August 1st start #RPGaDay2025 , a month-long activity to engage the RPG community, and yourself.
Every year there are 31 basic questions or prompts for folks to think about and answer, by whatever means you feel most comfortable. Just answer what you feel like, tag things with #RPGaDay2025, and share with your friends!
It might be the heat, the post-convention drain, the lack of spending money, but the vast majority of items being solicited by Alliance this month are such utter trash, I'm not listing them, and there are a few items I do list where I question the creator's sample.
Game Trade Magazine #306 is available at your FLGS or in PDF form online here.
Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, are ready to leave Riverbend yet again, but first they will investigate Lathar's ladyfriend, Thunnelda's latest discovery in the wilderness.
=================
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 nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. Just went out of his comfort zone to rescue Lathar from becoming a human sacrifice to "The Beast."
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. He has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.
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. Former jousting champion of Fair-Town.
Thunnelda Haycock: A peculiar local woman, who has a penchant for wandering the surrounding territories for particular oddities, and possibly could be winning the heart of Lathar.
================================================================
The Explorers had wandered the wilderness for the better part of two days. Thunnelda Haycock, Lathar's new ladyfriend, had a penchant for "hinge walks," meandering the woods until she found ruins and trying to recover and restore any hinges that survived the Great Disaster. Except this time she came running back to Riverbend with a new find "a door with no hinges."
Everyone knew exactly what she meant, so the next morning, everyone embarked on the journey to retrace the woman's steps.
"I just hope I can find where I re-hid it," she admitted a day and a half into the journey.
Finally, they arrived at a copse of trees. Within the growth was an obvious rectangular patch of dead moss. Thunnelda removed the moss, revealing a steel door at about a 30-degree angle off the ground, against a small hill.
Sonnny immediately went to work, clearing more growth, and discovering control panels. The electronics had been damaged from decades of exposure, but the sunflower pulled out his tool kit and tried to repair it.
The rest of the group set up a camp immediately behind Sonny, to watch him attempt to open the door. They quickly regretted it as the door beeped three times and then exploded outward, the whole group (except Pete) took shrapnel.
Thunnelda: Ow! That's why you need hinges... for safety!"
After recovering, Sonny crawled over to find a set of tiled steps leading down from where the door once existed.
The group lit torches and wandered down the steps and into an otherwise empty and long hall. The hallway ended at a metal gate, with blue sparks occasionally sparking where it met the floor. Lathar quickly sprayed his waterskin at the gate, causing a flurry of sparks for a moment... and then the sparking stopped.
Finally getting the gate opened, the Explores entered a large room, full of ancient computers, monitors, and tables. Most of the items had significantly deteriorated, but only some were concerned that the there were a few paths perfectly cleared of debris.
A search discovered a number of paper files, most damaged by water and mold. Lathar found a motherlode and his delicate fingers peeled back the pages.
Thunnelda: What is it Sweetie?
Many pages could not be read, but quickly Lathar was reading sections aloud:
"Toard Jakey Research and Development."
Sonny: "Toard Jakey is where we got the Alchemical Laser"
Squiggles: "The CHILDREN'S Alchemical Laser. Imagine how powerful the full version is."
There were numerous ways out of the room, so Sonny focused first on another "hinge-less" door. He had much better success with the undamaged and barely illuminated keypad on this door. After some considerable time it opened up to reveal an oversized closet. Old metal file cabinets, covered in rust, moss, and mold were filled with more damaged files, and a number of ancient devices Sonny couldn't get his head around. He probably couldn't figure those out because he was much more intrigued with an odd Ancients device lit up on the floor and up to three feet on the floor.
Pete: "These are charging stations of some sort. Definitely not for power cells"
While the others were inside this large storage closet, it was the normally astute Squiggles in the back who was surprised.
A small, silent piece of Living Metal on tracks, flailing two operating tentacles in multiple directions. Despite fighting off the tentacles, Squiggles dove over a broken table to make space, and alert the others.
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| Guardian of the Toard Jakey's Lair. |
Cleaning up the smoking wreckage, and applying some salve to the minor cut, Sonny further searrched the closet, accidentally setting off a tear gas grenade!
Sonny was blinded, but everyone withdrew from the room, shutting the door, and proceeded to investigate the rest of the facility. After some experience with the risk/reward associated with it, they avoided rooms dominated by, or at least obscured by the plants, lichen, and mold.
Diving deeper into the facility, they blew away more of these annoying Living Metal, uncovered an old recording device and uncovered two facts: (1) Something violent happened in the facility in ages past, but (2) outside of a small room with a few odd skeletons, there were no other bodies....
Obtaining a key card from a stashed backpack, they were able to access another sector of the facility, with a giant clear-walled empty tank, and an obvious observation/control room beside it...
Next: Gamma World goes on hiatus during #RPGaDay , although their will be episodes of the BECMI D&D Adventures in Gulluvia filling more than just Tuesdays in August. We'll return to Gamma World on September 2nd with episode #88 - The Alchemical Laser
As performed by Sneaky Pete
"Hinged Together"
Verse 1
Oh, Thunelda, you’re the strength that I need,
Like the iron on these hinges, you’re steady indeed.
When the world is breaking, you hold your line,
Just a girl from Riverbend, forever entwined.
Chorus
We’re hinged together, swingin’ free,
From the east to the west, it’s just you and me.
Every open door, every closing sound,
Thunelda and Lathar, where love’s unbound.
Verse 2
With the rust and the grind of life’s heavy door,
You’ve taught me to fight, you’ve shown me there’s more.
These hinges might creak, and they’ll sometimes bend,
But with you, Thunelda, they’ll never end.
Bridge
Through battles and storms, and glow-sickness too,
I’ll hold strong to these hinges, and I’ll hold on to you.
From broken bolts to splintered wood,
With each turn of the key, love’s understood.
Chorus
We’re hinged together, swingin’ free,
From the east to the west, it’s just you and me.
Every open door, every closing sound,
Thunelda and Lathar, where love’s unbound.
Verse 3
So here’s to the hinges that hold us tight,
To the doors we’ve opened in the dead of night.
My Thunelda, my anchor, my iron grace,
Together, forever, in our hinge-embrace.
Outro
Yeah, we’re hinged together, swingin’ free,
With the strength of love, that nobody sees.
From the first creak to the last soft sound,
Thunelda and Lathar—forever bound.
 |
| Thunnelda Haycock, a very hinged woman |
The eternally greying hobby which is historical wargaming, and by extension, HMGS, has finally discovered social media.
The HMGS Social Media Director was in their "Instagram Era" for Historicon. The number of pictures, posts, and topics covering a wide of swath of the convention was quite prolific.
While John Spiess' Castle Siege and Cog Wars games caught their attention, I'll point out that the beloved Next Gen "Gnomes and More" table was right next to him
Thursday's Gnome Wars Trench Game (19 of 16 slots filled - 119%)
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| A rare appearance of the "Gnome King" Jim Stanton as a measly player. |
The table events for Maja and myself generated 56 players out of 48 available player slots (117%)
Then throw in the two gnome mega-games (26 players out of 20 slots 130%)
And then combine the two jousts (34 out of 25 - 136%)
That's 116 players (125% table capacity and 297 player-hours for an honest calculation).
Not too shabby.
As I've completed some bigger projects to finally kick off Season 4 of our pulp game, it made sense to stuff on the painting bench that I'll need to future sessions.
We'll start off with some obvious cultists of some sort:
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| SW-90 Cantina Bartender |
Star Wars Minis: 78 out of the 146 figures from my flea market purchase are painted or refurbished. More than half!
Project 350: Getting this in before the month-long #RPGaDay skews all the number. I'm extremely happy I'm down to 458 (284 drafts /174 scheduled posts) from 462 (286/176) before. August is normally dedicated solely to the projects (Last August I only had 6 posts not related to #RPGaDay, and about 8 days of catch-up posts. I mentioned last time, my backlog only goes up 2-5%, although this year I won't be posting any scheduled AARs or painted miniatures.
My Top 25: As Project 350 goes on hiatus for August, it's as good a time as any to gab about my Top Ten for the Year (October 2024 - September 2025). Obviously, my Historicon post went up this week, and it's already my #1 post for the year, with my initial announcement of the Historicon Even List cracking the Top 25. With two new popular posts, it's no surprise my other posts dropped in the Top 25, but I am amused the five posts that moved up.
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| The Wyrmguard, arriving at another assignment |
Arzawa - Capital: Ancyra Ruled by: Prince Mydas
Iowones - Capital: Arna Ruled by: Komes Hector
Melonia - Capital: Sardon Ruled by: Cnosis Derious
The Titan of Akana: The colossal statue celebrating Akana, along the Straits of Byalbik. It's halo glows at comfort, a comfort for sailor and traveler alike.
The Lesser Imperial Palace: Located on the high hills known as the Golden Bough, the portions of the palace are opened to visitors, other portions are locked away with magical (and very lethal) protections, guarding some of the finest treasures and magicks in the world.
The Veil of the Old Ones: A vast, eerie, fascinating expanse on the eastern edges of Arzawa and Melonia. Ghostly apparitions of past armies can be seen marching at dusk. The ruins of ancients civilizations, some predating Khemmet, appear for days, then disappear without notice.
The Stone Forests of Arzawa: An ancient woodland where trees have turned to stone, frozen in time by a long-lost curse. Travelers report hearing whispers among the trees, as if trapped souls still linger there. Even more amazing, the stone trees sprout leaves and the trees slowly grow, perhaps an inch a decade .
The Flaming Lighthouse at Telchinis: A reconstruction of one of the great lighthouses of the ancient world, it is enhanced with divine fire that never dims.
It's always great to be at Historicon, run a full slate of Gnome Wars games and catch up and compare notes with the players.
Our Thursday games were static 8-player affairs, so no "Bring-and-Play Rule." Matthew Wayman's French did not get to see play on the trench table, but it would be foolish not to snap pictures of them on it.
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| Add another officer, and this is actually two units of French under the revised rules. |
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| French Cream Puff Mortar |
Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have returned to Riverbend and now have a new mission across the river.
=================
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 nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. Just went out of his comfort zone to rescue Lathar from becoming a human sacrifice to "The Beast."
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. He has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.
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. Former jousting champion of Fair-Town.
Thunnelda Haycock: A peculiar local woman, who has a penchant for wandering the surrounding territories for particular oddities, and possibly could be winning the heart of Lathar.
================================================================
The Explorers sat on the opposite bank of the Big River. The Hisser delegation had just departed, now part of the greater mutant animal realm of BonParr. The folks of Riverbend were still welcome to traverse the forests across from their town, but there could be repercussions.
Sonny motioned over to their boatswain, Clover, to take them back across to Riverbend.
Thirty days later...
Sonny relaying the message of the Hissers to the townsfolk non-plussed, no fear, no outrage. Only Squiggles pushed the town leaders buttons, believing BonParr would send their own undesirables across the river. After a month of rest and warmer temperatures, the sunflower was finally green and healthy, and his giant nine-foot stature and impressive wingspan demanded a level of respect that he did not have in his early days.
Pete rested back at his riverside lair, occasionally putting in his two cents back in town with the continued construction of the palisade. With only a skeleton crew working on the palisade, the barrier only potected
Squiggles and his family had been coerced by Pete to continue to dig tunnels under the town, an escape path for Pete.
Lathar spent considerable time with Thunnelda. He knew of her previous emotional swings, and could overhear whispers of her other acts while he walked down the streets, but when she was with him, Thunnelda seemed juvenile, but stable... and happy. Thunnelda wasn't always attached to Lathar by the hip, wandering off for a "hinge-quest" out in the surrounding wilderness.
Two weeks later...
The desire to drill within the militia dropped considerably, and the drunkenness had risen. Most militia were now showing a lack of discipline, many shirking responsibilities on the job to drink. It was no surprise of the response time to an attack in the far inland portion of the town, the sparse neighborhood controlled by black marketer Boson Higby. Only six perished, as a pod of Sel (or LandSharks) crested the soil and snagged the unwitting.
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| The Spearthrower |
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| Mira Coal. |
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| Hervetta |
GM Notes: With the way healing works in Gamma World, and my desire to keep the White Hand as scarce resource in this area, it was well overdue to handwave weeks of gameplay to get the crew up to their appropriate power levels. Including a reference to merchants moving, individual mobility, and even an attack that they could do nothing to stop.
Another July, another Historicon! I'm trying to to type this up Monday morning sore, probably still dehydrated, but otherwise in good spirits after a long and glorious weekend!
Personal stuff to get out of the way: My daughters and their mom recently moved to Upstate New York, but I've had eldest daughter Maja for most of July, as she finishes her social obligations in Pennsylvania (grad parties, filling in for the local volleyball team) as well as taking over my living room. The plan was to leave for Historicon Wednesday, run seven games (5 for me, 2 for Maja), and then drive back Wilkes-Barre to finally hand her off to her mom on Sunday.
We made great time, even if we took to scenic route by way of Reading to use up a gift card to a local frozen yogurt that Maja had gotten years ago.
The heck with price creep with miniatures, froyo is outrageously expensive. I'm assuming tariffs on sprinkles.
We arrived after dinner, got a spot on Level 4 of the attached parking garage and both of us managed to check in registration in one minutes.
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| The army of orange-clad HMGS volunteers eager to serve the oncoming horde. |
After showering, we took a walk over to breakfast at La Dolce Vita with Maja grabbing her favorite macaroons at Bistro Barberet.
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| The Swiss Engineers were not humoring the California demands to more environmental regulations |
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| A few key artillery hits early one, and the defenders became sparse and panicked. |
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| However, the German advanced halted in the craters with the trenches within reacd. |
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| The Sikhs find a hole in the wire... and a lack of pointy hats in one spot of the trenches, and advanced. |
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| The fabled Red Maxx unit reaches the trench, and stiff resistance from the Swiss |
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| She can drive, and still order a hamburger, ketchup only. |
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| I'll mention this later, but the lighting in some areas seemed far worse than previous years. |
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| The five-year old me screamed to have this all the awards. |
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| I mean... why not? |
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| The Iron Paintbrush was quieter than the Union Band.. |
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| These guys were much quieter in the vendor hall.... |
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| Early Tournaments |
