Venger strikes again, this time with X-Cards!

 It's been awhile since I've caught up with Venger.  You can check out his going's on here: http://vengersatanis.blogspot.com/
He just released some Cha'alt X-Cards
Here is the blurb: 

If you love Cha'alt, then here's a mechanic that brings those Cha'altian vibes to the fore!

This describes an entirely new and strange technique for improving your roleplaying game sessions... and making them weird, gross, horrific, hilarious, and exciting.

Use Cha'alt X-Cards with Cha'alt or any other RPG that's about or promotes eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse, humor, sleaze, pop-culture, and grindhouse exploitation.

Want custom-made cards or the Cha'alt hardcovers?  Let me know, hoss!

The best part, they are FREE! 

And speaking of free, if you haven't had a chance to try out Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer yet, wait exactly are you waiting for? 

Here's the link.  

This is my own heavily house-ruled hack of B/X and 5e, suitable for one-shots, convention games, virtual play, and even face-to-face campaigns.  I'm currently 16-sessions into my Crystals of Chaos campaign set in the eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic world of Cha'alt.  Check out my session reports on Venger's old school gaming blog for details.

Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer is the updated version of Crimson Dragon Slayer D20, and going forward, this will see incremental adjustments (hopefully, improvements) here and there over the years.

In fact, there's room for a couple new races, and I've decided to run a contest to see who will come up with the most Cha'altian suggestion... that will be included in the next update, sometime in early November.  So, get your suggestions in by Halloween (not that it has to be horror-themed or anything, but it can be... whatever, yeah - totally up to you).

4 classes, tons of races, ascending AC, spell casting drains hit-points, lots of standard OSR type stuff, and plenty of weird things I threw in to mesh better with Cha'alt.  Plus, a character sheet (3 slightly different versions)!!!

Okay, that's almost all the things.... actually there's one more! 

Alpha Blue d20 (another super fun RPG) 

This is a different kind of Alpha Blue... for starters it's D20; it's also not quite as silly.  Yeah, this version is darker and grittier than the original.  Just as sleazy, though!  Maybe you've played Alpha Blue before, maybe you haven't.  Either way, I'd love to know what you think of this version.
I'm hoping to playtest and get feedback on Alpha Blue D20 before it goes into Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise.  
Okie dokie, that's what I got this morning.  Which isn't too bad considering I've only had a few cups of coffee this morning. 
I'm going to try and do a few more blogs once in awhile.  Highlight some fun stuff, like Venger.  
Maybe the next blog will be about my buddy Tim and what's happening over at Gothridge Manor.  
While you patiently wait, you can check it out here:  
http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/

Speaking of Tim, I should probably shoot him a message and see what's up, as well see if he's running a game currently.  My guess is likely! 
Alright folks have a good one. 

Low bandwidth

 At band practice last night I was talking with our new bassist.  Who coincidentally also plays dnd.  He knows what osr is as well.  He's been running pf2e at the local hobby shop.

I was telling him about how I'm taking care of my Dad with dementia and how I don't think I can run a game right now.  I can play but I don't have the bandwidth to do the background work for a 5e game.

That said I can probably run a osr game off the cuff no problem.

This was his first time out in awhile.  His wife passed away from brain cancer earlier this year.

Very nice guy, that I'm hoping to spend more time with.  I'm glad he came out.

Appreciation post

 I just wanted to say that I have met and gamed with so many wonderful people over the years.  I've made life long friends because of gaming.  Friends I've never met in real life.  If I ever get a chance I'd love to hang out.

After many games we would sit and bullshit and drink beer and talk about life.  To this day I chat online all the time about everything.  We share our lives.  

They are all awesome and I appreciate them.

Gamma World 1st Edition Tech Roll Hack

While I quite like the game within a game of figuring out technology in Gamma World 1e.  It does leave something to be desired when playing online.  

Here is an interesting read about using the tables in game 

https://muleabides.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/roleplaying-artifact-use-in-gamma-world/

And here is what one of the charts looked like. 

Here's my hack.  It's a percentile roll to see if you can figure it out.  (roll under).

All characters start off with a base chance of 15% at Level 1 to figure things out.

At 1st level if you have the following intelligence you can gain extra bonus to your base chance.

3 - 5:  -5%

6 - 11:  +0%

12: +5%

13 - 16:  +10%

17 - 18:  +15% 

For every 3 levels gained you receive an extra 5% (Levels 3, 6, 9, 12 etc). 

Best case scenario a level 12 mutant will have 50% chance of figuring out tech.  Which is obviously half.  For the most part this should make it a bit swingy in terms of being able to figure things out. 

Sidenote (Because there always is one). 

Here's a Gamma World Character sheet 

https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2019/09/14/gamma-world-1st-edition-fillable-character-sheets-artifact-sheet/

  

Fighting fantasy and gaming ramble.

It's time for a change of pace.  I'm going to start working on a small campaign using the original fighting fantasy rules as detailed in Fighting Fantasy the introductory roleplaying game. 

The rules are a bit broken, and aren't really meant for long term play.  At the very least not longterm play as per D&D anyway.  Somewhere I have a copy of the basic version of these rules in doc format.  It is a very easy to grasp game, and not really far from the original choose your own adventure style books.  I do own AFF 2.0 as well.  I haven't quite decided if I'll use that or the original at this point.  I managed to save a bunch of pdfs from Arion Games site that had pre made characters etc.  

Either which way, I'm going to see if I can get a game going on roll20 or with my buddies online.  I think the original rules would be good for a few one shot style games, longterm the second edition allows for more advancement.  

A few months ago it was decided in the google chat that we would try one one off game a month.  Unfortunately summer got in the way for me and I wasn't able to participate.  The idea however is pretty great in all honesty.  Try all those games we've collected and haven't had a chance to play.  

I was playing in a holmes game with Jeff that was a lot of fun, but has slightly fizzled.  I'm hoping we can get back to it as playing with Jeff and the other guys is a blast!  

The one thing I've found with online games and scheduling is it's almost better to suggest we do a weekly game, rather than a bi-weekly game.  Due to the fact that it inevitably ends up as a bi weekly game haha.

I have to say that I'm not D&D'd out, but It's time to run something different.  At least a different system, not D&D in post apocalyptic land (gamma world).  

Fighting fantasy was my start in role playing, and AD&D2e.  Both of which had a bit of a railroad feel in some of the writing.  FF was more a "director" of a movie kind of thing.  Almost akin to what 5e DMs do nowadays.  I remember reading a good blog about AFF in the gplus days.  The gent took the OSR aesthetic of open sandbox and used FF and it worked wonderfully.   

The last little while at home has been rather difficult.  My dad moved in with us, and I have no time for myself.  (read more here: https://mlife2023.blogspot.com/ )

I've found that the band I'm currently in isn't really doing it for me as far as feeling like I'm "getting a break".   Gaming wise, I haven't been doing anything the last little while.  No world building, or playing or anything.  Most of my time is frustratingly spent worrying about my Dad. 

Since my schedule is slowly opening up, I am really thinking I'll try and get something going on friday evenings.  Wednesday's used to be my day but it's now filled with all the caregiver things. 

I need that 2 hour gaming break where I just forget about the world I'm dealing with. 

Cool zine alert

 My buddy Matt Jackson just released sector nine zine episode 0.

Here's the blurb.

White Box...in spaaaace! This is an older document that I created for a project that never really took off (life changes and whatnot) but I just love the campy sci-fi pulpiness of this and I thought others might enjoy reading it. 

The project was a fun, energetic pulpy space zine that would present a setting similar to the '50s radio dramas like Space Patrol or Flash Gordon. Brave heroes, beautiful damsels in distress, clunky robots, vile villains, and strange (sometimes goofy) aliens.

Here's the link

https://mattjackson.itch.io/sector-nine-zine-issue-0

It's pretty awesome.  I'm happy to see a white star and whitebox resurgence.  They are both great games that seem to have been overshadowed with newer clones.

Check it out.

Revised Bard for Labyrinth Lord

A long time ago I wrote up a terrible over powered bard class for ll.  This is the revision.

Bard:  

A person who composed & recited epic or heroic poems, often while playing the harp, lyre or the like. 

Requirements: INT 9, DEX 9, CHA 11

Prime Requisite: DEX

Hit Dice: 1D4

Use dwarf attack matrix.

Bard Level Progression

Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d4)
0	1	1
1500	2	2
3000	3	3
4500	4	4
9000	5	5
18,000	6	6
36,000	7	7
72,000	8	8
144,000	9	9
288,000	10	+2 hp only
576,000	10+	+4 hp only

Bards will be able to cast spells & perform thieving abilities upon reaching 5th level.  After 10^th level they do not receive any more bonus spells, or upgrades to their thieving skills.

When casting spells Bards must be unarmoured.  Bards tend to stick to charm & illusion type spells, normally not offensive destructive spells, they leave those up to the crazy wizards in the pointy hats! 

Spell Progression

Class Level	1	2	3	4	5
4	-	-	-	-	-
5	1	-	-	-	-
6	2	1	-	-	-
7	2	2	-	-	-
8	2	2	1	-	-
9	2	2	2	-	-
10	3	2	2	1	-

Thieving Skills Progression

Class Level	Climb Walls	Pick Pockets	Hear Noise
5	87	23	1-2
6	88	27	1-2
7	89	30	1-3
8	90	37	1-3
9	91	40	1-3
10	92	43	1-4

Once per day a bard can sing a song that acts as a charm person spell.  

Bards have a 15% chance of knowing the best tavern in a town to find solid rumours.

Bards can only wear leather armour.  They typically have a pair of daggers, and on occasion a small crossbow or sling.

They always add +1 to morale, and encounter checks because of their wonderful smile.