That being said I have enjoyed sitting on the other side of the screen form time to time. Since I usually talk about being a GM I thought it would be nice to turn the table and talk about being a player for a change. This is not a post about an NPC (although you could certainly turn him into one) but an actual character concept I developed for a game.

One caveat, I remember the character concept but the exact moment it materialized is lost in time. I recall the concept, not all the fiddly bits of how it germinated, so I apologize to my friend Luis who was there when the concept emerged if I mix up the memories. This is the story how I remember it.

Back in the days of AD&D, 2^nd edition I believe, we were preparing for a new campaign. We were supposed to roll up wet behind the ears, young, potential heroes living in an out of the way village, whose life would change when adventure came their way, in the end, the typical cliché. As much as I wanted to play this campaign I balked at the idea of another young farmer or blacksmith’s apprentice turned hero. I began to think, what other option do I have? And this is what I came up with.

I decided to play the town’s old drunk! The permanent fixture in the bar night after night, slovenly, perpetually inebriated, telling stories of past glories and conquests no one believes. Little respected, often derided, willing to humiliate himself for a drink. No one takes his stories seriously, but little do they know this old man was once a great hero!

I had not fixed on just what his past glories might have been. Perhaps he was once a powerful adventurer that amassed great wealth, maybe a soldier of renown who lead armies to victory and was hailed as the savior of a city of small kingdom. Knowing specifically WHAT he did was not necessary; it was enough to know he wasted his money and drank himself to poverty and disgrace. Leaving behind the people and places that reminded him of his failures he simply wandered off, forgotten and dispossessed.

Along the way he had lost the skills and vitality that had once made him a great warrior. As the campaign began, when this sleepy little town would face dangers unheard of in a generation (I was not sure what it would be but it only made sense), would this broken old man rise up to the challenge?

My idea was to roll up this character as a 1^st level character, representing not so much his inexperience but more his lack of practice, the ravage of time on his body, the effects of drinking on his health. Since AD&D had rules for older characters I asked if I could modify the character for his age. Of course it would mean a reduction in his physical attributes, but his mental attributes would get a boost.

I wanted to play him as a broken man, with little self control or sense of worth. Faced with hardships and new challenges this would be his chance at redemption. Would he make it? That was part of the challenge. As I envisioned it, as he went up in level, it would represent him regaining his abilities thought practice, honing his skills back to the way they used to be. Finding out if he would make it or would fail along the way would have been half the fun!

You know what the sad thing is? I never got to play this character. I don’t even remember the name I gave him. The GM never ran the game and my character concept was unused. Thinking back now I like the name Adophus de Ruvan, simply known as Old Adoph around town. I need to find a way to play this character…

I would love to make him for the Pathfinder RPG, Savage Worlds or even Warrior, Rogue & Mage… I can see him is three stages, as a beginning character, old broken inexperienced because he has lost all he was. As a mid level character, having recovered some of what he was, not as strong or nimble as he was in his youth but wiser, smarter but still hunted by his vices and doubts; and then as an experienced character, a warrior living his last years with dignity and the skills that once made him great, fighting the good fight, perhaps for the last time…

How would you stat Adoph? I would love to see our readers take on the concept, for any system you’d like to stat him up, any takers? You can either post him in the comments or send it via e-mail at sunglar@hotmail.com

If someone takes me up on the challenge I’ll post your versions in a follow up post! Thanks for reading.

Related posts:

1. Improve Your Game: Character creation as a team effort
2. Ad Astra PDQ character creation
3. Starblazer Adventures: Our character creation session

By the way, Sean, what did you do to Kurt that made him be afraid of you?

Related posts:

1. Lazy Friday Video Post: Game Geeks #122
2. Lazy Friday Video Post: Game Geeks reviews X-Plorers
3. Lazy Friday Video Post: Game Geeks #123 Dread

Sean’s latest project is “Agents of Oblivion”, a roleplaying game setting for use with Savage Worlds that combines the modern espionage genre with horror elements. But I think Sean can explain this better than I can, so I asked him to answer a couple of questions for us.

Stargazer: Thanks again for taking your time to answer a couple of questions about Reality Blurs in general and Agents of Oblivion in particular. It’s an honor to have you. So, let’s start with AoO. What exactly is it about?

Sean: Agents of Oblivion is what we like to call “the perfect cocktail of horror and espionage”. Heck, we believe this so much we put it on the cover as the tagline. Now, before anyone thinks we’re being cocky or anything, we know everyone’s definition of the perfect cocktail may differ, so we cheated a bit by providing you with all the ingredients to mix your own, suitable to your own refined palate. For those who’ve followed us for a number of years, you know we are all about providing sandboxes and allowing you the freedom to customize the game and still have all the pieces work together without any hassle. At its core, Agents of Oblivion is a spy game with conspiracies and aliens and rival organizations and magic and things that go bump in the night. Well, that’s how I play it. We provide seven different campaign styles—cocktail recipes to extend the metaphor—you can tailor to your own sensibilities.

Stargazer: What were the main inspirations for Agents of Oblivion? Are there any other games, books or movies that played a major role in the creation process?

Sean: I’ve long loved the spy and horror genres and thought they could fit naturally together. As a longtime video gamer, the concept for Agents of Oblivion initially arose not long after I got a Savage Worlds license (back in 2004) and I put together a list of genres I wanted to develop into product lines. This was on the original list and it came to me when I was playing the original Splinter Cell game (before it became the franchise it is today). I thought how cool it would be for Sam Fisher (the protagonist) to have some cool powers he could use and realized there were no games out there that could do this in the manner I was talking about for the spy genre. I scribbled down some notes and realized there was a real opportunity to step into this space. I wrote an adventure (Starfall Jungle, our second product ever) and then entered it into Green Ronin’s True20 Setting Search competition. It later appeared in the True20 Worlds of Adventure and was quite popular.

That was some history, so now let me get to the heart of your question. Inspirations for Agents of Oblivion are as follows (in no particular order) (and some came out subsequent to most of the formative work being done, so are included as good source materials for folks).

Movies/TV Series: The James Bond series, 24, Fringe, Alias, The X-Files, The Shield, Supernatural, Dark Skies, Threshold, Warehouse 13, Ronin, The Bourne Trilogy, The Third Man, Three Days of the Condor, The 39 Steps, North by Northwest, The Ipcress File, Enemy of the State, The Manchurian Candidate, The Jack Ryan series, The Call of Cthulhu, In the Mouth of Madness, Pan’s Labyrinth, Law & Order, Hellboy, Le Femme Nikita, Mission Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Torchwood, and Doctor Who

Books: The Dresden Files, anything be Ian Fleming, Len Deighton or Charles de Lint, Monster Hunter International, and The Laundry series

RPGs: Top Secret, James Bond 007, Spycraft, Conspiracy X, Dark Matter, Delta Green, and Cold City

Some interesting facts, I looked to The Dresden Files year ago (before the excellent RPG ever existed, but while it was in development and I did look forward to its release) as a great example of modern urban fantasy. Monster Hunter International was something I was only recently turned on to and it’s a great read. A number of shows, namely the short-lived Threshold, Torchwood, and Supernatural, came out after the setting was fleshed out and I would watch them and say to myself that this sure reminds me of Agents of Oblivion. It was cool to see other media exploring some of the same space I was. Delta Green is something I didn’t read until after the formative work was done. I was culturally aware of it, but people were calling out superficial similarities to the two properties before even reading AoO, so I felt it was wise to read what they were doing to make certain I wasn’t retreading well-loved territory. I was relieved to discover that was not the case. We’re firmly in the spy camp (though you can capably adventure into paramilitary and full-on military operations if you like, though that was not the central part of its design premise). Dark Matter is a great setting and one I looked at after our core material was developed (and again for the same reason). We explore some of the same territory (with the whole “investigating weird stuff” mission statement). Agents turns it on its head a great deal with the introduction of the whole espionage angle. Cold City is something I examined closely early on (subsequent to AoO’s True20 development) and it is a hyper-focused setting in a sliver of time and place and gave me a lot to mull over. I don’t know what direct influence it had on me at the end of the day, but it left a lasting impression. I’m still intrigued by their whole Secret Agenda model and that’s something I can certainly see refashioning down the road. It’s obviously there. Right? It’s not something we wanted to explore with the initial release. Perhaps down the road…Finally, I would be remiss in not mentioning Spycraft 2.0. While the first book was not on my radar at the time, this hefty tome held a place close to my computer during my work. I was inspired by the amazing amounts of stuff they shoved into those pages and it blew me away. For the spy side of things, it was incredibly rich and granular and challenged me to take some of the presented concepts and incorporate them into Agents of Oblivion.

Stargazer: Like many of your other games before, AoO uses the Savage Worlds rules. Were there any difficulties adapting SW to the espionage genre? And what additions to the core SW rules can we expect from AoO?

Sean: While I’d like to say everything fell with great alacrity upon the keyboard, there were certain obvious challenges, the biggest of which was handling resources. The false start was making the number of points a variable based upon half of Tradecraft +2. This created a double-dipping effect as Tradecraft also served as the delimiter (such as “you must have minimum Tradecraft to take this bit of gear). As a result, there were agents with very little gear of limited use and others with a lot of gear with a lot of juice. Aside from that, it was impossible for us to create any sort of comprehensive loadout packages—there were just too many variables. By making it a flat number of Resource Points (4 at Novice and scaling up), we could create three standard loadout packages (one for each branch) without too much muss and fuss. This greatly improved play. Aside from Tradecraft (which is a new skill), we added a few others, such as Demolitions and TechOps. These were introduced to create a bit more niche protection. By intent, Savage Worlds is not very granular. These added bit of granularity allowed a bit more flexibility when addressing the modern world and is offset by Agency training and loadouts.

I should underscore the biggest design goal for Agents of Oblivion is flexibility. You choose a branch at character creation and have the opportunity to shift branches each time you advance. There are no prerequisites to be in one branch or another. The three branches are Assault, Occult, and Operations and each provides you with a branch benefit which you can change at the start of each mission (essentially, a free Edge). Couple this with the loadouts (again, various gear, spytech/training, and Single Use Devices) you can swap out between missions, and you can radically alter your agent from one adventure to the next, allowing the Director (the GM) to present the characters with lots of different challenges. This also speaks to promoting character continuity and excitement and the opportunity to sample certain Edges and things you may never take otherwise. You can tailor your agent to the situation as presented to you (which may not always be how it turns out).

Powers are stripped of Power Points in an elegant fashion and, if you have Arcane Training, Powers are wide open to you. No more Rank requirements, though you suffer penalties if you reach beyond your grasp. Additionally, there are Power Mods which fundamentally change how your powers work. You can take heal and later take Power Mod: Range and heal from across the room or take the Power Mods: Area of Effect and Selective and heal your allies in the heat of battle! Your mind is probably already thinking of other (more nasty) things you can do with Power Mods already.

Extended Trait Checks, originally revealed in Iron Dynasty, were developed for Agents of Oblivion (just as Defining Interests—which originally were written for Iron Dynasty first appeared in Ravaged Earth, such is our way) and will be new to many folks. They offer up an easy way to handle things which can have a dramatic impact in play—such as defusing a bomb or hacking into a computer system before the guards show up.

For the Director, we offer up seven different campaign frameworks using campaign factors (AC-HOT). They are Alien, Conspiracy, Horror, Occult, and Tech. By adjusting them, you can create the type of game you want to play. We have mission generators, creature generators, and The Spy Sampler where we have detailed overviews of the campaign frameworks presented earlier in the work.

As you can tell, there is a lot going on in Agents of Oblivion and its inherent flexibility should shine through.

Stargazer: There’s a two year old players’ guide for AoO available at the official Reality Blurs website. How close is the material presented in this document related to the final book?

Sean: It’s not available anymore, but I’m more than happy to talk about it. When we released it, it was largely complete, but there were still some refinements we needed to make to it. It was roughly edited at the time—which is forgivable for a free PDF, right?—and many of the core concepts are still in there, just tweaked. We still have Resource Points, Spytech, SUDs, and other such items largely unchanged. Some of the work we needed to do was dependent upon bringing it into line with Savage Worlds Deluxe and expanding some of the material to work well within the changes. The original PG gave you the sense of the direction we were taking, the new work takes you to the destination. In retrospect, it could be viewed as a rough cut. The most beneficial feedback upon reflection regarded two major things—the loadouts and the power system. While they were clear to us, I realized, based upon the large number of questions, they were not quite properly explained or executed. They were near misses. I went back in and cleaned up the verbiage for the magic system and retooled the loadouts which created a cascade effect requiring modifications to Tradecraft, Resource Points, and Field Requisitions. People pointed out the muddled stuff and we made proper course corrections. While it is possible some of this could have been caught in edit, it was far more beneficial to have it exposed earlier on in the design process. Additionally, there were still some questions about the final direction we would be taking Agents of Oblivion. The largest of which was, do we consolidate all of our information into one play style or provide multiple options? If you recall, we released this just prior to our release of Realms of Cthulhu and some uncertainty existed in my mind (though not the crews) of how people were going to respond to the different play styles offered up within those pages. People really appreciated the extra effort we took with that approach, so we wanted to offer up such a sandbox in AoO.

Stargazer: I recently thought about running a game inspired by Charles Stross’ short story “A Colder War”. It’s set into an alternative timeline where Mythos creatures and even Chtulhu himself are weaponized by the superpowers during the Cold War. Do you think it would be possible to run a game like that by introducing elements from Realms of Cthulhu into Agents of Oblivion for example? Or does Agents of Oblivion support “lovecraftian” elements out of the box?

Sean: Agents of Oblivion, as originally conceived, was Mission Impossible meets Cthulhu. When Reality Blurs acquired the Cthulhu license for Savage Worlds, we opted to keep them a bit more separate in terms of product identity and focus. However, as the guy who designed the mechanics for both, I wanted to ensure they played well together (which, I admit, did factor into going with a Power Point free system for magic). Within Oblivion, there is a branch called Sigil tasked with dealing with eldritch horrors. It’s neither explored nor alluded to in Agents of Oblivion. All that being said, I have a clear vision of Sigil and notes about them sketched out and they’ll be making an upcoming appearance down the road—I cannot say exactly when, though I know

Stargazer: Is there anything else you want to share with us about AoO before we move on? Oh, by the way, when do you plan to release it?

Sean: Agents of Oblivion is out now! We released it electronically on October 10^th and it climbed to Number One on RPGNow the first day. This was no mean feat since we try to drive traffic directly to our site with special deals, like the preorder bundles we’re offering right now. I’d like to thank everyone for their show of support. You guys responded fantastically and it was truly gratifying!

Stargazer: In the introduction to this interview I mentioned Iron Dynasty. It’s a game that impressed me a lot. Can you give our readers a short description of what the game is about?

Sean: Iron Dynasty is our game of Heavy Metal Oriental Action. In other words—and here’s the thing because I called it this originally in-house—Samurai Steampunk. While an oriental fantasy, it is based off of historical Japan in a lot of ways before I liberally blurred it up and made it very much a sandbox setting where you can play a lot of different ways. I have three words: giant bamboo mecha! If you like Kurosawa flicks and high-action oriental gaming, you’ll be sure to dig it. I know I’m gushing, but for just pure fantasy it’s my go to game. It’s filled with spell-slinging ninja, angry oni armies, crazy giant robots, and angry ronin. You’ll even find some pirates in those pages and can finally see for yourself who wins in the old ninja versus pirates face-off. It sounds gonzo and can certainly go that way. However, it’s carefully balanced. We here at Reality Blurs like our chaos controlled.

Stargazer: The ID product page lists a few upcoming products. Aside from the Fantasy Craft version of Iron Dynasty there’s also Iron Dynasty: Art of War for the SW Showdown system. So will there be full range of ID miniatures? What else is planned for Iron Dynasty?

Sean: Miniatures are a very risky proposition even in the best of times and we haven’t grown to the point where I’d feel comfortable making such a large investment. There are a number of existing miniatures suitable for Iron Dynasty out there. Now that you mention it, I really need to get Art of War out there! We’ve been focusing on a lot of support products for Iron Dynasty, including a big series of Guidebooks and Kesshi Tales. We’re trying to find a window to release Iron Dynasty for Fantasy Craft (and it will be getting the accompanying support materials. Next up, we’re looking at a plot point campaign, however, we’ve not firmed up the particulars yet, so I’d be remiss at saying more than “we have things in various stages of development”. Yes, I realize it is the typical, cagey stock game designer answer even as I type it, but if I had more particulars we were ready to share, I’d let you know.

Stargazer: As far as I remember Reality Blurs was one of the first, if not the first, Savage Worlds licensee. What made you jump on the Savage Worlds bandwagon that early?

Sean: We were, in fact, the third licensee to make a deal with Pinnacle (back in 2004) and are now viewed, I suppose, as part of the Old Guard. We are the last remaining original licensee with Pinnacle making a deal with 12 to Midnight for their Pinebox material and them sadly shutting down independent operations and Legion (with its principles of Simon Lucas and Robin Eliot) to be subsequently reformed as Triple Ace Games (with its principles of Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams and Robin Eliot). Ed Wetterman of 12 to Midnight and I have been buddies for a number of years now and he worked on Agents of Oblivion with me and presently serves as its line developer.

My path to Savage Worlds is rather unusual. I had been running a weekly game of 3.5 D&D and the players were delving through a massive dungeon. I had worked on this new level to reflect a change in tone from traditional orcs and goblins to a more Lovecraftian vibe (yes, this was in 2004, but I’ve long been a fan of HPL). The introductory scene was to paint a picture to them of this darker, more twisted atmosphere and was exciting…on paper. In play, it didn’t work out well. The one combat took hours and my players (as well as myself) felt it was (rightly so) a huge grind and we yearned for less debates about the mechanics, speedier play, and more fun. I jumped on the computer and began evaluating a LOT of systems. At the time, HARP (by Iron Crown Enterprises), FATE, and Savage Worlds were the three frontrunners. HARP had a lot of crunch and reminded me a lot of MERP (Middle Earth Roleplaying)—I knew this was something my guys, ultimately, wouldn’t really play. I saw FATE as having lot of potential yet neither the system nor I had evolved enough yet for me to really take said plunge (though it certainly has come a long way in the last few years). Savage Worlds immediately drew me in. I knew Shane had something special. I was familiar with Deadlands and I liked the way you could simply and elegantly create characters like those found in novels and cinema, yet, these characters still retained a certain degree of humanity, of vulnerability. While you could be an axe-wielding barbarian or a masterful sorcerer, you were not guaranteed victory regardless of your power level. Uncertainty is a very powerful element to include in a game. This keeps the players’ attention. As a longtime GURPS player (once upon a time), I liked how Savage Worlds offered up a really clean core system and had plenty of opportunities for extensibility. Though I entertained no thoughts for a long time of ever becoming a designer, I was compelled to send off a pitch to Shane about RunePunk and when my crew came over the following week, I showed them my copy of Savage Worlds and 50 Fathoms and said “We’re playing this now as I’m going to be developing for it.” They thought I was crazy then and probably even more so now!

Stargazer: Over the years Reality Blurs has released products for True20, Savage Worlds and Fantasy Craft. Are you currently planning to support other game systems as well or perhaps even to design your own system?

Sean: Yes.

Stargazer: While I was compiling these questions I talked with a couple of friends and asked them if they had any questions they wanted to ask you. I was a bit surprised that most of them haven’t heard of Reality Blurs yet, a few have heard of your games though. I think you actually jokingly called Reality Blurs “the biggest RPG publisher nobody knows” yourself. Do you have a theory why a lot of gamers haven’t heard from you yet? And is there anything your fans can do to help you change this?

Sean: This one has stymied us internally for quite some time and all we have is mainly theories. I’ll posit a few for you and maybe you or your readers can provide some illuminating answers for us. The most obvious reason is we’ve been historically deliberate in our work. As such, we have a solid reputation and reach a higher level of awareness we aren’t able to capitalize upon as we diligently work on the next thing. We’ve been taking steps with it and this year has been particularly good to us, so I think brand awareness is starting to spread. I’ve been a lot more active in social media and have religiously posted The Razorwise Report on the Reality Blurs site. Another thing—and this may sound weird—but we don’t make a bunch of mistakes in our work. A lot of questions generated on websites and forums are questions about why does x work or how does y work. If we’re on our game, you won’t have to ask us. Other reasons are a number of our games have had things working against us until now. RunePunk is a whole lot of fun, but it is a difficult elevator pitch. Would I change that as my initial release? I’ve thought hard about it and I learned a lot and showed folks I can do some outré design work and it is where I really cut my teeth with Savage Worlds. As we’ve progressed, we’ve increased the number of our releases and are working with settings more within the norm in a number of ways. You might’ve thought Realms of Cthulhu would be our break out game (we considered it as a possibility) and it did radically heighten people’s awareness of my design chops both within and without the community and is well regarded, we just need to give the fans something of real substance to dig their teeth into—essentially, the Savages need a setting to call their own. With Echo, I hope to deliver upon the promise of potential found within Realms of Cthulhu as I clearly define and share my vision of the Mythos. In some ways, I did my job too well, as the Sanity system sings, I recall getting a lot of buzz speculating how it couldn’t be done. Agents of Oblivion is an easy sell compared to a lot of the things we’ve talked about. Horror-espionage? Superspies and alien? Mission Impossible Meets The X-Files? This is something which resonates strongly with gamers and we’re hitting this at the right time, I think. Savage Worlds has greatly matured and its base is expanding and I’m taking strides to be known beyond the community.

I’m proud to claim a base of smart, well-read folks. However, they generally do not post often or are very active on the web. They prefer to email me directly. I get a lot of regular correspondence from folks who write to say “great work” or “thank you” or “you made my day!” This is cool. This shows I’m making a connection with folks and, evidently, folks feel comfortable talking with me. There is nothing wrong with that, but there is something the letter writers and everyone who likes Reality Blurs can do.

Post publicly. I note the people who have issues generally post publicly. I don’t mind that, but if you want to show your support do these things.

1. Spread the word about us at conventions, local game stores, wherever.
2. Through social media. Help me get to a thousand followers on Twitter. Why not? Make that happen. If you’re not a follower, use your social media outlets to spread the word.
3. Through websites.
4. Support your local game store.
5. Tell your friends.
6. Help us get an active community going on our forums.
7. Send suggestions on what I can do to heighten our awareness. Better yet, post them on our website.

This was a good question and I may have gone a bit long. I thought once upon a time focusing on expanding my brand would be simply perceived as mercenary, but we’re offering some good stuff here. Help me connect. I’m often lost in layout and the reverie of writing and lose touch with the outside world. Together, we can put Reality Blurs on the tip of everyone’s tongue!

Stargazer: Before I let you return to work on Agents of Oblivion there’s something I need to know. What was the first roleplaying game you ever played and how and when did you enter the “industry”?

Sean: I recall being born with a D20 in my hand. Or near enough. I go all the way back to the beginning with Original D&D and Chainmail and all the early loveliness. I was in the industry as a kid, just from the retail side. My family had Viking Hobbies, a hobby store which introduced roleplaying games (D&D at the time, later others) to the Mid-South area of the United States (Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas). I recall doing playtests for Yaquinto (Man, Myth, & Magic anyone?) and meeting Jean Wells. Mainly, I placed orders and such and ran tournament games. Prior to starting up Reality Blurs, I had done some freelance stuff for Neverwinter Nights with Bioware. That’s an interesting story. I became active in the community on day one and they soon after made me a moderator in the DM’s Section. I went on to create the DMFI (Dungeon Master’s Friendly Initiative) and eventually to work a bit with the guys there on The Witch’s Wake, the first free module they released using some of the document support I drafted up. It was my first time behind the curtain, working with developers, and getting to see the early iterations of work. I did do some playtesting for Green Ronin for Warhammer Third Edition for a short time, but within a month of that time I had started up the company and the rest is history. I’ll add a far shorter answer here at the end: Reality Blurs started up in June 2004 (or thereabouts).

Stargazer: Thanks again for taking your time, Sean. It was a pleasure! One last thing, do you have anything to share with our readers that I forgot to ask?

Sean: I think I covered just about everything, though I’d just like to invite people to follow me at RealityBlurs on Twitter and Facebook and to put me in their Google+ Circles for the latest news and mad ramblings and deals. They should also check out The Razorwise Report at realityblurs.com where I regularly post about writing, design, and whatever other things that cross my mind at the time. I better get back to it—I’m sure I should be working on something! Thank you. I enjoyed this immensely.

Stargazer: Thanks for your answers, Sean! As always it was a pleasure talking to you! Take care!

Related posts:

1. Interview: Shane Hensley and Matthew Cutter
2. Interview with Chad Underkoffler
3. Interview with David Bezio

“You have in your hands a rules set that lets you play anything from “Spellslinging Spy vs. Alien Brain Eater” to “Harry Palmer vs. That Unpleasant Fellow from Bulgaria.” They haven’t glossed over any of the little nuts and bolts you need to play a realistic spy game, if that’s your desire – they’ve just streamlined it to be Fast, Furious, and Fun. That I can use one setting to play both those extremes is impressive as hell.”

These are the words he wrote for the introduction of Sean Preston’s Agents of Oblivion, the latest Savage Worlds campaign from Reality Blurs. The 218-paged book contains everything you need to horror-fueled espionage action using the Savage World rules (you need a copy of the Savage Worlds rules). I am sure many of you have been waiting for this fine book to be released and if you haven’t you don’t know what you’re missing! Trust me, Sean outdid himself with AoO!

By the way, there are a couple of pretty cool bundles available at the Reality Blurs shop right now:

• The New Recruit (Agents of Oblivion PDF) for $10
• The Elite Agent (Agents of Oblivion Print + PDF) for $25
• The Sigil Operative (Agents of Oblivion PDF + Realms of Cthulhu PDF) for $20
• The Director (Agents of Oblivion Print + PDF and Realms of Cthulhu Print + PDF) for $50

If you don’t own a copy of Realms of Cthulhu yet, I recommend you consider the Sigil Operative or The Director Bundle. An espionage campaign with Mythos elements sounds just to awesome not to try! ^_^

Update: AoO is now available from RPGNow, too!

Related posts:

1. Dungeonslayers: The Runes of Oblivion
2. Ia! Ia! Check out this great Realms of Cthulhu sale!
3. Realms of Cthulhu Giveaway Contest

You can get the Electronic Madness Bundle containing the PDF versions of Realms of Cthulhu and both Mythos Tales for mere $15! This is utter madness, if you ask me!

And if that offer hasn’t driven you completely mad, the Complete Bundle probably will push you over the edge! It contains the Print and PDF copies of the aforementioned books for just $40 plus shipping!

So what are you waiting for? Head over to the Reality Blurs Shop, get your credit card ready and praise Great Cthulhu (and Sean of course) for this great deal! Please note that this sale is for a limited time only!

By the way, if you are not sure if Realms of Cthulhu is for you, check out my review of that fine game.

Related posts:

1. Review: Realms of Cthulhu
2. Realms of Cthulhu Giveaway Contest
3. The stars are right… For a winner! The results of the Realms of Cthulhu Giveaway Contest

• Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion [Pinnacle Entertainment]
• Realms of Cthulhu [Reality Blurs]
• Karma Roleplaying System Core [Bards and Sages]
• Fantasy Craft [Crafty Games]
• Fat Dragon’s Dragonshire Deluxe [Fat Dragon Games]
• Ninja Burger RPG (2nd Edition) [aetherial FORGE]
• Heavy Gear Blitz! Locked & Loaded [Dream Pod 9]
• Hero’s Handbook: Dragonborn [Goodman Games]
• Splicers RPG [Palladium Books]
• Caladon Falls [Savage Mojo]
• Legend of the Five Rings (4th Edition) [AEG]
• Fuzzy Heroes (2nd Edition) [Inner City Games]
• Ave Molech (2nd Edition) [Morbidgames]
• Book of Alignment (OGL/Pathfinder) [Emerald Press]
• Horrific Universe: 12 Months of Horror [Bailey Records]
• Directors Cut Survival Horror [Crispy Zombie Productions]
• Friar’s Almanac (Complete) [Dark Spire]
• Distant Vistas [Draken Games]
• Stories in the Ether, Issue 1 (Bundle) [Nevermet Press]
• d-Infinity Volume #3: Children of the Night (Gen Con Special Edition) [Skirmisher Publishing]

In order to benefit from the discount you need to enter the coupon code DiceInTheFall during checkout! There’s definitely a lot of good stuff on this list.

Related posts:

1. Get 20% off of selected titles at DriveThruRPG until July 10th
2. Get 20% off until September 20 on selected DriveThruRPG titles
3. Get 20% off of selected titles at DriveThruRPG this month

Especially in autumn or winter I love to run horror games and what could be more blood-freezing than combining H.P. Lovecraft’s work with the cold war? I think I’ll pitch the idea to my players and if they show some interest, I’ll start working on that project as soon as I have enough free time.

The question that remains is what system shall I use. The simplest solution would probably be Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu. The system is easy enough and allows adventures from the 1890s to modern day with ease. Another possibility would be Realms of Cthulhu by Reality Blurs. Especially if the campaign should feature a good amount of action, it’s probably the best solution because it uses the Savage World rules. Last but not least Trail of Cthulhu by Pelgrane Press comes to mind. This game normally uses the 1930s as its setting, but as the adventure Castle Bravo has shown, it can be used for later centuries, too. Castle Bravo also combines the Mythos with atomic horror, so it can probably be used for inspiration, or even be run as part of said campaign.

Currently I think it would probably the best to set the campaign into the 1950s or 1960s. Most characters might have actually fought in WW2 and may even had their first encounter with the Mythos then. I also think that the McCarthy era in particular could form a great backdrop for such a campaign. Perhaps the players start as FBI agents following some leads on a group of Communists that are in fact cultists worshipping some Mythos entity.

I am not entirely sure about the details yet, but my plan is that things on Earth get increasingly worse during the campaign. Instead of stopping the coming apocalypse the player characters should be uncovering the events that lead to it. This is a big gamble. My players may actually hate it, because they can’t fight the inevitable. But in my opinion that’s what a combination of the Cthulhu Mythos and the cold war should be like. There’s no way out. The bombs will fall, Cthulhu will wake, humanity will be destroyed. But the way there can be quite exciting and even fun to play!

Related posts:

1. Review: Cthulhu Rising
2. Ia! Ia! Check out this great Realms of Cthulhu sale!
3. I AM CTHULHU!

And even though steampunk is probably not the most popular genre for roleplaying games, there are quite a few excellent games out there. The most well-known steampunk setting is probably Deadlands which combines the Western genre with elements of horror and steampunk into an original mix.

The classic roleplaying game Space 1889 might not actually what most people first think when they hear steampunk, but the Victorian Age Science Fiction RPG definitely features a lot of the common tropes of the genre.

Recently I wrote a review of the FATE edition of Kerberos Club, a game that allows you to run games in a Victorian Age touched by the “Strangeness”. Like Space 1889 it’s not a pure steampunk game, but more like a Victorian Superhero game with some steampunk elements. But because of the versatility of the FATE system, it should be pretty easy to use it to run a full-blown steampunk game.

When you are into indie games, you should definitely check out Lady Blackbird or fellow RPG blogger Rob Lang’s 24h RPG Cloudship Atlantis. Both are available for free and are a good introduction to the genre.

But I am sure there are dozens of other campaign settings or complete games using at least elements of steampunk that I haven’t mentioned here. WotC’s Eberron definitely has a healthy dose of steampunk-ish elements, even though it’s probably more like “magipunk”.

So, what is your favorite steampunk setting? Is there any game every steampunk fan should check out? Or perhaps you know of that one obscure game no one talks about. So please share your thoughts in the comments below and let us know about your favorite steampunk games!

Related posts:

1. Ask The Readers: What’s your favorite genre?
2. Ask The Readers: What is your favorite “noir” RPG?
3. Victorian & Steampunk Name Generator

So, what do you need to do to get this fine game? At first you need a DriveThruRPG account. This shouldn’t be a big deal. But in addition to that you have to answer a simple question:

“What did Sean Preston, founder of Reality Blurs, have for breakfast this morning?”

The first person who posts the correct answer into the comments below, will get a free PDF copy of Iron Dynasty. And while you’re at it, why don’t you follow the official Reality Blurs Twitter feed? Good luck!

UPDATE: The question has been answered and the copy has been given away! Congratulations to Glenn aka DustDevil75.

Related posts:

1. Iron Dynasty – Way of the Ronin
2. Lazy Friday Video post: “Game Geeks #178 RunePunk and Iron Dynasty”
3. Realms of Cthulhu Giveaway Contest

Well the fates be dammed! I intend to finish this thing even if it’s the last thing I do. (If Michael sees the readership number plummeting and you see my name stricken from the authors list you’ll know what did me in!) I’ve covered RPGs, other games, “stuff” (t-shirts, artists, authors, et al) but this last post is about the most important reason I went to  Gen Con. What was it? Read on…

Friends! I wanted to go to Gen Con to spend time with my friends. Role playing games have been a great way to make friends. My longest lasting and dearest friendship have been forged around a table, rolling dice and telling adventures, and making it to the biggest gaming convention meant seeing friends old and new, as well as forging new friendships.

You’d be surprised to know how many Boricuas where at Gen Con this year. Besides your truly there were people playing card games, miniature games, some that I knew and didn’t get to see (its strange to believe that you can know people and not see them during the WHOLE convention, it is that crazy) some that I knew but had no idea they were there until we ran into them at a nearby food court. Then there were the people I knew were going to be there and I had plans to see. Like they say in pageant shows, in no particular order, they were…

Daniel Perez (@Highmon): Talk about making friends through gaming! I met Daniel back when I worked at Metro Comics (the local FLGS and comic shop), he worked at another store (the first proper FLGS locally and owned by a good friend) and we forged our friendship back then, Talking about games, and sharing some personal experiences I don’t think should be discussed here. (I’ll take bribes on PayPal!) When he moved to the states we lost touch, I knew about him though common friends, but we did not speak for years. Then during Gen Con 2007 we ran into each other the very last day! Thankfully we’ve kept in contact since. He’s a good friend and has been instrumental in a lot of things I have done in recent years relating to gaming. He was pivotal to the creation of Puerto Rico Role Players, motivated me to get involved with the group and continues supporting us even if he’s not here in the island. I’ve told the story before, so suffice it to say he’s half the reason I began blogging (the other being Mr. Stargazer himself).

When I arrived at Indianapolis Wednesday night he was one of the first people I called. And despite it being late, and him being tired, he walked over to my hotel and went to have late (really late) dinner with me at The Ram. We met a couple of more times, including a late night toast before I came back. It’s always good to see Daniel, and I only hope we get to do this again real soon.

Rouka, Jesús, Chino and Cass: Then there were some newer friends I’ve made through Puerto Rico Role Players. I may have known them for a shorter time than Daniel (I think they are too young to have been hanging out when we were!) but they are great friends who adopted me into their group, kept me company and kept this old foggy gamer safe from the lures of overspending! Jesús and Rouka were kind enough to join Daniel and me for dinner at The Ram when I came in and the next day with Chino and Cass all five of us returned for lunch in the same venue.

I may sound like an old fart but it warm my heart to see this younger generation of gamers picking up the mantle. I love the gusto with which they embrace gaming and LAPRing and all aspects of our hobby. They are an integral part of the success of Puerto Rico Role Players and going to Gen Con with them was among the highlights of my trip. We ate together, wandered the exhibit hall, I did not get to LAPR with them but their love for it is contagious and they have made me consider actually doing it, when some years ago I would not have thought of it. I would love to go to Gen Con with all of them again and this time around I’ll do the Nero thing.

PJ (@luniticus): Another good friend who’s far away. PJ is one of those people I knew through a lot of other people (a one degree of separation kind of thing) but when I finally meet him in person immediately liked the guy! I’ve had the pleasure sitting at the table as a fellow player and have him play when I’ve GMed. His daughter is also one of the bravest, smartest young ladies I have met!

While he was also among those I called as soon as I got to Indy, we could not meet for dinner that first evening but we made up for it later on the weekend. He gave me the grand tour of the minis gaming room, which I had managed to miss enthralled by all things RPG. I also got to meet his friends from Virginia who had made the trek with him to the con; and one of them had been discharged from the hospital and come straight to Gen Con, that is dedication my friend! Big shout out to the World’s Best Comics crew (click on that link to check out their Facebook page).

Yamir and Gaby: I read an article on the newspaper the other day that said that social media was just a waste of time (no wonder a newspaper is saying this) and that most people only do stupid mindless things while logged in to places like Facebook. Well I beg to differ! Though social media, including Twitter and now Google+ I’ve met so many wonderful people, forged new REAL friendships, case and point Yamir. If I remember my details correctly (and the involved parties are welcome to correct me) Daniel, who he met on the Green Ronin forums, told Yamir about Puerto Rico Role Players where we got in contact. He eventually visited one time during one of our game nights and shortly after we invited him to join us.

Yamir is a terrific player, always ready to give constructive criticism, and an even better friend. Sadly he moved away and is no longer gaming with us, and I really miss him. He has a wonderful girlfriend, well that’s not exactly right; she WAS his girlfriend when we met. Gaby and Yamir were set to get married the weekend of Gen Con. They called me to invite me to the wedding and I said I had plans to go to Gen Con. They wanted to come too but had forgotten about the date. Gaby agreed to CHANGE the wedding date, moving it to the weekend before, just so they could take the road trip and come to Gen Con as part of their Honeymoon. Yes Gaby is one of the best wives EVER!

They are an amazing couple. We spent time catching up which we really needed to do. As an aside, we did go to Harry and Izzy’s where we had an AMAZING steak dinner and I enjoyed their St. Elmo’s Shrimp Cocktail. Well let’s just say it’s one of the most delicious and hot foods I have ever tasted it. I cried, but they were tears of joy! But, back to the point of this post…

Gen Con was not just about existing friends, I wanted to meet many of the new acquaintances I’ve made online through the blog and on Twitter. Let’s say I was less successful on this area. They were just too many I wanted to see. But I did manage to run into a few of you…

David A. Miller (@LodestoneDavid): I met David in Twitter and he is a friend of Daniel (do you see the pattern here). One of my goals at Gen Con was to play some Savage Worlds and David generously offered to run a game. I mentioned the game on my very first post from Gen Con. Just to reiterate, the adventure was awesome, reinforced my desire to run a Savage Worlds campaign and helped me get a better grasp for the rules in action. Besides Scott who I met at the table, and who happened to be a great guy, Yamir, PJ and I were the other players; When Scott had to leave due to the game running late, Gaby joined in and ran his character for the final two parts of the adventure. Again thank you for your time and the game David, meeting you was another big highlight of the con. We originally had another person who was going to join us, however he ran a little late, when he finally arrived I made the acquaintance of…

Chris Helton (@dorkland): Chris is one of those people I knew about before I knew him. I had read his Dorkland! blog and enjoyed his take on gaming and other subject matter that interests him. We met at David’s Savage Worlds game and although he did not stay till the end we did talk and eventually ran into each other (I think) two days later. He joined us for dinner and we got to spend some time talking and philosophizing. We wondered how we had connected on Twitter where we had interacted before the con and although we had theories, we could not pinpoint it.

I had an awesome time with Chris and wished we could have spent more time talking. He may not be a Babylon5 fan (as per our conversation over Twitter of my obsessive love of the series), but no one is perfect (I kid you Chris) but I do wish we’ll get to do something together in the near future and keep in touch. Thanks for all the insight and the good times!

There were other more casual and shorter meetings during the con. I ran into Phil Vecchione (@DNAphil) on a corridor while on the way to dinner with Chris, Yamir, Gaby, Jesús, Rouka and PJ and instantly recognized him. Phil in an awesome dude with a contagious positive attitude, he was with Patrick Benson (@sinisterforces) who I met briefly there but who I also look forward to keeping in contact with. Both write for Gnome Stew so be sure to check them out there as well.

I also recognized Newbie DM (@newbiedm) on the floor and got to see him again during the aforementioned late night toast with Daniel Perez. On my first retrospective post I mentioned Gareth Michael Skarka, but I neglected to mention that he had received the recognition of being named an honorary Boricua by Daniel and me. I know he will have great success with his upcoming Far West project. Make sure you visit and support the kickstarter project, it closes very soon. I get a feeling this will be BIG and this is a chance to be there from the very beginning.

It’s easy to make friend at Gen Con, even before getting there! I met the creators of the new RPG Genesys on the flight and at the airport when I arrived in Indianapolis. The system and the premise looks promising and intriguing, and I hope to get more information on it and hopefully interview the creators (once real life stops beating me senseless) so I can share what I learn with all our readers.

Looking back there were LOTS of people I missed seeing at Gen Con. The people from #rpgchat in Twitter, Mad Brew of Mad Brew Labs, and MANY others I have had the honor of meeting in Stargazer’s World. If I meet you during Gen Con and forgot to mention it I’m sorry, this post has rambled on for far too long. Just know that the best thing about Gen Con was seeing old friend and making new ones.

If you’ve been to Gen Con you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t gone to Gen Con yet, don’t put it off. It is even better than I, or any other blogger or reporter, makes it sound. It is truly the best four days in gaming. Gen Con 2012 will be held august 12^th to the 16^th, mark you calendars and start planning, I hope to see you there!

Related posts:

1. Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 3: On to other stuff…
2. Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 1: Role Playing Games
3. Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 2: Other games and minis too!

Vampire Hunter$: Modern OGL Compatible	SAWS+ Character Sheet for Pathfinder	Field Guide to Superheroes Vol. 3 (ICONS)
Plastic Ships and Fuzzy Men	The Genius Guide to Another 110 Spell Variants	Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin

The coupon code you need to use at checkout to get the 20% discount is AfterGenConGlow2011.

By the way, if you haven’t checked out Iron Dynasty yet, you definitely should do so. It’s an awesome and very original setting for Savage Worlds that combines elements from feudal Japan with steampunk. You can read my review of this game here.

Related posts:

1. Get 20% off of selected titles at DriveThruRPG until July 10th
2. Get 20% off of selected titles at DriveThruRPG this month
3. Get 20% off of selected titles at DriveThruRPG

First I got home to a work week of unforeseen dimensions, then the con-crud hit! The combination kept me down for two days. Then last night when I finally sat down to write my laptop crashed, and apparently my smart phone followed in a sign of support. I had about half of my pictures and a smattering of videos on the smart phone. I restored the laptop and solved that problem, the smart phone proved another matter. I lost pictures and videos, never to be recovered. So if I took your picture at Gen Con and you never see it, I apologize.

But you didn’t come here for the sob stories; you came here to read about games, specifically role-playing games which are the main topic of this blog. You’ve probably read about some  of the big news which I’ll link to in case you only read this gaming blog (and we can’t fault you for your impeccable taste!). Margaret Weiss Productions announced their deal to produce a Marvel superheroes RPG. Sounds like a well planned project, and while I am not currently on the market for a new supers game (more on this later) I will take a look.

Fantasy Flight Games actually announced they have the Star Wars license for board games, card games and role-playing games just before Gen Con. They were running demos of their card game and X-Wing games at Gen Con both seemed interesting and I spent some time looking at people play. However I am mainly a role-player, while I dabble in the occasional board game, I would rather spend my time role playing. Will I buy a new Star Wars game? My knee jerk reaction is no, I have D6, and Saga, but the Warhammer 40K RPGs have tempted me, I’m just not that big of a 40K fan. Star Wars is another matter. I just might…

Wizards of the Coast had their Neverwinter campaign, D&D Encounters and a contest both at Gen Con and for those playing in encounters. The promo video looks really cool, and some of my friend interested in D&D 4^th edition seem stoked about it. Since I don’t play 4^th edition and I never played any of the Neverwinter computer games I was not terribly interested. I feel little bad that I can’t bring you more news about this but there is plenty of reports out there and while I was covering the convention for the blog I did want to focus in things that would be of interest to me. I hope there is some commonality with our reader. So what did I go for?

There were a few things I knew I was getting. Savage Worlds Deluxe was big on my list! I posted about the book and the pre-order, which I took advantage of and picked up at Gen Con, along with the Action and Adventure Decks. I had downloaded the PDF version that came with the bundle and printed it out, so I had “seen” the book before actually getting it, but even that did not take away from the sheer joy of holding the book in my hands. It is a beautiful thing, gorgeous to look at and sturdy. I ended up getting the official bennies as well as I am decided to run this game.

As I try to learn to better run Savage Worlds that was one of the games I wanted to play during Gen Con and thanks to my good friend David I did. I mentioned it on my previous Gen Con post, we played what was supposed to be a short game for over four hours and I got to experience firsthand how the game flows. I have a debt with David for showing me the way, thank you sir!

I got some other Savage Worlds books while in Indianapolis. From what I read of Suzerain it is a supplement to play deity-like characters using the Savage Worlds system. It gave me and Amber (the books, not the game) vibe and I couldn’t resist. Another book I was not looking for but discovered at Gen Con was The Day After Ragnarok. I had read about it but was not interested until someone talked to me about it, I held the book in my hands and I could not put it down. It’s a delicious blend of pulp and post apocalyptic goodness in the middle of the 20^th century that fired my imagination.

I also got another book by Ragnarok’s author Kenneth Hite, Cthulhu 101. While not strictly a role-playing game, who can say no to Cthulhu? Certainly not me! I got both books while on my way to the Green Ronin booth, as it seemed they were sharing the space. I was there to get some Mutants & Mastermind goodness. The system powers my weekly game and I wanted a copy of the 3^rd edition rules of the game, the new DC Adventures Heroes & Villains Vol. 1 book and the GM Kit. Getting to meet Steve Kenson (who I interviewed for the blog when ICONS came out) and having him sign the book was just the cherry on the sundae. I just love this system; it has become my favorite superhero game and the reason why I said earlier I am not really looking for a new game of this genre.

My other must get book was Ultimate Combat by Paizo. It is a terrific book, with a new class that uses the firearms rules in the book, the Samurai and Ninja as well as options for all combat classes, a truckload of feats and even some spells. The book continues the tradition of great books for Pathfinder and it fuels the fire of my desire to go back to playing Pathfinder. Getting the PDF copy of the book for just $5 was just a bonus. I think the PDF copies at $10 are priced just right point and being able to pick it up for half the price was a big win.

Pelgrane Press had Ashen Stars and the Esoterrorists, both using the Gumshoe system. Michael had told me so much about Ashen Star that I snatched it up and have not been disappointed. It is a beautiful book and the system is so elegant. The big surprise was Esoterrorist, I had read about it and was intrigued but I like it so much I have put down Ashen Star and I’m currently devouring this dark modern game, I highly recommend it! To me it’s not so much about the conceit behind Gumshoe and making investigation adventures easy, but simply such an entertaining read.

The Cubicle 7 booth was busy, busy, busy! They had The One Ring, and I got to meet Gareth Michael Skarka there. He is a terrific guy and I’m sorry I did not get to spend more time talking to him. They had a lot of the Adamant books there, I got what I want form them already, the already have my money, and I am glad they do.

I got some other goodies for my games, like the products of Dark Platypus Studios, including their magna maps, effect markers, pillars, clings, initiative tracker… Well let’s just say my biggest purchase at the con was from them! I got another customizable GM screen from another vendor, I already own two, but they had magnetic receptive inserts and I can do so much with them, not necessarily use them in the traditional screen function. The last thing I got was Gaming Paper’s Mega Dungeon and accompanying adventure. Amidst all the post con reading I have NOT gotten to the adventure but the map is MASSIVE and it just tickled my geek fancy!

There were plenty of other things I saw, demoed and almost purchased, but as it was I returned with over 50 pounds (about 23kg to you metric folk) in extra weight in my luggage (which I suspect made the airline very happy) so I could not get everything. So let me tell you about the other games. Amaranthine by Machine Age Productions seemed intriguing, a game of immortals and social interaction, right up my alley. As far as my players go, well not so much… Still the production quality was terrific and it was hard for me to put it down.

The idea of Dungeon Decks, sets of cards to create old school type adventures intrigued me. They are a cool way to generate ideas and get your creative juices flowing. WEGS Old Skool seemed like a tribute to old school gaming but integrating elements like cards into the game to make it more accessible for newer games. It looked simple and fun and I almost got it. This is one I am sorry I did not go back to the booth to get. I may yet order this.

The booth for tiltfactor was play testing a zombies in the office game which seemed promising if a little rough around the edges. Their Pox board game caught my eye specifically because they have lessons plans to use it in the classroom. But these are not strictly role-playing games and I am going off topic here. I hope to tackle other types of games and other goodies I found at Gen con on my next post…

See you then!

Related posts:

1. Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 2: Other games and minis too!
2. Time to Speak Out with my Geek Out… Role-Playing Games in my case!
3. Five Great Blogs About Role-Playing Games @ GeekDad

After my last first time here four years ago, I came to the con with a different attitude, and it has worked. I have spent time with friends from the island who travelled here from back home as well as those that live stateside. I have also met with friends I had only contacted through social media. It’s a strange thing to meet people you’ve only seen in avatars and profile pictures.

As far as Gen Con goes, well what can I add? It’s a massive event no gamer should miss. No matter how far away you are it’s a pilgrimage worth making, and I am sure once you’ve been here you’ll want to return. Today I concentrated on the Exhibitors Room, foolishly believing I could see all I wanted to see. I visited booths, talked to some professionals I had never thought I would exchange words with and learned about all sorts of interesting games. Some are already being talked about in the blogosphere and internet new sites. Also I went to some smaller companies and saw some really interesting things, especially in areas I typically don’t follow, like miniature games and board games.

I spent far too much money and already have the books I wanted and a few more. I will write more extensively later on specifics as I am simply just too tired to write much more. I finished the night playing a game of Savage Worlds with David (@LodestoneDavid) from Purple Pawn who was kind enough to run three loud Puerto Ricans (me, my friend Yamir and @luniticus) as well as our new friend Scott, through an excellent pulp adventure. It helped me better understand the system as well as show me how to put together all the rule components more efficiently. Kudos to David!

And I cannot sign off today without thanking the Gen Con staff who facilitated my being there, were helpful and all around swell people. Covering the con for the blog has been a blast. I will write more next week about the experience and specifics, so this is just the beginning. Thank you all for reading!

PS – Remember that This Just In from… Gen Con! Is also covering the con and they are doing podcasts about it…

Related posts:

1. The stars are right… For a winner! The results of the Realms of Cthulhu Giveaway Contest
2. Happy Holidays from Stargazer’s World!
3. Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 4!

I also plan to cover Gen Con for the blog. The how is still taking form. I’ll be taking lots of pictures and talking to whoever will indulge me, to know what fun things publishers big and small are planning and unveiling at the con. In this day and age there is so much information and coverage (like the fine folk at This Just in from Gen Con) that I don’t aspire to bring you every bit of news, just what I think will be of interest to our readers. I hope to post in some form from Gen Con, let’s see if the Exhibit Hall and random games don’t kill me…

What’s my plan? Well it’s fluid… At first I began filling up a log schedule and after a while I realized I would be running from one place to the other with little time to just ENJOY being there. So I scrapped it and decided to play it by ear. Here is the (very) rough outline:

• I should be leaving Puerto Rico Wednesday afternoon and arriving at Indianapolis late Wednesday night.
• I’ll be staying at the Crowne Plaza at Union Station where I will most likely crash for the night, unless there are any nearby convenience stores where I can stock up on some snacks (really have no idea how far they may be or the hours they keep)
• Thursday morning I plan to get up REALLY early and get my press badge and then it’s on to the (drum roll please)…
• EXHIBIT HALL! Cave of treasures, den of temptation, and bane of my bank account… I expect to spend the majority of the day there, meeting with some friends, visiting the creators I’ve read about so much and yet have never met. I also hope to meet some of our readers in the floor. (Here is a handy map, thanks Mad Brew Labs for sharing)
• Thursday night I play a game with some friends and hopefully write a post about the day for the blog (unless I just keep playing thought the night!)
• Friday I would like to get a chance to talk to more people, go to some seminars and hopefully play a pickup game here and there.
• Then Friday night I become conflicted! I want to go eat with other Puerto Ricans at the con, but there are the ENnies and Knights of the Dinner Table Live Reading! All on the same night. Decision, decisions… (and of course try to blog, let’s see if I keep this promise)
• Saturday I want to get chance to pick up a couple of gifts, game some more and maybe, just maybe if I manage to pull something together actually run a game. Not sure about this yet.
• Then Sunday its breakfast, a walk around and then off to the airport. I should be back home in the early evening, tired and happy.

There are some things I’m looking forward, like getting my Savage Worlds Deluxe copy, trying to get a copy of Ultimate Combat, getting a copy of e20, even if it’s an electronic one. I am even bringing some gifts a friend sent to some of his friends who will be exhibitors. I also plan to bring some rum and a coffee for a Puerto Rican who misses his Yaucono. I also plan to meet the #RPGchat crew at one of their planned meet ups. Good times ahead…

If you are going to Gen Con I’d love to meet you and chat. You can find me in Twitter as @Sunglar, on Facebook as sunglar@hotmail.com, Google+ as sunglar@gmail.com. Be sure to reach out if you feel like taking for a bit and saying hi! If all goes to according to plan I’ll be there very soon…

The biggest hurdles to my plan so far? Well they start at home! I had a video camera for the convention and found out last night the battery is not working properly so I am scrambling to get a replacement. If I manage to you may see some video, if not, well it’s all going be still pictures. Second, well its nature! A tropical storm, that may or may not become a hurricane, is on its way to Puerto Rico. Who knows what could happen… I just hope it doesn’t play havoc with plane schedules and I manage to arrive in Indianapolis as planned. See you there!

PS – If you see the gamer on the pictures at Gen Con, be sure to throw him a bone!

Related posts:

1. My GenCon plans
2. My Plans for NaGa DeMon
3. Gaming-related plans for 2010

I want to run a one-shot for my players, and maybe even dare run a game in Gen Con, so I was doing research online about resources available and was pleasantly surprised what I found this: The Wild Hunt

Michael mentioned it on his Free RPG Day post as Pinnacle’s freebie. I knew it was a sample adventure but I had totally missed it also included the latest Savage Worlds Test Drive. (Can you say clueless blogger?). The concept of the Test Drive was actually my first introduction to the Savage Worlds RPG. I was visiting Florida and while shopping at Sci-Fi City I was given one of the older versions of the Test Drive. It intrigued me and it led to my eventual acquisition of the game.

So This latest version of the Test Drive rules with an adventure, characters, standees, handouts, is a GREAT download if you want to learn more about the game, or to hand out to players who you think may be interested. I have been a fan of previous versions, this one is no different.

If you are undecided about the new Savage Worlds Deluxe rules Pinnacle has posted handouts on the Interludes and Chase rules that you can check out. Good times for Savage Worlds fans!

Related posts:

1. Savage (Worlds) Excitement!
2. Using Savage Worlds for an Eberron campaign
3. Savage Worlds

Pinnacle Entertainment Group announced the details of the much anticipated Savage Worlds Deluxe book (some info from apathy games in the previous link). They will begin pre-sales of the book at Origins this weekend, and they will also have pre-order bundles available from their website, and the book will be available on PDF this Saturday! I am really excited about this.

I love Savage worlds, despite only having played it once. I am inching to play again, and would love to join a game at Gen Con. I am definitely going to pre-order this weekend. Check it out! Best of luck to the Pinnacle folk with this new book…

Related posts:

1. New Savage Worlds Test Drive… and more!
2. Savage Worlds
3. First look: Interface Zero (Savage Worlds Edition)

I had a lot of toys as a kid. I was never into toy cars, model kits or sports paraphernalia. I liked board games, later electronic games, but my favorites where action figures. Most people my age remember the Star Wars Action Figures, GI Joe, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformer and the myriad other toys of that golden age of action figure and TV show synergy called the 80s. But I am old enough to remember some older toys, like the larger GI Joes and the Mego dolls (yes boys played with dolls!). In that transitional period from the larger doll type action toys and the supremacy of the smaller action figure there were one set of toys I was particularly fond of, the Fisher Price Adventure Series.

These were toys, according to the promotional sheet that is the first illustration on this post, designed for the growing child from three years of age into the early grades. They were play sets of real life professions, adventurers and other exciting activities. There was a safari set, ambulance, scuba divers and motorcyclists among others. Real life adventure heroes! Typically they had vehicles with two or more action figures with only 5 points of articulation. They were simple and fun and I spent hours playing with them, eventually amassing a large collection of Adventure Series figures and vehicles.

By now you may be thinking, what is this guy doing writing about toys in a role-playing blog? Well amazingly many of the games and storylines I played as a child have inspired me later in life either as themes for stories I have written, games plots or even entire campaigns. Others are still undeveloped waiting for the right time to become a campaign. This is the story of a weird little hybrid experience and how the toys of my youth inspired me. If you want the story of how I imagined this read on. If you just want to go to the details of the actual game scroll down the page, I’ll be sure to let you know when we are back on topic! (See this is almost like a “choose your own adventure” but only in post form).

BACKGROUND STORY (full of childhood reminiscing but no actual gaming involved)

The metaplot of the Adventure Series

The storyteller in me was active from an early age, even if I had no concept of what RPGs were or truly understand my love of telling a good yarn. This disparate set of Adventure Series action figures became a large group of interrelated people, with familial ties, relationships and antagonists (the effects of too many Latin American soap opera on a young impressionable mind!). At first my favorite was the Safari Set and the father of the group (I assumed he was the father, the woman dressed in yellow his wife and the others their kids) my “hero”. He was the protagonists of the stories and he and his family were usually aided in their adventures by the characters from the other sets. That’s how I eventually decided the two divers in green swimsuits were related to the safari family. The blond diver was their older daughter and the guy her boyfriend. The other two divers (actually a recolor of the same two diver figures, but with yellow swimsuits and the woman had brown hair) were the sister and husband of the safari mom.

But my adventures took an unexpected twist when during an outing to Kentucky Fried Chicken (back when it was not simply KFC and they only served chicken) I dropped the safari dad action figure and an employee sweeping the floor put him in the trash. I was devastated; I had no hero, what was to become of my Fisher Price adventures?

(Small aside here, I didn’t manage to replace safari dad for years, it wasn’t until much later when I managed to buy the toy in single card, and by then I had stopped playing with these toys much. But I did take them out to play out the return of the long lost father. But I’m getting ahead of myself, back to the story…)

I played around with my Adventure Series toys for a while and eventually found my new protagonists, the motorcycle guy. What made him the hero? Well besides the fact that he rode a motorcycle (which to me seemed like the coolest thing back then), he had two extra points of articulation, he could bend his knees! I soon renamed him Frank (again the name seemed cool to my young impressionable mind), he was an orphan who became a champion motorcycle driver that fell in love with the safari family’s older diver daughter, who left her boyfriend for him and all the animals the safari family had captured in their trips became Frank’s pets.(Does that mean as a child I wanted to be a motorcycle ridding guy with lions and other wild animals as pets? Back to the post…) The Action Series crew became a troubleshooting team lead by Frank. I eventually got other sets like a space shuttle and green robot figures so the group traveled all over the world, even to space.

The island of Rodan!

(SPOILER ALERT, read no further unless you want Christmas ruined!) At this age I would await the arrival of the big store Christmas catalogs with gusto. At five I had figured Santa Claus and the Three Kings, the major gift givers in the Puerto Rico holiday season mythology, did not exists and all the loot came from family members. So when the catalogs arrived I would flip to the toy section and begin circling all the toys I wanted. That Christmas while perusing one of the catalogs I came upon a mysterious toy… (END OF SPOILERS, safe to go back to reading!)

I discovered a Rodan toy and I wanted it! You can see the picture in this post. Which self respecting child would NOT want that red pterodactyl like creature perched on his arm? (The kid on the picture further down looks a little disturbed I know, but I did not get that subtlety back them). I had no idea who Rodan was, not having seen the “classic” Japanese movies, but I knew it was cool. So it went to the top of my Christmas loot list and the waiting began.

With some months to go I could not stop thinking about Rodan. I wanted to play with the toy, but since I could not I did the next best thing; I worked him into my stories. Frank and his Action Series crew were soon contacted to explore this mysterious island out in the middle of the ocean. When they arrived they discovered they were trapped, just like others before them. The island was populated by many other people (i.e. other toys) who had travelled there, and just like Frank and his team, were unable to leave. They also discovered the island travelled though time and to other worlds, so unless they found a way home soon they might never be able to leave. (This may sound strangely like LOST, but I was a big fan of Verne’s The Mysterious Island which my grandmother had read to me and the Mystery Island TV show, so those may be seen as more appropriate inspirations)

Frank and his crew began to investigate the island and learned about a mysterious being called Rodan. He lived in a volcano in the middle of the island and he was responsible for keeping everybody trapped. So Frank being the adventuresome fellow that he is gathers his crew and begins the trek across the islands jungles, mountains and rivers, to find this Rodan and escape. In their journey they met other people (again different toys) some that helped them and others that tried to stop them, one of the robots (yes there where Action Series robots) was corrupted and became a spy for those working to protect Rodan, some in the team decided Frank was not helping them escape but instead putting them in more danger and some even decided to stay and sabotaged Frank’s goals.

Months passed and Christmas was around the corner, by then Frank and his team, along with some allies they had picked along the way, where close to the volcano. They approached it the day before Christmas. I was ready for the next morning when I would open up the box, take Rodan out and play out the final confrontation. To my great disappointment the Rodan in the box had a broken wing… So my grandfather explained to me the toy would have to be sent back and I would eventually get a replacement. I was devastated, I had other gifts and it did NOT ruin my holyday season, but I wanted to keep playing with my then favorite toys, and I had been doing all this build up for nothing…

The best laid plans…

So I improvised. When Frank, his friends and allies enter the volcano they found a giant statue of Rodan but not the creature itself. Instead they faced and were captured by an evil scientist (the action figure of Doctor Hans Reinhardt from the Black Hole movie), as any good villain will oft do he explained his evil plans. Like all the others he had arrived in the island and become trapped, puzzled by the islands effect he travelled to the volcano and discovered machines that caused the islands erratic traveling across space and time. This apparently was a side effect, as the machines had been created to trap Rodan inside the volcano.

The evil scientist deciphered how the machines caused the islands traveling and took control of them; he made the island appear where he wanted to gather the specimens he desired for his experiments. And he was also Frank’s father! (Cue dramatic music… Too much soap operas I tell you!)

The group escaped, hid from evil scientist absentee dad (if you psychoanalyze me through play I’m sure this all would be telling) and plotted to stop his scheme and destroy the machines. This was all a delaying tactic on my part. I was just bidding my time until the replacement Rodan arrived.

When it did I was ready to finish this month long adventure. Frank and his friends defeated evil scientist dad and destroyed the machines causing the island to reappear on earth. As they were getting ready to leave the volcano begins to erupt. From the bowels of its lava prison emerged that terrible creature RODAN! They fought the beast, defeat it but it escapes the island and Frank’s team remains together to hunt and stop the destruction caused by releasing Rodan upon an unsuspecting world.

Looking back that seems like an awfully complex storyline for a child’s game, and I am sure in putting it in adult terms I have made it seem more mature than it was, but I had a vivid imagination and my family played with me a lot so I got their input and help as I played; and the ending? What a downer… I’m pretty sure my players will tell you thats the beginning of my obsession with endings where the good guys never truly win.

Back TO GAMING (or something nominally related…)

Inspired by my childhood games

Years later, when in college I wanted to play a modern game with a twist, a game were players would begin the as regular folk and them be thrown into an unexplained and dangerous situation. At the time I played a lot of Palladium games (Robotech, RIFTS, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, TMNT, you name it!) so it seemed like the logical fit for my game.

Round 1…

I actually had two aborted starts to this game. In both instances I asked the players to create “normal” people, scientist, soldiers, and law enforcement officers and put them in weird situations. The first time around I attempted my adaptation of my childhood games with two players. I think one was an FBI agent and another police detective, both working the scene of a terrible train wreck. They were few survivors, but when they begin to investigate they realize the survivors were NOT passengers on the train. In included many famously disappeared people, including the crew of the Mary Celeste and some supposedly dead persons such as Christa McAuliffe, the teacher that died in the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle.

(A very important caveat, by using her as an NPC I meant no disrespect on her memory. It was a reference I knew both players would immediately get and be shocking, that’s all, sorry of anybody finds that disturbing. It was NOT my intention!)

When they interview the presumed dead teacher they learn the crew of the Challenger did NOT die in the explosion. They instead found themselves transported somewhere else. There they joined other people who seemed to be likewise taken from Earth and other places. They fought evil and secretive overlords that kept them isolated in different regions of a larger landmass, each region separated by nearly insurmountable mountains. These overlords would pit one group against another through manipulation and deception. The people that arrived in the train wreck were a group of rebels who used a portal to escape.

When the PCs examine the devices the escapees from this “other world” brought along with them they discover they are emitting a signal in a hitherto unknown frequency (yes I know how implausible that sounds, but it is after all a game!). Soon after an island appears in the middle of the Atlantic, the media begins to call it Atlantis and the players were in route to investigate, and that was that. We never played that game again. They were supposed to get there and get lost in an island travelling through space and time.

Round 2…

I tried the idea a second time, with a larger group including the same two players that had participated on the first version of the campaign. Again I used the Palladium system, but this time around I planned a little more. I asked each player to create a real world person, any profession, but someone who would be one of the top people in his or her own field. I also asked them not to create loners, I wanted fully fleshed out persons with families and responsibilities. All the better to tie them to their real lives and motivate them to try to return once they became trapped in the island.

They were all gathered by the US Government and flown to a ship in the Pacific Ocean. There they were briefed on the sudden appearance of an island in the middle of the ocean. The island had appeared 72 hours earlier and while satellites confirmed its existence they could NOT gather any data as they went haywire over the landmass. The team had been put together to go in and explore, determine where it came from and if it posed any danger.

There were a couple of wrenches thrown into the mix, one of the NPCs was a supposed psychic who had predicted the islands arrival, but he was in fact a psychopath serial killer contacted by the island’s mysterious masters to bring people to the island. Also the military team providing support for the exploration team had been infiltrated by an agent of the island’s masters.

The teams arrived on the island by boat and soon discovered the jungles were populated by dinosaurs (a nod to Jurassic Park, it was BIG back then). After capturing a few specimens and making camp the team got to testing them. The military support noticing movement out in the jungle deployed out only to be betrayed by the mole and ambushed. So the team was left without their military back up and soon was under attack from bipedal evolved dinosaurs commanding cybernetic velociraptors.

This was another game idea we never played after the initial session. Some of the players were not excited about the execution other simply were uninterested. I had planned for them to meet the evolved dinosaur men who would be the antagonists during the first few session, they would learn that they were trapped in the island, about the secret masters and find the first clues that would take them to other regions in the island. In a way it would have been a multi genre game, like TORG or RIFTS, except the rationale behind WHY all this disparate genres would be meshed together would have been different

Final thoughts

I still have hopes of running this game. I think as a campaign it has a lot of possibilities. I think the system I chose back then was a bad fit. Something more conductive to storytelling, perhaps Fudge or FATE, or even Savage Worlds which I think my players might prefer over those other two. So this is a crazy campaign I hope to tackle some day, maybe at the old role –player’s home.

Like I said before this may sound a lot like the LOST TV show but it all happened long before the show was aired. I’m not claiming I created LOST before there was LOST, like many things we create we are burrowing ideas and tropes from those that created before us. A lost land, filled with wonder from which you cannot escape has been the subject of many stories before and will likely be again.

There are many other sources of inspiration to this campaign idea, some more obvious than others besides my childhood games. The Riverworld series by Philip José Farmer and the Dungeon series of books, my love of Jules Verne, and some other stories like those of Burroughs, all jumbled in with my childhood games. But ultimately the idea for the campaign is for a group of people trapped in another place, doing their best to escape and return to their normal lives. I hope I can play it someday…

PS – I do not have ANY pictures of the toys I talked about above, all the images were scoured form across the internet, I hold no rights or ownership over any of them and use them to merely illustrate the posts, and hopefully mildly amuse you with the captions.

Related posts:

1. Crazy Campaign Chronicles: Defenders of the Earth Redux or a Very Pulpy Future!
2. Mad Ramblings of a Crazy GM
3. Chronicles of the Four Dragons

But that’s only part of what Suzerain is. It’s also a whole multiverse. Characters can move between worlds, if that’s what you wish. For high ranked characters one world might not be enough. The Suzerain product line contains various sourcebooks that provide players and GMs with details for the different Suzerain realms.

One of these realms is Relic, a high fantasy realm and the world Caladon Falls is set in. In order to play Caladon Falls you need at least the Savage Worlds Explorer Edition, but owning a copy of Savage Suzerain is also highly recommended.

I haven’t really had a chance to have a deeper look into the crunchy parts of the book, but from what I’ve seen so far, you should be fine with the core Savage Worlds rules for the most part. Savage Suzerain makes some minor changes to SW terminologies like Bennies are now called Karma and Power Points are Pulse, but these changes are explained in the “Savage Suzerain Play Now, For Free” booklet, which is – as the name implies – available for free. So If you got interested in Savage Suzerain, you might check this out.

What immediately grabbed my attention when I first read about Caladon Falls is the artwork. The production value of the PDF is definitely on par with what you would expect from companies like Paizo or Wizards of the Coast. Of course artwork alone does not make a great product but Caladon Falls is definitely very pleasing just to look at.

But let’s have a look at what’s there content-wise. The book is divided into two parts: a Player and a GM section. The Player section gives a broad overview of the realms of Relic with special emphasis on the lands of Caladon.

Caladon Falls is set into the so called War of the Wild. Caladon has been invaded by Warlocks who wield god-like powers and are followed by their monstrous hordes. The 148-paged book not only describes the lands at the time the invaders landed at the shores of Caladon but also contains a 12 episode Plot Point Campaign and 18 Savage Tales set into the aforementioned war.

Let’s have a look at the High Kingdom of Caladon. As the name implies it is ruled by a High King. The High King is selected by a council made up of the rulers of the seven kingdoms of Caladon. Each of the kingdoms is rules by one of the Noble Houses which are Killian, Laneer, Marron, Sumner, Thrace, Vesper, and Wallend. The state religion of Caladon is the Church of the Trinity which has more than just a fleeting resemblance to the Catholic Chruch.

The third pillar of Caladon (aside from Nobility and the Church) is the Wizards Guild. In Caladon people with the talent for magic have to be registered with the Wizards Guilt. Rogue mages are hunted down, at least in theory.

Since Caladon Falls was created with a certain time and place in Relic’s history in mind, the player’s choice of characters is limited to humans with ties to the High Kindom of Caladon. But in my opinion that’s not really a drawback. The Player section contains a plethora of new edges and drawback which should make it easier to create memorable characters fitting into the world of Relic.

Especially interesting are the Arcane Backgrounds which are called Pulse Paths in Savage Suzerain. Caladon Falls has rules for the Druid, the Enchanter, and the Protector. And if I am not mistaken they are meant as additional option not as replacements for the ones provided in Savage Suzerain. Again at least owning the free Savage Suzerain booklet might be helpful here. The Player section concludes with a extensive list of new powers and Caladon-specific gear.

The GM section of the PDF contains the background information on Caladon’s invaders and provides enough information for GMs to run a campaign set into the War of the Wild. Since I just got a copy of the book I haven’t really delved deeper into the GM section yet, but I plan to do so, as soon as I have the time.

But from what I’ve seen so far, Caladon Falls is definitely one of the more interesting Savage Worlds campaign settings out there. And although it’s high fantasy it’s not your standard garden variety setting with elves and dwarves, but more human-centric, which is a good thing in my book. You might need to invest into Savage Suzerain if you want to get the most out of it, but the free booklet might be enough to get you started.

Caladon Falls is currently available at DrivethruRPG for $19.95. The publisher Savage Mojo is currently trying to raise the funds for a hardcover printing of Caladon Falls. You can learn more about this fundraiser at IndieGoGo.

Related posts:

1. Caladon Falls Fundraiser
2. Inner Sea World Guide: First impressions …
3. First Impressions: DC Adventures

 

Caladon Falls Trailer

They came out of nowhere and started ripping the world apart, one city at a time. Using power on a scale never before seen, Warlocks, godlike leaders of the Wild army, are rampaging on Austeria with one goal: raise armies and annihilate the entire continent. Set in the fantasy realm of Relic, this book looks at warfare through the eyes of everyday people turned soldiers – soldiers whose side is losing the war.

Take the challenge. Roleplay in a fantasy world where hairless dwarves walk through stone, magic is commonplace, and the spirit world doesn’t always stay in check. Focus on a daily life and death struggle where the enemy is cruel, powerful, and around every corner. Take the challenge, and let your adventurers become…

…mankind’s only hope.

The funds raised go toward the production cost of a 750 book print-run for Caladon Falls in its full glory. The book will be hardcover with full-color interiors on high-quality paper. If you are a fan of Savage Mojo’s products, you definitely should consider contributing to this project.

If you want to learn more about Caladon Falls and Savage Suzerain check out Tommy’s excellent reviews:

• Tommy’s Take on Savage Suzerain
• Tommy’s Take on Caladon Falls

Related posts:

1. First Impressions: Caladon Falls
2. The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.
3. Savage (Worlds) Excitement!

The 301-paged book which is also available as PDF at DriveThruRPG not only contains a highly detailed cyberpunk world set into the year 2088 but also adds several subsystems to the Savage World rules. So even if you’re not going to use the implied setting, you still can make use of the cyberpunk rules for example. Alas these new rules add an additional layer of complexity to the Savage Worlds rules which may not be to everyone’s liking.

The book itself has a full-color cover but the interior is black-and-white only. The layout is clean and the artwork is quite nice and has a consistent style.

In Interface Zero the characters can not only be plain old humans but also androids, genetically improved humans called Humans 2.0, hybrids (which share some traits with animals), or simulacra (which are basically biological constructs unaware of being vat-grown). The addition of these various player “species” adds a bit of transhumanism to the mix, which fits the modern interpretation of the cyberpunk genre nicely.

Aside from a couple new skills and skill uses, Interface Zero adds quite a few new Edges and Hindrances like Gun-Fu Disciple or  Advanced Programming. And no cyberpunk game would be complete without an extensive list of gear for your characters to purchase. In the extensive equipment catalog in Chapter Four you can find everything from a simple boot knife to power armor and experimental energy weapons.

Interface Zero doesn’t contain a plot point campaign but Chapter Seven of the book contains enough short adventures to keep a group of adventurer’s busy for months if not longer. The last and eight chapter of the book consists of an extensive bestiary. The book’s appendix contains not only a very detailed 6-paged index but also a plethora of sheets including a very stylish character sheet.

If you are a fan of the cyberpunk genre and Savage Worlds you definitely should check Interface Zero out. Even if you don’t want to use the included setting, the new rules and the extensive equipment lists may be worth it.

Related posts:

1. Review: Legends of Steel – Savage Worlds Edition
2. “Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition” Review
3. Savage Worlds

“Dear d20 System, we’ve had a good run you and me… No, no relax, this is NOT that conversation. I am not breaking up with you! I just think we should see other people. You have your legions of adoring fans, and that shiny new 4^th edition, you can see whoever you want, I have met some new systems, Indies mostly, and I want to explore my options. You can understand right? And we’ll always have Pathfinder…”

All kidding aside, I am not giving up on the d20 system, heck at least 70% of my gaming collection is d20 or earlier iterations. My currently on hiatus fantasy game uses the Pathfinder RPG rules and the current supers game is Mutants & Masterminds. I am happy with both systems, and probably will continue using them for these specific genres. Looking back over the last 6 years, all my long lasting campaigns have used a variation of the rule set: D&D 3^rd ed., then Star Wars Saga System, D&D 4^th ed., Pathfinder and now M&M. There have been intermittent one shot games using other system, Savage Worlds, Don’t Rest Your Head, Lady Blackbird and others, but my gaming group is firmly entrenched on their ways.

I recently began mentioning possible rules for a future sci-fi game. I threw around Alternity, Savage Worlds and Stars Without Number and got a less than enthusiastic reaction. They in turn suggested d20 Future, Star Wars Saga system or even adapting Pathfinder.  Mind you, I did not speak with all my players and I know one player will be up to trying new systems and another is more interested in the story than the rules, but do you see what their suggestions have in common? If you said they are all d20 you are correct.

I was in the d20 bandwagon when it began. The idea of having one system for all games seemed like a great idea at the time, but in implementation, the rules that work for a fantasy game are not always a good fit for other genres. I think Mutants & Masterminds is a stellar example of adapting the basic mechanics into another genre effectively. I can’t say I am impressed with the sci-fi adaptations out there!

Now that I have expanded my gaming horizons and tried out so many new games I want to play with another rule set. I can’t put all the blame on my players, I have been a big influence on the games we play, after all I am the Game Master full time for the group and I have preeminently chosen d20 over all systems. Also we are a pretty crunch intensive group. My players like complex rule systems that allow creating detailed character, so rule light or too far out there indie games are not their cup of tea.

And I’m not proposing a great departure, Alternity was almost a preview of what was to come for D&D 3^rd edition with a really unique dice mechanic and Stars Without Number is definitely inspired by old games and there is a lot of the old school gaming goodness in it. Savage Worlds is perhaps the greatest departure, but it retains things like tactical combat and detailed characters, both things they like.

So I find myself in the conundrum, should I go the d20 route and try to adapt what I have to the campaign I want to develop, like filling off the numbers of Star Wars Saga system to make it a generic sci-fi game, or using the Infinite Futures (sci-fi rules based off the Pathfinder System) I recently purchased?

Again, I don’t want to stop playing with the d20 system, I just want to expand my horizons. I know many of you have gone through similar situations. What did you do? Do you play any d20 sci-fi game you think I should explore? I don’t want to simply say “this is my game and you’ll play what I want”, but I also want to run a game that challenges me as a GM. What was your experience, any advice?

PS – To my players, if you read this, this is not a slam on you. I want to hear your opinion and ultimately this is a decision we’ll make together as a group. I just want to hear what others have gone through. Thanks for playing the game week after week, you are the best!

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As I have said before, I am a compulsive home brewer so it should be no surprise I had been tinkering with a sci-fi setting since high school. Many aliens looked like the aliens from Marvel Comics or DC’s Legion of Super Heroes (I had no artistic talent to draw them and back then I had no access to the Internet… Yes there was such a time!), but I had come up with this idea where the human race had begun a Diaspora to the stars and arrived in a galaxy populated by many diverse alien races. I had done some freeform role playing in the setting, tried adapting it to Star Frontiers, but to no avail.

Then along came Alternity! After what seemed like forever the book finally came out. I had already played a brief (and not terribly successful) session using the Fast Play Rules so I dove right in. I loved the book and soon was writing up the statistics for new alien races, the story of the setting and rudimentary star map.

The year Alternity came out was special for many reasons and Alternity is inexorably linked with many wonderful memories. Alternity came out the year I got married and I as reading the books and writing for the game all through the preparations. My campaign featured biogenetically enhanced knights thematically organized around the mythologies of Earth’s ancient past, each order possessing powers based on the mutations chapter. The Tangents books had not come out yet. Puerto Rico was hit by a terrible hurricane that year and we were without power for about a week, I remember sitting by candlelight and flashlight writing up the stats for the different orders. To say the Alternity RPG engrossed me is an understatement.

I did not play the game until about a year later and we had a blast. The game lasted between twelve or sixteen sessions and sadly it petered out. The group consisted of six players, one of which despised the rules (he never “got it” but now admits he never tried and did not want to really play the game back them) and another a power gamer who created a robot character and exploited the rules (you are a dear friend but you know who you are!). I did not master the rules enough to spot these game breaking combinations early enough to stop them until the game was underway.

Despite those two factors the game was a lot of fun to play. The toolbox approach fit my style of gaming perfectly, it allowed me to construct the campaign I wanted and once characters were written up all the information they needed was there on their character sheet. There was minimal rules look up, with the exception of the psychic powers. The dice mechanic was intuitive and easy to adjudicate from a Game Master’s perspective. The way characters took damage was sometimes confusing for the players, but you have to understand we played AD&D almost exclusively for years (with the occasional RIFTS, Heroes Unlimited or World of Darkness game, don’t judge us it was the 90s) so it was only a matter of getting used to the new system.

Alternity was a fun game to play and the supplements were also top notch. However, unlike most fans I was NOT enamored by the Star*Drive campaign. The setting struck me as needlessly complex and a case of “throw in everything AND the kitchens sink” design philosophy! And then there was the art… I cannot recall a single piece of art that I liked from that book; it made me cringe as I leafed through it. Some of the supplements for the setting were useful. Dark-Matter was another matter (pun intended)! Here was an engrossing and well developed modern conspiracy game that showed the potential of the game system.

But by the time the book came out we had stopped playing Alternity. I think it was a mix of some players’ unwillingness to learn a new system and the siren call of a long running fantasy campaign everyone wanted to get back to.  I never got the Alternity version of Gamma World so I can’t really say anything about it.

The campaign lived on and we played it again using the dX system by Guardians of Order. I hope to someday revisit it; this campaign is almost as important to me as my fantasy campaign. Heck, I even got a tattoo of the symbol of the political alliance that gave the campaign its name.

Now looking back and rereading the rules they seem so simple and straightforward. Not long after Alternity was cancelled we switched to D&D 3^rd edition, and we had some pretty rough growing pains adapting to that system. But we stuck to it and eventually came to love it, I’m sure that is we had stuck to Alternity we would have mastered it as well.

Now as I ponder my possibilities for a future sci-fi game I have considered using Savage Worlds, Cortex, Stars Without Number, but after reading HyenaSpotz post Alternity has suddenly become a contender. I have to print out some Fast Play Rules and hand them to my players to see what they think. Will this be the year of Alternity? I’ll let you know…

Thanks again to HyenaSpots for his inspiration and bringing back so many wonderful memories!

PS- If you liked the Player’s Fast Play Rules linked on the first paragraph, here is the link to the Game Master Fast Play Rules, enjoy!

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2. Exciting Alternity news!
3. Review: Alternity

Last night I played the 8^th session of my group’s newest RPG campaign, Dawn of a New Age, about which I’ve written about before. I’m using the Mutants & Masterminds 3^rd edition rules as they appear in the DC Adventures RPG. After 8 sessions I can say I love the system. There are some things I still need to look up and not all the players feel that they master the rules but so far this has been the best experience with any super hero based system. The rules are complex enough to satisfy the crunch factor we expects, while simple enough that once everyone has created their character, everything runs smoothly.

I had read M&M 1^st edition and played in a 2^nd edition campaign, but never Game Mastered it. I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Admittedly the players are a big part, they have embraced the game and I have strived to fulfill their expectations based on the questionnaires they completed before the campaign begun and ongoing feedback. So lesson #1 would be: Like in all relationships, a game flows better when there is effective communication. The rules really encourage a super hero game, from the changes in attributes, to the Complications and Hero Points.

I think the Hero Points are the one component that I still struggle with. I need to hand them out more in game and players need to find ways to work in additional complications in the game. I have found my players somewhat reluctant to give themselves complications early on the adventure so they can get more points to use later; I guess they just don’t like to fail. Despite this the game has flowed great and everyone is happy.

The concept of the campaign is that the players are among the very first super humans in the world and society around them is adapting to their presence. The players did not want this game to be too dark, but to have elements of realism and for heroes to become an object of media attention. So I began juggling what may have sounded like disparate ideas but it has worked out. Supers have become like celebrities to many while they are mistrusted and outright hated by a minority. The governments had a knee jerk reaction and tried to control and suppress people exhibiting powers.

A very interesting situation developed when two players, after confronting and destroying two Air Force jets, decided they would fly to Washington to talk with the President. They even tried to call the White House switchboard and let them know they were coming. Once they entered Washington airspace they found jets flying overhead, the city in full alert and a perimeter established around the White House.

Amazingly what could have easily become a disaster was averted when the players decided to surrender themselves to authorities and tell their side of the story while the rest of the players raided a secret army base gathering evidence that the armed forces were violating human rights and keeping citizens prisoner. The session was a real surprise because the players did the unexpected, I was able to craft a realistic response to their plan and even the players that missed the fight enjoyed it since they felt their actions had impacted the story. Lesson #2 would be keep it flowing, think on your feet and be willing to listen to your players.

After some time not reading comic books I’ve begun to get back into the groove as part of prepping for the game. I’m not buying individual issues, and, like I said in a previous post, I still think there is a lot of rehashing old stories for a new generation that I’m not interested in reading. But I’ve begun reading some stuff I’m really enjoying.

I’ve recently discovered Invincible, created by Robert Kirkman the guy who writes one of the few comics I still buy The Walking Dead. I’ve just begun reading it but I’m having fun. One of the players in the supers game brought various paperbacks for us to read so we could get into a superhero mood and I read Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka. Great story, beautiful art, a pleasure to read, I just need to get the subsequent stories.

Another comic I’ve recently picked up is the Green Lantern re-launch that began some years ago by Geoff Johns. I am NOT a fan of the revolving door of death in comics and the revival old silver age heroes that were retired (Barry Allen I’m looking at you!) so I passed on this when it came out. The fact that I read Blackest Night, the “culmination” of the Green Lantern storylines over the last couple of years, and I was terribly disappointed, did not help the chances of me going back to what once was my favorite DC Comics hero!

Still someone gave me the paperbacks for this story and against all expectations I’m hooked. The magic of the old Green Lantern comics are there, and I whole heartedly agree with my friend Luis that the Green Lantern Corps comics are better than the Green Lantern series itself. I know that the end product of all these stories, Blackest Night, was not all it could be for ME but I’ll enjoy the ride there! Rediscovering all these comics is really lesson #3, sometimes you need to go back to the source with a fresh perspective to get some references and expand your horizons.

But like said in the title of this post, it’s a good time to be a supers fan. There are lots of supers games being supported, not only Mutants & Masterminds, but ICONS, the Hero System, and a slew of others, so you can take your pick. And not only are supers big in games and comics, they have gone mainstream! There have been good (Watchmen, Iron Man and the new Batman movies are personal favorites) and bad comic books movies (Fantastic Four, the pain!) and more are on the way like Green Lantern, Thor and X-men First Class.

TV also has a great selection of shows inspired by the supers genre. Despite past misses (you might have liked it but I HATED Heroes) there are two excellent shows about superheroes in American TV right now. Young Justice is a great animated series in the Cartoon Network full of teen angst, pulse pounding action and a reimagining of some classic, and no so classic, DC teen heroes.

I also thoroughly enjoy No Ordinary Family. Since it has to do with a family dealing with newly acquired powers and how they fit in a world where there are no powers (this is not exactly accurate as the show progresses, but I don’t want to spoil if for you) it gave me lots of ideas for my campaign. Be aware this is a family show and it has some silly elements, but the tension, the plotlines and the family dynamics are a great source or ideas.

A third show currently on TV (and I have no idea for how long since the ratings are not that good) is The Cape! I have to admit that all the criticism you might have heard about it are true. Corny, campy, laughable, but I have embraced the camp. It’s everything a bad comic could be, but it makes it so fun (at least for me) that at the end of the episode I’m grinning. Watch it to see some tropes of comics translated to TV, to get some tongue in cheek ideas that may be lighten the mood in a supers game and what not to do in your game! Lesson #5, it’s good to go back to the source, but always learn from other media and reinterpretations. Experiment and be willing to break new ground!

After that entire ramble let me finally share a handout I developed for my campaign. After a couple of sessions I noticed that players had some issues calculating successes and dealing with damage, so I prepared this handout you can download in PDF.  It has the Damage Resistance Matrix from the DC adventures book which I think is great help during combat, and summarizes the conditions underneath. The left hand side has a place to keep track of Toughness save penalties and conditions suffered as a result of damage.

Also, taking the idea from a Savage Worlds combat cheat sheet I once used, I created a matrix (i.e. glorified numbers table) to help players calculate successes. It also includes details on recovery and criticals, details some of the players have easily forgotten. The sheet is meant to be printed out and laminated. That way players can use a dry erase marker (wet erase can be used but some colors are hard to get out) and keep track of penalties and conditions, erase and reuse.

I’d love to know what you think of the handout. My players love it, but we don’t have that much experience with the system. Let me know what you think, any changes you think could improve it. Or just leave a comment about what inspires you in your games. As always, these are just my opinions, your mileage may vary. Thanks for readying…

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Quick disclaimer, this is NOT a comprehensive list and I don’t pretend to know everything about game stores in the area. That said, here I go…

My first stop was at Sci-Fi City in Orlando. I love this store; I’ve been visiting it for years. I call it my favorite attraction; some people come to Florida for Disney, I come for this store! It has a great selection of role playing games, miniature games, minis, paints, comics (all bagged and boarded, a plus), trade paperbacks, dice, collectibles, posters, a LARGE gaming area, computers you can rent, its geek heaven. I have never gamed there mind you; I just visit and walk through the aisles like a 4 year old visiting Toy R Us for the first time. It happens every time!

What about RPGs, which was the main reason I went there? They have an excellent selection of new games and older titles. I was searching for Pathfinder RPG book and found to my dismay they were pretty much sold out. They did have a great selection of Savage Worlds games and I stocked up. I got my hands on Slipstream which I have always wanted, a physical copy of Realms of Cthulhu, which I own on PDF and my most precious find Space 1889 Red Sands! It is hard to explain the thrill of holding a new Space 1889 book in my hands.

I got the GameMastery Flip-Mat: Prison, the GameMastery Map Pack: Swallowed Whole (a friend had told me it wasn’t that great but I just could not resist getting this), an issue of Knights of the Dinner Table my FGLS had not received and a new set of dice. I would have gotten more stuff, including some board games, if I had extra space in my luggage (and more money), but I am really happy with what I got. They had a GREAT sale, 30% off in most games, so I got some great bargains.

The employees at Sci-Fi city are friendly and very helpful. I’ve been visiting the store for years and never have I run into a rude employee. They have other locations I have not visited, and an online store that seems well stocked and with some nice sales, but I have never used their services.

After I was done at Sci-Fi city, and despite my girlfriend’s protestations I went on to another nearby store, Coliseum of Comics at the Fashion Square Mall. This is more a comic store than a gaming store but I could not pass up the opportunity to see what they might have. If you love comics the store is a sight to see. Mind you Sci-Fi City has an equally great selection of comics; coliseum of Comics just looks chick, like a comic boutique with the layout and the decorations and the statues, collectibles, wall of really old back issues. Their trade paperback selection was great, organized impeccably and with great lists and references to let you know which order you had to read what.

They also had a great kids section and a smaller but well presented games and RPGs section. Lots of board games, which makes sense since the store is located in a mall and they could be a draw, the RPG selection was modest but with a good selection. Lots of D&D 4^th edition, The Dresden Files RPG, but conspicuously, besides some Flip-Mats and Map Pack, no Pathfinder books, this is a solely anecdotal, but both places seemed to be out of Pathfinder, makes me wonder. In all honesty I did ask at Sci-Fi City and they told me they had run out, I did not ask at Coliseum of Comics, maybe they just don’t carry Pathfinder books.  But before I fan the fires of a possible flame war, back on topic…

They had the Watchmen HeroClix collection… This tempted me, it was pricey, but I so love the Watchmen and I had wanted to get this for so long. Ultimately I resisted temptation. I left my bag of holding back home. I left Coliseum of Comics empty handed. They have other locations; some which I have visited on previous trips, here is their website. What loot I got may not seem like much, but I am really happy with what I got. I have some days left in Florida; I may just go back…

So what was your holiday gaming loot? What gaming related gifts did you get, or got for yourself? Inquiring gamers want to know!

Related posts:

1. Ask Your Readers: Christmas Gifts for Roleplayers
2. Christmas in July!
3. Christmas in July Sale at DriveThruRPG!

But there was still a lot to love about this game. The setting was pretty cool and in my opinion would make a great background for a pen & paper roleplaying game. In Hellgate: London demons have invaded Earth and the few survivors now hide underground mostly in subway tunnels. There are three factions who use their distinctive skills to fight the demon threat. The templars is an order of divine warriors who are excellent melee fighters. The image above depicts two templars. The cabalists are seekers of knowledge who use magic to fight the Great Dark. The third faction are the Hunters, highly trained ex-military operatives who use ranged weaponry and advanced technology. While the three classes cooperate to fight the demons, there’s also some rivalry and mistrust.

Since humanity is waging a constant war against the Great Dark, a Hellgate: London campaign is probably pretty combat-heavy. But there are a lot of opportunities for roleplaying especially when the different factions interact with each other. The setting also allows for pretty intense horror elements. While I am not sure if you can use it as inspiration for a long campaign, it should provide enough background for at least a couple of adventures. The mixture of the supernatural and high tech equipment may also hold a certain appeal to some.

While playing Hellgate: London this weekend I thought it might work to create a Warrior, Rogue & Mage variant set into the Hellgate:London universe. Using the three factions as attributes (Templar, Hunter & Cabalist) might actually work quite well, especially if you don’t mind allowing the player characters a bit more versatility than in the computer game. Alternatively I believe there are quite a few rules-light games you could use to run a campaign inspired by this computer game. Savage Worlds’ fast and furious game style might be a good fit, and the Open D6 system (especially MiniSix) might be another alternative. Heck, I think even a modified Dungeonslayers might work. If I didn’t work on too many projects already, working on a Hellgate:London campaign might be a fun thing to do.

What do you guys think? Does the Hellgate:London world have enough depth to turn it into a pen & paper RPG campaign? Please post your comments below!

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