Never Going Home: The Beginning & The End

 

The fine folks at Wet Ink Games have a new Kickstarter for their Never Going Home rpg. The Beginning & The End features three new books. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, it's a Weird War I game. Something has been unleashed and corrupted the soldiers and lands. Strange whispers torment and tempt those caught int he conflict, warping all. 

Two of the three books for this project are campaign dossiers. A campaign dossier is a tome that focus on a specific theater of conflict during the First World War.

Set in the Balkans in 1914, Bile In The Streets is a campaign in which characters take the role of Serbian partisans. Characters will take on covert missions. This book will include a new Alarm system for the game, which helps keep the weird toned down for the time before the Veil between worlds was torn. It also includes a list of Grimoires that characters can learn Whispers (magic) from. It also profiles some of the factions working in the shadows.

While Bile In the Streets takes place before the War, Spit In The Dirt takes place in 2018 (the last year of the war). Players take on the role of American soldiers from crossing the Atlantic til the end of the conflict. The book contains new equipment and how to make it, Nightmares rules to corrupt characters faster, and two new Whisper paths (Rage and Conviction).

Unlike the other books in the project, From Beyond The Veil, is a sort of companion book to the previously released Book of Whispers. It is one of my favorite kind of sourcebooks, because it's a collection of optional rules and material. New Deterioration rules make the central Antagonist of a Mission more dangerous. The new Animal Ken Whisper path lets soldiers go Snow White on Mother Nature's critters. The Material Pool gives new rules that encourage players to spend their resources sparingly. Finally there is information about what happens when a character becomes lost to Corruption. These new rules are featured in stand-alone missions. 

If you want something different and have an interest in horror or history, this game could definitely appeal to you. The books are gorgeous, the mechanics are unique, and the creators are fantastic people.  Check out Never Going Home: The Beginning & The End on Kickstarter now.

My Origins Event Schedule

If you're attending Origins next week, you should hop into one of my games. There are several open spots in each event. For more information about the con head here.

Origins 2022

My plans were somewhat last minutes as far as deadlines are concerned, but I've decided I am going to Origins this year. I'm going to experience the con in a new way. Instead of just going to play and shop, I'm going to be GM'ing eight four hour sessions for Lurking Fears. I'll post my schedule when it's finalized but it looks like I'm going to be running the following:

Never Going Home - The Lamps (3 sessions) - Going to be honest, while I know Never Going Home and the adventure is in the core book, I'm not sure what this adventure is about. LF run con games for a few companies and my friends at Wet Ink Games (Never Going Home's publisher) asked if they could run some games. The con is in June so I have plenty of time to learn more.

Dungeon Crawl Classics - The Arwich Grinder (3 sessions) - I've talked about this 0-level funnel before. I think it's my favorite written for DCC and I've ran it a few times. It's gory, gross, and a blast.

Country Meat-Grinder Classics - The Hellson Horror (2 sessions) - CMGC is hicksploitation DCC and I'm all about that. I haven't actually ran this one, but it seems like a blast and Tim Snider did a great job with the adventure. I may add some Country Crawl Classics elements to it.

Anyone else heading to Origins this summer? 

Never Going Home Campaign Dossiers Kickstarter

The amazing folks at Wet Ink Games have a new Kickstarter for their Campaign Dossiers! The focus of this project will take things from the trenches to the battlegrounds in the east and north: Gallipoli, Russia, and the seas.  The book will feature new relics, cults, magic tattoos, and a whisper path. The book will also contain ship to ship combat rules, which are really nice if you want to expand your theaters of war.

Like the previous Kickstarter there are some great rewards and plenty of tiers. This campaign also shines because it lets you get in on all of the original projects goodies! I backed the original project and the books are absolutely  gorgeous. They are unlike any other rpg books I've read.

Like the previous project, I'm on board to write a stretch goal. Let's make this project a success and then knock those stretch goals out so I can take another official dive into the system.

Tenebria: Remnant of Rome

Tenebria: Remnant of Rome is the newest Kickstarter from my friends at Wet Ink Games. The Roman Empire has fallen and you and your fellow party members must figure out what to do next. Do you contribute to rebuilding, travel with refugees in Tenebria, or do you fight those that have taken what your people have built?

Tenebria is a survival and resource manage rpg. It uses the +One system developed for Wet Ink Games' newly released game, Never Going Home. It uses a combination of playing cards and d6's to keep track of things and determine what happens.

You can get the game in pdf, softcover, hardcover, and limited edition hardcover. The premise is fantastic, the art looks phenomenal, and the folks making it are some of the nicest in the industry. You should definitely check this one out.

Gen Con 2019 Recap

This isn't going to be super detailed and I'm sure I'll forget to mention things, but here's an overview of my Gen Con experience and some photos to accompany it.

Sadly this isn't all of the DCC/MCC swag I wanted to buy.

Wednesday

We left the day before the con started. Indianapolis is about 3.5-4 hours from home. I rode and stayed with some of my oldest friends, Wirty, Amanda, and Chris. We stayed at the JW Marriott, which was pricey, but also connected to the Indiana Convention Center. Tim Brannan was staying at the same hotel and I ran into him gaming with his family in the executive lounge. It was really cool because Tim is the reason I started blogging. That night we had reservations at an expensive, but delicious steak house, St. Elmo's.  I ordered the Dry Aged New York Strip and it was hands down the best steak I have ever had.

Thursday

I started my day out by playing Sparkle*Kitty. It was a lot of fun and I won two of the three games I played. It's kind of an advanced version of UNO, but it makes you say ridiculous word combinations out loud and would be a great party game. I also attended a Tabletop Gaymer panel, which was a lot of fun. I ran into my gaming muse, Dave, and he gave me a copy of the Buddy O'Burger issue of Crawling Under A Broken Moon. The last game I played that day was Mantic's The Walking Dead: All Out War. I'm not normally a fan of war games, but this was really good. The starter is reasonably cheap and I've thought about picking it up. I didn't spend much money in the exhibition hall, but I did pick up a set of DCC nunchucks for Matt Kelley and myself.

Friday 

Friday was rpg day! I started my day by playing my first game of QAGS. For Lucha Beach Patrol, I made a character named Silver Starfish. He was a honorable high flyer, and the de facto voice of reason for his group. After this I played in a session of of DCC Lankhmar with Thorin Thompson. Our session was No Small Crimes In Lankhmar (which is a part of the boxed set). It's a great adventure and was fun because our characters were shrunk down to the size of mice. Thorin was a great judge and I picked up his third party adventure, Sky ov Crimson Flame, after we finished. That night I also did an after hours game at the Embassy Suites. I am excited that I was in the first play group for Joshua Burnett and Leighton Connor's Leopard Women of Venus DCC. Josh ran the session and Leighton, Eric Bloat, and I ran through the 0-level funnel. It got late and we didn't get to finish the funnel, but it was fun. Seriously y'all, you definitely need to back this project when it goes live. I'll review the pre-Kickstarter preview Josh gave me later today. I also met Eric's lovely wife Jamie. She's a really sweet lady. Friday also ended in the best possible way. I finally got to meet Diogo Nogueira in person. Diogo and I have been online friends for a few years and he really seems like the nicest guy ever. After meeting him in person I can confirm that he actually is a living saint.

The Wholesome Trinity of Gaming

Saturday

I didn't do any on site gaming on Saturday. I met several folks for the first time in person, among them Bradley K. McDevitt, Alan Bahr, Matt Orr, and Brandon K. Aten. It was particularly cool to meet Matt and Brandon, because I worked on their project, Never Going Home.  I spent a majority of my time in the exhibit hall and relaxing. My feet and back were really hurting so I called it a day early and took a nap. I did wake up to go play board games and drink with the gents I came with. It was a good evening and Champions of Midgard is a pretty decent worker placement game.

Why yes,that is a Lamentations of the Flame Princess branded condom...

Sunday

We only hit the exhibit hall for an hour or two on Sunday. My feet were aching and I sat down at a demo table. I played Bahamas by Z-Man game which was a fun dice and cards screw-your-neighbor kind of game.

Pre-last day breakfast selfie with fam

Final Thoughts 

• For the love of all that is good and holy, do no pick you badge up Will Call. Just pay the extra cash and have it shipped to you. 
• It was great to go with old friends and see many online folks I've known for years. 
• I loved getting the con exclusives. I'm going to try to not kill myself with the nunchucks. Also I bought the Lamentations of the Flame Princess ones, despite telling myself I wouldn't.
• There were nearly 70K in attendance. This didn't seem as bad as I expected because the convention center is huge!
• That is actually one of my major issues with it. The events and exhibit halls were too large for my taste. I'm two days removed from the con and still sore. Pretty much every point A to point B trip I made required a 5-10 minute rest break. Yes this is because I'm really out of shape, but it still affects my opinion of the experience.
• While I had an absolute blast, I think I'm skipping Gen Con next year. I really like the size and scale of Origins (which has about a third of the attendance). It's also only an hour from where I live and though I moved away from it, I love Columbus. Both conventions are fun, but I prefer the latter (even if it means missing out on things like nunchucks and LotFP exclusives).
• I think I've caught Con Crud. I've been sniffling, coughing, and had a sore throat since Sunday.
• I'm actually looking forward to Con on the Cob even more now. I think it will be interesting to go from biggest tabletop gaming con in the world to a really small one. 

Trench 11 (2018)

Synopsis: During the last days of WWI a small group of American and British soldiers are led to a mysterious German bunker by a shell-shocked Canadian tunneller. The bunker is sealed off from the outside and soon they discover some secrets are better left buried underground. 

The Good: The cast of the film is phenomenal. Even though I knew none of the actors, they were very engaging. The story is interesting and the horror elements are quite tense. There are a few graphic moments and they are done with great practical effects. The soundtrack is fitting. The movie is very drab due to the setting but that makes the scenes that take place outside of the war zone more vibrant and I'm sure it was an intentional contrast.

The Bad: The movie is very claustrophobic. It adds to the horror, but if you have issues with that it might not be for you.

Final Thoughts: Though it has a smaller budget, this film in a lot of ways is the WWI version of Overlord (which was phenomenal btw). The infectious worms also makes it reminiscent of The Strain. This movie is a good mix of war and horror. If you get a chance to check it out, you should.

In Your Game: This would be a great inspiration film for Never Going Home (which as of this post going live you still have a chance to back it). Since I don't have that game yet though, I've statted the infected soldiers (or Trenchers as I've named them) out for STZ2E.

Trenchers

Armor Class: 12

Hit Dice: 2
Move: 12 
Attacks: 1 per round
Attack Damage: By Weapon
Special: Rage, Special Infection
Pack Size: 1
Bonuses: +2 to Attack, +2 to Damage
HDE: 2
Methods of Termination: Reducing HP to 0

Trenchers tend to be violent and can even attack their own kind (though some of them would rather just have sex or drink). While in combat trenchers gain advantage on all attacks and foes gain advantage on attacks against them. Unlike typical zombies, trenchers are technically alive and can be killed like any man. Additionally, their foes only need to make Infection Saving Throws if they come into contact with their bodily fluids.

Never Going Home Reminder

Hey folks, the Never Going Home: Weird War Occult Role Playing Game Kickstarter is down to its last four days. The project is over 23K and 500 backers and many talented writers have been attached to do the stretch goals. I've heard rumor that if the project makes it to 31K yours truly will be writing something for it. It's a big goal, but could happen.

What are you waiting for? Grab your gas mask, trench knife, and rifle and get out there and back it!

Never Going Home

I wanted to let everyone know about a cool looking Kickstarter that Wet Ink Games is launching next week. Never Going Home is a military horror rpg based on the art from World War Occult by Charles Ferguson-Avery. During World War I both sides scrambled to gain the upper hold on the others and someone cracked the borders between reality, letting Cthulhu-esque creatures into our world. Characters will dive into the trenches of WWI to take on eldritch horrors.

I spoke with the author and he let me a know about the game's features:

• character creation takes about 5 minutes
• simple dice mechanics are used for skill resolution (up to 5d6 at a time)
• narrative storytelling guided by a standard deck of playing cards

I think this looks and sounds phenomenal. I can't wait to grab my gas mask, gun, and Elder Sign and dive into the trenches. Make sure to check out Never Going Home when it launches on October 30.