Wait until you hear what Ol’ Man Grognard said about Lands of Lunacy!
Ol Man Grognard got his mitts on Lands of Lunacy, you will want to hear what he had to say! Expect a grumpy ol’ Grognard to tell it like it is, and he does.
Lands of Lunacy got it’s first feedback tonight
The Fail Squad Games crew considers it an honor to be reviewed by such an icon in the Old School world as Glen Hallstrom. Glen is no slouch when it comes to classic gaming, and I have to admit to being a little nervous when he said he would give it an honest look and an honest review.
Well, I think the video speaks for itself, it’s time to sit back and smile…. Until Glen pulls this out of his bag at the gaming table!
You can check out his entire youtube channel HERE.
He covers TONS of gaming topics, products and discussions.
Glen managed to completely encompass all of our favorite things about the Lands of Lunacy setting, and present it in a way that had us running to the gaming table (Or from it with insanity). Thank you Mr. Grognard for your kind words and plugs. There will indeed be more to come for Lands of Lunacy. Click on the video below to watch it in it’s entirety.
Want yours? Shipping begins 12/8/16 – order yours now supplies limited!
Tell us how your Lands of Lunacy game has gone! What happened in your adventures? Questions? comments?
Did you make your own review? SHARE IT!! Let us help you spread the word!
Save or Die – Something I like about 5E
“Save or Die” used to suck
In all the previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons “Save or Die” was this thing that many DMs avoided. That is, unless they were just tired of the characters at the table. It just felt overly brutal to make a player roll one dice and go from 100% to absolutely done!
That’s what it was back in the day, literally save or die. Along came resurrection and that softened the blow, but you had to rely on the rest of your party to carry your corpse back to a temple, spend all your money, come back with less con (It was just an ordeal). A phase spider could really interrupt the entire night’s game.
Along came 5E
I’m not living in the 5E world and I still prefer older versions of Dungeons & Dragons. I recently came across a really nice feature of 5E for DMs. Save or Die!
My latest bit of writing involved a giant Black Widow Spider (2ft. across) hiding in an privy pit. Her venom needed to be deadly, and I could just pop in “Save VS CON DC16 or DIE”. Now I am able to take the thing I didn’t like about 5E (Death saving throws) and make them work to my advantage.
Now we can say save or die, but what we mean is save or “Go to zero HP and start your death saving throws.” I understand this is the kind DM version. Save or die can still mean save or die! This kinder version does continue to make deadly things quite deadly, but doesn’t let the life of your character rest on one roll that might only have a 30% chance of success.
I would like to put my brain to this to find a good way to do a similar house rule in 1E or 2E for Save or Die creatures. What have you done in your games to avoid the cold “Save or Die” phrase?
Are you giving crappy greeting cards?
Why would you give your friends and family you care about crappy greeting cards dripping with mushy sentiment?
Give them the cards they want, the cards they DESERVE… greeting cards
Loaded with ADVENTURE!
Right now Fail Squad Games has ALL greeting cards on sale, that even includes the MICROQUEST CARDS which are RPG adventures in Greeting card form!!
You don’t need to run around on Black Friday for the perfect gift or give the perfect gift but a REALLY crappy card with some cat in a stocking! Give them a Giant in his ruins, or Santa vs. the White Dragon, or the complete Micro Quest Card SET! 6 adventures!!! 6 Greeting cards!
This sale won’t last forever, and you can’t just give the same old greeting cards this holiday! I mean, don’t you like your friends? Doesn’t your DM spare your life at least once in a while?
You know that Ogre Magi would have messed you up!
Show your DM and players some love, Shop the Fail Squad Games site, sit back and enjoy the praise!
Spider Fights – Philippine Blood Sport?
Spider Fights
Need some inspiration for underdark tavern games? Svirfeblin betting? Drow rebels taunting Lolth?
Yes it’s a thing, and it’s included with The “blood Sports” category. File this under things that we had no idea existed, and will easily find its’ way into future adventures.
Grabbed from Wikipedia on the topic:
In the Philippines, spider fighting (Hiligaynon: pahibag sang damang; Cebuano: paaway kaka or sabong sa kaka) is staged between female orb-weavers from the genus Neoscona.[1] In Japan, the contests occur at an annual festival and use females of the genus Argiope. In Japanese these contests are called Kumo Gassen (spider battles). In Singapore, they use males of the genus Thiania, and most commonly use the species Thiania bhamoensis, although another species of that genus may sometimes be used. Like cockfighting, spider fighting is a sport that usually involves betting and events occur frequently. In Singapore, they are known as “fighting spiders” in English and dòu zhī zhū (Chinese: 鬥蜘蛛, “fighting spiders”) in Mandarin Chinese, analogous to the Chinese term for gamecocks, dòu jī (Chinese: 鬥雞, “fighting chickens”).
Honestly I personally don’t know how to feel about this. Yes people are urging animals to battle for their amusement, seems wrong doesn’t it? The fact that it’s spiders battling, softens the blow a little. In the end, I’m not going to pass any judgement, just looking at this strange thing I discovered while doing some research on my latest adventure module.
The real world is stranger than we think, and inspiration for “dungeon dressing” is everywhere. Lolth would certainly find such ‘sport’ horrendous!
Let the adventure begin! Might your heroes and good Paladins find themselves suddenly in agreement with and working for the Spider queen of the drow to stop a roving band of betting Svirneblin?
Dungeons and Dragons Movie
Yes, It’s Coming!
Back in August Hasbro, WOTC, and WB announced that the Dungeons and Dragons movie was green lighted. Previous D&D movies came with mediocre results and mediocre budgets. When Hasbro brought on Sweetpea Ent. and Roy Lee (Lego Movie and How to Train your Dragon) I became suspicious.
I will go see it, I am sure the effects will be great…. I am sure it will be bloodless, i am sure the plot line is generally light. I fully accept that the movie needs to be a draw for kids, we can’t complain too much. The hope remains that they can manage to do all the things they need to, and still make us cheer from our seat saying, “YES!!! THIS… THIS my friends, is the D&D movie we dreamed about and DESERVE!”
It’s a tall order to appeal to young kids and adults on such a thing that must contain battles and conflict with weaponry. Is there a way to acknowledge that every age range playing the game discusses blood spattering and heads being lobbed off, but still satisfy the ratings requirements?
All the producers are ignoring the previous flop film from 2001. It will be some time before it hits the screen, although they say the script is written.
Who is the Movie for?
In the end we all hope that it’s a movie to get young people excited about tabletop gaming. I would like to know who the target market is that they have in mind. My guess is PG-13. I am hoping us old farts at least get a nod to the roots of the game.
More?
In the announcement there was an interesting “add on” bit:
Today’s announcement reflects the resolution of Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast LLC’s complaint against Sweetpea Entertainment, Inc. and Sweetpea BVI, Ltd. and the counterclaims filed by Sweetpea against Hasbro in May 2013 related to the Dungeons & Dragon brand. Solomon and Zeman will be attached to produce all Warner Bros.-produced Dungeons & Dragons film and television productions. All rights for future Dungeons & Dragons productions have been unified and returned to Wizards of the Coast, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hasbro.
Is there more than just a movie in the works? Our games and our little corner of the world is finally getting to ride in the front seat. This is good news for OSR game producers and convention hosts.
Way to go Gary Gygax… way to go!
Character Killers – Is Death Good or bad?
How frequent is death in your campaign? How does it affect gaming at your table?
Many GMs, Many Ways to Die
When I first came across Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons, I began thinking that 5E was soft on death with all it’s saving throws at zero HP, but then started meeting 5E GMs who regularly had TPKs (Total Party Kills). I attend a number of OSR and old-school conventions throughout the year with classic (D&D BECMI – 2E) GMs who have players start with multiple characters because death will certainly occur in their games. This and the numerous ‘save or die’ situations in Old school games and clones, had me assuming death was more common in older editions.
As I attended more conventions and began talking with more GMs, I started to see not all GMs were eager to bring the danger of death to the game. Death of a character can be devastating to a player, and if it is, possibly the actual game. Death however, is a risk that adventurers take on. Without death in your campaign, there is little risk in the player’s minds when charging into all situations. The same can be true of constantly bringing your players to their last few Hit Points. After a while it gets stale.
In various on-line groups I see a wide range of opinions on death of characters in gaming, and i am not sure how to approach this in my own games, or what the expectation should be.
For Fail Squad Games tables I have begun telling players that death is a real risk of many adventures. Gold and magic pile up in dungeons because brave heroes were lost. I do write in a few save or die instances in my games. Usually those situations arise most for the fool-hearty adventurer.
Recently I have come to the place where if a character is going to die, I allow it to be such an end, that it will be remembered. These are heroes after all, and yes a phase spider is save or die and can be very ani-climactic…. but we are the GMs, masters of destiny and chance. Allow the hero to fall, but give the player their moment to act through the drama of how they wish to see their character end.
The Value of Death in Gaming
The value of death in gaming may not be as apparent as you think. Players know they are taking on risk, but secretly many think the GM will skip over the true end of the characters at the table. When you bring the true danger of character death to the table, you bring the true thrill of risk and adventuring. Some Game Masters are so loathe to bring the fatal blow, that there are players who have never felt that moment of disbelief when a character is at the end and will adventure no more. It is a vital aspect of the game, a wondrous, and possibly, macabre aspect of tabletop RPGs.
The Danger of Too Much Death
The danger of too much death in a game brings a feeling of hopelessness to your players. Players may become too detached from their characters. There should be a sweet balance that reveals itself quickly after the first couple of deaths. The player is far more cautious and weary, but still able to emotionally invest in the story telling and their character. The player will take risks, but calculates the danger of doing so. Congratulate yourself… it may have been difficult, but you have groomed a great player with great stories of their hero.
Sometimes the blow of character death is made more bitter-sweet when the new character encounters a monument erected by the villagers to the lost hero who risked all to save them.
Many GMs, old and new, seem to pride themselves on TPK (Total Party Kills) especially at conventions. This, I feel, generates an adversarial GM situation and doesn’t mean you ran a successful campaign. A GM can TPK a party at any time, we are the GMs. Nothing is stopping us from deciding a dozen Terrasques emerge from the ether, or Blargh the warrior cut his neck shaving. Killing player characters isn’t a badge of honor unless it contributed an epic enjoyable story for all.
How are you handling death?
Character death likely doesn’t come as often as we think it does. Nearly dying in a game is a regular piece. Are you letting your heroes fall? If so has it ever soured your real-life players at the table?
Is there a way to keep the danger of death at the table without hurting the feelings of the players involved? We truly need to retain this piece of RPG history in our games. Death should be the real and ultimate danger. Seeing dead NPCs is not the same as being stricken down to the final breath.
FSG On Sale!
-
Winter Eternal 5E
$15.00
-
Lands of Lunacy 5E
$13.00