Year in Review

Hogfather,  the Novel	Novel	20 on a d20
“Original” Tomb of Horrors	RPG Supplement	20 on a d20
Blood Meridian	Novel	20 on a d20
4E Eberron	RPG Supplement	20 on a d20
House of Leaves	Novel	20 on a d20
Vampire the Requiem	RPG	20 on a d20
Needful Things	Novel	20 on a d20
Videodrome	Film	20 on a d20
Hogfather, the Miniseries	TV Program	15 on a d20
Vornheim, the Complete City Kit	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Raiders of Oakhurst	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Sinister Secrets of the Saltmarsh	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Book of Erotic Fantasy	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Tomb of Horrors Series	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Mage the Awakening	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved	RPG	15 on a d20
Savage Worlds Explorers Edition	RPG	15 on a d20
Gloomwrought and Beyond	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Call of Cthulhu	RPG Supplement	15 on a d20
Vampire Translation Guide	RPG Supplement	10 on a d20
Ruins of Enoch	Media Type	10 on a d20
Dogs in the Vineyard	RPG	10 on a d20
Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon	TV Program	10 on a d20
David E. Kelly’s Wonder Woman Pilot	TV Program	5 on a d20
4E Forgotten Realms	RPG Supplement	5 on a d20
Castle Greyhawk	RPG Supplement	1 on a d20
The Forest Oracle	RPG Supplement	-20 on a d20

Rounding out the year of reviews and columns. I gave more perfect scores (20 on a d20 roll) than I realized and I do not hate Forest Oracle, it is just so bad as to be funny. I do hate 4E Forgotten Realms, though...

Grumpy RPG Columns: Leave a Bad Group

Episode 47: Leave a Bad Group (Redux)

• (Trying something different with this one, so please cut me some slack)
• The group attends a New Years Eve Party.
• Grumpy makes a “Gamer’s New Year’s Resolution.”
• It’s a game, so you should have fun.
• Why play with a group that is not fun?
• Happy New Year.
• (Lastly, it should be Episode 46, not 47 - I'll work iit out later and pretend I intend to do it that way all along)

Video: Happy New Year

Video: Festive Singing

Happy Holidays

Gamer Seeking Gamers

I, the real guy behind the blog as compared to the crazy character, am seeking a RPG in which I can participate via skype. I live in Eastern Europe - seven hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast - so that may be an issue, but still, this is one gamer seeking a game.

Grumpy RPG Reviews: The Hogfather

Episode 45: The Hogfather

• (Hopefully I have some persistent technical issues resolved now. )
• Baba Yaga is setting up for her annual Life Day Celebration.
• Acererak says the Hogfather is going to attend Baba’s party.
• Sir Terry Pratchett is a successful British author of a comedy series of fantasy novels set in the Discworld.
• Hogfather the novel was released in 1996 and Hogfather the miniseries in 2006.
• Despite being a farcical comedies where Death impersonates Santa, both handle the holiday quite well.
• Acererak says he should have called the Tomb of Horrors by a different name.
• Grumpy asserts Hogfather – novel and miniseries – are among the best of holiday media.
• Terry Pratchett makes a very good case about the “true” meaning of the Holiday.
• The Novel gets a 20 on a d20 and the miniseries gets a 15 on a d20.
• Krumpus shows up and wrecks Grumpy’s holiday plans.
• Note: The Cheerful Fairy is a comically sad character from the Hogfather novel. And I forgot to include Santa Christ on the list of party attendees Acererak rattles off.

Veto the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 Petition

Here is where I get all political, all of a sudden. 

I appreciate that a lot of people are worried about SOPA. But it's the end of habius corpus and due prociess, a tacit part of the 2011 DAB, that frightens me. Please, if you can sign the anti-SOPA petition, you can sign this one as well.

Veto the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 Petition

Videos: Things Ending in "olly"

Game Content: Inn without End

Something will go wrong with the large inn and tavern standing on Hodgeson Street (1).

Something is going wrong with the large inn and tavern standing on Hodgeson Street.

Something has always been wrong with the large inn and tavern standing on Hodgeson Street.

Grumpy RPG Columns: Vornheim the Complete City Kit (Video)

Episode 44: Vornheim the Compete City Kit

• Grumpy explain why porn stars play D&D to Acererak.
• Grumpy defines pornography.
• Vornheim the book provides some setting details for Vornheim the campaign setting.
• Acererak wants to visit L.A.
• More of the Vornheim, the book, is devoted to unusual and innovative game mechanics than setting details.
• Flaws in the book include a lack of non-human races and poor origination of the books content.
• Vornheim the Compete City Kit gets a 15 of a d20 roll.

Videos: Fun Group to Play With

Too few gaming groups include porn stars and strippers.

Fiction: In the Saw Briars, A Modern Fairly Tale

A cold story for a cold season…

Grumpy RPG Reviews: David E. Kelley's "Wonder Woman" (Video)

Episode 43: The Failed David E Kelley Wonder Woman Pilot

• Grumpy and Acererak are stealing Hippolyta’s tsipouro. Don’t tell nobody.
• Grumpy says the pilot had, on paper at least, great talent on both side of the camera.
• However, the pilot suffers from a crippling lack of focus, a bewildering plot and at best mediocre camera and lighting work.
• Kelley seemed to try to write Wonder Woman as both Jack Bauer and Ally McBeal at the same time.
• Acererek says Jack Bauer once beat a pizza delivery guy with a telephone book.
• The performances of the actors – particularly Elizabeth Hurley and Adrianne Palicki - are pretty good.
• Who the fuck thought a mopey Wonder Woman was a good idea?
• The pilot gets a 5 on a d20 and mostly serves as an example of what not to do.

Note: I was trying something different with the microphone… and it did not work the way I wanted, so the audio quality is less than what I wanted it to be. However, overall I am satisfied with how this episode came out.

Videos: ...the path of violence is a barren one.

Though it is a highly entertaining path.



My review of the failed David E. Kelley Wonder Woman pilot will be up Wednesday, as the Season two premier.

Season Two Trailer - Grumpy RPG Reviews