benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 3, 2014 11:52:50 GMT -6
The GP Adventures Character Record Sheet is now available at our shop at www.gp-adventures.com/shop/gpa-character-record-sheet-1e-compatible/"This Official GP Adventures Character Record Sheet is First Edition compatible, and will satisfy all the fans of Advanced-style role-playing games. Heavily inspired by the early record sheets doodled by Tom Wham for the Dungeon hobby shop in the 70s, this sheet is entirely hand-drawn by old school favorite artist Mark Allen. Customize your records with this handy PDF using a clever system of layers (reminiscent of the mad irishman’s creations, for those in the know), while still retaining this unique penciled look that makes the best handouts around the game table. Venture forth to adventure!" Since it is first edition compatible, the sheet is ipso facto compatible with OD&D + Supplements games (which is actually just as close from the truth concerning Ernest Gygax's games as straight 1E would be). This PDF files uses layers, and should be viewed with a reader that supports them, such as Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded for free here: get.adobe.com/reader/Some preview thumbnails of the sheet, showing just a few permutations of the sheet:      |
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Post by Falconer on Jun 3, 2014 13:00:37 GMT -6
Very attractive.
Any more information about the old Tom Wham sheets? (Got a scan?)
What does PP stand for?
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 3, 2014 13:25:01 GMT -6
Tom Wham used to do a lot of doodling for the Dungeon hobby shop, in programs, catalogs, sheets and stuff like that. I'll see if Ernie's got some scans of that and show you if I find anything.  PP stand for Pivot Points, which are a resource specific to the Hobby Shop Dungeon. They share some traits with Joss from Mythus, but their use is really wide. These are points that allow you to get an heirloom to start the game, modify your stats before beginning play, survive a situation in game that should have mean certain death, those kinds of things. They are rare (1d4+2 at first level, with very rare situations in which you could theoretically gain some - it never happened while I played in Ernie's game - and only for your main character in your stable of PCs, or those characters the referee deem worth it), and kind of represent different concepts compounded together, like hit points, a sum of luck, fate, willpower, depending on particular situations in and out of the game. |
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 3, 2014 14:21:41 GMT -6
Ernie says that the sheets were used at the earliest hours of the actual HSD campaign (so that's 77/78). He doesn't have a surviving copy. He might still have some programs and doodles though. I'll see if I can get him to share some, if any survived. EDIT - nothing survived the fire apparently. I sent a call for those who knew the Dungeon hobby shop, in case anything survived, something that could be scanned and shown to you guys. That'd be cool.
Thanks for bringing this up Falc.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 3, 2014 16:35:23 GMT -6
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2014 16:42:28 GMT -6
They look nice, but I'd suggest making character sheet PDF's as a free downloadable resource.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2014 17:54:33 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Jun 3, 2014 18:20:05 GMT -6
Below is Tom Wham's own first character sheet, from 1975/76, which he posted on Facebook. The character portrait is done in his signature style. (click on the pic for a larger view) Attachments:
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jun 3, 2014 19:30:10 GMT -6
Those sheets look nice with a genuine old school feel to them.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 4, 2014 10:40:19 GMT -6
I like the look of that first character sheet, though the scan quality on top is not great. I like Dyson's sheet too - I used it in my HSD games as well. Another sheet I really like is the "goldenrod" sheet of the Mad Irishman, for 1st ed, if you know that one too. What would be great is to combine the nice look of that first one with the organization of Dyson's and the customizable aspects with layers of the Mad Irishman's goldenrod sheet. And what do you know: This is exactly what we have with the GP Adventures Character Record Sheet! You have the looks, you have the organization, and you have layers that you can customize to get the character class or classes and that information which is most pertinent to your character, however you want it. I'm certainly biased here, but I think our sheet is superior. That said, I don't have anything against people who'd say "why would I pay $2.50 for this? I have a perfectly usable sheet right here from blog XXX". That's fine. People should use what feels the most appropriate to them. Index cards still work as well as they did back in 1974, after all! When we set out to do this sheet, we got Mark Allen, who's a good guy and great artist on board. It wouldn't have come to my mind to tell him to do this extensive work on our character sheet and have him do it for days on end for free. As you might guess, that's not what happened, because I like to think that good artists and good designers can do a good quality job and actually make some beer money out of it. If I'm giving a pay check to Mark Allen to do some good work for me, that also means that I have a responsibility to my company to make this work financially. And that's where the nominal price, half the price of a beer at a pub, say, comes from. I'd love to chuck out stuff for free like the bloggers and spend all my time doing this to please people far and wide, but if I want to build something that gets better and better with time, if I want to hire the best, and do what it takes to do justice to something like the Hobby Shop Dungeon, I can't keep giving away everything we make. I know, I know, the Gygax cachet is important. And Ernie lost everything in the fire and needs the income. And now I kinda feel like a jerk for pointing that out. You're not a jerk mate. You point out something that is very true and that needed to be pointed out. I think that gamers should be free to do what they want to do. If using an index card is what it takes to get the game you want at your game table, then that's it. That's what you should use for your OD&D character. If Dyson's sheet does it, then cool, awesome. Some people will feel they get something special out of our GP sheet, and that's awesome as well. But really, I want to address this too: It is not about the "Gygax" cachet. This sheet works with our Hobby Shop Dungeon offerings, and we're in this to bring about the Dungeon proper, and a whole slew of modules and products besides. We're in this to do the dungeon and setting justice. We're not going to sell crap counting on the Gygax name to do us a favor: that would work ONCE, for some scam artists perhaps, and then people would realize they've been robbed and that'd be the end of it. This is not what we want. What we want is to bring some quality products to the table. We're in it for the long run. We're in it to build a structure that allows us to create the modules and setting we want, the way we want them to be presented and to be shared, so that gamers get the most value out of the whole. This character sheet is a little part of this. So is the Beggar King preview you can see here.So the Gygax cachet is one thing, but it's not some sort of pass for chucking out crap out the door. It shouldn't be, anyway. And I don't want GP offerings to be seen as a way to add to the fire relief fund because that's not the case. It's great that people donated so much to give the breathing room Ernie needed to get back on his feet, pay the medical bills, and get back to work with me on the dungeon. I am super grateful to everyone who's given a dime, some time, shared some stuff to spread the word about it. You helped my best friend, and that's something that I can't repay with mere words. But I can repay it another way: by making GP a success. By giving you guys some kick-ass gaming stuff to play with. And that's what I intend to do, to build and develop with Ernie over time. That's my personal commitment to you. |
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 4, 2014 10:50:54 GMT -6
Below is Tom Wham's own first character sheet, from 1975/76, which he posted on Facebook. The character portrait is done in his signature style. (click on the pic for a larger view) That is terrific! Thank you for fishing it back! Those sheets look nice with a genuine old school feel to them. Thanks! That's what we wanted: that genuine old school feel, and that modern functionality as well. |
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Post by Falconer on Jun 4, 2014 11:07:11 GMT -6
Below is Tom Wham's own first character sheet, from 1975/76, which he posted on Facebook. The character portrait is done in his signature style. (click on the pic for a larger view) Very cool! I like how he recorded all his HP rolls (presumably for level drains). I’m going to start enforcing that. |
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Jun 4, 2014 11:48:26 GMT -6
I like the sheets and will probably spring for them. The nominal fee isn't the deterrent as much as I am still somewhat waiting for more Hobby Shop Dungeon Material in order to really make the best use of them. So far, we have the Gygax magazine module and the Halls of the Beggar King Preview (thanks GaryCon!) but not a lot of information to tie them together. For instance, I didn't realize what "PP" stood for either and don't recall it being mentioned in either of the releases. Basically, give me a bit more substance for using these beauties and I am on board.  |
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 4, 2014 12:21:03 GMT -6
PPs are succinctly explained at the end of the character record sheet proper, much in the manner I just explained it here. As for the substance, it is coming. We will soon have the complete DU1 Marmoreal Tomb, with an additional level under what you've seen in Gygax Mag, elements surrounding it, more advice etc, we'll have the DU2 Haunted Halls of the Beggar King module with its two additional levels (usable in addition to the preview, or instead of it, I'll come back to that on the blog), the surface map, etc, we have another module in the works from Simon Todd entitled GB1 Murder at Sandermire, and obviously the big one, the Dungeon proper. Sammi-Zowa versus the Dueling Dragons will ultimately tie into the big picture of the HSD setting as well, with its own dedicated module. That's without counting the game books of Crossroads to Adventure that tie into the Dungeon and campaign, the game aids, and related adventure games work that'll accompany all of this. There's (much) more. But that gives you an idea of what's about to come, and the tasks at hand for us at GP. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 16:13:29 GMT -6
Now, see ... I would've said PP = "platinum pieces"  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 16:52:51 GMT -6
When we set out to do this sheet, we got Mark Allen, who's a good guy and great artist on board. It wouldn't have come to my mind to tell him to do this extensive work on our character sheet and have him do it for days on end for free. As you might guess, that's not what happened, because I like to think that good artists and good designers can do a good quality job and actually make some beer money out of it. If I'm giving a pay check to Mark Allen to do some good work for me, that also means that I have a responsibility to my company to make this work financially. And that's where the nominal price, half the price of a beer at a pub, say, comes from. I'd love to chuck out stuff for free like the bloggers and spend all my time doing this to please people far and wide, but if I want to build something that gets better and better with time, if I want to hire the best, and do what it takes to do justice to something like the Hobby Shop Dungeon, I can't keep giving away everything we make. But some things work better for pay than others. For example, if you want people to use the sheets with your dungeon, then it makes more sense to offer the sheets for free as a resource. It's going to be a hard sell for character sheets when it's almost ubiquitous that companies provide PDFs of them for free. Charge for printed ones, sure, but a PDF of a character sheet is usually provided free. I can't imagine the number of people willing to buy the character sheet PDFs is going to be sufficient to make a difference in whether or not the business succeeds. How many people buy the dungeon, yes. The sheets, no. |
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jun 4, 2014 19:57:36 GMT -6
When you are starting a business, every penny counts. The sheets do make a difference. So far at least.
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