That RPG Folder Named Desire

A continuation of this series right here.

In a Strange Land by James D. Hargrove, hardest of the Hargroves, is a pulp fantasy hex crawly game.

Layout is clean, art is very cool. It's a short game clocking in at 8 pages. Tight.

The opening paragraph has a cryptic reference to a "solo-play board game of the early 80s". I believe this might be a reference to Dwarfstar Games' Barbarian Prince, but that's just a wild conjecture since I know nothing of that particular lost artifact of the past.

Mechanics are interesting. Blows are resolved by subtracting the Fighting scores of opponents to get a modifier, then making a 2d6 roll and modifying it with the number you got. There's a table then that you look at and if your final result is on the table it will tell you how many wounds you dealt. This is really interesting to me because it means the scaling isn't intuitive. For example, if you end up with a 6 you have scored 1 wound. But if you get a 7 you score no wounds. A 12 is 3 wounds but a 13 is zero wounds.

Weird, but neat. Not something I'd be attracted to in an RPG. But I'd give it shot for fun because it is so damn weird.

Much of the other content is related to hex travel. How far can you go in a day, how much food do you have, etc.

I dig how sorcery is handled. PCs are not wizards. Sorcerers are evil, alien, sinful, wicked, dangerous. Much of what they do is reduced to a single d6 roll where, on a 5-6, they deal wounds to every PC in the group with a blast of wicked energy. Cool beans.

Seems like a fun little game. Not too complicated. Very focused on exactly what you see on the cover: pulp fantasy hex crawls.

Echoes of the Labyrinth by Scott Malthouse is a Tunnels & Trolls hack. I know very little about T&T in terms of game play, so I'm taking a look at this one as a total noob without any idea what I'm talking about.

It's a short game that weighs in at 16 pages. It cuts right to the chase by telling us that it's a traditional GM/Player game (GM = Heart, Players = Yearning Delvers... I'm down with that!) and giving  us the core mechanics right on page one. In this game you only use d6s. You make skill rolls on 2d6 + mods vs. a target.

Combat is different. All combatants on a given team make 2d6 + mods roll and then everyone adds their results together. The other side does the same. Compare the rolls to see who was the victor. The difference between the rolls is divided among the losing side as points of damage, which are distributed as the losing side sees fit.

That's very interesting. Is that part of classic T&T? It's a very cooperative method, it seems. If I'm down to a single hit point and you have ten then maybe you absorb all the damage so I don't die. There's a big meta-gaming aspect to that, which is taboo in some RPG modes, but which doesn't have to be taboo. I am not sure I love it, but I do find it terribly interesting.

Characters have six abilities that are generated by rolling 3d6 each... which of course is exactly what classic D&D does. But that's expected to me since I know that T&T came out a mere year after OD&D and is inspired by it.

I like how monsters are statted-up. They just really have 3 elements. FR = Foe Rating; this is how many hit points the monster has and half of the FR is it's Combat Points (bonus to attacks). Armour = how many points of damage the creature can ignore. Special = whatever special abilities or notes it has. So monster listings are super short.

This is an easy game. Based on reading it alone I can see that it would play fast and free. I like that the game's central conceit* is that it takes place in The Great Labyrinth, which is potentially unlimited in size and scope, possessing entire cities and nations deep within it. I dig it. I would play this game.

*You know, I have seen the phrase "the central conceit of..." many times and I only assume know how to use it. I am assuming here. It's one of those phrases like "damp squib" that I have heard and never fully understood except through context. Weird.

An RPG Folder Full of Fire

Continuing this series in which I sort out my "new" RPG PDF folder. This has been a fun journey because I'm forced to read at least SOME of what I'm sorting. I'm pretty bad for downloading a thing and never looking at it again.

Fuck the King of Space is Nick L. S. Whelan's players' guide to their funky space game. I am not sure if it's still ongoing. The document is a wild mix of classic sci-fantasy art and Nick's own cobbled-together rules that are based in D&D. Right of the bat we're off to a good start because you choose a "boon" for your character during chargen. For example, you might get +2 to hit, a random spell, or some skills. I'm a huge fan of this move and I'm including it in all my game designs. For example, when I created my level 3 pregens years ago for convention and public play, all of them had little perks and things that are not part of the core B/X rules. Because as much love as I have for B/X, it does not generate interesting characters right out of the gate. Everything interesting has to happen in play. Which is fine... it's very OSR. But you can do better than that.

(Nick also has this wicked POSER Manifesto on the site.)

The Revelation of Mulmo by Daniel J. Bishop is a level 4 adventure for DCC RPG. I haven't read it but it seems to be an adventure location related to mean-spirited asshole elves in which there is a kind of resurrection pool. It's a proper dungeon crawl, from the looks of it. Daniel generally does fine work so I'm gonna go ahead and say this is probably keen.

Victorious by Mike Stewart is a sort of Victorian age superhero steampunky RPG based on the SIEGE Engine as seen in Castles & Crusades. I have written about C&C before and I still think it is a killer game and is clearly the spiritual successor to AD&D. In fact, as an aside, if I ever get around to running Al Qadim I might just use C&C instead of AD&D 2e. But that's got nothing to do with Victorious. 

I have been a fan of Mike's since I first heard Save or Die and I've made my fanboy love for Mike, Liz, and the gang public for years. Listen to the back catalog of Save or Die and Save For Half and you'll encounter my emails and junk here and there. Knowing Mike's penchant for old school play and his dislike for crunchy skills systems I can only assume this game is a bit lite in that area. But who knows? I haven't actually read the damn thing. It looks pretty slick. A bit too shiny for my taste, to be honest, but it's fine. Troll Lords puts together some good looking books and this is no exception.

Revisiting the Chainmail Chick

Joe Jusko killed this one.

C. September 1984. A young me, approximately 14 years old, depending on exactly what day of the month it is*, picks up Savage Sword of Conan #104. I'm all-in on the Joe Jusko cover. There's ice and snow, muscles, a ninja**, and a redhead with underboob. What's not to love?

I remember that day. I picked up the issue at a local convenience store and it was the second or third time I did it. I am pretty sure the first SSOC I bought off the shelf was #103, which remains to this day one of my favorite single comic book issues of all time. That issue is what made me fall in love with Conan the barbarian. Well, y'know, after the movie anyway. I would be a religious consumer of SSOC for at least the next 2 years. The names Ernie Chan, Joe Jusko, Gary Kwapisz, and Tony Salmons would be etched into my developing brain, ensuring my lifelong love of sword and sorcery and muscled barbarian fantasy.

Boobs optional, but appreciated.


That's right. I said it. I might be a woke lefty with no tolerance for right wing fascist pricks, but I like a good exploitative pin-up barbarian chainmail chick now and then. And go fuck yourself if you find that troubling***. Wokescold somebody else.

Anyway.

I drew this years ago. I like it a lot for some reason.

I've been thinking about chainmail chicks lately. Check out Black Pudding for my take on an old school character class emulating what I love about this motif.

So what makes this motif compelling? Some elements are just god damned obvious, base, and probably rooted in my I-Am-A-Man existence. They're sexy as hell. They're tough, bombastic, and bodacious. I want to be a chainmail chick, motherfuckers. You heard me right. I don't want to nail one, I want to become one.

To be tough as nails, able to gut a man in a single blow, and still look damn fine? Hells yeah. The problem is there isn't enough variety on the meme. We need more fat chainmail chicks, black chicks, buck-tooth chicks, bald chicks, etc. Because fuck your beauty standards, you reactionary prick****.

So in Black Pudding #1 I had the Chianmail Chick character class for B/X style OSR gaming. I remember creating that class and thinking "I really need a male matching mate". So I also created the Sinewy Barbarian. Those two classes were my approximations of Conan and Red Sonja, from the comics, in RPG format.

It's kind of a crass move to counter a busty character class with a beefcake. I know that. I'm not arguing that I did things correctly. I never claimed to be correct about these things, just honest. I wanted to present something I loved. And I didn't just include the Sinewy Barbarian because #equality. I did it because I have a tremendous love for the archetype that Conan represents. I am a man, after all, and the idea of a strong man facing a hideous and dangerous world appeals to the reptilian part of my brain in a big way. It's why I watched Conan the Barbarian, Beastmaster, and The Road Warrior every chance I could when I was a teen. It's the same reason Big Trouble in Little China remains in my top 5 favorite movies of all time. Again, I might be a woke SJW, but I'm also a pulp-inspired aficionado of all things pin-up and two-fisted action. It's in my blood.

PITT brush pens, Prismacolor markers.

Ok... so considering the dynamics at the gaming table, how feasible is it to have chainmail chicks? Well... it kinda depends. I can see a shitty situation where a reactionary prick includes them at his table and amps up the misogyny. This is not good. It's uncomfortable and harmful. But I ran several games in which people were playing Chainmail Chicks from Black Pudding and having a great time of it. There was no sexism or misogyny. We were having a grand old time.

I guess this is one of those things. Like... if you're putting something out there that pricks might use in a negative way, then what is your responsibility to help keep that from happening? I am not sure. I feel like the intent of the work is inherent in the presentation. If I'm a prick for creating the Chainmail Chick then the work itself will reflect as much. But if I'm not being a prick then the Chainmail Chick, particularly when considered alongside the other content of Black Pudding, should not feel misogynistic.

I feel like it's all OK. And many women have told me me how much they love my representation of women in my art, even when I'm doing the sexy pin-up thing. I fully understand how dangerous that is... that not every woman is going to react the same way. I get that. But I can't tailor my art to suit all the outliers and all the feels. I just do what I do and I try to do it responsibly. I really really try.

Holy shit this post is going long and I've had more than a few glasses of sangria. Enuff is enuff.

*My birthday is at the end of Sept.

**I don't care if that guy is supposed to be a ninja or not. Is it supposed to be a Black Dragon, such as those seen in King Conan comics? I don't know. Looks like a fantasy ninja to me and my 14-yo brain read it that way.

***I'm not sure how to elaborate on this. I recognize and accept that misogyny is a huge fucking problem but I do not accept that sexy images of women is the root of that problem. Or even a significant element of it. Now, I do believe that exclusionary sexy images are a problem. For example, if all the pin-up women are skinny bitches that's not fucking cool at all. People come in all types, so let's not be dicks about it.

****Oh, hey, let me clarify something. Everyone who has followed my creative journey for any significant time (may the gods bless you) knows that I like to draw fat girls. But I am not a discriminatory connoisseur of the pin-up. I like all shapes and sizes. I can be just as enamored of a skinny waif as a fat broad (holy shit I don't mean that in a negative way... "broad" is such a fucking nasty term, isn't it?). What I mean to say is that beauty is not defined by size or shape. Beauty is largely subjective and a person's beauty in the eyes of a beholder is a package deal. Or something. I'm a dude here. I'm trying real hard to express a positive message and I'm probably not cut out to do it. Please move along, nothing to see here.

This has been a drunk post. You are welcome.

Kanebok, the City of Dead Wizards

Following up on this post, here is the original blurb about the cit of Kanebok, the setting of Dead Wizards. I wrote this blurb several years ago and it is presented here mostly as it was, unedited. This will not be the final introductory prose but very close to it as I am keen on keeping this vision as pure as possible. Comments follow the blurb... imagine it being read aloud by Mako Iwamatsu.

KANEBOK

From the cataclysms of wizard wars crawled Kanebok, the City of the Exalted Prince. It squats on the edge of a cliff over which spills the dark waters of the River Uth. It is flanked by a desert and perilous badlands. Many old roads converge at its gates and queer vessels from queer lands arrive on the waters.

The Moyirs run the city. Dozens of them compete with one another, cunning and dangerous, backstabbing and plotting, always looking for the angle that will put them in the Mojab’s favor… for the Mojab is the boss of the Moyirs and the de facto ruler of the city. From his Marble Tower of Time he rides a resplendent palanquin of gold and jewels carried by sinewy slaves. The Mojab is the mouthpiece of the Exalted Prince, who is himself a child of the gods. All must answer to the whims and decrees of the immortal Exalted Prince, Supreme Ruler of all the Land, high in his Palace of Glass. Though he is rarely seen, his merest gaze can strike a man dead and his desires are law. On the rare occasion the Exalted Prince enters the city streets he is carried in a glowing howdah on the back of an immense three-headed elephant called Gaj’Uth. A brigade of his arcane guards go before him to clear the path, crushing those who refuse to move and demolishing structures so that not even mighty Gaj’Uth is made to touch the dirty city and its dirty people.

They say to be crushed by the feet of that great beast is to ascend immediately to heaven and be done with this life.

Few are willing to risk it.

You have come by fortune or fate to the city gates, their grisly faces grinning as you enter. Inside are streets of dirt and stone, malodorous, cacophonous… at once a nightmare and a dream. The city is never asleep. It is never still. They say the foolish or brave can find paradise here, if they aren’t swallowed up first.

This is going to be an interesting night, at the very least.

/end blurb

So yeah. Kanebok is meant to be "exotic". I am aware that my whiteness and Westerness means that I am coming from a very particular perspective and that many or most people in the world will have different perspectives on what that means. It's the curse of being human.

Anyway, while not being a direct representation of any culture, this setting is inspired by Arabian Nights types of fantasies, Hollywood-filtered Egyptian fantasy, and various African and East Asian images and ideas I have sponged up over the years. It's a melting post of this stuff... along with a lot of Western baggage, of course. It's the kind of shit a pulp hack writer would slam into their typewriter.

Speaking of which... in my head, Kanebok is the hub for a series of pulp adventures. Each gaming group is like a hack writer crafting their yarns in a shared universe... not unlike the way many authors contributed to the shared universes of Thieves' World or the Cthulhu Mythos. I was chanelling a lot of The Black Company, Conan the Barbarian, and Tales From the Flat Earth when I came up with the idea. I'm not trying to pave new terrain, just running on a feeling here. I hope the end result is something evocative and deliciously pulpy... warts and all. We'll see.

More on the setting and system later.

Gaj'Uth the Three-Headed Elephant

Following up on this post, here's more of Gaj'Uth. Now, this piece is actually part of a larger piece of cover art for the Dead Wizards RPG I am writing (I don't know when I will be finished, but hopefully this year).

This whole project was born out of a desire to make a pulp sword and sorcery game. Not a narrative game in the strictest sense, but one with more narrative sensibilities than OSR games in general. The system started out as a pure riff on OD&D and I ran a playtest or two with that version a few years ago. But it has morphed quite a bit since then. The second iteration used the descending AC to-hit tables as the primary "core" mechanic, which I still believe is a really cool idea... but I ditched that idea for Dead Wizards and am now working toward an original system that bears some OSR artifacts (there is a saving throw, you use d20 rolls vs. a target).

But the whole point was to make a sword and sorcery game in which you "play through a pulp yarn". The basic unit of adventure role-playing is the adventure itself and in DW that unit is called a yarn. It's a story and it emerges from game play. It's really important to take in that sentence and understand what I mean. You would play this game as a game and whatever kind of lucid, weird, disjointed, harmonious, violent, beautiful, dreamy, or fucked up series of events that emerge from it would be the yarn, or story, that you created. I am not saying this is a "storytelling game" in the sense that many people mean that phrase. It is going to be a game with a game master (I use the term "Judge" because it's the best term - fight me if you want) and while the players do have a lot of impact on their world it is not a shared storytelling game in the strong narrative sense that you'd get from most story games. It's an adventure game with strong narrative flair, not a story game... just to be clear.

Once you complete your yarn by dealing with your characters' needs, you could continue playing more yarns with the same characters or not. I'm designing the system so that it isn't zero-to-hero. Like in most heroic fantasy stories, the "heroes" begin as larger-than-life figures. They are already better than most people. So there isn't any need for balancing or a sense of scale, mostly. This is the kind of game you could run fairly quickly with low prep, depending on how comfortable you are with being creative and judging on the fly. I cringe a little at using the term, but it's a fairly "rules lite" game.

I'll post more soon about the setting and the game system.