Green Lantern Movie??!!!!

I Sooo hope this is true! You guys know from my blog I'm a big Green Lantern and Sci Fi fan, this would rock!  Here is some alleged concept art for the movie check out those waay cool Green Lantern Aliens! I sure hope they do this and they go full-blown space opera with it!

Info via Nerd City.

Gamma World for D&D 4E

 Due to work, I was a bit behind on the announcement and Carl over on the Mutagenic Substance gives some good details, but apparently WotC is going to do Gamma World with the 4E rules system. I must admit I'm conflicted by this.  I'm happy to hear that Gamma World is still going to be supported, but as I've posted elsewhere in this blog I'm not a fan of 4E.  BUT if it brings some new mutant blood into the Post-Apocalyptic gaming community that is a good thing.  I'm not keen on the random card thing at all (.50 cents per card!!!!), and having a variable "mutation of the day" could be a bit odd, (yesterday you had Death Field Generation, today you have Big Green Floppy Feet instead!  ???), I'll reserve my final judgement on this until I learn more about the product, but if this is some attempt by WotC to get me to join DDI with it's monthly fees then its No Deal. Still it's cool that it will be a boxed set, and they are reworking Famine-in-Fargo (an awesome module).  Having Gamma World options for D&D (and vice versa) goes back to the games AD&D roots (remember those conversion tables in the original AD&D DMG?).  We'll see. In the meantime I've still got Mutant Future and continue to have a blast with it!

Psionics for X-plorers!

Over on the X-plorers Yahoo Group, David Bezio has posted some official rules for psionics for your X-plorers games, nothing too over the top (in keeping with the overall feel of X-plorers), so if you've been wanting a bit of psi in your Galatic Explorations check it out! Also the awesome folks over at Brave Halfling Publishing are going to be supporting and releasing new stuff for the X-plorers game! How cool is that!!

Eagle-Wolf of Blackened Steel

I continue to have a blast with The Random Esoteric Creature Generator. This is a great product of the OSR movement. Thawing out from my icy tree work this morning, I sat down and rolled up another critter. I stuck with whatever I rolled and I'm again quite pleased with what turned out.

So I present the:
  Eagle-Wolf of Blackened Steel

No. Enc. 1 (possibly 1d4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 130'(50)
Armor Class: -2 (Yes, that is a NEGATIVE 2!)
Hit Dice: 7
Attacks: 3 (2 Talons, 1 Beak attack)
Damage : 1d8+1/1d8+1, 1d10
Save : L 4
Morale : 9
Hoard Class : None
Special Defenses: Metallic hide, feathers & fur (AC adjustment is already factored in), Immune to Fire (no damage from fire attacks).
     These large quadrupeds are a mixture of eagle and wolf; they have the head, feathers and talons of an eagle with the body of a wolf. Their skin, feathers and fur is like blackened steel, making them extremely difficult to attack effectively. In addition they are completely immune to fire. Like eagles they are egg-layers.
     I can see this beast making a really nasty mount for a tough NPC. If the Mutant Lord/DM wanted to be really vicious he (or she) could have a small elite unit mounted on these creatures. Or if you didn't want to go the mount route, just have it as a unique beast out wandering the wastes, the party might have some hi-tech weapons/magic items, but they have to penetrate it's high AC first!

Picture is from the Primal Fear album cover Nuclear Fire, seemed to be quite appropriate. Note the Eagle-Wolf does not have wings.

Simian Saturday

We just went through an Ice Storm last night, so I'm calling upon T-Rex the Apexplorer in his Artic Gear to come help me out today...

Luckily I had a Tree Service trim back and safety cut all of my trees a couple of weeks ago, otherwise I'm sure the damage would have been worse.  We lost phone service (but not power) briefly last night but that's back now, not sure how other areas fared.

I recently found the action figure line of Apexplorers by Winson Creation, while they cost more than I can afford $199!!! Wouldn't it have been cool to have something like this to use against my original G.I. Joes (you know the big bearded ones!) back in the day.

Well let me go fire up the chainsaw and get to work, to bad I don't have a team of Apexplorers to help me this morning!  : )

It Was a Three-Eyed, Blurry, Wooly Scaly Hippo err...yeah that's it!

Tonight I got to sit down for a bit and read through some of my new gaming books. In reading my copy of The Random Esoteric Creature Generator I knew immediately I needed to get out my dice and get busy creating a beastie! Within minutes I had a handle on how the simple yet quite innovative system worked and I rolled up my beast!

The 3-eyed Wooly (phasic) Hippotasauroid!
Whoo Hoo!
No. Enc. 1 (believed to be a unique creature)
Alignment : Neutral
Movement : 120'(40) Swim 120' (40')
Armor Class : 0 (wooly fur over scales) + Blurred (see below)
Hit Dice : 9
Attacks : 3 (Bash x2, Bite)
Damage : 1d8 (Bashing Attack), 1d10 (Fearsome Bite)
Save : L9
Morale : 10
Hoard Class : XX
Special Defenses: "Blurred"- (out of sync w/physical dimension) the first attack against the beast always misses (this also gives an AC bonus and a Save bonus, already factored in). Multiple eyes (due to this it is surprised only on a 1 in 6).

Appearance : These large hippo beasts are covered in a thick wooly fur not unlike that of an ancient wooly mammoth, in addition to their fur they have a thick scaly hide. They have three eyes and a massive toothy maw.

Further Description: The beasts are quite territorial as well as hungry and will devour most anything they can catch. They often seem able to sense the weakest member of a party (Per the DM's screw with the players skill) and will go after that party member first. Their swimming rate allows them to quickly move up under boats, capsizing them and eating the floundering adventurers that are splashing about in the water. To add to their fearsomeness they are constantly under a blurred effect making it hard to even hit them in combat. Then if you actually hit them, you've got to get through their tough scaly, wooly hide.
    
This really was the first beast I rolled up, with little variation from the dice; I think I only rerolled one or two things just because they didn't make sense, the rest I kept. I think it took me maybe 15-20 minutes to work up this beast (mind you I make up a lot of beasts anyways so your mileage may vary). It actually took me longer to try to draw the darn thing, and I still hate my drawing, which is why you don't get a good look. Ha!
     Anyways, I think this critter is waay cool! I would never have come up with such a creature by myself. A Wooly Displaced Three-Eyed Scaley Hippo Beast! I mean that's just priceless. This would work for Labyrinth Lord (would be a darn tough encounter, although I had control of the HD range), I quickly saw this as a perfect mutant beast for my Mutant Future Campaigns. So I upped the Hit Dice to make for an appropriate challenge. I've mentioned in earlier posts that I want more variety amongst my mutants, especially beasts and such. This is perfect for that! While the book actually seems to be designed for fantasy games, you can see it works just fine for Mutant Future games. Also this creature would be perfect for an Encounter Critical game; I "borrowed" the phasic term from that game actually. If I toned it down a bit (or not) I could even see using this as a fearsome alien encounter in X-plorers, I just hope the X-plorers brought plenty of heavy weapons!
Anyways in case you can't tell, I really like this product!

*1/29/10 Update* Super Special Thanks to Eli!!

from the I See Lead People blog, after reading my initial post about this beast, he was kind enough to draw it and send it to me!  Thanks Buddy!  Eli said after "initially reading the description of the beast it would make a cool Hyborian-styled god. A huge, hulking, hairy, scaley hippo god with a third eye!" I gotta agree.  

Latest Acquisitions...

I had some credit at Noble Knight Games that was burning a hole in my pocket so to speak.  I'd been trying to hold off and get the Dungeon Alphabet with it, that I've heard so many great things about, but they can't seem to get it in stock.  Sooo I picked up a few other items.  Featured above is what arrived today from my order.  First in the top left is a very old Sci Fi product put out by Phoenix Games, it called Spacefarers Guide to Alien Races I'll be using this as inspiration for my X-plorers games, it has conversion notes to Traveller and other old systems (the product came out in '79), next to it is a great book The Random Esoteric Creature Generator, I really like this product and can't wait to use it to make up some interesting critters! Last but not least is the latest Edition of Labyrinth Lord. Nicely done, and just all manner of OSR coolness.
Now to just find the time to make use of some of these products. *sigh*

Gameroom Development Continues! The Minimates

Work has kept me pretty busy lately.  I did have time to dig my Minimates out of storage and display them in my Game Room. Also on the right end are some of my Pheydens from Onell Design.

Here's another view of them:

 I've had these for a bit, but they've been sitting in storage.  I have a few more but they are on my desk in my office at work.  Yes, my co-workers think I'm a bit "different".

Word Verification Wednesday - Ormsyn

Ormsyn
No. Enc. : 1 (1d4)
Alignment : Chaotic
Movement : Swim 90'(30') 10'(3')
Armor Class : 7
Hit Dice : 4
Attacks : 1 (Electrical Shock, Bite)
Damage : 3d6, 1d4
Save : L6
Morale : 8
Hoard Class : None (although they may use "junk" to lure victims into a trap)
Mutations: Dermal Poison Slime (class 11 paralysis 2d6 rds), Energy Retaining Cell Structure, Parasitic Control, Regenerative Capability

     The horrible Ormsyn is a form of intelligent mutant fish that can survive on land for short periods. They are particularly cruel creatures and enjoy causing pain and suffering amongst land dwelling humanoids (pure strain humans in particular). Villages located near Ormsyn waters, have many legends about the Ormsyn (many are true), some villages have been so terrorized by the fiendish fish that they have relocated further inland to escape the range of these mutant monsters. Swimmers in Ormsyn waters are particularly at risk, they will swim up and attempt to brush against a swimmer trying to paralyze them with their contact poison, they will then watch with glee as the swimmer drowns, unable to swim to the surface. They may also try to combine attacks against an opponent attempting to poison, bite and unleash an electrical discharge all at once. If they feel comfortable and have time (sneaking into a hut at night while their victim is asleep) they will attempt to latch onto their victim and gain parasitic control then force the victim to go on a killing spree! If injured they will attempt to reach the nearest water source to escape using their Regenerative powers to strike again another day when least expected.

The Quest for more Mutations!

Real X Head Mutant Chaos : Chaos Man by Real X Head

     As you all can probably tell, I'm a big fan of Mutant Future. BUT like most any randomly generated mutation table based game, it doesn't have enough mutations.  I find that pretty quickly when generating mutant beasts and especially NPC's some of the same mutations show up.  Well that just won't do.
I like alot of variety and strangeness in my mutants, and when they start looking alike I think the game loses some of its coolness.   In my quest for more mutations I came across this Table updated from an old rulebook from "the game that shall not be named".  You will need to do some tweaking to covert some of your rolls to Mutant Future but it should give you some pretty wild mutants! (Special thanks to SlackRatchet for making this available!).
Good Gaming! -B

Rocket Raccoon! (for the X-plorers RPG)

As I mentioned earlier, my copy of the X-plorers RPG came in the mail today. So as a little experiment I thought I'd see if I could stat up one of my favorite characters from a great comic series I've mentioned; Guardians of the Galaxy.

                           So without further ado I present:
                                     Rocket Raccoon

AGI 17 +2 Saves, Class: Soldier (multi-classed w/ Piloting skill)
INT 14 +1 Saves Level: 8/4
PHY 11 +0 Saves, To Hit/Dmg Melee, HP Race: Raccoon!
PRE 16 +1 Saves
Basic Hit Bonus +5 (+7 Ranged, +8 Ranged Heavy Weapons)
Saving Throw 8+
Hit Points: 38
Armor Class: 15

Racial Abilities: Acute Senses (Hearing,Vision) Any saving throw or skill check that involves either sense is at +5, (example listening at a door +5)

Areas of Expertise
Skills
Demolition: 8+
Martial Arts 1d6x2
Survival 6+
Weapon Specialist (Hvy. Weapons +1 to hit & +2 damage, 2 attacks)
Pilot 11+
Equipment
Mesh Suit (looks like regular uniform, AC12), Force Screen (AC +1), Laser Pistol (x2), various grenades, ammo, power cells and other weapons and gear depending on the needs of the mission. In the past he was known to wear a pair of rocket skates.

He is an accomplished starship pilot, an excellent marksman with the two laser pistols he carries as well as having an affinity for heavy weapons. He's also an excellent military tactician and leader.

 Please note even though I gave him several class levels, the power level of X-plorers is lower than that of Mutant Future.  For a Mutant Future character he'd have more hit points and his heightened senses would be more impacting. + I'd probaby make give him Martial Affinity. Overall I'm quite pleased with the X-plorers system.  -B

Latest Acquisitions...

When I got home I found my recent order from Lulu had arrived.  X-plorers is a great OSR Sci Fi game that I hope to get to play soon.  You can read Grognadia's review of it HERE.

Major Score at the Goodwill Store!

Was out running errands all day, happened to be by the local Goodwill/Thrift Store so I zipped in.  Boy am I glad I did! Some great books for $1-2 bucks a piece! Ya can't beat that!

(Super) Simian Saturday!!!

     Simians...check!...Green Lantern...check!...Sci Fi...Check!  *Nuff Said!*

Thundercat's Thursday over on A Mutant's Journal Blog

My old Gamma Buddy Joe has started up a new feature over on his  Mutant's Journal blog;  Thundercats Thursday!  This weeks write-up is the lovely Cheetara!  Check it out!  Tell him Brutorz Bill sent ya!
                                     Thundercats HOOOOO!

Green Lantern Is Cool!

I recently was talking to my buddy Eli about Green Lantern and mentioned the above comic that I got awhile back to him.  It's basically a Who's Who on the Green Lantern Corps that was put out by D.C. a couple of years ago.  He didn't know about it, so I thought I'd mention it to any of you good people who might be Green Lantern fans.  It has brief write-ups on over 200 Lanterns including a picture and their first appearance info.  I've apparently missed out on some cool GLC storylines over the years.  Guess I'm gonna have to track down some of these in Trade Paperback.  I only know of the one issue like this that they did, so if you know of a follow-up please let me know.

Guardians of the Galaxy

I wanted to comment on a Sci-Fi comic series put out by Marvel Comics that I've been reading, I kinda got out of the comics scene (as mentioned in another post) due to cost and such but this series has drawn me back.  The series is the new Guardians of the Galaxy.  I've been enjoying the heck out of it! It has a great cast (yes that's Rocket Raccoon on the cover!), and the story-line has been quite enjoyable.  You can get the series in Trade Paperback, so you don't have to try and get the back issues, quite often a pain if you don't have a local comic shop.  Anyways if  your looking for a good Sci-Fi comic series check it out.  As I continue to be in full-blown Sci-Fi mode mode these days it's giving me lots of inspiration for some X-plorers adventures.

Word Verification Wednesday ; Parahowl

Parahowl


No. Enc.: 1d8 (2d6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Fly 150'(50')
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: Bite or Shriek
Damage: 1d3 or 1d4 sonic damage
Save: L2
Morale: 6
Hoard Class: None
Mutations: Shriek, Immunity (Sonic Attacks), Increased Dexterity

These mutant monkey birds inhabit warmer forested areas and are considered to be a nuisance to anyone within their vicinity. Woe be to a traveler that inadvertently stumbles upon a group of them, they will unleash their sonic attack on the interloper, no doubt deafening them at least temporarily and will alert any nearby predators that “lunch is on the way!”

Gameroom Continued!

More shots of the shelf unit my wife got for me.  My Dragon Mags are on top along with some Heroes Unlimited books. To the right are the remians of my once Mighty Mego Army.

All that's left of my original Mego Forces, my little brother destroyed most of my collection while I was off at college.  Oh well. I've still got these guys! My grandfather would play with these guys with me for hours and hours!  He loved being The Thing!  Glad I still have that figure, great memories!

 Here's a different wall-shot of the gameroom, I've added a few more items.  The miniature shelf was hand made by my uncle, at one time it was big enough to hold my entire miniature collection. I've expanded a bit over the years.  The comics on the wall are my original G.I. Joe comic, X-men issue where Wolverine and Sabretooth fought for the first time, top comic is the X-men issue where Phoenix dies (my other grandfather bought that one for me at the local drug store, remember when you could get comics most anywhere, for dirt cheap??). Also I have a map of the Isle of Dread, there's a Campaign map of Aereth the Goodman Games setting we played alot of C&C and 3.5 in back in the day.  The Darth Vader poster is from when my son treated me to Star Wars on Father's Day (he even paid for it), you can see Green Lantern on guard duty ready to use his ring on any intruders that try to sneak into the lair!

Success! Gameroom Work in progress...

My wife got this shelf unit for me for Free!  How cool is that?!  I should have taken a "before" picture.  When she first brought it home I wasn't so sure about it. It was covered with cobwebs, dirt and had alot of loose pieces and stuff.  After a little pledge, alot of cleaner and some hammering, I now have the perfect shelf for my books.

Latest Acquisitions...

Got in my recent order from Lulu the other day (should have ordered more stuff *sigh*),

Fight On #7 does indeed have wandering harlot tables for Mutant Future!

I've only been able to read a little bit of it but I like Savage Swords of Athanor.

Some recent bargain book finds! Can't wait to reread the Dorsai series!

Now to get some more shelves...

Simian Saturday

Daniel Boone meets Planet of the Apes with Mutants!

Oh Yeah!

Reflections on gaming...

    I recently dropped out of Co-DMing/playing in our Pathfinder group.  My work and very soon school schedule is just not cooperating with hobby fun type stuff.  I've missed too many sessions to have a good handle on what's going on to resume DMing it, and I need to be able to attend more regularly as a player to keep up with everything and be an effective team member, so I opted out. I may be able to run some Mutant Future one shots or maybe even an Encounter Critical game at the FLGS some time, but that's not even really an option right now.   Fortunately I have this blog and you good people to help me get some semblance of a gaming fix.
     I recently posted that I was in a major Sci-Fi mode. As a result of that post Clovis has sent me an interesting Sci Fi RPG called Red Planet that I've been looking at, it is tied into a certain ERB series of books and is also tied in with Bronze Age Miniatures (love those Mutant Apes!!!).  Throughout the game are excellent quotes from the series to "get you in the right mindset".  Clovis has a definate love of the ERB Barsoom series and works hard to capture the setting. 
     In that same post, the X-plorers RPG was also mentioned.  In my comments I said X-plorers was a little too basic for me. After I posted that I got to thinking about it.  I realized I had a stack of D20 Modern/Future rulebooks (including Dawning Star, Darwin's World, Gamma World) that I have hardly used because for me it takes to darn long to work up stat blocks for NPC's, beasties and such.  I'd much rather spend my prep time working on a Campaign rather than stat blocks. So why did I post that I needed more rules when in the games I already owned that had more rules I didn't play them?? HMMM....Then I noticed over on the Sword +1 blog that Mike D. is working on a project that greatly expands on the X-plorers game, not really adding more rules mind you but more weapons, gear and aliens.  Reading up on what he is working on got me to thinking, dangerous I know, that I needed to take a second look at X-plorers.  With my limited time to work on stuff and my renewed and ever-growing appreciation for OSR-type games, I find myself quite intrigued by Mike D.'s work and am anxious to see more.  Heck, I may even see about working up some stuff myself.  ; )
-Good Gaming

Word Verification Wednesday - Dizatere

Dizatere (aka Dune Dogs)
No. Enc. : 2d4 (2d6)
Alignment : Chaotic
Movement : 150'(50')
Armor Class : 5
Hit Dice : 4
Attacks : 3 (2 claws, 1 bite, blood sucking)
Damage : 1d8/1d8, 1d6+1, 1d6
Save : L3
Morale : 9
Hoard Class : None
Mutations: Nocturnal, Toxic Weapon (Tongue, Paralysis 1d6 rds.), Blindness, Echolocation, Increased Hearing.

     The Dizatere is a freakish looking mutant beast, possibly a heavily mutated dog or maybe it was once a lizard or… anyway the Dizatere rove the dune wastes in (thankfully usually small) packs, hunting down anything that they can catch, and may the ancients help anyone who crosses their path. There have been reports of packs bringing down Ostragnon and even larger prey. They are covered in a tough scaly purplish hide that has nasty bone spurs in various locations throughout their body (anyone grappling a dizatere takes 1d4 damage per round, course who would try to "hug" such a best anyway), They have two sets of teeth an outer front facing set for ripping and tearing and a more "traditional" set for …well..eating, ripping, tearing, chewing etc… They also have vicious claws that leave lovely beauty marks on the flesh of their victims, as well as, permitting the beasts to climb quite quickly over difficult terrain. Even more frightening is their tongue it is in fact a hollow tube that when inserted in its prey will draw forth the victim's blood. Their tongue has a paralytic poison that will paralyze their prey (each round of sucking blood inflicts 1d6 hp damage to the victim and restores the same amount to the Dizatere). Given the scarce resources (food) in the wastes they have evolved to let nothing go to waste, they will try to immobilize their prey with their poisonous tonge, and then suck out all the blood from the body, soon followed by a wild orgy of ripping, eating and tearing.
     Something that to some makes them even more frightening is the fact that they are blind. On a dark night out in the wastes, it is a terrifying experience to hear the eerie sonar cries of the hunting packs of Dizatere roving the sandy dunes looking for prey.

Resources for Mutant Future; The Savage Earth

I was browsing the 'net and stumbled across this site  The Savage Earth

It's a P.A. Campaign using the Hero System, looks pretty interesting.  The setting mixes in a good bit of magic, which might not appeal to everyone, but there is some great art on the site, and it's definately worth a look for some inspiration for your games.  Check it out!

My Gameroom, a work in progress...

 I posted a few pictures of my Gameroom awhile back, I cleaned it up a little bit and added a few things since then.  It still is a long way from where I want it to be, but I'm quite pleased with it thus far.  I think my wife rocks for being cool with me converting a whole room over to geeky stuff. Course she's a gamer too!

My Sci Fi/Fantasy novel collection. Dang I need some shelves.

My RPG books, well some of them anyways

Pretty Eclectic!

Resources for Mutant Future; JAGS: Have-Not

 I recently came across someone mentioning a Post Apocalyptic RPG that I had not heard of called JAGS: Have-Not.  Of course I immediately started looking for it and was quite pleased to find out that the current version of it is FREE! How cool is that?!  I've had a few emails with Marco Chacon who is the game's author, he informed me that a newer version of the JAGS System is in the works and will be available at some point, hopefully even in a print format.
 I found a fairly lengthy review of the game over on RPG.NET. So rather than me spend alot of time on a lengthy write-up/review, that someone else has already done a good job of doing how about I just send you a link and let you look at the game for yourself.  JAGS: HAve-Not.

Ratsputin (NPC Villain for Mutant Future)

 Over on the Under a Blood Red Sky blog, Spielmeister recently posted a session wherein all kinds of Kirbyesque coolness was going on.  Seems like some Rat-men have taken over a mine that the party seeks to recapture, the party has even allied with some mutant felines on a Thundarresqe ship! Well of course being concerned about the welfare of the poor helpless rat-men I thought I'd work up one of them as an NPC villain to help give the poor little ratties a chance.

Ratsputin (Tech-Seer of the Rat-men)

Str: 9 Dex: 16        Mutant Animal: Rat
Con: 13 Int: 17      Alignment: Chaotic
Will: 17 Cha: 14    AC: 2 Hit Points: 66
Level : 2 (bonus attack, he gets 2 attacks pr rd)  Bite Attack: 1d4
Mutations: Increased Touch (+10% to tech rolls), Increased Dexterity, Albinism, Increased Willpower (+10% tech rolls), Precognition, Quick Mind (+30% tech rolls) (+60% on all tech rolls!!)

Weapons & Gear: Vibro Dagger, Gas Mask, Force Screen Belt, Blood Agent Grenade (x3), Studded Leather Armor, Gauss Machine Pistol. Extra ammo and power cells.  May have other hi-tech gear depending on the needs of the Mutant Lord.

     Ratsputin is a nasty, cunning and vicious rat- man, and those are his good qualities. While other members of his brood were stronger, faster, and tougher than Ratsputin, he was always smarter. Using his precognition ability to stay one step ahead of his enemies and his innate understanding of tech to use and select the best possible loot, has enabled him to worm himself into the position of Tech-Seer for his group. While his fellow rat-men may dislike him, none can deny his uncanny talent with working with and using the ancient weapons and technology of the ancients, which benefits them all.
     Ratsputin is one of the few rat-men that can actually read the writing of the ancients. He has a collection of old newspapers and comic books, although he doesn't quite understand everything he reads and thinks the comic book characters he reads about were actually real beings in the time of the ancients.
     If Ratsputin gets a warning of his impending doom (either from his precog ability or other means), he has no problem quickly donning his gas mask and letting loose with his Blood Agent Grenades, not caring if his fellow rat-men get caught in the blast. He will then flee via one of his many previously prepared escape routes, no doubt to get revenge another day.

Based on the D.C. Comic character Ratsputin from the Superboy Comic. No Copyright infringement is intended.

Simian Saturday

Well Jeff's Gameblog has Shatnerday, so I thought I'd start up Simian Saturday.  In case you all hadn't figured it out I'm a big fan of apes in comics, movies and fiction!  Thought the above comic cover might inspire your Mutant Future (or Encounter Critical) Campaigns.
Good Gaming -B

Dang it's Cold!!! Penguinis the Pugnacious (NPC for Mutant Future)

 I live in the Southern United States, and while I can handle the cold, (we get hot summers and cold winters).  It's darn cold outside.  I think it is around 0 degrees outside right now, and the wind chill is putting it below zero! I know you guys up North of me are experiencing weather in the way below zero category but this is quite unusual for us.  Anyways to "celebrate" the cold I quickly worked up this guy (quickly because I gotta go get back in front of the fireplace!!!).

Penguinis the Pugnacious


Str: 13 Dex: 14 (-1 to AC) Mutant Animal: Penguin
Con: 15 Int: 12 Alignment: Neutral
Will: 11 Cha: 10 AC: 2 Hit Points: 87
Beak Attack: 1d4
Mutations: Night Vision, Increased Constitution, Accumulated Resistance (Cold), Intellectual Affinity (Tinker), Damage Turning, Negative Empathy.
Weapons & Equipment : "Freeze-Dryer" special custom Weapon (can be used as a normal spear 1d6+4 damage, or can fire a blast of freezing cold energy 2d6+4 damage ,150' range, 10 shots per battery), "Artic Blue" special custom Plastic Plate Armor (AC:3, also has a Force Screen generator, the armor does not inhibit swimming), extra batteries.

     Little is known about Penguinis, given his negative empathy defect he tends to keep to himself. He dwells in the Cold Lands, where most beings would rather not visit much less live. He does enjoy a good fight, and when he's not honing his combat skills battling Mutant Polar Bears, he is tinkering around with his weapons and gear to make them better in combat.
Penguinis can swim at his full movement rate. He is quite adept at moving on ice and snow and can hold his breath for extended periods.
If one can overcome his Negative Empathy defect and his overall surliness he could make for a good guide through the Cold Lands.

 Based on the character Peguinis from the Battle Beasts Toy-Line from the 80's.

Word Verification Wednesday- Eyehot

 This one I had a little fun with.  It may not be for everyone, BUT there is a somewhat similar beast already in Mutant Future, so I'm not totally out there.  I've included Encounter Critical stats and info just because.
So without further ado I present the Eyehot!

Eyehot (aka Eyes of Searing aka flying eyes of hot burning death)


     These freakish mutant beasts are thankfully rare and are usually found only in the most remote wasteland areas, they most often lair in old ruins. They appear to be very large flying eyes wreathed in a flame-like aura. What they are exactly is not quite clear, some sages speculate that Eyehots are related to Insectoid Eyes, the Eyehots may in fact be a sub-species of Insectoid Eye, both are flying eye-beasts with a form of eye-based energy attack, although Insectoid Eyes seem to be more vindictive and more intelligent than Eyehots. Others claim they are some form of guardian beasts of the ancients that has run amok, their "gentler" treatment of Pure Strain Humans, almost supports this theory.
     Eyehots are always airborne, either flying about near their lairs (burning stuff) or hovering in place within their lair. There are no reports of them ever being encountered on the ground, and they don't seem to have any means of locomotion other than their psionic flight ability. Anyone that crosses into their territory is attacked, Pure Strain Humans are given a warning "shove" with their telekinetic powers first, if the humans remain in the area, the Eyehots then attack to kill. Mutants, especially those with mental mutations are attacked with a vengeance showing no remorse or mercy using the full power of their mutant heat ray. If an intruder can manage to flee the Eyehot's domain they will not pursue the intruder beyond this boundary. It is usually easy to tell the boundary line of an Eyehot's territory, they tend to burn everything to the ground within this area.
     Telepaths that have tried to communicate with Eyehots and managed to get through their Mental Barrier (and not get burned to death), have only encountered minds of gibberish and random nonsensical thoughts, apparently the thought processes of Eyehots are too alien for comprehension.

Mutant Future Stats:

No. Enc.: 1 (1d4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Fly 120'(40')
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 1
Damage: Heat Ray (4d6 damage, 50' range) also note anyone in direct physical contact with their burning aura must make a save vs. Energy Attack or suffer 2d6 points of heat damage per round of contact, this aura ceases one round after the Eyehot dies.
Save: L6
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None (possibly some treasure within their lair, but they don't deliberately collect treasure).
Mutations: Energy Ray (Heat, 4d6 damage 50' range), Increased Vision, Sensory Deficiency (Deaf), Psionic Flight, Force Screen, Neural Telekinesis, Mental Barrier

Encounter Critical description and stats:

Eyes of Searon
Numbers : 1-4 % in Lair : 98% Size : 3' sphere Move : 12" flying # ATT : 1 ATT: 50% Damage : 2-20 Hit Points : 5-50 Save : 40% Edible: 17% Lurk : 32% $ Value : 120 Special : Heat Ray, Detect Psi Powers, Telekinesis
Description: They appear to be very large flying eyes wreathed in a flame-like aura. What they are exactly is not quite clear; many scholars in God City have debated for some time about their true nature. Legends say that the first Eyes of Searon were created/conjured by Searon, a Pyromaniac Warlock that had a particular hatred for Psi-Witches. Legends also say that he decided he needed to rid Vanth of all Psi-Witches so mounted on the dragon Smug and with a horde of orcs, goblins and a swarm of his "eyes" he attempted to do just that. Psi-Witches still exist, Eyes of Searon, though rare, still exist, the warlock no longer exists…What happened? Well according to Hobling folklore, the Hobling Hero (criminal) J.R. Trollkin realizing Searon's lair was probably unguarded broke into it seeking plunder. While deep inside Searon's Lair he was trying to steal and accidentally broke the arcane device that allowed Searon to control the dragon Smug, the dragon immediately regained its wits and promptly turned around and ate Searon. Searon's horde quickly dispersed.

Habitat: Any remote wilderness area, regions with ruins are preferred. Tend to inhabit dryer areas; little to no vegetation will be found in the immediate area surrounding their lairs. If an intruder can manage to flee the Eye's domain they will not pursue the intruder beyond this boundary. It is usually easy to tell the boundary line of an Eye of Searon's territory, they tend to burn everything to the ground within what they consider to be their domain.

Special Attack: Eyes of Searon have two attack options their primary attack for is a nasty Heat Ray that does 2-20 points of damage. This is their preferred mode of attack against Psi-Witches (Burn the Witch!). There second (and seldom used) attack form is a Telekinetic Repelling Push (damage 1-6), they may use this on human intruders as a form of warning, to try and "push" them out of their domains but if the humans don't leave (within a round or so) they will quickly resort to their heat ray attack.

Special Defenses: Anyone in direct physical contact with their burning aura must make a save or suffer 2-12 points of heat damage per round of contact; this aura ceases one round after the Eye of Searon dies. Eyes of Searon have amazing vision and able to see for three miles, they can also see unusual radiations and auras and can detect mental mutations within a 90' range. It is quite difficult to catch an Eye of Searon by surprise.

70's Sci Fi Coolness!

Cool Retro Old School art by Paul Jaquays

I want to play a Sci Fi game using the Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future rules or something similar.  Will someone do one?? Please?? Anyone? Bueller?

I've been reading this awesome blog Space 1970.  It covers those great campy sci fi shows from my childhood. It's really got me jonesing for some old school style Sci Fi gaming.  I've gotta admit I never got to play Star Frontiers much back in the day.  I enjoyed the ONE session I got to play in (I played a Yazirian, I died).  Mind you I'm not looking for the old Star Frontiers mechanic, I'm no fan of the color chart, maybe that's why I didn't run it.  We played alot of Traveller instead. I've looked at the "new" Mongoose Traveller, especially Strontium Dog, but I don't want to invest the money into a new set of books.  I've already got a stack of d20 Modern/Future books that saw very little actual game play, and I don't have the time to spend  figuring out stat blocks for NPC's that I found d20 Modern based games requires.  I'd rather spend what free time I have working on the actual campaign.  I can turn out monsters/mutants/madmen for LL/MF in a snap.  I want a similar system for Sci Fi.  So I'm putting out the call...Will someone do a '70s style Sci Fi RPG??? Pretty Please?! 

Good Gaming -B

Edit: Oops I forgot to mention Alternity.  I played the heck out of it back in the day, I really really liked the Star*Drive Campaign setting, we had alot of fun with Alternity, but the damage mechanic is just not what I'm looking for these days (Sorry Derek).   : )