Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

On behalf of myself and those I game with, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!

A few quotes from one of my favorite stories!

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.

 “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” 

“He went to the church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and for, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed of any walk, that anything, could give him so much happiness. 

“And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!” 

Link to Published Interview with Robert J Kuntz

Here is a fascinating Interview with Robert J Kuntz published over on the Multiverse blog on 11/30/2016. Q&A with Robert J. Kuntz.

Rob posted the link on his blog at My Interview at the Multiverse Blog .

There is a lot packed in this interview and many topics could be spun off of it. Over on my forum I spun off this topic as a start on doing that, Spinoff - Dinner Guests any five writers any time period.

Also check this out:

TLB Games Holiday Specials  

Three Line Studio on Facebook 

November 22 at 9:07am ·

★ Sunken City: First Print by Robert J. Kuntz is a classic #RPG adventure for 6-9 characters of 8th to 10th level. The adventure is a 40-page, smaller than digest-sized, booklet with a sturdy, separate, card stock cover. Pre-generated characters are provided, complete with statistics, magic-items, equipment, and spells. ★ Available to Order NOW from TLB Games!

November 28 at 5:17pm ·

★ TLB Games Holiday Sale Special, starting Cyber Monday until Christmas Day ★ Happy Holidays From TLB Games & Three Line Studio!
Check out our fantastic offers on the El Raja Key Archive line:
★ Basic DVD: Normally $39.99 --- Holiday Special: $24.99!
★ Standard DVD: Normally $79.99 --- Holiday Special: $59.99!
★ Deluxe DVD: Normally $119.99 --- Holiday Special: $89.99!
★ Collectors DVD: Normally $159.99 --- Holiday Special: $139.99!
★ K1 Sunken City (1st Print): Normally $14.99 --- Holiday Special: $9.99!

Quest Themed Treasure Hunts and Party Adventures

I thought I would share this link with everyone - Quest Adventure Hunts  - since these are a lot of fun for a party and they are a gold mine for ideas. 

The site says about itself:

We are the oldest existing website on planning themed treasure hunts for parties, classrooms and the workplace. We've had humble beginnings almost a decade and a half ago, offering a single downloadable e-book, Ultimate Treasure Hunts. We were first on the scene to offer downloadable treasure hunt products with a 'plug and play' format. Over the years we've expanded our site to include themed Bingo Sets, scavenger hunt lists, free treasure hunt planning advice, free downloadable theme party invitations as well as the coolest (and only) physical items that were designed SPECIFICALLY for treasure hunt creating such as aged paper and breakable skulls!

The site map is at the bottom of the main page and here are just a tiny sampling of the approximately 150 downloadable pdf files.

Egypt Theme Party Ideas
Quest Adventures Egyptian Themed Parties. Everything you'll need to plan an amazing Egypt themed party - decorating ideas, games, fundraising ideas and more! Ancient Egypt Themed Treasure Hunt - Perfect for your archeology/Indiana Jones themed party
Quest Adventures Egyptian Themed Treasure Hunts. Everything you'll need to plan an amazing Egypt themed treasure hunt - decorating ideas, treasure hunt puzzles, games! Ancient Egypt Treasure Hunts for Prereaders
Plan a creative Ancient Egypt themed treasure hunt for your prereader! Great Egyptian games! Ancient Egypt Themed Bingo Set Download - perfect for a Ancient Egypt theme party!
A fully downloadable Ancient Egypt themed Bingo set - ready to be downloaded now! Ancient Greek Scavenger Hunt Lists Collection
Plan a fun and creative Ancient Greek scavenger hunt - create memories this Ancient Greek holiday! Ancient Greek Themed Bingo Set Download - perfect for a greek theme party!
A fully downloadable ancient Greek themed Bingo set - ready to be downloaded now! Ancient Roman Themed Bingo Set Download - perfect for a Roman theme party!
A fully downloadable ancient Roman themed Bingo set - ready to be downloaded now! Indiana Jones Party Theme Ideas - Tons of Ideas for an Indiana Jones Theme Party!
Indiana Jones theme party ideas. TONS of creative Indiana Jones style party ideas including party games, Indiana Jones decorations and Indiana Jones style party invitations!

Again  this is just a tiny sampling of what is available. The owner started doing these games about 20 years ago for his three sons and has been on the internet for about 15 years. He has many things available for children and for adults, for boys and girls. From Care Bears to Lord of the Rings.

If you want something for your party or your group that is time tested, then check this out.

Please note that I do not receive any income of any kind for posting this link. I just wanted to share it with everyone.

Classic Traveller Play By Post Game(s)! (UPDATE!!)

Update:
Another member of my forum that goes by  Ronin84 is also starting a play by post Traveller Game Third Imperium Style and you can read the invitation here.


Original post below this point: 
***********************************************************
Classic Traveller Play By Post Game(s)! Does this idea grab you?  On June 23rd this post was made over on my board: 1977 Traveller Setting Creation and in a short time (about 3 weeks) that expanded in a new forum on my board Space: 1977 which as of today accounts for a whole subsector - 39 Threads and 264 posts. That spawned this Play by Post Game by makofan with two different groups: Traveller - Murkhill Subsector is the forum for the game and just in the setup it has created 18 Threads and 452 posts and the game(s) for two groups should kickoff within the next 24 hours.

But wait! Did you not have a chance to get in on that game? Well lucky for you another guy that goes by ffilz also wants to start a Classic Traveller Play By Post Game! See this thread for information about that Looking for Traveller players for online game. Talk to him and see if it works for you to join the game he wants to run.

So come and look! Classic Traveller!!

The El Raja Key Archive DVD - ordered Wed and delivered Sat!!!!!

The mail was delivered later than usual on Saturday and I did not check the mailbox until this morning. So ordered it Wednesday and it was delivered Saturday, which is pretty fast for the post office these days. Now I have the El Raja Key Archive DVD and I have test driven it and then copied the contents to my hard drive and test drove it again and it performed flawlessly! When you read the descriptions (historical information and backgrounds), at the bottom of that page are the images for that description. Click on an image and then scroll down to see each image, then what I do is click on the larger image and open in a new window. (open the large image not the thumbnail)


So far I have read/skimmed through about 100 pages of material (including the original Kalibruhn Supplement V manuscript), I will be going back and looking at it in much more in detail. Well worth the investment and I highly recommend it.

I love it and I will be spending a lot of time reading through the copious notes and descriptions. 

Thank you Rob!!!

More news from Three Line Studio

More news from Three Line Studio, letting us know that Robert J. Kuntz's Memoirs are underway and they will contain:

an overall pool of life stories spanning his days in Lake Geneva, his fortuitous meeting with Gary Gygax and the Gygax family in 1968, and his many and varied personal and professional observations from his career path as a free-lance designer and author.  This major work will include details on his friendships with Gary & Mary Gygax, Donald Kaye (co-founder of TSR), Dave Arneson, and his time as an employee and stockholder of TSR Hobbies, as GENCON's chairman, and his observations and insights from other unique perspectives.

Among many other things, I am looking forward to hearing more about Donald Kaye (co-founder of TSR) of which we know almost nothing.

★ El Raja Key Archive DVD: The Collected Maps, Manuscripts & RPG Artifacts of Robert J. Kuntz ★

Here it is ★ El Raja Key Archive DVD: The Collected Maps, Manuscripts & RPG Artifacts of Robert J. Kuntz ★ the extensive collections of over 1000 files rich with the history of  

high resolution scans of adventures, maps and keys, campaign notes, character sheets, and manuscripts from the Original Greyhawk, Kalibruhn, and Blackmoor Campaigns.

 Available for purchase at TLB Games!

El Raja Key Archive Now Available - Three Line Studio/Three Little Books line Goes Live @ 11 AM CST!

The day has arrived, Rob Kuntz has just announced here that:

After some delays to bring the project up to the highest standards possible Three Line Studio will launch its first brand under the partnership of Robert J. Kuntz and Paul J. Stormberg: the Three Little Books line of products.

He also states that

At 11 a.m. CST the store will go live! http://www.tlbgames.com/ and see his blog for additional links and information.

and provides the link in the blog posts along with several screen shots. So that you can purchase the here described El Raja Key Archive DVD. There are four price points ranging from basic to collectors editions. I am getting mine right now!

Major Crash and all of my Links in my Sidebars are gone

Major Crash and all of my Links in my Sidebars are all gone. So the first step is to rebuild my blog roll - all 600+ links and figure out how to keep it from happening again.

Big Sigh! :) and get to work. 

First Edit:
OK, the first 100 blogs have been added back. (They are being added in a random order since it is being done from scratch)

Second Edit:
OK, another 201 blogs have been added back! Now up to 301 blogs.  

Third Edit:
OK, another 104 blogs have been added back! Now up to  405 blogs. 

Fourth Edit:
OK, another 49 blogs have been added back! Now up to 454 blogs.


Once the blog roll is 90% complete, I will start on some of the other link lists as well. 

UnSung Heroes of the OSR World! - Part V

Ok, here we go! Blackmoor Week 2016 is over, a wedding was attended and other things have been taken care of and it is time to resume the UnSung Heroes of the OSR World! series.

This series is to honor some of those who are out their doing stuff for the rest of us to use and will mainly be for those who are doing free items, although I do not rule out highlighting as UnSung someone doing a product that is being sold.  I may do a series down the road on products that are being sold. As I have said before, I think that both free and non-free deserve respect. Each persoln will need to decide what can be supported and that can be complicated for some.

So on to some blogs nominated by readers to assume the mantle of UnSung Heroes of the OSR World!

First up is Halfling's Luck authored by James Spahn. It runs the gamet from B/X D&D to 5E and to clones such as Labyrinth Lord. He has also done a number of reveiws. This blog has been around since 2014 and has 126 posts, here are just a few of the posts that I really enjoyed:

The Limits of the Fading Folk
Death and Purpose in Gaming
Our Bastard: Anti-Heroes in a Heroic Campaign
Keeping Items Magical
Pardon My Rant: Respect for the DM

Just to mention a few, that is a pretty good sample of the blog. It was suggested to me and I like it.

Another blog that was nominated was Planet Algol and it was highly touted by the one who nominated it. So let's take a look at it:

A MASTER INDEX OF PLANET ALGOL CAMPAIGN RESOURCES

Here is a campaign journal sample from the blog:

The Expeditionary Journal of Xarnagan Vrokk Introduction
The Man Who Fell From The Sky And Other Important Events
Out of the Forbidden Mist and into the Tower of Tazar
Out of the Forbidden Mist and into the Hive of Sages
To Bring Back the Dead

This blog has been around since 2009 and has 644 mostly concentrated in the first three years of the blog. Here are a few of the posts:

Introduction to Planet Algol, it's Satellites and ...
Planet Algol Campaign Houserules 
Musing on Magic & Technological Items

Next up is Against The Wicked City is a blog that has been around since 2015 with about 185 posts.

Here is a little sample of the resources page - roughly one twelth of it:

 Against the Wicked City: Collected Information

Since I started this blog, I've uploaded a lot of material about the setting and system of ATWC. Like, well over a book's worth. So much that it's starting to get a bit tricky to keep track of it all.
I'm thus going to use this page as a handy way to keep it all in one place. I'll update it as I add more.
General Setting Information and Game Rules

• Against The Wicked City: An Explanation
• Random PC motivation table
• Rules for exceptional and magical mounts
• Rules for Mongolian wrestling

Here are a few represenative posts, pretty sweet stuff:

Why central Asia is a perfect RPG setting (and why... 
D&D Monsters from improbable sources 1: Poems by e... 
Gaming in fantasy Central Asia: the Silk Road 
More Talking Animals: Wolves and Birds (playable c... 

The person who nominated this blog really loved this post:

 The lost colours of D&D

Just What Is The OSR? And Is There A Renaissance - A Cultural Re-Birth OR Is It Yet to Happen?

I have been thinking a bit about the OSR. My usage of OSR (current usage) is Old School Roleplaying. Why is that, you may ask? I will tell you, I use the term Roleplaying instead of Renaissance or Revival, because for me, there is no Revival, I am just doing what I have been doing for the last 41 years. What I do is (to the best of my ability) is what Dave Arneson did. I build my campaign directly from the original sources (fiction and non-fiction). Now unlike Dave I have access to the internet and hundreds, if not thousands of secondary and tertiary sources and resources and I read a lot, so I am exposed to a ton of things that Arneson did not have access to bitd.

Renaissance carries the meaning of a Cultural Re-Birth and IMO that has not yet happened in the OSR/Old School Gaming niche. There are a lot of people that are creating a lot of new materials for use with the original games and their clones and there are new things being created and going off in a lot of directions. Meaning there is a lot of new fun for everyone. Some of these things are free and some are not. I am a fan of both free and not-free items, although products I have to pay for have a higher bar to pass to get me to invest. I would point out that there are many free products that would have been worth buying if they were being sold.

Likely we will all have different opinions on what would constitute a Cultural Re-Birth when it comes to Old School Gaming. Some will even claim it has already happened. I do not believe that it has, I think it is going to happen, but is not yet here. I am not sure what would bring it about, but I feel that it is imminent - it could be a few months or it might take a few years - nevertheless I think it is coming and when it does it will breathe life back into the game beyond our niche of those DMs and players (the tiny minority that frequent blogs and forums) and extend itself to those who rarely or never check the internet in regard to their gaming.

I think that a real Cultural Re-Birth would mean a return to Original School Gaming - going all the way back to what Dave Arneson did back in 1970, 1971 and following when he took ideas from David Wesely and the Braunstein game scenario (which started in 1967) and

Though Wesely thought the results were chaotic and the experiment a failure, the other players enjoyed the role playing aspect and asked him to run another game.

Wesely continued to run these Braunstein's because his players loved them, including a player by the name of Dave Arneson. When David Wesely went into the Army in 1970, Dave Arneson took over as the referee and continued to develop things and add things until Blackmoor was born. Dave Arneson went where Wesely (reportedly by his own admission) was not interested in going. 

I think when people take a closer look at what Dave Arneson did and recognize his contributions that have been obscured and denigrated, there will be some light-bulbs coming on and some serious new stuff will result when that happens.

Blackmoor Week 2016 - part 7 "Dave Arneson Game Day 2016"

Here are a few more links and information to celebrate the birthday on October 1st of David "Dave" Lance Arneson.

In Celebration Of Dave Arneson's Birthday & Blackmoor The First Fantasy Campaign 

This is a lengthy (great) post with a lot of interesting links and the story of how the writer was introduced to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor.

The Weekly Update - Sunday, October 2nd, 2016 - Dave Arneson Day, and I have now played D&D!!!

Our friends at The Source Comics and Games here in the Twin Cities all knew Dave, so it was no surprise when they announced that they were going to have a 'Dave Arneson Day" at the store. A whole bunch of people pitched in to make this event both a success and lots of fun, and I was delighted to be asked to do a sort of 'information booth' along with some of the old Blackmoor crowd to answer questions about Dave and gaming back in 'ye olden days'. We did, and we had am immense amount of fun!

Yeah! That is right - the writer Chirine was one of Dave's players back in the day. Thank you for a great post!

Secrets of Blackmoor a Dave Arneson documentary

Yeah! The word about the documentary is getting around and I hope it is a good accurate one and I would love to see it.

The First Magic Swords

A  great informative post by DHBoggs and it opens with this:

"Several of us were injured trying to pick up the magic sword. One of the guys was eventually successful in picking it up, though. We collectively decided that we were in way over our heads and to return to the castle."   The First Dungeon Adventure,  Greg Svenson.

Magic swords have been a major prize in Blackmoor, perhaps even from the very first game.

The entire post is a great read and I recommend it.

The Piazza Reach 1K Likes on Dave Arneson Day

That is 1000 Facebook likes for Dave Arneson Day. Next year, let's double that!!


 Posted on 10/3/16:
Dave Arneson Day 2016 - What did you miss?  

Blackmoor Week 2016 - part six or Dave Arneson Gameday 2016

Today is October 1st - Dave Arneson's birthday. (Sorry, but I won't be gaming today, I am going to a family wedding) I did game an OD&D game last weekend, and as always I am inspired by Blackmoor and Dave Arneson and I always try to do something new in every game. 

Last time around my players were trying to get home from a trip through a portal into another world and that is more complicated than simply going through the portal again. You see, not only are there an infinite number of universes and an infinite number of worlds in each universe, there are also an infinite of timelines since every decision by everyone splits the timeline into as many different tracks as there are many different decisions that could have been made at each decision point by each creature in each world. So when you travel through a portal you must take precautions and use certain rare magic to increase your chances of returning to the timeline you really belong to - not one where you will run into yourself or one where you do not even exist. Even having done everything that can be done, there is always a risk that you will not end up where you want to be and of course there is no way to know until something happens that should not be, such as, running into yourself.

A few new links to help you along the path of celebrating Dave Arneson Game Day.

Dave Arneson Documentary Trailer Revealed! The blog post is fairly long and here is a snippet:

Today, October 1st, is Dave Arneson's birthday. As always we celebrate  Dave Arneson Day by sharing Blackmoor related material. This year I have something very special to share. The trailer for an upcoming documentary about Dave Arneson has just dropped! The producers became aware that their trailer may have gotten leaked by accident, so they contacted me about doing an official release on my blog to counteract the leak. I suggested that they should release the trailer for Dave's birthday, and they liked that idea. I still have no information about when the movie will be released, but it looks like this is not going to be a Kickstarter project.

Dave Arneson Game Day 2016 

[Dave Arneson Day] Dave Arneson Documentary Trailer Revealed

Blackmoor Week 2016 - part five

Here are a number of interesting links for Blackmoor Week 2016 and some of them build on the foundation laid by previous links.

Blackmoor Week Day 5: Bow Before Zugzul

Blackmoor: The Wild Cards

Magitech of Blackmoor: Nacelle Weapons of the First Crusade  

Magitech of Blackmoor

 Blackmoor Week Retrospective: d20 Blackmoor

Blackmoor Week Retrospective: 4E Blackmoor

If you run across something I have not seen, please let me know.

Blackmoor Week 2016 - part four

As part of Blackmoor Week 2016 I decided to link to some posts over at the Hidden in Shadows blog that relate directly to Dave Arneson and Blackmoor. First up is a post titled Sergeants, Officers, and The Temple of the Frog  where DHBoggs says:

This is a post about garrisons and troop organization in OD&D and for this discussion I'm going to look once again at Supplement II Temple of the Frog, and the exact nature and composition of the forces defending the temple. ...

In the second post titled Troops Arms & Armor tables. DHBoggs expands into the Dave Arneson game Adventures in Fantasy (Richard Snider co-author) where he says:

In the last post I considered the organization of the garrison of the temple of the frog as a model for small garrisons and troops in OD&D, and I listed the arms and equipment given in the text.  It's fine to simply use that, but if you (like me) would prefer a little variety in arms and equipment, there is a really terrific series of tables in Arneson's rulebook 1 of Adventures in Fantasy, page 31, that will give you just that. ...

In the third post titled Blackmoor Taxes, Living Expenses and the Support and Upkeep of Hirelings in OD&D  DHBoggs says:

A good while back, I had a productive and interesting series of discussions with Alex of Autarch regarding economics and game design. You can see these here
ground-up literally starting-ground-part-ii
and
The Blackmoor base ...

So here is some links to some very interesting (IMO) reading and I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

Blackmoor Week 2016 - part three

I have been a bit crunched this week, more so than expected. However, I wanted to sneak in this update for Blackmoor Week 2016. Over at Havard's Blackmoor Blog, he writes: 

Blackmoor Week Day 4: Gonzo Gaming! 

 Okay, so now things are really starting to take off here. I am struggling to keep up with Blackmoor Week activities, forum discussions and everything else going on.
First of all I asked my friend Brian over at the Gnomish Embassy if he would write something for Blackmoor Week. Brian was one of the first people to do Blackmoor Week that I know about. Brian didn't give me one article, but three! One article is a more personal article about how Blackmoor can be an inspiration, then there is an article about a race that developed with the fall of the Temple of the Frog and the final article is a wild alternate history Blackmoor/Mystara mash up. Read all of them here.

There is much more besides the bit that I just quoted, please go check it out. I am posting those links here for you to access directly.

The Gnomish Embassy  The Personal Blog of B.W. Mathers

What Does Blackmoor Mean to Me?  
Blackmoor Week: Grippli of Blackmoor  
Blackmoor: Two Takes Ten  

 

Blackmoor Week 2016 - part two

I thought I would share with all of you the links I have found concerning Blackmoor Week 2016. From Havard's Blackmoor Blog:

Introducing Blackmoor Week 2016
Blackmoor Week: Day One - Announcements, Articles and more!
Blackmoor Week: Day Two!

Over at the The Piazza forum you will find these:

Blackmoorspace Week
Blackmoor Week 2016
Blackmoor Week Retrospective: 1970s Blackmoor Products(OD&D)
Blackmoor Week Retrospective: 1980s Products (BECMI)

From the Cross Planes  blog we have:

DnD: Blackmoor Cyborg #MonsterMonday #BlackmoorWeek2016

Over at the Comeback Inn forum there is this thread and some linksDave Arneson Day at The Source - Oct. 1st., 2016:

Blackmoor Week 2016
Facebook Blackmoor Fans
Dave Arneson Game Day 2016 on Facebook

Blackmoor Week 2016

I have learned that this is Blackmoor Week 2016, I was already aware of Saturday, October 1st being Dave Arneson Game Day (his birthday) and was planning for it and I am happy to find out about this too. So the question is how are you going to celebrate Blackmoor Week 2016 (or perhaps Dave Arneson Week)?


Many fans of Dave Arneson and of Blackmoor, spend a lot of time learning about Blackmoor and running their own Blackmoor campaigns built on the Blackmoor Canon as they best see it. Nothing wrong with that at all, I am not critising that, so let's be clear about that.


I enjoy hearing about other campaigns and stories from bitd, but I have no desire to try to imitate them.  I have no Blackmoor or Greyhawk or Kalibruhn or _____________ in my world, nor will I ever. I happen to really love these campaigns, but I have no desire to spend my time trying to recreate them. Those worlds belong to those who created them and although there is nothng wrong with playing in those existing worlds, IMO the way to honor those early campaigns and the pioneers/creators of the hobby especially Dave Arneson the prime mover and primary creator of the game we love is to make something of my own that is truly unique and different and can not be found anywhere else.

That is what I have always striven to do. Bitd (1975) I never worried about what someone else was doing nor did I ever worry about how it was played by Dave or Gary - it  never crossed my mind. They were authors of something I enjoyed and that is about all I knew at the time. The admonitions in the text about making the game your own I took to heart.Those things were written to me. So as I read and learn about Dave Arneson and about Blackmoor - The First Fantasy Campaign, I am inspired and given a vision of where imagination can take you and I - and that is anywhere our minds can conceive.

So no matter how you celebrate Blackmoor and the life and work of Dave Arneson, take a moment to tip your hat to his genius - the fruit of which brings you so much pure joy and game like Dave Arneson - without limits - always searching and exploring and as they said in Star Trek "To boldly go where no man has gone before."

Here Is a GoFundMe IMO That Deserves a Look!

Over at Tenkar's Tavern Eric Tenkar highlighted a gofundme in this post and IMO it is a very worthy gofundme to take a look at and give what you can to help this couple out.

The link is Help Dana and Pat by Lisa Thompson. Below is the post at that link!

Sometimes life places road blocks in Our way. We can choose to go around them or climb them but no one knows whats on the other side. I have watched Dana and Pat navigate these challenges time and time again. For every rise to the top there comes a soft fall. But this time they have reached a hard spot. Dana is a stay at home mom who has struggled with lupus for many years and even when she is sick and tired she makes you feel like she would do anything for you. Pat recently lost his job and they have not given him an extension on his unemployment . He also is suffering from myasthenia gravis flare up. If I could give them every dime I have I would because they would do the same. Not just because we are friends but because they lead a life of kindness and compassion that you rarely see today.

 Please think about joining me in helping me this need!

Three Line Studio News

Here are two pieces of Three Line Studio News that I missed while I was off sick.  First Sunken City Adventure Front Cover, Rob Kuntz says:

Here's my adventure, Sunken City, first run by me three times at GENCON 8, 1975 as the first tournament in D&D history! This adventure, 41 years later, is being made available with the release of El Raja Key Archive DVD!  With a cover by Jim Roslof (R. I. P.) no less!

You can follow the link to see the really cool cover!

The second piece of news is Three Line Studio News. In the post Rob says:

As many may be aware my wife, Nathalie, and myself have formed Three Line Studio.  The premiere product for this is due out in a week, The El Raja Key Archive and the accompanying release, the SUNKEN CITY adventure.

and then goes on to say:

 Both products are finished, edited, and laid out.  I was informed by Paul and Kevin (Kevin Maurice is the programmer for the DVD interface) that they are testing the two versions of the DVD and making minor corrections to the index.

You can read Paul's full comments at the link above! Looking forward to holding it in my hands and starting the exploration!

 

Happy Birthday to Robert "Rob" J Kuntz

Happy Birthday to Robert "Rob" J Kuntz. He was there when Chainmail and the Original Dungeons & Dragons were created. He was a play-tester of both and more. Game Designer, Author and much more, you can read his bio here. The creator of Kalibruhn and much more. 

At  the beginning of Volume 1 - Men and Magic of the Original 1974 Dungeons & Dragons it says (with emphasis added):

Dedicated to all the fantasy wargamers who have enthusiastically played and expanded upon the CHAINMAIL Fantasy Rules, with thanks and gratitude. Here is something better! Special thanks to the Midwest Military Simulation Association, the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association, Rob Kuntz and Tom Keogh (in memorium).

Yes, his influence is throughout the original game.

Best of all, he is my friend. Join me in celebrating his birthday today!!

9/11 National Day of Remembrance

Today is the day that we all remember - 9/11 and the cowardly attacks on the everyday people who worked in the Twin Towers, our Military Personel at the Pentagon, the innocents on the planes that were hijacked for the attacks, the heroism of our first responders who did everything they could to rescue the people and many of whom gave their own lives in that attempt and for the members of Flight 93 who stormed their hijacked plane’s cockpit preventing the deaths of potentially hundreds or thousands of people at the immediate cost of their own instead of just waiting to die. 

 I will just mention two events that are happening today. One is in Zarephath, New Jersey where

 "Todd Beamer, who famously yelled, “Let’s roll” as the members of Flight 93 stormed their hijacked plane’s cockpit",

attended the Zarephath Christian Church. Radio station’s tribute to 9/11: Shoe memorial

Star 99.1-FM, a Christian radio station based in the town, began collecting shoes on July 4. It has amassed 2,996 pairs, to symbolize the 2,996 victims who died in the terrorist attacks.
Saturday those shoes will be on display at the Zarephath Christian Church, with a small American flag placed with every pair.
The empty shoes, symbolizing those who no longer walk among us, will be on display through Sept. 16.

When the memorial has finished on Sept. 18, the station will donate all the shoes to the charity Soles 4 Souls, which collects shoes for those in need across the world.

The other one I want to mention is in the town of Gander, Newfoundland in Canada. The Town of Gander and Wounded Warriors Canada to Host 9/11 15th Anniversary Commemoration  I post about this to remind us that we are not alone and without friends in the world. 

Thirty-nine planes landed at Gander International Airport that fateful day carrying over 6,600 passengers unaware of the ongoing terrorist attacks. As passengers remained stranded on the tarmac, the Town of Gander and surrounding communities worked tirelessly to provide accommodation and nourishment. The population of Gander effectively doubled as all community halls, churches and school gymnasiums were transformed into temporary lodging. It was an extraordinary response highlighting Canada's resolve in the face of terror. 

Let us remember what has happened and what can happen and do something each day for you loved ones, for your friends and neighbors, for your community and to make the world a better place.

ENWorld - Unfortunately this not a surprise!

I am going to present these posts without much comment simply because I think they speak for themselves and as bad as it is, it is unfortunately not a surprise.

On September 1st +ErikTenkar posted the following: 

Adamant Entertainment 2.0 - Someone Does Not Know the Definition of Stalwart

Then a little later he posted:

 Does ENWorld Publish ANY Sean Fannon "News Articles" That AREN'T Stroke Jobs? (Follow Up Post - Rant)

And then on September 2nd he posted:

 Down the Rabbit Hole - ENWorld's Sean Fannon Thinks "it's a fine, fuzzy line between news, promotion, and outright advertising" (Rant)

Also on September 2nd +Kasimir Urbanski posted this:

ENWorld Reviews are Payola, Probably Broke The Law!

Then on September the 6th +Venger Satanis posted this:

Should ENworld keep stroking itself? 

 Does anyone know of an ENWorld response to all of this, other than:

IMO the above posts are not abusive and are not mean-spirited. IMO they are pointing out something that needs to be pointed out. If you are making money from something that you are promoting, then you should say so. I am not making money from anything at this time or previously, if that changes I will post that info when it does. Being paid does not invalidate what you say, but it does identify that you might be biased. On the other hand hiding that you are being paid, that does invalidate what you say IMO.

And finally on September 6th Eric Tenkar also posted this:

How Much Actual "RPG News" is There to Report? 

I do not like to dwell on the negative side of things, I would much rather post about things that are inspiring. This is not one of those things, other than it is inspiring that people starting with Eric Tenkar had the guts to say something.