Sorry for missing again last week, friends, but this convention season's been both wonderful and brutal for me. I am deep in recovery mode – just not as young as I once was, and the constant altitude shift from the Mile High City to sea level and back has been brutal. Nonetheless, lots of great gaming things going on, both in my personal sphere and in the world of gaming. Now that I am a part of Pinnacle Entertainment, not only am I up to my neck in the Megaverse as it will be shared in Savage Worlds, but I am excitedly hoping to help out with the new Flash Gordon products Pinnacle announced at Gen Con. I've also got something cooking with Len Pimentel of Lakeside Games – a new version of Prowlers & Paragons! Speaking of great things happening in gaming...
Focal Point
After storms and delays, I am finally back at my desk in Colorado and kicking out more Picks. Today’s is a powerful resource for all Game Masters, written by some of the best in the business.
The heart of roleplaying is the gaming session, that point when everyone is gathered around the gaming table — and exactly when so many of your game mastering skills are most needed. To the best of our knowledge, there’s never been a system-neutral book focused on running great sessions. Until now. Focal Point: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Running Extraordinary Sessions is that book.
Written by award-winning authors Phil Vecchione, Walt Ciechanowski, and John Arcadian, Focal Point is the third volume in Engine Publishing’s “accidental trilogy” of GMing advice books, which began with Never Unprepared and continued in Odyssey. You don’t need those books to enjoy and make use of this one, although they do complement each other well (and we offer a special bundle price for the trilogy).
Each of Focal Point’s authors is a veteran GM with years of experience, and each of them excels at a particular aspect of GMing. John is an entertainer, a GM who loves props and drawing his players into the game world. Walt is a storyteller, an adventure-writer who makes his living in the RPG industry. Phil is a facilitator, an organized GM who specializes in helping his players work well together.
These three roles — entertainer, storyteller, and facilitator — are at the core of Focal Point. From building “sets” for your gaming table, to using flowcharts to structure your adventures, to making sure everyone in your group feels comfortable during play, this guidebook addresses everything that goes into running an extraordinary gaming session.
The End Of The World: Wrath of the Gods
Since I missed yesterday, here’s a “makeup Pick” that I think will appeal to a lot of folks. It’s another in the End of the World series from Fantasy Flight Games, this time pitting survivors against eldritch horrors and supernatural disasters.
The supernatural enters the physical world in Wrath of the Gods, the second book in The End of the World roleplaying line! With the scenarios included in this book, you can take up arms with heroes of yore and the Norse gods, or flee from the mind-bending terror of Cthulhu. You may hide from the Four Horsemen as the events of Revelation take place, speak to Quetzalcoatl as the Mayan apocalypse unfolds, or battle wild beasts as Earth itself turns on us. Wrath of the Gods brings you as close as you can (safely) come to supernatural powers ending civilization!
This roleplaying game offers you the chance to play as yourself during the tumult of the apocalypse, using an elegant, narrative ruleset. Wrath of the Gods contains five unique scenarios, each offering a different take on the end of humanity by divine wrath. Each scenario also contains an apocalypse and a post-apocalypse, allowing you to survive the initial panic and make your way in life after the world’s ending.
Cthulhu Mythos Sale
I’ll be honest – Lovecraftian horror is pretty much the polar opposite of what I look for in fiction or gaming. I am clearly in a serious minority, however, because the man crafted a deep and powerful setting and mythology that resonates with millions of fans, and has for many decades now. DriveThruRPG is celebrating his 125th birthday with a huge sale (20% off) of products related to all things Cthulhian.
Player’s Handbook, Revised (2e)
Let’s finish out this odd week with a great callback to the 2nd Edition days, with the Revised version of the 2nd Edition AD&D Player’s Handbook. This one mainly re-organized and cleaned up a lot of stuff from the original printing, the total effort being greatly appreciated and highly lauded by fans at the time.
Here is the indispensable encyclopedia of fantasy role-playing. Everything the player needs is here: how to create a mighty hero or crafty wizard; uinque aspects of the elves, dwarves, halflings, and other fantasy races; all the weapons, armor, magical spells, and rules for thrilling battles against supernatural monsters. This fresh, new format for the Player’s Handbook is your complete and illustrated guide to the world of heroic adventure!
Product History
Player’s Handbook (1989), by David “Zeb” Cook with Steve Winter and Jon Pickens after Gary Gygax, is the first core rulebook for the AD&D 2e game. It was published in February 1989.
Moving Toward AD&D 2e. The first hint of what Gary Gygax called the “expansion, reorganization, and revision of the AD&D game system” appeared in Dragon #90 (October 1984). Gygax said it was about a year off, because his right-hand man, Frank Mentzer, was busy digging through Gygax’s 300 pages of info on “The Temple of Elemental Evil”. Gygax’s timeline proved quite accurate. The cover of Dragon #103 (November 1985) proudly proclaimed that it would reveal the “Future of the AD&D game”. Inside, Gary Gygax’s “From the Sorceror’s Scroll” column gave the reorganization a name: the second edition of AD&D.
AD&D first edition was only six years old at the time, but the recent releases of Unearthed Arcana (1985) and Oriental Adventures (1985) had introduced lots of rules revisions and expansions for the game. Gygax thus felt that it was time to pull everything back together. According to his plan, a new Players Handbook would incorporate portions of the original Player’s Handbook and the two new player books. There was also talk of adding three new subclasses: the mystic (a cleric), the savant (a magic-user), and the jester (a bard).
~~~
In case you want to check out the majority of my Picks from last week, just click here and see the "frontload" I did before leaving for AndoCon.
This is going to be an odd weekend, but with all the travel, that's hardly unsurprising. Casual gaming tonight with the usual Friday Gang (though someone is proposing to run my Shaintar setting, in which I'd get to play, so that could be really cool). Tomorrow is a work catch-up day - that Savage Rifts stuff refuses to write itself! Sunday, my Belovedest, Carinn, will run her Savage Worlds modern day/supernatural setting, The Crew.
Hope you've got some great gaming on tap friends, and remember...
The Adventure Continues...
~SPF
Focal Point
After storms and delays, I am finally back at my desk in Colorado and kicking out more Picks. Today’s is a powerful resource for all Game Masters, written by some of the best in the business.
The heart of roleplaying is the gaming session, that point when everyone is gathered around the gaming table — and exactly when so many of your game mastering skills are most needed. To the best of our knowledge, there’s never been a system-neutral book focused on running great sessions. Until now. Focal Point: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Running Extraordinary Sessions is that book.
Written by award-winning authors Phil Vecchione, Walt Ciechanowski, and John Arcadian, Focal Point is the third volume in Engine Publishing’s “accidental trilogy” of GMing advice books, which began with Never Unprepared and continued in Odyssey. You don’t need those books to enjoy and make use of this one, although they do complement each other well (and we offer a special bundle price for the trilogy).
Each of Focal Point’s authors is a veteran GM with years of experience, and each of them excels at a particular aspect of GMing. John is an entertainer, a GM who loves props and drawing his players into the game world. Walt is a storyteller, an adventure-writer who makes his living in the RPG industry. Phil is a facilitator, an organized GM who specializes in helping his players work well together.
These three roles — entertainer, storyteller, and facilitator — are at the core of Focal Point. From building “sets” for your gaming table, to using flowcharts to structure your adventures, to making sure everyone in your group feels comfortable during play, this guidebook addresses everything that goes into running an extraordinary gaming session.
The End Of The World: Wrath of the Gods
Since I missed yesterday, here’s a “makeup Pick” that I think will appeal to a lot of folks. It’s another in the End of the World series from Fantasy Flight Games, this time pitting survivors against eldritch horrors and supernatural disasters.
The supernatural enters the physical world in Wrath of the Gods, the second book in The End of the World roleplaying line! With the scenarios included in this book, you can take up arms with heroes of yore and the Norse gods, or flee from the mind-bending terror of Cthulhu. You may hide from the Four Horsemen as the events of Revelation take place, speak to Quetzalcoatl as the Mayan apocalypse unfolds, or battle wild beasts as Earth itself turns on us. Wrath of the Gods brings you as close as you can (safely) come to supernatural powers ending civilization!
This roleplaying game offers you the chance to play as yourself during the tumult of the apocalypse, using an elegant, narrative ruleset. Wrath of the Gods contains five unique scenarios, each offering a different take on the end of humanity by divine wrath. Each scenario also contains an apocalypse and a post-apocalypse, allowing you to survive the initial panic and make your way in life after the world’s ending.
Cthulhu Mythos Sale
I’ll be honest – Lovecraftian horror is pretty much the polar opposite of what I look for in fiction or gaming. I am clearly in a serious minority, however, because the man crafted a deep and powerful setting and mythology that resonates with millions of fans, and has for many decades now. DriveThruRPG is celebrating his 125th birthday with a huge sale (20% off) of products related to all things Cthulhian.
Player’s Handbook, Revised (2e)
Let’s finish out this odd week with a great callback to the 2nd Edition days, with the Revised version of the 2nd Edition AD&D Player’s Handbook. This one mainly re-organized and cleaned up a lot of stuff from the original printing, the total effort being greatly appreciated and highly lauded by fans at the time.
Here is the indispensable encyclopedia of fantasy role-playing. Everything the player needs is here: how to create a mighty hero or crafty wizard; uinque aspects of the elves, dwarves, halflings, and other fantasy races; all the weapons, armor, magical spells, and rules for thrilling battles against supernatural monsters. This fresh, new format for the Player’s Handbook is your complete and illustrated guide to the world of heroic adventure!
Product History
Player’s Handbook (1989), by David “Zeb” Cook with Steve Winter and Jon Pickens after Gary Gygax, is the first core rulebook for the AD&D 2e game. It was published in February 1989.
Moving Toward AD&D 2e. The first hint of what Gary Gygax called the “expansion, reorganization, and revision of the AD&D game system” appeared in Dragon #90 (October 1984). Gygax said it was about a year off, because his right-hand man, Frank Mentzer, was busy digging through Gygax’s 300 pages of info on “The Temple of Elemental Evil”. Gygax’s timeline proved quite accurate. The cover of Dragon #103 (November 1985) proudly proclaimed that it would reveal the “Future of the AD&D game”. Inside, Gary Gygax’s “From the Sorceror’s Scroll” column gave the reorganization a name: the second edition of AD&D.
AD&D first edition was only six years old at the time, but the recent releases of Unearthed Arcana (1985) and Oriental Adventures (1985) had introduced lots of rules revisions and expansions for the game. Gygax thus felt that it was time to pull everything back together. According to his plan, a new Players Handbook would incorporate portions of the original Player’s Handbook and the two new player books. There was also talk of adding three new subclasses: the mystic (a cleric), the savant (a magic-user), and the jester (a bard).
~~~
In case you want to check out the majority of my Picks from last week, just click here and see the "frontload" I did before leaving for AndoCon.
This is going to be an odd weekend, but with all the travel, that's hardly unsurprising. Casual gaming tonight with the usual Friday Gang (though someone is proposing to run my Shaintar setting, in which I'd get to play, so that could be really cool). Tomorrow is a work catch-up day - that Savage Rifts stuff refuses to write itself! Sunday, my Belovedest, Carinn, will run her Savage Worlds modern day/supernatural setting, The Crew.
Hope you've got some great gaming on tap friends, and remember...
The Adventure Continues...
~SPF
