Monday, September 21, 2009

Arthur Lives Narrator's Guide released!


The Narrator's Guide for Arthur Lives provides everything you need to run the modern adventures of the once and future king.

This book includes a secret history of the Arthurian age, its wane and the causes of Arthur's return to the modern world.

Details and advice for running a game of Arthur Lives follow, including advice on setting up the campaign and getting things going.

This is followed by a rogues gallery of allies and enemies for your Arthur Lives games. Many echoes of the Arthurian age are awakening and your character might find other Arthurs or Lancelots in the world out to be the only heir to that legacy.

The book concludes with a detailed bibliography, including comics, movies and games that can provide inspiration and get the narrator and players in the zone for running an Arthur Lives campaign.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Fallout3 Marriage Proposal

A woman, with the help of the Fallout3 mod community, spent 3 months to come up with this scenario in which her boyfriend could rescue her from slavers in game, so she could propose to him.

Age of the geek baby! (Leverage reference)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Good day

Heard my email read on the Giant Bombcast, the best video game podcast around.

Always a kick and always a sign of a good day.

Chuck's secret to happiness #43: keep the bar low on what makes a good day.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Shows Modern GMs should be watching: Leverage

So I recently discovered Leverage on Netflix and I have to say, this show ranks right up there with Burn Notice as a show modern GMs should watch.

It's about a team of thieves who steal from the REAL bad guys (insurance companies, mercenaries, evil politicians, the mob) and give the money to folks who need it.

Each of the characters fall into recognizable modern archetypes, making this a great show for inspiration, especially in the realm of making sure each PC has time to shine.

There's Nate, the "mastermind", who leads the group and comes up with their plans.

Sophie, the "grifter", the best actress you ever saw when she's working a con. On stage? Not so much.

Eliot, the "hitter", a martial arts expert and all-around badass who hates guns and seems to have no problem taking out thugs who use them.

Parker, the "thief", who handles physical security and obstacles. She's acrobatic, great and coming up with rigs to get the team into or off a skyscraper quickly and also seems to know her way around bombs.

Finally there's Hardisson, a genius hacker who handles electronic security, makes fake ids, finds their clients through web-stories and such.

The characters are really great, the dialogue fantastic. The show is mostly light-hearted, more-so than Burn Notice I'd say (at least lately).

They are wrapping up their second season and have been really good about putting episodes up on Netflix as soon as a week after they air, which is cool.

Also, the first season is loaded with extras, with a commentary for just about every episode.

All in all, a great series, especially to mine for modern inspiration.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

World of Arkara reviews

So the first reviews of World of Arkara have appeared, over at Dragonsfoot.

The review of the main overview is very flattering, the review of the Canterbury Isles is less so.

Still, I will say that I agree with most of Dominic's main points in both reviews, I just don't find many of them bad things.

For example, he would have preferred more information on "infrastructure", roads, weather, random encounter tables, rather than adventure type information.

But one of my goals at the outset was to create a world LOADED with adventure material.

As for the map, I agree it could be better. I used a map of my own creation because it fit within the budget (I work REALLY cheap).

I am no cartographer though. I just hope the map is clear and functional.

Anyway, I recommend folks check it out, especially if you're on the fence about the books. Everything he says is factually accurate, so the review should do a good job of letting you know if the books are for you.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

World of Arkara: Gazetteer of the Canterbury Isles has been released!

The Canterbury Isles are an idyllic region, once the western edge of the mighty Kingdom of Damask, they were set adrift when that empire descended into the flames of anarchy.

Since then, the largest human settlement in the region, Bondaea, has become a city obsessed with order, dominated by the priests of lawful deities, the Duke has turned the city into a police state, with random identity checks and the gates separating the four quarters of the city locked at night.

Worse, the Duke has fallen under the spell of Therran the White, god of racial purity and forced all demi-humans in the city into the slum quarter.

This action, combined with the clear-cutting of human loggers on the island has move the humans and elves to the edge of a race war that will devastate the isles forever.

Now is the time for heroes. But will they decide the conflict in favor of one side or the other or find a way to prevent a senseless war before it can begin?

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Post-Apocalypse20 On Sale!

And after you go get World of Arkara at a discount, put your Hazmat suit on and head over to RPGObjects and pick up Post-Apocalypse20!

Post-Apocalypse20 is the ultimate resource for taking your modern game to the end of the world and beyond.

This new, full-length resource for Modern20 adds new Backgrounds, Occupations, Feats and Character Disadvantages. It also contains rules for Mutations, equipment condition and radiation.

An extensive equipment section adds new weapons and armor to the game. Some of these are common household items adapted for use after the apocalypse while others are the futuristic weaponry of an advanced civilization that succumbed to their own technology and collapsed into barbarism.

Finally, Post-Apocalypse20 contains advice for the game master as well as several brief campaign models. Each of these campaign models contains pre-generated NPC opponents or monsters with rules for creating your own mutant horrors to populate the dark.

In short, whatever your vision of the end of the world, PA20 has something to make your grim vision easier to realize.

Dragon Days Sale

To celebrate... dude I dunno... September? Dragons?

Anyway, RPGNow is running a 20% off sale through the first 7 days of September.

So stop on buy and pick up some Vigilance Press pdfs at 20% off!

Night Ride Part 1

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