What are y'all up to these days?

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Steel Aces Intrude 6
This week Frankie continues to explore the forces of Chimera, delving deeper into the idea of a new Commander subtype. While not part of the original entry this is something we're hoping to add to a future update.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HouseDokPro

Website: http://housedok.com

Because the idea got stuck in my head, here's a stat block for the Drifter Commander in Metahumans Rising.

 
My VTT Hyperborea 5e campaign is going pretty well. We got a couple new players who consider 3x to be the definitive edition of D&D. I am pleased to say that by the end of last session the newbies grokked the importance and (more importantly) the FUN of seemingly nonsensical and outdated "old school" conventions such as wandering monsters, tracking time, XP for treasure, hiring retainers, light, and encumbrance.

I improvised "redneck dynamic lighting" in Roll20 using auras and fog of war- it worked well enough. In fact I think it is superior to grid + miniatures when it comes to driving home the excitement and danger of exploring a dungeon. Every uncovered room and every roll for wandering monsters was a nail-biter.
 
Well, I mentioned that my space opera game succumbed to heat death. One of my players-- the DM who normally runs this slot-- is still burned out and needs a much simpler game than I am normally wont to inflict on my players, so no Terminator and no D&D, so I'm back to my usual bullshit: my Shroompunk setting (proper, no isekai), using the Barbarians of Lemuria rules almost RAW. The players are all warriors of the same clan who led a successful cattle raid on another clan, on another World, tried to return home in victory only to find their path through the Warp Zone was closed behind them.

This led to a series of horrible puns, starting with using cargo sheeps to carry their ill-gotten gains around... gun sheeps to protect them, and in addition to stealing cattle, they brought some cattle with them on the raid to make a quick escape, because the raid bull gives you wings.

So... the Terminator game and the DOOM game are both on the back-burner for the time being. I can see running either online... but the Terminator game, I'd need a good method for double-blind randomizing links to webpages so that every character gets a link to their secret orders, and one player chosen at random gets a link to their special secret orders.

In better news, I am allowing myself to be convinced that my poor, long-suffering players are enjoying my eXiles game enough to justify the effort in keeping it running-- with fewer players, and less elaborate missions, and a co-DM whose primary duty is to keep me on task.

edit: Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that our very own C Chris Brady is graciously running a TMNT game for me-- my very first-- so that I can learn the ropes and hopefully run it, or something similar, myself in the future. Thank you!
 
Today I played Night Journey of the Soul, a solo gamebook by the maker of the Radiance RPG, and set in the same world.



I had a flashback to my experience with the Ghost Ops solo, as the opening references something as though it’d been mentioned before. At first it appeared to lack conversion rules, just like Ghost Ops: Lone Wolf, but some vague guidelines are at the end.



It has several problems. There are several points in the adventure where you can chose to do things, but near the end the adventure’s text is written as though you completed all of them. One encounter asks you about using a bit of magic you don’t start with and you can’t find in the game. Another entry has an underground room described as if it’s aboveground, then goes back to being underground in the next sentence.



Also, there is a lot of treasure in this adventure, there only for those who are converting the adventure. I found this especially infuriating, as one bit is cursed, and the reason I lost the adventure. It’s great to go down to something that is literally pointless in the context of the adventure.

Finally, there is a bit involving a child that reminds me why 99.9% of RPG writers should never include children in their works, because they fail to comprehend that being a child’s chew toy is not why people game.



I have the other solo module, and may give it a go later today to see how it compares.
 
It's one of those extremely rare occasions where I'm feeling completely ready for tomorrow night's session & won't need to, at the last minute, pull anything out of my... hat.

Probably. You never know with gol-danged players & their creativity :hmmm: .
 
I'm thinking it might be fun and appropriate to prep for a game of Infected! I would love to give this beautiful looking zombie infected game a run, especially with Immersion Studios going the extra mile to get one of the Kickstarter-exclusive GM screens to me. The gritty post-pandemic post-apocalyptic theme seems fitting.
 
I've started up a biweekly Dune RPG game, the first session went fairly well considering I was woefully unprepared. In a nutshell my work has been so frustrating and stressful I find it difficult to read and retain information. Haven't been able to just sit and read a novel in a few years. It makes reading new games difficult as heck, as I have to do it in 15-20m chunks over time.
I can empathize with the concentration problem. I have found read aloud stuff helps a lot. I use MS Edge specifically because it will read nearly anything anything aloud (also in any accent you can imagine).
 
Adventure Seed: Legacy of C.A.I.N.
We've had some really serious Adventure Seeds over the last few months. So let's lighten things up and run a one shot that touches on the consents of consciousness, the nature of intelligence and life, and exploitation, then asks you to decide if the villain has gone too far.

Enjoying our content? Want to support independent RPGs and Comics? Join our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/Metahumans
($2 a month unlocks all bonus content, including content polls, expanded monthly adventures, and Steel Aces making of videos.)
 
Damn, that looks fun. Where are the Combat Styles, though?
They didn’t really have any. Most of the traits got moved into powers. And, frankly,I can see that for the genre.

It was a lot of fun. Passions were handy, I felt. I found out later I could fastball special someone 40m.
 
Last edited:
Tonight is the 12th game of my the Between campaign, so I thought I do a quick update. The characters are midway through development and the overarching Mastermind threat is about midway into being activated. The players are monster hunters in Victorian London and are known as Hargrave House.

  • The Mother (based on Dr. Frankenstein): Dr. Stackmore has been working on bring life to his dead project in his secret lab. He has revealed it is based on a friend of his who died while they were in college. It can become an unlockable player character or a threat depending on how it goes. The group think he is more like Dr. Watson than Dr. Frankenstein. Whenever he is investigating something he always tells people (and suspects) who he is. "I'm Dr. Stackmore from Hargrave House located in Belgrave Square. Perhaps you've heard of me?"
  • The Explorer (Based on Allan Quartermain): Sir Simon Campbell Hughes just fought a duel as an initiation into the nefarious Brimstone Society. He has been gathering influential allies to help go head-to-head against his nemesis (the game's Mastermind) Theodora Brathwaite. His biggest accomplishment so far was killing the Brute of Kensington (Mr. Hyde) and getting Scotland Yard off their case.
  • The American (based on a cowboy werewolf in London): Jason "Calamity" James recently kidnapped the Mastermind's daughter (spoiled sociopath) Tati Brathwaite when she to lured him to a blood hunt at night. She had no idea he was werewolf, and he has just about mastered his ability to control his lycanthropy. He is currently hunting a serial killer who removed the face of a waitress at his favorite hole in the wall pub.
  • The Unquiet (a ghost of a past hunter): Talmage Pinkerton now goes on most dangerous missions non-corporal and wreaks havoc with his telekinetic poltergeist ability. He has yet to explore what his unfinished business is that he came back to complete. It's almost time for him to return to the spirit world to recharge for 24 hours and the group knows that will make them vulnerable to attack.
  • The Vessel (a warlock with a dark pact): Vincent Benedict just performed a ritual that links the Mastermind's daughter's eyes to his crystal ball so they can have a plant at Brathwaite Hall. He is still disappointed that the Mastermind snatched a child vampire he was trying to help away right when he was making progress. The night is now when he is most powerful as his familiar (an owl possessed by a dark entity) helps him only after dark. He is currently investigating a bizarre death caused by a horde of rats.
E6qS1A4WYAILQ7z.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Reading DCC and slightly irritated at myself for not reading it sooner. I have agreed to run a funnel this Friday, and frankly, I’m looking forward to it. You’ll note back up thread I wasn’t feeling too into gaming lately, but this is starting to light the spark. I must say, I think I appreciate the deadliness of it. Currently reading Sailors on the starless sea, and read portal under the stairs earlier this evening.
 
Last edited:
What are the core books for DCC? Also, isn't DCC the system that uses a bunch of funky sided dice? Voros Voros and what makes their adventures first class?
 
What are the core books for DCC? Also, isn't DCC the system that uses a bunch of funky sided dice? Voros Voros and what makes their adventures first class?
AFAIK there is only one core book, but there is a free QuickStart that gets you to 2nd level. For adventures, everyone says sailors is the best, but portal under the stairs, which is in the QuickStart and the core rule book is good.

and yes, it has d3, d7, d14, d16, d24, and d30 on top of the normal dice. They use them in place of bonuses sometimes, forming a dice sequence not unlike Mythras stepping up dice.

I have read the adventures shoot for around the 4 hour mark, though I expect there is some variation in there.
 
Sure thing. We have a big group (6+GM) so there are some nuances, but frankly if it feels fast with the group it might be a good win for us. I had already been looking at episodic play. It has random lots of stuff which will amuse one character, appears low investment enough for another two. Honestly, I worry mostly about the “serious” role players - no bard, no paladin, not piles of tactics. All of the stuff you might expect with more robust systems. But who knows, I’m not even remotely done reading yet
 
Reading DCC and slightly irritated at myself for not reading it sooner. I have agreed to run a funnel this Friday, and frankly, I’m looking forward to it. You’ll note back up thread I wasn’t feeling too into gaming lately, but this is starting to light the spark. I must say, I think I appreciate the deadliness of it. Currently reading Sailors on the starless sea, and read portal under the stairs earlier this evening.
May I recommend you check out Hubris, a S&S setting toolkit for DCC?
 
Sure thing. We have a big group (6+GM) so there are some nuances, but frankly if it feels fast with the group it might be a good win for us. I had already been looking at episodic play. It has random lots of stuff which will amuse one character, appears low investment enough for another two. Honestly, I worry mostly about the “serious” role players - no bard, no paladin, not piles of tactics. All of the stuff you might expect with more robust systems. But who knows, I’m not even remotely done reading yet
DCC is a game that is perfect at what it set out to do. You've got a core book that contains every single thing you need, and you've got a wide range of adventures that actually play as well as they read. The tables for crits and magic can be a little heavy for some people, but coming from Mythras, I think you can handle them. As with Mythras, I find every bit of crunch in this game actually adds to the fun of play at the table.

If you don't know about it, the Crawler's Companion app can be handy. It can give results for any of the tables in the game. The same site also has a generator for making four 0-level PCs, so you can start playing with a new group in minutes.
 
May I recommend you check out Hubris, a S&S setting toolkit for DCC?
thanks, I have it open here now. We will see after friday, but honestly, i have a good feeling about it.

DCC is a game that is perfect at what it set out to do. You've got a core book that contains every single thing you need, and you've got a wide range of adventures that actually play as well as they read. The tables for crits and magic can be a little heavy for some people, but coming from Mythras, I think you can handle them. As with Mythras, I find every bit of crunch in this game actually adds to the fun of play at the table.

If you don't know about it, the Crawler's Companion app can be handy. It can give results for any of the tables in the game. The same site also has a generator for making four 0-level PCs, so you can start playing with a new group in minutes.
I knew about the site, but I had not checked out the app. I did make a number of level 0 characters because cheesemaker is the sort of thing that would entice my group.
 
For adventures, everyone says sailors is the best, but portal under the stairs, which is in the QuickStart and the core rule book is good.
Something I like about both of those adventures is that, at their ends... there is open potential for farther wierdness... in Sailors it's exploring what's beyond that 'starless sea' and in Portal it's the question of where you end up when you leave, since that door seems like it could exist anywhere/anywhen.
 
Last edited:
I'm on a Delta Green kick since the KS and the BoH...:devil:

So of course I ran "Lover in the Ice" for a part ofmy group. Namely, the wife soloed it with an allied NPC, just like I always do in such games:tongue:.

Result: no casualties or mental issues among the good guys, only three civilians that could have been saved weren't (the expected bodycount runs into the dozens, and that's if the investigators succeed...otherwise you're looking at hundreds:evil:), the [redacted] problem was contained, the danger was destroyed, the witnesses hushed, and the authorities just had to contend with some arson and weird half-bodies of animals found next to slaughtered humans. But they also concluded those have been dangerous animals, so nobody's going to press charges, or spend resources to look for culprits...

Yeah, she got the same results I usually do. If that doesn't persuade her to run, say, Kali Ghati for me, I don't know what would...:grin:

Reading DCC and slightly irritated at myself for not reading it sooner. I have agreed to run a funnel this Friday, and frankly, I’m looking forward to it. You’ll note back up thread I wasn’t feeling too into gaming lately, but this is starting to light the spark. I must say, I think I appreciate the deadliness of it. Currently reading Sailors on the starless sea, and read portal under the stairs earlier this evening.
I've said it before, it's the best OSR game for S&S, that's for sure. (OSR is not the best option for S&S, but they'redoing their best with the available basic system:thumbsup:).
So if for some reason you're not using neither Mythras nor Barbarians of Lemuria, DCC is a really fun game!

DCC is a game that is perfect at what it set out to do. You've got a core book that contains every single thing you need, and you've got a wide range of adventures that actually play as well as they read.
Yeah, it's exactly as well as they read...meaning, in some cases, not really well:gunslinger:!

(Whatever the adventure with the frog infestation was named, I'd recommend avoiding it. After we played it, the GM was more disappointed than the group, which should tell you enough...
We'd just enjoyed a relatively easy win - due to having the superpower of not charging blindly forward into the maws of monsters. Like, according to the GM, the adventure assumed that you'd do exactly that - and to me, that's "failure at knowing the source material":angel:!
I mean, if Conan prepares to his best ability and tries to set up traps when he can, I'm sure less endowed PCs should be more prudent, not less:shade:!)
 
Last edited:
Last night was DCC night. 4 players, 16 character funnel, using portal under the stars. I informed them of how deadly it was, and we started out

they get to the first door. the elven barrister figures out if the starlight hits the door, it'll open. the woodcutters (2 of them) are impatient and have axes. One gets the DC for the Str check. Both fall to the trap

next room, spear statues. I wait until an opportune moment when the orphan, who was voiced as mickey mouse, goes to the next room (the big statue room) and two of the others are sticking it out back at the now-disintegrated door. Spears get thrown, another goes down.

big statue room. the halfling gypsy climbs up on the statue and investigates the book at it's waist. the others investigate the statue and figure out it turns and lasso the arm with a rope. Then the ropemaker, who did the lassoing, opens the door to the skeletons. fire shoots out, kills him. panic ensues. several run for the skeleton room, activating the skeletons. another shot of fire, another death. 3 folks get on the rope, and I rule it now an opposed roll between the statue's to hit and their rolls. if they can beat the to hit, then they cause a miss. 1 more shot misses, but the dwarf manages to take a chunk out of the statue. then the beekeeper, who apparently has some muscles, takes out a leg partially. I rule the statue now roles d16 to hit. another shot misses, and someone else manages to crit the str roll against the statue. this topples the statue, and those on it and near it have to make a reflex save (dc10, i'm a little merciful). 1 dies.

in the mean time, in the skeleton room, a hunter takes out one of the skeletons, but the skeletons claim 2 and they run out, slamming the door behind them. one of the other characters opens another door in the middle of this, with the crystals and the pool.

they move on, assessing their losses... they are down a lot of guys at this point . they go into the demonic snake room. snake claims two before they put him down. One guy is without any characters at this point. They dicker with the tablet and throne room, and figure out the portal a bit, which then vomits out some new level 0 pcs. I top them off because i'm a benevolent god.

They go back and range the skeletons to death. Smart.

They move on to the crystal pool room and kill all the crystal guys unnecessarily. they are growing smarter and using ranged. They are getting wealth by attrition, which is good. They remove some of the crystals from the pool and figure out it's draining, and stop at like 20. it's draining down below, so I make a call that if they don't rush around, it'll probably get the clay army below.

they go downstairs to the map room. somehow they find all of the silver statues, and dicker around with that for a while. Good for them. They open the door to the army, but the army is half melted, the generals have no spirits. They slam the door shut, and hold it closed. three of them run back upstairs and pull out gems until it buckles, then pull out a few more. they wait until they hear no noises of foot steps save for one. they open the door and the army is all mud, and only the warlord is left. They get him easily enough, though I think it got one.

They dicker with the crystal globe and take it, but they didn't bother searching for secret doors anywhere OTHER than in the mud. So they missed most of the treasure. Still, they did get 80 crystals out of 100, as well as a few other things, and the globe, which is definitely going to have the bad stuff.


end of night assessment, 13 characters dead, a lot of laughs. I would rank it as a huge success. We are going to do another funnel when we have our other players, and then move the campaign on. I have some ideas, and may import monster island as well as Lankhmar (but using base magic rules unless I find that the Lankhmar rules I like more)
 
Raleel Raleel Fascinating, I had to Google what a "FUNNEL" was in regards to DCC. Sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing Raleel! If I was still in the Yakima area it would be worth the long ass drive to show up and watch a game or even play!
 
Raleel Raleel Fascinating, I had to Google what a "FUNNEL" was in regards to DCC. Sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing Raleel! If I was still in the Yakima area it would be worth the long ass drive to show up and watch a game or even play!
the funnel was quite fun. I'm trying to think of things I DIDN'T like, and I'm kinda running short after 1 night. it doesn't have a lot of defined rules, but then again, that's not entirely bad or good. We will see how it goes!
 
Last night was DCC night. 4 players, 16 character funnel, using portal under the stars. I informed them of how deadly it was, and we started out

they get to the first door. the elven barrister figures out if the starlight hits the door, it'll open. the woodcutters (2 of them) are impatient and have axes. One gets the DC for the Str check. Both fall to the trap

next room, spear statues. I wait until an opportune moment when the orphan, who was voiced as mickey mouse, goes to the next room (the big statue room) and two of the others are sticking it out back at the now-disintegrated door. Spears get thrown, another goes down.

big statue room. the halfling gypsy climbs up on the statue and investigates the book at it's waist. the others investigate the statue and figure out it turns and lasso the arm with a rope. Then the ropemaker, who did the lassoing, opens the door to the skeletons. fire shoots out, kills him. panic ensues. several run for the skeleton room, activating the skeletons. another shot of fire, another death. 3 folks get on the rope, and I rule it now an opposed roll between the statue's to hit and their rolls. if they can beat the to hit, then they cause a miss. 1 more shot misses, but the dwarf manages to take a chunk out of the statue. then the beekeeper, who apparently has some muscles, takes out a leg partially. I rule the statue now roles d16 to hit. another shot misses, and someone else manages to crit the str roll against the statue. this topples the statue, and those on it and near it have to make a reflex save (dc10, i'm a little merciful). 1 dies.

in the mean time, in the skeleton room, a hunter takes out one of the skeletons, but the skeletons claim 2 and they run out, slamming the door behind them. one of the other characters opens another door in the middle of this, with the crystals and the pool.

they move on, assessing their losses... they are down a lot of guys at this point . they go into the demonic snake room. snake claims two before they put him down. One guy is without any characters at this point. They dicker with the tablet and throne room, and figure out the portal a bit, which then vomits out some new level 0 pcs. I top them off because i'm a benevolent god.

They go back and range the skeletons to death. Smart.

They move on to the crystal pool room and kill all the crystal guys unnecessarily. they are growing smarter and using ranged. They are getting wealth by attrition, which is good. They remove some of the crystals from the pool and figure out it's draining, and stop at like 20. it's draining down below, so I make a call that if they don't rush around, it'll probably get the clay army below.

they go downstairs to the map room. somehow they find all of the silver statues, and dicker around with that for a while. Good for them. They open the door to the army, but the army is half melted, the generals have no spirits. They slam the door shut, and hold it closed. three of them run back upstairs and pull out gems until it buckles, then pull out a few more. they wait until they hear no noises of foot steps save for one. they open the door and the army is all mud, and only the warlord is left. They get him easily enough, though I think it got one.

They dicker with the crystal globe and take it, but they didn't bother searching for secret doors anywhere OTHER than in the mud. So they missed most of the treasure. Still, they did get 80 crystals out of 100, as well as a few other things, and the globe, which is definitely going to have the bad stuff.


end of night assessment, 13 characters dead, a lot of laughs. I would rank it as a huge success. We are going to do another funnel when we have our other players, and then move the campaign on. I have some ideas, and may import monster island as well as Lankhmar (but using base magic rules unless I find that the Lankhmar rules I like more)
I've moved away from DCC for ongoing games, because everything be turned up to 11 if just hard for me to sustain, but I think it's still one of the best games to get on the table for a reliably fun night of adventuring.

If you want to use Monster Island, check out DCC #93, Moon-Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom, for some good jungle island adventuring inspiration.
 
the funnel was quite fun. I'm trying to think of things I DIDN'T like, and I'm kinda running short after 1 night. it doesn't have a lot of defined rules, but then again, that's not entirely bad or good. We will see how it goes!
Do continue to update us on that, if it's not too much trouble Raleel. I'm fascinated and want to know if it's sustainable. Specially after reading under_score under_score post above. It sounds like a lot of fun so far.
 
I've moved away from DCC for ongoing games, because everything be turned up to 11 if just hard for me to sustain, but I think it's still one of the best games to get on the table for a reliably fun night of adventuring.

If you want to use Monster Island, check out DCC #93, Moon-Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom, for some good jungle island adventuring inspiration.
absolutely. thank you.

Edit: as it turns out, I have it. It was in whichever bundle I got this from.
 
Last edited:
Raleel Raleel If I hadn't just ordered Barbarians of Lemuria Mythic edition pdf/hardback plus some more M-Space books (Mythras based) I'd have probably snagged a print copy/pdf combo of DCC plus the Lankhmar stuff. hehe.
 
Raleel Raleel If I hadn't just ordered Barbarians of Lemuria Mythic edition pdf/hardback plus some more M-Space books (Mythras based) I'd have probably snagged a print copy/pdf combo of DCC plus the Lankhmar stuff. hehe.
ya, i have a copy of BoL as well. I also mentioned MCC to my folks and they are also quite interested, being big fans of the 7e gamma world i ran eons ago.
 
Sorry no comic this week. Frankie was caught up working on another project, keep an eye on his IMDB entry if you're curious there. However, we should be back on track.

#Metahumans #Superheroes #RPG #TTRPG #Comic #SteelAces
 
Yesterday we kicked off two new campaigns. For the teens I started running Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, while in the adult group made her first stab at GMing by running Starships & Spacemen for her I-can't-believe-it's-not-Star-Trek game.
 
One of our players couldn't make it to the planned session of Masks of Nyarlathotep due to a toothache, so we played two board games over the weekend: Elder Sign on Saturday and Nemesis on Sunday. Nemesis was new to us and turned out quite enjoyable. Would play again!

1633334669535.jpgIMG_20211003_185811.jpg
 
I ran my own scenario for Delta Green last evening. One of the players was brand new to RPGs, or at least to playing them face-to-face...though she arrived at time, with a prepared character, and knew the rules already, and was getting into the character. Now, the character is one she'd prepared for a freeform game, so I guess she already knew her inside and out. I only had to add a mysterious touch of DG weirdness to keep her agent from being sued to ruin before the game even began:devil:.
Overall, I'd say the session was a success, though we had to leave before the end (it was a boardgames shop and they had to close - we only had like 3 hours due to another player being over an hour late:shade:).
Still, the new player said she dreamed of keeping "the golem hunt", so I'd count that as a success (and we're going to finish it over Discord:angel:)!
 
I ran my own scenario for Delta Green last evening. One of the players was brand new to RPGs, or at least to playing them face-to-face...though she arrived at time, with a prepared character, and knew the rules already, and was getting into the character. Now, the character is one she'd prepared for a freeform game, so I guess she already knew her inside and out. I only had to add a mysterious touch of DG weirdness to keep her agent from being sued to ruin before the game even began:devil:.
Overall, I'd say the session was a success, though we had to leave before the end (it was a boardgames shop and they had to close - we only had like 3 hours due to another player being over an hour late:shade:).
Still, the new player said she dreamed of keeping "the golem hunt", so I'd count that as a success (and we're going to finish it over Discord:angel:)!
As a fellow lover of DG please consider sharing your work! There cannot be enough DG goodness in this world!
 
I’m gearing up to give 5E a try again. I found an adventure that seemed novel and overall OK, but then I got to the end and found the authors apparently can’t handle math, as according to them the XP earned for the adventure is about twice what the creatures in it are worth. Now I’m left wondering if I should trust the encounter balance of the scenario, or if it’s as off as their basic addition.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top