Category: RPGS

D&D in jail.

Via Facebook, this is a simultaneously sad and hopeful article on how convicts play D&D while incarcerated:

It may sound like a strange juxtaposition: hardened, tattooed offenders donning the cloaks of fantasy characters. Yet both former inmates and correctional officers agree: D&D is more common in prison than you might imagine. Most facilities have at least one game going. Some have a player in every cell block. According to Micah Davis, a former inmate and Dungeon Master imprisoned in Texas, “We had our own table in the dayroom. That’s saying something. Aryan brotherhood table, Mexican mafia table, black guy table, and D&D table.”

Some of the players are lifelong gamers, who would be doing the same thing if they were on the outside. Others hadn’t even heard of D&D until getting locked up. But faced with a dearth of creative outlets, donning a metaphorical robe and wizard hat quickly became a welcome diversion.

Continue reading D&D in jail.

Source Speak/TL [IQ/VH] [GURPS 4e]

Source Speak_TL – Google Docs

Source Speak/TL   [IQ/Very Hard] Defaults: None

 

Superficially, Source Speak resembles a language, but in reality it’s a complicated method for achieving physical effects via semantic manipulation of the environment. A successful roll will allow the user to automatically shift the results of a skill roll by one level, in either direction.  For example, Source Speak can turn a critical failure into a failure, or a critical success to merely a success.  An unsuccessful roll (which cannot be mitigated by another Source Speak skill check) causes 1d6 hit points (6d6 on a critical failure), which represents a piece of space-time reacting badly to being manipulated in such a fashion.

Continue reading Source Speak/TL [IQ/VH] [GURPS 4e]

The Crimson City of Milwaukee [The Day After Ragnarok]

Crimson City of Milwaukee – Google Docs

The Crimson City of Milwaukee

[The Day After Ragnarok]

 

City: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Population: 50,000/300,000

Controls: Central-eastern Wisconsin

Government: Despotism

Problem: Food Shortage

Heroic Opportunity: Mercenary Work

City Aspect: Militaristic

 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin was always a haven for Reds; and after the Serpentfall the local Communists were organized enough to take control of the city.  Technically, current mayor (and Socialist) Frank Zeidler was democratically elected; however, the People’s Councils that guarantee Zeidler’s rule have shown no interest in ever having another election.  Mayor Zeidler is thus in the unique position of being a despot who can do anything — except change the system.

Continue reading The Crimson City of Milwaukee [The Day After Ragnarok]

OK, your character is cool. But is your character JUAN PUJOL GARCIA cool?

As near as I can tell, every word of this story about Juan Pujol Garcia is true.  At least, MI5 is corroborating it. This guy messed up the Nazi response to D-Day in ways that is almost inconceivable to modern science, and he made it look easy.

Continue reading OK, your character is cool. But is your character JUAN PUJOL GARCIA cool?

Geek Fu [GURPS 4E]

Geek Fu – Google Docs

 

Geek Fu [13/18]

 

In a world where everybody knows kung fu — like, say, the worlds of ever so many martial arts movies — the martial arts style learned and used by roleplaying geeks would have to be an interesting one indeed.  Geek Fu is a ‘soft’ style: it teaches observation and evasion, not hand strikes. In keeping with it’s not-quite-serious tone, Geek Fu teaches the best way to use a trench coat (Cloak), Doctor Who scarf (Whip), and linked dice bags (Bolas) effectively; practitioners also learn how to throw their dice more, ah, pointedly.

Continue reading Geek Fu [GURPS 4E]

Two days to go on The Yellow King RPG Kickstarter…

…so now would be the time to jump in on this project that really drills down deep into the Yellow Sign and Carcosa and the King in Yellow and the rest of it.  As I think I’ve mentioned before: The Hastur Mythos is probably our generation’s contribution to the horror genre, and I’ve seen the raw files that are going to make up this supplement.  There’s genuinely good stuff, here: if you run horror games, you’re going to want to at least take a look at this.  Especially since I rather badly want to get some of the remaining stretch goals fulfilled.  Which ones? Won’t say. Better get ’em all, just to be safe.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1721105501/the-yellow-king-roleplaying-game-from-robin-d-laws?ref=48hr

In Nomine Revisited: Fear and Loathing in the Marches.

Fear and Loathing in the Marches – Google Docs

I wrote this one, back when Hunter S. Thompson went out the way that I think we all expected him to go out, the poor bastard. I think that it holds up well.  It was one of those stories where all I needed was the first line, and I was off and running.

 

Fear and Loathing in the Marches

An In Nomine Story

The only thing that really worried me was the ethereal. Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Fear and Loathing in the Marches.

Voting on the ENnies has begun.

The ENnies being an annual award for tabletop roleplaying games, of course. I have voted, but will not be telling anyone else how to vote.  Suffice it to say that there were a large number of innovative and entertaining games made over the last year, including hopefully a few that my readers are now familiar with.

Also, possibly there’s a new game or two in there that you might find of interest.

Creature Seed: Torpedo Bees.

Torpedo Bees – Google Docs

Torpedo Bees

perdita floridensis diabolicus

[The Day After Ragnarok]
Prior to the Serpentfall, these Floridian bees were small, inoffensive, and were aquatic in their larval and pupal stage.  Being drowned under the obscenely mutagenic impact of tons of Serpent-tainted seawater has made their descendants much larger (6 to 8 inches), exceptionally aggressive, and fully amphibious.  A Torpedo Bee can fly at full speed in water and air.

Continue reading Creature Seed: Torpedo Bees.