Rise of Magic, Rifts Chaos Earth

 I recently picked up Rise of Magic, a Rifts Chaos Earth;RPG Sourcebook.  It was a great price and the cover was so cool I couldn't resist.

     While I'm not currently running a Chaos Earth game, or Rifts, or even a Palladium System game, I have a soft spot for Palladium's content, especially Rifts.  I ran a wild and crazy Rifts campaign back in the 90's.  We had a blast with it, Mega-Damage, hatchling dragons, Bursters! power armor!  Was loads of fun.  I still think the Rifts setting is one of my favorites, you can do anything with it and customize the game to meet you and your players needs.  Now the system, well it is dated, but at the time we enjoyed it.  

     So where does that leave me now?  All of the Palladium stuff is a gold mine of material to use in your games. I am running a D&D game right now, and believe it or not, I have some ideas/abilities that I will be pulling from this book for some NPC's and encounters.  I have a player that has gamed as long as I have, and has a vast knowledge of the D&D "verse" monsters, spells, magic, so I love pulling in content from other non-D&D sources to put in my campaign to keep the players guessing and on their toes.

Conan the Barbarian Comics

     I recently discussed my visit to a local comic shop.  As a follow up, I saw an advertisement for a new Conan the Barbarian comic series.  The art drew me in, and when I realized Marvel no longer had the license for Conan, I took that as a very good thing.

     I grew up reading the old black and white Conan the Barbarian magazines.  Well I read them when I could, my parents didn't think they were appropriate so I had to sneak them in, I've since collected the compiled TPB's of many of them and have a solid collection of Conan materials including the earlier Marvel comics Conan series.  

     Not to turn this into an anti-Marvel rant, but as I alluded to in an earlier post, modern era Marvel just doesn't work for me, and I was very disappointed in the more recent Marvel Conan stories/art etc.. just a missed opportunity.  I suppose I am not Marvel's target audience anymore.

However, now that Titan Comics has the Conan license I am most intrigued.  I mean just look at the teaser art for the upcoming series!

 

These really capture the classic look and vibe that I associate with Conan!  I will definitely be looking into this series when it releases.  

So you may ask what does this have to do with gaming?  Great question and I have a ready answer! I see this sort of content as perfect gaming inspiration for a Hyperborea Campaign!  Sadly, due to work and life stuff I have not had a chance to run a true Hyperborea (formerly Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea) Campaign. BUT, it is on my to do list. Now with a new Conan comic series, in the hands of a publisher that seems to be wanting to get Conan back to his roots, I'll have even more inspiration and source material for my games.  

Carnage of the Apes!

I had a appointment today that took me near a comic shop I used to frequent.  I used to really get into comics "back in the day", but for various reasons (cost being one) I haven't bought much in the way of comics in quite some time.  Anyway, I had a few extra minutes so went into the comic shop.  I spotted the below issue on the shelf and got excited.

Unfortunately, the Apes were just on the cover and had nothing to do with the content.  I think this was a missed opportunity.  Apparently Marvel has the Planet of the Apes license again and are doing variant Ape related covers on their main comic lines to promote it.  Personally, I think it would be really cool to have Carnage "zapped" through a portal and end up in The Forbidden Zone!  Imagine the Cat (er I mean Carnage) and Mouse games of him hunting down Soldier Apes in the ruins! Would make for a fun and entertaining one shot story-line.  Maybe could adapt this to an Apes Victorious or Mutant Future game. Personally I love pulling in stuff from all kinds of sources for my games, that's one of the things I especially love about the OSR, you can really mix and match, tweak and adapt all kinds of things to make the sort of campaign you and your group really want.