Another collection of modules etc. for fans of the early RPG style, dungeon-bashing, etc.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/OSR6

"This is the Bundle site's sixth annual (well, mostly) celebration of the Old School Revival and the spirit of roleplaying's earliest days. This all-new collection presents Hot Springs Island and Operation Unfathomable,dungeons by Dyson Logos, three One-Page Dungeons compilations, BLUEHOLME, Hydra Cooperative, Melsonian Arts Council, and a new Expeditious Retreat "Aggressive Ecologies" entry (a spinoff from their acclaimed A Magical Medieval Society series) that debuts in this offer.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their devices.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, Ocean Conservancy.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$113. Customers who pay just US$12.95 get all seven titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $48) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the foul-aired hexcrawl Fever Swamp (retail price $11); the Aggressive Ecology embodied in The Undead Leviathan (retail $6); a fine emulation of the primordial John Eric Holmes blue-box edition of D&D, the BLUEHOLME Journeymanne Rules (retail $10) (along with its Referee Repository, Character Records, and the introductory module Necropolis of Nuromen); and the Dyson Logos Commercial Map Pack 1 (retail $20), a massive collection of 170 hand-drawn dungeons.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with eight more titles worth an additional $65:

• Jacob Hurst's glorious two-volume jungle hexcrawl, A Field Guide to Hot Springs Island (retail $20) and The Dark of Hot Springs Island (retail $20)
• The gonzo-phantasmagorical subterranean sandbox by Jason (The Dungeon Dozen) Sholtis, Operation Unfathomable (retail price $12), along with its Player's Guide and the map and character sheet
• The Slaver Fungus (retail $6), a new star-spanning "Aggressive Ecologies" entry from Expeditious Retreat that debuts in this offer and is not yet available anywhere else
• Chris Kutalik's What Ho, Frog Demons! (retail $12), a hexcrawl set in the Weird-infested Marlinko Canton, site of Slumbering Ursine Dunes, Fever-Dreaming Marlinko, and Misty Isles of the Eld
• And three recent volumes in the long-running One-Page Dungeon Compendium contest series: 2016, 2017, and the 2018 Tenth Anniversary Edition (total retail $9)

As I've said before, this really isn't my sort of thing, but having looked at a couple I think that the standard is pretty good, and if you want to play this sort of game the material might be quite useful.




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Torg Eternity is a revival of a fairly early RPG system, originally published in 1990, revised slightly in 2005, and finally reissued in a new edition by a different publisher in 2017.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/TorgEternity

"Raiders from other realities have arrived on Earth, and where they rule, the laws of physics warp to form strange new landscapes. The "High Lords" joined together to steal the Earth's living energy -- to consume its very Possibilities! Each Reality Raider brought his or her own reality, or "cosm" -- from the dark fantasy of Aysle to the technological oppression of the Cyberpapacy -- from the savagery and exploration of the Living Land, and the diabolical pulp villains of the Nile Empire, to the Gothic horror of Orrorsh, the action and intrigue of Pan-Pacifica, and the terrifying, demon-ruled wasteland of Tharkold.

Core Earth is not defenseless. "Storm Knights," heroes from all the cosms, resist the invading High Lords at every turn. Storm Knights use magic, technology, miracles, and even super powers against the Reality Raiders and their endless minions. The Storm Knights are agents of the "Delphi Council," an international organization led by Quinn Sebastian to counter the High Lords and their many forces.

Torg: Roleplaying the Possibility Wars, the cinematic multi-genre RPG by Greg Gorden and Bill Slavicsek, was originally published in 1990 by West End Games. In May 2017 Torg's current owner, Ulisses Spiele, rebooted the Possibility Wars with the spectacular US$366K Torg Eternity Kickstarter campaign. Torg Eternity's lead designer is Shane Lacy Hensley of Pinnacle Entertainment, who got his professional start in the hobby writing for Torg. The new line updates the rules and reimagines the "cosms" (invading realities) that threaten our Core Earth. This all-new offer presents the Torg Eternity rulebook, two scenario collections, play aids, and a soundtrack -- everything you need to restart the Possibility Wars for reality itself.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their devices.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, Rainforest Trust.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$80.50. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all three titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $37.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete Torg Eternity Core Rules (retail price $25) and the new Drama Deck (plus the Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special), the Torg Eternity GM Screen and Archetypes (retail $10), and the Character Journals record sheets (retail $2.50).

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $19.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with three more titles worth an additional $43, including the scenario collections Day One Adventure Book (retail $15) and Delphi Missions: Rising Storm (retail $10), plus the Torg Eternity Soundtrack (retail price $18) with 21 .MP3 music tracks composed especially for the game."

This is basically a grimmer, darker version of the original Torg game - in fact the first twelve pages of the rule book are largely introductions saying that, before actually explaining what the game is about - and suffers from many of the same flaws; you're going to have problems using it if you don't want to run the official campaign, and there really isn't anything for characters to do if they don't want to be "storm knights". This isn't exactly a unique flaw, lots of games are built around their campaign settings, but most have room for some variation in adventurer goals, and for characters who aren't "Big damn heroes". This was one of the reasons why I never got into the original system, and unfortunately I'm seeing nothing here to change my mind. On a more positive note, this is a cheap way to find out if you like the system, if I remember correctly the whole lot including the bonus collection costs less than the original rules did, and there might be something there you like.

Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2174384.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

Just a couple of odds and ends from my last couple of weeks of photography.

The first two are with my Futifilm S5700 bridge camera. The last one is cropped from a larger image, my Nikon with zoom at 500mm.

Sunset Over Hyde Park



Hyde Park Lampost just after sunset




Werewolf Threat Level: Low



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This is an RPG based on the idea of rebuilding civilization after some sort of collapse.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Legacy

"Legacy: Life Among the Ruins is a Powered by the Apocalypse SFRPG by Jay Iles and Douglas Santana Mota, published by UFO Press and distributed by Modiphius Entertainment. Legacy is about building a new world in the ruins of the future. You control both a family and its individual members across generations. As your story skips forward decades or centuries, your actions change the world, and your family adapts to survive.

We presented the 2015 First Edition of Legacy in our first Apocalypse Engine Bundle (September 2015). Legacy's 2018 Second Edition, funded in a July 2017 Kickstarter campaign, puts the world map at center stage, adds new character roles and simplified playbooks, and updates the basic Moves. The Kickstarter also funded many inventive "Worlds of Legacy" system hacks, where you rebuild, or retool, civilizations in alternate settings: a starship, a magical land facing the end of time, a distant world just after planetfall, an evil Gothic castle, and more. This offer presents the complete Legacy 2E rulebook, lots of Worlds, an art book, and even a soundtrack, all for a bargain price.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format), and each sound file in both .MP3 and FLAC formats. Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these files have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders and music players.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to the charity designated by Legacy designer Jay Iles, Mermaids UK.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$93. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all three titles in our Core Collection (retail value $38) as DRM-free ebooks and sound files, including the complete Legacy: Life Among the Ruins Second Edition rulebook (retail price $18), The Art of Legacy: Life Among the Ruins (retail $13), and the Sounds of the Wasteland soundtrack (retail $7) of atmospheric ambient sounds.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $19.95 to start, also get our entire Worlds Collection with six more titles worth an additional $55, including Worlds of Legacy 1: Generation Ship (retail $10), 2: Primal Pathways (retail $10) 3: Godsend (retail price $10), 4: Rhapsody of Blood (retail $10) plus its companion collection of new playbooks, Choir of Souls (retail $5); and 5: Worldfall (retail $10)

I wasn't particularly interested when I first looked at this because there are a lot of post-apocalypse survivalist RPGs out there, but this one seems to be different, with more of an emphasis on reconstruction (or construction) and long-term goals, with plots spanning decades and generations rather than a series of firefights. Some of the books remind me of god-game computer and board games, with rivals trying to create or destroy civilizations, others are more conventional roleplaying. There's some very nice art, and even a collection of soundtracks! Given the price I'm definitely recommending this one, it looks like it can be a lot of fun if you like the idea of a long-term campaign.

Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2173756.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

If you are one of the many Brits just a little annoyed today this is probably the petition you'll want to sign. Reminder that you do need to be a British citizen with a valid UK address and that you need to enter a genuine email address, since it's used to confirm your signature.

 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/269157

Really hoping that Boris sees sense on this one, given that he's throwing away any vestiges of legitimate government if it goes ahead.
Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2173588.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

 Do pocket diaries sold in the UK still invariably have a map  of the London Underground in the front cover, regardless of where in the UK they are sold?

And is this the explanation for Dumbledore's scar?
Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2173408.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

This is a collection of system-free material aimed for the "old-school revival" style of fantasy play, dungeon-bashing and other activities most common in the early days of RPGs

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/GoodmanGems

Goodman Games publishes a stellar series of entertaining and inspirational system-neutral supplements that have become key works of the Old School Revival. Foremost of these is the venerable Dungeon Alphabet, an alphabetic compendium now in its fourth edition, funded in a November 2017 Kickstarter campaign. The Dungeon Alphabet, its recent companion The Monster Alphabet, and other Goodman titles help OSR gamemasters rethink their games at a fundamental level. This all-new Goodman Gems collection gathers much-loved supplements that present new character backgrounds, locations, setting elements, monsters, a yearlong calendar, and two marvelous trips through the alphabet.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, Reading is Fundamental.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$98. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $37) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including The Adventurer's Almanac (retail price $13), the handy DM Campaign Tracker (retail $5), and two collections of tips and tricks for players and gamemasters, PC Pearls (retail $7) and GM Gems

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with six more sourcebooks worth an additional $61, including the latest edition of the famous Dungeon Alphabet (retail $8) along with its sequel, The Monster Alphabet (retail $12); two collections of campaign settings, Points of Light (retail $8) and Points of Light 2: The Sunrise Sea (retail $10); the Random Esoteric Creature Generator (retail price $8); and How to Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck (retail $15).

Basically, these are collections of random encounter tables, adventure seeds, and similar material that should be adaptable to most fantasy RPGs. I can't help wonder why any GM would need so much random material, half the fun of running a game is making this sort of stuff up, but it could be useful if you wanted some ideas in a hurry. Since I don't run this sort of game it's no use to me, and to be honest I feel it's a little on the expensive side if you go for the bonus material. But tastes differ, and if you want this sort of thing you're getting a fair amount for the money. As usual your mileage may vary.
Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2173107.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

 A sad PS to Thursday's post - Rick Loomis died on Friday

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Loomis


Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2172753.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

The Stealth Emu is back!

https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4075

And a couple of links to the Great Emu War of 1932, which people mentioned when I last posted about this, proving that life really is stranger than fiction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War

Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2172534.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

This is a repeat of a July 2017 bundle with some new additions. It's being run at short notice because Flying Buffalo founder Rick Loomis is seriously ill and needs the money to pay for treatment.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Catalyst2019

Revived from July 2017, this offer highlights the Catalyst line and other RPG ebooks from Flying Buffalo. Along with four of the Grimtooth's Traps collections of devious dungeon obstacles, this offer presents Buffalo's entire CityBook series. Compatible with any fantasy RPG, the CityBooks present dozens of individual shops, establishments, and characters, genercally written to be added smoothly to any urban fantasy setting. Originally published from 1982 to 1997, the CityBooks featured contributions by leading designers including Larry DiTillio, Liz Danforth, Mike Stackpole, Dave Arneson, Jennell Jaquays, Greg Gorden, and many more.

This revival is for a good cause: Rick Loomis, founder of Flying Buffalo, publisher of Tunnels & Trolls, and designer of the first-ever solitaire adventure (Buffalo Castle), is facing overwhelming medical bills from his treatment for lymphatic cancer. Rick's family has started a GoFundMe campaign, and the Bundle of Holding is also helping by bringing back this collection of some of the best books Rick published. Ordinarily ten percent of the revenue from a Bundle of Holding offer is donated to a charity. For this Catalyst Bundle revival, we're adding the charity portion to the publisher share, to help Rick Loomis and Flying Buffalo in this tough time.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$75. Customers who pay just US$7.95 get all six titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $30) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the first three CityBooks (I: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker, II: Port o' Call, and III: Deadly Nightside), plus the first two Grimtooth'sbooks and Treasure Vault.

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $17.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with nine more titles worth an additional $45:

• CityBooks IV-VII: Four more sets of people and places you can easily drop into any city adventure -- IV: On the Road, V: Sideshow, VI: Up Town, and VII: King's River Bridge.
• Grimtooth's Traps 3-4: Titled Fore and Ate (don't ask us why), these two books give you hundreds more traps to waylay dungeon delvers.
• NEW IN THIS REVIVAL! City of the Gods Map Pack: The wondrous place built by all the pantheons of Earth after they left this world behind. (All previous purchasers of this offer in its original July 2017 run also receive the newly added book on their Wizard's Cabinet download page.)
• Mercenaries Spies & Private Eyes: Michael Stackpole's classic action/espionage RPG inspired by Tunnels & Trolls. Includes the Adventure of the Jade Jaguar solo adventure. (Both were also part of our September 2018 Tunnels & Trolls Bundle.)
• NEW! Mugshots No. 1 - The Case of the Pacific Clipper: A high-flying pulp-era solo adventure for MSPEwritten by Dungeons & Dragons co-designer Dave Arneson. (Again, all previous purchasers also receive this new addition.)

I think that last time I described this material as fun but a bit old-school, and I don't think that's changed. But it's being sold in a very good cause and includes a LOT of material aimed at GMs who like to make life... interesting... for player characters. If you like death traps look no further! A lot of it is readily usable with other systems - most of the traps, for example - or can be converted with a little work. Recommended! Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2172310.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

Mythras is an RPG derived from Runequest (but not using the Gloranthan background of the original game) which covers a wide range of genres. One offer is a repeat from last year, the other all new:


Mythras Core

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/MythrasCore

This is one of two offers now in progress featuring Mythras, the acclaimed Design Mechanism version of one of the greatest FRPGs ever published, RuneQuest. This offer revives and renames our April 2018 Mythras Bundle with the core rulebook and early supplements; if you're new to the game, start here first. And we've added an all-new Mythras Worlds companion with recent supplements and adventures, including the acclaimed Mythic Constantinople, several books set in the fantasy world of Thennla, and much more.

In 2012 Lawrence Whitaker and Pete Nash of The Design Mechanism published their landmark edition of one of the greatest fantasy RPGs ever published, the classic skill-based percentile system RuneQuest. We presented The Design Mechanism edition as RuneQuest 6 in February 2014 and again in December 2014. In July 2016, after the RQ license lapsed, The Design Mechanism rebranded the game as Mythras. The renamed and updated Mythras rulebook has new interior artwork and layout, along with some new Special Effects, small tweaks to the rules, and Spirit Combat Effects -- though if you bought the original RQ6 rulebook, you don't need this rebranded version.

The company explained the new name on Tapatalk: "Why did we choose 'Mythras' as a name? First, the game has always been about adventuring in mythic landscapes, with characters shaping their own stories, creating their legends and forging their own myths. It comes from the authors' deep love of real world myths and ancient stories and so is the natural starting point for a new name. Next comes Mithra or Mithras, a deity found in Persian, Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythologies. Mithras is a god of warriors, a divine protector of oaths and covenants, a protector of cattle and of waters. In the Zoroastrian Avestas, he is described as Mithra of Wide Pastures, of the Thousand Ears, and of the Myriad Eyes. Bringing these two sources together gives us Mythras, a game concerned with myths, protectors, oaths, great deeds and wonderful stories -- the perfect name for our game system."

Today Mythras enjoys a wide range of supplements and adventures featuring swords and sorcery, history and myth, science fiction and urban horror. For instance, the Mythras system underpins the licensed Luther Arkwright and M-Space science fiction rules. This bargain-priced revival covers everything from classic dungeon-crawling fantasy to mythic history to science fiction.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The total retail value of the titles in this revival is US$99. Customers who pay just US$14.95 get all five titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $47) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks including the 304-page Mythras core rulebook, three adventures -- Madness & Other Colours, Xamoxis' Cleansing, and A Gift From Shamash (that last one is even science fiction!) -- and the 336-page Classic Fantasy supplement (Old School dungeon crawls in Mythras!).

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with eight more titles worth an additional $57, including Mythic Britain (and the Mythic Britain Companion), Mythic Rome (plus the Mythic Rome Maps), the Classic Fantasy Expert Set, and three Classic Fantasy adventures: These Violent Delights, The Terror of Ettinmarsh, and Tomb of the Mad Wizard.

Mythras Worlds

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/MythrasWorlds

This all-new Mythras Worlds Bundle companion presents recent supplements and adventures, including the acclaimed Mythic Constantinople, several books set in the fantasy world of Thennla, and much more.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase of these two offers (after gateway fees) goes to the charity selected by Mythras designers Lawrence Whitaker and Pete Nash, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$109.50. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all five titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $41.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the modern supernatural setting After the Vampire Wars (retail price $10); the Mythras article collection The Fenix Papers (retail $16); two Classic Fantasy modules, G2 The Lonely Lighthouse (retail $6) and M2 Moonspike Tower (retail $4.50); and the Mythras GM Screen (retail $5).

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with nine more titles worth an additional $68, including Mythic Constantinople (retail $10.50), plus its companion adventure Life's Long Consequences (retail $5) and the Mythic Constantinople Map Pack (retail $1.50); the Mythic Britain location supplements Logres (retail price $15) and Waterlands (retail $6); and a group of titles that detail the fantasy campaign setting Thennla: Shores of Korantia (retail $15) (plus The Taskan Empire, retail $6, and the Thennla sourcebook (Pay What You Want), and two Thennla adventures -- Khakun Shrugs (retail $4) and The Arakuline Tribute (retail $5).

Mythras resources

• The Design Mechanism forum
• Mythras subreddit
• Mythras encounter generator
• Notes From Pavis: Roleplaying and GM notes mostly in Gloranthan context

Last time I said:

My impression from a relatively swift look is that what we have here is a rehash of the Runequest / Basic Role Playing rules generalised for all settings. There's really nothing wrong with that, except for all of the existing versions of these rules that have loyal adherents out there who may not want to make the change. And without the Gloranthan setting it feels a little unfocused; there isn't anything that screams "I must play in this setting with these rules," which is what gave Chaosium the huge user base that learned to love Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Ringworld, and all of the other variants that kept Chaosium afloat. There are lots of other SF games, old school fantasy games, historical fantasy games, etc. etc. Additionally, it's now a relatively old game mechanic, with features such as the use of a load of different dice types that many recent games have discarded.

Having said that, there's really nothing wrong with it if you want this sort of system, and as usual with these bundle offers you're getting a good few dead tree equivalents pretty cheaply. Recommended, if you need something like this.

I don't think this new offer changes any of this - the new material is a good deal for those who already like the system and adds more campaign settings for it. The original game is still good if you like that sort of thing.
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I haven't been especially good about blogging from the Worldcon, but there hasn't really been a lot to say - lots of queuing, though the rest of the con was better than Friday because they got various people to keep the queues under control a bit - didn't always get to see my first choice, but there was enough variety that I almost always found something of interest. Enjoyed myself enough that I think it was worthwhile, and I'll probably go to another Euro Worldcon if it happens.

So, a little earlier than I really needed to, I left Trinity College this morning and headed home. The journey was OK - plane was delayed about 25 minutes but otherwise OK, and I didn't get soaked at any stage; in fact it's now fairly sunny in London.

I didn't use nearly as much cash as expected - didn't spend a lot in the book room or go out for any hugely extravagant meals, and had access to a kitchenette at the college - I ate a Tesco chicken jalfrezi ready-meal one evening, a Subway meal another, and had cheaper options at the local burger place etc. Even failed in my one attempt to buy someone a drink, because someone intercepted me to chat as we walked into the bar and by the time I turned around Charlie had disappeared. Also walked every day and didn't use public transport apart from the airport bus.

As a result I've come home with just over 200 Euros. My feeling on this is that unless I particularly need the money (or it looks like something horrible is happening to the Euro) I'll leave them as Euros for now, because the pound will probably drop a fair bit before I need Euros again. Am I being sensible here, or should I rush back and change them for patriotic British plastic?

I took a few touristy photos, mostly of the Liffey etc., and will post the best of them to Flickr tonight. I'll add a link when they're up.

Later - photos are here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150868539@N02/albums/72157710449772506

Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2171798.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

I may have been a little optimistic yesterday morning; I ended up standing through most of one program item yesterday, today I ended up going to my second or third choice at least three times, and the queuing system for getting into panels has been a nightmare, with enough people in line to fill the halls before the previous panel ends. I hate to say it, but I'm not convinced the convention centre is adequately sized for a Worldcon. It's big, but maybe not big enough, and it doesn't seem to have the unused overflow capacity that they were able to bring into use at e.g. Helsinki. I haven't yet been to the second con site, a few hundred yards away, but so far nothing that interests me has been scheduled there - that may be changed, of course, if they reorganise for more effective use of the space.

Weather has been intermittently wet all day, but I was lucky - it held off during my walks to and from the convention centre, and this evening when I went out for a meal.

Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2171640.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

Breakfast was good - lots of the usual choices and reasonably well cooked - on a student cafeteria setup. Plenty of mushrooms, bacon, black pudding, scrambled eggs etc., continental options, etc., so a definite plus.

The route to the convention centre turns out to be dead simple - head east on the campus to the north pedestrian gate, keep going east then north to the Liffey, cross it on a nice footbridge, then go east again to the centre. You can see the centre as soon as you get to the Liffey so it's hard to get lost! About a half hour at my snails pace, at least ten minutes of that on the campus getting to the right gate. Hopefully I'll get a bit faster now I know the way.

Registration was FAST, about three minutes queuing then a quick ID check and they print out the badge and you're in. Probably longer for program participants etc. This was about the same time as Helsinki, which makes me wonder again how London 2012 screwed up so badly, with queue times well over an hour. Hopefully any future UK con is taking notes....

The programme seems to be in adequately sized rooms so far, but I've only been to two panels, neither featuring George R.R. Martin. Early days, of course.

More as the con progresses.

Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2171263.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.

...I am in Dublin.

On the not so positive side, my flight was delayed more than an hour, and I forgot to check some fairly basic details of my accommodation, then got thoroughly soaked so that the bit of paper with the details I did have disintegrated.

I did eventually find the student accommodation offices (which for some strange reason are inside Trinity College, and not on College Green which is the big shopping street opposite the college, which is what the papers said) but by the time I'd checked in, found my room, sorted out WiFi etc etc it was too late to find the convention centre and actually join the con, that will have to wait for tomorrow. I have however found a cheap and OK burger place and some other sources of cheapish food so the day isn't entirely wasted. I think the Wednesday of my trip to the Helsinki worldcon had similar results.

The accommodation is pretty good, a room with en-suite loo and shower on the first floor of one of the less historic college buildings. There's a kitchen next door if I want to do things really cheaply and buy ready-meals or something. The price does include breakfast (the booking form said it didn't) and it's about 30-50 Euros a night cheaper than the hotels so I'm pretty happy. It's about a mile from the convention centre, my aim is to walk it as much as possible and exercise off the cheap burgers. This is about the same situation I had in Helsinki and that worked pretty well, I'm just praying for good weather. Meanwhile I need to investigate public transport in case of more downpours.

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This time with a Nikon D7000 so high resolution, I think this may be my best so far:

( big picture, croppedCollapse )

Link to originals

Cropped version

Full size

I'm off to the Worldcon tomorrow morning, hope I'll see some of you there.

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This one is a little different - print and play wargames:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/WarOnEverything

These print-and-play science-fiction board wargames are suitable for one or two players, are easy to print and assemble, and take less than two hours to play. Topics range from a zombie-infested Earth across deep space to three alien planets, and there's even a historical game where you play competing plagues trying to wipe out 14th-Century Europe. This new collection of .PDFs includes classics like Marc Miller's two Traveller "Series 120" boardgames, Mayday and Snapshot, as well as Steve Cole's fleet-action game Starfire in its 1993 Third Edition, reprinted by the Starfire Design Studio.

We provide each game complete, including rules, counters, and maps, in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these games have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their devices.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, The DOTS RPG Project. The DOTS Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, makes roleplaying games accessible to visually impaired players and other people with disabilities. DOTS has created 3D-printable Braille polyedral dice and Fate dice models, transcribes rulebooks in Braille, and works with publishers to address screen-reader accessibility.

The total retail value of the games in this offer is US$108. Customers who pay just US$7.95 get all four complete games in our Declaration (Starter) Collection (retail value $48), including the classic Traveller game Snapshot (retail price $20), Tiny Battle Publishing's Invaders From Dimension X! (retail $10) and Zombie War (retail $10), and EABA designer Greg Porter's morbid historical multiplayer game Black Death (retail $8).

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $17.95 to start, also get our entire Escalation (Bonus) Collection with four more games worth an additional $60, including Mayday (retail $20), the Classic Starfire Core Rules Bundle with the Revised Tactical Rulebook, Imperial Starfire, and Sky Marshal #2 (retail price $20), and Tiny Battle's two sequels to Invaders: Space Vermin From Beyond! (retail $10), and Attack of the 50 Foot Colossi! (retail $10).

In a September 2011 BoardgameGeek forum post, Mark "ZombieMark" Mitchell offers "crazy-quick and stupid-simple" advice for printing and assembling print-and-play wargame components.

The ones I know here are Snapshot, the classic small combat game used extensively by Traveller players, and Mayday, a popular small ships game also for the Traveller universe. I think I've also played Starfire, another space war game, but don't remember much about it, it's been a LONG time. The others include solo and multi-player games with themes including alien invasion and zombie attacks, giant monster attacks, etc. Given how expensive these are in dead tree format I think they're a pretty good deal, even if you don't want to play all of them.
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 Today's Questionable Content mentions an emu with a cloaking device

https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4066

The world is doomed...

https://youtu.be/sqrg_VCPgAQ
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This is a product I'm not familiar with - basically, printable paper miniatures games / RPGs:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Darkfast

"Designer-artist David Okum's Darkfast Dungeons is a print-and-play boardgame designed to provide a fun and varied dungeon-crawl experience in a couple of hours. Perfect for kids or novices, Darkfast Dungeons is also great for experienced players with limited time, because you need no gamemaster or preparation. A typical dungeon crawl lasts 2-3 hours, every game feels different, and you can play solo. With its hundreds of printable full-color miniature figures, the Darkfast Dungeons line is an affordable alternative to those big dungeon-crawler boxes full of plastic miniatures -- games like DungeonQuest, Clank!, Descent, and Warhammer Quest -- and you can store all your minis in a three-ring binder. (The Okumarts Games YouTube channel has Actual Play videos and crafting tips.)

Okumarts Games funded Darkfast in a July 2014 Kickstarter campaign, then followed it in April 2015 with a Kickstarter for a companion superhero RPG, Save the Day. This all-new collection presents all the rulebooks and adventures for both Darkfast Dungeons and Save the Day, along with more than two dozen .PDFs of paper miniatures, for an unbeatable bargain price.

We provide each file in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, Ocean Conservancy.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$126. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all fifteen titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $60) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• The complete Darkfast Dungeons Basic rulebook, along with five Darkfast Paper Minis sets: New Heroes, Dungeon Monsters Sets 1 & 2, and Mice & Rats Sets 1 & 2
• Both Save the Day rulebooks -- the Basic Rules and the Advanced Rulebook -- plus four sets of Heroes & Villains Paper Minis
• Three Eldritch Mythos Paper Minis sets: Monsters, Innsmouth, and the always-useful Loathsome Fishmen

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with fourteen more titles worth an additional $66:

• Five Darkfast Dungeons rules expansions, supplements, and adventures: Realm of Shades, Steam & Sword, Dragons & Dwarf Mecha,The Ghost Woods, and The Kingdom of Richard
• Two rogues' gallery supplements for Save the Day: Vile Villains One and Two, plus all four Vile Villains Paper Minis sets
• The northerly Save the Day adventure Team Canada
• Two Darkfast Dungeons Props Sets of papercraft props, walls, and doorways: Set 1: Forgotten Tombs and 2: Lost Treasures

Note: The layering feature in the Paper Mini .PDFs requires the free Adobe Reader.

I tried printing a couple of pages of the figures and the results are pretty good, since the images are vector graphics, not bitmaps. They have thick black borders which I'm not especially keen on, and the scale (30mm) feels a bit on the large side, but tastes differ. I suspect that they would be brighter on an inkjet printer than on my laser. My main reservations are that printing this stuff in colour will get expensive fast, and that the pricing seems a little on the high side. But if you want lots of fantasy and/or superhero minis and don't want to lug around heavy plastic or metal figures this is a reasonably good option. The game system is OK and the single player option is a nice touch, but I could live without it.

This isn't something I particularly want, but I can see the appeal. What I'd strongly suggest is that potential buyers check the market first - there are a LOT of printable figures and scenery PDFs available, depending on your needs one of the others may be a better deal or more suitable. And don't forget that there are lots of affordable plastic figures - for example, I run most SF games with some of the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars collectible miniatures, which are pretty cheap from secondary sellers if you avoid the more collectible ones (which in any case are the personality figures you probably don't want for a generic SF character), have a nice 1940s-50s look and aren't ridiculously over-armoured.

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 Cobb, the last of my corn snakes, died some time yesterday - I'm guessing of old age, since he was about 21 and a bit cranky and bitey, and wasn't eating regularly. I think that he'll be my last pet, it's a lot of responsibility and I'm no spring chicken, I don't want to lumber someone else if I pop my clogs or need an extended stay in hospital or something.

I'm not sure if this is actually Cobb or Sam, my first corn snake, but they were very much alike so it doesn't really make much difference:



Sorry it's so tiny, it's from the days of sub-megapixel digital cameras!


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Two bundles, one a repeat, the other all new, for the classic Ars Magica fantasy RPG

Ars Magica

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ArsMagica5-2019

"This fifth revival of our August 2014 Ars Magica Fith Edition offer is one of two parallel ArM5 offers from Atlas Games.

The Bundle of Holding and Ars Magica go way back. We offered the current (Fifth) edition of the Ars Magica rulebook in our August 2013 Bundle of the Ages, a collection of historical RPGs, and in March 2014 we presented a collection of vintage ArM supplements that supported the earlier Fourth Edition (1996-2004). We admire Ars Magica hugely and regard it as one of the field's seminal designs. We're proud to revive this large assortment from August 2014 supporting the current edition. The new companion collection, ArM5 World of Magic, has many more supplements about the far reaches of this remarkable magical setting.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each payment (after payment gateway fees) will be donated to these two Ars Magica offers' designated charity, Doctors Without Borders.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$125. Customers who pay just US$14.95 get all four titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $55) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Ars Magica Fifth Edition (retail $20): The complete, current 240-page rulebook.
• Covenants (retail $15): The essential guide to help players improve the homes of their magi.
• Houses of Hermes: True Lineages (retail $12): A detailed treatise on four powerful Houses of the Order of Hermes.
• Apprentices (retail $7): Become a young student of the Art of Magic.
• The Living Covenant: As a convenience to our customers, we present over two dozen free characters and setting files from the Atlas Games website, collected here in one handy 42-page booklet.

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Storyguide Collection with five more sourcebooks and scenarios worth an additional $70:

• Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults and Societates (retail $15 each): The second and third treatises on the Hermetic Houses.
• The Lion and the Lily (retail $15): The Normandy Tribunal sourcebook about the many active covenants in densely populated northern France.
• The Broken Covenant of Calebais (retail $10): The first-ever ArM adventure, updated for the current edition.
• Tales of Mythic Europe: Nine short adventures that push your saga to the limits of Mythic Europe.

Ars Magica World of Magic

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ArM5World

"This Worlds collection adds supplements and sourcebooks that range across the landscape beyond Mythic Europe. With this launch, we've now presented five bargain-priced collections that encompass the entire ArM5 line.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$130. Customers who pay just US$14.95 get all four titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $55) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including Mythic Locations (retail price $15), The Cradle & the Crescent (retail $15 -- previously in our Feb 2016 More Magic offer), Thrice-Told Tales (retail $15), Hooks (retail $10), and The Contested Isle (retail $15).

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with five more supplements worth an additional $75, including the location sourcebooks Lands of the Nile (retail price $15) and Between Sand & Sea: Mythic Africa (retail $15); Through the Aegis (retail $15), a collection of five ready-to-run covenants; and the supplement that shows you how to comprehensively and permanently blow up your entire campaign world, Dies Irae (retail $15)"

Ars Magica resources

Learn much more about Ars Magica Fifth Edition and get free downloads at the Atlas Games website. The Project Redcap wiki is the best starting point for fan resources. And check this RPG.net forum thread, "Let's Read Ars Magica Fifth Edition," and this RPG.net forum post by user cj.23 listing ArM resources. (That last one is in a topic called "Ars Magica Bundle of Holding -- do I want it?")

This is one of the classic and most respected historical/fantasy RPGs, with huge amounts of material available, and a more cerebral approach to its setting than most dungeon-bashing alternatives. It's a game anyone seriously interested in fantasy RPGs should definitely try - and if you've already taken the plunge, these bundles are a cheap way to fill in the gaps in your collection. Definitely recommended.

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Another blast from the past:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Mekton

Mekton, the debut design by Mike Pondsmith (Cyberpunk, Castle Falkenstein), was also the first American RPG inspired by Japanese giant-robot manga such as Mobile Suit Gundam. The primordial "white box" Mekton (1984, with Mike Jones), a tactical wargame with minor character elements, was quickly succeeded by the full Mekton RPG (1985); then the 1987 Interlock-based second edition, Mekton II; and finally (so far) the 1994 Mekton Zeta. (Or, according to the katakana characters on the cover, "Super Dimension Mobile Warrior Mekton Z.")

More than some other giant-robot RPGs, Mekton goes all-in on epic anime melodrama. Its Mek design rules are robust and versatile (especially when you add Mekton Zeta Plus), and its 1d10-based "Interlock" task resolution system (adapted from Cyberpunk 2020) is effective; but flavorful Mekton experiences happen when the pilots get out of their Meks. The Lifepath character generation system, a Pondsmith specialty, sketches a backstory full of hard knocks, tragic romances, and vendettas. "Lifepath is a way of recreating the complex mental landscape of a typical anime character," Pondsmith writes in Mekton Zeta. "It doesn't take much imagination to expand a result of 'enemy pilot who hates you' into a full-blown tale of the old friend who betrayed you, jealously murdered the lover you both wanted, and changed sides, the start of a bitter grudge match that isn't going to end until one of you lies dead." And as the campaign progresses, your character's actions generate a wide range of Reputation scores you'll have to live up to -- or live down.

In several published campaign settings, the universe of Mekton widened to cover entire galaxies and many anime styles: Mekton Empire (inspired by Captain Harlock and Voltron), Invasion Terra (inspired by Macross), Starblade Battalion (a Gundam-like extrapolation of the Cyberpunk 2020 future), and Operation Rimfire (all of the above). This offer presents all these settings, plus the Zeta rulebook and several key supplements, for a bargain price. And this Mekton Bundle also marks the debut in .PDF of the two Mecha Manuals (1994-95). R. Talsorian has also rescanned several of the older titles and bookmarked every .PDF.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). These are top-quality .PDF image scans of the original 1990s hardcopies with OCR (optical character recognition) applied. Some of these books are newly scanned for this offer. Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$87. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $42.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete Mekton Zeta core rulebook (retail price $15), the rules expansion Mekton Zeta Plus (retail $14), the Mekton Techbook (retail $6), and the Mekton Tactical Display referee's screen (retail $7.50).

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $21.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with six more titles worth an additional $44.50, including Operation Rimfire (retail $8), Mekton Empire (retail $7), Invasion Terra (retail $7.50), Starblade Battalion (retail $9), and the two Mecha Manuals, big books of robot designs that debut in .PDF in this offer and are not yet available in .PDF anywhere else.

OK, let's be honest - this is a 25-year-old RPG which takes tropes from anime and manga and saws off the serial numbers. It's not going to be wildly original, and it's a clunky rules system (and was when it was originally published). There are some weird design decisions, such as getting 16 pages into the rules before introducing the system (the first 15 are the cover, pictures of various characters and vehicles etc. with game stats and no explanation as to what they mean, and the table of contents). All in all, don't expect state of the art games design...

Having said that, there's a certain period charm, some OK illustrations, and it's actually one of the better R. Talsorian games (admittedly that isn't necessarily saying much) with some historical importance since it introduced the genre to RPGs (or vice versa). But realistically, there are better alternatives out there, and if you're not a Mecha or R. Talsorian completist you might do better to look elsewhere for your giant robot combat suit fix.

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Does anyone have contact information for making a technical query about the Royal Mail website?

Basically, the problem is that if you want to claim for a lost item you have to fill in a lot of information on their online form - and for some reason cut and paste stopped working some time last year, it will only take input from the keyboard, which makes things very difficult if you're trying to enter a long address in a foreign language or something. I've tried several browsers so far, but I've pretty much run out of things to try on this one, and want to ask if it's a known problem or I need to enable something or change a setting.

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Continuing my Harry Potter / DC crossover, previous parts on any of these archives:

On Fanfiction.net
On Archive of Our Own
On Twisting the Hellmouth

( XXI: Ethical and Moral StandardsCollapse )

Comments please before I post to archives

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Software Geeks, who sold me the Windows 10 Pro upgrade a while back, have a sale today and tomorrow with 10% off

http://softwaregeeks.co.uk

USE PROMOTIONAL CODE PRIME20

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 This is an offer of four game settings for the Savage Worlds RPG:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/SavageHeroes

Pinnacle Entertainment has run many successful Kickstarter campaigns to fund new settings for its fast-furious-fun Savage Worlds system. Over time Pinnacle has refined these crowdfunding efforts to a fine edge. Each campaign funds a well-conceived package of core setting book, pregen characters, adventure, play aids, and freebies. This offer presents four wide-ranging settings of savage heroism, licensed from three long-running comics series and a Robert E. Howard pulp classic. The space-opera comic Fear Agent™ by Rick Remender and Tony Moore spawned an RPG setting funded in a March 2017 Kickstarter campaign that ran in parallel with another Kickstarter adapting The Goon,™ the zombie-robot-changeling noir comic by Eric Powell. Earlier, Pinnacle ran a May 2015 Kickstarter to fund its RPG adaptation of the Weird West comic The Sixth Gun® by Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt. Most venerable of these settings (and predating Kickstarter's rise) is the 2007 The Savage World of Solomon Kane, based on Robert E. Howard's wandering Puritan monster-hunter.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$156. Customers who pay just US$19.99 get all five titles in our Corebook Collection (retail value $75) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Fear Agent™: A pulp space odyssey with horror, military action, old-fashioned ass-kicking, and revenge, not necessarily in that order.
• The Goon™: Zombie-robot-changeling noir with Franky, Doc Alloy, Fishy Pete, Merle the Werewolf, and the rest of the Goon's tough-as-leather crime syndicate.
• The Sixth Gun®: Cutthroat Weird-West historical fantasy about six otherworldly pistols and the rogues, gadflies, and scoundrels who seek them.
• The Savage World of Solomon Kane: Robert E. Howard's Puritan wanderer has passed the torch to a new group of holy warriors who fight globe-spanning evil.
• And as we often do, we include the Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer's Edition rulebook.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $29.99 to start, also get our entire Expanded Collection with fifteen more titles worth an additional $81, including basically all the important supplements for all these games:

• For Fear Agent: Its Archetypes pregenerated characgters, Creature Cards, GM Screen Inserts, and the adventure Feeding Time
• For The Goon: Its Archetypes, Creature Cards, GM Screen Inserts, and the adventure The Great Bollaire Street Block Party
• For The Sixth Gun: The Sixth Gun Companion, plus the Custom GM Screen, Figure Flats, and the adventure The Winding Way
• For Solomon Kane: The worldbook The Path of Kane, Savage Foes of Solomon Kane, and Solomon Kane: Traveler's Tales (adventures)

Savage worlds is a good system with a lot of fans; it's not my personal choice for the sort of settings mentioned here, that tends to be Call of Cthulhu or my own Forgotten Futures RPG, but that's simply because I have hundreds of hours experience running both games, which makes it a lot easier to keep things running smoothly. I'm happy to recommend this bundle as a very good selection for Savage Worlds, but some of it has appeared in previous bundles - if you already have a lot, it may be an expensive way to fill in the gaps.

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Two bundles for "Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of", an RPG based on Robert E. Howard's novels:

Conan Essentials

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ConanEssentials

"This is the first of two offers now in progress featuring Robert E. Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of from Modiphius Entertainment, the 2d20 RPG based on the legendary sword-and-sorcery creations of Robert E. Howard. This Conan Essentials Bundle has the core rulebook and essential supplements; if you're new to the game, start here. The companion offer, Conan Hyborian Ways, adds campaign sourcebooks and kingdom guides that let you follow in Conan's footsteps across the Hyborian Age lands.

The Modiphius game was funded in a fabulous February 2016 Kickstarter that was the company's most successful campaign to date (4,352 backers, £436,755). Using the cinematic 2d20 rules system (Infinity, Mutant Chronicles), Conan is based entirely on Howard's canonical stories, vetted by respected Howard authorities, and illustrated by renowned Conan artists.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) for these two Conan offers will be donated to the charity chosen by Chris Birch of Modiphius Entertainment, Vision Rescue. "Our goal is to raise US$20,000 for a Vision Rescue Bus, one of the projects the charity uses to help combat child slavery in India."

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$96. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all three titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $38) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete 432-page Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of core rulebook (retail price $25), the Conan GM Screen and Gamemaster Toolkit (retail $10), and the Map Bundle (retail $3).

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with four more supplements worth an additional $58, including the location guide Ancient Ruins & Cursed Cities (retail $15), the sorcery sourcebook The Book of Skelos (retail $13), the bestiary Horrors of the Hyborian Age (retail price $15), and Nameless Cults (retail $15). Together they're everything you need for a complete Hyborian campaign.

---

Conan Hyborian Ways

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/HyborianWays

This is the second of two offers now in progress featuring Robert E. Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of from Modiphius Entertainment, the 2d20 RPG based on the legendary sword-and-sorcery creations of Robert E. Howard. This companion offer, Hyborian Ways, adds location books and campaign frameworks that let you crush Hyborian thrones beneath your sandalled heels.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$84. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all three supplements and adventures in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $39) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including Conan the Barbarian (retail price $15), Conan the Thief (retail $13), and the adventure collection Jeweled Thrones of the Earth (retail $11).

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $19.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with three more supplements worth an additional $45, including Conan the Brigand (retail price $15), Conan the Pirate (retail $15), and Conan the Mercenary (retail $15).

This isn't really something that interests me, since I've never been a big fan of the character, but if you really want to play a barbarian hero and don't mind all the Arnie jokes it's probably a pretty good choice.
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This is the third annual offering of this system for Independence Day, adding one new supplement that will be available free to anyone who bought the bundle in previous years:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Colonial2019

Revived for a second time from July 2017, this offer (a tie-in to the American Independence Day holiday, with Canada Day in recent memory) once again presents the Third Edition of the supernatural flintlock-horror tabletop roleplaying game Colonial Gothic from Rogue Games. Uncover the secret history of America's 18th-Century frontier, where monsters stalk the woods and ghosts haunt every sleepy hollow. This bargain-priced offer presents much of the Colonial Gothic gaming line -- everything you need for a complete campaign of magic and mayhem in the shadows of early America. For this revival, CG designer Richard Iorio has generously added his new, just-published RPG of magical innocence, Fairyland -- and every previous purchaser of this Colonial Gothic Bundle during its two previous runs also receives the new game automatically on their Wizard's Cabinet download page.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to the charity selected by Rogue Games owner Richard Iorio II, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. "Over the weekend of June 12-14, 2015, I lost three friends in succession to suicide," Richard writes. "The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention helps you understand why this event happened and, more important, they offer comfort. They cannot take away the pain, but they can help you deal with it." Richard wrote about the AFSP on the Beyond the Bundle blog: "The Colonial Gothic Bundle and the ASFP".

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$129. Customers who pay just US$7.95 get all eight titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $52) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete Colonial Gothic Third Edition rulebook; three essential supplements (The Player Companion, Gamemaster, and Adventure); the adventures The Landlord's Daughter and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; the Colonial Gothic Gamemaster Screen; and the 174-page Beginnings adventure that kicks off the Flames of Freedom campaign about the American Revolution.

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $17.76 to start (hah!), also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with ten more titles worth an additional $77:

• Fairyland: The brand-new RPG of adventures out of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.
• Colonial Gothic Atlas: A comprehensive 290-page guide to the Thirteen Colonies, the Province of Maine, New France, the Caribbean Islands, and East and West Florida.
• Lovecraft (bring the Cthulhu Mythos onto the American frontier) and Journey to Norumbega (a Lovecraftian mega-adventure set in the pre-colonial New World well before the American Revolution).
• Five sourcebooks and setting guides: The Grimoire, Bestiary, The Templars, Settings, and The French & Indian War.
• The Defeated Dead: A ghost story of vengeful soldiers at the site of the US Army's greatest defeat.

Last time round I said:

I think that the problem here for me is that it's drawing on some very USA-specific tropes that don't have the same resonance for players outside the USA. Repeatedly offering it around Independence Day highlights this even more - it's just not a big deal to me, if I was still working it wouldn't even be a holiday. This is one where a big part of your varying mileage will depend on your country, origin, patriotism, etc., and for fairly obvious reasons I'm really not the target audience.

Having said that, I think that it's pretty good value, and if you're into this sort of thing it may well be something you want.


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 The server that handles my web site and umpteen thousand others is currently down for technical problems - hopefully back on line soonish. 

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 The July premium bond results are already visible on the NS&I web site. Which is odd because they don't usually appear until just after midnight on the SECOND working day of the month. Maybe they forgot Daylight Savings or something...

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