Tommy's Take on R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars: Reformation

RA Salvatore, arguably most famous for the Drizzt Do'Urden novels, also has a series called DemonWars. He and his sons, Geno and Bryan, recently released the DemonWars: Reformation roleplaying game, and have a Kickstarter in progress for DemonWars: Allheart, the first supplement for Reformation. The thing is, I've dug around on the internet for information on this RPG and can't find much, and I've seen other people have the same problem...so I'm reviewing Reformation for your benefit and mine.

Tommy's Take on The Firefly Roleplaying Game

And so the Firefly theme continues with the Firefly RPG by Margaret Weis Productions, not to be confused with the Serenity RPG they released a few years ago.

New Year, New Game Sale - What Should You Buy?

RPGNow, in conjunction with some wonderful RPG publishers, is launching the New Year, New Game Sale once more, providing a toooooooooon of corebooks for half off their normal price.

And that's all well and good, but WHAT should you BUY?

Weeeell...I have some experience with some of the games, and I thought I'd call those out to you.

Age Past: The Incian Sphere - I wrote two pieces of short fiction for this fantasy RPG. Very fun if you like having powers to tinker with.
Don't Rest Your Head - One of the first RPGs I ever reviewed, actually.
Epoch - This unique horror RPG is actually being reviewed on my blog tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!
Heaven's Shadow - I obviously think highly of this RPG, naming it one of my Top Six of 2013. Speaking of...the print version of this is now on sale until the end of the month, in honor of being named one of my Top Six!
ICONS - I've ran it once, and I own a lot of books for it, but I've never review IT. Tons of support.
Leverage - A previous Top Six pick, based on one of my favorite TV shows.
Part-Time Gods - Another previous Top Six pick, playing mortals suddenly imbued with Godlike powers.
Savage Suzerain - Another previous Top Six pick. I've contributed to a few Savage Mojo projects because of my high opinion and reviews of their products.
Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer's Edition - It's my favorite RPG. Ever.
School Daze - A very cool and unique school-based RPG.
Shainter: Legends Arise - The new version of the awesome fantasy setting for Savage Worlds.
Stormrift - Another RPG I reviewed very highly, featuring an alien invasion and the freedom fighters that would stop them.
The Mutant Epoch - Another Top Six pick, featuring some of the craziest, over the top, post-apocalypse fun one can find.

RPGs for sale here that I haven't had hands on experience with, but are on my "to-read" pile include:

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea - I'm not a big OSR fan, but this looks great.
Bulletproof Blues - I have a fondness for supers, what with being a comic book writer and all.
Dead of Night - Because I also like horror.
Dungeon Crawl Classics - I got to play a short PBEM game of this, and I looooove the 0-level character funnel and magic system. It's on my "review list".
King Arthur Pendragon 5.1 - I've had this for a few years, but not yet ran it. It may well be on the agenda soon, with the Great Pendragon Campaign.
Rapture - I bought their big charity bundle recently.

And there are those that I DON'T yet own, but I have my eye on. Namely...

Adventures Under The Laughing Moon
Against The Darkness - I have almost pulled the trigger on this a dozen times, but the timing is never right.
Atlantis: The Second Age - It looks REALLY cool.
Crimson Exodus - Comes highly recommended from a friend.
Eldritch Ass Kicking
Eternal Contenders
Hoodoo Blues
Little Wizards
Modern Day Gladiators - Being an ex-pro wrestler has me curious about this one.
Noir - Because I like noir.
Numenera
Shattered Moon
Sojourner's Quest
Sorcery & Super Science!

(Of course, I'm open to review copies of these or any other games on the sale. *cough*)

So try a new game, and use my affiliate link so I can get store credit and try a new game of my own, that I will then review on this blog!

Tommy's Take on Leverage Companions 4, 5 and 6

The Leverage RPG by Margaret Weis Productions is one I certainly enjoyed, having reviewed all three of the books in the line. They have also released a series of short Companion PDFs, and I've reviewed the first three in the past. Here's my reviews of 4, 5 and 6, covering Hacking, Tropes and Government Espionage.

DISCLAIMER: All products were provided as comp copies via the DriveThruRPG/RPGNow Featured Reviewer program. Purchases made via Affiliate Links on this site may provide the site administrator with store credit to be used at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG.

 Leverage Companion 4: Hollywood Hacking

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: You can either get the PDF for $2.99, or you can get the compilation of ALL the Companions in a print or PDF compilation at RPGNow. The Hollywood Hacking Companion mostly covers the artistic license that TV and movies tends to take with Hacking (like people blowing up stoplights by hacking into them, or the antiquated idea that you have to keep someone talking on a phone in order to trace them). It does a pretty good job of straddling the line between "Don't do what they do on TV because it's silly" and "we're just giving you information so someone a bit more knowledgeable than you can't just call your bluff". A handful of Hacking related Talents are included, but they aren't limited entirely to Hackers. One Talent, for instance, is Mastermind-based and allows you to exploit people who are working off of Hollywood Hacking assumptions. Another one is nice, arrogant trick a Hacker can pull out at the last second. Why didn't they do it earlier? Duh, they were dumbing it down for the rest of the crew.

WHAT WORKS: The extra Talents are always fun. The writing is nice and breezy without turning into a technical lecture.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The Companions are all fairly "niche", with this one being especially so.

CONCLUSION: With the Companions now collected into Companion Volume 2, it's worth reading the material as part of the larger compilation if nothing else. As a standalone PDF? Not the first purchase I would recommend...but the Talents alone make a nice addition to a larger product.


Leverage Companion 5: Tropes vs Leverage

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: As above, you can get it as a single PDF or part of the Companion Volume 2. The purpose of this Companion is help out a bit with defining a character by making use of different archetypes. About 15 archetypes are provided, with descriptions and advice on combining each archetype with each of the five Roles, as well as a Talent that fits each Archetype. Maybe your Hitter is a Mama Bear (or Papa Wolf), maybe your Hacker is a Romantic, maybe your Thief is an Artist, maybe your Grifter is a Rebel and maybe your Mastermind is an Architect who has built each of their plans off of the backs of their last ones.

WHAT WORKS: A real simple way to get a starting point for your Leverage characters, using common archetypes as the core concept (combined with the Roles, obviously). Some of them are truly inspired, as are their related Talents (like an Architect getting a bigger Asset die when using a Callback, since they are building to these moments).

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Some of the combinations don't fit so well, and at times the writing seemed to struggle to define the Archetype/Role relationships without repeating the same ground. Several of the pages carry the footers from the Hollywood Hacking Companion, which presumably got brought over in formatting but never changed.

CONCLUSION: A very useful Companion for those struggling with character creation, or for those who are maybe looking for inspiration for a unique spin for their next character. I also appreciate the fact that there's an attempt at backing these decisions up mechanically, with the inclusion of Talents. A good, well written companion piece to the Leverage rulebooks and supplements.


Leverage Companion 6: KRYPTOS

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Available in the same formats as above, Companion 6 takes your Leverage game from the Populist Revenge business and into the realm of Espionage (and Counter-Espionage). This includes advice on changing up the roles (Hitter to Wetworks, Thief to Acquisitions, Mastermind to Handler, etc). This is even a recommended mode of play for Single Player games (James Bond or Jason Bourne, anyone?) While these Companions commonly offer new Talents, this one also offers new rules, such as resisting Interrogations, handling "Gadgets", and even an "Enhanced Flashback" mechanic that allows the Agents to throw the trust of each other into question.There's even a few campaign set-ups, including an amusing one set in a retirement home for secret agents. An Instant Mission Generator replaces the Job Generator from the Leverage core rules, so you can generate spy-appropriate missions on the fly.

WHAT WORKS: Well, I love random generators, so that's a win right there. There's lots of good information in a small package to tweak Leverage from its default mode of play and into spy games.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: A few spy-related Talents would have been great. Mentioning the Trust mechanic before the section that actually introduced it was a little counterintuitive, but not a huge problem given the size of the product.

CONCLUSION: If you're going to write a niche product like this, present the information as usefully and as compelling as you can. This book totally hit the mark in that regard, giving you the necessary tools to turn Leverage into a spy game with a small package. I always like extra options for Talents, so the book lacking those is disappointing. That said, it's a well-written, micro supplement that was released with a very clear goal that it accomplishes admirably. A great pick-up if you want to diversify your Leverage campaign options.

tremulus Actual Play: The Hatchetman and the Silver Saints

We decided to give tremulus another go, with the new group of Russ, Chrystal, Tommy (who plays in most of my Savage Worlds games) and myself. Unlike the last time we played tremulus, we had extra Playbooks to choose from and more players, so this left us with a motley crew of Russ as an Entertainer named Frank Stone (and a bodyguard named Sheffield), Chrystal as a Psychic named Eliza Dent (and her driver Chauncey) and Tommy as a Drifter named Ramblin' Tom.

I was actually pretty ill prepared going in, so we started the session with Ramblin' Tom walking into town and being passed by Eliza and Chauncey...while a distracted Frank Stone ran off the road and clipped the Drifter, who chose (after rolling a 7-9) to take a little extra damage but force Stone to blow a tire and hit a tree. This led to Frank being a little shaken up and Tom hurting a bit, but Tom gathered his wits and put Frank in a bind, essentially blackmailing Frank into taking care of him, once Tom and Sheffield took care of the car tire.

Eliza and Chauncey checked into their hotel, which was a spacious, two story affair. As Eliza and Chauncey went to their room, Eliza noticed a younger man wearing a silver star pendant watching her. She smiled at him, but he turned his head away. When she and Chauncey got to the room, she decided to relax and commune with the spirits to see what she could see.

Back at the car, while looking for the spare, Ramblin' Tom noticed that the driver of the car (Frank) had some headshots in his trunk...making Tom realize that the driver was an actor or model or something, and this gave Tom a bit more leverage. He also saw a curious silver star pendant in the trunk of the car, which he pocketed. The three men piled back into the car and headed into Ebon Eaves.

Eliza had a vision of dozens and dozens of townsfolk, including the young man that was watching her, forming an angry mob while a demonic face loomed over them.

Frank Stone, Sheffield and Ramblin' Tom headed to the hotel, where Frank discovered there was only one available room...so he used charm and money to get people kicked out of their rooms while he and Sheffield took Tom to get some food (as part of their deal for, y'know, nearly killing him). The service in the diner was much nicer, friendlier and more competent than the hotel. The three men were just starting to maybe get along when a tall, silver-haired man entered the diner, flanked by a short, nervous man and a stern-faced man with a milky white eye. The tall man was referred to as "Reverend", which caught the attention of Stone and Tom. Frank said he didn't like that white eye, so Sheffield got up and grabbed a knife, threatening to put it out, but Frank made him sit back down.

Eliza and Chauncey entered the diner and sat down, and Chauncey never took his eyes off of the Reverend and his entourage. As dinner went on, Frank didn't like the look of Chauncey and sent Sheffield over to Eliza and her driver to make sure there was no issue. This nearly escalated into violence as Chauncey told Sheffield to take two steps away from Eliza. Frank overhead the commotion and told Sheffield to back off, (and Tom was busy eating all of Sheffield's food while this was going on). As Frank gathered up Sheffield and Tom and headed to the door, they were cut off by the Reverend, who recognized Frank. He asked for an autograph for Martin's (the nervous man with the Reverend) son and the two men soon decided that they should have dinner together. Tom mentioned being both broke and injured, and the Reverend offered him medical care at the doctor's and work at the church the next day. Frank began to press The Reverend on the real reason he had come here: Ebon Eaves' legendary Hatchetman. Many years ago, a young man named Billy had gone insane and chopped up five of his friends before a sixth stopped him...and every five years, the murders started up again. As Frank pushed the Reverend on these legends, the Reverend shrugged it off.

Ramblin' Tom headed to the Doctor when he felt an overwhelming sense of being watched...and discovered that *everyone* on the street was watching him.

Frank returned to the hotel and sent Sheffield out to find some drugs, while he began pumping the old lady now working the counter for information about the Hatchetman.

Eliza and Chauncey, paranoid about the town, scoured their room for cameras...until Eliza spotted something on the window. The outside of the window. The word "Witch". Eliza contacted the Spirit World once more, getting a flash of an eyeless, oily skinned creature in an old rock quarry...and a flash from the future of a newspaper headline proclaiming that that anniversary of the Hatchetman had passed without incident.

Ramblin' Tom got his wounds dressed by the friendly Doctor who suddenly, as Tom was leaving, told him to "keep your nose clean or we'll f---ing kill you."

Frank got upset when the old woman told him the Hatchetman wasn't a ghost...but a curse on the town, which drives people insane every five years...and that the next Hatchetman would be coming soon.

Eliza and Chauncey decided to go for a walk, having a chat with the old woman, who seemed nice enough...except she said that the town was constantly poisoned by satanic outsiders, such as witches like Eliza. Frank and Tom decided to turn in to their respective rooms.

Frank was awoken by someone beating on his door and peered through the peep hole to see Sheffield...who drove a hatchet into the door! He smashed his way in and the terrified Frank Stone darted away from him and bolted through into Ramblin' Tom's room, waking him up as the crazed Sheffield burst in! Frank fired his handgun at Sheffield and wounded him, but the enraged bodyguard charged Tom and Frank, only to be taken by surprise by the Drifter, who managed to rip the axe from his hands and knock him into a door, accidentally breaking his neck! Frank immediately proclaimed victory for stopping the Hatchetman. A nervous back and forth ensued about who to call, with Tom pointing out that the Reverend runs this town, and Frank became optimistic that his friendship with the Reverend would help out.

Eliza and Chauncey tried to return to the hotel...only to find it bustling with activity, including four of the Reverend's Silver Saints blocking her entrance, calling her a "Witch". Chauncey threatened violence on the four men, but Eliza opted for a less violent approach and took Chauncey back to Meg's Diner, where she once more contacted the Spirit World.

The Reverend and his sidekicks, Martin and Robert, were relieved to see that Tom and Frank had stopped the Hatchetman without further bloodshed.

Eliza got a flash of an eyeless, oily being biting Sheffield and driving him into a rage...and Sheffield biting someone else and throwing them aside as he grabbed a hatchet from the man's truck and stomped to the hotel...leaving the wounded, enraged man to attack another bystander and so on...and that the creature is now dormant.

Outside the hotel, the Silver Saints guarding it were attacked.

Ramblin' Tom decided to cut out, only to look down the stares at the old woman from the counter, now quite crazed and charging up the stairs. He barely got away from her, but didn't get the door barred in time. Frank tried to block her entry himself...but failed as she nearly bit him, causing him to lunge away from the door.

Eliza began asking the gentleman in the diner about rock quarries, leading to her and Chauncey deciding to head to the quarry to put an end to this monster.

Frank scurried away...leading to woman attacking Martin and ripping a chunk out of him! She tossed him aside and lunged at Tom, who got away from her and never saw Martin lunging up and biting Robert! While Tom and the old woman fought, Frank opened fire...shooting Tom in the shoulder and making him drop his axe! The Reverend began fighting with Robert, and Frank opened fire on on Robert, giving the Reverend an opening to draw a knife from somewhere and drive it into Robert's skull! Frank was pleased...until Martin pounced on him and dragged him to the ground! Tom and the old woman fought, but he flipped her end over end and out the window! Frank shot Martin, stunning him so that the Reverend could move in and slice Martin's head off!

Eliza and Chauncey began to enter the quarry to execute the dormant monster, when bizarre, vaguely crablike fungal creatures ordered her and Chauncey to stop! They were surprised as these beings descended from the skies and said that they created the hunter to quell the Nightgaunts...and that killing it would doom the town. Eliza tried to debate them, pointing out that it was killing people, but the beings said that those were acceptable losses to keep the Nightgaunts under control. She and the creatures argued, until she finally ordered Chauncey to execute the sleeping hunter, which he did with a high powered rifle. The creatures recoiled, stating their belief that she had doomed the area to the swell of the Nightgaunts.

In the aftermath, the Silver Saints did a splendid job of quelling the uprising caused by the madness of the hunter's bite, and when Eliza confronted to the Reverend about his town's zealotry, to her surprise he agreed: He's been well aware of the rising darkness in the town and has been deathly afraid of his inability to quell it.

Notes: I totally did a horrible job of conveying the humor we had going on here, as Russ hammed it up as Frank Stone and I had a blast slipping back and forth between Chauncey and Sheffield. The tremulus system is a bit exhausting, as I'm not used to improvising *that much*. All the improv is why some things were set up and not paid off (like Tom finding a Silver Star in the trunk of Frank's car). That said, I have to give the group credit: This was the first time roleplaying with this configuration, the first time Chrystal had played a non-D&D game and the first time Russ had played a non-fantasy RPG and everyone slipped right in. They played like characters in a horror game, and took my bait as I laid it out there, running with little tidbits here and there to advance the plot, conveniently choosing the same hotel to stay at and diner to eat at, and so on. Ironic, then, that Eliza *never* directly interacted with the other two PCs.

This was also the first time using non-core Playbooks, as all the Playbooks used came from the tremulus Kickstarter stretch goals. The special moves came into play a LOT (especially Frank's ability to gain +2 while trying to Act Under Pressure in defensive situations, Tom's ability to roll Luck to lessen harm and Eliza contacting the Spirit World, which bordered on being awesome and gamebreaking).

A good time was had by all, the new group got off to a promising start, and next week we hit familiar territory for me and Tommy: Deadlands Reloaded!

A Call to the Community - Chris Pramas & Cadaver Bone

I don't normally do two blog posts in one day, but both needed posting and I didn't want one to piggy back off the other, so here goes:

Chris Pramas of Green Ronin, who I've never had dealings with personally, but who seems to be a swell guy by all accounts, and who designed the Dragon Age pen and paper RPG which I love to ABSOLUTE PIECES, is having to undergo bone fusion surgery in his neck pretty soon, and while his insurance is going to cover MOST of it, "most" means he still owes $10,000 after the surgery. Now, he's not asking for a handout...but he did ask for a little help from his friends.

I like it when friends come together and help each other out. It's just one of those things that makes me smile. So what Chris' friends have done (and by "friends" I mean an all-star line-up of guys like John "Leverage" Rogers, Ed "Forgotten Realms" Greenwood, Steve "ICONS" Kenson, Robin "Feng Shui" Laws, John "Unknown Armies" Tynes, Matt "Brave New World" Forbeck and David "Dragon Age" Gaider to name a few) is they have agreed to write a dark fantasy anthology called Cadaver Bone (because Chris is going to have a cadaver's bone fused into his neck, see) in order to raise the $10,000 to cover the remainder of Chris' medical bills.

Like I said, puts a smile on my face. As of this writing, they are almost at $7,500 with 30 days left to go.

Let's not make Chris sweat, huh? Let's help his friends help him. Heck, if you're a Mutants & Masterminds player (I'm not) you can kick in $5 and get a PDF of a villain named Cadaver Bone if that's more your speed.

I've put my money where my mouth is, because on this day I am able to, because I respect Chris' work and because I do dearly love seeing people pull together for their friends.

I wish you the absolute best of luck with your surgery and recovery, Mr. Pramas.

Tommy's Take on Leverage Companions 1, 2 & 3

Though the show has ended, the game must go on. Margaret Weis Productions extends their support for Leverage with a new line of microsupplements!

Leverage Companion #1: Too Many Chefs

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: We thought the Leverage RPG line was finished...but Margaret Weis Productions comes firing back with a new set of microsupplements! Leverage, by its concept, is very niche protectiony, with PCs specializing in one of five roles. This supplement, in PDF for $2.99, addresses crews that have more than one of a given role...say two Hackers, two Hitters or two Grifters. Options are provided for the duplicated roles to combine their talents...as well as an option for one to swoop in in top of the other and steal their glory. A set of Talents are provided which are designed to build off of these situations, such as a Crew Member who lets themselves get taken captured to give their crewmate an opening. There's even one built around two Masterminds working together. The next session takes it to the extreme: A team consisting entirely one role, and how to diversify your crew of Grifters, Hitters or even Masterminds. An optional rule provides extra drama, having the fallout be worse if someone screws up in their secondary role. Again, new Talents are provided that play into this. Sample crews are provided, giving inspiration for All-Grifter, All-Hacker, All-Hitter, All-Thief and All-Mastermind crews.

WHAT WORKS: Leverage is a great idea if you have five players and they are all happy focusing on separate roles...if not, then you have Too Many Chefs. The options are great, with mechanical support to back up PCs otherwise stepping on each other's toes, rather than making the game more difficult.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Not a lot, here. These aren't situations that'll come up in every game, and this is a low cost extra that'll fill in those gaps for you if it happens.

CONCLUSION: Really good first Companion, starting the series off right. The most potentially frustrating aspect of Leverage is what to do if you have a "non-standard" group...good to see that MWP recognizes that and is here to help.

Leverage Companion #2: Leverage Noir

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Another $2.99 microsupplement, this one walks you back from modern day to the 20s-40s. Changing the time period does have a pretty big effect on your game, for two major reasons: 1) The omnipresent earbuds are no longer present, and 2) the Hacker needs a complete overhaul. New Talents include Hardboiled (you don't scare easily), Enforcer (your reputation now wins you as many fights as your fists do), Wireman (learning to manipulate the phone lines), Sandpapered Fingertips (your sense of touch is infallible), Working Stiff (your Grifter knows how to fit in with the "common" folk), The Name of the Game Isn't Chess - It's Poker (convincing someone you have a bigger advantage than you really do). A list of era specific distinctions are included, as well as a list of terminology. Some reference material is provided, as well as a couple of tips on either playing a Noir episode as a flashback in your ongoing game, or running a full series set in another time.

WHAT WORKS: A very helpful reworking of Talents, especially necessary for the Hacker. Many of the Talents twist the roles thematically, such as the Hitter becoming a much more violent and...final...crew member than what we normally see from Eliot.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Less useful overall than the first Companion. The GMing section might could have used some beefing up.

CONCLUSION: A good addition to the Companion line, in a very fitting alternate setting. Leverage certainly had some dark moments over the years, so this wouldn't be uncharted territory for the setting, though the darkness was rarely sustained. Highly recomended if you want a darker twist on your Leverage game.

Leverage Companion #3: The Foil

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This Companion introduces a seventh role, that of The Foil...essentially a PC adversary to the Crew. Unfortunately, they lose me right there with the first rule of being a Foil: You Lose. The rule in the Leverage Writer's Room regarding Jim Sterling, the Leverage crew's biggest foil, is Sterling Never Loses. Anywho, they provide the ten rules of playing a Foil (one of which essentially turns them into an assistant Fixer as well). One page even covers situations where the Foil might be forced to team with the Crew (which happens as well). Foil Talents are provided, like Body Double (meaning you have body doubles on site), I Am The Rogue's Gallery (where you can get in before the Crew's Thief) and Owning the Field, which you can use to prevent a specific Role from being used.  Sterling himself is statted up as a Foil, along with a few other sample ones.

WHAT WORKS: It's a good concept, the recurring nemesis in the Heist game. Providing mechanical support for a Sterling isn't a bad thing, especially as it makes their constant victories slightly less annoying than if it all came at the hands of an NPC.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: First and foremost? The Ur-Example completely violates the first rule of playing a Foil.

CONCLUSION: Sterling never loses. At best, the Leverage crew manages a win-win situation with him. Additionally, playing a Foil would be a bit of a drag, as the Foil is either not going to be in every Job, or it's a series of back and forth PC fights. I certainly applaud Margaret Weis Productions for providing options...I just don't this one really works.

Games I Wanna Run/Play

So I'm looking around my office after recently moving, and I have almost all of my RPG stuff unpacked...which just serves to remind me how little I've gamed recently, and how much I'd love to game more...as well as some of the games I'd love to run.

Without further ado, and in no PARTICULAR order...

The Sideliners (Marvel SAGA) - I'm actually finishing up a long running, on and off campaign soon before my best friend moves to Boston. The characters involved are some of our oldest and longest running, and we'd like to give them some "closure".

Necessary Evil (Savage Worlds) - Hopefully, we can finish up the Plot Point campaign before my best friend moves, as he's an integral part of this game as well. Necessary Evil is the most fun I've had with Savage Worlds, and I've had a lot of fun with Savage Worlds.

Deadlands Reloaded - Whether playing something all new or resuming old campaigns, I just really wanna play more Deadlands, because it's my favorite setting ever.

Star Wars Saga Edition - My son is a huge Star Wars fan, and I ran some Star Wars for him a few years ago. I would love to resume that, I just have a real hard time coming up with age appropriate adventures.

The SAGA of Spider-Man (Marvel SAGA) - Another game with my son...and probably the only way I'll still run Marvel SAGA after my best friend moves.

The Savage World of Solomon Kane (Savage Worlds) - This is another "I want to resume an existing campaign" entry. Luckily, my player in this campaign isn't moving anywhere.

Dragon Age - I love the setting, the boxed sets just look sweet, I've played around with character creation and it's fast but fun...I wanna give this a go sometime, maybe with my kid, as Clint and Jodi Black have said it's actually a great game for kids.

Midnight (Savage Worlds) - No, there was no Savage Worlds version of Midnight...I would just be using a conversion and gladly so. The warped version of Lord of the Rings was my favorite thing to come out of the d20 era.

Ravenloft (Savage Worlds) - Based heavily off of the 3/.5 version by White Wolf with a dash of elements from the earlier versions as I see fit.

D&DNext - I'm loving what I'm reading from the files, and I have a playtest scheduled with a couple of interesting friends (using Roll20), but we haven't actually gotten to gameplay, unfortunately.

Wu Xing The Ninja Crusade - Probably the game I've wanted to play the most but haven't had a chance. I have no idea how Eloy Lasanta took so many of the things I dislike and made me like them, but he did. Oh MAN he did.

Pendragon 5.1 - Maybe even the Great Pendragon Campaign if the opportunity arose.

Monster of the Week - I've been reading this and collected all the Limited Edition Playbooks, and I'd totally dig the chance to give it a go. I'd actually choose it for a Buffy-style game over Buffy itself now, I think.

Savage Suzerain (Savage Worlds) - Specifically, starting with Caladon Falls and going from there.

Streets of Bedlam (Savage Worlds) - I'm actually planning to give this one a shot using the Mythic GM Emulator.

Hellfrost (Savage Worlds) - Because those are some awesome, impressive books, giving Savage Worlds some epic fantasy, even if it's not particularly high powered.

Dungeonworld - It seems like it could be a fun twist on D&D style play.

Transformers-ish Game (Cartoon Action Hour Season 2) - An idea that occurred to me for my kid. He even has a character in mind.

Fiasco - I got to play in a partial demo of this on Skye, but haven't had a chance to play a full game. There are some GREAT playsets out there.

Leverage - My favorite of the Cortex+ games, based off of one of my favorite TV shows.

Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor - A horror/mystery sandbox by Arc Dream...I'm not sold on the system, but the setting and premise are so cool I'd give it a shot.

Ghostories - A very cool, underappreciate horror RPG by Precis Intermedia.

I could probably go on...and I know a lot of those are kinda vague, but as a rule, I don't begin planning more than the very basics of a campaign until the PCs are in front of me...taking whatever they want to play (unless it's disruptive) and building the campaign around that.

But clearly, I need to game more.

375 posts! A Look Back...

This is my 375th post on the blog, a little over 2 and a half years from when I launched it as an excuse to keep me writing on a regular basis.

How'd that work out?

Well...I haven't always been able to blog as much as I like, because I went from unemployed college student to warehouse worker/comic book writer/social media manager/freelance editor, those latter two gigs stemming entirely from this blog and my reviews (which came to dominate the blog).

This is actually the second "Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.", the first one being much more personal and political, being referred to by the The UK Mirror as "A Liberal Read", where my tagline came from. My logo is about 14 months old, designed for me by my friend and colleague (every Savage Worlds product I've been credited on, so has he), Aaron Acevedo.

As of this writing, my blog's had 184,947 hits (which isn't 100% accurate, I'm sure, but it's probably close), and despite being increasingly busy, it's managed to top the previous year's traffic month to month. In fact, every month this year except June has doubled the One Year Ago stats. I attribute this to "Evergreen" posts like Savage Worlds Characters Are All The Same, which prop up traffic even when I'm not posting often.

To my annoyance, my most read post on the blog is my take on The Walking Dead season one, due in no small part to the Emma Bell pic inserted in the article.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ICONS posts draw more traffic than any of my other RPG posts, though I'm convinced that's more to do with TMNT than it is ICONS.

The most read RPG review I've written is, interestingly, Leverage.

My audience is primarily American, with Canada pulling in a distant second. To my surprise, Poland makes up the third largest segment of my audience (with Canada only supplying about 500 more hits than Poland does). The UK provides a sizable fourth, and then it's a pretty big drop off in readership.

My highest traffic month was this past January, which isn't a surprise as my Top 6 giveaway got plastered around the internet, with Pinnacle posting a front page update about it, among other things.

Speaking of...I'm moving the  Top 6 cutoff date to November 30th this year, so I have an extra couple of weeks to contact the publishers of the selected products before everyone disappears before Christmas.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope to continue posting much, much more. I aim to continue my Half Dozen Heroes articles, I'll probably post more about D&DNext, I have another slew of RPG products lined up to review and I'm working on scanning my adventure notes for one of my Necessary Evil adventures through an OCR program to post up for your consumption.

Thanks for reading, and keep the dice dizzy!

Tommy

AetherCon Update for August 5th, 2012

Here are the latest updates for our event from the past three weeks:

We’d like to welcome Ethan Parker and Jon Gibbons to the AetherCon staff. Mr Parker, the organizer for KantCon, has signed on to take the position of GM Coordinator. Mr. Gibbons (AEG, PEG) has been named to the Art Directors post.


The following games have been added to our schedule:
William T. Thrasher - Call of Cthulhu Tournament - "The Wounded Sky"
Julian Constantino - Pathfinder - "Justice For All"

William has also been recently tapped by Paizo to do some writing on an upcoming project.

The following games and GMs have recently been confirmed:
Greg McClendon - Dark Heresy
Roger French Jr - Macho Women with Guns
Sherman Sheftall - Runequest 6th Ed


The following game publishers have been added to our supporters by either contributing prize support, guests for the Fest Hall, or taking a booth in our Vendors Hall:

4 Winds Fantasy Gaming
Chapter 13 Press
Crafty Games
d Infinity
Silver Gryphon Games
Thistle Games
White Haired Man

You can see the growing list of companies adding to our prize list by going ‘To The Victors’

We would also like to thank DriveThru RPG for stepping up and facilitating the prize bundles for our event.

At this time we can also confirm that Ennie nominated Chapter 13 Press, Skirmisher Publishing, and The Design Mechanism will be among those featured in our inaugural convention program.


Among the latest artist news Bradley K. McDevitt has been commissioned by Goodman Games for illustration on an upcoming release.

Our latest wallpaper Grendorey Hu Maggrath by Canadian Will O'Brien has just been released.

Coming Soon:
Izael 'Deeds' McBride by Patrick McAvoy
Billoby Windwarble by Fiona Meng
Kruultok Azgratugaar by Eric Lofgren

You can find all of our free downloadable wallpapers here.


The following RPG blogs have joined the Bell & Scroll:

Campaign Mastery
Dice Jockey
Geek Life
Mind of the Geek
The Iron Tavern

The following Conventions have joined the ConCentric Circle:

BashCon
Great Falls Gaming Rendezvous


Current games confirmed for AetherCon include:

All Flesh Must Be Eaten
A Thousand and One Nights
Atomic Highway
Call of Cthulhu
Castles & Crusades
Dark Heresy
Dresden Files
Eclipse Phase
Fantasy Craft
Labyrinth Lord
Legends of the Five Rings
Leverage
Macho Women with Guns
Mouse Guard
Mutants and Masterminds
Palladium RIFTs
Paranoia
Pathfinder
Pathfinder Society
Runequest 6th Ed
Savage Worlds
Shadowrun
Star Wars (D6 WEG)
Swords and Wizardry
Time Lord


Top five cities in North America for unique visitors to our main site to date: Chicago, Ill; San Francisco, Cal; New York, NY; Houston, Tex; Austin, Tex.

Top five cities in Europe for unique visitors to our main site to date: London, U.K.; Nuremberg, Ger; Helsinki, Fin; Moscow, Rus; Hamburg, Ger.

Top five cities in ports abroad for unique visitors to our main site to date: Wellington, N.Z.; Brisbane, Aus; Sydney, Aus; Melbourne, Aus; Florianopolis, Bra.


Finally, a question: Which of our latest games would you like to play the most? Check out our poll on Facebook and have your say.


Help us get the word out about AetherCon by liking and sharing on our Facebook event page, following and re-tweeting via our Twitter page and adding us to your circle on Google+.


We are currently looking for GMs to run the following games:

Pathfinder
Savage Worlds
Shadowrun
Call of Cthuhlu

As well as these cult favorites:

Barbarians of Lemuria
Cyberpunk2020
Gamma World (Pre-D20)
GURPS
Halcyon
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
Spycraft
Star Frontiers
Traveler

All Flesh Must Be Eaten
Atomic Highway
Dresden Files
Eclipse Phase
Fantasy Craft
Legends of the Five Rings
Macho Women with Guns
Mutants and Masterminds
Palladium
Paranoia
Runequest 6th Ed

Dark Heresy
Serenity
Star Wars (D6 WEG)

If you have a cult favorite you’d like to see or run, let us know!

If you have a game yourself that you would like to run use our handy-dandy [url=http://www.aethercon.com/GM%20Pre-Reg/GM%20Pre-Registration.html]GM Pre-Registration tool[/url] on the site.

If you want to play in one just fill out our Player Pre-Registration Tool.


All of our Game Tables and Booths are now linked to Roll20 making it easier than ever for you to try out the engine of AetherCon.

You can also check the menu bar across the top of our website for Roll20. The corresponding submenu shows has a variety of useful links.


If you would like to inquire about other volunteering possibilities let us know by sending an e-mail here: stephen@aethercon.com

Stephen J. Holodinsky
Event Manager – AetherCon

Find us here:
AetherCon

Facebook

Twitter

Google+

Christmas in July!

Yeah, RPGNow/DriveThruRPG is doing the Christmas in July sale again!

This means that a crap ton of stuff is marked down 25% until July 30th, including lots of Savage Worlds stuff (like Suzerain, Interface Zero, Deadlands, Beasts & Barbarians, Wellstone City), the Cortex+ games (Smallville, Leverage and Marvel Heroic), the BASH series of games, Scaldcrow's great generic supplements and a LOT more.

AetherCon - You Going?

Grab your virtual dice bags folks and mark down November 16-18, 2012 on your calendar, as the AetherCon Online RPG Convention is coming to your computer! Best of all, it’s FREE!

We will be featuring tabletop RPGs of all types throughout the weekend, highlighted by four three-day tournaments of Pathfinder Call of Cthulhu, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, and Shadowrun. Game tables will be run on the powerful, yet easy to use, Roll20 browser-based virtual tabletop. Learn more with the Roll20 tutorials and the Roll20 Live Stream.

Grab your virtual dice bags folks and mark down November 16-18, 2012 on your calendar, the AetherCon Online RPG Convention is coming to your computer. 

We will be featuring tabletop RPGs of all types throughout the weekend highlighted by four three day tournaments of Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, and Shadowrun.

Additionally vendors, industry guests, and artists are also in our plans. We will be releasing free downloadable wallpapers throughout the months leading up to the con. 

Members of the Artists Enclave currently include Paul Abrams (TSR, Shadowrun); Alex E. Alonso Bravo (DC Comics, Pixar, AEG); Brent Chumley (AEG); John L Kaufmann (Shadowrun); Eric Lofgren; (Paizo, White Wolf, Mongoose Publishing), Chris Malidore (Fantasy Flight Games, PEG), Patrick McAvoy (WotC, AEG, Fantasy Flight Games), Brad McDevitt (Chaosium, CGL, Battlefield Press), Jesse Mead (Fantasy Flight Games), Aaron B. Miller (WotC, AEG, Open Design), and Stanley Morrison (AEG) among others.

Additionally, to date game publishers confirmed as taking part in AetherCon either through prize support, supplying guests, or taking a vendors booth include: 

Battlefield Press, Catalyst Game Labs, Chaosium, Chronicles of the Void, Flying Buffalo Inc., Immersion Studios, Imperfekt Industrees, Kenzer and Company, Paizo, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Stardust Publications, Sundered Epoch and The Design Mechanism.

Confirmed guests to date are Wedge Smith and Doug Bush (Chronicles of the Void), James Sutter (Paizo),  Steven ‘Bull’ Ratkovich (CGL), and Lawrence Whittaker and Pete Nash (The Design Mechanism).

Confirmed games to date include:

All Flesh Must Be Eaten

A Thousand and One Nights

Atomic Highway

Call of Cthulhu

Castles & Crusades

Dark Heresy

Dragon Age

Eclipse Phase

Fantasy Craft

Labyrinth Lord

Legend of the Five Rings

Leverage

Mouse Guard

Mutants & Masterminds

Paranoia

Pathfinder

Pathfinder Society

RIFTs

Savage Worlds

Serenity

Shadowrun

Time Lord

Star Wars WEG D6

Swords and Wizardry

and more are on the way.

If you’d like to play in a game use our Player Pre-Registration Tool.

If you’d like to run a game use our  GM Pre-Registration Tool.

If  you don’t see your game in our lineup, would like to lend a hand, or need to inquire for any other reason, feel free to use our Contact Us page to do so.

Be sure to visit our websites and show your support for AetherCon via Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.

Website:  http://www.aethercon.com/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/AetherConRPG

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/AetherCon

Google+:  http://www.gplus.to/aethercon

I don't know for sure how much participation I'll personally be able to have with AetherCon, but I've been playing around with Roll20 and it seems pretty great...and, for someone like me who lives in the middle of nowhere, this just sounds like an awesome idea, and I hope it turns out to be huge.

VIP Wrestling: Father and Son

Yeah, this was supposed to go up yesterday. It's been a busy month. I'll try to get two more in by the end of the month.

This next set is a father-son tandem...Daedalus and his boy Icarus, a pair of wrestlers from Greek descent. Daedalus is a veteran of the ring who is breaking down, while his son is a reckless high-flyer. They form a tag team for two reasons: Daedalus is attempting to use tag team wrestling to extend his career, and he's doing his best to hone his son into a superstar.

Icarus is a popular daredevil who has some amazing trainwrecks with "Bad Boy" Jimmy Lee, though he rarely comes out on top due to Lee's edge in training and experience. That said, Icarus does know how to utilize his agility well, hitting his Wings of Icarus crucifix out of nowhere, and his breath taking FINAL FLIGHT, a flying body press where he leaps backwards off the top rope and spins in mid air, catching his opponent with a flying bodypress.

Daedalus is an old hand in the ring, who has ran afoul of just about every heel (and then some) in the region. His technical expertise hasn't really rubbed off on his son, though you can see some similarities (like their patented running knee lifts). Daedalus likes to lock on the GRECIAN SLEEPER GRIP - a modified sleeperhold - to put his opponents away, though he has less success with it than he used to.


Name: Icarus
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 199 lbs
Weight Mod: -1
Attitude: Face
Level: 5
Star Power:

Ath: +5
Brw: -1
Flr: +1
Ins: 0
Pow: 0

Skills
Athletics +4
Deception
Knowledge
 Athletic Moves +5
 Brawling Moves
 Flair Moves
 Power Moves
 Technical Moves
 Roster
 Specialty Match:
 Tag Team +5
Language
Perception
Performance +2
Presence
Special Talent


Gimmick Enhancements
Close Call
Feat of Dexterity (2)
Helping Hand
Leverage (Athleticism) (2)
MF: Technical
Moveset
Potent Strike (Athletic) (1)
Reckless Abandon
Ring Sense (Athletic)
Signature Move
Tag Team Specialist
Training Background
  MF: Athletic
  MF: Flair
  Finisher

Flaw
Overconfident
Rookie Mistake

Moveset
Flying Armdrag (Technical): Modifiers: 1d4 damage (+0), moveset (+1), prone self (+1), requires lifting (+1)
Total Modifier: +3

Dropkick (Athletic): 1d6 damage (+0), exertion: 2 Fatigue (+1), knockdown (–1), moveset (+1), prone self (+1), stunning: self if missed (+1)
Total Modifier: +3

Running Kneelift (Athletic): 1d6 damage (-1), knockdown (–1), moveset (+1)
Total Modifier: -1

Signature Move
Wings of Icarus (Crucifix pin/Athletic): 1d4 damage (+0), immediate pin attempt upon lift (-1), prone self (+1), requires lifting (+1), signature move (+2)
Total Modifier: +3

Finisher
Final Flight (Athletic): 1d6 damage (-1), add Weight Mod to damage (-1), exertion: 2 Fatigue
(+1), Finisher name (+1) immediate pin attempt upon lift (-1), prone self (+1), requires lifting (+1), stunning: self if missed (+1)
Total Modifier: +2

Name: Daedalus
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 226 lbs
Weight Mod: 0
Attitude: Face
Level: 9
Star Power:

Ath: +2
Brw: 0
Flr: +1
Ins: +5
Pow: 0

Skills
Athletics +2
Deception
Knowledge
 Athletic Moves
 Brawling Moves
 Flair Moves
 Power Moves
 Technical Moves +5
 Roster +5
 Specialty Match:
 Tag Team +5
Language +1
Perception +2
Performance +2
Presence +2
Special Talent


Gimmick Enhancements
Attribute Improvement (3)
Helping Hand (2)
Leverage (Submission)
MF: Flair
Maneuver Training (3)
Mastery (Technical)
Moveset
Ring Sense (Instinct)
Ring Smart
Ring Strategist
Signature Move
Tag Team Specialist (3)
Training Background
  MF: Athletic
  MF: Technical
  Finisher
Wrestling Savant

Flaw
Injury Prone

Moveset
Atomic Drop (Technical): 1d6 damage (-1), exertion: 2 Fatigue (+1), moveset (+1), requires lifting (+1), stunning (-2)
Total Modifier: 0

Belly-To-Back Suplex (Technical): 2d6 damage (–3), moveset (+1), prone self (+1), requires lifting (+1)
Total Modifier: 0

Running Kneelift (Athletic): 1d6 damage (-1), knockdown (–1), moveset (+1)
Total Modifier: -1

Signature Move
Grecian Crab (Technical): 1d6 damage (-1), requires prone target (+1), signature move (+2), submission
(–1)
Total Modifier: +1

Finisher
Grecian Sleeper Grip (Technical): 1d6 damage (–1), exertion: 2 Fatigue (+1), finisher name (+1), stunning (-2), submission (-1)
Total Modifier: –3

Tommy's Take on Leverage: Hitters, Hackers & Thieves

And now to complete the Leverage trifecta with Hitters, Hackers & Thieves, the second Leverage expansion book.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: A companion book to Grifters & Masterminds, Hitters, Hackers & Thieves expands on the other three roles of a Leverage crew, and the cover indicates this by showing Hardison (Hacker) on the cover with Parker (Thief) and Eliot (Hitter) reflected in his sunglasses. This is a review of the 128 page PDF version, available on RPGNow for $12.99. Full color, all the bells and whistles, that sort of thing...the aesthetics are up to the usual Margaret Weis Productions standards. The book leads off with an amusing, in character note from Wil Wheaton as "Cha0s", not unlike Mark Sheppard's note as Sterling in Grifters & Masterminds.

This book is organized a lot like the last, with an extra role section and minus a GM section. Hackers are up first, and while I never really got a particular "voice" from the Grifters & Masterminds sections, the Hacker 101 definitely has a "Hardison" vibe to it. We get a history of hacking (all the way back to 1822) and notable milestones in Hacking, like Operation Sundevil in the 90s and the rise of Anonymous. New Hacker Talents include The Cake is a Lie (giving you a bonus die for creating fake media), Do, or Do Not, There Is No Try (which lets you frontload an attempt at success, but run a greater risk of Complications) and I Read About That Once on the Internet (allowing you to use your Hacker die for something not Hacker related). Uses for Hacker with each Attribute is included, like Agility (executing something at a precise time) and even Strength (Hacking when restrained). A dozen Hackers are included, from a street thug to an ex-nun to an MMA fighter and a beefcake guy that steals people's identities to pay for his exploits! The Master Class section delves into using Hacker in gameplay, introducing things like Exploits (a wager with the Fixer - if you win, you get a free Asset, if you lose, they hit you with a Complication). Other mechanics are included, like Covering Your Tracks. The book even describes how Hackers can use things like car tires treads and Legos! Social Engineering details how Hacker can be used alongside Grifter (or in place of it, in an emergency).

The Hitter section is all about beating the crap out of people...not killing them, mind you...but beating them to a pulp. This turns into an awesome code of honor/set of rules about not killing, not using guns, divide and conquer, etc. Just a really enjoyable piece of writing.  Again, we get a sidebar on using Hacker with the various Attributes, like Intelligence for a Martial Arts Instructor, Alertness to find a weak spot and Willpower to keep going when you want to collapse. New Hitter Talents include Fighting Styles (Barroom Brawling, Fencing, and even Pro Wrestling, as well as a catch-all "I'm really badass" style), Weapon Training (Swinging Weapons, Thrusting Weapons, Frightening Weapon, etc), and other Talents like Ke-mo Sah-bee (in which your awesomeness attracts a follower), Location, Location, Location (scoring a free Asset from your surroundings), or Walking Arsenal (allowing you to pick up Weapon Training talents out of the blue for the remainder of the Job). A Dozen Hitters includes the obvious (cops, commandos, pro wrestlers and MMA fighters) as well as the less obvious (abuse survivors and wrongly incarcerated accountants). The Master Class opens up new possibilities, like using guns (complete with new Talents, including crowd control stuff), a system for winning fights without ever throwing a punch, and even mass combat (or Mob Fights).

Last, we get the Thief section. This follows the pattern of the other sections, with a look at the psychology of a thief before touching on some famous thieves. New Talents include Consolation Prize (in which you lose a fight but swipe something from the guy that beat you), Losing a Tail (ditching the folks trying to follow you) and Takes One To Know One (helps you spot another Thief). We also get a sidebar for using Attributes with Thief, like Strength (forcing open locks), Agility (...most things you'll be doing) and Willpower (working your way through a meticulous security system without slipping up). A Dozen Thieves includes a car thief, an ex secret agent, a magician's assistant and a forensics expert. The Master Class starts off covering thieves' tools, like telescopes, hand drills, lock picks and even beef jerky (for guard dogs, duh). Another section covers designing security systems for locations, hitting a checklist of common features before encouraging the use of Distinctions to give each one personality. Four sample locations are included in detail, from a survivalist compound to The Steranko from the Leverage episode The Inside Job. The Thief section ends with a list of cool things to steal, with both the "Why" and the "Why Not", from Nazi paintings to nuclear codes.

Finally, the book ends with The Tech Job, which is actually three hi-tech job outlines that can easily be used in play (since Leverage Jobs should probably never be anything more than an outline anyway).

WHAT WORKS: The Hitter section may be my favorite section written for the Leverage RPG, possibly my favorite section ever appearing in an MWP book and just a great read. Your mileage may vary, but I loved it. I also love the addition of the ready made compounds and the security system mechanics, a very useful set of additions to the game mechanics.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: I wasn't feeling the whole "psychology of a thief" thing, which is weird, because Parker's not my least favorite Leverage Crew member (that would be Sophie...and I still like her). In fact, from a Role standpoint Hacker and Thief would probably be most least favorite of the five.

CONCLUSION: I was reaching for complaints. I applaud the work the MWP crew has done with Leverage, starting with a strong core book and then two supplemental books that are not essential but dramatically expand the five roles in the game. As with Grifters & Masterminds, if you like the Leverage RPG, there is no real reason not to buy the supplemental books, at least in PDF. A great RPG treatment for one of my favorite shows.

Tommy's Take on Leverage: Grifters & Masterminds

I thought pretty highly of Leverage, as you may recall. After a bit of a wait, now we get the completion of the Leverage line: Grifters & Masterminds and Hitters, Hackers & Thieves. First up...Grifters & Masterminds.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The PDF is $12.99 and a lean 105 pages, full color, photos, all that. What the book essentially IS is a How-To for Grifters and Masterminds (as well as some more options and advice for Fixers, or GMs). For the fans, the book features a Foreword by Marak Sheppard (in character as Jim Sterling).

Up first is Grifting 101, beginning with the three things a con can be based on (Greed, Social Compliance and Distraction & Misdirection), with explanations of each before diving into the psychology of the Grifter. The book then dives into grifting around the world (like how Russia doesn't have a ton of money, and a LOT of it runs through the Russian Mafia). A slew of new Grifter talents is introduced as well, like Cast of Thousands (which lets you draw a crowd that you use as a prop in your con), Faux Expert (essentially BSing people into thinking you know more than you do) and Old Friend (leading a mark into thinking they used to know you). There is even a sidebar on how the Attributes each apply to a given type of action for a Grifter (like Strength for Intimidation).

A dozen Grifters are also provided, for use as characters or NPCs. They include a retired legend, a fraudulent psychic and a "ghost" (an "everyman" whose main feature is just how unremarkable he is - he's even named John Smith. How utterly forgettable).

From there, the book delves deeper into the operations of a Grifter, from setting up short scams to laying out long cons to a step by step guide for seducing a Mark and how it mechanically benefits you to succeed. Finally, a list of identities are provided, each broken down into Who You Are, What You Can Do, What You Need and How You Play It, like playing a cop in order to get stop and search a Mark, or the important keys to passing oneself off as Royalty.

From there, the book moves into Masterminds...the brains behind the operations.

This section gives a broad overview of the Mastermind's job (which is pretty much the planning, the leading and the accounting for everything that will go on) followed by an examination of Masterminds throughout history, from Shaka Zulu to Alexander the Great to Harriet Tubman. New Talents include Brainstorm (which allows anyone you're talking to to add anyone else you're talking to's Intelligence die), Chess Master (allowing you to turn a Complication into an Asset) and Think On Your Feet (a desperation move when crap completely falls apart). As with Grifting, there is a sidebar on how each Attribute applies to the Mastermind die, like using Awareness to pick up a concealed weakness, or Willpower to assert control over a chaotic situation.

A dozen Masterminds are included, from a coach (complete with whistle) to a general, to a reporter.

Next up, the book tackles the actual planning of a Job...including advice on how to utilize your team members to their fullest abilities, how to screw up the Mark's plans and - yes - what to do when everything goes south. This section ends with a cheat sheet on scribbling a plan together quickly and even recommends an option for allowing the Mastermind to witness (and help prepare elements of) the rough sketch of the Job (with the understanding that there will almost always be curve balls). On one hand, this is sure to not sit well with "traditional" players, but on the other, it does make sense in context of the character's role.

Lastly, we get the Fixer's section. This starts off with a bunch of GM advice, some of which you have read before, and some of which is Leverage specific. For instance, it tackles Complications, with a few suggestions to keep in mind (like, say, the Client winds up dead in the middle of the Job, the Mark is connected to MUCH more powerful people than expected or your Hitter has developed a death wish and is recklessly endangering the Job). Additionally, a handful of ready made Plot Twists are provided, like the Mark is actually a mole for the CIA or FBI, or the Client is actually planning to wipe out the Crew as soon as they are done with The Mark.

The chapter then goes into approaching Leverage with a "season" structure (nothing new in RPGs, and pretty common when the source material is a TV show), such as advice on linking elements of the jobs in order to build to a satisfying finale (like taking down a Mark who has been a thorn in the Crew's side throughout the season).

A sidebar covers new roles (like Reporter and Wheelman) while a few paragraphs are devoted to using the Leverage system in completely different settings (including a breakdown of the roles of Robin Hood and his Merry Men and how to tweak the Hacker role in a fantasy setting). Finally, advice is given for playing as ACTUAL bad guys, as well as playing entirely without a Fixer.

WHAT WORKS: The sheer amount of detail on the mindset and process of the Mastermind (especially) and the Grifter is very helpful. The "Dozen Grifters" and "Dozen Masterminds" is also useful for giving some ideas on how to make characters of those roles who aren't just Sophie or Nate renamed. The alternate settings sections was also fun, and basically any ideas on how to NOT just be playing the Leverage crew renamed is always welcome.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: A lot of the GM advice is nothing special that you haven't seen before. I'm also not quite convinced that the Masterminding the Rules section successfully provides that mechanical bridge for Masterminds that some folks feel was missing compared to Hackers, Hitters, Grifters and Thieves.

CONCLUSION: An unessential but incredibly useful book for Leverage. It doesn't dramatically change anything from the core rules, but it does provide some very useful tidbits on Grifters and Masterminds, both as PCs and NPCs. Basically, if you really like the Leverage game and either want some more options or are struggling with the Roles at all, it's well worth it. And don't complain about the extra books: There was a time when each role (including Fixer) would have been padded out into its own book.

Tommy's Take on Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game

So Margaret Weis Productions has a new Marvel RPG out. I have owned and played every official Marvel RPG. Marvel SAGA is my favorite supers RPG ever, and Marvel FASERIP was the first RPG I ever owned. Marvel Universe (the one with the stones)...the less said the better. In 2010, MWP unveiled Cortex Plus, which powers Smallville and Leverage, the latter of which was named one of my "Top Six" that year. Both are elegant games with unmistakable similarities, but they also veer off into their own directions. I am cautiously optimistic as I approach the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: First off, Cortex Plus, re-jiggered specifically for this game. Second of all, the PDF is out right now, for $12.99. MWP has wisely set a print retail price of $19.99, making it a very affordable option, especially for a 200+ page book. The PDF version includes a set of datafiles (also included inside the main book) as well as a Players and Watchers cheat sheet. Very handy. This is a full color affair, keeping in line with MWP's strong track record for production values, especially with their licenses.

The first section of the book is the Operations Manual. These are the rules. The Introduction hits on the basics: The Datafiles (that would be the character sheets), Dice (you use d4s, d6s, d8, d10s and d12) as well as traits you can draw dice from and how the dice pool works (basically, you keep two for your result and one for the Effect Die, unless you spend Plot Points to keep extra dice), Plot Points and how they can be used (adding extra dice to the roll, extra dice to the totals, acting special effects in your powers,etc), The Doom Pool (dice the Watcher starts with to screw with you, ranked from Standard to Global to Cosmic, and can be raised to High Stakes and Catastrophic) and how it is raised and used (whenever players roll a "1", that's an Opportunity to add dice to your pool and can be used to boost opposition, activate enemy Special Effects, end scenes prematurely and more), Stunts and Resources (using your powers in unique ways above and beyond just pushing your limits), Effects like Assets, Stress and Complications (Stress is the kind of damage you take: Physical, Mental and Emotional, and can not only be used as opposition dice against you, but in the right circumstances it can be used as action dice for your - though it makes that stress worse. Get "Stressed Out" and you can wind up with Trauma). Assets can be gained through your Effect die and used to roll extra dice on later actions. Complications can be used in place of inflicting Stress to add extra dice when acting against an adversary. It can be a lot to take in, but I think the authors realize this because - as with Smallville and Leverage - there are a TON of examples.

Playing The Game breaks down the structure. "Adventures" are called Events. Events consist of Acts. Acts are broken down into Scenes. Scenes are comprised of Panels. I should note at this point that I hate the ever-growing use of terms like "Panels" and "Pages" in supers RPGs, but it's something I'm just learning to get used to. Initiative is handled with the players deciding who goes first. If the Watcher wants to go first, he has to spend a die from the Doom Pool. Order of action from there is determined by the player who just acted. Finally, there are Transition Scenes where you can try to heal up, swap out characters and generally just relax from the intensive action that just occured.

Taking Action is pretty much just more examples and details on how actions work from the Introduction (with a nice freebie: a Sentinel datafile, as the example in question is Cyclops vs a Sentinel). This covers things like Extraordinary Successes, which can boost your effect dice and - if it goes high enough - even result in one hit knockouts. This section also covers splitting your focus on multiple targets, determining just what is within the realm of possibility for your character and even spending plot points to ensure automatic success. There is also a section on how Mental and Emotional conflict vary from physical conflict.

Understanding Datafiles breaks down just how your hero's stuff works, using Captain America as an example. First off, every hero has an Affiliation (Solo, Buddy and Team), ranked by how effectively they work in each situation. Then they each have three Distinctions (things like Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Man Out of Time or Best There Is At What He Does), Powers Set, Specialties and Milestones. Milestones are interesting as they are how heroes gain experience points.

Affiliations are spelled out, including notable examples of prime examples of each Affiliation (Wolverine is primarly a Solo character, Spider-Man works best in a Buddy situation and Cyclops functions best in a Team), as well as just when you should use each affiliation and when you should stop using them. Distinctions can be used to help or hinder you (giving you a Plot Point if you choose to have it hinder you).

Power Sets are a collection of Power Traits, and a good selection of Power Traits are provided, like Reflexes (ranked from Enhanced to Superhuman to Godlike), Elemental Control Powers, Psychic Powers, Sorcery (YES!). Basically, most of these are ranked from d6 to d12. However, you also get Special Effects, which can differentiate one character's Reflexes from anothers. These can include things like Area Attacks, Dangerous (lowers your highest die type, but inflicts worse Stress), and Unleashed (for guys that try to hold back but occasionally REALLY cut loose). Heroes also get Limits like Mutant (which is actually a good way to get Plot Points), Growing Dread (making 1s and 2s Opportunities for the Watcher) or Mutually Exclusive (where you have two Power Sets that cannot be used together).

Specialties are basically just skills. Allowing you to either roll higher dice for actions or more smaller dice for actions.

Milestones are the specific goals your hero is working towards in the event. Sometimes these are very personal and specific to the hero and sometimes they are very specific to the event. For instance, Wolverine's Milestones are related to violence (and his bad temper) and encountering old connections (for good or ill) from his past. Each Milestone set has a 1xp, 3xp and 10xp Milestone. You can use your XP to swap out Distinctions, step up Power Traits, add Power Traits, add new Specialties and unlock Event resources. Character creation is very freeform, essentially just hitting the checklist of features and making sure they are all present. If you're modeling a specific hero, work to nail that hero's powers and such. If you're making your own character...you pretty much have free reign, with the Watcher's approval.

Understanding Events tries to help out with the Event structure, including tips on modifying events (either that you have ran before, or maybe you just want to tweak what's there)...this can be as basic as swapping out the Hero options, changing up the bad guys, or completely altering the Event milestones. There's also a two page summary on making your own Events.

A mini-Event is included, Breakout, based off of New Avengers #1-6, in which a slew of villains escape from the raft after a "freak" electrical storm. This does a pretty good job of laying out a two-session Event, explaining the concept of Event Unlockables (like gaining SHIELD Champion-level clearance, Recruiting Sentry to your side or - my favorite - redeeming one of the Raft inmates). While most of the scenes are taken from the comic storyline, various options are presented to change things up. Imagine Jigsaw and Carnage forming an alliance, for instance.

Act Two heads into the Savage Land due to clues found from Act One, and leads to the characters running afoul of giant dinosaurs, spies and the Savage Land Mutates. Again, options are provided for shaking things up. 29 villains, by my count, are provided in the "Inmates" section, ranging from losers like Armadillo to awesome B-stringers like Crossbones to the frighteningly powerful Graviton. This is in addition to guys included in the Event itself like Carnage and Count Nefaria. We're not looking at Dr. Doom and Magneto here, but it's still a cool cross section of characters to help with working on your own villain Datafiles.

There are about 23 datafiles for heroes provided, with obvious picks like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four, and less obvious picks like Armor (of the X-Men) and...um, well, she's really the one that just stands out to me. These are pretty impressive two-page entries with full histories and the like.

WHAT WORKS: Top notch production values. Lots and lots of detailed examples. A supers system in which neither magic nor powered armor seem to be giant headaches or hopelessly busted. Lots of promise for support is out there, (really looking forward to the Cosmic Stuff for sure). Fantastic price point. Probably the most logical advancement system I have seen in a supers system (with the second best being "Well, comic book characters don't advance like normal anyway, so just handwave it)". Also, I totally dig the Solo-Buddy-Team set-up.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: I've never been comfortable with "Stress" systems. A bit more abstract than I prefer. I'm also not sold on the "Event" set-up, especially with the default assumption that characters will be dropped from Event to Event.

CONCLUSION: Well, just by reading it I like it better than I do the "Stones" system. It certainly seems like it could be a blast, but until I see it in play, I couldn't put it ahead of Marvel SAGA which has stood the test of time for me. We have always been a fan of playing our own characters in the Marvel Universe, even though there has never been a Marvel game with a GOOD character creation system. This game doesn't change that, but it does bypass horribly busted attempts and just says "Hey, make what you want, here's how". Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is probably the most mechanically interesting Marvel system (behind SAGA) to me. Hats off to the crew at Margaret Weis Productions. Not only have the released a gorgeous product, they did it at a very nice price point. A very impressive effort using a system that has had its foundation tested twice before. And if you were nervous about the final product, don't worry...this isn't a "You punched Spider-Man in his Mary Jane" game. Very much excited to see how things develop from here.

VIP Wrestling: "Legendary" Rock Vargas and "Walking Tall" Floyd Rogers

A while back I reviewed the Wild World Wrestling game, and being a wrestling fan, decided to add some stuff to it, namely some write-ups for a promotion (although, if you feel so inclined, you can certainly use these guys on your own).

VIP Wrestling is a small promotion largely controlled by "The Legendary" Rock Vargas, leader of the VIP Elite. Vargas is a wily veteran who isn't afraid to use any tactic to get ahead, often using his influence and resources to stack the odds against his opponents before the match, and using brutal foreign objects like "The Spike" over the course of the match. This is incredibly frustrating to many observers, because Vargas is a savvy, intelligent wrestler who probably doesn't need to resort to these vile tactics in most cases. Still, better safe than sorry, he supposes.

Vargas is often joined by his brash, arrogant protege "Bad Boy" Jimmy Lee and their brutal muscle "The Juggernaut" Leonidas Contreras. The VIP Elite often compete in six man and handicap matches, and Vargas is known to use Contreras and Lee as his "gatekeepers" when foes come after him. Vargas' attitude that he, and he alone, determines what comprises the "Elite" of pro wrestling has a way of turning off the fans as well as other wrestlers...when they're not trying to impress him.

Vargas often ensures that referees look the other way when he's driving "The Spike" into his opponent's head (or other body part), which infuriates the fans. He often uses the Rocksault to soften up the opponent, in which he grabs the top rope and flips over them onto the opponent with a rolling senton, generally completing the roll up to his feet. He prefers to finish matches with THE BIG FINISH, however, a flying sunset flip off the top rope, and a holdover from his younger, crowd favorite days.


Name: "Legendary" Rock Vargas
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 219 lbs
Weight Mod: 0
Attitude: Heel
Level: 11
Star Power:

Ath: +2
Brw: 0
Flr: +4
Ins: +3
Pow: 0

Skills
Athletics +2
Deception +5
Knowledge
 Athletic Moves +5
 Brawling Moves
 Flair Moves +5
 Power Moves
 Technical Moves
 Roster
 Specialty Match (Cage Match): +5
 Tag Team
Language
Perception
Performance +4
Presence +2
Special Talent

Gimmick Enhancements
Attribute Improvement (3)
Close Call
(TB) Finisher
Heat Machine
Leverage: Athleticism
(TB) MF/Athletic
MF/Brawling
MF/Flair
MF/Improvised Weapons
(TB) MF/Instinct
Maneuver Training (5)
Mouthpiece
Resources (3)
Ring Sense (Instinct)
Signature Move (2)
Stacking the Deck (2)
Training Background

Flaw
Hated

Signature Move
Rocksault (Athletic): Damage D6 (-1), +1 Damage Die (-2) Exertion (+1), Requires Prone Target (+1), Signature Move (+2), Stunning Self if Missed (+1). Total Modifier: +2

The Spike (Improvised Weapon Keyed to Flair): Damage (2)d6 (-1), Extra Die of Damage (-2), Illegal (+1), Signature Move (+2). Total Modifier: 0

Finisher
The Big Finish (Athletic): Damage (2)d6 (-1), Exertion (+3), Finisher Name (+1), Immediate Pin Attempt on Knockdown (-1), Knockdown (-1), Requires Lifting (+1), Stunning Self if Missed (+1). Total Modifier: +3

Vargas' biggest and baddest enemy is the hard-nosed, no-nonsense common man known as "Walkin' Tall" Floyd Rogers. Rogers, a burly, blond haired badass who takes no prisoners vows to each and every one of his opponents that he will "Walk tall and stomp a mudhole in your ass." Rogers, who has very few friends, is known to carry a big ax handle to the ring and has lost more than one match because he decided to tee off on his opponents. He's not a flashy performer by any stretch, but he riles the crowd up by entering the arena through the general admission entrance, ax handle held high, slapping hands as he goes.

Rogers has learned a trick or two from Vargas over the years, and has gotten better and better at misdirecting the referee so he can hit a HARD LINE DRIVE on his opponent with the ax handle. More and more, he's come to rely on his Stand and Deliver Spinebuster to inflict serious damage on his opponents, and to sometimes even score the pin.

Rogers is a big, strong guy who can take a beating, but he's also pretty one dimensional and he has a tendency to get a little overconfident, knowing the amount of punishment that he can take.


Name: "Walkin' Tall" Floyd Rogers
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 260 lbs
Weight Mod: +2
Attitude: Face
Level: 10
Star Power:

Ath: -1
Brw: +3
Flr: +1
Ins: +1
Pow: +2

Skills
Athletics +3
Deception +2
Knowledge
 Athletic Moves
 Brawling Moves +5
 Flair Moves
 Power Moves +5
 Technical Moves
 Roster +2
 Specialty Match:
 Tag Team
Language
Perception +2
Performance +2
Presence +2
Special Talent

Gimmick Enhancements
Amazing Recuperative Power
Attribute Enhancement (3)
Catch Phrase ("I'm gonna walk tall and stomp a mudhole in your ass!")
Hardcore (2)
Finisher
High Pain Threshold (3)
MF/Brawling
MF/Improvised Weapons
MF/Power
Monster Comeback
No Sell (3)
Potent Strike (Brawler)
Ring Rage
Signature Move
Spectacular Entrance
Toughness

Flaw
Overconfidenct

Signature Move
Stand and Deliver (Spinebuster): Modifiers: 3d6 damage (-5), immediate pin attempt (–1), prone self (+1), requires lifting (+1), Signature Move (+2)
Total Modifier: -2

Finisher
Hard Line Drive (Improvised Weapon Keyed to Brawn): Modifiers: 3d8 damage (–6), exertion: 4 Fatigue (+2), Finisher Name (+1), illegal: automatic DQ (+2), knockdown (–1), stunning (-2).
Total Modifier: -4