Commentary On The Trinity of Awesome Returns Kickstarter From Kort'thalis Publishing For Your Old School Campaigns

Alright I've known Venger Satanis from the dark days of Alt Cthulhu rpg whatever I've known him to be passionate about his table top gaming. He's one of those writers/designers whose work I've come just put on automatic pilot so it goes to the top of the pile so to speak to run.

But +Venger Satanis  rpg products are not old school necessarily & adult oriented. Yeah, your completely right on that account but his stuff is the some of the most easily adapted O5R stuff into OSR products around. He's been in & a part of the OSR a long while. We're usually on the same page of gonzo old school adventures as me but from a totally different angle which is fine. The basics of his system go something like this;"

VSd6

On the other hand, all three of my self-created RPGs are simple to learn and use.  Here are the basics - considering the type of character you're playing and present circumstances, you roll 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6 based on the likelihood of success.  

A routine task the character is prepared for would be assigned 3d6.  Another character attempting a difficult action - but still within his wheelhouse - would be assigned 2d6.  Let's say a third character is an accountant by trade, but suddenly he's thrust into a situation where he has to defuse a bomb that's about to explode.  I'd assign a 1d6 for that character's demolition attempt.

Rather than add up these d6, you take the highest result of the dice pool and compare it to the following chart.  Same goes for combat, I'll put the number of damage d6 to be rolled (based upon the result of a character's attack) in brackets.

1 - Critical failure  [miss - and usually something bad happens]

2 - Ordinary failure  [miss, no damage]

3 - Mostly failure or partial success  [miss, no damage... although, there's GM latitude here for something like inflicting minor damage but then incurring an extra attack]

4 - Mostly success  [1d6 damage, exploding]

5 - Success  [2d6 damage, exploding]

6 - Critical success  [3d6 damage, exploding... each additional "6" to-hit result adds yet another d6 of exploding damage]

Yeah like I said its a good way to go folks, for me its really the adventures that I like we get thrust into the deep end of Crimson Dragon Slayer second edition land;

"The Stairway of V'dreen [Eldritch Science-Fantasy for Crimson Dragon Slayer and O5R systems]:  This is a location-based scenario... a weird location.  There are many planes connected to the realms of our world, and some of those dimensions are strange beyond imagining.  V'dreen is one of those weird places, and where its stairway reaches no living or sane man can say.

Each PC will have his own reason for visiting V'dreen - a random table will personalize every character's desire/need.  Reaching the stairway, V'dreen's greatest treasure, will not be easy - alien, mutant dreamland hazards bar the way!

This location will be the most bizarre thing I've come up with yet.  The main Kickstarter picture above gives you an idea of what's in store. But I've got some additional details and a b/w illustration directly below...

Fruiting bodies.  The scent of V'dreen is that of a corpse blooming with strawberry and apricot preserves.  A fragrance that one cannot easily forget.  Pungent jam and jelly intermingling with the sweat of human fornication.

Rumored tales of V'dreen: a magical timepiece is buried in the ground, preventing this place from aging, neither evolving nor decaying.  However, some believe the timepiece to be broken in some way - or perhaps it had always been corrupted - because slavering demons roam free, wizards scry and watch and influence life on V'dreen with their little knobs and levers and buttons... my God, even the tentacles have tentacles!

The stairway leads to an even more distant realm.  It is a personal voyage... the discovery of self-annihilation, where travelers lick savage dreams and ride bareback upon the sparkling-scaled magenta snake-thing with golden eyes coiled at the heart of eternity."

Knowing Glynn from Monkey Blood Designs's artwork & skill the way I do I know where we're going with the next adventure in terms of quality & design work. Venger's cleverness is interesting and no doubt in my mind that he's pulled off something very interesting & entertaining to add to the table top.

High Stakes Q'uay-Q'uar  [Retro Sleazy Sci-Fi for Alpha Blue]:  The annual Galactic-Series of Q'uay-Q'uar Main Event - sponsored by every lifeform's favorite grape beverage Purple Prizm - is about to convene.  It's a high-stakes gambling tournament not to be missed!  The PCs have various reasons (based on a random table, of course) for attending.

Chances are, they owe someone money or someone owes them.  Traditionally, the Q'uay-Q'uar Main Event is when outstanding gambling debts are settled.  And whatever amount is still owed from last year, once the final Q'uay-Q'uar wager of the tournament has been made, determines weeks, months, or even years of servitude.

Once there, gambling, interactions between degenerate lifeforms, a surprise visit from an old girlfriend, and an unexpected murder keep the PCs occupied, entertained, and struggling to figure things out while trying to survive, make a few credits on the side, and get their space rocks off.

I've created this game called Q'uay-Q'uar (which means "purple-yellow" in the Q'tari language).  Q'tarians are reptilian crystalline beings who believe in predestined fate, rather than individuals struggling to make their own destiny.

Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood Design is turning my terrible-looking prototype into something awesome that can be printed-out and used right at your game table.

Alright so there's another piece in the Alpha Blue setting. This is like one of those gambling games we used to see in the old 1970's Battle Star Galactica episodes and always wanted to play but couldn't. Well now you can.
There's some very weirdly awesome cover art but you can see that at the Kickstarter page. But I have a feeling that Venger is actually a very frustrated Neo Noir Lovecraftian mystery writer because we get a brand new Outer Presence adventure;"

His Flesh Becomes My Key [Pulp / Investigative Horror scenario for The Outer Presence]:  There's a serial killer on the loose.  The killer is carving strange glyphs in his or her victim's flesh.  These glyphs looked like they were starting to add up to something, possibly a clue to help the police understand the serial killer and eventually catch him or her.  

Unfortunately, the lead forensic investigator on the case, Richard Black (a friend to one or more of the PCs), has mysteriously vanished. 

The PCs can try to help the police by starting their own investigation into this enigmatic serial killer... that will also hopefully reveal the whereabouts of their missing friend."

Anyhow the Outer Presence rpg is based around an old school horror Lovecraftian Mythos aesthetic but its its really its own rpg system. That being said way back in December of last year I adapted the first Trinity of Awesome +1's A Green Jewel They Must Possess into a space based science fantasy adventure one shot with some friends. Alright bottomline do I think this kickstarter is worth your time and money? In a word? Yes. I've got no dog or pony in this race at all per say but Venger does deliver the goods and more.


HELP SUPPORT THIS KICKSTARTER HERE!