So, do you read Kobold Quarterly? It’s pretty great and has stuff from Pathfinder, 4e and AGE. Also, non-crunch stuff. Still not sure? Well, it’s your lucky day. Download Kobold Quartlery #14 for FREE up until February 14th. Some info about the issue:

Issue #14 was the extra-big Gen Con issue, and in its pages you’ll find:

• Exclusive Pathfinder content, including two articles by Paizo staff
• The Ecology of the Tengu—in Golarion and in Zobeck
• An interview with 4th Edition D&D lead designer Rob Heinsoo
• Treasure Trove articles with phat loots to improve your game and bring smiles to players
• Paladins, secret languages, and aasimar PCs
• Secrets of Game Design by Monte Cook
• So much more that it makes us dizzy to even think about it!

All you need to do to get your PDF copy is go to the KQ Store, add issue #14 to your cart, and enter the coupon code KoboldWelcome at checkout. Enjoy!

You might also be interested in reading...

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• Link Hoard: Free RPG Round-up
• Free Playtest RPGs
• Fantasy Playing Cards for Your Game

It’s done!

Life has run away on me this year, but I have finally managed to complete the fantasy newspaper I promised as my contribution for I Am Your Champion. I had some interest, but few donations, and that’s fine. I had fun making it and I hope those who donated to my charity are happy with the result. This isn’t just for them though, it’s a free download for everyone. I’ve made a parchment version and a print-friendly version. I hope you enjoy this and get some use out of it

Game masters can the newspaper for hooks, NPCs, adventures and worldbuilding or even just as a source of random rumours, information and goings-on. I think the best use for it, though, is for GMs to read it, think about it, then next time the PCs are in a tavern tell them “Someone’s left a newsletter on your table. It looks like this…” and then just give them the handout. I love doing this sort of thing in game and I hope you’ll enjoy my attempt at a fantasy newspaper, inspired by a thoughtful present my wife and friends made for me a few years ago.

If I get enough interest I might just make another issue. Enjoy

You might also be interested in reading...

• ZILLA! – Free ‘Classic Character Pack’
• I Am Your Champion: Act for Peace
• Campaign Setting: Hang Ups
• Demonsea: Ships of the Demonsea
• Fever Dreams – Entertainment Built on Pyres

It’s Free RPG Day again. Last year I released my first roleplaying game on Free RPG Day. It’s called ZILLA! and is a game of destruction, mayhem and love. You’re a giant zilla on a city-smashing rampage. Zillas are powerful and hard to kill, but they are prone to becoming enamoured with humans. Will you fight another zilla, escape the city to a better place, smash the city to the ground, or even… find love?

This year, I have released a free character pack with three pre-generated zillas for you and your friends to take to town. This is the ‘Classic Character Pack’ and it isn’t hard to see the inspiration behind Thoron, the giant lizard with atomic breath, Leoptra, an enormous psychic moth, and Kapparo, a gargantuan magma-infused tortoise.

Download the classic character pack for free. If you don’t yet have the game itself, download ZILLA! for free too.

Happy Free RPG Day, everyone!

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• Kobold Quarterly #14 for Free!
• NPC Description Tables

In the spirit of Free RPG Day, here is a list of some great RPGs that have been free all along. Some I’ve played, some I haven’t, but they are all great games. Feel free to add more in the comments.

Remember a while back I was posting about I Am Your Champion?

There’s just been a lot going on lately, so unfortunately the Pyres have gotten a little cold. I just wanted to post to let you all know that I’m still around and I haven’t forgotten about the fantasy newspaper. I’m working on it, slowly, and still waiting to hear back from one person who donated. If you’re reading this and haven’t emailed me your donation receipt and information about the content of your article, please contact me at pyresofvam@gmail.com.

Anyway, below you’ll find a layout preview of the fantasy newspaper. There’s only one article there so far, but you’ll get the gist of the final product by checking it out. Feedback and comments are appreciated as I continue working on this free publication.

Download the ‘Word of the World’ Layout Preview (PDF 157 kb)

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• IAYC: Fantasy Newspaper (Free Download)
• Kobold Quarterly #14 for Free!

I Am Your Champion has been an awesome, exciting experience. I recommend it to everyone. Everyone has something to offer. Here’s how the week went for me.

For many years I have supported Act for Peace at Christmas through their Christmas Bowl appeal. I knew I could always donate more, but this was the first time I had felt like I could do something more with my skills and gather donations for this worthy cause.  And it has inspired me to donate more to the charity. I’ve contacted them to see how else I can help, but I’ve got the feeling they won’t have a lot of opportunities. If that’s the case, I’ll set up a regular monthly donation. I had been meaning to do this, but IAYC gave me the motivation I needed.

I have a sense of satisfaction writing this post. I’ve done something good for people in need and helped out other Champion’s charities that I may not have even known about before, let alone donated to. I’ve made new connections in the roleplaying community and I now get to create a fantasy newspaper knowing that it has helped people in need.

I Am Your Champion update! If you don’t know what IAYC is, check out this link and/or my original post about this awesome challenge for charity. In that link you’ll learn about the charity I am Championing – Act for Peace – and how you can help me.

I’m supporting Act for Peace by making a free PDF-format fantasy newspaper full of adventure locations, artefacts, NPCs and the like. Donate $5 to my charity and you’ll get your name in one of the articles. Donate more money and you’ll get cooler articles that are more focused around your namesake (or your namesake’s artefact or adventure location!). See my original post for the full reward/goal structure.

I’ve gotten really excited about this since people started throwing in and throwing down and offering combined challenges. So, I’m upping the ante! I’ve added some more sections to the newspaper: obituaries and an advice column.

Read on for info on extra rewards and how you can help out some awesome charities.

A Terrible Idea has come out with another great idea. I Am Your Champion is a game/challenge played in five rounds that will challenge your existing ideas regarding charitable fundraising. Basically, you choose a charity and support it, but it’s more like you use your creativity to provide rewards or thank you gifts to those who contribute to your charity. Jump over to the website to catch up on the requirements for each round. It’s not too late to join in! I’m participating, and this post is me announcing myself, my cause, my goal and my reward.

• 2,261 words for #nanowrimo already! Unlike my MC, my week is off to a good start.
• 4,607 words for #nanowrimo and the fun is about to begin for my main character.
• Adding “Write 2000 words” into Epic Win as a daily task is motivating. Also add this optional daily task: “Write 2000 more words” #nanowrimo
• RT @Riesetheseries Don’t forget RT this message to possibly win an EXCLUSIVE #Riese prize pack! Watch Riese: Kingdom Falling on @Syfy.com/riese
• Lamest/coolest lycanthrope ever: the werecrossbow.
• I was going to try 4E again once Character Builder got the Essentials update, but I have unreliable Internet so a web-based CB rules me out.
• After watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang again, I have to say that Robert Downey Jr. would make an incredible Harry Dresden.

This is too good to not post. You should be backing Joshua A.C. Newman’s Human Contact, a hard science fiction roleplaying game about what happens when a rationalist, free, democratic society explores its universe and finds others that have different values than it has. It deals with those interactions on both a personal and societal level. It will be awesome, but there is now another incredibly cool reason to back the project.

Any current backers and anyone else who backs the project before time runs out in 18 days will receive a free exclusive Apocalypse World character playbook written by Vincent Baker. The character is called the Quarantine. Here’s a run-down:

The Quarantine has been locked away, suspended in ignorance of the outside world, throughout the Apocalypse. But his ignorance is nothing compared to what he knows: he remembers what came before and knows what caused it.

Not that it will help him.

If that doesn’t sound good, then you probably haven’t read Apocalypse World. If it does sound good, get over to Kickstarter and back Human Contact. It’s shaping up to be a great game and now you get a cool supplement for another great game, too. You can’t lose.

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• Tweets of Doom for the week ending 2010-10-31
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• Tweets of Doom for the week ending 2010-11-07
• Tweets of Doom for the week ending 2010-10-10