GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves

I had the pleasure of peer-reviwing/playtesting this book, which came out today:

It's out today, and if you're going to use elves in a GURPS game, it's worth the $6 to expand your variety of pointy-eared chums.

The ugly business of firings at TSR

This could have been a random Friday link, but I didn't want to forget it.

Jon Peterson looks at the waves of firings at TSR.

This is about when I was leaving TSR and its games behind . . . and went to SJG, which has had its own worries but not quite like this stuff.

Game Wizards: TSR Staffing

Having been fired from a job I specifically wanted at a company I specifically wanted to work at - by someone in the "strategic growth" department, no less - I feel for the people listed here often as mere numbers. It colored my relationships with all businesses, and it's why I can be annoyingly independent about how I do things. Imagine being a gamer, hired at TSR, and then, bang, pack up and go home. It must have really sucked. But then again, with all the people being laid off, maybe it became the kind of environment you wanted out of. I wouldn't know. I just know around this time TSR stopped making stuff I wanted and moved on. Maybe that's why this all happened - too many of us doing the same.

Nice to have Jon Peterson doing the hard documentation of the hazy memories I have of the downsizing of TSR.

My friend's Kickstarter - Blackbirds RPG

So one of my gamers posted this on our Discord group*:



The Creator & Lead Designer of that game is Ryan Verniere. Ryan is our old GM for Armageddon, and Vampire, and Mage, and other games. He also ran a few crazy fun characters in my Forgotten Realms-based GURPS 3e game. And survived the duststorm that was the Warped Tour on Randalls Island with me and the guy who ran Chuck Morris and a few other fun folks. Good times.

Anyway, Ryan is incredibly creative and fun. So I'm going to back this at least at the PDF level - I need another book on my shelf like I need another hole in my head but if it's got Ryan's name on it, maybe I'll get it anyway. It'll be pretty and fun to read, if a bit large.

I'll put the tracker up on my sidebar, too, for you guys using the web version of the blog.

* Which I basically never visit, but I did on a whim today. Probably for like the second or third time ever? Glad I did.

Fire in the Lake 3rd edition . . . getting closer

I just decided to take a quick look and see how Fire in the Lake is doing:

406 orders. Needs 94 more to ship.

I ordered it back in January and I was order #86.

I'm starting to get that last-week-before-Christmas feel - like it's almost here and yet will never come.

Felltower Updates

Just a few Felltower updates today.

I added a couple more monsters to the "Monsters Encountered" page - the two Lizard Man variants and vampires.

I started writing Felltower Rumors again.

and I cleaned up my Felltower notes in anticipation of a return to the dungeon halls beneath the ruined castle.

Warfare: 1944 Won

Since I had a bit of fun with Warfare: 1917, I decided to try Warfare: 1944.

It was fun, but much easier than 1917. I should have cranked up the difficulty, and I will if I play again. But it was pretty brief and not terribly exciting.

I got a screenshot of my victory screen but promptly did another cut-and-paste and lost it from the clipboard. Oh well. It wasn't really worth that much.

Still, enjoyable enough way to spend, er, 20 minutes or so?

Fun Stuff for Friday 9/2/21

Fun stuff for Friday.

- I am a big fan of posts like this - actual play rulings and feedback.

RPM Mistakes- some made, some avoided

I probably would do the proper potion thing in the future. I suspect some players would groan about how they "need" potions and that 1 second to Fast-Draw and open and drink a potion and have it take effect is reasonable . . . and that more than that is really a game-breaker.

- This is nonsense from the DMG is why I know so much about taxes, tithes, etc. but I don't enforce them in my game - and make rules to explain why not. They're not fun.

Random Roll: DMG, p. 90

- I'm slowly posting my comments on the DFD Thieves playtest. Overall it's good stuff. No spoilers - it's not even my book, so I really can't say much more than that.

- Otherwise I'm writing as I can, and getting back through comments to try and respond.