Various reminders

Spent all day in 104+ weather outside.  My brain is cooked.

Here are some things I want you all to remind me about later cause they were in my clipboard so they must be important.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_simulacrums
Need some more information on Swords & Wizardry.  Anyone have some details I can use?

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/325572-chicago-gameday-32-july-14th-sign-up-play.html
I'd love to have some more people sign up for this.  It's the last time I am running Blight.

http://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2012/07/contemplating-kickstarter.html
Jason has a poll up.  Give it a look-see.

Next weekend I run Ghosts of Albion: Blight om Saturday and Part two of Keep on the Shadowfell on Sunday.

EN World Game Day

Please don't forget that if you are in the Chicago area come by and play Ghosts of Albion with the author (that would be me)!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/325572-chicago-gameday-32-july-14th-sign-up-play.html

Saturday July 14, 2012.

Victoriana 1st Edition

Back when I was working on Ghosts of Albion I became aware of the game Victoriana.

I picked up the game, but since I was deep into playing Ghosts at the time I didn't look at it much.  Finally I did and then learned a 2nd Ed was going to come out.  Of course I did eventually get the 2nd edition (and signed no less!) and know I hear there is a 3rd Edition on the way.

I spent some time reading the 1st Edition rules and thought it was interesting, if odd.  For starters I am not sure why there was no U.S. Civil War. I was also not a fan of the Fuzion system.  I liked all the odd races for the game (even if it did lead to the infamous Orc from Africa debate) and felt like it was, as it has been later described, Victorian Age Steampunk.

The thing that struck me though is how similar that cover is to the Ghosts of Albion BBC logo.  In particular the silhouettes of  William and Tamara.   I am sure it is nothing but coincidence,  but I could not help but notice it all the same.  Save for the pointy ears on the Victoriana cover that *could* be Tamara and William.

I still like this game though.  It has a soft spot in my heart really.  It is like Ghosts of Albion gone all gonzo and turned up to 11.  Plus it is one of the few games I always try to play at Gen Con; well it or 2nd Ed.


Here are the books I own.   What I feel they lack in system, they make up for in style. They can be used with the 2nd Edition of the game with the conversion guide in the back of the 2nd Ed core book.


Victoriana: 1867 Edition
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1612/Victoriana%3A-1867-Edition?src=s_pi&affiliate_id=10748
This is the core book of the "1867" or 1st edition rules.

The Hounds of Fate
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/2241/The-Hounds-of-Hate%2C-A-Penny-Dreadful-for-Victoriana?affiliate_id=10748

What if "Hounds of the Baskervilles" was a true story?  Well in the world of Victoriana, it can be!
This is a "Penny Dreadful" or an adventure for Victoriana 1st Edition (aka 1867 Edition).
This adventure though is based more on the old legends of the Black Dog or Old Shuck on the English countryside.  As such it is a good adventure for any Victorian era game with a heavy emphasis on magic or the supernatural. One could easily run this under Ghosts of Albion or Cthulhu by Gaslight.


The Smoke: 1867 Edition
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/2240/The-Smoke%3A-1867-Edition?affiliate_id=10748

This is one of the best Victoriana 1st Ed products.  At 128 pages it is a very comprehensive guide to London in 1867.
Granted there is the Victoriana-universe spin on everything, but otherwise it is perfect for use with ANY Victorian era game.  It especially works well with the 2nd Edition of the Victoriana game.   The book is sans-game stats, so there is no system conversion to worry about, just thematic conversions.

The maps are fantastic and I especially enjoyed the descriptions of all the neighborhoods.
Very good resource indeed.


The Dragon in the Smoke
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1613/The-Dragon-In-The-Smoke?affiliate_id=10748

Another adventure for Victoriana 1st Ed.  The set up is very nice and it captures the feel of the game right away.
The adventure itself deals with strange eastern magic and mysticism, missing children and a cursed statute.   Plenty of really good plot elements to keep your players guessing.
This adventure also includes some rules on using martial arts.

While I am not likely to play Victoriana 1st Ed these days, it still holds a special place for me.  Though these products listed here are my favorite.

Free RPG Day: Free Stuff Here!

I hope you all enjoy Free RPG Day.

Please head to your FLGS (am will be going to mine)to get some great RPGs and accessories.

Here at the Other Side we don't want you to feel left out if you can't get to a game store.

So here, by permission of Eden Studios you can download the Ghosts of Albion Quick Start and Adventure Derby Day!

Derby Day was written by Garner Johnson who was invaluable help to me while writing Ghosts.

If you were ever curious about my game Ghosts of Albion, then this is your chance.  Please download and try this out.

You can also use these rules to play the first ever Buffy Adventure The Dark Druid.

Please enjoy these courtesy of the Other Side and Eden Studios.

The Dark Druid

Something different today for the YAM Magazine LBGT Blogathon.  Today, not a character so much as characters  and an adventure.  I wanted to repost a link to the first ever Buffy adventure I ever wrote; updated to feature Willow & Tara more prominently.  Also updated with a new download link.
Originally posted here in 2010.


The Dark Druid: The Director's Cut

- Download here -

A bit of history.  Back in 2002 Eden was getting ready to release their newest game, The Buffy the Vampire Slayer game.  As you may know, I had already been playing a Willow/Tara focused WitchCraft game for about a year, so I was pretty excited by this.  Well I got asked by Eden to write the first Buffy adventure that would appear in "Games Unplugged" along with an interview with C.J. Carella talking about the game.

I took an idea I had been working on for my other game (tentatively called "All Soul's Night") and thus the Dark Druid was born.

I had been reading a ton of Irish myths then.  Among those were the stories of Fionn MacCumhaill ("Finn MacCool") and his foster mothers Bodhmal and Liath.  It occurred to me that Liath and Bodhmal were lovers, and to tie it more directly to my work in Buffy, they were reincarnated later on into the form of Willow and Tara.   Since that time anytime I read a story about Fionn MacCumhaill I can't help but read Bodhmal and Liath as lovers.

The original featured, rather prominently, Willow and Tara, as to be expected.  I had to make some changes to make it playable for others and to make it an "intro" or season opener type episode.  The plot dealt with an enemy from the Cast's past as a portent to greater evil in the future.  It was designed to be a opening episode of the season, but one that may or may not be directly related to the seasonal arc.  We were going to use this i n part of the great "Djinn" story, but that never happened.

Fast forward a few years and I was finishing up work on Ghosts of Albion and another adventure that sprang from "All Soul's Night" called "Blight" (which I have played at Gen Con before).  I felt it was time to bring back the Dark Druid and restore it to the mythology that I had created in my games.  Now you can have it too.  So it became a Prequel or an Episode 0 for my huge Willow & Tara series, The Dragon and the Phoenix.  This adventure and the Dragon adventures were designed to feature Willow and Tara.  My players were extremely pissed off at Tara being killed, so this was our way of getting our own way.

I updated it not only to fit better with my world-myths, and with some of the work I did on Ghosts of Albion and the adventure Blight.  In fact you can run Blight and The Dark Druid as co-adventures, separated by time.

The story is rather direct and linear.  This was partly due to the nature of the story and what is was supposed to do (introduce new players to the game) and part of just me writing for the Buffy game for the first time.  I have opted not to change that here, despite nearly 10 years of Cinematic Unisystem adventure writing since then.  It is supposed to be a quick, fun little adventure dealing with past lives.

The episode was well received and even has a bit on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffyverse_role-playing_games#Adventures

It was the first. The start of a series of adventures that led me personally down a crazy path.  It's hard to gauge the effect it has had, it was so fundamental.  From this point my writing increased maybe a 100 or 500 fold.  Hard to say really.

Willow and Tara Digital Comics

I don't read the Buffy comics. No desire really, and the world I had created with the RPG was far more interesting to me anyway. 

But when Amber Benson and Christopher Golden team up to write a Willow & Tara based comic, well how can I possibly say no?

This month Dark Horse re-released the two (well three, two stories in three books) Willow & Tara comics.  Wanna Blessed Be and Wilderness. 

You can get them here:

Willow & Tara: Wanna Blessed Be

Willow & Tara: Wilderness

I enjoyed the heck out these and went ahead and bought them again in digital format.

I ran a Ghosts of Albion adventure loosely based on these, it seemed appropriate.  The adventure still needs some work, but I do like it.  And it has a pedigree. 

So here they are.  Thought you might like to check them out.

Now if someone would make a comic of the Dragon and the Phoenix I'd be thrilled to death! 

Gen Con Schedule is out

The Gen Con schedule is out now.

I do not have any Ghosts of Albion games running.  I wanted to focus on paying games with my boys.
We are going to try to get into the D&D Next games, try to get some AD&D first ed in, and hopefully some D&D Basic (a clone) would be good too.  I'll run some D&D 3.x too, so we will get the full D&D experience. I think it will be great.

I happy to see there are plenty of Victoriana games, some Buffy/Unisystem games and some others I am interested in.  I'll have to put together a schedule.

I am sorry there won't be any Ghosts of Albion games.  But I am not amiss to doing a pick up game one night.

Play? Ghosts? Me?

My wife just pointed out to me that I have never actually played Ghosts of Albion (not Angel, not Buffy) as a player.   I have played the rules before. But never as an honest to goodness, made in 1839 player.

How in the heck did I manage that???

Happy Friday the 13th!

Picked up Cthulhu by Gaslight in dead tree version today.

As you all know I love Victorian horror.

This is going to sit on my shelves very nicely.  It is going to sit at my table when I play Ghosts of Albion even better.

Sitting on my table next to me in fact is Ghosts of Albion, Cthulhu by Gaslight, Gaslight (OGL), Victoriana (2nd ed) and Victoria.

All are great fun.

Vastra and Jenny

Been thinking some more about Vastra and Jenny.

I did some posts back when "A Good Man Goes to War" first aired.
Introduction and Ghosts of Albion stats.
Doctor Who RPG stats

I have found some very cool links recently that expand their story more.
Vastra and Jenny

I have a Ghosts of Albion game coming up and I'd love to work them in somehow.  Just not sure how to do that yet.  Especially since the idea I have in mind is already dangerously close to "The Hungry Earth" except I am basing it of of a real riot that happened in London in 1846.

Don't Forget!

EN World Game Day Chicago is this weekend!

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by coming to the the aid of Ireland in her darkest hour.


Ghosts of Albion: Blight

Ireland is dying. 
Her Protector has been murdered and you are the primary suspects. Can you clear your name, regain your magic and stop whatever necromancies befoul the land? Time is short, yours and one million lives hang in the balance. Set in 1847 this is an adventure for the Ghosts of Albion RPG.

Game System: Cinematic Unisystem
Rules Edition: Ghosts of Albion
Players: Minimum 5, Max 8.
Minimum Age: Teen (13+) (PG for some violence, and problem solving)
Experience Required: None (never played before), some knowledge of "Ghosts of Albion" is helpful.
Materials Provided:  Yes, materials are provided for this game. You do not need to bring your own.  One d10 is needed.

There is a sign-up thread over at EN World, http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/319338-chicago-gameday-31-3-17-sign-up-play.html



And because I can.
One of my favorite Irish "rebel" songs.

Random links

On the run today.  Many meetings and much ado to do.

So here are some links I have found useful in the last couple of days.

Running an alt-history game? Thinking of writing one?  Well here are some things to keep in mind.
IO9: 10 Worst Mistakes That Authors of Alternate History Make,
http://io9.com/5884879/10-worst-mistakes-that-authors-make-in-alternate-history

Want to learn more about the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying system?
Well here is the site to go to.
Exploring Infinity: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Collected Miscellanies
http://atminn.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/marvel-heroic-roleplaying-collected-miscellanies/

Elizabeth J Kolodziej is working on getting her next book published.
Send her a buck or two for "The Last Witch Series"
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1960643778/help-publish-the-last-witch-series

Speaking of which (or witch), Strange Music has a witch class up for B/X
http://strangemagic.robertsongames.com/2012/03/witch-for-bx-d.html

And speaking of Kickstarters, here is a blog that keeps track of all the RPG Kickstarter projects out there.
http://rpgkickstarters.tumblr.com/

I know posted this one before, but it is really cool.
Hi-res maps of the Caves of Chaos.
http://www.theweem.com/2012/02/01/caves-of-chaos-reimagined-by-weem/

Don't forget to sign up for Ghosts of Albion at Chicago Game Day!
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/319338-chicago-gameday-31-3-17-sign-up-play.html

EN World Game Day Chicago

I am going to be running a game at EN World Game Day Chicago!

I'll be running Ghosts of Albion: Blight. Seems appropriate given that Game Day this year in March 17.

Here is the blurb for the game:


Ghosts of Albion: Blight
Ireland is dying. 
Her Protector has been murdered and you are the primary suspects. Can you clear your name, regain your magic and stop whatever necromancies befoul the land? Time is short, yours and one million lives hang in the balance. Set in 1847 this is an adventure for the Ghosts of Albion RPG.

Game System: Cinematic Unisystem
Rules Edition: Ghosts of Albion
Players: Minimum 5, Max 8.
Minimum Age: Teen (13+) (PG for some violence, and problem solving)
Experience Required: None (never played before), some knowledge of "Ghosts of Albion" is helpful.
Materials Provided: Yes, materials are provided for this game. You do not need to bring your own.  One d10 is needed.

There is a sign-up thread over at EN World, http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/319338-chicago-gameday-31-3-17-sign-up-play.html

I have an afternoon slot 3:30pm to 8:30pm on Saturday, March 17 at Games Plus in Mount Prospect, IL.

Hope to see you there.
If you let me know that you found out about this by reading my blog then your character will get a free drama point!

Ghosts of Albion: Batman

This made it's rounds last week, but I am just getting caught up.

Clips from a proposed Gotham by Gaslight video game.




Might make for some good Ghosts of Albion fodder.

Victorian Games

I have gotten a bunch of "new" Victorian Games in the mail here recently.

I don't have a lot to say yet, but you can follow the discussion with myself and some of the authors of these games.
We are talking over at the Victorian Gamers Association (on Facebook).

Come on by.

Zatannurday: Steampunk Zatanna

Long time readers know I Am a fan of the Victorian era and in particular Victorian horror. I am not though a Steampunk fan per se. It is cool. I get the appeal, but if I am wearing my Victorian costume I am going to carry a cane, not a nerf gun I spray painted.

That all being said I am a huge fan of the these Gaslight Justice League figures over at Sillof's website.
http://sillof.com/C-Gaslight.htm.  I was a big fan of "Gotham by Gaslight" and Wonder Woman: Amazonia and would loved to have seen more.  I felt his figures were a great look for the Victorian Justice League.

If you have never seen his custom figures then you need too. Now.  Especially his re-imaged Star Wars as an old Japanese Samurai movie.

But you notice something missing?  Yup!  Where is Zatanna?!
Well she was hanging out on Deviant Art!

Zatanna Steam punk 1887 by ~doonboy on deviantART

I love how she looks.  Very classy, like you would expect the daughter of a world renowned magician be.  Of course her secret is she really know magic.

Given the high weirdness of both the Victorian age and mixing the JL, I thought it was only proper to stat her up for Ghosts of Albion.  Given her power level in the comics Zatanna (in any reality) should be one of the more powerful magicians in the game.

Zatanna (1887)
Zatanna Zatara is the daughter of the late Giovanni Zatara, renowned illusionist, prestidigitator and expert on all subjects occult.  Having spent her entire life in her father's show it was natural that Miss Zatanna would continue that occupation after her father's untimely demise.
What is not generally well known is that Zatanna also inherited her father's magic and mantle to protect the world from magical beings that would attempt to do humanity harm.

Zatanna Zatara
Very Experienced Master

http://my.deviantart.com/messages/#/d3hsevs

Life Points 50
Drama Points 10

Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 4
Constitution 3
Intelligence 4
Perception 5
Willpower 6

Qualities
Attractiveness +3
Charisma
Contacts (the Justice League) 4
Contacts (Supernatural) 5
Hard to Kill 2
Fast Reaction Time
Magic 10  (Homo Magi race)
Magical Family
Nerves of Steel
Occult Library (Amazing)
Resources 8
Situational Awareness
Supernatural Senses (the Sight)
Status 3 (lowered due to profession and gender)

Drawbacks
Adversaries (Lots) 5
Honorable (Minimal)
Mental Problems (Fear of Commitment)
Minority (Woman)
Obligation (mundane humans, Important)
Secret 1 (really uses magic)

Useful Information
Initiative +
Actions 1/2
Observation 1d10 + 11
Fear +

Skills
Armed Mayhem 1
Art 6 (stage performance)
Athletics 2
Crime 1
Drive / Ride 1
Engineering 2
Fisticuffs 2
Influence 6
Knowledge 7
Languages 6 (English, Italian, Latin, Greek, Egyptian, Backwards talk)
Marksmanship 3
Notice 5
Occultism 9
Physician 2
Wild Card

Combat

Maneuver	Bonus	Damage	Notes
Dodge / Parry	+6	-	Defense Action
Grapple	+6	-	Defense Action
Punch	+6	4	Bash
Magic	+25	per spell	Must speak backwards
- Deflect	+25	Special	Deflects spell 45 degrees

You can see more of his Victorian super ladies here: http://doonboy.deviantart.com/gallery/33431300

Can't wait to have her run across Madame Vastra and Jenny!

Ghosts of Albion on Sale at DTRPG

Ghosts of Albion is on sale at DriveThruRPG for their "Geek Love Rules" Valentines Day special.

Included in this sale are some other products I have talked about or have used in the past.

Angel RPG (companion to Buffy and compatible with Ghosts of Albion)
Byron Falls (OMG Drama bomb! high school kids with supernatural powers, and a fun game.)
Devilish Duos: Strange Attractors
Infernal Romance at Moon Temple (AE)
Instant Antagonist: The Selfish Succubus  (reviewed in the past)
King Arthur Pendragon: Edition 5.1
MILFS: Monsters I’d Like to F*** (Cardstock Characters™) (you know you want to click on this one)
Sexcraft: A Little Game with a Lot of Sex  (includes the Sexcraft Witch)
Sisters of Rapture, OGL Edition and Pathfinder Edition
Smallville Roleplaying Game
Smallville High School Yearbook

I have to admit I am a little surprised not to see Blue Rose on the list.

Ghosts of Albion Character sheets

I have been wanting to get this out to you all for some time.

Here is a character sheet you can use for Ghosts of Albion

• Eden's Site (just scroll down)
• My Dropbox site

Get these now and happy adventuring!

Gen Con updates

Gen Con badges bought.
Hotel booked.  More expensive than last year, but not undo-able.

The big issue this year is my Ghosts of Albion game.
As in I am not going to be running any.

I might do a pick up game, that I would announce here.

It basically boils down to me not having enough time to work out a new adventure.  That and my kids are older and they want to play in more games with their dad.

So this year I am looking forward to playing more and trying out a bunch of new games.

Ghosts of Albion: Sold Out!

I just heard from Eden Studios yesterday that the first print run of Ghosts of Albion has completely sold out!

Of course I am thrilled to death about this.  But then there is sad fact that it is not in stores for new people to buy.

So the great thing is DriveThruRPG and RPGNow has you covered.  Their Print-on-Demand service produces the same books you get in the stores.

• DriveThruRPG, http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=56971&affiliate_id=10748
• RPG Now, http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=56971&affiliate_id=10748

So stop by and buy!

I am hoping to take one of my Ghosts adventures from Gen Con and put it up here.  Failing that, maybe a conversion sheet on how to play Ghosts of Ablion: Ravenloft!