What Would You Like To Know (like a fucking boss)?

Sure, Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss is awesome, but it doesn't tell the full story.  How could it in only 14 pages?

I've been giving it some thought over the last couple weeks, and today I started outlining part II.  I probably won't have time to actually dig into the writing until this fall.  However, it won't hurt to beef up my outline right now.

So, what topics would you like me to touch on?  Where are you struggling?  Why is it difficult for you to start writing adventures?  What are the obstacles you need help removing?  Help me help you!

Thanks in advance for your valuable feedback,

VS

p.s.  In a couple days, I'll be posting more details about the Adventure Writing Contest!!!

Battle For The Purple Islands

I've come full circle.  My very first Kickstarter campaign was for The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  I've covered a lot of ground since then, and now it's time to return to those dreaded islands purple.

This project wasn't on my mind at all.  I didn't plan for it.  In fact, I made quite a few plans going into 2018 that had nothing to do with the purple islands.  But inspiration struck when I noticed a new exhibit in an art museum near my work.

I went in, looked around, saw some cool stuff and then found this little room - an entrance covered with a black velvet curtain showing this weird art film.  Strange words, bizarre imagery, and dark ambient tones reverberating in the void.

But it was that first moment walking into the room, before I knew what was ahead.  For a couple seconds I was completely enveloped in blackness.  The fear and thrilling joy of anticipation awakened my senses.  What would I encounter beyond?

Upon leaving the art museum, I knew that I wasn't done with those islands - not by a long shot.

So, if you're down for some more purple action, back this project.  It's going to be fucking awesome!
And it will include stats for both conventional OSR/O5R and the OSR outsider 4th Wave type stuff that I've been doing with Crimson Dragon Slayer and Alpha Blue.

Got a question?  Please ask!

VS

Khan's Wrath is Back!

I just found out the news - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is returning to theaters in September!

That's awesome, since it's my favorite of the Star Trek films and was a big part of my scifi movie watching in the early 80's.

Some of you may remember the free Alpha Blue scenario I put out just as Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2 was released.

It's called Guarding Galaxy XXX and there's some amusing references to Wrath of Khan in there, along with several other pokes at beloved scifi franchises.  After all, it's part scifi parody; part scifi porn parody.

In order to further celebrate this fine film, I might try to slip another short freebie into the busy Kort'thalis Publishing release schedule.  Perhaps Obi-Wan'k will make a surprise visit.  You never know...

VS

p.s.  If you're into Star Trek or Star Wars RPGs and you want it to have a sleazy edge, grab Alpha Blue while it's still on sale (and there's a softcover).

The Thing + Frozen

This is literally the coolest fucking thing I've seen so far this month.  It's a dramatization of the classic "blood test scene" from John Carpenter's The Thing, but with the characters from Disney animated film Frozen using Play-Doh.

I would love to show this to my girls, but they're at an impressionable age and they come to me in the middle of the night when they wake up with nightmares.  But soon...

This reminds me of that G.I. Joe version of The Thing that came out several years ago.  I'll post the video below so you don't have to hunt around for it.

Enjoy,

VS

The S'rulyan Vault II

It's here!  ;)

I had a lot of fun with this one.  It was nice having a template and then doing things a bit different to both add to and diverge from what Glynn and I did with the original S'rulyan Vault.

+MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) has done another amazing job!

Basically, the dungeon is bigger (there are more areas within the space) and the PDF has a lot of cool stuff in it.

My favorite is the d100 table for faction quirks.  This table alone makes it fast and easy to come up with a unique faction on the fly.  Just roll on the table 3 times and the results will inspire you to fill in the rest of the details.

Thanks for all the Kickstarter backing and support - and thanks to everyone who purchases this!

VS

Adventure Writing Contest like a Fucking Boss

My latest guide in the "like a fucking boss" series, Adventure Writing like a Fucking Boss is still #1 on DriveThruRPG.  I'm equally blown away and grateful to the entire RPG community (especially my OSR brothers and sisters) for the success of this book.

In order to facilitate the magic contained therein, I'm organizing an adventure writing contest.  The details are below...

• 5 - 7 pages of one-shot scenario text showcasing the fundamentals you learned from reading Adventure Writing like a Fucking Boss.
• Anything in the following genres: scifi, space opera, science fantasy, fantasy, post-apocalypse, investigative horror, action/adventure pulp, supernatural horror.
• Submit the adventure on November 1st, 2017.
• The winner will be declared on November 25th and will receive $500 via paypal.
• Kort'thalis Publishing will supply the art, editing, and layout required to make the winning adventure PDF as awesome as possible.
• Kort'thalis Publishing will publish the adventure for FREE on OBS on January 11th, 2018.

Let me know if you have any questions.  And good luck!

Venger As'Nas Satanis

High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing

Blood Dark Thirst - playtest "B" simplified

A lot of people signed up (approximately 50) and for that I'm grateful, but that also means at least a half-hour of non-stop emailing, assuming yahoo is working that day.

After a couple people responded to the playtest packet "B" that I just dispersed last night, I decided it would be much easier to include a Dropbox link here instead of re-emailing everyone.

Some sort of google document open to playtesters might be better, so I fiddled around with it until I got this.  Formatting seems even worse that what I had in the word doc, but oh well.  It'll serve its purpose.

The newest version has some rules for grappling and feeding during combat and something to cover the vampire trope of victims who seem to enjoy having their blood sucked out.

Emailing me is still the best way for me to receive feedback, so please continue to use my personal email address:  Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

Enjoy,

VS

p.s.  Meanwhile, I'm a couple days away from finishing The S'rulyan Vault II.

Blood Dark Thirst - playtest packet "B"

My vampire RPG Blood Dark Thirst, a sort of splatter-punk gothic heartbreaker, is still in the beta phase!

Tonight I'm sending out the second round of playtest documents to those interested in giving me feedback after reading and/or running one or more demo sessions with a group of players.

If you've already contacted me, there's nothing more you have to do.  Just sit back and wait for the playtest "B" to be sent around midnight tonight.  If you haven't emailed me yet but would like to receive this document, send me an email this weekend with "BDT - B" in the subject line.

My email:  Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

What's new?  A lot of little things.  I've been taking inspiration from the Subspecies films (I've re-watched the first three).  So, the vampires of Blood Dark Thirst have a little bit of Radu Vladislas in them.  ;)

I'm starting to think that "points" is preferable to "ranks" because the former is more neutral and innocuous, whereas the latter just seems more noticeable.  So, little things like that.

But also big things!  Setting-wise, concepts that will influence the play-style - rather than all cautious and brooding, I've got a few ideas that will speed up the action and get vampires involved.

Those looking for alternatives to playing a vampire, keep waiting for playtest packet "C" - that's where I'm introducing guidelines for playing werewolves, demons, and sorcerers.

That's it for now.  Thanks for your participation and valuable feedback!

VS

p.s.  Gerardo Tasistro found an error in the combat example.  Obviously, the 1 would take away from the single success.  The target would lose two points of Health.  Thanks, hoss!

Setting ideas for Blood Dark Thirst

To those who have the Blood Dark Thirst - playtest "A" document, thanks again for participating!  I look forward to reading your feedback.

I've already received several surveys and even a review of sorts.

As I'm just about finished with my duties for The S'rulyan Vault II kickstarter, I've given more thought to the world of Blood Dark Thirst - the default campaign setting.  Even though I want this vampire RPG to support multiple styles of play, I do want to focus on what makes this game special.

I need to ask myself, "How is this vampire RPG different than others?"

The following is a drop zone of things I want to explore and investigate.  Some of these I've touched on in the playtest, others are new but still rooted in my growing list of influences.

• I've started watching the Subspecies films again (only the first one so far).  I love Radu's belief that attachment to the feelings of mortals is a weakness that vampires can't afford to have.  Also, his preoccupation with consorts and fledglings.  
• I want character creation and the introductory adventure to focus on what it would be like to awaken as a vampire just after being turned - especially, under less than ideal circumstances.
• The existence of vampires is somewhere between an open secret and common knowledge.  Maybe it's something that most people don't like to talk about, but is an ever-growing threat on the edges of popular culture.  While I don't want to go anywhere as far as that Daybreakers (which I did not care for), the masquerade is certainly over.  If you remember that Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode from season 3 "The Wish," that's kind of what I'm going for.  Vampires have effectively taken over the bad parts of town - the inner cities, but the affluent areas and suburbs are more or less bloodsucker free... for now.
  
• Because mortals know about vampires, a fair number of them retaliate.  The hunters become the hunted.  So, that means the PCs will have to watch out.  It won't always be easy pickings out there, they'll have to watch their backs.  That's a good reason for vampires to form packs.
• This also means that vampire competition can be brutal.  Remain in your usual hunting ground and eventually hunters will come after you.  Stray too far from your usual hunting ground and other vampires might try to kill you because you're on their turf, indulging in their limited resources.
• Since the secret's out, it's hard to casually insert oneself into a gathering of mortals and drink their precious blood without causing a panic.  That means vampires will have to be stealthier and smarter in order to feed.  Some pale dude with a Eurotrash accent pulls up in his black porsche and asks a couple of females to get in because he's in the mood to party - that's going to work approximately 1% of the time.  This forces vampires to be more creative.
• There's no strict hierarchy, political squabbles, or "vampire government."  Vampires tend towards the animalistic, feral, demonic, impulsive, and predatory.  They are more instinctual than contemplative.  I can't imagine vampires in Blood Dark Thirst sitting in a fancy room of green marble, subtly manipulating other vampires like chess pieces in order to get what they want.  Sure, you can plan, coerce, intimidate and even manipulate humans and vampires alike, but with this game it's more immediate.  "GTFO or I'll kill you where you stand."
• Because of the nightly struggle for survival, there's no ennui or malaise - you fight to stay alive, night after night, enjoying small pleasures where you can.  Achieving lofty goals is on the horizon, but that's tomorrow's problem.

Feel free to comment, share, ask a question, or whatever.  Even if you just want to talk about vampires - go ahead and post something!

I'll let you guys know when the playtest "B" document is ready, possibly this weekend.

VS

The Midderlands

I'm keeping a close eye on The Midderlands Kickstarter because it looks to be quite awesome.  An OSR mini-setting and bestiary by Glynn Seal of +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) that should do for the color green what The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence did for purple.

I've worked closely with Glynn Seal for a couple years now, and there's nobody I trust more to fulfill a Kickstarter than him.  It's obvious that a lot of care and planning went into this project.  The Midderlands is his first solo Kickstarter project, so I can understand wanting to get it right.

Check out the sample pages, art, maps, and evocative descriptions!

VS

How to write awesome RPG scenarios

A few weeks ago, I reviewed a big, fancy hardcover book full of lots of familiar and well-respected names in the RPG adventure writing field.

Personally, I was underwhelmed by it, for a variety of reasons.  But what really struck me was the lack of practical adventure writing advice.

So, the need for guidance, coupled with the fact that many fans of How to Game Master Like A Fucking Boss and Play Your Character Like A Fucking Boss suggested I write a similar book on crafting really great scenarios, fueled my drive to create Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss.

Little by little, in between my other writing deadlines and design work, I set down what I believe are the essentials.  Without further ado, here's Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss on DriveThruRPG.

Before I go, let me quote a gamer who had this to say about How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss...

"I've bought something like seven copies of your How to GM book, and I have enormous respect for your work. 

I got one for myself +PDF, then for my girlfriend at the time, then for my friend who runs a game, then like three more for my other friends who also run games, and then a couple more in case I ever made more friends. I give them as Christmas and birthday gifts. I call it The Bible. All of my friends with copies call it that too. It's good stuff."  ~  Jeff Tatum

Reading stuff like that, as well as, reviews all over the internet (keep 'em coming!) gives me enormous satisfaction and hope for the future of our beloved hobby.

Thanks,

VS

Blood Dark Thirst - open playtest

You play a blood-drinking demon, commonly referred to as a vampire, yet vestiges of your humanity remain.  Struggling for survival and dominion, your vampiric nature makes you an extremely dangerous and desperate predator in a pre-apocalyptic world on the precipice of another inquisition.  This night is for the taking! 


At midnight tonight, I'll be emailing word documents with the bare bones beta-version of my vampire RPG, Blood Dark Thirst.

If you'd like to be a playtester, please send me an email with "BDT playtest" in the subject line:  Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

I greatly appreciate your support and hope that you will enjoy your first taste of Blood Dark Thirst!

Thank you,

Venger As'Nas Satanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing