RPG Geek Reports Results of July Warlock’s Journal Contest

Warlock's Journal Contest #28 coverIn July, the Warlock’s Journal Contest was sponsored by RPG Geek and run on that site. The theme of the contest was “Twins” and there were 16 entries. Voting was also done through RPG Geek, and the results have been posted. You can find the entries on the RPG Geek forum, and also download the file through that site, although you need to be logged in to download the document.

If you are not a member of RPG Geek, you can also download a copy of the PDF directly.

The Warlock’s Journal Contest has gone to a bimonthly format, and in September it will once again be hosted by Tabletop Adventures. Tune in after Sept. 1 for details!

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Paper and Cardboard Memories

Today we are going to take a break from the dungeon, discussing RPG’s and share an ode to last night’s board gaming fun.

One of the younglings loves Monopoly.  So, to indulge her, we brought out our well-loved Monopoly set from the days of yore.  This is the Monopoly set that resided in my parent’s game closet.  It is the set on which I first learned to play.  It’s corners are held together by 1970’s era packing tape that is flaking off the box.  A Gibson’s department store price tag is still firmly affixed to one end of the box, where you can still read the faded $2.97 price.

Our Monopoly Set

Our Monopoly Set

Inside, the money is still in fairly good shape but the property cards have become creased and spongy with long use and much trading.  We are missing some houses and hotels from the set, so there is increased pressure now to build early and build often.  We still have the complete rules and the short game rules sets although they are rarely referenced, as a set of house rules has long since taken their place.  In fact, it is normal practice to ask the guest of the house to talk about their house rules at the outset of the game as we decide who will go first and exactly which of the house rules variations will be employed for this adventure into fiscal engagement. My husband loves to find out if there are any new variations on the game that he has yet to encounter. Plus it helps keep the game friendly and the rules-in-play fresh in everyone’s minds.

A score sheet containing my father’s iconic handwriting is also ensconced within this beloved box.  I don’t remember that game, although I still remember one of the two people who shared in that game from days-gone-by.  Having graduated into the unfortunate club of those folks who have lost a parent, keeping that score sheet with the box just seems right and it is a bit of a surprise each time we get out this fabled box. This inherited copy of the game is a well loved treasure and it is still an event when it gets pulled out of the back-up game closet and gets opened up for an evening of family fun.

My sons are still being schooled in the fine art of a good Monopoly game, learning new tricks in trading properties.  One of last night’s most creative trade proposals was to exchange St. James Place (to complete a set) for North Carolina Avenue (which wouldn’t complete a set), $500 and 50 push-ups. They are learning when to extend mercy and when to be ruthless in their collections.  And they are learning that choosing to evolve Pokemon at the Monopoly game table, and missing rent collections in the process, will ultimately result in losing the game you were winning.

I know new game purists with their plentiful choices of good games will not completely understand the concept of Monopoly being called a good game, but who cares.  Today it fits well the stage of life my boys are in, which makes me happy.  That stage is passing quickly.  Perhaps that is why the Whitman copy of Stock Market has scored a place in our prime gaming closet, alongside our copy of 7 Wonders, Wings of War and our original edition double set of Settlers of Catan while the fabled Monopoly set I speak of had to be dug out of the back-up game closet.

My boys’ memories of good games are going to include making up their own RPG adventures in the back of the family van on long trips, playing Pathfinder on Wednesday mornings with Dad, playing Uno with Grandpa, Risk with cousins and multitudes of pizza and game nights with friends.  It will include memories of inviting their friends to our place for video games, board games and games of whole house hide and seek.

Our game closet is burgeoning and ever-evolving with games new and old.  We have a back-up game closet and a shelf or two or three for RPG game favorites.  Not to mention the favorites that reside in the homes of other friends and family members.  These well loved bits of paper and cardboard that are often the most physically shabby are also so very treasured for how intrinsically tied up they are with some of the best memories of times spent with those we love.

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Gary Gygax Day: Old-School Memories

Inside an old-school dungeonToday the roleplaying community is remembering the birthday of Gary Gygax, originator of the Dungeons and Dragons game and the reason so many of us play these games now. Without him, the entire roleplaying industry would not exist, probably including many of the computer games that have been so popular over the years.

Most members of Tabletop Adventures got their start roleplaying in Dungeons and Dragons, from the original three booklets (before they came together in a box) to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, otherwise known as First Edition.

Old-School Roleplaying

Although we eventually made the transition to Third Edition (and later to Pathfinder), our attitude toward the game still tends to be “Old School,” and many of our products reflect that. This is especially true of Bits of Darkness: Dungeons, our very first product. It was the result of many happy hours spent mapping underground rooms and passages and describing them to players.

45. At an intersection of corridors, your flickering light reveals a charcoal mark upon the wall. It appears to have been made by either a stick plucked from a fire or from the the burned out stub of a torch.  The smeared mark is about five feet from the floor and forms an arrow that points back the way that you have come.  There is no indication as to who could have made it.

That was also a time when many dungeons had monster after monster, and rooms could be full of amazing or unlikely things with no explanation given or required.

44. As you look into [enter] the room, you are astonished to see the entire floor of the room is done in mosaic tile, depicting the sun, clouds and birds on the wing. When you look up, you see that the ceiling has also been done in mosaic, but with a forest motif. [The party may very well spend some time here, arguing about the safest way to cross the room. This could be nothing, or the room could have a magical effect in it which reverses gravity.]

Those old-school dungeons (and caverns, and the towns we visited in between) are what we try to evoke with all our products of fantasy description.

We hope you have a great day thinking back to the early days of Dungeons and Dragons and invite you to comment with a memory from your own early days of gaming.

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Twelfth Anniversary Sale

Tabletop Adventures logo

It’s anniversary time again! This year Tabletop Adventures is celebrating our twelfth anniversary as a company. In honor of this auspicious event, we are offering a discount of 25% off all our electronic products, from July 13-31. You can find our products on Tabletop Library; Paizo.com; DriveThruRPG; RPGNow; Warehouse23, and the Open Gaming Store.

Tabletop Adventures has resources for GMs or players, and support for nearly any fantasy system as well as modern and science-fiction games. If you haven’t already looked through our product pages, check them out; links to our sales sites make purchasing easy. Celebrate our anniversary by buying yourself a present!

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Pictures, Pretty Pictures

All the experts say that one really needs to add fractal-box 300x300photos to blog posts to grab readers’ interest. Obviously, we’ll be adding our own artwork frequently, but one site we have found that has photos available to the public domain is Pixabay. Some artists have intriguing digital graphics available (such as the one to the right) as well as photographs.

We’ll be experimenting with appropriate sizes of images and hope you’ll be patient as we learn what works and what doesn’t.

Of course, great photographs can be inspiration for interesting descriptions or other facets of roleplaying games, and we plan to use them that way frequently. For instance, this image begs to be used in Against the Darkness or some other horror game.

commemorate-woman-tomb 600x399

This appears to be a memorial if not actually a tombstone. Who or what does it commemorate? Why is it here in the brush by itself? From this angle the viewer can only imagine the statue’s expression, but the body language suggests grief. The statue also holds something in its right hand. This could be a commemorative wreath, but it might be something else. What if it is a thick rope, or a limp snake – what might that signify?

In Against the Darkness, this could have supernatural origin or significance. The statue could theoretically be a real person turned to stone. On the other hand, the memorial may acknowledge the sacrifice of a woman, a Justiciar of a previous generation, who gave her life to close a demonic portal on this spot. Perhaps the memorial even includes a relic inside its sturdy walls, to keep the evil door closed.

This photo could also be a hand-out in a game. It could be used near the beginning of a scenario to show characters the statue that used to stand here, before a highly localized earthquake shattered the statue and opened a crack in the ground that has stopped steaming but still smells of sulfur.

What other ideas come to mind from this photo?

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Holding Our Breath

A great intake of air was felt as the transfer of our website started. Right off the bat, someone deleted too many things. Happily, we had JUST done a back-up, so everything was still immediately available. Patience was exercised, instructions followed, and the website transition seems to be complete. We’re still afraid to poke it too hard, lest we break something, but for now everything looks good. Whew!

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A Company Blog

Greetings. For the first time, Tabletop Adventures is going to have a company blog, right on our website. We not just going to stick to things like sale announcements and product info, though. We’re going to talk about gaming, and philosophy, and gaming philosophy. (And possibly fuzzy animals. Or pretty rocks.) There will be Throwback Thursdays, and Mayhem Mondays, though not every week!

One hope is that this format will allow more people to take part on our side; one post may be by a mere minion, and the next by the Overlord himself. We also welcome participation by you, the masses customers! Feel free to comment, though please keep your remarks in good taste. If you’d like to hear from us on a specific topic, let us know; we can find someone with words to say about almost anything.

Welcome to the new Tabletop Adventures blog!

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