Tag Archives: article

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Gambler

Posted by grimachu on

Arising in an era of geological turmoil, the Gamblers trusted only their own audacity. The faint of heart soon perished but the most daring rose to even greater effronteries and now launch a contest for Cosmic stakes.

 

 

Traveller

Fast Metabolism: +2 Initiative, double life support requirements.

Natural Weapon: Claws 1 damage, Natural Melee 0.

Weak Education: -2

Genetically Lucky: Gamblers may re-roll a roll once per game.

Social standing is replaced by Fortune.

Homeworld:Ti/Kar A755915-B Ga Hi Ht

Starport A, 11.2k km, thin atmosphere, 50% water, billions of population, corporate plutocracy, law level 5, tech level 11.

Starblazer

Gamblers have the following traits:

  • Heightened Alertness: Multiple eyes give Gamblers excellent situational awareness and a +1 bonus to Alertness.
  • Claws [Stunt]
  • Jaws [Stunt]
  • Tail [Stunt]
  • Lucky bastards – Gamblers start with one extra FATE point.
  1. Risk taker: -2 to resist adventure/high stakes/pushing their luck.
  2. No fine manipulation

General

Gamblers have a complex language due to their two-storey mouths, each of which can pronounce a different sound at the same time. Because of this most of their words are harmonies or clashes between two tones and very few words have more than one syllable. In their own language they are called the Shash/Shesh (the slash divides which is said by the upper and lower mouth). Theirs is a culture of risk-taking, gambling and luck and their world one of many upheavals. Over time, controversially it is claimed, they have evolved what is considered to be a mild fate-bending power of luck, and they certainly seem to have a higher degree of fortune than most.

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Fodder

Posted by grimachu on

Always regarded as an inferior, scavenging race, the fodder have amassed a multitude of generally less-effective arms. With the astonishingly large cache of second-rate weapons the Fodder can afford to overwhelm their adversaries.

 

 

 

Traveller

Feral: 1d6 Edu.

Small: Str 1d6, Endurance 1d6, Dexterity 3d6

Notable Characteristics: +2 Str, +2 Endurance, +2 Edu

Weak Dexterity: -2

Homeworld: Fok C 874CA0-9 Ga Hi In Amber

Starport C, 12.8k km, standard tainted atmosphere, 40% water, trillions of population, charismatic dictatorship, law level 0, tech level 9.

Starblazer

Fodder have the following traits:

  • Fur [Stunt] – Fodder gain +1 to resist cold and wet based damage/environmental issues.
  • Cheap & Nasty – Fodder can elect to get equipment that’s sub par, they gain +2 to do so, but it always has a negative aspect.
  1. Distaste – Fodder take a -1 penalty in any non-confrontational social checks such as trying to make a good impression.

General

The Fodder, whose real name is the Fodorr in an act of cosmic humour, are a particularly numerous race. They love to live in great concentrations, on top of one another in circumstances other races would find lacking in privacy and cleanliness – though they more than make up for it in terms of parasites. Fodder breed like rats and have a cultural tendency to be willing to die, in large numbers, to preserve gains for the next generation. Not suicidal, but tending to martyrdom. Their world is a teeming hive, filled with cheap, tower blocks, squalid arcologies and with the planet’s crust teeming with tunnels in which they live.

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Filch

Posted by grimachu on

With their genteel, sophisticated tribes the Filches have refined the art of acquisition to a high aesthetic. The most judicious and subtle thefts are memorialised in legend and song. Lately they have taken to eyeing the depths of space and thoughtfully rippling their tentacles.

 

 

Traveller

Notable Dexterity: +2

Weak Endurance: -2

Multiple Actions: Filch have access to a second, non-combat, ‘hand’ only action each turn.

Fame replaces social standing.

Homeworld: Siirt A385933-E Hi, Ht,

Starport A, Size 4.8k km, Dense atmosphere, 50% water, Population in the billions, self-perpetuating oligarchy, law level 3, Tech level 14.

Starblazer

Filch have the following traits:

  • Tentacles [Stunt]
  1. Minor weakness to physical (melee) attacks.

General

The Siirtan, or Filch, are a strange species, somewhat like the Terran octopus or squid but much more beautiful and even bird-like in their appearance and their grace. Another bird-like quality is a fondness for shiny things and the establishment of social prestige upon wealth, particularly wealth gained through guile and theft. Something that makes them enormously unwelcome on other worlds that have had contact with them before.

Legends of Anglerre/Cloak of Steel: Animal Men

Posted by grimachu on

Since my first choice of system for a second edition of Cloak of Steel can no longer go ahead I’ve turned my thoughts back to Legends of Anglerre and Starblazer and the version of FATE that is to be found in these books, as well as my own subspecies of FATE derived from these for Agents of SWING. This and the previous article about this might be considered preliminary, probing thoughts towards how that edition might look.
Cloak of Steel doesn’t have many playable races. Really you’r down to humans (with their various cultural differences) and the half-men. The result of magical experimentations in the past and, now, a self-perpetuating human subtype looked down upon as less than human in many quarters.

Half-Men

Half-Men are the result of ancient manipulation of human and animal essences to produce something that is not, quite, either. A half-man’s personality tends to express itself in the animal traits that they grow into and while some show the special capabilities of their animalistic appearance this is by no means true of all.

Typical Occupations: Worker, warrior, technician, beggar, criminal, slave.

Half-Men Aspects

Downtrodden

Half-Men are usually at the bottom of the social heap in the societies of Tierplana. This can be good, and bad, for them.

Invoke: Being ignored, eliciting sympathy from some quarters, being underestimated.
Compel: Being considered for promotion, being trusted, high/middle class society.

Determined

Due to their social situation the half-men have a lot to prove, both to others and to themselves.

Invoke: Reinforcing your will, keeping going against the odds.
Compel: When you really should give up and not carry on, losing your temper against the prejudiced.

Half-Man Stunts

Half-Man stunts are typically based around their animal ancestry or appearance and grant a +2 bonus where they apply. For example a dog man might choose from the following stunts, though this by no means describes them all:

  • Bloodhound: +2 when tracking/sensing smells.
  • Keen hearing: +2 when using aural senses.
  • Terrible Jaws: +2 damage on a bite.
  • Cheerful disposition: +2 when cheering people up or in most informal social situations.

Other possibilities might include claws, paralytic poisons (at fair strength), swimming, gills, even flight. All of which should be considered skills at that level +2, modifiers or powers. Multiple stunts may be stacked for increased effect, at the Games Master’s discretion.

Chav: The Knifing – The Straight Cold One’s

Posted by grimachu on

Chavthulu is the ancient god of bus stops and bus shelters, or at least the modern incarnation of some ancient, brutish god that is associated with waiting, boredom and teenagers with nothing to do. He is far from the only ancient being with a finger, toe, tentacle or other appendage in the chav pie. There’s a whole pantheon of other dark and strange beings out there…

Dirtyhotep: The patron dark god of red light districts, Dirtyhotep grants his… her.. it’s boon to sex workers, doormen and filthy bastards of all descriptions. Rather than bus-stops Dirtyhotep’s power is channelled through nudie bars, brothels, sex cinemas and secluded alleyways where people have knee tremblers. Dirthyhotep appears as a gigantic tentacle with feminine lips, dressed in tracksuit bottoms and a sports bra and covered in penises.

Adenough: Adenough is the patron dark god of binge drinking. His power is channelled through off licences and he encourages drunkenness and excess in all its forms. Adenough appears as a shifting, vomitous mass of acidic and fizzing spew.

Schlub-Niggerwrath: Schlub-Niggerwrath is the patron of racist nationa lism. His followers tend to be deformed, chinless, stupid and also tend to vastly overestimate their own capabilities and to underestimate those of anyone who isn’t of their own race. He appears as a pig-like being wearing a St George’s Cross T-shirt and channels his power through acts of appalling racism and terrible un-PC jokes, rather than locations.

Has the Monosyballic: Has is probably a dark god but doesn’t have the vocabulary to actually tell anyone who or what he is. He channels his power through schools, but only provided that nobody is learning anything. Has appears as a floating apostrophe covered in eyes.

SOWYGO 5: Out Damn Geek

Posted by grimachu on

Besides being a nerd on a lot of other things I’m also an atheist nerd. I enjoy the debates and the arguments – provided there’s a chance of actual points being made and them going somewhere-  and as a ‘militant’ atheist I have been overjoyed by the rise of the New Atheism as represented by the Four Horsemen (Dawkins, Dennet, Harris and Hitchins).

I see some parallels between the new atheist movement and the idea of being proud to be a geek. There’s something of a campaign to raise awareness of atheists and atheist groups, to help them know they’re not alone (in the US and other more heavily theistic nations) and a lot of ideas have been taken from the homosexual movements of the 80s. The idea of coming out of the ‘closet’, of making public declarations of non-belief, to take a stand and to let other people know that you exist.

Geeks are already getting ‘out there’ but we could all do with a bit more of that, outing ourselves and not hiding it like it’s something to be ashamed of. Starting conversations to help people understand, even making pamphlets that explain our obscure hobbies in ways that people who aren’t involved can understand.

Speak Out With Your Geek Out has been a great act of self-affirmation within the nerd community but has it actually reached out to ‘normal people’ that much? Let’s keep the spirit of the idea going and reach out to someone who isn’t likely to have seen it or been aware that it was going on.

Read a book at work or on the tube, have a conversation with your family about their hobbies, then bring up yours, put your hobbies on your CV, make a facebook, twitter or G+ post to everyone and let them know you’re proud to be a geek!

Normal blog/gaming service resumed tomorrow!

SOWYGO 3: The Professional Geek

Posted by grimachu on

The ultimate dream for many a weirdo, freak, nerd or geek is to turn their amateur hobby into a professional concern. To make their particular obsession their job and to make a living at it. This is awesome, I do it, but it’s not without its drawbacks and difficulties as well.

1. Everything is work.

They say if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. As it turns out that’s absolute bullshit. What actually happens is that EVERYTHING becomes work. What you end up doing for money may be something you love and enjoy but when your income depends on it, it gets stressful and when you do take time off you’re doing the same thing that you do for work.

On the other hand: Everything is also something fun. While it can taint your enjoyment, it makes ‘going to work’ every day a damn sight easier.

2. You’re never ‘off’.

When what you love is what you do you can really never switch off. Your all-consuming hobby becomes your whole life. Everything you see, everything you do seems to relate to your hobby.

On the other hand: It’s a great excuse to get yourself a secondary hobby so you CAN get a break. Secondary nerdery is also awesome. For me that’s probably comics, films and computer games but you can get your own, damn you.

3. Conventions become work, damn it

So, you get to go to that big convention that you love so much. Trouble is, you’re working. You can’t leave your stall or stand and go wandering off or some mouth-breathing neckbeard is going to have it away on their toes with your stuff. The bastards. If you meet people it’s generally for business and all the other businessy nerds are all busy too. You might make some money, but the con experience from the other side of the table often sucks.

On the other hand: Fans are rad, their enthusiasm is infectious and they can usually be persuaded to go and get you a bottle of scotch and a chocolate bar so you don’t have to leave.

4. Geeks are Unprofessional

Being a ‘professional’ geek is something of an oxymoron. Unless you’re working for a big company it’s all pretty small scale and personal as a business. This means getting bigger is tricky, a lot depends on personal relationships and you know how clannish geeks are. People come to blows over Kirk Vs Picard for the love of Thor. That means deadlines can slip, getting money can be tricky and people can be dicks.

On the other hand: That’s actually something that’s nice about geek-related businesses. It’s still small and personal and people’s passion and interest really comes across.

5. People think you owe them

If you’re a professional geek and you make cool geeky stuff, people start thinking they can get up in your face and tell you how to do what you do as though they know better. If they really did, they’d probably do it themselves. At least they’re still buying your stuff and care about it, but still, it can be a grind.

On the other hand: At least they’re giving you ideas, even if it might be done in a bad way.

SOWYGO1: A Geek is Born

Posted by grimachu on

Speak Out With Your Geek Out has a loose definition of what a ‘geek’ is, as a way of trying to break down barriers. For me though a quintessential part of the geek experience is being discriminated against. There are plenty of other things that are nerdy and the division is ridiculous but it does exist. There’s little that’s nerdier than sports fandom after all, all the statistics, all the history, all the fiddly details, probabilities, state of the pitch or the ground… but sports nerdery is commonly accepted and nobody bats an eyelid. Remember the scores and line up from a football game in 1966 and nobody gives a damn, recite the plot of a Batman comic from the same period and people will look at you askance.

That’s why I’m supporting SOWYGO, to point this out but also to talk about more traditional nerdery and my nerdery experiences. Maybe it’s better to call this stuff ‘fandom’, fandom is truly universal and can apply to anything and everything. Let’s just keep that in mind, we’re all fen, of something.

I’m a pretty general-purpose geek. I like science fiction, fantasy, comics, computer games and odd facts. My brain will instantly forget things like anniversaries, birthdays, doctor’s appointments or anything else ‘important’ but I can remember the finest details of science fiction series from my childhood or old issues of 2000AD.

How’d I end up this way?

I don’t think I stood much of a chance of not being a geek. My dad was a teacher (maths) and then one of the first computing teachers before moving into IT more generally. He had an encyclopaedic collection of 70s paperback science fiction and my mum had her own collection of Narnia books and spy novels. I was read to a lot and I devoured books whole, that was my gateway into the wider world of nerdery because I wanted all of the things I read about to become true. I wanted to live in these worlds and if I couldn’t live in these worlds I wanted to pretend and to imagine my own.

And that was it, I was lost, though I’ve never been happier to be lost. Books took me into role-playing games and that, right there, is my particular raison d’geek. My compulsive and obsessive side is fixated upon that, the making of worlds, the rolling of dice, tinkering with rules to simulate worlds in the imagination and that’s why this website and all my work exists.

From a prevalence of books in my childhood to a creator of worlds and games.

Ain’t so bad being made a geek.

Top 5: Gaming Weapons

Posted by grimachu on

1) .666 Hellbringer
Nothing, NOTHING says ‘I have absolutely no penis’ than an enormous hand-cannon chambered to a humorous and humungous round size. You could just about use one without going full-borg if you had enough other boosts. One shot, one kill, whether you were aiming at a person or an AV-4. Delicious.

2) Orcish Double-Axe
An insight into orcish psychology. If one axe is good, two axes is better. Misunderstood noble savage my arse, if orcs know one thing it’s how to fuck shit up and if they can do it with something as ridiculous looking as two axes glued together at the hilt then there must be something to it.

3) Rockpipe
So Tales of Gargentihr is a bit of an obscure game but even with that considered a weapon that starts off as a mining tool, is made of stone, fires bullets of rock and is powered by alcohol is a) amazing and b) shows just how far players are willing to go to have a gun, even if it’s terribly inefficient and you’d be better off with magic or a crossbow. Crazy buggers, the lot of ’em.

4) Automatic Crossbow
The ones in games aren’t that cool, because they only let you do one shot at a time. It’s still better than a longbow and beats all that slow-reloading mularky from normal crossbows but really, really, all we wanted it to be was that chunka-chunka-chunka crossbow from Hawk the Slayer. Hard to get a pic of that, here’s the next best thing.

5) Chainsword
There could hardly be a more impractical weapon than a chainsword which, essentially, ruins the whole point of having something as simple and unbreakable as a sword and would pull itself out of your hand as often as it hurt anyone, needing a sustained hit to do any real damage. Damn it though, there’s just something cool about chain weapons, sword, axe or anything else.

Kynn Bartlett/Caoimhe Ora Snow, Heartbreak & Heroines – and more genuine heartbreak

Posted by grimachu on

I will present this initially without comment, but only with context. Commentary will come later.
This is a serious issue only tangentially related to RPGs so if you’re drama averse you should probably skip it.
If you know Kynn (@dazedsaveends on twitter) you should probably read this.
If you backed or were thinking of backing Heartbreak & Heroines you should probably read this.

The sources are:
HERE
HERE

Comment later, but the context is that Kynn is a hyper-critical individual and a self-appointed net-warrior for feminist and LGBT issues in gaming (and elsewhere). These accusations may be false for all we know, but given the context it’s probably worth at least making people aware.


 Item One