Mini Six Character: Brother Gregorius Moghan O’Seachnasaigh

Wherein your humble scribe presents an NPC for Anglia – the 100 Years War/Dark Fairy Tale England setting that occupied his fancy for a while, and is threatening to again. This character was built using straight the Mini Six rules, but if this ever winds up going anywhere I’m quite sure I’ll be building out a system that’s slightly more involved than Mini Six (but less so than full-on Open D6) from the various parts I have on hand. But that’s a topic for another day.

Countless messengers died to insure that word reached the Archbishop of Baile Átha Cliath that all was not right with the continental Church. Ever since the ascension of Pope Lucius IV – after the tragic (and suspicious) death of Pope Urban VI in 1378 – many questionable actions and decisions had come from the heart of Lucania. When the local Master of the Chandler’s Guild reported, in 1379, that orders from the continental Church’s representatives called for a drop of goat’s blood be added to each candle as it was being poured, the Archibishop began making his plans. And when news of the Gaulish invasion of Albion (at the urgings of Pope Lucius) arrived, that plan went into action. Stout-hearted monks from all corners of Hibernia were dispatched, in discreet numbers, to Albion and the continent. These pure souls were commanded to do what they could to uncover whatever dark secrets were driving this decidedly unchristian behavior and to assist those who resisted the disquieting papal decrees.

Brother Gregorius Moghan O’Seachnasaigh
Itinerant monk from an unnamed Hibernian monastery
Might 2D+2 Agility 2D+1 Wit 3D Charm 4D
Skills: Shillelagh 3D, Stealth 2D+2, Dodge 2D+2, History 3D+1, Language: Latin 3D+1, Magic 4D, Persuasion 4D+2, Diplomacy 4D+1, Streetwise 4D+1
Perks: Sorcerer
Complications: Personal Code (Servant of the Church)
Gear: Shillelagh 2D+1
Static: Dodge 8, Block 8, Parry 9
Strength Damage: 1D
Body Points: 27
Armor: Leather (2)
Spells: Bless, Heal

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The Sword Announce A Mini-Tour For The Summer

Hey folks. In keeping with my voluntary role as nerdblog PR flak for The Sword, I thought I should note that they’ve just announced a mini-tour for the summer. The dates are:

June 17 – Houston – Fitzgerald’s (w/ Red Fang & Honky)
June 18 – New Orleans – House of Blues (w/ Red Fang & Honky)
June 19 – Atlanta – The Masquerade (w/ Red Fang & Kyng)
June 20 – Raleigh – King’s Barcade (w/ Red Fang & Kyng)
June 21 – Baltimore – Sonar (w/ Red Fang & Kyng)
June 22 – West Chester, PA – The Note (w/ Red Fang & Kyng)
June 23 – Atlantic City – Orion Festival

So if you happen to live in one of those lucky cities and want to get your face rocked off with some serious metal that appeals to the geek crowd, keep your eyes open for ticket sales to begin.

And just to tempt you a bit more, here’s the teaser for their newly-released single, Hammer of Heaven…

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Echo Chamber News Flash: Pulp BRP On The Way

ASTOUNDING ADVENTURES Front CoverChaosium just won’t stop with the awesome. They’ve now officially announced Astounding Adventures!, a 30s/40s pulp supplement for BRP. Dayum!

My favorite game of all time was Justice, Inc. the standalone, pre-unified Hero System box set for the pulp genre. Easily my most successful and longest-running campaign (as a GM) was a Justice, Inc. game featuring a couple of recurring characters and a rotating cast of extras. It was the right level of pulpy goodness without being too derivative of the classics of the genre.

Unfortunately, Hero has long since become too complicated for my lifestyle and gaming tastes. But BRP, as I’ve mentioned more than once, hits the sweet spot between fast & dirty enough for me as a GM and crunchy and complex enough for the folks I game with most regularly. So maybe it’s time to dust off my notes.

I’m not seeing a projected release date other than “2012” so I’m not going to start getting too worked up just yet. But I’m pretty confident I’ll be dropping my cash on this once it’s out. And hey, if nothing else, that’s a pretty sweet cover they’ve put together for this thing.

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A “New” Sword Song On iTunes

Hammer of Heaven, the new release of an Age of Winters-vintage track by The Sword is now available on iTunes. They played this one at the show I caught a couple of weekends back and it’s tasty. It definitely sounds like it was part of the AoW sessions, so let that guide your hand before you drop the $1.29 to download it. Personally, I dig it, but I know that some folks are more partial to the Warp Riders sound than the earlier stuff. Never let it be said I didn’t do my best to keep my audience of three well-informed about stuff related to The Sword.

In other news… I’m half-sick of RPGs right now for a number of reasons that are no one’s fault, which kinda explains the generally glacial pace of posting ’round here. This malaise will surely pass (it always does), so hang tight amigos. There’s bound to be some new content eventually.

In the meantime, quit reading my idiot words and go rock out to The Sword (or your own choice in rocking out material).

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BRP Characters: Two Vikings

Wherein your humble scribe, flying in the face of his current obsession with scifi settings, presents a couple of Vikingesque characters for BRP.

Olvir the Owl and his belovéd, the witch called Runa Foglsdottir, set sail in a longship with two dozen of the Jarl’s finest warriors with the twin goals of conquest and plunder. The sea, it seems, had other plans. Now only the pair remain, shipwrecked on unknown shores. As the storm clouds recede and night begins to fall, strange cries and howls can be heard from within the dense forest just beyond the shore. Runa recalls tales of a land walked by men who become beasts when the sun sets and the air is fresh with rain and the rocks sated with the blood of the drowned. But surely such things are only the mad dreams of feverish sailors. Surely.

Olvir The Owl
STR 16 CON 12 SIZ 17 DEX 15 INT 13 POW 13 APP 8 HP 15 MW 8 DB +1d6
Weapons: Battle Axe 75% (1d8+2 +1d6), Spiked Shield 45% (1d3 +1d6)
Armor: Chain (1d8-1)
Skills: Brawl 45%, Climb 70%, Craft: Shipbuilding 15%, Dodge 50%, Grapple 45%, Insight 35%, Jump 45%, Knowledge: Natural World 31%, Language: Gaelic 21%, Language: Norse 75%, Melee Weapon: Axe 75%, Melee Weapon: Spear 45%, Navigate 50%, *Persuade 35%, Pilot: Boat 61%, Research 45%, Sense 30%, Shield 45%, Spot 55%, Stealth 30%, Swim 75%, Throw 25%

Runa Foglsdottir
STR 9 CON 14 SIZ 13 DEX 15 INT 17 POW 18 APP 14 HP 14 MW 7 DB none
Weapons: Short Spear 55% (1d6+1), Spiked Shield 45% (1d3)
Armor: Ring Mail (1d6)
Skills: Appraise 35%, Bargain 25%, Disguise 21%, Dodge 40%, Fast Talk 35%, First Aid 37%, Insight 45%, Knowledge: History 51%, Knowledge: Occult 61%, Knowledge: Natural World 41%, Language: Norse 95%, Listen 45%, Melee Weapon: Spear 55%, Perform: Rituals 45%, Perform: Singing 35%, Persuade 45%, Research 45%, Sense 30%, Shield 35%, Spot 45%, Stealth 30%, Technical: Traps 21%
Spells: Bird’s Vision, Breath of Life, Heal, Make Fast, Make Whole, Moonrise, Muddle, Rat’s Vision

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Hyborian BoL Adventure: Ghosts of Acheron

Hey folks! The incorrigible-yet-awesome G-Man (an unrepentant Jupiter lover, but that’s a topic for a different discussion) has done it again! Behold (by which I mean “download”) the majesty that is his latest Hyborian adventure for Barbarians of Lemuria: Ghosts of Acheron (17997 downloads ) !

First, you pissed off the Picts. Next, you made friends (or perhaps enemies) with a strange sorcerer. Now you’re at the bottom of a burial pit and facing the unknown. Who do you think you are? Some dude who’s destined to be King of Aquilonia? Well, whoever you are, picture your story being illustrated by John Buscema in a late 70s issue of Savage Sword as you play through this adventure.

In addition to the adventure itself, G-Man provides us with some nifty treasures in Appendix B and a complete party of pregenerated characters in Appendix C, to help you dive right in to the action.

So what are you waiting for, people? Download Ghosts of Acheron (17997 downloads ) now!

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The Sword Show Rocked

Yep, The Sword made the rock & roll happen tonight. Here’s a photo of the setlist to make you nice and jealous:

Sword Setlist, Emo's East, 4/21/12

Sword Setlist, Emo's East, 4/21/12

The encore, not listed above, included Iron Swan and Winter’s Wolves.

There were 3 or 4 new tracks that should appear on the new album (expected this fall). They were thick & heavy without sounding like retreads. The astute among you will be able to pick them out on the set list. For what it’s worth, JD announced the first one as (I think, the sound was a little rough) Purple Feather and it appeared to be about some kind of bird woman.

All the songs were a little sludgier than I would have had them be in my ideal world, but the performances were aces. My only real complaint was the fact that they didn’t do Warp Riders itself. But all-in-all I’m damn glad I got to catch this show and I will repeat my usual refrain exhorting you to see them when they wind up in your neck of the woods. It sounds like it’ll be a while before they go out on tour, though, so you’ve got time to save your pennies.

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BRP Aliens: The Vortskaraal

Wherein your humble scribe presents a race of humanoid aliens (or perhaps just an offshoot of humanity) for use in that non-existent sci fi setting for BRP.

Hailing from a remote planet with substantially heavier gravity than Earth-normal, the Vortskaraal are a fierce but primitive species. Superficially they resemble Humans, but they have adapted quite thoroughly to their environment and are much shorter, stronger, and hardier than Humans on average. Their native culture is roughly Iron Age in terms of technology, which reduces a number of the default values for the more advanced skills they might learn, though there is no reason that with enough time spent in in the wider universe that an individual Vortskaraal cannot improve those skills.

Regular contact with the Vortskaraal homeworld has been established and various non-native races travel and trade there with some frequency. Visitors to the Vortskaraal homeworld can function unassisted for a limited time on the surface before tiring, but those who expect to spend significant time there are advised to make use of technology to aid them in dealing with the planet’s demanding gravity. The Vortskaraal themselves are generally amused by the ExoLoaders and other mechanisms employed by off-worlders.

Vortskaraal warriors are often recruited to serve in various armies and militias throughout the Trobane Conferdate and beyond. These warriors are often valued and respected for their abilities in combat and their loyalty to their employers.

Vortskaraal, Stubby Space Vikings

STR 4d6+6 (20)
CON 4d6 (14+10)
SIZ 2d4+4 (9+10)
INT 3d6 (10-11)
POW 3d6 (10-11)
DEX 2d4+6 (11)
APP 2d4+3 (8)
EDU 2d4 (5)

Average HP: 22
Average Damage Bonus: +2d6

Skill Bases (where different from defaults): Brawl 45%, Climb 20%, Dodge DEX X 1, Drive 1%, First Aid INT X 1, Grapple 45%, Jump 5%, Knowledge 1%, Medicine 0%, Stealth 5%, Swim 5%, Technical 1%

Powers: Due to their increased density, Vortskaraal are quite hardy and resistent to kinetic damage. They are also much heavier than they would appear to be based on their height, which reduces the rate at which they can move in a combat round. Treat this as 10 levels of Density Control (increased density only) that is always on and requires no Power Points to fuel.

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