24 August 2009

Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net

ROGUE FEED Pellucidar tells the story of Christopher West, a friend of Dr Kinsley, a
brilliant scientist who has (conveniently) developed a device that can
Pulp Fantasy Library: Mahars of both function as a teleporter and see locations up to 200 miles beneath
the surface of the Earth. West sees a beautiful woman about to be
Pellucidar sacrificed and, armed with only a penknife and a fire axe, jumps into the
AUG 23, 2009 11:01P.M. teleporter to save her. He succeeds in his immediate goal, finding himself
in the subterranean realm of Pellucidar, whose Stone Age natives dub
him “Red Axe” because of the strange weapon he wields. From them, he
learns that the reptilian Mahars lord it over the humans and West vows
to aid them in ending their tyranny.

Mahars of Pellucidar, even by the standards of pastiche, isn’t a great

book. It’s certainly fun, in a Saturday afternoon cliffhanger kind of way,
but it lacks most of what made Burroughs’s original tales so enjoyable.
It’s also an odd story in that, while set in Pellucidar and including the
Mahars first mentioned in At the Earth’s Core, it’s otherwise largely
divorced from the original story. In addition, there are some subtle
differences and errors — Burroughs stated that Pellucidar was 500 miles
beneath the Earth’s surface, not 200, as Holmes has it — that make the
book feel off, as if it were not merely a pastiche but a knock-off, if one
can understand the distinction. That feeling probably isn’t helped by the
fact that its cover was illustrated by Boris Vallejo, who’s made a good
living by frequently being confused with Frank Frazetta.

If you can find a copy, Mahars of Pellucidar is still worth a read. It’s not
great literature by any means, but there’s an uncomplicated enthusiasm
to the text that should serve as a tonic to the overwrought seriousness of
too many fantasy series published in the last 20 years — and unlike
them, it’s a quick read too.

ROGUE FEED
Take a good look at the name on the book cover to the left and you’ll
know immediately why I decided to devote this week’s Pulp Fantasy Oink! Oink!
Library to the Burroughs pastiche, Mahars of Pellucidar. In addition to AUG 23, 2009 08:12P.M.
being a neurologist and roleplaying enthusiast, Dr J. Eric Holmes was a
fantasy novelist, albeit a not particularly successful one. The bulk of his A pig-faced orc miniature from my Dwimmermount campaign, painting
literary output consisted of books based on the works of earlier authors, and photograph courtesy of a good friend (and player of Dordagdonar).
such as Burroughs, Philip Nowlan (of Buck Rogers fame), and R.E.
Howard (Holmes wrote an unpublished Conan novel).

Of these pastiches, 1976’s Mahars of Pellucidar was perhaps the most

successful, in that a sequel to it was eventually published in 1980,
although a widely-held rumor claims that the Burroughs estate tried to
block the sequel’s appearance for unspecified reasons. Mahars of

1
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
Searchers of the Unknown
AUG 23, 2009 07:38P.M.
For those who haven’t seen it, here’s Nicolas Dessaux’s Searchers of the
Unknown, a one-page distillation of OD&D for those who like their
fantasy RPGs really rules-light.
ROGUE FEED
The GenCon “haul”
AUG 23, 2009 04:00P.M.
Last post dealing with GenCon 2009.
Unlike the last couple of years, I actually purchased a few games. My
purchases this year reflect something that I have noticed as of late: I only
by small press/indie games.
This is not for political reasons, it is due to the simple fact, it is the small
press/indie games that I am finding the most creativity in this realm.
Nothing from the larger companies grab me. I have all the Call of
Cthulhu books I would ever need. My days of playing D&D are behind
me (not for any reason other than SS&S is scratching my itch for
2
24 August 2009
fantasy). So this year, I made an effort to find things that grab me. There
was one game I wanted this year, and other than that game, nothing was
on my radar. This allowed me, to discover new games — at least for me —
and I am glad I did this.
So what did I get? Glad you ask.
Chronica Feudalis, by Jeremy Keller, Cellar Games, LLC. This was the
game I wanted, and I was happy as hell to get two copies (one for myself
and one for James) at the IPR booth. I am reading this now, but already I
can safely say: I love this game. Well worth the buy, and a must
read/play for those who love Medieval History.
The above was all I wanted to get, and might have been the only
purchase I made. Then I found Pirate Jenny. For me this was the one
place where I found games that grabbed me, and make me want to play
them. I fought the urge to buy everything in the booth, but I did make a
few choice purchases:
• Sign in Stranger
• Polaris
• Thou Art Buy A Warrior (for Polaris)
• Steak Away Jordan
By far my favorite booth, and probably my favorite games I have bought
in a long time. My only regret is that I did not buy more, I will have to
take care of that next year.
Posted in Games, Life, thoughts Tagged: Fourth Millennium, Games,
gencon, thoughts
ROGUE FEED
New World Almanack and
looking for submissions
AUG 23, 2009 09:09A.M.
When we released Colonial Gothic back in 2007, one of the first things
James and I wanted to ensure was that the game was supported. We took
a few stumbles along the way, but soon, we found our footing and have
tried to do better and better. Even though we made mistakes, one of the
things we did right was the New World Almanack.
Now that the wiki is entering its’ third year, I am faced with a question:
What’s next?
The Almanack is not going away, if anything, I have more content I want
to add to it. However, one area that has not gone as well as I like, is fan
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 24 August 2009

driven content. We’ve put out calls before, and though we have gotten
some great content, it is never enough.

So what do you want to see added to the New World Almanack? More
spells? New monsters? New relics? I can create them, but I am finding
myself busier and busier writing new books for the game. I still have
content I plan on adding, but that will be running out soon. Here is a call
for help, if you will, I am always looking for content to add to the wiki.
For those new to the party, here is how you submit material to the wiki.

Fan Material Submissions Guidelines

When forming Rogue Games, one of the things both the Rogues wanted,
was to be fan friendly. Games are meant to be played and enjoyed, and
game ideas should be shared.

Rogue Games is putting out the call to their fans. We want your fan
material!

Actually, we do not “want it;” we are looking for submissions for

adventures and articles for both Colonial Gothic and Thousand Suns.
The articles and adventures will be hosted on the Rogue Games websites
and wikis. All contributors will be credited. In addition anything, you
submit and we accept, becomes the property of Rogue Games. However,
if you want to reuse it for other games, you still retain the rights to
repuporse anything you submit for other games.

So what are the requirements?

Fan Submissions

We will always respond to submissions.

Always.

Even if they are not suitable for posting. If you send a submission and do
not hear back from us in a timely fashion, please drop us a line to remind
us.

Failure to reply is simply due to the busy schedule the Rogue’s have. If
you take the time to submit something, we will take the time to respond.

So how do you submit material? Via email.

Wiki entries should be in RTF (Rich Text Format) or MS Word

format. You can email submissions to info@rogue-games.net.

Please put in your subject line one of the following headers:

• [Colonial Gothic — New World Almanack]

• [Thousand Suns — Encyclopedia Galactica]

So there you go. Let your creativity flow and get writing.