The Black Campbell

I loaned the boxed set from a friend a few months back and was glancing through it again tonight.  First impressions:  the production value is quite good.  The art is consistently average to good quality, the paper stock is nice and the binding solid, the layout is crisp and easy to read.  This is the same for all three books.

Dungeon Master’s Guide:  As with Star Wars Saga Edition, the new D&D strips the complexity down and returns the game to its original wargame with a touch of role playing roots.  The system is simple and hasn’t truly changed in 30 years:  roll a d20, add mods, beat an armor class to hit (or for skill checks a difficulty rating)  The DM Guide deals not with the mechanics themselves, but instead is mostly oriented toward how to run an adventure, judge combat, etc. — the nuts and bolts of running a game.  This is mirrored in the chapter headings like, “How to be a DM”, “Running the Game”, which deal primarily with narration style, pacing, the roles of the DM and players.  Much of the rest of the book gives tips and tools for building adventures, monster encounters, creating campaigns, and the setting of D&D.

Players Handbook:  The PH has the rules for creating characters, using their spells, feats, and skills, as well as the main combat rules.  It is the actual core book for the D&D 4e rules.  Looking through it, I was transported back to the old days of dungeon crawling.  Some things have changed, but not much.  The races are mostly the same.  there’s the dwarf, elf, human, halfling — all the standbys cribbed from Tolkein, as well as the Tiefling (a demonic race), Eladrin, and Dragonborn.  The classes — fighter, cleric, ranger, and wizard — are still there with a few more added.  Class “paths” are there to customize your character’s feats and skills.

Feats can be thought of a schtick, or more like bonuses you would get in a video game as you level up.  That’s the feel that 4th edition best captures to me:  it’s World of Warcraft-style play returned from the PS3 to the tabletop.  Skills now give you a +5 bonus if you have them, nothing if you don’t; it’s a nought/one scenario — you’ve got the skill or you don’t.  modifiers come from your level and feats.  (It’s the same for Star Wars.)

The combat chapters deal with the usual mechanics of initiative, hitting, damaging, but much of the rule set is designed around the use of miniatures.  Ranges for things are measured in squares, not measures of distance, that best fits the wargame feel of old D&D, while adding elements that capture the video game vibe.  This may sound like a complaint, but it’s not necessarily.  From the standpoint of trying to keep the game fresh and draw in a new generation of players not looking for angsty storytelling or the amateur theatrics of a LARP.   Overall, this new system is stripped down and designed to do what it needs to for the setting:  allow you to rumble with monsters in dungeons, and get experience and treasure for it.

The last book in the set is the Monster Manual, which has a collection of critters for you to encounter, and turn to go in your quest to level up, gain swag, and have fun.  There’s some new stuff in there, and a lot of the old standbys.

Style:  4 out of 5; Substance: 4 out of 5.

NOW…having been fair to the venerable old line, I’ll toss my two cents.  I stopped playing D&D way back in 1983.  Nothing wrong with a little dungeon crawl, but I found myself drifting into more story & character oriented games like James Bond (a better system than Top Secret [aka D&D with guns…].)  I’ve never really gone back to fantasy, simply because I’m not much on the kill the monster/get the treasure gaming.

If you’re into heavy characterization and role playing, look at Exalted or another fantasy-based game.  But if you’re looking to just have some fun bashing monster skulls and collecting gold and magical toys…this is your game!

Here’s a few nifty vehicles that players have chosen for their characters.  First, the 1939 Alfa-Romeo 6C Super Sport Corsa…

This is the competizione version of the 6C.  It has a 2500cc inline-6 motor designed by Bruno Treviso that produces 125hp.  The body is aluminum, built by Touring in Milan.

Size: 2   Def: 6   Str: 7   Spd: 125 mph   Rng: 190 mi   Han: +1   Crew: 1   Pass: 1   Cost: $4500

And here’s the 1938 Aston-Martin 2-Litre Speed Type C.

Size: 2   Def: 6   Str: 7   Spd: 110 mph   Rng: 150 mi   Han:  +1   Crew: 1   Pass: 1   Cost:  $4000

I picked up the Battlestar Galactica RPG more for the space-combat rules than anything a few years back.  I liked the show, but was — like many who have bought the game — unsure how to fit a campaign into the existing canon of the new show.  Here are a few ideas, some mine, some cribbed from around the gaming blogosphere:

1.  Another rag-tag fleet:  this is the option I went with.  There is a lot of chaos and confusion during the attack.  Galactica is operating primarily in the area of Caprica during the War, and they have limited intelligence on what’s going on during the miniseries.  The fog of war is thick.  They were unaware of Pegasus and vice-versa for almost a year, series time.  It’s understandable there could be whole battlestar groups out there who got to the fight too late, or were in some way incapacitated for the day or so between the fight starting and the rag-tag fleet bugging out.

2.  Post-apocalyptic ground campaign:  the Cylons bug out at day 280.  you just have to make it to that point before this could be a game solely about survival, with a few groups of humans fighting over the scraps of civilization, technology, food, etc.  Bleak, but doable.  We had a ground group in our campaign that eventually gets rescued by the surviving fleet, but they not only fought Cylons, but other panicked and hungry humans, there was a Road Warrior-esque series of car chase/fights, and some creepy exploration of abandoned cities.  There’s plenty to make of this setting, post war.

3.  Break canon.  Do it your way.  Next time I take a crack at this setting, I’m putting the colonies in differing star systems, just to make it more interesting.  I’ll allow the players to take on the lead characters.  After, the Cycle of Pythia just keeps a-rollin’.

4.  Put them in the fleet and do civilian survival adventures.  Black market troubles.  Maybe a private eye type character running around the fleet trying to solve mysteries or help people a la Ed Woodward’s The Equalizer.  You can find ways to have real adventures that matter, without having to climb into a viper.

My big suggestion:  start the campaign a few months to years before the attacks.  When doing character creation, give them families and friends, and use them! I created a whole neighborhood in Caprica City they lived in, had several of the players either working together as colonial marshals of law enforcement types.  They had adventures that were separate of the coming attacks, and an assortment of family troubles, one had a kid, there were things going on to make the world, the Colonies REAL.

Then in the middle of one adventure, the Cylons hit.  One minute they’re pursuing escaped felons in the mountains outside of Caprica City, the next there are mushroom clouds going up over the city.  they lost those friends and family members, their homes, their cars (one was mourning her dog.)  And it allowed them an in to the feelings and actions of the people in the show that some of the viewers didn’t have, because we don’t really see life before the attacks until the final few episodes.

Surprisingly, this campaign seems to have some real legs for my group.  It’s worth a shot if you have people into the show and the post-apocalyptic genre.

Just a few notes on the Q2 Manual that is posting on the James Bond: 007 RPG page:

Holsters!  In the original game rules, drawing a weapongive a -2 modifier to your initiative tests.  There are a few holsters in the original Q Manual that mitigate some of this (the Berns Martin, for instance…)

There are a lot of “tactical” and “competition” holsters on the market, right now, that are designed to speed the weapon into an engagement.  I’ve found that for concealment and speed, an in-the-pants holster where the gun is held by pressure from the belt and body holds the weapon well enough for most daily activities, but can be drawn very quickly.  Holsters like the Bern-Martin Speed Classic use this idea, but with either a spring, or an elastic band to create reliable pressure of the weapon so it doesn’t fall out of the holster under combat conditions.

An open holster like this should reduce the draw modifier, if the gun can be gotten to without having to fumble through heavy clothing.  (I would suggest eliminating the draw penalty if the holster is immediately accessable, -1 to initiative if you have to shift a jacket or coat out of the way.)

Another holster that is popular with law enforcement (and which I use) is the Blackhawk SERPA CQC.  This is a kydex holster where the weapon is retained by a catch around the trigger guard, holding the weapon very securely (I took a tumble down a hill a few back and the SERPA held my FN57 in place with no problem.)  when drawing, your finger hits the button, you draw the gun, and your finger lands on the weapon naturally at the top of the trigger well.

The SERPA CQC also eliminates the draw modifier for initiative rolls if the holster is accessable, -1 is under a jacket or coat.  (The SERPA can be rigged up as a shoulder holster, or a drop tactical leg holster with Blackhawk’s modular holster systems.  It’s available for most major weapons systems [Glock, H&K, 1911 variants, etc.] )

Deep cover holsters — ankle holsters, belly bands, etc. are usually designed to hide a weapon well under clothing.  They give a -1EF to Perception tests to spot the gun, but are usually positioned in such a way that fast access and drawing of the weapon is unlikely.  They give a total -3 to the initiative test in combat.

A better tactic for getting to a weapon holstered like this is to distract or wait for the enemy to shift their attention, then do a Stealth test to draw the weapon without being noticed.

A few years back, a member of my gaming klatch bought Hollow Earth Expedition.  I was impressed with the high production values:  good paper, solid hard-back binding, and art that did not — in any way — suck.  The system seemed simple and solid, but it took me another year before I finally had him pick up the main book and Secrets of the Surface World at GenCon.  My copy of MOHE is also a GenCon release, signed and number 124.

Since then, I’ve become an enthusiastic “expedition member.”  The system has it’s share of quirks, but is still one of the better sets of mechanics for pulp-style gaming:  simple, fast, and designed to not get in the way of the fun.  It’s good enough I’m running a post-WWII espionage campaign using it, instead of my favored James Bond: 007 rules form the ’80s.  I’ll be using it for an upcoming Victorian steampunk campaign.

Mysteries of the Hollow Earth finally gets around to giving the GM and players a guide to the interior world that was so hazily glossed over in the core book.  (Secrets of the Surface World is oriented toward pulp adventure in…you got it! the surface world of the 1930s.)  Like the other products from Exile Games, this one was worth the wait.  The binding is a strong, hardback with top notch artwork.  The interior is on heavy stock, gloss paper, with a very readable font, clear layout, and fantastic B&W artwork (save for the character archetypes pages, which are in color.)  This is the same as it was for all the other HEX products.  Unlike many other game companies, you’re hard pressed to find a typo or a major typesetting error.  (I’m looking at you, Mongoose!)

For style, it’s hard to beat Exile Games.  5 out of 5.  Enthusiastically.

Substance:  also chock full!  The book is 204 pages of material and a few pages of full-color adverts at the back.  (Including one for Revelations of Mars, their next sourcebook for HEX.)  It starts with the obligatory scene-setting short fiction and a one page introduction.

Chapter 1: New archetypes and motivations for characters.  I will admit our group tends to gloss over this aspect of character creation, but it will be useful for most players and GMs.  There are new talents for the characters — these are “shtick” for the characters to play to — from things like “beast rider” or “escape artist” to more Beastman-based (more on this) traits like “echolocation” or “sharp claws.”  There are also new flaws.  Many of the traits and flaws are specific to the races of the Hollow Earth.

There are rules for character templates, allowing the GM to design new races/species by building a package of attribute bonuses and negatives, natural advantages and flaws (as with claws and primitive, for panthermen.)  Among the new character templates for characters are Apemen, Gillmen (fish men), Greenmen (nymphs, is about the closest I can quickly describe), Hawkmen (ready made if you were thinking about a Flash Gordon-esque campaign…and I was.), Lizardmen, Molemen, and Panthermen.

The sample character archetypes include Amazons, Hawkmen, Panthermen, a blunderbuss-weilding Apeman scientist, a Titan berserker, and a beastman (a la Tarzan.)

Chapter 2:  supernatural powers are de rigeur in pulp.  Secrets of the Surface World gave us necromancy and other sorcerous powers, Mysteries of the Hollow Earth gives us new sorcery rituals that are appropriate to the setting:  shamanism for controlling nature and animals, and alchemy — including rules for gathering the elements for spells, and rules for creating living creatures through alchemy.    Beware the Jaguar Gargoyle of El Dorado!

Chapter 3:  Natives!  This chapter gives an overview of the native races and groups of the Hollow Earth and tips for playing them.  There are Amazons, based out of their city of Themiscyra.  I will admit a soft spot for the ol’ warrior women of Greek myth, so I was happy to see them here.  There are cannibals (of course!)  Cargo Cultists who worship the vessels and goods that get transported to the Hollow Earth.  Neanderthals.  Noble Savages, Pirates…  Then there are the Titans and the Vril-ya:  the former are giants based on the Greek proto-gods; the Vril-ya are the technologically advanced descendants (or servants?) of the Atlanteans.  I have my own ideas for how to link and use these two groups, but that’s not important…

Chapter 4: This deals with the beastmen of the Hollow Earth.  You could rip this chunk out, scrub it up properly, and you would have the beginnings of a good Flash Gordon campaign.  It deals with the various half-man/half-beast races and their cultures.

Chapter 5:  This is an overview of the environment of the Hollow Earth, from getting into the HE, to getting out alive.  The interior world suffers from strange time distortion, allowing the GM to have the characters adventure for years in the HE and still have only a few days pass on the surface…or decades.  There are interesting locales from the Aerie of the Hawkmen, to Atlantis, to El Dorado and Shangri-la, to the lair of the Molemen and the piratical Blood Bay.

It short, if you want it to be there, the Hollow Earth can be home to anything you want.

Chapter 6:  This is the bestiary.  There are dinosaurs and prehistorical critters, as well as giant [insert bug/spider/critter] that would of course exist in the Hollow Earth.  There is also a much-needed section with real world animals.

Lastly, there is a sample adventure:  The Fate of Atlantis.  I rarely do more than glance at these modules, since I tend to to use them, but it is well plotted out and designed for a fast introduction into the world of the Hollow Earth.

Substance:  5 out of 5.

If you’ve gotten the idea that I am enthusiastically recommending Hollow Earth Expedition and its supplements, you would be correct.  The system is very flexible, allows for fast, fun gaming without getting bogged down in rolling dice and mathematics.  The setting is fun and allows just about any kind of story types.

Buy it.

Been a couple of days since I’ve done any serious posting due to a particularly nasty little flu bug I picked up over a week ago.  Without further ado:  Big Damn Heroes by Margaret Weis Games for the Serenity RPG line.

I was a bit too broke to buy the book, itself, so this is a review of the .pdf version of the book, purchased at DriveThruRPG.com .  It is my understanding the new sourcebook is hardback, as was the core book, and for me, that is a welcome change from the paperback bound Adventures and Six shooters and Spaceships, which I might review tomorrow.

First, it’s a good Acrobat file, complete with page previews and bookmarks at the chapter headings and table of contents.  (It’s also a hefty file at 42ish mb.)  The artwork is comprised of screencaps at the chapter headings or a places in the text, or middling quality artwork you would expect from role playing game books.  (The bar got lifted for me by Eclipse Phase which is simple gorgeous to look at…)

Chapter 1 is concerned with character creation and is a rehash of the original Serenity rules (Cortex 1.0), but adds ideas for creating the crew of your ship collectively by including built in relationships, and rules to cover these.  Over the years, I’ve found it’s a good idea to build the characters for a campaign at the same time and to give them some ready-made hooks for why they’re together — similar motivations, romantic or filial relationships, similar duty postings, what have you…  This chapter details rules to try and aid the GM and players in establishing solid characters with relationship webs similar to what we see onscreen in Firefly and Serenity.  For some gaming groups, this won’t be necessary.  For others, it will be a big help.

Chapter 2 brings in new Character Traits, as well as a means to use the Cortex 2.0 (Galactica and the new Cortex core rules) trait mechanism of a die, rather than die steps based on whether the trait is a minor or major trait.  Also, there are guidelines for transferring your game from the old step-based triats to the die based ones. (One of the first things I did for my campaign with the BSG rules came out.)

The new traits are setting-specific in their name to aid in the flavor of the game, and will help give players interesting role playing hooks for their characters.  The new die-based traits give them more impact, macheanically, through the use of a third die (rather than modifying either the attribute or skill die.)  This give the player at least an extra one to a test roll.  If you’ve had a chance to use Cortex, this can matter a great deal, as the difficulty ratings for Easy to Hard tasks ranges from 3 to 11; an extra +1 or more almost always assures you hit an average and guarantees an easy result.

Skills and attributes are also better explained than in the core book, and modified rules for how to use skills are included.  In many ways, you can think of these chapters as a new, improved “Player’s Guide” for Serenity with enhanced rules to bring it in line with Cortex 2.0, but also to make it more house-rules friendly.

Chapter 3 is more of the “GM Guide” for the system, with a great deal of material on dealing with failures, botches, and degrees of success in tests.  There’s suggestions for how to use plot points, which are supposed to be given freely in the Cortex system, and used heavily not just for modifying your rolls, getting out of death, but also for tweaking the storyline itself.

It adds new material on aerial and space combat — something that was missing in Serenity, but in many ways that oversight fit with the setting.  In Firefly, there was almost no space combat, and the sense was that the weaponry of the Alliance, coupled with the enviroment (space) made combat a monumentally bad idea.  Serenity brought us big space battles, and Big Damn Heroes tries to build on this with some success.

There are rules for mass combat (the main reason I wanted the book), but they are a bit disappointing and feel like an afterthought.  Despite this, I could see some of the lines of thinking the authors had, and a few messed with house rules I had established for large-scale combat in our Galactica campaign.  A more elaborate set of rules could be cobbled together and still have the loose, story-driven feeling they are going for.  (It would make for an excellent .pdf extra on the website, Mr. Chambers & co!)

The chapter includes rules for modifying your spacecraft, equipment, and even building the same from scratch.  There’s more on combat, healing, etc. that brings Serenity in line with Cortex 2.0.  Essentially, this is the Cortex 2.0 version of the corebook to this point.

Chapter 4 is a delight (for me.)  It is a massive collection of pre-generated NPC archetypes that you could meet, including heroes and villains from both the movie and the original Firefly series!  Finally, we get to see numbers of Badger, Saffron, Niska, Jubal Early, etc.

Chapter 5 is another GM-oriented chapter going into tips for storytelling int he ‘Verse, including allowing players to gain Traits and Complications (or buy them off.)  There are suggestions for using, giving, and interpreting use of plot points, as well as suggestions for types of campaigns, and adventure seeds.  There’s about 6 pages of charts to help randomly create moons and planets of the ‘Verse and their communities, how they will react to the characters, and the like.  This could be very handy in pick-up games, or on weeks where you just didn’t have the time to cobble together more than a basic idea of what the players were going to get to do that session.

Chapter 6 goes into the Chinese culture, legal and governmental ideas, and includes some guidelines on how players might get into government.   There are some ideas on how Chinese culture might manifest on some of the worlds of the ‘Verse, and of course, there is information on the Tongs, including some of the gangs and their primary figures.  Lastly, there are a few more pages of Chinese slang and terms for the players to use.

This is a useful sourcebook, even if one chooses to stick with Cortex 1.0.  The new traits are set up for either iteration of the system, and for GMs it’s worth it just for Chapter 3 and 4.  This product doesn’t feel as rushed and unpolished as previous books for the Serenity line, and for this I give the style a 3.5 out of 5.  It’s only due to the average art quality that it doesn’t get a higher mark from me.  The substance is tops, however: 4 out of 5.

If you’re playing Serenity, the .pdf is definitely worth the $25.  The hardcover would be a bit pricey for what you get at $40, but if paper and binding quality are on par with the original corebook, I would suggest “buy it.”