D&D hits the supermarket shelves!

Greetings folks, this episode is about a minor seismic event in the world of RPGs. Last year's release of the D&D Adventurer magazine in the UK.

Instead of having to visit a hobby or book store, this publication appeared all over the place such as in newsagents, supermarkets and corner stores. Its purpose was to bring the D&D hobby to a

Such a magazine publishing concept is nothing new and something I remember from my childhood. They usually, but not

Then by means of only introducing one craft or hobby component per issue they entice the reader to buy the whole series so the

Sounds simple?

In practice the magazine issues increase substantially in price after the first two or three meaning you need to spend some serious cash to finish something you could otherwise get for a fraction of the price if you just went to a hobby or craft store in the first place.

While they appear in a blaze of publicity, including TV adverts, they tend of fade away after a few issues with only the most steadfast newsagent daring to stock a small number. 

With this in mind the D&D Adventurer magazine created quite a stir although this didn’t last long once the ‘free’ goodies that came with the magazine were not enough to justify the increased price. However, unlike other similar publications it isn't components you need to play D&D, but rather information in the form of rules. So how does this mag measure up?

Is it of any substance, is this a radical new way to introduce people to the game or was it a mere attention grabbing

Listen in and make up your minds.

https://hachettepartworks.com/en-en/dungeons-and-dragons-adventurer/

Happy New Year listener(s) and viewer(s),

I'm back after a woefully long period of time. For a while I was starting to think that my podcast was going the way of many that have come before it - a few episodes every once in a while before the inevitable disappearance, never to be found again.

Another lost soul down the proverbial digital well.

Well, not so with me!

I dragged myself to my camera, microphone and computer to concoct a very simple little video that will hopefully serve as an hors-d'œuvre for the year to come.

The last few months has been the usual list of things keeping me away from my little podcast, so no point listing them (family, work, life in general etc) and even the simple act of speaking into a mic has seemed to much for manage. 'Sad but true', to quote James Hetfield.

Anyway, this episode is a little show and tell for some miniatures I bought in a charity shop while visiting the UK last November. It was nice to know I still have the knack of finding such items in these kind of places.

Some nice minis here I think you'll agree from the mid-80s and early 90s. Ah, I do love the classics.

Anyway, enjoy and hopefully I'll be back before long.

Cheers!

Tom

Greetings pod listeners and welcome to another one man stream of conscious podcast.

I'm dusting off a file that's a few months old having recorded this in the light and heat of Slovakia over the summer. Initially I was just doing this as a way to get the creative juices going with regards an article I was planning on writing for a wargames mag. Alas, the creative writing juices are still dammed up so I thought I'd at least upload the tortured trickles.

This episode is a meandering trek through my thoughts on scenery and terrain pieces in wargaming, and my love of miniature trees, hills and rivers. Something that probably goes back to my old model train set and the fascination of seeing things come to life by the judicious addition of some greenery.

Also in the past day the tragic news has come in that some maniac took a chainsaw to the tree in Sycamore Gap along Hadrian's Wall in Northern England.

B*stard!

It's a place I've visited a few times and its loss just goes to show how a tree, or lack of one, can change the mood.

Sycamore Gap RIP. Let's hope someone can find a way of planting a decent sized on in the same location before too long.

Time for another video I think!

I needed to test out my camera and microphone kit for an upcoming filming job, but rather that just filming me saying 'Testing 1-2-3, Testing 1-2-3' over and over, I thought I'd do something a tiny bit creative.

So I got out my un-played Bloodsword books written by Dave Morris and illustrated by Russ Nicholson to give them a quick video outing.

I've talked about these fine books before, but here they are in the flesh. Interestingly while they inhabit the same game World as Morris' RPG 'Dragon Warriors' the combat system is different using only D6s instead of the full polyhedral set. On the subject of which, the combat damage in this game can be eye wateringly high. No 2 stamina points of damage per round here folks. As the example in the video shows, you can be up against an opponent who deals 10d6 worth of damage here. Yes, you read that right - 10d6!

As such these books can be lethal and unforgiving with the player or players needing to choose clever about the type of characters they use and tactics they employ. Talking of which the game's USP is the use of tactical maps that transform the game from a book only experience to one in which you can use minis and a small board if you choose.

In either case this line of books are widely available as print on demand so give 'em a go. If you dare.....

Painted giant. Check!

Orcs and Elves. Check!

Scenery ready. Check!

Time for a game. In this episode I chronicle my, at times, confused and fraught plan to FINALLY play scenario 1 from the classic Games Workshop product 'Blood Bath at Orc's Drift'. A mini campaign from the 80s during the era of Warhammer 2nd edition.

In a previous episode I talked about this product and not so long ago mused about my plan to play through this fine product at some point in the future. Given my relocation from Holland to Switzerland, and the ensuing chaos this had on my gaming in general, I thought I'd set myself a mission to actually get my act together and play it. Or at least the first scenario.

Since our plans over the summer included a two week stop in Holland I chose this as my window to play the Kachas Pass battle as all my scenery, wargame board and many of the minis were located there. Whereas the requisite Orcs had been painted over the past few months in Switzerland. Yet, the final piece of the puzzle was collecting a Denizen minis order I'd had mailed to my parents' house in the UK. All a bit convoluted and logistically odd, but such is my life at the moment.

Anyway, I'm glad to say things fell into place and much fun was had by all. Well, fun was had by me.

Ah, I love it when a plan comes together.

Not a full episode, but rather a quick aside that will barely do justice to this podcast's subject, namely the amazing artist Russ Nicholson.

I was saddened to learn of his death just after I'd uploaded the last episode and I'm sure many long time gamers out there are feeling a similar sense of loss at Russ' passing. While I make no pretense to knowing the man, his work absolutely pulled me deeper and deeper into the gaming hobby with his amazing illustrations that were quite simply from another dimension of imagination.

Also the fact I'm playing through the Fabled Lands and Blood Sword game books at the moments makes it all that bit little sadder as the fantastic pictures that adorn those two book series were drawn by him.

Russ Nicholson you are missed, but your work lives on!

Greetings listeners.

If any of you are confused by the opening, and closing, music for this episode please don't be alarmed. It's a reference to something I say later in the episode.

OK, I could feel that guilt and internal pressure building to record another episode so reached for the Rode Wireless mic and set about turning my thoughts into a wav file. In my rush I don't think I adjusted the recording volume as well as I could have, hence the automatically boosted audio upon upload. You may need to turn down your volume a little. Apologies for any sore ears.

Anyway, since the last episode I made a couple of minor game related purchases while on my holidays, finished book 3 of the Lone Wolf series and actually managed to plow through some serious amounts of miniature painting! The latter shall be used to finally start playing through the old Warhammer 2nd edition 'Blood Bath at Orc's Drift'. A product I've had since back in the day, but never played as I didn't quite have the resources to amass all the required minis. Not so now! With all the orcs, elves and a giant in-bound, I can finally set up the first scenario when I'm back in Holland next month. I'll let you know how it goes.

Big shout out to Denizen Miniatures who I'm getting the giant from, link is below.

The main topic of this is a brief chat about the original Heroquest game. A classic product, but one I didn't see up close and personal until the mid or late 90s when I got a copy in a UK charity shop. Yet tragically, it was only these past few weeks that I actually played a game of it! While over the years I could see it was a well put together game, that recent game play really brought it home to me. However, I would say at the subconscious level it's the game that has prevented - nay - persuaded me from buying other similar type games in the recent past. Why? I think Heroquest is gaming perfection. It's got it all, fun, minis, dice, a board, spells, scenery etc., but without things being overwhelming with masses of complex rules, trinkets, counters and things to track and manage in the heat of a game. While the current gaming era means high production values such as from Descent, Gloomhaven and Doom the board game etc., to me they all trace a direct line of ancestry back to Heroquest. It's why I never bothered buying them, after all what's the point I if I've already got Heroquest, right? Well, that's been my thinking and perhaps I'm missing the nuances and fun of these newer releases, but let's just say Heroquest does it for me.

It's given me a new found appreciate of the product and one I shall definitely hold on to this. I'll take extra care of it too, especially as the plastic on the minis is degrading here and there.

Ironically my original Heroquest copy is probably the reason I haven't bought the new version. Yet. We shall see...

http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/

Greetings podgoers!

I made a point today of setting some time aside to try and gather my scattered thoughts into a coherent podcast about what I've been up to regards gaming. Thus I attached a Rode Wireless mic to my collar and went for a stroll about town during a gap in the day's busy schedule to muse about being re-united with an old friend. 

Namely the excellent Lone Wolf Game books written by Joe Dever and illustrated by Gary Chalk. While I did own these books back in the day I'm ashamed to say I found the combat system beyond my then poor ability in math (minus numbers! what are they?) As such I gave up on them while at the same time lamenting the fact I was missing out on such a brilliant looking book.

Then some time in the mid-90s I threw out all my games books in one fell swoop - something I lament to this day.

Yet, all was not lost. After various things happening with the Lone Wolf world in recent years, the game books are now being re-released with their original interior art thanks to the sterling work of those fine people at Mangamund.com allowing a whole new generation of gamers, plus some of the old timers, to don their green cloak, hone their Kai skills and fight off the forces of darkness.

A fine testament to the work of Dever who is sadly no longer with us.

Also discussed in this episode is the latest Fighting Fantasy book, the name of which I got wrong - it's Shadow of the Giants (duh)

Plus as ever there are some links for those who wish to take a closer look or generally peruse some of the things I ramble on about.

Enjoy and thanks for listening.

https://www.magnamund.com/

https://www.crnaluknja.si/

Happy New Year folks!

New Year, new podcast. Yes, an actual new podcast. Not the recycled one I uploaded last time. In case any of you were scratching you head about episode 17.5, let me explain. When working on a previous episode I saw a huge announcement declaring I could now upload videos. Seeing as I had an aborted attempt at doing just that a while ago, I thought I'd try again. After all why not finally get people to see the little video I made all the way back in April 2021. Alas, it appears history repeated itself, because when I uploaded the video file only the audio was posted. Where my video is I know not. If I'm missing a basic point of video / podcast doings then I guess that's on me. In either case, while I may return to making videos in the future it'll be the exception rather than the norm.

Well enough of that, the main thrust of this episode is my making good on my promise to solo a game of Those Dark Places...or at least trying to make good. As I listen back to this episode, I'm cringing at all the things I got wrong or basically didn't do. Even though how to solve the problem of doing an effective solo rpg with this rule set has kind of consumed my thoughts for a while, I must confess to going into this session rather ill prepared - no characters were created and I had to keep flipping through the rule book to remember things. I think I'd consider this attempt at soloing Those Dark Places more a rough guide at how attempt such an endeavor rather than a shining example of a solo play through.

I was tempted to re-record everything, but given the demands of family life something told me that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Was lucky to get a window of time to record in the first place.

Excuses, excuses.

Be warned there are plot spoilers here. Also I touch on the subject of body horror and mental health during the episode.

Also from the technical point of few there are numerous harsh sound edits due to various disturbances and the near constant stream of jets going past my head. 

Oh, one final thing, it was HUDSON...!!!

What's this? Another episode, so close to the last one? 

Well, no. What we have here is a re-run, a repeat, re-used content getting a second airing due to the new functionality of my podcast hosting service.

Let me explain.

Way back during the planning for episode five, I thought I would dip into video for that episode and so put together a very basic two camera shoot for one of my adventure board games. Simple. Well, not quite. Unlike some other podcast services out there, I discovered - as I was uploading - that my hosting service didn't take video at that point in time. Therefore the audio was extracted leaving my video cruelly discarded and in need of a home elsewhere on the internet.

Fast forward to the present and it seems my video can now see the light of day along side all the other podcast episodes (depending on which service you view it on)

As mentioned it's a very basic video, and a relatively (mercifully) short one so as not to send the viewer to sleep. Also the resolution of the two cameras contrasts sharply. I may again dip into videos in the future for special occasions, although that'll be the exception rather than the norm.

Happy viewing!