The book is 133 pages long (same length as the first volume). The ISBN number is 2370020959793 and was published by Third Kingdom Games in 2024. It was written by Todd Leback, edited by Brian Johnson and contains art from Adrian Barber, Carlos Castilho, Denis McCarthy, Francesco Accordi, Hodag RPG, Marco Ortiz Walters, Michelle Smallwood and Teresa Guido. I appreciate that actual artists were used for this publication. It is one of the reasons that I elected to back this Kickstarter campaign.
The cover states that it is designed for used with Old-School Essentials, but it could be used for any OSR style game like Basic Fantasy, Castles and Crusades, OSRIC, Swords and Wizardry and others. Armor class is listed with both ascending and descending numbers.
A sample of some of the monsters included in this book.
This book covers about a 100 monsters from Efreet to Killer Bee with variants for each entry. One of the more interesting entries covers the horse. Not only does it give stats for different horse types (magical and non-magical) but it also gives random charts for markings, descriptions and traits. Something that could make a campaign a little bit more interesting.
Just as in the first book, there are several alternate rules for OSR type games at the start of the book and two new character races developed from the monsters in the book. You could play an awakened giant ferret or a Loxen (elephant-folk). There are also several new spells in the back of the book. The final appendix includes encounter tables and a combined Monsters by HD that covers Vol 1 and 2.
Another sample page showing the Ghoul Lord.
Like the first book, this was an interesting read. As with any small publisher, there was a slip up or two in the editing, but overall I’m very pleased with the reward for backing this Kickstarter. It gave me several ideas that I could drop into a campaign. I’m looking forward to volume three being announced hopefully next year.
Have you backed any Kickstarters lately? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
I’ve been looking forward to Day 26 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge. I’m going to be reviewing a Superb Screen for the topic. I’ve had this for a while and I’ve been meaning to post a review of it. I had picked it up for a session at a past SaltCON. When I was running Basic Fantasy for my daughter and her 5e playing friends I had to use a Star Trek RPG screen that I had with some Basic Fantasy inserts clipped on it. So when I was looking for a screen on Amazon, I was looking for a screen that I could slip inserts into. I found one with the Stratagem “The Master’s Tome” 4-panel customizable GM screen. These included several inserts that could be used for both Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition or Pathfinder 1st Edition. But I used the Basic Fantasy inserts since I was running several Basic Fantasy one-shots for SaltCON. If I run another game, I can swap out the inserts for more appropriate ones. I’ve heard that too much use could cause some of the plastic ends could split or break off, but I haven’t experienced it so far. But I also only use them for the one shots. I’ll keep an eye on this as I continue to use this. My photos are posted below.
Feedback from readers: both LexTenebris and Pulp Tickertape on Mastodon reminded me that the GM should also be having fun as well. This is in response to my Acclaimed Advice entry. I went back and re-read my entry and I realized that I had left that part out (while it was floating around in my head). So let me also re-state, everyone should be having fun and that the GM should be a part of that fun. Thanks guys for tapping me on the shoulder with that one.
Do you have a GM’s screen that you prefer? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
I don’t recall how I found out about the Shadow Ops Kickstarter. Most likely it was a post on one of the RPG message boards that I read. I’m always a sucker for espionage roleplaying games. I’m also someone who is willing to pack a project that isn’t mega expen$ive. Too many times I see an interesting Kickstarter campaign, but when I look at the pledge prices I wonder where they are pulling the numbers from? Unless I really know about the people involved (which has happened on a few Kickstarters) I’m a little wary about backing something. But if the price is reasonable (and not hitting at a bad time), I’ll chuck in a few bucks to see how it comes out. In the case of Shadow Ops, the prices were right for both a physical book and a PDF of the game.
Well my physical book arrived so I decided to do a quick review of the game in a look see. I had received the PDF last month, but as I’ve mentioned before, I really like learning a bout a game with the physical book in my hands.
Shadow Ops: A Game of Cinematic Espionage Action was written by Christopher Peter (it is not known if this is a cover name) and published by Divine Madness Press. I picked up a softcover copy of the rules that was delivered by POD via DriveThruRPG. I’ve previously reviewed some POD products that DriveThruRPG has sent me in the past and this matched the same level of quality that I have received before. The book is 214 pages in length and contains black and white images throughout. It wasn’t identified as an ISBN number, but there is a barcode with 2 370020 914112 on the back which might be one. There is an introduction, ten chapters and an appendix with the last two pages being the character sheet.
Each of the chapters are listed on the side of the pages like file folders. My oldest daughter really liked t his when she was looking at the book.
Example of the chapter guides on the right side of the page.
The introduction gives two very interesting points. It states that this is not a beginners RPG. Not that it’s complicated or crunchy, but that the author assumes that the reader already knows what roleplaying games are. The second is that Shadow Ops is an emulator, not a simulator. With the full title containing “cinematic espionage action”, I believe this is the type of game that I would be interested in playing. When I’m watching espionage shows, I want to see some over-the-top scenes and action that have come from James Bond or Mission Impossible. Getting bogged down in rules that are trying to add real-life simulation to what is supposed to be an action genre, that would turn me off playing.
Chapter one is The Core Mechanics. Let me just say, thank you for getting to this right away. As I’ve mentioned before, I hate having to slog through 20-50 pages of background material before I see the basics of the RPG. It’s an RPG book, not a reference guide. For those of you who are curious, Every time your character completes a task, you roll three dice (which range from d4 to d12). A die for the attribute, a die for the skill and a stress die. The number that is the middle value of the three die becomes your Result Die to see if you fail or succeed that task. If something makes the task more difficult, you would count the lowest rolled as your Result Die and an easier task would take the higher result. There are other additional items that could have you roll a higher sided dice, but rolling the three dice are the basics of the system.
The second chapter is called Agent Recruiting and it deals with the character creation process. I’m certain that I’ll be taking a deeper dive into this when I use this game for the 2025 Character Creation Challenge. The attributes are Insight, Intellect, Personality, Coordination, Endurance and Strength. There are also skills, fortes (special talents) and abilities. The skill descriptions are found in chapter three and are broken down by skill sets (IT, infiltrator, tactical leader, etc.)
Chapter four goes into tradecraft. How do you handle things like stealth, disguise, forgery and the like. Chapter five, called Tricks of the Trade, gets deeper into the description and uses of the character’s fortes.
The equipment that characters may be able to use is brought up in chapter six, Tools of the Trade. How to obtain mission gear, enhancing equipment, resources available, assets and gadgets.
I like how the stock images are used in this publication.
Hunting Packs is the title of chapter seven and it covers the team stealthily following a mark, or being followed themselves. I didn’t get a chance to go to deep into the system, but it uses a standard set of 52 playing cards with values and suites. For those wondering about chases (by foot or vehicle), that also uses the playing cards and is covered in chapter eight “Fast and Furious”.
When the stealthy or speedy sides of the espionage game goes wrong, it can turn into the subject of chapter nine, Firefights and Fistfights. This covers the combat system for Shadow Ops.
The GMs section starts with chapter ten called Mission Briefings. It covers the session zero, the types of campaigns and designing missions.
In the appendix there is a listing of the inspirations (boo, Archer wasn’t listed), and something I thought could be useful, Player aids covering the basics that could be printed out and left on the table.
An example of the player aids.
Overall this looks like Shadow Ops is a well thought out game. It’s built towards more of a Mission Impossible group of players instead of a single James Bond style campaign. I can’t wait to make a character for it in January. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to actually play this game, but overall I’m very happy that I backed this Kickstarter campaign. Oh, one last thing that I thought was kewl, the author thanked the backers of the campaign in the back of the book.
One of these names looks familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it.
Have you received any Kickstarter rewards lately? Are there any campaigns that you have wanted to back. Tell me about them. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
Wiz Dice on the left, Role 4 Initiative in the middle and Chessex on the right.
As I was preparing for SaltCON-Summer 2024, I realized that I had not done my review of the three RPG battle mats/tiles that I currently own. So as I was preparing for the con, I had my daughter help me set these out and take some photos for a review. I’ve owned two of these maps for a few years and purchased the gaming tiles last year after I saw them in use at SaltCON-Spring 2023.
The Chessex 26×23.5 Battlemat
So the first battlemat that I had purchased was the Chessex double-sided 26.x23.5 battlemat. The DM for my Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that ran for several years used a larger version of this product. When my nephew had asked me to run an introduction to Dungeons and Dragons game, I realized that I didn’t have a mat to use. So I slipped into one of my local gaming shops and picked this one up. It has square grids on one side and hexagons on the other. Eagle-eyed readers may spot this map as the background to some of the photos I used for the various Character Creation Challenge entries. Besides the game with my nephew, I was able to use it in a few other games. The surface is a little rough, but I think this is both a good thing and a bad thing. The mat itself is thick and feels solid. However when I drew on it with dry-erase or wet-erase markers, it could sometimes leave the image behind. While I was experimenting with the map for this article, my daughter discovered that using the Mr. Clean MagicEraser would remove the older drawings without (as it seemed) to damage the map. While I could still see some of the older set-in markings, it is a lot clearer than it use to be. Because this map is rolled, I have to use heavy objects to hold the corners down.
The Wiz Dice 48×36 gaming mat
Just a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to run a OSR game for my daughter and several of her friends who had been playing in a D&D 5e campaign. I had created the adventure myself (and later used it at SaltCON-Spring 2024) and realized that the map I had found on the internet, was too large to use on the Chessex mat that I already owned. So I found the Wiz Dice 48×36 gaming mat on Amazon. It is also a reversible map with hexagons on the other side. For the purpose of the one-shot, I was able to use the map with a dry-erase marker. However, after the event, I really wished that I hadn’t purchased this mat. First, it’s really thin and flimsy. While taking these photos for the article my daughter mentioned that it was like having a shower curtain on the table. While the Chessex surface felt rough, but durable, this map was wrinkly, sticky and felt like it was going to rip if I wasn’t careful. When I attempted to use it at SaltCON-Spring 2024, I discovered that the markers I had brought would not write on the map properly, so we ended up using graph paper instead. Like the Chessex, the MagicEraser product was handy in removing stubborn markings from the map. The other issue that I had with this map is the poor quality of the printing. As you can see in the photo below, there were parts where the grid had misprints in it or were missing. As a rolled mat, it also had to be weighed down at the corners.
Just one example of misprints on the Wiz Dice mat
Had there been one issue, I probably would have been OK with the map. But with both the misprints and the flimsy/thin quality, I really wish that I had spent my money on a larger Chessex mat.
The Role 4 Initiative Game Tiles
When I saw how handy these game tiles were at SaltCON, I had to order a set myself. I picked up the Dry-Erase Hexagon Game Tiles from Role 4 Initiative. While preparing for the latest SaltCON, I decided that I wanted to get all of the tiles out to make sure that they could handle the adventure map I was planning to use. The kewl thing is that you can start out with a small section, then add the sections as needed depending upon where the players elect to go. While these are double sided, they have hexagons on both sides. One side is solid hexagons with broken hexagons on the reverse side. There is a grid version of the tiles available from the same manufacturer that I’ll have to pick up sooner or later. Where the Chessex surface is rough and the Wiz Dice surface was sticky, these tiles were very slick. While it made marking the tiles easy, you could easily smudge a dry-erase marking if you were not careful. There are thirty-three 1/8″ thick tiles that are six inches across in the box. This makes the box a little heavy compared to a rolled up mat. But I was able to store my dry-erase markers in the extra space the box provided. When we were drawing the full map of the planned adventure, my daughter commented that it was like assembling a map puzzle. Here are some various photos.
First opening the box
The solid and broken hex sides of the tiles
We did a timed test with some markings and it erased with no problem after 30 minutes
All of the tiles assembled in a square like fashion with 28 inches across
Drawing the full map of the adventure
Conclusion:
The rolled up mats are lighter than the tiles. But the tiles offer greater flexibility for the GM. The costs are about the same (Dice Wiz is lower compared to the same sized Chessex mat). If you are going to stick with a rolled up mat, buy the Chessex for the quality. But my overall advice is take the flexibility of the Role 4 Initiative tiles. They also marked and erased easier.
Have you used any of these three products? If so, what were your thoughts on them? Are there other mats/tiles that I should look into? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
So on day 27 of the 2024 Character Creation Challenge I attempted to generate a character for the Cowboy Bebop Roleplaying Game. I had just received the hardback book from a Kickstarter campaign. I had backed it because I loved the anime and the live-action TV series and I always thought that it would be a great universe to run an RPG campaign.
The hardbound book is 270 pages long and is in full color. The ISBN is 979-12-80109-58-3 and was published by Don’t Panic Games. I love how the game company probably got this name from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but I had never heard of anything that they had released previously. The game director (writer?) is Michele Paroli. The bulk of the images are pulled directly from the anime.
There is an introduction, six chapters and a glossary. The chapters are 1-Rules (how to play the game), 2- Session (three of them make an episode or single sit-down to play), 3- Characters (how to make one), 4-Hunters in the Solar System (all about the Cowboy Bebop universe), 5- On Stage (kind of a GM section that describes the bounties your players may go after, factions encountered, etc.), 6- Playing the Bebop (the characters seen in the show and episodes put into RPG form).
Here are some photos I took when I first opened up my Kickstarter package. There is a lot of good graphics in this book.
The RPG rules is pretty straight forward for a narrative game (more on that below), even if the description of the rules are not. These pages attempted to tell me the rules of the game. And I did not get them at all. I remember getting major headaches trying to put this together in my head. There is no simple “This is the basics” of the game. I’m of the opinion that I need to understand the basic concept quickly so I can try to talk my friends into playing a game. If I can’t understand the game, I can’t recruit players. I mentioned this in my “Biggest turn-off when checking out a new RPG” blog post. If the RPG is not based off of a common system (D20, GURPS, 2D6, etc.) then give me a simple explanation of the game mechanics. In Cowboy Bebop, your character has traits (a description of a character look or item) and you can try to use them in a session (named after a music style) and you get a d6 dice pool and you have to get a roll higher than 5, 10 or 15 (depending if it’s the 1st, 2nd or 3rd session in the game) and… I tossed the book aside in disgust. I even asked on the RPG.net forums if anyone else had looked in on this game, and only got one response two months later. I didn’t think this was a good sign for the game when thousands of posts are made in a day on this forum.
When I attempted to make a Cowboy Bebop RPG character in January, my goal was to do this Kickstarter review in February. After getting both frustrated and angry (I thought I had wasted my money on the book) I put the book in the “To do” pile and left it there for months. I would see the book and it would remind me that I needed to write my review, but I was still sore about how betrayed the book made me feel. A blog post that says, “Pretty graphics, lots of in-universe details, system sucks to high heaven” is a very boring review. I finally grabbed myself by the collar and said “finish this review because it’s blocking other blog posts that you want to publish”. So I sat down and gathered my photos and looked again at the book. Still feeling frustrated after another attempt to understand the system, I started searching online and came across this video review from The Final Frontiersmen. While he compared some of the game to Star Trek Adventures, he did say one thing that made a light bulb go off in my head. “The key points about this roleplaying game is it’s extremely narrative.” Too much narrative is not my cup of tea. I now understood that I had received my delivered pizza and when I opened up the box, instead of seeing piping hot cheese covering sausage and pepperoni on a layer of marinara sauce, I saw anchovies, artichoke hearts and feta cheese. If you like that type of pizza, or games that is 95%-99% narrative (practically done all by the players) then you may enjoy this game very much. I know there are players who do like these types of games. In the 90’s some of my friends were just digging the Amber diceless RPG that had come out at the time. But when I watched them play, it just seemed like group storytelling where they decided the outcome. Something that was popular in online sim groups, but had zero randomness (and in my mind, zero RPG soul). With how the Cowboy Bebop RPG was stuffed into this box, it was just barely a step above a sim.
For me, I’d prefer an RPG that has a simple system that is easy to pick up that gives the randomness of the dice. A good GM and good players can easily balance the dice of roll playing with the narrative of role playing. Star Trek Adventures and the latest Star Wars system that I experienced at the last SaltCON gave that good balance that encouraged player interaction that included a narrative with the luck of the dice. I remember my favorite Dungeons and Dragons DM describing how a dragon was defeated using combined results from the rolls we made. Other GMs have given the option of having the player describe the way the bad guy was defeated when they made the killing blow.
So now I can put this good looking book in my RPG shelf. And when I want to roleplay in the Cowboy Bebop universe, I’ll use this book for background information, but use a system like Frontier Space or Stars Without Number or a host of other science fiction based RPGs as the system.
One last thought before I close up this review. I’ve taken this as a “Lessons learned” moment when dealing with Kickstarters. The description for this game was a “d6 based system” and I assumed it was more like the Star Wars D6 game I had enjoyed in the past. I will not be making such an assumption again and I blame myself for not digging deeper. After January when I would read a gaming Kickstarter, if the system was not quickly explained to me in a sentence or two, I’ve asked the organizer for more information on the game. The last thing I want to do is open up the pizza box and see a pizza I have no desire to eat.
Have you had a chance to try the Cowboy Beebop RPG? What Kickstarter campaigns are you backing now? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
The book that was ordered from the Modiphius website arrived shrink-wrapped and in a bubble-wrap filled shipping box. It is a hardbound book with 231 color filled pages and contains a bookmark ribbon. In the book breakdown there is an introduction, eight chapters, and appendices and an index. The ISBN number is 978-1-80281-079-0 with the product number of MUH0142308. The project manager is Jim Johnson and the lead writer is Al Spader. There are a large number of additional writers listed as well. Reading through the credits, I have to wonder… how can I get a job as a canon editor? (Tremble before my encyclopedic knowledge of Star Trek!)
The first chapter includes several new lifepath options with several new races. The blind Aenar (first seen in Star Trek: Enterprise), the Arcadians (first seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), the centaur like Ariolo (also from Star Trek IV), the Betelgeusians, the Cordanites (seen in Enterprise and Star Trek: Discovery) and the Megarites (both the Betelgeusians and Megarites were first seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Previously we had seen roleplaying stats for Arcadians and Ariolo in the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Sourcebook Update from FASA. Out of curiosity I looked up the attribute stats for the Arcadians and Ariolo. If I was going to homebrew the stats based off of the information from the FASA sourcebook, I’m sure I would have come up with the same attributes listed in this book.
There are also several new traits, values, talents and equipment listed as well in chapter one. I thought it was interesting that there was random tables for some of the different options and several quickbuild rules for the different roles.
Chapter two is dedicated to the game master for a wartime campaign. It gives advice on a session zero and a safety checklist (very well done by-the-way). The books talks about campaign stages and turns and the types of missions that would be needed. A timeline of key events in the Klingon-Federation war is also presented. I really liked the section for notable star systems. They had a lot more details on the systems involved as compared to previous publications. Planetary classification, land mass, number of moons, etc. The last section in this chapter is some optional rules for “The Admiralty Game”.
In Chapter three we are introduced to the campaign rules of play. It discusses the various resource assets and the power levels they contain. There are also various random charts for some of these. I’m not certain if I’ll be able to play these myself, but I’m interested in keeping an eye on them.
Chapter four talks about the early war campaign, chapter five covers the mid-war and the late war by chapter six. These all contains several mission briefs that can be used by the game master.
Starships are the focus of chapter seven. Some we have seen, some that look new. There is also information on fleet organization, logistics and planning.
The appendices contains the Gamemaster Campaign Tracker, the Player Campaign Tracker and the Safety Checklist.
This is the last publication for the first edition of the Star Trek Adventures RPG. For those of you who don’t know, a second edition of the core rulebook was announced and will be released at Gen Con this August. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the release of that book. While I had some suggestions for it when I first heard the announcement, I felt that Modiphius was probably past the point of using them. So I’ll just have faith in them and eagerly await the publication. I’ve also seen several posters on social media wonder if the Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign that could only be used for the Star Trek: Discovery timeframe. The publishers have provided enough information and details that this could be used for wartime conflicts as seen other eras. This will be a book that both gamemasters and players will get use out of.
Have you picked up this book? What did you think of the game information, internal art, or new gaming options that were provided. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
I came across a good video from the two guys (Matt and Eric) at The Goblin’s Corner. They talked about what they had in their convention survival backpacks. I had made a comment on their Discord server about the video, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to actually share what was usually in my convention backpack. If you haven’t seen the video, the link is posted above.
Now I’m not certain I’d call it a survival backpack, it’s just a backpack that I’ve used to make my life easier. Not just at conventions but for quick trips as well. Over the summer I had a chance for a quick day-trip on the train to see some family and this was the first thing I grabbed since I wanted to travel light. I also use this backpack to transport my laptop to and from USS Ticonderoga Star Trek Club meetings since I conduct the video conferencing for the remote attendees.
Matt and Eric had their listing broken down into several categories. I’ll be following it roughly (I don’t have some of the items that they included on their list). This includes the bag itself and several categories of what it contains.
The Backpack:
So after looking over several different options for a laptop backpack, I selected the Matein Travel Laptop Backpack. I’ve had this for a year now and I’ve found it very durable. Besides protecting the laptop with padding, it also protected me by having some good pads on the lower back and shoulders. The top handle and shoulder straps are also very well padded. At one SaltCON I had several hours between games so I put on the backpack and hiked a mile to a nearby mall to meet the family and friends for lunch. Even with all of the items in the backpack it was comfortable to walk in. This backpack also had lots of internal and external pockets. One of these internal pockets was for a cell phone charger that you could connect to an external port on the backpack itself. Allowing me to run a charging cord to this port to power up my phone or tablet.
Out of all of the colors that was available, I selected the grey covering. This gave me an opportunity to allow my geek flag to fly. On the backpack I was able to add several geek pins. These included a Star Trek: The Next Generation combadge that I had retired from cosplay use, a D-20 pin to show off my RPG side, a TARDIS pin for my Doctor Who fandom, a Red Dwarf pin (those were hard to find) and a stylized Boba Fett pin that I had purchased from an artist at a convention. I still have room for another pin or two if I happen to come across any good ones.
Now one point from The Goblin’s Corner video that I’d like to re-state here. You don’t need to fill your bag up all the way. It would be best to limit this to 1/3 full so you have a place to put in your purchases and SWAG. Even when I stuffed in my light jacket into my bag, I could tell the difference.
First Aid and Health Items:
The health items that I pack plus my water bottle
Some of these items I picked up online, other items just came from a local store. Hand sanitizer is a must, and in the small bottles, can be easily stored. When I’ve finished using a bottle filed with prescription medication, I’ve saved the bottle to use for travel/convention purposes. The bottle in the image contains the standard ibuprofen, but I’ve had others that contained my daily allotment of pills and vitamins. A pack of travel tissues has come in handy on several occasions. While I haven’t needed to use it yet, I’m very grateful that the emergency rain poncho is very compact to keep in the backpack. Another compact item is several KN-95 masks. You can use them yourself if you find out that someone is sick at a convention (convention crud is something I’ve had to deal with in the past) plus you can offer one if you have several available.
One of the items that I did add after watching Matt and Eric’s video was a small First Aid kit. I didn’t really have one before but thought it would be a good idea. I selected a small one that was compact enough to slip into the health portion of my backpack.
Snacks and Water:
Snacks, some electronics, dice and other items
The water bottle that I use is in the previous picture because I wanted to show it next to the side mesh pouch on the backpack. I didn’t want one that was bigger than the pouch, but sturdy enough to be knocked about on the outside of my backpack. Most convention centers now have water refilling stations. With the smaller bottle, it also wouldn’t add too much weight when it was full.
I only show some of the granola bars that I had readily available. But I would also include items like nuts and other high protein snacks. These would usually be something that would tide me over until I was able to get to a proper meal. Plus with them being factory sealed, I could offer it to someone without them worrying about what was in it.
Entertainment, Electronics and other items:
Tools and electronics that I can use
I love living in a modern world with some of the technological advances available right now. When I’m going to a convention I leave my laptop at home, but I bring my Kindle tablet (with the special carrying case that has a Bluetooth keyboard). On this tablet I have loaded the rule-books for the games that I have signed up for and several other reading items that I can use.
I do carry a wall charger for my electronic devices and a Bluetooth headset for phone calls or music. One of the pet peeves that I’ve developed is when people walk around holding their phone in front of them like they are going to take a bite. Talking with the person by speaker phone out in public just bugs me. I really don’t want to hear your conversation.
I mentioned above that the backpack has an internal pocket for a rechargeable battery that can be hooked to an external port. The battery I selected was the RETSMR power bank. It was a little more expensive than the smaller rechargeable batteries that you can find, but it recharged my phone just as fast as it was plugged into a wall outlet. I found that the smaller rechargeable batteries would just barely charge my devices keeping them alive until I could get to a wall outlet.
The grey item next to the power bank is the special cover to my Rocketbook Core Reusable Notebook. I could use a special pen to write down my ideas or notes, and then using the app, scan these notes into a PDF format to send to my cloud storage. With just a spray of water and a cloth, the pages could then be wiped clean. It gave me the benefit of writing things down (and allowing me to remember it better) and having it at my fingertips online. I’ve had this for a year and will probably dedicate an entire blog post to it’s uses. For writing on the character sheets that are given to me at a game, I do carry several mechanical pencils.
Other items in the photo include my big dice bag (not always carried) and the small North-to-South Gaming set that I reviewed in 2022. The 20-in-One Card Deck has also come in handy for a variety of reasons (dice, card games, etc.) Most conventions will sell badge holders that you can re-use at other events. These are handy to also hold business cards you pick up before you can scan them. And the last item you see is a glasses emergency repair kit that I got with my last pair of glasses. You never know when you might need them.
Differences in my bag compared to Matt and Eric’s:
So Matt and Eric mentioned several different items that I don’t find necessary, or perhaps I need to consider. At gaming conventions I’m not really cosplaying so I don’t carry a cosplay repair kit. At the conventions I am cosplaying at, I usually have a special bag with those items in it.
While I have partaken of alcohol at past conventions, it is not the primary reason I attend a con. However I will say that I really appreciated some of the safety points that they brought up in the discussion of alcohol and other chemical items.
This last item I’m still thinking about. Spare clothing. The gaming convention I primarily attend is nearby and I could easily run back home if needed. But that may not always be the case. Even just a spare shirt, socks and underwear take up a little bit of room (if my jacket experience has taught me anything). Especially if I have a backpack full of purchased books. The backpack should contain items I may immediately need (like the headache medicine or snacks). Clothing could easily be stored in my car or hotel room. Perhaps an experiment at an upcoming convention is in order.
So there is a look into my convention backpack. Part of my convention ritual is making sure that I have everything packed up (and electronic devices properly charged) before the convention. I write a to-do list in my Rocketbook. Did I miss something that should be in my backpack? Is there something I should take out? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
Earlier this year I was walking through a mall in my city that has a used book store. Like a siren calling me to the depths, I went in not knowing what I was going to find. This used book store has had several roleplaying game books in the past, but it actually had an entire display towards the front of the store. It was probably trying to capitalize on the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie that was playing in the theater across the mall. Most of the books were ones I already owned or made my savings throw vs buy. But one book caught my eye. A little hardback book with a worn book jacket titled Dicing with Dragons: An Introduction to Role-Playing Games by Ian Livingstone.
I don’t know why this book jumped up and said “buy me”. Perhaps it was a chance to look into the early parts of the role-playing hobby since this book was published in 1982. According to the text on the inside of the jacket, the author co-founded Games Workshop and was (at the time) editor of White Dwarf magazine. Since the price was reasonable, I made the purchase with the intent to read and review the book for the blog.
This version that I had picked up was the book club edition. From what I saw on the internet, this book also appears to be available in paperback as well. This book was printed in the United States by The New American Library. I believe this company is one of the branches of Signet and/or Plume. All three company names were listed in the credits.
My book has 210 pages with several black and white illustrations (created by Russ Nicholson) and several sample pages from various games. The cover on the jacket was painted by Victoria Poyser. The book is broken down by acknowledgements, introduction, nine chapters and three appendixes.
The introduction takes a narration from the characters point of view through a combat scenario in a dungeon setting. This is one that you would normally read at the start of a ‘what is role-playing’ section of a core rule-book. In typical old-school fashion, one of the characters dies in this narration. This leads us directly into chapter one “Mind Games.” The author gives a description on how role-playing games work. What are player characters, working together in a group, using the power of imagination, etc. There is a discussion of the differences between RPGs and board games, the different styles of dice and what the different players do (including the dungeon/game master).
Chapter 2 “A Solo Adventure” talks about the rise of solo roleplaying (which is making a comeback from what I understand). There is a mention of Tunnels and Trolls (a popular solo RPG at the time) but primarily focused on a game written by Mr. Livingstone for this book called Fantasy Quest. It has a character sheet, creation rules and a combat system. Don’t be surprised if I end up creating a character for the next Character Creation Challenge coming up in January, 2024. I didn’t read too much of this chapter beyond the rules section primarily because I wanted to actually play the game after I’ve created my character. But the adventure is in the typical (if you want to go left, read section 17, if you want to go right read section 18, etc.)
“Games You Can Buy” is our next chapter. The author talks about some of the beginnings of the industry in the 1970s and how someone can learn the different games and rule sets. Then he discusses the popular games at the time with a little bit of detail. Not exactly a rule-book, just enough to give you an idea of what is needed to grasp the game. These included Dungeons and Dragons, Runequest, Traveller, and the above mentioned Tunnels and Trolls. The end of this chapter mentioned a few other games that were available on the market at the time, but didn’t go into detail on these systems.
Chapter 4 “Accessories” talks about the various published or authorized books and products that were available at the time of publishing. It broke these down by rules expansions, playing aids, background supplements and scenarios. It also listed their publisher and status (official, approved, etc.). Most of these I had heard about or seen in person or in catalogs. Some I wondered if they actually existed, but at the time of reading I didn’t want to get distracted by internet searches. There was also a description of magazines (yes White Dwarf was listed first) and a very brief listing of fanzines.
“Miniature Figures” was the subject of chapter 5. I really skipped a lot of pages in this chapter so I really couldn’t tell you if the techniques would still be useful for today. The primary reason for this is my lack of patience to put together models or paint miniatures. I love seeing them in play and I admire the person who does have that patience, but I know that person isn’t me. There are color charts and diagrams about how to paint. So, it may be useful to someone with that interest.
Chapter 6 is titled “Playing God” and the author discusses a lot of tips and tricks for new game masters to use. A lot of it made sense and were items that I had thought about (or read about in other GMs guides). But it was interesting seeing the early 80’s viewpoint.
Chapter 7 was for something very new at the time, “Computer Games“. The author talks about the wide possibilities that computers could help in gaming (if he only knew). I did skip a few pages in this chapter as well, but not for the same reason as chapter 5 above. The author was trying to describe in 80’s terminology the parts of a computer. “A kilobyte is…”, etc. It is a little dated (remember that a computer year is like a dog year). Having worked with computers since the late 80’s, a lot of it was very dry to me. If you are interested in the early days of computing, this chapter may be of interest to you.
The next chapter, titled “One Step Beyond” was very short. It covered live action role-playing. From the assassin game Killer to the SCA to something in the United Kingdom called Treasure Trap that was held in a real medieval castle. It sounded interesting, but I don’t think it may have gotten very far.
Chapter 9 titled “How Do I Start?” covered the different methods that you could use to get involved with other gaming enthusiasts and groups. It also talks about game shops and conventions. These techniques were good for the time and gives a look on what challenges the players had in getting together. It was a good chapter to end the book on.
Appendix 1 gave the postal addresses for the various game publishers. Magazine publishers were found in Appendix 2. Addresses for companies involved in miniatures and figures could be found in Appendix 3.
As I was reading this, I started gaining an appreciation for those who came before me. I started getting interested in role-playing games not too long after this book came out, but I was stuck in the bubble that most junior-high kids found themselves in at the time. What information we gathered came from local shops or what was published in the magazines of the time. While some of the items in this book are a little dated now, it still gives an interesting look into the introduction that many of our fellow players may have used. I’m glad that I have found this book and added it to my collection.
Have you read Dicing With Dragons? What books would you recommend about the early days of the role-playing game industry/hobby? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Last year I saw an add for the North-to-South Designs Gaming giving away free dice if you paid for the shipping. Well another advertisement came up earlier this year for Dice Legend that was giving away dice if you payed for the shipping. After the interesting response from NTDS, I thought I’d check it out.
After checking out the link from the advertisement, the prices were all listed as $0.00. The shipping prices were not listed but would be revealed just before completing the order. There was 21 pages of free items that also included pins, dice trays, metal dice, acrylic dice, jewelry, dice containers and patches.
I had selected three sets, and then knocked it back down to two after I saw the shipping prices. With the two sets it cost me $18 (so about the same if I had purchased two sets in a local gaming store). I received a confirmation email and a tracking number. Which turned out to be from China Post. It took a few days before I could get signed up to receive email updates and I waited. One email arrived a few days later stating that the package had moved from one location in China to another location. Google maps showed it wasn’t very far. Oh well, I figured it would take a while.
To my surprise, the package showed up a week later. I think the reason it was a surprise is that I didn’t get any further email updates letting me know the status. I never received another email until a week after the package had arrived stating that the package had been delivered. Um… OK.
As for the dice themselves, I picked up two sets. The first was the Dark Purple set (for my geek wife, which she loved). The second was the Vampire Set with red numbers on a white translucent color. Both sets had the same gothic looking font. I’m certain that there is an official name for this font, but I don’t know what it is.
The two D20s compared with the NTDS D20 on the right.
While comparing the weight and feel, they seemed to be about the same as the NTDS set and the set I picked up from the Dollar Tree in 2021. Which also meant that it was lighter than the Chessex dice. I did several test rolls and it did the job. Random numbers across the board.
A surprise in the package was a free dragon dice bag with an eye embedded in it. The note of appreciation stated it was a $12 value. It was large enough to hold a set or two, but not my entire collection. I’ve got a dice bag that I have no idea where I picked it up from.
Since she hasn’t had a chance to uses the set, my wife didn’t have an opinion on her dice. So while I thought the gothic looking font was kewl, I’m not really certain I’d pick up another set for full price. The weird lack of communication from China made me raise an eyebrow. I think I’d prefer to order from a domestic manufacturer.
What is your favorite dice set? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Can you say “Instabuy”? Yea, spoiler. But I’ll still give you a full review. This book had a lot of good effort put into it.
As I was looking through the PDF, I knew that I had to write a blog post about this. But the real world gets in the way and I had to wait for the workday to completed. Stupid real life.
The Star Trek: The Animated Series Supplemental Guide is a PDF only release from Modiphius. The document comes in 69 pages (compared to 26 for the Year Five Tie-In) with ten chapters in total. This PDF is bookmarked for easy navigation. The writing was done by Aaron Harvey, Jim Johnson, Fred Love and Aaron M. Pollyea. There wasn’t an ISBN number listed, but it did have a product number of MUH0142322-PDF. The copyright is 2023. The foreword is written by Aaron Harvey who is the co-author and designer of the Star Trek: The Official Guide to the Animated Series that was released in 2019.
There was an interesting tidbit in the foreword regarding the writers strike that was happening in the 70’s when the Animated Series was in production. I thought this was interesting considering the current state of affairs between the studios and the unions currently going on now. Considering the production schedules that corporations follow I’m fairly certain that this was written before or just about when the current strike started.
So the first chapter gives us the stats for the characters that we see in the Animated Series. I had to chuckle when I saw that the Department of Temporal Investigations had redacted a piece of information in a couple of the bios (and where they missed one). Not seen in other publications are the stats for Lt. Arex, Lt. M’Ress. The second chapter covered some additional crewmemers from both the Enterprise and other Starfleet services.
New Life and New Civilizations is the title of the third chapter. Here we find information on various planets that were visited in the Animated Series. And since they were colorful, there is a lot of color in this section.
For those of you wanting new races for the game, Chapter Four gives several new lifepath options. We get stats for the Aquans, Aurelians, Caitians (yes we had them before, but this was to be complete), Edosians, Kzinti (Yay, I’ve been waiting for this one), Pandronians, the plant like Phylosians and the Skorr. I did notice something when I first saw the Kzinti, the stats were different than they were in the Star Trek: Lower Decks Campaign Guide. When I inquired on the Modiphius discord server, Jim Johnson (Project Manager) replied that the Lower Decks guide was a misprint and that I should use the stats in this book. I did like that the Kzinti entry gave information on why some Kzin are members of Starfleet.
Gamemasters may find the items in Chapter Six interesting. This is Science and Spatial Phenomena. I’ve seen Pocket Universes used in several different stories.
Being a Treknologist, I was glad to see the starships in Chapter Seven. Besides the Enterprise, we get to see the Inflatable Decoy, the Aquashuttle (loved the Monty Python joke embedded here), the Stormbird-Class Romulan Battlecruiser (chef’s kiss for the FASA reference), the IKS Devisor, the Traitor’s Claw (a Kzinti police vessel), the Orion Orchid-Class and more.
Chapter Eight provides the different Allies and Adversaries that were seen in the Animated Series. We get information on Harcort Fenton Mudd, Ari Bn Bem, The Aprils, Thelin, Cyrano Jones, Spock 2 (no Electric Boogaloo jokes please) and more.
We get some additional creatures in Chapter Nine. Do you want genetically modified Tribbles? Because this is how you get genetically modified Tribbles. Plus Glommers, Le-Matyas, Shelats and a host of others.
The last chapter is the Index. Something that may come in very handy while trying to look something up.
For the art and layout, it’s very easily to read. There is some original screen captures from the shows and some very well done new art. It captures the feel of the Animated Series with a modern twist. The usage of pink is a tip of the hat to the usage in the series (partially because the producer had some colorblindness).
Does it give us all of the items from the Animated Series, no. I’m not certain what the limits are on a PDF production. If there is a time limit or just a need to keep the document to a certain number of pages, but there are a few items that didn’t make it into the book. The Copernicus shuttle, the Bonaventure, the Lactrans, the USS Huron, the Dramians, Sord, Vedalans and other entries are now fair game for homebrewers. I feel that about a good chunk of what was seen in the series is listed in this book. So, overall it is an excellent source for any Star Trek Adventures campaign. Ever since Deep Space Nine, elements of the Animated Series were inserted back into “canon” after being pushed out in the late 80’s. Lower Decks has practically dragged the Animated Series back into the light so I would highly recommend picking up this book.
What do you remember from the Animated Series? What would you like to use from it in your Star Trek Adventures game? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
