A blog about sewing machine repairs,but mainly my hobbies which include old school role playing games, science fiction,films, horror, and general geekery. Sit down and stay a spell.
I went over my friend Peter's house tonight last minute and ran a Thundarr The Barbarian/ Carcosa mash up game tonight.
This game took place in the former painted desert region of the United States after an army base had been uncovered by local warlords in cooperation with at a local wizard Valudus.
In tonight's Mutant Future Thundarr The Barbarian and Carcosa one shot the PC's were adventurers dealing with a local warlords and wizards who had teamed up to deal with several villages of locals who had uncovered a hidden base and underground bunker of the Ancients.
photo by James Melatis The fabled resting place of one of the Moon dials of the Ancients a fabulous time travel device of myth and legend. This particular Dial was supposedly cursed and led to vistas in time of forbidden and dangerous aspect.
The party met at the 'summer house' of the sorcerer Tiberius The Mad. A desert hermit who happened to have trained as a sorcerer under the alien wizard Shal -Go The Wise. Tiberius had indulged in a bit too much of the 'red weed' when a youth gaining vast insights into the nature of the planes but also gaining some frightening bouts of paranoia in the meantime. Tiberius became aware of the disappearance of the residents of Los Demenos after the local tribe of Moks went missing. The party consisted of six players and gathered at the Earth Ship 'Summer' house (more information about the house of Tiberius HERE ) in a council of war. The party consisted of six players including : Michael The Brave One Barbarian 5 th level
Shago The Magifiicant 6th level sorcerer
Shot Gun John Mutant Fighter 4th level
ORI The Mok
Jerri The Red 5th level Barbarian warrior woman from The East And Bolox The Android 5th level fighter
After riding to the abandoned village of Los Demenos, the party was ambushed by Carocs mercenaries armed with energy weapons and allowed themselves to be taken prisoner.
You can find out more about these radio controlled mechanism of menace from right over HERE
The party was taken to the canyon hanger of the Moon Dial's temple complex and fought their way almost to freedom until the ancient device activated itself hurling the party and itself though a space time window to the dread shores of Carcosa!
Needless to say that the party was pretty panicked and then they saw that the local wizard had been very busy trading a bunch of slaves for radio controlled automatons from some undead soldiers in black uniforms from a rather large saucer.Were trading with the wizard as radio controlled robotic minions watched the proceedings with faceless gazes.
Suddenly the mutant lizard men were eaten by a multi -tentacled thing of incredibly alien aspect. A spawn happened upon the proceedings and attacked all present. The party and NPC's fought the thing for what seemed like hours. Energy weapons drove the thing back but a stray bolt hit the dial activating it again! The party was carried away by another space time warp as the wizard was engulfed in the spawn's tendrils and taken to the Outer Darkness after a failed Dex roll. The party fought their way back from the time space shadow with their sorcerer's help and managed to grab the villagers and Moks from their energy cage. The PC's found themselves back on Old Earth along with the missing villagers and Moks.
An illustration of a monster in Carcosa by Rich Longmore
All in all not a bad one shot game for this evening.
Fish Wife Games cranks out a great list of local businesses that can be used as adventure location set dressings or perhaps as random encounter locations. This list sets up a fantastic number of businesses with everything a DM needs to populated your ruins or modern city locations right from the ground up.There's plenty of businesses to explore and for a party of adventurers to stumble upon. The list can be also used to randomly create a long list of quick encounter locations to populate the ruins of some random wasteland locations in the post apocalyptic landscape with little to no fuss. According to the Rpgnow blurb:
This 100 list is perfect for quickly churning out local places of business to fill up a modern setting map with. Naturally, as such, this is also a nice way of
getting an idea of what sort of businesses existed prior to a zombie apocalypse, mutant alien invasion, or nuclear war. Simply roll the percentile dice and
consult the chart for a name for each business location and the business type.
Each entry is given their own separate set up, with a quick little note and that's it. Background, monsters,etc is all up to the DM and this creates a vast amount of room for the DM to add in the flavor that they want. ?By using this product a dungeon master can create entire neighborhoods of ruins and a landscape of random consistence that can be used for anything from Mutant Future, Mutant Epoch all the way to a modern crime game all with the toss of the dice.
Using 100 Local Businesses From Fish Wife Games For Your Old School Campaigns
So because of the nature of the product there's plenty of room to sneak this into a night of gaming as OSR set dressing. The fact is that it can be used before, during, or at the time of a random ruin encounter during play. Think of the random charts that seem to populate post apocalpytic rpgs. You need a business as a back drop to that ruin you just rolled up. What is it? Why is there a ray gun there. What the heck is this place that has an L23 blaster rifle and a skeleton in body armor? Right so a look on the handy 100 local businesses and its a pizza joint. The soldier was defending a woman and child. Now that we know that its a pizza joint could there be more loot in the kitchen? That's a perfect spot for an encounter with a one eyed flying fungus colony.
To flip this situation on its ear, there's plenty of opportunity to use this list for a modern crime or super hero adventure. Your hero crashes through a store, shop, or business only to find some crime happening in the erm. Wait roll, roll, the breezy hair salon where the 'Medusa' gang has been hiding importing in energy weapons under the guise of hair products. How about a murder in the local roll,roll, bowling alley which was owned as a front for the mob and the owner's brother was a powerful Don whose eye on his brother's wife caused a rift. Not to mention the issues with local law enforcement. So it was curtains. With 100 local businesses there's plenty of opportunity to advance, use, and draw heavily on the back stories of your imagination. All this for the price of less then a fast food menu set of fries and with far more utility.
Magic Resistance: Immune to charm,sleep, and mind affecting spells
Intelligence: Nil
Size: Med-Large
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Mode: Nil
Used during the 1930's food riots and worker strikes on Earth 25 variant D, these Radio police Automatons were entirely radio controlled by a wide variety of local, state, and federal pre apocalyptic forces. These automatons were used for crowd control, military applications, and even industrial hazardous jobs where human inaction could cause loss of life. Completely radio controlled with a small portable radio receiver unit, these units are controlled by transmitter sets specially coded to transmit a signal over three miles radius or by one of the main radio towers with a kilometer radius. The radio police automatons were easily one of the most dangerous automatons used during the pre apocaylpytic years. The arms featured small rotating discs which featured lead balls on super strong metallic cords which act as billy clubs capable of breaking bone and flesh. These radio controlled horrors are capable of gliding across pavement with easy and many obstacles in wilderness areas. The automatons had interchangable appendages and tank like feet which when changed over to the off road treads were easily able to navigate many of the hazards of traditional wilderness. The whole mechanism is held upright through a series of gears and gyroscope stabilizers. Not only do the mechanisms have the lead weight attachments but have speakers capable off issuing orders and communicating with those around them. These speakers can also play music to disorient or confuse targets as well. The automatons are also capable of creating a tear gas attack equal to a stinking cloud spell up to six times a day. They also feature head lamps with intensity controls capable of making a blinding attack. All rolls at a - 4 as the light plays havoc with the senses. As the mechanical horrors move in to make claw attacks. Powered by gasoline engines these automaton were later powered by small nuclear rod fuel cells. Older models still retained the gas powered engines. These types of remote controlled radio automatons were used extensively throughout the world of the '30's and '40's of alternative Earth pre apocalypse. They were used extensively on the pre apocalpytic Mars human colonies and can still be found on Earth and Mars under the control of local warlords and A.I.'s which have the upgraded Robolink These mechanical horrors are still found extensively throughout the wastelands of this Earth and on Mars within ruins, dungeons, and deep underground where they're still being used for everything from guard duty to industrial applications. These very dangerous automatons serve even as special space exploratory drones being sent into hazardous and dangerous situations in the blackness of space. They have been found even in the remotest parts of the universe and beyond. Parts for these units are readily available and manufacturing as well as repurposing of old mechanisms has become a cottage industry into itself. Many A.I.'s use variable battalions of the Radio Police units to keep populations of mutants, aliens, and humans under complete control.
For Mutant Future
Hit Dice: 30
Frame: Bio Morph
Locomotion: Legs, Tracker Feet
Manipulators: Pincers, Lead Ball Rotors
Armor Duralloy ( AC 3)
Sensors : Older Models Class I, Newer Class II
Mental Programming: Transmitter
Accessories: Radio Link
Weapons: Tear Gas Outlets, Pincers, Lead Ball Rotors 2d6, Riot Lights As Flash Mutation or Continual Light Spell
Special thanks to Carcosa Jester and Daniel Tarte of the HP Lovecraft Historical Society for providing the wonderful inspiration and information for this horror.
Deep within the black gulfs of space are things that are unexpected and rarely seen by adventurers or mankind. There weird and strange atavistic lifeforms that rarely see another sentient presence let alone mankind. Here's a table of random encounters with some of the more unusual and unexpected of these visitors some are outside our normal space time continuum.
1d10 Random Unexpected Life Forms Encounter Table
A crackling ball of blue green plasma actually a fellow explorer from beyond the sphere of our normal experience. 2nd level fighter and capable of delivering dangerous jolt for 2d6 points of damage.
Spinning energy vortex of alien radiation, not known if its alive even but causes cancer & mutational damage to targets.
Weird gaseous life form actually the emanations of a god thing now gaining sentience and looking for purpose as well as food.
The mental presence of a Great Race being witnessing history and karma. Very psychic and more then slightly dangerous.
Spinning crystal being thing looking for experimental subjects to exercise its cosmic powers on and slaves to take back to its alien dimension.
Strange explorer made from the dead souls of a million alien dead now looking to eat and swallow souls on this plane of existence.
Elemental god thing looking to study the intricate machine life forms of this time space continuum despite the flesh bags of water that get in the way. Attacks with a 3d6 electromagnetic pulse attack.
Whirling gas thing from a nearby gas giant looking for a possible escapee from his civilization. Carries a wide array of sanity cracking formulas that it can telepathically attack with.
A greater truth thought form of the universe looking to implant itself and reproduce within the minds and hearts of lower life forms.
The thought dream self of a higher register of a star spawn of Cthulhu. Very dangerous and hungry.
Come with us now as we brave the dark ice swept paths of the forest and explore places where only brave fools and adventurers trod. We will be taking a look at the Winds of the Ice Forest Adventure on The Dark Corner Blog today. With special attention to adapting it to The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system. Right over HERE
Adventurers and reprobate heroes are likely to run across random and somewhat dangerous items that seem to be attracted by the floats om and jetsam of Voivodja. The place is a whirl pool of hoary and dangerously imaginative evocative weirdness that picks up on the collective unconsciousness of the fairy tale like madness of the place and its vampire faction inhabitants. Here then are a chart of 1d10 bits and pieces of strange, unusual, sometimes destructive items that are found along the fairy pathways, roads, and worse as you make your way to the lands of the high weird.
1d10 Random Finds From Across Space And The Planes Table
A gossamer shroud of shadow stuff belonging to some noble vampire whose family is worried sick about the missing shadow. The semi living stuff is looking for some male or female vampire's soul to attach to. This treasured stuff can slip into the sbackground of a PC, it allows them to hide in shadows and see the invisible.
An ornate knife that allows its user to cut and stab beings that are seemingly immune to the effects of physical objects and magical weapons. This knife has a secret compartment that holds a dram of demon's blood. The knife can also slice half truths well and was forged in the heart blood of a thousand lawyers.
A short sword made of the remains of several pairs of glass slippers. The sword is a +2 weapon and will glow in the presence of demons or demon blooded. The thing is named Mystic Willow.
A small ornate box containing several miniature marbles which each contain a scene from a near by farm. The marbles will explode of 2d6 points of damage. The mtarbles were drawn from the fairylands and odd dreamscapes.
A spinning wheel that will spin the owner a new skein from old dreams and nightmares. The owner will be a monster every new moon. The wheel will prick whomever is using it and activate with a drop of blood.
An ancient deck of Tarot cards each deck is unique and has been created by an artist with hand painted cards each one able to bestow a vision of a possible future. The dreams and visions will animate by fairies bound within the cards.
A dagger fashioned from a piece of wrought iron from Hell. The dagger is cold and icy able to cut the heart from a vampire.
A collar for a griffon made from dwarven gold able to resist any escape attempt but able to be removed with a whispered song of old. The collar could be used for a human and it will add +1 to charisma.
A silver pocket watch able to stop time for one minute. The powers itself from the blood of its owner with giant silver needle that will do two points of damage every new moon. The needle is a small +1 dagger in its own right.
A small set of silver and gold fangs carefully artistically created to magically fit into a person's mouth. The fangs will add one point of damage each time they are used to draw blood. The fangs will telepathically and magically relate the latest gossip from fairy land and magically make its owner feel awake and alive. The fangs add +2 points during seduction and feeding attempts.
This is merely a small selection of the objects and treasure floating around planes and byways near Voivodja
These types of treasure will most likely have weird and strange guardians nearby to destroy any interlopers into the realm of Voivodja. The undead hordes will try to stay one step ahead of adventurers who come into possession of these items.
HERE Another Monday brings another free old school Skywald download, Psycho magazine was always a favorite of mine. It was a perfect blend of high weirdness, old school horror, and more. This issue features some impressive offerings. Skywald has a distinctive feel by comparison to the Warren Publishing affairs. Some of their material seems a tad more lurid and on edge or perhaps that's just me.
We start out right out the gate with a look at the Grand_Guignol which if you haven't used this vernerible theater of the mind and blood for your old school games especially Call of Cthulhu or Lamentations of the Flame Princess as backdrop material clink on the link.
It doesn't get any more perfect to set your investigators or adventurrs on edge then the grand illusions and plays of the theater of blood. Place it as you will and enjoy the spectacles.
A Gargoyle - A Man is a very interesting twist on a very old tale. This tale features the first appearance of a pair of very unlikely and wonderful heroes in the form of a husband and wife set of gargoyles. If you've never thought of a monster as a PC then this is an excellent resource to start with. There are echoes of the Frankenstein myth mixed in with low level Satanic cult and their demonic Lovecraftian horrific minion. This story is a nice gate way for a horror campaign where man is more of the monster and the monsters are far more humane then the men. Another nice e middle article on Lon Chaney Sr., there's actually a really nice little resource as film catalog of some of Chaney's best and most interesting films. Good fodder for an old school horror DM or players, Chaney never disappoints. Devil's Woman is simply perfect for a Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg or Call of Cthulhu rpg set of NPC's . A down and dirty cult of occultists right out of a Hammer film done right. Marv Wolfman, Andru, and Esposito crank up the occult action in this one with monster straight out of the Lamentations summoning spell table. A nasty little cult perfect to unleash on a modern or Renaissance or psuedo European dark fantasy country of your choice. 'Have You Ever Seen The Black Rain' is a multi chapter whirl wind of Dark Fantasy and horror in the weird Hammer style of Skywald. This is a nice take on the dark legacies that were spun out in the Gothic penny dreadfuls and are perfect fodder for a dark legacy in the New World. Nice background fodder for a CoC adventure or an old school horror story. 'Filthy Little House of Vodoo ' makes an excellent adventure location for any old school horror game but CoC comes to mind with a Seventies dark background. It includes a nice set up for a sprawling NPC wizard and packs of ghouls roaming the countryside. A Bad Choke is a nod back to the ghost stories of the Fifties and makes a nice little quick encounter with ends of the dire attentions of a ghost. The PC's come in right at the end and the action can pick up from there. City of Crypts - One part dark adventure encounter, one part CoC fodder, and the perfect twist on the Egyptian mummy story with a boomerang thrown in at the end. The PC's come in find the 'girl' and there's the potential for a very large lost city mega dungeon. Which brings us to the close of Issue number Eight.
In the final decade of the 21st century, men and women in rocket ships landed on the moon. By 2200 AD they had reached the other planets of our solar system. Almost at once there followed the discovery of hyperdrive through which the speed of light was first attained and later greatly surpassed. And so at last mankind began the conquest and colonization of deep space.
Opening Monologue From Forbidden Planet 1956 Out in the strange depths of space in the long isolated darkness between the stars after mankind has trodden the vast blackness and settled upon a number of worlds who knows what fate will be fall his colonies in space? Just like the classic 1956 sci fi classic Forbidden Planet, your adventurers may be hired to find out the fates of some of these 'lost' and weird colonies of mankind in the blackness. Here's a table to help.
1d10 Lost Interstellar Colonies Encounter Table
The colony has come under the influence of a weird alien artifact and has begun to resemble an insect hive in society and behavior there are strange a twisted secrets within it.
A colony of ancient Old Earther religious zealots thought long extinct is practicing ancient rites in full splendor and including among its ranks human sacrifice. Could an ancient alien power have taken over?
A group of never before seen aliens is now living along side the colonists and colonists have mutated in unexpected ways. What's happening with the colony.
Weird alien artifact now sits in the middle of the colony and there are strange energy readings echoing out now from the colony. Where are the colonists? And why have all of the structures of the colony vanished?
A single ancient giant sized planetary silver sphere is in deep orbit around the colony and there are aliens down on the surface instead of the humans. Why and what has happened to the colonists?
Towering ancient Lovecraftian deities statues as large as sky scrapers dot the landscape. There are now hundreds of scattered villages across the surface of the planet and the colony is there what has happened and why are there strange life form readings at the edge of the system.
The colony has set up an incredible unexpected power source of alien origin and generating far more power then it needs. Who or what is taking the extra power.
There are far more colonists then was originally settled upon the planet. The life form readings are strange and slightly mysterious. There is a slightly sinister air about the place as well.
An ancient monolithic giant flying saucer hovers above the colony. There are weird structures northwest of the colony and the colony is broadcasting several messages back and forth to the saucer. What is going on.
A giant sky scraper sized ruby sits next to the colony. There are weird power readings coming from under the colony and several strange stone altars around the place scattered about. The PC's receive weird telepathic dreams. They dream of ancient dragons and strange treasures deep within the mantle of the planet.
If you've been on Facebook or Twitter, Reddit, etc. This footage has been floating around the internet of the Great Martian War. Some fantastic footage of Martian war machines in a special for the History Channel. According to the History channel website of the upcoming series :
On its 100th anniversary, The Great Martian War tells the story of the catastrophic events and unimaginable horrors of 1913-17, when Humankind was pitted against a savage Alien invasion.
The mini series is actually supported right over HERE
With powerful and detailed First World War parallels, The Great Martian War fuses sci-fi fantasy with specialist factual history to explore the real-world tragedies and unique horror of World War One.
Needless to say that this is some fantastic stuff to inspire an Old School campaign right from the get go. We're given a timeline, Martian forces, background, complete battlefronts, etc. all done in the style of an alternative history from the front. Pretty much everything you could want as a set up including troop types.
This is a four year war with some very nasty bits thrown in here and there parelling HG Well's fears which were well founded of the growing threat of WWI. According to the producers the look of the special had some very definitive influences and were driven by some solid desires to capture a homage to HG Well's War of the Worlds but with their own spin on the themes and ideals set down in the Wells story :
What better way to frame a convincing allegory about WWI than to build it within a story world and against an enemy that would have been familiar to the men and women who fought the 14-18 war? War of the Worlds was a famous story to the WWI generation and how else would the people of 1913 have sought to label an Alien Invasion than to have pointed the finger of suspicion at the mysterious Red Planet.
This desire to create a war between worlds that feels like one the people of 1913 would have recognized extends to the look of the film and fake archive. Our Alien machines and the Alien technologies that are thrown against mankind in our documentary are heavy, steam shrouded, earth bound, mechanistic and grinding, just like the huge industrial weapons of WWI. It was important that the look of those Alien machines echoed contemporary Edwardian visions of what an Alien invasion would look like, anything else would have sat very unconvincingly among the archive of WWI.
Rather than approaching our sci-fi elements from the perspective of the here-and-now, it felt right to take inspiration from the great writers of the period, the true pioneers of the genre like H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs and, a little later, H.P. Lovecraft. Their perception of life beyond planet Earth and extra-terrestrial visitations from outer space was our jump-off point, and the Red Planet is of course an iconic part of that. Of course, whether the Aliens did in fact originate from Mars, or were mistakenly christened Martians by the people of 1913 eager to give a name to the enemy, is one of the things we find out in the film.
Needless to say I'm a bit excited to see the finished product. And then set down a review of it. The online support for the project is impressive and reminds me of some of the production values for a video game property rather then a History channel mini series. Here for example is a break down of some of the Martian forces which look damn impressive to me. This seems to really capture the spirit of the above comments by the producers and keep the material constant through out what they've set down in the production:
There are three types of Martian machine, each of which is given a name by the Allied soldiers at the Martian Front:
Herons
These are the largest of the three. They are up to 300 ft high, slow moving but in the early stages of the war, invulnerable to human weapons. They are armed with an energy shield, a devastating energy cannon, and surrounded by clouds of poisonous gasses that mirror the atmosphere of their pilots’ home world. What is inside each Heron is unknown at first, but it’s clear that they can lay waste to the great cities of Europe in a matter of days, and also that they act as the hub for battalions of smaller tripod war-machines, that the troops have christened 'Spiders'.
Spiders
These are the fast moving attack dogs of the Martian Invasion. 20ft high they wield a tentacle like weapon and are merciless close-quarters killing machines. The 'Spiders' appear to be acting under the command of their Heron masters, but as our story unfolds a number of key events point to a very different dynamic. For contained within the Spider machines is an important secret that will prove pivotal to the course of the war and the future path humanity takes.
Lice
These are the third type of machine, and they quickly spread a deep, penetrating terror among the men on the Martian Front. Moving only at night and in vast warming herds, these small, ground-hugging crawlers appear to be harvesting the countless dead bodies left out on the battlefield at the end of each day’s fighting. Like the Spiders, the Lice are absolutely pivotal to the entire Alien strategy - but the exact purpose of their nightly harvest out on No Man’s Land is a gnawing mystery whose eventual unravelling will have devastating effects on the common soldier and expose terrible flaws in the Allied Generals’ leadership.
As the mini series delves deeper into the backdrop of the Great Martian War there are mysteries within mysteries. We find strange and weird super science powering the Martian war machines,odd metals with dangerous properties -
As well as the three types of Alien machines, the Allies also encounter a mysterious substance, which they name ‘Victisite’. It’s a highly responsive liquid metal that powers all the Alien machines and weapons. When the Allies take possession of this alluring, seemingly intuitive wonder-material they quickly realise it could turn the tide of war in their favour and place Victisite at the heart of their own burgeoning fleet of war-machines… without stopping to consider just how different a ‘breed’ of metal Victicite might be, compared to anything ever encountered on Earth.
There are weird twisted differences from HG Well's book and such as Germany asking for help against the Martians rather then their position in WWI. Wiped out to a man this marks one of many alternative history points seen through out the mini series.
This is a really well done example of alternative pseudo history given form.
These parallels lie right at the heart of the show and there are far too many in number to mention them all but it was very important to us that every single element of our fiction, whether major incident or minor detail, should be borne out of the real events of World War One i.e. The United States, unaffected by an Alien landing in the heart of Europe, remains neutral for much of the war, men volunteer in their thousands to serve at the Martian Front, women throw themselves into the construction of munitions… We have parallels to the Christmas truce and the Angel of Mons, the sinking of the Lusitania and the bloody battles of the Somme and Verdun, and have a twisted version of the Spanish Flu feature at the climax of the global conflict.
Throughout we try to ground our outcomes to these major events in the Martian War in the true history of WWI.
So every moment of our war, from the Aliens’ arrival in 1913 to the war’s shocking conclusion in 1917, has a real-world 1914-18 parallel. And it’s also true of our story’s themes: the nature of the Alien enemy, the terrible strategy they use against us, the reasons they came to Earth in the first place, and the threat that their invasion still poses 100 years later. All these things grew out of what we felt were central truths about the nature of WWI.
Right so using 'The Mars The Great War' mini series as part of your old school campaigns really isn't that hard at all. There are several games on the market currently that will allow you to place your PC's right into the action.
All Quiet On The Martian Front is a perfect 15 mm game that has some fantastic mini's with just the right sort of flavor for this genre. Find out more on All Quiet On The Martian Front HERE
The PC's in this sort of campaign would be adventurers and mercenaries mostly likely in the employ the Allies as things become quite desperate an the Martians kick the crap out of Earth's forces on almost all fronts. Dungeons here might well be anything from the abandon cities of Europe to some weird alien war machine base or some strange ruins with vast Martian secrets waiting to be discovered. There's really a ton that can be mined from this mini series and I personally enjoyed the hell out of the mini series.
The wastelands and no man's land of Mars The Great War would be a truly terrifying place for PC's to be adventuring in. A real fight for survival against the spiders and lice through the battle fields of Europe. There is plenty of room here to use another Well's creation here to get even more milage out of this. By pairing The Great Martian War up with the Time Machine you can get a mash up time traveling campaign where the PC's find themselves right in the middle of an alternative Martian history where the world is brought right to its knees and the PC's are there at this pivotal moment in history. All in All I think that The Great Martian War is a decent homage with some really cool ideas to mine for your old school campaign.
There are technologies within old school science fiction rpg games that allow PC's to skim and harvest materials, treasures, and even spell components from the interiors of stellar nurseries where stars are born but what material will they find there? Here's a handy find chart to help sort out what things might be encountered. 1d20 Random Finds From Deep Within A Stellar Nursery Table
Star matter so dense that it must be held within a gravity controlled force field at all times. Capable of powering an entire world sized space station. Does 3d6 points of damage instantly to anyone attempting to handle it.
A baby godling held within the corona of stellar elemental energies. The thing may wake up very cranky.
A very dangerous plasma fire elemental of Max hit points. Very passionate and angry capable of destroying a small space craft easily.
Stellar nanny goddess looking after her charges and won't take kindly to intrusions
Bits and pieces of left over planet rich with semi precious metals and gems. One to two tons of material.
A group of Efreet playing in the corona of the younger stars and harvesting star material
A ribbon elemental worm feeding off the stellar material and worth a small fortune. The thing is similar to a purple worm of max hit points. The thing will spit a gob of elemental material for 3d6 points of damage.
A stellar tape worm feeding off the young stars and leaving packets of other worms in the surrounding stars.
A giant meteor caught within the gravity well of a star. Very vital elemental lifeforms and salamanders crawl over its surface. The gravitational forces can rip a space craft apart easily. But the salamanders are worth a fortune to a wizard or alchemist for space ship cores.
Plasma material semi sentient a brush of which 3d6 points of damage across radiation spectrum and magnetic range.
Young elemental prince manipulating the gravic forces around the young stars and creating proto matter for a new project. Open to trade for the material for songs and stories for an upcoming celebration.
A swarm of Mi Go harvesting rare stellar elements for a near by hive. 1d100 of the interdimensional insane bastards are swarming near the outer cloud formations.
A positive plane material elemental gathering light and stellar material and exchanging energies with the young stars. There will be 1d10 bits of dross after its done for gathering.
A colour out of space's egg spheres gathering energies. It will hatch in 1d8 days hungry for human or Earthly life force. Very dangerous cargo.
A young proto star life form looking for 'play mates' nearby is a stellar embryonic sac of material worth a small fortune. Communication is possible through radio waves.
A portal surrounded by molten gold leads to a quasar. 3d100 tons of the material can be gathered but it is not normal gold but of a type used in alchemy and super science operations.
Plasma energy life form from a nearby star making sure the latest harvest of energy goes well. A 'crop' of 4 tons of material explodes across the surface of the stars causing incredible fire works and a hoard of material that can be caught in a special magnetic field.
The fried remains of a space craft that got caught in an explosion of stellar material. Its worth a small fortune because of the drive system.
A strange alien monolith spins round gathering magnetic waves for some odd reason. Thirty three metal spheres dance around the waves. Each one is an alien solid silver metallic treasure.
An alien sphere thirty kilometers round gathers the alien energies of the stars. Strange solidified star stuff floats around just waiting to be picked up. Be careful because this stuff does 4d6 damage to anything it touches.
You can find a ton of information and pledge right over HERE
Goodman Games in partnership with Flying Buffalo is offering a wonderful little kickstarter with Grimtooth's Traps for the ultimate collection of mayhem.
According to the Kickstarter page :
All right humans, this is your chance to own the 460-page hardcover compilation of all five of my systems-neutral Grimtooth’s Traps books – plus loads of extras! We’re talking 500+ traps and maybe me making a guest appearance in a Dungeon Crawl Classics crossover module. I’m Grimtooth the Troll, and I’ll be your guide on this Kickstarter tour, so gird your loins, get your dice and let me tell you a tale
Since the early 80's the Grim Tooth's series of books has been making its appearance at my table and have served in numerous capacities over the years. The series has legions of fans & is an all time favorite of mine and now we've got a great kickstarter for this project.
The Kickstarter has made its goals and the project will hit the ground running. Some great stuff in these books.
Here's the low down on the meat and guts of the project :
This is what the humans at Goodman Games say you need to know about this Kickstarter event:
Published by Goodman Games under license from Flying Buffalo (and with my permission), this 460-page hardcover collects of all five of MY Traps books, including the original eponymous 1981 edition as well as Traps Too, Traps Fore, Traps Ate, andTraps Lite. Every trap from the original five Grimtooth’s books is included – there are no exclusions!
This massive tome is systems-neutral, containing more than 500 traps suitable for all fantasy systems and games. You have never had so many trap options before – use them well…
My book will be available to you mortals in multiple formats: a basic softcover for table play, a durable hardcover for longer shelf life, and a gold foil edition for the serious collector (available in both faux and real leather, and with a slipcase).
Face it – this is a homage to a VERY important piece of gaming history. (Mine!) The book features a foreword by noted dungeon designer Harley Stroh, and also includes an extensive interview with the original creative team, a cover gallery showcasing 30 years of editions (in both English and many foreign languages), and a look behind the mysterious submission process – including my legendary “Grimtooth’s Submissions Box” that sits majestically on a shelf in the Flying Buffalo offices.
And I have created more than a dozen new traps specifically for this volume. For the first time in a decade, the Grimtooth’s submissions box has been cracked opened again, and more great entries have poured out to an unsuspecting world!
Plus the humans at Goodman Games are giving you the possibility of several exciting stretch goals to make this epic project even more impressive: printed endsheets, a satin ribbon bookmark, the cover gallery in full color, a custom dust jacket for KS backers, and a gatefold page featuring the Grimtooth board game that was first mentioned more than 20 years ago!
And if you’re really lucky we might do a cross-over with the Dungeon Crawl Classics line, allowing me (Grimtooth) to make an appearance in a special DCC module produced just for this Kickstarter!
And to wrap it all up, primary Grimtooth illustrator Steve Crompton has dug through his archives to find original art from the earliest books. This original art is available as part of the deluxe book pledge levels!
Here's the bottom line -- Grimtooth's Ultimate Traps Collection is a gigantic collection of over 500 awesome engines of destruction, delver dicers, character crushers, adventurer anxieties, minion munchers, hero harangers, general tricks, traps and other rare and dangerous items for use in defending game master treasures!
Adventurers and deep space explorers sometimes need a seemingly easy mark between missions to earn a few extra credits & ease the time between space stations by providing themselves with some well earned extra treasure and adventure opportunities. Comets can provide a mini world of adventure and a few old school encounters to boot. Here's a quick chart of such finds that can easy the moments between the big score or even provide a star ship crew with a few cheap thrills.
1d20 Random Deep Space Comet Finds Table
Space Craft fuel grade methane in ice form that can cause 1d8 points of damage if a spark ignites it. There may be 1d4 minor 'space leeches' guarding their mating patch of material
A Cat From Saturn AC 4 HP 10 Damage 2d8 claw, looking for prey and a space explorer is the perfect meal to chew on. The monster will turn the astronaut to goo and process the whole thing for fuel and mass
A pool of liquid solar slime similar to green slime from the Monster Manual but capable of living on a comet's surface as a space born fungus life form.
Spinning organic crystals capable of cutting perfectly into a space suit for 2d6 points of damage arranged as a lattice across the surface of a comet. Blends into the background.
A space banshee energy life form, a form of undead that drains anything it finds AC 9 HT7 Damage 2d6 per strike regenerates as troll. Starving and very hungry. Has energy crystal hoard of 1d8 crystals for harvesting.
Alien pirate skeleton left behind by a raiding party. The skeleton has 1d8 minor items for salvage. 40% chance of ghost haunting those who find this poor wretch.
Black Space Slime as per black ooze but found in space. Left behind as toxic waste by aliens.
Alien mine does 3d8 points of damage and radiation hazard check as well. The thing will trap any with mono molecular razor wire doing 1d8 points and will then go into count down mode.
A small probe like droid remains which will broadcast a jamming wide spectrum broad cast for 3d6 months at a clip.
Ancient alien coffin belonging to some robotic hell beast long since gone from the comet. There are 3d100 rot grubs in thing surviving on the ancient womb remains left behind.
Wrecked manta fighter craft belonging to some ancient robotic life forms. Core still good. 20% chance of salvage.
A geyser of ancient water with a 40% chance of special properties and weird effects see appropriate matrix else where.
Evil ice element creature aggressively defending its home and lair.
Ancient frozen Lovecraftian god thing, now encased in massively thick ice. But's eye regards you.
An ancient cabal of alien sorcerers fossilized within rock. Very dangerous looking but harmless with a 30% chance of being under some ancient curse.
An ancient temple complex rife with age and hoary with the weight of time. Dare you explore it.
Part of an alien factory & mining works with 3 levels and abandoned machinery.
1d4 giant comet slugs AC6 HT 10 Damage 3d8 per strike with acid damage. Coring out this comet and very touche's about getting disturbed during their meal.
The skeleton of samurai from Old Earth in armor and with swords. 30% chance of animating and fighting as a fighter of 5th level. Under a curse.
A star spawn of Cthulhu sleeping within the confines of this comet awaiting when the stars are right again.
In the darkest reaches of the never been and the outer arms of where once was the PC's helped an ancient and dying ship that was being stripped out by hoards of Mi Go in tonight's Stars Without Number game. The damn things were crawling across the face of the ship which was anchored outside of the local space time continuum. The whole mess was crawling with mech capable MI Go warriors.
The characters had to awaken the A.I. aboard the ancient ship and not blow the whole mess to kingdom come. The operations went pretty damn delicately and finally they were able to return the ancient ship back to normal space time. There was valuable cargo on board those saucers as the PC's found out but it was a bit touche' as the Mi Go made things very dicey for our heroes.
These Mi Go really made a mess for our heroes. Finally after sorting out the stealth screens and the tricks and tracks employed by Mi Go. They were able to sort out the bastards and find out that they were guarding six temporal time machines recovered by another adventuring group sometime back aboard the saucers. After a lengthy and complex battle that took up most of the night the players destroyed the saucers and grabbed the other ship and headed out after two Mi Go battle pyramids showed up. And this wasn't a good scene at all. The PC's played cat and mouse with the Mi Go through several levels of reality and then things got really bad. The Mi Go were armed with Entropic weapons and they weren't taking any chances with the PC
ship after they detonated the saucers rather then let the Mi Go get their hands on time traveling technology. . The PC's gave them a bloody nose and left as soon as possible, drilling through several realities until they can recover and let this sister ship of their own heal.
In tonight's game some mini's from Actung Cthulhu did a stand in for my usual Mi Go figures. The hive in question was actually the same one as one that made an appearance in my Carcosa WWII mash up game from a couple of years ago. There are more connections to past campaigns that will be wrapping up in the next couple of weeks.
Grab It Right Over HERE Fairytales are massive parts of the human unconsciousness that we take on as children and realize just how nightmarish and dangerous they are as adults. We look back and we're thankful that we survive the experience. Which brings us to A Red and Pleasant Land and its use as fodder for expansion into a whole cloth campaign and adventure campaign setting.
I came across Handy Haversack's review of A Red And Pleasant Land on Dragon's foot's forums which had some very interesting and valid points as well as a revelation. You can read it HERE Here's the bit of the review that got me right between the eyes:
"The front endpapers of the print book (or two printable pages in the PDF) show the map of Voivodja, bounded north and east by the Carpathian Mountains, west and south by the Terrible Goblin Woods. These, of course, mean that you can tuck the Place of Unreason pretty much anywhere on your campaign map. The map here is about 300 miles by 400 miles, though the area between the boundary terrain is more like 200 by 300. I think that in practice this could probably be scaled down (e.g., I'm thinking of placing it in the Valley of Mists on the Hyperborea map for Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea). Also, because of the nature of the place, Voivodja does not have to take up as much space on your "real world" campaign map as it does on its own. Voivodja is strange. Time and space and manners and emotions and laws and gravity and loyalty can all be subjective here, sometimes all at once. Don't worry. There are tables for this."
And just like that I hadn't even thought about using A Red and Pleasant Land with Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers. My mind was awash with possibilities of Voivodja and its twisted vampire factions. The whole setting is rotten with Vampires. If they could be connected with AS&SH where else might they be connected into? Carcosa perhaps? But how does Lost Carcosa connect with Voivodja ?
I began to think about the twisted fairy tale setting and its vampires? How were they connected with Old Earth? Are they the remains of some Old Earth colony that became twisted by Voivodja's essence in the distant past or some dim future? I thought about Clark Aston Smith's Hyperborean Cycle (found HERE) and his other creation of Zothique.
Zothique really holds the answer to my perplexing and vexing question. How to connect Carcosa and Voivodja? According to Clark Aston Smith:
Zothique, vaguely suggested by Theosophic theories about past and future continents, is the last inhabited continent of earth. The continents of our present cycle have sunken, perhaps several times. Some have remained submerged; others have re-risen, partially, and re-arranged themselves. Zothique, as I conceive it, comprises Asia Minor, Arabia, Persia, India, parts of northern and eastern Africa, and much of the Indonesian archipelago. A new Australia exists somewhere to the south. To the west, there are only a few known islands, such as Naat, in which the black cannibals survive. To the north, are immense unexplored deserts; to the east, an immense unvoyaged sea. The peoples are mainly of Aryan or Semitic descent; but there is a negro kingdom (Ilcar) in the north- west; and scattered blacks are found throughout the other countries, mainly in palace-harems. In the southern islands survive vestiges of Indonesian or Malayan races. The science and machinery of our present civilization have long been forgotten, together with our present religions. But many gods are worshipped; and sorcery and demonism prevail again as in ancient days. Oars and sails alone are used by mariners. There are no fire-arms—only the bows, arrows, swords, javelins, etc. of antiquity. The chief language spoken (of which I have provided examples in an unpublished drama) is based on Indo-European roots and is highly inflected, like Sanskrit, Greek and Latin.
Clark Ashton Smith himself described the Zothique cycle in a letter to L. Sprague de Camp, dated November 3, 1953.
This campaign revolves around very old and very strange planes, worlds, timelines, all part of a Plane & Time War fought across alternative worlds and dimensions where time and space intersect.
Sometime in the future the powers of Quas, Misrule, and Unreason fight a protracted war against the forces of Law, Order, Reason and the very gods themselves against the backdrop of the ultimate saga of a perishing cosmos.
The very fabric of time its rife with holes and man's kingdoms are strange, old, weird,and the PC's are drawn into the middle of it all.
Hyperborea, Voivodja, Carcosa, The Unknown Island, The Night Lands, etc are all worlds connected across branches of pseudo European timelines. Time is not an arrow but a river full of eddies and branches fought over by monsters, gods, demons, and more. More to come folks.
.png)
