Between Courts of Monsters & The Damned - Remebering Things I Don't Know - Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Session Two Report

"This game session of Veterans picks up right from the last week's game here. The PC's were going to the 24 club for the evening when they ran smack into two huge hulking trolls! ""CIA & FBI agents are disappearing & now the PC's have found themselves infront of the Court of Night in Beverly Hills to get answers. The PC's come face to face with the Webley Brothers (two twin hulking trolls belonging to the court and acting as court enforcers). The court has two California towns have disappered over night " 

The Webley Brothers were based on Bradley McDermitt's Troll Smash Clipart Critters 

" The brothers actually asked the party to come with them to go before the court & make a report" Shockingly the PC's went along with the  Webley Brothers without any violence or incident" 
The Court of Night has two of its top wizards getting reports from the PC's from last session. And wizards gave the party an errand to check out what happened to the small town of La Simone California. 
La Simone looked entirely abandoned without a soul around. The ghosts of several residents were being gathered by the Bailiff - an Elohim working for the Court of the Dead. The players PC's have run into this NPC before & this angel has been a thorn in the side of the PC's. The Bailiff takes the form of a 19th century cowboy specifically an Old West marshal. 

The players know they don't stand a chance against the Bailiff and so they chose to parley. The entity is under no obligation to speak with them but decides to anyway. He tells the PC's that a knight of the order of Lancelot fell in defense of the town. And that the menace is connected to the Green River gem and that an abomination back in the city may hold some of the answers. He also warns the PC's that they may be called before the Court of the Dead. This is not a prospect that the players like nor want. They have history with the court and its not good. 
The PC's ask to speak with the soul of the knight Sir Leonard and the angel grants the request. Acting as a limited speak with the dead, the players got far more then they bargained for. When soul tells them he was murdered by a pack of unknown hellish black hounds that tore him limb from limb. He asks party to avenge him as he begins to fade to his final reward! The party leaves San Simone to report their latest foray to the Court of Night! 
So the latest game make use of several adventure elements from Elf Lair Games Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Companion by Jason Vey & Timothy Brannan. After reporting their findings to the court the players decided to go back to the '26 Hour club' & see if they can buy a bit more information from the 'Druidess'. And that's when things begin to get very interesting. They run smack into 'Mr. Scarlet' a ghoul of the House of Veter whose looking to sell some fast information. The party cuts him off before & offer to buy the info for triple rate. He tells the party about a brain he's recently consumed & the fact that the poor S.O.B.  was attacked by weird grey humanoids. And 'Mr. Scarlet' doesn't recognize the monsters! Who or what are they?! 

Review & Commentary The Elf OSR Class by Thomas Denmark From Night Owl Workshop For Your OSR Or Old School Campaigns

 "The original Elf is a bit of a strange character. On one adventure it is a Fighter on another it is a Magic-User, but it can't be both at the same time. It is awkward and somewhat unwieldy when running an original edition game. How can we make an alternate version that also remains true to the integrity of the system? The core idea is you have a character with good fighting ability and some magic ability." 

What if the elf was a full time fighting-man and magic-user? With this in mind we can give the Elf attacks and saves like a fighter, and spells like a magic-user full time. Carefully balanced with the other classes." 

Elf OSR Class by Thomas Denmark is a call back to the early days of OD&D & B/X Dungeons & Dragons. This is class as race or race as class in both directions the Elf OSR fills a very specific need & that is one of the Elf OSR being a sort of old school tool kit character. It has elements of the fighter & the magic user. But the Elf OSR class  in effect being its own fulcurm for old school campaigns. Because the Elf OSR class takes the old elf & spins it into  a character with good fighting ability and some magic ability.

The OSR Elf is perfectly suitable for OD&D, B/X & Advanced Dungeons & Dungeons first edition. Why?! Because it fills a role in a party of adventurers in a way that the players of those systems will find familiar. The elf is an adventurer's class and perfect for exploration, some military activities, and has the potential for a bit of magic. The fact is that sometimes a party needs the edge of a wizard with the martial edge of a fighter. The OSR Elf provides for those needs in spades. The package here is up to Thomas Denmark & Night Owl Workshop's usual standards. The Elf OSR Class is perfect for the DM who has a veteran D&D player who wants to play a character class that is both important & familiar. 

 The Elf OSR Class by Thomas Denmark From Night Owl Workshop Is Available Here. 

Review & Commentary On Ninja City! By Rev. Joey Royale From Get Haunted Industries For Your Old School Eighties DCC Inspired Campaign

"A role-playing game tribute to the 1980’s Ninja explosion, built upon Dungeon Crawl Classics rules."

"The Bad Guyz have taken over!  Drug lords, street gangs, and crooked cops have the city in a stranglehold! You and your crew have rediscovered the lost secrets of the Ninja and it is time to take back your turf! Welcome to Ninja City!  Ninja City is where Kosugi, Dudikoff, Storm Shadow, and the manager from the sword store at the mall all come together on a Saturday afternoon to party hard and throw some stars."

Ninja City takes the DCC frame work and applies it to those gonzo over the top awesome Eighties ninja film inspirations. Now, Ninja City takes the martial arts action into your DCC campaign and it does it in twenty four pages. The ninja action is fast & furious with the DCC system converted to the  S.W.O.R.D.Z. system. 
The system emulates a lot of the ideas & action of Cannon films style action. If you want to clean up the psycho crime ridden streets of your city then Ninja City is for you. 

Ninja City does its job so well & brings the DCC game into the Eighties retro martial arts action. And for an evening's DCC entertainment Ninja City brings the 'beer & pretezel's goodness. Ninja City can be used with other OSR rpg systems easily meaning that campaign play is easy to do. Could a long campaign of Ninja City be done?! Yes if you've got a group of players who are into martial arts & weird movies. If your looking for the halcoyn days of the Ninja & want to recapture the martial arts  VHS memories of your youth.

 Ninja City! By Rev. Joey Royale From Get Haunted Industries Is Available Here. 

Review & Commentary on Ship Book:A2L Far Trader By Michael Johnson From Moontoad Publishing For Cepheus Engine rpg & Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Rpg Campaign

" The A2 Far Trader; a common classification for a myriad of similar specification vessels in use throughout the vast Third Imperium.

Perhaps the most recognisable far trader design, the Empress Marava and the Jayhawk class provide the basis for a bigger and more capable class of far trader, the A2L and the A3L.This publication provides details for these new far trader designs."

If there's a design that meant to show up in Space Western campaigns then its Moontoad Publishing's Ship Book:A2L Far Trader By Michael Johnson. So what makes Ship Book:A2L Far Trader so important!? What really makes the  A2L Far Trader so iconic?! Its the fact that the A2L Far Trader holds more of a crew then your average star ship?! Nope, its the fact that the A2L Far Trader & its variants are ships that are incontrol of thier trade routes. And the fact that the A2L Far Trader is a ship that is built for adventuring in every sense of the word. 
But between the tons of cargo room or the fact that  the entire ship is built around said hold. The A2L Far Trader is the perfect ship for adventurers to run an interstellar business around. 
 Given the distances between stars in the Earth Sector & the Clement sector. The Ship Book:A2L Far Trader has the perfect set of starships to take high end cargos across these sectors.  The A2L is the perfect hyperspace jump ship to bring your cargos across the Clement or the Earth sectors. 

The variants and the main ship plans of the Ship Book:A2L Far Trader are perfect for the DM who wants to deliver a starship that has the potential for some teeth. The pirates & outlaw sects of both the Earth sector & Clement might have a bit of a harder time with the A2L Far Trader. This is due to the fact thatA2L Far Trader crews are experienced & well versed in interstellar trade. You can see this in the A2L Far Trader starship & its variants.  The fact is Moontoad Publishing has done a great job bringing in the A2L Far Trader By Michael Johnson for use at the table top level. 

The  Ship Book:A2L Far Trader By Michael Johnson From Moontoad Publishing Is Available Right Here 

Review & Commentary On PC14 - The OSR Shadowdancer By Jeremy Reaban For Your Old School Campaigns

 "Shadowdancers exist in the boundary between light and darkness, where they weave together the shadows to become half-seen artists of deception."

Shadowdancers are a sub-class of Rogue (see PC12 – Rogue) whose focus on stealth transcends the normal limits of reality and enters the magical."

PC14 - The OSR Shadowdancer By  Jeremy Reaban is a 'pay what you want' pdf that clocks in at eight pages. The OSR Shadowdancer is a subclass of rogue whose abilities cross over into the plane of Shadows literally. According to the writer of the Shadowdancers; "As with its parent class, the rogue, the shadowdancer is able to use light melee weapons (4 lbs or less) to great effect, substituting his dexterity missile bonus in place of his strength score, for both to hit and damage. Also as with the rogue, the shadowdancer has a limited ability to use magical wands and scrolls. The shadowdancer has the ability to backstab as per a thief. In addition, the shadowdancer gains a bonus to his armor class equal to this backstab multiplier, while fighting in anything but bright sunlight. The shadowdancer has the ability to use his hide in shadows ability even while directly being observed, as long as there are shadows within 10' At 2nd level, the shadowdancer gains the ability to evade magical and other attacks. Such attacks that allow a saving throw for half-damage, instead cause no damage to the rogue on a successful save. At 10th level, this improves so that the shadowdancer only takes half-damage even on a failed saving throw." 

The OSR Shadowdancer is another one of those thief sub classes that gains its own niche within a campaign. If the DM wants to use a sorta of scary or dark subclass for his NPC villains that isn't going to overwhelm their campaign? The shadowdancer could be the route to go. They could be used as thieves and murder hobo for the villains. Is the class good?! Yes shadowdancers could be used to carve out the niche of the plane of Shadows having more importance within without introducing the weird element into it without going full blown horror. From pick pocketing to full on jewel theiving the shadow dancer is your class. 

 PC14 - The OSR Shadowdancer By  Jeremy Reaban Is Available As A Pay What You Want Title Here. 

Review & Commentary on Monastic Knights By Thomas Denmark From Night Owl Workshop For your Old School Campaigns

 "Three unique character classes designed to fill the role between Clerics and Paladins in your favorite OSR roleplaying game campaign.

The monastic knights come in three general types:

Knights of Sanctity (Sanctifiers) are balanced between being warriors and healers.
Knights of Ardor (Ardents) are compassionate healers and only fight as necessary.
Knights of Vindication (Vindicators) are formidable warriors with a few spells.

Monastic Knights are designed to work with any OSR style RPG that is based on the original fantasy roleplaying game.

This PDF includes:

• 3 Monastic Knight Character Classes
• A "White Box" addendum
• Fully illustrated Character Sheets
• Sample maps of Monasteries "
  
  Right so this isn't so much a review as a sorta of article on why  Monastic Knights exist. As is the fact that the Monastic Knights does exist! These knightly orders exist to provide the DM a character class that bridges the gap between the cleric & the fighter class asthetic. And they do it very well! The  Monastic Knights are only written within nineteen pages of very tight descriptions & classes. These knightly orders are up to Night Owl Workshop's usual standards. 
  Knights of Sanctity (Sanctifiers) are good balance between the healer roles that we see in clerics & the kick ass for good types that we've seen before. The difference here is the fact that the Knights of Sanctity (Sanctifiers) bring a bit more of the martial to the table top. Yes they are servants of good but no the will murder you in the name of said good in the blink of an eye. 
  Knights of Ardor (Ardents) are the next up and here is more healer then martial warrior but that doesn't mean that they won't fight. It seemly means that they're reluctant too. They remind me of many army veterans that I've played with. 
  When you need martial & millitary knightly orders the Knights of Vindication (Vindicators) is the route to go. These guys go into dungeons & root out evil. They put the monsters to the torch & don't look back untill the gods sort it out. 
  
   Monastic Knights By Thomas Denmark From Night Owl Workshop isn't going to put your nose out of joint instead it's going to act as breidge gap between clerics & paladins. Knights act as hand of both the royals & gods with the common folks. All in All I believe that  Monastic Knights By Thomas Denmark From Night Owl Workshop is a good buy! 
  
  
   Monastic Knights By Thomas Denmark From Night Owl Workshop Is Available Right Here 
  
  

Commentary & Review on The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer by James Mishler & Jodi Moran-Mishler From James Mishler Games

 "Jordvann was once a land dedicated to Law and Good, until the rise of Eldisor, the Devil’s-Son, who together with his hordes of giants, dragons, trolls, ogres, orcs, and goblins conquered the land, reduced the people to slavery, and brought down Fimbul Winter, which caused empires to fall world-wide. Eldisor ruled for 400 years, until he was slain or brought low during a rebellion of his captains, the Old Evils. Fimbul Winter ended, and civilization rose again elsewhere, while the survivors on the Isle of Eldisor sought to stay alive between the warring Old Evils."

"Now, descendants (or claimed descendants) of exiled Jordvanner have settled the southern verge of the southern portion of the island, building colonies and rebuilding civilization among the monstrous and savage peoples of the isle. Little is known of the Isle of Eldisor, and what little is known is merely myth, legend, and rumor. The adventurers can partake of the return to the Isle of Eldisor in many ways – find and recover the lost treasures of the ancient civilization; discover, ally, and trade with the savage descendants of the Jordvanner; battle the remaining hordes of evil giants, dragons, trolls, ogres, orcs, and goblins; or seek to re-establish the lost realm of Jordvann and protect the native peoples from the inroads of the colonial factors" 

The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer by James Mishler &  Jodi Moran-Mishler is essentially a campaign jump off book & starter campaign all in one on the edge of an established evil empire state. The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer rocks in at Seventy Six pages with everything from natural random disasters to full on evil minions as hexcrawl encounters. The idea of the PC's being colonists on the isle is a brilliant one enabling the campaign to kick off in any direction. The illusion of free will is maintained with some excellent encounters. 

This is a deceptive campaign in the sense that  The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer  doesn't seem like a long campaign. But  The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer is going to take months to get through. Playing through this campaign means going through the isle timeline in ways that are going to be rocking the PC's hard. Expect to lose a few PC's along the way as you try to   re-establish the lost realm of Jordvann. The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer is more then its parts because this is a well established state of evil. The Evil here is dark, deadly, and dangerous as both threat & governing powers. Adventuring here is going to take cunning & more then a bit of stealth. 
The Mishlers writing is tight & the ideas here are rich with possiblities within 

the  Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer. There's an undercurrent of unsettled violence & possible revolution brewing just under the surface of the campaign setting.  The savage descendants of the Jordvanner have unfinished business within the campaign  and it shows.  Is there evil to fight with a capital 'E' here?! Yes in many ways there are because the

Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer is an unsettled land in every sense of the word. The world is in a state of flux and the old powers are dying by inches but the new ones haven't settled on their roles yet. This is prime time for a group of PC's to take back the isle!  For OSR games the isle and its environs are a place to reforge a lost society & fight the powers of evil in spades. For Swords & Wizardry The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer by James Mishler &  Jodi Moran-Mishler is an excellent point ot being adventuring. 

The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer by James Mishler &  Jodi Moran-Mishler From James Mishler Games Is Available Right Here 

 

From Greyhawk To The Warden - Starship Warden Actual Play Session Report One

So the party has been playing in S3 Expediation to the Barrier Peaks and rounding up some of the monsters that have escaped into the wilds of Greyhawk. But they came face to face with a giant mutant Chicken ogre and almost bought it! It took seven players to take down the thing & then cries of woe as the Colonial Sanders jokes flew or laid an egg. As the party dove for cover as the mutant chicken orgre's corpse exploded like a fire ball! 

 Its been a couple of months sincce my party of adventurers signed up for Troll Lords The Starship Warden campaign. And two of the players have had scheduling difficulties and so its force me to consider moving on. Now to boast player  numbers we're going to be adding in our regular Castles & Crusades group into a rotating roaster for the Warden game. Now I'm taking over DM Steve's C&C game on Saturday nights. 

 

DM Steve has been running a modified Greyhawk campaign & the player's PC's have run straight into S3  Expediation To The Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax! They've made it to the teleporter & have been messing with it on & off for a few months. After going outside the wreck to stop some of the rampaging monsters. The party has a hold over from our Amazing Adventures campaign who stayed behind in Greyhawk who thinks he's got the teleporter umm 'fixed'. So this week's game the gang teleported aboard the Warden! 

For the moment they have no idea where they are! The party right at the moment is inside an engineering section between decks. And there was a welcome waiting for the party in Sunday night's game. Alternative armies miniatures does the dreaded mutant miniature  Clukkatrix ;"These beasts are what nightmares are made, huge mutated chukk let loose on the enemy in a whirl of claws and feathers, a terrible sight to behold. When a chukk warrior has been "evolved" through either over stimulation, or artificially, it may become a Warp-chukk, or indeed a monstorous Clukkatrix. So wild and dangerous are they, that any mind control methods are no use any more, and these creatures are free to roam where ever they like, attacking anything in sight and devouring the victims." 

Clukkatrix have several deadly forms of attack, a sharp razor like beak and claws, slash, peck and rend the enemy (and ally) to a bloody pulp, while their noxious belches and farts release clouds of deadly poisonous gas that are generated from the rapid mutations. Often this gas build up leads to them exploding when destroyed, causing even more gore and carnage. " 

Will The party survive against this dread mutant from the depths of Warden's cloning vats?! Will they figure it all out by next week!? 

Old Friends & Enemies in Alexander Marcus's Ascendant Rpg

 So tonight I ordered a phyiscal copy of  Alexander Marcus's Ascendant Rpg because over the past two weeks we've been reading the pdf. But like always my eyes are getting ready to bleed out of their sockets. Well, with very little preperation my order to Drivethrurpg was put in. Fingers crossed on the book getting here pretty quickly. 

Reading through Alexander Marcus's Ascendant Rpg several things cropped up and one of them happened to be an Ascendant named Khepri. Now if your are one of those Adventurer, Conqueror, King fan boys like myself. Then your familiar with these monsters & I don't use that turn lightly. These guys are the worst. Basically the Khepri are god like instellar insects who pass themselves off as the gods of old. And in ACK's they've been doing this schitck since time began. Khepri is one of this race of monster's avitars. Or at least that's how I'm spinning it for Ascendant. 

Khepri brings two things to the table as an NPC, one he's not one of the newly Ascendant's on the scene & two the US government is lying about the origin point of these super humans. Alexander Marcus  makes no secret of this origin point going so far as to say in interviews the heroes & man of renowned of old  were Ascendants. And this fact is something that I believe will go on to color many of the Ascendant comic books coming in the Indie Go Go project. 

Review & Commentary On Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier by Michael Johnson from Moontoad Publishing

 "Standard Imperial classification for a small starship purposed specifically for use within the Imperial interstellar Scout Service or operated by detached scouts of said service.

These ships are typically of one hundred displacement tonnes and capable of a two parsec jump."

Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier by Michael Johnson from Moontoad Publishing is based on the iconic starship from the classic 2d6 Science Fiction rpg. And this is an excellent adventurer starship & most of the activitiy with this iconic starship is the fact that it has an excellent write up with variant models, crews, and adventure seeds. 
These starships are the work horses between star systems and they carry smaller cargos. But these are really 'sunshine' starships flitting from sector to sectors bringing news, cargo, and adventure opportunities. Where Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier by Michael Johnson really shines is the fact that it gives the DM a fully fleshed out crew & adventure seeds. The blue prints, plans, etc. of the Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier are top notch. For the price its an excellent little ship for a group of starting adventurers. 
For modern 2d6 Cepheus Engine adventures and campaigns Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier is a perfect framing device for adventures. And I believe that Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier is a perfect fit for Independence Games Clement Sector. 

The Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier is a perfect fit for the Space Western campaign setting. The reason is the fact is the starship fits the courier role so well and is perfect for evading space pirates & outlaws. Our perfect VIP starship & courier is right here. And recovery of said VIP is another adventure opportunity for the PC's. 
The Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier is the perfect starship for the mining or  prospecting or explorer mission goal post. The variant starships  have bags of character for a mining or exploration  campaign. 

Ship Book:Type S Scout/Courier by Michael Johnson from Moontoad Publishing Is Available Here 

First Impressions & Commentary On The Hyperborea Rpg Third Edition From North Wind Adventures

 The Hyperborea rpg has had some of the same shipping issues for books  that has plagued a ton of Kickstarters in 2021 and even in 2022. The pdf's of the Hyperborea players handbook 3rd edition are already on Drivethrurpg & so is the Hyperborea RPG Referee's Manual . And these came via my email from the Kickstarter & since there are players itching get in on the Sword & Sorcery action!  It was natural that my local printer would get these both done. These are basically the table copies of Hyperborea for the players to mess with. The actual books never leave our house. This has been our policy since every edition of Hyperborea. 

Now some critisms have been leveled at the game setting by one of our regular players and its this. If Hyperborea is such a God  awful Winter bound place where exactly is all of the food coming from for the people who inhabit the lands?! Now this has been plaguing me for a couple of days. My answers are three fold possibly geo thermal gardens below some of the kingdoms attended by slaves & workers. A good portion of the fish & vegitation  comes from the underwater gardens  and below the ocean fish farming. Making the Atlanteans far more important to Hyperborea then at first it seems. 

Looking over the Hyperborea Rpg Referee's Manual something become aboundily clear the whole monster vs human ecological system is predator heavy.

 

Really predator heavy & to support that there has to be overwhelming areas of farming to support the prey animals for this. And the Sun is a weak red wreck of a star and so that leaves another possibility. And that's that there are volcanic heated  pockets of farmland below ground in vast underborea chambers. But who the Hell is mantaining these farms?! The answer in my mind is the Dwarves and possibly the Worms of the Earth. Think about it. Huge underworld farms maintained by undead slaves overseen at its top down echelons by the Dwarves. They trade with the above ground humans for breeding stock & whatnot. Making the Dwarves the last faction you want to piss off on Hyperborea. And in point of fact The Stack Exchange website has a thread on underground food production here. 

When you really start looking into the food issue then it becomes clear who or what is supporting all of the numerous tribes of humans across Hyperborea. The primitive cavemen & tribes sure are migrating and hunting mastodons &  woolly mammoth herds across Hyperborea. Deep down in the volcanic fissure heated jungles across Hyperborea there are are going to hundreds if not thousands of primitive farms and herding areas. All of these are going to be highly organized & there could be farming guilds. Now if none of this sounds exciting, please think again. Because scattered across Hyperborea are lots of ancient magical & highly technological artifacts, treasures, remains, etc. And some of those are going to highly radioactive, dangerous, and perhaps even fatal to crops or fishing. So the wizards guilds, and magicians organizations may have adventurers for the purposes of disposing of these.

The guilds on Hyperborea are going to wield incredible power and the rulers are going to have to walk a fine line with these guilds. The guilds of the farmers & food growers are going to be the power behind the royals. 

Insterstellar Colony Campaign Set Up With New Liberty For The Clement Sector

 Fading back to the idea of the Space Western, we're thinking of fading back to the idea of the  PC's beginnning the Clement Sector in the New Liberty holiday colony. The Clement Sector's subsectors could easily support this little Western style colony on the world of the Frontier. But there's a lot more to the colony then at first might meet the player's PC's eyes. 

The New Liberty colony terrority has some excellent potential as a gold, silver, & rare Earth metals resource. This is going to draw all kinds of NPC's to the colony. The use of archaic guns is easily explained with some strange radioactive element that causes bad reactions in modern gun powder. The older 'cowboy' mixes don't have this problem. 
Now New Liberty is the perfect venue to host a bunch of vile villains & some of these are easily teased up & transported from 21 Villians from Independence Games. 

New Liberty has some advantages as a world & not simply its mineral wealth but its position in space just off of the major interstellar trade routes. And the fact that the O'Malley Crime Family has interests on New Liberty. This give the crime syndicate a far greater advantages on this world. There's also kinds of faction within New Liberty & the player's have no idea of the hornet's nest that their walking into! 

Crossing The Green River - Remebering Things I Don't Know - Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Session one report

"Homeless people have been disappearing all over California & no one knows what's happened to them? And then ordinary citizens of Hollywood and Beverly Hills begin to disappear without a trace. And this is when the vampires and the creatures of the night begin to notice. The FBI & even the CIA are called in to no avail. The vampires notice when ten per cent of the population disappears in one night" 

All of our action takes place deep in the California night!' 

The PC's are called in as a 'Strike Team' from each of the supernatural courts of the night. This is going to require investigation & finesse. The player's PC's began to get on track when a vampire family goes missing. And they went to the Beverly Hills mansion and ran smack into a group of strange hunched back grey creatures. None of the players recognized the monsters! Trolls, Orcs, etc. nope & nope was my answer. These things were tough & they immediately attacked the PC's! 
'The humanoids are massively musceled with strange with hump like organ on their backs. They stand at least eight to ten feet tall. And they have wicked teeth grinning at you  along with staring yellow grey eyes just staring blankly with rage! ' As soon as your spotted they attack! 
Abhuman tribesmen 
No. Appearing: 2-12
AC: 7
Move: 50 ft.
Hit Dice: 3
Special: They can hurl  debris  or a rock dealing 2d6 damage and keeping the best of the two.*

XP VALUE: 50

The family of vampires had been impaled on the remains of the house's structure and the savage monsters had set the house on fire when the PC's interrupted them! After attacking the PC's the horrors escaped out the windows as the house began to burn. We're playing a cinematic game as you can tell. The next morning two of the PC's human NPC retainers were able to get the police report and the head vampire of the family was a curio & antique's dealer. Mr. Harold Donner was a very middle tier dealer in fine antiques. Well the players wanted info and that meant the '26 Hour Club' a supernaturals only club run by the Druidess.  The Druidess is a Fey of indetermine court origin who runs the club for unknown powers.

I often buy a clipart critter for special NPC's this one comes from the Drudic Femme Fatale . This is the Druidess in our campaign, the matron & headwatress of the 26th club. 

 The '26 Hour' club is also an information brokering house & plays very prominiant role in our other campaign. The other player's PC's are the 'house staff' who run trouble shooting organization for supernaturals. 
Anyhow the PC's found out that an artifact called the Crimson Carbuncle had been stolen from Mr. Harold Donner. And strangely each time the Crimson Carbuncle is a mind enhancing artifact able to provide the user with visions of future events. The Crimson Carbuncle is a part of a collection of three such artifacts including another gem called the Waters of the Green River. The Green River is on display at Mr. Harold Donner's Beverly Hills antique shop.  The PC's paid the Druidess in two future favors or missions coming up. And left... Tune in next week for further developments. 

Mike Stewart's Victorious Rpg Mini Campaign - 'The Twelve Days of Saturnalia'! leads Into 'The Saturnalia Shutdown' Session Update & End

 When one of the 'heroes' that the PC's 'saved' in our 'The Twelve Days of Saturnalia'! turned on them & tried stab them with a ritual sword! Things went from bad to sorta worse. Everything hinges on this blog entry here. 

This leg of the mini campaign happened last night & yes its several weeks late. But scheduling has been a problem between the weather & work commitments. But we managed to get together to game and dove deep into London town. The back alleys of London were the site for a 12 days of Saturnalia holiday themed game mini campaign using Mike Stewart's Victorious Rpg!. There were lots of dark Fey on the streets of London using the zeitgeist of humanity to take on familiar popular pop  cultural icons. The party wasn't having any of it. They saved folks but made their way to the center of the occult energies where they saw a costumed man being 'assaulted' by a bunch of these Fey feeding on the occult energies. 

They freed the costumed man whom they assumed was another costumed adventurer but at a critical juncture when they were going to save the children who were going to fed into an avitar of Saturn. The costumed man turned out to be one of the main priests of Saturn who was stunned by Northern Lights. The Icelandic adventurer stuned the priest and the party left him for the authorites to deal with. They were able to save the children while using iron bars to keep the Fey at a disadvantage. The Leichester Wonder was however bitten by a rampaging cat demon but managed to destroy the thing with one of his ray pistols. 

The rest of the party managed to deal with the Unseelie Court by getting a choir together to sing holy Christmas hymns to drive back the Fey. And it worked with a number of Charisma & performance rolls! The night wrapped up with the arrests of the cult & the return of the children. The two wizards of Camelot who are a part of our crew banished the avitar of Saturn when the thing's cult collapsed! All in all a good night!  

Mike Stewart's Victorious Rpg is Availabe Right Here 

The Good, The Bad, & The Assassins - Commentary On Using the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book Winds of Chance (Arduin Grimoire volume 8) from Emperor's Choice For Dungeon & Adventure Design With

  The 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book Winds of Chance (Arduin Grimoire volume 8) from Emperor's Choice is an odd supplement in a way because it concentrates on some of the seedier sides of Dave Hargrave's Arduin rpg setting. 

This blog entry is gonna pick right up from here. The 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book Winds of Chance aside from having a kick ass cover of the Ripley. Has an extensive deep dive into Arduin's underworld with the infamous Black Lotus Society, Thieves & Assassins Guilds, because this is some of the backbone of the criminial elements within the campaign setting. And we are talking both high end murder and asssasination here. There's very little sugar coating when it comes across  because all of this crime filters down into the street gangs of Arduin. 

Now I've said it before but let me say it again, Dave Hargrave has with  the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book created an Arduin campaign setting centric tool box. And the rest of his Arduin books expand upon & enhance this tool kit & modular rpg nature of his creation. Crime on Arduin is serious business. Because the gangs & criminal organizations of  of Arduin are  very dangerous. These gangs move across vast arrays of the multiverse through high end renagade wizards who are in the guilds employ. 
This is made clear within the Arduin books time & again. Because the thieves & asssasins guilds were clearly on the path to expanding their terrorities. And they were more then willing to do this through agents, thieves, and assasssins. This goes back into the the highest ranks of the royals a subject  also covered in Winds of Change.  

Back when my uncle was runnning Arduin there was a very nasty war between Greyhawk's thieves guilds & Arduin with the Assassins guilds on both sides picking up very lucritive contracts on both sides. This would lead into our facing down the slavers from A1 -4 Scourge of the Slave Lords by Gary Gygax but at the time we didn't know it?! 

Winds of Change does its job very well taking the three major Arduin Grimoire Trilogy books & expanding once again the scope & breath of Dave Hargrave's vision.