Quests of Doom 4 Kickstarter - Funded, but is it worth it?

So first off, here's the Kickstarter:



I have all the prior QoD books as well as the 5E books released by Frog God Games so far. In fact I have almost all S&W and Pathfinder books as well, and about the only stuff I don't currently have are Slumbering Tsar, The Blight and Bard's Gate, chiefly because those books are too rich for me at their price points and their actual use is minimal; they would be vanity collector's purchases if I ever get them, and every time I check Frog God's site I never notice them in print for 5E, anyway.

In principle I think the idea of a collection of 32 page modules is great, and perhaps if I was just a guy looking for a module or three to run I might go in on a few if I was specifically excited about some of the descriptions provided. The problem is, I (and most people looking at a FGG Kickstarter) are not the "casual gamer looking at some random modules to buy and use" crowd. We are avid collectors of our favorite games, and most likely love the Frog God products we've purchased before, whether we use them, stick them on a shelf or simply admire the sheer effort put in to these tomes as fun reading.

Prior efforts by the Frog Gods to produce print modules have led to the following problems from a collector/fan perspective as I see it:

1. Finding them in print is damned hard. They don't tend to keep them in stock and in print, and the print run on softcover modules is lower than hardcover, meaning they are likely going to be hard or impossible to get later on if you don't back the Kickstarter. Examples of what I mean are rife on their site, with prior module collections from the past that are only available in PDF.

2. If you decide to back the Kickstarter, then once again there's a cost issue. The great thing about Quests of Doom 3 was I could put $40 and back it. I can't do that here and get all the content. I unfortunately have a lot of personal expenses and not nearly enough free income to invest in a 16 module collection at the price point they have set ($168 for the whole mess for just one system version). I could opt to grab just a few and then try collecting the rest later out of KS, but I'm leary of the likelihood they will have print copies available outside of the KS fulfillment, or that they will have enough to meet demand. Maybe they will, but I really don't know...y'know?

3. Discussion about the cost effectiveness has been discussed on the KS site, but as others pointed out, the entire module set is about as many modules as was released in the QoD Volumes 1 and 2 set from a couple years back. I'm not trying to begrudge their right to make more money on their work.....and this would be 16 modules at 32 pages each, of course, which is likely more content than the prior QoD series combined......but the problem is one of expectations.

4. I really think a series of hard covers, each containing 4-6 adventures, and structured to avoid some of the "reprint" modules that appear to be an issue for Pathfinder, would have been a smarter way to go. As it stands, I'm just not sure I can back this one at all unless I get lucky and have a windfall in my disposable income. And make no mistake....I would like to.

Anyway.....just some thoughts/musings. I suppose there wouldn't be much difference if they had simply said, "Now for a QoD 4 in the form of a 600 page super book for $160!" and I would still basically be, "I'll get this two years down the road with a coupon on their holiday sale because that's just too much for me to spend on a vanity product." Sigh.....if I had All The Money.....

Swords & Wizardry 3rd Printing Kickstarter

The Swords & Wizardry 3rd printing (EDITED! Not a new edition) Kickstarter is officially live! The Kickstarter link shares examples of the art that will go in to this edition (same text, different art) as well as the new cover design:

The "news" is that the art design and layout is headed by an all-woman team led by the prolific community driven leader Stacy Dellorfano, and the goal is to make an edition of Swords & Wizardry that breaks out of its current appeal to forty-and-older something men who are recalling the good old days, and show that OSR mechanics align quite well with more millennial ideals. Laudable stuff, and I am eager to see what the new edition looks like so I can put it next to my Otus cover 2nd printing.

Some have criticized the cover....and I admit, I am not sure I like it all that much, if only because I sort of have no clue at all as to what is going on in that picture. It looks neat....but beyond that it looks to me like some sort of decoration a druid might hang on his or her wall? I really can't tell what it is. But it does look neat in an abstract way.

The interior art is really cool, and given that a fair portion of S&WC's prior art has been long established as part of royalty-free clip art packages, some original art is welcome. Here's one of my favorite examples so far from the KS page, samples of the monster art to come:

The Kickstarter is also including two new modules as add-ons, and some classics as well.

Anyway......I think this will be a nice addition to my already cluttered S&W OSR bookshelf, and I'll probably snag a second copy once it's out for my wife. Looking forward to it!

The Lost Lands: Bard's Gate Kickstarter

With a few weeks to go the Lost Lands: Bard's Gate Kickstarter is the latest mega-manual to come out of the Frog God Lair. Check it out:



I'm in for the $100 level for a 5E edition. I waffled on The Lost Lands: Borderland Provinces Kickstarter and regret it (when I finally landed my book copies through retail I was incredibly impressed). The Kickstarter is covering 5E, S&W and Pathfinder editions, this time cleaning up the process by letting you elect your preferred edition in the backerkit section. I've cancelled other KS's to make room for it, in fact.

I'm sincerely hoping 5E dominates as a request; I'd love to see older Lost Lands tomes converted to 5E (though converting the S&W versions is easy enough). In fact I'd really love to see Razor Coast converted to 5E although based on the history of that particular production I'll assume such a conversion is likely a pipe dream for now!

Help Chuck Wright out and get Chuck's Dragons

Frog God Games now has a tome of adventures for which all proceeds go to helping Chuck Wright, the man who you should thank for such excellent art, layout and design on Frog God Games books. Chuck had complications due to his diabetes and lost a leg (see Tenkar's post here). As someone with diabetes myself, this is a terrible risk for those afflicted, and I greatly empathize with his situation. Not all of us are able to contribute to help as much as we'd like, but if you'd like one way to do it, Frog God now has the tome Chuck's Dragons which is a series of six short dragon-themed encounters you can use in your preferred system of choice, in PDF and print. You can also get a signed copy. All of the proceeds from this book go toward helping Chuck during his recovery.

You can also donate to a gofundme page set up here, but if you'd like to help out and still enjoy some Frog God goodness, the adventure anthology is hard to beat.

Pick up a copy today and help Chuck out. He's done a lot for all of us who enjoy Frog God's works and gaming in general. I don't know him personally, but I have a veritable shelf of tomes that would not exist as they do without him, and I deeply respect his work as an artist and creator. Please get better, Chuck.

Ancient Kingdoms - Mesopotamia for $2

This was one of the best 3rd edition era supplements ever made, and easily converted to Pathfinder, S&W or 5th edition --or with a bit of work you could use it with For Gold & Glory, which recently became my favorite OSR game, but more about that later.

Anyway, it's a setting book set in ancient fantastic Mesopotamia, a sort of Howardian take on the mytho-historic realm as it might have been, with several fully loaded scenarios sufficient for a great campaign and plenty of details on Mesopotamian deities to boot. It's not precisely a historical book, though it is set in a version of the actual historial realm of the Tigris & Euphrates river....more like an agglomeration of the most interesting bits combined with the sensibilities of its time. The book was ahead of its time; this could have (and should have) been released as an OSR tome later on. Anyway......$2 for a PDF today only, so check it out! Use the code DD-AKM-1559

Resident Evil 2 Remake, more on Cypher System, DT&T update and Quests of Doom 2 for 5E!

Fun stuff happened while I was in a borderline coma! Best news I encountered was that Capcom, maker of Resident Evil, will be doing a remake of Resident Evil 2, which was the game that transformed the franchise from "spooky mansion adventure with zombies and monsters" to full-blown zombie holocaust event. From that I gather the remake will (probably) be in similar style to the Resident Evil 1 remake....a faithful rendering of the original, with a cleanup on graphics and controls.....but it's possible they may intend to make it more modern; who knows. I think Capcom has fully gotten the message that Resident Evil 6 for all it's glorious action stuff, was not really the direction RE fans want, so hopefully they won't try to "remake" RE2 in that mold.



I'm thinking the video was specifically for the American crowd, as it doesn't mention Biohazard as a title once.

Quests of Doom 2 for 5E

Speaking of Awesome Stuff, Frog God Games Necromancer Games is producing Quests of Doom 2 for D&D 5th edition! The book contains formal conversions of some of the One Night Stand modules and others. Six new scenarios, all mid-level (5ish), and they are doing a special "preorder" program rather than a Kickstarter, which I rather appreciate. If you'd like 5E versions of these modules, or just don't own them previously (tip: they're worth owning) now's the time.

The modules featured in QoD2 are: The Spire of Iron and Crystal, The Mire of Mourning, Death in the Painted Canyons, Jungle Ruins of Madaro-Shanti, MCMLXXV (yes, really!), and Grimmsgate. Yes, two former Kickstarter specials of S&W Complete are in there! Cool. There also two dozen new monster stat blocks in the back. Even if you're into parting out modules, there's a lot here to cannibalize. Plus, the PDF is out now.

DT&T Update

Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls is now in print and it looks like the shipping process is starting. Still got another week or so before the hard covers are finished, unfortunately (for me, at least). Ken has some great photo montages of the process. Interesting stuff!

As soon as I do have my copy: I'm dropping The Dungeon of the Bear on one of my groups. Soon......

Cypher System Update

I did get some decent time to read Cypher System while I was recovering. I really like it. I can't honestly explain why The Strange and Numenera didn't grab me, but Cypher System, by stripping away the settings lets the reader focus on learning the rules and thinking about how to use it. This method works really well for me; I may spend too much time trying to decipher the multiverse of the Strange or the infinity of Numenera, and in the process lose focus on the rules themselves. But with Cypher System, I'm already thinking about my dystopian quasi-Appleseed inspired future SF setting, or a straight hardcore fantasy setting built entirely from the book's own sample material. Good stuff.

I think my only reservation at this point is the fact that Cypher System is a "diceless GM" system...the GM never rolls. If you've ever had one or more players in your group where getting them to do anything (even a simple defense roll) leads to weird decision paralysis....this might make you itch a bit!

Jokes aside, Cypher System is making me both want to run and play it. It does something that multigenre systems have a hard time doing: it provides a wealth of setting-specific flavor for each of its identified genres, and a design process for characters that is very consistent and easy for the GM to control and the players to grasp. Savage Worlds pulls this off, too, but chiefly by keeping its core conceits to a certain style...but that style defaults to "competent, specialized heroes with some really interesting descriptors, types and foci." I say the last three because once I grokked the significance of the concept and how it's fundamental to character design the system really came to life. In other systems you can say "I'll play a Rugged Space Marine who Talks to Machines," and with some time and effort you can make that happen or get close. In Cypher System you have a defined descriptor (rugged), type (space marine--warrior), and focus (talks to machines) ready to choose from among dozens of others. It's really cool, and more importantly to me it's really fun.

 I've only got two* other games right now that I both want to run and play: D&D 5E and Savage Worlds. And Savage Worlds should be worried, because Cypher System looks like some mean competition.

*C&C and S&W Complete are games I want to both run and play as well, but I sort of group them in with D&D.

Lost Lands still lost; Frog God cultists need to pray for improved inventory and shipping controls

I was very excited today as my Swords & Wizardry editions of Lost Lands: Stoneheart Valley, Lost City of Barakus and Sword of Air were scheduled to arrive. Alas, only Stoneheart Valley was actually for S&W, the other two were for Pathfinder....also known in this neck of the desert these days as "that thing we played while we waited for  a real D&D to come out."

The Frog Gods are awesome and I have to thank Krista for her work in sorting things out, but they definitely need some organization/inventory management, especially since I bet they have an escalation of sales thanks to all the special offers they are pumping out these days. I'm still waiting for a couple other books from last month (Tome of Horrors Complete for S&W and a print copy of The Tome of Adventure Design) and suspect that someone else may have received them in error. A couple months ago I ended up with a bonus copy of Razor Coast, too....not a cheap book.

Soon now, hopefully, I will have a complete set of The Lost Lands in the S&W format once this shipping error is corrected. I plan on starting a campaign in the grandest old school tradition once it's all actually here....although with Stoneheart Valley I think I have enough to get the ball rolling (plus I always had Tomb of Abysthor, which is part of the book, as one of my favorite D20 era Necromancer Games modules).

Print copies of Fifth Edition Foes, Book of Lost Spells and Quests of Doom I and II are in my hands

Just a note for those of you who were waiting to hear about final releases on this: all four books arrived Tuesday, and they look great with strong, solid binding, nice covers, and good thick pages designed to handle lots of use. If you were waiting to see these actually manifest before committing, now is the time!

Here's a run down on what each book offers:

Fifth Edition Foes: 259 pages of about 254 Fifth Edition Monsters, presumably many of which should look familiar to Tome of Horrors, Monstrosities and other Frog God product owners. Having these monsters in 5E versions makes conversion of other Frog God products much easier, and also means you can get the myriad monsters Frog God/Necromancer got special permission to remake back in the 3.0 D20 era, including some favorites of mine such as the Froghemoth and vegepygmies. No Orcus stat bar, alas. Either way, given the slow schedule of releases for official D&D 5E, having this book will prove invaluable to DMs everywhere.

Book of Lost Spells: 136 pages containing roughly over 700 spells. SEVEN HUNDRED. You could run a 5E game with this tome that never once sees the use of a PHB spell from your spell caster. And the amazing thing? Not many of these are spells that will cause your DM to go into spasms...too often. Many are very flavorful while not being game-breaking. "Story mode spells" if you will.

Quests of Doom I: 12 scenarios totaling 192 pages of various levels (a revision of a previous work for Pathfinder you may be familiar with). Includes various new monster and NPC stat blocks as well that you can recycle into your own games.

Quests of Doom II: an additional 6 scenarios in 100 pages (the rest of what didn't make it into volume I from the Pathfinder original). Only one Typo of Note so far (on the back cover, a bit groan-worthy but ah well).

As usual get these from Frog God here. If you order them directly PDF is free with the print version! I've had great success with them lately thanks to my habit of snatching up whatever coupons they fire my way each day, and I have to say that Frog God is one of the best online retailers I've ordered from.

Frog God Fever Continues: Quests of Doom I and II up for pre-order now

Frog God fever continues, this time with Quest of Doom volumes I and II for D&D 5th edition here. Of course Fifth Edition Foes is up as well....and remember, you get both the print and PDF when you order the physical copy, a pretty good deal! Shipping in the States is very reasonable, too.

As I understand it, each of these books contains an adaptation of the modules from another tome of the same name that was written for Pathfinder and S&W. Naturally I hope they sell lots of copies, prompting them to adapt other Frog God/Necromancer tomes to Fifth Edition.

Note to my regulars: try not to read these if you get them, I plan on running these modules, mkay? And if you do read them, try hard to pretend like you didn't or Cthulhu will eat you.

I've got a fever...a fever for the Frog God

In case you hadn't heard, Frog God Games has this new daily deal thing going. So far I've picked up The Lost City of Barakus and Against Tsathogghua in PDF for $2, Tome of Adventure Design in PDF for $10.50, and today I snagged Razor Coast in print and PDF for $60. Honestly this started even before the new sale deal when I pre-orded my copy of Fifth Edition Foes last week and then got a coupon for Stoneheart Valley in print for $20. Good stuff. I suggest signing up for news and offers on their site, it's worth it.

If you didn't know it, this is a hardcover revision of Wizard's Amulet, Crucible of Freya AND Tomb of Abysthor represented as a full setting

A couple important details if you've never ordered from Frog God before, because until I got Fifth Edition Foes this was not obvious from their website: when you buy a print copy of a book, you also get the PDF as part of the deal. Most web retailers note this (Pelgrane and Kobold Press, for example) but for the longest time I didn't try to buy from Frog God directly because it seemed like the listing was for the print or PDF, not both. So, keep that in mind....it makes their prices a better deal, and the sales even nicer.

If you get a coupon and it doesn't work, contact their service via email on site. They had my issue fixed like two minutes later and the code worked.

Most of Frog God's games are in Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry formats, so you can pick your preferred poison. So far they have the free version of Wizard's Amulet and the forthcoming Fifth Edition Foes out for 5E (the PDF is available immediately, and its pretty awesome). I am hoping for a lot more 5E from them in the future, but honestly conversion in 5E is a piece of cake (something I suspect WotC intended for this edition), so I've been snagging lots of Pathfinder-friendly versions to that end....although in retrospect S&W versions might actually be easier to convert to 5E. Ah well...

Anyway, these sales are great....I've actually been keen on most of what Frog God has to offer, but their products are not available through retail and frankly have been priced at "prestige" level prices, putting the bulk of their tomes out of my $$$ comfort zone for something I wasn't sure I'd use at the game table or not. $100 for Razor Coast? Eyyaaaaah I'll just wait and watch Ebay for a few years. $60? Well that's not too much more than the Core Rules for Pathfinder.....sure, I'll bite. PDF comes with it? Deal!!!!!

The description of this module alone sounds worth it. I shall now hope that future sales include discounts on the other books in the series.