Saturday, February 29, 2020

Gamers Harassing Gamers


There's a gamer on twitter @DraconickGaming who's been harassing a friend of mine (and fellow gamer).  Targeting him and the people he works with.

What kind of a loser does that?  Let's end his kind of abuse.  If I wasn't blocked, I'd confront him myself.  Why this guy can't leave people and products he doesn't like alone, I have no idea.  But I'm not going to lay down, do nothing, and let him destroy my friend and his small, independent gaming business.  

VS

Leap Day Cha'alt Sale!!!


Every 4 years, right?  Lots of sales going on, so here's mine...

Get the premium, luxury hardcover book of Cha'alt for $40 (shipping inside the USA included, otherwise, it's an extra $30).  Normally, Cha'alt retails for $60.

Not familiar with this eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic campaign setting + megadungeon?  Here's a text review and this is a video review.

Each book is signed and numbered (limited to 2,000 and I'm almost out - no reprints!)... plus, since it's leap day and all, I'll "ultra-personalize" it with an amateur drawing of some tentacled monstrosity.

This offer is only good until midnight tonight, so don't delay!

You can paypal me the money using my email address: Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

Enjoy,

VS

p.s. Of course, if you order the hardcover, you'll get the PDF for FREE

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Alpha Blue 50% Off


Want that sweet, sweet sleazy sci-fi action?  Well, Alpha Blue is half-off this week!

What is Alpha Blue?  It's a rules-light, random table heavy, humorous, space opera RPG with occasional XXX dalliances... and that's what makes it different, what makes it special.

No other RPG combines science-fiction with sex like Alpha Blue.  Get some!

Prefer the softcover?  Amazon has slightly higher quality [search for "Alpha Blue" in books or you can't find it].  Buy the softcover, get the PDF for FREE!

Just email me: Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

VS

p.s. Don't think sexy space opera is a viable sub-genre?  Check this out!

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Low Stock Alert - Cha'alt


All the recent reviews, such as this one and that one, Pundit's one... plus Oh Yeah! and Nic Cage helped sell a lot of hardcover copies of Cha'alt.

Local RPG stores have started carrying Cha'alt, as well, which is fantastic!

Additionally, the PDF just went ELECTRUM (!!!) the other day on DriveThruRPG.

However, the best news ever is that an eccentric (sorry, hoss, but you're only a short step from crazy) gaming collector just bought up 500 copies of Cha'alt so he can sit on them for 10 years and sell them for double the retail price on ebay, as I have no plans for a 2nd printing of Cha'alt (too many new projects I want to pursue).  Dirty pool?  Maybe, but I'm a proud capitalist, so whatever.

After squirreling away the books I owe Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise kickstarter folks, that means I have precisely 297 luxury hardcover Cha'alt volumes left to sell.  Low stock alert, indeed!

You can send me $ via paypal at Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

It's $60 per book (shipping included if you live within the USA).  Otherwise, the shipping is $30 per book.  Sorry, no discounts on multiple copies...

Also, if you buy the hardcover, you get the PDF for FREE!!!  If you already purchased the PDF, then you get a $10 discount on the hardcover.

Big thanks to everyone who's supported me and Cha'alt and all my Great Work.  Love you, folks!

VS

p.s. If you're looking for a minimalist O5R (OSR + 5e) rule-set for D&D noobs and novices, then look no further than Crimson Dragon Slayer.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

One Day, They'll Come For You, As Well


Greetings, comrades of Inclusive Intersectional Compassion.

Let us begin with a resistance-prayer: The State is our community... where we all meet, where we all matter.  Social Justice for all!

My name is of no importance.  Obviously, my race, sexual preferences, and gender identity are incredibly important; however, the people of 2020 cannot be trusted with such vital information.  #GET_WOKE_OR_DIE_BROKE, as we say.  Irregardless, I have a message from 5 years in the future.  I'm a time traveler from 2025, and wanted to give you a snap-shot of the world.

Congratulations are in order, for our efforts have paid off.  Individuality is a sin before Secular Leftism.  Whatever your system of beliefs, it must conform to the Collective Will of the Masses or be purged... just as all discriminatory personal property and wealth has been sacrificed upon the altar of Secular Leftism.

Those who've already confessed their sins may continue to live, as long as they are useful to The State.  Everyone who has not yet sought forgiveness for past and present sins, as well as future transgressions, have forfeit their contaminated existence.  Daily Purity Tests are Mandatory!  Proceed to one of the conveniently located self-immolation booths.

For those who seem shocked by this inevitable progression, don't be.  As our Collectivist Leaders teach us, terrible beliefs are held by terrible people, but they can be made useful in State Sponsored Work Camps.  Please, do not humanize the enemies of The State, unless you want to join them in the gulag.

The nazis held terrible beliefs.  Therefore, everyone with terrible beliefs are considered nazis and deemed undeserving of consideration, rights, or even the burden of life.  After all, are we not all victims in the eyes of Secular LeftismPraise be to The State!  Since everyone who disagrees with us is nazi scum, there is only agreement, only conformity.  The State is an unbreakable monolith - omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent.

Furthermore, the terrorist propaganda of christianity, judaism, satanism, cthulhuism, not-religious-but-spiritual-ism, libertarianism, individualism, capitalism, conservatism, moderation, freedom, jokes, memes, and common sense is no longer allowed in public or private spaces.  The State, in its infinite wisdom, has declared these problematic ideologies of racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia to be violent attacks upon Our Great Uniformity.

Only total submission to The State is tolerated.  Anything that does not conform must be condemned and destroyed in the People's Square of Mutual Grievances!  Failure to pledge public support for Our Shared Values is the equivalent of terrorism, nazism, and white supremacy.

Those of your flawed era still cling to the idea that The State is not god, but in 2025 we know better than you.  The State is the only rational substitute for him, in all his toxic patriarchy.  In fact, society cannot progress without his destruction.  Praise be to The State!

Your comrade of inclusive intersectionality,

A-non

p.s. Bonus!  In 2025, we have 100% free Universal Health Care and College.  Unfortunately, you're not eligible if you have any demerits.  Demerits are earned by saying something offensive, exhibiting problematic behavior, having wrong ideas, or expressions of individuality.

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Crimson Dragon Slayer


It's my game; it's what I run.  I may not be the best RPG designer in the world, but I know what I like. 

After a year of playtesting various Cha'alt content, Crimson Dragon Slayer has gone through yet another revision. 

I made the switch from VSd6 (d6 dice pools) to D20 awhile ago.  But now, it's got spells, an updated layout, and streamlined expression of the same O5R (OSR + 5e) rules that I can't live without.

Crimson Dragon Slayer is neither robust nor revolutionary.  It's just my preferred version of D&D.  And so it goes...

What's been my biggest gripe about traditional, old school D&D?  Starting a session with new players, or perhaps just new characters, and everyone's 1st level.  This may be the only game you get this week... or this month.  One and done!

The wizard's got one spell.  Yeah, we know.  He's supposed to become all badass somewhere down the line, maybe around 5th level.  But that's not the game I'm running.  I will run about a hundred games in 2020, and no one's going to have a 5th level character.  I teach a lot of noobs to play D&D on Roll20, plus my home-game playtests stuff between 1st and 3rd level.

What else?  The cleric's got a mace, and the thief starts out with a handful of Hit-Points.  If there's combat or even the threat of violence - please don't call our bluff - it's the fighter's world... everyone else is just living in it. 

Well, not anymore.  This is arcade mode D&D (coined by Cha'alt consultant Prince of Nothing).  I don't spend my valuable time and energy running games so the party can sleep after a couple encounters.  Go hard and go long or just go fucking home! 

To quote Starship Troopers, "Everyone Fights, no-one quits.  If you don't do your job, I'll shoot you myself."

Many critics don't get that or they simply don't like it; perhaps it doesn't feel like real D&D to them.  Oh well, I shrug in response.  Crimson Dragon Slayer is for me, and I'm happy to share it with anyone who wants to try.

VS

p.s. To avoid confusion, let me state the new Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 Revised files are identical to the updated Crimson Dragon Slayer D20.

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Your Virtue Has Now Been Signaled


As you might have heard, someone on the internet said something stupid and prejudiced.  I know, shock and horror!  How could this be?

Did I mention this is the internet?  Stupid and prejudiced is kind of the internet's brand.

Specifically, Bob Bledsaw II wrote something nasty about Jews and also that black music appropriated by Elvis is pretty good.

I don't know him, but I've heard of him.  And, of course, I know of Judge's Guild, but I've never used their products.  If there's no chance of it having come from an LSD fever-dream, I'm just not interested.

Predictably, many are coming out of the woodwork to condemn what he said.  That's fine.  I condemn it, too.  Just like when I condemn it from the mouths or twitter accounts of Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and similar progressives.

But what came as a surprise is this - it wasn't the radical left or woke police or social justice warriors who are trying to "out" this old guy as a horrible bigot who must be shunned without any means of supporting himself or his family.  No, it was the neutral-ground fence-sitters, the moderates, the centrists, mild mannered conservatives, and those who don't want to get involved in politics.

Just a year ago, a popular OSR bartender disowned probably the only trans-person he's ever been in close contact with.  And I've received cold stares and silence from many quarters of the community.  But I'm not going to stop being me, just as I'm not going to stop pointing out hypocrisy. 

So, what have we learned from our moral superiors, the political leftists who've tried to deplatform, demonetize, and cancel everyone that deviates from woke scripture, anyone who doesn't pass the litmus test of egalitarian brother and sisterhood, all who stand in the way of intersectional workers of the world uniting?

That it's better to accuse and punish others than to look inward and try make better choices for ourselves.

You change views by discussing them openly, not beating people over the head merely for holding them.

And then you get comments like anti-semitism is merely talking to their OSR base or that President Trump ushered in a new era of racism, anti-semitism, sexism, homo and trans-phobia, etc.  That, too, is bullshit.  Trump has been more pro-Jew and pro-Israel than any President in memory.

I honestly thought we were better than that.  We don't need to virtue signal because, as we all know, that currency is vastly over-inflated, its stock doomed to plummet until 1,000 digital back-pats can only afford you a crust of Democratic Socialist bread.

If you want to stop buying this product or stop promoting that designer, more power to you.  It's a free country, you can do what you want with your dollars and time.  Just don't ask me to sign my name to some blacklist or join the outrage mob or help you force some dude with a terrible worldview from attending an RPG convention. 

VS

p.s. We'll be discussing the issue this Sunday on Inappropriate Characters.

Friday, February 7, 2020

Unspoken Tags


I was putting together a short adventure for a Roll20 game using the ever-changing Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 rule-set (final version will be uploaded sometime in the next couple days), and it hit me that I often have these unconscious, unspoken tags in my mind as I write and then proceed to run a scenario.

Knowing the effect you want to achieve is key to crafting adventures like a fucking boss!  One-shots especially are not unlike short stories.  As Edgar Allen Poe said about that particular art form, it should create a singular effect and every element of that short story needs to carry its own weight, driving it home.

As I was writing this latest one, I had the following emblazoned in the back of my mind: desperate, exploring the unknown, weird location-based scenario, and Lovecraftian.

Depending on my mood, I might have a different set of tags, such as: cat and mouse, whimsical, gonzo, introspective.

I don't know how many GMs do this and are also acutely aware of it, but just thought I'd mention it.  Is this part of your process?  If so, does it help?  Is this something you'd try using?  Have you ever run an adventure that someone else wrote, using a completely different set of tags?  What was that like?

VS

p.s. This new adventure will eventually show up in my upcoming book Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise.  Still haven't gotten your hardcover Cha'alt?  Now's your chance!