Dice Roll Zine #3 Launched on Kickstarter for Zine Quest 2!

Hi folks! I just wanted to let everyone know that I have launched my Dice Roll Zine #3 as part of the Zine Quest 2 campaign on Kickstarter. You can find out all about it there, but I'll break down the contents below for you as well.

In Dice Roll Zine #3 you'll find:

• The Artificer of Xixis class -- a technomancy magic specialist.
• Technomancy -- new tech-themed spells and magic items.
• The Accursed Caverns (of Xazyzl) -- a 'mythic underworld' style adventure site for a group of lower level PCs.
• Roculus Horngard -- a detailed 'rhino man' sci-fantasy NPC to thwart/help your PCs.
• Dirty Tricks -- an optional fighter class ability.
• Dragonauts -- kick-ass techno-dragons.
• Ugluks -- humorous 'feral humanoid' monsters.
• 'Lifepath' PC Backgrounds -- create a PC backstory with a series of rolls.
• And even more old-school RPG goodies, all originating from my own sci-fantasy home campaign called The Wastelands of Kreth. 

Dice Roll Zine is entirely written by me and illustrated by some of the best old school-inspired artists around. Issue #3 currently stands at 40 pages, digest-sized, black & white interior and cover, and the zine will be professionally printed and staple-bound with a card-stock cover.

The zine is primarily based around the 1981 B/X style rules, so it's perfect for Old School Essentials games, but also very easily usable with any old-school systems like Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Basic Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Black Hack, and so on.

I expect to have the Dice Roll Zine #3 PDF finished and released to backers in late May 2020, with the printed zine following up about a month later after proofing and final printing. I'd say that about 70% of the writing is complete and about 60% of the commissioned art has been received at this point, so I've given myself an ample fulfillment window to get everything tidied up and completed.

If you're interested in supporting me and Dice Roll Zine #3 on Kickstarter's Zine Quest 2 campaign, please check it out and join in the fun and exciting journey of bringing the latest issue of my old school zine to the people!

Hog Town Games Birthday Sale!

It's my Birthday so I'm having a sale on Hog Town Games' titles!

Until Labour Day, Dice Roll Zine #1 and Dice Roll Zine #2 PDFs are 60% off at DriveThruRPG -- only $2! The print on demand version (A5 perfectbound) of Dice Roll Zine #1 is also now available for only $4 (and you can get a free PDF too if you choose the combo!) on DriveThruRPG!

The saddle-stitch, digest-size print version of Dice Roll Zine #2 is now on sale exclusively at Hog Town Games' Big Cartel store for only $4 (+ shipping)!

Get yer old school game on!

Enjoy the rest of the summer folks!

Steve C

Barbarians & Black Magic - A Sword & Sorcery Pamphlet RPG

Hey folks! Today I'm posting the first draft of a swords & sorcery inspired 'Pamphlet RPG' I've created, called Barbarians & Black Magic. This is the nuts and bolts of an RPG all crammed into a double-sided standard letter-sized page and folded into three panels. Download here from the google drives.

Barbarians & Black Magic owes it's mechanical chassis to such fine old RPGs as The Fantasy Trip and GURPS, so it should be easy to grok for anyone familiar with those games. The stats are pretty straightforward and simple and the gameplay (admittedly minimal playtesting so far) is pretty quick.

I'm hoping to get out a companion 'scenario pamphlet' later this summer which will provide examples of spells, magic items, traps, monsters, and other such things to help make the game feel more 'complete.' So look for that in late August!

Ultimately, the goal here is to write a digest-sized version of Barbarians & Black Magic RPG in the 32 page range that is an xd6-based, roll-under game engine, with some different and hopefully colorful combat and magic mechanics, but is not just yet another Dungeons & Dragons retro-clone type RPG.

This is what I got so far. Cheers!

Steve



P.S. Thanks to William McCausland for his great collections of fantasy spot art available at DriveThruRPG.com. Check out Outland Arts for more art & RPG goodies!

P.P.S. If any person knows (or can figure out!) where I cribbed the name Barbarians & Black Magic from, I will send you a free print & PDF copy of Dice Roll Zine #2, my zine devoted to OSR roleplaying games. This mini-contest is open to anyone, worldwide. Leave a comment below with your answer. Good luck!

Dice Roll Zine #1 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

Hi folks! Exciting news here at Hog Town Games and The Borderlands Blog. Dice Roll Zine #1 is NOW AVAILABLE IN PRINT on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble's websites, in addition to Lulu.

If you're in Canada, you can find DRZ #1 at Amazon.ca or Lulu's Canadian store.

I only have a few print copies remaining in my possession, so it's coming off the Hog Town Games' Big Cartel storefront. I'll keep these copies for promos and giveaways and whatnot. Of course, you can still get the current Dice Roll Zine #2 in print from the Big Cartel storefront.

Thanks for reading!

Steve C

Dice Roll Zine #2 in Print & PDF!

Dice Roll Zine #2

DICE ROLL ZINE #2

Dice Roll Zine. Get yer old-school game on!

Dice Roll Zine is a 40-page, saddle-stitched, digest-sized print zine for old-school RPGs written by Steven A. Cook and illustrated by some of the best retro-inspired artists.

Visit the Hog Town Games Big Cartel store here to order a print copy. $7 USD + shipping. Ships worldwide. And to Mars. OK maybe not Mars, but I would if I could!

UPDATE! Now available for $4 USD on DriveThruRPG in PDF format here!

The second issue includes a Sorcerer class for Swords & Wizardry Complete games; 'Roll all the Dice' tables for generating fungi, plants & freaky stuff; The City-State of Kreth, a weird-fantasy city overview with history, factions, unique gear, rumors, adventure seeds, thumbnail descriptions and encounter tables for nine city districts, and more; new spells and magic items for an 'oldhammer' fantasy role-playing game; and various other cool rules options and odd things for your old-school games.

Please Note: Print buyers also get a PDF copy for free. Details are included with your print zine.

Thanks for reading! Steve C

Dice Roll Zine #1 in Print and PDF!

Dice Roll Zine #1 is now available in print and PDF!

Dice Roll Zine is a 36-page old-fashioned zine for OSR RPG games written by me and illustrated by some of the best OSR-influenced artists around.

Contents of the premiere issue include a barbarian class for B/X games, a different way to turn undead in B/X games, a trippy sci-fantasy adventure location called The Purple Mushroom Inn, a chaos mutation die drop table, random dungeon stuff tables, and more!

PRINT: Please look over on the right-hand column to buy the print-on-demand version at Lulu. A5 size, 36 pages, perfect bound. $5.50 USD ($7 CAD).

PDF: The PDF version of the zine is now available at Tabletop Library, DriveThru RPG, and RPGNow. $4 USD. For four measly bucks you get the zine PDF as well as all of the map files (.png format) for the issue: 7 maps!

Zine sample photos below.

Friday Map (10): ...And My Ending is Despair [Megadungeon - 1 of ??]

Hey folks, sorry I'm a couple days late with this map!

Today we have a special one. This is the first level of my new megadungeon with the working title ...And My Ending is Despair. That's vague and threatening and mysterious enough, isn't it? I'm using a sketchy name at this point since I expect my players will come up with a more evocative name for the dungeon as we play through it. You can thank The Bard for the working title. :-)

I am doing something a little different (for me) with this megadungeon: There is no overarching theme or history or mythology behind it, Or even any "purpose" to the dungeon at all. I am quite simply making it all up as I go, one level at a time. That may seem like a boring old hat for some folks, but for me it's a great departure from my standard operating procedure, which is to detail the heck out of everything about the dungeon all in advance so it's easy for me to run at the table.

Now, no doubt I will wind up developing some of that history-er themey-ery (thanks Captain Obvious!) stuff as I create each dungeon level, but how much? I don't know yet. I'm fairly certain that much of the megadungeon's contents and many of its occupants won't make sense when scrutinized under any "realistic" ecological microscope. The only plan I do have is that this megadungeon will have a kitchen-sink-strange-days-in-the-mythic-underworld kind of vibe.

For instance, on this first level, there is an astronaut-temple-section populated by centipedes, giant rats, giant crab spiders and a colony of savage baboons. Then there is the green slime. And a black pudding. Additionally, we find a small fire-themed section with flaming snakes and fire beetles, a larger chaos/death-themed section with fountains of insta-death, a gelatinous cube, fountains of chaos tentacles, skeletons, a gargoyle and a ghoul. I've also included a large section overrun by a goblin gang that worships a crocodile-demon-god. Yes, this level is for 1st level characters. The PCs kinda died and my players kinda crapped their pants playing it. :-) I have no idea if I will continue any of these themes on successive levels. We'll see.

Unfortunately, the subsequent levels of the megadungeon will not appear in quick succession on the blog. I have to work on them first. I'm aiming for one new level every couple of months, with the levels being sprinkled among the regular weekly maps I post here. As an extra special bonus (and the real reason the levels will take time) -- each level will be fully-keyed for use with OD&D-type games. I'm not going to spend a huge amount of time editing the heck out of each level key, so expect some minor typos, stat errors and other goofball silliness and references that don't get weeded out. Consider them starting points for use at your table. :-)

If you made it this far, thanks for paying attention to my long-winded post!

Download Links:
Megadungeon Map, level 1 - .png, hi-res
Megadungeon Map, level 1 - .png, low-res
...And My Ending is Despair, level 1, referee map - .png, low-res
...And My Ending is Despair, level 1, referee key - .pdf (3-column landscape)

Golden Eye of the Kobold King on Lulu, RPGNow, DriveThru RPG & Tabletop Library

UPDATE - 5-02-2017

Golden Eye of the Kobold King is now available via print-on-demand at Lulu. 34 pages, 6" x 9" US trade size, color cover, b&w interior on cream pages, perfect bound, $5.99 (CAN) or $4 (USD).

---

I'm pleased to announce that Hogtown Games first module for Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox is live today at RPGNow and DriveThru RPG and Tabletop Library.

Golden Eye of the Kobold King is a "lair dungeon" sized adventure location for six to ten PCs of levels 1 or 2. It's a 34-page US trade-sized PDF. The basic summary is that there is this bad kobold king with a magic golden eye terrorizing the frontier folk. The PCs go find him, kill him, and take his stuff. But while doing so they discover a strange alien tomb with holograms and undead. Oh the mystery and death that awaits them!

Best of all, the module is free! Well, PWYW to be technical. Don't expect any fancy pretty pictures, but it's got a cool map and a weird-dark-humorous style. Go on, check it out, all the cool kids are!

SUPER SPIFFY PROFESSIONAL AND ALL THAT ANNOUNCEMENT!

Here's what Hogtown Games company spokesman Nudford Alastair Duke III, or three-nads-a-swingin' as he is affectionately known around the office, had to say about Golden Eye of the Kobold King while strutting his stuff on the red carpet at a recent star-studded gala event at the Prince Albert Pub on Hampton Road, Twickenham:

"Huh? Wot the f&@# is a bloody kowe-bold?"

*paparazzi crowd around, cameras flash, agents mumble

"It's a dog-like man-critter? Piss off. Who the f&@# writes about dog-men these days? Bloody hack."

Thanks, Nads, you rock!

Map: Golden Eye of the Kobold King

This is my first attempt at an "inked" map. It is from an adventure I ran many years ago called the Golden Eye of the Kobold King. I dug out my old pencil sketch map and decided to give a go with pens. I must admit, I cheated a bit, and sketched the cavern and chamber outlines in pencil first. The thought of putting a pen to a blank page was too terrifying!

I'll be posting more maps in the future as I work to try and develop a more unique style. I'm thinking some maps will be "colorized" (likely using pencils) and others black and white, but I'll work that out as I go. Hope you enjoy!

The Golden Eye is a cursed magic item possessed by the Greebok the Kobold King. The PC who slays Greebok must make a save vs Spells or become enamored by it. So much so that the PC removes it from Greebok's head, then plucks out one of his own eyes and replaces it with the magic Golden Eye. Any beneficial effects are left to the referee's discretion. :-)

Hogtown Games to Launch this Summer!

LONDON—April 19, 2015—The Borderlands: Steve’s Dorky Old-School Gaming Blog today announces the Summer 2015 launch of Hogtown Games, an independent small press publisher of tabletop RPG supplements.

Company spokesman Nudford Alastair Duke III, or 3-Nads-a-Swinging, as he is affectionately known around the office, addressed the flashing cameras and furious text-thumbing of the paparazzi after graciously exiting (completely of his own volition, we assure you) to the red carpet of the Prince Albert Pub on Hampton Road, Twickenham, with the following public announcement:

"Take yor bloody hands offa me you pin-headed wank... Huh? Wotzat, love? Oh yes, the Thai food here is bloody fab... Huh? Papawhatzi? ... Oh, roight! *cough cough*

"Esteemed members of the press, and I include you seedy blogosphere hacks when I say that, I thank you for coming here tonight. I'm very pleased to announce the formation of Hogtown Games, an independent small press publisher of tabletop RPG supplements. Hogtown Games is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Global-Evil-Tech INC's Super Happy Fun Time Gaming and Fish Sauce Exports Emporium, LLC.

"Hogtown Games mission is to create old-school flavor gaming products with pulp adventure-gonzo spices and ingredients. Due to the technologically sensitive nature of the company, and the raving insecure egos of its corporate shareholders, we will not be taking any questions at this time. 

"Thank you, once again, for coming. Cheerio, and happy fun time gaming!"

---

The press release is obviously fake, but Hogtown Games is not. :-)

My mission with Hogtown really is to produce old-school flavor RPG supplements with pulp adventure-gonzo spices and ingredients. There may even be some more "standard" fantasy stuff (and even sci-fi/space) thrown in as well. I won't reveal any specific details of planned supplements yet, other than the first freebie one will be coming out this Summer, and that some will be free and others will be for sale. All will be available as PDFs and most will be available in print.

I'm a one-man operation based here in Toronto, so certainly don't expect a release a month (or even a quarter for that matter!), but I will update the blog whenever I have solid information to share about Hogtown Games releases.

See there on the right ... I even have a cool logo designed by the groovy artist +Del Teigeler. You can check out Del's art blog over here. It's full of awesomeness. Thanks again for the great work, Del!

Warriors of the Red Planet & d30 Companions!

It has been entirely too long since my last post!

Just a quick note today to praise the coolness of my two (well, three) most recent OSR purchases.

Warriors of the Red Planet by Al Krombach and Thomas Denmark (see the WotRP blog) is a crisp, lean, old-school rules guide for games of the Sword & Planet genre. I've been reading through this the past couple of days and I can say without doubt that this 134-page booklet-sized paperback (color cover, black & white interior, perfect bound, available from Lulu) has me all jazzed up for leaping from airship-to-airship, slaying evil Black Martian baddies, ripping the blonde wigs off Therns and rescuing me a hot Red Martian princess. Excellent work gentlemen.

The d30 Sandbox Companion and d30 DM Companion by Richard LeBlanc are both fantastic accessories for the overworked and under-appreciated referee. These two saddle-stitched paperbacks (black & white interiors with mono-color covers, available in PDF from Drive-Thru and PoD from Lulu--see links above) weigh in at 52 and 36 pages, respectively, and provide a plethora of random tables (all of the cool d30 variety!) to generate damn near close to everything you could expect to generate during a game session--random ruins, settlements, NPCs, temples, monsters, weather, treasures, even entire adventures. You name it and it's in there. These two books will feature prominently in my next sandbox game and I highly recommend them both.

That's all for today, next up will be a post discussing the sandbox game I just mentioned. :-)

The D&D Next Playtest Flight 666, Part II: The Trooper

So when you're waiting for the next attack, you'd better stand, there's no turning back 

Only chickenshits run away in D&D Next. That's not old-school.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, it certainly makes for one rip-roaring time if you like to play Balls to the Wall style games. He he he.

But the chickenshit line also concisely expresses a trend many have seen in RPGs, and D&D in particular, over the last fifteen years: The numbers all go to eleven.

We all know what the influence of video games has done to tabletop RPGs. It's just like the loudness war in modern music. Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap loved it in his day. And so do the designers of the world's most popular roleplaying game these days, it seems.

When everything is TURNED ALL THE WAY UP ALL THE TIME IT GETS FUCKING ANNOYING VERY QUICKLY...

Sorry about that.

I don't like loud all the time in an RPG. Sure, it's absolutely great to see players have a walloping kick-ass time slaughtering monster after monster, their eyes ablaze with bloodlust. But at some point, the DM has to have his moment. Preferably moments ... plural.

Mine didn't come until the very end of the last playtest session. The adventuring party had finally defeated the Big Bad Guy they had been tracking down since the game started. Jubilant and exhausted -- nearly spent of spells, hit points and resources -- the characters heaved a sigh of self-confident satisfaction. The players were rather pleased with themselves too. We finally did it! All was well.

That's when the dragon turned visible and made the heroes his bitches.

Basically, I shoehorned the playtest rules by giving the dragon spells and using an obviously overpowered creature for a bunch of 6th-level characters. Just to get my mwah-ha-ha moment. Not that I mind a bit of shoehorning. That is certainly accepted amongst the old-school crowd. Give a little and take a little. Soldier on like a good trooper.

However, almost all of the appropriately-scaled-and-difficulty-ranged monsters and baddies the characters fought got mulched. To say that monsters are seriously nerfed in the playtest is an understatement. I even maxed out hit points on the leader-types. But a lot of people have hacked that topic to death elsewhere, so I won't get further into it here.

Now maybe I'm being a little bit harsh on D&D Next. It was playtesting after all.

The annoying loudness factor was way higher in 4th edition and, to some extent, 3rd edition. So far, with D&D Next, it's a softer, gentler loudness, but it's still there. The character classes -- although the designers have implemented some interesting and unique flavors -- still have video gamey power-up options geared to combat-role definitions. I'm not sure how they can put that genie back in the bottle. Or even if they want to.

I certainly hope the playtest taught the designers something. But as it stands now, I think D&D Next has a bit too much of too many things designed to please too many people.

And that is definitely not old-school.

The D&D Next Playtest Flight 666, Part I: Hallowed Be Thy Name

I arrived late for the D&D Next playtest flight 666.

It was April 2013 and I was relaxing on the beach in Varadero, Cuba, sipping on a rum and lemonade and listening to Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name when I finished reading my well-thumbed copy of Moldvay's D&D Basic Rules. I reached into my beach bag and grabbed the file folder held fast with a thick binder clip. The folder contained a few chapters of the D&D Next playtest rules I had printed and stowed away before my wife and I went on vacation. I had planned to read through them the first day on the beach while away from the chill of Canada, but the lure of old-school RPG material was somehow stronger.

Or was it the sun and rum buzz and Maiden putting me in the old-school mood?  

What the hell, I thought, let's give this latest ruleset a looksee. Seems like all kinds of gamers on the interwebs are clamoring about it.

Fast forward a week and to the Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport. My wife and I are waiting at the gate for our return flight to Toronto (unfortunately not on Ed Force One!) and I exclaim to her out of the blue, "Hey, babe, you know this D&D Next stuff ain't half-bad. I'm digging the advantage and disadvantage mechanic. And they're doing some interesting stuff with classes, equipment proficiencies and twists to the old Vancian magic system. Very different from that 4th edition skirmish game. What a freaking gallows nightmare that turned into. I think I'm going to run a game for the guys."

She looked up from a book and smiled. "Yes, of course, dear." I think a lot of married gamer guys know that look. I kept the remainder of my geek gibberish thoughts to myself, but I had decided I was running D&D Next.

Can I make this work old-school style?

Post to follow soon ... The D&D Next Playtest Flight 666, Part II: The Trooper