Back Ad Copy for Deluxe and classic USR Sword & Sorcery and Horrors Material & Magic Malignant

The primitive media operation which is Vanishing Tower Press has been busy making product ads for all the mad DIY zine and POD products Vanishing Tower Press products can currently be found.













Here is what I am using right now.

Daniel Hernadez Delivers!

Another artist finished their commissioned work for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery, Daniel Hernandez. He completed six black and white line drawings of the signature mascot for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery; Dor Stryker! A reaver of blood red rivers and blood red passion, she embodies the wild freedom of the Sword & Sorcery genre I have built into the game. 

Dor Stryker earning a night's pay

I should probably keep these under wraps, make folks pay for a view in my book, but I am so excited by the whole experience; searching, contacting, negotiating, and waiting for finished product, f#@%ing exiting I tell you.

Daniel Hernadez is an artist in San Diego, easy to get a hold of, and charges appropriately. You can trust him with your project. You heard it here from the tower.

Here is my current list of reliable artists for hire:

Michael Gibbons, Aos, Metal Earth; if you are a fan of black and white illustrations and want them fast then Aos is your guy. Themetalearth@gmail.com.

Jeremy Hart; monster stock art and commission work. He does solid, detailed line drawings.

and Daniel; makestuffsd@gmail.com

All DIY'ers can get some great art in your games with this bunch. It also will also prompt you to start drawing your own illustrations. You'll want to see your own stuff in your books for sure, and damn, your art budget will thank you.

Going in Hack & Slash MEGADUNGEON #4

Courtney Campbell of Hack & Slash blog fame is offering ad space in his new Megadungeon 4 release. Vanishing Tower Press is sending this in;

Hire Daniel Hernandez Fantasy Line Art before your Competition does....

I was still fishing around for another artist to do commissioned work for the ever-in-progress Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery and I reached out to Drowsy Maggie, an old friend in San Diego. She turned me onto the Gor books back when we wore flowers in our hair. Perhaps she could help.

Drowsy Maggie put me in contact with Daniel Hernandez (makestuffsd@gmail.com), a Sand Diego artist and my hail-mary struck gold. I should keep close wraps on him until my book is out, but that would be criminal knowing my vanity press production schedule. He deserves more paying work sooner than that!

Most of his line art for the book is individual combat (go figure) and it is gorgeous. But he did do one featuring the Sorcerer's bread and butter - The Summoning Ritual! It isn't finished, but I think the quality of his line art shine through. Put him to work before someone else does.

Random Invocations for Big Black Book of Sorcery

Instead of coming up with unique rituals for all the spells in this USR Sword & Sorcery magic supplement I've decided the book will need some random tables. Here is a random Invocation generator done as a split-column table:

If the sun is in their eyes, do I get a bonus?

How much is too much when listing die roll modifiers for your game? Finding out when a force occupies desired ground and how much sooner they got their then their opponent was what sent me down this tangent. It shows me again the flexibility of the USR game system. For DIY minded Keepers and players bent on creating their own worlds, USR is a good place to start. It is free you know.

I continue to playtest Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery’s Mass Combat rules. I’ve let the simple resolution mechanics be my guiding hand when wondering; “more modifiers?” More rules to account for a myriad of battle situations pop into my brain and I want to add all sorts of chrome if I get carried away. What about this? What about that? But then I look at the frame work I’m using, (U)nbelievably (S)imple (R)oleplaying. Constructing rules for mass combat encounters can and does take much from traditional war games. Consistent movement mechanics appropriate to the scale of the encounter. I organize the encounter around the constituent troops involved, I have “units” like any other war game, movement facing, etc. Terrain is accounted for. But here is the trick, for me. I’m playing a role-playing game and I don’t want to get into a detailed tactical simulation. I want a useful tool to aid both player and Crypt Keeper run an exciting mass battle, and then get back to the player specific focus of TTRPG’s.

The answer has been the games base character attributes, specifically Action. Any situation not covered in these sparse rules can be answered with a Contested Action Roll. Want to know if your cavalry beats the enemy to the narrow ford? Roll a Contested Action Roll, high roll wins. Withdraw under the cover of darkness keeping the enemy unawares? Roll a Contested Action Roll. Degrees of failure and success are useful time keepers as well. If you beat your opponent’s roll by two you got the ford two hours before they do. Or two days, depends on the scales of movement being used.
Contested Attribute rolls don’t even need to be against the same attributes. Forces climbing a steep cliff face would need to see if they can get to the top before the enemy spots them. Forcing your army over treacherous ground and you can’t have any delays. Probably should use a Non-contested Action Roll with difficulty set by the CK. But by and large competing against your enemy; Contested Action Roll.  Action vs. Wits? Why not? Subterfuge, fakery and misdirection lend themselves to a Wits vs. Wits roll, but I can see where one force is combating the weak morale of their enemy and a Wits roll vs. Ego makes sense. However you choose to assign the contested attributes, it gives you a fast resolution mechanic which includes degrees of success if you like.

The Contested Action Roll adds a great deal of excitement for maneuvers during combat. Anytime troops try to pull off a maneuver (not an attack) with the enemy close enough to engage contested action rolls are a great way to adjudicate the success or failure of the maneuver.

These rolls should not be drowned in numerous die-roll modifiers. The small scale of numbers you are dealing with makes a +1 or +2 a significant bonus. Reduce advantages between opponents until you have only a significant factor to consider against each other. The easiest to figure, and will come up many times, is a force attempting a maneuver in front of the enemy and commanders and leaders are present. A +4 Leadership Specialism going against +2 Insite Loyalty Specialism you just reduce down to +2 for better commander. The other force has no commander, get the full +4! The CK can always consider limits on total modifiers allowed at any one time. You just have to ask yourself how “swingy” do you want the battle to be. If opponents can pile up modifiers against each other the final value of the die rolls can vary widely. Capping them makes for a contest where creating advantage for your army is more difficult.

Partial Migration from Drivethru

The site is still essential to produce my three POD titles, but my Products Page gives you my Paypal address. This way you can purchase PDF versions direct from Vanishing Tower Press. That additional $0.68 will go a long way towards hiring a decent editor around here!

PM conversion guide for USR PDF now available

My conversion guide for Jack Shear's Planet Motherfucker is now complete as a PDF with all twelve Planet Motherfucker character classes statted out for Trollish Delver Games Rules-lite USR system.

Download the free PDF HERE

Purchase Planet Motherfucker HERE

Download the free USR rulebook HERE

Killer Clown, Living Dead Girl and Murican Warlock for USR

Have to call it a night but I did make some ground on completing a PDF of all this. Here is another three PM character classes converted to USR statistics. I give you the following; 

Killer Clown! After the trauma, you realized that all the world is one big absurd joke. You also felt the need to paint your face like a harlequin and dress in jester’s motley – hey, if the world makes fools of us all, why not double down on being a fool. Life is short and you want to show the goodly people of Planet Motherfucker how to laugh – even as they choke on their own blood.

Action: d8  

Wits: d10

Ego: d6

Hits: (roll normally)

Specialisms: Stealth +2 Action, Backstab +2 Action, Pick Locks +1 Wits, Set/Disable Traps +1 Wits.

Equipment: Fireman’s Axe, Lockpicks, Squirting Flower on Lapel.

Living Dead Girl & Teenage Frankenstein! Some sicko – coulda been a mad scientist or a voodoo mama – brought you back from the dead. Now that you’ve got a second chance at life, you’re gonna meet all the people you can. Live your (second) life to the fullest, you know? Bump-n-grind ‘til you’re ground meat.

Action: d8

Wits: d10

Ego: d6

Hits: (roll normally)

Specialisms: Streetwise +2 Wits, Investigation +2 Wits, Shooting +1 Action, Athletics +1 Action.

Equipment: Claw Hammer, Colt .45, Big Black Boots.

Murican Witch/Warlock: It was when your back was against the proverbial wall that you first heard the voice. “Make the pact,” it said, “and you’ll have all the power you need to make your foes beg for mercy.” And make the pact you did, signed in blood and sent to a devil without hesitation. And boy did hearing our foes plea for their miserable lives sound excellent. 

Action: d6

Wits: d8

Ego: d10

Hits: (roll normally)

Specialisms: Knowledge (Arcane) +2 Wits, Spell of Armor +1 Ego, Spell of Blinding +1 Ego, Spell Bolt +1 Ego, Spell of Confusion +1 Ego.

Equipment: Ritual Dagger, Colt .45 Pistol, Book of Black Magic, Leather Cloak +1 Damage Resistance.

Three more PM characters converted to USR

This is a continuation of my previous post on Jack Shear's Planet Motherfucker and converting the described character classes to the classic (U)nbelievably (S)imple (R)oleplaying rules. Rules which are free! from Trollish Delver Games here on DriveThruRPG.

Today I am converting the following three character classes; Doom Nun/Hellfire Preacher, Dr. Satan/Nurse Lilith and the Facebreaker!

I kick ass for the lord, or just because kicking ass feels goood! The Doom Nun (or Hellfire Preacher)!

Action d8 

Wits d6

Ego d10

Hits (roll normally)

Specialisms: Divine Miracles (Healing & Smite) +2 Ego, Gun Combat +2 Action, Knowledge (Arcane) +1 Wits, Hand-to-Hand Combat +1 Wits.

Equipment: Derringer Pistol, Hollowed-out Bible (holds ammunition or a grenade), Backpack.

Bodies tend to come apart with alarming frequency on Planet Motherfucker. Arms get ripped off, torsos get riddled with bullets, legs get run over by motorbikes. Stitching all that human mess back together is just part of the gig for Dr. Satan & Nurse Lilith!

 Action d6

Wits d10

Ego d8

Hits (roll normally)

Specialisms: Medical Science (Experimental) +2 Wits, Knowledge (Scientific) +2 Wits, Lockpicking +1 Wits, Repair Machine +1 Wits.

Equipment: Hypodermic Pistol, First Aid Kit, Backpack (carries various “hypo” darts).

Facebreaker: You are a hulking brute whose bulging muscles ache to break faces. Everything in the words looks like a nail to you because you are a hammer ready to swing. You may not enjoy brutalizing others (but then again this is Planet Motherfucker so you just might) but it’s something you absolutely excel at. Hey, if you got the gift, might as well use it.

Action d10 

Wits d6

Ego d8

Hits (roll normally)

Specialisms: Brawling +2 Action, Throw Ridiculously Heavy Objects +2 Action, Toughness +1 Damage Resistance, Gun Combat +1 Action.

Equipment: Baseball bat with nails driven through it, Peacemaker Pistol, Wicked cool Tattoos.

Planet Motherfucker is perfect for USR

Jack Shear's Planet Motherfucker is a tight, compact setting book for Savage Worlds RPG. The conventions of character creation in Savage Worlds ports over really simply to the classic (U)nbelievably (S)imple (R)oleplaying rules. Rules which are free! from Trollish Delver Games here on DriveThruRPG.

I'm drafting each one of the starting character classes from the Planet Motherfucker sourcebook here on my blog. When I've finished I should be able to make a PDF compiled document for allz youze enjoyment, you voyeuristic, post-apoc sleaz-oids! I'll start off with three character classics for playing in this delightful psycho-hillbilly-hellscape game world; the Chainsaw Paladin, Brickhouse Amazon and the Creepbot 2000!

Despite living in a world gone mad, you've sworn to uphold a moral code and fight for truth, justice, and the Murican way. The instrument in your fight to bring order to a lawless land is...a chainsaw. If you're going to cut the Gordian knot of Planet Motherfucker, might as well do it with whirring teeth of utter destruction. This is why they call you the Chainsaw Paladin!

Action d10 

Wits d6

Ego d8

Hits (roll normally)

Specialisms: Melee Combat +2 Action, Gun Combat +2 Action, Knowledge (Religion) +1 Wits, First Aid +1 Wits.

Equipment: Chainsaw, Pump-Action Shotgun, Kevlar Vest +2/+4 DR.

Yeah, the world has gone to hell in a hand-basket, but who cares? Your abs are ripped and you turn heads. And if those heads don't do what you want, you can crush them. Love 'em, leave 'em, crush 'em. That's the motto of the Brickhouse Amazon or Neo-Barbarian Stud!

Action d8 

Wits d6

Ego d10

Hits (roll normally)

Specialisms: Melee Combat +2 Action, Persuasion +2 Ego, Athletics +1 Action, Survival +1 Ego.

Equipment: Desert Eagle Pistol, Big Knife, Backpack.

Creepbot 2000: Although you've got a human brain floating around up in your chrome dome, you're still more machine than man. “Yeah, replace my feeble human body with a sweet robot chassis!” you said. What a gaff; now you're a hulking beast made of twisted metal, rusted circuits, and frustration on overdrive.

Action d8

Wits d10

Ego d6

Hits 15

Specialisms: Gun Combat +2 Action, Lockpicking +2 Wits, Stealth +1 Action, Melee Combat +1 Action.

Equipment: Metal Carapace +2/+4 DR, M1 Rifle, Spare Parts.