Happy New Year!

What's this a post on my blog? 
Several people are doing posts reflecting on 2019 and speculation as to what they will be doing in 2020. I recently realized 2019 marked my 40 years of playing/running RPG's.  I started gaming back in 1979.  Believe it or not, the first game I GM'd was Gamma World (1st edition), and not D&D.  D&D (and D&D based games) has always been in the background these past 40 years, but I've played a ton of other games over the years.  A big helping of Sci Fi has always been there (Traveller, Rifts, Gamma World, etc..).  Gaming has been a kind of therapy for me all these years. When things were gloomy or bleak, I could channel my energies into creating interesting worlds and characters to help get through the rough spots of my life. Hardly the evil Satanic influence, that they tried to say it was back in the day. LOL

As for 2019...in 2019, I did a good bit of gaming, played (& DM'd) a lot of 5E.  Ran a really fun Stars Without Number Campaign, that unfortunately had to end due to work schedules and life stuff.  Played Call of Cthulhu for the first time in a mini-campaign. Worked in other OSR games as time permitted.  Played way too much Fallout. Later in 2019, I found myself in full blown Sci Fi mode.  I just can't seem to get enough of it. Shows like The Expanse, Mandalorian, and more, helped to feed my sci fi cravings... So here marks the first day of the year 2020...wow, for an old guy like me 2020 sounds very sci fi... growing up as a kid, we were all led to believe the world would have been nuked by now...Glad we are still here!

2019 also marked the 10 year anniversary of this blog! Wow a decade of Green Skeleton Gaming Guild. Something I started on a whim, back in the early OSR days.  I readily admit I have not posted nearly as much as I did in the early days. On more than one occasion I considered taking the blog down. I spent a good bit of time (too much time) on G+ when it was a thing, I poke around on MeWe a bit now.  But the blog is still here, I launched it when the Mutant Future RPG was a new thing, and that took me back to my P.A. gaming roots.  Heck even my online handle, Brutorz Bill, was inspired by my first Gamma World character, named after a mutant horse (Brutorz).  Haven't played any P.A. gaming in awhile, but I'm sure I will circle back around to it at some point. The Mutant Epoch has been on my shelf waiting to be played for far too long.

So where do I see things going in 2020?  I'm a fickle gamer, back in the early days of the hobby, we'd play all kinds of different things without thinking anything of switching when someone had bought a new game or adventure, always rotating back to D&D or Gamma World at some point. I think I will keep the blog up, for now anyways, I may not post much, but I kind of like having it around. For 2020, I'd like to get more Sci Fi gaming in, maybe revisit my Stars Without Number Campaign, or try something new. Cepheus Engine looks pretty cool, and a buddy just sent me Tiny Frontiers. As for fantasy gaming; 5E as much as I have tried to like it, just doesn't really wow me.  I'm an old school gamer at heart I think so that's likely where you will find me. There are so many awesome OSR games out there I still need to try; Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Adventurer Conqueror King, B/X Essentials, Blood and Treasure etc...

I hope this post finds you healthy and happy. I hope 2020 is a year of fun, laughs and lots of gaming. 
May The Force Be With You!  -B.B.

Beasties

Thanks again to everyone who responded to my call for info regarding the ACKS RPG, tons of great information and feedback, The OSR is such a great community!
As I work to decide which game I want to run during my summer break from school I wanted to mention a new OSR product that actually arrived in the mail today.
Beasties,  a fun new monster book designed by the same author who put out the awesome Warriors of the Red Planet RPG. Beasties has :
"27 Monsters 6 NPC's 37 Drawings! 5 Maps 1 "Megadungeon" sample"

To add to the above info it is directly compatible with most any OSR-flavor you may be running. The author even includes some conversion notes here and there to make it easier for you to use with different OSR games. So as I go through my games, read reviews etc. I know that whatever OSR system I decide on for my summer game, I will be able to easily use the monsters from this book. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Adventurer Conqueror King System?

I'm about to have a bit of a break from Graduate School and would love to run a few sessions of something Fantasy-based before I have to jump back into the grind.  I'm considering giving 5E another shot, but the OSR calls to me.  I've been looking at my stack of C&C books and thought about going with that system but it might be fun to try something new, I really love Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, but some of my potential players really enjoy playing non-human races. Blood and Treasure is also another great choice a new edition of it is due out "soon". I've been playing in a friend's Friday night Labyrinth Lord (W/ AEC) game so I'd like to run something different for the group. One OSR product that I have never played and don't know much about is the Adventurer Conqueror King System.  I'm curious to hear what folks think about it?  Any ideas, thoughts or input would be appreciated.  My biggest question is from what I have read it seems like you would need the campaign setting to make full use of all of the classes (especially the ones in the companion) is that the case? Or can I use the classes, rules and such from it in my own setting?
Thanks!

Twice the Monster Madness!

I have had a great weekend reading the new Monster Manual for D&D and the Monster Tome for the Blood & Treasure RPG. I really like both.  The new Monster Manual is well done and I am happy to have picked it up.  The Monster Tome is another great OSR product by John Stater, he has some really interesting new monsters in it that I have not seen elsewhere.  Work and graduate school have killed my gaming but I have slowly started working on a sandbox campaign setting for 5E, who knows maybe I'll even get to run it some time! Anyways both of these books will be seeing use at my game-table.  
Good Gaming! -B.B.

Blood & Treasure Monster Tome!

I've posted about how cool the Blood & Treasure RPG is in the past, and now it is even cooler!
You can now get the Monster Tome for this OSR RPG, it will also work with most any OSR based game, with some minor tweaking.
John has knocked it out of the ballpark with this one, some great art and some really interesting monsters! Many are new and innovative, and some are based upon popular characters and concepts of today (Atomic Juggernaut I'm looking at you!).  To me this is what the OSR is all about!  John was kind enough to send me the pdf for free while I wait for my hardcover to arrive.  If you are running a B&T campaign you must get this book!  If you need more monsters for your games you need to get this book!  I mean who doesn't need another monster book on your gaming shelf?  : )

The Dungeon Dozen

My print copy of The Dungeon Dozen arrived today.  All I can say is Wow!  This is a great resource for the game table.  If you are running a Fantasy game (any system) then you need to have this book.
Struggling for some ideas for your next session? Some random rolls in this book will jump start your creative juices!  Players take an unexpected turn during your session?  Grab your trusty d12 and make some rolls!  I wish I had spent a bit extra and got the hard cover, this book will be seeing a lot of use at my game table!

Simian Saturday : Dungeon of the Apes

                         Dr. Methuselah says Look into my eye!
It's a rainy Simian Saturday here, but at least it isn't freezing outside.  I'm ready for Spring!!
I wanted to share a great resource for Planet of the Apes (original series) that Trey mentioned some time ago on his blog.

From Aldo to Zira: Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes, this is a great resource for those folks who  are as into the Planet of the Apes as I am.
I'll be using this for when I run my own version of John Stater's Blood & Treasure Dungeon of the Apes Campaign! Early info HERE and art HERE
John has written an adventure for it, the first part is available in Land of Nod #22 with the second part due out soon. 
I'm not sure when I will get to run this, may have to be a Con game, my regular group is all having to work overtime and sidejobs due to the economy, but I can at least work on it.
Will definitely be using additional spells from Space Age Sorcery
Some of the classes (Scientist anyone!) from The Nod Companion
And I can't have Evolved Simians without Mutants!  So I have the amazing Metamorphica to pull  from and my trusty and well worn copy of Mutant Future.
Aeons & Auguries has a fun Encounter Table I'll be tweaking and using! 
Guess that's all for now I hope everyone has a great Simian Saturday!

The Nod Companion

I haven't posted about the Blood & Treasure RPG in awhile, but I still think it is a great game, it is a nice merging of old school and new school mechanics. Awhile back I picked up The Nod Companion.

If you like the Blood & Treasure RPG, I suggest you pick this up.  I'd say it is the Unearthed Arcana of the Blood & Treasure RPG.  It has three new races (depicted on the cover), tons of new and interesting classes, while not all will work in every campaign, there is something for everyone!  Some of the new classes include the Anarchist, Beastmaster, Charlatan, Demonologist, Elementalist, Gourmand (for the cook in you!), Leech, Psychic, Puritan (Soloman Kane anyone?), Vampyre and many more! Some new equipment (Axe Pistol! Nice), New spells (like Acid Geyser!), and some other rules on skills and proficiencies.  All in all a great Companion to the already very cool Blood & Treasure RPG. 

Blood & Treasure : Saturday Night Gaming

I haven't posted much lately, but Saturday night I did get a chance to run a game of Blood & Treasure!

Just what in the Seven Halls of Hades is that 7' Tall Floating Stone Head in the River?!!

The time flew by, I think everyone had fun.

I'm using a couple of old classics, (heavily modified of course), Keep on the Borderlands and In Search of the Unknown!

Simian Saturday in the Land of Nod

  A few Simian Saturdays ago I posted about some cool work going on over at the Land of Nod blog.  I'm excited to see that he is working on developing this idea some more! I think the Blood & Treasure RPG is an awesome game and tossing Apes into the mix is putting chocolate into my peanut butter! 
I found this piece of awesome ape art awhile back and was saving it for the right occassion, I think this is it!

Now if I can just con...um cajole.. er I mean convince someone to run it so I can play a Gorilla Barbarian based on the above picture I'll be in business!

artwork is by Marco-Itri no copyright infringement is intended!

Go Ape with your Blood & Treasure Campaign!

Over on the Land of Nod blog, John has started work on bringing Planet of the Apes to his Blood & Treasure rules.  He has even been hinting (on Google+) about working up a Hexcrawl based on the first couple of movies and commissioning some art for such an endeavor! I'm really excited about this and hope it happens!  I'd love to run an Ape Campaign!
I'm definately Going Ape over this!  : )
Have a Great Simian Saturday!

Cliff Mummy

Sorry for my lack of posts, I continue to be quite busy at work, but am hoping things will ease up soon.
I'm still quite impressed with the Blood and Treasure RPG.  Here's an undead monster I worked up.

Cliff Mummy
Medium Undead, Chaotic (CE), Low Intelligence; Cliff Guard (1d8)
HD 8
AC 18
ATK Slam (1d8+2 blistering heat)
MV 20
SV F 11, R 11, W 10
XP 800 (CL 9)
Special Qualities: Resistance to Fire
At the mere sight of a Cliff Mummy in motion, one must succeed on a Will save or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rds. The touch of a Cliff Mummy is painful; their hands give off a blistering heat that causes an additional 2 points of damage to any successful attacks they make.
Once per day, a Cliff Mummy can exhale a cloud of black smoke which acts like the Obscuring Mist spell, the Mummy can see through the smoke without difficulty.

 Witchdoctors of certain savage human tribes to the South have developed the means to create a form of undead guardian to watch over sacred sites.  Through a series of dark rituals, involving the use of a magical fire that dries out the corpse of a former witchdoctor, these foul creatures are created. Cliff Mummies are quite evil and can be unpredictable, there are some legends of Cliff Mummies that after slaying an intruder have then left their cliffside perch to enter the very villages that created them and kill every man, woman and child in their path (at GM's discretion there is a 10% chance that when "activated" they go on a killing rampage for 1d4 hours), after this rampage they return to their cliffside perch as if nothing had happened.

Pictures are from the Mummies of Papua New Guinea.

Defenders of the Faith

Awhile back I saw someone mention using Heavy Metal songs as inspiration for new spells. Digging out my old Judas Priest Defenders of the Faith CD (well I actually have it on cassette, yes I'm that old) I threw this together, note the spells might not be completely balanced but I had fun working this up. My wife even said this makes her want to play a Cleric for the first time ever. I worked these up for the Blood & Treasure RPG but they can easily be used with your OSR game of choice. 

Defenders of the Faith

Note the below spells are only available to Priests (Clerics) of The Heavy Metal gods

Freewheel Burning
Level: Cleric 3
Range: Medium (150')
Duration: 1 round/level
This spell allows the Priest to summon forth a wheel of flame that rolls in whichever direction the priest dictates, it moves 30' per round and leaves a flaming trail in its wake (trail dissipates in 1d3 rds.), it ignites flammable objects it touches and lights the area like a campfire would. It rolls over barriers less than 4' tall. The wheel has a semi-solid form, victims struck by the wheel suffer 2d6 fire damage and must make a reflex save or be knocked prone. The wheel dissipates if it exceeds the spell's range or the priest ceases concentrating upon it.

Jawbreaker
Level: Cleric 3
Range: Medium (150')
Duration: 3 rounds
An enhanced version of Spiritual Hammer, the priest magically summons a large spiked mace that will attack opponents as directed by the priest, dealing 2d8 points of damage per hit. The attack uses the priests attack bonus.

Rock Hard Ride Free
Level: Cleric 3
Range: Close (30')
Duration: 1 hour
A metallic light horse appears to serve you as a mount. The steed serves willingly and well, but will not fight on your behalf. The horse's skin has the equivalent of the Stoneskin spell in effect for the duration of its presence.

The Sentinel
Level: Cleric 5
Range: Close (30')
Duration: 1 hour per caster level
A ghostly sentry is summoned and bound to a specific site indicated by the priest. It protects/guards this location. The sentinel can see invisible and ethereal creatures and ignores illusions. Should an intruder approach within 30' of the area guarded by the Sentinel an eerie cathedral bell will begin to sound somewhere off in the distance. If an intruder approaches to within 10' of the sentinel the bells will cease and the Sentinel will attack with its ghostly throwing knives (+10 to hit, 2d6 points of damage) once per round. The spell lasts for 1 hour per level of the caster, but once the cathedral bells begin tolling, it lasts only 1 round per caster level. It the priest ever strays beyond 100' distance from the Sentinel the spell ends. Being nearly invisible, attackers suffer a 50% miss chance when attempting to strike the Sentinel.

Love Bites
Level: Cleric 4
Range: Touch
Duration: Instantaneous/1 hour + see text
The Priests touch deals 1d6 points of damage per two caster levels and the priest gains temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt. The priest cannot gain more than the subject's current hit points +10. All temporary hit points disappear 1 hour later. The victim of this attack must then make a Will save or be enthralled by the Priest as if under the effects of a Charm Person spell. If the drain attack took place during an intimate embrace, the victim takes a -2 penalty on their saving throw.

Eat Me Alive
Level: Cleric 5
Range: Touch
Duration: Instantaneous
At the touch of the Priest, the victim of this spell sees thousands of tiny mouths erupt out of their very skin, and proceed to eat them alive! On a successful save the victim takes 3d6 points of damage, a failed save results in a horrific death!

Night Comes Down
Level: Cleric 2
Range: Medium (150')
Duration: 1 hour + see below
The priest summons forth a supernatural darkness that fills a 15' radius. Even creatures that can normally see in darkness are unable to pierce this magical darkness. If they fail a Will save they are also filled with an intense sense of Doom and Despair suffering a -1 penalty to all attack and saving throws. This lasts for a full minute even if they are able to escape the darkness.

Heavy Duty
Level: Cleric 3
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 hour
This spell grants the subject 20 Strength. This cannot be made permanent.

Defenders of the Faith
Level: Cleric 9
Range: Close (30')
Duration: 6 rounds
The priest summons a force of Heavy Metal Warriors who will serve him until slain or until the duration of the spell expires. The Priest can summon 1d6 CL 5 Warriors. The Warriors match the priest's alignment. Warriors summoned by Lawful Priests will have the Celestial template, Warriors summoned by Chaotic Priests will have the Fiendish template.

Monstrous Monday : Dragon Wasps

Dragon Wasps
Large Vermin, Neutral (N), Non-Intelligent, Nest (1d20)

HD 5
AC 14
Atk Sting (1d4 + poison II) Fiery Spittle 2d6
MV 20 (Fly 60)
SV F 10, R 13, W 13
Special Qualities: Immunity Fire
XP 600 (CL 7)
Dragon Wasps are a highly dangerous species of Giant Wasp, in addition to the abilities of normal giant wasps the Dragon Wasp can release a 10' flaming spittle 3 x per day (2d6 damage, Reflex save for half damage). Dragon Wasps are immune to fire, but their nests are not. Their eggs secrete a chemical pheromone that triggers a restraint in the Dragon Wasps which keeps them from accidentally burning up their own nests. Certain native tribes have learned this and coat key structures in their villages with this chemical (it is hard to obtain/produce so only critical dwellings usually have this protection). Dragon Wasps must make a Will Save to overcome the urge to use their flaming spittle when attacking these specially treated native dwellings. Dragon Wasps avoid cold climates and are usually only found in tropical regions.

Oh and these should work nicely for your Mutant Future games too!  : )


Based on the 2012 SCI FI TV Movie Dragon Wasps, no copyright infringement is intended.

8-Ball Augury

Here's a little spell I thought of while working on another project, you can use it for Blood & Treasure or OSR system of your choice.

8-Ball Augury

Level: Cleric 1
Range: Personal
Duration: Instantaneous
Material Component: Incense worth 15 gp
     The 8-Ball Augury is a lesser version of the Augury Spell. Upon casting this spell a d20 is rolled and the below table is consulted. The answer/words will appear within the smoke from the incense.

1. It is certain
2. It is decidedly so
3. Without a doubt
4. Yes – definitely
5. You may rely on it
6. As I see it, yes
7. Most likely
8. Outlook good
9. Yes
10. Signs point to yes
11. Reply hazy, try again
12. Ask again later
13. Better not tell you now
14. Cannot predict now
15. Concentrate and ask again
16. Don't count on it
17. My reply is no
18. My sources say no
19. Outlook not so good
20. Very doubtful

I saw some folks talking about bringing Magic 8-Balls to their games over on the DCC forums and thought this would make for a fun low level spell.  I got the above list off of Wikipedia.

Monstrous Monday: Hell Hyena

Hell Hyena

Medium Magical Beast, Chaotic (CE), Average Intelligence, Cackle (1d12)
HD 3
AC 15
ATK Bite (1d6)
MV 40
SV F 12, R 11, W 15
XP 200 (CL3)

Special: Resistance to Fire, 10% Magic Resistance, +2 to hit and damage against Lawful creatures.

     It is said that certain particularly vile witchdoctors know a forbidden ritual that can bind the souls of evil men into that of a hyena, the resulting creature is a vicious hyena with the intelligence of man, the wickedness of a demon and the savagery of a hyena. These witchdoctors use these Hell Hyenas to torment and terrorize any who oppose them; however, many a careless and arrogant witchdoctor has found himself winding up on the Hell Hyena's menu. Without their master, to control them, these savage packs often go on wild killing sprees, wiping out entire villages before they are brought down.

With a nod to Edgar Rice Burroughs

Blood & Treasure Rocks!

Back in late September, I picked up the Blood & Treasure Complete RPG.

Unfortunately I spent most of October and November working out of town with limited free time.

Over the Thanksgiving Holidays I pulled out my copy from under my pile of "Need to Read" stuff and I read it from cover to cover, rather than just the casual perusing of it I'd been doing. I gotta tell ya this is a great game!   

Currently Lulu is doing a 30% sale as well (code is DELIRITAS), and Mr. Stater is taking an additional 10% off , that's 40% off for those of you that are mathematically challenged.  I like the game so much that even though I already have the complete game in hard copy, I ordered an additional Player's Handbook for my players to use at the gaming table.

Ok, you ask so why do you need to pick this up? Out of all the various Retro Clones and releases out there why do you need this one? (word of caution: I get a bit "Ranty")

For me it really hits that sweet spot that I've been looking for, for quite a long time now.  I shifted from 3.5 to Castles & Crusades many years ago, 3.X just got too rules heavy, especially at higher levels. 

I played C&C for many years and had a lot of fun with it, but eventually I found the system growing stale for me.  The CKG took years to come out, the multi-classing rules left me cold, the editing was horrible, the company consistently got my orders wrong with EVERY order I placed etc...sorry I didn't mean to turn this into a C&C bashing rant, C&C is fun, its just no longer feels right for me.   Anyways, I then got into the OSR; Labyrinth Lord (including AEC), Swords & Wizardry, Crypts & Things etc. had fun with many of these but I don't like descending AC, don't like race as class, and there were some other old schoolisms that cropped up that for me and my players didn't enhance the game.  3.x had a few good ideas and I didn't want to just throw the baby out with the bathwater.  So then I went completely the other way and got into Pathfinder.  Let me say Pathfinder is a fun game, the options are cool, the production values are top notch, a great company and a great product! But after running a Pathfinder Campaign for awhile, especially as the players started to pick up levels I started to feel just like I did with 3.5.  It was just too much to keep up with as a DM.  Paizo has done an awesome job of making their stuff available online and my players took full advantage of all those resources (this did help at the game table), but when I sat down to stat up the bad guys, I found myself spending more and more time on stat blocks and less time on developing the campaign.  I still enjoy playing Pathfinder as a player, but with my hectic work schedule, I just find myself no long wanting to run it for an extended campaign.

I shifted to non-fantasy stuff off and on during this time also; Mutant Future, Mutant Epoch, Stars Without Number; all great games, but I always come back to Fantasy as my base and I wanted a Fantasy "Home"... as in home system. I honestly think Blood & Treasure fills that need.  It has ascending AC.  Three saving throws, allows different races to be different classes.  Feats are optional, and even if used don't take up multiple pages, many of the monster races can be PC's. Combat is straightforward with some enhancements but not so much as to require frequent rules consultation. It has a comprehensive spell list, but not over complicated spell descriptions.  Oh and like C&C it is directly compatible with everything in my gaming library. Is Blood & Treasure perfect? Of course not, there are some layout issues in the rulebook I found the character class section in particular to be an issue layout-wise, alot of the art is public domain so  not too exciting, but none of that for me takes away from my enjoyment of the game overall.

So if any of this sounds of interest to you check it out, the price is great, Matt over on The Land of Nod is regularly posting material for it, and even has a Forum so you can chime in with comments and ideas.

Thanks for reading, hope I didn't "carry on" too much. I know everyone's gaming tastes differ and if we all were the same with the same tastes the world would be a boring place.

Good Gaming - Bill

Latest Acquisitions

Thought I'd show some of my latest acquisitions.  The mailman was good to me today! Some awesome goodies arrived today.  Its always nice to get something in the mail other than bills.

     I haven't had time to do more than just a cursory scan of most of these, but I gotta tell ya Blood & Treasure is a sweet looking tome of coolness.  I wish I had this ruleset for my Fantasy games 30 years ago! I'm currently running Pathfinder but the next Fantasy game I run will definately be using the Blood & Treasure rules!  Heck I wish I could switch it over to B&T now, course that would blow my players minds. Oh well.
     I talked about The Metamorphica a bit ago, it is really cool.  I assure you I won't be running another Mutant Future game without this book handy! Heck whataver game I'm running, I'll have this handy, Love the random mutant tables and such.  Great Stuff!
Towers of Krshal looks pretty interesting some random twisted city  tables to trick out your macabre domains.
     So as you can see I've got alot of reading to do.  Just looking at this stack gives me some ideas, a twisted city of dark towers, creatures scuttling in the alleyways and warped denizens lurking in the shadows...with the Blood and Treasure system as the core mechanic  heh heh heh.
 I'll try to post more as time permits.