RPG Update (47)

 The fifth and not the last level was my first brush with AI-generated art. I've already talked about it in my other blog post. I've got zero skills in drawing, so an opportunity to write something I see in my mind and receive it or something similar for my own use is somewhat wonderful. It also enhances the vibe of the book. Of course, it must be used only for my home games, nothing except that.  

RPG Update (44)

Last evening I had got rare occasion to run a game and play in two others. Everything in real life setting, so actually a rare occurrence. We meet up, as usual sometime near Halloween and play in couple of games. The whole thing took us about 6 hours, so everyone got about an hour and a half to two hours of game time.

I've run the first game of the evening Delta Green RPG, but I used Scott's Dorward Unland scenario from Fear's Little Sharp Needles from Stygian Fox. The game went great, there was lots of losing sanity, and very atmospheric from the start. I tell my players that they should save those pregens for later. These should be secondary characters for my upcoming (hopefully) Impossible Lanscapees campaign. There were some great scenes in this adventure and is easy to combine with the author of the campaign visions of King in Yellow Mythos.

The second game was the Alien RPG. Scenario from the rulebook. We played a second time in this adventure, but nevertheless, it was a nice and chilling game. Especially the secret agendas of every player shines in this one. The end was bloody but satisfying. My character pulls it off. As the only one. I played Singleton, so whoever plays in it, knows what it's all about.

The third game was Warhammer 40k BRP hack. We played as a Deathwatch team. We boarded the space hulk and started to search for long lost relic. It was a more crunchy game, but the climate was dense and moody. We also enjoy it.

Overall it was a pleasant evening spent with friends. We cannot believe at the end that time flies so quickly when You have fun.

RPG Update (39)

During waiting for more favorable times for the game of Blade Runners RPG Electric Dreams in Meat Space, just for fun and for learning mechanics with one on one game, I've created from tables in the rulebook little scenario, set just after the Stress test of Fin Anderson. In the meantime, I've also surfed the net in search of inspiration and more case files. In that search, I found Blade Runner RPG Discord it is a place with many great resources for that game. In one particular insane idea I found their Deckard badge and using Ms Paint Foo I decided to make for my characters also one. So here are they:

Meg's badge.

Fin Anderson's badge

Spade's badge.

All three of them. Nothing fancy. A little Paint, a color printer, and a laminator.

Heroes of Rura-Tonga (8)

Things are moving behind the scenes. Even if I’m prepping for fighting Mythos in my Delta Green game or taking spice for some visions of the future in my next Dune game or even looking at neon-soaked streets of Los Angeles 2037, my mind always has a little corner of Pulp inside. So when I’ve got the time I’ve always come back to my now long-prepping Heroes of Rura-Tonga campaign.

One of my biggest ventures during this long process was creating cool NPCs. Because they will be as important as scenarios for my Wife’s alone pulp hero. Also, I wanted to up the game since my last great Pulp Campaign – Pulp Egypt (also by Peter Schweighofer). So I’ve used investigator passports from the Drive-thru, some Google, and Ms Paint Foo, and created those beauties. So here they are. Residents and guests of Rura-Tonga in  no particular order: 

My Youngling leaves fingerprints everywhere! 

Another point in prepping this campaign is now done. Up to the next one - Villains!

RPG Update (38)

After my first exposure to Free League Year Zero Engine in the Alien RPG game, I’ve created characters for my Blade Runner RPG game. My wife also created a character for her, and I’ve decided to run a little stress test. Also for the first time I’ve used AI graphics for player characters and NPCs. For someone who has zero skill in painting/sketching and limited time, this is a very useful tool. I do not imagine replacing real-life artists in RPG books with AI, but for me, it is as I said before very useful. I must say, that creating Blade Runner PC is very satisfying and the characters are very nicely detailed after the whole process.

I was very interested in chase mechanics, especially by foot and with spinners. So I’ve created a little micro scenario, called the Stress Test of Fin Anderson, to try those rules. Last evening I’ve run it and tried those mechanics. This is simple and nicely done. Some questions that arose during that game were quickly answered after a second reading of the rulebook. Cannot wait for a time, when I will be able to run Electric Dreams for my players in meat space. Those handouts must be used in real life. In the meantime I will create another adventure, using creator at the end of the rulebook. The idea for that scenario came to me during reading the book.

So what's next? Hope to run Delta Green, hope to run Blade Runner, and play in Alien. As always life will change that plan, but who can say, that I cannot dream? Here are Our PCs:

Fin Anderson - My Wife's character.

Spade - my first character, also an old-school Blade Runner, friend of Marlow from the Blade Runner Black Lotus animated series.

Meg - my second character, N9, partner of Spade. Only one year in the force. Beautiful and deadly.

RPG Update (37)

This year is somewhat of an era of experimentation for me. Since January, I’ve run Dune RPG, and a couple of days ago, I played (At last!) in Alien. RPG. One of my Friends runs an adventure from Rulebook, Hope’s Last Day. I was one of three players. We got pre-gen characters, I chose Holroyd – an android living on LV-426. Here we end my ramblings without spoilers.

 Beware of spoilers below!

 

Our adventure was quick and fun. We played for about an hour and a half. We ignored all the cool stuff, found the card (key), and went straight to the shuttle. Inside the shuttle, there were a couple of surprises, not only with xenomorphs but also with the hidden agendas of other players... The whole thing ended with TPK. We weren’t disappointed. We ask for another run of this scenario, but this time with new characters, and we start this scenario on the other side of Headley Hope. Cannot wait to go back to this place. 

Searching for deeper meanings

After the last session and my first foray into a bit of sidequest of Sins of My Youth from Oscar Rios brilliant horrific mind, I've started to search for other such little seeds of horror. After some time, I found The Two-Minute Horror by Dennis Detwiller. Some are on his Patreon page, and one is in the Black Sites book. So now I've printed them and just started reading. There will be great downtime additions to everyday home scenes for my players... 

Last things last

Spoilers ahead!

Yesterday I Handled Last Thing Last by Dan Harms. It was a nice little session. I've got two experienced players and one newbie not only to Delta Green but to RPG as a whole. It was a nice start for him.  He chooses to be a CDC scientist so for the first time in many, many years I've got someone other than PCs from alphabet soup. I've prepped maps found on some Reddit thread:

Clyde's apartment

Clyde's cabin in the woods.

I've used some suggestions from Seth's Skorkowsky video about that scenario:

But my biggest surprise was, that my players didn't search that in the first place that cabin, but went straight to the septic tank. Where do they meet with Marlene. You can imagine what was like...

They all survived, but not intact. They all like the scenario. Also, they said that next month we should play again. This is the best recommendation for me, that I did something right. Right?

First things first...

Once again I'm starting with my notes for that particular adventure. I've run it a couple of years ago, so writing new notes helps me once again remember what is all about. The biggest change is that after prepping the main plot, I'm going to write some more plots for each of the Agents. I will randomly select who will have what in terms of these stories. One of them will be Sins of My Youth from Fear's Sharp Little Needels. The other will be from fan fic I think, that I encounter on the official DG page with some strange handler, that in reality is the Yithian agent. The third I didn't decide yet. This time this group will be Cowboys, so maybe the third one will be a Mole from the official DG? We will see n the coming days. Lots of work, but this is work that I like. Stay tuned...

 

Here we go again...

So it was only apparent calm on my DG front. Behind the scenes, I was looking for a new scenario. My choice was obvious, after some time o thinking. There was only one choice. Last things last. Now I'm searching the internet for some handouts and music. But about that, I will write in my next post.

Aside from neverending prepping, I'm also reading The Madness of Cthulhu. Very entertaining book. Cannot say which story is the best yet.

Also, I'm taking part in this initiative fronArc Dream:

This is my answer:

Plotting again...

 Our next session will be in March, so I've got more time to prepare myself for another session. This time there will be three players, and one of them will be a first-time player so I must find some nice/horrible little scenario to run for them. Also, I must remember that two original characters have to be introduced yet to DG/Program. So Once more I'm scanning books from Stygian Fox and scenarios from Denni Detwiller Patreon for one of them to be a bridge between normal investigation and first Opera. So many possibilities. My brain hurts...

Post battle report

Yesterday was a blast. My two old players make up characters. One was an FBI agent second was Sog/Sag CIA operative. They both went into the unknown with no intel, this was their first brush with unnatural. They lived thru it, and in the end, made contact with someone from a conspiracy. Nothing was said yet about allegiance to the official Program or the Outlaws. Also, they are just begging their trial period of observation from higher-ups in the conspiracy. So this is for now 

Already thinking about my next adventure. Probably there will be more players, so I'm thinking maybe Last Things Last will be a suitable beginner scenario for them, or maybe something else? Could someone point me in another direction?

The game takes us about 15 minutes to create characters and then almost two hours of running the adventure. This was my first real gaming since... Don't even remember when? Also, first time running an adventure in meat space for a long time. All went good. This is the most important thing. Everyone has fun. So my mission here, for now, is complete. Thanks to Matt Sanderson for the great scenario and to Stygian Fox for their superb book.

 

Prep... Wait! Today is the day!

So today is the day that I will run my first adventure in meat space for a long, long time. I'm a little rusty but hope that everyone will have fun. My bag is ready, the only change a made to the setup from the photo is the Handler Screen I almost forgot that I bought it a couple of years ago.  

Prepping... Day 5

So today I went to my local Copy Point and printed out one map that is available for Pulvis et Umbra Sumus scenario. It will be a good handout for players. Also, I'm planning to gather up everything for tomorrow evening, but I will do it in the next post. For now, I must read my notes once again. 

Dices are for scale. 

Prepping... Day 4

So today I'm using my own printer and some glue to make this NPCs portraits. I think they look great in black and white. I'm hoping to use them in the future in another run of this scenario for another group. Nothing to add more, no more time for RPGs today...

Prepping... Day 3

Today I'm focusing on music. I like to have some ambient sounds in the background during play but nothing to distract players. So my go-to pages are freesound.org and YouTube of course. I need some ambient sounds for the hotel scene, and the strange happenings at the end are an adventure. Maybe some car crash sound for one of the events and something more? We will see. I do not want to tell more without spoiling the scenario. But here are some of my finds in no particular order:  

For hotel restaurant scene.

Panic in the city scene.

Otherworld places.

Airport scene.

Car ride scene.

Car crash.

Prepping... Day 2

Today I've decided to write my notes as You can see in the pictures below. In this regard, I'm an analog guy. I always read the scenario for the first time, then after deciding that I will run it, always read for the second time and make my notes. If there is a time gap between reading, taking notes, and running the game I mostly read the scenario for the third time and notes also. This is of course in the case of one-shots or separate scenarios. The campaign is another whole different story. 

Prepping... Day 1

I've started with NPCs. For me, the most important is to show my players them. So I went on This Person Does Not Exist and generated all of them. With some MSPaint magic, I will show them as Polaroid photos to my players. Here You have my NPCs for Pulvis et Umbra Sumus.

Dennis Carter

Joseph Chalmers

Laura Carter

Louise Wright

Ophelia Atwood

Change of plans...

Only some people can make it to our initial session. I decided to change my plans a little bit. I first planned to run Last Things Last, but after quickly making characters I will run Pulvis et Umbra Sumus from Fear's Little Sharp Needles, by Matt Sanderson. This is a good scenario for starting a workgroup of DG agents. I will do the conversion from Call of Cthulhu to Delta Green mechanics on the fly. Cannot wait to put those new characters in that grinder to dust...

Do You Like Our Owl?

At last, I've received Blade Runner RPG from Free League Publishing. In my last letter to one of my correspondents, I wrote that I do not want new systems because I do not want to learn new mechanics. Live and my Friends corrected my way of thinking. Now I have to learn not one but two new rules systems. Dune and Blade Runner. It's I'll be challenging but also so much fun! In my other news, I'm finishing NPCs for the Heroes of Rura-Tonga campaign and going in two limbo with that project for now. I'm going back at the start o the summer months.

Here is Our owl... It isn't artificial or even an owl...

Here is Starter Set in all its glory.

Here is the rulebook and GM screen.