Community Project - The Ends

Here's the master list for The Ends, a community project for paths between worlds, to get ways of moving from one setting or universe to another. I'll be updating the post with new routes as they come. Anyone can jump in...

1. The barber's chair - the City to Wermspittle (Trey, From the Sorcerer's Skull)
2. The ornate painting - to the Sea of Stars (seaofstarsrpg)
3. The Gem of Muktra - to Zalchis (garrisonjames, Hereticwerks)
4. The Synchronocitor - point-A to point-C (garrisonjames, Hereticwerks)
5. The corroded metal plaque-like thing - unknown... (garrisonjames, Zalchis)
6. The Weak Points - to and from Wermspittle (garrisonjames, Hereticwerks)
7. A Tenebrous Scarlet Portal - many, various... (garrisonjames, Hereticwerks)
8. The Aeonic Synchropore - possibly to the past (garrisonjames, Hereticwerks)
9. The Aquaducts of Xembor - outwards, across alternities (garrisonjames, Riskail)
10. The Lunar Gates / Lunar Mansions - also into dreamspace (garrisonjames, Riskail)
11. The Anagogue; The Whirlpool Gate - into Imperial space (John Till, Fate SF)
12. The Maelstrom - to one of eight places (garrisonjames, Hereticwerks & Porky)
13. The Dryad's Saddle - to another world (C'nor (Outermost_Toe), Lunching on Lamias)
14. ... 
15. The First and Last Die - to other realities (Porky)
16. The squishy cocoon - to dark and nasty regions (Porky)
17. Confirmation of the Higg's boson - one here to others (Porky)
18. The little helpers' dust - one here, maybe, to many others at once (Porky)

There's more inspiration at the original post and in the portal list, and if you need a spark for the world an open-ended portal might have as its destination, you could try this table.

Update: We've got so many in there now an alternative presentation may be needed.

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Casting off a Vancian magic

JB at B/X Blackrazor has been carrying on the debate about the magic-user's role and power in early D&D and similar old school tactical RPGs. The two key aspects are generally spell access and rate of use so here's a suggestion for each.

First access. The suggestion here is having spell levels exchangeable at a given rate, which could be one-for-one, i.e. two first level spells are worth a second level, a first and second are a third etc. The magic-user can pool spell slots to memorise more spells of a lower level or fewer of a higher.

Second is rate of use, arguably the least intuitive element of the Vancian approach. The suggestion in this case is that spells are not lost if cast, but cause harm to the user, a more Bujillian and Lone Wolfish approach. The MU can use each spell multiple times a day. However, each use costs, say, a number of HP equal to 1D[spell level], i.e. a first level spell 1 HP, a second 1D2, a third 1D3 etc., adapted to suit spell progression. With no Zocchi dice, and for a D9 or D11, roll the die for a level higher and reroll a maximum.

If this seems too easy on the party, or you want more drama, a simple, non-tabled side effect could be a blast of energy over an incremental radius, e.g. HP x 5', so a loss of 4 HP means anyone at 20' from the MU takes 1 HP damage, at 15' 2 HP, at 10' 3 HP etc.

Using the first suggestion could shake up the usual campaign pacing, and maybe even the setting as the world-changing spells became available far earlier. With the second, MUs could be more involved and even sacrifice themselves to a higher purpose. It could also encourage riskier play, keeping a party pushing where they might now withdraw.

Update: There are some thoughts on fighters here.

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Path - lip - recollection

You return along the bank, following the trampled path. Soon the reeds thin; there ahead of you lies the irruption in the earth. Oil sprays still, glittering downwards past the lip.

You pause, unsure. You remember the sight of the void of stars beneath you, the vertigo as you looked down. The energy barrier, the broken tunnel lit from within. Your footing feels unsteady again, the earth fragile, the rising trees and wooded hills undermined.

What does it mean? Can anyone answer? Is there reason at all in this strange land?

Attempt now to climb down to the tunnel   Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three

Skirt the hole, heading for the bridge   Blog One   Blog Two

Skirt the hole and return to the oak   Blog One   Blog Two
Call out to declare your presence   Blog One

This is one of 54 scenes so far in an adventure spanning eight blogs. Start here. You choose where it leads. You can add a scene at any point. Just leave the URL in a comment at the post with the option you've used.

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The beginning of the Ends

Here's an idea which was given a nudge by Trey's latest post, Opening the Doors of Perception. I recommend reading it, following the links and looking at the portal list.

The essence is this. All worlds are connected and each can be reached from any other. The idea is to get links between settings and game universes, so one campaign can run smoothly into another. What would a gateway to a given world look like?

Pick a world, any world - an existing space or a new - and describe a path across.

Here's a weird example: In a wild landscape, dig a cocoon in play dough, modelling putty or stained clay, then enter and settle in, buried alive. Fast, meditate and grow squishy like the squirming worms. Wake, and join their migration to dark and nasty regions.

Which could be a way you leave the current setting and end up somewhere like this...

A destination world could be much more serious of course, basically anywhere. I'll post more as I get them and make a master list, with links to whatever people come up with.

More inspiration.

Update: There's a master list here.

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100 items lost or found on the Rogue Spacer

This is for a slightly wacky Rogue Space setting, but could work for a lot of sci-fi roleplaying with a few tweaks. It overlaps with the Empyre setting.

Roll if checking pockets, packs, gloveboxes etc., or before character creation for a hint of who the character might be. The referee has the final word on exact nature. Or a roll could stand in for character creation, with the various stats and so on flowing from play.

1. 2D6 adhesive sigils
2. 1D3 anti-grav strips
3. assorted in-flight meal wrappers with scribbled notes to self
4. an augmented reality contact lens case
5. an auto-biographer
6. an autonomous arachnoid bodyvac
7. a ball of gelatinous plasma with a light coating of fluff
8. a biomonitor pendant with apparently erroneous readings
9. a bodily waste cycler
10. a can of landing foam, well out of date
11. a change of clothes, dehydro-packed
12. a clump of smart synthetic lint
13. a coil of quantum solder
14. a compression flask, overfilled
15. a cracked vial leaking a transparent being
16. 3D6 crystallised memory grains
17. a dark matter filter
18. a docking permit
19. a dowsing drill with filter pipe
20. 1D6 eggs, close to hatching
21. an emergency beacon, activated
22. an EM sample cone projector
23. an exoskeletal sander
24. an extensive holograph collection
25. a foil comfort blanket, torn
26. a fragment of a sacred text
27. a fugitive nanite colony
28. a furled solar cell, heavily creased
29. a hive node, damaged during extraction
30. a holographic skyway sign, stolen
31. a hormone jammer
32. 1D6 hotspots, unstable
33. a hydraulic doorwedge, prone to seizing
34. an ichor-stained rag
35. an imaginator, on the blink
36. an inertial leash, snapped
37. an inflatable sleep pod, unaired
38. 1D6 ion sump mushrooms
39. an IOU in the currency of a dead planet
40. a length of root, highly pungent
41. a light saver
42. a long-life fumer
43. 1D6 low-grade clarity tabs
44. a lucky rivet
45. a lump of vacwax, sweaty
46. a maxed-out credit tag
47. a memento of an extinct species
48. a micro-G sickbag, quite possibly used
49. a mind plug with an extensive playlist
50. 2D6 miscellaneous electronic components
51. a modular body part, poorly preserved
52. a motorised combi-utensil
53. a multifuel pocket turbine, squeaky
54. 1D3 organ regen capsules, 1 in 3 of which have been incorrectly stored
55. 1D6 over-the-counter brain faders
56. a pair of partially dissolved tweezers
57. a personal furcare product
58. a personal wormhole, either 1) collapsed or 2) prolapsing
59. a planar positioning device
60. a pocket hunter-nuker drone, claustrophobic and increasingly intransigent
61. a portable mess harness
62. a power finger
63. a receipt for an off-the-peg body
64. a recreational gene pool with applicator
65. a reel of servotape
66. a refundable intoxicant container
67. a roll of programmable laminate
68. 1D6 sachets of discolourant
69. a save point
70. a self-embalming kit
71. a set of 'how to' cartridges
72. a shard of crystal, pulsating
73. a shed skin
74. a sheet of psionic paper, partially corrupted
75. a shipspotters' guide, missing one volume
76. a shock test result
77. a small creature in an otherwise empty flare case
78. a souvenir replica of a wonder of known space
79. a spare psylamp bulb
80. a spinal floss generator
81. 1D3 spray-on IDs, unfortunately all cloned
82. a starliner ticket
83. 1D6 sticks of ruminoflubber
84. 2D6 stimulant flakes, 1 in 6 of which are contaminated
85. a subcutaneous picochip
86. a SupaVita bar, nibbled
87. a superluminet directory
88. a telescopic 10' probe
89. a tooth organ with amplifier, clearly untuned
90. a tracking thread, fraying
91. an ultrasonic gillpick
92. 2D6 uncashed entertainment complex tokens
93. a universal adaptor
94. an unpaid fine, long overdue
95. an unpublished oeuvre
96. a herbal infusion cube, slightly overgrown
97. a utility fog travel pillow
98. a vapourware inhaler with 1D3 empty cans
99. a zapdrive key
100. a zoink ball, initialled

If Fenway5 likes the idea, I'll expand it for Rogue Transmissions #2, but group it in line with the material on equipment in RT#1, and for use with a D6 only, rather than a D100.

If you haven't seen it yet, Hereticwerks posted a Rogue Space adventure last week, and Jay at EXONAUTS! has 20 mission ideas for another rules-light game, X-plorers.

Rogue Space downloads - Rogue Space news

RS@Hereticwerks - @Swords & Stitchery - @Mik's Minis - @TheFairlyUnkempt - @the Expanse

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Mantis tanks close in

Blight Wheel Miniatures are expecting a batch of 34 mantis tanks to go up at the store a bit later today. There's a list of local posting times here.

It seems to me there are very few unusual vehicle designs in tabletop gaming, and even insectoid walkers like the mantis aren't especially uncommon. In fact, it seems like a good time to ask - can you think of anything weirder?

I've got the urge to stat something that could use this model so here's a possible profile for Rogue Space. I've used the vehicle construction rules from December, but the mech expansion being developed at TheFairlyUnkempt might well be able to do the job better.

                                                                                                                              

Hektid ASW Mk. VII, 'The Creepy Crueller'

The Hektid Armoured Support Walker sees extensive use on the broken ground of the Eternal Fronts, often operating remotely at the whim of its Notwork cranAI. A response to the depth of current craterscapes, the Mk. VII bears a Morder on its thoratic mount.

C       0%     [0]

H     37.5%   [1]   Manipules (1 Attack)   [1]  Head + 1 Light Pulveriser   [1]  1 Big Morder

A     37.5%   [3]   C: -  H: 1, 1, 1  S: 5

S      25%    [2]   25' (ignores terrain to thorax height and abdomen width; 1D2 Attacks per 1S)

E     100%     8

                                                                                                                               

The profile for the Light Pulveriser is here. The Big Morder is a new Empyric weapon.

                                                                                                                               

Big Morder       H       Shells       as Shell       Indirect fire

                                                                                                                               

I've updated the footer with new blogs working on Rogue Space. If you don't know it yet, you can get the pocketmods free here and the book here or here; my old review is here.

Rogue Space downloads - Rogue Space news

RS@Hereticwerks - @Swords & Stitchery - @Mik's Minis - @TheFairlyUnkempt - @the Expanse

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Fractal gaming

I imagine quite a few of us have a played a game within a game, where the characters themselves are playing, gambling say. But how often is this a game of the very same type - meaning an RPG inside an RPG, or a wargame inside a wargame?

This kind of 'fractal gaming' shouldn't be too hard to do with a rules-light RPG, with its freedom to improvise and rewrite rules on the fly, but it could be tougher with the narrower focus of a wargame, where we're given less scope for non-destructive interaction between individuals. Hold the thought.

Could we and the dice be seen as gods to the characters in our games? Collectively, we are the creators of the fictional world, and to the inhabitants we're potentially omnipotent, as omniescent as the game needs, and possibly even omnipresent: after all, the events exist only in the players' minds; things only happen if we go there. Hold that thought too.

Setting off the beaten track

We have another new scene for the cross-blog journey, a second this week at Garrisonjames, heading out across an unexpected sandscape.

This makes 53 scenes at eight blogs. If you want to write one, go for it. Post it when it's done then drop the URL in a comment at the scene before. The master list is here.

Begin the journey here.

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The race and the swift

If you want to get cracking on the wargame deck from yesterday's post by writing your own cards, here's a blank. It's the same size; just click on it.

Feel free to print them all out, but I'm interested in hearing about whatever it is you come up with.

If you're wondering about the titles, they're from Ecclesiastes; I might use the first for the deck.

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Nor the battle to the strong (1)

You might remember a while back I linked to a post Big Jim wrote at Galaxy in Flames on the wow factor and GMs in 40K, and the discussion we had in the comments on creating a kind of automatic GM for players who want more unusual action in games.

This is a start on one possible approach, three cards for a deck of interlinked cinematic events. Although the original discussion focused on 40K, I've generalised here, aiming to make it compatible with a range of wargames, hopefully with very little adapting in-game.

As you'd imagine, the idea is that each player has a hand of cards and is able to play a given number per turn, applying each to a target listed below the title, with some targets created by the deck itself. You can see how Spill creates a new element for interaction, which is also a target for Spark, and Spark in turn creates one for cards like Plume.

To make things more reasonable, it could be that it a vehicle can only be targeted when it moves, a weapon when it fires etc. and depending on the game, the weapon can be a heavy weapon or artillery piece only. The wording of the cards also allows for effects to be selected via a table when a potential target acts, but that's all still to be worked out.

One obvious point to make re Spill and Spark is that they are less suitable for settings pre-black powder or combustion engine. In cases like this, Spill would be best dropped and Spark could have the weapon and vehicle target options struck out on the card. As the deck grows, there should be ever more cards suitable for a fuller range of settings.

I can see it borrowing not only from the death scene post, but also the living objectives idea for 40K and maybe even the ever-present, still open Getting out of the boat project.

All feedback welcome - I recommend reading the discussion over at Big Jim's as well.

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The noble art of the rip-off?

Tied loosely to the subject of the last post is this suggestion - link found here - that Electronic Arts has been heavily inspired by old GW tanks. The usual debate follows.

One commenter even writes: "Nothing’s been truly original for the past 50 years or so, however the given combination of unoriginal can produce something original." It's not so original a claim, but coming up with a specific number of years shows creative potential.

Another links to this exchange on replicating miniatures. Could the commenter who says "The onus is on the rest of us to get these stupid laws changed" have a point?

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The noble art of the yawn

For me there is value in this discussion on genre at Monsters and Manuals. But having followed it up by watching scenes from Sucker Punch, I'm feeling mild despair right now.

By the by: Does anyone see in this Butthole Surfers video a spark for the video for "We Come 1"? Or think the Streets ran with that Faithless theme for "Turn the Page"? If you don't know the Butthole Surfers, Independent Worm Saloon looks a good place to start.

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Handle - mat - collapse

As the rhyme goes on beyond the door, you reach for the iron handle. Movement on the floor catches your eye, and with a puff of dust the doormat strikes, sinking bristles deep.

You fall back, off balance, and seize a wiry root running out through the brick wall. For a moment it takes your full weight, then pulls away, and with a pounding of brickwork and rush of loam the tunnel collapses, carrying away the world in cold dust and damp earth.

Silence. Pressure and pain. The darkness grips tight and you realise you are buried - held down deep. You splutter in panic, spitting out clumps of soil and worms. They tumble back. Choking.

Cry out for help   Blog One

Struggle against the weight   Blog One

Attempt to compose yourself and take stock   Blog One

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40K OSR? (19)

What's a 40K OSR? There's some basic info on 40K here and a definition or two for 'OSR' here.

Colonel Kane's logo is to the right, and ready for anyone who identifies with the idea. If you use it, consider giving him credit and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your blogroll for the inspiration.

Like the Inq28 battle report posted yesterday, which also has news on a July event at GW HQ.

Here's the list, with a lot of new rules especially.

• As per yesterday, The M42 Project lives on, still looking to improve on 40K.

• Big Jim over at Adventures in Wargaming updated the Soul Reapers codex.

• Bryssling has core rules for Kill Team IV, and a fix for Necron destroyers.

• At Warpstone Flux jabberjabber posted a blended ruleset for Mighty and Planetary Empires and has the map and background for the campaign.

• Hum_Con at Wargames & Stuff looks at creativity and random tables, covering emergence and narrative in wargaming and Ghazghkull's history.
  

• At Do You Have A Flag? Headologist gives us rules for a space marine chariot attack bike - conversion here - and more on the world of Mawdryn.

• Brian at A Gentleman's Ones has a Killzone roster and trails the tables.

• At Confessions... dwez has the story of techno-archeologist Avro Vulcan.

• A while back I forget Dark Magenta's new Inquisitor pdf - the full list is here.

• At Spiky Rat.. izeColt finishes the Rifleman and okkiW begins Nicodemvs.

• Ron at From the Warp has another sculpting guide, this time scrollwork.

• At Heresy Workshop Will Wright explained how to make icicles, introduced the counts-as Sly Marbo and showed an old-and-new mixed entourage.

• Pedro Kantor at 2nd City Warzone has some mechanicus weapon teams.

• LuckyNo.5 continued the Mariners Blight nautical marines at Eye of Error.

• Godfrey at Rites of Battle looks at marine body size in concept and minis.

• Apocalypse 40K posted a preview for a possible pre-Heresy jetbike...

• ... while Desert Scribe at Super Galactic Dreadnought showed IG originals.

• Outremer has been posting part-sculpt Nurgle conversions at The Back 40K, including sorcerers and a dread, and just posted scratchbuilt vindicators.

• Warhammer in Progress posted ideas for spawn and wants obliterators. 

• ShotDownMind converted a batch of Dark Eldar grotesques from all kinds.

• Fine Detail Miniature Painting have been busy, with 1, 2 more video battle reports for Necromunda, an ash nomad with long rifle and some spyrers.

• Odd-Leg has another Necromunda report, this time a multi-player game.

• Linked with that, 40Korigins posted some work in progress hive terrain.

• Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze has three posts on an alternative to Forge World interiors - basics, scatter pieces and a setup - and no. 25 on the wagons.

• This time too there's a Ragnarok, a past build newly souped up by Hudson.

• TheAmbit posted plenty of conversions, including a buzz saw deffkopta, warbikes and an unusual deffrolla, as well as a scratchbuilt warhound.

• Mordian7th has a command trench built around a separated titan head.

• Wargaming Workshop finished the Epic Squats and moved on to the Eldar.
  

• Still with Squats, Tentakel Games posted a trio of classic images, showing Squat bikers, Khornate Chaos marines and a Bloodthirster with stats.

• And Space Crusade art keeps coming at All Things Fett, with 1, 2, 3 more. 

The usual applies: if I've missed anything at all, just leave a link, even to your own posts.

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Back-to-back reality, or Ouroboral gaming

Cygnus of Servitor Ludi reminded me of this at the dis-Atlantean post. It's a sequence from an old episode of Red Dwarf, a sci-fi sitcom about a group of humanoid misfits lost in space three million years in our future. Just before the clip begins they're blown up...

After watching it again I really want to set up a marathon session with a mix of settings and systems, with each game flowing on into the next and the players running through scenes based on this one, or using the kinds of framing at the Conan le Barbare post.

It could be another approach for S. P.'s guerilla gaming concept, and there might even be a universal supplement in it, just inspiration and possible methods for transformation.

Maybe it could be integrated into the Pluristem campaign when it gets up and running?

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Grilled Porky

The interview I did with Loquacious for the ID series is up here at World of Wonder. If you don't know the series, the subject is game design and it goes wide and deep. All of the interviews are here, and to anyone interested in gaming I recommend a good read. 

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Still blogging our own

We have a new scene in the online adventure, a second option from Ricalope over at The World of Damnation, continuing up the dry streambed.

That makes 44 scenes at eight blogs. If you want to write one, go for it. Post it when it's done then drop the URL in a comment at the scene before. The master list is here.

Begin the journey here.

Update: Ricalope actually has three more than I thought - one, two from Sunday and one more today, all exploring the space beyond the hole in the earth. That's 47 in total.

Update: Make that 48 - Ricalope has another, catching the creature high up in the tree. 

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Campaign undercurrents

At the last sly-fi post I suggested a table for dark plots in old school gaming. On the same subject, here's a simple proposal for improvising shadowy dynamics through play. It's propluristemic, i.e. for various systems, and maybe for fiction generally.

                                                                                                                              

Campaign undercurrents

Roll one die after each event, i.e. each encounter or session in roleplaying, or turn, combat or game in wargaming; the lower the number of faces, the stronger the currents.

If the maximum result is rolled, the event hints at the currents. The DM/GM / players decide which aspect of the event was most unusual or clear and add this to a list; each aspect could be given a proximity to the eye of the storm with the 'well met' idea.

At regular intervals the list is reviewed and links made, and these are fed into the choice or design of future events. As the list grows, the details emerge more fully.

                                                                                                                              

For example, if the aspects on the list are a) a powerful blow struck by a weak member of a group, b) a defeated warband fleeing parallel to a river and c) a die chipping a terrain piece, these could be taken to mean the weak member is protected, a dark power lurks beneath a mountain lake and the physical world is decaying; as the campaign goes on, rains and erosion could intensify, highlanders could be driven from the valleys by raiding amphibians, and the weaker member could develop a strange ability or draw followers.

I'd guess a lot of us use a system like this already, more or less formally and with more or less complexity, but it seems worth putting out there for experimentation or tweaking.

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