Kingbeast's Lair

-== What is it? ==-

The Holler: Tales Of Horror From Appalachia is a collection of 24 “delicately short” horror stories written by Marge Fulton and published by BlackWyrm. Before I get into this review I wanted to acknowledge that I am not a horror literature buff or even a horror literature fan to any large degree. I was given an advance review copy to read by a friend of mine who is a publisher/editor/writer at BlackWyrm. Even though I was given a copy of the book I will try to not let that impact this review.

The book I received has a color cover and an entirely black and white interior. The book is 6” x 9” and is 87 pages in length.

-== What I Like ==-

I think the thing that I liked most about The Holler is the way that some of the stories stick with you days after reading them. I might be walking along and I’ll see something that reminds me of a story from the book…BAM…I am back in that story. In some cases I even felt like I needed to take a shower to try and get that “sticky horror feeling” off of my person. In my mind that is a sign that the book worked.

Here are some quick blurbs about some of the stories that I enjoyed:

• An obese traveler on a mission into space.
• A drug trip painting.
• A ghost tale at a drugstore greeting card rack…Hallmark would not approve.
• A recycled killing.
• Husbands diced, served, and sold.
• A twisted unity candle.
• A splinter sharp tale in the vein of Pinocchio.

I liked the fact that the stories in The Holler are very short (aka “delicate”). Most of the stories are only 3 to 5 pages in length. This makes the book extremely easy to pick up and put down. Even with only a 5 minute break in your day and you can read a story. I like that in a book. The copy I got was soft cover and very easy to transport which works well when the stories are short. I also think this book would be great in PDF or ebook formats as it would be great to pickup quickly on an iPhone or similar reading device.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

My biggest complaint with the book is that I did not get the ending of some of the stories at all. As I mentioned, I am not a horror literature buff so maybe that is why some of them left me confused.

The cover layout and background coloring is not great. In the version I have the cover uses red text that lapses over a sepia picture on a gray background. If the background color was changed to a slightly lighter sepia color to match the photo that might help. The photo is perfect for the book. It shows a young disheveled girl grasping a black rag doll. Excellent fit for the book.

-== Summary ==-

If you are looking for a collection of short horror stories that stick with you in a good way then I suggest checking this one out. I do not know what the final price of the book will be but I’m going to give my rating assuming that the price is on the low side. I think a low price fits a product like this where the focus is on “delicately short stories”.

I give it 7 out of 10 paws.

About a year ago I decided that I wanted to start trying to run games entirely from my laptop. I made this decisions based on how I was previously managing my notes. In the past I would write up my adventures by hand, type them into Microsoft Word, then print them out for the actual play sessions. It got cumbersome to go through this process so I started to investigate other options. After playing with several wiki programs I decided to give The Keep from NBOS a try. The Keep is a campaign management tool that organizes information in a simple tree structure. It has some nice features like integrated support for Adobe Acrobat and other NBOS programs like Fractal Mapper and Inspiration Pad. Since my campaign map was designed in Fractal Mapper that feature was a nice plus.

After using The Keep for a bit I realized that I needed one more feature to make everything more efficient for me. I wanted to be able to update information in The Keep from home or from work. At first I started with everything on a flash drive but that was slow and clunky. That is when I discovered Dropbox. Dropbox is a free application that allows you to synchronize information on different computers seamlessly. It does this through a web site that stores the latest version of the content. The key advantage to Dropbox is that it also maintains copies of the code on all connected devices. Dropbox is also VERY easy to use. It simply appears as a folder called My Dropbox. Anything put in the folder is synchronized.

After finding Dropbox I hit on the combination of installing The Keep on Dropbox. Now I can make changes at home and at work without needing clunky flash drives or having to manually copy files. In fact I am literally typing up this review in The Keep because of the ease of use and power of this combination.

If you want to try Dropbox here is a referrel link. Please use this link when setting up your account and it will give me a bit more free storage.

If you want to try The Keep from NBOX here is a link to where you can pick it up at DriveThruRPG for $31.50.

For folks who are planning on trying out this combination here is a post that I made on the NBOS forums that describes how to setup The Keep under Dropbox:

The Problem
I wanted to run The Keep at home and at work. Don’t worry…I am only using it at lunch. At first I tried a flash drive but found that The Keep reacts slowly on a flash drive…especially when my PDF files got larger. What now?

The Solution
I found an online tool called Dropbox to juggle synchronization of file across various devices. It is a free tool that is very easy to setup and quite powerful. Once setup it appears as a folder under My Documents called My Dropbox. What you put in that folder syncs to other devices or PC securely.

I installed The Keep into My Dropbox using the flash drive installation option. I then run it from the My Dropbox folder using a simple batch file. Now I can run The Keep at home, make changes, upload PDF, work on my Fractal Mapper 8 campaign map, then go to work and continue. No copying to a flash drive, no slow response…awesome!

I love Chad Underkoffler’s “What Was Cool At” RPG convention videos…here is the latest one.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #43 – The Curse From The Barrens (DCC43) from Goodman Games is a module for d20 that was written by Greg Oppedisano. The module states that it is for characters from levels 3 through 5. It takes the PC to the far north where they encounter a deadly curse and two warring native tribes. I converted the adventure to Fantasy Hero and ran it twice. Thus I cannot comment on how the adventure actually plays for d20.

I purchased the PDF version of the product from DriveThruRPG. It has a color front and back cover and an entirely black and white interior. The book is 8 1/2” x 11″ and is 36 pages in length. The page count includes three pages of maps and a page of player handouts. There is also the standard OGL page.

-== What I Like ==-

I really like the underlying theme of the PC getting caught between two warring tribes. This gives the PC a chance to first react to the tribes, then resolve their problem, then act as mediators for bringing them back together. The dynamic allows for a serious amount of role-playing. I was pleasantly surprised to find this in a “Dungeon Crawl Classic” module…I was not sure role-playing was in the billing when I made the purchase.

The flow of the module from scene to scene is very nicely done. There are not any hard breaks and the path to progress is very clear. My group likes to be directed by the plot but not railroaded. DCC43 did a good job of moving things along nicely.

This adventure is very easy to adapt to any campaign setting. As I was adopting DCC43 to Fantasy Hero and my own world so this is an important need for me. It was also very easy to extend the ending to introduce the following adventure.

The front cover artwork is very colorful and evocative. Jim Roslof did a nice job on it. The back cover is fun. The interior art is well placed and not too dark. The handouts are very cool.

The maps are nicely done. The interior maps which are the ones that folks are most likely to use are clear and easy to follow even though there are multitiered rooms in a couple of places. Often that can make maps more difficult to read but they did a good job here. It might have been nice to have arrows in the streams to slow the direction the water is flowing but that is a minor complaint.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

DCC43 could have included more character hooks. There are only two included party hooks and they involve hiring the party and simply attacking them. Seems like they could have included a couple of others that are a bit more imaginative.

Some parts of glacial lair is a bit “forced”. In one area where there is a hallway that widens out to a falling ice block trap that feels completely out of place. It really seems like the designer needed a trap because, “a dungeon is not a dungeon without a trap”.

-== Summary ==-

Overall the adventure is exactly what I expected. That is NOT a bad thing. Right now you can get DCC43 on DriveThruRPG for a mere $4.89 at this URL. Holy glacial lair Batman why are you waiting!

I give it 8 out of 10 paws.

Date At Start Of Game: 07/28/206

[Author’s Note: This is the log for the 10th session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be in the exact order that they occurred during play.]

Resting In Ambrosia Trades

After resolving the situation between the warring tribes the PC decide to rest a while in Ambrosia Trades. Oren works on his breastplate with a local blacksmith named Blyre. Po starts researching a new spirit refreshing spell. The others go about other miscellaneous tasks. After about two weeks the PC decide to leave. They follow the stick to the south then east across the Fayland Crossing.

The Wickshine Inn

As they are coming down the mountains on the west side of the crossing the summer rains start to pick up to near torrential levels. Night falls and the PC start to worry about shelter. As they round a bend in the road they see a small inn nestled between the hills. It sits on the edge of what appears to be an old apple orchard. Outside a large Ape Man is securing shutters on the windows. When they get closer Po notes that the apple trees are bare and do not look too healthy. The man greets the PC and welcomes them to the Wickshine Inn. A stable boy, a young Bear Kin, comes over and joins the party as they enter the building. Inside the PC remove their outer clothing for drying by the fire while they meet the staff and guests

The staff includes the following:

• Abel and Dorthea Still – Ape Kin – The proprietor and his wife.
• Usta and Jinny – Cougar Kin – Young teenage girls who appear to sisters. Usta has a mark on her shoulder that one of the PC has seen on slaves.
• Aved – Bear Kin – A youthful helper that seems to have Usta and Jinny’s attention.

The guests include the following:

• Kurdy Deel – Badger Kin – An old tinker with a thick wool hat. He claims to be at the inn to help the Stills mend some old pots.
• Marten L’Gentsia – Dolphin Kin – Dandy bird scholar who like to bore people with his most recent discovery. Po sees that his broach is magical.
• Ille Sorden – Ape Kin – Thin man with graying hair who claims to be travelling east looking for his son that died in a battle near Oakhurst. He speaks with Oren who was in the opposing army during that battle. It did not go well for the defenders so Oren does not have much hope for Ille. Po detects that Ille has some type of healing spell active on his person.
• Eadon Marsh – Boa Kin – Loud warrior who Ille has hired as a bodyguard during his trek east.
• Ditmore and Exter Shurry – Racoon Kin – Traders who specialize in “hard to find good”. They buy some of the trinkets from Po and later show off their glasswares. Ditmore has a cold so the pair has been in the Wickshine Inn for a night.
• Josia Two-Coins – Rat Gog – Travelling priest who carries a crudely carved wooden walking stick. Po thinks that the Joshia is either a bush league shaman or someone posing as one.

After carousing for a while Oren strikes up a conversation with Abel and Dorthea in the kitchen. Abel tells Oren that the Wickshine Inn has been in his family for four generations. Long ago the inn was part of a village called Wickshine. It was called Wickshine because of the fine apple brandy that was brewed by the locals. About 20 years ago the apple production dropped dramatically. This sent the village into a tailspin. Now all that remains is the inn.

Under Siege

The PC are awoken early in the morning when they hear a scream from Dorthea. The PC react quickly. Oren and the rest of the PC head down the stairs while Bilby jumps out a nearby window. When Oren comes down the stairs he spies two spiny black creatures approaching Dorthea. They are about the same size as the twin Cougar Kins so Oren’s first guess is that something happened to Usta and Jinny. While flying around the back of the inn Bilby sees a large group of figures approaching through the morning fog. He flies in a downstairs window to alert the PC that there are incoming foes. Abel axes one of the spiny creatures while Po casts spells. Oren attacks a third creature that he thinks is Aved. After downing his foe Oren smells a strong incense smell on the body. Cillian and Oren race upstairs to investigate. Cillian finds a thick incense smoke in the upstairs rafters that is coming from a loose board over Ille’s room. With that Cillian follows Oren as they bash into Ille’s room. Ille attacks Oren with a spell that causes his old scars to rupture in pain! The attack is so devastating that it actually stuns the tough Armadillo Kin. After the attack Ille casts a spell that makes him turn into a shadow and flies downstairs. Cillian quickly knocks over Ille’s censor which has the immediate effect of causing the spiny creatures to turn back into the young staff members. The PC downstairs see Ille appear near the hearth as hoards of skeletons start to break in through the shuttered windows. Ille laughs in a maniacal fashion as he reaches into the hearth and pulls out what appears to be a black tile. Bilby being the closest PC slices out at the hand holding the tile. In a deft strike the tile goes flying! As the tile hits the ground Po swoops down and picks it up. To Po’s surprise the tile attacks his brain and clenches his hand around it so that he cannot release it! In desperation Po flies up the stairs thinking that the stone might somehow control the skeletons. All the while the tile is gnawing away at Po! Bilby narrowly escapes the skeleton hoard using deft acrobatics. Ille again turns into a shadow and appears in the room. This time Oren lays him out cold with a well placed shot to the stomach. Po flies out of an upstairs window then it knocked out by the tile and falls. The tile slips from his grasp as Po hits the ground. Cillian looks out the window and grabs the tile using his wind spirits. He then carefully places the tile into a pouch without touching it. Luckily Po awakes and take flight just as the skeletons close on his position. In not much more time the PC take out the remaining skeletons who appear confused now that Ille is unconcious.

The other guests are frightened but not harmed. The young staff are several injured but Po prevents them from dying by using his healing abilities. Now the PC are left to question Ille and examine the tile…

Date At End Of Game: 09/02/206