Meme-Free Zone

A couple of weeks ago I heard that there was going to be an RPG bundle in support of charities associated with the Australian bushfire disaster.  I put Elvis: The Legendary Tours in (only one title per per publisher was allowed) and they ended up with so many contributions that they had to run EIGHT different themed bundles. This ended on the 11th; all together they've raised a bit over USD $218,000, or $325,000 AUD! All earnings will be divided equally between the following charities: 

2. Australian World Wildlife Fund’s “Bushfire Emergency.”

I'm very sorry that I forgot to mention it here - to be honest, it just slipped my mind. Many thanks to everyone who did buy these bundles - and if you missed out, there are still plenty of ways to support these charities.

More details here
https://medium.com/oneblogshelf/australia-bushfire-relief-charity-update-5e0d2292996b 



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This is a repeat of an offer from February 2017 - games designed with two players in mind, either a referee with a single player, or two players in a cooperative game with no referee as such. It's tied in to Valentine's Day and only available until next Sunday.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ForTwo2020

"Revived from February 2017, this was our first Valentine offer of two-player RPGs. This revival runs for just five days through Sunday, February 16. Each of these RPGs is intended for two players, or for a Gamemaster and one solitary player character. Some of these duets, like the Romance Trilogy from Emily Care Boss, are ideal for an intimate Valentine's Day experience with your significant other. Then again, others emphasize confrontation, rebellion, and horror. (One game has a step in its turn sequence called "Inflict Pain and Suffering.") Maybe these could work for some relationships; we don't judge. The point is, this bargain-priced offer gives you many ways to have fun with just one other player.

(In February 2019 we presented a second collection of two-player RPGs. This is a revival of the original 2017 collection.)

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, Human Rights Watch.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$96. Customers who pay just US$7.95 get all five titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $45) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Romance Trilogy (Black and Green Games, retail price $10): The groundbreaking "Three Quick Games About the Human Heart" by Emily Care Boss, Breaking the Ice, Shooting the Moon, and Under My Skin.
• Stories From the Grave (Spectrum Games, retail $10): Anthology-based horror (think EC Comics, The Twilight Zone, and Creepshow) for a GM and one foredoomed protagonist.
• Mars Colony (TCK Roleplaying, retail $8): A political struggle for the salvation of an isolated outpost.
• Beast Hunters (Berengad Games, retail $12): Stalk and fight monsters that threaten your people. When you defeat them, use their blood to ink tattoos on your skin and gain their power. This revival replaces the 2007 first edition of Beast Hunters with the new "Bloodcarved Edition." As always, all previous purchasers of this offer during its original run also receive the newly updated game on their Wizard's Cabinet download page and in their DriveThruRPG Library.
• Don't Rest Your Head (Evil Hat Productions, retail $5): An insomniac in Mad City struggles against monsters both real and imagined.

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $16.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with four more games worth an additional $51:

• Scarlet Heroes (Sine Nomine Publishing, retail $15): Both a standalone old-school game and an overlay for your favorite retro-clone, Scarlet Heroes lets you run any published fantasy adventure, unaltered, with just one player. From Kevin Crawford, designer of Stars Without Number.
• Macabre Tales (Spectrum Games, retail $15): A Cthulhu Mythos experience that uses dominoes to create a fiercely accurate simulation of HP Lovecraft's stories. Dominoes not included.
• 39 Dark (TCK Roleplaying, retail $8): Tim Koppang's standalone sequel to Mars Colony (in this offer's Starter Collection) that covers the same scenario from the resistance viewpoint.
• Showdown (Dark Omen Games, retail $13): A tense card-based confrontation between longtime enemies where victory always brings great cost.

In 2017 I said "I'll be taking a look at this but doubt I'll be using them much, it really isn't my style of play - I seem to work better with larger groups. But if you like the idea of one on one play this may be a very interesting offering, and it looks like you get a reasonable amount for the money. As usual I have to add that I don't have to pay for this stuff, if you do your mileage may vary." I really don't have any reason to change that.
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How in hell do you get an edit to stick on Google Maps?

There's a block of flats in my street. Flats in that block have the address [flat number] [name of block] [name of street]

Google Maps seems to have decided that a lot of houses in the street (including mine) have the address [house number] [name of block] [name of street]. I've repeatedly tried to correct this, and they've sent me emails saying that the edit has been accepted, but when I look at the address again it's still coming up with the block name.

This has caused a LOT of problems with couriers etc., who appear to regard Google Maps as gospel.

There appears to be no way to contact anyone at Google who is capable of correcting this. I'm thinking about sending an actual letter by snail mail to their London offices. Does anyone know who this should be addressed to?

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Another offer of material for the "old school" style of role playing (e.g. dungeon bashing etc.) this time from publisher Necrotic Gnome who are new to me:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Necrotic

"Colorfully named publisher Necrotic Gnome has made a rep in Old School Revival circles -- first with the attractive and useful Wormskin magazine, then with the B/X Essentials retro-clone, perhaps the best re-presentation of TSR's 1981 Basic/Expert rules set. Renamed Old-School Essentials and funded in an April 2019 Kickstarter campaign, the game emphasizes clarity, layout, and ease of use at your table. And its campaign setting, Dolmenwood, is a flavorful and delightfully creepy weird-fantasy forest steeped in occult energies, riddled with fungus, and haunted by fairies both wicked and kind.

So what's the big deal about another B/X retro-clone? James Spahn reviewed Old-School Essentials on Halfling's Luck: "Gavin Norman has constructed a game that is designed specifically toward active playability. Old-School Essentials' genius lies in its layout and formatting. It is designed to keep play at the table fast and easy. Rules are clearly expressed and easy to understand. Moreover, page-flipping is all but a thing of the past. At no point in the text do you need to start dancing across the book to find relevant information. [...] In its presentation, in its layout and formatting, Old-School Essentials is sheer genius."

This all-new offer presents this highly regarded OSR game and most of its support line for a bargain price. 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, Wildlife Conservation Society.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$122. Customers who pay just US$12.95 get all six titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $56.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the comprehensive Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome (retail price $20), the introductory module The Hole in the Oak (retail $8.50), and the Old-School Essentials Referee's Screen (retail $10), as well as three issues of the fine OSR magazine Wormskin (retail $6 each, total $18).

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $22.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with nine more titles worth an additional $65.50, including two Advanced Fantasy expansions for Old-School Essentials -- Druid and Illusionist Spells and Genre Rules (retail $8.50 apiece) -- and the core Dolmenwood titles: The Weird That Befell Drigbolton (retail price $10), Winter's Daughter (retail $8.50), and the free files Welcome to Dolmenwood, the Calendar, and the Referee's Map. Oh, and we add the five remaining issues of Wormskin magazine ($6 each, total $30)."

I'll be honest, this isn't a lot of interest to me, but it may still have a lot to offer for those who prefer this style of play.
 

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I don't usually mention the Humble Bundle software offers, but the current one is interesting for railway enthusiasts - Train Simulator 2020 and lots of add-ons.

Downside is you have to download it from Steam, and I have always found them a PITA to the point that I closed my account, and I really don't have the time for this anyway, but for those who do...

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/train-simulator

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Just a link to this one, since I don't get to preview material in the Humble Bundle offers - another offer of Cubicle 7's Adventures in Middle Earth, which will soon cease publication.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/lord-rings-5e-final-encore-cubicle-7-books

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These are two RPG bundles featuring WOIN, the "What's OLD is NEW" rules system from EN Publishing. The first is all new, the second a revival from 2018

Judge Dredd and More

http://bundleofholding.com/presents/JudgeDredd

This Judge Dredd and More Bundle is a new companion to our revived March 2018 WOIN OLD and NEW Bundle.

WOIN ("What's O.L.D. is N.E.W.") is a crunchy, tactical system for adventures in many settings -- such as the worlds of the long-running British comic 2000 AD and its most popular character, Judge Dredd. EN Publishing's new line was funded in a successful September 2018 Kickstarter campaign. This all-new, bargain-priced collection presents the Judge Dredd & the Worlds of 2000 AD standalone RPG, the N.O.W. Modern Action rules set, and 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 devices.

Ten percent of each purchase of these two WOIN offers (after gateway fees) goes to their designated charity, Rainforest Trust.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$88. Customers who pay just US$7.95 get all four titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $38) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete N.O.W The Modern Action Roleplaying Game core rulebook (retail price $10), the campaign sourcebook-adventures Dark Decade: From Dust to Dawn (retail $8) and Spirits of Manhattan (retail $10), and the adventure Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future (retail $10), based on the 1980 novel by the late Mike Resnick.

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $22.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with four more titles worth an additional $50, including the complete full-color 274-page Judge Dredd & the Worlds of 2000 AD core rulebook (retail $20) (plus the Print & Play Counters, retail $10, and the free Judge Dredd Quickstart), along with the sourcebook-adventure The Robot Wars (retail price $10) and the Judge Dredd GM Screen (retail $10).

What's Old Is New

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/WOIN2020

This revival of the March 2018 offer featuring EN Publishing's What's O.L.D. is N.E.W. is a companion to the Judge Dredd and More Bundle now in progress.

What's O.L.D. is N.E.W. is the umbrella name for a system of crunchy, tactical tabletop roleplaying game toolkits designed to work together: O.L.D. (medieval fantasy), N.E.W. (far-future science fiction), and N.O.W. (modern action). Designed by ENworld's Russ "Morrus" Morrissey and funded in an April 2014 Kickstarter campaign, the WOIN games let you play any kind of fantasy, science fiction, or action-movie character. Tweak the system dials to handle low or high fantasy, hard or soft sf, and so on. Using each book's extensive tools,create your own races, lifepath careers, planets, freeform spell-paths, starships, strongholds, martial arts, and monsters. Focus on one genre, or mix-and-match them to create urban fantasy, cyberpunk, or spells-in-space. Hack the system, mold it to your setting, and -- because the free WOIN Rules Reference Document is designated Open Game Content -- even publish your creations free or for profit.

Not a "universal" system as such, WOIN is designed specifically for medium-low-magic Tolkien-esque medieval fantasy, '80s action, and a Trek-ian to Wars-ian range of sf, with rules systems that replicate those genres well. Though characters become more competent and skilled over time, they never end up wading through armies of orcs. The system is a bit grittier than that, with combat tending toward tactical skirmishes, magic toward the subtle, and magical items quite uncommon. The avowed inspirations for O.L.D. range from the gritty medieval fantasy of Glen Cook to the works of David Eddings and David Gemmell, Robert E. Howard, Le Guin, Abercrombie, Rothfuss, and, of course, Tolkien. N.E.W. is inspired by Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Babylon 5, the Alien franchise, and other media science fiction, along with the stories of Asimov, Niven, and Clarke.

This revival presents the O.L.D. (fantasy) and N.E.W. (space opera) rulebooks plus many supplements and scenarios. The recently published N.O.W Modern Action rules are in the companion Judge Dredd 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 these two WOIN offers' designated charity, Rainforest Trust.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is 98.50. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all three titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $42.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• O.L.D. The Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying Game (retail price $20): The complete fantasy-medieval rulebook with versatile lifepath character creation, innovative freeform spell-point magic, fast but tactical combat, and tools for building any setting from Tolkien to Braveheart. Includes the free adventure The Haunting of Calrow Ruins
• N.E.W.: The Science Fiction Roleplaying Game (retail $20): The complete 310-page rulebook for every style of science fiction adventure from Trek to Wars to Firefly and more. Includes the free adventure Death on Ascalaon.
• The Ills of Hengistbury (retail $2.50) and the free Holdenshire Primer: An introductory sandbox campaign adapted from the 5E adventure To Slay a Dragon.

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 seven more titles worth an additional $56:

• Xenomorphs: The Fall of Somerset Landing (retail $15): A N.E.W. sourcebook of sf survival horror on a terraforming colony invaded by predatory aliens.
• Two N.E.W. starship guides: Starship Construction Manual (retail $10) and Starship Recognition Manual (retail $9).
• Three N.E.W. articles from the WOIN magazine, EONS: Racebuilding Engine (retail $7), Real Solspace: A Guide to our Stellar Neighborhood (retail $2), and Trappist (retail $4).
• You're All Doomed! (retail $9): A devious and unrepentantly deadly meta-dungeon crawl for genre-savvy players and disposable characters of grades 8-10.

I'm very interested in the Judge Dredd offer because I wrote quite a lot for Games Workshop's 1980s Judge Dredd RPG - on a quick inspection this seems to be a lot more playable, while retaining the feel of the comics, and material like the Robot Wars supplement shows an impressive grasp of the history of the series. Definitely recommended, especially if you want to re-run old adventures from White Dwarf and Games Workshop's old supplements, by such up and coming young authors as Marcus Rowland, and don't mind spending a little time on converting the old material.

With regards to the system as a whole, last time I said "First thoughts are that it all looks very pretty, but doesn't feel particularly novel or do much that isn't possible with other systems I already own. Having said that, there's nothing obvious to dislike about it, you do get a lot for your money, and it seems to be reasonably versatile. Recommended, with all the usual caveats about mileage varying etc." I really don't see anything to change about this.


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This one is a fantasy campaign add-on for Savage Worlds, repeated from August 2018:

http://bundleofholding.com/presents/Barbarian2020

"Umberto Pignatelli's Beasts & Barbarians is a sword-and-sorcery fantasy campaign setting from the Polish company GRAmel Publishing for Savage Worlds Explorer Edition rules from Pinnacle Entertainment. GRAmel is the Polish Savage Worlds licensee, and GRAmel's Piotr Korys was once Pinnacle's Savage Worlds line editor.

Beasts & Barbarians channels the vintage spirit of Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, and Fritz Leiber for Conanesque adventures of iron-thewed heroism, sanity-twisting sorcery, and base treachery. Cursed by the gods, the Keronian sorcerer-priests lost their empire 2,500 years ago in the cataclysmic fall of the Dread Star. Amid its scattered ruins, power-hungry despots rule the Dread Sea Dominions, a realm of colorful cities, dark mysticism, dramatic turns, and larger-than-life heroism -- of barbarians, Amazons, alchemists, monks, and thieves. Travel the Iron Empire from barbarous Northelm to the theocratic City of Clouds, and meet (and battle) foes from the mercenaries and greedy merchants of Jalizar to the fallen sorcerers and slavers of Tricarnia. Venture into ancient ruins to battle pre-human beastmen -- fight in the sun-scorched arenas of Faberterra to appease the crowds of the decadent Iron Empire -- and stop mad sorcerers from invoking demons in temples older than humankind.

Funded in 2017 in a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, Beasts & Barbarians Steel Edition (the game's second) adds lots of material, furthers the setting's timeline, and makes useful corrections in tone. B&B's Golden (first) Edition (2011), while faithfully capturing the spirit of Robert E. Howard's pulp fiction, also followed Howard's practice of characterizing some races in stereotyped ways. "We didn't want to offend anybody," Piotr Korys explained on the RPG.net forum. "Cultural differences (I'm from Poland, Umberto is from Italy) could be the reason and explanation, but our game was proofread and edited by US-born English native speakers -- and they left [the characterizations] there. We have changed a lot of things, which were put there not because we are racist (both Umberto and me hate white supremacy -- or every supremacy -- movement), but because they were in pulp games." This offer's Steel Edition (2017) removes the problematic characterizations.

Revived from August 2018, this bargain-priced offer once again presents the complete Beasts & Barbarians Steel Edition (both Player's Guide and Game Master's Guide) and lots of character supplements, location sourcebooks, adventures, and play aids -- everything you need to tread the jeweled thrones of the Dread Sea Dominions under your sandaled feet.

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 revival is US$144. Customers who pay just US$12.95 get all seven titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $68) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the full-color Beasts & Barbarians Steel Edition Player's Guide, Game Master Guide, the Heroes of the Dominions collection of pregenerated player characters, and the introductory adventure "Rebirth"; the bestiary Beasts of the Dominions; the introductory adventure Soul in the Water; the Steel Edition Figure Flats print-and-fold character standups; and the Game Master Screen.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $70, including three location sourcebooks Dark Places of the Dominions, Jalizar - City of Thieves, and Tricarnia - Land of Princes and Demons); three character supplements (Gladiators of the Dominions, Pirates of the Dominions, and Tattered Banners - Bandit Lords and Mercenary Captains); and the full-length Steel Edition adventures Enyia's Song and Trollhunt.

Last time I said:

My feeling on this one is that it isn't something I personally want; there are already a lot of fantasy campaigns out there and I don't feel any pressing need for another. But if you like Savage Worlds and want something like this it's probably going to be of interest. As usual YMMV.

I don't really see any need to change this.
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 Heard yesterday that all going well I will be a great-uncle again for the 8th time in July. Annoyingly there appear to be no easily thought-of sports where you have a team of 8 players, the only ones I've found so far are some weird basketball thing where the teams are 4 men and 4 women (so far it's 6 boys and one girl) and Tug of War, which is basically a bit boring, and tricky with the oldest player 13 years older than the youngest. Any other suggestions?

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This is a collection of items from some of the earlier Bundle offers - unfortunaly I'm up to my eyeballs in other things and haven't had a chance to check it out beyond pointing at the offer - I think all of them predate my starting to review these bundles:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ClassicHits1

"In 2020 the Bundle of Holding will revive many past offers from the site's entire seven-year history. Originally I'd planned to rerun the earliest offers intact. But many games in those primordial lineups later became the nuclei of entire bundles themselves; others are sold in new editions now, or are given away free, or are unavailable. Hence this Classic Hits Bundle -- the first of, I hope, three or four compilations this year -- gathers many top-quality indie RPGs originally presented in half a dozen Bundle offers in 2013 and 2014. For those who missed those early offers, this compilation is a new chance to roleplay dungeon-crawling torchbearers, hypercompetent gangsters, the supernaturally gifted Touched, or wizardly familiars, and to visit medieval England, wartorn Warsaw, and the swashbuckling seven skies.

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, the Mines Advisory Group.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$99. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all five titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $43) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including Honor + Intrigue (Basic Action Games, retail price $15), Grey Ranks (Bully Pulpit Games, retail $8), In Dark Alleys (Vajra Enterprises, retail $10), Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne (Pompey Design Crew, retail $5), and Another Fine Mess (Grey Ghost Games, retail $5).

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $19.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with four more games worth an additional $56, including Torchbearer (Burning Wheel, retail $15), Hollowpoint (VSCA Publishing, retail $16), Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple (Smart Play, retail $10), Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies (Evil Hat Productions, retail $15)."
 

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