Mini Six Again

 I was planning on creating and posting a Mini Six character today.  I looked back at my blog and realized I had posted a Mini Six character exactly 10 years ago!  It was a character for the Perdition mini-setting.  So here's a link to that character.  I'll create and post a new one in the next couple days.

https://dynastyzero.blogspot.com/2010/12/perdition-character.html

OneDice Pulp Detective

 John Ayala grew up in a rough neighborhood.  His parents were hardworking people who did their best to put a roof over his head, food on the table and to raise him right.  To keep him off the streets and out of trouble his father got him involved in boxing as a kid and he became known throughout the city as a fighter.  He didn't pursue boxing though because he always wanted to be a police officer.  He put his mind to it and after he got out of school he reached his goal.  But once he became a cop, he sometimes had troubles telling the good guys from the bad.  So he quit.  He decided to become a private investigator.  He hoped he'd be able to do some good that way.  He's been disappointed so far.

John Ayala

Private Investigator

Abilities

ST 3  CL 2 QK 2

HT 9 DF 9 Move 20

Skills

Bruiser 4

Dodgy 1

Investigation 1

Shooting 1

Perception 1

Talents

Contacts

Martial Arts (Boxing)

Fedora, overcoat, .38 revolver

Thundarr Premiered 40 Years Ago

I didn't realize until someone pointed it out on social media that Thundarr the Barbarian premiered 40 years ago today.  I was rather blown away!  Thundarr impacted me a couple ways.  Not only did I enjoy the show on it's own merit.  I mean, hey, it was a gonzo post

apocalypse show filled with action unlike anything I've ever seen before.  But it also expanded my RPG horizons.  I started RPGs with Melee solo games and Holmes Basic.  Thundarr, combined with books I was reading at the time, led me to Gamma World and to other games after that.  And I loved Gamma World with all of it's strange possibilities.  Technology, psychic powers, mutants, animal and plant people.  The whole works.  

I have the series on DVD.  I'm going to have to break it out and watch a few episodes today.

B/X Combined

 There is a way to get a printed copy of a B/X Combined book through Lulu. You combine the B/X PDFs into one document as suggested on page X3 in the Expert book and have it printed out through Lulu with a cool

cover someone created. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to create a PDF that Lulu will accept. It keeps telling me that the pages are different sizes and oriented in different ways. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure it someday. In the meantime I've resorted to making my own. I printed out the books, combined them and bound it with my comb binding machine.

More Hex Kit Fun

A month or so ago I picked up a bundle that had the Hex Kit program bundled with all of the official tile sets that Cone of Negativity sells for less than the price it would've costed me to buy the tile sets that I didn't have individually.  Which was cool.  I got some funky color sets I like and a space set I haven't messed with yet.

I also ran across a third party tile set called "Classic Hex Map Tileset".  I was rather stoked about it because this set hearkened back to a more classic style of map that I associate (rightly or wrongly) with the '80s.  As you can see from the quick sample map I created it is clean and simple.  It also takes advantage of Hex Kit's flattop orientation, which most of the sets don't

I really like this set but the one downside is that it doesn't come with provisions for rivers or roads.  I find that disappointing.  Now I can dip into the other tile sets and use the rivers and roads from those but since they weren't created specifically for this set it can be a little more difficult to work with and the results can be a little more awkward looking.

But overall, I really like this set.

The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying Second Edition

I really liked The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying by James Spahn so I helped kickstart the Second Edition.  I've got the PDFs and hard copies of the core books in softback now and I'm going to finally create my first character.

The first step is to choose your lineage.  There are six:  Changeling, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, and Human.  Though I usually like to play humans I'm going to choose Dwarf in order to illustrate some of the differences between character creation in The Hero's Journey and it's progenitor White Box.

So the next step is to roll your attributes.  First, the attributes have different names and somewhat different functions.  Second, though Humans rolls 3d6 down the line, the other lineages roll different combos to better reflect their natural abilities.

Might    (2d6+6)     17

Finesse  (2d6+1)    10

Resolve (2d6+6)    15

Insight   (3d6)        10

Bearing  (2d6+1)   11

Weal      (3d6)        8

Next you choose an Archetype.  There are eight of them, including standards such as Warrior, Wizard, Bard and Ranger.  Humans can achieve the 10th level in any of the Archetypes, while other lineages can only reach the 10th in one and are limited in others.  Dwarves can reach the 10th level as Warriors so that's what I will go with.  Since Warriors need a minimum Might of 8 the character easily qualifies.

Now the character receives some advantages for being a Warrior Dwarf.  As a Dwarf he can wield axes and hammers even if his Archetype limits it, he has an eye for the value of gold and gems, he is naturally resistant to damage, has a good sense of direction when underground, is resistent to magic and poison and has dark vision.  As a Warrior he can use any weapon or armor, strike extra blows against certain weaker foes, can use Shields Shall Be Splintered, rally comrades, extra damage using two handed weapons and specialize in a particular weapon.

Next you acquire some equipment for your character.  To do that you have to determine your background.  Your background determines your starting money and sometimes extra pieces of equipment.  So I roll a d100 and come up with a 95 which is a Weaponsmith.  I start with a long blade or battleaxe, of course I'll pick a battleaxe, and 3d6x10 gold.  I roll a 7 for 70 gp.   

I'm going to skip buying equipment but a note on armor and shields.  They work a little differently.  Armor class is ascending and is determined by shields and finesse only.  Armor works as damage reduction.  As I've mentioned elsewhere, this is natural to me because I started gaming playing Melee and armor works as a damage reducer in that.

So, that's the very basics of creating a character in The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying Second Edition.  

If you want a full overview of the game you can find one here:  https://rollingboxcars.com/2020/03/04/a-look-at-the-heros-journey-2nd-edition/

Thanks for the Generosity

My work has shut down for a couple of weeks, as has many, and I have more or less been sequestered at home for the last week.  Many game companies and individuals have stepped up and helped people in my situation by having sales or by offering their products for free in PDF form.  I'd like to thank them one and all for doing this.  Thank you.

Here are some of the things I've acquired for free over the last week or so.  They all seem to still be available for at least a little while through Drivethru or their company's website for a little while.

Melee - Steve Jackson Games.  The foundation of The Fantasy Trip.  I'd more excited about this except I own my original copy and my Kickerstarter copy and PDF.  Still really cool though.

Teenagers from Outer Space - R. Talsorian Games

Fantasy AGE Basic Rule Book - Green Ronin

Deadlands Player's Guide and Marshal's Handbook for Savage Worlds - Pinnacle Entertainment (Through their website.

I also discovered an online shop called Exalted Funeral that has been giving away some games.  Through them I got:

The first four issues of "Echoes from Fomalhaut"
Witchburner
Wish You Were Here
Lorn Song of the Bachelor
The Lapis Observatory
Troika!
Disciples of Bone & Shadow

These were one shot/one day things I grabbed and are unfortunately no longer available.  Thank you to these companies too.

I got a whole slew of games from Onyx Path Publishing.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition
Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition
Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition
Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

I don't remember how I got this but I got it free through DriveThru the other day.  Thank you!
Maelstrom Rome - Arion Games

Star Wars D6 1e

I've been reading the original Star Wars RPG, West End Games 1st Edition Star Wars The Roleplaying Game.  I haven't played though I have had the book for over ten years now.  Here is the first character I've created.

OSR Patches

Every year I enter the OSR Christmas Gifting at Tenkar's Tavern.  This year I won something!  I won

two Moon Wizard OSR patches from Thaddeus Moore.  They arrived the other day.  Now I just have to figure out what to put them on!

Thank you Thad and thank you Erik for holding your annual gifting.

The Hero's Journey 2e

One my favorite OSR games is The Hero's Journey by James Spahn.  James takes Swords & Wizardy White Box and mold it into a Middle-Earth flavored gem of a game.  Well, he was quite satisfied with the result and so he has reworked it.  You can read about his reasoning on his blog here and some of the changes and some excerpts here.

And it just went up on Kickstarter today.  As I write this it's less than $200 away from it's $5000 goal.  Have a look if you're interested.