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This Week!

Corn Maze Cost: FREE!
Wednesday, September 18th @ 6:30pm-9:15pm

Meet at the church and we will head over to
the Corn Maze and enjoy a FREE hotdog and drink.
Click here to fill out Activity Release Form (required).

Next Week!

Pizza Party
Wednesday, September 25th @ 7:00pm-9:00pm

We have FREE pizza for you!
We will also have games, worship and a message.

In 2 Weeks!

Escape Room!
Wednesday, October 2nd @ 7:00pm-9:00pm

Put your skills to the test, we will be solving riddles
and completing tasks to escape rooms in the church.
Prizes to be won!

Follow us on Instagram for event and weather updates all year long! @threshold_jr Join us throughout the week on Discord!

Here’s what you need to know:
First, create a Discord user by downloading the application here.
Second, sign on to our Threshold Jr Discord server by clicking here.
You’ll be up to speed throughout the week!

 

The post Threshold Jr – September 16th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

This Week

Pizza Party!
Friday, September 20th @ 7:11pm-10:00pm

FREE pizza party! Come check out High School Ministry
with free pizza, games and hear what
we are all about.

Next Week!

Wheel of Ill Will
Friday, September 27th @ 7:11pm-10:00pm

Join us for a crazy, fun, truth or dare game with
new dares and sweet prizes.

In 2 Weeks!

Escape Room!
Friday, October 4th @ 7:11pm-10:00pm

Put your skills to the test, we will be solving
riddles and completing tasks to escape
rooms in the church. Prizes to be won!

Follow us on Instagram for event and weather updates all year long! @ churchoftherockhsm Join us throughout the week on Discord! Here’s what you need to know:
First, please download Discord for your device! You can do this by downloading the application here.
Second, add yourself to our High School Ministry Discord Server by clicking THIS LINK.

We will keep you informed on what’s coming up AND spontaneous hangouts!

The post High School Ministry – September 16th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

Mark, Senior Correspondent Charlie Saladino, and Hassan Godwin cover the news, at the Tropic Con, Charlie interviews Comic Creator Mario Cau and Jenny Feldy interviews Filmmaker Bob Rich

ABLAZE presents the ultimate all-in-one compilation of artwork for the dark, gory, anime-punk inspired world of Zombie Makeout Club! Get a behind-the-scenes look at the development of artist Peter Richardson’s stylish and…

DC Co­­­mics’ Strange Adventures might be called the predawn of the Silver Age. For example, in several ways, Strange Adventures 32 (May 1953) prefigures the revamped revival of the Flash…

By Ben Laurence
Through Ultan's Door
OSR/1e
Levels 2-3

in the porcelain abattoirs of Zyan Above, the sacred butchers, supernal exsanguinators, and exalted flayers of the Fleischguild labor tirelessly at their exacting arts, offering sacrifices to appease the insatiable hunger of the Unrelenting Archons. Their holiest guild sites in the undercity are marked by ornate chum spouts that stream effluvia from their gristly rites. On the Great Sewer River, these spouts adorn the entrance to the catacombs interring Master Carvers along with their child prodigies. All praise be to Malprion, aspect of Vulgatis, Archon of unseemly and fecund growth!

This 41 digest page adventure details the catacombs of the guild of butchers, under a decadent city. It has about 31 rooms, pretty tightly packed, with a rich and evocative descriptive style in rooms that each contain a variety of interactivity, without it feeling like set pieces. Delightfully baroque and pushes the edges of what a pure text format can deliver. 

Like all reviews I do of good adventures, I don’t know where to start. I guess the descriptions, since that’s the first thing I noticed. Very near the beginning of the adventure there’s a section on factions. In it there are some descriptions of the people that make up those factions, the cultists and/or guild members. “They wear serene copper masks and purple robes. They come reluctant and skittish” Seren copper masks. Reluctant and skittish. Not just “guild members” or “religious cult”, but, rather, a decent description for the DM to riff on and that easily communicates the vibe. It’s not a lot of words, but it does SO much to bring these people to life. Not just generic people on the wanderers table, but those serene masks and purple robes. That’s a good fucking monster description. Or, there’s also this group “the tanned skin of their face is spread like a hideous mask before their flayed skull, stretched on fish hooks across the frame of a headdress, hanging taut and expressionless before the exposed flesh of their head.” Well now, there’s something you don’t see every day. These are fucking terrifying. Or, our undead/spirits who congregate in huddles mass groups and “Each clutches their pitiful remains assembled from the chum spout: an ear, a rotten liver, a scalp. In muttered and distracted whispers, they jealously plead for proper burial.” That’s a fucking monster, man. Not “2d4 zombies” or some shit like that. No, these things have character! I wish a lot more adventures did this to their creatures, at least in some small way. Opponents should be terrifying. The PLAYERS should shit themselves. Those descriptions would give me pause, as a player. 

And the room descriptions continue this trend. A very basic description would be “Two raised basins flank the passageway to the north. The south end of this room is taken up with eight small sarcophagi flanking a dais with the statue of a woman” This is quite the tersely worded description, and pretty good for an initial first impression of the room by the players. What follows then is about a page and half of additional description. The basins. The statue. The sarcophagi. All of the things noticed in the initial room description. The initial one doesn’t overdescribe, it just lays things out, for the players to investigate further, the way an exploration adventure should proceed. And, before ALL of those extra descriptions is a little note that states you could meet a monster here. The most important thing, the initial description, is first. Then the monster note, since it could appear after the party arrive. THEN we get the individual descriptions of the things. “The marble statue of a middle-aged woman sits facing the sarcophagi with her face in her hands, shoulders heavy with grief, robes painted with rich designs, bar and skin and hair unpainted alabaster.” It’s a good description. And then, of course, we get some DM notes as well. And, again, in the descriptions for the treasures we get things like “A bronze thimble carved with vines bearing tiny amethyst grapes (50gp), and a silver sewing egg with needles and a spool of purple thread nestled within (75gp).” The entire thing, monsters, rooms, treasures, they are all rich and lusciously described.  It’s a good job. It pushes the bare text, with occasional bullets, formatting to its absolute limits, but a clear vision and understanding of the sectioning of the room description wins the day. They can tend long but are manageable. 

And those descriptions tend to be long because of the interactivity in the various rooms. They are not one trick ponies, with just one thing going on, but are rich and full of things to do. That room I described has a creature that might appear. The two basins that can be interacted with. The statue (just a statue) and then eight sarcophagi to explore and fuck with. And loot. And, on top of all of that, fucking with shit in here might bring other creatures down on you. Both in the near term, for those flayed dudes, and in the longer term with the guild posting guards and such. For a tomb, this place feels alive and lived in. (And, to be fair, I guess it is, since the guild still actively kind of uses it/maintains it) The entire thing has this vibe of effortless design. At a glance, this just looks like a zine, like any of the other hundreds that come out. But it’s not like those, it really does have some design behind it. From the minor game mechanic changes that spur gameplay, like the wandering monster warning signs, to the design of the map, both evocative and putting an interesting part of the complex in a , shall we say, less frequented area. And, also, we all know, that the lair is where the loot is, right? Everything else is just winnowing the parties resources. The deep play of the rooms … and it all comes in pretty much seamlessly. It’s not bragging, or calling out the design choices, they are all integrated in. 

I’m down with this. For any complex under a jaded and teeming city full of miscreants, the undercity of Old London, teeming with life above and a hundred thousand delights and torments there and below. Thus thing successfully communicates that vibe. Rich language, great traps, encounters, roleplaying possabilities. Problems with no immediately visible solutions but what the party devises. 

GREAT adventure. And shame on me for taking so long to get to it. Sometimes things drop off my radar.

This is $5 at DriveThru. The ten page preview is MORE than enough to get an idea of what is going on. Great preview.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/279520/through-ultan-s-door-issue-2?1892600

There has been some discussion in various places over the last couple of weeks regarding "lore," which isn't a great term, maybe, but one we all understand to mean background, mostly nonmechanical elements of a setting in all their myriad forms. A lot of time is spent separating good lore from bad. Ben Laurence wrote this great post last week. I wrestled with the issue in regard to history, one of the most vexing parts of lore, here.

Anyway, I think what Ben says about "good" lore and its creation and use is smart, but there seems to me a missing category, which was the impetus for this post. One type of actionable lore that Ben neglects to mention is the sort of detail that aids the GM in conveying the world to the players at the table. This isn't "actionable intelligence" for the players particularly, but rather things that help set the scene and convey the subtle textures that might differentiate one world from another. Things that should appear in (or at least inform) the GM's description of the world, not facts to be memorized in anyway.

A good way to do this is sensory-impressionistic descriptions. Jack Shear of Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque presented a brief style of locale description that included as one of it's headings "A Taste, A Sound, an Image." I've borrowed this presentation myself, as has Miranda Elkins of In Places Deep. These sorts of details help set the mood both for the players and for the GM who must great more details and could use the imaginative springboard.

Note that these can be diegetic and nondiegetic, though going nondiegetic runs the risk of the reader not getting the "vibe" because they don't know the work referenced or took something else from it.

It might be fair to say, that's not really "lore," and I guess in the strictest since that's true, but I've got more! Ben mentions "banal facts about cuisine" as irrelevant lore, and I agree, but only in regard to the "banal" part. One of the things I did with my recent Gnydrion game was go out of my way to give a description of the meal being offered when the character's had a chance to eat. This isn't something I usually do, but Gnydrion is a very Vancian setting, so I wanted to lean into that. The players weren't expected to remember these meals; it was just a bit color, but I think it helped convey the feel of the setting. The players seemed to enjoy it in that spirit. All I had to do was make a list of like 10 dishes and I wasn't concerned if what I said in play was exactly what I wrote down.

I think these sorts of details like this can at least suggest actions. Knowing that bronze can be mined from the buried bones of dead Storm Gods could be something players do something with in Glorantha, but at the very least it sets Glorantha apart from say, the Forgotten Realms. 

At the end of the day, "good" lore is going to make your setting more memorable and interesting. This may be because the players can use that knowledge strategically, but it may also because it helps the world come alive for them.

This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup is what happens), but it covers our ongoing games.

The Garden of Punches

04/08/2024

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! On the way to the Garden of Punches to kidnap two proscribed murderers, the company was joined by two shipwrecked adventurers, Cherogh (a Northman “merchant”) and Numa Pompilius (a Cleric). After repelling a skeleton ambush along the coast, they arrived at the Garden – an abandoned coastal village in the shadow of a derelict lighthouse, now a fighting school for several bare-chested wrestlers and pugilists. They introduced themselves to the school's master Settimo the Bone-Breaker, pretending to be looking for prize fighters for an upcoming tournament. The two killers, Tullio and Rubiano were there in the crowd and easily spotted, but not that easily separated from their new comrades. Meanwhile, another castaway, Paprica (a blond barbarian) emerged from a stone hut, and demonstrated his fighting prowess in a wrestling match, first against a lightweight wrestler, then the heavyweight One-Eye, both of whom he defeated – winning an invitation to sign up for the school. Meanwhile, Cherogh approached Tullio, trying to lure him away from the village. Tullio invited him behind the huts to discuss it away from the others, and quickly wrung poor Cherogh's neck, casting his body into the sea.

The Ruined Village
 He was thus replaced by yet another castaway PC, Marcus Tullius Secundus. Eventually, Tullio was drawn away from the crowd with a command spell (“Follow!”), subdued, and hidden in a getaway boat. Now it was Rubiano's turn: he agreed to a meeting at a nearby ruined farmstead, but he was transparently planning something. A counter-ambush was thus set, and when Rubiano approached with a gang of wrestlers in tow, he was peppered with arrows and killed, the rest breaking morale and fleeing. This was fortunately smoothed over with Settimo the Bone-Breaker, who had not known the murderers for long, and, noting Cherogh's disappearance as well, was inclined to believe the men were killers. So they parted ways, sailing back along the coast. During the night, the campsite on the shore was attacked by five young green dragons. Now this was deadly, but a concentrated effort killed off four beasts, while Jovial Faustulus, the party Ranger, subdued one with a net and some good old-fashioned dragon subdual. The monster was not receptive to taming, so it was securely bound on the ship.

The next day, they sailed back to Pellagris to collect their reward. In port, though, they fell afoul of Umberto Gatto, an over-zealous customs official, who objected heavily to bringing a dragon in town – and just pocketed the bribe they offered him. So the dragon was left with one half of the company, while the others did their business in town, and planned their revenge on the corrupt Umberto. The sleazy bureaucrat was enjoying his evening bath, and on the way back home, he was ambushed and captured. The man, it turns out, was carrying coins, a valuable golden jug, and two priceless gemstones on his person – a small fortune, especially for a petty customs official! Umberto was brought on board and expropriated; lamenting that his life would be forfeit once Stormy Asmodeo, the pirate lord he was working for noticed the loss. Fortunately, the party was just planning on an expedition to the nearby Isle of the Oaks, where he might be marooned. Indeed, he was asked to go on shore in the forests of the island along with the captured dragon, where Jovial Faustulus, parting from the company for a while, sacrificed them both according to the tried traditions of the Druidic faith. The rest of the landing party followed a mysterious trail to a collection of peaks, and there found an exiled nobleman named Cosimo di Lucio of the Purple Hand. Cosimo asked the party's help in saving him, and taking vengeance on his perfidious brother who had had him exiled, and was sending assassins after him even to this island. They left the island with Cosimo on board, and set sail for the city of Borontium to dispose of the gems, purchase equipment, and engage in some high-quality revelry...

Underground Tombs

11/08/2024

News from the fallen Empire of Kassadia! In the city of Borontium, the Cleric Numa Pompilius overheard his companions talking about a strange entrance and possible treasures beneath the abandoned Colantonio Manor, and deciding to beat them to the score, assembled a team of three veteran adventurers (Claude the Coffeemaker, a survivor of Shadow of the City-God, and Targus the Sailor, a survivor of The Forest of Gornate), outfitted with several henchmen. They travelled through pastoral Frabotia to the abandoned villa, finding it occupied by a group of vintners. The entrance was there, and lead deep beneath Colantonio Manor, to a network of caverns which served as both catacombs and a sanctuary from some sort of blasphemous chthonic deity. Augustus the heavy footman and Tomas the porter were killed in two battles with masses of skeletons, but small treasures were also found, and eventually, caverns with built crypts serving as the resting place of the ancient Colantonios. One of these was the mausoleum of Ercole Colantonio, a giant skeleton with an enormous sword, who also killed Filippo the Longing, light footman and Julius the heavy footman in furious battle before he was brought down. His bracers and a gold-bladed gladius +1 (a mere dagger on the giant’s belt) were the main prizes. Further, in a side-cavern, a hecatomb of 40 skeletons guarded treasures detected by a spell from Numa Pompilius, and destroyed to the last using a bottleneck position: coinage, a magic ring, and 15 amber-tipped arrows +2 were captured.

Shafts led even deeper down, into yet another large cavern with separate family mausoleums. Here, Targus climbed a roof to look around, and found himself looking down on * * M i n o s a u r o s * *, a minotaur skeleton with a giant axe and a triceratops head! The charging beast's roar froze some in terror, and while some climbed the roof, Jerios the porter was left behind and massacred. The beasts even climbed the walls of the crypt where the defenders hid, killing Caesar the heavy footman, but being defeated by the surviving PCs, who also took his great axe and skull. His true crypt – hidden behind a false one – hid a hoard of golden vessels, gems, and coinage. However, they triggered a secret button which sounded a gong and sealed the entrance with heavy bars: and only Numa Pompilius' one-use spell to call on his deity's emissary could get them out – an unassuming man who opened the barred entrance before taking a reward of treasure and disappearing. However, the man's final warning to be careful proved prophetic: * * M i n o s a u r o s * *, revived from death, came forth from his crypt again, headless: and as the characters ran from the mausolean caverns, he replaced the skull on his mighty neck, and came roaring with terrible fury! It was now time to run, and the adventurers fled the caverns, to emerge back in the idyllic landscape of Frabotia, and return with their treasures and great deeds to the big city...

The Caverns of Minosauros

15/08/2024

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! Following a letter from Numa Pompilius, the leader of the previous expedition, the main party set out for Colantonio Manor and the caverns of Minosauros. Descending into the ancient burial passages, most of the time was spent in exploration, although the worms of the earth – terrible, segmented creatures with gaping, toothy maws – came to assault the party again and again. At a magic circle, some sort of conjuration was triggered, and masses of the horrors came swarming out of the cavern ground, but were driven back with swords and flaming oil. Then, caverns were re-discovered with free-standing mausoleums. The mausoleum of Pierluigi Colantonio, “whose mask is a face, but whose face is a mask”, a juju zombie with a weird lead mask, was dispatched and some blasphemous religious artifacts collected. There was less success in the mausoleum of Ataleo Colantonio, whose entrance ominously read “He who enters here shall share in his grief.” A small trinket was retrieved from the sarcophagus by fishing it out with a javelin, but then opening the lid for good to get the coinage triggered a trap, sealing the entrance with a stone slab! All fled successfully except a henchman, Gracchus the Mute, who was now trapped within Ataleo’s resting place! A second inscription was found faintly graven into the side of the structure: “IN PACE REQUIESCAT”. With that, the company returned to the surface to see what kind of tools they might retrieve from the manor to help their armed companion...

Outskirts

08/09/2024

News from ULTRAREALITY! The exploration of the City of the Ape-Men continued on the plateau of the Isle of the Dream-Spices. At first, the company stuck to the city outskirts: exploring a ruined palace and defeating two two-headed lions, and Murat the thief climbing up into a ruined tower and discovering it was the nest of strange, intelligent spider-creatures with a somewhat humanoid upper body (but retreating to safety instead of risking a one-on-five confrontation). A half-collapsed cistern was also located, and the giant toads inhabiting it poisoned with a vial of deadly poison. It seems the cistern hid some underwater structure, but this was left for another time.

Striking through the jungle, a grotto entrance was found, and an idol whose electrum sceptre shot powerful electric bolts – which was removed from its grasp. But there was more: a carefully hidden door behind the statue, to... a system of meandering cave passages. Not far from the entrance was a gruesome display of stuffed ape-men on pedestals, but soon, a group of more finely dressed and articulate apes approached, inquiring of the visitors’ purpose, and particularly the “vessel” they came to this world, which interested them considerably until they learned it was not a spacecraft. This was, however, an illusion: the company was ambushed from behind by more of the spider-creatures, who proved to have telepathic and mental domination abilities. Four were killed in pitched battle and one subdued, but then killed due to the dangers of their telepathy. Considering the place too dangerous, a retreat was made to the lions’ palace for a night's rest. On the way back, though, the tower of the spider-things was fireballed by Bocephus, bringing the unstable structure down in a cascade of rocks.

The Lower Caverns
05/09/2024

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack continued their explorations of the Caverns of Minosauros beneath Colantonio Manor. First, a quick rescue operation was mounted to rescue Gracchus the Mute, entombed within the crypt of Ataleo Colantonio by a rising stone block trap. A reduce spell turned the stone block smaller; it pivoted forward and crushed Cato the heavy footman to death, but at least Gracchus was freed. The company retreated to the manor, to enjoy food and wine among the vineyard workers.

The next day, more exploration followed, but most of the locations found were already cleared by Numa Pompilius’ group. However, a crypt of wights was breached, and miraculously, the undead put down with turning and lots of holy water. A way down to a lower level was guarded by a magical spiral glyph. (“Spirals don't mean good things in the Zylarthen campaign.” “They don't mean good things anywhere else either.”) Larth Ulthes Velznach broke the glyph, and narrowly avoided being sucked into nilspace. The lower level was a system of caverns, leading to a lightless lake and a grotto with a talking crystal skull, the family's forefather, Lucius Manilius Colantonius. The skull believed the company to be his distant descendants, and after generous gifts, told how Colantonius Minosauros could be put to rest by cleansing his sarcophagus. With this knowledge, the company could ambush the beast, who was killed without casualties. In a hidden true tomb (missed by Numa's group), his sarcophagus was cleansed with holy water and a bless spell, and a bounty of coins, gems, and golden dishes plundered. Returning to the surface, the company walked into a predictable ambush: Heraclio the Vintner and his men were there, demanding the loot! But Trupo Gizmegas was ready, enshrouding the place with magical fog, and in the confusion, they fled, hearing Heraclio’s curses from far behind.

The Subterranean Lake

15/09/2024

The next adventure followed after downtime in Pellagris, where Trupo brewed a potion of spider climbing, and Axem Borbatuk created extra holy water. The Lion Pack returned to Colantonio Manor, now deserted by the vintner-bandits. Exploration continued on the cavern level, around the lightless lake. On its south were caverns with a fungal infestation, carefully avoided. In the lake's middle rose a small island with a circle of standing stones. On the shores, the characters were attacked by heavy, sacklike creatures hanging from the ceiling, but they were defeated with missile fire. A grapnel with rope was thrown to the island, enough to shimmy across. After slaying more hanging creatures, the standing stones proved to be not druidic, but some sort of evil chthonic ritual site with bas-reliefs describing live burial. Deciding not to bother this unhallowed ground, they retreated, but Trupo, who fell into the lake, was almost torn apart by lurking zombies.

Escape From the Shadow-Sluts

To the north was a hall of deep shadows and closed pits, as well as a dark statue with an inscription reading “SINISTRO”. This was also avoided. The company eventually came back to the cavern of the mausoleums. The mausoleum of “VOPISCVS TITINIVS COLANTONIVS: CONCVBINATOR, TRIVMPHATOR, DECIMATOR” was guarded by a satyr's head, and the door was opened from a distance with a rope, avoiding a magical trap. The tomb seemed uninhabited at first, but the Lion Pack got surrounded by the wraith of Vopiscus Titinius and his shadowy concubines. The undead aristocrat was slain by Arden Oakbark’s flame blade, but poor Gracchus the Mute was claimed by the shadow sluts as their plaything. The characters ran, the shadows, temporarily held at bay with oil fire – but the day was saved by Trupo, who could quickly ascend a vertical shaft with the potion of spider climbing and lower a rope for the others. The company left behind the manor with minor treasure, swearing not to return until accumulating more power!

Quotes:

Arden Oakbark: “I can sacrifice either 400 gp, or you.”

Diomedes to Arden Oakbark, laden down with one of the weighty hanging creatures still clinging to him in death: “You are a druid after all, in symbiosis with nature.”

Arden: “Windowless… Just because it is a crypt, it could have windows.”

Diomedes, after escaping in shameful defeat from the mausoleum of Vopiscus Titinius: “Well, lads, I didn’t think I would feel nostalgic for the Minosauros.”

The Sealed Library

15/09/2024

News from ULTRAREALITY! Exploration of the city ruins continued under generous rainfall. The first destination was a round, domed building, which proved to be a temple with the idol of a speaking statue calling herself GODDESS. GODDESS spoke of the city's warring apes, one of whose factions were evil conquerors, and two on the good side - and she tasked the company to help these "good" apes to bring peace to the city. This was promised, but doubts lingered about the voice's divinity. Next, the hill to the west, where stood an abandoned, crumbling library. The entrance was walled up; Murat, exploring the rooftops, found a crack in a cupola, but also a nest of giant spiders, whom they didn't wish to fight for now.

Deeper into the City

Instead, they descended back to the city centre. A swarm of flying manta rays ambushed them from the top chamber of a crumbling pyramid. This structure proved to hold buried treasures, as well as a polished golden mirror with astronomical diagrams, and tablets with some sort of complex calculations, and a warning they would have to be taken at the zenith, close to the sky. Further on was a derelict palace that was still inhabited by elegantly-dressed nobles among rot and ruin; they introduced themselves as members of the ruling clan, but their behaviour was very odd: the company took a quick farewell. They surmised it would be best to talk to the friendly ape-men, one of whom they suspected to reside in a lone tower on a hill on the city's eastern outskirts. This place proved uninhabited, so camp was made while supplies ran dangerously low. The following day, a bold decision was taken to scout out one of the buildings with a heavy presence of ape-men. Lilith decided to introduce herself as an incarnation of GODDESS (as the trick had worked before); but this time, the apes denounced them as imposters, sending a hunting party after the fleeing adventurers. These foes were slain, and the explorers decided to return to the Viridian Star to rest and replenish their supplies...

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Imagine a Victorian world, but not as history tells us it was, but as the literature implies that it was. Believe that the literature from the period was more than just stories; instead, it was first-hand accounts of the events that happened in the world.

At NTRPG Con this past June, I talked about the forthcoming Gaslight Victorian Fantasy Backerkit with Jonathan Thompson. I told Jonathan I was very much NOT a 5e player, but the more he pitched the setting, the more I was tempted. I am still very much NOT a fan of 5e D&D, but I do expect I'll be adding Gaslight Victorian Fantasy to my gaming shelves, digital and/or physical (but damn, I'm running low on space for new physical purchases)

Sixteen years ago, Jonathan M. Thompson and Stephen Miller introduced the world to Gaslight Victorian Fantasy. Battlefield Press is proud to bring you the revision that Jonathan was working on when we lost him. A fully updated and revised version for 5E Fantasy. This edition features an all-new cover brought to us by William W. Connors! 

Imagine a Victorian world, not as history tells us it was, but as the literature implies that it was. Believe that the literature from the period was more than just stories, but instead first-hand accounts of the events that happened in the world. Imagine a world populated by the lost boys of J.M. Barrie, the Beast Men of Dr. Moreau, and even tales of an immortal vampire named Dracula. Included in these are organizations bent on determining what is best for humanity, and they have launched a secret war against others so that only one will prevail. 

In Gaslight, you will find:

• A History of Gaslight Earth
• Races detailed for Gaslight Earth
• New interpretations of Victorian Economics, including both a cash and target-based wealth system 
• Rules for Social Standing
• Weapons and equipment from the Victorian era
• A Reliquary containing a few artifacts from the history of the Earth of Gaslight.
• A detailed Gazetteer and Timeline, including *NEW* information on other parts of the world, both the British Empire and its adversaries.  
• *NEW* Secret Organizations 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Rumble or YouTube - Tenkar   

Title: Nottingham # 14 Publisher: Mad Cave Studios Writer: David Hazan Artist: Shane Connery Volk Colorist: Luca Romano Letterer: Justin Birch Price: $ 4.99 US Rating: 4 out of 5…

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Nineteenth-century French writer Jules Verne could see over the widening technological horizon of the industrial age to the “superpowers” that would enable humanity to travel beneath the waves, through the…

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Earl Norem is a legend. From men's magazines to baseball to toys to comics, he has illustrated more covers than I have eaten Milky Way bars... and that's saying a lot.

When I was a teenager I discovered Savage Sword of Conan and, of course, Norem eventually showed up on a cover (he did at least 48 SSoC covers!) and, at that time, I was not as blown away by him as with Joe Jusko or Michael Golden. It felt like I was seeing an older painter at work and his style was out of synch with what I expected.

But he won me over. I kept seeing Norem covers and kind of fell in love with his textures and colors and old school aesthetic. I can't say just how much his work has influenced me, to be honest. Maybe not that much. I don't know. But he's been in my head canon since the 80s so there must be some osmosis happening.

Earl Norem died in 2015 at the age of 92. A WWII vet, and a massively accomplished and respected illustrator.

 

AHOY COMICS Babs #2 (Of 6)(Cover A Jacen Burrows), $3.99 Babs #2 (Of 6)(Cover B John McCrea), AR Babs #2 (Of 6)(Cover C Mauricet), AR ALIEN BOOKS Damaged People #2…

PINEAPPLE MAN #10 Things don’t always go according to plan, as Isamu and Miyo are about to discover. When legends come alive, Isamu has to use all his luck to…

The Master and the Daleks cause trouble for the Doctor and Charley in The Stuff of Legend

 

Paul McGann and India Fisher star as the Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard in The Stuff of Legend. Live performances of the new story have already begun at London’s Cadogan Hall. You can expect Blogtor Who’s review of the stage version soon. But in the meantime, you can also experience the same story as an exciting new audio adventure. It’s all part of the celebrations marking 25 years of Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas.

The Stuff of Legend also features Annette Badland (Ted Lasso, Aliens of London) as Old Emily Barnfather and the Bucca. Meanwhile, Nisha Nayar plays Emily Barnfather and Jason Forbes is Captain Montgomerie Césaire. Finally, Barnaby Edwards plays Jago Penrose and Foley, and George Naylor voices the Robomen.

 

Some of the cast of Doctor Who: The Stuff of Legend (l-r) eorge Naylor, Barnaby Edwards, Nisha Nayar, Paul McGann, Nicholas Briggs, India Fisher, Annette Badland, Jason Forbes (c) Big Finish A pure, traditional Doctor Who adventure combining the fun of the Cushing movies with the terrors of the Hinchcliffe era

In a story written by Robert Valentine, the time-travelling duo arrive in a quiet Cornish town. There two of their greatest enemies await – the Master (Alex Macqueen) and the Daleks (Nicholas Briggs).

Valentine discussed the process for developing the story, saying “Big Finish creative director Nick Briggs came to me in 2023 and asked me to come up with a story to celebrate 25 years of Big Finish Doctor Who with an adventure for the Eighth Doctor and Charley. Having both the Daleks and the Master involved was essentially inevitable as a way of making this a huge celebratory story.

“I wanted to make this a really pure, traditional Doctor Who adventure, so I wrote the Dalek scheme to feel like something out of one of the 1960s Peter Cushing films. I also wanted to honour the Philip Hinchcliffe era of the TV series by homaging Hammer Horror – in this case Plague of the Zombies, which I think is one of their best – and which allowed me to indulge my love for folklore and legend.”

Actor Alex Macqueen added: “I’ve played the Master for over a decade now, but it’s getting on for four or five years since I last recorded as him. So coming back to it was a real delight and a thrill. I’d forgotten just how fun he is to play.”

 

Doctor Who: The Stuff of Legend. Cover by Sean Longmore (c) Big Finish Doctor Who: The Stuff of Legend

Something is afoot in the lonely Cornish village of Merrymaid Bay. Rumours of dead men working in the tin mines have sent a chill through the community, and it’s up to the Doctor and Charley to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Can the legends of the Bucca that haunts the mines be true? And just what awesome power do the Doctor’s greatest enemies – the Daleks! – threaten to unleash upon the universe?

Doctor Who: The Stuff of Legend is now available to own as a collector’s edition double CD plus slipcase (+ download for just £15.99) or as a digital download only (for just £12.99), exclusively from www.bigfinish.com

 All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release.

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