Gen Con has come and gone and I had a blast hanging with Jacob Hurst, James Raggi, and Hanna Siitari at the Lamentations of the Flame Princess booth. I was really floored by the amount of people who came by the booth and pulled out a well-used and loved copy of Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure and told me about the fun their group has had or talked about their excitement for Barbarians of the Ruined Earth- so to everyone who stopped by and showed support- thank you!
In the next week or so I’ll do a post about all the projects that I have on my plate for those who are interested and- as always- feel free to ask questions on those.
Lastly, Kelvin Green sent me more art for Barbarians of the Ruined Earth and how tasty are they!!
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State of the Kickstarter
I know we still have a long way to go on the BotRE KS to funding and I, whether it is successful or not, I want to say A) I am thrilled with the support and excitement of the project. Nearly $10k in pledges and 257 supporters is nothing to be ashamed of. B) I will do a post after the KS has ended, one way or another, talking about the challenges of KS and how I approach them. And most importantly C) If the KS does not fund successfully, BotRE is coming out regardless. I will relaunch the KS and just do straight POD through Drivethru and Lulu and maybe do a limited print run through the same company that publishes the amazing Mothership RPG. Again, I’ll do a post after the dust settles and explain the new strategy, but I promise this book is coming- one motherfucking way or another.
I thought it would be fun to release the updated version of some of the classes, specifically the Barbarian, Beastman, and Sorcerer with the full images of the spreads that will appear in the book. Since those are the three main characters in Thundarr the Barbarian, thought it would be appropriate.
Lastly- if this is something you dig and think is cool- stop by the kickstarter page and pledge some support and also spread the word!
Anyways, here’s the images with the full text to follow below!
SORCERER
Sorcerers are not human; they are born of man and
share similar characteristics, but that is where it ends. Though born from the
womb of a woman, something happens during the pregnancy that transforms the
fetus into a Sorcerer. While most Sorcerers
are selfish megalomaniacs that will stop at nothing to accomplish their own
interests, regardless of who they harm, some are kind, valiant, and generous,
while others are eccentric hermits that prefer to study in solitude.
“None have the
powers that I do; energy surges through my body. I could save civilization… or topple it; all
with a mere thought and a few carefully chosen words.”
Starting HP:
1d6+4
HP Per Level/Resting:
1d6
Weapons & Armor:
Light Armor, Short Sword, Long Sword, Dagger, and Staff.
Attack Damage: 1d4/1 Unarmed or Improvising
Magically Resistant:
Sorcerers have Advantage on tests against magic and charm-like effects.
Sorcerer’s Staff: Sorcerers can channel their mystical power through their staff and release balls of energy from it at enemies. This energy deals 1d4+1 points of damage. The Sorcerer can make their staff dematerialize, vanishing from existence until resummoned. When resummoned the staff will appear in the Sorcerer’s hand, no matter where they are.
If a Sorcerer’s staff is ever destroyed, a new, different looking staff, will appear by the Sorcerer’s side within 1d10 days (roll on Sorcerer’s Staff table, pg XX).
Detect: The Sorcerer chooses to detect magic, Stupendous Science, or evil at the time of casting. Everything Nearby that is considered that category glows. Duration: 5 minutes. If the Sorcerer studies the object for 10 minutes, it is identified for what it is and how it functions. A GM can rule that truly complex or powerful items take longer to identify.
Spell Slinger: Sorcerers are powerful beings who have the ability to cast amazing spells. See Spell Casting, pg XX.
LEVELING UP
Roll to see if
attributes increase, roll twice for INT or WIS.
STARTING EQUIPMENT
WEAPON: Wizard staff (see page XX)
ARMOR: No armor
ADDITIONAL: Rations (d6), waterskin (d6), bedroll, torches x6 (d6), and healing salve (1 HD of HP restored).
INTERESTING TRINKET (roll 1d6): 1) A friendly animal loyal to you; 2) An orb that allows you to scry on an individual (player’s choice- once made cannot be undone- this decision does not need to be made at character creation. This effect lasts until person dies); 3) A music box; 4) A fine silk robe of vibrant colors; 5) An ornate crown; 6) A beautiful golden necklace denoting your remarkable birth.
LIFE EVENT (roll 1d8): 1) You used your powers to bully those in your village; eventually they rose up against you and you were exiled; 2) Your mother abandoned you in the wastes, but somehow you survived; 3) You battled another Sorcerer in your youth and won, but part of their consciousness is in you; 4) You were a loner and shunned in your village. Only a friendly Barbarian stood by your side and eventually died defending your honor; 5) You have used your powers many times to protect your fellow villagers. The village considers you a hero; 6) Your family was pushed out of the village because of your birth; 7) As a child you lost your temper and accidentally set fire to several of the houses in the village; 8) You came across a demon in your youth and battled it in a test of wills. Somehow you survived, but at what cost?
GENERATING YOUR
SORCERER
Roll
once on each table below to generate the following for your Sorcerer: Skin
Color*, Hair Color*, Eye Color, State of Nails, State of Teeth, Weird Feature,
and Wizard’s Staff. A benevolent GM may allow the player to choose the features rather than
roll.
*The
skin and hair color options have two choices in each box, upon rolling the
player chooses which color they desire.
Skin Color
Roll 1d10
Result
1
Natural
2
Blue/Lime
green
3
Alabaster/Silver
4
Pink/Copper
5
Obsidian/Charcoal
6
Grey/Teal
7
Orange/Powder
Blue
8
Yellow/
Plum
9
Purple/Fuchsia
10
Red/Sage
Hair Color
Roll 1d10
Result
1
Natural
2
Blue/Lime
green
3
Alabaster/Silver
4
Pink/Copper
5
Obsidian/Charcoal
6
Grey/Teal
7
Orange/Powder
Blue
8
Yellow/
Plum
9
Purple/Fuchsia
10
Red/Sage
Eye Color
Roll 1d8
Result
1
Normal
2
Compound
3
No
pupils
4
Red
5
Cat-like
6
Orb
7
Static
8
Lava
lamp-like
State of Nails
Roll 1d8
Result
1
Normal
2
Long
3
Jagged
4
Made
of crystal
5
Blackened
6
Made
of ivory
7
Made
of circuitry
8
Made
of rock
Teeth
Roll 1d8
Result
1
Normal
2
Cat-like
3
Yellow
4
Metal
5
Stunted
6
Jagged
and sharp
7
Tusks
8
Mandibles
Weird Feature
Roll 1d10
Result
1
Leopard-like
spots on body
2
Extremely
beautiful
3
Much
of body is artificial or mechanical
4
Space-age
helmet
5
Long
arms
6
Exceptionally
tall
7
Eyes
glow
8
Body
changes color with emotions
9
Always
floats about 2” above the ground
10
Horns
growing out of head pointing in all 8 directions
Sorcerer’s Staff
Roll 1d10
Result
1
Made
of strange metal from another world
2
Made
of oak from the oldest tree, will never burn
3
Made
of the darkest obsidian
4
Made
from the ivory of an ancient dragon horn
5
Metallic,
etched with decorative spider webs
6
Made
of resin, with a whirlwind trapped inside
7
A
pitchfork that is said to be the first to ever till ground
8
A
metallic rod that has strange glowing lights and buttons on it
9
A
boring wooden staff, and you feel self-conscious about it
I thought it would be fun to release the updated version of some of the classes, specifically the Barbarian, Beastman, and Sorcerer with the full images of the spreads that will appear in the book. Since those are the three main characters in Thundarr the Barbarian, thought it would be appropriate.
Lastly- if this is something you dig and think is cool- stop by the kickstarter page and pledge some support and also spread the word!
Anyways, here’s the images with the full text to follow below. Tomorrow will be the Sorcerer.
BEASTMAN
Beastmen hail from all over the Ruined Earth and are as varied in temperament and appearance as any human. All Beastmen are known for their bestial appearance, strong traditions, and their impressive strength. Beastmen emerged from the ashes of the Ruined Earth, savage, primordial, and tenacious; each tribe fighting to make a home for themselves in the wastes.
“You fear me for my savagery and chastise me for
honoring my ancestors, yet you covet my strength, attempting to control my kind
by chain, by coin, or by magic.”
Starting HP: 1d12+4
Hit Points
Per Level/Resting: 1d12 HP
Weapons and
Armor: Light and Medium Armor, Small and Large Shields, Claws,
Clubs, Maces, Spears, Axes, and Bows.
Weapon
Damage: 1d8/1d6 Improvised
SPECIAL
FEATURES
Animal
Features: The Beastman has claws and is never considered
unarmed. They can see in the dark
(Nearby radius).
Super Strong: Has
Advantage on feats of strength for lifting stuff, breaking things, flexing
muscles, etc. (not attack rolls).
Impossibly
Strong: Once per hour a Beastman can do impossible feats of
strength and be awesome (i.e., lift a huge pillar of cement/vehicle/rock/etc.)
and throw it, push it, or whatever. No roll is needed to accomplish
this. If this is used to attack, an
attack (Strength) roll must be made. If successful,
the attack deals 2d10 points of damage.
Thick Hide: Once per day
the Beastman’s hide becomes thick and offers enhanced protection. They take
half damage from all sources, save for magic.
This effect lasts a number of rounds equal to the Beastman’s level.
Leveling Up:
Roll all Attributes to see if they increase, roll twice for
STR or CON.
Mark of the
Beast
Determine what animal type makes up the Beastman. Roll 2d8: 2) Wolf; 3) Bear; 4) Cougar; 5) Alligator;
6) Snake; 7) Armadillo; 8) Badger; 9) Tiger; 10) Lion; 11) Moose; 12) Frog; 13)
Mole; 14) Rabbit; 15) Rhino; 16) Roll twice and merge the two (if this is
rolled again, ignore).
CHOOSE TWO*: Short sword, short bow, spear, dagger, axe, mace, or spiked club
ARMOR: Cloth armor (1 RP, 1 tick)
ADDITIONAL: Ammo for ranged weapon if taken, rations (d6), waterskin (d6), bedroll, torches x6 (d6), and healing salve (1 HD of HP restored).
*All starting weapons are made of wood, bone, or stone. For each weapon there is a 15% chance it is made of metal (i.e., the arrowheads, the sword blade, etc.).
INTERESTING TRINKET (roll 1d6): 1) A tooth of your father, worn around your neck; 2) The rusted manacles that used to bind you; 3) A flute; 4) A backpack made by your sister; 5) A bag of seeds to plant, given to you by your village elder; 6) A staff made from bones of a great beast.
LIFE EVENT (roll 1d8): 1) You were a slave and escaped; 2) Your father was the tribe leader and you and your family were pushed into exile; 3) You fought off slavers who were attempting to take your sister; 4) You watched many of your tribe vaporized by a Sorcerer, somehow you survived; 5) You were down by the river when a Water Weird attacked you. For some reason, the creature stopped its assault and let you live; 6) While on a hunt you came across the lair of a dragon. It emerged, talked to you, and let you leave; 7) You won a fighting contest in your youth and are considered a celebrity in your tribe; 8) You stumbled across a lush valley that was fertile, had a fresh river, and defendable. Your tribe has relocated here.
Yesterday I posted the updated character sheet for Barbarians of the Ruined Earth and also discussed how I will organize my campaign notes going forward and once I get it all purdy, I’ll release it on the blog.
I thought it would be fun to release the updated version of some of the classes, specifically the Barbarian, Beastman, and Sorcerer with the full images of the spreads that will appear in the book. Since those are the three main characters in Thundarr the Barbarian, thought it would be appropriate.
Lastly- if this is something you dig and think is cool- stop by the kickstarter page and pledge some support and also spread the word!
Anyways, here’s the images with the full text to follow below. Tomorrow will be the Beastman!
Barbarian
Barbarians are fierce human warriors who know no fear. Many Barbarians use their battle prowess to fight the oppression of Sorcerers. Some are the local settlement hero, happy to guard their kin, while others act as mercenaries, hiring out their talents to the highest bidder, even vile Sorcerers.
“Run? Ha! There are only fifty of them! It is a fair fight!”
Starting HP: 1d10+4
Hit Points
Per Level/Resting: 1d10 HP/lvl
Weapon and
Armor: Any and All
Weapon
Damage: 1d8/1d6 Unarmed or Improvised
SPECIAL
FEATURES
Attacker: The Barbarian gains one attack every odd level (max of 5 attacks at 9th level). Additionally, Barbarians damage explodes, meaning if they roll the highest number possible on their damage die, they roll it again and add the numbers together.
Avid Fighter: Once per
combat the Barbarian can deflect an attack with their melee weapon, turning it
into a failure. If the enemy is using a ranged energy weapon, call even
or odd and roll a die – if you called the right result the shot is deflected
back at the attacker for full damage.
Battle Shout:
Once per combat a Barbarian can let out a mighty shout that fills their heart
with confidence. Their next Strength or
Dexterity test is considered an automatic success.
Stout: The
Barbarian has Advantage on tests against Poisons and Fear Effects.
Loin Cloth
Warrior: When wearing just a loincloth and badass bracers or a leather
bikini, the barbarian is considered to be wearing Medium armor. Also, if they are wearing a helmet, treat it
as a light shield (for purposes of armor ticks). If wearing a metal loincloth or chainmail
bikini, this is considered Heavy armor.
Leveling Up:
Roll all Attributes to see if they increase, roll twice for
STR and DEX
STARTING EQUIPMENT
CHOOSE THREE*: Short sword, short bow, spear, dagger, axe, mace, or spiked club
ARMOR: Loincloth or leather bikini (2 RP)
ADDITIONAL ITEMS: Ammo for ranged weapon if taken, rations (d6), waterskin (d6), bedroll, torches x6 (d6), and healing salve (1 HD of HP restored).
*All starting weapons are made of wood, bone, or stone. For each weapon, there is a 15% chance it is made of metal (i.e., the arrowheads, the sword blade, etc.).
INTERESTING TRINKET (roll 1d6): 1) A memento from a lost love who was sold into slavery; 2) A dagger that once belonged to your father, he died defending you from bandits with this; 3) A thick cloak; 4) A piece of old world tech called a “flashlight” – it still works!; 5) A collapsible cooking pot set; 6) A necklace of fangs – the spoils of your first hunt.
LIFE EVENT (roll 1d8): 1) You were a slave and escaped; 2) Your mother was killed by croc-men; 3) Your village was sacked by a Sorcerer and most of the villagers were taken; 4) You bravely fought off several bandits as a young teenager; 5) While resting under a tree, a spirit appeared and talked to you; 6) You went into ancient ruins on a dare and almost died – a family member saved you; 7) You went on a hunt with your village and landed the killing blow on a great rhino-lion; 8) The love of your young life died in your arms during a raider attack.
This morning Matt Hildebrand sent me an updated version of the Barbarians character sheet and I wanted to throw it up on the blog.
The Kickstarter Update
The Kickstarter is progressing well and we still have 23 days left! We are currently hovering at the $8.5k mark. So there’s still a ways to go until funding, but I’m hopeful!
Reorganizing My How I Run My Games
This subject will feed into a longer series of posts, but I wanted to kick it off here. Due to RL obligations with work, DIY RPG Productions projects, and other general assfuckery, I’ve lost the wind in my sails to run my games.
There are several factors in this (stress, anxiety, burnout, work, not enough time to run or play in shit, etc.), but for this post I just want to focus on the fact that I am unhappy with how I’ve been running my games lately and how I’ve been organizing. So rather than continue to be frustrated and wallow in the murky mire that is self-pity, I decide to examine what I was doing and what I didn’t like and where I could go from there.
First- I’m not a huge fan of having my notes digital. I do it, because I hate wasting paper, but I have to have all these word documents and PDFs open, then I have to scroll through everything, and it just becomes tedious.
Awhile back I tried to bridge the gap by keeping important stuff in a notebook, but nope. Now I had notes all over the computer AND in a fucking notebook- that equaled more work.
Recently I’ve been thinking of how I used to organize my notes when I started RPGing back in mid-90s and into my college years and remembered I used to use 3×5 note cards for all my shit and kept my notes super lite.
This weekend I decided to read through Sly Flourish’s Lazy Dungeon Master and Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master to see if he had any thoughts/advice that hadn’t occurred to me. The book is a fun read and while it isn’t anything groundbreaking (I do recommend the books), it did remind me of a similar way I used to run my games and had some advice with a few new tips and tricks- that’s a win!
Also Skullfungus posted his notebook on Twitter about dungeon design and it was a great reminder on keeping shit simple (so thanks for that!). Along with nods to Goblin Punch and Grognardia.
I’m going full-on organized by index cards and taking the Lazy DM approach of only what is absolutely needed. A few other categories have wormed their way in since I took this picture (being items, previous adventures, and one more- but fuck all I can’t remember).
My Barbarians of the Ruined Earth group has been adventuring in the Western Sands for the past seven sessions (we only get to play once a month and we haven’t played in three months now…) and I don’t see them leaving the area anytime soon.
While tracking everything on note cards won’t be any different than how I currently write my games- in short hand and lite to keep the players and their agency the focus, I think that my way of organizing has become a sloppy mess, like the floor at a rest stop bathroom.
Once I get all the cards written, I plan on typing them up and releasing them for free on the blog to anyone who is interested and wants to run a game in BotRE and the Western Sands.
I’ve been posting about BotRE on this blog pretty regularly since I began writing the project. Here’s the root subject for the project. If you are curious about the design philosophy and whatnot, here is the preface from the book that may answer a few questions.
I’ve been running a BotRE campaign for a little over a year now and we’ve been playing in the Western Sands area (Ancient Earth Los Angeles/Santa Monica area) which is included in the book and we’ve been having a great time. We’ve fought a Sorcerer with small Stretch Armstrong-like tendrils coming out of his fingernails, they’ve watched the awakening of an evil being inside a giant Bob’s Big Boy statue, and fought the angry trapped spirit of a Barbarian wielding a horrific black blade.
I’m proud of this book and thrilled that all the killer artists involved have been excited about the project and done such a killer job capturing that Saturday morning/Thundarr feeling! I want to give a HUGE nod to Matt Hildebrand who has done a stellar job with his art art the layout. It’s fantastic!
Here are some new pieces by Kelvin Green. There are a bunch more art and layout samples on the kickstarter page and on this blog.
The group of heroes comes across the remains of an Ancient Earth Space Shuttle.
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Zora the Barbarian, Aatook the Beastman, and Rhatu the Sorcerer flee from an unexpected adversary.
And here’s a piece by Matt Hildebrand!
The Violet-brained Venus Flytrap wanders the Ruined Earth looking for fresh prey.
If you have any questions or if you just want to yak about the setting, please feel free to do so!
Note: I’m still a jerk because I got busy and never looked up Brian’s and and Sami’s characters names.
Part one here and part two here.
What is Wrong With Your Brain…?
The session started with the group at full hit points, standing at the entrance of the Devastation, located at the base of this monstrous metallic pyramid. Short Round opened the door and was immediately blasted out of the way by a large laser beam.
Two robotic heads, the size of a child, emerged from the door. The heads didn’t float, but instead walked on robotic arms attached to their heads where there ears should be.
One of the robots turned to Xena the Barbarian and opened its mouth. A high pitched screech issued, stunning the barbarian for a moment. In the moment of confusion, the second robot turned to Isosceles and blasted her with a laser beam from its mouth.
Aside from those two lucky shots, the group rolled really well and kicked the shit out of the robot heads. After the fight the group asked where I came up with those enemies and I said, “I had a dream about them.”
Someone (most likely my wife, I think) said, “What is wrong with your brain?” After a few jokes about my brain and a few laughs, we moved on.
Note: You can find all my images on my Instagram, if ya are interested.
The first floor was dilapidated, dark, and ruined. It looked like repairs were underway, but weren’t very far along. The group had fun on the first floor, mostly with the Pot-bellied Pig Raider. I described the little anthropomorphic piggie baddie with a stomach that hung down between its legs and dragged behind it like a wet, deployed parachute. That grossed them out- win for me. Someone had a vomit bomb, can’t remember who, and threw it in the room causing the Pot-bellied Pig Raider to begin barfing its brains out, taking a little bit of damage.
The group rushed in and made quick work of the porker (I was REALLY bummed that I didn’t get to use its swallow whole ability. I think there would have been something said, about a human creature squirming in its belly as it bobbed around attacking people with a huge cleaver… but alas!). The group then had to deal with two new head with arm sentries, but instead of walking on the ground, these had propeller arms coming out of their ears and fired lasers from its mouth from afar.
After the battle, the group decided NOT to look the Pot-bellied Pig Raider, giving the corpse a wide berth… but Emma did loot the propeller arms to attach to her robotic body at a later date.
The second room of note was the room with more art work of Isotope going through the various stages of aging, to then become young and start the process over again.
After the floor was explored, they stepped onto a teleporter and ascended to the second floor.
Second Floor
Like the first floor, this floor was in a state of repair, but looked much more put together. Lights worked, the floors and walls were cleaner, etc. The group hit all the rooms in the second floor (as there were only four, might be a little sad if they didn’t:P). The group was horrified at the room of thousands of urns, which they believed held the remains of those Isotope siphoned the life out of to remain young.
They freed the slaves from the pens, convinced a few to help them fight Isotope, and met a young man named Vin, who told them if they were ever at Nukatomi Plaza, to visit him in the Park Block.
In the Ceremonial room they were happy to find some Stupendous Science items, but didn’t have time to analyze them.
With the the second floor clear, they hopped onto another teleporter and ascended to the third, and final, floor.
Third Floor
The group appeared in a large open room, pristine compared to the first two floors. Against the far northern wall and attached to the ceiling was a large metal orb with wires and transistors protruding from it. Underneath a woman was strapped into a machine and she was screaming, lighting and energy arcing off her body, traveling up the wires to the transistors above. Another second later and a pile of ash was all that remained of the woman.
A powerful voice filled the room, “Who dares enter the chambers of the great Sorcerer, Isotope?!”
The metallic orb split open and a man with stern features, clad in purple clothing and an intricate octagonal purple helmet with a red game at the crest, floated to the floor.
“You are like insects to me! I am a god amongst the weak! Forever! Eternal!”
The group shouted some shit about only being able to live because he was stealing the life force of others and that he was a bad, bad man!
Isotope shouted a cliche super-villain response like, “I will show you power!” or something and small fleshy tendrils began to grow from his fingernails, each ending with a small bulb, like a tulip (think of the the old Stretch Armstrong dolls when you’d pull the arms really far… or silly putty, come to think of it). The tendrils grew about 15′ long and the bulbs opened like flowers, revealing tiny infant-like hands. The infantile hands slapped on the ground, sounding like wet lunch meet hitting pavement, raising Isotope high into the air.
And with that, we rolled initiative. This fight was pretty brutal. The group had only fought robots and raiders up until this point and I’ve never thrown them against a Sorcerer. He blasted them with radiation beams (Xena the Barbarian became mutated and now has a forked tongue she can make attacks up to 10′ away with it… lucky). He hit them with telekinesis, lasers, summoned more sentries, energy webs, and more. It was an awesome fight and when Xena landed the last blow, it was very satisfying.
Xena drove her blade into Isotope’s stomach; he leaned into the blade, blood trickling from his mouth, “there is worse in this dessert than me. You will be sorry for what you have done.” His flesh flaked, cracked, and crumbled to dust. Short Round was quick to pick up his helmet (which had become damaged during the fight).
Alarms began ringing and a low rumble was felt in the floor plates. The group vacated the Devastation Machine with all due haste. We flashed forward to the group standing at the edge of the Snakeman Village, watching in awe as the Isotope’s Devastation Machine shook off the sand; the metallic pyramid gleamed in the sunlight. Near the top of the pyramid, where’s its ears should be (heh) on all four sides, huge portals opened and massive metal tubes telescoped out, hands forming on the ends, slamming into the ground, lifting the mammoth structure up.
The group watched as Isotope’s Devastation Machine began lumbering across the Western Sands.
“Well that’s something you don’t see every day…” Said Short Round.
With that we leveled up and ended the session.
Aside: This was a great end to the session! We only get to play once a month, so it is quite an exercise in patience for me wait so long to see all this shit come to fruition, but man it’s worth it 😀
