Crypts and Things review part 2- The setting in the rule book

Review part 2 A brief look at the setting provided by rule book

When I had the Beta version only to go by I was unimpressed, felt skimpy and lacking depth, but on closer inspection, the setting is a perfect representation of EXACTLY fitting the rules.

It is extremely distopian as you would expect from a game with out clerics, paladins and alignment(where all PCs get "back stab") Very little in way of bits of DECENT civilization exists.The characters can easily be anywhere on what would be the alignment scale, defending the last bits of hope or summoning the foul denizens of darker dimensions. as you know I'm not much of a guy for spoilers but I came away very satisfied that the Continent of Terror will be able to hold my and my players atentionts for the remaining years I have of gaming life. I run epic battles against Darkness and my over arching 10 year gaming plan will need a little adjustment but that will be far easier than writing up a whole new world. Actually you only need to add the continent to your existing world and the PCs will HAVE to come from it.

THE BAD The setting information is split into 3 different sections, 2 for the players and one for the Keeper. Extreme spoilers are in the Keepers section, you would have to rely on the players to NOT look at Keeper info. The information being spread into 3 diff places will make it a little hard to reference. The Keeper section is FILLED to the BRIM with GREAT adventure hooks and encounters, it has been designed as a sand box and will fill that role very well, it gives me plenty of room to ADD my own overarching EPIC plot.

For Over all usefulness and creativity , I give it an A-( I would have like to see a TINY bit more on "good" places, easy enough to add), but for organization the setting info gets a "D", It's going to be a little cumbersome in actual play

(there may or may not be a part 3, review of the contained adventures, which take up a lot of page count. I am NOT a fan of moduels, just a personal preference)

Crypts and Things Review

OK ,do you like OSR Rules?
Conan?
Lovecraft?
Are you prepared for a game without Clerics?
Still with me?
Then boy Oh boy do I have the game for You!
From D101 Games, written by Newt Newport
PDF is $13 from Drive through/Hard copies available directly from D101 Games
Powered by Swords and Wizardry (OD&D Clone)

You've got your standard 6 stats, with the addition of sanity and Luck

Sanity is very simple and elegant , covered by the wisdom stat

Luck is used for pretty much everything from spell saves to doing maximum damage in combat, again simple and elegant

The Game uses 4 core character classes, Barbarian, fighter,thief and sorcerers,
The balance between Barbarian, Fighter and Thief is a little iffy and I think most Keepers are going to want to fiddle w/ this, but only minor fix is necessary. Prob as simple as giving the fighter a few more "specializations" (Feats) but the thief is a little tougher fixer upper.You see EVERYBODY gets backstab (A part of the basic flavor of the game) and should not be changed. I think the fighters could have used a bit more spec's to pick from but this is an INCREDIBLY easy fix.
The sorcerer can cast white, grey or black magic. White and Black have different drawbacks , grey has none but is the weakest of the three, any sorcerer carrying his share of the adventuring load is going to want White(Cure spells, cleric y) and Black(fireballs n such) Very Very Very Nice!

A further bunch of character classes are closely tied to the setting provided
Beast Hybrid(Lycanthropy)
Disciple(monk like with white, black and grey subtypes)
Elementalist ( a more standard sort of caster than the sorcerer with it's own spell kist)
Lizard People
Serpent Noble( classic REH Serpent man)

Character creation is rounded out with many life events charts that help with RPING but are COMPLETELY tied to core setting

A brief version  of the setting is provided for players with an expanded section for Keepers

Large sections on Others(the demons of the setting and Serpent men and cool NPCs are followed by a very cool bestiary including many cool new creatures and some old favorites

The book has many many extras including a bunch of adventures(don't use canned adventures so didn't read them)
The art is nice and very flavorful, didn't notice ANY typo's or grammatical mistakes

I can sum it all up with the following sentence:
50%Conan/50% HPL , all OSR D&D, Tough to use without their world(which is pretty good)
Despite my problems here and there 5 out of 5 stars

Book Review Vironiconium

Going to do a second review of this when I find the DAMN book and can spell title correctly and remember the authors name! I did something with this book that I  only do on rare occasion, I stopped reading 90% throu it because I only can read it once. Now I can't find book!

It is a dying earth genre w/ some short stories and 2 novelas mostly concerning the last city on earth. One of the novellas is about the strangest alien invasion story ever. PAUSE WHILE I CONSIDER SPOILER?.? Ok no I'm gonna stick w/ strangest as whole description. Some action but over all more "Fantasy disguised as Sci Fi high adventure." Can be a diff read at times but very intriguing. One of the short stories won a major sci fi award. will eventually break down and wiki correct title(will add comment) . Oh and WORST wiki review I ever read, totally FAILS to capture what book is about.Would make great material for gaming.

Comic Review: Astro City

Ok this book is an offbeat look at the world of superheros. It's not trippy like Doom Patrol but it's def a truely dif take on our leotard wearing friends, The story's are set in a very costumed super world. The action takes a big back seat to stories about the human condition in that sort of world. The book is anthology-like with short story arcs often with a normal(or nearly normal) star. I really liked the arc about an alien invasion where the "human" were the "bad" guys. The ending was predictable but nice. Def for your offbeat kind of reader.

Crypts and Things is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO close now!

Really, Really EXCITED!!!!!1 If The idea of an OSR game 50% Conan/50% HPL and all British old school of a very dark fantasy variety appeals to you, this is the game for you. DETAILED review is forthcoming.
One thing you need to wrap your head around is NO clerics(but they easily can be added)

Book Review: Songs of the Dying Earth

This is a fantastic and HUGE collection of short stories celebrating(and imitating) the Dying Earth series by Jack Vance(poss known to gamer's as the source of the memorization spell system of D&D) The variess big name authors of the stories do a fantastic job of imitating Vance's very unusual style. Except of course for Neil Giaman's close to the book which very arrogantly makes no attempt at channeling Vance. If you love Vance ,this is a must have. NOTE: Vance's style is a VERY peculiar take on wizarding and I would recommend getting a sample before you buy.

Gaming Review: Petty Gods

I haven't had a chance to go through this yet but it's AMAZING Very minor Gods(50hp) to demi gods, great art, huge book FREE, THAT"S RIGHT FREE link in comments

(Look my cat died yesterday and the family is real broken up about it, so if I spend a lot of time , making many posts here , forgive me)

Movie Review: Planet of the Vampires

This time were mixing a little Sci Fi w our B horror . American actor Barry Sullivan stars in this Italian import. One of a pair of exploration star ships goes missing and Sullivan explores the mysterious planet looking for answers. Very very good costuming, decent fx, and a cool story featuring NO vampires. Sets are cool straight out of the 60s. They really did an awful lot w no money on this. This is poss of huge influence on Alien, or a very strange coincidence.

Movie Review: Curse of The Demon(GASP! ,it's not a "B"!!!)

Dana Andrews plays an unbelieving parapsychologist investigating the mysterious death of a colleague in England , poss at the hands of a powerful cult leader. This B/W classic  was re-shot by the studio to actually show the demon. The director wanted it to be in doubt as to whether or not it was real. Really needs a directors cut. This one is the total package in horror.

Movie Review: Equinox

Very, Very Low budget B with surprisingly good stop motion effects(effects director works for Lucas now and has won Oscars). Student film purchased and redone a little by distributor. It's about 4 students trapped in the woods vrs demonic forces. Really excellent B. Look for one of the stars of WKRP in Cincinnati.

Movie Review: The Raven

My fav of The 60s AIP "Poe" movies.Vincent Price, Peter Laurie, Boris Karloff and I believe in his movie debut Jack Nickleson. As to the "Poe" aspect to it, well it DOES have a raven in it. This is truly a guilty pleasure for me, ok I know it's crap but it's fun crap.Price, Laurie and Karloff are all wizards and the story is about The conflict for wizardly domination. It ends with a laughably low budget dual between Price and Karloff,pure wonderful low budget cheese! This one is def for the B movie buffs, a must for any who call themselves thus. Just so bad in a B good way!

Book Review: The Throne of Bone

by Brian McNaughton
It is a collection of short stories delving into a dark fantasy world. The Bulk of the book is made up of a collection of connected stories delving deep into a very unique kind of ghoul. The setting is a low magic medieval world w a hint of Victorian era. Magic consists almost entirely of the Necromatic variety. The nature of the ghouls is fascinating. The balance of the stories are a mix of other stories set in the same world. If you like your fantasy mixed w/ horror , this is the book for you. I've seen this advertised as the best book you've never hear of. Do yourself a favor and skip the first story,it's not all great!

WARNING:book contains XXX disturbng and horrific sexual elements!

Comic Review: Astro City

Dumb name , right? It is a very unique take on super heroics. The battles and fights are very much secondary to the themes that run through the books. It's a little hard to explain. It's like a view of the human condition in a world where peeps can fly. Strongly advise on starting w issue "1/2", it tells the story of a very ordinary man caught up in extraordinary and unfortunate circumstances . If your looking for JLA ,your in the wrong place, super heroics take a back seat to warm and heartbreaking stories.

Movie Review: The Dunwitch Horror

One of the greatest B movies ever and prob the best HPL movie ever made. It's an old AIP classic(the peeps that brought you the "Poe" movies) While not faithful to the short story, it truely captures the feel of Lovecraft. Can't tell you how many times I've watched it. Perfect depiction of a lovecraftian sorcerer. Opening credits are also very cool. I'm biased but most peeps will prob find it a little slow. Holds up well in the new century. Required watching for HPL fans. R rated for nudity(of which there is a more than a bit)
(I'm very burnt out after epic finish on C&T house rules so might be posting more reviews as I rest my creative side)

Comic Review: Doctor Strange

OK I only read the first 6 issues(I have the rest but my interest in comics comes and goes). But the first 6 are some mighty fine comics! They take Strange into new terriroty adding to the mythos but not taking anything away from the chars' history. It has a lot of great ideas for running an epic level wizard for gaming. I'm not into spoilers but there is a particular addition to Wong(his manservant) that was chilling. Really can't recemend this enuf. For the first time in my 56 years, I actually sent fan mail to the book. To be honest I was a little let down by the end fight but the rest of it was pure gold. Oh and I forgot to mention, brand new, ultra cool bad guys. Run and get the Trade!

Comic Review: Doom Patrol 1

Ok I doubt very many of you are familier with the late 80s Doom Patrol run by Grant Morrison. It was the closest you can come to doing blotter acid and staying legal. I just read the the first issue of the new series and it seems that Morrison is sharing his stash. If you like trippy things , its new on the shelf at your FLCS.

Playing Magic sensably

So MTG has sucked me in ...again. I can't tell you how many timed I've gotten in and out. This time I got sucked on by buying a few cards to use as illusstaion of D&D things,places buildings, monsters. I touched the catds so the crack on them stuck to my fingers and thus a 2 months sabbatical from other games.

My group plays just w/ my decks and over the last 3 years Ive acumulated hundreds of commons and uncommons to play with. My currant obsession is giants, it used to be angels. The power creep on the cards is very evidennt when you spend long periods of time away from the game. Literally thousands of older cards are unplayable due to this power creep.

Getting tired of it and back to RPing next week

A fresh look at an old item: Ioun Stones(and a mini review)

A quik history lesson first. Ioun Stone come from Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. The series is mostly about super high L mages and their adventures. The stones are never defined but mages had them in the hundreds, I always assumed they were a power source. (This is also where the D&D memorization of spells come from). Some of it is a little hard to read but I can't recommend the stories enuf. There is a tribute book by various authors called Songs of the Dying Earth that is also quite good. Anyway, back to gaming.

When I re read the Vance stuff about 10 yrs ago, I thought: Wouldn't it be cool to have the players fight liches with like 20-59 stones (the idea of Them circling the mage tickles me.) The only way to do this is to make a bunch of low powered stones so the treasure doesn't get out of hand when they kill the beasty.Thus was born the frequently given out , very minor , Ioun stone. some examples
+1 to any roll once a day(by far the most common one I gave out, some of them can be cumulative ,some can only be used alone)
+1 to one spells DC once a day(-1 to saves OSR)
One use individual cantrips
More specific +1s, to hit ,damage ,saves
recharge 1st L spell slot once a day
extra spell slots
+1 ac or saves for one encounter
Just love the idea of peeps walking around in cities with a few of these floating around their heads

A pair of great DM resources on the Smithsonian channel

First is the mystical UK ep of "Skyview" it takes you on an aerial tour of a LOT of great ideas for a fantasy setting, since the sites they show you are described with their mythology, not historical fact. Can't recommend this enuf.

Second is their Merlin special. It explores the historical record of the Merlin myth. Great Stuff

What little TV I watch

I watch exactly TWO TV shows. I let my wife(who I adore) watch whatever she wants while I put on my sleep apnea mask and tickle her back. Even when I "watch" my shows, I am still only listening.

My fav is Big Bang Theory. I've seen every ep many,many times. It's hysterical and heart warming, true escape from the cares of my life.

A close second is Ancient Aliens, I see it as good sci fi, with a hint of some cool historical anomalies. Some eps make me laugh out loud. The hosts are kooky and cool. My DVR is over run by eps I save and savour. I strongly suggest you watch it with a chuckle.
(BTW My take on the Ancient Alien Hypothesis is that the weird historical crap they point out on the show are left over from a couple of very old, possibly very highly advanced ,civilizations we have no historical record of.)