World of Ortix - How Will It Look Like

Here are more ideas about the Ortix campaign I want to start. As I mentioned before, I don't know when I will be able to start running it but it doesn't mean that there will be no info about it here, on the blog. And this post is mostly about the stuff I want to post.

• Don't expect any hex maps. I don't like them in my games. I like others' hex maps, I like reading the keys but I dislike using them. I prefer the hand-drawn maps with brief descriptions and without any clear scale. Aos/Gib is the absolute master for me.
• I guess I will use my diceless game mechanics (Diamond), unless I manage to create something unique. I must admit that I am really, really tempted to create the rules system based on Encounter Critical. Also...
• ...as I mentioned before, I won't use lots of magic. This may render Diamond Diceless useless, as - like in the original game which was an inspiration for me - it should work with games with strong magical / supernatural background and - due to the nature of the special abilities - it may fail in the low-magic settings.

U want to play gorn? Want u?

• I'm still not sure about the races. I guess there will be some humans, maybe some kind of reptilians (or other, gorn-like fuckers) but I need more. And currently, apart from the ancient replicants, I have no other ideas.
• Classless. PCs are just adventurers. But not classless D&D/clones, just something different.
• Outer reaches of some kind of kingdom of mankind will be the place. Just at the border of the Unknown, unmapped and mostly unnamed world. I know I should focus on this part of the game but right now I just can't! I need at least some background stories, some names and at least one sketch of the map.

600th post is a little gift to you

Whew, six hundred posts! And this time no bullshit, no pointless ramblings and - sadly - no random tables :( I'll make it quick - now - for a limited time (but the limit is not specified, haha), you can download the Bandits and Battlecruisers, paying what you want. If you want to repay me in some way, please rate it :)

CLICK ME!

599!

Well, it seems that I'm still alive :) It was a really long break and there were several reasons of it. Full-time job made me mentally exhausted and focus on WFRP campaign is another reason. Sometimes I think about writing more stuff but it seems that I lost most of my interest in RPGaming. After seventeen years of running various games, I've done something wrong.

That's the only reason I can imagine - my mistake. Of course there are lots of other things that affected my ability to focus on writing, such as being pissed off by my players, making lots of music and purchase of PlayStation 3. But I still see my lack of writing as solely my fault, as none of these things may be considered as something so serious to make writing impossible. Now I want to change it, mostly because well, I love creating the RPG stuff.

I must admit that I got slightly tired by 0e / retroclones mechanics. Ruleset is too abstract for me and I need to rework some parts of it  - or focus on development of my diceless system.

Also, during past several months, I ran countless 1e WFRP games (we are close to the end of the Enemy Within campaign! Yay!) and about three Underworld Kingdom games (if you want, I may try to write some game report). I'm not sure If I participated in any game as a player, maybe aside of one or two games of Star Wars: Edge of Empire but it's not good game. Once again, I'm little tired, this time with seriousness of abovementioned campaigns / games. Even my UK sessions were rather serious. And I need more weird science fantasy. I'd love to participate in some Planet Algol game (Blair, are you reading this? :D) but I'm afraid that due to serious geographical issues (different hemisphere) I will be forced to run something by myself.

Okay, it's time to some list. As my English is still far from perfect, I still prefer to write stuff in dull, long lists. It's easier to me but probably not so exciting to read (;)).

• Planet of Ortix will be the place. Maybe even some incarnation of the Ortix Worldship.
• As I can't be sure when we will end the Warhammer campaign (or if my players want to participate in the new game :), I will write a new stuff here, as probably none of my players read this blog.
• I'm tired of rolling dice. There's too much rolls in my current game so either I'll prepare the random contents (such as treasure or randomly generated rooms) before the game session or I will improvise, just selecting the stuff from the list to fit into the game.
• Enough of underworld. I need some sunlight, night/day cycle and seasons. Underworld Kingdom is cool (mostly because I created it lol) but I miss the surface world.
• Weird races, this time predefined. Too keep the world stable, I must give up the Thousand Races idea. All of them will probably be of alien origin, plus maybe results of some weird experiments.
• Little of magic, lots of weird / ancient technology.
• Also, I guess that some ideas from here will be present in the game, but as for now I see it more like mixing the Mad Max with HPL's Dreamlands while on acid :D
• Still lots of sandbox, still little or no railroading but I guess that some parts of the game may evolve into "new school" scenario-based gameplay. Still I think that most of it will be improvised.

Whew, 599 posts on this blog! I never thought I will be able to write so much, even though lots of posts were just a graphical inspirations (Underworld Days, Nebulae, Spaceships and so on). I hope that despite the really long gap, you are still interested in reading my stuff. 600th post is on its way!

[music-related] Doomed!

This time I created something... different.

45 minutes of extremely slow, low-tuned guitar riffage is available for your listening "pleasure". You can download the whole Obsidian album for free HERE but I'm warning you - it's not a doom metal. It's a DOOM metal. Droning, gurgling and seemingly endless.

Here's the example but you should know that it's one of the fastest and most "active" tracks from the whole album :D

Also,that's the first metal release by Perfect Beauty - previous ones are full of dark ambient / industrial / noise anti-music so yes, they are different and no, they aren't any easier to listen :D

Very unusual monster features

This table may be handy during creation of the unique specimens of some monsters. Roll 1d12:

1. Crystal body. -2 AC, +11 HP
2. Toxic Blood.
3. Electricity instead of blood. Damages its opponent if wounded with metal / natural weapon.
4. Multi-limbed. 1d4 additional attacks per round (determined each round!).
5. Explodes when killed. 1d10+3 damage in 2d6m radius.
6. Venomous Kiss.
7. Incorporeal. -1 AC, -1 damage dealt (to minimum 1), all damage dealt counts as magical, damaged only by magic (weapons, spells or abilities).
8. Splits when damaged. Only 1+2 HD, if not killed with one hit, it splits into two separate monsters.
9. Golden body. -1 AC, +1 damage, +2 HD, may be worth a fortune.
10. Opens a portal when killed. When the monster is slain, magical portal opens and spits out more monsters (another roll for wandering monsters is needed).
11. Robotic. -1 AC, +1 damage die (lazors, force swords etc.), 1 HP regenerated / round.
12. Hybrid. Roll for another wandering monster and mix the features of these two (incl. AC, HD etc.).

Additional table that may be used to determine why this particular monster was so different. Roll 1d6:

1. Result of a magical experiment of some kind.
2. Gift / curse of gods.
3. Effect of a powerful spell (may be dispelled).
4. Extremely rare mutation (imagine the mutagenic substance that turns flesh into a machine!).
5. Extra-planar monster, just resembling some monster known in this world.
6. Avatar / messenger of some minor deity (killing it may have unexpected aftermath!)

Magic potion... containers

Have you ever thought that some magic may not come from the magical potion, but from its container? I'm afraid that due to expendable nature of the potion container (bottle, flask, jar and soon) may lead to the missing of this phenomenon but well, it's players' problem, not mine :D

Here are some examples of the magical liquid containers, of course with fixed colors. Roll 1d20:

1. White. Turns the liquid to 40% alcohol, mainly vodka.
2. Blue. Turns the liquid into potion of healing.
3. Red. Turns the liquid to sauerkraut juice.
4. Yellow. Turns the liquid into urine.
5. Olive. Turns the liquid into vinegar. 
6. Brown. Turns the liquid into potion of invisibility.
7. Transparent. Turns the liquid into molten metal.
8. Green. Turns the liquid into potion of blindness.
9. Black. Turns the liquid into fresh water.
10. Violet. Turns the liquid into cheap, very sour wine.
11. Silver. Turns the liquid into blood.
12. Gold. Turns the liquid into poison (randomly determined).
13. Grey. Turns the liquid into ash (!).
14. Orange.Turns the liquid into somewhat diluted tree resin.
15. Dark-green. Turns the liquid into fruit juice (randomly determined).
16. Pink. Turns the liquid into potion of paralysis.
17. Navy blue. Turns the liquid into potion of fire breathing.
18. Aquamarine. Turns the liquid into mustard.
19. Copper. Turns the liquid into potion of water breathing.
20. Dark-brown. Turns the liquid into potion of sleep.

After filling the container with liquid, it starts transforming its contents after 1d6 turns. Transformation ends after the next 2d6 turns.

Bandits and Battlecruisers: Alien Artifacts contents preview

Well, we're currently working on contents of the first supplement for the Bandits and Battlecruisers. Few days ago I posted the first random table from the booklet and today I want to present you the initial list of all ship components that will be described in the supplement (as we want to make it about the alien-made ship subassemblies, not the generic and more typical alien artifacts). Of course I can't speak for Mr. Wight who usually is capable of adding lots and lots of additional stuff to my work, so nothing is final and the list may be further expanded.

So - here you are (in alphabetical order)!

ANNIHILATION BLASTER
BLACKLIGHT ENGINE
BLACKLIGHT LANTERN
BURNING ASTROLABE
CHAMBER OF WHISPERS
CLOCKWORK HEART
CONE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
CRYPT OF THE EYE
CRYSTAL REACTOR
DOORLESS LABYRINTH
DRIPPING TOMB
GLASS TREE
NULLSPACE REACTOR
OPAL VAULT OF GYB’OSO
SEVEN CRYPTS
SHRINE OF THE LIGHT
TESSERACT CHAMBER
THE FORGE
VOID BEAM
WELL OF THOUSAND FUMES

d30 random scrap table

1. Set of aluminium spoons
2. Large, rusty gearbox
3. Wrench
4. Ancient, broken cyber-brain
5. Steel bucket full of dried concrete
6. Half-melted barrel of a laser cannon
7. Iron
8. Small electrical engine (operational)
9. Titanium skull
10. Tangled copper pipes
11. Cannon shell
12. Punctured hot water boiler
13. Gutter
14. Large spool of copper wire
15. Iron mace
16. Small metal box full of nibs
17. Huge screw
18. Rusty cleaver
19. Body of a luxury car in pretty good condition
20. Small brass figurine
21. Ten-foot pipe with a knife attached to its tip
22. Steel bucket (punctured)
23. Six pairs of scissors connected with a short chain
24. Cast bathtub
25. Water pump
26. Huge cauldron with cannibalistic engravings on its surface
27. Rusty greatsword
28. Small can with set of miniature pliers inside it
29. Guts of the ancient clock
30. Brand new large ball bearing, still covered with foil

Bandits and Battlecruisers review

That's something pretty rare - a review of my Bandits and Battlecruisers game, written by Fracralbat. There are not many of them in the internetz, so enjoy!

CLICKY!

Introducing Diamond

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but in 2013 I ran a few Perilous Path games, all of them with only one player (my girlfriend, Natalia). As we played only during some "wilderness" trips (actually not very wild, but...), we used one of my favorite set of rules, which is... no rules except GM's decisions! And it worked pretty well.

However, about four months ago I decided that some kind of rules actually may be helpful - just to keep track of character's progress. And due to the wandering nature of our game sessions, it had to be diceless.

Instantly I began to think about some kind of a clone of the game with name of the castle in its title. And castle's name is the same as the common name of the fossilized tree resin :) Unfortunately, I got stuck with its most basic component for over one-third of the year.

For over four months I was unable to simply create a decent set of... basic attributes. I didn't wanted to simply rip off the original four stats, as I avoid direct cloning of the ideas. Also, I thought that despite their work perfectly for demigod creatures, they will be somewhat incomplete for (more or less) ordinary mortals.

Yesterday the enlightenment came. Of course, during the shower (gushing water is my usual source of good ideas :D). Yesterday I finally managed to figure out the five main attributes. And here they are:

STRENGTH | DEXTERITY | ENDURANCE | MIND | POWER

Strength depicts raw physical power.
Dexterity combines both manual ability and more general agility and grace.
Endurance in most cases means the durability of one’s physical body, his/her ability to withstand pain, fatigue and other negative factors.
Mind combines intelligence, cunning and willpower.
Power is a bit tricky, as it contains both combat skills and magical / mystical abilities, as well as any kinds of extrasensory perception.

Most humans have their attributes between 10 and 50. Heroes from the ancient past (and experienced PCs) could have some of their attributes as high as 70-100. Most powerful mythical monsters may have some of their stats even at 250, while gods can attain even higher numbers.

How to use the Power stat?
It's simple, at least for me (but may be bit harder to explain) - in combat, Power attribute may be used combined with Dexterity or Strength, or even both of them.
For magic, Power should be used mostly with Mind, but in some cases Endurance is important as well.

Well, that's all for the moment. I think that players will get 100 character points to distribute amongst the attributes, plus of course some extra points to spent / gain on additional features (I'm currently thinking about them so expect some examples... soon).

Circuit City - kick-ass idea for a map for your BandB campaign

When I was a child I used to play with broken circuit boards and computer parts, using them as spaceships and cities. Yesterday I thought that pictures of PCBs can be used as great maps for the Bandits and Battlecruisers campaigns (and of course virtually any other sci-fi games). Here's an example (click to enlarge):

A - City's main sensor array
B - Heavy laser batteries
C - The marketplace
D - University and museum district
E - Military Compound (with military corp HQ)
F - Corporate Towers
G - Warehouse district
H - Residential area
I - Ship hangars (bordered with black)

If you like this idea, I'd love to see your maps!

Spaceship Sunday - Soviet and Russian space program