some RPG news

• Star Wars Saga Edition is out and intitial reports are very favorable. This might be the Star Wars rpg that I actually A) buy and B) run.
• According to a credible source at Citizens of the Imperium, Traveller 5 is not coming out this month as originally planned. Look for a beta release of some sort later this year. Based upon a few snippets of insider info, I'd say this delay is definitely for the best.
• No sign on the horizon of Phil Reed completing his Four Color open FASERIP project. The last communication from him on the official message board is from May 19th, where he seems to indicate that he was almost done at that time. You got our money, Mr. Reed. Howzabout finishing up your end of the bargain? Pretty please?
• Worldwide Adventure Writing Month seems to be going swimmingly, both in terms of general participation and the amount of work I've complete on my own adventure. It's not too late to jump on board!

sunday funnies

Once again I get the feeling that seven of the eight panels of this Sunday's Dilbert were completely unnecessary. And once again the funniest line isn't at the end of the strip. I just don't get that.

Behold, the Orchestra of Fear!

The Conductress originally organized the Orchestra of Fear as a means of avenging herself against the male chauvinist pigs running the New Bronze Symphony. How dare they keep her from her lifelong dream of conducting the NBS, just because she's a woman! But she's since learned that crime can also be fun and profitable. As a result of a freak electrical accident the Conductress can channel lightning through her metal baton.

Giovanni Diablo had been an unsuccesful solo villain for several years when the Conductress recruited him. His powers are impressive but a glass jaw makes him an easy target for two-fisted superheroing. Giovanni claims he was given his magical violin by the Devil himself.
The Orchestra of Fear is Little Boy Blue's third gang. He was originally part of the Midget Mob, a small (heh) group that for a time terrorized the happy harbor town of Argenta. While in the klink he was busted out of jail by Mother Goose and shanghaied into her Crime Rhymers gang. It was she who gave him the outfit, the codename, and the sonic disruptor trumpet. Little Boy Blue managed to escape the last big dust-up with Captain Groovy (RIP) when the rest of the Rhymers were sent up the river.

Mr. Smooth's previous gimmick was that of a kung fu master who carried and used a bewildering variety of exotic weapons. The Conductress gave him the Saturnium saxophone and challenged him to defeat his foes with only one ungainly weapon. Truth be told, Mr. Smooth does not know how to play the horn he carries, but he can sure beat your sorry ass with it.

New old videogames

I recently purchased some used XBox games. Showdown: Legends of Wrestling is a noticeable improvement on Legends of Wrestling II, though I'm not sure if you could go so far as to call it a good game. But it's a video game where Ravishing Rick Rude (RIP) talks some smack to my custom character (Jeff "The Flatulent Beast" Hogan) and then I get to beat Mr. Rude up. That's entertainment. I also picked up Midway Arcade Treasure 2 and Capcom Classics vol II, both of which are chock full of fun old arcade games. Pat was over yesterday and we played Magic Sword, an old side-scrolling platformer/beat 'em up with a fantasy theme. Since virtual quarters are as plentiful as pressing the the Start button, we played through all 51 levels in maybe an hour or so.

One of the neat features of this game are the NPC adventurers. Each player controls their own character but can recruit an NPC that follows them around. In the above graphic the guy with the axe and the dude with the sword are the players. Swordy has a cleric following him around, while Mr. Axe is accompanied by a barbarian babe with a crossbow. My favorite NPC was probably the Fire Ninja.

Also note the hostile Easter Island head. The monsters in this game are awesome!

Here's the Swordsman with his NPC buddy, Large Redheaded Barbarian Dude. This game features a surprising number of bear fights. More games should feature bears attempting to maul the good guys.

Asteroid 1618

Today I thought I'd tell you about my own personal Worldwide Adventure Writing Month project. Asteroid 1618 is planned as an old style map-and-key type of adventure for S. John Ross's Retro Stupid classic Encounter Critical. Damn, that game is a lot of fun.

The asteroid in question is the last fragment of planet Aldaria, which was blown up a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Most of the survivors of this catastrophe live in two domed cities, as elsewhere the atmosphere is thin and getting thinner. Monsters and mutants roam the land between the domes and lurk in the towns that are falling to ruin for lack of their own atmo-generators. A few brave folk live outside the city, working hard to retain the biosphere of their planetary shard.

I envision the whole thing as one of those toolkit adventures that don't try to tell a story, but equip the playgroup with many different avenues for adventure. My models for this approach are things like The Village of Hommlet and the old Judge's Guild book Verbosh. Those adventures offer themes, a prior history of the region, and a snapshot of the present. Everything else is left up to the iniative of the players and the inventiveness of the GM.

I've got several pages of notes that I've been working on since December of last year. So far I've actually written a little over four pages of complete text and finished one map. I've still got a long way to go to reach the 32 page goal, but if I get around to writing up everything scrawled in my notes I shouldn't be wanting for material. At this point time is a scarcer resource than crazy stupid ideas.

Sir Mix-A-Lot and Archie have at least one thing in common.

Truly, it takes a philosophic mind equal to the calibre of Messrs. Andrews and A-Lot to feel such warms regards as the object of their desires recedes from view.

One of my all-time favorite quotes

Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold.

But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the earth under his sandled feet....