The Twisting Stair

[Finarvyn]

How is it that I haven't heard of this before today? It appears that Grodog & Co. at Black Blade have been creating an old school magazine or newsletter. They are up to issue #3 and I think they can be found at the Black Blade website. I'm thinking of ordering a set.

www.black-blade-publishing.com/

Anyone read these? Can someone post a review?

- - - - - - - - - -

EDIT: Apparently this is more complex than I thought. I know that Grodog and Tacojohn are connected to this magazine, but it doesn't seem to appear on Black Blade's store page. As best as I can tell, one needs to e-mail Allan directly through [e-mail] in order to buy this, but one can combine orders with other Black Blade products in order to save on shipping. I think.

[Melan]

I own all three issues, and have read the first two (the third is a very recent acquisition, and I have only given it a cursory browse-through). I am happy with them - solid, unpretentious stuff with an eye towards utility. Each issue has a centerfold map featuring subsequent levels of a megadungeon, which is a treat (check out EOTB's ongoing project to stock the first level). What I like from the rest of the content is that it is not afraid to be "technical" about creating, running and playing megadungeons. For instance, issue #02 discusses the role of light sources, while #03 has an article on vertical map design, and introduces "stackable geomorphs" (essentially geomorphs you can slot into a dungeon as "riders" on top of each other, combining the 2D plane with a 3D structure). The bits-and-pieces are decent. The production values may be fairly simple, but the thought and care which had gone into the dungeon levels and the geomorphs, for instance, is noteworthy.

[Finarvyn]

Thanks for the review, Melan. I'll have to see if I can acquire these!

[grodog]

Hi Marv---

Thanks for the mention and plug. I just got mail order rates updated for TTS#3, which now appear in the my blog post @ grodog.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-twisting-stair-3-spring-2018.html

I've tried to plug TTS at ODD74 here in the Classifieds forum, and announced each of the issues there: odd74.proboards.com/thread/12839/twisting-stair-released-garycon-order and odd74.proboards.com/thread/12380/twisting-stair-debuts-ntx-june and odd74.proboards.com/thread/12273/twisting-stair-debuts-garycon-ix

And just to clarify a couple of things:

- 1. The newsletter's title is The Twisting Stair vs. The TwistED Stair (Tony and I thought that was a little too close to Twisted Sister )
- 2. I'm a partner in Black Blade with Jon Hershberger, and Tony Rosten and I publish The Twisting Stair, but TTS isn't a Black Blade book/product. Tony and I publish that as a separate endeavor from the work that Jon and I do with Black Blade. This can be somewhat confusing, since Black Blade also sells copies of TTS at our booths at GaryCon and the North Texas RPG Con each year, too, but we are technically different legal entities/companies, even if we are friends who partner together on sales.

Allan.

[grodog]

May 24, 2018 9:31:21 GMT -6 Melan said:

I own all three issues, and have read the first two (the third is a very recent acquisition, and I have only given it a cursory browse-through). I am happy with them - solid, unpretentious stuff with an eye towards utility. Each issue has a centerfold map featuring subsequent levels of a megadungeon, which is a treat (check out EOTB's ongoing project to stock the first level). What I like from the rest of the content is that it is not afraid to be "technical" about creating, running and playing megadungeons. For instance, issue #02 discusses the role of light sources, while #03 has an article on vertical map design, and introduces "stackable geomorphs" (essentially geomorphs you can slot into a dungeon as "riders" on top of each other, combining the 2D plane with a 3D structure). The bits-and-pieces are decent. The production values may be fairly simple, but the thought and care which had gone into the dungeon levels and the geomorphs, for instance, is noteworthy.

Thank you for the kinds words, Gabor! We may want to quote you in the future, if you're willing

Allan.

[Melan]

Go ahead.

[scalydemon]

Twisted stair? Wasn't Dee Snider in that?

Fun magazine, check it out!

[Zulgyan]

May 24, 2018 14:19:49 GMT -6 grodog said:

Hi Marv---

Thanks for the mention and plug. I just got mail order rates updated for TTS#3, which now appear in the my blog post @ grodog.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-twisting-stair-3-spring-2018.html

I've tried to plug TTS at ODD74 here in the Classifieds forum, and announced each of the issues there: odd74.proboards.com/thread/12839/twisting-stair-released-garycon-order and odd74.proboards.com/thread/12380/twisting-stair-debuts-ntx-june and odd74.proboards.com/thread/12273/twisting-stair-debuts-garycon-ix

And just to clarify a couple of things:

- 1. The newsletter's title is The Twisting Stair vs. The TwistED Stair (Tony and I thought that was a little too close to Twisted Sister )
- 2. I'm a partner in Black Blade with Jon Hershberger, and Tony Rosten and I publish The Twisting Stair, but TTS isn't a Black Blade book/product. Tony and I publish that as a separate endeavor from the work that Jon and I do with Black Blade. This can be somewhat confusing, since Black Blade also sells copies of TTS at our booths at GaryCon and the North Texas RPG Con each year, too, but we are technically different legal entities/companies, even if we are friends who partner together on sales.

Allan.

Is there a pdf option? I live in Argentina and shipping costs can get ridiculous.

[Finarvyn]

I believe that it's print only.

[scalydemon]

Shipping rate may not be that horrible as it is paper newsletter style. Alan would know more.

[grodog]

May 19, 2020 13:03:36 GMT -6 Zulgyan said:

Is there a pdf option? I live in Argentina and shipping costs can get ridiculous.

No PDFs but USPS says that if you bought all 3 issues, to ship to Argentine should cost between $10-15 USD, for a total of $24-29 for TTS issues #1-3. If you're interested, you can email us at [e-mail] and it would probably be useful to cc me personally at [e-mail] so that I don't miss it.

Allan.

[Finarvyn]

When does #4 come out?

[grodog]

May 20, 2020 5:36:49 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

When does #4 come out?

Nothing definite yet on the dates-front, Marv, but I'm writing currently material for it!

Allan.