Con on the Cob 2014!!

    

Tim, Ken, and Dave

     Things have been busy around here with conventions, artwork and real life taking my time. Last weekend was Con the Cob 2014, and man was it fun. I ran two scheduled games plus a pick up game, and played in two games. I arrived Thursday just in time to run my first game, Dwimmermount using Labyrinth Lord. Three people showed up including Tim shorts (Gothridge Manor), Ken H. (Rusty Battleaxe), and Dave (Forgotten Runes). The session went well, the group made two forays into the dungeon, their characters needed a break midway through the session. Just before the end, one of them got a bit greedy and died from a trap. Later that evening I got to play in Tim Snider's (Savage Afterworld) Death in the Dust Cryptworld game. The Pacesetter system is amazing, plus Tim runs a fantastic game. Our Pc's were investigating an old mining town being turned into a theme park(?) where terrible vandalism has taken place. A couple friends of mine joined me, as well as Tim Shorts and Ken H. Everyone had a great time, if you have a chance to play in a game run by Mr. Snider then I highly recommend it.

     Now, before I get into Friday, I should talk about two important aspects of the dealer's room. Tim Snider was manning the Goblinoid Games/Pacesetter booth and Roy Snider was in charge of the Goodman Games booth. From Tim I acquired Rotworld and Time Master, and from Roy I worked on completing my DCC fanzine collection, I'll write more about what I got later.

     First thing Friday, I played in Tim's Thundarr the Barbarian game. I got to play the mokk in training,Oosoo the mokk. My die rolls fit in with the neophyte angle, since I couldn't make any decent rolls. Oddly I was the only person to damage Thundarr. Thankfully my luck turned around and I dealt the final blow to the villain. Next I ran Mutant Future for four, this was one of the scheduled games but apparently I talked it enough that they were all my friends. We had a great time as they explored the last tower of Ol' Bus, scavenging for supplies and artifacts.

My friends Jason, Chuck

Mysti and Derrick

     I was really looking forward to Saturday, since that was when I would unveil my Patrick Troughton second Doctor costume.

Wow, look at those pants! The next thing I was looking forward to was three of my friends (Jason, Chuck and Derrick) wanted to play Dwimmermount. I had my notes from the previous game, since my plan was to run subsequent games as if they had occurred in real time (ie. doors that were battered down would be that way, dead monsters would be laying wherever they fell) Ironically the entered a different way and therefore it never came into play. It was lots of fun and ended on a tpk.

     Con on the Cob, once again, was awesome. This year even more so, and I will be back next year, definitely running games again. Hopefully showing some artwork as well.

Crawling Under a Broken Moon issue two

   

     Issue two of this great post apocalyptic fanzine (Dungeon Crawl Classics compatible) is available, check it out! This issue introduces a new class: the Mutant! Included in that article are some mutation tables that come in handy to mutate various animals, as they demonstrate later in the 'zine. As we all know, tables can be used universally, whatever system you use, I may just use them for Mutant Future if I ever get a campaign of that going. Twisted Menagerie showcases three new creatures, two of the which of use in the following section: Interesting Places to Die. The Floating Tower of the Cyberhive, an enticing location to be sure, has such promise for adventure I desperately wish for a group to terrorize, um I mean run through it. Don't just take my word for it, check it out!

     For the record, I have a couple of illustrations in this issue with more to come. My small contribution aside, this is a great supplement for DCC and post apocalyptic games in general. Let me know what you think and take care, folks!

Origins 2014 is nearly here!!

     Starting this Wednesday, Origins 2014! I have nothing planned, but I am hoping to get some games in when I get there, most likely me running them in the open gaming area. I will bring my Mutant Future adventure as well as Labyrinth Lord and Dungeon Crawl Classics. Speaking of DCC I have my game Wednesday evening, since there typically is not much scheduled for that evening at the con. It most likely will be relocated to the con itself instead of Ravenstone, though. If any of you will be attending, let me know. I am often curious about those that read my posts. There are already a number of friends that I know are attending, hopefully we can make an event out of it! Enough of that, let's get this week started so I can get to the con, hehe!

    

Con on the Cob: running games

     Con season is moving along with North Texas RPG Con next weekend and then Origins. I have to look ahead to October and Con on the Cob, since I will be running at least a couple games there. Goblinoid Games will have a booth there, so I feel I should run Labyrinth Lord and/or Mutant Future. I have adventures written up for both systems, so that should not be an issue. I am also tempted to run something in DCC rpg.

     Currently the games list for the con is practically nonexistent, so please head over and sign up. If you have not been there, but want to give it a try, do it. It is like ten pounds of fun in a five pound bag. Er, or something like that. If you have been then what are you waiting for, you know how fun it is. So there you go, see you all later!

Four Years at Random Encounters

     Last Thursday was the four year anniversary of this blog, this last year being the most active. I am hoping to keep steaming ahead through this next year, and will be bringing more interviews, maps, and craziness to you all. I have sent in my artwork that I have completed so far, looking forward to seeing it in print. Most of my artwork so far has been for a small local gallery that closed down a several years ago, leaving me with no immediate outlet for my art. I stopped creating soon after, but  recently I have gotten back "in the game" as it were, and am having a blast.

     Coming up soon is Origins, and I still plan to run my DCC game that Wednesday evening at my local flgs in case anyone coming in wants to play. I intend to interview someone there, though I have no one in mind at the moment. Also I am willing to run Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, or DCC rpg in any of the open areas at the con. So let me know if you want to stop by and play, leave a comment or whatever. Take care folks.

I've got my eyes on you guys!

Today's productivity hindered

     I was hoping to get some illustrations scanned today, but alas it was all for naught. Thursday, hopefully, I will get these scanned and sent on their way. I am contributing some art to Crawling Under a Broken Moon, a DCC fanzine, and Deviant Database 2, a "mutant manual" for Mutant Future. I hope my work is good enough, I can't wait for you guys to see it. I hope to have a regular sized post tomorrow.

     Take care, all!

Wednesday, May 21st

     Just some meandering here, today. The news of WotC's release plans and stuff for 5E has lit the interwebs these past few days. I am in the camp of "I'll wait and see." since I am playing Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future and DCC. Their adventures sound cool, at least the Dead in Thay stuff. At the very least I will be paying attention to their adventure releases.

     I keep forgetting to mention, being a part of the order of the 30, when I run a game I will let everyone know that once per person they can substitute a d30 for any one die roll. this will begin with my DCC game this next Monday. Also, I should be submitting games to run at Con on the Cob soon. Really looking forward to all the cons this year, but especially CotC!

     That is all for now, take care folks!

One Month Until Origins

     Here we are, a month away from the big show here in Columbus. Wednesday I will be running a game of Dungeon Crawl Classics at Ravenstone games that night, at 6:00 and I am hoping to run some games at the con in the free play area. Anyone interested in playing, let me know, I will be in touch with members of the GGO if anyone there wants to play. I am up for running Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, and DCC. Take care guys!

My Mutant Future game and a correction about Origins

     First, the correction. Their games schedule is available as an xls file here. I had been going to the events tab, then selecting role playing games and getting a blank page, I apologize for not investigating further. It was my mistake. Now to search that "events grid" for some games to play.

     I am rescheduling my MF game. I ended up with only two people who said they would be there and I made the executive decision to postpone it. I felt that for what I have planned, there needs to be more personalities around the table. So if anyone out there is still interested, let me know and we can figure something out. I have seven pre gens ready, and can come up with more. I am especially proud of the mutant sloth I came up with, woot!

Mutant Future this Sunday!!

     Five days until my Mutant Future game and boy am I excited! I am looking at a few creatures from Rafael Chandler's Teratic Tome to throw at the players. I recently backed his Lusus Naturae Kickstarter and received pdfs of his previous work. The Tome may have been written for fantasy but it is twisted enough to serve in a sci-fantasy capacity. Awesome stuff in there, as well as his other stuff, go and check it out. Be warned though, it is not for the faint of heart.

     As I have said before, if you want to play and have nothing better to do then come on over to Ravenstone Games this Sunday at 1:00. See you later!

Basic Androids in Mutant Future

     Talking about my upcoming game with a friend and I mentioned that I had done the pre gens. He asked what the androids looked like, were they just like humans or blue skinned? I had not really thought of it, though I think that when they get hit, there should be a chance their face will fall off.

     So should it be a case of not wanting to make regular humans uneasy, so the android's creators made them obviously different?

     I think maybe I will let whomever picks the basic android gets to decide what color it is, either red,blue or yellow. Also, no matter what, their eyes wont be quite right. Maybe just a bit vacant. Any opinions, ideas! Send them on in. Later guys!

Getting my Mutant Future on

     Getting pre gens together for my Mutant Future game later this month and I decided to see if there were any gm screens for it out there. Apparently there is a definite lack thereof. So the search will continue, but while I am looking I will see about putting one together myself. For the pre gens I rolled up two characters for each race, even mutant plant. If I am feeling froggy I may do a sketch of each for the game, who knows. The more I do for the game, the more excited I get, I hope I can do it justice. I will be back with some more stuff later on, so stay tuned!

Scheduling April's game

     I dropped the ball setting up my game for April, so here it is. Mutant Future!! If you like Gamma World, crazy post apocalyptic stuff, then give it a shot. I guess living nearby helps, too. Sunday, April 27th at 1:00 PM, Ravenstone Games. I will be rolling  some pre gens for everyone, the artless pdf is free, just go to this page and click core rules. That way you can check out the rules, and if you have a tablet or some such device, you can have your own set of the rules. Kind of a try it before you buy it type thing. I am in the the middle of setting the adventure up, elbow deep in it's guts as it were. Take care everyone!!

Tim Snider Interview!

     I have been sitting on this interview for awhile, lost track of it but here it is. Trying to get back on track after all this crazy weather, school closings and people (myself included) getting sick. Here is Tim Snider, co-writer of the Pacesetter book Cryptworld, and author of the blog Savage Afterworld!
 
Alright, what first got you into playing RPG's

I kind of stumbled into them. As a kid, I enjoyed boardgames and reading fantasy/sci fi novels. In junior high, I met some guys who were into D&D -- it was the 80s, after all -- and they invited me to play. Loved the game, and it opened up a whole new hobby for me.

I know you from your blog and as a co-author of Cryptworld, what got you into writing?

I've always been a writer. As a kid, I drew comic books and designed my own games. In high school, I was on the newspaper staff. I majored in journalism, becoming a reporter and, later, an editor. I've been writing as a hobby the entire time as well.

Aside from your blog and Cryptworld, you have just put out One Year in the Savage Afterworld. Can you describe it for the folks who are unfamiliar with your blog?

"One Year..." is a collection of 52 post-apocalyptic mini-modules for the Mutant Future RPG by Goblinoid Games. They're designed for a few quick hours of gonzo end-of-the-world gaming. They can also be used as side treks, or one-shots at conventions, or campaign springboards. They were inspired by the One-Page Dungeon contest as well as the "Side Trek" features that were seen in Dungeon magazine. And with 52 of them, your group can play one each weekend for an entire year, hence the title.

What is your favorite horror movie?

Got a few, actually. Anything by Hammer Horror or starring the Universal Monsters. The Romero zombie trilogy of Night, Dawn, and Day. (I ignore Land, Diary, and Survival.) And for good ol' gore, I love The Deadly Spawn.

Groovy! What is your favorite subject to write on/about?

When hammering out fiction, I like stories of normal, everyday people thrust into bizarre, fantastical situations. There's usually a touch of comedy as well, so let's call it "urban humorous horror-fantasy." It's also how I approach any adventures I write. Normal folks finding themselves in the midst of the abnormal.

As a follow-up, I have two (unpublished) manuscripts that illustrate the mindset of my fiction. "Due to a bureaucratic mix-up, a soul slated for Heaven is instead routed to Hell. While the screw-up is resolved, this angel-should-have-been must toil as a demon-don't-wanna-be." Imagine being stuck in a dead-end job you're pretty bad at. Now imagine your boss is The Devil. (Working title: "I, Demon")
Another manuscript that's in the rough stages takes place from the point-of-view of a 9-year-old kid. He's like any other kid, struggling with his grades, becoming interested in girls, and embarrassed by his parents. The twist: his father is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and they've just been called to duty. The everything is coming to an end just as Billy is starting to get interested in the world around him. Can he stop the End Times? (Working title: "Meet Billy Pestilence")

s/b "Everything is coming to an end...."

Can we expect any Cryptworld stuff from you in the future?

Absolutely! Dan Proctor has mentioned that he has some ideas and irons in the fire as far as future Cryptworld support. I've been posting new "Things" in a running post at the Goblinoid Games forums. And I'm currently writing up a Cryptworld adventure collection that will contain three separate scenarios to torment players with.

Sounds great! Who have been your influences in regards to writing?   

I love the world concepts and style of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Robert Aspin.Are you currently playing/running any games?

I'm between groups right now, so I do most of my gaming at conventions and online. Nothing underway at this time though.

Of all that you have written, what are you most proud of?

Tough question. I've written a lot of non-gaming stuff I'm pretty proud of. Did a lot of investigational reporting in my days as a reporter. I've been blogging for years. I've released a few gaming supplements of my own. Co-wrote Cryptworld with Dan Proctor. Written two unpublished novels. Singling out any one of these as more of an achievement than the others is impossible.

What was it like, working on Cryptworld with Dan?

I was very pleased that Dan brought me onboard to co-write Cryptworld. As a longtime Pacesetter fan, I was already running games at conventions using the Action Table System. When Goblinoid Games acquired the brand and the available RPGs, I was thrilled that it was being resurrected. Then new Pacesetter RPGs like Rotworld and Majus were released, showing the system still had old fans and was gaining new ones. However, there was still a demand for a Pacesetter "general horror" RPG. So Cryptworld was written from the ground up as the new Pacesetter Action Table game. It was incredibly fun to be a part of, and I'm very proud with what we've created.

That is all for me, thank you for your time and take care!

Games for 2014

     So Shaintar in January, but what about the rest of the games? Nothing is set in stone, but here is what I have to work with. Savage worlds is a big part of my gaming collection; 50 Fathoms, Evernight, Rippers, Deadlands, Necessary Evil, Slipstream, Sundered Skies, Low Life, Tour of Darkness, Weird War II, Streets of Bedlam, Agents of Oblivion and Iron Dynasty. In addition there is Dungeons and Dragons, which has been a part of my gaming life since the beginning. In I love the retro clones, they clear up some of things from the originals example Labyrinth Lord refines basic/expert D&D, Mutant Future is a Labyrinth Lord compatible version of Gamma World, and finally Cryptworld is the new Pacesetter version of Chill. Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space is also on the table. I would be amenable to running any of these in 2014, and look forward to any preferences if any of you were interested in playing at Ravenstone. Remember, comments are welcome.

Savage Afterworld and NaBloPoMo

     So I met the amazing Tim Snider at Con on the Cob (more about CotC later) and subsequently learned of his blog, http://www.savageafterworld.com/ which for the most part deals with Mutant Future from Goblinoid Games. In today's post on his blog, he spoke of three writing exercises for the month of November (national novel writing month, national game design month and national blog posting month) It is the last one that caught my interest, with my spotty postings. I will endeavor to have at least one post a day for November, of course I will have to make up for yesterday. Also, he mentions that tomorrow there will be a big announcement on his blog. I am hoping for something from Cryptworld (Tim has co-author credits that book), but whatever it is I am looking forward to it. Let us see what this month brings us!

Post apocalyptic game idea, with a Kamandi twist.

     Long ago, several kings awoke to their kingdoms in turmoil. One of their number quickly turned on the rest, bending them to his corrupt will. Soon each turned on his people, destroying or twisting them to his whim. It is said the kings still live in their towers, meting out their own weird brand of justice. Perhaps some brave adventurer can go forth and free them and restore some balance to a dark and tortured world!

     Recently I have read some Kamandi comics (from DC), and now would like to run a post apocalyptic adventure. Basically the "kings" are AI's that become self aware, and one of them (who calls himself Tyranus) takes over the rest, soon twisting the world for several centuries. Some of them destroy life, others create new humanoid creatures like tiger-men or ape-men (like from Kamandi). I just need to decide on a system, either Mutant Future or Savage Worlds. Any opinions one way or the other, let me know.