Music Monday - Bulletproof Love

It's a shame we won't see anymore of Netflix's Luke Cage, but it was a great two seasons.

If you want to add him to your Vigilante City game, check out these stats.

Music Monday - Thanos vs. Darkseid

I tend to favor DC over Marvel (though I love both). In this batter I definitely favor them. I think Darkseid is a more interesting character. Thanos is a mad titan, but Darkseid is evil incarnate. Darkseid's followers and motivations are more interesting. Also when it comes to entropic power, I like the Anti-Life Equation more than the Infinity Gauntlet.

Who's your favorite?

Music Monday - Friends With No Faces

Ever wanted a cannibal version of Garth Brooks Friends in Low Places? Well here's the cover/fan video you never knew you needed. Created by The Merkins, the fine folks that brought us the Slashstreet Boys, this is a fun Texas Chainsaw Massacre themed parody.

And to be meta, they released a reaction/review video of their own starring Freddy Kreuger. 

And now that you've taken in this slasher goodness, you should download Slashers & Victims Light. Please note the suggested price is a joke because I thought it was funny.

Six-Shooters & Wagons Redemption

For Christmas, I finally bought myself a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2. While I'm still digging into it, I'm loving it and it seems like a worthy sequel (or rather prequel) to my all-time favorite video game. The game has inspired me to revisit Six-Shooters & Wagons. The original is built off of Swords & Wizardry Continual Light. I think I'm going to expand it to a full White Box length release. Like the original I'm going to keep it straight western, with the thought that I might release some weird west stuff later on.

Until then you should check out the pay what you want version and the content I've created for it.

If you're familiar with my original version, what would you like to see expanded?

Succubus Sunday

Source

The Nightmares Are Real...

Listen, I can't talk long. They know that I've found it and they're watching. Take this information. Commit it to memory. It may save your life...

Launching on Kickstarter January 15, The Cryptid Manual is the 5th rpg Kickstarter for Bloat Games. Written by Josh Palmer and Jodie Brandt, the physical book will be approximately 90 pages, full color, and digest sized. It will be available in hard cover and softcover. The pdf and physical copies will be delivered via DriveThru RPG. 

I have been fortunate enough to have received a preview pdf and I wanted to let folks know what they have to look forward to. Production wise this is hands down the best looking Dark Places & Demogorgons book. The layout and art have been done by Runehammer and he knocked it out of the park! While I love the art in previous SURVIVE THIS!! books having one artist makes it feel more unified. 

While the book is designed for DP&D (and other SURVIVE THIS!! games), the stat blocks are simple and old school. They can be used to bring unique creatures to any OSR game. Stat blocks include AC, Hit Dice, Move, (# of) Actions, Attack Damage, Special (special abilities), Bonuses (things like bonus to hit and damage), Morale (which is new to DP&D), Terror (a feature of DP&D, basically a fear saving throw for seeing the creature), and HDE (Hit dice equivalent... a challenge rating system, sort of).  This is followed by a chart that you roll on if characters fail their courage/terror roll.

The meat of the book is the cryptids and monsters themselves. There's a wide variety of creatures from around the world, not just J'town KY. There are some interesting variations too. For example, there are seven different varieties of Bigfoot from around the world... eight if you count the Sheepsquatch. There are five different types of extraterrestrials. I personally loved the inclusion of the several unique cryptids, such as the Jersey Devil, Mothman, and the Pope Lick Monster (which gets expanded upon from the core book). There are 54 creatures total in the book and they range from the weak to incredibly strong. 

After the monster stats blocks there are six monster templates. I really like templates and I think they are one of the better things from the 3rd edition era of D&D. The templates presented greatly expand what you can add to your game. They are dire, giant, rabid, radioactive, were-beasts, vampire, and zombie. With these you can take these monsters, creatures from other SURVIVE THIS!! books, or any OSR monster book and create some fantastically dangerous things.

The book ends with several useful charts. First there's a Cryptid Enhancement chart to ramp up encounters and Cryptid Weakness chart to give your players a chance. It's an OSR monster book, so of course there are some random encounter tables. As previously mentioned, morale is a new stat for DP&D and it's given a bit more explanation. Finally there are pages that feature updated and useful game terms. These are very handy and I assume if there's ever a revised printing of the core book they will be included. 

It's no secret I'm a huge fan of DP&D. This is a must have for Dark Places & Demogorgons players. That being said, even if you're not really familiar but still like OSR gaming, this is a book you should back when it launches. The creatures are unique, the artwork and layout is phenomenal, and the book has a lot of offer gamers. 

Bloat Games has created a Facebook event to spread the word, check out the DP&D Cryptid Manual Kickstarter Launch Party! 

Oh no. They're coming. Watch your back and stay safe. 

Update: You can purchase it here.

It's Clobberin' Time In Vigilante City!

This post is for my gaming brother, Dave.

Code Name: Thing
Name: Benjamin Grimm
Alignment: Law   Class:   Mutant  Level: 10  

Str: 29 (+6)
Int: 11
Wis: 14 (+1)
Dex: 10 
Con: 18 (+3)
Cha: 14 
Sur: 13

Courage: 18
Critical: 17
Death: 16
Magic: 11
Mental: 13
Poison: 15

Languages: English

AC: 17 (Armored Skin, Bruiser)
HP: 96
Move: 12
Toughness: +12

Attack

+0 Initiative 
+1 attacks per round

Unarmed
+10 to hit, 1d4+11 damage
No penalties for using improvised weapons

Skills

Athletics: Basic 7 (+7/+13)
Combat Training 1
Fighting: Brawling 1
Intimidation 0 (+6/+7 to resist)
Pilot: Basic 5 (+5)
Pilot: Flight  10 (+10)

Mutant Powers

Armored Skin (+5 AC, +3 Toughness)
Super Resilience (+5 Toughness, max HP every level, when re-rolling Saving Throw or attribute skill check with SUR, regain if check is successful )
Super Strength (+10 Str, +4 melee damage, advantage Str checks)

Bruiser Traits
Seize the Moment +2
Crushing Blow (on a successful weaponless melee attack roll of a natural 19-20, Thing deals an additional 1d6)
Stunning Blow (on a successful weaponless melee attack roll of a natural 19-20, Thing Stuns the target for d4 rounds unless they make a Critical save. Only works on living targets.)
Knockout Blow (on a successful weaponless melee attack roll of a natural 19-20, Thing knockouts his target for d6 rounds unless they make a Critical save. Only works on living targets.)
May spend an extra SUR point on a failed attack.

Frosty The Snow Demon

While wishing everyone happy holidays, Goodman Games posted a really fun Winter Solstice themed set of wizard corruptions. Check them out here.

Ash Wednesday - The Gingerdead Man (2005)

Synopsis: When his ashes are mixed into dough, the soul of a killer possesses a gingerbread man and seeks to torment the surviving family members of his last victims.

The Good: Gary Busey is fantastic as the Gingerdead Man. Why? The reason is because the plot to this movie is crazy and so is Gary Busey. Seriously though, even though his work in this flick mainly involves voice acting, it's good stuff. The score of The Gingerdead Man is a nice throwback too. It's reminiscent of other Full Moon flicks.

The Bad: This is a B horror flick through and through. The acting isn't great and some of the characters are pretty hokey. 

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed this movie. As ridiculous as the plot is, this flick is good quality for a B movie. Full Moon Studios flicks are like that though. The have a bit of charm to them.

In Your Game: I recently watched this flick and decided to do it for Ash Wednesday because Millard's stats can be used with the spell from the HoHonomicon.

Millard Findlemeyer the Gingerdead Man
Armor Class:  15                  Attack Damage: By Weapon
Hit Dice:  3                            Special: See below
Move: 12                               Bonus: +2 to Hit
Attacks: 1 per round             Terror: 9    HDE: 3

Because of his size the Gingerdead Man gets a -4 on all rolls related to grappling. Any character that has him grappled can spend an action to bite his head or a limb off (dealing 1d6 to Millard). Unfortunately for the person eating the demonic dessert, Millard possesses the person (eventually turning them into a new Gingerdead Man).

Pred-Assure

While the movie itself may have been a bit of a miss for me, the ads for The Predator are knocking it out of the park.

Pred-Assure

This deodorant contains a special chemical that prevents sweating and masks a person's body temperature. This negates thermal vision goggles and the tech used by Predators. This also makes one invisible to ass-blasters.

Secret Santa (Vigilante City)

Code Name: Secret Santa
Name: Liam Mills
Alignment: Law           Class: Mercenary   Level: 5
Origin: Liam Mills is a retired  Spec Ops soldier living a quiet life in the city. Living a life of violence while active, he spent his years in retirement bringing joy and comfort to those around him. He donated his spare time to homeless shelters and even took a yearly job as a mall Santa. While working one day he witnessed a man attempting to kidnap a child. Being a person with a particular set of skills, he quickly and brutally apprehended the man and rescued the child. Since then he periodically does good deeds. Because of his initial good deeds in Santa gear, those than know him have dubbed him Secret Santa.  

Age: 66    Sex: Male     Height: 6'4"     Weight: 211 lbs
Hair: Grey Eyes: Brown

Str: 13 (+1)
Int: 12
Wis: 14 (+1)
Dex: 10 
Con: 15 (+1)
Cha: 11 
Sur: 14

Courage: 16
Critical: 14
Death:  12
Magic: 9
Mental: 14
Poison: 13

Languages: English

AC: 14 (Heavy Weather Coat, Merc class)
HP: 25
Move: 12

Attack Bonus:
+3 to Initiative
Punch/Kick +5, 1d4+1 damage
Suppressed Pistol +4, 1d6+1 damage, 100' range, 6 ammo cap, 1 ROF, medium 
No penalties for using improvised weapons

Skills:
Athletics: Basic 3 (+3/+4)
Combat Training 1 
Demolitions 1  (+3)
Fighting Brawling 1
Intimidation 1 (+3) 
Piloting: Basic 1 (+3)
Ranged Weapons 1
Wilderness Survival 1 (+2/+6 tracking)
Subterfuge 4 (+7)
Stealth 5 (+5)

Abilities:
Toughness +4 (Heavy Weather Coat, Brawling, Merc class)
Toughness +2 (Cold - Heavy Weather Coat)
Die Hard (recover 1 SUR point a day and gain +1 HP when healed)
Seize the Moment +1

Starting Equipment: 
Santa suit (Heavy Weather Coat), Suppressed Pistol, Cell Phone 

Season's Eatings from Halls of the Nephilim

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season. I've got a little Christmas present for you fine folks. Using the art I commissioned for my Christmas card (created by the amazing Kryscolor) I've turned my final Axemas day post into a pdf. The link is below.

Christmas Night of the Living Dead PDF

Twelve Days of Sweet Christmas - Santron Has Come To Town

Santron
Armor Class:  15                  Attack Damage: Bash 1d6 or Laser 2d6 (range 50')
Hit Dice:  6                            Special: See below
Move: 12/18 (flying)             Bonus: +4 to Hit, +5 Toughness, +1 to Damage
Attacks: 1 per round             Terror: 12   HDE: 8

Santron is a unique Ultron unit. It has an evil Ultron personality, but its subroutines also include holiday programming, which makes it quite eccentric. When presented with a Santa-based distraction (such as milk and cookies) it has a 50% chance to momentarily ignore its goal of world domination to  indulge it's Christmas spirit. Eccentricities aside, it's still a dangerous robot. It can use it's action to create a force bubble around itself, granting it an additional +10 toughness until it's next turn. Once per combat it can also emit a sonic wave that affects all organics in the immediate vicinity. They must make a DC 15 con check or lose their next 1d3 actions.

Music Monday - Puppet Master X-Mas

This fun little video was created by Tom Devlin who's worked with Full Moon Studios (creators of the Puppet Masters series) several times.

Remember if you want to add the puppets to your game, I've made a good template for them that can be found here.

Santa Monster Stock Art

My amazing friend Josh Beckelhimer has some wicked Christmas themed stockart available for a limited time. For two bucks you get the color and black and white version of this.

Buy the art here. Again, this is only available for a limited time.

Music Monday - Merry Axe-Mas

I've shared this song once this year and mentioned that it was the inspiration for my Merry Axemas posts earlier this month. However, I just shared the audio before. Since that time a really fun music video has been released for it. The video is full of nostalgia and the "it must have been Uncle Billy" line is a nice nod to the movie that inspired the song.

And remember if you want Billy or Ricky in your game I've got you covered.

Twelve Days of Sweet Christmas - Toy Soldier Mecha

Toy Soldier Mecha

Armor Class: 12               Attack Damage: Smash 2d6 damage 

Hit Dice: 5                        Special: Electricity Weakness

Move: 12                           Bonus: +2 to Hit, +15 to Toughness

Attack: 1 per round           HDE: 8

Toy Soldier Mecha are easy to hit and have (relatively) low HP, but they are highly damage resistant. Electric-based attacks do an additional 1d6 damage to Toy Soldier Mecha. 

Twelve Days of Sweet Christmas - Calendar Man

Calendar Man

Real Name: Julian Gregory Day

First Appearance: Detective Comics #259 (September 1958) 

Armor Class: 12               Attack Damage: Unarmed 1d4 damage or by weapon

Hit Dice: 5                         Special: Outsmart, Change With The Seasons

Move: 12                           Bonus: +3 to Hit, +1 to Damage

Attack: 1 per round           HDE: 4

Calendar Man can use Outsmart. His bonus for this roll is +2. Calendar Man's schemes are always tied to specific dates. 

The latest version of Calendar Man is tied to the seasonal weather of Gotham. He ages as the year goes on, dying in winter, only to be reborn again in spring. For this version you can modify the stats based on season:

• Spring - +2 to AC
• Summer - +2 to Damage
• Autumn -  +2 to Toughness, +2 to hit instead of +3, AC 11 instead of 12
• Winter - +2 to Outsmart, +1 to hit instead of +3, AC 10 instead of 12.

Succubus Sunday

Source

The Predator (2018)

Synopsis: While on a mission a sniper encounters an alien and manages to survive and ship some of the creature's equipment back to the states. He is detained and set to be locked away by a secret government group with a group of soldiers with psychological issues when the creature escapes. He and his fellow patients escape, team up with a scientist studying the creature, and head to his home to save his autistic son (who has been playing with the alien's tech) from the Predator and the secret government organization.

The Good: The actions scenes in this flick are very cinematic and well shot. The gore effects are good and the characters are memorable. Boyd Holbrook is a great lead. The Predators and their tech look awesome. If you're a fan of the franchise, there are some nice nods. There's a line about a getting to the choppers and the Predator is called a "beautiful mother fucker." Jake Busey plays the son of his father's character from Predator 2. Also the suit that's introduced in this film looks wicked cool!

The Bad: While they are primarily action flicks the original Predator movies focused on tension and suspense and were in some ways, sci-fi horror action flicks. There's too much humor in this one for there to be much tension built. I think the humans in this were too cinematic and over the top with their action. In previous flicks it took the best killers to even put a dint in the Predators, but these guys didn't need to much to hold them off (even if most of the characters do eventually end up dead or not). Not that the previous films features realistic violence, but it was more so then this movie. I didn't necessarily care for the new plot elements. I don't want to go into them really, but I don't think I care that it's added to their motivation. Also, the whole plot point about autism seems like a stretch and a subject that might be more than a little touchy. Finally, I say this as a former educator and someone that still works with kids, what kind of educator/caregiver leaves their classroom during a fire alarm with out checking to make sure it's clear first? One that's going to get fired, I suppose.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed this movie, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I'd hoped I would. There are some great scenes and the cast is great. Overall, I didn't like the stylistic or plot choices though. The reviews for this one were bad, but I say, watch it yourself and make your own opinion.

In Your Game:

Yautja (DNA Hybrid)
Armor Class: 15                                            Attack Damage: By Weapon

Hit Dice: 8                                                      Special: Stealthy, Well Equipped

Move: 12                                                        Bonuses: +5 to Hit, +5 to Toughness

Attacks: 2 per Round                                     HDE: 10

This Predator is genetically the ultimate hunter. It get a +4 bonus to all stealth based rolls. It also has access to various equipment.

Cloak - This piece of equipment allows the Yautja to appear invisible. This isn't perfect though and characters have a 1 in 3 chance of seeing the Yautja when it is moving. Cloaking devices can be damaged and if the Yautja takes more than 10 points of damage in a single attack, the device ceases to function until repaired.

Biomask- This mask gives it's wearer a +2 bonus to AC. In addition it gives its wearer various vision modes (including zoom capabilities, infrared, and EM vision). This grants the wearer +4 on rolls made to spot a target that is hiding. It also allows for voice mimicry and has a targeting system that gives it's wearer a +1 bonus to attacks using a plasmacaster.

Plasmacaster - This should mounted cannon is quite deadly. It has a 90' range and does 2d6 damage. They can be fired 3 consecutive rounds before needing five minutes to recharge.

Medicomp - This is a powerful and versatile first aid kits. It can be used to heal 2d6 damage 3/day. However this healing is actually quite painful and non-Yautja receiving the healing are unable to act for 2d6 round as they howl in pain or possibly go into temporary shock.

Shuriken/Smart Disc - These thrown weapons have a 50' range and deal 1d6+1 damage. They can be used as cutting tools. When thrown they will return to their thrower. Anyone wearing a biomask gets a +2 bonus to hit with this weapon. The thrower can make consecutive attacks on the following 1d3 rounds with the weapon even if it's not returned to their hand. These attacks do not take an attack action to perform.

Twelve Days of Sweet Christmas - Radioactive Santa

This character appeared in an issue of Hitman. 

Radioactive Santa
Armor Class: 13                                            Attack Damage: Unarmed 1d6 damage

Hit Dice: 4                                                      Special: Radioactive

Move: 12                                                        Bonuses: +3 to Hit, +2 to Damage

Attacks: 1 per Round                                     HDE: 6

Unless the character has some sort of protection from radiation, they suffer disadvantage on all physical rolls while within 30' of the Radioactive Santa. In addition wounds inflicted by this Santa can only be healed by magic or professional medical treatment.

Twelve Days of Sweet Christmas - The Predator Holiday Special

I've not watched The Predator, though I've head mainly bad things. That being said this promo holiday special they did for it is fantastic! This seems like a good time to stat a Predator for Vigilante City

Yautja (Unblooded)
Armor Class: 13                                            Attack Damage: By Weapon

Hit Dice: 5                                                      Special: Stealthy, Well Equipped

Move: 12                                                        Bonuses: +3 to Hit, +2 to Toughness

Attacks: 1 per Round                                     HDE: 6

The ultimate hunters even young Yautja are incredibly stealthy. They get a +4 bonus to all stealth based rolls. To customize each Yautja your players face, equip them as you see fit.

Cloak - This piece of equipment allows the Yautja to appear invisible. This isn't perfect though and characters have a 1 in 3 chance of seeing the Yautja when it is moving. Cloaking devices can be damaged and if the Yautja takes more than 10 points of damage in a single attack, the device ceases to function until repaired.

Biomask- This mask gives it's wearer a +2 bonus to AC. In addition it gives its wearer various vision modes (including zoom capabilities, infrared, and EM vision). This grants the wearer +4 on rolls made to spot a target that is hiding. It also allows for voice mimicry and has a targeting system that gives it's wearer a +1 bonus to attacks using a plasmacaster.

Plasmacaster - This should mounted cannon is quite deadly. It has a 90' range and does 2d6 damage. They can be fired 3 consecutive rounds before needing five minutes to recharge.

Medicomp - This is a powerful and versatile first aid kits. It can be used to heal 2d6 damage 3/day. However this healing is actually quite painful and non-Yautja receiving the healing are unable to act for 2d6 round as they howl in pain or possibly go into temporary shock.

Shuriken/Smart Disc - These thrown weapons have a 50' range and deal 1d6+1 damage. They can be used as cutting tools. When thrown they will return to their thrower. Anyone wearing a biomask gets a +2 bonus to hit with this weapon. The thrower can make consecutive attacks on the following 1d3 rounds with the weapon even if it's not returned to their hand. These attacks do not take an attack action to perform.

Cocaine Bear

This meme showed up in my Facebook feed today and I had to look into it more. If you want to learn more about the Cocaine Bear and find out where you can see him, read this.

I think the Cocaine Bear would make a great boss fight for a group of low level Vigilante City characters. Have the party head to a dealer's base of operations and take him out. During the last encounter have the dealer's pet bear get into his supply. He can either quickly dispatch his owner (which would be a great boss fight switch) or could face the party in addition to the dealer.

Cocaine Bear

Armor Class: 15                                           Attack Damage: Claw 1d6, Bite 1d6+1

Hit Dice: 6                                                    Special:  Roar, OD

Move: 15                                                      Bonuses: +5 to Toughness, +3 to damage

Attacks: 2 per Round                                   HDE: 5

The cocaine bear can let out a horrifying roar that causes all enemies within the immediate vicinity to make a Courage Saving Throw or be frozen with fear for 1d3 combat rounds. Starting the second turn of combat, roll a d10 at the end of cocaine bear’s turn. If the result is 10, he OD’s and dies.

Twelve Days of Sweet Christmas - E.L.F.S.

Sorry this is a day late. 

E.L.F.S. (Effective Liberating Flight Squad)
Armor Class: 13                                           Attack Damage: Unarmed 1d4 

Hit Dice: 3                                                     Special: Stealthy, B&E

Move: 12 / 18 Fly                                          Bonuses: +2
Attacks: 1 per Round                                    HDE: 2

Sometimes even Santa needs help getting out of a jam. That's when his E.L.F.S. come in. These elves are train in stealth (granting a +4 to rolls involving avoiding detection), trained in unarmed combat, and have flight packs. They are also adept at picking locks and get a +4 to all rolls involving that task.

My Next Campaign

Starting at the beginning of the year I'm going to be running a 5E game every other Friday night. I've got four players so far and while I've known them all for years, I've never played D&D with them. I'm having an internal debate about how I want to start the game out. These are the two adventures I'm leaning towards. 

I know that Lost Mine is a fun adventure because I ran it when 5e first came out. It's got a nice variety and I'm very familiar with it. In contrast, Waterdeep Dragon Heist is the new hotness. Though I've not read it yet,  I've heard some great things from folks that are running it.

If Lost Mines is the route I go, I plan on adding another lost mine (Glitterdoom). I also think the Kobold Art Exhibit will make an appearance. Some of the monster variations from Volo's Guide will definitely be added in.

If I go with Dragon Heist, I'm going to make Manshoon the villain so that the adventure is set during winter. This works with the timing of the game and lets me use Winter's Splendor. I can also use my copy of Cloud Giant's Bargain. Of course, if I use Dragon Heist I can also go right into Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

With both adventures I'm going to introduce a character from The Mermaid's Blessing early on. I'm also going to do a 5E version of the Secret Party House of the Hill Giant Playboy because it's just sounds fun as Hell and I never got to use it.

So what games do you have lined up for the new year?

Ash Wednesday - A Merry Deadite X-Mas

Evil Dead 2 A Merry Deadite X-Mas is a one shot in Space Goat Publishing's Evil Dead 2 line. In the story similacrum Ash and Annie Knowsby are contacted by a nerdy guy that works at a year round Christmas theme park. When Ash and Annie arrive they fiend themselves in a trap and fighting deadite toys and gingerbread men. They are helped by a pair of badass kids and save Christmas or something like that. Because that's the sort of thing that happens in Christmas specials...

The comic is short and fun. I wish there were more Evil Dead 2 stories like this. The comics were fun and the artwork great. However, Space Goat Publishing, was ran by some shifty folks that raised over a million dollars through a couple of board game Kickstarters, kept the money, and then asked fans to donate money to the company.

Anyway, it's pretty easy to include elements of this in your Evil Dead DP&D games. Toulon's Puppets and Krampus Gifts both work for the deadite toys. I plan on statting Ginger Deadmen soon, which work for the evil ginger bread folks in this one. I still wanted to do some stats though so here are stats for the spikey bumper cars features in the comic. I'm using the vehicle rules from Vigilante City for this, because I can see some clown princes in that game having similar vehicles.

Bumper Death Cars
HP 15, AP 1, AC 12, Max Speed 2, -2 DC on weather and terrain modifiers, +4 bonus and +1d6 damage on "Ram a Bystander" action