Aftermath!

Wow, this guy has a funky helmet.

Aftermath!  This was probably the second post-apocalyptic game published. ( However, I could be wrong, I'm not much of a game historian. )  It was released in 1981 by FGU.   The game and and the adventures are available at DriveThruRPG.com, and they are all reasonably priced.  However, I would prefer a hard copy, and plan on keeping an eye out on eBay.  It's probably going to be a tough one to find, for a reasonable price.

I'm not sure what got me to thinking about this game.  I had long since forgotten about it.  I think the shocks I received earlier today must have reactivated some long disused brain cells or something.  Anyway, I started thinking about it, and was wondering if it was really a game, or if I was just imagining it.  I decided to check the wonderful Internet for any information I could find about the game.

I was delighted to discover it wasn't a figment of my warped imagination, and did actually exist.  In fact, according to some comments about it on Pen & Paper, people still play and enjoy the game.  I have a vague, misty memory of having played it, and now that I think about it more; I'm sure a friend of mine owned it.  Now I have another game to acquire.  The list keeps getting longer...

Monday... Monday...

It's Monday, and I have no motivation at all.  Hopefully trying to get this post written will jump start me.  Good grief it's already after 2 PM. 

Now it's almost 8 hours later!  I had to stop and make veggie soup, and then I had to tackle the most horrific job this time of year.  I would rather face a horde of zombies than do this task.  I had to untangle the strings of Christmas lights, and test them.  Then take out broken bulbs, and generally curse about how Christmas is really too much trouble.  I even managed to shock myself.  I laughed, and then I did it again.  Oh well...  Now that I think about it, the past couple of weeks I've managed to shock myself a number of times.  One was a really good jolt!  Heh... maybe I'm a Promethean.

Over at Beyond the  Black Gate , Al has some charts for PC Events that occur between adventures.  Interesting idea, and you could even use them as plot hooks.

The next blog I want to highlight is not a gaming blog, but it might have some information that would be useful, or at least inspirational to gamers, and game designers and writers.  It's Beachcombing's Bizzare History Blog, and this post has some information about an interesting mythogical creature.  Check it out.

Before I go I have a quick question.  Anyone remember an RPG called Aftermath! ?  I'm about to do a quick Internet search, but I thought I would throw it out to my readers.

A Dragon Versus Soldiers With Firearms

It's been a lazy Sunday, with plenty of naps between blog reading sessions.  I also finished watching another Republic Serial, "Zorro's Fighting Legion".  It wasn't as good as the first one I watched, "Zorro Rides Again", but it was okay, even if the plot was a little wonky.

The other day Christian mentioned on a blog post about something called "gun nibble", and asked about lethal gun combat in game systems.  I replied that I thought Rolemaster's Weapon Law: Firearms could be very lethal.  This in turn reminded me about something I've been wanting to try.

I want to run a one shot with a Special Ops team going up against some fantasy elements.  The main antagonist would be a dragon.  The dragon would have some orc henchman, plus one or two surprises.  I mainly want to see how the rules work, and if firearms could take out a dragon, before the dragon takes out the special ops soldiers.

The mission involves the special op team having to recover a piece of equipment, a trans-dimensional sensor probe.  A top secret government scientific group sent the probe into another dimension to gather data.  It was moved underground, and the signal is no longer being received.  The team has to be sent to the dimension to recover the device.  The only data they have is some grainy video of something very large and reptile like moving by the camera.  After that the signal is lost.  The team plans on going in armed to the teeth.

So it's going to be a highly trained special ops team versus a dragon, orcs, magic, and ?.  Who would win?  The first time I try this I want to use the Rolemaster Standard System.  Then I might try it with other systems to see how they compare.  It should be fun.

Horror Classics

Since I've become interested in the World of Darkness RPG, especially Promethean: the Created; I suddenly realized that I've never read Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.  Whoah! Stop the presses...  How could I have not read that book?  Well, upon reflection I was always more of a science fiction and fantasy reader, and really not interested in horror.



Frankenstein should have taken a course in cosmetic surgery.



Yes, yes, I've seen most of the Frankenstein movies, even the stupid ones.  I've also read some of Dean Koontz's books about Frankenstein's monster in the modern day.  ( Victor Frankenstein is really EVIL in the Koontz books. )  I need to reread those books again.  I think there was a movie made from the first book, not exactly sure...

Anyway, I also realized I had never read Dracula either!  Nor the Anne Rice books, and probably never will.  I definitely will not read the Twilight, sparkly vampires junk. Blech.... patooiu!  Hey, if you like those books and movies that's cool; it's just not my cup of tea.  Then I began to wonder what other horror classics there are that I never read? 

I'm currently reading The Dream Quest Of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Loveraft, and for some reason I find it cumbersome to read.  I mean I like it, but I can only go a few pages before I have to set it down.

As far as what I like to read, to sum it up quickly, I will read almost anything, old or new, fiction or nonfiction.  I read quite a bit, and can burn though a medium sized novel in an evening.  But I digress...

Anyway, I need to do some research, and discover what other horror classics I've missed.  My 'to do' list keep getting longer.  The year 2011 is going to be a busy one for me.

The Dragonry? A Brief Editorial Comment, and Zorro Rides Again!

The caption reads, 'HIGH STREET DRAGONRY OPENDAY 19 AUGUST 1929'.  My question is... what the heck do they sell???  I've been trying to find out, doing a bit of Internet research, but I have had no luck.  It's really frustrating me...  Anyone out there in the blogosphere know?

Yeah, sure I could use my imagination, and come up with all sorts of cool, weird, or even logical reasons for this stores existence, but before I do that... I want to know what they really sold.

A Brief Editorial Comment

I've noticed that quite a few bloggers are discussing social interaction rules, and is has something to do with making D&D more like Dogs In the Vineyard?  Meh... I haven't been following that closely, and really don't want to take the time.  What I want to say is that, play the way you want to play, and if you and your players are happy and having fun then WOOT!  All is good.

Yes, discussing rules can be helpful, and the back and forth in the blogs can be very synergistic, and it can really help to get someone else's opinions.  Just remember that in the end it's about you, and your players.  Not someone that runs games in a another state, or half way around the world.  If some blogger posts about something you've written, and says it's wrong and their rules are right, I laugh at them.  In a nutshell, play, design, hack, rewrite, mutate rules, games, and campaigns to your hearts content, other bloggers can have their opinions, but in the end it doesn't matter.  To reiterate, if you're having fun , and your players are having fun, then be happy.

I've been watching Zorro Rides Again, the Republic Serial.  It's better than I thought it would be.  I expected it to be about a swashbuckling Zorro, but this is a great grandson of the original Zorro, and while he still uses a whip, he also has six-shooters.  It's almost like Zorro in the wild west, but there are also cars and planes, but mostly they ride horses.  One great part is where the bad guys use a plane to try and bomb a plane. They fail, and Zorro gets off a good shot with a rifle, and the train robbery is thwarted.

I did notice in the eight chapters I've watched that they reuse footage quite a bit.  Yeah, a money saving technique that movie making in early Hollywood favored.  ( Anyone else remember the African native in the Tarzan movies?  The one that fell of a cliff, the SAME cliff in every movie, at least that I can remember... )  There are also quite a few explosions.

I guess Zorro has some sort of a partial Code Against Killing.  He had several chances to get rid of the bad guy, but he always let him go, or the guy makes his escape.  It sure would save him a lot of trouble if he would just freaking off El Lobo.  ( Not the most original villain name, but hey, it was 1937. ) I mean this gang is ruthless, they even killed a kid!  Zorro should take the kid gloves off, this gang is slaughtering people right and left.  Anyway, I am enjoying it, and there's some clever writing.  Yeah, I was surprised.

Zorro Rides Again got me to thinking about a different Zorro.  A descendant that lives a few hundred years in the future, and decides he needs to fight the corruption on a frontier planet.  What sort of weapons would he use?  Some kind of force saber?  A Neural Whip?  Does he have cybernetic implants?  It might make an interesting campaign. even if it's just a short one.

Okay, enough for tonight.  So far I'm keeping up with the whole 'post every day in December' thing.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.

More nostalgia, or "Are we having fun yet?"

"Whatcha gonna do with all those gumballs Popeye?"

After I posted the blog entry yesterday, I began wondering how many people would understand the Popeye Gumball Machine reference?  The whole idea of a giant mutant brain with tentacles clutching a Popeye Gumball Machine made me laugh.  I want to play such a character in a post apocalyptic campaign.  The giant mutant brain would be fond of saying, "Thanks for the gumball Popeye... thanks for the gumball!".If I can't play one as a character I will make one a NPC, and he will roar, "Thanks for the gumballs Popeye... thanks for the gumballs!"  Who out there in the blogosphere knows where that bit of dialogue came from? ( I found the photo here...  A cool 70's nostalgia blog. )

I decided to continue a little with yesterday's theme, and list RPGs I would like to own, or in some cases own again, but not necessarily play.

1.   Space Opera
2.   Bushido
3.   Paranoia
4.   Space Master
5.   RuneQuest
6.   Tunnels & Trolls
7.   Marvel Super Heros
8.   Twilight 2000
9.   Boot Hill
10. Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega
11. The Morrow Project ( Actually this one might be fun to play. )
12. Shadowrun

I'm sure there are quite a few others I would like to own.  I just can't recall anymore right now.  While I was doing research for this post I found a RPG database at Pen&Paper . Cool beans!  Now I can search for those games I have forgotten the names to, but played once or twice at conventions.

Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega probably would have been the third RPG I bought; if I had ever been able to find it.  The first was D&D, the second Gamma World, so the third would have been MAtO!  Instead, I believe that Traveller was the third RPG I bought.  It was the cool little black box with the digest sized books.

Anyway, time to chill out, and watch some Zorro, no not the newer movies, but the old serials.  These will either be really cool, or funny.  Hopefully, not lame.  I hate lame...

What I want to play...

Theron, over on My Dice Are Older Than You discusses games he would like to play.  He lists roleplaying games, but I thought I would list some of the many games I would like to play, roleplaying and otherwise. These are not in any particular order.

World of Darkness RPG
Reading many blog posts about WoD has piqued my curiosity.  I really want to play a Created, or more specifically a Wretched, from Promethean: the Created source book.

Rolemaster: The Standard System RPG
One of my favorite fantasy RPGs of all time.  I like the system.  Yes, character generation can be glacial, but once that's done; I find everything else about the system to be fairly smooth going.  Unless of course the gamemaster doesn't know what they are doing; then you might as well be playing Uno.

Champions/Hero System RPG
Champions is another favorite of mine, and I've played in, and ran a few campaigns. I mean what's more fun than picking up a car and smashing it on a supervillain?  One thing that bugged me was that my players always made the stupidest superheros.  Roachman was a giant humanoid cockroach, with super strength.  Quiche Lorraine, was a speedster cook, who threw explosive quiches.  I could go on, but now my brain hurts.  These players really ruined the genre for me for a while...

A Weird West RPG/Skirmish Miniature Game ( System ? )
I used to read Heavy Metal Magazine, and one of the regular series I really enjoyed was Tex Arcana, which was quite a weird west.  I'm not sure which system I would want to play in...  More research needed...

All Things Zombie Skirmish Miniature Game
"Braaaaaaaaaains..."

Cosmic Encounters: the "Board Game"
"I'm a giant alien Brain!"
I never owned a copy of this game, but a friend did, and we played this game so much the box wore out, and he had to keep all the components in a cookie tin.  ( He had almost all of the expansions. )  This is one game that I never grew tired of playing.  There is an online version that I've played a few times, but unless you subscribe to the game the options as to what alien you play are limited.  A company has recently rereleased CE, and I really want a copy.

Traveller RPG
Traveller was one of the first games I ran as a GM.  I also played in a couple of campaigns.  It was fun, and being a more "mature" gamer I would like to play again; even if it's only a play by post campaign.

Gamma World RPG ( Both the old and the new... )
"I'm a giant mutant braaaaaaaaiiiiin!"  That's also got tentacles, and is clutching a Popeye Gumball Machine.  "Thanks for the gumball Popeye... thanks for the gumball!"

Call of Cthulu RPG
"It's a giant braaaaaaaaaaaiiiiin! RUN!!! It's got tentacles! Aaaaaiiiiieeeeee!"  Actually I may have played once or twice, but the passing of so much time and maybe the loss of a few sanity points makes my episodic memory so unreliable...

Necromunda: Skirmish Miniature Game
This is one of two Games Workshops games I have played.  I also ran a Necromunda league at a comic book and game store.  Man, that was a pain in the arse.  I actually had my entire gang painted, and built quite a bit of terrain for the game. Funny thing is, well not so funny at the time, is that I LOST every game I played.  My gang list wasn't so good I guess.  Eventually, I sold it all on eBay, and made a little profit.

BattleTech
I guess BattleTech is a skirmish level minaiture game?  Dunno, but I played it a few times.  I believe my brother owned it, and we always just used the cardboard stand ups.  As I remember there was quite a bit of stuff to keep track off, like heat, etc...  Sheeesh, maybe I don't really want to play this again.  On a side note there used to be a place in Dallas where you could sit in a "cock pit" and pilot a mech, and play against other people.  "Death from above!" Tons of fun.

Superhero Genre Skirmish Miniature Game ( System ? )
Yeah, something fun, rules lite, but still with all the car smashing, krash kapowing, and zoooooming, that's so vital to the superhero genre.

I could go on... Car Wars, Ogre, GURPS, Magic the Gathering CCG ( Hey, I figured I better put on CCG in the list. ), Mage Knight, etc.  I don't know why, but I'm not too keen on D&D, AD&D, or any of the retroclones right now.  Maybe, I've just been reading too many blogs about them.

Also, I know I'm not interested in any of the MMORPGs.  I used to play Ultima Online, and a little City of Villains.  I have never played WoW.

Maybe next time I will list the games I never want to play again.  EVER!

On an editorial note, I plan on trying to finish out the year by posting everyday.  Hopefully, the computer will cooperate with me.  Otherwise, I may invent a new game called, 'SMASH the Tower!'  Also, anybody know where I can get a Popeye Gumball Machine???