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.

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 Order^TM 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!

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.

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 #JeremyHamblyIsAFuckingLiar should be a thing now.

Witcher TRPG Unboxing