30 September, 2011 by The Healer.

We’re back finally with another Faire and Con Report.  This weekend our roving pirate reporter mum will be attending the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  As always this faire is set during the reign of King Henry the Eighth and every year features a story about his reign. This year Henry is celebrating his 35th year on the throne by planning for the future of his monarchy.  Henry plans to wed his son to the infant Mary Queen of Scots but first he must convince her mother of the arrangement.  This faire is always one of our favorite faires and this year is sure to be no different so if you’re in the neighborhood come out and see it.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~September 29, 2011~

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24 December, 2010 by The Healer.

With the Holiday season upon us, our friend Claus has dropped off a present for all of our friends at Healing Fireball. 

Happy Holidays! 

If you want more Yuletide cheer, cherk out or holiday-themed Two Bit Tables, Gifts with Unique Style and What to Give the Adventurer Who has Everything.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~

~December 24, 2010~

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29 October, 2010 by The Healer.

With another All Hallows’ Eve upon us, your friends here at Healing Fireball Publications have dug their way out of the grave to bring you a special treat.  Or is it?  Well, that would be up to you, as below we present two free bonus products to be enjoyed on this, the spookiest night of the year.

So, what’s it going to be?

Trick or Treat

 If you enjoyed this little surprise then why don’t you take a look at Ebenezer Killjoy’s latest rant The Sages Must be Crazy: Tricky Treats?  This newest treatise from our noted humorless mage targets those that would pervert sweet treats into devilish tricks and contains a collection of 7 candy-themed spells and 10 sweet alchemical and magical items.  So don’t miss out and trick your party tonight.  It’s time to lighten up your world a little because the sages must be crazy.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~

~October 28, 2010~

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28 October, 2010 by The Healer.

Clawing its way up from the grave like a hungry zombie, Healing Fireball Publications lurches free of the scythe of death and returns with a vengeance.  It has been a full year since I last posted on this blog and almost a full two months since we posted a new product.  A lot has happened to this company in that time and I do apologize for the missing Faire and Con reports but unfortunately we were not able to make many faires this summer.  I shall hopefully recap the few faires we attended and other interesting happenings in later belated reports.

But now on to the update:  with Halloween approaching, we fittingly shamble back to  life with a candy and mischief-themed product The Sages Must be Crazy: Tricky Treats.  This latest lighter-side-of-gaming product concentrates on candy and sweet-themed spells and items with a mischievous twist.  Additionally, watch for our Halloween bonus products, free on this site: each one contains items that can’t be found in any of our other products.

Additionally, we will be continuing the Two Bit Tables collection of mundane encounters by environment, with locations like swamp and jungle coming.  I am still fine tuning that collection of religious-themed Just Add Dice books and will have them out soon.  Finally, watch this site for more free bonus items in the months to come.  Roaring back to life with a vengeance, your friends at Healing Fireball Publications.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~

~October 27, 2010~

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28 October, 2010 by The Healer.

As anyone who has followed this blog is aware a large part of what made my posting and publication schedule so sporadic is that I was in the final stages of work on my doctorate in molecular biology.  Well I am proud to announce that I succeeded and am now Dr. Chris Baldi.  However with the completion of this degree also came the end of my job as a researcher and I had to scramble to find new employment.  After a month of unemployment I was finally able to get a post-doc position with a lab in Madison, Wisconsin.  So this meant that I had to pack up our life, find a new apartment and move across the country in a very short time.  So the last few months were spent in a hectic search for an apartment, a frenzy of packing and then an explosion of  unpacking that we are still recovering from.  However, the good news is that once I dig out from under my pile of junk and games I should have more time to devote to Healing Fireball Publications once again.  Hopefully this means that my posts will become more regular.  I would like to take this spot to thank all the fans and friends of Healing Fireball Publications for sticking with us and being patient through this last hectic year.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~

~October, 27, 2010~

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19 October, 2009 by The Healer.

As previously reported, our resident roving pirate reporter MUM the pirate cook attended the Adventure Pirate Weekend at the Maryland Renaissance Festival a few weeks ago and filed this report.

Arrr! It seems to be me fate that when it comes time to get together with me pirate mates it always goes and rains. But as before the rain could not dampen the spirit of the revelry. I started me day by heading to the White Hart Tavern to start me day with some cider, the Pyrates Royale and the O’ Danny Girls shows. After the shows I spent some time shopping before I got some peasant bread and corn for lunch. We returned to the pub to see the Crimson Pirate show and then went to the Lyric stage to see a comedy show called Hey Nunnie Nunnie. Finale as always the day ended with a raucous pub sing. In all it was another fun and raucous celebration of all things piratical.

Thanks for the report MUM - it sounds like there’s nothing that can keep a good pirate down.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~October 18, 2008~

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2 September, 2008 by The Healer.

My wife and I live within spitting distance of Philadelphia. And as any of you who have read my About Us section probably know I am a molecular biologist by trade. More specifically, I am a geneticist that specializes in reproduction and evolution. So its not particularly hard to guess that I was excited when I heard the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences would be hosting a display of the artifacts of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics. So last weekend my wife and I took the train in to Philly and went to see this exhibition. Unfortunately, they did not allow use of cameras in the show so all the pictures below are from the rest of the museum. But other than not being able to take pictures I thought the exhibition was a lot of fun and very interesting. A large array of personal artifacts are on display from his personal gardening tools to his copy of On the Origin of Species. For the children, or the immature like yours truly, there is a number of interactive stations where you learn about Mendel’s experiments and genetics in general. The exhibition is also interspersed with a collection of art inspired by genetics and genes. All and all it was an enjoyable trip that I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in the history of genetics or who has a child that loves science.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~September 1, 2008~

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2 August, 2008 by The Healer.

4th Edition was released at the beginning of June and the new GSL license has been out now for some time. We here at Healing Fireball Publications have had a chance to examine both the core books to this new edition and the license regarding its use. So I thought it was about time to answer the question that the community has been in such a tizzy over asking there favorite companies - what are your plans for 4th Edition and what does this mean for my favorite 3.X lines?

In short the answer to this question is at present is that Healing Fireball Publications has no plans to update any of its lines to the new 4th Edition rules or to launch any new lines that focus on this new system. Of course in the case of our generic lines we will strive as always to make them compatible with as wide a range of games as possible including the new 4th Edition rules.

This rather large decision comes not as a result of lack of ideas for this new line but as a direct result of our understanding of the new GSL. As with the OGL before it, it fell to me to examine this new legal document, the GSL, and its accompanying SRD documentation to determine how the license could be used by our company and what kind of products we could make with it. After thoroughly reading both the GSL and SRD through several times and picking over several details I presented my information to the rest of the company And after much debate we decided that several legal issues with the license kept us from making the decision to make new products for the 4th Edition system. Below I have outlined our legal reasons for not moving to 4th Edition:

1. After careful review of the GSL and legal consultation we have found that this new GSL license fails to provide the security Open Game Content provided in the OGL. For a small company like ours it is a major concern that without the open game content safety net other larger companies might chose to sue us if we develop a game mechanic that is similar to theirs.

2. The limitations found in the SRD and GSL about what we can publish appear to be extremely stifling and would prevent us from releasing several of our initial ideas. Plus the lack of being able to redefine any rule that Wizards has already defined or even reprint the definition for easy quick reference would lead to products that would in our opinion cheat the purchaser as they would just receive a book of flavor text and cross-references. These restrictions have already led to much debate about whether a publisher could even publish a quick reference stat block for an NPC or monster.

3. Finally the stringent conversion close would force us to remove the already successful OGL versions of products if we wish to make new 4th Edition versions of those items or even new 4th edition products in that product line. We here at Healing Fireball Publications feel that to remove these items from our catalog would be unfair to our previous customers who are staying with 3rd edition and would then be unable to obtain replacement copies or updated versions of these books.

And so for the reasons listed above we here at Healing Fireball Publications have put any ideas we have for 4th Edition products on the back burner. We do not rule out publishing in this system in the future as since its unveiling several discussions and companies have begun talking about work-arounds for the GSL and there is always the hope that the contract will be changed to be more community-friendly. But for now we will continue publishing and supporting our existing 3.X lines and watch the community closely to see the trends.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~August 1, 2008~

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12 April, 2008 by The Healer.

Anyone that knows me knows that in addiction to being a role playing game addict, I am a board game fiend.  I have quite a large selection of board games in a myriad of topics but because of the personal interests of me and my wife, two large subcategories of games have emerged in this collection - pirate games and zombie games.  Since there was a lot of interest by my group to play these zombie games, we hosted a zombie and dip night a few weeks ago.   

The night started with junk food and dip at my dining room table as we decided which game we where going to play for the evening.  We decided on one of my newest games and the only one where the survivors are supposed to work together to reach a common goal - Last Night on Earth by Flying Frog Productions.  The Game started well with me playing the zombies and my wife and three friends playing survivors.  We started with the basic game, and the players’ goal was to kill a certain number of zombies before sun set.  The players quickly became well armed from searching the near by houses and begin blasting away.  We quickly determined that while the cop’s revolver gave him a slight edge at the start of the game, it was nothing compared to the power of the shotgun.  And in the end, while wounded, a few survivors cleverly set up an ambush in the corn field where I had trouble seeing them, but the farmer’s daughter had an advantage and could pick the zombies off. 

Bolstered by this success, we chose to upgrade to the advanced game and drew the mission protect the mansion.  My friend Rob chose to play the zombies this time and I got to play the town’s nurse (once more I am the healer).  Our goal was to keep the zombies out of the mansion in the center of town.  Right from the start it went bad. Rob rolled well and was able to spawn a large number of zombies which went right for the house.  The house was guarded by only me as my friends frantically searched for weapons.  I was wounded trying to fight off a pack of three zombies and had to run away to find aid.  Failing to get aid, I desperately tried to get the three out of the house and was killed.  At the same time, the town sheriff, who had been defending the back porch, was also killed and rose as a zombie hero.  Drawing new players, I got the priest and my other friend Daria got the local jock.  We quickly ran to help the remaining two players who had managed to kill the zombie hero but were beginning to be overwhelmed by the mob now in the house.  As we ran in we made a last ditch effort to stop the last zombies from entering the house and ending the game, but to no avail as two of us were wounded and two were killed.  There Where No Survivors…… 

To raise the spirits and end the night on a high note we watched Shawn of the Dead.

The party was so much fun we plan to have a revenge of the zombie night soon and this time I am prepared, as I bought a zombie survival kit at a local sci-fi convention.
~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~ 
     ~March 18, 2008~ 

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19 March, 2008 by The Healer.

When we started this page and, in fact, this company, we really did not expect the amount of response that we received.  We figured we would be lucky if we sold enough to support the site.  But the response has been wonderful.  We received our first check today from book sales and we here cannot thank you enough for receiving us as warmly as you have. 

So in light of this warm reception, our goals for the web have expanded from just maintaining a site for our product to also providing a place where the gaming community can come and interact with us and each other.   

This blog is the first step in this process.  We hope to use this as a place to let you behind the curtain and let you in to our thought processes and give you a glimpse at our lives and our games.  At this point, we will also use this as a place to get your feedback and comments. 

We plan in the future to expand this interaction even further to include a forum where you can come and talk directly.  We hope to create a place where the community can come and discuss gaming and the art of Role Playing.  Finally, as always, we would like to hear from you suggestions, ideas and (gulp) complaints - feel free to drop us a line.
~Chris Baldi “The Healer~     
     ~Mach 18, 20008~ 

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