With Great Power: ACT III

 

This is it! Will "The Haunt" succeed in instigating a supernatural holy war? Will Shimmer and Nevermore be able to stop him in time? What will happen to Lenore? Find out now, in ACT III of this action-packed issue!

This is obviously a continuation of ACT II. You should click there if you haven't read it already. Or if this is all new to you, start at ACT I instead!

With the game wrapping up, we'll see what this whole experience looks like. It's not perfect, of course, because I'm playing all sides against myself, and while I'm not skipping anything, I'm trying to optimize everything to fit into a blog or three. In a sit-down game with friends, there's more room and time to explore tangents, and more minds with more ideas to work with.

But this is a blog, and I know that I, personally, don't read long blog posts, so I certainly don't expect you to. So I'm keeping this as tight as I reasonably can.

Anyway, to recap: Our Temu "Batman" and "Human-Torch-in-The-British-Sense-of-the-Word" investigate supernatural attacks on a local psychic celebrity and a fundamentalist church and connect the attacks to the "Cult of Dread". Navigating supernatural safeguards, they sneak into the Cult's hidden temple only to find that some kind of undead cult leader was ready for them the whole time and now has Nevermore's ghostly sidekick, Lenore, in their clutches!

With Great Power: ACT II

 

Well, I'm assuming that this is "ACT II". I feel like there should be enough for a third act, but we'll see.

This is obviously a continuation of ACT I. You should click there and read the first bit if you haven't already.

(The game doesn't really have "acts", but I was about a third of the way through the pacing mechanic, so here we are.)

To recap: A "we-have-Batman-at-home" Batman ("Nevermore") and a Human Torch knock-off but with light instead of fire ("Shimmer") have fended off a zombie attack at APEX labs...

(Hmm... It felt like more than that...)

With Great Power: ACT I

 

Oh, my poor, dried-up blog.

I'm not a blogger. I do a little of this and a little of that, using up hobbies and such as I go.  A lot of the time, the blog just serves as a place to put things, like a notebook that I can share with the world.  After all, somebody might want to see it, and I can find it again later if I need to.

Anyway, while I'm still working on an update of Chrome Hammer, I'm also obsessed with "With Great Power: Master Edition", a sort of indie RPG about superheroes.

Starforged: First Session

Hello humans!

And today it looks like it's more RPG stuff.  While I couldn't get into Ironsworn, for some reason Starforged was easier for me and I was able to get started and play through to the end without a problem.  Well, almost without a problem.  For some reason it took me months to come back to this and roll the dice two more times.

Anyway, here's what happened...

With Great Power... (Master Edition)

 

An imaginary "replay".

I am sooo bored!

So I've decided to share an interesting superhero RPG with you.

This is "With Great Power...", the "Master Edition".  It's surprisingly clever.  I remember not "getting it" when I first read it, but having come back to it and done some research, it's pretty neat.

So strap on your shiny blue tights, because it's clobberin' time!

Into The Odd (Solo with Mythic GME)

 Hello, humans!

I decided to try something different.  Into the Odd is such a clever little game with such a lovely physical book, that I just had to get some play time in with it.  I don't have an RPG group, though (at least none that would be interested in this kind of RPG game), so I'm trying to play it solo.

Wait!  Is this becoming the solo RPG blog?  Are you trying to trick me?  Is this a kissing blog?

I don't know.  This is just where I am right now.  I'm sure I'll get back to some minis soon.

TSoY: The Ziggurat

More adventures with Pedro and Chaser! (A scant two years late.)

I don't know if anybody wants this, but my blarg is lying here, fallow, and I've got nothing else right now, so you get a clumsy attempt at some solo "roleplaying" using The Shadow of Yesterday and the Mythic Gamemaster Emulator.

When last we left our adventurous duo, they had crossed a perilous rope-bridge into a dark forest, escaped pursuit by Khalean ne'er-do-wells, and had a personal reckoning.  It has now been several weeks of travel as they continue their treasure hunt, though their simple map is proving less and less useful.  Following the coast northward, the days become warmer, signs of civilization appear less and less often, and the forest inland grows more and more dense.  The strange hoots and growls emanating from the dark, wet jungle speak of death and danger.

Remember Tomorrow: Welcome to Somewhere

Hello, humans!  In an effort to entertain myself, I  thought I'd try soloing Gregor Hutton's "Remember Tomorrow: Near Future Role-Playing".  This is one of those where it's GM-less and the story and characters are shared between the players.  Is that better for a solo game or worse?  Who knows?

In the city of Somewhere, things are all cyberpunky, with corporations and gangs and cybernetic implants and humanoid robots and such.  This game tells the story of some characters trying to get what they want, but to do that, they'll need to be ready, willing, and able when the opportunity comes along.

TSoY: Maybe it's Me?

Previously, on The Shadow of Yesterday...

DUN DUN!

"What's going on here?  Where are the minis games?"

I know, I know.  This is just something that I have to get out of my system.  I've got plans for another minis battle report soon.  Maybe next weekend.  My gaming table is my work desk now, so things are more of a hassle to set up.

Anyway, Pedro, outcast member of the Red Company, and his Ratkin sidekick, "Chaser", have shacked up with a clan of bandits in the wilderness, and in a night of drunken camaraderie have agreed to help them knock over a guarded coach carrying valuable cargo.

TSoY: Some of My Best Friends Are Thieves

Another RPG recounting?  Is this what I'm doing now?  I don't know.  It's kind of neat in the moment, and it's a chance to try these games that I'll probably never see in action otherwise.

This is another "adventure" set in the World of Near.  In the previous adventure, Pedro "The Butcher" Vina was hurt pretty badly, and wandered off into the forest, losing track of his ratkin companion, "Chaser", who was last seen trapped in a hallway with approaching soldiers.

I decided that, if this were a TV show, the next episode would pick up from Chaser's point of view, so that's what I did!

TSoY: The Thing in the Tower

I used to be all about the RPGs, but at some point I lost my knack for them.  I might (maybe) be an OK GM, but I am just awful as a player.  Still, I like RPGs and I own a bunch that I've never played (which I'm sure you guys can relate to), so I decided to try the whole "Solo RPG" thing which for some reason feels really new.  I don't know.

First, the game I'm playing is "The Shadow of Yesterday", or rather "Solar System" using the "World of Near" supplement.  I honestly don't know how best to describe the system, but it seems pretty fascinating to me, and the setting is kind of cool, too.

In a nutshell, it's a fantasy world 100 years after a near miss from an asteroid ripped off a chunk of the planet to create the moon.  The world (especially the formerly great kingdom of Maldor) has a bit of a fantasy post-apocalypse vibe.

Usurper: Claim to Power (The God in the Well)

Okay, then.  Time to take this system for a spin.  I've got a little hamlet with a problem, and Sukeribi right there in the middle of it.  Let's find out what happens.

While travelling about, searching for resources, Sukeribi stayed a few nights in a tiny hamlet near the woods, named "Ranu".  The people were weird, but that's small towns for you.  Then, just as he was getting ready to leave, Sukeribi thought he heard a cry for help coming from the old well at the center of town.  Suddenly, a couple of the nearby villagers got really loud, and another came to talk to Sukeribi, drawing him away from the well.

Usurper: Claim to Power (Building a World)

Despite my attempts to ignore it, I've become fascinated by this indie RPG, "Usurper: Claim to Power".  I've already made a character, an outlaw scribe from a fallen family, seeking revenge, and this tells me a little about the place he's from, but what about the larger world?  Conveniently, Usurper has a "World Builder", which is what I'm going to go through here.

(Sukeribi's character creation, if you missed it.)

Usurper: Claim to Power (Sukeribi's Revenge)

A few years ago, I stumbled  across the little indie RPG title, "Usurper", but I honestly was not impressed. However, recently it has received some praise on the internets, so I thought I would give it a second look.

How can I describe this? The core system is a sort of minimalist thing. Encounter a problem? Say what you're trying to do and then roll on this table. That's it. No modifiers. No penalties. Just roll and deal with the consequences (or rewards). But that table, and its many variable results, and context, make for a game where the story can really go anywhere, and even the GM doesn't know exactly what's going to happen next. And that's exactly the kind of game I like.