As promised, here's this week's Picks, actually on the right day. For those who've been so kind in expressing concern - I am fine. A bit more at the end, if you care. In the meantime, I want to call your attention to the fact that it's October already! Why is it that, as we get older, time flies ever faster? It's a kind of psychological relativity thing, isn't it? Seriously, I feel like I was just thinking about how the end of summer was shaping up, and now the holidays are already knocking on the door?! Well, at least the really cool holiday is up first, as always. I'm wondering if I want to try a different costume than my usual this year...
The Big Book of Little Games
This one I cannot “Pick” enough. My friend and colleague, John Wick, is the definition of mad genius when it comes to game design and theory, and this book is a testament to his talent and sense of fun. The entire product is worth it just for the Flux alone!
For years, John Wick has been designing small, personal roleplaying games for conventions, friends and family. And now, a complete collection of these games is available for the first time.
The Big Book contains over 200 pages of both new games and revised editions of out-of-print classics.
The Flux (New!)
All worlds are the same world… you just don’t remember. A meta-RPG that links all RPG worlds as the same world… with the same dangers.
Enemy Gods (Revised!)
Take the role of both a hero and a god as rival deities slug it out with their mythic heroes as the ultimate weapons.
Cat (Revised!)
“A Little Game about Little Heroes” places the heroes as housepets protecting their owners from monsters they can’t see.
Byron Falls (New!)
In the lonely town of Byron Falls, beautiful and lonely high school girls fall in love with beautiful and lonely monsters.
Wicked Heroes (New!)
In a world where super powers are a curse and not a gift, the “blessed” find their worst enemies are themselves.
Sexcraft (New!)
An urban fantasy world where the ultimate weapon is not a sword or a gun, but the power of sex.
Wilderness of Mirrors (Revised!)
This classic spy game is fast and ruthless. Everything you need to play a Master Spy and nothing more.
Eldritch High (New!)
Alexander Circe’s Academy of the Eldritch Arts has prepared your class schedule but, are you prepared?
Yesterday’s Tomorrow (Revised!)
John’s classic game of Retro Science Fiction (designed for his wife) is a game of Action!, Mystery!, Romance! and Science!
All the Days of My Children Hospital (New!)
A Game about Romance, Betrayal, Deception, Dynasties and Soap Commercials.
Eclipse Phase: Panopticon
An extremely popular Eclipse Phase book (the first print run ran out completely sold through very quickly), Panopticon is now available in POD, as well as excellently hyperlinked PDF.
Panopticon surveys three areas of the Eclipse Phase setting:
Panopticon is a 176-page PDF (with layers, a hyperlinked table of contents, a hyperlinked index, and internal hyperlinks) and is Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) licensed. Also available is a hardcover print on demand book, in both Standard paper and Premium paper formats! (print on demand books do not include built-in-bookmarks.)
Ponyfinder: Tribes of Everglow
This line continues to pleasantly surprise me with its ever-increasing popularity, as well as how well-supported it is. Tribes of Everglow is an omnibus of information about the world and its many tribes, and includes a lot of game material as well.
Folks running more traditional Pathfinder campaigns may well see this as an opportunity for some dimensional world-hopping adventure.
A detailed look into the minds and societies of all the varied pony tribes of Everglow. See how they view each other and the other races of the world, how they handle birth, life, and death, and their unique perspectives shown in contrast with one another.
Hoard of Horror
21 different products, including the $30 Shadows Over Vathak setting book. It’s over $100 of Pathfinder material for only $13.13. This is Fat Goblin’s Halloween gift to all of you, and it’s one of the best deals I’ve seen in a very long time, especially for PF fans. Here’s the info on just the Shadows Over Vathak core book –
Vathak is a land of harsh terrain and frigid weather. Plague and disease have swept the land, turning cities to cemeteries. The Vampire Lords are fighting for power and survival. The vindari killed most of your family as their genocidal plans spread across nations. Bhriota cultist kidnapped, tortured, and ate the first girl you ever loved.
This is Vathak, before the Old Ones awakened . . .
Shadows over Vathak is a dark fantasy, survival horror campaign setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Combining elements of gothic horror and Lovecraftian mythos, Shadows Over Vathak introduces a world of hardship and strife on the verge of a great war with other-worldly horrors.
The Shadows over Vathak Setting Book includes:
Complete rules for the 6 dominant races of Vathak, including their ecologies, alternative racial traits and favored class rewards. These core races are; Bhriota, Cambion, Dhampir, Romni, Svirfneblin, and the Vindari.
5 new classes like the Apostle, Blade Slinger, Eldritch Conjurer, Rifleer, and Sword Dancer! And over 20 new archetypes for all your favorite core and base classes!
Over 50 new Feats and Spells for even more character options and horrific flavor.
Firearms, sacrificial kits, mummified armor, war machines, and magic itmes to discover on your path to adventure and quest to destroy the Old Ones!
Details on all the regions of the lands of Vathak, including strange locations, mysterious cities and the characters that inhabit them.
Game Mastering section giving you new and streamlined rules for diseases, weather, sanity, how to build a city of Vathak, and an easy adventure generator!
Horrific creatures to plague your players, including the Spawn of the Old Ones and Yshugua Titan. And a variety of creature templates to create your own unspeakable monstrosities!
Numenera: Into the Night
For those wondering what’s going on beyond the landscape of the Ninth World, here’s your gateway to the stars – Into the Night.
The people of the prior worlds reached for the stars. They engineered our world and others, opened doorways to other dimensions, and rewrote the laws of time and space. The remnants of these efforts litter the Ninth World, but they aren’t limited to Earth. Through the magic of the numenera left behind by the ancients, the stars can be plied. Craft sail the void as if it were an endless sea, intricately designed doorways open onto distant worlds, and even stranger means of travel beckon those who are bold enough to cross the vastness of the night.
Like the Ninth World, the realms beyond Earth are mysterious, majestic, terrifying, and filled with the unknown. Will you join the midnight pilgrims and discover what lies beyond Earth’s shores?
This book includes:
OK, as promised, here's a bit more about what's going on with me. I offer this as a cautionary tale to all of my fellow gaming fans who allow their health to slip and their lifestyles to be dominated by sedentary behavior and bad eating.
I have diabetes, and with that, some of the early complications are really starting to show. I am addressing my weight with a fairly serious procedure; I will be having what they call bariatric surgery in a couple of months to finally get my obesity under control. Once that happens, virtually all of my other conditions, including the ongoing battle with full-body arthritis, should start to rescind. In the meantime, I've had a procedure done on my legs to deal with veins doing the wrong thing and dumping bad blood back into the legs instead of moving on through the system. There was a complication with the post-care, but that's healing up now, and overall, I am doing better.
Still, none of this would be the issue it is if I'd taken better care of myself, stayed active, and eaten better. We all know someone like me in our social circles, yes? If not self, then a friend, certainly. So get active, stay active, and bring your needful friends along.
The dice will be there when you get back, I promise.
Because for all of us, the Adventure needs to Continue!
~SPF
The Big Book of Little Games
This one I cannot “Pick” enough. My friend and colleague, John Wick, is the definition of mad genius when it comes to game design and theory, and this book is a testament to his talent and sense of fun. The entire product is worth it just for the Flux alone!
For years, John Wick has been designing small, personal roleplaying games for conventions, friends and family. And now, a complete collection of these games is available for the first time.
The Big Book contains over 200 pages of both new games and revised editions of out-of-print classics.
The Flux (New!)
All worlds are the same world… you just don’t remember. A meta-RPG that links all RPG worlds as the same world… with the same dangers.
Enemy Gods (Revised!)
Take the role of both a hero and a god as rival deities slug it out with their mythic heroes as the ultimate weapons.
Cat (Revised!)
“A Little Game about Little Heroes” places the heroes as housepets protecting their owners from monsters they can’t see.
Byron Falls (New!)
In the lonely town of Byron Falls, beautiful and lonely high school girls fall in love with beautiful and lonely monsters.
Wicked Heroes (New!)
In a world where super powers are a curse and not a gift, the “blessed” find their worst enemies are themselves.
Sexcraft (New!)
An urban fantasy world where the ultimate weapon is not a sword or a gun, but the power of sex.
Wilderness of Mirrors (Revised!)
This classic spy game is fast and ruthless. Everything you need to play a Master Spy and nothing more.
Eldritch High (New!)
Alexander Circe’s Academy of the Eldritch Arts has prepared your class schedule but, are you prepared?
Yesterday’s Tomorrow (Revised!)
John’s classic game of Retro Science Fiction (designed for his wife) is a game of Action!, Mystery!, Romance! and Science!
All the Days of My Children Hospital (New!)
A Game about Romance, Betrayal, Deception, Dynasties and Soap Commercials.
Eclipse Phase: Panopticon
An extremely popular Eclipse Phase book (the first print run ran out completely sold through very quickly), Panopticon is now available in POD, as well as excellently hyperlinked PDF.
Panopticon surveys three areas of the Eclipse Phase setting:
- Ubiquitous surveillance and sousveillance—living in a transparent society
- The inner workings of space habitats—and how to hack them
- Uplifts and smart animals—their scientific and cultural impacts
- Plus new morphs, gear, habitat rules, and more!
Panopticon is a 176-page PDF (with layers, a hyperlinked table of contents, a hyperlinked index, and internal hyperlinks) and is Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) licensed. Also available is a hardcover print on demand book, in both Standard paper and Premium paper formats! (print on demand books do not include built-in-bookmarks.)
Ponyfinder: Tribes of Everglow
This line continues to pleasantly surprise me with its ever-increasing popularity, as well as how well-supported it is. Tribes of Everglow is an omnibus of information about the world and its many tribes, and includes a lot of game material as well.
Folks running more traditional Pathfinder campaigns may well see this as an opportunity for some dimensional world-hopping adventure.
A detailed look into the minds and societies of all the varied pony tribes of Everglow. See how they view each other and the other races of the world, how they handle birth, life, and death, and their unique perspectives shown in contrast with one another.
- Over a hundred new feats
- Class Archetypes
- Dozens of Alchemy Discoveries
- Rogue tricks
- Prestige class
- New equipment
- New spells
- New Lore and history
- A whole new tribe, the short legs.
Hoard of Horror
21 different products, including the $30 Shadows Over Vathak setting book. It’s over $100 of Pathfinder material for only $13.13. This is Fat Goblin’s Halloween gift to all of you, and it’s one of the best deals I’ve seen in a very long time, especially for PF fans. Here’s the info on just the Shadows Over Vathak core book –
Vathak is a land of harsh terrain and frigid weather. Plague and disease have swept the land, turning cities to cemeteries. The Vampire Lords are fighting for power and survival. The vindari killed most of your family as their genocidal plans spread across nations. Bhriota cultist kidnapped, tortured, and ate the first girl you ever loved.
This is Vathak, before the Old Ones awakened . . .
Shadows over Vathak is a dark fantasy, survival horror campaign setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Combining elements of gothic horror and Lovecraftian mythos, Shadows Over Vathak introduces a world of hardship and strife on the verge of a great war with other-worldly horrors.
The Shadows over Vathak Setting Book includes:
Complete rules for the 6 dominant races of Vathak, including their ecologies, alternative racial traits and favored class rewards. These core races are; Bhriota, Cambion, Dhampir, Romni, Svirfneblin, and the Vindari.
5 new classes like the Apostle, Blade Slinger, Eldritch Conjurer, Rifleer, and Sword Dancer! And over 20 new archetypes for all your favorite core and base classes!
Over 50 new Feats and Spells for even more character options and horrific flavor.
Firearms, sacrificial kits, mummified armor, war machines, and magic itmes to discover on your path to adventure and quest to destroy the Old Ones!
Details on all the regions of the lands of Vathak, including strange locations, mysterious cities and the characters that inhabit them.
Game Mastering section giving you new and streamlined rules for diseases, weather, sanity, how to build a city of Vathak, and an easy adventure generator!
Horrific creatures to plague your players, including the Spawn of the Old Ones and Yshugua Titan. And a variety of creature templates to create your own unspeakable monstrosities!
Numenera: Into the Night
For those wondering what’s going on beyond the landscape of the Ninth World, here’s your gateway to the stars – Into the Night.
The people of the prior worlds reached for the stars. They engineered our world and others, opened doorways to other dimensions, and rewrote the laws of time and space. The remnants of these efforts litter the Ninth World, but they aren’t limited to Earth. Through the magic of the numenera left behind by the ancients, the stars can be plied. Craft sail the void as if it were an endless sea, intricately designed doorways open onto distant worlds, and even stranger means of travel beckon those who are bold enough to cross the vastness of the night.
Like the Ninth World, the realms beyond Earth are mysterious, majestic, terrifying, and filled with the unknown. Will you join the midnight pilgrims and discover what lies beyond Earth’s shores?
This book includes:
- Dozens of locations on the moon, elsewhere in our solar system, and beyond—all as weird and imaginative as you’d expect from the Ninth World’s setting. Visit Branu’s Kiss, the Thon Iridescence, the wreck of the Vlerryn, the cloud cities of Urvanas, and the Swarmstar, perhaps the strangest sight in the void.
- Multiple ways to escape Earth’s embrace. Climb the Beanstalk, explore the Nightcraft, or step through the World Door.
- New creatures and NPCs, including the machine eater, the behemoth ulagra, and the murderous shadow of the void.
- Dozens of new cyphers and artifacts.
- New horizons of the imagination to fill your players with wonder and take your Numenera campaign to realms you’ve never before imagined!
OK, as promised, here's a bit more about what's going on with me. I offer this as a cautionary tale to all of my fellow gaming fans who allow their health to slip and their lifestyles to be dominated by sedentary behavior and bad eating.
I have diabetes, and with that, some of the early complications are really starting to show. I am addressing my weight with a fairly serious procedure; I will be having what they call bariatric surgery in a couple of months to finally get my obesity under control. Once that happens, virtually all of my other conditions, including the ongoing battle with full-body arthritis, should start to rescind. In the meantime, I've had a procedure done on my legs to deal with veins doing the wrong thing and dumping bad blood back into the legs instead of moving on through the system. There was a complication with the post-care, but that's healing up now, and overall, I am doing better.
Still, none of this would be the issue it is if I'd taken better care of myself, stayed active, and eaten better. We all know someone like me in our social circles, yes? If not self, then a friend, certainly. So get active, stay active, and bring your needful friends along.
The dice will be there when you get back, I promise.
Because for all of us, the Adventure needs to Continue!
~SPF
