Miniature Mania in Center Stage

These days, a new Kickstarter isn't anything like the big event that they used to be, since there are so many, but this one is fairly unique. Center Stage Miniatures is going to be producing a large number of AD&D miniatures that haven't seen the light of day before. Or the torchlight of a dungeon's depths, either. It's being done via the fact that Wizards of the Coast once upon a time licensed the use of several AD&D monsters to Necromancer Games, which is now a subsidiary of Frog God Games. Frog God Games has licensed the illustrations of these minis to Center Stage Miniatures, and voila!

I first met Matt Solarz at North Texas RPG Con (I think it was actually the first one), and he's a very good guy. I guess it goes without saying that he loves miniatures, but he LOVES miniatures.

This is probably going to be a pretty big Kickstarter judging from the first 24 hours, which raised something on the order of $10,000. The size of it is critical, because it becomes a better deal when the stretch goals kick in. It's an okay value out of the gate, but like most of the miniatures Kickstarters it doesn't become a huge bargain until it has gathered speed, at which point it can become an absolute steal.

These are metal minis, not resin.

And that's all I can think of to say about it right at the moment. Go and take a look. I'm going to get at the very least a piscodaemon, a crypt thing, and a dark creeper.

In the Aftermath of S&W Appreciation Day

Wow! Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day turned out to be an absolute tidal wave of material across the entire OSR, with monsters, full-on adventures, campaign setting notes, new spells, philosophies of gaming, and all kinds of other topics. It will take days to sift through it all.

I just got an email from Michael Cote, an artist who has done lots of work in Knockspell Magazine, with the link to his Swords & Wizardry post -- I mention it because I don't think he was on Erik's list. Michael's art is spooky, somewhat Otus-y, and full of excellent. Here's his blog entry for S&W Appreciation Day, at Magical Monstrosity Press.

Also musician James Stanton was apparently in the emergency room yesterday (hope you're feeling better, James!) and didn't have a chance to do his SWAD post, so here's the link to some new spells.

Wayne Rossi blogged a lot during the Appreciation Day and hasn't stopped: his aftermath post is about diseases.

Mark Siefert has announced that he's not done yet, and will keep going until the end of the week, so stay tuned to his blog.

On a final note for now, Bill Webb tells me that all the orders received before 6PM Eastern have been packed and will go out, except for one order that seemed to have a glitch in it.

Thanks to everyone for an incredible day yesterday! I will blog a bit later about assembling various articles for inclusion in Knockspell.

Free Stuff

Johnathan Bingham is giving away free 'zines: http://xyanthon.blogspot.com/2013/04/swords-and-wizardry-appreciation-day.html

A quick edit: There's also a neat mini-adventure at the Iron Tavern, and another at Infinite Dragons.

Another edit: I don't know how I missed this one, I think it's because it was posted so early. There is a neat, free downloadable adventure called the Tower of the Red Angel here at ...and the Sky Full of Dust.

That's three free adventures right there!

Make it four, and I really, really recommend this one, the Forbidden City of the Black Idols (Taqat) by Nicolas Senac. This is pure, undiluted Swords & Sorcery here -- it rings like R.E. Howard.

The Poetry of Swords & Wizardry

Sheer brilliance, both of these:
Swords & Wizardry limericks (my favorites are the first two)
Swords & Wizardry Haiku

Occult Healers, Degenerate Cavemen, and More!

For the mystical place between the magic user and the cleric, Castelli & Chimere offers the Occult Healer class, for members of this little-known order of physicians. The class has a smattering of martial arts, uses a spellbook, has healing skills, and also has a very distinct vibe to it that works quite well, I think.

Also, a shout-out to one of the game's longtime supporters and an awesome artist, Bliss Infinite has what might possibly be my favorite banner illustration of all time. His post for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day is a collection of links to a lot of different resources. You scroll down, and scroll down, and keep scrolling ... awesome stuff - races, character sheets, books of spells ... Highly recommended!

Need an adventure with vikings and degenerate cavemen? That's almost a rhetorical question: everyone needs an adventure with vikings and degenerate cavemen! Take a look at the Caverns of the Skraelings by Dave Baymiller.

And to keep track of these characters, here's an absolutely incredibly super-cool character sheet from Fear no Darkness. I kid you not, take a look at this.

Entire Mini-Adventure

Hereticwerks has written up an entire adventure with an excellent map, rumors, encounter table, and ring-tailed kobolds. Ring-tailed kobolds? You instantly have my attention, Hereticwerks, even if you choose to be coy and give me no further details about these obviously pernicious creatures. How do they interact with the red-snouted kobolds? This is like the magic of Judges Guild, where a brief sentence can explode into a panoply of ideas in the space of a mere moment.

Back to the campaign idea that seems to be percolating in the collective imagination of the SWAD Legion:
In the world of Puritans vs. the Old Ones, we can hand another weapon to both sides. Cameron DuBeers offers up an entire PSIONICS system. Overall, I think this looks bad for the pilgrims in their isolated villages.

A word about Cameron: the guy is official pure-mithral OD&D. He knows the OD&D books inside out, he has contributed to Swords & Wizardry, Delving Deeper, and is now writing material for straight-up OD&D, I think. And he's a good guy; I've met him in person at -- where else? -- the Hobbit Cafe in Houston. Anything he says is worth listening to.

Entire S&W Campaign Setting

Check this out. If weirder fantasy is your bag, School Master (who are you?!) has provided an entire set of campaign notes, including links to all kinds of game and Lovecraft resources, for a campaign in the Lovecraftian Campaign-world of Mu. This is a must-see.

NOT JUST THAT!
If you're up against an impossibly non-Euclidian wall with tentacles on all sides, you might just have an equalizer. Go Solomon Kane on their ass and haul out the black powder pistol for some Thirty-Years-War-era tentacle-blasting. Dak Ultimak provides a full set of rules for firearms (mainly modern ones, but including black powder pistols). War Hound and the World's Pain and Solomon Kane in Swords & Wizardry. For when shit gets real. I love the idea of Puritans against the Old Ones. There's a whole campaign world in that one idea.

Reverend Dak has a picture in his post that really says it all: