"Why I love Pulp era gaming" - summed up in one picture

Star Frontiers - Revisited

I know I mentioned this several weeks ago, but it really begs repeating, Bill Logan is doing a bang-up job of resurrecting the Star Frontiers game.
The game is the same one “Old timers” like me remember, but the layout and text have been given such a nice facelift that the whole thing looks brand new. And this guy has been kicking ass and taking names as far as getting content out on the net.
Right now at his site he has:
• The Alpha Dawn rulebook
• The Knight Hawks Ship combat book
• The Zebulon’s guide to the frontier supplement
• The Gamma Dawn supplement
• Four complete modules
• Three issues of a webzine called the Starfrontiersman
• Several different character sheets and Star maps

All of this material is complete, downloadable, and 100% free. In my opinion it’s one of the best gaming bargains out on the net.

Heropress

Tim, one of my Internet buddies has a nice Blog going on called Heropress. It’s a great daily collection of posts on movies, books, comics, gaming etc. Tim calls the U.K. home, so he covers some stuff that you may not find yet in the US (such as a review of Dog Soldiers). Give Heropress a look.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet

Just like the Hulk...

Hey guys,
about a year ago I went in for an MRI for an unrelated ear problem. the doctors discovered a tumor in my brain near my pituitary, sitting right above my optical nerve. It was a dicey place to go into with a knife so they started me on a medication to slow the growth of the tumor. the treatment worked well enough to actually make it possible for them to perform a Gamma Knife procedure. the concentrated Gamma rays sterilize the tumor keeping it from re growing and eventually it dies and no more tumor. That's what we are shooting for.

to do this they drill four screws into your skull and attach your head to a frame, so that you don't move around as the machine shoots the Gamma rays (moving around too much while being bombarded with radiation is a bad thing). the screws are the worst part of the procedure, it hurts like all fuck, even with the anesthetic. when they drive the screws into your skull it's a wicked kind of pain, very Hannibal Lecter. I'm told the procedure went of like a charm (though they always say that right?). I was sent home with "The Mother of all headaches" and a swollen head. that was on Thursday, Friday was a long headachey blur, and today my forehead and eyes are swollen, I look like i just got my ass kicked, but according to the release notes that's all normal.

As you can probably understand the anxiety over this and the discomfort after it has kept me off the net for the last few days.

Thanks to all you guys who sent in Emails of support and prayers, Scarlette and I really appreciate it. I didn't try to hide the news of the tumor, but I didn't want to announce it either. I figured if I didn't make it a big deal, it wouldn't be.

What does The Evil DM want for his birthday?

I'm not too sure when this is coming out. but I guarantee you I'll be the first on my block with it!

This also looks great! Amazon has it for pre order for under $12.00

Motivational monday

Thanks to rpgnet

Broadsword update

I'm taking a very brief hiatus from my work on Legends of Steel. I just got news the other day from Deep7 games that "Broadsword" my Sword & Sorcery supplement for their 1PG system is finally in the last stages of formatting. I was asked to contribute a few short scenarios for the project, so with the help of Doc Rotwang’s tried and true Adventure Funnel system, I’m working up a couple mini adventures.

Another reading from the book of the universally clueless

A follow-up to my Bob Seger moment.

I'm sitting here working on a file for someone named Schultz. and of course my mind starts to wander to Sgt. Schultz of Hogans Heroes fame. I start thinking about the other main German character Colonel Klink. then it hits me: Klink. Klink is slang for jail. Colonel Klink is the Commander of a Prison camp (do you see where I'm going here...) Klink / jail.
I'm gonna be 43 next month and I've watched Hogan's Heroes all my life, and I just got the joke today...

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGnet.

I finally found a Pulp supplement I can do without.

New Horizons is a new supplement for Spirit of the Century. Each chapter addresses a marginalized group from the pulps, kept outside by their sex, their race, their lifestyle, or their beliefs. In New Horizons you’ll find information about real-life heroic individuals and teams, the challenges they face and some of the solutions they find to the problems of dealing with 1920s society. You’ll also find heroes and villains ready for use, plot hooks, and ties to the mysteries around the Century Club. The life of heroes outside the mainstream may seem as strange as the secret language of Atlantis, but can be as exciting and powerful in play as a zeppelin armada.

Bleh.
I simply don't see the need for it. There comes a point when these things stop being games and become...something else. This may be an ideal example.

When you agree to play an RPG you are suspending reality. RPG's are a dressed up version of "let's pretend". Why would you even want to go where this is going? How is this fun?

I've ran quite a few Pulp games and my players and npc's have run the gamut from Filipino boxers, Australian P.I.'s, Mexican Priests, and an Oxford educated Punjabi physician (who happened to be a were tiger). Never did racism or bigotry show up in the game. It didn't need to. My players and I are all too aware of the historical racism of the period and the ethnocentrism inherent in the pulps, but we chose to ignore it to have fun playing the game. Remember fun?

It's almost condescending in the way Black history month is. here Black people you can have this month, Mexican's you get Cinco de Mayo (whatever that is), Italians you used to get Columbus day but the Native Americans got mad so were gonna have to find you something else...

By creating a supplement of this nature, it seems that the publishers are saying:
Attention ladies and people of color. you now have your own supplement. so if your character is a Wong or a Gomez please convert your PC to comply with this new "special" supplement we have made for all of you.

The publishers may think they are doing something neat or noble but all they are doing is making race an issue where it never was. Justice Inc. Mercenaries, spies and private eyes, GURPS Cliffhangers, Top secret: Agent 13, none of them went to this extreme in making race an issue.

Visit the various Pulp boards. we all know that racism and bigotry is a fact in the pulps. It's discussed and grudgingly accepted as a reflection of the times. We are well aware of it's existance, you dont have to shove it in our face during a game.

"Old Skool" Revival

In the last few weeks there have been a couple of outstanding efforts by the gaming community brought to a boil over at RPGNet.



FASERIP
Phil Reed a well known industry name has proposed an Open license version of the FASERIP system. He offered his services in developing such a system and was funded by the gaming community in less than a week. Phil has quite an impressive gaming resume so color me confident. The project is a go and may see completion of the first draft come April. I was happy to see how many people jumped at the chance to pitch in with real cash to get this project started. I did a FASERIP pulp game a few months ago, now I have new incentive to dust it off and finish tweaking it.




Star Frontiers (digitally re-mastered)
Bill Logan has taken the venerable Star Frontiers game and revamped it, giving it a whole new look and feel. Once again a thread at RPGNet has spawned a movement that has snowballed into all the SF rules being given a shiny new look as well as some of the modules. Bill has even started a fanzine with new SF equipment, optional rules, adventures, etc. Check it out here. And by all means contact him with your ideas and article proposals.

Legends of Steel update

The responses from the Legend of Steel review team are in, discussions have been held and the re-writing of some portions and "beefing up" of others has begun. Spell casting PC's will remain a part of the core rules (It was a 50/50 split on that one. Some feeling it wasn't' true to the genre of S&S, others citing characters such as The Grey Mouser, Kane and Elric as magic wielding S&S characters), the skills system has been revamped, the experience point system has been tweaked. The most requested thing is the easiest to fix but the most time consuming- giving examples. The guys on the team want more examples of character creation- by the numbers, so to speak. Also expanded examples on combat and task resolution. Several fully fleshed characters were also called for.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET

Team Players

I found this online the other day, what great Saturday matinee memories(Jim Kelly was all about cool). I’ve always been a fan of the team concept. Individual heroes with exceptional abilities getting together to kick some bad guy ass- The Magnificent Seven movies, DC comic’s “The Losers”, the IMF from the Mission Impossible TV series, and so on. Maybe that’s why gaming has such an appeal to me. The Paladin, the Thief, the Mage, the Priest. Different powers, different backgrounds, common cause. Adventure!

Shellendrak Manor

This just in from the “Too Damn Cool” department-
Here is a new multi genre cardstock model from the guys at Worldworks.
It looks awesome! I want it. I want it yesterday! Just $20.00 (and probably about three cartridges of printer ink). Imagine the “oohs” and “awes” as you whip this baby out at your next pulp or horror game. I’m gonna buy it. I just wish I could get someone to build it for me.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET.

LoS Update

The long road to a final published version of Legends of Steel has gotten a bit shorter. I recently submitted a PDF copy of my first draft to about a dozen friends for a preliminary review. The feedback has been very positive. And a few revisions have taken place. I began a discussion forum for the “LoS Review Team” and we have had several lively discussions on what exactly defines the Sword & Sorcery genre and the spell casters place in Legends of Steel. I belong to several game discussion forums, and while they are amusing, I don’t take too much away from them. This forum is a bit different for me as the whole purpose of it is to improve my game and get it ready for eventual release. I’m really thankful to my team for all the assistance and advice they have given me. Some of the suggestions will be implemented some not, but all of the advice is appreciated and seriously considered.

A Lost World Railroad?

A Lost World railroad you say?
this guy did it.
look at the pictures. Does this Rock on Ice or what?
the whole temple was done in styrofoam.
Damn I wish this guy was my neighbor.
There are plenty more pics. Go here.

Zombies in the 'Nam

My buddy Andy over at Joehobbypics just turned me on to this cool youtube video. It's one of the best action figure movies I've seen. It's extremely violent, so if you have little ones, scoot them out of the room before you watch.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET.

Anthony's Dungeon

I had this slideroll show up for a while then I took it down when I created the new logo. Here is my son Anthony's take on a dungeon (much more stylish than my first attempt at a dungeon).

New Heroscape figures!

Woo Hoo! It looks like there are some new figures out for the Heroscape line.

More Kyrie warriors are always good. Air superiority plays havoc on the enemy. and the archers are a nice compliment to the Samurai warriors from previous sets.


Orcs and ghosts? C'mon, even if you don't play Heroscape these figures are worth having for any other type of gaming. Here again these pole-arm wielding Orcs are a nice addition to the earlier Orc swordsmen and archers.

Zombies! A box of Zombies! Need I say more?


And of course as with every wave a wicked set of leaders...hey wait a minute..Is that a Dwarf?


Aiya! Sure looks like a Dwarf to me. Is this guy a foreshadowing of the next wave?!

Coincidentally, I'm currently running a GURPS game. and we have discovered that the Heroscape tiles make excellent terrain tiles for GURPS. GURPS as some of you may know, bases their movement on hexes. So does Heroscape- one more reason to buy this great game.

Finally a decent Conan

Well it's not a 1/6 scale action figure (that would too damn much to ask for I guess)but this Marvel Legends scale figure is the best one I've seen yet. Looks like it will hit the shelves in August.



It may not be my favorite scale but it beats the hell out of the McFarlane Toys Conan, which was a non-articulated piece of crap. Pete rose makes a terrible Conan.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to rpgnet.

Kings of the Sun

Yesterday I wrote about my efforts to create a barbaric Sword& Sorcery campaign world for use with Legends of Steel. Today I began to immerse myself once again into the genre to try and glean a few new ideas. The other day I read a review of another RPG system, the reviewer stated to the effect that one of the weaknesses of the game was that it was too generic, too “Vanilla” the campaign world was a typical middle-ages western European fantasy world. I hope to steer clear of that. I’m trying for worlds more akin to those of Wagner (Kane), Gemmell (Druss), and Silke (Gath). I ran across a great “sword and sandal” movie today called Kings of the Sun. Actually it’s more of a “war club and sandal” epic. George Chakiris of West Side Story fame stars as a exiled Mayan king who settles on the coast of North America (Carolina maybe) and licks his wounds before he returns to reclaim his throne. In the meantime he makes the acquaintance of Black Eagle the chief of a generic American Indian tribe played by Yul Brynner. So Mayans meet Indians in Pre Columbian America and adventure ensues. Not Ben-Hur by any stretch of the imagination but a cool popcorn movie just the same and I pulled away a few ideas for the new LoS Erisa.

Erisa-World Building

Since I’m awaiting feedback from my LoS draft review team, I started some serious work on the world book for Legends of Steel. I decided to use portions of my own AD&D world of Erisa. However, Erisa will need to go under a major revamp. The main reason is that I want the world to have a Sword & Sorcery feel rather than a Fantasy feel. Even without Elves, Erisa has a distinct high fantasy feel to it. Dwarven holds, Arthurian style kingdoms, Halfling villages, Etc. I need to get rid of all of that and concentrate on a grittier, more barbaric world. I need to erase alignment from my thinking when it comes to nations and peoples. I need to forget about Demi-Humans and start thinking about the various types of peoples that would populate Erisa. So far I have that Erisa is a very old world that is making its way out of a particularly destructive, apocalyptic past there are ancient ruins from pre cataclysmic times. There are two major empires that exist; the Akkar and the Sulan. The Sulanese are a trading empire on the rise, and the Akkarians are an imperialistic military empire on the way down. In between are vast areas of untamed wilderness and a varying collection of city-states, small kingdoms, tribal nations trying to survive amongst these two giants.

Legend

If you’re a regular visitor here at the Lair then chances are we have similar tastes. Hoping that’s the case I have to urge you to read Legend by David Gemmell. If you enjoy heroic fiction, Sword and Sorcery, or just a great adventure story- Legend is a must read. With Legend and his subsequent works David Gemmell has taken heroic fiction and set the bar so high that I doubt we will ever see his equal soon. His tales are of honorable people, broken people, troubled souls and fallen heroes, who search for meaning and redemption in an unforgiving world. He made these stories work so well that you are swept away in the first ten pages. David passed away this last year. I’m saddened at his passing, I’m saddened by his family’s loss, I’m saddened I never had the chance to meet him, and tell him how inspired I was by his work. But I can take comfort in his works, in the joy that his books will bring me for the rest of my life, and I can champion his work to every one I know who would appreciate it.
Read “Legend”, chances are you will become a fan as well.

What happened to the dolls?

I haven't done much posting in regards to action figures or any of the Kit bashes I work on. the reason for that is my camera quit working a couple of weeks ago and getting a new one isn't on the top ten list of purchases at the moment. However My wife has noted my sad expression as we pass the digital camera section at Target, and it looks like we may get one soon.
In the meantime- Check this out. Thanks MG.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET.

LoS Update

On Friday I sent several draft copies of Legends of Steel out to a few friends who agreed to look it over and give me their thoughts and opinions. Once I hear back from them I'll let you all know how it went.

Pacesetter Games

Last night I was going over some material from a game called Star Ace. It was released by Pacesetter games in the mid 80’s. Pacesetter is the same company that released horror RPG Chill that I wrote about a few weeks ago. I started thinking about some of the other products that Pacesetter released. They did a really well done Time travel RPG called Timemaster and several months ago I wrote how The Blackmorn Manor game was the closest my wife has ever come to role-playing, that was a Pacesetter game as well. I wonder if Pacesetter wasn’t just a little bit ahead of it’s time? The games are still out there in PDF form from places like RPGnow. They can also be found on EBay where they sell at pretty reasonable prices.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet

24 years later

Back in 1983 I read this book about a British Secret service agent who is sent on a mission to rescue the Tsar and his family from the Bolsheviks. He teams up with an American adventurer and a White Russian Cavalry commander. I remember enjoying the book and then lending it to a friend. Needless to say I never got it back. I could never remember the title of the book or it’s author. But every time I’ve walked in a used bookstore for the last 24 years I’ve made at least a cursory check for it. And in 24 years I’ve never ran across it, until today.

The book is called “The Buckingham Palace Connection” written by Ted Willis (who it turns out was quite a prolific and successful British writer).

Check out the back cover blurb:

“Escape from Siberia”
It began one hot summer afternoon in 1976 in the House of Lords. But it would lead back to 1918, to war-ravaged Russia where an armored train plowed through Siberia on a mission of deadly vindication, personally ordered by King George V of England.

It was an unlikely rescue team: James Tremayne, a dapper British undercover agent; Tom Story, a brash young American engineer; and Colonel Kasakov, the fanatical commander of a White Russian cavalry troop
-but then it was an even more unlikely scheme.

In a riveting race against impossible odds, Tremayne and his crew battle 4000 miles of treacherous wasteland to reach a little town in deepest Siberia. There Tsar Nicholas II and his family await execution- little realizing that one of the most daring rescues ever attempted would soon alter the course of history.

Doesn’t that sound like it would make one kick ass RPG adventure?

Villa Rides!

Back when I was 5 or 6 years old I remember going to the theater to see this movie. I thought it was the coolest thing. It was the first time I ever saw Mexicans in an English speaking movie that didn’t act like oafish buffoons, bowing and scraping to the Anglo characters (“Please Senor, we want no trouble”). I know now that the two leading Mexican characters were played by a Russian and a Pole. But at the time they sure looked Mexican to me. In 1969 there weren’t to many role models for Mexican/American kids other than the Cisco kid, Zorro and Speedy Gonzales. It was cool to see some guys that looked like my uncles kicking ass and taking names.

Old School Gamers

Old school Gamers-

• Had to play with six-sided dice until they could get the right ones.
• Judged the value of a game by the weight of the box.
• Rode the bus across town to the one hobby store that had a TSR rack.
• Played Judges Guild modules as is.
• Rolled pages of character stats to try and get that perfect character.
• Point-Based character generation never even occurred to us.
• Used the words Rock, Stone, or Iron somewhere in their Dwarf’s name.
• Never questioned the rules. If a Cleric couldn’t use a sword then that was it.
• Played Chaotic Neutral all wrong- but nobody cared, we were having too much fun.
• Loved nothing more than cleaning up a law level zero space-port with a couple of Gauss guns and a lot of attitude.
• Had one character that used matched pairs of Lucern Hammers in combat, until somebody actually saw what a Lucern hammer looked like.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGnet.

Saturday matinee memories

Remember sitting in the theater watching Sinbad for the first time? Ray Harryhausen's work is awesome. Take a look-

LoS update

It’s been quite a while since I have posted anything regarding my Legends of Steel game. The good news is that I have been working steadily on it and making really good progress. There are now three sections comprising the game. The players section is the first and is done. Second is the Game masters section which is about 80% done and the third being the Campaign section in which I am converting my longstanding fantasy campaign world of Erisa to fit the Sword & Sorcery motif.
Below is a Sneak peek at the character sheet I have developed for the game. For those of you who have just recently joined us and don’t know what the hell I’m talking about go here and get informed.