Generating An Entire OSR Wild Western Bounty Hunting or Piracy Planet Campaign On The Fly

 

So you wanna make a Wild West colony world that the players haven't seen with a bunch of exotic alien straight outta of the back end of the OSR!?! Easy as pie grab your copy of  'The D10 Wild West Bounty Generator' from Den Tenor from D10 Dimensions & your copy of the Arduin Trilogy. Yes you read that right. 

Everyone on the street sees the pickpocket attempt

(Roland Brown, The Arduin Grimoire IV: The Lost Grimoire by Dave Hargrave, Dragon Tree Press, 1984)

Now roll up your bounty as per normal & then pick you other Arduin NPC bounty hunters straight out of the Trilogy book. And generate them as normal. Because Original Dungeons & Dragons or B/X Dungeons & Dragons  is so close to original Traveller this isn't going to cause any problems especially if your using an OSR game such as Stars Without Numbers..If your using Rider by Independence Games the effect comes off without a hitch as the whole campaign setting  is more then the sum of its parts. Meaning the near human as well as alien races of Arduin are simply uplifted animals or humans. And yes Manhunters: Bounty Hunters in Clement Sector Third Edition is perfect for this.  This planet isn't the Wild West though and instead could be thought of as the Privateer period during the American Civil War. And these folks are Privateer bounties instead;" During the American Civil War privateering took on several forms, including blockade running while privateering, in general, occurred in the interests of both the North and the South. Letters of marque would often be issued to private shipping companies and other private owners of ships, authorizing them to engage vessels deemed to be unfriendly to the issuing government. Crews of ships were awarded the cargo and other prizes aboard any captured vessel as an incentive to search far and wide for ships attempting to supply the Confederacy, or aid the Union, as the case may be.

During the Civil War Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued letters of marque to anyone who would employ their ship to either attack Union shipping or bring badly needed supplies through the Union blockade into southern ports" 

Next stick with the settlement creation rules from Rider to generate your Wild Western planet  settlements where you can turn in your player's PC's bounties and off you go. There are five reasons why this works: 

1. This keeps the players who have read all of the rule books off kilter. 
2. You generate bounty hunters quickly and efficiently keeping NPC's fresh in rotation
3. The Wild Western frontier of the black is very dark not everyone will know other bounty hunters  so keep in mind your player's skills & abilities when creating NPC's. 
4. This style of play has the Fire Fly tv show  & interstellar Civil War style in the back pocket for a campaign especially within the Clement Sector. 
5. The players could essentially find themselves on both sides of the law & such a conflict easily. 

Parley Around The Table - Session Report Two - Stars Without Numbers Revised/Cepheus Engine rpg Hybrid Campaign

Alright so let's dive back into the deep end of hyperspace for a moment. We'll pick this blog post up right from here.  Why? Because back when we were running Stars Without Number rpg one of our player's PC's sacrificed himself to save the rest of the player's PC's from a hyperspace beast. He was sucked into hyperspace & never seen again. Robert's character has been trapped in hyperspace since 2014 in our current Cepheus Engine/Stars Without Numbers Revised rpg campaign. Will Robert comeback? Shrug, I don't know but his PC's spectre has been casting a huge shadow across the current campaign. His PC is currently trapped in a hyperspacial corridor around a gas giant out in the outer edge of the galaxy. So for the moment Franklin is sitting on the shelf literally. 

The Fall of Man set mankind back to pre FTL but the climb back has been leaps & bounds. Are there aliens?! Yes & no, mostly these are pre & post mankind having been modified into client races. And this brings up the fact that the PC's have had to fallback onto their mega-corpation patrons from last year. And so after selling one ship they've had to buy their own Harbinger, a multi-purpose freighter from their former patrons. The experience was ummm humbling to say the least. 

And the PC's are wondering if they could pull a miracle out of their collective rearends!Now facing down  three Trent Class Apex destroyers  the players have decided to parley. And surprisingly the destroyer captains said yes. 

The captains were more then happy to parley & wondering who the Hell was poking around this God forsaken outpost. They were wondering if the players were pirates and since their letters of commerence were in order. The explained about professor Franklin being stuck in hyperspace and all three captains laughed because of the amount of radiation that was bombarding the hyperspace gate point. 

So instead the captains cut a deal with the players PC's to take valuable mining equipment from Apex's gas giant mining operation to one of their other colony holdings! From possible fight to charter in the flip of the dice. Apex literally gassed up the PC's ship & they've asked the New England Boi's to meet them at the colony using a hyperspace skiff. 

The Uninvited Guests Apex At The Table - Session Report One - Stars Without Numbers Revised/Cepheus Engine rpg Hybrid Campaign

 After cutting deals at one of the scummiest alien bases in the galaxy.The player's PC's received a signal from the outer edge of the galaxy. And so they spent the better part of 5 weeks in hypersleep. The head cold I have continues to play havoc with my head & sinuses. On the plus side, we've been able to take a hiatus on our current Stars Without Numbers Revised/Cepheus Engine rpg Hybrid Campaign.  Currently we've updated our current campaign by having the PC's exploring an abandoned base on the outter edges of the galaxy. For this we're using Moontoad Publishing's  Scout Base 947 Adventure. 

In the depths of the base are the remains of an A.I. copied from the mind of a historian & socialist played by one of our players back in 2014. Robert's PC is a clone and is still unsure if he's the master clone or simply another copy. Mega corporations have used clones of this historian in their own games and to create other A.I.'s. For the moment he is nameless & Robert's PC seemingly parished sacrificing himself to save the rest of his party. So how is an A.I. copy running a base on the edge of the galaxy. 

And that's when three Trent Class Apex destroyers showed up! These three belong to the Apex megacorporation. And the PC's have no truck with Apex a spectre outta of the past! 

To Be Continued! 

Review & Commentary On World of Bastards: Daughters of Darkness By Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room

 "World of Bastards is the name we have chosen for a series of planned scenarios taking place in the Wretched Bastards setting, the world of Antillia. There’s no metaplot, no necessary connection between the scenarios, but a few known characters, places and factions might show up in some of them. The first scenario takes place in the Var Valey, a once fertile land where the crops are now rotten. The locals believe Lord Percival, an ambitious landowner with delusions of grandeur, has angered Ksenia, goddess of Fertility. Now drop a few bastard characters into this bucolic setting and let them raise hell!"

Now I've already covered World of Bastards rpg here on the blog here. Today we're gonna cover another whole different avenue in the form of Daughters of Darkness. World of Bastards: Daughters of Darkness By Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro  From The Red Room takes place in the Var Valey, a once fertile land where the crops are now rotten. The locals believe Lord Percival, an ambitious landowner with delusions of grandeur, has angered Ksenia, goddess of Fertility. So far nothing really to write home about or so it seems. What 'World of Bastards: 'Daughters of Darkness' really is an OSR horror film homage to those European grindhouse films of yesteryear. Yesteryear being the late fifties into the late Eighties with European flare. Daughters of Darkness lives up its title in both its female protagonistic NPC's, its supernatural flare, and its body count if the PC's are not careful. 
'Daughters of Darkness' clocks in at thirty four pages of OSR  supernatural hijinks & it does it quick. We already know that Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro  are fans of both old school Kult, grind house horror movies, & more. And Daughters of Darkness shows this off in spades. We've got a fully fleshed out Var Valey with NPC's aplenty with murder, motives, and means, and this adventure really let's the  World of Bastards rpg shine. 

The writing on Daughters of Darkness is tight, the content isn't lean by any means, and the cuts into the party are going to be plenty. Daughters of Darkness is sorta like an actually useful LoFP adventure and its centered around a similar time period. Because Daughters is written by a solid pair of writers and OSR hobbyists you get a good solid horror romp. And 'Daughters of Darkness' actually has some solid chops to create an entire mini campaign around. And this is one of those inspiring adventures! Solidly done & highly entertaining. 

But whatelse could 'Daughters of Darkness' be used with?! Alright so this is a period adventure ala about the 14th through 16th centuries. And Daughters of Darkness could be used as a jump off point for a B/X game of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Now that's pretty obvious! But Daughters of Darkness could be used as a flash back adventure for another OSR B/X system in the form of Veterans of the Supernatural rpg. Its a perfect fit for a flashback adventure in which the PC's confront the evil of the Var Valey and then jump forward in time to deal with it once again. 
Do I think that 'Daughters of Darkness' is worth your time? Yes in spades! This is a great little adventure for at least three or more sessions. 

World of Bastards: Daughters of Darkness By  Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro  From The Red Room Is Available Here

More Commentary On Law & 'The Priests of The Golden Peacock' in Kuntz & Ward's 'Gods,Demi-gods, & Heroes

 This post is going to pick right up from what we spoke of yesterday on the blog. 
Let's dig deeper into the role of Law on Carcosa for a moment & its legacy with the Golden Peacock. 

So over the last forty eight hours we've been going over our notes for original Dungeons & Dragons & Gods, Demi-gods, & Heroes by Kuntz & Ward. And one of the things that has occurred to me is the amount of artifacts of Law in the Hyboria mythos that has been included! Take for example; 'HEART OF AHRIMAN Device of great power able to work over any distance, which acts as an anti magic shell for six people'. Seems like a simple & straight forward artifact that would be but consider it within the contents of the Hyboria mythology of original Dungeons & Dragons. There's a great little Carcosa thread on the original Dungeons & Dragons Facebook group here.  If we take them together with other artifacts of Law & Neutrality on Carcosa including personages. Then the struggle for Law & Chaos on the bleak Pulpy planet becomes clear. 

Take for for example; "HEART OF TAMMUZ A lawful artifact used to counter the effects of the Claw of Nergal. With this, the user can undo the action of the claw without knowing who the claw affected, merely by bringing the Heart within 500 yards of a victim."  On Carcosa these artifacts would be invaluable pieces of example of Law. Tribal coloured nations would go to war over such artifacts hence why within Gods, Demi-gods, & Heroes these would be in multi tiered dungeons of incredible complexity. Law stands for civilazition & order, on a planet such as Carcosa this means the difference between survival & death. The problem here is one of complexity & scale, because original Dungeons & Dragons is modular its easy to add or subtract supplements as needed. 
Now what is the role of neutrality & law on Carcosa?! That in my humble opinion is one of survival and eventually civilization. And this brings  Milk Tous & his ilk to Carcosa easily. Given the almost twisted Lovecraftian 'Garden of Eden' setting that is primitive Carcosa. It's easy to see why Earth bound demonic Lovecraftian enities would be right in to corrupt Carcosa & its inhabitants. 

Demoness of the Wasteland Published: May 4, 2014 by MrZarono artwork used without permission. Available here. 

OSR Review & Commentary On 'Wretched Bastards' Rpg By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente From The Red Room.

 "Wretched Bastards is a low-magic, dark fantasy role-playing game. Besides being deadly and bleak, it is meant to be sleazy. The main characters aren’t heroes at all; they are greedy, violent, lecherous, cruel, untrustworthy scoundrels. They will lie, backstab, betray, double-cross, kill, pillage and rape through this grim fantasy world. They aren’t heroes, because there are noheroes in the kingdom of Riget, only a handful in the Kharabas continent, and not a whole lot more in the world of Antillia. In Wretched Bastards low-budget European sword and sorcery movies meet spaghetti western!" 

'Wretched Bastards' Rpg By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente From The Red Room is a fifty six  page OSR  rpg retroclone that does the Sword & Sorcery genre right. Wretched Bastards into the realm of a 'beer & pretezel's friend night game' because it's easy pick up & easy go. The genre is simply every Saturday afternoon movie you've seen mashed with solid OSR system mechanics. And Wretched Bastards does an excellent job of taking the basics & running with it. If you're looking for a quick pick up OSR set of 'Wretched Bastards' Rpg is a solid rpg that allows the DM to work on the fly. 'Wretched Bastards' works on the old school PC classses & is therefore easy for anyone to pick up very quickly. 
 'Wretched Bastards' Rpg  rules are clear, concise, & easy to go to on a night to get the player's PC's into the night's adventure. 'Wretched Bastards' isn't a nice game, instead its a 'Sword & Sorcery' simulation and it does it very well. The writing in 'Wretched Bastards' Rpg is concise, to the point, and doesn't waste the DM's or the player's time. The artwork is very simple & conforms to the game's expectations without going over board into homage. 
'The Wretched Bastards' Rpg is available on Drivethrurpg here.. 

Commentary On 'The Priests of The Golden Peacock' in Kuntz & Ward's 'Gods,Demi-gods, & Heroes'

 So while going through Kuntz & Ward's 'Gods,Demi-gods, & Heroes' last night came acrossthis  reference to; "PRIESTS OF THE GOLDEN PEACOCK As a cleric These evil priests never rise higher than Bishop as per D&D. They have the power from the third level on to hide in shadows as a master thief." within the Robert E. Howard Hyboria section. Priests of the Golden Peacock are from Robert E. Howard's 'Dig Me No Grave'. If we read through the story the Fausten bargain of John Grymlann is a pretty straight forward affair. You get two hundred & fifty years of life, wealth, & eternal damnation with Milk Tous feeding on your soul for eternity. 

And there is zero doubt that the priests of the order of the golden peacock are pure evil. Reading through, 'Dig Me No Grave' the city of Koth is mentioned at least three times. Now Koth was a thriving kingdom in the Hyborian age but something horrid happened to it allowing Great Old One Malik Tous. According to the H.P. Lovecraft Wiki; " In Conan the barbarian's world, Koth is an ancient Hyborian kingdom. (CIRCLE: "The Hyborian Age" Robert E. Howard) The city of Koth could reside in this kingdom or be a remnant of it." In my own head canon the city of Koth was coming to its end & made a fausten bargain with Malik Tous. The Great Old claimed the place as his literal cold Hell on Earth. And his priests roam far & wide across the multiverse spreading his message of rebellion & corruption using their abilities to claim souls & spread chaos. 
If we're using Jason Vey's Age of Conan supplement Secrets of the Archeon then those dalleying with Malik Tous are going to be on the rough end of the corruption rules. And this is reflected in the fate of John Kirowan. "Dig Me No Grave" mentions many mythos elements including Yog-Sothoth, Koth and Yuggoth.
The Golden Peacock it's is no friend of mankind & personally even though I fit's the bill isn't an avitar of  Nyarlathotep. Personally I believe this entity is it's own entity another among numerous Lovecraftian horrors out in the world. 

OSR Campaign Commentary - Back To Original Dungeons & Dragons With A Twist of OSR Conan & Bloody, Bloody, Arduin rpg

 This past week my Spring headcold has been kicking my ass. And no it's not Covid I've gotten tested. So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about going back to original Dungeons & Dragons with all of the bells & whistles. And this brings me back to Jason Vey's Conan materials. The addition here would be using Bloody,Bloody, Arduin with it. Why? 

Stephen Fabian artwork used without permission 

Well first of all is that I want to get back to Carcosa &  Bloody,Bloody, Arduin fits the bill more. And the optional PC classes seem to be on the table with my players. Yes we're in the middle of a campaign or three already but we need to get back to our table I was told. This means going back to OD&D basics with the supplemental  options on the table. 

If the Nexus gates blow open & there's a raid into the PC's world this is how this campaign should kick off. The gates are guarded by various factions of Elves & humans at some of the fortresses surrounding the gates. But with multi colored warriors armed to the teeth pouring through with 'Jack Kirby' style weapons things should get very interesting. This is where we're going to kick things off coming up. Another PC  optional set of rules is Lost Carcosa by Tristan Tanner. The reason is simple, the alternative PC races such as Zoogs & Ghouls is very tempting to the players. The real draw from what I've heard from players  are the Lovecraftian  cleric & magic user spells. 

Where we take this will depend this week with the players but I'm hoping to plug back into Cha'alt if the players play things correctly. As we've moved up the Cha'alt timeline 

'The Charnel God' By Clark Ashton Smith & OSR Commentary Toothy Thoughts on The Charnel God

 Let's talk about what separates wheat from chaff in Swords & Sorcery literature and that's knowing the classics. In this case let's talk about the published in the March 1934 issue of Weird Tales, Clark Ashton Smith's 'The Charnel God'. This tale is the tale  of a married couple who stops in the town Zul-Bha-Sair, whose charnel  god is Mordiggian. The bride passes & the groom tries to stop the priests of Mordiggian from taking his bride. As well as steal her corpse back from the temple. 
 Because, 'The Charnel God' takes place upon Zothique the last continant of Earth. The worship of Mordiggian is something that has been going on for eons at this point;""Dimly have I heard of Mordiggian, as a legend that travellers tell in Xylac," he admitted. "But I had forgotten the name of his city; and Elaith and I came ignorantly into Zul-Bha-Sair... Even had I known, I should have doubted the terrible custom of which you inform me. ...What manner of deity is this, who imitates the hyena and the vulture? Surely he is no god, but a ghoul."

"Take heed lest you utter blasphemy," admonished the innkeeper. "Mordiggian is old and omnipotent as death. He was worshipped in former continents, before the lifting of Zothique from out the sea. Through him, we are saved from corruption and the worm. Even as the people of other places devote their dead to the consuming flame, so we of Zul-Bha-Sair deliver ours to the god. Awful is the fane, a place of terror and obscure shadow untrod by the sun, into which the dead are borne by his priests and are laid on a vast table of stone to await his coming from the nether vault in which he dwells. No living men, other than the priests, have ever beheld him; and the faces of the priests are hidden behind masks of silver, and even their hands are shrouded, that men may not gaze on them that have seen Mordiggian." 

"But there is a king in Zul-Bha-Sair, is there not? I shall appeal to him against this heinous and horrible injustice. Surely he will heed me."

"Phenquor is the king; but he could not help you even if he wished. Your appeal will not even be heard. Mordiggian is above all kings, and his law is sacred. Hark! — for already the priests come." 
So basically Mordiggian is Death in  Zul-Bha-Sair and there's no getting around that. Within the story even the king is not above the god of death. And we have the necromancer &  sorcerer named Aenon-tha who has a very curious 'arrangement' with the priests of Mordiggian.And in this arrangement that's interesting. The idea is that the necromantic spells, black rites are fine as long as the corpses don't leave the temple of Mordiggian. 
Now I think that there's a reason for this and that's simple. The priests of Mordiggian want to keep an eye necromancers just to see if their is anything new within the black arts. One of the necromancer's pupil's puts Mordiggian & his follower's position quite nicely; ""But, master," said Narghai, shivering a little beneath his robe of nacarat red, "is it wise, after all, to do this thing? Must you take the girl from the temple? Always, ere this, you have contented yourself with the brief loan that the priests allow, and have rendered back the dead in the required state of exanimation. Truly, is it well to violate the law of the god? Men say that the wrath of Mordiggian, though seldom loosed, is more dreadful than the wrath of all other deities. For this reason, none has dared to defraud him in latter years, or attempt the removal of any of the corpses from his fane. Long ago, it is told, a high noble of the city bore hence the cadaver of a woman he had loved, and fled with it into the desert; but the priests pursued him, running more swiftly than jackals ...and the fate that overtook him is a thing whereof the legends whisper but dimly." 

Mordiggian & his followers are actually quite benefitical! You've got freedom from any necromantic plagues, disposal of the corpses, and more. So in point of fact for a society that is on the Late Roman Empire scale for an OSR game Mordiggian & his cult would be a solid addition. The god & hsi cult could take care of any necromancers or black wizards threatening a city under his protection. Sure, his cult is one of chaos but its chaos with a small 'C' and its one that takes care of disease that goes along with death and funerary rites. 
But is the clerical orders & cult of Mordiggian actually one of the richest within the world. Hear me out here. All funerary rites belong to the god & his followers does this also include the treasure vaults, tombs, etc. of the kings & queens of his religion or cult?! There have to be other places on  Zothique & off world  where these rites also took hold as well. 
Here are Seven Charnel God OSR Seeds : 

1. Ruins uncovered by a sand storm have a series of funery goods associated with them. The locals want to hire adventurers and laborers to cover them even though there are rumors of gold. There are other rumors that the order of Mordiggian may be involved. 
2. A necromancer and his attendants want to hire adventurers to break into the temple of Mordiggian to reclaim the body of his master. 
3. A silver mask of the order of Mordiggian has been uncovered at a nearby dungeon and no one is sure how it got there. The artifact is considered bad luck by one & all but worth 200 gold pieces to order for one who fetches it. And brings it back to the priests. 
4. There is a small war between the cult of Osiris & the cult Mordiggian.  The body of a priest of Osisis is in the Mordiggian temple and the player's PC's are to be paid to escort the corpse  back to the temple of Osisis. The priest corpse is to be resurrected back at the temple. The priests of both gods refuse to have anything to do with each other. Can you navigate between the two cults & make a bit of coin. 
5. A field of skeletal hands appears on a farmer's land & he was going to call the cult of Mordiggian. But many of the hands of the dead clutch gold coins. He wishes to keep the gold but not anger the god. He is looking to hire adventurers to help him for a split of the gold. 
6. A necromancer is looking for an escort through the lands of Mordiggian and there's gold enough in his pockets to tempt fools. 
7. Several royal corpses have gone missing & the king wants adventurers to help him locate them before the cult of Mordiggian learns of their disappearances. 

You can read Clark Aston Smith's Charnel God Here. 

OSR Review & Commentary On 'Signs of Life' By Joseph Mohr 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure For Cepheus Engine

"The Talamor Consortium has placed scientists in a domed research facility on a vacuum world in their control. It is a recently acquired planet and competitors have wondered why for some time. The world has no known mineral or research value Suddenly this station has gone silent. The consortium is offering a significant amount of money for a mission to find out what has happened and to rescue any living scientists still on the base. "

So Joseph Mohr has a new nineteen page module suitable for your favorite Cepheus Engine rpg  called 'Signs of Life' & it's a pretty awesome little twist on the usual dungeon crawl across the asteroid because is & it's not;"The Talamor Consortium owns many worlds in the Yuam sub-sector of the Sonora sector. Most of these worlds have obvious value for trade and manufacturing. One world owned by the consortium, however, has always been a mystery to those outside of their influence. 360-530 is a world with a thick exotic atmosphere. It has no mineral deposits that anyone is aware of."

" There are no known indigenous inhabitants. There is no word of any heavy manufacturing going on there. It is just a barren rock with air that is thick and deadly to breath. Recently the consortium placed a domed research facility on the world to study who knows what. Spies from rival political factions in the sector have been unable to discern the goals of the scientists. Even the largest mega-corporations in the sector have been unable to determine the value of such a facility. Now, apparently, something has gone very wrong. There has been no contact with the station for weeks. There is no answer from any of the attempts to communicate with the facility. The travelers are summoned for a meeting with Scientist Esperanza Varga. She tells the travelers about the station and offers CR 100,000 to visit the station and find out what has gone wrong. "
Yeah so 'Signs of Life' isn't your average Cepheus Engine or 2d6 old school Science Fiction rpg adventure bug hunt. Instead this is both could be a horror and survival adventure in one but there's a huge element of corporate politic & espionage in 'Signs of Life'. 
Alright 'Signs of Life' is incredibly well done and could fit into the Hostile universe with some (very little shoe horning). That being said the fact is that its gonna be a better fit with another Cepheus Engine rpg campaign say, 'These Stars Are Ours' or 'the Earth Sector' rpg. The reason for this is while Hostile definitely has the corporate infrastracture within its pages players are going to be expecting this style of adventure. 
And that's fine because 'Signs of Life' is a great unexpected back burner adventure that reminds me of the Dark Horse Alien comicbooks expansion stories back in the 90's. 
The real reason for  'These Stars Are Ours' or 'the Earth Sector' rpg should be used is for two reasons. The Earth sector's unspoke corporate take all on the black frontier of space ideally suits 'Signs of Life'. 
Why do I say,'These Stars Are Ours' you've got some really interesting ways to connnect this adventure back to the Human vs Reticulan wars of the ancient past in Signs of Life.  But not in the ways that the players expect. Using the corporate ties to this adventure makes this have the stakes even higher to the players. 

You can grab  'Signs of Life' By Joseph Mohr 'A Pay What You Want' Adventure Right Here. 

OSR Commentary - SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City Core Rules By Bloat Games

 "

What is SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City?

From the creators of SURVIVE THIS!! Dark Places & Demogorgons comes SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City, a gritty, street-level, superhero game set in the near future.

 

Vigilante City is heavily inspired by Batman:  The Animated Series.  Along with the X-men, Spider-man and TMNT cartoons of the 1990s."

"Vigilante City utilizes the familiar ruleset of the world’s most popular fantasy RPG, mixing the old-school with modern mechanics for the best possible gaming experience. With it’s modular system design, you can easily play to the exact style of super’s game you want!"

Today's mail delivery. 

SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core Rules features ALL the rules to make a vigilante and play the game."

SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core Rules by Bloat Games is one of the books that been on our radar for a long time. And ultimately it's a superhero game or is it more?! The fact is that when we're talking about SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core Rules we're talking about a game chalk full of  PC classes & super hero powers that could be used to ultimately unlock an OSR campaign. Because SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core is a two ninety two page game of solid writing & design its easy to see how & why one would come to this conclusion. SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core is pretty much all you need with a group of players to set up PC's with a butt load of OSR customization. Between super powers, abilities, and OSR classic comicbook  goodness with just right amount of twist & turns for PC's so you end up with a group of PC's ready to take on the bad guys.  If its zombies, Eighties urban legends, villains, or worse Bloat Games has you covered. Can you use classic OSR monsters with SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City? Yes absolutely! Why because each of Bloat Games is cross compatible. 

So its pretty easy to weave into a full on Bloat Games campaign setting from the ground up. And since variety is the spice of life SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City core is a solid foundation to build from. There is a lot of crunch here allowing a player to go for Humans, Mutant Animals, Borg Conversion and Power Armor, Magic, Mutant Abilities, Psionics, Speedsters and Super Soldier Drugs. There are rules for , Background/Origins, Weapons, Equipment, Gadgets, Vehicle Upgrades, Vehicle Combat, Ranged & Melee Combat, Morale, Skills, Usage Die & more immersive play style. But this is all done from SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City Core Rules right from the book to start!

 SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City Core Rules By Bloat Games Is Available Here

Hyper Space Beasties & OSR Commentary On Crew Expendable by Chris Elliott From Zozer Games For The Hostile Rpg

"A campaign supplement detailing the nuts and bolts for haulage crews to ship cargoes to destinations. It is not a set of ‘space trading’ rules, but more about the process of getting the goods where they need to be and meeting the deadline – the adventure is developed along the way. Includes a 1000 ton starship, NPCs, rules for interstellar haulage and plenty more background on the companies and routes employed shipping good between the stars. Available from Lulu.com in print format."

 Crew Expendable by Chris Elliott From Zozer Games For The Hostile Rpg has been on my mind since reading through the alegisdownport wood press blog. Hostile is on a completely different scale then say The Clement Sector or even These Stars Are Ours when it comes to The Cephesu Engine rpg. Crew Expendable really puts the idea of haulage into the wine blackness of space & its a very scary proposition in many ways. The idea of interstellar infrastructure in Crew Expendable has the quality of the vastiness of the universe. 
But is Crew Expendable's starships actually treading on where the the monsters are?! Are we actually looking at the right universe?! Is hyperspace actually the domain of instellar monsters that we can hardly understand? Every once in a while a Rockwell Harbinger ship goes missing. Would anyone actually notice? Think about how much automation is used aboard these ships. 

These starships require a pilot, a navigator, a ship’s doctor (or medic), an engineer or two, and a sensor operator. And with the frontier so close hyperspace is the great unknown in many ways. Mankind might night have as good a grasp on hyperspace as they think. Take a look at this Brown university explaination of hyperspace. 
These hyperthetical hyperspace  beasts could be made from exotic matter that we hardly understand. These beasts might not even count as life as we know it. But instead actually be energy lifeforms that swims through the undercurrents of the undereality of hyperspace. 

These hyperspacial lifeform might convert anything from our universe into easily devourable energy. And because of the very nature of starships carrying such energy reserves in hyperspace which could attract these monsters. This opinion is based on this article on Space.com
Game stats might not be necessary instead using rolls & description to avoid being converted into a beast's snack. These beast might be active while the crew is in cryo sleep and only when exiting back into our universe find some vital ship system missing. 

Right now Zozer Games Hostile is a part of the Bundle of Holding promotion available until about the 4th of May.

OSR Review & Commentary On The Incompleat Olden Lands & Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent By James & Jody Moran Mishler From James Mishler Games

 "Nine years late and more than a few details short, here finally is the Incompleat Olden Lands, the gazetteer of my first new world.

"Boy howdy, did I learn a few things NOT to do with building worlds with this one. Lessons that were still not learned for a time; took a while for the lesson to take, so to speak. Biggest lesson – start small, not big! Too much, too many details, too many things to juggle in the design and development eventually bogs you down and burns you out.

I got a good bit along with this one. Maybe three-fifths of the way, perhaps somewhat more, from a glance. Some sections are mostly done; other sections are skeletal, and some are in-between."

"THIS PRODUCT IS INCOMPLETE AND DOES NOT DETAIL THE ENTIRETY OF THE OLDEN LANDS!

The Incompleat Olden Lands includes the following sections, some more complete than others:

Humans of the Olden Lands (Complete)
Demi-Humans of the Olden Lands (Complete)
Humanoids of the Olden Lands (Complete)
Languages of the Olden Lands (Complete)
Political Divisions of the Olden Lands (Various levels of completion)
Geography of the Olden Lands (Various levels of completion)
Complete Monster List by Area (Complete)
Complete Resource List by Type (Complete)
Coinage by Realm (Complete)
Titles and Order of Precedence (Very Incomplete)
Gods of the Olden Lands (Incomplete List Only) " 


Let me start off by saying that I don't look at the Incompleat Olden Lands by James & Jody Moran Mishler as an incomplete product. Let me explain & dive into the nature of the the Incompleat Olden Lands. This is an almost complete supplement which means that its an almost complete campaign setting. And its a well done campaign setting when coupled with the Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent.
Why?! Because the Incompleat Olden Lands gives the DM just enough to get started and lots of room to expand into a fully fleshed out campaign with the rest of Mishler Games products.   The Incompleat Olden Lands & Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent is an excellent side campaign setting for the  Castles & Crusades rpg. Why because almost everything is there to drag & drop a group of players into the Olden Lands. 

The maps are good and Mishler's Olden Lands setting feels like a great OSR campaign setting waiting for the DM to fill in the corners of the map. Everything is almost there & that's fine for me as a DM because the Olden Lands feels like a call back to campaign sets of yore like TSR Greyhawk's box set. Where just enough of the history, setting, and  the middle of the campagin  is filled in & you take on the rest. But the glorious maps that Mishler games includes fills in settlement details, plague areas, etc. And its all really solidly useful. The Olden Lands is perfect for a location based campaign something I'm looking into doing in the next coming months. 
Do I think that The Incompleat Olden Lands & Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent are worth getting?! Well for 7.50 you get an almost complete campaign ready to go! So in a word yes! The  Mishlers doesn't do Kickstarters they do games! Games that are meant to be played. And The Incompleat Olden Lands & Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent is an excellent example of this. 

The Incompleat Olden Lands by James & Jody Moran Mishler is available Here.
  And The Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00
 Olden Lands Continent By James & Jody Moran Mishler is Available Here