Tell us about something good that you got recently

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
That's a bit shitty, considering the fact that postal rules say they ship it, you keep it. And everyone that I've had that happen either has paid for shipping and thanked me, or said just keep it and they'd write it off.
I didn't mind, I considered it rather good fortune I had found myself in.
I felt that Onyx Path's offer of keeping the premium volume was still a decent opportunity for me, and yep it hooked me on going forward as well.

Actually in hindsight, now I remember that it wasn't half of the retail price, Onyx Path suggested that I could keep the product if I covered the postage costs (otherwise I could post it back to them and they would have reimbursed me). So it was a really good situation I found myself in.

I remember a similar situation early last year when I ended up getting the limited edition of WFRP 4E The Enemy Within Volume One (double set slipcase) when I had only ordered the standard book(s). Cubicle 7 were really cool about it and let me keep the limited edition version for FREE, rather than ship it back to them from Australia!

Not only that, they personally let me know when they found some old stock of the original limited edition WFRP 4E core book in their store room. These were not listed on their website and they were happy to sell one to me at the original retail price - not the exorbant prices people are selling them in the gameshops and on eBay - so this made me a happy Cubicle 7 customer indeed!

I was pretty stoked with all of this, but of course this meant that I had to keep ordering the subsequent WFRP 4E The Enemy Within books in the limited edition slipcase volumes just to keep things consistent.
 
Last edited:
When I sent Chaosium pictures of the couple smudged pages of their $90.00 Slipcase book set, they sent me unasked a complete replacement at no cost to me. Really classy on their part, I'd just wanted to let them know incase it was the whole print run. When they surprised me with the free replacement, they didn't need the original back. So I printed up the bad pages from the pdf and put them in the original book and gave it to my wife since she uses it for reference.

This is the slip case I'm talking about.
 
I can’t remember the cost
Right, no need for self-incriminating answers:thumbsup:!

Just arrived yesterday.
View attachment 60212

I skimmed it. At first glance, it's nowhere near as good as Clownfellas (a masterpiece) , or even Cannibals of Candyland. But I'm a bit distracted since I just started the Broken Empire series by Marc Lawrence.
It's IMO a missed opportunity that this isn't an adventure for levels 6-9...:tongue:

I've gotten bad about not posting stuff, have to spam the folder a bit to get caught up. Black Sword Hack Kickstarter material first.
View attachment 60205
The Totally Not Elric Hack:grin:?
 
You say that until the Pinkertons come a knocking at your door and make your wife cry.
That wasn't a legitimately purchased item, though- it wasn't supposed to be in circulation. And even with that, they gave him the product that he'd actually ordered.
 
That wasn't a legitimately purchased item, though- it wasn't supposed to be in circulation. And even with that, they gave him the product that he'd actually ordered.
That it wasn't what he had ordered doesn't change the policy of "they ship it, you keep it", AFAIK?
 
That it wasn't what he had ordered doesn't change the policy of "they ship it, you keep it", AFAIK?
It does if the person that shipped it had no right to ship it. It wasn't their product to ship nor sell at that point.
 
When I sent Chaosium pictures of the couple smudged pages of their $90.00 Slipcase book set, they sent me unasked a complete replacement at no cost to me. Really classy on their part, I'd just wanted to let them know incase it was the whole print run. When they surprised me with the free replacement, they didn't need the original back. So I printed up the bad pages from the pdf and put them in the original book and gave it to my wife since she uses it for reference.

This is the slip case I'm talking about.
Chaosium customer service is really good.

I did a POD order to get the Creatures of Chaos which was one of the few items from the early days I didn't have. Somehow I wound up with a POD of RQ2 instead. They sent me a replacement and let me keep the RQ2, and I think the replacement was not POD but from the original print run. The map in my RQG Starter Set was creased and they sent me a replacement for that.
 
Yes I don't know how other companies work, but I can highly recommend direct dealings with Cubicle 7 and Chaosium, their customer service has been excellent as far as I am concerned. Personalised, friendly, efficient, and often generous.

Both of these companies already have the runs on the pitch as far as I'm concerned, especially in comparison to Hasbro/WotC's current reputation (digital monopoly attempts, OGL fiasco, the Pinkertons, etc)
 
Yes I don't know how other companies work, but I can highly recommend direct dealings with Cubicle 7 and Chaosium, their customer service has been excellent as far as I am concerned. Personalised, friendly, efficient, and often generous.

Both of these companies already have the runs on the pitch as far as I'm concerned, especially in comparison to Hasbro/WotC's current reputation (digital monopoly attempts, OGL fiasco, the Pinkertons, etc)
I'll add Modiphius to that. I love their policy if you get the hard copy anywhere, you can message them to get the PDF for free.
 
Next up, some Twilight 2000 1st and 2nd edition material. All in really great condition. I got one in a large lot on eBay where I won the auction. The box set of 1st edition is really mint including the dice. I wanted this stuff for collection mostly and as reference material for the current edition of T2000 by Free League.
Twilight 2000 1st edition Rpg 01.jpg

Twilight 2000 2nd edition rpg material 01.jpg
 
Last of the Avalon Hill RuneQuest 3rd edition material including two maps that were laminated. :grin: Now that I've tracked down all of the AH 3rd edition RQ material. My main scouting and purchasing will be of more I.C.E. and Mikemia Press books, which will be my focus for at least the rest of the year at least depending on how lucky I get.
AH Rq3e Material 01.jpg

New Pavis Map AH RQ 3e.jpg

River of Craddles Map AH  RQ 3e.jpg
 
Nothing exciting for me this time. Something I've been meaning to buy for a while though...

1683720329536.jpg


Surface Pro. An old (used) one it's in decent nick and came up with the right spec (i7 16gb ram) at the right price with spare power supply, a docking station, pen and keyboard.

I'll have to get the tape measure out but this is the 12.3" screen and I was kinda hoping the bezel wouldn't be as large. Guess that might be the newer versions. It was a toss up between an Ipad Pro (12.9"), this, something called a Luna max (14" android tablet) or an Honor 8 12" android tablet. last two are chinese tabs but as reliable as anything else in my experience.

The Windows tablet won out. I'm just more familiar with Win10 than IOS or Android and it was simple to log in as be up and running within five mins of unpacking.

This was specifically bought to read PDFs but for that it might be too heavy over time. Size wise the on screen display isn't as wide as A4 so is a little disappointing (that bezel thing). Whether it gets used specifically (and only) for the task of reading PDFs we'll have to see. I suspect an Ipad Pro or later models of this might be better suited. I wanted something that is a 1:1 match or near as for reading (my eyes are crap even with glasses) but this isn't that close. Bigger than the other tablets I have, not quite big enough.

What else?

Blacky the Blackballs Codename Spandex, a Golden Heroes clone. Probably a 'near as dammit' clone as there may be the odd tweak here or there that tidies things up (off the top of my head I think you can reverse the power roll on the table but will have to check, it's been a while. So a roll of 46 could be used as 64 if it brings a more suitable power.) Got a code from Lulu and had a quick search about for anything that looked interesting. I could have print/bound the book myself but with colour heavy stuff sometimes you are better off buying the book itself.

1683720329505.jpg


The other thing is the Basic 5e rules (from the website, free) print and bound. Don't know why I bought this. It's decades since I played/ran any form of D&D and 5e never floated my boat but I saw it and got it. I'll add it to the pile o stuff that won't get used.

1683720329490.jpg


As usual Blacky does a nice job. For a no profit labour of love author like he is I'd be happy to shell out for a kickstarter if he ever decided to make some pocket money from one of his projects. Dark Dungeons (and variants), Masks, Codename Spandex and more can be found at https://gurbintrollgames.wordpress.com/ all free and worth checking out.

That it?

Almost. The question of art has come up in my head because whilst I've been writing home brew games since I was 10 or 11 they've been text walls without much in the way of doodles. I wasn't a bad artist as a kid but never followed it up and now my stuff looks like crap. I thought I'd try to make an effort and maybe encourage my son to have a go at picking up the art basics.

This:

1683720329520.jpg


Is a plug in light pad. A3 size, plugs into any usb socket and press the power button to light it up with 3 light settings. Put something on top (picture, page) then a blank sheet on top to trace/draw over and go from there.

1683720475679.jpg


It doesn't show up how bright it is (phone will automatically adjust I expect) but it's bright enough.

I've had a look at AI art but the stuff that it's churned out hasn't impressed me. Maybe I'm asking or expecting too much of it. Some is fine but needs filling in, adding to. Others are like 'how many fingers' and 'what the hell happened to the face?' yet I know it can churn out some amazing things looking at the examples on the web. I'm just not asking the right questions of it yet or it doesn't do comic book super hero stuff very well at the moment.

So I thought I'd dig out some pencils and pens and have a play about. This is a start, what comes of it... well it'll probably not get posted on here, there's only so much ridicule I'm prepared to accept :hehe: If I ever do put out a game for public consumption it'll either be text wall or 'did you draw that with the pen between your toes' DIY/AI art or some kind of mash up.

There is an argument for rejecting AI art and I get that, but on the flip side at some point you'll be able to pay a website to churn out art and be able to tweak/adjust/hone/perfect it with some clicks and adjustments and be ready to go for a fraction of the price to pay a human and available almost instantly. Is it right or ethical? After all it bases on existing art that's out there but then so does a lot of the stuff you see in comics and other art based mediums. Right now it's 'not there yet' what with the six to eight fingers on each hand and so on but for non artists out there in indie RPG land it might be the thing that gets your book noticed from all the other shovelware that gets churned out. I think something called 'poser' art was a thing in the 90s and I remember that as being shite and would have preferred no art at all.

Anything else?

I have Monsters! Monsters! in the press ready to bind. I was waiting for 'Monsterary of Zimrala' (think I spelled it right?) to go on pdf sale (the Monsters! book/expansion) to print/bind into one tome and Update just checked the site and it seems to be on sale so bought it. Any PDF over £10 gets me squirming (I'm a tight Yorkshireman) and thinking about whether I should wait or buy. At £12.67 or whatever it was it's near enough. Also plumped for the 'BIG' (that's what it says) map which will get printed out on A3+. Expect a 'print/bound' post from me at some point in the near future.
 
I've had a look at AI art but the stuff that it's churned out hasn't impressed me. Maybe I'm asking or expecting too much of it. Some is fine but needs filling in, adding to. Others are like 'how many fingers' and 'what the hell happened to the face?' yet I know it can churn out some amazing things looking at the examples on the web. I'm just not asking the right questions of it yet or it doesn't do comic book super hero stuff very well at the moment.
AI art is still very hit or miss, especially if you want something very specific, or a scene with characters interacting in some way. The best advice I can give is to go overboard with style prompts. Piling on six different artists in the prompt generally gives better results than one.

It's better for inspiration than illustration, in my opinion. Coming up with superhero, then trying to get an LLM to make an accurate illustration is frustrating. Having the LLM generate a bunch of superhero pictures, taking the best, and then thinking about how to stat them up is a lot more realistic. Even then, you are probably going to need to do some photoshopping.
 
Surface Pro. An old (used) one it's in decent nick and came up with the right spec (i7 16gb ram) at the right price with spare power supply, a docking station, pen and keyboard.
Which one is that? I have the 5 and the 7 and they're great.
 
Which one is that? I have the 5 and the 7 and they're great.

We've owned the first generation, sixth generation (x2) and my wife has a Surface Book and one of our kids has a fifth generation Surface. Overall, we love them as well.
 
We've owned the first generation, sixth generation (x2) and my wife has a Surface Book and one of our kids has a fifth generation Surface. Overall, we love them as well.
I wish they had a smaller form factor on them also, even if it was just kiosk mode or something. I had to end up getting a Boox so I could use it when taking a full surface wasn't feasible.
 
I wish they had a smaller form factor on them also, even if it was just kiosk mode or something. I had to end up getting a Boox so I could use it when taking a full surface wasn't feasible.
The form factor for the first generation Surface was smaller, but thicker as well so it weighed more than the later generations. I also would love to see something lighter and a bit smaller like my Kindle Paperwhite that I could use for reading instead of the Paperwhite.
 
My copy of Godsend Agenda arrived the other day. I haven't had time to look at it, but it came in a beautiful slipcase (which was unexpected). I got a couple of KS pdf's as well, one of which was for an analog Japanese horror rpg I want to look at.
 
The form factor for the first generation Surface was smaller, but thicker as well so it weighed more than the later generations. I also would love to see something lighter and a bit smaller like my Kindle Paperwhite that I could use for reading instead of the Paperwhite.
Agreed. That's why I got a Boox.
 
Which one is that? I have the 5 and the 7 and they're great.
It's a 4. There's a lot of those to pick from on ebay, not so many of the newer models. I though about stretching further to a Surface X (I think it's called) at 13" but as it was purely a thing for reading PDFs (I have about half a dozen laptops at home for various things and tend to stick to the battered old Dell as my fingers have pounded the keyboard into a comfortable shape over the years) cost was a factor and I'm on strike three days in this coming month. If I was being sensible I'd have waited a while. What the heck, beans on toast are still cheap. Ish.

I looked at what comparisons I could find and there seems little (if any) difference between 4 & 5. 3 and 4 there is a slight difference in visible screen size and better resolution as far as I can tell. Mostly I was happy to wait for an i7 and 16gb ram so it doesn't chug along especially with some of the full colour PDFs that weigh in these days.

This might go back on ebay and I may check out some of the other options I listed. Nothing wrong with it - it's in lovely condition and a credit to former keeper (can't see a single mark on it and screen has a protector over it) but I could do with something slightly bigger or stronger glasses. Or better eyes :shock:

I suppose the acid test for any PDF is Mythras. I struggle with the book so chances are the PDF on this won't be any better...
 
I bought the Honor + Intrigue bundle today as soon as I saw the email. I haven’t had a chance to look at any of it yet, but people have been singing its praises for a while and ~$13 was fantastic for what you get.

I’ll probably take a look at it on the weekend and if I like what I see I’ll buy the pdf with sci-fi stuff for it as well.
 
I bought the Honor + Intrigue bundle today as soon as I saw the email. I haven’t had a chance to look at any of it yet, but people have been singing its praises for a while and ~$13 was fantastic for what you get.

I’ll probably take a look at it on the weekend and if I like what I see I’ll buy the pdf with sci-fi stuff for it as well.
Snagged it today and I'm currently reading it.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top