First post of the new year and I haven't got a great deal to say, so just a brief stream of consciousness to get things going.

Part 1


I recently purchased a copy of Fr16 The Shining South from ebay which is a great item, just so you know. At the moment I am slowly but surely rebuying all of the Forgotten Realms items that I once owned and foolishly sold. I brought this for a fairly acceptable amount and when it arrived it turned out to be a softback reprint. This was my bad -the  auction clearly stated that it was a new reprint, I just hadn't read the description properly. The moral of this story is to pay attention - I have no issue with the seller and left positive feedback, after all he had done nothing wrong. However the same seller got a little bit of flak on a forum that I frequent which I felt was unfair. Without going into too many details why I generally don't use forums as much any more just because people are idiots - your thoughts??!!

Part 2

On KODT. Check out the Kickstarter and it's creator Ken Whitman for the Live Action videos.
Hours of endless fun for all the family and a great example of why kickstarter is potentially a bloody disaster!!

Part 3

I still haven't painted any of my miniatures - definitely this year, definitely.

Part 4

Looking for some new podcasts to listen too so any recommendations gratefully received.
(BTW please listen to the Grognard Files and the Smart Party, can't recommend either one enough.)

Part 5

There is no part 5.


Keep on gaming, or not if you're me!

Take Care

Carl

I waste him with my crossbow - Knights of the Dinner Table - best RPG strip?

I have just received in the post my brand new edition of Knights of the Dinner Table issue 260.
KODT is the only vaguely gaming item that I have purchased consistently and regularly for many years. I think the first edition I have is number 21 and in real terms its format hasn't changed a great deal from that day to this.
The Knights themselves are an invention of Jolly Blackburn, written as a filler for Shadis magazine many years ago. The strip was actually syndicated by TSR for their own Dragon magazine - this is where most of us wil have gotten their first taste.

For those not in the know its a comic strip about the dysfunctional doings of a gaming group, and it's surrounding community including the local store, the Games Pit. Also involved are Hard 8 - the company that produce "Hackmaster", their game of choice and its many and varied execs including one Gary Jackson, a kind of rockstar games developer, with more than a few character flaws.
There are  a few off-shoot groups, itinerant gamers and assorted hangers-on, many of whom have played lesser or greater parts over the years. Some seem to drop in and out randomly, some you feel are bit-part players who take centre stage for a short while. The characterisation is the thing that makes KODT great (The art certainly isn't the greatest, though it has improved over the years). You really have an affinity for the individuals that make up the main group. I won't go into details as you should read it yourself but all of the gaming tropes are there - I'm sure we could all recognise many of these guys from our teenage gaming groups, warts and all.

Of course most people reading this will know that Hackmaster is a real, and quite serious game produced by Kenzer and co. I have no experience of the newer game but the older edition was a wonderful thing to behold - a direct parody of 1st edition AD&D (Not sure of the full details but their was a deal struck which had something to do with TSR or WOTC releasing the Dragon Magazine CD ROM but not getting Blackburn's permission to reprint the strips). If you can get hold of the Gamemasters Guide and Players Handbook I would thoroughly reccommend it - a great read - Nuclear Winter Fireball anyone?!

Anyway I won't go on terribly much - as I say I reccommend the magazine for the strips alone (The rest is mainly filler to me now) - The best thing you could do is pick up some of the Bundles of Trouble; anthologies of 3 or 4 issues giving just the strips - This would definitely be the direction I would take if I were starting buying them again now.

Until the next time - may all your hit be crits!!

Carl

Here's my 25mm KODT minis - There is a good chance they will never get painted!

 

Art for Arts Sake - Not a review of Art & Arcana

I have recently been considering posting pictures of my favourite rpg related pictures over on Twitter (@got_your_games) as a kind of ongoing thread to show some of the things I love. To be fair I have never really been that interested in the art side of things - yes there are things I like but I have never really followed particular artists or art-styles. (This is not because I don't see the talent involved here - it's just never been my bag).

So as I was ruminating the possibility of this the above book came to my notice. I investigated it pre publication and did a bit of research and decided I had to have one - after all what true D&D fan wouldn't want this artifact?

And then, out of the blue, I was gifted the item above! (I don't think I can ever thank the kind donor enough - safe to say I am VERY grateful).

I won't do a review - I can't do it justice with my poor artistic knowledge but will simply say that I strongly encourage you to go out and buy one. I honestly stroked the cover of the special edition box and muttered "My Preciousssss" under my breath when I first opened the parcel.

Buy it now, and follow me on twitter because I'm going to start posting pictures regularly now - I'm empowered by this book - plus it will give me quite a lot of the pictures.



Speaking of books, I have just got a couple of gaming  related books that may get a review. Designers & Dragons by Shannon Appelcline - Looks great with the leather cover but may be tough to read straight through. Role Playing Mastery by Gary Gygax is the other one - wow, just wow. I'm going to try and read it but this looks like being hard work. (Am I alone in thinking Gary Gygax wasn't actually a god, and sometimes had issues with perhaps being a touch "wordy"?!)

Any way, cheerio for now, more to follow.