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On January 16th, 2026, Chris Stodgill posted a post regarding Ken Whitman.

Ken has objected to the post in question on the grounds that, and I will quote:

The article contains statements that falsely assert or imply that I have engaged in fraudulent or criminal conduct, including but not limited to referring to me as a “KickScammer” and stating that I may “scam people again.” In context, these statements convey to a reasonable reader that I have engaged in criminal fraud.

I have never been charged with, indicted for, or convicted of any crime in any state or federal court.

Statements that characterize an individual as having committed scams or engaged in fraudulent activity, when false, constitute defamation per se under Kentucky law.

You are hereby placed on notice that these statements are disputed as false and defamatory.

Ken is correct. He has no criminal record that I can find. 

As the owner of Tenkar's Tavern and not the author of said article, I am not now, nor have I ever, referred to Ken Whitman as a "Kickscammer." Again, as far as I can ascertain, Ken has never been charged criminally, let alone for criminal fraud.

The post in question has been removed from The Tavern.

For those unaware, Ken Whitman is currently suing me in the Kentucky Civil Court. That is public record. 

Stay tuned for updates on the civil action.

Exploring the ruins of a pre-Cataclysmic world requires a mix of high-fantasy wonder and cosmic horror. In the era of Kull of Atlantis, the world is younger, weirder, and much more dangerous.Here is a D100 Encounter Table for your campaign, split between the crumbling architecture of the Elder Earth and the nightmares that still haunt them. This blog post picks right from D100 Kull Era Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

So I've been reading the Cross Planes blog & the author slid back into 2d6 Quantum Engine's Superpowered! So I've  Superpowered is a supplement for the Quantum Engine—the streamlined, d6-based ruleset that powers the Quantum Black RPG. Published by Fainting Goat Games, this supplement is designed to pivot the system’s focus from cosmic horror and investigation toward high-octane Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 The PC's took a look at the zombie horde that came rushing at them! They retreated into the inner city ruins and then things got dangerous as they encountered an Obsidian Jaguar. This campaign for Castles & Crusades uses the "Conquistadors of Mictlan" line by Antediluvian Miniatures to create a "Lost World" pulp-fantasy setting.This blog post picks right up fromNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

By Jason Youngdale
Youngdale Productions
OSE
Level 1

In the heart of the Wyrwood (the forest that surrounds Caladorei), veiled in mist and myth, stands the Whispering Tower, a slender spire of obsidian stone said to house the secrets of the vanished Archmage Elyrium. The tower is not defended by monsters but by his love of riddles, clever traps, and illusions. The adventurers must navigate its winding stairways, decipher cryptic puzzles, and avoid ancient snares to uncover a long-lost magical artifact: the Mirror of Untold Memory. None that have ventured there have yet to return!

This 26 page single column adventure uses about eight pages to describe fourteen linear rooms in a wizard tower. It’s a one-dimensional puzzle dungeon where you answer riddles out loud. 

I didn’t know this weeks theme was puzzle dungeons, but I think this is the second in a row now. I think I hate them? In general? I suspect, though, that I hate one-dimensional dungeons. All fighting. All social. All puzzles. I’m sure I do have somewhat of a bias towards the classic exploratory dungeon. You know, a little social, a little combat, a few puzzles and traps, things to discover, and explore. I can accept a plot adventure, they don’t need to be one-dimensional. It’s these sorts of blunt instruments that I loathe.

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it and read “The tower is not defended by monsters but by his love of riddles, clever traps, and illusions.” This then was the first sign I was in for it. And then, in the intro, I got “Success is measured by cleverness and character growth, not treasure alone.” Yeah, how much fucking XP is cleverness and character growth worth? Cleverness happens in order to get the XP with low risk and character development, not growth, is a side effect. 

How about a table of a dozen hooks? Hooks such as: “Scholarly Commission: A reclusive gnome sage hires the party to retrieve the Mirror of Untold Memory from Elyrium’s tower. Lost Kin: A local villager’s child has gone missing, last seen wandering toward the tower. Dream Calling: One or more adventurers began having dreams of whispered riddles and a spiraling multi-colored tower.” These must be the most hackneyed hooks possible. “You have a dream!” or you’ve been hired! More is not better. The sushi buffet is not good. 

Inside is the usual assortment of mistakes. “A huge iron door with no handle or keyhole seems to be the front door of the Tower.” Is it the fucking front door or not? Is there another door? No? Then that’s the front fucking door. These kinds of mistakes are all over the place.

Hows about that interactivity though? “A well-worn plaque on the door reads: “I am not alive, but I grow; I do not breathe, but I need air. What am I?” Answer: Fire” Thrilling! Adventurous! A place of wonder and delight! 

No? You need more? How about confusion! “Dusty tomes float midair, circling a pedestal with a glowing closed book on top of it. Puzzle: To reach the real book (a purple one), players must read verses in a particular order (clues hidden in nearby inscriptions) that spell out “TRUTH”.” That’s the room. It’s a fucking synopsys for a room, not a room itself. But, that’s what you’re getting here. Just a brief overview, abstracted, Nothing specific. Take your “1001 room ideas” booklet and just turn it in to a dungeon! 

Still not enough? “A circular room with twelve stone columns, each marked with a symbol of a zodiac. The floor is made up of mosaics also depicting the zodiac signs (12 in all). Players must determine which symbol is missing on the columns that is on the floor (it’s “Virgo” — which is on a floor mosaic among the other zodiac mosaics on the floor).” Twelve symbols in the zodiac. Twelve columns each with a zodiac symbol. Twelve pictures on the floor of the zodiac. Which one is missing? Uh … none? Twelve and Twelve? I guess one repeats twice somewhere, on two different columns? I’m not even sure I could name all twelve zodiac symbols, good thing the adventure is helping out there!

Still not enough? You want more pretension?! Well, ok! “Each character must look into the mirror and speak aloud a personal revelation. They must reveal a deep dark secret to the party. Those who accept their truth may take the mirror; those who reject it are teleported outside the tower, taking 1d4 Psychic damage.” What the fuck does it mean to reject the personal revelation you just spoke out loud to everyone? You voluntarily spoke it, I think that means you accept it? I don’t understand the fail condition at all. I don’t even see how lying fails this room. 

You want some of that sweet sweet treasure? “Scrolls of Elyrium: 1d4 rare spells or ancient arcane theories. These can be in Elyrium’s Study.” This is lame.

Everything here is just so absurdly low effort. Not even bothering to come up with some spells? Not listing the zodiacs? There’s no specificity. The riddle rooms are inane, just read a plaque and answer a riddle? Really? 

This is what D&D is. A game of telephone, played from the early 70’s till now. Fifty years of people subtly changing the message, in purpose or by accident or ignorance, until the original intent is lost. Look man, I can accept the storyteller garbage, at least as an activity if not a game. It’s not for me but I can see some Baron Muchhousen shit. But this shit? No. 

There is something wonderful about free will and the lack of barriers. You get to do it. YOU. No one is there to stop you. The myth of the rugged individuality that is our soul. But, I believe the existential assertion also says that you must KNOW you are without meaning. You are condemned to be free, and you know it. This is what it looks like when you are condemned to be free and don’t know it. Sure, you CAN just off the cliff when faced with the boulder, but maybe also prepare a little and figure out what an adventure SHOULD look like and what makes up a good one before flinging your own shit out there.

This is $10 at DriveThru. The preview is five pages. You get to see a part of the first room. Shitty preview. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/555314/the-whispering-tower-of-elyrium?1892600

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on February 28, 1985.

World's Finest Comics #313: Cavalieri and Woch/Alcala aren't done with the Network yet. A member, Cathode, has assembled a stylishly dressed gang of henchmen all her own and has been causing blackouts in Gotham to extort the cash-strapped city. They also delve into kidnapping, picking up an acquaintance of Bruce Wayne's and holding her for ransom. Batman rescues her, while Superman becomes a living battery to restart the power plant. The two plots converge, and Cathode attempts to steal the electrical energy from Superman, but it doesn't end well for her.

Action Comics #567: The cover by Broderick/Ordway gives is the modern version of those deceptive teaser covers of the late Silver/early Bronze Ages. In the main story, Rozakis and Schaffenberger/Hunt bring back Yellow Peri for a "humorous" story that again feels like an inventory piece existing outside of current continuity.  Lois and Clark pose as a couple looking to buy a vacation home in the Poconos to expose a scam artist who happens to be Yellow Peri's ne'er-do-well husband, Alvin. He pressures her to use her magic to help him, and it of course backfires making Clark reveal his identity and propose to Lois, and Alvin reveal his true nature. Superman manages to put things right, causing everyone to lose their memories. He hides Yellow Peri's spellbook, but the implication is she will find it and return. She doesn't in the pre-Crisis universe (outside of Who's Who), and she won't appear at all until a bit part in 52.
In the second story by Wolff and Saviuk/Jensen, a blind man who has developed a means for tracking Superman becomes the target for a hood who wants to use his data to expose Superman's secret identity. Superman and the inventor thwart the criminal, and Superman introduces him to the League of Superman Watchers, which the story treats like it's a bit of Superman lore, but the internet suggests this issue is its first and only appearance.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #31: Kupperberg and Duursema bring us part 2 of "The Magic Odyssey." After Arion discovers that the crystals used to contact his father's spirit have been turned to dust somehow, he and Chian take Wyynde to Hoshan, where Chian was raised and trained, to find help from her old teacher Yoshiro in getting Arion's magic back and healing Wyynde. 
But Chian's former lover Tomokata is in league with some shadowy evil and plots against Arion in an effort to get Chian back. After Tomokata tampers with Arion's gemstone, the mage appears to have regained his power, but it's all part of an evil plan.

All-Star Squadron #44: Thomas and Jones/Marcos began revealing more on the origin of Liberty Belle. She and Johnny Quick head to Philadelphia to meet Belle’s friend Tom Revere. They ambushed by Baron Blitzkrieg and his new henchman Zyklon, a speedster rivalling Johnny. Blitzkrieg kills Revere and Zyklon defeats Johnny, then they escape with the actual Liberty Bell. Liberty Belle (the superheroine) mourning Revere's death and feeling responsible, vows to give up her super-hero identity.

Detective Comics #550: Moench and Broderick/Smith deliver a sort of story that is really more about the criminal than Batman himself. It reminds me a bit of a similar sort of story Moench did in his run on Moon Knight. Joey Redwine has just killed a nun in a robbery, and as Batman chases him, he recalls the events of his abusive childhood and troubled life that led to this point. Spurning Batman's attempts to bring him in unharmed, he falls from a rooftop straight into Hell to be tormented alongside his father.
Moore and Janson concluded their Green Arrow/Black Canary story. The criminal with the bow and arrow puts a shot into Black Canary sending her to the hospital. Confusing his lucky cheap shot for skill, he sees this as confirmation that the superhero game is all kayfabe and the heroes aren't that tough. When Green Arrow answers his challenge to a one-one-one contest, he finds out how wrong he is. After taking the chump in, Ollie visited Black Canary in the hospital.

Spanner's Galaxy #6: Cuti and Mandrake conclude the series. Spanner and Gadj are rescued from their tiny prison world and taken to Kabor, only to have Spanner sentenced to wear a metallic Narconium Mask that doesn't interfere with his life other than keeping him from castling. Together with a sympathetic investigator he solves the mystery of what Baka was after all this time: There's a scientist that needed the jewel from the shek Spanner was given to power a device that could be used as a super-weapon. Baka shows up, kills the scientist and duels Spanner. Spanner wins, of course, but Baka escapes, and the law wants him to chase Baka now. This whole series seems like a misfire. None of the "done in one" issues particularly built to the ending in any way.

Sun Devils #11: The Sun Devils confront Anomie, and she reveals how collaborating with the sauroids was the only way to escape the camps her conquered people were put into. The other Sun Devils seem quick to forgive, but Rik is angry, being more personally betrayed. Draken has heard Anomie's confession over an open comm and comes to kill Rik at last, but Rik is waiting--though alone for some reason. He and Draken have an epic and brutal fight that lasts most of the issue, but final Rik is victorious. Meanwhile, a Centaurian has chosen to go against his leadership and warn Earth of impending attack.

Tales of the Legion #323: Levitz/Newell and Jurgens/Kesel sort of conclude their Trekian story.  Dawnstar and Brainy are reunited, but before they can get to the bottom of the mystery of this planet, they and their allies are captured. All but Jhodan are sentenced to death while the latter seems to recount his previous heterodox beliefs, though. In the end, he makes an appeal that saves them, but the Legionnaires must leave the planet. Meanwhile, Dev-Em gets made in his undercover mission and captured by the Dark Circle.
The lack of any significant revelation in the ending of this story cements it as a lackluster installment, particularly when coupled with Dawnstar's lovestruck pacificity in regard to Jhodan that makes her seem almost mind controlled in some way. Perhaps we'll get back to this world, eventually. We are told a science mission is dispatched, and Brainiac 5 wants to be involved, but I don't know why they couldn't have just resolved it here.

V #4: Smith takes over for Infantino on pencils. No slight necessarily on any of the creators, but this is the title I find to be the biggest slog every month. Mainly, that's because it's written has if you are familiar with the characters and situations of a TV show I haven't watched in 30 years and didn't watch that closely at the time. So here we get the (I believe) former criminals turned resistance fighters Ham and Chris confronting Nathan Bates, a wealthy human collaborator, who he reveals that he's being forced to cooperate because they have his son Kyle and Elizabeth "the Star-Child," which means something to them. Meanwhile, Mike's crew gets involved with a charismatic proponent of negotiating with the Visitors (based heavily on Carl Sagan) who may be secretly plotting a more violent solution.

Wonder Woman #325: Mishkin and Heck conclude their odd, alien invasion story. Once our heroes convince the Soviet soldiers of the alien threat, the Atomic Knight and a Russian soldier search for a bomb in the Kremlin inadvertent left by the Gremlins that could destroy the Earth's atmosphere. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor, Glitch and a group of kids that got on board the alien ship work to overcome the Ytirflirks and destroy the bomb's trigger mechanism on the spacecraft.
While all this is going on, seeds of dissent are being sown on Paradise Island.

 Bringing the aesthetic of Crusher Joe into Stars Without Number (SWN) is a fantastic choice. Studio Nue’s designs—specifically those by Shoji Kawamori—feature that perfect "used future" look: chunky, functional, and bristling with specialized sensors.In SWN terms, these ships often punch above their weight class due to the high level of "Crusher" customization.1. The Minerva (Crusher Team Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 So a friend of mine is DM Paul is going to be running the Gary Gygax classic Keep on the Borderlands. He wanted a 'Sword & Sorcery' spin on this classic module. To lean into a Sword & Sorcery vibe for Keep on the Borderlands, we need to pivot away from "generic high fantasy" and toward something more visceral, ancient, and cynical. In this style, magic is rare and dangerous, Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

After publishing my last post, I spent some time thinking about my statement that I was “gaming in a bubble.” After some reflection—and a few conversations with friends—I realized some nuance is in order.

I was writing about the period from 1993 to 2006. At the start of that era, I was still working at Metro Comics and meeting other gamers there. But after I graduated from college in 1995, my focus shifted heavily toward my career, my family, and my relationships. I never stopped gaming, but it happened entirely within a closed circle of close friends. I heard about other local groups and knew people who played TTRPGs, yet I didn’t actively interact with them for a long time.

As I got married and started my master’s degree, my general interests evolved. I felt burnt out on fantasy and sci-fi literature. Aside from being a huge fan of Babylon 5, my consumption of genre media shrank. Instead, I spent a few years diving deep into classic literature, history, biographies, and true crime.

During that time, role-playing games (and, to a lesser degree, comic books) became my sole outlet for fiction.

The Dial-Up Days

I got online relatively early in the 90s. My mother worked in the technology field, so we had a home computer when I was in middle school, and I was online before graduating high school. I can still hear the distinct chirp of the dial-up modem.

I had CompuServe, visited the forums, discovered the World Wide Web, and absolutely hunted for gaming content. I vividly remember discovering the legendary tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo and reading through the Evil Overlord List. I scoured the web for conversions and rules for Palladium games, incessantly trying to hammer them into a cohesive, usable system (spoiler: I never did!).

But when I found useful information, I usually just printed it out and took it to the table. I even played a play-by-email game for over a year, and a play-by-post game on Yahoo Groups for over two!

Yet my internet use was highly targeted. I wasn’t active in online gaming forums and didn’t follow TTRPG message boards closely. I got most of my gaming news the old-fashioned way: from print sources like Dragon Magazine and Knights of the Dinner Table.

Bursting the Bubble

This bubble wasn’t a monolith, mind you. Things started to change gradually.

Sometime around 1999, I read A Game of Thrones, which reignited my interest in a different sort of fantasy literature. After Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR in 1987, and as rumors and information of a brand-new edition of D&D began to swirl, I found myself online constantly searching for information. In 1999, Eric Noah’s Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News became mandatory daily reading.

After we transitioned to D&D 3rd Edition around 2003 or 2004, we moved our weekly game to Sammy’s house. Sammy was a true personality in Puerto Rico’s gaming community—I’ve written about him before. To the best of my knowledge, he operated the island’s first dedicated TTRPG store out of his house in the late 80s. He had a dedicated game room with a massive table where multiple groups played. Suddenly, I was regularly interacting with old acquaintances and people I had previously only known in passing.

Other stores opened (and often closed) during those years, and we’d visit them. A friend of a friend opened a small FLGS, where I ordered a whole brick of all the early D&D miniatures released from WotC. Slowly but surely, I met and got to know other gamers on the island, many of them from the younger generation.

Plugging In

In 2005, I got divorced. With my life shifting again, I began spending much more time at Sammy’s house. I started dropping in on the other groups playing there and hanging out with fellow gamers away from the table. For the first time in a long time, I broke my strict “one-game-a-week” rule and joined a second weekly campaign as a player.

Online, I became an avid reader of The Order of the Stick. I loved their forums, as well as EN World, and started dipping my toes into the discussions, even if I felt a bit unsure about how to engage in those spaces at first.

By 2006, I was fully plugged into the TTRPG internet. I started reading blogs—Stargazer’s World caught my attention very early on. I also reconnected with Daniel Pérez (aka Highmoon), a friend who had moved to the mainland US and was actively creating TTRPGs and promoting the Puerto Rican gaming scene.

All this networking, reconnecting, and hanging out at Sammy’s house eventually led to a plan: a group trip to Gen Con in 2007.

That trip kicked off a markedly different era in my gaming life. But that is a story for the next post. See you then!

 "In Demons, you met the lords of the Infernus. now learn the dark secrets of these evil fiends, their methods most foul and how they taint the world of mortals. Learn too, how they might be sought out and destroyed. The world has faced no greater threat than the palpable evil that is... Demons! ~ The Demons II source pack includes: * An 80 page game master's book detailing how demons act Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Bugbear Brothers
Self Published
OSR
Level ..?

AN ANCIENT OATH. A POISONED TREASURE. A DUNGEON THAT REMEMBERS. Built by Celtic druids to defy Caesar, repurposed by the Knights Templar, and sealed for centuries, The Green Dungeon has been opened once more. A newly translated relic points to a hoard steeped in vengeance—and adventurers are already dying to claim it. Within lie three distinct entrances, each guarded by lethal riddles and unforgiving logic. Prime-numbered death traps. Sentient arcane platforms that punish imbalance. A druidic study where failure means immolation—and rebirth. Every challenge rewards observation, deduction, and restraint. Brute force alone will get you killed. At the dungeon’s heart waits a cenotaph bound by oath and silence, a descending shaft into stranger horrors, and a hoard that does not forgive greed. Take too much, and the dungeon will take everything.

This is an eighteen page dungeon of seven rooms (five, really) is a sloppy moneygrab of a “puzzle” dungeon. No one cares. 

You know, I know I’ve got this informal list in my head of publishers and designers that just churn shit out and do not give a shit about it. I’m sure, also, that I forget them from time to time as they disappear, and thus if they reappear I’m likely to get suckered in again. What strikes me is that in the avalanche of crap these folks do not stand out. I should keep a list or something on the website, a Hall of Infamy or some such. 

Let us start by looking ta the cover for this adventure. Can you read the text at the bottom of the cover? The blurb? Green on green in a fun font? Isn’t the purpose of the cover to draw you in and make you want to buy it? No one cared to look at it and think that, hey, maybe that’s not a good idea? Of course not. 

This adventure is in the OSR category on DriveThru. “OSR” it says. The blurb also says “The Green Dungeon is a lethal, puzzle-forward fantasy adventure designed for 5th edition play”. Hmmm, copy/paste mistake? No, not at all. It’s a full on 5e adventure. Skill checks. 5e stat blocks. There has been absolutely no effort made AT ALL to make this an OSR adventure. They just took a 5e adventure and slapped it in the OSR category. A few more bucks to make, I guess. I’m sure there’s an apology in the future that says there was a mistake made and it should not be in the OSR category. Baby, I don’t know how that lipstick got on my collar, it must be a conspiracy! And no one will care. There is no cosmic karma. There is no god. Gygax will not come down and smite you with his ring. Hubris! Chutzpah! But THIS snake oil actually works! Oh, yeah, the adventure was not available when I purchased it. There was a PDF available for download. It was actually, once downloaded, just the cover. Nothing more, the same photo from the listing. Joy. No one cares. And why should they? The demon-haunted world was Sagen, not Nietzsche.  Level?! Pfft,

Ok, so, puzzle dungeon. Some kind of archaeologists find some shit and there are three entrances, each four miles apart. Oh, yeah, this is some kind of druid/romans/templar shit, but whatever. Four miles apart. All three entrances lead to the same chamber, so, you’re actually doing whatever door you come in and the five or so rooms after that. Also, no mention of that four mile slog under the ground. Why are they four miles apart? It doesn’t matter to the adventure. No one cares. 

Inside of each room you face a puzzle. There will be a carving with words on it. Sometimes it’s a riddle you have to solve and say the word outloud. Sometimes it’s just a clue. There is no differentiation. Did you say the wrong word and you’re supposed to say a different word? Or is it just a clue to what you’re supposed to do? Anyway, figure out the clue and do it exactly right or save vs death/die/whatever. Hey man, you know, from memory, “five book spines

bear a faint pentagram symbol. Their titles are Buer, Basilisk, Dragon, Sanzuwu, and Wyvern. Each book’s pages are blank.” Also “The middle shelf is carved with the numbers 5, 2, 4, 3, and 8, spaced as if to hold a single book above each.” Go! You did arrange the book by number of legs, correct? That you knew by heart? No? “Each creature must make a DC 17

Dexterity saving throw. On a success, the character drops to 0 hit points and begins making death saving throws. On a failure, they are reduced to ash.” *sigh* Each room is like this. Hallway gauntlet, with a bunch of comping mouths of metal. The plaque reads “I am indivisible except by one, within a decade, my timer runs, at first I rise, and hten I fall, only to rise again. My sequence speaks, heed its call and soon you will know when.” Guess exactly right or make a DC 20 death save. Or die. Every room. This is just absurd.

There’s no attempt to be evocative, or format things clearly, or even describe the puzzles clearly.  Just some bizarre thing for the players to figure out, and then roll vs death. “The panes only respond to living weight—they ignore objects, inorganic matter, or summoned force.” So, don’t think you’ll be clever. You will solve this the way the designer wanted you to and/or die. 

When you get to the treasure room at the end, if you take more than half then you die if you don’t make a DC20 check. No warning. So, know.

.Hang on, I’m gonna add that list to my ToDo list.

This is $4 at DriveThru. The preview is six pages. It shows you six pages of little cutouts you can make for the game. It’s almost like something is being hidden … or that they didn’t care.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/553689/the-green-dungeon?1892600

Our Land of Azurth 5e game continued last night with the party first dealing with an odd bird creature in the strange subterranean prison where they went seeking the Shadow of the Wizard of Azurth. He told them where they might find a page from the Book of Doors that would lead to the Wizard's sanctum. The Shadow told them, that is. The bird just belched a black cloud at Erekose that left him wounded and confused then ran off. The party chose not to give chase.

They asked the guards where they might find the bridge the Shadows told them about. The Mole guards were surprised to see them still alive, but they told them how to find the bridge, though they warned them (so far as they knew) it was a bridge to oblivion. On the way, they met another chatty ghost trapped in a jar (this one they didn't let out) who seemed to confirm the bridge led nowhere.

They moved ahead, and soon they were crossing a ghostly but sturdy enough bridge into a magical darkness that was almost tangible. It always seemed to hang before then like the surface of a draining liquid. Eventually the bridge became a stone tunnel, and the tunnel gradually became vertical rather than horizontal. But then there was a light at the end. They stopped at a couple of places to reconsider their life choices, but in the end moved on.

They climbed toward the light and emerged through a well made from paper (collapsing it as they did) into a paper town. The buildings began to collapse, folding up around them, as did the various flat, cut-out people they saw. 

They were approached by a cut out of a redheaded girl in a crown. She said she was Princess Seven, ruler of Paper Town, and she had been expecting them, "the heroes." She related the story about how the girl whose shadow she was had been given the Paper Town by a wandering minstrel on her birthday long ago. The minstrel had told her that someday heroes would come seeking a page from the book, and she must give them the town if the world was to be saved.

By now, the town had folded, shrank, and lost its color until it was a blank page. The Princess picked it up in her flat hand and gave it to Waylon. The party asked what would happen to her. She said she would go now to be reunited with the princess whose shadow she was, who had grown into a queen and died a long time ago. With than, the color faded from her, and she drifted to the ground, a paper cutout in the shape of the shadow of a seven-year-old girl.

The party broke the magic gems they had been given to return to the headquarters of the princesses. They found only one gnome guarding the equipment. He was surprised to see them as it had been weeks since they went on their mission. They were presumed to have failed, and the princesses and the amassed armies began the assault on the Sapphire City.

Realizing there was no time to lose, the party affixed the book page to a wall, then passed through the door into the outer sanctum of the Wizard in the Sapphire Castle. Crossing the circular room to the grand doors on the other side down a cerulean carpet, they were attacked by a mass of shadows from several other doors. Surrounded, the party fought through the minions surprisingly quickly (the shadows only rolled one to-hit roll in the double digits!), then listened at the door. Nothing.

Opening it, they found the Wizard on the other side, but he was not as they expected. He was desiccated and insensate upon his throne, energy draining from his body into the black, darkly glowing miniature sun that hung menacingly above his head. 

Before they could do anything, a thick column of smoke-like shadow emerged from the orb, forming into an immense snake-like form with a human face. It spoke in a like the grind of heavy stone: "I am the worm that gnaws at the corpse of time. A cancer in the heart of existence. I have come to bring an ending to this world!"

 The Pre-Cataclysmic age of Kull is defined by a mix of decaying grandeur, brutal sorcery, and the looming shadow of the Elder Races. These relics aren't just "loot"—they are heavy with the history of a world that is about to sink beneath the waves.This blog post picks right up from More Kull era Encounters & Treasures Table For a Sword & Sorcery Castles & Crusades rpg Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 This session picked up with the player's PC's hanging out with T.H.E. Cat and Wei Wan's Ninja Cutie clan, This adventure picks right up from New Flesh Rpg Adventure - Mission Brief: Operation "Threnody in Glass" Adapting The Cultclassic TV show T.H.E. Cat into our New Flesh campaign.But who are this clan of Ninja Cuties?!  Because this clan is in Avivadad things are not as Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 If you’re bringing the Titanian (the creature from the 1985 cult classic Creature, also known as The Titan Find) into your Barrows & Borderlands campaign, you’re looking at a perfect high-lethality "stalker" encounter.The creature isn't just a physical threat; it’s a parasitic puppeteer. Here is a breakdown of its biology and how to stat it for your game.The Creature: Titanian Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 Standard OSR sci-fi (think Stars Without Number, Mothership, or Traveller) thrives on high stakes, weird ecology, and the cold indifference of space.Here is a d100 Random Encounter Table designed to provide a mix of social friction, environmental hazards, and "what the hell is that?" moments.The Deep Space & Frontier Encounter Tabled100Encounter TypeDescription01-05The derelictA silent Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

By Joseph R Lewis
Dungeon Age Adventures
OSE, etc
Levels 3-5

In the Garden of Amuul, the fey raised a palace for their human guests. But the humans betrayed them, so the fey swiftly slayed them. Now Amuul is a Wasteland, where the dead cannot rest. Twin necromancers, a sister and brother, found the jade palace, and then turned on each other. They raised undead armies and decadent courts, and turned the palace into two warring forts And in the Fey Realm, the Twilight Empress watches and rages, sending her goblins and elves to pay the intruders bloody wages. But all the while, the palace groans with cruel weapons and bright treasures, mythical creatures, and strange magics beyond measure. So will it be wealth, justice, glory, or bliss that entices you to enter the Lovely Jade Necropolis…?

This 81 page adventure uses about sixty page to describe one hundred locations in and around a complex full of undead and fey. Lewis always does at least a fine job, and that’s present here also. It does seem to lack a bit in the joy category though, as in a sly wink and wry grin. It is better than the vast vast majority of the dreck produced today and easy to run.

Lewis is a good designer and a good writer. There’s some balance between specificity and abstractions that needs to be obtained in order to provide effective encounter text. In the very best you can kind of detect a bit of glee in the designer as they were writing it. I’m not entirely certain that this Dungeon Age is quite up to the standards of most of the others. 

The set up here is a cave/camor thing that was built by the fey queen for her prince lover, then they betray her and the fey, there’s a big slaughter. Now, long later, two necromancers move in and start animating bodies, and then turn on each other. So we’ve got a fey queen section, and a section for a necromancer interested in having a good time and a necromancer interested in killing just about everyone. This is mostly backstory though. It explains the “please go kill my sister/the other necromancer” deal one of them is willing to make, and the bored/jaded/disgusted elves wandering around who just want to go back to the fairy realm instead of carrying out the gruesome work of their mistress. Otherwise … meh, it’s a framing for some conversations and a different way of saying Die Petty Human Scum/Adventurer.

Our zombie friends bring a bit of joy to the environs, retaining a bit of their old selves and acting, perhaps, more like a charmed undead person than a mindless undead ravenous thing “Under rare circumstances, a zombie may be able to bend the meaning of their commands to act more freely: “I’m looking for supplies! Just not very quickly…””

I am not exactly thrilled about the treasure here. The magic contains that Lewis charm of effects over mechanics, but the mundane loot is handled by a loot table. I love it in The World of Gamma, but here “ivory flute” or Glass lens” have no monetary values mentioned. Nor does “Walls, floors, and ceilings are solid green jade covered in elegant carvings of forest plants and animals.” What was that adventure I just reviewed that had the villagers stealing the old abbeys walls for their own uses? I guess I’m supposed to not be a murder-hobo and just IGNORE walls and doors made of solid jade. What do you think that does to the local jade economy? Don’t I recall some system or article about inflation and devaluation beaue of the party when they flood a town? Anyway, Gold=XP and that’s all abstracted away here with no treasure values. Boo, Hiss. And “silver chalice” and “ivory flute” are not exactly winning me over either in the description department.

Writing of the encounter descriptions remains relatively solid “Two massive dead trees flank the broken road, their fragile branches interlaced overhead. Tiny white slivers dot the trunks, and tiny black nodules pepper the ground” Thats a decent rooms one, Elsewhere “Giant dragonfly wings glitter in the ceiling, high above a long table laden with sumptuous dishes. A well-dressed couple and a dozen soldiers linger by the buffet.” Glitterring, sumptuous, well-dressed, linger. All great word choices that communicate a lot without being purple. I’m not sure, though, that I ever got the complete picture, room after room. I’m not sure why. The descriptions are there, in each room, but it never clicked in to a unified whole for me.

And, at times, that balance between specificity and abstraction seems off to me. Those two well-dressed people lingering at the banquet table? “COUPLE. “Master Dulcim” and “Mistress Vina” (spice sellers from Kalahar). Silken robes, sparkling veils. Lured here by dreams of opulence. Want to escape. Fear the undead. Unaware of the fey. Suspect “poison (so no one is eating). Also, the soldiers are undead zombies. Pretty much everyone you meet who was lured in are “Lured here by dreams of opulence. Want to escape. Fear the undead.” This just seems off, there’s little personality here, none I would say. The grounding, the think to hang your hat on, is missing. And that’s a little too common here.

I do like the general set up here. Some fey loathe their existence and just want to go home. Some are still greatly embittered by their experiences with the humans. One old goblins living in a hut that is precariously balanced on a silt is slowly dying from a col iron splinter in gut form a hundred years ago. Embittered, he will try to collapse his beloved house down on the party if need be. Elves tasked by their still-enraged queen to torment and torture the undead with salt knives, not to their noble callings of grace. Pixies as thumb sized mindless eaters of bones. The bored, jaded, disgusted undead zombies. The totality here is great, “ZOMBIES in gray tunics drag an old corpse toward #19 for Lord Marfest to animate” but that wandering example could use one more word. Chatty zombies. Jaded zombies. Upbeat zombies. The final bit of framing for the encounter is often missing, as with the two spice-merchants agave. And maybe that’s the theme running throughout; there’s one more bit that seems to be missing to add life to it. The NP’s, the ire between the the parties and their machinations, even the room … themes/layouts/interactivity? There just seems to be one bit more missing that would really send it. Maybe it seems, passive? In an expansive sense of that word?

It’s not bad. It’s certainly better than the vast majority of stuff I review. But I think you can see what this almost is and really WANT it to be that.

This is $12 at DriveThru. Lewis comes through on the preview. Forty pages; more than enough to get a sense of the work and see a great many parts of it. Great preview!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/540137/lovely-jade-necropolis?1892600

“When a PC spends a turn chanting this word, there is a 2/6 chance that each nearby fey will be stunned for one turn.” OMG! You have to chant a word for ten minutes and then there’s a 33% chance the fey will be stunned for ten minutes?! Oh Dungeon Turn, you are the gift that keeps on giving long after the thrill of living is gone.

 Nightshift: VTSW (Veterans of the Supernatural Wars) is a love letter to the gritty, urban fantasy horror of the 80s and 90s. If you grew up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, or Supernatural, or if you spent your nights playing the classic World of Darkness, this game is aimed squarely at your nostalgia.It’s designed by Jason Vey and published by Elf Lair Games. Here is the Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Hello friends!

The preorder for Middarmark 2E is now live! It’s a huge expansion for Torchbearer.

• 45 new denizens, creatures and monsters!
• 28 new settlements
• 4 new maps
• 3 new classes: the elf dream witch, human sea raider and jotunn salt heart!
• 1 new stock: the jotunn!
• Rules for forming clans, hero cults and adventuring bands!
• Rules for ritual boasts, grudges, feuds and lawsuits (including judicial duels!)

Check it out!

Tsutomu NiheiThe following suggestions for dungeon adventure rpgs may not be entirely novel, but they certainly aren't common in published rpg dungeons, and I feel like they have potential.

Master of the Dungeon

Rpg dungeons sometimes have bosses, but mostly they seem to sit and wait for dungeoneers to get to them. In other media, they sometimes take a more active role taunting the protagonists or bedeviling them in various ways before the ultimate conflict. While this might become tedious, I feel like when used judiciously, it could be an interesting change of pace.

Time Trial

Despite the emphasis on resource management in some dungeon games, I don't think I've seen a dungeon that opened and close on a certain schedule. This is the case in all the "bauble"-based vaults in Reynolds Revenger series and forecasting the opens and how long they will last is an important job for looters. The anime adaptation of I Left My A-Rank Party... also has some dungeons for which time is a factor, as I recall.

A dungeon with strict time limits, in addition to adding pressure to move quickly, would also force characters to have some strategy about what they explore and loot. Do you try for the big-ticket items immediately or focus on quick exits with lower value items?

A Team Sport

While adventuring guilds aren't ubiquitous in settings, they're an established element. What I don't think I have seen in a rpg setting, though, is competing guilds or organizations (larger than individual parties). Inspiration could be found in the chariot racing factions (demes) of Byzantium or Roman collegia.