Break://

Back from a little break in beautiful Herefordshire and the surrounding area with the family. Some seriously stunning fantasy scenery, though these are dodgy mobile shots....

First Puzzlewood, which was empty when we first got there and really has a wonderful feel, it's easy to see why it's been used for TV location work (Merlin & Doctor Who recently). Just had me in the mood to sit and read some epic fantasy, which might have been possible if it were not for the two crazy girls exploring with me. :)

  

Followed by Goodrich castle which was just beautiful...

Read:// Wellsathon 01 - The Stolen Bacillus

'Yes, here is the pestilence imprisoned. Only break such a little tube as this into a supply of drinking water, say to these minute particles of life that one must needs stain and examine with the highest powers of the microscope even to see, and that one can neither smell nor taste - say to them, "Go forth, increase and multiply, and replenish the cisterns", and death - mysterious, untraceable death, death swift and terrible, death full of pain and indignity - would be released upon this city, and go hither and thither seeking his victims.

 A short and sweet one to start off, telling of an anarchist's plans to poison the water supply with a deadly disease, not all goes to plan, and after a brief chase there is a twist to the tale.

Nothing much to say, it's lighthearted despite the topic, I'm not sure it was ever meant to be anything else, though it's hard to imagine how these stories read in their time.

http://www.classicreader.com/book/1423/1/

Want:// Dinocalypse Now

I've been following Kickstarter for some time now, since there are a few interesting games popping up, and I like the idea generally. A little concerned that you could drop a lot of cash on a stinker, but then I guess that is the risk you take, and that risk may be part of the appeal for some.

I'd not backed anything until I spotted Evil Hat Productions project, The Dinocalypse Trilogy. To be honest they had me at the artwork, but it didn't take long for me to watch the video and decide to pledge my money. They have already passed their target by some way, so the reward for my measly $10 is going to be a whole digital heap of ebooks filled with pulp fiction...ok it could be rubbish....but Psychic Dinosaur Invasion!

I already have a copy of the Spirit of the Century RPG which I've been meaning to play about with, I love the setting, and that whole 1930s crazy pulp thing so I'm really looking forward to reading the first book.

Check it out, I think it could be a fun little project to back.

Read:// Wellsathon 00

So after nearly two years of broken nights sleep, my youngest daughter has finally started sleeping through a little more regularly, and consequently I find myself able to concentrate a little more on books and hopefully some gaming. Two years of bad nights is going to take some catching up though, so I'm not jumping into any epic books just yet, so I hunted around for some short stories to keep me entertained over the next few weeks.

I found this sitting neglected on my shelves....

...and I thought it would be a fine idea to read through the thing, a story or two at a time, in my own little H.G.Wells-athon.

Most people are more familiar with Wells' big books like War of the Worlds, Dr Moreau, and The Time Machine, but he also wrote a great many short stories, something that many science fiction authors who have followed him have continued to do. To me the short story form has always been closely tied with genre fiction, I grew up reading short stories in magazines and anthologies, and I still believe it is an almost perfect form for a science fiction tale.

Anyway, don't expect any in depth literary criticism, I'm just going to read and blog as I do. I'll try and link to the story too, since I imagine they are mostly in the public domain.

Thoughts:// Doctor Who: Solitaire Story Game

In a bit of a Doctor Who mood, I've always had a soft spot for our particularly British slice of fantasy, I find it hard calling it science fiction but I guess that label fits for TV purposes.

I've always thought the whoniverse would make a great setting for solitaire adventures, since the adventures can go anywhere in time and space which gives plenty of scope for random creativity. Seems I wasn't the only one, in 2009 a chap named Simon Cogan released the free Doctor Who: Solitaire Story Game into the wild, and it has been not so gradually expanded over the last few years to contain a huge amount of material. It really is a labour of love from an obvious fan of the series, the amount of work that has gone into these books and expansions is quite unbelievable for what is a freely available game.

I'm not going to go into much detail here, but to give you an idea...

It's a numbered paragraph system split across four core books, rules, adventures, enemies, and events. During the game you will go to locations in the adventure book, perform one of a number of actions, roll for encounters which may lead you to the event book, or to a fight using the enemy book, you'll resolve plots to complete adventures, meet characters, gain and lose companions, and that's just what I can remember right at the moment. If you ever played the old game Barbarian Prince, you may see some similarities since I think there is some connection there at least in inspiration. The rules book will lead you through the system, but there is a great community at the game's yahoo group if you do need to ask any questions.

The game can be played using just those four core books, some d6 dice, and pencil and paper; although I've taken to using PDFs on my computer, dicetool, and Microsoft Onenote for this sort of thing so I may do that to speed things up a little.

Next post on this will be some sort of session report or review, and since I'm on a Doctor Who kick there are a couple of other ideas I have floating around so they may turn up too.

Play:// Party of 1: Kalgor Bloodhammer and the Ghouls Through the Breach (solo adventure)

Was in the mood so I snagged myself a copy of Party of 1: Kalgor Bloodhammer and the Ghouls Through the Breach, and I've just given it a quick play so I thought I'd post a little review.

So what do you get for you hard earned Flainian Pobble Beads?.....well you get a nicely formatted 14 page, numbered paragraph adventure. It's essentially a small gamebook in the tradition of Fighting Fantasy using the OGL for the rules, of which there are few. In fact the rules are introduced as you play the game so there isn't a rules section to refer to, and it's largely simple choices and basic combat of 1d20+modifiers against Armor Class, plus the odd strength check. At least that is mostly what I encountered during my initial play, along with some objects which can be used, and a 'secrets' system for tracking your progress and discoveries.

In short, it's short, much like this review.

Is it bad? No, I enjoyed it, and I'll play it through again and hopefully win it, and possibly again to try some different paths. It will have limited replayability beyond that though, much like any gamebook, and it is short at only 73 paragraphs. It does include character sheets, which I believe you could carry over to Pathfinder proper, so I guess they may be of use for people looking for pre-generated characters.

Is it worth $2.99? Well using my balanced system of food based comparisons, it cost me about the same as a prawn mayonnaise sandwich at the local supermarket, and whilst it isn't filled with juicy crustacean goodness, it did keep me happily entertained for longer than my hypothetical lunchtime treat would. For me yes, but I love gamebooks, you could pick up some old ones on ebay for very little though, many of which will last longer than this, so maybe not for everyone.

Oh it's about dwarves.

...and I just spotted they have a second one out: Elgar Fletch and the Dark Army

Want:// Party of 1: Kalgor Bloodhammer and the Ghouls Through the Breach (solo adventure)

OK, have some time to get posting again.

Just a little something I spotted to ease my fingers back onto the keyboard. Party of 1: Kalgor Bloodhammer and the Ghouls Through the Breach is a solo numbered paragraph adventure, which appears to be a self contained game based on the Pathfinder system.

It shall be mine.

This stand-alone adventure is designed for a single player with no GM and basic rules. All you need to play is some dice (d6, d8, and 20), a pencil, some paper, and this book.
The rules are explained as you play. Begin at paragraph 1 and proceed from there, taking notes as you go. As the dwarf hero Kalgor Bloodhammer, you'll use all your might and cunning to protect your home from an invasion of hungry undead.
Kalgor Bloodhammer and the Ghouls Through the Breach includes both a 1st level and 3rd level character sheet for Kalgor, fully compatible for use with any beginning party to continue your Pathfinder RPG adventures!