Spes Magna Games

Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying by Cam Banks and Margaret Weis Productions. I’m running a twice-monthly, Friday-night MHR game set during the American Revolution. I run a “World without Heroes” mini-campaign for several of my 5th-grade students as an on-campus extracurricular activity. Also, I’ve run MHR one-on-one for my son Christopher.

MHR is an interesting game system. The presentation of the rules in the basic book (linked above) seems a bit disorganized to me, but the disparate pieces start to come together in actual play (which is always the best way to learn a game). The system focuses on narrative elements to determine how actions are resolved. The system is incredibly versatile, and there are oodles of reviews out there for those interested.

For those interested, here are several different MHR datafiles, most of them for the Watcher:

Batroc’s Brigade: My version of Batroc’s Brigade includes Batroc the Leaper (of course), Porcupine, and Whirlwind. My son Christopher’s hero Kanik faced the Brigade in a solo adventure. Of the three, only Batroc proved to be anything approaching a real threat. Porcupine and Whirlwind were more of a nuisance factor. In hindsight, I dropped Batroc to Combat Expert, and changed his Savate Prowess SFX to permitting stepping up or doubling Combat Expert. These changes aren’t reflected in the linked PDF.

The Cricket: At school where I teach, I facilitate Ludi Fabularum, a story game club. The Cricket is one of the heroes run by one of the 5th graders who participate in the club.

Deadly Nightshade: My son’s MHR hero Kanik found out the hard way that an acquaintance is really a super-villain.

The Enforcers: Here’s my version of the original Enforcers, including the Big Man, Fancy Dan, Montana, and the Ox.

Fafnir the Dragon: Thor’s city-smashing villain is ready for action. Use with care.

The League of Terror: I put together a horror-themed group of villains that includes Black Talon, the Grim Reaper, Nekra, the Swarm, and Death-Stalker.

Mister Hyde: I retooled Marvel’s Mister Hyde for use against Kanik. The soon-to-be-run adventure will also include the full unveiling of Deadly Nightshade.

The Ratcatcher: Way back when I introduced Christopher to Mutants & Masterminds, he made up his own hero called Kanik, who faced the Ratcatcher in his first adventure. The Ratcatcher eluded capture that time. When we converted Kanik to MHR, we had to bring the Ratcatcher back for a rematch. Kanik narrowly defeated the villain, who now sits in custody, nursing a new grudge.

The Sinister Six and the Octobots: For the aforementioned story game club at my school, we’re playing MHR. The characters are all rookies in a world without heroes. New York City has been conquered by the Sinister Six, which includes Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, the Vulture, and Mysterio.

Tags: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Watcher Datafiles

The inestimable Dyson Logos has announced a contest involving a map. Of course. Check this out. The short version is that I take one of Dyson’s unfinished maps, finish it in an undoubtedly inferior style, and e-mail the finished map to Dyson himself.

Dyson writes, “I’ll post every entry I get here on the blog (with full credit to the artists involved), and if I get a dozen or more entries that get past the curating process (see below) I’ll give away one of the last remaining copies of the Deluxe Edition of Dyson’s Delves and will include at LEAST one hand-written original and never before published adventure inside it (as well as the adventure that only appears in the Deluxe Edition that has never appeared on the blog).

“Anyone can win – winner of the book will not be chosen by style, ability or product, but by random lottery (although only ‘serious’ entries will make it into the random lottery – so just drawing six lines in crayon will NOT get you a prize – this is the curating process described above). Any other prizes I decide to give away (like some original maps and stuff) will be based on curated and judged contest entries, but the main prize (the book) will be won by a random entrant from the curated list.”

Excellent contest. I must enter. I’ve already won one Dyson Logos map. How can I not covet more?

Speaking of contests, Erik Tenkar’s got one going as well. Do you want to be an OSR superstar? Of course you do, and this contest is a chance to make all of those dreams come true.

Erik’s contest runs in three rounds. Each round focuses on a different facet of OSR superstardom among a dwindling pool of competitors. Think of round one as a sort of OSR superstardom contest dungeon funnel. Prizes for OSR superstardom include virtual cash for use at RPGNow, cash via PayPal, and one OD&D Reprint Box.

The gauntlet has been cast! Roll initiative!

Tags: Dungeon of Lost Coppers, Dyson Logos, Erik Tenkar, So You Want To Be an OSR Superstar

A bit more than a year ago, I blogged about Rory’s Story Cubes (see here for details). Back then, I had two of the three sets of Story Cubes. Over this last holiday, I got the third set at 8th Dimension Comics & Games.

Each set of Story Cubes includes nine six-sided dice with each die having six different pictures. In set one, the orange box, each picture is a noun, such as a flower, a lightning bolt, or a pyramid. Set two includes actions. Each picture shows one or more people doing something, such as climbing a tree, laughing, or digging a hole. My new set, in a lovely lime green box, includes more nouns, all built around the theme of “Voyages”. For example, some of the pictures include six beans (magical?), a sun peaking over a horizon, or a puzzle piece. With the Story Cubes in hand, I’ve got a powerful tool to generate adventure hooks.

“How so?” you ask.

Well, perhaps by using this format as a guide: noun-verb direct-object, corresponding to orange box-blue box-lime box, respectively.

For example, let’s say I rolled the dice, and I get these pictures: abacus, person with hurt thumb, rain cloud. Here’re two possibilities:

“A magical abacus built by a wizard after a personal tragedy controls the weather.”

“Advanced mathematical formulae discovered by researchers working for the Resistance hold the key to undoing world-wide ecological damage.”

Either one of those sentences could serve as adventure hooks. When you consider that three boxes together can be used to create about a bajillion different simple sentences, you have an enormous resource available to you. If you don’t have Rory’s Story Cubes, check them out. There worth a few bucks a set.

Tags: adventure design, Rory's Story Cubes

Yuan of the Five Venom Fist serves as governor of Tsinghai Province, the remoteness of which grants Yuan greater autonomy than enjoyed by governors closer to the Imperial City. Terror and brutality characterize his rule, but taxes flow to the capital on time, which is the Jade Emperor’s primary concern. Yuan has mastered the Five Venom Fist, an evil martial art that uses dark chi further corrupted by deliberate exposure to the stings of scorpions. Yuan has also had dark gold armor stitched into his very flesh, granting him remarkable resistance to injury.

Dark Gold Armor: In addition to augmenting his Armor Class, Yuan’s dark gold armor enables him to completely avoid damage from any single weapon attack or magic missile spell once per round by making a saving throw. If his dark gold armor is somehow negated or removed, Yuan’s Armor Class drops to 1 [18].

Five Venom Fist: Any hand strike made by Yuan can be empowered by dark chi. A Five Venom Fist strike inflicts only 1d8+4 points of damage, but the target must make a saving throw. Failure means dark chi enters his body, causing terrible lesions and pain that inflicts 1d4+2 points of damage for 2d4 rounds.

Thieving Skills: Climb Walls 94%, Delicate Tasks 70%, Hear Sounds 5 in 6, Hide in Shadows 75%, Move Silently 80%, Open Locks 75%

For Swords & Wizardry:

Yuan of the Five Venom Fist
Hit Dice: 10
Armor Class: -3 [22]
Attacks: 2 weaponless attacks (2d8+4), or by weapon (+4 damage)
Saving Throw: 5
Special: dark gold armor, five venom fist, immune to mental control and mind reading, immune to poison, slow falling 40 ft., surprised on a 1 in 6, thieving skills
Move: 21
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 15/2,900

Tags: monsters, NPCs, Swords & Wizardry

The holy man called Babur the Solicitous travels the spaceways, seldom in luxury but often for little or no cost to himself. Babur is an adherent to a tiny Buddhist sect, and the faithful believe Babur has been shown special favor due to his sacred lineage. Wealthy members of the sect provide Babur with generous stipends that permit him to wander the cosmos, spreading the message of enlightenment and aiding the oppressed, including those who are oppressed by their own selfish attachments.

Due to his martial arts training and unusual psychic powers, Babur is remarkably agile and quick-footed. His graceful punches, kicks, and walking stick moves can inflict damage even against targets that would otherwise be immune to low-tech attacks. A victim reduced to 0 hit points by such attacks is either unconscious for 1d4 minutes or helplessly restrained by the holy man, at the Babur’s discretion. Babur has an intuitive ability to communicate via psychic empathy with animal-intelligence xenobeasts. Such creatures seldom menace or attack Babur, and he can often influence them to follow simple mental instructions.

Stars Without Number Data

Babur the Solicitous
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4
Attack Bonus: +4
Damage: 1d6+2 walking stick, or 1d8 weaponless
Skill Bonus: +3 (+6 for anything related to athleticism or perception)
Saving Throw: 13+
Movement: 45 ft.
Morale: 10

Tags: NPCs, Stars Without Number