Halloween 2019: OneBookShelf Jack O'Lanterns Freebies

As I alluded to on Wednesday, it's October.  Halloween blogging season. Unlike years past, no lofty promises this year. If I write a Halloween-themed post, cool. If not, oh well. We'll see how many I churn out. What better way to begin my Halloween blogging than listing my haul from OneBookShelf's (DriveThru RPG, DriveThru Comics, DriveThru Fiction, DM's Guild, Storyteller's Vault) Jack O'Lantern Scavenger Hunt where one on browses thru the site clicking on Halloween themed icons in order to score a freebie?

Note for first time blog visitors: I have taken advantage of OBS's Jack O'Lantern freebies for years now. I've racked up quite the haul, which I rarely if ever read or use. As such, no deep dives. I didn't search through every nook and cranny. Four or five items was my stopping point.  Also, only the icon and the order in which I discovered the freebie will be listed.

On with the listing.

DriveThru RPG -

Witch hat:  Castles & Crusades: Night of Spirits. I got to hand it to Troll Lord Games. When they go in on a promotion, they go all in. This Halloween themed module using the Castles & Crusades rules retails for around $8. Reading the boilerplate makes me want to read and possibly run it.

Jack o'lantern: 5E Halloween Mini Dungeon: Horror of Ochre Grove. A D&D 5E module that's apparently Halloween-themed...

2nd jack o lantern: SEERS & Roebuck Dust Buster of Holding - the fantasy equivalent of the old Sears & Roebuck catalogs, which in this instance features one particular item.

3rd jack o'lantern:  Doomtown Reloaded: Print & Play Demo - The description reads like a card game. I hate when they mix categories...

4th jack o'lantern:  Mothership Players Survival Guide - Did you like the Aliens movies with Xenomorphs and Sigourney Weaver? Well, this rpg emulates it!


DriveThru Comics

Witch hat: Kids on Bikes House On Polar Court

Ghost: Unstoppable Origins #1

Jack o'lantern:  God the Dyslexic Dog v1 (apparently I already own a copy...)

Candy: Death Vigil #1

2nd jack o lantern: vs Stranger Stuff Send in the Clowns Special Edition


DriveThru Fiction

Witch hat: Weird Fiction Megapack 25 Stories From Weird Tales. Can't go wrong with a collection of stories from the old Weird Tales magazine/pulp. The mag that brought us Conan!

Jack o' lantern: Outbreak Undead 2nd edition  Intro Manual. Another cross category offering...

2nd Jack o Lantern: Cabaret of the Grotesque

Ghost: Book of Apex vol 1 of Apex Magazine  (already have). I swear this given away every year...

3rd Jack o Lantern Achtung! Cthulhu Fiction The Trellborg Monstrosities. Like H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos? Well, here's Cthulhu Mythos stories set across the pond in the UK!


DMs Guild

Ghost: Songs of Aedragad

Jack o'lantern: Curse of the Gumdrop Ooze Revised and Expanded

2nd Ghost: Circle of the Feydark 5e

2nd Jack o Lantern: Dread Domain A Cleric Archetype

Since much of my D&D 5E gaming is Adventurers League, I am unlikely to use any of this. Sigh...


Storyteller's Vault

Bat - Death Vigil #1 (repeat of the DriveThru Comics freebie)

Jack o'lantern -  God Dyslexic Dog volume 1 repeat of the DriveThru Comics Freebie

I really dislike how neither of these pertain to White Wolf Intellectual Property. The DM's Guild freebies seemed to be all D&D-related at least.

Ghost: Bygone Bestiary. Want to use fantastic creatures such as dragons in your World of Darkness game? Well, now you can! I've owned a deadtree version since White Wolf's $6.66 sale. I've been meaning to acquire an ebook copy for years so I could part with my physical copy. Mission accomplished!

Bat - Legacy of Lies a  V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart. Vampire Dark Ages is one of my favorite WOD Vampire settings.

Overall, I'd say I was pleased with this year's offerings.

Next time.

4th of July Legendary: Captain America Battles Red Skull

Today, July 4th, marks Independence Day in the United States of America. To mark the occasion, I wanted to do something Captain America-related. I conceived of reading the Captain America stories from America's Bicentennial year (Bicentennial Battles & Madbomb) and playing a game of Solo Legendary using the Advanced Solo rules featuring Captain America versus his nemesis the Red Skull over the Cosmic Cube.

Well, Madbomb clocking in at roughly 8 issues is to long of a story for me to read within one day. A read for another time.

When I started reading Bicentennial Battles on Marvel Digital Unlimited, I realized I wasn't going to be able to both read and blog by tonight's end.

Therefore, I settled on the Solo Legendary game. The heroes were: Steve Rogers, Director of SHIELD, Captain America (Steve Rogers), and Captain America 1941 (Steve Rogers) trying to prevent the Red Skull aided by a Sentinel and the forces of Hydra from Unleashing the Power of the Cosmic Cube. Took snapshots until I realized it wouldn't be pragmatic...

Round 1 Started on a horrific note with Master Strike followed a Scheme Twist before I could play my hand.

So had to KO one of my heroes before I began...

Recruited a Captain America 1941 Hero so Turn 1 wasn't a complete loss...

Turn two and Supreme Hydra enters the battlefield but I recruited another Cap 1941!

Three more rounds later and three Scheme Twists later and things aren't looking good for Captain America!

More pummeling as more iterations of Captain America are KO'd and another Scheme Twist and Master Strike take their toll...

Managed to clear the board of three Hydra goons before Supreme Hydra escaped...

Unfortunately, none of the different eras of Steve Rogers ever generated enough Attack to combat the Red Skull even once! Before I knew and all 8 scheme twists were drawn and the Cosmic Cube unleashed. 

 

                                     


Rather dour end, eh? Solo play is difficult and Steve Rogers just might not be the ideal hero to be the sole hero in a Solo game. I'm thinking a re-match is in order. Either a solo game of the three different Captain Americas (Steve, Bucky, and Falcon) or solo two-handed game with all three Steves, Falcon-Cap, and Winter Soldier just might beat the Red Skull.


Now to read Bicentennial Battles...


Happy Independence Day America!


Next time.

To Play Or Not To Play Magic...on Monday

The other day a buddy of mine from high school told me how excited he was about his first draft experience with Magic the Gathering. Anyone who has ever drafted knows how daunting it can be. The first time is generally less than stellar. Well, my old high school buddy was happy that he placed somewhere in the middle. Looking back, that doesn't surprise me. Winning with a bunch of commons and uncommons was one of his strengths.

He suggested that since he may be drafting more that I also attend the Monday drafts. Since M10, the latest magic set, brought back some old favorites (Black Knight, Lightning Bolt), the offer was tempting. However, this Monday that was not to be. I was really itching to see Public Enemies. Alas, that was not to be either. I ate so much for supper that I didn't feel like driving. (Coincidentally, I couldn't read much of anything either which didn't help the Serenity prep.) The next Monday or two may pose a problem as well. I plan on watching the Gi Joe movie as well as Public Enemies. Although the latter is unlikely as its doubtful it will still be in theaters in two weeks.

Once more there is a chance I'll play Magic again. I guess we'll see.

Good/Bad Gaming News 1

I figured I might as well mention two tidbits I have learned today that pertains to gaming. One is good news, the other is bad news. To me anyway.

Bad news first. Over on a Marvel/DC TCG discussion group some bad news has come to light. Apparently, UDE has ended its Versus card game. I really liked VS and thought it had potential. Unfortunately, the card gamers in my area didn't adopt. Those that did slowly stopped playing it, myself included. Personally, I stopped playing due to both my availability and lack of local players. However, I continued to follow the game on a discussion group. Then, an 'official' site appeared. As I wasn't playing I solely relied on the discussion group for any connection to VS. Alas, participation waned on the group. For all intents and purposes, VS was dead to me. The news of its cancellation is more of a final nail in a coffin. Still bad news.

Now for some good news. While at work, I found out that the new week three schedule was posted. Normally, I have to wait for the weekend for a new third week schedule. So I was surprised. I was even more surprised, pleasantly so, that my third week schedule is the same as the second week. Namely, once again I have a Tuesday off. So, I should be able to game on the 17th of February. Yay.