Four Days To Go On Mark Taormino's 'The Secret Machines Of The Star Spawn' Adventure Kickstarter For Your Old School Campaigns

Get On Board Right Over
HERE

Well there's only four days to go on Mark Taormino's old school adventure 'The Secret Machines Of The Star Spawn'. I'd love to see a few more perks unlocked on this one and it looks like it would be a fantastic crawl for a party to help out Chocolate Thunder and Otto The Viking!
There are four days left and while the adventure is 'funded' and its ready to go off, there are still a boat load of stretch goals to pack this adventure to the gills with more encounters, maps, bonus levels, and still more.
After reading & reviewing the Hanging Coffins of the Vampire adventure, I can tell you that this one is going to rock. There's some great goals that have already hit the mark but with only four days to go there still time.


 The plot goes down something like this : 

Locals have been hearing whispers of strange happenings around the Ancient Volcano. Rumors over the last few months of an unspeakable evil that has risen up inside. An evil that “fell from the stars.” They say there is something wicked and devilish going on inside. Highwaymen report of strange creatures, mechanical monsters, and "Little Green Men" that are roaming the land causing chaos and mayhem! 

The locals are at their wits end. They put out a call for the bravest, the strongest, the smartest group of adventurers they could find... and unfortunately for them, your group has "answered the call." You and your stalwart band of adventurers know exactly what to do...  plunder the mountain for the treasure within! And maybe figure out what those pesky locals are bitching about!

Half of the adventure takes place in the Volcano Dungeon Lair and the other half on a huge, Futuristic Spaceship which the Star Spawn has had "parked" above the planet unknown to anyone for the last 1000 years! If we can hit enough stretch goals we'll "unlock" more encounters, dungeon levels and ship levels etc!

 Because of the generic nature of the adventures that Maximum Mayhem Dungeons design they can be used with a wide variety of the original system, OSR retro clones systems,

 and derivatives of the world's most popular fantasy game.

According to the website : 

Adventure Module used with OSRIC(tm) or adapted to DCC, Pathfinder, D20, Labyrinth Lord, BFRPG, Swords & Wizardry, or FRP OGL v1.0a!

 This makes this style of adventure very economical and an easy plug and play fit for your style of campaign. 

But there's only four days left on this kickstarter and there's more rewards, more levels, etc. 

So get aboard the Secret Machine kickstarter today before its too late!
I've seen the quality of what Mark puts into his product and he has been working on this adventure for a while. I can say with confidence that this will meet or beat the energy and gamibility of the 'Hanging Coffins Of The Vampire Queen'. 

Free OSR Resource - OD&DITIES Issue #1 From Dragon's Foot For Your Old School Campaigns On The Dark Corner Blog

Today I take a quick look at this free resource for OD&D on the Dark Corners Blog from Dragon's foot. OD&DITIES Issue #1 is a nice little free resource for OD&D that has some great little resources for your old school campaigns, this magazine is prefect for both retroclone gaming and Original Dungeons and Dragons.
See for yourself right over
HERE

Review and Commentary On The New X men Days Of Future Past Trailer And It's impact on Your Old School Super Hero Campaigns

This looks like the X men movie that we've been waiting for? Or is it? It's really interesting looking and with so many Marvel properties in the mix now a days things are very busy for an old comic book fan like me. It's nice to see Bryan Singer returning to the directing chair. The reason I say this is because from a  cohesion of storyline stand point I've gotten a bit tired of redo's and recons of Marvel properties.

I would love to see a tie in with Agents of Shield or some of the other Marvel properties but the problem is that these properties are scattered to the four winds by the various studios. A fact that seems to escape some folks. Here's a break down over HERE

Many of the players here are from the X men First Class movie and as we wander down the movie version of the Days of Future Past, things are starting to look up for this movie. I like what I see with this one. There's a vibe of the humor, pathos, and of a hint of a great movie or its it a great trailer? Hard to tell but I did enjoy First Class so we'll see what happens.

So we're going to get the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in this one and we get another round of Magneto and Charles friend ship tearing the whole tapestry  of Earth apart. Will we see a Scarlet Witch tie in with Age Of Ultron? Color me curious to say the least. 

 My criteria for these  films is that they should make me want to run an old school super heroes rpg campaign. 

So far things are sounding really solid but I just can't seem to get into the design of the new Sentinels.

There's something classic about the comic Sentinels to me. 

The Sentinels look like an I phone or tablet technologies not horrid cybernetic units  that are capable of ripping PC's apart. 

The one important point here is that the Xmen comic book is classic. And this is a movie and there are all sorts of issues putting onto screen a story line with this many comic fan's expectations. Will they nail it? 

That's going to be the real heart and soul of the matter. TSR had a very nifty way of dealing with the marketing that appealed to the fans of the Marvel comic and the game. But it always falls back to this. 

The comic book vs the movie is real the issue. The old school Marvel Superheros Heroes rpg had a very nifty time of marketing itself. Especially the Days of Future Past Adventures, they took place within your home town. The  dystopianism was knocking right on your campaign's front door and it was coming to kick your PC's teeth in. 

As the adventure story line continued your PC's were hunted, exploited,humiliated, and almost sentinel bate at least a couple of times. That's only in the first adventure BTW and I ran the hell out of this one back in the nether reaches of my misspent youth.
 Surviving such a programme is isn't easy but the fact that these now classic adventures are available for free makes me very curious to run em and see how they hold up.
They're all available right over HERE

The First Four Minutes Of Captain America The Winter Soldier Trailer and It's Influence On Your Old School Super Hero Campaigns

To say I'm excited is an understatement for this film. The storyline has been kicking around Marvel comics for some time however. The movie looks hands down excellent and the vibe is very exciting to say the least.
The vibe of the movie seems to follow a bit of the Marvel Ultimate's line. Given that Cap is such a fixture of  the old Marvel Super Heroes Rpg it follows that this movie is going to pump a whole lot of juice back into that old school rpg. 

The Plot :  Steve Rogers resides peacefully in Washington, D.C., struggling to adapt to contemporary society. However, after a S.H.I.E.L.D. compatriot is assailed, Rogers becomes entangled in a mystery that may endanger the globe. Together with Natasha Romanoff, Captain America attempts to uncover the growing machination while fending off hired hit men. When the entire scheme is discovered, Captain America and the Black Widow must recruit the aid of the Falcon

 Given the times that we live in this movie seems to echo the vibes that we've seen in Agents of Shield as well as much of the 70's nostalgia and paranoia.  Given that Robert Redford is playing a senior member of Shield and its world council there are echoes of many of his roles in the writing and development of the film.

According to Wiki : 

Markus and McFeely decided the script would fall under the conspiracy genre and were heavily influenced by 3 Days of the Condor, The Parallax View, and Marathon Man.^[43] Kevin Feige described the film as a political thriller.^[65] Feige later elaborated,

In our attempt to make all of our films feel unique and feel different we found ourselves going back to things like [Three Days of the Condor]. Also the other political thrillers of the ’70s: The Parallax View, All the President's Men. This was a time that Cap existed in in the comics. He found himself in the swinging ’60s followed by the Watergate Era followed by the Reagan Era followed by where we are today. In the comics it was a hell of a journey for Steve. And we couldn’t take him through those years because in our cinematic universe he was asleep. But we wanted to force him to confront that kind of moral conundrum, something with that ’70s flavor. And in our film that takes the form of S.H.I.E.L.D

 Much of this movie seems to be echoing down beat and weirdness of the 1970's Avengers, Captain America, and much of the Shield stuff from recent years. This is going to be a movie that takes no prisoners and I've played in a few Marvel Super Hero campaigns where this was the case. The system can and does echo the scope of this style of play believe it or not.

When we look into the Marvel Super Heroes Rpg there's a very dark undercurrent in the Avengers Box set and source books. This weird quasi governmental aspect to the Avengers including Captain America. Although we're not going to see Stats for the Winter Soldier. We can use the Avengers box set and source book. 

Available Right Over
HERE
 This Avengers Source book has quite a bit of detail about Shield and the background of the Avengers including most of the major players 

Right Over
HERE

Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea- As Source Material For Your Sword And Sorcery Campaign On The Dark Corner

Today we do a quick overview of a classic anime from France. The classic and widely regarded Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea for your afternoon. 

Right Over HERE

Commentary On the Up Coming Agents of Shield Episode 'Yes Men' For Your Old School Super Hero Campaign

So on the upcoming episode of Agents of Shield,
 Lady Sif is dropping in and I'm curious. I never get curious about Agents of Shield but this might an episode is making me curious.
Lady Sif has been a favorite character of mine ever since I was a kid. Maybe its the suffering romantic in me or the fact that she was so well played in the last Thor movie.



We've got her in full armor with agents tagging along on a lone bounty hunting mission from Odin.

"While the men of "Agents of SHIELD" will be enraptured with sorceress Lorelei, it's Lady Sif who catches Melinda May's eye. "She is a woman warrior and she's godlike and she has to wear these kicka** boots and I was so happy I wasn't the only one who had to walk around this awful floor and fight in high heel boots," Ming-Na Wen told Zap2it with a laugh while on set. "It was just nice to have someone else on set to empathize with."

Though Sif is on Earth for business, she's not without her (unintentional) comedic relief. "The language barriers, it was really fun to write," Whedon told Zap2it of conversations between the SHIELD team and Lady Sif. Fellow showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen added, "And seeing how she will take something literally. If Coulson will throw a line at her, she actually does the literal version of that physically."
 From what I've seen the fans are going to eat this episode up with a spoon. There are a ton of Marvel references in it and some really interesting interactions. It features Lorelei whose perhaps one of my all time favorite Asgardain characters. If they bring in the Executor then that's all right with me. 

We start throwing around Asgardian Super Science and 'gods' then we're entering the deep end of the Marvel Super Heroes universe. Here even the minor characters can wield power cosmic level problems. Then there's the fall out that is still echoing in from the 'Thor Dark World' Affair. Seriously, Shield cleaned all that debacle up and sent it off into space?

Could some of the Dark Elf technology land in your OD&D campaign only to cause even more problems and issues for those who handle it?
Short answer 'yes'. 


Umm sure it did and there's no room for your PC's to help deal with the blow back from it still going on. I'd say its time to download a copy of the Avenger's source book from HERE 
Get back into the super hero game figuring out why one of the most dangerous wizards of Asgard is on Earth and what she's hidden upon planet. There are a metric ton of ideas still waiting around from the 60's and Cold War let alone this Episode!
All in all it wasn't a bad episode and I enjoyed it but this series needs to be 'great'! With a capital 'G' and this episode is a step in the right direction folks.

1d10 Random Finds From Dark Elf Invasions

1. 1d6 dark elf pieces of armor filled with weird circuitry and still functioning with minimum power. 
2. A burnt out shuttle craft and power source is gone. One wing cracked and energy weapons gone. 
3. A fungus spawn of dark elf technology nanites spreads out from a crashed vehicle.
4. 1d4 Dark Elf jewel pieces with strange technology just looking for a living host. 
5. A Dark Elf energy weapon waiting for a warrior to wield it. The thing is partially alive and has a horrid intelligence. 20% chance of this thing blowing up in your face for 1d6 damage. 
6.  1d8 broken masks with living flesh inside of them just waiting for someone to put them on. This thing will do 1d4 points of damage anyone putting this thing on. 
7. A broken energy source is just waiting for a  fool to touch it and it will explode for 1d8 points of damage. 
8. There is a broken dimensional gate and its charged. This thing will send anyone who touches it to the Dark Elf home plane. 
9. A group of 1d20 Dark Elf warriors is just waiting for a group of adventurers to stumble upon them. 
10. An Asgardian Strike team in suspension is waiting to be activated! 

Five Old School Saturday Sword and Sorcery Cartoons As Well As Free Retroclone Material For Inspiration For Your Old School Sword And Sorcery Campaigns

Want to see stats for the is guy for Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyberborea?
Let me know with a comment! 

So I've been laid low by the flu and a hard crack on the skull by a two by four during our last snow storm!
But my loss is your gain! I've been catching up with a bunch of old school Saturday morning cartoon dvds  thanks in part to my buddy Peter and some of my Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hypberborea players.
I am also posting a bunch of links for the retroclone and more material related to these far gone memories of Saturday mornings of yesteryear!
 So grab your sword, gas the chain saw, and come with us on a retroclone voyage for your old school sword and sorcery campaigns right over
HERE