Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog: Magazines

Showing posts with label Magazines. Show all posts

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Free Old School Horror Rpg Magazine - Protodimension Summer Issue !

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Its here! Its here!
The latest issue of the award winning free horror zine Protodimension magazine is out!
The summer issue has a ton of brand new material themed for a wide variety of venerable and old school horror rpgs including the Dark Conspiracy Rpg, Call of Cthulhu, and much more!
Here's some of the awesome contents :

Dithering in the Dark, Words from the chief by Tad Kelson
Marburg Z, Contagion-the sincerest form of flattery by Jason D. McEwan for T2K & Dark Conspiracy
Prancing Ponies II, Black Rifle Variations, Covering the ubiquitous AR15/CAR15 by Jason D. McEwan for Dark Conspiracy
Random P-Dim Determination, Quick generation of alternate worlds by CW Kelson III (Tad) for Dark Conspiracy
The Istrian Affair, A Dark Conspiracy scenario by John H Godsland (1994 original) and Lee Williams (2014 revision) for Dark Conspiracy
Out Law or Outlaw, Life going downhill by Norm Fenlason Fiction
The Yakobi Island Artifact, An accounting by Jason Huls a Plot Hook
Ken and Protodimension Talk About Stuff, An interview with Ken Hite by Lee Williams
The Goblin Market, A Proto-dimension by CW Kelson III (Tad) for Dark Conspiracy/Conspiracy Rules
Hole In The Dark, Dark history fleshed out by Eric Fabiashi for Dark Conspiracy
Small Arms Instructor, A targetted career by Jason D. McEwan for Dark Conspiracy
Gulf Airstream Vardo, Semi-apocalyptic lifestyle by Jason D McEwen for Dark Conspiracy
Thunder Five, A firearm by Lee Williams for Dark Conspiracy and Call of Cthulhu
Call Of the Were Boar, A Study of the Methods and Operations of This Invasive Dark Minion Species, by Eric Fabiashi for Dark Conspiracy
What’s Your Emergency? High Tek and Folk Tek – medical gear for Minion Hunters, by Kevin O’Neill for Dark Conspiracy
No Longer Your Friend, Hand grenades by Jason D McEwen for Dark Conspiracy
From Under the Floorboards, Pod-people news by Lee Williams

While your there please grab the other issues because there's a great amount of material that you can use for your games! Protodimension is always looking for quality gaming articles for Call of Cthlhu , Dark Conspiracy, and a wide variety of other old school and new school horror rpgs so get to writing and submitting.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Review and Commentary On Wisdom From The Wastelands Issue #35 From Skirmisher Publishing For The Mutant Future Rpg System or Any Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

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Issue Number 35 of Wisdom From The Wastelands marks one of my favorite mutant species in Gamma World 1st edition and the Mutant Future retroclone. Mutant plants are one of the most alien and under utilized post apocalyptic monsters in the wastelands. Yet, this is part III of a series of articles that seeks to correct that oversight. I've played a ton of the style of post apocalyptic gaming that wisdom covers. Mutant plants can and do evolve in the wastes to fulfill a very nasty role. Namely to hasten the demise of adventurers. For the ruins and dungeons of the wastelands mutant plants can be found throughout the wastes and we get a variety of mutant monsters and plants that exist within the wasteland ecology together. From the Demon's Walking Stick a weird horror if there was one to dizzy weed that can end adventurers lives in a hallucination induced death.
The problem is that that mutant plant PC are often some of the hardest creatures to play and yet some of the most rewarding for these are truly an alien species with which we share the planet and yet don't know enough about. Its not surprising that this issue has new plant diseases to make life even more difficult on players of such characters. Not a bad issue with more monsters, a few artifacts, and more poking through the pages.
This issue can add a bit more mayhem to your games by allowing the DM to throw a bit more high weirdness in with some mutant plant monsters into their Mutant Future campaigns. With a bit of work some of these could be adapted and added into Mutant Epoch if the DM needed a bit of extra punch to their ME games but it would take a bit of work. This material could definitely add a bit of mutant plant spice to your Gamma World first edition games with little issue.
Many of my thoughts turned to Metamorphosis Alpha while reading this issue and how this material could be turned loose on a level of the Warden with little fuss. Many of the mutant species would feel quite at home among the cramped and weird corridors of that particular ship. There are echoes of the mutant plant species throughout this issue at least in spirit.
The bottom line is that this issue is part of a chain of mutant plant information and seems incomplete even if it is self contained but that's hardly surprising seeing that this is the third part of a series. My advice is to grab all of them and then go over the material on mutant plants. Its well worth it and some of the advice can be very useful even for older games.
The new mutations and equipment are really the icing on this post apocalytic cake and add just the right amount of old school science fantasy mutant plant mayhem. All in all not a bad issue but you'll want the others in this series.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Commentary On Fantasy Modeler Magazine Issue #1 From Roebeast's Magical House Of Sun Shine Blog

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Fantasy Modeler is one of those magazines that appeared from time to time in adds in the back of various publications of Star Log, Fangoria, and I think Ares magazine. I've seen them in modelers workshops and friends basements from time to time. But I've never been unable to really take a hard look into the magazine themselves.

I was enthralled the other day when I happened to be on Facebook and Roebeast of Roebeast's Magic House of Sunshine blog mentioned causally in a thread that he had scanned all six of the issues of Fantasy Modeler online.
First of all a huge bit of thanks to Roe Beast for scanning these issues in. Issue one is like a time capsule of 1980 gaming and modeling goodness.
Let's take a look at the contents (Yes I stole this from Roe Beast's Blog) :

The Popular Imagery of Boris VallejoThis is a neat look into making miniatures of the great artist's creations and its a really nice look into what was happening in 1980 in modeling and gaming.
The Plastic Industry Strikes BackA very nice look into the direction that the plastic model industry was starting to take back then.
Atlantis LivesThis incredible diorama is ground zero for early 80's pulp rpg inspiration.
The Military Corner: Historex Walks New Paths
Origins '80Man I wish I had a time machine and this really was a whole different time. Really nice little article.
Kit Bashing SpaceshipsStill a damn useful article for creating certain styles of sci fi war gaming pieces. Very nice bits of rpg inspiration.
War Games: the Greatest Fantasy of Them AllGood overview of the hobby that makes me weep for a whole different time.
Book ReviewsSolid reviews on some of the science fiction, fantasy, etc. of the days of yore.
Fantasy CollectiblesMan some of these really take me back to a different time period.
Adventures in GamingThis was a pretty interesting slice into our hobby. Made my teeth ache for a different time period.
The other thing about Fantasy Modeler are the adds, man these are like looking at a whole different world. There are enough adds to send a grogard into a fit of nostalgia. Martian Metals, Ares magazine, TSR, are all there in equal measure.

The over all feel of the 'Gee Whizz' factor and you can do it yourself too is echoed throughout the magazine. There's no attitude about the miniature hobby or gaming here just go have fun and see what you can do. Over all this was like a breath of fresh air for me. Grab issue one over at his place and take a look at a whole other world that we seldom see today.
Special thinks to Roe Beast for taking the time to do this.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Review and Commentary On The Free OSR Resource - '&' Magazine Issue #8 - Urban Adventures

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This is issue # 8 of '&' magazine which is a free old school periodical done by OSR gamers for OSR gamers. The past issues are rock solid full of lots of old school goodness and this issue is no exception. This is a monster of an issue coming in at over 100 pages and maps as well. The coverage here is on urban adventuring and its been a part of the D&D range from the beginning of campaigns going all the way back to the roots of Drgaon magazine.
So what do we get this issue?
Here are the contents :

Map 1: Justice Hall and Prison Tower, by Fingolwyn ................................................................................................................ 2

Featured Artist ................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

& Musings, by Bryan Fazekas ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

D&D: The Next Generation, by Dan Rasaiah............................................................................................................................... 7

Life Swarms with Innocent Monsters, by Michael Corronet ..................................................................................................... 8

The Business of Adventuring, by Nicole Massey...................................................................................................................... 13

The Druid in Dungeons and Towns, by Lenard Lakofka ........................................................................................................ 18

Sleight of Hand with Dice and Cards, by Ian Slater ................................................................................................................. 23

The Great Eastern Woods: A Campaign Setting, by John Fredericks..................................................................................... 28

Make a Mini Castle on the Cheap, by John Fredericks............................................................................................................. 33

The Dancer PC Class, by Nicole Massey .................................................................................................................................... 35

Creature Feature I: Ecology Of the Slange-Yaotl, by Dan Rasaiah ......................................................................................... 39

Creature Feature II: Ecology of the Spore Spitter, by Bryan Fazekas ..................................................................................... 43

Friend or Foe I: Mattias' Company, by Vince Lethal ................................................................................................................ 47

Friend or Foe II: Nikolias Morghul, by Milo.............................................................................................................................. 51

Friend or Foe III: Sin-ShumuTizqar, Derro Savant, by Dan Rasaiah...................................................................................... 52

The Toybox: New Weapons V – Whips and Arrow, by Nicole Massey................................................................................. 54

Spellcaster's Paradise I: Frost Giant Shamans, by Andrew Hamilton.................................................................................... 56

Spellcaster's Paradise II: Cleric/Druid Spells, by Lenard Lakofka .......................................................................................... 63

Spellcaster's Paradise III: Fonreaver's Falcon, by Ian Slater..................................................................................................... 65

Tactical Magic: Fireball!, by Ian Slater ........................................................................................................................................ 74

Emporia & Domiciles: Brandywine House, by Nicole Massey ............................................................................................... 79

One Page Dungeon: Dungeon of Doom, by Michael Woodhead ........................................................................................... 82

Hex Crawls, by Andrew Hamilton ............................................................................................................................................. 84

For Further Reading, by Ron Redmond ..................................................................................................................................... 92

& Magazine on the Net ................................................................................................................................................................. 93

Tread Softly, by Nicole Massey.................................................................................................................................................... 94

Map 2: Temple, Tomb, and Tower, by Fingolwyn.................................................................................................................... 95

This is a stand out issue because I've been working on an urban adventure for an old school game over the last couple of days on the side. This issue stood out as a great issue for doing exactly that.
The maps in this issue hit you right in the face and start things off on the right foot.
The Life Swarms with Innocent Monsters by Michael Coronet is a great overview of using many of old school favorite monsters as elements of D&D city setting pieces, backgrounds and elements of adventures in cities. This approach could also be for near Earth style planets or exo colony setting materials in a science fiction or fantasy game as well.
The other article which came in very hand was The Business of Adventuring

by Nicole Massey. This article gives the idea of using businesses as adventures unto themselves. Its an approach that while not new is certainly worth while. The ideas laid out are well thought out and entertaining. The author basically lays it all out for the DM to really go to town and fill in the deals of adventure locations within city based businesses. A good grounding article on adventure design.

TSR veteran author and designer Lenard Lakofka gives us The Druid in Dungeons and Towns. the ideas here put the druid into an urban and city environment with surprisingly nicely thought out and solidly entertain ideas in this article. Very easily incorporated into a wide variety of campaign settings as well. This is a whole different take on the AD&D druid with a newer background suited to cities and countryside settings.

Sleight of Hand with Dice and Cards by Ian Slater take a look at the use of cards and dice with PC's of a less then savory reputation as well as the games these types play. Its a well written article and I can see some of these being used in several cantinas, gambling houses, and other weird space based locations as well.

We get a complete campaign setting that fits right into your old school game of choice. The setting is different , interesting, and really looks like a blast to play in. The Great Eastern Woods: A Campaign Setting by John Fredericks is great little slight of hand trick of writing. A fun setting with lots of hooks built into it. The article makes you really want to get this one going as an adventure. It might also be used as drop in location for a dimensional traveling or a plane hopping adventure location. Lots of potential for this one as well.
We're then treated to a new PC class for AD&D first edition or an OSRIC style one. We get the Dancer. The Dancer PC Class by Nicole Massey based on original concepts by Lee Conner. This class is balanced and interesting enough. This class has lots of potential for the right style of player and DM to use. This PC is balanced and I can see lots of uses for this one. Imagine a space traveling Dancer among a party of mercs moving among the stars as entertainers. This is one idea for a space based game that occurred to me while reading this class. Nicely written and well balanced.

We get two nasty and I do mean nasty creature features in this issue. I don't have to tell you that these two could pop up in a post apocalyptic setting or as nasty alien life forms. The ideas and adventure potential are numerous with both Creature Feature I:Ecology of the Slange-Yaotl by Dan Rasaiah and Creature Feature II:

Ecology of the Spore Spitter by Bryan Fazekas. Seriously use these monsters carefully they are super dangerous and very deadly.

Friend or Foe I:

Mattias' Company

by Vince Lethal gives us a very low level group of NPC adventurers with some hidden secrets and twists to them. These guys are great adventure potential for an OSR style adventure encounter. Well thought out and written.

Need a patron for your PC's or a foil to deal with some of your adventurers? Check out

Friend or Foe II: Nikolias Morghul (Old Nick). He's got a seriously interesting potential as foe or friend to be devil your party. Nicely done NPC to throw at your party.

Friend or Foe III:

Sin-ShumuTizqar, Derro Savant is perhaps one of the most interesting NPC's in this issue. You'll have to read this one yourselves to see all of the adventure potential in this one. He's to be used with lots of caution though. He's got some seriously twisted ideas and agenda's for your PC's.

The Toybox:

New Weapons V – Whips and Arrow

by Nicole Massey has lots of well researched weapons and arrows. Very nice stuff AD&D first edition and a welcome set of potential alien weapons and items to throw your PC's way or to arm your NPC's with.

Spellcaster's Paradise I:

Frost Giant Shamans

by Andrew Hamilton have the potential to be an icy pain the arse to your PC's these guys are tough, nasty, and very,very, dangerous. As NPC's you really don't want them on the wrong side of your party. They may be met on the planes and that's the problem. We've even get lots of spells for them as well.

Spellcaster's Paradise II:

Cleric/Druid Spells

by Lenard Lakofka more magic from the pe of Lenard. Here's we've got more magic to help your PC's or really cause problems. More possible magic to arm the planet dwells in your old school science fantasy campaigns.

Spellcaster's Paradise III:

Fonreaver's Falcon

by Ian Slater looks at a set of magic spells that can spy, observe, and measure the weakness of forces within an urban, country, rural, or other environments.This great set of spells also has potential to be used for space exploration and in a Spell Jammer style of setting.

Tactical Magic:

Fireball!

by Ian Slater, the tactical abuses and uses of one of the most misunderstood spells in AD&D. Well done and well thought out.

Emporia & Domiciles: Brandywine House, by Nicole Massey

a healing house with lots of extras and ideas to round out a great adventure potential location as well as one of healing. Nicely done.

One Page Dungeon: Dungeon of Doom

by Michael Woodhead

A 1st Level AD&D 2nd Edition Adventure. A really nicely done one page dungeon adventure that has a ton of material packed into it.

Hex Crawls

by Andrew Hamilton, an article on hex crawling as adventure location. How they work, what to use them for, and where to go with them. A whole long article with samples, ideas, design advice, and lots more about Hex crawls.

For Further Reading

by Ron Redmond gives a solid background of ideas and info on the topic of urban adventures. An end of the magazine article and a round out map to finish this issue off. All in all a nice little free download.