Join the Navy and see the world!

I'm planning to test Godlike with an adventure that will probably last a couple of sessions and is kind of in continuity with our finished Shadows of Yog-Sothoth campaign. I wrote an entirely too elaborate introduction to assist in character creation, if you care to take a look.

I don't intend to bring Cthulhoid monstrosities into Godlike. The sole surviving PC from earlier is going to be an NPC talent in this game, that's all.

Quickie update

After another longish break, we continued the NWN campaign. The fifth module awaits.

Game Count: 33/52

Howardian summer

No, I don't intend to conquer myself a kingdom this summer and rule it by my mighty thews and this axe. Pitiful, I know. Instead I shall test The Savage World of Solomon Kane on some friends who are fans of Conan and Robert E. Howard in general. It seems that PEG have pulled out all the stops when creating Kane. It's a very handsome and sturdy hardback, certainly the best-looking book of theirs I have seen. The writing feels appropriate for the theme, too, and Kane should be exactly the kind of game the Savage Worlds rules were made for. We're going to have a character generation session tomorrow.

I'll also get to play a Howardian hero, as our Call of Cthulhu GM has promised to run a few sessions of Mongoose's d20 Conan.

To make sure I don't suffer any withdrawal symptoms between sessions, I have ordered no less than three collections of REH short stories and a like number of The Savage Sword of Conan reprint collections.

Madness ends in madness

We played the last session of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth yesterday. One character survived from the beginning to the end, and, by a considerable amount of sheer luck, it was mine. Jack Paulino was also the only character who survived, period. Now he's got to live with the physical and mental scars, having seen R'lyeh rise, Cthulhu himself wake up, and all his friends and companions die. Although he did not see these events that well, running away in the grips of terror as he was.

But we did save the world. Stanford's cult was completing their ritual when we started ours. Sam Brockwell read the spell while others stood guard. Initially it seemed like we had failed spectacularly, as Cthulhu strode out of his tomb, devouring people left and right. But the island sank behind Jack as he ran away, and the Great Old One retreated to sleep once again. It seems likely that Jack will live the rest of his days in peace as a priest for the natives of Easter Island.

Now I am not participating in any ongoing campaign. Something must be done about that...

Game Count: 32/52

Boxes of retro

I decided to get my hands on some properly old school RPGs. The highly non-scientific decision process finally led to me ordering FGU's Year of the Phoenix and Task Force Games' Crime Fighter from Noble Knight Games, whose service was nice and fast, by the way. Both games come in a boxed set, which I kind of miss these days.

Phoenix is about American astronauts in the year 1997 (the near future when the game was written), who encounter something and end up 200 years into the future in a world where Zoviets control most of America. Yeah, one of those games. :) The rules and layout are very much 1980s, but the color poster map of the occupied USA is nice, and I like the idea of presenting one view of the game in the player's book and then turning everything upside down in the GM's book. The latter includes a series of short scenarios that form the start of a campaign. And there's a sheet of colorful counters featuring futuristic vehicles that you can cut out.

Crime Fighter is the only dedicated police RPG I know of. It's written by the renowned Aaron Allston, and while the combat rules seem a little clunky, the unified base system is oddly reminiscent of d20. The six stats are immediately familiar (Wisdom is called Willpower here) and you always roll 3D6, trying to beat a target number of 11. The stats give you plusses to the roll (in fact, they do not have a numerical score besides those plusses). Skills are bought with points, and they include things that are called advantages or edges in other systems, such as Attractiveness and Ally. There are chase rules, information on police procedures, guidance on writing police scenarios in both realistic and melodramatic TV style, two scenarios, and various other tidbits - all of which fits in 64 pages. There are also map tiles and punch-out vehicle and person counters. Cops and perps get their own colors!

Year of the Phoenix is entertaining to read, and the rules are not as terrifying as some other old systems (they even devote some space for your character's personality and history), but I don't know if I'd want to run the game as such. Gotta love the cover, though. Crime Fighter, on the other hand, might be fun to play. It is pretty much Hill Street Blues: The RPG, but could probably handle Miami Vice as well, and NYPD Blue if you updated the technology a bit.

All in all, a successful blind purchase.

Shadows of Yog-Sothoth: The End, part 1/2

Easter Island sure is an interesting place. After we talked to the last priest of the birdmen and learned all kinds of interesting stuff, it fell to Jack, the only proficient swimmer of the group, to undertake the ancient test for prospective priests and swim three miles from the main island to a smaller one. He didn't do it for kicks, but to retrieve a crystal that was supposed to help us in the climactic battle against the cultists (of whom we haven't heard a peep yet). Now, Jack did have a mask the priest loaned us, which let him breathe underwater, but he still had to swim there and search for the crystal cave 50 feet under the surface.

A full day's work already, but Jack got into an underwater fight with a deep one who was either guarding the crystal or looking for it, too. He was badly clawed but managed to get a Tarzan-like grip on the monster and cut its throat. He even made it back to the main island without passing out. Barbarian king material, obviously.

The next day Jack stayed in bed to heal while the others found the cave complex where the deep ones had taken their prisoners. Much fighting ensued, and they managed to rescue all the humans the found. We didn't have time to celebrate, though: a Star-Spawn of Cthulhu attacked the Chilean warship anchored nearby and sank it. It suffered grievous injuries but still managed to take flight, only to fall to the concentrated fire of the Chilean marines. The gigantic corpse fell on the village, killing dozens if not hundreds. We ended the session with this widescreen action ending. The next one should be the very last - maybe the real Mr Cthulhu will show up!

Oh, I almost forgot to add that we finally got around to continuing the Neverwinter Nights campaign.

Game Count: 31/52