Sunday 30 June 2019

Marvel Session; Lunar Blitzcrieg on Dire Wraiths


So after last game had 3 players i did a new player callout. So we had 2 noobs and everyone make it (bar one) so six players. Changed initiative system to speed and simplify combat which worked mad a couple of docs for group which i will expand and grabbing my own articles and publishing into booklets for use in game. Will share two below:

Character gen
Character Record booklet 

Will add city map to character book so they can add workplaces and homes
and remake table so greyscale works better and i messed up the fumble range to not be as ones we use in play as laminated sheets at table.

I met noobs at library to make new characters and both were fast
So got everyone to go round the room and describe characters

Jack Frost, hero of late70s and 80s who returned from retirement and turns into ice or frozen gas, shoots blunt icebolts and clouds of frozen gas. Is a super scientist to who keeps healing horrible genetic abominations of bad guys. Jack works at the space centre and teaches and runs a super hero retirement home which was supposed to be temporary but he likes it.

Amp a sonic super strong wrestling rock and roll roadie

Bolt Thrower the android archer with his high tech bow and robot hawk

Evac the official hero of the world wide rescue service currently working on astronaut training. Flies, strong, armoured, shoots force bolts and has a force sheath defence

Mr Lint a bouncer who can turn into incredible electricity and really liked watching the Tic on tv. Has a pet terrier who keeps turning up.

Terra a four armed super strong wrestling hooligan who has 4 arms and can burrow at 200 mph. He has own gang and a street where he is considered the local law. The city are paying him in beer and curry to help superheroes.

Then as a sample of abilities i gave everyone a quick solo event using personal encounter tables.

Jack Frost found a cleaner was sabotaging the space centre with alien spy tech and he stopped the industrial espionage merc who was hired to do it.

Amp was hanging out with his band in his base after a trip on tour. Decided the night club affiliated with is same as MrLint's.

Bolt Thrower was on his date a journalist who had been writing about heroes planning to build a ship to flee the apocalypse. Was trying to convince her it was just a mission and saw truck back onto ATM. He webbed them and stopped the truck and confiscated a cool concealable hacker terminal that fits on arm with a hud monacle.

Evac was safety checking the WWRS heavy cargo lifter that seemed perpetually in his care and was being modified for a one use moon mission and didn't notice a saboteur escaping. He managed to land safely and found alien bug which being on same base as Jack frost got them together to realises same aliens tech at work.

Mr Lint was grabbing a coffee at his contact's shop and a maniac in a mask with a chain tried to hold up place. Being a awesome martial artist he tussled with guy, took a hit as a human which hurt and chased the guy out. As he is faster he ducked into alley to stash coat and transformed disintegrating his clothes. Tried to stop guy but as he has probability control he gets miraculous fumbles and blew every streetlight in the area but crook cowed in terror. Lint told him to go to the police then went back to put on coat and finish his coffee.

Terra was in his flat drinking beer and eating curry watching soccer when a gang member told him mob had a car on street hassling the garage for money. As his gang only permited crime in area he spring into action with a mob of yobs approaching the armoured mob limo yelling. Frightened mobster fired smg scaring gang off and Terra headbutted him into unconsciousness. He let car drive off and his gang beat the other crook and both prisoners were stripped and thrown in river with warnings to never come back.

So last time party was investigating the old folks home for heroes for signs that the former chief Dr Sinclair was really Mandragora a mastermind genius and could turn into a space dragon. They realised that he had been sending data about old heroes to the moon possibly to sell to aliens? So they started working on modifying the WWRS heavy lifter into a one use return moon vehicle.

Town Mayor and Ape Detective Wally Surface got the team together and introduced new heroes to support their mission. They all went to base to check on the space launchand look for saboteurs. Bolt Thrower jacked into the alien devices and found a network that tried to take him over. He saw there were other devices on the base, resisted control and jacked out. Lint could see EM so he led group after a signal and found a clean lab with airlock all in glass where heroes could see 4 lab techs working. The tech seeing 6 superheroes glare at them were a bit edgy. Then they pulled huge self assembling chrome rayguns out. Bolth Thrower destroyed glass and webbed a tech. Evac flew through a window to do his charge and as usual missed but did not crash horribly which for him was a good outcome. Jack Frost fired a icebolt at one. Lint in electric form teleported across the room and punched one as aliens fired. A few heroes injured and webbed tech turned into a snake and crawled out so Terra grabbed her only to have her coil around him and bite him with no effect. Amp grabbed another one.

One of the techs and his gun turned to ash when shot which was a bit scary. Terra squished the snake and another turned to ash but others turned into their true form as science wraiths, an alien enemy not seen in 20 years.  Called Men in Black of APIO to collect aliens and saw their tech was setting off alarms and their network stopped. Bolt Thrower flew over base to check and saw lots of scientists running into a hanger and called gang.

As they approached doors opened and two robot things and 8 science wraiths with big ray guns ran out. Heroes charged. Lint teleported in by ground wires and got into fight with robot that couldn't hurt him and only damage itself as it punched him. Evac got stunned badly and was out. Other nearly stunned and frost injured multiple wraiths with ice blast. Bolt Thrower shot lots and his hawk pulled agun from a wraith that tuned into a pteradactyl thing to chase him but Bolty shot it some more. Another wriath turned into rat and tried to flee but Bolt Thrower got it. Amp was grabbing them while vibrating which was pretty dangerous. Terra tried burrowing under them and getting them to fall in the hole but grabbing them from underground worked better. Wraiths all down and most ash. Robot things had pods with pods of fleshy matter that Frost determined used to be human.

They called extra collection team to put wraiths in freezer. APIO jet arived and rather than wait for other team to arrived offered to just stuff all the wriaths in the two freezer pods as damned dirty aliens dont deserve space. Party loaded in and watched fly off. Then the two ships they actually ordered arrived. Doh. Tracked the wraith controlled prison plane to a closed APIO base and sent law after them. The aliens were mostly working on slowing the party so they just worked on take off.

On launch pad with the World Wide Rescue heavy lifter with extra boosters and engines the heroes loaded up. Amp was worried about his powers without air. During final check for sabotage. Lint used his powers to scan and fumbled with bad luck. He sent his dog to be cared for and fumbled that too. Loaded a couple of supervillain prison robots on board too, MK 3 models the smart ones. As dire wraiths were involved the team were briefed about a few alien types and the wraiths. Notably the so called male science wraiths and the stronger witch wraiths. As they have no genitalia gender seemed a convention they adopted for infiltrating earth and "male" science wraiths pretended to be women often enough.

After lift off Lint found Joan the terrier in his luggage. "Oh you naughty girl!"

Docked at space station for fuel and headed to moon. Amp kept on broadcasting to earth his insights and tried to bring his rock and roll vibe to space travel and failed badly. The world was horrified this maniac was allowed in space and soon the world knew what an Australian bogan was like and it was like Amp. Amp got Evac to speak on air about looking after him and after and relieved everybody.

Orbited the moon and scans revealed there were pilon like spires in location the signals from Earth went to. Bolt thrower was jacked into ship piloting it as his own body which was cool. He landed on the alien runway and scans revealed a large door big enough for a alien saucer but not teams ship. So they suited up and went out. Door opened and glaring light came out. Spindly naked greys walked out offering hugs broadcasting peace and cosmic love. Some saw through this and attacked and the party had to fight the lower psyche team members too, Science wraiths dropped the ruse especially after Amp grabbed six in his arms and ran off to "save them". Aliens defeated went in base and saw a big vehichle bay door and a human airlock. Amp teleported through metal door and explored the base tech wing to find tools left and no crew. The rest went into a 70s space lounge and attractive lady astronauts in skin tight silver suits and metallic pastel hair came to greet them as saviours. Only Jack resisted this time and he blasted them all with cold breath cloud and broke the alien ruse.

Seemed they had all the alien crew taken care of and base looked human made but they united and came to bio science wing that was sealed. Bolt Thrower opened the door and all saw alien biolab and came to another strange larger door that opened on own. A strange non wraith alien green temple with alien writing was here and out came Dr Mandragora as an older man in a suit with a pencil thin moustache. He told the heroes were here just in time and the wraiths were just a test and he needed them to go through a gate to fight a evil ultraterrestrial overlord. A woman in red robes came out and opened a gate of darkness offering them to enter. Bolt Thrower and Jack Frost called bullshit. Mandragora said Bolty and Jack were already under control and the only way to help them was to go throught the gate. Jack tried to block the gate with ice while Bolt Thrower shot Mandragora. The villain ignored this grew into a 20 foot tall space dragon and chased Bolt Thrower singing him with cosmic flame. Bolty never had not been able to take someone out before and ran. Jack tried to block the gate, shrugged off the with and froze her in the gateway. Evac rammed through knocking her in and most of the party went through before the gate closed.

Jack and Bolt Thrower fled in panic from Mandragora who possibly was really a alien space dragon all along controlling the wraith. The others blinked looking at the nightmare land of darkness that was Wraithworld. Violet sky with black stars, alien twitching plants, hideous hounds and pteradactyl things and a ruined stone city. The planet had been plunged into another universe by heroes 20 years ago when they tried to merge Wraithworld and Earth.

End of session.

All worked well. Dire wraiths are the only marvel universe thing I have from comics in my setting and they have been popular villains. This campaign has really taken off. It did take about 9 months to become regular fortnightly game. 6 hour sessions im likeing as get lots done.





Saturday 29 June 2019

Stupid Campaign Ideas: Rolling Thunder



 So i spent a few days dreaming this when working in on layer deck plan of a mobile city. Basically the goal is to cross a field in a city and avoid or fight past the kaiku. Mountain tokens hide needed missile depots for more ammo or slumbering smaller kaiju. Once one of a type is activated they are all activated on the battlefield. The small ones are fast but vulnerable to the 8 las cannons on the city. The big one starts opposite the city and moves slowly and is immune to lasers. Only the cities atomic cannon can hurt that beast or destroy a mountain. Las guns hit 1-3 on d6 Atomic cannon hits right hex on 5-6 on d6 (on a miss hits a adjacent hex using scatter table). Craters are placed where a mountain is destroyed or a nuke hits. Craters cost one movement point, mountains block movement but small kaiju can enter hex and hide. Mountains block laser fire if in way. Nukes can be fired over mountains.

I need to test this a bit to get right but the city can only kill the big monster with limited atomic cannon shots. The city should be able to limp over the line damaged but win. The las cannons do 20d8 4 hex range and the cannon 150d8 to a hex and 50 each adjacent one at 10 hex range. The cannon has 10 shots each depot has 2 more. Damaged units go slower. Small Kaiku ignore 10d damage have 50HD and move 3 hexes and inflict 20d damage. The Big kaiju moves 1, ignores 50d hand has 1000HD and inflicts 50d damage. The city has mov1 10HD armour and can ram for 60HD with 500 HD. Anything at 50% damage loses a move point. The city can repair 10HD if it sits still for a round. Possibly the Salback can slow city while the birds jump on board and attack.

The Kaiku player hides lesser kaiju and depot tiles under mountain tiles. Big kaiju and city start any hex on edge of their side. Still deciding if kaiju player places all mountains and possibly puts a crater under each so they look like they have something under them. Possibly could take turns placing mountains then kaiju hides stuff under them.
In rpg game players can use cannons or steer or other things. 

So will test this a bit to get economics right. If goes well I could bring out new units. Could build as a miniature game. Luka of Volet Grasslands have discussed this stuff a bit and Psychon book has city generators and I think I did some tables on D100 mobile cities. I can imagine srtipping the body of a hotwheels off road car for base for the model and toy dinosaurs and some terrain for a con game.

Tweaking still.

Suggestions welcome.
If anyone wants to test go for it
Photos appreciated too.
As long as city barley makes it im happy







Tuesday 25 June 2019

Changing my Focus a bit...






































In lots of scenes I have been involved with, many participants evolve into being semi pro monsey makers. It happened in my streetart scene and it happened to blogging on elfgames. People once freely gave out creativity, artists used to hang out and draw together and as they went pro they hid their blackbooks and stopped showing their projects. Peers turned into competitors in the worst cases. I dont think im in danger of giving up on diy freebie stuff yet but my work has changed due to a number of things partly from Patreon and partly from the experience of running games in state with less diverse gaming and me being a nomad.

When I was running three games a week of mostly dnd ish games my sandbox style worked well as I could use my old creations here to help run ad hoc improvised games. I could grab a old map of the net or a Dyson book or doodle one in my notebook  and use tables to populate and decorate them. It also allowed me campagn flexibility and players autonomy. If the players went to the city and partied they might roll on carousing tables and that might lead to the whole party jumping on a ship or fighting a sewer cult or something crazy all from dice rolling. The old Chaosium thieves worldbox set with the tables used in RuneQuest Cities in RQ3 era (Mikadema press?) was good for this and probably got me started. Traveller patrons book was good for this too. Later the RQ3 Glorantha box set got me using tables as a way of painting portraits of everyday life in a setting or location rather than blocks of text or prose.

The last 3 years in Canberra, Adeleaide and Sydney has changed my game style lots. Now instead of campagns im lucky if i get 2-3 sessions in a row. My Cthulhu game has got into it's 3rd year. My TSR Marvel game has now 7 players and is fortnight since I lifted my game and wrote more memorable and cinematic adventures. But dnd games Ive struggled to have a meaningful campagn.I have played enough to play test Exilon, Xor and Psychon which is nice but the demands of my game have changed.

So having lots of short adventures is proving more useful. The one-sheet dungeon zine format I have enjoyed the last few years and have done about 15. Some on my downloads page here now. The threefold thing has been good for me gaining lots of new readers and interest and has trippled my patreon subscriptions. Playtesting has been good - I get 2.5 done in along 6 hour game. Some of the 3folds with looser content make good fill ins and divergences which might get resolved in play. Players seem very positive about my home brew rules as a mix of old and newschool ideas with speed of play in older games. 

The 3folds have expanded my campagn settings well. After about 7 3folds were done I realised I could put them all on a hexcrawl map and then the Threefold land was borne and the idea of each 10 vols being a seperate setting some which might connect. Threefold land I put on the continent below Exile Island and Shadelport which I have done plenty on. The second series I used Exilon my Faux babylonia setting which is actually set a few thousand years before my standard setting and Shadelport is still a monster filled ruin from the monster empire. The third due to requests was a Psychon series. I made these focus on building types to drop into a gamma world type ruin crawl or my gamma oz game and often found in Psychon. Fourth series has been sour hill a region to the west of the threefold land. Ive written these up to vol40 with limited patreon release on some.

Polls I ran didnt seem keen on me doing the south beneath Threefold lands and Sour Hill but I have a map and planned it to be more knight and estate focused. Polls did say yes to me doing a Shadelport series with a suburb and street and a building per 3fold which is great because I get to finish off a old project from 6-7 years ago of mapping the city in detail plus I will map the bridges of Shadelport where I dream of having characters trapped inside when they lose their papers. A underland series will finish this with some links to Sour Hill and and my previous Underland campaigns I have run since the 80s Dungeoneer's survival book - the one book I kept from ADnD (i got most back though since). These will feature underland locations to drop in underground explorations. My take is different to Veins in the Earth or Operation Unfathomable but could be used with them. With Patrick about I dont think my setting is the bleakest anymore.

Im working on a format for a more gonzo Psychon series now featuring a citidel an hex and adventure seeds in each vol now. I'm gearing up to get Psychon going again, talking to artists (will do some profiles and interviews) getting a hard cover set up on LuLu and aiming at a xmas KS campagn if my life stops booting me in the face as it could in a few months. I might even seem middle class in 2 months fingers crossed.

Id like to do some more faux history like Vikings or Aegypt. I have lots of art ready for those. A Xor series I would like but I would need to get artists on board and pay them to really make this work.

Art and editing my biggest bottlenecks. Psuedo history has lots of old books now public domain I can plunder. Xor and Psychon are harder. I might try doing a call of cthulhu thing too as apparently some writers on the fan content creations have gone onto better things. Editing is my biggest headache as Im dyslexic and mostly rely on fan readers to proof. Part of why I want to KS Psychon is to pay for editors and Artists and set up income stream to do more polished work. Someone could employ me as a game designer though.

The threefolds has me using photoshop lots (CS3) and my visual communications and speed has improved. Keen to revise some old projects some time. I have also played with ow much info i can cram in a 3fold. I have done whole ruined cities, a mile wide dungeon and cave complex as 3folds. Others have had more npcs and and monsters and just been short adventures or locations. My style has evolved a lot doing these. Ive played about half which was good. The Secret of Granny's Hole was a favourite. When I move for the 8th time since december I hope to get a new fortnightly sunday game going again. One local con charges GMs. Another got me doing a JP signed police check then wanted me to do a OHS course which broke me. Hoping to go to Canberra and Melbourne for cons and dream of a trip to Korea, Japan and Palau.

Will still do d100s but the need for them in my games and priorities has diminished. I still get some requests to use in publications or translations which is nice.

There is some open content on my Patreon and polls about my projects for anyone so take a look. Currently for even a buck there are 4-5 items a month coming out thanks to some of the higher paying members. Also check out my Downloads page which I update fairly often.

A new something out this weekend for public release...

As always your readership and clicks and feedback are highly appreciated and help me get through the horrid times I have had the last few years.

Sunday 23 June 2019

d100 Wizard School Missions
















Series i have planned for a while. Next week need to hunt a new house, possible some deceased estate money coming through, can legally sell house, school ok getting extension and offered a job if i can complete enough units shortly. So promising upturn on adulting stuff.

Hoping to make missions increasingly difficult so you could roll a d40 or d60 for a lower level perty. Will do similar ones for temple, guild and merc company possibly more.

Starting to work on Shadelport map again. A big one with buildings marked.


d100 Wizard School Missions
01 Some kobolds stole a scroll from their master and fled to the sewers, recover it
02 An apprentice went missing exploring a hole he found near a graveyard, bring them back
03 A overdue book is needed by the library, recover it and fine the borrower 100gp
04 A wizard needs a escort into the Weeping Woods to copy inscriptions from a monolith
05 A wizard dropped a wand down a drain and needs it recovered
06 Wizard wants someone to harvest seeds of his carnivorous garden
07 Alchemist has problem with mutant rats in his drains and needs them removed
08 Necromancer had a box of crawling hands get loose and wants them captured
09 Wizard has stirges in attic needs them driven out so he can rent it to students 
10 Wizard wants a goblin mushroom farmer kidnapped to work in his cellar
11 Thieves kidnapped wizards familiar, he wants them dead and familiar returned
12 Librarian wants pterodactyl wings to repair a book, has map to island to find them
13 Gatekeeper knows students sneaking out somehow after curfew and needs to know how
14 Alchemist has heard of a magic fountain in a cave wants samples
15 Wizard requires unicorn dung for study and needs someone to find in the sylvan woods
16 Student has been having affair against school celibacy rules, wants love affair stopped
17 Wizard made some orcs who stole his wand and ran away, kill them and get the wand
18 Student has been sharing spells with rival school, find who and report
19 Wizard wants a giant crab spider captured to make spell ingredients
20 Wizard stole magic honey and giant bees menacing his home need stopping
21 Rascally imp loose in a library causing mischief needs catching or killing
22 Wizard turned cat into tiger wants it caught and brought back, answers to Mr Tabby
23 Wizard offers water breathing potions to any who brings sceptre of fish folk underwater shrine
24 Wizard wants rubbings made of prehuman buried temple complex that seems safe 
25 Students of rival school stole the mascot a rust monster, bring Rusty home
26 Wizard was caught by rednecks and had beard shaved in a bar, wants everyone in pub beaten and joint trashed
27 Village has trapped an apprentice, planning to give them a trial and burn them, break them free 
28 A gang of fanatics has been attacking familiars and needs a lesson they will never forget
29 A wizard has heard magic fish are living in a cave pool and wants some caught
30 Wizard needs some non wizard seconds for a dual to make sure no cheating occurs
31 Wizard has summoned magical concubines needs guinea pigs to test them
32 Wizard needs a magical fruit picked from a mountain only available once a decade
33 Bandits stole a shipment of books intended for school, librarian wants them all dead and books back
34 Wizard needs a wyvern tail for some reason and knows where to find one
35 Wizard knows location of a necromancers tomb he wants the book brought to him
36 Wizard wants documents from a ruined tower, details on operating a horrible artefact
37 Wizard wants gem eyes of a non human temple idol, he finds them too horrible for trade
38 School secretary notes several apprentices did not return from holidays and wants them back from trip so parents not upset
39 Take out apprentices for field trip with master to a dungeon to see how adventurers work
40 Wizard wants a frozen block of ice with monster inside brought down from mountain
41 Wizard wants agent to trade with mushroom folk for certain magic fungi and find out what they want
42 Wizard needs lover protected from enemy assassins until he can destroy their master
43 A crypt of ancient wizards holds the last known copy of a spell and the librarian wants it
44 Alchemist needs six ingredients for a potion and knows a forest they are all found in
45 Wizard has several potions of rock to flesh, needs them taken to revive several victims of a medusa in her sculpture garden and return them
46 Wizard wants several monsters captured to stock training dungeon for apprentices
47 Wizard wants a pegasi for daughters birthday, gives direction for mountain valley
48 Professor being blackmailed by thieves guild, wants them dead and love letters  returned to him
49 School nurse concerned lycanthropy broken out in a dorm, round up the students quickly
50 Wizard needs a meteorite he saw crash in a swamp and wants it brought to them for making magic weapons
51 Wizard had brother eaten by dragon and wants family ring back, provides a map
52 Wizard wants to be rescued from a dryad in about three days no matter what he says then
53 Wizard knows of a golem guarding a wizards crypt, destroy it and bring employer the pieces
54 Wizard wants to fake being a goblin god to help him steal the relics the tribe guard, requires some helpers to assist and in case anything goes wrong
55 A wizard has defected to a rival school with a spell book and the school want them back
56 Wizards plan to turn foundations of a castle to mud to punish noble who is against their cause. Need guards to protect them from the lords men
57 Wizard seeks a cloud giant castle in the clouds that holds a crystal helm they desire. Adventurers are needed to storm the castle
58 A wizard needs help in tower making a flesh golem, besides needing some corpses worried the golem could be dangerous
59 A wizard has a painting that acts as a gateway and wants some brave souls to explore and document it
60 A wizard knows of a imprisoned in rock demon tat can give advice and needs guards for the journey
61 A forbidden cult of wizards are teaching evil spells to commoners and need to be stopped 
62 A wizard believes that minions of hell are entering the city sewers and recruiting cultists. Nobody believes him but he wants adventurers to aid their search
63 A wizard has fallen in a mirror to the nightmare realm and the school want him back 
64 A wizard wants to trade magic items with dark elves and needs guards
65 A wizard wants to un-petrify some ancient monoliths in a hilltop circle to see what creatures they are
66 Wizard wants to test spell to resist energy drain touches, wants someone to watch him when he summons a succubi to question for a few hours, needs guards to make sure all goes well and she does not charm him or summon more demons
67 A senior wizards menagerie has broken loose and needs to be re caged
68 A party of school wizards are to be teleported to a conference in a distant land and the school want escorts to protect them
69 A magical teleporting beaver demon has been eating magic wands and staves and the school want it trapped
70 A wizard wants to trade spells weith a dragon as ancients did long ago but wants guards
71 Wizard wants milk from a gorgon cow and knows a swamp where a family live
72 Wizard has gnome engineers build a fantastic travel machine for an amazing voyage and needs brave helpers
73 Wizard's pet owlbear Blinky ran into a painting and needs to be brought back
74 Wizard wants help melting an evil artefact in a volcano guarded by giants
75 Wizard needs a shipwreck treasure recovered, provides water breathing potions
76 Wizards golem did not return on mission in dungeon complex, recover it
77 Wizard has gate to world where all  life has been killed, collect any writings from a ruined city of wizards found by viewing through the portal
78 Teacher and students on field trip captured and held hostage, bring them back and kill kidnappers
79 Apprentice stole wizards automaton lover and need it back, bonus for bringing apprentice back alive
80 Wizard made some displacer cats and they are loose on the campus, please bring back alive
81 Alchemist requires sap from ever burning trees in hell if you could just pop over and get some, has a magical gate taken from cult
82 Students have been dueling and knife fighting for sport off campus and head teacher wants guild organising it killed and any students or masters involved brought back
83 Wizard researching dinosaurs and lycanthropes on island lab has stopped replying to messenger pigeon, check up on them and help if possible
84 Wizard wants a djinn or efreeti in a bottle recovered from desert crypt
85 Wizard wants a t-rex for his zoo to cross one with a wyvern or dragon, knows a island where one lives
86 Wizard wants a deal made with a hidden giant kingdom to trade spells, needs escort to not be eaten
87 Wizards child wants to go on a dungeon crawl for birthday needs babysitters to give kid a murder hobo experience (but not to gory and only make it look deadly)
88 Wizard needs some dragon eggs for secret purpose go fetch some please
89 Wizard wants a crystal key recovered from a pit, surrounds have grown into a crystal mirror maze with strange properties
90 Wizard needs the magic murder maze of dead uncle probed to find uncles spellbook
91 The librarian has become suspicious of students learning forbidden spells. Suspects a minion of hell has a gate to the black library hidden somewhere, even inside the school
92 A wizard believes the avatar of the lord of evil ice elemental lives in a glacier cave and the wizard wants some of its fur for a winter hat to impress their peers
93 Wizard wants a item recover form a pit where a sad friend jumped in to end it all. Is in a ruined temple of daemons of the outer darkness, so might be a tentacled horror do deal with
94 Someone stole a wizards crystal balls, stolen by a stranger with a limp who walked funny. Get it back and find the thief
95 Wizard needs contracts taken to hell to file in the infernal bureaucracy, don't take any guff from low rank devils, absolutely must be filed overnight 
96 Wizard needs tax record he threw into a bottomless pit in a rage recovered
97 Wizard wants a angel feather quill, find a feather no questions asked 
98 Wizard neglected lab for a few years and golems have gone crazy and taken over, please destroy them
99 Wizard's lover stole a spell they worked on together for years to summon a elder horror and they want spell and lover  
100 Wizard's favourite hat stolen by failed student, travel to the kingdom the brat came from and read this magic scroll at their family estate then make a quick getaway

Wednesday 19 June 2019

d100 Prehistoric Monuments






These are common all across the country side of Sour Hill region and other places


How do you get to Sour Hill

lost it's church and steeple
lost its crown then fell down
lost all of its people

Every mile you travel in the region you come across some monument


d100 Petty Secret Societies

01 Man sized block with symbol, old border stone between clans
02 Doorstep on a abandoned cottage has ancient symbols carved into it, a yard long stone block with serpent designs
03 Oldest section of graveyard has crude ancient menhirs
04 Turf patterns of animals and symbols cut into hill, maintained by locals or wild folk 
05 Local odd shaped hill alone in flat area with several large stones on top 
06 Stone foundations exposed from ancient village
07 Large mound with procession of stones by sides of path to front
08 Ancient graveyard with several designs used for headstones over millennium, slate box crypts, obelisks or just large crude knee high stones
09 Carved stone spheres, some cracked open by treasure hunters
10 Ornate spiral pattern carved in rock used as marker by locals
11 Huge stone head covered in moss half buried
12 Crumbling stone crypt set into hill still sealed
13 Hole in ground opens into chamber with hundreds of bones and trash
14 Waist high stone with niches where skulls were kept 
15 Hill under turf is a midden heap of shells and bones going back thousands of years
16 Crude stone hut used by hermits made for shelter for ancient travellers
17 Ancient well surrounded by stones, drops into flooded sinkhole 
18 Row of knee high stones for hundreds of yards
19 Stone circle with knee high stones 20-30 foot wide
20 Stone circle with waist high stones 30-50 foot wide
21 Stone feet on pedestal with other unrecognisable chunks scattered about from former statue
22 Rock outcrop with dwarf figure carved into it, badly weathered
23 Relief carving in cliff with elf and dwarf rulers meeting and text in both languages from ancient peace treaty 
24 Relief carving in cliff of forgotten giant size king watching smaller minions behead prisoners with heads in piles. Ancient text in giant decrees he is ruler of the world forever
25 Relief carving of goblin gods being worshipped with text thanking them for granting them this land of their own forever
26 Relief crude carving of orc chief killing and burning prisoners, high orcish text declaring orcs own this land by strength of arms 
27 Relief carving of skull and ancient text declaring victory in battle by ancient necromancer kings
28 Cliff with pictograph carving of stick figures with weapons killing wizards and heaping bodies in a fire
29 Pictographic carvings of dancing goat folk and witches in a ceremony around a monolith
30 Pictographic carvings of stick figures dragging huge stone monoliths and erecting them
31 Stone circle with man size stones 40-60 foot wide
32 Ancient stone quarry with several menhir partially cut from rock
33 Hole in hillside with ochre deposits used by ancients
34 Hole in hillside with flint deposit and chips of flint partially formed tools
35 Hole in hill with bark tubes with mummified bodies inside
36 Hole in hill with ancient skeleton with cave bear or mammoth skull and flint tools
37 Foundations of ancient stone village 
38 Hole in hill with carved niches with skulls
39 Hole in hill filled with bones, some human some from huge long gone animals, and broken flint  tools
40 Cliff face with crude carvings of hunters chasing animals
41 Hole into hill, stone lined with niches for skulls and funeral urns
42 Cave under a farm, notorious for "devil writing" actually has several wizard spells
43 Tree overgrown some strange non human stone head with fused roots partially covering face
44 Cave with carvings of demons on walls
45 Cliffs with ancient pictographs partially covered by passing clerics adding holy symbols and names of travellers 
46 Hand prints on sheltered cliff face 
47 Faded cliff paintings under shelter of great age
48 Lower part of a pillar from an ancient empire not considered to be here
49 Ancient stone arch fused with roots of tree, used to be used for rites 
50 Remains of ancient path, surprisingly with edible plants by sides
51 Border stone with carvings of animal totems
52 Huge grinding stone used long ago when clans gathered for feast
53 Hole in cliff up high has ancient mummies in bark coffins 
54 "Lucky Stone" locals say if you can wrap your arms around it and touch you will get luck
55 Stone by pool used as ancient altar
56 Huge ugly rock said by locals to once have been a demon or troll or giant
57 Sheets of slate arranged like a box, contain a grave, sometimes locals break them open looking for treasure 
58 Trail if huge footprints in stone said to be a giant or demon
59 Trail of dragon footprints in bottom of river in ancient stone
60 Footprints of a god or primordial colossus left aeons ago
61 Many dozens of small mounds scattered over area, ancient graves
62 Cliff with dragon bones of stone that locals wonder at 
63 Stone skulls and bones of dragons on exposed rock surface
64 Basalt pillar 40 foot tall, unlike any rock in area 
65 Row of giant stone heads, rest of figures long buried
66 Basalt plug capping an ancient sinkhole long ago
67 Strange pock marked stone, whistles in the wind a eerie tune
68 Great cyclopean wall section, rest is buried 
69 Crude stone gate with lions carved above doorway  
70 Grassy square artificial hill once a great temple of a village
71 Pond with sacrificial remains in bottom, including bones and rusted bronze weapons
72 Remains of gigantic skeleton of a colossal beast
73 Boulders with huge claw marks of ancient dragons
74 Huge rock with plants growing on surface, one side has large agonised face  
75 Two large stones with third balanced on top
76 Dolmen crude single chamber table like tomb structure of great rocks balanced on each other
77 Row of reptilian worn statues
78 Great green worn statue of octopus headed sea demon
79 A great standing ring like a doughnut standing on side
80 Huge sixty five foot tall menhir 
81 Over a hundred waist high menhir stones in rows
82 Ten foot high monolith with a square hole through middle 
83 Rows of worn dwarf statues
84 Gigantic stone phallus 30 foot tall
85 Carving in hillside of reclining lizard man dreaming blissfully
86 Worn sphinx statue on pedestal
87 Stone reptilian head half buried in soil
88 Huge stone sword buried in earth
89 Headless great stone statue
90 Crude standing humanoid figure twenty foot tall
91 Several huge stone elf heads half buried
92 Stones laid out in shape of boat with grave mound in the middle
93 Worn human size statues look fearful, humans turned to stone long ago 
94 Circle of stone trolls petrified long ago
95 Strange black glass slagheap
96 Stone with carved moulds used by ancient smiths
97 A great stone henge circle with circular mound and ditch around outside
98 Procession of huge stones forty foot high extending for half a mile
99 Huge earthwork circle once had wooden posts around it but now long gone
100 Stone wall of huge perfectly fitted rocks several hundred foot long

Saturday 15 June 2019

In the Super Hero Old Folks Home




River City is basically a dumping ground for b-list superheroes and washedup government agencies that manage them. So this is a follow up to my last sessionof TSR MARVEL (not the MU my setting ive run since about 84 started as champions then superworld them TSR marvel). I will amend this as partly i need to use this today....

Recently the Mayor of River city Wally Surface former ape detective and superhero went to visit his old friend Captain Gorilla at Hero Hall, The super human retirement centre (one of several). The hall has operated since the 80s and of course has been destroyed a few times. Captain Gorilla looks like a aging silverback congo gorilla refuses to talk to humans mostly, but he tipped off Wally that Dr Morgan SInclair the institution director was really the supervillain Mandragora the man dragon and now the centre needs a new chief.

So Wally has selected one of the heroes, late silver age hero Jack Frost, in his professor alter ego to take over temporarily. To assist him in rooting out any more plots of Mandragora that might be active, Evac the official super hero of the world wide rescue service was sent for his paramedic and military scale disaster relief skills.


The former manor house has two main wings aside the admin centre. One wing is open to residents who hang out in 4 main rec rooms. This wing has a greenhouse also which used to contain Tree Man but he has sorta taken root and doesn't even have a face anymore. (His player of three years ago dropped in - drew up a quick version of old character with variant origin. Also known to hippies as Man-Tree or Tree Guy. Was once human fused with alien plant. Now part of a secret race of druid-gnome men. Can generate an Incredible ten tonne mass of vegetation. Can shoot logbolt and tree trap as power stunts. Usually effects a area with thick woods. Has been known to plant drug crops in public.

The second wing has isolation chambers for the more deranged residents with a test lab Hazard Chamber out the back. The admin block in the middle has posh offices and fancy foyer with the more run down kitchen and hospital in the rear. Underneath is a plant level with a 50 year atomic cell from 1988 and the Hazard Chamber.

Originally the centre was for superheroes only but then sidekicks were included then once Superhuman Senility Syndrome S.S.S. was used as a defence in court, many minimum security villains were let in too. Some things that were once human are housed here. No super pets admitted. Some of the residence say their pets were confiscated and dissipated. Some want pets admitted. The place is a time capsule of eras of the super heroes. The free superheroes belong to four residence groups (therapy gangs or hero teams) based mostly on their eras.

Staff
Manager Position Vacant John Siku aka Jack Frost (acting)

Open Wing Chief Dr Byron Mandula (44)
Briliant kindly optomistic Psychiatric doctor who believes superhumans need love and understanding, brings doughnuts to share
Closed Wing Chief Dr Victoria Savage (39)
Harsh bespectacled with severe fashion believes in surgical solutions and harsh treatments
(she has come to share ideas with a resident in the south wing).

Nurses
Mary Steel (36) - super strong, daughter of patient Lance Steel, tough love but fair
Donna Claymore (29) - ex millitary peacekeeper, no nonsense
Garry Fang (27) - failed martial arts hero got job after leg shattered when he was Goldfang

Orderlies
Patrick Simmons (42) - huge muscle bound ex villain goon, dim, circus muscleman strong
Maxamillian Power (28) - super strong failed hero, small arms proof, lift a tonne
Bernard Star (47) - used to wield cosmic power rod as the hero Cosmic Torch, till it got broke in a fight, knew lots of residents growing up
Ralph Chromlech (26) - not sure how he got job but has a knack for problem solving and calming people down. Likes to hang in tree room
Dorris Hammersly (48) - huge brutish woman who smokes and can bend bars

CyberneticsDoctor Bot - Mediocre AI councillor and psychological analysts tool, has calm voice and speaks through centre terminals and robots
Wrekka Mk 1 - Orderlies 8 foot tall bend to fit in 7 foot doorways. Monitor on chest displays emojois. Happy mode is orderly uses net gun, shock fist, tear gas grenade launcher (6), Angry mode enables kill mode military protocol with machinegun arm and flamer arm. Flamer arm has a retractable yard long disembowelling spike. These work in the wings around residence and help handle the patients and act as security. They are notoriously buggy and have been hacked or gone rogue

Wrekka Mk 2 - Military grade to fight metahumans and kaiju. 40 foot tall with weapons and varient versions, with atomic fuel cells, plasma sword, laser cannon and missiles. Four guard Hero Hall estate and patrol at random at least hourly. Variants A=Morphs into tank mode B=Morphs into fighter mode C=Morphs into Aerospace D=Modular payload specialised for target E= Has one to three crew
Wrekka Mk 3 - sealed 20 foot tall non metallic, hydrogen fusion fuelled, noanotech self repairing, forcefield hardened seamless hill, levitate with anti grav, repeating plasma gun, taken from future tech. Two in roof cavity ready for defence or termination of dangerous beings. Variants A=Human form replicant decoy model (Rm ranks) B=nemesis power takes round to adapt to rival power or force with a feat to see how well C=Biological material grown over Increadibillium skeleton, a living biorobot, uses weapons, once ablativeflesh gone is a hideous gory skeleton D=Implanted into a human as a covert unit, at some time it morphs the host into a Remarkable rank wrekka destroying their personhood utterly E=Clever Wrekka, superior intelligence, strategy and improvisation, use martial arts and better fighting F=Hunter model with improved meta detector antenna and satellite dish and laser uplink, can record and direct orbital weapons or artillery F=Sea version G=Space version


Open Wing
Room One (Patriotic Heroes - tend to be racist, hate modern world and computers)

Captain Commonwealth (96) - helped fight nazis and still keen, wears a daiper and Union Jack flag as a cape that gets stuck in doors ind in his wheelchair lots
Captain Australia 1 (94) - ww2 vet sure nazi plots are everywhere
-Spunky (85) Caps plucky boy sidekick also hates nazis and still wares shorts
Captain Australia 2 (73) vet of Korea, hates commies, thinks Nazis are ok to help fight reds
Captain Canetoad (65) former crook and son of the Statesman Hero/Villain of Queensland Canetoad, believes his sidekick Hoppy is still with him conversing but he died in war
Captain ANZAC (70) a Vietnam war vet, a drug guzzling wreck who thinks hippies were right. Regrets his sidekick the Kiwi 
Kid left him because he was a arsehole (Now just "Kiwi" aged 65 and in NZ, a hero still, huge strong guy in feathered and furred coat with huge club and face tats)

Room Two (Mystery Men & Women of post WW2 silver age) 

Lance Steel (80) globetrotting adventurer without powers, wears jodhpurs, flying jacket and cape, had a talking jet shot down in Vietnam) deathwish to die heroically
Ace Armstrong (90) spy and adventurer with no powers but used gadgets like a remote hacker birbot, ray pistol, jet pack (he is not meant to wear this indoors)
Madame Xanadu (70) masked mystery maiden with no powers, is a total bitch in black leather with her sidekick Sapho (60) who recently got married under new Australian law
Blue Dart (70) has a plate in head and sees things, conspiracy and UFO nut, can ramble for hours about inter connections, will try and get other residents worked into spreading chaos
Jonny Victory (90) was a sidekick who's hero (Victory Man or VMan or Victor Victory) died in the big one and Jonny remained a daredevil into 60's before he had too many injuries, his wife violet died a few years ago and he moved in most recently after his kids couldn't handle him. He likes to get other old guys riled up in adventure and begging Evac for a ride in the WWR vector heavy lifter near orbital aircraft.
Maser Master (64) gadgeteer science freak with beams that shoot from eye sockets and can see radar and microwave radiation and hear signals. Annoyed by all the wireless and microwave signals everywhere now. Complains constantly about modern tech

Room Three (The Fearless Five -
 Bronze age team)
Ice-knight (65) bit of a jerk and still thinks he is a star and the greatest mutant Ice hero ever
Fantastic Man (62) strong and invulnerable, cant remember anything but his fantasies about his home planet Alkron which sent him to escape a black hole to earth
Atom Boy (90) was a WW2 Sidekick of the Atomic Man who died in Korea fighting the Red villain Tzarbomb. Uses his incredible powers to keep warm and stop noisy things that bug him with excessive force, people like to keep him calm. He is a living atomic bio reactor. Did kill a few guys who laughed at his name and people stopped
Jinx (65) used her bad luck powers which people now doubt she ever had but she keeps claiming all her problems are her powers bouncing back at her to balance her karma
Max Volume (64) inventor of his tuning fork gun and sonar helmet which no longer work and he cant fix them and he hates computers and digital tech
Crimson Claw (60) former enemy of the gang they get on pretty well now, has a bionic arm set to normal strength for now 

Provocatrix (61), the Fearless Femme Fatal and her wife/chauffeur Kate-Oh

Room Four (Ladies of Liberty Room)

Lady Dynamo (70) the girl hurricane who spins like a top and is a bit scatty now
-Dizzy (61) her girl sidekick a former nemesis who causes vertigo and ruins peoples balance inducing vomiting. They are inseparable
Muscle Maid (70) a hulking behemoth who's muscles never stopped growing
-Brain Lass (61) her super intelligent sidekick who feeds her best friend and still looks 16
Pink Mist (62) former detective who turned into gas with mind altering properties and misses her dead husband a Marine from Harlem New York who divorced her in 80's and her ex sidekick Winky (45) now head of a perfume company who occasionally visits
Cat Queen (108) could talk to and command cats and had cat powers. Pretty fickle and touch has had nine sidekicks called Kitty most who died and forced government to outlaw taking pre teens into battle. The three surviving kitties lead normal lives and are 98, 78 and 65


Closed Wing
Mostly single sealed specialised private rooms for population in confined rooms

Doc mercy (67) who euthanized and lobotomised criminals,"cut out crime"
The Crab (61) battlesuit science guy who turned himself into a idiotic blob of cancer
Barron Blitz (102) nazi in unbreakable metal mask still dreams of the fourth 
riech, wears a nappy and struggles to get food i his mask
Captain Gorilla (71) gave himself gorilla powers and over the years has become a actual gorilla who wont talk to humans and often roams the gardens
Doc Cold (78) inventor of the cold gun and cold cannon, robbed banks, now antisocial
Janus Jones (71) master of a thousand faces now has the personalities to match
Lady Fury (65) whip wielding speedster in black leather surrounded by time manipulation field with poor control and mad. Kept in a magnetic bubble cell
The Brute (84) drooling hulking creature mostly fed by spoon on meds
Big Shot (74) crime boss feigning insanity to avoid prosecution and mob hit men. Runs a few jobs through proxies and claims is reformed with no memory of underworld. Wants new luxuries and to smoke inside and a phone
Killray (84) with glider wings and shoots death rays and can breathe water, now mostly mumbles and afraid of any sudden movements sitting in huge glass tank in room
Amorph (76) was a muscle bound goon of a villain now is a insane shoggoth sealed in a forcefield
Gyrotron (84) robot covered in dust actually always online and plays games and watches the homes camera system. He has made friends with the tree who has started to use the greenhouse console to log in under his old account from when he was human
Night Queen (70) former queen of underworld avoided hanging in 60s for kidnapping and arson now claims to be reformed. Apparently she never had powers of shadows as she claimed many times fighting and flirting with super heroes


Graveyard
Blackie The Mystery Boy 1932-1956 masked crime fighter who's secret was he was black, was killed by racist police in his non hero identity while carrying groceries home
Blimp Man 1929-1974 from cancer, 1984 shot down by automated anti alien air defences after brief resurrection
The Ghoul 1926-1989 former undead villain who ate corpses to gain powers of darkness. Corpse is missing some say he gained knowledge, skills and powers of those he ate
Jet Man 1939-1982 & Jet Lad 1946-1982 died when their atomic jet crashed on supersonic bomber test flight escort (actually they were chasing a UFO)
Mr Satan 1924-2019 criminal mastermind with mind control powers that were removed in 1984, survived by his sidekick: Imp the boy Demon 1936-present, bow a Lawyer)
Moon Man & Moon Maid 1938-1987 silver skinned twins who were sure came from the moon civilisation, died trying to return in home made rocket, the "Selenite Siblings"
The Puzzler 1953-1986 a prankster mastermind survived by his son Problem Child (1973-present) who is in prison for supervillain stuff. Clowns no longer allowed in Hero Hall
Rex Rapid 1954-1991 super speedster who turned into skeleton using powers just one more time, was a great cop detective led own special crime squad, wore out body attempting to break the sound barrier. Had more than a dozen wives, was bitter and twisted at end
Panic Attack 1958-2014 committed suicide as fear powers turned on herself
Flying Fortress (1925-2015) had a battlesuit that dropped bombs and tackled aircraft in WW2, korea and vietnam. Crashed on anniversary flight 2005
Doodlebug 1912-2012 senile nazi who could fly and shoot explosive bolts lost powers in 1981 testing the power removal process in prison. Survived war surrendering and helping scientific studies of the nazi ubermench formula (actually alien spores)
Blue Balls ?-1996 claimed to be alien, short with three glowing blue energy spheres that chased foes and exploded and he disappeared in a time portal blast fighting off future robots
Man Mountain 1944-2005 & Rocky 1953-2005 former best friends killed each other in fight over desert which was pretty strange and everybody thinks is tragic
The Flamer 1936-2016 suicide when unauthorised biography of wartime atrocities he committed and non traditional sex life. Mostly he was following orders in war killing several thousand Reds in the Korean war. Wore a bullet proof fire proof suit and solved problems with a plasma torch, thermite sticky bombs and other heat weapons
Dr Zombie 1012-1936 1942-1954 1966-1979 1986-2004 Supernatural seeming powers to animate dead so returned as dead again and again and again increasingly more rotten and insanely violent

Richard player of Elderly hero Jack Frost dreamed up these
"Provocatrix, the Fearless Femme Fatale. Orphaned by mobsters, she made a Demonic pact for the power to exact her revenge on all criminal scum. In exchange for the ability to feel fear, she was given enhanced strength and agiliy, and can walk through shadows. She is also cursed so that any man she ever loves will die a gruesome death. Being unable to fear the loss of her lovers, many other heroes met their doom when she fell for them. Unfortunately for the Demon, she worked out a loophole. Being unable to fear the social consequences of same sex attraction, she became a devotee of Sappho, and ended up settling down with Kate-Oh, her sidekick and chauffeur." 


Maser Master, whose gadgeteering expertise enabled him to build Rubidium goggles to tame the microwave radiation gushing forth from his ruined eyesockets after a lab accident. Nearly as strong as laser beams, his eye blasts would stop criminals dead when his net gun and stun darts failed.

So players of Jack Frost, Evac and Tree Guy set about digging up information ad met staff, talking to patients and listening to shameful history of superhumans. At one point the old guys bugged Evac and stole the WWR heavy lifter with a hackerbot bird he didn't notice sneaked on board. Any way he was a bit mad but took old guys for joyride. Jack Frost found leaking money and released funds for patient recreation and some upgrades. Rigged Mandragora and government bugs so he could give them false reprogrammed results.  Went of to realise Mandragora was stealing genetic samples from hospital for 40 years and selling to foreign powers, supervillains and aliens via a uplink to the moon. Jack Frost got idea that that Mandragora had killed some residence and deleted some from all records. Diamond Dame and Doc Cobra the fastest man alive were two in photos and old docs but nothing online. Jack began working on cures for the residents he believed were being used as guinea pigs by Mandragora.

Tree and robot shared notes and helped each other, Robot ordered sacks of fertiliser for tree friend. Robot was still but watched Jack and Evac who eventually awoke the robot with threat of putting room in a magnetic bubble cutting it off the net. Guys helped it fin the boy it adventured with in late 70s, the son of it's creator.

The heroes decided to take over this place as a base. Once all teamed up they made a plan to follow Mandragora's moon signal using a scratch built one way booster for the WWR aub orbital lifter. They plannned to use last fuel to return to earth and glide through the atmosphere with a wood, ice and forcefield re-entry 
heat shield. Busy mostly talking and investigating. Had a few rounds of fight when Blue Dart told both Captain Australia's that the heroes were really communazi alien plotters infiltrating the centre! One of the Cap's slipped on ice and got trapped by tree growth and then ice and stunned. The other cap jumped 30 foot up, to grab the legs of Evac but only slowed him and he smashed Cap into Blue Dart knocking him out.

Anyway was writing this as a scenario and has turned into a series arc reskin or something. Might get some more newb players in too.

Friday 14 June 2019

Unseemly Conduct and Evil in Games






































Recently had a player interested in joining my group but asked if there was any horror or anything unpleasant in my game. I said it was slightly nasty and they didnt come. As i use historic vice and villainy frequently it was probably for the best and might have affected other peoples enjoyment. Ive been in position of dispute between players tastes for and against sex and it killed the group and friendships. Judging between conflicts of mental health is hard. I had some players who worked in customer service or teaching who wanted as catharsis to be opposite in game.  A new player joined a three year game and asked everyone to stop certain conversation topics. People had right to say no to a new player. One smart very ethical player liked to play barbarians who picked fights. Id rather start a separate game for people who are not like this or wanted a family friendly or kids game. Its fine to say no, better to say need to start a new group to accommodate their taste. Sometimes a variety of players is a good thing but they need to be able to work together and be friends.

Had some young players shocked my game had slavery. DnD5 increased the hobby participation and doubled some clubs and culture had to adjust a bit. Personally I'm all for women, various cultures and gender tastes in all my nerd hobbies.

So I guess one question from this is:

If bad guys don't do bad things how do you justify murdering them?

Ive met dnd groups all playing cute furies and adorable critters who murder creatures that dont seem to do anything to deserve it. possibly worse than murder hobos. Some of these games tend to be on the kitch end of fantasy and would make a terrible book. Without evil good can kinda be pointless.


I had party sell monsters as slaves rather than kill them. One built a work house for poor and monsters they reformed then built a village of orcs and humans but they also like to bathe orphans which creeped out everybody. Some stuff like this is pretty memorable.

Some topics are universal horrible:

I know one club where women put a ban on alien impregnation stories. If you've had a traumatic abortion incest rape you probably don't want this in a game. Its possible trauma could be played to be cathartic but one DM claimed this knowing a couple of players had a tragedy and whole group complained as he persisted and turned whole group against him which turned into a emergency club meeting. He never got point. He ignored or mocked xcards. He believed he could manage this in game and failed badly. He was surprised his players were united in criticising him.

Ive had many fights over HPL and lost a friend over it. We both agree on most issues, both left wing, both agree on HPL being more racist than most of his time yet we split over exactly what content is ok and he defriended me. I have lots of friends who disagree with me. I have conservative religious friends who probably are challenged by me but we still are friends even if we tune out from each others feed occasionally. Two friends of mine agree on 99% of issues as me but think Israel is always right (they are not Jewish, most of my Jewish friends don't agree with this). Different countries have different takes on race, sexism and slavery. If someone reasonably explains why something they think is abhorrent its probably better to resolve or part ways than dig in or double down or assume you can handle this.

You don't have to agree on everything always. Having persistence to be friends, talk reasonably and be a decent person over years is better than rage quitting. Ive had several friends quit being nazis, racists and MRA's by persisting in being nice over a long time. I also learned about their fears which is helpful too. Splitting when you agree on most matters helps the worst people or even Russia. 

Stuff with children is touchy too. You don't need to be explicit. Villains harming children or orphans needing saving are fine plot hooks but you don't need to take this stuff very far and plenty of people have had bad upbringings. I worked as doorman at a S&M club and several ppl in a pretty open club would object to child themed performances and ones featuring baby playpens. Even pretty open minded people have limits.

I quit a game because DM said he loved women, just not communist feminazi witches like our prime minister at the time. Wanting equal pay is kinda capitalism. She was regarded as one of best economic leaders in world by international bodies just not Murdoch press who demonised her and got her sacked. Alsp game boring. My main reason for quitting most games really. 

There are more games featuring children as characters. I've thought up one recently. When player protagonists are children not npc victims you need to be more considerate. I dislike games for children in modern era and wont do it again in a hurry. I had to tell my students don't discus the trangressive elements of your game around adults or teachers if you don't want your games banned. Kids discussing demon worship, black magic, drunken tavern antics and player vs player coercive charm magic in game might get your games banned. I told them of my encounters with satanic panic growing up and the comic code authority. Ive reported kids and written reports over what they learned in online game forums like how to spot gays by finger digits, why trans people are all pyromaniacs and why tomboys are a problem that must be corrected by everybody (WTF?). Five year olds obsessed with killing cops and prostitutes from playing vice city is a bit sad. I found Moshie Monsters had a racoon in a trenchcoat gambling with kids for credit which was creepy and adults in site trying to talk to kids (we banned it).

The artist responsible for Piss Christ said an artist needs can get close to the line enough to get attention from shock but not so far as to get a lynch mob after you (my rewording). 

This a good read on torture
Article on torture in dnd
I quit battlestar galactica series over torture. I Can't handle most cop shows with corruption torture, child and women victims constantly. Ive had my fill of real criome for life. Asthmatic monsters stalking people ok, humans in real world too real for me. I don't think information is point of torture really. Also real torture is not knowing what will happen or when it will end. I've been tortured, it made me contrary.

Q: Why dont you warn players?

I've written long blurbs stating influences like heavy metal magazine, real history, films and books and players didn't know and didn't check and still came because they wanted to be in my games. So I tried to amp up descriptions to be explicit sex drugs adult content which worked turn them off but con crew began complaining. I think voluntary film ratings a good idea. Some ppl love me more than i love them despite me being as horrible as i can.

Solutions

Considered a checklist like some S&M scenes is preferable to xcards which I've seen abused and create new problems dividing communities - will work on this.

I find blanket family friendly cons not so great - you would think late sessions would be ok. Used to be a adult only horror con game with lots of games playing with trauma. One locked up smokers without cigarettes for 6 hours.

People are not more sensitive or weak now. They are braver for not putting up with shit in private or being driven away. You don't need to understand someones preferences to reach an agreement or support them. They don't need to relive their trauma to you for you to get it. It's ok to quit a game or say accommodating one interest will change a existing game. If all your players agree they can accommodate people that's great. If they can't that's ok too.

Open drop in games and games in public places and events need to be more considerate with strangers and more transparent with warnings. Knowing your audience and discussing taste in books and TV is good. Ability to watch GOT is a yardstick that is handy for example.

Anyway feedback on this welcome but I will delete abuse.
Your welcome to drop reading me.