I played Baker Street at Gen Con and it was a fun time. This looks like an excellent addition to the game. Honestly with the way Baker Street works this could be an excellent addition to ANY Victorian-era game.
Debra Hoenig Parizek is working on bringing here late husband's dream to life, The Everyverse RPG.
I thought I would spend some time with her to talk about the Everyverse RPG.
Tim Brannan/The Other Side: Let’s start at the beginning, who are you and what is the Everyverse RPG? Debra Hoenig Parizek: I am the widow of the author now, production and marketing director for EVERYVERSE RPG. Both the author, Dennis, and I grew up in Iowa and graduated from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA. I spent 34 years in IT. Since being laid off in Dec, 2014, I have been working in online marketing. I was nudged to bring EVERYVERSE RPG to market after a long weekend gaming session with friends at the end of last June.
EVERYVERSE RPG is a universal system that may be applied to any setting.
TB: How long did your late husband work on this game? DHP: At least 10 years
TB: How did you get into gaming? DHP: I got into gaming because my late husband was a gamer. I believe the first scenarios he and I played were Star Wars based using an early version of what is now EVERYVERSE RPG. Later, I joined his gaming group of college friends. That group started meeting again with the 2nd generation (i.e. sons of 2 members) playing with us old timers.
TB: What are some of your favorite games? Why? DHP: I've played Cyberpunk and AD&D. To be honest, I've been spoiled by playing EVERYVERSE RPG.
TB: What is one of your favorite features about Everyverse? DHP: I think using The Attempt to resolve all outcomes. The structure of The Attempt is simple -- what action is performed, applicable character attribute score or skill cascade score, modifiers. That's basically it then roll your 4D10.
TB: What is Everyverse to set it off from other multi-genre games? DHP: It features 5 methods of character generation, uses the Bell curve (the curve used in real-world IQ measurement) where a score of 100 is average for a population in character attributes and skills scores for more meaningful information at a glance, has skills cascades to describe a skill set from general to more specific and uses a single method, The Attempt, to resolve all outcomes. Also, it presents tables for conversion from other systems to EVERYVERSE RPG.
TB: What sort of games/stories do you expect that people will use this for? DHP: Most recently, it was used by folks who play online to do a supernatural hunters scenario. We have used it to play low-tech, high-tech, Star Wars, Highlander. I believe we will be doing a Harry Potter scenario for a podcast next weekend.
TB: What are your future plans for this game? DHP: The basic rules are available now and I am prepping a supplement on Paranormality. Then, there is a High-Tech Equipment supplement and a Future History supplement. I also want to expand some adventure scenarios into modules for sale.
A couple of weeks ago I featured an RPG Kickstarter here, The Everyverse RPG.
I liked the premise and the story behind the game.
Well...it didn't get funded and that is a pity really. But the creator's widow is back and with another go at it.
First is a really cool one, I really love Castles & Crusades, but I also really love D&D 5e.
So it is really cool to see the Troll Lords bring out a product for 5e that was also one of my favorite Troll Lords books.
Tonight is a very special night here at the Other Side.
I have +Bruce Heard helping me out with the Guest VJ spot tonight. He is sharing some of the songs and tracks that would make up a Calidar Soundtrack.
So without further ado, here is Bruce!
--
Hi, I’m Bruce Heard, the creator of Calidar, a game world inspired from the Voyage of the Princess Ark stories I used to write for Dragon Magazine in the 80s and 90s. Some of you may remember me as the direction behind the D&D’s Mystara Gazetteers at old TSR.
I had a chat with Tim regarding Calidar and the Kickstarter campaign for my present project, “Beyond the Skies.” It is a massive compendium about the gods of this universe, their shenanigans, and a monstrous peril plotting their doom. Writing about this conjures a number of thoughts in my mind, among which music takes an interesting dimension. During the past decade I developed an interest in movie scores. Keeping with my focus on fantasy, sci-fi, action, and adventure, my tastes target certain titles particularly.
As a go through “Beyond the Skies,” the first that comes to my mind is Highlander’s “Who wants to live forever.” This is especially true with the first part of the book, which describes the gods, their personalities, and their motivations. It also alludes to Calidar’s epic heroes brought up in the first book, “In Stranger Skies.” They stop aging as long as they qualify as epic heroes, their first step before aspiring to become demigods in the service of a divine liege.
There are of course the dwarven gods, and I had a good laugh when I described them as steampunk space warriors. The best score for this, in my mind, was from Jerry Goldsmith, Star Trek’s Klingon Battle theme. Kragdûras dwarves sound a bit like Klingons and pretty much behave like them. They’re just shorter and hairier. They don’t use dilithium but rather a kind of coal they mine on their moon. So yes, they use steam-powered dreadnaughts.
Other fine neighbors are Calidar’s version of the Norse, best described as space Vikings who collect abandoned alien weapons. With their giant longships, they hurtle through the “Great Vault,” raiding both known and lost worlds, in search of fortune and forbidden technology. Another one from Jerry Goldsmith, “The Warriors” theme from the 13th Warrior truly seized the image for me.
Naturally, when talking about the gods of the Norse, my hand reached for Thor’s “Sons of Odin” theme from Patrick Doyle. The deities portrayed in Calidar are alter-egos of those from real world mythology, and they know it! These gods are aware that they ascended from the minds of mortals (who’d been abducted to Calidar from the real world), and they debate whether they should endorse traditional sagas or forge for themselves an entirely new fate. Some believe that Ragnarok still hangs over their heads while others argue that it does not have to be so.
There is a section of “Beyond the Skies” that dwells upon the Dread Lands, Calidar’s giant living wilderness that fights off intruders. It is connected to the planet’s World Soul, a semi-sentient pool of magic binding the souls of all sapient creatures to the worlds on which they were born. For this, James Horner’s theme “Climbing Iknimaya, The Path to Heaven” from the Avatar movie was unavoidable.
The Calidar series feature a recurring skyship theme, as they draw their inspiration from the original Princess Ark stories, D&D’s idea of what Star Trek would be in a medieval high-fantasy world. This led me to enjoy various Pirates of the Caribbean themes from “At World’s End,” especially Hans Zimmer’s “One Day,” a big favorite of mine.
Another score that I do like a lot is Klaus Badelt’s “Time Machine.” The movie itself wasn’t immensely popular, but the music is great for an adventurer/explorer genre, especially the “Eloi” theme. This one reminds me of forgotten worlds and the nature-loving tribes dwelling in the Dread Lands. Their secret is that they’ve learned to adapt to this monstrously dangerous place and tap into the magic of the World Soul.
In the genre of lost civilizations, another well know score works well, and is also a favorite of mine: David Arnold’s “Stargate.” It does fit well in that Calidar has an ancient culture generally inspired from ancient Egypt. Though part of it was conquered by another power, another escaped into space where its people attempt to regain their lost glory. Ancient Egyptians in space—no doubt about it!
The topics are endless. For Calidar’s Arabian-style setting, I relied on “The Mummy” with Jerry Goldsmith’s “Camel Race” theme. This also connects with the ancient Egyptian setting mentioned earlier. These two genres are directly related in Calidar. Many others come to mind, such as Maurice Jarre’s classic Lawrence of Arabia main theme.
Then we have Calidar’s “bad guys,” at least from everyone else’s point of view. The Nicareans are (very) loosely inspired from the early Byzantine with a strong strain of Spanish Inquisition-like behavior. They are conquerors in their own right, and with them, when they march to war or line up their skyships for a fight in the Great Vault, it’s Vangelis’s “Drums of Gaugamela” from the “Alexander” motion picture that comes to my mind—huge, fearsome, glorious, and rousing! It’s one that I play when I get discouraged or run out of steam.
This is turning into quite a long article, longer than I first expected, and I don’t believe I’ve made a dent in the pile of music that I can think of when writing for for this setting. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the elves of Calidar. Their lunar empire of Alorea is more akin to a tree-hugging tyranny, somewhat like Star Trek Romulans turned totalitarian biologists, for which Hans Zimmer’s “The Battle” theme from the motion picture “Gladiator” works well. Imagine a three way space battle between Nicareans, Kragdûras dwarves, and Alorean elves. That’s an awful lot of drums!
The elves of Calidar’s main world, on the other hand, are much more peaceful, and their theme ends up being Howard Shore’s “Evenstar” composition, from Lord of the Rings’ “The Two Towers.” We all know this one I’m sure, and it stands as a peaceful, friendly manner to part ways. Hope you enjoyed this journey across fantasy, space, and popular movie scores.
--
Thanks Bruce! That is really an epic soundtrack.
This looks every bit as fun as the first Calidar book (reviewed here).
This book "feels" more like a campaign guide too, along the lines of the Forgotten Realms books with gods and things for mortals to do. by contrast the first Calidar book was more Gazetteer like.
The art looks fantastic, but don't take my word for it, pop on over and see.
I also appreciate the handy graphic too to know what it is I am getting for the money I spend.
I have said it before. My Appendix N is full of cheesy sci-fi, horror and fantasy movies. The only people that loved these movies more than me were the Best Brain behind Mystery Science Theatre 3000. In the 90s, this was my show. The one I tapped and never missed. Still have 18 or so 6-hour tapes full of episodes. To bad I have no idea where a work VCR is.
But no fear because MST3k is coming back through the magic of Kickstarter and fans like us.
I don't know much about the Brimstone & The Borderhounds comic, except it looks like "Dog the Bounty Hunter" meets "Hellraiser". I could be wrong. But even if I am it sounds like a cool game.
It is being written by Jason Vey (of Amazing Adventures, Band of Zombies, Broken Gods, and contributing author to the Defending Earth the Unit Sourcebook for the Doctor Who RPG, and contributor to Buffy) and uses the SEIGE Engine found in Amazing Adventures and Castles & Crusades.
Already I see a lot of use for this game.
I have a little side game going on (well on hold for a moment) called "The Daughters of Death" that was using D&D4. With this it looks like I could easily move it over to Castles & Crusades.
Since I already have some Castles & Crusades plans in the mix for my game after my D&D 5 one.
In anycase this looks like a lot of fun.
Troll Lords has a great track record with Kickstarter so backing this one should be a no brainer.
I have not heard about the Spanish language RPG Aquelarre till before today.
But a quick look online tells me a lot of people are excited by it.
There is a new English language version on the way by none other than White Wolf's own Stewart Wieck. So that should mean it will look good and be fun.
Actually I could go on about Satisfiers. It has some interesting social commentary and Sharon Mitchell has always been a favorite of mine.
I am hopping this will be more like The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.
It could be fun or it could be completely puerile. I am willing to gamble to check it out.
I mean seriously. These look so cool.
I particularly love the one that can hold the four minis and the dice. My first though went right to my iconic witch character Larina. I have four different minis to represent her at different power levels, and I always have some nice dice.
So I am late. I am late though for the best of reasons. There is SO MUCH more material that I needed to go through.
I have material here that has never seen the light of day; either in any other publication or this blog. I have material that I have previewed here, I have stuff I have written in the past and am updating it and some of my favorite OGC and other content we have permisson to use.
All of this needs to updated to Pathfinder and made to work together. The spells alone are over 250 pages.
Right now I am working through the Witch themed Prestige Classes (something Pathfinder seriously lacks) and a few new witch-based hybrid classes. I need to give the witch archetypes one more look over and then I will be done.
I do apologize for the delay, but I don't want to give you anything less than the best I can do.
The art in the book is looking fantastic. I love how it is all coming together. I am going to be very proud of this book and I can't wait to share it with you all.
A new Kickstarter was brought to my attention this week that looks rather cool.
I love audio-books. I spend a lot of time driving to work, to campus so I get to listen a ton of books. So this new one from JJ Sherwood looks really great.
I LOVE Castles & Crusades. Really. I love the game, the Troll Lord guys are great, and their books are all works of art.
I also love how C&C plays. It really feels like AD&D 3rd edition to me. (NOT D&D 3e, but AD&D).
One of my favorite things about AD&D was using real world myths in my games. Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes, Deities & Demigods, countless other books from other publishers...these were my go to books back in the day.
So I am really happy to see that this one is funded and doing well.
http://bit.ly/mythosks
Not one, but three new book from Brian N. Young who brought us the Codex Celtarum and the Codex Nordica. This time we have books for German, Slavic and Classical Greek myths. Sure to be excellent.
