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Month: April 2017

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Crushing Heads Can Be Fancy

I was organizing my files, removing doubles, verifying I had the most recent working files, and considering old files on which I had stumbled. One such file was a project that started in 2013 and was shelved in 2015. It’s been known as F#ck You Up and Fancy Pants, but it ended its development as Head Crushers, an homage to the fantastic comic Skullkickers.

I shelved the project because it never truly did what I wanted it to do. It was fine, but didn’t actually nail the fast, furious fun that was its goal. It was fast, and it was furious, but not enough. I wanted something that ran faster and was simpler than Nefertiti Overdrive or Sword’s Edge. At the time, Head Crushers didn’t do that.

Looking at it again after I had left it for a couple of years opened a couple of doors. I realized that the problem was I had locked myself in a specific paradigm of game flow, and simply tweaking how the game ran started the road to simplifying it and making it run faster.

But what of it? I mean, I just finished Kickstarting Sword’s Edge, so what will I do with Head Crushers?

There are always options, but right now it and the Wall are simmering away, perhaps on the back burner, but ready to get moved to the front and supply a feast. I just need to figure out the venue.

You can find out more about Fancy Pants here.

You can find out more about Skullkickers here.

You can find out more about Skullkickers creator here.

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Sword’s Edge Funded

It has happened.  RPG has funded. We didn’t hit the stretch goal of getting art for “Lawless Heaven,” but I’m not about to complain. Assembling the team to help get this out right now and updating the text before sending it to editing.

That’s pretty cool.

And there’ll be more information to come, as I’ll be using Backerkit to offer pre-orders.

I love it when a plan comes together.

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Modern Sword’s Edge

This is the final in a selection of examples from different genres I’ve run using Sword’s Edge, which is presently in the middle of Kickstarting. Which you have, of course, backed. I mean, you’re reading this, which is about this game, and this game is awesome, so you’ve backed it. It’s only logical . . .

This time, let’s look at the present day.

The second game I am running right now with Sword’s Edge is a modern actioner in which the PCs are member of Canadian Special Operations Force Command who have been called into a central African nation due to the disappearance of a CANPER (Canadian Person) of political value. So far, it’s been mostly investigative, but fireworks have been promised and they will happen.

Hear that guys? Lock and load.

The rebel fighters, the official militia and the government paramilitary are all basically the same, and these are the minions our boys will be crossing as some or all of them attempt to impede the rescue of that CANPER.

Rapid Support Forces
(Basic minion) 8
Concept: Fake Tough, +2

They turned to a local fixer who had connections with most of the dominant cultures of the region, and she’s got them audiences with some bad people who nevertheless might be helpful. You’ll notice she’s not a standard Regular, and I find that sometimes one needs a Regular+ when the character isn’t necessarily expected to be boss (or Hero) level.

Amira Ishag
(Good regular) 17
Concept: Face, +2
Physique -2; Charisma +2; Cunning +2

Finally, the team has not yet started along the trail that will lead them to the CANPER, but one of the obstacles they will have to overcome is a notorious mercenary, someone who could challenge them when the bullets start to fly but isn’t too dangerous.

AKA Notorious Mercenary
(Average hero) 12
Concept: Merc, +4
Physique +4; Charisma +2; Cunning +0
Gunman (Phy) +4, Intimidation (Cha) +2

So those are a few modern NCs one might find in many of the world’s hotspots. There’s plenty more where that comes from as I have a few adventures I can publish once Sword’s Edge comes out.

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Sword’s Edge in the North West

I have been posting examples of different genres using the Sword’s Edge rules both here and on the Kickstarter. You have backed the Kickstarter, right? Right?

So far, I’ve done a Roman alternate history and a fantasy example. This time, let’s look at a more recent historical period.

The Nor’Westers was a game I just finished with one of my home groups. The story is set in 1810 in Canada and focuses on an uprising along the fur trade route used by the North West Company. The PCs were trouble-shooters linked to Angus Shaw, one of the partners in the North West Company and brother-in-law to NWC head William McGillvray. After the kidnapping of the daughter of Alexander Turnbull and shooting of Turnbull, the PCs are sent to track down the kidnappers and free Turnbull’s daughter, which drops them right in the middle of the action.

“Canoes in a Fog, Lake Superior” by Frances Anne Hopkins

The minion in this case is just one of the Thugs used by the uprising.

Ash’s Goons (Basic minion) 8
Concept: Shootist, +2

The regular is one of the townsfolk in Wrightsville (what became Gatineau, across the river from Canada’s capital of Ottawa) and an ally of the PCs, Ezekial Wright.

Ezekiel Wright (Good regular) 17
Concept: Businessman, +2
Physique -2, Charisma 0, Cunning +2

The hero is one of the first boss-fights the PCs faced, a quiet murderer who went by the name Tom River.

Tom River (Great hero) 23
Concept: Fiend, +4
Physique +2, Charisma 0, Cunning +4
Quiet Warning (Cha) +4; Hidden Blade (Cun) +2