Mythoard, subscribe for your monthly RPG packet!

Mythoard is a monthly subscription box service dedicated solely to Tabletop Roleplaying Games.  From modules, minis and maps to rules supplements, accessories and dice, you'll be sure to have great RPG treasure in every single box!   Sign up now for your own hoard!

That's what they say in their site: http://www.mythoard.com/

You subscribe, get a monthly box of roleplaying stuff. That's it. But it is damn cool concept! Some special arrangements were made and I was able to order the December beta box here to Finland. Payment was smooth and cool and now I just have to wait! Not much has been revealed about the first box... What we know, some companies providing products for the first box are: Awful Good Games, Metal Weave Games, Chessex, GM Games, and Red Kobold Games. Not bad selection at all (links to their sites can easily be found at mythoard site.

I had to ask some questions about this concept and +Jarrod Shaw was super awesome to answer. (I'm in italic bold, Jarrod normal).

1. This is an interesting concept. Reminds me of those subscriptions for book-, CD-, and movie clubs where you pay monthly to get some items each month, selected by the deliver. So this concept is not new. But for me (at least) this concept for roleplaying games products is new. And damn awesome. How did this idea developed?

Thanks! We think it's a cool idea too. It came about during a conversation between Ashley and I, about make-up of all things. She get's a subscription box each month for beauty supplies, and I was struck by how awesome the model was, so when she suggested we do one for Tabletop RPGs, I jumped on trying to figure out how to do it. And here we are, a few months later, and our Beta run is looking to reach our self imposed member cap.

2. Was this hard to make-happen?

Way harder than I first imagined. Like a dumbass, I jumped a little too headlong into the thing, amd made several crummy mistakes. For instance the first few emails I sent out to companies were along the lines of "Hey, I'm this guy, and I have a great idea! Can you please send me comps or cheap stuff?" What an asshat. I build houses, not businesses, so it's all a little new and I apologize if bumps occur along the way. I'm learning to steam roll them as we go through, so hopefully it'll be a smooth ride from all. It's coming along well now actually, but it is, at the end of the day, a ton of work. On top of a full time job to boot. But it's RPGs so, I will bust ass until my eyes bleed if I have to.

3. How do you choose the items to include in the package?

Our beta box was built mostly with folks that I had a previous rapport with, or one's that I just really dug their stuff. Our January box is getting close to built already as well, and it's been nice because we have had several companies come to us asking how to be in a Mythoard box. Which is really humbling and awesome.

Why should anyone order this? Pitch time!

Mythoard boxes are filled with random Tabletop RPG stuff! Delivered. To your house. By your mailman. Once a month. That's about all I got. Soon the boxes can speak for themselves.

Thank you and the special arrangements you were willing to do, I can get one of these in Finland to review too (and I admit, I really, really WANT IT). But officially this is currenlty U.S. only. Is it too early to discuss/reveal international plans?

Just a hair early. We are looking into international sales hard though, trying to find a feasible way to do it. We may just have to go with different paypal buttons with varying prices for other countries. It may not be in time for the January box, but it won't be too long. We promise!! And you are very welcome.

Good luck! This is very extremely damn cool. Like "bundleofhodling" but you actually get sweet stuff as in items! Makes kid and collector in me jump and dance!

Thanks so much man. The Bundle is damn cool btw! I am glad we make parts of people jump and dance. That's actually our real goal here anyway. Sort of. It was great talking with you, and keep an eye out mid December for your Mythoard Box! Cheers.

Creating a character for D&D Basic (Finnish translation)

I've already created a character for Labyrinth Lord, so this should not be very different experience. I grabbed the character sheet from Vankityrmiä & Louhikäärmeitä (thanks +Jonas Mustonen ) blog so didn't have to scan it from the book.

As the title says I am using Finnish translation of the Mentzer Basic Dungeons & Dragons. This is going to be fun(ky)!

Step 1: Roll Kykypisteet (Abilities)

3d6 in order for Voimakkuus (Strength), Älykkyys (Intelligence), Viisaus (Wisdom), Ketteryys (Dexterity), Rakenne (Constitution), and Karisma (Charisma). The results are:

6, 13, 9, 10, 7, 7
-1, +1, -, -, -1, -1

Uh-oh, my dicehand is weak today! I can only see a Magic-User as an option for this weakling! I am a man and don't whine about weak character and re-rolls. (Funny thing is that my Labyrinth Lord character creation experiment also resulted a M-U!)

Step 2: Choose a Luokka (Class)

Easy and already done. Magiankäyttäjä (Magic-User).

Step 3: Swich Kykypisteitä (Ability scores)

Basically I cannot do this, because my dude is too weak. No Ability score can be lowered under 9. If it already is 10 you cannot lower it. So after Intelligence my next highest is 10! Next...

Step 4: Roll osumaheitot (Hit Points)

No maximum hit points at first level! I've got 2 with 1d4 from my class. But my weak Constitution modifier of -1 leaves me with 1 hit points.

Step 5: Roll money

3d6 x 10 kp (kultapala, gold pieces) makes me 150 gp rich!

Step 6: Buy equipment

I wish I was a warrior so I could spend my money on good armor and stuff like that. No armors allowed for me.

Hopeinen tikari, Silver dagger (only weapon Magic-User is allowed to use)
Lyhty, Lantern
Öljypullo, Oil, two bottles
Teräksinen peili, Steel mirror
Kolmen metrin seiväs, Ten feet pole
Rautaisannos viikoksi, Ration, for one week
Tulukset, Tinderbox
Viinileili, Wineflask (price is 1 gp but I'll make it 3. I want it to be filled with cheap wine)
Ukonhattu, Wolfsbane

Lots of stuff and I've got 49 gp left!

Step 7: Figure out:

• Haarniskaluokka (AC). That's unarmored, 9.
• Osumaheittotaulukko (To-hit table). That's already printed there, because all starting characters have same to-hit requirements. I do get -1 to-hit rolls though...
• Pelastusheitot (Saving rolls).

Kuolemansäde tai myrkky (Death ray or poison): 13

Maagiset sauvat (Magic wand): 14

Halvaantuminen tai kivettyminen (Paralyzis or turn to stone): 13

Lohikäärmeen henkäys (Dragon breath): 16

Kepit, sauvat ja loitsut (Magic staff and spells) 15

(In Labyrinth Lord saves for M-U are slightly better...).

Step 8: Write down Kykypisteiden tarkistukset (Ability modifiers)

Basically already did this when rolled these.

Step 9: Name your character and choose his ryhmittyminen (Alignment)

There are only three. Laki (Lawful), Neutraalius (Neutrality), and Kaaoottinen (Chaotic). I want to be chaotic. My character is miserable and bitter. He does anything to find power (read: treasures and magic items) to compensate his weak abilities. Anything.

His name is Brut Paha (the Bad).

Step 10: Get ready to play

Wait a sec! I don't have spells yet! I take Lue magiaa (Read magic) and Uni (Sleep). Now I am ready to play!

Is this the holy trinity of OSR?

Swords & Wizardry is for original D&D, the three little booklets. Additional material from supplements depends on the version of S&W. There are White box, Core and Complete.

OSRIC (Old School Reference and Index Compilation) is the ultimate clone of 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Originally meant to be a tool for publishers to publish 1e compatible material. OSRIC webpage has tons of stuff.

Labyrinth Lord emulates basic and expert editions of Dungeons & Dragons in one book. Goblinoid Games has done a great job with LL. And with Original Edition Characters and Advanced Edition Companion supplements you can turn Labyrinth Lord into older-old-school version of D&D and in lite 1e version of D&D.
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Best thing is, you can get all three of these for free. And all of these are in print!

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Do you think these three old-school-rules are the holy trinity of D&D emulation of 70's and early 80's? Or do you have a better combination in mind?

[Review] Forgive Us

Forgive Us is a small adventure written and illustrated by +Kelvin Green  for Lamentations of the Flame Princess weird fantasy rpg. What you get is not only one completed adventure with awesome nicely detailed maps but additional two smaller adventures.

The illustration is more cartoonish than you are used to in LotFP products. Some don't like it and think it doesn't fit LotFP-verse, but I think the art is cool. The cover alone shows you already that things are bad in this adventure, doesn't it? Also the maps are awesome with small details, and there are plenty of those.

1625 was a plague year in Norwich. History tells us that it was an outbreak of the Black Death. History is wrong.

An adventure for a party of the 4th level, for use with...

The adventure is simple. There's always something you need. And where you need it the adventure begins. In Forgive Us it means horror. The adventure is well written and interesting and the tension builds very well. The monsters are not thrown in ya face all the time, but there's still some minor action. It is the end when you realize, that things are really bad. I think the adventure goes very well. There's lots of hints of bad things going on but life-threatening situations are scarce, at the beginning. The details are also cool. Normal houses, normal life, some gore here and there. Nothing supernatural WTF in my opinion what makes this more scary investigation.

Also you'll get nice set of random loot!

RUN!!!

I hoped that the city of Norwich had a little more meat around it. I do understand that the adventure is the point and focus here and more pages means more cost but a little more detailed mini-setting would have been nice addition. Well, you can't have everything! There's little detail on the city you can work with to create your own Norwich with the help of internet (for example, or use library like a pro!).

Pleasure to the eye.

Two other adventures are nice addition to make sure that after you have ran Forgive Us the book doesn't just go to your LotFP archives. In Heaven Everything Is Fine is weird adventure. Ghost story with trapped tower (you need to detail yourself) and alien. Not bad, but you need to work a bit yourself with details to run this. Death and Taxes is very short adventure. Old dead friend, a little mystery, a hidden treasure.

Overall Forgive Us is very good adventure.

GET IT if you like suspense, movies like The Thing (Kelvin's inspiration) or suspense of the first Alien (my idea). Also if you like some exploration and ending that jumps on your face and wants to eat it.

Print and PDF available at LotFP store.
PDF also available at RPGNow.