Best CHA'ALT Character On A Sheet Contest

 

Paddy's Parlor Games and I are running a contest.  

Paddy created the latest character sheet in the recently updated Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer RPG.  

At the end of April, he and I are picking the top 3 Cha'alt player-character submissions written on his character sheet.  Those winners will get their character illustrated as an art commission by Paddy himself.  Additionally, winners will get any single PDF by Kort'thalis Publishing.

Submit entries to Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

Want to see what Paddy's been up to lately?  Check out his products over at Big Geek Emporium and Giant Slayer Games. 

Comment below if you have any questions about the contest or just want to say hi.

VS

A.I. Imagines Cha'alt

 

It's hard to know what's going on inside a machine's thoughts... how does one analyze, appreciate, and critique mechanical consciousness, if such a thing exists?

Well, one thing's for sure.  A.I. loves Cha'alt.  

My eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse campaign setting just got the "Chat GPT" treatment.  Go ahead and check out my just released PDF Cha'alt-GPT.  

See for yourself how this new and improved artificial intelligence views (nay, creates!) a brief session of Cha'alt, and marvel at its legendary, free-floating weirdness.

The PDF is entirely FREE!!!

I'd love your feedback, so don't hold back!  Let me know what you think of it.  Would you like to see more?

What else is going on?  Only 2 weeks until VENGER CON II: Electric Boogaloo.  Weekend badges still available.

Amazingly, Cha'alt hardcovers are on sale (while supplies last).  Ordering details right over here!  Save hundreds of dollars by getting them direct from me, instead of ebay.

Have a great weekend full of awesome gaming!

VS

VENGER CON

 

It's something I've been thinking about for a few years and just kept putting it off, waiting for the right time...

Well, it's time.

Next year (2022) on Friday July 22nd, Saturday July 23rd, and Sunday July 24th will be the first ever Venger Con!

Here's the link with all the details.  It's my first time using the Tabletop Events platform, so if I made a mistake, let me know and I'll rectify it.  

It's going to focus on old school, OSR, and traditional RPGs - without politics or "safety tools".  My goal is to not only provide space for excellent gaming, but also to foster gaming excellence.  There will be morning workshops on how to do everything (such as GM, be a player, and write adventures) like a fucking boss.

I considered lowering the age requirement to 16, but for right now, it's 18+.  Each standard admission badge (100 max) is $100 and that's for the entire weekend.

The hotel is nice and conveniently located.  We have a large room, a medium-sized room that can be divided in half, and a smaller room for all of our gaming needs.  

There might be a handful of vendors and special guests, but primarily Venger Con is about gaming - getting the most out of our games, making incremental improvements, and showing the world just how awesome old-school gaming can be!

Thanks for checking it out, asking questions, commenting, and continuing to support me and my work.

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

p.s. I'll have several books available for purchase at the convention, but if you want your luxury Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise hardcovers sooner than later, you can order them here!

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

Getting Paid To Game

 

There are a few ways to make money playing RPGs...

• Become a GM for hire, getting paid to run games for folks.
• Create your own RPG content and find an audience for that.
• If you're big enough, you can make money with a YouTube channel, Ko-fi, Patreon, affiliate links, or be one of those bloggers / podcasters that has advertisers, sponsors, etc.  

Here, I'm going to suggest another way to turn gaming into cash - run specific games for publishers and share those experiences with the gaming world.  

There are tons of people playing D&D online.  Yeah, it's the most popular RPG, but it's also been done to death - and it doesn't help those independent content creators struggling to get noticed.

I'm probably not alone in desiring a group to run Kort'thalis Publishing products (specific products mentioned below) with regular play reports that include photos, maybe even an entire video stream?  Personally, I'd rather read about a game than watch 3-4 hour sessions, but to each his own.

I will put my money where my mouth is and offer $100 for every individual who runs a year-long game of 2+ sessions per month, documenting each session with a satisfying chronicle of their group's experiences.  It might work for a player, instead of only GMs, but that player would have to rely on a GM to run the games, and I know how fragile gaming groups can be - especially when you're not calling the shots.

Now, I realize that in the grand scheme of things, $100 isn't a HUGE amount of money.  But consider free RPG products and extra promotion for yourself when those RPG companies (such as Kort'thalis Publishing) promotes your content.  Plus, you could run multiple games for one or more companies.  Depending on the companies, maybe you could get paid twice for mixing products together... who wouldn't love to read about a Cha'alt and Carcosa, Barbarians of Lemuria, or World of the Last Sun campaign?

Consider all of this and let me know if you'd be interested in participating.  At the moment, I'm most interested in either the eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic campaign setting of Cha'alt or my sleazy scifi RPG Alpha Blue.

Feel free to comment below with questions, comments, suggestions, or advice!

VS

p.s. If you want the gorgeous Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise hardcovers, ordering details here.

Cha'alt Pre-Gens PDF

Yes, the FREE PDF is now live!  Get your Cha'alt Pre-Generated and get playing...

If you're anything like me, you love to game but don't have a lot of time to roll ability scores, figure out modifiers, possibly skills, and come up with a suitable name.

Well, the work has been done for you.  27 pre-generated characters ready for your players to inhabit.

While you don't need Cha'alt to enjoy Cha'alt Pre-Generated, you'll want to grab the also FREE Crimson Dragon Slayer D20.  It's fast and easy, minimalist, basic D&D - combining my favorite parts of the OSR with 5th edition.

Please share the link and let me know how much you like it.  Thanks!

VS

Crimson Dragon Slayer D20

As I've said before, D&D means a thousand things to a thousand people. 

It's impossible to define with just the acronym alone.  Even citing a particular version, preference, or play-style of D&D is fraught with peril.

Getting on the same page with a virtual table full of players is of paramount importance.  Without a place to start, you have nothing but floundering.  You need some kind of foundation in order to begin playing.

Here is bedrock!  All new and over-the-top "bloodstained parchment" look provided by layout guru David Guyll.  Did I mention it was absolutely FREE?!?

There are a few iterations of Crimson Dragon Slayer out there, but this isn't a new edition.  Rather, it's my quick and dirty checklist / cheat-sheet for running OSR type 5e games online.  It started here and evolved organically thanks to the feedback I received.

For me, virtual gaming requires the most rules-light approach.  Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 is my solution to all the problems I've encountered running D&D on Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and elsewhere. 

Hope you find it as invaluable as I have,

VS

p.s.  If you appreciate all the freebies that come out of Kort'thalis Publishing, try our nearly 50 PDFs!

Crowd-Sourcing Awesome

My brain is usually working on a dozen different things all at once, but Cha'alt is a huge project and GaryCon is coming up, and I also need to finish off a couple things from awhile back.

I'm feeling creatively blocked.

So, I'm throwing these questions out in hopes that you guys will respond with some inspiring awesomeness. Here goes nothing!

• There's a small orange cube and a small blue cube, both magical, (possibly thinking of order vs. chaos) what do the cubes do?
• If I produced a sequel to Dead God Excavation, what would you want to see?
• Where would you like me to take the last part of the THOT trilogy?

Ok, that's it for now.  Thanks!

VS

44

It's my birthday today. 

There's a lot I'm grateful for, a lot of things I'm exited about, a lot of things I've accomplished, and there's still a lot more to do. 

If you want to help me celebrate turning 44, please consider writing/posting a review of one or more of my RPG titles.  For a complete list of PDFs, here's Kort'thalis Publishing on DriveThruRPG.  And if you want to review anything on Amazon, just search for Venger As'Nas Satanis.

Your constructive criticism and appreciation is not only helpful feedback, it keeps me going.  It's one of the reasons I'm able to endure.

Thanks for all the love and support, my dudes!

Enjoy,

VS

p.s. Sorry for being incommunicado the last few days, these long holiday weekends are all about family. 

Sexual Predators PDF

I'm pleased to announce Sexual Predators is live on DriveThruRPG!!!

I put everything I had into this one (uh, I mean... Zoltar Khan Delgado put everything he had into it).

It's what you've come to expect from an Alpha Blue publication... advice, options, artwork, random tables, and a plethora of scenarios (including a real space dungeon)!

In a couple weeks, Sexual Predators will combine with Kobayashi Maroon to form The Last Alpha Blue Supplement softcover over on Amazon.com.

And then it's onto the next chapter in my RPG life... Cha'alt.  However, there will always be a special place in my heart for sleazy scifi.

If you get a chance, please write and post a review!

VS

p.s. Speaking of sleazy scifi, remember this?

Updated Softcovers for Kort'thalis Publishing

All three of these have had a face-lift over the last couple weeks...

Trilogy of Awesome +1 includes Slippery When Wet (Alpha Blue), A Green Jewel They Must Possess (The Outer Presence), and Slaves of Tsathoggua (Crimson Dragon Slayer)... plus the bonus Death Race: Fury Road.

Trilogy of Awesome Returns +1 includes High-Stakes Q'uay-Q'uar (Alpha Blue), His Flesh Becomes My Key (The Outer Presence), and Stairway of V'dreen (Crimson Dragon Slayer)... plus the bonus scenario Guarding Galaxy XXX (Alpha Blue).

Dead God Excavation includes the scenario Dead God Excavation (Crimson Dragon Slayer), La Bas Chartreuse (The Outer Presence), and the brand new Totally Random Tables.  Usually, I release the PDF and weeks or months later the content appears in softcover - not so this time!

What's new?  A few things have been cleaned up and corrected, and Dead God Excavation should be much easier to read now... 

But most of all, they're on fancy, heavier paper and full-color.  Many of the illustrations are still in black and white, but these books are now higher quality - befitting the fine-ass, weird, gonzo sleaze you've come to expect from Kort'thalis Publishing.

Enjoy,

VS

Totally Random Tables

How many d6 tables does it take to get to the center of a gonzo campaign?  Thirty.  The answer is most definitely 30.  And I can prove it...

Yes, I've got a new PDF for GMs looking for something a little different.  As the title hopefully indicates, these tables are filled with results that are unique and purely stream-of-consciousness.  There's no overall theme, genre, or any other guiding principle - except that it all came from my diseased mind.

Check out Totally Random Tables right here!  2018 Gold ENnie award winning layout and graphic designer Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design did the interior.  It's retro-futuristic funky and I love it!

And if you use it in one of your games, please let me know.  I want to read about all the gory details.  ;)

VS

Trinity Going Bye-Bye

In a couple days, I'm taking down both Trinity of Awesome +1 and Trinity of Awesome Returns +1 from Amazon.

In a few weeks, they'll be replaced with a new title (in the case for ToA+1) and new title and altered cover (in the case of ToAR+1).  Plus, the interior will be color.  While the illustrations are all black and white, the blood-spattered parchment color of the internal layout will be present.  I'm sure there will be other little colorful touches in there, as well.

Why the change?  Well, one of my daughters is named Trinity, and my wife believes that anything Alpha Blue is too inappropriate to have her name on it.  At the time, I didn't consciously make the connection, but can see her point.  Changing the titles and that cover art of the 2nd book were concessions I had to make in order to keep my gigantic Alpha Blue canvas print.

Those changes would've had to been made sooner or later, so might as well do it now.  I'll be consulting with Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design on the details.

So, if you want to get one or more books on Amazon before they're gone, do so today or tomorrow.  By Saturday, they'll be gone forever... only to be reborn like a phoenix.  Gaaa!  That's another one of my kids' names.  Damn it.

VS

p.s.  Are you loving Kobayashi Maroon?  If so, please write a review!

Kobayashi Maroon & Alpha Blue Open License

The latest supplement for Alpha Blue is out now!  Grab it here!!!

I hope you show Zoltar Khan Delgado the same love and support you've shown me over the years.  Also, keep the appreciation going for Gold ENnie Winner Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design.  He laid the shit out of this PDF.

Here's the very first review!

But that's not all... I'm officially opening up the license for your very own Alpha Blue scenario, supplement, setting, or sourcebook (the 4 s's)...

From now until the end of 2019, anyone can publish their own work that uses Alpha Blue's name, rules, intellectual property (yes, feel free to borrow Grabba the Butt, Zervalan, filthy klorians, etc.), and logo.

And if you'd like to hit me up for a review or critique at any point in the creation/publishing process, please do so.  I'd love to be a part of your vision!

VS

Not Safe For Space

Warning: What you are about to read contains raw, unfiltered awesomeness which some may find inappropriate or objectionable.

While I'm intrigued by next year's release of Your Best Game Ever, it was a pleasant surprise to live out one of my best games ever last night.

Alpha Blue with 5 players, no noobs, everyone was on board with the type of game Alpha Blue can degenerate into.  I mean, this session was fucking NSFS! 

Tying an NPC up during an orgy, finishing all over her face and then leaving her there until later when the PC was ready for seconds. Upon returning, he noticed a line forming in front of the girl.  However, the right to cut in line because his stuff ran down and dried on her face first was invoked.  Sorry, ma'am.  It's Federation law.

It was silly madness and gonzo ridiculous sleazy sci-fi cliche - every time I play that game it seems like we're living a familiar genre while simultaneously creating a new one. 

Yeah, I'm biased, but it was a great time.  Every scene there was something hilariously stupid going on, occasionally the entire session broke down because we were laughing so hard.

I can't give out major spoilers because this was a playtest session, as well as, a tribute to Jacqueline Pearce who played Servalan on Blake's 7.  There's a lot of B7 DNA in Alpha Blue, so it felt right to remember her with last night's one-shot.

Also, I hadn't gotten to use Battle Star: Trek Wars or No One Warps For Free before last night.  So, using those was a trip.  Even though it had only been months since writing them, it seemed as though someone else had written them... yet I still knew where certain tables were squirreled away.

We used the tattoo tables, the orgasm table, the exotic weapon table, and the upcoming table that determines what the NPCs are doing when you barge in on them (that's where the orgy came from).  Plus, a variety of old and familiar tables, such as narcotics, multiple tables for female NPCs (it makes me smile when I happen to roll the "voluptuous" result), and a saving throw at the end - never try to perform first aid using a familiar made of poop!

You know it's good when half the players message you the next day saying what fun they had.

The upcoming Alpha Blue adventure(s) aren't mine, but a trusted friend has taken up the reigns.  Zoltar Khan Delgado knows exactly what kind of slutty, low-brow, bad taste belongs in there.  It's going to drop at the end of September.  When it does, I'll announce the release here on Venger's old school gaming blog.

VS

p.s. Lately, there's been a puritanical vibe rippling through the RPG community, a strict political correctness and cultural over-sensitivity that almost made me re-write this actual play report because it might offend a couple of people.  Well, fuck that!  Alpha Blue is a game for freedom-loving individuals who live by their own rules... and d6 dice pools.

Blood in Translation

Nearly a dozen creators reached out to me about publishing their own Blood Dark Thirst material since announcing the open license last week.  Which is awesome...

But now The Hills is pre-selling their Spanish translation of Blood Dark Thirst right over here!

I've seen their PDF and it's top-notch, just like the original.  And what is Blood Dark Thirst, you ask?  The PCs are vampires... though, more demon than undead.  The system is quasi-neo-OSR and rules-light using the VSd6 engine, just like Crimson Dragon Slayer, Alpha Blue, and The Outer Presence.

So, if you haven't already downloaded the PDF or purchased the full-color softcover on Amazon.com, get on that.  Don't miss out on the other vampire RPG that's taking the night by storm!

VS

Glynn Seal Wins ENnie Gold

Just wanted to publicly congratulate my friend and layout / graphic design partner who's been helping make Kort'thalis Publishing stuff awesome for about the last 3 years. 

Want to see a little bit of what Glynn's been up to?  Most of this shit is his fault!

If anyone needs help with their gaming project, definitely seek Glynn Seal out.  Here's his MonkeyBlood Design website.

So thrilled with your victory and looking forward to what we create together in the future, hoss!

VS

No One Warps For Free - PDF live!!!

Yes, at long fucking last... Alien Ass, Hydrogen Gas, or Cosmic Grass... No One Warps For Free! is finally available (softcover will take another couple weeks).

I'm excited about this release because ENnie-nominated Glynn Seal and I worked hard on this book and it turned out superb.  The production values are the highest Kort'thalis Publishing has ever attempted.  It really looks amazing!

What's in it?  A whole bunch of stuff.  I know it's only 74 pages, but the thing is dense with random tables, optional rules (like PC careers), and scenarios.  I'm waiting for the first few reviews to filter in, but I'm going out on a space limb right now to say that No One Warps For Free is one impressive sonofabitch!

Thanks to all my Kickstarter backers, supporters, contributors, artists, and everyone who paved the way.

VS

p.s. Incidentally, the RPGpundit just reviewed the previous Alpha Blue supplement Battle Star: Trek Wars right over here.

Shades of Amber

Patrick Stuart's False Machine review of Amber: Diceless Role-Playing brought up a lot of great memories.  I haven't played Amber since High School in the early 90's, and haven't read the core rulebook in over a decade, yet Wujcik's wisdom seems burned into my psyche.

I just re-read his review, and while I can't pinpoint the exact sentence getting to the heart of this blog post, it's in there somewhere.  Allow me to plunge my warlock hands into the primordial soup and see what I can yank out...

As a designer of RPGs myself, my foundation seems to be context.  In any interaction, there are a number of variables, each having their own weight, pushing and pulling the odds of success, failure, or something in-between hither and yon. 

For me personally, needing to hit a target number of 14, rolling a 15, and saying, "Yeah, you hit," or rolling a 13 and saying, "Nope, you miss," just doesn't satisfy me like it did when I started out playing Basic D&D in grade school. 

After years of gaming, I realized how much I preferred subtlety, nuance, interpretation, the dice as oracle and I, Game Master, as the one who speaks for them.  I want the dice to give me a range, a degree of good, bad, and ugly where I'm able to refine the raw material... shades of gray, rather than just rolling to see if the outcome is either black or white.

That's why I came up with VSd6, a system using d6 dice pools.  The result allowing GMs to know which way the wind is blowing so they can narrate the actual outcome... their outcome, rather than something hypothetical and polarized.  In this way, the dice results are like potential energy, awaiting the GM's ultimate determination.

Where Amber expects the GM to do all the factoring in his head, the RPGs of Kort'thalis Publishing (Alpha Blue, Crimson Dragon Slayer, The Outer Presence, and Blood Dark Thirst) provide tools cutting out much of the guesswork. 

The GM as final arbiter; rules merely a framework for GM and players to immerse themselves in virtual reality - is the very definition of old school.  That's why I believe both Amber: Diceless and my own RPGs are essentially OSR.

VS

It's The Adventures, Stupid

I've had this blog post on my mind for a while now...  It all started with a discussion on g+ about Labyrinth Lord.

How one of the first big retro-clones has been virtually eclipsed, why, and if it's possible for Labyrinth Lord to reclaim its former glory.

Well, what makes for a successful RPG?  I'm sure there are many factors that could and should be discussed by those interested in the answer.  But today, I'm going to focus on the primary reason: SUPPORT!!!

Support for that RPG keeps it going, makes it feel alive, engages players, and provides material for using that game now and in the future.  The ideal kind of support is adventures, the backbone of roleplaying.  Various supplements can't hurt, but a large number of scenarios is probably the best gauge for success when it comes to new RPGs.

Just look at your DCC, LotFP, and S&W.  They come out with adventures all the damn time.  If Labyrinth Lord wants to compete, it's got to have just as many high-profile scenarios coming out under the Labyrinth Lord name.  That's why it's so hard for the little guys to compete... any one-man shop is going to be hard-pressed to generate one adventure a month or more.  You need a team!

On that LL thread, I made the boastful statement that I could turn LL around if put on the payroll as brand manager, scenario connoisseur, or whatever to the tune of $50K a year.  Yeah, that seems like a lot, but the juice has to be worth the squeeze.

What's funny is that it's all compatible!  There's no earthly reason why you can't swap one system's adventure for another.  But perception matters with these kinds of things.  Brand awareness affects the market.  We're only human, after all.

I've tried to maintain a regular flow of adventures myself with the several RPGs for Kort'thalis Publishing, but in the end I only succeeded with Alpha Blue.  Crimson Dragon Slayer almost kept pace, but I think sci-fi more lenient than the over-saturated genre of fantasy.  Alas, I realized the full extent of this lesson too late.

Having said that, I'm going to make an announcement regarding Kort'thalis Publishing's RPG lines.  But first, I want to finish Alien Ass, Hydrogen Gas, or Cosmic Grass... No One Warps For Free!  It'll be released before the end of July.

I've already mentioned elsewhere that I'm taking a break from RPG publishing once this last adventure is completed.  There are juicier fruits out there that I have to find.

VS