Wandering Boundless and Free

My bros gathered together for a little post-holiday RPG session on Black Friday. We've played tons of D&D, DCC, Mothership, and other games together over the past months. On this Friday afternoon, I ran a playtest version of NEON LORDS OF THE TOXIC WASTELAND , a gonzo, post-apocalyptic, retro-futuristic '80s adventure game, dungeon-crawling in a science fantasy world, in the far future after the BIG ONE blew up in 1992. The game is still in Kickstarter campaign for another week. It is fully funded and in "stretch goals" mode. The artwork is rad and the flavor is nutra-sweet, and I suggest that you back it! The playtest version is available free currently. I discovered the game through a forum for another post-apocalyptic RPG, and something about it sucked me right in. The "cassette futurism" flavor speaks to my personal imagination in a way that no other sci-fi or futuristic setting has before. Imagine a combination of He-Man, Escape From New York, Mad ...

Sources for this session include the short adventure scenario " With Thine Eye Beheld ," by Clint Krause, expanded by myself, with additional inspiration from the novel Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke. I should mention that it was the audiobook performance of Kin by Chet Williamson which inspired the NPC voices I used during our sessions. Players were Dan as  Picklow Creed , Chris as  Chips Parfait , Olivia as  Felora Tumble , and Aaron as  Katsin Parfait . Picklow's hireling companion Flopsy the Lantern Boy accompanied the party. After last session, Picklow had been kidnapped by the Behelden Clan and the rest of the party had returned to the town of Hopesend to rest and regroup. They bought some supplies including bombs. Flopsy the Lantern Boy came on as temporary PC for Dan. He had some decent armor and weapons and was sworn to rescue his friend Picklow. Kara  the artist NPC made another appearance, as they visited her house to find her crying, the ho...

SOURCES for these sessions : The Tower of the Stargazer , an adventure module by James Raggi for the great game Lamentations of the Flame Princess ,  and "With Thine Eye Beheld," a short scenario by Clint Krause from his zine Vacant Ritual Assembly #2 . SESSION 3: Players were Dan as Picklow Creed , Chris as Chips Parfait , Olivia as Lady Felora Tumble , and introducing Aaron, who rolled up his PC Ilmer , an ex-butler with low abilities and 1 hit point (he was therefore rocking armor, a rifle, and an arcanum!). Due to low survival potential, Aaron also generated a companion, Katsin Parfait (Chips' sister), an oyster-shucker with better abilities and HP. Our intrepid band of adventurers made it back to Hopesend by boat, having survived the Iron Coral. They proceeded to the tavern where they met up again with Corenlius Pentreath, who was quite interested in their treasures, and he gave them some stake money. He offered to employ them back in Bastion, and then...

This session's players were Dan playing Picklow , Olivia playing Felora , and Chris playing Chips Parfait . Jeff wasn't available to play, so we decided that his PC Harold had fallen into a narcoleptic stupor after eating the weird green bead. He was dragging along with the party but not acting in any meaningful way. His arcanum , the walking stick with Pale Flame ability, was passed amongst the other PCs during this session, and each of them had a chance to try to use it (it actually proved extremely useful later). We picked up with the party investigating the sound they heard in area 9. It was a random encounter monster, the Sprayer Thing , a hulking toad-like creature. They surprised it as it was peering into the shaft, and Chris had the idea to use the arcanum to cattle-prod it and push it down the hole. Good player skill, so I ruled that Chips could make a STR check to succeed, which he did, and they pushed the monster to its death before it could attack. High on ...

The adventuring party : I walked each player through generation of a character using Into the Odd , rolling 3d6 for each stat, 1d6 for HP, and assigning starting equipment using the chart in the book. Additionally, we used some of the random tables in the book's "Oddpendium" to help generate names and a few notes on character background and personality. CharGen took less than 5 minutes per player.  Our 4 players this session were Olivia, Dan, Jeff, and Chris, and these are their PCs, in order: Felora Tumble , a noblewoman of low rank who has fallen on hard times. Warm and friendly, with a psychic mutt companion named Mumbles. Picklow Creed ,  a former watchmaker, now seeking a new career. He's eager to throw fire oil on something. Harold Nicolas , a tunneler and cave expert who rides a mule and carries an Arcanum (walking stick with the Pale Flame power). Chips Parfait , a gambler and unreliable genius with an eye patch. Heavily armed for melee with a...

Introduction : This virus pandemic has proved to be a major game-blocker. My usual weekly sessions of DCC-RPG at the friendly local game store have been seriously disrupted. We've played a few sessions online using Roll20, but I find it less than ideal. In particular, Roll20 tends to accentuate the very things that I find least enjoyable in RPGs, such as tabletop maps/minis, measuring distance and positioning, complex initiative, many combat rounds, etc. The voice-only interface also encourages player distraction which hampers immersion all around. It's better than nothing, but still fails to satisfy. I had the idea to start up a new online RPG group, using live video conferencing without a virtual tabletop. I invited 7 friends to play, of varying degrees of experience (from beginner, to lapsed high-school 3.5 player, to experienced GM and game-designer). My idea is to set a time at least once a week to meet up online and play. As long as 3 players show up, we will roll. An...