A Door Opens...

We don't do much in the way of reviews here at the blog. So this isn't a review.
Go buy this Zine. Really. Just go buy a copy. Reading it is a far better use of your time than reading the reviews that talk all about it. Buy it, read it, use it or collect it; whatever you decide to do with it, this is great stuff.

The Manor, Issue 8

Go Get It!

Issue 8 of The Manor is available in print via Lulu (for $2.50) and for free at RPGNow in pdf-format.

In this issue you get an old school grappling system ideal for tavern brawls, a sneak peek into Trey Causey's Strange Stars, some tips for making hirelings more interesting & useful, as well as a set of eight magical torches, and some stuff for Torchbearer.

Denis from over at Northport has a couple of nice hireling illustrations in this issue.

That's a lot of good stuff packed into just 26 pages.

Great Stuff!

While you're clicking over to get your copy of The Manor be sure to check out Tim short's mini-classic The Flayed King, also available for free at RPGNow. It's a great little adventure and well worth checking it out.

Bonus Maps for The Horrid Caves from The Manor Issue 7

Click to Download

Issue 7 of Tim Short's RPG-Zine The Manor is available via his online store Gothridge Manor Games or at RPGNow, where the pdf is currently discounted to $2.50. A print copy will set you back $4.00 ($4.50 in Canda, $5.00 elsewhere).

Tim managed to pack a lot into just 24 pages. There's a traveling potion-peddler, the Skinwalker as a playable class option, a set of gonzo Arduin-esque magic mirrors, a nifty mini-adventure involving a fire demon, a mind-bending Mind Flayer Haiku, and The Horrid Caves, which is one of our adventures, this time involving a series of caves where a powerful prehuman warlord held court long, long ago. If you haven't checked out The Manor yet, click over to Tim's Gothridge Manor blog and take a look at the various posts tagged The Manor, or better still, just pick an issue at random and download it from RPGNow while they're all discounted to $2.50. We both really enjoyed Issue 6 quite a bit.

We're offering a free set of bonus maps for The Horrid Caves. There is one numbered and one unnumbered map in each of three versions, so you can provide a player's version of the map or re-key the thing, or use the map for another site, as you like.

& Magazine, Issue 9

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& Magazine
Link: http://www.and-mag.com/
Download it: http://www.and-mag.com/category/download/and-magazine-download/
Discuss it at: & Magazine Forums at OSR Gaming

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& Magazine is primarily devoted to 1st Edition AD&D, but a great deal of the content can be ported over to another edition without too much trouble. There are maps, monsters, and more in every issue and it just keeps getting better.

Issue 9 is a jam-packed 96 pages of pdf gaming goodness all about Spells and Spellcasters. There's also an interview with Ernie Gygax and a fairly diverse selection of spells, magic items, monsters, NPCs, and the like all  through the issue. They also started two new columns--one on starting a campaign, and another on cooking for your gaming group.

The map of the Desert Ziggurat by Fingolwyn is a classic adventure site that looks like it came out of an old TSR module.

The articles on spontaneous casting and spell memorization were both short and sweet re-workings of Ye Olde Rules that both seem workable and The Perils of Psionic Blast was a fun read--it reminded me of some rather heated discussions about this very topic back in the old days.

Mr. Lakofka's article ought to be handed out to anyone considering playing a magic-user in any old-school game. This is a fairly useful reference for newcomers that explains the peculiarities of the spell system in the older editions, and it could save a lot of trouble, turmoil and tummy-aches at the table. There are some good things in this issue, but this one article is probably my favorite, mostly because I wish that we'd had something like this all those years ago; it would have stopped a lot of pointless arguments and let us get back to the gaming. I really like his analogy of the different levels of spells to derringers of differing caliber--that was brilliant.

The article on Greater Faeries was interesting, well thought-out and provided some handy tables for creating random faeries that would make a great generator like what Logan and those guys are doing these days.

The interview with Ernie Gygax was short but fun, so were the top three entries for statting-up the Harpoonapus creature.

The Ecology of the Dragon Turtle reminded me of the old Dragon magazine 'Ecology Of...' articles and it gives us three new variants of the Dragon Turtle, which I thought were pretty well done. The illustration for the Subterrene Dragon Turtle on p.39 was my favorite image in the issue.

There is also another 'Ecology Of' article for the "Oculus Despot," that provided a quick and easy way to randomize the eye-beams to this classic redacted monster.

The rest of the issue is packed with more new monsters, new weapons, new NPCs, and loads of resources that run the gamut from silly to inspired. The Stone Spirals are really interesting and could open up some interesting scenario options. There are a lot of new spells including Errgo's Gnawing Slabs that I hope my character Ushnab over on Unseen Servant gets to learn one of these days. It's Fifth Level, so it'll be a while...

The Tactical Magic article examines scrolls in AD&D and is a good book-end to Lakofka's article on spell casting.

The piece on Homebrewed Campaigns felt kind of random, but it was a decent first installment for what is going to be an ongoing column.

The Businesses of Gamington not only had a nifty map of the little fortified town, it detailed a number of interesting shops that really gave the place some character and was complemented by an article detailing three more shops (one is an inn) that can also be dragged and dropped into any campaign. Gamington is a great seed that could really grow into something fun and wonderful.

Juju Zombie Bandits, a Western Lake Lands Hexcrawl, and the second map for the Desert Ziggurat all provide some ready-to-go adventuring fodder, and the Gaming Gourmet tells you how to make some delicious pulled pork for feeding a pack of hungry gamers.

All in all this is a pretty fine read. Download a copy and see for yourself. It's free, so what are you waiting for?