Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes AP House Rules & Custom Character Sheet

Inspired by DC Heroes Attribute Point system, I propose some House Rules to support a more cinematic, pulp-paced adventure genre with the game's Adventure Points (APs).

When rolling a Saving Throw, APs may be spent to score "doubles". The cost is the difference between the two dice. The number of "Pips" it takes to make the dice equal. Then the dice are tossed again, and so on. If at any time double "Ones" (Snake Eyes) are thrown the action attempted is a failure, and no further rolls may be made.

Now, the experience point system, the method in which Adventure Points (APs) are awarded, does not need to be attached to this mechanic. For each session/adventure arc, each PC gets Adventure Points to spend in this way equal to their Luck score. This is perfect for this genre's cinematic, pulp nature of adventures. If the GM intends to run a realistic, gritty game, this mechanic should not be used. 

I also found the "official" character sheet/folder for the game dreadful. This is not unusual. Many companies cannot get their character sheets right. Therefore, I have made my own custom sheet for the game. Feel free to download it here and use it freely in all your fantastic adventures.

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!

Endgame's End Game

 Putting down for posterity the events which concluded the racially motivated arsons adventure arc in my The Blood of Heroes (tBoH)supers roleplaying game. The portable drive got jostled during play and stopped saving data half way through. What I have is going up as an episode for the podcast, but much needs to be shared here.

Bug and Mettle drop back into the halls of the closed radio building and force their way into Endgame's control room where the mobster has the brainwashed Shamrock Bane film crew. It is all set up for round 2 against Troll and more special ops soldiers when Endgame takes their offer of de-escalation.  The gangster can't believe it at first but eventually comes around to the fact the PCs mean what they say. Turn over Shamrock and they will walk away. Further, don't sell guns and terrorize people and the PCs would leave Endgame unmolested long term. 

If Bug and Mettle can keep the other players in line as well Endgame is content to "play" along with the PCs. The value in de-escalation to overall profits is not lost on Endgame and he can't turn down the numbers. Of course he believes he can get another chance at killing the PCs down the road.

Before the PCs return to the city with their traumatized friend a mysterious black helicopter appears over the radio station and fires several Hellfire missiles into it. The attack copter delivers its full payload of 8 missiles before flying away. The building is nothing but a smoking pile of rubble. Nothing could survive the collapse if they were inside. It could only be assumed Endgame and his minions were still inside at the beginning of the attack. Troll could survive though and this EE proved it by mutating further, gaining more mass, size and power! The heroic duo coordinate abilities and put the kaiju-sized villain down before he can destroy the suburbs. 

This prompts a call to Bisbee Sharp and the FBEE, see if the feds could clean up their mess. It is not a pleasing idea to the SAIC. He resents getting led around by the nose by the PCs as they smash Capitol City gangs. The PCs have been effective, but the cost in lives and property has turned the public opinion against EEs and the government's use of them as law officers. Bug and Mettle promise they are going to bring peace to the streets if left alone to do their work, but Bisbee has yet to see the full fruits of their labor. 

Shamrock Bane is turned over to the staff at New Bedlam Asylum to heal her mind. She gets transferred along with the serial arsonist the heroes helped the FBEE apprehend. Troll is packaged in the EE containment truck and driven north to the STARHOLD downport. Their holding cells are the strongest the FBEE has right now to contain powerful EEs.

And that is kind of it. The rest of the session was spent going over the connected events so far and considering where the game goes in the future. Plot-wise it will be searching for Creepazoid and his pals Backtrack and Leatherneck. These EEs were encountered in the very first episode of tBoH Capitol City campaign. Pretty cool we are going back to a cold story thread and following the string. Like most of the plot elements in the campaign world, Creepazoid and the story behind it is not really formed. I am not modeling the entire campaign setting, only where the PCs are and only what has relevance to the action at hand. Pretty standard GM techniques. 

With the deflation which comes with an adventure arc concluding I almost talked myself into taking a break. I have been running an online game of some sort non-stop since 2012. I am definitely feeling burnout and challenged to be enthused for another creative work out which is running a ttrpg is. But thankfully I reminded myself this isn't just for fun. There are a tremendous amount of new emotional frontiers to experience and ideas to engage with and so little time! It took me about 5 days to get out of the funk, the ennui. But once I had a plot situation worthy of engagement in mind the sheer determination to win at all creative costs has been sustained. Tally ho!

Super Hero Super Villain Name Generator

Very generic name generator Now with one of 14 intriguing origins story included in every name pack! for superhero/supervillain inspiration. I came up with 386 450 "words" which would be part of a decent supers name and created a table to randomly choose a word twice from the table. Not perfect, but it will spark your brain with ideas you otherwise wouldn't have spontaneously fallen upon.

So take the result, shave it into shape and then build your new Supers character!

Super Hero / Super Villain Random Name Generator

Multiple GMs

My first opportunity to roleplay in my own campaign world happened. Even Heroes Bleed had an alternate Game Master, one of the other players, this past Sunday and I was able to run an NPC Hero I created. Sitting on the other side was an incredible treat to see how the city smelt from the perspective of one. 

First "fact" of interest was campaign date. This adventure is occurring a month in the future from the current game action. This means the facts we established during the session are now future facts, events which will occur. My next thought of intrigue was how easy it was to become part of the player group. Makes sense, I've grown to know these characters right along side their players. Same with my PCs roleplay. I created the character and they have fought on the streets of Capitol City already. 

It also triggered some cool ideas for the current adventure I am running back in "real" world Capitol City circa May 2020. The entirety of the campaign's length is 7 days. A half a year of game play and we have advanced through seven days of activity. And what a busy seven days it has been! There is a record of history on each character which has so far appeared in the game, including the other Player Characters. This made for a deeper connection between my Player Character and the others. Ultra Rosa (my PC Hero) has formed opinions on her co-workers already and has had a chance to respond in kind. 

Last but not least, I got to "not know" what I was going to do because I was not in charge of pace. I could increase pace of action by having my PC do increasingly extreme actions in the game world right then. But overall, if the Referee says it is tomorrow, well, it is tomorrow gosh darn it! This type of control over pace is not something the players get to dictate as much as the Referee does. 

I have two more sessions (more or less) before this adventure will conclude and I am back in charge of the who, what, where of Capitol City and I intend to use Ultra-Rosa's guns before then. Before I have to release her back to the game world I want to see her light some shit up!

Long and short of it, I am sold on mixing up the game master work with the other players at the table. I don't know if any of the other Players wish to referee a game session, but I hope so. I think it is fostering greater and greater investment in the game world by everyone at the table.

How to find out if you are cut out to be a GM

 I know, sounds like I'm being a blowhard asshole. We are all good Game Masters if we have been at it enough and are willing to learn from our mistakes and you remember everyone else is there to play a roleplaying game also and don't want to be railroaded.

No, I'm talking about reaching back in time and figuring why when I first heard someone describe a roleplaying game to me (1976?) I had no idea what they were talking about and at the same time I knew I had to get down on this roleplaying game stuff. And why did I go straight to Game Master without considering being a player? What is burnt into my synapsis which makes me think about gaming and the games I'm involved with ALL THE FUCKING TIME? Even when I wasn't gaming from 1993 till 2012 I had a Elric! always by my side and I would rather speculate on what adventure to write as opposed to reading all my fantasy books again? Like for realzies. Not, "oh I'm a creative person, that's why". Everyone is a creative person. Even the ones who say they are not. 

This past weekend I was at a dinner party and the four of us, and this was not my idea, completed the Briggs-Myers personality test. A coupley thing to do with your coupley friends. I'm sure this has been done as a party game like a bagillion times and I was familiar with this test in a pop-culture sort of way. Never took it though. I did take an ADHD test years ago, but I knew what the results were going to be before I took it. Off the charts (passing?) grade! So the test is supposed to identify what of 16 different personality types you are. That is all I knew about it, don't know what the types are, don't know what the definitions of each type are. I was intrigued immediately. You mean I have a class? I love classes. I'm even fine with race as class. Except I don't want to be pigeon holed. I got to be free man, I'm not one thing. This has got to be a crock of shit. 

I landed on ENTP, the debater. Per the game rules, once you came up with your personality from completing the test you turn the laptop over to someone else and they read it out loud. Then you talk about why you think so and so are together. Lot of oohs, awws and of course laughs. 

If you are looking for someone to be game master you might want to ask them if they are ENTP because there is a shit-ton packed into this type which make for excellent traits in a Game Master. It also answered for me my speculations on why there are far to few Game Masters out there compared to players. Or why there are more folks looking to be players as opposed to being a Game Master. One, it is a never ending thankless task of staying in genre and put forth interesting and original ideas for people to dig into, give back and complete the circle. Second the ENTP represents only 3% of the population! We are rare birds indeed. 

I also found out why my wife will never be interested in playing rpg's. She landed on ISFJ, Defender. Protective, warm and caring is not what you want in a Game Master. 

I Sure Could Play some DnD

Yes, I am hard-charging through running a supers game, and it is the referee challenge I anticipated it will be. Specifically the real-world consequences of supers action in "real" world situations. It seems so effortlessly done in the comics and film because the creators have absolute control of the narrative. RPGs are not like that, on purpose, because the play is the thing and confounding one's expectations are the order of the day. For both referee and player. Responding quickly and creatively with the incredible events which supers creates is, for me, the lure of supers roleplay. 

And some days I look wistfully at my Elric! rulebook and the isolation sword and sorcery roleplay affords the busy Game Master. Fantasy is easier to run because Biden is president the action is always where the players are at. One part of the game world does not know what is happening in other parts. Except for the multi-dimensional beings pulling strings, I guess. In supers, or any other modern game, everything is connected to everything! That is harder to adjudicate. Same freedom applies to sci-fi roleplay. The sheer expanse of the natural universe is overwhelming and makes isolation of action easy to maintain. But a game set in your gritty urban city of millions, fuck, it gets weird just having the players take a car ride out of town. What does the rest of the world know of them? That is a big fucking question. A scary question. How is it well done? I still don't have good answers for this, besides looking at the current events of the day. That seems to be my current way out of not knowing what is the best, logical move of the game world to the characters actions. The real world is more weird, strange and frightening than fantasy supers world. I think I need to key on real life people and institutions which can be turned into supers caricatures. But caricatures seem lazy and abhorrent to my artistic  bent. I want something legitimate. But legitimate in an artistic sense in my terms means a lot. It means moving past tried and true and taking risks. 

I can't really explain it. But I know when it happens in game. I've delivered something on message and unexpected and dare I say cool in the game when players react in that awesome way: "Whoa!" Nothing better to my GM ears then the collective "Holy fuck" exclamation from the players at the table. If you can get any of the players in your virtual game table to stand up and start pacing and rubbing their forehead you are doing something right! 

I can recall two occasions I achieved this monumental feat. Both were fantasy games. The first time was during my play test of USR Sword & Sorcery in 2012. The players had completed their charge, escort a young prince through a dangerous city and equally dangerous mountains to a remote keep. They were escorted out of the main hall after the royal head requested they be paid for their faithful and successful service. At the gate the sergeant told the players to get the fuck out. Commoners are not getting paid, petty corruption of the simplest sort. The sergeant pocketed the purse of gold and the PCs were left outside in the cold with nothing to show for their efforts. They got pissed! It was pitch-perfect as far as any genre conceit could be and the players were not expecting this turn of events. It prompted the most awesome thing in any roleplaying game; the PCs began to bicker. As game referee this is where you get to sit back and watch the game being played completely in the hands of the PCs. I love that!

Oh, this reminds me of the third time I achieved this kind of gaming awesomeness. It was plain old DnD and it was a mexican stand-off between a vampire lord, frenzied fairy bitch, and the PCs in an enchanted and rotten tree crawling with bugs and corrupted sap dripping on their heads. The BBEG was dealing, making intriguing offers which aligned with the party's interests. When I say mexican standoff I mean it was twitchy fingers on the gun belts and the first side to blink wholesale carnage would get unleashed. There was no guarantee on who would come out on top in this confrontation. This is all theater of the mind, but I could feel the Paladin's arm shoot out in front of the frothing Cleric when he stated "He has made no move against us!" A Paladin! Asking the Cleric to step off and deal! That shit is gold. My relief was palatable, to me, when I set down the initiative die I had been rubbing briskly in my hands. 

The second time was completely unplanned. It was one of those times when you spontaneously react to the unexpected in the best possible ways. The Cleric was going down at the hands of the evil lich-lord's undead minions. It was curtains, even though the group had slain the lich-lord by a bold move of the Assassin. The Cleric proposed, in his moment of great victory and grim death, his last plea to his "god" in a very specific and  appropriate way. Highly dramatic. "Sacrifice # experience points," I responded. This shit isn't necessarily original, but timing is everything and this adjudication fell hard and hot if the collective "whooooa" around the table is to be believed.

I have yet to achieve this with my supers game. Any suggestions?

What are the Slaves Doing? Roll 1d8

1. Three Slaves and a Prostitute are beating a merchant behind a wagon.

2. Six Slaves are carrying the funeral litter of their former master. They have actually replace the corpse with valuable silver from the late master’s house. They plan on digging it up later.

3. Twelve Slaves are digging a hole. They know not what their master expected to find, but if the city guard sees what they are doing...

4. Four slaves are enjoying Yellow Lotus. Never trying it before their zonkers and have hardly touched the bag.

5. Two Slaves are beseeching a Priest of Toil to take them in and free their tormented souls. Zoari may find them useful…

6. A slave is afraid to deliver the “package” his master ordered him to do. He asks the PCs to do it for him. The contact is supposed to hand over a bag of gold in exchange, but the slave fears the rogues will slay him out of hand. But adventures as hard as you surely could walk out with the gold. The package is a mummified heart. Have fun with that!

7. Slaves of a Temple Priest are spying, looking to ferret out rival operatives and informing their masters! Karathsepo, the Lady of Torment, the Desirous Succubus has one of her slaves contact the PCs. She is looking for an opportunity to poison Silla Korafasa yet keep the Church’s hands clean. Could the PCs be of service to the Church of Toil?

8. Playing dice to pass the time while chained up here in the alley. They invite the PCs to have a few throws. If any of the players jumps into the game, one of the slaves will whisper that their master is away and if they free them, he will show the PCs where the valuable silver is in the house.

Jiro Yoshihara and The Gutai Manifesto

Jiro Yoshihara and their The Gutai Manifesto (1956) is the closest description I have for ttrpg’s as art. It soars really high in conceptual thought, but I pulled some ideas from the essay to hang my loose argument for ttrpg as a serious medium.

Particularly “The two artists grapple with the material in a way which is completely appropriate to it and which they have discovered tie to their talents. This even gives the impression that they serve the material. Differentiation and integration create mysterious effects.”

I do not pretend to know much about Gutai, but Yoshihara’s descriptive language touches on my most abstract thoughts on role playing. Specifically, differentiation and integration, but I feel it expresses my feelings for what I do at the game table.

Here is it explained,

As integration and differentiation are just the inverse of each other, the integration may provide the original function if derivative is known. It is also described as the fundamental theorem of calculus. Differentials is all about differences and divisions, whereas integration is all about addition and averaging.

See, the definition, or its use in real language did not help me understand any better so I will have to apply my own definition and use. But it is done much better further on by Yoshihara.

“In those days we thought, and indeed still do think today,  that the most important merits of abstract art lie in the fact that it has opened up the possibility to create a new, subjective shape of space one which really deserves the name creation.”

The interaction of a shared subjective space with each other resulting in a shared creation is an additional step which broadens performative art into a higher degree of intimacy. Intimacy in the most mutually supported play as evidenced by the group. So I guess this is where I end up. I need to think about this more…   

A Classic Traveller Patron Encounter Detailed

Saar was modifying Anderson's power converters when he showed to pick them up. 

“Wait out side. I'll get 'em for you.” Saar then plugs in the data chip and begins cracking. There are 8 files. All of various degrees of complexity, therefore various degrees of time to crack. Saar goes to work on the easiest. Time stamped photos of a corporate party in Kazawan City. The photos seem to focus on one individual in particular. It will take a facial recognition app to try and figure out who he is. Fifteen minutes tops. While the comp runs the program Saar looks up at the wal-vid broadcasting the latest scream sheet. 

“Gang violence breaks out at the Synapsis club between off-duty Omni Security and the Binary Dogs. No information yet on why these off-duty officers were at the club or why they engaged gang members, but Omni Security has requested anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Officer Jones [Picture] or Omni Contractor Hernandez [Picture] please contact Omni Security immediately. They should be considered armed and dangerous.” 

 A series of video camera footage just outside the entrance of the club in the top floor of a high-rise is being looped showing Jones and Hernandez entering the club with two other men. Quick head shots of the deceased Binary Dogs are displayed, then the usual quick reactionary crowd shots of the average Vanders citizen at the scene complaining about police corruption, the drug-trade and the poor colonists stuck in the middle trying to earn a living. 

“What the frak?!” When Saar left Jones and Hernandez they were heading to the Below Zero to collect the cash Bargar Vas promised them for getting the water turned back on out at Oh-Rif. What were they doing hours later at the Synapsis in a gunfight? And where is Schmidt? Sergeant Schmidt ran the mission out at Oh-Rif. Last he knew he had just got done debriefing the chief and collecting credits. Well it sure as purple-acid-rain did not concern Saar at the time. “My fraking fingers hurt.” He winced as he stabbed his deck for the readout.

Paulo Song, Omni Sun, COO Omni Horron Research Facility, responsible for the agra-augmentation program being conducted there.

 “Hey Saar”, this was Mr. Anderson punching his apartments com. “Someone is here to see you.”

“Tell him I'm not here.”

“Okay.” 

Saar bends back over his comp and begins an extraction program on the next most easily hacked piece of data. Six hours. “Run it.” 

“He says he can't really leave until he sees you.” the apartment's com crackles again. Aw hell, Saar punches the door access code. Anderson and Yang come back in with a well dressed man. Obviously Kazawan City, not a colonist. Anderson introduces him as his boy Hugo Rossi. Both Rossi and Saar look at each other trying to figure out why in the hell either one them would be talking to each other. Rossi trimmed out, good job obviously, standing in a pumped cube in the dome talking to cut up, electrocuted, dying computer hack. Saar was concluding once again he was shit at choosing friends.

“My employer, Mr. Down, would like to talk to you if you wouldn't mind?”

“Can he patch me up?”

“I hope so, or I've taken a two-hour tube ride for nothing.”

“Who's your boss?”

“Collace Down. His son just returned from Xxcarvis. He is concerned about his son, the condition of his return, and for some reason now he wants to talk to you. He also advises that we try and leave the dome as soon as possible.”

“Down is big in the professional circuit,” Anderson beams, “his son, Flare is probably the top celebrity sports star on Skalvil. I've raced against him before, he's totally cool.”

 Saar accepts he will not be having a quite night at home but says he can't leave until he makes a few files. He wants forty minutes. Rossi doesn't see any problem with that and shortly thereafter the group hits the concourse and grab a tube to Kazawan City. Down lives in a plush high-rise and they are escorted into what can only be the suite's lounge. Rossi fixes everyone drinks while a house attendant treats Saar with stimpacks and NueSkin patches.

 Heavy set with a face sandpaper-washed from time spent outside the environmental domes of Skalvil. Sharp dressed. Longtime local who made it good somehow.

 "Thank you for coming. I see you have met my mechanic Hugo Rossi. He has a lot to do with keeping this family in the winner's circle and a truly capable hand. But despite all my capabilities I have some current issues I am having some trouble wrapping my head around and I believe you may be helpful. It is my understanding you were recently out at Oh-Rif. Specifically, you were on the ground dealing with the seizure of the facility by terrorists. Is that right?”

 “Yes. Sergeant Schmidt, Omni Security. He hired me along with some other of his contract help to go out and see what the problem was.”

 “What did you find?” 

“What was reported. Some unknown armed group had taken over the facility, disrupted the water flow. Don't know why. Attracted a whole bunch of attention. How could it not. Angry colonists were outside ready to force their way in if the water didn't get turned back on. My group secured the facility, engaged the terrorists. We killed some. Some got away. Looks like they killed the whole staff their too. Didn't make much sense. Still doesn't. But it paid. Once we contacted Omni with a sit-rep the salaried boys rolled in and told us to go home.”

 Down drains his glass and sits on the couch. Arms spread, his prodigious stomach sticking out form his jacket. “My son got into trouble on an expedition on Xxcarvis. Championship grav-skiing on those tremendous ice peaks. Film crew, the whole works. Going to set a new frontier record no doubt. Now it is a four week journey one way so I don't expect up to the minute briefings, but that I was almost able to keep up daily with the expedition group. They would tight-beam their daily logs from the range to the Omni-Sun drilling facility. There they would be loaded onto the next transport out. There is enough regular commercial traffic out of Xxcarvis that every other day I had footage. He must of got into some trouble out their because the daily tight-beam stopped. I paid the Scouts to get out there and look for them. The Baudy Beth I think it was. 200T free-trader, 2 jump capability. Four weeks out, four weeks back minimum. A crew of four. They returned two weeks ahead of schedule with my son, the body of one of the scouts and the sole survivor of the trek. I still have not got any information on the whereabouts of the other two crew members. 

“The official report is they came across Flare in life-pod orbiting the gas giant at 0304. Still 2 parsecs out from Xxcarvis. Word is he was never on Xxcarvis. No trace of his ship, his crew. He is not okay. Something happened to him. The surviving scout from the mission I have been unable to find out who or were he is. Probably under lock and key at their base here in the city. I was able to find out the body of the dead scout had been transferred to Oh-Rif. So I want to ask you again: What did you find?” 

Saar let the stimpacks take him far away from his singed skin and lacerated torso. “They had some EMP device. Detonated in the power room. Brought the whole facility down. No power, no communication. They killed all the staff and took a body. They fled on boat out into the Skalvil Sea. We found it beached on the north shore. Original crew bound and executed. Most likely killed before the terrorists used the boat to enter Oh-Rif. They fled into the wastes on a four-wheeled ATV. The frequent acid-rain storms had quickly made their trail impossible to follow. Schmidt returned to the Omni tower to debrief and collect pay. I came home to find, well all of you.” 

Saar looked at the rest of the PC's. They all seemed happy with their drinks. “All I can say it didn't make any sense.”

“I want to take a look at that body. Do you think you can find it for me?” 

“Sure, were do you think we should look?” 

“There isn't much north of the Skalvil.” Downs picks up a remote from the table and turns on the his holo-vid. A three dimensional image of the rain scarred wastes of Skalvil in brilliant display. The Skalvil Sea was prominent then the display zoomed into the terrain north. Three colonies were identified: Krunner Farm, Harean Station and Horsail. 

“Harean Station is a slug farm, protein bases for you poor colonist’s food supplies out there on the plains and you poor dome'ers living on subsidy. Krunner Farm harvests Hellboria Wood. Very hard, very colorful when back lit and very expensive. My bar top here is a nice specimen. Horsail is a fracking operation. Anyone heading north via ATV's cannot get very far without living, knowing or being supplied by one of these colonies. Someone is going to know who they are and where they are. I suggest you start out immediately. Omni knows as much as this too. If they are hot to track down the terrorists, they will be heading there soon. But then again, now the facility is back up maybe not so soon. Hugo here has tuned up the Trell III, a capable back country air raft. Enclosed of course. He has agreed to accompany you all. As a top mechanic you shouldn't have to worry about breakdown.”

 

Modern NPC Personality Generator

The online Champions Campaign which has steamed through two sessions now has me thinking I would benefit from a personality generator. One for the on-the-fly NPC, your newspaper person, your real estate agent, appliance salesperson, etc. The characters which are incredibly disposable, and will have no further interaction with the PCs moving forward in a consequential manner. This bunch surely could benefit from one quick handle for the GM to hang their hat on and pin this character in everyone's mind for their short-lived appearance. The theory here is; just because the encounter is singular and not a big deal in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean it shouldn't be played out with some depth like every other damn scene in the game. 

More to the point, grab for descriptors and conditions to make the encounter stickier in your player's brains.

The text to generate these lists for the NPC Personality Generator has all come from the 1e DMG. So these are Gary's building blocks. I've just punched them into these HTML buttons so you only have to make two rolls instead of twenty. 

 

Here is the way I've been using these two buttons. Any facts and/or traits which, in my opinion, conflict with each other, pairings which cause me to much dissonance, I cancel out. Cross out both of them. Because I'm not intent on utilizing the entire generated description. I'm interested in coming up with a rather complete personality profile for the new NPC which somehow has become required to the scene. 

Sometimes when I hit these generators I'm only looking for, or needing, one description to use. NPCs fleeting in nature seldom require much more.  The other way I will use these buttons is to try and use as many of the descriptors as I can. This exercise I employ when the NPC needed deserves more nuanced, complex character profiles.  

Shelter in Place with Gamma World 1e

I phoned a friend of mine today while sitting in the Falcon after the Kessel Run got canceled. He was finding some time off on his hands like the rest of the world and was perusing his old 1e boxed set of Gamma World. We quickly agreed we would hook up on line in a couple of hours and roll up some mutant humanoids and animals (no plants or PSH's, first house rule). With any good session zero, the character creation process started blocking out the campaign world. The apocalyptic event was recent and not in the misty past, so a lot of standing rubble and ruin. We picked Detroit out of the hat for the destroyed urban environment we would start in. Slag pits are what you climb out of when ascending the post-apocalyptic corporate ladder, and that is about it at this point. 

Building the game world around some random character creation is just such the right way to approach a classic Gamma World game. We all have so much Post-Apoc media influence the idea train shouldn't ever run out of track. 

I posted up a mewe group for the game so as to get others involved and start establishing some game dates. Come on over if interested. Don't need to be a player, lurkers are always welcome. At least head over to the group and poach the form-fillable 1e character sheet. Or not. It is easily found online. I'll think I will add it to my Summonings page anways.

Oh, here is the character I created, Jiminey the Unethical Mutated Cricket.

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.

We have both types of Solo Role-Play; Fantasy & Science Fiction

I recently played solo rpg-ing with two rules-lite products from the DIY gaming community. These being Sword & Backpack and In the Light of a Ghost Star. S&B is obviously a fantasy game, questing for treasure and such, while ItLoaGS is a science fiction game where players deep-dive a ruined Earth for ancient artifacts. The author of ItItLoaGS also sent me a free short fantasy adventure model, Holt of the Elk Lord, but first up is the sci-fi horror adventure.

ItItLoaGS Random Solo Surface Patrol – Collect what you can, load it up on the lander and return to orbit. I create a Science orientated PC named Dr. Drazz. Red Shirt #1 and Red Shirt #2 are assigned to me. They will provide protection on the nightmare surface of old Earth.

First roll is to determine my touchdown location. The elctro-static atmosphere is home to violent ammonia storms. Your landing is much determined by conditions than a planned route. It comes up A1, up in the mountains in the far north west. How a landing goes will be left to a toss of the dice. 2D6 will be used. Much like a D&D Reaction Roll or a Traveller Saving Throw, the spread of outcomes should be familiar. Target numbers 8 or higher are what usually counts as success. The toss is a 3! Catastrophic conditions! The lander is thrown against the stoney peaks and comes to rest. Time to assess the damage. I pull out my Space Opera rule book and roll on the starship battle damage table. Since it is a catastrophic failure I decide three tosses on the table are required; all come up Armor Belt Penetration. The lander can’t enter orbit unless the hull is patched first.

Relying on our surface hex map my Party has a choice between exploring an ancient idol surrounded by crumbling temples or a mysterious tower occupied by an Astro-Lich. The tower is more likely to have the technology we need to fix the lander. Maybe even something valuable to bring back. I order the team down the steep slopes and we head west. We are quickly out of the difficult mountains and cross a more hilly land. No monstrous danger is to be found and I quickly find out why. Hard radiation zone! I use an Arcanum Syndicate product; “Sci-Fi Random Encounter Tables” written by Brandon Williams, to generate this result. I resolved with standard ItLotGS’s 4+ for success to determine if any of us are sickened. The Red Shirts survive, their light and heavy armor making the difference. Dr. Drazz is not so lucky. Lost by 1. He is carrying a Cell-Patcher. I throw against a Science attribute of d8 and succeed in rendering a radiation remedy post-haste! I will not be able to use this device’s healing abilities for twelve hours now as it recharges.

The tower of the Astro-Lich turns out to be a sophisticated space ship under construction. It must be close to completion. Engines can be seen test-firing. A horrid screech and wail sounds from the top of the ship where smokey tendrils swirl about. Undaunted I order the Red Shirts forward, blasters ready. Near the base we walk around building equipment, pump-tubes reaching from ship to ground. Automated spider-borgs scamper hither and tither. Going into stealth mode we begin scavenging in the temporary warehouses and buildings. We strike pay dirt quickly. A throw on a Mothership Dead Planet table yields a functional life support system! We get this back to the lander and no need to patch the hull. This high tech equipment will keep my crew alive till rendezvous. Going to be difficult to bring it back. We need some way to transport it. Two security guards roll up on us and a gunfight ensues! Red Shirt #1 disintegrates the first mook with a Heavy Blaster while Red Shirt #2 lays down some “suppressing fire” with lighter weapon. The second guard dives for cover and runs away.

We load the land rover up and split. With the proper radiation antidote we are safe from the waves of purple gamma streaking across green-stained sky. Before the lander is reached another party of scavengers is encountered. We all nervously finger our holsters and ask how things are going. Long and short; they agree to help get the life support system back to the lander if we would team up and assault the tower/ship for more artifacts. Reaching the crippled lander marked my stopping point for ItLotGS.

Sword & Backpack was well matched with Nate Treme’s short sandbox adventure The

Primeval Holt of the Elk Lord. I wish I took notes on all the different ways I house-ruled success chances, but NPC encounters really set the tone of play. I had no interest in consorting with the rubes found in Grimholt so Mendalzane the Wizard plunged into the shunned Sleeping Forest in search of the Elk Lord.

Like the sci-fi game described above, Sword & Backpack, Justa Guy With an Axe Edition, is rules-lite with only a thin scaffolding of mechanics. I’m finding it makes the idea of actually solo-rpg’ing appealing. Challenging my DM skills of creativity on the fly is the point, not tactical, crunchy resolution mechanics. 

A S&B character is defined by one of three jobs; the fighter, the wizard, and the rogue. Pick your name and give yourself a weapon, wallah! You are done. All adventures resolve actions by rolling a d20. If it is something related to your “job” then add a +5. The difficulty number you must meet or exceed is set by the StoryTeller (the ST). While each of the three jobs has their own specialties, there are no “class” restrictions. You want your Wizard to swing a sword, then start swinging! Your Mercenary Reaver wants to summon demons, get out your chalk and candles! The point is, if you can fit the task within the scope of your job the ST will give you a +5 on the roll.

Fighting is abstracted by opponents throwing contested rolls for the attack and defense. High roll wins. Hitting your opponent deals a wound. Losing the roll is a miss. D20 for initiative of course and then make shit up. The driving action here is; what random tables should I use for this. This being whatever I’m up to at the moment. Cross-country travel requires a Wisdom check to not get lost. S&B does not have any attributes so a Difficulty number is set and the +5 argued for. Mendelzane succeeds in not getting lost and arrives at The Pond. Mechin, an ancient, sentient, giant goldfish calls The Pond home and Mendelzane wants to enhance his Elemental Magic. I forgot what I did to instigate a Reaction Roll, but the Wizard succeeded and was allowed to drink from the enchanted pool with a Blessing +1 on any defensive roll being the result.

With the blessing of the fish, Mendelzane decides it is time to seek Ziphek the Elk Lord and petition for favor. The journey is uneventful and my Elemental Wizard arrives at the petrified trunk which is the throne room of Ziphek. Nate was clever enough to detail the Ziphek’s with “Members of the Court”. We know the Elk Lord dislikes humans, but I’m walking in with the fish-god’s blessing. Let us see how this goes. Fimbault, a badger ends up being the gatekeeper to Mendelzane. The Reaction Roll is inconclusive. The badger will not allow entrance unless Mendelzane performs a service to the Elk Lord. Melmoon, a crazed hermit, occupies the Ruined Fort on the other side of the forest. Fimbault suggests that running this madman out of the forest might sway the court to except an audience.

More and more random tables were pulled willy-nilly as Mendelzane navigated the forest, battled the hermit and acquired a traveling companion; a Grimholt merchant with a kingly gift. Now he only needs a king to present it to. Assuring the merchant that the Wizard could easily introduce him to the Elk Lord, the two headed back through the forest. And promptly got lost. Here is where, with random tables, I derive the most pleasure of solo-rpg’ing (yes I am a seasoned pro by now). Finding out what a new encounter actually is. Before the dice are dropped, my party of two may have to confront any number of problems which could overwhelm them. What will it be, what will it be?

It appeared we had traveled to an unknown and foreboding valley, sharply defined, with a dark, silent lake laying placid before them. Further along the shore where the hills crowded in a ruined temple perched. “This is a place of death my friend,” Mendelzane spoke. “I would know what evil once stirred here, perhaps those ruins may yield a clue?” Surprisingly (or luckily, it is a dice roll) the Merchant finds some steel and agrees to search the foreboding haunt. Nothing is revealed, in treasure or knowledge, so we head out to find our way back to the Elk Lord and his court. But it is not to be! A creature from the black depths arises; a Shambling Mound!

“Flee as fast you can friend!” I cried. “This demon is more than a match for us!” I push the merchant up the hill, but his feet need no assistance. Pulling the mule cart up the hill I could see the Shambling Mound would overtake us if something wasn’t done. Mendelzane throws all his magic at the beast. The wildly unpredictable Fireball and the irresistible Waterfall spell. Scorched and washed back into the lake we reach the valley’s ridge and disappear into the forest.

Court goes well, what with the merchant presenting a magnificent gift and I detailing the successful rousting of the hermit, we were promptly knighted as Grimholt Guards. This will provide us with a +3 on reaction rolls with allies of the Elk Lord.

In closing, I find a solo rpg session a pleasant late night activity with the payoff coming from seeing stories unfold from a dynamic environment. It may strip some of the wonder from the game, seeing my particular method of creating laid bare before me, a dispassionate view of the ugly sausage-making for immersion. I am sure Dr. Drazz and the wizard Mendalzane will be face with more random trials to come!