Meanwhile in Madison

Thank science for the iPhone! I took this picture at yesterday's Madison Traditonal Gaming Meetup group at the Hawethorne Branch Library in beautiful Madison, WI. About 16 people showed up to play Labyrinth Lord and other RPGs. Kudos to Victor Raymond, Tekumel afficinado and pillar of the old school community, for running another great meeting!

Welcome Adventurer!

Greeting, salutations, and huzzah, role-players! Welcome No School Like The Old School (or, if you are one of those who insist on catchy acronyms, NSLTOS). Here we talk about classic role-playing games, retro-clone games, and the people who play them.

With all the new RPGs on the market with their varied rules, numerous supplements, and high production values, what would possess us to play older, out-of-print games, along with games designed to emulate them? For some of us, it's nostalgia for the glory days of gaming before MMORPGs ruled the gaming scene and the desire to preserve and expand on previous editions. For other's it's a rebellion against the "corporatized" nature of the gaming industry where unsympathetic MBA's who have never picked up a d20 get to write and market the games. (Yes! I'm looking at you Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro and the abomination that is 4^th Edition and the pulling of purchased .PDF versions of your older games!) Then there are those of us who like the simplicity of older games, especially in this day and age of rule books that are larger than New York city phone books.

Speaking for myself, my own odyssey into role-playing began when I was 12-years-old in December of 1986 when I got a $25 Toys R' Us gift certificate from an uncle for Christmas. After my father turned me loose at the Brookfield, Wisconsin store I prowled the aisles looking for something to spend my store credit on. After picking up a gyroscope and a box of pre-made microscope slides, I was passing by the bargain bin when I saw it: a copy of TSR's Star Frontiers science fiction RPG. Hypnotized by Larry Elmore's cover art, and having just enough left, I snatched it up in an instant! Thus, much to my parents chagrin, did I start down the dark path of gaming and, yes, it did forever dominate my destiny.

My parents, who bought into my fundamentalist Christian relatives' hysteria about fantasy RPGs, forbade me from playing D&D. However, there were plenty of science fiction games to enjoy. Each year I would wait for TSR's Mail Order Hobby Shop catalog and plot out what games I would get next with birthday and holiday cash. My folks were too right-wing to give me something as "socialist" as an allowance, so by the time I started earning my own money many of the classic games that I wanted to get and play were sadly out of print.

EBay helped me to fill in the gaps, but the advent of snipers who'd snatch victory from my grasp 10 seconds before an auction ended soured me to that service. Some of the legitimate .PDF vendors were helpful, but their catalogs where far from complete and fickle. (Again, damn you WotC/Hasbro!) I soon discovered the phenomenon of "retro-clone" games where, using the OGL and the fact that while you can copyright specific works you can't do the same for mechanical or mathematical concepts, out-of-print games are resurrected and even improved upon. It was at the time I found out about Gobllinoid Games' Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future, that I discovered a whole community of "old school" gamers who were keeping the Golden Age of Gaming alive and well. This blog is dedicated to them and their efforts.

So pop open a can of Mountain Dew, throw a couple of pizzas into the oven, crank up the Rush, and grab your dice, adventurers! This is going to be one hell of a crawl!

Savage Star Frontiers

I got into this weird, wild, hobby when I was 12-years-old. One Christmas, an out of state uncle sent me a $25 gift certificate for Toy R' Us. My father turned me loose at the Brookfield, WI. store where I picked up a gyroscope and a box of pre-made microscope slides featuring insect parts. I was passing the bargain sale bin when I saw it: a copy of TSR's Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn boxed set! It was only 12 bucks, the concept of a science fiction game was intriguing, and Larry Elmore's cover art was sooooo cool! I was sold then and there.

Much to my stuck-up parents and fundamentalist Christian relative's dismay, Star Frontiers had started me down the dark path of role-playing and forever it dominated my destiny. While I have since played dozens of systems, Star Frontiers will forever have a special place in my heart.

You can find several Star Frontiers/Savage Worlds conversion available online, including:

• Greg Bruni's Star Frontiers/Savage Worlds Conversion: A very well laid-out conversion reminiscent of the original rule books.
  
• CmdrCrody_2000's Savage Worlds RPG Page: Featuring several files of for SF/SW conversion.
  
• Shark Nibbles #2: Containing Bill Littlefield's SF/SW conversion, archived at the Savagepedia Wiki.

Thanks to Richard McLean for tracking down the Shark Nibbles' article for me.

A Top Secret Dispatch…

I just got a message from my operative at Gen Con:

THE LIFTWOOD GUNSHIP IS GOING UP.

That is all. More to follow next week.

Savage IRC!

After some discussion on the PEG forums, Tyson Hayes (aka Tweek) has started a Savage Worlds IRC channel! Just set up your IRC client to irc.slashnet.org and sign onto #savageworlds. You can also use an online Chat client at #savageworlds IRC Channel (Mibbit) or if you're running Chatzilla on your Firefox Browser you can log in here.

Review: Serpent Scales #1 & 2

Next to Tékumel, Ken Hite's The Day After Ragnarok has become one of my all-time favorite RPG settings of all time and it just gets better and better with each new release.

Among them, Serpent Scales: Fragments From The Wold After The Serpentfall, is a series of regularly-released PDFs that will focus in on a particular aspect of the DAR setting. In Issue #1, Ken Hite introduces us to "The New Konfederacy," the resurgence of everyone's 'favorite' militant, racist, redneck scum: The Ku Klux Klan! From their home base, The Grand Kounty (sic) of Birmingham in what used to be Alabama, these so-called "Night Riders" roam the Poisoned Lands spreading terror and chaos against those who don't fit their deranged notions of "purity." Their ultimate goal: the domination of Mayoralities and creation of a white supremacist empire!

This spunky little 16 page document gives an brief overview of the Klan's 20th century along with their organization and goals for the world of Ragnarok. The Grand Kounty is detailed in all of it's segregated, slave-trading, evil along with a run down of the despicable historical personages (Old Bull Conner is among them) that run it. A complete bestiary of Klan thugs including the terrifying Hell-Haints. Also included is a scenario generator that allows GMs to add the Klan to their campaigns.

The next issue is a little shorter. "[Happiness Is A] Sten Gun" is a 6 page brief on of the clunkiest, ugliest, and ubiquitous firearms to come out of World War II. It gives a history of the Sten gun along with its various models and rules on how to incorporate them into your DAR world. While not as in-depth as Issue #1, it does have one of the funniest headers I've ever seen on page 6.

Those who are familiar with Ken's Suppressed Transmissions articles from Pyramid know how he can weave myth and fact into fantastic seeds for RPG adventure. That's how DAR got started in the first place, and you can see it shine in Serpent Scales. Already two new issues are being planned; one will take place on legendary monster island ("Ahhhh! Godzilla!"), and other take us to Mexico where you'll find fascists, Aztec-themed serpent cultists and the luchadores who fight them for honor and justice!

School's out! School's Out...

...the Teacher's let the Savages out!



Yes, summer break has finally come and I'll finally have to time to update this blog! Look for new content coming shortly!