Monday, December 31, 2018

Cyberpunk 2020 - New body armor options



This is a listing of new basic armor types for use with the Cyberpunk 2020 rpg from R. Talsorian games.


New Body Armor
----------------------------------------------

Operator Helmet. This is a reinforced Kevlar helmet equipped with a variety of tech attachments that most runners will find useful in the field. Includes a detachable face plate for added protection.

Operator Helmet – covers head – SP 25 – EV 0 – Cost 1100

Included in helmet: Logcompass, Digital Camera/Recorder, Mastoid Commo, Binoglasses, Light Booster Goggles, IR Goggles and IR Flash. Battery lifespan is ten hours with a variety of plug in cables for recharging built into the inside of the helmet.

----------------------------------------------

Full body Kevlar clam-shell. Kevlar shaped to the form of the body and layered into a set of flexible overalls. Offering up protection for all of the body except the head while still lightweight to help with movement.

Kevlar Clam-shell – covers all except head – SP Light 14 Medium 18 Heavy 20 – EV Light +1 Medium +2 Heavy +3 – Cost Light 300 Medium 400 Heavy 500

-----------------------------------------------

Metal Gear Plus. The metal gear design and style but with added servos to aid in movement and lifting capacity. Also with a harder more resistant plate design for added protection. Not to mention some nifty add on options.

Metal Gear Plus – whole body – SP 27 – EV +2 – Cost 1250.

While wearing MG+ the character has their Body Type increased by one. This is from the servo motors, advanced shock resistant soft fill in the armor and damage dispersal design.

Various battery packs are located throughout the suit so there is no central power supply. The average lifespan of the batteries under use is about twelve hours. At that point a recharge taking around two hours is necessary. An extendable power cord is built into the right forearm. Advanced longer life battery models are available for an additional 250 eb an add four hours to the lifespan.

MG+ options: most electronics can be added into the helmet or body for their base cost X1.5. This is within reason of course, building in an electronic keyboard isn't going to work. Tools and tool kits can be built in as well for their base cost X2. Data systems, communications and surveillance can be added on for their base cost X1.25. Each additional option built into the suit reduces the power supply lifespan by fifteen minutes.

-------------------------------------------

You can find Cyberpunk 2020 books in pdf and POD over at the: R. Talsorian DrivethruRPG page.
 
Like what you see here, found out how to support this blog.


 

Sunday, December 30, 2018

Cyberpunk 2020 Athena Shell


Athena Shell
A new company for use with Cyberpunk 2020


A new company blowing up on the markets specializing in armor for women. From customization to modifications and fabrication for that personalize armor set that will set you apart from the rest. Adapting load bearing points and shape to better a woman's form and stature than any straight off the shelf brand can offer.


Game terms: Full custom armor jobs give an -1 EV mod to the base armor values. Modified stock armor gives no mods but the armor looks better and is custom fit so the PC will feel less restricted than normal when geared up. However in both cases when worn by anyone except the person it was custom made or modified for then they get penalties. Full custom penalties are +2 EV. Modified stock armor penalties are +1 EV.


All sets of body armor also get branded with the Athena Shell 'AS' logo which does bring about a good amount of street credit as it is not cheap and usually worn by either experienced runners or fashion icons with money to blow. In a Reputation facedown a person wearing Athena Shell gear gets a +1 to their roll for modified armor and a +2 if they are wearing full custom.


Costs:


Custom shaped armor to fit is regular armor cost X3.

Custom paint jobs with a no chip coating is 100eb for something basic, high detail including added artwork and designing may cost up to 1000eb.

Having a stock set of armor modified for shape and fit is equal to the base cost of the set X2.

Grime Away coating which causes liquids and dirt to slide off the armor is 200eb.
 
 
 
You can find Cyberpunk 2020 books in pdf and POD over at the: R. Talsorian DrivethruRPG page.
 
Like what you see here, found out how to support this blog.
 
 
 

Sunday, December 16, 2018


The first overview of The Silence. A setting in the works using the WaRP system.


The world we live in, the reality around us, is but one of many. Other worlds, parallel dimensions, other realities, whatever names they are given exist along side our own. Just a hairs width away separated by a boundary to keep us isolated from each other. But over time that wall has weakened and slowly broken down. Allowing others to pass into that space in between, a sinister place that mirrors the darkest aspects of the realities around it, a place known as The Silence.



In this setting the players take on the roles of people who are sensitive to areas of weakness in the boundary between our reality and that of The Silence. They feel a draw to these areas or may even cause the cracks that already exist to open up even more. What they choose to do about the horrors that they keep stumbling across is up to them. But one thing is for sure, the things that reside on the other side want in our world for various reasons. They may be the only ones who can stop them.



The Cracks in the Boundary.


The areas where the wall is the weakest are called cracks, but they are not all the same. There are different levels of breakage and how the other side is manifested can be different from site to site. Also the areas along the Boundary next to our world are mirror images, copies if you will, of each other. Although those over there tend to be a much more broken, dark and horrific version. Where everything is in a constant state of decay and despair permeates the air.


Sound does not travel the same either. In the open air most sounds are completely gone within a hundred feet, so somebody could be screaming for help close by and nobody could hear it. Hence the name that it is given, The Silence. Inside structures such as buildings it is more chaotic, noises far away may sound like they are right in the next room while your friend down the hallway may be getting violently murdered and you hear nothing.


Now lets look at the various types of cracks and how they are categorized. But do note that this isn't a science and they may manifest in completely unforeseen ways as well.


Crosspoint. These are completely open doorways that exist between the two worlds. You can't see them until you've already walked through. Once several feet in the air will go very cold and you won't hear any noises. Then you will see the entire reality around you slowly peel over into the dark mirror version of itself. Paint will peel away, glass grows cracks, blood soaks up through the floors, barb wire creeps across open windows. If the one has been paying attention they may be able to retrace their path back through the Crosspoint into our reality and escape... unless something blocks their way.


Snap. This is an almost violent cross over to the other side. The person will feel a shock of cold that is slightly painful and their muscles will tense up and cramp for a moment usually bringing them to their knees. When they recover a second later they find themselves on the other side in the mirror version of where they were. But there is no path back to follow.


Bleed. Sometimes the crack only works one way. With a bleed creatures and residents can be pulled over into our reality. But it also starts to leak that negative energy that permeates the Silence as well. Slowly buildings will start to take on the appearance of their mirror counterparts and fall into disrepair while feeling constantly drafty and cold. These spots can be very dangerous as somethings like to take up their nests near a Bleed while hunting out around it.


Ritual Breaks. These are deliberate breaks in the Border to allow passage back and forth between the realities. Usually achieved after the culmination of a long and arduous magical ritual. Sometimes these are done by unwitting cultist in search of power and knowledge, other times they are done in order to rescue someone who is trapped. These passages only last a limited amount of time dependent on the type of ritual used to open them. Some of these rituals cause such a disturbance in the Silence that they attract the attention of those that reside there. Something very bad for those who aren't prepared for the horrors that lurk in the cold. Most of the time these rituals open up in the mirror of the spot where they are performed although there are some out there that creak a passage to very specific locations.


Areas of The Silence



Broken City.


Most of the cracks that form are in this area. A massive apparently unending city that goes on and on, sometimes looping back in on itself even. Containing the mirrored structures of the present and the past all crammed together. One will also notice that all because two building are beside each other in our reality doesn't mean they will be next to each other in the mirror of the Silence. One could crossover and find a huge collapsing cathedral between them or a canal on filthy water. There is no apparent rhyme or reason to how they are placed.


Some areas appear to be completely empty of life in any direction. But don't let that fool you, the creatures here know that staying hidden can be a key element of survival and will only show themselves when the odds are in their favor. But the kind of life you stumble across may not be human at all as there are things from realities yet unknown that have crossed over into this place in between.



Wild Lands.


This is a much more rare section to stumble into. A heavy dark jungle like forest that, like it's city counterpart, goes on forever. While the noise silencing is still there the cold is not, instead replace by a constant humid heat that will not let up. But the mirrors here are also different, you could stumble upon an area that clears up and a heavy fog rolls in only to discover that you have wandered into the copy of a World War One trench warfare site complete with zombified soldiers still fighting each other for inches of dirt. Or the deep jungle warfare of the Pacific rim during the Vietnam War era, massive stone temples piled with bodies of human sacrifices and a tribe still living there following their old ways hoping to be released into the world their ancestors came from.


What you will find is another mix of things from other realities that have made this area their home. Things of nightmares that creep just behind the bushes no longer afraid to step on a twig because you will not hear it.


Sunday, December 9, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - OSR survey notes


Recently there was a survey passed around about the OSR communities/movement/brand whatever. Now I gave up half way through it due to the length and relative trivial nonsense of some of the questions. But I did notice something interesting coming up in discussions afterwards.

There have been several folks sharing their negative interactions with other OSR people and communities.  Things that they've seen or were done to them personally. Which is a good thing to talk about as it gives everyone the ability to see stuff from every angle and discover why some people are a bit taken back about the OSR overall.

Of course that's not what happened most of the time.  Occasionally open talk happened, but on a more frequent basis something else did. The complaints were ignored, told by others "Well I've never seen that happen" or openly told they were making stuff up. 

What this would have been is a very opportune moment for people to share out the positive OSR circles where things like this don't happen. But that hardly happened most of the time. They were given some rough thoughts about finding the more artpunk DIY groups... but not actually telling them were these groups were.  If I were to be the owner, moderator or member of a very friendly and open OSR group I damn sure would have been sharing it around during all this.

So why didn't that happen?  That's a very important question right there.

Either they don't know of community spots where there aren't toxic shitbags ruining it occasionally for other people.  OR they are afraid to give out the spots because they are worried the toxic shitbags they know are out there will also move in.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - She Bleeds books pulped



As many of you saw a few days ago there were reports of a book titled "She Bleeds" by Elizabeth Chaipraditkul being destroyed by a warehouse.  The evident reason was that the people running the warehouse found the book to be 'disgusting'.  People were upset over this, understandably so given the current climate of the gaming hobby.  There were discussions of the legality of it, calls for the name of the company warehousing the book and questions on if it happened or if somebody was trolling the LotFP folks.

Well now there's been an official announcement on the LofFP Facebook page:

Quick update on 'She Bleeds' for you all:  
James finished up his holiday in London and got information back about what happened. Turns out a distributor purchased 36 copies, then destroyed their own property. Other than being an incomprehensibly foolish business decision, it was their property to do with as they please.
It's still infuriating to hear about any books anywhere being destroyed for their content, and the author - Elizabeth Chaipraditkul - is handling the emotional burden of seeing a piece of work she put herself into being recklessly destroyed by dudes who presumably have no problem with blood so long as it doesn't come from a vagina.
Like many LotFP authors, Liz is paid via profit sharing rather than a flat per-word payment. That means you can support her by continuing to buy her work wherever it's available.
From us, you can get the She Bleeds PDF on DTRPG here:
She Bleeds on DrivethruRPG
As for hard copies, the remaining Gen Con books went to Impressions post-Gen Con, which means there are still hard copies out there at mail order retailers and FLGSs who are getting them from their distributors. If you know of a place you can find it online, do please link in the comments below to help folks purchase the book.
You can see the actual announcement on their page RIGHT HERE.

So evidently it did happen but luckily was only a small number of copies and they were legally owned by the distributor so they could do with them as they please.  I'm still not happy with the idea of them destroying the books rather than contacting the publisher and asking for possible 'buy back' or something along those lines.

Also in the comments they are unwilling to name the distributor because they don't want anymore drama to come up from all of this.  Which is also understandable.  But damned if I still wish I knew who it was so I could avoid any business with them in the future.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - Fallout from articles.



Never really expected to get much reaction out of my Jaded Gamer Diary articles.  But low and behold I have! 

First off the 'Archon Part One' entry sparked some interest.  But over on the fan ran Archon STL page a couple days later a conversation started up that had some similar points.  Then out of know where Draco Fornax suddenly appeared and tried to act like he knew what he was doing.

As a side note I posted a link to the Archon article only on one small Archon fan page ran by a friend of mine.  The person who started the conversation over at Archon STL had seen it.  So apparently it had some influence.

You can find the post and comments here.

Then my Sla Industries rant got some attention from one of the folks from Daruma.  The people who were apparently putting out Sla in conjunction with Nightfall games now.  He hopped in to comment on the actual diary entry. Although now it's really funny as since then they tried a Kickstarter, failed to deliver, went out of business and all sorts of other drama.

Here is a link back to that article.

Later on another of my Sla Industries rants would get me blocked on Facebook by Dave Allsop. 

Insert link to post here

Monday, November 26, 2018

Great time to be a DnD fan.



I just realized that right now is a great time to be a Dungeons and Dragons fan of nearly any edition.  Before when a new edition went out of print the previous one was no longer available shortly after they sold what was left in their warehouse except through second hand sales. 

With the advent of Print On Demand that has all changed.

Right now in print you can get the Rules Cyclopedia version of the old basic rules. 1st edition ADnD,  and 2nd edition ADnD have all the core books available. There is a gap for 3.0/3.5 but really you could get Pathfinder to cover that. 4th edition is available pretty cheaply and they even one of the corebooks up in POD already. That's just the corebooks by the way, quite a few of the supplements are available in print as well. 

That's all covering the POD stuff. Nearly everything except a small handful of books are available in pdf.

You can find them all over on DrivethruRPG with just a few clicks.

Try being a fan of some of the games that have never made their way to even pdf.  Long since dead, print copies being scarce and prices all over the board. DnD folks are having it easier than ever.

Sunday, November 25, 2018

City State of Kainis - Threshold



Been working on my own system again, mainly for my fantasy setting I've been jotting down for years.  Nothing really world changing but more along the lines of traditional gaming fare since that's what I like to play and run. I am trying to mix a few things up here and there with it though, one would be with a stat called Threshold.

THRESHOLD - If your character is hit for damage that is less than this stat it isn't recorded on the damage chart.

As a base all characters (humans at least) start with a Threshold of zero before other modifiers are added in either class or species based, maybe even some sort of advantage system. It's these modifiers that may raise it a point or two. In some settings other things like nano/bio/cybertech may add to it as well.

So if you are hit with X damage and X is less than your Threshold you take no damage. If X is greater than your Threshold than you take all the damage. So it doesn't reduce the damage but buffers against small injuries. Basically I'm tired of characters, who are supposed to be the main point of the game, getting whittled down a point at a time by tiny hits.

Armor will reduce the damage. Whatever is left goes to the Threshold and then to the damage chart.

Just me thinking out loud here.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Kult: Rectal Dumpings has arrived in pdf


Well the pdf of Kult: Rectal Dumpings finally made it's way to DrivethruRPG.  With one of the most overhyped and utterly unfun systems inside of it now (that would be the Apocalypse World system). It took long enough after a Kickstarter whose goal was to rake the fans for as much money as possible.

But it's here in all it's overprice pdf glory.  Seems like they should have made their production money on the overpriced Kickstarter to cover all costs.  But evidently charging 30+ bucks for the pdf is a good idea and there are suckers born every minute for it.

If you have no problems paying that just click on the link below to purchase it and I'll get a few pennies of it to throw at my ever growing electric bill.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/259252/Kult-Divinity-Lost--4th-Edition-of-Kult-Core-Rules?affiliate_id=35459

Also don't forget the other equally over priced accessories to go along with it.


Sunday, November 18, 2018

Iron Pact talks about a Fantasy City Generator


Have to point out The Iron Pact blog for their sharing of an awesome fantasy city generator.  They give a quick over view of it and show one of the maps they created.  Don't judge it by just that map as you can make them look vastly different with all the options that are in there.

http://theironpact.com/city-generator/

Not linking directly to the generator as I want to drive a little traffic to The Iron Pact as they were the ones that got me to notice it in the first place.


Friday, November 16, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - RPGPundit proves he is a liar... again.


Two Jaded Gamer entries in one day.  Damn.

Once again John Tarnowski (aka RPGPundit and a bunch of other names) proves once again that he is nothing but a liar.  This time it's all about somebody else wanting to limit the use of their own IP that they created.  Yeah you read that right Tarnowski doesn't think other people should be in control of their own creations... well except for him controlling his most likely.

Anyways.

It started with Stuart Robertson adjusting the creative commons agreement for use of the OSR logo he created.  Basically restricting it from use on products with hate speech, encouraging violence, etc. Here is his post on G+:

ATTENTION OSR MEMBERS

He lines out what he means rather clearly.  Most of this was in reaction to Venger Satanis being a dick like usual and making fun of trans people with his VS post or some such.  Anyways Stuart wanted to adjust the usage of the logo which is well within his rights as the creator.

Now Tarnowski comes off the fucking rails in that discussion many times.  Then over on his forums he makes this claim:

"Stuart Robertson, the inventor of one of the more-common known OSR logos, has decided that he's going to threaten legal action on anyone using the Logo with politics he doesn't like."

Which is completely NOT what Stuart said nor implied.

So yet once again, the screaming yelling shitbag John Tarnowski proves once again that he is a fucking liar.

Jaded Gamer Diary - The Vampire 5th ed shit show continues


Well as the shit show known as Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition rolls on it may be coming to a bit of a close as well.  Well let us start at some of the newer droppings today.

Remember the part about Chechnya in the Camarilla book that people were pissed off about.  Well apparently the Chechen people are pissed off about a different spin from the same section. They seem to hate the implied idea that their country is a vampire controlled state ruled over by a Sultan.

Chechens complain on American game that depicts them as cruel vampires with Ramzan as their ‘Sultan’

The we pop over to the Anarchs book and find something new.  But not unexpected when you think about it.  When you get edgy shitlords to run the company then you will also get their fucked up idea that suicide is how the weak are culled from the strong. 


Yeah that looks really good White Wolf.  Really good.

But now it also looks like White Wolf as a production company will be going the way of the DoDo... again... for reals this time.  Paradox Interactive is going to do what they do best with IPs they purchase.  Pull them inside, stop all internal support and just license it all out. Basically just managing the approval process of whatever is submitted to them by the licensee.  I suppose the WW logo may appear on approved material but probably not for long.  Honestly you don't see the Target Games logo on the new Kult material do you?

A message from White Wolf (aka goodbye)

So the end is apparently in sight for White Wolf as a publishing house, even as a branch of a larger tree.  But the people they put in charge, the lack of oversight and the overall approach to sensitive real life issues sunk the ship.

You hear people say "Get woke, go broke", well now it looks more like "Get edgy, get ended".

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Vampire 5th continues to be a shit show.

Vampire 5th edition, maybe it should be filth edition... continues to be an ongoing shit show.

I'll copy paste what has been said along with posting a screenshot of the text from a new V5 book.  At the bottom I'll link to the original post that I saw.

----------------------------------

"Joseph D. Carriker
(Please note this is public, so it can be shared. Interact with it accordingly, folks.)
So, filing this under "Second Verse Same As The First": the excerpt bel...ow is from the upcoming Camarilla book for Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition.

In it, it describes a vampire-dominated Chechnya. Even setting aside the gross implications of that design decision - and there are plenty of them - it also turns the internment of queer people into literal death camps into what amounts to a distraction.
 
This text literally refers to the "controversy" (which is such a weighted word in this context, quite frankly, carrying with it connotations of mountains being made of mole-hills) over queer internment and murder as "clever media manipulation." This text literally turns the ending of queer lives into a throw-away feint that hides vampires. Which is a monstrous reframing of that real-world thing STILL GOING ON.
 
This is egregiously vile. It's not okay. Our lives are constantly being *ended* for straight peoples' prejudices in real life, but also in fiction and media for straight peoples' fucking entertainment, and all of this is just "second verse same as the first."
 
This isn't avant garde. This is 100% the typical, tired, cliched treatment that queer people constantly receive in overculture's media about us. This is yet more Tragedy Porn, and not only is it distasteful in the extreme, but it's wildly unacceptable.
 
I've already spoken about this with Martin Ericsson, and quite honestly I find his framing of the issue to be callous, while hiding behind performative allyship. But I will let him show up and speak to that: he has asked that I not publish his response, pending approval from his bosses, and I'm find by that, for now. But *something* needs to be said, and in the larger framework, something needs to be *done* about the attitudes in the current iteration of White Wolf that makes this kind of seething horseshit not just acceptable, but desirable.
 
This is not a good fucking look, White Wolf. Not in the least."
 
Here is the link to the original facebook post:
 
All I can say is I'm quite happy to not have bought into V5 in the least and never plan on doing so.
 
 
 

Friday, November 2, 2018

Horror Gaming - It's an aid not a crutch.




It has become a challenge among game designers to create the feeling of horror, stress, fear, etc in their games with actual mechanics. Which I do see a really good thing that leads to some wonderful creative systems. The Madness Meter from Unknown Armies is one of the first things that pops into my mind right next to the Mental Balance from Kult and lets not forget Sanity from Call of Cthulhu. They help players and the GM visualize just where they are along that downward slide from whatever horrible things are happening around them (or to them in some cases). However they do have one drawback from what I've experienced.


To often they can be used as the only indicator that it is a horror game.


Running a horror game the same way as you would any other dungeon crawl except that every now and then the player may loose a D6 of Sanity doesn't work out all to well. Your players just end up playing whack a mole with two forms of Hit Points instead of one. Even if there is a high mortality rate among the PC's that doesn't create a sense of horror except for having to take the time to roll up another character.


The mechanics are in there mainly to help the GM set the mood, they are essentially a GM aid of sorts. Use them as such right beside the rest of the bag of tricks that help make a game an actual horror game. You know like getting exquisitely descriptive about things that should send a chill down a persons spine. Covering all five of the senses, hell go and look up what something smells like so you can describe it better in the game. Go for that six sense even, that feeling of dread or tell them of a nagging thought in the back of the characters head. There are tons of tricks for horror games. Just don't get lazy and let a built in mechanic be the only one.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

WaRP ezine pros and cons



Currently been thinking of a different way to release material for WaRP than what I was planning.  Originally my ideas was to put out individual small sourcebooks for specific things. Such at the collection of modern magic items.  However I have a lot of little unconnected ideas running around as well. 

So the new idea is to release it under and ezine like format.  A few different WaRP articles, maybe a bit of fiction, some other generic articles like GM advice and what not.  Some stock and clip art to finish it up.  But I'm not sure which way to go so I'm making a pro and con list for the ezine format.

PRO

Allows me to use scattered one off bits that I've written up.
The ezine format is pretty popular right now.
Easier to release on a more timely manner since I'm not putting everything into one idea even though my interest may bounce back and forth.
It would allow a continuous stream of thought for me, such a regular articles on certain subjects.

CON

A specific type of thing somebody may be interested in could be scattered across multiple issues.
People not happy buying an entire issue when they only have interest in the fantasy bit or whatever.


Does anybody else have any pros and cons that I've missed?

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Be A Better Player vol 2 is now live.

Be A Better Player vol 2 is now up on DrivethruRPG.

The final eight articles of that series I did here many years ago PLUS two completely new articles I wrote just for this compilation.  So between the two volumes that brings the total up to an even twenty.

For those that don't know the Be A Better Player series of articles was an attempt at providing advice to players instead of GM's since there is GM advice everywhere.  Most included a short story of an example along with some humor, snark and actual real advice afterwards. 

Find it here on DrivethruRPG.
Or here on RPGNow.

Priced at only a buck forty nine it's not to bad of a deal.



Friday, October 12, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - well I will remember.


Well over the many years I've been online I've made a lot of friends.  Many of them have went on to produce their own stuff online and put it up for sale.  So many times I have retweeted, blogged, signal boosted and tried to help promote their stuff.  Just because I'm a friend trying to help out a friend. 

Now that I have started to release my own material for sale... well lets just say there is cricket noises from those I've tried to help in the past.  Oh over on Twitter the DrivethruRPG account retweets my products tweets and I am grateful for that.  Even John Nephew whom I've never met or talked with retweeted me.  Other than that... cricket noises. Facebook, G+, etc same thing.  Nadda. 

So I will remember this. I've got my own back. But I will also rethink my relationship towards some people that I thought were more than just names on a social network.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Demon City - Shinjuku - remastered - full movie





Want some more modern day horror ideas.  Just watch this movie for several.  A classic anime from back in the day that I used to own on VHS. They don't make em like this anymore.

Modern Magic Items now up for sale


Finished and now up on DrivethruRPG is Modern Magic Items from Truly Rural Productions.   A collection of various items that can add a little extra spice to your modern day games.  Game stats are done using the WaRP OGL from Atlas Games.

Find Truly Rural Producitons HERE.

Also did I mention that it's only a dollar?


Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Truly Rural Productions 10-3-18


You can find Truly Rural Productions at DrivethruRPG: BY CLICKING RIGHT HERE.

You can find Truly Rural Productions on Facebook: BY CLICKING RIGHT HERE.


Current standings on what I'm trying to push out the gate.

Modern Day Magic Items.
Writing is done just a touch up on the intro is all I want to do now. Some of the pics are found but I would like to find a few more through open clip/stock art sources. On Sunday (10/7) I plan on taking what I have and laying it all out and uploading it to Drivethru.

Be A Better Player Vol 2
Compile articles 11 - 18 together onto one page. Write 19 and 20 and add them into the compilation. Find pics for them, use same cover art though. Layout and upload.

Blood Magic
Digging through some old half finished notes and pulling some stuff out of my old Kult folders and seeing what I have to work with. Convert it all over to WaRP. Found a couple of free stock art pictures to use so far.

Stock Art
Have about eight more images already scanned in. Putting them up about two or so a month.  No more after until I can either get my old scanner working again or buy a new one.

Stopped worrying about offering up the pdfs in other formats like mobi or epub since nobody seemed interested at all when I asked around. Maybe at some point I the future I will look into learning how to convert over to use those.

Monday, October 1, 2018

Be A Better Player now up on DrivethruRPG.



Somehow I forgot to mention that the first volume of 'Be A Better Player' is now up on DrivethruRPG.  Collecting the first ten articles, some of which got a little polishing, of the series which appeared on this blog.  Working on the second volume now which will collect the remaining eight articles and two new ones together.  Hopefully I will have it done by the end of October.

CLICK HERE to get see it on DrivethruRPG.

Got more products in the works that will hopefully be coming along pretty soon as well.


Sunday, September 30, 2018

Roll A D20 - Cyberpunk bar names



Need a quick name for a bar in your Cyberpunk game? Grab a D20.


1 – The Crankcase

2 – Neon Divinity

3 – Meat House

4 – Axes and Eights

5 – Glitch

6 – Arc Light

7 – Brisance

8 – The E.O.D.

9 – The Base Charge

10 – Absolute Data

11 – The Dead Man Switch

12 – Burn In

13 – Black Core

14 – Just Another Cold Site

15 – Honeymonkey Hideout

16 – Monoculture Immunity

17 – Hard Frame

18 – Zero Day

19 – Alpha Whiskey Romeo

20 – Beers, Bullets and Blue Canoes

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Roll a D20 - My Bag of Holding Does What?

Sometimes you want a slightly cursed item.  Nothing really super bad but somewhat bad, or maybe just a little bit humorous.  Just to add some flavor.

So when you don't want to go full on Bag of Devouring with a PCs Bag of Holding here is a quick chart to give them a different, hopefully more memorable, side affect.


Twenty odd side affects for a Bag of Holding.



1 – Everything comes out feeling just a tad bit slimy.

2 – All ropes, strings, scarfs, etc come out tied in nots.

3 – Whenever you have two or more similar items in the bag (example one magic sword and one regular sword) you have to roll to see which one you pull out.

4 – Everything comes out with an ID tag tied to saying it's something that it is not.

5 – Whenever you reach into the bag it feels like hands tugging at your arm and item you are grabbing.

6 – When you pull an item out of the bag it makes a loud screaming noise.

7 – The bag appears to breath and at night it even snores.

8 – When jostled around the bag makes a sound like a snake rattle.

9 – Any blank parchment placed inside comes out covered in badly written poetry.

10 – Black soot seems to leak from the bag at random times.

11 – Whenever a spell is cast nearby that targets the undead the bag jerks, twitches and moves around.

12 – If you look into the bag you see a big eye staring at you from the bottom.

13 – Any empty containers placed in the bag come out filled with chalk dust.

14 – Spiders crawl out of the bag from time to time. All sizes and varieties.

15 – Perishable food placed inside goes bad five times faster than normal.

16 – Any water stored inside comes out as tea.

17 – When you reach inside your hand comes out with your fingernails painted in different colors and designs.

18 – Most metal objects that have been in the bag for more than a week come out magnetized.

19 – Anything flammable that has been in the bag for more than a week now burns with an odd green flame.

20 – Everything comes out slightly hot when touched.



If you liked this you may also like my small sourcebook "I Found What in my Bag of Holding?". Available at DrivethruRPG for just a buck. With four hundred random things that may come out of your PCs bag.

Until next time....

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - Total War: Rome 2



Well the man babies are at it again. A video game company did something they didn't like so they are throwing a temper tantrum, demanding people be fired and acting like complete and utter morons. What are they up in arms about this time?  They took the dicks off some generals in Total War: Rome 2.

Yeah they are negative review bombing because there can now be female generals.

The main thing that strikes me the most about this mob of morons is a lot of them are GamerGate supporters as well.  They may not have said much the last year or so but if you scroll back on them you can find all the GG boners hanging out and proud.  You see one of the issues a lot of Gaters had about reviews was that they should only be based on game play... according to them.  So when somebody complained about the bouncing super sized breasts, cleavage shots, ass shots, panty shots, etc being a bit to much they would toss his argument out that only game play matters.  The visuals should matter in a game review they said.

Well now they are bitching about the visuals because the addition of female generals changed game play absolutely zero percent.  So when it comes up that their digital general is packing digital meat in their digital pants they are in an uproar. Fucking pathetic.

They claim it's about 'historical accuracy' but yet they never seem to get their underwear up their own ass cracks about any other inaccuracy ever. They are also riding high on the horse over getting Jessica Price fired and think if they mob up and make demands they can get what they want. I mean Arenanet caved like a wet paper sack for them so why not everybody else?

People like this are a sad example of gamers everywhere.  When others call gamers 'losers' I tell them that the losers are over there and point to these guys.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Cyberpunk Sunday 9-2-18



A collection of various links to cyberpunk stuff in the tabletop gaming area this week. 

Small micro cyberpunk RPG for the price of zero.
Electric Sheep

Kill Code came out for Shadowrun with advanced Matrix rules.
Shadowrun: Kill Code

R. Talsorian Games has been doing a 'Celebration of Cyberpunk' over on their blog this week.
R. Talsorian Games

Last but not least is 48 minutes of actual gameplay footage from the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 video game which is based off of the classic Cyberpunk 2020 rpg.
Cyberpunk 2077 Gameplay Footage







Friday, August 17, 2018

Tesla Guns



Once upon a time a friend and I were working on a steampunk setting.  This is something from those notes that I came up with that may be worth sharing.


TESLA GUNS


There are two sizes available for use. First is the pistol version, light weight, more portable but only delivers a moderate 'hit' of electricity. Second is the rifle version, much heavier, very obvious but on the damage end it packs a wallop. Rumors of larger guns abound, usually claimed to be attached to zeppelins or trains for massive amounts of damage.


Charges.

Crank charges. Pistols are the ones that usually come with this option. Since they use less electricity per shot a single blast can be cranked up rather quickly.


Battery charges. Both the pistol and rifle use this. Each battery provides a single shot but the sizes are different. In a pistol they about the size of a AA battery and loaded into a copper cylinder on the gun. Based on model they may hold anywhere between one to four rounds. On a rifle they are about the size of a Pringles can and mostly hold one round although there are some newer version that hold two. It's also common to see a rifle team where one person fires the weapon while the other carries the batteries.


Wireless charges. Only the rifle has the receivers equipped to use this mounted along their barrels. The New Science Guild has set up the ground in areas they control to transmit electricity without the use of wires. Usually used to power the lighting, radio and other devices. The rifle can pull from this also and is quite spectacular when used as you can see the electric arc from the ground and into the rifle and then fired at the target. This ability alone has led others to reason that fighting the New Science Guild on their own ground is futile and suicidal.

Monday, August 13, 2018

pdf spotlight - Primal Order




Primal Order from Hostile Work Environment

Initially released by Wizards of the Coast before they ever released a little card game called Magic: The Gathering.  This is a capsystem meant to be added onto an existing system to help bring gods into your games easier and with much more effect.

The Primal OrderTM reigns supreme. Also known as TPO, The Primal Order is the premiere resource for using religions and deities effectively and creatively in roleplaying games. Explore how deities gain power, learn why they need worshippers and temples, discover why they provide their priests with spells, and much more. TPO also offers detailed guidelines for the creation of artifacts, suggesting strategies for their design and use.
Heralded since its initial release as one of the most innovative and useful roleplaying supplements ever published, TPO is an invaluable tool for campaign development. Get ready—your roleplaying experience is about to be transformed!





Friday, August 10, 2018

Review - Ultimate Toolbox



The Ultimate Toolbox from Alderac Entertainment Group.  Initially released back in 2009 this hefty tome of 400 pages, or lengthy pdf whichever you prefer, is a bit daunting just in the general size.  But don't let that fool you it is properly divided up with a nicely done table of contents so you can find just what you need.

First off what this is.  It's a collection of over one thousand charts for you to roll on, all them done one to twenty.  With seven sections; Character, World, Civilization, Maritime, Dungeon, Magic and Plot all set up.  Just flip to the chapter you need.  There is no game mechanics present on any of it that I noticed, if there is it's very small and well hidden.  So this makes it rather useful for any fantasy setting that you may want to flesh out or add some flavor to. 

What it isn't.  This book does not do all the work for you.  It will give you plenty of ideas, some names and a groundwork to build on.  But don't go in expecting to make a full world out of what you roll up.  Just the framework folks, just the framework.

I would recommend this for anyone who runs their own fantasy setting, or plans to, and they need something to spurn their imagination.  Because players never go where you intend for them to there is always a time when you will suddenly have to start popping out info on things you don't have ready.  So pull this out, find the section you need, a couple of quick rolls and then off you go.  Or even when you are planning out an adventure and the ideas aren't flowing like they should.

The sticking point here is the price.  A print copy can cost a pretty good penny when you go looking, sometimes hitting well over a hundred bucks.  The pdf is not a super bargain either at 29.95 coming in at roughly 7 cents a page.  So not great but not to bad either.  You can pick it up on DrivethruRPG here.

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - Bullshit assualt reports from GenCon


Saw people talking about a fight at GenCon that occured and that the Con wasn't going to do anything about it. Claiming some sort of political reasoning behind it because WotC doesn't like the person who got assualted.

THEN I discover that the alleged assualt occured at one in the morning at a bar not on the convention property. That the person assualted had been stirring up lots of shit while attending the con with other attendees. There is no positive identification on the person who punched him just somebody saying it resembled somebody who was also at the con. That the 'victim' immediately started rolling this into a big PR scheme to get more followers on his youtube channel and some sort of patreon set up. Also no police report from the bar in which the 'victim' claimed a window was broken because of this incident.  The only police report is evidently from a day later which goes against the story that the 'victim' told. Also the 'victim' is now removing everything he can referring to the story from his channel, blogs, whatever.

I'm smelling some heavy BS here from the original story. Sounds like dirtbag youtuber trying to get some fast bucks from a made up story along with riling up the usual assholes into a mob. What gets  me is that so many on the side of the liar are saying GenCon should do something about it.  But they fail to acknowledge that it took place off the convention property at a bar that they have nothing to do with.

Seriously the hashtag should be a thing now.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - 2 pdf releases that make me happy



A couple of pdf releases that have my interest over on DrivethruRPG at the moment. 

Atlas Games releasing older Over the Edge books.

With the new edition of Over the Edge up on Kickstarter right now (which I'm less than excited about) Atlas Games has decided to move the pdfs of all the books for the older editions over.  So this means I'll finally at least have a digital copy of a couple that I missed out on back in the day.  Also the pricing on them is pretty low to boot.

Preorders for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition

With WFRP moving back towards a standard RPG design instead of the bit, bobbles and parts style of 3rd edition many people are happy.  I now a lot of folks are looking forward to this especially after Zweihander which got more folks looking into this type of grim dark fantasy design.



Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - More Daruma/Nightfall stuff.



Okay more interesting details on the Daruma / Nightfall / Sla Industries / Word Press drama going on around their, currently, failed CS1 Kickstarter.

First off we need to look at Daruma Productions LTD.  Founded August 19, 2015 by four people.  Those four people being Graham Wallace, Jared Earle, Dave Allsop and Mark Wallace.  It's important to note that all four of those people were part of the company from day one. 

Three of those people left, Graham Wallace on May 1, 2018, Jared and Dave both left on April 17, 2018. 

Then we need to look at Nightfall Games LTD.  Was incorporated on Feb 27, 2018 by Dave and Jared from up above.  Later Mark Rapson (June 22) and Christopher Shepperson (June 15) come on board as officers.  Also another officer came on board on June 15 but resigned on June 22, that officer being listed as Word Forge LTD. 

June 22 becomes an important date.  It's the day Word Forge resigned from Nightfall, the day Mark Rapson (who is one of three people in charge of Word Forge in the first place) joins Nightfall.  Also it's the day of the announcement that the Kickstarter had failed on the update section of said Kickstarter.  Something they neglected to tell Mark Wallace of Daruma was going to happen. 

It is at this day where those of Nightfall and Word Forge started the line of thinking that it was all Darumas fault for the failure of the Kickstarter but without mentioning that the two main people of Nightfall were part of Daruma for several years. Listed as Directors for the company no less. So they want it to appear that they had nothing to do with the collapse of the company even though they left well after everyone had knowledge of what was going on.

Then we get some creative control going on over at Nightfall with the 'Persons with significant control' section right now.  Dave and Jared both are listed as having more than 50 but less than 75 percent control.  Then Word Forge (who is majority controller of Word Press) having more than 25 but less than 50 percent control.  So somehow there is AT LEAST 125 percent of control split up. 

Daruma has gone down to nobody in control. 

Can't find any listing for a previous Nightfall company owned by any of the current Nightfall Games LTD members at any point.  So I'm assuming that the Sla Industries IP was owned by an individual throughout the years (Dave most likely). 

Also Nightfall is saying they terminated the license agreement with Daruma for Sla Industries.  But Nightfall didn't exist until Feb of this year. A license agreement of such a short duration is rather odd.

So in the end it really looks like Dave and Jared jumped ship when they knew things were heading down the drain.  Then worked out a deal with Word Press for them to take over the work on the game including letting them buy ownership into the newly formed Nightfall company.  Removed the stock from wherever Daruma had it stored and moved it to the Word Press warehouse.  Finally made the announcement on the Cannibal Sector One Kickstarter leaving the Mark Wallace holding the bag and trying to make themselves look as clean as possible. 

So if anyone says not to trust Mark Wallace over this how shambles kindly remind them that Jared and Dave are up to their necks in the fault as well. 

I'm sure I'll have more later.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Jaded Gamer Diary - Daruma, Sla Industries, Nightfall Games....



Well that all went to hell rather quickly.  Okay so it took a couple years.  But now the Cannibal Sector 1 game for Sla Industries is all up in the air, legal actions are being threatened and all sorts of shady dealing are starting to come forth.

First up what was posted recently on the CS1 Kickstarter:

As of 22/06/2018 Nightfall Games Ltd (NFG) have terminated the license agreement with Daruma Productions Ltd for use of SLA material. Going forward NFG will work in association with Word Forge Games (WFG) to look at how best to complete and fulfill the Kickstarter. Be advised that at this time the SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1 Kickstarter campaign has no available funds. As such, fulfillment will be as a result of further investment from NFG and WFG. Drauma Productions Ltd is the company that still owns the Kickstarter debt, and although we have tried to purchase that debt, it has not been possible.

That’s the formal statement... but what does that mean to you, the backer? Well simply put, things have not worked out as planned. The Kickstarter dream that Daruma Productions Ltd pushed for was not realised. Exactly how and what went wrong we really can’t say at this point, but we at Nightfall Games recognise that SLA Industries needs to come out on top… and the game needs to be in your hands. As such, Nightfall Games has revoked the license that allowed the SLA Industries world and setting to be used by Daruma Productions Ltd and has formed a new relationship with Word Forge Games. WFG have a huge amount of experience in producing miniatures and miniature games and are working alongside us to consolidate what already exists for SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1, what is possible to finish off and what we can do get the game into your hands.

As you’ve probably seen on Facebook, work on the book, the main focus of the Kickstarter, has been ongoing in spite of setbacks. WFG has obtained the majority of the Daruma Productions Ltd SLA Industries stock (in lieu of payment for unpaid debt) and we are in a good place to resume the work on the Kickstarter once all of the legal crossed Ts and dotted Is have been dealt with.  

WFG will be completing a stock take during the next 2 weeks and once we know exactly what there is, we will share with you all and explain our plans in further detail. We are also in discussions over certain assets, which we expect resolution of in the same period.
We know you have not been treated as you (or we) would like to have been and we know this situation is far from ideal (believe us when we say, we wish this had played out differently), but please bear with us while we work out the details and figure out how best to do right by all of you awesome people that supported the campaign. We shall keep you updated as much as we can going forward – expect frequent updates and lots of work by the Nightfall team.

Our heartfelt thanks, apologies and respect,
Nightfall Games


Now that's all interesting.  BUT... now we get a post from Daruma on their Facebook page:

 Time to come clean - we have a big issue with fulfilling the Kickstarter, and also with being able to move forward in any meaningful way. The Kickstarter update which went out this evening was not from Daruma. Please let me be very clear and specific on this - that was not a Daruma update, it was made illegally by Mark Rapson of Wordforge - he was already informed not to use the Kickstarter logins that he'd been given and claimed to not have them, clearly a lie (he has also, against Kickstarter regulations, changed the passwords). The Nightfall team are desparate to save the Kickstarter, which we fully understand but unfortunately Dave and Jared have resigned from Daruma and given the Kickstarter logins to Word Forge Games, that they have taken this step is understandable but also, unfortunately.. illegal in several ways - ways that they were fully informed of prior to taking this action.

As all other 3 Directors resigned from Daruma before i became fully aware of just how difficult the situation was - i am, currently, last man standing as they clearly knew more than I did and jumped ship first. As there are a great many other debts owed by Daruma i have a legal obligation to follow a certain path.. a path which i will be following with some no small degree of sadness and reluctance and could not, until this point even discuss. Unfortunately.. this means that the stock which Nightfall has had transferred to Wordforge doesn't belong to them.. it still belongs to Daruma, even though i acknowledge Word Forge as a debt. And as such, any attempt to distribute or dispose of it will be illegal - as Daruma is about to commence down a path toward Liquidation.. we cannot and have not in any way shape or form agreed to a transfer of these goods, as Daruma doesn't actually own them at this point. Please let me reiterate that, for very relevant legal reasons - the other Creditors are all fully entitled to a share of any and all remaining assets that Daruma possess, every single one of those Creditors has the very same legal claim to those goods that Mark Rapson and Wordforge has and this action is in no way a Daruma action nor has been sanctioned by Daruma.
It is also the case that although Mark is now a Director with Nightfall and has the SLA IP, the CS1 IP is derivitive and belonged to Daruma as well, and we have not agreed to transfer that IP under any circumstances, and indeed i'm not sure we could do so given the current circumstance.

It may well be that there was a way to perhaps move forward with this regardless, and i was attempting to explore this avenue recently, with little success I might add as Mark Rapsons offer was simply not one i could accept, legally. As it stands, Mark has attacked me directly, personally, acted illegally and has seized, with Nightfalls support, a load of goods that i keep explaining to them.. they cannot take and cannot legally dispose of. If any of you have experience of the liquidation process then you understand the difficult situation in which i find myself - and why i'm taking this extraordinary step in revealing that i have been in discussion with the liquidators before the are "officially" called in. I know how bad this news is, and this is an update that i really wish i never had to make.. but unfortunately Nightfalls new association with Word Forge Games and the illegal actions they are taking have forced my hand - if any other Creditors are reading this, this is not a Daruma sanctioned action and has been taken as the results of some illegal and very dodgy backroom dealing. I'm so sorry.. but i think that these actions have brought an end to any possibility of moving forward and i will be informing the liquidators of this first thing on Monday Morning.


So now this all gets very interesting.  Now I feel rather justified in telling people not to back that Kickstarter in the first place.  Especially after some of the flak I caught over it.  Also justified for one of my older Jaded Gamer Diary posts in which I criticize the way Daruma does business. 

Time to get some popcorn and see where it all falls down now. 

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Mana Screwed - Take some control

Back in the original days of Magic the Gathering some of common cards were quite good.  Some becoming staples in decks almost as soon as they came out or becoming more sought after than some rares.  This led to a common phrase "Common cards and common sense".  Basically telling people not to get wrapped up in chasing the rare cards for your decks and instead looking at what you have plenty of how they can work really well for you. 

So I'm going to try to follow up with that a bit with some common cards worth using in Commander that get overlooked by many.



Let's look at something wonderful for people who like red.  Hijack is a card most people have but never use (or Act of Treason, Traitorous Blood, Traitorous Instinct, etc. as it gets reprinted with slight differences and name changes often).  The simple basics, you take control of an opponents creature until end of the turn and it has haste.  Now why this may not seem like a lot of awesomeness at first glance it is something to hold onto until later in the game. 

Don't blow these cards on something small. Somebody always seems to go Voltron and pumping up a creature into a real ass beater.  Laying down devastation every chance they get.  So grabbing that which somebody else has spent a lot of time and mana on and swatting them (or somebody else) with it for only a handful of mana is a really good feeling. Especially if you've been playing many red right and your opponents have their life already knocked down a bit. 

I've won games by suddenly dropping one of these cards and suddenly taking out the very person who was about to take the win by ousting me. Nothing like seeing their face when they are suddenly snatching defeat with what they thought was their victory. 

Some not so common cards that work well are any cards that let you sack a creature (hello Ashnods Altar) to toss their big bad into the graveyard or Willbreaker and take them permanently.