I saw Morrus mentioned this in news back on the 7th, but I haven't seen anything posted in the forum.

It's a tabletop miniatures game by Ninja Division, but it's being done in association with Palladium games, so you could conceivably use the minis for the RPG (or as Battletech unseen - they're in the same scale :) ). Looks like they're about to break the $1 million mark - who says these games we buy are a dying breed?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-rpg-tacticstm

I've signed up for the Battlecry level myself. I've got fond memories of the show and actually played some of the RPG back in the day. If nothing else, it's more toys for me to ogle over.

Bedrock Games is looking for people to playtest Sertorius, a fantasy RPG of powerful semi-divine wizards and mighty city states. It uses the Network System (Terror Network, Servants of Gaius and Horror Show) which is a fast-paced skill-based engine designed for a focus on roleplaying. We will provide an early draft of the manuscript, a file of the map, and character sheets to all playtesters. If you complete three playtest sessions and send a report with your comments you will receive a free PDF of your choice from our product line. If you have an interest please contact BedrockBrendan@gmail.com for further details.

For information about Bedrock Games go to: Bedrockgames.net

I'm looking for a particular type of game system, and figured that I could start a thread where others also looking could post to take advantage of the shared RPG knowledge pool we have here.

I'll go first. I'm looking for a sci-fi game, but I don't have much experience role-playing the genre, and am minimally familiar with the different settings and systems. I'm basically looking for a space game with plenty of everything. Something that is as expansive as Star Wars, but without the specifics of the Jedi, and a bit more serious (though not overly hard sci-fi). I've looked at a couple games, but I always find something either missing ("what, no aliens?" or "it's all set in one system?") or something too game defining in the setting (ie, Jedi and the Force). I'm fine with supernatural elements as long as it's primarily sci-fi. I definitely want some sort of psionics. AI, cybernetics, nanotech, mechanized combat suits--I'm looking for something with it all.

So, any suggestions?

I've been pondering for quite a while whether buying some of the pre-painted minis from this line would be a good idea. My intention would be to use them alongside D&D minis for RPG purposes, but I can't seem to find any information of how they compare in size with those. Has anyone around here made a side-by-side comparison? Are they somewhat compatible?

Thanks!

I’ll be GMing a game starting next week for only one player. We’ve decided that we like the Zeitgeist campaign world and will be running a game based in that setting. He is going to be running a guild assassin in Flint. What I’m asking for are ideas for “adventures/plot ideas" to give to a single assassin player. I figured I’d start with some kind of easy initiation missions to join the guild and later give him targets to assassinate, but what other things could you do as an assassin? Thanks in advance.

I am not an author, just a backer. Haven't posted in a long time, but a few things, including my kids being old enough to game, drew me back into the RPG world.


Autarch's Domains At War is $700 away from adding Gunpowder and all that assorted goodness to its mass combat rules, with only 55 hours left!


You know you want to march a platoon of iron golems bristling with barrels against a company of the finest musketeers in the Five Baronies!


Do you want a highly flexible and thorough system for modelling wars and battles with a simple die resolution system?

Do you want an agile wargame in which your PCs can participate as leaders and heros?

I've got a review here of the two books - Battles and Campaigns.

Don't let the fact that it's OSR pull you off - we're all d20 here - it'd convert to Pathfinder without blinking, and 4E with only slightly more fiddling.

Go! Pledge! $5 gets you a look at the documents in-state! And leave a comment that you're in it for the Funpowder! (so they count you in that last $700 stretch) Tell 'em I sent you.


Oh, I won't even mention that ACKS Core has an incredible domain modelling system that allows you to gain income, conduct trade, and civilize a kingdom. Nor will I mention the ACKS Player's Companion, with point-based class and spell creation. (Or, if Steampunk in the title drew you in, that there's Automaton design/creation rules in the PC).

Hi,
Thought this was worth promoting (and I messed up with the title not being in Bold on the first one)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ature-tanks-vs

martians 1.jpgmartians3.jpg

Regards


vonhist

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So, people find just about anything to get upset over in RPGs. I've seen RPG targeted politically correct rants about sexual orientation, gender roles, religious views, cultural taboos, and even down to the artwork.

I've never cared to give much thought to this stuff because frankly, I find these sort of topics silly in regards to people just playing a game.

But I've been writing up a handful of NPCs in the past couple of days and something has finally struck a nerve with me that I would like to rant about:

Common!

I'm human, and you know what? I'm sick and tired of being treated as average and common in D&D. Why does every single other race, including numbskulls like Kobolds & Goblins, get their own language? Sure, they share it with a select few other races, but their language has a name that represents what they are. My Human PC doesn't even get the respect to have his language called Human. He's disrespected to the point where his language is named after what society thinks of him, not the type of blood running through his veins.

Did you stop to think about how so many other nonhuman races automatically speak common? My human has to learn to speak their language and they get mine for free? Even an Otyugh speaks my language! It only takes a 5 intelligence for a poop eating creature to learn my language? They live underground. Shouldn't they speak terran or undercommon? Or is it politically incorrect for a poop eating monster to speak those more sophisticated languages?

Yeah, yer gonna say, "Well in [some random setting] the humans speak a dialect of common and it has its own name. Let me guess, those Humans are not "common" humans though, right? They are special in some way. Like, maybe they are from some tribal area in the jungle? Or some Eastern region that's considered "exotic"? Or they come from some wastelands down below where the culture is unusually different than what us common humans are used to? That's even more insulting.

Why are humans considered to be in everyone's business and all over the place like pests? If the other races live so much longer, shouldn't the world be overpopulated by their kind? There's a family on TV with 19 kids and those parents are barely pushing 50. As long lived as elves are, I'd think they would have 10 times that many kids running around the world.

Has anyone realized that we don't even get ability score modifiers for crying out loud? Or if we do get them, it's half of what the other guys get and they can be placed anywhere. We're not known to be great at anything, we're just "ok" at "whatever". That's how bland we are.

I don't even think humans get a racial deity in core D&D. Dwarves have Moradin, Elves have Corellon Larethian, Halflings get Yondalla, etc, etc. But Humans have Pelor or St. Cuthbert, the gods that everyone else gets to claim to be a worshiper of as long as they are the right class.

This is an issue that I seriously think needs to be addressed in 5e. It's disrespecting and degrading. I don't see how a company with a customer base consisting of almost 100% humans can constantly get away with depicting the human race like this over & over again.

What is your favorite skill system?

What is it you like about skills in rpgs?

Do you prefer loose skills (like a "science" skill) or detailed skills (like a "biology" skill and a "chemistry" skill)?

Do you feel skills are important to modern rpgs or not?

What are the chances we'll see File Off the Serial Numbers in print?

http://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/...8ytg%2Fdiscuss

I'm hoping someone from Paizo will weigh in.

I'm setting up a not-so-serious campaing setting for Dungeon World, and I've decided to make it a shattered world, lots of chunks of the ancient planet all floating together in a rough spheroid, held together by magic. I've only got a page or so of notes so far, and I'm looking for further ideas to add; mostly, I need concepts that would lead to interesting fronts, adventure ideas, campaign villains, etc...

Dungeonworld: a Shattered World

The world was once whole. No longer is this so… the world is a cluster of islands or Earth Motes, floating in the ether, constantly drifting closer and apart, bumping, shifting, changing, sometimes smashing each other. Travel on land is by foot, mostly, as few mounts are available. Flying from mote to mote is possible, though challenging for many. Hot air balloons, magic-powered dirigibles, gliders, and winged creatures are all methods used for travel. The shattering event happened well over a thousand years ago.

Gravity: all of the "world chunks" have a similar gravity - they all "face" outwards, still, and have an "underside" and "edges". Many small landmasses have docks and entry ports on their sides, and many many folk live below ground, reserving precious "topside" for growing food.

Impacts: small strikes by loose rocks and other objects are not uncommon, and even "bumps" that cause minor earth tremors are again not uncommon. However, most objects are not moving fast enough to be truly deadly, and most landmasses are stable enough not to be bumped in ways that will cause massive turmoil. Exceptions are rare and startling.

Magic and technology: The world is steeped in magic; it is said that magic is both what holds the world together, and what shattered it eons ago. There is a legend that in the core of the world, deep within the center, there is a vast artifact, which is perhaps intelligent and alive, that sustains the world. No one near the surface knows if this is true or not. There are "gods" in this world, and they perform great deeds on occasion, and it is said that they grant their followers power, but no one believes they are immortal and perfect. They are simply beings of such immense power that ordinary mortals can only worship them from afar. Tech is at about a 12th century level (as compared to "our earth") and appears unlikely to evolve further, given the effect magic has.

Dangers, threats and Monsters; the world is a very dangerous place. Each "world chunk" may be as small as a village, or so large as to take 3 days to walk across. Many are inhabited. When the world broke, or so legend goes, many of the beings who dwelled there were exposed to waves of magical energy which warped and changed them. Some animals became intelligent. Some types of creatures merged together. Some became elemental forces, and more…

Races: Humans are the major race, dominant most everywhere. They're not better at anything than anyone, but they're second-best at everything, and individuals tend to be tough, adventurous and talented. They're the best race with technology

Wee Folk: the halflings are doughty and tough, very durable, but not strong. They grow many crops, and are very skilled at cooking, preserving food, making the inedible edible. They are good with domesticating animals. They have several different flying species under their control in different regions; sometimes they ride winged ponies, other times small wyverns or winged lions.
Elves: these natural fliers live for moving from place to place. While they still have some affinity for nature, they're really more air-connected. High magic affinity, too, and some may be quite scholarly. Legends say that some of their kind retreated deep into the Core during or after the Shattering. Did they cause it? Or do they know what did?

Dwarves: famous for their mining skills, forging, tunneling and stonework. They're welcome everywhere as they build underground living quarters for many to preserve rare surface grounds for growing valued foodstuffs. How do they travel so easily? They hate the airships of the elves, but seem to be able to reach most everywhere easily. Do they really have tunnels that reach across motes?

Starting out: The PCs begin their careers in a minor town on a small but not tiny Earth Mote. They may be locals, or they may have recently arrived by ferry or dirigible from elsewhere… but they are now essentially broke, with little more than their gear in hand, and an idea of an adventure...

Any ideas? I'd love to hear just about anything...

Not to draw attention from the winner of the 7-day RPG contest, darkcyril's Daughters of Lear (Check it out, if you haven't already!), but playtesting has revealed a couple of necessary updates to the game I entered--and, since the thread I entered it into is closed, I've got to start a new thread for it.

The changes are:

• Added the ability to use multiple attributes in a single action--at double token cost! This is necessary to heighten the tension in high-token games (such as super-heroic games). Also, it's an added layer of resource-management.
  
  
• Introduced Temporary Attributes, which can increase a character's action options, without increasing the token pool. These also can represent resources that may not be permanent, such as equipment or magical buffs.

So, here's the updated PDF:

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I love the Alien movies. The look, the feel of the universe--it all feels very Traveller to me.

I've written about this before, but HBO is showing all four Alien movies in order, back to back, right now, starting with the Director's Cut of Alien, so I'm inspired.

I think you could easily use the Classic Traveller rule set with an ATU set in the universe of the Alien movies very easily. You just need to change a few assumptions about the OTU.

Of course, it's no longer feudal, and no alien races have been encountered. You'd base your universe off the movies, of course.

I think you'd have to change a CT law about the Jump drive. In stead of one week in jump, the ship would jump one week per X amount parsecs, where X = the ship's jump number. Thus, a Jump-3 vessel would jump 3 parsecs per week but could stay in jumpspace indefinitely, allowing the ship to travel vast differences.

In the first movie, the ship's navigator says that they haven't even hit the outer rim yet when Mother brings all of the crew out of cold sleep to investigate the alien signal. That tells you, right there, that the jump space tech in that universe is capable of extremely long jumps. It just takes time. Lots of time. That's why they put the crew into cold sleep.

BTW, CT low berth units would have to be better at keeping people alive.

And, to match the Alien universe, the TL for human-like cyborgs would have to be lowered from TL 16 to that of the universe.

It'd be a pretty easy ruleset to use to create your own Alien universe. I'm thinking it'd be neat to run a game set right after Alien 3. Ripley is dead, and now the story moves on with the players' crew.

Maybe they're a supply ship that came and went during the events of Alien 3.

I've also thought about combining the Alien universe with that of Blade Runner and Outland. I thought all three of those would work together nicely.

Maybe even take some stuff from the old RPG, High Colonies.





EDIT: Oh, and don't forget that there's CT stats on the Alien in The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society.

2nd EDIT: For campaign ideas, look no farther than the various Alien novels or the five comic book omnibuses--these are all full of ideas that a crafty GM could use in a game. Next year, a new novel is coming out that will serve as an immediate prequel to the first Alien movie. Alien: Out of the Shadows is supposed to return us to Ellen Ripley and to never-before-revealed secrets of the Weyland-Yutani Corporations...secrets that lead into the events of the second film, Aliens. I think even the novelizations of the movies would probably be worth reading for an enterprising GM who wanted to mine some material.

Castles & Crusades is gearing up for its Next Kickstarter. Many of you have enjoyed our previous kickstarters: Classic Monsters, Players Handbook (5th printing full color) and the Codex Celtarum (shipping now!). We hope you'll join us for this next one.

This time we are taking you to The Haunted Highlands.

Upon the bloody northern marches lies a curious Roadhouse. Here are gathered the flotsam of the world: miscreants, mercenaries, soldiers of fortune, adventurers. Dirty Bowbe's they call it, and it's as rough and safe a sanctuary as any will find in those dark and bloody grounds! For once, long ago, a Kingdom thrived here and the wealth of its coffers flowed across the lands as honey from a jar. But those days are long past and nothing but memories remain . . . memories and the shadows of yesterday.

To the northeast of Dirty Bowbe's lie the ruins of Bortenski and the hazardous wastes known as the Witch Moor. To the north lies the village of the Ugashtan and further still lie the broken crags of the Mythnoc Cairns where the proud barbarian people once buried their cherished dead. To the Northwest stands the tall trees of the Grove of the Green Man, where the druids who worship the old ways still rule.

These are the Haunted Highland.

The Haunted Highlands adventure modules by Casey Christofferson have long been a part of the Castles & Crusades experience. Crusaders have enjoyed them for years, wanting only for more.

This Summer, starting in June, TLG and Casey begin a major push to bring a mountain of Haunted Highlands material to your gaming table.

In May we'll announce the Haunted Highlands Kickstarter project which will include a Players Guide to the Highlands, a Gazetteer, DB1-DB6 rebooted in their own book with the inclusion of DB7 and DB8 and the hint of miniatures on the horizon.

But it has already started!

To bring the Haunted Highlands to you door now, we've launched The Free City of Eskadia preorder, that town known to all as the Jack of Lies.

The Free City of Eskadia, a crucial part of the acclaimed Haunted Highlands adventure series, is a port city filled with adventure. It is the perfect sandbox city/setting for multiple adventures and mountains of fun.

This crucial part of the Haunted Highlands is ready for release, many people already enjoy it; it will appear in print in May as a perfect bound book. But this book is so much more and it needs to appear in hardback. All we need to know is that you want to see it so. If we hit our mark of $4000.00 in the next week, The Free City comes out in hardback. We've already topped $2800.00. Help us make it the rest of the way and start your journey into the Highlands in style!

We've set this up just like a Kickstarter with multiple backer levels. Hit the 50 dollar range and you can get two full color maps. . . see one below. Join us today!

PREORDER TODAY AND HELP US MAKE THIS A HARDCOVER YOU WON'T FORGET!

Eskadia, the City Upon the Sea, lies far north of the Haunted Highlands upon the Vestlig Sea, where merchants ply their wares and pirates hunt with wild abandon. Eskadia stands upon the edge of the world. One of the most powerful of the western City-States, she has the singular distinction of being one of the deadliest cities in all of world.

SAMPLE of Free City of Eskadia here!

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