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.