Cawnpore and Perseus are now available in the Createspace eStore and should be up for purchase on Amazon.com and other bookstores over the coming weeks. They are also still available in eBook format on every ereader out there.
6 September, 2012
Cawnpore and Perseus Now Available in Print
Posted by blackcampbell under Books | Tags: cawnpore, scott rhymer |1 Comment
17 May, 2013
A Bit of Professional News
Posted by blackcampbell under Roleplaying Games | Tags: cubicle 7, victoriana rpg |Leave a Comment
11 May, 2013
Marvel Heroic RPG: Sample Characters
Posted by blackcampbell under Roleplaying Games | Tags: marvel heroic roleplaying game |Leave a Comment
Here’s a few characters from our up and coming Liberty City campaign using the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying by Margaret Weis Productions that just got jerked out of print by Disney.
PARADOX (Dr. James Fravik)
Affiliations: Solo d8, Buddy d10, Team d6
Distinctions: It’s All Just Math, Just Lucky I Guess, What the @#$% Did I Do?
POWER SETS:
Probability Manipulator: Probability control d8, Intuition d8, Teleport d8; SFX, Can I Help?: Can loan his Probability Control Die to another player and shutdown the power until the other player has used the die. Can recover the die early with a plot point; SFX, Need a Lift?: +d6 and step up affect die one to inflict a complication on a target; SFX, Second Chance: Can reroll a Probability Manipulation test spending a plot point; SFX, Superpostion: 1 plot point to ignore physical stress; Limitation, Exhausted: Gain a plot point when power set is shutdown. Recover with an opportunity or in transition scene; Limitation, Fate Fights Back: On a 1 or 2, create an opportunity for the Watcher.
SPECIALTIES: Business Expert, Covert Expert, Science Master
MILESTONES:
I’ll Take My Chances: Gain 1XP when first using Probability Manipulation, 3XP when Watcher uses PM opportunity against the team, 10XP when power set leads to catastrophe or overwhelming success.
One Many, Many Worlds: Gain 1XP when he questions the reality of his situation, 3XP when he fails a power set test that causes stress to him or his team, 10XP when he has a cognitive break that requires him to leave the team or abandon the mission.
PARALLEL (Manny Byquist)
Affiliations: Solo d6, Buddy d8, Team d10
Distinctions: Many Copies, Many Problems; The Ultimate Backup, What Haven’t I Done?
POWER SET:
The Human Copier: One Man Mob (3xd8); SFX, Absorb Dupes: 1plot point to eliminate any dupe complication. If they resist step up emotional stress; step up any stress that the dupe has taken; SFX, Did I Do That?: In a transition scene can create a dupe-related resource; SFX, Plenty to Go Around: Acts like area effect; SFX, Take One For the Team: 1 plot point ignores physical stress on him or any team member; Limitation Fly in the Ointment: Gains 1 plot point when a dupe-related complications is played, step up his emotional stress +1; Limitation, Mob Cohesion: his One Man Mob power can be targeted with area effect, and a d10 physical stress takes a die from One Man Mob power. Can be recovered with an opportunity or during transition scene.
SPECIALITIES: Covert Expert, Combat Expert, Crime Expert, Medical Expert, Psych Expert, Tech Expert
MILESTONES:
It’s Kinda My Fault: Gain 1XP when one of his dupes causes trouble for the character; 3XP when dupe is involved in a major criminal event as hero or villain; 10XP when he or his dupes defeats the team in a scenario.
Back Up…and Side and Front, As Well!: Gain 1XP when he or a dupe “Takes One For the Team”; 3XP when a scene is won primarily due to his dupes; 10XP when a team member dies protecting or being protected by a dupe.
Hey, Disney, suck it!
10 May, 2013
Creating Verisimilitude: Strange Foods and Drinks
Posted by blackcampbell under Food, Roleplaying Games, Writing | Tags: boost!, mcewan's brewery, schaeffer's bologna, veriusimilitude |Leave a Comment
Reading a post from my Victoriana alum (and contributor over at Gnome Stew) Walt Ciechanowski on Facebook got me thinking about verisimilitude in modern games or writing today. Specifically, he was talking about Boost!, a citrus soda that is available only in a select area of southern New Jersey. I have a similar strange food from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, where I lived as a kid — Schaeffer’s Bologna, an “all-beef bologna, flavored only with salt and pepper”, an a touch of garlic has an edible skin and is great snack food.
For the longest time, you couldn’t get real New Mexican chile paste (red or green) or salsa outside of the state. The California stuff is too bland, Texas too sweet…during the ’90s, when I was away from Albuquerque, I would get cravings for NM-style chile and could only find something similar in Sierra Vista, Arizona when I was stations at Sierra Vista. It was also one of the first places I could find McEwan’s ales outside of Scotland — then it started popping up everywhere until Heineken bought the brewery and delisted it, leading to my singular desire to blow the Netherlands off the face of Europe.
So those of you reading, please chime in — what a particular, very popular but highly localized food or drink from your neighborhood or past. (Tell us what it is and where it’s limited to. Who knows, it might turn up in someone’s game!)
9 May, 2013
How Do You Stat This Flaw?
Posted by blackcampbell under Science Fiction | Tags: next generation, star trek, william riker |Leave a Comment
9 May, 2013
The Age of Technological Disruption
Posted by blackcampbell under Science, Science Fiction, Technology | Tags: salim islmail, singularity university |Leave a Comment
9 May, 2013
7 May, 2013
Trailer: Ender’s Game
Posted by blackcampbell under Movies, Science Fiction | Tags: ender's game, trailer |Leave a Comment

Cawpore – A Novel of the India Mutiny
Perseus – A Modern Retelling
The Imperial Age Omnibus
The Reluctant Imperialist: Italian Colonization in Somalia
The Smoke: A Sourcebook ofLondon for Victoriana
Victoriana Roleplaying Game