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Post by grodog on Jun 13, 2014 8:14:32 GMT -6
Excellent news from Black Blade Publishing!: the new edition of Rob Kuntz's _The Original Bottle City_ will be available to purchase at the North Texas RPG convention this year! This new edition of the Lake Geneva Castle & Campaign adventure expands the module from 32 to 44 pages in order to provide a more-complete, plug-and-play gaming experience than the original edition. The Black Blade edition: - Details monster and NPC statistics so that they can be played from the module without requiring additional work from the DM---the Pied Piper edition listed many encounters as "5 cloud giants" or "4 enchanters", for example. Monsters and NPCs are provided with equipment, memorized spells, and other notes as required to run them during encounters. - Provides four sample god-aspect templates for use in “The Hall of the Gods” encounter; two were designed for use in Kuntz’s Bottle City events at the 40th Anniversary of GenCon in 2007. - Normalizes monster and NPCs statistics and attributes to first edition fantasy values, especially hit dice and hit points: HD were adjusted to use d8 HD for monsters instead of d6 and class-based HD instead of d6 HD for NPCs, while hp were proportionally increased based on the percentage of maximum hit points possessed by the monster or NPC in the original manuscript. - Fixes errata present in the Pied Piper edition and clarifies several ambiguities in the text and map, including text dropped from the PPP edition. For those who missed it the first time around, _The Original Bottle City_ is a site for high adventure, where strange magic interweaves with nine trapped gods, demigods, and demons who vie for its control---but all are minikins, captive in the magical city in a bottle! In 1974 Bottle City was one of the largest design projects Rob Kuntz undertook as the co-DM of the original Lake Geneva Castle & Campaign. Found on the second level of the Castle, it stupefied the Lake Geneva gamers---that is until they touched the bottle itself and were drawn into the city, where the fun really began.... The first edition of The Original Bottle City was released by Pied Piper Publishing in 2008, and has been out of print since 2009. After the North Texas RPG Con, Black Blade will make available Rob Kuntz’s alternate painting for use in The Gallery (a tribute to David C. Sutherland III’s classic Dungeon Masters Guide cover art), as well as the original manuscript transcription file for Bottle City. Both files are password-protected .pdfs that will be published to the Downloads section of www.black-blade-publishing.com after the convention.
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Post by cadriel on Jun 13, 2014 8:48:08 GMT -6
That's wonderful, Allan, but how do we buy it? I don't see it in the Black Blade web store.
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Post by grodog on Jun 13, 2014 9:18:53 GMT -6
You can email us to order at tacojohndm@yahoo.com until we get the website store updated, Wayne.
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Post by geoffrey on Jun 13, 2014 19:18:58 GMT -6
Do you plan on having nobleknight.com stock the new Bottle City?
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Post by grodog on Jun 13, 2014 22:51:55 GMT -6
They probably will buy some stock at some point, Geoffrey, but we just did a general restock with them before the NTX convention, so they're not likely to buy BC anytime soon is my guess.
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Post by Merctime on Jun 14, 2014 7:10:32 GMT -6
Grodog, are there any plans of releasing a version that leaves the original 1974 stats intact? I hope this question does not come off as being a rude one... I have the utmost respect for you all at BBP. As I get older, I just yearn for things in the vein of 1974 D&D more and more. I would like to buy it regardless, but if there will be such a tome released (OD&D style) it only locks in my decision that much more
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Post by grodog on Jun 14, 2014 12:43:13 GMT -6
Hi Merctime--- I hope this question does not come off as being a rude one... I have the utmost respect for you all at BBP. Thanks, and no it's not a rude question at all Grodog, are there any plans of releasing a version that leaves the original 1974 stats intact? As I get older, I just yearn for things in the vein of 1974 D&D more and more. I would like to buy it regardless, but if there will be such a tome released (OD&D style) it only locks in my decision that much more The transcript file that you can download after you buy the adventure does include all of the original OD&D text from the original manuscript, so that's definitely available. There's not a lot of detail in it, though, including HP in most cases. So if you want something more robust than the transcript, but still OD&D, your best bet will be to try to track down a copy of the original Pied Piper edition of Bottle City. That'll likely cost 2-3x as much as the current version, but if you keep your eyes open may be able to find a copy on eBay or Amazon for $40-50-ish. That help?? Allan.
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jeff
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Post by jeff on Jun 21, 2014 7:01:22 GMT -6
The transcript file that you can download after you buy the adventure does include all of the original OD&D text from the original manuscript, so that's definitely available. There's not a lot of detail in it, though, including HP in most cases. So if you want something more robust than the transcript, but still OD&D, your best bet will be to try to track down a copy of the original Pied Piper edition of Bottle City. That'll likely cost 2-3x as much as the current version, but if you keep your eyes open may be able to find a copy on eBay or Amazon for $40-50-ish. That help?? Allan. I'm with MercTime. I'd love to have an OD&D version in the same size as the LBBs.
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Post by grodog on Jun 29, 2014 20:57:07 GMT -6
I'm with MercTime. I'd love to have an OD&D version in the same size as the LBBs. I'll discuss this with Jon and Rob when we chat next time, urieal. In other news, Jon's in the process of updating our Ordering instructions on the BBP web site, and posting the transcription and ERKME#10 files referenced in the module. For reference, here are the ordering details, which should be posted to black-blade-publishing.com/Ordering.aspx sometime later this evening: === The Black Blade web site is in the process of being rebuilt since the e-commerce package used to drive it is no longer supported by the original vendor (who has gone out of business). Consequently, the online store is NOT fully operational (shipping, in particular international shipping, does not work properly). Please use the Store tab as a reference for details about our books, including prices, but do not use it to place an order. When you are ready to order, please email us with the following details: - First Name and Last Name - Shipping Address - Email Address - Online User Name - Phone Number - Products Ordered and their Quantities - Any additional notes or instructions that will help us process to your order Please email these details to: tacojohndm@yahoo.com We'll then provide you with an accurate shipping quote, and will invoice you via Paypal, our preferred method for payment. If you do not have a Paypal account and/or prefer to pay via credit card, we accept all major credit cards that are supported by Square (Visa, Master Card, American Express, and Discover; details at squareup.com/ ). To process such orders, please provide us with a good time to call you to get your credit card details: please do not email or text them to us, since we don't want your financial information being sent through insecure methods. Black Blade Publishing also accepts United States money orders in US Dollars, International money orders in US Dollars, and travellers checks in US Dollars. At game conventions where we are selling products, we also accept cash in US Dollars (USD). Black Blade Publishing does not accept personal checks. === Thank you for your support, as always!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 0:14:51 GMT -6
Doooooooooooooommmmm......
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Post by grodog on Jun 30, 2014 8:40:34 GMT -6
Doooooooooooooommmmm...... Well, yes, quite possibly ;->
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 11:35:55 GMT -6
I have the PPP version, and man, is it deadly.
Actually, Rob's notes were fascinating. I had no idea Jim Ward was such an inveterate gambler. Put up two levers and a sign that says "Cake or Death" and by Crom, Jim's gonna yank a lever.
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tog
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Detect Meal & What Kind
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Post by tog on Jun 30, 2014 22:23:32 GMT -6
Put up two levers and a sign that says "Cake or Death" and by Crom, Jim's gonna yank a lever. Hey, 50% chance of cake, why not. Or have your henchman pull it. That's what they're FOR, man!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2014 10:28:41 GMT -6
You've obviously never had Gary or Rob run your henchmen. Henchmen are self-interested beings with an independent existence, and if you try to make them do all the sh*t stuff they will desert.
"Hey, Master, what begins with G and ends with F and rhymes with 'Go F*** Yourself'?"
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tog
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Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
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Post by tog on Jul 7, 2014 11:01:10 GMT -6
"Hey, Master, what begins with G and ends with F and rhymes with 'Go F*** Yourself'?" "Ooooh, I can see someone who's not going to be getting a Christmas bonus in HIS packet!"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2014 15:24:10 GMT -6
DO I DETECT A BIT OF UNSEASONAL GRUMPINESS? NO SUGAR PIGGYWIGGY FOR YOU, ALBERT.
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Post by scottyg on Jul 20, 2014 8:11:41 GMT -6
You've obviously never had Gary or Rob run your henchmen. Henchmen are self-interested beings with an independent existence, and if you try to make them do all the sh*t stuff they will desert. "Hey, Master, what begins with G and ends with F and rhymes with 'Go F*** Yourself'?" Yeah, I have some personal experience with this, and it works both ways. When Rob thought I was playing my character's henchman too conservatively he started charging him into melee right alongside his liege.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2014 16:04:40 GMT -6
Heh. However, note the "ALONGSIDE" part. Henchmen are quite willing to follow a PC who leads from the front; it's the ones who say "You go up there and get killed while I stand back here and hide" that have trouble.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2014 6:30:24 GMT -6
Heh. However, note the "ALONGSIDE" part. Henchmen are quite willing to follow a PC who leads from the front; it's the ones who say "You go up there and get killed while I stand back here and hide" that have trouble. Yeah, it is kind of obvious though, cause no one likes to led from behind by someone who is too good to get their hands dirty.
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