Lake Geneva Original Campaign

Legendary RPG author and designer Rob Kuntz is adding TWO very sought-after PDF products to his Three Line Studio Store, after those products recently sold out as popular print releases elsewhere on the web (DATG at TLB Games, and DD at Chaotic Henchmen Productions)...

Rob's seminal treatise Dave Arneson's True Genius, and iconic RPG adventure module Dark Druids, have now joined our range of downloadable digital (PDF) products!

 

And here's the double-whammy to all our fans and friends: if you purchase DATG and DD together as a bundle — The DATG Dark Druids Bundle — you will get 20% off your order (*valid until 5th July 2023). Now that's regal!

Good Day to You All!

There is no better way to start off a New Year than with -- not just one but TWO -- brand-new, never-before-published creative, exciting products!  Even better, when such creative, exciting products are about a CELEBRATION...

Throughout 2023, Rob Kuntz and Three Line Studio will be celebrating 50 years since the inception and playtesting of the world's first commercial RPG in 1973!

And there is no better way to celebrate than to reward YOU, Rob's loyal fanbase, with our launch of Gargax's Glorious Gewgaws and Pryce's Price, both available to purchase exclusively from our newly-launched Three Line Studio Store!  Please note that for the very first time, we are 'going' digital as those two products are published in professional high-quality full-colour PDF format, printable and viewable on all electronic devices, PC/MAC/Android.  Cartography, interior art and Gewgaws cover art by are by a promising young Italian graphic artist, Davide Gambarara, who did a stirling job!  Davide brought a crisp line work to both Gewgaws and Pryce.  We cannot praise him enough and can already hint at the fact that Davide will be involved in forthcoming TLS projects!  https://www.facebook.com/dagamarts/
More information about Davide from our TLS Facebook post.

Rob's two celebratory releases are part of Three Line Studio's Red Book™ collection, and are send-ups to Gary Gygax:

Gargax's Glorious Gewgaws is divided into two sections.  The first part references in detail some special magic items, while the second part features the films, literature and authors that historically inspired the beginning of the RPG form.  Pryce's Price is a very exciting and captivating action-packed adventure module with gothic undertones, described as "one of the most fantastic adventures written by Rob Kuntz to date!"  Gewgaws and Pryce are sure to brighten up your day... and your game!  Head off to our store -- only one click away -- and while there please also make sure to download Rob's latest FREE (26-page long) Newsletter: https://threelinestudiostore.company.site/ If you wish to purchase Gewgaws and Pryce together, why not take advantage of our SPECIAL OFFER on the Gewgaws Pryce Bundle and save 25%! Happy Celebrations!
 

LINK to Description and Ordering:  https://www.tlbgames.com/collections/the-red-book-line/products/merlynd-the-magician

OK. Merlynd the Magician has been laid out and we are going over pre-press proofing today and the next, giving it a final look. It will then, with the 3 special color prints and the 1 special bonus print, be sent along to our printer (uploaded). From there that takes about 7 days until they ship to our fulfiller, Paul Stormberg, in the US. Then he has to weigh the combined single items for shipping costs. Then we will e-mail its availability to those on our list and post here and elsewhere about its availability and go live! And you thought these things were easy?? Nope. But they are a joy in the long road to producing them.
Sign up for our mailing list to be informed 24 hours before we go live:
mailinglist@threelinestudio.com
More Info here:  https://www.facebook.com/threelinestudio/

I am now an author for EN World with a monthly column.  Six lead columns have been submitted to EN World with the first being published several days ago:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-beginning-1968-and-meeting-gary-gygax-and-the-gygax-family.667636/

This describes my meeting Gary Gygax in 1968.  Take a look and do consider subscribing to EN World to keep up on such discussion I am having with fans, game historians and designers interested in the history of our great hobby.

Castle Greyfalkun™ Organization © 1973-2019.  Robert J. Kuntz.  All Rights Reserved.
North 2 Mordenkaine's Menagerie North 3 The Terrible Tunnels North 4 The Ancient Isle North 5-7 Merlynd's Maze descends for 3 levels; also exit to Merlynd’s House North 8 The Hideous Halls
South 2  Invisible Maze Level  South 3    Gem Room and Crypts Level  South 4 Oubliette of the Doomed  South 5 Dead Knight's Grotto South 6    Black Pudding Doorkeeper Level  South 7 The Haunted Labyrinthe  South 8 The Hexed Maze
East 2 Paths of the Forgotten East 3  Garden & Giant's Pool Hall Level  East 4 Chambers of Chaos East 5  Sealed Tomb East 6 Chambers of Chance  East 7  The Lake Level East 8   Machine Level
West 2 The Dark Vaults  West 3 The Sundered Caverns West 4 The Hidden Caves West 5   Gallery Level West 6 The Mad Paths West Level 7    Barracks Level West 8 Weird Warren


Core 9   Plus 3 inter-level specials: Horsing Around/The Hunting Grounds/The Forgotten Land Core 10 Elevator Level Core 11   Dreamland Core 12   Boreal Level Core 12A  Valhalla (special inter-level); connects to Asgard  Core 13   Asgard  Core 13A/B Special Annex to Demonworld, large level Core 13C Dark Earth Annex (Tharzdu’un) Core 14  Orb, Scepter, and Crown Level Core 15 The Gardens of Gax/Hewaerd's Hedge Core 16 The Dragonne Caves Core 17 Wyrm’s Way Core 18 Museum Phantastmagoria ...    TRIBUTE LEVELS (as included above/with dedications, slight historical fore-matter/work).  These are being designed with the listed players/designers in mind.
E.  GARY GYGAX:  Mordenkaine's Menagerie Ernie Gygax:  The Terrible Tunnels Terry Kuntz:   The Dark Vaults Eric Nelson Shook:  The Sundered Caverns Tom Champeny:  The Hidden Caves  Don Kaye:  Merlynd's Maze   Jim Ward:  Chambers of Chance   Jim Goodfellow:  The Mad Paths  Michael Mornard:  Dead Knight's Grotto
And an Honorarium level dedicated to Dave Arneson and his creations: 
The Haunted Labyrinthe
Joe Goodfellow--Oubliette of the Doomed Bob Burman--Chambers of Chaos Mark Ratner--The Ancient Isle Joe Fischer--The Hideous Halls Bill Corey/Cookie Corey--Weird Warren Jeff Perren--Paths of the Forgotten David Sutherland/Dave Trampier--Museum Phantastmagoria and Wyrm Way As well as another Honorarium level to Mary Gygax  The Gardens of Gax (linked to Hewaerd's Hedge)  Without Mary's patience, forbearance support and all around great nature in the face of pressure and change, D&D probably would not have been published.  I am honored to create this send-up level for her for she has been sorely overlooked in the historical record from those times.

I am now adding each level as a section to my new Red Book folder and outlining/sketch mapping one after the next.  

Three Line Studio has posted a 10 page/1.1 meg PDF file as an Update and Proposed Product Line Map for the Red Book™ Line. Very Exciting! Download at this link:

https://www.threelinestudio.com/store/the-red-book-line/
Consider joining our mailing list while at our site! And do share this link with everyone you know and at forums you visit. Things are taking shape pretty quickly here and we thank you all for being on board! -- Rob Kuntz, Somewhere in the Depths of The Mind Maze...

**OYEZ Friends & Fans! If a BARGAIN you seek to make, hurry to DAYS OF MAY SALE. Gold pieces you shall save, on ERKA Standard Edition purchase. DVDs and USBs, now a thrifty $59.99. And right in your pocket, a $20-$30 saving!**

I have been posting a lot on Face Book.  In order to support our forthcoming Products, including the launch of the Red Book Line, please go there and show us your support.  Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/threelinestudio/posts/?ref=page_internal

Lots of new stuff on the near horizon.  Read the posts there and you'll understand and perhaps will be as excited as we are!

Rob Kuntz
Branded Line Rebooting The Original Greyhawk Campaign 1972-Present
"Last Man Standing"  The History of Greyhawk

I have been spurred to remember--due to the recent explosion of those accusing Zak S. of his many abuses--one of the reasons that I am writing Lake Geneva Days, a definitive insider view of my relationships with Gary Gygax, the Gygax family, TSR, etc.  It's quite an emotional chore re-summoning truths that have been closeted for so long and that paint a much different picture than I have seen expressed over the years and that in many ways approach the realm of the mythical by comparison.  





Wish me luck.   The abuses, the chicanery, the laughs and the fool's quest, and not without the battered POV of the idealist and believer mashed into a cynical pulp -- it's all there and more, including the victory of the survivor as only the latter can describe it while eyeing what is now promoted as fact about those days, its times, its people, and what actually transpired...

“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time

“I love my fellow actors but sometimes I think that their opinions are wrong,” he explained. “True art asks uncomfortable questions and if you find yourself agreeing with everyone around you all the time, you should wonder what your significance as a citizen and as an artist is. But that’s not really important. What matters is that a civilization is kept alive and vital by debate.” -- John Rhys-Davies

Finishing...
Breakthrough to the Bridge
An LGTSA Tractics Scenario Battle Report © 2018 by Robert J. Kuntz.
Scenario Designed and Adjudicated by E. Gary Gygax, January, 1972
American Team (attackers): Don Kaye; Thomas Champeny German Team (defenders): Rob Kuntz, commander Luftwaffe ground troops; Bill Corey, commander of a timed reinforcing SS Tiger tank section &
Next Up on the ole Keyboard....

The Battle of St. Hubris
An LGTSA Napoleonics battle report, 1975, that took place at the Dungeon Hobby Shop, Lake Geneva, using over 1,000 hand-painted 30mm figures (Scruby Miniatures) and the Column, Line & Square Rules by Fred Vietmeyer.
French and Prussians (attackers):  Joe Fischer, Joe Goodfellow, Thomas Champeny Russians (defenders):  Rob Kuntz, Terry Kuntz

Take a prolonged look at my Greyhawk City Sewers and Catacombs map created for Gary's and my own shared campaign,  Greyhawk.  This is but a sample of the hundreds of maps on the El Raja Key Archive DVD available from TLB Games.

City of Greyhawk Catacombs & Sewers by Rob Kuntz
This map is representative of the time and detail both Gary and I contributed to our dungeon maps, to those crafted for Greyhawk Castle (my own Greyhawk Castle levels are also included on the disc), regional maps, city maps, and others.

The Archive is not only a tour of the history of RPGs from the Lake Geneva perspective, 1972 onward, it is a guide into the minds, habits and creative proclivities of those times.

Compare the above map to others made since then.  You just might conclude that Gary and I took our gaming and game designs very seriously!

Take the Tour of the El Raja Key Archive here: 

https://www.tlbgames.com/collections/archive

Robert J. Kuntz's seminal work, Dave Arneson's True Genius, is loaded with primary information on what a Role Playing Game is, and more importantly, exposes it for what it can be.

By dissecting Dave Arneson's design thinking the author brings to the RPG and Game Design Industries a minute study that has ramifications for the future of Conceptual Games while securing Arneson's legacy as the prime Architect of RPGs.

In it he atomizes from his day-one, hit the ground running, perspective Arneson's shift and how it forever changed current design tenants of the day that Gygax and himself had become used to. These standardized game philosophies were suddenly shredded and recast as a new whole upon these two LGTSA (Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association) members being exposed, in 1972, to Arneson's new systems organization that he had invented for playing a "new game form."

Dave Arneson's True Genius consists of three interconnected essays that break down his historical leaps and describes their immediate and telling impacts.  They further detail, from a systems thinking perspective, the complex, open systems architecture he created as well as debunking the many outstanding myths of where RPGs are derived from.

Extensively footnoted and including many historical quotes by Gygax and Arneson that are put into their proper contextual time streams, DATG is a must for any RPG historian, the serious game designer, and for DMs who aspire to increase the application ranges of this unique concept.

Available from Three Line Studio:  https://www.threelinestudio.com/store/dave-arneson-s-true-genius/

For those who have not ordered from TLS/TLB Games, we have a new address for subscribing for updates:

mailinglist@threelinestudio.com

We have moved to direct mass e-mailings for product updates and releases.  Plus, less so, for other high end news.
If you want to be kept in the loop and are not currently on the list (have not ordered from us to date) please subscribe by e-mailing the address above with the subject line ADD TO LIST; you may also unsubscribe with the subject line REMOVE FROM LIST.
May you never get caught in a dead end by an iron golem!
Rob Kuntz

To End Is But To Start...


FINISHING--


OUTLINING and ORGANIZING  FROM MEMOIRS--

I wish to thank all of my various fans, friends and family members that have made it possible for me to wield my creative imagination and bring its results to you.  Still going strong thanks to all of you!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34875598-dave-arneson-s-true-genius
➡️ Goodreads, average 3.87 of 5
https://vimeo.com/249226380
➡️ Christian Madsen video review
http://multiverse.world/blog/2017/07/31/guest-review-dave-arneson-true-genius/
➡️ Multiverse review
http://advancedgaming-theory.blogspot.fr/2017/05/dave-arnesons-true-genius-review.html
➡️ By an Avid Player/DM

https://www.facebook.com/blackmoorsecrets/posts/1365180083541503:0
➡️ Secrets of Blackmoor review
http://thecollectorstrove.com/the-trove-news/2017/4/12/dave-arnesons-true-genius-by-robert-j-kuntz.html
➡️ The Collector's Trove (Paul Stormberg) review

LINK:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2018/03/an-interview-with-rob-kuntz-part-2-of-3.html