Save Versus All Wands Makes the Top Ten!

Save Versus All Wands is honored to have been chosen as one of the Top Ten Gaming Blogs of 2014 by Jeffro Johnson of Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog and Castalia House. Jeffro revealed his choices on Friday (one by one and with much drum rolling and fanfare) on Google+ (later reposted on his blog). He also posted it on the new Recommend, where he is now an Expert reviewer.

Here is the list:

1. Gaming Ballistic by Douglas Cole
2. Dungeon Fantastic by Peter V. Dell’Orto
3. Save Versus All Wands
4. Delta’s D&D Hotspot by Delta 
5. The Tao of D&D by Alexis Smolensk
6. Semper Initiativus Unum by Wayne Rossi
7. Hack & Slash by Courtney Campbell
8. Don't Split the Party by Rick Stump
9. RPG Snob by Jason Packer
10. Pulsipher Game Design by Lewis Pulsipher

Jeffro commented on the methodology behind the rankings:

The shortlist came from whoever was writing stuff that I would link to on my blog. Every link was essentially a vote by me for who I enjoyed reading. However... the actual rankings came from what my own readers were clicking on. While some might quibble over the exact order, I think that these really are all together the best gaming blogs around. I certainly have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of them.

This is a super group of blogs and bloggers, and without false humility I feel a bit unworthy to be included on it. But I will proudly take credit for at least having the good taste to already be an enthusiastic reader of most of them. Being made aware of the others was a treat.

Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog: Microgames, Monster Games, and Role Playing Games contains a gold mine of material, stretching back an amazing ten years. There are hundreds of posts on Car Wars (the original focus of the blog), Traveller, other science fiction games such as Ogre and Star Fleet Battles, military wargames (a large and diverse assortment) as well as, of course, old school D&D. Jeffro sometimes posts material inspired by or about gaming with his children. These are quite funny but also wise, as well as being an inspiration for this relatively new father.

In addition, Jeffro is one of the in-house reviewers for the fantasy publisher Castalia House, where he is in the midst of a series of lengthy and detailed reviews of works by the "Appendix N" authors.

I should note that it was Jeffro who first brought up the Femen angle, quipping that mentioning Save Versus All Wands might spark a Femen protest. In return, I thought it might be fun to take advantage of my links in the radical feminist and performance artist communities and "create" one for him.

If he wants to do an interview with Pussy Riot, I might be able to set that up...

But being included on his list made my month.  

Cheers again and here's to another ten years, my friend.

Seven Voyages of Zylarthen Character Sheets

Creating a Character

Doug over at Smoldering Wizard put together a nice-looking character sheet for Seven Voyages of Zylarthen. As well, his blog features a section containing character sheets and other resources for a diversity of old school games including X-plorers, Swords & Wizardry and Delving Deeper.

I created a rough character sheet for Zylarthen a few months ago. It's boringly presented (I thought it would be fun to make it look like I typed it on a typewriter in 1975--that doesn't mean it's not boring ) and its busyness probably contrasts with the simpler vibe of the game itself. But the sheet, along with the 'sample' included with it might possibly be helpful in highlighting aspects of the game--such as the encumbrance system--that are slightly different from its relatives. I have placed both Word and PDF versions of it in the public section of my Dropbox account.

Smoldering Wizard Blog Click Here
Smoldering Wizard Player and DM Resources Click Here
Smoldering Wizard Seven Voyages of Zylarthen Character Sheet Click Here

Spalding's Seven Voyages of Zylarthen Character Sheet (Word) Click Here
Spalding's Seven Voyages of Zylarthen Character Sheet (PDF) Click Here

As always, suggestions are welcome and encouraged.

Link to Me, Baby!

I just spent a few hours updating my OSR blog link list (results at right). It was fun and I made a number of great discoveries. But undoubtedly I left off many worthwhile entries out of ignorance. Please email me or comment, below, if you would like your OSR gaming-related blog to be included.

In return, if you think my blog is worthy, add me to your blog roll. Or, rather...

LINK TO ME, BABY!!!

(I could use the hits)

The fun illustration, above, Monsters Holding Hands, is by Jonathan Frazin, an artist and illustrator working in the Chicago area. He started the piece at our mutual place of business with a fifty-nine cent mechanical writing implement. Then, as he said later in private correspondence, "I was able to do much closer detail once I had my proper pencil." I think that's like a magic wand or something. For more of Mr. Frazin's wonderful work, visit his website, here.

Twenty Years After

Well, actually only two.

First, let me answer my own question, posed more than twenty-six months ago:

Yes.

For reasons 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Somewhat for reason 8. And not so much for reason 1.

I've taken the time-off (an odd way of putting it, admittedly, since the original blog only existed for two weeks) to write a "neo-clone", Seven Voyages of Zylarthen, which I'll be releasing in a few days.

I started with a desire to write a pseudo-16th century variant of OD&D, but that gave way to a potentially richer re-imagining of the original game, with more of an emphasis on its fairy tale and even pulp science fiction aspects. I wanted to create something that even my new children could enjoy (in a few years, of course). The original idea is being reworked into a "supplement".

This blog will exist as a portal to the game, and as an occasional space to pontificate, but I doubt I'll have a lot of time. My wife and I are preparing for the arrival of two more children. We've gone from 0 to 4 in a bit more than two years, with me starting at the age of almost 48. That's two sets of back-to-back twins conceived through "natural" means. The odds of that are a bit higher than qualifying for an AD&D Paladin by rolling 3d6 in order, I think. :)

Here are Oliver and Lydia, riding the Chicago "L" on the way to Mass at our lovely St. John Cantius. They were no more than two months old when I took a hiatus from the blog. God willing, they will have two new brothers no later than the first week of May.

At the age of one-and-a half Lydia emerged from the bedroom to catch me watching the remake of Conan. She took one look at it and made the sign of the cross (which gets it about right, I think). Their most recent pastime is to creep into my office and filch my dice, which they then joyfully and madly roll on the kitchen floor until they inevitably disappear under the stove. Then they creep back into the office to steal some more.

Thank you to those who followed and commented on the early posts, and apologies for letting you down in any way. I've noticed that at least one of those commenters, Zenopus, has gone on to be a major player in the blogosphere, offering all sorts of nifty stuff of historical interest.

May your Feast of the Epiphany be peaceful and joyous!

Oakes 

Greetings!

Over the last year, I have immensely enjoyed and learned from many of the OSR blogs.  So I thought I would try my hand at it.  One of my goals is to sharpen my thoughts about gaming and game design—a process that will hopefully include receiving feedback from other old school gamers—in part to help me put together an old school Dungeons and Dragons variant with a 16^th-century setting.  But I’m also fascinated by the history and evolution of the game for its own sake, and I think it’s interesting and fun to think and talk about it.

Tomorrow I’ll have a few questions to ask about Xylarthen.

Cheers!

Oakes