THE OSR

One of the best things about the OSR, "Old-School Renaissance", is the pure creativity. No one really frets over balance. Balance being the death knell for 4e.

The old modules were about exploration, and discovery. Combat was fast and furious, I mean, when you look at the number of giants and ogres in the main dining hall in Against the Giants, it was a pretty intense encounter, but this was at a time when a dragon maxed out at something like 140hp, while a powerful wizard who had managed to survive to the upper levels was godly, but still vulnerable. Take that same number of monsters in the modern game with their massive number of hit points, and that battle would take hours!!!

A Gamemaster in Pathfinder of 3.x must spend so much time designing encounters for ever more powerful characters, picking and choosing magic items to create with their Magical Craft feats. They just magically know what the most powerful combination of items do. A character with his +3 keen flaming burst scimitar, know what it is. A lot of the magic & mystery of the game disappeared into tactical simulations.

Pathfinder is the most popular game in town now, but around the fringes, the other systems creep. Systems which have wonder on their side instead of optimization. I'm of the mind now that I would prefer to play in Pathfinder games rather than GameMaster them. Epic Sean will be GMing some soon for us, probably over the summer, even if we just get an hour a night in, it should be fun.

While I'm designing an alternate OGL system, I want the speed to be there, I want the wonder to be there. Less 'optimization' will be involved. I'm still not sure if I want feats. Maybe less feats. Definitely there will be no magic item creation feats. There will be the ability to create magic items, but research and skill checks will be involved. I liked harvesting in the old edition. That's what a bag of holding should be for right?

Enough rambling for now...lunch to be had!!

Edit: OSR=Old School Renaissance....I don't knwo where I pulled resurrection from...Oh well fixed now.

Crawl Magazine - call for submisisons

Crawl Magazine for DCC RPG is putting out a call for submissions, think I'll submit some stuff, probably a couple of monsters and some deadly traps!

If you're interested, here's what they said:

DCCRPG Crawl #7 submissions.

So Crawl! number six is off for approval. This gives me time to work on the next issue. The next issue is going to be focused on Judges. It's going to be full of Tips, Tricks & Traps. I want some unique stuff for Judges to do behind the screen to make the game fun and challenging to their players. A short adventure or encounter would be cool. As would some traps, especially some fun unique Grimtooth's style stuff. I particularly like multi-part, initiative based traps... I'll take some new critters too. How about some tips from you experienced Judges on running games?

crawl@straycouches.com

DRESDEN FILES FAE IS GO!

Well unless lots of backers back out of the FATE Core Kickstarter, Dresden Files FAE edition is GO!, that'll be a nice extra pay check for Jim Butcher!!! $20,000 royalty check nice nice.

But next year we'll be getting the Dresden Files FAE PDF as part of this kickstarter! Rock'n

The KS grew over 500 backers overnight, now with 7 hours remaining, it's sitting at $414K, and over 9600 backers!

FATE ROCKS!!! Dresden Files Rocks...

Kickstarter Update - FATE CORE

So the FATE CORE Kickstarter is entering its final day, the new Dresden Files Accelerated Edition draws near!

31 hours to go, under $18 til Dresden Files FAE is funded. This has been an amazing run watching this KS, what's most amazing is the sheer NUMBER of people who are backers!!!  Nearly 9,000 backers. I don't know what the greatest number of backers record is, but this is IMPRESSIVE!!!

8,885

Backers

$382,152

pledged of $3,000 goal

31

hours to go

Look at the sheer amount of stuff you get for the $10 level!!!!

RPG News you can peruse (Jobe Bittman)

Coming after the announcement for Top32, 

Goodman Games announces the winner of the Mystery Map contest, not me...heh

Mystery Map Winner Announced – We are very excited to announce the winner of our Mystery Map Adventure Design Competition. Congratulations to Jobe Bittman for his submission, “The One Who Watches From Below.” Look for it in stores later this year! Thanks to everyone who entered – the submissions were great and the competition was fierce.

Jobe seems to be living the dream, He wins the Mystery Map contest for Goodman Games, and he's an RPG Superstar contender, having made Top 32 with the,

Quiver of Spiderkind Aura moderate conjuration; CL 8th
Slot —; Price 32,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description This chitinous quiver resembles an elongated spider’s abdomen, and comfortably holds 20 arrows. When placed on the back, thin segmented legs wrap around the wearer to hold it in place. Pedipalps near the quiver’s opening can be commanded to secure a thick strand of spider silk to the end of a drawn arrow 20 times per day. The unnaturally high tensile strength of spider’s thread allows the projectile to be used like a lightweight harpoon. A ranged attack made with the arrow on a target within 50 feet temporarily grants the Grapple special ability (Ultimate Combat) to the firing weapon. When securely anchored, the spider silk can also be used for climbing. The silk can support 500 lbs of weight before snapping. Every 50 feet of silk used for climbing consumes a single daily use of the item’s power.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Web; Cost 16,000 gp

Resource - RPG Sheets

While I was working on the games I'm running in 2 weeks, I was looking for Judge Dredd Character sheets, and I stumbled upon RPGSheets.com

From 2300AD to Wraith the Oblivion, if you're looking for a character sheet, this place might just have it...though the only Judge Dredd sheets they had were d20, but hey no big deal, this is a HUGE resource to have. I already added it to my bookmarks.

Obviously with 2 weeks to roll til go time, I'm a bit busy doing every thing left and right, looking forward to hearing some feedback on Unleashed. Been working on the character sheets at work in AutoCAD, right now I'm thinking of dropping feats since I have heroic aspects which are more broad, so I might run both that weekend, we'll have to see.

RPG News You Can Peruse

I missed this announcement on Tuesday, what with RPG Superstar and all.

Paizo Publishing and Gen Con Reach Multi-Year Co-Sponsorship AgreementTuesday, 10:00 AMPaizo Publishing®, LLC, publisher of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, has announced an on-going partnership with Gen Con LLC,The Best Four Days In Gaming!™ Starting with Gen Con Indy 2013, August 15-18 at the Indiana Convention Center, Paizo will become a Co-Sponsor, supporting the convention at the highest level of sponsorship available. The deal extends for three years, concluding with Gen Con Indy 2015.
Gen Con's CEO, Adrian Swartout said, "Gen Con is privileged to have such a strong partner. Adventure and storytelling games create lifelong memories, and those unforgettable experiences are what Gen Con and Paizo have committed to create together."
As part of this agreement, Paizo will increase their Exhibit Hall presence (Booth #203) by approximately 30% in 2013. Paizo also will expand their offering of supported events, hosted in the Sagamore Ballroom of the Indiana Convention Center. Paizo joins Mayfair Games as a Gen Con multi-year Co-Sponsor. Badges for this year's show will become available for attendees on January 27 at noon (Eastern) at gencon.com.
Erik Mona, Publisher at Paizo said, "Paizo's new sponsorship of the show is a reflection of Gen Con's importance to our business, to Pathfinder RPG players, and to the greater community of gamers. I haven't missed a Gen Con since my first, in 1995. And I never will. Gen Con is the best game convention in America, a giant gathering of fellow gamers, and the best gaming marketplace you could imagine. Year after year, I come for the great gaming and the new releases, but these days I also go because it's a reunion of all the friends I've made there over the years. It's the year's greatest can't-miss event."About Paizo PublishingPaizo Publishing®, LLC is a leading publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, board games, and novels. Paizo's Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game, the result of the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming, is currently the best-selling tabletop roleplaying game in hobby stores. Pathfinder Adventure Path is the most popular and best-selling monthly product in the tabletop RPG industry. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the nine years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than 50 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry.
About Gen ConGen Con, LLC produces the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, science fiction and adventure game convention in North America. Gen Con will return to the Indianapolis Convention Center on August 15-18, 2013. Acquired in 2002 by former CEO and founder of Wizards of the Coast Peter Adkison, the company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. For more information visit the website at gencon.com. For up-to-the minute details, check out http://www.facebook.com/genconindy.

Speaking of GenCon...Savage Saturday gets more furious!

Gen Con and Origins: Savaging More Than Saturday!As most of you know, Savage Saturday Night has been outrageously successful at both Origins and Gen Con—maybe a trifle too successful. This year we’ll be taking a break from Savage Saturday Nights at Origins and Gen Con to concentrate on making more Savage Worlds games available throughout both conventions.
Savage Saturday Nights have been amazing, and we’ve been thrilled with the turnout and participation. But at conventions like Origins and Gen Con, they just don’t fit well into the scheduling and planning systems. One of the drives behind Savage Saturday Nights has been to make sure folks who want to play (or try) Savage Worlds get the chance, especially since games tend to fill up in the first few hours of registration at these conventions. The popularity of Savage Saturday Night at these two shows, though, collapsed most of the Savage Worlds games together into one slot on Saturday night, which is just too limited to get more people into more Savage games.
This year, we’ll be working with the scheduling systems to get more Savage Worldsgames every day so more people have the opportunity to play and the enjoy themselves, or to try out the system for their very first time.
You’ll be seeing more information about that in the coming days. If you’re a Savage Worlds GM, we’ll have some exciting news for you. If you’re a Savage Worlds player, we think you’ll be pleased as well.

Stay tuned here at the Pinnacle site for updates and the convention game news. Event registration for both Origins and Gen Con is now open! 

RPG Superstar 2013 - Irrisen Sacrificial Athame

Well once more I did not make top32 of RPG Superstar. Here is my item that I posted, minus a few minor changes I did during posting.

Irrisen Sacrifical Athame
Aura strong necromancy; CL17th 
Slot none;Price 81,000 gp; Weight 3 lbs.
Description 

This ritualistic silver knife features a wickedly curved blade; shimmering with hoarfrost, the blade is uncomfortably cool to the touch. These wicked ritualistic tools originated in Irrisen, in the hands of elder witches.  
 
As a swift action, the wielder draws the blade of the athame across their flesh, sacrificing their own life force and leaving a jagged purplish-black scar in its wake. The next spell cast applies the effects of a metamagic feat possessed by the wielder without affecting its level or casting time, as long as the total modified level of the spell does not use a spell slot above 9th level.
 
Each sacrifice costs the wielder 1 point of temporary constitution, dexterity, or strength for each spell level increase of the applicable metamagic feat. Thus adding the maximize metamagic feat will inflict 3 points of temporary attribute damage. The user must possess the relevant ability score in order to use this item (an undead creature may not sacrifice constitution.)
  
An Irrisen Sacrificial Athame may be used on any level of spell. A caster may only add one metamagic effect to any given spell with the power of the athame. The wielder may combine the athame’s effect with metamagic feats they possess. In this case, only the feats possessed by the wielder adjust the spell slot of the spell being cast, per the appropriate metamagic feat. This effect may not be combined with the effect of any metamagic rod.
  
The soft blade is unsuitable for combat, having 5 hit points and hardness 2.
  

Construction
Requirements Spell Perfection; Cost 40,500 gp

This is obviously a variation on a metamagic rod. I felt the rules tweaked it enough to make it interesting, but, obviously it wasn't enough.

This obviously belongs to Paizo now, so no publishing it...

Game Mastering Observations

The power of All FIVE senses

Making a memorable adventure involves truly engaging your players senses. Too often DMs will only give the barest description...usually involving sight. There are five senses. Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, & Touch.

Sight & Sound are the most common...but Smell is probably the most powerful, merely mentioning certain smells will trigger responses from your players. The smell of a corpse, rotting eggs, or mildew will immediately cause a visceral reaction in almost everyone. The smell of baking bread, jasmine, or other wondrous scents will often illicit responses as well. Scents are especially important in cities to bring it to life. From unwashed beggars, to open sewer grates. Combine the good and the bad, "You smell the delicious aroma of Madame Bulgga's Sourdough bread over the stink of the Melchii the Beggar, who smiles at you with his two good teeth, reaching his grimy hand toward you."

Taste & Touch are the ones most often overlooked. Touch doesn't have to be the characters touching something with their own hands. While trudging through a swamp, feeling something slither past your leg, ala Star Wars in the Trash compactor, will definitely cause a reaction. The same goes for the sensation of numbness or stinging from various poisons or magical effects. Perhaps the creation of a fireball that the Wizard has just identified the enemy casting sucks in the air around it, causing the player to feel that air movement. A stinging in the eyes from acids in the air, or even just dry heat. These are all additional senses that typically go unnoticed in a game.

Air movement, and cold are the Hallmarks of Horror. Trudging up Mount Doom, you could imagine the heat that the volcano produced, but also imagine the sulfurous stench of the volcanic gases, the scent of unwashed orcs and goblins.  

Combining the senses in odd combinations can cause interesting results as well. Imagine telling a player that they touch the door handle and immediately taste wild flowers.One of the things that is lost in current editions of OGL games is material components, bat dung for a fireball for instance.


Using these techniques will make your game much more memorable.

Kickstarter - Interface Zero 2.0 (Savage Worlds)

If you read this blog, or have checked out our top 5 lists, you should already know that Interface Zero is my favorite setting. Cyberpunk has been one of my favorites since I first saw Shadowrun back in high school. 

It was complex, and that was good when I was younger, but with age, comes less time to do other things, that's why when I found Savage Worlds I instantly loved it, it's simple, cheap and of course, it's "Fast, Fun and Furious". Enter Interface Zero...amazing, Gun Metal Games definitely is looking forward to the future, and extrapolating what the future will possibly be. Now, GMG is back updating the original SWIZ, with a second edition. Updated to the new Savage Worlds Deluxe rulesystem, and more...keep reading...

Here's the link for the Kickstarter   INTERFACE ZERO 2.0

Here's part of the KS info:

Some of you might be new to this part of the sprawl, and you're probably wondering, "What is Interface Zero anyhow?"
Good question my friend.
Like it says in the short description at the top, IZ (that's short for Interface Zero) is a sci-fi/cyberpunk game set on Earth in the year 2090. Interface Zero is powered by Pinnacle Entertainment's Savage Worlds Deluxe System.
In this dark and grimy world of corrupt, power-mad government, greedy megacorporations and fringe science-gone-wild, you play ronin: rogue street operatives who make their living doing the things nobody else can, or will, do. You have no master, no loyalties beyond your bank balance, tomo. Your only friends are those of convenience. Your tools of the trade are computer code, high-powered weapons, combat drones, cybernetic augmentations, mental powers and maybe even a little bit of luck.

In 2090, the line between human and non-human has blurred to the point where the word "human" is little more than an abstract concept. 
Fully-sapient androids walk the streets alongside vat-grown simulated bio-forms. These bio-forms are known as simulacra, or "sims" for short. The science of hybridization allows anyone with enough cash or credit to splice her DNA with anything from a beetle to a rhino. The human genome has been hacked, kouyuu, rewritten to suit the latest fashion trends.
So, which face are you going to put on before you go out tonight?

The internet of 2090, more commonly known  as "The Deep," is a vast ethereal matrix of interconnected cloud networks that we access via a cybernetic implant known as the Tendril Access Processor, or TAP for short. The TAP is a wireless modem for your brain, providing constant access to the hyper-real world around you. Of course, that constant access has a downside, tomo.
People can use your TAP against you and hack your brain. They'll steal your personal information and empty your bank account before you even knew you were hacked. Heck, some brainers can even swipe your memories and sell them on the black market, so watch your back. Be sure and get the latest mods and firewalls installed, or you might wake up one day and find you no longer remember the world around you.

Our technology has increased to the point where we can augment our bodies with cybernetic implants, or even completely replace body parts.  Most of these, such as the Tendril Access Processor, help us in our daily lives. Of course, there are other reasons to get "cybered," omae. If you want to stay at the top of the food chain, if you want to get the best jobs the mean streets have to offer, you need an edge. Cyberware gives you that edge.

As I see it, the only real reason to do a second edition of a game or setting is if you can make said game or setting better. And that's precisely what we are doing with Interface Zero 2.0. We think we can improve on the first edition, while at the same time bringing you much more setting material so you can go even deeper into the world as it exists in 2090.
Interface Zero 2.0 is going to be at least 200 pages long, but stretch goals may take the book as high as 300. It really depends on how much more you want to see. IZ 2.0 will be a full color, hard back book, and will be printed through the Drivethrurpg's digital print program. Below is a small list of the new material you'll find in the book.

• Character Archetypes: You'll see an array of archetypes modeled after the Archetype packages found in the Streets of Bedlam RPG (Thanks Jason!).
• Advanced Hacking Rules: Hacking 2.0 went a long way towards streamlining the rules found in the first edition, but they didn't address elements of Interface Zero involving virtual reality, hacking weapons, or vehicles, etc. So we're adding some advanced rules which will give your team's hacker more utility in the game.
• You're going to see new gear, more vehicles including mecha and power armor, new weapons, purchasable androids (robot minions, anyone?)
• Streamlined cyberware rules.
• Streamlined hybrid creation rules.
• We're adding rules for mecha creation to the book.
• We're bringing in rules for dubbing, so you can make a virtual "backup" of your mind, just in case you catch a bullet between your eyes. Hey. You never know.
• More NPCs and threats for you to use in your Interface Zero 2.0 game!
• More information about the world, including cities such as London, Christchurch, New York, Denver and Philadelphia!
• There will be a full-length plot point campaign, and numerous Savage Tales to keep you and your friends busy for a long time to come!

Gam3rCon Gam3day February 9th-10th

Well Well, Gam3rCon mini-con coming up.

Come on down and help me celebrate my Meaning of Life birthday...the Big 42, by playing in my alpha play-test for Unleashed Role-playing.

I'll also be running my last RPG demo for Mongoose, as their new support is miniature based Demonstration teams.



Judge Dredd (Traveller) Hot Dog Run [4 hour time slot, 4-6 players]

You're an Academy of Law Cadet in Mega-City One, You're Academy of Law tutor is taking you on the Hot Dog run. The Hot Dog run is the trip into the Cursed Earth that every Cadet makes. Here the cadets are expected to become acquainted with life beyond Mega-City One, and to demonstrate their skills in handling the various hazardous conditions of the Cursed Earth.

By this time in their life, Cadets have been in the academy for a decade, now as teenagers they are expected to prove themselves. The hazards of the Cursed Earth are many, and entire Hot Dog runs never return, do you have what it takes to survive?

Unleashed RPG Playtest [4+ Hours, 4 players]

The Unleashed Role-Playing Game brings you cinematic role-playing using streamlined rules with an old-school feel. Utilizing an explosive 2d10 based system, it allows you to simulate fantastic combat. Few constraints are imposed in what you can attempt, heroic aspects allow you to accomplish amazing feats of heroism, even at first level. Declare what you want to do, then roll to see what your margin of success was.

At the core of the system lies the OGL of the World’s Most Famous Role-playing Game. But its buried pretty deep, having been re-built based on 28 years of gaming experience. A combination of Old School and Indie design, this game brings you something old, something new, something borrowed, something woo!

Come help Alpha Test Unleashed and you will be included in the Playtest credits upon publication. You can also sign up for continuing playtesting of Unleashed.Brought to you by EpicRPGBlog, San Diego's RPG Blog.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (5 STARS)

Ready Player One by Cline, Ernest/ Wheaton, Wil [Compact Disc] [13 Uni (Google Affiliate Ad)

Ready Player One by Cline, Ernest [Hardcover] (Google Affiliate Ad)


Ready Player One is one of the most fun books I've read in a long time. I read it over the summer, now I'm listening to the Audio Book as read by Wil Wheaton. Which is quite funny as he's mentioned in the book. I love this book as much as Dresden Files as a whole. If you have any 80's nostalgia, then this is the book you need to read. It's a huge geek fest,

In a post-energy crisis apocalyptic world, James Halliday has died, the catalyst for "The Hunt". The hunt for a fortune. The controlling share of  OASIS. (Think of a MMO Matrix, where fantastic worlds have been created, Gygax, Arcade, are a couple of the worlds.)  It would make a fun setting for one-shots for conventions, imagine your avatar, running into The Temple of Elemental Evil, wielding not only magic swords, but also an M1911, power armor, while riding a dinosaur...

It all exists in the OASIS, from +5 Musame vorpal katanas to Gundams, to light sabers and blasters. Want to drink a Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster at the Cantina on Tattooine while talking to Usagi Yojimbo and Ensign Crusher, you could do that in the Oasis...

It's kinda like that...well it's exactly like that. (image from Readyplayerone.com)

Here's the synopsis from readyplayerone.com

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. 

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. 

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.   

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape. 

A world at stake.

A quest for the ultimate prize.

Are you ready?

Camelot Trigger FATE CORE

Camelot Trigger

One of the FATE Worlds we're getting as backers of FATE CORE, is the Camelot Trigger setting.

Here's the quick overview:

Camelot Trigger brings a mecha setting to your table. The One and Future King returns to a solar system filled with battles between knights in 80-ton armor on the field of honor.  Duel a Venusian princess for her hand. Hunt outlaws in the asteroid belt. Travel to Earth to joust for a seat of honor next to the High Orbit King. Star Wars Saga Edition writer Rob Wieland remixes Arthurian legend and big stompy robots in a setting featuring courtly intrigue, duels of honor, and XTE-78 Lancepack missile launchers.

If that doesn't sound cool, I don't know what does.

But if you need more right now to be convinced to follow that link...here's Rob Wieland's outline from his post on December 11th.

 CAMELOT Trigger - The Outline
One of the great debates in writing is the outline. Should you have one? How detailed should it be? I started out as a No Outline guy. As time and experience wore on, I found it was more difficult to adhere to my college writing practices. Procrastinating and then writing 10 pages over a weekend works fine when you're a student, but when you're a Dayjobber, you can't just blow off work on Monday to recover.
My outlines aren't very formal. Often, I'll drop them straight in the doc and write around them, then delete the outline as I fill it in with actual text. I scribble additional notes in front of the main text block to not forget them.
CAMELOT Trigger has a lot of big ideas so I went with something a bit more formal to organize my thoughts. One of the important skills a writer has to learn is how to control the flow of inspiration intoo information. It's a big rush when the ideas come hard and fast but it's important to catch as many as possible to use when you have time to craft them.
One of the important goals is to make a setting where interesting things happen but let players determine the outcome. Situations that inspire plot hooks. Characters that feel real but can be beat up by the PCs. It can be very easy and tempting to write a setting where all the cool stuff has already happened. The setting also has to be easy for GMs to make their own.
The other important goal is to make this useful for people who want mecha but not the setting. I'm glad to see people respond positively to CAMELOT Trigger, but I know there are plenty of folks who want mecha rules to use for Gundam, Battletech, and the dozens of other Big Stompy Robot worlds that inspired me.
So, here's my first outline for CAMELOT Trigger. Not everything will make it in, and there's stuff I'm hoping others will suggest that's not on here yet. Drop me a line @robowieland on Twitter or in the comments below to tell me what parts of the outline you want to see expanded.


Mecha rules

• Pick parts

• Pick systems

• Pick suites

• Name tech 

Mecha builds/types

• Light

• Medium

• Heavy

• Manowar

• Vehicle

• Combining

Mecha systems

• Strategic (Overcome)

• Tactical (Advantage)

• Offensive (Attack)

• Defensive (Defend)

Mecha suites

• Focused (+4)

• Wide (+3/+1, +2,+2)

• Broad (+1/+1/+1/+1)

• Variable (spend an FP to switch between Focused, Wide and Broad)

Rules variants

• Salvage

• Power Armor/scale discussion

• Ammo

• Alpha Strike

• Ejection

Setting

• History 

• How Arthur won

• Arthur’s friends

• Arthur’s enemies

• The current threat

• The looming threat

Planets

• Mercury - MerGN-A’s secret clone base

• Venus - The Sisterhood

• Earth - Hail to the High King

• Mars - The Blood Red Sands

• Asteroid Field - Brigands, Emergents and Legends

• Jupiter - The Petty Titans

• Saturn - The Saturnine Senate

• Uranus - The Polaris Monastery

• Neptune - The Emergent Knight

• Sidebar - Et Tu, Pluto?

Legends

• John Arthur - High King of Earth

• Gwen the 4th - Regent of Venus

• L4-NC3-L07 - Warlord of Mars

• Dr. Vyvyan Locke - Mother of Artificial Intelligence

• MerGN-A - The would be

• MerGN series robots (MerGN-B through MerGN-L)

Rules
Skills

• Armour

• Blast

• Chivalry

• Clash (Bout?)

• Coachman

• Cunning

• Daunt

• Devotion

• Household

• Inquisition

• Intrigue

• Larceny

• Lineage

• Lore

• Mark

• Skulking

• Smithy

• Stoutness

  Setting variants

• I wanna be Arthur!

• Siding with MerGN-A

• Gender Flipping

• Love, Camelot Style

• A Knight’s Retinue

• Defined By Your Passions

• Sufficiently Advanced Magic

 Obviously these are Rob Wieland's ideas, and are not covered by my CCNA licensing. All rights belong to Rob Wieland, now go to his blog!

MW2039 Switch to FATE

I've decided that I'll be switching to FATE for Moderne Worlds of 2039 rather than Legends. It will be a better fit with the pulp fully in tact. Of Course, that's not on the burner at the moment, but, just for future reference.

I had originally been torn between Fate and Legends. I wanted to see where FATE core was going to take us. Now we know.

Congrats and Woohoos!

Congrats to Paizo/Goblinworks on funding their Pathfinder Online game. They came in at just under $1.1 million. Again, if PO was going to be Pathfinder rules based rather than Golarion Online, I would be all over it, but an EVE style PvP MMO isn't what I want. I was slightly interested in the Emerald Spire megadungeon they are creating. And I'm impressed with the talent they have working on the game.

Congrats to Gamesmiths, LLC for succesfully getting Legends of Sinbad funded. It doubled what they were asking, and opened my eyes to how hard it is for small start-ups to get funding on projects. Something I'll have to watch for when I try to do Unleashed.

Woohoo!!! The next Kickstarter goal for FATE Core is Day After Ragnarok!!!  Go help fund it now, $10 will get you this and the other PDFs!!!! 
GO NOW!!!!

We're over halfway to our Young Centurions goal! That means it's time for us to reveal the next goal at $285,000: the Fate system adaptation of The Day After Ragnarok, exploding at you like gigaton-class mindbomb from Kenneth Hite and Leonard Balsera!

This is post-apocalyptic pulp like no other! Mighty-thewed barbarians and grim mercenaries roam the desolate plains of Ohio. Giant snakes, and those who worship them, prowl the ruins of St. Louis. Pirates battle Japanese invaders in the South China Sea. Bold British agents, equipped with experimental ophi-tech, thwart the insidious infiltration of Stalin's humanzees. Sky-raiders strike from hidden bases in the Sahara, deros skulk in South American caverns, and the Texas Rangers fight electrical death worms to save Los Alamos.

Kenneth Hite presents a world of savage swords and rocket men, of were-serpents and war-apes, from Australia's battered Empire to the proud city-state of Chicago. And across it all lies the trillion-ton corpse of the Midgard Serpent, killed by atomic fire but still poisoning the Earth with every passing night. Welcome to the world at the end of the world!

With this Fate Core translation, you'll be able to use The Day After Ragnarok as an alternate timeline-gone-wrong backstory for your Shadow of the Century game! The Fate Core Edition of The Day After Ragnarok will include the tale of how the Century Club went down fighting the Midgard Serpent. Learn how Jet Black flew the atomic bomb into the Serpent's mouth to end the fight, and read the sad and tragic tale of Sally Slick, the sole survivor of the battle who now wanders the wastelands of America, keeping the spirit of the century alive for just one more day.

Thanks to our partnership with Atomic Overmind Press we'll bring you this stretch goal once we reach $285,000. Backers at the EXPANSIONS level and higher will be able to receive the Fate Core Edition of the Day After Ragnarok in PDF form for an upgrade cost of absolutely nothing. So let's bring on the apocalypse, folks!

FATE Mindjammer 2nd edition

Sarah Newton previews the 2nd edition Mindjammer on her blog.



Here's what she starts off with...

Hey folks,I’m deep down in the New Commonality of Humankind this month, doing the final write-through of the upcoming Mindjammer 2nd edition RPG, due out spring 2013 and using the new Fate Core rules. I mentioned late last year I’d try to post updates and peeks – so here’s a look at the character creation guide for the hominid genotype the Chembu, the genurgic enhancement specialists of the Commonality (you may recognise them from General Ulgus in the Mindjammer novel). I hope you like it – and of course there’s lots more to come in the bumper 300-page hardback in a few months!*****

So, Mindjammer is going to become a stand-alone Sci-Fi setting using the FATE CORE rules. Read more on her blog, I'm not going to repost the entire post because I want you to go see her work if you're interested. Mindjammer was originally an expansion to the Starblazer Adventures FATE RPG.

RPG Superstar Round 2 thoughts

After having voted for nearly two weeks, and seeing probably 85-90% of the items, I'm setting my sights on round 2, hoping that my item makes it to round 2. After six years of submitting, learning, and trying my best to submit quality, balanced material, I might have done it.

Round 2 is the archetype round. Designing an archetype is tricky without being for a contest, making sure to balance powers, writing descriptions, etc, all while trying to not step on the toes of other classes. Then again archetypes are about specific types of archetypal ideals. While a Buccaneer (Fighter) is similar in theme to a Buccaneer (Rogue) the execution of said archetypes is a thin line. Dropping the heavy and medium armors for the fighter to get several skills on their class list is more balanced than giving them a full sneak attack progression.

Now the curveball. Paizo (in support of the MMO, I'm guessing), is having the archetypes be River Kingdom archetypes for this contest. Which made me throw out my initial idea for an Akiton Warrior...oh well. I'm running through several ideas now.

If you're a contestant, good luck, and I hope you make Top32!

Edit: Now that the contest is over, and Clark has posted the Top89, I realize my item was not public friendly, I'll post in the Critique thread to see what the Judges themselves would have thought of my item had they actually had a chance to look at it....which since my item wasn't in the positive voting sphere, makes me wonder about the contest as a whole, with items like Door Chalk making top89.

Alpha Testing Unleashed

It looks like I will be doing some Alpha Testing at GamerCon GameDay (Feb9/10) and Kingdom Con (April). Been working on consolidating some rules ideas, mods, and I'll start writing up the Alpha Rules for low-level testing. I'm looking at 4th level for these alpha tests. 

While developing the system, I'm also developing my Fantasy game world. I'm planning on having the world progress through the ages, with input from fans/players. Instead of putting out book after book on a static world, 1 book, and several serials over the course of a year would suffice to cover it. Then the world advances, civilizations rise and fall. Once great cities become the ruins of old. I first thought of doing this with the old animated Lord of the Rings. When Gandalf was pointing out how the 4th age would be the age of man. The first couple of ages will be covered as vague history. There will be lots of new takes on old ideas. I eventually will tie in the Fantasy ages with industrial ages, modern ages, future ages,  etc,.

A World where the dragons weren't the first sentient race on the planet, in fact, they were created to serve the first great empire. A militant race rises to create one of the most powerful empires ever known, only to fall back into depravity. Magical Genetic Manipulation. And more.

I'm going to work with the boys to create a logo as this is a family project. The boys and I have sat down and discussed world creation together.

Stay Tuned.

Kickstarter - RAZOR COAST (PFRPG & Swords & Wizardry)

Razor Coast Kickstarter

I don't have enough money...I've been waiting for this for like 5 years, ever since Nick Logue came out with the original Wayne Reynold's Cover Art!

Anyway Frog God Games is producing this one. I think they're going a bit high on the product costs for it however, thus the reason they're only at $11k after 10 days rather than $200k.

Razor Coast is the long anticipated Caribe-Polynesian flavored, Age of Sail swashbuckling RPG campaign envisioned and designed by Nicolas Logue. It has been praised for its ambitious and original design, its epic flavor and its lurid, full-color art – including a cover by the award winning Wayne Reynolds.

Logue tapped a team of veteran designers to help develop and write Razor Coast, including Lou Agresta, Adam Daigle, Tim Hitchcock, and John Ling. Razor Coast isn’t just an adventure, it’s part setting, part adventure path, and part toolkit to build your own unique campaign. It’s non-linear and will never play the same way twice.

We filled it with corrupt municipal Dragoons, dastardly smuggling rings, weresharks – lots of weresharks - desperate naval battles, oppressed tribes craving heroes, witches, cursed islands, legendary treasure troves, an impending apocalypse or two, demon pirates, retired assassins, undead worms, gator men, failed heroes waiting to be redeemed, dark conspiracies brewing in the oceans depths, vengeful ghosts…oh – and mutating cannibal pygmies. Who doesn’t like those?

The final book will be delivered in 100% full color, tightly bound with our infamous stitched-bound hardcovers -- or secured by genuine leather covers for our serious collector. Our goal is to raise $75,000 for the additional costs to authors, artists, the printing it takes to finish the project, and similar costs -- and lastly, to create the Player's Guide. We have grander plans for Razor Coast and will reveal them with Bonus Goals.

Sneak Peek of Razor Coast #1

Sneak Peek of Razor Coast #2

Sneak Peek or Razor Coast #3

First in celebration of hitting the halfway point on the Razor Coast Kickstarter, Frog God Games is pleased to announce that we will be adding an adventure to the book written by one of the giants of the industry (as a bonus to all of you who buy the main book or back the project here on Kickstarter).
More content!

Frank Mentzer, long a part of the game industry has offered to help us with Razor Coast. This is particularly inspiring to all of us here in Frog Land, as it merges the old and the new into one great package. Frank is near and dear to us old folks as he was one of the originals that created the game, and thus spawned our Swords & Wizardry line. For all the Pathfinder fans out there, Frank is one of the named developers working with Paizo and Goblinworks as part of their superstar lineup for the Emerald Spire MMO . Frank has been one of the writers to connect the two worlds of OSR work and Pathfinder, and we are glad to have him writing for us!

Frank Mentzer is an Old School gamer best known for writing five D&D rule sets (Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, and Immortals) and other D&D products with his friend and co-author Gary Gygax. Frank was at TSR from 1980 to 1986 and is one of the best-selling authors in the history of the industry, with tens of millions of copies of his works published during that era. His other creations include the legendary Temple of Elemental Evil (with Gygax) and the game version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He won the title of #1 Dungeon Master (1980) and an Origins Award for GameMaster Secrets II (1993). Frank has been a game auctioneeer at the world's largest game auction (at GenCon, the world's largest game convention, of course) for almost 30 years. He responds to Q&A message boards on multiple sites. Frank spent the last two decades in other business but, now that he's 'retired' (over 60), recently started this new publishing company, "Eldritch Enterprises", with Tim Kask and Jim Ward (both 'founding fathers' of the game industry in the 1970s) and Chris Clark (of Inner City Games).
Indulgences

Second, we are converting all 8 of the original Razor Coast Indulgence expansions to Pathfinder and Swords and Wizardry. Like the pieces of eight of old, these eight pieces are RPG expansion gold! Revisited, retreaded, and rebalanced

Craig Shackleton brings historical swashbuckling to your table expanding on the Art of the Duel
Wolfgang Baur lays out the fun overlooked by underwater adventuring everywhere
Nick Logue explores the powerful unarmed combat arts of the Tulita islanders
Rich Pett, Brendan Victorson, Nick Logue and Greg A. Vaughan add over 50 pages of adventure that plug right into your Razor Coast campaign at 1st, 6th and 7th levels.

We're adding this material to the Razor Coast Mega-Campaign volume to help take it to an estimated 350 pages for Pathfinder and 280 for Swords & Wizardry.

Super Dungeon Explore 3D boards Kickstarter

This guy created some amazing boards about a year ago, and now it seems he's decided to bring them to everyone else with this new Kickstarter. Now these are definitely not for the faint of pocketbook. To get one unpainted 3D tile will cost $60...It is already funded at its current

Check it out

Kickstarter Update - FATE CORE & SINBAD

OK, it's the new year, I haven't updated the Kickstarters for awhile now. So without further ado.

Legends of Sinbad Kickstarter could use some more help. It's funded, 10 days remain to hit those stretch goals. $57 to get 20 monsters added to the bestiary, that triples what's in the book to begin with. Inspired by the old Ray Harryhausen movie, Gamesmiths are providing a book with complete rules for Savage Worlds, no need to own Deluxe edition or Deluxe explorer's edition. Explorer's edition. This should provide a Fast, Fun & Furious adventure!


The Legends of Sinbad Roleplaying Game provides you with several campaign and adventure ideas, dozens of new magical treasures and thrilling monsters, fully fleshed-out NPCs and organizations to serve as reoccurring antagonists, a map and information on the kingdoms and empires of the Seven Seas, as well as mysterious locations such as the City of Brass, the lost island of Lemuria, and the Fountain of Destiny!

Grab your astrolabe, sharpen your scimitar, and set sail for the Seven Seas in The Legends of Sinbad!

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Fate Core Kickstarter pushes to $200,000...

As the kickstarter for one of my favorite systems out there pushes past the halfway mark for completion, 26 days remain, and lots of Stretch Goals remain as well. Check this out: Look at how much you get for $10!!! PDFs galore, enough to run FATE in nearly every genre.








Fate Accelerated is the Basic Core system, without so many examples, kind of a cool goal, especially useful to get kids into the system.

Then at $235,000 DO: Fate of the Flying Temple, a FATE Accelerated product.



Adapting the setting of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple to the Fate Accelerated Edition, this unlockable goal will feature tiny worlds, big hearts, young heroes, a lost temple, and trainable dragons. The PDF will be made available to all backers at $10 and up if funded.

More Caverns of RoXor (Super Dungeon Explore)

I ran Super Dungeon Explore SUPER mode for the boys, we realized we'd been playing some stuff wrong, and corrected it this game. (Namely advancing the counter for kills instead of wounds.) This made the game play a bit faster. Due to placement of the spawn points opposite the treasure chests, the boys went after the treasure allowing me to conga line the monsters from 2 spawn points.

I was using 4 spawn points and they had 2 characters each. (So it was sort of a mini super). I was running Rocktop and Fireflow with RoXor!!! as my boss. As last time, it took forever to make it to the end fight, but once we got to it, RoXoR was amazingly powerful, he's probably overpowered, and would beat Starfire 9 times out of 10.

I had two spawn points remaining when RoXoR came out, it was pretty much a done deal. The ability for RoXoR to activate 3 times in 1 turn combined with his burrow ability, and the wave 3; 2 action attack made short work of the heroes. It was a fun game, and lessons were learned. (Sorry no pics of our actual game this time, but enjoy these pictures of some nicely painted figures from Caverns of RoXoR.

You can purchase Super Dungeon Explore from your FLGS. From Sodapopminiatures.com store as well.

Caverns of Roxor $59.95
Fireflow Denizens $29.99
Rock Top Minions $34.95
Super Dungeon Explore $100

I know it's expensive, but it's a lot of miniatures, and a pretty damned fun game as well.

This image comes from the Cool Mini or Not forums, and was from a contest they ran. Check out the full thread here. I claim no ownership nor grant any permission to use this image.

This image comes from the Cool Mini or Not forums, and was from a contest they ran. Check out the full thread here. I claim no ownership nor grant any permission to use this image. 

Super Dungeon Explore - Caverns of RoXoR

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

We got to play some SDE on Sunday. Man the new set is really fun, because its new and different, also also, not having to assemble all the miniatures is much less stressful. It will be a little more difficult to paint them, but I think we'll be...O.K.

We played just a quick 2 player game (Sean & I), with one Consul (Ian). Sean played the Star Guild Sapper , I played the Deeproot Scout. Ian ran the Fireflow  minions. A very nice change from the kobolds. I mean the kobolds are fun and all, but it got a bit boring after a year playing against the same guys. New challenges awaited the 2 adventurers.

The intrepid adventures enter the delve!

First assault. 

Splut! 

They just keep coming!

Awww, I just put those guys out... /sadface

Let's try a pre-frontal lobot...errr...assault.

Surrounded!

Incoming!

The Deeproot Scout sets up to fire off his relic

Aftermath of the relic, destroyed node, and popped gels.

Rockgut attacks!

The Star Guild Sapper strikes down Rockgut the Fire Troll, one round later the second node and the Fire beetle were dead. (However, we realized afterward, that Ian forgot the Tough attribute for Rockgut, and the White Armor 2 of the Fire Beetle...oh well, we'll know for next delve.)

Also, amazing sunset!