Sure, I've drilled-down the aesthetics of Cha'alt, the tropes that make the campaign setting what it is, thanks to my latest (free PDF) product Cha'alt X-Cards, but what about general knowledge about the world for noobs?

I was inspired by a Twitter post of this Hyperborea Primer, basically a bullet-point outline of what the native PCs would already know about where they lived.

This is one of those simple, useful RPG things that most people (including myself) just don't do.  I'm now kicking myself for having neglected it.  So, without further ado...

Cha'alt Primer

All player-characters who've lived on Cha'alt for at least several months will have general knowledge about the world they inhabit.  Consider the following general knowledge.

• The word Cha'alt means triumph by way of suffering; the kind of victory that is only achieved after long periods of struggle and hardship.
• Cha'alt's terrain is predominantly radioactive, inhospitable desert dotted with many small, tribal settlements and a few major cities, the largest of which is A'agrybah, closely followed by Kra'adumek... city of the purple, alien, demon-worm (both located in the northern hemisphere).
• Currency in urban areas is predominantly the talon, a triangular metallic coin.  Three talons equal one gold piece, which is the standard currency outside of cities (the Dome City uses colorful plastic shapes).
• The sky is fuchsia, turning deep-purple at midnight.  Cha'alt has twin suns and seven lavender moons, each having its own lunar cycle and are said to influence the destiny of men.
• The most valuable substance on Cha'alt is a viscous, glowing, chartreuse ichor known as zoth, and is the actual blood of Great Old Ones who've died - many perishing in the apocalypse that occurred 80+ years ago.
• The humanoid culture of today has been built upon millennia of demon civilizations that existed before humanoids "evolved" from primitive creatures, raised by tentacles of the Great Old Ones.  Self-interest, for example, is not just a commonplace notion or "necessary evil," but something to take pride in or celebrate, just as Cha'alt natives take pleasure in the cruel treatment of those different than themselves.
• Zoth is the ultimate substance, a super-science liqueur of transcendence.  It fuels magic, heals the sick, those afflicted with curses, and supernatural alterations.  It is raw, primal energy.  When refined, zoth is key to travel amongst the stars by folding space and granting access to the multiverse.  It's a religious sacrament, allowing brief communication with one or more Gods.  Drinking it is both an aphrodisiac for women and "power potion" for men.
• Crystals can be found all over subterranean tunnels and caves of Cha'alt, as well as, inside dimension-hopping pylons.  They are said to have collected the soul-energy of departed Old Ones, giving them spiritual properties.  However, the Federation uses these crystals to power their starships and high-tech weaponry.
• The Federation have repeatedly tried to colonize Cha'alt, but the natives have always proved resistant, forcing the Federation out when too many off-worlders try to steal the planet's natural resources.
• Even though Cha'alt has never been fully colonized, due to weakness, greed, and moral corruption, shadow politicians have instituted enough Federation-backed puppet regimes in order to change societal norms, culture, and living conditions.  Various aspects of the Federation cannot be questioned or criticized.  Mandatory vaccines allegedly preventing the outbreak of extraterrestrial contagions are disseminated quarterly.  On certain days, water is rationed, people are forbidden from worshiping the Old Ones, trafficking with demons, gambling, eating meat, or imbibing worm-wine and other hallucinogenic drugs.  In their place, State-sanctioned orgies of unrestrained sexual freedom and drugs specifically engineered for their effects of apathy on Cha'altian nervous systems (such as Fuchsia malaise) have pacified the masses.  
• A plurality of humanoids worship the Great Old Ones (Yog-Soggoth being the most prominent), though each God has his own unique vision for Cha'alt, if and when he should awaken.  But nearly as many people worship the New Gods, eschewing the ancient ways of infernal individualism and familial bloodlines for collectivist revolution subservient to The State who prefer alien culture (lots of weird sex stuff) and technology over sorcery and esotericism. 
• A lot of strange things happen on Cha'alt, which has led to various paradigms attempting to describe reality on this particular world - what is reality and how does it functions?  Leaving many to speculate that perhaps Cha'alt isn't real at all but some kind of holographic super-simulation or dream within the collective imagination of a Demon-God pantheon?
• The city of Qada'ath, known as the tangerine veil under fuchsia sky, is a rising metropolis built upon the secret of organic, arcane flesh-technology or flesh-tech known only to the civil authority of Qada'ath.  The tangerine veil is currently the fastest-growing city in Cha'alt's southern hemisphere.

Thanks for reading and sharing.  If you'd like to comment, I value your feedback.

VS

p.s. Attend VENGER CON III: Revenge of the OSR this July in Madison, WI.  Details about the basest RPG convention and grabbing your weekend badge is here.  Want your own Cha'alt trilogy in luxurious hardcover?  There you go.  

Cha'altifying Dumb/Boring Scenarios (part 1)

 

I asked for your suggestions - give me the most boring, dumb one-sentence adventure description and I will Cha'altify that bitch.  

Well, the outpouring of worthy suggestions blew my mind.  That's why I collected them in this here blog post.  Alright, here goes nothing...

Original: Find a missing cat.

Cha'altified: A missing cat who is the guardian between worlds was exiled to the center of the hollow planet, falling into the clutches of a subterranean alien vampire race whose civilization thrived over a thousand years ago.  

Original: Safe-space sociology LARPer gets job at multinational megacorp copyright collector.  This is its journey. 

Cha'altified: Beta-male slave is imprisoned within a simulation energy-cell like a cheap, organic battery.  The caves where these energy-cell fields are stored are haunted by sentient raspberry jellies and peanut-butter oozes at war with each other.  These mutant aberrations of nature spawned by a putrefying zoth pool that also happens to be the only place where magical items can be recharged.

Original: A party of adventurers must protect the local lord's chocolate harvest.

Cha'altified: A sinister sorcerer and sulfuric chocolatier has been making delectable pacts with demons for years.  Infernal beings love his sulfuric chocolate, but the constantly rising prices the sorcerer charges have convinced the demons that it would be better to attack the sorcerer in his lair and torture him for those secrets, rather than keep paying exorbitant prices.  

Original: You book a room at an inn and have to get to your room.

Cha'altified: The inn is not only part brothel, it also serves as a dance academy for witches, making it the perfect finishing school for women who will eventually mate with eldritch demon spawn of the Great Old Ones. Around every turn are nubile ballerinas, witches, devils, and Knights of the Purifying Scourge prowling in the shadows.  

Original: You have been chosen by the ancient prophecy to fulfill destiny.

Cha'altified: The looming stars drip off the cosmos' face, signaling the time for heroes who are all that stand between the remnants of civilization and slimy entities in the darkness waiting to return, dethroning mortals into the outer void.  The prophecy was writ in crayon on the back of a kid's Red Lobster menu, and is presumed lost in a retired military facility from before The Apocalypse.  The exact wording of that prophecy is key to surviving the coming horrors. 

__________

Ok, that's enough for now.  I'll do a part 2 either tomorrow or the next day (and maybe even a part 3).  Remember to keep it eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, and post-apocalypse!

VS

p.s. Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows is 25% off on DTRPG.  Also, still several tickets available for VENGER CON in Madison, WI this July.  An old-school gaming convention like it's 1981. You won't want to miss it!

Cha'altification

 

I had an idea... demonstrate how to Cha'altify your basic D&D adventure premise.  

If you want to watch the video, there you go.

Here's what you do, take something simple like the PCs are hired to rescue a princess from the clutches of an evil sorcerer.

Then, you take aspects of that basic scenario and make it more eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, and post-apocalyptic [these are the macro elements of Cha'alt].  Boom, now it's Cha'altified!

• Eldritch - the princess is cursed with second-sight because she was born when Alga'al, the "demon star" was in ascendance.  Since puberty (she's around 20 now), the princess has experienced visions of things she couldn't possibly know.
• Gonzo - the sorcerer is half banana and the majority of his minions are banana-men.
• Science-Fantasy - the sorcerer has made his lair in the remains of a recently crashed starship.
• Post-Apocalypse - the sorcerer is using the captured princess to locate an A.I. bured somewhere in the desert wasteland of S'kbah.

If you want to go even further, totally optional, here are some more "tags" to further Cha'alt-up this adventure [micro elements]...

• Comedic / Grim-Dark - the princess' father is dead.  It's actually her uncle who wants her "rescued".  He's hired the PCs to take the princess away from the sorcerer and leave her in the desert to be devoured by sandworms.
• Pop-Culture - It is rumored that two droids survived the starship crash.  After the ship went down, these droids (Goldie and U2) walked to a nearby settlement in search of employment.
• Sleazy - The princess only receives her visions during orgasm.

There you go.  Put whatever vanilla fantasy plot through the Cha'alt Filter, and you'll generate inspiration for terrific, out-of-the-box flourishes that take your pedestrian scenario to the next level and beyond!

VS

p.s. Do I still have gorgeous hardcovers (limited edition, signed and numbered) of both Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise?  As of right now... yes.  Details here!

Cha'alt: Gone Girl

 

I sold out without selling out...

Yes, all 2,000 of the initial print run is out the door.  The very last book got picked-up by the post office an hour ago.

There's still a couple hardcovers I'm holding for people getting their finances together and then, of course, all the books that need to go out to backers for the Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise kickstarter.  But other than that, the luxury Cha'alt hardcovers are finito.

Time will tell if I'll do another print run down the road.

Thanks to everyone who supported me in this long ass journey, made harder by covid-19 and certain elements of the hobby.

Eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic awesomeness made flesh!  Here's the PDF.  And if you want the follow-up, here's Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise (hardcover sales will be announced in a couple weeks).

By His loathsome tentacles,

VS

p.s. The wife and kids are planning on watching one of their Disney shows Friday nights for the next 3 months - that means I could start-up my weekly one-hour Roll20 Cha'alt campaign.  Check my blog for updates!

Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise Hardcovers Arrived

 

An effulgent shard amidst the darkness...

Yes!  At long last, two pallets of gorgeous hardcovers arrived but an hour ago.

Looking them over, it's exactly what I wanted - a perfect compliment to Cha'alt.  The font is slightly larger, so for those with battle-weary eyes - you're welcome!

I'm putting up some pics that'll give you an idea.

And there's one thousand of them!  The first couple hundred go out to backers, the rest I'll sell out of my "Frazetta nymphs with Death Star looming in the background" van down by the river.  But that won't happen until I get books out to my wonderful backers.  

If you want one, but didn't back the Kickstarter, check back around Xmas for ordering details.

For those who don't know, Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise is the follow-up to Cha'alt.  It's an eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse campaign setting - chockfull of everything you'll need for running adventures of neo-quasi-O5R and vintage demon laser sleaze.  You're welcome again!!!

Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise took about a year from original idea and primordial playtesting to this point.  

Thanks to everyone who supported me and pitched-in to make this awesome tome.  ;)  

Check out the PDF!  It's on sale (50% off) until Thanksgiving.

Let's game!

VS

p.s. I'm down to only 4 Cha'alt hardcovers.  Want one?

Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise

Yesssss!  It's out.  GET IT HERE.

This isn't the tippy-top final version, mind you.  But it's farther along than a beta.  The bookmarks, hyperlinks, and index is coming soon.  Also, I'll be spotting and fixing typos over the next couple weeks.

What's in it?  So much, dude.  So much.  225 pages of the awesomeness you've gotten to know from Cha'alt.  Some of that page count is previously released PDFs, such as OSR Like A Fucking Boss.  That'll be in the fancy hardcover edition coming out this fall, so I wanted to include it in the PDF, as well.  Everything in one place for convenience. 

It took me almost a year to create Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise.  It's jam-packed with gameable content.  Some stuff you're probably expecting... the rest out of left-field.

I'm hoping to get some promotional boost from DriveThru, that's why it's ridiculously priced at $5.  If you'd like to help out, blog about it, mention it on social media, or maybe write a review. 

Thanks,

VS

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.

What's Your Cha'alt Hack?

"Basically, Venger is a crazy person... everything in Cha'alt really feels connected, even though it's kind of manic and bizarre."

One reviewer in particular, I'll paste his video flip-through down below, mentioned the hackability of Cha'alt.  It's both big and small, sketchy (in both senses of the word) and detailed.  The campaign setting gives you a lot to go on, but pulls back a little in order for the GM to make Cha'alt his own.

I'd like to read about your own personal Cha'alt hack!  If you're in the planning stage, gearing up for session zero, or already running it... what sort of things are you doing differently?  Some things I intended for GMs to alter and fully expect, other things I'm sure will blow my mind because I didn't even consider that possibility.

Please, satisfy my curiosity!  Everyone who posts their own Cha'alt hack in the comments (or on your own blog - provide a link!) will be eligible to win the grand prize - one FREE PDF from Kort'thalis Publishing.  Your choice!

Thanks for watching!  Feel free to leave a comment on Aaron's video, too, and subscribe to his channel.

Enjoy,

VS

Where can you find this wondrous book?  RIGHT OVER HERE!!!

Cha'alt PDF Released

At long last, my campaign setting and dungeoncrawl extravaganza Cha'alt is now available on DriveThruRPG.

This thing is almost double the size of anything I've done before.  218 pages... I almost can't even count that high.  That's nuts!  And it's just jam-packed with content.  The thing is dense, my dudes.  And so beautifully laid-out by Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design, I can't even believe it.  Yeah, it's a dream come true.

I've talked about it for a long while, but now it's time for Cha'alt to speak for itself.

VS

p.s. If you get the PDF ahead of any print version, there's going to be a price break.  So, try it out now because I'm pretty sure you'll want this in either soft or hardcover soon enough.

Cha'alt on Roll20: session 2

So, here's the listing if you want to play in session 2.

What happened in session 1?  Some exploration of a cave-system near the crimson rock of sacrifice, and the PCs were attacked by raiders and taken as slaves.

Dragged to the capstone of a shiny black pyramid, the PCs are forced to explore and loot the pyramid for their new masters.  The pyramid hasn't been seen in the wasteland for over a hundred years.  Does its reappearance bode well for the dome-city exiles and wasteland wanderers?  Hell no!

This is Cha'alt, campaign of sun-bleached death under magenta sky!!!

Elsewhere, I posted a little something about character classes.  Below, I'm providing information on available races... (BTW, this is a work-in-progress and subject to change.  A lot stuff I'm just throwing against the wall because I need to have something to show people.  Eventually, all will be integrated smoothly... but we're a long way off.)

Human:  The majority of city populations include humans.  Humans are ambitious, deceptive, and always seeking power.  Additional Hit-Points: 1d4

1st level... once per day, humans gain advantage on any roll they choose.

3rd level... once per day, humans can fight until they die - even if they'd normally be unconscious.

7th level... once per day, humans can take a secondary class that raises in level at the same time and rate as their original class.


Cockroach Men:  Also known as roach-men, these are smaller humanoid insects with impervious shells.  Unfortunately, they are frequently hunted for the natural shields growing out of their back. Additional Hit-Points: 2d4

1st level... roach-men are able to curl up into a defensive ball (roach-men cannot attack while in a defensive ball), which gives every opponent targeting them disadvantage on their attacks.

3rd level... roach-men get advantage on their saving throws where failure would lead to serious physical harm or death.

7th level... roach-men shells have matured to the point where they have damage resistance of 1d6 per attack.


V'symm:  Demons with dark red skin, an ancient race native to the desert.  They were tribal and sinister even before the apocalypse, splitting off from civilization to worship the Great Demons That Dwell Inside Cha'alt.  Additional Hit-Points: 1d6

1st level... once per day, v'symm are able to beguile one or more humanoids using their devilish charm.

3rd level... once per day, v'symm are able to cast a spell as if they were a sorcerer.  If they're already a sorcerer, this is an additional spell the character is able to cast per day.

7th level... once per day, v'symm gain advantage on a roll after they've shown favor or respect to the Great Demons That Dwell Inside Cha'alt.


Elf:  The majority of elves flocked to the cities after the Industrial Revolution hundreds of years ago.  However, pockets of feral and wild elves have always remained in the wilderness.  Now that everything beyond the dome-cities is wasteland, they survive by banding together in tribal communities.  Elves determine rank by pea-cocking around the tribe in an increasingly outlandish manner.  Additional Hit-Points: 1d6

1st level... once per day, elves can impress others with their garish appearance, brash demeanor, and outrageous behavior.

3rd level... once per day, elves gain advantage against an opponent when initiating ritual combat.

7th level...at this level, elves may call upon their tribe (or tribal ancestors if no other tribesman is around) to give assistance.


Dark Elf:  Exiled from their surface cousins for worshiping slimy tentacled gods instead of the dragons.  For a time, they were hunted by various humanoid races who saw their nonconformity as proof of degeneracy.  While not inherently evil, dark elves are naturally sneaky and have learned to disguise their presence whenever possible.

Their skin color is violet-black.  Additionally, dark elf skin contains more water than any other race because of their subterranean existence... and also not being reptilian or insectoid.  Unfortunately, that means dark elves are sometimes hunted purely for hydration (Mmm... flesh water).

1st level... in near or total darkness, you become invisible to the naked eye.

3rd level... dark elves can creep about with unnatural quiet.

7th level... in dim light, you become invisible to the naked eye.



Lizard-Men:  These humanoid reptiles arose out of the apocalypse, but claim to have always been here... underground.  The apocalypse forced them out of their subterranean home, deep inside Cha'alt.  Now, they live in the desert, generally keeping to themselves, occasionally joining elf, human, and halfling tribes.  Additional Hit-Points: 1d10

1st level... once per day, lizard-men have advantage on traveling the wasteland survival roll.

3rd level... once per day, lizard-men get advantage on hazards encountered while exploring.

7th level... once per day, lizard-men are able to fight in total or near darkness with advantage.


Sand-Grog:  Brutish and muscular desert constructs created via sorcery, sand-grogs are both savage and intelligent beings of intelligence and culture.  While most often found in the desert, the occasionally live in cities, using their massive strength to do the job of 7 men.  Additional Hit-Points: 2d6

1st level... for as many times per day as their level, sand-grogs can perform a feat of amazing strength (if used in combat, this is the equivalent of double damage).

3rd level... once per day, sand-grogs are able to "melt" into a pillar of sand for as many minutes as their level.

7th level... once per day, sand-grogs can decide to "sand" part of their bodies just before a successful attack lands, effectively negating damage.

_________

Enjoy,

VS

Cha'alt on Roll20

I'm opening up Cha'alt to the world, at least those who frequent Roll20.

So, if you're interested in a 5e D&D game that's part cyberpunk, part mutant wasteland, part dungeoncrawl, here's the link.

These weekly sessions will only be about an hour long (Thursdays, 11:30 - 12:30pm central standard time) and text only (I'll be sitting at my desk in a fairly public space).  So, we'll dive in ASAP. 

Come with a character concept ahead of time.  check out these character classes!  Races can be any standard fantasy thing you want to come up with... as long as it's not too immersion-breaking, I'm fine with it.  Half centaur, half stalk of celery, and half nuclear bomb?  Umm... no.

If this turns out well, I will most likely blog about it... perhaps even self-publish the campaign as an adventure or setting book down the road.  So, signing up to play means you're cool with that.

VS

Imagining Cha'alt

This blog post serves as a record for "session -1"... basically talking about the stuff there is to talk about before session zero.

Yes, I'm launching a new D&D campaign next month.  Why D&D?  Well, it's awesome and... you've got to go where the fish are.  Tons of people play D&D.  Comparatively, 5 people play any of the lesser known, old school, retro-clones or OSR off-shoots like Crimson Dragon Slayer (even though d6 dice pools are way cooler than d20).

Three guys talking about D&D, movies, concepts, influences, and the kind of campaign we'd like to see - nay, live in!  It went well; let's dive into the juicy stuff.

I've always had at least an inkling of science-fantasy post-apocalypse in my D&D games.  However, this time I wanted to go all-in.  Mutant Crawl Classics has been ordered from my FLGS (just found out the 1st printing is sold out, but the game store's distributors had a couple extra copies).

In creating the campaign setting/world called Cha'alt, I'm planning on drawing quite a bit of influence from MCC and Dark Sun, but also the following movies...

Mad Max: doesn't get any more post-apocalyptic inspired than that.  I also want to use Cyborg and Water World as inspirations.  A totally ruined civilization where survivors must scavenge to survive in a chaotic, untamed world!

Blade Runner and Split Second: not so easy to find the latter on DVD or blu-ray, but I keep trying.  Anyways, Shadowrun has always been mildly fascinating as a concept.  Fantasy + cyberpunk, so Cha'alt is going to incorporate that, too.

But how?  Well...

Zardoz:  A trippy, 70's favorite of mine.  Just like in Zardoz, there's two lands - one populated by the brutals where it's all savage and low-tech and the second populated by eternals - young and beautiful degenerate intellectuals who want for nothing and have elaborate social rituals.  The eternals use the brutals by way of the vortex (seriously, if you're dying to see Sean Connery's chest hair - just go see Zardoz).

Why not have two main realms?  One was shielded from the apocalypse, more or less, and is the dark near-future cyberpunk world we're familiar with.  Possibly a domed city or one of several, like in Logan's Run.  The other land (pretty much the rest of the world) got the full brunt of the apocalypse and are living in the devastated aftermath.

The PCs are opportunists, mercenaries, thrill-seekers, or one of the dregs of society who agree to travel between the two lands, carrying out various missions and/or independently seeking fame, glory, and treasure (gold, credits, magic, and tech).

How did the apocalypse occur?  Instead of going the usual route of nuclear war, why not dive into the sword & sorcery lore of Thundarr the Barbarian?  Yes, a mysterious comet passed too close to our moon, broke it in half, and shit went crazy!  Ok, it's not really "our" moon.  This is all happening on some fantasy world, which explains the elves, dwarves, magic, etc.

What about Gods?  Dragons.  Dragons?  Yes.  Dragons!!!

I was looking up my kids' Chinese zodiac signs last night and early this morning.  There was something in the description for Year of the Dragon that caught my eye.

In ancient times, people thought that dragons could control everything in the world with their character traits of dominance and ambition.

That sparked something in my imagination!  I started thinking about dragons as gods in Cha'alt.  All-powerful monstrous beings who influenced the people of that world.  Priests would pray to and worship dragons - fire dragons, water dragons, gold dragons, steel dragons, and so on.  As dragons fought amongst themselves, so would great armies - leading to the Dragon Wars.

Yeah, you could just keep going with that idea, from religions and cults to empires and customs - dragons are a huge part of everyday life in Cha'alt.  In fact, I'll most likely take another crack at writing a novel, one based on Cha'alt.

System-wise, I'm leaning towards the Basic Starter version of D&D 5e and adding bits and pieces from there, instead of saying everything in the Player's Handbook is legit and then having to go through it and take bits and pieces out.

It'll be old school.  O5R, to be exact.  And while the 1st session starts up in July, there's going to be an online version of the game people can play, too, via Roll20.  At least, that's the hope.  We'll see.  I still have to complete my latest Alpha Blue kickstarter!

Have an opinion, let me know.

VS

Gamma Turquoise PDF live!

I've said it a dozen times already, but will say it again to those awesome folks who backed the Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport Kickstarter - Thank you!!!

So, what's it all about?  Earth barely survived nuclear bombardment decades ago.  The southwest is one of the few areas that wasn't totally decimated, but it's still a weird and dangerous place.  There's trouble at the Santa Fe Starport... and this trouble is a many-headed beast!

Well, the scenario with a side-order of campaign setting turned out much longer and even more gorgeous than I originally intended.  +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) had everything to do with the latter.  Regarding the former, so much went into this fucker that I'm 111 shades of exhausted.  Wanted to get it out there before my birthday on November 25th.  So, now I can rest for a few days before starting new stuff.

The PDF is right over here. 

Enjoy and have a turquoise turkey day from all of us at Kort'thalis Publishing,

VS

Death Race: Fury Road

This being a Venger Satanis project, it's growing by leaps and bounds!  I assumed it would only be 5 or 6 pages, but I think it's going to double by the time this is all over.

Besides the d100 table (which racers will roll on three times), now there are other tables such as why are they racing?  Zakero came up with that one.

I'm working on a few others, like what is being wagered, an easy table for rolling saving throws, etc.

So, this is an exciting project.  I hope more suggestions are coming.  Personally, I'm trying to recycle and re-imagine ideas touched on in my previous books.  A little bit of Torth, the space station of love, Thule, the Purple Islands, etc.

The vagina whale sand worm gets a mention!

Thanks to everyone who has submitted content already!  We really appreciate it.  This is the google document where updates are made.  I'll be editing it all together between now and Wednesday.

If you prefer to submit ideas and suggestions via comment, that's also fine.  Go right ahead!

The above/right picture will be the cover.

Full disclosure: this will still be a stand-alone PDF and absolutely FREE.  However, because so much time, energy, and awesomeness is going into it, these pages will also appear at the end of Trinity of Awesome - the three scenarios Glynn Seal and I will be combining into a single print-on-demand softcover this winter.

I'll personally get more use out of Death Race: Fury Road if it's printed in an actual book.

Thanks,

VS

Community Project: Post-Apocalypse Race

Zakero brought this idea to me, I loved it, and so now it's happening.  But we want you guys to help.

This is a crowd-sourcing community project for a weird, wild, gonzo, post-apocalyptic race set in the future, possibly on another planet.

Here are the basics: It will be a d100 random table full of crazy/awesome yet appropriate results.  The race will be in 3 parts; first racers will roll a d12, then a d30, and finally a d100.  If you want a spawn of Cthulhu to have anal sex with a cybernetic neon unicorn, well... that's probably a different table for another time.

Think Mad Max, the Hills Have Eyes, and that Thundarr the Barbarian episode where they have to get the helmet of power - "Challenge of the Wizards" (suck it, Chom!) This is a hellish, science-fantasy, mutant-strewn wasteland.  Each entry should be 2 or 3 sentences long and appropriate to the genre.  After that, feel free to do as you please, though there are no guarantees of having your entry published.

Things to keep in mind: references to 60s, 70s, and 80s sci-fi, humor, sexiness, gonzo, weird but plausible, flavor text to give us a sense of the race itself.  Any kind of world building is a plus!

Whatever you suggest is simply that - a suggestion.  There are no guarantees.  And your suggestion gives us permission to publish it in the forthcoming PDF, which will be available for FREE.

There's a little bit of cost for layout and art, but I'm going to eat that myself.  Especially, since this is going to (possibly) expand the Alpha Blue and Crimson Dragon Slayer lines.  Although, since this concept is a random table, it should be usable with any tabletop RPG.

What to call it?  Zakero came up with Alpha Blue: Getting Racy, which is good.  But the title is still up for grabs.  After considerable thought, I liked Death Race: Fury Road, an homage to both Deathrace 2000 and Mad Max: Fury Road.  Nothing is set in stone.

Zakero set up a google document here.  But I'm also taking submissions in the comment section below and privately via email if individuals prefer:  Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

Just know that once you submit an idea, it can be used for this project.  However, you also retain the rights if you want to use it yourself down the road.

The deadline?  One week!  That's right, on Wednesday morning, October 26th, the document will be finalized and handed off to +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) so he can make it look awesome.

Any questions?  Just ask below!

VS