Zappa No Longer Plays Zappa

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/business/media/whats-in-a-name-just-ask-frank-zappas-feuding-heirs.html?

A depressing soap opera.

An Acrid Stench

"...an acrid stench so vile and incisive that his teeth felt tender in their sockets."

- Jack Vance, Cugel's Saga

Still one of my all time favorite quotes.

Sigil, City of Doors

http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2015/04/planescape-guide-to-sigil-city-of-doors.html

Fascinating look at one of my favorite fictional cities.

Fatescape

http://www.certain-death.com/fatescape.pdf

An interesting emulation of Planescape.

Aenur, the Sword of Twilight

http://www.mordheimer.com/dramatis_personae/dp_aenur.htm

I dropped him into the warband sim, and he killed about 200 opponents, mostly chaos beastmen but also a few ogres and minotaurs.

Deodanths and Yugarfs

http://underworldcleaningservice.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-monster-deodanth.html

People are so creative, but it does tend to get confusing at times with all the deodanth, tielfling, cambion, etc.

Or, how about a Yugarf?

What is a Yugarf, you say?

A Yugarf is a cross between a yugoloth and a dwarf (no, not a duergar, a real dwarf).

And yes, citation needed.

Mordheimer's Campaign Aid

http://www.mordheimer.com/downloads/resources/The_Mordheimer's_Campaign_Aid_v1.20.pdf

Entertaining descriptions of many Mordheim locations.

Warhammer Narratives

http://whfbnarratives.blogspot.com/

An active blog with tons of useful material.

Liber Malefic

http://libermalefic.blogspot.com/

Yet another interesting blog that went dormant.

Hopefully, it is just temporary.

Lizardmen

http://return-to-mordheim.blogspot.com/2012/03/lizardmen-from-jungles-of-lustria.html

Interesting Lizardman Warband list.

WyrdWars

http://www.wyrdwars.com/

Non-commercial, which is good, because I did not get into gaming just so I could be associated with some crass commercial endeavor.

Undead R Us

http://forum.nwnights.ru/uploads/rulebooks/Libris_Mortis.pdf

Sometimes I am amazed bordering on stupification when I find something like this on the interwebz.

Accursed Knowledge

http://accursedknowledge.0catch.com/

There appears to be no limit to the number of treasure troves of useful material on the web.

Trolls and Trolls

I am still struggling with the whole trolls as character (like in World of Warcraft) versus trolls as monsters (like in almost everyone else).

I need to come up with some clever contrivance where I have both, simultaneously at once (yes, I already know, Department of Redundancy Department).

At some undefined time in the far distant past, a powerful sorceress transmogrified some monster trolls into character trolls, and there have been two distinct populations ever since.

Why does it always have to come down to the intervention of a powerful sorceress?

Killershrike

http://killershrike.com/

Another treasure trove of material.

Warhammer Armies Project

http://warhammerarmiesproject.blogspot.com/

A treasure trove of material.

Marauders of Khorne

http://www.azureknight.com/mordheim/Marauders%20of%20Khorne.htm

Khorne warband for Mordheim.

Mordheim Demonologist

http://www.killershrike.com/Mordheim/HiredSwords/demonologist.aspx

Summoning demons, or even daemons, is nasty business.

What could possibly go wrong?

Mordheim Miracle Workers

http://cianty.ashtonsanders.com/mim/pdf/miracle_workers.pdf

Features several interesting priest characters for Mordheim campaigns.

Mordheim Expanded Campaign Rules

http://www.specialist-arms.com/fanatic/88ecr.pdf

Interesting ideas for an advanced campaign system.

Empire of the Dead

http://deltavector.blogspot.com/2012/07/empire-of-dead-rulebook-review-28mm-vsf.html

Skirmish game using d10.

Brink of Battle & Epic Heroes

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2014/10/brink-of-battle-epic-heroes-review-by.html

Very positive review.

Warrior Heroes - Legends

http://thegaminggang.com/our_reviews/tabletop-gaming-reviews/a-legend-in-the-making-a-review-of-warrior-heroes-legends/

Skirmish fantasy miniatures game.

Open Combat

http://gavthorpe.co.uk/2014/10/15/fancy-some-open-combat-2/

A new (in 2014) skirmish wargame.

Iron & Honor

http://redturbanpress.com/product/iron-honor-core-rules/

Wargames Rules for Fantasy Skirmishes

GROMM

http://paizo.com/products/btpy8u10?GROMM-Fantasy-Skirmish-Basic-Edition-Mark-II

More interesting fantasy skirmish rules.

I want to try them all.

Armies of Arcana

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/165684/armies-arcana-review

Positive review, makes me want to try it.

D&D is a gateway to hell

http://www.tor.com/2014/08/29/summer-of-sleaze-the-exploitation-of-james-dallas-egbert-iii/

Interesting reference to Tom Hanks first leading role in a 1982 TV movie.

Rogue Trader

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14789.phtml

Comprehensive review of Lure of the Expanse for Rogue Trader.

Very entertaining account of his own campaign.

Alternate Combat Rules

http://breeyark.org/alternate-combat-rules/

Interesting discussion of alternate combat rules compared to Chainmail.

Death in the Dark

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Dark-Universal-Soldier-System/dp/0920727107/ref=sr_1_1?

Could not find it on Goodreads, even with the ISBN.

Dungeon skirmish rules.

Hill Cantons

http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/

Interesting game blog since 2009.

One Page Fantasy Skirmish

http://www.geocities.ws/friendlyfungus/OnePageFantasySkirmish.pdf

Very simple rules.

DarkeStorme

http://conflictcornucopia.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-look-at-darkestorme.html

High Fantasy Skirmish rules.

Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish

http://www.amazon.com/Otherworld-Fantasy-Skirmish-Karl-Perrotton/dp/0993340504/ref=sr_1_1?

Could not find it on Goodreads, even with the ISBN.

Good Fantasy Skirmish Rules

http://deltavector.blogspot.com/2013/02/good-fantasy-skirmish-wargames.html

Excellent discussion of the elements of good fantasy skirmish rules, with examples from specific games.

Savage Worlds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Worlds

Generic role-playing and miniatures rules.

Rules with No Name

http://www.amazon.com/Rules-No-Name-Fistful-Dice/dp/190154317X

Western gunfight rules.

5150 game rules

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26855/5150

Sci-fi skirmish rules.

"easy to learn, fun to play" sounds good to me.

Some major changes to the Warband Sim

I am in the process of converting from d10 (ten-sided dice) to d100 (percentile dice).  It turns out that d10 are just too limiting in terms of range and variability.

The other big change is going to variables (e.g., self.ranged) to indicate that a character has a ranged attack rather than having to check class (this is RPG class, not OOP class, e.g., hunter).

Now I need to write a bunch of test code to verify that the changes do what I think they do.

Polemarch

http://ancientrules.blogspot.com/

This an interesting blog.

It features longer, well-written, thoughtful posts.

QILS

http://inlgames.com/

Quick Intermediate Level Skirmish.

More free rules.

Slim Mumford's Medievel Warfare Rules

http://www.soa.org.uk/joomla/publications/7-mediaevil-warfare

Free rules.

An introduction by Phil Barker.

Wargames Research Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargames_Research_Group

Lots of interesting rules for miniatures games.

The Empire in Flames

https://www.hong-crewet.dk/Mordheim/Rules/Mord_Empire_in_Flames.pdf

A wilderness expansion for Mordheim.

Features some very entertaining flavor text.

Druids

http://basicfantasy.org/download.cgi/BF-Druid-Supplement-r4.pdf

A source of additional ideas for fleshing out druid heroes in my warband sim.

Dryads

http://www.wyrdwars.com/Wood_Elves.pdf

The Dryads make perfect henchmen for a chaos druid hero in my warband sim.

Mordheim Chaos Warbands

http://mraaktagon.com/Files/chaoswarbands.pdf

The merger of Mordheim and the old Realm of Chaos hardcovers is exactly what I am trying to do with my warband sim.

Great minds think alike.

Realm of Chaos Warband

http://thedorkage.blogspot.com/2013/03/realms-of-chaos-warband.html

A dark elf and two beastmen, it's a start.

$600 worth of melted plastic

http://tencopper.com/article/2015/09/man-burns-warhammer-army-over-age-of-sigmar/

Games Workshop is trying to be the Verizon of game companies?

Why do so many people hate Games Workshop and Verizon so much?

Turn-based RPG combat systems

http://sinisterdesign.net/6-more-ways-to-improve-turn-based-rpg-combat-systems/

Third blog post in a three part series that criticizes Dungeons & Dragons style combat, and offers many suggestions for improvement.

Well worth reading.

Open source programming toolkits for modeling table top games

http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/15369/open-source-programming-toolkits-for-modeling-table-top-games

I was surprised by the "Currently, there are none" answer.

My guess is there are many, but if they are not published anywhere, how are you supposed to find them?

I was intrigued by the BPM (business process management) and BRMS (business rules management systems) suggestions.  I will have to look for some examples in Python.

Naked guy with a rock

http://ilivewithcats.blogspot.com/2010/06/de-bellis-velitum.html

Interesting account of using the De Bellis Velitum rules.

I particularly enjoyed the naked guy with a rock.

De Bellis Velitum

http://www.wrg.me.uk/PHIL/DBV%202003.htm

As soon as I think I have seen all the interesting sets of skirmish rules, another one pops up.

Peltast

http://www.ancient.eu/Peltast/

Looks like a good character to include in the warband sim. but how many javelins does he carry?

Maybe if we are going to include wizards throwing fireballs we should not worry to much about the number of javelins.

Melee weapons in the warband sim

I am struggling with melee weapons in the warband sim.

Here is what I have so far:

NW no weapon, for example, animals like wolves, etc.
1W one-hand weapon, the default choice
2W two one-hand weapons, dual wield
2H two-handed weapon
WS one-hand weapon and shield

Effects on attributes:

NW no effect
1W no effect
2W +1 attack, +1 parry
2H +2 strength, -2 parry
WS +2 armor, +2 parry

There are obvious balance issues, needs major work.

= vs. == in Python

I continue to make this mistake every day.

I wrote so many lines of code in languages where there was only one symbol for equals that I just cannot adapt.

Chaos Spawn

http://www.kerlin.de/pic/oldhammer/warhammerchaospawn.pdf

This spawn is a lot more powerful than the spawn generated by my warband sim.

I am using The Lost and the Damned rules, so maybe they need some tweaking.

Nemesis Crown

http://cianty.ashtonsanders.com/nc/

Tons of Mordheim stuff.

28mm Skirmish Games

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/158107/28mm-skirmish-level-miniature-games-customizatione

An impressive list of games.

I was surprised by how many I had never heard of.

Mantic Deadzone

http://www.manticgames.com/games/deadzone.html

A post-apocalyptic thriller in an urban setting.

Very nice miniatures.

Wreck Age

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/review-wreck-age-rpg-and-tabletop-game/

Interesting review. makes me want to try the game.

Chicago Skirmish

http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/

Yet another interesting blog that dried up.

The View from the Cheap Seats

http://www.amazon.com/The-View-Cheap-Seats-Nonfiction/dp/0062262262

The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman (coming soon, 5-31-16)

Non-fiction from one of my favorite fiction authors.

Sign me up.

No Man's Sky vs Multiverse

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/4d4kd3/no_mans_sky_and_multiverse_my_1986_attempt_at_the/

It has all been done before?

Terminating a Python script

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/73663/terminating-a-python-script

I use:

import sys
sys.exit(0)

all the time, but I have never used:

quit()

I might have to experiment with this.

Walking the plank in Python

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20054782/deleting-nth-element-from-a-list-python-2-7

Very interesting.

And naming variables with the names of built-in functions is stupid.

The Technology and Science of Necromancy

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/07/talking-dead-280717.html

Very entertaining.

Ancient Egyptian Necromancy Spells

http://shop.creepyhollows.com/product.php?productid=12365

$175 seems like a perfectly reasonable price for authentic ancient Egyptian necromancy spells.

Sort of like using an Ouija board.  Open a gate to hell.  What could possibly go wrong?

Homebrew Skirmish Rules

http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/

Lots of interesting material, but especially the skirmish rules.

Wargamer's Ring

http://hub.gamesntoys.org/hub/wargamers?rd=n

159 carefully chosen websites, and I want to visit every one.

Hell is Empty

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/tempest/page_30.html

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."

Sounds like an apt description of modern society.

Random Treasure

https://ratujmywfrp2pl.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/treasure-tables.pdf

The Disgusting category is very entertaining.

d20 Random Treasure Generator

https://donjon.bin.sh/d20/treasure/

For when you have to have treasure ASAP.

Malal

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Malal

A lot of things in the Warhammer mythos make a lot more sense if you include Malal.

Broken Legions

http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Legions-Fantasy-Skirmish-Wargames/dp/1472815130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459522922&sr=8-1&keywords=broken+legions

I am probably going to regret it if I do not pre-order this book.

Bubble Sort

http://knowpapa.com/bs-py/

There should be some way to combine this with the Zelle graphics module to produce an interesting display.

Siri, remind me....

Heroheim

http://www.indadvendt.dk/2013/10/heroheim-all-documents-for-heroheim/

Lots of interesting additions and changes to the Mordheim rules.

Of particular interest to me:

1) no upkeep fee for hired swords.  Great minds think alike, I had already made this change in my warband sim before I read this.  Validates my change.

2) increased baseline wounds from 1 to 3 which makes characters much more durable.