Sword & Backpack

Over at the Sword & Backpack blog, Gabe Soria has been working on a neat (and free) rules-lite (he says "minimalist") old school inspired rpg that seems to be aimed at younger audiences. Soria says his goals were to make:  "A) the first RPG designed to be played out of a grid-paper Moleskine, and B) the only RPG inspired by Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies and Factory Records."

It's got a bit of an Adventure Time feel, I think, but it also sort of evokes the original 1966 animated Hobbit to me for some reason.

Check out (and download) the free basic rules here and go here to find out how to assemble it. Then peruse the rest of Gabe's posts for further broadsheet expansions and things like sountrack "mixtape" playlists.

It's Not Easy Being Green (Ssraad)

GREEN SSRAAD
No. Appearing: 2-12
AC: 5
HD: 5
Saving Throw: 12
Attack Bonus: +7/+6/+6
Damage: 1d4 tongue slap (+poison, see below) or 1d8 bite; or by weapon 
Movement: 30’
Morale: 12

The green ssraad control the ancient habitats in orbit around Sirius A. Intensely xenophobic, the only non-ssraad they allow in the system are their slaves (and future meals). From Sirius, they stage raids on other systems and engage in a protracted war with the blue ssraad.

The green are the smallest ssraad species (2.13 m), but also the most intelligent. They believe themselves to be the closest in form to the zurr, whom they worship as their semi-divine progenitors. Of all the ssraad, the green most closely resemble anthropomorphic toads. Their plump bodies and thin limbs make them appear much less threatening than the reds or blues. Appearances can be deceiving.

The green ssraad generate a paralytic biochemical that they can deliver via their sticky, extensible tongues. Anyone hit on exposed skin by their tongue must make a Physical Effects saving throw (Toxicity 10 Interval 1 hour Virulence 2) or be paralyzed. Three failed saves means a victim's breathing has also been paralyzed and he or she begins to suffocate without respiratory support. Other ssraad aren’t paralyzed, but instead become docile and submissive. The green can also deliver a cocktail containing hormones and plasmids which trigger parthenogenesis in any ssraad species. The genetic material in the plasmids causes all offspring produced to be born as green ssraad. Greens refer to ssraad undergoing forced parthenogenesis as slrnn meh (“breeders”) and they automatically lose status in ssraad society. Greens cover their skin with an ointment made from human endocrine elements and other ingredients to insulate themselves against such assaults by rivals.

Sights in the Strange Stars

Few galactic sporting events offer the sheer spectacle of the giant robot combats of Gogmagog. The robots are of unique design (but all humanoid) and tower anywhere from around 10 meters to over 80 in the world’s low gravity. Mostly they stand waiting for some signal—or maybe just the right moment. They may not move for years or even decades. Then abruptly, they sally forth to engage one of their fellows in hand to hand combat.

That’s when the motley bot breaker gangs go into action. They race to the location of the latest match on their dilapidated walkers, their howdah shantytowns rattling with the jarring motion and their frantic preparations. They have to work fast to salvage what they can from the defeated giant before the swarms of von Neumann machines skitter and crawl from their underground lairs to repair the fallen gladiator—and dissemble the bot-breakers’ tools and transport for raw materials. What the bot breakers can get away with they can sell to fringe scientists and inventors trying to duplicate exotic alloys or wealthy collectors looking for an alien objet trouvé.

A more transcendent vista can perhaps be found around Altair, the home system of the winged deva. Ten moon-sized artificial worlds are strewn like jewels around the oblate star, their diamondoid coatings glinting and iridescent in its light.  These are said to be huge brains, or perhaps the separate components of one even larger mind. Some appear damaged,  the result of some ancient war. The deva flit between between them, working to repair the spheres and restore the mind.  They let few visitors enter the spheres themselves, though that may be with good reason. Rumors abound that the damaged psyches of the spheres produce dangerous qlippothic demons from deranged code.

Warlord Wednesday: A Look Back

Since last Warlord Wednesday completed my review of the Warlord annuals, I thought it was fitting to take a moment and look back at where we've been:

"Gateway to Doom" in Annual #1 (1982) found Shakira and Morgan trying to help a well meaning minstrel win the heart of a stuck-up princess.

Annual #2 ("The Prophecy," 1983) was sort of a prologue to the New Atlantis Saga, introducing Krystovar the Healer and New Atlantis, itself.

"Full Circle" in Annual #3 (1894) tied the New Atlantis stuff to the mythology of Warlord, by explaining the link between the beast-making device of the New Atlanteans and that of the aliens of the Blood Moon. It also gave us the chance to see that Deimos came from a long line of villains.

Annual #4's "Sins of the Father...Fate of the Son" (1985) has the Evil One rearing his ugly head and the Hellfure sword makes a reappearance. This also marks the end of the "Tinder is secretly Morgan's son" storyline. Not because it's resolved, but because Tinder is soon dropped from the series. This issue also has a map of Skartaris.

Annual #5 (1986) saw Morgan return to Earth for an encounter with technologically advanced Mayan-descendants and the CIA--primarily he dogged Redmond--in"The Uxmal Encounter."

Another Review

If you're still sitting on the fence about picking up Weird Adventures (and I'm sure there's still somebody), check out a new review over at the excellent blog Daddy Rolled a 1.

Stay a while and look through Martin's other interesting posts, as well.

Blue Monday

Continuing my exploration of the inimical ssraad:

BLUE SSRAAD
No. Appearing: 2-12
AC: 4
HD: 8
Saving Throw: 11
Attack Bonus: +8/+8/+8
Damage: 2d6/2d6 claws, 1d12 bite
Movement: 30’
Morale: 12

The blue ssraad make their lair in stolen asteroid habitats huddled close to the cinder of Sirius B. From this base, they launch raids across the Expanse and wage a grinding war against the green ssraad holding Sirius A.

The hulking blue (3 m tall) are the most massive of the ssraad species and are more intelligent and organized than the red. Still, they have no hierarchy beyond the tribal level, where the strongest rule, and what technology they possess is stolen.  They force captives to remodel their starships for the ssraad’s large frames before they kill them. They can employ weapons, but they prefer to use the bone spur claws that grow from dorsal surface of their hands, and their massive jaws.

Ssraad reproduce asexually. Dominance challenges between ssraad can lead to slashes along the back of the loser by the victor’s bone spurs that (combined with chemicals introduced into the loser’s bloodstream from the victor’s saliva) stimulate grow of eggs beneath osteodermic plates on the loser’s back. These eventually bud off into larva, to which the adults pay little attention. The victor sometimes passes genetic material to the loser’s eggs through his saliva in a manner similar to bacterial conjugation.

Red in Tooth and Claw

The decimated systems and damaged worlds of the Zuran Expanse are stalked by several hostile sophont species. Among the most feared are the ssraad [ʂra:d], who claim the whole region as their own by reason of their supposed descent from the enigmatic zurr for whom the Expanse is named. Others have theorized that the ssraad are more likely a creation of the zurr—and perhaps their undoing. No biologic evidence of the zurr exists to prove or disprove either theory.

The three species of ssraad are differentiated by color and some morphological features, but all are bipeds with broad, wide-mouthed heads and bumpy skins, reminiscent of toads. The species exist in a state of mutual hostility. The two dominant species (the blue and the green) employ the reds in their warfare against other and other sophonts.

reconstruction of red ssraad image from visual cortex of victim

RED SSRAAD
No. Appearing: 1-4
AC: 5
HD: 6
Saving Throw: 13
Attack Bonus: +6/+6/+6
Damage: 1d4/1d4 claws, 1d10 bite
Movement: 30’
Morale: 10
Red ssraad at nearly 2.5 m tall and have dull red skin. Though sophont, red ssraad act more like ravening animals than sapient beings. Often only their sadism gives them away. They do not build or create, but are capable of utilizing technology when necessary. Red ssraad are used as shock troops and terror weapons by the greens. They are phenomenal hardy and regenerate 2 hit points a round.

Red ssraad reproduce in an unsual way.  They parthenogenetically produce eggs that must incubate with a living host. Ssraad use their hollow tongues to inject eggs (40% chance) into a host on a bite that does damage. Once inside, the egg gestates for 3 weeks. After that, the host falls ill for approximately 24 hours with nausea and abdominal pain before the ssraad larva eats its way out of their body, killing them.