Simian Saturday: Predator on the Planet of the Apes

If only they would do this:

Awesome Artwork is by jfife over on Deviant Art (please note some of the pictures on his site are probably NSFW)! 

The Expendables

 My son didn't have to work tonite, and called me up asking if I'd like to go to the movies with him.
How cool is that?  When I was 19 I sure didn't want to hang out with my "old man".  I jumped at the chance and we had a night of pizza and watching a pretty fun (high testosterone level) action movie.
The Expendables!

Sure it won't win any Emmy's but it was fun!

Makazie One (Star Wars Fan Film Short)

While poking around for some d6 stuff to perhaps use with Mini-Six, I came across this really cool Star Wars fan film short.  Makazie One  It's about 15 minutes long.

Taking the game too seriously...

     Eli over on the I See Lead People blog just did a post about, "Figuring it all out", he admits to being in a gaming slump of late.  I realize I have been also.  Yeah I have also been very busy; work, school, kids...you know real life stuff, but I realized that I haven't done any real gaming in quite awhile.  I pondered that for a bit and I realize a big part of the problem is me.  In the past I've run some pretty detailed, highly involved games.  I put alot of work into them (front loaded things so to speak), to be honest I put too much work into them. Spending hours working on Campaign background, areas, places, NPC's while fun to an extent can also cause that ole Gamer ADD to kick in, after playing only a few real sessions of the actual game, I'd find myself looking to do something else. 
     In the past I've also let things bother me too much.  Disruptive players, goofy players etc. I took things too personally. Situations like, "Oh there goes What's his name doing something completely bonehead AGAIN " that will completely derail the session...AGAIN.  I would percieve such instances as Player X doing these things just to get under my skin. Maybe he was, I dunno.  Point is it stopped being fun, because I allowed it to stop being fun.  Sometimes you get a bad player, sometimes you get a bad DM, sometimes...you are the problem.
    I saw recently on a blog where someone talked about folks falling asleep at their game table and how that was funny, even cool with them.  I realized in the past I would have been annoyed by such behavior.  But why should I get annoyed?  It's just a game. 
Now where did I leave my dice bag???

Mini-Six is Cool!

      While I've been a gamer "forever" (1979 I'm lookin' at you!), and have played alot of different RPG's, I must admit I never really got in on the d6 bandwagon.  I played the original Star Wars d6 a couple of times with some friends (hey Wes), but not in a campaign per se, and have never ran anything d6.  I had some of the Star Wars and Torg books but I only used them as source material for my other games. 
I recently heard some talk about something called Mini-Six.  I thought oh yeah that's part of that whole Open d6 gaming movement/stuff, but didn't really look into it.  My bud Eli has even mentioned several times in discussion how cool the d6 system is. I "nodded" politely then went on about my business. 
Well let me tell you I took a second look at Mini-Six, ya see it has been updated a bit from its first release, includes some campaign settings, I have found it to be a sweet system.  I stat'ed up several characters for fun, its quick and easy with just enough crunch to suit the time harried GM/player. Looking to do a quick playtest of it very soon. It definately won't appeal to everyone, those of you who love the 3.x/Pathfinder massive stat blocks will probably be less than enthused.
Oh guess I need to provide a link!  The kind folks at Anti-Paladin Games have released it for free.  Check it out!

  I forgot to mention alot of the Full-Blown d6 stuff is free also!!  d6 Space
Mini-Six has some quick conversion notes for those that want to plug in more stuff from the other books.  It's also really easy to house-rule stuff in, something that appeals to the tinkerer in me.
-Good Gaming!

Simian Saturday : Gorilla gets the girl Classics!

Simian Saturday : Kongzilla!!!

What happens when a mad scientist combines King Kong with Godzilla?!!

or even more horrifying what if Kong and Godzilla had a kid??

Special thanks to Eli for making me aware of Kongzilla!

And for my next Campaign!!

My daughter found this picture and couldn't wait to show it to me.  Is that the makings of a great game or what?  LOL
Thanks Sarrah!

Warlords of the Apocalypse

I was just out and about doing my Sunday morning internet browsing and found this!

Can you believe all the P.A. RPG's out or coming out these days! WOW!

You can find more info about it here.

While I've found Pathfinder to be a bit rules heavy from my lazy er.. I mean busy DM perspective (though not as bad as 3.5), I've still gotta admit I am tempted by this. 

The blurb mentions,"Guidelines for bringing your existing Pathfinder characters into this setting, or creating native characters", Sounds pretty cool!  I remember the old conversion charts in my AD&D DMG for converting your D&D characters to Boot Hill and Gamma World. I've still got my pdf copy of Freeform Anthropomorphica  (which is currently not availble, pending a revision and legal use art) to make up some interesting mutant animals.

Hmmm...things to ponder.  : )

Simian Saturday Presents: Gygor; a He-Man "Classic" being made for the first time!

Cheap Terrain "Mat"

My wife "decided" that "we" needed to go to the fabric store today.  Gee...uh...yeah...err...ummm...ok...errr..  Anyways while she shopped I found myself wandering aimlessly, then I got an idea, actually my bud Eli had suggested it to me awhile ago, but I had forgotten.  You see I very much am into minis, I haven't posted much about minis in awhile, my camera is lousy on small pics and we just haven't gotten a new one. But for the past year and a half I have fully jumped on the 15mm Sci Fi minis bandwagon! My wife doesn't mind cause they are waay cheaper than 28mm and take up a fraction of the space. Anyways I've needed some kinda mat to game on for awhile now, my black tablecloth with dragons while cool for D&D type gaming just doesn't work for "serious" tabletop wargaming.  : )
 I have a green one I bought in the train section at the local Hobby Shop but the green stuff flakes off everywhere after just minimal play.  I've priced terrain mats on-line and they can be kinda pricey, Eli suggested I use fabric. I thought "cool".  Then promptly forgot about it, until today.  I immediately started searching and found...

Great thickness and a nice desert/dirt color...and as an added bonus it was in the cheapo remnant pile!
It was the perfect size for my table, without any cutting or measuring required!

Above and below are some of my painted up desert buildings I recently got from The Scene.

The light brown bikes are from RAFM's 15mm Sci Fi line. I believe they are now OOP.

Your probably thinking "eh no biggee", but I was happy to get this, it cost me just a few bucks, works fine for my  purposes and I got bonus points for going with my wife to the fabric store! 
I've ordered the AE-Bounty rules and my buddy Boomer has agreed to help me try them out!
More to come...

Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide

I picked this up awhile ago (my FLGS had it on sale!) and thanks to mandatory overtime I have really just now had time to sit down and read it.  This is a great resource for DM's of any system.  To be honest only a small portion of the book is mechanically specific to the Pathfinder RPG.  Most of the book is just great ideas and suggestions for DM's er I mean GM's...ok whatever title you use for the Referee of your games.  It has some great tricks and tips of the trade for DM's. Even an old grognard like me found some helpful ideas in there.  Several useful tables and things that I can use for whatever I am running; be it Pathfinder, Castles & Crusades, or Labyrinth Lord.
Good Gaming!  -B.