Category Archives: Games

Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine

So, after all this time, the folks at nuChaosium decided to embrace the concept of a standalone core BRP book after all. Which leads us to BRP: Universal Game Engine. BRPUGE was released in PDF back in the spring and is now available in print. Buy it direct from Chaosium and you get the PDF for free with the print version. My physical edition just arrived, so here are a few thoughts and some pictures.

BRPUGE is nicely bound and:

  • has the now largely obligatory ribbon bookmark
  • is printed on crisp, creamy, uncoated paper
  • has charming new color & b/w art
  • is 99.44% a cleaned up & in-print version of the 2010-era Big Gold Book

All-in-all seems to be worth the money if you’re someone who plays BRP games. Or just wish you were. Or happen to be a BRP completist.

I have read that a few things have been excised from this edition (when compared to the aforementioned BGB), but I haven’t gone hunting to confirm or uncover anything specific. Supposedly Strike Rank rules as well as rules for treating Attack and Parry as two separate skills for melee weapons have been omitted. But I’ve never cared for SRs and splitting Attack/Parry is too fiddly for my tastes. So, meh?

On the whole it looks nice and feels good but it is not, strictly speaking, an essential purchase. However, if BRP interests you and you don’t have the BGB already (or if you want to communicate to nuChaosium with yer scratch that you think BRP is worthy of existing as a standalone book alongside its more integrated flavors like RQ and CoC), well, it becomes an essential purchase then, doesn’t it?

Additionally, I think this edition is covered under one of the post-OGL fiasco licenses so it could in theory be used to publish one’s own materials. But I’m not a lawyer and also not exactly burning it up over here producing RPG material to publish so, ah, do your own research on that, comrades.

My final verdict is that holding the book makes me want to play games with the system. And in the end, that’s enough. Now if I can just dredge up some players. Sigh.

Labyrinth Lord, Rise From Your Grave!

All three of you, if you missed it, will be happy to hear… Labyrinth Lord is coming back swinging. I’ll direct your attention to the words of Doctor Dan Proctor hisownself:

Labyrinth Lord second edition is set for release in Q1 of 2023. Its release will be concurrent with a new solo adventure (the writing stage is currently almost finished). These products will be released directly to the public, not via any fundraising effort ahead of time.

Later, there will be a second edition of the Advanced Edition Companion, and if the public desires it, these books will be compiled to create a second edition of Advanced Labyrinth Lord. All editions will remain in print, but clearly labeled with our vendors as to which books are first or second edition.

Goblinoid Games will continue to publish additional adventures and other works regularly going forward.

Between this and the other parts of the announcement (some of which were buried on Faceskronk, but surfaced on Reddit) it sounds like this second edition will move closer to the core “as written” B/X experience a la OSE since, as the intervening years have shown, the earliest RetroClones’ efforts to change thing around a little (e.g., 1st level Clerics getting spells, varied or dropped level titles, &c.) to avoid lawsuits are no longer needed.

In any case, that my original fav-o-rite clone of my original fav-o-rite RPG is being revivified makes me happy. Hopefully it puts a smile on your faces, too. Now let’s hope that Mutant Future gets brought along for the ride…

RPGaDAY 2019: 42 Confessor of Larx

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! he started as his RPGaDAY 2019 experience, but is only now getting around to continuing. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Critical (22)

42 Confessor of Larx

Among the many Gods of the Cataclysmic Millennium, Larx sits rather high upon the hill. Larx rules over many things, but most of all He delights in knowing the failures and transgressions of the creatures of the world. It’s your job to serve as His eyes and ears. Through you Larx partakes of his favorite form of sustenance. And through you he improves the lives of those who confess their sins truthfully.

Possessions

  • Holy Truncheon (Damage as Mace).
  • Confessor’s Robes (counts as Light Armor).
  • 1d6 Pocket Gods.

Advanced Skills

2 Spell – Exorcism
2 Spell – Banish Spirit
2 Discern Truth
2 Condemn/Absolve
1 Truncheon Fighting

Special

You may Test your Luck to Accept a Confession from any sentient entity. If successful, that entity gains 1 Luck (up to its natural maximum) as its soul comes clean. Further, you do not lose a point of Luck from testing. If unsuccessful, however, the entity loses 1 Luck and you lose 2 Luck for failing to please His Infinite Fickleness. You may only attempt to Accept a Confession from any given entity once per year. Larx doesn’t eat small meals.

RPGaDAY 2019: 41 Beleaguered Bureaucrat (Burned Out)

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! he started as his RPGaDAY 2019 experience, but is only now getting around to continuing. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Calamity (46)

41 Beleaguered Bureaucrat

In a world where there are six cataclysms worth of insurance claims, planning board documents, construction permits, and Larx knows what else, there will be numerous individuals whose job it is to deal with that avalanche of record keeping. Most of them settle into a life of office politics and mediocre evenings like a pig settles into the muck. Others, though, never fully adjust to that lifestyle. Once you’d filed your last 27b/6 you just kind of snapped. Now you’re out here, living the life you’ve always dreamed of: open sky & open road, free from crushing weight of responsibility for the little things that hold society together, ready to make up for lost time. And with a little extra in your pocket for your troubles.

Possessions

  • d666 embezzled coins.
  • Gold-Plated Ball Point Pen (Damage as Dagger).

Advanced Skills

3 Bureaucracy
2 Etiquette
2 Secret Signs: Bureaucratic Jargon & Marks
1 Awareness
1 Mathmology
1 Pen Fighting
1 Neglected Talent You Aim To Make Good On Now

RPGaDAY 2019: 36 Priest Of The Bounteous Lord

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Plenty (35)

36 Priest Of The Bounteous Lord

The gospel of Urarg-Hab-Shaddon, The Bounteous Lord, teaches that there is more than enough matter in the universe and that the most sinful act is to contain & constrain. Thus, your calling is to liberate all forms of matter from the confinements of the world. Those who don’t understand that this includes coins from banks, gems from the unholy statues of heretical faiths, and delicious foods from restaurants are simply ignorant. Those who would stand in your way are simply intolerant fools.

Possessions

  • A Staff, which is but one of an enormous collection.
  • Many layers of Robes and Vestments (counts as Light Armor).
  • A bottomless Tin of Biscuits, which cannot actually provide the mechanical benefits of a meal’s worth of food, but will leave everyone in the vicinity feeling full and happy.

Advanced Skills

2 Liturgical Oration
2 Spell – Grow
2 Spell – Shatter
1 Spell – Explode
1 Spell – Open
1 Evaluate
1 Locks

RPGaDAY 2019: 35 Rhos Olastra Cultural Ambasador

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Critical (22)

35 Rhos Olastra Cultural Ambassador

“Always marginalized, often conquered, seldom appreciated.” is how the cultural anthropologists of the University of Welveng have described the Rhos Olasta. This small island nation has produced many of the great cultural works of the Cataclysmic Millennium. After throwing off the chains of their last oppressor, King Moesgoff VI dispatched his most successful warrior-poets into the world to spread the best of his country’s epics far and wide.

Possessions

  • A genuine Rhos Olastra-made Sword.
  • A genuine Rhos Olastra-Made Shield.
  • A genuine Rhos Olastra-Made Harp.
  • 1D3 genuine Rhos Olastra-made Epics.

Advanced Skills

3 Poetry
2 Sword Fighting
2 Singing
2 Harp Playing
2 Etiquette

RPGaDAY 2019: 34 Darskij Dweller

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Evolve (54)

34 Darskij Dweller

When the first calamity struck, the populations of whole cities were driven underground. There, over time – and accelerated by the unusual energies associated with that first disaster – the people became something altogether different what what they had been before. Perfectly adapted to their new environment, they seldom venture into the light of the dying sun. Those who do are themselves different from their hunched and pale cousins.

Possessions

  • Colored Robes that indicate their clan of origin.
  • 1D6 Assorted Unearthed Treasures which may be traded for surface goods or knowledge with the right person.

Advanced Skills

2 Sneak
2 Burrowing
2 Strength
2 Claw Fighting
1 Tracking
1 Trapping

Special

The hands of Darskij Dwellers have evolved to end in thick, heavy claws that assist them in constructing their burrows and warrens. In addition to allowing the Darskij Dwellers to dig (albeit slowly) through any material less hardy than steel, these claws do damage as a Modest Beast.

RPGaDAY 2019: 33 Iconoclastic Detective

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Examine (24) [By way of rolling 64 & 6]

33 Iconoclastic Detective

Every police force, government agency, or local constabulary has a few clever detectives whose skills can solve the greatest of crimes. Those individuals naturally develop a sense of superiority that leads them to being quirky, difficult, or downright obnoxious. The rest of their compatriots harbor various attitudes towards them, but even the most generous are inevitably relieved when the detective in question finally encounters the crime they cannot solve. Nobody likes a showoff.

Possessions

  • A magnifying glass.
  • A Pistolet and 2D6 Plasmic Cores.
  • An Overcoat (counts as Light Armor).

Advanced Skills

4 Investigation
1 Pistolet Fighting
1 Sneak
1 Evaluate
1 Locks
1 Mathmology
1 Tracking

RPGaDAY 2019: 32 Cataclysmic Amnesiac

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Mystery (26) [By way of rolling 63 & 3]

32 Cataclysmic Amnesiac

The Six Cataclysms affected the world in many different ways. One of them, you are told, is the wholesale eradication of memories from a meaningful if not significant number of individuals. After each cataclysm, people would simply no longer remember who they were or what had transpired in their lives. Some of these victims went mad trying to piece together their pasts from what little they could remember. Others simply shrugged and moved on. You’re one of the latter; though at times you feel a strange compulsion to delve into the void to try to recover some inkling of your previous life.

Possessions

  • 1D3 Pocket Gods.
  • A nagging sense of deja vu.
  • One tiny memory of your previous life: a phrase said by someone you presume mattered to you; a memory of a smell from your childhood; an unexplained phobia; or something else entirely.

Advanced Skills

1 Climb
1 Etiquette or 1 Streetwise
1 Fist Fighting
1 Run
1 Strength

Special

The freedom that comes with having no identifiable past has left your brain something like a sponge crossed with a sieve. You may choose 5 points worth of skills, languages, or spells that you have picked up recently. However, if you ever suffer a Mighty Blow in combat, these things are shaken from your brain and you are left with only the Advanced Skills detailed above for the rest of the session. At the start of the next session you may select 5 points of skills, languages, or spells anew, though none of these may overlap with the 5 points you lost previously.

RPGaDAY 2019: 31 Antieri Wildlands Guide

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Guide (31) (yes, I actually rolled 31 for 31, and yes, I’m taking this one literally)

31 Antieri Wildlands Guide

Though the vast and nearly unpopulated middle of Antieri is officially dubbed The Wildlands by the Guild of Cartomancers, most people simply refer to it as “that blasted hellscape.” And they have good reason. Much of the interior of the continent is beyond what any normal person means when they call something desolate. Burning deserts, frozen peaks, poisoned waters, radioactive wastes, hideous beasts, and deranged cultists all stand between anyone seeking to travel by land from Vinx to Ismah Zakraab. So why would they travel by land? That’s not your problem. You just have to get them to their destination alive.

Possessions

  • An Axe.
  • A Bow.
  • Some Camping Gear.
  • Knowledge of 2D6 Oases & Shortcuts that may or may not apply to any given trip.

Advanced Skills

2 Bow Fighting
2 Orienteering
1 Axe Fighting
1 Awareness
1 Climb
1 Secret Signs – Wildlands Guides
1 Survival
1 Swim
1 Tracking
1 Trapping