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Hello again, reader! Welcome back to my continuing series highlighting the art of incredibly talented Puerto Rican creators.

This week I’m talking to Laura, aka Lala Mágica. I’ve known about Laura for a few years. I’ve been following her on social media, seeing her creations. Laura happens to be married to a friend and longtime member of Puerto Rico Role Player (who I hope to interview in the future about his TTRPG content). It is a pleasure to talk to her and learn more about her as an artist and a gamer.

Without further ado, here is the interview.

Introduce yourself! Who are you and what do you create?

My name is Laura, but with my knitting needle, I am Lala Mágica. With a creative spirit in crafting, I like to knit original characters that aren’t easily found. I started with dice bags and then expanded into other accessories, such as keychains and garments.

How would you describe your art or creative endeavor?

Karso the Halfling Barbarian from Juego La Mesa

I would describe my art as 3D printing, but with yarn. Usually, I do what is known as “freehand,” which is knitting without following a pattern. So, creating a plush of your original character is possible for me.

How did you discover TTRPGs?

I discovered tabletop role-playing games through friends in college. I played two sessions of Mage: The Ascension, but I was able to get into the hobby properly after getting married. My husband is a DM, so we share that.

Do you actively play TTRPG? What are you playing?

At the moment, I’m active in two campaigns: one of Paradigm Odyssey: “War is Raw” as a clown “living doll”, the system is being developed by Enyol currently, and one of Daggerheart: Age of Umbra as a fairy Seraph.

What do you want to play next?

What do I want to play next? Honestly, whatever my next session 0 throws at me. I’ll be honest, probably more Paradigm Odyssey.

What projects are available, and what are you working on next?

I’m in the process of a “restock,” since I gave away dragon and dinosaur coasters at the Juego La Mesa event last month. Besides that, I’m also recreating one of the small puppets that came out in the movie “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” On top of that, I’m illustrating the supplements that Enyol is sharing on DriveThruRPG, since drawing is another passion of mine.

Where can people find your creations?

You can find me actively on Instagram as Lala Mágica, and I have a FB page with the same name.

Any closing thoughts?

My hook is “My wand and my yarn is the magic”—whatever you can imagine, I can create.

Thank you, Laura, for your time and for sharing your creations. As a Cthulhu Mythos fan, I must admit I love the Cthulhu dice bag below. It looks terrifyingly adorable.

I started seeing John McKenzie's work on Facebook a while back and was immediately smitten by it. John has the perfect balance of silly cartoonery and grit. It's almost as if Basil Wolverton and Mike Mignola conspired to create a new life form and I truly love it.

My instinct is to say his work begs to be animated. It FEELS animated. But I don't want to suggest it would better if animated... It lives and breathes as is, but it would translate to animation quite easily.

Also sounds like he's making an RPG. Gotta have that for sure.

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By Martin Cubas
Weird Adventures by Martin A. Cubas
Castles & Crusades
Levels 2-3

They can’t see you. They don’t need to. A colony of blind, grotesque predators has infested an abandoned temple deep inside a canyon. They hunt by sound. They move in packs. And they’re starving.

This thirty page adventure uses about fourteen pages to describe seven rooms. Obviously long-winded and padded out, you kill a few monsters. Also, it’s not dark.

Oh lop-sided page count, where have you been? I’ve missed you. Look, I get it, PDF pages are “free”; you’re not paying to print them. Why not put in a bunch of appendices, and lead in, and backstory, and everything else? It’s free! Academically, I agree. But, in practice, what I see time and time again is a poor adventure with a low “core” page count with a whole lot of extra information. While a bit hyperbolic, one must ask oneself, is the designer interested in writing an adventure or ar they interested in world building and the adventure is just a pretext for that? Again, I don’t care if you world build. I don’t care if the page count ration is one adventure page per one hundred pages of backstory. But if you’re selling me an adventure then it had better be a ROCK. FUCKING. SOLID. Adventure. And it almost never is. The designer is distracted by the fluff. They spend their effort there instead of in the core adventure text. What pops out the other end is just another crappy adventure surrounded by a bunch of backstory and appendices. Who would like to guess if this is in the one in a thousand adventure in which there is a lot of fluff and a solid adventure? We all know the fucking answer already. You have to AGONIZE over the adventure text. It should be the best possible, that you are capable of (… ) and more. 

Ok, so, we’ve got some eyeless creatures in a cave. There’s a long backstory here about bandits, a holy order, orcs, and so on but all that really matters is that there are eyeless creatures in a cave. They hunt by sound. This whole “shrieks in the dark” thing doesn’t really matter. They can use a sonic attack, but the party is never limited on light. So, you’re just stabbing some monsters in a cave. The central conceit, of these creatures who can hunt without sight, is never capitalized on. We get long monster ecologies (in fucking italics …) who nothing about them putting out lights, etc. So, you’re fighting 5HD orcs in a cave that have a sonic attack. 

Room descriptions average a couple of pages each. There’s no need for that. Nothing that interesting is going on. “The disc was collected by the Shrieklings along with other debris from the caverns and has no special significance to them.” Great. You want me to etll you about the pile of shit I collected this morning? It has no bearing on anything, so why not? Backstory, meaningless trivia. Overexplained things. “The Shrieklings’ thick, mucus-coated skin produces a scent that naturally repels the barracuda, allowing them to swim and hunt freely.” Explanations on ecology. Great. That’s not coming up during play, so it’s a great thing it’s in there clogging up the descriptions (as my aforementioned shit this morning may have the toilet?)  These are simple rooms with simple interactivity that are just padded out in what amounts to a wall of text. Bullet point up the main issues, but if the bullet is half a page then what’s the point? Sixty some words to describe “+4 to move silently when within 15’ of the waterfall.” 

The designer notes that this is inspired by the a Dungeon Design Framework. Monsters have patterns and routines, etc. There are a couple of charts to help with the monsters wandering patrol paths. I’m not saying they are wrong, but they are poorly done, not noting the creatures locations. Just dots and blips that you must then interpret and expand on. Hooks are all “you are hired to “ nonsense. And, in particular, the claim that “Inside, you’ll find tightly written areas built around meaningful encounters, and systems that keep the dungeon active between player actions.” would not be true. Tightly written. Meaningful encounters. I think not.

This is likely the last Cubas review, joining Mohr, Filbar, Elven Tower and the rest.

This is $2 at DriveThru. The preview is ten pages. Meaning nine pages of background/fluff/intro and one that starts to show the first room. (There’s another full page of room one info.) Take a look at that Gannt chart like thing. The blue and reds could be handled much better to show current location, not moves. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/563481/c-c-shrieks-in-the-dark-c-c-edition?1892600

 Exploring the depths beneath a decaying city requires a mix of environmental hazards, weird sorcery, and gritty martial threats. This table is designed with an OSR (Old School Renaissance) sensibility, favoring traditional mechanics and a "Dying Earth" or Sword & Sorcery atmosphere.This blog post picks right up from Detail d100 Sword & Sorcery Random back alley encounters For Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

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I've been plugging away at the Army Ants Companion (a living document you can access at any time) for the Army Ants RPG, and I've made a few tweaks to the game. One tweak I've made is in regards to soaking damage; I had borrowed the 'save for half damage' mechanic that is embedded into the heart of my little D+D design hangups. I've swapped that out for rolling Reflex to soak damage from grenades and areas of effect. This opens me up for a variety of other attack types, linking each type to a trait. For example, sensory damage now gets soaked by Spirit, and poisons/toxins get soaked by Body. Mental attacks get soaked by Mind. I like the variety of play options that this opens up.
I also think I've settled on a 'look' for the Army Ants. I'd been giving them heavier grays in their uniforms, but this Phil design feels a little lighter and more attuned with how I want the look to carry. 

This year’s Big Finish Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity focuses on the First Doctor

The Big Finish Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity honours the memory of a stalwart of the Big Finish production office who passed away suddenly on 8 May 2014. Each year it finds a new talent to write a Doctor Who short story for release at Christmas. And this year, the topic is The First Doctor. The competition runs for five weeks, starting on the 8th of May and closing in the middle of June.

Big Finish’s Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs said: “It’s always a special time to remember our dear friend Paul. It’s particularly exciting for me this year as we’re focussing on the First Doctor, who has been something of a passion of mine recently. Can’t wait to read the story submissions for this!”

Range producer Peter Anghelides said: “In the ten years since we launched this memorial competition, we’ve never had a winning story featuring the First Doctor. This is the year we’re changing that.

“We want to read your proposal for a standalone Short Trip with a brand new idea that showcases him in a short story for a single reader that we’ll publish at the end of this year.

“Your story will be inspired by the character of the First Doctor as we saw him on TV. It’s an era when each story naturally offered a new perspective on the continuing series – so we want your proposal to demonstrate that kind of originality and inventiveness. What fresh characters, adversaries, locations, concepts and perspectives can you devise for a compelling short story?”

In addition to naming a winner, Big Finish will also identify a shortlist of commendations. “In recent competitions, the standard of entries has been wonderful,” said Peter Anghelides. “Although we will have only one winner, we thought it appropriate this year to name and commend other strong contenders.”

You can find more details, including the official submission guidelines, on the Big Finish website.

 

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 In the Victorious RPG, where Victorian-era aesthetics meet superheroic action, a character like Reverb fits perfectly as a "dimensional dandy" or a cosmic traveler grounded in 19th-century theories of the luminiferous ether.Here is a profile for Reverb, designed for the Victorian supersetting.Hero Profile: ReverbSecret Identity: Alistair ThorneArchetype: Astral Traveler / Sound Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Art by Guy Wurley
The ramshackle boomtown called Salvage by its inhabitants and the Scrapyard by outsiders is built amid the fallen combatants of an ancient battle. The colossi are named for their color. Red Knight lies on its back, reaching for a sword that is out of reach. Blue Knight fell forward. Its weapon is long gone, but one hand is raised. The plains have made half-hearted attempts to reclaim the giants, and the knives of time have marked them, but they remain, tempting those interested in making a quick fortune or simply curious about their enigma. The colossi are unusual treasure troves, or above ground mines, made as they are from rare materials and magitechnologies unreproducible in the current age. 
All the prospectors, adventurers, scholars, and thieves looking to claim their own piece of the colossi, and the merchants, dealers, entertainers, and bandits looking to get rich off them, crowd into haphazard buildings constructed along and amid the fallen giants. It's a dangerous place. There is no law in Salvage and plenty of desperate characters. Guns are more common that elsewhere given the relative abundance of both artificers and the raw magitech materials.
The danger isn't just from the inhabitants. There are caustic fluids, poison gases, and other environmental hazards to be sure, but also the colossi are not as dead as they appear. They haven't moved in ages, but not all of their internal parts have been stilled like their limbs. Component constructs, perhaps something like immune system elements, sometimes react violently to scavengers crawling through a colossus's insides. Some grow independent and feral and prowl outside the bodies as if their look for prey or raw materials to affect repairs.

 Setting a campaign in the Belle Époque (roughly 1871–1914) using the Victorious RPG system—and specifically integrating the Red RPG (The Red Book) mechanics—creates a unique blend of superheroic "Steampunk" and gritty, high-stakes tactical play.Here is how you can detail and merge these two influences for a campaign.1. The Setting: The Beautiful EraThe Belle Époque was a period of optimism,Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Let me start by saying that I blame Michael (aka the Stargazer) for this! He recently started writing about the original Alternity game here and here, and it made me so nostalgic that I began digging through the files for my old campaign. That is where I found the topic for this post. Let me give you some context.

It was 1998. Alternity had been published earlier that year by TSR (which Wizards of the Coast had already purchased). I was obsessed with it. I wanted to run a campaign in a setting I had originally conceived around 1990 and had been tinkering with over the years: the Nirvani Alliance. Alternity felt like the perfect system for it, so I started adapting the rules for the campaign.

In September, I was busy planning my upcoming wedding, which was just three months away. Then, Hurricane Georges hit Puerto Rico! We lost power for days, so I spent nights by flashlight and candlelight, writing the campaign material discussed in this post.

What I wrote were the Alternity system rules for a mystic order of armored religious knights, inspired by various classic sci-fi influences. I eventually typed up the pages and showed them to my players. Naturally, none of them wanted to play one of the knights, so I shelved the rules and didn’t work on them any further.

Below are the rules, written 28 years ago, for an out-of-print game I still deeply love! I made no changes to the mechanics. I cleaned up the text, fixed some grammar, and made a few tweaks for clarity. This is not a professionally written or edited piece; it is a slice of house rules from my old Alternity campaign. I am sharing them purely for nostalgia’s sake, and I hope someone finds them useful.

This post includes an introduction and summary of concepts, rules, and ideas. At the end, you’ll find a link to the Alternity Indomitable Order Rules, an 11-page PDF with detailed information on this Order of warrior-knights. Don’t judge me too harshly, I wrote this almost 30 years ago!

The Age of the Nirvani

Of all the races inhabiting Alliance space, the Nirvani are the only ones not native to this galaxy. Even their name was a gift from the Keriani, who encountered them as they fled the forces of the TukNi-Amak puppet government. These refugees, who called themselves “humans,” claimed to hail from a distant galaxy decimated by a devastating plague.

The Keriani—whose name translates as “born from the womb of Ker”—named the newcomers Nirvani, or “born of no womb”. Though they arrived in the middle of a great interstellar war, the Nirvani were ready to start anew, and their arrival signaled a new order for the galaxy.

The Indomitable Order

The Knights of the Indomitable Order serve as the warrior sect of the Church of the Celestial Canticle. The Order traces its legacy to the foundation of the Alliance and the liberation campaign led by Lord Sparrowhawk. Selected by The Ever Present as a sword of vengeance, Sparrowhawk identified twenty-three soldiers of great faith—the Enlightened, or Saints of War—and bestowed upon them his wisdom and power.

These Enlightened formed the Bloodlines, passing their knowledge and unique abilities to subsequent generations. In modern times, the Order remains the Church’s premier fighting branch, though its influence has waned. Today’s knights survive by breeding strictly within the Bloodlines to retain their diluted, yet still formidable, birthright.

Life as an Indomitable

A member of the Order is born, not chosen. They serve as guardians, fighters, and symbols of the Church’s power. Those who abandon their destiny are branded Fallen, stripped of their heritage through an excruciating process involving power-inhibiting nanites. Those who openly rebel become Renegades, hunted down as enemies of the faith.

The Major Bloodlines

Each group within the Order has its own outlook and specialized abilities:

• The Sisterhood of Heimdal: Traditionalists and keepers of records who use “Bloodsense” to identify a newborn’s destiny. In Alternity terms, they possess the Enhanced Sense mutation.
• Bloodline Gilgamesh: The highly militaristic ground troopers. They receive a +1 to their STR score and a +3 to their Wound rating.
• Bloodline Zeus: Known as the “Scions of Thunder,” these warriors can manifest an Electrical Aura to damage enemies.
• The Conclave of Ra: Progressive tacticians who possess a variation of Energy Absorption, allowing them to turn light into energy.
• The Icarians: Independent and reclusive, these members have an improved DEX score and the Adaptation Gravity (light gravity) power.
• The Fellowship of the Jesesites: The only ordained Bloodline within the Church. They are healers who possess the Enhanced Healing power, though using it on others can cause them to suffer physical strain.

Relics of the Order

For players navigating the Alternity system, the Order’s equipment provides significant tactical advantages:

• Rune & Relic Armor: These suits are powered by the hero’s own bio-field. While wearing them, the specific powers of each Bloodline are augmented—for example, a Jesesite gains Hyper Healing, while an Icarian gains the ability to fly.
• Star Swords: Members of the Order receive a -1 step bonus to their Melee Weapons—Powered weapons skill base situation die when wielding these blades. They can even parry energy attacks.
• The Indomitable Ancestry Perk: A new 3-point Perk that allows a normal Nirvani hero to use Rune or Relic armor, though it costs them fatigue points to do so.

The life of the Indomitable is one of pride and strict adherence to the faith. Whether you are a dedicated soldier of the Church or a Renegade running from your heritage, you are “the chosen among the chosen”.

Want to dive into the mechanics? Check out this file: Alternity Indomitable Order Rules, for my complete notes on the Indomitable Order using the Alternity rules.

Are you ready to wield a Star Sword in your next session? Let me know which Bloodline fits your playstyle!

Writing and reviewing this document really stirred up my nostalgia for the game and for the campaign setting. I hope you find the Indomitable Order concept and its mechanics interesting. Let me know what you think of the application of the Alternity rules, the lore, or the campaign itself.

Would you be interested in reading more about the concepts or the Nirvani Alliance? I’m really looking forward to your comments!

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The Cheery Cherry Booties are a quick, beginner-friendly project that adds a playful pop of summer style and charm to any little outfit. With their simple stitches and adorable cherry details, they are designed to fit babies 0-6 mths. These booties come together quickly and make a thoughtful, handmade gift - now free on Moogly! […]

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I have especially fond memories of Lois Lane’s brief career as Elastic Lass. In Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane 23 (Feb. 1961), the intrepid reporter decides she needs an edge…

The post JUST IMAGINE! February 1961: The Flexible Feats of Lois Lane appeared first on First Comics News.

Here we go, another post on the Substack. I think I can claim that I'm back at it. There are already two new essays lined up, and I'm aiming at one a week with one of those for those who have also subscribed. I can say one more thing: people are seeing the posts and it gets Likes, which is far and beyond of what blogger is offering. Good. Anyway, check out my new essay:

[link]

Excerpt:

Sometimes I just get hit by a topic. This is one of those times. You know how some issues will just not stop returning into the general discussion how a thing is done or not? The performative aspect of that aside (which has gotten worse, tbh, but it’s just a phase), it may be an indicator that something is either not understood properly or (and?) that an idea really needs looking into. Immersion is one of those.

What we agree upon is not what we think.

There is a new kind of meme going viral just now where someone takes music videos of famous bands and replaces the music and singing with just squeaky shoes and grunting. It’s unbearable (and funny, to a degree), but it manages to point something out that we tend to forget: many of the visual media we look at need something as abstract as music to even allow immersion. It’s not just what we see, it’s the combination of seeing and hearing that may create the kind of trance we need to lose ourselves in what we see.

Language can be, in that sense, like music and entrance a listener just the same (and that will be important later on). That is mostly due to the fact that we are reduced to seeing and listening with visual media. Many are not aware that those are skills we learn, actually.

It is hard to tell if allowing that kind of immersion for playing video games (which has an active part, of course) needs the training we naturally receive for growing up with visual media. But assuming that you need some proficiency in how moving pictures work before you could play something like Quake seems to be evident. Just give your grandma a controller and see how she’ll fare.

Anyway, the base line here are two factors: rhythm and the skill to interpret it towards an experience. That’s a good start, but not the whole picture, because we need to know the frame of what we explore, too. In other words, the experience needs to pose a question we need to be able to understand in order to work our way along the rhythm towards an answer.

Very broadly speaking, that question needs to be rooted in our understanding of reality. Specifically speaking, if the question leading into an experience is based on a compromise we can agree upon, then we are more willing to leave that base towards where the experience is leading to (which is why playing a character helps along the way so easily).

Read on ...

 

That guy Joshua Williamson gets around! He’s writing the current Iron Man ongoing for Marvel, and he’s adding a new Legion of Super Heroes comic to his DC work very…

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The latest Gamdom promo code is “GAMBLE100”, designed to give new players an immediate advantage from the moment they join. By activating this code during registration, you can secure 15%…

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