RPG Book Binding For Fun and No Profit Whatsoever

  By Doug | May 8, 2012 - 8:46 pm | Books, Creations, Role Playing Games
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I love games. All of them. I like computer games, board games and pen and paper role playing games. I love reading. I love reading on electronic devices, especially ones with e-ink screens, like my ageing prs 505.

What I do not like doing is reading heavily formatted books, like RPG rulebooks, on a computer screen. Even with the best hyperlinks and formatting I think some things are better read on paper. I did have a few problems though.

  1. PDFs are generally a lot cheaper. Though sometimes not much, here I glance in the direction of Mongoose publishing.
  2. I had the PDF of ACKS for under a tenner.
  3. I really wanted the hardback book but it cost a lot and I could not find a supplier in the UK.
  4. A friendly and cheap print on demand service was not being offered.

What to do I thought, what would Mr Maker do? He would make his own!

My first attempt in progress.

Do It Yourself Book Binding

I have been thinking about doing this off and on for months now.

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Playing Yesterday’s Games Today

  By Doug | May 2, 2012 - 10:02 pm | Role Playing Games
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Recently I ran a quickie beginner friendly game at the grand opening of Fife’s newest gaming arena Minmax Games, if I am feeling brave I will post a link to the scenario at the bottom.

Since I rediscovered role playing games I have run some sessions of Savage Worlds, played a fair amount of Dungeons & Dragons 4E and am now running a regular Traveller game. My current experiences with 4E are not the best, this I suspect has more to do with my play style and gaming memories than the actual system itself. The system seems well balanced just not my cup of tea. I did find myself thinking back to basic Dungeons and Dragons.

D&D Expert Set (Source The Acaeum http://www.acaeum.com/)

D&D Expert Set (Source The Acaeum http://www.acaeum.com/)

My memories told me the game was quicker, simpler and just more fun.

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Nazis and Cthulhu

  By Doug | April 21, 2012 - 2:06 pm | Role Playing Games
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Finally the game I never knew I was waiting for:

 

Achtung Cthulhu

Achtung Cthulhu

The Secret War Has Begun!


Achtung! Cthulhu brings you a two-fisted wartime roleplaying game setting for Call of Cthulhu and Savage Worlds, packed full of fiendish Nazi scientists, terrifying ancient mysteries, legendary German war machines, desperate partisans, gun-toting paratroopers, determined investigators, and enough writhing tentacles to pack ten Reichstags.

 

Discover the secret history of World War Two – stories of the amazing heroism which struggled to overthrow a nightmare alliance of science and the occult, of frightening inhuman conspiracies from the depths of time, and the unbelievable war machines which were the product of Nazi scientific genius – and how close we all came to a slithering end!

 

Play a huge range of classic wartime heroes such as Russian political officers, German U-Boat commanders, British commandoes, RAF pilots, US rangers, Washington investigators, London journalists, Hollywood starlets, and resistance fighters from all across Europe, who must all unite in the battle against the darker side of World War Two. Play a full campaign leading from the opening shots of the War in 1939, through intrigue and adventure in Occupied Europe, the siege of Berlin in 1945, and finally the cold wastes of Antarctica in 1946!

 

Can be followed on it’s Facebook page.

Cthulhu Dark

Aside

  By Doug | February 26, 2012 - 3:57 pm | Role Playing Games
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Just came across this:

Cthulhu Dark is my rules-light Lovecraftian game. (Or try the easily-printable version).

The rules are fun and incredibly minimal: they fit on one sheet of paper. You don’t need a character sheet to play, so you can start playing after two minutes of prep. Despite the simplicity, there are some interesting rules twists: look at the Suppressing Knowledge rule for an example.

More info here from Thieves of Time. Just about to print it out.

 

The Great Moon Hoax

  By Doug | February 4, 2012 - 11:24 am | Books, Creations, eBooks, Public Domain
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My latest treasure dug up from the public domain using a combination of the Museum of Hoaxes, the Internet Archive and Smithsonian images. Everything apart from my introduction and my appendix at the end is in the public domain.

If you like you can download for free from Scribd. Or if you really like the idea and want to reward me for my time you can purchase it in kindle format from:

Amazon UK: The Great Moon Hoax

Amazon US: The Great Moon Hoax

If you find any errors or problems please leave a comment.

 

Adventurer Conqueror King Released (PDF)

  By Doug | February 2, 2012 - 7:17 pm | Uncategorized
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Adventurer Conqueror King

Adventurer Conqueror King

This has finally been released. Have not downloaded it yet but will do so in the near future. From the creator’s site:

http://www.autarch.co/

Autarch’s Adventurer Conqueror King system fulfills the promise of the original fantasy role-playing game by providing comprehensive, integrated support for play across all levels of a campaign. Any referee who has ever checked for random encounters, and every player who’s has rolled a twenty-sided dice to hit a wandering monster, will find the rules of Adventurer Conqueror King as elegant, familiar, and comfortable to wield as an heirloom sword. The system’s cutting edge is the way every table, chart, and assumption in the game encodes Gygaxian naturalism, Arnesonian barony-building, and the designers’ own experience of hundreds of sessions playing and running old-school games. With Adventurer Conqueror King, you get both the verisimilitude and consistency of thorough world-building with the power of improvisation and discovery through play. We look forward to seeing what you do with these tools!

Currently available here at DrivethruRPG.

Your Journey from Adventurer to King Begins Now!

Enter a world where empires totter on the brink of war, and terrible monsters tear at the fragile borderlands of men; where decaying cities teem with chaos and corruption, nubile maidens are sacrificed to chthonic cults and nobles live in decadent pleasure on the toil of slaves; where heroes, wizards, and rogues risk everything in pursuit of glory, fortune, and power. This is a world where adventurers can become conquerors – and conquerors can become kings.

Will you survive the perils of war and dark magic to claim a throne? Or will you meet your fate in a forgotten ruin beyond the ken of men?

The Adventurer Conqueror King System™ (ACKS) is a new fantasy role-playing game that provides the framework for epic fantasy campaigns with a sweeping scope. With theAdventurer Conqueror King System™ you can:

  • Play 12 different classes, including the fighter, mage, thief, cleric, assassin, bard, bladedancer, explorer, dwarven craftpriest, dwarven vaultguard, elven nightblade, and elven spellsword.
  • Easily customize your character using a unique, optional proficiency system. Make your fighter a berserker or your mage a necromancer!
  • Buy, sell, and trade common merchandise, precious silks and spices, and even monster parts and magic items in a balanced and integrated game economy.
  • Construct strongholds, establish kingdoms, and carve out a realm for your character.
  • Run a thieves’ guild and send your minions to carouse, smuggle, steal, and commit other hijinks.
  • Establish a wizard’s sanctum and explore the forbidden arts. Crossbreed horrific monsters in an underground laboratory, enact powerful magical rituals, build golems, craft magic items, or even transform yourself and your followers into undead monsters.
  • Build and run a living world for adventure on a grand scale. With game mechanics built to support emergent play, ACKS is the ultimate RPG for sandbox campaigns.

Whether you want to crawl through dungeons, trade with merchant caravans, run a merchant emporium, conquer an empire, or even raise an undead legion, ACKS supports your playstyle with simple, fast-playing game mechanics.

 

 

Things Not Daily: Random Cthulhu

  By Doug | January 20, 2012 - 7:49 pm | Books, Role Playing Games, Thing A Day
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Yes it has been quiet recently and it is not going to get better soon.

Recently my new thing on eBay has been old Science Fiction books. Not just the cheap golden age yellowing novels and such like; books about Science Fiction. Like David Kyle’s fabulous book – A Pictorial History of Science Fiction. Which can be found cheaply.

I have also been hunting down the Terran Trade Authority books which I fondly remember. One of the related books was called Aliens In Space which I thought would be handy for ideas for my Traveller campaign.

Aliens In Space

Aliens In Space

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1983 & Beyond: Defending Basic Dungeons & Dragons

  By Doug | December 21, 2011 - 9:04 pm | Role Playing Games
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This excellent article at Grognardia convinced me to finally get round to writing brief defence of, what to me is, the original Dungeons and Dragons.

 

The 1983 set’s focus on self-teaching and simple language probably made sense from a marketing standpoint. Given how well the set supposedly sold, I can’t really fault TSR for going in this direction. At the same time, though, there was clearly a shift happening, away from adults and teenagers as the target audience and away from initiation as the means of entering the hobby. Likewise, the adoption of a unified esthetic (all Elmore and Easley artwork) that, while attractive, seemed to narrow rather than broaden the scope of the game. In short, the 1983 Basic Set marked a definite change from what had gone before. (James Maliszewski)

 

I briefly discussed my initiation in D&D here. In short as a person in my very early teens I got the red box Basic Dungeons & Dragons after reading an advert at the back of Proteus magazine. Fighting Fantasy for me was my gateway drug to nerd heaven.

 

D&D Basic Set (Source The Acaeum http://www.acaeum.com/)

D&D Basic Set (Source The Acaeum http://www.acaeum.com/)

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RPG Breakout: Pa[CENSORED]ia RPG

  By Doug | December 4, 2011 - 11:13 am | Books, Role Playing Games, Software
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The computer is your friend. Everything is fine. Every version of Paranoia is perfect and could not be improved. Knowledge of other versions than the computer approved version is treasonous. Indicating knowledge of other editions is treasonous. What is an edition? The computer is your friend. Have a nice daycycle.

Paranoia

Paranoia RPG

Paranoia RPG

The Role Playing Game

Current Publisher: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/paranoia.html

RPG Geek: http://rpggeek.com/rpgfamily/378/paranoia

RPG Net: http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=2217

RPG Net: http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=755

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_(role-playing_game)

There is but one version of this game, the current one. Previous editions that do not exist include the 1st, 2nd and 5th. Knowledge of the 5th edition is considered more treasonous than normal (*). This game is a creation of the computer, your friend.

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