and ability to improvise came as second nature to him which, as anyone who's run a game can tell you, are essential qualities. No one could run Spycraft or Traveller like him and likely never will.

We've shared countless adventures together with Chuck--both in and out of roleplaying--but now he has set off on man's greatest adventure. Alone, for now, perhaps. But one day we will all meet again to continue that journey of adventure and friendship for eternity.

Godspeed, my friend. You will be missed.

Wired's 5 Best RPG Blogs

Wired.com has announced their picks as the best 5 gaming blogs. Check them out!

I just don't read enough rpg blogs for some reason. Guess I should change that as there seems to be a wealth of varying info on the ones mentioned. Creativity doesn't flourish in a vaccuum (which is I think why I don't get enough brainstorming accomplished on my isolated drives).

Swords & Wizardry rules

One of the message boarders at the S&W forums made a nice little site displaying the 2.0 version of the game's rules. This should come in quite handy when production on adventures begins. Click here!

Roll Out!

My online site of choice for the purchase of retro T-shirts is having a sale until 6/19 in honor of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. http://www.80stees.com/ is the site and the coupon code for 10% off is "transform". Go pick up something nice for yourself. You deserve it. :)

Oh, and sign up for the mailing list because the discounts (offered like 4-5 times a year) are usually as high as 25%.

That Was Fast!

Another weekend suddenly sucked into the misty temporal ethers. Still, it was jam-packed with activity. Got all my cleaning/washing chores out of the way Friday night. After working Sat until 4:30pm I spent ~2 hrs at Delaware Park (nope, didn't come out ahead but didn't lose much either). Got some reading done late that night. Sunday was shopping with Linda where we scored some great deals at Kohl's (I needed some new work shorts and sneakers) and then I was forunate enough to get some mini-golfing in with Scot, Zlaty, and the Cuthberts. Regrettably, I lost by one stroke so the trophy will pass from my house to Scot's. Vengeance will be mine soon enough!

Snatching from TV

When writing modules for my home campaigns, I always think of them as TV shows. It provides (at least to me) a structure that is lacking in the otherwise loose collection of modules called a "campaign" wherein the characters grow stronger (if not necessarily smarter) simply by killing things.

For characters to grow, and for players to better enjoy adventures, there needs to be some kind of over-arcing plotline. I'm not saying that a string of one-off adventures with the same PCs isn't fun but there's nothing like an epic plot that peaks out of the shadows during the course of a campaign. And nothing heightens the tension and grabs player attention more than a season finale (a la a TV show finale).

Now, you as DM aren't trying to raise the ratings for your show but you are, with a "finale", raising the stakes for both players and PCs. To do this effectively, I look at what my favorite shows are up to and what the writers were thinking when they penned a season finale. This blog post stems from a behind the scenes look from Star Trek: TNG season 3 wherein Michael Pillar, the scribe for the seminal episode "Best of Both Worlds" describes his thoughts. To put it succinctly, he didn't think he'd be writing the second part of that episode (the 4th season opener) so he increased the jeopardy to the crew without care because he wouldn't have to deal with the denoument. As a result, he created one of the best hours on TV and in Star Trek lore. (As it turned out, Michael did indeed return for the 4th season at Gene Roddenberry's personal request.)

One of my favorite Millennium episodes (the second season finale) was great probably for the same reason--the writing team behind that was not coming back for the next season. As a result, they made it appear that the planet's population was going to succumb to a deadly viral outbreak and a handful of regular characters were terminated (or made to appear so).

I guess what I'm getting at is try to one-up yourself when "finale" time comes. Give no thought to how the PCs are going to get out of the situation for this adventure (trust me, they'll find a way). The gloves should come off and you don't take prisoners. No ideas? Look to your own favorite shows for inspiration. You'll know you've struck gold when your players' eyes widen but then fear is quickly replaced by that grin which says, "This is cool."

Road Rage!

Honestly, if you're going to drive 35mph on a 45mph road, please limit your driving to the dead of night. Thank you.

In other auto news, I had a bit of a scare yesterday morning after pulling into the driveway and having the key fail to come out of the ignition. I quickly took it down to the good folks at Schlenker's (where the Fusion came from) and a mechanic dropped what he was doing to investigate. Turns out that the gear shift wasn't quite in Park so the key said, "Oh no, you can't pop me out until you're done driving." After some smacking and jiggling (why didn't I think of that?) of the button on the shifter, it popped out to where it was supposed to be and the key released. They ordered a new shifter and, naturally, I've had no problems since then. Still, I'll be glad to have it replaced (the part is only $30-ish) so I don't have to deal with it on the job. Leaving a key in the ignition and the doors unlocked (can't lock them with the key inserted) is a one-way ticket to my company no longer needing my services.

Last night I just about slogged through the classes in the preview corebook (okay, it's Pathfinder) and found that I like/dislike them. It's neat to see the cool new stuff for each class but also seems like more bookeeping for an already accounts-heavy game. I'd love to say more but, alas.

8 Months Already?

Yesterday marked my 8-month anniversary in the courier job. I suspect some don't make it 8 days so I'm happy. It's been fun and, so far, lucrative. Not sure if I'm filing quarterly taxes yet or not (guess I should look into it soon as June 15 is the cut-off for the 2nd quarter). My car will exceed 100k miles by week's end--unbelievable! Good thing I like driving.

Bumped into Mike P, an old friend from our high school gaming days. Ryan, when you read this, he asked about you and Drew and says, "Hi!" He wondered if "that company" Scot and I started was still going. Yeah, Tricky Owlbear is still going. :) Slower than usual, what with the concentration on Kobold Quarterly articles, but still producing.

Back to reading the new corebook before Ed Healy contacts me again for an interview (to be used in a big promotional push come GenCon).

Where's the Weekend?

Today I've got to have the car in for an oil change and tire rotation at 10am. I should then leave town at about quarter 'til noon to begin the first bank run of the day. If I'm really lucky I'll have enough time after that to stop in town for some coffee and maybe a quick lunch before my second bank run begins at 2:15pm. What's odd is that I should finish the first bank run by dropping off the materials during the second bank run (before picking up the last two stops). And then a million traffic things have to be right for me to be close to dropping off the second run's stuff in New Jersey by 5pm. After that? I should rush home and finish tomorrow's planar game but I don't know if that's going to happen. Delaware (and Deleware Park) isn't far from NJ and I'm sure I'll need a little slots stress relief...

Let It Begin

I guess it's not a breach of contract to say that I just received a certain core rulebook from a certain company who is releasing said book later this year. Time to prep in earnest for what Tricky Owlbear will be releasing when that book releases.

Swords & Wizardry

So I sat down and perused Swords & Wizardry this weekend and have to say I'm impressed with the faithful "0e" rendering of the document. If Tricky Owlbear is to produce any old-school adventures I'm convinced this is the way to go. Not only is this version so basic that it is usable with other retro-clones such as Labyrinth Lord and OSRIC but the publishers of S&W also have a massive monster compendium as a free download! (warning: this link is the download!)

I've begun note scribbling for this new line of products (which I'm actually more excited about than Pathfinder) such as what to call it and what format its adventures will be in (think of a TSR competitor from the 80s). Fun stuff ahead!

Set Your Wallet on "Buy"

Because Behind the Spells: Compendium just became even easier for you to shop. See the Tricky Owlbear blog for details!

GenCon '03

I've been to one GenCon in my lifetime and that was in 2003, the first (?) in Indianapolis. There were two things I distinctly recall from the 11-hour drive out there. First, the severe thunderstorm that hit Columbus the same time I was driving through it. Cars were pulled off the road due to the poor visibility but would I give in? Nope!

The second item I recall is this...

The Alphaville Singles Collection. I had been to Doylestown a week or two prior to GenCon to visit 'Sirens' (I think), their used music shop, to search for some driving cassettes for my journey. Sure, I had heard "Forever Young" but the rest were a mystery to me. The "Big in Japan" title seemed vaguely familiar but I'd likely heard it then forgotten in the ethers of the '80s. This disc has 4 of Alphaville's more prominent mixes (8 songs in all as there are 2 mixes of each song).

That's right, I bought this tape which had but 4 songs to each side. Since it was like $1.99 I figured that it wouldn't be much of a loss. My first day to the Con as I drove from my hotel to the site in-city I popped in the tape which I had listened to once on the way home from Doylestown. How was it, you ask?

Fantastic! The synth-pop, or whatever you'd like to call it, melodies pounded into my ears and out the open windows every day I drove around Indy. I couldn't have made a better investment. Today, some 6 years later, I received the cd of said album in the mail from Amazon. Didn't pay much more than for the cassette. Now, I can carry those tunes with me once again at my leisure. Good memories I can add to the ones from this good birthday (didn't win at the casino but had fun!).

34

Today I turn "the big" 34. I think they're all "big" after like 21, right? :)

Took off from work so Linda and I can head out to the new Sands casino in Bethlehem. Wish us luck!

BtS KQ Finale

When Behind the Spells: Unseen Servant makes its appearance (probably this week) at koboldquarterly.com it will be the final iteration for the site. I received an email from Wolfgang saying that traffic was down for the series (which I can't say I'm all that surprised by) and that new things are being launched there in the next couple months. All that and, of course, his editorial time is stretched paper-thin.

Naturally, it's sad to see. Wish I'd known ahead of time so I could have made the last article a bit more climactic (see Dispel Magic when I thought the line was going away forever). But in a way it's good because now I can devote proper time back to Tricky Owlbear pursuits which have been sorely lacking over the last few months. Time to ramp up our preparation for Pathfinder and really start hammering down what "old-school" rules I want to use for some adventures.

Lifescapes

Celtic music has become one of my favorite genres and I'm always looking for a new collection of tunes that I haven't heard yet. Whether it's original Irish material or just Celtic "inspired" it's usually a good listen.

When shopping at Target some time last year I came across a cd stand with music piping from its small speakers. The quality of these discs is usually suspect but after sampling a couple of them decided to try one.

To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement! Celtic Dreams was good enough to make me buy ~5 cds from the Lifescapes label since that time. There's a good selection at Target of different Celtic, world, classical, and stress relief titles as well as mp3-only releases at the lifescapesmusic.com website. And the average price for these? Less than $10! They're not all great, of course, but they're cheap enough to not regret buying them.

Didn't Get that Memo

Apparently, I missed the point (some 4 years ago) when cell phones went verboten in New Jersey. As I was entering I-295 after delivering my bank stuff I passed a cop while checking in with my mom and dad who are visiting Massachusetts for the weekend. When I saw the cop car immediately move after I passed by it flickered a memory that cell phones were maybe not the best things to be seen using in that state. Bingo!

The cop was nice enough but, after explaining (i.e. lying) that I needed to call into my warehouse because of the courier drop-off I just made, proceeded to give me my ticket. I asked how much it would be but he replied, "I'm not sure." Bwa? Okay, whatever. After consulting the NJ municipal website it looked as though the fine is likely to be $100 (my info wasn't in the system yet). No points at least.

But the night wasn't a total loss as I struck a bit of gold at Deleware Park casino. I don't really have a slot game of choice but I've become partial to the Deal or No Deal game. It's like any other slot, this one a 2-cent machine, which has 5 reels and "243 ways to win"--that's quite a few paylines! The big attraction is getting 3 suitcases of money on the first 3 reels which activates, as the name suggests, the DoND game. You pick a case and literally play the game with offers from the banker and everything (no Howie in sight which is surprising given the number of times he visits Atlantic City).

Anywho, I played the case game like 4 times total for the evening but the real winning came with one spin when 4 wild symbols appeared on reels 2-5. Before I knew what was happening, I had won $218! Not bad for me. Now I had close to $300 total after having brought $50. Well, I then played more than minimum in an attempt to play the case game again (upping the bet would mean greater case amounts) but, alas, that was not meant to be. Came home with $240 for a net gain yesterday of $90 after the ticket and after my initial $50. Not bad at all.

Today I'm banging away on BtS: Unseen Servant for my KQ masters. This will, as it stands now, tie-in with an upcoming BtM: Invisible Stalker for Tricky Owlbear.

Hope everyone's having a great holiday weekend. No work tomorrow and I'm off Thursday for my birthday so it'll be a nice short week.

What If Old Doesn't Mean Used?

There's an expectation in a dungeon adventure that many people have come before but few have survived. A dungeon always has legends and the maimed hero in the nearby tavern to tell them. But here's a thought I just had--what if the dungeon has no history? As if transplanted from a totally different world, a dungeon is uncovered by your party first. The construction, pictographs, traps, monsters...all unfamiliar. Who built the place? When? Why?! The dungeon is obviously old but not "ruined" by past adventurers. Is there a civilization which existed for so brief a time that no one heard of it before its desctruction? Or did this place suffer some kind of magical calamity that brought it from a totally different world/reality?

Would something old but not used make an interesting adventure?

That's for your own group to determine.

Swords & Wizardry pdf

I'm not sure if this was available in pdf before, much less for free: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=62346

Enjoy some more old-school gaming!

12 Practical Ways...

...to Become More Creative: http://ow.ly/8jCT Applies 100% to gaming in all its facets, says Daniel, who originally tweeted this. I agree. And, yes, now I'm bringing relevant news and info from twitter for those of you still not associated with it. :)

Free At Last!

I called in this morning (as I must every morning) to "log on" and was told that my first pharmacy stop was stop 5. Nothing unusual there and, I thought, means I'm not through with the pharms yet. However, when I arrived at the warehouse Marsha got this shocked look on her face and said, "Charlie's here! I'm such an idiot!"

Yes, my dear. Yes you are.

So it looks like the end of the "forever" run was this morning and, as expected, I didn't learn about it until I got down there. Typical but I wasn't overly upset. How could I be when it means I now get to sleep until at least 8am!

Alright, so why does all this make me so happy? It has to do with writing. No, I'm not kidding. When I was getting up at 630am, I would get to bed around 1130pm. Since I get home from the job around 630pm, that left 5 hrs to get something to eat and unwind from the work routine. I also like to get a walk into the schedule and then watch something on tv (if applicable). What this didn't leave a lot of time for was writing. Now, I don't have to worry about getting to bed until 1am or so and it feels like I have much more time to fit in my usual activities and bang out some words.

In short, its good to be back.

Morning Pharm Report

I'm home after dropping to my 2 pharmacy stops. I decided to query Marsha about Charlie's info about him getting back to this Hamburg route in its entirety. She surprisingly confirmed that that would likely happen. I sqeaaked with joy (not kidding) and she said not to smile because "it's like a Chinese school in here--no smiling." Of course she was joking but, with any luck, this means I'm definitely not going to have to get up at the butt crack of dawn for much longer!

Still Going to the Pharms & New Podcast

As of this morning, no new news concerning the pharmacy stops I have for my job (as mentioned a couple blog posts ago--anyone noticing that I'm posting more?). However, the vehicle which I heard the new guy is driving was at the warehouse so I'm guessing Charlie has him out for orientation on the Allentown route. Perhaps as early as tomorrow I'll be sleeping in later. One can only hope!

The podcast I mention above is not necessarily new but it is new to me. For the last 4 years, a musician by the name of Marc Gunn has been producing the 'Irish and Celtic Music Podcast' on iTunes. If you're at all into this kind of music (the podcast features independent artists both instrumental and vocal) you have to check out this awesome podcast. I've been downloading shows and burning them onto cd for my drives. Great stuff!

Send in the (Retro-) Clones!

With the resurgence of "old-school" game systems bursting through the woodwork in the last couple years, it's hard for me to keep up with what's out there. What's everyone's favorite and why? I thought Tricky Owlbear might use OSRIC for its retro adventures but Labyrinth Lord might be even less complex (i.e. easier to write for--up yours 3e stat blocks and balance!). Then there's Swords & Wizardry, which is like, what, 0 edition? I will say that I bought the Fight On! issues available from Lulu and am happy with the retro feel and massive amount of content. These mags also let me know what stat format is "universally" acceptable (and their popularity lets me know I need to get on this bandwagon).

In other news, I watched the finale of Family Guy and...was not impressed. This whole season has been pretty much of a letdown. I mean earlier they had the entire cast of Next Gen and they use them as a frickin' B-plot! Lost opportunity there. Finales were the order of the week this week. Lost was pretty damned good and I'm happy I still don't really know what the hell is going on. We've got one season to go so I should still be in the dark. Then there's Prison Break. The writers managed to wrap everything up even if they did shoehorn in characters like Kellerman, C-Note, and Sucre. Nice touch giving the General the electric chair and for Sarah to shoot Michael's psycho-bitch mom. I did regret Michael dying from that brain thing the Company supposedly cured him of but I guess he had cheated death one too many times.

Watching finales always put me in the mood for writing grand adventures for my home campaigns. Unfortunately, our play schedule has been infrequent. Even if it wasn't, though, I just did run the big ending to our "stop 4th edition" story arc for the planar campaign. I'll just have to make notes and put them aside for later. That's the beauty of GMing--your "show" isn't cancelled until you want it to be so there's always time for that next great plot.

Welcome Back

I've neglected over the last month or so to replace a blog link here. Friend and fellow author Mike Ferguson is back in the blog-seat again and sharing some of his memories of writing and sharing good times. You know him best from Goodman Games' 'Dungeon Crawl Classics' line and maybe know him from Tricky Owlbear's 'Behind the Monsters: Xorn' pdf. And if you don't know him yet, well it's about time to remedy that: http://www.emeraldlich.com/

New BtS at KQ

Almost forgot to post this here, but the newest mini-BtS article is up at KQ.com: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article750.php

This one focuses on (Drawmij's) Instant Summons. I was fortunate to get Jim Ward to pen a short blurb describing how this spell came about in real-life which hopefully is a neat treat for my regular readers. I'd love to get ahold of the other creators (Nystul, etc.) for future articles but tracking these folks down is probably going to be more difficult than tracking down the Loch Ness Monster (cue Family Guy clip).

Forever Is Not Always Forever?

Okay, so everybody knows that I'm doing the courier thing--going to different banks (mostly in Schuylkill Cty) and delivering/picking up their mail and other items. In recent weeks (I'd say since March at least), I've also been given two pharmacies to deliver items to as well. Seems the normal guy on the route (Charlie) was diverted to Allentown to run a pharm route before starting the one that begins, conveniently for me, in Hamburg. So, with Charlie requiring extra time in the morning before starting his Hamburg run, I was given the first two stops on the run (again, both in Hamburg) which was okay since it added no miles to speak of but gave me an extra $16/day. However, it also meant having to wake up around 630am instead of my usual 8am. Quite the difference, no?

I'm not a morning person so this "temporary" (for that is what Marsha, the head dispatcher, told me) pharm thing didn't sit too well with me. Now I was up to 9+hours of work a day instead of 7-1/2 hrs. Well, after two weeks or so back when this began, I finally asked Marsha how long I would need to do the pharm stops. "Forever and ever," came her response. Bwa?! I said, "I thought you said this was only temporary." Well, I don't recall her response but apparently as long as Charlie had to cover Allentown (the original driver was out of the picture for some reason) then I needed to cover the Hamburg stops so Charlie wouldn't get behind.

Well, it made sense but, as an independent contractor, it didn't make me happy that this decision was arbitrarily made without my consent. Time passed and I grew accustomed to the extra ~$80/week but never to getting up early. Today, however, I learned that "Forever and ever" might not be so. Charlie, who I see everyday, said the big boss said he had some relief lined up for the Allentown route. This tells us that Charlie will be back to his Hamburg route soon and then I can go back to sleeping in and staying up later. At least I hope so. At this place, the old axiom, "I'll believe it when I see it," applies in spades.

More news as it becomes available. Stay tuned!

Posting and Star Trek

Apologies for the lack of posts but I've moved the bulk of my ramblings to the very convenient twitter.com. Search for my there under "TrickyOwlbear". I'll continue to post here at irregular intervals but there's just something appealing to keeping my thoughts limited to twitter's low character count. (Edit: Okay, one of my friends said he checks the blog daily so I'm guessing he's not the only one. I'll post more as of now)

I went with the Cuthberts to the new Star Trek flick on Sunday night. My thoughts? Loved it! Only a couple things made me go, "Hmm". First--why was Scotty put in charge of anything after being beamed aboard? He was manning an ice outspost and virtually unknown to anyone on board. "Oh, just stick him in the transporter room. Okay, he did well there so let's stick him in engineering now where he'll probably have to eject the core at some point." Second--why did Chekhov have to run to the transporter room to save Kirk and Sulu? Could he not have relayed what to so instead of wasting time running through the ship? And why was he the only one that had this knowledge? I smell Wesley Crusher syndrome for the sequel!

Nitpicks aside, the reboot was quite good and deserves however many sequels they want to throw after it. Great job by Leonard Nimoy too; out of retirement for this and JJ Abrams must like him so much that he's now the nemesis on FOX's Fringe.

Back to Work

After a brief stint of illness last week, I'm back to getting some Tricky Owlbear works finalized and over to Scot for layout. See the TO blog for details on the first release.

WotC Pulls PDFs from Market

http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/254134-exclusive-interview-wizards-coast-president-greg-leeds.html

Can't say I blame them. Pirating 1 pdf for every 10 sold is pretty bad. Some industry folk believe this to be quite detrimental to the community at large since many 3rd-party sales were add-ons from WotC purchases. On one hand, I agree in that WotC's absence makes less a reason for a consumer to go to the pdf vendor sites. But on the other hand, just speaking for Tricky Owlbear, purchases of our works seem attached to other third party products as much as anything else. Time will tell how this affects us all.

BSG Finale

Forgot to mention this last week. Let me sum it up for you...

It. Sucked.

Honestly, the show hasn't been good in like 2 seasons. I viewed it off and on over that time for some reason but it never got better (at least for me--And how the hell did they get green-lit for a stupid prequel show?) I'd rather watch the ST: Enterprise finale again and that was certainly nothing to write home about.

In some better-looking sci-fi news, did anyone see the newest Star Trek trailer yet. It looks super-sweeeet: http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=V6-o0zWwtXA&feature=related

What Killed TSR?

I had previously heard that it was a failure to listen to its customer base and now it's confirmed: http://insaneangel.com/insaneangel/RPG/Stuff/Dancey.html

I think some of this report was reprinted elsewhere as certainly aspects read familiarly. In any case, an interesting read.

RPG blogging

Here's another noteworthy rpg blog for your collection (at least it's updated more than mine...which I suppose isn't saying a whole lot!): http://www.rpgblog2.com/

This is Zachary Houghton's blog and I've replaced Mike Ferguson's link on the side. Regrettably, Mike has decided to shut down his site for the time being but, I assure you, when he returns with more tales of writing derring-do I shall re-link him! I've also removed a couple of other links which appear to be dead or nearly so. Many folks might be migrating to the quick-fix blogging that is twitter (I have).

Tricky Owlbear Sale!

See blog (again) for details...

Tricky Owlbear Stimulus Offer

See the Tricky Owlbear blog for a special deal going on this week only!

Music You Need

Not sure how I keep forgetting to post about this, but a couple months ago I snatched up a copy of the complete Indiana Jones soundtrack collection as seen here: http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Jones-Soundtracks-John-Williams/dp/B001G562ZU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1234833770&sr=1-1

Quite simply, even if you have these soundtracks (and I know you do), you must get this collection. The bonus music disc is very nice (they could have excluded Crystal Skull--snooze...) and the 3 classic scores all contain bonus material never before released. Raiders is probably my least favorite of the three, with Last Crusade coming in a close second to Temple of Doom (which is quite possible my favorite score of all time). The packaging is quite nice and I don't know how they can concoct another collection to get your dollars so get this now and cherish the memories.

Playtested and Approved

The medieval adventure as mentioned in my last post (yes, so long ago) was playtested a couple weeks back. Light on combat but with a fleshed out cast of over two dozen NPCs, the adventure proved to be as expected from my DM's point of view. I added one monster to the final encounter with the lone villain since 4 on 1 does not a fair match make. I want to make some needed changes over the weekend and then shop around for some art and maps.

My courier work is still going strong and I finally have a 3-day weekend to relax a bit. Linda and I are going to Delaware Park for her birthday tomorrow so that'll be mucho fun. Today will see some cleaning, town walking, and working on assorted writing projects (the one mentioned above as well as the next BtS offering for the KQ website).

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day folks!

And How Are You Today?

Not much new to report here. Job continues to be easy and the only drawback now is that I may have to get commercial auto insurance since I'm using the car as an independent contractor. I'm sure there's a way around this I just have to find it.

A couple projects for Highmoon Media have reverted back to me so I'm prepping the first for release under Tricky Owlbear. This was the introductory adventure for support of Green Ronin's Medieval Players Manual. Since we're going generic fantasy, I have to remove references to the info from that book. I'm going to keep the setting as medieval England and hope consumers won't mind. This adventure sets up a short story arc of adventures I'd like to pen which has the PCs going after one of history's most prized artifacts.

Day Off

Okay, blogger just ate my lenghty post so fuck it. Linda and I gambled today at Mt Airy. We had fun. If we're not gaming on Sunday, she and I will likely head to Philly Park as they're running a special--for every point the Eagles score they will download $2 slot play into your account. Sounds like fun!

That's all for now. Be cool to each other. Oh, and check out Brad's shiny new blog (link changed on my links list).

DCC Reviews

For you Dungeon Crawl Classics authors (I know you're out there), someone is reading through the entire run and reviewing as they go. Now, I guess you should take these with a grain of salt as they're located at rpg.net (where d20 is not always lauded) but it might still be interesting perusing: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=429837

2008 in Review...

...JibJab.com style that is. Go check out their always entertaining take on the previous year. '08 wasn't up to the '07 review but that's OK it's still worth a couple minutes of your surfing time.

Too Little Time

So why not try BtS: Time Stop at koboldquarterly.com here: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article139.php

But really, there's just not enough time to post on this blog, the TO blog, and now I'm tweeting on twitter (under trickyowlbear). Quite a lot I'd like to get accomplished in the new year on the writing front--more BtS, BtM, a Traveller introductory adventure, an OSRIC adventure, and a straight 3.5/OGL adventure featuring the Dark Creepers & Stalkers which are the next BtM topic.

So, anyone have any exciting New Years plans? If you've been following my blog, you know I'm no fan of celebrating this "holiday" but tonight the group and I are heading out for midnight bowling in Reading. Should be amusing as I haven't bowled in many years. We haven't gamed at all in December so it'll be good to see the gang. Hopefully much gaming will commence in '09. Whatever your plans, be safe and happy!

Merry Christmas!

Although the holiday is officially 4 minutes past, I didn't want the day to go by without note on the blog here. I hope everyone who celebrates this joyous holiday had a great one. I personally had a good time both giving and receiving presents and spending time with the family. Tomorrow its back to work!

BtS: Darkness review

And here's another review, this one the first for Darkness: http://grandwiki.wikidot.com/rm2

Edit: If you swing by the Grand OGL Wiki above, I've arranged to have a discount coupon there for those who check out the review. Through that site, you can save 25 cents on this newest Behind the Spells release!

Compendium Review

Not sure who runs Apathy Blogs, but they seemed to enjoy BtS: Compendium: http://www.apathyblogs.com/2008/12/22/behind-the-spells-compendium/

BtS: Magic Aura at KQ

http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article128.php

The story and related research for this one came rather easily. It was the spell secret that proved difficult--how do you tweak a spell who's sole function is to show an illusion to someone who is actually looking for it? Find out through the link!

Compendium Review

New customer review over at Paizo for BtS: Compendium: http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/t/trickyOwlbearPublishing/behindTheSpells/v5748btpy83z0

Kind Words for BtS

Looks like BtS at Kobold Quarterly is getting some kind attention from various folks. Monte Cook wrote on Wolfgang's Open Design LJ: "It's pretty cool." For a more wordy opinion, see Robert Emerson's blog post here: http://emersonsbookshelf.blogspot.com/2008/12/kobold-quarterlys-behind-spells.html

The KQ Connection

If you had told me two weeks ago that I'd be writing for Kobold Quarterly, only the preeminent magazine who is more than capable of taking the place of poor deceased (print) Dragon, I'd have laughed. But, here we are. As I mentioned at the Tricky Owlbear blog, we're now producing smaller BtS issues exclusively for the KQ website. All thanks is due to Ed Healy, KQ's ad manager and host of the Atomic Array podcast (and an all-around nice guy). Check out Color Spray here: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article117.php

In other news, Linda and I were out Xmas shopping yesterday and I got a surprising amount of presents bought (using no credit cards I might add!). It was 4 solid hours of shopping though and I was more than happy to come home and rest. :)

Still 6 Months Away But...

...let the Trek-gasm begin!!!

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/

Compendium Review

Here's the latest words of critical praise, this time from Rpg-resource: http://www.rpg-resource.org.uk/index.php?article=3954&visual=4

Busy Busy

Before I launch into what's been going on, I feel I most post this review link to the BtS: Compendium for those of you who feel (rightly so too) that the Tricky Owlbear blog isn't worth checking on too often: http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/t/trickyOwlbearPublishing/behindTheSpells/v5748btpy83z0

"So how's the job going?" is a phrase I hear often. Well, it's going pretty damned well. I currently have two routes a day. The first is from 10am to 1pm and runs from the Pottsville area to Fleetwood and then returning to Muhlenburg. Then I have a little time to myself to grab some lunch and rest before heading out to be in Schulykill Haven by 3:30pm. From here I journey to Cressona, Pottsville again, and then north into what feels like the frontier of civilization (just northern Schuylkill Cty but that's close enough!) before returning to Muhlenburg between 6 and 6:30pm. All told, including travel to and from the start/end points, I work an 8-hour day; just happens to be split into two sections.

Last week was a bit rough as I was fighting the flu and some light-headedness but most of that seems to be done with. The money is good for my work and they even through me a Sat. route every other week for some extra bucks. Even with the upkeep to the car and the gas needed, the $$ is still worth my while. And a good thing too since I just got the bill for my ankle MRI (yikes!). At least that one was still under the insurance before I lost it.

Thanks to everyone who wished me well since it seems to be helping. Here's looking forward to many months of uneventful and financially fruitful driving.

New Job!

I love driving. Love it. I've always wanted to use my own vehicle to do courier work. Easy, high-paying, and no annoying people to deal with (except perhaps a brief road encounter in traffic). Well, my dream job has finally come. I was out doing some orientation for a company today and I'm one of 80+ independent contractors doing work out of the company's Muhlenburg hub. For the time being, I'll be making double what I've made in the past (before taxes, but still good!). The work could not be easier--picking up bank slips across Schuylkill County and transporting them either back to the warehouse or very close to the starting point in the evening. The hours are a bit longer than I'm used to (10am to 6:30-7pm) but the work is so easy who cares?! Driving is also a great time to get inspired through either the scenery (I'm driving through some very beautiful areas) or via music you're listening to. Should be some great brainstorming time for my writing projects and I'm getting paid for it to boot. Life is good.

Tendonitis

That's the official diagnosis of my left ankle problem. The treatment is to wear a foot wrap, take 2 Aleve a day for 2 weeks, and do an exercise once a day until I see the doc again in a month. All in all, much better than I could have hoped for really. Much preferable to surgery. The whole process was actually pretty smooth. EIP (the extremity place where the MRI was performed) was especially friendly and fast and got the results to my local doc within a few hours. According to the technician there, EIP's pay program should bill me for my out-of-network cost even if my health plan doesn't recognize the facility. Not a bad deal.

Today is a rather dreary day so I'm hoping to get some writing done--specifically on BtS: Darkness which will be a kind of lead-in to BtM: Creeper.

Was in Atlantic City Wed with Linda and we gambled many hours away. Before the losing of money began, we hit some of the outlet shops across from the casinos. Believe it or not, the places were quite reasonable. I got three shirts for my sister's youngest, a reusable shopping bad for her, and two sheets of Disney stickers for her middle child all for $7! We had a great day even if we didn't come home ahead.

Links Note: If you travel to Mike Ferguson's blog from here, please don't be alarmed when my link here points to his new site: Emerald Lich! Here's wishing Mike many happy years at his new location.

Happy Autumnal Equinox 2008

It's that magical time of year when the leaves change, night begins to outpace the day, and harvest festivals of all types swing into gear. It's my absolute favorite time of year and there's plenty of activities to keep my interest. Hiking can increase in frequency as spider and their &#^$& webs are out cold so it's a great time to take advantage of "bush-whacking" wherein you can go off-trail to explore.

Also up for this month is Celticfest held in Bethlehem, PA this coming weekend. Not sure which day I'll get out there but one of them for sure. I usually buy my sister's birthday/Xmas present there as she's also into the Celtic seen. Unfortunately, for non-drinkers like myself you have to be cautious when to attend for nights are when many come out to eat, DRINK, and be merry. Still, even fighting through stinky crowds is worth it for the festival's vendors.

New to this fall season is me getting an MRI on my ankle tomorrow morning. Seems I likely aggravated an old injury sometime either late last year or early this year (can't point to a specific incident) and now it hurts me at various times during the day--most frequently when I'm barefoot (showers are flat and hard!). Thank goodness my health insurance is intact until month's end. Speaking of that, I've only just begun job-searching with any regularity. Not too concerned. The universe will provide.

Back on topic--enjoy your cool autumn season, whatever you do!

Now Selling On Ebay

See here for a list of my current auctions: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZvantas1

Among the more notables are the Rappan Athuk trilogy of adventures from Necromancer Games and a quite rare Three Days to Kill adventure from Atlas Games. Why rare? Well, this is the limited edition (#107 of 500) module printed and collated by hand to be ready in time for GenCon 2000 and was, in fact, the very first d20 product for sale.

Compendium Podcast

Our first product-specific podcast commentary is now available for Behind the Spells: Compendium which you can listen to/download here:
http://www.trickyowlbear.com/podcast/description/bts-compendium.php

Entering the World of Podcasts

Whether the roleplaying public is ready or not, Scot and I have delved into the wide world of podcasts! I sketched out an outline in about half an hour and then Scot and I just recorded an off the cuff "Podcast Zero" for Tricky Owlbear here: http://www.trickyowlbear.com/podcast/description/ep00.php

We're great fans of the Car Talk show for NPR (which you can find at http://www.cartalk.com/ ) so we left most of the laughs in! You can hear me utter the awkward phrase: "We would like to read people's emails..." and near the end of the show we pretty much have a breakdown. Thank goodness is was over by that point! In any case, we had great fun and hope you do as well. :)