S&B Twin Cities Edition

With my big project almost done, I am able to get back to various projects of love. One of my favorite projects is Sword and Backpack.

With this project, I really wanted to pour some love into so I have spent some time acquiring art, layout, and a character sheet for it. 

The artist I have been working with really captures the style and vibe that S&B gives off. You can find him on Instagram @herbertappleseed or Twitter @lukeryanherbert. He is great to work with. 

I also got back in touch with my layout person Jordan Martin after the holidays and the Twin Cities edition of Sword and Backpack is almost done, just a few final edits.

The final bit of good news is that , James V. West designed a character sheet just for my version of Sword and Backpack. I think it came out amazing and completely captures the idea of the game. There is a single horizontal version and a double landscape version. 

I am really looking forward to seeing this out in the wild. It has been a long time coming and there has been countless changes through playtesting and feedback. 

IOR Membership Cards are Back!

 

Over ten years ago, I purchased Risus: The Anything RPG Companion and solidified my place in the International Order of Risus as member #635. The membership card quickly became one of my most prized gaming possessions and I was very proud of it. This is in addition to the Companion becoming a great tool for games across the board and rivaling and even surpassing the power of the 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide. 

Anyway, in my long distance move my membership card disappeared and could not find it anywhere. I flipped through every book, looked in every box, every drawer, etc. It was nowhere to be found. I reached out to SJR and at the time he was out of cards and as time went on eventually decided to stop doing them so I was never able to get a replacement. 

Now that Risus is under new management , I contacted Dave LeCompte about a replacement and he was able to get new cards made and send me a replacement. Not only did he do this, but he has reinstated the membership cards across the board so new members of the order can get their official membership cards. I think this is a very important, noble, and great thing to do. The entire community and I appreciate these efforts. Also, Dave even included stick figure art!!! Woot!

So, after reading this rant, you are probably wondering what in the nine hells is the International Order of Risus? The IOR is an order for fans of the roleplaying game Risus that adhere to the charter as follows:

Article I - Our Purpose & Motto: The purpose of the Order is to promote, encourage and celebrate Risus, those who enjoy Risus, those who contribute to the Risus community, and the philosophy inherent to its design. Our motto is Imprimatur Domi - "Let it be printed at home."

Article II - Membership Standards: Membership in the Order is exclusive. However, the Order does not exclude members on the basis of sex, age, skin color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, wealth, politics, weight, height, eye color, toenail color, mode of dress, species, quirkiness of speech, religion, specific preference between Kei and Yuri and between the Thin Movie Reviewer and the Fat Movie Reviewer, preference for other game systems, or the lack of any of the preceding. In fact, the weirder you are, the better it is for the Order and the more interesting your personal Clichés will be.

Article III - The Membership Card: Members of the Order bear a physical membership document in the form of a card. This card may be used, for example, to provide access to "all-Risus orgies" hosted at science fiction conventions (should anyone choose to host such a thing). This card must legibly identify the member by number, but otherwise may be of any design. A traditional template is customary, but not mandated, so that the card may be a vehicle for personal expression and/or tiny, tiny animals in need of a raft. Membership numbers unadorned with alphabet codes indicate paid-in-full supporters of Risus. Membership codes prefixed by the letter "C" represent complimentary memberships such as those granted to contributing playtesters, co-conspirators, colleagues, and other things beginning with "C". Membership codes prefixed by the letter "X" represent special memberships, which the bearer must explain if asked by a fellow member. Membership codes prefixed by the letter "F" are forgeries.

Article IV - Preservation, Transferability & Edibility of Card: Members must carry their membership card whenever practicable, and keep it relatively dry. Membership cards are non-transferable and probably aren't edible, though the latter is more a matter of theory than policy.

Article V - Use of Motto and Coat of Arms: Members of the Order are exclusively entitled to emblazon their Risus documents, public and private, with the official Coat of Arms, with the Order's motto, and with any related, cheesy web-graphics provided by the Order for such purposes.

Article VI - Psychic Bedrock: Members must think happy thoughts about Risus at least once per month, in order to provide the psychic bedrock of affection and goodwill on which the game stands, towering over the horizon and broadcasting love to the universe.

Article VII - Casual Relationship with Publisher: Any member of the Order is presumed to be a "pal" of Dave LeCompte, and upon meeting him in person, may - without embarrassment, specific rationale or fear of reproach - ask him to remove his pants. Members of the Order recognize that Dave may choose not to comply with this request, but you never know. Members of the Order may remove their own pants as encouragement.

Article VIII - World Domination: Should any member of the Order, by chance or design, become ruler of the world, he will grant all members of the Order favored positions in his regime (including, but not limited to, well-paid but otherwise meaningless positions in his bureaucracy). Should he fail to do so, and also fail to dissolve the Order by whimsical decree, he shall relinquish his membership in the Order. Members of the Order recognize that domination of a larger area or dimensional multiplicity that includes the whole of the planet Earth is, for the purposes of Order policy, equivalent to world domination for this purpose.

Article IX - The Companion: Members of the Order have exclusive and perpetual access to The Risus Companion, but may extend access in the form of hardcopy printouts provided without charge to Risus gamers at their gaming table. Members recognize that floors, decks, beds, swimming pools and trampolines are the equivalent of tables for the purposes of this policy. The Risus Companion also serves - through specific references - as the Order's secret codebook for unlocking members-only archive files, providing passwords for secret gatherings, et cetera.

Article X - Community & Mutual Affection: Members of the Order will maintain a sense of community by gathering at conventions, game retailers and game clubs whenever possible, and by hugging. Individual gatherings may exclude some members of the Order on the basis of age, depending on applicable statute and how much rampant sex and alcohol is meant to be present, or on the basis of the possible successful invocation of Article VII.

Article XI - Maintenance of Mystique: When discussing the Order with outsiders, Members are free and encouraged to invent secret handshakes, code-phrases, and imply connections to the occult in order to maintain the Order's mystique. All such references should be vaguely (or overtly) titillating when practicable.

Article XII - Gentle Conquest: No member of the Order shall create any publicly presented Risus document (supplement, campaign, et al) that implies that the Companion is necessary to enjoy Risus. Furthermore, no member of the Order will ever suggest that any Risus game, played or described by any Risus gamer (member of the Order or not) is being played incorrectly. It is the solemn belief of the Order that we are capable of much subtler, more creative and friendlier ways of imposing our iron will upon an unsuspecting universe.

The next question is, how does one become part of this amazing order? Well, there is three easy steps.

1. Purchase the Risus Companion
2. Be a Champion of the Charter
3. Contact Dave LaCompte with proof of purchase and he will get you sorted out as soon as he can. 

Also, do not forget to check out Risusverse! A great place where the community hosts their content. 

Interview: Runehammer Games

 

I have had the great opportunity to correspond with the owner of Runehammer Games on various topics and I was honored to be able to set up this interview. I am excited about this because it is the first interview on this blog and I hope it will not be the last. 

Runehammer Games is the producer of the Index Card RPG, Viking Death Squad, Alfheim novels, podcasts, and all kinds of other gaming goodness. 

Without further ado, we shall begin...

 

Me: Go ahead and introduce yourself.

Mr. Hank: My name is Brandish Gilhelm / Hankerin Ferinale. I'm the creator of Runehammer. I do artwork, writing, game design and more to manifest all of Runehammer's role playing goodies.

Me: How and when did you get first into gaming?

 

Mr. Hank: It was 1987 or so. I had Rifts and Turtles in Time by Paladium. We started hacking those together, discovered GURPS, and created  our first true homebrew called LIVING WEAPON. In a few years, we found out about D&D and Fantasy Hero. I had a legendary GM in high school named Dave who showed me the true wonders the hobby could include. Never looked back!

Me: What are some of your favorite early gaming memories?

 

Mr. Hank: Ha! Too many! I had a character named Jack Van Danicker. He had a goats hoof hilt on his sword that slowly turned him into a goat. In his final phase, almost losing all human thoughts, he was disintegrated trying to defend his allies from our final foe: an evil wizard collecting souls in an enormous gem. It was epic.

 

 

Me: What inspired you to start designing the Index Card RPG?

 

Mr. Hank: As GM year after year after year, I lived and died by index cards. It's just how I did everything, even terrain. With a sharpie and cards I could do anything. I had a group in about 2011 who wanted to try something new, so I homebrewed a system that really celebrated the cards. While at conventions for work I would make all these fun sharpie cards and it just clicked.

Me: Can you explain your initial design process?

 

Mr. Hank: For me it all starts with being a  fan. I get psyched about something and latch on like a dog with a bone. I 'see' into whatever it may be, thinking 'man, this could go all kinds of places!' then I just struggle to jot down as many ideas as I can. Then I start cleaning it up, writing it properly, and talking with friends about the core ideas. 90% of things I try get tossed. When ideas just flow, though, and my little cabal is feeling the flow... I can finish given time. So, in short: total chaos lol.

Me: What was/is your goal for Index Card RPG?

 

Mr. Hank: I wanted to make a meaningful contribution to this hobby. Something that faced the challenges of a for-real weekly GM head on. I wanted to stand up, rock solid, for all the GMs out there adrift in the options and the myths and the bad advice. I also just wanted to share my methods with everyone as a fan of the hobby in general. I've been a game design professional for years and years, so I also wanted to break free of employment and be independent!

 

Overview of the Index Card RPG Master Edition 

Me: What is your favorite aspect of Index Card RPG?

 

Mr. Hank: Probably the friendly voice of it. There is a weird vein in some RPG products that sort of 'talk down' to the reader. I don't like that at all. The voice in ICRPG just feels like hanging out, being honest. I'm proud of that.

 

Q&A about the Index Card RPG book 

 

Index Card RPG Live Play 

Me: The Index Card RPG has recently been released in a new Master Edition, what are the changes between 2nd edition and the new Master Edition?

 

Mr. Hank: Heheh this one. There are numerous forum threads and long comment chains about this. Basically it aggregates and revises the 3 main books that comprised 2e. Lots of new art, cleaner layouts, a few classes swapped out or revamped. Basically just processing the 'playtest' of over 10,000 readers worldwide.

Me: Speaking of the Master Edition, it is being distributed by Modiphius. How did that partnership come about?

 

Mr. Hank: Ha! Crazy. This guy Chris just hits me up. Mind you, I get dozens and dozens of messages every day. "Hey ICRPG is super dope, you do commissions?" "YEah sure," "Oh also, if you ever want to get into retail, hit me back." So we get to talking, turns out is teh FOUNDER of Modiphius just directly talking to me, offering a huge publishing and distro partnership. "Let's do it."

Me: You also have another game being distributed by Modiphius called Viking Death Squad. Can you tell me about this game?

 

Mr. Hank: It's various materials speak well for it, youtube reviews and such are coming up now too. It started as an idea to make a one-shot from a Black Sabbath song back in 2017. Undead vikings take on Lucifer, huge iron coffins fall from space.. normal stuff.

 

Me: What is the system that powers the Viking Death Squad? How does it play out?

 

Mr. Hank: It's a D6 dice pool jam, roll-over mechanics and 'hit' type mechanics similar to a hybrid of WEG STAR WARS and SHADOWRUN 2e. It uses 6D6, has no HP, just armor. It plays very very fast and terribly deadly, but with a lot of fun heavy metal tones.

 

Overview of Viking Death Squad 

 

Mr. Hank's expanded talk on Viking Death Squad 

 

Creative process in designing a Viking Death Squad adventure 

Me: Outside of your own games, what is your favorite RPG? Why?

 

Mr. Hank: Oh wow... brutal question. Probably D&D2e or Fantasy Hero. Maybe GURPS Conan. Hell, Ars Magica was awesome too. Then there's Torchbearer... what was the question? lol

Me: What are some of your favorite genres to play in?

 

Mr. Hank: Everything but post apoc or modern. I don't feel like modern settings provide any escape. Fantasy is supreme.

Me: Who do you enjoy working with in the industry? 

 

Mr. Hank: All the unknowns. I like it underground, and I only play with friends. I'm a big authenticity guy, so keeping it close is key.

Me: Do you have any favorite dice? If so, what are they?

 

Mr. Hank: Chessex yellows, Hand mades by @monomakes and the Norse Foundry stuff.

Me: What advice can you give about people working on their own games? 

 

Mr. Hank: Just do it, be yourself, work harder than anyone you know, let your freak flag fly to the max, and work on D&D stuff in public. Best way to meet like minded weirdos. If you're the smartest guy in the room, find a new room.

Me: What advice would you give for new Game Master's picking up Index Card RPG for the first time? New Players? 

 

Mr. Hank: Let go of linear progression in all ways. Hell, let go of everything... take ICRPG for what it is, not as a derivative of something else.

 

Me: How has the pandemic affected your gaming style?

 

Mr. Hank: Too much online play! Online is key for distant homies, but not all the time. Shoo pandemic! SHOO!

Me: Are you working on anything new? If so, what?

 

Mr. Hank: I am currently building a book called HARD SUIT.. a crazy world for ICRPG. I'm always doing other doo-dads, like a piece called MANIFESTO... it's a fun 'how to think' opus for deep-minded GMs. Ask me next week, I might say something else lol

Me: What is one of your best gaming experiences? 

 

Mr. Hank: Oh man. College Tiamat battle, my recent OSE campaign, watching the old Scotty videos, drawing people's characters while we play...

 

Me: If someone would like to work with Runehammer games or use your system in their own creation, what is the processes for both?

 

Mr. Hank: Email me. Every case is different and I work closely with all kinds of folks.

Me: Is there anything else you would like to share?

 

Mr. Hank: The best path, imho, to great RPG hobby life is being an honorable, kind, generous, energetic, attentive friend. If you can do that, the rest just happens!

 

Well that is the end of the interview, though there is so many more topics we could discuss and endless details we can go into. I cannot recommend enough getting your hands on Index Card RPG or Viking Death Squad. Index Card RPG has changed the way I look at roleplaying games, the design of them, and playing them for the better. 

 

Below are all the important links: 

 

• Runehammer Website 
• Forums 
• Patreon 
• Index Card RPG Master Edition
• Viking Death Squad 
• Drivethrurpg Store 
• Youtube Channel 
• Instagram @hankerin_ferinale
  

Review: Tiny Cthulhu

 

 "We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far." - H.P. Lovecraft

I have been a long time fan of the Mythos and investigative/mystery focused gaming. I have played many different Cthulhu based games but most of them tend to be overly complicated for my tastes. I am really excited to dive into Tiny Cthulhu. It recently had a very successful kickstarter campaign.

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

Before I dig into it, Tiny Cthulhu has done something that I have not seen in a Mythos game before. At the beginning of the book before you get into the game proper there is a disclaimer that discusses the failings of Lovecraft. These failings include how he was racist and how there is explicit and racist overtones in some of his writing. Alan Bahr goes on to explain that they do not support that ideology and none of those tones will be found in Tiny Cthulhu. A part of me thinks this is unneeded but I also understand it is a shield against those people that would cry foul. 

Presentation: Tiny Cthulhu has a full color hardback cover with 177 pages of single column black and white interior. The interior pages have some clean shading around the edges to give it a stained look. The art matches the theme of the Mythos and is done in black and white. Before you even get into character creation or things like that the book gives you the entire run down of how to play, how combat works, corruption, rest, healing, saves, and so forth. All of the Tiny games do this and I think it makes it easier understand the rest of the book. This is because you already have reference. After this you get the various chapters relating to investigator creation and then the GM section that talks about the Mythos, best practices, rules for more of a Noir or pulpy game, innovations, bestiary, cults, etc. Tiny Cthulhu has an organized table of contents and comes chalk full of micro settings, to be exact there are ten of them. It is really a clean laid out book that is easy to navigate. 

Character Creation: The creation of the investigator follows these steps:

1. Choose your Archetype: The choices are Investigator, Dilletante, Explorer, Mystic, Spiritualist, Inventor, Soldier, Veteran, and Writer. The archetypes determine starting hit points, corruption thresholds, and starting bonus traits. 

2.Select Traits: Choose three traits from a list of 44. These include Acrobat, Alchemist, Armor Master, Barfighter, Beastspeaker, Berserker, Blacksmith, Brawler, Charismatic, Cleave, Dark-Fighter, Defender, Diehard, Drunken Master, Dungeoneer, Educated, Eidetic Memory, Familiar, Fleet of Foot, Healer, Insightful, Inured, Lucky, Marksman, Martial Artist, Nimble Fingers, Opportunist, Perceptive, Quartermaster, Quick Shot, Resolute, Shield Bearer, Shrink, Sneaky, Sound Mind, Tome Reader, Sorcerer, Strong, Survivalist, Tough, Tracker, Trapmaster, Vigilant, and Wealthy.

3.Select a Weapon group to be proficient with: These include Light Melee, Heavy Melee, Light Ranged, and Heavy Melee. 

4.Select a Family Trade: There is not list for family trades but it is the jobs you were exposed to growing up or it can even be used as what you did before you become a Investigator. 

5.Record your Driving Belief: All Investigators have a driving belief that is recorded on their character sheet. This is a very important point about the character. It could be something simple like, "I can always talk my way out anything." 

6. Final Touches: You also get an investigators kit and $50 bucks in your pocket. 

Characters are not defined by classes or anything of the sort. The archetypes provide a worldview and some starting flavor. Then the traits (and the rest of the role play sections) help flesh out your character. 

Resolution: This resolves around making tests the require a 2d6 roll and the test is successful if any of the dice come up a 5 or 6. Some magic, traits, and gaming fiction can give the player advantage to the roll which means 3d6 are rolled. Certain situations can also lead to disadvantage on the roll which means 1d6 is rolled. In a situation where advantage and disadvantage happens at the same the disadvantage mechanics prevail unless magic or some type of powerful alchemy is involved (then the advantage mechanics win because MAGIC!). Tests can be considered normal tests, an obstacle test, or a save test. The resolution is the same but the story that triggers the test is different.

Resolution: Like most Tiny Games, the rules are light but it is still important to mention some of the mechanics. These also include corruption which is Tiny Cthulhu's from of Sanity or Insanity?

• Corruption: Corruption Saves are a special situational save that results from the degrading of the psyche in dealing with the Mythos, other unknowns, and even magic. Each archetype has a Corruption rating and on a failed save, they lose 1d6 days as madness takes over their mind. It is up to the Referee to decide what happens in those six days and how it can effect the rest of the world or party. This madness can be forgone by spending a corruption point. When all corruption points are gone, the character has lost their mind and mist be committed to a mental hospital. There are ways to recover Corruption points from rest to treatment. There are guidelines for imposing corruption tests but are split into mundane and the supernatural. Mundane things like fining a corpse are only tested for once (so subsequent corpses don;t trigger an additional save) but seeing a great old one will always trigger a save. There is a handle table to reference and the only way to gain advantage on a corruption test is with a trait.
  
• Traits: These give the character some type of boon such as advantage in certain situations, a new skill set, or even some background ability such as being Wealthy. They are bought on a 1 for 1 system and have no tiers. Traits also have a movie quote attached to he description which gives them a lot of flavor and for those familiar with other Tiny d6 games, a lot of these traits can be found in the other games.
• Combat: Combat is broken down to the following steps:

1.  Initiative: Each participant rolls 2d6 and adds them together. The turn order becomes highest to lowest. If there is a tie between an enemy and a super the super always goes first. If there is a tie between supers, the players re-roll until the tie is broken to see who goes first on the original initiative. 
2. Actions: Each character has two two actions during their initiative turn. These are usually made up of being able to move and attack. Though a character can move twice or attack twice. There are also two special actions the character can do. The first one is Focus that changes the success rate for the next attack to 4, 5, or 6 (the focus action remains in effect until the character attacks or the combat ends). The second special action is Evade which allows allows the character to passively dodge incoming attacks. Until the beginning of your next turn, you can test 1d6 when successfully hit by an enemy - if the test is successful the attack is dodged. 
3. Resolving Damage: Each successful attack deals a 1 point of damage unless modified by magic or trait, story circumstances, or if the character is using a heavy weapon (which deals a base of 2 damage but can only be used to attack with once per round).  
4. Death: When a character reaches zero hit points that are knocked unconscious and are going to perish without help. At the beginning of a combat round you can only test to stabilize yourself. If you pass, you regain consciousness with 1 hp. If you fail, you got one more attempt next round at disadvantage. A failure on the second attempt results in the characters demise. Healing medicine and other ways could also save your character as assistance from another character making a check on their turn could stabilize as well.
   
5. Option Rule - Range Bands: There is an optional rule that includes the use of range bands which are (and the actions that can be taken to and for each range band) Close (Light Melee, Heavy Melee, Magic), Near (Heavy Melee, Ranged, Magic), and Far (Ranged, Magic). Close roughly translates as within 5ft, Near roughly translates as 10-15ft, and Far is everything else. During combat the enemies remain stationary and the heroes move around them most of the time. It takes a move action to shift between each range band. 

• Experience/Advancement: Tiny Cthulhu provides two different options for advancement. The first advancement is the minimalist advancement and characters gain a new trait every 3 sessions but cannot have more then 7 traits. If a trait would be gained after a character has the maximum of 7, the player can switch out a non archetype trait for new one. The second advancement track is where the GM passes out about 1-4 experience points a session and these experience points be spent to permanently increase the characters HP Capacity by 1 (6xp), a new proficient or mastered weapon (8xp), or a new trait (10xp).
• Everything Else: Well, all other actions that could trigger a test are resolved by role playing and said role playing could cause advantage or disadvantage (or some traits may cause advantage).

Final Thoughts: The tiny d6 system does the Mythos great justice. I have been at many a Cthulhu game table where we got stuck looking up rules or slogging through sanity searing situations, combat, or clue finding. I think these iteration of the Mythos goes a long way in keeping the players immersed in the story. 

There is threw things I really like about the Tiny Cthulhu. The first that characters are not deeply tied to their archetypes like a general class system. You can have a Mystic that is good with a sword or a soldier that has picked up some magic and so forth. The second thing is the corruption mechanics. Instead of it being a mechanical slog or a quick way to lose your character in a single session it enforces the genre in a positive way. Instead of taking away player agency it gives them a choice and there is some built in buffers so you do not have to make roll for each body you find or whatever cult antics you come across. I also like how finding treatment and some of the other methods of regaining the Corruption threshold can become a side quest and a good opportunity for roleplay that does not directly involve the Mythos. Another great aspect regarding Corruption is magic as just knowing magic permanently breaks some of your sanity and your total corruption threshold is reduced on an permanent manner. Knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Speaking of magic, the Healing trait is stated that it is due to medical knowledge and not necessary magic. The last thing I really like are micro settings. That provide some many different ideas then the standard issue 1920s vibe. My two favorite ones are Under a Blood Red Sky (where basically a 1800s western town gets mysterious transported into an alternate world with Mythos horrors and the characters are part of that town. The other setting is Arkham High - a little Goonies vibe with Mythos. Each micro setting has setting information, hooks, and a whats really going on explanation. 

Now, with that being said, I do wish there would have been more setting specific traits, GM advice for running the Mythos, and more information regarding all of the great older ones.  I am hoping some of this information we will see in a supplement down the road. 

You can find Tiny Cthulhu at the following places:

• Drivethrurpg
• Gallant Knight Games 

Join the conversation:

• Patreon 
• Twitter
• Facebook 
• Blog
• Youtube Channel with Live Plays, etc. 
• Twitch
•  
  

 

The Continual Evolution of S&B

So, recently I have been really thinking about Sword and Backpack due to my discovery of a gaming club I discovered on campus. I have been revisiting all my research notes about how Arneson and the other Twin City Gamers' played and been brainstorming on how to make Sword and Backpack more accessible to first time players or to people who have only played other more complicated/non-narrative focus games. 

Reading through my notes, my first task was clear. I needed to change the single dice mechanic. I followed my research and decided on 2d6. Another bonus of this, is people can raid their board games for dice. During this part of my rewrite, I had a very difficult choice to make things opposed rolls like MAR Barker's Perfected or to use target numbers. I went back and forth between these two options for a long time and I finally decided on target numbers. This is because target numbers give a little more structure and makes it easier for storytellers to bump up the difficulty to show how dangerous a threat is or how difficult a task is (all without the need for additional math!).

My next task to resolve was to make sure to include just enough structure so new Storytellers have consistency for rulings for task resolutions, combat, etc. This was already done in my Breakfast club edition so it was just a matter of converting everything over to the new 2d6 resolution mechanic. 

So, after I finished the above revisions, I wanted to look at my use of Wounds or Hits. I decided rather quickly that I needed to reduce the starting hits for the adventurers (which I did). I also realized that I needed to change the terminology of wounds or hits because those words bring combat to mind and the wounds that result from such actions. I am renaming wounds/hits to Stamina. The idea of Stamina as it is a catch all for the adventurers entire well being - mental, physical, and emotional. If the fiction dictates, Stamina can be lost through fear, exhaustion, and other factors. A storyteller in theory could also give Stamina to extended tasks, very complicated situations, and even social situations like a court room. I think using Stamina really opens up many unique possibilities. 

I have been sitting on these revisions for a few weeks and been carefully rereading them and making sure I did not miss anything. While doing this, I started to listen to a live play podcast and in doing is so, a lot of inspiration hit me for Sword and Backpack and just about any other OSR style game I play or run. With this new found inspiration, I went back to the forge. I really wanted to include some of the old school soul in additional to all of the narrative goodness that is already there. I decided to add a forth job, the Cleric. This goes a long way to adding that old school flavor. 

I then toyed around with the idea of an appendix that included my rulings from my own table. To be honest, I actually added this section and sent it to some people to get their opinions. Though, after some feedback and more thought on the matter I decided to remove this section as it changed the vibe of the document and Sword and Backpack. 

I am also using the manual from Kung Fu Hustle as inspiration for the cover!

 

HAWT: Character Sheet Reveal!

 

It is a funny thing, but something I always look at and judge in all role-playing games is the character sheet. I want a character sheet to be functional, clean, intuitive, and well organized. It does not have to be fancy or have a lot of art as long as it has what I have already listed. Now, if a character sheet can be functional and posses that artistic edge, well that is the best for both worlds. 

That best of both worlds is something I worked hard for when I was designing the character sheet for Have Axe, Will Travel. I am really proud of how the character sheet turned out. 

For those of you that are following at home, I am sure you are wondering about the progress on the rest of the game. Well, there has been some hiccups with layout and I am working hard trying to make sure I have included all of my ideas as well as to double check for typos. 

I am looking forward to when it will be officially in layout.

Lost Love for the D20

 

So, over the years I have been falling out of love with d20 based systems. I know have stated this before, but these days I prefer rules light games. Though lately, what love I had left for d20 based games is waning more and more. 

It could be that I has gaming heavily in the 3.x era where every idea, genre, and game had a d20 version and all of the of new games used a version of the d20 system. 

But maybe it is part of the swingy-ness (it lacks any type of curve - I call it the Chaos die) of the d20 but I think the majority of my current frustrations are because the d20 is usually attached to rules heavy systems. Rules heavy systems tend to have a lot of baggage. 

My frustrations have become apparent during my current DnD 5e game I am playing in. Do not get my wrong, I am having a lot of fun with the story, the people I am playing with (I think there is about 145 years of gaming experience between us). all of the characters (including mine) and their interactions. It is the system that gets in the way of immersion and full enjoyment.There are still pauses to look up various rules and sometimes there is decision lock as some of the smallest decisions can get very technical. 

The final part of my frustrations is that as far as DnD has come from AD&D/3.x to what it is now it has fallen short. Using the same mechanics for skills does not create very skilled characters and there are a lot of classes that o not have uses (or effective uses) for bonus actions compared to other classes - the action economy is in shambles.  

Now with this being said, I have found some creative iterations of using a d20 for resolution. Some of these iterations include using the roll under method (what a lot of people did back in the 70s and 80s), the d20 + bonus die for skill, and advantage/disadvantage (though this is just a clever way to stop obscene bonuses or penalties and not a system in itself).

This more of a rant then anything, but I have been noticing (except for very rare instances these day) that no matter how much I am interested in a game I tend to avoid it if it uses any type of d20 systems. 

Motley Crew: Session 2 and 3

 Session 2

Then party continues down the corridor as Tonic, using his dark vision scouts ahead. Tonic starts to round a corner but hears voices coming from the next open area and returns to the rest of the party to inform them of the situation. Theran decides to send his familiar, a weasel to further investigate the situation and finds four people. 

Tonic tells the rest of the party he will start the ambush and for everyone to follow his lead. Tonic slinks around the corner and unleashes his arrows as the man holding the spear screams in agony. A female with a bloody shield charges Tonic, wildly swinging her mace but misses. The rest of party charges in and takes up defensive positions. 

Theran quickly fires a bolt of fire but misses as Tonic catches a solid blow from his opponents mace which sends him staggering back. The battle ensues but the God Bane seems to be empowering his people and the party appears to be in dire straights and almost deadly blows start land with startling consistency. In a fit of rage, Uthar screams and swings his greatsword with all of his might that results in cutting the female opponent in half. Before the two halves of the body hits the floor Theran motions to a torch which flies off of the wall and collides with the last two remaining opponents that explode in a shower of sparks dropping them. 

In the wake of the blood lust, the party realizes that the three guards were interrogating a prisoner chained up to the back wall in the shadows. As Gabriel goes to free the prisoner, two armored fists fly off am armored statue and misses Gabriel's head by an hair. Tonic is quick to react and connects with an arrow to one of the fists in midair as Gabriel grabs the other one and tries to put it on but fails to do so. During this effort the other fist rings Gabriels bell as Tonic skewers it with an arrow, pinning it to wall and both fists stop moving. After confirming that the fists are not a threat, they party frees the prisoner and quickly learns that he is a noble and was being held for political reasons. He promises that of he is seen to safety he will make sure everyone gets an award. Merrick decides to lead him back to the bathhouse so he can be returned to safety with a degree of certainty. 

As merrick and the noble person heads back to the bathhouse, one of the guards moans and rolls over and bravely exclaims that we have all just signed our death certificate. Gabriel and Tonic picks up the guard, and chains him up where the prisoner was. After a few rounds of questioning, no information is given and Uthar finally has enough. Uthar walks over to the chained up guard, sticks the point of his dagger in the guards nose, and cuts a new slit in it. The guard grunts in pain but says, "I am still not telling you anything. You have no idea who my boss is". Theran grins maniacally and exclaims, "wrong answer" as he pulls down the guards pants and lines up a golf shot. The guard quickly changers his toon and explains how many people should be down here and how his boss is in a hidden room behind the torture chamber. The guard continues to sing like a canary and uses his limited hand movements to point to what door they need to take and the various direction they need to head in to find the torture chamber and the hidden door beyond that chamber. Just as Tonic walks over and paths the guard on the head, Merrick returns, sees the situation, and throws up his hands and says, "I do not even want to know. Can we get going?"

The party continues their journey following the guards instructions as the finally make it out of the wetness of the sewer and onto drier paths. They come across a corridor with multiple doors and the party starts investigating the doors and opening them one by one. Tonic opens one of the doors only to find himself face to face with multiple zombies and before Tonic can react, the zombies start to shamble forward. Tonic yells for help as he takes a few steps back narrowly missing becoming a snack. Tonic is able to drop back and fire an arrow but notices that is does not seem very effective and slings his bow so he can draw his short sword. The rest of the party rushes to the area as more zombies continue to spill out of the room. The corridor becomes a melody of steel rending undead flesh as Merrick, Theran, Uthar, Gabriel, and Tonic dance around the swarm of zombies - felling them one by one. Uthar dispatches the last zombie with an annoyed grunt as he removes the zombies head with a swing of his greatsword. Uthar movesa forward to inspect the room they were locked in and finds nothing of note. It appears it was just zombie storage? 

Theran goes for the next door and cautiously cracks it open just enough to pick in. The room appears to be empty except for a sarcophagus in the far end of the room. Theran and Merrick cautiously enter the room as the rest of the party stands guard outside of the room. As they reach the sarcophagus they find it empty except for gel like liquid filling a 1/4 of it. Theran decides to reach into the liquid and discovers that it has a false bottom. Theran then finds a mummy and casts a spell to detect if any magic is present and he gets a feeling there is something magical. Merrick helps Theran pull the mummy out of the sarcophagus respectfully and then Theran discovers a leather pouch that has a pair of gemstone eyes. Theran pockets the entire pouch and Merrick returns the mummy to its resting place. 

The party finds nothing else of note in the remaining rooms and continues on their journey. They eventually find themselves in the torture chamber as they notice two people chained up on to one of the walls. Tonic walks over for a closer inspection as he is about to exclaim they are both dead he notices that the female Tiefling is breathing and quickly frees her as he cradles her to the ground. Tonic gives her some water and she seems to regain some of her energy and wakes up. The party learns from the Tiefling that the leadership of the cult has always been members of the the royal family. The party decides to take the tiefling with them and learns that her name is Amber. Theran gives Amber a dagger so she has the ability to defend herself. 

Tonic scouts ahead through the far door in the chamber and runs right into a guard. Tonic quickly snaps off an arrow but the guard yells Intruders and retreats down the hallway. The rest of the party hearing this, charges in as multiple guards rush in to stop them. Uthar drops one of the guards as Gabriel and Tonic drop another couple with their arrows and bolts. The remaining two guards retreat into the next room and close the door. Merrick without wasting any time, charges through the door, splintering it, and pushes the remaining two guards further into the room. Uthar joins Merrick in the room and they both make short work of the guards. The party then explores each of the remaining doors. The first door was a now empty barracks where the guards were living. 

As the party opens the second door, they are hit with the unmistakable stench of blood and they notice there is a sarcophagus in the center of the room that is over flowing with blood. As they cautiously search the room, Gabriel finds an old lady, in rags, heavily breathing behind the Sarcophagus. The old lady acts really sweet but she gives Gabriel the creeps as something just feels off. Theran goes to retrieve Amber from her hiding place and she states that she has never seen the old lady before. Gabriel's bad vibes feelign intensifies and shoves Theran out of the way as an intense wave of murderous intent washed over him and the old lady stabs Gabriel. 

Tonic sees this interaction and quickly fires of ann arrow that connects squarely with the old ladies hip as the old lady stabs Theran which drops him. Merrick senses the evil and charges in with his polearm and smites the old lady with extreme prejudice as Merrick's strike erupts in glowing golden light. The holy strike breaks the old ladies illusion and she is revealed to be a beautiful young woman. The battle continues but their opponent is tougher then she looks and leaves the various party members gasping for air and hoping for a miracle. After suffering another holy blow from Merrick, the lady tries to escape but Uthar takes her lack on concentration and cuts her down.

As the party is left to catch their breath and wonder what in the nine hells just happened, Tonic secretly picks up the ladies dagger and slips it into one of his sheaths. 

Session 3

Disclaimer: I was not present for Session 3, so here is the best I could do with the notes I got from the other players. 

After regrouping from the attack of the old lady, the party is able to locate the hidden door the leader is hiding behind and they charge in with a hope of surprise. Though, the leader was ready but by himself. They leader of the cult fought fiercely but eventually was no match for the numbers of the party. 

As the leader took his last breath, the party decides it is time to head topside and prepare their report to the Capt. When the excited the bath house, they were ambushed by a group of people wearing all black and silver dragon masks. During the onslaught, one of the members dragon mask got knocked off revealing a beautiful women that Uthar instantly falls in love with. Uthar's pleas for her and the dragon masked assailants to stop their assault go unheard as Uthar is forced to cut his love down, with tears in his eyes. 

The few remaining dragon masked attackers flee at the sight of the dawn. 

Risus Changes Hands

 

I stumbled across this information by accident but it floored me. S. John Ross, the creator of Risus: The Anything RPG has sold it to Dave LeCompte of Big Dice Games.

I did not see any announcements or discussions about it in the usual places and it seems to have happened rather quietly. This information came up during a conversation about how Kort'thalis Publishing has acquired the rights to Encounter Critical from S. John Ross.  

The first hyperlink is the press release from S. John Ross's blog dated 06/07/2021. It was put up for sale on 05/28/2021.

Regardless of the reasons for passing the torch (as there is not much outside of speculation), I do have high hopes for the future of Risus in the hands of Dave and Big Dice Games. Dave has been really responsive and the focus as laid out in the press release is going to be fulfilling the Kickstarter obligations that was funded in 2012. The last update on the KS page was in 2015. 

Outside of the kickstarter obligation (which is first and foremost), there are a few other points:

•  Risus will remain free!
• Open call for stick figure artists.
  
• Open call for freelance work to write 10 page adventures and approx. 64 page world books. 
• The International Order of Risus will remain intact and continue to move forward. 
• More stuff to come after the KS fulfillment. 

I have been thinking about this a lot since I found out about it and honestly and I am really excited about this change. I think it is going to bring great things to Risus and the related community. One of the most unique things about Risus is it is really a community and that community has been continuously creating content  and going on Risus powered adventures. Now, it looks like Risus is going to a renewed focus and support from Dave and Big Dice Games. 

I cannot wait for what the future holds for Risus. 

If you are interested in freelance opportunities, please feel free to email dave at risusrpg dot com. 

Update 08/18/2021

So, this post has generated some better insight on the situation and I was given a link to a blog post that gives a better explanation on S. John Ross's state of mind and reasoning why he put Risus up for sale. Basically, outside of his health and financial issues, it seems to come down to the ye olde argument regarding high trust vs. low trust games and how S. John Ross thinks there is no room for his low trust style and games in today's gaming community. I think he is wrong, as the revitalization of DIY style of gaming, OSR, FKR, and other such movements show a swing in the other direction. The above link has screenshots from S. John Ross's twitter account and the like. It is an interesting read and provides powerful insight.