If you want to be play old-school games, play old school games. If you're excited about D&D Next, that's cool too. It's okay to love Tom Baker and Matt Smith. You're not a poser for wearing a Green Lantern shirt while reading a Spider-Man comic. Just because you like one thing, doesn't mean you have to hate another. It's okay to only like one thing. It's okay to like a multitude of things.
It's not cool to make other people feel bad for disagreeing with you.
"But if you want to be a Superman show me. Stop with all the pointless battles like Don Quixote."
I will be starting a few games soon. One will be a cinematic unisystem game set in my own Buffy/Supernatural hybrid setting. The second game will be a "D&D" game. I'm using D&D in the loosest term. While I love Pathfinder, I want something rules light. Dungeon Crawl Classics has been on my mind, but I wouldn't really call it rules lite.
Right now I am torn between Swords & Wizardry (with a heavy dose of Crypts & Things) and Castles & Crusades. Both systems look like they'd be fun and do what I like
I don't really think the adventures I run will change much based on system. I plan on using a few modules I own. For the first few levels I will use Keep on the Borderlands (Basic). Depending on the system and feel I get for the party I may then run Death Frost Doom (Lamentations of the Flame Princess) or if I don't want to go grimdark Zogorion, Lord of Hippogriffs (Swords & Wizardry).
For those of you familiar with these systems, sell them to me.I own both, but I'd like some input.
Today's Mastermind Monday will be a bit different. The character stats below have been posted before on Halls of the Nephilim. However, I felt like it was fitting to repost them. Why, because today kicks off Adam WarRock's annual donation drive (June 24 - July 3rd). WarRock is one of the most talented MC's out there. He makes excellent pop culture based raps. He's released mixtapes based on Game of Thrones, Parks and Recreation, Firefly, House Slytherin, Firefly, and various Marvel Comics (just to name a few). He also releases over 100 singles a year. He does this all for free. Outside of selling some merch, the man makes his music for free. He actually has a policy of refusing to take donations outside of the designated donation drive time. He's even giving away things for donating. Give anything and you get a live concert video (shot at his house with his friends), an album of that concert, another new mixtape, and a ton of free digital comics. I know this style of music isn't for everyone, but I still think you should check him out.
WarRock aka Adam Warrock- PL 8
Quote: “I am a space man. I am an alien. I've traveled light years, a homo sapien. A middle finger for all the cats who hated him.. 'Cuz I'm a beast bitch grrrr, Invader Zim.”
Emo: WarRock's emotions often get the better of him.
Enemy: The Star Khan is aware that he and WarRock share the same bloodline. Though he sees him as insignificant for now, the Khan still sees him as a loose end to be tied up.
Languages
English
Defense
Dodge 7, Parry 7, Fortitude 8, Toughness 9, Will 8
Background: Eugene Ahn always knew he was different. However, it wasn't until he was in his early 20’s that he learned just how different he was. One night he was visited by Kheshig, former leader of the Stellar Khanate Imperial Guard and personal servant of Queen Khana. Kheshig informed Adam that he was actually part of the royal bloodline and only half human. The alien warrior also taught Eugene how to tap into the Starfire, an ability unique to his bloodline (which he calls his Glam Hand).
Kheshig warned Eugene that one day the Star Khan would send someone for him. He implored the young man to train in the warrior arts and prepare for the eventual confrontation with his cousin’s forces. Gaining a new lease on life, Eugene quit his job at a local law firm and took to the road. He now travels the world testing his skills and thrilling crowds with his seamless blend of independent hip hop and pop cultural sensibility as Adam WarRock..
For today's Succubus Sunday I decided to come up with some stats. Dungeons Crawl Classics has been on my mind recently. One of the more interesting things about DCC is the ability of magic-users to serve unearthly patrons. I've been working on statting Lilith as a patron and had hoped to have her posted today. However, I had an unexpected (but welcome) guest this weekend and didn't get to finish it. I'll have her ready for next week. I still wanted to post something DCC related though, so I came up with homebrew stats for a Dungeon Crawl Classics succubus. DCC is a game that assume all monsters are unique. I know that Lamentations of the Flame Princess takes a similar stance. However, the DCC book provides sample monster statistics and various charts and things to customize each encounter. I like to think of this as a base model succubus that you can add features on to to make her unique. Go crazy! Give her spells, more charm abilities, a bite attack (vagina dentata)...
Succubus - Type IV Demon
Init +8; Atk Draining Touch +10 melee (Drain Life) or Weapon +9 (Damage Varies). AC 18; HD 8d12; MV 60’. fly 60'; Act 2d20; SP: Shape Change (see below), Infravision, Telepathy, Darkness (+12 check), Immune to weapons of less than +3 and natural attacks from creatures 5 HD or less, half damage from fire, acid, cold, electricity, and gas, Unmarred Beauty (see below) SV Fort +10, Ref +12, Will +10; AL Chaotic
Shape change:: The succubus may take an action to change shape. The new shape must be a female humanoid. This ability can be used to mimic individuals.
Drain Life: The succubus may choose to drain life with her touch. If she so chooses, her touch deals 1d3 points of Strength damage
Unmarred Beauty: At the beginning of combat all non-Eunuch men must make a DC 20 Will save. If they fail the unholy charms of the succubus prevents them from harming the succubus. Anyone affected by Unmarred Beauty make a new save vs the ability at the start of their turn. Any one hit must make a new check versus the Unmarred Beauty due the unholy nature of her touch.
For the past month or two there has been a friendly competition between the Castles & Crusades and Fat Dragon Games Facebook pages. Both pages promised to give away free pdfs of their great products if their page reached 1,500 likes first. Fat Dragon won the contest and posted this earlier: "On Monday June 24th we will post TWO free links for terrain sets here on our FB page for ONE DAY ONLY, so spread the word!" Despite not winning the contest, the folks at Castles &Crusades are still giving away a free adventure pdf for 24 hours (starting now). "Though we didn't win the contest with Fat Dragon Games, we really appreciate people spreading the word and all the new likes. So we decided to go ahead and give away one free PDF adventure to everyone for 24 hours!"" You can find the link and discount code on their page. If you have a Facebook account, go like theses two awesome pages and spread the word.
I'm going to make a confession. While I was excited about Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG and the things I'd seen about it, I wasn't totally sold on the game. Yes, it seemed like it would be a lot of crazy fun. Yes, I loved the old school look and Appendix N-ness of it. However, the thing that really sold the system to me was the third party Transylvanian Adventures books written by S.A. Mathis over at Land of Phantoms. What is Transylvanian Adventures? The game uses its own variation of the DCC rules to emulate the action of classic Hammer Horror. Here's the advertisement that can be found in the back of the DCC book.
Okay so it's June 2013 and the books still aren't out. They are coming though. You can check on the progress over at Land of the Phantoms. The first book is on its way, and he's committed to finishing two more after that. Our first real taste (or does bite work better) was released yesterday with the adventure, The Winter Home. Blurb from RPGNOW: ""The Winter Home" is an introductory adventure designed for the 5 pre-generated characters included in the back. The characters inThe Winter Homeinclude 5 of the 8 new classes from Transylvanian Adventures: the Valiant, Exotic, Half-Breed, Hunter and Reaver.
The adventure is also suitable for a party of 3rd or 4th level Dungeon Crawl Classics characters."
You can purchase the introductory adventure at the Land of Phantoms store. I got a free copy as part of a special Free RPG Day promotion and I hope to run it soon (possibly this weekend). If that happens I'll let you guys know how it went.
The Lor Republic is a star-spanning civilization of the Milky Way galaxy consisting of hundreds of worlds. One of the most surprising things about the Lor is that the dominant species is human! They are the descendants of of humans taken by the Preservers. Though they were war-like and expansionists at one point in history, the modern Lor are a peaceful (though vigilant) society reminiscent of ancient Rome. Humans dominate the republic, though no particular phenotype is dominant. The Republic respects the Star Knights and are rivals to the Grue Unity and the Stellar Khanate. Lor Soldier PL 5
Str 2 ,Sta 2, Agl 1, Dex 1, Fgt 3, Int 0, Awe 1, Pre 1
These brave men and women make up the backbone of the Lor Republic. They are well trained and disciplined. Their primary purpose is to protect the citizens of the republic from their rivals. Lor Mentat PL 5
Str 0 ,Sta 1, Agl 2, Dex 2, Fgt 1, Int 2, Awe 4, Pre 2
Sorry about forgetting to post last week. Life happens I suppose. For today's Succubus Sunday I decided to share some of my favorite succubi pics from Deviantart.
This just showed up on my Facebook feed and I wanted to share. "June 15 is Free RPG Day and Chris Pramas's birthday! At midnight PST you can download the Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook and more for free for 24 hours. Head over to www.greenronin.com to download this free M&M bundle on June 15! It'll be available for exactly 24 hours!" I already have a print copy, but a free pdf would be nice too. Also, there will be other pdf's involved.
I decided to take a break from the cosmic and post stats for an interesting background/plot device character from a comic series I was re-reading, Marvel's District X. The comic is set in NYC's Mutant Town (which doesn't exist in the 616 anymore) and centers around a local cop the X-Man Bishop. It was basically a cop drama, with mutants. I really liked the series. One of the characters that I thought was interesting was "Toad Boy." A similar character could easily be integrated into any M&M game. Toad Boy- PL 4
Background: Tarquin Berdeaux, or 'Toad Boy', is a young mutant that has spent his entire life living in Mutant Town (a ghetto in NYC inhabited
primarily by mutants and other undesirables). His mutation gives him a toad like appearance
and the ability to secrete a neurotoxin through his skin. Toad Boy’s mother is
a junkie, addicted to her son’s secretions. The naive boy doesn't realize his
mother cares nothing about him.
Local gangs fight for control of Toad Boy, who’s secretions
can be turned into an extremely potent drug called “toad juice.” The drug
effects individuals differently. Mutants tend to suffer from severe addiction
and euphoria. However, the drug is highly dangerous to humans, who typically
undergo rapid random mutation with results in violent death.
The other day I came across mention of an interesting little module, Zogorion Lord of Hippogriffs. It was created by Jason at The Dungeon Dozen. Here's the blip from the site.
"It's a zine..it's a module...it's...it's...some kind of hybrid...It's a 16 page booklet with a detached map/cover. For Swords & Wizardry and Oe games."
That's a nice little description of the physical product. The artwork is original and a lot of fun. You can check out more by the artists by going to Underworld Ink. Stylistically, the adventure is written in a manner more casual that typical modules. This didn't bother me and honestly I think it added to the overall feel of the product. Statted out using Swords & Wizardry, the book is very rules lite. You can easily run it with any old school edition of D&D (or any edition for that matter). Personally, I'll probably run this with Castles and Crusades once I get my game going.
The adventure introduces a unique (and in my honest opinion quite awesome) npc, the mighty Zog. Zog is just a really cool npc. I'm sure if you introduce him into your game, your players will never forget him.
Do yourself a favor and head over to The Dungeon Dozen and pick this up. It's only two bucks!
Today I present to you the Star Knights, intergalactic peacekeepers. They are not my creation. They are part of the cosmic landscape in the Freedom City setting (and are similar to Marvel's Nova Corps and DC's Green Lantern Corp). The Star Knights Sword and shield, Star Stone's light, shining beacon in our fight, for justice, honor, truth, and right, evil beware - the true Star Knight!
- The Star Knight Oath
The Order of the Star Knights was created centuries ago by the sentient and noble entity known as the Mentor (another Freedom City analog of the Kree Supreme Intelligence).. Altruistic, Mentor created a group of intergalactic champions of justice, recruited from the bravest and most noble of all species. He and his robotic servitors train the noble aliens to serve as a peace keeping force. The Knights are well respected by many cultures (including the Lor Republic) because of their policy of non-interference in internal affairs of the worlds they protect.
Each Knight wears an advanced suit of armor, powered by a connection the Star Stone (a powerful cosmic artifact of near limitless energy). When a Knight dies, his armor is returned to Mentor and the Citadel.
Three Knights have had a significant presence on Earth. The first was an alien named A'Lan Koor, who served on the Freedom League during the 60's and 70's. He currently serves as a member of the Knights Inner Circle. The second is Maria Montoya, a former police officer recruited by the nights after she helped defend the Earth from an invasion by the Grue. She currently serves as a member of the Freedom League. The final Knight known to the heroes of Earth is the sole stain in the Knights' centuries of service. The Rojan Lhar betrayed the Knights and Mentor and sought to use the power of the Star Stone for himself. His attempts were foiled by Koor. Though stripped of his powers, he found a new source of power and has become the infamous BlackStar. Star Knight Template Skills: Investigation 4 Advantages: Fearless Powers: Star Knight Armor (Device) - 88 Points
Blast 10, Comprehend 2 (Languages), Deflect 9, Enhanced Strength 8, Flight 10 (2,000 MPH), Protection 10 (Impervious 10), Immunity 10 (Life Support), Movement 4 (Environmental Adaptation: Zero-G, Space Travel 3), Senses 4 (Communication Link, Direction Sense, Low-Light Vision, Radio}
In Dungeons and Dragons cosmology, Malcanthet is the current holder of the title of Succubus Queen (thought there are others that seek the title). She was one of the earliest succubi to come into being and she fought, seduced, and betrayed her way to her current title. She is a newer addition to the D&D (first mentioned in 2004). Planescape players will be familiar with her daughter though, Red Shroud.
