Jesters and Snakes
Maybe it's the heat (90+ where I am right now) but, bluuurgh...
So much heat, humidity, and dice, and suddenly we're in September. My most recent Kickstarter is over, I'm releasing my next pay-what-you-want Bored Game Parody, and there are new projects already underway.
The Jester's Court
The Kickstarter for The Jester's Court is in it's final ... (checks watch)... moments. To everyone who supported it, thank you! To those who didn't have a chance, it will be available in PDF and POD via DrivethruRPG very soon. This one includes a new monster (the Bejeweled Hag) and a couple of mass combat mechanics that make having your players clash in the middle of a larger battle easy and impactful. I hope you'll be interested in picking it up if you didn't already support the Kickstarter.
Is That A Snake or A Chute!?
Growing up in the US, we played a game called Chutes and Ladders.
Imagine our national surprise (... okay, my surprise...) when I discovered that its origins go beyond the 1950s (didn't everything start then?), and that for a long time it wasn't chutes that were the problem at all.
Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded as a part of the "parchisi" family. It was popularly known as "Moksha Patam" in India. The game was played to teach children the concept of karma, where a player's progression on the board could be disrupted or accelerated by 'snakes' and 'ladders' respectively.
Victorian era England got hold of it (...hmm... I wonder how? >cough<), where it was commercialized and gained popularity. In 1943 Milton Bradley got their corporate hands on it and the box in the image above was shoved into all of our childhood faces. The design was further simplified, and the game became a popular children's game (watered down to remove any moral lessons... who wants those!?).
I'm happy to throw my version into the ring, bringing it into the role-play-randomness world in a new way. Not only do you get to play Snakes (Chutes) and Ladders, but you get to do it with playing cards (making every use random and unique), control the speed and difficulty of the puzzle, and build in both roleplaying and skill challenges as well. Heck, you can even add a combat element if you want. (Optional Rules allow for lots of variation.)
The two-page SNAKES AND LADDERS is available as a pay-what-you-want on DriveThru RPG. Have at it, have fun, and do let me know what you think (just reply to this email!).
Setup: come up with your own scenario for the snakes, the chutes, and or the ladders, or use one of the suggestions included on the adventure, such as: A lich has used its powers to convert a spiraling staircase into a myriad of confusing traps and shortcuts. Only the lich and its minions know the safest path. Climbing the stairs there are thirty-six doors that wind up the staircase, and when the heroes get close to one it will open as if the handle is pulled by an unseen force. Sometimes the door opens to reveal a secret and helpful passage to a doorway further on. And sometimes, a dark and disturbing force belches forth, knocking the hero back down the stairs in a thundering and painful crash.
PREDIETOR
As mentioned last month, I'm putting together the next adventure. It's another d1980 adventure based on an action film: PREDIETOR. It's full of random-encounter tables, unique monsters (based on some favorite recognizable characters), and rewards your players will love. PREDIETOR should be on Kickstarter later this year.
What I'm Watching
I'm a backer of this project and can't wait to dive in. The speed and flexibility this adds to 5e based gameplay should up the fun-factor and lower the... uh... frustration-factor... (?)
A really long video, but I like a lot of what Indestructaboy has to say about role-playing (don't always agree with him, but he's committed to consistently fun gameplay) and watching him develop his own system is like a class in game-design.
Hmmm... anyone interested in a FLASH GORDON (1980) inspired adventure? (Seriously, let me know.)
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
Yeah, I write books. Check 'em out.
One of them:
"[Man in the Empty Suit] is tickling the Dr. Who parts of my brain, but in a really dark kind of way.... As you can imagine, this has one hell of an opening line: It is unfortunate for me that I am, by most any objective measure, a genius. Quite the set up for an interesting story."
Check out the Hangry Dwarf Press content for sale at Drive Thru RPG.
Thanks for reading. Reply to message me. See you next month.
-Sean