YES! Good Things in the Mail

It has been a good week, as some post-holiday gaming purchases have arrived.

Blood & Treasure Monster Tome: This is John Matthew Stater's (The Land of Nod) companion for his excellent ruleset, Blood & Treasure, which we used for about 40 sessions in the Montporte Dungeon. John is the Isaac Asimov of gaming writers/designers, cranking out huge amounts of high quality stuff, which is all the more remarkable in that he has a full-time job doing something else. This also serves as a reminder that I want to pick up a copy of Bloody Basic: Classic Edition and also Bloody Basic: Contemporary Edition. And I am way behind on my NOD purchases. As a side note, John's PARS FORTUNA is my favorite d20 game when it comes to a very creative yet simple game.

Cyclopean Deeps Volume 1: I ordered the Swords & Wizardry version of this from Frog God Games. This is the first in a planned series of adventures that also serve as a mini-campaign setting. Cyclopean Deeps presents a very creative take on the Under Realm, the area below the deepest portion of the Rappan Athuk dungeon. I bought mainly for inspirational reading, as player characters are starting to delve deeper (and beyond?) into the Montporte Dungeon. I have just started reading it, but it is groovy so far.

The Dungeon Dozen: This book is a little treasure trove of gaming goodness by Jason Sholtis (The Dungeon Dozen). It has become my favorite dungeon book and sits on my dungeoneering bookshelf right next to Central Casting: Dungeons by Robert Sassone (my go-to dungeon design book). The Dungeon Dozen has 195 pages of d12 tables, most of which are dungeon related. How can you not love a book that has three tables dedicated to "Dungeon Love Connections." And there are tables like "The Lich's Downtime Activities" and "Underworld Cash Crops." The book is useful, highly entertaining and incredibly inspirational. And the art is awesome!

Starter Adventures: This is Tim Short's (Gothridge Manor) long-awaited book, aimed at players and GMs absolutely brand new to gaming. Tim presents 16 very short adventuring scenarios--four scenarios for each of the four core classes (cleric, fighter, magic-user, and thief). These scenarios give the newbie player and GM a chance to learn about each class, as well as the basic game mechanics. In addition to the 16 scenarios, there is a detailed tavern, "Red Bear's," with adventure hooks. There is also a simple adventure, "Betrayed at Bender's End" including in the book, which rounds out the collection rather nicely.