Bay Area Champions -- Part 2: Showdown Over San Mateo

This is part 2 of a short story I wrote based on one of the many campaigns I played with my old gaming group in the SF Bay Area. Part 1 can be found here.

Showdown Over San Mateo

San Mateo is not known for its high-rises, so the cell of Bone Corps quislings and thralls based in that city had to make do with the tallest building available to them: the Townhouse Plaza.

Eyewitness accounts estimate the initial size of the expanding gate at fifty feet in diameter. It hovered several meters above the Townhouse Plaza penthouse, and thus was only accessible to heroes with flight capabilities.
At the time, San Mateo had only two such heroes. One was the mysterious Silent Shrike, and, of course, the Avatar of the Omega Bands and Champion of the Bay Area: Omega Man. But despite the steel-shattering strength of Omega Man, and the blinding speed of Silent Shrike, undead atrocities that escaped their attentions managed to make it to street level.

A decade later, it was Silent Shrike revealed in an interview that this was part of a plan. Each of them had fought a member of the Bones Corps before and suspected that the slavering undead hordes accompanying each Bone Corpseman were meant to attract metahuman attention and opposition for an insidious reason. As the laconic Braumeister succinctly put it: “They become stronger when they’re outnumbered.”

When the Bone Corpseman finally appeared, Silent Shrike fled the scene, allowing Omega Man to easily dispatch their undead foe.

Then the reserve sprang into action. Twin streams of high-caliber rapid-fire erupted from opposite sides of the building – courtesy of the deputized man-machine, David Raphael Vega, and the shadowy operative, Alexandra Raven – thinned the numbers of escaping undead vermin. Freddy Killowatt burst onto the scene and, in an explosion of sinuous scintilla, incinerated every foul beast in a two kilometer area before evaporating into a cloud of sparks. From atop a pillar of fire, Jesse Burning Mountain sent spirits of flame spiraling into the Bone Corps gate, turning several incoming waves of undead hordes to ash.

It was then that Krusader appeared, fired both grappling hook chains from his gauntlets and, with a howl of fury, catapulted himself into the Bone Corps gate.

Bound by some unspoken agreement, most of the heroes – led by Omega Man – followed Krusader through the gate. Only Silent Shrike, whose bionic wings had been damaged in the battle remained behind.

According to one Rebecca Smith, in a letter to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle with no return address, the Bone Corps gate did not simply evaporate after the heroes disappeared into it: “It had to be closed from this end, so I closed it. They will have to find another way home.”

Of course, not all of them did.

Bay Area Champions -- Part 1: Boneyards

This is the start of a short story I wrote based on one of the many campaigns I played with my old gaming group in the SF Bay Area. Only the names have been changed (somewhat) to protect the guilty and due to some artistic license. And Rob, consider this some of my long-delayed fiction for your project.

Boneyards

Most retrospectives and retellings of the Raid on Boa begin with Krusader’s investigation of a rash of grave robbing incidents. Earlywine’s bestselling book on Krusader and his contemporaries, Expediters and Deathdealers, correctly attributes many of the breakthroughs in this investigation to Krusader.

This was during his “private investigator” phase, when the vigilante-turned-hero had begun a mildly successful career as consulting detective, and had professed a marked aversion to the explosive displays of skillful puissance that bookended his colorful career.

As though graced by some manner of metahuman prescience or prior experience, and from only two known missing corpses at the time, he correctly divined the criteria of the body thieves: the remains of religious men from different faiths who’d fallen from grace and had committed suicide. He also correctly surmised that the Bone Corps, a legion of six hundred sixty-six undead powerhouses, was directing cells of necrotech-wielding worshippers to use the stolen bodies in a ritual for some unknown purpose. His zeal and thoroughness proved his undoing, however. By providing the authorities with a list of probable targets with disturbing completeness and unfolding accuracy, he cast sufficient suspicion on himself – leading to his temporary arrest.

His exoneration came too late, and despite the aid of his friends, a single shuddering gate of the Bone Corps was summoned into being over San Mateo, California.

New d6 Game: Astral Empires -- the RPG

I'm semi-aware of Astral Empires as a brand. I've seen the various products in my search for maps and ships and science fiction-based wargames. But the following title and description caught me off-guard over the weekend, and I'm tempted to grab it because of the low price point ($9.99 at the time of this writing):

Once in the ancient past (okay, the 1980s and early 1990s) there was an RPG that set the standard for cinematic science fiction gaming.  Many gamers got their start with this system only to see it fade away somewhat in recent years.  Now in the year 2011, OpenD6 returns to the stage to bring Astral Empires: The Roleplaying Game to life! 

Astral Empires: The Roleplaying Game combines an exciting new universe with the respected and established game system that once brought roleplaying to “a galaxy far, far away”.  In the deep, dark of space adventure lives again!  Included in this book are rules for the basic elements of the game, designing characters, combat, and background information about the Astral Empires galaxy during the 10,000 AD era.  Also available from Port Nova Media are the Galaxy Master's Guide and Technology Guide.

This tells me that they're basically going after the 'space opera' market that was once dominated by the science fantasy intellectual property juggernaut that was, and is, Star Wars -- at least as far as the old d6 game market is concerned.

I'm intrigued because I was one of those early adopters who picked up (and still have) the Star Wars RPG and Star Wars Sourcebook from the olden days and am a big fan.

Character creation was a breeze, the combat and skill resolutions were fast, and really fit the genre of the movies being emulated. I'm curious to see what they've done with it in this setting.

As for the setting itself, it seems massive, but I'm a bit confused as some of the wargames focus on 'humanity is alone for now' while others have multiple ship-building alien races (which may seem somewhat... familiar when you read about them) in the related wargaming releases. But I think they might do better if they shared a bit more about their setting in the write-up.

Granted, it may already have a following from those familiar with Kevin Monk's universe, but for other segments of the market, it may help to share a bit more.

Isle Imperium: Episode 1.13 -- the Ninth Number

Okay, well something like this -- only
thornier and more juggernauty.

Having managed to depart Proserpine’s demesne with their lives, the party (with CANIS VARAS) returns to the beach to rest, though not before trying out some of the items acquired from Lacadaemon’s lair.

The results are harrowing: DUMAS’S head is partially punctured by a possessive though not entirely unbeneficial circlet; VARIAN and ARCTURUS are compelled to enter into honorable combat in connection with Varian’s wearing the Armor of Concealment; ARCTURUS’S actions are rearranged by a helm which resists removal until he disdains equipping it the following day; and CATALINA is not only killed by the circlet associated with Dumas (then fortunately revived through her lifethorn), but finds herself in involuntary negotiation with a succession of the Idecca, who claim to have come in response to her requests for an escalating series of bottle cases.

Later, during the second watch of the night (after eating a crab cleansed of blue by Catalina; and after ALINA and ROGELIO have likewise retired), ALECTO, Dumas, and Varian are remotely beseeched to come to the assistance of the Watchful Warder and its mount, TERENTIUS. They acquiesce and quickly find themselves helping the man against a construct called the Thornsmith Juggernaut. Through a series of accords, they are able to break the Juggernaut open, revealing an Oriental-attired man within who, surprisingly civilly, proceeds to concede the battle to Terentius. After each has chosen his respective claim resulting from the combat (Terentius, his fallen comrades; and the man, his Juggernaut), the unnamed man departs and Terentius thanks the trio and avows that his number owes theirs a favor, thereafter sending them back to their companions.

Soon after everyone has awoken and been apprised of what occurred, MANTIUS receives a summons in his office as Renegade Warder. He is given the opportunity to take three of his comrades with him; and so it is that Mantius, Aly, Catalina, and Varian meet the Diamond Blood Cloak Warder, who greets them all cordially and, in recognition of their success in obtaining the Eye of Pluto, elevates their number to Ninth in the hierarchy of the Army of Shards, displacing the group formerly in that position. He then proceeds to invite the warders of the eight numbers above them to come meet the new number, each warder bringing along three of his or her own group. The shards and bearers who therefore attend are:

The Eighth
Veda (female) mounted by the Intrepid Warder
Clemens (m) mounted by the Saint of Widows
Bartolomus (m) mounted by the Unbound Warder 
Torrence (m) mounted by The Simple Man

The Seventh
(male) mounted by
Barnabus (m) mounted by the Keeper of the Fourth Flame
Andras (m) mounted by the Paragon of Will
Ezekius (m) mounted by the Thunderbreaker

The Sixth
Urich (male) mounted by
Lucia (f) mounted by the Accomplished Grey Opportunist
Ricius (m) mounted by the Accomplished Thornsmith Sage
Cornelius (m) mounted by the Accomplished Rumormonger

The Fifth
(male) mounted by
Hereus (m) mounted by the Accomplished Seismic Juggernaut
Crispianus (m) mounted by the Accomplished Feylight Harrower
Josias (m) mounted by the Accomplished Aurora Talon

The Fourth
Cinelis (female) mounted by
Danielus (m) mounted by the Accomplished and Essential Scarab Monk
Sextus (m) mounted by the Accomplished and Essential Runic Titan
Aloysius (m) mounted by the Accomplished and Essential Cerulean Warder

The Third
Terentius (male) mounted by the Watchful Warder
Yvgeris (m) mounted by the Accomplished and Essential Tempest Mage
Megaera (f) mounted by the Accomplished and Essential Ravencloak Walker
Ionis (m) mounted by the Accomplished Thrice-Crowned Prince

The Second
Elinora (female) mounted by the Black Greave Warder
Fida (f) mounted by the Accomplished Faceless Queen
Caritas (f) mounted by the Accomplished and Essential Glaive Vanguard
Helena (f) mounted by the Accomplished Gilded Cannoneer

The First
(male) mounted by the Tearstained Warder
Lady Adria (f) mounted by the Paladin of Last Chances
Lord Hanor (m) mounted by the Accomplished and Essential Caged Penitent
Senator Patrikus (m) mounted by the Cyclopean Grenadier

Most of the numbers leave quickly once courtesies are performed, but the third number stays behind when Terentius evidently accedes to MEGAERA’S request to be allowed to speak to her younger sister, Alecto. Aly infers that Meg had some sort of falling out with their eldest sister Tisiphone, which led the former to leave home some time after Aly’s own departure. All members of both groups seem to be getting on well enough until Aly mentions to Meg that she finds Terentius attractive, which, combined with Catalina’s display of charm in Terentius’s direction, clearly discomfits Megaera and causes her to urge the third number’s immediate departure.

Meanwhile, the Diamond Blood Cloak Warder has been in conversation for some little while with the chauvinistic warder encountered previously by Catalina. Despite the chauvinist warder’s sudden turnabout—explaining that he had been testing Catalina’s comportment when she was bearing the Harmonic Warder—he is severely chastised by his superior officer and eventually stripped of much of his power and demoted to the sixtieth rank of numbers.

After being informed by the Diamond Blood Cloak Warder that (a) they will soon be audited, (b) he will send them a new mission in 24 hours, and (c) they should be aware of the problem they face in the Harmonic Warder, they are returned to the beach, where it is not long before they are contacted in quick succession by three numbers of the circle of ten, each seeking a trade of shards, as follows:

1. The Sixth comes in desperate need of a ‘terra’ shard; the party obliges trades them the Stone Mage for the Oracle of Equinox.
2. The Fourth comes in search of fire, blue, or bardic shards; the party is unable to oblige.
3. The Eighth, including Spectral Bowyer Banisa (?) seeks healing and/or summoning shards, and accepts the party’s counteroffer of the Ivory Mage, Cyclopean Nuncio, and Saint of Eaves in exchange for the Meridian Walker, Daughter of Passion, and Opalescent Mage.

New Game: Agents of S.W.I.N.G.

Well, this a bit odd. As I've been working on the series of Genre Mining posts on espionage -- a new game has appeared on RPGNow that's currently at the top of the list of bestsellers.

It's called Agents of S.W.I.N.G. and is apparently a Fate-powered game system meant to emulate the types of spy movies and TV shows from the 60s and 70s.

I heard that it was really popular at a convention in the UK, and the cover looks very reminiscent of the James Bond / I Spy / The Avengers opening sequences.

I have no idea how good it is in terms of mechanics, setting, or genre resources.

It does look interesting though, but that could just be because it's heavy on my mind now.

Genre Mining: The Differentiated Duo

Since we’re looking at mining the spy movie / TV show genre, it makes sense to look at examples of protagonists that number more than one (as in the Lone Spy / Super-Spy campaign premise) because, well, we normally have more than one PC when gaming.

Duo Dynamics

Having two regulars as the primary protagonists works well, because the tendency is to have the two characters capable in all the areas they’re expected to be good (much in the same way that the Lone Spy is a well-rounded agent) but normally those two are differentiated in different ways.

Some of the classic TV shows are good examples of this:


I Spy

The two characters involved were Kelly Robinson (played by Robert Culp) as an international tennis player and Alexander “Scotty” Scott (played by Bill Cosby) as his tennis coach. Both are considered equal agents, with Culp’s Robinson being slightly more senior.

However, Cosby’s Scott was a multi-lingual conservative Rhodes scholar, while Culp’s Robinson was a more athletic, think-on-his-feet agent closer to the mold of James Bond. Both were portrayed as mature adults, however, and tended to make poignant observations as often as they dropped light-hearted witticisms. And the banter and chemistry (on and off screen) between the two were fantastic.

Of note is also the cover story: I really found the cover story here – tennis players – refreshing. Including that in a game premise adds a layer of Bruce Wayne / Batman to the story, instilling a layer of tension (keeping a cover story during a mission) in the course of the game.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Here we have Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin as field agents for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.)  -- an agency with agents from all corners of the globe apparently acting in the interests of the world at large.

Solo is suave, confident, with a relaxed style of charisma. Kuryakin is enigmatic, thoughtful, and intensely guarded.

In addition, both would subtly and boldly push forward the ideological premises of their native countries in the course of their missions while remaining heroic and intensely professional.

The Avengers

There were several teams of the British Avengers TV show, but the ones that I really saw were the John Steed – Emma Peel and the John Steed – Tara King duos.

For me, the most memorable formula is the experienced professional + talented amateur combination personified by the John Steed and Emma Peel period of the series.

John Steed is the picture of the classic British gentleman: impeccably dressed, outwardly conservative, seldom perturbed, incredibly knowledgeable, effortlessly cultured, and – of course -- skilled in a variety of agent skills: combat, vehicles, etc.

Emma Peel is one of the early feminist heroines that broke the damsel-in-distress mold: strong, independent, a master of multiple combat disciplines, a genius in various scientific arenas, and constantly dressed in far-from-conservative outfits that – to this day – hold her up as a fashion icon.

Summary

In essence, having a duo allows the players to have player character who are more or less equal (an certainly capable of taking on a mission on their own) yet allowing some space to differentiate themselves from one another NOT in terms of capability but in terms of style, personality, and focus.

Top Secret Potential Characters in Sprechenhaltestelle

I unearthed my old Top Secret modules and rulebooks and found the following names that you may wish to use as NPC names and aliases for your modern campaign in the Sprechenhaltestelle module.

Assassins
"The Silencer" - a gentleman and scholar
"Kingbreaker" - a not-so-nice guy
"Shark" - ex-marine, ex-bouncer, pool hustler
"Dr. Firestone" - explosives expert
"Omega" - last person victims see

Confiscators
"Pigeon" - ex-con prisons expert
"Whitecollar Harry" - computer / electronics expert
"Green Thumb" - counterfeiter
"Fingers" Malone - master of sleight of hand
Wes Smith - firearms and ammo provider

Investigators
"The Inquisitor" - veteran investigator
"Glass Eyes" - typical window-watcher
"Ratchet" - safecracker
Lafayette True, righter of wrongs
Melville Sharp, wronger of rights

I really liked these intro characters, though I was more mystified by the module than I was for any D&D intro modules. Is there some inherent difficulty in running the espionage genre as opposed to the fantasy genre (at least for the very young)?

Good or Bad, she's got the gun. (reconstructed)

My original blog post was lost by Blogger during their fubar over the last few days. So here are the pics and what I remember of my post.

As I said before, I've shifted focus from the Western genre to some more modern ones, and I wanted to celebrate that fact by posting some pics of local cosplay celebrity Alodia Gosiengfiao. She makes a mean Baroness.

And I also said before that I never realized it, but the Baroness has this subtle hot teacher / hot librarian thing going for her. Aside from the gun, that is.

Genre Mining: Solos and Super-Spies

One of the earliest RPGs I ever
owned.

When I first began thinking about tackling this genre, what struck me was the wide variety of inspirations available for it -- all of which add to and muddle up the understanding of it. Furthermore, there are related genres that sometimes cross over (plausibly) into the same space as the espionage genre, confusing things further.

Before we go on, therefore, I'd like to take some time to explore my understanding and classification of some of these sub-genres, meta-genres, uber-genres, etc. But instead of arguing genre, I'd like to tackle them as distinct campaign premises, and explore them from the point of view of creating an RPG campaign around that campaign premise.

So here's the first one:

The Lone Spy / Super Spy

James Bond is naturally the first character one thinks of when talking about the espionage genre. Suave, debonair, and deadly, Mr. Bond has enjoyed numerous novels, a slew of movies, and a ton of imitators. He is also -- appropriately -- a good example of the lone spy that becomes a super spy.

A lone spy is surprisingly close to real life espionage, but different enough to be enjoyable in play. Does anyone really want to play the role of a deep cover mole, spending years of life in obscurity waiting to be activated? Well you could, in a one-shot adventure. But it's not much of a campaign.

Instead, you get to play the operative sent into the field with a prepared cover story and fake IDs. You're out to gather intelligence, to meet up with assets, to counter the agendas of enemy agents, to secure valuable prototypes or to sabotage the plans of your enemies. You don't get to carry weapons unless they fit in with your cover story. You don't get a neat gadget from your Tech division each mission you go out on.

This is exactly what we see of Bond in the movie Dr. No: he isn't an expert in all things yet; he doesn't get multiple super-spy gadgets yet; and he comes across as M's classic "blunt instrument".

Subsequent films, including the respectable run of the Roger Moore era, he truly becomes the quintessential super-spy: a polymath capable of correcting the so-called experts; a martial savant displaying impressive training in a variety of combat disciplines and equipment (how many vehicles is he qualified to drive or pilot in combat anyway?). And he seems to have a ridiculous budget for his gadgets. God only knows why he keeps dropping his name -- the entire espionage community knows it!

Ridiculousness aside, he's not superhuman. He has his frailties, not the least of which is the tendency to die if he's shot in the head or dropped from a great height. He actually comes across like an RPG character who's been played for years and has garnered so much experience that he doesn't quite now where to spend it.

Of course, a lone spy doesn't have to become a super spy. Patrick McGoohan's Dangerman / Secret Agent Man character John Drake remained solidly in the lone spy genre throughout the series. Not only that, every episode was nail-bitingly tense -- certainly not the escapist, wish-fulfillment stuff of Bond. But it was just as entertaining a different way, though marathoning it might lead to stress.

And based on the difficulties that he encountered during those missions -- difficulties brought on by his opponents and his employers -- it's no wonder he resigned and became The Prisoner. (Not official but it's clear it was meant to be the same character.)

Anyway, as a campaign premise it can be pretty limited. It's a two player campaign (GM and Player), possibly more, but all other Players get to be supporting characters who don't necessarily continue into the next mission. What if they want their own chance in the limelight?

Well, that leads us into the next campaign premise: the Differentiated Duo.

Isle Imperium: Buying Shard Abilities

In one of my posts, I mentioned the early shards that our group carried around.

However, what wasn't clear about those shards and their importance in that post is that you can "buy" abilities from them. These abilities form your 'pool' of abilities whenever you're 'sharded'.

For example:

Mantius has no abilities, but wears the shard Ossis Potior (Bone Collector). This shard gives him the following abilities:

Actions -- must be triggered conscsiously
1 - turn undead (essentially a variant on the classic turning of undead)
2 - command undead (similar mechanic to turn undead, but allows simple commands to be issued)
3 - ossiary (allows the collection of a specific bone from the undead creature which grants special abilities to Ossis Potior)
4 - defiance (ridiculously powerful ability for such a basic version of the shard -- full heal 1x per combat)

Supports -- always on
1 - heart + 1 (bonus to one of the attributes in our homebrew game system)
2 - sleep ward (awakens when enemies enter a given area when the shard bearer is asleep)

Reactions -- trigger when near death
1 - deadeye (double damage to all melee strikes to undead)

Once I've 'purchased' all these abilities with a currency I'll discuss later, these abilities can still be available to me when I wear a different shard like Sanomagus (White Mage) or Pandus Phantasmis (Phantom Archer).

However, there is a limit to the number of Actions, Supports, and Reactions you can have at a given time -- so while your pool may be large, if you don't 'purchase' more slots in each of these areas, your flexibility is still limited.

Fading Suns: More New Blog Posts

In the April 23, 2011 post of the Fading Suns blog "The Reborn Sun", we are treated to a summary of the content and changes that we can expect regarding the Starships of this 3rd edition of the ruleset.

First and foremost, we learn that the wargame set in the Fading Suns universe titled A Call to Arms: Noble Armada is in fact NOT built to overlap with this ruleset -- two different rulesets by two different game developers.

Next, we learn that ship reactors constitute a larger part of ship combat and operations than in prior editions. I assume energy allocation and "running the reactor hotter" will be dynamics that will be explored in this type of mechanic.

And from Fading Suns 1st Edition, the idea of a limited number of jumps for a ship before it needs an overhaul is brought back (primarily to enhance the Age of Sail feel, though I'm sure that stopping a ship from zooming about the Known Worlds limited only by jumpgate keys was another consideration).

Lastly some modifications have been made to make sure that building ships are easier (from a meta-perspective) and allowing for some degree of uniqueness in ship design.

Crap -- Blogger Isn't Working. The Editor Just Keeps Loading! BRB!

Emergency over -- seems like Blogger has fixed things.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog.

(update -- 13 and 14 May 2011)

Well, I guess not. All day 13 May 2011 (philippine time), Blogger was moved back to an earlier backup (I suppose) and inaccessible. When it finally became available this morning -- 14 May 2011 (philippine time) -- one of my blog posts had no text or images, but retained its Stats and the images were still available on Picasa!

Had to reconstruct it, but lost the comments. Oh well. Hope that's over with.

Western RPGs (Weird and Otherwise)

First up is Roberson Games' Weird West which, at the time of this writing, seems to be battling with Cthonian Stars as RPGNow's top-selling product. Which could be because it's priced at $1, in addition to the somewhat niche genre positioning -- not just a Western RPG, but a Weird Western RPG. Hopefully good for games involving strangeness and horror in the Wild West.

Or even Science Fiction and comedy ala Brisco County, Jr. and the original Wild Wild West TV show.

I'm not really sure about the quality, so will have to do a bit of review reading and scouring the web for any reviews or website previews on the content.

The cover art is of interest, but not enough to make me jump yet. Game mechanisms seem to be on the light side, if the game description is to be believed.

Western City is of interest to me primarily because it's published by RedBrick, who has taken on RPG properties like Fading Suns, Earthdawn, and Blue Planet; all of which have my interest as well. Hoping that their taste in quality settings is sustained here.

Wild West Cinema caught my attention because it's quite obviously an RPG focused on a non-historical western setting, and one geared towards replicating the setting and feel of the spaghetti western. This is of particular interest as well, because -- in my youth -- I was quite taken not only by American Westerns and these spaghetti westerns, but also by local Philippine westerns -- hats, guns, and horses in places that seem to include both jungle scenery and deserts for their backdrops. One of my first published short stories, "Gunsaddled", was essentially a weird western set in a Philippine-inspired setting.

I'd be remiss in my duties if didn't mention the ultra-mega-mega-weird-western RPG in the industry: Deadlands. I've never picked it up before for a somewhat superficial reason: I didn't feel the art matched my view of a western, no matter how weird. It always seemed a bit stylized, and not gritty enough. Perhaps this is because of my personal tastes and views on western art (that until I began writing this paragraph, I didn't know I had).

Or perhaps because it felt like it might be too weird for my tastes?

Now, however, it's time to take a look at the the offering squarely to see what it has to offer.

The RPG Gunslingers and Gamblers is one that I did purchase, and it's chock full of western historical and genre source material, lots of excellent (and I think public domain) western art that all seem to be paintings.

As an aside, this is my preferred aesthetic for western art, in addition to the semi-realistic art for the comic the 6th Gun, and the Tim Bradstreet approach to some characters in Shadowrun -- so this may color my appreciation quite a bit.
It also reminded me of another RPG whose name escapes me now -- and I'm not sure why. It had a fantastic gunslinging mechanic: to-hit + hit location + initiative all in one roll. Name escapes me now, alas -- it was back in high school that I played it, so it was probably lost in the mess of RPGs that came out in the 80s. I think it was called Desperados.

From Gold Rush Games, who made one of the definitive feudal Japan RPGs (the award-winning Sengoku), came Gunslingers: Wild West Action. As a fan of Sengoku and the City of San Angelo, I'm eager to see the rich source material and playable setting that I've come to expect from them.

From Mongoose, OGL Wild West has piqued my curiosity, but the price point is holding me back.

Last but not least, Simon Washbourne's Go Fer Yer Gun! is also on the potential reading list. At $2.50 and inspired by the SIEGE engine of Castles & Crusades, it's a steal!

I'm sure there a plenty of other books out there -- but all these ones appear to have electronic versions on RPGnow. Given my preference now for ebooks and online purchase (and instant gratification), they're the priority.

Isle Imperium: Episode 1.12 -- The Goddess Proserpine

As the party sleeps, MANTIUS experiences something like a dream in which he has a conversation with the shard Ossis Potior (Bone Collector). The shard explains that Mantius’s fortunate son shard ability was most likely instrumental in their surviving the encounter with the chaos courtier Avaunt, and further, passes on the benefit of experience that he earned battling certain creatures of the island -- which were apparently drawn to the party due to VARIAN’S wearing the shard Barbas Magus -- during their conversation.

Mantius awakens to pass this experience around; and CATALINA dons the shard Concinnarium Vigilo (Harmonic Warder) in order to make their report to the warder overseers. Unfortunately, the one she happens to face turns out to be strongly prejudiced against females and so does not provide any useful advice or information toward fulfilling their quest to acquire the Eye of Pluto under the new circumstances. The party returns to slumber, and Mantius updates Ossis Potior on what has occurred.

While Rogelio and Alina remain at the beach to continue building a boat, the party explores the island, finding and opening up a cave entrance sealed with rocks. They soon realize that it is filled with various sorts of undead—in particular, a large scuttling creature on the ceiling—and after ALECTO survives the death gaze of two vaguely female creatures and Varian risks his life to acquire a heap of treasure embedded in the edge of the abyss that bisects the cavern ‘floor’ (which is really composed of bones and undead scorpions), Mantius opens a gate to return them closer to the entrance of the cave, and they hurry back out of what they later learn to be the lair of one Lacadaemon, who uses treasure to lure and trap his prey.

Following some degree of gloating over their new acquisitions, they continue their explorations, in the course of which they spot a small house and an orchard within an area of surprisingly good soil. Venturing therein, they make the acquaintance of the lady of the house, Honoria, and her talking dog, CANIS VARAS. After politely declining Honoria’s offer of food and drink, and then bribing the dog with olives grown by Catalina in her capacity as the mount of the shard, the accomplished Silvamanus (Thorn Thumb), they eventually realize that ‘Honoria’ is in fact the goddess PROSERPINE, in a sense the original daughter of sorrow, whom they believe the goddess Eris meant to receive the apple she gave them, hopefully as sort of a countermeasure against the Blue.

Despite the goddess’s resistance to the idea, she is finally persuaded to take the apple when Aly mentions Eris’ assertion that the god Mars has also been infested. Proserpine orders the party to leave the premises, but they are unable to do so and thus remain to witness the confrontation between the queen of the underworld and her summoned lover, the god of war. Upon managing to elicit a confession of sorts from the latter that he was responsible for letting Chaos into their world as part of his bid to win both the Underworld and its queen, Proserpine deceives him into ingesting part of Eris’ apple, causing a massive outrush of blue from the god’s being. Having earlier exposed the cowering party members in their hiding places, the enraged but evidently weakened Mars swears vengeance—hopefully just on Proserpine but don’t hold your breath—and departs.

Having protected the group from her former lover, Proserpine then proceeds to threaten them with blinding, mutilation, dismemberment, and a good deal worse if they so much as think of relating what they have seen. They swear a solemn oath not to do so, and she grants them the Eye of Pluto (a large opal that she once gave as a gift to her husband), with the admonition that she was impressed by them, not their shards, and so they had better ensure that their superiors do not think to use her gift against her and those she considers hers. Further, she punishes Canis Varas for revealing her identity by revoking her gifts of human speech and intelligence, and banishes him from her presence.

The triumphant but very cowed party walks backward out of her domain, accompanied by the dog.

Mining the 6th Gun: Friends and Posses

I suppose one of the strongest reasons to adopt the elements of the Weird Western setting is the way it deals with friends and parties of adventurers.

Posses

A sheriff can call together a group of people to aid in law enforcement. Presumably, this little legal (and cultural) practice -- along with the concept of closeness to the people you ride with -- doesn't strain credulity when a party needs to be formed for various expeditions.

On the frontier, it's not like there loads of people. Sometimes you gotta settle for that shifty, but surefooted guy who's Billy's friend or Sally's brother -- because there ain't no other people skilled enough to bring. And sometimes you build up a professional closeness to people you don't like, because you ride with them.

And it's not just the PCs either. Other groups of people -- perhaps people who all served under a leader during a war -- would ultimately gravitate together to carve out their own lives in the shadow of the growing power of the 'nation' along the frontier.

Friends

Of course, friendship is key to a lot of westerns. It's hard to force into the natural flow of a typical adventure, but true friendship is often tested in all the westerns -- sometimes against trials, sometimes against principles -- and it's a solid reason to build ties between characters AND to perhaps bring them back from the dead.

It's not just in the 6th Gun. It was a key motif in the movie Tombstone between Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) and Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell).

Friendship is a reason to risk your life, to question what you believe in, and -- yes -- it's definitely a reason for revenge.

And while we're on the subject: here's to true friends everywhere.

Freetrader Beowulf, what was that about -- tentacles?

Just a quickie post here. Traveller + Cthulhu. Yeah! Stars Without Number conversion is probably really easy too -- maybe that's what caused the Scream in the SWN setting, eh? Check this out:

2159 AD. It is a good time to be alive. The nations of the world still exist, but they have become more civilized, and we have expanded into the rest of our solar system. But, alas, it is not to be our time. Something approaches, a thing on an orbit from far away. Seemingly a large shard of dark matter, this object is known in obscure prophecy as the Chthonian Star. It is awakening things long thought lost or dead, things that have slumbered awaiting its return. The Unified World Council sends out special teams of sanctioned Wardens, whose job it is to ascertain the new threats to human life, to learn everything they can about them, and fight them wherever they are found.

Chthonian Stars is an original Lovecraftian horror setting for Traveller.

This Core Setting Book:

• Provides a detailed exploration of our fully colonized solar system, only a few hundred years in the future.
• Introduces exciting new optional character design rules, including advantages and disadvantages, as well as career half-terms.
• Introduces new rules for fear and madness, as well as optional rules for character survivability.
• Brings to life many familiar Lovecraftian horrors for Traveller, as well as a host of new and original ones.
• Details more than a dozen new spaceships.
• Includes three ready-to-run adventures, to get groups running quickly.
• From the award-winning team that brought you CthulhuTech.

Mining the 6th Gun: The Strange and the Familiar

Because we're looking at the weird western as an inspiration, it may help us reformulate our views of the traditional fantasy setting in comparison to it.

Humanoid Tribes

Most generic campaigns have hordes of goblins, orcs, and kobolds running around in clans making some folks wonder why they don't just overrun the nearby civilizations. Westerns in general give us an answer: Native American tribes and rival gangs of outlaws (organized or not). Sure, some of them worked together -- but often times they did not, and even fought against one another, allowing some (but not all) towns and villages to survive and even thrive as the various military and civilian bastions of civilization eventually extended their influence.

It even allows us to showcase these non-human races in a sympathetic light, while retaining that "otherness" essential to a weird western. They can even drop hints about some dangers that strangers to their lands are unaware of.

Of course, this has been done before in a number of supplements. But it may help to keep in mind the historical roots and genre tropes for a good grasp of what to do in unusual situations.

Creatures Fierce and Fantastic 

Some of these dangers are traditional fantasy creatures, twisted to fit the western setting. The 6th Gun has animated skeletons, earth golems, gryphons, werewolves, and loa but tweaked to fit western sensibilities.

The skeletons are resurrected from the graves of dead soldiers and fortune seekers, the earth golems are animated by the souls of those killed by one of the gun artifacts, werewolves are mentioned in passing, while loa (and the bokors that serve them) are given more significance.

Of course, my favorite treatment was of the Lightning Gryphon as a dangerous hazard along a deadly path -- and hinted at as an inspiration for the Native American myth of the Thunderbirds. Much like the meme earlier this year about a fresh take on old monsters, mashing up D&D monsters with the old West can surprise and reinvigorate well-worn monster tropes.

Mining the 6th Gun: Monstrous Men

It's actually quite easy to handle the classic trope of encountering 'opponents of increasing toughness' in this genre, though you don't have to be ultra-predictable.

With the assumption that you and your adventuring party have come into possession of one of more of these cursedly powerful weapons, there is one binding core motivation of your human (and near-human) opponents: they want the guns (or whatever form these weapons have taken in your campaign).

Hired Goons

These are the hired help, who are tasked with killing the current keepers of the weapons. They're capable of wielding weaponry, but aren't necessarily that skilled, cunning, or courageous. And they tend to get mowed down quite a bit by the PCs.

Hired Guns

These are professionals who serve the big boss (or one of his lieutenants). They are considered exceptional in some way, and perhaps have some renown in one particular skill or in a particular area.

However these guys -- while capable and reliable -- can still get killed. They're also nowhere near as dangerous as the higher-ups in the food chain. They're most dangerous as canny and cautious, and very skilled at finding out information that is passed on to their masters.

Wildcards

You can consider these jokers to play in the range of power level between the Hired Guns and the Lieutenants. Normally loners, but possessed of a unique set of skills, they are placed in the adventure to act as foils to the PCs. They can help or hinder them, and may in fact do both because they are after the guns not because they want them for themselves, but because they wish to profit from the acquisition (either by selling the guns or trading them with others for favors).

Needless to say, they tend to meet their just rewards if they ultimately choose the less virtuous path.


Lieutenants

These are the right-hand men (and women) of the big boss. They have special abilities that set them apart from most mortals, such as being tougher and capable of dealing greater damage to opponents.

They may still have some character flaws, but are seldom struck by outright cowardice -- and even if they are, they are tempted to stay or hide and double-back when fortunes favor them due to a streak of pure malice.

The Big Boss

Driven, Fearless, Powerful, Cunning, and Charismatic. That's the big boss. Capable of holding and commanding the loyalty of a small band of villains and cutthroats of consummate skill in his thrall, and possessed of big plans for the guns and the rewards that they promise.

Taking him down is never easy -- and he never seems to stay down forever.

Worse than that, if any of his lieutenants escape, they tend to have ways of bringing this nasty piece of work back from the dead! And if that isn't an option, sometimes the dark patrons who granted him is powers aren't happy with the incomplete nature of his work -- and send him back more or less the same personality-wise, but usually a whole lot more dangerous and with a lot more power and resources at his beck and call.

Isle Imperium: Episode 1.11 -- The Advent of Avaunt

At least he's still alive, yes?

As the party enters the portal to the Underworld, the goddess ERIS is ambushed and possibly killed by a figure with blue tinged skin.

Having been separated during the passage, but then reunited through the gold ‘threads’ linking their shards, the party members make their way forward, where they soon find the great dog CERBERUS, badly beaten, with one eye missing, a dislocated jaw, and a puncture in one of its foreheads. Nevertheless the guardian remains alive, and they are pondering how to get past him when a man calling himself AVAUNT, obviously a representative of Chaos and possibly Eris’ attacker, makes his presence felt.

After addressing them with no small degree of contempt, Avaunt manifests a blue gauntlet, which he uses to strip them of their active and carried shards, all except the ones carried by MANTIUS. Something appears to alert him of the possibility that they may carry more shards, but ARCTURUS misleads him by instead presenting the broken Vitualamen ex Vesperis. Avaunt orders all the others to leave, and VARIAN, DUMAS, and Mantius do just that, in order to safeguard the remaining shards.

After a peculiar moment where Avaunt seems bothered in some way by Arc’s proximity, the Chaos lord mentions that he is really more irked by the lack of a proper welcome for him by his own advance party, and lets Arcturus go, on the condition that he tells his superiors that “Avaunt has arrived and is setting his house in order”. The remaining trio accordingly scuttles away, but not before CATALINA notices a sort of ghostly image of the Mentis Scientia and Parvulus Mentis shards behind them.

After much argument, the regrouped and resharded party elects to go back in search of the stripped shards, notwithstanding their apparent earlier destruction. Through Arc’s use of the Concinnarium Vigilo to harmonize Dumas’s abilities as Literamagus and Varian’s as Palaestra, they are able to recover not just six of their eleven shards, but another six evidently lost by another set of shard bearers in the Underworld. As they are accomplishing the latter, Avaunt apparently catches wind of them, but Arc is able to this time trigger Mantius’s abilities as Barbas Lux in order to open a gate for them back to the beach.

At the beach, Dumas realizes that the gate is still somehow open and Avaunt is watching them, but the factor is able to make himself ‘overheard’ in such a way that the Chaos lord’s attention is soon turned elsewhere and the gate closes.

Looking for their companions, the group finds a prone and blue tinged ROGELIO lying alone on the sand. Dumas, Catalina, and Varian go in frantic but thankfully successful search of ALINA, who has managed to use the Mirror Magus shard from Rogelio’s number to hide herself. The less fortunate Rogelio has been infested and turned into some sort of undead creature; and ALECTO, Mantius, and Arc are about to put the man out of his misery when he awakens, apparently still in command of his facilities. After some debate, they decide to try and save him by putting the Cepi Adunatio shard on him, which leads to further confusion as Arc realizes that, in order to do this, he must ask permission from Alina, who has now become officially recognized as a member of Rogelio’s number rather than of their own. Alina hesitates but is eventually persuaded, primarily by Varian.

Rogelio is saved, and he and Alina come to understanding as to the pro tem nature of her membership in his party. Aly satisfies her curiosity about the corpse of a tentacled creature further down the beach, and the party settles down to rest at last.

Mining The 6th Gun: Weapons of Dark Purpose

One nasty set of guns being handed out to one nasty set of gunslingers.

The Western

When you're talkin' westerns and cowboys, you think: cowboy hat, horse, and guns. And since the guns are a key element of this genre, it makes sense to talk about the titular 6th Gun -- or rather the set that the 6th gun belongs to.

The Weird


Of course, since this is a weird western this set of six guns are weird too. Apocalyptically weird.

[SPOILER WARNING]

Some may argue that much of this is backstory to the main plot, it's not really spoiler-y. But others may take issue with that, hence the spoiler warning.

The guns act like artifacts in the fantasy genre. It's strongly suggested that they are immune to damage, and give their bearers special powers -- and it's strongly suggested that it warps the minds of their bearers. Then again, it's also shown that most people after the guns are already pretty warped.

All gunbearers become tougher to kill, and the guns themselves have unlimited ammo and do more damage than regular guns. Of course, each gun is unique provides different abilities:

• one gun inflicts the damage of a howitzer;
• another gun burns its targets with hellfire;
• a third gun kills its opponents with a fast-spreading and ultimately fatal pestilence;
• a fourth gun can bring back all its victims as strange earth golems in the thrall of the gunbearer;
• a fifth gun grants regenerative immortality and eternal youth -- as long as you're holding the gun;

The titular 6th gun grants visions of the future -- sometimes immediate, sometimes distant.

Are they powerful? Yes. Game-breakingly so? No, not really -- just enough to grant artifact status, but it is possible through sufficient cunning and / or combat skill to kill the current bearer. Of course, if you touch the weapon, it then becomes bonded to you in the manner of D&D cursed weapons. Heck, it burns those it doesn't belong to, necessitating the whole 'kill the current bearer' action.

It a straight fantasy setting, you can turn these weapons into swords -- perhaps even identical looking ones, much like the guns -- so that when they're encountered, one can never be too sure which one it is. Or you can make them mauls or spears or any other weapon you choose: in the comic it's suggested they change their forms to match the time period.

Like any plot device, these guns have another purpose. Originally, they were reputedly the key to untold wealth in a vault. Of course, given their power and sinister nature, smart money says that reward will be something far less mundane...

Inspiration: The 6th Gun

I follow a variety of comic book series, but not all of them are in the superhero genre. One of them is a weird western series by Oni Press called The 6th Gun.

What's the series about? Well, here's the series premise from the site:

During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. In time, the Sixth Gun, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished. When the gun surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way.

So, why exactly do I bring this up? I do have a fascination with westerns, primarily due to their influence on my during my childhood here in the Philippines (another topic for another day) -- but that's not why I bring it up. I bring it up because weird westerns are a fantastic inspiration source for fantasy campaigns. Look at the series premise again, with certain words changed:

During the darkest days of the Spellsword War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six blades of otherworldly power. In time, the Sixth Blade, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished. When the blade surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the blade and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a swordfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way.

As you can see, it's a premise and setting that can be mined for many things useful in your fantasy campaigns -- lawless areas, many skilled fighters and mages looking for work after a war, and new frontiers. I'll be mining the series and the genre further in a blog post series I'll title Mining The 6th Gun.

Still unconvinced? Let me leave you with a panel from issue #5: