From Another Writer: My Five Favorite RPG Covers

An idea given to me by Samwise7

In no particular order, my 5 favorite covers to RPG books and such.

  Not just from nostalgia, but from the concept of making sure people knew how awesome a game could be with a cover.

  "So, what are characters in an RPG supposed to do?"
  "look!"

  A fun, evocative cover that has always been one of my favorites.

  C&S is pure nostalgia

  And of course the cover that launched 1,000 adventures. Simple, direct, and awesome.

Magic Item of the Week: Bartlebee's Bastion Bag

Bartlebee was an adventuring mage famous for his vast arcane knowledge, his poor constitution, and his tendency to be attacked while sleeping. He eventually crafted an enchanted sleeping bag that was so handy his fellow adventurers cajoled him into making more.
  The bag is made of a woolen rug folded over and sewn along the 'bottom' with frog fasteners along the long side; a person lays within the rug and fastens it closed. The person is warm and snug but may open the bag very quickly in an emergency.
  If the command word is known once fastened the bag will drift up  8' off the ground and enter a dimensional pocket very similar to a Rope Trick spell. The interior is shielded from wind and rain but allows the person inside to hear what is going on around them and to see through a 2' x 2' one-way window that looks down from where their head rests. It takes 2 segments for the bag to rise and enter the space.
  Note: if a ceiling or other obstacle blocks the bag from rising to a full 8' it will still enter a pocket space as long as it can rise at least one full foot from the ground.
  The space will be within a few degrees of the ambient temperature, but the bag itself is enchanted to make its occupant comfortable if the ambient temperature is between 111 to -11 Fahrenheit.
  If the occupant of the bag is awake the bag will exit the space in 30 minutes. If the occupant falls asleep within 30 minutes the bag will remain  in the space for 8 hours of until 5 minutes after the occupant awakes, whichever occurs first. The bag may be used no more than once a day (from sunrise to sunrise) and no more than 3 times in a week (a phase of the moon).
  The bag can hold a creature of up to the size of a large half-ogre but is generally limited so that only a single humanoid and its familiar/a single small animal can be in the space along with a single large, loaded backpack.
  When the bag 'turns off' it takes 2 segments to exit the space and float down. In a rush, the occupant can unfasten the bag and leap out in a single segment - the bag and any gear will fall to the ground immediately if this is done.

Play Report: Castle Amber

  Every Halloween we pick a classic module and run through it as a one-off, non-campaign adventure (usually - I fit the Hidden Shrine into the campaign). The players make holograms (i.e., 'above first level characters') and off we go.
  This year the selection was Castle Amber.
  Castle Amber is one odd module: the opening might as well have been made by CSX because it is railroad all the way. Then after a castle/dungeon crawl opening it turns into an overland sandbox where the party could spend months looking for items that allow them to return to a dungeon and finally escape the railroad open.
  You have really high level NPCs doing odd things for no clear motive and random encounters include a Shape Changed gold dragon as set dressing. There are two new intelligent humanoid raced. No, three. No, maybe four. Are the creatures made in vats golems? Are they a new race? Does each version count separately?
  It is set in the real world but in a fictional part of France during the Medieval Period, sorta'.

  Castle Amber is very famously based on some of the short stories of Clark Ashton Smith and Zelazny's Amber series. The comet, beast, colossus, fictional French region, and more are Smith. The pattern, magical cards, odd family, and more are Zelazny.

Spoilers for books and the module Castle Amber follow!

Magic Item of the Week: Puissance Weapons

  These were technically invented by my kid sister in 1979 when she was 9 years old.

  Puissance weapons look like a well-made mundane weapon. They are always melee weapons and if they are capable of being thrown their magical effects do not including throwing.

  A Puissance weapon grants the person wielding it proficiency in that weapon. A cleric may use a lance, a mage a scimitar, etc. Note that characters forbidden to use certain weapons for religious reasons may still refuse to use puissance weapons! 

  There are limitations because the sword is 'pre-programmed' so benefits you get from already knowing the weapon do not apply.: a monk using a puissance weapon does not get his extra damage; a fighter with weapons specialization or higher using a puissance weapon will not get bonuses to hit and damage; etc. 

  The most common weapons are swords but virtually any melee weapon may be a puissance weapon.

Crazy Ideas - How Far Am I Willing to Go?

  I am working on Tiny Kingdom (an adventure set in the garden of a mad arch-mage where the characters are just an inch tall) and updating The Book of Seaward (my book of house rules) and prepping a 2nd edition of Far Realms (my rues supplement for the OSR). I am also talking with the kids, playtesting Rolemaster Unified, rebooting a Champions campaign, starting a new business, and dealing with 4 family birthdays in just 15 days.
  So last night I was re-reading Hackmaster 5th because I have absolutely nothing else to do with my time and remember how much I like how they did the fighter/knight/paladin thing. Son #3 was getting some NPC classes (from my book Far Realms, an excellent stocking stuffer, if you'll forgive the hint) when we started talking about NPC improvement. One of his PCs has a hireling, a mercenary spearman, who has been to Skull Mountain 3 times and lived through it all. He and I agreed that this guy has done enough that he is no longer a 0-level merc, but a level 1 Man-at-Arms and can advance to at least level 2
  Son #1 joined in, asking about his 4th level Man-at-Arms, who is fairly tough and has been through the wringer. Son #1 asked,
  "Let's say he drank a potion of super-heroism, grabbed a +2 axe, and brought down, oh, a fire elemental. Could that be enough to transform him into a 4th level fighter? A 3rd level fighter?"
  We also spoke about the DCC 'funnel'; we've only glanced at borrowed rules and never played DCC, but the idea was interesting - can the schmoes of the NPC world become PC classes through Great Deeds?
  Then Son #2 came in with some of his work on Tiny Kingdom and his suggestions for some custom classes for the mice men and bumblebee knights and Son #4 asked if we should just break down and put a mini-retroclone section in front of Tiny Kingdom so it can stand alone; after all, with a bunch of new classes....
  But I said there are not just a lot of great retroclones already, the OD&D/AD&D books can be had, now, so if I am going to make a game, it will be different and new.

  20 minutes later we had this;

 It can be hard to see, but it is an advancement tree for the fighter classes. All start as Men-at-Arms and then you can either stay a Man-at-Arms or move on to Woodsman, Warrior, or Nobleman. Warriors can go on to be Weapons Masters; Woodsmen can be Weapon masters or Rangers; Noblemen can be Cavaliers; etc. It would be similar to the old Palladium RPG but you could move up, down, or sideways, as with hackmaster 5th. Men-at-Arms fight less well and have fewer HP, but a lot more mundane skills. Others trade skills for HP or fighting or special abilities. 

  The other 'big four' classes would have similar trees:

  Allowing players to mix, match, and customize their PCs.

  

  Again, this was back of the envelope stuff from last night - thoughts?

Adding to Appendix N: Clark Ashton Smith, the Beast of Averoigne, Castle Amber, and Horror. A scattered bit of writing.

There will be spoilers for Clark Ashton Smith tales and for the module Castle Amber within - be warned!!

note: written late and editing will be done in a day or three.

  Every Halloween I run my players through a classic module. This year it is Castle Amber.

Movie Review: Shin Godzilla

Ultrabrief Capsule Review:
Number of theater-wide chuckles: 2
Number of theater-wide laughs - 3
Number of theater-wide 'wow!'s - 2
Number of theater-wide 'daaaaaaammnn's - 1
Ovation at the end? - yes, not standing
Out of 5 stars? - 5

full review below