Cha'alt Game Jam in January

 

This announcement is in preparation for when the stars are right... January 1st.

I'm organizing one of those game jam things for Cha'alt. 

In case you don't know, Cha'alt is my very own eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic OSR campaign setting that frequently includes humor, grindhouse / exploitation sleaze, and pop-culture references.  It now encompasses three books with a fourth volume of the weird-ass trilogy hopefully coming in 2024.

Not using ichio; only DriveThruRPG and Big Geek Emporium to host releases.  

Between January 1st and February 14th (Valentine's Day), I'm creating a six-week open license window for gamers to create stuff and sell it using my Cha'alt intellectual property, and I'm extending that to include Crimson Dragon Slayer, Alpha Blue, and Encounter Critical (both the original and new edition that'll come out at the end of December).

Everything made within that window will be allowed without a separate license between the two parties, and may continue to be sold or distributed freely by the creator.  Anything made outside of that January 1st 2023 - February 14th 2023 timeframe will require a licensing agreement between the creator and myself.  

Post the following somewhere in the product, "Licensed with permission from Venger As'Nas Satanis, High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing and Archduke of the OSR, in the year of our Dark Lord 2023, whether you like it or not."

I look forward to seeing what you make of this golden opportunity, hoss.  Share this news, and let your creative juices flow!

If you have questions, or you'd like my advice, suggestions, or feedback on anything, just ask... Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

Thanks,

VS

p.s. Here's an update blog post now that the Cha'alt Game Jam has officially started! 

Delving Design

 

Months ago, years even, I was hesitantly perched upon a dozen different fences about what to do with Encounter Critical.  I'm Kickstarting the 3rd edition, if you didn't know!

Part of the problem was knowing that whatever direction I went, some people would be disappointed.  But the whole making an omelet thing reminds me that I've got to please myself at the end of the day... which is fitting, because I was (still am, to some degree) a huge fan of Encounter Critical after discovering it - with no small help from the imagination and blog of Jeff Rients.

At any rate, I'm trying to find a yin-yang sort of balance between traditional and what we now call "story-games".  The black (yin) has a little bit of white in it.  Basically, I'm trying to take "modern" and "innovative" RPG design and adapt it to OSR sensibilities.

I did make a video about fiction-first, Obsidian Escalation, and several other things.

The following is what's on the playtest menu for the moment.  Anything can change at any moment.  I don't expect it to, but I am expecting tweaks, fine-tuning, and possibly weird organic growth that I didn't realize was part of this project's evolutionary journey.

Without further ado, here we go...

One Page Cheat-Sheet

•          Every PC must come up with a Background that’s broken-up into the following aspects: Look (appearance, aesthetics, vibe, etc.), Drive (motivation for adventuring, reason for being, core values), 2 Relationships (either members of the party or an NPC in the world), Flaw (downfall, vice, or something that keeps getting in your way), and 3 Obsessions (something you love, something you hate, and something that fascinates, perplexes, or strangely amuses you).
•          A character gets 1 point of Divine Favor every time he indulges in or falls prey to his Flaw.
•          When a character is confronted with one of his Obsessions, he’s easily distracted and/or manipulated… unless a successful saving throw is rolled.
•          If running a one-shot, start the session with a Flashback scene from an earlier time in the PCs’ lives, when they first met or were all together… perhaps a montage (micro-scenes with a common theme unfolding in quick succession) of each PC discovering the startling revelation that “reality” is merely densely coiled layers of illusion.  Ahead of the scene, the players and GM should discuss where events happened (location), who’s there and why (relationships) and the general mood, conflict, and/or resolution they’d like to see.  The GM, who should have an inkling of what’s to come, might suggest a motif, object (McGuffin), or major/recurring NPC (villain, helpful contact, rival, comic-relief) for inclusion, in order to strengthen narrative ties between the Flashback and future events.  The players roleplay the social interaction until everyone is content that the scene should conclude.  A point of Divine Favor is awarded to every player who participated.
•          If running a campaign, start each session with a Flashback scene from an earlier time in either one or two PCs’ lives (see above for details).  Players who don’t have their character present in the unfolding scene are encouraged to roleplay whatever NPCs might also be in the Flashback scene.
•          Between encounters (and occasionally during) PCs are encouraged to roleplay.  PCs earn a point of Divine Favor when they demonstrate (talk about, think about, or act out) an aspect of their Background. No more than 1 point per scene.
•          Obsidian Escalation during combat!
•          Skill-Checks: Natural 1s the GM (or mischievous player, if preferred) narrates the failure.  Natural 20 means the player can describe his own success.
•          Top result on a saving throw, skill-check, or damage die means the player can narrate his epically awesome deed with an additional embellishment that may provide a modest edge, asset, or godsend (with GM approval, of course).

This cheat-sheet is 1) based off changes or amendments to Crimson Dragon Slayer D20, and 2) written down in a sort of shorthand that's explained just enough so I know what's going on.  

If YOU would be interested in running your OSR ruleset with the above modifications, I'd love to hear your story.  Please share it with us.  Better yet, email me your feedback: Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

After a few playtests of this stuff, I'm going to go back to the proverbial drawing-board with other fundamental concepts, such as magic.  I've been doing magic the same way for a few years, and want to try something radically different than my comfortable go-to system.

Feel free to comment, ask questions, throw tomatoes, or whatever.  ;)

VS

p.s. You can support me for $5 a month on SubscribeStar, and next July's Madison WI VENGER CON II is happening with or without you, so grab a ticket and play with us!

Encounter Critical III

 

What's up?  I've got news...

I finally have a new Kickstarter campaign, and it's for Encounter Critical III.

Let's get down to brass tacks, hoss.  The original EC is great and all, but many find it virtually unplayable because of its OMG WTF?!? system (game mechanics).  I want to take my version of EC into a smooth, easy, and light OSR ruleset while making the things outside the system OMG, WTF?!?

The very first playtest was earlier today, and I think that went well.  It's going to take a lot more, and each time I hope to learn new things.

Obviously, I'm building on what came before... the original EC, Crimson Dragon Slayer D20, and Cha'alt.  The concept is there, now I just need to refine it and come up with awesome stuff to make it really fly.

I'll post more about the playtest session in a couple days.  For now, I'll just say thanks for supporting me, and feel free to ask questions or volunteer to playtest Encounter Critical III as we go into fall.  

VS

New Adventure Coming Soon!

 

First off, I'm back home!

It was another Satanis family vacation and boy is my left arm tired...

What else?  About 6 weeks before VENGER CON happens!!!  Can't wait for the greatest old-school, OSR, and traditional RPG convention in the midwest.  Haven't gotten your ticket yet?  Giddyup, hoss!  Also, please tell your friends.  Anyone who loves the bygone days of yore in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota should attend.

As I stated in the last blog post, my anti-abortion scenario, The Good Syma'arian, was officially "blacklisted" from the virtual shelves of DriveThruRPG.  But you can still get it through me, click on that link for details.  Thanks to everyone who downloaded it, read it, played it, reviewed it, etc.

I've got a new Cha'alt adventure in the works (this could be a one or two-shot, we'll see) to "celebrate" the prideful month of June.  So, if you have any suggestions, feel free to submit them with a comment below.  No promises if any will be included, but I'll try... especially if they're funny and gameable.  

I'm still waiting on a delivery date for the Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows hardcovers.  Prince of Nothing has started his multi-part review over at his Age of Dusk blog.  He's just finished the appetizer course.

The way he feels about Artpunk is kind of how I'm starting to feel about "Jaquaying the dungeon".  Yeah, it can be really cool, on occasion, but sometimes I just want the dungeon to serve as a place for exploration, combat, and social interaction.  It doesn't have to be a whole thing unto itself.  But that's a topic for another blog post... 

Anything else?  New Encounter Critical stuff is getting pushed back.  Will try to get something on paper before VENGER CON.

Alright, talk to you soon!  Thanks for your continued support, hoss.  ;)

VS

Encounter Critical update

 

I haven't written much about Encounter Critical.  This blog post will serve a meal-delaying appetizer until the eagle is ready to sink his fangs into the main course.

I should have the gorgeous hardcover books for Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows by the end of June (tentacles crossed).  In July, I have VENGER CON to run (Kickstarting the additional 70 tickets in a day or two).

After the convention, my plan is to tackle Encounter Critical with another Kickstarter.  My first inclination was to go all-in on a new edition with fancy hardcover books.  Now, I'm thinking maybe start slow... come up with a 15-20 page PDF, test that out for several months and, if I'm going in the right direction, expand it.  If I decide to go another way, I'll create a new, but still short, PDF and see how that shakes out.

I'm really of several minds about the evolution of Encounter Critical.  Wanting to keep its flavor but also make it way more usable.  I'd like it to be standard OSR D&D compatible but also retain something of its mechanical weirdness.  I'd love to present it as an elaborate joke, prank, and awful parody... yet still be fully functional, not just played for laughs.  A game that veterans familiar with EC will love just as much as curious noobs intrigued by something different.  

Yeah, it's a tall order.  I have my work cut-out for me.  In the meantime, my mind is ever so slowly processing in the background.  Be patient...

Thanks,

VS

p.s. More Cha'alt one-shots on Roll20, deep immersion, and Kort'thalis meta-sigil paintings on the way!

GameHole Con 2021 [part 4]

 

Check out the previous blog posts if you want to read what led up to today's.  

The Alpha Blue session was good and fun, but my head's definitely in another place.  That helps, actually, because if I have Alpha Blue on my mind, then it's going to distract me from Cha'alt... which is my primary focus right now.  Especially, as I'm working on book three of the trilogy Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows.

And the Encounter Critical session was really just Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 tooling around Cha'alt.  When telling Gamehole Con what games I wanted to run, I thought I'd be diving into the next edition of Encounter Critical.  Instead, I decided to shelve that until I was finished with Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows.

Since Encounter Critical inspired both Crimson Dragon Slayer and Cha'alt, I didn't feel too bad about it.  I broke out Beneath Kra'adumek because that's a fun little one-shot scenario.  For an extra bit of strangeness and because it was almost Halloween, I offered the players monster races instead of traditional, elves, dwarves, etc.

I'll share what I came up with here, just in case you want to use it in your own Halloween inspired sessions...

• Vampire - Hypnotism (save to resist).
• Wolfman - Transform into wolf and/or wolfman (Advantage from savage attacks).
• Mummy - Resurrection, unless completely incinerated, vaporized, or annihilated.
• Creature From The Black Lagoon - Swim, breathe under water, and fast healing.
• Ghost - Incorporeal at will.
• Demon - Can force humanoids to make a deal; the Devil's bargain.
• Frankenstein - Super strength (extra d6 damage).

It was a fun session, and I finally got to use the d100 weird magic table included in Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise (I've used it before the book was printed during playtest sessions).  Unfortunately for the party, one of the PC sorcerers turned the Ipsissimus of the temple into an invulnerable pillar of green flame.

But one of the highlights of the weekend was my running The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  There's a reason why so many gamers love this one.  You can see the primordial roots of Cha'alt in the purple islands.

This being a one-shot, I almost had too much material to choose from.  For some of the session, I used whatever was written down for the hexes the PCs traveled.  The rest I cherry picked because I was excited to see the players' reactions.  A decent chunk of the session was spent on something I just made up - a sleestak temple containing a pit housing their god - a gigantic purple worm.

After killing the worm, they looted its lair of amethyst crystals that radiated with magical energy.  It was night and the PCs bedded down with their crystals.  One of my favorite things about the purple islands is the "while you were sleeping" random table.

So, I rolled on that and a totem had been driven into the ground, just outside the sleestak temple.  It was a warning or curse from a competing faction, the Sect of the Crimson Tongue.  Someone casted a spell during the night, as well.  So, I rolled on the weird magic table again and, I kid you not, the result specifically says that all crystals within 50' of the sorcerer explode.

All of the PCs took heavy damage.  One guy was left with 1 HP.  

When something accidentally turns out to fit exactly in the random chaos of what's going on, I'm sometimes in the habit of shouting "THE PROPHECY!!!" at the top of my lungs.  These guys got to experience that twice.  ;)

A couple players were returning guests from previous games, which was nice to see.  

The PCs were moving through the violet cloud of radiation and picked up some nice mutations, as well as a magic sword.  Instead of metal, its blade was forged of concentrated willpower.  

I rolled on the d30 table from Cha'alt since that was easily at hand.  One woman rolled 30 and so got two mutations - acidic sweat and her lower half became serpentine.  Seriously, watching her face throughout the session was a trip.  She went from incredulous to pleased to concerned to laughter to defeated to triumphant.  It was quite the rollercoaster of emotions for her.

One-shots don't give you a lot of time to work in PC motivations and overarching stories.  But if everyone has a sense of who their character is and the agency afforded them to explore an eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic island, that's all you can ask for.  

At the session's end, I got a lot of praise for running the game.  I could tell the players really enjoyed it and that made my day.

The purple islands session was the first one on Saturday.  I decided that I'd had enough of trying to run a game muzzled, and so I either ate a banana or drank a sip of bottled water throughout the three-hour session so that I didn't have to wear my mask.  That definitely helped improve my experience, though it was still plenty loud in there.

Tomorrow's blog post should be the last of this series.  Thanks for joining me on this insane journey!

VS

Encounter Critical of Kort'thalis Publishing

 

If the title to this blog post is confusing, let me spell it out for you... 

I, Venger Satanis, have purchased the rights to Encounter Critical from its original creator, S. John Ross.

If you've been with me since the beginning, you'll know how much I love Encounter Critical.  It influenced a lot of my RPG writing.  This review and play report was written the same year (2014) I put out The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  And it's no exaggeration to say that Crimson Dragon Slayer, Alpha Blue and Cha'alt were inspired by Encounter Critical, as well.  

So, what are my plans for the game?

As I assured Mr. Ross, I intend to expand Encounter Critical with a new edition + several adventures.  I'll probably want some help, so if you have input, don't be afraid to reach out to me.

In my mind, there's no clearer way to judge demand like crowdfunding.  Slightly awkward timing as I'm a day or two away from launching a Kickstarter to fund new Cha'alt adventures called Cha'alt After Dark.  

At least, that will give me several weeks to plan for an Encounter Critical Kickstarter campaign.  I'd like to have a better idea which direction Encounter Critical will go before diving headfirst, anyway.

You think you know true scientific realism, hoss?  We'll just have to see about that...

Thanks for your support in perpetuity, 

Venger As'Nas Satanis

High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing

Looking Back at Empire of Satanis

"If you're going to do something that is naughty, do it, and realize that you're doing something naughty and enjoy it."
 ~  Anton Szandor LaVey

It seems like a lifetime ago that I wrote one of the worst RPGs in existence (well, a few people kind of liked it).

Empire of Satanis was my self-publishing origin story. I wrote it over the course of a few months (with some help from The Forge) and put it out there for God and everyone to see (and be ashamed of) in 2005.  Not sure why some of the product information shows a 2011 date - maybe that's when Lulu updated their site?

This being 2005 and 2006 (for the 2nd edition), right around the OSR's genesis, I cobbled together a traditional and what would later be known as a "story game" hybrid.  And with games such as Alpha Blue, I'm still doing that.  Neo-OSR, baby!

This is the free PDF.  That is a link to the Lulu print-on-demand hardcover (why I thought this deserved a hardcover version is fucking beyond me).  Both updated versions are a bit longer than the original.  I doubled-down on the unnecessary quoting of inspirational luminaries such as H.P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, and Anton Szandor LaVey.  The three L's!!!

I also did all my own layout using Lulu's templates.  Jesus Titty-Fucking Christ!  Now, you know why Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design does everything for Kort'thalis Publishing.  So bad!

Just reading the reviews is a treat.  Empire of Satanis deserves to be mercilessly crushed... and it frequently is.  A lot of reviewers had fun skewering this kaleidoscopic demon turd.  Hopefully, they'll put a smile on your face as they do my own.  :)

You can read this guy's Fatal & Friends detailed analysis of the game right over here!  He updated the F&F EoS autopsy not too long ago.

Yes, it's an uncharitable view, but I can't say he's wrong.  Empire of Satanis is an amateurish mess of terrible cliches and something even worse - running in the opposite direction of cliche... only to hit a brick wall at top speed.  Indeed, the thing is weird for weirdness-sake, and tries too hard in the process.

However, taken from the standpoint of purposefully awful, perhaps... maybe... possibly there's something intriguing deep inside.  I can barely imagine pairing it with Encounter Critical or Crimson Dragon Slayer.  Irony only goes so far...

Is there a moral to this story, High Priest Satanis?  Yes.  Yes, there is.  Even if what you're writing now is so bad it stinks on ice, there's hope for the future.

A couple years from now, you could be getting paid a few thousand dollars a year for writing whimsical exploitation trash.  I did it, and so can you!

VS

p.s. I took the name Satanis as part of my nom de plume to keep myself humble.  Never forget!

#RPGaDay 2017 (part II of III)

Here's part I of my RPGaDay answers.  Let's get to some more questions, shall we?

#7:  What was your most impactful RPG session?

I've had RPG sessions that were so bad that it forever changed how I approached the hobby.  Some games were too boring, others too difficult, many too complex, a few that were too stingy.  I've talked about many of these experiences before.

One that I've never mentioned happened just 2 or 3 years ago.  Not sure why, but I was interested in joining a D&D game as a player.  There was one I had heard about in my home town and even knew one of the players.  Looking back, I can't remember if it was D&D or Pathfinder.  I was coming into the middle of this "adventure path" type campaign.  The entire session was getting from A to B and encountering a few things along the way.  Most of it was combat and everyone had this specific role, including my character - a wizard.  We were mid to high level and I just kept lobbing fireballs.  While it was mildly exciting being in combat, the entire thing just left me wanting.  So, I never went back.

Also, the game took place in this guy's cold, unfinished basement that smelled weird with boxes of kitty-litter everywhere and cats with dried dingleberries on their bottoms constantly roaming around. Oh, and we were seated on metal folding chairs that were super uncomfortable.  Are you surprised I never returned?

These days, I've got to play somewhere decent and always try to give players something for their characters to do besides these ubiquitous robo-battles that could easily be handled with some kind of RPG autopilot or computer program.

#8:  What is a good RPG to play for sessions of 2hrs or less?

Personally, I think both dungeoncrawl fantasy and investigative sessions are best when there's at least 3 hours to play.

What works best for shorter sessions, in my opinion, are RPGs that focus on interaction.  These also take the most out of a GM, so it's probably a good thing that they're usually shorter.

Over the past year, I've run about a dozen 60 - 90 minute sessions of Alpha Blue on Roll20 and while they felt short, it seemed like quite a bit was accomplished.  You go somewhere new, talk to some people, get in some trouble, have a short combat encounter, and get laid.  Boom!  Done.  In, out, and put the kettle on.

#9:  What is a good RPG to play for about 10 sessions?

Pretty much anything.  If you're not doing a one-shot, I think somewhere around 10 sessions is just about ideal for any campaign.  But then I prefer shorter campaigns.

#10:  Where do you go for RPG reviews?

RPG.net, TheRPGsite.com, Endzeitgeist, Ten-Foot Pole, Tenkar's Tavern, and Swords & Stitchery.

#11:  Which "dead game" would you like to see reborn?

Encounter Critical or 1st edition Vampire: the Masquerade.  Basically, all I would be interested in are adventures.  The former just needs more official content while the latter quickly jumped into meta-plot and option bloat.

Although, if the game exists, it's not dead.  Sometimes, a company can kill an RPG by over-supplementing it.  Like a really great movie, sometimes sequel after sequel dilutes its awesomeness.

#12:  Which RPG has the most inspiring interior artwork?

Dungeon Crawl Classics is probably the best black and white interior artwork RPG I can think of.  I was going to also pick out one with color artwork, but I'm drawing a complete fucking blank!

#13:  Describe a game experience that changed how you play?

I'm trying to remember the first time (or just a vivid early memory) of using random tables during an adventure to improvise some detail about the adventure.  I must have been exposed to random tables early on and loved them because that's the thing I'm probably best known for.

Hmm, besides rumors and wandering monsters, I can't come up with a damned thing.  Too bad, that would have made for an interesting anecdote.  [Edit: ok, I took a short walk before posting this and came up with something.]

I used one of the introductory adventures in the back of Call of Cthulhu 4th edition multiple times - especially when I wanted to introduce new people to the game.  I dimly recall a d6 table for what happens when someone touches or activates this strange cube found below the house.  Back then, it struck me that rolling on the table would send the rest of that adventure into entirely divergent narrative threads.  And it did... forcing me, as Keeper of Arcane Lore, to go with the flow.  Controlled chaos!

#14:  Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play?

Most campaign play should be open-ended.  The only type of RPG campaign I can think of that isn't open-ended is an investigation that keeps going and going, leading deeper and deeper into the heart of a singular mystery.

#15:  Which RPG do you enjoy adapting the most?

If by adapting, you mean "changing," then I'd have to say D&D.  There are so many rules and so many editions and partial editions or versions of the rules, plus all the retro-clones and retro-compatible RPGs that it begs to be adapted... molded to suit each individual table.  In 2017, no two D&D games are exactly alike.

#16:  Which RPG do you enjoy using as is?

The RPG I've adapted/changed/house-ruled the least might be Call of Cthulhu.  Turning everything into a percentage role is so easy to use that it's almost a shame.  I'm a firm believer that house-rules should organically occur during play - it means you're group is interacting with game instead of merely adhering to its rules.

#17:  Which RPG have you owned the longest but not played?

There are a few RPGs I acquired in the late 80's / early 90's that looked promising but for one reason or another, we never ended up actually playing.  Here's a brief list...

• DC Heroes RPG - too complex.
• Kult - lack of accessible entry point, but love the vibe.  
• Skyrealms of Jorune - what are you supposed to do in the game - try to become a citizen?  Uh, no thanks.
• Cyberspace - I'm not sure why I never tried to run this.  From what I remember, it wasn't overly complex, though it did have a lot of numbers.  Maybe lack of an introductory scenario?

________

Ok, I'll try to get the final installment of my #RPGaDay Q&A posted tomorrow.

VS

#RPGaDay 2017 (part I of III)

Whether or not these lists have value in today's RPG blog-o-sphere, I'm going to answer as many as I can over the course of three days.

Why three days?  I don't want to tie up my precious blogging space with random questions for each day of this month (and I'm a bit late to the party).

#1:  What published RPG do I wish I was playing right now?

Assuming this is going to be a one-shot and assuming that I'll be playing as a player (rather than my usual position as GM), I'd love to play one of my own RPGs (Crimson Dragon Slayer, Alpha Blue, or The Outer Presence).  To this day, I've never been a player in the aforementioned RPGs.  I'm sure it'll happen soon, though.

But if that wasn't a possibility, then something fun, oddball, and awesomely ridiculous like Encounter Critical.

#2:  What is an RPG you would like to see published?

Hasn't everything been published already?  Just to see how far I could get (didn't really expect much), I contacted ABC to see what they wanted for the license to make an official RPG for Lost.  They never emailed me back, unfortunately.  So, I guess Lost might be my answer.

#3:  How do you find out about new RPGs?

Through blogs and the occasional forum thread.  DriveThruRPG makes it easy to see what's new or what one might like based on similar purchases.

#4:  Which RPG have you played the most since August, 2016?

I think that would have to be Alpha Blue.  I've been running a lot of demos on Roll20 and ran 3 or 4 sessions at Gary Con IX.  Plus, the odd home game.

#5:  Which RPG cover best captures the spirit of the game?

Which game?  My favorite cover is the Tom Moldvay magenta box with Erol Otus art.  A close second is the AD&D Player's Handbook.  I've seen a lot of cool answers that other people have given, and agree with many of them - 2nd edition Paranoia, 3rd edition Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition...

#6:  You can game everyday for a week.  Describe what you'd do!

I'd either have to envision this as the mother of all RPG conventions or traveling back in time - before a career, wife, and 5 kids.

While I like hopping from one game to another, sampling this and that, there's something deeply satisfying about sticking to a particular game for consecutive days/nights.  I have fond memories playing Vampire: the Masquerade, D&D, WEG D6 Star Wars, and Call of Cthulhu day after day or night after night in the summer with friends in the early 90's.

So, I'd probably run something simple and spontaneous where I never seem to lack for ideas - Alpha Blue.  It's my sleazy go-to baby for when I don't have anything prepared.

If I had to choose something that I didn't write, it would probably be Masks of Nyarlathotep.  If I worked at it, I think we could get through the whole thing in 7 days, assuming 5 - 6 hours per day.

BTW, just saw the PDF for the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion.  Awesome cover!  Sure, it's over 700 pages (hmm... they can't all be winners with that much content, am I right?) but $47.50 for the PDF?  Damn, that's expensive.  I mean, it's more than double the cost of the actual Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign!  Doesn't that kind of price gouging encourage gamers to pirate the digital content?
_______

Ok, the next 9 or 10 questions tomorrow and the final installment on Wednesday!

VS

p.s.  Only 3 days left to back the Battle For The Purple Islands Kickstarter.

35th anniversary of Pac-Man!

Keep in mind that CDS is as much a parody/spoof of the 1980's as it is an OSR roleplaying game - kind of like Encounter Critical, except it was created by only one guy from Wisconsin.
___

I just found out that today's the 35th anniversary of Pac-Man!  And it just so happens that Crimson Dragon Slayer contains a short introductory adventure... Cavern of Carnage!

In that cave-crawl is a creature not dissimilar to the birthday boy (awesomely illustrated by Glynn of +MonkeyBlood Design.  His little ghost friends and some floating fruit are prominently featured, too.

So, in honor of the hungry, spherical yellow one... I've just dropped the price of Crimson Dragon Slayer to $3.50 (regularly $7).  This sale will continue throughout memorial day weekend!

VS

Crimson Dragon Slayer PDF

Yay!  I finally did it.  Here is the PDF for Crimson Dragon Slayer - my humble Old School Renaissance roleplaying game.  The print version should be available on DriveThru and Amazon in early June.

Since there's already a hundred or so retro-clones and retro-compatible RPGs similar, based on, or taking off from the original Dungeons & Dragons, I really didn't think there was anywhere to go.  After all, I had included a few game mechanic tweaks in Liberation of the Demon Slayer and The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  Were there enough new ideas in my head to publish yet another OSR RPG?

It started with a face-palm breakthrough in my VSd6 idea.  Instead of multiple 6's being a critical success, just a lone 6 would suffice, with everything scaling from there.  It seems tiny, obvious, and the furthest thing from a revolutionary idea, but when I eventually tripped over it, the revised concept gave me that initial spark of hope that I might be able to contribute something worthwhile.

Re-watching bad/cheesy 80's fantasy films like The Dungeon Master, Deathstalker, and Tron fueled the narrative.  After all, thousands of RPGs hand you a bunch of rules and drop you in a vague setting conforming to the genre or, conversely, slathered in meta-plot.  I just wanted an interesting framework and then back off to let the Dragon Master and players take it from there.

Lastly, I wanted to showcase my sense of humor.  Why not make it kind of funny... an occasionally silly self-parody of what we consider old school fantasy roleplaying?

Glynn from +MonkeyBlood Design and a bunch of my OSR friends and acquaintances did the rest.  They provided ideas, encouragement, and the support needed to float this project until completion.  I literally couldn't have done it without them, so big thanks to all those righteous dudes!

VS

p.s.  Fantastic interior illustration by +Joshua Burnett.

Post-Apocalyptic Purple

I had the extreme pleasure of reading this brief write-up of awesomeness! 

Back when I was creating The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, my mind wasn't just on my favorite D&D knockoffs (as much as I love them) but on games like Mutant Future, Hollow Earth Expedition, The Mutant Epoch, Gamma World, Encounter Critical, and dear god, even Rifts!

Science-fantasy has never been so weird... or so purple.


VS

Wizards Mutants Lazer Pistols

WMLP is a zine and blog worth checking out.  It melds old school, sci-fantasy, gonzo, and silly/weird/juvenile drawings.  I contributed a little something in a previous issue, and now my work is included in this, the 6th issue.

A few months ago, when I had Encounter Critical on the brain, I came up with an amusing table for what PCs were doing before adventuring.  Well, WMLP paired that with another EC table by Ronaldo Macnamara for on-the-fly creation of places full of people doing stuff.

However, the best part is Alexey's own ever-expanding dungeon.  Each issue goes further down into the mega-dungeon.  I've run a few levels myself... definitely worth it.

So, if you're looking for some home-brewed, out-of-the-box OSR stuff, check out WMLP.

VS

Bikini Shop Troubles & Commie Illithid Ninja

Ok, this is the long-awaited 3rd and final session of Encounter Critical.  For those keeping track, 1st session here, 2nd session here.

With a catch-all RPG that heeds no warning about genre boundary restrictions, as well as, pick and choose what you like from the thousands of books, movies, and tv shows that have ever been made, you've got a gonzo recipe for something disastrously awesome... or awesomely disastrous.  In a game like EC, there's no one looking over your shoulder telling you what to include, what to leave out, how far is too far, etc.  Similarly, there's no one to tell you, "Hey, look out for that oncoming truck!"

Not all gaming groups are alike.  Mine has had to deal with me for quite awhile.  For the most part, I'm fast, flexible, and willing to risk utter game collapse if it means the table might laugh instead of groan... or just walk out (no one's done that yet).

Anyway, I was getting to a point a paragraph or two ago.  What was it...?  Oh yeah, the dichotomy of too much and yet too little material.  When almost anything can be included, the creative center of the brain can feel overwhelmed.  Luckily, Joachim Heise tagged me in a post about a mysterious map of Illithid communists and Catholic schoolgirl shenanigans.  I felt like challenging myself to incorporate this weirdness into our EC game.  After all, why not?

A new player joined us!  I gave him the gist of what the party had been up to the last two sessions.  Shaking his head with laughter and bewilderment, he sat down to play a human warrior - practically unheard of in EC history.  Well, he rolled a human randomly and wanted a class that was easy to play.  Makes sense.  Luckily, everyone else convinced him to roll the maximum number of times on the Mutation Table.  His first roll was dwarfism or something that made him really short.  Think Tyrion from Game of Thrones.  His second was a birthmark entity (roll again to determine if good or evil).  A player joked about the angel/devil on his shoulder.  He rolled evil as I rambled on about Kuato from Total Recall.  His last mutation roll was the same frickin' thing!  So, we determined (yes, in a game like this most things are interpreted) that meant he did have a little part-of-himself creature on each shoulder.  Sure enough, that one turned out to be good.

Before the game, I tried my best to come up with a marriage between commie Illithids and what I thought was the lamest/best premise for an adventure.  Namely, Uncle Sal's Bikini Shop was in dire financial straights.  Unfair regulations were killing Sal's business and all because Senator Maximilian Deekstrung was forcing the Bikini Shop to go bankrupt so the Senator's son could buy it for a song.

So, the PCs traveled from the 17 headed serpent's lair - where they found a prisoner who was a human warrior midget (or little person, if you prefer).  There was talk by Lobstertron 500 (because now he was 5th level) about making this new PC his minion, sword shiner, or even slave.  Needless to say, this new addition to the party would have to prove his worth.

Along the way, they encountered a trio of Space Guild Assassins.  Didn't take too long before they were creatively dispatched.  Although, before they were all finished off, I said to myself that one of them should have a mutation of his own to make things more interesting.  Would you believe, I also rolled "Magic Birthmark Companion (50% odds of evil)!  And yes, I then rolled low enough to make the little sucker evil.  That birthmark thing had its own tiny laser which it blasted in the face of the NPC slave/hypnosis victim the party were using to do some of their dirty work.

But that was not the end.  After the little guy and the new guy saved against a fireball thrown by the itch magic finger of the Klengon Warlock, they determined the birthmark companion knew the bank account number of the dead Assassin he was attached to.  The Lobstertron 500 used his machine friend skill to turn his lightsaber into a laser scalpel.  The procedure was a complete success.  He went onto the shoulder of Sslash the lizard man criminal/bounty hunter who wielded a sun sword.  Throughout the adventure, his birthmark companion (complete with diminutive voice and Mexican accent) was outfitted with little cool extras like a laser eye, tiny ninja attire, and a couple strands of a Rambo-red bandanna to make his own badass fashion statement!

Before the session, I detailed Joachim's map, with a sentence or two for each room or area of interest.  Store rooms, guard rooms, a piranha spawning pool, worship room decorated with a giant wooden Cthulhu Jesus - two characters worshiped Cthulhu and pleaded with the Warlock to clone it and shrink it down so each could wear it around their neck.  Did I mention the Illithid ninja?  Yeah, there were a lot of those.  A few PCs took some damage, but healing is relatively easy.  Robodroid repair should have been as well, but Lobstertron 500 doesn't worry about bullshit like that.

And... that's how he got blown up.  This was towards the end of the session.  He failed his save, went down to negative hit points, and then failed his survival roll.  The lizardman rolled a zero one on his percentile roll for machine friend (which doubled as Robodroid repair, we assumed).  All fixed up and ready to use his mechanical lobster claws to destroy those who would oppose him.  BTW, there was a routine machine friend roll to transform his laser scalpel back into a lightsaber - natural 100.  Not only was his lightsaber permanently a laser scalpel, but it did 1d6 damage to him as he attempted to convert it back.  Those who play and Journey Master EC (along with similar games) live for the times when a critical success or failure occurs, respectively.  Those are the moments when making up shit is given carte-blanche, encouraged by the rest of the table, in fact!

Before the session ended, the PCs encountered a Unicorn Cyclops Shark (too much Mountain Dew or just enough?).  They were going to use monster friend and bypass it when I decided to become the laziest and most voyeuristic Journey Master ever as the Unicorn Cyclops Shark told them, in lieu of nothing, "Don't take my magical horn!"  The PCs, after a solid minute of laughter, couldn't chop that thing's horn off fast enough.  Turns out, it was basically a wand of purification.

After pulling the self-destruct levers on the Illithid base, they hopped into the psionic submarine and made for greener pastures.  Oops, almost forgot.  There was something cool looking on the map near the submarine.  I decided it was The Cursed Emerald Diamond of Zalula-katan!  Jon (playing the lizardman bounty hunter) asked if it was or just looked like the LOC-NAR from Heavy Metal.  How could I say no to that?  I mean, not only is it one of my favorite movies, but we were listening to the Heavy Metal soundtrack for Taarna's sake!  So, just like that, it became the LOC-NAR.  Without touching its glowing green sentient evil - "A green jewel they must possess." - they took it with them and promptly sold it for 100,000 gold credits.  After all, the Venusians say it has spiritual powers.

Even though we have no plans to play EC again in the near future, everyone wanted to know if they leveled.  "Sure."  I said, and then 10 minutes later they finished advancing their character.

[Sigh] Wow, that was a lot of stuff.  4 hours of gonzo gaming that pretty much felt like a scifi-fantasy-pulp choose your own adventure spliced with a post-apocalypse comic book with balls, penises, and vaginas penciled into the margins.  Adolescent fun, logistical nonsense, and a hilarious romp in the Romulan Champagne Room!

Lessons learned?  Hmmm... let's see.  My normal GMing attitude is "just go with the flow", but times that by 3 for RPGs like Encounter Critical.  Attune yourself to what the players are doing, thinking, feeling, expecting, dreading, etc.  Don't always cater to them; it's fun to have things go against the PCs.  Keep your interpretation hat on at all times.  As the GM, you'll be expected to have some kind of answer or make a swift ruling - but also feel free to ask the players what they think.  A few will volunteer something totally awesome - even if it doesn't benefit them.

Can this kind of "anything goes" be inserted into your current RPG du jour?  Is the new guy wearing Transformer pajamas (Deceptions, I rolled "evil") because one of the Space Guild Assassins was bringing it back as a gift for his son and you made your Happenstance roll?  Sure, why not?

Hope you enjoyed this half as much as we enjoyed playing it.


VS

Encounter Critical review and actual play report

Somewhere deep inside, part of us yearns to see Boba Fett beam down from the U.S.S. Enterprise onto Arrakis in pursuit of Ookla the Mok and Buck Rogers who bear the one ring to city-state Tyr under dark and dying suns.

Tell me you wouldn't watch that TV show!


The Gist

For those who don't already know, Encounter Critical is a scifi fantasy roleplaying game meant to belly flop along the razor's edge between fanboy mashup and absurd homage.  It's a self-conscious mosaic of tried and true influences so deeply etched into geek history that our meme-filtered experiences shine like surreal diamonds in a cyber sky.  EC is a collage of everything awesome... brought down to an adolescent level of slapstick debasement.  It's porn for RPG nerds, not created to elevate the worlds of sword, sorcery, lasers and starships, but to get one's rocks off on the shameless gratification that comes from playing a Vulkin warlock casting Demon Master or an Amazon/Robodroid doxy [space prostitute] seducing her way to Conan's throne.  EC is Spaceballs crossed with Mad Magazine and Traveler... but Traveler from a parallel universe where it has a goatee and wears an eyepatch.


The Origin

Encounter Critical did not come out of Racine, WI circa 1979 but from the demented mind of S. John Ross around 2004.  He had most of the roleplaying community fooled for awhile, then announced it was a hoax.  People still play the thing, though.  Most notably old school RPG blogger Jeff Rients.  I stumbled onto EC awhile back.  Didn't pay much attention, forgot about it, then tripped over it again and thought I should take a closer look.  What I saw confused and amazed me to the point of needing to play it... just to see if EC was as special (in both meanings of the word) as I suspected.

Anyway, I posted an ad on a local geek meetup looking for players.  Not as much interest as I'd hoped for.  I guess a game people have never heard of with a half-baked premise that extreme turns most off.  Fortunately, the people I've been gaming with recently attended, as did one other guy - a local news reporter who wanted to record our session.  I convinced him to take part in the craziness a la Hunter S. Thompson... gonzo journalism at its best.  Seemed fitting because EC is one hell of a gonzo RPG.

The Hunch

There's one thing in particular I was dying to know about EC. Were the rules (game mechanics) an integral part of the design?  Could a Journey Master replace the system with something more streamlined and elegant than being slapped in the face with a fish and still have as much zany, madcap sci-fantasy-sploitation fun?


The CharGen

We had approximately four hours to try this game.

Character creation was tedious.  It tested the players' mettle.  After the first hour I almost regretted my decision of having everyone make their PCs from scratch.  But at the 90 minute mark, it was finished.  Luckily, one of my players had his tablet or ipad or whatever there with the Encounter Critical PDF available to share.  That sped things along.  Of course, it didn't help that the reporter had never played a RPG before in his life.  Not that I'm complaining.  I love running games for the uninitiated.  I pride myself on being an easy going, noob friendly GM.


The Party

There was a Robodroid that looked like a lobster.  Its name was Lobstertron 300, naturally.  He was a warrior with a ton of hit points, his Robot Nature ability score was a 20, Strength 19, Intellect 16, Dexterity 5, and everything else in the middle.  We had an Amazon warlock who could phase through walls, blast people with some kind of energy or fire magic missile.  She had mutations like detachable limbs and super speed in short bursts.  A Lizardman bounty hunter (criminal) with an atrophied psi-lobe, death prone, and a 4 Intellect seemed so handicapped that he couldn't help but awesome-up proceedings.  A Klengon warlock constantly enslaving dudes with some kind of transport and an Elf pioneer who explored the crap out of underground caverns rounded out the party.

I couldn't help but create a few random tables for such things as prior professions, known and secret affiliations, personality traits, and god worshiped.  A little bit of Paranoia RPG influenced the selections, as well as, the idea of secret societies and the like.  Adding another layer or two only helps the game, in my opinion.  After all, those things can always be ignored if they don't move the story along or aid roleplaying.  For instance, the reporter rolled "depraved" for his PC.  This allowed him (gave him "social permission", if you will) to act like a complete bastard, taking his characterization to places most people sitting around a table full of strangers wouldn't go.

The Story

Rather than going with the short introductory adventure included in the manual, I decided to create my own planet, history, and plot.  Using Vanth (included in EC) as a guide, both visually and when it came to thinking up intriguing places, such as Ambush Alley, Cold One Tombs, Tribalistic Gibbering, and the City of Crimson Hawk.  I hand drew the map in under 20 minutes so that it could pass for something scribbled during study hall.

I borrowed stuff from Thundarr the Barbarian, Zardoz, Logan's Run, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Terminator, Krull, Dune, Otherworld, Flash Gordon, Ice Pirates, Alien, Blake's 7, and Battlestar Galactica!  Somehow, I just kept piling more references on, squeezing characters and equipment and god knows what into a glorious rip-off of epic proportions.

Basically, earth was ravaged by a runaway comet, the United Federation of Planets had invaded the planet (renamed Thaavn), and Emperor Ming created The Protected Zone.  The PCs were each given a message to meet at a strip club in Nova City, inside The Protected Zone.  A bounty hunter messenger clone offered them a mercenary mission of recovering pirated ice from a space cruiser crashed in the Southern Jungles.  Shortly after that, Emperor Ming asked them to collect a secret cache of the spice melange from the same crash landed cruiser.


The Highlights

Wizard merchants traveling by caravan traded the PC's newly acquired AT-AT (enslave spell) for a bunch of cool stuff including a lightsaber, protocol droid, and a green skinned slave girl.  A glaive laid at the bottom of a molten lava stream.  Cryogenic chambers were disturbed, releasing silver robed humanoids with overly large brains and psionic powers.  A war-band of mutants destroyed.  Mutant and magical powers were used, as were skills.

As random as the skill names were, I found them strangely user-friendly and intuitive:  logic, happenstance, clue, saving throw, melee attack, machine friend, see the future, and psi resist.  Those and a few others came into play at one point or another.  Less time was taken up debating if skill x, y, or z was more appropriate for the situation than I've seen in a lot of RPGs.

There were no fatalities, though a warlock who rolled few hit points almost died.

The Answer

I'm still not sure if the Stalinist bureaucracy that is EC's system and layout makes the game or if they can be thrown out in favor of something better.  Time will tell, I suppose.  There's probably no way of being sure without running it again after re-writing bits of it.  Something I'm already tinkering with.


The Verdict

The reporter said he enjoyed himself, and he certainly appeared to be having a good time; however, he has nothing to compare it to since this was his first paper and pencil tabletop RPG session.  Of the four other players, one liked EC a little better than our standard D&Desque campaign, another liked it a little less, and the remaining two thought EC was roughly comparable to it.

For myself, it was a much needed release.  I dared to be stupid and won... won big, in fact.  But I don't know how far that rabbit hole goes.  It is sustainable?  Does it get better?  Worse?  It fulfills one kind of need while leaving another high and dry.  Perhaps these questions are moot because they can't be answered definitively or objectively.  Gaming is not science, it's an art.  Just as I wouldn't want to only look at impressionist paintings and nothing but impressionist paintings for the rest of my life, there's no single RPG that I'd want to run or play until the end of time.  Variety is the spice of life, and EC is chock full of variety... and spice if you're lifting from Dune!

Obviously, you need a sense of humor to enjoy this game.  It's a fine line between cheesy awesome with a side of ridiculous and super-sized silliness taken way too far.  The former can be liberating and refreshing, but I have a feeling the latter just might be a complete and utter shambles.  Of course, that all depends on if your group would enjoy playing Toon the cartoon RPG with scifi and fantasy tropes.

If RPG success is judged primarily upon the benchmark of fun, then EC is an unqualified triumph.  Lots of laughs echoed through the library meeting room earlier this afternoon.  I'm going to run it again and again.


VS

p.s.  Ok, just got a phone call from one of yesterday's victims... I mean players, and he was really into it, apparently.  He told me EC is probably his favorite RPG now.  So, that means I'll definitely be running an EC campaign in the near (mutant) future.

p.p.s.  Want to read about sessions two and three?

Seej N-gine (Advanced)

There's this terrible OSR fantasy RPG.  Ok, maybe it isn't terrible, just unremarkable.  However, there is one core aspect of this game which totally sucks.  In fact, I hate it.  Hate it!  Hate!  Hate!  Hate!

Anyways... based on the spur of the moment, off-the-cuff alternative* hastily written in my review, I've come up with a solution to that game's problem.  Behold... the Advanced Seej N-gine!


Seej N-gine (Advanced)

• Anytime a PC, NPC, monster, mutant, robot, vehicle, windstorm, etc. wants to try and do something, they roll between one and three d6. 
• The average character without any specific knowledge, aptitude, or proficiency rolls 1d6.
• If a character has some of the above, then 2d6 are rolled.
• If the character is particularly well versed, prepared for the action, an expert in the field, or has specialized skill/training relevant to the task, roll 3d6.
• Esoteric corollary:  gods and godlike beings get 7d6.
• Make note of the single highest number rolled from the xd6 pool; use that to determine results.
• A 6 always means success, a 1 always means failure.  Everything in-between depends on the character, force(s) working against him, and current circumstances; adjudicated by the GM.
• Lazy, distracted, or overburdened GMs may use the following "cheat sheet":  a 2 means "mostly failure", 3 means "slight failure" or "stalemate", 4 means "minor or partial success", 5 means "mostly success" or "success but with complications".

There.  I fixed your game's stupidest rule.  You're welcome!

VS

*  "If it were a choice between rolling a d6 for everything, where 1 is fail, 6 is success and 2 – 5 has to be interpreted by the GM every single time my character wanted to try something, I’d take that a thousand times over."

p.s.  If there's sufficient encouragement, I'll make this an official PDF release on DriveThruRPG.  Though, feel free to copy, share, use, post, re-post, and proselytize the Advanced Seej N-gine as you wish.

p.p.s.  I've also considered using the mechanic in a bastardized Vengerized rip-off... er, I mean homage, of Encounter Critical.  Want to collaborate?  Email me!

p.p.p.s.  Artwork used with permission by Dust 989.