Library Update (6) - Christmas Haul

In Poland, we have Christmas Eve, when we sit with our families eating sumptuous supper and find presents under the Christmas tree. This is a magical time for all of us and in the light of the whole year 2020, it is something calming, that we can meet with our family around the table in good health. This is a privilege which not everybody has. So we gather and celebrate and thanks for that. After that time there is a moment for presents. This year I found many things that make me smile on my face. 

Cthulhu Gloom! At last!

Nightmare Tales from H.P. Blavatsky

The Comming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti 

...and 10 adventures for one Keeper and one Player for Call of Cthulhu!

I must say I've got one problem. Big problem. I do not know what to start reading first. And this is a problem I can live with! Hope You only have such problems!

Marry Christmas Everyone!

Library Update (5)

 So last time I wrote the library update world was saner than now. Since the last update I received and bought many books, maybe I will cover them in the next instalment of the library update, for now, I would like to show You something special. I found it today in my mailbox. 

Another Blasphemous Tome from Good Friends of Jackson Elias! What a wonderful reading ahead of me! 

RPG Update (16)

Well, well, well... For the first time ever, my session counter is showing me 100 sessions since the start of this year. This is the first time in my gaming history, that I achieve such a big number. I've got big plans for this year. First I wanted to play in Cyberpunk 2020 for the whole year, but the first lockdown created a vacuum I filled with the session so after the first 4 months of this year I've got enough. For the next two months, I run a couple of Delta Green adventures and played in some, then I've got three beautiful months with Call of Cthulhu in a 1920s setting before I and my group went back to Cyberpunk 2020 again to celebrate this very special for this game year. I've also started playing in some solo RPG that I counted also for this matter, some Viewscream and some Dungeon and Dragons. I've also started the elephant in the room - Horror on the Orient Express. So the year isn't over yet, I've got 100 sessions under my belt and I know it will take another world-spanning disaster to recreate that number. Or maybe not? Don't get me wrong, I hate what happened, not happy about it. But it changes so many things in Our lives. Maybe it changes our hobby also? Maybe online RPGs are the future from now on? It is a more convenient way of playing for some people. I miss the meatspace games, the face to face roleplaying. But for now, we cannot do this. So we play online. For the foreseen future. 100! Wow! One friggin hundred sessions! Maybe for some of You, this is nothing unusual, but for me, this is an achievement, that I never thought I achieve. That's it for now. I'm now prepping the Venezia chapter of Horror on The Orient Express. The in the coming weeks of 2020 I will end my story arc of Cyberpunk - Bielitz City 2020 and then... We will see! Stay strong! Stay safe!

RPG Update (15)

So, I looked at my RPG notebook, where I archive all my sessions, and what I see since my last blog post? We continued our Horror on the Orient Express campaign. This time in Milan. So the PCs had a hard time navigating the labirynthesuqe La Scala building. It all ends in a big fight on Centro di Milano. It was a very stisfaing game. For me, it was some sort of crossing the rubicon. Mainly because my first experience with Horror on the Orient Express as a player comes to an abrupt end just on the stage of La Scala more than twenty years ago. The second was after a year and I was a Keeper of that campaign. Sadly after a steady start, my group dissolve during the summer holidays. We never finish it. And this time we also ended up in Milan. So now. For the third time, we go there, but for the first time, my players went further and now are on the train to Venice. So excited for this new chapter!

During that time I also run one adventure in two sessions of my own corner of Cyberpunk 2020 world. It is time, that everyone is waiting for a computer game, but for us, that game is on for 20 years now! We build this city - Bielitz 2020 from scratch and it is so big now, so rich with stories! For this generation of Player Characters, our older PCs are almost like mystical gods or heroes. It is nice to build something like that together with a group of dedicated players. 

Today I prep for next week's HotOE Venice session. In the afternoon I will check my notes about Cyberpunk, and waiting for the time, that we will once again play face to face. Stay safe out there!

RPG Update (14)

 Since my last post on this blog, we played some amazing games. So let me tell You what we were doing since the 16th of November.

Our Cyberpunk campaign is going in an insane direction. We played in three sessions and the level of madness is going up every time we virtually meet to play. The whole saga of Bielitz City is going strong. In real life, we started creating Bielitz City as a game world some time in 2004 or 2005. Since then we got a couple of story arcs building on the predecessor, which create a cohesive storyline. Some of our oldest Player Characters are now powerful NPCs, some events are part of the history of this city told with hush voices in pubs and bars around the town. The in-game timeline we started in November 2019 (of course we started with that date! everyone knows why! Vangelis music rolling in) and now we are almost a year later with many events that take place at the same time, but with different PCs. So we started playing in Cyberpunk 2020 years earlier when the year 2020 was an abstract for us and now we are playing in here and now. I decided to stay with it retro-future look but it filtered by our cityscapes and some people we knew from way back when. The story continues and cannot wait to obtain Cyberpunk Red, the Polish edition will be published in the second half of 2021. Then maybe we move to a new system or maybe not.  Without deep dive into the rulebook, can't say anything. Hope they upgrade the netrunning mechanics. 

(This is how I felt when I got one netrunner in my group and had to use netrunnig rules)

(This is how it should netrunnig looks like)

Another system we have enjoyed last week was a throwback to the early 2000s. One of my players finds during some clean up an old starter boxed set of D&D 3 ed. So after I little persuasion, he DM for us first micro-adventure. It was fun, fast, and generic as hell! We've got so much fun. Especially we do not play in fantasy systems very often. So it was a nice change of pace for us. Maybe next week we will see another installment of adventures in fantasyland!

(Anybody remembers this little guy?)

At last, we meet up for another session of Horror on the Orient Express. This time the action was set in the train between Lozanna and Milan. Big reveals from two of the PCs about their true identity were the highpoint of this session. Other players were shocked - their characters don't know anything yet. But they don't know what I prepared for them! Ah yes! The lovely secrets! 

(The train is on schedule)

So as You can see we are making good progress on all fronts. Cannot wait to see what the future brings. Stay safe out there!

RPG Update (13)

 The crazy year 2020 is coming to an end. But we not stopping with RPGs! Last two weeks I've run 4 Cyberpunk adventures in an arc that somehow created itself from loosely notes.  Bielitz City is a neverending place of dark bargains and murders. So my players are sailing in this sea of madness, creating their own fate in a way undreamed of their GM - me. When some of us waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 to arrive our group spends 42 hours in our own Cyberpunk world and counting! Only since 2020 starts. With publishing the new Cyberpunk Red rulebook, some new flames will ignite for Our tabletop gaming. Have a great week and stay safe!

RPG Update (12)

Since my last post, We played many games. But unfortunately, I've got new work hours and they are killing my desire to write something here. Today is the first day with relatively more free time.  So I've jumped back to this space.

First of all, we played in 5 sessions of Our Cyberpunk corner of the Earth - Bielitz City 2020. This is Our most successful campaign. We've got always a minimum of 3 players. But mostly 4 or even 5. The story is my own and its pacing is slow but steady.  Cannot wait for the
next session!

Since the last post, we played in 2 sessions of Horror on the Orient Express. Players in this pulp campaign just exit dreaming Lozanne and now are going to board the train. Next stop Mediolan! Cannot wait to play the next session also. Almost 20 years ago this was the last stop for the earlier group. 

For Hell-o-ween, as we called it, we played in Viewscream RPG. This time with 6 players, but one of them was a ghost. The scenario was for five players but we modified it a little bit. It was spooky to the end, but all the players were happy after the session.

Depending on when the lockdown occurs in my country we will see what happens next. Stay safe, stay strong everybody!