R.I.P. Dio, King of D&D Metal

Ronnie James Dio passed away today from stomach cancer. His vocals will be missed.

Will blast the first Rainbow album tonight in tribute to the king of fantasy metal.


Goodbye, Dio. :(

New module art samples

My new Labyrinth Lord module A Promise of Vengeance Fulfilled is nearly complete. I have two more interior art pieces to draw and ink as well as the cover, and a couple decisions regarding my new page layout before I can put this baby to bed.

I need to hurry with this because my vacation from my vacation is almost catching up, at which time I will resume my break from publishing for a while.

Anyway, as I'm chugging along with the new module, I though I'd post a couple samples of the interior art that I just completed.

Here we have the skeletal Keeper of the West Door and an attack by a Flame Salamander! Woo-hoo!

Art of the One-Shot Dungeon: The Adventure

I am one of those unfortunate GMs who can only manage to organize a game once a month - or every other month - due to the time restriction of real life.

Real Life. A concept that didn't fully exist until marriage, kids, house repairs, bills, and the inevitable Real Job (which either one gets because of the situations pertaining to Real Life, or the Real Job forces one into Real Life. It's really a chicken or the egg type of thing).

No matter. All one needs to know is that the beast known as Real Life can really take a chunk out of one's hobbies. I don't care if it's painting, sports, spelunking, or RPGs - Real Life will unapologetically take its unfair share.

So as a time challenged RPGer, I need to get the most bang for my gaming sessions, and that usually means one solid action-filled adventure that can be completed within one night. If we kill the momentum in the middle of a dungeon, having to pick up the pieces again one or two months later...well, that stinks. I hate that. If we had a weekly or bi-weekly gaming session, I could live with an adventure that last three or four sessions.

However, my sessions are too sporadic for such a luxury. Ain't gonna happen.

In order to prepare a one-shot dungeon, I have to understand the parameters of what can and cannot be accomplished in a single gaming session (four to eight hours in length).

1. The quintessential beginning town adventure.

In my youth, I loved starting off an adventure in a town. The inn. Ale. Rumors. Thievery. The supply shop to buy torches (and the "Magic Shop" required in every Monty Haul campaign). The town setting is a great place to Role Play before heading off to the meat of the adventure.

Not in the one-shot dungeon. The town can quickly become a time-eater. Players will get so wrapped up in local affairs, politics, thieves' guilds, and prostitutes, that they will never get to the desired destination: the last room of your dungeon.

Unfortunately, unless the adventure actually takes place in a town, you will need to either strip the city way down or scrap it all together. My modules usually begin in a generic, undefined town, mercilessly devoid of hard details as a simple jump start into the goodies: the first room of my dungeon.

2. Wandering monsters.

Also known as wondering time-eaters. Do you want to burn up enough time so the characters will never find the Lost Artifact of Whatever? Toss in teams of wandering monsters. Even one wandering monster will set your adventure off by one or two "numbered" areas within the dungeon. You will kick yourself when you have to stop the adventure a mere one room away from completion because the party had to take care of a batch of stupid giant centipedes.

To be fair, I do put wandering monster tables in my modules, but I do this for a couple of reasons. 1. Tradition. Can't help it. I rarely use it, but I can't help it. 2. There are folks out there who game frequently, like every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and can afford to eat up some time. I hate them. God bless 'em.

3. A map with tons of areas.

Thankfully, I hate creating maps. Hate it. So, for me, the smaller the map I have to create, the better. A small map with some carefully placed encounters will help to ensure a quick adventure. Also, keep in mind that if you really want to write a one-shot adventure, stay the hell away from labyrinths. Holy crap. I learned my lesson when I test-played the Labyrinth Tomb of the Minotaur Lord (available now in Knockspell #3). It ended up lasting two full sessions and the players actually missed a few numbered areas. Boo.

Plus, watching a player try to carefully map out the twisting passages of a labyrinth is the ultimate exercise in tedious time-wasting. Avoid!

4. The use of intricate puzzles.

Puzzles are great fun. The can add flavor and challenge when well-placed in a dungeon. They can also make players sit around for precious minutes, scratching their chins, while wandering aloud what they should do to solve your ingenious time-eater.

This one is always tough for me because I love to place puzzles throughout my dungeons, so the trick for me is to make the puzzle a bit obvious, but in a way that keeps the characters moving. I don't know how to explain this except that the players will know how to solve the puzzle, and the answer to the puzzle can be found somewhere further into the dungeon, so they must keep moving to other areas until they eventually stumble upon it.

This keeps the adventure moving though other important areas. They make progress until they find the key to the puzzle, and then they can backtrack (which is not too wasteful considering I eighty-sixed the wondering monsters).

5. Fast ending.

While I have no problem saying, "Good job! This one's done!" after the characters took care of the dungeon's final encounter, some players need a bit more closure to the adventure. To accomplish a quick ending, establish what will happen at the beginning of the adventure as to what events will follow after conquering the Temple of Fill-In-The-Blank.

Something along the line of a set reward to be given to the characters after bringing back proof to the citizens of whatever evil that plagued the temple is now destroyed. That way, after the characters sweep through the dungeon, you can have them "instantly" return to town (again, since the trip will be devoid of any wandering encounters), do a quick role-play session with the town officials, and close the book on that adventure.

These are just a few pointers I use. One-shot adventures for the busy adult can be fun (or it can suck, but we busy fellers sometimes have to take what we can get), at least to be able to game, even if it is once every other month.

Progress on new Labyrinth Lord module

The rewrites for A Promise of Vengeance Fulfilled are nearly complete. For this module, I have an all-new layout that I've been wanting to try. This layout allows for more art (and bigger art, too), and offers an easier read than my previous releases. Some people might not like the look, but I believe most will be impressed.

Since I mentioned that there will be more art, let me tell ya that I am stepping the quality of illustrations up on this one. I'll admit that the art in my first couple of releases were done with a bit of silliness, sketchiness, and cartooniness that I remember loving in old-school publications.

Well, that's all still there, just better refined. :P

I have an idea for the cover (thanks to my test-player Jason for suggesting a twist on my original idea), that if I can actually pull it off, it will be killer. If I don't pull it off, none of you will know. I'll simply state, "That's exactly what I meant to do," and then go sulk and cry in the corner.

Still, I could release this module with a blank cover and it won't kill the fact that this adventure rocks and I'm excited to get it into your hands. As usual, the PDF will be made available for free. No need to thank me, just pay it forward by killing as many characters as possible with this module. :)

Take care.

Please tweak for publication, Lawrence! Please!

We played a marathon of Labyrinth Lord last night that lasted until 2:30am. Yes, we were all tired, but everyone had a great time. The entire party survived (!) and I was finally able to give my new set of GameScience opaque dice a whirl.

This was an unusual gaming experience since the thief had to strip naked due to his encounter with the ever-acidic gray ooze. Luckily we had Bracers of Armor AC 2 for him, and with modesty cast aside, he adventured in the buff…for the most part (“where do you sheath your dagger?”).

I feel like I was off my mark as a GM during this session because I missed the little traps, puzzles, and curses that added a lot of flavor to the adventure. It wasn’t until the characters would “conquer” the area and move on when I would realize that I had forgotten to utilize half of the goodies I had placed in there as a fun and deadly challenge. Boo. This happened more than a couple times. Usually, I put stern reminders about important items to uncover, but this time I did not -- it won’t happen again any time soon.

This session was very helpful for my rewrites. I’ll have it play-tested again after I do some tweaking, and I’m hoping to publish it soon after. However, I said the same thing about Beyond the Midway Post and The Dead Heir of Kressik Keep, and both of those are STILL awaiting final tweaks.

I’m sure many of you know what it’s like when it either feels like your beating a dead horse, polishing a turd, or to say, “screw it! I’m moving on.”

I try not to do that, especially since there is SO MUCH prep work to go into these dungeons, I want to see it through to publication. Hopefully this latest module will hit the finish line.

Test-play for new adventure! Can't believe it.

As I've stated here, the clouds have parted a bit, allowing for a weekend game with an adventure that has potential to be the next PRG release. But just as quickly as the clouds parted, they will swallow me up again, so if play-test goes well tomorrow night, I'll need to pop this one out asap (because I'm not sure when I'll have the opportunity again so soon).

So, yes, although I am officially still on a temporary vacation from publishing to take care of some real life ordeals and necessities, it looks like I'll be able to take a quick vacation from my vacation.

Besides, I believe the last thing I published was way back in November of '09. Unthinkable! Gotta get something else out before I duck my head back under the surface for another six months. Right? Right.

Tomorrow, my players will adventure through my new Labyrinth Lord module A Promise of Vengeance Fulfilled, for levels 5-7. I have such high hopes that this one will be PRG's next published module that I've already begun the artwork!

Your well wishes for this session is appreciated because, man, I'm super excited to sit at the gaming table again.

Rumors in the Southland! A horror to investigate!

Could it be?!

Rumblings in the southern parts of the Known Lands. An evil overlord, 10 years dead, has exacted revenge from the grave.

Is it really him, back from a decade of unrest? We shall find out this Saturday!


(Out of the chaos, my blue moon for gaming has risen, and I had to jump at the opportunity before it sets...and it will.)

The frenzy a sold-out book can cause

Congrats to Michael! :)










Also, I have posted this elsewhere, but some dude is attempting to sell the previous edition of Labyrinth Lord for $999.98!

Passed some dice on to my little nephew

Last night my wife and I watch my little niece and nephew (ages 11 and 8, respectively), and I busted out the Labyrinth Lord game in place of the Star Wars (Episode 1) Monopoly set we had planned to play.

You see, I've played a couple games of "D&D Lite" with these two in the past, and for the past several months, my nephew has really been hankerin' to play, reminding me every time he and his parents come to visit. We just never could find the right time for a quick game.

Recently, I thought about those past games we played using extremely simplified and watered-down rules. Both my niece and nephew had a blast. However, I began playing D&D around my nephew's age, and the older guys I played with definitely did not water down the rules. In fact, since I was the tag-along young kid in the group, I believe they purposely did not pull any punches, hoping for my character's quick demise and sending my annoying little butt home.

Although I did not plan to build up a cruel death dealing dungeon for the kids to lose their characters, but I did want to start playing the game a bit more closer to the actual rules.

The simplified version went something like this:

You could be a Knight or a Wizard.

No abilities, XP, or Armor Class.

You have eight Hit Points.

For everything (attacks, spells, stealing, saving throws, whatever), a 10 and over on the d20 is a success (or a 9 and over with a +1 weapon).

Every time you're hit, you lose one hit point. At the end of the encounter, hit points are regained.

Of course, as you can tell, there are no rules for a character to become stronger and more powerful via level advancement, but it wasn't my intention. I just wanted a "beginners" gateway RPG for the kids, offering them a basic understanding on how to play. Just a quick story hook, kill some monsters, and find the treasure.

And it worked! Like I said, they had a blast. So now that they have a basic knowledge on how to play an RPG, I wanted our next game to adhere a little closer to the rule set.

So last night, out came the Labyrinth Lord book and my quick Monty Haul adventure Treasure Crypt of the Salstine Pirate. My niece played a thief, my nephew played a magic-user, and we rounded out the party with a cleric and fighter NPCs.

I will admit to watering down a few details (including the monsters), but not by much. They survived and had so much fun that my nephew wanted to go home and download the Labyrinth Lord game right away. My niece had fun, but she is the type that goes with the flow, is up to play any game, but not one to pursue a die-hard interest in RPGs (I'll continue to work on that!). She does, however, at age 11, play a mean clarinet.

Before my nephew left with his parents, I told him to wait for a minute as I dug into my dice bag. I sorted out a mismatched set of old and new poly dice, put them into a zipped baggie and handed it to him. As gamers, we all remember our first set of polyhedron dice, and my hope is that he will, too.

Our next game will be the Tomb of Horrors. ;P

AEC Echo Chamber Announcement

Just popping in to say that the Advanced Edition Companion for the Labyrinth Lord game is now on sale!

Many LL/1e fans have been waiting eagerly for this puppy to hit the online stands so I'm sure AEC is going to be a big hit.

Hardback and softcover copies available HERE.

PDFs available HERE.

More info HERE.

Happy Gaming!

So leave a light on, Leave a light on for me

Well, it wasn't too long ago when I detailed a few plans for the fresh year of 2010. However, like so many involved in the OSR, writing, playing and publishing rpgs is a hobby. You know where I'm going with this, I'm sure...

With a heavy heart, I must put aside my cherished hobby to put some hard work into personal matters. As we know, there's only so much time in the day, and the amount of time required to produce Prime Requisite Game materials is simply not available to me as of now.

Don't worry, friends, because as the Joe Cocker post title implies, I will be back sometime when my real life obligations aren't so hectic. I have a ton of gaming materials swimming around in my noggin that I need to get outta there!

Since I have no idea when I'll be returning to the OSR publishing circles, let me say this: The past year and a half have been amazing. I've "met" so many positive, creative, helpful, and encouraging people within the old-school rpg community. The incredible response I received for my written adventures was humbling.

Prime Requisite Games modules have always been with the "quick game" in mind - for those who play infrequently and need an adventure to provide as much entertainment as possible for a one or two night play session. That's the way I like 'em anyway: a quick start, nice little hook, lots of action and plenty of treasure.

Although I have a soft spot for all my released modules, I'd have to say that The Courtyard of Gerald Red is my favorite. It has everything I enjoy in a low level adventure: deadly mysteries and curses (the rings), surreal spectacles (the fighting skeletons), fake-outs (vampire coffins??), and loads of treasure that will be hard as hell to obtain (giant piranhas) but is worth it all in the end if you get it.

Again, since I don't know when I will be back to the OSR stomping grounds, let me get out a few thank yous (Yes, I know this isn't an awards show, but please indulge me).

First, I'd like to thank Dan Proctor, not only for his excellent product, but also for his help and encouragement in PRG. The forum space he kindly gave me at Goblinoid Games really helped to shine a bigger light on my work, and I can't thank him enough for that. Here's hoping that the Revised Edition as well as the AEC will be a huge hit for Dan and the OSR.

Thanks to John at Brave Halfling Publishing, who was a major influence in me getting PRG started. It's awesome to see how far BHP has gone within the span of one year.

A big thanks to Matt Finch for the editing help and publishing The Labyrinth Tomb of the Minotaur Lord in Knockspell #3. People seem to really enjoy that adventure and I grateful to Matt for getting it into so many hands. I owe him a new module that I hope to get to him someday.

Jim Raggi and Michael Curtis for their thought-provoking gaming materials. Anyone that has a spot of writer's block needs to thumb through a copy of Green Devil Face or The Dungeon Alphabet to help the spinning tires get out of the mud. (Side note: I have a submission sent in for GDF #4. If Mr. Raggi decides to use it, I'll pop my head up on the blogs and forums to let you all know).

David Bezio, who, along with John at BHP, was another influence in my OSR publishing. As I mentioned many times before, his Lost Daughter adventure was the first LL module I ran for my noob group. I still owe him an X-plorers module.

Moritz at Soapbox Games for his unending support of all things old-school. He has mentioned my modules on his blog and I don't think I've ever gave him the proper thanks he deserves for the support. So, thank you, Moritz! :)

Thanks to Bruce at Barrataria for his killer gaming materials and for being such a cool cat.

The many blogs out there (James at Grognardia...I'm lookin' at you. But not in a weird way). Thanks for the hours of your food for thought. My gaming experience was all the better from the old-school blogs offering up their 2 cps on rpgs.

I definitely must thank my family who put up with my endless late-night writing sessions. My wife Else is fantastic, and I know that she's proud of what I've accomplished here. Love you, girl!

Finally, a big thanks to the followers of this blog and to those who downloaded/bought my modules. Your excitement in old-school rpgs in turn made me excited about producing quality adventures. This community rocks.

I know I forgot a few folks out there. I'm sorry!

So, other than the occasional comment I may offer up, I am going to sign off for a while. I don't know if it will be in six months or 24 months, but I will be back to writing and publishing old-school rpg adventures again.

So please...leave a light on for me.

Labyrinth Lord sighting and a set o' dice

While browsing my FLGS (Tabletop Games in Overland Park, KS), I noticed a fresh Labyrinth Lord paperback on the shelf. I asked the kind gentleman (dude) if he has people coming in asking about LL. He said, "Oh, yeah" and went on to tell me that the number of people buying the small press products is growing and growing.

That's encouraging news. Especially for small press publishers like BHP and Black Blade Publishing getting their products up on the shelves.

It was hard to not buy the LL paperback, but since I just received my hardback from Lulu over a week ago, I had to leave it behind for another lucky bloke to find.

Instead, I saw that they had a bunch of Gamescience precision dice, so I bought my first set- blue opaque. Beautiful. My wife asked me if was going to retire some of my old worn-out dice. Haha!

No.

Never, ever, ever throw away dice. I don't care if the sides of my old d20 are so worn that it more resembles a marble. Never toss out dice! I keep 'em all, even the so-called "cursed" dice (I give those to my players - heh heh).

One day I'll have enough dice to satisfy my gaming needs. But then again, probably not. Probably not ever. :P

Test-play for new adventure completed

Two two straight nights we hacked and slashed through my new adventure The Dead Heir of Kressik Keep. The players came out the other end of this module with more than a few bumps and scrapes, but everyone survived. Even Jason's thief survived this time, which is a rare occurrence 'round these parts. :P

Kressik Keep was going to be my submission to Knockspell #4, but I missed the deadline with this one. Many obstacles kept me from my hobby including a sick two year-old daughter and a severe case of writer's block.

Well, not that I wasn't writing, it's just that the adventure was not quite coming together. It was done. I had the map and all the rooms were keyed, but...it sucked. Blah. Patooie.

So then came the rewrites. I knew by this time that I would miss the Knockspell deadline, but I needed peace of mind with my work. With a bit more planning and a heavy dose of help from the Dungeon Alphabet (man, that book can stir up ideas!), I was able to reach a point with Kressik Keep in which I was comfortable enough to run a test-play.

Now, after a two day marathon of Labyrinth Lord fun, it's back to the rewrites, tweaking what needs to be fixed before I submit it to Knockspell, hoping to get it into issue #5. We'll see!

The Dungeon Alphabet and the OSR make me feel great!

I finally received my pre-ordered copy of The Dungeon Alphabet, and it's beautiful. With its $9.99 price tag, such a book is truly a steal. Looking over the material, I must say that Michael Curtis really knows how to jump-start the imagination. From the wondrous to the disturbing, The Dungeon Alphabet is teaming with ideas that would prove valuable at the fingertips of any dungeon designer.

Yes, I am a fan.

While I may come off as some sort of slobbering fanboy, it's difficult for me to contain my enthusiasm due to all the quality products available from the OSR. I haven't acquired so many gaming materials (both bought and for free) since the TSR days.

For those of you who were gaming in the late 70s to early 80s, I'm sure you remember the bubbling excitement of visiting your local bookstore to thumb through the game books, modules and magazines. To me, it felt like my friends and I were onto something truly unique, and as far as we were concerned, it was all lovingly produced specifically for us alone.

Such is the feeling I get with the new material streaming out of the OSR. In fact, the products getting churned out of people's basements ARE specifically for us: the FANS who love this crazy hobby. When I think of all the great materials published by Goblinoid Games, BHP, Mythmere, LotFP, 3 Headed Monster, Barrataria, Grey Area, ect., etc., and so on, it takes me back to that small local bookstore to find that one strange product to add a bit more fun into my rpgs.

Right now is a wonderful time for our hobby and I hope many within the OSR are taking advantage of the goodies provided and soaking in the old-school rays of resurgence. I know I am (to the best of my ability, both money and time-wise). Right now, I am awaiting the arrival of my copy of Stonehell and the hardback copy of LL Revised. Meanwhile, I have my eye on a print copy of the Companion Expansion and when AEC is released, I'll get that, too.

Now, back to my copies of Green Devil Face and The Dungeon Alphabet to gather up a bit of dungeon creating inspiration. Yep! Again, what a great time for us old-school game-lovers.

Another Half Price Books Score

I braved the frigid temperatures and went to the Half Price Bookstore during my lunch break today. In the past, there I have found near-mint copies of Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure ($7), The C&C core books ($9 each), and a ton of old Dragon magazines.

Today I was able to replace my missing copy of the Moldvay Basic rulebook for $5. This sucker is also in near-mint as the pages haven't even yellowed much.

In addition to this fabulous find, they were selling comics in bulk - 20 for $5. I landed a bunch of 70s/early 80s issues of Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, and Invaders.

Man, I love HPB. :)