A Tale of Two Supermen

I have stated here in the past my preference for DC Comics heroes over that of Marvel.  Don't get me wrong, I read the hell out of Spiderman and X-Men as a kid, and reading The Tomb of Dracula was one of the things that got me into horror full scale.
But I have always liked DC's heroes more.  To me they were always more heroic than their Marvel counterparts.  So it should come as no shock that I am MAJORLY geeking out since I have not just one, but two DC-based RPGs out now.

 

I have seen both games now and I like them for very different reasons.  DCA is of course the sibling to the new Mutants and Masterminds 3.  It has some changes from the previous editions, most of which I am thinking are needed.  Abilities are rated different, and there are some new ones.  But all in all I like it.  

Smallville is Cortex but it is VERY different than previous versions of Cortex.  This is both good and bad.  I like the character creation system and it appeals to my desire to create a detailed character.  I like that the system has been opened up to play all sorts of different kinds of games now.  I can completely see how Leverage will work now.

Plus I still have Icons and BASH to look over, a full Cortex review to do.

I'd like to do up a character that works in all these systems.  I think I have the perfect choice too.  A while back we re-started our supers game and the world was a mixture of DC and Marvel.  Basically DC was Golden and some Silver age and Marvel was Silver and some modern age.  We were doing post modern.  Well I had read "Kingdom Come" and it dealt with Supes, Batman and Wonder Woman in a new age.   The final scenes dealt with Batman discovering that Wonder Woman and Superman were going to have a baby.  I thought wow, how power would that character be?  Half Kryptonian, half Amazon and Batman as a godfather?  Yes.  So that was my character.  Details to follow.

All of this will have to wait till after Gen Con of course.

BRP Witchcraft

Note: This has been sitting in my inbox for far too long. I wanted to get a review up much sooner than this.

I received a copy in the mail of BRP Witchcraft from the author Byron Alexander some time back.

I just got around to reading it and pour through it all and I like it. A lot.

The book itself is small, only about 72 pages, but really that is plenty for the topic. You need the latest version of the Basic Role-Playing System book from Chaosium since there is no character creation information in this book.

Introduction
We are given an introduction to witches and witchcraft and how they can fit into various game settings from Dark Ages to High Medieval to High Fantasy and Arabian Nights and Renaissance. What is mission of course is a Modern setting, but I think that might be assumed, given the nature of the BRP rules.

Caveat: It has been years since I have played any BRP game. I have the newest BRP rules set and I like them a lot, they are just far down on my list of go to games.

The nest section details the Witch Profession.

As a conceit of the monograph the author decides that witchcraft is an oral tradition and thus does not use a grimoire. I can live with this for the time periods mentioned above, but a Victorian age could, and a Modern age witch would most likely be literate and keep a Book of Shadows. This is only a minor quibble though.

There are skills detailed some new, others expanded.

Spirits or Demons details where a witch gets her power. I like this distinction since it gives a variety of types of witches; From your devil-bound or demon worshipping evil witch to the pagan or natural earth witch. To borrow an analogy it is roughly the same distinction made in the Rachel Morgan books by Kim Harrison. Earth magic would be this book's Pagan, Ley Line would be Neutral and Demonic is Infernal.

Given the history of the BRP game and taking a page from D&D4 it would not be difficult to imagine a "Mythos Witch" that gets her power much like the Infernal, only from the Lovecraftian beasties. With loss of SAN of course.

Coven and Sabbats cover the organizations a witch can belong to; Family groups, to supernatural ones to solitaries. Each of these can be expanded into various examples. The family groups could be something like Ann Rice's Mayfair witches or gypsy folk magic handed down mother to daughter.

The section on Witch's Magic is the meatiest. There is a mechanic for dealing with an oral tradition based magic system. It is nice and I like it for it simplicity and it's general common sense logic. It just looks like it works. Alterations for Familiars are mentioned as well.

There are a few new spells, but oddly enough I did not see one for Blindness, a rather iconic witch maleficia. But all look fine and fit the background material well.

In addition to spells we have new Witch's Sorceries and Witch's Potions.

I like the potion section the best of these last three since it is difficult to find good rules for witches making potions on the fly. In D&D 3 it takes way too long, but if you watch shows like Charmed or read books like the Dresden Files or the Rachel Morgan series their witches are brewing potions in hours, not weeks. Like the spells there is a good number of effects listed here. We also get Talisnans.

In Witches' Allegiance we see the differences between white and black magic and what the character gains (and looses) for their allegiance.

Mystic Artifacts details some of the unique magic items that are connected to witchcraft, Baba Yaga's Hut, the Hand of Glory and a couple of others. I would have liked to have seen Circe's Wand too, but that is just me.

There are some Sample Organizations which are flexible enough to work in any game really.

And finally we end with a number of Witch NPC Sample Characters.

Thoughts
This is a good book and if you want to play a witch in one of the BRP games then this is a great place to start. I could see these, as written, working in a Call of Cthulhu game or even an Elric one.

The book itself reminds me of the old Mayfair Games book on Witches for 1st Ed. AD&D. The tone and tenor is the same and there is plenty of text given to both sides of the witch persona; the good and the evil.

In terms of "playing a witch" I think this is the closest thing you can get in a BRP game. The author has clearly done his research and I am certain he knows there is so much more that he could have written.

I suppose the only issue I had with it was the lack of support for playing a modern age witch. Not that I don't already have a 1,000 games now that allow me to do that, I found their exclusion odd.

All in all I found this book to be an enjoyable read and looking forward to stating up a few witches using it.


Links

BRP Witchcraft at Chaosium's site, http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=5063
At DriveThruRPG, https://www.rpgnow.com/product/82087/BRP-Witchcraft?affiliate_id=10748

GEN CON Ghosts of Albion: Obsession

Ghosts of Albion: Obsession is the big game I am running at Gen Con this year.

Here are the details from the registration site:

There is trouble at the Plough Street Theatre. The Times reports that authorities have found the strangled body of prominent actress and performer, Miriam White. However Miss White has herself commented to The Times that she is in fact alive and well and has been seen not only on stage, but having lunch with her manager just outside the theatre.
You are requested by James V. Harold, owner of the Plough Street Theatre to discreetly investigate this matter.

The schedule is:

RPG1008374 Obsession 08/05/2010 08:00:00 Crowne Plaza, room Hay Market A, table 6
RPG1008375 Obsession 08/06/2010 08:00:00 Crowne Plaza, room Hay Market A, table 6

So if you are playing in this game (there are 16 of you now, maybe even more) then here are some files for you to download and print out.
Any player that brings these to the game will get a free Drama Point for their character!

First, the Letter to the Cast from James V. Harold, esq. Owner, Proprietor and Manager of the Plough Street Theatre.

Next, the Playbill for this evening's performance of Miriam "Mim" White.

And for later in the investigations, two newspaper clippings sent to you by Mr. Harold,

 

Looking forward to this!

Crazy Omar's

You walk into the shop that is size of a small keep.  All around you are other "adventurers", some holding tickets with numbers on them, others hold what are obviously enchanted items.  All around are gnomes running this way and that.  In the back of store, past the "do not enter" signs and ropes are two of the largest ogres you have ever seen. More gnomes running all over, some with tickets in their hands, others carrying weapons of all sorts.  Further back you see a hut run away on chicken lays chased by several more gnomes.  Abruptly a stouter than usual dwarf approaches you.  He is wearing silk pajamas, fuzzy slippers and on top of a mane of unruly black hair sits a purple fez with a gold tassel.  He looks at you with through a monocle and after a few seconds laughs out loud.   You are not sure, but you think he is laughing at you.
He holds out both hands to grasp yours and shakes so vigorously you feel your teeth will fall out.
"Welcome to Omar's!" he booms "Will ya be buying or selling today?"


Omar's is something of a long standing tradition in my games.  It was something my DM used in his games and he got it from his DM, a cousin that taught him how to play from the LBBs.  So there has been an Omar's in operation since the first days of the game.
Omar (and no one calls him "Crazy" to his face) is the ultimate adventurer shopping center.  Starting characters go to get "Omar's Adventuring Kit" which includes everything a starting character needs (torches, rope, spikes, backpack...) for 50 GP.   The contents vary from time to time (and depending on what system I am using at the time).  The price is somewhat less than buying the items separate, and the characters and Omar know this.  But Omar feels that the best customers are the ones that keep coming back.

Omar offers another service, the buying and selling of magic items.  I don't have too many places like this in my world.  Sure there are places where a magic item can be sold, but Omar's always offers the best deals, depending on the mood of management.

Omar's is also the largest warehouse of magical item in my world.  Yet no one has ever tried to steal from him.  It is rumored that the local thieves guild has a long standing agreement with Omar and they will not steal from him and there are the rumors of other things that Omar keeps in his warehouse.

So last night my boys wanted to play our Dragonslayers adventure, but I realized I had not finished calculating all their magic and treasure from the last adventure.  So a quick trip to Omar's while they role play haggling their magic items for money or other items made for a fun little adventure AND a way for me to figure out what items they had.

Despite the name, Omar is not really crazy, nor is he the original Omar.  The original Omar was more gruff and a hard nose merchant. This Omar, his son, takes more after his mother who happens to be the Xothia of the Rock; a sort of Dwarven witch that everyone fears but listens to anyway.  So his style of dress is uncommon as are his manners.  He does this to put customers off guard.  Plus the reputation of being crazy is often worth more than extra guards and advertising. He hires only gnomes ("Dwarves are too greedy and want to be paid more.  I can pay these guys in the magic items I don't want.") and he always gives deals to pretty women ("I am too kind to the ladies, it will be the ruin of me I know it.") of any race. In back he has an appraiser, a stern and serious elf named Kerin (a former Bard now semi-retired),  If Omar can't identify the item in question (which rarely happens thanks to his Monocle of True Seeing) he will call out Kerin.  The old, stern elf will peer at the itme through his similarly enchanted spectacles.  He will then pronounce the value on the spot.  Omar and Kerin often argue over Kerin's estimates.  Kerin, who never lies, gives the true value for the item, Omar wants him to round it down, like to 20% of market value.  Kerin never budges and Omar fumes.  Kerin is also the store's accountant.  He knows every copper that goes in or out and knows about every magic item in the place.
When not dealing with customers Omar walks around his warehouse singing dwarven opera at the top of his lungs.

Day and night Omar's shop is busy.  Given that many of the item he deals with are likely stolen he pays heavy fines to both the city and the thieves' guild; but they are not as heavy as Omar lets one believe.  He has made all sorts of deals knowing that his is a symbiotic relationship with both factions.  They need his goods, he needs their protection.  The mutual benefit has worked so well that the original Omar has retired and purchased his own island country where he sits on the beach all day.

Omar's also serves another great purpose; a source for rumors.  I plan to have the characters over hear the details regarding their next adventure (which will be B3 Palace of the Silver Princess).  While it is "off quest" I have GMPC in the group to provide some magical support and will claim that this in in her home town (which, in fact it is) and the characters will go to investigate.

So if you use Omar in your games drop me a message to let me know how it went!

Favorite Modules

So thanks to the magic that is Half-Price Books, eBay and my local game store, I have managed to score over the years nearly every classic AD&D Module and many of the 2nd ED ones and a fair number of 3rd and 4th ed ones too.

I am a-wash in adventures.

I want to run my kids through some of the greatest adventures of all time.  They have already been through X1 Ilse of Dread, B4 the Lost City and a few others.  They are going through B2 now with another DM using Pathfinder and will be going through B3 as soon as tomorrow under D&D 3.x.

I am itching to take them through S1 (I have versions now for every edition of D&D), S3 and S4/WG4.  I am dying to get them through Ravenloft and Castle Amber (X2) and Death's Ride (CM2).

They will also hit the GDQ mega-adventure someday, either with me or our other GM.

So what are your favorite adventures and why?
Help me narrow this down to the "must dos".

Thanks!

Willow & Tara: Savage Worlds

So the conversions of Unisystem to Savage Worlds and back went so well it seems a shame not to include a posting about my witches.

Willow & Tara in a Savage World

Given the pulpy feel of Savage Worlds and the general power levels I don't think I should try to convert late "Season of the Witch" or "Generation HEX" versions of the girls.  Sure there are books out there that I think would cover it ("Necessary Evil" is a good choice), but I am sticking with the core book here, or even maybe a modern version of Rippers.   Instead maybe a separate development evolution would be a good idea. So I would start with the girls circa their run in my WitchCraft RPG game and maybe just before the events of my Mutants and Masterminds game.

The biggest issue for me is the magic system.  I have been going over it more lately and I see it is something I could work with.  One thing is for sure, magical characters in Unisystem start out more powerful than their counterparts in Savage Worlds.  I guess that is ok really.  What I ended up doing is giving the girls around 60-65 XPs to advance them to "current" levels (which puts them into the "Heroic" tier for Savage Worlds).  The amount of magic they have seems less that their Unisystem counterparts, but I think I can live with at really.

Tara A. Maclay  (circa 2007 game time)
Human: Heroic (60 XP)
Female; Age 27; Height: 5' 5"; Weight 125lbs

Attributes
Agility d4  
Smarts d10
Spirit d10
Strength d4
Vigor d6

Derived Traits
Pace 6     Toughness 5
Parry 6    Charisma 2

Skills
Driving d4
Fighting d4
Healing d6 +2
Knowledge, Humanities d10
Knowledge, Occult d12
Notice d6
Riding d6
Spellcasting (Arcane) d10

Hindrances
Curious
Enemy (various)
Loyal

Edges
Arcane Magic
Attractive
Hard to Kill
Healer

Arcane Powers (15 Points)*
Barrier, Bolt, Burst, Deflection, Dispel, Light, TK

For this I went with powers she has (bolt, TK, Light, Deflection) and ones she uses the most often (barrier, Burst, Dispel).  Other spelss might need to be re-classified as "rituals".

Willow D. Rosenberg  (circa 2007 game time)

Human: Heroic (65 XP)

Female; Age 27; Height: 5' 3"; Weight 105lbs

Attributes

Agility  d4

Smarts d12

Spirit d10

Strength d4  (next advance take this to d6, she's been working out)

Vigor d6

Derived Traits

Pace 6     Toughness 5

Parry 4    Charisma 4

Skills

Driving d4

Fighting d4

Knowledge, Computers d12

Knowledge, Occult d12

Knowledge, Science d10

Notice d6

Persuasion d6 

Spellcasting (Arcane) d10

Hindrances

Enemies

Stubborn

Vengeful

Edges

Arcane Magic

Attractive

Charismatic

Hard to Kill

Rapid Recharge

Arcane Powers  (15 Points)

Blast, Bolt, Detect/Conceal Arcana, Dispel, Elemental Manipulation (fire), Fly, TK

Gear

Doll's Eye Chrystal +1 to spellcasting

So. There they are.

Here is what I see.  I would like to figure out a way to increase both of their Power Points.  Tara should have 5 more than Willow since I see her more of an arcane wellspring, but Willow can "refuel" faster.  I think I would rule that Witches start the game with 15 or 20 Power Points instead of 10.  

I would also include a Ritual Casting rule that would allow a magical type to use "rituals" or spells written in books for a one-time effect.  In truth I'd do them very similar to how they are done in D&D 4E.  This gives the "normal guy" a chance to throw some mojo around.  The Power Point cost would have to come from somewhere.  I would rule then that Normal Humans have 5 (or 10) power points that they just can't get too, but can use in rituals or to aid another.  Maybe supernaturals then get 15 and then witches have 20.  Set it up something like Essence from the WitchCraft game.  This assumes a game that is more magic-based than the pulpy action feel that is normal to Savage Worlds.

I would though like to try out these builds in a Savage Worlds game sometime.  The other builds I have a more inherent feel for.  These, I think, would end up being pretty powerful, maybe more so than the numbers let on to me.  I had the same issue with my Mutants & Masterminds builds.

NOTE: I just picked up the The Kerberos Club for Savage Worlds, so I might have more to say on this later.

Savage Worlds: Characters

In my previous post about Savage Worlds, I mentioned that converting to and from Unisystem is a breeze.

Typically here I'd throw in my witches. But given the gritty feel of SW, the level of magic in the system and as nod to the author I think Ill convert a different iconic Unisystem Character, Ash.

The Savage Dead
Ashley J. Williams is a great choice really. He fits the feel of Savage Worlds well, he has really cool Qualities and Drawbacks and most everyone that would play either game knows who he is.

This is a fairly direct conversion. No real attempt has been made to massage these numbers into place. Given that, I think they look and feel about right.

Ash (there would be one of those grinning skull things here)
Rank: Heroic (my best guest)               
Race: Human

Attributes
Agility d12, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d12, Vigor d12+2

Skills
Climbing d4, Driving d6, Fighting d10, Guts (d6)*, Intimidation d8, Investigation d4, Knowledge d4, Notice d6**, Persuasion d8, Repair d8, Riding d6, Shooting d10, Survival d4, Swimming d4, Taunt d8, Throwing d4

Hindrances
Enemy, One Hand, Quirk (Schmuck)

Edges
Attractive, Combat Reflexes, Fast Healer, Hard to Kill, Inspire, Natural Leader, Mr. Fit-it, Nerves of Steel

*Not converted from the source, but rather derived.
** Converted from Notice and Perception

In most cases the Hindrances and Edges convert right from the quality of the same (or similar) name. Others, like Schmuck, Really Big Chin and Promised One don't and are broken up into their components.

For weapons give him a chain saw and a boom stick and we are groovy.

Ash is good example of a Unisystem character that feels right at home in SW, what about the other direction?
For this I want to go with Rippers.

Ripped Slayers
In Rippers there is a group of monster hunters called the Rippers. A faction of these are known as the Slayers. The current leader of the Slayers is a 17 year old girl (In 1892) named Tara LaGrange. So young girl fighting monsters and calling herself "The Slayer"...sound familiar yet? Well to be fair she is a slayer, not a Slayer. But the idea is there so lets see how she looks in Unisystem using the Ghosts of Albion rules. Also, since we can, lets go ahead and make Tara here (what? I didnt name her) an honest to goodness Slayer. In Ghosts of Albion she is an Apprentice or in Buffy a White Hat. To make a her a Slayer we will change her to a Journeyman or Hero and have those stats follow after. So for Strength she has 3 if she is just a normal girl, or 6 if she is a full Slayer. The normal human is a direct conversion of the Rippers rules with no attempt made to massage the stats. As with Ash I think it works out well.

The Slayer of Victorian Age, Tara LaGrange.  Flanked by Victorian Willow and Tara by mqken.

Tara LaGrange, the slayer
Type: Apprentice Normal Human (Ghosts of Albion Rules)

Life Points: 49
Drama Points: 20

Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 4
Perception: 2 (again based on best estimates)
Willpower: 4

Qualities
Contacts (Rippers, 3)*
Contacts (Supernatural, 3)*
Fast Reaction Time
Hard to Kill, 5
Nerves of Steel

Drawbacks
Adversaries, 2 (vampires, demons, werewolves and the like)
Minority (woman) (From Ghosts of Albion)
Obligation (Rippers, 3)*

Skills
Armed Mayhem 3, Athletics 1, Crime 3, Engineering 2, Fisticuffs 3, Influence 3, Knowledge 2 (part of the SW/Ripper Common Knowledge rule), Languages 1 (English read/write), Marksmanship 5, Notice 3, Occultism 2, Wild Card (Ripper Tech) 1

* Not in the Savage Worlds character stats but assumed as part of being a Ripper.

That worked REALLY well in my mind. Sure, she is a bit light as a Slayer, but this is a normal girl with a really big chip on her shoulder. Her skills ended up a tad high for a starting character, but this is an NPC with some history, so that is fine really.
Adding the Slayer Quality makes the following changes:

Tara LaGrange, the Vampire Slayer
Type: Hero Slayer

Life Points: 73
Drama Points: 15

Strength: 6
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 6
Intelligence: 4
Perception: 2 (again based on best estimates) (note this is actually too low for a Slayer and really should be raised to 4)
Willpower: 6

Qualities
Contacts (Rippers, 3)*
Contacts (Supernatural, 3)*
Slayer
- Fast Reaction Time (part of Slayer)
- Hard to Kill (part of Slayer) 5
- Nerves of Steel (part of Slayer)
- Regeneration (part of Slayer)
- +1 to Armed Mayhem and Fisticuffs (part of Slayer)
- Lesser Sensing (in the Buffy book, but the name comes from Ghosts of Albion)

Drawbacks
Adversaries, 4 (vampires, demons, werewolves and the like)
Minority (woman) (From Ghosts of Albion)
Obligation (Rippers, 3)*

Skills
Armed Mayhem 4, Athletics 1, Crime 3, Engineering 2, Fisticuffs 4, Influence 3, Knowledge 2 (part of the SW/Ripper Common Knowledge rule), Languages 1 (English read/write), Marksmanship 5, Notice 3, Occultism 2, Wild Card (Ripper Tech) 1

* Not in the Savage Worlds character stats but assumed as part of being a Ripper. In this case the Rippers take the place of the Watchers.

I like it. So Miss LaGrange is now my official Slayer in 1892.

Ok, next time I go back and try some Savage Worlds magic.