"The Manor #1" is good stuff.
What I like best is the extreme usability factor. Things you can read and then drop in that very night to just about any "standard," "traditional" campaign (whatever that means, yet I think we know). In this first ish, my favs are the forest encounters -- great for riffing off -- and the Salt Pit adventure. I personally like the pdf rather than print (I will print off what I'll use and put in binders), going against the os grain I guess, maybe because I just spent a few years trading and selling thousands of comic books and magazines, down to about 600 now, which I'll keep.
I’m going to supplement the Salt Pit adventure with this pair of evil halflings. Either they will try to insinuate themselves into the party or follow them into the pit, wait for an opportune moment, and attempt to steal from or ambush the party:
Cnut (aka Rollicko Goodfriend), Halfling, Chaotic, Level 2, S-11, I-12, W-8, D-15, C-9, Ch-14, AC 5, hp 8, leather armor, shield, short sword (1-6), sling (1-4), a +1 magical sling stone (only usable by halflings, flies back to user at utterance of command word “voltar,” ignores any to hit penalties due to cover).
Hugo (aka William Masonson), Halfling, Chaotic, Level 2, S-12, I-14, W-8, D-14, C-10, Ch-8, AC 5, hp 8, leather armor, shield, short sword (1-6), short bow (1-6).
These two are thoroughly evil, cruel, deceitful, and duplicitous. Former servants of the evil Queen Lar, Cnut and Hugo narrowly escaped the renowned collapse of her fortress, in which she was buried beneath a huge pile of rubble, and presumed to be killed, along with her paramour Ijub-Niron, a High Priest of Malcor, and most of their followers. Since then, Cnut and Hugo have been travelling the land under the assumed names of Rollicko Goodfriend and William Masonson, making use of their considerable juggling and tumbling skills to pass themselves off as wandering entertainers.
Both Cnut and Hugo wear amulets that will magically enable them to teleport back to the site of the fortress at will. The amulets function this way only for those who have been branded by Queen Lar. Cnut and Hugo will only use this in desperation, at the last minute, to save their skins. They fear returning to the rubble where they might encounter any surviving minions of Queen Lar who might hold their desertion just before the collapse against them.
My other purchase:
I haven't had too much time to delve into this. I'm looking forward to reading it in detail when I get the chance. I feel like it might reawaken a dormant case of gamer add in me (these days I stick to D&D) -- might get the temptation to try to start something with it (maybe a fun summer activity). At any rate I'll most likely steal stuff from it.
Both good purchases, at good prices!
Meanwhile over at The Breach appears this post sort of about the death of the blog. Just when I start. Figures. The only times I've ever been on the “cutting edge” were with the Vic-20 and Holmes Basic. Ever since I've been comfortably falling further and further behind.
J J J
Thanks for the shout out. The halflings are a great addition. I hope they serve to make things difficult for your players. And I am very glad I offered it in PDF. It seems there were many who favor it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tim, I enjoy the zine.
DeleteRegards.
You said my post was "sort of about the death of the blog." The rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated! ;-) I'm not going anywhere, probably much to the chagrin of some folks out there ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi, Drance.
DeleteI’m sorry, I didn’t make myself clear; I didn’t mean your blog specifically, but the death of “THE BLOG” in general, meaning the possibility of a decline in blogging overall, not the death of yours.
I realize your post most certainly wasn’t about the death of your blog. It wasn’t even too much about the possibility of the decline of blogging in general, but your comments about readers, comments, hits, and bloggers that have ceased did get me thinking about that. I should have made that clear. And commenters on your blog mentioned a G+ effect possibly diminishing the role of blogs. I also must mention that soon before writing that post, I had read another blogger (non-gaming related), basically saying, “does anyone even read these things anymore?” Everything (in that community) has moved elsewhere, mostly to facebook apparently.
So the net effect of all this -- your post, comments on it, that other blog -- on my thinking at that moment, was, “oh great, I’m just getting going and now blogging may be on the decline." My comment was just an attempt at self-deprecating humor, trying to poke fun at myself for being late (characteristically) to the party.
Not for a minute did I think you’re going away. And don’t. Your blog is great. Again, I am sorry that I created a misconception. My statement wasn’t clear.
The question is left hanging… Is it true, or not, that blogging in general is on the wane? Hopefully not. rpg discussion, at least some of it, presentation of rpg ideas, and other rpg stuff, seems well suited to the blog format. Maybe changes occurring because of G+, or whatever, might impact but not supplant blogging.
Regards.
Oh, ok, I thought that you might be referring to the death of blogging as a whole...got ya. No need to apologize at all! And yeah, I would have to agree that there seems to be a trend in that direction. It saddens me. Not sure if many others feel that same sadness...they might not feel it because they are more willing to adapt to the latest and greatest tech out there. I can see where you're coming from, having just recently joined the community. Well, keep on trucking as they say, and I look forward to reading more from you!
Delete