Thursday, February 28, 2019

Sequencing the Viscount Eric Genome

Lots of distractions for this week.  More to come on that, but the high point thus far was that I have human DNA!

My wife got the whole family those Ancestry DNA kits for Christmas as a fun family activity.

Personally, I've had it pretty easy with the genealogical path.  My grandparents were pretty pureblood by all accounts, and my Dad's side of the family was always considered full Swedish up until his generation.  I figured I would be 50% Swedish, 25% Irish, and 25% Slovak, or some variation thereof.

Then I got my results this week:

 Norway?  England? Germanic Europe?

Obviously a popular commercial product might not be a be all/end all answer, but the grand map of overlaps helps explain it.
I'm not exactly sure what strange DNA those people in Denmark have that have eluded all my overlapping genetics.
My Swedish ancestors come from square in the middle of the big overlap of Norway and Sweden.  Some of the distant ancestors are starting to pull more Danish/Germanic surnames/patronyms, and I'm assuming a few English/Welsh and Scots started canoodling with the Irish ancestors.

I may have also uncovered an extension on my paternal Grandmother's side of the family.  Marriage records and such always mentioned my great-great grand parents, but the trail seemed to go cold.  Once a few of those DNA matches came up for other members, I pulled one that had the same surname in the same small mining town of my ancestors.  Reviewing records I realized that those folks were my grandmother's grandparents who lived a five doors down from her.... and who always were on the previous page of the census records. 

For me, the best part was my wife's horror that discovering her half-Welsh, half-German heritage was a mismash of cultures, no "pure" Germanic (only the England and Northwest Europe, which does cover Baden), and somehow she's 7% Norwegian as well. 

Even better?  The kids are more diluted Swedish, my little Millie ended up a full quarter Norwegian.

Explains everything.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Apathy of the New Releases (Mar '19)

ViscountEric's Want List
ALC Studio BVBA
My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria - The Haunting of Equestria ................. $15.99


ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List
Thunderworks Games
Dual Powers :  Revolution 1917 ............................................................. $39.95


The Imaginary Store (The Pegleg Gnome) List
The Army Painter
Battlefield Field Grass .................................................... $4.99
Battlefield Snow .............................................................. $4.99
Battlefield Steppe Grass .................................................. $4.99
Battlefield Rocks ............................................................. $4.99
Battlefield Razorwire ....................................................... $4.99
Battlefield Green Grass .................................................... $4.99
Brown Battleground ......................................................... $5.99
Summer Undergrowth ...................................................... $4.99
Deadlead Tuft ...................................... $6.99
Frozen Tuft .......................................... $6.99
Highland Tuft ...................................... $6.99
Jungle Tuft .......................................... $6.99
Lowland Shrubs .................................. $6.99
Swamp Tuft ......................................... $6.99
Meadow Flowers ................................. $6.99
Wasteland Tuft ..................................... $6.99
Mountain Tuft ...................................... $6.99
Scorched Tuft ....................................... $6.99
Winter Tuft ........................................... $6.99
Woodland Tuft ...................................... $6.99
I'm not going to list ALL of the Army Painter items solicited, but I list the "basing accessories"  line for a few reasons.  Army Painter tries to be relatively mainstream with their products and pricing, so to see all these items solicited at once reinforces the need for a FLGS with a good number of modelers/hobbyists to stock these or similar items.  They are priced to become impulse buys.

That being said, while the tufts are certainly more difficult to recreate at home, anyone using a ton of the various flocking materials should be grabbing their stuff from a model train or other hobby store at two to three times the price for ten times the material.  

Catalyst Game Labs
Battletech: Shattered Fortress ........................................... $29.99
Battletech: The Game of Armored Combat ...................... $59.99

Cheapass Games
Jagermonster Poke Deck ................................................... $10.00
Pairs: Leaf Deck ................................................................ $10.00

Creative Goods Companies
CATAN Black Coffee Mug ............................................... $15.00
CATAN Metal License Plate (Euro Size) .......................... $24.00
CATAN Metal License Plate (Standard Size) .................... $24.00
CATAN Window Logo Sticker........................................... $10.00
I'm down with Creative Good and their wide assortment of CATAN goods for a crazy fan base.

The Travel Utensil Set ($26.00) might be jumping the shark, I don't know.
Everything Epic Games
Big Trouble in Little China: The Legacy of Lo Pan Expansion .............. $25.00

Fantasy Flight Games
The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth ................................... $99.95
The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth Playmat ..................... PI
Star Wars Legion: X-34 Landspeeder Unit .............................................. $49.95
Star Wars RPG:  Allies and Adversaries HC ........................................... $39.95

Far Future Enterprises
Traveller5 - Core Rules Slipcase ............................................................. $90.00

Floodgate Games
Bosk ........................................................ $45.00

Goodman Games
DCC RPG Core Rulebook 7th Printing - Ltd Ed Hardcovers
Demon Skull Issues ($69.99), Sanjulan ($59.99) and Shanna Dahaka ($59.99)

Kobold Press
D&D - Tales of Old Margreve HC ............................... $39.99
D&D - Margreve Pawns ............................................... $25.99
D&D - Margreve Player's Guide .................................. $19.99

Lookout Games
1830 (Revised Edition) ................................................ $69.99

Looney Labs
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Fluxx .............................. $20.00

Modiphius 
Kult: Divinity Lost ............................................. $67.99
Kult: Black Madonna ......................................... $44.99
Kult: Taroticum and Other Tales ........................ $44.99

Monte Cook Games
Invisible Sun:  Teratology ................................... $45.00
Numenera: Ninth World Bestiary 3 .................... $44.99

Paizo Publishing
Pathfinder ACG - Core Set (Revised) ................................... $59.99
Pathfinder ACG - Curse of the Crimson Throne .................. $49.99
Pathfinder RPG - The Tyrant's Grasp Poster Map Folio ......  $19.99
Pathfinder RPG - Ulimate Wilderness (Pocket Edition) ......  $19.99
Pathfinder RPG - Occult Adventures (Pocket Edition) ........  $19.99
Pathfinder RPG - Player Compnaion - Chronicle of Legends ................. $14.99
Pathfinder RPG - AP The Tyrants Grasp 4 - Gardens of Gallowspire ..... $24.99
Starfinder RPG - AP Dawn of Flame 4 - The Blind City ....  $22.99
Starfinder RPG - Flip Mat Spaceport .................................... $14.99

Pelgrane Press
Hideous Creatures: A Bestiary of the Cthulhu Mythos ............. $49.95
The Persephone Extraction ........................................................ $26.95

Steve Jackson Games
Fantasy Trip:  Death Test ............................................. $19.95

Troll Lord Games
5th Edition Adventures:  U2 - Verdant Range ............. $10.99

Wizards of the Coast
Magic the Gathering CCG: 2019 Challenger Decks

Wizkids 
Marvel Heroclix Avenges/Black Panter/Illuminati Booster Bricks
Marvel Heroclix Avenges/Black Panter/Illuminati Dice and Tokens ........... $9.99
Marvel Heroclix Avenges/Black Panter/Illuminati Fast Forces .................... $16.99
Warhammer 40,000 Dice Masters - Blood Angels Team Pack ..................... $12.99
Warhammer 40,000 Dice Masters - Dark Angels Team Pack ....................... $12.99
Warhammer 40,000 Dice Masters - Fracture of Biel-Tan Campaign Box .... $39.99

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #16 - The Principality of Fürstentum

Town of Betend, Principality of  Fürstentum, Kingdom of Ras-Prythax

To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,

To follow-up my previous letter, I had barely gotten a decent bath and the old lady was only halfway finished with the briars on my cloaks and britches before misfortune came our way.

And by misfortune, I mean the infernal references to Talanth Blackash.

The rest of the Order of Merit returned from their shopping trip in the marketplace with two pieces of news.

First, in the aftermath of the storm, every spellcaster in the town, be it divine gifts or arcane summoning, had lost their ability to perform the miracles they call spells.  No healing, no detection, no fireballs streaking across the horizon.

The High Priest at the Temple of Akana was amazed that Alwin could still cast spells, although once cast, it did not appear that he could not bring forth more divine power than he had before arriving.  The religious community is in a frenzy!

Second, eyewitnesses casually dropped reference to the elf Blackash and his friends helping people in the midst of the storm.  They took no reward, but were quickly hired by a young girl for some sort of rescue mission (the drunken one was quite vocal about it before they all departed).

I convinced the others to stay a day or two, before heading west and perhaps intentionally follow the trail of the Blackash Brigade for once.

While the others enjoyed their recreation in a magic-less city (although weapons and magical paraphernalia still appear to be working.), I spent my time in the library researching where we were, because, to be honest, who would trust a local about anything four paid ales into the conversation?

The Principality of Fürstentum was once a direct imperial holding of Feraso.  It's designation as a Principality was deemed so by one of the appointment of one of the latter ranked children in succession for the Emperor's throne.  This was installed by Leif II as a "real world" training academy for the lesser children, just in case the direct heir would become problematic.  Emperor Leif I was the founder of the Second Empire of Feraso, but any account I could find, his firstborn David was craven and tyrannical. It took years for the free-spirit Leif II to usurp power from his brother, and with it he took Fürstentum and ruled it directly, until a worthy second, third, or fourth heir was ready, and they would train them on how to rule a dominion. 

This accommodation was never needed, but the practice was continued through the Second Empire, the Barbarian Incursion, and stayed as recent as 980, until the Barbarian Lord Theuderic I married into the "Ferasean Pretenders" claim to the throne.  Those ancestors to our great and powerful Krugraf Mykul established the Principality as a separate claim independent of the Crown and installed Theuderic's second son, Prince Tamas, as it's ruler.  It has remained hereditary since then with a line of succession based on blood and age.  Prince Tamas' son, Emvar briefly ruled, until he was killed by brigands and mercenaries from Enstead.  His sister, Princess Theofina, rules from the capital city of Hauptstadt and lets the various lords, ladies, barons, and baronesses under her rule the land.

Fürstentum is one of the 'bread baskets' that feed the Kingdom.   Given it's proximity to Agenmoor and Ensted, it's no surprise that a small but annoyingly loud group of elves and their half-breeds can be found in most of the larger towns.

At least eight baronies dot the Principality, a mixture of descendants of previous latter offspring and worthy awardees.

As we prepared to leave this morning, word arrived in town that another town might be falling to a surprise attack of brazen Ensted brigands driving hard into the countryside, supported my a small army of bugbears, gnolls, and undead, all emblazoned with some unknown fire symbol.

The agents of the Temple of Galmar are still in hot pursuit, and I'm afraid we must turn course and head directly to a small village for more information on this incursion, and perhaps what's going on with the clerics.

The village's name is Schattenwurf

Your Faithful Servant

Elsderth Greyhawk
Sellsword and Actual Sage of the Order of Merit

DM Notes: We are continuing the adventures in the order they happened.  With the new world map I installed  back in 2001 CE, Ras-Prythax is fairly empty, so I'm taking this time to flesh out some details.  I'll present the module after the next episode, but Fürstentum is a very shrunken version of Cormyr. Betend is Arabel.  The Forgotten Realms magically appear right next to the The Temple of Elemental Evil.  Makes as much sense to me now as it did back in 1990. 

And, of course, there's Schattenwurf.  Once I describe it in next week's letter (or you roughly translate it), it's pretty obvious.  More fun and excitement to be had! 

Next:  #17 - Schattenwurf! 

Monday, February 25, 2019

(IOU) Zing Bingan, Mr Panda

On a plush and green world, alien invaders have descended from the sky and have begun plundering its resources.  Most of the races succumbed to the pillaging   

Sentient panda on the planet were jokingly referred to as "Pandarens." Their simple way of life hide the fact that they were incredibly adaptive to new technology.  One of these creatures, Zing Bingan, developed an affinity to stealing the aliens' recon bikes and began changing the tech to his own needs.  

Found this awhile ago and have not clue to its orgins, all searches have netted others who have cropped or tweaked the picture without crediting it as well.  Any information to correct this would be greatly appreciated.
Zing is now referred to as "Mr Panda."  He, and sometimes his recruited underlings, terrorize the the alien teams gathering resources.

He is usually accompanied my a Xiao Bing, a small AI scouting robot.  What few people know is that inside it is a newborn Panda that was recovered from its slain mother after a violent alien raid.  Zing Bingan has been able to use the baby's neural system to power the the unit, while in turn it acts as an incubator.

What even fewer people know is that Xiao Bing is currently on their 30th baby panda.  Most perish before they outgrow the craft, and the few that have have little chance of a normal life in "Pandaren" society.

"Mr Panda" Zing Bingan
Revolutionary Anthropomorphic Panda (4)
Crack Jet Bike Pilot (3)
Loner Hero Always Looking for the Next Sidekick (2)
New Fusion Pot-Sticker Chef (1)

Equipment:
Alien Jet Bike (4)
Repeating Lasers (3)
Turbo Boost (3)

Xiao Bing, Recon Bot/Baby Panda (3)

Created by Maja, with some technical assistance from Dad.

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Of Armies and Hordes Released by Ganesha Games

Ganesha Games, known for their "Song of..." series of skirmish rules, has released the pdf of their fantasy, universal army-level wargame, Of Armies and Hordes.

Cost for the pdf is $10.  Spiral bound paperback copies of the rules will be available at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/songofblades later this month.

Friday, February 22, 2019

(Kickstarter) Terrain Crate 2 by Mantic

After some hullabaloo, Mantic has launched their second TerrainCrate, TerrainCrate 2: Crate Expectations

Some of the sample sets that tickled my fancy.





Sets include 90+ pieces at $85 a set.  S&H will be paid and processed in the BackerKit.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

A Pittsburgh Reprieve

Last  weekend, Mrs ViscountEric and I achieved a relationship level unheard of in the last decade.

We spent an entire weekend away, together, without kids.

That's right, from Friday morning to late Sunday night, without kiddos, and actually out of the house.

I heartily recommend it to everyone.

Right after the kids jumped on the bus, the Missus and me jumped in the car and headed out to Pittsburgh to meet up with friends, attend two Penguin games, and hide in a hotel room without interruptions from kids until our nervous giggling went away.

The Penguins split with the weekend, but between our awesome seats and and a flurry of offense, we couldn't complain.
They did move the Zamboni before play started....
 We ate meals without distraction, and were content, instead of bloated or still starving.

My wife may have had one or three too many and attempted to kidnap the Penguin's knitting lady (yes that's a thing).  I gotta check out the statute of limitation before admitting to knowing anything.

After the Saturday afternoon game, we met the infamous Wooly and his wife for dinner at Burgatory (I could find no fault with the place, since we made reservations) and an evening of normal gaming at Rivers Casino.  Wooly has gotten bit by the Battletech bug, but lack of players in Johnstown and a childless over-scheduling of their weekend is keeping him from meeting groups further away.

I will say, I will put a 20% chance that he might show for Cold Wars.
ViscountEric and Wooly surrounding the finest fake plant on the 3rd floor of the Rivers Casino
So, filling in the other stuff I usually mention:

*Basketball is finally winding down.  The kids were off at a different location with relatives, so they missed last weekend's games.  For Millie it was the last game of the season, but for Maja, I already talked about how her playoffs started.  Two more players couldn't make it on Saturday, so her team was down to five players, still a feat, even against the worst team in the league.   We kept in contact with one of the parents on-site, and although it was a struggle, the Fierce Five pulled off a 10-6 win against the Cavs.  A most advantageous win for us, while we will now play a team that outscored its opponents 62-23 in its first two games, the Cavs were trounced 27-11 in their loser's bracket game, which I assume would be the Fierce Five's as well.

*I am pre-registered for Cold Wars, with a local hotel pre-paid.  Probably hitting the dealers, flea market, and whatever gnome games might show up.

*No train show this year.  The afternoon start times for basketball on Saturday, plus a Women in Sports camp on Sunday morning have forced me to scratch the annual trip, a visit to my Mom, and perhaps some face-to-face gaming with my friends.

*Scrapping Mepacon,too:  Non-kid family issues have made me give up on attempting to attend the local Scranton con.

*My annual post-tax return big minis order goes to Reviresco/tin-soldier.com.  Add my shopping list for Cold Wars and my future Colonial games will have a lot of simple figures to paint up.

*Blogging-wise, I have an ever-growing list of games, projects, ideas, and cool stuff to review, but there is some progress, albeit long-term.  I continue to keep a two-month buffer for Lost Dispatches of Feraso entries, and all twelve of my BECMI D&D actual play posts for Adventures in Gulluvia are scheduled to go once Lost Dispatches ends.

*Other than the bulk Colonials minis, the next month still looks to be role-playing with a smattering of news.  Season three, episode six of the Pulp Game is raring to go.  

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

(Kickstarter) Life of the Party Volume 3 by Travis Hanson

February.  The evil month where aspiring creators prey on the unassuming fans who have already submitted their tax return and are awaiting their refunds.

Travis Hanson is at it again with his Kickstarter for his gaming cartoon collection, Life of the Party Volume 3.


Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #15 - The Temple of Elemental Evil

The Village of Nulb, Viscounty of Verbobonc

To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,

After stabling our horses with only the basest of assurances by the Smith, that they would be taken care of (and my previous letter get dispatched to Griffon's Cove for further delivery), The Order of Merit tried their best to stealthily leave the village without anyone noticing.  Given the encroaching waters from the flash floods compromising parts of town, I believe we succeeded at that.  

We stayed a few yards off the barely used southern trail, but it almost proved too much.  The further south we traveled, the vegetation proved more disconcerting, sickened and dying trees with skeletal appearances, twisted scrubs, and rank weeds that pulled at any clothing you had.  Leaving the horses at the Smith proved wise.

Nearing evening, we were surrounded by wolves.  I feared the worst from this pack, but with Morya and Murag barking orders, we managed to slay all of them!   Rogrim showed some skilled skinning them, and we secured the wolf pelts in a safe location before waking in the middle of the night to continue on.

And there, standing beyond a copse of dead trees in the pre-dawn light was the shattered remains of a disgusting place of evil.  The walls around it had been battered, but behind them was a place serving something more sinister than humans could succumb to.
After investigating the courtyard, we brazenly walked up to the main doors of the temple itself.  The doors were secured with chains, soft lead, and numerous sigils and runes scrawled across it.  It did not seem wise to got through the doors, but for Morya and Rolgrim, their simple presence near the door was mortifying and they refused to get any closer.

We discovered one of the towers guarding the walls hadn't succumbed to ancient attack, or the overgrown vines, and offered access from a door.

I believe Rolgrim Snakecloud would be a completely despicable man in another life, but for now his skills in stealth and subterfuge allowed us to waylay the skeleton crew of guards inside.

While we weren't certainly neat during the melee, the tower showed signs of a fantastic struggle erupting throughout the structure.  Pools of still-congealing blood soaked through the floorboards.  But there were no bodies, other than the ones we created.

After some searching, we found  a secret entrance in the floor that led down to a series of tunnels.  One led directly away from this place to the west, the other seemed to lead beneath the temple itself.

We tried to follow a basic path which the carnage seemed to follow and that navigated this short tunnel to some deep dungeon of doom beneath the temple.  At some point they attempted to work their ways up, away from the bugbear and gnoll guards, to an area that had been largely left with skeletons, zombies, and other undead to protect the area from intruders.

Many of the undead lay shattered and broken on the stone floors, but in the time between this attack and our appearance, someone dastardly had discovered the mayhem and attempted to correct it, for the purposes of the maintenance of evil.

The stench of death everywhere.  In some sub-levels, someone had released small packs of ghouls to handle the clean-up.  In other spots we experienced the reinforcement of the undead.  Alwin Warmark is granted some protection against these cursed wretches.  We had arranged a simple system were he would lure the abominations to a location, before he used Akana's holy light to turn them away from him, and into the rest of our able weapons.  Against undead of roughly human sized skeletons and zombies, this was no problem, but someone truly heinous created zombies from the bodies of the slain bugbears and gnolls.  Not only did Alwin have almost no influence over the creatures, but their constitution seemed to transfer into the afterlife.  After downing three of them, we wisely decided flee, seek shelter, and rest up.

We kept in tight formation, let our scoundrel work his making avoid traps, and kept our presence largely unknown to the living creatures.

I can ascertain two things from this complex.  It may be a Temple of worship to the Rock Cults of Galmar, as well has Vihula of the Flame and some lesser known, elemental gods.  It is vast, and in some places, far more secure than our simple abilities could overcome.

Secondly, the rampage that Talanth Blackash and his crew conducted on the temple was severe, with even worse repercussions.  Most memorable was young hill giant carcass impaled with a bardiche through the back.

Who backstabs anyone with a bardiche?

We discovered two more sets of giant iron doors, similar to the ones that prevented us access at the front of the temple, except that these two sets of doors had recently been breached.  Our collective knowledge on this subject is lacking, but if something required three locked and heavily enchanted doors to keep something in, opening two of them might result in catastrophic events.  Upon that realization, we headed back for the tunnels and came back up into the tower.

Everything was how we had left it, but as soon as we left the tower, we immediately encountered more tower guards, returning from somewhere, led by an officer on horseback.

We dashed into the dead woods to avoid the crossbow bolts, but between a few well placed hand axes, and a few holy commands from Brother Alwin, we stymied their attack, blocked their chance to gather reinforcements, and allowed us to plot a counterattack.   While all the general guards were slain, the commander turned his horse around and sped off down the path.

We trudged our way back to Nulb, dodging a minor patrol looking for us.  We circled part of the village before entering, and it was lucky we did.  The Commander had finally managed to muster significant forces to hunt us down.  Some headed south, some guarded the bridge heading north.

We ventured into the village to get our horses, and the Smith proved true to his word, taking only payment for shoeing the horses, and even waylaying a nosy troublemaker to allow our escape.

Murag and his giant dwarf nose smelled dwarven construction back a mile or two on the Old Gnarley Road, and, with a little clearing, we were able to access the stone block road.  Going was slow, and often we dismounted to lead our steeds through the overgrowth, but we traveled unmolested from the agents of the temple, or anyone else seeking us out.

And parts of the road appeared to have been used recently!

Low on supplies and spirit, we have found ourselves somehow arriving in the caravan town of Betend in the Principality of Fürstentum.  The town seems to have been hit by the same storms that struck Nulb, but first we are getting a room at the Silver Plains Inn, I'm getting a much needed bath, and someone shall be paid to pull each and every briar and sticker attached to my clothing.

THEN we shall see what's a foot in Fürstentum.

Your humble servant

Elsderth Greyhawk
Sellsword, Sage of the Order of Merit, and Foe Against the Galmar Temple

DM Notes:  Finally, the first ever adventure I ever ran as a Dungeon Master, T1-4: Temple of Elemental Evil!  Fun Fact, my group ignored the moat house and headed straight for Nulb back in the day, and dove head first into the Temple.  It took most of the Summer, but they cleared out a good portion of it.  And then, they wandered off.  

For years I thought it was something I had done, but reading through the module to try to document their effort, I remembered that (a) half of them had the antipathy effect from the doors so they didn't want to navigate further, but (b) when the other got the doors open, things began to hit the fan faster and more consistent.  

By the time the Order of Merit arrives, certain entities have escaped, most of the surviving temple are hunting down Talanth, and the survivors are rebuilding their forces the old fashioned way: through necromancy.  

For Elsderth and his compatriots, Talanth and company didn't leave much treasure left.   They scrounged up a decent amount of coin and miscellaneous treasure, but nothing magical to add to their repertoire.  

For the Blackash Crew:
Talanth - Cloak of Elvinkind, shortsword +1, leather +1, and a bardiche (in addition to the one left in the hill giant's back)
Drunken Warrior - Shield +2
Stupid Ranger - Chain Mail +1
Busty Mage - Bracers AC3 and a sweet spellbook with fireball!

They also got magical mace, for when they ever need a cleric!

Finally, the backstab with the bardiche thing.  The first printing of the 2nd Edition PHB had a few errors in it.  The most obvious was the omission of broadsword from every equipment/weapons list.  Second was a well rules-lawyered plea from Charles that the rules for thieves said they could backstab with ANY weapon.  So, in the moment, I let him backstab the giant with one.  

I will say that it was the only time I allowed that interpretation and it was used on a 1st Edition Hill Giant.  That becomes important later on down the road.  

Monday, February 18, 2019

(IOU) Art "Maitre'D" Dowling

Oh, the ideas I find on Instagram...

Art "Maitre'D" Dowling
Midget Urban "Entrepreneur"  (4)
Big Gun Aficionado... Proportionally (3)
Eager Future Restauranteur (2)
Back Alley Barbershop Quartet Singer (1)

The IOU group does have a penchant for guns, getting into trouble, getting into trouble in restaurants, and possibly Pitch Perfect-style sing offs.  Art fills in a much needed space that would go to a halfling or space dwarf transfer student. 

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

All Set for Cold Wars....

The Cold Wars checklist is slowly getting completed.

The big personal announcement for this is that I will be staying overnight Friday AND Saturday, but not at the newly renamed Wyndham Lancaster Resort and Convention Center.  The Budget Host was clean enough for my daughter at Fall-In, and with a hefty discount from hotels.com, I can afford two nights  (plus two night of post-game festivities). 

Hotel is booked, convention registered for (plus a t-shirt!).

All I need to do is officially assemble my shopping list and my online order to tin-soldier.com for some bulk Colonials, and I might actually feel productive!

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #14 - Nulb

The Village of Nulb, Viscounty of Verbobonc

To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,

The kind gentleman Whit of Griffon's Cove was right.

The village of Nulb reeks of garbage and filth.  I'm simply amazed with the debauchery, riotous attitudes, and lack of general upkeep, how any of these wooden buildings are still standing.

But even as we attempted to blend into this town... poorly I surmise, was that this bustling, corrupt village of outlaws and oathbreakers was operating differently.

Something is going on..


I've learned to secure my belongings on different parts of my body while traveling with Rolgrim Snakecloud, but these were his type of folk, and to watch him work the crowd was something near magical.

I was prepared to grab my sword and dash out to the horses when Rolgrim came up to a table of obvious river pirates and pointed at the rest of the Order of Merit.  Apparently, claiming we were all bounty hunters didn't make any of the patrons blink an eye.  Claiming we were hunting down the horrible fool elf Talanth Blackash made us brothers in arms.

That damn elf had been here too! 

The steely visages of the locals finally broke with descriptions of the elf and his cohort.  Morya accidentally instigating a bar fight may have stopped our flow of information, but it did win us over with the locals.

Over the next two days, we earned the trust of the remaining villagers, for what that was worth, and I'm not sure I wanted to know the goings on of the village, preferring to continue on the Gnarley Wood Road closer to Verbobonc City proper.

Something important is south of the village and whatever it is, the Blackash Gang (Thendara is still with them) wrecked havoc on the inhabitants and barely raised the alarm. Most of the residents to the South, and most of the locals, have taken up arms and pursued this criminal elemental further south.

On the fourth day in town, a big storm swept through the countryside around dinnertime.  I've seen clouds that dark, and perhaps lightning that violent, but THE ACTUAL GROUND SHOOK beneath my feet, with not a clap of thunder to be found.  An assessment of the village the following morning discovered a number of ramshackle shelters had simply blown away from the winds, while a few other buildings collapsed from what some of the folks are calling an earthquake.

By the evening, everyone watched the river rise, and Murag the dwarf and our cleric Brother Alwin convinced the rest of us, that perhaps it might be better to investigate the complex south of Nulb while remaining villagers were preoccupied by flash flooding from upriver.

We dropped our horses off at the local smithy for new shoes and stabling, as well as Murag asking the Smith to repair his old, non-magical chain mail.

The Smith seemed to be the most honest, if disinterested member of the community.  I do remember him standing up as Morya's honor was tarnished by some drunken lout, not that Morya could not handle herself in a matter of seconds (and hence the brawl).

For twenty gold, I asked him to let his stable boy take one of the horses to Griffon's Cove, to pay Whit another ten to send the messenger back to your castle.

I know my Lordship is quite aware of the goings on in his own land better than some former scribe wandering about the woods, but I can assure you, something is amiss in this part of the Viscounty, and the Order of Merit is determined to seek it out and correct it.

Whether this member wants to or not.

Humbly yours,

Elsderth Greyhawk
Sellsword and Sage of the Order of Merit


GM Notes:  We're back on track, although the Order of Merit isn't quite sure how far Talanth Blackash and company are.  Nulb isn't the place to stay for any stretch of time, but this complex (did somebody call it a Temple?) south of the town is worth investigating, and Elsderth learns the worst problem with a group is when you're outvoted. 

Next: #15 - The Temple of Elemental Evil

Monday, February 11, 2019

(Kickstarter) Mall Kids - The RPG

#ZineQuest Kickstarters are coming out hot and heavy for February. This time, it's Mall Kids, and RPG exploring the intersection of teen angst and crushing capitalism.
Sure, it's not slaying dragons or rescuing princesses (usually), but....

Players will navigate a single day at the mall and take turns framing scenes for the characters to play out. Will there be a secret meeting out by the dumpsters? Will you start a riot in the food court? Will a series of complicated and precisely timed diversions lead to you finally asking your crush out without your boss finding out your not at your register?

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Gnome Games at Cold Wars 2019!

We at Gaming with the Gnomies would like to make an update.  

Previously, when we announced the PEL release for Cold Wars, had no Gnome Wars games.

That is still true, but thanks to the Gnome King himself, we have events!

"From the "Gnome Guy" there will be a joust on Friday night, A non-Gnome Space game on Friday afternoon, and a Gnome Wars game on Saturday night."

Will someone gain legendary gnome status in the joust, like Rosalie of the Rosary in 2010?

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Modiphius Star Trek

My weekly 5e online game has been stuck in a plot-induced hiatus the last two weeks.   The storyline is contingent on the actions of one particular character, and their player has been out of commission with a nasty bug. 

While we await his recovery, our regular GM threw me a curveball and decided to run us through the Quick Start scenario for the Star Trek Adventures RPG (STA).. Having never played the system, and having half the players as die hard fans, we acquiesced to his demands. 

STA relies on Modiphius' 2d20 system.  There are attributes, disciplines, focuses, talents, and values to keep track of, but it boils down to the basic 2d20 mechanic (I think).


  • Actions require a certain number of successes on 2d20
  • The roll use a combination of attributes and discipline.  The sum of each one is the target number.
  • Any roll equal to or less than the target number is a success, any 1 on a roll counts as two successes.  
  • Using all the other things previously mention, if you can explain how focuses, talents, and values can help you, you then can count any die result equal to or less than the discipline as two successes.
  • Any excess successes can carry over at Momentum, which provides bonues for future rolls.

Don't ask me about damage resolution because we relied on a Roll20 character sheet for that.

As someone familiar with Fantasy Flight's Star Wars RPGs, the whole momentum thing can really kick up the cinematic feel for the game, without FFG's funky dice.  We succeeded in our mission, even though the Lt Commander (me) took a sucking chest wound in the last round of combat.

Thank the Federation for Universal Health Care and a space martini in the replicator later.

I did, however, get the warning to take the helm next Monday.   Time to prep some new material.

Friday, February 8, 2019

(Kickstarter) Girl Underground - Powered by the Apocalypse

Every once in a great while, I completely miss a good Kickstarter when I do my daily perusal of the new campaigns.  For Girl Underground - an RPG in Zine form (#ZineQuest), I obviously missed the little words beneath the title while I was scrolling on my phone.

Alice in Wonderland.   The Wizard of Oz.  Labyrinith

Sometimes you need to read the details:

From the Kickstarter page:
Girl Underground is a tabletop roleplaying game for 3–5 players about a curious girl in a wondrous world, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz, Spirited Awayand similar tales.

Follow a young girl’s journey of self-discovery through a whimsical fantasy land with the friends she meets along the way. Explore twisted, willowy woods filled with whisper-soft lies, or tricky fairy rings with riddling promises on the way to overthrow an unjust ruler, like the possessive Crowing King or the commanding Ringmistress.

The game uses a simple system built on the Apocalypse Engine—the same foundation for popular games Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts, and Night Witches.

Girl Underground is a low-prep game played either as a oneshot or a short campaign of 2–4 sessions. The game provides locations, side characters, and theme prompts to build a wondrous land tailored to each play experience. With little prep required, Girl Underground is perfect for convention games or game nights when you don’t have a full table.

The zine comes with five evocative playbooks: one for the Girl and each of her four companions.
In short, this zine will give you a game that:
Works for 3–5 players, including a GM
Offers flexible pacing for a oneshot or 2–4 sessions
Uses the popular Apocalypse World system
Provides the materials to make it pick up and play
Sets out playbooks for the Girl and each of her companions

And $9 for the zine/pdf seems like a steal.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Gnome Houses at Dollar General

I swung into Dollar General this past weekend and discovered these Gnome Wars scale houses in the spring/garden section, for just a couple of bucks!


In my searching, I also discovered you can order an entire case of gnome houses from Dollar Tree, but I don't know the scale of them.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

(Kickstarter) Kobolds Ate My Baby 20th Anniversary

Apparently #ZineQuest on Kickstarter is a thing, getting RPG material published in the zine form (because that's almost as trendy as those new bands coming out of Seattle).

9th Level Games has joined the fray, running a one week Kickstarter for the Kobolds Ate My Baby 20th Anniversary Edition.    
Ten bucks (USA S&H included) snags you a reprint of the original KAMB rules in the hideously wonderful orange cover.  

Alien Life Forms

I worried that Colonel Surdu over at Buck's Blog was suffering from a stroke with the oddly title "Phone Home and Eat Cats."  I come to find out his search for and discovery/painting of Alf figures (and some ETs for good luck):

The cottage industry that has the molds for these bad boys is L72 out of the UK.   The dude loves some dwarf-proportioned minis...

"Judge Alf" with friends
Alf-bacca

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #13 - Griffon's Cove

Griffon's Cove, Viscounty of Verbobonc

To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,

I must be honest with my Lord, I have been negligent with my correspondence, but enduring the rigors of being a wanted man and navigating back into Verbobonc have not afforded me sufficient time to pen a letter suitable for you to read it during your busy schedule.

We left Dolksford in haste, but with our equipment, our supplies, and the spoils we claimed from Old Illefarn.

While it may not favor me to claim such things if your taxmen are within sight of this letter, the "Order of Merit" and myself split well over two thousand gold coins between the five of us.  We were quick to discard of the miscellaneous gems and jewelry as a way to buy temporary safety or supplies, although I'm quite certain a qualified bounty hunter would work through most of these simple agreements with great ease.

We followed the Mer Nor Road south into the Barony of Valkurl.   I remember very little communication or commerce with our direct neighbor to the north and I can see why.  The Brinkerberg Mountains are cold, rocky, and windswept. Fearing Runholf and Melfarm each sending men against us, we passed at staying at the peculiarly named village of Buckkett in favor a small trail leading further into the mountains, and hopefully reaching the western boundary of Willip.

Overnight travel through the buffeting winds and sea mist led us to the the small mining town of Temton.  The five of us riding into this town must have been a peculiar site for this collection dwarves, gnomes, and humans, but the glitter of shiny gems to overpay for food and accommodations at least kept the talk away from our window.

It was at Temton that we managed to review our more precious spoils using Alwin's divination from our dearest Akana.

Morya's new battle axe from Old Illefarn was of fine dwarven craftsmanship and imbued with considerable arcane power.

Murag's suit of dwarf-size plate that he had smuggled out of crypts of Old Illefarn had similar qualities.

And my infernal stone?  Certifiably magical, creates or summons elemental beings of stone or earth, and the back portion which controls the creatures... is incomplete.  Like my time in Dolksford, I'll be using this item as a weapon of last resort, with well-marked escape routes.

We navigated through the mountains and finally reached the Barony of Willip.  A few troublesome encounters with wildlife pretending to be brigands (or hired men) made us stay out of Willip City, and actual brigand activity west towards Caltaran made me plead to my companions to take a side trek to reach home of Verbobonc.  The Old Gnarley Wood Road proved to have plenty of its own challenges.

After days of shortened rests making camp in the woods, we were delighted to see the small village of Griffon's Cove.  Consisting of little more than a few woodmen, trappers, and a provisioner, inn, and tavern crammed into something no bigger than a small barn, it was a welcome respite.
Some of the better-looking inhabitants of Griffon's Cove
It appears the guides and woodsman supplement their income by leading treasure seekers to some ruins of a Temple to Akana that may date back to the First Empire.

I'm not sure what to make of an enterprise to make a profit off of graverobbers, but if Alwin believes they aren't harming anything with their endeavors, I'll follow the priest's lead.

Of course, Alwin also may be suffering from the effects of our arduous journey.  He's slept most of the last day in the inn, only waking to devour a hearty dinner course with two ales, to sleep through the following morning.

Whit, the owner of the Griffon's Cove Inn, is a older man with crude spectacles, who provides a hearty meal and barely palatable grog for a cheap rate.  He also bestowed upon us with some healthy advice:  Turn around.

He has warned us that the next village west on the OId Gnarley Road is not to be trifled with.  I've never heard of it, but before this week, no one knew the Griffon's Cove existed either.  Whit says it's a river port, but full of vulgar boatsmen and scallywags.

I've been convinced by Whit to send this letter to My Honorable Lord, via a young man with a fast horse and a knack for evading trouble on the main River Road.

The rest of the group wishes to visit this village and continue our journey.  I'm unsure as to the outcome I wish, so I pray My Lordship receives this letter without delay.

Your Humble Servant

Elsderth Greyhawk
Sellsword and Sage of the Order of Merit

GM Notes:  A little more expansion of Ras-Prythax before heading back to Verbobonc with some campaign related stuff.  

Morya is wielding a Battle Axe +2, Morag smuggled out a dwarf-sized suit of Plate Mail +2, and Elsderth possesses a Stone of Earth Elemental Summoning with a small problem of controlling them.  

Next:  #14 - Nulb

Monday, February 4, 2019

(Savage Pulp) #3.5 Double Foiled

After a contentious election, a wall being constructed, and TWO hostile takeovers, the desert town of Sohai was finally back to normal under the rule of Lt Colonel Thaddeus Ovaltine.

Outside of their usual cut on business transactions, Ovaltine and his Rough 'n Ready Riders added one rule to the usually lawless town:  No gunfire.  His men were given specific instructions to fire on any individual discharging a firearm in plain sight.  It had taken months, but the factions agreed it was usually better to be stabbed in the back than gunned town in the marketplace with a Tommy gun.
If there were tracks in Sohai, this would be on the bad side of them.
Months ago, a team of German treasure hunters until the command of Colonel Wolfgang "The Gazelle" von Klockenspiel had arrived to join their European counterparts to find relics lost within the desert.   Rumors stated that they ran into some trouble with bandits outside of town and ran back to Berlin with their tails between their legs, but recent news told another story.
Klockenspiel and his minion Alfredo deBerg
Klockenspiel had discovered something out in the desert and managed to sneak it into town and hold onto it, for a number of months while his team researched it and coordinated its shipment back to Germany.

Realizing that any proper transport of any artifact resulted in multiple gangs descending on the truck, The Gazelle decided to secure a car, and with the help of mysteriously strong subordinate, Alfredo deBerg, decided to brave the streets of Sohai for a few blocks to reach the car and drive out of town.

It was a wise move, as only two groups caught wind of the activity

A group of wayward Russian sailors, led by the ever-shirtless Captain Kaputin.
And the old fanatics of Mayor Roland Tower. Leaderless for months, they finally fell into the Cult of the Sand Bat, led by deranged Englishman Jerome Livingstone.
As Livingstone dispatched his men to intercept the Germans, he spied an out of place individual hanging out on the edge of town.  Assuming the worst and having only a small repertoire of spells from the Sand Bat, he used one to try to befriend the man, with some initial success.
Meanwhile, one of the cultists spotted one of Ovaltine's questionable lieutenants on the edge of the market and attempted to parlay with him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the smartest of men, engaging the officer while he was decked out in full cultist garb, including hood.   Ovaltine's man made shockingly quick work of the ne'er do well.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the neighborhood, the new first mate, Oscar Yemfremov eyed one of the "European" diggers for hire and tried to shake him down for any info or rumors he had.
Ka-Boong!
That didn't work out either, although Oscar only suffered a whack with a shovel for his pushy behavior.

The other sailors successfully flanked the German and his overtly muscular henchman.  They drew weapons and tried to shoot deBerg, but one shot only emitted a tiny trickle of blood off his shoulder, and the second was so bad, the sailor accidentally shot a merchant in the back.
This alerted Ovaltine's sharpshooters manning the wall, and the Russians quickly realized that while they had good cover against their enemies in the small marketplace, they were sitting ducks for the snipers.  Two Russians quickly killed on the spot, and other scurried for cover.

Meanwhile, Doctor Livingstone politely introduced himself to the out-of-place man and struck up an unusually amicable conversation.  Before walking away, the man confirmed that the sedan around the corner was for Klockenspiel and that he would be arriving soon,
Livingstone waiting in the shadows.
One question the dear readers may have is, "Where in the world is Captain Kaputin?"

It appears the Captain saw the officer executing the cultist on the spot and proceeded to run over to him to admit finding more of those devious scoundrels around the corner in the marketplace.  The officer bought it hook, line, and sinker, and the duo dashed forward, just in time to run into said cultists.  
The battle was short, with no significant injuries, other than the cultists pride, as they scrambled back through the marketplace.

Back at the sedan, Klockenspiel jumped into the driver's seat, instructing deBerg to secure item to the back of the vehicle.  The mountain of a man complied.

Livingstone jumped out from around the corner and cast another friendship hex, trying to take control of the behemoth, but Alfredo deBerg was no over-muscled lout with a pea sized brain.  Even Livingstone doubling down on his god-given powers failed miserably, only succeeding in pissing off Alfredo.
Catching the cult leader off guard, Alfredo reared back and punched Livingstone so hard, it would have killed lesser men.  Livingstone flew backwards, rolled over, and began to run away, only to trip over the extended leg of the strange man from earlier.  Perhaps, they weren't as friendly as Livingstone originally thought.

Livingstone started the car and sped off through the town guard... destination: unknown.
By the time the officer and his newly assembled posse, led by Captain Kaputin, had surrounded two of the cultists, Alfredo deBerg rounded the corner, holding the unconscious body of Livingstone upside-down, by the ankle. 

Even before calculating a winner, it was simple to say that the German escaped, the cultists are essentially wiped out in town (one did escape), and Ovaltine and the Russians decided to begin colluding together.  

We're not quite sure which group will formally get the service musclebound Alfredo, but the biggest questions lay to that odd man Livingstone was talking to.   It was Bob Njano, long-time assistant to famed archaeologist Maja Millie, now-turned into his own heroic endeavors.   Unfortunately, not only did he provide essential data to the Sand Bat leader, but he also relayed the future home of the Klockespiel's discovery.  The Royal Swedish Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm.

This scenario was directly inspired by Almost Stolen Goods by Preacher by Day and concludes a largely villain-focused first half of the third season of our Pulp Game.

Our attention turns to the old reliable heroes enjoying a holiday in episode #3.6: Meanwhile, Back in Sweden.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

(IOU) Buckshot Calvert

On highest of high American holidays (The Society of Neffs calls it Papuno Day), it is right and fitting that IOU gets their first #1 Moopsball recruit that didn't require bribery, murder, or simple subversion.

Celebrity College Moopsball Quarterback (4)
Driving Fast for Jesus (3)
Just a Good Ol' Boy (2)
Southern Fashion Icon (1)

While I like to mock internet sensations to exagerate their 15 minutes of fame, Stephen "Buckshot" Calvert is indeed a real person, the starting quarterback for the Liberty University football team.