RIP Joe Dever - Lone Wolf author

When I was a kid, I played through a number of Lone Wolf books. Joe Dever wrote a great world, with fun adventures. RIP, you wonderful man.

Where I review some pens I have

I write a lot, mostly just notes for gaming, though also short stories and poetry. In any case, I use pens a lot. I have a strong fondness for gel pens. They tend to write the best, and don't require me to press real hard while writing. In any case, here are my own opinions on the pens I've been using lately.


Promate Grippy 1.0mm gel pen - Cheap pen, but it feels good in the hand. Writes well, if a little thick. Definitely wouldn't hold up to extended use. Rating: 2 out of 5.


Uniball Signo 207 0.7mm gel pen. Looks great. Feels nice in the hand. It skips for me, though. Not sure why. Maybe it's just the way I write. The lines are neat and look great, except when I write loops, where it skips. Rating: 3 out of 5.


Parker Jotter stainless steel ballpoint pen. Looks nice. Is a little too thin. Tends to clump on the roller, so that there's a splotch when I start using it after it's sat for a little while. Have to press fairly hard. Once it starts, it writes well. Rating: 2 out of 5. (I've ordered the Schmidt Easyflow 9000 refills for this pen. I really hope they improve it, as the included Parker ink kind of sucks).


Pilot G2 0.7mm gel pen. Works great. Feels great to hold. Perfect lines with no splotches or skips. Wish they made fancier versions that weren't plastic. Rating: 4 out of 5.

Fantasy Age from Green Ronin - any good?

Just wondering if anyone has played Fantasy Age from Green Ronin. It looks pretty interesting. I know it was based on the older Dragon Age game. I've read a couple reviews, but I'm not sure how well the game would work in regular play.

1st edition demons were scarier

Maybe it's just me, but the demons as presented in 1st edition were the scariest. Heck, a number of mid to high level spells were all about summoning and controlling them. Maybe it was just the artwork, or Gary's writing, but it seemed more dangerous than the editions that followed.

2e really did drop the ball by renaming everything, and 3e was just too numbers-heavy to give any feeling of dread. 4e was a joke, and I still haven't picked up 5e (so maybe 5e finally fixed them). In any case, I loved the whole set-up and feeling of danger created by the writing in the 1e books.

Also, the Demons boxed sets made my Mayfair Games were fantastic. I have both, and if you ever have a chance to grab them, do yourself a favor and do it. Not only do they add tons of cool demons, there are great examples of investigators going crazy, etc.

Berserk (anime)

I'm currently watching Berserk. It's a fantastic show. It reminds of a cross between D&D and Dark Souls. The characters are all mercenaries in a world with hidden magic and monsters. I'm still only halfway through, but I suspect magic and monsters become much more prevalent as the series goes on.

The series starts with Guts fighting a monster lord, and then goes back in time till when he was a younger mercenary. Much of the series is taking place in the past.

Lots of nasty politics, big battles, and bloodshed. Another neat thing is that the armor appears to be a mix of medieval for leaders and English Civil War for the more common troops. I like it.

I haven't finished the show or read the manga, so no spoilers, please. Just wanted to say this anime is perfect for D&D fans.

Runequest 2e - I finally have a copy

Chaosium has published a reformatted version of Runequest 2e, that also includes all errata in it's correct locations. I've heard of this game for years, and it's always been very expensive on eBay, so I finally got myself a copy.

I like it, though I don't know that it would be my preferred version for d100 gaming (Openquest is the best version I've tried). I was also surprised that no Sorcery rules were included. I guess they got introduced in 3e by Avalon Hill.

I was also surprised that the rules really aren't that Glorantha specific. Yeah, the cults included and some of the monsters are definitely Gloranthan, but the way lots of old gamers talked, I thought this book would be stuffed with it. I think the RQ Deluxe Set from AH had more Glorantha info in it. Just a weird thing I noticed from what forum-goers say vs. what is actually in the product.

Gurps Fantasy Set Kickstarter reached goal!

Well, as of now, they are over $104,000, on a goal of $100,000, and still have 11 days to go. I'm glad this was a success for them, and I expect the product will be very well done. I normally would hesitate on a Kickstarter project, after going through the Dwimmermount fiasco, but I expect Steve Jackson Games won't have any trouble meeting and exceeding everyone's expectations for this game.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847271320/dungeon-fantasy-roleplaying-game-powered-by-gurps?ref=user_menu

More info on the upcoming Gurps Fantasy box set

The Gaming Ballistic blog has collected a bunch of Sean Punch's quotes on how he's going about writing the set and what's in it. I, for one, think it's pretty interesting, and I really wish that SJ Games had published this set years ago.

http://gamingballistic.blogspot.com/2016/09/dungeon-fantasy-boxed-set-word-of-kromm.html

Gurps Fantasy on Kickstarter

Steve Jackson Games is finally going to do a Fantasy-specific Gurps adaptation (Kickstarter here). All you need in one box set! I have high hopes for this!

Glorantha - I love it but...

Glorantha has been around in gaming since the late 70's. It was the default system for the Runequest rpg. If you are interested in bronze age roleplaying, it's one of the best options available (outside of ancient Greece).

However, it went through a long period of navel-gazing, with products focusing heavily on daily life, spirit quests, and pre-ordained battles. This stuff is really cool to read, but is largely worthless at the gaming table.

I'm also not a fan of the Heroquest/Hero Wars system. I like the 100 word character essay, but I just don't "get" the actual system. It's very poorly explained. I suspect that if someone who knows it could actually sit down and teach it, it would work well. Trying to figure it out from reading a book didn't, at least for me.

Runequest itself has gone through a whole bunch of editions lately. I'm not even sure which edition is the current official one, or if one even exists right now. RQ6 was published and then Chaosium yanked their license (not sure how, since it was released under the OGL). In any case, I like the world, but the rules situation is stupid and finding players is very difficult.

Anyways, the Lunar Empire are the good guys and the Orlanthi scum should be crushed under heel immediately, other than this cool Vingan warrior: