Kingbeast's Lair

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 NBOS 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!

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.

-== What is it? ==-

Albion’s Ransom: Little Girl Lost is an adventure module for The Esoterrorists by Pelgrane Press. It is written by Ian Sturrock and all artwork and layout is by Jerome Huguenin. This adventure takes the PC to England where they find that a missing persons case has taken a turn toward the outer dark.

I reviewed a printed copy from November 2007. I have not run the adventure I have only read it. The product is 105 pages long with a completely black and white interior with a color cover. There is not an index but there is a detailed table of contents.

-== What I Like ==-

The flow of the first few major chapters is not too bad. It moves in a logical fashion from one section to the next following the flow of the uncovered clues.

The adventure is of respectable length. It will take several sessions to complete the adventure. The supplement explains that Little Girl Lost is actually the first part of a longer campaign adventure called Albion’s Ransom. One issue is that the rest of Albion’s Ransom may never be produced. It will likely depend on how well Little Girl Lost sells.

There is a section on drugs use in The Esoterrorists. The section covers the effects of various drugs and what happens when they are combined. It is nicely done and very detailed.

There are appendices that cover the UK at a high level and discuss various Esoterror related threats. These sections also cover some of the culture that is relevant to the genre. It is a bit sparse but very nicely written.

I really like the cover art. It has a creepy sort of feel that fits the genre well. Jerome really does The Esoterrorists right with this one. The interior art is a bit dark in some places but overall it is not too bad. The layout switches between a darker and lighter borders every few pages. The effect is not distracting and is actually kind of attractive. I think the usability of the product could be increased if the light and dark transitions were done for each chapter. 😉

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

The module has several elements that are not typically encountered in Esoterrorist runs. One of them I will spoil now so don’t read this if you don’t want any spoilers. In the adventure an OV resource turns on the PC. In general this is not standard of the setting. My feeling is that when you only have two published adventures you should not go too far outside of the box. You should make adventures that really fit the genre perfectly. After you have some material under your line then venture to other territory.

I think one of my biggest complaints about the module is that there is a lot of text dedicated to NPC who are really not important to the plot. Some NPC have very long descriptions with tons of interview information that provide very little, if any, critical investigation data. At the end where I felt there could have been more data provided it felt kind of rushed. This might be an editing issue but when I read the module that is how it came off.

The adventure is set in the UK but I felt like it could have also been easily written in the US. I actually think it should have been written in the US for a couple of reasons. One reason is that more material could have been put in to the adventure as less would be needed for the appendices. As I mentioned above I also feel that if you only have two adventures write them both in your primary stomping grounds, the US. Finally, if the adventure was set in a US city any background information could be then used for a campaign city for the PC. It would be less of a visit and more useful as campaign background material.

-== Summary ==-

Even though I was elated about Profane Miracles I was not so happy about Albion’s Ransom: Little Girl Lost. There is not a lot of material for the setting right now but I still have a hard time recommending this product. It sells for $22.95 which feels a bit high but not that out of whack.

I give it 4 out of 10 paws