Showing posts with label unisystem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unisystem. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Mail Call Tuesday: Mini Duchess & Candella, Spanish WitchCraft

 Got some things to support two of my new on-going obsessions.  

Up first, some new HeroForge "standee" minis of Duchess & Candella.

Candella & Duchess Standee minis

Candella & Duchess Standee minis

Candella & Duchess Standee minis

They are flat, made of plastic about 3 mm thick. Their colors and design perfectly match those I used on HeroForge. 

Candella and Duchess

They got here rather quick to be honest. Much faster than the 3D-printed color minis. And cheaper too.

I always wanted to try these, and since I needed these minis in a hurry I opted to go this route for these two. I am happy with them, but I do prefer the 3D color minis. But they do come with nice little bags to store the mini or dice in.

Hero Forge minis and standees

Next up a "new to me" version of one of my all-time favorite games.  The Spanish Language version of CJ Carella's WitchCraft RPG.

WitchCraft RPG

The Spanish Language version from Edge most resembles the Eden Studios 2nd Edition. The text is the same and the art is the same.

Wicce in Spanish

The difference of course is this new Edge version is in Spanish.

I am happy to have this as this was one of the other "Holy Grail" items for my Spanish collection of RPGs. It was also the last CJ Carella WitchCraft book I am likely able to buy. 

CJ Carella's WitchCraft RPG

I am pleased that I was able to read a lot of it. Granted, my Spanish is still very limited, but I know this book very, very well. 

My collection of Spanish Language RPGs is not huge, but it covers my favorite games and about 85-90% of the games I like to play.

Spanish Language RPGs

Not a lot, but enough to keep me busy for a while.

Thursday, August 31, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 FAVOURITE RPG of all time

 This is a tough one. I have had so many favorites over the years. Each one representing a different point in my life and gaming.

Favorite RPGs

Most of these will be known to readers here.

Basic (B/X) D&D - not the one I started with that would be the Holmes Basic, but the one that got me deep into the hobby.

AD&D 1st Edition - This is the one I played the most in those early days. The Monster Manual was my gateway drug to RPGs coming from Mythology.

Chill 1st Edition - This was either my first or second RPG after D&D (tied with Traveller) but it was my first horror RPG, and it spawned everything after.

Call of Cthulhu - Not my first Horror RPG, but one of my favorites. Really set the bar on what a horror RPG should be.

Masque of the Red Death - not an RPG by itself, and a bit wonky, it did something I always wanted: it brought my AD&D 2nd ed rules to Gothic Victorian Earth and Horror. Ravenloft brought some of this earlier, and both were my game of choice throughout the 90s until D&D-burnout set in and I went to my next big thing. 

CJ Carella's WitchCraft - I can't overestimate how much this RPG changed things for me. The world was close enough to that of Chill, Call of Cthulhu, and Masque of the Red Death that my ideas for those games gained new life under Unisystem. I loved the game so much I pestered the publisher, Eden Studios, to let me write for them. The result was my next favorite.

Ghosts of Albion - while this might be self-serving, it is my favorite for a reason. Everything I wanted in a Unisystem game is here. Victorian era, magic, horror, and Unisystem. I would have happily written for Unisystem for ever if I could have.  Which leads me to my last one and the top of my list.

NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars - Again, a little self serving but NIGHT SHIFT is everything I have ever wanted in a game. It combines the best mechanics of all the games above along with a play style I love and in a world, or more to the point worlds, I enjoy.

If I only get to pick one, then it will be NIGHT SHIFT.

NIGHT SHIFT

I have had the luxury and the privilege to work on a great number of RPGs over the years. Some of which were dream jobs and dream games. I consider myself lucky. But of all of those, NIGHT SHIFT is not just my favorite game, favorite rules, and favorite setting; it was also my favorite writing experience. Only Ghosts of Albion and my various Witch books come close.


Thank you, Dave Chapman for hosting this again! I had a great time.

RPGaDay2023


Monday, August 28, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 SCARIEST game you've played

 Scares do not come easy to me anymore. I consume horror movies like most people watch sitcoms (and laugh as much), nearly all my non-D&D games are horror and a fair amount of my D&D ones are as well.  So for a game to REALLY scare me, it has to be special. And it is usually NOT due to the rules being used.

Case in point. My online games from 2006 to 2009 that I called "Vacation in Vancouver."  I played it starting with WitchCraft and then moved over to True20 (a game not known for its horror).

True20True20 Adepts Handbook

The hook was that members of Vancouver's supernatural community were going missing.  Long story short, there was this entire underground where vampyres, demons, and witches were getting together and engaging in all sorts of lewd sexual acts in exchange for essence.  After a while, even open acts of magic were considered acceptable.

The game, though was not really about sex or even depravity (there was a lot of sexual slavery going on and it was hard to know who was using who), but about addiction and losing yourself.

A couple of characters had to be literally pulled back from the edge.

As a role-playing experience, it was intense.  There was not much combat, to be honest.  Part of that was out of choice (the characters were investigators, not thugs) and part out of necessity (combats online can be dull, even in Unisystem).

The game ended like many others, not with a big finale but gradually dying off.

The mystery of where all the supernaturals were going was solved, but not the one of the demonic sex trafficking. The demons never actually killed anyone. In fact, they seemed to be concerned for the welfare of the Gifted and Lesser Gifted in their "care".  And there were plenty of volunteers for the demons, too, since the exchange of Essence was pleasurable for both (but only humans can 'regenerate' Essence).

There were some very interesting games, though, that came from all of that.  It was one of those rare RPG moments where the bad guys might have won, and there was nothing the PCs/Cast could do about it.  While the game was fun and provided some of the best pure Horror roleplaying I have run in a long time, I am just not sure how it could even be revisited.

RPGaDay2023


Saturday, August 26, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite CHARACTER SHEET

 Like games and dice I have a few favorite character sheets.  Though I will admit my all time favorite is a blank sheet. because at that point the potential is limitless!

Willow & Tara sheet

My "Willow & Tara RPG" sheet. I made this one myself for my combined Buffy/WitchCraft/Ghosts of Albion game. It had details for all three games so characters could easily move between the rules.

WitchCraft RPG Sheet

Likewise, I had a WitchCraft variant I used that also had similar information.


Mage Sheet

I love Mage, and the Sorcerer's Crusade sheet is one of my favorites.

D&D Basic

For pure nostalgia sake I love the Green D&D Basic sheets.

AD&D 1st Ed

AD&D 1st Ed

And the AD&D 1st Ed sheets too.

Though my own Witch character sheets are my most favorite of all.

Witch Sheets



RPGaDay2023


Monday, August 21, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite LICENSED RPG

 Licensed RPGs can either be really great or less so. 

One of my favorites might sound self-serving, but it is my favorite.

Ghosts of Albion

Ghosts of Albion

I have to admit it is my favorite because everything I wanted is there somewhere. A system I love, in a time period I love and I got to work with some really great people too.


RPGaDay2023

Friday, August 18, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite game SYSTEM

 Favorite game system? Well, I have two, but they are related.

NIGHT SHIFT and WitchCraft

NIGHT SHIFT with O.G.R.E.S. and WitchCraft with Unisystem are not just my two favorite games but also my favorite game systems to use.

Both let me play my favorite sort of game; a modern urban supernatural horror one, but they are both systems I like and have written for professionally.

NIGHT SHIFT is largely a love letter to both Old-school D&D and to WitchCraft. 

I love them both.

RPGaDay2023


Thursday, August 17, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 FUNNIEST game you've played

 Part two of Favourite Con MODULE / ONE-SHOT is also my FUNNIEST game you've played.

Supernatural-Buffy-Charmed

This one I was at Gen Con a few years back. The adventure was a Buffy/Charmed/Supernatural crossover using the Buffy RPG rules. So naturally, I had to play. Sam and Dean were grabbed quickly, and there was no way in hell I was playing Xander. But that was all fine, the character I really wanted was Piper from Charmed.

I had an absolute blast. Piper was, at the time, the snarkiest of all the sisters. So playing her was great. Ended up with the most Drama Points at the end of the game.  In the course of the game, I burned through about 5 drama points, but I also had earned 6 for role-playing. Of course, having seen every Charmed episode gave me an advantage.  I wish I had remembered the GMs/Director's name because I would have easily gone to one of her other games.

I still have my Piper character sheet here somewhere, and it was really fun. The GM even had taken out the Buffy logo and put the Charmed one in its place.

We all spent our whole time laughing.


RPGaDay2023


Tuesday, August 15, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite Con MODULE / ONE-SHOT

 My favorite Con Module or One Shot? Well, there are two, but that one I'll save for later this week.

The first one was when I ran Ghosts of Albion: Blight at ENWorld's Chicago Game Day at Games Plus a few years ago. I had a player who was WAY into his role-playing the ghost of Lord Byron. He really made the adventure come alive for everyone.

Game Day
I am a lot grayer but also a LOT thinner now.

We all really had a great time, and I loved how well the adventure came together and how much fun everyone seemed to have had. 

Thinking about this makes me realize how much I miss playing Ghosts of Albion and Victorian Era games. 


RPGaDay2023


Sunday, August 6, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite game you NEVER get to play

 My favorite game I never get to play? Easy.

C. J. Carella's WitchCraft.

CJ Carrella's WitchCraft

I love everything about this game and I never ever get to play it.  I think the last time was at Gen con maybe 10-12 years ago.

It was my inspiration behind Ghosts of Albion and NIGHT SHIFT. Neither of those games would have been made if it had not been for WitchCraft.

I can't even adequately put into words what this game means to me. Only the AD&D Monster Manual comes close.


RPGaDay2023


Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Character Creation Challenge: Nancy Drew

I have to admit I rather enjoyed the old Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries.  I was more partial to Nancy Drew; having a crush on Pamela Sue Martin and later Janet Julian.  I  was quite excited on hearing there was going to be new Nancy Drew series staring Kennedy McMann.   So imagine my delight when the show went hard-core supernatural.  

The show is full of ghosts, possessions, family curses, witches fighting other witches, and yes lots of mystery.  In its 3rd season, it is one of my new guilty pleasures. 

Plus Nancy would be fantastic for any number of supernatural RPGs.  In the spirit of crossovers how about Nancy for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.  After all, Buffy would not have been here had it not been for Nancy Drew.  And the Nancy Drew show would not have been on the CW had Buffy not been on the WB before it.

So here is Nancy for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.

Nancy Drew
Experienced Hero

"Everyone loves a mystery"

Life Points: 33
Drama Points: 10

Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Constitution 3
Intelligence 4
Perception 5
Willpower 4

Qualities
Attractiveness (2)
Contacts (3)
Fast Reaction Time
Hard to Kill 1
Nerves of Steel
Photographic Memory 
Situational Awareness

Drawbacks
Adversary (1)
Honorable (1)
Love (Ex, Nick)

Useful Information
Initiative 5
Observation 10

Height: 5'8"
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue

Skills
Acrobatics 3
Art 4
Computers 2
Crime 5
Doctor 2
Driving 2
Gun-Fu 0
Getting Medieval 2
Influence 3
Knowledge 4
Kung Fu 2
Languages 2
Mr. Fix-it 2
Notice 5
Occultism 3
Science 3
Sports 1

Combat
Maneuver Bonus  Damage  Notes
Dodge / Parry     +5 - Defense Action                           
Grapple +6 - Defense Action

Gear
Notebook
Flashlight
Scarf
Knit hat

--

You wont see Nancy getting into too many fights and she has never, in my memory, used a weapon.  Maybe a she has picked up a stick or used a supernatural weapon, but never a gun or even a knife really.  Her main weapon is her mind; her keen intelligence and her photographic memory.

She would really fit in well.  I mean Horseshoe Bay might as well be a Hellmouth with all the supernatural shenanigans going on. This Nancy Drew really is the spiritual daughter of Buffy, as much as Buffy is the spiritual granddaughter of Nancy Drew from the books.

Want to see more of the #CharacterCreationChallenge? Stop by Tardis Captain's Blog and the #CharacterCreationChallenge on Twitter for more! 

Character Creation Challenge


Monday, January 24, 2022

Character Creation Challenge: The 11th Doctor for Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Ever have one of those times when things seem to line up a certain way?  Yesterday I posted stats for Sherlock and Watson for the Doctor Who RPG, Adventures in Time and Space.  In particular the one for the 11th Doctor.  It's not a completely original idea, there is an entire sub-culture of fans for "Who-lock" out there. 

Also this week DriveThruComics is having their big Crossover sale now and I do love a good cross-over.  I picked up Army of Darkness/Xena Warrior Princess Volume 1Sherlock Holmes & Kolchak: The Night StalkerRed Sonja & Vampirella Meet Betty & Veronica (just because), and the Pathfinder: Worldscape  Vol 1 and Vol 2.    The Pathfinder ones are nice since they have Pathfinder 1st Ed stats for John Carter, Tarzan, Red Sonja, and more.  

I was thinking that some crossovers would be fun for the last week of this challenge. I have done a few in the past that were really fun. I have Xena and Gabrielle for Army of Darkness. Lots for Red Sonja.  Charmed and Buffy for both Dark Places & Demogorns and the Buffy RPG. And Willow and Tara for Doctor Who. 

One of my goals for NIGHT SHIFT was to be able to play any character I wanted from any modern supernatural horror franchise.  So I have been trying out a Buffy/Supernatural crossover with the Wayward Sisters and Willow and Tara. It has worked well. 

So I have been trying to come with ideas for other crossovers, and in particular ones I could do with NIGHT SHIFT.  The problem I am having is I have already done all the ones I was most excited about.  So I started looking for more.  I thought maybe an Expanse / Black Star crossover would be fun. The series ended and I was looking for more Expanse goodness.  I even looked into making a scenario where the MCRN Barkeith exits the Ring Gate and is not "gone" but ends up in the Black Star Universe. Given Admiral Sauveterre's attitude, he would likely fire on the first Earth ship he sees, which so happens to be USS Imbolc Mage.  It will be a short fight.  The MCRN Barkeith is a Donnager class Martian Warship (in the books).  The Imbolc Mage is a Mystic class experimental science vessel.  The Mage can out-fly, outmaneuver, and outgun the Barkeith by several orders of magnitude. The Barkeith's PDNs can't even get through the Imbolc Mage's navigation shields. This does not consider the Imbolc Mage's warp drive, phasers, or forward-mounted phase canons. 

But those are ships. Not characters. I was still at a loss of a character to do today.  That is until I saw an image from the 2022 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Calendar.

Buffy and the Doctor

There is the 11th Doctor.  Not sure why, but I know a gift when I see it.

The photo behind Buffy's/SMG's head is one of the Dæmons from Doctor Who.  Which would also give a good reason for a crossover.  A Dæmon from the Doctor Who universe escapes to the Buffy universe where it is suspected of being a demon. 

So here is the 11th Doctor for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.

The Doctor (11th Doctor)
Very Experienced Hero

"Hello, I'm the Doctor.  Basically. Run."

Life Points: 57
Drama Points: 10

Strength 3
Dexterity 5
Constitution 5
Intelligence 9
Perception 4
Willpower 4

Qualities
Age (11) (1100 years)
Attractiveness (1)
Contacts (3)
Fast Reaction Time (Time Lord)
Hard to Kill 5 (Time Lord)
Nerd
Nerves of Steel
Photographic Memory 
Reduced Damage 3 (Time Lord)
Regeneration (6 Life Points per hour) (Time Lord)
Situational Awareness (Time Lord)
Time Lord

Drawbacks
Adversary (lots)
Honorable (3)
Love, Tragic (River)

Useful Information
Initiative +10
Observation 9

Height: 6'0"
Hair: Brown (and still not Ginger)
Eyes: Brown

Skills
Acrobatics 3
Art 2
Computers 9
Crime 2
Doctor 5
Driving 4
Gun-Fu 0
Getting Medieval 3
Influence 4
Knowledge 6
Kung Fu 3
Languages * (Everything)
Mr. Fix-it 5
Notice 5
Occultism 1
Science 8
Sports 4
Wild Card (Time Travel) 10

Combat
Maneuver Bonus  Damage  Notes
Dodge / Parry     +8 - Defense Action                           
Grapple +9 - Defense Action

Gear
Sonic Screwdriver
Bow tie
Fez

--

Oh, this would be a lot of fun. The 11th Doctor is more in tune with the whole vibe of Buffy.  I'd have to work out the details on what the Time Lord quality is, but in truth The Doctor Who RPG does it so well.  

A fact, most of the playtesters for Doctor Who were also the playtesters for Buffy.   

Want to see more of the #CharacterCreationChallenge? Stop by Tardis Captain's Blog and the #CharacterCreationChallenge on Twitter for more! 

Character Creation Challenge

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 24 Translate

RPGaDAY2021 Day 24

Heading into the back end of the challenge. What do we have for today and how does it relate to NIGHT SHIFT?

Day 24 Translate

Continuing on the ideas in Simplicity and Substitute, I often try to Translate material from one game system to another for different sorts of experiences. 

In many ways, the ultimate representation of this is NIGHT SHIFT.

NIGHT SHIFT began as a way to take something my co-author Jason and I loved; the games we worked on and played back in the 1990s and early 2000s and translate it to a rule system we also loved.

The simplest way to describe NIGHT SHIFT is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Basic D&D rules" but that doesn't really capture all of it.

In the 1990s my game world of choice for AD&D 2nd Ed was Ravenloft. I loved the horror elements, I loved the trappings of Gothic Horror, and I loved that I could bring in characters I have been playing for years over to it.  The Masque of the Red Death Gothic Earth supplement was a dream come true since it also brought in my beloved Victorian era.   It was perfect...almost.

Near the end of the 90s I was getting really burned out on D&D.  Thankfully I had discovered C.J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG.  Here was yet another "Gothic Earth" only this time coming at from a different angle.  I loved it.  Of course, as the supplements for WitchCraft were released I thought of many ways to "translate" Ravenloft over to WitchCraft.   In a way, I got my wish and wrote Ghosts of Albion.  A horror-soaked Earth, in a Victorian setting.

Still as perfect as I think WitchCraft and Ghosts of Albion are, they still didn't give me something.  Sure it was a minor thing, but there was still something I was looking for. 

Jason did something similar.  While I went for the themes I wanted, he took the Unisystem rules found in WitchCraft and went a different direction with Dungeons & Zombies; a way to translate D&D experiences and adventures into Unisystem.  Like myself, he also had a few "fan" based products.

We really have been dancing around NIGHT SHIFT for decades.

I wanted a game where I could translate anything I have done over the last 30+ years to a single game system.  I feel NIGHT SHIFT does this.

Don't forget our Kickstarter going on right now for The Night Companion.


RPGaDAY2021

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG

C.J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG
We are in the last week of this Character Creation Challenge.  I wanted to spend this last week on modern games. That is games that take place in modern times. Yesterday was Chill, today I am going to go with what might the game I love more than D&D. C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG.

The Game: C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG

Mere words can't express my love for this game. Though I have tried many, many times. This is the game I come back to. This is the game that hold up as my Gold Standard of Games.  Not that it isn't without it's own issues of course, but nothing I can't work around or even with.  I have often said I wrote Ghosts of Albion as nothing but a giant love letter to the WitchCraft RPG.

WitchCraft was the game that pulled me back into RPGs. I was ready to give up until I found this game. I have never looked back. 

Not only is it a great game with some great supplements, but it is also supremely flexible. There is really nothing I can't do with this game.  Add on some of the other "Classic" Unisystem games like All Flesh Must Be Eaten (Zombie survival horror), Armageddon the End Times (Post-apocalypse reckoning), and Conspiracy X 2.0 (Aliens and Government conspiracies) you have an entire world of options.  But honestly, the game is perfect as it is.

If you don't believe me, grab the PDF for free from Eden Studios on DriveThruRPG

The Character: Fiona

Fiona is, or is based on, the character from the opening fiction and she is the "Cover girl" of core rule book.  "Head Zombie" George Vasilakos, the CEO of Eden painted that. It is seriously one of the best pieces of art for any gamebook ever.  

Fiona is a young witch and maybe, just maybe she is a bit of a stereotype, and she maybe is based a little on Fiona Apple circa 1999. 

Fiona from WitchCraft
Fiona
Gifted Wicce Wierd One

Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 2
Constitution 3
Intelligence 3
Willpower 3
Perception 2

Life Points 36
Endurance Points 29
Speed 10
Essence Pool 20

Channeling Level 1

Qualities / Drawbacks
Gifted (5)
Attractive 2
Hard to Kill 2
Humorless -1
Obsession -2
Photographic Memory 2
Recurring Nightmares -1

Essence Channeling 1 (2)
Increased Essence Pool 1

Skills
Computer 2, Craft (Herbal) 3, Dodge 3, Fine Arts (Painting) 2, Humanities (History) 2, Language (French 2), Magic Theory 3, Occult Knowledge 3, Research 2, Rituals (Wicce) 2, Streetwise 1 

Metaphysics
Farsight 2, Insight 2, Lesser Healing 2, Soulfire 2, Shielding 2

I have likely seen hundreds of Unisystem characters over the years. Fiona here is pretty much everyone's starting character.  Gifted, Wicce. Weird One is a fun concept and one most gamers can relate to. Marginally better mental stats than physical.  Hard to Kill is most often taken.  So is Situational Awareness, but I ran out of points in favor of Photographic Memory.  Skills are predictable with some point variances here and there.  Metaphysics include a couple of utilities, healing, an attack, and a defense. She has French as a language instead of the more "Occulty" Latin, Hebrew or Greek because she is a Wicce, not a Rosicrucian.  She seems more like the "spooky goth" witch and not the "crunchy earth child" witch.

Still, she would be fun to play.  Let the Chronicler play on those Nightmares. Maybe it is her Farsight while she is sleeping. 

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

#RPGaDAY 2020: Day 5 Tribute

This is not the Greatest RPG in the World.  This is just a Tribute.


I have gone on record many, many times on how I feel that CJ Carella's WitchCraft is one of the, if not the, greatest RPGs I have ever played.  Yes. Even better than D&D.

I have also gone on record stating that my Ghosts of Albion game is really nothing more than an extended love letter to WitchCraft in Victorian prose.

Really, I would love to see an update to WitchCraft from Eden, but I am not holding my breath for it.

Another tribute is NIGHT SHIFT.

Night Shift is a tribute to the types of games Jason and I have been fond of playing over the years we have known each other.  So there are tributes here to Old-school D&D, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Chill, to Call of Cthulhu and of course to WitchCraft. 


As much as I love Ghosts of Albion and Night Shift they can't take the place that WitchCraft has in my heart.  There are some things that both games can do better than WitchCraft, I did have the advantage of playing many games to add to my experiences, but still, WitchCraft remains.

Maybe one day some designer will write their tribute to Ghosts of Albion or to Night Shift!

And since we are talking tributes.



Which is, of course, a tribute to this, 



Friday, April 17, 2020

PWWO: Calidar, Part 2

A while back I a did a "Plays Well With Others" for Calidar. It's pretty to do, there are a lot of great ideas and it has a system that lends itself well to easy conversion.  After doing a series of reviews I thought another go at another PWWO.

The Reviews
For this PWWO I think I am going to focus mostly on Calidar On Wings of Darkness and related products.  In particular the various magic schools featured in Caldwen.

Given the various conversion guides and the rules presented in the books, mathematical style conversions are less of an issue, the big factor is more how do I replicate the same feel of Calidar in a different game while still preserving what I liked about the original game.

Calidar and "New" D&D


These are the easiest of course.  The level limits for both D&D 5 and Pathfinder are a set 20. So follow along with the rules for 20 levels.  D&D 5 and Pathfinder characters tend to be more powerful than their same-level counterparts in older editions.  Cantrips really boost what a Wizard can do every round even at the lowest levels.  Plus the addition of cantrips can become an interesting element to the wizard school. 1st level wizards/magic-users have a lot more they can do.

Retro-Clones


These conversions are handled by various current products and upcoming products from Calidar.  Plus these mimic the games played by most of the people involved with the Calidar lines.

Calidar and Glantri


Let's address the obvious mix here.  Bruce Heard is fairly well known for his work on the Mystara lines and Glantri in particular.  You can use details from one mage school for the other, they are roughly compatible in style, and it makes either product a little more robust.  You do lose a little of the unique feel of Calidar this way if you set it all in Glantri.  Though what I have been doing is considering setting the caldera on the north pole.  The whole area is hidden away from the rest of the world.  Still playing with this idea.


I am using the "Mystoerth" map for this. I made a globe, and see there is some room up on top. Enough for Calidar?  I have not done the math yet, but it looks right.   I still to play around with it.

That is if my next idea doesn't take over.

Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade


This idea has grabbed my imagination.  Calidar has a great early Renaissance feel to it.  So somewhere between Dark Ages Mage and Mage the Sorcerer's Crusade is a perfect time.  In this case I would use Calidar as is, but the game system would be White Wolf's Mage.
What I have not decided yet is if the various schools represent Spheres (which means Mages would need to attend to multiple schools) or Traditions (which would make the rivalries more intense).
So everyone in "How to Train Your Wizard" would be part of the Euthatoi.   I think just to have some fun I would keep the Verbena out of it unless I work in the Glantri Wokani.

There is a lot I would love to do with that idea.  D&D backdrop, Calidar setting, Mage/White Wolf rules.  The possibilities are staggering, to be honest.

Conversion though is a bigger issue.  The Calidar system is pretty flexible, but it is level-based to a large degree. Mage uses the White Wolf Storyteller system which is a dice pool system. So the conversion books won't be much help here save to figure out some guidelines.  Still maybe if I can dig up a copy of Monte Cook's d20 World of Darkness it might give me some ideas.

WitchCraft


Nothing specific yet.  But if I can convert Mage I can convert this a lot easier.

Most likely I would combine a lot of these ideas to make the schools in Calidar a little less D&D and little more Scholomance if possible.

Blue Rose AGE


Ah.  Now here is something that would be a lot of fun.
I would need to make some changes to what kinds of magics could be taught at the schools, but AGE is level-based and so should convert well.  Green Ronin already did some of the heavy lifting for me with their converting for Fantasy AGE.

The bottom line is that Calidar gives me a great magic school that I really want to drop anywhere.

Plus it gives a Fantasy-era Breakbills and an excuse to do this:



And any excuse to put more Brakebills into my games is a good one.