Free RPG's to the rescue!

Financially it's tough all over, and I'm sure some of you guys may find it a bit harder to explain away that new $45.00 RPG purchase to the wife. Well the Evil DM is here to lend a hand. A little research can put a lot of gaming goodness on your table for free (and no, I'm not talking about pirated PDF's).

Here are a couple of recent offerings that have popped up. Now these aren't "Preview" or "Light" versions of games. They are complete, 100% playable, and fully supported efforts.



Mazes and Minotaurs is a well supported game of adventure in the "Age of Heroes" They have just recently released the third issue of Minotaur, a quarterly pdf that supports Mazes and Minotaurs with a bunch of new fun stuff.




Atomic Sock Monkey Press has just released a new core rules set for their popular PDQ system. it's called PDQ Sharp and is available for free at RPGNow.


Now if your hankering for a little "Gamma World" / Thundarr action, might I suggest Goblinoid Games- Mutant Future.




From Rob Lang's wonderful Free RPG Blog comes word of yet another game system -or "YAGS". Rob gave it the once over and posted a positive review, so you might want to take a look at it as well.

So there you go. Three to get you started. Now go roll some dice!

"Corps!" Comic

It looks like "The Corps!" action figure line has been made into a comic. Devil's Due Publishing just released a new book to tie in with the new figures available at Wal-Mart. I picked up the book yesterday, not bad. the first issue focuses on the villains. I'd love to see a female action figure made for the main female character in this issue.

Manly Monday!

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump

I know its coming soon, but I want this Lego set NOW!

The High Chaparral as an LoS campaign

Back in April of '07 I posted about an idea I had after reading a book called the Spider's Test. The idea was to have a campaign revolving around settlers in a new land carving a new life out for themselves. I made mention in passing that The High Chaparral television series would make a good template for this type of adventure.

Recently I've had the opportunity to watch the complete series from its first episode onward, and my feeling is stronger than ever that this would make a great campaign for a mature group of players who enjoy a little role playing mixed in with their hacking and slashing.

For those of you who may not familiar with The High Chaparral, here is a quick synopsis clipped from The High Chaparral Homepage:

One of the most successful and highly acclaimed Westerns on television was The High Chaparral, the name of the ranch owned by the Cannon family in the Arizona Territory during the 1870's. Stubborn, determined, 50-year-old John Cannon is the patriarch of the family with ambitions to establish a cattle empire while finding a way to co-exist with the Apaches and the Mexicans just across the border. To help him, he has his younger brother Buck, who can out-drink, out-shoot, out-fight, and when motivated, out-work any man alive. He also has his son, Billy Blue, a young man in his early 20's, whose mother is killed in the first episode. In an arranged marriage intended to keep peace with the neighbors, John then marries an aristocratic Mexican beauty, Victoria Montoya, daughter of Don Sebastian Montoya, a wealthy Sonoran rancher. Her brother, Manolito, accompanies Victoria to the Cannon ranch as her guardian, staying on as a member of the household even after the arranged marriage turns to one of substance and trust.
Created and produced by David Dortort, the genius behind Bonanza, the writing was superb with plenty of action and biting dialog. The series strove for realism...the sweat, the dirt, the heat, the desert...even the Apaches who worked on the set as extras were real. And it explored culture and class conflicts among white Americans, Mexicans, and various Indian tribes at a level not attempted before or since by a television Western.

I started thinking where and how would I fit the premise for The High Chaparral into one of my own games? I settled on an area south of the city of Al-Khalid right at the foot of the Drujistan mountains.

Here is my outline:

An ex-adventurer from Tyros decides to settle down and try his hand at raising cattle. He finds his opportunity in the Southern Kingdom of Al-Khalid. Using the wealth he has managed to save over the years he purchases a large piece of land at the foot of the Drujistan mountains. His intention is to import and raise cattle for sale to the Southern kingdoms. With him are his brother, and his son and daughter.
In addition he brings a dozen or so trusted men and their families, with promises that after 5 years of service he will help establish each on their own plots of land. The settlers travel by ship from Pyrani to Al-Khalid and then drive their cattle to the land at the base of the mountain.



When they get to the land they discover the following:

* The land is beautiful but harsh, there is sufficient water and grazing land but just enough, and it must be managed wisely.

* There are other more established land owners. Amongst them a powerful Nobleman/Merchant whose fortune comes from raising sheep. his stock has been grazing on the land up until now. As stated before he is powerful and has a small army of henchmen at his command.

* There are mountain tribesmen- The Jaga and the Morgal (AKA Apache & Navajo) they are in constant contention with the land owners the city of Al-Khalid and each other.

* Some of the merchants in the city of Al-Khalid would be very happy to see this venture fail since domestic beef would cut into their profits from the imported beef they now supply the city with. they will use their influence to see that the government and the military give as little aid a s possible to these foreigners.

* Toss in your occasional wandering monsters, beastmen, ancient ruins, skirmishes and intrigues and this could really turn into a sweet little campaign.

The David Gemmell Legend Award

If you have been hanging around here at the Lair for any length of time you know how much enjoy the works of David Gemmell. I consider his works as essential reading for anyone who enjoys a rousing tale of heroism, duty and sacrifice. In his honor a new award has been established: The David Gemmell Legend Award.

The DGLA will be presented for the very first time in 2009 for the best Fantasy novel of 2008. The award will be given to a work written in the 'spirit' of the late, great David Gemmell, a true Master of Heroic Fantasy.

Please join me at the DGLA website. They are just getting started and could use the support.

My thanks to The Cimmerian for posting about this.

David left us way too soon. His untimely death was such a blow to me that his last book "Troy: Fall of Kings" sits on my shelf unread. And it will stay there for quite sometime, because once I read it I know there will be no more stories from him, and this way I'll always have one more David Gemmell story to look forward to.

Motivational Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump - Picasa Edition

I'm an admitted Google convert. one of Google's coolest tools is Picasa. Picasa is a photo editor, storage application, photo sharing network and an all around fun place to play around in.

Today's Lazy Sunday Photo Dump consists of some collages I just made with Picasa of a few of my favorite things.

The Burning Earth

One of the cool things that action figure hobbyists do is to take their figures and make a photo story. My online Buddy MG did just that with a bargain store "Knock off" of the Max Steel action figure. Actually it's kinda cool in a 1980' Post-Apocalyptic "B Movie" sort of way. I suggested he take the guy and have him fight some mutants or something. Well he did just that. Then I took the pictures he posted and used my comic book creator software to whip up a Comic book of sorts. it took me about an hour and the result aint half bad for a shot in the dark. Enjoy.

I found just the thing - LibraryThing

Right before the most recent crash I posted on a few of the forums that I was looking for a book/game organizer. The thing is, I have tons of books and games strewn about in different parts of the Lair and all too often I come back from a “book run” only to find that I bought something I already have. One of the suggestions was a place called LibraryThing.

LibraryThing not only organizes your book and game collection it also acts as a social networking site similar to My Space and Facebook. I’m not into networking sites such as Facebook etc. they seem to me intrusive with their silly polls and other time wasters, but this one might be worth it for the networking I can do in a specific are of interest (books).

I like the feel of it so much so that I actually invited many of my online friends who also have a literary bent.

A few months ago I was talking with Howard Jones the editor of Black Gate Magazine and we were discussing the lack of a message board dedicated to Heroic Fiction or Adventure Fiction. There are a couple of Sword & Sorcery boards out there and of course many dedicated to specific characters and authors, but nowhere that one can go to discuss the various works of Mundy, Howard, Burroughs or Lamb all on the same site. LibraryThing might be the place to form such a group.

Anyway, I’m on there and trying slowly but surely to get my books entered and organized. I’m shooting for entering maybe 20 books a day. So stop by sign up, I just checked I actually have a “friend” there now.

My new goal is to be the Tia Tequila of LibraryThing!

Lazy Sunday Photo dump (Stormtrooper edition)

And we're back...

Thanks to my good friend Gabe we are back up and running here at the Lair. The crash we experienced was caused by my stupidity more than anything else. Thankfully all of my data was retrievable. I did have to reformat good old “Drive: C”, but that was more of a hassle than a true catastrophe, and in some ways a good thing. I tend to collect a lot of digital garbage, and a good reformat is kind of like a computer colonic.

Yes, I'm a Dumbass

I downloaded a virus. My computer is locked up. I'm typing this from the childrens section at the local library. my big ass in a little tiny chair, typing on a color coded keyboard that looks like something out of a fischer price catalog.
This sucks.

A public service announcement from The Lair of the Evil DM

This year being an election year, it's important to be aware of our rights and responsibilities as Americans.

The Heritage Foundation , a non-partisan, non-profit research and educational organization, is offering-free of charge- copies of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

They even pick up the shipping.

It's very easy for someone to deprive you of your rights if you are unaware of what they are in the first place.

Take a minute to pass this on, especially to the idiots who send you all those chain letters and Email promises of $100.00 checks from Bill Gates. At least you'll be sending them something useful.

We now return to our regular posting here at The Lair of the Evil DM.

Motivational Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump