Great Deals Still Available At Troll And Toad

After hearing about the great gaming deals Tim Shorts and Erik Tenkar got from the Troll and Toad clearance bin, I just had to go wading in to see what kinds of leftovers remained in the T&T warehouse. And the more I poked through the remaining deals, the fuller my shopping cart got. So here is what I got in the mail today:

I love to see a big ol' box of gaming goodies sitting on the porch after a long day at work.

The whole RPGA thing passed me by back in my gaming youth, but I love to read old issues of Polyhedron. I grabbed about 8 issues. Within these issues, there are full adventures for AD&D, Gamma World, and even Paranoia! Score!

One of my favorite gaming mags was Cryptych and I was surprised to see a couple of back issues in the bargain bin. Snagged them for some retro reading this weekend. (Now to pick up those cheap back issues of Shadis...)

I was very surprised to see copies of West End Games' D6 Fantasy and D6 Space in the bargain bin. (Wish there had been a copy of D6 Adventure too.) When I pulled these out, I was stunned to see they were hardcopies...and brand new too! (And I paid 99 cents and $1.99 for these!)

Here's the coup de grace -- A copy of Road Kill Rally by Z-Man Games, brand new and shrinkwrapped. (Picture "Death Race 2000: The Board Game.") I also grabbed the Quackery card game as the description fascinated me.

And here's the punchline: The total cost of all of this? Less than $40....SHIPPED. Everything you see here was either 49 cents, 99 cents, or $1.99. The only item costing more was Road Kill Rally, and I got that for $15.59. There are still a LOT of great deals to be had, so I suggest you drop what you're doing and go shopping for great stuff cheap! (And leave the Shadis issues for me, would ya?)

A Cosmic Circus, A Monstrous Game Fair, And A Festival In The Forest In Ohio This Year!

Well, my convention attendance is being a bit curtailed for 2014 due to numerous personal events I must attend that conflict with some of my favorite cons. So no Gary Con this year for Sniderman, nor Gen Con. But I'll be definitely be attending the following Ohio gaming gatherings. Registration is open for all three right now, so I'll see you there!

Origins Game Fair - Columbus, Ohio

 June 11th to 15th

(Website link) (Facebook link)

One of the larger conventions in the U.S., this year's Origins theme is "Monsters." What better place to get some Cryptworld or Rotworld running? It's been a while since I last attended, so I'm really looking forward to my return visit.

Con on the Cob - Hudson, Ohio

October 16th to 19th

(Website link) (Facebook link)

Had a great time at this smaller game convention last year, so I've already registered for my next visit! This year, CotC will be a "Cosmic Circus" so I expect the non-gaming time to be filled with, I dunno, space clowns or something. Andy Hopp runs a great gathering, so get your shiny wazoo there!

The Festival in the Forest - Medina, Ohio

August 22nd to 24th

(Website link) (Facebook link)

Now here's a great idea for a gaming gathering! The North Coast Gamers are organizing a game con in the great outdoors! They have rented the Brooklyn Exchange Cabin in Hinkley Metroparks as well as the camping area surrounding the cabin. Attendees are encouraged to camp there during the weekend (bunks inside the cabin for those who act fast), with the entire convention occurring within and around the cabin. I love to camp during the summer, and being able to attend a convention while I do so? Hot dang! I'm currently putting together a special late night, outdoors Cryptworld game that will take place...in a campground....JUST LIKE THIS ONE. (Mwah-ha-ha-haaaa...)

[Fiasco] Got Tired Of Loose Playsets, So...

I've really taken a shine to "Fiasco," but one thing that annoys me are the numerous playsets available for the game. It's not the playsets themselves that cause me grief (as every one of them is a fantastic romp into chaos), but rather I had a lot of them printed out loosely, and it was becoming a chore to keep them together and organized. So, a moment of inspiration struck a few weeks ago. I took the playsets I had acquired (all through freely available downloads at Bully Pulpit Games), compiled them into one master document (inserting blank pages as needed to "force" proper left-right spread layouts and retaining all boilerplates for rights acknowledgments), created an appropriate cover (again, using freely available public domain clipart and fonts), then had the whole project printed and bound via Lulu. (NOTE: This was a one-off POD for my own usage at the gaming table and will never (never-ever) be available "out there.")

Anyway, I wanted to share the end result:

"Fiasco Playsets: Volume 1" contains 41 playsets in one perfect-bound volume. This'll be very handy at the gaming table. And if we're stuck for which playset to use? Flip randomly and play whichever set you fall onto.

I'm in the book publishing business by trade, so I needed to create a back cover that reflected the contents as well as tying in visually with the front cover. I'm kinda compulsive that way.

I used a yellow cover so it'd complement the red and blue covers of the main rulebook and the companion. (The whole CMYK color scheme so important to printing.) I think they'll look nice on my bookshelf. If I do a Volume 2 down the road, it'll have a black cover ("K").

Pagination and layout was important so I'd have all of the Locations, Objects, etc. of each playset falling on the appropriately facing pages. And this beast is 500+ pages, so there was a bit of finagling to ensure each playset was formatted correctly in this compiled volume.

[Mutant Future] Going Postal 6 & Wisdom From The Wastelands 34 & 35 Now Out!

Playing catch-up today as I announce THREE new supplements for Mutant Future now on sale!

Darwin's Children: The Gallusians -- The Gallusians are bipedal humanoid descendants of a genetically altered strain of poultry created prior to the Apocalypse.  The original stock had been altered to increase the size and mass of the poultry for greater food generation.  The labs and farms where the stock was maintained were located in more rural areas, and several flocks survived and quickly evolved into their current form. The genetic manipulation was amplified the low doses of radiation causing the Gallusians to become more intelligent and nearly human level sentience. This supplement includes both the monster stat block as well as the player character description.  New weapons used solely by the Gallusians including the Blunderbuss and black powder bombs are listed and three new monsters.

Wisdom From the Wastelands Issue 34 is “Plant Mutants I" and described as follows: "No matter what your choice of post-apocalyptic game, plants usually get the hind bud. And, unfortunately, Mutant Future is no exception. Although the core rulebook has example mutant plants and many plant mutations, there just are not enough of either. This is especially true considering that our world has many more plants than animals."

Wisdom From the Wastelands Issue 35 is “Terror Weapons" and described as follows: "During the final wars, various factions came to rely on psychological tactics like terror, rather than conventional bombs, bullets, and energy beams, as their weaponry of choice. Many believed a terrified populace was an unproductive populace, demoralized and ripe for civil unrest, all useful conditions for the terror-users. Sometimes this strategy worked, but other times it backfired so badly the terror groups were hunted down and destroyed with prejudice."

All three Mutant Future supplements are only 99 cents and are available at Drive Through RPG.