Third Wave OSR Western Retroclones, Boot Hill, & The Return of the Pulp Western For Your Old School Campaigns

I have a keen interest in post apocalyptic gaming as anyone who reads this blog well knows.The crossover point is of course the Western. The sweet spot are three areas the pulp western, dark fantasy western, and the horror western mixed in with a fair dose of science fantasy.  And lately I've been paying very close attention to the re emergence of the Western rpg in OSR circles because of certain writers in the OSR. Namely the retroclone Tombstone (Alpha Version) By Corey Walden  which has a ton of potential because of its background as a sort of clone of  Boot Hill third edition with lots tweaks by the author to make it solid. You can get a free play test version of his game right over HERE .

Then of course there's DCC's excellent swords and sorcery six gun fanzine, Black Powder, Black Magic which I've heard nothing but good things about the zine from everyone that's gotten into it. There's a ton of potential for near retroclone crossover potential for Crawling Under A Broken Moon with this other resource for DCC.

What really kicked this off today was Mike 'Wraith of Zombie' Evans writing up a copy of High Noon. Apparently its a weird west style OSR game and it looks really nicely done. Very much in keeping with the DYI mentality of  OD&D style Westerns. According to him there are several PC Classes, "Here are the Weird Classes: Knight of Faith, Shaman, Sorcerer, and Weird Scientist.  Oh and if you want to come back from the dead- well here’s that too." You can find that whole package on his blog right over HERE

There's also the OSRIC retroclone system Revolvers & Wizardry: The Discordant West (MOBI) From Usherwood Publishing  Which has a sort of Weird West playing options for your OSRIC high-fantasy campaign. Basically you can bring clerics, magic users, rangers and thieves to the wild west to face off in showdowns against minotaur cowboys, half-gnoll NPCs or even against the likes of the notorious Jesse James.

There is also the free retroclone system called Go For Your Gun which is one of my favorite Western systems. This system has eleven character classes and some of the better put together systems. This is a great system to play with. Lots of fun and very pulpy material in the game. Did I mention this is free.



Ok, my own experiences with Western old school rpgs goes back to Boot Hill 2nd edition which I became roped into by friends & family. My dad has a keen interest in Westerns and his friends got me involved & taught me the crossover potential with all of the other AD&D 1st edition games. I was late to the party on this game but we played the hell out of this game. Nothing was safe from the group I was involved in, Gamma World, AD&D, & Boot Hill blended together especially with the material from early Dragon Magazine. To say nothing of Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition.

The intro is what got me interested in the game,
"You step from the cool shade of the Long Branch Saloon into the midday heat of Promise City. Loosening your Colt in its bolster, you look down Main Street and spot the leather and denim-clad stranger who called you out. Citizens of the town scramble for cover as they sense the forthcoming battle. The outlaw doesn't look fast enough to match your draw, but... wait! Your keen eyes catch the unmistakable glint of the sun against gun metal from the roof of the dance hall - the yellow coward has a buddy who's going to shoot you in the back! What will you do? Think fast, or you'll be the next resident of... BOOT HILL!" The Lost Conquistador mine became part of the underworld that connected to any number of campaigns for me over the years. We've used this module again & again to connect with various game worlds over the years.

Today Trey of Dream's From The Sorcerer's Skull fame  has put up a review of the new Kurt Russell movie Bone Tomahawk and has begun to tick off my Western bug again. This is a very vicious and yet entertaining film according to friends who have seen it. This is probably the Western horror film that would lend itself to a Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure.


So for me this film signals the return to the pulp Western into the mainstream and I have to think we're going to see a ton of new Western retroclones into the wild. I have to say that I'm curious to see what comes down the pike. There are some other great Westerns that I've seen coming down into the mainstream. I now can't wait to see this one!

Commentary on Ash vs The Evil Dead's Trailer and Featurette For Your Old School Campaigns

Listen up you primitive screw heads, just in case you've been living under a rock and haven't seen the trailers for Ash vs The Evil Dead let me enlighten you. Bruce Campbell is back as Ash and kicking undead ass and we're due to see this coming out very soon. In fact right around Halloween night on Starz! So as an Evil Dead fan this has had my attention right from the first announcement. So what the hell does this have to do with OSR role playing? Well, besides the Halloween season and the classic movie tie in that seems to ignore the horrid 2013 remake (well sort of). This series states something that's been floating in the back of my mind for quite sometime. Just because your PC has reached a high level doesn't mean that they're any less of an every man jerk.

Ash isn't interested in saving the world, he wants to get on with life and party on. But circumstances of being a hero and fate just won't let him this is a situation that we see time and again in classic mythology from the legend of Beowulf to Odysseus's journey back to Ithica. Fate never let's a hero rest and often the journey is picked up long after the end of the tale. Here we've got Ash causing the Necronomicon Ex Mortis to release its energies and summon back to the world the corruption of the Evil Dead.

This new show adds a few new ripples into the crowded universe of Evil Dead, you can zip over to here and check out the cast of characters in the Evil Dead films right here.  

So what does this say about high level D&D & retroclone PC's? Quite a bit, we've got a characters who even though they reach the upper end of their adventuring careers still fall prey to fate and the forces of the supernatural. That's one of the things that get's me about the D&D and its tropes, the dark forces of the supernatural are eternal. They'll wait for the PC's guard to drop and then move in for the kill. These forces can also be set in motion by the PC's themselves after all they're messing around in ruins, tombs, and dungeons where the forces of darkness and the damned multiply. The Evil Dead films has a great example of an artifact or relic that ties the entire franchise together in the form of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. The Evil Dead is a great example of a series that can adapt to circumstances or genre as required.


For a DM this is just the sort of adaption that will enable a dungeon master to twist and bend adventure elements as they see fit into OSR adventures. So if we take something Marvel Super Heroes or the like there's Marvel Zombie vs The Army of Darkness limited comic book series. This series of evens is far, far, outside of normal Marvel and Evil Dead continuity allowing a DM to bend adventure elements to their whim. This is the way it should always be, never ever be a slave to a series or game's continuity.


High level campaigns don't make things any easier in the long run and in point of fact it puts far more pressure on the heroes. PC's are going to be drawn into the clutches of fate regardless of their circumstances and the Evil Dead films have proven that the forces of weirdness & darkness are uncaring as well as relentless in their drive to destroy the hero and all he holds dear. Several retroclones take full advantage of this fact but Lamentations of the Flame Princess has done this in spades even at low level PC adventures. In point of several of Task Boy Game's adventures including The Manse on Murder Hill  &  Tranzar's Redoubt
using the Lamentions rpg system evokes the sort of echoing the creepy weird sentiments of Ash & The Evil Dead. So I can't wait till this premiere's on Staz to see where this series is going to take an older ASH and his crew of adventurers into the machinations of the Evil Dead. 

The Space Shuttle Concept Art and Program As Adventure Fodder For Your Old School Space Based Campaigns

When I was a kid the space shuttle program was a huge influence, I have family down in Florida and Dallas so its sort of always been a part of my life. This morning I've been looking around for some material for the continuation of my Thundarr game. The snow storms have been playing marry havoc with my old school gaming vibe as of late. But I came across this video on Youtube and it brought back flood of memories. 

Including the Challenger disaster, may those poor souls rest in peace. 

But the real find was this incredible concept artwork. Holy cow was this artwork incredible!

Growing up the shuttle program was such a back part of the pop culture landscape.
Now tell me that this doesn't look like a shuttle that Kahn and his followers would be escaping his alternative Earth from 1996 below.


From Battle Star Galactica to the opening of the 1980's Buck Rogers series. The shuttles were in the backdrop and were pretty damn futuristic and let's not mention Moon Raker with Roger Moore.

You can find a ton more of these right over HERE
From alternative history adventures to time travel the possibilities for using these is pretty much endless. Especially useful for doing adventures with post apocalyptic material featuring the shuttles for old school retroclones like Mutant Future, Gamma World or Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition, this style of artwork is a nice bridge gap for players to get pulled into your campaigns.

The Concept Art From Guardians of the Galaxy's Cosmic Locations As Old School Space Based Campaign Adventure Locations

The complete article is a available through Io9 right over
HERE

Io9 has put a number of pre production artwork from Guardians of the Galaxy that just screams adventure locations for an old school space based game. The pictures are absolutely adventure inducing & make fantastic locations for your game adventures as well!



Need an old school market place or space location? Concept artist Kev Jenkins provided designs for Morag, Xandar and Knowhere.


Just some gorgeous temples and locations that scream to be added into a game of
X plorers or Stars Without Number.

These are fantastic places that can easily be inserted as is into an old school Marvel Super Heroes game adventure as well very easily.

For even more information on these go here but there MAJOR Spoilers AHEAD
HERE

Aliens Eternal Soldiers Hive War 2384 - A Mutant Future Campaign Set Up Or A Campaign Set Up For Any Old School Post Apocalyptic Rpg

Imagine waking up from hypersleep fighting an eternal war against the Xenomorphs. Your band of humans, mutant soldiers, etc. has been pulled from failed colonies, the Rim, and every single wasteland from across the known universe to fight in your ancestors own backyard, Earth.
This is Hive War 2384 , two years after the events of Alien Resurrection.
At the end of Alien Resurrection, the medical R&D ship does a nose dive into Earth sparking the Fourth Alien War. Times are desperate and supplies are running low. Materials, ammo, weapons, etc are all in short supply and the everything has been pulled out of mothballs.
Including the Colonial Marines. It seems that not all of the Marine forces went quietly after the events of  the Walmart/ Weyland -Yutanti merger. One of the largest Colonial Marine base ships know as the USS Valhalla went into deep orbit with its complement of Marine command in hypersleep awaiting activation in Earth's greatest hour of need.

The Colonial marines have been reactivated and the United System Military has dropped the ball went it came to Earth. The world has been turned into a complete wasteland and Xenomorph holiday spot. 



The USS Ray Bradbury is dispatched to assess the situation on Earth. A small tactical squad of ten marines is brought in to investigate the African space port facilities. The whole planet has been abandoned to a wide variety of native mutant species,Xenos, and worse.  United System Military forces set up a series of  warning beacons and flash probes but have retreated to several other planets leaving the residents of the planet up to their necks in it.
Colonial Allen Poe a descendant of Spears is in charge of the Earth mission and a very able bodied commander but with hatred of United System Military forces whom he considers nothing more then corporate backed clowns. He blames them for abandoning the home world.
The troops have only just landed in Africa via drop ship and begun scouting out the ruins of a former capital city and space port. They have not yet engaged Xenomorphs .. yet.

The Van Deelen Option & Conversion 
About ninety percent of this campaign is based on the Mutant Future rpg conversions of Chris Van Deelen and his work with the Alien movies. The following are some of those conversions with annotations for my campaign. There are several main hives across the planet and very active Alien Queens each of which is descended from the USM Auriga nests. Millions have died and there's been a legacy of horror that continues in the wastes of Earth.

Chest Burster and Egg Cycle Available Right
HERE


Chris Van Deelen's Queen Conversion
Right HERE
Her Praetorian Guards
Are Right HERE

Because of the human resistance and several of Earth's forces were already used to dealing with the battles with the Xenomorphs. There has been the incorporation of several Bio Genesis programs including the rise in so called Mutates. Human soldiers modified with mutant and bio engineered organs that can deal with the Xenomorphs. Marines have been quick to incorporate these native forces.
 The Xenomorphs warriors are still some of the most commonly encountered and deadliest. The cycle of infestation within the human race may have altered the genetic heritage of the human genome forever. The extent of mutational and genetic drift because of the series of  Hive Wars is unknown. 

Some of the most common Xenomorph species have been the canines , these horrors continued to be encountered in the Rhineland and Germany theaters. Cyborg and other heavier acid resistance mutate forces have been very effective against this style of warrior 



More information right over
HERE
Deep in the  Australian Outback is a deadly secret, the corporations of Earth have been breeding human/Xenomorph hybrid horrors based upon partially recovered data from the data cores of Father. The results are a complete variation of the work of the USM Auriga science teams.
These hybrids have escaped and begun to establish themselves in the Australian  wastes.
Most are in the newborn stages and several bio firms are already considering sending in cyborg teams to wipe these horrors out but it may be far too late. 
More information right
Here

 Predators In The Dark 

The spread of such a concentration of Xenomorphs on a planetary scale has not gone unnoticed at all. The Predator species has been hunting and killing their old foes in several South American communities. There are rumors of the ancient cults reviving in those countries and the Predator species reviving their ancient practices of being worshiped as gods deep in the old jungle preserves.
Recent events have revealed that the Predator Xenomorph hybrids have been encountered. 
More information available right HERE


There have been several pieces of Predator technological devices that have been seized by Colonial forces from the black markets of Earth. There have included netting launchers, and dart throwers. These aliens remain aloof, completely homicidal, and very dangerous. South America is under Colonial indict for now.

The Space Jockey Legacy 
The Space Jockey encountered on LV -326 is not the same race that the expedition from the Prometheus encountered. The Space Jockey are far older then the Osian humanoids and were originally their servants created from our genetic base thousands of years ago.
The Osians are the inheritors of their master's bio technological legacy and continued their ways develing into the mysteries of the universe until the Priest and Warrior castes locked themselves into an eternal war that has all but wiped out that race.
 There are very few of the Originators of the  bio technological races left. They're as individual as the stars and as alien in their mindset's as well. Now with the infection of Earth and the telepathic siren song of the Xenomorph queens. They're attention has been piqued but for what reason is unknown but one of their ships has been detected deep within the galactic sector and its headed for Earth.




Tried, True, And Blue Technologies
The Weapons Of The Colonial Marines 
The weapons of the Colonial Marines are still in use after so many intergalactic wars, conflicts, and dust ups. There are are many reasons for this. Many of the marines weapons are easy to manufacture on a local level. The native populations of many colony worlds continue to field their own forces with Colonial weaponry. The Colonial ideals are intertwined and identified with these weapons.
 

M37A2 Pump Shotgun

M56 Smartgun

M240 Incinerator Unit

M5 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG)

M39 Submachine

NSG 23 Assault Rifle

Compete Stats for The Iconic  M41A Pulse Rifle 
HERE

88 Mod 4 Combat Pistol

The Colonial marines have begun funneling weapons, tactics, and forces to the Earth Resistence that's left. The marine presence has been welcomed but its going to be an up hill war for the Earth. And its only started. 

Red Seas And Swords - A Return and Upgrade For My Post Apocalyptic Mars Campaign With Stars Without Number - Actual Play

We're returning to the ruins of the post apocalyptic Mars SWN game campaign setting game. But I've decided to upgrade with Stars Without Number's Other Dust.

Grab It Right 

HERE

 Three months ago I abandoned my Stars Without Number game campaign which had moved its location to my post apocalyptic Mars setting. That was because of a friend's medical issue and I'm happy to report that my gaming party has put that issue behind itself and we're moving forward. That being said,I'm upgrading my campaign world to the Stars Without Numbers campaign expansion 'Other Dust' and its addendum thanks to the game's author some months ago.
Other Dust is a 150 page plus expansion of the Stars Without Number game and has at its base a number of post apocalyptic options that make it a good choice for science fiction old school gaming.
The Drivethru explanation of Other Dust : 

The world is an open grave.

Green glass plains and trinitite pearls necklace the throats of torn cities. Prismatic jungles heave with nanite-infested life, thick with twisted bodies and fever-hot madness. The ancient towers of Old Terra are cast down into the mire and the stars above no longer send their ships of steel and burning light. 

Humanity has been reduced to struggling enclaves and fugitive tribes. Left to scavenge the bones of their former glory, mankind yet fights the New Earth with steel, salvage, and a burning defiance. If the motherworld means to end her children, she’s going to need a bigger apocalypse.

Other Dust is a stand-alone, fully-compatible companion game to the free Stars Without Numbersci-fi RPG. Within its pages savage mutants, crazed psychic overlords, runaway war machines and the relentless decay of a shattered world all conspire to snuff the last few embers of humanity. Yet heroes remain among the scattered survivors, and their courage and will to defy the coming night might yet save their people from a waiting doom. Use the tools this book provides to rebuild societies, reforge their ancient bonds, and bring a new dawn to a thousand points of night!

Inside, youll find...

• Smooth old-school rules for rolling up and running the intrepid wasteland warriors and fierce avengers of a broken world. Fully compatible with Stars Without Number classes and play, too!
• 150+ pages of GM tools, techniques, and resources for building and running a sandbox post-apocalyptic campaign. If you liked it in Stars Without Number, you'll find it in here.
• Rules for running groups and enclaves in the radioactive wasteland, with concrete tools to help players save or doom the hard-pressed people around them. Found your own or crush someone else's!
• Easy-pull techniques and resources, system-neutral for quick transplantation into your own campaigns or favorite systems.
  There are huge number of reasons to do this upgrade and the part of the reason is that I'm now in the middle of a higher end Stars Without Number game. With a party of higher level adventurers the challenges have to be challenging and dangerous for PC's. Other Dust allows me to draw from this realm without losing the old school flavor of the campaign. I have alot of writing and history at stake with this campaign. 

Post Apocalyptic Mars Setting 

Imagine a world partially terriformed by Terra along with the races and aliens of ERB as well as humans from Earth. Now imagine that the Tharks have left Barsoom or Mars. Someone had launched the nanite and entropic weapons across the face of the planet and now the whole of the world has changed. Everything is vastly different. The wars are long over with but the conflicts continue. Tribal divisions remain the same and old locations across the planet lay in ruins. Mutation, disease, undeath, and worse plagues this Barsoom. Old invaders come back to roost as the aliens from HG Well's War of The World claim countries and sections of their old colony world. The space port is a shambles but only recently has Earth re established some flights between Mars and its blue Terran neighbor. Things are shaky to say the least.
 The face of Mars is dotted with the reminders of mankind's thumbprint on this once beautiful world and the proud city states are only now beginning to thrive once more. But the scars of war are everywhere. Ruins, dungeons, and the Martian underworld contain vast treasures and artifacts perhaps the answers of how and why.

Mars has only been 87 to 90 percent been terraformed. The vast stretches of wilderness hide mutants, Red men neanderthals, hordes of aliens left behind, outlaw Earth men, and worse. Not to mention insane A.I.'s, crazed military weaponry, and more. All this is just waiting for my players in tomorrow's game. 

Addition material will be taken from the free SWN game material pdf
'The Dust'

Available Right
HERE

The Terran Mandate was forced to let the frontier worlds go when the expansion of the Second Wave sent too many colonists too far from the core's organs of control. The Directorate did not intend to make that mistake a second time. The Dust was their solution- a planet-wide mist of microscopic nanites, conduits for the unblinking gaze of the AI Maestros and their panopticon security state. Not a single core world escaped the basilisk glare of the Dust and its masters, until the madness of men and the cold resolve of the Maestros clashed in the last hours before the Scream destroyed them both.

Now the Dust remains scattered throughout abandoned Mandate bases and derelict Fleet ships, watching for what never comes. Unsleeping AI security directors and mad explorers stand ready to seize control of this waiting storm, and as the nanofabs begin to groan to life after half a thousand years, the black streamers of Dust promise a new night without end.

Additional Material will also be used from the Codex Of The New Earth Cult of the Still Lady.


Also Available Right Over
HERE

In the desolate wastelands of the New Earth, the Still Lady sends forth her crazed servants in pursuit of her own demented obsessions. Her mind scorched by the devastation of Old Terra's fall, she is obsessed with staving off the chaos and change of the crumbling world around her- and to do it, she needs sacrifices for the cruel demands of entropy. The tumors of devotion blossom in the flesh of her faithful, and the Red Trees that were once men give food and drink to those who bow before her inexorable alterations. Grab this free codex now and get a taste of the upcoming Other Dust post-apocalyptic role-playing game!

 All of this material dovetails quite easily into one another and since Drivethru and Rpgnow are having a sale its very simple to use this stuff to give my SWN a much needed upgrade. This Barsoom isn't the same one as we've seen in the Warriors of the Red Planet. Its actually part of a much later network of colonies of Mars that exists throughout the universe and across a series of alternative Earths.  

Five Old School Cult Classic Post Apocalyptic Movies As Inspiration For Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

HERE's a quick look at five of my favorite post apocalyptic films from yesteryear that continue to get the old PA brain box in the right frame of mind for Mutant Epoch and the Mutant Future encounter I've got coming up folks.

Escape From New York 1981 

Mad Max 1979 

The Road Warrior 1982 

Wizards 1977

A Boy And His Dog 1975

So I'm cranking up the old Beta Max player once again to take a look at a few of the old school classics. Tomorrow I've got my Mutant Epoch rpg campaign game and I decided to look into some of these classics for inspiration for tomorrow evening's game.
Of special note are Escape From New York and The Mad Max films, since most of tomorrow's game is taking place right around the Global Highway setting. The high octane mutant madness continues as our outlaw adventurers run afoul of a group of super scientists in tomorrow night's adventure. 

 More To come! 

Harbinger Down Official Movie Trailer For Your Old School Science Fiction Campaigns

I've been quietly following the Harbinger Down movie kickstarter program for awhile now and the movie looks like its coming along quite well. Harbinger is a practical special effects science fiction film. The film used Kickstarter to bypass the studio system that no longer really cares about practical special effects after the recent 'Thing Prequel'.
As a fan of practical  special effects this is one of the newest signs to me that things are changing in Hollywood. 

According To Wiki: 

After the release of The Thing, in response to fan queries about what became of ADI's effects for the film, Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. uploaded a behind-the-scenes video to Youtube which showcased their original practical effects prior to their replacement. According to Gillis and Woodruff, the video received such an overwhelmingly positive response that it inspired them to create a Youtube Channel which would feature their archived videos of creature effects from throughout their career. These videos not only went on to receive similar praise, but promote requests for Amalgamated Dynamics to launch a Kickstarter campaign to create fund their own independent horror film.^[2] Around this time Amalgamated Dynamics had been collaborating with Stan Winston's son Matt Winston on the creation of the Stan Winston School of Character Arts, and it was under his suggestion that ADI launched its Kickstarter campaign.^[5] Gillis agreed, seeing it as an opportunity to bypass the studio system which had been compromising their work in the past.^[2] Gillis said, "Honestly, we were resistant to it at first, so it wasn’t until I looked around my shop and saw an empty facility that I realized we were actually at the mercy of studios that didn’t actually care about our techniques anymore. They view it as a commodity and a product, and they’ve corporatised the structure of creating art and in the end it all becomes disposable. That’s not how the fans see our work."^[2]

On May 8, 2013,^[1] Alec Gillis began a Kickstarter drive for Harbinger Down, advertising the film as being a monster horror film that was, "in the spirit of two of the greatest sci-fi/horror films of all time, ALIEN and THE THING",^[5] and that would feature only practical techniques to create the films monsters, including the use of animatronics, prosthetic makeup, stop motion and miniature effects,^[1] with the films creatures featuring no digital animation outside of rod/rig removal and digital compositing.^[4] With a budget goal of $350,000, the film would have Lance Henriksen attached to star,^[6] composers Joel McNeely and Michael Larrabee creating the musical score, and would also feature the efforts of Oscar nominated model builders Pat McClung, Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak.^[1]

By 7 June 2013 Amalgamated Dynamics had successfully raised $367,000 allowing production to begin.^[7] Gillis' stated that while the money raised by the campaign would be sufficient to fund the "nuts and bolts" of the film, the films special effects would have to be created at Gillis and Woodruff's own expense due to the films low budget.^[4] The success of the Kickstarter campaign went onto draw the attention of producer Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki to the project, who provided additional funding for the film through his company Dark Dunes Productions.^[8]

Principal photography began on January 27, 2014. The cast includes Lance Henriksen, Camille Balsamo, Reid Collums, and Matt Winston.

The plot of the film goes something like this according to Wiki : 

" The plot of the film follows a group of graduate students aboard the titular fishing trawler Harbinger, who are studying the effects of global warming on a pod of Orcas in the Bering Sea. When the ship's crew discover the wreckage of Soviet era spacecraft, they are attacked by shape shifting alien monsters."

Harbinger Down And Your Old
 School Science Fiction  Gaming Campaigns

Official Harbinger Down Site Right Over
HERE

 For me Harbinger Down represents everything I love about the old school 80's horror  vibe. Practical special effects, a return to solid writing, and movie making as well as more. Yeah I'm in.
The fact is that films like Alien, Aliens, and John Carpenter's The Thing are hugely influential on table top gaming.
The isolation, the man on monster dungeon crawl style fight for survival, the science fictional backbone, and of course the guts, gore, and more are all elements of both OD&D as well as other old school table top games. Harbinger Down brings lots to the table.
There are ton of shape shifting monsters in D&D and Harbinger shows that this genre is far from dead. Using and drawing upon these elements allows a DM to plug in as well as play with deep rooted memories that players have of those movies. 

With a bit of work OD&D, Mutant Future, and many other games could be used not simply as a basis for a Harbinger Down survival game adventure. Where the challenge isn't simply getting the treasure but getting out alive at all.
Time and again we've seen formulas that seemed dead, twisted into new life just as our hobby has over the years as well. Harbinger Down will be thawing soon. Personally I can't wait! This looks really well done by folks who know their material! 

Five Cult Classic Post Apocalyptic Movies For Your Old School Campaigns

Here are five classic post apocalyptic movies that help to definite the genre of post apocalyptic gaming. These were constantly in rotation in the VHS player back in the 80's & 90's. 

Escape From New York 1981 

Mad Max  from 1979

Night of the Comet 1984

Akira  1988

The Road Warrior 1981

.

Review and Commentary On The Asia Trailer For Godzilla 2014 And Adapting It For Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

So the big reveal last night was this new Godzilla 2014 trailer which gives an incredible amount of details about the back

 story of the new film. I'd go so far as to say that they give too much away but that being said there is a ton of material here.
 I've got one word here RODAN!
 Other reveals in this film hint that this Godzilla goes all the way back to the original 1950's  Toho movie and pulls on that huge history for this film. It also means that Godzilla has been growing since that time! That's a personal opinion but its one that seems to explain the expansion of the monster.
We've had hints,teases, and  but right here we've got action, more giant monsters, adventure, disaster porn, and mythology??!
Yes, that's right old school gamers we've got a ton of Toho mythology in this one thrown in. The tone is super serious but we're given ton of material about 'the Shadow Years' of this universe. This film is the 'Shadow Years' of the Godzilla franchise.
 While we're given a lot gamable stuff to use and there are already a number of sites picking a part, dissecting, and tearing into this trailer lets look at this from another view point.
With Kaiju roaming the landscape is  this going to be a game changer? 
Not only are these walking toxic nuclear waste dumps going be campaign changers but they'll be creating instant wastelands were ever they go.
Some of what we're likely to see in this film?
 Mutations,creatures, instant mini mutant ecosystems are all going to be on the menu. As we've seen with last year's Pacific Rim there is a lot of potential here for campaign changing events. Or are there?
Giant mutant monsters stomping around in old school post apocalyptic games has been happening since Gamma World first edition. The real difference here is that this  film could be set in the so called Shadow Years of Mankind.
The rise of these monsters could signal the end of mankind. And that's really what the game changer is. PC's born to human parents exposed to the incredibly weird and poorly understood energies of Kaijui could explain the instant evolutionary jump start in generations.

 Adapting Giant Monsters For Fun and Profit
In Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

No. Enc: 1

Alignment:  Neutral

Movement: 1800’ (600’)

                     600’ (200’) Swim

AC: -10

HD: 800

Attacks: 2 bashes, or 2 stomps, or 1 tail slap, or 1 bite or 1 Breath blast.

Damage:  50d6 / 50/d6 or death / death, or 75d6 and knockback or 100d6 and class 10 radiation

Save: L20

Morale: 11

Hoard Class: None

Mutations: Energy Ray (special), gigantism.

Source: The various incarnations of Godzilla
There is a ton more of information right over
HERE

The potential for hunting these giant monsters for technology, relics, cast off material, and super science exploitation is huge. Imagine a group of adventurers following in the wake of such a creature and gathering all that they can. Armor made from scales, studies conducted on the structure of bones, skeleton, etc. All in the wake of such giants striding across the landscape.
Slimes,cells, etc. might all have value to wizards and alchemists dealing with such potential horrors.
Then there is the potential here for relic recovery from the various sites and cities that these creatures have stomped. These places might be crawling with who knows what mutant spawn and radioactive horrors. Given the classes of Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future there might be potential here for a number of options using the usual PC classes. The rise of such monsters might also signal the return of magic and perhaps the return of the Lovecraftian Great Old Ones. 

The signal of these monsters return might be the flare that the various cults have been waiting and watching for across the world.
There's lots of potential here. This might also enable PC's to journey from a traditional D&D style world and be confronted with things they've only seen in their nightmares. Imagine the average party of PC's confronted with the suffering that these horrors leave in their wake. Could they turn their backs on such a world that needs heroes such themselves? I think not.
This new trailer has me really excited on a number of levels and its one that might signal a return to the giant monster movie horror film. A very welcome thing in my book! 

Captain America The Winter Soldier Un-Masked - Review and Commentary

 So apparently today was DM appreciation day and my gang of nine players decided to drag me kicking and screaming to the movies to see Captain America Winter Soldier. This was an incredible film. The story line sets a new gold standard for super hero films while really taking in a stab at echoing the political thrillers of the 70's and 80's. The overtones are over arching in this one. Shield is center stage throughout and things may never really be the same again.
Many of the elements of this film are tied directly into the first Captain America film.
Re watch it before going to see this one

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 This film throws the audience in the deep end of the Marvel Captain America pond and doesn't let up at all. The theater was cheering at certain parts of the film and visuals are very well done. The action never stops with several key plots running at the same time even though this film.The movie  is PG -13 film and the violence is pronounced and as extreme as we've seen perhaps a bit more then Avengers.
This film stars : 

• Chris Evans
• Scarlett Johansson
• Sebastian Stan
• Anthony Mackie
• Cobie Smulders
• Frank Grillo
• Emily VanCamp
• Hayley Atwell
• Robert Redford
• Samuel L. Jackson
  Already we've got a seqeul scheduled for 2016 according to wiki:  A sequel set to be directed by the Russo brothers is scheduled for release on May 6, 2016.
  
  

The Winter Soldier is a well crafted movie and the plot ideas here are not so much taken from the Winter Soldier Marvel Comic series as they are reworked into the movie Marvel universe to a very well done effect. So far as I've seen everything about this movie lives up to the previous Captain America movie and turns the volume up to eleven. 

This film puts Steve Rogers in the driver's seat of the movie and then gives  the action over the Black Widow and the Falcon. There's lots happening here and there's still more coming. I've got to see this film a second time to see every single thread in this one. 


This is perhaps the best Marvel film that I've seen to date and there are some major tie ins to the other films especially the Avengers and the rest of the movie Marvel universe. The ideas here fly fast, the plot elements are bold and comic book like. This however is one of the darker Marvel films to date and it goes a long way toward capturing the air of paranoia and fear that is in the air right now. That fear is taken and turned into a very loud, fun, and one hell of a ride to take a date to. 

The performances here are fun and gritty with just the right level of violence and mayhem to keep things moving very quickly.
This is a film that your going to want to see again and again to get everything. This one opens cans of worms and the door for many more things to come from the world of the Marvel movies. 

OSR Gaming In The World Of 

Captain America The Winter Soldier

 

If you are playing an old school Marvel Super Heroes Rpg campaign using the Marvel movie assets of these films. There are years of plot hooks and ideas just waiting for a DM & players to exploit.
 This one has everything from ties at the end of Avengers, Iron man, to loose threads that tie directly into the Agents of Shield television series. The idea of everything from clean up crews of Shield agents to complete rogue elements of mercenary super heroes dealing with the blow back and events of this film are all there.
After the events of Winter Soldier there are going to be a boat load of agents questioning their place in the world and Shield. This opens the door to many possibilities for DM's to exploit into full blown campaigns.
The elements of Winter Soldier make the inclusion of individuals of exceptional abilities and powers not only a necessity but a need for this world. This is a world that needs heroes and capes like now. The state of things in the aftermath of Captain America is even more shaky and ill suited then the alien invasion of Avengers.
While everyone was cheering on Cap and the rest of the cast. I kept looking at the destruction going on throughout the film and thought who besides heroes are going to be able to cope with some of this? Sure the police, military, and more are there but boy a group of PC's sure could get right into the thick of the destruction seen even in the trailers and help.
 The technology here is bleeding right along the edge of real world into the heights that we've seen in the Marvel movies before. There is some very cool hardware and many of the ideas here might need the touch of a group of super powered individuals to help balance the odds. Seems to me that there is more then enough room to open the door of a couple of Pandora's boxes on some other special Shield projects. Those that might release a couple of second stringers right into mix to help clean thing up and get the world right.
 All in all I think that Winter Soldier presents a unique opportunity for a DM to get right into the old Marvel Universe and get the ball rolling right away on a campaign in the 'Aftermath of Winter Soldier.'
Sounds like a real catchy name for a campaign doesn't it.