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This is your periodic reminder that Jason Sholtis and I are still watching old TV shows free on streaming and blogging about them on the Flashback Universe blog. This week was the Western  Have Gun – Will Travel (1957). The week before was the trucker drama Movin' On (1974).

The post Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder, 2024 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

World of Darkness was HUGE in the early and mid-90s. My initial venture into it was Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Good times!

Well, WoD has gone through various iterations over the past few decades. Currently, Bundle of Holding has a Dark Eras bundle, and damn it is tempting, just for the lore alone.

Adventurer! This new Dark Eras Bundle presents dozens of historic settings for the Chronicles of Darkness tabletop roleplaying game of gothic horror from Onyx Path Publishing. We have shared the world with monsters for millennia. In the time of Alexander the God-King, mages fought their secret wars. In Elizabeth's London, vampires built their own empire brick by bloody brick. Before the founding of America, hunters fought enemies within and without. And in the Cold War, as the clock ticked towards Armageddon, we could have been damned by fallen angels. Dark Eras reveals the world throughout its long and storied past. Learn secret histories from the flame-lit Neolithic to the 1970s, from pharaonic Egypt to the Scandinavian witch trials, from Arthurian Britain to the Great War and beyond. Each setting features character creation rules and story hooks for two or three Chronicles of Darkness game lines, including Vampire: The Requiem, Mage: The Awakening, Hunter: The Vigil, Changeling: The Lost, and more.

For just US$9.95 you get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $50) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Chronicles of Darkness Second Edition revised corebook (2012), the first Dark Eras sourcebook, the Dark Eras Storytellers Screen, and a collection of short stories, Tales of the Dark Eras.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $25.10, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with four more titles worth an additional $64, including Dark Eras 2, the Dark Eras Companion, the Chronicles of Darkness sourcebook Hurt Locker, and a precursor to the Dark Eras line, Victorian Lost.

(PS: Chronicles of Darkness players, check out the 75% discount sale, while supplies last, on the limited edition Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras 2 hardcover at Indie Press Revolution – a US$50 retail value for just $12.50.)

 

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Steve Orlando reignites his acclaimed run of SCARLET WITCH this June. Check out never-before-seen covers for the debut issue by P. Craig Russell and Jenny Frison!   New York, NY—…

When the Ultimate Universe was announced to be relaunched I was initially excited about a new Marvel universe free from the overwhelming number of series the major heroes have these…

In this weeks (extremely late) episode, Seamus and Lucas revisit the Marvel Tier list to give they’re updated rankings and reviews! Join our Discord channel to chat with the hosts…

Cody Ziglar and Rogê Antônio’s new DEADPOOL #1 is on sale now! New York, NY— April 3, 2024 — Just ahead of the character’s highly anticipated return to the big…

  Revisit the scariest place in the galaxy with this comprehensive collection from Dark Horse Books! MILWAUKIE, Ore., (April 3, 2024)— Horror comes to a galaxy far, far away in Star…

This is what I care about. The cavalry charge. I imagine countless people playing D&D for decades and never running a real charge. This creates a black pit within my soul.

Charging gets a great deal of attention within the fatigue rules. Positioning your troops properly and then determining whether to wait or not is suddenly a nontrivial decision. D&D rules universally lack this bit of modeling.

When I played this before, the charge rule resulted in the cavalry unit being out of play once it was committed. My question now is… was this rule intended to create a situation where cavalry repeatedly melees fatigued infantry within a single turn? I have to know!

And lo, the rules are explicit. If the morale difference is 0-19, the charge ends AND melee continues. If it’s 20-99, there is a good chance that there will be more melee as the cavalry completes its charge. Yeah, this is really cool.

AD&D ought to adjudicate charges in a similar manner. With that rule set, check morale. If the target falls back, and additional charge movement remains, allow a follow-melee round with the now panicked figures.

But note that AD&D is complicated by the presence of the rules for overbearing.

The exact order of events in an AD&D charge would probably be something like this:

1. Weapon length will determine first attack. This will probably be the charging cavalry’s lances.
2. Figures are removed for the kills resulting in #1. The remaining defenders may attempt to fend off the overbear attack of the cavalry.
3. The cavalry that were not fended off now make their overbear attacks.
4. The defenders now make their spear (or whatever) attacks.
5. Morale is checked here… and if the defenders fall back and also the cavalry has sufficient charge movement remaining, then an additional set of attacks is made.
6. If the defenders made their morale check, then the two groups remain in contact for the following combat round with the horses making kick and bite attacks then.

Other scenarios are possible and this is just to illustrate the general idea.

Torchwood’s Ianto trilogy concludes with Disco as Ianto steps back in time, Kylie style, to uncover family secrets

Ever since Ianto Jones first mentioned his troubled relationship with his father in the Torchwood TV series, fans have wondered what exactly went on between the two. Those questions will finally be answered in Disco, May’s instalment of Big Finish’s monthly range of Torchwood audio plays.

It stars Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto, alongside Rhys ap Trefor as “Disco” Jones, his father. It’s the third instalment in a trilogy of Torchwood releases written by David-Lloyd, all of which explore important points in Ianto’s life before he joined Torchwood Three in Cardiff.

Producer James Goss said: “Disco is a remarkable play. Gareth David-Lloyd tells the story that Torchwood fans have always wanted to know – what’s up with Ianto’s dad? The answer is joyous and sad. Torchwood at its best takes a classic idea and does something unexpected with it. This is a time travel story about two blokes building a literal fence. It’s an epic about the web of time but there’s also dancing, darts, and a trip down the dole.

“Honestly, Disco is magnificent, and Gareth deserves to win all the awards for it.”

 

Torchwood: Disco. Cover by Sean Longmore (c) Big Finish Torchwood: Disco

It’s 1987 and “Disco” Jones is still dancing. Life and soul, bab, life and soul. Wednesdays is darts at The Merry Miller, Thursdays – shove ha’penny at The Boilermakers, Fridays played by ear, and Saturdays it’s the Disco at Cinderella’s.    

So who is Tom and why does he want to build a fence with him? 

Big Finish listeners can pre-order Disco as part of a six-release Torchwood – Monthly Range bundle, for just £60 (collector’s edition CD + download) or £50 (download only). A 12-release bundle is also available for just £110 (collector’s edition CD + download) or £96 (download only).

The post Torchwood: Disco – Coming Soon from Big Finish appeared first on Blogtor Who.

World of Warcraft (WoW) has been a titan in the gaming industry for over a decade, and a significant part of its success lies in the vibrant in-game marketplace. Whether…

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Celebrate “Ghost Machine Day” with a tasty cup of “Ghost Roast” while reading an all-new ongoing GEIGER series as well as first issues of REDCOAT and ROOK: EXODUS LOS ANGELES,…

The Caron Crochet Hair Bandana pattern is quick, fun, and fashionable - a great one skein project for all skill levels! Watch and learn how to make your own easy crochet hair accessory with the links and video below! Disclaimer: Materials and video provided by Yarnspirations; this post includes affiliate links. Get The Free Pattern...

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The post Caron Crochet Hair Bandana: Free Pattern and Tutorial appeared first on moogly. Please visit www.mooglyblog.com for this post. If you are viewing this on another site they have scraped the content from my website without permission. Thank you for your support.

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Okay, I’ve set up my purpose… let’s talk about organization. I know that it’s a long-form graphic novel, so that’s kind of done. But, on the micro level, we’ve got the page. 

Aye, there’s the rub.

I’ve got two sorts of extreme opposites in my head. At one extreme is the manga ideal - the page has 2-3 panels on it, and you keep turning pages. At the other far end is the Prince Valiant model - a page is this meticulous, densely-packed wonderland of rich detail. A third force playing upon my mind, and which is sort of hard-wired in there now, is the Barks model of top and bottom tiers, with a default of six panels per tier. You end up with these huge pages with lots of moving parts, and stories that have a breathiness to them, but also this incredible pace.

The Barks model is the most restrictive - part of the creative challenge is how you tell stories and find variety within this framework. It’s sort of the same creative challenge as creating a four-panel comic strip; you always have these four panels to work in. It’s part of what made Calvin and Hobbes so wondrous - he forced himself to work within the approved formats (which are quite restrictive), and Watterson still did these incredible flights of fancy and departures from what’s come before, even though he never messed with the basic structure of the thing.

All have positives. Going back to my purpose: I want to spend time in the story and let readers linger in it. The idea of only a few panels per page is out - goodbye Anime-inspiration. 

But the default assumption - that I at least want the opportunity for this thing to grow and evolve and become something huge - means that I am best suited to leaving the structure fairly open-ended at this point in regards to comic pages. In short, I’m going to go with the standard comic book page format - it’s a blank 2x3 area that I fill with the story as it best fits. This might be splash pages, or it might mean fifteen tiny panels. 

The macro then (in terms of organization) becomes the length of the thing. I have frequently, and much to my chagrin, obsessed over page counts. I have spent far too much time and energy trying to determine the ‘ideal’ page count for a chapter, story, novel… I start thinking in numbers, which is never great. I suddenly think about organizing in 10 chapters of 16 pages each, every three chapters serving as a story arc, the first chapter as a prelude, and the entire text fitting neatly into 160 pages (which would be perfect as a physical book - let’s go on Lulu and start designing the book right now).

Oh, that cart should be BEHIND the horse. Silly me.

Back to Dave Sim. I had SUCH deep admiration for his ability to say around issue 50 that he’s going to go for 300 issues, and that each is going to be exactly 20 pages, and then to actually DO that. Just remarkable.

I cannot do that. I’d love to. Not me.

I was in Barnes and Noble the other night, and was flipping through the collected Jeff Smith’s Bone. I mean, that’s basically what I intend to do (or thereabouts). Full disclosure: I’ve never read much Bone (I think I have read maybe 10 issues). It would be worth grabbing a copy and reading it to see what he is up to, and at least make sure I don’t outright plagiarize without meaning to.

However, I could see his technique in ways I could not when I was looking at his books 20 years ago (wow… it’s been a while). It was much looser and simpler than I remembered - I could see how his process probably worked - and he was ripping through pages. I would be willing to bet he rarely did more than a rough cut of backgrounds, and then went right to town with his pen. He relies very heavily on silhouettes and bold lines… it’s a very stark black and white, while my art has evolved into this grayscale hybrid thing that I’m not sure what it looks like anymore. I also see how getting the most out of simple tools (a stylus on my beat up old Surface Pro and Microsoft Paint that keeps getting worse instead of better with each update - seriously, just go back two updates and leave it that way forever).

So I tried that - if I spent about an hour on a page, would I be able to come up with something I was satisfied with? Here’s what I ended up with (showing my process of blocking in the basic shapes and then going right to fills and gray washes). This isn’t done - I still have some dialogue to add and might spend a few more minutes throwing in some noodly work, but it’s pretty far along.

 So, Sinless is in print

That's not all. 

You get assets, and you can use them to do things. Like Morgana.

You're smart. You have seen an action movie. Someone knows an explosive guy, and then Jean Reno walks on, and the pyrotechnics guy has some explosion go off at 1/200th the actual speed—This is that.

Each asset provides an ability for both the sector phase (downtime) and operations (the adventures). You don't actually have to pay them; you just have to own the relevant infrastructure in a sector to support them. There's not really any upkeep that isn't gameplay. 

An Example Sector.
You could use this exact sheet.

You get 1 or 2 at character creation, and every Sector phase, you get 3 random new ones that are available for hire. 

And like, Holy shit guys. They are actual people that exist within the framework of play. It's great! 

Be friends with one, and reduce their upkeep. Shoot one you don't like in the head! (I mean, or not. That's *astoundingly* violent.)

Oh, and the tools. 

We're making a mission generator. And character creator. 

The open sandbox nature of the campaigns means that it has to be easy for Agonarch (Gamemaster, you get the idea) to make a 'volume' of these for a living world. It answers all the questions characters will ask, simplifying, prepping, and running games. 

Don't get the wrong idea. "Volume," in this case, is probably 4 to start, and a new one every week or two. But a pushbutton tool that organizes your sectors for you? This sounds complicated, but, uh, the reality is it's mechanized random tables, along with a simple interface to store the information. 

We're not inventing the wheel here—we all know too many "Eye in the, is it sky? Pie?" Like, clearly before refined sugar was pumped into every food, the pie must have been a more significant cultural touchstone. 

The point is, at dinner, my eyes are the right size. 

It's working now. We're making it work better. So this is a real thing that's happening.

Now that the book is in print and people are starting campaigns, we are playtesting the starter adventure "Billionaire Bounty." It is about an extradimensional invasion that causes a city in the Midwest, near a great lake, to become sealed off from the outside world. You have to hunt, help, rob, or bully a dozen billionaires who would rather be somewhere else. 

. . .

It is, of course, structured like B1, in search of the unknown. In the sense that not only is it a great campaign starter, it's also a tool to explain how to manage the particulars of setup and play in Sinless. We'll be kickstarting that in a few weeks, closer to the completion of the asset cards.

Oh, I can show you pictures of it in people's happy hands!

This is not my hand.

I would write longer, but this is as long as people will read! More soon. It's not like there's an actual paywall if you're interested. The whole book is on preview.

You can ask questions, get errata, or chat on the official forum:  https://forum.sinlessrpg.com/index.php

Get your own copy:  https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/472142/Sinless

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating)

By Steve Bean Shield of Faith Studios DCC/Unamerican - and a major reskin at that Level 0

WELCOME TO THE FANTAS-TI-PLEX! A lovely underground dystopian complex ruled by the ever beneficent Autocrat. Here all drones live in peace and prosperity, because the Autocrat says so. I mean, why would any of the drones doubt him, EVER. It is a perfect place to barely live and no one would EVER want to leave, right?

As I work through my wishlist you gotta take the bad lumps to get to the things you were hoping for …

This forty page adventure attempts to marry Paranoia to … Logans Run? Or MCC/DCC? Bureaucracy, a surveillance state, that Paranoia vibe, combined with some post-apoc vibes. It’s also VERY loosy goosy with what’s going on, to the extent that one might argue that there is NOT an adventure here, but rather a few ideas that the DM could use to string together to make an adventure. And that’s on purpose.

Logan’s Run! That’s my fav of all time! “There is no sanctuary!” is a mantra for all time! And Paranoia! That was a great game! And post-apoc! I love post apoc! And DCC is great! I’m gonna love this! Well … there’s not much, if any, Logan’s Run. I guess you’re inside and there are clones. But, that kind of describes Paranoia. And this is absolutely a reskinned Paranoia, with mutants, secret societies, and that Brazilesque bureaucracy. It’s an overseer now, instead of Friend Computer. But the chants, tone, and demeanor are all Paranoia. The system is DCC< with the clones taking the place instead of multiple level 0 funnel characters. And, once you break out of the complex that is definitely not Alpha, you get to a post-apoc world, all THX-1138 style, and thus you’re now in the Unamerican setting. I’m not going to cover much of the tone or the reskin. It’s the same tone as the early Paranoia adventures, or just a tad more to the Zany side of things.

The start is full of mountains of read-aloud in italics. A mighty disgorgement of information. That no sane player is going to sit through or pay attention to. But, that’s not the worst of things.

There are five locations here. Which means there are five scenes, of sorts  … including the traditional briefing room scene. But, more than that, those five scenes, which are actually locations, take place on about six pages of text. The rest of the forty pages is taken up with the Paranoia setting reskin, mutations, secret societies, etc. Those locations present a short scene. A set up/environment, if you will, for other things to take place. You are characters in a game show at one point. These little scenes … I hesitate to call them scenes. They are more Places Where Things Can Happen, serve as a backdrop. A few pages of the adventure contain Things That Can Happen, or, perhaps more accurately, Zany Robot and Friend Computer Things That Can Happen. They are some rough guidelines for how to use the various robot types, and such, to cause problems for the characters. Thus if you are in the SToreroom location then the DM can theme the Filebot to that location, and if you are in the Game SHow location then you can theme it to that location. Not much guidance on the theming aspect, by the way. This is how we get to, say, fifteen pages of “Adventure” in a forty page booklet that allows for about six pages of Location. 

So, you are almost exclusively doing improv. And, yes, there’s a bit of improv in every adventure. But as the main treat? With, of course, lots of advice to drop things in when there is a lull or stop when things get tiresome. This is an activity, not a game. And, as such, I deem thee Not An RPG Adventure. 

I will note that, in the first real location, you get some clones bound up with duct tape to chairs in front of monitors. One has a live grenade wedged in him. One is an annoying shit. One is competent, and one is an imposter robot. Cure little setup, and one of the most solid of the bunch.

I understand that I am working on razor thin definitions of Game, but, I leave unanswered the elephant: Can Paranoia be a game, and, thusly, do I judge harshly on criteria unbecoming? Nay, nay! I say! For even in an activity we can ground our scenes more and make them more use friendly. 

This is $4 at DriveThru. No preview. SUCK!

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/256922/slave-drones-of-the-fantas-ti-plex-dcc?1892600

Yo, I also picked up “Outlying Farms”, a supplement about farms you might encounter. Two pages. Twelve farms/families. They come in a very terse outline, which is exactly how they should come. I wouldn’t buy it; there’s just no content here that I would find useful.

Lerana Scissorfinger
(she, felter, 40 yrs old)
AC: 9, HP: 3, Dmg: 1d4
Possessions: scissors, felt, 2d5 hats, pouch, 36 cp
Traits: sassy, fashionable, disorganized, tired
Motivations: sell hats, “they are a sign of station!”
Backstory: never married, always wanted to move
to Illis but it seemed impossible, will pay for escort
Family: Grigin (dog 6) & Nord (dog 3)

Recently DC released The Fourth World Omnibus vol 2. This 1336 page, backbreaking tome is the companion to the equally voluminous volume 1. That volume covered most of Kirby's work on the Fourth World mythos. This volume picks up with the continuation of the characters in concepts by other hands: Gerber's Mister Miracle, Conway's New Gods revival, the Great Darkness Saga in Legion of Super-Heroes, and Kirby's return with Super Powers, and a lot of other stuff. A lot of it is, well, not that great but some things (like the Great Darkness Saga and the Justice League two-parter on Apokolips) are, and others are at least interesting.

Here's the full contents:  Mister Miracle #19-25; The New Gods #12-19; Adventure Comics #459-460; The Brave and the Bold #112, #128, and #138; DC Comics Presents #12; First Issue Special #13; Justice League of America #183-185; Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294; Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #3; Secret Society of Super-Villains #1-5; Super Powers #1-5; Super Powers (vol. 2) #1-6; Super Powers (vol. 3) #1-4; Super Powers Collection #13-23; Super-Team Family #15; and stories from DC Special Series #10 and Legion of Super-Heroes #287.

I'm not a thick omnibus reader myself, but I do like to see these handsome volumes sitting on my shelf while I read digital.