Need to Come Off Hiatus

So I let 2014 escape with me playing hardly any D&D. HOWEVER, I have the 5E PHB in hand, the MM and DMG are en route, and I have I $200 box full of stuff being sent to me from Finland. The gears are grinding and I'm getting ready to come anew in 2015 with something fresh, something possibly RED and/or PLEASANT. That is all.

D&D 5E Basic Rules - Lulu Cover

Step 1: Get version 0.2 of the player rules and version 0.1 of the DM rules HERE. (printer-friendly versions)
Step 2: Remove the last page from each file (it's an advertisement) so that there is an even number of pages.
Step 3: Start your lulu 8.5x11 perfectbound project. Upload the two files for the interior of the book. You should end up with 174 pages total (114 player book and 60 DM book).
Step 4: Use the "Advanced one-piece cover designer", and upload this file for the cover.
Step 5: Order a few copies for your group, and enjoy!

Don't use this! Click the link above in Step 4.

The cover is simply a modified version of this one here. I started to make one based on the Moldvay basic book, which I still think is a cool idea, but I was struggling with it so I gave up on that for the time being. Got any other cool cover files? Link them in the comments!

(This is of course intended for personal use, not so you can resell someone else's IP. Just in case anyone missed that obvious point.)

And one final note: There will be further updates to the Basic Rules documents in the coming months if I'm not mistaken, so if you are only interested in the final-final version of the basic rules, you can ignore this for now.

DCC RPG Reference Booklet - Revised and Expanded

Finally, after over a year of toil, I can present you with the updated version of the DCC RPG Reference Booklet. I expanded it out to include more of the useful charts, cleaned up the layout, and commissioned two of my favorite artists, Stefan Poag and Doug Kovacs to create some great art for it. I offer it to you now, free in PDF, or in print from Lulu at a small markup, in the hopes I can recover some of the cash I laid out for the art. I've ordered several rounds of proof copies to ensure that the thing is error-free, but if you find anything, please let me know. Enjoy!

One final thing worth noting... When I began work on this thing, I designed it around Lulu's 6x9 saddle-stitched offering, which at the time included thick, glossy pages and a really bright and durable cover. They've recently changed their 6x9 saddle-stitch book to use thinner, cream-colored pages and what appears to be a lower-quality printing process for the cover. By the time I discovered this, I was too far along in the process to be willing to put the time and effort into exploring other options. Although the book is not as rad as I initially planned, it is still quite serviceable, and the cost is less so at least I can offer it for a few bucks cheaper.

Okay, enough rambling. Here you go:

DCC RPG Reference Booklet - Free PDF

DCC RPG Reference Booklet - Lulu Print $6.66

I'm not dead yet...

What's up suckas! It's been like 13+ months since I made a post, but I'm still around. I haven't played any RPGs since last December, when I passed the DM torch along in my game store group so I could take a class. But the itch has been coming back! My buddy has looked over the D&D 5E Basic PDF and is interested in running a game. That motherfucker better follow through!

I've also bought into The Chained Coffin and Peril on the Purple Planet kickstarters, and I've been itching to get a new DCC campaign going. I just have to organize all this stuff into something I could actually do:

• I want to use the 5 sets of dwarven forge tiles I got from their first kickstarter. I can get my sister to come over and help me drybrush them. It will be a good excuse for us to hang out.
• I also have a box full of D&D/Pathfinder plastic minis, not to mention the Reaper Vampire package I have (which I'm certain I'll never have time to paint).
• I want to have a campaign on a weird planet (think Carcosa/Purple Planet).
• I want to use a minimal set of materials to run the campaign.
• I want to use a bunch of the stuff on my shelves that I've never gotten to use.

This is the problem with campaigns. I always have a bunch of things I want to do that conflict with each other. I want everything to be weird, but if I use minis, well that's all standard monsters. I want to keep things simple, but then I get the itch to use every shiny supplement that glimmers out of the corner of my eye.

Another idea I had was to just roll up some dudes and start working through some DCC modules. I have all except the very latest few. I could just grant a level upon completion of a module, and we could just hand-wave what happens between adventures. Seems like a fun and laid-back way to play.

I guess I just have to figure out what I want to do most, and start down that path. 

Anyways, I've been scrolling through my G+ stream and I'm glad to see the awesomeness is still flowing strongly out there. If there are any newer people/blogs from the past year you think I should know about, please leave a comment.