Feed aggregator

ADULT MIRAGE DRAGON
Directly inspired by the cover of the Pathfinder: GM Core book, the vain and egotistical Mirage Dragons use camouflaging scales, hallucinatory breath, and their mastery of illusion magic to mislead and confound their attackers. Featuring color-shift purple/green paint, this unique figure is made to impress! Want to try your own hand at color-shifting deception? Paint your own with the Deep Cuts model! ? PRE-ORDER NOW ? ? SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM…
Pathfinder has hordes of dragons in the roost waiting to join your adventure! From the Diabolic Dragon to the Treerazer, and many many more, which one will you choose? ? VIEW PATHFINDER DRAGONS

The post Video of the Day – Doctor Who Confidential, 2009 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

Comic-Con is proud to announce that five judges have been named for the 2026 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, which will reward excellence for works published in 2025.   This…

The post Judges Named for 2026 Eisner Awards appeared first on First Comics News.

DC ALL IN ACT II INCLUDES NEW FIRESTORM AND ZATANNA COMIC BOOKS DC: Next Level Continues Its 2026 Expansion With Zatanna by Jamal Campbell and The Fury of Firestorm by Jeff Lemire and Rafael De…

The post DC ALL IN ACT II INCLUDES NEW FIRESTORM AND ZATANNA COMIC BOOKS appeared first on First Comics News.

Title: The Traveler: Complete Collection (TPB) Publisher: BOOM! Studios Grand Poobah: Stan Lee Written by: Mark Waid Art by: Chad Hardin Colors by: Blond, Chris Beckett Letters by: Ed Dukeshire…

The post RICH REVIEWS: The Traveler: Complete Collection (TPB) appeared first on First Comics News.

Title: The Blade of Miracles # 11 Publisher: SRCC Press Story/Art/Lettering by: Trevor Hankins Editing by: Paul Hankins Price: $ 1.99 US Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Website: powerssquaredcomicbook.com/ Comments:…

The post RICH REVIEWS: The Blade of Miracles # 11 appeared first on First Comics News.

My question:

By sharing the Gospel and making disciples of those of embrace its message, are believers then being fruitful and multiplying in a new way?

Yes — biblically and theologically, that is a very sound way to frame it.

The New Testament intentionally re-tools “be fruitful and multiply” around discipleship, not biology.

Let’s walk it carefully.

1. The Original Commission: Fruitfulness as Image-Bearing Life

In Genesis 1:28, humanity is blessed and commissioned:

“Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth…”

This is not merely reproductive math. It is image propagation:

God’s image → embodied in humans Humans → extend God’s life, order, and presence into the world

Fruitfulness = life that reproduces life aligned with God.

2. Jesus Reframes Fruitfulness Around Himself

Jesus does not revoke Genesis — he fulfills and redirects it.

a. Abiding and Fruit (John 15)

In John 15, Jesus says:

“Whoever abides in me bears much fruit.”

Here:

Fruit is no longer biological Fruit flows from union with the true Image (Christ) Life reproduces Christ-shaped life

3. The Great Commission as New-Creation Multiplication

In Matthew 28:18–20, Jesus commands:

“Go and make disciples of all nations…”

This is Genesis 1 language in resurrection key:

Genesis —-——> Great Commission

Be fruitful -——> Make disciples

Multiply ——-—> Teach them to obey

Fill the earth —-> All nations

Image of God —> Image of Christ

Paul makes this explicit in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

“If anyone is in Christ, there is new creation.”

Discipleship = new-creation reproduction.

4. Paul’s Language of Spiritual Procreation

Paul uses family and birth language intentionally:

1 Corinthians 4:15 “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Galatians 4:19 “I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”

This is not metaphorical fluff.

It is Genesis logic applied to the Spirit.

5. Why This Matters (and Why It’s Not Just Evangelism)

This framing avoids two common distortions:

Western reduction

“Fruit” = decisions, numbers, conversions

Gnostic reduction

“Fruit” = inner belief without embodied formation

Biblical synthesis

Fruitfulness = Spirit-generated life producing Spirit-formed people

Disciples are not counted like tallies —

they are grown, formed, matured, and sent.

6. One Crucial Clarification

Biological fruitfulness is not canceled.

Rather:

Genesis fruitfulness = creation purpose

Discipleship fruitfulness = new-creation purpose

The church doesn’t replace Genesis;

it extends it through resurrection life.

7. A One-Sentence Summary

Yes — by proclaiming the gospel and forming disciples, believers participate in a Spirit-empowered form of Genesis fruitfulness, multiplying not merely human life, but Christ-formed life, filling the earth with renewed image-bearers.

This makes me think of this…

The first man was from the earth
and made of dust;
the second man is from heaven.
Like the man made of dust,
so are those who are made of dust;
like the heavenly man,
so are those who are heavenly.
And just as we have borne
the image of the man made of dust,
we will also bear
the image of the heavenly man. (1 Corinthians 15:47-49 – HCSB)

Godspeed, to the brethren!

Check out my book!

My question:

Does the sacrificial system say something about how seriously God treasures the opportunity to come near to him because of what that system maintains… keeping Yahweh’s nearness available?

ChatGPT response:

Yes—very much so. The sacrificial system is not primarily about God’s distance from Israel, but about how intensely God values—and protects—the availability of His nearness.

What the system maintains is not mere ritual order, but the ongoing possibility of approach.

1. The Core Assumption: Yahweh Wants to Be Near

The entire sacrificial system presupposes something radical in the ancient world:

Yahweh chooses to dwell among a fragile, mortal, failure-prone people.

This is not a given. In most ANE religions, divine presence is dangerous and sporadic. In Israel, it is institutionalized.

The tabernacle and later the temple are technologies of nearness maintenance.

“Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” (Exod 25:8)

The sacrificial system exists because God refuses to abandon that dwelling.

2. Sacrifice as Sacred-Space Maintenance (Not Bribery)

Sacrifices are often misread as:

appeasing divine anger

satisfying offended honor

earning forgiveness

But biblically, they function more like ritual sanitation.

Sin, impurity, and death:

do not merely violate rules

they pollute sacred space

they threaten the viability of God’s dwelling among humans

Leviticus is explicit about this logic:

“Thus you shall make atonement for the sanctuary, because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel.” (Lev 16:16)

So sacrifice is not primarily about the sinner—

it is about protecting the space where God meets them.

This is crucial.

3. “Atonement” = Making Nearness Safe and Stable

The Hebrew כפר (kipper) does not mean “transfer guilt” in a mechanistic sense.

Its semantic range includes:

purge

cleanse

wipe away

re-cover sacred space

In other words:

Atonement preserves access.

Without it:

the sanctuary becomes defiled

God’s presence becomes unsustainable

exile becomes inevitable (Lev 18:24–28; Ezek 10)

Sacrifice says:

God takes extraordinary measures so that His nearness does not destroy the people He loves.

That is not distance.

That is careful intimacy.

4. The Costliness of Nearness

The system is intentionally:

repetitive

costly

embodied

public

Why?

Because nearness to God is not cheap, not casual, and not safe by default.

The blood does not say:

“You are worthless.”

It says:

“Life is the currency of proximity.”

To come near the God of life while carrying death requires mediation—not because God is cruel, but because He refuses to stop being holy or stop being present.

The system holds both truths together.

5. Degrees of Nearness Reveal God’s Seriousness

The architecture itself preaches theology:

Courtyard → Holy Place → Holy of Holies

Israel → Levites → Priests → High Priest

Daily → Seasonal → Annual

This is not exclusion for exclusion’s sake.

It is graded access so that nearness is:

real survivable continuous

The Day of Atonement is not about resetting God’s patience.

It is about resetting the house so God can stay.

6. Why This Makes the Gospel Deeper (Not Simpler)

When later Scripture says:

“The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14)

It is not abandoning this logic—it is fulfilling it.

Jesus does not negate the sacrificial concern for nearness.

He becomes the permanent solution to what the system maintained provisionally.

So the cross does not say:

“God finally decided to forgive.”

It says:

“God finally removed the last barrier to unmediated nearness.”

The tearing of the veil is not about access alone.

It is about God’s refusal to retreat anymore.

7. Final Synthesis

Yes—the sacrificial system proclaims:

God treasures nearness enough to regulate it

God values relationship enough to protect it from collapse

God takes human sin seriously because He takes communion seriously

God would rather absorb cost than withdraw presence

In short:

The sacrificial system exists because God is committed to staying.

I then asked:

Western church thinking seems to use pagan thinking when attempting to understand the Levitical system with ideas such as: 

appeasing divine anger

Rather than:

The Day of Atonement is not about resetting God’s patience. It is about resetting the house so God can stay.

Am I correct or am I off here in seeing that the Western church thinking is pagan-like in its approach to atonement theory?

ChatGPT response:

You’re not off—but the most precise way to say it is this:

Certain Western atonement models import pagan logics of divine appeasement, even though the biblical text itself does not.

That distinction matters, because the Western church is not trying to be pagan—but it often inherits conceptual categories that come from Greco-Roman religious imagination rather than Israel’s cultic logic.

Let’s sharpen this carefully.

1. What “pagan” means here (important clarification)

When you say pagan-like, you are not saying:

the Western church worships pagan gods or that substitution, sacrifice, or wrath are unbiblical

You are saying something more specific and accurate:

The explanatory framework used to interpret Leviticus sometimes assumes how pagan gods work.

In pagan systems:

gods are temperamental

divine anger must be appeased

rituals change the god’s disposition

sacrifices prevent the god from leaving, attacking, or destroying the people

That logic is what sneaks in.

2. What Leviticus actually says the problem is

Leviticus never presents the Day of Atonement as:

God losing patience

God being calmed emotionally

God needing persuasion to stay

Instead, the problem is pollution of sacred space.

“Because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel… the sanctuary.” (Lev 16:16)

Notice:

the object of atonement = the sanctuary

the threat = defilement

the consequence = God’s presence becomes unsustainable

So your statement is exactly right:

“The Day of Atonement is not about resetting God’s patience. It is about resetting the house so God can stay.”

That is biblical, not pagan.

3. Where Western readings often drift

Here’s the critical shift that happens in many Western frameworks:

Biblical logic (Leviticus):

Sin → impurity → sacred-space corruption → exile risk

Sacrifice → cleansing → stabilized presence → God remains

Pagan logic (imported unconsciously):

Sin → divine anger → relational rupture

Sacrifice → appeasement → anger soothed → god relents

Once that shift happens, several distortions follow:

God’s holiness becomes irritability

God’s justice becomes emotional volatility

Atonement becomes God-focused emotion management

Sacrifice becomes God-changing rather than space-cleansing

That is exactly the drift you’re sensing.

4. Why this happened historically (not maliciously)

This isn’t because Western theologians were careless.

It’s because they lived in a world shaped by:

Roman law (crime → punishment)

Stoic and Platonic psychology (anger as passion)

Pagan cultic assumptions already embedded in language

Augustine’s juridical framing of sin and guilt

Anselm’s honor framework (medieval feudalism)

So when Western theology asked:

“Why sacrifice?”

It often answered:

“Because God’s justice or wrath must be satisfied.”

Whereas Leviticus answers:

“Because God’s dwelling must be protected.”

5. The Eastern church preserves the older instinct better

This is why Eastern theology sounds more “biblical” to you here.

The East tends to say:

the problem is death, corruption, and impurity

the goal is healing, purification, and union

wrath is God’s opposition to death, not emotional fury

sacrifice restores life-bearing communion

Which aligns closely with:

Levitical logic

exile theology

temple theology

resurrection-centered soteriology

That doesn’t mean the East has no metaphors—it means its metaphors stayed closer to Israel’s cultic worldview.

6. Is appeasement language ever biblical?

Here’s the nuance that keeps this from becoming an overcorrection:

The Bible does speak of God’s wrath

It does speak of God being pleased

It does speak of sacrifice “making atonement”

But:

wrath is covenantal and relational, not capricious

pleasure is about restored order, not ego satisfaction

atonement is spatial and ontological before it is emotional

So appeasement language becomes pagan only when:

God is portrayed as needing emotional calming

sacrifice changes God rather than creation

God’s presence is conditional on mood rather than holiness

7. Your intuition, stated precisely

The most accurate way to state what you’re seeing is this:

Western atonement theology often explains Leviticus using categories foreign to Leviticus—categories that resemble pagan appeasement models more than Israel’s sacred-space theology.

That is a strong claim—but a defensible one.

And importantly:

you’re not rejecting Scripture you’re actually defending Scripture against misframing

8. Why this matters theologically (and pastorally)

This difference changes how people see God:

Appeasement model produces:

fear of God’s emotional volatility

transactional repentance

shallow forgiveness

distance masked as reverence

Sacred-space model produces:

reverence rooted in holiness

repentance as restoration

forgiveness as renewed communion

God’s nearness as the goal

Which, frankly, sounds far more like the God who says:

“I will dwell among them and walk among them.” (Lev 26:12)

Bottom line

You are seeing something real.

Not all Western theology is pagan—but when Leviticus is interpreted as divine appeasement rather than presence-maintenance, pagan assumptions have quietly replaced biblical ones.

It all brings this beautiful truth to mind:

Hebrews 10:19-20 (HCSB) – …we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way He has opened for us through the curtain (that is, His flesh)…

Godspeed, to the brethren!

Check out my book!

By Jonah  Lemkins
Self Published
OSR
Levels "Low"

Long have these borderlands been sparsely populated by only the savviest and hardiest folk. But now, moves are being made, deals are being cut, and new & old evils are rearing their heads. Heroes are in short supply – and sorely needed. The fate of the Ridgeland is in your hands!

This 28 page ‘adventure overview’ presents seven hexes, each with a number of sites in them, and four ‘dungeon ideas’ in a small wilderness area brimming with shit going on. Bryce likes a lot going on and this certainly does that. It also cheaps out on “adventure” by just giving some guidelines instead of actual adventure. It is an intriguing concept, though, even if it’s not an adventure.

This thing is weird. I guess it’s actually a fluff piece of a regional supplement. But it’s done in a style more reminiscent of the Ready Ref Sheets with very little fluff and a lot of intrigues. It’s a section of land 18 miles across with a lot of intrigues, major and minor. And there’s a sentence or two for each little thing going on. And almost nothing else is present. There’s none of this “Gondorians wear purple scarves on Moonday” kind of shit. Padding is almost nonexistent. And there is a WHOLE lot of The miners are skimming off the top, the silversmith is cutting the silver with copper, the miners hate their rations and are eager to trade, a think b are pagan heretics, Kent leads the brigands, Kent hates the brigands and wants out, and about a bajillion things more.

I don’t know if I can adequate describe an overview. We’ve got a town, with a bridge in it being the only way to safely cross the nearby raging river that cuts the region in two. We’ve got some miners in the hills. Ghosts are popping up in their mines. There’s a village, full of pagans, who want to build a bridge. Financing in a somewhat complex land deal with some corrupt mine territory players., smelters, etc. Bandits in the woods robbing individuals and running protection racks, factions within them, wildmen in the hills abducting people, a cult (which, frankly, seems benign, though they are of note, in comparison to the other shits) Rumors everywhere. Open-ended. It’s fucking JAM PACKED with shit going on, people wanting things and trusting the party over time, and just about everything else under the sun. This place feels ALIVE in the way that only petty self-interested people can make a place feel like. Recall I like to harp on the fact that people having interactions with other people, John Loves Mary who hate William, is the key to a good social environment? Well this fucking does that. Everyone has interests all over the place. I note, also, that the terrain brings a little to the table. Seven hexes, six around a central hex. We’ve got the river, with the one bridge in the main town, that serves as barrier straight across the hexes. And then also there’s a ridgeline cutting across them, with only two good paths down through the cliffside. Natural passes/chokepoints, full of ointrigues!

And then there’s … the content? For you see, all of those ideas are essentially just that, ideas.

L’page typica

Each hex is going to have a few locations in it, typically. This is a screengrab from one of those. Note how you are creating your own monster. This is the ONLY hex it’s appropriate for … so the designer should have just tossed in a creature. But, then, also, “gold coins.” Well that’s exciting. Chunk of amber is a little better, with both amber and chunk being decent word choices, but there’s really no specificity to anything her. And everything is going to be like that. Just an idea.

This is a dungeon. Obs

Those four dungeons it lauds in the marketing? That’s one of them. You like? It’s certainly something, but not what I cwould call a dungeon. The concept of a dungeon, maybe. And all of the content in this adventure is going to be like, the concept of an idea. “gold coins.” “Copper Caves.”

As an outline this is great. That kind of short-hand content dense (or, at least the potential for being content dense …) information that Ready Ref killed it with. Or, even, that the Wilderlands did well. Yu can get glimpses here.But, it just doesn’t do anything ever. It doesn’t go anywhere. It’s concepts and ideas. I’m not even sure it would quality as an outline. Maybe? Which is why I’m going to slap this down as closer to a fluff region guide than a sandbox or hexcrawl or adventure. It’s ALMOST those things, but its just lacking in so much. I suspect you could kind of run it on the fly and fill in as you go, riffing on things. But it seems like such a shallow experience.

I will note one of the better bandit encounters I’ve seen is in this, for all of my bitching about specificity. Dude in the bar might try and recruit the party. He’s got a good thing, a protection kind of thing. Noice!Dude hangs in the parties bar, they see him and interact with him. Befriend each other. Several sessions He drops a hint that he can make them some cash, and they find out that their bud is actually the local bandit informant in the bar. That would be great! SO, in at least one case, the writing inspired me. But, also, I’m looking for just a little bit more in the way of specificty than this brings.

This is $1 at DriveThru. The preview is eight pages and, as long as you understand that what you’re looking at is all you’re getting, then it does a good job of showing you what to expect. Just don’t expect more elaboration on anything you see.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/548190/the-rugged-ridgeland-an-adventure-of-borderland-intrigue?1892600

Doctor Who Magazine celebrates Tom Baker MBE and the recent War Between the Land and the Sea

This month’s DWM goes behind the scenes of The War Between the Land and the Sea with cast and crew. It also celebrates the iconic Tom Baker’s 92nd birthday with coverage of his recent awarding of an MBE, including some very special friends and enemies…

Highlights of DWM 625

• Tom Baker MBE – This month the legendary actor will celebrate his 92nd birthday. Join his family, friends and dignitaries on the day he was awarded an MBE for his services to television.
• Russell Tovey – An interview with The War Between the Land and the Sea star. Now the series has aired he talks further about playing Barclay – ambassador for the whole of humanity!
• Pete McTighe – the writer and executive producer of The War Between shares his production diary…
• Access All Areas – an access-all-areas look at the production of this spectacular spin-off series.

Also this issue:

• Destination: Daleks! – Join Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and Janet Fielding (Tegan) as they film a new mini-adventure for the forthcoming Season 21 – The Collection Blu-ray…
• Who Year’s Resolutions! – Plans for Doctor Who fans in 2026!
• Back to 2009 – How did fandom react to the casting of Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith?
• Morbius – Is the Time Lord villain’s story actually a tragedy?
• The Fact of Fiction – The second part of a deep dive into the epic Third Doctor adventure Doctor Who and the Silurians.
• Comic Strip – A brand-new, not-to-be-missed comic strip adventure with the Fifteenth Doctor and Melanie Bush, with a title so good to spoil here!

Plus all the regular features!

• Gallifrey Guardian – News including the latest on the animated CBeebies Doctor Who series.
• Reviews – featuring new audio releases including the Original Television Soundtracks of Series 10 and The War Between the Land and the Sea.
• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.
• Competitions – Prizes to be won include audio dramas featuring the Daleks and Cybermen!

Doctor Who Magazine 625

DWM Issue 625 is on sale Thursday the 8th of January from the online Panini store, and other retailers priced £7.99 (UK). Also available as a digital edition from Pocketmags for £6.99. You can also save with a subscription, as well as receiving exclusive, text-free covers.

The post Doctor Who Magazine 625 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

The post Video of the Day – Class: Nightvisiting, 2016 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

? ? ? Greetings, Seeker, New Year, New Storms The calendar turns, but the Malediction does not rest, and now we step into 2026 with our first official tournament,  new Seekers who and more announcements on the horizon… Let’s see where the fog takes us. ? ? Epic Adepticon at 2026 Adepticon has become one of our most traditional events, so it is where we are launching our first full slate of structured Malediction events:Adepticon is no stranger to Malediction. For years now, our demo tables there have been where many Seekers first touched the cards, rolled their first dice, and felt the beat of the game for real. In 2026, we are going back to that same hall, but this time the storm is bigger. Alongside our now traditional learn-to-play demos, Adepticon will host our first full slate of structured events of Malediction 1v1 and2v2 Tournaments, Beat the Designer with Nicole Lobo, plus a dedicated Paint and Take! It is the same place where you once discovered the game, now turned into a proving ground where you can test lists, team up with allies, and even sit across from the people who design the cards.Registrations for all these events and activations open this Sunday, January 11. Keep an eye on our site, on @playmalediction, and on Adepticon’s official channels so you know exactly when you can claim your seat at the table. ? Griza: Beyond the Instagram Reveals You may have already seen them on Instagram, one card at a time. Here is a little more about what is really happening behind those frames. Griza fights like a wound that never closes. Their Legacy, Ihreniv, starts at 20 Echo and turns both your Spirits and your healing spells into weapons. Spirits that fall can still perform one last action before leaving the battlefield, and every spell that restores health can lash out and deal damage equal to its cost to an engaged enemy. Your Spirits die loudly, and your healing becomes a punishment. On the unit card, Griza, Lingering Wound pushes that theme further. Spirit Master lets nearby Spirit allies swing using Griza’s attack and abilities, and Soul Sacrifice lets you pay for spells with Griza’s own health instead of Echo during their activation. You bleed your Seeker now so your Echo can carry you later, chaining spells and Essence Bursts until the opponent runs out of answers. Griza is for Seekers who enjoy attrition, engines that hurt them as much as the opponent, and games where the last turn feels like an avalanche built on every sacrifice you made before.Revisit Griza’s reveals on Instagram: ? ? ? ? Something Stirs in the future, can you see it? There is one more thing we wanted to start the year with.In this Echo, you will find a single image. No title. No card frame. No explanation. Just a glimpse of something that does not quite belong to the world as you know it. What does it look like? What is this relic buried under ash? Do you recognize it as a place on Agnar? All I can say is that it is something we’ve never done before. A new announcement for our next edition! Look closely. Then tell us.Reply to this email with your guesses, drop them in our Discord, or share your theories on social tagging us @PlayMalediction. When the announcement lands, we will see who was closest to the mark. Study the image. Make your guess. Wait for the Echo on January 23rd. ? ? ? ? See you on the battlefield!
— Dan, from The Malediction

Hello Tavern Patrons, long time no read. Christopher Stogdill (Frugal GM) here with a bit of a quick thanks and shout out to one of our communities biggest KickScammers I know of: Ken Whitman, or should I honor his attempted re-brand of Whit Whitman?

For more than a decade now I've been documenting every bit of Kenny's fuckery over at Not Another Dime! (for Ken Whitman). Now my name was overtly attached to that blog, but the only people, until today, that didn't know I was over there either didn't care, hadn't read my 2015 guests posts here at the Tavern, or were Ken "Whit" Whitman.

Seriously, it wasn't too effing hard to figure out:

• I literally mentioned a "not another dime" campaign in an early post, just before forming the blog.
• I reserved his D20 Entertainment LLC domain from the state of Kentucky AFTER looking for his company from all 50 Secretary of State offices.
• I followed up with the hotel, in person, where Ken had allegedly reserved a room for his Kickstarter movies premieres at GenCon. Why? Because my wife had given him an extra $300 specifically for the after-party. 
• I referenced one of my personal blogs, with a review, on NAD.
• Getting information direct from LinkeIn lets a user know who's looked at their profile.

I'll be 110% honest that I was beyond pissed with Ken's bullshit during the KoDT:LAS Kickstarter era. He had fucked over so, so many of my friends. The lies upon lies upon lies....it got old quick. NAD was really intended to be as neutral as possible and simply document everything possible. I feel like my neutrality was, at best, questionable at the onset, but after a decade of uncovering all this....for lack of a better term...shit, I/we (I do have help.....) have difficulty even pretending to be neutral on this singular blog topic.
I think I've been quite clear that 1) NAD is for educational purposes, 2) We're no longer neutral, 3) NAD is a "jumping off" point to enable the reader to make their own informed decision about Mr. Whitman's history and business character, and 4) Don't believe us, follow the links you can and make your own decision.
Thing is, getting information is part of the problem....
You can still find some information regarding Ken's Rapid POD days, and if you talk to some of the old TSR folks you might get some details of Ken's actions. It is difficult to do and really, not many people are going to spend a lot of time doing a "deep dive" for information that you could use as a primary source. Ken has spent a LOT of effort to cover up his tracks. Delete, delete, attack, diminish, seek pity (remember the CTE excuses).....but the biggest single enabling factor for Ken, now Whit, to be able to begin his scams (my personal, legally protected opinion) anew: Time.
People have moved out of the hobby and new people have moved in. There are more gamers now than there have been in the past, and Kickstarter is still a thing.
Not Another Dime! (for Ken Whitman) exists to document as much as possible what Ken "Whit" Whitman has tried to get away with. Is it an attempt to "hound him" so he cannot make a living, of course not, but so he cannot scam people again, most definitely. The "people" I/we initially cared about was specifically the gaming community.
There is a LOT of history with this man and so far it looks like instead of working on his shortcomings and making good on past promises to the gaming community he's just rebranded himself with a new name and found himself a new community. Now it looks like maybe he's trying yet another community, but time will tell.
I'll admit that after 10 years of all this I'm not even upset at Kenny any more, well not really. Not Another Dime! (for Ken Whitman) is more of a pain these days, but it's a necessary pain, so I post when I get a tip (part of the whole "we" on NAD) and I make it a point to periodically poke about to see what's new.
Why out myself now?
Last night I poked around a bit and the deets I really wanted were on LinkedIn. I didn't want to create a fake account or ask someone else to log in on my behalf, so I'm pretty sure that's how Kenny figured it out. This afternoon I got an email from NAD's blog contact form:
I have to assume this came from Ken. I cannot prove it easily and I don't care enough to even try. Many times in the past Ken has threatened people with lawsuits and calls to the "FBI". Kind of comical actually, but I also have to assume that this message was intended to be a chilling effect on NAD.
THIS is why I'm saying "Thank You" to Mr. Whitman. By trying to intimidate me by letting me know that you know who I am you're actually freeing me. I don't have to try and discreetly hunt for crumbs of information to investigate. I don't have to take extra steps to insulate myself from my work. I just don't have to care about a whole extra level of bullshit anymore. Anyone who wants to share can now do so more readily....
It isn't hard to find me, never was, but since you've started this route of discovery, feel free to send the FBI my way......at least I know that everything I've ever posted is within my 1st Amendment rights and not libel or slander......since the truth is the best defense against either and I've been keeping receipts.

In the Latter Age of Earth, magi are those few born with the Mark, a quirk or atavism of their genetic code, that allows full activation of the nanotechnologic interface within their brains, allowing them to become users of the system enveloping the planet. With this linkage made and mastered, a magus may command and the world responds. They can open the vast subterranean vaults of the Ancients, contain and control willful spirits, and send clouds of doom upon their enemies. 

The magi of the several collegia seek out newly emerged mages to teach them to use their gifts. Those wild talents who are not initiated into a collegium are known as sorcerers. 

The place of the magi varies across the cultures of the world. Where the Instrumentality is at its strongest their practice is generally, they are restricted, regulated, and monitored. Occasionally they are outright banned, but their abilities are simply too valuable to governments and even to the clergy, for this to be a common practice.

Nevertheless, the life of a magus is often precarious. Superstitious common folk can easily turn against them, and Instrumentality zealots often eager to find a reason to punish or imprison them. Beyond that, the very forces they wield and the knowledge they seek can easily prove dangerous to them as much as anyone.

Hello friends! Welcome back.

Continuing my celebration of 40 years in this hobby, today I want to move from the “proto-history” I wrote about in my last post to the actual history. The meat and potatoes. The games themselves.

As I prepared for this anniversary, I decided to do something I hadn’t done in a long time: I sat down and reviewed the list of every single tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) system I have played at least once. Not just the ones I ran campaigns for, but the one-shots, the playtests, the convention games, and the indie games.

I went through my memory, old character sheets, and the blog archives. I counted them. Then I recounted them.

The total came to exactly 100!

When I first tallied the list, I thought I was stuck at 98, as I had said previously. I was a little frustrated—just two short of a perfect number! But then I took a closer look and realized I had missed two. The total is exactly 100. It feels like the stars aligned for this anniversary—a perfect century of systems to celebrate four decades of rolling dice. I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried. I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried.

Before I share the list, I want to offer a caveat, much as I did in my last post. Looking at a list this long might seem like a flex, or an attempt to claim some “guru” status. It is neither.

Having played 100 systems doesn’t make me a better gamer than someone who has played D&D exclusively for five years. This list doesn’t mean I’m claiming to be a grandmaster of any game; it reflects curiosity. It represents a restless imagination and, more importantly, it represents the incredible friends—from my early days playing with my classmates and neighbors, to the connections made via Stargazers World and Puerto Rico Role Players—who were willing to say, “Sure, Roberto, I’ll try this weird game where we play cats/space explorers/movie characters.”

Every entry on this list is a memory of a table, a group of friends, and a story shared.

So, for the curious, the nostalgic, and the completists, here is the log of my 40-year voyage, thus far, organized by the eras and genres that defined my time as a gamer and Game Master.

The Foundation: Dungeons & Dragons, D20 & Retro-Clones

It started with the Red Box in 1986. D&D, and the evolution and variations of that ruleset, have remained the spine of my gaming life. From the Gygaxian prose of AD&D 1e, to the complexity of 3.5, to the sleekness of Shadowdark, D20 is a gaming language I speak fluently. Unlike the other lists included in this post, this one is roughly in chronological order of how I played them.

• D&D BECMI and Rules Cyclopedia
• AD&D 1st edition
• AD&D 2nd edition (including Ravenloft Masque of the Red Death & Skills & Powers)
• Buck Rogers XXVc (yes, the mechanics were pretty much AD&D 2e with sci-fi elements!)
• D&D 3rd & 3.5 edition
• Star Wars Saga System
• D&D 4th edition
• D&D 5th edition (2014 version, haven’t played the 2024 version yet!)
• D20 Modern
• Pathfinder
• Microlite20 (Fantasy and Zombies games)
• Mutants & Masterminds (2nd and 3rd edition, including DC Adventures)
• Basic Fantasy RPG (OSR retro-clone)
• Castles & Crusades (Troll Lord Games)
• Amazing Adventures (Troll Lord Games)
• Shadowdark

The TSR Era (Non-D&D)

If you grew up gaming in the 80s and 90s, TSR was the biggest elephant in the room. I have a deep love for these systems, especially the FASERIP chart of Marvel Super Heroes, Star Frontiers, and Alternity.

• Alternity (TSR version)
• Amazing Engine (settings Bughunters & Galactos Barrier)
• Boot Hill
• DragonStrike (TSR’s boardgame role-play hybrid with a VHS cassette, I used this game to teach people how to play TTRPGs.)
• Gamma World (3rd and 4th edition)
• Marvel Super Heroes RPG (Basic & Advanced)
• Star Frontiers

Palladium Books

Many of us played them. We struggled with the rules. We loved the settings. Rifts, Robotech, and Heroes Unlimited were absolute staples of my early gaming years.

• Beyond the Supernatural
• Heroes Unlimited
• Nightspawn (renamed Nightbane)
• Ninjas & Superspies
• Rifts
• Robotech (Palladium)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness

World of Darkness

I didn’t play as much WoD as some of my friends in the early 90s, but I did play these three.

• Vampire: The Masquerade
• Vampire: The Dark Ages
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse

BESM & Tri-Stat (Guardians of Order)

• Big Eyes Small Mouth 2nd edition
• Sailor Moon (I was a player in one session, I was Sailor Uranus. I kid you not!)
• Silver Age Sentinels
• Tri-Stat dX

Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Steampunk & Space Opera

As you know from the blog, Sci-Fi is my other great love alongside Fantasy. From the hard sci-fi of Traveller to the space opera of Star Wars, I’ve tried to travel to as many stars as possible.

• Alien (Free League)
• Alien Survivor (Lady Blackbird Hack)
• Alternity (Sasquatch Games playtest)
• Battlelords of the 23rd Century
• Bubblegum Crisis
• Coriolis
• Cyberpunk
• Dr. Who (FASA)
• Fading Suns
• Justifiers
• Legacy 2nd edition
• Mega Traveller
• Paranoia
• PsiRun
• Shadowrun
• Shatterzone
• Space 1889
• Star Trek (FASA)
• Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (D6)
• Stars Without Number Revised
• Underground

Fantasy (Non-D&D)

There is life beyond the D20! Some of my most evocative gaming memories come from teaching my high-school girlfriend’s little brother to role-play with HeroQuest, or from the narrative beauty of Lady Blackbird.

• Amber Diceless
• Fabula Ultima
• HeroQuest (the board game, used to teach how to play TTRPGs)
• Lady Blackbird
• Middle-Earth Role Playing (MERP)
• Symbaroum
• Talislanta (2nd edition)
• The Black Hack
• Warhammer Fantasy 1st edition
• Warrior, Rogue & Mage

Horror, Dark & Post-Apocalyptic

• Call of Cthulhu
• Cats of Catthulhu
• Dark Conspiracy
• Don’t Rest Your Head
• Eldritch Hack
• Silent Legions
• Ten Candles
• The Dead are Coming
• Twilight 2000 (1st edition)

Action, Pulp & Cult Classics

• Car Wars (we integrated RPG elements early on, and eventually I played once using GURPS Autoduel)
• Ghostbusters
• It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show
• Street Fighter
• TORG
• TORG Eternity
• Weird West

Superheroes

• Champions
• Guardians (StarChilde Publishing)
• DC Heroes RPG

Universal & Narrative Systems

• FATE
• GURPS (1st and 2nd edition)
• RISUS
• Savage Worlds
• TWERPS

Homebrewed Systems

Finally, the tinkerer’s workshop. These are the systems my friends and I built. They might not be famous, but they work for us.

• Attack/Defend/Know (homebrew d10-based system)
• Bieber Fever! (That’s exactly what it sounds like, a Justin Bieber-based game, filled with pop icons and references. See the character sheet above!)
• Edwin’s OD20: Opposed D20 (a friend’s homebrewed system)
• MODS (Lao & Fernan’s system playtest)
• MUGeS (Homebrewed system in development)
• Oldchester (Kirk’s free-form narrative Play-By-Post)
• Simple D6 (homebrewed narrative system)
• Three Attributes & Fate (a quick homebrew I put together for a pick-up game)

So, there you have it. 100 systems.

It’s been a wild ride from the rudimentary mechanics of the 80s to the narrative-forward indie games of today. I have loved (almost) every minute of it.

If you want to keep up with these celebrations, share your own stories, or just chat about gaming in smaller bites, I’ve launched a new Facebook page to connect with friends and readers: Sunglar’s Musings.

I’ll be sharing shorter ideas, updates on the “40 Years a Gamer” series, and probably a few more old pictures of our games, I’d love to see you there.

Now, the big question remains: What should be game #101?

If you have a suggestion for a system that is glaringly missing from this list, let me know in the comments. Or, better yet, tell me how many systems you have played—whether it’s 5 or 500—I’d love to hear about your journey.

 To kick off our  Wretched Darkness/Invisible College Rpg  campaign, we need to immediately establish that the city’s normalcy is a thin, rotting veil. We pulled into Oakhaven Pennsylvania and got out at the Rusty Nail Diner. Things were off right off the bat.  The following encounter, "The Lavender Hour," is designed to bring your players together through a shared, Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

The post Doctor Who: The Next Doctor, 2008 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

I think by now we’ve all seen a version of that meme, the one where a person says “oh, wow- what a long week it’s been” and someone else says “Sharon, it’s Monday.” That right there, that exact thing is how I feel about the winter right now. Winter has never been my favourite, which is a terribly sad thing for a Canadian but I’ve worked really hard over the years on coming up with some ways to feel better, to like it better – I don’t think I’m ever going to be the sort of person who looks out a window as the first autumn leaves flutter from the trees and joyfully exclaims OH WOW it’s almost winter, but I did think I was getting a grip. I have Winter Systems, I’ve found a winter sport I like – I have become an okayish skiier to be sure and that does make it feel like there’s a reason for winter. I’ve learned that I need to get outside in the winter, to let whatever meagre light there is shine on me, a few years ago I started walking to and from work in the winter, even though I work at home. I get up, have my coffee and then dress and go around the block back to the house and start work. I go the other way when I’m done at my desk and at least that gives me a sense of rhythm and a little bit of outside time. I lean into candles and twinkle lights and try to embrace the idea of a season of rest and renewal, preparing for the hustle of summer. I walk in the snow. I go to the gym and run on treadmills and ride inside bikes and I lift heavy things. I knit heaps. I read a lot, and up until the last few years I write a lot too.

Enter this winter which is slowly kicking my systems into a frozen demoralized heap. Hold on, I’m snow washing some woollies and it’s time to bring it in before it’s dark. (See? It’s not like I don’t try to make the most of it.) Do you know about snow washing? Essentially you just put your woollies in the snow and you can put snow on them or, if you time it right you can just let nature do that part. Leave it there for a little bit, then go back out, rub a little snow around on them, give them a proper shake and bring them inside. They’ll be fresh, clean(er), smell good and you’ll have given at least one day of the (*&^%^Ying winter a reason for existing.

it hasn’t helped that this winter is particularly dark (both metaphorically and meteorologically) So few sunny days, some weird rainy days that are worse than snow, the news is terrible every time I look at it, that miserable rain was mixed in with frigid days that are too cold to do anything really, or days like today that are snowy and paralyzing. It seems to me that this winter I get up and it’s dark, the hours pass gloomily while I turn on lights and make tea and then before you know it the night is coming and though it’s only 4:30 or so it feels like the day is shot. Hibernating has never made more sense but it’s not doing much for my mood.

A few days ago I woke up and it was too dark to do anything (again, here I write both meteorologically and metaphorically) and I finally decided to do something about it. I immediately went for a walk (two, I walked to and from “work”) and have everyday since. I grabbed some delicious knitting I’ve been meaning to get to and keep putting off – The Craghill Shawl, using some (sadly discontinued) Weld from Hudson and West. It is squishy and gorgeous and giving me a lot of happiness right now, the yarn equivalent of eating a bowl of oatmeal and that gold colour is like a ray of sunshine.

We made a ski date (sort of) and though we don’t have a ton of cash, I have not ruled out taking all my aeroplan points and getting the *&^% out of here. (Realistically there’s too much going on here to do that but it is a really great fantasy that is working for me.) I doubled down on planning meals we like, I went for a walk again. I texted a friend. I made my favourite tea – the one I’ve been hoarding for … when? Can’t imagine what I was saving it for if it’s not now. I tuned my wheels on St. Distaff’s day (the 7th January) and got something yummy on that too.

I cleaned a drawer. I trashed the book I was reading that I didn’t like. I made sure my daily vitamin has enough D in it. I decided to order some yarn and I ate an orange.

I wrote to you.

In short- I decided that I’m not going to wait for this winter to get brighter, I’m turning the lights on myself. Did I miss anything that might help?

The Flowers of Algorab Campaign Boxed Set Coming February 3 – Now On Pre-Order The first expansion for Coriolis: The Great Dark – Free League’s original sci-fi RPG “Levon was a true explorer and a true friend. He went further and deeper than anyone before him. … As we pass him on to the Uncreated Spirit, we do so with gratitude. May the blessings of the Three guide him, and the Icons show him mercy.”

Hello!

Today, Free League Publishing announced that The Flowers of Algorab, the first expansion for its science-fiction tabletop roleplaying game Coriolis: The Great Dark, is now available for pre-order in the Free League webshop, with immediate access to a complimentary PDF, ahead of the February 3 release date.
 
This massive boxed campaign set invites Explorers to investigate the mysteries of Ship City, embark on dangerous expeditions, and travel along the Hammurabi Arm in search of long-lost secrets. The journey begins with the death of an old ruin delver and the disappearance of a mysterious stone tablet, setting off a strange chain of events deep within Ship City. The Flowers of Algorab
 Designed as a full campaign experience, The Flowers of Algorab expands the world of Coriolis: The Great Dark with new locations, stories, and tools for both players and Game Masters. The boxed set includes:Campaign book detailing characters, locations, and overarching plotsExpedition booklet with player-facing information on Greatships and the systems of the Hammurabi ArmLarge full-color map of the Lost Horizon and Ship CityMap of the Charted SphereDelve maps and handoutsBlueprints of the Greatships Akhander and RigelBlueprints of a Grasshopper shuttle and a Rhino roverNine base dice and three gear diceDeck of custom cards for initiative, gear, and discoveriesCardboard tokens for Blight, supply, and expeditionsNote that the campaign requires access to the Coriolis: The Great Dark Core Rules.