Game Master Advice I Never See

Surprisingly, to me, given the sheer amount of threads started by folks on this topic, I never see much reference to the source material of the genre being suggested as something essential. I mean being steeped in the genre being run. Not just a cursory read of a few books or watching a couple of movies. I mean a deep dive as if one were taking a course study in college. 

To be an effective, to be a "good", "great" Dungeon Master, Game Master, Keeper, Star Master and what not, you need to be extremely versed in the genre being run. If you are planning on running a supers game you should be reading comic books all the time. If you have never read comic books much you should go back in time and work your way back up to the present. The grand sweep of the comic tradition should be a topic you can nimbly navigate, process and use at the table. Many folks today seem to be asking how to run a cyberpunk game. Much product is being suggested as the platform of use, but rarely is their an insistence on the asking individual to read a fuck-ton of cyberpunk novels. I would even go so far as recommending extensive reading of the latest technology publications available to the laymen drafting out the latest developments in technology. Climate crisis, political efforts of social constructs, and corporate bloat, basically a master of current events with a bedrock knowledge of cyberpunk literature since William Gibson jump-started the genre. The catalogue of horror literature is incredibly vast. How many Keepers are knowledgeable of Mary Shelly's masterpiece, all of Lovecraft's work into your King and Barker? The horror Game Master also has the task of diving into the incredibly vast library of horror films. 

Why? Why would one need to become a scholar of a particular genre to be a good Game Master? It is the underpinning, scaffold, colossal structure supporting every decision the game's referee will make at the table. Creating your mind into a rolodex of genre tropes transcends mechanics and system 

in such a degree to almost make game of choice irrelevant. When a Game Master becomes pitch-perfect in breadth and scope of genre, when what they speak has absolute fidelity with the genre being run experiences such as "immersion" and "living world" are a matter of course, not something all at the table are struggling to achieve.  Only through extensive reading of source material will a Game Master ever hope to achieve greatness. The benefits of scholarly-level pursuits in the genre being run are so transformative it will take much more than this simple blog post has time to dive into (or more accurately, my time). I, for one, have too much reading on my plate to attend to this task. But my direct experience has shown the more knowledgeable of a genre and its tropes I have the better the game and the better my skill at running. My mind becomes a tea kettle constantly steaming at high heat, always needing additional water to be added. The experience becomes... scalding. 

The benefits of being a studied master of the genre blow all other considerations being debated on the subject away. Random encounter tables write themselves, adventure ideas come unbidden, thorny knots of character interaction become organic growth under good sun and good soil.

More MEGS DC Heroes Action

The game has been chugging along for a solid two years now with no signs of slowing down! The current roster of superheroes inhabiting Capitol City are Mettle, a master of magnetic control, Olympian, Kordarian of tremendous strength, Mr. Zozo, a demon inhabiting a human host, and Perperbog, an Inuit Shaman of mystic might.

Even Heroes Bleed Issue #37, part two

Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery Session

With some judicious holiday hours off I decided to actually run a game of Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery instead of laboring on the third and final book of the trilogy. I offered up the introductory adventure from the setting guide (the third book), Shrine of the Keepers. A venerable adventure I wrote back in 2012 for the first playtest of this game. Wow, USR Sword & Sorcery has a first edition!

I was much pleased to get many enthusiastic answers and interest to the game session. After I sorted out the time slot, I ended up with 4 rogues. A goodly number, for the pulpy nature of classic sword and sorcery does not lend itself to large parties of dungeon delvers. The roll call consisted of Hackon Rinson-Hunter, Nosarat-Hunter, Patty-Warrior, and Votwin-Sailor. The adventure was to begin in Zul-Bazzir in the world of Xoth and two of the players rolled for nation of origin. This came up as Khora, the Island of Sea Reavers, and Khazastan, the might empire across the great desert east of Zul-Bazzir. The other two I just declared they were locals of Khazastani and Jairan heritage. Character creation was done at the “table” for USR Sword & Sorcery is a rules-lite system and creating a character is dead simple. Gear, on the other hand is a pricey proposition. Armor and fine weapons are well out of reach for a starting character in the world of Xoth. The wealth disparity between the rich and powerful and everyone else is vast. This meant, outside of some favored weapons I granted the Warrior and Sailor, the group possessed no armor. I take that back, Hackon was able to purchase a shield to complement his sling and club.

The set up for Shrine of the Keepers is one of simple robbery. It is late night, and the group is finishing up hours of carousing and look to settle their tab. Unfortunately, whatever silver they had left on their person was gone. I slinking thief twirling their coin pouches good be seen slipping through the rowdy crowd and exiting the wine bar. A swift pursuit began as the players leapt after the thief, all the while the wine tender hollering for his payment. They chased the fleet-footed scoundrel through the warren of alleyways in the slums of Zul-Bazzir. They lost sight of the thief and as they wondered which way to continue the chase when a blood-curdling scream pierced the night now far away. Descending on the scene they were just in time to hear the death rattle of the thieving dog. His body was slashed and ravaged. Their coin purse gone. The crafty hunters searched the ground for tracks. The night was full of light from the twin moons of Xoth, and they could pick the tread of sandaled feet leading down an alley which ended in a walled courtyard. The single large door for the gate left slightly ajar. 

A passing city guard, drawn to the scene by the dying scream of the thief, quickly assessed the situation and cautioned the party to let go their loss. The open gate led to the temple of the Seekers. These demon-worshipping cultists were not to be trifled with. The Seekers keep what they take and only fools and madmen would risk causing their wrath. They predictably ignored the watchman’s sober advice (and it is a one-shot gaming session), and cautiously approached the open gate.

The courtyard beyond was illuminated by the moonlight and the hunters again could see the tread of sandaled crossing the dusty ground to the entrance of the Shrine of the Keepers. A wide stone building unadorned. Black smoke issued forth from somewhere out of the roof. In the middle of the temple’s simple facade a wide set of steps led into the building fronted by three wide pillars evenly spaced across the entranceway. They slinked up the steps into a wide unlit chamber. The slanting rays of the twin moons revealed large bronze doors directly across from the staired entry. Open archways gaped to the left and right, one had the flickering of torchlight coming from it. The other, darkness. All was quiet and no further tracks could be discerned indicating which way the group of cultists had travelled.

While they debated which course of action they should take, their brief exploration of the entrance chamber revealed a door to the left of the mammoth pair of bronze portals, discreetly hidden behind a tapestry writ large with obscene images and runes of dreaded black speech. The group globed onto this hidden door and desired to pass through it. It was locked, but the sailor worked one of his arrows (he carried a bow) and rolled well enough on his non-contested attribute roll (NCAR) to spring the latch.

Their exploration of the hallway beyond found them abruptly entering a bald priest’s quarters, the owner present. They had interrupted the robed priest in the middle of scratching his meaningless ramblings upon parchment. He quickly leapt from his chair and brandished a dagger gauging the danger in which had come upon him. Hackon boldly charged with raised club. The priest, considering his odds poor, ran to another door close by, opened it looking to escape. Votwin had his bow at the ready and made a called shot against the priest’s legs. His shot was a success, the damage great, and the priest fell to the floor incapacitated. The rest of the party followed, and before Hackon could fast-talk information from the wounded man, was stabbed repeatedly through the chest and killed.

The group made a thorough search of the main level of the temple, encountering four priests loitering in a room of tall shelves stacked with scrolls (they were dispatched in close hand to hand fighting), a sunken chamber filled with granite sarcophagi, a room heated to a blast furnace by a coal-fueled fireplace burning a pile of human bones, and a room with a large, lurid stone idol adorned with candles holding a bronze platter with a decent pile of gold and silver coins upon it. Besides doorways leading out of this room a narrow set of stone stairs descended to a lower level.

The group had no stomach for the lower reaches of the shrine, but they had yet to gain significant loot to leave. They continued their search of the upper level until they found the chambers of the high priest. There they were confronted by 4 priests and 2armed temple guards. Here they experienced the benefits of armor as the priests were cut down by quick thrusts and Votwin’s rain of arrows. But the 2 guards presented a hardier challenge and before they were hacked down, they grievously injured Hackon and Nosorat. Facing no further opposition they then looted the high-priest’s chamber of valuables and quickly left with their loot into the late night streets of Zul-Bazzir sleeping under the twin moons of Xoth once again.

Even Heroes Bleed Continues To Rock and Roll

 This latest episode of the MEGS powered super hero game I've been running. The group of heroes has bulked out to four now. Mettle, Olympian, Mr. Zozo, and now introducing the Arctic Shaman Perperbog!

Even Heroes Bleed Issue #37 part one

End of the Year Round-Up

 

2022 is rapidly coming to a close and everything gaming is... good. I was real worried my DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes game was coming to an end because due to scheduling conflicts with work, but the players were actually happy with the change. Whew! I mean, nothing to get bitter over if it didn't. The two, two-and-a-half year mark seems to be about the time campaigns in the past have ended, and its always been the same reason. One of the players schedule changes. I take a bit of happiness in the fact when someone has to bow out the rest of the group decides to call the game. The relations and dynamics they all had free-reign to foster became paramount. So when that dynamic ends because someone has to shift their time commitments they (the group) says it has got to end. Validates my feeling everyone at the table played their A-game, and gave each and everyone of us helped create a truly remarkable game experience. I like the stance no game is better than anything less then a great game.

But Even Heroes Bleed (name of the campaign) will continue into 2023. New player joined the group as well. An Artic Indian Spirit protecting the world from the dark side of the pantheon he is part of. Mr. Zozo, a demon paying rent in a human's body, just got a playmate. The Olympian and Mettle are still standing so a good solid group of 4 supers. Feels about right size-wise. I think we may even be able to bring plot threads to a conclusion. There has been a metric-ton of interesting activity in Capitol City, and while super villains have been taken down, taken out, and incarcerated, there are still prime movers out there who have yet to be discovered and violently prosecuted with extreme prejudice. Another development in the campaign has been the acquisition of a group headquarters outside of Mettle's loft apartment in Mint Ridge. With their involvement in the affairs of the late Dr. Avery and his granddaughter the mystic-soaked Avery Mansion has opened its doors to the group. Organic development of classic super hero tropes is what I live for in this campaign!

Deluxe USR Sword and Sorcery got out. Finally. Well, two books out of three at least. Not to worry though, the setting book is well in hand and should be released in the first quarter of 2023. Then I can concentrate on the hard part of roleplaying; coming up with quality adventures which are not a pile of derivative slime. I don't know what these adventures will be, what they will look like, but the daydream portion of creative thought is my favorite part of design and publication.

My once a month dive into FGU's Space Opera is progressing better than I could have hoped. Even though the three of us who make this game go only meet once a month for a couple of hours the session always feels fresh and full of potential. I attribute this to great players playing great characters, and blasters. Blasters are cool. I'm finding the biggest challenge running a sci-fi game is coming up with the BIG idea. The hall mark of all the good science fiction I've read over the years has been that BIG idea, that truly galaxy-sized blob of creative ideas which make you go wow this was a good read. Of course this big idea needs to maintain fidelity with the campaign universe we have been building through play, but there in lies the art, know? 

Looks like I am going to get a chance to be a player in a DC Heroes game too. Some time on the other side of the screen is going to feel good. Every chance I've had to run my favorite NPC in the current supers game puts me in touch with the shit I really love about supers. Drama combined with kick ass brawls and destruction on a large scale. Peanut butter and jelly I tell you. 

What do I want to see in 2023? A return to a few, solid game conventions. Ghengis Con in Denver being held this February probably won't happen, but I think I can get time off for North Texas. My other convention mission is to go to the Chaosium con. Fingers crossed right now for that gig. And great games of course. I'm continually trying to challenge myself to do "better" as a referee, self-evaluate, and dive deeper into the art. Yeah, ttrpg's are just a wee bit more than just a game for me. There is real valid art under the hood and I have been happily trying to rip out the plugs, oil, and engine block of the beast for nigh on ten years now. So I am completely jazzed about experiencing the fruits of the labor which will occur!

Good gaming to you all, and I'll see you on the other side!

Official Press Release for the Book

 VANISHING TOWER PRESS  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CONTACT: 

Jay Murphy, Vanishing Tower Press, jay@vanishingtowerpress.com 

First Two Books in Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery RPG Series Deliver Rules-Light Classic Pulp-Fantasy  

Aspen, CO - Vanishing Tower Press is pleased to announce the release of the first two books for the Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery roleplaying game in print-on-demand (POD) format on DriveThruRPG. Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery delivers classic pulp-fantasy using the Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying (USR) engine, a rules-lite system customized for adventurers who live—and often die—by the terrible swift sword.    

 

USR Sword & Sorcery Deluxe Book One: Characters, Combat, and Carousing and Book Two: Mass Combat and Magic feature never-before-printed mass combat rules for the game, as well as carousing, an expanded magic section, and more. 

 

"I grew up reading Sword & Sorcery by Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Lyn Carter, and other writers who gave us heroes and anti-heroes that carved up their world one sword stroke at a time," said Jay Murphy, the game's designer. "This is a love letter to the genre and it utilizes a rules-light formula that stays out of the way and lets game masters (called Crypt Keepers in the game) and players get right into their own bold adventures."

 

The soft-cover POD format in a comfortable A5 size, just like they did in the old days. Book One: Characters, Combat, and Carousing is 50 pages B/W with a price of $12.25. Book Two: Mass Combat and Magic is 40 pages B/W, with a price of $12.06. The retro-styled game is written by adventure writer Jay Murphy and includes new art by Jeremy Hart, Daniel Hernandez, Gennifer Bone, Michael Gibbons, David Lewis Johnson, Earl Geier, Joyce Maureira, Luigi Castellani, and Miguel Santos.

 

"I believe the artists commissioned for this project delivered illustrations which match the fevered-pitch of combat prevalent in the wonderful books that inspired this game," said Murphy. "The line art really give the books the feel of the game's simple, but exhilarating, combat rules." 

 

Murphy has previously published old-school adventures, including Purging Woth Nrld Oekwn’s Muddy Hole, a 40-page adventure that pits PCs against a well-organized tribe of troglodytes and alien slime, which 10 Foot Pole's Bryce Lynch said was, "full of evocative writing and interesting interactive encounters. And is non-standard as all get out."

 

Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery Book Three: Worlds of Adventure, featuring the sinister and savage world of Xoth, will be released in the near future. 

 

Vanishing Tower Press is happy to arrange interviews with the author and PDF copies for online reviews. Direct all inquires to jay@vanishingtowerpress.com.

 

USR Sword & Sorcery Deluxe Book One and Book Two are out!

Finally dragged these over the finish line. The size is in homage to the LBB's released at the dawn of roleplaying, and the first two books make a complete game. DriveThruRPG Link

Book three is still being rewritten and reedited. It is a much larger book (in page count) from the rules of the game. It is a setting book featuring the World of Xoth. Then I will have my own LRB's (little red books). 

I wish Drivethru RPG could produce boxes for our POD books. These little darlings are screaming to be put in a small red box with bad-ass art on the front.

Speaking of art, I finally can let people get a hold of the great line art I commissioned. 

I went as heavy as I could featuring sword-swinging women in the book. Muscle-bound male barbarians have had all the attention over the last 90 years, so every piece I commissioned features the game's mascot; Dor Stryker! This artist hasn't captured her broken nose, but yeah, she is a little beat up and battle scarred while still displaying the physical power which traditionally makes for your Sword & Sorcery "hero".

The system is still the rules-lite game you have come to love, but now you get Massed Combat rules and an expanded magic section (this is what makes up Book Two). The signature features of the game system are simultaneous combat, and carousing being the most effective means of healing Hits damage. Some have bemoaned the critical hits and dramatic fumbles mechanic as being too crunchy for a rules-lite game, but I have found the mechanic a lovely narrative tool in the blood-soaked contests PC's will find themselves in the center of. Others who have used the game for years love the tables, so there is that!

The game was play-tested for three years (2012-2015) so I know it delivers true sword and sorcery feels unfettered by licensed property and well known fantasy worlds.   

But these same features don't make the game a good "first" game for those new to roleplaying. There isn't anything really in the rule books which explain what a roleplaying game is and how "best" to play one. These slim books (50 and 40 pages are the page counts for the first two books) will serve players and crypt keepers who have a firm grasp of pulp fantasy adventures and know exactly what they want their game to look like. 

The game is a solid scaffolding the crypt keeper can hang any sword and sorcery vision they have on and start adding their own colors, textures, and tones. For a long time I was content with the game not having a built-in setting. The game did exactly what I wanted it to do, that was the goal to begin with. 

But you can't have three Little Red Books with only two tomes, now can you? Fortunately there is a fantastic map which illustrates the fabulous primeval world known as Xoth. When I first wanted to run a true sword and sorcery campaign I did not want the game to be subservient to existing, well-known fantasy worlds from the storied history of pulp fantasy literature. I was surprised to find when I did many internet searches there wasn't really anything out there for options. I think my search terms were "Sword & Sorcery Campaign World", and you can imagine what search engines return. Nothing new, Except this evocative name Xoth. Totally metal and smelled of moldering crypts and vicious desert nomads, steaming jungles, and lost civilizations. So after letting my playtesting PC's roam from one end of the world to the other (they never did plunge south into the dark jungles, but one only has so much time do they?) I reached out to the creator about marrying my rules with their setting. 

Who Killed Wargaming?

 This article is written by Greg Costikyan. The opinions expressed are his alone, and no other person or organization should be deemed in any way responsible for their expression here.

Opens this gem of an article. Appears to have been written in 1996. Packs much history in a short read. I found nothing in the article I could disagree with. Here is a direct link to his home page. 

My only knock I can give him is he is responsible for the original Paranoia roleplaying game. Fucking hate that game. But, being a wargame designer first, maybe it his middle-finger to the roleplaying hobby?

There are further articles (and books) he has written on gaming on the site and they all are thoughtful and steeped with actual experience in the whole hobby. I recommend any fanatic gamer/wargamer read everything he has on his site.

Another Piece of Art for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery

 This is the draft of the latest pic for the book. Epic Werks Studio produced this gem. Dor Stryker in all her savage glory!

It gets inked tomorrow! It will end up in the setting book I reckon.

Book One USR Sword & Sorcery Deluxe is done!

 After much agonizing over format for the publication I have decided to go with a throwback, retro look in honor of the LBB's of original Dungeons & Dragons and Classic Traveller. Three books total. Here is an image of the cover for Book 1.

Blood red, of course, there will be Book One Characters, Combat, and Carousing; Book 2 Magic & Mass Combat; and Book 3 Worlds of Adventure. The third book should be the largest in page count because it will include a bestiary, notable NPCs, original adventures as well as a World of Xoth setting guide. 

The original art I commissioned is all black and white line drawings because this is what I dig, and all interior pages (so far) are black and white with a mix of one and two column text blocks with formatted tables where needed. 

For the first three who request it I am offering an advanced PDF copy for your perusal. Email me directly at jay@vanishingtowerpress.com. While not a complete game in itself, you can run your own Sword & Sorcery adventures with just Book 1. You would just have to be someone who is comfortable with a minimalist rule set.

Fuck, I am soo close to bringing this bitch home, Blood and Souls, Blood and Souls!

FGU's Space Opera, Lower Frontier Session #03

Our small group rolled out our third session of Space Opera this afternoon. We had sound issues which gobbled up the first half hour of game time and therefore I did not manage to get the session on tape. But strange things went down and I need to capture them while they are still fresh in my mind.

Domino (Xara, a clone) had touched the box which was heating up and making her palms itch. This happened less than two minutes before the orbital launch they boarded rendezvoused with a Kordarian research vessel. Whatever was in the box packed much energy in a small space and it exploded. "Something" downloaded into her mind, while at the same time the ship and Emma Jones the Space Marine were separated into atomic particles racing across the universe and then collapsing back into solid form, in an instant. Jones wouldn't have believed what she saw except the fact she felt her being spread across the universe and reforming again. A most unpleasant feeling. 

 

The duo now found themselves in the vehicle bay of the Kordarian ship, Bear Killer. The orbital's hatch slid back revealing a group of forbidding Kordarians. General Rath and his Science Director Kibosh Hiltbane were surprised to find these "unauthorized personnel" in the orbital. General Rath was flanked by two security guards while Director Hiltbane was accompanied by 4 lab assistants. Kordarians are on average 6'5" to 7' tall and really strong. General Rath demanded to know who the PCs were and if they did anything to the artifact which accompanied them. Domino was still coursing with tremendous energy. The fusion of the alien energy with her cloned consciousness had dumped an incomprehensible amount of information into her mind. She also became aware of her life span. See, clones have a built in life span dependent on the task they are being used for. And Domino was a "Red" clone. A clone with a thirty day life span. Testing her new-found powers she poured forth a hot wind which blew Rath across the floor. The General ordered his men to seize the two interlopers, and the Director shouted for them to be taken alive. 

"We do not know if either of them have tampered with the artifact!" he reasoned. General Rath told his guards to use their stun rods on the PCs. Domino grabbed the arm of the first Kordarian security guard coming at her while Jones rushed the other. Domino's touch sucked the life out of the tall guard and he toppled over, dead and withered. Jones got the other guard in a choke hold, but the guard was able to keep his feet by wedging his stun rod against Jones' forearm, preventing Jones from strangling him into unconsciousness. Domino told the two Kordarian leaders there was no need to fight. She would let Director Hiltbane examine her. 

"You will do as you are told," barked General Rath. "Your companion will be ejected into space otherwise." 

"To hell with that, no one is ejecting me into space." Jomes replied. 

"You will release my guard or I will kill you where you stand!" the general growled. 

"Give it your best shot!" and Emma released the guard, fists up, stance tensed for combat. This seemed to make the General's day. Kordarians are a violent race and never ones to turn down an opportunity to demonstrate their martial prowess.

"This should be fun." He grinned and rushed the human space marine. The general ducked Jones first jab and answered with a devastating punch to Emma's face. Not only did the blow make her see stars, the Kordarian was cheating as well. His glove was wired with paralyzing stun energy. Face bloodied, Emma dropped to the deck unconscious. Domino was unmoved by the whole scene. As a clone, her empathy score is really low. She normally doesn't worry about anyone but herself. The Director and lab tenders took her to the lab while the remaining security guard threw Jones into the brig, on the General's orders.

"Get it out of her, Director. The power of the artifact, it is mine! I demand results. 

"It is wise of you to comply." Hiltbane said as he strapped Domino to a medical chair in the Kordarian's lab. "There is an alien power which inhabited the artifact, and now it inhabits you. It is foolish of you to think you can survive this bonding. You have know idea what you have done. But do not worry, I am sure I can free from the danger you have put yourself in. Now to draw some blood."

Domino observed this all impassively. Her emotional range was small, probably due to all the times she has been sheathed and re-sheathed for each contract her employers used her for. She was sure the Director would not be able to unbind what she was joined with. She was content to wait.

Suddenly the klaxons rang and emergency lights flashed. General Rath came over the ship's intercoms, "Director Hiltbane, secure the prisoner. We must make a quick run up to Hyperspeed. The Cardinal has found us."

"But how can that be General? No one knows we are in Golgotha system? 

"Have you searched the thieving human?" Without answering, Director Hiltbane searched through Domino's belongings. He pulled out the cell phone she had recovered during the Panumanic riots. 

"I'm afraid General she has a government communicator on her. The Cardinal's ship Sanctified would have no trouble tracking it." 

"Aargh!" Rath raged over the mic and abruptly hung up.

 

All through the ship could be felt the rising power of the TISA drives as the Bear Killer made to escape. Unfortunately the Sanctified was three times the size of the Kordarian ship, and heavily armed. 

Jones, stuck in the brig, recognized the impact of Startorps as the Bear Killer was struck. 260* caliber she figured. A massive explosion made the whole ship shudder. The TISA drive whined and shut down.

Hiltbane knew what this meant as much as every other Kordarian onboard knew. Their ship was dead in the water. The Cardinal's marines would soon be aboard to reclaim what Rath had stolen. 

"The Cardinal cannot let it be known he attacked a Kordarian vessel. He will leave none of us alive. We go now, back to the vehicle bay. We will escape in the orbital which brought you here," insisted the Kordarian medical director. 

Domino did not need further encouragement. The two of them ran into Emma Jones outside the vehicle bay. The damage had shorted out the magnetic locks to her cell, and she was heading to the vehicle bay with the same idea. None of them were orbital pilots, but Domino knew enough about computers to fire up an ignition sequence. The orbital spat out of the Bear Killer's hull and plunged back down to the surface of Dismas. 

They landed far from Dismas City, out in the steppe land where only the giant Giga-Farms were found. The grassy plains being devoured and terraformed by gigantic, unmanned combines. Five of these behemoths could be seen approaching some 60 meters away. Jones and Domino's vision was drawn to activity visible on the remote farming machines. 

"Strange, there are Leo Tybins crawling all over them." Jones said. Being a native of Dismas, he knew of the indigenous humanoids which lived out in the wastelands. Leo Tybins are meter-and-a-half tall intelligent mammals. Very tribal, they resent the intrusion of the UCC's terraforming and farming vehicles gobbling up their land. But what could they do? They were few and only had the technology of the hunter-gatherer. Spears and bows and faith in their animist spirits were all they could muster. This Emma was relating to Domino and the Kordarian when a combine exploded in blue and yellow. Flames enveloped the machine and each of the combines remaining, in turn, blossomed in Nova bursts. 

"Well, somehow those primitives learned how to set and trigger Nova Detonators." said Domino. "And I also think they have found us." The tall grass waved and rustled as some 15-20 Leo Tybins revealed themselves. Gibbering and hooting they threatened with their spears. Hiltbane, the Kordarian, took this moment to jump back into the orbital and seal the door shut. Emma and Domino shrugged their shoulders, raised their hands, and allowed the intelligent animals lead them away.

After an hour or so of marching they came to the Leo Tybins camp hidden among broken hills skirting a rugged range of mountains. There they were greeted by a human provocateur living among the Leo Tybin. He had some contrived "universal" translator and spoke rapidly with the native scouts. 

"Hello", he said warmly, "I am Roman Pirch. What brings the likes of you out here in the wastelands?" Domino told their tale and asked Roman the same thing in return. 

"I'm radicalizing these furry little rascals. They detest the UCC just as much as the Panumanic League. I believe there are thousands, maybe millions of Leo Tybin on Dismas. Living in burrows and underground labyrinths their true numbers are not known by human settlers or Kordarians which rule over us."

He spoke once again to the Leo Tybins through his translator and he invited Emma and Domino to sit round the camp fire and sip bark tea. 

"They really like to blow things up. In another month I think I will have squads of them trained up to make raids on the cities infrastructure. I get enough of them excited about the prospects and I think I can turn them into a formidable army to even make the Kordarians think this planet isn't worth the trouble. Now, why don't you two convince me you are not UCC agents and I won't let my friends here cook you up for dinner?"

(to be continued...)

Even Heroes Bleed Issue 35 part one

 DC Heroes game (using The Blood of Heroes retro-clone), I finally got back on track with the "main" storyline today. The Olympian couldn't make it, but Mettle and Mr. Zozo were more than enough to plunge into the mysteries surrounding the unknown woman they saved from the Black Enchantress.

Even Heroes Bleed Issue 35 part 1

Fantasy Adventure Journal Actual Photos

 Copies landed on my doorstep today! Here are photos of the actual product, cover, interior pages, etc.

Fantasy Adventure Journal Red Now Available

 Besides now having the correct cover illustration, the Fantasy Adventure Journal is now available in two sizes; original 115 pages and now the new jumbo 206 journal. I found the 115 page journal is ideal for players, but as a Crypt Keeper I find I want more pages for additional story threads and plots which are sure to develop during any one of my games. At 206 pages I've got room to add session prep to the journal. I used my green-covered copy, the original proof copy, as my sole play aid

during the last session of my supers campaign and it worked as well as I hoped. I'm going to want to jam all my session prep from any one of my games into these nifty adventure journals so additional pages is a requirement to achieve this. 

The journals are hardcover, of course, with Drivethru's "best" paper option selected, and a custom cover illustration completes the deal. 206 pages does come at a cost. Believe it or not, my profit on the larger size is less than that of the 115 page book. Still, my take is minimal, so the price tag on these books reflects production and shipping costs. Like 93% of the price, actually. But, once again, the service I get from Drivethru makes it the only realistic option to self-publish game products. Any money I make on the sale of these journals will be used to buy more for myself. After all, I am the intended audience :)

Space Opera Session Report Audio

 I've edited the audio recording of the first session of Space Opera 2760 - Lower Frontier Tales and have experimented with a "sprinkling" of sound effects and background music here and there. The goal is to retain the verbal "entirety" of a live game session while enhancing listener pleasure with traditional audio entertainment.

So if you like to examine actual play sessions this game of Space Opera is a rare thing to witness.

Capitol City Crime Report, part 2

This is part two of this three-parter. Side quests galore and multiple GM's in this campaign. First time I have tried this and so far working out great. Find all the episodes recorded for your listening enjoyment on my podcast The Vanishing Tower.  

CyberPunk 2020 Fast, Dirty, Expendables & Lifepath Generators

 I stumbled onto this on-line generator just now, and wow, does this have utility for any of my sci-fi, science fantasy games! Looks like it is from the publishers of the original Cyberpunk 2020 game as well. My recent explorations with running these "vintage" science fiction games has made me quite comfortable with a range of these old-sometimes-clunky-but-fantastically-fun games. Space Opera, Traveller, Cyberpunk 2020, Star Wars, Ring World, Hawkmoon, Universe, Gamma World, Star Frontiers... for what it is worth I can run any of these in short order. Yeah, to bad none of this expertise has practical applications in the job market, but I do take a certain satisfaction in being able to love and utilize these arcane weapons in sophisticated ways.

Generators like these make using these games even easier! Access to many different random generators help keep interesting content flowing at the table by these in-genre deflections of thought to hit the right note, idea, or genre trope on the fly mid-session. 

Madison Hut Received BFRPG

 It was wet, it was steep, it was a typical hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I started out like this, 

under some sun and 80% humidity on the valley floor. And then you end up here,

After the slog I collapsed in my bunk at Madison Springs Hut and surveyed the map for on the morrow we would assault the summit of Mount Washington.

But till then there was coffee to drink and spaghetti to eat and an evening cigarette to smoke. When the Croo finished the dishes and the thru-hikers fought over the left overs before they had to camp on the sodden ground I presented the Hut Master Trevor with the hand made slip case containing BFRPG, Castle by the Sea adventure anthology, the Field Guide to Monsters, and of course Purging Woth N’Rld Oakwyn’s Muddy Hole.

Trevor was taken aback but quickly grasped the nature of the gift. When I showed him the Dice bag tucked into the slip case he thought the whole package was an amazing gift for the cabin and its revolving Croo.

 Thanks to all the donors who helped fund this dream of mine. Only seven more remote mountain huts to go!

Capitol City Crime Journal - The Red Report

The Even Heroes Bleed supers campaign continues to be a new, dynamic experience for me. Once again I turned over the Game Master reins to Mettle's player Mike to run an adventure of his own devising. When I get a chance to play instead of run I use my favorite vigilante-NPC of the game, Ultra-Rosa. A gun-toting, martial arts master and gadgeteer wizard with red body armor, an array of firearms and a specially modified red 2018 Chrysler 300. Paid off. A female version of the Punisher basically. 

Today she got to team up with our newest PC hero, the Olympian. He is a flying brick from another world, a human enhanced alien. Straight up Superman vibe except he is way cooler than the Man of Steel, just saying.

We, as a group, took this detour because the PC hero Mr. Zozo couldn't make it. In a couple of weeks I can't play, so then we are looking at the Olympian and Mr. Zozo teaming up. Making me pay attention to the campaign calendar. With all these side quests going on where everything begins to occur has meaning. Since old-school gaming encourages emergent play the game group is getting a wider world to play in and everyone at the table (including the two co-GMs here) do not know where this all leads and what dramatic outcomes await. My strategy is now no matter who can make the game session we have episodes/issues which can always be played.

To keep the story threads in order I've broken the run so far into several "comic book" series. The main comic line is Even Heroes Bleed. All other story lines have to acknowledge this story line as the main story of the campaign. Every PC hero in the game has had to walk the stage in this blockbuster line. Bug, Mettle, Red Runner, Ultra-Rosa, Olympian, Mr. Zozo.

Mike took us on the campaigns first side quest with the Capitol Point Casino Adventures. These adventures (and today's session) are going to fall under the Capitol City Crime Journal: The Red Report. We have had 10 issues now of this vehicle for Ultra-Rosa's exploits when she is being run by me as a player. The Olympian has had a single issue. This was the episode where I ran just him in an adventure against some visiting galactic bounty hunters.

Now, since I cannot make next session we are going to try and continue the adventure we started today (investigating the New Revelations Church and a string of murders) in Mr. Zozo's own comic book, Road to Redemption, featuring the Macabre Mr. Zozo. Pretty nifty. The game is getting really dynamic and all the PCs feel their efforts make a notable difference in the campaign world. The only thing the game suffers (and this is common in all ttrpgs) is how long it takes to play involved adventures. There are so many potentials and intriguing avenues for rich drama, we will never see them all played out. Ah, the frailty of an rpg world. Only so much of the game world gets told, only so many tales will be spun before life changes our real destinies. And we don't know yet what those will be!

Space Opera Character Sheet for Lower Frontier 2760

I actually made two. First one was a stab at a pretty standard one. Customized for the campaign's homebrew universe. It is not finished but has the look I'm going for. The reason it isn't finished is because I had a flash of inspiration and cooked up a real specific character sheet for the campaign universe. It came from a spec sheet for a roll of batt insulation I have laying around from my house remodel. It caught my eye because for a industrial specifications sheet it actually was well laid-out. I can appreciate someone taking pride in their work!

So I reworked it for the PC in this new game highlighting the fact she is a clone. The sheet looks like this- 

Pretty badass, right?

Need to produce the back page. This is where equipment and gun stats, adventure notes, all that other jazz, will go!

Here is an empty one for you all to print out and play with!

How to Go Meta on your Supers City-Wide Drug War

Most Superhero campaign cities are going to have their various gangs, organized crime families, and drug lords. And they all via for control of everything shady; gambling, loan-sharking, prostitution, drugs, armed robbery, murder, etc. And the heroes come up with all sorts of ways to put these mangy dogs down. But how effective are the PCs efforts, really? I'm not referring to tactics, what the PCs actually do, but what happens as a result of the PCs smashing up what was otherwise a violent, deranged, antisocial way of making a living. 

Most of the time it looks like this; so-and-so gang is fighting with so-and-so criminal family over the lucrative drug trade. The PCs arrive and smash both organizations beyond recognition. Yeah, the neighborhood is saved! And there is no major dealing, death and extortion in the bad part of town for a time. Until it is time to reconnect the PCs with the criminal underground and the GM provides  drug-dealing city criminals to replace the ones previously vanquished. 

Another common tactic of PCs with an ambivalent attitude towards drug use is to play for a reduced body count out on the streets. People are able to purchase what they want in relative safety and the love gang reaps in a Supers game is to beat hell out of the entire criminal underworld until you are down to just one player. In this scenario the PCs are trading leaving one gang in tact while all others are obliterated in exchange for being the "official" drug dealer of the city. 

But while the PCs eyes are off the local drug war ball these numerous urban blights, these self-spawning criminal gangs, are re-filling in the dark cracks and trying to get back in the business.

I wanted to come up with a mini-game to meta-game the overall drug war between the gangs of Capitol City to determine which one is coming on top, on the rise, and posing the greatest threat to the PCs.

My eyes fell on my copy of the satiric card game Grass.  It is a point-scoring game with protection cards and different types of "hazard" cards. The dealer who makes $250,000 first wins. So that is how you get multiple rounds of play as a hand has an opening and a close followed by scoring. Rinse and repeat. So the thematic coloring melded perfect for the exercise. 

I played four hands to represent 4 weeks of drug trafficking between 4 different "players". Each player was one of the primary gangs in the city. The cards have all sorts of thematic hazard cards so these made nice, punchy random events which could be noted down. Not very exciting. I have to say, I will not do it again. But I did get notes for a nice detailed timeline of events and relative cash asset values for each gang which I can use as needed. These stupid little things create elements which help make a living game world, but it is still a labor of love than something mind-blowingly cool.

FGU Space Opera Actual Play

Stop the presses. I actually got a session of the clunky, 1980's beast released by Fantasy Games Unlimited onto the (online) table (video chat) and played an impromptu session with one other player. It is Space Opera. If you get one person to on for the game consider yourself fortunate!

Like I said, it is a clunker. Poor editing, rules references to non-existent text, long lists of combat modifiers, all the stuff I cut my teeth on when learning how to play ttrpg's. 

But I always liked the cut of FGU's jib, and this kitchen-sink sci-fi rules set fires my imagination like TSR's Star Frontiers never did. Some of my allure was due to the ground combat system being based off of Space Marines, a set of miniature rules published by FGU, and the Starship Combat rules looked built to run Star Wars-sized Star Destroyer battles.

With willing PC online and a cleared evening, schedule-wise, I pulled out the charts and GM sheets I prepared ahead of time and gave the adventure's opening pitch.

The PC's name was a severe-sounding Sarah [Xara]. I don't no how to spell it so for the case of this narrative I will spell the PC's name SXara. SXara is Human or Near-human-Hybrid. 5'7, 125-135#, Elfin but Wiry. She dresses 'back in the day's 

ankle boots leather jacket, 80's video space-style short and swept hair, wild eyeliner and shadow and lipstick. Folding Machine Pistol. Freelance Troubleshooter with an extensive network of begrudging allies who all have long lists of grievances against her, to which she innocently shrugs and looks askance.

Minor Telekinetic ability and a heightened sense of danger. She is also a clone. In her line of work the mental implants which go along with each mission can cause severe cognitive dissonance over time. Suiciding and being awakened in a new clone is the most efficient way to flush damaging old memories from a person's consciousness. We tried to come up with an industry-insider slang term for this "procedure". I'm thinking the "Black Hack".

Anyways, her current job was contracted with the 42nd Mechanized Lift, a division of crack professionals enforcing Kardorian will on planet Dismas. Dismas City was the last city controlled by revolutionary forces. They have been sheltered under a powerful force shield for months. Capable of withstanding any bombardment. Intelligence Services have made contact with a Panumanic officer inside the city who can get Sara past the Panumanic checkpoints. Once on the streets of Dismas, she is to follow subterreanean power raceways and sewer lines to a basement server room. There she will place a Xenon Damper Field Collar on the right wire, and poof, the shield protecting the city goes down. Easy-peasy.

No minds were blown but a serviceable session with a good chance to engage with the system and try and role play into something was achieved. I threw in two of my own procedural rolls during the session. First one was a 10% chance of the bad guys already being onto the PC and the second was a 25% chance of being set up. These checks were triggered at certain locations where the character had advanced closer to their goal. Otherwise, it was made up on the fly and we managed to transition into some player-directed activity.

Character creation gives you a PC with a hastily-packed suitcase of skills and an ex-career to justify their existence, but this is old-school play. When you get down to it there isn't many mechanics to occupy yourselves with so it demands players and referee (Star Master) to know how to roleplay and know what they are roleplaying for. A strong identity with something specific to the broad definition which is "Space Opera" is usually a requirement as well, but a requirement routinely handled well by experienced referees. Truly set up as a tool of the imagination. The flavor, the magic sauce has to come from everyone at the table.

We both were old hands at such a thing and we engaged Agility Checks when using a vehicle as a deadly weapon and skill levels to overcome save rolls required during critical improvising  and jury-rigging stunts. Only NPCs fired shots in anger, and I called for Attribute Checks not so much for a pass/fail result (though you get that too), but let the Attribute Check trigger the game world to react. Good rolls trigger events favorable to the PC, poor rolls trigger something which makes the PCs life more difficult. Obviously, in the logic of old school game mechanics, having modifiers juiced by high skill levels is the way PCs stack the deck in their favor. And tonight the PC rolled well. There were two opportunities I can recall where an extreme dice result fell against the player, but it wasn't in a do or die situation, so they only experienced small setbacks during the mission adventure.

We also had some good discussion around player agency and how does a Star Master deliver the set up but also quickly allow for player-directed courses of action they are excited to pursue. Time and again, when I run a game with an old school system I enjoy the fact they require you to bring all the imagination. That everyone at the table has tremendous opportunity to exert responsibility over the story's action and drama. Creative stuff which is hard to do. But I never had to worry too much of losing the flow. The blaster rules are solid, stat'ing out NPCs is quick, and there are plenty of technological game toys to interface with in the rule book. And genre tropes to explore. The relationship between who employs her, who runs her, and clone technology was emergent and player directed during the session.  With a good set of GM sheets Space Opera can give you a great Space Opera game of your own creation.