The Plant-A Solo RPG Game

The Plant is a one person RPG. The Plant’s premise is that your daughter is somewhere in an abandoned factory building and you need to find her. The game requires ten index cards that are numbered one to ten. Around the edges are printed the letters A-D. You will also need three index cards with “Down” written on them. The Down cards indicate that you are descending one level in the factory through the use of a ladder, stairs, or pipes, ETC.

You will also need to author ten situation cards. Sample situations are provided, but you can create your own, here are a few of the samples:

• New Transformer doll
• Unopened letter
• Smell of baking cookies
• Sound of a Jazz
• Shadow in the shape of something
• Glimpse of your daughter in distance

The game mechanic is through the use of the ten index cards you would have created and how they are laid out. Each laid card has a letter and each letter has a situation associated with that letter. Depending on the other letters on the card situations (the actions you are to complete) may have alternative situations that you will be told to go to.

A Host of Characters: The Han Psyche

“Yet, did not even brilliant scientists frequently exhibit the same lack of logic back in the Twentieth Century? Did not the historians, the philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome show themselves to be the same shrewd observers as those of succeeding centuries, the same masters of the logical and slaves of the illogical?

After all, I reflected, man makes little progress within himself. Through succeeding generations he piles up those resources which he possesses outside of himself, the tools of his hands, and the warehouses of knowledge for his brain, whether they be parchment manuscripts, printed book, or electronorecordographs. For the rest he is born today, as in ancient Greece, with a blank brain, and struggles through to his grave, with a more or less beclouded understanding, and with distinct limitations to what we used to call his "think tank."

THIS particular reflection of mine proved unpopular with them, for it stabbed their vanity, and neither my prestige nor the novelty of the idea was sufficient salve. These Hans for centuries had believed and taught their children that they were a super-race, a race of destiny. Destined to Whom, for What, was not so clear to them; but nevertheless destined to "elevate" humanity to some sort of super-plane. Yet through these same centuries they had been busily engaged in the extermination of "weaklings," whom, by their very persecutions, they had turned into "super men," now rising in mighty wrath to destroy them; and in reducing themselves to the depths of softening vice and flabby moral fiber. Is it strange that they looked at me in amazed wonder when I laughed outright in the midst of some of their most serious speculations?”

The Airlords of Han, by Philip Francis Nowlan

A Host of Characters: The Han Physiology

"The Han looked little like the Mongolians of the Twentieth Century, except for their slant eyes and round heads. The characteristic of the high cheek bones appeared to have been bred out of them, as were those of the relatively short legs and the muddy yellow skin. To call them yellow was more figurative than literal. Their skins were whiter than those of our own weather-tanned forest men. Nevertheless, their pigmentation was peculiar, and what there was of it looked more like a pale orange tint than the ruddiness of the Caucasian. They were well formed, but rather undersized and soft-looking, small-muscled and smooth-skinned, like young girls. Their features were finely chiseled, eyes beady, and nose slightly aquiline.

They were uniformed, not in close-fitting green or other shades of protective coloring, such as the unobtrusive gray of the Jersey Beaches or the leadened russet of the autumn uniforms of our people. Instead they wore loose fitting jackets of some silky material, and loose knee pants. This particular command had been equipped with form-moulded boots of some soft material that reached above the knee under their pants. They wore circular hats with small crowns and wide rims. Their loose jackets were belted at the waist, and they carried for weapons each man a knife, a short double-edged sword and what I took to be a form of magazine rocket gun. It was a rather bulky affair, short-barrelled, and with a pistol grip. It was obviously intended to be fired either from the waist position or from some sort of support, like the old machine guns. It looked, in fact, like a rather small edition of the Twentieth Century arm.

And have I mentioned the color of their uniforms? Their circular hats and pants were a bright yellow; their coats a flaming scarlet. What targets they were."

The Airlords of Han, by Philip Francis Nowlan

The Airlords of Han

View plate and operator

I have been reading science fiction novels lately. My readings started off with The Misplaced Battleship, by Harry Harrison; Plaque Ship, Andre Norton; The Thing in the Attic, James Blish and I just completed The Airlords of Han, by Philip Francis Nowlan. All of these texts were originally found in Pulp magazines. As you know I have made multiple posts on SCIFI topics.

These stories will give me fodder when playing SCIFI RPG’s or board games. Please look through the posts and see if you can find anything that might help you out.

The Airlords of Han, by Philip Francis Nowlan; Illustrated by FRANK R. PAUL

Western in My Pocket a Free Print and Play Game

Download the "Western in my Pocket" zip folder which contains the games components. Once you unzip this file you will find a set of tiles, Event and Score cards, and game rules. Pick a character and scenario. This is a one-person or solo game. There are good guys and bad guy scenarios. The rules are very basic and open for interpretation. Not that you need them to play I suppose “old” west miniatures of any size could be used, but with the size of the tiles as they are I would propose using either 15 or 25mm miniatures instead of some miscellaneous token. This might make playing the game more meaningful.

Draken Games Catalogue 8 + Free Mini-Games

The Draken Games Catalogue # 8 is available as a free download from Drive Thru RPG. There are two standalone games included in this issue that can be played separately or can be combined into one game. There is a RPG and a mini war game named Raid on Spurhaven. All of the components, including, counters and game board are include and be printed on any color printer.

The Raid on Spurhaven's game board measure approximately 8.5 by 11 inches

Draken Games is the creator of 1871: The Battle of Dorking, and the Last Stand at Surbiton which I still haven’t gotten around to reviewing.

Make sure that you grab your copy soon, because these Catalogues’ will not be available for ever.

Characters of the Case of the Green Elephant Scenario

Here are the characters of Ace Goodknight and Penny Dreadfull for a quick intermediate level skirmish game.

Good Guys
Ace Goodknight	QILS Hero
Tuesday Wednesday	Aces girl Friday
Penny Dreadfull	Aces right-hand-woman
Drew Nancy	Penny's assistant
Bad Guys
Yu Noh Hu	The Doctor of Destruction
Lo Fat	Yu Noh Hu bodyguard
Tan Kyu	Yu Noh Hu's concubine
Carnies & Freaks Carnie Strong Man Fireeater Rubber Man Fat Lady	Regular civilians that either pack or provide a punch as needed
Flunkies and Flatfoots	Generic minions of Yu Noh Hu
Extras	Generic civilians that you find sprinkled around

Hobby Games-The 100 Best-An Update

Although I had forgotten about this book for some time I have started to read through it again. The idea was, one to write a brief description about each game, and two to mention all of the resources associated with article. I need to get back to my original plans; perhaps I should mention them alphabetically.

So far I have read through the descriptions of the following titles:

Amber Dice

Amun-Re

Arc Magic

Axis & Allies

Battle Cry

BattleTech

BloodBowl

Bohnanza

Britannia
Button Men

Games Listed in Hobby Games-100 Best

I will start by listing the 100 games listed in this book, to be followed by a brief summary of the game, whether the game can still is being published, where it can be found, and its current price. So far I have found the list to be a mix of RPG.s and board games,

1. Acquire 
2. Amber Diceless 
3. Amun-Re 
4. Ars Magica 
5. Axis & Allies 
6. Battle Cry 
7. BattleTech 
8. Blood Bowl 
9. Bohnanza 
10. Britannia 
11. Button Men 
12. Call of Cthulhu
13. Carcassonne 
14. Car Wars
15. Champions 
16. Circus Maximus 
17. Citadels 
18. Civilization 
19. Cosmic Encounter 
20. Cosmic Wimpout 
21. Dawn Patrol 
22. Descent 
23. Diplomacy 
24. Dungeons & Dragons 
25. Dynasty League Baseball 
26. El Grande 
27. Empires in Arms 
28. Empires of the Middle Ages 
29. The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen 
30. Fire and Fury
31. Flames of War 
32. Fluxx 
33. Formula Dé 
34. The Fury of Dracula 
35. A Game of Thrones 
36. Gettysburg 
37. Ghostbusters 
38. The Great Khan Game 
39. Hammer of the Scots 
40. Here I Stand 
41. A House Divided 
42. Illuminati 
43. Johnny Reb 
44. Junta 
45. Kingmaker 
46. Kremlin 
47. Legend of the Five Rings 
48. Lensman 
49. London’s Burning 
50. Lord of the Rings 
51. Machiavelli 
52. Magic: The Gathering 
53. Marvel Super Heroes 
54. Metamorphosis Alpha 
55. My Life with Master 
56. Mythos 
57. Napoleon’s Last Battles 
58. Naval War 
59. Ogre 
60. Once Upon a Time 
61. PanzerBlitz 
62. Paranoia 
63. Pendragon 
64. Pirate’s Cove 
65. Plague! 
66. Power Grid 
67. Puerto Rico
68. Renaissance of Infantry 
69. RoboRally 
70. RuneQuest 
71. The Settlers of Catan 
72. Shadowfist 
73. Shadowrun 
74. Shadows over Camelot 
75. Silent Death: The Next Millennium 
76. Space Hulk 
77. Squad Leader 
78. Stalingrad 
79. Star Fleet Battles 
80. The Sword and the Flame 
81. Tales of the Arabian Nights 
82. Talisman 
83. Terrible Swift Sword 
84. Thurn and Taxis 
85. Ticket to Ride 
86. Tigris & Euphrates 
87. Tikal 
88. Cook on Toon 
89. Traveller 
90. Twilight Struggle 
91. Unknown Armies 
92. Up Front 
93. Vampire: The Eternal Struggle 
94. Vampire: The Masquerade 
95. Vinci 
96. War and Peace 
97. Warhammer 40,000 
98. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain 
99. The Warlord 
100. Wiz-War 

Upcoming Print and Play Game Reviews

Many of these games are of the print and play verity, some require miniatures, and one of the games is a RPG. I am amazed on how many free games there are available for download. The print and play verity include everything that is needed to play, that is a playing board, game tokens, and rules.

• 8-bit Inc Games
• Just a Delivery
• Galaxy Conquest v-1-0
• Pulp Alley
• Sword & Sail
• SkyPirates

Print and Play Games

This post is being made to institute a new policy concerning my Print and Play label. In the past I have used this label to identify games ranging from print and play board games to RPG games. RPG’s will no longer be identified as print and play games, unless that RPG includes printable game tokens or some other types of components for the RPG.

Mysterious Islands Game

Mysterious Islands site includes a basic premise of the game, instructions on how to play, and the materials needed to play the game. The game is played with up to six players. Each player takes one of the associated factions. The factions of Mysterious Islands are The Pirates, Dr. Nemo, Dr. Moreau, The Rebels, The British East India Company, The Zombies, and The Natives. Each faction is either fighting to keep the territory they already have or trying to unseat the other factions from their domains.

Mysterious Islands uses a hex-game-board map of a Pacific archipelago consisting of 11 main islands and several smaller islands. Each faction chooses one island as its base. The game lasts 12 rounds. During a round, each player takes a turn. Each turn includes the following phases: Recruit Phase, Movement Phase, Bombardment Phase, Action Phase, and Combat Phase.

If one could come up with the required game-board, the game looks like it might be interesting to play. Anyone know of an online map creator that could be used to produce the game board?

Cloudship Atlantis RPG

Cloudship Atlantis is a Steampunk Role Playing Game

Atlantis is Victorian city that floats above a barren wasteland called Terra Firma. There are two classes living on the Cloudship Atlantis, the Humbles and the Gentry. The Humbles are born into servitude. The Humbles are born and live below in the bow of the airship, and they work stoking the fire of the boiler and servicing the boiler, the Humbles mine coal, and make sure that they keep Atlantis’s air sacks inflated. The Gentry live in luxury above the bow where the air blows cool. “Gentry are tall, educated and haughty. Appearance, decorum and social status is all important.”

You and a fellow Humble escape from the bows of the cloud ship. Perhaps it was done on a whim, or because of a wager. Perhaps you just wanted to see and experience how the other half lives. At any rate you make it above the desks and now you need to ensure that you stay there.

The Cloudship Atlantis RPG was written by Dr. Robert Lang, back in 2009 for the RPG’s Blog 24 hour Competition.

A Comprehensive Cloudship Atlantis Review

Finding Purpose for my Splintered Light Miniatures

There are many scenarios that these mice could be brought into. The Redwall series includes several mice, and The Chronicles of Narnia features two mice. The Redwall series and The Chronicles of Narnia both include many situations that could be used to create a skirmish game. In addition, Mutants and Machine-Guns’ RPG makes use of evolved animals. Evolved animals, I believe, would walk on their hind legs and be able to wield a sword or some other weapon.

RPG’s and Twenty-Sided Dice

I have been reading through several RPG’s and realized I will need a few sets of twenty-sided dice. The d20 (twenty-sided dice) mechanic is a role-playing game system that was first published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast. I came across the GM DICE site that offers dice of all sorts. GMDice also offers miniatures for RPG play and several games.

Large List of Free RPG

The Darkshire site offers a very long alphabetical list of free RPG games. From Science Fiction, Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Horror, to Zombies. Most of these RPGs use dice based mechanics, but there are a few that use other means, such as cards.

Books by Brian Jacques

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first part of the Redwall Adventures. With its interesting plot and characters I believe this series would make a great RPG (which it already is) or skirmish war game. So, it is off to read the rest of the novels in this series. I have a long way to go, but there is no time like the present.  Mossflower will be added to my next order with Amazon.

The Redwall Adventures

The list is in chronological order as to when they were published.

=============================================================

Redwall

Mossflower                                    

Mattimeo                                          

Mariel of Redwall                              

Salamandastron                                  

Martin the Warrior                            

The Bellmaker                                     

Outcast of Redwall                        

The Pearls of Lutra                         

The Long Patrol                                 

Marlfox                                                

The Legend of Luke                      

Lord Brocktree                                 

The Taggerung                                

Triss                                                       

Loamhedge                                        

Rakkety Tam                                     

High Rhulain                                      

Eulalia!                                                 

Doomwyte                                        

The Sable Queen                          

Donjon Online Dungeon Generators

Generated pub with a set of attributes.

The Donjon site offers some unique online generators. These online apps allow you to choose different options and will generate maps, names for your characters, dungeons, cities, villages, treasures, adventures, ETC.

The categories that are available are:

• Fantasy
• AD&D
• d20/Fantasy
• Microlite20
• Pathfinder
• D&D 4e
• Weird Fiction
• Science Fiction

There so many different generators here that can be used to produce all types of places, things, and scenarios for your RPG’s, fantasy war games, or your own adventures.

Finding a purpose for my Splintered Light Miniatures-Redwall

I have finished reading Redwall and I feel that this book would make a very good resource for a war game or RPG. In fact there is a Redwall RPG already. The text contains three books, The Wall, The Quest, and The Warrior. Although I feel that the second and third parts of this story are better suited for a war game, I suppose that part one could be worked into a game.

Splintered Light Miniatures offers many fine miniatures of mice and rats, the two main character types in the text, but also offers a host of other animals that were mentioned in the text.

Although a bit smaller than I envision the abbey, the Mini-Art offers a 1/72 Medieval Fortress could be used to complete a scene. Many of the scenes of the siege of the abbey could be set up using this model and Splintered Light Miniatures.

I Have Been Seduced

I have been planning on purchasing a set miniature’s from Elhiem Figures. I have wanted to obtain miniatures for Experimental Playground’s Mutants and Machine-Guns’ RPG. However, recently I was seduced and I have lost all sense of propriety.

While visiting a page from a fellow blogger I came in contact with Bombshell Miniatures and it was love at first sight. For one who is always looking for something unique I found more than a few pieces here that are calling out to be purchased.

I recently made a post on my having received my first order from Splintered Light. These miniatures are in 20mm. I mentioned that I would probably not try to paint anything smaller than 20mm, but now I find myself ready to order a few pieces that are smaller than 20mm. It is their uniqueness that has me throwing restraint to the wind.

More to follow…