The ritual of chosen traits.

 

The Ritual Of Chosen Traits

This is a ritual that allows the caster to choose specific physical traits for the child within their womb. Each drop of blood they shed at the end allows them to make one choice, however each one reduces their chance of surviving the childbirth. The only thing that can not be requested is the gender of the child.

The ritual must take place in a private wooded area after a fresh snow has fallen on the ground. No other person may have walked through the snowfall around her before the ritual begins. The caster must wear the cloak of the cabal that taught her the necessary magic and nothing more. While kneeling in the snow she must recite her ancestors names going back three generations and praising each one for their achievements. Then calling upon Astoria the Goddess of Life for the permission to grant her child the traits that are desired. While bargaining with Aedarius the God of Death for what may be the cost of these traits. The calling out takes about fifteen minutes and must not be interrupted.

Then the caster pulls out the dagger that is to be used for cutting the umbilical cord and drives it into the ground before her. If it falls over immediately the offspring is to be a girl, if it sinks into the ground it will be a boy. Next she must slice the tip of a finger for each trait bargained for. Letting the blood from each to fall into the snow. She then thanks the Goddess and God for listening to her request, cleans the blade and leaves the area where the ritual was performed.

The caster does not know if the ritual was successful only the birth of the child and it's growth will tell. Also she doesn't know if the God of Death will take her during childbirth or not. But the less that is asked the more likely she is to survive.

Inspired by the origin of Snow White in the original Bothers Grimm story. 

Cash Strapped for 9/23/20

 

Haven't done a cash strapped post in a while so I figure it's about time. So here are some cheap, free or pay what you want gaming items for those who don't have a lot of cash in their pockets. 

The Pugmire Core Rulebook phone pdf - A post apocalyptic game where dogs have inherited the world. Get the phone pdf version of this game for absolutely nothing. 

FEAR the DARK - A fanzine for Heroquest, the fun boardgame of fantasy adventure. It's currently at Pay What You Want. 

Engine & Empires core rules - A OSR gaslamp fantasy TTRPG. A rather large tome indeed, and it's priced at Pay What You Want. 

Guildhall Goods - A nice little fantasy location made to be tossed into a game with ease. Priced at Pay What You Want. 

Games you keep on your shelf.

Games that I keep pulling off my shelf and looking at. Some of these I haven't played in years but they always get me thinking. Reply in the comments on some of the games that you keep on your shelf even though they may not be the game you are running or playing anymore.

Psi World

Find it on DrivethruRPG or Ebay. 

Released by Fantasy Games Unlimited back in the day. The setting is a near future slightly alternate reality where there are people with psionic powers. Of course those with the powers aren't generally thought of to well by the non-psychic public. Also of course you play the psychics.

Featuring a game system that has some of that eighties crunch but is way simpler than FGU's game Aftermath. It works well with a few rough spots that could be ironed out. But the psychic power list is absolutely great and even with that crunch the way they work is even better. This is one of those games I keep wanting to run again but never do. But whenever I think of psychics in other games it comes off the shelf to use as reference.

Rolemaster

Find it on DrivethruRPG or Ebay or even on Amazon. 

Never ran a game of Rolemaster and probably never will. As a player, however, I love this system. All the tweaking, changes and adjustments you can do with your character. The freaking crit and fumble charts, oh those are golden, absolute golden. The spell lists that go on for days on end while getting insanely specific at the same time. The Shadow World setting that goes along with it is also amazing.

Would play in another game of Rolemaster in a heartbeat. But it makes for some good inspiration for my own homebrew fantasy stuff. So much to steal from and rework.

Conspiracy X

Find it on DrivethruRPG or Ebay or even Amazon.

1^st edition, all the way, it lost something with the 2^nd edition. Not due to the writing but I think it had to do more with the system change, artwork update and just general different approach and layout. But the original with that quirky system that works even though sometimes I don't understand how. But the system for developing a cell and resource management within that cell is sweet. The psionic abilities that are built around using Zen cards is inspired (I have a thing for psionics apparently). This is pure inspiration for modern day X-Files type stuff all the way up to cyberpunk type games with team management.

Now as I said I prefer the original version. However, 2^nd edition does have the cell creation and zen card psionics as well. So if anybody is reading this and has an interest in those two things you can get which ever one you want.

Rapture the Second Coming

Find it on DrivethruRPG (D20 version only) or Ebay. 

Again, the original version from Quintessential Studios and not the later D20 version. This is the horror game that makes nearly every other horror game look like a walk in the park. It's the end times, a complete no win situation and it's all about trying to do the right things in a world that is on it's way out. They pull no punches, it's a fucking nightmare setting and the characters are right in the damned middle of it fighting against all odds in a war that is already over.

I absolutely love it. Well to read it, and steal from it and to think about running it. But I have never had a group that I think would either handle it or take it serious enough. There are no more souls left for newborn babies so those born now are possessed by demons. Wars are waging grinding the population into the ground. Starvation is rampant and much of the food is either tainted, maybe even poisoned. The police have been replaced by straight up death squads. Those of religious faith are hunted and killed. It's hell on earth and you have to fight through it because doing otherwise is letting evil win without a fight.

Vibes (1988)

 

Vibes (1988)

Buy it on Amazon

Watch it on Amazon

Buy it on Ebay

Let's go digging into the eighties again. I mean why not there were so many movies made that decade that it's a smorgasbord of good, bad and ugly. This time we hit the late eighties for a flick that most people missed. Vibes.

First things first, this movie was a huge flop. Like a belly flop at the Olympics type of flop. With a budget estimated around 18 million it brought in less than 2 million. So this was at the theaters and then gone so fast that most folks probably didn't even notice it was on in the first place. With that kind of crash it most likely didn't get much fanfare when it hit the rental market either. To be honest I never heard of it until a friend and I caught it cable several years back.

Now onto the plot. The movie is about a two psychics who are talked into a trip to Ecuador to help allegedly help a person find his son who is lost in the mountains. Turns out to be a con and they were actually brought there to help find a mysterious and dangerous treasure. But they aren't the only ones who are after this treasure.

Sounds like a bit of okay fun. But then we get to the casting, and it's the kicker. They psychics are played by Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper, yes that Cyndi Lauper. The person who conned them into the job is played by Peter “hey look it's Columbo” Falk. We even get a couple minutes of Steve Buscemi tossed in there for good fun. Plus a few others who are “Hey it's that guy.” actors from the 80's. So the casting is actually both solid and fun. Heck Cyndi turns out to be much better than I expected.

Special effects were decent for the era. A lot of on location filming was done and looks nice but nothing spectacular. Some of the dialogue is painfully from the 80's and wants to make sure you know it. Music is done by James Horner, another unexpected gem for this movie, and it fits. So there isn't a whole lot of failings going on for this movie. But there isn't anything that adds up to a blockbuster either.

In the end this movie sort of falls right into the “Okay” of movie ratings. It's not going to set the world on fire and your not missing anything if you don't watch it. But it's a decent little romp mixing comedy, supernatural and adventure all together. A solidly decent movie from a decade that brought a huge swath of terrible films. I would recommend that people at least give it a viewing but it's nothing to rush out for.

"Look at you, you got some of the flop on your sleeve!"

Vampire the Masquerade Winters Teeth issue 2 review

 

Vampire the Masquerade: Winters Teeth issue 2 from Vault Comics 

Find it at DrivethruComics.

Find it on Amazon.

Or find it at your local comic shop.

This issue starts off by finally giving us Prince Samantha and some insight into her past and the way she thinks now. While at an event Cecily brings forth Alejandra with the claim that she is her progeny. For those unfamiliar with the setting it's given some discourse so you will not be lost. Actually they do this quite well through out the issue with discussions of the hunger, hunting and other such topics. I will say I am impressed with how they are handling giving readers all this information. It's done in a way where it is well written so any fans of the game already don't feel bored and those new to all this aren't completely lost. 

There is not so much about Colleen and her crew, a little backstory and then running into something really bad. I'm not so sure about them being major characters in the story now. Maybe even just collateral damage but we will see with the next issue or two of this series. There have been at least four issues announced so far. 

All in all the writing is pretty good. The story gets a bit wobbly with some "before" scenes but it recovers nicely. The characters do come across as different and three dimensional instead of just card board cut out vampire templates. The art is the same as last issue, maybe even a little improved. Thankfully there is a bit more color being splashed around this time so not everything looks like it's coated in mud. 

The game material in this issue is giving some more information on Minneapolis and St. Paul. Including what information characters may know based on their knowledge of the sister cities. Then a two page character sheet is also included. Having not read the newest edition of Vampire The Masquerade I'm not sure if this is improved or just of a different layout. But it does look nice. 

Jaded Gamer - JK Rowling and Harry Potter

 

Going to talk about something other than gaming right now. But it's something that many gamers are talking about. 

Well you would have to be living under a rock if you haven't heard of the controversy surrounding Harry Potter author JK Rowling. Her blatant support of transphobic individuals online coupled with her own antitrans views she has spouted online and in other places. May are understandably writing her off and will no longer support anything with her name attached to it. I completely support a persons decision to do this.

What I want to talk about is people who are saying they are going to be destroying their copies of the Harry Potter books. What I ask of you is to not do this and instead do something that will affect her ability to profit off the material in the future. Donate them to thrift stores, sell them online via Ebay for cheap prices, drop them off at used book stores. Because whether you like it or not in the years to come some folks are going to want to read the books. Maybe because they saw the movies in reruns on television or maybe even because of the controversy. Make it easy for those folks to get cheap second hand copies. That way the demand for new print runs drop, thrift stores and used book stores get money they need and if you go the route of Ebay you get a little money in your pocket.

All without her ability to profit from any of those sales. 

Make her books more common at yard sales and second hand markets than Fifty Shades of Grey (which I see every damn where). Do this so there is less and less demand for some new special covered copy being released at Wal-Mart when those who are curious can pick up a copy for fifty cents.

On top of all of his I also just hate seeing books getting destroyed. Being one of those people who still hasn't switched over to Kindle to read everything it just sort of irks me even if the person who wrote the books is craptacular. 

Okay I'm off my soap box now. 

Jaded Gamer - Adamant, Far West and Star System

Recently Adamant Entertainment put a new product out on the market called "Star System: Every Star Is A Destination". Which of course sparked up a few folks who are still waiting Gareth to release "Far West" which is years late with a stream of constant excuses and long moments of silence. Although some folks are noticing the pricing of the new product.

The pdf is the exact same cost as the pod version. Also if you buy the physical copy you get the pdf for free. Now this is a slap in the face to those who do digital only or live in areas where shipping costs can be far more than the actual book itself. So people started questioning this. First Gareth gives his usual smug remarks (even though he denies they were smug) and the other person working with Adamant to put this book out made an interesting comment. 

So it appears that Eric Trautmann had to pay forward the entire cost of producing the book. Not Adamant or Gareth, but by himself. Which makes you wonder a whole lot about the fiscal stability of Adamant to produce finished product. Especially one that has been stuck in development of one sort or another for many years. One could very easily assume that by now the money that backers paid is long since gone. Things like shirts and all the extras will likely never see the light of day. Even the production of a physical books in enough copies to fulfill the backer orders seems extremely unlikely at this point. 

So I guess folks can just keep counting the years on Far West which is becoming a piece of RPG Vaporware history. 

Stuff for sale

 Due to financial issues I'm selling off a good chunk of my gaming material I have gathered over the years. Along with some DVDs, books and other random items. If you don't see anything you like but still want to help out you can click on the various links along the side of this blog. Following my Amazon or DrivethruRPG links and buying something, even if it's not what the link is to, will give me a little bit of a kickback. 

If you are interested in anything contact me a: peteramthor (at) gmail (dot) com. I can accept paypal, cash and venmo. 

Locals I can meet you someplace to exchange the goods. Preferably in Bonne Terre, Desloge or Park Hills. If you are not local let me know what you want and I can get you a shipping cost. I'm open to offers if you are buying more than one item. 

Also some items will be up on Ebay as well. 

List last updated: 12-15-2020

Role Playing Games

AD&D Kara-Tur both setting books no maps or box – 25

A State corebook w/ Mire End – 20

Baker Street core book, case book and GM Screen – 45

Blue Planet 1^st edition core book w/Access Denied gm screen - 35

Blue Rose 1^st edition – 5

Castle Falkenstein POD reprint - 30

Chill Voodoo - 10

Circle of Hands – 25

Conspiracy X 1st edition core w/intoductory guide (water damage) - 4

Conspiracy X Aegis - 5

Conspiracy X Nemesis - 5 

Crime Scene Forensics - 12

Crime Scene Police Investigation - 15

Cyberpunk Chromebook 1 - 20

Cyberpunk Solo of Fortune - 35

Cyberpunk Solo of Fortune 2 - 10

Dragonraid boxed set – 25

Digital Burn – 5

D20 Modern sample chapter - 12 

Fantasy Wargaming (full size book) - 20

Gurps COPS - 20 

Harp - Loot: A Field Guide - 12 

Kult Fallen Angels - 40

Kult Metropolis Sourcebook - 25

Kult Players Companion - 35

Kult Rumours - 50

Kult Taroticum - 40

Liber Elixirium (kickstarter copy) - 30

Mage the Ascension 1^st ed – 10

Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts - 15 

Modern Age (2019 free rpg day) - 2 

Necroscope: Operation Nightside – 4

Novus Fantasy Roleplaying Game - 15

Outbreak Undead intro manual (2019 free rpg day) - 3

Over the Edge Airwaves - 10

Over the Edge Broadcast Unauthorized - 10 PENDING

Over the Edge House Call - 8

Over the Edge It Waits - 6

Rolemaster Boxed Set (red border) - 45  PENDING

Rolemaster Arm Law: Firearms - 15

Rolemaster Character Records - 12 

Rolemaster Companion 2 - 15

Rolemaster Companion 3 - 20

Rolemaster Companion 4 - 22

Rolemaster Creatures and Treasures - 22

Ryubix Manor w/map - 30

Twilight 2000 1^st ed Soviet Vehicle Guide – 10

Ultramodern Firearms (d20 version) - 15 

Unknown Armies: Hush Hush – 25

Unknown Armies: Lawyers, Guns, and Money – 25

Unknown Armies: One Shots – 25

Unknown Armies: Postmodern Magic – 25

Villains and Vigilantes boxed set – 30

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Old World Armoury – 20

Wicked Fantasy – 35

Gaming Magazines

Cryptych 2/2 – 2

Games Unplugged issue 12 – 2

Gygax issue 1 – 20

Polymancer vol 1 issue 8 – 2

Polymancer vol 2 issue 1 – 2

Shadis issue 51 - 8

Valkyrie issue 21 – 15

White Dwarf (original run) issue 81 – 8

White Dwarf (original run) issue 88 – 12

White Wolf issue 44 - 4 

Miniature Games/other games 

Chronopia Dark Fantasy Miniature Battles corebook - 12

DnD die cast set with Beholder - 20

DnD die cast set with Drizzt -10 dollars a set, two available

Iron Stars tabletop boardgame – 5

Silent Death The Next Millennium corebook - 15 

Silent Death Operation Drydock - 8

Silent Death Sigurd Archdiocese - 10

Silent Death Tactics Manual - 10 

World of Warcraft Atlas (original) – 3

Comics – trade paper backs

Archaia Studios 2007 catalog - 4 

Archer and Armstrong issue 1 (1993) - 2

Eternal Warrior issue 1 (1993) - 2

DMZ: On the Ground – 7

DMZ: Body of a Journalist – 9

DMZ: Public Works – 9

X-O Manowar vol2 tpg Enter Ninjak - 10

Books

Chartres Cathedral (signed by author) - 24 

mont saint michel and chartres - 4

Yokai Attack! - 7

Video Games 

Sega Genesis lot - 125

includes:

Sega Genesis gen 1 console with 32x plug in and all cords. 2 controllers and the following games:

Earthworm Jim

Sonic 2

Arcade Classics

Virtua Fighter 32x

Moto Cross 32x

Playstation - disc only

Evil Dead - 20

Vigilante 8 - 10

Playstation 2 with case

Devil May Cry 2 - 5

Disney Pixar Cars - 4

Grand Theft Auto 3 - 5 (sealed)

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas - 10 (sealed)

Kingdom Hearts 2 - 7

Onimusha 3 - 10

Resident Evil Code: Veronica X - 7

3DS - no case

New Super Mario Bros 2 - 9

Monster High 13 Wishes - 5

Wipe Out 2 - 3

DS - no case 

Barbie Jet, Set and Style - 2

Gardening Mama - 3

Hello Kitty and Friends - 2

Indiana Jones Lego - 2

My Little Pony Pinkie Pies Party - 2

New Super Mario Bros - 8

Phineas and Ferb - 3

Pony Friends 2 - 8

Poptropica Adventures - 2

Scribblenauts - 3

Spore Creatures - 2

Super Scribblenauts - 3

DVDs

Artesia on sale

 Artesia is one of my all time favorite comics. The ttrpg released for it was equally stunning. I wrote about it before on an old blog post. Right now the publisher has put it on sale over on DrivethruRPG and it's worth checking out at this discount. Especially the graphic novels, they not only have great art but it's a showcase of how to do proper storytelling as well.

Click here to check the sale on Artesia right now.

For a print copy of the RPG you can try Ebay or Amazon but prices can vary wildly. 

For a print copy of the comics, same deal Ebay or Amazon but watch those prices. 

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