The Sword Lives!

 

I've been dormant, but the sleeping one stirs.

I had intended to get back to sharing RPG ideas on here, and then got side-tracked for a year or two, you know how it is. I've been gaming at least, if nothing else. So, with the new year and some new opportunities what better time to shake off the dust and get back into it.

I'm running a weekly game with some new friends and one old friend, my Colony of Death setting. An LotFP compatible setting guide for the Colony of Maryland in 1650. 

I'm writing a new adventure supplement for said setting which will see New Sweden as a new adventure location.  

I'm also working on a revised and expanded second edition of Colony of Death.

As well as some other non-RPG projects. It's gonna be a good year for creativity and fun.

I must give some credit to my new friend Mike Necrofent for digging me out of the Appalachian mud and rekindling the fires of inspiration. And my brother, Jason Hess and Tim "Samwise 7"Harper for their collaborative efforts. 

Roll Initiative and Let the Dice Fall Where They May!

 

 

Having Fun is a Lot of Work

Wow, I haven't posted in 4 months. Well, we've been busy gaming, world-building and play-testing. I got some new RPG stuff this year; Swords & Wizardry box set, a bunch of new Lamentations of the Flame Princess books, and the Classic Call of Cthulhu box set that was recently kickstarted. So, we've been busy. 

I got my brother into White Star back in Jan. and we've been playing a weekly game and working on stuff for a White Star compatible project for the future. 

My uncle ran some TSR Marvel Super Heroes, which I had never played before.

And now that the Classic Cthulhu stuff arrived, we've started a Cthulhu campaign. 

So lots of gaming going on and more to be had. I plan to eventually publish a White Star compatible product with my brother at some point, and I have some vague plans for another LotFP compatible adventure. 

So, things are in the works. I'll update again at some point, until then I'm back to it. 

Happy Gaming

Wood Planet Gaming Lodge, Podcast Premiere

 

PREMIERE EPISODE!!! Join Jason and Mark as they briefly chat about OSR, and then explain what exactly is Wood Planet Gaming Lodge.

 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ZVGnWud5kPqYkji8WVFKy...

 

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor fm, and more.

 

Wood Planet Gaming Lodge

 

Wood Planet Gaming Lodge is a place to discuss table top RPGs. Me and my brother will be selling our wares, blogging about gaming and sharing gaming material. There will also be podcasts with interviews and/or reveiws, or just whatever we're inspired to talk about. 

We started this site a few years ago but schedules and life circumstances caused it to take a backseat, but now we're back! With the new year comes the new site and new opportunities for gaming goodness.

Come join us as we grow our site. Grab a seat at the table, fire up a pipe, warm yourself by the fire, and roll initiative!

LotFP Greyhawk Campaign

I wanted to run some old school Greyhawk. I thought, why not use the old 1e rules, I had OSRIC, so we made characters and started running Against the Slave Lords. We played the first 2 modules then the party split up, half went to Greyhawk City and half continued on. The ones who continued died in the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. 

Then we played a wild ass Lamentations campaign for the rest of the summer. Finally in the Fall we picked up Greyhawk again, but this time I converted everyone's characters to LotFP rules and off we went. 

Everyone had at least 2 characters, 3 to 5 players at the peak, then back to 3 players. We played a few adventures around Greyhawk from Treasures of Greyhawk, they found a Spelljammer vessel so we went into space and played a couple adventures from Skull and Crossbows. I never owned any of this stuff back in the day. These books were the reprints from drivethru. 

Finally they came back to Oerth and finished the Slavers modules. Then we started Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. So I've run 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition modules with Lamentations of the Flame Princess and so far its been pretty smooth. 

I tied this new campaign in with my old Greyhawk game from 2001 in the 3e days. So my old high level character has made an appearance. My players are these young 20-something guys, so they are getting to discover Greyhawk for the first time.

Some people might wonder why Lamentations for the ruleset. Well, first I just love LotFP, it was my first retro-clone. And I like its skill system, the encumbrance, and there's very few class restrictions. For me as the DM, LotFP is just so smooth and easy to run.

Our highest level characters currently are around 8-10th level. 

It's been epic, we are wrapping up our last session by the end of the year. I enjoyed revisiting Greyhawk, not sure what our next campaign will be.

Until next time. Have fun, be cool. See ya next year.

Summer of Lament, the Doomed Ones LotFP campaign

This is just my notes from the crazy ass Lamentations campaign we played this summer. Some people found it hard to believe we played so many modules in just 6 months, I find it hard to believe myself. We played twice a week sometimes, we were playing episodic I was advancing the timeline 1d6 years between modules, and my players are young and like to burn through shit. 

So anyway some of you might enjoy reading this. 

 

The Doomed Ones - LotFP Campaign – March-August 2021

House Rules in Use 

-Weird Magic is in use (Vaginas Are Magic and Eldritch Cock)

-Physik Skill (Flame Princess Cult #1)

-Things Only Get Worse (Flame Princess Cult #1, p.24)

-Random Campaign Advancement (Flame Princess Cult #6, p.26)

-Check Age Chart (Flame Princess Cult)

-Check for Psionic ability (Carcosa) 

 

May 1600 – England – Celia, Gustaf, Harold, Gregory, Alavir

1. Doom Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children 

2. Doom Cave conclusion

 

June 1604 - Dover, England – Celia, Hanz, Mikhil, Milton

-New Trends in Armor. Chainmail and plate are no longer available for sale, but buff coats, Pikeman’s armor, full armor, etc. are.

3. The God that Crawls

4. The God that Crawls conclusion

 

May 1608 - Fosdyke, Lincolnshire, England – Celia, Hanz, Vincent, Benjamin

-Fashion - Ridiculously large hats and general foppery come into vogue. Any PC wanting entrance into polite society must spend at least 15+5d10sp on a new wardrobe.

The City of London suffers a devastating plague with 75% fatality rate. King James contracts it and dies. Parliament takes temporary control, until James’ son Henry Frederick reaches the age of 18 to assume the crown.

5. England Upturn’d: Fosdyke

6. England Upturn’d part II: The Dig

7. England Upturn’d part III: The Upturning

  

1612 - England

-New Races: Colfach and Nilfungr in England.

At the age of 18 Prince Henry is set to take the throne, when he suddenly takes ill and dies of Typhoid Fever. England is still without a king and under Parliamentary rule.

  

August 1613 - Khirima, Nigeria, Africa – Celia, Hanz, Benjamin, Johnny Rotts, Orthwo

-Wheelock firearms including Arquebuses, muskets and pistols are now available.

8. World of the Lost: Khirima

9. World of the Lost, part II: The Plateau

10. World of the Lost, part III: The Temple of Ages That Are Not

Khirima is overrun with dinosaurs, plasmics and pterians. Over the coming months they spread further into Nigeria. By 1614 they will be spread throughout greater Africa.

 

June – July 1616 – Qelong River Valley, Cambodia – Celia, Hanz, Johnny Rotts, Orthwo

-Dwarves return to the Mother. All NPC dwarves retreat from the sunlit realms, never to be seen on the surface again. No new dwarf PCs allowed.

11. Qelong

12. Qelong part II: The Cylinder

1618 – Start of the Thirty Years War.

 

October 1620, off the coast of Iceland – Hanz, Christian, Gilbert, Laila

-Alchemy to quackery. All new potions produced now require a saving throw against Poison to successfully use. Failure indicates the drinker takes 1d6 damage.

13. Thulian Echoes: The Book

14. Thulian Echoes: The Present

 

1625 – England

Charles I ascends the throne of England. The Nilfungr have gone to war with England, who has been without a king, until the young Charles I takes to the throne and rallies the people to war.

The Protestant king Christian IV of Denmark and Norway intervenes in the German war. Emperor Ferdinand II employs Albrecht von Wallenstein to fight the Danish armies.

 

Dec 11, 1625 – Hanz, Christian, Gilbert, Laila, Spike, Altun

-Artifacts decay. All non-potion magic items now have a 20% chance of being drained of magic after each use. Wands, etc., can no longer be recharged.

15. Weird New World. Many seek the Northwest Passage, and the entrance to the Hollow Earth, which the Nilfungr revealed to the World. Hanz and his group arrive at Trading Post Talon. The party waits until August to venture out with the summer thaw. They find the Death Shrine.

16. Weird New World II.

 

August 1626 – Bert, Laila, Altun

17. Hammers of the God. They got the Elfbane.

 

September 1626 – Bert, Laila, Hikull, Omar, Timmy Truffle

18. Frostbitten & Mutilated

19. F&M 2

20. F&M 3. Amazons and Witches available as classes.

21. F&M 4. Into the Dim Fortress. They learned that the End is coming, and were advised to leave Earth if at all possible. They killed the Noctambulant. They spoke to King Ovv. They saw Nidhoggr. Many of the Arsonists were killed.

-Age of dueling begins. Great and medium weapons are out, rapiers are in. Furthermore, 1 in 6 city encounters are now with some fool (fighter level d4-1) who demands to cross swords.

22. F&M 5. Journey to the Sevenfold Tower. They were told that the knowledge to enter Carcosa lies inside the Sevenfold Tower.

 

1629

Back on Earth, life continues.

-Arms Race. Flintlocks become available.

 

The Doomed Ones – Chapter II, July 2021

House Rules in Use 

-No more Vancian Magic, existing M-Us will gain slots upon leveling, but must gain spells from spellbooks, scrolls, or other M-Us, all of which have become extremely rare.

-Check Age Chart

-Check for Psionic ability

-Classes: Fighter, Sorcerer, Specialist, Mushroom Mans

-No more Physik, no more Clerics or Magic-Users

-Anyone can use Carcosan Rituals

 Carcosa, Year 2

23. Carcosa/The Seclusium of Jontof. The party has been living with a tribe of White Men for nearly a year. They have picked up the local language and learned some about the harsh world they now call home. They buy a treasure map and follow it, they find a chest of gems and kill a spawn of Shub-Niggurath. They scout out the Seclusium of Jontof, Bearer of the Seven Potencies. They meet the apprentice posing as Jontof. He agrees to ally with them and tells them to seize the Place of the Skull. Timmy has a prophetic dream of the Fungal Gardens.

 24. The Place of the Skull. They party seek to loot the ancient mysterious site. They arrive and infiltrate the site. They manage to kill Ghopiab and Skullface. Ghopiab is now undead and under Bert’s control.

 25. The Place of the Skull part II. They continue clearing out the site, apparently there’s a captured princess nearby. They find her and finish off the minions. In the crystal chamber below they unlock the secret arsenal of the ancients. They agree to return the princess to her kingdom.

They now have dino mounts and the Battle Ram tank.

 26. Funeral for a Friend. On their way to Oras Kuhl they battle a village of Dolm Men, they encounter 8 Jale Sorcerers who demand a sacrifice. The group offers up Tor, the mutant slave who helped them escape. They fought a Spawn of Shubniggurath on the shores of Lake Hali, it killed Laila and Olivia. They finally arrive at Oras Kuhl where they are greeted as heroes for returning Princess Freya. There they bury their friends Hikiel, Laila and Olivia in the city of Oras Kuhl, a hero’s funeral. King Velkor rewards them with 20,000sp and lets them stay. They stay for the next 13 days while Garvik transcribes a scroll.

 27. The Fungal Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer. The group travel to the Fungal Gardens.

 28. Fungal Gardens Part II. They find deep ones, ally with the Bone sorcerer and convince the Red Man’s army to go away. Stay till day 30

 29. Towers Two. The group travels to Hune. They clear out the Sarkas Clan. Ended abruptly, did not finish.

My OSR Journey

This is just the stuff I've got in physical form, there's a ton more in PDF and waiting in carts.

I bought Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic in January of 2019, since then for the last two years I've been absorbing OSR material. 

I've been gaming for 30 years, but I always played Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying, mostly Call of Cthulhu, because of the Satanic Panic of the 80's I wasn't allowed to played D&D. So I missed out on playing BX or AD&D, but I always wanted to. By the time I got into D&D it was 3rd Edition. If we wanted fantasy we played 3E, if we wanted sci-fi it was West End Games' Star Wars d6, and for horror Call of Cthulhu. 

That was the rotation until I got sick of 3E and went exclusively to Call of Cthulhu, and Basic Roleplaying for everything else, from fantasy to superheroes. BRP is a GREAT system, its where we cut our teeth, but I was kinda getting burned out on it. 

When D&D 5E came out I got into it because I still had an itch for classic D&D, or fantasy, that wasn't 3E. But after awhile I felt like 5E really had all the same problems as 3E, rules bloat, piles of expensive, heavy books, and it wasn't old school enough for me. I wanted death, I wanted resource management, I wanted hexcrawl! I wanted the players to have to think and work as a team. So, I turned to the Retro-Clones. 

OSRIC, OSE, LotFP

I tried OSRIC first because I wanted old-school d&d, but 1E is clunky AF, even with the better layout of OSRIC. I wanted simpler, more streamlined, so I checked out Old-School Essentials, back when it was still BX Essentials. I really liked the smooth layout and easy reference, but it had race as class, which was so strange to me at the time. But I gave it try and found I kinda liked it. So I was debating which one to buy a physical copy of, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess won out because of the art and more mature theme, and it was readily available on Amazon.

So for the last 2 years I've become an LotFP addict, a Flaming Lamenter, or a Lamenting Flamer, or whatever. But the OSR is vast and varied. It's awesome for its compatibility and there are tons of awesome games out there. The OSR has rejuvenated my interest and participation in gaming. It's what I've been missing my whole life.

Here's a quick note on some of the OSR products I've picked up.

LotFP, my favorite, the best in my opinion. Not for kids, deadly, weird, historic.

White Star is very awesome for sci-fi. You can recreate any classic sci-fi trope with this game. Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Transformers, you name it.

Old-School Essentials, perfect for referencing with its easy to read layout. Being able to reference spells and monsters quickly and easily at the table is very important to me. 

DCC is a massive tome that I have only scratched the surface of. But they seem to have a ton of weird adventures out there.

So, my OSR journey continues. There's plenty more I'd like to pick in the future as funds allow. 

OSR is King! Long Live the OSR!

Map Making, the Boomer Way

 So, I was playing some old 1st edition Greyhawk, and checking out this awesome map. Greyhawk with its cool maps and detailed history just made me want to work on my own home-brew world again. So, I started with updating our campaign map. 

Now, I don't use photoshop, never had the motivation to learn it, so I had to go the roundabout way. My goal was to digitize our hand drawn composite map into the computer.

 It was too big to scan, and far to smudgy with sloppy writing, so I needed to trace the whole thing on new paper. So I used my game table, by taking out the insert and using a piece of glass with a desk lamp shining up from below, I had a makeshift ligthboard.

Then I tediously traced the whole thing, everything came out pretty good, except the mountains. 

After getting a clean trace, I folded it at the creases to get it on the scanner. I scanned each piece (9 pieces of paper) into the computer.

Once in the computer, I had to piece it back together into one picture. I used GIMP to reconstruct it, I can also put a hex grid on with GIMP but I choose not to on this one. I used Paint 3D to add color and labels.

Still had to be printed in separate pieces and taped together. I left it in 3 pieces like those old d&d maps.

So, there was probably an easier way to do this, but I worked with what I had/what I knew how to use. It was a fun process, and I'm a analog guy anyway, I like the hands on approach.

And it turned out pretty awesome.

Not sure I would recommend this method, but it worked.

Blog Update

Things have been slow over here. But I plan on getting back to posting with the new year. I've been playing 1st edition Greyhawk lately and might post some stuff from that. I also have my own fantasy homebrew world (who doesn't?) that I might start fleshing out more. All of this is pending on how I feel and what inspiration strikes. 

Our Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign came to an end so we may take a break from LotFP for a bit. We also discovered White Star this past year and will probably revisit that at some point. 

With all the crazy stuff going on this year, it was actually pretty good for me creatively. I published three supplements for LotFP this year, which you can check out on Drivethru and Lulu. Not sure what the new year holds, but I'm excited to find out, 2020 can suck it. 

So anyway, just wanted to post something so I get back in the mode. Keep gaming, people! See you soon.

Hexelis's RPG History

Here's an article I wrote for Wood Planet Gaming Lodge a few years ago.

Hexelis's RPG History

I’m always interested in peoples stories of how they got into role-playing and how their experience has evolved, so here’s mine.
1989 AD, twelve years old and in the 7th grade, my friend Casey and I were all about X-Men comics! I was also into Nintendo, books (mostly Stephen King), movies and writing stories. My brother and I would make characters and stories with our G.I. Joe and Star Wars figures. At that time I had only messed around with AD&D, before that D&D was a mythical thing my uncle did, evil and of the devil. A year later that same uncle introduced us to Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu, he gave me the Red and White books from 3rd edition and that began my RPG journey. We even got our dad playing, who is still an avid gamer to this day.
By 1997 we had started playing West End Games Star Wars d6. The next few years saw a lot of Star Wars d6 and CoC. In 2000 WotC Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition was released and that began a long run of D&D. Enter the curse of the d20 (my love/hate of the d20 system is a rant for another day).
In our circle 2008 is officially known as “The Year of the Minis”. D&D and Star Wars minis took over everything and everyone I knew. We called 'em "Plasticrack" that's how addictive they were. 2009 I began fleshing out Project R/S (home-brew superhero world) with my brothers kids as the play-testers. Throughout 2010 and 2011 other friends play-tested the crap out of Project R/S and Masters of M’theria (home-brew fantasy world).
Around 2013 I found out that Casey had died a few years ago in a car wreck. I had not spoken to him since ”93 or ”94. One of my first true friends who was with me at the beginning of something that would become a life-long hobby, something that got me through rough times, helped form long-lasting friendships, and strengthen family bonds. I wish he could have seen where we took it. Play on, brother.
As of 2015 we have many on-going games and home-made settings as well as a few new players for the next generation. 2015 is turning out to be The Return of D&D for some of us with the new 5th edition. It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years, but it’s been a fun and rewarding journey. Here’s to the next 25 years and the next generation of role-players.


That was 4 years ago, since then I got the new Delta Green RPG which is very cool but haven't played it that much. I love Call of Cthulhu but I'm not too big on the new edition. We ran several (5 0r 6) of the D&D 5E campaigns, so I've had my fill of 5E. So, now that I've rediscovered OSR, I'm all about some Lamentations of the Flame Princess!

Enjoy!

 

Another Gaming Blog

I'm starting this blog to share some gaming ideas here and there. Just whatever I come up with for my own ttrpg that might be useful to others to use in their games or steal some inspiration. 

Currently I'm running Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but I'm also a big fan of old Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Basic and AD&D, Star Wars d6, etc. So I may end up sharing stuff for those games, just depends what strikes me at the time. 

I'm old school, I mostly like stuff from the 70s, 80s, 90s as far as movies, comics, and rpg's go. I hope whoever reads this gets some enjoyment or inspiration out of it. 

Peace!