Tales From The Savage Troll

Monday, November 28, 2011

Released - The New Moon Murders

January, 1930 - Chicago

Something evil stalks the streets performing human sacrifices every new moon.

The police are baffled. High society wants it covered up. The mob wants the murder weapon.

Fearing the involvement of a long time parishioner, aging priest Father Burke turns to a man he once thought possessed.

Private detective Thomas Gunn, tormented by visions he cannot control, takes the case only to discover that staring down the business end of a Tommy gun is nothing compared to stopping an ancient evil bent on world destruction.

In the tradition of H. P. Lovecraft and Dashel Hammitt, The New Moon Murders is a classic hard-boiled detective story fused with the elements of star-spanning horror.

The New Moon Murders is available as an electronic book from Amazon.com , iTunes, Barns and Noble, or in every other format known to man on Smashwords.

Monday, October 10, 2011

MapTool Objects as Handouts

An often over-looked capability of MapTool is the ability to attach descriptions to objects you place on the map. As you know, MapTool has for image layers: Token, Hidden, Object, and Background. Anything you draw or place on the map will go on one of these layers. Token images are confined to one grid square and are drawn over everything else. Hidden objects are only visible to the GM. Object images are clickable and are drawn between the background and other layers. Background images are 'under' all other images. Where an image or drawing resides depends on what layer you select when you drop or draw on the map.

For my fantasy campaigns, I use the scroll image (donated to RPTools by Jonathan Roberts of Fantastic Maps) to indicate a player text handout for room and object descriptions. When clicked, the scroll's Notes and GM Notes appear over the map in the lower left corner. Players only see the notes along with the token the name e.g. Handout in this case. GMs see both the Notes and GM Notes that reside on the object.

To place notes, double click on the image while on the proper layer. Note, you can't click an object while you have the Token layer selected. You'll forget this . . . often. Once double-clicked, the dialog box below appears for note entry. Note that the '1' in the image below is actually on the Hidden layer. Players can't see that but I, as the GM, can.

I also use GM notes to include reminders to myself. In this case I had the tree canopy covering the 'room'. During play I moved the canopy off to the side and placed it on the Hidden layer so the players couldn't see it. You can do a similar trick with rooftops covering buildings. In the past I've included tactics as well as any traps the players might set off. Speaking of traps, placing a trap symbol on the hidden layer along with a trap descriptions is a great GM tool as well.

As always, to find out more about MapTool functionality visit the RPTools forums or the fan wiki. Special thanks to Devin Knight for the tokens, Jonathan Roberts for the objects, and Brave Halfling Publishing for the room description from 'The Vile Worm of the Eldritch Oak'.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Review: Codex Guide to the Medieval Baltic

Codex Guide to the Medieval Baltic

by Ire Games

Price: $15

Pages: 208

The Codex Guide to the Medieval Baltic is a generic game supplement for GMs and players wishing to give historical texture to their medieval campaigns. The 200 page work contains details regarding art, religion, political powers, technology, and science during the 15th century centering on the Baltic free city of Danzig but spans all of Europe and some of Asia.

From the beginning the author gives you some historical context as to why the Baltic was so interesting during the 15th century.

Eight reasons why the 15th Century Baltic is cool

It is one of Europe's greatest military proving grounds.
It is a center of Renaissance Technology and Culture
It is one of Histories greatest melting pots
There are pirates. Pirates with plate armor and guns.
It is a political and economic proving ground
It reminds me of the early days of the United States
This was a wide open time in European History
It is an epicenter for HEMA ('German' martial arts)

I loved the graphics present in this product. They include villages, cities, and a nice section showing Teutonic at the end. The period artwork is nice as well and should serve as nice handouts to your players or give some ideas for character development for your PC. The modern photos of period buildings were nice but at times seemed a little out of place. Still, with a like manipulation these could be used as handouts as well.

The sections on arms and armor were very interesting and include relative armor penetration strengths of various weapons. While I doubt you'd want to put this level of detail in your game it is nice to know. The range graphic for various missile weapons showed the ranges for harassing fire, area shots, direct fire, and armor piercing ranges really put things into perspective for me. It's one thing to see stats like this in a game system but another to see the visual representation of it.

Overall I think this is a great product that covers a wide variety of needs for GMs and Players alike. Even if you aren't playing such a game now I recommend the product as something that simply a fun read. It's full of material that will set your creativity loose by founding it in the past.

Monday, July 18, 2011

An Annoucement for our female readers (if they exist)

For you fantastic looking females that frequent this blog, we present a PSA from the folks at Nerd Machine. It stars the Kaley Cuoco from The Big Bang Theory and contains sage advice to avoid the Slave Leia problem so prevalent at conventions and costume parties.

EMBED-Slave Leia PSA Starring Kaley Cuoco - Watch more free videos

Friday, July 15, 2011

A public service announcement from Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion is the lead in such shows as Castle, Firefly, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. As a leading man in touch with his inner nerd, he often gives back to the geek community. We are proud to present his latest PSA.

EMBED-Swamp Ass PSA starring Nathan Fillion - Watch more free videos

You can find more interesting content over at Nerd Machine.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Review: Savage Worlds Deluxe - First Glance

Savage Worlds Deluxe

by Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Publisher: Studio 2 Publishing, Inc.

Price: $29.99 (Hardbound), $19.95 (.pdf on Studio 2)

Pages: 160

A Deluxe treatment of the Savage Worlds Core rules brings a few new elements without alienating the throngs of Savages that hold their SW Explorer's Editions as the best RPG they've ever bought. Or, at least the best value and definitively lives up to it's Fast, Furious, and Fun pulpy play goodness.

2011 Ennie Nominees Announced

Everyone go to the ENnie nominee site and vote for your favorite game. The polls for the 2011 ENnies open on July 15th closing on July 24th. Here's a list of the Nominees. Remember, vote early and vote often.

Best Adventure