A Contest Full of Hot Air

Just the other day I was saying to myself and maybe another person on G+ "Contests are fun and I lament that I have no prizes to give away or else contests would be a thing I do."  I mean, I do have assets to give to prize-winners but I am smeagolish on hard copies of Old Skool things since these are the second times I've acquired most of it and such.  There was a snag on my own digital product that I am too lazy to rectify that hangs up the bestowal of that thing on Champions and Victors as freebies - when my act is together I may rectify this but I have little patience for customer service email or queues, these days.

But the Steam sale occurred recent-like, roughly coincident with me running Into the Odd by Chris McDowall and published by Paolo Greco.  It's a charming little thing and it seemed tight like a drum and ready to play and I don't know that we played it as much as I talked it out like drone drone drone adjective noun verb give me a saving throw

Anyway, enough self-criticism - I had fun, and I think they had fun - and incidentally airship travel, both short-distance and long-voyage came up again as a trope. Like in big-ass fantasy blimps and also teeny-tiny little taxi dirigibles where you murderhobo the proprietor and he falls over the edge of the basket and swings like a meat pendulum spurting blood in graceful arcs, and the City Watch blimps close in and do you want to navigate the thing through the gap in the giant ziggurat sewer system or ditch it and run like hell through the shitty Frothing Gates?

I digress again.  The airships. I don't know why I'm fascinated with them. I dig steampunk, I guess, but not like these kids these days.  Not my standard cup of tea. I like my fantasy slightly more advanced than medieval with printing presses and I'm beginning to dig the notion of trains and dirigibles.  Guns. Not just arquebuses but AUTOARQUEBUSES.  Maybe a postal system like in later-era Discworld.  Then there was the Airwhales of the Ashen Sea, above the Glassine Wastes but maybe they deserve another post sometime.

What does this mean, Mr #noahtax?  Yeah maybe a post on that later!  So, I bought some multiplayer dirigible warfare game on Steam and the price was cheep and so I have 4 or 5 codes to give away.

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/15996/

But then, that's not a contest if you just give it away!  So maybe hit me with a flying blimp-hunting predator or a character or some sophisticated technology or a blimp and crew or some fluff or a DW move - anything fun and blimp-y and a little different.   Seems like I seen a bunch of goggle-y eyed captains and air pirates etc and little Mecha-mechanics in school girl outfits. Gimme some dirigible related stuffs and i put you in for a steam code (I think there's 4 or 5 left in the package).  Note: I hear the game is good but can't vouch for it, yet, seeing as how I got sucked into Batman: Arkham City last week.  So this could be one of those things where it's a contest that is not a fun prize, but it looks like it's well-supported and got a DLC community built in via Steam

If you find yourself unable to win a Steam thing, I get you a free DIGITAL COPY of HHSOLO1 and anyway I will lower the price for the New Year and add some content for everyone that bought it already.

On the Amtrak to Manhattan right now - if you're into the Christmas thing then have a merry one and happy Hannukah (tonight is the last night maybe?) and I'll catch you in '15

The Bagwhale Transports of the Fungoid Island Peoples

Hanging above the Glassine Wastes are the Drifting Lands, suspended by weird Sorceries and sometimes tethered to the ground far below. Many are smallish and grow only bare moss or Insectoid Flitter nests, but some are vast and have been settled, or were settled before the cataclysm that lifted the Aereth into the sky and irradiated the land beneath.  The clever indigenous peoples have harnessed the power of flight by domesticating many mutanti species - one of which is the graceful and placid Bagwhale. These are used for carrying trade goods to other floating islands above the caustic Ash Sea below, and the Panthrydactylae are used for hunting and air-combat.

Although the hunters and scouts must be initiated into the mysteries of the fungal pods to communicate to the Panthrydactylae, anyone with some calcium ore or bones or other foods can wheedle a Bagwhale into service. They float through the well-understood process of protonation and hydrogen accumulation in fleshy sacs on their dorsal regions. Baskets are slung below and they are gently directed with taps and music and drum beats. The western Sky-Islands are famous for their singing Bagwhales that (so it is said) can remember the shattered beauty of the lands below as they once were.

This hydrogen buoyancy places Bagwhales at great danger for explosion when attacked by electrical discharge or open flame - almost unheard of amongst the peoples of the Floating Islands but very commonly used by The Howling Raiders and their shoggoth-powered skiffs.

maybe some DCC stats for this in a bit.

NY I am almost in you 

Into The Odd - The Haunted Bubblegum Factory

There you go, that's it.  Pretty self explanatory for my main man +Alex Chalk

There's your prompt, sir - see Chris M.'s freebie for gum brands at:

http://soogagames.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/bastions-favourite-gum-brands.html

"A factory, riddled with paranormal activity, and it still makes/once made a popular brand of chewing gum"

It's going to need vats, and big paddles in giant mixers, and maybe it's automated or there are workers that do it artisanal style

It doesn't need to be haunted, I guess. Infested?  occupied?  one of those might suit you better.

Also, there should be a way to work in a catchy jingle and some competing brands of awful but rare (and thus prized) candy or candy bars and gum

GO

To preempt the most obvious monster:

"The Gum Wraith

In the year 189X, before this country's fixation on The Fine Arts of the Springy Chaw, only a few small Gum Guilds existed, and they mainly served the wealthy in Bastion's Upper Crust.  The owner of Horace's Hoary Horehound brand (one Flernt McTrode, Esq.) was known to use whatever herbal ingredients were at hand in his special proprietary blend of "27 Secret Herbs and Spices" sometimes varying the recipe by as much as 15 ingredients more or less - usually less.  In the autumn of that year, during a particularly harsh economic downturn coinciding nicely with a drought, Mssr. McTrode purchased in haste and error a brick of wormwood harvested in the light of the moon in a potter's field. For the shillings he saved (which he and his wife quibbled over incessantly and that drove her to cuckold him) he let loose a minor catastrophe.  Beginning with the disappearance of his wife, there followed in the district a great number of vanishings, of people of all rank and station.  All were creditors to McTrode, and some had romantic linkages to his wife and her sister - McTrode patiently explained to the press that Mdm McTrode was on a fur-buying expedition on the continent and would be back when the fashion season commenced again.

When the truth was revealed - his animosity and pent up embarrassment managed to animate whole vats of chicle mixed with his latest blend - McTrode was tarred and feathered and the Triple H brand was liquidated and the proceeds sold to the widows of the district.  Madame McTrode returned from her vacation to find herself a pauper and her husband a fugitive from Bastion.  He is reported to have travelled the country advising other learned craftsmen, and was influential in rise of the Chewing Gum Craze of the 1920's.

a Gum Wraith is an animate and dimly aware mass of fermented Chewing Gum, animated by spite or other strong emotions.  It attacks with Big Chomping Teeth for 1d6 per round, and on a Critical Hit it will swallow the character in question. Any successful melee hits upon it require a Dexterity save or else the attacker is stuck fast in the mass. a successful Strength saving throw will free him or her, but allies can pull him or free by sacrificing an action for a full round.  Cold effects will do improved damage, and heat will do reduced damage and allow the Gum Wraith two attacks per round.

If swallowed, a PC is likely lost but permanent injuries may be sustained instead at the Judge's and players' discretion.

The Aviary of The Contemptuous Saint - Into the Odd Challenge

Alex challenged me with this:

"Dungeon. 5 rooms minimum, 10 maximum. Max 3 pages, map included. Theme: birds. Everything should be pretty. Nothing can be ugly. Nothing can be gross. Everything's outward appearance should be pleasant and delicate. The place should nonetheless leave you feeling creeped out and uncomfortable. Include an Arcana that's a frescoe."

Whew!  A bit far afield from my usual dusty musty catacombs and sewage-filled tunnels, but this makes it all the more challenging!

More on that issue later.

For now, take this Monster and Arcanum as the first salvo in our Into The Odd duel, sir!

Slogging Faepog

These are simply chassis of Alumel and fine porcelain wired around a seething pickled Fairy.  Highly illegal in most multiverses, since the magical fae battery that powers and motivates it is a breach of the 1876 French-Alfgrimnean Paranormal Torture Conventions. Any Fae creatures that see these monotonous abominations will become unhinged and attack immediately.  The Faepog can complete simple tasks and carry non-heavy items, and are often used as couriers and laborers when the tasks are delicate and non-pressing.  In the presence of cold iron, the magic that suppresses their natural chaotic whimsy begins to degrade, and they can become spiteful and violent in the manner of a belligerent drunk. To create one, start with a stout sealable jar, some fine brandy, and a pixie, nixie, sprite or smallish elf.

HP 4, Armor 1, attacks with pointy digits for 1d6.  If the jar is broken, the fae critter inside will retreat and tattle on everybody involved.

Arcanum: Merfolk Pennywhistle that when blown, the user can walk through water as if it were air for as long as the whistling continues - however they will drown in air and can swim through it for the same duration.  The whistling trebles the chances for random encounters owing to its shrillness and may arouse the ire of Dagon and Neptune

Into The Odd - mini review

Into The Odd

Seems suspiciously rules-lite; I mean there's little to get in the way of a fast game with 3 stats and HP. I'm seriously trying hard to imagine so simple a game... There was that one mod that reduced the DW stats to just the modifiers that the 3d6 would have given you - admirable, in my opinion.

character creation is Lickety split, and the main drivers of the game : arcana are essentially weird magic items.  Level advancement comes in a couple of simple well-delineated stages.

I could see some really trippy mods for this : Luck, Dungeon World moves, Realms of Crawling Chaos items. Sanity rules maybe, and uh, that Oz game I always go on about could get shoehorned in there.

It's class- and race-free, and the setting is implicitly freeing to cook up your own stuff.  I think you could use this to play "Over The Garden Wall" from last month like in about 4 minutes you're off and running. A nice compromise between some more trad RPG and narrative type things

I'm suitably intrigued.  Very easy to grok and customize and quaint and charming little pseudo random charts are abounding.  It's vague enough to permit a great deal of creativity and just barely rulesy enough to stay together for a game that will need no consultation of the book under time pressure

3.5 out of 5.3 wizard hats, with a finger of algae-laced bourbon floated over the top

Beware the sacrilege!

Slave Pits of the Prepuberty Undercity

I received A1 - Slave Pits of the Undercity last week as a prize in a G+ PbP campaign(Mike Davison's Jousting Faire at Normandie).  Also B2 - The Keep on the Borderlands - another whole post on that thing, let me tell you what, Master Baggins.

I love the A1 thing; If I recall correctly it was the very first module I ever owned.  Obviously, I was lost like a babe in the woods at the age of 8 and I only tried to push it past my gaming group a handful of times and never ran it, even in my early 20's.  But It marks my conception of AD&D and D&D indelibly, along with a bunch of other Basic D&D stuff, and the G and D series, and The Dwellers of the Forbidden City.  I never had the rest of the A series until much, much later - not even the compendium they put out.

So, a burned out wreck of a temple, rife with humanoid and human slavers, a couple of wild monsters, and enough undead and monstrous creatures to put you through your paces.  Also! the traps!  Only a slaver would put so many traps in... but anyways, since you guys dig the bulleted format with pseudo random tables etc.

roll d12 for your SPOILER OF CHOICE:

1) Man, this thing is tough! You need 6-8 level 4 and up characters, and these are hardened heroes that already cleared out an evil cult (presumably)
2) Part of the tournament experience is short and sweet and brutal, and starts at a boulder that covers the trapdoor in a blasted ruin.  In the non-tournament experience, that trapdoor has a whole actual temple above it, with a feisty platemail cleric and her three orcish warriors who are ready to whip your ass before you even get into THE DUNGEON part
3) There's maybe a boobie being touched by a semi-sentient carnivorous plant, if you're into boobies.
4) SO many traps.  And lots of drowning!  This is 1ed, so there's no burning any fru fru Luck points, and the Hobit don't share 'em out.  Your 2ed rope-work is very likely to come in handy, but not if you came from Kara-Tur, since we don't care about Honor or Calligraphy, here, if you please (unless you're buying forgery slaves).  HAve some Nekode handy, gozaimas
5) Relatively low treasure density - this is not a solely XP for gold game.  Those orcs are going to go down in 1 hit and just to piss a guy off I might change the silver holy symbols down to SP instead of GP since, Jesus, there's like a whole wall full of 'em
6) Pretty deadly random encounters (notably, there is an admonition to keep track of certain available levels of e.g. ghouls and some of the tougher hominid-types)
7) I think maybe the best treasure is (easy to find since it's all in BOLD) - maybe Gauntlets of Dexterity?  A Stone of Diminution (got a Troll on top of it, fuck that's a spoiler, sorry).  A Ring of Shooting Stars (always wanted one of these, myself)
8) The insect men remind me of the Gamma World equivalent, and I bet when people under-estimated them back in the day they really took you to town.  I think this module probably set a good tone for BE CAREFUL and led to many TPKs (probably some friendship breaking ones)
9) None of the NPCs are identified by name.  Brilliant.  Looking back, I think that B2 does this, also
10) A giant flame-thrower on a cart, with some very clever orcs manning it.  Throw your molotov over this way.  Its use is debatable, since the Orky engineers wot thought it up have a general Orky understanding that your typical medieval peasant-turned murderhobo cannot muster
11) This is the module that A) started my close and long-standing love of Kayen Telva and B) ruined me for all other Elfs (except maybe Melf)
12)  Fuck I think my heater is about to explode.  ROLL AGAIN

This kind of perversion teaches kids bad values.

Anyway, it's a pretty mediocre thing, now that I read it again with growed-up eyes ...( PSEUDOFREUDIAN ASIDE:  I think it may also have been that particular booby with the sundew tentacle that prompted my sexual awakening and that's why I only think of sticky plants in the shape of piles of rags when I do it but I digress, and then I have to wash myself with vinegar or strong wine)... and the rest of the Slaver's Series is notable for stressing that THE NPCs (and even the monsters in the dungeon, especially the ogre-lead orcs in the sewers) are not to be trifled with.  The orcs are mooks for sure, but they have a strong sense of self-preservation and are prone to NOT advancing and instead hanging back and crossbowing the PCs to smithereens.  It really does go a long way to making one think about charging head-first willy-nilly into combat, and how no adventurer worth their salt would be so bold and reckless, I mean, shit you wouldn't even get through the door if the slaver orcs didn't know you were legit Bandit-Slavers and they could smell alignment like nobody's business and them's not slaves, they're half-orcs and you are SOOOO busted, MF goody goody!

I see some other objections that it was a little rail-roady; I think it kind of represents a poor design of go-for-the-throat with some on-the-rails problems, and yeah, I mean, that was maybe a way to do it back then but I don't think most of the dudes/ladies I do this with these days would bite that hook.  They dig some agency or maybe the illusion of it, to hang their dice rolls around.  I mean, Dwellers of the Forbidden City is a relative masterwork of "Go Forth and Fuck Around!"

No beer.  I been without beer for a couple of days and just dying to get my hands on some of that Shock Top Pseudo-Kentucky Bourbon barrel stuff.  O man.  I'd gank a dwarf for one of those right now.