So blogger seems to be working better and a page of links I deleted after contents ruined came back fine so I have no idea if my complaint worked or not. I'm still wary. I seem to get the same hits even if I do nothing. I'm evaluating what and where I post and my writing and the purpose of this blog.
I'm in the process of sorting PDFs of every post and sorting into compilation project folders. I'm back to editing my 80pg homebrew rulebook and my broken hill book mostly. I've been resisting the urge to write whatever comes to mind here. I'm not bothering to Tag here if i cant cut n paste them into a field - the box-ticking thing is a pain and "forgets" what you just entered. It shouldn't be this fiddly. Some changes ok. I'm deleting the most tasteless post I ever did (I seem to do them to drive particular persons away). I mostly used this blog to write and file stuff with intent to organise later or just to write for its own sake. Most of the earlier years have all been accumulated into my PDF compilations already. So no idea what I'm doing yet and I'm not making any plans. I don't really have issues with creativity (my mind is an open sewer of ideas) but developing it is problematic for lots of reasons. I'm upping my bandwidth and playing videogames for a while probably. I'm mostly shut-in currently, quit study and working. Still on Patreon which will probably benefit from all this most. Oddly enough most of comments on all this came from Reddit which is not famous for being supportive.
Axebanes Deck of Many Dungeons
From https://www.thegamecrafter.com/. I thought I would get a few items to see quality as I have considered designing some decks. I got a deck of sanity cards I guess for Cthulhu which was nice till i realised that most of the cards were repeated something like 8 times and this adds nothing to the utility. I might even split it and give them away. The concept was good just could have done more. The Dungeon deck, however, is nice. I got the expansion too but it is quite a bit smaller and I would rather have it bigger and the expansion theme didn't really shine through once mixed with originals. Quality-wise the cards are nice as is the box. So some cards are entries with a quest most cards are rooms and corridors and a few are quest goal or stairs for a new level. You're supposed to lay them out then play through them. It reminds me of a game I made with kids years ago. I played through some 1st Lv adventurers from my homebrew and it was entertaining. Kids would like it. The card monsters are based on levels but I don't think they should have aimed this high. If six people met 6 hydras in a 10-foot wide hall I don't think they could even move about very well. It has given me ideas anyway.
I might try and make an apocalypse ruin deck or something one day. Lots of game pieces here too including some sathar fighters possible buck rogers pieces. Had some viking and greek myth minis which had some good monsters for my 1/72 gaming. Egyptian one was out. I got some rayguns for Gaslands custom jobs too.
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
Ive got a bunch of dnd gazeteers coming but I surprised myself by buying a 5th ed book. Partly I found I liked art and Dysons maps. I find lots of big head and arm art in fantasy is not my thing and Im afraid to look at the halfling page in the dnd5 Players book. Once I had it home I was pleasantly surprised. There seems to be a new wave of historic culture books coming out by 3rd party publishers at the moment, the same time as debates on cultural plundering is commonplace.
Theros was a Magic the Gathering thing which you would think I would run a million miles from. While greek inspired It is not Greece and thus the heroes and gods are more ethnically diverse than reality. This frees them in many ways from some problems and closes some doors. Slavery, for example, a standard feature of the ancient world but here we get one reference to someone being sold in a pull quote from a NPC. The players are Heroes and I like the background tables lots. Athlete background is nice but a philosopher might be good too. Races are great and while Im over dnd5 being a furry game I do like the Lion race here. Satyrs, centaurs, minotaurs, tritons are all fun. I enjoy very much the concept that the gods are all potential enemies and there is a chapter dealing with each god and includes Dyson maps of holy complexes to use in play. I found the whole take on fantasy religion here very welcome. I liked the monsters and gender norm-breaking from tradition with male nymphs. The chimaera pages are wonderful. There are some big critters here that remind me of pathfinder monsters.
The gods are ok. I'm unlikely to use them. They do seem kind of alien which is interesting. There is a monster called a Typhon which has nothing to do with one of my favourite villain gods. I wish I knew an ancient greek scholar to comment on the naming schemes. You could replace these gods without much trouble and still use concepts, tables and maps. People sure love putting roman colosseums in ancient Greece settings but most of them are good. The setting is simple and solid, far simpler than Greece or the Mediterranean. I like the polis concepts. One is a sort of Sparta with no mention of slavery or other evils (Spartans were some of the most abusive slave owners ever). Another is sort of Athens. Another I liked is an Amazon city. The minotaur polis with a maze I was charmed by. Here avoiding history was an ok decision. I like the notion of travel and inconsistent times for travel which is more dreamlike which is a nice touch too. Not many human communities really but I like the option to explore and find others.
You could use this as is or to build a more historic setting from. Some of the concepts on religion I think could be applied anywhere. The races are fun. It has made me want to look again at the last few dnd5 books again.
From https://www.thegamecrafter.com/. I thought I would get a few items to see quality as I have considered designing some decks. I got a deck of sanity cards I guess for Cthulhu which was nice till i realised that most of the cards were repeated something like 8 times and this adds nothing to the utility. I might even split it and give them away. The concept was good just could have done more. The Dungeon deck, however, is nice. I got the expansion too but it is quite a bit smaller and I would rather have it bigger and the expansion theme didn't really shine through once mixed with originals. Quality-wise the cards are nice as is the box. So some cards are entries with a quest most cards are rooms and corridors and a few are quest goal or stairs for a new level. You're supposed to lay them out then play through them. It reminds me of a game I made with kids years ago. I played through some 1st Lv adventurers from my homebrew and it was entertaining. Kids would like it. The card monsters are based on levels but I don't think they should have aimed this high. If six people met 6 hydras in a 10-foot wide hall I don't think they could even move about very well. It has given me ideas anyway.
I might try and make an apocalypse ruin deck or something one day. Lots of game pieces here too including some sathar fighters possible buck rogers pieces. Had some viking and greek myth minis which had some good monsters for my 1/72 gaming. Egyptian one was out. I got some rayguns for Gaslands custom jobs too.
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
Ive got a bunch of dnd gazeteers coming but I surprised myself by buying a 5th ed book. Partly I found I liked art and Dysons maps. I find lots of big head and arm art in fantasy is not my thing and Im afraid to look at the halfling page in the dnd5 Players book. Once I had it home I was pleasantly surprised. There seems to be a new wave of historic culture books coming out by 3rd party publishers at the moment, the same time as debates on cultural plundering is commonplace.
Theros was a Magic the Gathering thing which you would think I would run a million miles from. While greek inspired It is not Greece and thus the heroes and gods are more ethnically diverse than reality. This frees them in many ways from some problems and closes some doors. Slavery, for example, a standard feature of the ancient world but here we get one reference to someone being sold in a pull quote from a NPC. The players are Heroes and I like the background tables lots. Athlete background is nice but a philosopher might be good too. Races are great and while Im over dnd5 being a furry game I do like the Lion race here. Satyrs, centaurs, minotaurs, tritons are all fun. I enjoy very much the concept that the gods are all potential enemies and there is a chapter dealing with each god and includes Dyson maps of holy complexes to use in play. I found the whole take on fantasy religion here very welcome. I liked the monsters and gender norm-breaking from tradition with male nymphs. The chimaera pages are wonderful. There are some big critters here that remind me of pathfinder monsters.
The gods are ok. I'm unlikely to use them. They do seem kind of alien which is interesting. There is a monster called a Typhon which has nothing to do with one of my favourite villain gods. I wish I knew an ancient greek scholar to comment on the naming schemes. You could replace these gods without much trouble and still use concepts, tables and maps. People sure love putting roman colosseums in ancient Greece settings but most of them are good. The setting is simple and solid, far simpler than Greece or the Mediterranean. I like the polis concepts. One is a sort of Sparta with no mention of slavery or other evils (Spartans were some of the most abusive slave owners ever). Another is sort of Athens. Another I liked is an Amazon city. The minotaur polis with a maze I was charmed by. Here avoiding history was an ok decision. I like the notion of travel and inconsistent times for travel which is more dreamlike which is a nice touch too. Not many human communities really but I like the option to explore and find others.
You could use this as is or to build a more historic setting from. Some of the concepts on religion I think could be applied anywhere. The races are fun. It has made me want to look again at the last few dnd5 books again.
My feeling is that you're considered to be the number one random tables blog. Things are shit at the moment... the culture war has many optimistic aspects. It's also presents multiple opportunities for proto fascism (on both sides). Stay well, create without fear (easier said than done, but... yeah).
ReplyDeleteMy web pressence is shrinking bit by bit for a long time and i dont have much dialogue with readers even when i stab at "engagement". It feels like about 20 ppl read me and rest must be bots.
DeleteI mostly wear my politics on my sleevee and i think it has helped me not really be involved much.
As nick said, you are the best table person. bespoke costco for ideas. I always really like all your stuff, and you are one of the main people who are tempting me to run a mesopotamia/babylon game.
Delete