Heyyo peeps! I hope you are all doing awesome! I hope you’re well and safe!
First (and FINALLY) http://www.diyrpgproductions.com will take you to my blog. About time I got off my fucking ass and did that! Sheesh…
Over the past few weeks I’ve been getting more pieces of art for Barbarians of the Ruined Earth, including the regular cover by James Hanson!:). I figured this would be a great time to share it with everyone.
Mike Faille sent me the final cover last night and I wanted to share that with everyone today! I’ve also had Folsom Prison stuck in my head since I saw the image, sooooo… queue theme music!
I should note what served as my inspiration for the cover:)
Orcs does not use a map and instead took inspiration from Zzarchov’s Scenic Dunnsmouth (published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess) and uses a deck of playing cards to generate the map. Many of the rooms have random events that occur after the group enters it, keeping the players on their toes because the unexpected could always happen 🙂
The adventure also features a new class for Hubris and DCC: The Gunslinger! The last two sample spreads have all the class information, for those who are interested.
Here is a snippet from the intro of the book:
Introduction
Orc! A High Octane Adventure! is inspired by Mad Max: Fury Road and Snowpiercer movies and the Gears of War video games. The adventure is designed for four to six 3rd-level characters set in the Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure campaign setting but can be used with other DCC settings (or OSR campaigns) as well with some tweaking of the locations and names. The adventure is fast paced, with deadly combat encounters with orcs and their alchemically altered abominations.
There is no set map. Instead the Judge will draw a set number of playing cards and consult the card description contained in the adventure to determine the order of cars and events (and create their map).
Background
The Black Queen rests upon her throne of bones in her fortress on the Floating Island of Terror. As she satiates herself on the nightmares of her subjects, her desire for power grows. As the Hubris becomes increasingly reliant on her marvelous technology, her ability to weave herself deeper into a kingdom’s local politics, extending her network of spies, assassins, manipulating pawns, and demanding higher prices for her goods.
Over time a railway between the kingdoms of Hubris and the Kelisk in the Land of Perpetual Stone and Mire has been constructed, allowing for goods to quickly reach their destinations and people to travel between kingdoms easily and with less danger (usually). This adventure begins with the train traveling from Fairweather (Hubris, pg 102) in the Great Plains of Unbidden Sorrow to Kelisk (Hubris, pg 120) in the Land of Perpetual Stone and Mire. The promise of efficiency and safety which is constantly touted as a sure thing due to this technological wonder is quickly shattered when a large orc raiding band attacks the train, turning the leisurely ride into a savage blood bath. This is not an adventure where the party can hunker down, create a defensive position, and wait it out. Attempting to do that will surely result in their capture or death. There is no rest. There is no reprieve. There is only the surety of battle, the onslaught of the enemy, and the taste of blood.
Winning the Adventure
Are there really any winners in Hubris…? Well, that’s for each Judge to decide! However, the goal of completing this adventure is to get to the front of the train, take over the engine car and defeat the Big Bad Monster.
Other Bits and Bauble
At the end of the adventure there is a small section to generate random events throughout the adventure, a table to generate events should the group decide to clamber onto the roof of the cars, and suggestions on what to do should the group abandon the train (and the adventure) and attempt to escape on foot.
There is a list of special new bullets for wheellock weaponry that can be created by an Alchemist through Alchemical Tinkering (Hubris, pg 15) and finally a new class for DCC and Hubris: The Gunslinger!
And Now the Spreads!
Note: I shared these spreads back at the beginning of September but figured this was a good time to reshare them:). Hope you enjoy!
First I wanted to share the kick ass sketch cover for Orcs! A High-Octane Adventure! Mike Faille is doing awesome on this!
Now on to the Session Notes
During Christmas I kicked off my new Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure campaign. For this campaign I am not utilizing DCC but playtesting my own rules. We’ve had three sessions thus far so I thought it’d be a good time to update all my notes and pop em up on the blog.
First Session: Meat Grinder
Group investigated a thorp that hadn’t sent trade to Fairweather in several days. Found the community and it was abandoned. Thick fog clung to the air. Signs of violence everywhere. Group saw some terrible shit like cut off fingers, dried vomit, blood, graves. Oh and a woman sticking a spoon behind her eye and popping it out while giggling, “I see you.” Yeah that. Oh and when a dude was stabbed with a pitch fork and started oozing oatmeal out of the wound- then grabbed the pitchfork and kept plunging it into himself shouting, “fuck my holes. Fuck me! Fuck me!”… Necroids… fucking Necroids. Vile gross disgusting bastards that linger in the Void. The final one was a father burst from the floor with his dead baby on his hand like a puppet and he talked to it and with it. That was a fun fight. Some of the group survived but not many.
Necroids are inspired by Deadites:)
Second Session: The Silverfish
The group took a train to the Floating Island of Terror and arrived safely (no Orcs this time) in Outer City, the permanent grounded ring in the Land of Perpetual Stone and Mire with the main area floating above it, rails built to connect the two for travel. The group was greeted by Onyx, an Officiant of The Black Queen, with two guards holding strange weapons (basically machine guns like in Wizards, 1977). Slaves, under watch of Skeletal Gun Runners and Murder Machines were loading heavy box into a small black metal train car across the platform. Slaves dropped the box and it opened, revealing a large bluish glowing rock. Box tipped and a small fragment broke off and landed at characters feet. Onyx gave his blessing to keep the fragment, explained it’s called Morphite and is what creates the amazing technology in Floating Island of Terror; it can also be used to create a powerful hallucinogenic drug. Morphheads run rampant through Outer City. Group found a small shoddy townhome in Ashtown to rent from a blading stooped human, Clovis. Went to Onyx for work and was hired to find the culprit of a string of murders in The Slops. Group followed clues and the trail and eventually went hunting in an abandoned sewer. Met a crazy mutant with gecko-like powers who was lonely. They talked. Life was good. Then they left to explore more and found a dire silverfish that had become crazed on Morphite. Fight was cool- fun moments. Then they killed it, took its head and went galloping back to Onyx. Got paid and went to the local pup, The White Queen, ran and owned by Ami, an exiled drag queen from Fairweather.
Machine guns…. ooooooooo
My group was rather disgusted by this monster.
Third Session: The Murderous Chesspeople and the fae Thrape
Group took another job from Onyx, an Officiant of The Black Queen because why not…? They were driven in a truck-like vehicle two days across the Land of Perpetual Stone and Mire, eventually reaching Mining Camp #7. Group starts scouting and spots pale buff humanoid creatures with weird helmets. A man in rags is being beaten by two and a screaming woman is dragged into the mine by one. Group tries to sneak up and spring a surprise but the Avarian squawks alerting the creatures, because why not…?
Creatures rush group in three waves. They resemble humans but their heads are chess pieces. Fun fight. Most of the group went after the Queen but pawns kept appearing in front of her, taking the blow and dying like good little pawns. A couple went after Rooks that kept headbutting them with their massive rooky noggins!
Group saved the man explained that a giant crystal was found in the mine and they went to harvest it. Next day he and his wife woke up and the creatures were all over the place and no one was left. He and his wife have been hiding for 4 days and were sneaking around tents for food. Group decides to go into the mine.
It’s weird down there with giant plants growing on the wall, one had a human face and wanted to talk. One of the members decided NOPE! Lit a torch and burned the fucker off the wall. Furniture was sticking out of the rock face. Group finds giant crystal. Woman on the ground sobbing. Two slimly mushroom people standing over her. A humanoid figure with stumpy emaciated arms with the head and hooves for feet and hands of a horse twitching and ready greeted the group.
Crazy fight. Avarian got mutated- now has mandibles and a beak. The hostage was mutated as well- has suction cups on her skin and a consistent wet hair. She cried. One of the characters pulled a suction cup off the woman’s hand to see if it was real… eeewwwww.
Group attacked the crystal and broke it, releasing the captive fae, Thrape. Thrape has a skull for a head that is hollow and filled with goop. The top of his skull is open like a mug and slops out strange yellowish goop (can make potions!). Glowing yellow eyes and a grin. He is a master at illusion and transformation.
Thrape game them the following rewards:
Each player choose a potion to boost one of their attributes for a limited time and rolled for an attack potion.
Helpful Potion: Select Attribute of choice, you will row with Advantage for 1 hour on all test. Body- grow big muscles; Agility- become lithe and limber; Rapport- get shiny white teeth and a sexy gleam in your eye; Focus- Perpetual scowl and annoyed look as if someone is talking about shit they don’t know.
Attack Potion: Roll 1d4- 1) Smoky firecracker- deals damage and Body save or blinds target for 1 round; 2) Pigglet Bomb- throw at a target and small little liquid piglets form from the droplets and stab the creature. 1d4 damage per round for 3 rounds. Ignores armor; 3) The Ol’ Switcheroo- The targets butt cheeks and face switch places. Disadvantage on all rolls and can only move or attack in the round. Lasts 1 hour; 4) Transforms the target into a flutter of moths that skitter and flutter about. Lasts 1 hour.
The Thrape Whistle: Ivory whistle to a member of the party. If the group is in trouble, blow on it and Thrape may come in a poof of magical smoke to help. Use it too much or annoy Thrape and he’ll take it back but not before transforming everyone into something nasty!
Thrape was inspired by this enemy from Night of the Full Moon card game. Yeah I play it, wanna fight about it?:P
Good day everyone! Four years ago I launched the Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure Kickstarter and what a fucking fantastic ride it has been since then! In the three years since the book was released it has gone Platinum on Drivethru RPG, won a Silver ENnie for Best Electronic Book, has had several kind reviews (here’s a couple: here and here and here), and I even babbled about it on the Drink Spin Run podcast!
Additionally the awesome Ben Milton did a video review on his Questing Beast Youtube Channel.
So needless-to-say, I’ve been extremely proud of this book! And while I have not been solely focused on Hubris for the last two years, I have been releasing a bunch of other books and have Barbarians of the Ruined Earth coming soonish; so I have not been idle either.
In September I released images showing the spreads for Orcs! A High-Octane Adventure– a 3rd level module for Hubris- art commissions will begin soon- and in August Max from Weird and Wonderful Worlds created a random generator for the GM section of the book. On my blog I have released several new races and classes for the setting: The Lupine, The Blood Acolyte, and The Klind Exile. So there is new stuff to enjoy.
With the three year anniversary here, I wanted to share some news on new project(s) and DIY RPG Productions as as whole!
So without much further palaver…
HUBRIS!!!
Art by Mike Faille, font and poster design my Matt Hildebrand.
Current Projects
First up is Orcs! The layout is generally complete and I’ll be commissioning art soon! Then I’ll send it off to Joseph for final approval and then release, hoping not more than a few months from now! I have run Orcs for several groups and at three consecutive Gen Cons and everyone has had a blast. Artists that are lined up for Orcs are none other than: Alex Mayo, Carmin Vance, David Lewis Johnson, and Jason Sholstis! Layout has been done by the awesome Jez Gordon.
Donn Stroud (of Mothership and Lesser Key to the Celestial Legion) is working on a Hubris module and that will be out at some point- I don’t have a firm date on the module’s first draft being completed, so we’ll just say, you know, somewhere in futuretime.
Side Note: I also have notes for a dungeon that is set in the Junk Town of Undra The Great Spire, but have not moved forward into fully flushing this one out yet.
The New Hubris
Wait, what…? Not only is the above image a fun promotional piece (it is pretty exquisite, isn’t it?!) it is also a glimpse at the new things to come. The first part to talk about is for the past year I have started working on my own rules that are quick, lite, deadly (most likely, yeah), and OSR-inspired with some modern game design worked in. I’ll be touching more on these in future posts in a kinda Developer’s Blog-type shit but, yeah, more soon.
My plan is to take Hubris and moving that needle from 11 to 12 (I’m hoping to do that, anyways). In 2018, I did a post showing inspirational images for a new territory/land in Hubris, called Downpour, and that location will still make an appearance, but the thing is… all of those images, music and music videos, movies, etc. constantly inspire me and I wanted to channel that to Hubris in general, not just a new territory- specially Evil Dead, Hellraiser, Mad Max: Fury Road, and the imagery from Marilyn Manson music videos from Antichrist Superstar.
I want to push the bloated dead corpse of medieval fantasy through a meat grinder and play in the bloody meaty bits. My desire is to pump up the grindhouse, horror, and slapstick even further in this new book, clearly pushing it into “Mature Viewing Territory” (as if it wasn’t already) and enhance some of the weird aspects of the world, like the Floating Island of Terror, locomotives and automobiles, wheellock weaponry, mechs, etc.; basically I want to make a grindhouse version of Final Fantasy VI, because why the fuck not!
I’m looking at this new Hubris as a retelling of the same story. Don’t like where I take it? That’s cool, there’s still the original version and adventures. And if you do like it, you’ll be able to use the territories and info with the existing one. The art from the original Hubris will be in the new book as well as new images. While new version of Hubris will still be predominantly black and white images, I will be working with Mike Faille to add a splash of horrific color to each chapter!
As I said in the introduction of the book, I wrote Hubris for me and just hoped people liked it… in the years since I’ve written the book, I’ve learned new tricks, new ways to run games, and delved deeper into what I want from a setting/gaming book at the table, and I hope to show that in the new version.
I’ll be releasing more info on this in the future and hope you enjoy it.
Other Tidbits
Oh yeah… It’s gonna be a shirt
The DIY RPG Productions Shopfy store will be opening soonish. Unique merchandise I can’t sell via Drivethru will be found there. Shirts, maps and posters, signed books, buttons, dice bags, jewelry, and much more! Preorders for the DIY RPG Productions t-shirts will be available when the shop goes live!
Oh yeah… I’ll be selling Hubris stamps to celebrate when characters get themselves perished.See how pretty it’ll look on a character sheet?!
I look forward to dropping more info on Hubris and DIY RPG Productions in the near future! Be well everyone!
Good day peeps! Hope everyone is doing well and kicking ass!
First I have two new tasty Barbarians of the Ruined Art pieces for your viewing pleasure. These two pieces are by James Hanson!
Rhatu the Sorcerer battles against a Blessed Cultist!
Cultist (Blessed) HD 2; RP 1; Dagger (2d4) or Mace (2d4) or Bow (2d4) Description: Cultists are deranged individuals who worship and follow the creed of some sinister being. They care not for the people they harm or lives they take in the service of their dark master. Blessed Cultists have been impregnated with an alien creature; when they die, their heads explode and a barbed spinal cord holds up a blue, pulsating brain and soggy, red eyes. The creature is restored to full health to fight on. Special: Blessed Cultists are immune to mind-altering effects. Hideous: When the creature inside a Blessed Cultist is exposed, its visage is so horrible that attackers must succeed a WIS test to resist running away in fear. Even those that are successful suffer Disadvantage on attack rolls against the creature.
The band of heroes are ambushed by a trio of Giant Lizards!
Giant Lizard HD 2; RP 0; Claws (2d4) or Spiked Tail (2d4) Description: This giant lizard can be found nearly anywhere on the Ruined Earth. It is a keen hunter that is highly patient and will even wait hours before striking. Special: Can climb almost sheer surfaces. Targets attempting to spot a Giant Lizard that is lying in wait suffer Disadvantage to their roll.
The book is looking FANTASTIC! I’m really thrilled with how each artist is adding their voice to the looks and actions of the three heroes! Matt Hildebrand’s layout (and art) is killer and I couldn’t be happier (or more excited) for this fucking book to release.
Session Recap
Quick Summary First
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a session recap! I’ve been focusing on working on my upcoming rules (more on this in a deluge of blog posts, first one will be on Monday) and doing proofs/tweaks to the Slave Mines of Vindicus the Terrible (a level zero adventure for Barbarians of the Ruined Earth), but I figured it was a good time to do one.
The group was wandering the Western Sands and came across a female Strange One who was badly injured. Before she died she said a different tribe of Strange Ones kidnapped her baby to use in a ritual to summon their god.
Kinda like this guy, but with four compound eyes and hairless.
The group left the body to the desert and went looking for the ritual. After they stumbled across it, they fought valiantly, but were unable to stop the completion. The baby was murdered and the dark god rose from the earth, a 20ft tall Bob’s Big Boy!
My group looked at me like I was crazy when I described what was going on and then showed them this picture… It’s like they don’t know me at all.
The group went to the Strange One’s hidden village in an Ruined Earth Subway station and found out about the war going on between the two tribes. They agreed to help, so the Matriarch snorted some hallucinogens and had a vision of a similar being that could help destroy the Bob’s Big Boy! The heart of the creature was in a strange temple located in the very tunnels they were in. The body was cast aside in a place filled with the refuse and rubbish of the Ruined Earth (a junk yard).
The group spent the next three sessions in a crystalline dungeon fighting their way through shit to get to the heart.
After passing all the trials the group met the Cosmic Being, The Luminescent Mother. She was interested in them, gave them each a power, either from light or dark as she is both, everything and nothing, life and death. She then presented them with the heart! A souped-up motor engine!
We only get to play once a month and there have been more than a few times that we’ve had to cancel, so it’s be a VERY long build to this point. I’m very happy that last night’s session went so well!
In true Saturday Morning Cartoon (and Thundarr) fashion, I nixed the “traveling” portion of the session and the group found themselves standing at the entrance of the Los Angeles Junk Yard. Instead of scouting or investigating the group walked right in and were immediately attacked by a group of gross living booger people (roughly 3 1/2″ tall).
These creatures surrendered quickly after Isosceles the Sorcerer stunned two of them. After a quick conversation the group realized these creatures, who introduced themselves as Gooblins, were just trying to protect their home.
Gooblins are so cute.
The group was taken to Gooblinville and introduced to the chieftain, The Big Booger. The heroes were told that fearsome beasts barred the way from that which they seek. The Big Booger offered the group room and board and they would talk more about the dangers in the morning.
Aside: The group had a blast in Gooblinville. I treated the beings like Smurfs. There was Warrior Gooblin, Angry Gooblin, Sleepy Goolin, Diarrhea Gooblin, you know the normal tropes. The only one that was different was the general store, who I portrayed as Vince Clortho from Ghostbusters- this about broke my players and I had to do the impression several times through the night.
Angie- Isosceles the Sorcerer, Zoom the Death Priest, and Short Round the Urban Urchin decided to go to the tavern, The Spitoon, and drink some Gooblin brew, which ended up being post-apocalyptic Nyquil. Before drinking their brews, Zoom and Short Round snorted some booger crystles they had found in a previous session (the group dubbed these as Sugar Boogers) and gained the ability to permanently speak Gooblin (which is a complicated series of snorts, throat clears, and sniffs). The two also gained the ability to see in the dark for five days and were covered in large painful pustules for the same amount of time.
After snorting the Sugar Boogers, the group drank their Nyquil; Isoceles and Zoom got drowsy, but stayed conscious (and gained 6 temporary hit points), but were very drowsy. Short Round passed out on the bar (and gained 4 temporary hit points). They were all in a stupor, but dammit they could breathe again!
The next morning the group set out to fight some evil, save Gooblinville, and get the body of the godling they needed!
Isosceles the Sorcerer used her magic to transform into a mist and scout ahead. She discovered two hideous creatures in a clearing, the earth charred around them.
She thought, “Demon Dogs!”
Isosceles the Sorcerer returned and explained the peril the group was in. Short Round the Urban Urchin fished through his pack and found his Immun-o-Flame Ointment and smeared it all over his body, pulled out his motorized chainsaw bat, “Let’s rock.”
The group then, forming no plan what-so-ever walked into the clearing to do battle. Initiative was rolled and, appropriately, Short Round went first.
Short Round: I hit the Demon Dog with my chainsaw bat.
Me: Roll for damage.
Short Round: I deal 6 damage.
Me: Ok! You bring your chainsaw bat down on the Demon Dog, there’s a small flash and now there two dogs instead of one.
Short Round: I– wait, what?
Me: Yup.
This fight was beautiful. The group were pouring over their character sheets, Angie and Sami were frantically reading their spells and miracles, they were asking questions, they were engaged, and more importantly… they were afraid. Exactly what I wanted with the Demon Dog.
Demon Dogs HD 3; RP 1; Bite (1d10) Description: Demon Dogs are vicious creatures with ragged fur, bulging red eyes, and long yellowed fangs. These creatures are said to be spawned from the depths of Hell and wander the Ruined Earth looking for hapless prey. A keen adventurer can always tell when they are close to the den of a Demon Dog, for the smell of sulfur is thick upon the air. Special:Flame Breath: Once per day a Demon Dog can spew a ball of flame at a target, dealing 1d8 damage. There is a 1-in-6 chance the target catches fire, taking 1d6 fire damage per round until extinguished. Water Sensitivity: Demon Dogs take an additional 1d6 damage from water/cold magic. Dousing a Demon Dog in a large amount of water also deals 1d6 damage and stuns the creature for 1 round. Submerging a Demon Dog in a river, lake, etc. instantly kills the creature. Split: One reason the Demon Dog is such a terrifying adversary is that any physical damage to the creature causes it to split into two. Both copies have the same HP, which is equal to the remaining HP of the attacked Demon Dog. Magical damage does not cause a Demon Dog to split.
And Then The Fight Got… Gross
So you know you’re doomed when you start the session off with booger people and it’s only a matter of time before that manifests again.
The group tried various attacks from weapons, spells, etc. and were up to six Demon Dogs, finally realizing that water and magic were the only things that harmed the beasts… They were down to two Demon Dogs and ran out of water, so they did what any logical party would do, they began popping the Zoom’s and Short Round’s giant pustules on the Demon Dogs. Finally Angie said Isosceles grew nauseous from this shit going on and threw up on the head of the last Demon Dog. She hit and killed it… Yup, death from vomit on the head. A very epic end to an epic fight!
The Aftermath
The group made their way through the rubbish piles and found their prize. Lying in a rubbish head, with molted, matted grey faux-fur, lay the goddling, a 20ft tall animatronic Chuck E Cheese!
Then the ground started rumbling and bags of garbage, junks of cars, and several old washer/dryers coalesced into a 15′ tall Animated Trash Man! The monster let out a roar and the group of heroes drew their weapons.
And that’s where we ended for the night!
We probably have one more session remaining before this arc concludes and we retire from playing Barbarians for awhile. We’ve been playing for over a year now and it’s been a blast, but I need to start playtesting my new rules to see if they work and/or are fun!
As I stated on the KS, thank you to everyone for spreading the word, support, excitement, etc.! Thanks to everyone who’s been tuning in to this blog for the nearly three years I’ve been posting about this shit.
Post-kickstarter art commissions have gone out while I’ve been tweaking the Slave Mines of Vindicus the Terrible so that can go to proofing. Matt and I have been discussing various layout options as the adventure has been written in a non-traditional manner for RPGs, so we’ll see where that takes us.
Anyways- let’s get to the good stuff… NEW ART!
Here is the variant cover (exclusive to backers until Gen Con 2020), sans title, by JV West.
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Here are two new pieces by the awesome Sam Mameli!
Beware the stealthy attacks of the Fungal Assassins!
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Behold the damage wrought by a Giant Praying Mantis
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Here are four new pieces by JV West!
Zora the Barbarian yawns as Rhatu explain the how exactly a talon is not a cellphone… mean while Atook the Beastman spots something delicious that needs investigating.
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Rhatu the Sorcerer observes a golden ceramic coin from the realm of Skullator the Deathless.
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Earth… over 2,000 years from now.
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The Ant Queen holds audience over her kingdom, her loyal Ant Warriors stand at attention by her side.
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