Dirty Six Pack - Six magic items from the naughty side of things.

Dirty Six Pack

Six modern magic items that fall into a bit of the naughty side of things.

Presented with stats for the WaRP system.

Strippers Dollar

Looks like an ordinary dollar in every fashion, a bit worn and well used. These are specifically made for businesses of erotic natures, almost always strip clubs. The staff are immune to the effects and the dollar loses all power if removed from the premises for more than a day.

Usually handed out a change or in requests for ones at the bar. What this does is make the person who possess it want to spend all their money at the location. Including withdrawing cash from their checking accounts at a convenient nearby ATM and every cent on them. The main urge for spending is on either the strippers for any activity they can purchase or for more alcoholic beverages to drink.

A completely sober person can roll to resist this urge with a difficulty factor of 7. But the more they drink the harder it is to resist. A few drinks raises it to 11, a good buzz raises it to 14t and getting full drunk raises it to 18. For this reason the staff are instructed only to give them out to patrons who have already been drinking (and preferably very wealthy).

Ballgag of Silencing

Very elegant looking ballgag. The ball is made of solid black rubber, the straps are polished leather that lead back to a set of adjustable rings and a small silver lock. Along the straps are the words 'Silence is Golden' on both sides.

To activate it cannot be put on by the wearer and instead has to be done by another person. The wearer must be kneeling facing away from the person attaching it and must be completely silent as it is done. After locking the gag on the person who attached it must take the key. Once in place any noise that the wearer creates, from vocal, to footsteps and even shooting a firearm is completely silent.

There is no roll for anyone or anything to hear the wearer as the sounds are not just muffled but eliminated completely.

Oil of Deftness

Another item that the wearer cannot apply themselves and must have another do it for them. This is a very slick oil that is poured from a decorative clay jar. It only requires a small amount of oil as it will spread rather easily. The person applying it must then rub it over the persons entire body, every single bit, yes even those bits. It must be massaged into their skin over the course of about an hour.

Afterward the wearer is then much more nimble and dexterous than before. They gain a bonus die for any physical action that requires dodging, squeezing through narrow areas, and moving out of the way of danger. Also any person attempting to engage in hand to hand suffers a penalty die to hit or grapple a person wearing the oil.

Collar of Obedience

A metal collar of simple design. A polished black metal ring with a hinge in the back and a lock that fastens in the front with a loop for a leash to be attached. It only works when attached to somebody beaten in physical combat by the victor. Once locked in place it is very difficult to remove.

The wearer is forced at the mercy or the victors commands. Resisting the orders have a difficulty factor of 18. Also the lock itself is hard to undo without the key with a difficulty factor of 14.

The collar also creates a subconscious feeling of submission to the victor. Responses to orders are usually ended with a 'Yes Sir (or Miss)' unless ordered another form of address. The longer the collar is on them the more ingrained this feeling becomes until it is second nature and the will of the wearer is completely drained away leaving a completely loyal servant even if the collar is removed.

The Truthful Lash

A well worn riding crap made of leather. Anyone with knowledge of determining such a tools age would be able to tell it is quite old. The use is rather simple whenever you ask somebody a question and then strike them with the Lash they have to roll if they don't want to answer with the absolute truth. The difficulty factor is 11 for each question. If the person doing the striking is within the victims sexual preferences then they get a penalty die to their roll to resist answering.

Obscuring Mask

A leather fetish mask complete with zippered mouth. The person using the mask simply has to pull the zipper shut to activate this object. When active nobody can remember any specific details about the person wearing it, voice, what they said, what they wore, tattoos and will not entirely be sure of what they were doing. Most people simply overlook the presence of the wearer completely. Anybody with a specific trait around having a good memory can make a roll to remember with a Difficulty Factor of 11.

#RPGaDAY Day Twenty Seven

"Game you'd like to see a new / improved edition of" is what the menu says for todays #RPGaDAY.

Easily, hands down, without a doubt, KULT.

Kult was the game I ran the heck out of. Loved the setting, didn't mind the system at all and enjoyed coming up with dark evil shit to happen in the games.  Kult was MY game for many years.

But it really needs a fucking reboot.

I mean stick with the main cosmological setting as it is.  Just move everything else forward to now.  How technology is working within the illusion, how some of it cracking it while some of it is sealing us deeper into the false reality.  Adjust who is and isn't in control among the Archons and Death Angels.  The powers at play have all sorts of shifts within a world where the political and social structure is collapsing.

Then pull the system out and streamline the hell out of it.  Take it to the bare minimum of what is needed in concern with physical stuff like skills, abilities and all that.  Make the magic system a bit more dynamic and interacts with the illusion and reality.  Ease of doing the rituals based on knowledge of the actual reality than just a skill rating, doing the rituals near areas where the veil is crumbling can cause the desired effect to be multiplied, things like that.  Buff up the mental stuff, something akin to the Madness Meter from Unknown Armies grafted onto the positive/negative mental balance chain.  Make it affect play more often.

Put some work into the production values, get some new, cutting edge, layouts along with artwork to make your jaw drop.  Make the book look good.  Like a tome of freaking evil ready to be cracked open and used to abuse characters.

Go controversial with it, make most grim and dark settings look like a fucking walk in the god damned park.  Show them what twisted and evil shit there is and then crank it up a few more notches. 

At least that's what I would like to see. 

#RPGaDAY Day Sixteen

"Game You Wish You Owned" is for day sixteen on #RPGaDAY.

I pretty much own every game that I really want.  But then again I've evolved into an odd breed of gamer where I don't hunt down specific printings of certain editions.  Feel no need to have the 'little brown box' or the re-release they did of it recently.  There are a couple variations and one or two modules for Twilight 2000 that I don't own, but I'm not worried about them at all.  Same with Cyberpunk from R. Talsorian games.

So I'm going to cover a rpg that I wish more people owned.

Sla Industries.  A dark cyberpunkish, psychothriller of a game that can't decide if wants to be an involved horror game or a big guns and armor game.  The creators claim its not a big guns game but some of the setting, rules and overall feel say that it is.  I think it's more of a mash of several ideas.  But damn if its not a great setting.

Lots of room to work in there, great character options, races and all that.  A really dark setting where you play what would be the bad guys in most games.  Plus the material is set for use for which ever you want, horror, psychological or big guns.  Been playing it for years and it's pretty popular in my local area.  But it seems to be popular in small pockets scattered here and there without any over all coverage.

The corebook is up for 'pay what you want' on drivethrurpg you can find it on the Nightfall Games products page.

#RPGaDAY Day fifteen

Its time for "Favorite Convention Game" for #RPGaDAY.

First off I don't have a RPG for this one.  I cannot recall playing the same game twice at any convention.  Usually when I pick games to play its the stuff I haven't tried out but have heard good things about it or ones where my friends want me to play with them. 

So I'm just giving you my favorite game to play at conventions.  Well at least it used to be.  Lunch Money from Atlas Games was a hell of a good time.  Kids on the playground beating the crap out of each other, how could you go wrong with that?  Easy to play, all you need to play is the one box of cards and something to keep track of your life on.  There was an expansion that had some fun new stuff in it but was nowhere near being necessary. 

However... it used to be my favorite game.  Then some folks wanted to play it all the time.  Getting together to talk about a campaign you are thinking of running "Hey lets play a few games of Lunch Money!".  Hanging out watching movies "Hey lets play a few games of Lunch Money!" at the pizza place eating down a few slices "Hey lets play a few games of Lunch Money!".  It began replacing rpg time in the end.  This got old really, really quick.  Currently I don't ever want to play another game of it again.  But nothing has replaced this as my favorite pick up type of game at a con.

#RPGaDAY Day Fourteen

Well here we are at #RPGaDAY number fourteen with "Best Convention Purchase".

The only time I made it to Origins was for two reasons.  First was the final official Doomtown storyline tournament and second was to pick up a specific being released there.  The tournament was sorta 'meh' but the rpg turned out to be awesome.

Of course I'm talking about Little Fears.  A simple rules light system that seemed to fit the dark and terrifying setting like a glove.  Jason Blair made one hell of a game and I wasn't the only one who thought so.  I ran the hell out of the game, had people waiting to play, multiple groups going on during the week and great times had by all.

I got to playtest the next version of the game, the Nightmare Edition, and I liked it as well.  While all the rules changes or additions make complete sense and it's a great game I still prefer the original.  But that's all just personal preference. 

You can find both editions (the original is the 10th anniversary edition) over on Drivethrurpg along with Jason's other game Streets of Bedlam.  Give them a look here.

#RPGaDAY Day Thirteen

#RPGaDAY day thirteen says "Most Memorable Character Death".

I really don't have much for this one.  In most games I rarely die as I think ahead, try to get everyone to work as a group, try to think ways safely around problems and all that.  Then when I do get a character killed its usually not in any spectacular memorable ways.

Honestly I have more memorable 'near death' character scenes than anything else.  Like managing to press the switch setting off the explosives I planted earlier to kill the cultists before blacking out from blood loss (the other PCs drug me away and kept me alive).  Being held up by the throat by a bad guy after a long fight, unarmed and about to bite it I reach down and hit the switch on my belt buckle firing off the two rounds in the hidden gun there (had it on my character since creation, it took months before I ever used it).  No telling how many times Finn ran through almost assured death.  Or Joe Genero, a traveler character rolled up just to die, who somehow becomes almost invulnerable whenever the GM rolls to hit him (yes the name is taken from the Joe Genaro comics that used to be in Shadis Magazine).

Deaths are usually, killed by a lucky shot from a guard during a small skirmish, random gunshot from a goon just happens to hit me in the head, etc.

#RPGaDAY Day Twelve

"Old RPG You Still Play/Read" is the topic for today on #RPGaDAY.

The one old RPG I still go back to, still pick up, still read bits of from time to time would have to be Cyberpunk from R. Talsorian Games.  I simply love the setting, the way most of the books are done and just the overall feel.  While some of the tech ideas are WAY out of synch with the direction and depth that modern technology has gone it's still fun.  A bit of 'retro cyberpunk' if you will. 

The original boxed set took place in 2013 and the second edition was set in 2020.  The third edition, I will just not talk about.

Metaplot was there, with some token bad ass NPCs running around.  But none of it was necessary for the game unless you really wanted to get into the 'end game' battle of the Firestorm books.  Our group never went that way and we felt no less for it.  Most of the sourcebooks were set up as a sandbox type of resource, even before people started referring to them as such.

Also I love to run this game, I love to be a player in it, I enjoy coming up with random bits for it and I just enjoy reading it. 

Cyberpunk on drivethrurpg if you are interested.

#RPGaDAY Day Eleven

It's day eleven for #RPGaDAY and it's "Weirdest RPG Owned".

For this one I give you....  The Lawnmower Man RPG from Leading Edge Games.

A company best known for either the overly detailed system that was Phoenix Command, which they then used to make a nearly unplayable Aliens RPG.  Or for created a cult favorite game setting with Living Steel.  They also got some licenses for odd movies to make games out of along with miniatures for those said games.

The one that always made me turn my head sideways and go WTF was Lawnmower Man.  The movie was okay at its best parts and not really something I would look to base a game off of.  But they did.  A virtual war of sorts taking place after the ending of the movie.  Using the same watered down version of their wanna be in-house game engine they made a game that wasn't really okay at its best parts. 

They even produced miniatures for it.  Which boggles the mind.  Ah well.

#RPGaDAY Day Ten

"Favorite Tie-In Novel/Game Fiction" for #RPGaDAY today. 

I never was much into game fiction.  Which is odd I really like to read but once it's related to a roleplaying game my interest usually drops to zero for some reason.  Maybe it's due to the amount of bad fiction that was out there early on.  But I have took a few chances and one turned out to be one hell of a good book.

Godwalker by Greg Stolze for the Unknown Armies rpg. 

This book gives you a nice good feel for the mood of the game.  The bizarreness of what is going on with those who walk in the occult underground.  I recommend it to anyone who found Unknown Armies of interest, or to those who like modern era fiction with a magical twist tossed in.  You can order the book in print here:

Godwalker on Cafepress

Or in pdf here:

Godwalker at Drivethrurpg

There you can also find a bit of synopsis that doesn't reveal to much.  Which is good because it's hard to say much of anything about the story without it being some level of a spoiler.

#RPGaDAY Day Nine

"Favorite Die/Dice Set" is the #RPGaDAY for this fine morning.

Here's where I'm the odd person out.  I don't really have a favorite die or die set.  The whole luck thing is something I don't think about anymore.  I've also gone minimal and instead of carrying around a chunk of dice now I just carry the basics of what I need.  Below is what I pack.

The case is from a company called MS Clean when I backed their Kickstarter.  They made a gun cleaning kit case the size and shape of an M-16 magazine.  The person starting it was an ex-Marine I believe and hated the cleaning kits they were issued.  He came up with a nice hard case that could be carried easily in a magazine pouch and fit in with the rest of their gear.  I, of course, saw it and had another idea.  The Kickstarter was successful, his company is doing well, and I had a new dice box.

The dice inside are bog standard dice, nothing special, just grabbed out of my collection at home.  The only exception is the D20.  D20's made now are just a hair to tall for the case, so I dug out an artifact from when they weren't so large.  That's the D20 that came with my Dungeons and Dragons red box.

Also included are two pencils, one wooden and the other mechanical, and a flash drive for any info or pdfs that I need to bring.  For you to see laid out on top of some good gaming books.

 

 

#RPGaDAY Day Eight

"Favorite Character" is todays topic on #RPGaDAY.

Easy, hands down, it's Finn.  Or Feingalf, Fincube, or many other names he's had hung on him.  He is what happens when you read way to much Poison Elves before gaming.  A half elf with a few drops of some sort of demon blood tossed in for good measure with a huge chip on his shoulder and a whole lot of hate built up inside of him.  To make it even better you talk other players into going along with you.

Ended up with Finns half brother (same scumbag father) Fin-decano (played by my actual brother) who was wanting to track down our father and kill him, which I was just fine with.  Goats Ass, the result of rolling the lowest possible number for appearance, then taking a bogey that makes it worse.  A few others off and on that just added to the insanity.  We made a bunch of thug, dirt bag, drug using, asshole elves and quickly got the group nicknamed "The Insane Elf Posse".

The kicker was we never played characters like this before.  Full on scum bag characters.  We caused all manner of mayhem and chaos every where we went.  But, and this is the real kicker, I had some goals in mind and the madness we created was nothing more than a smoke screen so I could work towards them.

One, kill my father.  High ranking military officer in the Hykorian army... and a rapist piece of shit who cared nothing for the lives of others.  This one has been accomplished with the help of my brother and we also managed a LOT of property damage in the process. 

Two, recuse my mother.  She made a deal with a demon to protect me.  The kickers were that when I turn thirteen she had to return to his world with him and I got a few drops of his blood in me.  So yeah I need to jump through a gate, fight through whatever he has protecting the place, kill the bastard, get my mother and make it back through.  Still working on this one.  Problem is the only gate I know of is in the Elven city of Firelake and they don't like me.  But I have a plan to raise all sorts of merry hell as a distraction to get where I need to go.

Three, find out who the bastard who exiled my mother in the first place (before I was even conceived) and kill their asses.

Four... and to sit on my thrown as the prince of Bel-Air or some such.

In the course of this I've become a quite good user of Earth and Sea magic, been trained by some of the most skilled sword fighters in the world, scavenged a small arsenal of magic items some of which are basically weapons of mass destruction and so much more.  It's been years of playing this character and hopefully years more just to get where I need to go.  Finn sees everything as something to be used to achieve those goals, people, objects, everything.  If he's being nice to you, helping you out, it's because you have potential of being a tool.

#RPGaDAY Day Seven

"Most "Intellectual" RPG Owned" is todays #RPGaDAY.

I really don't know what to put here as I'm not entirely sure of what they mean.  The hobby seems to be chock full of people who enjoy redefining everything from time to time (like what an 'indie' game is). Hmmm...

So I'm going to wing it and go with, what I think, is the brain challenging game that I own.  Well at least challenging in the 'doing the math' department.  For this I give you Millenniums End from Chameleon Eclectic.  It's a 'few years in the future' setting where you play members of a seceurity company called Black Eagle/Black Eagle.  Pretty straight forward idea there.  Character creation can get a bit  extended but overall isn't to bad.  However when it comes time to swing a punch, pull a trigger or swing a knife may you find the patience that most will never have.

There are modifiers on top of modifiers.  Not just plus one or two, but multiplication of a number, several times.  Nothing that you need to break out the Algebra books for but there is just so much of it.  Then you also have a clear overlay target map system, that would be neat if it wasn't for the damage resolution mathwork afterwards. 

Strangely I think I own every single supplement for this game as well.

#RPGaDAY Day Six

"Favorite RPG Never Get To Play" is todays #RPGaDay.

Mine would be Legend of the Five Rings.  I have never got to play a single session, only made characters for it.  Nobody around here seems to have any interest in running it and it's not something that I want to run.  I just want to play it... dammit.

My original interest in it came from the CCG.  It got a bit popular around here after a friend (Norm) and I picked up some Emerald Edition starters and gave it a shot.  At one time we had around ten or more people into it.  I had a ton of cards for it at one time, but I liked the setting more, especially the whole clan war storyline they had going on at the time.  Sadly the Hidden Emperor rolling thunder expansion line killed it deader than hell and it never came back in locally.

Would love to play a campaign in that setting.  Specifically either the setting in the 1st edition RPG, right before the clan war starts or during the clan war as in the CCG.  But I don't see that happening... ever.... especially around here.

#RPGaDAY day five

"Most Old School RPG Owned" is today's #RPGaDAY request.

I'm mentioning some of the same games a few times here.  Hopefully I'll spread out to some of the variety that I have on my shelf.  But for this I have to say it is the old red box edition of Dungeons and Dragons.  The box is long since gone, I have at least one of the original dice still and the books are looking a bit rough around the edges.

Oddly enough though as many call it old school I like to think of it as 'early rules lite' or some such.  I mean honestly there isn't much to it rules wise with a lot less crunch than many other popular systems of the time.  Fast character creation and fast resolution for pretty much everything.

Granted this picture has a newer set of dice than what was originally in the box.  Still at least I'm didn't use the same image as before.  Gotta work some variety in here someplace.

#RPGaDAY day four

"Most Recent RPG Purchase" is what #RPGaDAY says I need to talk about now.

Well my buying habits have been greatly reduced over the years.  I've honestly sold three times more than I have bought, at least three time, maybe more.  But occasionally I still buy stuff.

It was Ryubix Manor most recently.  It was self published by a local gamer who ran a successful Kickstarter to get his funding.  I somehow missed backing it but I bought a copy from him through Amazon (so I could give him some good feedback). Had already looked through the proof copy he got weeks before and liked what I saw.  Also I have put up a review for it.

Ryubix Manor review

Hopefully it sounds like something you are interested in and snag up a copy.  I'm always one to support local gamers.

#RPGaDay day three

#RPGaDAY continues and it's "First RPG Purchased".

Well the answer is the same as yesterday actually.  Vampire: The Masquerade first edition.  Up until this point I had pretty much used other peoples stuff.  But that seemed like the norm around here, the GM bought the books and the others just played.  If anybody else had the books it was because they also ran the game as well when they weren't playing.

I went all in for Vampire, bought pretty much everything that came along for it.  The local game shop (The Bonne Terre Hobby Shop now long out of business) ordered an extra copy for me whenever they ordered it for their shelf.  Well they actually ordered several copies as I wasn't the only person hooked on the game.  There were several groups in the area, some had converted it to a fantasy setting, others were doing epic global spanning chronicles, some were going monty haul with it.

#RPGaDay day two

Today it's "First RPG Gamemastered" on #RPGaDAY.

This one is easy.  First time I ever ran a game it was Vampire: The Masquerade first edition maybe just a few weeks after its release.  I was always looking for the game I wanted to try and run, fantasy just wasn't something I wanted to do though.  Finally one month in a Dragon magazine they reviewed two games that caught my interest.  One was Dark Conspiracy from GDW and the other was Vampire: The Masquerade from White Wolf. 

I firmly believe I made the right decision.  Years later I picked up Dark Conspiracy and can say I would never have ran it at that time.  But Vampire was different, it was trying to push around the norms that I had been used to in gaming, plus it was modern horror and the dice mechanics looked pretty cool.

Ran that game all sorts of wrong.  Lots of bad plots, stories, homebrewed rules, etc.  But it was one hell of a learning experience.  Vampire was a great rpg, Ron Edwards can go fuck himself over his statements on it, so can a few others actually.  I still have that first edition book someplace, it's just in a three ring binder now because I ran that thing until it fell to pieces. 

#RPGaDay day one.

Going to participate in the #RPGaDay idea from Autocratik.  Today is "First RPG Played".

That would be the old Dungeons and Dragons red box edition.  My brother had picked up a copy of Dragon magazine from someplace and thought a lot of what he saw was pretty cool.  So he followed an ad in there for a mail order hobby shop type company.  His first purchase was the boxed set and some miniatures that looked neat.

I'm absolutely we didn't play it right, he also didn't enjoy it as much as I did.  He walked off to the next thing that captured his interest while I sat and read over those two red manuals over and over again.  It would be years before I gamed again but the spark was set then and it remained bright all that time.

#RPGaDAY participation post

Starting August first this blog will be getting a little bit busy.  I've decided to take part in the #RPGaDAY idea and each days post will be on here.  Currently I'm writing them out ahead of time and scheduling them to go up at 10:30 AM each day.  Got up to number ten done and I'm still moving on ahead.  Not sure if I'll be linking to them every day from my G+, Facebook and Twitter accounts though.  But I will be for some of the more interesting days.

Also I would like to link to blogs that are going to be participating in this as well.  So if you are one of those shot me a link either in the comments to this post or to me via one of the social networks I'm on.  I'll compile a list and make a post linking to them all the day before it all starts.  Then as the month goes along I'll add in links to blogs I discover.  Hopefully this will help others out with a 'Who is participating? Go here!" sort of thing.

Hope to see some interesting stuff staring August first.

Idiots who don't understand comic books storylines.

 

 

I've never seen so many people who have never read comics getting all upset about changes taking place in the storylines now. As a person who has read comics for years I'm stunned by what the hell they are throwing a fit over.  Really?  Changes?  Lets talk about the outrage and changes.

Outrage over The Falcon taking on the role of Captain America after Steve gets the super soldier serum in him removed by a bad guy.  Okay lets see. Caps been dead a few times, replaced in a major fashion at least twice that I can remember, been a vigilante all sorts of other stuff.

Outrage over a female taking the mantle of Thor.  Thor does something wrong and looses the right to wield the hammer, a female (probably asgardian) picks it up and carries on the fight.  Okay Thor has been a freaking frog before, replaced once that I can remember, been unable to heal wounds and had special 'Iron Man' arm armor for a broken arm, I think he's died as well.

Outrage over Iron Man making a new all silver armor suit and moving operations to San Francisco.  Tony Stark has had more armor styles than most folks have underwear, has been and alcoholic, paralyzed from the waste down, been replaced as Iron Man by Rhodey, not sure if he's been dead for more than an issues, not to mention turning back and forth from a nice guy to a total ass an uncountable number of times, lost his company to Stane, hell the list could go on for him.

People these are storylines, not permanent by the gods changes to the characters.  Just like Superman getting killed or being split into read and blue personalities.  Crazy stuff happens, it's what they use for a while to go some new directions and then things eventually go back to normal.  "Oh no they're changing the characters!"... no dumbass they are off on a new storyline for a while.  Get the hell over it, things will go back and then they'll change again.  Otherwise the comics would get really boring as hell after a while.

Ryubix Manor review

Ryubix Manor from Second Thought Games.

Available in PDF at DriveThruRPG here -  RYUBIX MANOR in PDF

and in print at the Second Thought Games page here - RYUBIX MANOR in PRINT

Fresh from a properly ran and delivered Kickstarter we have the Ryubix Manor fantasy adventure. Billed as system agnostic and useable for most fantasy games (although I think it has a distinct DnD and old school feel). While it looks like a mega-dungeon it is more of a mega-location that is done right. Lets go into a few details.

It has a nice back history that makes it rather easy to drop into any ongoing campaign if need be. A manor built quite some time ago by the Ryubix family, three brothers who took care of those around them and were a positive influence on the area. Generations go by and each time the family line gets darker and darker until finally a curse is dropped upon both the surviving family members and the manor itself. A century later the players either acquire the deed to the manor from the last known surviving person of the family line, or are hired by him to clean it out.

All the necessary NPC's are given some detailed descriptions but are presented pretty much statless. You get a pretty rough idea of their power level with the level and class description following their names (ex. Vampire/ 15^th Level Bard). The monsters are presented without stat blocks as well with just a Hit Dice rating. The author told me this is because most GM's already have the monster manuals with everything they need in them, no need to reprint them all here, raise the page count and thus the cost of the book. For those who may not have them Second Thought Games have provided the necessary stats in pdf format on their website in both Pathfinder and 3.5 D20 OGL.

The manor is bloody huge. 325 detailed areas to be exact along with details on the immediate surrounding areas and even the roof of the building. The map that comes with the book is double sided, very sturdy and well detailed. Even then not all of the areas are able to fit on it as the underground sections are in the book. It is big, very big.

But the one of the nice things is the layout all makes sense. It is laid out like a massive manor, known in the past for having balls and frequent important visitors, should be. Luxury and ease of living, along with catacombs for the burial of family members, cellars where there are storage areas for things they really would have needed to store things in. There are no random layouts in this place, no 'what the hell was this place before it became a monster filled dungeon' vibes at all.

While I haven't had a chance to run this I have heard from a few playtesters and got to read a bit of the feedback from them. It's a challenge but something that can be accomplished, so no cake walk but no useless fight with no hope of winning either. Very solid adventure that holds up to what most players can dish out.

Finally the layout and presentation is very simply. Going for more ease of use and substance than style and fancy design. It is clear, decently illustrated with no layout errors or missing sections that I have noticed. This alone gives it a bit of an old school feel, back before everyone thought things should have every bell and whistle they could push into it.

In the end this is a very well done adventure. Pretty much geared for higher level players but it is scalable so it can fit a good range of levels. The book and map are both well made and should hold together for lots of play. Second Thought Games has come out the gate with a good showing for their first offering. If their next two announced books hold up as well then people should really start to take some notice.

Tabletop RPG Kickstarters - Things to do part one.

Having sat back and watched many Kickstarters for RPGs go down in flames, barely managed to meet some level of success and a few even slam out the door with flying colors one notices a few things. When you look at the failures it becomes quite easy to see what the problems were from the start and then the successes show you what they did right. This short article series is a look at what I have seen work time and time again. Not all of these are exclusive to being necessary getting your game out the door, but more often than not they do help a lot. Especially for those who don't have a lot of experience in the actual handling printers, layouts, etc; basically this is some of the advice that is best suited for amateurs who want to get a solid start.

First and foremost I will cover the number one thing that needs to be done before you even start working on your Kickstarter page. Write the damn thing first. If you evidently feel you can only write under the motivation that people have already paid you then this probably isn't the line of work for you. Having the dedication before hand to write it all out shows that you can actually do something.

I've seen more updates saying “I've hit a bit of writers block” or “Really having some trouble coming up with detailed descriptions for the NPCs” and other such stuff. That or the promised page count being an almost unreachable goal once they start hammering out words. People who only have experience writing blog posts or short little bits on their web pages find out the hard way that writing out a full game book is a very different animal indeed.

Also having everything written out gives you something to offer up to backers as a showing that you can get it done. Some have offered up the full text of a game book to backers at every level, others have offered sections like combat, character creation, etc. This also gives you the added bonus that your backers may spot something you missed. From things spelled wrong, sentences that simply don't come across right and even some playtest results if you offer up the full rules. The Fate Core book did this with some amazing results.

So if you want to put your game out via Kickstarter then the first thing you need to do is write it. Stop reading these articles and then come back when you have it done. Again this doesn't always apply to everyone, professionals who are already adept at getting things done on a set timescale may be able to do the work after the funding. But for anybody else....

As a side note THIS is precisely the reason I have never tried a Kickstarter.  I've got a half dozen or so half baked games part of the way written.  Nothing finished and I know that under the crunch of time I may not be able to deliver.  I just wish a few others would realize this as well.

Guardians of the Galaxy Official International Trailer #2 (2014) Marvel ...

Yeah I'll most likely try and be at the theater opening day for this one.  Every trailer makes me want to see it more and more.  Looking really good.

Constantine NBC Official Trailer [HD] | CONSTANTINE

I must say this looks a lot better than I ever expected it to.  Hopefully the writing is solid along with the acting and the series catches on.  DC appears to be gaining a lot of traction in the television market nowdays. 

Cost per page, out of print books.

Going over some games on Drivethrurpg again.  This time I'm looking at a few editions that are out of print, some have been for many years.  Decided to some price per page comparisons here and there on them and figured I would pass on what I came up with to other folks.

First off I looked up my favorite old out of print fantasy game.  Dungeons and Dragons, the old red box version.  I have it in hardcopy, of course, but thought about getting a pdf version as well just to have as a reference when I'm not near my books.  When I went looking I was surprised to find that the two books included in the 'red box' were listed as individuals, each with their own separate price.  Figured they would be together but I guess not.

The Players Guide

The players guide sells for $4.99 for 64 pages.  This comes up to a bit under 8 cents per page.

Dungeon Masters Rulebook

The DM's guide also sells for $4.99 but is only 48 pages.  Giving it a page cost of 10 cents.

For a combined amount of just a hair under 9 cents a page.  Seems like a pretty good deal right?  But I'm an experienced DM with this game, I don't need all the introductory stuff like how to run the game, what a DMs job is and all that.  So how about the combined edition off all the color coded boxed sets (and material from other places) that is known as the Rules Cyclopedia.

The Rules Cyclopedia

Now the price on it is $9.99 but it has a page count of 304 pages.  This gives us the bargain bin price of 3 cents per page.  A much better deal for those who just need the rules without all the extras.

Next I decided to look at a game with several editions under it's belt.  Each of them with quite a bit of support released during their day.  Shadowrun the RPG of magic and cyberpunk.  Currently in it's fifth edition at the moment.  Lets look at the pricing of the older editions shall we?

Shadowrun 1st edition

This one will cost you $8.00 for 234 pages.  The math comes out to be right around 3 cents per page.  That's as good as a deal as the Rules Cyclopedia.  I see this as good pricing for a years out of print corebook, there is no art to pay for anymore, no extra costs that need covered.  Just giving the game to its fans on the cheap and making some money for it.

Second edition doesn't have a version available.  From a Shadowrun fan I've talked to that edition wasn't much different than the first one so I guess they decided not to offer it up.

Shadowrun 3rd edition

$18.40 for 334 pages (had to look up page count of the physical copy since it's not listed in the description).  Page count and price jump from 1st here but the price per page goes up to 5 and half cents.  Newer version, charging a bit more, I can see that.

Shadowrun 4th edition

Here is where the pricing gets a bit odd if you ask me.  $15.00 for 376 pages. Why is that odd?  Well it's a hair under 4 cents per page making it cheaper than the 3rd edition.  Seems like the older would be cheaper to me. 


What do I see from all of this?  Well it looks like the bigger the corebook the cheaper the cost per page is.  Of the big books the most expensive was 5 and half cents while the smaller core books of the red box were 8 and 10 cents per page.  Now this isn't always true as I've found some out of print core books that range up there as well.  But I'll save those for another post.

In the end, when looking to buy an older out of print game with several different editions or variations, always do the math first.  Try out the cheapest version that gives you the most for your pennies to see if it's what you want first.  Save a few bucks.

Hearthstone - Big Game Hunter

This is one of those cards that has saved my behind on a few occasions.  Or at least bought me an extra round or two until my demise.  So it's got a spot in several of my decks as fast solution to the other player dropping a big bad right when you don't need it.

The overall goal is to hold on to this guy until he's needed.  Don't be tempted to drop him down when his Battlecry is useless, even though he's a decent price for a 4/2.  Keep him in your hand for just the right moment to eliminate a large or pumped up minion that will be causing you much trouble the next round.

He's not a fit for every deck as some already have built in solutions for powerful minions in their class cards.  Although sometimes he may be better cost wise as he takes out the target and is still a 4/2 on your side of the table afterwards. 

One good combo for this card is the Youthful Brewmaster.  Allowing you to pull the Big Game Hunter back into your hand for a second hit.  With their low mana costs you could drop him twice in a round and really knock the wind out of your opponents sails.  There are other cards that pull your minions back into your hand but not at this low of a cost.

Hearthstone my early review

Hearthstone is an online collectible card game put out by Blizzard Entertainment.  It is based off of the World of Warcraft world uses many of the well known NPCs, creatures and abilities from the setting.  It is accessible as free to play through their battle.net set up. 

This is my quick review of the game after playing it for a week or two.  I've been reading up on various sites, play advice and reading the forums in various communities about it as well.  Going to simply break it down to the good and bad that I see in it's design or implementation along with some final notes at the end.

The Good

Basic set for free almost all right up front.  You start with all the basic 'any class' cards and with the starting cards for the Mage class.  Other classes are earned by beating either the computer in practice mode or by beating other players.  When you beat another class you unlock it and get their starting cards.  Then as you level your class up you unlock the rest of their cards pretty quickly.

Expert expansion set card can be gotten for free with some work.  The expansion or 'expert' cards are also available for free... with some work.  You earn gold in the game through completing missions and beating other players.  Every 100 gold gets you an expert pack.  Of course there is the option of spending real money to buy packs as well.

Great art, card layout and production values.  It's Blizzard so you know the visuals are top notch.  But they've also done a find job on card layout and the general appearance of the design.  Each card also has a 'gold' version that has some animation tossed onto it.

Disenchanting.  You can turn your old or extra cards into dust.  Any number of cards above two are useless, so you disenchant them and then use the dust provided to create the cards that you need.  The rarer the card the more dust it will cost.

The Bad

More luck than strategy at times.  An early bad draw can really just end the game for you at times.  The other player can build up to quickly, especially if they get a great hand.  I know this is standard for any card game out there but it seems to magnified even more in Hearthstone.  Granted that same luck could lead you to a comeback as well.

Mister Suitcase is alive and well.  The rare, epic and legendary cards usually have more punch to them than most of the common cards.  This leads to the sad fact that he who can buy the most packs has a better chance of making a kick ass deck.  Common cards and common sense still apply in construction but those epics can be the big bullets that drop your opponent into oblivion. 

30 card decks and two card limits cut down strategy. This is where the game sort of falls down and it also leads to the first bad point I mentioned.  Small decks and small card limits lead to strategy not really forming up as much as it should.

No trading, probably to make enchanting more useful.  Card trading is not possible.  I assume this is for two reasons.  First it makes it hard for the 'gold seller' types to move in with bots and start selling rares for actual cash.  Second is to make disenchanting more important.  But it would be nice to be able to swap cards with friends.

Final Notes

I still find it a fun game.  There are lots of odd ball card affects and neat ways to pull things off in there.  It's one of the better one on one card games that I've played to be honest.  Although it still doesn't break into my own personal 'holy trinity' of CCG's (Doomtown, Kult, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle).  Some of that is probably my taste in multiplayer games.

Would definitely recommend that people give it a shot.  After all it's free to get into and if you don't want to go all out cash wise you don't have to. 

WoW - Back to the old game

Due to my work schedule, my kids and just life in general I haven't been able to make much time to do any tabletop role-playing lately.  So to give myself a bit of escapism I've fired World of Warcraft back up after about a year and a half away.  Yes I know there are other MMORPGs out there on the market but WoW is the one I know how to play and I already have quite a few characters built up and gold accumulated in their pocketbooks. 

Been playing more Horde this time around over on the Misha server.  Doing a lot of battlegrounds again, racking up some honor kills.  If anyone is interested the toon I've been using over there is Leadwood and here is a link to his Armory page:

Leadwood - Blood Elf Hunter

Probably be putting up some new articles for it as well here soon.  Mixed in with some articles for regular rpgs as well. 

Be A Better Player 17 Stop derailing the game... jackhole

GM - “Alright here is the map that the old man gave you give it a good look over.”

Player 1 - “Oh this looks nice. This covers most of the old city even the part that is partially underground now.”

Player 2 - “Hey did you make this using that program I told you about?”

GM - “Yeah been messing with it quite a bit over the last few days.”

Player 3 - “Looks like you're using it right this map is pretty good.”

Player 2 - “Did you check out that link I sent you last night? Some guy has made up hundreds of maps and put them up on his site for anyone to use.”

GM - “Really? I hadn't checked that out yet, sounds like something I can steal from in the future.”

Player 2 - “Yeah plus he has lots of tutorials on various functions, even a few addons he's done himself.”

GM - “Man I know I could use a tutorial of the reticulating spline set up. I've been banging my head into that a few times.”

Player 2 - “Oh it has several on that. Here fire up your laptop really quick and I'll show you where they are at. Plus his site is a bit of a mess so I can show you how to find stuff quicker.”

GM - “Sure cool okay.”

Player 4 - “Um... weren't we gaming just a few minutes ago?”

It's game night, you're at the table and things are starting to get going. Then something somebody says, usually the GM, catches your attention about something else. So you just have to bring it up at the table right then. Buying wine at the tavern reminds you about some tours the local winery has going. An adventure hook sounds like one for a game you played in three months ago so you need to tell everyone about that game. Oh and that other thing that was said reminds you of that one movie, be sure to point out the resemblance, in detail, and make sure they know what that movie was really about.

This is called 'Derailing'. For the other players involved it really, really sucks. It completely destroys any pacing and mood that had been set up. Plus it interrupts what is going on, what most of the others showed up for in the first place. It's like going up to a person while they are playing a video gaming and standing in front of the television screen while they are trying to play the game. For the folks who are there for only a certain amount of time it becomes increasingly aggravating.

Usually when I'm a player I only have so long at the table. Work is coming the next morning or I have to go home and take care of my kids after a certain time. So spending part of that time listening to you ramble on about a game you played at a con a year ago, complete with dramatic pauses, bad voice imitations and talking slowly, isn't exactly on my 'How I Want To Spend My Time' list. When I'm the GM I'll nip this shit in the bud and tell you to bring it up later and get back to the game.

That being said I've been guilty of doing it before. Along with being guilty of letting it happen. But y'know what? I recognized the problem that I was causing and corrected myself. Please, do the same with yourself.

New dice box

A few months ago I backed the Kickstarter set up by MS Clean LLC for their new clip shaped and sized gun cleaning kits. Meant for use by soldiers and firearm aficionados as it fits into the standard M-16 magazine pouches. I backe...d it at the level where I got the case without the kit... I had another idea for it.

This is my new dice box. More compact and it holds just what I need. Only thing I had to look at for a moment was the fact that standard sized D20's didn't fit, they were just a hair to tall. Eventually I discovered my solution. That D20 you see is from the old Red Box edition of Dungeons and Dragons. So the older size of the die seem to fit just perfectly. Along with a standard and mechanical pencil with a flash drive as well.See More

Here is a link to the companies facebook page.  MS Clean LLC on Facebook
 

Iron Kingdoms and pdf pricing

Privateer Press recently released the Iron Kingdoms rpg as a pdf on drivethru and related sites. This was after abandoning their own app designed for distributing the book as an ecopy. However the pricing immediately had some folks stepping back (including myself).

Iron Kingdoms RPG core rules

 

$41.99 for a 362 page book is rather steep when compared to many other games of the same size out there. It's only around ten bucks cheaper than a print copy at that. This breaks down to 11.59 cents per page that you are paying. Outrageous pricing? Well maybe, but lets take a look around.

 

Looking at other current popular newly released rpgs we'll see Interface Zero coming it a twenty dollars and running at 323 pages. Now this comes up to 6.19 cents per page. Major difference here and IZ is on the top ten sellers list, so maybe the pricing has something to do with that.

 

Interface Zero 2.0 Full Metal Cyberpunk

 

Shadowrun fifth edition cruises in even cheaper than this. 489 pages at 19.99. Even more significant of a price drop coming in at a hair over four cents per page. Again it's on the top sellers list as well although I'm sure some of that is from the game being a long running favorite with a large dedicated consumer base.

 

Shadowrun Fifth Edition Core Rulebook

 

So with this it really looks like Privateer is pricing themselves way over what others in the market are charging on a per page basis. Or are they? When is the last time you saw a twelve page pdf for a game selling for 48 cents? Or even 72 cents?

 

Lets go on back to Shadowrun and pull up some of the supporting products. Shadowrun: Firing Line sells at 12 dollars and comes in a 66 pages. This breaks down to 18.18 cents per page, much more expensive than the Iron Kingdoms book on a cost per page breakdown.

 

Shadowrun Firing Line

 

The Savage Worlds Science Fiction Companion continues this trend. Clocking in at 14.99 and 96 pages long. This results in the paying 15.61 cents per page. Again the cost per page is higher than Iron Kingdoms and their 'over pricing'.

 

Savage Worlds Science Fiction Companion

 

The smaller the size the more the cost seems to grow. Vortex, one of the first books to come out for Numenera has a price tag of 5.99 for 30 pages. This sorts out to a hair short of twenty cents per page. Those must be some good pages.....

 

Numenera Vortex

 

So is Privateer Press pricing themselves way to high? Depends on how you look at it. The trend seems to be the core book is sold cheaply and then the price cost per page rockets up on supplemental material where people aren't so keen to notice the costs. Most of this is perspective as people look at four bucks and forty bucks and can tell you which is costs less, they just fail at checking into what they are actually getting per cent in each case. Buyer beware, do your research and all the usual advice before making a purchase. Also never stand down when questioning prices but also don't go dismissing the prices before doing some actual breakdowns on the math.

 

Threat Analysis: Hominid review

Sla Industries is a game known for coming back to life in strange bursts. Although it never lumbers itself into forward progression for long the game seems to never die. The latest is a pdf release titled 'Threat Analysis Hominid' presented in the data packet form the company has used for it's last few releases. At least in this format they have kept with a basic layout and a feeling of uniformity. One change they did was to release this one with the 'Pay What You Want' pricing which is probably getting the game a bit more attention than usual.

 

I can't go into to much detail on this review as the packet itself isn't very big and I don't want to ruin all of it's little secrets. But there is some mention of things from previous packets although they aren't necessary to use this one. It's also rather 'truthy', if you don't know what I'm talking about... well then you haven't been following Sla Industries over it's up and down lifetime.

 

In a nutshell we are introduced to a threat from White Earth itself. Creatures summoned to Mort by the Shi'An blood cult (which we get another few fragments of info about them as well) that have a brutality and anger streak matched by no others. We are given complete information on how they get here, their motivations and behavior. Four different Hominid types are stated out and introduce us to something called White Earth Abilities which we'll probably see more of in future material.

 

They make a nice, more savage, addition to the threats the PC's have to face on Mort. Also they are the harbingers of the winds of change that seem to be blowing across the World of Progress. I have to give this packet two thumbs up. However their very origins are Truth based and may not be a fit for all groups.

 

You can find it on Drivethrurpg here:

Threat Analysis Hominid

Or on RPGNOW here:

Threat Analysis Hominid

Also with this release Nightfall Games has made the Sla Industries core rule book 'Pay What You Want' as well.

You can find it on Drivethrurpg here:

SLA Industries core book

Or on RPGNOW here:

SLA Industries core book

Cyberpunk Sunday 3.04 - Blackmail, Big Brother and Fashion

Some people still have this romantic image of all hackers as white hat good guys fighting the power.  Well they definitely are not all like that.  Some use their skill in attempt to make themselves rich through whatever means they can find.  Here is a case of Chinese hackers blackmailing a man for a pretty good sum of cash.

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-get-hacked-by-china-2014-1

Of course the governments want in on the control as well using the most Big Brother means necessary.  This time the Ukraine goes to show us just how far they will take to intimidate the masses they wish to control.  If you think the major governments of the world haven't tried anything like this you are only fooling yourself.  Only they probably didn't let anybody know they were monitoring, just stored up all the phones being used and added those people to a watch list.

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/blog/maybe-the-most-orwellian-text-message-ever-sent

Now for something a little less along the lines of 'Oh shit' and back towards 'Oh cool'.  More development into the area of wearable tech.  How about some Bluetooth rigged jewelry that is fashionable and functional.  Also probably easier to access by hackers and government than ever before as well....

http://www.zdnet.com/ces-2014-csr-unveils-bluetooth-smart-jewellery-7000024808/


That's is this weeks Cyberpunk Sunday.  See you next week for three more.

Cyberpunk Character Classes by System

Cyberpunk Character Classes

This is a quick collection of character class names (or archetypes, whatever name they are given) from various cyberpunk rpgs.  This is not by any means an exhaustive list but simply a list from the books I have handy.  If you have a list from your favorite cyberpunk game please just add it in the comments section.


Cyberpunk 2020

Rockerboys
Solos
Netrunners
Techies
Medias
Cops
Corporates
Fixers
Nomads

Cyberspace

Sleaze
Sneak
Killer
Net Junkie
Jockey
Tech Rat

Digital Burn

Blank
Cop
Fixer
Ganger
Hacker
Icon
Medico
Merc
Spanner

Interface Zero 2.0

Agent
Bounty Hunter
Cybermonk
Drone Jockey
Ganger
Grifter
Hacker
Idol
Investigative Journalist
Patch Man
Ronin
Sector Cop
Smuggler
Ex-Soldier
Street Rat
Zeek

GURPS Cyberpunk

Assassin
Bodyguard
Broker
Celebrity
Cop
Corporate
Cyberprep
Drifter
Mercenary
Military
Mobster
Netrunner
Reporter
Splicer
Spy
Street Op
Technician
Thief

Khromosome

 

Black Marketeer

Belter

Biomechanic

Contract Worker

Financier

Fixer

Headhunter

Mechanic

Private Investigator

Rogue Scientist

Soldier of Fortune

Special Forces

Spin Consultant

Virtual Personality

Wirehead

 

OGL Cybernet

 The Connection
The Corporate
The Jacker
The Soldier
The WebCrawler
The Professional 

Cyberpunk Sunday 3.03 Digital Sun, Smart Spam and the NSA.

The smog continues to grow thick in China.  Last year the levels broke all recordable records and the systems sat up to measure it simply couldn't measure high enough.  Now the government is piping in the sunrise for it's people to see... on a big television screen.  The land of no corporate regulations sees everything through a gray haze that shows no signs of letting up.

Digital sunise screens in Tiananmen Square.

Ah yes smart devices.  Little security and even less foresight in design.  Now these wonderful things crowding our homes are being turned into zombie systems to send out spam and other such things.  Even a refrigerator is getting in on the act.  How many things in your home are all ready to be turned into spam spewing hotspots?

Someone's refrigerator just performed a cyberattack.

Oh and the NSA.  When they aren't collecting up every single scrap of data they are able to they are busy telling lies about doing it.  Everytime we turn around there is more revealed about the depths to which the government agency has sank.  Big Brother is indeed alive and well in the United States and he is watching everyone.

The NSA continues to tell even more lies.


Okay that's it for this Sunday.  See you in another week.

Cyberware and Mental Stability

One of the common staples in the cyberpunk genre of gaming is cyberware and with it, the slow process of becoming an emotionless, psychopathic killing machine. The idea that once a person becomes more man than machine their sanity drops off at a drastic rate. To be honest this is one staple that I would like to see pulled out and tossed away.

The main reason behind this in roleplaying games is for game balance. Cyberware can really pump up a characters abilities and lethality along with making them damn hard to kill at the same time. So making each bit a risk of sending the player character off to NPC land as a raving lunatic does make one stop and pause when thinking of the chrome warrior image. The question is how do you handle it differently or what do you put in place to replace it?

This time I'll focus on the handling it different part. No hard stats for games or anything, just some thinking out loud on the subject.

Very first and foremost should be Why. Why is the character getting a chunk of machine added to their body? To me this is the big one because if I lost my arm in a car wreck but was able to have it replaced by a working replacement that moved and looked just like my original arm, well I would be seeing that as a miracle of modern science and be happy about it. Now by the same token if somebody opts out to have a perfectly good limb sawed off and replaced.... well they probably had some mental problems to begin with.

Cybernetic replacement by necessity due to injuries or health problem shouldn't be a huge hit to ones mental well being. Sometimes it may even increase their mental stability by improving their quality of life. While cybernetic replacement for the sake of getting a metal part should be a bigger kick in the brain.

Now my second thought is on common cyberware that many people receive to perform daily tasks easier or for a job. Things like a neural link, data plugs, neuralware processors, etc; these would be something popular culture would make readily available with society ready to accept them as the 'next big tech to improve your life' thing. Getting something that nearly everybody else has shouldn't make you feel less human or unhinge your psyche. Especially if they become needed for a workplace, using advanced equipment and competing in the job market. It's an edge that shouldn't cut you back.

Other pop culture fueled cyberware range from the glowing tattoos, implanted time displays on your wrists, or even having the color of your eyes change. It's what the latest reality television star has along with the new wave of rockerboys coming onto the scene. They're popular, their cool, their neat. Why would these cost some sanity again?

Finally the last thing on my mind is all the other stuff. The things that aren't replacement parts or pop culture bling. Subdermal plating, wired reflexes and adrenalin boosters. These seem to have one focus in mind and that's to make you better at the job of hurting other people. Either through making you faster, bullet proof to a point or just the ability to pull out a gun faster than most people can blink. This is a tough one to make a call on. One could say the person who would get these things may not be in their right mind already, but another could also counter that with the fact that it increases their ability to survive, a base instinct.

So my end thoughts on this would be that I would definitely use the 'Why' as a modifier for any sort of mental affect. How much detail you would want to work into the rules for this is completely up to the ruleset I suppose. That or you could simply do the GM 'handwave' and say no loss for replacing something that actually needed replacing.

What are your thoughts on all this?