(Kickstarter) Girl Underground - Powered by the Apocalypse

Every once in a great while, I completely miss a good Kickstarter when I do my daily perusal of the new campaigns.  For Girl Underground - an RPG in Zine form (#ZineQuest), I obviously missed the little words beneath the title while I was scrolling on my phone.

Alice in Wonderland.   The Wizard of Oz.  Labyrinith

Sometimes you need to read the details:

From the Kickstarter page:
Girl Underground is a tabletop roleplaying game for 3–5 players about a curious girl in a wondrous world, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz, Spirited Awayand similar tales.

Follow a young girl’s journey of self-discovery through a whimsical fantasy land with the friends she meets along the way. Explore twisted, willowy woods filled with whisper-soft lies, or tricky fairy rings with riddling promises on the way to overthrow an unjust ruler, like the possessive Crowing King or the commanding Ringmistress.

The game uses a simple system built on the Apocalypse Engine—the same foundation for popular games Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts, and Night Witches.

Girl Underground is a low-prep game played either as a oneshot or a short campaign of 2–4 sessions. The game provides locations, side characters, and theme prompts to build a wondrous land tailored to each play experience. With little prep required, Girl Underground is perfect for convention games or game nights when you don’t have a full table.

The zine comes with five evocative playbooks: one for the Girl and each of her four companions. In short, this zine will give you a game that:
Works for 3–5 players, including a GM
Offers flexible pacing for a oneshot or 2–4 sessions
Uses the popular Apocalypse World system
Provides the materials to make it pick up and play
Sets out playbooks for the Girl and each of her companions

And $9 for the zine/pdf seems like a steal.

Gnome Houses at Dollar General

I swung into Dollar General this past weekend and discovered these Gnome Wars scale houses in the spring/garden section, for just a couple of bucks!

In my searching, I also discovered you can order an entire case of gnome houses from Dollar Tree, but I don't know the scale of them.

(Kickstarter) Kobolds Ate My Baby 20th Anniversary

Apparently #ZineQuest on Kickstarter is a thing, getting RPG material published in the zine form (because that's almost as trendy as those new bands coming out of Seattle).

9th Level Games has joined the fray, running a one week Kickstarter for the Kobolds Ate My Baby 20th Anniversary Edition.    

Ten bucks (USA S&H included) snags you a reprint of the original KAMB rules in the hideously wonderful orange cover.  

Alien Life Forms

I worried that Colonel Surdu over at Buck's Blog was suffering from a stroke with the oddly title "Phone Home and Eat Cats."  I come to find out his search for and discovery/painting of Alf figures (and some ETs for good luck):

The cottage industry that has the molds for these bad boys is L72 out of the UK.   The dude loves some dwarf-proportioned minis...

"Judge Alf" with friends

Alf-bacca

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #13 - Griffon's Cove

Griffon's Cove, Viscounty of Verbobonc

To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,

I must be honest with my Lord, I have been negligent with my correspondence, but enduring the rigors of being a wanted man and navigating back into Verbobonc have not afforded me sufficient time to pen a letter suitable for you to read it during your busy schedule.

We left Dolksford in haste, but with our equipment, our supplies, and the spoils we claimed from Old Illefarn.

While it may not favor me to claim such things if your taxmen are within sight of this letter, the "Order of Merit" and myself split well over two thousand gold coins between the five of us.  We were quick to discard of the miscellaneous gems and jewelry as a way to buy temporary safety or supplies, although I'm quite certain a qualified bounty hunter would work through most of these simple agreements with great ease.

We followed the Mer Nor Road south into the Barony of Valkurl.   I remember very little communication or commerce with our direct neighbor to the north and I can see why.  The Brinkerberg Mountains are cold, rocky, and windswept. Fearing Runholf and Melfarm each sending men against us, we passed at staying at the peculiarly named village of Buckkett in favor a small trail leading further into the mountains, and hopefully reaching the western boundary of Willip.

Overnight travel through the buffeting winds and sea mist led us to the the small mining town of Temton.  The five of us riding into this town must have been a peculiar site for this collection dwarves, gnomes, and humans, but the glitter of shiny gems to overpay for food and accommodations at least kept the talk away from our window.

It was at Temton that we managed to review our more precious spoils using Alwin's divination from our dearest Akana.

Morya's new battle axe from Old Illefarn was of fine dwarven craftsmanship and imbued with considerable arcane power.

Murag's suit of dwarf-size plate that he had smuggled out of crypts of Old Illefarn had similar qualities.

And my infernal stone?  Certifiably magical, creates or summons elemental beings of stone or earth, and the back portion which controls the creatures... is incomplete.  Like my time in Dolksford, I'll be using this item as a weapon of last resort, with well-marked escape routes.

We navigated through the mountains and finally reached the Barony of Willip.  A few troublesome encounters with wildlife pretending to be brigands (or hired men) made us stay out of Willip City, and actual brigand activity west towards Caltaran made me plead to my companions to take a side trek to reach home of Verbobonc.  The Old Gnarley Wood Road proved to have plenty of its own challenges.

After days of shortened rests making camp in the woods, we were delighted to see the small village of Griffon's Cove.  Consisting of little more than a few woodmen, trappers, and a provisioner, inn, and tavern crammed into something no bigger than a small barn, it was a welcome respite.

Some of the better-looking inhabitants of Griffon's Cove

It appears the guides and woodsman supplement their income by leading treasure seekers to some ruins of a Temple to Akana that may date back to the First Empire.

I'm not sure what to make of an enterprise to make a profit off of graverobbers, but if Alwin believes they aren't harming anything with their endeavors, I'll follow the priest's lead.

Of course, Alwin also may be suffering from the effects of our arduous journey.  He's slept most of the last day in the inn, only waking to devour a hearty dinner course with two ales, to sleep through the following morning.

Whit, the owner of the Griffon's Cove Inn, is a older man with crude spectacles, who provides a hearty meal and barely palatable grog for a cheap rate.  He also bestowed upon us with some healthy advice:  Turn around.

He has warned us that the next village west on the OId Gnarley Road is not to be trifled with.  I've never heard of it, but before this week, no one knew the Griffon's Cove existed either.  Whit says it's a river port, but full of vulgar boatsmen and scallywags.

I've been convinced by Whit to send this letter to My Honorable Lord, via a young man with a fast horse and a knack for evading trouble on the main River Road.

The rest of the group wishes to visit this village and continue our journey.  I'm unsure as to the outcome I wish, so I pray My Lordship receives this letter without delay.

Your Humble Servant

Elsderth Greyhawk
Sellsword and Sage of the Order of Merit

GM Notes:  A little more expansion of Ras-Prythax before heading back to Verbobonc with some campaign related stuff.  

Morya is wielding a Battle Axe +2, Morag smuggled out a dwarf-sized suit of Plate Mail +2, and Elsderth possesses a Stone of Earth Elemental Summoning with a small problem of controlling them.  

Next:  #14 - Nulb

(Savage Pulp) #3.5 Double Foiled

After a contentious election, a wall being constructed, and TWO hostile takeovers, the desert town of Sohai was finally back to normal under the rule of Lt Colonel Thaddeus Ovaltine.

Outside of their usual cut on business transactions, Ovaltine and his Rough 'n Ready Riders added one rule to the usually lawless town:  No gunfire.  His men were given specific instructions to fire on any individual discharging a firearm in plain sight.  It had taken months, but the factions agreed it was usually better to be stabbed in the back than gunned town in the marketplace with a Tommy gun.

If there were tracks in Sohai, this would be on the bad side of them.

Months ago, a team of German treasure hunters until the command of Colonel Wolfgang "The Gazelle" von Klockenspiel had arrived to join their European counterparts to find relics lost within the desert.   Rumors stated that they ran into some trouble with bandits outside of town and ran back to Berlin with their tails between their legs, but recent news told another story.

Klockenspiel and his minion Alfredo deBerg

Klockenspiel had discovered something out in the desert and managed to sneak it into town and hold onto it, for a number of months while his team researched it and coordinated its shipment back to Germany.

Realizing that any proper transport of any artifact resulted in multiple gangs descending on the truck, The Gazelle decided to secure a car, and with the help of mysteriously strong subordinate, Alfredo deBerg, decided to brave the streets of Sohai for a few blocks to reach the car and drive out of town.

It was a wise move, as only two groups caught wind of the activity

A group of wayward Russian sailors, led by the ever-shirtless Captain Kaputin.

And the old fanatics of Mayor Roland Tower. Leaderless for months, they finally fell into the Cult of the Sand Bat, led by deranged Englishman Jerome Livingstone.

As Livingstone dispatched his men to intercept the Germans, he spied an out of place individual hanging out on the edge of town.  Assuming the worst and having only a small repertoire of spells from the Sand Bat, he used one to try to befriend the man, with some initial success.

Meanwhile, one of the cultists spotted one of Ovaltine's questionable lieutenants on the edge of the market and attempted to parlay with him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the smartest of men, engaging the officer while he was decked out in full cultist garb, including hood.   Ovaltine's man made shockingly quick work of the ne'er do well.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the neighborhood, the new first mate, Oscar Yemfremov eyed one of the "European" diggers for hire and tried to shake him down for any info or rumors he had.

Ka-Boong!

That didn't work out either, although Oscar only suffered a whack with a shovel for his pushy behavior.

The other sailors successfully flanked the German and his overtly muscular henchman.  They drew weapons and tried to shoot deBerg, but one shot only emitted a tiny trickle of blood off his shoulder, and the second was so bad, the sailor accidentally shot a merchant in the back.

This alerted Ovaltine's sharpshooters manning the wall, and the Russians quickly realized that while they had good cover against their enemies in the small marketplace, they were sitting ducks for the snipers.  Two Russians quickly killed on the spot, and other scurried for cover.

Meanwhile, Doctor Livingstone politely introduced himself to the out-of-place man and struck up an unusually amicable conversation.  Before walking away, the man confirmed that the sedan around the corner was for Klockenspiel and that he would be arriving soon,

Livingstone waiting in the shadows.

One question the dear readers may have is, "Where in the world is Captain Kaputin?"

It appears the Captain saw the officer executing the cultist on the spot and proceeded to run over to him to admit finding more of those devious scoundrels around the corner in the marketplace.  The officer bought it hook, line, and sinker, and the duo dashed forward, just in time to run into said cultists.  

The battle was short, with no significant injuries, other than the cultists pride, as they scrambled back through the marketplace.

Back at the sedan, Klockenspiel jumped into the driver's seat, instructing deBerg to secure item to the back of the vehicle.  The mountain of a man complied.

Livingstone jumped out from around the corner and cast another friendship hex, trying to take control of the behemoth, but Alfredo deBerg was no over-muscled lout with a pea sized brain.  Even Livingstone doubling down on his god-given powers failed miserably, only succeeding in pissing off Alfredo.

Catching the cult leader off guard, Alfredo reared back and punched Livingstone so hard, it would have killed lesser men.  Livingstone flew backwards, rolled over, and began to run away, only to trip over the extended leg of the strange man from earlier.  Perhaps, they weren't as friendly as Livingstone originally thought.

Livingstone started the car and sped off through the town guard... destination: unknown.

By the time the officer and his newly assembled posse, led by Captain Kaputin, had surrounded two of the cultists, Alfredo deBerg rounded the corner, holding the unconscious body of Livingstone upside-down, by the ankle. 

Even before calculating a winner, it was simple to say that the German escaped, the cultists are essentially wiped out in town (one did escape), and Ovaltine and the Russians decided to begin colluding together.  

We're not quite sure which group will formally get the service musclebound Alfredo, but the biggest questions lay to that odd man Livingstone was talking to.   It was Bob Njano, long-time assistant to famed archaeologist Maja Millie, now-turned into his own heroic endeavors.   Unfortunately, not only did he provide essential data to the Sand Bat leader, but he also relayed the future home of the Klockespiel's discovery.  The Royal Swedish Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm.

This scenario was directly inspired by Almost Stolen Goods by Preacher by Day and concludes a largely villain-focused first half of the third season of our Pulp Game.

Our attention turns to the old reliable heroes enjoying a holiday in episode #3.6: Meanwhile, Back in Sweden.

(IOU) Buckshot Calvert

On highest of high American holidays (The Society of Neffs calls it Papuno Day), it is right and fitting that IOU gets their first #1 Moopsball recruit that didn't require bribery, murder, or simple subversion.

Celebrity College Moopsball Quarterback (4)
Driving Fast for Jesus (3)
Just a Good Ol' Boy (2)
Southern Fashion Icon (1)

While I like to mock internet sensations to exagerate their 15 minutes of fame, Stephen "Buckshot" Calvert is indeed a real person, the starting quarterback for the Liberty University football team.