Atlas Super-Heroes Roleplaying

When contemplating a new superhero campaign, the choice is usually between creating an original setting or playing in an established comic book universe. It occurs to me another option be playing in a failed or defunct superhero universe: you get the advantage of having some established elements to pull from (not to mention art), but few people will have strong enough attachments to it and the worlds are unlikely to have last long enough to really constrain you with canon. You get to build your own house but with a foundation and all the building materials supplied.

No has-been or never-was universe became so as spectacularly and quickly as 70s Atlas Comics (or Atlas/Seaboard). I won’t delve into the history (you can read it here) but suffice to say despite prestigious talent and money no Atlas title lasted more than 4 issues. Conventional wisdom would hold that this failure was because the Atlas characters weren’t very good and their stories possibly worse. I would submit, however, that uninspiring or mediocre comic book characters are pretty much the stock and trade of supers rpgs. Game characters don’t need concepts that swing for the fences, they just need to get on base. That’s why Marvel and DC B and C-listers are the sweet spot for using as game characters—and Atlas’s “superstars” are pretty much at that level.  Let’s look at the standouts in turns of gameability:

Jeff “the Cougar” Rand is a stuntman that battles supernatural or weird menaces that keep cropping up in LA. He’s sort of Colt Seavers: The Night Stalker.

A Viet Nam vet joins a cult and gifted with supernatural powers, including a cape that serves as a portal to a pocket dimension. He turns on the cult when he found out thy’re out for Xenogenesis, and the advent of Demon-kind on Earth. This is pretty much the same character Rich Buckler would introduce at Marvel as Devil-Slayer.

The Destructor is young criminal whose scientist father gives him an experimental formula to save his life. He gets powers a bit like a combination of Daredevil and Wolverine. He’s sort of like a Peter Parker gone wrong, out for vengeance on the Syndicate who killed his father.

An astronaut rescued by aliens steals a super-powered suit from them and escapes, then fights to stop the aliens from destroying mankind. Phoenix has a bit of a Green Lantern or Captain Marvel vibe, with a little von Däniken/70s UFO conspiracy garnish.

18th Century Highway is released from Hell by Satan serve as his agent in the 20th century, sending the souls of evil-doers straight into Perdition’s flames. He’s sort of the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh by way of Spawn.


Not exactly the “new house of ideas,” but not that bad, either. Well, most of these characters got a big shift in the last issue, so the thought would be: take the first issue or two as “canon”, then build your own universe from there, using things from later stories as fodder for inspiration. PCs could have latitude in how to develop their characters further from their comic roots, perhaps doing some “retcons” to the backstory over time, just as would likely have happened had the comics kept being published.

There are other Atlas characters, some that could be good PC material with a “bold new direction” here or there. There are also several barbarians, a few horror characters, tough cops, and two future dystopias that can help fill out the universe and inspire further development.

What crashed and burned in the world of comics publishing may soar in gaming. The Atlas Age just might be here!

Wednesday Comics: Essential Ultron

With Avengers: Age of Ultron opening this week, there's no time like the present to get caught up on Ultron's greatest hits. Here are some stories you should probably check out, in no particular order:

The Rise of Ultron
Avengers #54-58
You get the Masters of Evil, the first appearance and origin of Ultron, and the first appearance of the Vision.
Collected in: Essential Avengers vol 3; Avengers Epic Collection: Behold the Vision (starts with #57).

The Return of Ultron
Avengers #66-68
Ultron's back, cementing his status as a major villian. This time, he's got a new body of adamantium.
Collected in: Essential Avengers vol 3; Avengers Epic Collection: Behold the Vision

The Bride of Ultron
Avengers #157- 166
Ultron, in all his Oedipal glory, kidnaps Wasp and makes his own robot bride based on her--Jocasta.
Collected in: Avengers: The Bride of Ultron; Avengers Epic Collection: The Final Threat

Ultron Mark 12
West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #1-2, 4-7, and Vision And Scarlet Witch vol 2 #2
Ultron turns good? Perhaps the most unexpected Ultron story of all!
Collected in: Avengers: West Coast Avengers Omnibus vol. 1

Ultron Unlimited
Avengers vol. 3 #19-22
Ultron at his most evil. He decimates a city, turning the dead into an army of Ultron clones.
Collected in: Avengers: Ultron Unlimited (this one's pretty pricey; the issues might be cheaper!)

Our Heroic Age

Though we played a lot of fantasy games (mostly AD&D) in my middle and high school years--probably more than anything else--our longest campaigns (defined as the same characters in the same setting/situation) were in superhero games. While we'd played with Villains & Vigilantes and with the first editions of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes and Mayfair's DC Heroes, our "Heroic Age" really got started in '86 after the release of the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set.

Our first and longest running team was called the New Champions (taking the name from the L.A. based team of the Bronze Age and the idea of a new iteration from The New Defenders, which had just ended the year before). Our characters were street-level/near street-level characters, some of which were reformed villains. We picked the characters from the pages of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, for the most part, rather than going with well-known characters. I used Paladin, my brother, Puma, and our friend Al, Hobgoblin (the former Jack o' Lantern version). That was the core group of players and characters, but other players and other Bronze and early Modern C-listers joined the New Champions ranks at some point: White Tiger, Madcap, Shroud, and Unicorn, among others I've likely forgotten. The team had a West Coast era (borrowing from West Coast Avengers, which I had a subscription to), as well, and probably at least one "all-new, all different" period--but it was also part of the same continuity.

The second edition of DC Heroes, was probably our last gasp of superhero gaming. The Marvel games had mostly been over the summer and with a crew somewhat different than my usual gaming group, since none of us were able to drive yet and it was tough to get together when we weren't in school. By '89 though, that wasn't the case, so the DC group was largely the same as my Dungeons & Dragons and GURPS crowd. This time, we made up our own characters and our own super-hero universe. Lower key, more "realistic" superheroes were the order of the day. About half of the group (which was never named as a team, really) didn't wear costumes, and the villains were are somewhat quirky, and many of them didn't wear costumes either. I suspect the primary inspiration was the Wild Cards universe, but Thriller, the New Universe, and Doom Patrol might have been in there, too.

We played some 4th edition Champions after that and maybe some GURPS Supers, but neither of them had the ease of use of MSHRPG or DCH so they didn't last long. These two campaigns created some truly memorable characters--or at least memorable sessions.

The Faeborn of Virid

I finally got a chance to look through the Elemental Evil Players Companion to see if there was anything that jumped out to me to add to my Land of Azurth campaign. I've already written about the Azurthite version of Aarakocraa, so I probably won't be using them as a PCs race. Deep gnomes are different, so they'll take a bit more adapting first. The Genasi work pretty well, we'll call them the Faeborn.

In the Land of Azurth, people with faerie ancestry are uncommon outside of the Country of Virid. Lady Desira, the Enchantress of Virid, is herself of fae descent. The most common sort of Faeborn folk are those who have ancestors among the elemental faerie who worked for Gob, the great craftsman, and Queen Azulina in fashioning the land of Azurth. Each of these types occupies various subkingdoms within Virid.

While they're variable as other folk, their personalities tend toward the humor associated with their element.

Each of the faeborn subkingdoms has a prince or princess and most of these are friends and/or former suitors of Lady Desira:  Parald, Ariel, Jin, Seraph, Gobe, Necksa and Nixi. They took part in the many adventures of her youth: ,

"Shuttlecraft to Traffic Control..."

So, how about a peak at some new Strange Stars art? I had originally planned not to get any new art for the gamebooks, but the sales of Strange Stars have gone a little better than expected, so I felt better about outlaying a bit more money for (just a few) black and white images. The piece above is by Reno Maniquis. You can also expect to see stuff by David Lewis Johnson and Adam Moore, who did the well-received DMG/King Kong homage in Weird Adventures.

Wednesday Comics: Weirdworlds and Slayers

Marvel has release a couple of new collections of interest both to the Bronze Age comic fan and the tabletop rpg playing comics enthusiast.

I've covered Weirdworld here before. Inspired by the work of Tolkien, It was the creation of Doug Moench and initially brought to life by the art of Mike Ploog. This is the first time all of the Weirdworld stories have been collected in one place.

Skull the Slayer is a bit pulpier. It involves a Vietnam vet in a plane crash in the Bermuda Triangle, which you might thing is about as 70s concept you can get, except that the other survivors are other 70s stock characters (angry black man, rebellious rich kid, downtrodden young woman trying to get liberated), and the world they've found themselves mixes The Land That Time Forgot with Chariot of the Gods. It's no Warlord, but if you like Warlord, it's probably in your wheelhouse.

Fate Strange Stars Page

Here's another page from the work-in-progress Strange Stars Fate gamebook. The text is by John Till, the picture by David Lewis Johnson, and the layout by Lester B. Portly.

More Savage Worlds Strange Stars

Mike's latest efforts over at Wrathofzombie:

from the Vokun Empire, the Kuath, ibglibdishpan, voidgliders, and the Yantrans; and the nomadic Star Folk.

Check them out.

Azurth Monster Review

Yesterday's tigerpillar was only the beginning. Here's some other entries from the bestiary you might have missed:

Deodand, Hirsute and Gleimous varieties.
Dragonborn are a different thing in the deserts of Sang.
Manhound. "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."
Moon Goon arrives in a lead balloon.
Super-Wizard ancient, ultra-powerful alien wizards.

Azurthite Bestiary: Tigerpillar

by B.R. Guthrie

Tigerpillars are horrible because they are always hungry. Owing to their magical nature (their creation blamed on one ancient and obviously depraved sorcerer or another), their organs are all mixed up--in one place tiger-like and another more like an inchworm--and they can never get fully satiated. They make their lairs in remote places in the wilderness or underground not because they prefer these places, but there they can devour whatever unfortunates might happen by with less interference.

Some say the tigerpillar metamorphizes into an adult form--a tiger moth or slaughterfly, perhaps--at some point, but others say this is nonsense.

TIGERPILLAR
large monstrosity, unaligned
AC 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 51 (6d10+18)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 17(+3) DEX 13(+1) CON 16(+3) INT 3(+4) WIS 12(+1) CHA 8(-1)
Skills: Perception +3, Stealth +3
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13.

Keen Smell. The tigerpillar an advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on smell.

Pounce. If the tigerpillar moves at least 20 ft. straight toward a creature then hits it with a claw on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the tigerpillar can make one bite attack it as a bonus action.

Actions:
Multiattack. The tigerpillar makes two attacks: one with its claws and one with its bite.
Bite. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+3) piercing damage.
Claws. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 7 (1d8+3) slashing damage.

Wednesday Comics: Timelines, Sliding and Otherwise

These panels are no longer in continuity. Best forget reading them!

The advance of years has led Marvel and DC to pull make changes to keep their characters young. In 1968, Marvel took the first steps toward what would come to be known as a "sliding time scale" where the amount of time from the beginning of the heroic age stays the same, even as more and more adventures get forced in, and the beginning of that age never gets any farther away from the present. This has been coupled with an increasing avoidance of specific references to current time or events--"topical references--though there are exceptions (like right after 9/11). DC does something similar now, too, but that wasn't always their approach. Earth-Two was invented as the home of their Golden Age heroes, so it was natural for it to also become the home of Golden Age versions of their never-launched characters like Batman and Superman. For a while, this allowed DC's characters to stay "topical" and tied to the real world, though they seldom took advantage of it.

Before "Marvel Time" completely took hold--throughout much of the 70s--Marvel characters stayed somewhat topical. This is best exemplified by Claremont's run on the X-Men. Magneto's past is tied to Auschwitz and the Holocaust. We are told Ororo "Storm" Munroe was born in 1951 and that was orphaned by the Suez Crisis. Jean Grey's tombstone gives the extent of her life as "1956-1980."

Did Professor X let a 13 year-old fight Sentinels?

This can't be the Jean Grey that first appeared (likely as a high school sophomore) in 1963, though. (In fact, it doesn't seem likely that it's the same Jean Grey in that talked about meeting the Sentinels in '1969' in X-Men #98--don't know what Claremont was doing there.) Like the Golden Age Superman slowing melding into the a Silver Age one, the Silver Age Jean Grey slowly became the Bronze Age one while nobody was really paying attention.

A lot of people might not agree, but I kind of wish the DC approach had been stuck with by both companies. Instead of squishing and distorting things to fit a sliding time with very little to link it to real history, why not just switch the particular version of the characters you're chronicling every decade or so? The Silver Age Reed and Ben that fought in World War II would eventually become the Bronze Age Ben and Reed that fought in Korea or Vietnam, and the Modern Age ones that weren't in any war, You can keep the things they wanted and reboot others for each era.

Basic Strange Stars Tech

Art by Don Maitz

Despite its somewhat retro trappings, the actual technology of the Strange Stars owes more to modern science fiction. Across worlds and habitats it varies, of course: some places are at a Stone Age level while others border on post-scarcity. Here's a rundown of the common technologies available to the average citizen of the "standard" world or habitat:

Metascape: Most people experience the world through an augmented reality overlay. It contains useful information for travels, social media messages, and lots and lots of spam. Nobody walks through a public square without their filters on, lest they be bombarded by all sorts of virtual messages. Clothing is enhanced--or even sometimes completely generated--in the metascape. Some jurisdictions make it a crime to view the world infiltered by metascapes as this is seen as an unwarranted invasion of others' privacy.

Noosphere: The cyberspace of the far future, essentially, encompassing traditional internet activities, the metascape, and the living environment of infosophonts.

Implanted Cyberware: brain-computer interface is as common as smartphones are today and used for similar purposes. The typical pre-programmed software allows metascape interface, noospheric connectivity, communication (where messages can either be read or heard as read by an avatar or the sender or anyone else), chronometry, basic calculation, and interface with most modern devices. Most individuals don't navigate their own apps, but use a personal daemon--a nonsophont ai--as an advanced "Siri" and an answering service. Some cultures (like the Vokun) find implanted devices distasteful as do some individuals. They use wearable devices for the most part.

Fabber (or mini-fabber): A nanofabrication unit--essentially an advanced 3D printer--assembling at a molecular level, finished products from raw materials. These aren't exactly portable, but they are near ubiqitous household and shipboard items and public units can be used for a fee. Anything from foodstuffs (though this would only be done on long space voyages) to starship parts can be made given enough substrate and the necessary "blueprints." Commercially available models can be "jailbreaked" to make illicit drugs or weapons, but its generally easier just to buy or steal such common items.

12 Monkeys and the Temporal Investigation Game

I after the first episode, I though SyFy's 12 Monkeys series was going to be an episodic "hunt down the lead of the week" sort of thing. I was not totally wrong, but I didn't anticipate the interesting background mythology the writers would weave into the show or the clever twists they had in store. With season one over, I think its a great example of how an investigation/mystery game could be done with points in time taking the place of physical locations.

This sort of setup requires time travel to be limited in its utility. No Dr. Who-esque traveling to anywhere in space and time. Limited the number of times a person can time travel helps. Also, having the timeframe of the mystery roughly delineated so that it covers a period of a few years or decades at most.

Like when developing a hexcrawl or a pointcrawl the events (and clues) available at every time point should be planned out before hand, so that PC's can investigate them in any order they want to, Obviously, time travel institutes the possibility that PCs might do something to change the past (or the present). The easiest way to handle this is to have changes sprout alternate timelines, so the original clues remain untampered with. The problem with that is, it removes an easy reason PCs would have to be doing this travel to begin with--to change the future.

Another way to do it would be to add new points and new clues to accomodate PC changes. The antagonists have to react to the PCs actions, perhaps though, they're helped by a tendency of the time-stream to resist change.

Finally, if you're going to go to the trouble of time traveling to solve a mystery, the stakes need to be high and the clues evocative and strange. Besides shows like 12 Monkeys, Lost, Helix, and to an extent True Detective, are good at doing this sort of thing. Getting players to wonder about the location and nature of the Night Room or who the Magic Man or Jacob is will help keep PCs interested even with setbacks or leads that don't pan out.

Another Savage Friday

In what's becoming a regular feature, let's again turn to channel Wrathofzombie as Mike has been hard at work again this week adapting Strange Stars for Savage Worlds:

Neshekk: privacy obsessed bankers.
Gnomes: eusocial asteroid miners.
Deva: mysterious, angelic, post-humans.
Blesh: alien bioroids with the minds of long-dead humans.

In the Vicinity of Vega

The setting for DC Comics Omega Men. The links here will take you to detail about some of the locations, but of course, it might be much more game-useful to make up your own details.

Wednesday Comics: Multiversal Spotlight: Earth-19

Earth-19
Concept: Earth Victoriana/Steampunk
Pictured: (left to right) Bat Man (Bruce Wayne), Accelerated Man, the Shrinking Man, the Wonder Woman (Diana).
Sources/Inspirations: Gotham by Gaslight (1989) and Batman: Master of the Future (1991) collected in Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Wonder Woman: Amazonia (1997), Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Gotham by Gaslight #1 (January 2008).
Analogs: Pre-Crisis Earth-1889 was the home of Victorian Batman as established in Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths (2006); post-52 Earth-19 features Batman plus several more Victorian analogs as shown in Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Gotham by Gaslight (January 2008) #1; Post-52 Earth-34 was the setting for Wonder Woman: Amazonia as revealed in Countdown to Adventure #1 (October 2007).
Comments: Gotham by Gaslight, with its story of an 1889 Batman facing off with Jack the Ripper, started the whole Elseworlds franchise (though its first printing predated the label). It's sequel has Batman fighting a Robur the Conqueror stand-in in 1892.

The Elseworlds Wonder Woman: Amazonia is set in an alternate 1928, which presents a different identity and history for Jack the Ripper (he becomes King after killing Victoria and her family). How these two distinct worlds are melded in Earth-19 has yet to be revealed.

Hyehoon, Ksaa and Kosmoniks

Mike continues his Strange Stars adaptations for Savage Worlds.

Check out the avian Hyehoon, the scheming "Cold egg" ksaa, and the star-roving Kosmoniks.

Azurthite Bestiary: Super-Wizard

Before there ever was a Land of Azurth, an ancient race known as Super-Wizards strode the various worlds as demi-gods, bending the forces of matter, energy, and time to their inscrutable and sometimes nonsensical will. They built strange cities and monuments and worked weird wonders, and they among themselves and with primordial monsters. It was hubris that led to their end. Either by their own hand they unleashed forces that even they could not master, or their arrogance troubled the sleep of the Slumbering God enough that his dreams conceived their doom. In any case, their very planet that once occupied the sphere between Mars and Jupiter was lost in a cataclysm.

The Super-Wizards' power being what it was, there is always a chance, however, that some escaped the fate of their world and are plotting with immortal patience their re-ascendance. It is the official position of the most learned arcane scholars of Azurth that the Super-Wizards are no more. However, the Wizard of Azurth and the Mysteriarchs of Zed are known to pay handsomely for an information about the Super-Wizards, particularly as might hint to their continued existence.

The following stats represent an "average" member of the Super-Wizard race. Exceptional individuals will be far more formidable.

SUPER-WIZARD
medium humanoid, any alignment
AC 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 139 (13d10+74)
Speed: 30 ft.; fly 90 ft.
STR 18(+4) DEX 18(+4) CON 18(+4) INT 17(+3) WIS 17(+3) CHA 18(+4)
Saving Throws  Con +8 Cha +8
Skills Arcana +7, Insight +7, Perception +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons, cold, necrotic
Senses passive Perception 17

Spellcasting. Most Super-Wizard's are 10th-level spellcasters, with a number of spell slots equivalent to a Sorcerer of the same level. Their spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with attack spells). Their spells never requirement material components. They The following spells are common:

Cantrips (at will): Friends, Light, Mage Hand, Message1st level: Comprehend Languages, Disguise Self, Thunderwave2nd level: Alter Self, Detect Thoughts, Scorching Ray3rd level: Blink, Haste, Protection from Energy4th level: Dimension Door5th level: Teleportation Circle

Magic Resistance. A Super-Wizard has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.

Actions:
Multiattack. A Super-Wizard can make two melee attacks.
Melee Weapon. Super-Wizards employ a variety of over-sized or exotic appearing simple or martial weapons which function like standard ones of their type.

The Ethereal Prison

The Ethereal Plane as written in D&D is a transitive plane. It's a place you travel through or the medium stuff floats in. What if it were a bit less accessible--on purpose? What if, like the Phantom Zone is DC Comics, it was a prison? Maybe the gods or super-wizards of ages past had imprisoned renegades, criminals and monsters there?

If you aren't familiar with the Phantom Zone, read about here, The concepts a pretty simple one, though, even if you've never heard of it. Imprisoned creatures float around like ghosts.

This would have the advantage of differentiating the ethereal more from the other transitive planes and establish some interesting mysteries for PCs to look into.

More Savage Strange Stars

Mike aka Wrathofzombie has been on a tear. If you're a Savage Worlds fan, his progression toward likely mental breakdown is your gain. Check out these Strange Stars adaptations:

Engineers Cybernetic crustacean builders of Vokun technology.
Bomoth Caterpillar-like musicians.
Smaragdines Green-skinned psionicists.

Wednesday Comics: Multiversal Spotlight: Earth-33

Earth-33
Concept: Earth-Prime
Pictured: Ultra and everybody
Sources/Inspirations: Flash #179, Flash #278, Justice League of America #123-124, Justice League of America #153, DC Comics Presents #87.
Analogs: Earth-Prime of the pre-Crisis universe, first appearing in Flash #179 (May 1968); post-52, Earth-Prime was home to Superboy-Prime and a version of the Legion of Superheroes as seen in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5 (July 2009)
Comments: Earth-Prime started out as the place where the stories of DC Comics were read and written. In Flash #179, the Flash winds up their and enlists the help of Julius Schwartz, then writer of his title, to return to Earth-One. Flash #228 introduced the wrinkle of the writers on Earth-Prime not just chronicling the adventures on the other earths but influencing them, as well. In Justice League of America #123 (1975), Cary Bates briefly becomes a megalomaniacal super-villain on Earth-Two thanks to this power. That would set the stage for tragedies to come.

In Justice League of America #153, Earth-Prime stops being our world when he gets its own superhero, Ultraa. Still, Ultraa decides Earth-Prime just isn't ready for superheroes and migrates to Earth-One. Even though Ultraa had a similar origin to Superman's, Earth-Prime gets its own Superman in the Crisis crossover DC Comics Presents #87 (1985) in the form of Superboy(-Prime).

Earth-Prime gets destroyed by the Anti-Monitor in Crisis and Superboy-Prime gets raptured to superhero out of continuity heaven with Earth-Two Superman and Alexander Luthor at the events end. The ending doesn't last, as he's back as a maniacal, genocidal villain in Infinite Crisis.

Azurthite Bestiary: Deodand, Gleimous

The lucifugal monsters called deodands are a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of Subazurth. The Gleimous variety may well be the most foul of them, adding the insult of its slimy excess to the already sufficient injury of its anthrophagousness. No specimen of a gleimous deodand has ever been examined in detail, but the reports of those unlucky enough to have encountered them and lucky enough to have survived give the impression of a hunched and hairless body, emaciated, but suprisingly strong. At least three, bloodshot eyes of differing sizes protrude from their flat faces, and a great, multi-headed, wet, worm-like tongues writhes between fearsomely toothed jaws, agape and heavily drooling. This heavy drool it wipes on its arms and hands and is what gives the beast its name.

They are recognized by their peculiar vocalizations: an idiot snickering, punctuated by the occasional sniffle, and wet, lip-smacking sounds. They tend to mark potential pray by licking the unfortunate first or perhaps starting with their unattended belonging before moving to the individual. Later, they snatch them from the darkness. They tend to feed on skin, striping it with their abrasive tongues, and them dismember the corpse to more easily break the bones and suck out the marrow. The flesh itself is left for the scavengers.

DEODAND, GLEIMOUS
large monstrosity, neutral evil
AC 21 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 139 (13d10+74)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 17(+3) DEX 18(+4) CON 20(+5) INT 11(+0) WIS 12(+1) CHA 17(+3)
Saving Throws  Str +7 Dex +8 Con +9 Wis +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities poison
Senses Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 11.

Magic Resistance. A gleimous deodand has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.
Slime. A creature that touches a gleimous deodand or hits it with a melee attch while within 5 ft. must make a DC 12 dexterity save or take 3 (1d6) points of acid damage from flying drool.
Sunlight Weakness. In anything brighter candlelight, deodand have a disadvantage to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Bright sunlight causes them to melt like film in a projector, losing i hit dice worth of hit points a round.

Actions:
Multiattack. A gleimous deodand may make two claw attacks and one bite or tongue lash.
Claw. +8 to hit. 10 ft. reach, 1 target. Hit: 11 (1d8+7) damage.
Tongue Lash. +9 reach 10 ft.; one target. Hit: 10 (1d6+7) damage plus 1d6 acid damage from caustic saliva.
Bite. +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit:  (1d8+7) plus 1d6 acid damage from caustic saliva.

Strange and Savage Stars

Over at the Wrathofzombie's blog, Mike the wrathful zombie himself has posted what I hope are the first in a series of posts adapting Strange Stars to Savage Worlds. Check what he's got up so far here and here.

Oh, and worked proceeds on the Fate adaptation, with the Stars Without Number adaptation to follow after I get that one off to layout.

Strange Stars Character Types in SWN

The three broad sophont types in Strange Stars (see the setting book, on sale now) adapt fairly easily to Stars Without Number:

Biologics: These are either humans or aliens (and in the far future of Strange Stars the distinct isn't always clear). They're created using the standard character creation rules in SWN plus the any particular attribute requirements/modifiers that might apply to their particular clade.

The sort of body-swapping described in Mandate Archive: TransTech is much more common in Strange Stars than in the default SWN setting. Many people may start with some sort of genemod upgrade and backups are common for those who can afford them. Unlike Threshold Sector, the Strange Stars are not post scarcity; things still cost credits. Cyberware (like in the core book and Mandate Archive: Polychrome) is also common, though most cultures in known space find overt cyberware tacky and primitive: it's been replace by gengineering. The Zao Pirates do not share this disdain.

Bioroids are biologic androids. Their bodies are essentially built like a hull. Unlike other biologic entities, they can not reproduce naturally; they are built or grown in vats.

Moravecs: Sophont robots. Many moravec types will essentially just be mechanical "species." Other s will be built easier via the AI rules.

Infosophonts: Digital minds. These are AI, essentially. They could be downloaded into a bioroid body (hull) or a mechanical one (armature). The differences between infosophonts are moravecs fuzzy at times, but many moravecs are as attached to their single, physical forms as much as many baseline humans. Infosophonts just say those forms as outfits.

Azurthite Bestiary: Deodand

The deodand are a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of Subazurth. Its appetite is insatiable, and it prefers to feed on people above all else. It abhors the light, and as a consequence no deodand has ever been seen clearly--or at least no one has survived the encounter to give a full description.

It is the general consensus that their are three varieties of deodand: leprous, gleimous, and hirsute. A fourth type, the slithery or lubricous is mentioned in some texts, but its existence is disputed. Glabrous and rugose varieties are described in Hokum's A Compleat and Entirely Accurate Bestiary of Subazurth, but the contents of that work are often as dubious as its title.

This is what is known of appearance of deodands in general: They are roughly human in shape, but taller. Their eyes glow like smoldering coals in the darkness. They seem no more intelligent than beasts and use no tools.

Today, we'll consider the Hirsute Deodand.

DEODAND, HIRSUTE
large monstrosity, neutral evil
AC 20 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 157 (15d10+75)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 18(+4) DEX 14(+2) CON 21(+5) INT 11(+0) WIS 16(+3) CHA 18(+4)
Saving Throws  Str +9 Con +10 Wis +8
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities poison
Senses Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 13.

Magic Resistance. A hirsute deodand has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.
Stench. Within 5 feet, make a DC 13 save or be sick.
Sunlight Weakness. In anything brighter candlelight, deodand have a disadvantage to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Bright sunlight causes them to melt like film in a projector, losing i hit dice worth of hit points a round.

Actions:
Multiattack. A hirsute deodand may make two claw attacks and one
Claw. +9 to hit. 10 ft. reach, 1 target. Hit: 12 (1d8+8) damage.
Bite. +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (2d6) damage.

Hirsute deodands are large, gangingly humanoids, their mass filled out by thick, course, foul-smelling hair. Their only vocalization is a phlegmatic growl or chortle. Only their malevolent red eyes are ever seen.

Deodands move silently and quickly for creatures so large, The favorite tactic of a hirsute deodand is to snatch folk from parties traveling through Subazurth--perhaps stragglers or merely the unaware--snuff their light source quickly, then carry them into the darkness to consume at their leisure. They consider eyes a delicacy. Their meeps of pleasure can sometimes be heard reverberating through dark and cavernous places. It might otherwise be a comical sound, but is chilling in context.

Wednesday Comics: Multiversal Spotlight: Earth-16

Earth-16
Concept: Earth of celebrity superhero scions
Pictured: (left to right) Batman (Damian Wayne), Alexis Luther, Superman (Chris Kent), The Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Arrowette (Cissie King-Hawke), Bloodwynd, Sister Miracle.
Sources/Inspirations: The Multiversity: The Just #earthme #1, The Saga of the Super-Sons (originally presented in World's Finest); (Chris Kent) Superman: Last Son; (Damian Wayne) Batman: Son of the Demon, Batman and Son.
Analogs: The world of the Super-Sons was identified as pre-Crisis Earth-154 in Infinite Crisis #6; Mark Gruenwald had previously referred to this world as Earth-E in A Primer on Reality in Comic Books (1977). Earth-16 in the post-52 multiverse was the world of the Young Justice tv series.
Comments: Imaginary tales going back to the fifties portrayed Superman and Batman having kids with Lois Lane and Kathy Kane, respectively, but the story of the trials and tribulations of these kids as adolescents/young adults only started being told when Bob Haney and Dick Dillin introduced the Super-Sons in World's Finest Comics vol 1 #154 (December 1965). Morrison expanded the concept here to include a whole new generation of super-powered offspring in a world where all the heroic battles had already been fought.

The Villains' Memorial

Last night, our Land of Azurth game continued with our heroes assaulting the half-buried prison ship where the Burly Brothers and their gang are likely keeping the kidnapped ambassador from Lardafa the City of Beggars.. Usually, the heroes exploits are the subject of our recount, but today, I thought I'd focus on those that went down under their blades:

Four bully-boys: The names of these unfortunates are forgotten even by their emloyers. They were the newest and weakest members of the gang. Only chance lead them to be on guard duty at the time assault. None mourn their passing, especially not their two confederates that jumped overboard to escape a similar fate.

Nort and the Gorch Brothers: Three more seasoned bravos, the Gorchs were brothers, and though not twins, the Burly Brothers and their lieutenants never bothered to learn to tell them apart. They would answer to either name. Nort and Moq were either the Gorchs' half-brothers or their cousins. They had even less personality, though Nort had on rare occasions displayed a fine singing voice. Moq escaped the assault, stealing the party's boat and disappearing into the night as his cousin (or half-brother) fell under the spells of the warlock, Kairon.

 Skawl: The Burly Brothers' scar-faced lieutenant. He was said to have gotten his scar in a duel. He only spoke of the incident rarely and even then obliquely. The truth was, he remember very little of it owing to an excess of various intoxicants on the night it occurred.

Grool: The resident cook on the Hurly Burly. Grool could hardly be called a culinary genius, but he liked his work, so much so that none would have dared take it from him even if they had wanted to. If his fellow cutthroats were put off their appetites by his numerous sores and unhealthy complexion, they never let it show. Grool wielded his cleaver with a deft and fearsome hand, but he was in the end, unable to stand against multiple assailants. The fish head stew he had made for supper was his culinary epitath.

Strange Stars Update

Work proceeds on the Strange Stars gamebooks. John Till has finished the draft of the Fate implementation and I am in the process of editing. It's going slower than I would like due to work related stuff that won't abate until the end of April. Still, Lester is already working on the layout with what I have gotten through, and (despite my initial plans not to) I have comissioned a few pieces of new art, including a piece from "Reno" Maniquis  who did the piece that's on the cover of Strange Trails over on the sidebar.

Stay tuned.

Our Gang

I don't talk a lot about the social aspect of the game here, tending to focus more on ideas or inspirations, but my gaming group has been down a couple of players the past couple of sessions and not just due to difficult schedules (which happens to us sometimes). One of my players--one of my friends, Jim--was diagnosed with colon cancer and has been undergoing chemo. We hope we've worked out a way for him to join us this time via the internet, at least. We'll see.

My present group is pretty new in its current configuration. Andrea is the newest and brings some fresh enthusiasm. Though new to rpgs in general, she has jumped in with both feet. She plays in our group and in a weekly game with another group. Her character is a sort of fussy dwarf cleric, often appalled by the moral failings of the world.

Eric and Bob have gamed with me off and on since we were residents. Bob always plays fighters with a flexible morality and a strong appreciation for gold. In real life, Bob works like crazy and still trains for things like mud-runs and zombie obstacle courses. Eric sometimes tries to play evil or amoral characters, but his inherent goodness always stymies him. He can't even be evil in pretend. He has a fondness for magic-user types.

Tug I know from the comic book store in town where he used to work, but he has since moved on to better things. Tug sort of reminds me of Jake the Dog on Adventure Time! when he's all joie de vivre. He plays a frogling thief named Waylon who strums a banjo.

Gina is a GM in her own right (I've played before in her Boot Hill game) and the author of a Western Romance novel, first serialized on her blog. She's also Jim's wife. When she played a hoodoo woman in our last game,she brought a bag of props with her--including a chickens foot and a crystal ball. This time she's a badass elf ranger--no props, unfortunately.

And Jim, well, it's likely Weird Adventures wouldn't have happened without him, since he did the layout. He writes a comics blog. Despite having a wife who is a gamer, he hadn't really played a lot until I dragged him into it. He's often plays it very cautious and and calculated. He'd do well with a killer DM, but in my games, his over caution just winds up bringing a bit of amusement. As a former local rock star in his youth, it's fitting he plays the bard.

I have to confess, I'm never been a big fan of games, in general. I don't really play video/computer games. Board games are something I like only rarely. I like rpgs, though. In part, it's due to the creativity involved, but without the people I sit at the table with, it would only be writing--and that wouldn't be the same at all.

Return to Azurth

This weekend the group is getting back together (hopefully the whole gang) for another Land of Azurth session for the first time in a couple of sessions. The PCs will likely invade the partially submerged lair of the Baleful Burly Brothers and their murderous gang.

To get back in the mindset of that world, I updated my Dictionary of Azurth. Check it out for entries on  Troglopolis, Apiaria, and Noom.

Wednesday Comics: The Multiverse So Far

Too busy tonight for a spotlight on a new world, so I figured it was as good a time as any for a review of what we've covered so far:

Earth-4 (Charlton Earth)
Earth-6 (Stan Lee's Just Imagine Earth)
Earth-10 (Earth X)
Earth-20 (Pulp Earth)
Earth-35 (Awesome Comics Earth)
Earth-37 (Chaykin Earth)
Earth-38 (John Byrne's Generations Earth)
Earth-39 (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Earth)
Earth-51 (Kirby Earth)

Building Races in 5e

The stats for the races in the 5e PHB always looked like there was a method to their construction. I don't know how strictly in guidelines of that sort were followed, but it certainly looked like the designers had them.

I was a bit disappointed when the DMG came up and didn't really include any guidelines of that sort. Luckily, the internet has come to the rescue with not one but two people claiming to have discovered the formula. Here's one originally posted on Reddit, and another I came across on rpgnet with a pdf and a spreadsheet. I haven't looked at either of them close enough to know how well they match up. They use different numbers, but that doesn't necessarily mean they don't translate.

Robot Dungeon

I've written before about a world where the dungeoneering was an done by androids who were the remnant of human civilization (all that's here). There's another way to get dungeons crawling with robots, and that's with a future post-apocalyptic world that's been overrun by them. Instead of apes, or fairies, or vampires, let the robots take over something like Screamers (and the Philip K. Dick story it's based on "The Second Variety"), Terminator, or Magnus: Robot-Fighter. Unlike those examples though, human civilization can have been pushed back to pseudo-Medieval levels.

Say the robots have moved mostly underground, leaving humans to limp along on a damaged surface world. The underground bases of the robots would be a lot like dungeons. Robots would have made various robotic or bio-robotic guardians--monsters, of sorts. Maybe the robots are even aliens? A post-sentient, techno-organic swarm that landed and buried itself into the earth, spreading underground like roots, building robotic creatures in a myriad of forms as it went. You'd have a whole underground ecology of robots. Add "magic" (really psionic powers in disguise) and you've got a fantasy world, or close enough.

For a real fantasy world, assume that the alien robotic swarm invaded a fairly D&Dish world (except with maybe less conflict to begin with).

More Entries From the Catalog of Worlds

A follow-up to this post. More excerpts from A Concise Atlas of the Multiverse (2273):

BEDLAM (Pandemonium)
Type: Metaphysical
Reality: Highly Mutable, psychomorphic
Dominant Lifeform: ?

Description: A roiling, colorful manifold filled with psychedelic, pseudo-matter forms spontaneously generated by interaction with the mental imprints of sophont beings, Bedlam is thought to be either a vestige of raw hyperspace prior to manipulation by the Precursors or a walled off area of damaged metric. Its metaphysics have a profound effect on visitors, leading to feelings of depersonalization, paranoia, and sometimes full psychotic reactions among those not properly prepared. Prolong exposure to the naked manifold ultimately leads to dissolution of the physical form, following mental disintegration. Artificial islands of stability exist within Bedlam and these are the primary destinations for visitors. Wildcatters use some islands as bases for attempts to "mine" the metric.  Gathziri monasteries are often found in these places, though its unlikely their inhabitants created the islands in the first place.

BLACK IRON PRISON (The Big House)
Type: Metaphysical
Reality: Fixed, paraphysical
Dominant Lifeform: deodands; numerous prisoner species

Description: Black Iron Prison (human designation) is an ancient megastructure, a 4-dimensional hyperoctahedron the size of a dwarf planet, and the pocket universe that houses it. The structure was supposedly constructed by the Precursors as a prison, or maybe as the concept of confinement, itself. It is staffed by a clade of hereditary guards called deodands, who view their job as a quasi-religious obligation. For a fee, they will accept new prisoners from any political body, though very few governments will admit to using their services. No public record of those housed in the Escher-maze cell-blocks of the prison exists, but some of its inmates are likely the descendants of individuals whose accusers have been long forgotten, to say nothing of their alleged crimes.

Wednesday Comics: Multiversal Spotlight: Earth-35

Earth-35
Concept: Earth Maximum Press/Awesome Comics Universe.
Pictured: (left to right) Starcop (analog of Starhunter, analog of Martian Manhunter), Mercury-Man (analog of Doc Rocket, analog of the Flash), Miss X (stand-in for Alley Cat, a pastiche of Black Canary/Catwoman), Morphin' Man (analog of Polyman, analog of Plastic Man/Elongated Man), Majesty (analog of Glory, pastiche of Wonder Woman), Olympian (stand-in for Fisherman, stand-in for Green Arrow), Supremo (analog of Supreme, pastiche of Superman), the Owl (stand-in for Professor Night, Batman analog).
Sources/Inspirations: Maximum Press/Awesome Comics' Supreme #41-56, Supreme: The Return, Judgment Day (1997), Avatar Comics' Alan Moore's Glory (2001).
Analog: None in previous versions of the DC Multiverse.
Comments: Morrison has said this Earth is "a copy of a copy." In 1992, Rob Liefield's Extreme Studios populated his corner of the Image shared universe with dark heroes in 90s style. In 1996, after Liefield's depature from Image, he allowed Alan Moore to remake his characters in the image of Silver Age DC Comics. Supreme went having an inconsistent backstory and being largely vengeful and violent to being a very close pastiche of Silver Age Superman that more would use as a commentary on comics in general and Superman in particular. The other characters mostly just filled out Supreme's world, though Moore had bigger plans for Glory, which were never realized with that character, but seem to have provided the inspiration for Promethea.

From the Catalog of Worlds

A follow up to this post, here are a few excerpts from the Catalog of Worlds:

ANIMAL WORLD
Type: Physical
Reality: Fixed, paraphysical (“cartoon physics”)
Dominant Lifeform: Humanoids resembling Terran animals
Description: Animal World appears to be an alternate Earth, except for it being inhabited by talking, anthropomorphic animals. Beyond the dominate species, all objects, whether ostensibly living or not, are animate to varying degrees. Their technology level is roughly late 20th century, and the populace’s awareness and acceptance of space and multiversal travel is highly variable. The altered physical laws of the world can be disorienting and even dangerous. Visitors are encouraged to spend time in virtually simulations before arrival to acclimate themselves as much as possible.

CONTROL
Type: Metaphysical
Reality: Generally fixed, paraphysical
Dominant Lifeform: polyhedroid machine life with a group mind
Description: Control is believed by many to be substructure of the universe—its underlying operating system. It’s mostly perceived as a 3-dimensional grid of glowing lines in a void, disappearing into infinity, though some visitors have described a hum of unseen machinery. The 4-dimensional polyhedroids are “programs” then, tasked with increasing uptime and eliminating threats. Any traveler who makes it to Control runs the risk of beings perceived as such. Polyhedroids communicate in the “machine code” of the universe, so their transmissions are highly efficient at reality manipulation at cut through the formulae and sigils of other entities.

THE HELL-WORLDS
Type: Metaphysical
Reality: Limited mutability; individual realms are locally fixed
Dominant Lifeform: Diaboli
Description: The Diaboli clade have either formed or modified a mostly barren universe to hold a number of realms and subrealms with environments and physics tailored to the desires of their rulers. They are a very wealthy cultured, enriched by their dealings with other species. Each realm is under the control of a director. There are very few laws to limit the director’s authority, at least when it comes to visitors from other worlds. Their society is very hierarchical, despite their protestations at times to the contrary, and research into protocol prior to a visit is highly advisable.