Another Month of New Gaming (July 2024)

 Issue #293 of Game Trade Magazine can be found at your FLGS or in PDF form here.

ViscountEric's Want List
Wizkids 

Giant Space Hamster (WZK 90118) ............................... $8.99

After the sales disaster that was the Spelljammer slipcase, I simply must acquire at least one GSH!

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List

Nuttin'


The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

23rd Century Productions

Battlelords 23C: Uncle Ernie's A.R.M. Summer Catalog (Savage Worlds) ................. $50.00

25th Century Games

Dracula vs Van Helsing ..................................... $29.99

Vampire Queen .................................................. $14.99

Alderac Entertainment Group

Nocturne ............................................................. $39.99

Undergrove ......................................................... $49.99

Alley Cat Games

Pusheen: The Stacking Game ............................ $15.99

Washed Ashore ................................................... $14.99

Arc Dream Publishing

Delta Green RPG: Dead Drops ......................... $49.99

Delta Green RPG: God's Breath ........................ $24.95

Arcane Wonders 

World Wonders: Mundo Wonders Expansion .............. $19.99

The Army Painter

Gamesmaster: Adventure Starter Role-Playing Paint Set .............. $49.99

Avalon Hill

Betrayal Deck of Lost Souls ............................. $19.99

Betrayal at House on the Hill ........................... $55.99

Betrayal the Yuletide Tale ................................. $21.99

Heroquest: Frozen Horror ................................. $44.99

Heroquest: Rise of the Dread Moon ................. $44.99

Heroquest: The Mage of the Mirror Quest Pack ...........$44.90

Heroquest: Prophecy of Telor Quest Pack .................... $34.95

Heroquest: Spirit Queens Torment Quest Pack ............ $34.95

Bandai Co.

Digimon TCG: Special Booster V2 Display

Dragaon Ball Super Fusion World Tour TCG: Set 4 Boosters 

Dragaon Ball Super Fusion World Tour TCG: Startersj

One Piece TCG: Four Emporers Boosters 

Beaniverse 

Toasty Toasts ................................................. $14.99

Blind Visionary

DCC RPG: Digest Sized Character Folio .... $10.00

Blue Orange USA

Link City ....................................................... $24.95

Scatter Brain ................................................. $14.99

Shadow House Masquerade ......................... $13.99

Shut Up! ....................................................... $21.99

Tumball ........................................................ $24.99

Brotherwise Games

Adulthood ..................................................... $29.95

Campfire Games

Lore ............................................................. $65.00

Catalyst Game Labs

Battletech: Miniature Force Pack - Star League Command Lance ..... $34.99

Battletech: Miniature Force Pack - Urbanmech LAM ........................ $29.99

Chessex Manufacturing

Count Up & Down d20 .................................... $2.98 each

Nine Styles to Choose From ....

Lab Dice 8 7-Die Set (with Bonus Die) .............. $13.98 each set

Six Sets to Choose From 

Chris Pelech 

Cottages & Cerebus RPG .................................. $45.00

I've been feeling a little leary on new RPGs outside of some of the major publishers, but I don't recall a Cottagecore RPG before.  

Cublcle 7 

Warhammer Fantasy RPG: Reikland Miscellanea .................. $39.99

Dietz Foundation Games

Kremlin ............................................................ $60.00

Off with His Head ............................................ $25.00

DMDave Publishing

Dungeons & Lairs #420 - Weed Monster Spire (5e) ............ $ 9.99

Dungeons & Lairs #97  - Braineater Colony (5e) ................ $13.99

Dungeons & Lairs #96 - Bugbear Sump (5e) ....................... $12.99

Dungeons & Lairs #98 - Ice Vampire Palace (5e) ................ $29.99

New Dravonia #1 - The Shadow Over Innsmouth ............... $14.99

DV Giochi 

Bang! The Dice Game: Dice Explosion .............................. $44.99

Dysakami Publishing 

Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG 4th Ed: Denizens of the Multiverse Deck ........... $29.95

Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG 4th Ed: Ikarion Quest - A LitRPG Adventure ..... $29.95

Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG 4th Ed: Ikaris - Epic Fantasy Anime Adventures.. $39.95

Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG 4th Ed: Retro 2nd Edition .................................... $39.95

Exalted Funeral Press

Between the Skies RPG HC ..................................... $50.00

The Big Wet RPG ..................................................... $12.00

The Bleakness RPG .................................................. $50.00

Craftwork RPG ......................................................... $15.00

Valley of Forbidden Churches (Mork Borg) ............. $18.00

Old School Essentials:  Old School Stylish .............. $15.00

They Feed on Fear RPG ............................................ $40.00

Exploding Kittens 

Anarchy Pancakes (tin) ............................................ $13.99

Power Hungry Pets (tin) .......................................... $14.99

Let's Hit Each Other With Fake Swords .................. $24.99

Fanroll 

D&D 50th Anniversary Dice Set - Modern Holmes Inspired ......... $19.99

D&D 50th Anniversary Dice Set - Retro Holmes Replica .............. $19.99

D&D 50th Anniversary Dice Set - Retro Replica and Modern Inspired .... $49.99

Halloween Advent Dice Calendar .............................. $74.99

Floodgate Games

Landmarks ............................................................... $24.95

Folded Space 

The concept of game dividers/organizers isn't a new, but a company with 58 organizers for most of the popular board games is quite impressive, albeit a ominous task to an FLGS to stock any more than the core sales from the store.  Prices vary from $12 to $57.

Frank Tiano Enterprises

Oh happy day!  I'm not sure if this is the most recent stocking of Zap-A-Gap and it's similar products, or some semblance of packaging, but it is always exciting to see my favorite glue get solicited.  MSRP seems a little steep, but blame your political figure of choice for that one...  I always stand by the Zap-A-Gap CA + and the Aerosol Zip Kicker, but I would recommend some research before stocking other items, setting up a display. 

Gamelyn Games

Tiny Epic Galaxies: Player Dice ............................... $15.00

Goodman Games

DCC RPG:  #107 - Forgotten Dangers ..................... $14.99

Happy Camper

Trio ....................................... $14.99

Hasbro

Atomix .................................. $ 9.99

There's a lot of Clue  alternate scenarios to a tired concept, but the one thing that amused me most was Atomix.  I had a similar item in the 80's called the Orb.  It was far more entertaining that the Rubik's Cube, given I could solve it.  

Kobold Press

Deep Magic 1 (Pocket Edition) (5e) ............................ $29.99

Deep Magic 2 (Pocket Edition) (5e) ............................ $29.99

Tome of Beasts 1 Pawns (5e) ....................................... $34.99

Map Tiles : Caves & Caverns ....................................... $24.99

Leder Games

Arcs .................................. $60.00

There are a number of other items, but investing $60 in a core game is enough for a customer, much less an FLGS.

Loke Battle Mats

Dungeon Gift Wrap ..................................................... $12.99

RPG Greeting Cards (12 pack) .................................... $11.99

Lone Colossus 

Injuries and Vile Deeds (5e) ......................................... $49.99

Injuries and Vile Deeds (5e) Injury Reference Cards ... $14.99

Injuries and Vile Deeds (5e) Spell Cards ...................... $19.99

Looney Labs 

Monty Python Fluxx:  Patsy Pack .................... $5.00

MayDay Games

Ultimate Game Night Bags ............................... $149.00 each

Black, Blue, Charcoal Grey, Heather Grey, Purple

Mind's Vision

Huradrim ............................................................ $14.95

The Legacy of Cthulhu RPG HC ....................... $49.95

The Legacy of Cthulhu RPG GM Screen .......... $14.95

Potato Man - Deluxe Edition .............................. $23.95

Seas of Lies ......................................................... $34.95

The Vampire - Alone in the Darkness RPG ........ $29.95

Mongoose Publishing

Paranoia RPG: Citizen in Name Only ................ $19.99

Nightfall Games

The Terminator RPG: T2 Judgement Day ........... $57.00

The Terminator RPG: T2 Resist .......................... $32.00

North Star Games

Biomos ................................. $29.99

Sacred Valley ....................... $39.99

Ophroic Labs

(DCC) Ziggurat of the Mega-Maiden ................... $ 9.99

(MCC) Zigguart of the Megaton Maiden .............  $ 9.99

Osprey Games

Through the Hedgerow RPG HC .......................... $35.00

Per Aspera Games

(DCC) A Fairly Odd Tale ...................................... $15.00

Pokemon USA

Pokemon TCG:  Back to School Eraser Blisters

Pokemon TCG:  Back to School Pencil Case 2024

Pokemon TCG:  Collector Chest 

Pokemon TCG: Victini/Miraidon EX Battle Decks

Reaper

Bones Black: Croocsaurus Deluxe Boxed Set ............ $19.99

Bones Black:  Lasher Deluxe Boxed Set ..................... $22.99

Bones Black:  Sea Giant Deluxe Boxed Set ................ $22.99

Random House

Appendix N, Revised and Expanded - Weird Tales from the Roots of D&D  ........... $22.95

Rio Grande Games

Dominion: Rising Sun Expansion ............................... $44.95

Skybound Games

Creepshow ..................................................... $19.99

Smirk & Dagger 

Boop the Halls ............................................... $29.99

Steve Jackson Games

Munchkin: Shadowrun .................................. $39.95

Munchkin: Warhammer Age of Sigmar - Dire Domains Expansion ..... $11.95

Wizkids

A giant pile of Critical Role, D&D Nozul's line, and Pathfinder Deep Cuts.

D&D Icons of the Realm: Froghemoth Elder Boxed Miniature (Painted) ..... $79.99

D&D Icons of the Realm: Kuo-Toa Warband ................................................. $49.99

D&D Icons of the Realm: Quests from the Infinite Staircase Booster Bricks

Magic the Gathering 3" Plush Charms Wave 1 

(Painting) German Leinenkugel Rifles #InternationalGnomeWeek

Well that was progress!  These fellows may have already seen some "base coat" time on the wargaming table, but the the 27th German Infantry Rifles, "Die Leinenkugels" are finally finished.... at least the Rifle portion

Die Leinenkugels have a storied, if barely painted, career.   They were one of two units in my very first home game, The Battle of Chucaquatre, that started the Wishing Well War.  The unit was once commanded by Crown Prince Otto von Buckvitz, 8th in line for the German throne.  

Time to finish up the peasants, bier grenadiers, and support staff.  The sad thing is this production here is officially four times my Gnome Wars output compared to the last two years combined.  

No promises on when the next German units, the Yuenglings and the Liladunsts will see play. 

In the Queue:  As many German Gnomes as I can pump out, plus the sci-fi buildings and some West End Star Wars miniatures I primed up. 

(Painting) German NCO for Gnome Wars #InternationalGnomeWeek

We're less than a month away from Historicon, and I've realized we have unpainted Germans for my games.  

Nothing like sheer terror to motivate me back to the painting bench!  

Barnhard Falkenstein, 17th Leinenkugels 

In the Queue:  The Rifles are already blocked and just need detailing, so expect them after the 4th of July. I do have a few more sci-fi buildings, but those will see some intermittent work in between waves of gnomes.

HMGS Update:  The results are in, and for the second year in a row, I don't have enough votes to join the HMGS Board of Directors. Thanks to those who voted for me.  If there's any silver lining, it's that I will probably do more to promote the hobby with my scheduled and walk-up events at one con than most of the top complainers have in a decade.  

Project 350:  Still hovering around the same, as of this morning we're at  510 (329 drafts /181 scheduled posts) a tick up from earlier this month  509 (330/179). I'm hoping to get a game or two in before I build out the table for the Gnome Wars games, before packing it up.  I'm not only caught up with the Gamma World Actual Plays, but also made some headway with the next six months of the Georic Gazetteer. 

Female Gnome Fashion #InternationalGnomeWeek

 

Waterfowl Transportation #InternationalGnomeWeek

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #38 - Secrets of Rho Facility

 Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, investigating Rho Facility, to aid the Hissers of Notex

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.  Currently under the care of RHA-9 in the lab. 

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.  Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.

RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!

================

After evading potential disaster with four killer living metal droids in one room, the explorers, specifically Lathar, continued to push through level 4.  

Most of the level was badly damaged, with small pieces of debris laying were office furniture once stood.  Even where areas survived the chaos from eons ago, bodies littered the floor.  Finding flickering terminals and a new type of pistol, Sonny played with the terminals while the others tried to ascertain the pistol.  The weapons appeared to have a full energy cell, but nothing came out when they experimented in the lobby.  

Sonny surprised even himself by navigating into the terminal's software.  The rest of the group grew listless, but the sunflower discovered a number of new folders and subroutines.  All was for naught as Sonny simply looked up and said one word, 

"Run."

Lathar scooped up a damaged skull with significant blaster burns/destruction around the temple area, and pushed the sunflower out the door, swiping the door before the terminal exploded.  

With everyone else hovering around five hit points, Lathar was feeling a bit more swole than normal.

Sneaky Pete brushed himself off, "I told you all these devices are evil."

The group hastily herded themselves back into the lift and travelled back down to Level 3.  Giving the explosion time to settle, they went back up in a few minutes to find a good portion of the Level 4 levelled.  With no sign of deadly living metal coming out of their room to investigate, they covered their mouths to avoid dust and finished the remaining rooms outside the blast area.  

The final door on the floor opened to flickering lights, the sounds of buttons being pressed could be heard, and they saw a single piece of living metal frantically pressing and moving a series of buttons, switches, and levels on a six foot long control display.  It did not acknowledge the explorers, but would make random statements.

"Re-routing power from Section A1 to Section B2."

"No response from power unit C7.  Terminating."

"Should I just shoot him, Sonny," Lathar asked.

"Noooooo!" Sonny pleaded.  

The sunflower tried to engage the living metal, but it seemed to ignore him.  He did manage to key beside the machine and view mostly random numbers appearing on a screen.  

There was one terminal which appeared to display maps for the facility.    Sonny was able to ascertain that a considerable source of power was being routed to two levels above their current one, Something 

powerful was operating on Levels 5 and 6.

Sonny quickly sketched out the maps on parchment.  

Lathar and Peter quickly cobbled together a plot to activate the living metal in the "SE   Y" room and lured them into the blinking light room with movement inside, but Sonny quickly put the kibosh on that.  

Instead he herded the other two into the lift to go up to level 5.  

Everyone was caught off-guard by doors opening to the front and the rear of lift, giving full view of the carnage in the hallways.  

There had been some sort of technology ringing the outside wall, mostly damaged.  Dozens of skeletons littered the floor, with even more scorch marks on the floor and ceilings.  The outside wall was actually made of a clear, glass-like substance riddled with cracks, concussive marks and obscuring spidering.    

Pete ventured out to look for traps, but could only find the same horrors around the corner.  One room was filled with a thick green mist, which they smartly avoided.  

Another room had a room with a live terminal in it, which they put off until investigated all the rooms.  Not many treasures of the ancients could be found, although Pete found two weapons fuel cells.  Sonny, kicking through a pile of skeletons dislodged and a live and quite active grenade from the closed hand of one of the bodies.    Sonny did not run for his life, rather instantly teleported back to the elevator as the room erupted. 

Once the smoke cleared, a surprised Pete looked at the sunflower in the lift.  "I didn't know you could teleport."

"I forgot that myself."

While the others cleared the remaining rooms, Sonny scanned the lobby for anything of interest, while avoiding live grenades in skeletons.  He did manage to come across a hand-written book. It wasn't too long a journal and he managed to complete it as the other two came back around. 

Sonny held the book up, "I think I know what happened."

"This is the journal of a Corporal Burl Ross.  During the Great Disaster that destroyed the Ancients, this Rho facility was being evacuated.  Everyone was supposed to leave, and the computers were supposed to protect the medical wing with the injured, but the system locked down early, trapping most of the staff on the wrong levels for their appropriate keycards.   There was plenty of food and water, but the Ancients were as greedy as we are today and killed each other over everything.  Sometimes, the "Security Bots" would come out and kill off some soldiers.   Nothing about getting bombarded from a distance."

With his new-found knowledge, Sonny went back to the working terminal, and hoped it wasn't going to blow up.  

It took over an hour, but his previous attempts netted positive results:  Sonny was into the facility's system.  He confirmed the four living metal downstairs were in "sleep mode," but two additional living metal were operating freely upstairs in level 6.  Something separate appeared to be operating the facility, moving the large dish object atop the mesa, and engaging in something called Protocol-Gamma-6-Charlie.  

He was a little confused, being a simple country sunflower, but objects that were flying high in the sky were being commanded to return to Rho Facility.  He was also concerned that the protocol initiated after a large power surge about five weeks prior. 

The only way to override to command was to access the terminal being operated on level 6.  It would also require the use of a silver keycard, which happened to be under Sonny's keyboard.  It also appeared that the main terminal controls could be re-routed to this terminal on level 5.  The killer living metal seemed to be responsible for only the floor they guarded, so they might not pursue.  

Sonny turned from the terminal to address Lathar and Pete, "Let's get Squiggles.  I've got an idea to bounce off all of you."

Next: #39 - Level Six

Game Day - Role-Playing in the Gamma World Universe

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2024 Rant - Weekend #6 Comebacks and #FreeRPGDay

 With Millie's season done, and Maja's AAU practices getting pre-empted by JV and Varsity games Tuesday and Thursday, we're simply counting down the last THREE tournament weekends for Maja's 15U team.  

This past weekend, the team headed into familiar and annoying territory.  The pinnacle of Greek-themed sports complexes in New Jersey.... "Sportika" for the Hoop Group NJ Jam Fest.  For a very long time we've had little desire to attend.  It's 30 minutes from any hotel, although the only nearby food is a very convenient Wawa.  The tournaments have been substandard, with not only total routs of the pool play by Millie's and Maja's age groups over the years, but I believe our current Varsity girls won their their first Varsity tournament at Spooky Nook.... and 8th graders! 

I was impressed and relieved to see that not only did Hoop Group attract a number of reputable programs, but a number of "shoe teams" sponsored by the likes of Nike, Adidas, and New Balance.  Being a sponsored team doesn't always mean quality.  

The format was also different.  Gone was pool play, replaced by a bracket conceived by somebody.  Four wins gets you the championship.  If you lost all your games, you were only guaranteed two. If you won at least one game, you were guaranteed three. 

The kids were with their mom and had already arrived at the Jersey Shore for an morning/afternoon of fun before the 7pm game on Saturday.  I took advantage of the late time and ventured down to The Portal in Bethlehem for #FreeRPGDay. 

I took my sweet time, enjoying the drive down despite the heat wave, and I was very happy there was still plenty of stuff when I got there. a

Even thought the store manager had an "anything goes" approach to the promotion, with no rationing, I held back a little and only grabbed five items, and some dice.  I believe I can get use out of all of them.  

I took as relaxing a trip to Jersey as I could and arrived with plenty of time to refuel at Wawa and see Maja's team take on the Palisades Elite.  

I know we've played them before but they're not on the any of the seasons I kept score.  The game was tight, and it involved a ridiculous number of rebounds (39 combined fouls between the two teams)  and over 30 free throw attempts (16 went in) to earn a six point win over them.  

We returned to the same court at 9pm for the second game.  Rather.... we waited until 9:45pm to start and played well past 11pm against one of the teams we trounced in Scranton in early April.  That same result would not happen.  While some of the girls from the April game were on the roster, they certainly retooled and got a lot better.  They went on a 12-2 run late in the game to overtake the lead and held on to win 53-48.  

Realizing there were zero hotels available, I took a late night drive into Philly to stay at my sisters place, only to need to leave a 7am to catch their morning game against the NYC Gauchos (a sneaker team)  to move into the fourth (championship round).  

Things were incredibly close.  A total of 17 made 3-pointers in the 1st half alone kept things interesting, although Maja's team was down 33-32 at half.  

In the 2nd half, Maja's team outscored the Gauchos 33-9, turning a close game into a 65-42 blowout. 

For the afternoon championship we played one of the Nike programs, the Jersey Gemz.  It took some searching but I realized we played the same program last year in Atlantic City, with a horribly depleted roster, losing 50-22.  

This time it was a grinder in the 1st half, with the Gemz only having a 19-18 lead.  In the second half, they built their lead as high as eight, but the offenses traded baskets over and over, until the 3-pointers and a few select steals ate away and that lead, and with less than two minutes remaining, Maja's team was up by four.     It was intense, but a 58-50 victory over another sneaker tea (who did have two championships that weekend in other divisions) was quite impressive.  

Oh yeah, did I mention their team did it without two players, including the only girl on the team with a D-I offer.    

Our Hoop Group PA Jamfest and NJ Jamfest Champions:

School Ball Update:  Maja's getting plenty of Varsity time, and Millie's thriving playing JV (mostly with Maja).  JV had a chance to win it in the final seconds, Maja hit a crucial shot, but a floor foul in bonus let foul shots win the game.  I also got to see the 7th/8th grade team (sans Millie, but full of our unrefined 9th graders) get a double overtime loss.  It was the premiere for their 7th grade friend Caitlyn, who plays on the same AAU team.   She did everything but sink the crucial foul shots in overtime.  She can certainly hang with every other girls they've brought out.  

I Drink and I Pet Cats #InternationalGnomeWeek

 

(Gnome Wars) Cutting Once or Measure Thrice #InternationalGnomeWeek

Hiding within the drafts of my blog are dozens of cool scenarios I've saved from other blogs.  Some I saved because they look great, others because the write-ups were great.  

I finally toyed around with some gnomes on the table because this scenario qualified with the formal.   

In the original scenario write-up, French marines were sent out under the cover of darkness to recover the ship and crew of a French merchant ship that had been captured by Arabs.  It used Sharp's Practice for rules (Black Powder Era), and the Order of Battle was a little lacking.  

Gnome Wars doesn't have Arabs, but the Sikhs seem to fill in well, it's just a matter of how much of a power level do we reduce them by.  I did break out some of the ship sheets we've used for the Gnome Wars Mega-games.with a naval element.  

British Marines

Objective:  Rescue the merchant ship.

3x Units of 5 in boats trying to stealthily approach the harbor.  

(1x landing party with Captain, 1x landing party, 1x landing party with 2 grapeshot cannons).

The Pseudo-Sikhs Who Destroy

1x Units of 4  (Tower)

3x Units of 5 (1x in building behind tower, 1x on merchant ship, 1x manning a cannon emplacement, 1x manning a patrol dhow.)

I tweaked the scenario three times, for obvious reasons.

Game One:   Not only did the Sikh units constantly win initiative, but their spotting rolls were beyond on point, it was a statistical anomaly.  The British never had a chance, as their bodies floated on the water in the harbor.  Heck, the only success the British had was the boat rowing up the merchant ship, and the cannon emplacement rolled to spot (6 on a d6), hit (6 on a d6), and outright destroyed it with one shot (another 6 on d6).

An outcome so bad, I didn't even edit the photo.

Game Two:  Rolling random spotting stats for the Sikhs,  adding modifiers for darkness and range, and moving deployment of most British to far side of the harbor... didn't end much better.  The Sikhs spotting ability continued to be preternatural, and the British cannons couldn't hit the water if they were dropped into the harbor.

Game Three:  Randomly determined spotting rolls again, and the British stay out of range of the freaking tower.   Like in game two, one squad of marines would disembark on the far side of the harbor and seize the cannon, the boat to board the merchant ship stayed out of easy spotting range for the tower and distracted the Sikh patrol dhow, as the third group of British tried to waylay them in a surprise attack.  

The dhow crew was shocked as two of its crew fell to rifle fire and five marines jumped on board, but it was the marines who were shocked to find themselves quite dead.  I even broke out a cup and small tray to make sure I wasn't influencing rolls...  The Sikh rolls, even against overwhelming numbers and the British superior abilities fighting on the water, were beyond impressive. 

The British finally caught some luck seizing the cannon, suffering only one casualty from the lone Sikh survivor who ran away.  

The patrol dhow was busy reloading their gun with only two crew, which allowed the third British boat to successfully board the merchant ship.  

Oh the carnage!  

As the British tried to ready the ship a cannon shot range out.... and the patrol dhow exploded.   The marines who arrived on land realized the cannon emplacement must be perfectly constructed as another perfect shot destroyed the merchant ships closest threat.  

The merchant ship started to maneuver out of the harbor, there was no sign of the crew, but the British would take whatever victories they could.  

However even that was short-lived, as the Sikhs in the watch tower and nearby buildings finally activated and could spot the shenanigans going on in the habor, and had phenomenal rolls that manage to kill the gnomes on board, leaving only the loyal dog, Bosun, aboard.

Captain Bosun and his drifting ship.  The surviving marines rushing to the boat.  

I'll take three playtests to make the scenario workable.   We may need to revisit the ship's cannon rules, and I'm definitely need to buy new dice for my Historicon events.  We obviously took all the good mojo out of them.

(Kickstarter) Space Fantasy Miniatures by Red Bard Games

 There has been a significant decline in the quality of physical rewards for Kickstarter campaigns.  Red Bard's Space Fantasy Miniatures is a happy return to Kickstarters that pique my interest, plus it's not all a similar take on traditional figures.

The campaign covers a group of Space Ogres, as well as a group of Frogmen Warriors:

International Gnome Week

While random websites provide international gnome day as June 10th, I largely prefer a weeklong celebration that is international gnome June 21-28.  It was originally set up as a time for the WikiGnomes, the volunteers who write an edit Wikipedia, but we might as well embrace all things involving our pointy-hatted brethren. 

I make no promises to any added content.  but there is a Gnome Wars game in the pipeline, Gnomes on the painting table, and maybe, just maybe some Gnome Wars fluff pieces.  

Summer is Officially Here!

 

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2024 Rant - Weekend #5

 Last weekend was the final weekend for Millie's 7th grade team, and after finally getting a solid look at the dynamics, I say good riddance.  

We were down in Lancaster for another tournament, and for once both Millie and Maja played at the same location.  Of course one played mid-morning and the other late Saturday night, so it's a loooong day.  

I've been house-sitting for my sister and brother-in-law in Philly, as they take a cross-country tour through the Midwest and back through Canada, so I was just over an hour away.  I got to the site, saw gross disorganization from the tournament staff, and some of the most eclectic teams they could assemble for 26 out of the 32 available courts.  I knew there was an issue when, with a backed-up registration line, parents who needed to pay told their kids to simply run through and find their team at their court (which was permitted).  Almost to the person, each one said they couldn't because they did not know the facility because it was their first time here.   Given some of the poorer teams in our programs won more games on Saturday than they had all season,  

Millie's group wasn't so lucky.  The Genesee Vipers always looked like a quality organization that put other Upstate New York programs to shame.  The refereeing was horrible, the scorekeeping atrocious, but with one of the girls missing to play in the World Games in Italy, the remainder of the team just didn't look like they wanted to play together.  Even if everything was corrected, it would still be around a six-point victory, but those girls wanted to avoid each other, and there was nothing the coaches could do.

Their second game was against Central NY Savage, a group of sizable girls, but nothing Millie's team hasn't overcome with tenacity.  

There was zero tenacity.  I really don't want to blame them, as nine straight possessions constituted the ball being inbounded to the one particular player, and that player dribbled up court and shooting at/driving to the basket, with no other passes to teammates.  That large pattern was endemic to the first half, where they were down 18-10.  The pattern continued, until every other single player simply stopped playing, because the particular player wasn't passing, wasn't using screens, and just focused on scoring, until the lead grew to 18 points and the coach finally sat them for the rest of the game.  The bleeding stopped, the team started scoring, but the best they could do was a 43-25 loss. 

By the end of Saturday, we were all essentially done with the season, even with Maja's three more tournaments for June and July.  Between the game play, and the absolutely atrocious uniforms (Millie's seam on the backside of her shorts split), I didn't anticipate her returning for the Fall, or possibly ever.  

Maja's situation isn't as dire, but the only reason she tried out at all this year were true rumors of her favorite coach returning "one more time"  With two injuries and one player returning from vacation, Maja got the rare start in the afternoon. (She had three starts last year, and only one the year before).  She performed well, even if the stat sheet was empty in spots, with 48-6 rout.  The second game was against the hated Bensalem Chargers, but this year's iteration was no match for Maja's team.  An opposite of Millie's team, they LED 18-10 at half, then blew the doors off of them in the second, 25-4, for a 43-14 win.  

Maja loves her coach, but is planning on AAU volleyball or track and field jumping camps with all the time basketball takes up.

Despite my bickering I was appreciative of their wins on Saturday because we didn't need to be on site for games until after noon!  

Maja's team showed no mercy for their play-in game, proper passing and their star player made better choices.  

Despite the spelling error on the schedule, I knew the team Maja's group was up against wasn't much of a challenge.  They were regulars in the C and D-Level tournaments around Philly, so a 45-23 win wasn't a surprise with our bench playing 3/4 of the game.  Maja graced me with actually taking and hitting two shots, so the Father's Day was improving.  

Maja's championship game was against a solid program, but when they brought six to the court, and their tallest girl was shorter than Maja, I knew it would be about executing early.  The team shot 50% overall, 50% from the 3, and 100% of their foul shots to win by almost 40.

We raced over the other side of the facility for Millie's championship, a rematch with CNY Savage.  Following the formula for the first Sunday game, these 7th graders bent, but did not break in the 1st half, only trailing 27-24.  Better shots fell in the 2nd, and the larger girls on Savage seemed to start making costly mistakes.  Once Millie's team took the lead with a minute left, the Savage coach was broken to discover his girls needed to commit seven fouls even to reach 1-and-1 foul shooting, which drained all but twenty seconds ... and then the girls hit enough shots to seal the deal.  

Millie's team has won 4 out of 6 tournaments this year, and two of them have involved them beating a team in the championship that they lost in pool play (Maja's team has one such instance).  Not bad for a team of guards.

Nothing like two championships (and two trophies) for Father's Day

School Ball: The Adventure Continues:  Actual school ball started up after the last update, and so far there's zero complaints for the girls, and a bunch from me for other kids.  

Maja's getting plenty of varsity time, and as much JV time as she wants.  Millie is playing alongside Maja on JV.  They've won their only game of the summer thus far 32-26, with a 16-1 run in the 2nd half, the only time where they played together. 

I'm being far more vocal for the 7th/8th grade division, even though Millie (8th grader) has been told to stick with JV.  They brought up other 8th graders to fill JV, while they let a lot of 9th graders languish in Jr High for the Summer.  Having finally made a game on Monday, I understand why.  

The 9th graders (and the one 8th grade "ringer") were simply miserable playing against an equally miserable team.  The team leaders were an 8th grader starting their second year of basketball ever.  She ended up with 2 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals.  The other star was one only new 7th grader invited to play who had 8 points and 4-for-7 shooting, 3 rebounds, and 7 steals, in twenty minutes.     They did lose in what I could only call Double Secret Probation Sudden Death Overtime 27-25, but the summer is young.

ghjk

Free RPG Day is Saturday, June 22, 2024!!!

 I try to separate from it, and it pulls me back in....

Free RPG Day 2024 is this Saturday, June 22, 2024.  Hopefully there's a participating game store (check the website) that's going to offer RPG events and giving out free swag from multiple publishers, including Paizo, Free League, R Talsorain and many many others.  

From the Website:

Roleplaying Game fans get ready!

Free RPG Day works with top RPG publishers to create the can’t miss RPG event of the year at hobby game stores around the world.

Participating stores will have piles of exclusive new RPG adventures and other exciting new RPG related items!

Just a quick note, while some locations may have in-store gaming, every store will be handling events differently. Please check with your local retail about how they may be featuring or distributing the Free RPG Day items.

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #37 - Upstairs, Downstairs

 Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, investigating Rho Facility, to aid the Hissers of Notex

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.

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.  Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.

RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!

================

With a now-furry Squiggles saved a second time within the day from the research of RHA-9, it was determined that the earthworm needed to stay with RHA-9 in the lab and simply rest.   The rest of the group would travel back to level 4, and continue their search.  With the rest a safe distance back near the lift doors, Lathar searched the large lobby again before investigating the wreckage of the living metal that nearly killed everyone.  

Lathar reminded everyone that he was as dumb as his classic barbarian look inferred by disassembling the fuel cell from the wreckage and obtaining one fragmentation grenade.   Wedged within the bottom of the cell was a white keycard. 

With the elusive white keycard in hand, the explorers immediately travelled back down to level 3 and tried it against the windowless door in the medical wing.  The doors swung in opposite directions, one swinging out, one swinging in.    Ten beds, stripped of linens lined the outside wall, while dented steel cabinets lined the inside wall.  A strange-looking device was position in the corner.  

A whirring sound alerted everyone, as a bipedal living metal staggered towards them.  Something appeared to be wrong with its hip. 

It stopped three foot away from the explorers, "Are you in need of **bzzzbzz** care?" was spoken in a feminine voice.

Lathar immediately grabbed the white keycard from Sonny and displayed it to the living metal, "YES!"

RHA-1, with a sketchy voice modulator

The living metal immediately grabbed Lathar by the wrist and immediately injected something into his arm from the machines other hand.  The human felt slightly better.

"And who are you?"

"**bzzzbzz***bzzzbzz***bzzzbzz**"

The living metal's mouth lit up repeatedly, as it did when it originally spoke, but nothing comprehensible was coming out.  

Lathar tried to change the subject, grabbing Pete, "What can you do for my friend? He's injured."

The living metal moved towards Pete, scanning him up and down.  It grabbed the weasel by both arms, picked him and deposited him in the odd device in the corner.  Pete disappeared inside while the device came to life.  After two minutes, the device turned off and the doors opened on the side of it.  Pete was intact, feeling a bit tingly, but completely unaffected otherwise.

Sonny tried to wave down the living metal, but it did not seem to recognize the mutant sunflower.  He decided to investigate the strange device while the others searched the room.  Unfortunately both Pete and Lathar were wary of the sunflower tinkering with ancient technology, and couldn't find anything useful.  Once Sonny confirmed that he could not figure out how to turn it back on, or what it even did, the trio turned back to search the room a bit more thorough.  

Sonny picked up an old dirty towel, revealing an intact metal cabinet leaning up against the wall, covered in wreckage.  The door to the cabinet had a keycard pad.   The white keycard opened the door.  Inside were a variety of syringes on a shelf, and a cardboard box below.  

The asked the living metal for what the syringes were, but the machine continued to emit screeching gibberish.

The group agreed to fetch RHA-9 for help, but first they wanted to open the box.  

A quick movement with Lathar's sword opened the box.  Inside were nine packages made from shiny plastic.  Each 6"x9" package felt like there were multiple contents inside.   The only writing that survived on each package was:  

CRATI  

MWW-LRP

They collected the syringes and box, and with Lathar pointing the blaster rifle at the living metal, they slowly backed out of the room. 

Once the coast was cleared they moved over the laboratory and made inquires with RHA-9.   The furry earthworm was sleeping on the table. 

RHA-9 identified the eight syringes: 

• 2 Accelera (the healing syringe they had been finding around the complex)
• 1 Stim-Dose "This will make you like the Squiggles"
• 2 Cur-in-Dose "To negate poisons and infections"
• 1 3-Hour Energy "This will give you mental clarity"
• 2 anesthesia 

RHA grabbed an Accelera, "This the Squiggles needs" and a Cur-in-Dose "...and one of these for the fungal infection."

The party concurred, while Lathar injected himself with the other Cur-in-Dose and the Stim-Dose.  The human felt stronger, but unsure by how much. 

Leaving Squiggles and RHA, the party moved back to Level 4 and continued searching the rooms.

The first door had a small window, with a pulsing red light from the inside, as they stared in, something quickly moved in front of the window, shocking them all.  

Wary of any more encounters, they avoided that room and the next door, coming upon a set of double steel doors.  A metallic dome  above the door emitted a slight hum.  The letters "SE" and "Y" were still painted across the doors

The group went into a tizzy trying to figure out what keycard to use, and if they needed to cobble together the remnants of a uniform.   Lathar simply walked up to the door and used the blue with gold keycard.

***WURRAP***  INTRUDER - INTRUDER ***WURRAP***

The lobby lights dimmed and small red flashing lights illuminated the area.  Two concentrated red lights shot out of the metallic dome, one striking Lathar square in the chest.  

Pete yelled "RUN!!!" 

Lathar fumbled for the white keycard and tried that. 

***WURRAP***  INTRUDER - INTRUDER ***WURRAP***

Two more lights came out of the dome and struck Lathar in the chest for more damage.

Sonny took a pot shot with his flintlock pistol, "This is Colonel Ratcliffe, identification code...."

"....It's not going to work," Pete screamed.  "Just shoot it!"

Pete didn't give the sunflower time to react, pulling out his blaster pistol and firing two crack shots at the dome, exploding it.  The lights and alarm ceased.

Reloading his pistol, Sonny nonchalantly said, "Maybe we should use the red card on the red level."

With the red card, the double doors slid open without issue.

This room was another familiar corner room, slightly smaller than the cafeteria.  The room was filled with several desks, cabinets, and terminals.  The far wall had four very familiar killer living metal that they experience in the lobby, lined up and plugged into some receptacle in the wall.  

Pete stepped forward to investigate, but Sonny pulled him back by the shoulder, pointing down to the floor.  Several nearly invisible red beams crisscrossed the first ten feet of the room.

Using the red keycard,  Lathar shut the door.  "We don't need that problem right now."

GM Notes:  Squiggles' player, Steve, was unable to attend, but the other players took his only advice to heart:  "When in doubt, run away."

"Deadeye" Pete rolled two 20's to destroy the security dome.  

Next: #38 - Secrets of Rho Facility

Game Day!

Happy Father's Day 2024

#RPGaDay2024 for August?

If it's the middle of June, that means #RPGaDay#RPGaDay is but a few weeks away!  

#RPGaDay is a celebration of role-playing games across the internet in August. Participants can answer a set a prompts/questions/themes, one for each day in August, and share it via blog, vlog, or social media in general. I've done all ten years all ten years of the activity, although I started year one a bit late.

It wouldn't be the first year without worry, but there are some rumblings about not formally doing it for Year Eleven.  Even in the unlikely event that the good folks who set this up decide to take a year off, I would simply recommend using the #RPGaDay2015 list.   It's a fresh list for new participants, and it's fun to look back an compare my answers from ten years ago.  

UBCon 1994 - Buffalo, New York

Continuing the process of cleaning up the office and the gaming collection.  This little gem fell out of something, and since I can't find it referenced previously, it deserves a spot for nostalgia.  

 UBCon '94, April 1994, Buffalo New York.  My friend Wooly (left) and a much younger (30 years!) and much slimmer me, being attacked by the Godzilla figure we brought for some of our games of Burning Plastic.  

There was a streak of UBCons we attended in the mid-90s, thanks to Larry Sims and Optimus Design Systems (Battlelords of the 23rd Century) putting us on the con mailing list.   I can't remember if this is the con we transported underage people to Canada, other members of our group ended up in dog collars, or the one we accidently whipped our friend Scott in the junk with the buckle portion of a belt.  All of them involved Wooly and I running some iteration of Burning Plastic, the sci-fi rules set another friend wrote up, using Green Army Men as killer robots.  

Hell, the five-hour road trips up to Buffalo and back were epic in their own way, and that's with the large Elmo as our traveling companion. 

With Phil and Scott (and Elmo) for UBCon '96.  The Belt incident happened then.

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #36 - It Could Be Baked Beans

 Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, investigating Rho Facility, to aid the Hissers of Notex

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Recently "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies.

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.  Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.

RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!

================

Upon receiving their physical boosts from RHA-9's "laboratory research," the explorers gathered their wits and decided to take the lift further up.  Swiping the yellow keycard inside the lift, only 

4

1

...showed up on the display.  Sonny pressed four.

The door opened up in the center of a large room.  The room was littered with desks.  Some were flipped, some crushed, others with crushed bodies of soldiers beneath it. Some intact terminals were on the ground, most were smashed.  Numerous blast marks and bullet holes covered the walls.   The group cautiously stepped out, spread out and slowly worked their way through the carnage.  

Pete was first to detect the noticeable path through the debris. It looked relatively recent and had crushed weaker items under foot.  

The weasel whisper-shouted to the group, "There's something on the opposite side of the room."

The group hunkered down in position.  Pete skulked around desks, barely getting glimpses of a living metal moving slowly through the room. 

Sonny asked "RHA-9, are there other bots in this facility."

Silence.

"Squiggles, the damn bot doesn't think I exist, can you ask him for me?"

The worm obliged.

"OF COURSE," RHA-9 replied to Squiggles, "BUT I DO NOT RECOGNIZE ANY MODELS RIGHT NOW."

As Pete continued to track the living metal, his eyes caught a red light that appeared to stare back. 

"PROTOCOL.  LETHAL FORCE."

Pete scurried for cover back towards the group.   A *THUMP* could be heard from the living metal. An object bounced off of two walls and a can-shaped object landed in the middle of everyone.  

"Oooh," Squiggles exclaimed.  "I've seen those before. It could be a can of baked beans."

***BOOM!!!!***

The can exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. Most managed to dive behind some cover, but still were quite bloodied. 

RHA-9 began spinning around, "DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!"

Lathar managed to roll out of the way, scurrying past the lift doors and catch a glimpse of the living metal.  His aim was disrupted by a wild weasel in Sneaky Pete shooting with his blaster.  An explosion erupted on the living metal's body.  His follow-up flintlock shot went wild, and drew the attention of the machine.  

The actual security bot was much taller and had a grenade launcher.  

Others took better cover and fired flintlocks causing damage, albeit minimal. Sonny yelled at the living metal, "Stand down, Alpha-Red-34-Triple-90101- Alpha"

The living metal did not comply.  

Lathar finally got off his shot with his blaster rifle, firing high over the machine's head, exploding into the back wall.  

RHA-9 stopped spinning around and started heading towards the lift doors.  It returned to spinning around and emitting  "DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!"

The living metal turned towards Lathar and fired a different weapon than before,

"PROTOCOL.  LETHAL FORCE."

A blaster shoot flew from the weapon.  The warrior swung back behind the corner as the shot hit where he had been, chunks of concrete flying everywhere, still injuring him.    

Pete had found some high ground within a stack of desks and fired again, but missed. 

Sonny reloaded and cursed their living metal companion, "RHA, if you could listen to me, I'd ask what to do, you stupid tin can."

Squiggles, still amazed RHA could talk to him again acted as the middle man.

"THAT RHA UNIT IS FOLLOWING IT'S LAST PROTOCOL INSERTED BY PERSONNEL.  WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DESTROY IT BEFORE I DESTROY EVERYTHING."

Meanwhile Lathar turned the remains of the corner and fired a center-mass shot at the enemy living metal.  It exploded in sparks and it finally stopped firing.  

Combat ended, RHA-9 began beeping faster and faster.

"RHA-9, the threat is over, stop beeping!"

"OK!" and the beeping ceased.

RHA-9 explained that if he taken any damage, his protocol was to detonate his "Yorkum capacitators."

The group went eerily silent.  The last time they dealt with a Yorkum resulted in the destruction of Koto damn and the Caves of Ulmin below.  They immediately ordered RHA to head back to his lab and initiate any repair protocols he was capable of.

Squiggles expressed his injuries, "I'm a step away from self-destructing myself."  He and Pete were given the last of the healing syringes. 

Lathar was dead set on opening some of the doors bordering the large rooms.  Sonny convinced him to search the desks first before kicking open doors.  

The search of the desks revealed four items:

1. A call center headset.
2. A single glove (left-hand)
3. A book of "mechanical engineering"

and a weasel hand, rising among the wreckage, holding a RED keycard.

Discord erupted among the group.  No one wanted to go further up, but Lathar was still obstinate to open doors on level 4, while the others wanted to go down to level 3 and see if the red keycard opened the medical wing.  Healing seemed paramount before the mission could continued.  

They finally cajoled Lathar to come with them, but upon entering the lift, using the red keycard showed.

6 

5

1

Lathar was pumped  "Let's go to six..." 

"NOOOOOOO!" was the chorus of the others, all in unison.

The using the green keycard, they accessed the medical/research floor again.  The red keycard failed to open.

Dejected, they finally consented to Lathar's plan, although the rest of them huddled inside the lift. 

Lathar simply pushed over the door to the first room that was simply demolished.    The second door also was opened, but he was shocked to find it blocked by a pile of skeletons just inside the door.  Despite his tough-guy persona, it failed to budge.  The peanut gallery in the lift cajoled him to keep searching, hoping to find anything to help their injuries, but he called over to the new super-muscled Squiggles and guilted him to help.   One good shove by the worm and the skeletons were pushed aside, erupted a cloud of spores which engulfed the human and the worm.   Squiggles fell, and Lathar dragged him back to the lift.  Each one was covered in what looked like a thick layer of dark brown dust.  

Sonny tried to wash the dust with water off the non-breathing Squiggles.  Lathar decided a swig of ancient rum was enough for him, and he poured some of it over his head.  

Realizing his condition was worsening, Sonny had the group grab  the worm and take him back down to the lab.  Pete, acting as translator, simply ordered RHA-9 to "fix him."

The living metal scurried about, adding numerous tubes and vials together, forming a large concoction which it drew into a syringe.  With electrical prods inserted in to worm, RHA scurried them out of the room.  The lights then flickered for a few moments, but RHA soon allowed them back into the room.

"TEST INCONCLUSIVE.  SUBJECT IS STABLE". 

They entered the room to find Squiggles standing up from the test chair, steam pouring off his body.  His physique had changed from a muscular worm to far more human-like.  

More disturbing was all his exposed body was covered by thick layer of white fur.

A picture of furry Squiggles in the style of Dr Seuss.

GM Notes:   Lessons learned (A) security bots know angles (B) Gamma World has death's door rules!

I also don't profess to be an artist, but AI art generators are not having a fun time with Gamma World characters and situations.  Not many references for human non-artists to draw a furry earthworm, either.

Next: #37 - Upstairs, Downstairs