Messages

76

General Chaos / Re: What are you reading?

« on: May 30, 2016, 01:39:55 AM »

Doing some additional development on my Gettysburg National Cemetery Civil War Cthulhu scenario (title: "We Cannot Hallow This Ground" -- coming to the RPPR studios this Saturday!), I've picked up more books on the subject. The highlight so far is The Gettysburg Gospel by Gabor Boritt, who's the head of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College and an absolute ace on the subject. I'm picking up a crazy level of detail that I'm figuring out how to work in. I'm leaning into the full Hite/Glancy mode of scenario design...

77

General Chaos / Re: What Vidja games are you playing?

« on: May 25, 2016, 04:50:59 PM »

No wall of text today because I played the same game all weekend.  For any fans of Dark Souls looking for a slightly less intense, sidescrolling experience I recommend

Salt and Sanctuary

This is an indie game (less than 20$ on Steam, probably the same for PS4) that IS, for all intents and purposes, Dark Souls reimagined as a sidescroller a la Symphony of the Night or Rogue Legacy.  From the gameplay to the atmosphere to the menus to some of the sound effects, this would be a ripoff it weren't so clearly an homage.  It makes some changes and additions to the formula (honestly these might be things that later DS games did, I didn't play them) but it is clearly intended for fans of DS.  I played for 20 or so minutes and put it aside the other day but I kept thinking about it, even when playing other games.  Finally I gave in, loaded it up, and played for about 10 hours over my weekend.  Maybe it's too easy for DS veterans but I found the level of challenge to be juuuuust about perfect and haven't had to look up anything or cheat yet.  One of the best little surprises I've had in a while and, while not original in anyway, it is impressive if only for its success in applying the DS template to a totally different genre.

Cool, I should check that out. I love 2d platformers, and I've never gotten a chance to play Dark Souls, as much as I'd really like to.

78

RPGs / Re: Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast: Red Markets Beta Campaign: The Reformers

« on: May 23, 2016, 07:19:28 PM »

The Red Markets Kickstarter is up!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/159466030/red-markets

Woooooo! Backed!!

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RPGs / Re: Redmarket. The ideas I get while listening to the actual plays.

« on: May 23, 2016, 07:17:33 PM »

I have a couple horrible ideas I feel like dropping. First a very low-key abomination.


The Evervector
Ordinarily, when someone goes vector, niceties like food, water, and not literally running yourself to death fall by the wayside and they die of exhaustion, exposure, etc...

Occasionally; a vector will slow down and start looking after itself after the first few hours of insane murder-sprinting. Rather than running the host to death the Blight reduces the victim to a hunter-gatherer mindset. When not in sight of a potential victim, an evervector will seek out food, water, and shelter. They do not bleed as much as full vectors, with only a slow weeping of blood around the eyes, gums and fingernails. Because of this, they can be mistaken for non-infected madmen.

In play, they act like vector land-mines in areas that one would expect to find only casualties. They may be foreshadowed by dead animals in the area, as they still get the full 'human without the brakes 'benefit' of being a vector when running down a deer. On the plus side, they have enough brain damage to have stopped apologizing.


Like I said, very low key for an abomination, I only call it that because it doesn't fit the mold of the normal vector/casualty.
It's just an unusual form of vector that can upset players who think they have the zombie apocalypse 'under control'.

Very cool idea. I like it.

80

RPGs / Re: Where to find building blueprints for games.

« on: May 14, 2016, 05:57:09 PM »

Wow, that's super incredibly useful. Unfortunately, it appears to me that United States law doesn't mandate that sort of public access (even if blueprints are a matter of public record, that could just mean that they're filed in the basement of the county courthouse somewhere).

However, thare are some good resources I've found.

Residential house plans are super easy to get. My favorite collection is at http://www.eplans.com/ which has thousands of plans and is searchable by house size and style.

One good way to get basic maps of larger public buildings is to do a Google search for "fire evacuation map" or similar terms. These images could also be used as in-game handouts, representing the actual maps the Takers have to use, since they're more likely to be publicly accessible than blueprints.

81

RPGs / Re: Redmarket. The ideas I get while listening to the actual plays.

« on: May 13, 2016, 01:42:58 PM »

Maybe you could pledge super early once the KS goes live, get the rules as quickly as possible, and start running it then. Heck, if you want it to be promotional, and you feel like you've got the chops, you could "do it live," releasing recorded episodes with minimal editing while the Kickstarter is still in process. I suspect you'd still want to get Caleb's permission to do that, though.

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RPGs / Re: Redmarket. The ideas I get while listening to the actual plays.

« on: May 11, 2016, 10:28:21 AM »

Oh man I just realised what we would call Red Market zombies in the UK.

"Blighters".

NICE

83

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: May 11, 2016, 10:25:07 AM »

Cool stuff, Twisting H.

A little closer to home, by which I mean right in the RPPR hometown: A billionaire is digging for hidden caves beneath his golf course.

http://www.topoftherock.com/sinkhole

"A treasure hunt is underway and we hope to one day discover a new natural wonder lying below,” said Johnny Morris, who has been overseeing the big dig. “It’s been an exciting few months here at Top of the Rock and we hope the best is yet to come.”

The sinkhole’s near-vertical collapse was characteristic of those in close proximity to cave formations. Water from the sinkhole drained out a cave located approximately one mile away that Morris personally discovered 23 years ago leading him to believe the two may potentially be connected by a long cave system.

The excavations may reveal answers to a mystery that has intrigued Morris for many years dating back to the discovery of a small cave decades earlier. Morris' exploits into the cave were documented through family photos and a National Geographic feature story in April 1998.

Morris first discovered the cave – dubbed John L's Cave -  in 1993 on a walk with the property’s former owner Dr. M. Graham Clark when the two came upon a natural spring. Johnny started excavations and five years and several dead ends later, they revealed a cavern home to beautiful rock formations National Geographic magazine described as, “an underground chapel.”

Though John L's Cave extends about one hundred yards before large formations block further passage, Morris always wondered if it was linked to a more comprehensive underground system. After water rushed out from the mouth following the sinkhole implosion his interest was renewed and the treasure hunt was on once more.

Could be a more Dresden Files/Ozark Obelisk-oriented story seed, but of course rich people digging up subterranean secrets is a pretty nice Lovecraftian trope, too.

84

General Chaos / Re: Tell me, have you seen this Yellow Sign?

« on: May 11, 2016, 10:01:33 AM »

You likely know this by this point, but this looks (haven't dug for pics) to be the Yellow Sign as rendered on the cover of the first edition print by F. Tennyson Neely - the 'sign' in question actually being the initials FTN - now that I look at it, it certainly could be those letters in a stylized script.

linky:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Sign#F._Tennyson_Neely_monogram

Ah ha! I did not know that. That's very helpful. Thank you. Here's an image:


I must say, I much prefer this version to the more common Chaosium-created curlicue one. That one looks too much like a question mark and strikes me as hokey and immersion-breaking. I don't much care for the swoopy five-pointed star Elder Sign for the same reason.

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General Chaos / Re: Tell me, have you seen this Yellow Sign?

« on: May 10, 2016, 10:54:27 AM »

do you think anyone you know would sign you up for the mystery in a box service.
https://www.mysteriouspackage.com/

It's quite possible, though I don't know who.

I have not seen that Yellow Sign before although that one is pretty nice if indeed that is what that is.

It's quite specifically close to the description of the first appearance of the Yellow Sign in the R.W. Chambers story of the same name:

I opened the box. On the pink cotton inside lay a clasp of black onyx, on which was inlaid a curious symbol or letter in gold. It was neither Arabic nor Chinese, nor as I found afterwards did it belong to any human script.

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General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)

« on: May 10, 2016, 10:40:08 AM »

For your consideration, an artifact of the 80's:

https://vimeo.com/13478473

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

The Turbo Kid facebook page just shared this article: ‘Rad’ Star Bill Allen Looks Back On Helltrack And That Iconic BMX Prom Scene, 30 Years Later.  If you've seen Tubo Kid and were wondering "Why BMX bikes?" then here's one of the reasons.  In the north american suburbs of the 80's, just about every kid had a BMX bike, they were bigger than skateboarding back then; even if you didn't race them or do tricks on them, you spent most of your summers riding them.  There were a bunch of teen romance/sports movies made in the 80's, The Karate Kid is the best remembered of them, but Rad is without a doubt the cheesiest.

His mom is played by Talia Shire, who was in Rocky and The Godfather. So in my headcanon, his dad is Rocky and his uncle is Michael Corleone.

Tell me that wouldn't make an awesome movie.

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RPGs / Re: Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast: Red Markets Beta Campaign: The Reformers

« on: May 09, 2016, 02:43:31 AM »

Thanks, Twisting H! Those are some good ideas.

I do think I need to work on the cannon a little bit. TD was the first group that didn't bother to examine it right off the bat. I am a bit concerned about how realistic it is for them to be able to extract it from the swamp without horses, so I may indicate that it's easier to move than it might appear.

Yes, the sounds are an excellent way for the GM to prompt the PCs to move around. And it makes sense; after all, the Thing wants them to find it. That would definitely be a good point to emphasize in the written version.

The symbol is actually not directly involved in the mind transfer at all. The Yithian taught Evelyn the symbol so that she could use it to start making wards, but it executed the mind transfer simply by gaining her permission to do so (she was too intellectually strong for him to be able to force it like they usually do). That might be slightly confusing to players, I don't know.

My concept for the symbol is that it's really just a piece of technology, not exactly a mythos spell. It might make sense to have it cost Sanity to inscribe the first time, though, as it becomes obvious that its effects are real.

88

General Chaos / Re: Best Internet Vidyas

« on: May 08, 2016, 09:49:47 PM »

So the next time I run Dread, I've got an idea for a new house rule:

! No longer available

]

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RPGs / Re: Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast: Red Markets Beta Campaign: The Reformers

« on: May 08, 2016, 08:47:57 PM »

Re: He Calls Me By The Thunder  v3

Chekhov's Cannon!

The nurse screaming at the character with echolalia = screaming in stereo

I love how Yithian Steve can't even read English yet still acts like a superior being.

That echolalia bit was truly inspired.

And yeah, Yithian Steve is such a tool.

Hope you liked all the new developments since the original RPPR version!

90

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: May 08, 2016, 05:21:59 PM »

As has been mentioned on other threads, a huge wildfire has just destroyed a whole bunch of the Canadian city of Fort McMurray: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36224767

So let's say a fire like that threatens a Delta Green containment site. The agents have to try their best to either move or protect the target as the fire rapidly encroaches.

So basically, Lover in the Ice but with fire. And on a consequently very fast time table.