Strange Stones

oldschoolfrp: Appendix N, anyone?

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:11:28 -0500

Appendix N, anyone?

Old School RPG Sale At RPGNow

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:03:42 -0500

Use code OSRF711F2 at the Old School RPG Storefront at RPGNow (no BS affiliate links from me, kids) and save 15% on the games within. There are a couple of games not listed on the first page (notably, the Classic Fantasy monograph for Basic RolePlaying), so don’t stop at the front door. Enjoy!

1d6 Bard Songs, Great Grandson Version

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:37:00 -0500

When it’s time for a Bard to sing, he or she should have a song or three to choose from…

The Fall of Crawford’s Dell (The Birds All Sing)
The Ass, The Sheriff, and The Priest (All Sound the Same to Me)
She Went Again to Valdren Town (A Riding on Her Mare)
Captain Quincy Can’t Quit Charging (His Arse is All Aflame)
One Toe in the Dragon’s Mouth (The Other in the Mead)
The Tired Soldier Soldiers On (The Tired Whore Keeps Whorin’)

Tim Sell’s Clash of the Mind Masters, illustration for All...

Mon, 06 May 2013 20:57:00 -0500

Tim Sell’s Clash of the Mind Masters, illustration for All In The Mind - Alternative Rules for Psionics by Steven Palmer. White Dwarf 79, July 1986.

At the table during a session of Call of Cthulhu. Nobody died or...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:01:31 -0500

At the table during a session of Call of Cthulhu. Nobody died or went insane, so it was kind of a lame night, really :)

Why? Because everyone loves a rock ‘em sock ‘em...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:41:08 -0500

Why? Because everyone loves a rock ‘em sock ‘em robot.

Illustration for the article Lashing Out, about whips in...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:00:48 -0500

Illustration for the article Lashing Out, about whips in D&D, from White Dwarf #35.

Illustration for the Necromancer class as presented in White...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:00:42 -0500

Illustration for the Necromancer class as presented in White Dwarf #35.

Illustration for the Summoner class as presented in White Dwarf...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:00:36 -0500

Illustration for the Summoner class as presented in White Dwarf #27.

Yet Another 1d6 Starship Names

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:42 -0500

The Kiairathe
The Five Stories
The Madeira Midnight
The Kyodan
The Ushakova
The Mukomberanwa

It's Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:22:47 -0500

Today is Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day. So go read my contribution to the content flood. And then check out Tenkar’s Tavern for a full rundown of all the 130+ blogs that are participating and throwing out S&W-related posts today.

Illustrations for the Flyguard and Flymage, from the article The...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:00:54 -0500

Illustrations for the Flyguard and Flymage, from the article The Flymen from White Dwarf #23 (Feb/March 1981). This article also contains stats for generic Flyman drones, warriors and artisans. There are only fifteen Flyguards and five Flymagi per hive, which makes these unique creatures the leaders of their species.

The article also includes information on the northern barbarian-esque Northfly and the desert-raider-esque Sandflies. More fodder for DCC, methinks.

Illustration for the Merchant class from White Dwarf #21...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:30:36 -0500

Illustration for the Merchant class from White Dwarf #21 (October/November 1980). The concept of playing a merchant always tickles my fancy. I think this one might need a modernization, perhaps for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

oldschoolfrp: “Close — but no cigar” by Phil Foglio,...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:38:38 -0500

oldschoolfrp:

“Close — but no cigar” by Phil Foglio, commissioned for the cover of Dragon #48, TSR, April 1981; also a prize winning painting at Boskone’s art show.

Taxation can relieve PCs of excess loot but it can be difficult to enforce. Players are more likely to cough it up willingly if they are allowed to pay for high level spells like cures and resurrections.

Can’t believe I forgot about this cover. Comedy, thy name is Foglio.

Illustration for the Black Priest character class from White...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:55:44 -0500

Illustration for the Black Priest character class from White Dwarf #22 (December/January 80/81). A Black Priest is different than an evil cleric because he is “more furtive and sinister, in closer contact with his gods.” And you though modern times were the introduction of morally challenging characters to the hobby.

Illustration of a spacer, White Dwarf #14 (August/September...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 01:04:44 -0500

Illustration of a spacer, White Dwarf #14 (August/September 1979).

swordandbackpack: SWORD & BACKPACK RPG IS HERE Here it...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 01:27:37 -0500

swordandbackpack:

SWORD & BACKPACK RPG IS HERE

Here it is, the first release from Rothbard & Gazpus games: Sword & Backpack RPG, what might be the world’s first RPG system designed to be played using a Moleskine notebook. It was inspired by:

Old school D&D

Brian Eno’s card and role-playing experiments (the Oblique Strategies cards he created with Peter Schmidt and the “Games for Musicians” he made for David Bowie)

The playful regimentation of Factory Records

Our love of epic fantasy

Our desire to make a simple RPG that could be played with the absolute minimum of material while drinking with friends

All in all, we here at Rothbard & Gazpus think it’s a pretty darn nifty way to play.

In addition to the set of initial rules, you can also download Sword & Backpack Adventure Supplement Vol. 1 and Sword & Backpack Magic Supplement Vol. 1. Amazing.

Click the link to download the initial document, check out the instructional sheet that lays out how to start your notebook, and then have at it. Once it’s in your hands, it’s YOURS. Mess with it, please. Create your own adventures, spells, and so on. This version of Sword & Backpack is free, but in the future we’ll be producing some actual products that aren’t so bootleg and might deserve your actual cash. And if you have any questions, comments, criticisms, pictures of your personal notebooks, or high praise, write to swordandbackpackatgmaildotcom – we’d love to hear from you! Watch this space for new content, errata, the announcement of the Rothbard & Gazpus website, and more.

(Many thanks go out to the Sword & Backpack brain trust: Mike Uy, Alec Ferrell and Andrew Whalen, for their comments, suggestions, support, ideas and additional writing. This literally would not exist without them.)

Illustration for the Man-Beast AD&D character class from...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:58:00 -0500

Illustration for the Man-Beast AD&D character class from White Dwarf #8. The Man-Beast has a magic ring that switches it between, yes, man and beast. In beast mode the character gains the following special abilities:

• Stalk

• Hear noise

• Sense superiority

• Detect poison

• Climb

• Magic resistance

And, as you might have guessed, they get claw/bite and ultimately tail attacks.

Illustration for the Houri character class (a Magic-User...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:47:00 -0500

Illustration for the Houri character class (a Magic-User sub-class) for AD&D from White Dwarf #13 (June/July 1979). Seems like this might have worked as a class for Leea from Poul Anderson’s The Broken Sword. Also, va-voom!

Yow! Now that’s a sea giant.

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:41:24 -0500

Yow! Now that’s a sea giant.