I'm baaaack! Yeah, sorry for the absence, friends, but things got a bit messy and sad for me for a bit, and I frankly let this just slip right off my desk. I am back in the saddle, and I've returned with a Theme Week - Eclectic Fun! Check out this odd array of gaming goodness that spans a rather different spectrum than usual.
EMPIRE CITY ADVENTURES
For those who follow me elsewhere, it’s probably no surprise that I am on a serious superhero kick. I’ve started buying comics again, I am all about all the supers movies out or coming, and I am very keen on supers gaming right now as well. Fainting Goat does a good job of looking for ways to help gamers by filling a niche, and this latest product from them does something very powerful and effective for FATE gamers who want to also get their capes on.
Sometimes you need to make a Fate Core supers game happen with no time to prepare.
This can be anxiety-inducing, but there’s no reason to fear lack of prep. Because, with the right tools, pickup games are a snap.
Empire City Adventures is just such a tool. It’s actually an entire toolkit for running spur-of-the-moment superhero games using Fate Core and the Venture City Rules.
THE LONG WALK: LIFE ON THE GRAND STAIR
Looks like we’ve got a particularly eclectic week underway, with this diceless game supplement grabbing my eye today. Fans of Erick Wujcik‘s Amber Diceless RPG got a huge treat when Rite Publishing brought the system back with Lords of Gossamer & Shadow. Now we get a full companion work to expand your game, at long last.
The Long Walk: Life on the Grand Stair
The Escalara, the Grand Stair, spans eternity. On its countless landings, Doors lead to Gossamer worlds of wonder and terror. Powerful beings explore its mysteries. Will you join them?
The Long Walk: Life on the Grand Stair is a companion volume to Lords of Gossamer & Shadow. Within its pages, you will find the following:
The Door is open. The Grand Stair is before you. The Long Walk awaits. Will you begin the journey?
NECROPOLIS 2350: TEMPLAR HANDBOOK
Sticking to my Eclectic Week, here’s the latest release for one of Triple Ace Games’ most venerable lines, Necropolis 2350. Think Warhammer 40k meets Mutant Chronicles, all for Savage Worlds fans. This book gets into the Templars, which any fan of zealots in heavy armor fighting against hopeless odds will want to grab right away.
Batten down the hatches, fire up the engines, and let’s get ready to kick some ass!
The Ordo Templi Novi, better known to the masses governed by the Third Reformation Church as the Templars, is renowned as much for its reluctance to leave the battlefield as the thundering might of its armored vehicles.
Designed for players and War Masters alike, this handbook explores the Templars in detail.
Inside you’ll find an expanded history, information on how the Ordo recruits new members and finances its mobile army, details on the various Chapters, a tour of noted facilities, a range of hardware, sample Wild Card and Extra characters, background details on famous units, and plenty of new options for creating player character Templars.
DANCE `TIL DAWN
Eclectic Week takes a turn to the seriously weird and intriguingly different with today’s Pick. Barak Blackburn – primarily known for a ton of work for Spectrum Games – decided to push the envelope of story gaming in an oddly wonderful way. By combining randomizing music services (like Pandora and Spotify) with Scrabble tiles to create a shared narrative experience based on the songs played as you play, he’s taken the background music of the story and turned it into the story.
Dance ‘Til Dawn is an immersive storytelling game.
We’re going to listen to a playlist that has a beginning, a middle and a very definitive end. We’re going to tell a story even as we’re moved by the music. And, when the last song plays, this story is over. The end of this story is hinted at in the beginning, but the players will define how we get there, and how it comes to be.
Dance ‘Til Dawn is a game about listening.
We are going to listen to music together. The music may very well move us and organically, the flow of the narrative will change. This is the hope. Players may choose to narrate, or they may choose to listen to the music and let it fill this shared space.
We are going to listen to each other.
Narration is a shared responsibility. Players will narrate. Characters will succeed or fail as players see fit, there are no skill checks. But as the music plays, we always know that we are moving closer to the end. Together, we will explore the world.
Each song is a piece of art, with lyrics written perhaps for reasons deep and profound, music constructed in such a way to elicit a response. Listening to music can be a group activity: a car radio, a concert, buskers on a city street.
Let us listen together. Let us tell a story. Let music be our soundtrack.
NOBILIS: THE ESSENTIALS VOLUME 1
Jenna K. Moran has experienced her own Hero’s Journey through the gaming industry, so I’m closing out Eclectic Week with this icon of oddly wonderful, Nobilis. This version is diceless and intended for both tabletop and LARP play, and it stands as the latest version of a game that was “story gaming” before the term was in fashion.
There is a hidden world of spirit that surrounds us.
Within that world dwell the Nobilis.
They are creatures half-human and half-god. Each holds dominion over a single concept in the world.
You have heard the stories and rumors of the Nobilis.
You have heard of the fates of those who encounter them.
Herein you will find a guide to dealing with these Powers and their
attendant spirits.
Herein you will find the third edition of the Nobilis RPG—a diceless roleplaying game, completely updated and rewritten for modern sensibilities, that you may use to tell new stories of the Nobilis’ lives.
---
And there we are, a (hopefully) triumphant return to the Picks of the Week for all who (hopefully) missed it. I know there's a lot of folks at Origins at the moment, and I expect you're having a grand time. It may be that I should explore returning to that show myself.
Tomorrow is our ship's meeting for the HMS Reliant (you guys remember me being a captain in The Royal Manticoran Navy, right?). No doubt, there will be gaming of some kind in that experience. Still working some ideas out there, but my ship wants more gaming, so I need to develop something that works for the larger gatherings.
Sunday, my Belovedest Carinn, my daughter Samantha, and I will join thousands of others for Denver's PrideFest, which I am very proud to support. Now, more than ever, we need to do all we can to support the members of our family who strive for recognition, appreciation, acceptance, and love.
Sunday evening, it's the next session of one of my all-time-favorite games I've gotten to play in, the Epic Age supers campaign that Ed Doolittle is running for me and an exceptional cast of other players: Carinn, Lee Langston, Kit Stephens, Ray Bruells,, Mike Lythgoe, and the exceptionally talented artist and creator, Chaz Kemp (from whom we all bought rolling trays and dice towers)!
As for tonight? Yeah, I think a casual hangout night is just what the Universe ordered ere the weekend descends in full insanity.
The Adventure Continues!
Note that I use affiliate links in all my posts as a way to generate additional revenue for my efforts; I make my Picks and other article choices, however, based on the desire to share a wide variety of things with you. Thank you for your support.
Sean Patrick Fannon
Writer & Game Designer: Shaintar, Star Wars, Savage Rifts, much more
Please check out my Patreon and get involved directly with my next projects!
EMPIRE CITY ADVENTURES
For those who follow me elsewhere, it’s probably no surprise that I am on a serious superhero kick. I’ve started buying comics again, I am all about all the supers movies out or coming, and I am very keen on supers gaming right now as well. Fainting Goat does a good job of looking for ways to help gamers by filling a niche, and this latest product from them does something very powerful and effective for FATE gamers who want to also get their capes on.
Sometimes you need to make a Fate Core supers game happen with no time to prepare.
This can be anxiety-inducing, but there’s no reason to fear lack of prep. Because, with the right tools, pickup games are a snap.
Empire City Adventures is just such a tool. It’s actually an entire toolkit for running spur-of-the-moment superhero games using Fate Core and the Venture City Rules.
- The first section consists of character sheets for a variety of big time super heroes, including full skill and power profiles. Players can pick a hero and be ready to rock in minutes.
- The second section has a handful of powerful villains who will make antagonists for the heroes.
- Each villain write-up includes background on each villain and high-octane plot suggestions to jump-start your game.
THE LONG WALK: LIFE ON THE GRAND STAIR
Looks like we’ve got a particularly eclectic week underway, with this diceless game supplement grabbing my eye today. Fans of Erick Wujcik‘s Amber Diceless RPG got a huge treat when Rite Publishing brought the system back with Lords of Gossamer & Shadow. Now we get a full companion work to expand your game, at long last.
The Long Walk: Life on the Grand Stair
The Escalara, the Grand Stair, spans eternity. On its countless landings, Doors lead to Gossamer worlds of wonder and terror. Powerful beings explore its mysteries. Will you join them?
The Long Walk: Life on the Grand Stair is a companion volume to Lords of Gossamer & Shadow. Within its pages, you will find the following:
- New powers like Scrying, expanded powers like Aetheric Projection, as well as Advanced and Exalted versions of existing powers found in Lords of Gossamer & Shadow;
- A new system of partial powers to use for NPCs or character advancement, as well as rules to allow characters to have exotic natural abilities like wings or claws;
- Rules to create and play lower level Agent characters who work for the Gossamer Lords;
- New Gossamer worlds to explore like the mysterious Impossible Pyramid, as wellas a closer look at the Ascendancy, the empire of Bastiano;
- A look at some of the people who populate the Grand Stair: travel with the Cicerones and porters, and hear tales from the praecones, or fight alongside Drake’s heroic Doormen and the far roaming mercenary corps, the Raven Legion;
- An examination of the history and culture of the Gossamer Lords, including some new Lords and Ladies to add to your game, many created by our loyal supporters and fans; and
- A detailed framework for a campaign, The Dwimmerlaik Inquest, which includes three adventures with guides to customizing them for use in your own campaigns.
The Door is open. The Grand Stair is before you. The Long Walk awaits. Will you begin the journey?
NECROPOLIS 2350: TEMPLAR HANDBOOK
Sticking to my Eclectic Week, here’s the latest release for one of Triple Ace Games’ most venerable lines, Necropolis 2350. Think Warhammer 40k meets Mutant Chronicles, all for Savage Worlds fans. This book gets into the Templars, which any fan of zealots in heavy armor fighting against hopeless odds will want to grab right away.
Batten down the hatches, fire up the engines, and let’s get ready to kick some ass!
The Ordo Templi Novi, better known to the masses governed by the Third Reformation Church as the Templars, is renowned as much for its reluctance to leave the battlefield as the thundering might of its armored vehicles.
Designed for players and War Masters alike, this handbook explores the Templars in detail.
Inside you’ll find an expanded history, information on how the Ordo recruits new members and finances its mobile army, details on the various Chapters, a tour of noted facilities, a range of hardware, sample Wild Card and Extra characters, background details on famous units, and plenty of new options for creating player character Templars.
DANCE `TIL DAWN
Eclectic Week takes a turn to the seriously weird and intriguingly different with today’s Pick. Barak Blackburn – primarily known for a ton of work for Spectrum Games – decided to push the envelope of story gaming in an oddly wonderful way. By combining randomizing music services (like Pandora and Spotify) with Scrabble tiles to create a shared narrative experience based on the songs played as you play, he’s taken the background music of the story and turned it into the story.
Dance ‘Til Dawn is an immersive storytelling game.
We’re going to listen to a playlist that has a beginning, a middle and a very definitive end. We’re going to tell a story even as we’re moved by the music. And, when the last song plays, this story is over. The end of this story is hinted at in the beginning, but the players will define how we get there, and how it comes to be.
Dance ‘Til Dawn is a game about listening.
We are going to listen to music together. The music may very well move us and organically, the flow of the narrative will change. This is the hope. Players may choose to narrate, or they may choose to listen to the music and let it fill this shared space.
We are going to listen to each other.
Narration is a shared responsibility. Players will narrate. Characters will succeed or fail as players see fit, there are no skill checks. But as the music plays, we always know that we are moving closer to the end. Together, we will explore the world.
Each song is a piece of art, with lyrics written perhaps for reasons deep and profound, music constructed in such a way to elicit a response. Listening to music can be a group activity: a car radio, a concert, buskers on a city street.
Let us listen together. Let us tell a story. Let music be our soundtrack.
NOBILIS: THE ESSENTIALS VOLUME 1
Jenna K. Moran has experienced her own Hero’s Journey through the gaming industry, so I’m closing out Eclectic Week with this icon of oddly wonderful, Nobilis. This version is diceless and intended for both tabletop and LARP play, and it stands as the latest version of a game that was “story gaming” before the term was in fashion.
There is a hidden world of spirit that surrounds us.
Within that world dwell the Nobilis.
They are creatures half-human and half-god. Each holds dominion over a single concept in the world.
You have heard the stories and rumors of the Nobilis.
You have heard of the fates of those who encounter them.
Herein you will find a guide to dealing with these Powers and their
attendant spirits.
Herein you will find the third edition of the Nobilis RPG—a diceless roleplaying game, completely updated and rewritten for modern sensibilities, that you may use to tell new stories of the Nobilis’ lives.
---
And there we are, a (hopefully) triumphant return to the Picks of the Week for all who (hopefully) missed it. I know there's a lot of folks at Origins at the moment, and I expect you're having a grand time. It may be that I should explore returning to that show myself.
Tomorrow is our ship's meeting for the HMS Reliant (you guys remember me being a captain in The Royal Manticoran Navy, right?). No doubt, there will be gaming of some kind in that experience. Still working some ideas out there, but my ship wants more gaming, so I need to develop something that works for the larger gatherings.
Sunday, my Belovedest Carinn, my daughter Samantha, and I will join thousands of others for Denver's PrideFest, which I am very proud to support. Now, more than ever, we need to do all we can to support the members of our family who strive for recognition, appreciation, acceptance, and love.
Sunday evening, it's the next session of one of my all-time-favorite games I've gotten to play in, the Epic Age supers campaign that Ed Doolittle is running for me and an exceptional cast of other players: Carinn, Lee Langston, Kit Stephens, Ray Bruells,, Mike Lythgoe, and the exceptionally talented artist and creator, Chaz Kemp (from whom we all bought rolling trays and dice towers)!
As for tonight? Yeah, I think a casual hangout night is just what the Universe ordered ere the weekend descends in full insanity.
The Adventure Continues!
Note that I use affiliate links in all my posts as a way to generate additional revenue for my efforts; I make my Picks and other article choices, however, based on the desire to share a wide variety of things with you. Thank you for your support.
Sean Patrick Fannon
Writer & Game Designer: Shaintar, Star Wars, Savage Rifts, much more
Please check out my Patreon and get involved directly with my next projects!
