Tuesday, August 31, 2021

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 31 Thank

RPGaDAY2021 Day 31

This one might be the easiest one in the series.

Day 31 Thank

I want to thank everyone that read my posts, posted replies, and interacted with me on Social Media. 

I also want to thank Dave Chapman for doing this every year.

Thank everyone.  Now I turn my sights to October and Halloween!






RPGaDAY2021


Monday, August 30, 2021

Ghosts of Albion is a Platinum Best Seller!

I was working on something for later in the week and I noticed something really cool.

Ghosts of Albion is a Platinum Best Seller

Ghosts of Albion

I have a Platinum best-selling title!  I do admit I am pretty pleased by this. This game is my pride and joy. 

Another of my favorites is NIGHT SHIFT which is also moving up in the sales ranks.

NIGHT SHIFT

Silver is pretty good considering we had a successful Kickstarter and sell the book via the Elf Lair Games store-front

Ghosts of AlbionNIGHT SHIFT


Don't forget! The Night Companion is in the last days of its Kickstarter. Love to hit the 5k stretch goal, but 6k would be even better.

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 30 Mention

RPGaDAY2021 Day 30

Almost to the end!

Day 30 Mention

I thought I might mention some D&D-related content I am looking forward to.

From Wizards of the Coast

Some great-looking books coming up.

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight reminds me a bit of the Ravenloft Carnival product for 2e. Likely that is how I am going to use it.  Love the idea of a traveling carnival from the Feywild.  Plus the chance for the return of Warduke, Kelek, and Skylla?  Yeah, sign me up!

Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.  Ok, I am not looking forward to this one per se, but I am looking forward to seeing my oldest, dragon-loving, son get it.  Though it does look like it has a lot of cool things in it.

Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. Seriously. How could I know be excited about this one? 

From Goodman Games

Original Adventures Reincarnated #6: Temple of Elemental Evil. I never played or ran the ToEE back in the day. I have planned on using it as the penultimate adventure for my D&D campaigns when they all end.  This two-volume set looks fantastic is exactly what I need for my campaign.

So yeah. I am sure there is more, but these are the ones on my mind right now.

Don't forget NIGHT SHIFT The Night Companion is nearing its last few days.  Give us some support. If we hit the stretch goal I will give a new Night World and this will keep me out of trouble for a while.


RPGaDAY2021

Sunday, August 29, 2021

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 29 System

RPGaDAY2021 Day 29

We can see the end from here!

Day 29 System

I feel today is going to be a lot about what sort of game system people prefer. Things like "d20" or "BRP" or a favorite of mine, "Unisystem."

Those are all good choices.  But today I want to talk about one that might not yet be yours or anyone's favorite. Not yet anyway.

Today I am going to talk about O.G.R.E.S. and a little bit about O.R.C.S.

The "S" in both stands for "System," so it is redundant to say "O.G.R.E.S. System" or "O.R.C.S. System" just O.G.R.E.S. and O.R.C.S. is fine. 

O.G.R.E.S.

O.G.R.E.S. stands for Oldschool Generic Roleplaying Engine System.  It is the system that powers NIGHT SHIFT.  It sits somewhere between the "rulings not rules" freeform of OD&D and the simple mechanics of d20.  The end result is something that feels very familiar and new at the same time.  

O.G.R.E.S. features three main subsystems as described by my co-author and designer Jason Vey. They are:

  • Percentile checks
  • d20 checks
  • The Rule of 2

The first two are likely self-explanatory, but here is Jason explaining all three in detail.

Percentile checks are used to check anything that requires a straight probability. Some class abilities use percentile checks (thief skills, for example, and the ranger's tracking). Other class abilities (the druid's nature lore ability) simply work. For the most part, however, any class ability requiring a check will use percentile dice. Also, just about every table in the game (with a few exceptions) uses a percentile roll.

d20 checks are used for anything combat-related. To hit rolls, saving throws, and turning undead are rolled on a d20.

The rule of 2: this is my name for a sub-system in D&D that has never been precisely codified, but is buried deep in the bones of the game. Any time a situation needs to be adjudicated in D&D for which there is not another system, throw a die, and on a result of 1 or 2, it happens. Listening at a door (and not a thief)? You hear noise on a 1 or 2. Looking to notice a secret door (and not a dwarf or elf)? Roll a d6 and you find it on a 1 or 2. Surprise? 1 or 2. The only thing that changes, for the most part, is the type of die--rangers, for example, use a d8 surprise die--and some character types may adjust the probability (elves noticing a secret door without searching is a 1 on a d6).

Three very simple subsystems.  Of course, all of these can be reduced to d% rolls.  But really it is all simple.  That is the point. In a game like NIGHT SHIFT action can happen very fast and you don't want a system of dice rolling to get in the way.

There is a hierarchy here of sorts.  Most things will be a d%, followed by combat-related actions with a  d20, and finally the Rule of 2. For everything else.

The Night Companion will expand on this and give you more options for play.

O.R.C.S.

O.R.C.S., or Optimized Roleplaying Core System, is the new version of the system that powers Spellcraft & Swordplay.  This system is heavily inspired by OD&D and other old-school play styles.

The core of O.R.C.S. is the 2d6 task resolution.  Much like the earliest form of D&D BEFORE the d20 was introduced.

Everyone talks about how Swords & Wizardry is the closest thing to OD&D, but they obviously have never played Spellcraft & Swordplay!

I am hoping we will see a lot more of O.G.R.E.S. and O.R.C.S. in the future.

Don't forget NIGHT SHIFT The Night Companion is nearing its last few days.  Give us some support. If we hit the stretch goal I will give a new Night World and this will keep me out of trouble for a while.


RPGaDAY2021


Saturday, August 28, 2021

Sword & Sorcery & Cinema: Heavy Metal (1981)

Few movies are as "D&D" to me as 1981's Heavy Metal.  It mixes sci-fi, fantasy, horror, with a great soundtrack and more than a few members of SCTV.  

Heavy Metal (1981)
Heavy Metal (1981)

I picked up the Heavy Metal Blu-Ray a while back and frankly the transfer is fantastic.  Hearing the music in Dolby 5.1 surround is amazing.  It is hard to properly critique a movie that made up so much of my teenage years imprinting that instead for tonight I wanted to talk about how Heavy Metal is the perfect movie for NIGHT SHIFT.

Before that let's take a moment to take in that poster.

Taarna. Resplendent on the back of her mount, flying, sword aloft. While her armor might be more 80s stripper, she obviously is a warrior. It is some of Chris Achilléos' best work.  I have talked about how White Dwarf always had a Heavy Metal feel for me.  This is one of the reasons. 

Ok. On to NIGHT SHIFT.  Heavy Metal is an anthology. Many stories linked together are a semi-related arc. NIGHT SHIFT is like this in its "Night Worlds" connected, but their own thing.  If this is also the vibe you get from "Twilight Zone" or "Tales from the Darkside" then you are on to what was going on in our minds as we put this all together.  The Night Companion only adds to this.

"Soft Landing"/"Grimaldi"

Our opening sequence and framing episode let us know what is going on here. This is SciFi, and Horror, and Magic.  Astronaut Grimaldi lands on Earth with his Corvette to bring a gift to his daughter.  A gift that kills him and traps the girl showing her images of horror.  We learn that it is the Loc-Nar an object/power/intelligence of timeless evil. 

"Harry Canyon"

The crankiest New York cabbie this side of Corbin Dallas picks up a girl who has a strange object.  An alien artifact, the Loc-Nar from the opening sequence. While it is taking place 50 years after the movie was released, it is only 10 years from now.  No aliens, no flying cars.  We are never getting flying cars. We also get the first indication about the sex and violence this movie has. I remember the discussions about it in school, "It's an R-RATED cartoon!"

Of note for me, some great Stevie Nicks here. One other, but I am saving that one.

While the setting is "futuristic" there is nothing here that could not be done with NIGHT SHIFT.  The Loc-Nar is described as "alien" but there is a solid magic vibe about it.  In fact there is also a lot here for my Black Star game.  More on that as well.

"Den"

Is Sword & Planet to the letter.  OR at least how we always suspected it would be.  Here the Loc-Nar is a small meteorite that transfers Dennis across time and space into a muscle-bound, hairless barbarian Den. He rescues a girl about to be sacrificed to Uhluhtc (yeah read that one backwards) and gets paid with the only reward she has.  Den gets pulled into a power struggle between a Queen and Ard. Both want the Loc-Nar. Ard gets Den to steal it back, the Queen seduces Den into keeping it with her.  In the end, they both betray Den and try to sacrifice the girl anyway.  Den defeats them not with his strength, but his geeky knowledge of electricity to kill them both.  The Loc-Nar tells us that some are strong enough to walk away from it.  It flies off into the sky and lands on a space station orbiting Earth.

"Captain Sternn"

In the future, there is a trial for Federation Captain Lincoln F. Sternn. He is charged with a laundry list of crimes and his lawyer is hoping he gets his sentence reduced to "burning his body in secret so no one desecrates his corpse."  Sternn has an angle though he has paid off a shulb, Hanover Fiste, to testify on his behalf.  Fiste found the Loc-Nar, now the size of a marble, and slowly he comes a hulking brute that attempts to destroy the station to get to Sternn. Eventually, Sternn pays off Fiste and jettisons him out of an air lock. His severed hand, still holding that Loc-Nar lands in a B-17 bomber during WWII.

The Loc-Nar here shows more ability to change size and travel in time and space as it needs. It can also mutate those as it sees fit.  I have to admit I have ALWAYS wanted Capt. Lincoln Sternn in a Star Trek adventure as a corupt captain.

"B-17"

This was for the longest time one of my favorites. WWII and zombies.  The Loc-Nar turns all the dead airmen into zombies to attack their former crew. What is not to love. This one is pure horror.

"So Beautiful & So Dangerous"

This one has the Loc-Nar and it is assumed that there is a related cause with all the "mutations" being reported.   While this is a fun one, it is really just an excuse for robot sex, drug jokes, and the animators to draw naked women.   Though it can also be seen as a palette cleanser before the ultimate story.

"Taarna"

Honestly, I could do an entire post on this one.  Taarna is absolutely a "Chosen One" from NIGHT SHIFT. The scene where she flies to the temple and puts on her armor and retrieves the sword of Taarak might be some of the most-watched animated sequences in the history of animation.  I admit it. I still get chills when I hear the voice of Taarak start "To defend. This is the pact..."

In this segment, the Loc-Nar is showing the young girl his final triumph. It has grown huge and crashes into a mountain on some distant planet.  Pilgrims go to seek it out, but they are buried in green lava, only to come out transformed into homicidal monstrous barbarians.  They attack a city and kill everyone, but not before the council of elder can psychically summon Taarna, the last of the Taarakians. 

Taarna never speaks. But she hunts down the barbarians with the intent to kill them all.  She manages to get a few, but she is captured and tortured by their leader.  Taarna escapes, reclaims her mount and manages to kill the leader. But she is gravely wounded and she, and her bird, are dying.  In a final act of sacrifice, she flies up, holding the Sword of Taarak high she plunged into the Loc-Nar, destroying it there and back on Earth with the little girl watching.  The girl runs for safety as her home and the Loc-Nar explode.

A new bird mount lands in her yard and as she mounts it to fly away her hair turns white and another Taarakian is born.  Go ahead. Tell me Buffy didn't crib notes from this. 

If your characters can't be as epic as Taarna are you really even PLAYING?

Heavy Metal

One of the best songs in a stellar soundtrack is Blue Öyster Cult's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars."  The song is about Elric of Melniboné or Hawkwind or any Eternal Champion.  A solid case is made here that the song, here, is about Taarna.  The Veterans of the Psychic Wars might be Eternal Champions, but the Veterans of the Supernatural Wars are Chosen Ones.

Don't forget NIGHT SHIFT The Night Companion is nearing its last few days.  Give us some support. If we hit the stretch goal I will give a new Night World and this will keep me out of trouble for a while.

--

Tim Knight of Hero Press and Pun Isaac of Halls of the Nephilim along with myself are getting together at the Facebook Group I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters to discuss these movies.  Follow along with the hashtag #IdRatherBeWatchingMonsters.


#RPGaDAY2021 Day 28 Solo

RPGaDAY2021 Day 28

One of the things I have never really been able to do to my own satisfaction is Solo play.

Day 28 Solo

The idea of solo play is one that does go back to the earliest days of RPGS.  For example, there are plenty of Tunnels & Trolls adventures that are for solo play.  The infamous introductory adventure with Aleena in the Mentzer version of the D&D Basic Red Box is another example.

I had a few of the Endless Quest books, but mostly I got bored with them very quickly.  I tried playing the various Zork games from Infocom (yes including "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" game.  No. I never got the Babel fish.)

Back in the 80s my High School DM and I spent a lot of time programming a BASIC (as in the computer language) AD&D combat simulator.  We could load up to 10 characters and 10 monsters (of an unlimited number on disk) to fight.  It worked out rather nicely.

There are now much better D&D experiences in terms of software that can be enjoyed as a solo player but for me they suffer from the same issue that Tunnels & Trolls did/does.  Nothing can beat the interaction of others.

I suppose if given the choice of an online game with others using just web meeting software (like Zoom) vs a really interactive video game that is as close to D&D as you can get. I'll take the online game.   Not that I don't like video games, they are just not the experience I want when I want to play an RPG. DragonAge and Skyrim feel the closest to me. 


RPGaDAY2021


Friday, August 27, 2021

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 27 Fraction

RPGaDAY2021 Day 27

This one took a lot longer to write than expected, and sadly, not one I really wanted to write.

Day 27 Fraction

I love doing blog challenges, blog hops, and themed posts.  It gives me something to look forward to, something new to write about, and it lets me interact with others that I might not be interacting with or even knew before.

Sadly. I am also only getting a Fraction of the interaction here. 

My Twitter posting is way up and my interactions there have increased by about x3 to x4 in this month.  But here? Sadly crickets.

I am not sure why that is, to be honest.  I know there is a faction among the RPG bloggers that hated the April A to Z.  Again it was something I enjoyed, but I saw the drop in interactions and in daily visits. 

It is disappointing. I want to keep my regular readers happy. I also want to expand my reader base.  Interactions from both help me write more and maybe cover topics I might not otherwise cover.

So help me out here.

Do you like these social-media-wide themed months like this and the April AtoZ?

Do you like my other themed months or weeks like I did with BECMI in June 2020 or Troll Week or my week with Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft?

Let me know!


RPGaDAY2021