From The Forums: Psychic Girl Archetype for BASH Ultimate Edition

I'm trying to come up with some material because it seems time gets away from me lately due to work and life. So I've been digging into some older things I've done to share with you folks. Here's something that I came up with for a BASH Ultimate Edition RPG Archetype thread on the RPG.Net forum from 2010.


Psychic Girl Archetype for BASH

Here's a perfect assistant for a Monster Hunter, Psychic, or Masked Avenger.

Psychic Girl Friday 18 points (Stats 10, Powers 8)

Brawn 1 Agility 2 Mind 2
x4 Defense vs Hand to Hand, x4 Defense (Danger Sense)

Powers:
Visions: Clairvoyance 2 (Past and Future) 2 pts
Intuition: Danger Sense 2pts
Reading People: Telepathy 1 (Empathy) 1 pts
Girl's Got to Defend Herself: Martial Arts Mastery 1 (Defensive) 1 pt
Clever: Skillful 2 2 pts

Recommended Advantages: Appeal, Eidetic Memory, Versatile, Contacts
Recommended Disadvantages: In a Relationship, Outsider, Suspectibility, Social Stigma, Ward
Recommended Skills: Deception, Humanities, Investigation, Medicine, Occultism, Streetwise

Is the OSR Dead And Other Ruminations

Here's something I haven't done in a while. Just some random thoughts about various things in gaming and beyond...

Shhhhh! Me and Mr Holmes are thinking!

Is The OSR Dead?

A current meme that's going around is the question "Is The OSR dead?" I'll have to say that the question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.

Will we see a reduction of the amount of new retro-clone rules? For the various editions of D&D/AD&D, yes. The ones that survive will be the ones that are the most creative with their rule design. You will see retro-clones and revivals for other games continue, and more "what-if" style rules ala Mutant Future (Basic D&D powered Gamma World) and Rotworld (Pacesetter system used for  survival horror).

When it comes to dungeons, campaigns, and worlds? The sky is still the limit. Even if WotC releases every book in their library, someone will want to make their 'cowboys vs terminators helped by psykers and fae" setting for Basic D&D. A set of retro-clone rules makes it possible to share your idea with the world (or those 10 folks who want to cannibalise your games for parts).

Even if the OSR fades away, the ramifications of what they accomplished will go down for years. Sword & Sorcery has returned in force to fantasy roleplaying. PDFs, kickstarters, and print on demand has allowed people to create their own RPGs and supplements to sell in ways not possible even 10 years ago. In the end the OSR took up the do it yourself mantle and went beyond the d20 System revolution to awaken something much greater.

Finally, a thought about WotC releasing the entire D&D/AD&D library. You do realise for every person that buys the old D&D stuff from WotC because it's "official", there may be another that says "I can use this for my Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future mash-up" when they pick up X2 Castle Amber?

Ad Infinitum Adventures Acquires Icons Superpowered Roleplaying From Adamant Entertainment

Several days ago I saw this press release about the future of the Icons Superpowered Roleplaying game  here.

I think this is a great development. I like Adamant Entertainment. I think Thrilling Tales in both the d20 Modern and Savage Worlds incarnations are among the best in pulp roleplaying. Mars is a great mash-up of all your favorite martian science fantasy  concepts. But I'm glad Gareth-Michael Skarka went this route. Icons is a great superhero game, and it deserves a solid focus to let it expand and grow. Kudos to GMS and Steve Kenson on making this deal.

The New Superhero RPG Golden Age

While I'm on superhero roleplaying games, are we not living in a golden age of superhero roleplaying? We have Mutants & Masterminds (M&M), Icons, DC Adventures, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, BASH Ultimate, Supers!, and two companies putting out products for Villains & Vigilantes, just for a start.

Yes, I said Villains & Vigilantes. Two companies. It's True.

Plus with various OGLs and Creative Commons there are a metric ton of great material that can be adapted for your favotite superhero RPG. Most of it is M&M 3e/2e or Icons, but from Golden Age  wackiness to dark Dark Knight-Wannabe grittiness there is plenty of Superhero goodness to go around.

I Wish I Had More Money For Kickstarters

To all my internet friends and people who've I bought games from: If I haven't donated money to your Kickstarter, it not because I don't like your idea. I think you idea is kind of sweet actually. I just can't afford to spend my paychecks on everything I want to support. Nothing personal.

Emmanuelle Vaugier is Still Flippin' Hot

Yep. Flipping Hot.

Emmanuelle Vaugier  is still flipping hot. I know it's not gaming, but I just had to get that off my chest.

[Mystery Men] Random City Snapshot: Kung Fu Girls With Guns

Popular depiction of "The Kung Fu Girls With Guns"

These ladies are inspired by the Kung Fu School Girls With Guns and the Kung Fu Schoolgirls 28mm miniatures by Eureka Miniatures.

Sometimes the law is not enough in Random City. When justice is denied and the innocent suffer, the agents of Madame Bai Kuang Hui go into action. Each of the Madame's students were disadvantaged and forgotten, of all races, colors, and creeds. She gave them a home and a purpose. Long ago for stopping an ancient Chinese immortal, Madame Hui was cursed to never bear a child to bear her name. So she took it upon herself to make a better life for these girls, who she saw as mirrors of her own youthful energy.


Madame Hui's paramour, the legendary marksman Harry Courage, respected Madame Hui's choice and the martial arts that the girls were being taught. But Courage taught the girls to also respect the power of the gun, of cold steel and hot lead. Thus was every adopted daughter of Madame Hui and Harry Courage taught not only the mystic martial arts, but the arts of fine marksmanship as well.

Parts of Random City rest a little easier at night. Dubbed by the sensationalistic press as "The Kung Fu Girls With Guns" the daughters of Madame Hui protect the innocent and the oppressed with Chi and Colt. The efforts of these orphans who combine East and West into a deadly force of justice. And thus a diabolical curse resulted in a force of good that has saved countless lives.

Typical Kung Fu Girl With Guns (25,000 XP)
Adventurer Level 9 (12,800 XP)
STR 3| DEX 6 | CON 5 | INT 3 | WIL 6 | CHA 6
HP 36 | DC 11 | ATK +7 melee, +7 ranged | SPD 2
Powers: Catfall (1,000 XP), Iron Grip (1,000 XP), Super Charisma +3 (3,000 XP), Super Constitution +2 (2,000 XP), Super Dexterity +3 (3,000 XP), Weapon Master (Choice) (1,000 XP).
Gear: Handgun (600 XP), Hand Weapon (600 XP)

Each of the girls are different as Madame Hui encourages each Kung Fu Girl to develop her own knowledge and strengths. Use more XPs to individualise each Kung Fu Girl. Some of the girls have a complement of guns and other weapons. Others can focus their chi to become invisible or shoot out elemental bolts. These are not the only possibilities. One of the girls had an arm and both legs replaced with cybernetics. Another girl was transformed into a vampire.

Just another night in Random City.

[Supers] Some Scattered Campaign Ideas

I've been on a Superhero clip of late. With my tax return I picked up Supers by Simon Washbourne and pre-ordered Steve Kenson's Icons from Adamant Entertainment. This, with my love of BASH Ultimate Edition, is on my mind right now. Tooling around the net, I rediscovered some Superhero posts that I had scattered on message boards. All three involve dimension travel and alternate super earths. They can be used for campaign ideas.

Below are two posts I made for a forum.rpg.net thread entitled A Moore/Ellis like Super-Hero Campaign in a line.

***

"I don't understand it. A 3-subject notebook a day. He just keeps writing and writing. Just stops for sleep and eating."
"Have you read the notebooks, Doctor?"
"Yes. It's just story upon story about metas. The Justice Battilion, Paragon, everybody and more. Except he's writing as if he was watching year upon year of history . Each notebook is different-each a 'different world'."
"Did he ever say why he was spinning these tales?"
"Simple. He claims that he is helping infinity heal itself from it wounds."
"How?"
"By telling stories, Sir. By telling stories of better times."

Part of a recorded discussion dealing with the mental state of former metasorceror Professor Chimera. The Professor, as you know was instituonualised after an brutal encounter with Typhon Shiva, one of the New Avatars.

***

Remember the disappearances of dozens of the second-tier heroes several years ago? The media followed it for a while. Blamed it on several arch-villains, but soon it was overran by other big metafights and crisises.

It wasn't a villain. It was a coordinated effort to gather those heroes for one reason--each of them are the soul survivors of their earths:

Electric Johnny--Earth 45. Thorion Applebum, Rocket Halfling--Earth Shire. Miz Turquoise--Earth ACE. The Scarlet Rebel--Earth 6. Reflex--Terra Q. Galactic--Erde 3.

And others that I know of. All great heroes on their own earths. Each one a piece of the puzzle used to build the world.

You see, 17.8 earths is not enough to create a new world. There are remnants of many other worlds scattered throughout this one. I think its for background. Sometimes it's a building, sometimes it's a book. Sometimes the remnant is a person

I think someone is trying to collect these pieces of dead realities for a definite reason. To either somehow heal this world or to ressurect the other eaths. If there is a way to do that.

Who am I? Oh. Forgot my manners. They call me The Traveler. Last survivor of Earth-Pi.

***

The next idea I have is the concept of the Randoms, dimensionally displaced heroes. This is one I've worked on for years. I originally posted this in the Mutants & Masterminds message board the Atomic Think Tank. The post is entitled Halfling Rocketeer!

***

In our year 2000, a being of great evil called the Godhead was summoned to the European island of Sterling. The summoning rent the fabric of the multiverse. As the Godhead approached the Earth, the after wake of its passage began to rip champions of good away from the alternate earths, as if to balance the evil approaching. Sir Thorian was caught up in this after wake while helping evacuate a city during a natural disaster. The woman he was saving was flung into the arms of a fellow Rocket Knight; he seemed to disappear in a flash of lightning. On the world of Lunkartor, Sir Thorian was hailed as a fallen hero.

Sir Thorian and the other heroes and heroines that appeared on Sterling began to battle the twisted minions of the Godhead alongside the weary Sterling Royal Guard and scattered European heroes. After the summoning was averted, mages tried to send the heroes back to their world, but the residual dimension energy was to great. The summoned heroes could not go back to their worlds. The Randoms, as they were named, were given identities and citizenship by a grateful nation of Sterling. Many of them formed a group called Patchwork, Inc., a non-profit group of superheroes who can support other teams in times of need. Some have joined established superteams, others have went solo.