... a newsy post...

Getting a lot of visitors off my Ebay page, so if you're coming from there... Howdy! Thanks for dropping by, and I hope you click the Follow button way down at the bottom of the page, and friend us on Facebook!

Since the blog is new for Yellow Dragon Studios, I have sort of a general and vague idea for the schedule of the blog. Since I am a notorious slacker, I don't do well with regular schedules, so I will tell you what sorts of posts you will be seeing.

Monster Monday - A new monster every week! More often than not, these will be Dungeons and Dragons monsters from my various table top RPGs. Other times I plan to explore themes in a broader, non-stat sense. This will be the only scheduled blog post.

Ebay Reviews - These are reviews of items, or groups of items that I have up on Ebay currently. Like my post on the Zombie Survival Guide, or Rage, I will talk about the item itself, its history, and my personal history with the thing as well! 25 years of gaming gives you a lot of experiences to talk about!

News - News posts like this will be very uncommon, I hope. I want to give you content, and interesting looks at things, not me blabbering on. I will also have nerd news from around the internets.

Movie Reviews - These have been a staple for me for years. In 1999 and 2000, I owned a movie review website, FlickReviewdotcom, which reviewed nearly 1000 movies! I have also reviewed movies on my various blogs, and journals over the years. I hope to bring a unique voice to movie reviews from a nerdy perspective!

If you have any ideas, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to post in the comments, to the Facebook group, or email me!

Rage Collectible Card Game

Rage is a collectible card game, or CCG, created by White Wolf Studios in 1995 and based around Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Thanks to the explosion of Magic: the Gathering in late 1993, and 1994, dozens of games were produced during this time, and has been called the "CCG Glut". Including Rage, White Wolf also was working on Jyhad, what would later become Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. Other companies, such as powerhouse TSR (later bought by Wizards of the Coast) had Spellfire, Steve Jackson Games produced a CCG version of Illuminati, and many others came out at the time. Many games, such as Spellfire, were poorly designed, others like Galactic Empires had rushed, shoddy artwork.

Rage, however, was not one of these games. A streamlined, yet robust rules system allowed for many different paths to victory. However, the most gratifying was the ability to claw, disembowel, and generally crush your opponents to death! The art design is really good for the era. White Wolf was known for good art in their books, and it really shows up with Rage.

Rage did have problems. There were power issues with the early cards, some which could win on turn one, this was shared with Magic as well. Also, the first three sets Rage Limited, The Umbra and The Wyrm were overproduced to the point where it was easy to find cards for super cheap prices. Even today, its not unheard of to find boxes for $10-20 on Ebay and other online sellers. The problems were reversed with the following sets, War of the Amazon, and Legacy of the Tribes. These sets were limited to a single print run, based on pre-orders only. Once these boxes were gone, none were ever printed again, making these sets very hard to find.

Later, the license was sold to Five Rings Publishing Group (FRPG). FRPG created a brand new game, using the same card backs. The fans were furious, as they were told that they would be able to use the same cards for the new game. This was not true at all, and Rage lost a huge fan base. FRPG crated seven sets for the new version of Rage, known as Phase 1-6 and Equinox. FRPG was later bought out by Wizards of the Coast, and later again by Hasbro. Hasbro discontinued dozens of games during this time, including Rage, and the license went back to White Wolf.

Rage still lives on in both real world, and online formats. Rules revisions have taken place a few times over the last few years, and a number of fan sets have been created, and played through LackeyCCG and CCG Workshop.

If you play Rage in the real world, perhaps you would like some cards? You can check out my current auction for Rage CCG on Ebay!

Star Wars Saga Blue-Ray Box Art

The new box art for the upcoming Star Wars: The Complete Saga has been released. The newly remastered Blue Ray will be for sale on September 16th!

We Buy Books!

Yellow Dragon Studio is a lot of things! We make art, we write, we write about art! But what we do as a "real job" is sell books! One of the ways you can help is to sell me your books!! My main focus is on Science Fiction, Role Playing Games and Fantasy, but I will deal with most any books besides Romance or Textbooks.

If you are in Houston, or the surrounding areas, great! I can come pick them up for you, and I will pay you more than a reseller like Half-Price Books!

If you live outside of Houston, fear not! I will still buy your books, but we will have to discuss shipping methods and costs! I am happy to pay shipping costs, depending on the collection you have!

Need to reach me? Easy!

Email: robsmasher@gmail.com

Comment on this blog!

Friend us on Facebook! Search for Yellow Dragon Studios!

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Zombie fiction has been around for many years, and have covered such a wide variety of types and styles that it has now become its own genre. Even my own Apocalypse Zombie from yesterday is a good example of taking a variety of styles of cinematic zombie and combining them into one bite-y zombie.

In the last few years, zombies have become sort of a cultural phenomenon. Escaping out of the closed confines of film, and coming into TV, RPGs, and even books. The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks, was the prequel of sorts to World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Taking its queues from various survival guides, both serious and fictional. The book will teach you everything you need to know how to survive the zombie apocalypse, from finding a correct structure, fortifying it, and protecting it from the horde. From one end to the other you will find humor, and mock seriousness that loses its "mock-ness", and becomes serious... when you realize it, you will laugh...

But you will wonder. Never before have I read a book where I have thought about the premise, or discussed it with friends and family. I have an entire plan, ready, in case the dead begin to rise! And my wife agrees! Ahh... nerd life.

If you are interested in owning a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks, you can check out my auction on Ebay! Click here!

The Apocalypse Zombie

One of the best things about being a gamer, and more specifically a Dungeon Master, is the ability to try new things and create! There is nothing better than seeing a great monster, or cool magic item make (or break) a party.

Below you will find the template for the Apocalypse Zombie. In my current Dungeons and Dragons game, a zombie apocalypse has taken over the world. Since the "normal" zombie in DnD is pretty weak, I decided to kick things up a notch. The Apocalypse Zombie is an easy monster to defeat at long range, but once it gets within 120 feet, it is a force to be reckoned with. It has the ability to sense the living, and chase after them at great speed. Once in range, its ability to slam into its target, and bite them will have all but the bravest parties groaning in defeat.

One of the great things about templates, is that it gives the DM the ability to make the familiar, unfamiliar! I hope you use the Apocalypse Zombie in your game! Plus! Tell us how it works! Leave a comment with any ideas, problems, or solutions with the Apocalypse Zombie!

Apocalypse Zombie

“Apocalypse Zombie” is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal living creature (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. It retains any subtypes except alignment subtypes (such as good) and subtypes that indicate kind (such as goblinoid or reptilian). It does not gain the augmented subtype. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Hit Dice: Change to d12. If the base creature had 3 or less HD, the apocalypse zombie becomes 4HD.

Speed: If the base creature can fly, its maneuverability rating drops to clumsy.

Armor Class: Natural armor bonus increases by a number based on the zombie’s size:

Tiny or smaller	+1
Small	+2
Medium	+3
Large	+4
Huge	+5
Gargantuan	+9
Colossal	+13

Base Attack: An apocalypse zombie has a base attack bonus equal to 1/2 its Hit Dice, or its original base attack bonus, whichever is higher.

Attacks: An apocalypse zombie retains all the natural weapons of the base creature. An apocalypse zombie also gains a bite attack.

Damage: Natural weapons deal damage normally. A bite attack deals damage depending on the zombie’s size.

Fine	1d2
Diminutive	1d3
Tiny	1d4
Small	1d6
Medium	1d8
Large	2d6
Huge	2d8
Gargantuan	4d6
Colossal	6d6

Special Attacks: An apocalypse zombie retains none of the base creature’s special attacks.

Special Qualities: An apocalypse zombie loses most special qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee attacks. A zombie gains the following special qualities.

Spawn Bite (Su) – An apocalypse zombie bite carries a terrible disease. When taking bite damage, a living creature must make a DC 10 + ½ apocalypse zombies HD Fortitude Check. If the check fails, the living creature takes 1d6 Constitution damage, and makes another check on the following round. If that one fails, the living creature dies, and rises as an apocalypse zombie the next round.

Sense Living (Su) -An apocalypse zombie can sense the presence of living creatures at range of 120'.

Calling Moan (Su) – When an apocalypse zombie senses a living creature, it moans a low and steady tone. Any apocalypse zombie within 2 miles will turn towards the moan, and follow it looking for food.

Hunger (Ex) – Apocalypse zombie's have an unnatural hunger for living flesh. Once every 3 months, the apocalypse zombie must consume 1 medium creature (or 1/16^th colossal, 1/8^thgargantuan, ¼ huge, ½ large, 2 small, 4 tiny, 8 diminutive). For each month after the third, the zombie begins to lose body parts, flesh, and so on becoming more and more rotted each month, losing -1 on all saving throws, attack and damage rolls for each month it has not fed. After 1 year with no living flesh, the apocalypse zombie falls apart.

Only flesh that was alive within 30 minutes of eating counts to sate this hunger.

Any zombie who has not sated their hunger does not have the following abilities, until they have sated themselves.

Destructive Retribution (Su) – Upon death the apocalypse zombie explodes with a burst of negative energy, dealing 3d6 negative energy damage to all living creatures within 10'. Living creature’ take half damage on a DC 10 + ½ base creature’s HD. Undead creatures within 10' are healed for the same amount.

This ability only affects living creatures, and undead. This damage does not do damage to the surrounding area, like a fireball does. Any living being killed by this explosion is raised as an apocalypse zombie in 1d4 rounds. Only a wish, miracle or true resurrection can stop this change.

Shuffle No More (Su) – Once per day, the apocalypse zombie can gain a great burst of speed. It gains +30' speed, for 10 rounds. It still cannot take run actions. It only uses this ability to chase living prey.

Saves: Base save bonuses are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +1/2 HD + 2.

Abilities: +4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -12 Intelligence (minimum 1) and -6 Wisdom. Its Charisma changes to 3, as an undead it has no Constitution.

Skills: An apocalypse zombie has no skills.

Feats: An apocalypse zombie loses all feats of the base creature and gains Toughness (+3 HP) and Improved Toughness (+3 HP per HD), and Improved Grab.

Here are a few examples of Apocalypse Zombies from my DnD game!

CRUCIAN APOCALYPSE ZOMBIE

Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 4d12+15 (50 hp)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 23 (-2 Dex, +11 natural, +2 leather) touch 8, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+4
Attack: Bite +7 (1d8+4)
Full Attack: Bite +7 (1d8+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, Spawn Bite (DC 12 Fort, 1d6 Con/death), sense living, calling moan, hunger, destructive retribution (3d6 Negative Energy, DC 12 Reflex for half), shuffle no more (+30' speed for 10 rounds)
Saves: Fort +6, Ref -1, Will -2
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 6, Con --, Int 1, Wis 4, Cha 8
Feats: Toughness, Improved Toughness
Challenge Rating: 5
Alignment: Usually lawful neutral

Apocalypse Zombie GYNOSPHINX

Large CE Undead
Hit Dice: 8d12 + 27 (64 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 60 ft. (clumsy)
Armor Class: 24 (–1 size, +15 natural),touch 10, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+16
Attack: Claw +13 melee (1d6+6)
Full Attack: 2 claws +13 melee (1d6+6), bite +13 (2d6+6 and Spawn Bite)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities: Spawn Bite (DC 14 Fortitude), Sense Living, Calling Moan, Hunger, Destructive Retribution (DC 14 Reflex or take 3d6 negative), Shuffle No More (+30 speed for 10 rounds)
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +8
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 10, Con --, Int 6, Wis 13, Cha 3
Feats: Toughness, Improved Toughness
Challenge Rating: 10