Ur-Hadad Street Kids and Trickster Gods [Free RPG Day 2015]

     Saturday's game did not get the turn out I wanted, in fact I had only two people, but it turned into a lot of fun. I had my pre gens set up using Wayne Snyder's gang occupation table and each player started with three each. The adventure came from the first issue of Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, wherein you roll upon some tables to generate your various neighborhoods and the gangs that dwell within. The players run a few characters apiece (it is a zero level funnel) who are members of a street gang that find themselves far from their home turf as night begins to fall. It is like a fantasy version of the Warriors from the 80's. They had to deal with rival gangs, the Grand Vizier's anti-gang squad, and a trickster god pranking them.
    

     Since I only had the two players I ran it cooperatively, letting them decide what the results of some of their rolls. They avoided fights and did a lot of running, which in the end saved their characters. Which is a change from last year's Blood Drinking Box where everyone died. That was about survival, this was about ducking guards and rival gangs using crowded streets and cheezy one-liners. As long as I have someone show up, I consider it a success. Next year will be epic!

Free rpg day 2015 (and Ur-Hadad), Ravenstone Games

     Next Saturday from 11-3 I will be running Street Kids of Ur-Hadad, using DCC rpg. This is a zero level funnel, so pre gens will be provided and new players are welcome.

Art by Wayne Snyder

      "As one of the multitude of street gangs in the venerable city of Ur-Hadad, you roam the gutters and alleys with a freedom most don't appreciate. That is only during the day. As the sun dips towards the horizon, you find your band of miscreants far from their home turf. You and your fellows must traverse the various neighborhoods until you are back in your own neighborhood. No one is guaranteed to survive!"

     Ur-Hadad is an amazing setting/creation by Adam Muszkiewicz, Wayne Snyder, and Edgar Johnson. The site is here. These guys have put out some cool zines! They have filled out their world, and since they have used random tables you can make it your own as well. Give them a look, I am sure you will like what you see.

     Also, Adam does a podcast with a friend of his, Don Stroud. It is called Drink Spin Run, and it is a lot of fun. Each session is in two parts, where the first part has Adam, Don and the guest(s) discussing what they are drinking, what music they are listening to, what they are reading, and what game(s) they are running. Then the second episode the hosts and guest(s) discuss whatever topis they have come up with. Give it a shot as well. Later folks!

DCC Road Crew 2015 part 1

     I have my first road crew game of the year set up for May 9 th, I'll be running the fun and frenetic adventure"Mall Maul" Reid San Filippo.

Having experienced it as a player, I am excited to be running it. As is tradition, I made a flyer and posted it at the flgs where I will be running it. I needed to keep the momentum going, meaning scheduling the next game or two. I ran Crawljammer last year, and the game on May 9th is from Crawling Under a Broken Moon. I felt I should continue with even more zine love.So my second game will be Street Kids of Ur-Hadad, by Edgar Johnson. I am looking forward to running it and letting you folks hear all about it afterwards.

Look what I got! Gary Con VII (part two)

     Here we are, the last bits that I brought back from the con.

 

Of course, I needed to get a Metal Gods t-shirt to complete my stylish wardrobe. Meant to pick up a Gary Con shirt, but this was a necessity. My friend Brian Thomas gave me an original of his, a four armed demon wielding wicked looking daggers. For the Hyper Cube of Myt, I had a mendicant named Ploog. In addition to having a club, he had some cheese dip he was willing to use.
 Lesser Gnome had Tophas dice for sale, and they were giving away two different pins as well as one of their dice. I ended up with three of those dice, due to my forgetting about the free stuff Zach had given away earlier in the con. There you go, an amazing event with awesome friends and cool merchandise. Here's hoping I can make ut back next year!

Look at what I got! Gary Con VII edition (part one)

     I  have finally de-pressurized from Gary Con. I managed to get back to work, even though I would have loved to have an extra day or two just resting at home. Now I am back and here, as promised, are the various items I picked up at the con.

Here I rounded out my fanzine collection, unfortunately the latest Crawljammer issues were unavailable. Crawl! is an invaluable resource that allows you tommold the DCC system to what you want. Issue 5 has an orc character class as well as rules for creating monsters. Number 7 helps with using/creating traps, making interesting fountains, and giving ogres a twist. Eight is the fabulous fire arms issue. In addition gun rules, there is an invasion toolkit that can facilitate adding guns to an existing campaign.

Metal Gods released it's third issue, which continues to flesh out the city of Ur-Hadad wonderfully. It also contains a heist toolkit and a new patron, Atraz Azul! Crawling Under a Broken Moon, issue 5 has Reid's post apocalyptic version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Located in what was once Canada, but is now called Aetheria. There is even a new class, the Aetherian hero, to play in this new land. Number 6 has what you want for cars and road gangs in your game, as well as a new class; the petrol head!

Finally we have three little zines that J.V. West brought to give away at the show. Hella Nor is a new devil patron for DCC, as well as two monsters; the devil nymph and the hell cat. The Lug is a character class for retro clones, it is basically a big oaf who can throw his weight around. Finally there is the Doomslakers Wizard Book, containing some great houserules for magic users in any retro clone game. I really like the section regarding wands. Really cool stuff

 Role Aids was and is an amazing third party resource for first edition dungeons and Dragons. Since I already own the Dwarves book, picking up Elves was a natural choice (see what I did there) It includes details on light, high, ice, wood, grey, dark and demi elves. There are maps of elven buildings, towns and cities as well as six adventures. Whisper and Venom, from Lesser Gnome, is a great setting/adventure. Zach Glazar and Lloyd Metcalf are pretty cool to talk to, and since I had heard many wonderful things about it, I bought the basic set of W+V. Looking forward to reading it thoroughly at a later date.

TSR modules U2 Danger at Dunwater and U3 the Final Enemy completes the U series AD&D modules for me. U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is a fun adventure, so I am happy to have the complete series. Something I missed the first time through was an OSR zine called Dungeon Lord. The type is a bit small, but it includes two dungeons, with additional tables for customizing them. At least we come to the Goodman Games section here. I traditionally stick with purchases that I cannot easily make at my flgs. Death in Luxor was the first in their Age of Cthulhu line that starteda couple of years ago. Along with DCC rpg modules Doom of the Savage Kings and Intrigue at the Court of Chaos, these three are not easy orders for my local store. That is all for now, tomorrow I shall return with the last vestiges of my trip through the dealer's room.

Fanzines, setting alternative?

     This seems to be the case for the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg, with Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad and Crawling Under the Broken Moon leading the way. Metal Gods fleshes out the great city of Ur-Hadad, with info on it's gods and a street urchin character funnel. Crawling is a post apocalyptic zine set in Murica and each issue so far (issue two just came out) has a new character class, a weapons article, new creatures and new location/encounter. These two are fairly new to the scene, thankfully I caught an interview with one of the Metal Gods creators on Spellburn (I think this is the one) and I have a copy of CUBM #2.

     Unfortunately I know less about Crawljammer, a pulp sci fi zine (Bat Men of Venus) with new classes and creatures. Along with Crawl! we seem to have the bases covered; fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy. Since Goodman Games has been concentrating on releasing adventures for DCC, 'zines have been where you can get new additions for your campaign, and from what I have seen and heard, the quality is fantastic. From new and amazing artists to great and groovy writers, you can find them here. It is kind of like a new generation for rpg. I realize there was stuff like Alarums and Excursions back in the day, but unless you were in an active gaming community you would never know about it. The internet and podcasts allow creators and fans to talk about these things and "boost the signal" when it comes to these 'zines.

     So, what if we had a 'zine that was almost like the old gazeteers? Maybe something giving flavor to different creatures, regional goblin tribes? Perhaps the Festering Slit tribe is fond of using poison? The Copperclaws might be open to negotiation. This can be done with so many things in so many ways it is really exciting. That is all I have time for now, I'll get back to this later.