Showing posts with label Elf Lair Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elf Lair Games. Show all posts

Friday, December 29, 2023

Kickstart your Future! Thirteen Parsecs

It's the end of the week, the end of the month and the end of the year. So lets look to the future!

Thirteen Parsecs

13 Parsecs

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Thirteen Parsecs: Adventures Beyond the Solar Frontier is the latest tabletop role-playing game project from Elf Lair Games, producers of Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars and Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age. It forms the third of our trilogy of core games - we've given you modern and fantasy, and now we bring sci-fi to the forefront with the same rules, completely customizable and ready for you to build exactly the type of science fiction gaming you want. As always, it's your game your way when it's Powered by O.G.R.E.S.!


I am so excited for this.  I have been dying to work on a solid sci-fi game since forever.

What is Thirteen Parsecs?

Like our other games, NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands, Thirteen Parsecs is an O.G.R.E.S.-powered game. So if you have played a classic RPG then you know how to play this one already.

Also like NIGHT SHIFT, Thirteen Parsecs will be a "toolbox game."  We are going to give you the basic rules and structure for all sorts of Science Fiction style role-playing. So whether you want to play heroic characters in an epic space opera, explore strange new world with a group of explorers, battle alien threats, deal with a post-apocalyptic hellscape, or tackle humankind's first leap to the stars, then this game is for you.

BUT that is not all. Like NIGHT SHIFT we will encourage you to make your own worlds and setting to make it the sci-fi game YOU want. 

I have been talking for years, decades even, on how there has not been a sci-fi game that connects with me. Thirteen Parsecs will change that for me. Here are the worlds I am planning to bring you as my contribution in one form or another.

Space Truckers

This one began as a bit of joke and I have tried in different systems. It is "Smokey and the Bandit" meets "Blake's 7" with a dash of "Red Dwarf" and "Quark."  It is supposed to be silly fun about the lives of long-haul "truckers" on the edge of the Solar Frontier. The Colonies need their light beer too. I am planning on designing this to work with any of the other settings we have.

Dark Star (formerly BlackStar)

I have talked about this one a lot, my "Star Trek meets Cthulhu." The deal here is that Jason also has one he wants to do and so does our other member Derek. So it is very likely they will all get combined somehow into something new and better.  The basic idea here is "In Space, the stars are always right."

Völlig Losgelöst

My love letter to 80s sci-fi horror. This one might appear later due to space (heh) issues. If you enjoyed movies like "Lifeforce," "Galaxy of Terror," and "Xtro" then you will find a lot to love here. This one is explicitly a NIGHT SHIFT/Thirteen Parsecs crossover game, so I might wait until after the core rules are published. Essentially I want to create the future as we saw it from the mid-1980s. 

I have more ideas and these are only mine. Jason and Derek have a ton as well. 

So please sign up and watch for more details!

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Want to know more? Just ask!

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Coming in 2024: Thirteen Parsecs

 You know how I have lamented how I never have found the perfect sci-fi RPG?  Well. That all might be changing.

Thirteen Parsecs

13 Parsecs

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Thirteen Parsecs: Adventures Beyond the Solar Frontier is the latest tabletop role-playing game project from Elf Lair Games, producers of Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars and Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age. It forms the third of our trilogy of core games - we've given you modern and fantasy, and now we bring sci-fi to the forefront with the same rules, completely customizable and ready for you to build exactly the type of science fiction gaming you want. As always, it's your game your way when it's Powered by O.G.R.E.S.!


I am so excited for this.  I have been dying to work on a solid sci-fi game since forever.

A bit of background, I think I have mentioned in the past that prior to switching gears to become a psychologist I had actually started out in physics, and astrophysics in particular. I got to a point in calculus where I just stopped understanding it, so I had to switch. BTW this makes my former Actuary (with degrees in math) wife laugh her ass off all the time. 

So it will be wonderful to put all this knowledge I have about astronomy, space, and science to good use.

Launch is not till later in the year, but Jason is already working out all sorts of great things. I hope to resurrect Space Truckers, get some more mileage out of Dark Star (formerly BlackStar), and more.

So please sign up and watch for more details!


Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Wasted Lands: Don't be the Hero, Be the God.

Busy time. I have not written anything in over two weeks, but I am hardly idle.  On my plate this week?  Playtesting the newest game from Elf Lair Games.

The Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age

Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age

This is a new Swords and Sorcery RPG set in a savage lost epoch, millions of years ago. A time lost to current humanity.  Players will take on the roles of human (near human) characters struggling against the remains of the Old Ones, ancient gods and alien threats. 

These characters will fight, and struggle and eventually, they will become the Gods we know today. 

This game uses the same rule system as NIGHT SHIFT: Veteran of the Supernatural Wars.

Playtest is now underway.

Wasted Lands Playtest

Wasted Lands Playtest

Wasted Lands Playtest

Wasted Lands Playtest

Wasted Lands Playtest

I am hoping to use some of the material I have created for my own One Man's God posts in my Wasted Lands game.  In particular, I will use this to flesh out my Roman-Norse Pantheon, actually play out the legends that would later become these gods.  And of course, because I have a rep to maintain, expect to see some gods/goddesses of magic and witchcraft.

I am quite excited about this game and I hope to get you all excited about it as well. 

Thursday, April 6, 2023

New Playtest...What is Elf Lair Games Doing?

 No game this weekend. Which is fine, but I have new play-test material to read up on.  So what is new from Elf-Lair Games?

Wasted Lands Playtest

This is going to be a blast.

Friday, January 13, 2023

Elf Lair Games Doomsday Sale

This issue with the OGL is changing all the time now. I suppose there will be some sort of announcement about the OGL 2.0 today (yes we are on the 2.0 now).

But until then, we have decided to have a big sale on all Elf Lair Games products, including NIGHT SHIFT.

Elf Lair Games
https://www.elflair.com/

For products on our website, use the code DOOMSDAY40 at checkout to get 40% off your sale. 

For our products on DriveThruRPG, all are on sale for 25% off, no code needed.

Again, NIGHT SHIFT and our upcoming new fantasy RPG "Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age" will break free of the OGL and will be powered by our in-house O.G.R.E.S. 

Interesting times ahead!  Let's all have some fun together and get back to what we have always felt was our #1 job; make fun games for people to enjoy.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Guest Blog: Using The Witch and Eldritch Witchery as a NIGHT SHIFT Resource

I am over on the Elf Lair Games blog today to talk about how you can use my OSR books The Witch and Eldritch Witchery to expand on your NIGHT SHIFT games. 

The Elf-Lair Coven

With this, you can add new spells, new Arcane Powers, and Traditions like The Aquarian Order, The Cult of the Magna Matter, The Hermetic Lodges, and the Masters of the Invisible College. 

https://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2022/03/guest-blog-using-witch-and-eldritch.html

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

New NIGHT SHIFT Content from Elf Lair Games

Night's Companion
My *other* publisher, Elf Lair Games, has been putting out some great free content for all of February in support of the new Night Companion and I would be remiss if I didn't share or point some of it out to you all.

Click on the links below for more information.

The Order of the Dragon

This is a holy order of knights set to defend Christianity from Muslim incursions.  Vlad Dracul was a member, but when he became a vampire the order shifted focus to destruction of all vampires and hunting of the supernatural. 

The Divine Order of the Sisters of Orleans  

A sister organization to the Order of the Dragon created by and in the name of Jeanne d’Arc.  They have also survived to the modern day to fight supernatural threats.

Folk Horror

Jason gives some advice on adding Folk Horror to your NIGHT SHIFT games.  This part was left out of the core rules. 

The Mandragora Book Store

Our old friend from the Eden days Derek Stoelting has been part of NIGHT SHIFT from the start.  He is up with more information on the location mentioned in the Quick Start Kit

Supers

A couple of good posts on Supers including how to create street-level supers in NIGHT SHIFT using the Inventor class.  Followed up by adding supers to a fantasy style RPG, with NIGHT SHIFT as the translator.

This naturally branched out to and from the next two topics.

Cyberpunk and how NIGHT SHIFT, or more accurately O.G.R.E.S. is a great Rosetta Stone for all sorts of old-school play. 

Finally we get some discussion on the Fighter class.

I also have more NIGHT SHIFT goodness for you all coming up including some more weirdness from Valhalla, AK and a new feature I am working on called From the Editor to support my Weirdly World News NIGHT WORLD from the Night Companion, and GenHEX from the NIGHT SHIFT Core Rules.

So keep an eye out here and on the Elf Lair Games blog for more material for Jason, Derek and myself.

Friday, February 4, 2022

#FollowFriday: Elf Lair Games

Ok. Today's #FollowFriday might be seen as a little self-serving...and it is.  But that does not negate the fact that there are a lot of great things brewing over at Elf Lair Games!

Elf Lair Games

Elf Lair publishes my original Witch class for Basic-era games and Eldritch Witchery for Spellcraft & Swordplay.   But most importantly They publish my newest pride and joy NIGHT SHIFT: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars.

There are a lot of great things coming from ELG so now is a great time to give them, well...us, a follow!

Elf Lair Games


So be sure to check out all these sites and follow them on social media.

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Elf Lair Games is at Gary Con!

Forwarding from Jason Vey of Elf Lair Games:

Elf Lair Games

Elf Lair Games is at Gary Con!

Hey, folks, Elf Lair Games is at Ethereal Gary Con XIII, and yours truly is a convention special guest. Of course, I'm also still a Troll Lord Games guy so I'm involved with their stuff as well. Check the graphic below to see all of our events. I am involved with running 2 of our events and will be a guest on the following panels:

GM Tricks of the Trade - Thursday at 4 PM CST

Greyhawk DM's Round Table - Thursday at 7 PM CST

TLG Selling Games, Now and Then - Friday at noon CST

We're also happy to announce that all of our PDF items on DriveThruRPG and both print and PDF in our online store are now available at 50% off throughout the weekend in celebration of the con! Grab your copy of Spellcraft & Swordplay, Chutzpah!, The Witch, or our urban fantasy/horror old school hit Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars! 

Visit us online at https://www.elflair.com/products.html for more information and to grab your copy today!

Gary Con events
Click to enlarge

--

We still have a couple of openings left in Dancing in the Ruins session 1 and session 2.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Introducing Night Shift

I had something planned for today, but it will have to wait till later.  Busy day at work.  So here is something I have been working on.


So folks, to coincide with Halloween, I will be Kickstarting the newest core RPG from Elf Lair Games this October! I'm still working out the exact details (getting quotes for printing costs in particular) so I know what to set my goal, but it's planned as a hardcover B&W release. Please spread the word and keep your eyes out! Here's some more about the game:

NIGHT SHIFT: VETERANS OF THE SUPERNATURAL WARS Debuting the new Elf Lair Games house system, O.G.R.E.S., Night Shift is an urban fantasy, horror, and dark modern supernatural game that uses a brand new system of old-school mechanics inspired by and derived from the original, basic, expert, and advanced versions of the World's Most Famous Role Playing Game. It allows you to mimic all the tropes of just about any film, TV series, or novels you like.

All of the following are possible with Night Shift:

  • Cheerleaders that are chosen to slay vampires
  • Sisters imbued with the power of chosen witches
  • Worlds where Fae of all manner battle in the politics of light and dark
  • The great-grandniece of a famous gunslinger inherits the legacy of the demon hunter.
  • A world where two brothers armed with knowledge and weapons hunt the supernatural in their father's name

And more!
Jason and I have been working together for years.  We worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG together.  I playtested Jason's AFMBE games and his Amazing Adventures books, he playtested my Ghosts of Albion.  He published my first OSR Witch book.  We have over 80 years of game playing and nearly 50 years of professional game design combined.

This game is going to be so much fun.  And perfectly suited to the cinematic style games I love.

Hoping to get you all some previews and character write-ups throughout October.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Elf Lair Games on Google+

Just a quick note today before gaming.

Elf Lair Games has a new Community on G+.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117818905017605352455

Come by to discuss Spellcraft & Swordplay, The Witch or Eldritch Witchery.  Or hear about new products they are working on.

It should be fun and they would love to hear from you.

Monday, November 25, 2013

New post over at Elf Lair Games

New post discussing Eldritch Witchery over at my publisher's site.
http://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2013/11/eldritch-witchery-now-in-print.html

I have to say I am floored by the response EW has been getting.
It is has been selling great, far better than expectations, and the feedback is equally as positive.

Jason and I had a long conversation about the future of ELG and we are convinced that there is a little life in S&S and ELG after all!

Not sure what we want to do yet.  I have tons of material on my hard-drive.  But hopefully we will get some more things out to you soon.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Eldritch Witchery Print Proof

Got a preliminary print proof of Eldritch Witchery.


It's not the final proof yet, but it is close! And I am pleased as hell with it.


EW with the Spellcraft & Swordplay core rules.


Core rules and boxed set.


Eldritch Witchery and The Witch


Eldritch Witchery with some of my other favorite old-school games.  No indication of compatibility is implied.


And my two most recent games.  No indication of compatibility is implied here either, but they are awfully fun together!

I hope to get the print versions out to you very, very soon.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Eldritch Witchery is LIVE!

Eldritch Witchery is now live!



Here is the official press release:

ELF LAIR GAMES PRESS RELEASE 10/21/2013

Elf Lair Games is pleased to announce that our long-awaited second sourcebook for Spellcraft & Swordplay, entitled Eldritch Witchery, is now available for purchase as an ebook! The print edition will follow soon.

A Return to the New Class of Old School!

Witches & Warlocks.
Monsters, demons and devils. What horrors await you in dark caves and passages forgotten by mortal-kind? What eldritch secrets await in the dark? Will they be yours to claim or will you be claimed by them?

Eldritch Witchery takes you back to the roots of fantasy role playing, back to a time when witches cast mighty spells and demons were new to the lands. Inside this book you will find:

- Two new elite paths, the Witch and the Warlock
- Hundreds of new spells
- New monsters, such as the vile Hags
- Demons, including the vile Calabim, the rageful Shedim, the seductive Lilim, and the Baalseraph, the rulers of the Nine Hells, amongst others.
- New magic items and treasure
- Complete guidelines for running witch-centric adventures or incorporating these spellcasters into your existing game
- And more!

Everything you need to add witches, warlocks, and demons to your Spellcraft & Swordplay game is here...what are you waiting for? Eldritch Witchery awaits...

Due to the nature and content of this book, as well as to some of the artwork involved, we are marking it as an adult product. User discretion is advised.

Get your eBook/PDF copy now.  Print book on the way.

Friday, October 11, 2013

What is 'Eldritch Witchery'?

I rather enjoy writing about Witches.

You might have noticed that.

After all the books and blog posts I have written over the last few years, this should be obvious.  What isn’t obvious is how much more I learn and enjoy with each book.

Eldritch Witchery is something of a homecoming for me.  Like many, I started out playing the “Basic” set of the late 70s-early 80’s and then moved on to the “Advanced” version of the world’s most popular role-playing game.  At some point I learned of this “other” version, an original version.  It came in little brown books with names like Men and Magic.  One day, I was going through the mail-order hobby catalog I used to get and saw a copy of this game.  It was, of course, beyond my means to get at the time, but there was a supplement called Eldritch Wizardry and I knew I had to get it.

Eldritch Wizardry introduced demons, the druids and psionics to the Original game, and to my 12-13 year old self heavily into all things paranormal this sounded like a treasure trove.  Well the book I got was not what I expected, but I was still so glad to have it.

Eldritch Witchery, then, is my chance to write the book that my 13 year old self wanted to buy.  There are some obvious parallels with that original book; this book features Witches naturally, but also some demons and things that I think made the late 70s and early 80s an interesting time in gaming.

To fully capture what I want, I am writing this for the Spellcraft & Swordplay rules.  S&S is a great little game that is a prime example of economy of rules, just like I pictured the Original Rules were.  Plus it has given me the chance to work with Jason Vey, creator of the game.

Eldritch Witchery is written to help recapture that sense of wonder of the unknown.  Designed to be both familiar and yet brand new at the same time.

While the book covers a lot of the same ground as does The Witch, there are some new traditions, a handful of new spells, and of course a bunch of new demons, devils and the like.  Plus there is an entire Warlock class and the warlock lodges.  Some of what was going to go into some other books I had planned and have shelved for now also made it in.  

It should be out here in the next few days (maybe Halloween!) depending on how long it takes me to build the files.

I hope you all enjoy it.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Layout

No post today.  Sorry.

Doing Eldritch Witchery layout.  Going a lot better than expected.  But I'll know more once I get more art in place.


Monday, September 30, 2013

October is nearly here!

October is a big deal here at the Other Side as many of you already know.

First off there is the October Horror Movie Challenge I participate in every year.
Hosted by Krell Laboratories I am planning on hitting movies I have been wanting to see for ages and just never got around to.  A really bucket list if some of the movies wen't terrible.
You can watch my progress here and on the Horror Movie Challenge Facebook page.



I am also gearing up to get Eldritch Witchery into your hands.  I am quite excited about it.
It is predominantly for the Spellcraft & Swordplay rules.   If you already own The Witch then there might not be much more in it for you, but it does cover my very first Warlock class and OSR stats for a number of demons that have never seen print (or PDF) before.  So I am quite excited about that.


There was a request to revist Monster Mondays. But I have a few projects I need to get done in October so I don't think I can do that.  BUT that all being said there is no reason why you all can't do that one on your own.

I'll have some other things happening in October that I can't quite talk about now as well.

But here is to a great October!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Spellcraft & Swordplay Summer Sale!

Elf Lair Games (who also publish The Witch) are holding a summer sale.  You can get their core rules product Spellcraft & Swordplay for half price and PDF thrown in!



Spellcraft & Swordplay is a "what if" game. It uses the original combat resolution from 0e and the best of the OGL to create a new game with an old school feel.  It is one my favorite old-school games to be honest.  I own a hard copy and the limited edition boxed set.  All you need is this book, some friends and a couple of d6s for everyone.

If you have been curious about this game then this is the time to get it.

Monday, December 3, 2012

The Witch Print Edition Update

Just got the word from Elf Lair Games that the files for The Witch Print version are loaded.

You can read the details here:
http://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2012/12/spellcraft-swordplay-bundle-and-witch.html and
http://wastedlandsfantasy.blogspot.com/2012/12/elf-lair-games-developments.html

You can also pick up a bundled version of Spellcraft & Swordplay.

So looking forward to getting this out to everyone.