Contact Information:

jay@vanishingtowerpress.com

Wednesday, August 7

YouTube/Hangouts Live Stream, What I did...

With the disconnect between Goggle Hangouts and YouTube's Live Event function I had to find another way to record my live sessions. I will miss the ability to Live Stream my sessions, but capturing the entire session on tape is my default DM notes I reference, establish canon with my players and use for verisimilitude in game session prep.  Much higher priority.




My first hit, and the only software I have used so far, was Camtasia. It sells for more than I want to spend, but with little time before the game I took advantage of the 30 day free trial and began to familiarize myself with its capabilities. It captures your computer screen and allows to edit this content and convert to video. This part of the software worked just fine. I hit record and did not hit stop until the three-hour session was over. Everything was there. Some spot editing and then I went for upload to YouTube. I believe the inevitable crash is due more to the capabilities of my laptop rather than Camtasia. Either way, it figures into Camtasia as a "no-buy" for me. Conversion from "project" to video file is expected to be slow, but it was going to be a ten-hour(?) process to upload. No way this works. But I tried a couple of times with a couple of different formats and unsurprisingly the process choked and "closed unexpectedly". I then stripped the audio from the video, added a title page, and then went for it. This time I had the format as avi. It went up rather quickly considering. Now I and the players can listen to the session replay at our leisure.

I really like the audio format. TTRPG's are theater of the mind anyways. As a fan of radio broadcasting it didn't take me long to warm up to the idea. I started dropping in images related to what was currently being described, but I'm not sold on that. Title Page, sure. If I do include images it will sparsely done.

So I get the original "tape", video and all, upload audio only. For now. And I still need to "cast" about for a more affordable option.


Thursday, July 25

DM’s, use your adventures again and again!


I’ve put together a “What can I use for this?”folder of published game stuff which slot seamlessly in current or possible future encounters in my active games. I do this for two reasons: One; I love sand-box play, but I don’t always like the on-the-heels feeling I can get when I’m out of material. Specifically, material which would be AWESOME in the current situation. I have a freakish belief if I had access to all current written adventure modules, properly indexed, there would be something just perfect needing only the most minor cosmetic changes. That is my idea of no-prep! So I get really jacked when these twin stars line up. Two, the real gems stand out. Old, new, retro, funny dice; its hard to know how a scenario will aid thee in the hot-seat. I have retracted blistering criticism I uttered upon reading an adventure only to humbly withdraw it after using in a game. Funny how my opinion from just reading adventure material is so off from the actual play experience. When it works when the material carries you, folded and safe in its hands, through multiple sessions of metal rpg’ing its like conducting an orchestra. The difference being, when you get off the hot-seat and bow, acknowledge the orchestra, you do this alone. It is truly a private and disconnected performance between writer and game master. I love this part of rpg’ing probably best of all.



So it isn’t a far leap to “What adventures do this for me? Pulling the book out started this whole thought project. Using it again to key another fantasy location. The book is Chaosium’s Black Sword for Stormbringer by Ken Rolston. It is a companion piece to Stealer of Souls; a champion in its own right. The only reason Stealer of Souls isn’t number one is because I like Black Sword better. The scenarios in the book depict a woman’s quest for vengeance against Elric himself. This sort of set-up is rarely going to be used in one of my games. If you are playing a game of Stormbringer with me, you most likely won’t be in the Young Kingdoms. I’m sure it can be epic, but I have a disinclination to use fictional characters found in the original prose. The fictional setting I’m using because it is cool. That is most likely why it is in use, the place is inspirational. Give people, places and things new names and done. With more than I need in the attending details of the location.

If I don’t like the script of of Black Sword why is it so good? Because Black Sword passes the acid test; it is extremely useful for play. Freyda Nikon, the “Patron” driving the plot, is a decent NPC. No reason she has to be married to the script. I prefer to have interesting NPCs met when circumstance, the game situation, demands nothing short of this character being used. The right person for the job, so to speak. Frieda is easy to place, in many different roles. She’s metal.

The scenario book includes the city of Nadsokar, the Kingdom of Org, the city of Karlaak, the Plains and the Badlands. Any one of these sections, these site locations, can be lifted wholesale out of the book and dropped into your campaign. With Nadsokar, city of beggars, the most useful part doesn’t even include stats! Two and a half pages of “in-the-day-in-the-life-of” and a portion of the streets of Nadsoker underground mapped out. With one of those slick city-crawling mechanics DIYOSR creators introduced and some kind of citizens stat block you can go for a while in Nadsoker, the City of Beggars. Good place to note, if you have read the fiction, cause all your game inspirations come from the source material, you already know what is cool about it.

The nuts of the book, the most metal part, is The Kingdom of Org. If you’ve read the source material you will know when you should use this location. And it is not just the degenerate, horribly pulpish vibe of the place. The Kingdom is found within the Forest of Troos. The heavy-metalist of magical woods. Details of a slave rebellion if you are inclined, but the daily life of Org has many options of grim encounter. Again, your favorite city-crawling method will have PCs dying for your pleasure in nigh poetic manners.

The rest of the book similarly works in this fashion for me. Again and again. Oh yeah Stealer of Souls has great city maps and material with the details of Bakashaan. It is a good clone of Messantia, and therefore squishy-pulpy city which include the ocean and sea travel and the scum it attracks.

These two books aren’t for everything. My experience relates using it for the genre intended.

Dropping modules into modules is a big kick of mine. This Matryoshka-doll method mixes up the presentation enough players stand a good chance of never recognizing it. Simple example of this with some 1e AD&D stuff. D3 Vault of the Drow is this psychedelic dark elf city underground. It is big and has room for many interesting locations. More than I want to come up with. What can I do, what can I do. Evil metal elves will have slaves. They have a whole industry of it in the Vault. May I present A2, Secret of the Slavers Stockade? I don’t care how you skin it, the “Stockade” will be useful. Its use multiple. The scope it adds to your location and any other published site-location, deep. Not in the “adventure” the authors packaged with the module. But the use you can put to the rooms and NPCs included.

And this isn’t “fixing” a module. Fixing a module is something else. This is leveraging the module. Surely this is what the early creators intended for their modules. They are heard to lament gamers mostly missing this point early in the hobby. But bills must be paid and if you don’t give a DM and PCs a “Story” to follow they are just so much deers in the headlights. “Why do I give a shit about slaver’s?” No one really knows what to do with this. But everyone knows what to do with a slaver’s stockade when they are in the middle of an insane underground acid city and what you need to survive, nay, triumph, is located there… that is another kettle of fish. Simple turn of perspective, but one I’ve never seen to fail me.

Wednesday, July 17

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;


Thursday, July 11

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.


Wednesday, July 3

State of the Dome - CTU review and invitation


Aeolus led Arachne, Aiako and Alcestis off into the dark, leaving Ariadne to guide the settlement…

The disparate adventures run in my Shattered Worlds OTU (Original Traveller Universe) make for satisfying world-building which has led to the delights of this seldom-run campaign.


This first adventure had the most continuous sessions. Shattered Worlds Issue #1 engaged a seasoned crew of Traveller Players faced with a strange anomaly on the surface of the planet Xxcarvis. The LotFP adventure Monolith from Beyond Time and Space was used for the Anomaly. They got spooked out and only one of the four-man crew survived to return to Skalvil. These events unfolding on Xxcarvis are the meta-event which will blow through the campaign universe. This was all done through a G+ group which sadly is no more. Another unknown campaign disappearing into the ether. The one surviving PC from this adventure most likely will not play again, but their actions are now canon!

The next adventure Under the Dome Issue #1 had a police strike against terrorists who commandeered a corporate research facility. This lasted two sessions with more questions than answers, but the PCs were free to go in whatever direction they wished. And it lead to bloodshed and frame-ups!

Under the Dome Part Deux has the contract workers splitting up from the cop PCs after the terrorist job. The hired hands PCs are going to a Union bar to collect on a payout. The Union offers the party good money for any heavy firepower they could swing the worker’s confab. The PCs take a pass. Next Omni Cop HQ sends them to ask the Binary Dogs a few questions. This is a set up to get the PCs in a deadly gun-fight with this drug-running gang. The PCs come out on top and hole up in a nondescript pumped hotel cube. And there this story thread hangs hoping to be picked up again.



Under the Dome #3 introduced a new group of PCs, the third now, picking up work “under the dome”. Pretty straight job. Omni-Sun employee owes gambling money. The bookie is a “skin job” so it has a hard time getting respect from its human customers. It wants to step up pressure and become a bookie to be feared if you welsh. The PCs chew up the low-life ladder right up to getting arrested. It was an excellent place for this quirky escapade to come to a stop. Unfortunately it will be unlikely this group, Player Group C, will ever assemble again. No session report or video

Under the Dome #4 reintroduced a regular PC with some newbies. Another noir-like, uncover information, investigation type session as the PCs move through NPCs and locations. It ends in off-road buggy chases and a shoot out. Pretty cool.

What will Under the Dome #5 turn up? Who knows. But with a fleshed out sub-sector and big and little things happening all around; there is not much adventure-thirsty PCs can’t get up in to. If you want to know when these impromptu online sessions, these “Flash Sessions”, join either the MeWe or Discord (or both) groups.

Saturday, June 29

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.
Image result for in the light of the ghost star

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.

Image result for in the light of the ghost star hex mapRelying 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.

Image result for primeval holt elk lordLike 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?


Image result for fantasy lakeIt 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.


Image result for fantasy elk lordCourt 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!

Saturday, May 4

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: