The SHIFTERS Campaign

Circa 2006.

A one on one campaign.

Was supposed to be one on two, but you all know how that goes.

Using my own rules for a gritty-as-fuck, realistic super-hero setting called SHIFTERS. The premise was a dipole reversal, during which a chaotic lightning storm covered the planet. Those in the vicinity of the multihued lighting, if they survived, were "shifted" into super-human status. This was street-level stuff, the strongest could maybe lift 20 tons.

The system, of which I had three editions, was an amalgamation of Cyberpunk 2020, Mutants & Masterminds 2E, and Palladium's Heroes Unlimited. There were no hit points, but a damage track involving Stun/KO/Death checks and negative modifiers, what some refer to as a death spiral. All attacks were opposed rolls.

Hunter, a Wolverine type detective, was the main character, with Crow, an all black teleporter showing up later.

It was set locally, for us Detroit. It was bloody and gritty, involving missing persons, pimps, whores, and sex-trafficking. There was a trans-dimensional succubus brothel, a fundamentalist organization seeking to eliminate SHIFTERS called S.N.O. (The Society for Natural Order), evil SHIFTERS, ninjas, and later, an African Civil War. 

Part One: A missing girl who would never be found, but the search involved taking down sex-traffickers, pimps, drug-dealers, the usual scum of the earth type stuff, with an epic tangent involving a gunfight/melee with an agent of S.N.O. in a raggedy liquor store. Ultimately, a succubus brothel was linked but not responsible. Oh, and an epic showdown with ninjas!

My campaign notes...

Part Two: Civil War in Monrovia, Liberia. Members of the press and civilians in need of rescue. The government reluctantly contracts the SHIFTERS to attempt an extraction, a potential act of war. Heavily inspired by the Sierra Leone Civil War and the movie Blackhawk Down.

Hence: Monrovia Down.

Cobra was killed by Hunter on a rainy rooftop after a brutal hour long fight in an abandoned factory district. Shot in the head. 

Haraka was killed in the final battle of Monrovia Down, being thrown out of an office building window several floors up.

Ruby assisted Hunter and Crow during Monrovia Down.

Vertigo, A European mercenary, nearly ended the heroes, but was also killed in the office building battle.

First page of 16 I drew for another story in the SHIFTERS universe.

The SHIFTERS binder.

Version 3 of the rules, not the rules used in the above adventures. 150 hand-written pages.

Including a section for Fantasy.

Who knows, maybe I'll organize, rewrite and publish someday.

Don't hold your breath.

 

Between Two Cairns Reviews: DATE OF EXPIRATION

Between Two Cairns: DATE OF EXPIRATION

A thoroughly in depth, entertaining, and glowing review of DATE OF EXPIRATION by Yochai Gal and Brad Kerr of Between Two Cairns.

Yes, the arrow on page 89 points inside the structure, a valid critique for sure.

And I absolutely LOVE the art of Bill Sienkiewicz -- right on target here!

Thank you guys!

 

Field Trip: John K. King Books Detroit

 

One of the largest used book stores in the world lies about 20 minutes south of me in downtown Detroit, with a much smaller satellite about 20 minutes northwest of this one.

John K. King Books, here is the website:  https://www.johnkingbooksdetroit.com/

View from the parking lot.

Just outside the front door.

Burroughs section. More Tarzan books than you'll ever see in the same place. 

Most endcaps look like this.

One of the Fantasy aisles. Some of these shelves have books behind books. The dust is thick.

There was a glass case on the other side, but I saw no games.

Just to give you an idea of the scope, one of the perimeter aisles on the third floor. You receive a map of the layout upon entry.

Found no Tolkien here nor there.

Tons of old DAW books scattered throughout.

Glass case stuffed with books. Is that a copy of the Necronomicon? The Book of Skelos?

Even the stairs have books.

This was just a scouting mission; I bought nothing. Was kind of hoping to stumble into some Appendix N classics or some Clark Ashton Smith material. They could have been there. Your Holy Grail could be in there and you would never know.

Three Hearts And Three Lions

One of the inspirations for D&D as listed in Appendix N.

Poul Anderson, Three Hearts and Three Lions, 1953/1961.

You have:

•  a paladin and his loyal and fierce warhorse
•  a shady witch
•  a dwarf (probably a ranger)
•  the exact swanmay from monster manual II
•  the land of Faery
•  devious and seductive elves
•  Law vs. Chaos
•  a fire-breathing red dragon
•  an ogre/giant and it's cursed purse of gold
•  Morgan le Fey
•  a werewolf
•  lay on hands is mentioned
•  a magician and his invisible servant
•  a Saracen knight
•  a beautiful but treacherous nixie, monster manual accurate
•  druids mentioned.
•  cannibal barbarians 
•  flint and steel and the need of a torch-bearer
•  a roughly 10x10 passage at the back of a cave
•  a mini dungeon crawl
•  the exact troll from the monster manual
•  the wild hunt
•  and a sword of destiny.

Great cover! There shouldn't be any plate mail though and the dwarf should have white hair.

Unfortunately, this cover is much more accurate.

Cons:

• I find, Holger, unlikeable. Whines to himself too much. Can't stand protagonists that feel sorry for themselves, even a little.
• Didn't like the real world connection and Holger's scientific solutions to problems. Cursed gold coins are radioactive. Defeats a dragon by throwing water in its mouth. Would have preferred this story if it was simply about a paladin with amnesia, from wound or spell.
• Morgan le Fey and the swanmay arguing over Holger like junior high brats nearly killed my desire to keep reading. This scene was downright stupid. I expect better from Morgan le fey.
• Not really a con, but the Saracen Knight seemed pointless, or incomplete, maybe I missed something. Strictly to make Holger jealous of the swanmay?

Pros:

• Plenty of darkness and adult themes despite some silliness, even the old hag at the beginning wants the hero. Werewolves eat babies. There's human sacrifice. Combat is surprisingly brutal compared to the tone of the book. Action scenes were good.
• The nixie, troll, and swanmay are direct verbatim inspirations for their D&D counterparts. The troll fight was fierce and followed a mini dungeon-crawl. The nixie scene was awesome (except for the magnesium dagger, conveniently acquired earlier.) The swanmay, while flying, would change to human form and fall, then change back to swan just in time for the thrill of it, reminding me of a trapeze artist -- very creative and insightful of the author. 
• The werewolf scene stands out, almost too much, as if it belongs in another book, but good none-the-less. Paladin almost becomes Inquisitor here.
• No wasted space, like all older fantasy, gets right to it, unlike the thousand page epics that sprang up in the late 80s/90s that were mostly hot air.

I finally read Three Hearts and Three Lions because I've been reading Brian N. Young's, Codex Celtarum, for Castles & Crusades where Poul Anderson is briefly mentioned and I figured it was high time... BTW, The Codex Celtarum is probably the best D&D source on Faery out there. 

THE SOULFORGE

Wherein I chronicle my doomed attempts as Raistlin Majere in his Test at the Wayreth Tower of High Sorcery...

Raistlin Majere:

• Hit Points: 9
• Reasoning: 4
• Agility: 3
• Presence: 2
• XP: 6 (can be spent to improve rolls, but will be judged by how many remain)

1st Level Spells Available: (specific components must be collected to cast most spells)

• Burning Hands
• Charm Person
• Hold Portal
• Push
• Comprehend Languages
• Magic Missile
• Sleep

2md Level Spells Available:

• Audible Glamor
• Invisibility
• Mirror Image
• Detect Invisibility
• Darkenss 15'
• ESP
• Web

This is from THE SOULFORGE, choose your own adventure style AD&D book by Terry Phillips. Be warned, I'm recording decision by decision and roll by roll. Spoilers will follow.

First decision after traveling for a month through the Kharolis Mountains with my twin brother, Caramon as an ominous forest appears out of nowhere, I know what lies ahead, he does not, I choose partial honesty as opposed to foolery.

He doesn't like the truth, doesn't like the danger he senses and I'm forced to make a Presence Test (roll d6 and add it to my score to beat a number (this test is 7) I roll a total of 5...

He refuses to let me enter the haunted woods. I hop on my horse and make an Agility Test. I succeed, which means I'm about to cast a spell... I choose Charm Person because certain spells require components that I have not collected. There's no roll here, but the story dictates that Caramon tackles me before I get the spell off. His feelings are hurt and he ties me to my horse and takes me home, my dreams of high sorcery are over! That quick.

Take Two... (wherein I pretend my initial Presence Test succeeded...)

Caramon reluctantly agrees to enter the woods and says I need his protection, something I resent, but then I start to feel guilty as I begin to worry for his safety. And so, I'm called upon to make another, easier, Presence Test, which I succeed.

We proceed into Wayreth, but the woods are terrifying and oppressive, we are both spooked as the foliage seems unpassable and the things that lurk in the shadows... I have to make a Reasoning Test to resist fleeing in fear. Here, the book hints that I might wish to spend XP to help the roll. I don't, but succeed anyway, saying to my twin that it's all part of the protection spell that keeps the forest hidden, we'll be fine, after all, we were invited. And then... the forest parts and a massive ogre-dog appears and launches itself at me for an attack. I need to pass a 7 Agility Test and decide to spend 2 XP to help my roll, which it does, I succeed by 1!

XP: now 4.

We jump from our horses using them for cover from the beast. Caramon dances before it, blade in hand while I cast a spell... Burning Hands and Magic Missile are my only real options as both do not require components (I don't know why I set off on this journey without spell components, perhaps I used them up on the way?) I choose Burning Hands which will bring me dangerously close to the beast. It yelps in pain and swipes at me with it claws sending me flying to the ground.

HP: now 7.

Caramon then takes this opportunity to jump on the beast and send his blade straight through it's skull into the ground. Then, another path opens up in the woods with ice cold voices taunting us that our flesh will be ripped from our bones. Do we retreat? I say no... Caramon reluctantly follows. The woods grow colder and spookier. Caramon mutters something about not trusting mages. Does he trust me? Our horses are spooked. I fail an Agility Test and I'm thrown to the ground.

HP: now 6.

An ethereal red-robed figure appears and I ask if he is to guide us to the tower. Caramon barks an insult and the figure insults us back. Caramon draws his sword and here comes another Presence Test. I'm spending 2 XP and it helps. My twin calms down a bit.

XP: now 2.

This spectral minion approaches, hand aglow in spell-craft and I feel fear, but Caramon attempts to intercept and I don't let him. I instruct Caramon to stand aside as fear consumes me. I must make a Reasoning Test of 9, which isn't even doable. I turn and flee and trip over a root. Then I find myself frantic and weeping at my failure. The figure leaves, but not before giving my twin a message for me...

I am not worthy to even take the Test, perhaps I can return one day, but for now I fail, deemed a witless dunce and a coward. I'm devoured by misery as my dreams of high sorcery have (once again) come to an end.

As has my desire to keep reading. 

And so Raistlin's Test will continue as vague a mystery to me as it was in the original novels. I know a book was ultimately written, but I have no interest in Dragonlance beyond the original 3 (or 6 if I'm feeling generous.)

Some things are best left unknown.

You Can't Play As Conan, But...

...you can play as one of his companions.

Conan has plot armor. He can't die. He won't die. Ever. Unless Howard willed it, in which case, it could only happen once. The same goes for Elric, Aragorn, and any other famous heroes whose worlds people like to game in. In order to showcase this, publishers often gave these protagonists bloated stats (just look at Elric in some of Chaosium's books) when all they really had to do was put an asterisk after their name that signified -- plot armor.

Role-Playing in these worlds never really worked for me. Much of the fun in D&D is creating your own world anyway. But gaming in Hyboria, not the same without Conan, because without Conan, who cares. Hyboria is his playground. Without Conan, Stygia simply becomes Egypt. Aquilonia becomes France.

Dragonlance was the closest we came to gaming in the world of novels. And yes, we had many of the modules, but never played them, we just liked referencing the stats. What eventually happened was we took ideas, like the Towers of High Sorcery and the tree town of Solace and came up with our versions for our worlds.

It's why I never got into the Star Wars RPG by West End Games, though I bought the book, I quickly traded it to my brother for his D&D books. (Star Wars is the one thing I loved as a kid that I now legit feel is the stupidest thing around.)

Anyway...

You see, you will never measure up to the iconic characters. You will always feel like wannabes, like supporting crew.

So play as them.

The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian, Issue 133, Feb, 1987. Features the story, Winter of the Wolf. This was the first issue of Savage Sword I ever bought and I was hooked... for awhile at least. It was this magazine that eventually lead me to dive into Howard's original stories, which until then, I knew very little about. By 1987, Savage Sword wasn't so savage -- still pretty violent, but the nudity was gone. At the time, I had no idea how cool the earlier issues were (70s/early 80s) and I should have been exploring the Warren horror mags, but, I wasn't.

Winter of the Wolf  -- I was cautious about revisiting this story; it has a mystique in my mind and I didn't want that ruined. It held up, the mystique stays, but I did notice some errors that aren't relevant here.

Summary: Conan and some Gundermen are part of a royal hunting expedition in the winter months. It goes poorly, the nobles are killed. Conan and the others decide not to return to Aquilonia proper, as they would be blamed for the deaths, so they head on and soon they are hunted by a pack of wolves which are actually, sort of, werewolves. They seek refuge in a fort manned mostly by farmers, led by a chieftain with a wicked daughter. Stuff happens. Eventually, when everyone is drunk, the fort is overrun by wolves and of course Conan is the last man standing.

Because, he has plot armor.

D&D characters don't have plot armor. They're not supposed to anyway. (Modern story-gamers probably beg to differ. Why do they even roll dice?)

But, what if you were one of the Gundermen?

Conan will survive the Winter of the Wolf... but will you?

You wanna play in Hyboria? You're a part of Conan's saga, not yours. Take any adventure, any D&D group, insert Conan (NPC). He cannot die, but you can. If Conan's hit points reach zero, he is knocked unconscious and left for dead or captured. Maybe he escapes. Maybe you rescue him -- maybe you die trying -- such is often the case. Your goal -- to see how long you survive as a companion to the mighty Cimmerian. You could build a whole campaign centered around Conan and his many companions, but HE is the main character, not you. In the end, most of your characters will have died and Conan will have ridden off, perhaps with a bag full of jewels, alone or with a half-naked woman.

Such as it should be.

By Crom!

Strontium Dog

We'll call her Petal.

Strontium Dog, the 2000 A.D. comic series set in the near future of the Judge Dredd universe. A world poisoned by three nuclear exchanges. A world of oppressed mutants. Dog eat dog in every sense. Space travel is a thing. Dimensional and time travel are things. Sorcery is a thing.  Aliens exist and every single one of them is every bit as bad as we are. It's violent, it's gritty and there's a touch of dark humor. A post-apocalyptic spaghetti-western where the only way a mutant can get ahead, or rather, just keep up, is by bounty hunting the worst of the worst.

Beautiful.

Mongoose tackled Strontium Dog along with Judge Dredd as part of it's Traveller line of books. Now called 1st Edition Mongoose Traveller as they've moved on to the 2nd Edition of their version of the game.

Speaking of this...

The Mongoose Traveller 1st Edition Core Rulebook is one of the most perfect RPG rulebooks in existence. That's the black book in the picture below. 

The Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition is also a nice book with some nice, but not altogether necessary, rules additions like -- boosts and banes, destructive damage, consolidated skills -- no more battle-dress as vacc-suit handles it all, and a new prisoner career.

An older, incomplete character sheet of mine.

The mutants in this game are supposed to be weird. Funny how stories about mutants who are supposed to be grotesque and deformed always have good-looking main characters, human looking mutants with only subtle mutations like Johnny Alpha, Durham Red, Cyclops, Jean Grey, etc. It's the surrounding cast that aren't so lucky. In this game, there's a very strong chance that your mutant will be quite bizarre. Petal, the one I just rolled up, has feathery stalks for eyes. The tables didn't exactly give me this, but as is often the case with tables, you improvise. With her eye-stalks, she can see into your soul, hypnotize you, and see dimensional rifts. Her stats ended up being average and she has no melee skills, but, she did manage to acquire the coveted jack-of-all-trades. I originally also rolled that her right leg below the knee was backwards, but when drawing, I forgot about it, so, never mind.

The mutants of Strontium Dog are discriminated against mercilessly. They are the garbage of society, forced to live in gutters and ghettos. They pay more and get less. Many have such severe mutations that they won't make it very long. Either way, short miserable lives, discrimination, and genocide are their lots in life. A few, with a modicum of skill and toughness are lucky enough to eek out a living as Strontium Dogs -- Mutant Bounty Hunters working for the Search and Destroy Department, scouring the galaxy for criminals wanted dead or alive...

A certain, ultra-woke gaming company would call this setting "problematic." 

I call it awesome.

 

Just Saying...

A Rifter's Best Friend

There's nothing more loyal than a Coalition State Dogboy... anywhere... on earth... in space... another dimension... another reality. Nowhere. Nowhere, will you match this brand of devotion. The dog. The uplifted dog. The genetically modified dog. The Dogboy.

He'll sniff out your enemies. Natural. Supernatural. Doesn't matter. His sense of smell is one million times stronger than yours. And, he just might be psychic too. So magnify those senses by another million. He knows he's just a mutt. He knows you're superior. He knows you love him. He knows all of you love him. He knows you will die for him. Because you know he will die for you. In all of this he is content.

Just let him off his leash every now and then. Let him fight for the Coalition. Let him protect mankind. Let him protect you.

It's what he does.

Welcome to 2023.