Silence is Consent

Well, I have been trying to avoid writing this post for sometime for two reasons. The first one being I do not like real politics in my hobbies. The second one being that this blog is a labor of love and I enjoy writing but I know I will not enjoy writing this post. But I digress, here I am writing this post. I have been motivated to write it for one reason and one reason only, which is simply - SILENCE IS CONSENT!

On June 6th, 2020 Wizards of the Coast published an article titled "Diversity AND Dungeons and Dragons.

This article talks about how WotC is changing  various wording in their future reprints to fix racially insensitive language, how they view Drow and Orcs as being racist and they are going to change their presentation, fix some stereotypes in Curse of Strahd, and hire sensitivity readers to review all future products. How they are going to include a legacy clause (talking about how they don't support) products like Oriental Adventures, etc. It even talks about how they are going to release a product where ability increases are not going to be set by the chosen race but free floating (this usually happens at tables anywhere if a player talks to the GM about it). At casual glance this sounds great, diversity and inclusion in black and white. Though, the article does not hold up to any type of critical thinking and many games have come before this that already include some from of a diversity/inclusion clause clause. 

The first thing that stands out is how hypocritical this move is. This is not out of the kindness of their hearts, this is due to the current political air and whatever hate mail they are getting over various topics. If this was brought up a year ago, two years ago, in 4th edition, 3.5, etc. Then alright, I would say it was sincere or at least mostly so. This observation also goes for everyone else who was followed in the WotC footsteps (or predated them in the current political climate). Has everyone forgotten how horrible WotC's practices are? How they bought out Last Unicorn Games and filled LUG with promises only to fire just about everyone, kill their game lines, and absorb the company like a Gelatinous Cube? Or how WotC still has not truly addressed the accusations about how Mike Mearls covered up abuse allegations?  Or how they continuously mistreat their freelancers and other employees? With this final statement, I would like to direct your attention to the viewing screen:

 

These are just a handful of examples of how WotC has a history of saying one thing and doing something completely different behind the curtains.  

With the elephant in the room out of the way, we can move on to the whole idea of Orcs, Drow, and other things being racially insensitive or stereotypical.  I have had countless conversations with people in the community about this and there are some people that really try to make this idea hold water. These people are convinced it does because they are superimposing real world politics and creating intent of racist connotations where there is not be and never was (it is all just real world agenda pushing). Any person or organization (like WotC) can apply real world politics, stretch/bend/alter the intent or purpose of x, y, z to try to make any aspect of fantasy/sci-fi/etc gaming racist/biased/etc. But, in the end, it does not hold water because it always leaks.

Orcs, Drow, etc. are not racist. There should be no real world parallels to Orcs, Drow, etc. to any people of color or cultures. Any attempt to make them so is to put one's own politics and agendas into the game. This also takes away powerful metaphors of good and evil, chaos and law, order and disorder, etc. I am not the first to cry shenanigans about this and I wont be the last. Some examples of people that have come before me Orcs and the End of Symbols, The Orcish Enlightenment, Woke D&D, and Dystopia-Totalitarianism and 05R. 

All of this really blows my mind and makes me want to yell WTF! at the top of my lungs. What really just floors me about all of this is that all of these people are attacking what is in black and white by bending things to fit their agenda, splitting areas, and straight up going on a witch hunt. All this effort is so misguided it isn't even funny. What is in black and white is not the problem. The real problem with inclusion and racism at the table is with the people at the table. It is with the people who make racist comments, racist jokes, and everyone who makes other people feel unsafe or uncomfortable at the table. It is the responsibility of everyone at the table to make sure the experience is inclusive and no one is made to feel unsafe. This is done by having a conversation about everyone regarding game content and using in game tools like the X-Card.

All those people out there who are racist, sexist, jerks that make people feel unsafe at the table (and other worse acts) will be left without people to game with and the community will drop them like yesterdays dirty underwear. 

Don't get me wrong, I think it is great (and welcome these changes) for games to have inclusion clauses, multi-cultural art, multi-sexual orientation art, flexible rules to move around bonuses, etc. But do not expect me to give you a pat on a back because companies are caving to political pressure or be impressed by all of those self flogging authors rejecting their works, rejecting gaming awards, and trying to turn themselves in a martyr. The timing and the current inquisition are not your friends. 

All these people who are this witch hunt really need to refocus their efforts in other areas - like demand gaming companies to treat their employees better, demand them to take responsibility for their unsavory actions, and demand them to take allegations seriously. You can also you know get out and vote, volunteer their time at their local civil rights movements, right letters to their government representatives, get a job where they can make change, and anything else along those lines. The possibilities are endless to make real world changes.

REAL WORLD POLITICS DO NOT BELONG IN GAMING AND PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THIS ARE DAMAGING THE HOBBY. 

 This has been the first episode of...

Review: 17th Century Minimalist

 

 

The Age of Sail is one of my favorite time periods in history and one of my favorite eras to game in. That era can have the supernatural and weirdness cranked up to 10 and beyond or be a more down to earth Three Musketeers swashbuckler style. So, with that being said, I am always on the look out for games set in this era. To be honest, I do not even know how I came across this game but it looks like a gem. It is produced by Games Omnivorous.

Disclaimer: I was given a physical copy for review purposes. 

 

Presentation: 17th Century Minimalist presents itself in a 40 page, full color, saddle stitched (with red thread), booklet form. The cover is made of thick cardboard style paper and the rest of the book is printed on a cream paper. What really catches my eye about this game is the art style. It is very unique and heavily reminds me of the type art that could be found in Veins of the Earth, etc. 

Character Creation: Below are the various steps for character creation;

1. Roll 3d4 for each ability: Charisma, Dexterity, Strength, Intelligence, and Luck. Then re-roll all the abilities with a score of 5 or less using 1d4+12.
2. If the character ends up with no ability above 10, return to the step above and re-roll all the abilities again. 
3. Choose a Class: Cutthroat, Illusionist, Plague Doctor, Soldier, or Swashbuckler. 
4. Register the Maximum Hit points listed in the respective class section. Hit points are static in this game. PCs do not gain more when advancing level.
5. Note down the starting equipment in your inventory. 
6. Read and study the special abilities of the class chosen. 

Resolution: The core mechanic is rolling a d20 and comparing it to the appropriate attribute. If the result is on or below the attribute the action succeeds and if it is above the attribute the action fails. This single mechanic governs all non routine actions, saves, combat, and just about everything else.

Speaking of combat, it is player facing and the sequence is below;

1. Determine Initiative: Each PC puts a different colored die in a bag. Add another die for the adversaries, and a neutral colored die. The GM takes one of these in turn from the bag. The "owner" can perform his or her turn (all adversaries act when their dice is pulled). If the neutral die is pulled, the round is over a new initiative bag is assembled. 
2. When a character wants to attack, the player rolls a normal attribute check for their Strength (if melee) or Dexterity if ranged. A critical fumble is on a 20 and a critical success is on a 1. 
3. When it is the adversaries turn, the GM narrates the action and the character attempts to avoid the attack with a successful attribute check. If the check fails, the character is hit and takes damage. 

In the combat section, there is a mechanic called fight back. It states that if a character is being attacked but the attack misses, the character can fight back, RIPOSTE! The player rolls for bonus attack but with disadvantage.  

Crunch: To be honest, most of the crunch has already been explained but there are some additional aspects to the system that I Think are very important to discuss.

• Luck: This attribute is kind of a jack of all trades. Though, one point of luck can be spent to re-roll the dice (except for fumbles because a fumble is a fumble). At the end of each of adventure (or whenever the GM deems fitting) 1d3 luck is regained up to the characters maximum
• Weapon Damage: Small d4/Medium d6/Large d8
• Out of Action Table: When a PC reaches zero hp, they roll a d6 to see if they survive
• Firearms: Take 18-a character's Dexterity to reload 
  
• Misfiring: There is a d10 table to see if the characters weapon misfires or backfires. It has a 80% chance to fire normally and a result of a 9 or 10 dictate a misfire or a backfire. There is optional rules for damp places
  
• Alcohol and Drugs: Tables and rules for these
• Disease: Tables and rules for these
• Poison: Tables and rules plus antidotes for these
• Advantage/Disadvantage: If a character has advantage, the player rolls two d20s and chooses one. If a character has disadvantage, the player rolls two d20s and the GM chooses one
• Armor: Armor provides a number of d6s in armor protection. Players can remove one of these d6's to completely ignore a hit. During downtime, the lost d6's are rolled and if they are above the original armor rating the armor regains an armor dice
• Reputation: Normal Reputation starts at 6. When the characters do virtuous deeds it goes up and when they vicious stuff, their reputation goes down. As 12 the characters are considered famous and at 1 they are considered infamous. Both of these comes with pros and cons. Once characters are famous or in famous they gain tokens for further deeds and these tokens can be spent for various effects (most of these are story driven and players can only hold a maximum of two tokens)
• Advancement: Characters earn XP as they move around in the world. Every 10 XP the go up a level to a maximum of 5. When a character levels up, they gain a chance to increase their attributes and their class abilities increase
  

Final Thoughts: This is a very well put together and thought out game using the Black Hack 2e as the skeleton for its system with various bits and pieces from other system added in to cover various aspects of the era. I think this all works very well and you end up with a great game to play in the age of sail. The game also provides a quick two pages of advice and tips to running the game which are helpful and some rules about converting AC and monsters are also included.

I also feel like  roll under systems and player facing combat are the way to go. It just makes things feel so much smoother and allows the GM to easily decide what needs to be rolled on the fly if one of their players does something the GM was not prepared for. In a swashbuckling world, this is just perfect. 

Two of my favorite things about the system is the Reputation system and the classes. The reputation system really helps allow GM's to enact the classic cause and effect axis to the characters actions - whether good or bad. I wish a lot more games had a system like this baked in.  My second favorite thing is the classes. Each class really speaks volumes about the setting of the age of sail. In addition, the classes are front loaded and have a lot of unique abilities that are full of flavor. To be honest, I think calling them classes is a disservice to them because they feel more like professions and using the word class brings certain D&D connotations to mind. 

With that being said, I think there are two things that I wish would have been included (one of them being more of personal preference) the other being an oversight which is surprising to me because there was a lot of care and effort put into this game. The oversight is there is no type of adversary/monster section or rule to create your own. This would be easy enough use the Black Hack 2e and make adjustments due to damage restrictions, etc. 

As for the issue that is probably more my personal preference is that the game is designed around one shots or short campaigns. This is due to the fact the most of the PC's hit points is locked around 12 and it can lead to deadly games. In the authors tips this is discussed and reasons are given. It is true that there are ways to burn to luck, armor, and other things to avoid taking damage but I still think it is to deadly for long term play. Again, this is easily fixed by upping the HP to 20-24 (I like the static HP idea) but I think it should have been a side note or something like that. 

Regardless, 17th Century Minimalist is a great game and can easily replace a lot of the more crunchier age of sail games out there. You can find it here:

• drivethrurpg 
• direct from Games Omnivorous 

 

Detroit Suck City: Episode 9

The crew scrambles to find positions in the train and load their unconscious people from they rescued from the lab and started to head down the tracks as the facility exploded behind them. Sometime up the road they entered until switching yard and slowed their pace to try to make the best directional decisions possible. During this time, the only one of the three to be semi conscious gained full consciousness and stated to explain how he was taken from his settlement towards the east from a hunting expedition and was in line to be experimented on. This person introduces himself as Kamanji and is willing to accompany the crew on their mission to investigate the red light and bring an end to the cult of the Star People. The crew scrounges up some gear and clothes for Kamanji as Kamanji confirms what the crew has already suspected - that star people are not born, they are made. Kamanji said he could take over the horrible driving as he knew how the controls worked and the crew let him. 

 

The train finally exits the switches of the yard and ends up heading in the direction of the glowing light. Even though they were away from the yard, the sides of the railroad tracks are still littered with rail cars of all shapes, sizes, and conditions. As the crew traveled further they decided it would be a good idea to find somewhere to lay low for awhile, lick their wounds, and figure out exactly where the Rail City is. It was agreed that it would be a good place to pick up some intelligence and resupply. During this conversation Parrot notices a person riding a very large cat with six legs barring down on the train and keeping pace with it. Parrot announces this to the crew and Auron looks over and spots this bounding giant cat easily. As Auron opens his mail to hail the rider that same rider fires off a bolt of energy from a strange glowing rod that misses Auron by a few inches. 

 

Auron then spins around in the turret and fires the laser cannon which makes contact with the mount but it did not slow the mount down. Kamanji then starts to slow the train down as he realizes combat with a moving train could be dangerous. Wilhelm opens up with the .50 cal and Parrot fires a off a mental blast but regardless of their successes, these attacks still do not appear to be slow the mount down. The rider fires another energy bolt at Auron which hits as Lladmar notices some shapes moving along the rail cars that are scattered on the sides of the tracks. Before he could even issue a warning multiple humanoids with tails and other cat like features leap on the rail and Velotank. 

The crew not involved in melee with the cat people take aim at the mount of the Cat Lord with varying degrees of success. As Auron is about to blast of some of the cat people from the Velotank he catches the mount with the Cat Lord make a great leap which was headed right for the Rail Tank. Auron was able to spin the turret around and blow off one of the mounts six legs before it collides into the turret. As Auron struggles to try to free himself from the mounts jaws, Auron meets his end as the Cat Lord beings down what Auron now sees as a sword made of light onto his head. 

Before the Cat Lord can regain its bearings, Wilhelm opens up with the .50 cal again but misses but Parrot moves down the Velotank and fires a sonic blast at everyone within range. After the near miss with the .50 call and the sonic blast, the mount of the Cat Lord is able to untangle itself from the turret and Auron's body just in time to see the last of its cat people fall. The Cat Lord then decides to make a run for it and leaps from the train. During this leap Parrot's mind blast is rattles both the mount and it's rider as Lladmar's mental blast goes wide. Just as the Cat Lord and its mount is about to touch the ground Wilhelm opens fire with the .50 and the mount explodes in the hail of bullets which sends the Cat Lord tumbling to the ground. The crew jumps at this chance and makes quick work of the stunned and dazed Cat Lord. 

After the danger dies down crew divides up the gear of their enemies, dumps their bodies unceremoniously off of the train, and gives Auron a quick shallow grave. The remaining crew then decides to head backward to take one of the less used tracks in the hope to find a place to hunker down to rest and find out where Rail City is located. 

Just another day in Detroit Suck City...

___________________________________________________________________________________

PLAYER THOUGHTS: These last 9 episodes we have been  moving forward and tackling at break neck speed. It has been a lot of fun but it is just our luck when the characters finally decide it is time for some rest and to find Rail City (the few deaths and a lot of injuries probably helped) they get ambushed! I was hoping Auron would have a chance to hail the Cat Lord and maybe parley with it but it decided to fire first so, initiative was rolled and chaos ensued. As for Auron's death, he went out after an amazing critical - it was a good death. Speaking of crits, the other players rolled a three others for a total four crits in one combat! Looking back over my character sheet I realized that I was not adding some bonuses to my AC the entire campaign (which would have helped me survive a lot longer I am sure) but I am also really excited about my next character so it is all good. I am looking forward to getting to Rail Town.

Advanced Sword and Backpack Redux

In my Breakfast Edition of Sword and Backpack I included a page titled Advanced Sword and Backpack. It was lack of a better term that I choose this verbage but when I run out of booklets I would change it to Campaign Play or something along those lines. In gaining more experience with Sword and Backpack I am planning on making these adjustments as well.

Character Advancement
Players can earn 1-4xp per session. Every 20xp can be spent in the following way:

• Gain +1 Wound
• +1 to their Primary Job (Max +6)
• +1 to a Secondary Job (Max +3)
• +1 to a Side Job (Max+1) 
• Can write down an interesting specific fact about your character where you can bring a class bonus to bear in a situation that would otherwise not call for it.

Armor

My initial thoughts on advanced armor was armor would increase your wounds depending on its rating. +1 for light, +2 for medium, +3 for heavy, and shields would add +1 and could be sundered to ignore a successful hit.

After some experience I have decided that that system really does not work well for the flow of S&B. So here are the updated armor rules:

• Describe your armor however you want. When you lose your final wound, your armor saves you and you keep fighting as if you are at 2 wounds. You must spend time repairing your armor after such an encounter or pay to get it repaired
• Shields do not add any bonuses but can be sundered to avoid a successful hit. Shields sundered need to be replaced as only magical shields can be repaired

Gold Standard
I used the simple reference to gold pieces/points because it was on the character sheet and part of the original. Though, to be honest I have never been a fan of the Gold Standard found in classic Dungeons and Dragons style games  as the conversion rates start to get ridiculous and just way to much accounting.

I would suggest and I personally use for all of my games the Silver Standard. All prices are in silver and if you must two coppers equal one silver. Skerples gave me the head cannon that a silver coin is equivalent to approx. $10.00 USD. So I would make Coppers equal $1.00 USD and that would provide a conversation rate of 10 coppers to 1 silver.

Detroit Suck City: Episode 8

When we last left the crew the sliding door opened to reveal another large security robot. Regardless of the surprise, Jiminy was able to scramble and close the door but the robotoid was able to launch a gas grenade inside the room right before the door closed. The grenade landed right in the middle of the crew but Lladmar was able to pick it up before the gas got too strong, threw it clear across the room, and through the glass into the water logged room. The door being closed gave the crew just enough time to stage something that resembled an ambush...

The crew stared at the door for what seemed like eons before the familiar sound of metal sliding on metal with a light whoosh of air signaled that the door was opening. As soon as this happens, Auron decides to draw the strange pistol he took of the Star Lord and fired it. What Auron did not realize is that strange pistol was actually a mini rocket launcher and the impact of the mini rocket caused a 30 meter explosion that sent the robotoid flying backward, knocked Auron off of his feet, gave Huey a sunburn, and had the unfortunate effect of splatting Jiminy against the wall like a cricket on a windshield. 

 

In the aftermath of this explosion, Lladmar charges the Robotoid with his horns that managed to survive the impact, Huey races over to the remains of Jiminy, and Wilhelm runs towards Aurons Prone body. As the robotoid gets within melee range, the robot makes contact to Huey and Lladmar with its paralysis rods and drops them. During the robotoids distract with Huey and Lladmar Wilhelm attempts to administer some first aid via a med pack but the healing solution as an adverse reaction to Aurons mutated DNA and causes Auron more more pain as he uses his sword to help him stand and rejoin the fight. As the robotoid is distracted with some of the other crew members Auron is able to run up behind it and land a mighty blow with his sword that sheers off the top of the robotoids head. This caused the robotoid to spark, spin around wildly, and eventually fall over twitching. 

The crew then takes the resulting calm to gather up their wounded and recover from the chaos of combat. During this time, Wilhelm looks through the remains of Jiminy's body and finds pieces of his carapace that will work as bracers and slides them on after dumping the remaining goo from them. 

Auron then decides to take lead and the decision is made to press on deeper into this strange building. As the crew once again opens the door to the room where the two robotoids came from they are met with the same gore and scorch marks from the late Jiminy's quick thinking. Auron and Wilhelm decide to lead the crew in exploring the first two doors on the left after surveying the open area on the right. The first door is locked and the key card does not work. As the crew approached the second door they hear in their minds in a tragic shaking voice, "help me, help me, my name is Gilas" repeated over and over again. As the crew opens the door they notice come cabinets, a table with various medical supplies and bloody rusted tools, but the focal point of the room is the vaguely humanoid creature strapped down to a table. It has a hunch back, is covered in strange growths and open sores, but the most horrific things was both of the creatures arms ending in a mass of tentacles. The chanting in the crews head increase as Huey bravely moves forward and starts to cut the creature known as Gilas loose. The chest strap releases with a pop the creature sits up, wraps Huey in its tentacles, and lifts Huey off of his feet. The crew inside of the room attack and the Gilas releases an energy burst that magnetizes the room and pins most of the crew against the walls. Lladmar who was standing guard enters the room at this commotion and charges Gilas with his horns which impale Gilas and ends his suffering. 

At the end of Gilas's suffering, the magnetic field stops and the crew moves on to door number three. As Auron opens the door they entire crew is hit by a smell of rancid rotting meeting and what appears to be a junk room. Upon further inspection they notice about of scratch marks about shin high all along the walls that are not covered with junk. The crew decides not to explore this room further and closes the door behind them. The sliding doors directly to the east are locked and the key card does not provide access to it. The crew then decides to head to the double doors to the south that are slightly ajar.

On the other side of the double doors the crew discovers a freshly stocked but run down kitchen. Inside this kitchen they also notice two doors to the rest. The first door appears to be a small but stocked pantry and the second door opens up into a much larger room. The first thing they notice is a small humanoid figure dressed in orange overalls, sitting behind a makeshift desk drinking and snacking on an unknown food. The creature sleepily looks up and says, "Well it took you guys long enough. I have been watching the mess you guys made of this place and you guys need some practice." As he finishes this sentence he points to a glowing screen that is segmented off  in different boxes. Each box shows a different area of the facility. 

After some discussion, some witty banter, and pissing each other off (there was a moment where Auron called him a janitor and Pike yelled I am not and Auron apologies but follows up with "Master of the Custodial Arts") the crew learns that the creature the are talking to is called Pike and he works for the star people begrudgingly but they pay him good, keep him fed, and as long as he does his job they leave him alone. The crew also learns during this conversation that the star children are not well liked, viewed as some type of cult, and are not tolerated in various towns, especially Rail City. There is some attempt at barter but Pikes makes ridiculous offers like wanting the mini rocket launcher. At the end, Pike gives him the key card to what he calls the lab and says, "I am getting out of here. I hope the star people do not catch up with you." and walks off. Just before Pike is out of sight, he turns around winks at them, and vanishes. 

The crew decides to take this opportunity to explore the lab. After their new key card successfully opens the door Wilhelm makes a motion to stop and hush the rest of the crew as he turns invisible and stalks around the lab. The center piece of the lab is a large table with various tanks and wires hanging down from the ceiling. On this table their is an obvious deceased person that looked like it died in the middle of type of forced mutation that was not going to end well anyways. On the south side of the room there are three large cages that have a single human naked body in each in and on the west side there is a door. As Wilhelm opens the door the room is flooded with blue light form various screens and and an electrical buzzing noise. Wilhelm becomes visible again and motions for the party that it is safe to enter this room. As the crew gives the lab a better shakedown they realize that one of persons in the cage is able to move and croaks, "save me, I don't want to be their next experiment." No sooner does the caged person finish the last word does the east wall open revealing a floor to roof green screen with a smug face on it and then that smug looking face starts talking...

 

As soon as the monologue ends with the warning of the faculty is going to explode the crew breaks open the three cages, grabs the bodies, and sprints out of that faculty as fast as they can. As the exit, the crew discovers that their train is still there and was left running.

Just another day in Detroit Suck City...

Review: A Wizard (Module)

 

I heard a lot of talk about this module on Discord and what I heard really peaked my interest so I knew I had to at least give it a read. It also just came from a successful kickstarter. I have to say reading through this adventure was an experience in itself. I was almost immediately drawn in the fluff of the adventure and as I read more there was some instances where it legitimately creeped me out at various points. I mean this in the best way possible - like in a really good horror movie get under your skin type of way and not in the trigger warning being edgy to just be edgy type of way. 

 

As a disclaimer, I was given a PDF of this adventure for review and demo purposes. This is my first review I have done of an module and I am going to try to give a solid overview without giving any spoilers away.

System: A wizard is designed as a system agnostic fantasy/horror/OSR module. It assumes the use of hit points, armor class, saves, etc. With minor adjusts it can be used it just about any iteration of d20 system. It can also be used with non d20 games but it would take more effort to transfer over mechanical aspects of the adventure. 

Premise: The party arrives at the town of Canny and during their time there they here about a wizard and they will come across a wanted poster that has the wizards face on it and a reward of 40 gold. As the characters investigate further they learn more about this wizard and will eventually get directed to the tower on the hill.

 

Setup: The stage of the module is a wizards tower on a hill. The tower consists of six floors and each floor has anywhere from three to six rooms. Each floor is has interesting encounters and traps and sometimes there is more then one way to get to the other floors. 

 

There are also chances where the characters can end up in the Abyss - yep you heard that right. The Abyss! Each time the characters stumble into the abyss they have a different experience.

Flavor: This whole thing starts out as a normal town with a wizard problem and a tower on the hill. As soon as the characters enter the tower they quickly realize that something is not right. As the characters progress deeper into the adventure the more horrific it gets and the more not right it gets. It does not take anyone long to realize they are not in Kansas anymore. This adventure quickly goes from Terry Pratchett to Clive Barker. As I stated in my introduction paragraph, the horror aspects are really well done with just the right amount of make your skin crawl or the classic look away from a scene in the movie move to really give it a unique and unforgettable flavor. 

 

I have to say the Abyss is horrific in a different way. It is scary in an alien way like if you went diving in the deep so where no light touches. 

Final Thoughts: I said it once and I am going to say it again, this is the only roleplaying medium that I have read that honestly gave me the creeps (but in a good way). I will warn you with the official warning of the module itself:

"This module is gruesome. There is gore, body horror, and other disturbing content. Set boundaries with the players and allow them to set boundaries with you."

The warning is right. There is also moral decision situations that this module puts the characters in that I think is pure gold. I really wish more modules would use these morally grey situations in their rating because I think it gives the game a more realistic feel and increases immersion. 

Another thing that I think is important to mention about a wizard is that it is very deadly. This is spelled out as another warning in the module and it comes with prepackaged advice on how to curve the deadliness of it:

"...there are several traps and effects that can kill instantly if the characters aren't careful. If you would like to reduce the difficulty of this module, allow players to make more saves against deadly effects and deal one damage step lower then whats listed."

I would highly suggest using these written options and I would not use this module on level 1 or level 2 characters. There is also some talk about making sure the characters level up during the module as well. I ran this using the written suggestions as a one shot and there was some deaths and the characters were being pretty cautious.

I have three favorite things about this module that I think is just genius. The first one being is it can I will surprise players because there are things that they cannot really expect. The second thing is that this module can be dropped in the middle of any campaign with minimal effort. The third thing is that the characters have a chance to end up in the Abyss (there are multiples way to end up there. Some of them will surprise you). There is table to which "encounter" the players will experience in the Abyss and if you roll the same one then roll again. This Abyss can be used in other situations and outside of the tower as well. I think it just adds so much flavor and really ups the creep factor. 

I would highly recommend this if you have a group that is up for it. 

You can find this horrific module here:

• itch.io
• drivethrurpg 

The wizard is just that. He wears a pointed hat. Never refer to him as anything else, through description, NPC dialog, etc. The characters find themselves unable to. He is the truth.

Mythbusters: OSR Edition Ch. 3

So, this series of post started with my Darkness of the Drow, Thief Redux, Regarding Character Death, Mythbusters: OSR Edition Ch. 1, and Mythbusters: OSR Edition Ch. 2 posts. To be honest, I did not plant to expand my Mythbuster: OSR Edition series into multiple chapters but due to various feedback and comments I received I felt like I needed to expand it and clarify somethings. Once again, I find myself with a need to expand this series. In my Mythbusters: OSR Edition Ch. 1, I gave honorable mention to how there are a lot of people and by proxy games out there that put forward the attitude that for something to be OSR it must confirm to a degree of deadliness, certain methods for determining attributes, and a Peasants and Pitchforks approach. I also talked about attribute generation in length and about the whole 3d6 in order rule. I want to expand on these two points slightly because it was pointed out that I maybe left out certain things or I did not give other things a fair shake.

In regards to the first point, there are a lot of people out there in the OSR movement and by proxy games that focus on the OSR being a style of gaming and not something you can find in rules. In a lot of games such as White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game, Delving Deeper, Old School Essentials, and Swords and Wizardry (plus many others) that provide optional rules in sidebars or alter some of the original rules for various reasons. There are also a great deal of awesome people who are part of the movement that are very supportive and I think understand that the OSR is a spirit and has nothing to do with raw. I see on a lot of forums and social media that people are directed to reading the "Ten Commandments of the OSR" in regards to game design or just to answer the age old question of, What is the OSR?. 

I first came across these commandments on the False Machine Blog in 2018 and that said blog post was written from a long and famous Scrap Princess Google + post (I can not longer link the Google + post as Google + is no longer around). Patrick Stuart said: “I broke it the thread down to my top ten aphorisms, with bits stolen from Gregory Blair, Brian Harbron, FM Geist, Zedeck Siew, Brian Murphy, Dirk Detweiler Leichty and Daniel Davis”. These ten commandments are;

1. This is a game about interacting with this world as if it were a place that exists
2. Killing things is not the goal
3. There is nothing that is “supposed” to happen
4. Unknowability and consequence make everything interesting
5. You play as your character, not as the screenwriter writing your character
6. It’s your job to make your character interesting and to make the game interesting for you
7. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck
8. The answer is not on your character sheet
9. Things are swingy
10. You will become more strange

Number Ten was originally "You will Die" but I think that goes against the spirit because it almost forces the idea into a certain style of play, You will become more strange (this idea was thrown around in different comment sections as well) is a lot more in line with the OSR as a whole and lets be honest, there are some things worse then death.

On the opposite side of this coin, there are a lot of people that are also very adamant that for something to be considered OSR it needs to be deadly or be a peasants and pitchforks style and hope your character makes to any sort of heroics. I have seen this and experienced it first hand. There are multiple times I have suggested various house rules (usually along the lines of adding some HP padding, skill system, etc) and I have been told that maybe this game is not right for me and I should go find a different game. That type of gate keeping attitude is sad and does a disservice to the entire hobby, not just the OSR.

Speaking of Ten Commandments, there is another set of Ten Commandments regarding the OSR that I came across. These ones more have to do with the entire movement then the actual style of the games. I found them on the Pits Perilous Blog in 2019 thought I will repost them here because I think these are just important if not more so:

1. The OSR is an attempt to preserve, promote, and/or revive old-school games. 
2. Its aims can be met by playing these early games, but also by publishing content under the Open Gaming License or developing original systems in this style. 
3. There's nothing about seeking to preserve, promote, and/or revive old-school games that suggests (much less requires) any particular political, religious, or social agenda. 
4. The fact that some people in the OSR behave badly says nothing about the OSR as a whole. Some are good, others bad; but all of them can like older games. 
5. If you want a positive, welcoming OSR, be a positive, welcoming person. Splitting off into ideologically pure communities just might be the worst possible way to achieve this.
6. We desperately need values, but we'll have to look beyond the OSR to find them; and when we do, shouldn't they apply to everything and not just our gaming?
7. As long as people remain fascinated by older games, the OSR will never die.
8. Things like Sword Dream and The Inglorious OSR are at best subsets of the OSR; and far from signalling the death of the movement, they speak to its diversity. 
9. The OSR has no leaders. Some are louder and more vocal, but they can only speak for themselves (and that includes yours truly). Feel free to add your voice to the mix. 
10. If you've fled the OSR only to run your weekly OD&D game, you haven't escaped the movement at all. Indeed, you've aided it's sole purpose. Long live the OSR!

 

I have gone back and taken a look through the prints of OD&D and as I was discussing various aspects of the game in preparation for this post, this section was pointed out to me in regards to the attributes. In the first little brown book it states, 

"Prior to the character selection by the players it is necessary for the referee to roll three six-sided dice in order to rate each as to various abilities, and this aid them in selecting a role."

So, "the in order to" in this context (and probably should) be read as this must be done to determine, not this must be done in down the line. Ignoring everything Gygax and Arneson said about characters and attributes, it looks like the whole 3d6 in order stick was mistranslated or misunderstood. We must remember to look at what the symbol means and not the symbol itself. 

I have watched the OSR as a movement explode from a niche within a niche that was only a handful of retro clones to a whole spirit of gaming with a serious DIY ans rebel attitude. I feel like there are so many games that are OSR that may not be so obvious like Tiny Dungeons: 2e, Eldritch Tales, Forbidden Lands, Pits and Perils, Blood of Pangea, 17th Century Minimalist, Jaws of the Six Serpents, Beyond the Wall, Index Card RPG, Ryuutama, Electric Bastionland, Renaissance, and so many more. The list could go on and on and on. I am proud of what it has become and hopeful for its future.

Review: Alien

"It is a perfect organism whose structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. It's a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. I won't lie about your chances...but you have my sympathies." - Ash, Science Officer of the Nostromo

When I saw this book being released I was excited and skeptical at the same time. I have always been a huge fan of the franchise and seeing what appeared to be a high quality RPG coming out had me excited. Though, I also knew that the genre Alien falls under is hard science space horror and that can be difficult to pull off. After I saw the initial advertisements for it the game fell off my radar until one of my friends discovered it and turned the hype machine up to ten! This reinvigorated my interest especially when said buddy said he was going to put together and run Chariot of the Gods and if everyone liked it, he would actually run a campaign. Session 1 can be found here and session 2 can be found here.

As a disclaimer, I was sent a physical copy for review purposes. 

Presentation: This is a full sized book that definitely as the core rule book feel. The pages are full color and the book is well organized. The books page count could have been greatly reduced but due to evoking tone and setting right from the cover and on every page the count is increased to stay true to tone. The pages are set up with the core sections and side/bottom/top panels. There is also a ton of art throughout the book. I am really glad they did not use screen stills and used a type of muted almost painted art for most of the book. There are some digital art for some of the equipment and other such things. All 392 pages of the book never drops character, which is a huge plus. Another big bonus for me, is it is printed on some nice paper. 

Character Creation: Players create characters in the following steps:

1. Choose a Career (there are 9)
2. Spend 14 points on Attributes (Strength, Agility, Wits, and Empathy. All attributes must have a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 (except the careers prime Attribute, which can be 5. So, that leaves only 6 points to spend)
3. Determine Health and Encumbrance (Health is equal to your Strength and Encumbrance is double your Strength score) 
4. Spend 10 Skill Points (Heavy Machinery, Stamina, Close Combat, Mobility, Ranged Combat, Piloting, Observation, Comtech, Survival, Command, Manipulation, and Medical Aid. Each skill is linked to an Attribute)
5. Choose a Career Talent (each Career has a choice of three)
6. Choose a Name
7. Decide on your Appearance 
8. Decide on your Personal Agenda
9. Choose a Buddy and a Rival
10. Pick your Gear and Signature Item
11. Roll for your Cash

Character creation as some great story and role play elements built in which I really enjoy. Players also have an option of playing a Synthetic and these have special rules but it is stated that these are still rare and only one should be in a crew.

Resolution: Most of Free League Publishing games use a derivative of their Year Zero Engine (YZE). At its core, Alien (and the YZE) is a dice pool system that uses d6's which translates as all actions are resolved with an Attribute + Skill +/- Modifiers vs. a success. Successes only happen if any of the dice come up a 6. Only one success is needed to accomplish a task and additional successes can be spent for stunts or additional damage. To be clear, there are stunts for combat and actions outside of combat.

What I think is amazing is that book encourages you at multiple points to only roll when dramatically necessary and the rest of the game and other problems should be role played. The book also states that actions that require a roll are only able to be attempted once and the same character cannot attempt the same thing twice without the situation changing or a new approach to the problem. Other characters can attempt that action if they so choose. The rules go on to explain that even if you fail, there should be another way to move the story along. A failure should never stop the story.

Combat is just about as simple as the core mechanic. Usually everyone gets two actions on their turn, a slow action and a fast action or two fast actions. Slow actions include things like attacking, using a skill, reloading, etc. Fast actions can be used to draw a weapon, and can be spent out of the initiative order (as an reaction) to dodge or parry an incoming attack.

1. Draw for Initiative (the system uses cards numbered 1-10. There are specialty cards you can buy or you can just use a deck of regular cards). Each PC and NPC gets one. NPC's can be grouped together if the narrative calls for it or the combat includes more the ten participants. PC's who can see each other can also trade initiative if they make it happen within the narrative (such as yelling advice, etc.)
2. When its their turn, the player rolls Strength + Close Combat +/- Mods or Agility + Ranged +/- Mods. Their choice of opponent can declare an appropriate reaction before the attack roll is made! If the opponent chooses to use their fast action as a reaction, then both players roll. The opponents successes are subtracted from the attackers successes. If the attacker has any successes left over damage is done.
3. Damage is calculated by any extra successes (above the one required) plus the base damage of the weapon or form of attack. 
4. If the opponent is wearing armor, then they can roll their armor save to see if they can avoid any damage. Each point in an armor rating grants a d6 to roll. Any successes subtract for damage.
5. Any left over damage is subtracted from the targets health.
6. Initiative moves to next in line.

Crunch: I think Alien has the most nuances to its iteration of the YZE then any of the games form Free League Publishing that I have experience with (some of these are found in their other games).  So, outside of the core resolution system I find it very important to mention these nuances;

• Difficulty is rated from a +3 to a -3. These plus or minuses does not effect the number of successes you need but it directly modifies the total dice pool. It is stated in the book that the GM usually does not change the difficulty but sometimes circumstances make things more interesting.
• Stress Dice: When something stressful happens (pushing a roll, burst on full auto fire, suffer one or more points of damage, go without sleep, food, or water, preform a coup de grace, a Scientist falls an Analysis talent use, a member of your own crew attacks you, a person is revealed to be an android, you encounter certain creatures or locations as determined by the GM). Stress Dice is added to the dice pool a player rolls. If any of the stress dice come up a 6 in counts as a success but if any of the Stress dice come up a 1, the player must make an immediate Panic check before their original action is resolved (even if they had successes).
• Panic! If a one comes up on the Stress Dice, the players makes a panic roll that is 1d6 + the number of panic dice and consult the panic table. The results can be a mild as some shakes that make subsequent rolls harder to a full blown panic attack and worse. 
• Pushing Actions: Characters are able to focus and push an action once. The player can re-roll all dice that doe not show a 6. The characters Stress is increased by 1 before the dice are rolled. Actions can only be pushed once without a Talent. 
• Critical Injury Table: When a character reaches zero health, they are considered broken and get to roll on the d66 critical injury table. This table ranges from flesh wounds to very fatal wounds. Each injury has a mount of time the character can be alive without getting medical attention and how long it takes to recover.
• Help from Others: Other characters who have the ability to help you can. Each character helping you adds a +1 to the roll to a maximum of a +3. 
• Story Points: In cinematic scenarios, story points can be used to add a single success to a roll. This can be used before or after the results of a roll. Story points are gained from acting in accordance to one's agenda. 
• Opposed Rolls: Both characters roll and whoever has the most successes wins. 
• Stealth Mode: For people or creatures wanting to sneak around they can be considered passive or active. Active enemies know of your presence are are stalking you. Passive enemies do not know of your existence but will discover you if it makes narrative sense (like walking into the room they are in, etc). 
• Usage/Charges: There are items in the game that have batteries and space suits that have oxygen. The mechanic for this is when something as a charge or a resource that could run out, ir has a rating from 1-5. When the GM calls for it, roll that number of dice and if any come up 1's, then that items charge rating is reduced by 1. 
• Ammo: The setting states that due to the capacity of magazines, usually characters do not have to worry about ammo. Though, if they panic when using a firearm, they empty their magazine and must take a slow action on their next turn to reload. Ammo can be limited by the amount of reloads available.

Final Thoughts: Another reviewer called this game,

"A hauntingly powerful experience."

I could not agree more or have said it better myself. The book really captures the spirit of the franchise and the idea of space horror. It stays true to the source material and there is actually a lot of things that are included from some of the expanded universe (like the comics and the books). Alien also has two modes of play - cinematic play and campaign play. Cinematic play is designed to emulate the Alien movies and the game should be completed in two or three sessions. The cinematic mode of play is meant to hard, dark, and deadly just like the movies. Only a few characters if any are expected to survive. For those of us who have played through who know Chariot of the Gods, the adventure in the core book, and Destroyer of Worlds are all exampled of cinematic play. It is important to note that for both styles of play but especially for cinematic play it is important to have player buy in and keep metagaming to a minimum. I am actually more excited for campaign play as the universe is much bigger then the xenomorphs and it has long been rumored that Blade Runner and Alien are apart of the same universe...Ya, let that sink in.

I am a huge fan of the charge mechanic for batteries, oxygen, etc. I think it works really well, helps build that tension, and can be used in all kinds of different games.

Also, the stress mechanic is pure genius. It really helps ramp up the fear and panic in really screwed up situations. Though, with that being said it is important to note that Stress can quickly reach unmanageable proportions without pacing and the characters making a point to stop and catch their breath, use their signature items, talents, and keep in mind that the Command skill can bring someone out of panic. Here is a breakdown how certain levels of stress affect the characters:

• At low levels (1-3) Stress makes the character sharper. Effects of Panic, if any, are relatively mild: a case of the shakes which impairs subsequent rolls, maybe dropping an object. But the extra dice make the character more effective. 
• At higher levels (4-8) the risk of Panic steadily rises. The chance of a Panic Action rises sharply and the effects get much more severe. Stress makes the character a little sharper, although less than before, but far more likely to have a full-blown freak out. Total effectiveness dips. 
• When Stress hits 9 and above, the character is a basket case. Every Panic causes a Panic Action. Sure, they’re rolling 9 extra dice for every action, but they also have a roughly 4 in 5 chance of completely losing it: freezing, running away, running amok, or full catatonia.

The YZE system sings in play on its own but it really hammers home the soul Alien universe. It is like the beautiful classy cousin to West End Games d6 system.

I can I talk about an Alien RPG without mentioning the Aliens? Well, I can't! Aliens fight dirty and they will eat you. They have lots of dice, are very fast, have multiple actions per combat turn, have high armor ratings, and each one attacks in a special way. What I mean by this is that each Alien has a d6 table the GM rolls on to determine what attack the alien does (this determines the amount of dice used, etc) and on this table, there is a result that causes instant death or worse if any damage gets through to its opponent. This does not even include the 121's acid blood - that really cranks things up, especially in close combat. It is a good idea to avoid combat with these but if you must, keep them st range. Going to toe to toe with one you are going to need luck and a whole lot of friends but if all else fails...

You can find Alien here:

• Alien Core Website
• Free League
• Modiphius
• Amazon
• Drivethrurpg

Here is a final interesting fact, in the 2020 Ennies this game took Gold in Best Game.