Picked up a new book from Troll Lords over the weekend to add to my Castles & Crusades collections. The Book of Familiars is a great book and one I have reviewed in the past.
Makes me wish I had a regular C&C game going. I added it to a bunch of my other "witch" themed books.
Collecting all my books, games and adventures for the War of the Witch Queens and I am working out a time and a place to set it. With the release of Dark Albion it occurs to me again that Medieval England would be the best place to start. I was digging through some of the material I had written for the WitchCraft RPG many years ago under the project title "WitchCraft: The Burning Times" and found just a treasure trove of notes and ideas. But mostly it was essential in putting down a good time for all this.
I am going to opt for the early 17th Century. While I certainly would have loved to have had Queen Elizabeth in the mix, King James is a better choice.
While searching for a ship that will take them home the Order of the Platinum Dragon discovers that there has been an increase in the slaving activity to the north. They decided to put a stop to it.
The first half of A1 went very well. The characters discovered a lone cart from a caravan with slaves. A few well-placed sleep spells and a few more well-placed arrows and the slavers were dealt with and the slaves freed. An illusion later the party, with a couple of freed slaves looking for revenge manage to get into the north entrance. So now they have an orc helping them.
Things went rather well so far. The cleaned up much of the upper temple and have now dealt with the apis and the giant ants.
I did replace the orcs and half-orcs with gnolls and gnoles, respectively from the Hercynian Grimoire #1. Replacing Gruumsh with Yeenoghu was an easy swap. It also allowed me to play up the whole "demon" aspect since Gruumsh is considered a god and not a demon.
The high priestess in the chapel on the first level was also turned into a were-hyena witch.
Can't wait to see what the next session brings me!
Jason and I have known each other for years. We worked on Buffy together, playtested each other games and respected each other enough to say when a bit of game design was total shit.
I was a playtester on this in the early days but I really can't say anything about it other than I am REALLY excited it is coming out. So without further rambling on from me, here is Jason.
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Greetings, night stalkers, vampires and Weepers! I’m definitely NOT Kasey Kasem. I’m Jason Vey(sem) and I’ll be your guest veejay for this week’s edition of Friday Night Videos on the Other Side.
Tonight I’m going to talk about the music of Brimstone and the Borderhounds – my RPG that’s currently in Kickstarter through Troll Lord Games. I’d like to share a few little ditties that are inspirational or otherwise appropriate to this particular game which falls solidly in the urban fantasy genre. But before we do that, here’s a quick primer from the Kickstarter itself:
Forget everything you know about the afterlife. Good guys don’t always go to Heaven and bad guys don’t always end up in Hell. The multiverse is one giant amalgam of giant corporations that humans know as afterlives. Heaven. Hell. Valhalla. The Happy Hunting Grounds. Some might look prettier than others, but in the end they’re all at war for the greatest commodity in the multiverse…Human souls.
It doesn’t matter much where you end up when you die; your lot in life is one of slave labor in one of these afterlives, doing whatever you might have done best (or didn’t know you were best at) in life. That could be constructing buildings or architecture. It could also be mopping up in a strip club. In Hell these human souls are called Weepers. Some win their freedom and earn a meager living in the dregs of society. Others try to escape, either to join terrorist groups known as Kittens, or to get out to another afterlife or even back to Earth. When that happens, crack teams of bounty hunters called Borderhounds are sent out to the Wastelands to bring them back in. The best of these teams is known as XiBalba and is led by Brimstone, the half-demon son of Hell’s Grand Architect.
Using the acclaimed and easy-to-learn SIEGE engine mechanic, the Brimstone and the Borderhounds RPG lets you play as Brimstone and his allies, as a new team of Borderhounds hunting down escaped Weepers and battling corporate espionage from other afterlives (or engaging in a little of your own), or play as a psychic, mystic, occult investigator or Earth-bound hero, battling supernatural incursions from the other worlds as our planet becomes a battleground in the greatest corporate war the multiverse has ever seen. Wield Helltech weapons, call upon Forza Infernis (the powers of Hell) or draw forth alien magic and psychic energies. The sky (or the Pit, as it may be) is the limit when you play in the world of Brimstone and the Borderhounds!
So there you have it, kids. Brimstone and the Borderhounds is an urban fantasy game using the same rules that power Castles & Crusades and Amazing Adventures. If Buffy-meets-Cyberpunk-in-Hell sounds cool, then B&B is just for you!
Now let’s take a look these happy little numbers that were inspirational or are otherwise appropriate for this game.
1. The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
A classic of heavy metal by one of the most important bands in the genre, this nightmarish story about a guy hunted through the woods by the devil himself is uniquely suited to a game about, well, souls escaping from Hell!
2. The Road to Hell - Bruce Dickinson
This may be cheating, since it’s by the lead singer of Iron Maiden and sounds a bit Maiden-ish, but it’s a relentless, driving tune that’s perfect background music for chasing down those Weepers or battling incursions from the other Afterlife Realms!
3. Seasons in the Abyss - Slayer
Sensing a theme, here? What did you expect? It’s a game set in or revolving around the theme of HELL! This is a classic of dark thrash metal from 1990. Its minor key and chilling, dark vocals are a great mood setter for a campaign revolving around those first discovering how the multiverse works.
4. All Nightmare Long - Metallica
Kind of a new record, and sure, Metallica has probably had better tunes, but this one is a worthy entry into their oeuvre. The video is as chilling as the lyrics and like Road to Hell, it’s relentless and driving and would be great for that climactic battle against whatever enemy your GM cooks up.
5. Faster - Within Temptation
Led by singer Sharon den Adel, Dutch metal masters Within Temptation are one of the more underrated symphonic rock bands out there today. This song is actually a single from their album The Unforgiving, which would completely unto itself act as a great soundtrack for a B&B campaign. It’s also tied to a comic book limited series, which you should totally check out as it dovetails neatly with the themes in Borderhounds.
6. Welcome to my Nightmare - Alice Cooper
Seriously, need you ask? What game about hell and monsters is complete without a song about the gradual degradation of sanity and the horrors of the madhouse? Nobody has ever captured the mood of horror and nightmares in music like Alice Cooper, and likely no one ever will. Here’s a creepy live clip of that one.
7. Holy Wars - The Punishment Due – Megadeth
The connections here are several. Thematically, this is about terrorism in the Middle East…and the Marvel Comics’ character The Punisher. Strange pairing, but there it is. The idea of “holy wars,” however, is a great fit for a game about corporate espionage between Heaven and Hell, and the driving, never-quit force of it is another excellent soundtrack for action and adventure, while the comic connections are obvious.
There you have it: seven songs to get you in the mood for Brimstone and the Borderhounds, Kickstarting now! Check it out—back if you like, and spread the word!
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.
Things are heating up for the Order of the Platinum Dragon this weekend. They have been dropped into some unknown part of the world after they left Barovia.
While trying to charter a boat they hear some rumors of a group of slavers.
I went through this series years ago myself, so I am really looking forward to running it. I think I still have a thief that was trapped in the basilisk room.
Of course I am going to make some changes to these adventures. The Slavers themselves are working for a group of vampires. One or more of them are vampires themselves in fact. Not sure who though.
Also, I am going to replace some of the orcs with gnolls. I am planning on incorporating some more gnoll themes in the Slavers series. I am replacing Gruumsh with Yeenoghu and capitalizing on his role as "King of Ghouls" and "Vassal to Orcus". I am going to use a lot of the material in Hercynian Grimoire #1 from +James Mishler too. It's just too good NOT to use.
I am also considering throwing in thouls just for the fun of it.
I might be splitting this into two parts. I have a lot I want to say, not a lot of time to say it all and one of the books I really wanted to talk about is missing from my shelves.
Obviously one of the reasons I wanted to cover this topic this week was the release of the Basic Psionics Handbook. It is not the first psionics book out there for old school gaming, but more on that later.
Psionics was always an interesting addition to D&D/AD&D. Back in my AD&D1 days I loved it. Nearly every character had a psionic wild talent or five. We used and abused the hell out of the rules in the AD&D Player's Handbook. I know a lot of people at the time hated them, but my group loved them. Probability Travel became a big deal when traveling between worlds and being Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans, Improbability Travel became a thing too. We even created more powers (including a third tier past Sciences) and built our own psionic classes, The Riddlemaster, Shadowmaster and the Beastmaster.
During this time between AD&D1 and AD&D2 I started playing with a group that was using the OD&D rules and a heavily modded set of psionic rules from Eldritch Wizardry. We all played Deryni characters. I have to admit these games really got me to rethink how to structure various psionic powers in a game. On a side note I just picked up a bunch of the old Deryni books at my Library's recent book sale and looking forward to delving into those again.
When I got to college and then AD&D2 I dropped psionics from my games. I had decided that magic and psionics just don't mix and should not be part of the same world. I did pick up The Complete Psionics Handbook for 2e because I really wanted to know how they were going to revamp the psionic powers and of course see the first psionic classes. While I never used the Psioinc rules when running 2e I enjoyed the book. I even converted my group's old Riddlemaster to a more balanced Adept class.
D&D 3 came around and again Psionics were not part of the corebook, but seemed to be designed with the core rules in mind a little more. The first book out was the Psionics Handbook. Psionics for this version are more akin to spells mechanically than any other version. This was updated for 3.5 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook and the Complete Psionic.
There is something going on here that I will get to in a bit.
We come up to more modern times and D&D 4. Player's Handbook 3 and Psionic Power introduce us to yet another psionic system. Now in this edition the Monk is a psionic based character class, which I like.
The interesting thing here is that between all four major editions of D&D, the psionic systems are all different and for the most part largely incompatible with each other. There are really only a few classes they have in common. Each edition has their fans. I personally like the AD&D1 system the best, but that is largely because that is the one I used the most. D&D3 and D&D4 have some great points about them, mostly how well the psionics system fits in with the main game systems. D&D 3's "Spell like" system appeals to my sense of game design, even if they lack a certain level "differentness" that I like in my psionics.
There is a new psionic class coming out eventually for D&D 5. It is called the Awakened Mystic and it looks really cool to be honest. It's also different.
Which system do you like? Which classes?
Next week I want to look over some of the classes in detail.
I love Basic-era gaming. Basic/Expert D&D was the first D&D I ever played. Even when I had moved on to Advanced D&D, it still had a strong Basic feel to it. So I was very, very pleased to hear about +Richard LeBlanc's new psionics book, Basic Psionics Handbook.
If you have been reading his blog, Save vs Dragon, a lot of what is in the book won't be a surprise, but it is all great stuff. Even then there are things in the book that are still a treat and a surprise.
The book itself is 58 pages (PDF), full-color cover and black/white interior.
The book covers two basic (and Basic) classes, the Mystic and the Monk. Both use the new psionic system presented in the book. The system bears looking at and really is a treat.
Overview. This covers the basics including how psionics is not magic and how attributes are used. It's a page of rules that slot in nicely with the normal Basic rules. The basics of psychic power including Psionic Level and Psionic Strenght Points (PSP) are introduced.
Mystics are next. Mystics in this case are more molded on the Eastern philosophy of mystics, not the clerical sub-class-like mystics I have detailed in the past. Though through the lens of Western thought. That's fine this is not a religious analysis, this is a game book. This class helps builds the psionic system used in this book based on the seven chakras. Chakras divide the psionic powers into broad groups; something like the schools of magic for spells. As the mystic progresses in level, they open up more and more chakras.
Each chakra has seven Major Sciences and twelve Minor Devotions, similar to the old AD&D rules (but not exactly the same, so read carefully). This gives us 72 devotions and 42 sciences. That's quite a lot really.
As the mystic progresses they also earn more PSPs and more attack and defense modes. They are the heavy hitters of the psionic game.
Monks are the next class. Monks really are more of psionic using class in my mind and to have them here next to the mystic is a nice treat for a change. Everything you expect from the monk is here. Unarmed attacks, no need for armor and lots of fun psionic based combat powers. The monk does not have the psionic power the mystic does, but that is fine it is not supposed to. It does have a some neat powers from the mystic's list. One can easily see a monastery where both mystics and monks train together, one more mental and the other more physical. The monk has plenty of customization options in terms of choice of powers. In truth it is a very elegant system that shows it's strength with the mystic and it's flexibility with the example of the monk.
This is very likely my favorite monk class.
Psionic Disciplines detail all the powers of the chakras. It is a good bulk of the book as to be expected. There are not as many psionic powers as you might see spells in other books, but this is a feature, not a bug. Powers can be used many times as long as the psychic still has PSP. Also many do more things as the character goes up in level.
Psionic Combat is next and deals with the five attack modes and five defense modes of psychic combat. The ten powers are detailed and an attack vs. defense matrix is also provided. The combat is simple and much improved over it's ancestors.
The next large section details all the Psionic Monsters. Some of these are right out of the SRD but others are new. Personally I am rather happy to see a Psychic Vampire. Though it is not listed, I assume that these creatures are also undead and are turned as if they were vampires.
Appendix A deals with something we abused the hell out of, Wild Psionics. At two pages it is the simplest set of rules I have seen for this sort of thing. Also it looks like something that could be ported into ANY version of D&D including and especially D&D 5.
Get out your crystals, Appendix B details Psionic Items. Again, short, sweet and to the point.
Appendix C: Psionics and Magic is a must read chapter for anyone wanting to use both in their games.
Appendix D: Phrenic Creatures turns normal creatures into psionic ones.
Appendix E covers Conversions for Monsters from LeBlanc's own CC1: Creature Compendium. Appendix F details how to convert any monster into a psionic one.
We end with a a couple pages of collected tables and the OGL.
Bottom line here is this is a great book. Everything you need to play psionic characters and add psionics to your game. Personally I am going to use this to beef up The Secret Machines of the Star Spawn which I also picked up today.
