(Kickstarter) Those Dam Goblins by Fail Squad Games

5e modules are a dime a dozen on Kickstarter.  How does one stand out among the crowd? 

If you're crazy and attract my demographic, you take an older OSRIC/1e module, center the rules around Labyrinth Lord, making both the BECMI and 5e crowds happy it's compatible. 

You also follow Fail Squad Games' lead and make sure it's named Those Dam Goblins. 

 There's a dam... and goblins.  Pure genius.  

Gotta Love Bards

(Review) My Little Pony: Curse of the Statuettes Boxed Set

Even a casual reader of this blog will notice that I perseverate on My Little Ponies a bit more the average middle-aged gamer, yet I do not consider myself a fanatic Brony  It simply boils down to:

A) I'm a father of two young ladies and have watched a LOT of MLP with them, new and older episodes.

B) The idea of a properly licensed property getting a solid treatment away from the traditional gamer demographic is fascinating.

C) River Horse Games produces some ridiculously nice material, and I've already sung praises for the My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria Storytelling Game hardcover rulebook.

Upon churning out a high-quality rulebook, they moved onto a bugbear for most game companies, the RPG boxed set.

A quick time to wax nostalgic.  Many players of Dungeons & Dragons have found memories of the RPG boxed set.  For some, it was a starter set to learn how to play the game.  For others, it was how their cherished campaign setting game packaged.  Sometime in the 90's, the concept of the boxed set faded from production schedules, the chief excuse was the prohibitive cost to produce such an item.

I don't know exactly how River Horse Games/Ninja Division has done it, but they've released the My Little Pony: Curse of the Statuettes Boxed Set for the low price of $25.95!

While it's not jammed pack full of stuff, it does provide everything a beginning MLP gamemaster would need to run a game.  Let's start from the outside and work our way in.

The Box!:  I've owned many RPG, boardgame, and wargame boxed sets, and the box containing Curse of the Statuettes is in the top echelon for quality.  The 9" x 2" x 13" has thick, sturdy walls and shouldn't have blown out corners like the boxes of old (subject to the machinations of the adult/child who owns it).

Dice!:  The box includes a tradition assortment of polyhedral dice for the game (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20).  Bright solid colors, nothing fancy, but fancier official dice are also available on the website.

Character Sheets!  A pad of character sheets with stock Pegasus, Unicorn, and Earth Pony profiles, as well as blank sheets where you can draw your own picture.  When I used the pad for the players of the convention games I ran, it took two sessions to realize the they offered  male (red border) and female (purple) profiles.

Storyteller (GM) Screen!:  The true treasure of the boxed set, the trifold Storyteller Screen is a sturdy piece of construction.  The game itself isn't nearly as complicated as other games, but it is nice to have a map of Equestria, the equipment list, and a further explanation of how to use Tests and Tokens of Friendship.

Curse of the Statuettes!:  The centerpiece of the boxed is Curse of the Statuettes, a 48-page softcover adventure.  It follows up on The Pet Predicament in the main rulebook and takes the player's ponies on a cross-Equestria trip into the Badlands to find out what happened the Mane Six (the main characters of the cartoon, for those who are unaware.)  It's well-written, details the motivations of the important characters and outlines the stages of the adventure in ways that suits both new players of any age and experienced gamemasters.  The plot is a mixture Old West and Pulp Archeology, with a fix classic Dungeon Crawl tropes thrown in for good measure.

The most amusing portion of the book to an old grognard like myself is the inclusion of random encounter tables and FLAVOR TEXT (parts of the adventure that should be read to the players verbatim.).  It suits the adventure perfectly.

I've had the pleasure of using the character sheets, dice, and Storyteller Screen when I ran multiple sessions of the game at Mepacon this past month. The character sheets were a hit with young and old, the dice seemed to roll high right when the characters needed them to, and the screen was an excellent quick reference and shield for all dice and miscellaneous accessories (I improved the sessions at the table, so I had only a few written plot points jotted on index cards that I hid from the players' views.

In the grand scheme of gaming, a boxed set is best represented by its routine utility, and Curse of the Statuettes has it in spades.  Lots of basic accessories for gameplay, plus an adventure that would normally fetch $15-20 as a standalone item?  In a sturdy box?  Sign me up with a Five out of Five Gnomes review!

For a good look at the items within the boxed set, outside of the stock photograph provided, check out Equestria Boards on Amino.

Viking Cavalry

(Kickstarter) Mouse Adventure by Cartoon Miniatures

With everything going on, the fates are pushing me to look into Mouslings/Mice Warriors again with the recent Kickstarter launch of Mouse Adventure by Cartoon Miniatures

The pro: The figures are highly detailed 28mm resin and are really quick striking.

The big con:  A set of six of them with shipping from the EU to the States averages out to TEN BUCKS a figure. 

I don't think my utility with these figures will justify a Games Workshop price or a lmited edition, plus they appear to be around human-sized for 28mm. 

(IOU) Owen Humprie

Owen Humphrie
Owen is a theater major and inspiring actor. He has had some walk-on one lines in some cheap movies being made locally, and has been an extra in several as well. Owen is willing to do what it takes to get that big acting job. He’s very handsome and athletic though his resume lacks. He has a drug problem. He often likes to use the “don’t you know who I am” line and drops names of famous people he has met in passing, embellishing the story to make it sound as if they are good friends.

Struggling Actor with an Eidetic Memory (4)
Able to remember anything he has seen or read, this helps Owen memorize his lines and pass his classes.

I Do My Own Stunts (3)
Owen tries to get the parts by selling himself as an all around actor” being able to not only act, but is willing to do his own stunts for the authenticity of the film, and help save the director a bit of money as well.

Drug Addled Thespian (2)
Owen doesn’t feel pain from the drugs he is taking and his tolerance for anything unnatural in his body is high requiring him to take more than the normal person. Downside is he needs his fix. Each day he goes without his fix he loses a D6 from any cliche.  Once any cliche reaches zero, his sole focus is getting a fix any way he can.  If a second cliche reaches zero, he passes out.

Master of Disguise  (1)

Being an actor he can quickly change roles and costumes to become who he needs to be. Failure means he resembles a cross dressing Bugs Bunny that only a nitwit could fall for.   If this cliche drops to zero as a result of his drug addiction, he actually gets +2d6 to the base role for seeking drugs only. 

Ballad of the Pigeon God #34: The Baronial Envoy

The eccentric cleric Echelon has been named the Baron of Eding!

Sometimes there needs to be accounting in games, especially when the Barony lay in ruin for months.  Taxes still have to be collected!

15 DuoDec 1071 - Village of Eding, Kingdom of Crosedes
Baron Echelon and a group of his "closest associates" were already off to the halfling villages to collect the back taxes that were never collected after the death of Lord Athelstane, many months prior.   Many friends and staff were busy doing their daily chores.

The taxes of Eding and Lowdale were easily collected and ready to go, and Echelon felt it best to get a proper accounting of the capital "city" to Hydincall while they were still trying to square away the outlying territories.

Leaving for Hydincall with the taxes:
Lady Iris - NPC -  Former peasant hero of Eding, Red Knight of Crosedes, and attache to King Nevin.
Mellandria - Mage and baronial scribe, finding the new Baron to be quite irresponsible.
Ashe - White-haired elven ranger of the pine barrens.
Carthon - NPC - Echelon's right-hand man at his Chateau.

22 DuoDec 1071 - Hydincall, Kingdom of Crosedes
After a brief audience with King Nevin, who appreciated the effort and wisdom of Iris and Echelon, advised quartet to simply deliver future taxes to the treasury.  The group found wisdom in the King's words and departed for some tavern-hopping.  The encountered the female bard Ariel again, and she agreed to join the at the Chateau.

Lady Iris bid them adieu.  It may have seemed that Echelon was flying by the seat of his pants, but most new nobles do exactly that, she assured the party.  Good friends make good decisions.

27 DuoDec 1071 - On the road back to Eding, Lake Apotheosis, Kingdom of Crosedes
Along the way, Ashe's brother Binklen showed up out of the blue.  After twelve years!   Ashe was simply dumbfounded and couldn't get a word out of his mouth.

Binklen, Ashe's Brother

But the Cult of Lake Apotheosis (or Cult of Light) ambushing them changed that.    Their numbers were adequate, but their tactics crude and the four were able to dispatch them with little alarm.   The retreating cultists shouted at the adventurers, calling them heretics, demonspawn, and brigands....

The last name made sense about an hour or so later when actual brigands tried to parlay what little the group had and it devolved into a melee.  Ashe slew the brigand leader, Leonid, and the brigands scattered, leaving a canvass covered cart and a tired mule.   The contents inside the cart were oil paintings, not unlike the one Ashe bought the Chateau many months ago.  Leaving the interior decorating to the Baron and his staff, the crew headed back to the Chateau with the cart.

Upon returning to Eding, they reunited with their friends and discovered Babette had given birth on the 22nd... to twins!  Two healthy boys (with ever so slightly pointed ears) named Yuri and Darius.

After two hard months getting the new Barony on track, and most of the taxes delivered, it was time to celebrate their good fortune.

GM Notes:  Being Baron isn't the glamorous job everyone thinks it is, and being the friend of the Baron, even less so.   

Here begins another spotty run of journal entries, as different party members come on go, journal entries are very self-centric, and in some cases, completely omit important plot points (see the upcoming episode #35 as an example.)  *Minor spoilers* The paintings in the cart are somehow important, yet the next journal entry after Babette having twins is Rolf heading to Omsjik to inquire about the paintings, completely failing to mention the bombshell that occurred in between.

Another storyline that gets swept under the rug is Ashe's brother Binklen.  For the record, he's offered a small room in return for work on the Chateau.  Until he's brought up again, let's simply assume he's tending livestock, chopping wood, and catching up with his brother.  

The final forgotten storyline is Babette.  The thief had survived Talislanta, but her player dropped out soon after the Fall semester started up.  She will pop up from time to time, but most of her life will be dedicated to her boys.  

Next: #35 Gladestrom