The Back-Dated RPG Campaign Tour Challenge for 2026

The dust from January's #CharacterCreationChallenge has barely settled.  The backlog of other posts is finally catching up.

And I entirely blame Ken Newquist's Nuketown for casually pulling me into another RPG Challenge.  

Ken post about the #RPGCampaignTourChallenge drew me in and the concept for the Barking Alien blog is beautifully simple and executable: 

The concept is simple; give your readers/viewers a tour of your current (or favorite or in-development) campaign setting using the prompts provided below by yours truly. Imagine the Challenge as a kind of 'travel guide' to the setting of your game.

I know Ken started on Thursday 2/4 and started knocking out the first two days then.  I'll rely more on social media, but I'll back date the first couple, and hopefully the rest of the prompts will take less than an hour or two every day.  

The Gamma World "Not a Test" Campaign loves its self-promotion, especially since the Actual Play post started this week, after a long holiday and #CCC hiatus. 

Glorious Adventures in the Age of Steam for Fistful of Lead

One thing I've realized about Fistful of Lead... What seemed to start as a $20 set of rules you can cobble together your own version of the fantastic.. or the realistic, is becoming a lifestyle, if one wants to spend the coin.

Straight from TMP to this blog: 

It is truly a wondrous age! It seems a new invention destined to change the world is created every day. Babbage's Analytical Engine has transformed modern mathematics and made complex calculations capable of changing the world. Edison's Aether ships ply the space ways making interplanetary travel a daily occurrence. Tesla has made electric power plentiful, and advances in steam technology have made the impossible possible.

Of course, none of these advances in science would be possible without the discovery of X-Matter in 1869. When this miracle element is combined with other substances it can make metals lighter and stronger, and make fuels burn hotter. Even members of the occult societies claim X-Matter has a mystical effect on reality itself.

All this new technology has quickly found its way to the battlefield. Soldiers march to war resplendent in their colorful uniforms, armed with the newest, deadliest weapons. And the march to war beside monstrous, steam belching machines; airships, armored walkers, submersibles and landships.

Glorious Adventures in the Age of Steam is a stand-alone game. People who already own a Fistful of Lead game will notice the core mechanics are unchanged. In this book, you'll find new equipment, weapons and exotic new locations with lists of inhabitants both friend and foe. Your adventures may take you from the haunted back alleys of London to the majestic canals of Mars. Or are you more in the mood for a dinosaur hunt at the center of the Earth? It's all right here.

To be completely fair, Glorious Adventures is available directly at Wiley Games, but is, of course, stocked to at Brigade Games.  The printed edition is $40 with the Glorious Adventures card deck for $20.

Sculpting a Scrap Beast at Bill Making Stuff

Dear readers might remember me sending love to my new obession: Bill Making Stuff.  I love the kitbashing, the ideas, his world of the Gutterlands.   I've expanded my collection of bits, pieces, and miscellany thanks to his inspiration, if I'm avoiding creating zines, sculpting, and more massive projects.

His latest episode #105 he sculpts his own scrap beast with a near comedic series of errors, but an awesome final result.  

(Gamma World) Not a Test #102 - Dead End?

The De Facto Explorers have decided to forge the wilderness across the Big River to investigate a new region full with the possibility of Treasures of the Ancients

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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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There were already some grumblings as Clover Haycock, now Lathar's brother-in-law, needed three trips to ferry the Explorers, No-Name, and the wagon across the river to the other side.  It was Squiggles who expressed his displeasure verbally, "That cart is going to slow us down." We've only ever used it on the civilized side of the river, and until you guys went out to the Pool House, it's always stayed on road."  

The group acknowledged his concerns and promptly ignored them.  Two or three foot footpaths in rocky forest proved the worm's point, as they struggled with the cart overly largely unblazed trails.  

Luna led the way, scavengers, underpowered bands of bandits, and a handful of subsistence.   "The whole lake a few clicks to the left of us is heavily affected by the glow..."

"I don't know how that could happen," Pete said with a sheepish grin.

The forest opened into a plain, with a few ruins, and just a few hardy pure-strain human farmers.  The humans were not trusting of mutant animals and plants, but most worked with mutant humans in the area.

They finally made it to a campsite area for the caravans.  Luna explained that the caravans were nothing more than a collection of scavengers, selling their combined finds, using each other for protection.  

"The real finds were across the trail into the woods..."

The group stared across to the edge of a larger wooded area.... seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

Luna continued, "We investigated the woods, but not until we realized we were injuring ourselves..."

"Because the entire forest is made of stone..." Sonny completed her sentence, the only one to realized the significance. 

The trunks of the trees were a similar shade of brown associated with real trees, but as they moved closer, everyone realized the leaves of the trees were stone as well.

"We never went down the obvious path, we were amazed by the forest, found some artifacts dumped by the trees.  We didn't have a wagon to carry more and got the heck out of here.  The artifacts weren't part of the forest proper so something from somewhere dumped them, probably close.  "

Amazed by the forest, the group decided to set camp across the trail and venture into it during the morning. 

Waking up with a fresh layer of curry on the weasel, the group ventured down the path, Pete taking lead, the others a few feet back.    The tracks were overwhelming, large humanoid animal, very rabbit-like.

While Pete was pre-occupied, Sonny noticed something largely buried on the side of the trail, digging with his fronds, he discovered a graying stone like surface from the original trail.  He let out an "Oh my, guys, look what I found!"

The whole group turned to see the 9 1/2 foot tall sunflower holding an old sign of the Ancients.  

"We can use this as a shield!"

Pete: "Dead.... End?  Is this like a cult thing?"

Pete decided going further down the path wasn't smart.   "Obviously we're going into a larger forest.  Let's investigate the forest first, away from this ominious trail."

GM: For a sunflower with a Sense of 5, Sonny aced a number of perception checks where everyone else failed. 

Next: #103 - Into the (Petrified) Woods

RPG Campaign Tour: Day 2 - About Your Tour Guide

 Day 2 of the #RPGCampaignTour assumes we have a specific tour guide or narrator of our stories.  

The best bet for Gamma World "This is Not a Test" is the De Facto Explorer's chief brain and failing tinkering, Sonny Helianthus.  

Life amongst the the primitive mammals, human and otherwise, can be trying at time for the mutant sunflower.  His superior intelligence made him ally himself with the Restorationists, with their fascination and dedication for searching for, researching, and implementing loss technology of the Ancients.  

One hundred sessions/adventures/etc would change any man, but between exposure to "The Glow" (radiation) and the rules for plants, Sonny has transformed.  Gone is the tall (7' tall) sunflower with a penchant for frock coats and cravats.  The experienced Sonny has grown to over ten feet tall, and now possesses four fully functioning arms!   He's by no means "battle hardened" like his compatriots, but isn't afraid to use the Ancient's slugthrowers or more advanced energy based weapons.... 

And as I'm finishing up episode #129, I'm reminded he isn't afraid to put himself at risk to save his friends.  

Lathar:  "I don't know Pete, we should jump on No-Name and charged back into there... Sonny has bailed us out so many times..."

(Fistful of Gnomes) A Stroll Through the Park

When I get the chance to talk Gnome Wars with folks, the requests usually come in a few varieties.

1. When is a new edition coming out?  
2. Why isn't there X nationality?
3. Why isn't there a scenario book? 

My answers, as just one of the Stout Gnome Minions with an active blog? 

1. I will admit that we talk around a new edition right now, rather than sitting down and knocking it out quite yet.  
2. With the exceptions of Gnomans, Hawaiians, and the like, most nationalities can be modified using existing figures.  Anything more exotic requires a lot of collaboration between the designers, Lon at Brigade Games, and, of course the person actually sculpting figures.  Even with the current product focus of units over individual figures, you reading the blog of the guys who has Californian, Mormon, and Missouri militia units. 
3. There are so many cool scenarios and after action reports in print and online, we would probably end up accidentally putting a gnome stamp of approval on something that already exist.  

Before gnomes, before teddy bears, before frogs and mouslings, there was Flintloque - Fantasy Napoleonic warfare in 25mm by Alternative Armies.  Now, even at skirmish level, Napoleonic wargaming feels different than the Gnome Wars universe, which is roughly fantastical early 20th Century, but there is just a treasure trove of material already available online.  

This is one of those attempts to use gnomes in A Stroll in the Park, a three-part scenario.

 And it's fitting that the same week I read that Dos Equis is bringing back their most famous marketing campaign, I break out Bruce Carmezind, the Most Interesting Gnome in the World.

Bruce is older and a hair slower, but the chicks continue to dig his new scars, so he continues to act like he's a hundred-year old gnome. 

This week, he's leading a motley group of gnome rangers and rifleman to escort a group of engineers to destroy a signal tower, deep behind the German lines. 

Part One: Bruce, his team, and his engineers need to sneak down a dry river bed to get to the tower. 

Time is of the essence, but noise kills.  Each turn, the group draws one card from a deck of playing cards if they're walking, two if they're running.  Any non-face card (Ace through 10) is no effect.  Any face card is a results ranging from animals getting flushed out and giving up their position (and drawing more cards) to enemy troops landing on the board to an actual ambush! 

Expecting the worst, I had two units of Sikh mercenaries at the ready.  They remained their for the entire quick scenario.  

Bruce and his men were true professionals with a healthy dose of luck.  Allowing a 6" double action sneak move, they needed nine draws to get through the winding river bed to the other side. 

Not a single face card.

Bruce and his crew

Part Two:  The Objective:  Get the engineers to the base of the tower.  The engineers must spend an action setting the explosives.  They may move and set the explosive, recovery rolls or melee negate the action for that turn.  Each successful action rolls a d8, once the cumulative number reaches 28, they escape as the tower explodes! 

As much as I love a simple and successful infiltration, I did up the ante, especially when the random element I rolled wasn't German or Sikh, but embedded Swiss resistance to escort them to their coastal rendezvous!

First off, the Germans in the tower knew they were nearby...

Technically Sykes and his mistress were downstairs....

Nothing ever happens at Tower B-17 of the Imperial Telegraph & Semaphore Corps, Third Reserve.  Otto Kleinwachter manned the tower, relayed the messages and stayed quiet.  He was annoyed with Retired Exploratory Officer Siegfried Sykes showed up unannounced, with his "domestic assistant" Hettie,  but having once stolen a few intimate moments with the wife of a Signal officer back in his youth, he climbed the tower to give them privacy.  

He didn't need to interrupt the couple downstairs with yelling or an alarm.  As the Swiss infiltrators climbed the bank of the dry riverbed, a single shot rang out from atop the tower.   Otto could see a single Swiss figure scurry back into the riverbed for cover.  

That gnome, Bruce Carmezind, having narrowly missed an untimely demise with a leathal weapon, tumbled back into cover, exasperated and slightly embarrassed.

"Dafür bini z’alt!    Ich hätte die Tunnel benutzen sollen!"

Most of the Swiss braved the open field towards the tower, but Carmezind was wise enough to send half the engineers, and two riflemen, to tunnel underground as back-up. 

Which seemed like an even smarter idea, especially when Sikhs, drawn by the gunfire, emerged near the trees!   Half had reconnoitered through the woods, while the other half boldly marched forward in a firing line.  

Much to the Sikh officer's chagrin, the Swiss took minor casualties and return far more effective fire, scattering much of the firing line into the woods.  This sacrifice allowed the remainder to flank the flimsy Swiss position, dropping the invaders.   

 Add to that the appearance of Sykes and his disgruntled mistress into the fray, and the Swiss mission was in peril, the engineers scrambling to the rear of the tower to accomplish whatever they could. 

Perhaps it was fact that Swiss are traditionally a defensive minded people, so the Sikh attack but them at ease.

Perhaps they all simply wanted to live.  

Or Perhaps it was Bruce Carmezind, finally recovering from the clarity of safety, had charged forward and rallied his fallen and bloodied gnomes to keep fighting!  

Every wounded gnome not only recovered, but pulled their rifles back to their shoulders, fired, and all hit their enemies, killing one, wounded a second, and sending two other fleeing to the cover of the woods!  

The rally seemed to grow stronger with the appearance of their Swiss brethren, killing the Sikh officer, but getting distracted by Otto, still atop the tower with his rifle.

But as luck would have it, the Sikhs cowering in the woods for many turns, were perhaps inspired by the death of their officer, all recovered at the same time and joined their fellows charging the original Swiss at the tower.

The carnage was glorious. Sykes and Hettie took out the Swiss ranger officer, until Sykes was shot by Carmezind and abandoned his mistress for the safety of the tower. Hettie's life was spared as Otto made a crack shot, taking the most interesting gnome in the world out of action.

The Swiss were brave, but wounded and the Sikhs made short work of them.

The Sikhs seemed to need a moment to regroup, but Hettie took charge, running around the tower and engaging the engineers as they were setting up the charges. She took out one before some of the Swiss relief forces finally dispatched her.

There was a short firefight between the Swiss relief and the regrouped Sikhs.  The second engineer was taken out of action, things looked lost.

And then something broke through from below.

The Swiss engineers that had been tunneling finally made it to the far side of the tower, and frantically set charges!

And after many turns in a desperate firefight, Otto was finally wounded.  Laid out on his back, clutching his chest, staring up at the sky... his last thought before the explosion obliterated the tower.  

"I'm least I'm not hiding like that bastard officer downstairs..." 

RIP: Otto

All in all, the scenario was just enough chaos to satisfy my (twisted) gnome mind.  Of course, I calculated it afterwards, but it's only a 1-in-14 chance (7%) to not draw a face card in that first part.  

Overall, I liked this scenario as part of a larger campaign, one where sabotage and infiltration might be considered more mechanical than tactical.  Per the original scenario, and per my die rolls, it should have been an overwhelming Swiss success, which works better as a table result than a lopsided victory on the table.  

I am happy with the way tunneling worked, I'll tack those onto my ongoing Fistful of Gnomes document I'm compiling. 

I'll need to calculate casualties and get things set up for Part Three: "Long Walks on the Beach", coming soon! 

A Stroll in the Park by Tony Harwood can be found at Orcs in the Webbe . It was first published on the 13th December 2017 as part of its 2017 Advent Calendar.

I love the idea of the Advent Calendar, especially since it covers a variety of things for a wide swath of their games.  The drop down header only links to 2020, so I was delighted to see the 2025 version.  

RPG Campaign Tour: Day 1 - Campaign Introduction and Overview of Gamma World "This is Not a Test"

Don't adjust your monitor or screen, I'm backdating my version of the #RPGCampaignTour, so it starts on the 1st, working double time to catch up.

Day 1 literally sets the tone for the month:  Campaign Introduction and Overview.  

My Monday night online group has been playing in some form for close to a decade.  After three years of 5e, and over three years of Star Wars d6, I decided for a full palette cleanser with a foray into Gamma World 4th Edition.  Initially labelled as "This is Not a Test", we haven't been able to pull away from it's  gravity since, with 103 actual play blog entries already posted, and we'll be tying up some loose ends on episode 129.  

I decided to run Gamma World based on the skewed nostalgia of post-high school.  We played GW back when it came out, playing some of the published modules before we headed out to college. 

Now I've done a "Twenty Questions About the Campaign" a few times, but let's do cover the basics. 

Most of the modules are set along the Great Lakes Midwest region.  I've set mine Midwest adjacent, with the "Big River" not the gigantic river you would expect.   The stretch of the river the PCs are all familiar with is relatively remote and peaceful, although even early on, they knew that peace was slowly getting encroached upon by more violent factions.  

The "Core Four" of the characters who represent the De Facto Explorers of Riverbend (from Session #0...  They've changed a bit 100+ sessions later.)

Sonny Helianthus is a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with Restorationist ties.  An educated plant, Sonny would much prefer to avoid violence, as it does tend to damage artifacts, and damaged artifacts have a tendency to explode.   Sonny's abilities of teleportation and reflection protect him against most mental attackers, but it that fails, his sunflower seeds can be fired with exploding and deadly accuracy.

Sonny

Sonny has a casual symbiotic relationship with Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles), a mutated earthworm scout.  Squiggles has advanced skills in Telekinesis, as well as a hardened carapace which makes him quite a formidable worm.   (Edit:  They both live on the farmstead of one "Farmer Yulius")

"Squiggles"

Squiggle's scout buddy is Sneaky Pete, a mutated weasel.  Pete's telepathy and night vision are quite impressive for a scout, his dual flintlocks intimidate most common folk, but people tend to run when he drops them and and electricity arcs from his paws.  (Edit: He resides inside and below an ancient tree far enough from the Big River to be safe from flooding)

Pete

Joining this trio is a pure-strain human, Lathar Bracken.   His melee ability is beyond reproach, and his long-standing relationship to the Restorationists and smooth talking manner make him a trusted asset.  (Edit: He does live in town... with his mother.  The location of his father was never established early on.)

Lathar

Next: Day 2: About Our Tour Guide