7/20/2025

Free GM Resource: Previous Edition Downloads (Courtesy of the Wayback Machine)

Free GM Resource: Previous Edition Downloads (Courtesy of the Wayback Machine)

This one surprised me a bit, but it shouldn't. The internet has a long, long memory and websites that are no longer directly available can still be fond if your poke about in the right place. In this case the website is from Wizards of the Coast and the right place is the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, specifically a capture from 07Jan10.


Trust me.....there is a lot to see here. Full on products to include some source books, adventures, character sheets, errata, some articles, and even some (only a few) stand-alone maps.

D&D Downloads from WotC




7/01/2025

Free GM Resource: Some Good Old-Fashioned Map Porn

Free GM Resource: Some Good Old-Fashioned Map Porn
I've been a little obsessed with Kingdom Come Deliverance (KCD) this last couple of weeks. No, not the new game (Kingdom Come Deliverance II) that just came out, but the much older 1st game that I was able to pick up at the local Gamestop recently. I try to play only one game at a time and I had finished Generation Zero and found KCD at the store.....

Anyway....I clearly have a problem...add it to the list.

Now, if you haven't played the game I need to explain that the in-game maps are pretty cool as they're done up like old time medieval hand-drawn maps.

Kingdom Come Deliverance City Map

I don't think this particular map is the best example, but I swear it's the one I seem to look at the most. You really need to look at this up close, which you can because they've been made available in high resolution and ultra-high resolution.

These maps are just begging to be renamed and used at the gaming table. I think I'm going to do my next adventure map in this style, assuming I can get away with it....

6/22/2025

2025 North Texas RPG Convention Haul

2025 North Texas RPG Convention Haul
It's been a couple weeks since the 2025 North Texas RPG Convention in Dallas, and I'm long overdue on detailing what I picked up this year. I'm probably more materialistic than I should be, but it is what it is and I got what I got.

On a side note, this was my 9th year at the convention and possibly my last year of *just* being a playing attendee. One of the reasons I love, love, love North Texas RPG Con is that I get to play in games. Before I moved down to Oklahoma for work, I considered it a good year if I got to play in a convention game as a regular player. I spent far too many vacations running, organizing, ad demoing. Now I'm not actually complaining about those years, just saying I think I need some balance and now things have shifted for me too far to the just playing side.

Gift Dice, Thanks Shad

For this con my buddy Shad (Thunderbearer) came in from the Salt Lake City area and he gifted me a small bag of bison bone dice. Even though I am a bonafide dice snob these are cool dice. They just feel....right, in my hand. I like how they are hand made as well.

I also got another set of dice at the Saturday auction and they are just OK. Look like a milled set of wooden dice in a difficult to open case (a little sanding will fix that right up). The d4 is sharp as hell and fragile as it had already had a piece chipped off. I could glue it back on, but it'll just end up having other points chip. I might just sand the corners flat to take care of that issue. It was cool that they came with multiple d6's for rolling up characters.

Wooden dice

I picked up a fair number of minis, and all from the same booth. I got some flat plastic, some Bones plastic, and a few metal minis......but...

Minis, minis, minis

I got these awesome painted minis for far cheaper than I think I should have. I looked them up when I got home and I got these cheaper painted, with extra "stuff" than what the base price (without shipping) is for the bare metal minis. I love how you can customize the minis on the fly by switching out the hands.

Some of the coolest minis ever!

I kind of feel that this year was module central for me. 1st there were three different "convention" exclusive adventures, but only one sold directly by the con. The 1st two were personalized by the authors to me, with the second one being a bit more work to get. I knew it was a limited run and I kept bugging the registration desk people about picking one up and getting it signed. I don't think I was "that guy", but eventually Gary grabbed a copy and ran down the author for a signature for me....but that's a very Gary thing to do. I wasn't worried about not getting the signature. I kept the 1st module around for the artist to sign, but he was busy in games every time I was out looking. Shad offered to switch me out his autographed copy, but it wasn't something to fret over.

Convention Exclusive Modules

Older modules


I also picked up a couple of old modules, just because I could, and I found 3 modules with Jeff Dee cover art. 
Artist signed modules


Since he was at the con I asked Jeff to sign all three and I even got Allen Hammack to sign the one he'd written. His signature is on the inside, so it isn't obvious it is signed. I bought a copy of the same module signed by both of them last year, so now I have two....but one is obviously more special to me.






I didn't pick up many books this year, just three. I already had  printing of the combined BX print in hardcover, but I liked this cover so much I had to have it and my "inferior" one I had made is going to become another play copy. I had bid for some other collections of the Gongfarmer Almanac, but they went for too much and I bought this copy outright. Also, who doesn't love a good Conan hardcover?

Trio of books

I always try to pick up some original art at a convention and this year was no different. Jeshields always has some great stuff that I have to at least look through, and I decided on this panel of four smaller pieces. I noticed the art wasn't signed, which I brought to his attention. After I bought this he kept it to sign when he had a moment and he wrote a nice note of the back.

Jeshields Art

There was a Jason Brauncowski piece I wanted to get, but I didn't want a print....especially after he told me he still thought he had the original in a stack of paintings at home. I'm crossing my fingers he can find it.

James Kennon Art

I also managed to pick up this original James Kennon piece. It's rather odd because this is the original drawing that he then used to create the inked "original" piece that went into his monster coloring book. This was drawn on a rathe fragile tissue paper and then used with a lightbox to trace over with another paper. Since this was an underlayment of sorts it wasn't treated very well as it's more a tool than a finished product, but cool....especially can see some of his process on his Instagram.



The last things I outright purchased were a couple of magazines/zines. The Pegasus #1 had eluded me for a while so I snagged with when I saw it and the other was actually an online auction purchase I just picked up at the con.

Zines

Artist signed print

Now there are two different, well actually three, auctions at NTRPG. The first is a series of daily silent auctions, but most people tend to gloss over those, like I almost did. I didn't win anything there and that is fine by me as I've done well in the past. The "main" auction is on Saturday afternoon and usually has some good collectible up for grabs. This year felt a bit off, but probably only because I was waiting to bid on an original Jeff Easley painting he did at the convention. I'd been saving up for some time but lost to a proxy bidder than was going to win as his top bid was like $1100 more than I was willing to bid. Maybe next year.....

Anyway that's where I got the aforementioned wooden dice, but I also picked up a trio of T-Shirts and an artist-signed print. Shad had been wearing a shirt of that print and I thought he might want it, so I bid a reasonable amount and if he wanted it'd I'd have sold it to him at my cost....otherwise it was cool and something I wanted to keep.

I also big on a couple of T-Shirts from previous conventions and conveniently forgot that I had already ordered, and purchased a reprint of a previous convention shirt so I picked up three shirts altogether. Since I rarely wear con shirts I might have to figure out something to do with all the ones I have gathering dust.....

T-Shirts

Con Obligatory Midnight Auction Purchase

The second auction is a silly affair done at midnight and I had already decided I was going to "bid" (i.e. donate) $100 to the convention. I ended up paying $110 altogether. $10 was for a singer's t-shirt...I do not recall who and it isn't important. Nobody wanted to bid on it so I offered up $10 on the condition that Bad Mike's brother, who was wearing his traditional speedo (you have to be there?), use it to cover up. The other $100 went towards buying this Deck of Sexy Things after the auctioneer called me out. Meh, $10 over budget while having fun (and drinking some good Whisky) isn't a big deal.


The finally of the Midnight Auction was a raffle they had mentioned a few times. It sounded like it was a "big prize" and honestly thought it could be a free ticket to next year or a even a hotel stay as there was mention of the hotel "chipping in". The auctioneer's assistants handed out all of these envelopes and the winning number was 666...which was the number that everybody had. Evidently the prize was a copy of Witches' Mountain, which was a running joke at the con for years. The convention had a fricken pallet of this game and they used this occasion to get rid of them, stating there was a $5 restocking fee if people didn't take their prize. Jeshields tried to play the game the next day and reports it was truly terrible. I kept mine anyway because I have an idea on who to give it to!

It's a Trap!!!

I arrived at the con Tuesday night, had a blast until Sunday early afternoon, and got home so I could get back to work, which really couldn't afford to have me at the convention, but this is my once-a-year-thing and they sucked it up on my behalf.

Bucees Selfie

Always have to get a pic at Bucees!


6/04/2025

Goodman Games Just Priced Themselves out of my Market

I'm at NTRPG right now and travelling, for me, super light (despite driving). No tablets or computers....

....Anyway I got notice about Goodman Games newest offerring: City State of the Invincible Overlord.

Cool...I have all of the 1st 7 big book offerrings.....and that's where I'm going to stop. $200 for a book (albeit 800 pages) and no PDF? What the hell.....maybe I'll just get the PDF, but nope...that's $130.

Nope, not even an option for the book + PDF. $330 for both...for one system?!

I'm out...

$200 book without a PDF?!


5/18/2025

Artist Shout-Out: Jason Brauncowski (Drink the Paint Water)

Artist Shout-Out: Jason Brauncowski (Drink the Paint Water)
It's been far too long (as in I'm way too overdue) throwing a shout-out to an artist I like: Jason (he's done work under two last names) Braun/Brauncowski, and I've casually mentioned him a few times in other NTRPG posts.

    2024

    2021 (and again here)

    2016

I have a couple of his originals, a couple early prints, and follow him on some of his socials:

Drink the Paint Water Newsletter

Ok, I think that kind of covers what I consider my obligations. Obligations? Some time ago he posted on Facebook(?) about giving away some branded coozies and I'm all, "I like free stuff!" I was real surprised when it was free-free, as in I didn't even have to cough up cash for shipping!

Drink the Paint Water Coozie



Drink the Paint Water Bonus Art

Oh yeah, it was actually a bit more than free because he didn't just send me the offered coozie, but a couple of stickers, but a postcard sized piece of art. I'm not sharing the stickers 'cause it's on my luggage, but the art....

I travel a lot for work and the coozie lives in my travel stuff so I can keep my sodas (ok, beer) cold at the end of the day.

Now while I'm not a fan of all his work, which I can say about just about any artist, there is a good chunk of it I just fricken adore and I think you should check him out.

I actually *just* checked out his shop and got me a new coffee mug I'd use at work. There's a T-Shirt  I want, but wish it had something on the back, maybe something I'll need to ask about next month....

1/26/2025

NTRPG Gaming Weekend

NTRPG Gaming Weekend
This weekend was a "game day" for North Texas RPG Con, held at the same hotel the con is held at. I haven't slung dice since North Texas, so I had to go. 

I didn't take a single picture during the event and while it seemed like a bit of a mixed bag, I'm quite glad I attended. Now I travel a fair bit for work, which has been mentioned at least a dozen times here, but I don't think I've indicated that I stay at Marriott almost exclusively, for about 80 nights a year. Works out well for me that NTRPG holds their event at the Westin and this is about the nicest property I stay at....and also one of the most problematic. There were a couple of surprises I didn't appreciate and a couple of associated hoops to jump through....

It didn't help that there were easily 1,000 Black Bikers & Biker Chicks/Babes/Whatever they prefer to be called attending a convention at the property. They were loud and the air was far heavier with smoke and pot than you'd expect inside a hotel these days. Fortunately they were all pretty cool and I had nothing but good interactions with those I came across. They were just having a good time and aside from the smoke (I do not think anyone smoked inside, well not inside the main areas at least), I didn't have any personal issues with the group (despite how I might sound). I wasn't able to get into a game Friday night and I was just a little bit pissed off. It took me a while to realize that I was overly bothered by having to wait in line for the Registration desk....twice. Once I figured that out, Friday night was much more enjoyable. I wandered down quite late and hung out to have a few drinks and BS with other gamers I hadn't seen since Summer.

Saturday I was able to get into two games where I ran a Dwarf. In the first game my dice pretty much sucked, enough most everybody commented on it, but I knew that's just how it works. My dice can run quite cold, but they do not disappoint when needed. My PC died right at the end of our gaming time-block and it wasn't due to my die rolls. The second game the rolls flipped and I'd say 75% of my initiative rolls were about as good as possible. I was hitting most of the time and doing decent damage. Both games were fun and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I ended up going to bed early though because I was quite tired from the night before and I had forgotten to bring most of my meds, so I wasn't batting 1000.

I could've stayed later and maybe slung some dice or even GM'd on Sunday, but I was stiff & sore and knew it'd only get worse until I got home to do what I needed to do. Saying goodbye was a bit more emotional for me than I expected, and it just told me how much I needed the camaraderie and fun gaming...need to start planning for June now.

TL;DR Gamed in a hotel this weekend and likely will now show up positive on a drug test.

1/19/2025

FGM Review: How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps

FGM Review: How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps
I've had my eye on this one book for a while now and I was hesitant to pick up How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps: Step by Step Cartography for Gamers and Fans by Jared Blando. While I do not have a problem dropping $23 on a book, I was hesitant to do so for an art instruction book without getting my grubby little hands on one to preview first. Amazon has it cheaper, like Amazon does, but....

...OK time to be a little real here. I actually bought this book once from Amazon....and lost it. I never even got to log it in the database where I keep track of such things, and I do not even remember every getting a good look at it then, so a 2nd blind purchase wasn't going to happen....

Anyway, I found a copy at The Hobbit Hobby Shop and decided I'd grab a copy I could actually review and hopefully use, after giving it a quick view. I think some of the contents I could probably find in YouTube tutorials, but I wanted something I could read offline and use for both hand-drawn and digital maps. I'm not that artistic and kind of need some directions......I assume that my own particular style will/would develop over time, but I have to start somewhere.

Over all, a lot of the instructions basically boil down to 3 steps:

  1. Draw a thing
  2. Add details
  3. Final details
Of course this is an oversimplification. There are actually a lot of good deets that I would never think of, like a description of types of pencils and what pencils are good for what. For me the value of the book is really more in these extra details outside of the 3 steps. The whole time I'm looking at these directions for various map aspects I'm thinking how I could apply the directions for hand-drawing to using my drawing tablet and Photoshop.

Wouldn't you know it, later on there is like a two-page discussion on using a computer to draw/paint the maps, but I do not think that went into enough depth. It seems clear to me the author/artist is explaining their processes which are largely hand-drawn.

My only real criticism for this book was that I felt that a lot of the font was undersized. I'm near-sighted and if I'm wondering if I need to put on my glasses, then the font is too small. For a casual read it might not matter, but if I was trying to actually follow along...way too small. 


Now this review might be a bit premature because maybe I should draw a few maps before uploading a review. Let's be real here....there are going to be a lot of copies that are never used to make maps, or maybe they're used once before the owner decides to hire an actual artist with talent to create a map....

FGM 4 Star Review: How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps
If that might be the case for you I do not recommend purchasing via Amazon or some online site, but instead go to Jared's website and pick up a personalized copy for $30.

1/14/2025

FLGS: The Hobbit Hobby Shop (Fayetteville, NC)

FLGS: The Hobbit Hobby Shop (Fayetteville, NC)
Recently I was on a business trip to good-old Fayettenam....er, Fayetteville (NC), home of the 82nd Airborne and Fort Bragg, I mean Camp Liberty. I usually come here at least twice a year and when in town I have to visit my FLGS: The Hobbit Hobby Shop.

Now I've been to hole-in-the-wall game stores and they usually.....well, they usually suck. The Hobbit Hobby Shop is a narrow storefront you'd blink and miss among the various pawn shops, military shops, "adult entertainment", and fast food places just outside an Army post. You walk in and the shop feels like it's 20 feet wide and 100 feet long? The left half of the shop is pretty much just models of all varieties and the gaming stuff is on the right side, along with the register and a little bit of workspace for maps.

The Hobbit Hobby Shop Location

Maps?

Yep....maps. If you don't do models or gaming, but happen to be a soldier at Ft Bragg, the Hobbit Hobby Shop is the place to go to get your maps laminated and Ranger cut. If you don't know what that means, you probably need to spend more time outside, definitely more time trying to not get lost in the woods.

The Hobbit Hobby Shop Storefront

For such a small shop, it is really packed with stuff. More dice than I'm used to seeing. About the same amount of minis as I'll see at most shops, but there is always a small box with some minis on special sale. There was just as much D&D whatever-the-current-edition-is as I've seen elsewhere (maybe more), but there is a LOT of older game stuff to be had. I never fail to be surprised in finding something unique that isn't readily available elsewhere.

Kingdoms of Kalamar
Last time I got some comics for my collection that have been OOP for a while. They were pretty much priced the same as when they were newly printed and really.....I scooped them up because I just can't find them elsewhere. One series I got most of as a bundle and I've never seen them in the wild before.


This year I found some D&D 3.0/3.5 Kingdoms of Kalamar products, which is a great find because most of the stuff is pretty much system-generic, so it's still relevant to today's gaming table. I also found some HackMaster 1st Edition Hacklopedia of Beasts. If I had room in my luggage I'd be sorely tempted, but to be fair I do not recall which ones I might be missing.

HackMaster 4.0 (1st Edition Really)

I also found some Fairy Meat products, most notably Sugar & Vice and Clockwork Stomp, both of which I never had. Fairy Meat was a fun miniature battle and my 1st KenzerCo game. I think I have some of the minis still, but I don't have the game or any of my set-up.

In the end I got a book on drawing maps I'd been eyeballing on Amazon, but wasn't ever going to purchase, along with a cool Dwarven Fighter mini and another mini that was of a torchbearer hireling.

I do really try to pick something....anything up, when visiting a FLGS. If you happen to be making a stop in Fayetteville, you really need to stop by the Hobbit Hobby Shop.