Indie - BALIKBAYAN check it out

 

BALIKBAYAN: Returning Home

Available on itch.io 

I got this in a bundle I backed two years ago. Like most bundles I never got around to looking at everything that was included. However a couple days ago on Twitter some folks mentioned this game so I took a look. 

So worth it.

I'm still reading this but I will tell you know this is a really great take for a scifi game mixed with dystopian and cyberpunk themes. In a nutshell you play magical 'elementals' who were enslaved by a corporation who have now freed themselves and are hiding out on a ruined earth hoping to bring upon a new reawakening of magic. 

The rules aren't exactly my cup of tea but I can see the appeal. I'm sure others will really enjoy this evolution of the PbtA mechanics. Especially some of the world building that is placed into the hands of the players. Also it's visually stunning, a great piece of inspired work.

So folks, you may want to check this one out. 

Free - Steampunk Weapons & Armor

 

Decided I need to throw some more focus on hobbyists in the gaming community. Those who put stuff out for cheap or free. The folks who put a lot of work in for very little return (if any) because they want to make something that others may enjoy. 

This time I'm going to point you in the direction of this, just release, wonderful little gem for steampunk games. "Steampunk Weapons and Armor" from Kawaii Snarknado. Made for use with DnD 5e settings. It's a great collection of gear ranging from your normal fare up to the more exotic type of things. 

Pick this book up HERE. 

So if you're going to be running a steampunk or similar type of game soon then you really need to at least give this one a look. 

Alien RPG review

 

Alien RPG 

from Free League Publishing

Pick it up pdf from DrivethruRPG

Pick it up in print from Amazon

My review is based off of my experiences as a player through a six session long campaign that I was a part of recently. Now that it’s come to it’s end I’m ready to give my thoughts on the game and it’s mechanics.

Overall the book itself is rather well done. Like the descriptions of the various careers and what they had to offer. A nice little slice of gear for the 80’s/90’s gamer in me. Everything was pretty easy to reference and find. With plenty of visuals to go along with it. Gives you a feel of what the game is about and the mood they are trying to put forward.

Character creation is pretty straight forward. Four core attributes with skill under each one that cover pretty much what you’ll need in a game like this. The usual descriptive sections and spots for gear, weapons, etc. They straight up give you a step by step guide on what to do that is probably one of the best I’ve ever seen. Knocked my Roughneck out in maybe fifteen minutes and part of that time was reading the options since I was new to the game.

You may seem like you’re going in light on gear but it makes sense. You’re not the walking pile of gear like so many other games start you off as. Mainly just what you would carry around on your character on their day to day lives. I had a tool belt, bolt gun and things like that.

Talents I didn’t really dig into to much since I only got one at the beginning but later on I saw the importance of them. I’ll get into that just a little bit on down.

The mechanics of the system are surprisingly simple. Add your Attribute and the Skill amounts together. Roll that many six sided dice and count all the 6’s as a success. Every success over one allows you improve the success, increase damage or do stunts. The fun part comes from the Stress Dice. These are extra dice that get added to your dice pool throughout the game. When things start going bad, shit hits the fan and the screaming starts your character starts to freak out a little bit. Whenever you make a roll you add your accumulated Stress dice in as well. Now the six’s still count as a success on them. But the one’s start to become problematic and can lead you to panicking, blowing your success and even running away screaming (something my PC did a few times in the last game).

Some equipment and weapons give you a bonus which slides the necessary number for a success down the slide a bit. So a +2 weapon now means that not only a six is a success but also a five and a four. Damage, armor ratings, all that are kept to relatively small numbers to keep the crunching down. Various ways to relieve stress so you lose those pesky dice. Various modifiers based off of character condition, all the little touches that you would need in a horror space game.

Now one thing I will point out is party balance. This game really benefits from having a good variety of career types mixed together. Especially as the game goes on and you start spending experience points. Some of us noticed that if all the bases are covered there isn’t a lot of good reasoning to spend on building more skills up and go for the talents instead. I mean letting me ignore all one’s rolled on panic dice can be crucial when you have racked up some Panic dice. Even if it’s only once per session. That and shrugging off damage was nice as well. The talents really help give your PC’s more of an edge to survive in the end. Much more than just one point more in a skill.

All in all we had a blast playing the game. So I give it two thumbs up and recommend that folks give it a shot. For those who can’t shell out a lot I would recommend instead of buying the fancy but pricey Standard and Panic dice that you instead just buy some Black and Yellow sets from Chessex. You’ll save quite a bit of money and it’s just as easy to read successes on.

Until next time.

Cyberpunk 2020 - The Sound of Music campaign update

 

We didn't stop our Cyberpunk 2020 campaign. I just stopped writing session updates. Partly because my attention span to such things is very low and another part because when something feels like a chore it's not longer fun. Anyway, without any update on what's happened in between here is a new recap. 

Johnny Silverhand blew the fuck out of Arasaka Tower while we were out of the city doing a gig. Soon as we got word of what happened we fired up the dirigible and headed back to Night City. Along the way we found out that Johnny was Soulkilled by Arasaka and many of our allies are missing or no longer able to be contacted. With Acid now clear headed and fully capable of controlling himself we now have a bit more firepower on our side.

After our band, the Ass Martians, touched back down at the warehouse we received information on where Arasaka was holding Wally's wife in a cryochamber. So we quickly put together a plan to rescue her while playing into the chaos that Night City had fallen into after the explosion. In true Rockerboy fashion we announced a 'moving concert' that goes right in front of the secret facility and invited several other bands to join in. It's amazing what you can get a crowd to do with a healthy dose of Charismatic Leadership. The guards were trying to handle fans tearing up fences and doing property damage. It wasn't long before a full scale riot took place right on their doorstep.

With that we stopped playing, let another really shitty band take over and piss of the crowd even more and went inside. Wally's father in law wanted nobody working for Arasaka to be left alive inside after we got his daughter back. So we go in with guns blazing following behind Acid and Wally as they cleared a path. 

Blood, bodies and bullet casings littered the hallways.

Once we were at the chambers it took my character (The Cocksucker) and Kevin's (The Butt Fucker) to get them open. I used my stolen high end Japanese chip to help read everything while he used his (also stolen high end) Cryochamber operation chip to wake them up. Once they were up and walking we rigged the whole place to blow and hauled as out of there. Moving out way through the rioting people outside as the place went up in a fireball behind us.

Wally got reunited with his wife, who has evidently also had her memories altered as well. Then we took a moment to breath before planning our next course of action. 

Savage Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes - Review

 

Savage Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes 

From Dynamite Entertainment and available on Drivethrucomics.

I will start off by saying Red Sonja comics come with certain expectations. Well they do deliver them here. But sometimes the story that those expectations are presented it just really make me shake my head. Right off the bat we get some inner dialogue from Sonja where she is complaining just how much she hates the cold. Then we immediately get to see her wearing nothing but the trademark chainmail bikini, a cloak, boots and gloves. 

Really I get the idea that most Red Sonja stories are drawn for the male gaze but at some points you would think somebody would get the idea that she needs to be at least a bit more dressed for the occasions. Walking through deep snow in the middle of a snow storm seems to be one of those times. But here we are.

That being said the art is very well done. Plenty of what people want to see right off the bat in a comic like this. Blood, violence and skin. They really do approach the 'Savage' part of title very well. 

Eventually we see our main character get knocked out and captured. Then revealed to be in the clutches of a female 'demoness' for the lack of a better description. One that has been living among a tribe of savages for centuries helping them evolve into a more intelligent species and becoming more deadly in the process. 

After seeing Sonja she immediately has plans for her, ones that our fiery red head doesn't approve of. Thus begins the fight back against her captures while trying to rally other fellow slaves to her side in hopes of turning the odds and escaping. 

I want to talk about the writing. What there is of it is decently done, but there just isn't a lot. I blew through this collection of four issues in no time flat. Seems they could have added a bit more meat to the story for the reader but it's simply not there at all. So the 86 pages of actual story feel like a single issue. 

The we get around thirty pages of alternate covers and sketchbook art. Which isn't bad and they have some great artists doing these. But that does seem a bit excessive. 

In the end I'm giving this one three out of four. It really needed a boost from more dialogue and story to be put in there. Along with some common sense with clothing in the first part. But if you're a fan of Red Sonja and love the blood, violence and skin over anything else than this is the book for you. 

You can pick it up on DrivethruComics for $11.99. 

More of my comic book reviews can be found HERE. If you like what you see here please show your support through my Ko-fi page and toss a coin to your reviewer. It's always much appreciated. 

Aberrant: You are not alone - review

 

You can pick this comic up over on DrivethruComics for $1.99. 

This is a one shot comic from Onyx Path Publishing for the Aberrant game line that is contained within the Trinity Continuum game line. It is not part of a series nor was it ever meant to be. 

The basic of the storyline is that of a blogger who is given a chance to interview one of the most sought after folks on the planet. Antaeus from Team Tomorrow, a group that exists to help the world... at least according to their own PR work. Gillian, the blogger, asks a series of questions while making some assumptions of her own only to get equally mysterious and perplexing answers in return. Especially about that the roll of Nova's are in the world around them.

In the end this acts as a quick basic overview for anybody who is ready to dip into the Aberrant game line. By basic I mean very basic. They don't try to cover everything and right at the end they help push what I presume is part of the metaplot that the line will have. 

Art and writing wise everything is perfectly fine. Solid work. It gives just what they need to for what this comic is supposed to be. However unlike the Exalted one shot comic they put out it really doesn't hook me into wanting to know a little bit more. 

So I'll give it four out of five stars. But only recommended for those who are considering trying out the Aberrant tabletop roleplaying game or are fans of it already. 

More of my comic book reviews can be found HERE. If you like what you see here please show your support through my Ko-fi page and toss a coin to your reviewer. It's always much appreciated. 

Mortal Kombat (1995) - Review

 

Mortal Kombat (1995)

You can pick this up on DVD over on Amazon.

Or you can watch it on Amazon Prime. 

I remember it being 1995 and seeing this movie at the theater with some friends. Back then we didn't think it was that bad. Of course our only from of reference for video game movies was Super Mario Brothers so that is an issue. Now upon viewing it again after a few decades my opinion is somewhat different and I find myself wondering what the hell was wrong with me back then.

Let me start off by saying effects wise they didn't do a bad job with what they had at the time. CGI was still much in the experimental and development phase. Terminator 2 had just came out four years prior and all that tech was still pretty expensive and most companies had no idea how well it would turn out on the big screen. So some of it turned out decent like Scorpions “Get over here” attack, but the others like Scorpion unmasking himself or Reptiles non-human form are pretty janky at their best. On the other hand the Goro puppet and animatronics were pretty damn sweet looking and much better than they had any right to be. So the practical effects actually turned out better than any of the CGI.

Then we get to casting. Oh who the fuck cast Christopher Lambert as Raiden? Seriously can we retroactively fire that person and make them pay back everything they earned for this movie. This is probably the thing that really gets me the most here. He can't act outside of a specific parameter to save his life and here he is way out of that. Just simply terrible. They cast folks who don't look like they should be in any sort of fighting competition, much less Mortal Kombat. Bridgette Wilson may have the blonde hair but she is absolutely unbelievable as Sonya Blade. At least a few were actual martial artists but that didn't help much because of... wait for it... because of....

Because the choreography sucked for the most part. The fight scenes had tons of cuts, edits and ended up looking like a jangled mess. Occasionally you would get a few shots that lasted more than a few seconds but that was a rarity. Some actual folks in place training people to do longer lasting scenes in shots that lasted a bit would have been great.

Also we discover the director loves (and I do mean loves) drowning out as many different colors as he can. Flooding a scene with one single color, be it blue, red, yellow or whatever. At first it was noticeable as a simple way to shot a scene for effect, but we get it over and over again. Somebody needs to take the flood lights away from him.

In the writing department they pull off an okay job. Nothing super bad and they do keep the characters constant throughout. Johnny is an ass, Lui is fighting against his destiny, Sonya wants to fuck up Kano. No big departures for no reason, with a nice little dash of “what have we gotten ourselves into” thrown in there. Some of Raiden's lines are pretty laughable but again, coming from a hopelessly miscast Lambert that is no surprise.

Oh I will take a moment to mention the soundtrack is fun. That's about all I can say on that.

Then the entire thing is set up for a sequel. From Jaxx being in the early part of the movie to the final end scene. But oh don't go thinking they stepped it up with part two because they sure as hell did not. One day I may view that movie again for a review, but today will not be that day.

Until next time.

For more of my movie reviews you can find them all HERE. Also if you like what you see on this blog you can show your support by clicking on the links or using my Ko-fi page to toss a coin to your reviewer. Anything is much appreciated.

Such believable martial arts abilities.