Games I Wish I had Written...

OK, so this year I'm going to try to beat last year's record 32 posts, which is the most I had done since 2015. I'm going to have stuff to say, and it ain't going to be any of the navel-gazing so popular today. 

"What is the OSR?" "Why is the OSR?" "Who is the OSR?"

Meh. 

Frodo Lives. Tinkerbell Lives. The OSR Lives. 

Live it, love it, play it. Or some hippy-dippy saying like that...

Anyway, I'm gonna start this year off talking about the awesome loot that I got at the end of 2019.

Every one of these things is something I wish I had written. 

They are all awesome. Go out and give these guys your money.

Mike's Dungeons by Geoffrey McKinney.

Here's the skinny from Geoffrey himself:

WHAT THE DEVIL?

I took my DeLorean time machine back to 1983. I saw there four middle-school boys playing Dungeons & Dragons, and Mike was the name of the DM. I managed to steal Mike's dungeons and bring them back to 2020. I stole them fair and square, and now you can buy them. Mike did all the work, so we can be lazy.

DETAILS, PLEASE?

This is a massive dungeon of 78 hand-drawn levels, for character levels 1st through 10th. It was made with Moldvay/Cook's 1981 Dungeons & Dragons rules, but it can be used with other versions of the game.

WHAT IT IS NOT:

These dungeons are not for collecting, not for reading, not for gazing at, and not for displaying on your coffee table. It has no art, no stylish formatting, no production values at all. If you aren't going to use and abuse this in a game, there's no reason to buy it.

WHAT IT IS:

The word for this is FUN. These are the dungeons you could have made when you were 12 years old, but were too lazy. It is a no-nonsense dungeon for playing D&D. You don't even need to study it beforehand. You can run it on-the-fly.

YOU CAN PREVIEW ALL 78 LEVELS.

You read that right. You can freely preview every single page of this book. It's like you're flipping through this in a bookstore before you make your decision to buy.

The price comes to a nickel per level for the PDF, and a quarter per level for the print+PDF option.

Fight on!

Everything you read there is true. This is an awesome Oldest-School dungeon that you can pick up and go with. Its got monsters and traps and weird stuff and no pretensions. Adventurers are there to kill stuff and take their treasure or die horribly trying to do so.

I bought the original version here: 78-Level Dungeon for Sale on Dragonsfoot Forums. The special edition is totally a throwback to the days of Middle-School gaming yore. The only way it could have been more authentic is if it was sold in a Trapper-Keeper.

I love this module not only for the nostalgia, but for the amazing utility of the whole set-up. Need a quick one-shot for the night? Grab a page and go! Want to do an epic dungeon crawl in the old school way? This is it! Need something in-between? You are covered! The PDF is dirt cheap, you can put it on your phone and run it anywhere. The print module is a nice, solid brick for smashing characters. 

Endless ways to use it, and it ties in nicely with classic module B2: Keep on the Borderlands. Designed for use with B/X, Labyrinth Lord, and other similar editions.

Oh, how I wish I had written this! I cannot give Mike's Dungeons a higher recommendation.

BUY THIS IF: You want to relive the way you played B/X Dungeons & Dragons in Middle School in the mid-1980's, or if you want to experience what we did back then (and what the kids on Stranger Things are playing).

Original on Dragonsfoot Forums = $30.91 plus $6 shipping = $36.91

PDF on DriveThruRPG = $3.90 *DIRT CHEAP!*

POD on DriveThruRPG = $19.50 plus shipping

PDF and POD on DriveThruRPG = $19.50 plus shipping

Go buy this NOW!

Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa, Wilderness, and Dungeon Modules

After picking up Mike's Dungeons, I thought I'd check out what else Geoffrey had been up to the last couple of years (I am so far behind in buying stuff). I found out that he had seven products up on Lulu:

Carcosa Modules

There are four of these, but these are NOT for the original Carcosa setting; this is a different Carcosa. These are a totally different thing; still all dark and Lovecraftian with big helpings of Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Much stronger Swords & Sorcery feel. These are unapologetically designed for use with 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which can of course be used with Advanced Labyrinth Lord and similar editions.

This Carcosa still has the different human races, dinosaurs, strange aliens, weird sorcery, weirder super-science, and Lovecraftian entities, but none of the unpleasantness that went with the earlier Carcosa. Good old fashion murder-the-other-guys-and-take-their-treasures kind of adventures.

One reason I really like these modules is how much they are inspired by the old Wilderlands  of High Fantasy campaign setting and its design theories. Each module has on the back a full-color map, 26 hexes by 17 hexes with 5-mile hexes (so one-quarter of a Wilderlands map). The locales are noted based on their hex map grid (so you find the description of the "Castle of the Dino-Lizard Men" in numerical order of the hexes, Hex 1509). Descriptions are basic but rich, giving you all sorts of jumping off points.

Each module has a brief introduction (less than one page) dealing with the nature of humans and civilization on Carcosa. Then there is a brief one-page or so section as a gazetteer, giving details on the larger forest, swamps, mountains, hills, and so forth, to guide random encounters. Then the book contains page after page of descriptions of villages, hamlets, forts, castles, lairs, and ruins as well as their inhabitants, monsters, weird magic or technological devices -- each module is stuffed with 16 to 32 pages filled with adventure. The only art is on the cover -- and in each case, it shows an illustration of an encounter in each book. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but with RPGs, give me the words instead.

Carcosa Module 5: The Yuthlugathap Swamp (32 pages, $12.99) details a large swamp region, replete with lizard-men and strange ruins. Carcosa Module 6: Barrens of Carcosa (32 pages, $12.99) ( details a wide swath of plains, jungle, and desert. Carcosa Module 7: Jungles of K'naanothoa (16 pages, $9.99) details a region of deep jungles and unholy seas. Carcosa Module 8: The Mountains of Dream (20 pages, $10.99) details a region of savage mountains -- including the plateau of Leng.

The entries are somewhere between the bare-bones descriptions of Ravaged Ruins in the original Wilderlands and the more detailed entries in the Necromancer Wilderlands -- so you get more than enough, but not too much, nor too little. As with the Wilderlands, if you want the regions to be anything more than howling wilderness with a few rivalries set up here and there, you will need to do some work. 

BUY THESE IF: If you want a good old fashion Hexcrawl in a Lovecraftian Sandbox, these are for you! So if you ever intently pored over the Cthulhu Mythos in the old Deities & Demigods book and loved the "Den" scene of Heavy Metal, these modules are for you!

Wilderness Modules

While the Carcosa Modules are a very Lovecraftian Wilderlands-style setting, the Wilderness Modules are a direct homage to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy and J._._. T______n's M____e-e___h (names redacted to protect the innocent). The Wilderness Modules are much more classic High Fantasy (with a touch of the Weird) as opposed to the Lovecraftian Sword & Sorcery of the Carcosa Modules. These are your go-to modules if you are seeking more standard adventure fare, with doughty dwarves, haughty elves, and strange wizards going about distributing quests.

So far there are only two Wilderness Modules, and one related Dungeon Module. Like the Carcosa Modules, they are designed directly for use with 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and so easily used with Advanced Labyrinth Lord and similar systems. Each module includes several competing or allied settlements and a number of ruins, lairs, and strange locales for adventure. The two currently available include Wilderness Module 1: Worm Wars of the Dwarven Ice Kings (16 pages, $9.99) which focuses on the northern M___y Mountains region and Wilderness Module 2: Desolation of the Black Terror (16 pages, $9.99) which focuses on the G__y Mountains and northern M______d, east of the M___y Mountains. The first Dungeon Module, Dungeon Module 1: Crypt of the Lilac High Priest (16 pages, $9.99) is a module for a party of 1st level adventurers (and the first part in the 16-part Quest for the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar).

Finally, I should note that the covers of the Carcosa, Wilderness, and Dungeon Modules are all the work of Luigi Castellani; they are old school and workman-like, and fit the flavor of the modules. The cartography is quite nice, and all maps were done by Dion Williams (aka Burning ~ Torso).

Oh, how I wish I had written these!  I cannot give these modules a higher recommendation.

BUY THESE IF: Buy these if you like classic, old school High Fantasy campaign settings with a touch of the weird. These are for you if you loved the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

Note: The Carcosa, Wilderness, and Dungeon Modules are only available in print; they are not available in PDF format. That said, Lulu is always having a sale; I grabbed these at 25% off during the holiday season. So sign up for Lulu if you have not already and I am sure a coupon code will come along to fit your pocketbook.

Gabor Lux's Castle Xyntillan

One of the things that most disturbed me in December was how I had two AMAZING adventure modules fall into my lap. First, Mike's Dungeons, and then later Castle Xyntillan by Gabor Lux. They are both excellent in their own way; Mike's Dungeon for the nostalgic play, and Castle Xyntillan for, well, the nostalgic play, but in a different vein. Mike's Dungeon is a classic dungeon crawl in the kill-the-monsters-take-their-treasure sort of fashion, while Castle Xyntillan is an homage to Bob Bledsaw's Tegel Manor, the classic and very first "Fun-house Dungeon" from Judges Guild. 

Castle Xyntillan goes a step beyond mere homage, and creates a new pinnacle from which to measure "Fun-house Dungeons." It is the Ultimate Gothic Fun-house Dungeon; it is an instant classic. It is the kind of game book that you can lose yourself in for hours, as you trace all the interconnected characters and situations presented in the adventure. It is so thorough -- and yet, still so eminently and easily playable -- that one must assume that Gabor Lux discovered some lost classic of Gothic horror and cribbed off of it to create this huge, ruined pile of awesomeness.

In fact, this is Gabor Lux's love-note to Tegel Manor. Back in the Necromancer Wilderlands days, Gabor worked on a revised version of Tegel Manor that, for various reasons, never was produced (Frog God Games went on to do one, which I also received in December (oh, want a month it was!) but I will review that one in another post). Gabor then went on to build upon that original work to create the magnificence that is Castle Xyntillan, literally by killing more than a dozen player characters and scores of henchmen and hirelings in the extended play-testing.

Castle Xyntillan is the classic ancestral castle, filled with the detritus of generations of heroes and villains, most of whom, in the end, never left the castle -- and yet, never went anywhere else. It is filled with ghosts, zombies, skeletons, animated statues, living paintings, haunted objects, and piles and piles of treasure -- if you live long enough to collect it. Castle Xyntillan presents the judge with a fully fleshed out framework on which to build the emergent stories of their player's characters -- many of them, as many of them will die seeking to conquer this castle.

The writing is excellent, and yet, it has a texture that is, to an American, different. Perhaps it is a different way of thought built into the Hungarian language? A different perspective of Hungarian culture? However it came about, happy circumstance it is, as it adds to the depth and mystique of the place. Sort of like having Dracula himself (portrayed by the inimitable Bela Lugosi) describe his castle and its occupants. The organization is top-notch, a format of cross-referencing and referencing within a room that I thoroughly intend to borrow for use in my future projects. It magnifies the joy from the perspective of the game master, reading such a fine work maximized for game play and yet still worthy of being called literature.

I must also mention the excellent maps of the castle -- main floors, several upper-floor wings and tower, dungeon level, and interior wilderness (zounds!), all done by the worthy hand of Robert Conley of Bat in the Attic Games. Now normally, I am not one for art, as I mentioned above, but every piece in this work was carefully designed to maximize the vision of the author and enhance the reader's experience (and with care, provide examples for the players). The cover art is by Peter Mullen, with interior illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, Peter Mullen, and The Dead Victorians.

Compatible with Swords & Wizardry rules, but easily adapted to Labyrinth Lord or Advanced Labyrinth Lord.

Oh, how I wish I had written this! I cannot give Castle Xyntillan a higher recommendation.

BUY THIS IF: Buy this if you want to take your players on one of the most amazing fun-house dungeon adventures ever written.

Castle Xyntillan, E.M.D.T. 60, $40 plus $22 shipping to the US (CHEAP!!!)

Note: I paid for every product reviewed herein, and have not received any form of compensation for these reviews. I'm not even using affiliate links. This is all about my love for these books.

[Review] Project Oasis by Joseph Bloch -- 5 out of 5 Stars

Project Oasis, written by Joseph Bloch (Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage) and self-published through BRW Games, is a 36-page PDF campaign supplement for Mutant Future and Apes Victorious, both being post-apocalypse (PA) games by Goblinoid Games.

Set 1000 years after the Devastation, it is a “kitchen-sink” style setting, containing all the themes and ideas from a wide spectrum of early PA literature, film, and television, focusing on the materials developed in the 1970s. Planet of the Apes, Ark II, Omega Man, Logan’s Run, Twilight Zone, Mad Max – it’s all here in a fantastic melting pot that gives you an entire continent of possible adventure.

 

 

The two-page introductory section explains the basics of the world and how it came to be; speaks of technology and geography; and gives some basic guidelines for the kinds of campaigns the setting is designed for (very different from many modern PA settings, due to the strong influence of the middle-era of the PA genre). Details are brief, but give a game master more than enough material to get started.

 

We then get to the meat of the booklet, the 22-page gazetteer. This covers every major power in the PA setting, a mix of stone-age savagery to high-tech insanity. Virtually every kind of PA trope is covered in this, with lots of opportunities for a game master to start a campaign in exactly the kind of setting he wants, then move the adventure on to other regions. There are ape realms, human-friendly, human-neutral, and human-enslaving; there are high-tech mutant realms hidden under wastelands, low-tech mutant wilds, human-mutant cooperatives, and mutant-power domains; there are hidden high-tech cities of wonder where the people are dedicated to recovering what was lost, high-tech cities of wonder where the people are kept in dystopian decadence, and there are low-tech kingdoms dedicated to keeping things exactly the way they never really were in chivalrous glory. And that’s just for starters!

 

I’m being a bit nebulous here, as I believe that it would give you, the reader, far greater joy to discover the world of Project Oasis on your own, rather than have me list off the regions chapter and verse.

 

Two things I will discuss are "Project Oasis" itself and the inclusion of adventure hooks with each region. First, Project Oasis is not simply the name of the book, it is also a major faction in the PA world. Project Oasis is a very high technology organization, operating from a secret base, that seeks to bring the world back from savagery (echoes of Ark II, Earth II, and Planet Earth); to this end, they send out teams of adventuring types to help uplift goodly domains and bring down or stall villainous ones. This provides an excellent hook on which the game master can hang her campaign, as it enables player characters to travel all over the continent (and beyond) with as much technological support as the game master wishes them to have at the time. Second, each of the region entries has three adventure hooks included, at least one of which deals with Project Oasis and how it, and its representatives, might interact with the peoples and powers of the region. So the book itself, as mentioned in the introduction, really gears play toward a Project Oasis-based campaign, though myriad other options are readily available.

 

The volume finishes with three short appendices, two dedicated to new monsters (one for Mutant Future, the other for Apes Victorious), and the other a listing of inspirational material. The new monster sections include everything mentioned in the work that was not otherwise found in Mutant Future and/or Apes Victorious, each section covering the same monsters. The list of inspirational material provides most of the books, films, and television shows you would need to read or watch to better understand the setting. Personally, if you have no experience with the middle-era PA genre, I’d watch Ark II, the Planet of the Apes movies and television series, and the Logan’s Run movie and television series; these give you a complete overview of the relevant material and, most especially, style of the genre.

 

Finally, there is the continental map. Created using Hexographer, it shows the relation between the new geography of the continent and all the various regions, including cities, major towns, ruins, and other notable locations. The only problem with it is that I have not been able to find a scale for the map anywhere on the map or in the book… I think it is 30 or 40 miles per hex? [NOTE: Confirmed from Joseph that the scale is in fact 30 miles per hex.]

 

Click to embiggen; this is a small and shrunken snippet of a full continental map!

 

The upshot of the review is that this is the best PA campaign setting on the market today, if you are into the middle-era PA genre. If you aren’t, well, get on the bandwagon! The PA middle-genre provides you with all the action, adventure, seriousness, and wild and wacky wahoo you could ever want out of a PA setting, and this book distills it all down for you. Project Oasis plus Mutant Future and Apes Victorious can provide literally years of PA adventures. With Project Oasis Joseph Bloch has presented the PA gamer community with a PA campaign “Greyhawk Gazetteer” upon which to build and develop their own campaigns.

 

Project Oasis is a book I wish that I had written. And really, I can’t give it better kudos than that.

 

Five out of Five Stars

 

Project Oasis
by Joseph Bloch

Published by BRW Games
36-page PDF with PNG Continental Map
$9.95

Buy Project Oasis at DTRPG

Buy Project Oasis at RPGNow

 

Note: I purchased Project Oasis with my own money. I have not been offered anything in return for a review. The links above go through the Affiliate Program at OBS, so if you buy something after clicking through, I get a taste of the action. Hope all the cyber-cops are happy with this disclaimer.

[Review] These Goblins Won't Kill Themselves

These Goblins Won’t Kill Themselves

For 3-6 adventurers of low to moderate levels of experience

By Christopher Clark (Inner City, Fuzzy Heroes, My First LARP)

Art by Dave Peterson (interior) and Lloyd Metcalf (cover)

Published by Inner City Games Designs

34 pages, $6.00 PDF, $14.95 POD SC

TL; DR: These Goblins Won’t Kill Themselves (TGWKT) is a fun, one-shot dungeon delving adventure in the classic, humorous style reminiscent of the early days of fantasy gaming. If you liked Keep on the Borderlands and the April issues of Dragon, this is right up your alley…

In Short: TGWKT is a fantasy adventure module written in a classical style; that is to say, it deals with a fairly standard type of adventure (Seek the Treasures Lost in the Bad Guys Lair), and to this it adds a heaping helping of another classic element – humor. TGWKT isn’t anything new – it evokes the same style of adventure classic in TSR modules in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, down to Gygaxian naturalism, flavor text, puns, and in-jokes. But for this reviewer, that is very much a feature, not a bug. Much like In Search of the Unknown, Keep on the Borderlands, and Horror on the Hill, it is a light dungeon crawl adventure, suitable for play in one to three sessions. So if that is what you are into, it will be right up your alley.

The Look: TGWKT evokes the classic look; most of the interior art by Dave Peterson would be at home in any classic OSR style adventure. The art mostly depicts scenes and characters in the module, so you can print those separately to show to your players. The maps are simple, but well done and utilitarian. The font is simple and easy to read. Flavor text is in bold. Like many of the old modules, it’s not fancy, but it works, and unlike a lot of modern works, it won’t kill your printer cartridge to print it up to have a paper copy at the table.

The Feel: TGWKT definitely falls within the “classic punster” or “tongue-in-cheek” style of adventure; the fact that it is the first in a series of adventures taking place in the “Lands of Igpay” should give anyone reading the cover fair warning of the style of play expected. It feels like something one would find as an insert in a classic April issue of Dragon Magazine. However, while the adventure certainly works well with the humor style of play, if that’s not your thing, the core elements can also be used with a more heroic style of play with minimal work. Minus the humorous elements, TGWKT fall solidly in the “heroic fantasy” style of play, with a dash of Faerie style (as Igpay is a “land apart” from the character’s normal homeland).

The System: TGWKT uses a generic system, much like the various Eldritch Enterprises adventure modules that Clark has published with Frank Mentzer, Jim Ward, and Tim Kask. This is really a non-issue; most of the monsters can simply be lifted from whatever system you are using by simply looking for the monster name or a similar type in your core rules. A little conversion might be needed on the fly, but even for an inexperienced game master, the conversion needed is minimal.

The Adventure: The characters, removed from their own natal lands, somehow end up in the Land of Igpay, a fairy-tale land where the Elves have been at odds with the Goblins over an unfortunate misunderstanding. Elven heroes put a stop to the Goblin War some time ago, but now the Goblins are back, and the Elves today have no defenses, being pacifists. Thus they offer their treasures to the adventurers if they will go into the Goblin caves and rout out the enemy, or at least, return to the Elves their lost weapons of power so that the Elves can once again defend themselves. After a short wilderness trek, the adventurers must delve into the lair of the goblins, where several fearsome tricks and traps await, in addition to the martial menace of the goblins. There is also a lead-in to the sequel, though this can be ignored if the game master simply wants to run the adventure as a one-shot.

Some of the traps in the module are outright lethal… which again, to this reviewer is a feature, not a bug. So if you do not like the “Save or Die” style of gaming (or worse, the “No Save and Die” style), you might need to tone down a few things.

NB: Back when TGWKT was originally released, Inner City Games Designs sent me a complementary copy of the PDF to review. As they have now released the sequel Why Are We Here? These Things Are Already Dead! I was reminded of TGWKT and went to find it to finally write the review… and discovered that at some point in the previous year, I had lost it in a purge of my computer. So I went and bought a copy of the PDF in order to review it.

5 out of 5 stars

Buy These Goblins Won’t Kill Themselves on DriveThruRPG

Buy These Goblins Won’t Kill Themselves on RPGNow

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Review

So at Gen Con I picked up a copy of the new, 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook.

I hadn't really followed much of the brouhaha over the new edition, nor had I play-tested it; while I had downloaded the free starter set information, I hadn't even read it yet. But, it was the new edition of D&D, so I had to give it a try. Heck, I even gave 4th Edition a try... howsoever brief. So why not, too, 5th Edition?

Here's the short of what I think: 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is a lovely home-brewed, house-ruled version of the Castles & Crusades system and the ideals of Labyrinth Lord with a dash of Dungeon Crawl Classics and HackMaster 4th Edition for flavor.

The long of it: Based on the PHB, this is probably a game I would play. Heck, if the MM and DMG live up to what I've seen in the PHB, I might even want to run a 5th Edition game. I would have never said that about 4th Edition, and after running a fair bit of 3rd Edition, I gave up on that, too.

But this game really tickles my fancy. And by my fancy, I mean my desire for a nice, simple system. And the new edition honestly delivers. It basically strips the d20 System down, much like Castles & Crusades does, and rebuilds the system using the ideals of the original and early editions... again, much like Castles & Crusades does. It makes certain different assumptions on making the numbers work, but it really feels like a Castles & Crusades variant.

So while I won't be changing my core, go-to game systems... Castles & Crusades and Labyrinth Lord... I will definitely be adding 5th Edition to my repertoire of playable games.

A few specific notes, good and bad, some to chew on, others just to remark upon:

I really, really, REALLY like the way they do spell memorization and spell slots. I'm going to have to steal that system for my house-rules for both C&C and LL.

The halfling art in the book is ridiculous... horrendous, even, in some spots. Otherwise, the art is quite nice. Very medievalesque, yet very inclusive and diverse. Really, better art than any they've had since 2nd Edition.

Oddly, there is no one place where the skills Open Locks and Find/Remove Traps are defined, systematically. You kind of have to piece together bits from the descriptions of Thieves Tools and Dexterity Ability Checks. Would have thought there would have been something definitive in the Rogue description, but no... I guess that is all for the DMG.

There are three Arcane spell-casters, the Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard, each doing magic slightly differently. I could see having maybe one, maybe two in a single campaign, but three... I dunno. Seems a bit heavy. And then, too, you have the Eldritch Knight and the Arcane Trickster Archetypes/Demi-classes (shadows of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea), so really there are five arcane spell-casting classes...

Grappling is nice and simple, as is Two Weapon Wielding. These I like.

Feats are optional, seriously optional, and I think work much better than they did in 3rd Edition. I also like the Backgrounds. One minor note, that I know is going to be a complaint from some players, is moving Charge from a combat option to a feat... I think that will be house-ruled in my games, considering how charge-happy my players are...

And then there is Healing. Using Hit Dice for Healing in Short Rests, recovering all HP and all HD during a Long Rest... that is likely to change. Maybe requiring a Full Day Rest to recover a used HD. Though really, you know, using the rules as written would just make the game go that much faster, with less down-time going back to town to rest and relax. We shall see...

Some of the spells are nerfed, others go way up in power. I think it balances out to make arcane spell-casters more useful in general, especially when combined with the new memorization and spell-slot system. I've usually given wizards a "mage-bolt" power as it was, so it fits in with my way of gaming pretty well.

Essentially, as I went through the book, my thoughts went more often to "ooh, I can use this/steal this" rather than "this makes no sense," as it did often when reading the 4th Edition books.

So the upshot is, 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is a game I would like to play... maybe even run. I can't really give it a better recommendation than that...

[Cool Game Stuff] Rory's Story Cubes

I was walking through the drugstore the other day when I stumbled on a sweet set of dice in the toy aisle: Rory's Story Cubes from Gamewright.

It is a set of nine 6-sided dice with icons instead of numbers. The basic idea is that you and your friends roll the dice, in various combinations, and using the images that are rolled, build a story. While the images are generally "modern," there is enough there that you can readily adapt anything you roll to be used even with a fantasy role-playing game. Need a quick adventure for your players tonight, but haven't a clue about what to do? Grab a couple of these dice to break your judge's block. Roll 'em all or just a few. Looking at the set I have sitting on the table next to me, I'm picking out:

Conversation Balloon: The party starts in a tavern, speaking with an old guy...
Alien Face: Okay, the bad guys are from elsewhere... let's go with goblins.
Key: The goblins have stolen a key... from...
Wand with Magic Sparks: a Wizard! So it is a magic key, and the old guy is a wizard. Maybe to a magical treasure?
Foot: The goblins got away and are now hiding out several days away.
Scarab: They are hiding out in an old ruined Egyptian-style temple. Maybe some zombies and mummies around, too?
Eye: They have spies watching out in case they are followed...
Comedy/Tragedy Masks: An ally of the players is not what he seems... the spy is in the midst of the characters? Maybe an assistant of the wizard sent with the characters?
Many-level Building: Turns out the temple has many levels... so yeah, a goblin lair on the first level of the dungeon, a mixed level on 2nd, and the mummies on the 3rd level...

There we go... judge's block solved!

They also have Rory's Story Cubes Voyages, which looks like it will be even more appllicable to D&D and other fantasy players. I'm going to have to hunt that one down... the regular Rory's Story Cubes is available through game distribution (at least through Alliance and ACD), so you can order it through your local hobby shop. I'm not sure if the Voyages version has made it into game distribution yet...

Of course, this will also be a lovely little game to play with children, too; it's a Dr. Toy 10 Best Games winner. They certainly have my recommendation; and I can't wait to find a copy of the Voyages set!

N.B.: I stumbled upon these in the store and bought the product with my own money. No one paid me for this review.