The Mike Lung Gallery #94 - Fear the Dark

 A holiday weekend where the girls didn't come down and I didn't have any other obligations?  

I've got to admit it was enjoyable.  So much so that I straightened up the office, reprioritized the painting bench, and even started cleaning up texts and emails for the first time in forever. 

So I was a bit ashamed but excited to see stuff from friend-of-the-blog and AWARD WINNING GM Mike Lung that I had not shared here!  

Like me, Mike loves his mini-games, solo games testing out rulesets, and getting his immense and diverse collection of figures.  

Over the winter he ran a horror campaign using the "Fear the Dark" rules by Davi Suki. 

I highly value Mike's opinions on games, even if we don't always agree, so it's fitting to give his take on the Fear the Dark rules set: 

Not sure what my opinion of the rules are. I want to really like them, but they are a bit to basic and not crunchy enough. But the thought behind them is great. I think the old Strange Aeons system might be better. But that has faults, too. Really, what I want to do is take the mechanics from Rangers of Shadow Deep and merge it with elements of Fear the Dark, Strange Aeons, and even Silver Bayonet to get the rule system I want. Hmmm…need to retire now so I have time.

I Knew Cthulhu Was Evil, But Not THAT Evil!

 

Delta Pink

 It's been a pretty sparse time for me podcast-wise.  A lot of what I've listened to over the years has either wrapped up for morphed into a different model or entity that just doesn't hit my demographic anymore.  Even my longtime stalwarts, the Miskantonic Univeristy Podcast, and even Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff are running 20-25% longer, and even at 1.25x speed it's been a tough to get through certain episodes.  

Then the fellas at Pink Fohawk wrap up their season and deliver with the delectable Delta Pink.  

Pink Fohawk is a Shadowrun Actual Play podcast suggested for mature audiences, and sometimes, immature minds. It's phenomenal.  I've stolen plot hooks and staging for my own home campaigns.  

After finishing up season 2, they've know launched Delta Pink, a Delta Green Actual Play.  Five episodes total (including session 0 linked to Youtube above), and I personally think it's gold.  I had Episode 3 going through my earpods in a medical facility, and couldn't stop audibly snorting for a bit, before the group went back into the proper paranoia and conspiracy fueled decision making.  

#RPGaDay2025 - Day 26 - Nemesis

Day 26 of #RPGaDay and they bring up "Nemesis"

We've had rivals, we've had Big Bad Evil Dudes, but the closest to a Nemesis was (and technically still is) Ambrose Mogens in our Call of Cthulhu 1920's campaign.

Prospero Publishing has a whole page dedicated to Mogens, expanding far behond the Halfmoon Scenario out of Secrets of New York, and connections to Masks of Nylarathotep.  

My group first met him while he hosted a holiday gala in The Pennywell Hangmen

It wasn't until the investigators were searching for a family members of a colleague in Half-Moon that they fully investigated the Mogens Institute as well as broke into his estate in Queens.  

They got some of the answers they were looking for, realized that much of the Institute's true purpose wasn't bettering society, and they even succeeded in torching his library, even if it involved a 100% on a Molotov Throw roll, which landed at an investigator's feet.  Even worse, two of the new Investigators had been captured by Mogens' goons, tortured and transformed.  

Mogens kept tabs on the investigators, even sending a giant 8-foot tall, orange skinned, musclebound monstrosity to rough them them, toss a car, or even destroy an office.    They left a pretty significant trail of evidence, and once Mogens realized they weren't after him, just other manifestations of his patron, he used them as unpaid volunteers.  

At the end of Masks of Nylarlathotep, it was inferred that Mogens had influence within and far outside the city.    After interrogation and torture, the investigators were miraculously released from Japanese custody and sent back to the states, thanks to the American ambassador, who just happened to mysteriously die (historically) shortly thereafter.   Mogens has used his networks to send messages to some of the investigators, banning them from the city, while using his influence to ensure some succeeded at projects or procured them jobs.   Already shaken by what they had experienced, their moral core wavered as one of them walked into the Ambrose Mogens School of Physics, as well as having all their life's dreams projects paid for by him....

#FreeRPGDay, Take Three

Back in June, I lamented the lack of proper same-day participating of #FreeRPGDay in my general area, due to conflicting events at stores.  I eventually found a cool store that was participating and added it to my future travels.  

As a follow-up, my one local store, Sword in the Stone Games had rescheduled their #FreeRPGDay events for a week late, only to have the entire shopping mall they're located in shut down for more than a week due to electrical infrastructure issues.  

Yesterday, the store finally had their day, and I must laugh, I swung in to check out the swag, and was grateful I store two sets of dice in the console of the car.

First, a huge shout-out to the store for ordering two kits of materials.  I did not get to see the variety of items at the store I visited in June, because it was already mid-day by the time I found them.  I showed up three hours into the event, and there was an immense and diverse selection of everything, with no limits.  

In something that I appreciated even more, their large open gaming space was dominated by multiple 2-hour free RPG sessions for a variety of systems... beyond the two long-term games hidden in designated RPG space. 

Friend of the blog, friend of Mepacon, and employee of Sword in the Stone, James Burns was running events, so I fell into his table, and after 16 years, finally played a game of Pathfinder. 

My winged kobold rogue... who had more bite than the image's inspiration lent to the pre-gen.

To dive into a high-level pathfinder adventure was a little intimidating, and although the bonuses had already been collected for reference, I was referencing three pages of special abilities, and four spots to confirm how many dice I rolled for damage (note to self, it maxed out a 6d6+5).   We did manage to defeat the dragon, even if, for a moment, I decided to essentially leap into the dragon's mouth and stay there for a few rounds.

The thing under the dragon's jaw is me! 

I was already there, so I transitioned into the next event, a Delta Green game.    I played the original, I helped playtest the current game rules, and I do own the book, so it was fun to revisit it with a clean-up operation when an agent from the 60s finally passed away.  There was a lot of gasoline, my FBI medical examiner bruised his sternum with a drill, and it was amusing that all the players assumed they were driving sedans, with almost catastrophic consequences.  

Huge shout-out to Sword in the Stone, for the extra kit of material.  By the time I left at dinner, I had ten freebies (two duplicates from June) and received two packs of Reaper minis as a participation award.  

I'm hoping scheduling and mall infrastructure doesn't interfere with next year's events, because it was really well run. 

#RPGaDay2025 - Day 1 - Patron

The more I look at the prompts for this year's #RPGaDay, the more I'm looking at a some stream-of-consciousness posting about role-playing, and that's alright. 

First off, if I were to become a patron of the role-playing arts, the first (and only) one I would currently support is Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff.

I also don't drink much tequila, so I have no opinion on that.

In terms of a customer, my players would gravitate their characters to the closest establishment with what they need and the least drama and tension.  

But in the general context of a benefactor helping the characters?   Perhaps it's my style, or that of my players, but the characters in my game world are a bit more... mercenary, to fully appreciate and benefit from that relationship.  They're far more likely to hop from noble in need of help, to merchant in need of help, to property owner, to community, to so on and so forth. 

A quick review of the last few games

Star Wars d6: In a mercantile game where they played exotic animal brokers, traversing very legitimate to very black market, I didn't just them seeds for potential seeds for folks who wanted to be their personal benefactor, I sometime dropped whole plot trees in front of them, and they said no.  That's not to say they weren't hired by these folks for a mission, and even had mutual business relationships with them.  

BECMI D&D: My recently completed "Adventures in Gulluvia" campaign was more akin with mediocre mentor/protege relationships than a patron.  In fact, most government factions or powerful individuals proved to be not worth the characters' time, whether by evidence, or a general sense of paranoia.  

Gamma World 4th Edition: Maybe the closest to a patron, the De Facto Explorers have a very positive relationship involving the Restorationists.  At first glance, it could be a cut-and-dry set-up of the group telling a member (currently a 3-meter tall mutant sunflower), and a former teenage lackey,  to assemble a group to perform missions for them, but their successes have allowed the entire group access to the not-so Secret Society's facilities and knowledge.   The relationship works because the party still has agency and apparent honesty with the patron.  There have been some options to work for others long-term, but they all had noticeable flaws come up after a mission or two. 

In the near future, we're pondering continuing the timeline of Call of Cthulhu campaign that ended almost eight years ago.  I'm thinking new investigators, staring with scenarios from Secrets of the Sleepless City and moving to Arkham and some of the peculiar surrounding towns.  Whether or not the the surviving characters from the original campaign return to action, I'll be certain to to include Ambrose Mogens as a wealthy benefactor to assist the investigators in multiple ways.  

According to lore, the Mogens family were at the founding of New Amsterdam and have made hundreds of millions, if not billions by the 1920's.  Ambrose, the current head, is well regarding as a philanthropist and technofile. 

He's also an agent of, or the manifestation of Nylarathotep himself. 

Sure, the original investigators may have burned down his mansion in Queens, in what is erroneously remembered as Operation: Hobo Justice.  And yes, the group has had to survive murderous mutations of his own design attacking them.  But as the game progressed, they began helping Mogens unintentionally, and showed their general competence.  

What a few of them realize is that Mogens used his influence to achieve the release of the investigators from Japanese custody, post-Masks of Nylarlathotep... and perhaps the historically accurate assassination of the US Ambassador to Japan.  

Best of all, one of the investigators, Steven O'Hara, returned from China/Japan to successfully defend his Doctoral thesis at Columbia (after some oddly approved extensions).  Upon earning that Phd, Steven learned he was offered a job at Columbia, and a research grant for a mythos-related topic he was secretly studying since episode 8 of the campaign. 

He might be able to eventually achieve his goal of rescuing a dear friend, through funding from the new Ambrose Mogens School of Applied Physics. 

Operation: Hobo Justice - The Greatest Thing That Never Happened

This memory popped up on my social media this month, dated from Timehop.

I've shared this memory almost every year, with commentary from myself and others.  It recalls the shameful event in our Call of Cthulhu campaign, where the group recruited a bunch of hobos, transients, and drunks, loaded them on a bus, armed them with blunt objects and Molotov cocktails, and crashed through the gates of one Ambrose Mogens, a man of considerable wealth and power, both of this world and other dimensions.  

It was completely horrific, and the their actions impacted the group until the end of the campaign.

Except, it never happened. 

Oh, what was called Operation: Hobo Justice was heavily discussed at the table.  A random Japanese hobo had joined the group and disappeared trying to infiltrate the Mogens' compound in Queens.  The obvious next step for one player?  If one hobo wasn't enough, how about a busload of them.  The conversation lasted far longer than it comfortably should, and the group picked a different plan.  

What did happen was the same player who suggested Hobo Justice fumbled a Throw/Grenade roll with a Molotov inside the mansion, and died by self-immolation. 

And Mogens was still pissed. 

Funny thing is that random Japanese hobo…. Who was easily captured, tortured, and heavily experimented on, would make Two appearances later on in the campaign, simply described by the group as an “8-foot tall orange skinned man with Asian features.”  They completely wrecked, but did not kill two of the player characters in two separate instances. 

The Call of Cthulhu Encore Humble Bundle

 Apparently Chaosium has delved into the Humble Bundle again with the Call of Cthulhu Encore bundle.

For the next two weeks, $25 for 26 PDFs that would normally go for $400+ sounds like a pretty good deal.  Plus, proceeds from this campaign go to the World Wildlife Fund

#RPGaDay2024 - Day 21 - Classic Campaign

As this third week of #RPGaDay2024 wraps up, we move from moments to sessions to adventure arcs, to today: Day 21 - "Classic Campaign"  

They're all already on the blog, but I will post my Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars, and current Gamma Worlds campaigns that I love very, very much at the end of this post, but in reality, it's my campaign world, Georic, and every glorious success or misstep along the way.  

Some of the 3rd generation maps of Crosedes, circa AD1999

Months after I willingly became the DM of my high school gaming group, my friend George and I were trying to put together our World of Georic, in an attempt to codify that wild assortment of adventures (from different campaign settings) into one campaign world.  There was a lot of dice rolling on the random wilderness charts, an attempt to fit things in like the Known World from Mystara, and a lot of crayons.  

We may have also transitioned from T1-4: Temple of Elemental Evil immediately into FRE1 Shadowdale, hence the problem with, what the kids nowadays call, a "multiversal mash-up"

That was an ongoing struggle for almost a decade, when I evolved the game map again, and ran my college campaign.  Finally, in 2001, using the Epic of Aerth from Mythus/Dangerous Journeys, Georic morphed into Fantasy Europe, with some.  Nowadays I focus on a small remote Barony called Gulluvia, and my friend Hoyce runs a game which I describe as in a parallel universe in the future.   

For reference you can use the incomplete but growing Georic Gazetteer 

The Lost Dispatches of Feraso (AD&D) - These "Actual Plays" are, in reality, a series of letters, written by lowly scribe Elsderth Millbottom, to the Viscount of Verbobonc.  In his correspondence, he is always getting caught in the aftermath of one Talanth Blackash and his band of ne'er do well adventurers.    I jump from my high school days (1989-1992), my gaming in Basic Training and AIT, my campaign with my Army Reserve buddies, and I even shadow most of the next game.  This was written last, so it's manufactured prose, with snippets of reality in it.  I did purchase a number of PDFs just so I could recall the adventures they went on, and attempted to recreate level and magic items.  

The first adventure I put the high school group through....

Ballad of the Pigeon God (AD&D) - My college game from 1998-2000.  We didn't have notes on a few parts, but with a name like Ballad of the Pigeon God, things like a mass invasion of doppelgangers, telepathic wolves, legless mentors, and a kobold mariachi band should not be too surprising. 

By the end, they stopped seeking out prophecies, and just started drinking at the Chateau.

The Journey of Mutumbo  (Hackmaster 2001)  - A short lived campaign resulting in a near TPK but it did introduce Mutumbo the Nubian and Holy Party Girl of Sif, Cecelia Darkspruce

Mutumbo, Realized the Deities Were Most Certainly Insane

The Burning Trogs Rule! - (Hackmaster 2001-2004)  Started in the "Leave the Tags On" Kingdom of Marakeikos, Mutumbo and Cecelia traveled across the continent to join this crew and it end with a major war and frustrating diplomatic missions.

Adventures in Gulluvia  (Basic D&D 2019-24)  An on-again-off-again Basic D&D game set in a remote Barony.  There is a tie in to the main campaign world.  Somebody may survive long enough to uncover that connection. 

The Burning Trogs Redux  (Hackmaster 2007-09)  A mixture of new characters and some "Where are they now" After a TPK during B10, we switched to our long running Call of Cthulhu campaign.

Emeron Unleaseshed (D&D/Pathfinder 1999-Present)  Guys in college like to use my setting to run games, and possibly allow the rare crossover characters.  Emeron Unleashed is a third generation Georic campaign, with a lot of changes, but still the flavor I love.  

Call of Cthullhu: My classic 1920s campaign, which includes a full run of Masks of Nylarathotep (save Australia). 

Star Wars d6:  Our campaign devolved into a morally grey mercantile campaign, as the crew worked for/with a Galactic Animal Broker.  Lots of Star Frontiers and Traveller material to liven things up. 

Gamma World:  Our ongoing game, using the 4th Edition of the rules.  Giant sentient sunflowers, giant furry white worms, sneaky weasels, and one helluva sexy pure-strain human with few boundaries.  

#RPGaDay2024 - Day 16 - RPG That's Quick to Learn

 Day 16 of #RPGaDay2024 and we're working towards a trick question:  "RPG That's Quick to Learn."

As a guy who espoused the virtues of TWERPS and Risus, I'm going to tell you, sometimes folks just don't grok the simplicity of the systems.   

I use Risus for a lot of our impromptu one shots, from Illuminati University to COVID Supermarket games, and I have a few players who simply do not comprehend the concepts of cliches as stats, much less trying to use inappropriate cliches for greater effect.  So much so, that I'm afraid to run an IOU game and make them create a full-blown Freshthing.   

After years of experience, the quickest game to pick up is Call of Cthulhu, any edition.  

The characters are normal humans, the rolls are percentile and the biggest change from 6th to 7th is moving to division instead of multiplication (or is it multiplication instead of division?)   The only thing a neophyte needs to know is that in Trad Cthulhu investigation is usually preferred over violence... to start.  In 35 years, I've never seen people not get the system.  

Now that doesn't mean players necessarily get the setting.  We've all had stories of powergamers and either their rude awakening to CoC, or actually succeeding in solving the secrets with superior tactics and lucky dice rolls.  

For those players, I introduce them to Delta Green, with the same hilarious results.

(Kickstarter) Masters of Devil Reef 2 Box Set by Crucible Crush

 Crucible Crush is back with an expansion of their high-quality Lovecraft-inspired minis with their Masters of Devil Reef 2 Box Set. 

Nice and simple, you can pledge for the new set for $39US, plus shipping, or for around $70US pick up the new set plus Masters of Devil's Reef 1 AND get free shipping.

(Kickstarter) Beneath the Mountains of Madness 28mm Pulp Skirmish for 7TV

 In a month that had a deluge of ZineQuest campaigns and more mediocre STL files that you could shake a stick at, it's nice to see the month end on some nice physical miniatures.

Crooked Dice Game Design has launched a Kickstarter for Beneath the Mountains of Madness, a 28mm pulp skirmish supplement for 7TV.

The campaign is to fund 30 28mm miniatures, resin terrain and MDF terrain. 

From the Kickstarter:
Players can play a cast of heroic Occult and Science Reserve agents and scientists or the demented Nazi servants of Hitler himself and their mutated allies. See terrifying aliens wake from their millennial slumber! Gasp in awe at the vile machinations of the Nazis! Tremble in fear at the unhuman battles that raged on the primordial Earth! Will our heroes be victorious or will the Nazi jackboot stamp forever down on the free world!

And any campaign that offers a U-Boat can't be all that bad...

... and as is becoming the norm, digital files are available.

Happy Valentine's Day 2024

(Savage Worlds) Adrik the Rusalki - Deep One "Ally" - #CharacterCreationChallenge

Day 5 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge and we come upon Alexander Mikoyan untrustworthy ally:  Adrik the Rusalki.  

Aldrik the Rusalki, Deep One Rogue Sorcerer

Attributes

Agility      d6

Smarts     d10

Strength   d6

Spirit       d8

Vigor       d8

Charisma -6   Parry: 5  Toughness: 9  Armor: 2  Pace: 6+d6 Land/Water  Power Points: 20

Edges: 

Alertness  (+2 Perception)

Aquatic

Arcane Background

Low-Light

Improved Frenzy

Tough  (+1 Toughness)

Hindrances:
Bloodthirsty

Dehydration

Outsider

Wanted

Skills:

Arcane Spellcaster (Magic) (SM) d12

Climbing  (ST)  d6

Fighting  (AG) d10

Investigation (SM) d10

Knowledge: Arcana  (SM)  d8

Knowledge: Occult  (SM)  d8

Language: Russian (SM)  d6

Notice d4+2

Persuasion (SP)    d8

Stealth (AG)      d8

Swimming  (AG)  d8

Powers:  

Beast Friend 

Invisibility

Summon Ally

Slumber

Adrik the Rusalki

These creatures are members of the the Boloto clan, a perverse and decrepit family which rules the town of Ust'ye Kem in Northern Russia without resistance.  The Imperials refused to tread near the town, by foot or by sea, and even in darkest of times, the Soviets refused to even acknowledge this town existed.  

All the Soviets, save one:  Alexander Mikoyan.  He disobeyed direct order from the SV-8, infiltrated the town as a poor peddler, befriended Adrik the Rusalki, and attacked the (barely) underground Temple of Dagon.  The combination of mythos magicks and high explosives tore a hole in the ceiling, letting the River Kem flood the chambers.  It's unknown if the Boloto Rusalki have recovered from the attacks, but their efforts were hampered with Mikoyan absconding with their idols and a number of other trinkets.  Rumor has it that only some of the items made it back to his masters in the SV-8.

Adrik would be considered a hybrid of the hybrid Rusalki.  He has never completed his full transformation and was largely ostracized for their society.  Befriending the human that he knew was far more powerful and destructive than his disguise led on allowed Adrik a chance at revenge, and to leave Ust've Kem.  Neither truly trusted the other, but over the years they've accomplished much together, as Alexander is a bit of a pariah himself among his Soviet people.    They have saved each other's lives countless times over the years, and it would be a shame to put the human down, but he has a knack for showing Adrik the far more villainous and corrupt sides of humanity, especially these "Nazis" who are doing something far more vile and evil in ashes of a city called Stalingrad...

(Call of Cthulhu) Rebecca Turner - Canadian College Student, Circa 1994 - #CharacterCreationChallenge

I have a very on-again, off-again filler game for my online group that while I refer to it as Curse of Nevoz, we refer to it in-game as "Canadian Cthulhu" 

Canadian Cthulhu is simply a college-aged game based in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, circa 1994.   We haven't need to play it as a back-up game for quite some time, but I believe the group dynamic would benefit from another female character. 

And we're die-hard 6th Edition CoC players, more out of apathy than anything else. 

Rebecca Turner - Sophomore Mall Rat

Height: 5'6"  Weight 135 lbs  Age 19

STR 10
CON  5
POW 8

DEX:6
APP 16
SIZ 13
INT 10
EDU 12

Luck - 40

Idea - 50

Know - 60

HIT POINTS: 9

Sanity: 60

-1d4 Damage Bonus

Skills:  Bargain (25%), Computer Use (61%), Conceal (35%) Credit Rating (45%),  Fast Talk (65%), Drive Auto (30%),  Library Use (55%) , Own Language (70%), Persuade (55%), Psychology (45%), Shotgun (35%), Swim (40%)

Spring Break, Medicine Hat 1994

Rebecca was from Airdrie, and had a promising youth hockey talent in the 80's, until a targeted hit not only injured her, but the injury was further complicated by infections.  These infections caused great physically strain to her body, causing her to quit most sports and become cursed with what folks in the States call, being a "normal girl."  

She dove into girl's gossip, transforming it to journalistic work of verifying and presenting sources.   She also spent a lot of time "undercover" at places called "malls" in Airdrie and in Calgary.  She's attending Medicine Hat on a Humanities major, but is seriously looking at Computer Science before it's too late.  She's noticed the strange goings-on at and around campus this past year, and is primed to blow the story wide open, once she figures out what the story actually is. 

This was a quick-thinking evolution from a Nightcafe AI picture I'll be posting later this week.  I changed the prompt to

"Canadian College Student, circa 1994, wearing an oversized sweatshirt, long denim skirt just above knee, holding a bottle of maple syrup."

(Call of Cthulhu) C.F. Pondswaite - Cromulent Journalist - #CharacterCreationChallenge

The final day of the #CharacterCreationChallenge, and I turn to an old stand-by, Call of Cthulhu (pre-7th Edition)

C.F. Pondswaite - Journalist

Height: 5'11"  Weight 170 lbs  Age 38

STR 11
CON 10
POW 12

DEX: 7
APP 11
SIZ 13
INT 13
EDU 17

Luck - 60

Idea - 65

Know - 85

HIT POINTS: 11

Sanity: 60

0 Damage Bonus

Skills: Fast Talk (65%), First Aid (46%), Jump (57%), Listen (75%) Own Language (99%), Persuade (75%), Pharmacy (32%), Photography (75%), Psychology (75%), Rifle (50%), Shotgun (45%), Throw (57%)

C.F. (Charles Flavian) Pondswaite Is neglectful writer and journalist, currently spending his days assembling the obituaries for the Arkham Gazette. A promising student at Miskatonic, he graduated in 1915, alternated between trying to write a novel, and getting fired from a half-dozen newspaper. When America entered the war, he was fired as a correspondent in Europe, went home just in time to get drafted and shipped back across the Atlantic. Post-war, he used his family's influence to get into any newspaper job he could,. Writing and investigation/research always came natural to him. Time management and meeting deadlines have always been the bane of his existence. He is susceptible to malapropisms or spoonerisms and is left-handed.

 
In last decade, the only job he wasn't fired from was as a correspondent in the Soviet Far East for Communist-sympathizing newspaper. Lucky for him, the propaganda literally wrote themselves (or were written by political officers for him.)

As he toils trying to find a higher purpose for the milquetoast of Arkham's dearly departed, he's reminded of a remote fishing village in the Tigilisky District. The locals shunned outsiders, were quite peculiar in the mannerisms, and the look of them was almost alien.

Pondswaite ponders if the folks in Tigilsky are of any relation to, or share the same sickness as those backwards fellows who have the "Innsmouth Look." It might be worth a trip for an engaging story...

(Painting) Lair of the Boloto Rusalki

Cleaning up the office/gaming room, I rescued some half-painted figures from a tub of wargaming miscellany and finished them up with little issue.

The Deep Ones are part of the Deep Ones Mutant Fishman pack by RAFM of which I already painted up the third figure back in September.  After a casual glance, I believe the altar/sarcophagus and statuette are from a different RAFM set, but I don't have the other figures in the set.  

These creatures are members of the the Boloto clan, a perverse and decrepit family which rules the town of Ust'ye Kem in Northern Russia without resistance.  The Imperials refused to tread near the town, by foot or by sea, and even in darkest of times, the Soviets refused to even acknowledge this town existed.  

All the Soviets, save one Alexander Mikoyan.  He disobeyed direct order from the SV-8, infiltrated the town as a poor peddler, befriended Adrik the Rusalki, and attacked the (barely) underground Temple of Dagon.  The combination of mythos magicks and high explosives tore a hole in the ceiling, letting the River Kem flood the chambers.  It's unknown if the Boloto Rusalki have recovered from the attacks, but their efforts were hampered with Mikoyan absconding with their idols and a number of other trinkets.  Rumor has it that only some of the items made it back to his masters in the SV-8.

And in the category of "Refurbished" I simply painted up the base and threw some sand on a pack of Cobblestone Castings Armed Archaeologists I picked up at Wally's basement during Historicon. The paint scheme is a little too neutral for me, but they've got paint on and I can used them as a rival league for Pulp season 4, whenever that happens. 

Next in the queue:  The proper painting bench was finally unearthed from craft supplies, strewn paint bottles, and complete disorganization.  Rumors that the final Pulp project is on the table may be true, but I also have some sci-fi building kit bashing going on, and my old line-up of refurbishment projects, fantasy minis, and maybe something new to talk about in the near future.

Project 350: Two steps backwards to finally go forwards, perhaps  484 (320/164) up  479 (318/161).  The cool posts keep trickling in, and I'm doing my best to save all the campaign links in one post.  Gamma World is still up-to-date, with a draft post ready for Monday, with some extraneous dialogue that didn't fit last session's post written up.

Masks of Nyarlathotep Campaign 10th Anniversary

My old brain is getting feebler by the day, but thanks to social media "memories" I'm reminded that things happened far longer ago than I recollect.

This weekend is the 10th Anniversary of our first session of Masks of Nyarlathotep.   Disregard the actual posting date for the actual play recap, things were much slower in the 2010's. 

This book looks completely different now, but the cover and binding are still intact.

It wasn't the first session of the overall Call of Cthulhu campaign.  The 1920's campaign already had twenty sessions under its belt, spanning from the Northeast to Georgia to the Dakota Badlands all the way to Europe, with a ensemble of interesting characters.  

I had sprinkled in Jackson Elias' name and connections to the investigators as early as episode nine, but their world stopped when they got the fateful telegraph: 

I had one death (a German pilot from the Great War - lost both hands on a Cult of the Bloody Tongue crit), but they got enough clues to start on the journey.  

Years later, when we completed the campaign, and the end of the world was strongly dodged, I tallied up the results.

MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP – STATISTICS
Distance travelled: 28,362 miles

Three Years Actual Time
17  sessions

Cultists confirmed killed:

• 5 Cult of the Bloody Tongue (New York)
• 10 Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh (London)
• 10 Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh (Egypt)
• @100 Cult of the Bloody Tongue (Kenya)
• 10-15 Cult of the Bloated Woman Technicians (Gray Dragon Island)
• 65 New China Army Soldiers sacrificed to the greater good.

Cultists killed by lion:  3

Innocents directly killed: 75
Innocents indirectly killed by Imperial Japanese Navy, on intelligence from the Investigators: 25,000
Sailors of the Imperial Japanese Navy Killed:  25
Marines of the Imperial Japanese Navy Killed: 32

Africans clubbed by Investigators:  12
Wilderness Guides Killed: 2
Wilderness Guides that Survived: 1

Sikh Knife-Fighters Killed With Self-Inflicted Wounds: 1

Mythos beasts encountered:

• 1 Serpent Person
• 1 Thing in the Fog
• 3 Miscellaneous lesser gods
• 1 Elder Thing
• 2 Hounds of Tindalos
• 2 Fire Vampires
• 1 Dark Young
• 1 Spawn of Nylarathotep
• 5 Deep Ones (and lots of carcasses)
• 1 Shoggoth

Cars Crashed: 1
Motorcycles Crashed: 1
Boats stolen: 2
Buildings blown up: 1
Rooftop Chases: 1
Brothel roofs crashed through: 1
Grenades Used: 37

Hospital visits: 6
Deportations: 6

Black Market Weapons Obtained by Wintermute:  14

Skills Improved to 90% or more: 3 

Steamships overhauled by O'Hara: 2

Appearances by an eight-foot tall orange Asian man: 2

Human Brains Eaten: 1

Characters who jumped off a moving train:  2

• Steven O'Hara
• Francois Guerin

Characters killed: 6

•  Heinrich Hans, ex-German Flying Ace  (blood loss from getting his hands chopped off in Jackson's hotel room)  Episode 1
• Anthony Parks, Miskatonic Grad Assistant (destroyed by a summoned Elder Thing in the Egyptian desert)  Episode 28
• Yaleshia, Belly Dancer  (destroyed by a summoned Elder Thing in the Egyptian desert) Episode 28
• Abdul, Egyptian Thug (disintegrated by the Black Pharaoh), 31
• Father Dorian Dolan, Anglican Priest (eaten by a shoggoth, Gray Dragon Island), Episode 37
• Francois Guerin, ex-French Foreign Legion (sacrificed by his own friends "for the good of humanity") Episode 37

Characters driven mad: 1

• Brian Nichols, driven mad by the paintings in Miles Shipley's house.  Still wandering the streets of Soho in the rain.

Characters' minds wiped: 1

• Randall Ward, by the mysterious man in the fez at Misr House, Episode #26

Characters who mysteriously disappeared

• RJ Cunninghame, Big Game Hunter, Episode 37

Characters transported to Ancient Egypt(?):  1

• Dr Nathaniel Millheim (by the Black Pharaoh)

Characters sodomized by summoned lesser gods

• Joshua Wenisko (London)

Characters Surviving

• Steven O'Hara - Mathematician and Physics Doctoral Candidate - full campaign.
• Dr Bob Wintermute - Professor of History, Miskatonic Univeristy - full campaign.
• David Kavida - Writer, The New Yorker - four sessions.

On day, if/when life slows down, we'll gather the troops and after a session or three of catching up "Six Months Later," I'll launch another epic storyline.

Of course, 11 years ago, owlbears and skeletons were line-dancing outside the princess' palace.  Both are fantastic memories.

(Painting) Don't Ask About the Luger

 When I left for Historicon this year, I didn't have a look list of "must-haves," but with my final acquisition of the weekend, I made sure to pick up Veteran with Pick and Pistol from Brigade Games.  It had been the first picture on a recent email blast and it was just a cool pose.  

Of course, once I got home and looked him over, I realized, "What nationality is this dude?"

He was advertised as above, and alongside fairly generic armed civilians.

He is wielding a Luger, so that might make him obviously German, but the Wolfman Jack look seemed out of place. 

If he was a veteran of the Great War, filling in the lines from the deep reserves, I could buy that.  

But during my research, a Soviet soldier seemed to fit better.  With a little more research, a Soviet political officer fit the look.  Combine that with Ray Stevenson's character in the first episode of Ahsoka, and I think I have my dude, Alexander Mikoyan. 

And after yesterday's Tabletop Inquirer post, I darkened the eyes, no detail.

Definitely not your normal WW2 figure, rather I'm seeing him as a leader of a deranged Pulp faction of Soviet oddballs and secrets man was not meant to know.  He's been around since the discovery of Lovecraftian Ghouls during the Russian Civil War, he jumped sides and joined SV-8 during the Purge, and he's either so deep into occult research that he's eluded Stalin's purges or Stalin's minions are too afraid to try anymore.  

By the time of this picture, it's the pinnacle of the vicious fighting in Stalingrad.  No man of his pedigree should have been with 300 kilometers of the battle, but reports of agents of the Karotechia moving to the city caused him grave concern.  His fears were realized, as they were able to release some sort of ritual to turn the piles of corpses into re-animated killing machines that no human was able to control.  

One of Alexander's allies is a Deep One he calls Adrik the Rusalki.  A hybrid almost nearing his complete transformation, Adrik was picked up from a remote fishing village on the Pacific coast.  

Part of the three figure "Deep Ones Mutant Fishman" pack from RAFM

Alexander knows that Adrik will either go fully feral and attempt to slaughter him, or simply skulk off into the waters one day, but for now, whatever sliver of its humanity is still willing to help him, especially reading all those infernal books.

I have little use for either figure at this time, so I'll add them to the list of potential inspirations for the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January.

(Edit: I got some responses back, to help connect the dots on the pick guy.   Not only might my observation on German firearms be off, but these and the figures he was announced might be part of a little movie called Sisu.  (Note: Red Band Trailer, NSFW)  It's John Wick killing Nazis, if John Wick was a Finnish gold miner in 1944.  Heck, there's even a dog.)

I'm sticking with an Soviet SV-8 agent for now, and building up his league for Pulp Alley.)

In the Painting Queue - The bench has been a dumping ground for anything and everything over the summer, but five things  catch my eye:

1. Pulp Season 4 - One of two major roadblocks are actually getting completed. Watch out!
2. Mouslings of Yore - The Heritage Dungeon Dweller Mouslings from Reaper in the 90's are staring at me right now, with their big sad eyes.  
3. Gnomish Space Marines - The latest Macrocosm Kickstarter was the last thing I was working on before the bench became overwhelmed.  Gotta dig them out 
4. Zombie Car - No, not animated cars, rather, vehicles that need to be weathered for a zombie/apocalypse game.
5. Inflatable Yard Pirates of Doom - I think I figured out our Halloween game for the year...

Project: 350 -  After surviving #RPGaDay2023 and a month's worth of posts to write, we emerged in decent shape with 461 posts in the queue (308 drafts/153 scheduled) from 464 (312/152) back in July.  Actual plays are very caught up, so it's a bunch of games and painting for the near future.  The horror!

#RPGaDay2023 - Day 10 - Favorite Tie-In Fiction

Day 10 of #RPGaDay2023. and we're trying to look at peripheral role-playing items.

For each day I'll be answering the question provided, and for fun, review how I answered a similar question during #RPGaDay a decade ago.  Scout's Honor, I have not peeked at the older answer.

Day 10's prompt is "Favorite Tie-In Fiction"

It's certainly backwards, but while there's certainly enough stories of folks reading the literature and then finding the game, I didn't read a lick of Lovecraft until I played Call of Cthulhu.

I feel reading most of his classic short stories will give players a sense of how they could optimally play the character, as well as giving notes to atmosphere and pacing for Keepers.  

Ten years Ago:  I shouted out that first quasi-RPG that I learned about RPGS, Car Wars - Battle Road