Tuesday, February 17, 2026

RPG Campaign Tour: Day 17 - Can You Tell Us About Any Famous Battles or Wars?

I took day 17 of the  #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test" and turned it right to my players....

Pete, Squiggles - The Battle of the Gazebo.  The previous entry on the Kirothians does have one gaping error in it.  The group the De Facto Explorers encounters, in the winter, around KIA Academy was not the first group of Kirothians they met with.   Labelled only as 'blue skinned mutants'  they were encountered in the early fall far to the south of KIA.  It should be noted that the no connection can be made between the hostile Kirothians and the ones that settled in Fair-Town.  The Battle itself was maddening, centered on an ancient gazebo, and the Explorers realized that these people had their own working version of the Children's Alchemical Laser.    It should also be noted that the subsequent destruction of their rental, an electric powered golf cart, made Pete persona non grata in KIA, and made some enjoyable role-playing as he tried his best to pretend to be "Stinky Meat", Pete's cousin. 

Lathar - A two-time champion probably has some bias as he wants to regale his successes in the Queen's Joust.  Lathar and his trust steed, No-Name are new legends within the tournament scene, and him literally winning a spot on the Fair-Town town council will create some problems down the road.

Sonny - The Battle of Kyoto Dam, clearing out Level A Inc, and most recently, investigating the Hopper community and Living Metal factory far away on the other side of the Big River have all resulted in atomic blasts.  Thankfully, Sonny's teleportation ability (or sometimes fast legs) were the difference between survival and getting vaporized.



(Gamma World) Not a Test #104 - The Door

The De Facto Explorers have decided to forge the Glow Zone wilderness across the Big River to investigate a new region full with the possibility of Treasures of the Ancients... and have encountered a friendly group of Hoppers.

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Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.   Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust.  Recently married Thunnelda Haycock.

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"

Sonny Helianthus: a nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places,  and finding it often.   He  has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.  Recently gave birth to a pile of baby worms. 

Luna of the Restorationists:  Recent recruit of the Restorationists, who had uncovered artifacts across the River.  

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The group was led down a down passageway, light sources pulled out to see anything.  The passage abruptly stopped at a large metal door. 

The heavy door was securely shut, and most of the ancillary parts appeared to have been bashed in, repeatedly.  a exposed hole narrowly led into the inner mechanism in the center of the door, and a key card reader hung off the wall by its wires.  


Lathar tried the collection of key cards with absolutely zero effect. 

Squiggles tried to maneuver his telekinetic hand into the hole, but was unable to completely manipulate the multiple mechanisms inside, although some sparking came from other broken parts.  

Sonny inquired with the Hoppers, and according to them, the door had look this way for at least the generation of the current adults in the warren.  Giving the ignorants their moment in the sun, Sonny used his bioluminescent fronds into the hole.   Soon, some spare wire was blooming out of the hole, Sonny's attempt to rewire door.  

The single light above the door turned on. 

Lathar assisted further with the wires, but needed Squiggles to forcefully rip out his portion of the contraption. 

Pete tried to use his shock powers to jump-start Sonny's contraption, but there was no result. 

Finally, Sonny took it upon himself to manipulate things internally.  some of the broken pieces sparked to life.  A quick flurry of key cards presented to the card reader.

One finally generated a loud "Ca-chunk" as the door was able to be opened.

The door opened inward, revealing a small room with a low ceiling. The opposite side of the room had a large metal grate blocking further passage, but allowing the faint man-made light to come through.  With a better look, the short ceiling was actually a flight of concrete steps overhead.  The grate may have been installed to keep other things from going under the steps.

Sneaky Pete checked for traps and became detaching the grate.  Lathar sat up a old metal 50-gallon drum, pondering its seat, "We can use this..."

Squiggles:  More useful than the urine that's under most staircases.

With the grate removed, Lathar moved the barrel to open door.  The few hoppers that stayed interested wandered to look out to the next room. 

True to their thoughts, the next room held the stairs going up, plus two doors.  A skeleton with two broken legs, wearing a tattered brown uniform in the room revealed the same key card that opened the door, plus a bag of small crystals.  Two giant bins with wheels where also in the room, filled with the broken remains of what they might find in one of those rooms with  computer terminals. 

Moving to the door across from their access point, they found the doors chained from the other side! 

It took the combined effort of Lathar and Squiggles throwing themselves at the door to pull the chains off what it was anchored to.  This room was much larger, with more skeletons and the odd carts. The main wall to their right was excavated stone, scored to look like a large block pattern, leading to  a much larger set of double doors at the opposite end of the room.  

The skeletons pulled a number of different colored keycards. The tattered clothing resembled different uniforms and professions, although the quarter-sized holes blasted in their skulls were quite disconcerting. 

They did find a strange weapons, a double barrel slug thrower with simply huge barrels, and no ammo.

Lathar: "Dibs!!!"

The large weapon, but without the strange ammo.

GM Notes:  We're finally back on another adventure!  

Next: #105 - Into the Mines

Monday, February 16, 2026

RPG Campaign Tour: Day 16 - Are There Any Direct Threats?

Day 16 of  the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", and I again defer to my players to answer the question, "Are there any direct threats?"

Sneaky Pete, Mutant Weasel - Dogs.  Dogs of any shape and size.  Whether it's roving packs of Podogs terrorizing the countryside, or mutant wolfmen who claim they have a soul, but their actions prove that claim false.  The whole world would be better without them.  

Podogs

Dr Sonny Helianthus, Mutant Sunflower  - Alchemical Lasers falling into the wrong hands.  The fact that the Ancients developed the science to create such a device is unimaginable, but the fact that they sold this super-science as casual consumer appliances boggles my mind!   The fact that we possess one (and know the location of a much larger one) brings me nothing but fear, for if it were to fall into the wrong hands....

Lathar, Pure Strain Human - Yeah, those Alchemical Lasers suck.  I was turned into some kind of green stone by one, then some sort of hard candy, then some other substance, before Sonny to fix the device and get me back to normal human.  And that was one they labelled as a "Children's Alchemical Laser!"

For Ages 8 and Above...

Squiggles, Mutant Earthworm  - Birds.    And the giant alchemical laser that can not only turn rusty nails into gold, but also imbue them with a freakin' soul.... and telepathy begging us for the sweet release of death to relieve them of their unwanted consciousness.  


(Savage4) Tomb of Serpent 4.5 - The Evil Below

When her only son marched off to fight the king's enemies in Africa, Mama Vinadio was quite proud.  When he returned in a box two years later, she was still proud.  All she could say as they laid him to rest was "He's sleeping with the angels."

The cemetery north of Savigliano is small, walled, and laid out in sensible straight rows. On the surface it appears peaceful and orderly, but madness and chaos lies right below the surface... clawing for the relic! 

After her last dream, Dolores "El Dobbie" Gato compiled her trusted friends and associates and traveled to a Manor House in Scotland to unsuccessfully obtain an artifact.   The night before they departed back to America, Dolores had another dream, cancelled the tickets, and after some research, she and her party were heading to Italy.

Savigliano Cemetary

Dolores "El Dobbie" Gato was already on her third career.  Disgraced nobility, turn rooftop cat burgler, turned South American explorer, she only really trusted her right hand gal, Diana "Dibby" Boyle, a former nightclub singer known to go toe-to-toe with famous boxers who got a bit too frisky after the performance.   "Mango" Tangier was a seaplane pilot who needed to ditch his last plane (and very illegal cargo) into the Carribean, and Aurelio was a former reporter who fell in love with the concept of treasure hunting and adventure, but... just wasn't very good at it. 

"Mango" Tangier, Dolores "El Dobbie" Gato (Wild Card) Diana "Dibby" Boyle (Wild Card) , and Aurelio Farmer

Of, the agents of evil knew their every move, and came in force.
Objective:   Legend had it that the artifact could be found beneath the pedestal of the Wailing Statue.    As the group quickly discovered, the statue was a cursed spirit who moved from pedestal.     The heroes would need to pass two tests in the same turn to capture the statue.  Destroying the other pedestals would limit places the statue could teleport to (it could always stay in the same spot.)

And all in six turns. 

Turn One: While Mango and Dibby snuck through a hole in the wall and dashed to pedestals, El Dobbie and Aurelio quickly hop the wall.   

Dibby swallowed hard and moved to the statue in the center of the cemetery (passed horror check), prepped to seize the entity... and the statue had the audacity to move toward El Dobbie and Aurelio!


Turn Two:  El Dobbie was the target of the Serpent Priest's, but pushed the the troubling thoughts with ease, firing at and killing, one of the cultists.... but unable to focus on the statue.


Aurelio tried to play hero, but was quickly reminded he was just a goon/thug/minion.  The terror of the entity was too much, forcing him to flee, but not so much that he couldn't take a shot at the cultist sneaking around towards Dibby. 

Mango and Dibby quietly pushed over two of the pedestals, but of course, at the of the turn, the statue moved to the farthest pedestal.


Turn Three:  Another cultist killed, another exchange with Dobbie and the Priest.    The statue moves again, still out of touch.


Turn Four:  El Dobbie rushed to the Wailing Statue, in hopes that the others would push over at least one of the remaining pedestals.   They did not, instead getting locked in hand-to-hand combat.  As she looked up from the base of the pedestal she was at, she saw the Wailing Statue disappear, and reform exactly where she had just been at! 
Sonnuva! 
Turn Five:  The rest of the group's stalemate with the cultists seemed to be taking a drastic turn for the worst with the flame-haired Dibby taking a point blank shotgun blast.    With the familiar feeling of the ground rumbling beneath them, El Dobbie knew she needed the Wailing Statue to teleport back the previous pedestal if they had any chance.  

At the end of turn five... The Statue satisfied the her hopes...
Turn Six: And with another cultists killed, and the minions tending to Dibby,  Dolores "El Dobbie" Gato successfully unearthed the artifact, dispatching the tortured spirit.  

In dreams that night, El Dobbie confirmed what they all already knew.

Next destination: Egypt. 

Next: Episode 4.6 - 

Sunday, February 15, 2026

RPG Campaign Tour: Day 15 - What Are Some Things About the Setting That Are Best Avoided?

Day 15 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test".  I figured the question, " What Are Some Things About the Setting That Are Best Avoided?" could be better answered by my players, so I asked them after our last Monday night online sessions.

* Girls of the World Ain't Nothin' But Trouble - From Our Six-Foot Tall, White Furry Mutant Earthworm "Squiggles".   A member of the White Hand called it "Interpersonal Relationsships,"  but to Squiggles and his Pure-Strain Human friend Lathar, women have been a headache... and other pains.  Squiggles has managed to hook up with another mutant earthworm, Ubenda, and twice he's  the one that's been knocked up!  
And Lathar simply needed a discount on the river ferry to get the group across to meet a group of Hisser emissaries.  The catch?  Going on a date with the ferryman's peculiar sister, Thunnelda.

Lathar and Thunnelda are now married... and she's pregnant! 

And she's not a little unhinged, she's VERY hinged, as in she collects hinges! 
Sorry guys, she doesn't have a sister....
*Only you can prevent glow reactions.  - From our ten-foot tall mutant sunflower, Dr Sonny Helianthus.  "The Glow" is the dangerous power than randomly resides in destroyed places of the ancients.  Sometimes it makes you sick.  Too much of it can kill you.  

Toting around metal a metal skull and spinal column that's imbued with it might make your docile, intellectual sunflower grow an extra set of arms!  

Sure, they're helpful, but the distress of the Glow's blessing is something people should avoid, because you can't tell the difference between living and dying until it's too late. 

(Painting) Makeshift Cemetary Pedestals

 I'm prepping another session of our Egypt game, wrapping up the prep encounters for Tomb of the Serpent.  

The next scenario is a searching for another artifact in a cemetery, and although I have a wide variety of gravestones, to make obvious objective markers, the description puts them as more bases for statues.

Without spending way to much on part of some Reaper Bones packs, I simply perused the dollar store. 

I honestly can't remember if they're shot glasses or with votive candle holders, and I know some more drybrushing might generate a better result, but they work.  

Saturday, February 14, 2026

(BackerKit) Food & Evil RPG by Goosepoop Games #Zinetopia2026

Another great entry from BackerKit's #ZineTopia2026 is Food & Evil, the tabletop roleplaying game where you don’t hunt demons…you are the demons. Your party runs a food truck, serves questionable cuisine, gathers cursed ingredients, and causes just enough chaos to keep business booming.