Enter The Collection Review

Enter the Collection was the 2021 Free RPG Day offering from Renegade Games Studios. The adventure uses their Essence20 system and was designed to be used for the Power Rangers, GI Joe, and Transformers RPGS. This is an interesting choice because this dropped in October 16, 2021 and the first of those games (Power Rangers) wasn't released until January 26th, 2022. That meant this adventure was basically useless for 3.5 months. 

The characters have a contact that ask them to look into a situation in the suburban community of Crystal Springs. A local professor has made a strange discovery and her colleague has gone missing. The culprits are a criminal organization called The Collection. They are dumping chemicals in the local lake and kidnapped the missing gentleman when he got too close.

Part I of the adventure is investigative.  The characters can search the missing man's house, avoiding nosy neighbors and potentially coming into conflict with suburban security guards and local police. They can then search the local lake. Day and night time search yield different results. During the night they can stumble across agents of The Collection. They can then engage these forces which may lead to Part II.

Part II is a late night chase. The different skill rolls needed are presented.

Party III of the adventure finds the characters coming up on abandoned airfield. They must make it past The Collection's guards The Keeper (commander of this group), a Vault (heavily armored soldier), pilot, and co-pilot await them. The Keeper then sets a bomb and seeks to escape. The players have a variety of tasks they can attempt: disarming the bomb, taking the hostage and running, stopping The Collection forces.

After the adventure the party have made enemies of The Collection, which can come back to bite them later. Additionally they've uncovered the truth of the chemical dumping and can a local politician to justice.

The adventure is generic enough that I can see how it is appropriate to all three settings. While primarily mundane, some of the foes do have access to an alien war drug, which add a sci-fi element. The adventure adds the following threats, which can be used in any of the games. They are:

• Longhall Homes Security Guard  - Threat Level 0
• Crystal Springs Police Officer  - Threat Level 1
• Collector Foot Soldier  - Threat Level 2
• Carry-All Halftrack (Land Vehicle)  - Threat Level 2
• Badger ATV (Land Vehicle)  - Threat Level 2
• Collection Stalker  - Threat Level 6
• Collection Keeper  - Threat Level 4
• Collection Vault  - Threat Level 6
• Sparrowhawk Stealth Jet (Air Vehicle) - Threat Level 3

In addition the Ajax Compound Inject and Camouflage Pop-Up are new pieces of equipment you can add to your game.

This seems like it a fun adventure and I will definitely use it when I finally get to run an Essence20 game. You can pick this one up on Ebay, Noble Knight, and other online retailers.

Free RPG 2 Is Live!

All month long there are great things going on over at Exalted Funeral.The entire store is on sale, with everything being at least 15% off. In addition, Matt is hosting Free RPG 2. Not able to participate in Free RPG Day? Exalted Funeral has your back with the best of the indie scene! If you make orders this month you can snag two of the free releases in print.  [Looks like I'm a little slow, they sold out in the first hour] Not planning on ordering? They've still got you covered. You can go here and add all sixteen of the Free RPG 2 submissions in pdf form for free!

I've downloaded all of them and there are fantastic, bizarre, and fantastically bizarre submissions. I love them. These are my favorite:

Slashers & Victims - okay this one is cheating because it's The Lone Bards release, but seriously, it's a print and play slasher game... what more could you want?

The Man of Many Mothers - This twisted system neutral adventure involves a constantly reborn evil tied to the mystic land of the unborn and a dark coven of witches. This one is definitely fucked up, but is wonderful at the same time. If you're a fan of witches and such, you'll want to read this.

Halflings and the Hive - Another twisted system neutral adventure, this one involves a halfling village near a giant hive of extra dimensional bees. There are different factions and other aspects to customize encounters and it seems like a great community to drop into your game.

Free RPG 2 - No Money, No Problem

Recently the fine folk of Exalted Funeral announced they would be doing a Free RPG event.

For the entire month of July we are hosting a month long Free RPG event where we will host ALL submitted products and hand select 4 entries to be printed (quantity of 25 & hand numbered) 

please send them to exaltedfuneral@gmail.com and the deadline will be June the second to last week of June! 

They need to be:

B&W and Ready to publish in a zine or pamphlet format, Please keep it to 1-25pgs. We ask that you include our small logo or this above image someplace

The Lone Bards have answered the call for submissions and we did an update and more comprehensive version of Slashers & Victims Light. Though it is still based on Swords & Wizardry Light the new version has all the rules you need to play. It's also much more printer friendly. Keep an eye on Exalted Funeral the month of July to check out all the cool releases.

Get Your Salacious PDF's Today

There are a few new Lamenations of the Flame Princess pdf releases I'd like to bring to everyone's attention.

This year's Free RPGDay release James Edward Raggi IV's Eldritch Cock is now available for the glory of all at the great price of pay-what-you want. You can read my review here.

Kelvin Green's extremely limited print run book Fish Fuckers is also available in pdf form. At 7.99 it's a great price. I love the adventure and you can read my review here. Don't let the title keep you away. Yes there is fish man fucking involved, but it's actually a rather clever adventure.

Finally the 10th anniversary of The Random Esoteric Creature Generator for Classic Fantasy Role-Playing Games and Their Modern Simulacra. The text of this book is 95% identical to the original version published by Goodman Games. The layout and art are different. To be honest, I've not really checked this one out, but I feel like I need to.

Beneath the Keep

Beneath the Keep was the Fifth Edition Fantasy offering by Goodman Games for Free RPG Day. I picked up a copy at Origins. Didn't really fall in love with the cover. I mean, it's not bad, but do I need more furries in my D&D game? (Secretly my answer is yes, but we won't talk about that now).

Yesterday I decided to pick up the adventure and take a look. This is the text from the back of the module. 

During a brief stop-over at a wilderness stronghold, a simple trip to a local provisioner reveals foul play! The shop has been broken into, and the shopkeeper is missing. But the place has not been burglarized. The heroes are thrust into an investigation. Clues discovered by the heroes hint at larger corruption that festers among the borderlands surrounding the stronghold. What sinister forces lurk beneath the keep?

Wait a second.... This seems familiar... 

That's when I felt like a total dumbass and realized this is an unofficial expansion to Keep on the Borderlands. Considering Goodman Games released Into the Borderlands, a 5e update to the classic, this year, well I just feel really stupid. 

The hirsute killer on the cover is a member of the chaos cult from the Caves. She has discovered a secret level beneath a shop that is connected to the surrounding wilderness through outside tunnels. She scouts the keep for suitable sacrifices and then relays target information to the local bandit camp, who then capture the targets to sell to the cult. 

There is some extra backstory added to the keep that's nice. Did you know there used to be a secret gambling den hidden?

The adventure takes place in 8 different encounter areas. It's mostly straight forward but there are some different ways DM's can approach it. For example the cultist might make her last stand in the shrine, she could make one at the edge of the natural caverns, or she could escape to become a reoccurring villain.

The encounters themselves are challenging, but not tpk levels.  The cultist is a wererat, so she has damage immunity to normal weapons. There are ways to circumvent this if the party pays attention, but is still something to note. My one complaint is that the adventure features a monster called a zombire. This is essentially a low level lich-like creature (zombie spellcaster) and not, as the name suggests, some sort of zombie-vampire hybrid. The monster is fine and all, but the name is wasted.   

This is a fun little adventure. If you're going to run 5e Keep on the Borderlands, I recommend picking this one up when it's available. I wish I would have had it when I ran the Itinerant Gentleman Adventurers. 

I Think My Games Needs More Cock

My sponsor copy of James Edward Raggi IV's Eldritch Cock arrived this morning. While I think overall I like the spells in Vaginas are Magic! better overall, this is a fantastic book. This cock is hard(back) like last year's release, but unlike last year, this book is a shiny full color affair.

The book is a 48 (49 if you have the sponsor version like I do) full color book of metal madness (mixed with some crude humor and meta commentary about people and gaming). The front inside cover reprints the new weird magic rules presented in VAM! and the back inside cover includes playtest notes that are being considered for the next edition of the game. I love reading the author's notes for these releases and James doesn't disappoint this year. He discusses that the book is a based on a joke made last year, but that he realized he didn't want to be a men only book. I'm glad he made that decision. He also discusses how death and sexuality are important parts of who we are as humans and that he should be able to use them in his work if he wants. I agree with this.

The book contains 22 spells. Each one is inspired by a metal track (which is mentioned after the spell name). In addition each one gets a full color illustration. Like last year, these spells are unique and run the spectrum of effects. My favorites are Baptized by the Black Urine of the Deceased, Electric Grave, and Killing Yourself To Live. While these spells are fucked up and horrific (especially the first), they really useful. I want to mention two other spells too, for reasons... Graveyard of the Lightness Planets is meta as fuck. Not as in a meta-magic (like 3rd edition feats). No, this spell causes the game master to discuss what's happening in game terms, giving stats and things like that. Finally, The Thrash of Naked Limbs is the only actual penis related spell. I feel it just need to be mentioned because of the books name. The accompanying illustration is hilarious, by the way.

As I mentioned in my original post about the book, sponsors get a magic item not available in the regular release. I have to say it's the holy relic I never asked for, but it's bloody brilliant and hilarious.

This is another great addition to the Lamentations line. If you weren't able to pick this one up Free RPG Day, I'd definitely grab the pdf when it drops.

James Edward Raggi IV's Eldritch Cock

You may or may not be aware, but last year's Lamentations of the Flame Princess Free RPG Day release, Vaginas are Magic! is getting a sequel. I LOVED VAM and you can read my review here.

As the title o this post suggests, the sequel is going to be named James Edward Raggi IV's Eldritch Cock. I can't even... it's too good.

You can wait and hope you can get the book on Free RPG Day or you can sponsor it and get a guaranteed copy (with extra content).

Here's the nitty gritty of the book:

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48 page full color A5-sized hardcover
Writing by James Edward Raggi IV
Art by Yannick Bouchard, Rosi Kämpe, Rich Longmore, Claudio Pozas, maybe a couple others!
Graphic Design by Jez Gordon
Editing by Jarrett Crader

Price INCLUDES shipping.

The book will be very similar in format to Vaginas are Magic!, providing more spells for use with that magic system. (That system will be included inside the front cover like last year so you don't have to reference another book to use this one.)

22 spells, each with a full color illustration, plus a bonus magic item, with illustration, exclusive to these sponsor copies. (Some extras may be available at conventions later on, but that depends on how well this sponsorship campaign does.)

Be aware: Explicit content.

Writing and editing are complete. Art is 80% done and I'm getting updates on the remaining pieces daily; we will have the book filled by press time.
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There's also a more expensive limited edition version. These copies will include a custom drawing by artist Rosi Kämpe drawn directly into the book.

Vaginas are Magic! was one of my top three favourite rpg releases last year (along with Veins of the Earth and Blood and Chocolate). I just ordered my standard sponsor copy and you should too (unless you can swing for the premium version). You can pre-order it here. Support kickass creators that make good independent books.

Also, if you like the VAM style magic there's a blog you should be following. Hell, you should be following it even if you don't like that style magic. Seriously, if you like metal in your games and/or play Lamentations, check out Blood, Death, Satan, and Metal. +Red Flanagan's spells are fantastic as are his alternate rules. I'm a big fan of his non-magical healing skill. Check it out!

Vaginas Are Magic! Review

I'm in love with this promo art.

Today my signed copy of  Vaginas are Magic! arrived. Though I just got a physical copy, I've read through the pdf several times. Once again, +James Raggi has blown me away with his Free RPG Day offering. The book is a 48 or so page hardcover that's in a delightful purple. Like all LotFP releases the book is in a digest size and does a great job of making the most of all space. All inside covers are full. The front inside covers present new weird magic rules. They are presented for magic-users only (which I've read might be because the next version of LotFP might not include the cleric as a basic class). Whether the next edition does or not have clerics, the magic rules presented still make arcane magic a reality warping and dangerous force. The spell's power is determined by the caster and have potentially dangerous consequences if miscast. The Author's Notes discuss the LotFP approach to Free RPG Day (which is the best hands down btw and you can find links to past offerings below). After the author's note we're given a three page Magic Primer that further expounds on weird magic and what magic should be. While it isn't long, it's a wonderful treatise on the arcane. It also discusses that while these spells can only be cast by women (in this definition those that can have children), the core rules contain magic research rules which could make versions of these spells access able to other casters.

Then we get into the meat of the book: 20 weird spells. These spells are brutal, which makes sense because they're all named after metal tracks. Each spell is also accompanied by a beautiful/disturbing/funny full page illustration. One of the things that really draws me to these spells is the story behind them. These bits of exposition give the spells some sort of logic (whether they're true in your game or not). My favourites are probably Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow, Transylvanian Hunger, (and because I'm pretty fucked up) Goat Perversion. Please note that the spells in this book can, will, and should affect your game. That's the point of magic. It warps reality. Because magic, that's why.

The book also contains a list of people (like me) that helped crowdfund it and the back inside cover is a list of metal tracks that would make good spells.

A final note about the book, I love the cover and the model, Riina Himanen. There are a few pictures of her in the book and it's cool to see some fantasy modeling.

If you haven't downloaded Vaginas are Magic! do it asap. You won't regret it (unless you're easily offended or squeamish).

Also, if you haven't picked up the past Free RPG Day Lamentations of the Flame Princess pdfs you really need to. Here are the links:

Slügs!
The Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children
Better Than Any Man

Oh yeah and if for some strange reason you haven't checked out Lamentations of the Flame Princess you can snag the no-art version of the core book here. You can also get the older version of the GM guide here. Both of these are free.

Slügs!

You know what your game needs more of? Your game needs more slügs. It's just a scientific fact. If any things tells you otherwise, it's fake news.

Seriously though Slügs! was one of my favourite books of last year. It is now available as a pay what you want pdf on One Book Shelf. Snag your digital copy here.

The Lamentations of the Flame Princess Free RPG Day offereings have been phenomenal. I can't wait to get my copy of Vaginas are Magic this year.

Free RPG Day 2016 Swag

Thanks to the always cool +Kevin Watson (who has a Kickstarter project you should back ending soon), I was able to get my hands on a few Free RPG Day 2016 books that I really wanted.

The Goodman games offering has two separate adventures. The first is a level 1 DCC Lankhmar. The pc's are captured by a foreign wizards and must escape captivity. The second is a Mutant Crawl Classics funnel. I've posted a link to a free pdf of the MCC portion of the book here.

Slügs! is even more bizarre than I expected it to be. It's a bestiary (which is something I never thought +James Raggi would ever release) containing 15 slügs (okay 14 giant slugs and one heroic robot (Transformer) that can transform into a slug).  The books is weird, creative, and really entertaining. Even if you don't use the slügs, the charts and abilities that accompany them can be quite useful with monster design. In addition to the monsters, the book also has an editorial/manifesto on the state of rpg's and the industry. It's a call to join the DIY scene too. Honestly, Trump-parody dialogue aside, it's kind of inspiring. I'm probably going to have a failure or two among my attempts, but I'm going to release new material outside of this blog.

Slügatron is my favorite.

The Geekin' Weekend

I had an extended weekend of awesomeness. I was able to get the Goodman Games 5E adventures for me at Gen Con. I saw a great nerd rap show at my favorite comic shop, Super-Fly Comics & Games. The shop was running a sale so I grabbed my 5E PHB, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and some minis, including the premium ancient copper dragon.

Planeswalkers: Mikal kHill, Garruk, yours truly, and Tribe One

Orc, pegasus, female rock gnome wizard, mane, kobold and human red wizard minis

Green and Bronze Dragons

An ancient copper dragon mini

Leftover Free RPG Day Swag given to me by the cats at Super-Fly Comics & Games.

Glitterdoom and The Fey Sisters Fate (Goodman Games 5E Adventures)

I finally have them.

I'm having all my nerdy rap friends sign the inside covers of my 5E PHB,
Tribe One and Mikal kHill were the first.

Grabbed a couple of cd's by my dude Tribe One, his new EP and the debut release of his side project
Malibu Shark Attack!.

The Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children

Ok, so I now have my hands on a copy of The Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children.

Alright, like others I have some issue with the cover. It's not the slaughter of the crystal-headed children that bothers me. Why is the adventure title hidden behind artwork? The system name is above the artwork, but it's too much to put the adventure title there too? Okay, in the grand scheme of things, this is a minor quibble, so I'll drop it.

As far as the adventure itself is concerned I have mixed feelings (which tends to be my feelings about many LotFP adventures). I tend to like them overall, but I guess it's not always my kind of weird.

 The dungeon itself is really cool. If you want a to do an Expedition to the Barrier Peaks alien in fantasy adventure, the map and room descriptions work. I love the random charts for the various buttons and crystals. .

I think my issue with the adventure actually lies with the titular crystal-headed children. I understand that this is Lamentations of the Flame Princess and weird is in the description of the game, but this one is just too much for me. All of the children having the same name and features (genetically being the same child) just doesn't work for me. I read the description about why it happens, but I don't know. Perhaps if the children were more like Children of the Damned I think I could have handled it better. Also the "villain" Wiki Dot Pod doesn't do much for me.

Ultimately this is a FREE rpg book so I can't complain too much. I like it overall, I just think that if I ever ran it I would keep the creepiness, just tone down the super weird. That's the great thing about rpg's though, you don't like it, you don't have to run it that way.

Anyone else pick this up? What do you think?

Update: Raggi's has commented on the cover. You can read what he has to say here.

Free RPG Day 2014

As most of you know, this past Saturday was Free RPG Day. A really cool game shop in Columbus, Ravenstone Games, was a participant. One fine gentleman ran the DCC adventure, Elzemon and the Blood Drinking Box. You can read his report over at Random Encounters (in Ohio). Unfortunately for me I was unable to play because of work. However, I did stop by Ravenstone Games after work. One of the gents and the owner (two of the three picture in the REiO post) were still there and we chatted for a while. I had a really good time talking with them and it has inspired me to fight my normal anxiety and join up with some of the gaming groups there (though it will have to wait until after my son goes back to stay with his mom). If you want to hear more about Ravenstone Games, you can check out with Tim Snider over at The Savage AfterWorld thought of it, here.

Okay, on to the swag. Because it was the end of the day I was able to pick up a couple of books. I grabbed A Druid's Lament and Make Your Own Luck. Make Your Own Luck looks like a lot of fun. The characters (who are only 2nd level) are involved in defending a  town from siege trolls and protecting an important item. While I think it looks great, it also looks like something that a lot of OSR people would hate. I say this because much like 4th Edition, your characters a big deal. They may not be the most powerful characters in the world (the Icons they serve are), but they are superstars. 13th Age is a game I want to pick up, I just haven't pushed myself to do so. I will eventually though. A Druid's Lament is a mid level C&C adventure. I haven't fully read through it, but it looks nice. I like the adventure location. There's a cool story involving a druid getting help from the old gods (which isn't quite what she expected)  and a few new magic items and interesting encounters.

While I don't have them yet, a  friend of mine at Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs held a copy of The Doom-Cave of the Crystal Headed Children and the Goodman Games offering. I looked through both at Ravenstone and they look cool. I don't know how much mileage I will get out of the Doom-Cave. It's original and all, but unless I decide to run it as a one-shot, I don't ever see myself playing it. Don't get me wrong I might take a few of Raggi's monsters/encounters, but this adventure just doesn't seem like something I'd run. The Goodman Games offering looks fantastic. The DCC adventure looks fun. It's a first level endeavor, that again you can read about over at Random Encounters (in Ohio). The second part of the book is a mid level Maximum XCrawl adventure. Maximum XCrawl is the Pathfinder update to XCrawl. If you aren't familiar XCrawl is a modern day fantastical tv gladiatoial games rpg. Think American Gladiators with dwarves, death, swords, goblins, and hip-hop. Oh and the Roman Empire never fell... They currently have a kickstarter for it going on right now. Eventhough I said I need to slow down on my support of kickstarters, I'm most like going to back this one. It just seems like a really fun setting.

How was your Free RPG Day?