From the newly minted stackexchange site on role-playing games: a long and inspired article on the history of D&D.
Archive of posts filed under the role-playing games category.
The Second Coming of Unspeakable Oath
Unspeakable Oath, the first Call of Cthulhu zine is being resurrected by the original team.
The original run turned rather delayed and uneven at towards end. But I do have high hopes for the new arrival.
The Day After Ragnarök
As imaginative worlds are concerned, Ken Hite‘s Day After Ragnarök is one I would like to play in.
Know, O Prince, that between the years when the Serpent fell and the oceans drank America and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the Sons of Space, there was an Age undreamed of, when nations guttered low and flared brilliant across the poisoned world like dying stars – California and Texas each claiming the flag of the West, France torn asunder and facing the desert, harsh Mexico, slumbering Brazil, Argentina where the seeds of Thule lay waiting, ancient lands of Persia and Arabia and Iraq between two empires, the coldly clutching Soviet Union whispering behind its Wall of Serpent, Japan whose warriors wore steel and silk and khaki. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Australia, the last green and pleasant land, ringed around by its dominions and bulwarked by the sea.
The earth, torn asunder after the Midgard Serpent crashed on it in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the war. Norse mythology has seeped in to the suffering world.
Alternate history at its very best (and weirdest).
Too bad the FLGS sold out immediately and hasn’t yet resupplied. Then again, Keskiviikon Keisarit has been on a very infrequent pace these days, and getting to actually play this is not an immediate prospect. But unlike most gaming products, this feels like an interesting read nonetheless.
Targets of Opportunity out in pdf
The long-awaited Targets of Opportunity, the second ransomed Delta Green sourcebook has been published as a pdf, with the hardback book to follow in June.
The book is sizable, it clocks in at 300+ pages.
Based on a cursory browsing of some of the chapters and the list of contributors guarantees that the ransom money was well-spent.
And I’m certainly looking forward to future books from the Arc Dream / Pagan collective – the proposed release schedule is full of teh awesome.
An RPG for the next in line-list, definitely
Cubicle 7 Entertainment, publishers of the recent Doctor Who role-playing game have announced a surprising new licensed game.
Laundry Files, to be available this summer, is based on Charles Stross‘ series (two books now, with a third one out soon). Sadly the game uses Chaosium’s aging basic roleplaying as the engine, and not the far more elegant and flexible system introduced in the company’s previous production.
Cubicle 7 has been on a roll lately, since their third new game is nothing less than The One Ring, yet another game based on the Lord of the Rings (the third, it would seem in the wikipedia article on the subject).
Moral bonus point for the gratuitous XKCD reference on the cover.
Unboxing WFRP 3ed
A box full of tokens, dice and books does not make the new version of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game as portable as the previous were.
Looks seriously boardgame-y, but first impressions do deceive.
Copenhagen, day 1
Friday was a day without much of a plan.
Following a substantial breakfast provided by the hotel (a change over quite a few previous trips) it was time to head back onto the Strøget pedestrian street.
The first stop was a scheduled one, and actually a double-header. Faraos Cigarer is a shop divided into two – and visiting both was definitely on the agenda. The comics/paraphernalia-store was packed in comics in multiple languages, everything organized to perfection. Ended up picking up a brand-new deluxe edition of one of the greatest Batman stories ever told: Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. The game store didn’t have a very wide range of games, but the ones it supplied had an excellent selection of products. I bought a long-sold-out WFRP supplement Nights Dark Masters at the regular price. In addition to the games and miniatures, the store featured the largest selection of plastic weapons I’ve ever seen, and a huge collection of clothes and other LARP-equipment.
Following brief stops around the neighbourhood, it was time for a serendipitous discovery: Crumpler was located on the very next street to Faraos. As I’d been very happy with my purchase of Big Cheese in Berlin in April, it was time to see what was on offer here. Had a long chat with the owner of the shop, and definitely aim to be back to pick a proper case for the duo of Macbook Pros.
The first sightseeing-entity of the day was Rundetårn, the very first observatory built in Europe. The sloping stairless pathway up top was broken up by an offer to view a danish/japanese design exhibition. Resistance was indeed futile when the first object came up – a wheel-shaped bookshelf designed by David Garcia. Definitely one for a future edition of the HQ – definitely would not fit in the current lodgings. The view from the top was expectedly nice – in a flat city without skyscrapers the 35 meters of height bought quite a viewpoint, the roofs of the city visible all around, with a few church spires thrown in for good measure.
Had dinner in Mamma Rosa on Strøget. The pizzas were very good, but the service slow and haphazard. Being busy is no excuse for missing items, if that is the state of affairs every day.
Nyhavn, with its colorful buildings, was indeed pretty. And packed with restaurants a place to return to on a later day. The chill wind meant that a harbour cruise was better postponed as well.
The evening plans of visiting Tivoli were scuttled by the sudden appearance of huge lines in front of all the entrances. A quick duck into the nearby Apollo Bryggeri and a discussion with rather inebriated locals brought forward the rationale: Tivoli featufred a gig by a very popular domestic hiphop-duo today. The grounds continued to be packed, so looking for entertainment took a rambling a detour through a bear-building shop, a t-shirt vendor and finally a safe haven in another brewery across the street. Too bad the tranquil setting was shattered by a visiting troubadour whose renditions of classic songs were both mistuned and loud. Clearly reason enough to call it a day.
Hall of shame for dice
The dice man was not meant to know.
Such as the d34 pictured on the right. For those inevitably common events that absolutely demand a flat distribution between 1 and 34.
London, day 1
Once again the hotel deal did not include breakfast, so the first order of the day was to pick up something to eat. A triplet of more or less reasonable cafes were located on the nearby Horseferry Road, and we chose the one in the middle – Sapori – for the first to try. The offering ranged from traditionally british (eggs, bacons and beans) to italian style sandwiches. Opted for the latter.
Stumbled upon the first geocache on the way to the Westmister Abbey. Jewel Tower was an easy one to spot and log.
The Abbey was not on the original agenda, but the attraction of a five star sight on such close proximity to the hotel proved impassable. The church (no photography, it was explicitly forbidden inside) turned out to be packed with the graves of long gone royalty, warriots, poets and scientists. An hour was easily spent listening to the pleasantly voiced audio tour given by Jeremy Irons.
Downing Street was barricaded off, and the area was teeming with police. Including very traditionally clad and equipped horse guards stationed nearby.
Trafalgar Square proved to be an excellent place to try out a loaner wide-angle lens, the wide square shows itself off well on the much wider field than I normally use.
The environs of Charing Cross Road are still packed with bookstores. Picked up a Winnie the Pooh illustration from Marchpane a small shop that specializes in vintage children’s books. In addition to classics by Lewis Carroll and the like, the shop carried an authentic Dalek from the early seventies. Forgot to take a picture of the vintage Doctor Who nemesis.
Had a quick beer on a forgotten pub on Shatftesbury Avenue, and recalled why real ale is not an optimal drink on a warm day. Served at its optimal temperature, it’s just not that refreshing.
On the way to Forbidden Planet stumbled upon Orc’s Nest, a game store of definite old school. Once again the finnish Fantasiapelit proved superior on the width of selection. Forbidden Planet, on the other hand, was nothing short of amazing. It had two big floors filled with objets d’art for geeks – comics, books, dvds and action figures. Plenty and plenty of action figures. Settled for a mere two graphic novels and no figures at all (figured they’d be a bitch to pack). Once again, forgot to take pictures of the shelves lines with toys for grownups.
A smallish lunch evolved into a mid-sized feast at Souk, a Moroccan restaurant spotted on a neighboring street. The dishes were gigantic, and the accompanying Casablanca beer pleasantly chilled. Sadly, the chicken legs were rather hard to finish off properly in the very dimly lit interior, but even with the meal only partially consumed, the energy levels were easily restored for a further bout of exploration.
Visited a few bookstores, and picked up a couple of books on the todo-list. Noted that most stores had quite good sales going (3 for 2, 50% off a second book and the like). Only later on figured that what I figured to be the debut novel of David Simon (of The Wire-fame) is actually almost two decades old.
Oxford Street was teeming with Friday evening shoppers, none of whom were in any way deterred by a few raindrops falling. Failed to locate an Abercrombie & Fitch shop, and settled for a Quiksilver shirt instead (a t-shirt at that, the collared ones were almost violently displeasing).
A quick visit to a nearby Tesco proved that I’m somehow pomegranate-magnetic – kept picking up things with that fruit as an ingredient by accident. The self-service checkout was easily the most science fiction-ary element of the day. The sentient machines beating the Forbidden Planet selection by a mile.
Took a very roundabout way back to the hotel. Saw Piccadilly Square, The Mall (quite unlike its D.C. equivalent), St. James Park and Buckingham Palace along the mile or two.
Picked up the second cache of the day (Blewcoats rule) and capped the evening at Albert, a pub quite close to the hotel.
