The Complete Fighter's Handbook, Book Review
A video blogger, user-named Mittierim, recently reviewed the
classic book, The Complete Fighter’sHandbook on his Youtube channel, Mittierim gave a fair assessment of the book from a modern perspective; I
had tried to comment, but apparently, for whatever reason, Google has deemed it
necessary to ban me from commenting on Youtube. I had sent him a message,
telling him that I enjoyed the video, and about my feelings in regards to the
book in question. It actually stirred up more feelings about the book than I
thought were really there, which was surprising to me; so today, I’d like to
write my own review about the book, from my perspective.

Monday, February 29, 2016 | Labels: pc classes, Reviews | 12 Comments
GAME PLAY Episode 1: Chaos at Griffon Hill
Sunday, February 21, 2016 | Labels: Ripper's Gaming Sessions | 8 Comments
Mechanic Series: Necromancer

ADDENDUM: Our friend Brandon Lighter whose blog is The Rosetta Drake had this to say on Google+
As just-another-specialist-wizard, the Necromancer hardly bears discussing as a separate class -- though the Complete Book of Necromancers helps this tremendously (giving a lot of love to the classic villain -- including 1st and 2nd level spells that let them animate skeletons and zombies, albeit only 1 per casting), thus making low-level adventures to stop the zombie-creating apprentice Necromancer make sense. They are no more or less powerful than any other specialist -- though party tactics and the nature of encounters the DM runs can skew this one way or another (i.e. invoker has a clear advantage if the game features large-scale combat too heavily).
One of my longest-running campaigns featured a PC Necromancer who was the only truly good character in the entire party. The party (in 5 years and 28 levels of playing) never acquired a cleric, so the Necromancer quickly stepped up into that role, loading up on spells like: Hold Undead (in place of turning), paired Empathic Wound Transfer and Vampiric Touch (taking her allies wounds on herself then healing them at the expense of their enemies in place of more normal healing), and rampant Reincarnation at high levels (in place of Raise Dead). With the exception of VT for work-around healing, the character was otherwise a committed pacifist, studying the powers of death in order to understand how to counter them.
Talking about Games said:
That's a really good blog post, thanks a lot for mentioning me! So far, my favorite versions of d20 Necromancers are the ones presented in "13 True Ways" and in "Adventures Dark & Deep". If you are curious about those or haven't seen them already, here are the links:
Talking about Games reviews 13 True Ways, and Adventures Dark & Deep
The first one feels powerful and customizable without 'stealing the spotlight' from the other members in the party. The second one is pretty standard old school stuff, but the spells, the ability to create magic items and affect undead make it a lot better.
I also somewhat liked the 3.5 versions presented in "Libris Mortis" and "Heroes of Horror", but the former felt too fiddly, and the latter felt too powerful at times.
CORRECTIONS: Paolo Greco (AKA: Tsojcanth) whose blog is Lost Pages pointed out that Enchant an Item is also associated with the school of Invocation, so Necromancers ARE able to create magic items.
Sunday, February 14, 2016 | Labels: Alignment, magic, Mechanic Series, pc classes, wizard spells | 14 Comments
Mechanic Series: Armor Class & Damage
A Treatise On Mages & Armor in AD&D, 2nd Ed.
AD&;D Rare Metals Breakdown
Crafting Systems in Tabletop Games: AD&D, Second Edition
Thac0 Forever: Shields
Trollsmyth: Shields Shall be Splintered
Saturday, February 06, 2016 | Labels: combat, Mechanic Series, money and equipment, Proficiencies | 14 Comments
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OSRIC & The OSR with Allan T. Grohe Jr. – Episode 264- 11/30/2022 - Shane Plays Geek Talk Episode #264 – 11/30/2022 RPG developer and publisher Allan T. Grohe Jr. (aka “grodog”) joins to talk AD&D retroclone OSRIC, the OS...1 month ago
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It's been a decade, now... - This is a tough time of year for me. So, with your indulgence, here's this link to a post I did a decade ago... EDIT: I have no idea why it didn't take. S...10 months ago
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Alignment and Lawful Clerics - This is the third in a series of web log posts where I describe what “alignment” must mean in the Perilous Realms, based upon our group’s tone and play-s...1 year ago
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