Idles of summer

Wow - I've really been neglecting you good people. So, to catch you up.

1. Been focusing more heavily upon my fiction writing - when my gainful employment hasn't drained the life out of me entirely. This has led possibly to:

2. A forthcoming writing gig for GP Adventures. Stay tuned.

3. In the hope of meeting at least one of my GP Adventures side-employers, I've registered for GameHole Con 2014. Hope to see some of you there!

4. Hopefully, I shall be working with the fine folks at TPK Games again over the summer. More to come on that front as well.

5. Odds are, I will have an article in the November 2014 issue (#11) of & Magazine. I'll make an official announcement when it is...official.

Well, that's about it on the gaming front. By way of feeble apology for my unforgivable lapse in blogging, here's a monster.

COBRA LION

FREQUENCY: Rare

NO. APPEARING: 2-8

ARMOR CLASS: 5

MOVE: 15"

HIT DICE: 4+2

% IN LAIR: 15%

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: 3

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-3/1-3/1-10

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Surprised only on a 1

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Semi-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

Sleek and agile, this creature is built like a mountain lion, but with a head resembling that of a cobra, with the jaws of a great cat, and the forked tongue and fangs of the snake. Instead of a mane, it has a flaring hood, and scales instead of fur. A cobra lion appears in any color or pattern common to the snake from which it takes its name and characteristics. It can be found generally in warmer climates, wherever lions or cobras tend to roam.

The cobra lion is very aggressive, almost always offering a display of flared hood and loud hiss before an initial attack. It can leap 15' upwards or 20' ahead, and its rear claws rake for 1-4/1-4 hit points damage. Of course, its most feared attack is a venomous bite which kills on a failed save and inflicts an additional 3-18 hit points of damage even if the save is successful. Some specimens also spit their venom in a 3" spray upon a single victim.

Some disputed writings claim the cobra lion was a creation of the yuan ti, or the naga. Certainly, these creatures are often found in or around the overgrown ruins that once served as centers of civilization for those terrible races. To date, no cobra lion has ever been tamed by a trainer of warm-blooded stock and the creature is known for its dislike of humans or similar races.

Those hill giants...they love their Kool-Aid.

So, the blog has been dead during the winter. I know. I apologize.

Finally received my WotC collector's reprint of the OD&D booklets in their lovely wooden box. That was nice. Makes the work on my OD&D compilation project even more appealing. Yes - I'm still working on that, but I am also working on an AD&D campaign that started as something of an homage to the G-D-Q series of modules. I'll post occasional updates for that, if there is interest. Or - if I just feel like doing so.  :)

Otherwise, not much to report. Probably why this blog has been so empty of late. Hopefully, there will be something a bit more exciting to report before the next season is over.

Thanks for sticking around.

The Book of Impudent Japes - Unrelentingly, another page

Just Sayin'...

Advancing the Game

My extended bout of nostalgia has been sparked a little by the release of the premium AD&D core books into an AD&D campaign blaze. For reasons beyond my understanding, the artifacts and related people and places of Gygax's works have gotten me interested in an artifact-centric, plane-hopping campaign.

I remember artifacts being singular items that shook up a campaign by their very mention, and were often the focus of entire story arcs. In my new campaign, I intend to turn that convention on its head - everyone will heave the opportunity to acquire an artifact or relic...for better or worse. In fact, I see the makings of an Artifact War looming upon the horizon.

The premise for the campaign, along with the event that set all this nonsense in motion:

Generations ago, one of the most celebrated groups of heroic adventurers, the Blade of Light, used an ancient artifact known as the Fulcrum to effectively eradicate planar evil on a large scale. This act dissolved entire planes such as the Abyss and the Hells, while shifting other planes in undesirable ways. Certain upper planes became rigidly Lawful, turning to tyranny in ways to rival those of the bygone Dukes of Hell. Now, the planes thunder to the clash of Law vs. Chaos and those worlds that remain are caught in the middle.

You have heard the almost mythic stories and read the fragmented histories of a time when the entirety of Creation could be catalogued and diagrammed with reassuring clarity. When worlds and planes moved to a cycle defined by celestial harmonies and the unseen machineries of cosmic purpose. Sages predicted the end at the loathsome hands of the countless demonic hordes festering and seething in the deepest pits of reality. Doomsayers cried out against the monolithic and precise evil of the Dukes of Hell. None could predict the true instrument of our destruction.

            Ourselves.

The Blade of Light was long heralded as the greatest and most devoted band of heroic adventurers in recorded history. Entire nations owed their deliverance to Roen Curientine and his mighty companions. Kings bowed in their august presence. Gods watched over their epic exploits. No quest was too arduous and no deed too great. Their lives were devoted to the defense of civilization and the eradication of evil. When they discovered the existence of a primordial artifact known as The Fulcrum, the Blade of Light vowed to be the ones with the lever.

Worlds moved.

Harmony was broken. Order overturned. Evil found itself crushed by the shifting of the wheels of infinity. Good found itself suddenly eclipsed within the penumbra of distant glory. Good and Evil diminished before the rising forces of Law and Chaos. There came a splintering and a sundering on a cosmic scale.

The Planewrack.

Today's reality is no longer definable by mortal observation or the values of cosmological science. It is all broken. No patterns. No cycles. No certainties. Gods have died and been reborn. Entire worlds have been lost spinning into the furthest void. Demons and devils have fallen while angels and saints have transcended - to become...something other. Prayers go unanswered while mortalkind shivers alone in the dark.

You are heroes.

Sworn to right the greatest of wrongs. Dedicated to securing a future for all worthy creatures. Determined to stand against the tide of entropy that threatens to consume all that you cherish. The ideals to which all the best-intentioned adventurers of your generation aspire.

Will you rise to what could be the final challenge? Or, will you fall with the rest of civilization?

Stuff of Legends

Been a while since I sat and talked with you fine people, so I will just dive right in.

I seem to be on the verge of starting up an AD&D campaign. That's 1E,  not 2E.

The campaign still takes place in my Avremier setting where just about every game I've run in the 21st century has been set. I think I chose AD&D because I'd like to borrow from and cannibalize a number of classic modules for encounter areas and outline - without having to convert the material to other rules. Call me lazy...I don't mind. Plus, I have all these lovely AD&D books and supplements that have been languishing in neglect for who knows how long.

The theme of this campaign will be planar travel. My campaign world has been somewhat isolated from the other planes for a long time and events have transpired that blows the whole thing wide open - quite literally. What follows is the player introduction for the campaign. There will be more to come.

Generations ago, one of the most celebrated groups of heroic adventurers, the Blade of Light, used an ancient artifact known as the Fulcrum to effectively eradicate planar evil on a large scale. This act dissolved entire planes such as the Abyss and the Hells, while shifting other planes in undesirable ways. Certain upper planes became rigidly Lawful, turning to tyranny in ways to rival those of the bygone Dukes of Hell. Now, the planes thunder to the clash of Law vs. Chaos and those worlds that remain are caught in the middle.

You have heard the almost mythic stories and read the fragmented histories of a time when the entirety of Creation could be catalogued and diagrammed with reassuring clarity. When worlds and planes moved to a cycle defined by celestial harmonies and the unseen machineries of cosmic purpose. Sages predicted the end at the loathsome hands of the countless demonic hordes festering and seething in the deepest pits of reality. Doomsayers cried out against the monolithic and precise evil of the Dukes of Hell. None could predict the true instrument of our destruction.

            Ourselves.

The Blade of Light was long heralded as the greatest and most devoted band of heroic adventurers in recorded history. Entire nations owed their deliverance to Roen Curientine and his mighty companions. Kings bowed in their august presence. Gods watched over their epic exploits. No quest was too arduous and no deed too great. Their lives were devoted to the defense of civilization and the eradication of evil. When they discovered the existence of a primordial artifact known as The Fulcrum, the Blade of Light vowed to be the ones with the lever.

Worlds moved.

Harmony was broken. Order overturned. Evil found itself crushed by the shifting of the wheels of infinity. Good found itself suddenly eclipsed within the penumbra of distant glory. Good and Evil diminished before the rising forces of Law and Chaos. There came a splintering and a sundering on a cosmic scale.

The Planewrack.

Today's reality is no longer definable by mortal observation or the values of cosmological science. It is all broken. No patterns. No cycles. No certainties. Gods have died and been reborn. Entire worlds have been lost spinning into the furthest void. Demons and devils have fallen while angels and saints have transcended - to become...something other. Prayers go unanswered while mortalkind shivers alone in the dark.

You are heroes.

Sworn to right the greatest of wrongs. Dedicated to securing a future for all worthy creatures. Determined to stand against the tide of entropy that threatens to consume all that you cherish. The ideals to which all the best-intentioned adventurers of your generation aspire.

Will you rise to what could be the final challenge? Or, will you fall with the rest of civilization?