Review: Superbabes the Femforce RPG

Superbabes was always one of the games that seemed to exist out there in the periphery for me, but I never knew if anyone actually played it.   I was able to pick up a copy a while back and it has been sitting in my collection, unused and unread.  Recently I have been doing some more research on the game and found it had a small bu loyal following.  I knew I had to give it a try.

The first disclaimer about the game. Superbabes is billed as the Femforce RPG.  Not a Supers RPG or even a comic RPG but a very specific comic, Femforce.  Femforce was created in 1985 and is still running in some form today.  The comic is based on number of public domain and original female super-heroes.  Based on the "good girl" art of the the pulp era.  This is an important distinction.   Don't go into Superbabes expecting angst, or shades of grey.  There won't be any cases of the heroes getting into sexual situations that would besmirch their character. Sure they can be curvy, sexy and maybe have the occasional wardrobe malfunction.

Superbabes came out in 1993 (also something to keep in mind).  The first edition was part of a boxed set that included 132 page rulebook, two Femforce comics, a poster, cut out miniatures and more. My box had more sheets and some maps too.

The game was written by Marc Schezzini and Cameron Verkaik, art comes from the various artists from the comics.

Superbabes starts out pretty much like all RPGs, introduction, where to get dice are RPGs evil... typical drill.  The tone of the book is somewhat tongue in cheek.  Some of the language can sound snarky or even condescending, but I actually think that is part of the humor of the game.

Characters begin with an Origin (which can cost Creation Points). Some are easy to figure out, Extraterristrial, Biological quirk, Supernatural and Adventuress.  Adventuress is the interesting one since it doesn't cost any points, but your are limited in how high your Attributes can go.  This is the "Batman" er rather "Batwoman" option.

You start out with 600 Creation Points to build your superbabe. Your abilities are bought on a 2 CP for 1 point of ability option.  The abilities are roughly equal to the D&D standard. They include Muscles, Health, Moves, Brains, Will, Personality and Looks.  Human normal is between 1 and 20 with average at 10.  The charts go to 1,000.  The levels have numbers (17-18) and titles (Peak Performer for Muscles for example). Some are silly, but others I used as an idea of what to rank various characters.  Secondary abilities are then calculated.  All the primary ones adjust HTK (hit points) in some way.  Interestingly enough the better looking you are the LESS HTK you have.  But before you create the female version of Dogg the Bounty Hunter,  Looks also help your Fame.
You start at Level 0 and then as soon as you get 1 XP you go to Level 1.  You gain 50 CP for every level you go up.

You can buy superpowers, gizmos and skills with your remaining points.   Both are very much taken from the AC Femforce comics.  So no Death Touch powers.  People looking for a full Super RPG might want to look elsewhere OR spend some time with the Game Master making the powers you like.  But I think that defeats the purpose of this game.  There are no "drawbacks" to give you extra CP; remember these are good girls.

Skills cover the basics with some "professions" that bundle skills.
Gizmos are devices that hold powers and can be ranked as obvious or not.  Vehicles and bases though are not gizmos. So they are bought with cash and not CPs.   Stuff are also not Gizmos, but things that can be made by anyone.  This includes the amazing Span-XX material.  All costumes are made from this and can stretch and grow with the character.

The remainder of the book is dedicated to combat, vehicle  chases and the normal things you find with supers games.   There is also a starting adventure.

What sets this game off from the rest, outside of subject matter, is the use of the Bimbo Points.  Like Hero Points, Bimbo points allow you to change the outcome or situation you character can find herself in.  The difference here is you are trading a success now for some GM controlled mishap later.  So you could take a Bimbo Point to avoid some damage in a fall, but then expect to have something go on later.  What?  Well there is a huge table for it.  Things like "Character linked to Public Figure in Tabloids" or "Men's Magazine publishes compromising photos of character". So are embarrassing, others could cause your character to loose Fame and others are pure plot device.   It is actually a nice little mechanic and even neater given when it came out.

There are a lot of similarities between this game and Villains and Vigilantes.  Outside of both being level-based supers, characters take damage to Power Points before their HTK points.  In fact there is a general tone of both games that makes them feel rather close.

The other game this is likely to invoke is Macho Women with Guns.  Both feature female centric characters and both exist to bust stereotypes.  Where MWWG attempts to do this with over the top humor and embracing the cliche head on, Superbabes attempts to subvert it.  While there is plenty of what we might call fanservice in the game and the comics, you can also play it straight.  If Superbabes in Good Girl Art, then MWWG is Bad Girl Art.

At the end of the day there is nothing wrong with Superbabes. It is a fun little game with an interesting premise and history.  You could do the same sort of game with any number of other games, but I think some of the charm would be lost. Certainly some of the innocence.

Building a Character
There are other reviews out there for Superbabes if you want more details.  There is a particularly good on over at RPG.Net and another in Dragon Magazine #208.  What I like to do when putting a system through the ropes is build a few characters.

"Teen Witch" is one of my Supers characters that I never get a chance to play.  Well...that isn't entirely true. I have played her in a low powered M&M game (PL 5) and in Marvel Super Heroes/FASRIP.  I also stated her up for BESM 3.0 but never got to play her there.
She is a teen that discovers she has magic. She is also my "embracing the stereotype" character.  She has a talking cat named Mojo and her "supers" outfit includes a broom, black pointy hat and striped leggings.  In this case I figured she was at least 2nd level now. So that gave me the ability to buy a flying broom as a gizmo.

Character: Teen Witch
Secret ID / AKA: Taryn Nichols
Age: 15   Apparent Age: 15
Origin: Supernatural Pupil (50cp)
50 CPs

Ok so first we have her origin.  Since the Teen Titans were such a big influence on super hero gaming I am making her a teen.  She is the daughter of my regular witch character Larina so supernatural pupil seems right.

Primary Stats
Muscles: 9 (she is just a young kid with some super powers), Max Press: 180
Health: 14  Regen, Combat: - Regen, At rest: 1pp/5rds  HTK/Day: 2d6
Moves: 10  Bonus to hit: - Movement: 4" Hittability: 4 Initiative Bonus: 1
Brains: 15  Mental Attack Bonus: +1 Mental Hittability: 5
Will: 14  Regen Rate: 1pp/10rds HTK Regen/Day: 1d6
Personality: 16 (Likable)
Looks: 14 (Cutie)
184 CPs

Since she is a teen I don't feel I need superpowered stats just yet.  I might improve them over time since that is also how I get more PP.  Very much like WitchCraft in that respect, that the Primary Abilities/Stats sum up to your Power Points.  I am in for 184 Creation points here.

Secondary Stats
PP: 92
HTK: 14
Fame: 2 (mostly unknown)
Bimbo Points: 2 (Taryn is due for some embarrassing moments)
XP: 1002 (just hit level 2)
Level: 2 ("Junior Heroine")
CPs: 16 more to spend

These are derived, more or less, from the Primary Stats.

Powers
Magic Spells (spells cost twice the CP as powers)
- Blast 5d6 (60cp)
- Flight 10 (80cp)
- Super Senses: Sensitive Touch (20cp)
Super Senses: See Magic 20cp
Move Things without Touching Them 200 cp
380 CPs

Magic Spells are not cheap.  For that cost though I get more flexibility.  You don't see it here, but when I roll out Zatanna or Tarot later this week it becomes obvious.  I like to keep my Telekinesis seperate from my spells. Something that started with Buffy.  I also like my magic using characters to be able to see more magic than other.  So that is a seperate power too.
I am in for 380 Creation Points now.

Gizmos
Broom (obvious) 40 cp of additional flight
20 CPs

The broom she bought at 2nd level.  In the game she challenged a guy to a race, him on his motorcycle her on her broom. She won and maybe gained a potential "bad guy" boyfriend.  I think I know how her Bimbo Points will be called in.  For 40 CPs worth of flight I paid 20 CPs on an obvious Gizmo.

Skills
Occultist 50 cp (gained at 1st level)
(she is only 15, not a lot of skills yet)
50 CPs

She is just learning so not a lot of skills yet.  50 CPs.

Character Description
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 95 lbs
Hair: Short black with purple and green streaks
Eyes: Green with cat-like slits
Skin: Caucasian
Unique Characteristics: Cat-like eyes

There is also a place for measurements and quote. Again the parallels to MWWG and V&V should be obvious. I am not going to bother with those.

Compared to her other sheets (M&M, MSH & BESM 3.0) I am pretty pleased with the results.

Superbabes Week is here!

I have been going through my collection and wanted to spend some quality time with some of the lesser known, or lesser remembered games.  So this week I want to cover Superbabes: The Femforce RPG.

If you don't know about Superbabes or Femforce, then I hope you find the week enjoyable.
I'll discuss the merits of how much Looks should affect your ability to get hit by a weapon, the pros and cons of level based supers and what exactly is a Bimbo Point!

ETA: In the mean time, here is a character build.

Larina "Nix" Nicohols
Character: Witch Queen
Secret ID / AKA: Larina Nichols
Age: 45   Apparent Age: 30s 
Origin: Supernatural (50cp)
50 CPs

Primary Stats
Muscles: 10 , Max Press: 200
Health: 12  Regen, Combat: - Regen, At rest: 1pp/5rds  HTK/Day: 1d10
Moves: 12  Bonus to hit: - Movement: 4" Hittability: 4 Initiative Bonus: 1
Brains: 19 ("Savant")  Mental Attack Bonus: +2 Mental Hittability: 7
Will: 21  Regen Rate: 1pp/10rds HTK Regen/Day: 1d6+4
Personality: 18  ("Sparkling")
Looks: 16 (Babe)

Secondary Stats
PP: 108
HTK: 60
Fame: 5
Bimbo Points: 1 (Larina is a serious witch thank you very much)
XP: 
Level: 13 ("Junior Heroine")
CPs: 16 more to spend

These are derived, more or less, from the Primary Stats.

Powers
Magic Spells (spells cost twice the CP as powers)
- Blast 5d6 (Scream)

- Big Blast (Lightning Bolt)
- Invisibility
- Illusions
Super Senses: See Magic 20cp
Move Things without Touching Them 200 cp

Gizmos
Broom (obvious) 40 cp of additional flight
20 CPs

Skills
Occultist 50 cp (gained at 1st level)
Language 100 cp
150 CPs

Gizmos

Book of Shadows (obvious) 100 cps

Character Description
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 125 lbs
Hair: Long red hair
Eyes: Blue
Skin: Caucasian
Unique Characteristics: Large triple-moon Goddess tattoo between shoulder blades

Total CPs: 650

Willow & Tara: Villains & Vigilantes

I want to continue talking about Villains & Vigilantes today.

It seems like years ago that Tim Knight of Hero Press asked me to do V&V write-ups of Willow & Tara.  I actually remember it being almost exactly 2 years ago because I was sitting in the DMV getting my licensed renewed. I had my copy of V&V 2.1 on my tablet and jotting down some notes on powers.

The biggest issue with any supers game is magic. It really is the "break all the powers" power.  Especially in systems where you can take Magic and then take all the other powers as spells.

Here are the girls in their post Dragon and the Phoenix versions.

Justice is Blind, Issue 6: Villains & Vigilantes

Today is the Heroes & Villains Blogfest  hosted by Jackie and Dani.  This is Part 2 of my post for that, Part 1 was posted earlier today.
http://danibertrand.blogspot.com/2013/06/heroes-villains-blogfest.html

I want to continue talking about Villains & Vigilantes I thought it would be interesting to bring back my superhero character Justice and introduce her new arch nemesis.

To bring everyone up to speed Justice is a character I created for the Mutants & Masterminds RPG for a game we were going to play that day.  Her real name is Astra Ka-el, aka Astra Kent and she is the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman.  I based her off the last few pages of the comic Kingdom Come, which deals with the superheroes we know in about 20 or so years.  I won't spoil it all for you. Read it, it is fantastic (or watch this fan made trailer). But one of the futures they point to is the possibility of Superman and Wonder Woman having a daughter.  You can read the back story I did for her in "Issue 1: Justice is Blind".  The last time we saw Justice was Issue 5. In Issue 6 I wanted her to go to London where she could potentially run into the legendary, but retired, Acrobatic Flea.  This serves a number of purposes. It gets her to England to meet her new arch-nemesis, it ties in Villains & Vigilantes and it gives a shout out to +Tim Knight (the Flea himself!)  who has been wanting me to do more with V&V forever.

So I introduced my hero.  Here is my villain.

Maggie "Mags" Shaw nee O'Neill aka "The Iron Maiden"
Maggie O'Neill was a plain, if brilliant girl, who lived in one of the poorest areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Maggie hated being poor, she hate being scared all the time (the Troubles were at their height) and she wanted nothing more than to get away.  To her that mean London.  After a car bomb destroyed the bus she was supposed to get on for school that morning (no one was killed) she had haad enough. At age 14 she ran away from home and made her way to London a couple of months later.  The education she had on the road was a hard one, and it hardened her.  When she got to London she was "discovered" by a talent scout looking for young, and maybe disposable, girls for modeling. Mags, as she called herself now, quickly turned a would-be tragic situation to one where she was on the cover of every fashion magazine by 16 and a national and tabloid celebrity by 18.  She used her keen intellect, charisma and complete lack of moral center to get to the top of the heap.  Her looks, while plain as a child, transformed her into "The Face of London".  Her name even became so synonymous with magazine covers that people thought it was a play on words.
In her 20s her career took a dip when she tried acting and was terrible.  Same with pop songs. She quietly completed degrees in mathematics, engineering and robotics while people suspected she was out partying.
At 24 she stunned the world when she married multinational billionaire Halloran Shaw, depiste being nearly 40 years younger.  She took a keen interest in his business and became a full partner and soon rose (by much of the same combination of lack of ethics and keen intelligence) to a position of VP and a seat on the board.  Her enemies begrudged her polished public image and despised her ruthless private one.  When Shaw died he left everything to her including controlling stock in his company, locking out his own grown children.
Mags would have had it all had it not been for a PR stunt gone tragic.
Shaw International was responsible for making high capacity batteries for cell phones and small electronics.  Their factories though were located in India and were the worse sort of sweat shops.  Thousands, cramped into small spaces to build batteries with caustic chemicals.  Ventilation was poor, and deaths were common, but as they were the only employer for hundreds of kilometers she had all the workers she could want.  Protest groups caught news of this and were making a stink.  Mags herself went to the factory to hold a press conference. Most of the employees where cleared out (with out pay) so tours could be given.
In the midst of this pr stunt the factory exploded.   The death toll was high, but would have been much higher had it not been for Justice, who had been near by and heard the explosion with her super hearing.
One person though she didn't save, because she didn't know, was Mags.  Mags watched and Justice saved all these people, while she was pinned under tons of rubble while chemicals and fire burned her skin.
Mags was found, alive, but the damage was too great.  For a year she was in the hospital. She lost her legs, an arm, part of her face, some the fingers on her other hand.  She eventually recovered, but swore she would have her revenge.  The news (thanks to a healthy pay off) made the claim that eco-terrorists caused the explosion, so popular opinion was for the "poor woman" who had "lost everything".
Secretly Mags has built herself a suit of armor that not only keeps her alive, but also enhances all her physical stats.  She has been using it to steal what she can't buy or make herself.  She has killed and seems likely to do so again.  Though no one suspects that the armored thief the tabloids call The Iron Maiden is really Mags Shaw.  And no one know that she is building a weapon to kill Justice!

Here they are in their Villains & Vigilantes glory.  Justice and her arch nemesis The Iron Maiden!

There might be errors here.  It has been years since I played V&V.

See more posts here:

Heroes & Villains Blogfest: Villains & Vigilanties

Today is the Heroes & Villains Blogfest  hosted by Jackie and Dani.  This is Part 1 of my post for that, Part 2 is later today.
http://danibertrand.blogspot.com/2013/06/heroes-villains-blogfest.html

The idea is to talk about our favorite heroes and villains.  But I do that a lot here.  So I am going to do that today, but I also want to talk about about one of my favorite superhero role-playing games.  It is also the first superhero RPG I ever played.  Villains & Vigilantes.
The current edition is the 2nd edition and you can get the classic version from Fantasy Games Unlimited (the one I played) or the new 2.1 edition from Monkey House Games. They are functionally the same, even with the same text and some art.

V&V was written by Jack Herman and Jeff Dee.  Jeff Dee got his start on D&D doing some of the classic module art and book art for the 1st edition game.   So the game has some obvious D&D roots.
V&V was unique at the time (and still somewhat) in that in the game you play yourself.  You work out with the other players what your strength, endurance, intelligence and the rest are and then you roll randomly on a table of super powers.  It's a very interesting and fun concept that we completely ignored.  Back in the day we liked playing a "multi-verse" so our V&V characters were our D&D characters in a supers universe.  The stats were the mostly the same and both games had levels.  Plus it gave us excuses to have strengths of 50 or more (human max is 18).  I remember it being a very good time.

As typical of many old school games there are lots of random rolls, charts and a fair amount of math involved. I went back recently to make a character and was thrilled to see that Monkey House Games had an Excel character sheet.  The math isn't hard really, but Excel is still faster. Though such things have been around for a long time even with the older edition.

Powers are list by type.  So Power Blast is just a blast of some sort of power. It could be Superman's heat vision, Iron Man's repulsors, or even Zatanna's magical blast.   What is interesting is teh combat matrix of powers vs. defenses and how they interact. Again, the D&D DNA is here since it reminds me of the Psionic Powers Attacks vs Defenses in 1st Ed AD&D.

There is a V&V campaign world as well.  It is loosely defined in the core books, but much greater detail is given in the supplements.  It is also one of the few Supers games I can recall where the characters were working for the government at some level.  The ill-fated City of Heroes RPG was another.

There are a couple of great sections on Being a Superhero and Gamemastering that work great with any supers RPG.

IF you like old school RPGs and want to get into a supers game that feels like those, then this is a great choice.  The price is low and there are plenty of places on the web that support either version of the game with materials, character write-ups and community.

A little later today I'll have a write up of a hero and a villain.

See more posts here:

Willow & Tara: BASH! (and Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia)

Today is the first day of the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia
http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com/2013/03/hop-against-homophobia-and-transphobia_15.html

As I mentioned earlier in the week that for the time period between May 17 to May 27 I will donate all the money I make from The Witch and from my DriveThruRPG Affiliate money to The Trevor Project.

I signed up for this hop to talk about characters. Honestly, who better to talk about than Willow and Tara. Plus Tara herself is a big fan of the Trevor Project.

Here is something that has been hanging out in my "drafts" for a long time. I think today is a GREAT day to finish it.

Willow & Tara: BASH!

Willow & Tara by Foxfire141

BASH! or as it was known, Basic Action Super Heroes is a great, fun game.

I have talked about it before with my super heroine "Justice", and of course I have done Willow & Tara as superheroes and as animated/cartoon/comic characters.  Bash is sort of the ultimate combination of all of that. While some supers games are "comics" games and others "supers in a real world" games, BASH is certainly a "supers by way of cartoons" game to me.  Trust me, this not a bad thing.

As always I am going with the "Dragon and the Phoenix/Season of the Witch" versions of the girls.  Though if I had stuck with my games this would have been part of Season 3.
The versions I am using are part of a game I never got to run; the Season 3 of my Willow and Tara game.  Basically they are attached to some school for magical/powerful students.  Tara is one of the teachers there so they appeared as NPCs/GMPCs only.  OR they would have been played if I had found someone to play them.  You can see more details of that game in their Cartoon Action Hour, M&M2, M&M3 and Icons write-ups.

Normally I'd do BASH! heroes about 40 points for a starting supers game.  That is what I did with Justice.  Here though the girls don't have any flashy powers.  They have magic and lot of it, but that is different.  Plus they are certainly more "Street Level" or 25 points.  I think I'll split the difference at put them at 30 or 35 points with 10-15 points for stats (like the 25 point level) and the rest for powers.  Plus the "Buffy" like character in the book is aimed at 20 points.  Depending on how I do magic they will end up in the 30 to 40 point range.

Willow Rosenberg

Name: Willow D. Rosenberg
DOB: August 1, 1981
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Part time computer instructor; Private Computer Security Systems Analyst.

Brawn: 1
Agility: 1
Mind: 5 (she is considered to be one of the smartest people in the game)

Soak: 1
Defense: 1
Mental Defense: 5

Powers
Super Senses (magical sensing, vision, hearing)  2
Clairvoyance 1
Telekinesis 5
Magic* (limitation: casting) 5 (use any power at 5)
- Force field
- Arcane blast
- Mind Control
Telepath (restricted to Tara only) 3

Skills
(1 physical, 5 mental +1)
Athletics (running)
Computers (hacking), Humanities (Religion), Investigation (Analysis), Occultism (Monsters), Science (Chemistry), Technology (Repair)

Advantages
Headquarters, Quick-thinking, Security Clearance

Disadvantages
In a Relationship (Tara), Minority (out married gay, jewish, witch), Susceptibility (anger issues)

Mental Malfunction: To right wrongs, punish the guilty.


Tara Maclay

Real Name: Tara A. Maclay
DOB: 11/07/1980
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Youth Counselor and Art instructor at <> Academy

Brawn: 1
Agility: 2
Mind: 4 (Tara is lot smarter than given credit for)

Soak: 1
Defense: 2
Mental Defense: 4

Powers

Super Senses (magical sensing, vision, hearing)  2
Clairvoyance 1
Telekinesis 4
Healing 3
Magic* (limitation: casting) 5 (use any power at 5)
- Force Field
- Arcane blast

Telepath (restricted to Willow only) 3

Skills
(2 physical, 4 mental)
Perform (Dancing), Riding (Gallop)
Humanities (Art), Medicine (first aid), Occultism (Rituals), Social Science (History)

Advantages
Grimoire (The Journal of Tamara Swift), Headquarters,

Disadvantages
In a Relationship (Willow), Minority (out married gay, witch)

Mental Malfunction: To protect the innocent

All in all similar to their Icons counter-parts.   Obviously this is a better choice of system for supers and not supernaturals.  But I expected that and wanted to try it out anyway.

Goodbye Marvel Superhero Roleplaying

Today is the last day.

Due to a licensing change with Marvel, Margaret Weiss Productions will no longer be selling Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

MHR is a great game, but you need the right group to do it.  That might have factored into the sales vs. licensing equation.  In any case get these game books today while you can.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Basic Game
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Premium Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Premium Edition)

At midnight tonight they are all gone.

Superhero Friday!

My A to Z post will happen later today.
But I wanted to post on two of my favorite Superheroes Games.

I have talked about DC Adventures from Green Ronin many times and I still think it is one of the best supers games I own.  They currently have a new book out and sadly the last of the line.
DC Adventures Universe is what amounts to a campaign guide/world book, but it is also great history of the DC Comics world.  This makes it a good choice for gamers and fans of DC Comics.  What know the details of Gotham City or Metropolis?  They have them here!  What was the past like or what does the future hold?  Here you go.   I picked this up last night and I love it.   Plus if you are a fan of Trey's Warlord Wednesdays then they also detail the Hollow Earth of Skartaris.  As a gamer I think it is a great book.  As a fan of DC comics it is a fantastic book.

Sadly another line is ending too soon and the books will even be gone after today.
Due to a licensing change with Marvel, Margaret Weiss Productions will no longer be selling Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

I have also talked about Marvel here at great lengths.  MHR is a great game, but you need the right group to do it.  That might have factored into the sales vs. licensing equation.
But in any case get these game books today while you can.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Basic Game
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Premium Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Premium Edition)

Both games are great fun if you love super-heroes (and who doesn't?).

For new readers, here are the stats for both games for the Other Side's covergirl, Justice.
Justice for DC Adventures and Justice for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

Get these while you can!

White Dwarf Wednesday #62

February 1985 brings us Whited Dwarf #62. While most of my White Dwarfs from here on I picked up many years after the fact, this one was part of my early collection.  It might even have been the last one I bought new. Once again we have an awesome Chris Achilleos cover.  I wonder if they bought these in bulk or something. The monster is some sort of goblinoid, demon or yeti. Either way that dude looks like he is about to become Yeti-chow.

Ian Livingstone mentions he is going to Dallas for the Hobby Industry of America's annual show (and even gets off a even-tired-for-1985 joke about J.R.). There is quite a bit of chatter on the white metal miniatures production.

Up first is an article I really enjoyed back in the day.  A Place of Damp and Darkness dealt with the levels under a city.  Given that it was 1985 and my love of all things British I always thought of London.  In my mind "D&D London" was a weird combination of London of 1066, Elizabethan and Victorian London as cobbled together from various sources as Doctor Who and Hammer films.  Not a pretty place, or even a real place, but a fun one.  Goblins lived in the sewers, something that you will see in my adventures to this very day.

Open Box gets Super-sized. hehe. Not is size, but two new Super Hero games.  Golden Heroes by Games Workshop and Marvel Super Heroes from TSR.    I have only heard of Golden Heroes, never played it.  Marcus Rowland loved it and gave it a 10/10 (even though he gave it a 7/10 for Complexity).  He comes back with MSH and introduces the reader to FASERIP and the differences between Feeble and Unearthly.  He gives it a 8/10 but for the life of me I have no idea why OTHER than he doesn't like seem "tm" all over the page. At this point in my life I was moving away from DC and into Marvel, so this was an awesome time for me. I recall how much we had taking our current D&D characters and restating them up as Marvel Characters.

RuneRites in next with some great spells for RuneQuest.   All have a nice Celtic feel to them.

The Dark Usurper is up, Part 2 of the Fighting Fantasy Solo Adventure.

Gary Draabwell gives us En Garde, Parrying rules for AD&D.  My then DM latched on these and never let go.  I don't think a single sword hit I had ever landed after this article.

Ok this one is an odd duck.
An Alien Werewolf in London is a Traveller Adventure set in 1888 London. A Vargr has time-crash-landed in London and you need to go in a get him. It's a very straight forward adventure.  Frankly it would work FANTASTIC for Cubicle 7's Doctor Who game and I even ran it once under Ghosts of Albion..

Eye of Newt and Wing of Bat is up for part 4. This time Swords and other weapons.  The section on "bane swords" was very helpful when we focused on making "Demonbane" a unique holy avenger  for my then AD&D game.

Fiend Factory has some relatives of the Dryad, the O Caber. They seem interesting enough.'

Treasure Chest covers hermits and hags.  In this case they are ways to customize forest encounters with the strange old man/woman of the forest.

Crawling Chaos is a new bi-monthly Call of Cthulhu feature.  This time they cover two new monsters the Bokrug and their servants the Thuun'ha.  I like the idea of new monsters in CoC, but in truth players

Tabletop Heroes covers painting faces. Crash Course has some more Car Wars has a bunch of smaller ideas and articles.

We end with ads.

Ok so a lot for me personally in this issue.  A lot of material that I made use of over the years or later adapted to something else.  Let this be a lesson to you. Don't throw out your old magazines!

R is for Raven

Total cheat today. But I am going with Raven. Her name is also Rachel Roth, so that also counts.
 Why is she good to post today? Raven is the daughter of the Demon Trigon. So she is half demon. But she is a good person, or at least she tries to be one.


Raven Detail by *AdamHughes on deviantART


Raven by *timberwolfd3 on deviantART


Evil Raven Laughs at... by =morganagod on deviantART


Raven's bookgasm {tontos como yo 'verse} by ~Asmodeus7891 on deviantART


Raven - Teen Titans by ~Neferet-Cosplay on deviantART


Blackbird by ~HastyKitten on deviantART


Trigon's Heir_colored by ~FezzTheeElite on deviantART


Raven by *RandyGreen on deviantART


Teen Titans-Raven by =autumnwraith on deviantART


Teen Titans Raven Theme by ~hackman2k3 on deviantART


Raven in ten years?? by ~Asukawa on deviantART


Demon's Daughter by ~raymundlee on deviantART


TT-Raven (DC Special) by *Glee-chan on deviantART


Sentinel of Magic by ~Neferet-Cosplay on deviantART

Sunday Updates

Moving this to Sunday since there are people hitting the blog then and I generally don't post on Sundays.
Plus I can collect these all through out the week and report them back to you.

Jeff Dee on the recent Villains and Vigilantes lawsuit:
http://my.deviantart.com/art/Villains-and-Vigilantes-RPG-News-360833993

An interesting Kickstarter, Monster Tome:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monstertome/monster-tome

Tenkar is doing a Sword & Wizardry Appreciation Day on April 17, 2013.
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2013/04/spes-magna-games-is-adding-to-swords.html

Wizards has put up some humorous walk throughs for two of their classic modules.

• S1 Tomb of Horrors
• S2 White Plume Mountain

Additionally Tomb of Horrors will be redone in Dungeon #213 for D&D Next.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/TOC.aspx?x=dnd/4new/dutoc/213

You all might know this, but I just found it.  D&D T-shirts at DNDMerch.com.

Have a great sunday!

DriveThruRPG Sale

We have not had one of these in a while, but DriveThruRPG is holding a January sale.
Their "New Year, New Game" promotion with select games at 40% off.

Among the games listed here are a just a few of my favorites:

• Albion - not Ghosts of Albion, but equally as fun!
• Aletheia - have had it for a bit and really need to play it.
• Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul - really fun comic game
• Conspiracy X 2.0 is the best Modern Conspiracy game there is.
• Diana: Warrior Princess - ever wonder what future archeologists will say about the late 20th/early 21st Century? Wonder no more!
• Icons - a great FATE based Supers RPG.
• Leverage - one of the cooler Cortex+ systems out there.
• Little Fears: 10th Anniversary Edition - great creepy game. The original rules for Little Fears. My review.
• Mutants & Masterminds 3.0 - I have talked about how great this game is a lot here.
• Myth & Magic: Player's Guide - looks a bit like 2nd ed AD&D.  I have a review going up soon.
• Primeval RPG Core Rulebook - based on the English TV show about rifts in Time and Space. Compatible with their Doctor Who system.  My review.
• QAGS - See my review for this one!
• Shadowrun: 4th Ed. 20th Anniversary Core Rulebook - The cyberpunk meets the future meets magic game. Reminds me of going of to college. 
• The Victory System - the only one on the list that I didn't know much about.  It is by Dakkar Unlimited and I have known Dakkar for years, so I am willing to try it out based on that alone.
• Traveller Main Rulebook - I have enjoyed Traveller in the past even when it frustrates me.  I will give Mongoose a lot of credit for cleaning it up so much.
• Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - this nearly 530 page tome is a MUST BUY for any fan of the Vampire game.  40% off the PDF is a great savings.
• Villains and Vigilantes - my first ever Supers game.  Glad to see this one back as well.

There are plenty more.

AND if you use this code:

happynyng2013 

You gain an additional 15% off.

Zatannurday: Hero Clix 2!!

I didn't forget!  I was waiting on this.

A while back I posted some Zatanna Heroclix.
Well now thanks to reader and fellow blogger Justin Isaac look what I got in the mail today!

Wish I could take a clearer picture, but it is the only Zatanna I didn't have!
And here is the "enjoy!" envelope it came in

She looks great with my others.

And with my other witches!

Thanks so much Justin for making my Zatannurday perfect!
Check out his blog (with cool ass supers) at the Halls of the Nephilim, http://punverse.blogspot.com/

Zatannurday: Alouette Cosplay

A while back I featured a pic of a faux Justice League movie that featured Zatanna.

Well I finally tracked down that Cosplayer, Alouette Cosplay, and she has done some more.

Here are some of her DC Heroes. First up, Zatanna



:DC: Sorcery Savant by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART


:DC: A League of Their Own by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

And as Black Canary, with an unknown Zatanna


:DC: Fishnet Heroines by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

As Catwoman with Poison Ivy,


:DC: Double Team by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

As Catwoman again with Harley, Ivy and the Bat.


:DC: The Sirens and The Bat by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

Batwoman (love this one)


:DC: Twice Named by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART

And finally Black Canary


:BC: Little Bird by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantART


You can find her on DeviantArt and Facebook.

Zatannurday: MachSabre Superwomen

One of my favorite artists is MachSabre, aka David Reynolds.

Long time readers here might recognize the name or at least his art.  David was one of the two Davids of the ShadowGirls fame and I have featured his art here many times.  I am doing that again today. Mostly because I like his art and Dave loves Supergirls.

So to celebrate the announcement that David is part of a new comic, Shadow of the Black Banshee, here are some of my favorite pieces, featuring of course Zatanna.


Zatanna by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Raven by ~MachSabre on deviantART


The Scarlet Witch by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Ms. Marvel vs. Power Girl by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Hawkgirl by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Kim Possible 02 by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Last Daughter of Atlantis by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Starfire by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Wonder Woman by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Wonder Spin by ~MachSabre on deviantART

This one of all the Batgirls was my desktop bitmap forever.

Chiropteras by ~MachSabre on deviantART

And of course you have all seen this one,


Commission - Tara and Willow by ~MachSabre on deviantART

But imagine my surprise when I found this one!


Willow and Tara Cuddling by =AstronSoul on deviantART

AstronSoul is just another fan like me that had D Rey make this.  I think it is cool.

Super Sale at DriveThruRPG

DriveThru RPG is featuring it's best Super Hero RPGS.  They also are highlighting bits from the reviewers for your enlightenment and yours truly is featured!

No surprise really, I have reviewed all these games at one point.
Here they are.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
What I said: "MHR is more of a game where the players are providing the framework. You need to create your character with the other characters and players in mind. Maybe not as much as Smallville or Leverage, but still. It is also a game where the main drama is about heroes, not really supers. It really is a "comic book" RPG, not a cartoon, supers or even super hero movie RPG. This game is about building characters, the relationships between them and the drama. Which, if you think about it, is kinda what Marvel Comics is about."

Read more here, here, here (Justice), here (Zatanna), here (Willow & Tara), and here (Batwoman).

Icons
What I said: "Icons comes with a pretty good pedigree. First it is written by Steven Kenson, who gave us Mutants and Masterminds and also worked on Silver Age Sentinels. Steve obviously knows his supers. It has Gareth-Michael Skarka of Adamant Entertainment and one of the minds behind "Hong Kong Action Theater". Walt Ciechanowski has a ton of game systems under his belt too including M&M, True20 and Victoriana (1st ed). And Morgan Davie, whom I'll admit I am not as familiar with. But he is one of the guys that wrote Icons, so that makes him good in my book. 
...if I needed to run a supers game on a rainy afternoon or a convention or just something to have some fun with, then Icons is a great choice."

Read more here, here and here.

DC Adventures (oddly, not on sale)
What I said: "When you take the world'ss best superhero game and combine the world's super heroes you get a combination of pure awesome that looks exactly like DC Adventures from Green Ronin. Based on the next version of Mutants & Masterminds DCA is not only a great game for Supers play, it is also a great introduction to Supers RPGs for the DC comic fan. All the iconic characters are included, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more. Plenty of powers, traits, feats and skills to make any character you would want. It improves on the Mutants & Masterminds 2.0 design with some elements of True 20 and some nods to some designs of supers RPGs of the past. Plus the art is fantastic."

Read more here, here, here, here, here and here.

Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul
What I said: "Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul (CCaVF) is the eagerly anticipated supers/comic book emulation game from Spectrum Games. The same folks that gave Cartoon Action Hour. I want to start off by saying that this is an attractive book. At 164 pages of full of color it feels like a comic. Since that is what the author aims to emulate I would say it so far is a success.
All in all I am quite pleased with this game. I agree with the author in that I love Supers games, but it is hard to find that perfect game for your group. There have been some great choices that have come out in the last few years, but none are 100% perfect. CCaVF may not 100% perfect either, but it is really damn nice and has a lot of great things going for it."

Read more here and here.

Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook
What I said: "M&M 3rd Edition first off looks a lot like the DC Adventures RPG also from Green Ronin out earlier this year. What are the big changes from 2nd Edition? Well GR is moving more and more away from the d20 3.0 standards and more into True20 land. That is the Abilities (and there are now 8 of them) are the pluses. So instead of Strength 18 (+4) like you see in other d20 games, M&M3 just uses Strength 4. Easy enough and a logical extension of their line of thought with True20."
Read more here, here, here and here.

BASH (Original and Ultimate)
What I said: "BASH! is a fantastic little game of Super Heroes. Instead of a huge book of powers or effects, BASH instead focuses on "What do you want to do?" and "What kind of hero are you?", Simple, but powerful questions. The game achieves the near miraculous feat of being simple to use and learn and yet powerful enough to keep you interested and coming back to the game."
Read more here and here.

BESM d20
What I said: "Is BESM d20 Anime?  Well I guess I have to ask, what is Anime?  BESM d20 is a good d20 version of BESM.  I am not convinced though it taps into that collective known as "Anime" as well as BESM 2 or 3 does.  I have played more BESM d20 than BESM 3 so to me it came off more like "Cartoon Cinematic d20".  Which is in itself not so bad.  I have mixed BESM d20 and D&D3 and gotten something a bit more cinematic. I have also mixed BESM d20 with d20 Star Wars for some really weird stuff, but all of it fun."

Read more here.

BESM 3rd Edition
What I said: "The book is very attractive and one of the most colorful RPGs I have seen in a long time. It reminds me of Mutants and Masterminds in terms of color. It is a thick tome, and now sized to fit well on my shelf. The Niko Geyer artwork is great and really captures the feel of the game well. On the other hand I have seen all this artwork before, maybe not in color, but certainly in other editions of this book. Now I understand that money was very tight at GoO and the art is great, so I am willing to cut them some slack here."
Read more here and here.

BESM Revised 2nd Edition
What I said: "All in all. BESM 2r is still the standard in which all other Anime games must be measured against.  Despite (or maybe even because of) it's flaws the game has style and character that no other game (even BESM d20 and BESM 3) have been able to duplicate."
Read more here.

Enjoy!