Gamebook playthrough: "Seas of Blood" by Andrew Chapman, attempts 4 & 5

Andrew Chapman's Seas of Blood killed me on the first try.  That's what should happen with a gamebook.  It also defeated me on outings two and three, in a healthy display of replayability.  Right now, I'm hoping to bring it down within ten attempts.  As always with gamebook playthroughs, Beware of The Spoilers from this point on.

Review: & Magazine, Issue 12

Issue 12 of & Magazine came out shortly before my long hiatus and certainly had nothing to do with my case of "the 2016s".  Back in 2015, Bryan Fazekas was nice enough to share my review of issue 11 and remarked that he couldn't recall & getting any better praise than being thought-provoking.  I still see his point, but there are plenty of other fine things to say about & Magazine.

Gamebook playthrough: "Seas of Blood" by Andrew Chapman, attempts 2 and 3

After falling well short of beating Seas of Blood yesterday, I'm going to take another swing and try to get a little further.  This is 80s-style re-playability, where the thing is hard enough that it takes several attempts to get through.  If you enjoy that sort of thing, be warned: there are spoilers ahead.

WotC's "Original Adventures" series available on DriveThruRPG

It's come to my attention that Wizards of the Coast have released some of the Original Adventures series through DriveThruRPG.  That explains why the old giveaway series isn't on the archive versions of WotC's website.  It also means that complaining about Owen K. C. Stephens' module design will resume in short order.

Unfortunately, WotC have decided to slap a charge on the old giveaways (less than $1), so I can't really say these things are free any more.  I've gone back and fixed up my links to direct readers to the relevant pages and advise them of the cost, but haven't fixed up the index yet.  Perhaps I should add an index of reviewed cheap adventures?

Gamebook playthrough: "Seas of Blood" by Andrew Chapman, attempt 1

My flatmate has a fantastic collection of gamebooks, many of which I remember owning and playing as a child.  I thought it would be fun to play through a few of them to see if I was actually any good at these as a kid, or whether I just cheated my way to the end!  Today I'm having a crack at Andrew Chapman's swashbuckling, throat-cutting Seas of Blood, a part of the "Fighting Fantasy" line published in 1985.  I think I last played this book in the mid-90s.  Note that this playthrough contains significant spoilers for the gamebook.

Preview: "Tukram's Tomb" by Davide Pignedoli

Davide Pignedoli recently released a "Beta version" of Tukram's Tomb with a call for feedback from anyone brave enough to venture within.  Tukram's Tomb is an adventure for the Crying Blades system (which I've never heard of, but understand to be in the same vein as Swords & Wizardry) or "any OSR system".  However, the rules used include ascending AC so some light conversion may be necessary.  There's a brief mention of first-level character but it's not clear how many adventurers are expected in the party.  The module is currently available as a Pay What You Want product.

The bath: a lively location for RPG campaigns

According to received wisdom about the middle ages, Europeans unfortunate enough to be born into that era were ignorant of the merits of bathing. As a result, public hygiene was poor and epidemics regular.  This could hardly be more wrong.

Review: "Primrose Path" by Owen K.C. Stephens

Welcome back to the Original Adventures series reviews.  This time I'm reviewing another Owen K.C. Stephens adventure, Primrose Path.  The module was distributed by Wizards of the Coast for the D&D 3.5 line, but it should be useful with Pathfinder and other D20 games with some conversion.  As the image says, Stephens is aiming to challenge four 6th-level characters.

Actual Play: The Craft Dungeon of Reynaldo Lazendry (part 1)

One of my regular players wanted to cut down to fortnightly games while the others were up for staying on weekly.  So rather than develop more material I turned to the stack of reviewed modules.  As we're playing AD&D First Edition, Jeremy Reaban's "The Craft Dungeon of Reynaldo Lazendry" was an easy choice - it's an engaging and rewarding beginning scenario.  If you just want a review, take that link out of here because I'm about to drop some heavy spoilers!

Review: "March of the Sane" by Owen K. C. Stephens

Welcome back to the Original Adventures review series.  The Original Adventures were free monthly adventures released by Wizards of the Coast to support their D&D 3.0 and 3.5 line (though they should be playable under Pathfinder with minimal conversion).  Owen K. C. Stephens' March of the Sane, released in August 2004, was the 14th of the series.  It's an event-based adventure for a party of four 5th-level adventurers.