H is for Hellcats and Hockeysticks

H is for Hellcats and Hockeysticks.

This is a fun little game from Andrew Peregrine (of Cubicle 7). In this you play a student at the all girls St. Erisian’s School.

Right off the bat, er stick, you are warned that the "Headmistress" (the Game Master) will not be fair, but arbitrary, has favorites, will smack your hands with a ruler if you do something stupid, and can be bribed.  You know this will be a fun game!  Also I should point out that this game is about the English school system rather than that of the American one.

Character creation is really fast.  You start off thinking about who your student is (the introduction reads like you are sending your daughter to the school, which I thought was clever). Pick a Clique (like a class/archetype), Curriculum (clique based skills), other Skills, Willpower, Traits, Rivalries and Secret Fear.    Pretty much any clique you can think of is here; the nerd, the goth, the sporty girl, the pretty one, the ninja foreign exchange student.  If you ever watched the movie "Spice World" and thought the girls needed to have more action scenes, then you should stop reading this review and pick up this game now.

Skills are ranked 1 to 5 (novice to expert) and cover a wide variety of subjects. To resolve tasks you roll a 6-side die and then an additional die for each level of the skill you have.  So if you are trying to blowup the chem lab and you have a 3 in Chemistry then you roll 4 dice. The Headmistress compares this to her rubric (table of difficulties) and lets you know what you have done.  Some levels are impossible to reach, but the Headmistress will make you roll anyway because that is the kind of evil person she is.
Willpower is your main "Ability" and can change from game to game.

Of course my favorite part of this game is picking your "Best Friend" and "Rival" from the other player characters.  You also have to pick something about each characters you also loathe.  Yes you are encouraged to be a bunch of smiling back-stabbers.  It's like "Pretty Little Liars" or "Heathers" the game.  I like that, you can revoke a friendship. There are some fun rules around that as well.

Combat is detailed (and thus tacitly encouraged) including a really neat idea of "Bidding".  Using this adds a little extra realism and drama to the combat.  For example a character want to club some guy on the head with her hokeystick (I should point out that this is field hockey, not ice hockey which uses a different stick), she bids "I'm going to fight dirty" and "HE'll never hit a girl".  To give her an extra edge.  The Headmistress, being the wholly vile human she is, bids back "He is bigger than you" and "You have been running all the way here, your knackered."  The idea is you and the head mistress go back and forth like this, adding a bid each time, till one your can't think of anything else.  Page 60 has a whole list of ideas.
Damage is represented in loss of willpower and how long you are out of the action.  No one actually can die in this game, but you can be hurt. A lot. Since the loss is to Willpower that also effects how well you can do other things.   The system hand waves things like swords and guns by saying basically if you get hit with these you are going to be out of the game for a long time if you even survive.  How's that for deadly?  Besides, there is a fun in that?  Combat in this game should be about cat-fights, the occasional brawl and maybe knocking out a boyfriend or two.

There is a section on fears, car chases, and all sorts of other mayhem.   There are also great sections on Weird Science and Magic.  Just in case you also wanted to "The Craft".

There is the Headmistress' guide to the school (background) and faculty as well as other schools in the area.  After all there has to be an all boys schools as well.

There is a section on running games for H&H, including how to run Player-Driven plots including a great 2d6 adventure generation table.    By my calculations that gives you over 1,450 plots.  We are also given a number of adventure seeds to use and a complete short adventure.

Finally the list of inspirations is notable for the only RPG I have that lists D.E.B.S. as must see movie. But it also lists "Hex" and "The Craft", two faves of mine.

This is a really fun game and one I'd love to try at a Con sometime.
Of course I am tempted to do a mash-up of this and Witch Girls Adventures.

More Kickstarters!

Yup, another kickstarter.

This one is for the "Witch Girls Book of Shadows" which is an update to the very popular Witch Girls Adventures game.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/channelm/witch-girls-book-of-shadows-witch-girls-second-edi

Kickstarter is becoming the go-to place to see what sort new indie games are coming up.  I am really looking forward to this one.

G is for Gaslight

You may have noticed that really enjoy Victorian games.  One of my favorites is Gaslight from Battlefield Press.
Gaslight also comes in two flavors, OGL (d20) and Savage worlds edition.

Both have the same backgrounds, material and allow you play similar games.  But each does have rules and material specific for their systems.

Gaslight
OGL and Savage Worlds
If you enjoyed the old Masque of the Red Death game, or just Victorian Gothic games in general then this is a great choice.  What is particularly nice about this nice about Gaslight is how much history is included in the book.  While that might be your thing, this is quite important for a Victorian game.  There is also a great overview of the whole world, not just England.  For these alone Gaslight is a worth the price as resources for any other Victorian game. Gaslight does give you more than that.  There are new races you can play, such as werewolf and vampire, which are found in many games. But also the more uncommon Beast Men (which I have only seen in one other game) and the unique (as far as I can tell) Wildlings; or unaging wild children.
There are plenty of new options for all sorts characters, of any race or background. Not to mention new magic, groups, and plenty of foes to face.
I compared this game to the old Masque of the Red Death. Well if MotRD is "Dracula" then Gaslight is "Varney the Vampire"; less familiar, but maybe a touch darker.

The OGL edition is a complete game, over 300 pages of everything you will need to run a Gaslight game including a complete section on classes.  The Savage Worlds edition requires a copy of the Savage Worlds rules.

They layout is simple and easy to read and the art is authentic Victorian illustrations and maps that give a real  authentic flavor.
Battlefield Press provides a lot of freebies and support for this game and that pushes up a bit in my opinion.

Zatannurday: Life in Fishnets

What do Zatanna and Black Canary have in common?
Other than being ass kicking DC women?

That's right, kicking ass in fishnets!

Well DC Women Kicking Ass has some updates on the proposed Paul Dini penned "Bloodspell" featuring Zatanna and Black Canary.

Here is the article from last year.
http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/5084195737/dinifishents

and an update from a couple of days ago.
http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/20183762520/bloodspell2

I hope it happens.   I recall him joking about this a few years back.  With Zee and Canary very popular on Young Justice, this just might be the right time to do this.

Here are the pics:

and one more.

A to Z post later today!

Because I am a glutton for punishment...

Another blogfest.

But this one is only for one day and not till May.

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/2012/04/friendly-to-z-challenge-and-next.html

Looking forward to it!

F is for Faery's Tale

Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. 

Children already know that dragons exist. 

Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. 

-G. K. Chesterton (attributed)

One upon a time… is how most faerie tales begin.  It is also how many RPGs can start as well.  Both are flights of fancy, imagination, wonder, danger and magic.
The biggest Fantasy RPG of history, Dungeons and Dragons, shares many of the same elements of faerie tales, but D&D can be hard to learn, difficult to master and sometimes even scary.  Not the game you might want to introduce a 6-year old to.

Well thankfully there has been a trend in the last few years in gaming; the trend to write games for a younger audience.  Faery’s Tale represents one of the best of this trend.

Published originally by Firefly Games, http://www.firefly-games.com/, and presently by Green Ronin, Faery’s Tale is an enchanting game great for kids, and sophisticated enough for adults.

For starters you play a faery, a denizen of the Bright Wood.  You can play a Friendly Faery like a pixie, sprite, brownie or a pooka. Or you can play a Dark Faery like a fallen faery or a goblin.   You can encounter intelligent animals, other faery types, hags, witches, trolls, even humans and dragons.

Characters are defines, stat wise by their Attributes (Mind, Body and Spirit) and Gifts (magical abilities).  There are also boons, titles and charms.  Archetypes are called “Patterns” and think it gives it a nice mystical feel.  Some faeries have natural gifts, others can be “bought”.  Titles can likewise be bought.

The rules themselves are very easy.  It is a simple dice-pool system based on the number you have for your necessary Attribute and Gift.  So sneaking past a sleeping dragon might need Body and Acrobat. So if your faery has a Body of 2 and Acrobat 3 you roll 5 dice.  Odd numbers are not counted and evens are a “Success”.  The Narrator or Game Master decides how man Success are needed to complete the task.  So she decides 3 Success are need to sneak past the dragon then they need at least 3 dice to come up to even numbers.  A 6 “explodes”, allowing you to roll it again for maybe another success.  That simple. All sorts of contests can be resolved this way.

The book gives all sorts of examples of play and suggestions, all the while never forgetting that the target audience for this is children and their adults.

Frankly. I love this little game.  Like many I think I bought it to see what I could mine for other games, but finding not only a good little game but an extremely well written and though out one that works for both children and adults.

If you have young children that you want to introduce to gaming, then this is the game for you.

I also have to add.  The art in this book is fantastic.  It captures the feel of the game perfectly.

I can see using this in conjunction with or even as a part of another game.  Something like Witch Girls Adventures, Ghosts of Albion or even D&D 4.

E is for Eldritch

Eldritch

I love that word.  So much cooler than "magic" or even "arcane".  Eldritch implies something old, even occult.  If you put the word Eldritch in your book's title, chances are not just good I'll look at it, it is nearly a guarantee.

Eldritch Wizardry

This is one of the first books I ever got for OD&D.  It took me a bit to realize that OD&D was essentially the same as Holmes Basic D&D (I had not gotten my 3 LBBs yet).  But I loved this book all the same.  It introduced Druids (which I played like a witch), psionics and demons to D&D.  I had of course already seen all of these in AD&D, but to have this little book was like finding some lost, eldritch even, treasure.
Of course I could never buy this one near me.  The cover prevented that, heck even the game store I ordered it from (which would late go on to become my Favorite Local Game Store) even kept it behind their counter.  Thankfully I had parents that didn't mind me spending my hard earned money on this stuff and I think I paid 18.00 for my old copy.  Which at the time seems insane for such a small book! (1985).
Today, good copies are much more expensive and even fair quality ones go for more than twice what I paid.
Despite the fact that the "D&D" I play now is fairly far removed from this book, and other books have super-ceded and surpassed it, I still like to pull it out every so often and remind myself of the wonder it used to bring me and how can I capture that same feeling for others. Plus I am convinced that this cover inspired this newer picture of Demogorgon (who was introduced in this book) from Hordes of the Abyss.

Eldritch Secrets Vol 1.
This extremely attractive book is full of all sorts of new spells, feats and magic items for all the spell-casting classes in Pathfinder (or the 3.x product of your choice).
The vast majority of this book is devoted to spells and there a spells here for every need and situation.  There a few new feats and some magic items, but the spells here are the main course.
There are several useful Appendices including Spells by Descriptor, School and use.

At 12 bucks this product is not exactly a steal, but really, really close.  The art and layout is fantastic and you get a printer friendly version as well.

Eldritch Witchery

This is the only book in my list here I have not bought.  That is because I wrote it!
It is due out from Elf Lair Games sometime (it's still in editing and layout).

With this book I wanted to capture everything eldritch about the witch class.  So unlike some of my other books, this book also has a Warlock class.  It is also different from my Basic D&D book "The Witch".  Though all three classes together would make a nice full picture of the witch as she has appeared through out the history of RPGs.
Plus this book is designed to be used with the Spellcraft & Swordplay game.  It *can* be used with OD&D/S&W, but you would need to modify somethings a touch.
Obviously this is my homage to Eldritch Wizardry, though there is plenty more to my EW. No psionics.

Other "Eldritch" Games 
I also bought these games based on the title alone.

Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Might and The Complete Book of Eldritch Might.
The definitive sources for magic in the 3.x game.  I have these, but never really used them very much.  They were great reads though.

Eldritch Role-Playing System
I agree with what some others have said, cool concept, cool game, bad layout.  Still though.  There is some very cool ideas here. I enjoyed it and can mine it for ideas for other games.

Eldritch Ass Kicking
This is a rather cool game of magical battles.  I got it when it first came out, but forgot about it.  I looks like a very fun game or maybe even ideas for a sub-game in a larger magical based one.  I do like how the skills were used and how it is expected that wizards do everything with magic.  So this not a magic-lite game!
I also love the art work, but I have been a fan of Thomas Denmark's art for a long time.
There are even some add-ons for the game.