Tommy's Top Six of 2011 and Birthday Blog Giveaway

Last year's Tommy's Top Six and Birthday Blog Giveaway was a pretty good idea and a pretty big success, so I decided pretty early on to revisit it again this year. I am keeping the same criteria this year for last year's selections, which are as follows: 1) Only one title from each company could be eligible. Spread the love around and all that. This year, it was much easier to do that than last year. 2) I'm not concerned with when the book was released, only when I reviewed it, which had to be between December 17th last year to December 17th this year.

Also, like last year, I have some "runner-ups" or "honorable mentions"...a seperate blog post will detail those.

Oh, hey...and this is my 300th blog post! Yay!

GHOSTORIES EXPANDED (Precis Intermedia Games)

Why You Should Buy It: Ghostories is a really misleading title, as this is pretty much an all-purpose horror game. Using the genreDiversion system, Ghostories has everything you need to play, and is also compatible with other genreDiversion games (like Mean Streets), while including conversion charts for PIG acquisitions like Bloodshadows. That's a LOT of play that you can get out of this one book. As noted, it goes above and beyond just ghost stories, providing demons, liches, shapeshifters and trolls, and then some. In addition to being able to play normal humans, the book opens things up to a number of powers, like Sorcery, Revelations (visions), Binding Lore (binding spirits), Unholy Arts (which summons Phantoms, who are reallly demons, and that's Bad), and much, much more. In addition, the book crams in nine adventures and around twenty plot seeds, so there should be very little question as to what you "do" with it. On top of that, it includes 21 ready made characters. I'm a fan of games that are a little lite while still having crunch, and the cool, atmospheric modifiers for the supernatural powers in this game qualify (like casting spells on Samhain, for instance), and the powers in the game are a fun, unique mix that help characters stand out from each other without making the game about essentially horror superheroes. I had picked up the original version of Ghostories before but really kind of overlooked it, but a side by side comparison of that one and this are wildly different. Ghostories is a meaty, 128 book with a low-powered, horror feel, and I would gladly use it in place of games like, say WitchCraft. In fact, for my next pure horror game (not the ass-kicking, monster-hunting type ala Angel or Rippers), I would look to Ghostories first before I would anything else (even Savage Worlds), and that's about the best compliment I can give. And it is worth noting that Ghostories HAS rules mods that make it a little more cinematic, but there are other games that can do that better. Stick with the low-end, investigative horror and Ghostories should shine.

Buy the PDF at RPGNow or the print version at Amazon.com.

Realms of Cthulhu (Reality Blurs)

Why You Should Buy It: The idea that Savage Worlds is only good for high-octane, pulp adventure got completely kicked in the teeth by Realms of Cthulhu. Filtering the Cthulhu Mythos through the Savage Worlds lens, Lovecraft's legendary mind-bending tales managed to impose their demented will on the Savage Worlds game system. Now, Realms of Cthulhu doesn't fundamentally alter Savage Worlds...it just provides you additional rules to fundamentally alter Savage Worlds with. For instance, Pulpy and Gritty damage as well as Physical and Mental damage. Setting rules that can make Savage Worlds MUCH harsher than most folks seem to think it is. It does up the complexity level of Savage Worlds, but only a bit, and it grows organically out of existing mechanics. The bestiary is an extensive one that covers most known Lovecraftian beasties, and it's full of random charts with which to generate random entities and corrupted people. It also has conversion notes for Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium, in case you want to use CoC materials with Realms. Magic gets twisted sideways and overhauled to fall in line with the Cthulhu mythos, and the production values are as good as any Savage Worlds book on the market. The options, setting rules and random generators in Realms of Cthulhu make this an amazing addition to any Savage Worlds library.

Buy the PDF at RPGNow or the print version at Amazon.com.

Savage Suzerain (Savage Mojo)

Why You Should Buy It: Obviously, I'm a pretty big fan of Savage Worlds. Like Realms of Cthulhu, Savage Suzerain kind of plays with the way you look at Savage Worlds. Whereas RoC takes it to harder and grittier levels than the core, Savage Suzerain expands it far beyond what most people consider to be the "upper limits" of the system. Savage Suzerain is a world-hoppping Savage Setting that actually encompasses multiple Savage Settings and dials the awesome up to 11 by making the PCs capable of ascending into Demigods, a rank beyond Legendary. The settings thus far have included fantasy warfare (Caladon Falls), Space Empires (Dogs of Hades), cyberpunk vampire apocalypses (Shanghai Vampocalypse), pulpy Depression-era investigation (Noir Knights) and much more to come. Any of the above books (especially Caladon Falls, a thing of beauty and awesome) could have qualified, but I have a One Book Per Company rule, and this is the one that expands those options to begin with and makes the rest of them possible. This is the book that lays the groundwork, providing a slew of new Edges and explaining just how Pulse Paths (which replace Arcane Backgrounds) work. Pulse starts off with basic effects, mimicking the powers from the savage Worlds rules, but eventually scales up to reality-altering (at least temporarily) levels. The Savage Tales and Plot Point campaign in Savage Suzerain is also one of the most effective I've seen at hitting all the thematic bullet points while still leaving the setting wide open at the end. I love Savage Worlds just as it is, but I love those Savage Settings that blow the whole thing wide open, like Realms and Savage Suzerain. Oh, and it has my favorite Hindrance ever: Optimist.

Buy the PDF at RPGNow or the print version at Amazon.com.

Savage Worlds Horror Companion (Pinnacle)

Why You Should Buy It: The Companion series is designed to help you expand Savage Worlds in your chosen genre. Similar to the old PDF-only Toolkits, the Companions provide new rules, Edges, Hindrances and so forth. Two of my favorite books from that line were the Horror GM's Toolkit and the Horror Bestiary....both of which did a LOT to inspire the material for this book. Obviously, horror is nothing new to Savage Worlds, what with one of the earliest settings being Rippers, to say nothing of the Deadlands connection. Even Necessary Evil had a bit of a horror element to it. The Horror Companion does a fantastic job of taking the earlier toolkit and bestiary and bringing them in line with Savage Worlds Deluxe edition. There are a number of horror specific tweaks, like Doubting Thomas becoming a Major Hindrance, but my single favorite part is the addition of Monster PCs, from vampires to werewolves to angels to demons. There are also great new powers and Arcane Items. If you're planning on running any sort of horror game for Savage Worlds, you would do well to pick this up...and even if you're not, and you like having monsters around, there are plenty of options to choose from. While I can't quite call it indespensible, I'd say it's pretty close, as a lot of this stuff is pretty easy to adapt to any Savage Worlds campaign that isn't "normal" (Deadlands Blessed totally need Consecrate Ground).

Buy the PDF at RPGNow.

Sword Noir (Sword's Edge Publishing)

Why You Should Buy It: This unassuming tome is a complete rulebook, drawing from multiple sources for inspiration, including Savage Worlds and FATE. The different pieces make the game feel familiar if you've played some of the games that inspire it, but it's very much it's own game and not just a bolted on mish-mash. The human-centric setting is a bit different for fantasy games, and magic is thematically perfect, inflicting higher penalties for your successes rather than your failures, corrupting you over time. Some of the neater aspects are how character advancement/development are tied directly to the game mechanics: Critical failures allowing you the option of improving Traits or Qualities while Critical Successes allow you to add Stunts tied to your Qualities. The Qualities are all of a "Player Defines Them" variety, which is nothing new, but Sword Noir does a very effective job of guiding the players through creation by tying Qualities to various aspects of character generation. Sword Noir is a very unique game, created from some very familiar parts, that works better than it probably should.

Pick it up in PDF or in a print at RPGNow.

Tough Justice (Postmortem Studios)

Why You Should Buy It: Easily the oddest selection on the list, Tough Justice is a historical farce RPG designed to emulate a very bloody period of England. Meant to be played as an adversarial RPG, it is one of my favorite approaches to PC vs PC games, because the PCs are on opposing legal teams, rather than actually having to do battle with each other (though that's not completely ruled out). I'm a sucker for courtrooom dramas, and that sort of thing is often abstracted down to a couple of die rolls...here, EVERYTHING impacts the outcome of the case, from pre-trial actions to witness tampering to closing statements to the jury. Most importantly, the game has an extensive list of examples to walk you through every step of the case, from arrest to execution (if applicable). You don't even have to worry about getting stumped with the creation of cases and defendants, as there are large, random charts for that. In fact, it is even possible for PCs to wind up standing trial, if you broke too many laws in their pursuit of justice. Easily the most unique game on this list, Tough Justice isn't just different to be different, it is a well-written game based off a tested system, providing one of the most unique experiences I can think of. You don't want another fantasy heartbreaker or Star Wars clone? Then pick up Tough Justice and support something truly different from the norm. Bonus points if you base characters off of the cast of Boston Legal.

Pick it up in PDF at RPGNow or in print at Lulu.

And with that out of the way, now let's get to what you really came for: Free stuff.

Today marks the second anniversary of The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever...as well as my 300th blog post. Last year, we had a very successful Birthday Blog Giveaway, and this year, we will do the same!

Thanks to the generosity of the above publishers, I am pleased to announce the following prizes:

- A PDF copy of Ghostories Expanded.

- A PDF copy of Realms of Cthulhu.

- A PDF copy of Savage Suzerain.

- A PDF copy of the Savage Worlds Horror Companion.

- One (1) print copy of SWord Noir, and two (2) Complete Sword Noir PDF Bundles, including Sword Noir and two adventures. (Print copy and bundles awarded separately).

- A PDF copy of Tough Justice.

Eight great prizes, including a print copy!

To enter, simply send me an e-mail to tommyb(a)sstelco(dot)com, with the subject (minus the quotes) "Happy Birthday Blog", listing your order of preference for the prize. Once I have closed entries by 11:59 PM Central Time on January 15th, I will use a randomizer to determine the winners...#1 gets their first choice, #2 gets their first available choice (their first choice if it wasn't taken, second if it was, and so on).

Thank you once again for continuing to read the blog. Thank you to the publishers for their generous donations for the Blog's Birthday. As the New Year begins, I have made some tweaks to the blog, placing the Savage Worlds Characters Are All The Same articles linked off the front page, and I have also added an Amazon aStore as one more avenue with which you can support the blog if you so choose.

Up next, I'll discuss a handful of products that almost...but didn't quite...hit the Top Six mark and why.

Thank you, have a Happy New Year, and good luck in the contest!

Tommy

Tommy's Take on Grim & Gritty, Bloodsucker: The Play and Chav: The Play (Kinda)

Hi, remember me?

Been awfully busy with the webcomic, which just started it's second arc a few weeks ago, as well as convention appearances. Working on getting back into the swing of the reviewer thing. So with that in mind, I have a short review I wanted to touch on, and a "kinda" review about two other products by the same author.

GRIM AND GRITTY

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: A while back, I reviewed Tough Justice - and rather loved it. Grim and Gritty is a combat supplement for Tough Justice by Tough Justice writer Ian Warner. You can download it for $1.99 from RPGNow, or buy it in print from Lulu.com for $9.29. Essentially, it is 40 pages of combat rules for Tough Justice (which didn't delve heavily into combat). Combat isn't wildly different from most games, although there are unique bits like a pre-fight roll determining either how soon it will be before the defender can attempt to escape, or how quickly reinforcements come, and the end result of combat (death or capture) is entirely up to the victor. The supplement takes the Tough Justice legal setting very seriously, with attackers can gain Felony Dice, but Defenders do not, due to their right to defend themselves.

WHAT WORKS: The rules for dueling seem like they would be the most thematically appropriate for the Tough Justice setting, and this includes pistol or sword duels, fist fights or hag fights (with appropriate rules for differentiating them from regular combats). The book also does an admirable job of trying to cover all relevant combat bases, including a weapons chapter, gang-up rules and mass combat.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The proofreading could have been better, especially in regards to punctuation. The book encourages exceptions in combats whenever characters made from different Historical Farce games are used together, which can prove annoying at times.

CONCLUSION: I really enjoy Ian Warner's off-beat work in particular, and Postmortem's work in general. As the author says, even in this book, Tough Justice is completely playable by itself, these are just additional rules, in case the combat doesn't work for you. Is there anything indispensible in here? No, although I do really like the addition of the dueling rules. Otherwise, if you have played Tough Justice a time or two, you have a pretty good idea as to whether or not the combat is robust enough for you.

The other two products I wanted to mention are part of Ian Warner's new Kittiwake Classics line, and are based on the Shadow World RPGs Bloodsucker: The Angst and Chav: The Knifing. They are Bloodsucker the Play and Chav the Play. Yes, they are scripts. Try as I might, I could not get into the right mindset to actually review scripts (just something I have trouble working out in my head), but I am terribly impressed with how complete they are (with stage directions, character bios and so on), and I certainly applaud Mr. Warner for taking a novel approach with these game tie-ins. In fact, a more ambitious person than myself would attempt to organize a production of one of these shows at a convention if you could get the cast together. Chav and Bloodsucker are each available at Lulu for $9.29 apiece.

Tommy's Take on Courtesans: Sex & Society

Courtesans is the latest title by Ian Warner of Postmortem Studios, developed from the same basic system (Beer & Crisps) that also powers Invaderz and Tough Justice.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Courtesans is availible in PDF format for $9.99 and in print for $19.23 (love Lulu's very specific pricing). Courtesans is a great lesson in context: If the game were not a historical RPG about ladies of the night (kinda), then it would just be downright tacky...but yeah, if you're buying into the concept of the game, then bust size and waist size are pretty important things here.

Your Courtesan also has to have an Origin, which can be Actresses, Professionals, Fallen Ladies, Goldenhearts and Upstarts. Each Origin provides its own advantages and disadvantages, such as Goldenhearts having an affinity for charity or Fallen Ladies being too sheltered to be aware of proper use of contraception.

Interestingly, resources are also divided into Legend, Reputation, Wealth, Influence and Scandal. They are used to perform acts of Procurement, which in turn provide more resources, etc.

The premise of the game revolves around a number of Courtesans all part of the same house, and the game provides six sample characters (one from each Origin, as an extreme example of variety). Whereas Tough Justice pitted the players on opposite sides of a trial, the Courtesans  do more backstabbing. Speaking of which, the game is largely divided into four sections: Procurement (getting admirerers), Pleasing (what comes next), Intrigue (nicer than saying "backstabbing") and Aiding (in which you actually help another lady out).

It is worthing nothing here that Pleasing entails more than just sex, as it can range from polite conversation to playing a (seemingly innocent) game to pillow talk (assuming, of course, sex occurs).

Intrigue is also very interesting, ranging from gambling (and thus taking their money) to spreading lies about them to seducing your fellow ladies!

The Aiding section is pretty normal stuff for the most part, though it does have options veering into Divine (and Infernal) intervention.

In addition to normal Courtesan activity, Courtesans can also become "kept" (which limits their partners unless they are willing to risk Scandal) or even sell their wombs when a couple can't reproduce.

Admirers are handled pretty simply: The have one stat - Pliability - and four archetypes they can belong to: Fops, Saviours, Students and Lovers. From there, the customization gets surprisingly deep, with a list of modifiers similiar to those a Courtesan has, such as Chest and Belly, and an optional rule that an Admirer will fall in love with with the Lady in question.

The GM (also known as the Landlady) actually hasa physical character in game, who is created as a normal 18 year old character and then aged 9 years. Then you add her Keeper to the mix.

once all that is done, the game is meant to be played in fairly structured sessions called Seasons, with each Courtesan taking two actions apiece for each of seven turns, all building to the Cyprian Ball, in which you make your grand entrance, dance, and then ultimately perform a sex act on your partner. Once the ball ends, so does the season.

Of course, sex runs the risk of pregnancy, and there are a number of options for how a pregnancy is handled, from the Courtesan running off, to the Admirer asking for her hand in marriage, to the Courtesan going the route of abortion...and THEN you get to childbirth itself, which can have complications ranging from the mother becoming infertile to mother and child both dying during the process.

Optional rules include vengeful spouses (complete with weapon attacks!), disabilities, misfortunes (from money troubles to developing psychoses!), drugs (and the harmful effects of the common drugs), and more.

A second appendix covers play by post games, as well as LARPS and different time periods (an optional supplement veers into different settings altogether, such as fantasy and sci-fi).

A very helpful summary of the turns and what goes into them wraps up the main game section.

The afterword (though poorly edited) details where Courtesans came from and is well worth the read (at least for me, but then, I've became quite the fan of Ian Warner's writing, and so I enjoy the insight into his thought process).

Lastly, it is worth noting that the PDF is both indexed and bookmarked.

What Works: I would say the game does a very good job at cartoonishly tackling the subject of Ladies of the Evening screwing (and screwing each other over) in historical England. Despite getting into some...interesting...territory, the writing never feels as crass and tasteless as it EASILY could have been. Far from it, in fact. As well, the sheer amount of options available for customization (of the ladies and their Admirers) is very impressive.

What Doesn't Work: A lot of the art and layout felt a step below what I've come to expect from Postmortem, and it didn't feel particularly evocative, either. The game's concept would seem to be a pretty hard sell, even moreso than Tough Justice is. Given some of the options provided, I'm at a loss that miscarriage rules were left out for simplicity's sake. Since the game never goes into straight parody, nor is it deadly serious, it is hard to say if the right tone was struck with some of the riskier source material. The afterword appears to have not been proofread.

Conclusion: This game is certainly not for kids, for starters, or for anyone feeling particularly prudish. While I think the game is well written, and I have come to expect nothing less from Postmortem in general and Mr. Warner in particular, it isn't something that particularly interests me. Tough Justice, another hard-sell type of game, captured my attention in a way that Courtesans does not, and I am sure it is due to the concept and not the execution. Still, I applaud the effort at putting something new and different out there, and I hope it finds its audience, even if that audience is not me.

Tommy's Take on Kiss of the Frog God

Kiss of the Frog God is a 6-Pack Adventure by Postmortem Studios for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess RPG, written by Michael "The Crazy GM" Garcia...that is, the adventure was written by Michael Garcia, not the RPG.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The 6-Pack Adventures line are meant to be pick-up and play one shots that can either be played standalone or dropped into your campaign. They have been released for a few different systems, most of which have their roots somewhere in D&D. Kiss of the Frog God includes everything you need, including map, tokens and pre-generated characters and sells for $1.99 in PDF format.

The adventure itself involves pilgrims seeking atonement (the PCs) stumbling across a town that is being tormented by a corrupted pagan spirit. In addition, a pair of young lesbians who have been deemed sinners by the town have went looking for said fey spirit, under the mistaken impression that it can wed them. As is my policy, I won't get heavy into spoilers, though I will say that the Big Bad's underlings are freakishly terrifying and the Boss Fight itself has a very nice hook to it that prevents it from being a straight-up "stand up and fight".

Each of the six pre-generated PCs are fleshed out in such a way that each is given a hook that haunts them, making them more than just a group of statistics.

Although the adventure itself is only five scenes spread out over three pages, there certainly feels like enough material here for a full night of adventure, especially with the extra options for Scene 4.

WHAT WORKS: First off, the Frog Men (the underlings for the adventure) are downright terrifying, and do a good job by themselves of capturing the "weird fantasy" aspect over just any Basic D&D adventure. The catch for the boss fight is also a nice touch, forcing a bit of thought for the resolution, without feeling like it is cheating. The map is really well done, with some great production values. Two of the NPCs are set up as dueling personalities, and while we are clearly meant to sympathize with one, they are both at least partially responsible for the events that draw the PCs in, a nice bit of writing that makes the characters feel more real.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Two of the pregens are closeted homosexual lovers, and the author's notes about playing the gay couple come across a bit defensive and condescending. Gamers in general have come a long way from the days when homosexuality was on the mental illness chart in Palladium games and while some folks may have issues with the "two gay men" aspect, in my experience a lot of folks are going to be equally uncomfortable with the solution of "just change one of them to a female and play the couple that way". I don't really think it's a matter of being insecure in one's sexuality, but a general aversion towards roleplaying romantic relationships among PCs in general, ESPECIALLY in D&D-type adventures. That said, it IS a good hook in that it ties into adventure's hook thematically. The "Pilgrims seeking atonement" plot hook works great for a demo or con game, but is *really* specific for a "drop into your own game" session, but that's a minor quibble as the town could be dropped onto any road along the way, and the PCs drawn into the affairs of the village. The proof-reading could have been a lot tighter, as I not only caught homonyms that made it past editing, but mis-use of apostrophes and even a typo in the editor's name in the credits.

CONCLUSION: I got more "weird fantasy" from this adventure than I did from reading Lamentations of the Flame Princess in its entirety, and I mean that as a compliment. This adventure provides compelling reason to re-read LotFP and see if there wasn't something I was just missing in there (I had high hopes going in, initially, but was underwhelmed). I applaud the author for tackling themes that aren't commonplace in fantasy adventures, as it didn't feel like political correctness for its own sake, nor did it feel like an attempt to be "shocking" and "in your face"...in the future I would just toss in a blanket warning up front (if the author feels like it is necessary at all). As usual for a Postmortem Studios project, it's certainly worth the money, even for a guy like me who doesn't play the system it is designed for (a Savage Worlds conversion would take very little time at all, I'm thinking). Good buy for an evening's worth of play and, if you're like me and re-use maps a lot, the map included is a very nice piece of work (a swampy grove, to be exact).

Weekend News Update

Caladon Falls Still Needs Your Help

Time is drawing near on the Caladon Falls fundraiser, and Savage Mojo still needs your help. A great campaign with a nice twist on standard fantasy that, I think, appeals to the Savage Worlds fans who also like stuff like Warhammer and Dragon Age.


The RPG Blog Alliance


I'm not usually a "joiner", but here I am, a member of the RPG Blog Alliance. After just a couple of days, we are already more than 100 blogs strong, and in addition to hosting a combined RSS Feed, the RPG Blog Alliance has their own centralized set of message boards.

I Have Seen Savage Worlds Deluxe And It Is GOOD.


As part of my work as a freelancer, on such projects as *redacted*  and *redacted*  (both coming soon), I have been allowed a prerelease look at Savage Worlds Deluxe. Honestly, from everything I had heard, I was incredibly skeptical about the need for Savage Worlds Deluxe, but those thoughts disappeared pretty quickly digging into the book. The return of *redacted*  was surprising, but not unexpected, and very welcome. The section on *redacted*  is really great, providing more *redacted*  for players and GMs. As good as it is, the new *redacted* don't quite work for me as well as the old ones do, and I was kinda surprised at the complete removal of *redacted*. It's some really good stuff that will hopefully take Savage Worlds to that next level.


Part-Time Gods Shatters Another Benchmark


Eloy Lasanta's Part-Time Gods kickstarter just keeps on going, breaking the $6,000 mark...astonishing. He's been releasing regular updates over on the Kickstarter page, including art previews.

Development Issues


The Sekrit Projekt I mentioned last week is probably NOT going to be showing up around October after all, especially if I plow ahead with pursuing a commercial license and Pinnacle does approve it. I have been tapping some of my contacts for advice and aid, and I'm ultimately thinking I may need to go back to the drawing board. However, I will get SOMETHING out the door in time for Halloween, regardless.

Postmortem Video Trailers


Ian Warner of Postmortem Studios sent me links to all of these the other day, and while I had seen the Tough Justice one, the rest were new to me...behold, the YouTube trailers for four of Postmortem's games!

Invaderz Pocket Edition

Tough Justice

Agents of SWING

Courtesans

I'm off this weekend, starting a new job on Tuesday...I plan on releasing reviews of Sword Noir, The Path of Kane and MACHO over the weekend, for your reading pleasure. Thanks!

Interview with James "Grim" Desborough

As Postmortem Studios Week draws to a close, I was pleased to have the opportunity to conduct an interview with founder James "Grim" Desborough, originator of the Shadow World (which I reviewed much of this week), as well as writer of Agents of SWING and numerous other projects. My apologies if my interview skills don't do the subject justice.

Enjoy!

TB: First off, you've been around the RPG scene a while, both with your own company and otherwise. Tell us a bit about that. What are some of your favorite books you've worked on?

JGD: I guess I am getting old yeah... *chuckle*. My first forays into publication were photocopied fanzine type affairs. A little mag for a PBM game called Brass Stud that went under just as I was about to get going and a little magazine I put out around my school called HARDWARE, which was full of hand-drawn comics, and little articles put together on my Atari ST. I followed that up with some naughty photocopied source stuff for Cyberpunk that I shouldn't have done... I was 15/16 or so.... go figure... but my first big break came about with my writing Partner Steve 'Big Steve' Mortimer. He's stuck to being an IT professional since, though he helps me out on occasion and we both sob over a whisky now and then that we didn't have a better deal over The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming as otherwise we'd both be rolling in dough.

Curse that Steve Jackson, curse him.

Also bless him for giving us our first break in writing The Munchkin's Guide because that's what kind of got the ball rolling for me back in 99/2000. From there Mongoose wanted me to do some humour books, which I did, that lead into other work and I've been pottering about all over the place freelancing like a whore ever since, as well as publishing my own stuff since the dot-com bubble bursting left me out of a job for two years and it was either start my own business or become a chav.

TB: On another board, you recently said that the game you made that more people should be aware of is the Blood! RPG. Tell us a bit about that. What sets it apart from other horror games?

JGD: Blood! was a sort of chance find for me and my group, back around 90/91 or so. I was in Esdevium Games in Aldershot - which was this sort of mecca of gaming back then - and wandering up and down the aisles in sheer shock and awe at the amount of goodies there were when a picture of a face nailed to a table caught my eye. I picked it up and bought it, I can't remember what else I bought that day and we started playing it also immediately. I don't know what grabbed us so much about Blood! really, but we've always had a really good time with it. Considering it came out at the same time as Vampire, which changed EVERYTHING, it's unashamedly old school, almost a sort of mash-up between Call of Cthulhu and Rolemaster in a lot of ways but damn it... the crunch WORKS really well for horror. The critical hit tables, the sense of vulnerability, the resource-tracking of blood, energy and health. It shouldn't work but somehow it does.

Anyway, always loved the game and for years was trying to track down Norley Tucker and the guys who'd originally written it, all of whom have gone on to do pretty normal things really! Eventually I tracked them down and got permission to do a re-issue, so I updated the game and brought it back to life. What sets it apart for me is that it's a real labour of love. I adore that game, especially for survival horror, so I was in pure 'SQUEE!' mode the whole time I was re-writing it. What makes it different I think, to the crop of current horror games, is that it takes this more mechanistic approach rather than a story approach. It's visceral and bloody rather than psychological and the mechanics lead the way. You could almost call it 'Old School' I guess.

It shouldn't work, but it does.

TB: Postmortem Studios has a knack for mixing biting social commentary with a healthy mix of humor in your games. More impressively, you make games that are actually playable as well as funny. I mean, WizKid IS essentially a functional Harry Potter RPG. Is it difficult striking that balance between funny and playable?

JGD: Satire is relatively easy, comedy is bloody difficult, especially in games because you'd no real control over what people are going to do with it. That's why I think a formulaic approach - such as I used on Invaderz and Urban Faerie work pretty well. The whole Shadow World line kind of spawned out of my frustrations with the Camarilla LARP society from the mid-90s to the mid-2000s, White Wolf's mismanagement, the incompetence, cheating, backstabbing and stupidity of the people who ended up in charge of the group through sheer attrition and the whole revival-goth scene that was going on at the same time. I had my personal demons to exorcise and so Bloodsucker was the way to do that. I'd pretty much gotten that out of my system with Bloodsucker though I had notes on what I'd do in the other games if I was going to do them and, frankly, vitriol really helps in humour, taking the piss out of things comes easy to me. There's a Henry Rollins quote that sums it up I think:

"Like a lot of you I hate. A lot. The difference is that I hate with style and creativity."

Ian Warner came to me, having loved Bloodsucker and we got talking about supplementary material and he wanted to see these other games. Without my scattershot ideas going on and a bunch of freelancing I simply don't have time to do all the game support that I'd like to, so we ended up with him taking over the line - based on my notes - and kind of doing his own thing, splitting the profits. Wizkid is primarily his work rather than mine, though there was a bit of an editing and directing hand going on. I knew I wanted to make fun of slash fiction, the teen witch craze and everything and Ian delivered.

I think so long as you make a solid, fun game, it's going to be playable whatever else you have going on. So... no, I don't think it's that much of a challenge to strike the balance so long as you have a solid system at work behind it. Xpress and Beer & Crisps seem to work for that.

TB: Obviously, Postmortem Studios has little use for political correctness (and good, I say). However, do you think this helps Postmortem as a company, by providing well-written, adult fare...or does it hurt Postmortem as a company, by potentially alienating potential customers?

JGD: It's not so much political correctness that we have an issue with, the idea of being inclusive and thoughtful of others is a good one, the problem we have is that it's used as a stick to beat people with by people who are, in the main, hypocrites and who do exactly the same sorts of things they accuse others of doing. I'm interested in controversial topics, I like humour that sails close to the bone and I'm British - we use swearing like punctuation. If this rubs a few people up the wrong way, fuck 'em. Problems are 90% of the time due to people's comprehension, so I don't let it worry me too much.

TB: When Invaderz Pocket Edition was released, you went with an "app pricing" model, similar to the one that Adamant Entertainment recently abandoned for their ICONS line. How did that fare for you?

JGD: I was a bit more cautious than Adamant and I predicted - rightly - that it would be a boom then a slump as people grabbed all the stuff they really wanted cheap and then... ran out. I think the audience is too small and the product cycle too slow to fully support the app model BUT I do think it has a place. I have a LOT of ideas for little mini games and experiments - like Ace of Hearts - and I have a lot of ideas for things that are fill-in games, the kind of pick up and play stuff you do when someone can't make a session. I think these things - and adventures - are perfect for app pricing, but people are certainly willing to shell out more for a decent game and the difference in sales between $1.99 and $9.99 really isn't that massive. We sold more Wizkids than Invaderz with Wizkids at full price and Invaderz at app price. That said, we sold more Invaderz Pocket Edition - straight away - than we sold of the old Invaderz at full price over its entire sales span.

Cheap encourages people to take a risk, it's great for short indie games, story games or experiments and it means you get your investment back quickly. Great for adventures too. It's really worked with Invaderz, Ace of Hearts and the 6-Pack adventures we do so you'll continue to see app-priced products from me, when it's appropriate.

TB: In the past and present, Postmortem Studios has supported OGL, 4e, Pathfinder, Tunnels and Trolls, and now FATE, in addition to your own, in-house systems such as Xpress. Does Postmortem plan to pursue any more licensee agreements in the near future?

JGD: Using existing systems is a great development shortcut, it's also a more solid basis from which to modify and 'fix' to your needs, as I did with FATE for Agents of SWING. I'm a 'system matters' kind of guy though and sometimes an existing system just isn't right for a game you're working on and you have to find something of your own. We will be using/licensing other systems. A couple of d6 games are in the works - early stages - and I'm in negotiation to use Savage Worlds and Silhouette for potential future projects. I'm also trying to formalise arrangements to produce official - un-buggered with - support for C7's FATE games.

TB: Savage Worlds? Now that's awesome. Anyone who reads the blog knows I'm a HUGE Savage Worlds fan. Can you touch on what that might entail, even vaguely? (I understand if you can't, but the fanboy in me has to ask). 

JGD: That may entail a sort of 'space camelot' game that I was approached with - I'm trying to do more to help other new writers get stuff out there. Also a South American company wants to do a Savage Worlds version of '45: Psychobilly Retropocalypse. They've applied separately but if that gets approved I see no reason why that might not happen at some point in the future.

TB: Shadow World is a parody of/homage to the World of Darkness (as well as other pop culture)...and has spawned three games thus far. How far are you planning to go with it?

JGD: Shadow-World will go on as far and as long as Ian wants to take it. I know some work/thought has gone into Construct and Dogboy but what comes of that remains to be seen. I know Ian's going to take a little bit of a break after Courtesans to work on some novels and things but I'm sure he won't be away for too long. For myself I intend to blog some more support for the games and we'll see if anything comes of that. Cantrip Comprehensive for Wizkid, particularly, I want to finish blogging and maybe write up/edit into a full supplement. Private school settings don't give me the venue to relate the horrors of my own experiences at school *grin*.

TB: Congratulations on the success of Agents of S.W.I.N.G. Will there be any further support for Agents? What about any future FATE-based games?

JGD: Thank you, it kind of took me by surprise... I had lots of plans for support products but the popularity of the game has meant that it suddenly becomes a lot more pressing. I've commissioned Nefarious, which will be a villain/organisation book, I have another adventure - Snake Eyes - which is just about ready to go, I have Control's Casefile which is the GMs version of the Agent's Casefile - and will contain errata, villain, henchman, goon and plot worksheets as well as references and there's plans for Section books and villain books. So there will be support. Part of the problem is that I want to use the same people for the art and the wonderful Brad McDevitt tends to get booked solid. We've talked though and we'll see what we can do.

As I said before I want to support Starblazer and Anglerre by C7 and given the popularity and warm reception given to my spin on FATE in Agents of SWING I may push another one of my projects, a re-take on the Flash Gordon/Rocketship genre up the schedule and do it for FATE rather than d6, the system decision is one I've been umming and ahhing about for a while but this success may settle it.

*Sigh* Too many ideas, not enough help or money.

TB: And just a fairly silly question: Do you have a "dream" project that you have been unable to do for any reason, (maybe it's a license, maybe it's a collaboration with someone who has been unavailable, etc)? If so, what might that be?

JGD: I wanted to work on a game set in Bas Lag, but Adamant beat me to the punch there. I did, at one time, have licensing rights to Peter F Hamilton's work, but no company was interested in pursuing it at the time and I wasn't in a position to do so myself. A dream project... hmm... actually I want to move over to MMORPGs and bring more of a tabletop sensibility and advantage to some of their design choices. So many of them are stuck on a class/level mentality and that's an eventual dead-end, as I think WoW is discovering about now. Some modern design ideas and a more sandboxy style might help a niche MMO stand out from the crowd and be something greater than 'kill them and take their stuff' for 100 levels. So I guess that would be my dream at the moment, give MMO design a dry slap to wake it up.

TB: Anything else you would like to add/pimp/promote?

JGD: Just keep an eye on me please! I'm on twitter, you can find me on facebook, the company blog is fairly active. The one thing I really crave that I don't get enough of is interaction with people who play my stuff. I want that interaction, I want that community, I want to know what people want so please, get in touch, any of those places or the forums on UKRoleplayers that are set up for Postmortem material.

TB: Thanks for your time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now I feel like I need to not only check out Blood!, but I wanna see this "Camelot in Space" business for Savage Worlds!

Hope you all enjoyed Postmortem Week...later today I'll post a little round-up of stuff, including one more special Postmortem treat.

Tommy's Take on Agents of SWING

Okay, on one hand, I haven't found a FATE book that I could really get into. On the other hand, I have come to expect lots of good from Postmortem Studios, whether the book is written by James "Grim" Desborough (as this one is) or his protege Ian Warner (seriously, check out the Tough Justice review I posted yesterday).

Agents of S.W.I.N.G. has been quite the success for Postmortem Studios, but can it sway a guy like me, who has been less than enchanted with the FATE system?

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: No one can write a small FATE book. This is a scientifically proven fact. Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is no exception, weighing in at a hefty 344 pages and $9.99 in PDF or available in both softcover and hardcover from Lulu. There are also two supplements already, the Agent's Casefile and the Control's Casefile, each available for free if you download, or in print for under $5.

The premise is that Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is a FATE-powered Spy-Fi game set in the 60s and 70s and drawing from sources like The Avengers, The Man from UNCLE and James Bond. SWING is the "Supreme World Intelligence Network Group", a secret espionage agency that is basically holding off all the bad stuff that the Cold War powers can't be bothered with because they are too busy suspecting each other of Very Bad Things.

Each player needs three six sided dice, apparently of different colors (any colors will do, but the author recommends red, white and blue), and I would note that Pandora can be used to set up a good 60s and 70s soundtrack for you if you like background music.

The Orientation Chapter is a well-written piece that tries to set the stage for roleplaying in 1967, noting not only the differences in philosophies, but in the flow of information as well (governments and media outlets were the end-all, be-all, you know). From there we dig into the mysterious organization SWING...no one knows how long it's been around, where the money comes from, and it's structure. Section 1 is Command, 2 is Administration, 3 is Quartermaster, 4 is Finance, 5 is Crime (as in "fighting", not "committing"), 6 is Information, 7 is Deadly Force, 8 is Uncanny Affairs, 9 is Specialists, 10 is Acquisitions, 11 is Internal Affairs, 12 is Espionage and 13 is -- well, there is no 13. Stop asking. Interestingly, a prototype supercomputer named ERIC2 is "boss" of the organizations, selecting agents for missions from the pool, sometimes seemingly at random. Each section is explained in detail, what they do, both at base and in the field. This is some interesting stuff...for instance, section 7 (the assassins) also double as "Jacks of All Trades"...the Finance Department, in the field, can requisition large sums of money at a moment's notice, etc. As you may have guessed, Section 11 (Internal Affairs) works under cover...even hiding their purpose from their fellow Agents.

SWING deals with organized crime, secret societies, mad science gone amok, the supernatural and even The Cold War. In all, the Orientation chapter provides a very extensive look at how the Agency operates, but still reads well and reads quickly.

The Induction chapter is character creation. First, get a concept, and then a name. FATE characters are defined in no small part by Aspects, and you take one based off of your Section. The author provides three sample Aspects for each Section, like Deadly Force "I Never Miss, Unless It's On Purpose" or Internal Affairs "Forever Vigilant". Next, an Aspect needs to be keyed to your character's Past, and finally, their Cover (every Agent has a cover story). From there, you define five more Aspects for your character, and then there are about 30 skills (ranked +8 to -3), with 20 points to spend. Finally, you get four stunts, of which there are a crap ton from which you can choose. You get a number of FATE points equal to 10 minus your starting number of Stunts.

One thing I've never been a fan of is really abstract damage, which FATE uses. There are three "Stress" tracks, Physical Stress, Composure Stress and Social Stress. Characters can opt to take "consequences" instead of suffering Stress damage.

I do like Advancement, which awards Skill Points at the beginning of a session and encourages you to spend them in the middle of the session, presumably when a new skill would be incredibly useful.

For most actions, you roll one of your dice and subtract another from it, then add your relevant skills to it to determine your Effort. The margin of success (or failure) are called Shifts, and are sometimes just cosmetic, but other times (such as in combat) play an important role in resolution. This can range from Disaster to Significant Failure to Failure to Minimal Success, Notable Success or Amazing Success. If you get more than three Shifts, you get a Swing die, which can be rolled with your positive and negative dice, and used to replace one or the other.

You can spend FATE points to activate Aspects, gaining bonuses to actions, or activate your own negative Aspects in order to regain FATE points. This also allows for some "creative editing"...making small changes to a scene that might benefit you.

Helpfully, we also get a list of examples of Consequences here, for each category and severity. A minor Physical consequence might be heavy bruising, while an extreme one could be crippled, for instance.

The Skills and Stunts chapter starts off by breaking down all of the skills, including any special uses of the skill (like Empathy being used to uncover Social or Mental Aspects). Similarly, all of the stunts are detailed here, like All The World's A Stage, which prevents you from making a worse impression than you started with, or Made of Steel, which lets you avoid your first point of Physical Stress.

The Quartermaster chapter is the equipment chapter, although it is handled differently than some games, as working for an agency provides you with a certain amount of equipment for each mission (three sets of ID is standard issue for SWING). It's a pretty decent list, covering melee, ranged and even explosive weapons...and weapons can even gain Advances like Accurate or Poisoned. A healthy list of spy equipment is also covered, like safecrackers, parachutes and so on, with their own list of Advancements. Of course, vehicles are also listed, with Advances like Caltrops, so your sports car can burst the tires of those following them in a high speed chase!

The GM chapter hits a lot of the old standbys, but also covers "Plot Stress", which is essentially a running tally of a minimum number of tasks that must be completed before the PCs can get on with the next scene. This also runs through a bit of pacing, such as the PCs getting hit with setbacks. A catch-all of miscellaneous rules are also present here, from falling damage to being set on fire to poisons and diseases. This chapter also discusses Villains, Henchmen (their right hand men) and Goons (the mooks). Villains are statted up just like PCs, Henchmen are slightly more abstracted and Goons are basically in a group before they can amount to a threat.

The Organisations chapter is all about building organisations, beginning with Scale (from Tiny to Enormous), which also affects the number of Skills and Aspects the organisation has. Next, you set the Scope, which can range from Local go Global. Oddly, this is one of the few chapters that doesn't really provide any examples, and it is sorely missed.

SWINGers is a bunch of sample characters/NPCs, a great many of whom are very thinly veiled take-offs on famous characters who served as inspiration for the source material...including The Professor, in case you're curious as to how to stat up The Doctor (as in Who?) in Agents of SWING.

A handful of villainous organisations (including a neo-nazi group and the giggle-inducing control freaks known as CONDOM) is laid out, serving also as examples of the Organisation rules from a couple of chapters back, plus providing examples of villains, henchmen and goons.

The Years is a timeline covering the 60s and 70s.

A whole slew of handouts follows, from character sheets to how chase scenes are handled to weapon and vehicle stats. There's even a table of contents at the back of the book, right before the index.

WHAT WORKS: I think I actually "get" FATE now, in part because of the author's writing and examples, and in part because of my experience with ICONS, which really does work as an "introduction to FATE". The author does a great job, however, especially with providing examples and with laying out the functions of SWING...the part about Sections and what they do in and out of the field is just great work. I admit I'm not up on my Spy-Fi, so I know I missed some references in the SWINGers chapter, but the ones I did catch were pretty great. The art, when used, is pretty evocative of the tone and never overwhelms the book.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: I'm still not sold on FATE as being something me or my normal players would be huge fans of, but that's a personal preference and not a knock on the writing. Really, my biggest complaint is that I think it could have been organized better...especially when you have things like a two page list of Stunts...and later a list of stunts with a quick description...and then a whole chapter devoted to explaining each of the stunts...and then a handout with all those stunts on it. I like quick reference, but that felt excessive. Ultimately, it is a minor complaint as the book never feels "padded" and is certainly not overpriced, in my view. That said, I would have liked a sample treatment on Supernatural and Extranormal adversaries, since a whole section of the Agency is devoted to them.

CONCLUSION: I think it says a lot that FATE is considered "rules-lite", but the author got nearly 20 pages of handouts out of the system. Personally, I'm still not sold on FATE outside of the "beginner's version" found in ICONS, BUT this is a well written incarnation that remains focused on what it is trying to do (with the Spy-Fi genre). As mentioned above, I would have liked a few examples of using supernatural type opposition, since there is a whole Section of the Agency dedicated to it, especially for GMs who have little prior FATE experience to draw from.

Tommy's Take on Tough Justice

Tough Justice is a very interesting concept: A courtroom drama game set in the time of "The Bloody Code", running from the late 17th century into the 19th Century. The Bloody Code was known as such, because the courts in England apparently looked to capital punishment as the solution for...just about any crime. The players play Prosecution and Defense in a capital case and, perhaps most interestingly, the game offers "kid gloves" sidebars for running it as an educational experience.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Tough Justice is $9.99 in PDF, or $15.11 through Lulu. The PDF is 260 pages and, while searchable, lacks bookmarks, unfortunate in any PDF over 100 pages. The author, Ian Warner, is a big history buff, which prompted the creation of this game, it seems.

The book includes an astonishing 24 page glossary of slang and legal terms from the era, impressive by any measure. As well, just in case you need it, is a list of English noble titles and how one should address them in conversation.

Characters are defined by six stats, on a scale of 1-5, with 18 points to spend. The six stats are Authority (using facts and logic), Jibe (banter and insults), Charm (people skills), Investigation (er, investigating), Violence (er, violence) and Composure (the ability to keeo your cool). Interestingly, your Composure can Decay throughout the game as you fail Composure rolls. Next, characters can either be Good At two things, or Very Good At one thing...either taking a +1 bonus in two areas, or a +2 bonus in a single area. Finally, you pick a Merit and a Flaw. Merits include bits like Ferreter (making Investigation rolls easier), Unimpeachable Morals (making Jibe harder to use against them) or Water Tight Private Life (making Investigation harder to use aginst them). Flaws include Too Nice By Half (making it harder to use Jibe), Wimp (making it harder to use Violence) and Secret Felony (which provides a chance that the PC may wind up as the defendant!).

Next, the group picks teams (Prosecution and Defense) and assigns Roles. Barristers are the lead on the case. Attorneys are the back-up lawyers, basically, and Allys are pretty much everyone else. Additionally, Prosecution gets Thief Takers, which are kinda like bounty hunters. Finally, the players flesh out their characters' backgrounds in key points, and then agree on Relationships with the other characters (codified in little in-character quoteS). While the book does provide a character creation example, step by step, it also includes half a dozen sample characters spread out among Prosecution and Defense.

Generally, you roll a die and add 1 to it if you're Good at it, or two if you're Very Good at it, and add your relevant statistic. If you have a relevant Merit, you roll two dice and take the highest, if you have a relevant Flaw, then do the same and take the lowest. Pretty basic, but functional. You can also "Play Booty", which is throwing a Challenge. This is most advisable if your Composure is in danger. Additionally, some rolls are just made against a chosen Difficulty, and are not actively opposed by another character. Every Challenge's Win Margin has a wider effect on the case, and is tracked by the GM through Case Points.

Defendant Generation (if the defendant isn't a PC), plays right to my strengths: It's a bunch of random tables. Roll sex, age, profession...Males, Females and Children have their own Professions tables, so you don't wind up with an 8 year old pimp or a 45 year old male midwife. Stats for adults are handled like normal, kids have fewer points. The Profession the defendant has also provides a bonus for either Prosecution or Defense, depending...and some professions can be hidden from the Prosecution, denying them their bonus.

Once the Defendant is created, we move onto the case. A chart is provided for the various offenses, which can provide Defense and Prosecution bonuses. The crimes including Cutting Down Young Trees, Sodomy, Intercepting The King's Mail and...wow...being an Unmarried Mother Concealing A Stillborn Child. There are numerous sidebars here about some of the "crimes", including that last one, as well as combinations that may not make much sense (although you can certainly run with 'em...frankly, I think the idea of a 12 year old on trial for Insurrection is quite interesting).

The GM is recommended to track Case Points secretly, presumably so it would be harder for both sides to "game the system", and I like that approach. Some of the crimes provide bonus case points like the occupations do, so yeah, it is quite possible for someone to wind up with a pretty big lead due to randomization.

Once everything is set up, dive into the Arrest phase. This largely consists of the Thief Taker taking down the Defendant. The example here is darkly humorous with an overzealous Thief Taker pummeling the Defendant (a younger girl) in order to bring her in.

From there we move to the Pre-Trial Phase, which also includes challenges of honor such as Dueling (but only between respectable gentlemen), Pugilism (but only between working class men) and Hag Fights (between working class women). The Pre-Trial Phase takes place over a set number of turns (the default is 7), and each side gets to take an action each turn. The types of actions can vary greatly (allowing each team to play to their strengths), with numerous examples provided for inspiration. For instance, you can start nasty rumors to poison the well against the other side's case, try to intimidate witnesses, seduce a member of the opposing team to learn information and so on. This is followed by a very lengthy example of the pre-trial phase.

By the Trial Phase, Barristers are going to be doing most of the heavy lifting, although there are options for others (namely Allies) to do, such as appear as witnesses or prepare "surprises" for the trial. Again, this goes into each step of the Trial, from describing even the smell of the courtroom to setting the Jury Strenght. The GM gets to sit back and play Judge, reacting to the tricks pulled by Prosecution and Defense. One area where I would part is the Defense's plea...it says the GM should decide what stat to use, but unless you're really having issues between the Defendant and the Defense, I don't see why the Defense wouldn't have a say in it. Anywho, Prosecution also has a distinct advantage in that they get to "sum up" their case (think modern closing statements), while the Defense is forbidden from talking to the Jury! The Verdict is a simple matter of comparing the final scores, but the GM (playing as the Jury) should play it up a bit. There ARE rare cases in which a Defendant is found guilty, but is not sentenced to hanging...but most of the time, yeah, victory for the Prosecution does equal death.

But that's not all! There are also last minute twists that can be played, such as female defendants trying to get knocked up in order to avoid the death penalty, or defendants getting cases reopened when it came down to the wire between Prosecution and Defense.

When you get into the final days of the Defendant (if found guilty), there is a surprising amount of room for drama, especially if the Defense did get attached to the Defendant. Five methods of execution are given (Hanging, Burning At The Stake, Beheading, Drawn and Quartering and Firing Squad, although only the military get that last one). Then, the GM gets to decide what to do with the body.

Tough Justice is a largely non-lethal game (for all but the Defendants), so Retirement is presented as an option to get rid of those characters you may not care for any longer. To that end, Advancement goes with the player and not the character, so new characters are on par with existing ones. The final phase of the case is rolling for Felonies...if the PCs broke the law over the course of the game, well, they may have to answer for it.

Appendix One offers some Advanced Rules like Cock Ups, which are (essentially) critical failure rules. Pregnancy rules are also covered, complete with Abortion rules. Other rules include Downtime for PCs, a whole section Tough Justice LARP rules and even allowing the other five stats to degrade the way Composure does.

Appendix Two is full of sample characters, first being NPCs tied into the example case given throughout the book, and the second being half a dozen defendants (2 male, 2 female, 2 child), completely detailed with stats and crimes (and a plug for an upcoming novel).

A two page summary of the entire case proceedings is also given, always a welcome sight.

Finally, we get a heartfelt afterword, a character sheet and an extensive index.

WHAT WORKS: First off, the book is VERY light on art. It is almost all text, which sounds crazy for what is really a rather simple system...except for when you realize that a BIG chunk of the book is a walk-through of playing the game from character creation, on through to post-execution. There really should not be much issue with someone reading the book and going "but what do I DO with it?" I like how, in some areas, the author erred on the side of legal fiction over legal fact, but I thought he also did a tremendous job with conveying The Bloody Code.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The "rolling for pregnancy" felt strangely out of place, although it may still be justified, seeing as though it is a very valid defense for female prisoners to escape death...I think the Abortion rules might have been just a step too far, though. Also, an electronict book that is 260 pages and does not have bookmarks is disappointing.

CONCLUSION: Okay, I went into this with the expectations of Chav, WizKid and Bloodsucker in my head, even though I was explicitly told that it was more serious...and I wound up completely amazed. Yeah, the book could have been shorter, if you cut out the extensive examples, which I would not recommend. The audience is going to be more limited, given the courtroom drama aspect over more traditional RPG fare but - and pardon my french - Ian Warner managed to turn a passion for history and a particularly insane period of English history into a viable RPG without making a wholly pretentious ass out of himself. Much like their humor games, there is still a very playable game in here, and one that I'll be going so far as to add to my bookshelf and not just my PDF library. Given the quality of the writing (and my love for courtroom drama), I will overlook the "What Doesn't Work" I noted above, and say that this is certainly the most pleasant surprise that I have encountered this year, hands down.

Tommy's Take on Bloodsucker: The Angst

And now...Bloodsucker: The Angst, a Tale-Telling game of bitching and self-delusion. This would be the game that spawned the Shadow World line to begin with, originally in the d20 system and now in the Xpress system (and for the better, in my view). You can read my reviews of its sister games Chav and WizKid by clicking on the titles.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Powered by the Xpress System, a d6 dice pool in which your skills set your target numbers, you roll a number of dice equal to the relevant attributes and add up your successes, Bloodsucker is a parody Vampire: The Masquerade, and annoying gothy types in general. While being fully compatible with Chav and WizKid, everything you need is in this book, although there are three supplements available: Bloodsucker: The Juice (just extra stuff for the game), Bloodsucker: The Batshit (the outcasts if the Bloodsucker society) and the Cliquebook: Gothistocrats (Yeah, a full supplement for one of the Cliques of the setting - the Ventrue parody). Bloodsucker is 116 pages and available in PDF through RPGnow, as well as in print through Lulu (as are the other Shadow World books, I neglected to mention).

Like with Chav and WizKid, the "What You Need For Play" has some cute requirements: pancake-white make-up, clove cigarettes, and a complete collection of either Anne Rice or Laurell K. Hamilton books. There's also a saddening discussion of vampires and how they have (d)evolved...from Nosferatu to Angel (Hey, I LIKE Angel) to Twilight's Edward. We also get a hefty glossary of the groups and terms relevant to Bloodsucker society.

Right before we jump into character creation, we get a "Welcome to Eternal Life" letter, which actually does a decent job of spelling out how Bloodsuckers work (sunlight is okay, the rising sun Is Not, decapitation equals instant death, stakes are just paralysis, etc). The character creation is point buy, starting off with a budget of 60 points to spread over the 10 stats and 70 points to spread over the 40 skills. You also get 9 points for Powers, which cost 3 points a level (and are ranked in three levels). Then you top it off with Merits and Flaws and your "Cool" ranking.

The chapter gives us a basic breakdown of the eight Cliques: Crowleys (they use Magic(k)), Freaks (they're the ones who aren't pretty), Gothistocrats (they wanna be in charge, like the Ventrue), Grungies (they are also "back to nature" types), Moshers, Outcasts, Perkies (yes!) and Pretentious Art Whores. There are nine powers, broken into three levels as noted above: Go Faster, Be Stronger, Be Tougher are fairly self-explanatory. Same with Magic(k). Ignored is the minor invisibility, Venom is kinda like mega intimidation, Transmogrification is shape-shifting, Poinging is, well, being chipper...and Dramatics allow you to become the center of attention.

Chav has corruption and WizKid has Wizdom...Bloodsucker has Angst. You gotta stay angsty if you wanna stay in the game. Get non-emo, and you're out.

The Cliques Chapter is broken down like the similar chapters in the sister games (as well as the Clans in Vampire, and the other games that have borrowed from White Wolf). You get an archetype image from the clan, a breakdown of how they act and so on, and then a soundbite regarding how they feel about everyone else. Crowleys want to become the power behind the Gothistocrats, who do NOT consider the Perkies to be Goths, who don't even notice the Outcasts.

The Dramatic Systems chapter is largely the same as the chapters from its sister games, although Bloodsuckers use Juice and not Bile to power their abilities, although Chavs begin with a greater Bile capacity than Bloodsuckers have Juice capacity.

Skills are virtually identical from game to game (which helps with the mixing and matching), although the actual examples used as more fitting to Bloodsucker.

Much like with the Chav Powers, some of the Powers just add growing bonuses, while others have differing effects at different levels. For instance, Poinging 1 allows Bloodsuckers to spend 1 Juice to overcome fatigue. Poinging 2 can provide Diplomacy bonuses and Poinging 3 can make them completely immune to mind controlling effects, ESPECIALLY if it were going to break their book.

On Merits and Flaws, I noticed more Bloodsucker Unique Flaws than I did Merits, such as Cannot Eat (you can't hold down anything but blood) and Classic Schtick (like not being able to enter a house uninvited, or being repulsed by garlic).

The Background chapter breaks down Bloodsuckers and their society. Even among the Cliques, there is no One True Way for Bloodsuckers to act...although it is noted that many of them try to adopt either the same cynicism or act ticked at the world, when really, they're just like you and I. Similarly, it is noted that Bloodsuckers often call themselves Pagans and Satanists, but it's usually for attention. We also get the full treatment of Angst and the Table of Sins, like Refusing to Drink Human Blood, thinking Happy Thoughts or gravely insulting the goth scene. The chapter ends with the 20 questions questionnaire, as well as common weapons and equipment.

The Magic(k) spells have some similarities with Chav's Voodoo, although there are some Bloodsucker specific spells like Juicebox, which allows Crowleys to get blood from non-standard sources, Sunscreen 5000 holds off even the morning rays and Overdone Stake is a protection spell that causes stakes to break when used against the Bloodsucker.

The Combat chapter hits the standards, but also delves into vulnerabilities to fire, sunlight and states, as well as a unique state Bloodsuckers can reach: Moping. Lastly, there is Turning, which is pretty standard: Bloodsuckers drain a victim, and then give them Juice.

Bloodsucker Society is set up with a pseudo-royalty, with Kings and Queens lording over each city, Lords and Ladies in charge of the Cliques, Bitches as the "official gossips" and so on. Bloodsuckers also gather into "Murders" which, coincidentally, coincides with however many characters you have in your roleplaying group.

The Shadow World chapter talks about Bloodsuckers around the world. It is worth noting that they are largely non-present in India or the Middle East.

The Antagonists chapter includes the Sparklers, which are Bloodsuckers that...well..guess. Yes, they are an unabashed rip on Twilight vampires. From there, this chapter is almost identical to the Antagonists chapter from Chav. In the PDF I have, there is a "naughty teacher" art piece  right before the Sparklers that covers up some text. I have no idea if that has since been corrected or not.

The campaign chapter offers 20 plot seeds, like the Bitches pushing a Freak into a TV makeover, or the town running out of clove cigarettes.

The book ends with an appendix covering vehicles and chases, plus a character sheet and index.

WHAT WORKS: Well, I get the humor here more than I do in Chav, if only because I'm a bit more familiar with goth types than hip-hop thugs. Despite not being a Vampire fan, I can still make an almost one-for-one comparison to the Clans. The Shadow World games are completely compatible, avoiding the obnoxious issues that old World of Darkness players faced when trying to mix their games.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Well, there was that weird issues with the art piece covering text in the Antagonists chapter. However, and if I had reviewed Bloodsucker before Chav, this would be reversed: I get using the same Skills and such, that just makes sense in the context of having the games playable together. Even with some of the Powers and Merits being the same thing renamed...no sense reinventing the wheel if it already works. The problem is that there are even large sections of fluff that are just cut and pasted from one book to the other, with specific terms changed. Chavs in America and Bloodsuckers in America have the same basic description, for instance, and there's even at least one of the plot seeds from Campaign chapters that is a word for word lift (the Dead Boy in the arcade tournament that I mentioned in the Chav review).

CONCLUSION: On its own merits, Bloodsucker's a great skewering of the vampire groupie fandom, and the perception of vampires in general. I still prefer WizKid over the other two if I had to just pick one, if only because it models the whole Harry Potter thing so well (if you tone down the hard-R rating). Chav and Bloodsucker, unfortunately, cover a lot of the same ground, both mechanically and in the fluff, and I have a hard time recommending someone pick up one if they have the other. Shameless cash grabs are cool (like omitting Bloodsuckers and Chavs from each other's books, as well as WizKid to tempt you to buy them all)...but the copy and paste was a too far.

Tommy's Take on Chav: The Knifing

Disclaimer: As I begin my first review of Postmortem week, please be advised that I did use a tad saltier language than I normally do in my reviews. It seemed...appropriate, somehow.

If I hadn't watched Harry Brown on Netflix recently, I don't know if I would have had a real world context for a "Chav". Chav the Knifing is the second full game in the Shadow World line (yes, I'm going in reverse...sue me). It is a rather odd little game about street toughs who gain special powers from the Bus Stop God Chavthulhu (although they don't realize it).

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Chav uses the XPress system, which I detailed in my WizKid review last month, and is part of the greater Shadow World universe with Bloodsucker and WizKid, but is also a standalone game in its own right, not requiring the other two to play. Chav does also have a supplement out now: The Call of Chavthulhu.

As part of the "Materials you need in order to play", they recommend hip-hop music, and playing Chav in a public place...which would require me to be listening to hip-hop music in a public place, and isn't likely to happen.

The Character Creation chapter uses a very similar point buy as WizKid does, although instead of Houses, you have Credoz and Talentz. Oh, and you also need a Schtick which can be easily referenced for humor (speech impediments, being fat, dressing in clothes way too small, etc.). Anywho, Credoz are basically the crap you do that defines you. Chemistz make drugs, Hoodiez are the thugs, Muppetz are crazy daredevils, Pikeyz are kleptos, Slagz are whores, Walliez are poseurs, Wiggaz are a step up from Walliez, and Yardiez are the real, true shit. There are ten Talentz, with everyone getting Chav Sight, which lets you identify supernatural creatures. Brapp makes you a better gunman. Chav Speed, Chav Strength and Chav Toughness should be fairly self explanatory. Cloud is kinda like a limited invisibility. Musk lets you manipulate the opposite sex. Parkour lets you do crazy stunts. Slash is kinda like Brapp, but for knives, and Voodoo gets used a lot with drugs. Chavs are also vulnerable to Corruption, which is Bad.

The Credoz have the White Wolf Clan/Tribe/etc feuds/relationships with each other, detailed on each Credo's page. I did like how the Chemistz seem to get along with everyone well enough, even if the others are not quite as sold on them.

Chapter Two gets into the rules, and they are largely similar to WizKid, although they diverge when it comes to powers. Rather than the four types of magic(k), Chavs have Bile which power their abilities, and regain Bile in some very Chav-specific ways, like listening to hip-hop and hanging out at bus stops. The system itself is an interesting dice pool: Your appropriate skill sets the Target Number, and you roll a number of six sided dice equal to your attribute, re-rolling anything that hits the target number.

Chapter Three brings us the Skills chapter (what, no z?), which seems to cover the same 40 skills as WizKid, although it does use different examples. Brawl, Demolitions, Art (hey, you gotta have some skill when painting your tags, right?), Melee (which is like Brawl, but with weapons), and even Spellcasting.

Many of the Merits and Flaws are unique to the game, however, like Benefit Baby. That is, you have a kid that you get money for. Other Merits include Voodoo Thing (an item infused with Voodoo power), Looming (ya big freak), and O.C. (Original Chav, not a Fox Teen Dramedy). Flaws like Cliff Notes Satanist (you say you're a Satanist, but you're really talking out of your butt), Batty Boy (Chavs are homophobic, and you're gay...do the math), Ganja Induced Laziness (you smoke too much weed, basically), Furry (I'm not explaining this one if you don't know what it means already) and Weekend Warrior (you hold down a respectable job during the week, you're just a douchebag thug With Powerz on the weekends).

Money is handled by the Pay Scale Merit/Flaw, and a handy chart is given for making your own.

The Talentz Chapter lays out the Talentz in detail (each one scales up to three levels). Many of them just provide extra bonuses (like Brapp), but others such as Parkour let you do crazier shit the higher you go...(at the highest level, you can flip over your opponent and attack at the same time).

The Background Chapter is the important stuff about Chavs and their culture, such as how the Crew is sacred to them. It also details the Corruption system, and its "Sins". I say "Sins" because the level 1 Sin is Snitching...the level 10 Sin is refusing to commit an act of gross perversity. Yes...if your Chav is pulled towards the light, the Crew turns on them and you lose your character. It's THAT kind of game.

The rest of the chapter includes a 20 question questionnaire and the equipment section, covering various weapons and accessories.

The Voodoo Chapter is awesome. First off, it is partially based on your ability to bullshit. Chavs are naturally superstitious, and Chemistz play off of this. Level 1 Voodoo includes Minty Fresh Breath, powering an Ouija Board and covering their conversation in gibberish that only spellcasters can understand. Level 2 Voodoo includes a Theatrical Vanishing Act, Telepathy and making a Zombie (so, er, kind of a step up). Finally, Level 3 allows for out of body experiences, stitching body parts together to make a composite zombie and mesmerizing people.

For the Combat chapter, I am blatantly copy and pasting my explanation from my WizKid review: Initiative is a set number, derived from combining Speed and Perception. Rather than Hit Points, characters have Wound Levels that, unfortunately, look like a bad parody of wounds in the Storyteller system.

It is worth noting two things, however: Chavs can expend Bile to absorb damage, and they take extra damage from anything older than 70 years old, which helps explain how Michael Caine kicked so much ass in Harry Brown...which, hilariously, was referenced as the example in the book

The next chapter details just how Chav Society breaks down. Crews are ran by Bosses, but each Credo also has a Main Man, who may or may not be a Boss as well. Chavs can also call a Ruckus in very serious situations, where they name a Massive Boss. Two Cred systems are given in this chapter, one for the Crew and one for the individuals.

The Shadow World chapter shakes the idea that a despised, hip hop appreciating underclass is uniquely British, providing examples from around the world. Apparently American Chavs are REALLY full of themselves, and the Chavs in the Middle East may or may be heavily influencing radical Islam.

The Opposition Chapter includes a nice range of satirical antagonists, such as Bible Bashers (because Bible Thumpers aren't strong enough, I suppose), Dead Kids, Dogboys and Wizkids (which, of course, are covered in their own book). If you want Bloodsuckers, though, they are covered in their own book line, one of which I will be reviewing tomorrow.

The Campaign chapter is really more of "No, seriously, you're supposed to play this game", and includes 20 plots to use (like a Ruckus being called because Crews are disappearing, an arcade is holding a beat-em-'up tournament (but an obsessivr Dead Kid is sure to win), and hoodies are banned at a local college!

The appendix includes vehicle rules that seem a bit more at home here than in WizKid, a nice looking character sheet and an index.

WHAT WORKS: Well, the writing is top notch, as usual. Underneath the gags, jokes and cheapshots, there is a perfectly playable game here. Although the art style was very similar to the WizKid art, it didn't bother me as much here, for some reason. Also, I am really glad I watched Harry Brown before I read this. I love the BS factor of the Voodoo.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: I don't know why, may just be personal preference, but the game just doesn't work as well to me as WizKid does...although the fiction is a tad less on the porno-lite side. The game still, at points, seems to be a bit much for a comedy game, with the bloated amount of Health Boxes and so on. I am pretty sure that the Credoz, while cool, are not balanced, for those worried about such things...(especially comparing Walliez to Yardiez.).

CONCLUSION: While the game and writing are, in many ways, as good as or better than Wizkid, I do prefer Wizkid a bit more. However, if you ever wanted to play magic(k)-powered street thugs, this is a pretty spot-on game for that. I won't say the material is for a MATURE audience, exactly, but I will say it's for an ADULT audience, and unlike Wizkid, their shameless cash grab in this book only requires you to buy Bloodsucker to get everything you need since it pre-dated Wizkid. Great product, if slightly less inspiring than WizKid.