My Bones II has shipped!

And of course, it's going to the old address.  I changed all my Kickstarter orders back in June, before I even updated my drivers license. 

Oh well, Bob Olley is teasing about his next Kickstarter.  Sure it's pricey and foreign shipping, but I'd get the products in mere weeks. 

The German-American War 1898-1910

Most Gnomish school children know about the German-American War, and it's implications on the world stage, so I don't know why I'm repeating it here, but I'll cover it to make sure the few uneducated Teddy Bears and feral gnomes learn some essential history.

Despite the best efforts at exploration, Spanish gnomes could not maintain an empire and its outposts either became independent or fell into disrepair. We all know that today they are better now for their bullfighting and afternoon naps than international policy.

The British Mercantile Syndicracy moved in to sweep up the possession along the American coast, which ultimately became the countries we have today. The Swiss moved towards Africa and Asia. The French focused on Quebec and, for a time, Mexico.

The unification of the German Empire was completed with the Astro-German War of 1870. With its internal affairs in order, the Kaiser looked towards the far reaches of the world for colonies and an expansion of his power. While the British Mercantile System had set up trading ports throughout the globe, they had never taken steps to "civilize" the interior of Africa, Asia, or any other "Third World" locations.

The Germans still looked for scraps in the Colonial game, but they were plentiful. Cuba, Port Kaiser (Puerto Rico), Guam, and the Philippine's (now Willipines) were easy pick-ups as other

In America, the Northerners had played a delicate balancing act between British and German trade interests. Southerners had two interests to screw with the North. 1) They were interest in adding Cuba as a state/colony but didn't have the strength to do it. 2) They wanted to weakened German trade interests with the North and capitalize on that loss.

Birmingham-based saboteurs formed insurgent groups against German rule. Tourists and stray sailors were kidnapped and sometimes murdered. Bombs were planted, which brought more German troops, but a stronger Northern presence to protect its interests. When Northern Engineers aboard the U.S.S. Maine mixed steam engine modifications and late night drinking, the explosion shook Havana harbor. Southern agents immediately plotted the seeds of German conspiracy to the North, and a dangerous unit of foreign troops to the Germans.

War was soon declared in the Caribbean.

With no Caribbean holdings, and the loss of Florida, the North's troop deployment was complicated. Soldiers were loaded at Baltimore, sailed to the Bahamas, where the sympathetic British let them properly mobilize.    

German defenses were stern and morale high against the invading Americans. The Northerners took heavy casualties, but dwindling ammo finally forced the Kaiser to surrender Cuba and Port Kaiser.

The North's War was an opportunity in the Pacific. The Empire of California was looking for colonies in the Pacific and the German holdings were usually poorly manned, weakly defended, and usually considered "vacations" to the troops deployed there. California already had a steady alliance with the Kingdom of Hawaii, which allowed them to rent a naval base there, so with the explosion on the Maine, the Californian Navy had been quickly dispatched to Manila. The result was close, but a success for California initiative.

With Manila taken, Captain Hank Glass of the CSS Sutter took matters into his own hands and rerouted his ship and the three troop transports it was escorting to Manila, heading straight for Samoa. Samoa had been a hotbed of international intrigue between Germany, Britain, the North, and California. Mata'afa was a lesser chief who was looking to overthrow the Samoan king and set up closer relations to Germany.

Despite a distinct superiority in manpower, the pre-existing foreign powers, and the royal and rebel Samoan forces created a quagmire that stretched on for nearly a decade.  While the Treaty of Tampa in 1900 called for the end of hostilities and a free Cuba, the Samoan Islands and Guam were not listed as existing conflicts.    It was not until the Treaty of Sydney in 1910 that the war officially ended and Samoa was divided into three separate entities.    The western chain would remain an independent entity under Australian/New Zealand protection.  The eastern chain would be protected by Hawaiians under the direction of the League of Gentlemen Gnomes.   The central portion of the island would maintain Samoan sovereignty, but be considered free ports for all nations.   The Samoan king still remained friendly to the Germans.  Guam was to remain a German coaling station.

After years of German dominance among Gnome-kind, the gnomes of the American Hemisphere emerged on the international stage.   These overseas ventures were lauded by the press, but their costs scared the politicians in San Francisco and the District of Columbia. 

For the Northerners, the addition of Port Kaiser (soon to be renamed Porto McKinley) was considered the Gibraltar of the Caribbean, which could be used to stage naval forces when combating the volatile South American political scene.  It also kept any ambitions by the Republic of Texas and the Aztexican Empire outside the Gulf of Aztexico in check.

For the Confederates, who never fired a shot in the war, the war opened up full and profitable trade with Cuba.   Joint Cuban/Confederate action would undertaken in the early 1910s to help stifle rebellion in Hispaniola and Jamaica.

Popular sentiment in California eventually grew tiresome of the war. However, Emperor Nicholas I had the most vision of any ruler, and also fought with the Aztexican Empire, Russian, and Japan while the fighting in Samoa dragged on.   These rapid successes overshadowed the bloodbath in the South Pacific.  The acquisition of the Willipines created a new gateway to Far East ports that reversed the reliance between California and Hawaii.  California kept only a token presence at Pearl Harbor, and Hawaiians no longer felt completely exposed in the center of the Pacific.

For the Germans, they paid a high cost at home and abroad, to almost maintain the status quo.  Operations in the Willipines were moved the Chinese mainland or a few select trading villages in Japan.  The loss of their Caribbean holdings did not disuade them from getting involved in Latin American politics, although once evidence came out about CSA espsionage, German-Confederate relations were at an all-time low.  Through most of first decade of the 20th Century, Germans focused their colonial ambitions to Africa and China.

For Australians, this was their first independent action on the world stage.    Despite protecting the sparsely populated islands, Aussies proudly took their first step towards expanding their influence.

For the British, it was a diplomatic disaster.  The other impeccable Brits lost influence in the region to both the native population but to the otherwise allied Aussies as well. 

Scavengers Playtest

The Kickstarter for the Scavengers RPG has met their goal!  They've also added a two part video (Part One / Part Two of a playtest done by The Dicestormers.  

The did a nice job further explaining the settomg and the rules.  The d6s are rolled to determine how many successes were rolled (like a lot of rules-light d6 based games).  The gonzo scenario and their carefree attitude confirm that I could pull material from anywhere to use as adventure fodder.

 

The Allentown Train Show and Free-Range Gamers

This weekend was one of my favorite occasions.  The Allentown Spring Thaw Train Show has been a special Maja-Daddy day out for the last three years.

Sunday, we survived a snowstorm that failed to warm up and turn into rain to have our annual breakfast together at the counter of the local diner.  We were about an hour and half behind by the time we survived the massive snow south of us that flooded the turnpike and pulled into a snowy, but plowed Ag Hall in Allentown around 10:45am.

Trains were always my first love as a child, trying to emulate my Grandfather, and even those all of his Marklins I inherited are boxed up, I'm always looking for a few acquisitions.    There is a wall of the basement that's screaming for a 4' x 8" board, and I just need to acquire wiring and the translate a whole lot of German to learn how to.   Maja had four priorities:

1. See the layouts
2. Get a pretzel
3. Get a lemonade
4. Participate in the train race

The layouts were variations of the same ones we saw in prior years, but to a five year old, everything is new, shiney, and awesome.   We also ran from one end of the hall to the other on Maja's whim, rather than my systematic "boring" aisle-by-aisle sweep.

But finally it was noon and the next round of train races started.  For those of you confused by this, see Maja's lone winning run here.   She did lose her heat 1-2-2 (best out of three, with two simultaneous wipeouts), but she got a certificate and had a train load of fun.

The Swag:
I did pick up some actual trains: a tiny Marklin engine that needs a new contact, and a 80's era tanker car (the box had "A product of Western Germany" on it.)   The one advantage of being a young girl at the train show?  Maja keeps getting free stuff.   She got a bag of street lights and signs and a bag of "Homies" for being smart, polite, and a girl, plus when we picked up some 1950's era backwoods race cars she wanted, that fella through in an extra one. 

Although I failed to spot any Zap-A-Gap at any tables, I did pick up six more O-Scale suburban houses for a buck apiece.   I'm planning on using the polystyrene and converting the two I already have in British Consulate at Samoa, but now I have barely enough to set up a suburban wargames, with gnomes, zombies, or Znombies!

I also picked up a cutting/measuring board, because everyone else with a blog seems to have one, and it was pretty cheap.

 Time was running short, and I needed to drive from Allentown to my Mom's place in Easton to drop off Maja, only to run back to Allentown for my Call of Cthulhu game.

When we last left our "heroes," they had infiltrated some English nobleman's country estate by force and were hiding in the woods trying to observe the reactions of the residents.  I've spent the last month trying to figure out the reactions of the *spoilers*  cultists and their leaders, but I failed to account for one contingency.   Even before everything hit the fan, the seven person group decided to split up in five different directions.  No one, including this Keeper, knows how the scenario ended without a death, but we had three hospitalizations, one case of amnesia, and one investigator who suffered injuries I can not describe in the same post as a lovely morning with my daughter.  Everyone was in high spirits and we're trying to schedule the next session. 

Which, which the party's new found fear of the water and need to go to Cairo, could logically be Horror on the Orient Express.  Bob brought his behemoth of a copy to the game and it is everything the Kickstarter promised and more.  He even used one of the matchbook toothpicks provided to clean his teeth during a break.  We'll need new characters, but it might be nice to retire the shield for awhile and be a player.  First I need to spend this week and figure out what happened on the estate and the implications thereof. 

I picked Maja up from my Mom's, grabbed Wawa hoagie for my wife, and got back home at only a semi-late time.  I feel a lot more relaxed than I did last week and motivated to get something accomplished.

Apathy of the New Releases (Mar '15)

Viscount Eric's Want List
Nuttin'

Viscount Eric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List
Diamond Comics Distributors
Mouse Guard Role-Playing Game HC (2nd Edition) PI
Mouse Guard Role-Playing Game Boxed Set (2nd Edition) PI
My only concern about the new edition is the fact that they're distributing through Diamond, and with a non-standardized pricing, this could get pricey.

The Imaginary Store List
Action Sports
Moto Daiken Playmat
Schrei Playmat
Tomb Raider Playmat
 No prices... let's assume $20-25.

Ares Games
Wings of Glory Fokker E.V (Lowenhardt) $14.90
Macchi M.5 (Arcidiacono) $19.90
Macchi M.5 (Hannover Cl.IIIA (Baur/Von Hengl) $19.90
Fokker E.V (Osterkamp) $14.90
Fokker E.V (Sharon) $14.90
Macchi M.5 Hannover Cl.IIIA (Hager/Weber) $19.90
Nieuport NI.28 (O’Neill) $14.90
Nieuport NI.28 (Rickenbacker) $14.90
Macchi M.5 Hannover Cl.IIIA (Luftstreikfrafte) $19.90
Macchi M.5 (Haviland) $19.90
Macchi M.5 (Welker) $19.90
Nieuport NI.28 (Hartney) $14.90

Asmodee 
Formula D: Expansion 6 Austin/Nevada Ride $29.99

Chessex
This month they’ve listed the a number of reference packs which aren’t necessarily set up for direct consumer sales, but are a very nice assortment/display of the various dice products. Nice items to help choose a restock of the store’s display, a nice way to solicit special orders for dice, and after everything is set up, I believe they can be sold piecemeal. 

Catalyst Game Labs
Shadowrun: London Falling .................................................................................. $19.99

CoolMiniOrNot
I usually avoid CoolMiniOrNot like the plague, due to a number of factors, usually price and presentation, but Kaos Ball intrigues me. Very little description, but a variety of Blood Bowl-esque teams for twenty-five bucks 

Cubicle 7
CALL OF CTHULHU: CTHULHU BRITANNICA - THE CURSE OF NINEVEH CAMPAIGN
CALL OF CTHULHU: CTHULHU BRITANNICA - THE CURSE OF NINEVEH NEVES JOURNAL
CALL OF CTHULHU: CTHULHU BRITANNICA - THE CURSE OF NINEVEH THOMPSONS JOURNAL
Beautiful new CoC campaign from Cubicle 7, including two fiction/handout books.  The only problem?  No pricing!
CALL OF CTHULHU: WORLD WAR CTHULHU – LONDON.................................... $24.99
DOCTOR WHO RPG: THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR SOURCEBOOK HARDCOVER.. $39.99

Evil Hat
Fate: Save Game $10.00
FATE RPG: THE AETHER SEA $10.00
SPIRIT OF THE CENTURY: DINOCALYPSE FOREVER PAPERBACK $15.00

Fantasy Flight Games
Star Wars RPG: Force and Destiny Beginner Game …… $29.95

Fun to 11
MISKATONIC SCHOOL FOR GIRLS: HOLIDAY BREAK EXPANSION ................. $29.95

Gale Force Nine
D&D: TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL - AERISI KALINOTH/WARRIOR/PRIEST .. $30.00
D&D: TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL - AIR MYRMIDON   .......................................$30.00
D&D: TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL -  ELEMENTAL NODE OF AIR GAME MAT $20.00

Games Workshop
WFB: Skaven Thanquil and Boneripper ............................................................................ $93.00
WFB: Skaven Verminlord ................................................................................................. $90.00
Skaven Thanquol ............................................................................................................... $80.00
Twenty years ago, I had a crazed desire to build a Skaven army for WFB.  Fortunately for me, I realized the hundreds of dollars it would cost to collect and build Stormskaven and Slave skaven units.  The one thing that was not some insane price was the Verminlord.  The 300% increase might just be a wee bit extreme.

Mantic Entertainment
Deadzone: Brokkr Booster Set ........................................................................................ $19.99
Deadzone: Forge Father Faction Starter Set .................................................................... $34.99
Deadzone: Forge Father Support Booster Set ................................................................. $19.99
Deadzone: Forge Father Urban Iron Ancestor ................................................................ $24.99
Deadzone: Forge Guard Booster Set ............................................................................... $19.99
Dreadball:  Beauties and the Mob, Cheerleaders and Fans ............................................. $29.99
Dreadball: Martian Team ................................................................................................. $24.99
Dreadball: Neodruim Knuckle Draggers All Star MVP Pack (4) ....................................$29.99
Dreadball: Rotatek Rockslides, Brokkr Team  .................................................................$29.99
Dreadball: Season 4 ......................................................................................................... $24.99
Dreadball: Unincorporated Rebs Team ........................................................................... $29.99

Mongoose Publishing
Traveller RPG  2300 AD Liberty - Fighting crime in America's Off-World State ......... $14.99
Traveller RPG 2300 AD Libreville Corruption In the Core Worlds ..............................  $14.99

Monte Cook
The Strange RPG:  Cypher Chest ..................................................................................... $29.99

Osprey Publishing
ACROSS A DEADLY FIELD: THE WAR IN THE WEST .......................................... $34.95
FIGHTING SAIL ............................................................................................................ $17.95

Paizo Publishing
PATHFINDER ADV PATH: GIANTSLAYER PART 4 - ICE TOMB OF THE GIANT QUEEN ............................................................................................................................ $22.99

PATHFINDER CAMPAIGN SETTING: INNER SEA MONSTER CODEX ............... $19.99
PATHFINDER FLIP-MAT: WARSHIP ......................................................................... $13.99

Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Savage Worlds RPG:  Hell on Earth Companion SC ........................................................ $19.99
Savage Worlds RPG:  Shaintar Legends Arise.................................................................. $39.95
Savage Worlds RPG:  Hell on Earth: The Worm's Turn .................................................. $19.99
Savage Worlds RPG: Shaintar Legends Unleashed .......................................................... $39.95

Pokemon USA
Pokemon TCG:  Double Crisis Team Aqua and Team Magma Mini Set  ........................ $ 7.80

Reaper Miniatures
1” HEX PLASTIC GAMING BASE (20) .................. $5.99
1” ROUND PLASTIC RPG BASE (20) .....................$4.99
2” ROUND PLASTIC RPG BASE (10) .................... $4.99
3” ROUND PLASTIC RPG BASE (10) .................... $5.99
GRAVEYARD DISPLAY BASE (RESIN) .............. $12.99
For inch bases, that isn't a bad price.

Death Dog .................................................................. $12.49
Hobgoblin Sorceror ................................................... $ 6.49
Qualanar, Human Wizard .......................................... $10.49
Stitch Golems Lesser (2) ........................................... $12.49
Tengu Rogue ............................................................. $ 5.99
Animal Companions Goat Pig Cow .......................... $ 5.99
Temple Dragon .......................................................... $ 9.99
Vonsalay Female Half Orc Wizard ............................ $6.99

Steve Jackson Games
Munchkin:  Dopple Spyke Vinyl Figure .................... $19.95

Troll Lord Games
Castles and Crusades RPG:  Death in the Treklant ....  $ 9.99
This covers Vakund, Dzeebagd, and Felsentheim that were initially released for d20 3.0 D&D and I used as a ho-hum storyarc for Hackmaster. 

Castle and Crusades RPG:  Night of Spirits ................ $ 7.99

Wizards of the Coast
MAGIC THE GATHERING CCG: DUEL DECKS ELSPETH VS. KIORA DISPLAY ...... $19.99

Wizkids
D&D Attack Wing Blue Dragon  ........................................................................................ $19.99
D&D Attack Wing Pegasus ................................................................................................ $19.99
D&D Attack Wing Warrior ................................................................................................ $14.99

 

 

 

(Kickstarter) Scavengers RPG

I've been following Travis Hanson every since his Kickstarter for Tanner Jones and the Quest for the Monkey Stone.   I discovered over the weekend that he's been tagged for the artwork for the Scavengers RPG on Kickstarter know.

 

Scavengers is a fast-paced, good-humored roleplaying game about space salvagers trying to get rich during the turmoil of galactic war.   Random ship generation and encounters will be included for hours of fun.  There are eight different positions on the crew your character can take, and five factions they can work within or against.

 

As the character gain experience, they earn Danger Points, where failed rolls become deadlier and deadlier.  

 

The reason I'm supporting this Kickstarter has alot to do with the a certain cartoon on Disney Jr.  Of all the shows I've learned to appreciate among the the princesses and pirates, it's the Octonauts.  Their episodes under the sea are properly formulaic, every member of the team gets a moment to shine, if not every episode, and the kids always learned about a new sea animal with every episode. 

 

One of my long-LONG-term blog projects was to be a write up of the Octonauts as an RPG, but I just haven't had the time to focus on it.  I believe that with a little modification, Scavengers could easily be used to run such a game.  I'll need to tweek Danger Points so Captain Barnacles or Kwazii don't get eaten by a giant squid, but I think it's something that the kids would enjoy.

Black Hat Releases Ratmen Pirates

Black Hat Miniatures, whom I previously mention for their  WW1 Halflings and Goblins,  has released Ratmen Pirate figures for their Shattered Isle series of Fantasy pirate figures. 

These are not your father's speedy Skaven running the streets of Mordheim.  These are also great hunks of metal, awesome scimitars not badly priced at £5.50 a set.  It's a nice addition to their dwarves, orcs, and even halflings flying the Jolly Roger.

(IOU) Duchess

Duchess
Sugar-Addicted Pixie (4)
Never Far From a Boy that Never Grew Up (3)
Always Has a Light (2)
Fly through the air, without much great ease (1)

 

The Latest D&D Movie

My wife gets her "girl's afternoon out" on Saturday to grab lunch and go see Fifty Shades of Grey with her girlfriends.

I get to run around like an idiot Saturday morning and get her car fixed, plus a number of errands I haven't been able to do thanks to show and work schedules. 

Maybe, just maybe, I'll have motivation to break something out with the kids.

I believe this winter has officially broken my spirit.

The Gnomish Space Marines Event for Mepacon

Here it is, the first formal event for the Gnomish Space Marine game that has been demanded at Mepacon.

Title:  The Gnomish Space Marines... in SPACE!!!
System:  d100 GSM (This is a vague clue towards the direction I'm going for the RPG version)
Timeslot:  Friday April 24, 8pm-Midnight
Players:  6
Beginners welcome

Throught the universe, some units are known as the largest, the best, the brightest, the toughest, the fiercest, or even the fastest.

The Gnomish Space Marines are none of those.   Especially a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears grunts straight from boot camp.  Your first assignment is with the competitive drill team on a far off luxury planet.  Heck, these weapons look real, but are they even loaded?  Hey maybe those nice guys over there might know...

This shall be the first of many playtests simply checking out the combat and skill rules I've chosen.  Wing it, have fun, and notate, as many of finest game designers of northeast Pennsylvania have once said.

(Kickstarted) Tavern Dungeon Decor

While it's not my cup of tea, I do have to mention the  Tavern Dungeon Decor Kickstarter from the former proprietor of Mega Miniatures.

While the sample figures are a bit too early 80's for even my taste, 33 pieces for $35 is a bargain, especially since they've already reach three stretch goals for four more piece. 

 

Save Versus Slant

It's been floating around the internet long enough, that I should post it here as well.
 

My minor nit-pick would be, if they were playing a real footbal game, APBA, which has been around over two decades before D&D was conceived, they wouldn't be rolling a d20.   Gygax would respect the game that much.

Gnomish Space Marines, It's What People Crave

This weekend, I had two main objectives to accomplish before the nasty howling winds arrived and I lost the will to live.

First I needed to preregister for Cold Wars before the Friday night midnight deadline. Between insanity at work, craziness at home, and Kindergarten basketball, that failed horribly. Time to stand in the line of dread. I will be bringing exact change to speed my process.

Second I was awaiting the results of my Mepacon poll. My string of gaming luck continued to curse me, as you guys overwhelmingly chose the Gnomish Space Marines.

Bastards!

The good news is I have the scenario concept ready to be flushed out, a few cardboard stand-ups I'll need to print out, and the one reference book coming over the next week via eBay. It is the one poll option that required the most effort and motivation and that's been in short supply this winter.

Here goes nothing...

(IOU) Moses Levenstein

Moses Levenstein
Mama's Boy with a Martyr/Messiah Complex (4)
Microwave Food Whiz (3)
Fledgling Law Student (2)
Stuttering Orator with Pyromaniacal Tendencies for Small Brush (1)

Equip:  Cool Guru Robes, Staff, Collection of Pamphlets on Water Parks with Wave Pools

 

CoC #25: Masks of Nyarlathotep #5 Let's Go to the Zoo!

March 8, 1925
After putting the Shipley house to the torch, they attempted to regroup.   

The major concern was to find Brian Nichols.  Bob went back to Soho, checked out the rubble of the Shipley house.  After a few hours walking about, he did find Nichols’ cap in an alley, covered in blood.    He then fell upon a murder scene a few blocks aways.   A woman in her  early twenties had been killed.   The Bobbies were tight-lipped about the details, but one was convinced that Miles Shipley had committed the murders.  Rumor had it that they had found a body in the rubble of the Shipley home and identified it as the grandmother.  Little did they know, the serpent people posing as the grandmother and dissolved into a primordial green ooze and the body they had found was that of another missing girl that had been slowly turned to soup.    Bob was worried that this act could be a deranged Nichols.   He did a horrible job pretending to be a fresh-off- the-boat International correspondent  for an American paper (he failed all his rolls.)

Bob went back to Scotland Yard and revisited James Barrington, filed a missing persons report for Nichols with different detective, and tried to offer services as a consultant.  Gavigan declined.

Doc Millheim, doing his own research, went to London Zoo, went to an ethnological exhibition, to try to find Africans who might have knowledge in the Cult of the Bloody Tongue.  Most thought he was a crazy guy, except for one person who tried to run away.    Doc talked to the curator and convinced him to get a translator so he could interview him.

The interview went exceedingly well, with the "exhibited" dressed in western attire.  His people had once lived closer to modern-day Kenya, but as legend had it, a group of savages would raid it periodically for slaves and whatnot.  No one ever managed to escape.  In response, the village was moved further and further west and when the raids stopped occurring they were in the Congo.

March 9, 1925

The group decided to spend an entire day in their hotel rooms to recover.

March 10, 1925
They swung by to see Mickey Mahoney at the Daily Scoop.  The Scoop's headline read:  “Famed Artist on Murderous Rampage in Soho.”  It seemed that this storyline was picked up by most of the papers, putting the heat off of Nichols as a suspect. 

Anthony Parks visited the Petrie Museum, a foundation with academic only access.  Most of their staff refused to talk to him, except Dr Randall Ward, an Egyptologist with interest in, but no knowledge of, cults.  Parks and Wards got along fine and he was indoctrinated into the group by Ward after a few rounds of drinks. 

May 11, 1925
Ward and Parks failed many Library Use rolls to glean any information, but Wintermute had an idea.  He revisited Barrington and offered the services of Ward and Park, "true experts of the occult" for a chance to look at the body of the woman in the Shipley murder.  Barrington agreed and arranged a meeting for the 13th.

May 12, 1925
Another day of rest for the group, although Steven O'Hara left the hotel and did not come back.

May 13, 1925
The group revisited Scotland Yard and examined the body.  Despite Ward's background, he couldn't make anything out of it, in fact, he lost his composure simply looking at the mutilated corpse.  Doc Millheim and Dr Wintermute managed to ascertain that beyond the multiple contusions, there were numerous puncture wounds with something that was not a knife.   After further examination, they determined that a large blunt object... like a large paint brush... was the murder weapon.  Scotland Yard agreed to this revelation and Miles Shipley was confirmed as the murderer, exonerating Brian Nichols.

Barrington did not have the manpower to search for either Shipley or Nichols.   However, Wintermute was forced to file his second missing persons report in a week, with the disappearance of Steven

Barrington:  "Doctor, you've lost another one of your friends?

After a quick lunch off-site to compare notes, the investigators inquired about the Egyptian ritual killings.  Barrington provided some autopsy photos.  Ward failed to glean anything of note, but Dr Wintermute realized that the cuts on the bodies were identical to a ritual to prepare the bodies of servants of the Pharaohs who would be spending eternity with them.  Barrington finally began to trust the investigators and went over the previous investigation.  He admitted that they only used the Penhew Foundation and some odd spice merchant, Twyfek al-Sayid for their consulting and that when Jackson Elias had swung by he was ranting about a Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh, but Gavigan and al-Sayid denied any knowledge of the Brotherhood/cult.

Most evidence pointed to the Blue Pyramid Club.  Although Steve was still missing, they decided to visit the club, so they unpacked their tuxedos, save Doc Millheim's white Seersucker suit. 

The second the taxi dropped them off, they realized that they were horribly overdressed and sticking up like a sore thumb.  Lucky for them, the staff took them as silly American tourists, so they unloosed some times, ate some food, drank a bit, and enjoyed the company of belly dancers.

The overdressed Americans tried to engage in small talk with the staff, dancers, and clientele, at last getting one, a dancer named Yaleshia, to agree to talk after work. 

The intoxicated crew stumbled, hooted and hollered towards their clandestine meeting point.  Yaleshia explained that her boyfriend had been one of the victims of the Egyptian murders and that strange things involving a large truck were occurring after hours at the Blue Pyramid. 

May 14, 1925
Steven showed up at breakfast, slightly disheveled.

Steven had decided that he wanted to go racing.  Although he could not get into a prominent racing club, he found illegal racers outside of London... riding motorcycles.    Early on in his first race he wiped out on the slick road and ended up in a canal.  By sheer miracle he survived the wreck and spent the next days in the hospital

NOT Steven O'Hara

They gave Steven a few minutes to wash up and put on fresh clothes, and they were off to visit Barrington again!   They spilled a small portion of the beans, relying on the belly dancer's claim, and much to everyone's surprise, Barrington stood up, pulled a service revolver out of a desk drawer and said, "I need to talk to a few people and get cars."   Apparently he was willing to do this outside the normal purview of SY.   He would meet them around eleven o'clock that night in the back of the hotel.

The investigators waited for Barrington in the hotel back alley and were met by three sedans, Barrington driving the lead car.  The second driver, obviously Scotland Yard, got out of his car and into the third, and that car backed out of the alley and drove off.  The team had two of Scotland Yard's cars and neither had been properly signed out.

At the stake of the Blue Pyramid, they saw the staff get "pushed" out the front door right after close, mere minutes before a large truck with a tarp pull up to back.  A number of people came out the side doors of the Blue Pyramid into the truck and it drove off.    Our team followed them through the streets of London and out into the countryside.

After over an hour, the truck pulled off onto a sketchy dirt road and a definite scent of sea air could be smelled.  As the road went over a ridge, the cars slowed to a crawl and the investigators could see a high wall with a gate blocking the road.  There were some form of guards letting the truck through.

This is where they concocted their most brilliant idea to date.  The majority of the group would try to sneak through over the wall quite a distance from the guard(s).  Parks and his trusty rifle would be closer and he would try to snipe at them.  While this was put into action, Steven successfully created  the piece de resistance.   He jury-rigged the steering wheel and gas pedal to let it drive down the ruts of the road, either injuring or at least distracting the guards.   Oh yes, he also shoved a flaming rag in the gas tank. 

The car drew the attention of at least five guards, who drew their guns and opened fire.  The car exploded early, but the frame was still intact, so it rolled through the gate and stopped atop a wooden bridge on the other side!

The rest that had scaled the wall (save Bob, who got stuck on the wall for awhile) and realized that the other side was only another ten feet and then a sharp drop into an inlet of water. 

Parks began firing, dropping a few guards, while Steven tried to slink down the other side of the road.  One guard managed a glancing shot on Steven (dropping him back down to 4 hit points).  Steven managed to low crawl his way to the wall. 

The wall group spied a guard working a turnstile which caused the bridge to rotate!  They assaulted the guard successfully, and proceeded to push the burning car into the water.    One guard from the shack ran past them on the bridge, heading to the island(?) and Barrington pulled out his revolver and shot him in the back!    The last guard surrendered and was tied up without interrogation. 

A quick search of the rather large guard shack discovered little, save an old Great War telephone connected to whatever was on the other side of the bridge.  The investigators grabbed the guards' jackets and dashed off for a wooded area.    Getting into a safe position, they saw a large manor house dominating this island, as well as the same large truck getting loaded with more people and heading back towards the bridge.

Next:  Masks Part 6: A Visit to Misr House

Keeper Notes:  This was a great session, lots of action and investigation... and some of it actually pertained the printed campaign! 

The Ethnological Exhibit was perhaps the most uncomfortable moments role-playing in my life.  The concept was so outrageous that every joke we tried to make in light of the situation had far more racist undertones than intended (I hope.)

I forced them to go through all their notes, starting from the first session of Masks.  They were ready and raring to go to Cairo and start their investigation there. Within the last session they had just started taking better notes, so they needed a good revision.  Somehow, we had missed the three articles pulled from the dead file and that, couple with Barrington being the lead investigator in the Egyptian murders became a pretty big idea. 

I did find belly dancing music on Pandora for the atmosphere of the Blue Pyramid.  It worked very well.

Finally, who could image that with a firefight capping off the session, the most dangerous rolls of the afternoon involved a guy racing a motorcycle.  Steve continues to surprise *faceplam*.

(Kickstarter) Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion

 It's been a long time coming, but the  Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion is finally up and running on Kickstarter. 

“What kind of weapons do Bloody Tongue cultists use?”
“What does the Liber Ivonis contain?”
“What hospitals are there in Mombasa?”
“How do you organize a raid on Grey Dragon Island?”
“What do I do if everybody dies???”

Ever since its release in 1984, Masks of Nyarlathotep has been considered one of the finest supplements for Call of Cthulhu, a roleplaying classic.Countless players have dared to thwart the machinations of Nyarlathotep and plumb the mysteries of the Carlyle expedition.Keeping this globe-trotting campaign is unfortunately rather a challenge, with scores of NPCs, dozens of locations, hordes of cultists, and at least one very angry Outer God.Needless to say, even the best Keeper could use a little help.
That is where The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion comes in.Drawing on the wisdom and experience of the members of Yog-Sothoth.com, the première site for Lovecraftian role-playing, the Companion gathers together tips and advice for Keepers wishing to run Masks of Nyarlathotep.Within these pages are detailed nearly every imaginable facet of the campaign, from starting play to ending things with a bang, explaining, exploring, and expanding the classic work.There is something for everyone, from novice game masters to Grognardian disciples of Cthulhu.
The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companioncontains:

• A History of the Campaign
• Keeper’s Tips for organizing and running the campaign.
• Tips on how to introduce, use, and kill Jackson Elias.
• Guides to New York, London, Cairo, Kenya, Australia’s Pilbara Coast, Shanghai AND Hong Kong.
• Articles describing and expanding on all of the campaign’s tomes and artifacts.
• 4 new scenarios and numerous encounters that can be inserted into the campaign.
• Over two-dozen pre-generated characters plus tips on building better investigators.

Now you too can challenge (or challenge again) your players with this award-winning campaign, now with the power of the Companion at your side!

Regardless of whether you pledge for the pdf, the softcover, or the hardcover, every pledge gets the Companion 0.9 edition that was on yog-sothoth for awhile.    I already own a copy of the 0.9, and with the $80 price for a Hardcover (trust me, you'll need it)  and cryptic shipping notes/charges, I'm not completely gaga for ordering this. 

(Kickstarter) Reaper Bones II is Shipping!!!!

I've been waiting so long for the Reaper Kickstarter to start shipping that I may have been a father of one when the campaign ended (It's not true, although technically, my youngest daughter was 2 when it ended.  She's four now.)

All the pieces have made it through customs and have arrived in Texas.  Orders have been packed an sent out of the warehouse as fast as possible.

You can track their progress processing orders at http://forum.reapermini.com/bones2/ .  

I'm wave ten, so I've got a ways to go.

 

Lack of Progress Report

First, let’s introduce Lala the new foster dog staying with us for the short term. Not a big fan of the crate in the chilly basement (the kennel cough isn’t helping), so I haven’t been back to my table for a while.

 

In fact, the only painting that took place last month was during my daughter Millie’s “kid party” where we grabbed bottom rung paint and brushes and each kid painted a canvas with their letter on it, as well as a tiny birdhouse. Fun was had by all.

Not too many responses regarding the poll for the next event for Mepacon . The Gnomish Space Marines are barely ahead and I don’t know if I want to compile a completely new game system into something logical over the next two months.

Game design would thankfully take away from the downtime I’m playing Game of War. The appeal is finally wearing off, probably because the advances I need are measured in days, not hours and I’m seeing people with comparable strongholds dropping way too much cash to earn gold, troops, and advances.

Without a game to run for Cold Wars, I simply need to touch up and pack up my gnomes, particularly the 1st California Imperial Guard. 

I’m also behind in prepping my material for the next Call of Cthulhu session. The boys landed straight into the hornet’s nest, and I hope a few visitors can make it on the 22nd so they can be the cavalry so they have a fighting chance. Worst case, it might be a good time for Bob to start up Delta Green or Horror on the Orient Express.

The store move at Emerald Vale Games seems to be progressing smoothly, although there still are a few boxes waiting to be unpacked and the Axis and Allies game I complained about previously is still sitting on a table smack dab in the middle of the sales floor. The game should take an afternoon, not weeks. I’m also not a fan of some of the “friends” of the store. The one person, a Heroclix aficionado, drops the f-bomb while ordering food more often than most shows on HBO. I had complained about the same issue early on, and I’ve never interacted with him, but he’s acting as an ambassador of the store, and the store (hopefully) does not deserve that.

I did decide to rebuild the Kird Ape deck of yore, and dollar Regrowths at the store facilitated that. Outside a Fork, a Berserk, and some form of Dual Lands, it should be done in a relatively inexpensive manner over a few weeks. 

Now that I’m caught with Walking Dead and Agent Carter (and Avengers was on FX this weekend), I should be able to straighten up the basement, clear up my area in the study, and surprisingly enough, type up Part Five of our Masks campaign. After that, I expect a haphazard return to The Burning Trogs actual play write-ups and a lot more minis getting painted.

 A man can dream…

(IOU) Mongo!

MONGO!

Union "Negotiator" (6)

"Club" Enthusiast (4)

Auto "Collecting" (3)

Pastry Chef (2)

Equip:  phone book, slim Jim, piping bag, Molotov cocktails (x4), mullet

Enemy: Snake Gandhi (8+ on 2d6)

Top 10 D&D Modules According to ViscountEric

Yet another flash in the pan web site shooting for site its has posted another top list, this time the top 14 (?) D&D modules ever.  The order is a little sketchy, but they do manage to cover all the famous ones.  

 

I've owned all the classics at one time or another, I just haven't played any.  Even through all the purges, there is a copy of S4 - Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth that I will get a table together for someday.  

So, turning to myself, I wonder, what would I pick as the top 10 modules D&D mods of all time. 

The answers, unsurprisingly to those who know me, is surprising.

#10  - X9 The Savage Coast

Another filler module to extent of X6 - Quagmire!, extending the Known World past the city of Hule.  Perhaps it was the cover that got my attention, but I used this heavily.  It really is noting more than an outline and a few choice encounters, but there's tons of potential and hours of play in there.

#9 - B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond

Wait a minute, my favorite module of all time is only #9 on a top ten list?  One can differentiate between a favorite and something far better (or else everyone would jump on the Super Bowl champ's bandwagon after the game.  It's a great starter mod, with lots of variety, but it needs that experienced touch to tie everything together.

#8 Cloudland

"Freakin' Cloudland Castle," as my players would call it.  Different challenges on each level, multiple factions to play off of, and something that isn't your normal TSR format.  I wish Grenadier had made more. 

 

#7 - B4 The Lost City

 This module has taken years to grow on me, but the idea of a secret civilization hidden under the desert gets more and more appealing.  Plus, it's a great basis for a Reverse Dungeon, where the PCs are the semi-drugged citizenry trying to solve mystery's on their own.

 

#6  T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil

I believe this was #1 on the linked list, but I attribute that to nostalgia and TToEE being in the same "cool" category as drow.  This is the first adventure I ever ran for my group with 2nd Edition, and it has tremendous play value, great role-playing potential (which we skipped in the late 80's)  and some cool overwhelming evil to destroy.   There are some editing and design flaws in the dungeon levels of temple, but T1: The Village of Hommlet is the prototypical village for thousands of Dungeon Masters across the world.

#5 - X10 Red Arrow, Black Shield

The adventure so large and campaign breaking, the powers that be at TSR chronologically move the module 200 years in the future!   Finally, high Expert level adventurers running around the Known World with a purpose!  And to top that, they can adventure in between their diplomatic visits.  Plus, playing War Machine rocks!

#4 - N5 Under Illefarn

The second of the 0-level N-Series modules (N4 Treasure Hunt being the first), Under Illefarn created a nice campaign to accompany the Militia PCs as they grow to become heroes, including a quite formidable dungeon at it's climax.

#3  - X1 The Isle of Dread

The first wilderness adventuring most of us ever did.  Jungles, dinosaurs, and  a strange alien race hidden on the island, what more could you ask for.  And yes, great potential as a reverse dungeon.

 

 

#2 - B5 The Horror on the Hill

Not a big fan of the encounters leading up to the monastery, and there are some editing errors on the maps, but this is truly an epic low-level campaign, as the PCs wander through the levels until they become trapped and must scrape their way for survival. 

 

#1  - B3 Palace of the Silver Princess 

I know, I know, the start is railroady as all hell, but it's a great mixture of combat and investigative play as they attempt to reverse the curse of the kingdom.  Everytime I've run it, it's a long mystery, but once the player's figure out what to do, it's always been a desperate race to save everyone. 

 

Yep, folks, no Tomb of Horrors.  No Keep on the Borderlands.  Nothing from the GDQ series.  Not that they're overrated, but if I can do what I do with these ten, who needs badass epicness turned up to 11?

(MtG) Old School Kird Ape

I'll admit it, I enjoy playing Magic again.  Between some more affordable formats and their play environments, I daresay that I may need to purchase a two-row shoebox to hold all the cards.  That's a far cry from the decade of chaos (1993-2003), where my collection swelled and shrank like star quivering before going supernova.

My biggest problem with Standard (Type II) and Modern (the last decades worth of cards) are that they rely on either convoluted card combinations  or the few overpowered cards left in each set.  It's nowhere near as bad as what the Power Nine  can do for game advantage, but it begs the question as to the drug history of the current designers.   This is not a new concept, I had the same problem back in the day.

I always preferred Type I.  Sure, some dude could drop a Black Lotus and wreck havoc on the board with his hand, but more times than not, he started with an extra mana or two for a significant edge, but not a blatant false-start level head start.

To counter the complex decks that evolved from Type I, I relied on Red Burn bolstered by Green Speed.   I present for young and old to review, a pretty consistent version of my Kird Ape Deck.

Red                                                                       Green
4x Kird Ape                                                          4x Scryb Sprite
4x Lightning Bolt                                                 4x Giant Growth
4x Chain Lightning                                              4x Naf's Asp
4x Bloodlust                                                         1x Regrowth
1x Wheel of Fortune                                             1x Berserk
1x Fork
1x Disintegrate

Artifacts                                                                 Land
1x Feldon's Cane                                                   8x Forests
2x Juggernaut                                                        8x Mountain
                                                                               4x Taiga

Sideboard
2 Shatter                         2 Tranquility
2 Hurricane                    2 Juggernaut
2 Stone Rain                  4 Ghazban Ogres
1 Fireball

The Kird Ape concept is pretty basic and starts with the Kird Ape and the Taiga

Yay, a turn one Taiga/Kird Ape play and you have a 2/3 in play and still have 5 cards in hand.  Brilliant!   Between overpowered creatures and burn, opponents should be overwhelmed by turn 4 or 5.  Not the fastest deck, but one that can drain an opponent of cards and opportunities. 

Now, some of you, might be wondering, "ViscountEric, I only see 56 cards in that main deck.  What about the other four?"

That my friend, are my third cousins twice removed of the Moxes, Tinder Walls. 

I don't believe I have ever used it's blocking ability in a real game.  I rely solely on it's ability to be sacrificed to create two red mana.    My first turn goes from Taiga--> Kird Ape  to Taiga -> Tinder Wall -> Sac it for two red ->  Kird Ape and Lightning Bolt.   Or possibly better Kird Ape/Kird Ape.  It's that extra little oomph to but the other player on the defensive.   And what's even better is later turn Tinder Wall are either defensive or the extra mana or two for that fireball/disintegrate/hurricane

Sure it has flaws, and I'll admit that great opening hands stalled out for me to be swept by a 9-year old boy and a 9-year old boy Goblin deck.   

With only the Berserk and the Dual Lands being prohibitively expensive, I may try to rebuild this for "Vintage" play, using the Fetch-lands from Khans of Tarkir.  While traditional duals are nice for most decks, the each played Fetch effectively removes another land from your deck.  Playing the percentages is a good thing, especially after a Feldon's Cane or Wheel of Fortune.

 

#FourRPGs

Amongst the deflated balls and controversial commercials this past week was a tiny Twitter hashtag of #FourRPGs.   It simply wanted to you to post pictures of the four RPGs that influenced you the most.

 

For me, this could have been a wide assortment of games, but instead I focused on four that could denote specific peaks and valleys in my game

 

#1  Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st Edition)

" I won Dungeons and Dragons, and it was Advanced!"

I cut my teeth on the Mentzer Red Box, but most of my gaming lifetime has been ADVANCED D&D.  Most of my time has been second edition, but it was first, most specifically this printing of the DMG that got me involved.   So many good pieces of information and so many random charts that they probably made a random chart for placement.  All the rules were good, and should be used whenever possible.

#2 TWERPS

"The Holy Rolled-Up Newspaper of God (Wednesday Edition)"

TWERPS shook my faith in complex games at its core, and confirmed for me that simple games can be even more fun.  You can run a "straight" zombie game, an intergalactic love-fest for gnomes, or scuba diving for sunken treasure, and do it fun AND fast!

 

#3 Hackmaster (4th Edition)

"The Gazebo Attacks"

 

When my college AD&D game came to an end and I decided to start up my next fantasy campaign, I was going to go with a fully cinematic adventure campaign using Masterbook.  Yes, the generic version of TORG.  I was all set to make playmats and cardboard stand-ups, and then Hackmaster happened. 

Sure, it had tons of bad humor, ridiculous skills and at GM vs PC vibe that people took a bit a too seriously, but it was also chock full of fun charts, a collection of all the cool things out of the other 1st edition books, but with opportunities to counter the munchkin-isms.   But best of all was the d10,000 hit location chart.   My original Hackmaster campaign only ran four years, but it brought back my love for minutiae.

 

#4  Risus

"Teenage Yoda versus Snake Gandhi atop a Ferris Wheel"

Risus didn't make the sudden swing with Hackmaster that TWERPS did with D&D.   I knew that HM was the system I wanted for fantasy, I just wanted all the other genres to be a bit more... fluid.  Despite numerous numerous websites telling me to expand the system and then "you can do all these cool things with it," I would rather play with the framework provided and possibly "wing it."

And it's the combination of these last two that allows me to run a fairly hiccup-free game of Call of Cthulhu.  Embrace the crunchiness, but know how to work with your results into the game's favor.

The History of the Gnome World, Part 2: Nomepoleon

The Rise and Fall of Nomepoleon I
After a series revolts throughout the gnomes colonies sparked similar actions in the gnomish homelands, the reactionary rulers created their own non-instinctive Prison to trap the populace.  Secret police, inquisitions, and even agreements with creatures of the night were used to keep order.   It was enough to subvert the true gnomish cycle of wanderlust, but it also appeared to break the ancient pattern.    Revolts were only subdued for a time, and soon, pulling royalty out of their palaces and replacing it with "democratic" rules was seen throughout the homelands. 

In France, the gnomes turned to the military and the hero of the people, General Nomepoleon.   With his soldiers, the French nobility was toppled, but unlike the other countries, the military simply replaced it.  Nomepoleon ruled unopposed for decades, all the while, improving the roads, education, and the legal system.  French gnomes were willing to follow him anywhere, including in a bloody war that conquered the mainland.  Even the Swiss paid heed to Nomepoleon's decrees.

When the dark spectre of Nomepoleon I and the French covered the Gnomish homelands, the British... just sat there, with as many guns as they could muster pointed towards the French coastline. Nomepoleon I did not believe in a navy, so most British claims were unaffected by the Total War of the evil French.

Twenty years into his rule Nomepoleon I was finally defeated by a coalition of gnomes, including German, Astro, Swiss, Italian, Russian, and Surfian.   He was deposed, but his son Nomepoleon II was allowed to ascend the throne.

The British Era of Commerce
After the first Nomepoleon was brought to justice,  British interests in commerce and exploration exploded.  Outposts in Africa, South America, and the Pacific were expanded. Formal relations with Chinese, Japanese, and Indian gnomes were establish. It is during this time that both Swiss and British explorers "rediscovered" the Sikh gnomes and brought them back into the fold.

While there has not been a prolonged war between them in over 100 years, the British, Irish, and Highlanders do have the occasional series of skirmishes. None of the nations fully mobilize, but there have been scares.

In the Modern gnomish age, the British Trade Empire stretches everywhere. Their frigates and steamships are still considered the fastest in the world, although the American and German navies are doing their best to contest that claim. The British fancy themselves the world's maritime police force. All reports of piracy are met head on, with no mercy granted those found guilty.

Recently, the only instance of British involvement on European soil among the nations of the Gnomish Homeland was during the Cry-Me-A River War with Russia.

As the other nations are finally filling in the vast gaps between British ports along the frontier, the British are getting more and more involved in local politics. They have bolstered many of their local marine garrisons with British Highlanders "civilized" mercenary versions of their northern neighbors. Reports of African ports sending out Teddy Bear redcoats to defend the outer claims, or rescue British civilians, have trickled back to the homelands. Finally, a few British claims do have Sikh loyal to the British Coin.