Succubus Sunday

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April A-Z Blog Challenge Theme Reveal

Wow, it's almost April and I hadn't thought about the April Blog Challenge A-Z until this morning. I'm going to do it though and I'm using an idea I've been playing around with for a bit. I want to a do a monster/npc book for White Box full of unique fiends for characters to interact with. I'm going to use Louis Le Breton's illustrations from the 1863 edition of Dictionnaire Infernal.

Enter the Mutagenesis Sector

Grab your bowl of sugary cereal and your laser sword. The newest release from The Lone Bards takes your favorite 80's cartoons into space. Written with Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, The Mutagenesis Sector is a sector for you to explore. The anthropomorphic animal encounter tables. There's also a section that discusses making anthropomorphic characters. A print on demand version is in the works.The pdf is rules light and would make a nice resource for White Star too.

The Legacy of Captain Marvel

Check out this amazing tribute to Captain Marvel and his legacy by Alex Ross. Click the image for a larger version. 

While he's extremely powerful, maybe I could do a lower powered version for Vigilante City?

Vigilante Files: The Sentinel Now Available

The third release from The Lone Bards is now available. The Sentinel is a new class based on a certain classic 90's cartoon that I adore.

Beastmaster - A New Class For The Blackest of Deaths

I watched one of my favorite swords & sorcery flicks earlier this weekend decided to turn the protagonist into a class for The Blackest of Death.... which is coming to Kickstarter next month.

Beastmaster

Beastmasters are primal warriors touched by the gods. Each bears a brand or birthmark that grants them a connection to the beasts of the earth and the fowl of the air. Sometimes, confused with Barbarians and Rangers, they are versatile warriors, aided by furred and feathered companions.

Class Bonus

+1 to WIS

Class Restriction

Despite elven ties to nature, the gods only grant true power over beasts to Humans.

Weapon/Armor Restrictions

Beastmasters can use one-handed Swords, Staves, and a thrown weapon known as a Caber. Seeking to emulate the beasts they command, they eschew the use of armor and shields.

Master of Beasts

No animal will attack a Beastmaster unless the Beast Master attacks it or it is under magical control. He can also sooth and calm beasts. To use this ability, the Game Master set a target Difficulty Challenge and the Beastmaster rolls with advantage.

Animal Speech

The Beastmaster can communicate telepathically with animals, including magical varieties.

Beast Bond

The Beastmaster can be bonded two one animal or pair of smaller animals (such as rodents) equal their WIS. As long as they are not treated poorly, they will follow the Beastmasters commands without the need of a Difficult Challenge. The Beastmaster may sever this bond at anytime, but it takes a day of close proximity to create a new bond.

The Eye of the Tiger

Beastmasters can enter a trance and see through the eyes of an animal he is bonded with up to a 5 mile radius. They may speak during this trance, but can do nothing else.

Weapon: Caber

Damage: 1d6

Rate of Fire: 1

Range: 40 ft.

Cost: -

Special: Unless the d6 rolled when throwing a caber is a 1, it will return to it's owners hand.

The Lone Bards

Check out this amazing logo for The Lone Bards created by the extremely talented Raven Winter  Metcalf.

While I'll obviously post things on here, you can also find updates on our Facebook page. We have a MeWe group as well.

Vigilante Files: Pummel Now Available

Vigilante Files: Pummel is the second release from The Lone Bards. Josh really do all the work for this one, I just gave some advice and looked at the stats. If  you're looking for a villain to cause some property damage and smash heads, Pummel is the guy for you.

Succubus Sunday

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Pirate Bundle Review

At 62 pages, the Pirate Bundle by Limitless Adventures is light on art, but heavy on usable content. It contains 46 fully detailed sea and coast locations/encounters, a crewed sailing ship for pc's to use, a floating pirate town, and pirate weaponry (including detailed firearm rules).

Despite being sea-centric, the encounters are varied. There's a nice variety of skill challenges, monsters, and obstacles for characters to face. Some of these include new magic items. There's a pirate map, with premade encounters which is a fantastic tool to give to players. I have to say my favorite part of the book is Flotsam. Flotsam is a group of rocks, ships, and wrecks that have been connected via wooden decks. It's a cool addition to any nautical game and gives you an bastion of civilization that you can put anywhere in the endless seas.

With the next official adventure being the Ghosts of Saltmarsh compilation, the Pirate Bundle is a perfect campaign aid. Even if you don't like pirates, this is a great nautical supplement and I recommend it to anyone that wants their D&D games to hit the high seas.

Physical copies are currently only available to Kickstarter backers (like me), but you can grab the pdf here.

Quick Reviews for Birch + Bat Studios

Birch + Bat Studios is the creation of Kiel Chenier and Arella Prest. You might know Kiel as the author of the fantastic and controversial (aren't they all) LotFP adventure, Blood in the Chocolate. They have some really cool mugs, shirts, stickers, and other things, but today I want to talk about their pdfs.

Their gaming pdfs are 50% off through the end of the month. I've purchased three of them and though I'd do a little quick review/recommendation.

Seance of Slumber is 11 page 5e supplement adds the element of dreams to your game. It includes a new merchant, who has some really cool dream related merchandise (including new magic items). There are some random tables to determine what the characters dream of. This is a fun little pdf and is currently less than a dollar.

Von Bottom's Hoard  is an interesting adventure for D&D (any version or variation) that has a humorous anime feel too it. The titular Baron Augustus von Bottom is a wealthy retired adventure who's swollen into a giant balloon man because of dragon sickness (caused from hoarding gold and eating dragon meat). The very open-end mansion crawl adventure is full of zany maids, cooks, and other servants. If you like humorous fantasy anime, pick this one up for sure. It's currently available for less than two dollars.

Burlesque House Siege! is an OSR adventure designed for tabletop gaymers and GenCon2016. The party find themselves having a waking up at the Maison Derriere, after a good night (which can randomly be determined by a roll). The players learn that there is a bandit army on its way to the burlesque house and must prepare, rally the employees, and defend the establishment. The pdf contains details and stats for several of the dancers, plus the bandits and their leader. Additionally there are discussions on running it as a convention game or making it a part of your home campaign. Finally, there are rules for running the Maison Derriere, should the pc's come into ownership of it, along with random burlesque dancer, performance, and show interruption tables. One thing I really loved about this adventure is despite the fact that every friendly character is LGBT, that has nothing to do with the plot and conflict. While I'm sure this one won't jive with some folks taste, I really like it and want to use it at some point. This pdf is also currently less than two dollars.

Stranded

Stranded is a new Bigfoot film directed by Ohio native Shawn Burkett of Concept Media.  Shawn also directed the really fun flick, Don't Fuck in the Woods. Here's a synopsis of the flick from the press release:

The film follows a group of siblings into the wilderness to fulfill their mother’s request of scattering her ashes in a location where she was fond of as a child. Along the way the siblings are forced to hash out issues and reopen old wounds before they become stranded on an old country road where they come face to face with the infamous bigfoot.

Here's a behind the scenes trailer and the official teaser.

Y'all know that I love indie horror and cryptid related things. I also love that this movie is being made by Ohio folks and is is about bigfoot specifically. My state is a hotbed of bigfoot sightings (as the map below shows). I'm from Scioto County, lived in Franklin until recently, and currently live in Ross County. As the map shows, all three have had bigfoot sightings in the last 19 years. 

This movie sounds like perfect inspiration for a Dark Places & Demogorgons game. The Cryptid Manual would be the perfect resource, with it's several variations of bigfeet (which really doesn't sound right). 

The film currently has an Indigogo campaign that goes through April. There are some really cool perk levels. Personally, my favorite is the 50 DVD/Bluray signed steelbook of the flick. I absolutely love steelbooks.  Other levels include posters, behind the scenes flash drives, posters, pins, busts, and even walk on roles and producer credits. If this seems like a flick you'd enjoy, consider donating here. 

Support indie horror!  

Vigilante Files: Remnant Available Now

The first release from my new rpg partnership with Josh Beckelhimer, The Lone Bards, is now available. Remnant is a relic from the Cold War. My basic thoughts when designing him were "What if Captain America gave up being a patriotic hero and turned into Deathstroke?" You can grab the pdf here for 1.99.

Ash Wednesday - The King

Sebastian Haff/Elvis Presley
Class/Level: Performer 7

STR: 11 (+0)
INT: 12 (+0)
WIS: 14 (+1)
DEX: 8 (-1)
CON: 13 (+1)
CHA: 18 (+3)
SUR: 11

Courage: 16
Critical: 14
Death: 15
Mental: 13
Poison: 14

AC: 11 (Dex. Martial Arts) Choose not to attack to make AC 13
HP: 31
Toughness: -
Move: 9

Attack Bonus
Kung fu +0 to hit, d4 damage
Walker +0 to hit, d6 damage

Skills:
Art & Music 4 (+10)
Dancing 4 (+6)
Driving 1 (-1)
Fashion 1 (+4)
Investigation 1 (+3)
Knowledge - 2 General (+2)
Paranormal 1 (+3)
Persuasion  2 (+7)

Abilities:
All friendly characters within 60' gain +3 to saving throws
All " " "" 30' gain +1 to AC
If attacked, attacker must make Mental save (+3 to their roll) or must attack another target valid in 30'.
Make a DC 15 Art & Music roll to grant friendly characters within 60' +1 to AC, +1d6 to HP, +1 to attack, +1 to damage, +1 to all skill checks, and +1 to all saves for 1 hour.
May use an extra Survival point to re-roll any failed skill or saving roll.

Equipment: aviators, King outfit, robe, medication, walker

Chromatic Soup 01 Review

I've talked about two of Evlyn Moreau's books, The Kobolds' Art Exhibition and Spinetooth Oasis, before. Today I wanted to talk about a project that she spearheaded, Chromatic Soup 01. Physically the zine, I think I'm going to call it a zine, has odd dimensions (4.25"x6.88") and features Evlyn's unique black and white art.

The zine discusses two different (but connected) swamp areas, the Biting Marshes and the Mae Khwam Kruna rice lands. Another nearby area, the Flatstone Fortress is also mentioned and lightly detailed.

The Biting Marshes are the home to the Swamp Duke and his growing army. While he plays humble, he secretly eyes for more power. His army includes swamp marines, log-jaw pipers, and stew pot witches. Each of these groups gets a class variant. Log-jaw pipers command packs of gators. Stewpot witches are my favorite though, because of their animated pot familiars. This section also details a goblin tribe, bobcat men, a few locations, and include charts that help flesh out the flora and fauna of the swamp.

The rice lands details the unique magic of the land and it's shrines. It also includes a variant magic-user. New insectile fae are introduced as well. The Flatstone Fortress is home to an order of merchant knights (the receive class treatment). Various charts are given to flesh them out, give them squires, and a few example knights are presented. The book ends with several charts and articles about swamp encounters (that would work in either swamp).

If you like a bit of weirdness in your OSR, you need to pick this up. At 176 pages, it's only 5.04. Its a great supplement to Fever Swamp.

#PamphletJam

Recently I discovered that Nate Treme of the Highland Paranormal Society has created pamphlet adventures.  This is a really brilliant idea. He sent copies Exalted Funeral. Order something cool from those awesome folks and they'll include one for free.

He's created an event, Pamphlet Dungeon Jam, over at Itch.io. Josh and I plan on taking part, so The Lone Bards will be taking part. I think all of my rpg creator friends should participate too. And keep the idea going. Having a con-exclusive pamphlet adventure that can only be obtained from meeting up in person is a really cool idea. I plan on having one ready for Origins and Gencon.

Deathstalker II (1987)

Synopsis: Deathstalker, now a charismatic rogue rather than a stoic barbarian, escorts a deposed Princess named Evie to her home. There they must confront the evil sorcerer/swordsman Jarek and his evil Evie clone.

The Good: This movie is self aware and has some fun humor. Like the first movie, there's plenty of cheese and cheesecake. Actually some of the cheesecake (the ladies in mud) is footage from the first flick. I liked Deathstalker in this one a lot. He's played by Ohio-born John Terlesky. He's cocky, cute, and has a punchable face... but that makes him the perfect snarky rogue. While it was ridiculous, I loved the bit with G.L.O.W.'s Matilda the Hun.

The Bad: This film is definitely going to be too self aware for some. This movie is another Conan/fantasy cash grab and this one even mentions Conan by name. It's also going to be too cheesy for some.  The film had a low budget and it's noticeable.

Final Thoughts: Despite anything negative I've said about it, I enjoyed the movie. It took me a little bit to get into it, but once I did, it was a fun and cheesy ride.

In Your Game: 

Deathstalker

Class: Street Rat

STR:2

INT: 3
WIS: 1
DEX: 3
CON: 3
CHA: 3

HP: 13

Luck: 8 (Regains 2 per session, can spend to let ally re-roll)

Evade: 14

Armor Points: 1 (Leather Armor)

Advantage on Escape rolls

Advantage on Thievery rolls

Advantage on when attempting to detect deception

Can give a short rallying cry to grant allies Advantage on their next action (1/session)

Attacks:

Dagger +2/+3 to hit (1d6-1, can be thrown)

Long Sword +2 to hit (1d6)

Equipment: Dagger, Long Sword, Leather Armor

B/X Essentials: Demihumans of Dolmenwood

B/X Essentials: Demihumans of Dolmenwood is a free mini supplement for B/X Essentials (soon to be Old-School Essentials) and is playtest info for the in-development Dolmenwood Player's Handbook. If you aren't familiar with Dolmenwood, it's a fairy tail inspired forest setting created by Necrotic Gnome and featured in the Wormskin zine. The short supplement includes the following:

The Elf (Fairy) class- The elves of Dolmenwood are far more otherworldly than typical B/X elves. They are immortal, they are considered to have a CHA of at least 14 (for physical attractiveness), have access to special runes, can use magical glamours, and read magic. However, their ties to the fey realms main that they are vulnerable to silver and cold iron. Additionally, because the fey are outside of the realms of the gods, beneficial aid from divine magic won't necessarily affect them.

Woodgrue class - Woodgue are bat-faced demi-fey that know how to have a good time. They have musical abilities and can communicate via the wind and can use their abilities to cause those that hear it go into a mad revelry.  Like the Fairy Elf they are vulnerable to cold iron and silver. Additionally, they are compelled to take part in jubilation they witness must abide by ancient rites.

Favours for the Elf Lords - In addition to normal treasure, adventurers in Dolmenwood can gain special favours from the lords and ladies of the fey. The provide limited uses of spells or other unique abilities.

This was a cool little supplement and full of flavour. If you play B/X games, you should definitely download this one and take a look.

Rendel: Dark Vengeance (2017)

Synopsis: A dark vigilante takes on a corporation with criminal ties that took away his perfect life.

The Good: This movie has a great style and looks like it takes place in Finland's version of Gotham City. Rendel, himself, looks really cool and I love his guardian angel character. The fight scenes are a absolutely brutal and a few of them are quite humorous.

The Bad: The plot of this movie  really needs fleshed out. The villains for example. We know they have created some sort of vaccine and it's been tested on children in developing nations, but nothing more is said. We know they're bad guys and should be stopped, but more info would have been nice. Also as Tim pointed out in his review, how does Rendel eat?

Final Thoughts: This was a nice indie supers flick (and the first to come from Finland). It wasn't perfect, but I dug it and if you're a fan of street level supers, you should check it out.

In Your Game:

Rendel
Alignment: Chaos
Class: Dark Avenger     
Level: 3

STR: 16 (+2)
INT: 13 (+1)
WIS: 10 (+0)
DEX: 13 (+1)
CON: 15 (+1)
CHA: 8 (-1)
SUR: 12

Courage: 13
Critical: 13
Death: 12
Magic: 8
Mental: 12
Poison: 10

Languages: Finnish, English

AC: 17 (Dex, Dark Avenger, Leather Coat, Mask)
Toughness: 2 (Brawling, Leather Coat)
HP: 18
Move: 12

Attack:
+2 Melee Attacks (Dark Avenger)/+1 Punches and Kicks
Punch/Kick +3 to hit, d4+1 damage

Skills:
Basic Athletics 3 (+4)
Combat Training
Driving 1 (+2)
Fighting: Brawling 1
Interrogation 1 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5) - +1 to resist
Mathematics 1 (+2)
Parkour 1 (+2)
Stealth 2 (+3_
Street Smart 1 (+4)

Equipment: Leather Coat, Mask (can't be removed)

Deathstalker (1983)

Synopsis: A warrior, Deathstalker, enters a fighting tournament hosted by an evil wizard in order to gain ultimate power (and maybe rescue a princess).

The Good: The movie is full of cheese and cheesecake. Despite it's low quality it's actually kind of entertaining and it's only 80 minutes. Also, there's a pig faced orc!

The Bad: The plot doesn't make sense, the acting is bad, and the whole thing looks like an uncensored 80's hair metal video. The nudity is gratuitous and I'm not quite sure when the film is set, but apparently it was before the invention of consent.

Final Thoughts: Though you don't see his name on the poster, this was produced by Roger Corman, and it shows. This flick was an obvious Conan cash grab.

In Your Game:

True Orc

These pig-faced marauders are the true and original orcs, not the green-skinned brutes that most know. They are extremely strong and crude, loving little more than pillaging and feasting.

HP: 20

Evade: 14

Armor Point: 2 (Natural) 3 (Armor)

Bonus: +3 to Attack, +3 to Damage

Attack: By Weapon

Special: Advantage on all attack rolls when at 5 HP or fewer

Music Monday - Vikings & Vampires

Joshua Burnett's Draugrs & Draculas Kickstarter project ends next week.  The project is an OSR zine that will contain the following:

• Stats and details on Dracula, his servants, and his rival, Elizabeth Bathory!
• Draugr information and a class
• Rules for making a deal with the Devil!
• Magic items of perilous power
• Pagan's Well - a small dungeon full of traps and treasures
• Anything else he can fit in.

Josh is a cool cat and you know this this one is right up my alley. I too love vikings and vampires (plus deals with the Devil).  If you're an OSR person, you should definitely check this one out.

I'm dedicating this Music Monday post to the zine by posting my favorite viking and vampire tracks.

"Hold the heathen hammer with a battle cry

For pagan I live and one day will die"

"I'm slipping through the cracks again

They'll never take me alive because I'm already dead"

Succubus Sunday

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SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City Villain's Guide Review

The Villain's Guide for Vigilante City is the GM companion to the Core Rules. Like the core book it is totally illustrated by Runehammer and looks phenomenal.

The book includes a brief description of Victory City (otherwise known as Vigilante City) and the gangs that call it home. Each of the gang has a cool themed, though my favorite (at least by name) is the 502-Trioxin (a great nod to Return of the Living Dead).

This section is followed by 20 or so pages of information that lets you bring the city alive. There are numerous tables that help you truly flesh things out and build adventures.

A ten or so page description of a subsetting for the game, Anthropomorph Island is presented. This is followed by a starter adventure written by James M. Spahn, entitled Coppers & Robots. It's a fun little romp involving mechanical mayhem and serves as a great example of how an adventure should flow.

This is followed by a bit of talk about the MegaHuman explosion in the setting.

The book ends with lots of new characters, good, bad, and otherwise. There is a large number of characters in the rogues gallery. Most of the characters are unique, there there are some great homages to classic villains like Apocalypes.  Vigilante City's one supers team, the Crisis Knights are given stats. This is followed by sample 1st level charactars, stats for generic folk of the city, a bestiary, and templates.

The book ends with community content created by the backers. There's really cool stuff in here. My friend Josh C. has three characters, a snake themed villain, a tribute to Oracle, and a new take on a character from one of our high school games. Tim Knight's Acrobatic Flea gets the VC treatment, though he's known as the Acrobat. He even gets some cool artwork. I have three characters with artwork.  The Wandering Nephil was a character I definitely had to include. This version of the character is a small town mutant that want's to use his abilities to make the world a better place. My second edition is the villainous El Bibliotecario Rojo (the Red Librarian), a luchador and collector of the occult. My final addition to the book is Remedy, a knight nurse who seeks to heal the wounds of the city. Though it's not mentioned in the book, he's going to be a member of Avalanche (a group of "snowflakes" that do what they can to fight greed and make the world a better place). Avalanche will be detailed more at a later time.

This is a fantastic GM book and has all of the crunchy and creative inspiration a person needs to run Vigilante City. Combined with the Core Rules and I really think you have the perfect supers game. I really can't wait to have physical copies in my hands.

Captain Marvel (2019)

Synopsis: An extraterestrial warrior-hero of the Kree empire finds herself on Earth trying to stop the shapeshifting Skrulls. Plagued by flashes of a past and a connection to the planet she doesn't remember, she teams up with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Nick Fury, to find a valuable piece of tech before it falls into the wrong hands.

The Good: The movie takes place in 1995 and is a great piece of nostalgia for that. The inclusion of Blockbuster and Radio Shack, combined with the soundtrack is perfect. Seeing Carol kick major ass to No Doubt's I'm Just a Girl was perfection.  Like other MCU flicks the fight scenes were well choreographed and the action is spectacular. The effects were crisp. Brie Larson has a great confidence and snark to her, which makes her a perfect Carol. Ben Mendelsohn was phenomenal as the Skrull, Talos. I really liked the character. As always Samuel L. Jackson was great as Fury. I particularly enjoyed his portrayal in this flick because he was younger and more fun loving. Lashana Lynch and Akira Akbar did a wonderful job as Maria and Monica Rambeau. There were very likable supporting characters and added some extra heart to the film. Clark Gregg is a younger agent Coulson and has a small but important role. Finally, as much as I hated seeing everyone saying that Goose the Cat steals every scene he's in... he absolutely does.

The Bad: This film makes a major change from how things are typically portrayed in the comics. I know this is a point of contention for some folks, but it didn't bother me at all. The MCU has been doing it's own thing for a while.

Final Thoughts: This was not the greatest Marvel movie I've seen, but it's a solid mid card title. I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

In Your Game:

Skrull (MCU)
Armor Class: 13
Hit Dice: 4
Move: 12
Actions: 1
Attacks Unarmed d6
Special: Can shapeshift into other being, down to the DNA level. They are also able to replicate the target's recent memories.
Bonuses: +3 to Attack rolls, +2 to Initiative rolls, +3 to Investigation rolls
HDE: 4

Hawk the Slayer (1980)

Synopsis: When an abbess is kidnapped by the Dark One, Voltan, an ex soldier seeks out the aid of a hero of light, Hawk. Hawk gathers his eclectic band of friends (including an elf, a dwarf, and a giant), to save the abbess and defeat Voltan.

The Good: This is the perfect D&D movie, even if it's not related to D&D. It's a really good, classic swords and sorcery flick, one of the better I've seen. Gort (the giant) and Baldin (the dwarf) were definitely my favorite characters. Also, the depiction of the elf in the film makes me realize the classic thought that Vulcans are space elves is correct.

The Bad: This was made in the 1980's and the effects of the look rather cheesy. The dialogue is also very over the top and dramatic. Personally I think these things add to the charm of the film, but I could see how it would bother others.

Final Thoughts: I decided to watch this at the urging of Tim Knight from Hero Press. I'm glad I did, because it's a really good S&W flick. Honestly, it makes me want to play low magic game. It also makes me want to go back and watch some other 70's and 80's swords and sorcery flicks.

In Your Game: My good friend, Tim Knight, has written extensively about the film and has created gaming material based on the film. You can see his posts here. I'm going to go ahead and give direct links to the gaming material based on the film that I really like.

The Mindsword
Dwarven Crossbow of Speed

I wanted to make some content of my own too. Here are stats for the main villain using Eric Bloat's unreleased (outside of backers for his last DP&D Kickstarter) game, The Blackest of Deaths.

Voltan

Voltan is a wicked man without mercy, He killed his own father and sister-in-law (Hawk's wife), who burnt the left side of his face with a torch. This leaves him in constant pain and he must seek relief from the magic of an evil entity. 

HP: 25

Evade: 16

Armor Point: 2 (Armor)

Bonus: +3 to Attack, +2 to Damage

Attack: By Weapon

Special: Unhealing Wound*

*When an attack is made again Voltan with Benefit the character can choose to strike the wound, even if the attack is a failure and causes no damage. Because of the painful nature of the wound Voltan has Disadvantage on his next attack.

Deals With Demons

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I love Exalted Funeral. While browsing there yesterday, I found this interesting product: Deals With Demons by World Champ Game Co.. Check out the description:

Deals With Demons is a limited edition zine of a ruleset I use for player death in D&D 5e. (can be easily tweaked for other editions).

The zine is composed of six sealed red envelopes. In each envelope is a card offering a unique deal from a demon. After failing their death saves, a player may choose to accept the deal and return to life with a listed curse (and mechanical change to their character sheet) or pass and truly die. Rules are printed inside the cover so as to not spoil for players.

Each zine includes 6 unique demons (no repeats) out of a possible 18, so each zine is unique.

The first edition of DWD is limited to 25 hand stitched and numbered copies. Available here are the 10 remaining copies after Grand Rapids Zine Fest.

This is a fantastic idea and while it may not be used every game, it's a cool trick to have up your DM sleeve. The look and sound like quality products. If you want a set you need to act fast though. As the product description says, there are only 10 remaining and I have it on really good authority that one was ordered this morning... you know because I ordered one this morning.

Dollman (1991)

Synopsis: Tough as nails alien cop, Brick Bardo, chases his arch nemesis through space and crash lands on Earth. Unfortunately his species are much smaller and he's only 13 inches tall. He meets a  young activist and face off with local thugs, dispensing justice, and showing that size doesn't matter.

The Good: Tim Thomerson does a great job as a 13 inch tall Dirty Harry. He's a gruff tough cop stereotype and it's fun. Jackie Earl Haley plays the main thug, Braxton Red, and is fun in the role. Interestingly enough he makes some nice social commentary about the state of impoverished areas and how they are neglected by those in power.

The Bad: The effects for this one are classic Full Moon and not the greatest. I think they have charm though. I think Braxton's no body gives a damn about us speech at the end is wasted.

Final Thoughts: This movie is cheesy, but fun. There's definitely gaming inspiration that can be take from this one. Brick appeared in a few more Full Moon stories. He fights the Demonic Toys in a sequel (which I own but haven't watched yet). He also kills the Full Moon Universe in a recent comic series.

In Your Game: Brick Bardo would make an interesting ally in a Vigilante City game.

Brick Bardo
Armor Class: 16
Hit Dice: 5 (18 HP)
Move: 12
Actions: 1
Attacks Kruger Blaster 2d6+1 (range 100)
Special: Disadvantage on all Grapple rolls, Advantage on all Stealth rolls
Bonuses: +3 to Ranged attack rolls, +5 to Investigation rolls, +2 to Initiative rolls, +2 to Intimidation rolls
HDE: 4

Kruger Blaster 
Damage: 2d6+1
Range: 100
Rate of Fire: 1
Ammo: -
Cost: -
Notes: Because of the method the firearm damages things at a cellular level, wounds caused by this gun can only be healed by advanced (future or alien) tech or magic. The gun is also sized for natives of Brick's species. If a creature is larger than tiny they have a -5 to attack rolls with the Kruger Blaster.

You’ll Never Get Me Pot O’ Gold

Just wanted to remind folks that the Dark Places & Demogorgons Holiday Special I wrote last year contains a St. Patrick's Day advneture featuring an alien pot of gold mimic. Remember, the pdf is 100% free because Eric Bloat loves  you.

Ash Wednesday - Ash's Hand

Ash's deadite possessed hand packs quite a punch (pun intended). It's survived quite a bit and has returned a few times in the comics.

Ash's Hand
Armor Class: 15
Hit Dice/Points: 4 (15 HP)
Move: 18
Actions: 2
Attack: Slap/Punch/Scratch d6 or Choke d6-1 or Kandarian Dagger d6-1
Special: Death Grip (if it makes a successful choke attack, it can maintain a choke hold automatically dealing d6-1 damage every turn)
Bonuses: +3 to Melee attacks, +5 to Initiative, +5 to Hide rolls
Morale: 10
Terror: 9
HDE: 3

Dead Shack (2017)

Synopsis: A teen heads to a rundown cottage in the woods for a weekend getaway with his crude best friend and his family (including fearless older sister and hard partying dad and future step-mom). Wandering through the woods they come across a scene of cannibalism and find themselves fighting for their lives against a zombie family.

The Good: This is a good zombedy. There's a nice blend of comedic timing and flesh-eating horror. The film also has a nice aesthetic, which can be seen in the poster. Finally it's a pretty heartfelt flick.

The Bad: While he comes into his own, the lead is very timid and awkward. It personally brought back embarrassing memories for me. 

Final Thoughts: This was nice little flick. It's currently on Shudder if you'd like to check it out.

In Your Game: The idea of someone keeping their zombified family and feeding them would be a great encounter for Zombies!. I think this would make a great Dark Places & Demogorgons session too.

Zed Parent
Armor Class: 14
Hit Dice/Points: 4
Move: 12
Actions: 1
Attack: Shotgun 4d6+3 or Knife 1d6-1
Special: Drugged Wine (Poison saving throw with +3 penalty or pass out), will go berserk if zombie family killed, advantage on all attack rolls made by zed parent and against them
Bonuses: +2 to Melee attacks, +2 to Toughness, +4 to zombie handling rolls
Morale: 7
HDE: 3
Equipment: Leather armor, welding helmet, shotgun, chains, bottle of drugged wine

It Stains The Sands Red (2016)

Synopsis: Fleeing Vegas during a zombie apocalypse, a woman with a troubled past is stalked by a lone zombie.

The Good: Brittany Allen does a great job as the lead. Also, one thing I really liked about this movie is it shows why slow zombies as scary. Sure they're easy to out pace and that can seem comical. However, you eventually have to rest and they don't. They will catch up to you.

The Bad: This flick doesn't know what tone it wants to have. It mixes horror, comedy, and drama, but I'm not sure it does it in the best ways.

Final Thoughts: Despite the tone shifts and way to coincidental ending, I enjoyed this flick.

In Your Game: The following rule can be used in STZ2E and the example is actually from a scene in the film

Zombies can be distracted by items that have been thoroughly soaked in human blood, such as a used tampon. The trick doesn't work well when facing hordes, but when facing off against one or two unintelligent zombies, it can by you a few turns. The character must make a DC 10 Dex check to throw it in a spot that will lure the zed. This will distract the zombie for 1d4 + 1 round for every increment of 5 over 10.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets Kickstarter

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets is a new game on Kickstarter by my friend and the world's nicest gamer, Diogo Nogueira. It is a joint venture between Diogo's company, Old Skull Publishing and Gallant Knight Games. The game uses the streamlined system of Diogo's other games and sets them in a modern occult world. Check out these sample pages:

The game launched today, is only running for a week, and has already funded. If you like Supernatural, Buffy, or anything like that, check this out out. I know Diogo has been putting his heart into this one for a while and it's going to be fantastic!

SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City Core Rules Review

Today is the day non-backers can finally get a true taste of Vigilante City. The pdfs for the Core Rules and Villain's Guide are available. The core pdf is a massive 294 pages. Of those pages, 194 are devoted to the classes!  The art and layout have been done by Runehammer  and are truly amazing. The game's style and rules perfectly emmulate 80's and 90's action vigilante cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series, TMNT, Spider-Man, and X-Men.

Overview

The game, like other SURVIVE THIS!! titles, is a built on old school D&D rules and new school innovations and sensibilities. The game includes the classic six attributes, along with a seventh, SURVIVAL. This attribute can be spent to re-roll a failed attempt on a dice roll one time. Characters also start with more hit dice that a typical OSR character. These tweaks make it easier to survive, which is nice considering the lethality of old school gaming. Characters have six saving throws that they will need to roll under or tie during game play. They are courage, critical, death, magic, mental, and poison. There are a few interesting charts associated with them. My favorite is the Death saving throws' Out of Action chart. If you're reduced below 1 HP ,  you are taken out of action, unconscious, and roll on a d6 to see if there are other effects. Note, you only actually die on a 6. Again, this makes the game less lethal than its OSR brethren. The game uses the classic Law and Chaos alignment system.

One of the new optional rules for Vigilante City is the Vigilante Points system. Characters start with a value of 0 and this number can be raised or lower depending on their actions. Their vigilante score can provide some great penalties or bonuses, depending on the characters' reputations. Another great option during character creation is the Vigilante Origin tables. Sure you can come up with your own, but you can also roll randomly (which will give you some interesting bonuses). There's also a starting money chart, which provides additional character traits (such as skill bonuses or additional starting languages).

As mentioned earlier a majority of the book is taken up by class information. The classes are divided into two groups, human and megahuman. The classes allow you to play gritty street-level non-powered or take it to the next level and play low level supers (though trust me they can be quite powerful at high levels). While the human classes are rather balanced, that's kind of thrown at the window a bit with the megahumans. This emulates the genre well though. Hawkeye and Black Widow are on the same power level, but while they can hold their own for  awhile, aren't at the same level as Iron Man.

Here are the 15 human classes with a brief description/overview:

• Archer - expert marksmen with tricked out arrows
• Athlete - gifted physical specimen that chooses to use their abilities for the betterment of others
• Crime Fighter - individuals drawn to upholding the law and protecting their community, they believe no one is above the law and gain bonuses against foes aligned with chaos
• Dark Avenger - these extreme heroes seek to punish criminals and their brutal ways strike fear into their foes
  
• Gadgeteer - these heroes fight crime with tech and intelligence, they have gadgets that help them in their crusade that they are able to upgrade as they gain experience, the gadgets in the book are armor, big gun, boots, ear piece, gloves, and goggles
• Genius - related to the gadgeteer thematically, the genius is a master tactician that can outwit foes
• Hard Boiled Detective - These vigilantes are experts at investigation and can hold their own in a fight
• Knight Nurse - vigilante combat medics, while they might not be as good at fighting as some others, they can keep you alive on the streets... this class also has the best name in the game
• Martial Artist - These masters of hand to hand combat come in all styles and from all fighting disciplines, they can gain slight superhuman abilities, such as adding elemental damage to their attacks
•  Mentor - while these heroes may be too old for this shit... they still help younger leaders and can serve as trainers, tutors, and weapon masters for other vigilantes. 
• Mercenary - these former soldiers know how to fight and are trained in combat tactics
• Protege - these young heroes have a desire to be vigilantes and a willingness to learn, they have really useful support abilities that help their allies
• Sharpshooter - these ranged weapon experts come in three varieties: gunslingers, bombardiers, and and snipers
• Street Preachers - these holy men and women come in three varies, sin-fighting crusaders, inspirational evangelists, and spiritual healers dispensing mercy
• True Vigilante - deciding to go "full vigilante," these crusaders for just use Chaos to fight crime, fighting fire with controlled fire

There are 8 megahuman classes. They are:

• Antropomorph - humans and animals that have mutated into human/animal hybrids. Their animal appearence and make-up varies and are determined based on two charts, this class is definitely a spiritual successor to Palladium's TMNT and Other Strangeness rpg
• Borg - these heroes are part human, part robot, as they level they can choose body and weapon upgrades
• Mutant - these are the catch all supers,  you can create a HUGE variety of characters with this class. You abilities are determined randomly on a few charts (though some game masters may allow players to pick two or three they want), they can be further mutated through gameplay and can earn some interesting bonuses and penalties. 
• Mystic - masters of the arcane, they have invisible rune tattoos that let them tap into the supernatural arts
• Powered Armor Pilot - these characters are humans that are essentially piloting a small mobile tank, they can upgrade their armor as they increase in level.
• Psion - these are masters of the psionic, they have a primary power they can upgrade and gain others, there are 17 different upgradable powers to choose from
• Super Soldier - these vigilantes uses various drugs to augment their form and aid them. Some of these boosts are permanent, others are temporary
• Super Speedster - hyper quick (and the rarest) of megahumans, these powered individuals have their own origin chart

The classes are followed by the skills section. Some classes allow characters to just select from all the skills while others (among the megahuman) classes have skill packages that determine skills and give other other abilities. This is nice because it lets the classes differentiate themselves, so you can have a party of anthropomorph turtles, but each can have it's own niche to fill.

The game has a very simple XP & Leveling system that it shares with other SURVIVE THIS!! games. It only takes up two pages, but covers both combat and rp heavy games.

Given that gadgets and equipment are so important to supers and vigilantes, there is quite a bit of info in this section of the book. There are pages of armor, weapons, special arrows, utility belt info, and other equipment. While the chapter can't cover everything, if covers enough to give you detailed guidelines for vigilante resources.

There are some great rules for vehicle and chase rules. These allow you to handle most situations and seems versatile, yet simple.

The book ends with the Playing the Game section. These 20 or so pages fill in the blanks on how to actually put all of the previously mentioned goodness to use. If you play OSR games, most of this will seem familiar, but there's some new stuff here that separates Vigilante City from other games. There are several critical hit/failure charts and a random name chart.

Final Thoughts

If you can't tell from my large collection of Vigilante City posts, I LOVE this game. The art and layout is phenomenal. Runehammer really knocked it out of the park. His unique style gives this that great BTAS Bruce Tim feel. There isn't a bad piece of art in the book.

The game itself is old school and (overall) rules light enough for my taste, but provides so much variation. Another great t hing about this game that I didn't really touch on is it's modular nature. Don't want superpowers in your game, don't include megahumans. While everything works together, you don't have to include it all in your game to have a fun campaign. If you're going to play in a Vigilante City game, you should definitely pick this up. It has everything you need. If you're going to run a Vigilante City game, you should also pick up the Villians guide, which I'll review later this week.

If you're into supers games, this is definitely one to check out. Buy it. You won't regret it.

Gear up! Your city needs you!