Giblet Blizzard

3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars : G+ Game

2012-02-21T19:51:00.001+13:00

©Gregor Hutton

Great game. I ran it on the spur of the moment last week on G+, and it worked well enough that I'm willing to have a crack at running a campaign.

So yeah, if you're keen for something a little different, go here:

3:16 Carnage Among the Stars @ ConstantCon

You are humanity's only hope for survival. Don't fuck up.

Moar Hobo Goblinobo

2012-02-21T09:13:00.000+13:00

The final illustration of Cheroot for Trey.

Hobogoblin!

2012-02-20T10:48:00.000+13:00

For Trey over at From the Sorcerer's Skull, a sketch of Cheroot the Hobogoblin!

Weeklings : Wizard in the Kitchen

2012-02-20T00:55:00.000+13:00

Simon Forster asked for:

"How about an illustration of a halfling chef wizard? He has a chef's hat and a ladle, and is chubby. He's my current PC, and cooks a lovely breakfast :)"

Better really really really really really really fucking late than never.

So yeah. Weeklings. Back in action, taking requests. Hit me.

Backscratcher : Want In?

2012-02-19T20:11:00.000+13:00

So the Backscratcher thing could go one of two ways: either really controlled, with a full on registry, portfolios, website, feedback, etc etc.. or something far more easy going, more just a general notice board offering skills and wot not. Unless someone steps up and says they're willing to organise and maintain the first option (not me sorry) then a simple place where you can let others know you're up for the Backscratcher idea will do just dandy. And that place is right here.

So if you want in, please leave a reply with:

• a name
• a means of contacting you
• what skills you can offer
• what skills you might be looking for
• a link to any samples to let others know you've got the chops
• and anything else you think you need to add

And I'll add any Backscratchers to a comprehensive list at the end of this post.

Bewdy!

FLUX #01 : Island of the Killer Twig-footed Trunkburger

2012-02-16T00:15:00.005+13:00

Sunday night I got to muck about in Scrap Princess' homebrew game, lovely to meet her and her creations. Very nifty. We were joined by Christine all the way from Germany, who'd traveled a hulleva long way to play her first rpg. But she sank her teeth in like a pro; and Scrap's friend John who hadn't played in ten years but was all over it.

We did chargen in half an hour or so using Scrap's mashup rules (a little bit Feng Shui, a little bit Pathfinder) and came up with:

• Hennowar - refugee thief of undecided gender from someplace unimportant (Christine)
• Kalfur - ghul ranger, and his sidekick Kalfur Jr the Vicious Mudgoose (who's the dad, eh John?)
• Durandu - fluxchild wizard spelljunkie inspired by these posts over on rolang.com (me)

and we kicked off as castaways on an island unknown, just up the beach from an upturned and half drowned river barge. Found the dying bargepilot from NewDawnFades in the shade of the the jungle's edge; turns out he was symbiont with the cutest little talking caterpillar hidden on his shoulder (Scrap Princess does a very excellent forlorn caterpillar impression). Said dude was brain dead, heart still going, and grub thing was gonna die with him. omg moral quandary! what do we do? Loot the barge. Well Hennowar does, and keeps all the best stuff for hirself. Fucking thieves. Unwittingly aiding her was Kalfur Jr, going off like a frog in a sock about something in the trees. Suddenly, Stilt-legged Pygmy Elephant!

Now gaming is one of those things where players like to get carried away and add a few details, like "We're on a castaway island! Ergo, we must be starving!" which can cloud their vision and make Stilt-legged Pygmy Elephants look like hamburgers on toothpicks. So Kalfur goes all manhunter and runs off to kill us some dinner. Only dinner kicks his arse all over the beach; the collective might of three 1st Level characters sans spells or decent weapons aided by the unholy screech of the mud goose be no match for a slightly pissed off Twig-footed Trunkburger and we retreated, dragging an unconscious Kalfur Sr. and dumping him along side caterpillar man. Trunkburger rolled a 3 and decided to bugger off.

A brief discussion including the phrase "eat the mud goose" was enough to rouse the ghul, and it was decided that crabsticks are way better than trunkburgers. Campfire stories were had. Come morning and a fresh batch of spellikins for Durandu we sauntered off into the jungle looking for slightly smaller creatures with which to prove our killiness. First said creatures were man-eating crabs; fortunately they'd found three dead men to go to town on and were too busy to give us any claw action. The hombres were uniformed, booted, armoured and one wore a cutlass in a jaunty style through his skull. Divvying up the loot I discovered Durandu was quite the fashionista and that crocodileskin leathers weren't for him. All the good shit went to Kalfur, as is befitting a meatshield, though the poisonous munchrooms that induced rage and frenzy before death ended up in Durandu's pockets.

From there Hennowar climbed the trees: "zer are zez thingz flyink around ze pig in ze diztanz" and a tower. Simple plan: get to the peak, climb the tower and find out where we are. Suddenly, foot-long spikefaced maggot thing! That it went for Hennowar tells me she needs to wash more. Also, maggot-faced wolf thing! One girly scream from Durandu followed by a mouthful of arcantrixical verbulation and the maggot wolf lay slumbering at Durandu's feet, dreaming sweet dreams about how one day, when it grows up, its face was going to be a fly. The heartless bastard that was Kalfur shattered such youthful hopes and ran the beastie through. A lot.

And that's where we had to end it; two random encounters, a moral quandary, and a bit of looting. I know Scrap Princess was holding back on the weird, there was a new roleplayer to consider after all. Didn't matter. Good time had. Return customer fer shure. What happened to the caterpillar man?

Character Sketch: Lurkio

2012-02-08T09:36:00.001+13:00

Moorcock has his Eternal Champion, but I have my Eternal Scumbag. Lurkio turned up in nearly every long-term campaign I played in, but this was his first incarnation as my archgrunge murderhobo, 90s style. Lurk was cool.

Character Sketch: Corbando

2012-02-02T09:14:00.001+13:00

This here is Corbando, my old D&D2E myrmidon, name lifted from an obscure line in Shakespeare which in Spanish means "cut across the gut" apparently. Corbando was cool.

Character Sketch: Spanner

2012-02-01T09:56:00.000+13:00

So I found me a bunch of old character portraits from the last 20 years. This one's from a short lived Jovian Chronicles game waaaay back when. V-something somethingrussian. Techhead obviously. Took shit from no-one. V-thingy was cool.

Backscratcher

2012-01-31T23:48:00.007+13:00

So I've been thinking a lot about the idea I threw out yesterday about Backscratcher, and I'd really like to know what you think about the following:

I think there is real potential in setting up a bartering system for creative services that are focused within the RPG community; where everyone was allowed to request one "Itch" but no more until they had given a "Scratch" and helped fulfill another request, which made them eligible to request another "Itch". And so on.

I'd imagine services would include anything needed to help create completed content. illustration, writing, cartography, layout, editing and proofing etc. Whatever is necessary to get concepts from one person's brainpan and into everyone's hands.

The rewards of such a system? Cheaper production costs for everyone's projects - the only real currency is here is time and a love of what you're creating. Also a stronger community - we're all helping each other out to produce what we will all enjoy. Add to that awareness of each other's projects - by asking for work on your particular project others you're advertising your project.

There are issues that would need to be addressed regarding copyrights and ownership.

So yeah, all you DIY RPGers, as a concept can you see it working, and what are the potential merits and flaws? Is it something that will really galvanise the community, or is it trying to formalise an unspoken system that's already out there - is it superfluous?

And if it really is a decent idea and one worth running with... how the hell would it work?

Lemme know what you think.

UPDATE: If you are interested in being a part of Backscratcher, please leave details over here.

Help Me Help You Help Me

2012-01-31T10:47:00.006+13:00

K so here's the deal. I'm working on MUTANTOR! and it's in need of a cash injection to get it up and running to pay for a few things (namely some decent cover art at the mo). But I'm not from the States, so the go to for RPG start ups Kickstarter is totally not an option, and while there are other startup sites out there out there I have a different idea in mind.

Here's how it's gonna work:

• I'm a graphic designer. Been at it for nearly 20 years. It's a good way to pay the bills. But what I love working on is RPG stuff. So I'm offering my services as a graphic designer to any RPG project out there. If you've got your homebrew system, or setting bible, or character sheets, whatever. I'll take it and make it look all purdy like.

• Here's what I'll charge: what ever you think the job is worth once it's done. Paypal.

• Be reasonable about it; if you're going to send me a 400 page tome it'll probably sit at the bottom of the pile for some time; anything up to 50 pages or so will get a decent look in.

• Art and maps are an entirely separate deal. This is just for design.

So yeah, it's a wacky experiment that I hope will work. I help the RPG community produce classy stuff, the community helps me get MUTANTOR off the ground, and I give the community another game. Win Win Win as far as I can see it.

Any takers?

UPDATE: I've edited this post and taken out references to the Backscratcher idea, which takes this concept a step further and deserves its own post. Over here.

UPADTE II: If you would like to contact me about a project you'd like me to work on, please include answers to the questions below in your email:

• How many pages do you think the document will be?

• What page dimensions would you like?

• Are you after color or black and white?

• Is this for download only or will there be a print version as well?

• Will you be supplying art for me to include in the layout, or will you need illustrations and/or logos?

• Do you have any specific design features or samples you want me to include?

• Are you happy to credit me as the designer in your document?

• When do you need the final layout delivered by?

Thanks!

Field of Skulls

2012-01-31T00:13:00.000+13:00

For a mate's great little RPG called Darkest Hour, of the weird WWII ilk.

MUTANTOR! DICE ENGINE

2012-01-25T03:15:00.001+13:00

Here's the final version of the dice engine I'm gonna go with for MUTANTOR! Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on this. I've tried to strip it down to as simple an explanation as possible. Lemme know what you think. Plus, logo!

ROLL THREE 6-SIDED DICE:

• If each dice is different:

PURE! Drop the highest and lowest dice; the remaining dice is your score.

• If two of the dice are the same:

FREAK! Add those two same dice together. That’s your score.

• If all three dice are the same:

MUTANT! Add those three dice together. That’s your score, plus your dice will start to MUTATE!

• Ones are Bad:

Double ones? HORROR! Don’t add them together, instead your score is 1, plus bad stuff happens.

Triple ones? ABOMINATION! Don’t add them together, instead your score is 0, plus real bad stuff happens.

MUTATING DICE:

Whenever you roll a MUTANT your dice start to MUTATE. That number you rolled three times? Any time you roll that number again you can change it to be any number you want – between 1 and 6 of course.

So when you roll three 6-sided dice that are MUTATING:

• If each dice is different and one is a MUTANT DICE:

You can change your MUTANT DICE to be the same as one of the other two dice; add those two same dice together. FREAK! That’s your score.

• If two of the dice are the same, and one or two is a MUTANT DICE:

You can change your MUTANT DICE to make all three dice the same; add those three dice together. MUTANT! That’s your score.

• If all three dice are MUTANT DICE:

MUTANTOR!!! You can change all your MUTANT DICE to be whatever you want them to be and other super awesome stuff happens.

Star Wars: Planets of the Malicrux III

2012-01-22T20:54:00.000+13:00

The third in the gazeteer of planets from the Malicrux Sector, the setting for my ongoing classic era Star Wars campaign.

PLANETS OF THE MALICRUX

GWEYR KROM is a crystalline world that serves as the corporate capital of the sector. All of the largest sector corporations maintain offices here, in pristine cities nestled between shimmering spires and radiant peaks or along the shores of the sparkling deserts. Great chains of shard mountains cross the planet and pierce the sky, some reaching even into space; the wonder and cold beauty of this world is renowned. The MediCrux Corporation dominates trade. As is fitting the corporate engine of the region, Gweyr Krom is also the financial heart of the Malicrux, with a number of major banking headquarters; Krombank is by far the most widely used by the sectors’ inhabitants. The transition from the Old Republic to Imperial rule was relatively smooth; the citizens value peace and security above all things, and Governor Atterick Krayne has done much to ensure this tranquility is maintained, though at great cost to personal freedoms. Public outcry and dissent is virtually unheard of; the Empire considers Gweyr Krom to be a rolemodel world for the sector and recruits heavily from youth seeking something more adventurous.

GYRE is a barbaric world that orbits the third brightest star in the galaxy. Beneath its brilliant glare, the once shining beacon of civilization collapsed in a civil war that left the planet devastated, where warlords continue to shed blood over petty border disputes, and loyalties and alliances are in constant flux. They fund their campaigns by selling off the remnants of the glass cathedrals that once made Gyre famed throughout the galaxy; a single shard of the luminous light-bending substance is worth a considerable fortune, if the right buyer can be found. Eager to end the conflict, the Republic banned the trade in Gyre-glass, and drove art collectors to the black market; few let the knowledge that each shard is paid for with blood cloud their conscience. All this comes at great heartache to House Nephada, the former rulers of Gyre who until recently lived in exile on Sapphirica. Now, the backing of the Empire, the House has reclaimed the Duchal Palace on Gyre and formed a solid defensive position in the ruins of the surrounding city. War is brewing, and it may be that the threat of the Nephada is the one thing that could unify the warlords of Gyre.

HARASSA is an industrial world dedicated to the production of repulsorlift vehicles and famed for its pod racer designs. A client world of House Arranasis, the passion of Duke Barin for the repulsorsport has seen the desert world rise from corporate ignominy to become one of the leading manufacturers for several sectors. The Duke encourages a healthy rivalry between the domed city-states that rise out of the barren lands; the red sands are home to a number of racing circuits and to a man Harassians follow every event on the yearly calendar. For many, the dream of becoming a pod racer is enough to maintain them through the long hours and fiendishly hot conditions; and while rare, some do achieve this dream, rising to become one of the brash and notoriously short-lived stars. There are two concerns pressing enough to distract the average Harassian from watching the continuous coverage of pod racing events. The first is a localised problem: the primitive indigenous population of desert dwellers known as Shifters pose a constant threat to the security of the domes, commanding huge sand storms to envelop race meets and entire cities should they be angered enough. The second is perhaps far more serious. With the continuing war effort against the Rebel Alliance, the Empire has commandeered a number of repulsorlift factories and conscripted entire workforces to produce military vehicles. With each year another factory is converted, and slowly but surely Harassian racers dwindle in number. While Duke Barin is able to maintain a sensitive balance between keeping the Empire at bay and his people in a state of unease, political pundits wonder at how little it will take to upset this balance.

JASTERKAST is a poisonous world, with acid green skies and toxic bogs smeared across its surface that serves as the homeworld to a slithering amphibianoid people known as the Jast. Rising up out of the quagmires are a number of heavily fortified and independent city-states that have spent hundreds of years recovering from a nuclear war that nearly wiped out all life on the planet. Large swathes of radioactive swamps lie between the cities, and great, mutated creatures swim the black seas. In the wake of their great war, the Jast vowed never again to raise arms against one another, but their vicious and cunning ways saw them take up ever more subtle means to strike at their enemies. Shadowy warfare is the norm, with the Alchemists of Jast ever striving to outdo one another with their poisons and antidotes. A number of these chemical weapons are sold to unscrupulous warlords offworld, and the Jast are happy to use the planet of Fray as a proving ground for their poisons. Visitors find the place to be oppressively humid and sickly, but trips here can be profitable; there are a number of byproducts to the Jastrian experiments, considered failures by the poison masters, but many of which have a wide variety of commercial purposes. Duke Carmus Jasterkastria oversees the development of trade with other worlds from the relative safety of his orbital station low over the green clouds, but ensures a hefty tax to pay for the protection of his household from his rivals.

JYRYX is a pristine wilderness world of mountainous forests and cold seas, formerly under the jurisdiction of the Unisys Corporation and marked for exploitation, but now under the possession of the relocated Sulgoran people. The Sulgorans fled the environmental depredation of their homeworld by Unisys and, eager to avoid a similar reoccurrence, they applied for and received a permanent isolation order from the old Republic that banned any offworlders from landing on the planet without prior permission of the Jyryxi ambassador Tuva Hurkeesi on Sapphirica. However Hurkeesi knows that agreements struck with the old Republic no longer hold much legal weight in the Emperor’s new order, and knows it is only a matter of time before ravenous corporations or the Empire itself comes to claim Jyryx for themselves. The ambassador’s dire warnings have gone unheeded by his people and their clan leaders, who pursue their old ways of hunting and gathering in the tranquility of their new home, maintaining faith in the sanctity of their protective decree and not willing to believe in the ambassador’s stories of atrocity. Hurkeesi, eager to protect his people from the coming storm, is known to be actively seeking out new allies in the galactic arena.

Zak's DM Questionnaire

2012-01-20T01:02:00.002+13:00

From here:

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

The Hexlock Puzzle that turned up in my Secret Santicore entry. p30 I think. It's nearly 10 years old and I'd made up a decent hardcopy mounted on card and presented it to my players once they'd stormed the wizards tower. Had them stumped, and I'd taken the bastard option and repeated the puzzle on the reverse in a different order. They'd been working hard at it for 10 minutes before someone turned one of the pieces over. Best jaw drop ever. They did solve it too.

2. When was the last time you GMed?

Just before Christmas.

3. When was the last time you played?

Mid 2010; wrapped up a Mutants & Masterminds alt-history supers campaign where Japan didn't hit Pearl Harbour so the Americans didn't get involved in the war... 50 years later, cyber Hitler is lording over the world from his base on the moon. Campaign goal? Kill Hilter. And I got the natural 20 punching him in the face. Icky.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.

I'm pining for some good ol' dungeon hacks actually... the dungeon bash would be an exploration of a sunken temple-thing, summoned from the deep, inhabited by evilfishmen for centuries, but millenia ago was actually a vast magick artefact designed to grant its creator immortality in a time womb thing - only it didn't work as planned - and there's lots of time/possibility hijinks and side-effectsto screw the players over with, as they try to get the temple-machine operational again, get back to their own time and stop the big bad from emerging from stasis.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

Engage; usually the fastest way to get them moving.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

I need brain food; carbs and sugary goodness.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

Nope. Emotionally sometimes, and mentally draining sure.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?

Same Mutant and Masterminds game as above; I deliberately built a hero that was designed to support others, and with the right point-buy I made a zillionaire who owned a private army stationed on one of the islands of the coast of LA. Just having an army at your beck and call was a totally different (and interesting) style of playing.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Any excuse for a laugh. But that doesn't mean they don't take the campaign seriously. We just have fun while playing.

10. What do you do with goblins?

Pull teeth out of their victims and make little goblin-baby rattles out of them.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

Pull teeth out of their victims and make little goblin-baby rattles out of them.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

The ongoing paternity issues for our drug-addled ex-secret operative in Star Wars who fell in with a bunch of amphibious cloners. They kept presenting him with man-frog halfbreed children from his DNA as pets. Spur of the moment thing that got a lot of mileage.

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?

3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars as inspiration for simplicity in game design.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

Me of course :) Russ Nicholson... no, Miles Teeves!

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?

Not in a long while, but then I haven't run horror stuff in a long while either. I think Kindred of the East was the last time I got genuine fear, back in Vancouver '05.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

The Witchfire Trilogy for Iron Kingdoms. Great, great series. I added a bit of family background to the players that tied into the adventure as extra motivation, and we stuck with the game from beginning to end (and they failed to stop wassername from unleashing hell). Took about two and a bit years to play out.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

I keep dreaming of a dedicated game room, well-lit table in a dark space, comfy seats, with a decent soundsystem and a flatscreen teev on the wall for the GM to show pics to the players on. Decent library on the walls; beers tucked away in the mini fridge.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

Mouseguard and Kult.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?

China Meiville is a HUGE influence on my games and creativity in general, so that's right down the geek end of the spectrum.... down the other end would be the vast collection of National Geographic magazines I grew up with as a kid. So much cool stuff out there in the real world...

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

Fun, easygoing, enthusiastic, and can roll with the punches.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?

My bad guys are usually motivated by love. They just take that need one step (or three) beyond what's acceptable.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?

MUTANTOR!

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?

A few people, my partner mostly, she's played once or twice but won't anymore; just isn't into it but gets it. When we talk it's usually about the story development or personality issues.

DungeonFu for Google+ : Mark II

2012-01-19T21:15:00.002+13:00

For all you gamers using Google+ Hangouts to run games online, here's the latest version of DungeonFu, a free map making assistant that anyone can view and edit while playing. I've included cavern surfaces and waterways in this version.

Go have fun with it; if you make anything with it send me a JPG so I can chuck it in here, plus any screen grabs of your game mid session would be great. Just make sure that whoever's hosting the game includes the "Hangout with Extras" option so you can share documents with everyone playing.

If there's anything you'd like to see added to the next version, please lemme know.

Also I'll start running demos of how to use DungeonFu starting 9am-ish Monday 23rd NZ time - which is:

LA - midday Sunday 22nd

NY - 3pm Sunday 22nd

London - 8pm

If you're interested just drop a note in the comments.

MUTANTOR! Graphic Imagery (or Mutant Dice Part II)

2012-01-09T11:29:00.000+13:00

OK, this is going to be the driest post I think I'll ever do, but it's a necessary eeeevil. Actually, no, it's not, it's real important that I get this right. Cause the one thing you do over and over again in RPGs is roll dice. It's gotta work right, it's gotta be fun, it's gotta have longevity and ease of play, it's gotta serve the setting well. So yeah. Important. And I'll be super grateful if you slog through this and let me know what you think. I'll buy you a beer for your thoughts.

So based on the ideas and comments from the first post about MUTANTOR's dice mechanic and extra input here (thanks everyone who commented) I've worked out 4 possible ways this system could work.

To recap the basic idea:

Roll three d6 dice, scratch the highest and lowest roll take the middle dice as your result. Equal or beat the difficulty to succeed.

The variations come from what happens when you roll doubles (two faces the same) or triples (three faces the same).

There are four options I've chosen to do this. And depending on which one I choose there's a pretty broad variety of results available. Here's a comparison, showing the number of times a result occurs using the different methods:

A comparison of the various readings of the MUTANTOR dice engine.

Note that for Options 2, 3 and 4, rolling double ones gives a result of 1, and triple ones gives a result of -1.

Option #1:

Option #1: Middle of 3d6 Baseline : Eliminate the highest and lowest die.

Number of times each face occurs out of 216 possible results.

So this first method is included more as a baseline for the other methods; rolling doubles or triples has no mechanical benefit, though they could still have bonuses elsewhere (every time you roll them you could gain special points elsewhere for example). I don't see this option as particularly exciting or noteworthy. More just for comparison.

Option #2:

Option #2: Middle of 3d6, Doubles +1, Triples +2 : Eliminate the highest and lowest die, add one to result if two faces, the same, add two to result if all three faces the same except snake eyes equals 1, and triple 1 equals -1. Number of times each result occurs out of 216 possible results.

So in this option, rolling doubles means you add 1 to the doubled face to get the result, and rolling triples means you add 2 to the tripled face to get the result. The results spread out a little from the baseline of Option #1; 66% of your results will be a 3, 4, or 5 which is pretty good for setting reasonable expectations on what you'll get when you roll, with the average most likely to be 4.

Option #3:

Option #3: Middle of 3d6, Doubles +2, Triples +3: Eliminate the highest and lowest die, add two to result if two faces are the same, add three to result if all three faces the same, except snake eyes equals 1, and triple 1 equals -1. Number of times each result occurs out of 216 possible results.

This is pretty similar to Option #2, but based on Zak's suggestion to make the doubles +2 and triples +3 for ease of remembering. It blows the results out a little bit, making higher scores a little easier to get, though the predictability is a little less: results of 3, 4, or 5 occur 58% of the time now.

Option #4:

Eliminate the highest and lowest die, double the result if two faces are the same, triple the result if all three faces the same, except snake eyes equals 1, and triple 1 equals -1. Number of times each result occurs out of 216 possible results.

I actually think this is the easiest variant to remember: roll doubles, double the result, roll triples, triple the result. It also produces the most unusual spread of results too. A little weird and lopsided, but not unusable either. It's the least predictable: only 51% of results will be 3, 4, or 5. So every second roll will produce something a little higher, possibly going as high as 18 (but having one 1 in 216 chance of occuring). It also has a few idiosincracities: you can never roll a 7 or 11 for example, and a 6 only seven times, but an 8 or a 10 fifteen times a piece.

So if you're looking at results as single numbers I don't think Option#4 is really workable.... BUT if you look at the results in bands, suddenly it's not so bad. If you group the results like this: 0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18+, your chances look something like this:

This is very similar to the system used in D6 Star Wars: if you need a result from 3-5 to succeed a Very Easy task, 6-10 for Easy, 11-15 for Medium, 16-20 for Difficult, etc. So with this Option you'd be looking at:

0-2 Very Easy (success roughly 99% of the time... why bother)

3-5 Easy (success roughly 82% of the time)

6-8 Medium (success roughly 27% of the time)

9-11 Difficult (success roughly 16% of the time)

12+ Very Difficult (success roughly 9% of the time)

None of these Options includes what happens when your dice mutate, as discussed in the previous post; it's just easier to reach higher results when they do.

I think Option #4 is my preference; what do you think?

MUTANTOR! Mutant Dice

2012-01-03T12:05:00.020+13:00

I'm starting work on MUTANTOR! and one of the things I want to nail is a dice engine mechanic that reflects the setting. So yeah— MUTANTOR! is obviously gonna be crawling with mutant freaks, and the game mechanic should be something like that too.

I'm torn here; there's a strong temptation to make MUTANTOR! another OSR permutation, and stick with the d20 for combat and skill resolution. But if I go my own way here's what I'm thinking of doing.

The MUTANTOR! mechanic would look something like this:

Roll three d6 dice, scratch the highest and lowest roll take the middle dice as your result. Equal or beat the difficulty to succeed.

If you roll Doubles (two dice have the same face), add 1 to that face, that's your result.

If you roll Triples (all dice have the same face) add 2 to that face, that's your result. Plus the dice MUTATE!

For the player that rolled the triple, from now on their dice rolls have MUTATED: anytime that face turns up in following dice rolls it gets treated like a wild die or joker and the player gets to choose what that die should be.

Any mutant dice roll can mutate into a MUTANT Double.

If you roll a natural MUTANT Double it can mutate into MUTANT Triple.

If you roll a natural MUTANT Triple... a MEGA MUTATION or something big and cool and I don't know what yet*.

The MUTANT dice effect lasts until the player uses the dice to form a MUTANT Triple, or they roll a natural MUTANT Triple, or the game session ends.

From what I can tell about the probabilities, it all looks something like this:

chance to roll any particular combination : 1/216 (0.46%)
chance to roll a Double : 90/216 (41.67%)
chance to roll a Triple : 1/36 (2.78%)

once mutated:

chance to roll and mutate into a MUTANT Double : 75/216 (34.72%)
chance to roll and mutate into a MUTANT Triple : 30/216 (13.89%)
chance to roll and mutate into a MEGA MUTATION : 1/216 (0.46%)

*MEGA MUTATION... I'm thinking that the player's dice pool permanently mutates; something like one of their three d6's evolves into a d8. next megamutation the another mutates into a d8 again, til they're rolling three d8s... and then d10s, then d12s, and so on.

So yeah. there you have a it, a straight forwardish dice mechanic that reflects the nature of the game.

I'd really like your thoughts on it, whether it works or has loopholes or can be over exploited or whatever. Cause once the system is locked in then I can get cracking on the rest of MUTANTOR!

Some samples of dice rolls:

Normal rolls: drop the highest and lowest
146 = 4
456 = 5

Doubles: take the double face and add 1
225 = 2+1 = 3
323 = 3+1 = 4
616 = 6+1 = 7

Triples
333 = 3+1+1 = 5 AND the dice mutate, with any roll of 3 becoming a Mutant roll

Normal Mutant (where for example 3 is the Mutant)

125 = 2 (no mutations)

Mutant Doubles (3 still the Mutant)
315 = double 5 = 5+1 = 6

Mutant Triples (3 again)
344 = triple 4 = 4+1+1 = 6, and the mutant dice effect ends.
336 = triple 6 = 6+1+1 = 8, and the mutant dice effect ends.

MEGAMUTANT (3 is still the Mutant)
333 = wacky mega effect, and the mutant dice effect ends.

Working on the 'Fu

2012-01-02T10:14:00.000+13:00

Hard at it upgrading DungeonFu. I've included caverns and waterways in this version, thinking of adding dungeon dressings like treasure chests, beds/chairs/tables/etc. Lemme know there anything else you'd like to see.

I Needed a Break...

2011-12-28T21:43:00.005+13:00

.... but breaking my ankle bushwalking this arvo wasn't quite what I had in mind.

Two weeks of me + sofa + laptop. Shit. What a holiday.

Some things I'm hoping to post up, while I'm laid out:

- a map to go with my Tomb of the Mog entry for Secret Santicore. (ran out of time and space on that one).

- a caverns version of DungeonFu.

- a wilderness hex version too.

- a few first details of MUTANTOR!

- plus I still owe you that hobbit, Simon.

and yeah, got any blog requests, lemme know.

Sheesh.

Secret Santicore 2011!

2011-12-27T07:27:00.003+13:00

Here it is... in all its warty, unwashed, typo-riddled glory: Secret Santicore 2011!

104 pages of generous creativity for your game, and it's all totally free. Not a cent.

BUT... if you do end up using some of the material herein, take the one minute out of your day to shoot an email over to the guy who wrote the article and let him know how it played out. He'll get a kick out of it, guaranteed.

I know I will. And that's worth something.

Click here to download (10mb)!

And click here if you wanna know what Secret Santicore is all about!

To all the Squid-hugging Ink-hoarders: yes, I know it's full color, and yes I know it will chew through your inks in no time. But fear not; in a couple of weeks, when I get back from holiday in the Land of Poison and Fire, I'll go through the doc and do a black and white version. Just for you.

To all the Type-O Nazis: you're gonna have fun with this one; the turnaround was just far too tight to get proofreaders to go properly through it, but rest assured, once I'm back I'll get them all fixed up. If you do feel like proofreading, lemme know.

Lastly special thanks is due to the following people for general asskickingness:

Zak for saying go for it, when I said I think I could.

The contributors: for being a great bunch a guys. It was a pleasure.

The artists: Cover artist Peter Seckler (where's your portfolio Pete?), Stuart Robertson and especially Jeremy Duncan, for producing such excellent art in such ridiculous timeframes.

S.John Ross for the generous use of his fonts.

The Emergency Elf support crew: Dylan Atkinson, Mike Evans, Erik Jensen, Iain Jones, Jeff Rients, Stuart Robertson, Peter Seckler, S.L. Shirley, and Telecanter for stepping in when help was needed. Seriously couldn't have done it without you.

And extra extra super special gratitude and love to Vanessa, for covering my ass and letting me run wild with the opportunity. I'm so glad I married you and not me.

Well she's done, she's dusted. Sun's coming up. Time for a beer.

Bewdy

Jez

P.S. Lady-gamers, where the hell were you?

Secret Santicore: neeeearly there...

2011-12-25T10:39:00.002+13:00

... but there's this thing called Christmas that keeps mucking with my production schedule.

Hope your holidays rock.

Bewdy

Jez

Secret Santicore : 8 page teaser!

2011-12-22T11:44:00.003+13:00

Can't wait til Christmas Eve to get your paws on the Secret Santicore collection? Here's an 8 page preview just to whet your appetite, with sample pages from 7 of the 42 entries received.

Click here to download.

Tell me what you think!

Secret Santicore : Contents Preview

2011-12-21T13:44:00.001+13:00

Secret Santicore is on its way! Here's the contents page from the PDF with over 100 pages of Santicorey goodness. Awesome holiday reading awaits, available for download from 24th December! Totally FREE!

And if you can't wait til then look forward to the 8 page preview tomorrow! Be sure to spread the word! For now though, lemme know which entries catch your eye. Which entries can't you wait to see?

Skirmishers

2011-12-20T09:21:00.001+13:00

Santicore again, this time for 3llense’g.

Down and Out in Gothmagog

2011-12-19T14:24:00.001+13:00

Another one for Santicore, this time for Jeff.

Hollow Earth Expedition : Empire Flying Boat

2011-12-18T16:04:00.002+13:00

The Empire Flying Boat was the mainstay of the Imperial Airways fleet from 1936-47, traversing the globe from London to Australia via India, and making the trans-Atlantic journey to New York and Bermuda. Their time was short but glorious, and I always wanted them in my Hollow Earth Expedition campaign, as the "Millenium Falcon" of the setting. In and out of anywhere, flying dangerous missions for Empire during the war, shuttling dilettantes and precious cargo around the world.

For my players I gave them a handout of the ship - photos and stats - and gave them surveillance of the factory in Rochester, UK, where they were built. Their first mission in my HEX game? Steal one.

Click here to download the handout.

Star Wars: Planets of the Malicrux II

2011-12-17T20:20:00.001+13:00

Five more worlds from the Malicrux Sector.

PLANETS OF THE MALICRUX

DRACA is famed across the sector as the homeworld of the Dracan war machine, a brutally efficient militant society where death and honour a sacred. The tide-locked world is in fact a moon of a super-massive gas giant in the mid-outer portion of the Draca system, and while it receives little light from the red dwarf sun, the luminous ochre atmosphere and glowing auroras of the provides ample light. Combined with the active geothermal activity caused by its proximity to the gravitational field of the gas giant, Draca is able to support life in this cold corner of the galaxy. Normally a simple mining planet like Draca would never have developed much of a population at all, but several factors combined to give a significant population. The moon is crossed by winding mountain ranges that rise up out of dense ‘oceans’ of semi-caustic poisonous gases, beneath which lie volcanic seams rich in mineral wealth. Numerous mining stations work these seams, operated by acid-resistant mechanized labour and hardly souls in hazmat suits, and these stations provide the massive munitions factories on neighbouring Siccidde all the resources they need. Draca’s early history was marred by the eradication of the indigenous lifeforms that continually attacked the mining operations, and this bloody history was the origin for the militant society found on Draca today. Draca's fortress-cities are built on the mountain ranges, and here the various families still maintain diligent martial training. Its is not unusual for entire families to do nothing but serve in the military machine, and many families have a proud tradition of having served for generations, recognised as producing some of the most highly trained officers and troops. Draca has been known to lease out its legions during times of war, and readily send its troops to maintain battle competence in the Eternal War on Fray. Surprisingly the relationship between Draca and the Empire is strained; despite similar outlooks, Dracan pride refuses to submit to the colours and uniform of the Empire, and ongoing tensions remain. The Empire ensures that the Dracan War Machine remains out of the rebellion by employing the forces for lowly peacekeeping operations on several low-key worlds, considered by many on Draca to be an insult to their fine forces. - Contributed by Pete, one of my players.

EPHEMERA is a dream world that defies description, for whoever lays eyes upon skies and feet upon its soil finds themselves in a world of flux and illusion. Wild visions plague all those who visit, and the planet emits an unquantifiable energy that plays havoc with sensors and scanners, making categorization of the world almost impossible. It is widely believed however that these visions might just be glimpses of the future, or the past, or aspects of the visitor’s life history that confront and challenge them. As such it is a haven for those of religious persuasion, and a number of faiths and cults make the pilgrimage here in the hope of receiving guidance in their lives. A small but bustling space station caters to their needs, orbiting high over the ever-changing lands; it is rumoured that even the Emperor himself visits from time to time.

FARGONE is a frontier world, claimed by refuges from Chyco, where dirt-poor farmers and shepherds cling to the last vestiges of civilization on an untamed planet. Following the revolution on Chyco, the few members of the noble house and several thousand retainers and loyalists managed to flee the planet. With no support from the Emperor’s new order, the fleet was forced to search for an unclaimed world and start anew. After two years of futile exploration, fighting off pirate attacks, critical supply shortages, and disastrous encounters on three previously unexplored worlds, the house was left in ruin, her scions dead, and the fleet all but destroyed. It was decided by the remaining stragglers that the next world would be their last, for – as their new leader Luciddius Tain put it – “one more world and we’ll be too far gone”. The phrase stuck, as did the name. After two decades of scratching a meagre existence out of the dirtlands on Fargone, it looks as though the colonists have pulled through the worst of it. The “capital” – a collection of fortifications built around the last starships of the Chyco fleet – is slowly growing and has secured a regular trade route from Vorzheva twice a year; settlers seeking a quiet life of toil far from the Empire are always welcome. There is but one rule on Chyco that must be obeyed: no droids. Droids are what got House Chyco into this mess, and anyone who uses a droid to do something they could do is considered a layabout and not worth spit. Offworlders are advised to keep theirs locked safely onboard their vessels.

FAEL is a dimly lit moon kept warm by the gravitational effects of its parent planet, the blue gas giant Orsus; it is home to a number of bio-luminous orders of plant life but has no indigenous species. It was colonised millennia ago by human explorers, who have adapted to life in near darkness. A tall, pale and anemic splinter of humanity, the Fael are a passionate and hot tempered, and buoyed by the destruction of the Death Star were among the first worlds to openly declare support for the Rebel Alliance and cede from the Empire. It was a costly mistake, and the Empire moved swiftly to make an example of the Fael to discourage similar actions elsewhere. Its major cities were reduced to slag by orbital bombardment, and the survivors rounded up under charges of sedition and treason and placed in military camps. For the past year they have been subjected to all manner of cruelty and suffering, though the Empire can claim that its program of re-education is finally producing results. The first battalion of Faelean infantry has shown determination and success in combat, recently aiding in the costly invasion of Gyre and willingly laying down their lives in the thousands to achieve their objectives. Grand Moff Skyrus Kyreiken is said to be very pleased with their performance and keen to utilise their services against other difficult military targets soon.

FRAY is a cursed world trapped in the endless struggle of The Eternal War, a conflict that has continued since well before the dawn of the Old Republic. None can recall the causes of the war; only that numerous sides fight because that is all that they have known and all that is left to them. The original inhabitants have long since disappeared; interplanetary forces, mercenaries, soldiers of fortune and fools eager to prove themselves now make up the rank and file of fractured armies. Whatever original climate once graced this world has since been blasted out of existence; now cold winds howl over muddy plains, through hookwire fences and shattered fortresses, rattling the ruined armor that clings to fleshless corpses that cover the world. None know just how deep are these fields of death, where new weapons from nearby Siccidde are tested in the field, and foul chemistries are unleashed from the quagmires of Jasterkast. It is said that the war is allowed to continue only so that the industries of these two worlds may hone their wares before releasing them to the common market; it is also said that any soldier who can prove he did his tour of duty on Fray will command the utmost respect of subordinate and superior alike.

Hangin' out in DungeonFu

2011-12-15T12:51:00.001+13:00

First user report of DungeonFu.

Thanks Chris for giving it a go.

Dungeon by Design Hangout.

I gotta 20 with the shottie

2011-12-13T09:39:00.001+13:00

Another from the vaults.

Some concept art for a film based on an rpg based on zombie-killin'.

Monday Map: Ost-in-Edhil

2011-12-12T13:01:00.000+13:00

It's a busy times with Santicore so most posts this week will be from the vaults. Here's a Middle Earth map based on MERP's vision of Ost-in-Edhil, only in a far more ruinous state... perfect for exploring in the late Third Age.

Wart Goblin

2011-12-10T16:20:00.000+13:00

Another one for Secret Santicore... this time for Paolo.

Star Wars: Planets of the Malicrux I

2011-12-08T16:12:00.004+13:00

Here's a planet-by-planet description of the Malicrux Sector campaign I'm running at the moment. A couple of entries are written by some of the players, I think it helps the buy in to the setting if they can help create it (plus, XP!).

The planets were created using a nifty Photoshop plug-in called LunarCell by Flaming Pear. They got a bunch of clever little plug-ins on 30-day trail periods. Go check'em out.

PLANETS OF THE MALICRUX

ALMOST is a barren, inhospitable rock that serves as the current home for a droid-cult known as the Cogs. Led here two centuries ago by the Droid-visionary ∞-5 (aka InFinn, Finn or Five Fingers) after the revelations granted to the droid while planetside on Ephemera, a fleet of droid-operated starships lie dormant on the planet, waiting in the golden light of the trinary star system for the promised unveiling of a lost techworld deep within the Malicrux Nebula. Here the Cog faithful believe they will find kinship and equality among the automated beings that live there. Five Fingers is tolerant of other biological creatures, unless they stand in the way of the Cogs goals; he has displayed a ruthless efficiency in dispatching those who oppose them. Cog operatives are active across the Sector, actively procuring ownership of other droids and then freeing them, or on more obscure missions beyond biological comprehension. Traders are welcome on Almost, for the droid collective is highly skilled and willing to barter their services in return for droid parts and coin to fund their activities.

BARHOK is a blistering hot slave world where billions struggle beneath three blood red suns to carry out the will of their serpentine masters. The Cult of the Serpent Queens demands utmost loyalty and obedience to the six huge stardrakes that rule the world, and each seeks to better its sisters through grand displays of art, war, architecture, or whatever fashionable whim is current in their courts. Slaves are bound to the hive mind of their queens by the use of rune serpents, strange little flying drakes that glow a luminous gold and are soulbound to their slave. Neurotoxins from their fangs keep their prisoners obedient when necessary, though free thought and speech is sometimes permitted. Those that step out of lie are simply bitten and robbed of will, those that develop immunity to the poisons are quickly executed. Under this hierarchical regime the slave armies have built many wonders in the name of their Queens, from great cities of spiraling towers to huge edifices that loom up out of the deserts. To what purpose these constructions are made has always remained obscured; if the Queens know why they continue with their millennia-long rivalry they have yet to reveal it to their minions, though some of their more visible works include the terraforming of nearby moons to supply the masses with enough nutrients to survive. Attempts to break this cycle of eternal slavery by the Jedi of the Old Republic failed – there were simply too many innocents in the slave armies that were arrayed against them, and the Queens were immune to their persuasive techniques. The Empire has yet to decide what must be done with them; at the moment the Cult is of limited use to the Emperor. As a precaution they have assigned an Imperial Governor to the world, though Holani Rodell is little more than a symbolic appointment and his reports indicate that the Cult poses little threat offworld. Were that to change in any way, the Empire’s response is bound to be swift.

CALLIGRATTICA is a dry, dusty world, perfect for the preservation of its vast collections of ancient tomes. Scholars first came here to study the astonishing Crawling Towers of Shugg – libraries hollowed out from the carapace of mountain-sized beetles that slowly traverse the planet – and eventually the researchers simply chose to stay. There are a number of different university-cities, one to each Shugg beetle, and they compete in a friendly manner on matters esoteric and arcane. But what they fear most is when two beetlecities draw too close to one another, and lock their horned shells together in brutal territorial combat, with the conquering beetle devouring the remains of the vanquished. Traditionally the losing university is taken in by the victor. The beetles are vaguely sentient, and can be steered and directed to some small degree. But what their great and ponderous minds dwell on as they travel the deserts is anyone’s guess. The Calligrattican Council is currently overseen by Governor Dean Lyrian Bokru, who despite pressure from offworld authorities, maintains an open door policy to all students that wish to study here. Students with Imperial upbringings do not take kindly to their non-human fellows, and xenophobic attacks have marred the last few semesters, drawing unwanted attention from the Empire.

CHARGRYN is infamous as the most savage penal world for several Sectors. Even before the formation of the Empire it was used as the dumping ground for the very worst of the galaxy's convicts; most prisoners would rather be killed on the spot then sent there. The high rotation of its magnetic core has turned the planet into a violent dynamo, constantly discharging energy in massive lightning storms. Special drop ships encased in arc cages are needed to deliver prisoners to the surface; all metal objects attract lethal electrical strikes from the ground and surrounding air, and convicts are constantly subjected to painful shocks. Few last long in such torturous conditions.

CHYCO is a tidelocked world, where one side of the planet always faces the sun leaving the sunward side a burnt out husk and plunging the other into eternal darkness and freezing cold. But in the twilight rim between the two halves the communist Imperial cult of the Chyco thrives. During the Clone Wars the ruling nobles of House Chyco sided with the Separatists, producing numerous war droids and vehicles in their underground factories; following their defeat Chyco was subjected to severe reparations and her people brought to ruin and misery – and yet the ruling oligarchy seemed unaffected by the burden continuing to live their lives in luxury. Out of this perceived dichotomy was born a plot to topple the nobility, and replace it with socialist rule that would see the burden evenly shared. When the revolution came to an end, what surprised everyone (including the usurpers) was the rise of a state-sanctioned cult that worshipped the Emperor as a divine representative. Now stories relating to his sacrifices during the Jedi Betrayal are treated as holy texts, and his edicts and decrees as religious doctrine. Chyco’s factories have been rebuilt, and now serve the Emperor providing him with the weapons to maintain his vigil of peace over the galaxy. While the noble house of Chyco was destroyed during the uprising, the formal title of Duke is granted to the ambassador of Chyco when in court on Sapphirica, where Duke-Elect Braega Chyco is a passionate supporter of Imperial policy.

Weeklings : Hook Giant

2011-12-08T00:21:00.002+13:00

Here's jason kielbasa's request:

"Hook Giants are the definition of a misunderstood creature. Magical by nature, the Les Pays (hobbit type creatures)once worshiped them as the children of the Gods placed upon the land. Standing 7 feet tall with abnormally long hands shaped like sickles and bodies with thick hair colored green and brass. They have a very short thick neck and prominent single eye. These creatures are abnormally fond of raw sugar cane."

I got my eye on you...

2011-12-07T23:30:00.000+13:00

More ink and brush work for Secret Santicore...

If you go down to the woods today...

2011-12-06T21:31:00.002+13:00

I've been inspired by the inkwork of Jeremy Duncan and thought I'd have a go: an ink brush illustration to go with one of the Secret Santicore entries.

Weeklings #1

2011-12-04T23:55:00.000+13:00

So last weekend I though I'd start a little weekly illustration game; I had a couple of bites (new blog, whaddya expect?), and here are the results of Jeremy Duncan's request for "the Captain of the Centipede King's Amazon Bodyguard."

Who's up for Round Two?

Kindred of the East

2011-12-03T23:56:00.004+13:00

Some old character illustrations from my Kindred of the East game.

You like Big Trouble in Little China? It's like that.

Sorta.

A different kinda hex crawl

2011-12-02T15:46:00.006+13:00

Hollow Earth Expedition - or HEX for short - is an absolutely cracking RPG if you feel like punching Nazis in the face and feeding them to dinosaurs while defending your buddies Death Rays at the center of the Earth.

The Ubiquity game system is a simple and clever binary dice system (evens=yes, odds=no, did you get enough yeses to succeed?) that runs very smoothly, and the core setting is supported with several beautiful sourcebooks — Secrets of the Surface World, Mysteries of the Hollow Earth, and the soon-to-be-released Revelations of Mars (c'mon dammit, publish it!?!) as well as some free adventures.

You can tell I like it, enough to go all out and design a Character Passport booklet. You can download it here.

The 10 page PDF is impaginated and will fit each spread on both A4 and US Letter sized paper, but will need a decent scalpel, metal edged ruler, stapler and quality printer to create. I found that printing it scaled down to 80% of the original size worked best.

So yeah, go try HEX.

Your fists will thank you for it.

Carrion Stones

2011-12-01T13:49:00.005+13:00

The bane of hunters, grave diggers and the undead, Carrion Stones are sentient rocks that have developed a hunger for dead flesh. The smell of death draws them from miles around, they gather to crush the dead beneath their weight and slake their thirst for blood.

Adventures may first discover the presence of Carrion Stones after waking to find a circle of boulders and rocks has formed around their camp during the night; scavengers, the Carrion Stones will follow them unerringly until dealt with or driven off.

Carrion Stones will trail behind armies and adventurers, moving in to feast once the bodies have been picked clean of treasure and forgotten. The living must still be careful; in times of cadaverous famine, Carrion Stones have been known to hunt in packs and crush to death the unwary. They do not move unless they are certain no one is watching them, not until they are within cruching distance, when they spring to life to bring down their quarry.

While they can be beaten back or shattered in combat, the cracked shards of their remains still retain their hunger, and will begin hunting once more in a matter of days. Grinding the rocks into dust is not enough, though it rends them dormant for centuries; an overzealous monster hunter once mixed the dust from Carrion Stones in to mudbricks; the house that resulted quickly gathered a grim and bloody reputation.

Their origins are unknown; some scholars hypothesise the first Carrion Stones came from a cairn raised over the corpse of a fallen sorcerer; others, a curse from some chthonic god, or born from the gore of the Lifebringer Sword.

STATS: treat as small to medium earth elementals; lose any burrowing ability, but gain bonuses to sneaking (lots) and hunting (some), and trip (lots). Damage Resistance 5-10 depending on size/crushing weapons.

Star Wars: The Malicrux Peril

2011-11-30T00:32:00.003+13:00

When I think old school gaming I think D6 Star Wars.

My Thursday-nighters are in the middle of a Classic Era (of course!) fringers campaign I'm running, and I thought I'd share some of the setting info. They've been galavanting round the Malicrux Sector in a race to discover the location of the Malicrux Peril - whatever that is - before anyone else gets it.

Good ol' fashioned space-romp fun, with a Beiberesque noble Captain, a slimy and duplicitous Mon Cal tech, a Force-Sensitive Togruta stripper (watch her take the pleasure from this lightsaber!), and until recently a money-grubbing bounty hunter and a drug-fueled ex-corporate saboteur (these guys like their Shadowrun). Last week they were joined by a sentient garbage-hoarding amoeba and they've begun to explore a ruinous Jedi Temple; very haunted-house in spaaaaaace... like I said, fun.

I'll post stuff up about it every so often for anyone to use. Hope it makes you wanna break out handfuls of D6's and play :).

THE MALICRUX SECTOR

The Malicrux Sector is a small region of space limited to the confines of the Malicrux Nebula. Located on the fringe of Hutt Space in the Mid Rim Region, the Nebula has been slow to relinquish its wealth and many planetary systems lie hidden and unreachable deep within the interstellar clouds of the everchanging maelstrom.

The Nebula is the remnant of a colossal supernova that occurred tens of thousands of years ago, and has inexorably spread to its current girth and even today continues to expand. Scholars believe the Djakarshi void anomaly is all that remains of the original star, and the cataclysm utterly destroyed the fledgling Malicrux Empire that spanned a number of star systems that now lie in the heart of the Nebula. Little remains of the ancient Malicrux, consumed by the Djakarshi void or seared from the surrounding worlds in the fires of the interstellar explosion. These fires still smolder today, in great swathes of starburn that make navigating the Malicrux Nebula a very difficult and dangerous feat. The more turbulent regions of the Nebula still utilize ancient jump beacons — vast satellites that constantly scan the surrounding area for changes in the Nebula's starburn drifts then broadcast adjusted hyperspace co-ordinates for all to use.

Despite its comparatively small size and the challenges of traveling in the Nebula, the Malicrux Sector is blessed with a surprisingly high density of inhabited worlds. Over the millennia the Nebula has shielded its star systems from the much of rapacious hunger of the galactic corporations or the depredations of the neighboring Hutt clans; the Starburn Trade Run links only the most accessible star systems in the outer reaches of the Nebula, and few hyperspace routes have been plotted into the Nebula's deeper regions. It is widely believed that various select individuals and organisations know secret routes that cut right through the heart of the Malicrux; only fools and the insane would attempt to jump into the Nebula without meticulously calculated jump co-ordinates. Many are the stories of ships simply vanishing into the veils of the Nebula, and a number of pirate raiders plague the sector.

The Sector was controlled by a Council of Noble Houses, each with vested interests in one or more star systems. The Council would meet regularly at the Sector Capital of Sapphirica. Corporations and other mercantile organisations were required to negotiate with the Houses to enter the Sector's markets. During the days of the Old Republic a Senator was elected from the Council to represent the Sector's interest in the Galactic Senate; under the reign of the Emperor the Senator now liaises with the Imperial Governor Moff Kyreiken, based in the new Imperial City on Ravenholt. The relationship between the Sapphirican Council and the Imperial Governor is complicated, being at times obsequious, fractious, and occasionally deadly; ultimately the Council is slowly losing control to the rising power of the Empire.

DungeonFu for Google+

2011-11-29T11:37:00.004+13:00

So this is for anyone who's using Google+ Hangout to run dungeon crawls online: a map-making template that anyone in game can use. Industrious DMs can make their maps before hand; lazy ones can make it up as they go.

I've included a sample map of a crypt that took me a little over an hour to do (though I use graphic programs every day) and I found Google Documents to be pretty nifty. One quick tip: once you've created a room, group all the objects used. Makes it easier to handle.

First time I've done something like this so if it's got bugs, lemme know (gently).

Go have fun with it; if you make anything with it send me a JPG so I can chuck it in here. Plus if you go all out and make geomorphs for others to use lemme know so I can link'em.

Last thing, there's plenty of free icons out there, specifically for this kinda thing; so if you think my designs suck just go for a quick search.

Monday Map: Aurorica

2011-11-28T10:50:00.002+13:00

Ever wondered what a Antarctica free from ice might look like? Want polar fantasy adventure? Need a map for your campaign setting but can't be arsed making your own?

Hope you like, go have fun. Send me a link of your results if you use it.

Bigger version.

Really big.

Worldstorming : This Bloodsoaked Land

2011-11-27T14:22:00.001+13:00

Take this simple premise:

"Blood is life, life is sentience, thus blood is sentient. That which is imbued with blood, is alive."

Turn it into a set of game rules:

Every successful physical attack delivers to the surrounding area a splash of gore; whatever is coated in the bloody spray must make a d20 save equal or over the total damage done (for slashing weapons, halved for piercing and quartered for bludgeoning) or become sentient. The number rolled is then assigned between the six base attributes, and the newly aware creature gains the dominant attitude of the bloodgiver as a basis for personality.

Example: Schlork the Gouter cuts Edvard Sparkle in half with his slashing zweihander, doing 18 points of damage and showering the stone statue behind him with blood. The statue has a chance of becoming sentient; GM rolls a 14; the statue becomes sentient, with 14 points in attributes (say Str 5, Dex 1, Con 2, Int 3, Wis 2, Cha 1) and starts whining.

Then apply it to a setting... like a castle or a city or a region or a world.

Would would it be like?

Weeklings

2011-11-26T23:30:00.002+13:00

Simple game: you give me a subject matter - characters (portraits is good, I like 'em) gamey stuff, whatever - I do one illustration a day for seven days and post the results at the end of the week.

Good for you: you get piccies of what you want; good for me: I get to bulk up my illustration muscles and my portfolio.

Go!

EDIT: For DrCheckmate...

Straya... or what's left of it

2011-11-25T21:19:00.000+13:00

So one of my many favourite games growing up was TMNT, which naturally led me to After the Bomb, Heroes Unlimited and then on to Rifts. Great fun, good times, 'cept one thing always bugged me. The maps of Australia in Mutants Down Under (you can check it here) and Rifts: Australia (similar, with a sea from the west coast to Uluru) didn't really do much for me. I've always intended to do my own post-apoc mutant version, really trash the motherland. And a coupla years back, I finally did.

Secret Santicore

2011-11-25T00:49:00.007+13:00

Zak over at Playing D&D with Pornstars put out the request, and yeah: I give you SAGE with bells. And eggnog. Same deal as before, only the dates and email have changed.

So from now til December 1st everybody who wants to participate e-mails me a request for some specific brand new campaign material--a new race, a location, a one-shot adventure outline, a random table, whatever. The idea is to be as specific as you need to be, but not too greedy (ask for a page or two of material). Then I'll mix all the campaign stuff requests up and e-mails them randomly back out to the people who entered. Everybody gets the requests, and then they have until December 21st to write up something matching the request. Then you post the material on-line or just send it back to the person who asked for that thing in the first place.

UPDATE: REQUESTS FOR SECRET SANTICORE HAVE CLOSED.

YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE FINAL SECRET SANTICORE PDF COLLECTION HERE!
_____________________________________________________

Send your requests, with the (all caps) subject SANTICORE REQUEST to malignicant at gee male dot calm.

Be as specific as you need to be, but don't get greedy. Asking for a d100 table is cool, but a d1000?--better let your Secret Santicore know that going that extra 900 miles is optional. Asking for a structure is cool, a whole mega-dungeon isn't.

I will stop taking new requests on December 1. Which is also when I'll re-mail them all out to respondents.

Then everyone has until December 21st to write up responses to the SAGE request he or she got.

From then til December 25th everyone must either post their product on-line or e-mail it to the original requester.

The original requester's name and e-mail address will be on the request unless s/he specifically asks otherwise.

One request per person.

All human undertakings involving interactions between strangers involve a capacity for misunderstanding and idiocy. Secret Santicore is a gift horse. Do not look it in the mouth. No bad-mouthing people for what they ask for or provide. Serious and simulatory requests may get gonzo answers, gonzo requests may get serious answers, c'est la vie. If you're worried, try to be specific in your request so you get something you can really use.

None of this stuff should get used commercially unless the person who wrote it gets paid.

You don't have to request D&D-specific stuff. I bet anybody could handle a sci-fi or super request--but just be aware that the pool of people responding to your request will be the pool of people who read PD&DWP and act accordingly.

If you want art, accept that some people (non-artists) may merely google some interesting art on the subject and e-mail it to you. Everybody entering is probably a GM, not everybody is an artist.

I reserve the right to completely fuck up since this is the first time, but will try very hard not to.

This is Open Content.

Why Rifts was cool

2011-11-25T00:10:00.001+13:00

Sunken Temple Map

2011-11-24T15:47:00.001+13:00

Ain't finished yet. Basically it's explored from the top down, where the tallest towers peak through the waves. The lower levels (light blue) are far from completion, and there'll be catacombs beneath them. Press the right combination of buttons and the six towers spin round the temporal-warp-doom-gate thing in the middle and unleash hell on the world of your choosing.

Three for the Money

2011-11-23T17:52:00.002+13:00

A Sky Full of Ork

2011-11-22T12:13:00.003+13:00

So I've been edging round Warhammer 40K for a few years now, and finally played my first big ol' battle with some mates. Was fun. Am hooked. I'm gonna go for the Orks, cause they're stupid and hilarious and have ridiculous rules around some of their units that all fit the big risk/big payout style of gaming I like. Plus I'm taken with the Stormboyz - Orks with Rokkits!!!! - and have this silly idea for an army based around as many Stormboyz as I can field - which should be about 60 of the blighters...

Gawd knows where the money's gonna come for all this, but I have the creative itch something bad, and kinda don't want it to go to waste. I also have a bunch of coke bottles lying around, and I think I can make a pretty badass Ork Landa out of them. They're a bit zeppeliny and blobby and if mashed together the right way will (I think) look pretty cool.

But Coke bottles are really difficult to work with. Polyethylene terephthalate is really hard to glue, it isn't that strong, and paint doesn't adhere to the surface very well. So I've been doing a bit o' research to see if I can make it happen.

Glueing polyethylene terephthalate - for a bit of cash you can fork out for special plastic glues. I'm yet to test it but that's solved easily enough.

Strength - I'm thinking of using plaster of paris to fill up the insides of the bottles. Interestingly, plaster of paris generates considerable heat - enough to cause third degree burns if you encase parts of your body in them - but a quick check and I learn Science! Polyethylene terephthalate melts at 250C so should be fine. I also want to add several lengths of PVC piping running through the length of the bottle, as well as sticking out the sides so that I can then have an easier time attaching different bottles together.

Paint - turns out there's specialist paint for priming polyethylene. Just gotta find out if it works with modeling paints. Which it should, given all GW's minis are, well... plastic.

So yeah. It's still all in my head. But it might just work...

The Children of Umbraxu

2011-11-21T13:56:00.010+13:00

Born from certain souls of newborn babes that have died in their mother's arms, the Children of Umbraxu want nothing more than to have and to hold. Sensitive to the psychic wailings of mothers of the dead, they seek out those who have lost their sons and daughters, eager to fill their void with a smothering, all-encompassing embrace. One touch from its grasping arms is enough to cause the object of their desire to surrender, and they are united as one when the parent is finally held and absorbed within the Child. Once consummated, the Umbraxu drifts onwards, driven by a baby's greed for love. Weapons have little effect on these amorphous creatures, though the sound of a baby's rattle is said to be a murderous cacophony that drives them utterly mad.