Review for Vengeance Fulfilled

Notes From Under the Kayak reviewed A Promise of Vengeance Fulfilled here. Ah, the typos! I should know better on a couple of them, but that's what I get for relying completely on InDesign's spell checker. :P

Creative ideas: Thanks, Green Devil Face

I finally purchased LotFP's Green Devil Face (#1-3) based off a harsh review from the Pundit over at The RPG Site. As a fan of Raggi’s writing and a supporter of the OSR, I pimped GDF here on this blog. After all the cool things I’ve heard about these ‘zines, it’s funny that it took a bad review to finally make me take the plunge and buy GDF.

Man, I wish that I had not waited to get these. As a writer of RPG adventures, reading GDF is a true inspiration of what one can produce when you really stop giving a %#@$ about what others think or how adventures are “supposed” to be written.

Sometimes we need to step back and say, “This is fantasy. I can do ANYTHING I want to make this more interesting and fun.”

So far the best thing I can say about reading GDF is that it has sparked in me some fun ideas. I love that. Would I use all the traps found in GDF in my own adventures? Nooooooooooooo freaking way, but that’s not the point. It’s the creativity of what GDF’s contributors put into their ideas that I get off on (whether they work or not).

Personally, I loved the humor and satire found in issue #1 (and, no, I don’t know everyone Raggi is picking on, so although the inside jokes might go over my head, the set ups are still freaking cool, if not unusual and surreal). I would like to see more of that carried into future issues of GDF. I love it when an RPG resource can stimulate ideas while tearing me up in laughter.

Also, I must say that the imagery within Caleb Jensen’s Beware the Red Stream in issue #3 could be used by David Lynch should he decide to direct a “D&D” movie. I love it.

Anyway, as I said, GDF has spawned some fun ideas in me and I am in the process of putting those ideas down in a mini adventure that I plan to submit for a future issue of GDF. Whether it gets published there or not is not up to me, but I’m having fun with the extra burst of creativity.

As for future PRG releases, I think there will be one or two areas within each new adventure where I’ll think to myself: WWGDFD?

A big thanks for representing LL in Knockspell.

I received my pdf copy of Knockspell #3 earlier today and it looks fantastic. I simply have to give a big thanks to Matt Finch at Mythmere Games for not only publishing my adventure, but making it look so darn good in print (a thanks to Mr. Kramer, too)!

The last time I really gave Labyrinth Tomb of the Minotaur Lord a good read was after its first and only editing session. As I re-read the module last night, I forgot how much freaking fun this adventure was to run. The puzzles, traps, new monsters and magical items all come together in a delightfully deadly labyrinth crawl!

Could I say that Minotaur Lord is worth the price of the magazine alone? Sure, but that would be overstepping my bragging rights, and this issue of Knockspell is packed full of so much old-school happiness that nearly every piece would be able to make the same boast.

As an extra incentive to get your own copy from Black Blade Publishing, for the rest of this week, they knocked 10% off the pdf price. 64 pages of Knockspell for $3.60! Check it out here!

Or if you like the deadwood edition: here.

Last thing I want to say here is to give another thanks to Matt for allowing me to represent Labyrinth Lord in his pages. He uses Knockspell as an entertaining and useful forum to prop up the old-school - from 0e to 1e and everything in between - and I'm just happy that he has decided to take on this endeavor to share with the rest of us.

Feedback for "Gerald Red"

I posted "The Courtyard of Gerald Red" only two days ago and the response has been beyond expectations. A big thanks to the people at Goblinoid Games as well as the folks on their forum. They have offered many kind and encouraging words about the adventure.

Also, a thanks to Mr. Conway at The Dwarf and the Basilisk blog. He extended to his readers a generous plug for Gerald Red. Check it out here: http://arcona.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/download-the-courtyard-of-gerald-red-now/

I also need to thank my test players, who helped me in shaping the final details before publication. So thanks to Buzz, Kathy, Jason, Anne, Else, and Dan. Jason's thief was the only one who did not come out of this alive, so we'll honor his lack of hit points here.