13th Age Campaign Session IV: Shadows Over Eldolan

13 Age Campaign Session IV -- Shadows Over Eldolan

Editor's Note: Many of you have noted the use of puns in the session titles. Even though it may not look like it, this one is a pun as well. Take ye heed!

Last session the group had defeated the Dream Master. This session began with the spoils of that victory. In other words, there was loot.

The group pored over what they presumed was the Dream Master’s workshop. They found a ledger  that went back just over two months. About a month ago, new line items for bodies both live and dead started to show up.

There were two names associated with it who were taking the supplies: Landon, with a notation about the Dead Vaults, and Aerto, a “broker” in the docks.

The group additionally found a large amount of coins (the Dream Master’s ill-gotten gains) and quite a bit of Dream Leaf. They quickly put everything together and left, planning a discussion on what to do next for tomorrow. The Dream Master had taxed them to their limits, and the only thing to do was get a night’s sleep.

As they left the building they were met by Kalia, the girl they had spoken with earlier in the day, and who had told them how to find the theater.

“Wicked! That was absolutely incredible, what did you do there?”

Quickfire: Bundle of Holding

While I'm working on my update from the 13th Age campaign (note to self: don't tell people you're back when you have two 3000 word posts to write...) I wanted to do a quick update that a lot of you might actually use about the Bundle of Holding.

I'm sure all of you have heard about the Humble Bundle: a program where you can get loads of great software for a pay-what-you-want price, and the proceeds to go charity. If you haven't heard of it, time to click on that link above and also fine yourself 10 Quatloos.

What you likely haven't heard about is the Bundle of Holding. a similar project for role-playing games. Bundle of Holding offers bundles of PDF versions of different RPGs, with the proceeds again going either to the authors or to charity, as you prefer.

The current bundle is games for the Fate RPG system. I really like Fate, and moreover, the people who create it are great people. If you've never ventured outside of games like Dungeons and Dragons, Fate will come as a shock to your senses. While it's still a traditional game with a GM, players and Mountain Dew, it allows the players to work with the GM to tell the story of the game much more collaboratively.

If you've never heard of it, it's a great time to get pretty much everything for the game. I think you'll have a great time reading it and it will make you think about gaming in an entirely different light.

The bundle comes with the following:

• Fate Core rules
• Day After Ragnarok -- WW2 Post Apocalyptic role-playing where the Germans woke up the Midgard Serpant.
• Iron Edda -- a Norse giant mecha game where the mecha are made from the bones of giants.
• The Ministry Initiative -- Victorian Steampunk
• Base Raiders -- explore superhero bases in a world where all the heroes and villains just up and disappeared one day.
• Jadepunk -- a Martial Arts Wuxia game where you're rebels against an evil government.
• The Pirates Guide to Freeport -- the Freeport campaign setting for Fate.
• Tianxia: Blood, Silk, & Jade -- a full-on martial-arts game set in a fantasy ancient China.

Wow. That's a crazy amount of stuff you can get, and the games are fun to read even if it turns out you're not going to play Fate.

So check out the bundle and hold on just a bit ... large article coming shortly. Until then, Make Mine 20!

Edition Wars: Threat or Menace?

Editor's note: And ... we're back. Thanks for being a bit patient with us over at OnTheDie. A mixture of work and illness kept me from these updates for a bit. It definitely had nothing to do with a bit too much celebration for my Sith Anniversary (AKA my birthday) or having to fight off some angry Jedi. The important thing is that WE'RE BACK!

Welcome back to 20OnTheDie’s opinion column where we ask and answer the questions of the day in an angry and argumentative fashion.

Fresh from this year’s Gamehole Con, there are a number of important topics to discuss, so let's get to them.

Quickfire: Project Gutenberg and the King In Yellow

Hail to the King!

As the my Sith plans to celebrate my next successful revolution around the sun continue, I wanted to make sure to still have an update for you.

Since it's October, many of you are doubtless thinking about Halloween and other scary things.

I wanted to share a link with you to something that's very appropriate for this time of year.

Project Gutenberg, a site that if you don't know about you should stop and immediately check out, hosts free e-books in a wide variety of formats for books that are old enough to be outside of copyright protection.

I was browsing through there the other day, and found that they host many of Robert Chambers books. Who's he? An author that contributed to the Cthulhu mythos, that's who.

If you are one of the fans of HBO's True Detective that was wondering what all that stuff about Carsosa was all about, I bring you Robert Chambers The King in Yellow. This will be especially important to those of you who watched True Detective with me or my fellow blogger over at the Vorpal Chainsword, only to have us talk about "Carcosa" in the creepiest voices we could manage.

So what's it all about? Check it out on Project Gutenberg and find out.

And you should especially read about it late at night, in a spooky old house with no one around.

That would be perfect.

Hopefully I will be back with a big article on Friday, so until then, Make Mine 20!

Game Balance: Threat or Menace?

First in a series.

Angry before it was cool.

Welcome to my Threat or Menace series where I talk about issues that are controversial in gaming. In case  you’re wondering, “Threat or Menace?” is taken from the desk of J. Jonah Jameson, who frequently writes after Spiderman would do something to save all of New York from certain destruction:

SPIDERMAN: THREAT OR MENACE?

That's my source and inspiration for this series of editorials. This is my series where I’ll get as close to being political as ever in 20OnTheDie. It’s also where I won’t shy away from a fight. As always, I appreciate comments, so let’s get a discussion started.

13th Age Campaign Session III: Dream Master: a Love Story

13 Age Campaign Session III -- Dream Master: a Love Story

Note: sadly, Teri Hatcher will not be appearing in this session.

The group, in possession of a cart, and twelve rapidly cooling bodies of the Ratsmashers considered how they were going to make their move against the Dream Master.

Dragur’s shadow had done a thorough reconnaissance of the theater and the group knew there were a dozen gang members inside, along with the mysterious Dream Master. A frontal assault seemed unlikely to succeed, especially considering how hurt they were at the moment.

It was at that moment that Alarendel calmly walked up to them “hey guys, wha’d I miss?” And then he saw the bodies. “a lot, apparently.”

“So where were you?” asked Dragur.

“Attending to an important … ritual ... forgive me.”

Games that Changed Everything: Feng Shui

First in a series!

One of the things I really like talking about is the history of the hobby of RPGs, since I was brought up in Wisconsin and played with some of the people responsible for creating the hobby.

As I get older, I see a lot of newer players (AKA “kids”) who don’t have the same history that I do, and I feel that there’s a duty to talk about the hobby and how it came to be. Or in other words:

We needs to do the tellin’ so we ‘member who we was.
(Yeah, that was a Beyond Thunderdome quote, so sue me…)