Spes Magna Games

The Bishop’s Secret, written for White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game, was released to my few Patrons yesterday. This short adventure was written in hopes that it could dropped into your Old School game with minimal changes.

This marks my third release of Dangerous Places for OSR Systems. The first, Narvon’s Stair, is available to everyone for nothing more than the time it takes to download. Last month saw the arrival of Goshahri: The City in a Cave, a ruin in the process of being restored by miscreants under the iron fist of the Bandit King. I plan to return to Goshahri for at least one more adventure.

For March, I’m going to shift away from fantasy into horror with The Strange Case of the Bell Witch Bootleggers, a one-shot descent into madness and terror written for The Cthulhu Hack. I also still plan on fleshing out Goshahri a bit with The Harpy’s Nest, a more detailed description of a location in the aforementioned release that go short shrifted because I didn’t manage my time well enough.

You can get in on the Old School action by becoming one my patrons. It won’t ever cost you more than $1 a month.

In other news, I think I’m nearly ready to release The Four Color Hack. It’s changed quite a bit from its initial pay-what-you-want release. I’ve got one last section to write in which I’m including an assortment of villains and threats. I’ll also probably include a short, introductory scenario. Part of me would like The Four Color Hack to be available print-on-demand, but I’m not sure I can figure out how to correctly format, et cetera, the necessary files. I’m looking at Lulu, which seems to have a pretty user-friendly set up. Maybe during the downtime of Spring Break I can give it a go.

I have two other major (for me) projects that I need to finish. The first is the long-neglected Boogie Knights of the Round Table in which the heroes fight the Man with the powers of song and dance. No, really. I’ve run one playtest of the system to rave reviews. I’ve also dusted off an idea I had for a fantasy game involving real-world children transported to a world of twisted fairy tales very much inspired by Grimm and Little Fears. Unfortunately, my original work on it quickly displeased me, and I abandoned the project, but it’s back now with a simpler system built on The Black Hack.

So, in short, I’ve got some big (for me) plans for 2017, and I seem to be off to a good start. Huzzah.

Tags: Dangerous Places, TFCH, The Black Hack, The Cthulhu Hack

Well, the holiday season has ended. My two or so weeks off for Christmas and New Year’s proved productive. I ran a Twelve Days of Christmas sale for select titles. I offered a bundle full of monsters for the OSR. I made a meat pie out of a hobbit. I wrote a few supernatural-influenced classes for WWII: Operation WhiteBox and posted those links on G+ and other Internet places. I started work on Heroes of Mirelyn’s Skyrealm, a White Box fantasy campaign that hope kicks off this coming Sunday. I started converting Chance Encounters for use with Dungeon World. I released The Four Color Hack, a playtest set of rules for superheroic roleplaying. I’m gearing up to produce the second iteration of those rules in response to feedback from players and readers.

I launched Dangerous Places, my Patreon site. For $1, you get about one short scenario a month, formatted into a printer-friendly PDF complete with hand-drawn maps. I’ll post the PDF link via patron-only message. I’ll post the maps without the scenarios separately for the public. My first few maps have been posted. So too has Narvon’s Stair, a low-level adventure for Swords & Wizardry, which is available to everyone, Patron or otherwise.

Now I’m working on Goshahri: The City in a Cave, which should be ready by the end of January. Goshahri outlines the city in a cave, the domain of a ruthless bandit king. The city and many of its denizens are described in broader strokes. The strokes get finer in Jail Break!, the mini-adventure included as part of Goshahri. The table at the right provides some random hook ideas to get adventurers involved. I plan to revisit the city in a cave at least a few more times in coming months, detailing certain sections and providing more short adventures set in the bandit king’s domain.

If you’ve not already done so, check out Narvon’s Stair. If you like it, consider becoming one my patrons. It’s risk free. I produce nothing? You pay nothing. Drop me from your patronage whenever you want.

Huzzah.

Tags: Dangerous Places, Narvon's Stair, TFCH, The City in a Cave

The Monstrous Holiday Bundle remains on sale for $6. It collects 8 PDFs, most of them focused on Old School gaming. Starting on Christmas Day, Spes Magna Games celebrates the Twelve Days of Christmas by changing the price for a different PDF each day from its normal value to the pay-what-you-want option on DriveThruRPG. All of these deals vanish after the Twelve Days of Christmas end on January 5, 2017.

Terrors of the Toxic Waste is now live for purchase at this link. If you want Terrors at a discount price of $1, click here instead. Either way, 21 new mutants stand ready for inclusion in your Mutant Future game.

Have you ever played Atomic Sock Monkey‘s Trust & Justice? If you enjoy superhero games, T&J probably has just about everything you’re looking for. It goes out of its way to stay faithful to the genre. Character creation is flexible and flows from the background made by the player. Game play is quick and has a hefty narrative focus. Before you plunk down money for the PDF, check out these freebies. Also, download the free PDQ Sharp!. The PDQ Core Rules form the basis of T&J. Indeed, the first time I played superheroes via an Atomic Sock Monkey product, it was based on the PDQ Core Rules, and a good time was had by all.

Here’s Benjamina Stern, a hero made using T&J:

Background & Origin: Before her transformation into the Strongest Woman in the World, Benjamina Stern was one of fourteen children born to circus performers Philippe and Johanna Stern. In her early years, Benjamina performed with her family. Benjamina’s father would offer one hundred dollars to any man in the audience who could defeat her in wrestling; no one ever succeeded in winning the prize. Benjamina once defeated the famous strongman Eugene Sandow in a weightlifting contest in New York City. Benjamina lifted a weight of 300 pounds over her head, which Sandow only managed to lift to his chest. Other feats of strength for which Benjamina was famous included lifting her husband (who weighed 165 pounds) overhead with one hand, bending steel bars, and resisting the pull of four horses. Now that she can lift more than a score tons, Benjamina serves as the Freakshow Four’s muscle and voice of reason. Like the other FF members, Benjamina gained her remarkable powers after being bombarded by cosmic radiation from the Aurora Borealis while camped just outside Anchorage, Alaska.

Motivation: Protect the weak from those who abuse their strength.

Qualities: Expert [+4] Bold and Brassy, Expert [+4] Professional Strong Woman, Good [+2] Voice of Reason, Poor [-2] Book Learning

Powers: Expert [+4] Super-Strength, Good [+2] Invulnerability

Stunts: Master [+6] “Time for a Whuppin’!” (Super-Strength Spin-Off, 4 Hero Points); Good [+2] Prodigious Leap (Super-Strength Spin-Off, 1 Hero Point)

Hero Point Pool: 5/10

Tags: Mutant Future, NPCs, Spes Magna Products, Truth & Justice

Terrors of the Toxic Waste is ready for its final edit. In next day or two, 21 new mutants hit the virtual streets, ready for inclusion in your Mutant Future game. Huzzah.

Speaking of Mutant Future, permit me to introduce Agnesa and Gleda, sisters and mercenaries. Born in Perisnak, a village set in a rugged hill country and populated largely by Pure Humans, the sisters had what passes for a normal childhood, tending the rabboxen herds and, when old enough, taking their turns with the town guard, watching the passes for bandits and spidergoats. An army of pigmen brought death and ruin to Perisnak shortly after Gleda’s fifteenth birthday. The few survivors fled into the hills, becoming refugees in world that tends to equate stranger with enemy. The destruction of Perisnak and the cruel deaths of most of their friends and family taught Agnesa and Gleda hard lessons. The two vowed to never depend on anyone other than each other, and during the passing years the sisters have forged themselves into tough guerilla fighters.

Agnesa, the elder, is a Pure Human. She is clever and slow to anger. Due to her intelligence, she enjoys a +5% technology roll modifier. Agnesa has the equivalent of a 17 Charisma and a 15 Willpower. Among her possessions are a carbine (1d10 damage), a revolver (1d10 damage), and a sturdy dagger (1d4 damage). Agnesa wears ballistic nylon armor (AC 5).

Agnesa
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120′ (30′)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 14 (77 hit points)
Attacks: 2 (weapon)
Damage: By weapon (+1 damage)
Save: L14
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: XV
XP: 2,400

Gleda is a Mutant Human. She is quick and strong, having the equivalent of scores of 16 in Strength and Dexterity. She is equipped much like Agnesa with a carbine (1d10 damage), a revolver (1d10 damage), and a sturdy dagger (1d4 damage). She also wears ballistic nylon armor (AC 5).

Gleda
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120′ (30′)
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 12 (54 hit points)
Attacks: 2 (weapon) (+2 to-hit with missile weapons)
Damage: By weapon (+1 damage)
Save: L12
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: XV
XP: 3,600

Mutations: Echolocation, Increased Balance, Know Direction

Tags: Mutant Future, NPCs