White Star Campaign: 0 - Plans and background

White Star can be bought from RPGNow -
both PDF and print formats available!

WHAT IS WHITE STAR?

White Star is Dungeons & Dragons in space, using Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox rules. Basically it is OD&D with a modern and simplified touch, frosted with space-themes. You get everything you need to play, including space crafts combat! In short, easy and fun science fiction gaming where the rules are not a cumberstone!

HOUSE RULE: DIS/ADVANTAGE

I plan to play-by-the-book as much as possible. There are not many different rules, anyways. Only thing I am going to adapt is the dis/advantage system from D&D 5e and/or The Black Hack. Skill tests are d20 < attribute rolls. If the conditions are favorable OR character should know what she is doing or her character class is good at the task, she'll gain an advantage. If conditions are bad, she'll get a disadvantage instead. Easy.

SETTING

I am going to use White Star's default setting with some additional touches from me as a starting point for my campaign. A remote location, with three factions: Space Pirates, Galactic Consortium and The Resistance. Galactic Consortium has cut this sector from rest of the space by shutting down the only (known) jump gate there. They want total power and dictatorship and don't want anyone or anything from other sectors or places to come and interfere with their plans. When they have a total control of this Kelron sector they begin to build their military strength to take on a sector after a sector... Or that's their plan on the paper!

It was 60 years ago when Galactic Consortium cut out the power of the jump gate. It is now heavily guarded, and no one is allowed to get near to it. Safety reasons, they say, but the rebels know better...

Supreme Lord Adlar is either very old, or not completely human anymore. True, some genetics and advanced medical care can expand normal human lifespan, but people talk. Some say that Supreme Lord Adlar is half human, half machine. Some whisper that he has learned darkest secrets of the Void and is immortal. Whatever the truth is, Supreme Lord Adlar's humanity is long lost, and what remains is hunger for power.

Galactic Consortium wants to bend everyone within the Kelron sector into its will. Those who will not become workers or warriors for them, shall die. Galactic Consortium has been careful this far not to just go killing people, as there are more free-willed than brainwashed followers. But they will get there in a way or another...

Resistance is against the Galactic Consortium believing in free will and democracy. They are strong, as Galactic Consortium is not yet ready to fight the people and the mass. They fight against the most active and loud members of the Resistance, using not only firepower and force but also propaganda.

Space Pirates are just people who want to make riches fast by venturing the space and smuggling and stealing. They are stuck here, when the Galactic Consortium cut out the jump gate - only way away from this sector. Many original of the Space Pirates who got stuck into this sector are already dead, but their power and will are strong. They recruit new individuals continually amongst those who want true freedom to travel and explore. They have no place with Resistance and the people, as they are feared because of their original arrival of plunder. They refuse to take steps towards the Galactic Consortium which originally restricted their freedom of travel.

Space Pirates are a loose faction. There are gangs with one leader, the Overcaptain. But as long as the gangs do what the Overcaptain says, anything can happen, resulting that the gangs are rivals. Some of them respect each other, some of them are backstabbers.

Planets and other places of interests are vague enough to be used as they are written in the book, so adding material and adventures custom to the events of the campaign will be easy.

PLAYER CHARACTER

This campaign is for only one player, my girlfriend. She has interest in playing Aristocrat character class, which is a little different from other classes more familiar to D&D or Hulks & Horrors, what we have played earlier. Because this is a one-on-one campaign, I let her roll her stats 4d6 drop the lowest and assign at will. Because more interesting in this is the story of the character than the adventures. Well the adventures create the character, but in this case player will be playing her character, the antagonist of the setting, and her story will be on focus instead of the story what developes by playing adventure modules. If it makes any sense at all.

Player character will also have NPC companions from the beginning of the game. They are close to her, her crew, her comrades, her support, her friends.

Player will choose which faction her character will be a member of. She can be part of Galactic Consortium and try to get rid of resistance in order for her faction to conquer this section before they travel forth. Or she might be part of the Resistance and fight against the Galactic Consortium. If she is a Space Pirate, she will do this and that freelancing for her own good - and maybe towards opening the gate so Space Pirates can get out of this section. It's not good for the business to have been space pirating the same sector for over 60 years!

CAMPAIGN BEGINNING

I'll start the campaign with the beginning adventure from the White Star rulebook called The Second Battle Of Brinn. It's a good introduction to the system, and I can sneak lots of campaign background information. Depending on which faction the player character will belong to.

• Galactic Consortium: The player and her crew must retrieve the data so the Rebels don't get their hands on it.
• Resistance: Get the data before Galactic Consortium will get it, because it is important for the cause.
• Space Pirates: The data is valuable, and will be easy to sell for the highest bidder - Galactic Consortium of Resistance. But before you sell it, you should make a copy of it. The information must be important, because them two factions are both after it. (At location 7, there are pirates, but they are from another gang).

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

It depends on the player and her character's actions and motives, what the campaign will be like. I will use some scifi adventures and modules I have, dropping them into the campaign where they fit - or I will make the campaign fit the adventures. I did this same thing when I ran Labyrinth Lord for her. We had this campaign plan, the great plot, but I used all different adventure material to flesh it out with fun content.

[Review] Slügs by Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Slügs was a free RPG day sourcebook, now available for everyone in print for a very reasonable price, and when they're all gone, a pay-what-you-want PDF will be released.

Most of the LotFP publications are adventures or settings, few being sourcebooks (like Vornheim for city adventures or The Seclusium Of Orphone for creating mages' towers). LotFP doesn't believe in traditional monster books, as its weird fantasy philosophy is, that each creature/monster encountered should be unique instead of just something out from monster manual. Slügs is a compilation of monsters - slugs in this case - but they are all unique and individuals. Or that's the impression the text gives. You don't meet 10 "muscle slügs" (yes, they're there) guarding a treasure in a dungeon.

 There are 16 different slügs in total, each different. Generally the aren't just meatbags and hit points for player characters to grind for experience and loot, they all have a gimmick or two - but the gimmicks are not stupid. Well, some of them are, like the christmas slüg what you get presents from if you're lucky, or breakfast slüg which is a slimy bowl of cereal. These slügs can be a big part of campaign, and a quest to find, for example the doctor slug to be found to cure horrible wounds and damage an adventurer party member has suffered. Some will make a quest, like mentallo slüg, who knows the future and wants you to prevent something horrible from happening. Some of them just have an effect, like sluggish slüg. But for those who want to fight horrible monsters, there are more traditional slügs like the vomit slug.

There are NSFW work included, but the quality of drawings is great. Kelvin Green's (Forgive Us) slüg drawings are great and he has captured the different qualities of the various slügs very well. Yannick Bouchard's inside covers are his usual great quality. And Rich Longmore's cover that expands to the back is very colorful.

Slügs was a fun read. There are many different slugs from which almost any Game Master can find something to throw into their campaign world. Many of them are humorous, some even stupid, but most of them are easily usable (the humorous and stupid depend on the players and campaign, rest don't that much). Even IF Slügs was just a big joke, you can use it without making your campaign just silly.

For the price of less than a dollar, when you order anything from LotFP strore, there is no excuse of not including this to it. I say, go get it!

[Patreon] Cursed Town of Toerd and Orcnest Dungeon

Thanks to my patrons, here is new material for you to use in your D&D/OSR campaigns!

CURSED TOWN OF TOERD

This town suffers of a horrible curse, and only retrieving items of a war hero can save it.

Even though the Cursed Town Of Toerd is set to my Patreon set 2's default setting, Island Of Yingvaerd, you can easily use it in your own default setting.

Download the PDF here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/cursed-town-of-7367029

ORCNEST DUNGEON

In Orcnest Dungeons there are orcs! And one of the aforementioned items can be found here. Sharpen your sword, prepare your spells and put on your best sneaking boots and venture to explore this location! Set in my default Patreon set 2 setting, but can easily be thrown into any campaign world of yours!

Thanks to my patrons, you can download the dungeon here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/orcnest-dungeon-7374068

Space Crusade with RPG/miniatures newbie

My friend knows I am a gamer. He knows, that I play roleplaying games and other games. I met him at a local gaming event (National gaming day at Pori), and he liked what he saw; people playing miniature games (Malifaux, Batman...). So we decided to have a boy's night with kebab and pizza, beer, candy, and miniatures! I chose Space Crusade, because it has Warhammer 40k (even though the plastic minis are simplier than wargame version's) in it but it is really simple. Even one of my friends, who couldn't care less about my gaming interests enjoyed it - and was talking about photon grenades - something she has a zero interest in generally. With a guy who is already interested in stuff like this and has seen it in action, what could go wrong? Nothing!

Meet Tapio. First timer. We have everything two guys need for a Saturday night (even dude a radio playing rock and metal, not showing on the picture).

I've almost finished painting my Space Crusade minis with help from my girlfriend. Some are not yet varnished, marines are not quite completed (weapons need painting and gluing for example), one genestealer is only in primer stage, and Destructor (yes, that's what a Dreadnought is called in Finnish translation of Space Crusade - isn't that more epic Warhammer name than English one?) needs details...

The game looks something like this in action.

Lot's of shooting happening here!

Here is my high-score!

We played five games, four in the night and one in the morning. Many marines were killed, many clones were destroyed. Destructor (Dreadnought) destroyed and was destroyed.

Amazing Mythoard loot!

If you didn't already know, Mythoard is a monthly (OSR) RPG subscription service. You pay them to receive incredible stuff each month! D-oom Products' The Crazy Library Tower was August 2015 Mythoard exclusive, and because of that I receive all these presented below!

To get hold of great stuff like this, subscribe for Mythoard. It is worth every penny.

Website: http://www.mythoard.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mythoard/
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/104875437778283507470

Not only adventures, you also might receive full games. White Star is a science-fiction roleplaying game who enjoy simplicity of early D&D, or Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox which this game is based on.
Bizarre Tales is a set of three adventures.
I also like all the little extra stuff, which I tuck on my cork board assembly of RPG related stuff.
Most treasured item, even though everything here is awesome, is personalized note. I love those!

Rat On The Stick is from 1982, so you don't only receive "reneissance/revival" stuff, but real and genuine old-school. The "quality" of paper, and smell, this Tunnels & Trolls adventure is neat!
Thanks to OSRIC, we get new Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition adventures released! I don't own too many higher level adventures, so this is a welcome addition to my collection.

Long map is long. A nice big dungeon complex created by several designers and dungeon artists.

These Mythoard-exclusive one-pagers (both sides) are fun! They are creative and random. Their genre range from fantasy to science fiction to gonzo. They are easy to throw into your campaign and are easy to prepare. And they look fantastic!

Big names there! +Tim Shorts creates great maps, great micro-adventures, great zine (Gothridge Manor)... he is great! +Johua De Santo experiments weirder and darker paths of fantasy (Genius Logi Games).

The Crazy Library Tower which I created for Mythoard. Far Away Land is a light fantasy roleplaying game. This is quick rules enough to play the game, but you are missing some big aspects of the game, like world-building. The core rules are solid and fun, though. Makes me want to get the full rules... isn't that the intention of it?! The Age Of Undying looks fantastic! It's in similar plastic that new comic books are in. The presentation is also very well done. And what's great, it's for Dungeon Crawl Classics, a game I got my hands on (for extremely reasonable price) a couple of months ago!

Here are my reviews of Mythoard beta and first, January, releases:
http://cryptofrabies.blogspot.fi/2015/03/mythoard-beta-and-january-reviews.html

[Labyrinth Lord] Berserker character class by Kookko Jaskinen

BERSERKER

by: +Kookko Jaskinen, created for his campaign

"In the core of Black Iron Imperium's civil war a band of warriors was born, which battled against the King's army. They were called Berserkers, and they were known as warriors who didn't compete with skill but with tremendous rage. Nowadays they are mercenaries or guerillas opposing the King".

Requirements: None

Prime Requisite: CON

Hit Points: 1d10

Experience table:

Level | HD | Experience points
1 | 1 | 0 exp
2 | 2 | 2,060 exp
3 | 3 | 4,120 exp
4 | 4 | 8,240 exp
5 | 5 | 16,480 exp
6 | 6 | 32,960 exp
7 | 7 | 65,920 exp
8 | 8 | 128,750 exp
9 | 9 | 257,500 exp
10 | 9 +2 HP | 386,250
11 | 9 +4 HP | 590,000
12 | 9 +6 HP | 737,500

Weapons and armor: Only Axes and Leather armor, no shields

Attacking: As Fighter

Magic items: Unable to use any magic items

Saves: As Dwarf

Rage: Damage bonus and resistance (halve incoming damage) until next turn.

Level | Uses per day | Dmg bonus
1 | 1 use | +2
2 | 1 use | +2
3 | 1 use | +2
4 | 2 uses | +4
5 | 2 uses | +4
6 | 2 uses | +4
7 | 3 uses | +6
8 | 3 uses | +6
9 | 3 uses | +6
10 | 4 uses | +8
11 | 4 uses | +8
12 | 4 uses | +8

[Report] National gaming week event at Pori, Finland - 2016

Saturday had both Malifaux and Android: Netrunner tournaments and a speed painting competition. There was also a chance to borrow board games to play at the event, and a swap meet of games. D-oom Products (that's me) offered roleplaying games experiences (forest banditing with Finnish game Hood and cyberpunk mayhem with The Black Hack: Cyber-Hacked!). Sotakone Miniatures had a demo table for Batman Miniature Game and there was a presentation of (was there actually?) Captain Sonar & Mansion Of Madness 2nd Edition.

This event was exceptionally interesting for D-oom, because I released two new products! Cyberpunk Adventure Generator (PDF is pay-what-you-want at RPGNow, prints 5€ directly from me. Check my webstore at HOLVI or email me at doomproducts[ä]gmail[döt]com) and a basement print version of Cyber-Hacked!

Ready to rock'n'roll!

Panorama picture distorts, but here is my setup; roleplaying games, adventures and sourcematerial, dice, dicecups, dicebags, miniatures materal, music, baseball caps and more!

View from where you walked to the booth of doom. Right after me was Sotakone.

Free KaaosZine stickers for everyone! KaaosZine is an online music magazine
I write reviews and articles for.

And here comes games pictures...

Some minis of Batman Miniature Game. They are really, really cool.

More goons for Batman Miniature Game.

Really cool scene for Batman Miniature Game.

People of Malifaux. There was a time I was super excited of this game (never bought it), but after seeing Batman in action, I think that card based mechanics is a gimmick, and smooth gameplay comes from dice.

Malifaux in action. This scenery is absolutely fantastic!

Almost like a diorama. Details of some of these structures are lovely.

From previous western scene.

More Malifaux in action.

Are they playing Malifaux? Not sure, but the scene is absolutely fantastic!

These robots were so cool!

Are these fighting against the aforemention robots? What a random bunch of antagonists!

And finally some roleplaying in action. I am running Hood, a Finnish new rpg where you play one of Robin Hood's merry men. The mechanics are simple, yet encourage you to use your imagination in your advance. You have five d20 you use for different actions in your turn; 2 dice to kick the guard's nuts, 2 dice to push him over and 1 die to run past him. It's quite fun! There are a problem or two in the rules in my opinion, though. There is no any kind of feel of danger - you just don't get damage or other that easily for it to matter at all - what is the biggest flaw. And I am not that sure how long a campaign will run being interesting, and not just a thing where you do fancy and funny stunts. One does not simply watch hundreds of hours Erol Flynn movies (or does?).
And product layout is just horrible! GAH!
I do recommend Hood (currently for Finnish audience only), for it is a fun game.

Unfortunately this was the only game I ran. No Cyber-Hacked!. No even more Hood. I know that In Pori tabletop games, card games, wargames and such are very, very popular, but roleplaying games not so. Also I think that when people go to events, they want to eat snacks, drink soda, and talk with their friends instead of focus for a longer period of time in an imaginary world - which is social, but not event/whole group social. There must be a roleplaying games only event, so maybe those wargamers can leave their awesome minis for a second.

I personally enjoyed the event a lot. Pori is very active in gaming scene, and people are awesome! They are so nice, fun and cool. With D-oom it's been easy for me to blend in, but sometimes I hope I could go play some demo games, instead of patrolling my booth. That was a reason why I decided to run roleplaying games with my booth, to participate into gaming experience of the event. There were distractions because of customers, but it was okay. Miniatures gaming could be a bit harder, or maybe easier. As long as I can rush quickly behind my cashier it would be fine.

Anyways, can't wait for the next event with Porin Pöytäpeliseura Pöllökarhut (in English: Pori's tabletop gamers society Owlbears). I'll be there, and enjoy it fullheartedly.

Tentacloids

Remember Lianta (free Patreon download)? She is a powerful opponent and her attacks might make you grow tentacles. When you're covered with them, you will become her mindless servant - a tentacloid!

This tentacloid article includes stats, information and rules for these beasts and how to become one just in one page!

Download: HERE

You can get tentacloids and other cool OSR stuff from my Patreon page. If you dig it, you can support me starting $0.10!

[Review] The Black Hack: Cyber-Hacked!

The Black Hack is fast and fun and D&D compatible fantasy system, which has already been hacked to fill a genre that I have not played yet (disclaimer: supers!). I have played both Shadowrun and Cyberpunk, 2300AD had a cybernetics sourcebook and I am pretty sure I've played GURPS cyberpunk stuff, too. So, cyberpunk in roleplaying games is not new for me. I've longed for a cyberpunk D&D. There are cyberstuff for OSR, but this is my first actual cyberpunk OSR D&D compatible game. Exciting!

Author +Mike Evans and illustrator +Alex Mayo are both cool guys with awesome gaming ideas and stuff. So this should be very, very good!

The PDF is 21 pages, with 18 pages of actual RPG stuff, including the character sheet. What I love in TBH is that you get a full RPG rules you learn to play while you eat a dinner before the game night begins. Like other TBH hacks, the layout is simple and apes the original. The only picture is on the cover. Very printer-friendly and space efficient, yet dull.

 The rules are basically a carbon copy of TBH with few exceptions and additions that suit a modern genre. This starts to get annoying. Sure, you only need this to run the game, but now I am starting to get many, many copies of The Black Hack rules. It would be ace if the layout would be that when I'd print this, I could opt out all the basic and core TBH rules and only print the new stuff that is not already included in the original game. But it doesn't happen here. Small additional and new rules are scattered here and there within the text already in other hacks and the main game.

The most important new rules are full auto fire, which is simple. In many games when you shoot more than one shot the rules get wonky and slow. This is not the case here. Funny thing is, though, that two handed combat also affects guns you hold with two hands. But if you think about it, this is an elegant way in making bigger weapons more damaging, when the core mechanic is, that weapon damage is class based. Very, very clever!

Drugs are also easy. They give a small bonus, but you suffer disadvantage(s) under influence. Also addiction is as simple. Great! Taking drugs is fast and easy.

Vehicles and chases have also simple rules in the fashion of TBH. They are pretty good and should cover most of the situations. When a vehicle is shot enough, it is destroyed and there is a 50/50 chance can it be salvaged or not. Chase is a simple series of attribute tests, where you either gain or lose distance. Pretty boring, and it could take a long time to just roll after roll. There should be an extra rule for dangerous manouvres to gain more than 1 point of distance (starting from 5, 10 to escape, 1 to get caught). Manouvres are easily done, roll with disadvantage to gain double points. Still dull, but adds danger and story element (I try to steer to this narrow alley...).

One of the most important rules in a cyberpunk game is hacking. I think Cyberpunk 2020 is an awesome game, but the hacking part of it is extremely dull - and slow. Normal hacking in Cyber-Hacked is a simple INT test, but there is also more detailed rules, using die-drop table! You take a number of dice and drop them on a paper. The die type and value tell from a random table, what it is. Then connect them and voilá, you got a quickly generated data network to be hacked! All the stuff you do hacking you use usage die to do. When it's dropped to zero, you're booted. These hacking rules are fast, fun and brilliant!

You also get contacts who are basically people you can use as resources, and you can be either a human or a synthetic before you choose a class. There are 7 classes to choose from, including a psychic. The classes basically work like in TBH, they each have something special they do. In addition, they now are listed with starting equipment (you, I dislike buying normal gear for characters) and an interesting trinket. Some of these classes are modified from the basic classes, some are a bit different. I think every player should find their favorite easily from these.
Different kind of everyone other is Psychic, who can use his psychic abilities per day based on his level. These abilities are basically like spells in a fantasy game.

Equipment list is minimal, but enough. Cyberware has no special rules. You can have 4 of the (one character class being an exception) to gain some bonuses or other effects. That's it. No problems between a line where human ends and a machine starts. There could have been a little more to this, because now cyberware is just like equipment.

There's plenty of enemy stats to fight and use, but there could have been few more, because now the one page table doesn't reach the end of the page, but leaves an empty white space being short. This layout problem could have been fixed with more enemies! This is plenty already, but it just looks sloppy and lazy.

So, what do I think? This is very, very good in a The Black Hack good. TBH family products are DIY. A bit raw, but full of good ideas (WHEN THEY ARE GOOD, THAT IS) with simple and fun core mechanics. Even though it's dull to get same basic rules all over again, the additions to cyberpunk genre included in CYBER-HACKED are great. Inexpensive price, D&D compatible, fast to learn, fast to play... I see no reasons why everyone shouldn't get a copy. Even though you don't plan to play a campaign of CYBER-HACKED, you can keep this just in case, if someday, someone wants to play some cyberpunk in 10 minutes!
_____________________________________

You can buy the PDF from RPGNow.

Fantasy AGE in public, part 2

First time I ever played Fantasy AGE, was in a local gaming store, after we played Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox at all-you-can-eat-pizzeria (here's the write-up). Today with my buddy +Kookko Jaskinen we did it again, now at a grill-lunch joint near my place called Köffi. Laptops spread, rulebook wide open, character sheet in front of me and dice scattered, we continued my homebrew lizardman Cleric's quest to this evil northern tower...

I am wearing my brand new lumberjack shirt (from drift store) which is damn awesome.
Kookko decided to be classy with Spider-Man.

Last time we killed some zombies we found venturing forth the tower, what was used for a kind of a rapture thingie, where dead bodies souls were sent to heaven and bodies left down the earth. Now there are zombies coming out of the tower, and my lizardman Cleric, Styx Purplescale has been sent to investigate.

Last time I found this prison camp, and got few NPCs to follow me. They think I am someone else I don't even know who he is, but it's okay, they follow me. Hah! Have I worried or even considered what'll happen when they find out I am not the guy they think I should be? Nope.

So, more zombies, we kill them. Then we get to the tower. Lots of traces, no clear where zombies come from. About four floors high, upper floor (third, maybe, hard to say) has a faint light inside. Only one entrance inside the tower, but guarded by goblins - small, nasty, stupid, cowardice... We attack them from both side, and soon those who are alive flee!

Next time... inside the tower!

As you can see, we didn't have that much time to play. But it was fun. Fantasy AGE is a good system, even though I still think everything has too many hit points! An average low level monster has over 20 hit points! My dude does 2d6+1 damage with fire blast spell, and 1d3+1 melee damage. One dude does 1d6+1 damage. Well, our two handed sword fighter dude does 3d6+2, but that's crazy (and great). So, average damage of 4-5 points versus 25 point monsters is too much for me to handle. Sure, there are stunts, but you need a pretty decent stunt score to get an additional attack or +1d6 extra damage.

Kookko told me that running the game was a chore, at least this time. I do understand, when you compare stats to OSR (what you need are AC, HD and damage, most of the time for combat). Next time I shall take all NPC info and roll everything for them, and check their numbers myself. This time I did help rolling NPC stuff, but needed to check the bonuses etc. We will play this again, it's quite fun, at least in player's stool.

[Patreon] Purple Of Green Priestess Yolanda Ziggurat + Final Redemption

Been a busy (and awful) month. Now releasing two Patreon things I've been working with past month. Here is a lady who stalks the Monster-Land of Yingvaerd baptizing monsters, evil, and chaotic creatures. She wants to make you evil, too!

Thanks to my patrons, you can download her PDF HERE!

And here is Final Redemption, a religious outpost to Monster-Land.

Thanks to my patrons, you can download the map PDF HERE!

D-oom Products now sells dice bags, handmade in Finland

Shop HERE!

D-oom Products (read: me) started to sell dice bags. There are 11 of both models available for pre-order. The success of pre-order determines the future with these. So more you buy, more I'll sell them (heh heh).

Anyways, for 25€ one of these handmade Finnish miracles is yours. They are crafted by Sarita Kotkavalkama with over 30 year's experience with needlework and crafts.

Church Of Westra

Church Of Westra by +Kookko Jaskinen 

INTRODUCTION

One of my favorite parts about DMing is the world building. For me one of the most important elements in a fantasy word that feels real and immersive are the religions and beliefs. Whenever I sit down to create a new setting I seem to spend most of the time thinking about the world's pantheon and the Gods individually. This religion is something I came up when I wanted to create a single God religion mostly followed by humans. The setting that I created this into is a high magic setting so I wanted to make this sort of a "simple man's" religion. I think this religion works well outside of the original setting too, as we are using this in totally different campaign and setting with my buddy Thaumiel Nerub. So that being said go ahead and use this in your own worlds if it pleases you. The illustrations are quick and little bit shitty references (drawing isn't my strong suite) trying to help you envision my idea.

THE LORE

"The God of all good things..."

Westra is also known as the "Timeless Wanderer" as he wanders through the realm disguised as an old man dressed in rags. Wherever he went he healed the sick and injured, blessed the crops and granted light for the ones dwelling in the dark. Every time he performed such a miracle he told everyone to have faith in Westra and pray for Westra's blessing. Needless to say that most people thought that he was just another mad wizard. However, there were some people who were so impressed and happy because of this helpful stranger that they started to pray and build altars, shrines, and even churches for him. Many lords and kings felt that their position was threatened by this strange man as more and more people fanatically preached about his miracles. And so these people were labeled as heretics and they were banished from cities and towns. They quickly found each other and formed the original congregation of the Church of Westra, also known as "The Wandering Congregation".
They followed in the footsteps of this strange old man wandering across the realm and preaching about Westra waiting for signs of their God's actual existence. The first sign came in the form of powers and abilities that the most fanatic members of the congregation started to manifest. These members became the leaders of the congregation. Performing miracles of their own they started to call themselves "clerics" (or priests, whatever fits better into your setting). The second sign came when the congregation stumbled upon a cave where they decided to spend the night because of the terrible storm and they were not the only ones with the same plan. The same old man that once told them about Westra had already set up camp in the cave and that night the very first divine service was held. On this service the old man told the truth to his loyal worshippers that he was indeed Westra in disguise and passed his divine wisdom and teachings. The clerics recorded Westra's every word that night and so the "Book Of Wisdom" was created.
During the service Westra told about his vision of a cataclysmic (or apocalyptic even, if you prefer) event looming in the near future. Westra promised that all who follow his teachings would survive that event unharmed. The third sign came when the event that Westra spoke of actually happened, and the people who were part of the congregation survived just like Westra promised. After this event no one could deny the divine existence of Westra and the church quickly established a sturdy foothold in the realm.

CHURCH OF VESTRA TODAY

The church is alive and well and churches and even temples can be found in most of the major cities and towns. In villages and settlements there is usually an alter or a shrine. Clerics work in these holy sites or as wanderers honoring the origins of their lord. The clerics address their equals as Brothers/Sisters and their superiors as /Fathers/Mothers. Every church and temple has an elder cleric in charge and the entire congregation is led by the High Cleric. All the members address the High Cleric as High Father/High Mother. The overall theme of the congregation is very strict and disciplined and the hierarchy is respected at all times. The average members of the congregation (your simple Jill's and Joe's) are of course at the very bottom of the food chain kneeling before the clerics to stay in good terms with their God. Clerics bend the knee to elder clerics and disrespecting your superior is believed to be one of the most effective ways to be smited by the wrath of Westra himself.
Church of Westra is known the be the "simple man's religion", because of the fact that the congregation never questions their God or superiors. Whenever the phrase "behold the word of God" is spoken (or written) by a superior member of the congregation, all the inferior members must believe, obey, and accept or face the consequences. This means that kings and lords mean nothing to the congregation. This usually creates a lot of tension between the congregation and the rulers of the realm.
The strict code of onedience is not seen as cruel or wrong by the congregation because that's the way it always has been. But people outside the congregation often see this as twisted. The rules of hierarchy are of course more relevant to the clerics serving in the temples and churches than to the clerics wandering around the realm. This is the reason why wanderers are usually people with authority issues or people who prefer the solitude on the road. Wanderers rarely stop at temples or churches, but when they do, the same rules of hierarchy apply for them. Usually wanderers work alone, but some wanderers work in small groups. In a group like this the same hierarchy applies; one of the clerics is the elder cleric in charge, just like in a temple or a church.
Those who wish to become clerics must pass the Path of Enlightenment, a physical and spiritual training known to be extremely challenging. Before one can step on to the Path of Enlightenment, one must be a baptized member of the congregation.

THE HOLY SYMBOL

The holy symbol of Westra is fairly simple, but has a specific meaning to it. It is made from any material at hand. For example a blacksmith could make himself one from iron and another peasant could carve one from a piece of wood. The clerics of course put more money into their symbols and usually have them made from silver, or even gold. Jewels are rarely used in the holy symbols, but the center dot might be a ruby in the holy symbol of the High Cleric.

The black dot represents Westra himself looking down to the world. The dark gray part (the carved part in worn symbols) represents the congregation as Westra takes care of his followers and worshippers first and foremost. Finally the light gray part represents the rest of the world and it's inhabitants as Westra looks after all the mortals of the world.

THE OUTFITS OF THE CLERICS

Clerics working in the temples or churches are dressed in white robes with a bright red cloth belt. The holy symbol is always worn on top of the robes. They never wear hats. The outfit of an elder cleric is similar with the exception of a bright red shoulder cape. The robes of the High Cleric are the same as those of an elder cleric with the exception of a holy symbol stitched onto the chest part of the robe and the jewelry worn on top of the cloth belt.

DOMAINS

Last, but not least, I wanted to include my vision for domains of Westra, because the setting I created this religion into is being played with D&D 5th Edition* rules.

• Life
• Light
• Nature
• Knowledge

_____________________________________________________

*Church of Westra has also appeared in The Black Hack and Labyrinth Lord.

[Review] The Super Hack

This is the first superheroes hack (as far as I know) for the popular phenomenom called The Black Hack (my review). TBH is so popular, because the rules are super lite still being very old-school compatible with Dungeons & Dragons, and it is easy, you guessed right, to hack!

There has been several different hacks for TBH core game with variable quality. Some are awesome, some feel just that they're made for easy money to milk from a popular brand (core rules copy pasted only a thing or two of addition).

Before I go to the actual review, I must say that I have not played superhero roleplaying games. Ever! I did own True20 powered Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition, which had a great amount of powers which worked great for character creation and concepts, but point buy character creation was a turn off, especially when you had to use a pool of points to buy everything from stats to gear! I hate that kind of stuff. At the moment in my collection I have Champions 4th Edition, but it is very thick and looks so boring, I've never read it more than a couple of sentences at once! That's no thanks for me.

As a big fan of The Black Hack, which I have ran several times and have played a couple of times and had tons of fun with it always, I am very enthusiastic of this product. Easy and versatile system and the page count is not intimidating at all: the PDF clocks at 20 pages, with 16 pages of actual content (one of those being a character sheet and another a play example, so there's 14 pages of rules and material).

Visually The Super Hack imitates the original source. Instead of ink drips on pages, there are low-ish resolution cracks. The core mechanics of the game are explained clearly, as is character creation. Even better than in the original game! Because this is a superhero game, you choose superpowers determined by your class of choice with some freedom. You can also pick one superpower more than once to juice it up. Characters start with two pieces of (special) equipment, a costume and a secret identity. The equipment list is extremely short, only 12 items! There should be more of them, at least 20 to make at least a decent random table. Items have special rules, which are pretty good and usage die is well thought and adapted in many cases.

The rules are quite similar to The Black Hack, but there are minor differences. One is proficiency, which I don't understand at all. If character uses or wears and equipment that is not appropriate for her class or superpowers, they add their Protection Points to any rolls to attack or avoid damage with a disadvantage. But there are no guidelines what gear is inappropriate to what class or superpower. In addition the rule is stupid; more powerful you are to protect yourself, the crappier you are at using some stuff. Weird and not making any sense to me. If someone can explain this to me...

Majority of other rules are a carbon copy from The Black Hack. A great addition is a sub-table for Out Of Action, called This Is Serious. I really, really like this one! In format one weird thing is, that enemy HD are listed under Initiative section.

There are four different superhero classes, which are quite stupid. They should be more broad and cover different types of heroes. Crimefighter is silly, because aren't all superheroes crimefighters in a way or another. Other's are like a Warrior from the original game without extra attacks, and a Thief who is just good at shooting getting also Warrior's extra attacks. And then there is a guy with just very good saves. Character classes are not that good, they are unimaginative and don't represent different hero stereotypes as they should.

When characters level up, they can in addition to possible attribute increaswes also develop their superpowers further, which is nice. Superpowers have a better effect (actually this is the same table as The Black Hack's damage table). They also have an usage die, which is regained after a rest. There are 20 superpowers (two with variations, so actually 22) and the list is quite nice covering all kinds of powers to combine to create an unique superhero.

There is also a rule, that with advantages and disadvantages (roll 2d20, and pick better/worse), GM can also apply modifiers (this rule wording didn't meet editor's eyes, it's super wonky) which basically change the simple idea of advantages and disadvantages backwards to modifier calculation. Unnecessary addition to The Black Hack rules.

Instead of "Armor Points" characters have "Protection Points", which basically is the same thing; damage reduction that is refilled after rest. One fun thing in combat is that a group of thugs represents one hit die point per a good - so when you score 5 points of damage, you actually stun (superheroes don't kill people, do they?) 5 of the enemies! Very, very fun detail, where you can feel your character's power compared to ordinary thugs! There are only seven different example baddies included, which should be enough for an example, because in super games most of the bad guys and gals are unique anyways.

In my opinion The Super Hack is hastily put together, yet a fun and good little addition to "The Hack" family. There are minor flaws, but they are so puny that they don't make the game bad. Only major problem I have with this game are character classes. Only one of these (The Brick) is good as a heroic stereotype, rest are not at all. With better character classes this would have been super awesome! Now it is "only" super good. Revised edition with better classes would be the bomb! Before that happens (if ever), I need to hack this myself and print it out.

Oh, and in the end the example play scenario is fun and inspiring, even though there could have been a wider variety of game mechanics used in it.

Do I recommend it? Yes! The Black Hack is great fun little system easy to just play and have fun with, and The Super Hack is quite as good, only if you make the classes better yourself. If you like superhero games, this is a pocket version of the genre. If you don't own any superhero games, this is an inexpensive place to get one.

Get it from RPGNow, available in both PDF ($2.00) and print-on-demand ($6.00).
__________________________________________________________________

EDIT 09/25/2016:

I've had discussed with the author, and here are his responses to two points that rubbed me the wrong way, the PP affecting inappropriate equipment use and the character classes. Simon Purley wrote:

"In terms of rules - it's TSH version of TBH having different character classes being limited to specific types of armour. I couldn't limit the character classes as rigidly as he did in TBH but I wanted it in somewhere."

"In terms of genre - It means to stop people buying Superpowers. The first ever SHRPG Superhero 2044 had a "Superhero shop" and, as soon as they made money, people went and bought weapons and armour and flight rings etc. The game just didn't resemble the comics. Basically why doesn't Captain America take out Iron Man, steal his armour and put it on? If he did, he wouldn't know how to use it."

"BTW: The character classes are Superhero tropes. The Brick is your classic brawler (The Hulk, The Thing, Luke Cage). The Blaster is your classic ranged attacker (The Human Torch, Cyclops). The Crimefighter is your classic human who can go toe to toe with the super types (Batman, Captain America, Daredevil). The unique is your weirdos (The Vision, The Sacrlet Witch, Jessica Jones)."

"A design choice I went for in TSH was to keep the rules stripped down without loads of explanation or examples - in keeping with the philosophy of TBH. When I moved from PDF to print it created a couple of extra pages which I could have used for more explanation or example scenarios ("Superheroes vs. dinosaurs" doesn't take much space to explain.) It was a definite choice not to do so" 

 

 

 

The Wizard's Spellbook from Barrel Rider Games now available, for which I made print-on-demand cover layout

Barrel Rider Games needed help to make their new release's covers print-on-demand ready, and I decided to take the challenge. I've done few print-on-demands myself and thought, it would be quite easy for me. Well, as easy as it can, because OnebookShelf's POD preparations can be tricky! And they were, two times the file I sent was refused, because of a tiny mistake, where the front and back covers didn't meet. But third time I made it, and now it is available for everyone to buy and enjoy, both in PDF and glorious print-on-demand!

Here is a short video of the process where I check the template borders and bleed areas:

Arcane Incantations at Your Fingertips!

The Wizard's Spellbook compiles all the magic-user spells from Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion into a single digest-sized tome so you won't have to waste valuable game time searching for just the right incantation. Compact, complete, and with a minimalist design, The Wizard's Spellbook is a practical products that will help take the hassle out of playing a magic-user in Labyrinth Lord - or any other B/X fantasy game!

Inside you'll find:

• A complete spell list organized by level, with each level of spells broken down alphabetically for easy reference. Included in the spell list are notes on whether a spell is reversible and check boxes so you can mark whether your character knows a given spell or has it memorized that day. In addition, the spell list notes whether the spell is Basic, making it equally useful for players who are not using the Advanced Edition Companion.
• The complete spell description of every single spell found in the Labyrinth Lord Revised core rulebook and the Advanced Edition Companion.
• Optional rules for introducing Cantrips into your Labyrinth Lord or B/X fantasy campaign!
• Print on Demand product is in an easy to transport, easy to reference 6x9 softcover digest.

Buy it here, available in both PDF and Print-On-Demand!

Because the international community of roleplayers has been so awesome to me, I decided to lower the price of Crypt Of Doom - A Compilation Of Patreon Supported 2015 Material to pay-what-you-want, both PDF and print (print at cost + postage). Original prices are $6.50 for PDF and $13.10 for POD. So now is your change to get all this for free:

• About Level Drain
• Æg Artifacts
• Auspices
• Bazaar Of Extraordinary Items
• Bearries & Bearletons
• Bubghia: The Hunters In Forests
• Child Of The Rainbow Dust
• The Church Of Stab
• Dungeon Beneath The City
• Encounters In Snowy Locations
• Epic Mëtal Awesome Weapons
• Eyes Of The Hidden Moon
• Lioness Of The North
• Monster Skeleton Creator
• The Museum Of Artifacts
• Night Leeches
• The Rheum In The Fields
• Sea Wizard's Coral Tower
• Simple Adventure Generator
• Stones Of The Gods
• Tasty, Groovy, Poisonous Shrooms
• Throne Of The Stone Cyclops
• Tower Of Tremors
• Witch's Cauldron Mishap Table

Get it here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/175132/Crypt-Of-Doom--A-Compilation-of-Patreon-Supported-2015-Material

And if you like the material, you can support me to create more at: https://www.patreon.com/cryptofdoom

[LotFP] Witchfinders, Demonhunters and Inquisitors

In the world where weird monsters and horrors are reality lurking behind the veils of everyday life, some brave and determined men and women have dedicated their lives to seek out and destroy these things. They are marked with a sacred brand on their forehead to grand special powers against the infernal and cosmic forces of evil.

Any new character from any class from the beginning of the campaign can be branded to gain a special power, which you determine rolling 1d6 from the table. Also roll for a disadvantage of the devotion. A character might later on a campaign become one going through a sacred ritual of branding. They must devote their adventuring life for the cause they have chosen.

WITCHFINDER

They are professionals that seek out those who have powers beyond the man for selling their soul to the forces of evil. They know how to deal with witches and protect themselves against their malicious spells.

Advantages

1. Immune to any charm or mind affecting powers of witches.

2. Can make a special balsam against witches powers. The balsam costs 100 GP of protection per level of witch's HD. The balsam, when applied to the skin, protects against one direct spell of the witch except charm and mind affecting spells.

3. Can sense a presence of a witch within 100 feet per their level.

4. When making a finishing blow against a witch, they can absorb one random power of her if they will. They must success a save versus Magic or be corrupted of the witchtanic power and lose their special ability for 1d6 levels.

5. Specialist in long-distance murder and take advantage on technology. +2 using gunpowder weapons. Also all maintenance work for gunpowder weapons are halved.

6. Resistant to poisons, but must drink a dose of poison daily or die, if doesn't save versus poison.

Disadvantages

1. Every witch she kills reminds her of her own mother for a reason or another. She must save against paralyze or be depressed the next adventure suffering a -1 penalty to any roll.

2. She is hypersensitive for witch's body. Any time witch inflicts unarmed damage, she suffer extra 1d4 damage per witch's HD.

3. Her ancestor was a witch, and in her blood thin witchtanic trace. If she comes in touch with witch's blood, there is 1-in-6 chance that the witch within is invoked. Her alignment changes to chaotic and as she loses her advantage, she gains witchtanic powers.

4. All potions and alchemical fluids have double effect on her. Both helpful and harmful.

5. Has saved someone from witch's claws and now her responsibility is to protect him.

6. Is permanently ill, thanks to witch's curse. Needs medicine once every 2d4 days. Ingredients for one dose costs 10 GP per level and needs one special incredient to produce. With a successful Intelligence roll (under), can produce the medicine herself. Even though she doesn't success, the GP used for the ingredients is lost. If she buys the medicine prepared, one dose costs 25 GP per her level.

DEMONHUNTER

Infernal, demonic, monstrous and otherworldly beings are their enemies. Their mind is strong against the temptations and body resistant of their corruption. Their blade cuts precise and deep.

Advantages

1. Against demonic creatures they deal extra 1d6 damage.

2. Can roll two dices to save against demonic powers and corruption.

3. Can learn from the demons they destroy, giving them +1 to attack rolls, damage rolls and saves against same types.

4. Has 5% chance per their level to learn a spell cast against them. They can use it once, until learned again.

5. Has one special weapon you have used to kill your first monster. With this weapon you get +2 to damage, to-hit and armor class. Without that weapon you suffer severe effects of fright and self-esteem problems causing you to be extremely insecure and undetermined also suffering -1 to all actions you take.

6. Can brand others. In exchange of permanent bonus of 1 to saves versus demonic and monstrous powers they suffer 1d4 permanent damage to HP.

Disadvantages

1. The lure of demonic powers is strong against her. Every time she encounters a demon she must success in save against magic. If she fails six times in her life, her soul is lost and possessed by a demon (roll summon spell chart to see what abomination she will become).

2. There is a 1-in-6 chance a day that she will mistake something ordinary (a peon, a goat, a windmill) for a demon and she will try to destroy. It is possible to stop her and talk sense to her, but it is not an easy task.

3. She is like a magnet for the demons. Demons can sense her from a distance and from beyond the curtains of dimensions. Every week there is a 1-in-6 chance that a demon finds her and tries to destroy her.

4. All the evil she has seen and conquered has tainted her soul, and no clerical magic works on her.

5. Has had a taste of blood of her enemies and must drink demonic or monstrous blood at least once per week or die if doesn't save against poison.

6. Has hunted creatures of darkness so long, that suffers from sunlight. It burns her skin and she cannot see well. -2 to all eyesight related tasks and 1 HP damage per hour when exposed to direct sunlight.

INQUISITOR

Not necessarily the forces of evil are always witches or demons. Also ordinary people are capable of horrible things and crimes against humanity. You are the one who weeds the evil from the hoi polloi. Your actions might be horrible or brutal, but it is for the good of the humanity.

Advantages

1. Knows how to torture and get information or confessions out of anyone. It takes one hour and 1d4 damage per HD of the victim to squeeze out whatever the inquisitor wants to know. Unfortunately, there is a 50% chance that the victim just says what inquisitor wants to hear, so he can get a release from the pains and horrors of torture.

2. Knows how to hurt people. When your attack roll is 19 or 20, you can aim your opponent and cause him severe pain with extra 1d4 +1 per level damage.

3. Gets +2 bonus to your Charisma every time you intimidate someone.

4. No pain, no gain. They have caused so much suffering, they almost live out of it. As a bonus action inquisitor can wound himself to gain half of that damage to next attack as a to-hit bonus.

5. Harsh training has made her tougher. She needs half the amount of rations and can resist harsh weather effects with doubled efficiency.

6. Can prevent evil spells from harming her and her group if will sacrifice as many people as the spell level in 12 hours. If doesn't, all the spell effects will fire on her with double effect.

Disadvantages

1. Has seen so much blood and suffering you have inflicted, that you cannot feel empathy anymore. Every action you take is aggressive against normal people and you can only see the worst in them.

2. Is scarred from the burning firebrands and self-inflicted wounds and need to hide your monstrous skin under a hood not to scare people. You look like a monster yourself.

3. Is haunted by ghosts of innocent people she has killed in torture. In the beginning of game there are 1d4 souls to haunt her, and every time an innocent person is dead by her hands she must save against magic or suffer of another haunt. Naturally, there are psychological effects to this every day there is 2% chance per haunting soul that her conscience is making her question her cause and her advantage doesn't work that day.

4. Is twisted and bloodlusty and will always kill if there is a chance. No enemy or victim of her should remain alive.

5. Must daily repent her own sins or lose her advantage for a day. Repenting sins demands two hours of prayer and self whipping.

6. There is something holy in her, god knows what twisted god thinks so. She has stigmata that bleeds constantly. Lose 1d2 HP daily from bleeding palms. Also handling weapons is harder without gloves or straps as blood soaked hands are slick.

You can download the pdf, with slightly revised text, from my Patreon page!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/witchfinder-and-6535360