I love free games and I’m not sure how Heroes Against Darkness slipped under my radar for this long. Guess, I’m trying to keep up with just too many things. But anyway, Heroes Against Darkness, looks like a fun little game. It’s pretty good combination of all Editions and dang is it pretty. It’s got good artwork and layout which you don’t see that often in free stuff. I don’t think I need to go into too much detail about the mechanics and stuff because it isn’t going to cost you anything to check it out. But if free isn’t enough incentive for you then here’s some thoughts.
Like I said before, this game is mash up of bits and concepts from all Editions. Simple mechanics and a non-crunchy skill system from the early days. Static Defenses and Class Powers similar 4th Edition. Kind of a nice mix of the old and new. Races are pretty standard but classes add a few interesting things.
You’ve got your standard class types but there a couple of interesting things. There’s a Barbarian and a Berserker. Barbarians are tough. Berserkers are vicous. The Hunter is sort of like a Ranger focusing on ranged attacks. There is no Cleric class but there is the Hospiter which is sort of like a Paladin/Cleric hybrid. Arcane casters are broken down by the type of magic they cast. Warlocks do destructive magic. Healers, well, heal. Canonites cast protective spells. Mystics cast controlling spells. And Necromancers do what they do best. While I’m talking about magic, it’s a good thing to note that Heroes Against Darkness doesn’t use Vancian Magic. It’s spell point based system.
The book also contains all the usual stuff that you would expect; monsters, hints for running a campaign and those juicy bits.
All in all, I think it’s pretty damned good. I’ll admit that I probably won’t run it RAW but I just might tweak a few bits here and there then fold them into my own home brew Frankengame. Go check it out. You really don’t have anything to lose.

So Crypts & Things from D101 Games is out if you’ve pre-ordered and it’s pretty darned good. And if you’re not into OSR games, it’s still worth a look. The game stands on its own as a flexible rules lite Sword & Sorcery game.
At the heart of the game is Swords & Wizardry (I have to say this is my favorite of the retro-clones.). It’s simple, flexible and easy to learn. Just what I like in a game. Crypts & Things tweaks Swords & Wizardry to a Sword & Sorcery bent. Think Robert E. Howard with a good dose of H.P. Lovecraft. No snooty elves, drunk dwarves or sneaky hobbites but plenty of mighty thews, flashing swords and evil serpent men. How could lose with a combination like that?
Classes are pretty straight forward and there are only four. The Barbarian is pretty darned cool. A savage who can deal out some damage and take a pounding. He’s got some of the skills that most folks expect to see in the Ranger but this is still a kick ass Barbarian. The Fighter. There’s a nice twist here. Fighting Styles. These allow you to customize your character a little more like Swashbuckler or Berserker. The Styles fold into the class nicely and give that bit of customization so every fighter doesn’t look the same. Then we have the Thief. He’s your skill monkey. Sneaking, locks and traps the usual. They are a little a bit better at combat than your normal Thief types (a bonus to AC and better at 2 weapon fighting). But there’s a little twist here too. Everybody is a rogue. That’s one of the philosophies. What that means is that the infamous Sneak Attack is not a Thief ability. It’s something everybody can do. This really doesn’t detract from the Thief. He still his own dude. But this does make things a little more interesting.
I saved the Magician for last for a really good reason because there’s a big change here. First: NO clerics. NO Druids. Just Magician. Alright don’t panic. The spells are rolled into one list. So yeah, your Magician can heal. But once again we have Sword & Sorcery twist here. The spells are boken down into White, Gray and Black. Actual casting is standard (but personally I might tweak it a bit to be more like the Conjurer from Dwellers in the Dark for Castles and Crusades.) White magic is basically your hippy magic (healing and nice nature stuff), grey is charm and gentler stuff and black is mostly what you would expect and the direct damage spells. White magic is cast normally, Casting gray magic causes a little Hit Point damage. While black causes some Sanity loss (remember I mentioned Lovecraft) or possibly Wisdom damage.
The rest of the game is pretty sweet too. The Life Path chart adds a little bonus to the character and some history. This one thing that screams for folks to start creating their own. I know that’s on my To-Do list. The game has a nice wound system. Hit points are basically superficial damage and heal quickly. Serious wounds cause Constitution damage. The tweak here is that Cure Spells heal that Constitution and not Hit Points. Trust me it works.
Where else does this game hit me straight in OMG-I-Want-To-Play-This bone? Magic Items and Monsters. Since this a Sword & Sorcery game, character’s won’t be walking around with the infamous Christmas Tree Syndrome. Magic items are unique and with every blessing there comes a price or curse. And the bestiary is pretty sweet. Of course, there’s some of your standard monsters but the original monsters to the setting are just the right mix of fantasy and unspeakable horrors. And the vampires. These are great. No level drain but still pretty nasty and a good new take on these classic monsters.
Crypts & Things has its own setting too. The world of Zarth. It’s covered in just enough detail to know what’s happening but still leaves enough room for GM’s to interject their adventures or idea or just use that world for inspiration and head off with own bit of creativity.
Like I said before Crypts & Things does have a lot of common with Lamentations of the Flame Princess when it comes to mood and feel. Overall, it’s a solid game and I’m glad I got it.

After playing with the Character Builder for a couple of minutes, I realized that it’s like Vornheim but for people rather than cities.
I like generic tools. This was my philosophy when I was playing GURPS. The more generic the supplement the more likely I would buy it. And that’s the top reason I really like this little utility. So what is the Character Builder? Here is what it is not. It is not a character generator. You don’t get a pile of numbers or a stat block for whatever rules system you happen to be playing. What Character Builder gives you is a system neutral outline of a character. This is perfect for an on the fly NPC or if you want to create a list of local bar patrons just in case you might need them. It gives the outline of the character’s opinions, beliefs, passions and background enough to role play an interesting encounter or act as a seed for an adventure.
Here’s a couple of example characters:

Krana Eratroc is a seer. She is a sucker for cute and fuzzy things, summer and dudes/damsels in distress. A tablet recently played a role in her life. She hates challenges and large cities.
She is tall and muscular with golden-brown skin and large ears. She has unruly, waist length stable hair and clouded almost black eyes. She has a small scar on her right leg. She favors elegant voluminous garments in shades of pale orange, yellow-green and grey-brown.
Overall, she is motivated by mild duty and overpowering bloodlust. The first motive is the most relevant.
In an important recent incident she was motivated by frustration, perverse piety and humility. She is not being honest with herself about her primary motive.
Her brother is an admired poet and her cousin is a beloved bandit. She has a strained relationship with her brother.

Peyl Hugebow is an evil witch. A flower is significant to him. One of his hobbies is playing an instrument.
He is short and husky with caramel-colored skin. He has straight, close-cropped red-brown hair and small sea green eyes. He has a closely trimmed beard.
Overall, he is motivated by confused paranoia and temporary jealousy.
A recent action was motivated by laziness, insanity and competitiveness.
In an important recent incident he was motivated by ambition, kindness and idealism. He assumes all others have the same motives.
His grandfather is an adept crafter and his cousin is a very unpopular advocate. He has deliberately lost touch with his nephew.

Now, yeah. I know there may the occasional grammar or style error. But you’re smart, you can figure it out.
You can also quickly generate just the things you need like names, family history, opinions and motives. Once again, handy system neutral tools. There is also really neat one. The Tattoo Generator. This little option was a complete surprise to me when I opened the program. What a cool idea. You hit the “Generate” button and you get an image of the tattoo and its location. I don’t know how many images there in the database but there seems to be plenty. You’re also not necessarily stuck by just doing fantasy stuff. There’s options to generate modern or sci-fi characters. Nice.
More than likely, you’ll probably be using this for fantasy games and the Character Builder doesn’t have type of option for the standard fantasy races. This isn’t a deal breaker but it would be a really nice option for a future release.
Overall, the Character Builder is a very handy tool for any GM out there. In seconds, you could whip up interesting tavern patrons, shop keepers or whatever type of NPC you might need.
Technical Specs: The Character Builder runs using the Microsoft .NET framework. Since I’m a cheapskate, my old laptop is running Linux and the Character Builder should work via WINE (but I haven’t tested and tweaked yet.) If you go analog at the game table, no problem. You can copy and paste the results into whatever word processor you use and print out your big book of NPC’s.
The Character Builder plus some more handy tools from Chaotic Shiny Productions are available from Drivethrurpg or the Chaotic Shiny site. Plus there are plenty of other handy generators free to use at the site.
On a final note: Hannah (AKA Swordgleam) of Chaotic Shiny Productions did provide me with a review copy of this product.

I knew I was going to start putting stuff on youtube sooner or later and thought that this would be a great way to start. I gotta say I really like these bags and I am the envy of a couple of folks at the gaming table. And in case you missed it, here’s that link again. Dragon Chow Dice Bags.