[Review] The Spirit Coin - The Pocket Diviner, Decision Maker, And GM Tool

Quick: Come up with the name of a wood elf your PCs just encountered. OK, now come up with his motivation as to why he's in this desolate area. Can he be trusted? And how far away is the nearest inn from here?

At the table, the GM is tasked with coming up with a lot of answers on the fly. Sure, you could refer to tables you have on hand or rely on your own imagination (although "Steve the Drow" might raise eyebrows). Or you could summon The Spirits to answer these queries through the use of The Spirit Coin.

Created by Alex Kool and launched on Kickstarter, The Spirit Coin is like a portable Ouija Board. The two sides of the coin have four circles: the two outer circles contain the alphabet (consonants and vowels, respectively); the next contains the numbers 0-9 (odd/even); and the inner-most is YES/NO. The user takes the coin in hand and concentrates on the question. Turn the coin in your hand and randomly seek out the answers you need. For example, taking the questions from above (and I swear these are legit from The Coin):

Elf name? ETWIN - That sounds good, so "Etwin" it is.
Motivation? HRNWND - I see "Horn Wind", so I'll say he's on a quest to find The Horn of Winds. He's a sailor and he can use this item to propel his vessel.
Trustworthy? NO - I see our new friend is up to some mischief. Perhaps he mistakenly thinks the PCs possess the item, and he wishes to fight them for it?
Nearest inn? 2 miles from here. And Etwin will accompany his new friends (in hopes of prying The Horn from their hands!).

The Spirit Coin is solidly made of heavy metal and comes in two finishes, bronze and silver. I've taken mine and placed it in my dice bag for those moments when I need quick answers from The Spirits. (Usually at the game table, but you also never know when some otherworldly guidance may come in handy!) The Spirit Coin is now available on Etsy for $15 (with free shipping). I've found this to be very useful during writer's block or as a random prompt for all types of situations, so for GMs who could use a bit of spiritual guidance at the table, go grab one!

"OSR Guide For The Perplexed" Questionnaire: My Thoughts...

So Zak S. posed some very interesting questions in his "OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire" which has become a bit of a round-robin in the OSR blogging circles. What is the OSR? What does it mean to you? Is it important? What's the best parts of it?

Always willing to become One More Lemming with these things, I thought I'd jump in and give my thoughts on these queries...

1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:

When I first started poking around in this musty corner of the role-playing universe, I stumbled across Jeff's Gameblog and the long-since-defunct blog Grognardia. I can't really put my finger on one specific article that exemplifies the OSR, but these two encompass the spirit of the OSR best, so I'll go with that as my answer.

2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice/snark:

The classic: "Rulings, not rules" maxim. And something my DM said back in the 80s after I argued about what I felt was an unfair PC death: "Of course it's unfair! It's D&D!"

3. Best OSR module/supplement:

I love, love, love Vornheim. I've never before seen an RPG supplement just CRAMMED with useful stuff. Every chart, every table, inside and out (including the dust jacket, for god's sake) is chock-full of useful in-game stuff. Blew my mind when I first got my hands on it.

4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):


The d30 Substitution Rule that sprang from The Order of the d30 G+ group. Once per session, any player can use a d30 rather than whatever dice the roll calls for. So that 1d4 dagger damage could instead cause 25 points of damage (severing a major artery for insta-kill) or that To Hit roll now has 10 chances to roll ABOVE a nat 20 to hit. (I usually give out uber-bonuses when someone rolls a nat 30.) This simple rule gives the PCs a chance to perform some legendary feats and/or epic failures.

5. How I found out about the OSR:

Used to be seriously into role-playing back in the 80s during the hey-day. Wandered away during the college days, though I still puttered around with shared-universe writing, a local LARP group, etc. Online about 10-11 years ago, and wondered if gaming was still a thing. Found Goblinoid Games by chance, bought Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future, jumped into the OSR movement, and haven't looked back.

6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:

The online tools created by Purple Sorcerer Games for DCC RPG and MCC RPG is nothing short of amazing. PC generators, grimoires, charts, tables, etc. all at the click of a button. But their Crawler's Companion is a work of art. If you play DCC RPG, this handy app is all you need at the table. When I play DCC at conventions, everyone has this app running on their phones. And the fact it's free? Amazing.

7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:

The current online resource for talking about OSR-related things is G+. For some reason, the OSR gaming fans and subgroups glommed onto this social network rather than Facebook and the like. However, for face-to-face interaction, you have to attend one of the OSR-centric conventions, such as Gary Con, North Texas RPG Con, and many, many smaller and well-attended game conventions.

8. Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:

Typically one of the local-ish game stores. The Soldiery, The Guardtower, and Ravenstone down in Columbus are good hangouts, as well as Weird Realms up north in Cleveland.

9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:

Whether you defeat the dragon, rescue the princess, thwart the evil wizard, etc. it doesn't matter. All the stuff leading up to those climatic game-ending events, that's the fun stuff.

10. My favorite non-OSR RPG:

I consider it OSR as it's been around since the 80s, but other may not. I'm a huge fan of the Pacesetter line. The original games Timemaster, Star Ace, Chill are fantastic. Even though I wasn't playing for 20 years, I still held on to my well-played, well-loved Pacesetter games. The fact that Goblinoid Games now owns the trademark and - gasp - I've written stuff for the lines has been an amazing bit of karma for me.

11. Why I like OSR stuff:

If I'm being honest, what brought me back in was the nostalgia. OSR games were the games I played in the 80s. 3d6 in order. 18(00) STR. The DM's word was law. All of these trappings were familiar and comfortable, so I was able to pick right back up after a lengthy absence without missing a beat. However, I also see we have the ability to mix and match the best parts of various systems without a lot of conversion. The OSR has exploded from "yet another fantasy heartbreaker" to various genres and settings, various derivative rules, various creative folks putting their spin on the classics and releasing it into the wild for all to enjoy -- and all of it is both familiar and brand new. Exciting stuff always happening in the OSR!

12. Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:

1. Contrary to outsider opinion, there is no "wrong way" to play. I've not yet run into anyone with a "badwrongfun" attitude. For example: after one game I ran at Gary Con, one of the players came to me and said, "I didn't want to say anything, but you were throwing your saving throws backwards the entire game." When I asked why he didn't mention that during the game, he shrugged, smiled, and said, "It's your game. I figured you were running it the way you wanted."
2. The folks in the OSR are the friendly I've met in 35+ years of gaming. For a group commonly considered grognards with an "old school" outlook, these folks are open to new ideas and welcoming to new members.

13. If I could read but one other RPG blog but my own it would be:

Jeff's Gameblog. Lotsa good stuff there.

14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:

For purchase: One Year in the Savage AfterWorld -- a book of 52 mini-adventures for Mutant Future. Also, Burial Plots -- a book of 5 adventures for Cryptworld.
For freebies: The Apocalyptic Stormfront Mega-Table -- a table of 50 weird, wild weather patterns for gonzo post-apocalyptic RPGs. Had a lot of fun making this and have heard a lot of folks are still using it in their games.

15. I'm currently running/playing:

Always playing Timemaster, Cryptworld, and Mutant Future. Have taken a recent shine to Mutant Crawl Classics and am noodling around with the system and creating material for it.

16. I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because:

Either is fine by me. I don't care if your AC goes up, down, or sideways. Roll the damn dice, and let the DM figure it out.

17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:

Stared at this classic DM Screen image during my many games in high school. It's burned into my consciousness as "This Is Gaming":

AcadeCon Day 2: Cryptworld Thralls And Dungeon Shirts

Good morning everyone and welcome to Day Two here at AcadeCon, the Dayton-based convention produced and run by The RPG Academy. It's 6 a.m. as I start typing up today's post, and I'm fueling up with a box of Entenmann's donuts and a cup of Death Wish Coffee before I head down for the day. The open gaming area is open 24 hours, so I'm curious to see how many bleary-eyed stalwarts pulled an overnight campaign. Let's go find out, shall we?

• Today I got to wear my Old School Dungeon Map t-shirt at a gaming convention! This shirt is based on the Classic RPG Map cloth design I created that now adorns many dice bags. I had this made at Zazzle, and it turned out fantastic. (Oddly enough, I saw someone else wearing a dungeon map shirt, but his was the Tomb of Horrors, I believe. Wish I had gotten a photo...) Want one of your own? Check out my Zazzle store!
• When I went over to the con floor early this morning, I actually found one game of D&D (5e, I believe) that went all night. The players looked a bit exhausted, but one still managed a weak "Yeah, got 'im!" fist pump as they took down yet another creature in the wee hours. Game on, my friends. Game on.
• I had signed up to play a DCC RPG game this morning, but my throat was a bit hoarse this morning and I didn't want to blow it out yelling for four hours, so I bowed out. After trying (and failing) to find a pick-up board game in progress, I instead returned to my room and broke out my Kickstarter-fulfilled copy of Untold: Adventures Await and ran through a solo game. (Expect a review of this Story Cube-moderated RPG in the future!)
• Returned to the vendor hall and discovered a copy of Kobolds Ate My Baby! Played this game years ago, and was pleased to find a copy for purachse! ALL HAIL KING TORG!
• Sat down at a table to grab a bite and was joined by two friends who were also here for the first time. Speaking of first times, they also attended their first Gen Con this year -- the massive 50-year anniversary. "So, what'd you think of Gen Con?" I asked. "Crowded. So very, very crowded," they both said nearly simultaneously.
• Holy crow, this afternoon, I had my first duel CRYPTWORLD player death in a convention-run game. Dying in a CRYPTWORLD game is pretty difficult, as you typically run out of Stamina and fall unconscious LONG before you take that last Wound. But I had two players who fell prey to a few Critical Wound results. As we played my adventure "Unquenchable" (available in the future "Burial Plots" supplement), one player was horribly (HORRIBLY) managed by one of the THINGs, and he began to transform into one of them during the game. Another player was down to a few Stamina points and one Wound due to a series of bad rolls, and he ended up getting strangled to death by another thrall. The transforming player, who missed a Willpower save, became truly evil and shot his teammates who then returned fire, nearly killing him. He was taken in by DAPA where he'll spend the rest of his short life being examined before he's dissected like a lab experiment! The players loved the horrific nature of the way the game ended (two survivors crawling out of the forest) while I was left with my jaw dropped as the sheer carnage that occurred!
• And, with that, the evening comes to a close. Nothing really scheduled for the evening, so I returned to my room, played a solo game of Camp Grizzly, and am now retiring to bed. I'll be getting up early tomorrow to return home (meeting the wife for pancakes!), so I'll close out by saying "Thanks AcadeCon! I had a great time!"

AcadeCon Day 1: Tackling A Chaos Lord And Fighting Off Killer Bunnies

Howdy gang, and welcome to the official first day of AcadeCon! Although this is my first time at this event, this is the fifth year for this Ohio gaming convention produced and run by The RPG Academy. ("If you're having fun, you're doing it right!") As usual during these travelogues, I'll be stopping by my room off-and-on to post my observations and thoughts as the event goes on. So read on for today's highlights!

• On the drive here, I stopped at a Dollar General store in some small never-before-heard-of small town. And there, on the shelves, were 10 cans of super-sugared, super-caffeinated Jolt Cola. Looks like I'll be gaming like it's 1985!
• I reached my hotel next to the Dayton Convention Center where AcadeCon is being held. Handed my keys to the valet and entered to check in. Oops, forgot to get my luggage out of the trunk. Valet brought car back around. Tipped valet big due to the hassle. Went to room. Oops, left my cell phone in the car. Valet brought car back around. Tipped valet extra-big due to the extra-hassle.
• Cool, my room is right next to the walkover concourse to the convention center! From my room to the convention takes all of 4 minutes. Convenient!
• AcadeCon is a newer convention being run by folks who are passionate about the event. It shows. The staff really is going out of their way to make sure everyone is having a good time. I appreciate the extra attention they give the attendees.
• Conversely, I overheard one of the organizers explain to an attendee that they didn't have hardcopy event schedules here, as it was a mess to clean up last year and everything was online anyway. That's great and all, unless -- like me -- you're a Luddite without a smartphone. If I wanted to see what table an event was scheduled for, I had to return to my room and look it up on my laptop. And if I had some spare time and wanted to see what events were open, I had to return to my room -- again -- and look it up on my laptop. Although it's probably a great convenience to others, it's a royal pain in the neck for me. 
• Vendors were still setting up when I got here, so shopping is a bit sparce Friday afternoon. But I did score a full set of Impact glow-in-the-dark dice, which will get a lot of use in future Mutant Crawl Classic games! Speaking of that system...
• At noon, Nick, Mike, Andrew, and I played in the classic DCC adventure "Sailors on the Starless Sea" run by Tim Grunkemeyer. Each of us played four characters in the funnel, so we felt pretty good with the odds in our favor. However things didn't go well for us. I'll keep spoilers minimal, but here's how my cast of PCs met their ends: Broderick - absorbed by a gelatinous tar creature; Abner - killed by my own party after becoming possessed and attacking my teammates (sorry Mike!); Trinion - dragged to a watery grave by a tentacle from nowhere. My glorious death though was Brennon, who charged a newly-formed Chaos Lord and (burning all of my Luck) tackled him, carrying both him and my PC into a lava crater, killing them both. It was suicide, but it ended the resurrection of a Dark Lord. So "Yay me!" Thanks for the game, Tim. It was fantastic!
• However, I didn't have anyone sign up for my 5 p.m. game of Cryptworld, so it looks like Experiment TB-4 is left running rampant through the lonely halls of Vinton Hills Metropolitan Hospital for the last time at any convention. (Although YOU can try to stop the creature when Burial Plots for Crypworld is released this December!)
• Came back to the room to relax a bit and chug a Jolt Cola. While taking a look at the events run
  
  later this evening, one caught my eye being run by a designer I recognized -- Craig Campbell of Nerdburger Games, known for the recent Murders & Acquisitions RPG. He was playtesting his new RPG: Die Laughing, The Horror Comedy Storytelling Game. I raced to the con floor and grabbed the last open chair. In the game, the players are typical horror movie archetypes trying to survive the B movie forming around them. The movies and scenes grow organically as the players take turns as the "stars" of each scene as well as becoming the director of someone else's scene. In our game, I played the jock, Brock Van Johnson, who found himself at the local Renaissance Faire (huzzah!) as weird stuff began to happen. With Brock was Arnold the nerd, Tommy the preppy, Bo the gearhead, Stacy the cheerleader, and Benny the class clown. As people started screaming and racing for the exits, we discovered that mutant rabbits had spawned in the nearby hills, which were descending on the Faire, consuming everybody. (This, after all, is a COMEDY horror movie.) Brock didn't believe any of this was real (it had to be one of Benny's stupid jokes) and he picked up a rabbit and stuck his finger in its mouth, daring it to bite him. It did, taking his finger CLEAN OFF. Due to a series of bad rolls, Brock bled out, dying in a most non-heroic way. Though dead, I (as the player) then became a producer of the movie, able to alter and change the script as the still-alive players struggled to stay alive. Each new death brought in a new producer who screwed with those still living as the comedy of errors increased. In the end, Benny survived (still wearing a salvaged suit of armor) in the movie titled "The Day There Was No Joust". Fantastically funny game, and I'm looking forward to the official Kickstarter for it next year.
• As the day winds down, so am I. I have a Cryptworld game tomorrow with players signed up, so let's see how they do against the horrors of "Unquenchable" as it's played for the last time in a convention setting! Stay tuned for tomorrow's post from AcadeCon 2017!

And, in closing as I always do, here are some photos of Things Of Interest:

AcadeCon tables as they were earlier on Friday before the games really got underway.

The registration booth was always humming, and the Play to Win game booth had a lot of great games you could win.

This year's official t-shirt and swag as well as my official ID for the con.

 Jolt Cola chillin' in my room fridge.

Even though I "seeded" the area with Cryptworld posters and Comic Conversion Issue 2, I had no Cryptworld players on this first day.

Nearly every table was filled with gaming as the evening wore on.

Craig was good enough to sell me his only hardcopy of Murders & Acquisitions as well as a work-ion-progress copy of Die Laughing. (I plan to run this myself!) I also picked up a set of Impact glow-in-the-dark dice.

And they REALLY GLOW. (Taken in the darkened bathroom of my hotel room.)

A Savage AfterWorld Retrospective: Looking Back On 2016

And another year in The Savage AfterWorld comes to a close...

Every year since starting this blog, I like to close out the year by looking back at what gaming accomplishments and contributions I've made. I encourage you to do the same, as there's nothing like a bit of year-end introspection to make you appreciate what you've done and where you've been, as well as to energize you for the next year's gaming goodness. So let's take a look back and see what The Savage AfterWorld brought to the gaming community in 2016, shall we?

** Last  year with I lamented that my posts here at TSAW was a bit light -- only 117 posts for the year. This year beat that record with a paltry 47 posts. What is the cause of my fall-off of regluar posts? I guess I could chalk it up to the typical personal real-life distractions or perhaps that my Google Plus activity supplanted it. Or perhaps I just got lazy. I'll make a concerted effort to get more material placed here for your perusal in the coming year.

** In spite of the lack of posts, The Savage AfterWorld reached Post 1000 in 2016! So even though this year was a bit "shallow", there were enough posts made this year for this little piece of the blogosphere to reach a momentous milestone! Thanks to all of you who have stuck around over the years to see this blog hit that number of posts!

** The long-awaited Apes Victorious RPG was released by Goblinoid Games. I contributed a few things for this fantastic game of "astronauts stranded on a world of intelligent apes", and I'm very pleased to see how well-received this new game has been! I have a few ideas for adventures that I'd like to put together, so perhaps we'll see something in 2017.

** I've been trying to get some reviews up on the blog. I really do enjoy pointing out and discussing some games -- both new and classic -- that I've come to enjoy. Some of the stuff I've reviewed over the past year include Evenings of Terror for Chill 1e (with Elvira!); Quill: The Letter-Writing RPG;  Wayward: Adventure Board Game; The Fungus Forest; and The Advanced Mutant Companion for Mutant Future. I've got some new reviews already on the docket for 2017 including The Cthulhu Hack, Four Against Darkness, Riders: A Game About Cheating Doomsday; and Salvation Road and Last Friday board games. Look for these -- and others -- in the coming year!

** I offered up several new Cryptworld THINGs for use in your home horror games, including the Mirror Dweller, the Murdermatronic, and the Diabolic Structure. Some of these new creatures found their way into The Sketchbook of Grotesqueries -- a free-to-download compendium of new Cryptworld monsters! I used to offer this on an irregular basis, but now it's always available! Go grab it if you haven't yet!

** I entered the 200 Word RPG Challenge. My entry for Rule 1-2-3 was selected as a semi-finalist by one of the judges! I didn't make the cut to the final round, but it was a fun experiment and rewarding that my entry was chosen. Think YOU can write an RPG in 200 words? Try your hand at it next year!

** I'm still getting out to as many gaming events as I can attend over the year, and 2016 saw me get to two conventions. In June, I was able to return to North Texas RPG Con where the classic gaming folks meet to game and drink and game! This year, I decided to run only gonzo funny games, so I ran Ghostbusters and TOON for two crowded tables. Then, in October, the pendulum swung to the horrific end of the spectrum as I drove out to North Carolina for AVL Scarefest -- a convention that focuses on horror-related gaming! I introduced those folks to Cryptworld, which was VERY well received. Enjoyed it so much, I have plans to return in 2017!

** I've had some success with my Classic RPG Map cloth pattern I've had for sale on Spoonflower for a while. (Folks typically use this for dice bags and such.) Late this year, I decided to use this pattern (of my own design) to create a coffee mug for myself through Zazzle. Turned out so nice, I offered it up for sale on a new storefront. Then I created a tie using that pattern. And a T-shirt. And a notebook binder for gaming materials. And some wrapping paper for those OSR RPG gaming gifts you're givin'. And color me stunned, but these all seem to be a big hit! So thanks to everyone who's picked up one of these items!

So that's a wrap for 2016. As we head into 2017, I wish all of you the best in the coming year! See you at the gaming tables!

AVL Scarefest Day 3 And Wrap-Up: Final Thoughts On My Horror-Gaming Weekend

Howdy gang, and welcome to my final thoughts on AVL Scarefest, North Carolina's horror-themed gaming con I just got back from. Scarefest ran through Sunday with more gaming goodness offered to folks, but I had an 8-hour trip back home I needed to complete, so I left a bit earlier Sunday morning, missing on on any events for that last day.

One thing I thought was a great idea I'm sorry I missed was the Sunday Gaming Brunch -- breakfasty goodies were provided that Sunday morning while the various judges and refs ran 1-hour mini-adventures and boardgames, giving the attendees a quick "taste" of games and RPGs they might not otherwise try for several hours. There were samples of D&D 5e, Dread speed-rounds, Call of Cthulhu, many boardgames, and other "try-em-you-light-like-em" offerings. I would have liked to try my hand at some of those, but needed to cut out early.

I'm thrilled that my games of Cryptworld were as well-received as they were. I had two (nearly) full tables, and everyone who played really grasped the Action Table System pretty quickly. By the time Scarefest ended, I had several folks tell me they were going to pick up and run Cryptworld for their own home games. Glad to hear it! In fact, the Scarefest organizers were kind enough to post this to Facebook:

So how was Scarefest? It was awesome. It is one of the smaller events I've attended, but it's only in its second year, so it's still growing. It's fantastically organized and Amie and Michael Tracey put on a fantastic show. The location is beautifully amazing -- a secluded valley surrounded by mountains in the fall? The atmosphere was astounding. There was plenty of stuff to play with a great variety of games and systems. The boardgame check-out selection was fantatsic, and having an Artemis starship sim for folks to try was a nice touch as well. Scarefest was like going to a fantastic Halloween party -- WITH GAMING. How can it NOT be fantastic?

If I had anything to suggest, it would be the scheduled blocks. The games were scheduled in blocks of 5 hours, which (to me) is a LOT of time to run a typical game. Most other cons run them in 4-hour blocks which is adequate. Plus, with 5-hour blocks, you lose one whole extra game period. (5-hour blocks roughly run 8a-1p; 1-6p; and 6-11p; whereas 4-hour blocks roughly run 8a-12p; 12-4p; 4-8p; and 8-midnight.) However, Amie explained that, since this was originally a Pathfinder Society event, these 5-hour blocks are necessary for the games they run. Anyway, this is an incredibly minor point and the only issue I thought was odd, but hardly problematic to my enjoyment of the weekend.

In closing, AVL Scarefest absolutely deserves your attendance next year. It's a tightly run event with lots to offer and lots to do. The location is beautiful when the sun is up, and unsettlingly atmospheric when the sun goes down. And with every game having a horror theme during the Halloween fall season, it was a FANTASTICALLY fun time for a horror hound like myself. Totally worth the 8-hour drive, and I'll be there next year as well.

AVL Scarefest Day 2: The Shambling Un-Dead And Unquenchable "Things"

Good evening everyone, and welcome to Day 2 of my blog reports from Scarefest here in North Carolina! Today started bright and early at 8 a.m. with wholesale slaughter in DCC RPG, with the carnage continuing in my early evening Cryptworld game. And here we go...

• Got up this morning, got ready, scampered down for breakfast, and headed over to the convention facility. Very uneventful, and nothing to report there. But the fact that I didn't have any problems of goofy stuff happen was noteworthy, so I shared it with you here.
• The Dead Character Graveyard had claimed another victim during last night's games, so there were about 7 or 8 character sheets posted in memorium of those who perished. We were about to shatter those figures... 
• My first game today started bright and early, with the DCC RPG game "The Shambling Un-Dead." In this tournament game, our village had been cut off from The Outside World by a series of ley lines. And the dead had crawled from the grave to attack the hapless villagers. We got our zero-level characters, and my PC had a single hit point. We rolled initiative. I was to go last. The judge rolled an attack, and got me for three points, killing my character. So I died without getting a chance to do ANYTHING. And that pretty much set the tone.
• By the time the game ended, we had fought an undead crocodile in the sewers, worm-gorged possessed priests, undead babies, and lots of lots of zombies. Each of us went through 5-6 characters, and the Dead Character Graveyard was a bright goldenrod in color by the time the game ended. Fantastic game and great fun!
• Walked back to the room to drop some stuff off. Again, nothing to report. Snapped a few photos of the surrounding mountainsides. Beautiful location!
• Needed to hurry back, as I had a group of Cryptworld investigators ready to brave the forests of Ohio to rescue some lost hunters in "Unquenchable." None of the players were familiar with the Pacesetter Action Table system, but they took right to it as we got started. I've run this scenario several times, so I won't recap the plot. But one of the more interesting events was when a player VOLUNTEERED to roll a fear check although it was unnecessary. Although he had encountered the thing before, he felt he was still shaken enough to merit the check. So I allowed it, he failed HORRIBLY, then ran screaming in a random direction, directly AT the thing that freaked him out. Another player opened fire on the thing to save his partner, and managed to accidentally SHOOT said partner in the leg, dropping him at the feet of the thing, which moved in to attack. Wow, THAT was an intense encounter. (They also learned that if you shoot a backpack filled with grenades, it'll make short work of everything without 100 feet.)
• When we ended the game, I had several new Action Table converts. One had won one of the Cryptworld game packages and was eager to learn how to play. He had a great time, in spite of being shot in the leg. (Yup, same guy.) The other players also enjoyed the game, with one wishing to know more about Majus. More Pacesetter converts join the fray!
• After the game ended, it was going on around 7 p.m. Stopped by the dining hall to grab a quick bite and came back to my room to relax for a bit and hammer out this blog post. I had plans to drop back and play a boardgame or something, but I think I'll hit the sheets early tonight to get up early tomorrow to prepare for the roadtrip back to Ohio. I'll stop by in the morning to say my goodbyes, play a quick game, and head out. So it's likely that this will be my final post direct from Scarefest. I'd like to thank the organizers for a great time, and I had an absolute blast gettin' my gaming scares going!

And here are a few final photos from Scarefest....

The board game selection was pretty amazing. No time to check it out today, but may find time tomorrow morning before heading out.

The Dead Character Graveyard, where players were encouraged to tack up the character sheets or a memorial page for the PC who died during the event. My Dread character from yesterday is in the upper left corner.

Our team of DCC players as we settle in to confront The Shambling Dead.

 By the time the game ended, we had FILLED that Dead Character Graveyard with more than 40 0-level funnel characters. It was a slaughter.

 And the winner of the tourney made it through four encounters without dying. Yes, living through four consecutive encounters was enough to take home the trophy!

Just thought this photo of the mountains from the inn was pretty amazing. Gorgeous location.

AVL Scarefest Day 1: A Killer Tape Dispenser And The Tower Of Dread

Howdy gang, and welcome to the official first day of Scarefest! As usual during these travelogues, I'll be stopping by my room to throw a few thought down whenever I get a chance. The event goes until midnight tonight, so this post will likely go live after most of you have gone to bed. Those still up, read on!

• Remember how I whined yesterday that my room was missing a surprising number of amenities? Well, another missing item was a standard writing desk. Two chairs, two dressers, and a bed -- no desk. I'm currently using my bed as an ersatz desk with a chair pulled over to it.
• Note to self: Get rid of my nearly-spherical travel alarm clock. It went off, I swatted it, and it fell off the nightstand and rolled under the bed where it continued to buzz and chirp until I got out of bed, pulled the bed away from the wall, and retrieved it. Although, that DID get me out of bed, so perhaps it's by design?
• Met Amie, one of the con's organizers, for breakfast and we chatted while discussing our respective real-life jobs. She's a web designer and I'm an editor, so we both are in the business of taking a person's rough ideas and making them into something better. So we commiserated on that for a while, sighed heavily, then walked down to the event center.
• This afternoon I played in my first game of Dread as Andy ran our party through "Beneath the Full Moon." Dread is the RPG that used a Jenga Tower as its resolution mechanic. Anyway, our team of novice river rafting college students found themselves stranded in the middle of the Grand Canyon's Colorado River after our guide was horribly mauled by some animal in the night. So it became a struggle for survival as we tried to rescue our Guide, Gary, while avoiding the monstrous beast that followed us. With each close call, we pulled Jenga tiles, and the tower became more and more unstable. (Toppling it is a death sentence.) While returning from gathering firewood, I found the creature in my path. I tried to pull a tile, but the tower wasn't having it and down it crashed, as the werewolf ripped my throat out. I really had a great time with Dread. Later tonight, it's MY turn to put Andy through his paces as he's signed up to play in my Cryptworld game!
• Stopped by the inn's dining hall and used my Meal Ticket to feed myself a big plate of chicken stew over rice with fresh biscuits, followed up with a slab of both German Chocolate Cake and Boston Cream Pie. Yeah, this beats fast food by a mile, and was a good additional add-on to my Scarefest admission!
• This evening, we had five brave reporters and researchers who visited Vinton Hills Memorial Hospital who braved the horrors of  "Condition Critical," one of my favorite Cryptworld scenarios. I've run this adventure a half-dozen times, and I'm always surprised by what the party does. This time, after viewing the horrific footage of What Went Wrong In The OR, the party explored the facility only to be ambushed by an animated skeleton at the same time Experiment TB-4 decided to slither into view. Much chaos was had as they tried to stay alive on two fronts. The game ended when one player threw rubbing alcohol onto the creature, then tossed a lit cigarette onto the flammable beast. The trick didn't work as the cigarette didn't catch the alcohol on fire. Then, another player hurled a TAPE DISPENSER at the cigarette, making a critical hit! This drove the burning cigarette into the alcohol, setting the monster -- and the hospital -- ablaze! And once again, the world is safe!
• So tomorrow's day begins bright and early at 8 a.m. when I plan to take a few Cryptworld players into the forests as they explore the horrors of "Unquenchable." Then, I'll take my chances in the DCC RPG funnel "The Shambling Un-Dead." Gonna be scary fun, folks!

And, in closing as I always do, here are some photos of Things Of Interest:

The convention center is in full Halloween decor mode!

This must be where the first PC death occurred...

If I had known a giant spider web was going to be on the wall behind where I was running my games, I would have run Tangled Threads from Monsters Macabre!

The room for the Starship Artemis simulator. The white wall is where the screen is projected, and each workstation has light-up neon mice. This looks much cooler in person.

The wargaming table set up with rules to review and sign up sheets for tomorrow's events.

The back half of the center is filled with Pathfinder Society events. It's quite the event for PFS, but the organizers have many more gaming systems represented this year,

Andy gives us a rundown of the situation  at hand during our Dread game.

The tower moments before I made my fateful last pull before the tower toppled. Take a look at it. I was doomed.

AVL Scarefest Day 0: A Mountainous Drive And "Not A Single Luxury" (In My Hotel Room)

Good evening gang, and welcome to "Day Zero" of my daily missive from Asheville, NC, (actually the nearby town of Montreat) as I attend the horror-fueled gaming convention "Scarefest 2016"! I've been looking forward to this convention for a while, and now that I've arrived and settled into my room, I'm ready to get started on the live reports from the newest convention on my docket.

As always, keep in mind that these reports are my random thoughts and what I've experienced as the event progresses. Also, since the convention doesn't truly get started until tomorrow, today's report is a summary of the trails and tribulations of getting here. So here's what Sniderman was up to as he winged his way from Ohio to North Carolina...

• Gotta warn you up front, the Wifi at this location can generously be described as "Spotty". It took me two hours to get this post saved and sent, all the while the signal would cut out at random intervals. So, just in case this series disappears until I return on Sunday, you'll know why. Soldiering on...
• To get myself into a proper gaming mood for this convention, I loaded up my flash drive with Midnight Syndicate and Nox Arcana MP3s and plugged it into my stereo for a proper scare-event soundtrack. I then plugged in a Gain-scented air freshener, and I was ready to motor out!
• When I left Ohio this morning, it was overcast, rainy, and foggy. "PERFECT weather for a horror-themed convention," I told my wife. However, she then pointed out that North Carolina was about 500 miles away. "Not only will it not be raining, it'll probably be a bit warmer," she said. She was right. It's about 40 degrees warmer here than Ohio. So my denim jacket isn't going to get much wear.
• The route from my house to here is as follows: Take 71 South, which becomes 75 South. Take 75 South until you come to 640 East. Take 640 East to Asheville. So, when you look at the Big Picture. I really just had to make one left turn to get here.
• Wow, I kinda forgot what it's like to drive through a mountainous area. For 50 miles as I meandered through the Smokies/Appalachians, there wasn't a straight section of road with speeds limits of no more than 45 mph. To my left was a sheer cliff face I was staring at. To the right, a dropoff. And straight ahead, big-ass mountains. However, everything was EXPLODING in fall colors, making it a very pretty white-knuckle drive.
• Upon getting to Asheville, I visited The Wyvern's Tale -- the FLGS and location of the first Scarefest in its upper gaming floors. Over time, the gathering outgrew the store, but I wanted to stop in and see what they had to offer. This place has an AMAZING amount of material in a relatively small amount of space. (Plus their used RPG section had a lot of good stuff.) When the manager found out who I was and what brought me to the area, he said that they carried Cryptworld and were currently sold out! (Neat!) I managed to snag two games I've been looking for while there. If you're in the area, definitely stop by.
• Next stop, was to get out here to the Montreat Conference Center. The event is being held at this Christian college campus tucked into the NC mountains. This place just LOOKS like it was established and founded in the early 20th century. As I walked up to the Assembly Inn where I was staying, I was struck by how gothic it looked. Very atmospheric.
• The inn advertises itself as a place to "refresh and renew". That must explain why my room had no television. Or radio. Or phone. (Kinda like Gilligan's Island; "Not a single luxury.") There are apparently no "distractions" for guests. However, the inn has Wifi, so apparently watching Netflix and noodling around on the Internet is fine. (EDITED TO ADD: Ok, so the Wifi must be super-taxed because it keeps cutting out. Everybody here must be hammering the server. Maybe if we had TVs in our rooms....just sayin'...)
• I swung by Freeland Hall where I met the organizers for about an hour as they set up for the event. Lots of Halloween decorations and other spookifying decor were being put up. I helped out for a bit, but I needed to get back to my room to put this blog post to bed, work on some freelance work, and turn in early 'cause it's been a LONG DAY.

That's it for the trip here. I'm meeting Amie -- one of the organizers -- for breakfast tomorrow morning, then we'll head over to the event for Day 1 of Scarefest! Stay tuned as I report live on the gruesome gaming and horrific happenings over the next few days! And here are some photos of what happened today:

The weather in Ohio set the tone for the entire trip...until I arrived in North Carolina where it's sunny and 80 degrees.

A stop by The Wyvern's Tale was on my to-do list, and I'm glad I made the extra sidetrip to visit!

The gothic look of the Assembly Inn as I walked up.

Scarefest decorating in progress...

The Assembly Inn at night. Whoof....scary indeed...

And a few items I've gotten thus far. Picked up the new expansion for Betrayal at House on the Hill and Heroes Wanted -- a superhero themed game. While I helped decorate, I was given my badge and souvenir T-shirt! Ready to start the scary stuff tomorrow!

Now On The Road To Scarefest!

Right now, as this post goes live, I'm driving cross-country to AVL Scarefest, the horror-themed gaming con in North Carolina. Really looking forward to playing a bunch of All Things Scary. In my head, this is what I imagine it'll be like entering the convention center...


(And stay tuned for daily missives from the event!)

AVL Scarefest Starts In Two Days! So Much Fun, It's Scary!

Hey gang,

Just a reminder that Year 2 of the AVL Scarefest starts this Friday in Asheville, North Carolina, and runs through Sunday. This is the furthest I've driven for a game con (matched only by my road trip to Gamicon Omega in Iowa). I'm really looking forward to this horror-themed RPG event, as I have a full plate of terror-fueled gaming to look forward to, including:

• Friday afternoon, I'll be playing in a game of Dread, the Jenga-run horror RPG. It'll be my first time with the system (although I'm an old hat at Jenga) so I'm looking forward to my attempt to survive "Under The Full Moon." Then later that night, I'll run the first of two Cryptworld games. Will the players survive their visit to Vinton Hills Hospital in "Condition Critical"?
• On Saturday morning, it's DCC RPG as I and a team of stawart heroes tries to hold off wave after wave of "The Shambling Un-Dead." Then it's into the forest as I run my second game of Cryptworld as a party of rescuers tries to locate a lost hunting party in "Unquenchable"...before something else finds them first!
• Sunday morning, Scarefest offers up a Sunday Bruch Gaming Social. Eat some breakfast while trying out a variety of RPG mini-scenarios and boardgames. A great way to get a taste for games I might not have time for or those I've wanted to try out in a bite-sized serving.
• During my downtime, I plan to stop by the local FLGS, The Wyvern's Tale, and see what treasures await! (Plus, I hear they have a section of classic used RPGs, so I'll report on what I find there.
• The Scarefest organizers will also have a room set up to run Starship Artemis. I've been wanting to try out my abilities as a Starfleet Ensign, so I'll try to squeeze in time to fly into "The Final Frontier."
• And, of course, I'll be sticking my nose into any drop-in games I can find! And with three days of gruesome gaming at hand, who knows what I'll stumble into?

And, as always, I'll be live-blogging directly from the event, so stop by The Savage Afterworld for the next few days and see what's going on in the North Carolina mountains. It'll be so much fun, I might not survive the weekend!

[Review] "The Fungus Forest" Adventure For OSR-Compatable RPGs

I'm always on the lookout for a good adventure -- one that encompasses an unusual setting and give me as a GM plenty of options to vex and befuddle my players. One such megasetting is The Fungus Forest, a PWYW OSR-compatible adventure setting by Lee Reynoldson and Carl Nash. One note: Carl was kind enough to send me a review copy of the adventure to peruse and review.

This sizable adventure is 71 pages long and is compatible with Original, Basic, and Advanced versions of "the world's most popular fantasy RPG," so you can pretty much run it with any classic RPG or the myriad of clones and remakes we now have available. (Heck, this could be used for an awesome Mutant Future adventure as well.) The Fungus Forest takes place in a sprawling underground complex of caves, caverns, and crevasses created by a rushing underground river that has shaped the tunnels and rooms over thousands of years. Inside this complex, mold, mildew, and fungi of every size and shape have take root, bestowing the nickname found on the cover of the adventure. This place is HUGE. It encompasses more than 100 areas to explore covering well over 1 million square feet. (I did the math, and it checks out.) Just take a look at the map...

(The image here is deliberately small and out of focus to keep spoilers minimal.) 

The reasons the players might stumble across The Fungus Forest are left to the referee. In fact, a handy Rumor Chart might give them the impetus they need to seek it out. (But do the players ever really need a reason to go delving?) Once in the depths, there are plenty for them to investigate:

• There are seven different factions warring for control over the underworld kingdom: the fey, the goblins, the shroom-folk, and more...
• There are unusual and unique creatures to thwart or befriend (mostly thwart)...
• Fabulous riches await the brave and foolhardy, including the key to immortality!

My favorite adventures have always been the underground cave ones, but I've often found them to be somewhat lacking in "stuff to do." That isn't a problem with The Fungus Forest, as there are plenty of opportunities and encounters to last your players quite a while. (I'm deliberately avoid spoilers in this review, so excuse the vagueness.) And, in keeping with the fungus theme, there is also a Random Fungus Generator for a GM to create a new interesting 'shrooms on the fly (as well as the magical properties they may possess). Eight pages of unique creatures fill the back pages of the book, and a sizable fold-out map of the complex is also included.

Oh, and did I mention that this sprawling complex is pay what you want? So just a few dollars in donation will net you a 70+ page megadungeon. (Or download for free and pay later once you've had a chance to see for yourself!) Sniderman says, go check it out by clicking the link here or clicking the cover above!