Catch Me Tonight for a Q&A on RpgnetChat!

Hey everyone!

Tonight I'll be on the MIRC server RPGnetchat (not affiliated with rpgnet the forum) where I'll be doing a Q&A session.  Feel free to join me. Mainly, we'll be talking about Lion & Dragon, of course, but I'll be taking any number of questions from the audience!

So, if you want to join the Q&A, join us at 7:30pm CST. You can get to the #rpgnetchat server on this link.

See you there!


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Dunhill Diplomat + C&D's Crowley's Best

Classic Rant: "Real Magick" in RPGs: Equinoxes, and Solstices, and Magick in Action

This morning I woke up earlier than I usually would. I got up, ritually bathed using a set of motions lifted from Hindu/Tantric tradition, doing the motions quick and concentrated on the water as the embodiment of the lustral seas of life, the mother-river.

I then gave adoration to the Sun, like I do four times a day, every day and have for most days of the past two decades of my life. The Abbey has a central atrium with a spectacular skylight (the main source of natural sunlight for the entire rest of the house), so I stand under it and salute the sun with secret signs and 2000 year old words I know by heart. I stand there a few minutes, bathed in its light, the source of all life on Earth. Materially, it is the one truest object in the entire physical universe that we could describe as our 'creator'; without it the Earth wouldn't even exist, and life would never have evolved. Magically, it is symbolic of the bridge between the Kingdom and the Crown, it is the outer expression mirrored by the inner gold of the Magician. It is the heart of the solar system as the Heart-center is the Sun of the Body of Light. Adorations given to it are not a prayer as such (in the sense most prayer is: an attempt at haggling with God), but rather a connection-making, between that inner Heart and the outer Sun, both representing the perfect symbol of the True Will (what could be called the 'higher self').

Today (March 20th) is a particularly significant day for it, because today is the Autumnal Equinox (in the southern hemisphere, Vernal in the northern), and today is the Feast of the Equinox of the Gods. 111 years ago, the old Aeon ended, and the New Aeon began; the World-Paradigm transformed profoundly and forever (although even to this day, there are many people in the world who don't know it and still live in the ruined shell of the old way of seeing reality, and there will likely continue to be so for another four centuries or so); in the old Aeon, my magician predecessors would naturally have looked up at the Sun and understood it as "dying" at the end of the day, and being "reborn" in the morning; as "dying" also in the winter, and being "reborn" in strength in the spring. The central initiatory formula would have been one of death and resurrection. But in the New Aeon the formula is different; the Sun doesn't die anymore, it exists eternal. Death is the illusion; but so, you find out eventually, are "you". The path is not to die and be reborn as a new but slightly different person; it is to unite through Love (which means Union) to what is divine, and for this you have to gradually Overcome what you imagine as "your self" to make room for that which you previously understood to be beyond "your self". It is the formula of evolution, of Growing Up. No longer are our gods our Mommy from whom we breast-feed helpless and dependent like an infant, or our Daddy who makes strict rules and punishments for us like a child. Now our gods are facets of our future selves, they are what we are Becoming. We are the teenager, about to leave home for the first time and forever, and become something we never were before.

I step into my Temple, which is also my Library (of magical and spiritual books, all the other stuff including games are in the big library downstairs). There I perform the Banishing Rite, a set of motions one female friend once described as being "like a martial arts kata", and words spoken and sometimes chanted (vibrated, in fact, like a mantra) in Greek, from memory. It's the first ritual most magicians learn (be it the Greek version, Hebrew, or both), the ritual you do at the start of any important magical operation, and that you practice regularly on its own in your early days of magical training, and use to learn the structural foundations of magick itself. It's a ritual I've likely performed over 3000 times by now.
I face the shrine, on a pedestal lies the Stele of Revealing:

The image is approximately a 2700 years old. I recite the English version of the invocation written on it, while adopting the posture of the long-dead priest depicted on it, who spoke those words so long ago. Its first line is "Unity uttermost showed". Once again, it's all from memory, I had first learned the words nearly 20 years ago to the day, on another continent, in what just now seems like another universe entirely.

Unity invoked, I then light incense, ring the bell, anoint Fire and Water. I mark myself with this impossible union in different points of the body, vibrating words, some which anyone could look up, some which are secret and known only to me: the name of my Augoeides (my solar-self), and the name of my Magus-self. The latter is known to some few, the former to no one in the world but me.

I vibrate the sacred words of the Aeon: LASHTAL, THELEMA, IAO, AGAPE, AUMGN. Then I open the Holy Books, to Liber VII, chapter 2. I begin to read it out loud. The Holy Books of Thelema are mystical texts of western magick. The particular selection corresponds to this date, to the start of the Thelemic Holy days, and the Equinox. The first few lines roll off my tongue: "O my God! use Thou me again, alway. For ever! For ever! That which came fire from Thee cometh water from me; let therefore Thy Spirit lay hold on me, so that my right hand loose the lightning".

The Holy Books, which were not written by Aleister Crowley but 'received' by him (over a century ago) from his own Augoeides (an experience I've also had, and can assure you that what is produced as a result is not in any real sense anything you personally can take credit for, your mind is not actively making it, it is just passing through you), are incredibly complex, full of symbolism and metaphor. They're so complex, in fact, that even most Thelemites hardly ever bother to read them (except for the Book of the Law, the most important of the holy books, which is also by a slight margin the most easily comprehensible). 

In my experience, most magicians want to do rituals to get stuff. They want cool experiences. And to anyone who doesn't engage in a profound long and patient study of symbolism, the Holy Books look like total gibberish (the word "gibberish", in fact, being borrowed from the name of an Islamic magician, Al-Geber, whose writings on Alchemy were full of secret symbolic language so that anyone who didn't know the symbolism would think it totally meaningless). What most of these guys don't get is that Symbol is the currency of a magician: you can only DO stuff as a magician if you understand the Symbols. The more you understand them, the more you can manipulate them, and the more you can achieve. This goes hand-in-hand with the "overcoming" I was talking about before, the whole initiatory formula of the current aeon; the more you grok symbol, the more your Consciousness opens up to a wider/higher level of Reality. You ascend the Tree of Life, and at each stage what seemed a big deal to you before seems small now, and problems that would have been insurmountable before, because you were operating your life and mind and being in such a small confined space, become easy to overcome now because you've opened yourself up to a much vaster playing field. The Holy Books are a magical crucible: understand their secret messages and inside you'll find the whole formula for performing Magick, and in the long slow process of that understanding you go through to get them, you will have created a spiritual discipline that lets your consciousness get big enough to let you use that formula.

Magick has been called the "Yoga of the West"; if so, then Thelema is the Tantra of the west, the Tibetan Buddhism of the west. Complete with most westerners watering it down and wanting to skip to what they think of as the 'cool' parts and not actually do the Work.

The chapter done, by now I am completely shifted, existing partially in the material world and partially on the Astral. I am in a Trance state; whatever was 'me' is not me here. I have contacted Eternity, and brought it into the Now. Microcosm and macrocosm have touched. Light has flooded into the Kingdom. As Crowley once put it, now "I and Thou are as they had not been".
From here, I receive the secret word of the Equinox, that will govern the next six months. I'd share it with you, but it is only for initiates. Sorry.

The word will express the spirit of the next period, but all of the above is a lot of work for an augury, even if it's a really good one. I mean, reading Tarot or casting I Ching would give you a lot more detail than one single word. But that's not the point. The point is in the journey; in the whole process of ritual that creates Change in you, and the more you put in, the more you get out of it. The word is a byproduct, a kind of sigil itself, something you can audibly manifest as a representation of the real work of Consciousness-tripping that you had done. And connected as it is to the Solar Equinox, this word will be a particularly insightful summary of what to expect.

I finish the work sealing the Holy Books, laying the dagger over them, and taking a step forward touching my finger to my lips. The Sign of Silence. It seals the work itself, closes off that moment of Eternity and shifts the Awareness back from Tiphareth to Malkuth, from the Sun to the Earth.



Where was I? Oh yes, Equinoxes and Solstices. They are points in the natural calendar of the Sun, where the day is at its shortest, longest, or most equal. These are times, since the days of our earliest ancestors, to do Magick. Most religions, consciously or not, still follow that route: Jesus was "born" on the Winter Solstice, and he Died/Resurrected on the Vernal Equinox; the perfect model of the solar-god of the previous Aeon. Most magical religions, movements, and groups of the modern age will also make use of these dates. Wiccans include the equinoxes, solstices, and the four dates in between each of those to make the "8 spoked wheel of the year"; a festival calendar that vaguely resembles bits of a lot of ancient pagan or folkloric practices without actually being any single one of them. In Thelema, the March Equinox is specifically and especially significant, since it was on the March Equinox that Crowley was first contacted by Horus (in his aspect of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, and through Crowley's Augoeides/Holy-Guardian-Angel Aiwass) and the end of the old world and beginning of the new world were declared. It was 22 days later that the Book of the Law finished being given to him; the book that provides the central formula for self-transformation of this new Aeon: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will".

While magicians will argue about other things, like just how much weight you need to put on astrology when considering what date/time to do major magical operations, pretty well all agree that the Equinoxes and Solstices are uniquely special time to do works, because they are completely mirrored in nature. The Equinoxes are the time to do rituals related to balance (which, as the March Equinox of 1904 proved, can also be the "balance" of ending the world, so don't think "balance" necessarily just means lovey-dovey), while solstices, being extremes of much light or little light, are times to do rituals for extreme effects.

That's it for today. If the above doesn't give you any fodder for your modern occult RPG needs, well, hope you liked it anyways.

RPGPundit

(Originally Posted March 20, 2015)

The Frantabulous Gonzo Robot Generator

This week in RPGPundit Presents, our #19 is a very special handbook, especially so for anyone who's been following my DCC campaign on my blog, and knows just how much of an influence robots (particularly one robot, by the name of BOLT-0) has had on that game.

This week, we have The RPGPundit Presents #19: The Frantabulous Gonzo Robot Generator!  In this 14 page manual you'll have everything you need to generate awesome robots for your gonzo OSR campaign!

This isn't just for generating stats, though. You get a whole set of generators to create deeply fleshed-out robots or robot 'races'.

There's tables for Robot Names, form, hit dice, movement, armor, damage, reactions, weapons and special abilities; but also tables for who or what created the robot, the robot's fundamental qualities, what the robot wants, and even robot hobbies!

Plus, of course, there's sample stats for BOLT-0 himself!

So, be sure not to miss The Frantabulous Robot Generator on DTRPG, or at the Precis Intermedia Website.

And while you're at it, be sure to pick up the rest of the great supplements in the RPGPundit Presents series:



RPGPundit Presents #1: DungeonChef!

RPGPundit Presents #2: The Goetia  (usable for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #3: High-Tech Weapons

RPGPundit Presents #4: Hipster Elves

RPGPundit Presents #5: The Child-Eaters (an adventure scenario for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #6: The Distinguished Wizard's Guide to Pipes and Pipeweed 

RPGPundit Presents #7: The Medieval-Authentic Vancian Wizard's Spellbook

RPGPundit Presents #8: Three Medieval-Authentic Grimoires (usable for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #9: The Book of the Art of Hours (usable for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #10: The Kitchen Sink

RPGPundit Presents #11: Crazy Wizards! 

RPGPundit Presents #12: Two More Medieval-Authentic Magical Grimoires (Usable for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #13: Making the Most of Your Dragon Corpse 

RPGPundit Presents #14: The Secret Order of the Red Lady (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #15: Last Sun: Gazetteer of the Middle Northern Wildlands 

RPGPundit Presents #16: Last Sun: The Great City of Arkhome

RPGPundit Presents #17: The Hunters (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #18: Advanced Medieval-Authentic Astrology (a supplement for Lion & Dragon!)

Stay tuned for more next week!


RPGPundit

Currently smoking: Brigham Anniversary + Image Latakia 

Bilingual Medieval-Authentic OSR Advanced Astrology (whew)!

It's a hell of a lot of words, but it's also a damn good little supplement!

Last week we released RPGPundit Presents #18: Advanced Medieval-Authentic Astrology. It's usable for any OSR system where you want to give magic-users a little extra punch, and it includes all the rules you need, repeating and expanding on the rules on Astrology found in the bestselling Lion & Dragon Medieval-Authentic OSR RPG!

Well now, if you're a Spanish-speaking reader, you can buy it in Spanish! 

Astrologia Medieval Avanzada is now available on DTRPG or on the Precis Intermedia site!


So check it out, and keep checking out Lion & Dragon; if you haven't bought it yet, you don't know what you're missing. You haven't actually played "medieval fantasy"... until Lion & Dragon!


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti A + Peterson's Old Dublin

Wild West Campaign Update: The River Cow

The PCs were preparing to leave East Vegas en masse. Hoodoo Brown was not happy about it, but he also wasn't willing to enter into a fight with the leavers.

At the same time, Doc Thomas had come back at long last. He'd claimed he'd originally gone off to a Conference on Male Anatomy, but in fact he'd gone off on a river cruise with some friends who were, like him, aficionados of the "love that dare not speak his name". Along the way, he met a new friend, a young man named Billy Breackenridge, a would-be author, and the two spent a good long time together. In the end, Doc Thomas had to get back home, though Billy said he planned to go out west real soon.

The news that half of the Dodge City Gang were leaving (along with Doc Holliday and Big Nose Kate, who already headed off to Prescott to do some gambling before moving on to Tombstone) had predictably caused some uncertainty for the town, as some of the townsfolk were suspecting that Hoodoo Brown was losing power. This required some stern measure against some of the local business owners/toughs who were refusing to pay the 30% 'tax' that Hoodoo demanded of them.

As a result, Kid Taylor (no longer town doctor with Doc Thomas being back) and Mysterious Dave Mathers ended up being in two gunfights in as many days. The first, accompanied by John Joshua Webb, had them face off against four toughs. Two of them died of gunfire, and a third ran off with Webb's knife in his neck to go bleed to death somewhere; the fourth just plain ran for his life.

The second fight had Mathers, Taylor and Dirty Dave Rudabaugh facing off in the Den of Sin with Switchblade Jack Callhoun, a knickerbocker from New York who had bought Crazy Miller's brothel.  This one had a twist, though.

The local Mexicans had asked Other Miller for help (he was on very good terms with the local Mexican population). It turned out that Don Fulgencio, a local old farmer, had gone missing along with his 'river cow'. What's a river cow, you ask? Well, it's a cow that is trained to lead other cows across a river.  When there's a cattle drive, and you get to a river, you're likely to lose a great number of cows, except when there's a cow that knows how to get across. Then you just send it ahead and the rest will follow.

It turns out that a rancher was bringing a herd of cattle across the river and got bushwacked by a group of cattle rustlers. They were stuck at the river waiting for Don Fulgencio and his cow, which had vanished. The Mexicans didn't care much about the ranchers, but they were all very worried for Don Fulgencio and his cow. Miller agreed to try to find out his fate, and asked Crazy Miller to join him.

They didn't find Don Fulgencio, but had a run in with a couple of ranchers who had come from the N-Star ranch in search of the cows that were rustled. After some initial distrust, they agreed to work together. They found that the herd had been led further downriver, then across. It became obvious to the Millers that the gang had hidden the cows somewhere while arranging with Hoodoo to falsify bills of sale so they could sell the cows and ship them out with the railroad. Figuring that it would be less risky to find the group they sent to Vegas than to face off with the rest of the gang wherever the cows went, they headed out to town.

After splitting up and some searching around, they'd found out that there were three men in town, and as it happens they were in the Den of Sin.  Crazy Miller was there searching for clues and spotted the men when Mathers, Rudabaugh and Taylor came in and faced off with Switchblade Jack. He decided to take advantage of the situation by starting his own shootout with the three men while Mathers was killing Jack.

The shootout was brutal; in a few seconds two of the three rustlers dead and the third was bleeding out from a massive head wound; Other Miller himself took a non-fatal but serious shot to the temple which gave him a massive concussion.   Other Miller tried to disseminate, not sure if the rustlers had already made a deal with Hoodoo, and worried that he may have crossed Hoodoo by killing them.

The rustler who wasn't quite dead yet turned out to be Vickers, the leader of the rustlers, and indeed he had made a deal with Hoodoo. Doc Thomas and Kid Taylor both examined him; his injury was terrible and the bullet was lodged in his brain. Neither of them really had the skill to operate, but Kid Taylor decided to try. Incredibly, he initially managed to remove the bullet, but Vickers was in a coma.

Crazy Miller was brought before Hoodoo but also disseminated. Then conferring with Other Miller, they decided they really had just one good option (in terms of what passes for "good" in East Vegas): they were going to go and murder every last member of the Vickers gang. They recruited Crazy Miller's 'best friend' John Joshua Webb to join them. Webb had been down in the dumps about his partner Doc Holliday selling off his part of their saloon and leaving town, and hadn't killed anyone in an awful long time, so Crazy Miller had him at "I need you to kill some people". He didn't even ask who they were, or why.

They tracked the rustlers to a small canyon with an arroyo, which was the best place to hide several dozen rustled cows. There were nine Rustlers, but Webb went in first and silently killed the four who were on duty watching the cows, and the one who was standing guard at the canyon entrance.
The rest of the team (the Millers plus the two ranchers) had set up on top of a hill with their rifles, and waited for Webb to 'distract' the other four rustlers in the campsite, which he did by running out screaming from one of the tents and stabbing one of the four multiple times with his knife. Then the rest of the men opened fire on the remaining three rustlers and the whole thing was over without a hitch.

The Ranchers took back their cattle. The Millers headed back to the Mexicans to inform them that they hadn't been able to find hide nor hair of Don Fulgencio and his River-cow, assuming the rustlers must have murdered both, but to their surprise found Don Fulgencio back home. He'd taken his cow up to the hills to graze on account of the drought having made slim pickings on his farmland. It turned out his disappearance had nothing to do with the rustlers at all.

Other Miller decided that it wouldn't be wise for him to go back to East Vegas, since Hoodoo might just feel obliged to murder him; so he gave Crazy Miller a note of apology and some $200 to hand over to Hoodoo as compensation for any trouble he'd caused, and rode off ahead on the trail to Tombstone.

The rest of the group was planning to follow shortly; except for Doc Thomas. He hadn't planned to leave, until he got a telegram from Billy. It turned out that he'd moved to Tombstone, and was hoping Doc Thomas might join him there. Thomas asked permission of Hoodoo to leave, and Hoodoo at that point was strained to damn near breaking, but he'd always had a soft spot for Thomas and told him that he could go with his blessing if he found a replacement doctor for the town.  After some investigation, Doc Thomas found himself an alcoholic old army medic in Fort Sumner, who didn't know a damn thing about birthing babies or curing colic but had taken out hundreds of bullets in his lifetime; he was, in other words, the perfect match for East Vegas.

The session ended with everyone getting ready to leave for Tombstone, but with Kid Taylor and his wife planning to take a trip back to Dodge first, so her parents could meet their infant grand-daughter. It looks like next session might be a two-parter, with action happening in Dodge and Tombstone at once.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Stanwell Deluxe + Image Virginia

DCC Campaign Update: Your Face is Flammable

In our last adventure, the PCs had made it into the Heart of the Sun. There, they learned that the Spirit of the Sun had lost a 'transit orb' which is essential to getting them to the Crown of Creation.  The orb was apparently taken by a former-boyfriend of hers named Fabritzio.  The party, along with the Spirit of the Sun in human form, teleported down to the surface, to the last place she had seen her former lover.  It turned out to be the Zombie Empire.

Now:

-"I'll be eternally grateful to you Sami, for restoring my vision."
"Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts."

-You know you're in the Zombie Empire because the zombies can talk.
"What are they saying?"
"Good question. They're saying 'run! Run for your lives!'"
"At us?"
"Well, to each other but they're running toward you, not away from you..."

-It turns out the normal zombies are running from a big herd of Sezrekhan Zombies, most of whom are also zombies, but some are not.
"How many of them are there?"
"Tons."
"How far away are they?"
"About 200 feet and closing."

-"Run, Livings! Run for your lives! The zombies are coming!"

-"Ironically, the Zombie Empire seems to be suffering the early stages of a Zombie Apocalypse."

-"Hey, Sun!"
"My name's Anema."
"Ok, whatever. Can you destroy all of them?"
"I could destroy ALL of this, as in everything for hundreds of miles around."

-While the PCs are trying to figure out what to do, a big rift in space appears and a fancy-looking skyship comes crashing down out of the sky, flattening a good portion of the Sezrekhan Zombies in the process.

-"I'm hitting on the Spirit of the Sun."
"What's your Personality, catboy?"
"17."
"...oh, shit."

-"That catboy is like a living meme of a cat just about to knock a glass off the table..."

-Heidi picks up a non-sezrekhan zombie with his jetpack, rescuing him.
"Thank you for saving me!"
"We're looking for Fabritzio, where is he?"
"I don't know sir, I'm but a humble zombie beggar"
"Eww!" (Heidi immediately drops him back into the sezrekhan-zombie herd)

-"do you guys have anything flammable we can use against the sezrekhan zombies?"
"Well, your face is flammable, Sami.."

-Everyone is now flying in the air, out of reach of the sezrekhan zombies, except for the Vegan.
"Help me, guys!"
"Sorry, I'm busy."
"I'm Vizi!"
"I just don't want to!"

-"Where's Fabritzio?"
"The rebel leader? He's going to be executed!"
"Oh damn."

-Some of the PCs head to the crashed skyship, which is now surrounded by Sezrekhan-zombies. A guy in a sleek 70s-esque space-suit climbs out.

-"Hello chaps, I'm from the future. I'm here to help!"
"Wait, are other people trying to make us fail?"
"Yes, but I have to be careful what I say, I can't alter the past."
"But you're here!"
"I'm here to preserve time!"
"Fucking time travel."

-"What about the Time Dinosaurs, did they send you?"
"No. They're mine sworn enemies!"
"That's it. We should kill this guy."
"No, wait, there are rebel time dinosaurs, remember?"
"The rebels might be the real time dinosaurs!"

-"Man, I hate time travel!"
"Yeah, I envy Mongo right now."

-The space-man from the future is named Captain Harry.
"Can you prove you're from the future AND on our side?"
Captain hairy whispers something into Roman's ear, which makes him seem surprised.
"He's definitely from the future, and on our side!"

-"We don't even know if Roman is on our side!"
"What do you think Harry told him?"
"Maybe he knows what Roman really is?"
"What do you guys even mean? I'm your dear old Uncle Roman!"

-"I still say we kill him."
"No, we should trust him."
"I think he looks kind of cute!"
"Anema, you and I need to have a serious talk. You have a problem."

-"The catboy keeps hitting on Anema... how furry is the catboy anyways?"
"He's you-sick-fuck level of furry."

-The party still needs to find Fabritzio. All they know is that he was apparently some kind of anarchist rebel-leader and the forces of the Zombie Empress have captured him and plan to execute him. Roman thinks the party ought to kidnap people and get more information.
"You just want to torture someone!"
"No, I just think that since we've got the Last Ancient AND the Spirit of the Sun with us, we may need to have a more sophisticated plan than just 'throw grenades on the roof'"
"Shit, remember when 'let's throw grenades on the roof' was the new low in our party?"
"Man, a lot of water has passed under that bridge."
"Throwing grenades on the roof seems downright intricate by our current standards"

-Captain Harry was a fighter pilot for the Sky Wizard Air Force.
"Wait, are you a wizard, Harry?"
"No, I'm not."
"The Hippomagus was hugging the Sunstaff more tightly when he thought you were."

-The PCs head to the capital, and finally (against Roman's advice) decide to just present themselves to the city guard.
"Who are you Livings?"
"I'm a member of the High Council of Wizards."
"...are you a hippo?"

-"I notice you are all Living."
"Barely."

-"So you can all fly?"
"Except the Vegan."

-"Are there Vegans in the future, Harry?"
"They've gone extinct."
"Wow. He really does come from a utopia!"

-Fabritzio was the leader of a rebel motorcycle gang called the Wight Knights.
"Wait.. the White Knights?"
"No, the Wight Knights."
"Man, that sounded bad until you figure out how it's spelled."

-"So Fabritzio is a wight?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't notice this, Anema?"
"You all look alike to me."

-After much discussion, Heidi bribes the captain of the city walls with a diamond (courtesy of Harry). As soon as they get to the palace, he squeals on the captain for taking a bribe, and as a result gets himself and Harry arrested for bribing a city guard.
"Goddamnit, I told you this was a stupid plan!"
"No, wait, they'll be taken to where Fabritzio is held."

-Sami takes to using the decanter of endless water as a spray bottle to keep the catboy from hitting on Anema.

-The Vegan, eager to get a replacement spell to Ekim's Mystical Mask, asks the Hippomagus if he'll take him as his apprentice. The Hippomagus is overjoyed.
"No one ever wanted to be my apprentice!"

-Heidi and Harry find Fabritzio in the palace dungeon, but Fabritzio has no memory of the Spirit of the Sun.
"You don't remember? You stole something from her."
"Hey! I steal nothing from the women, except for their hearts.. and their souls, of course. The heart metaphorically, their souls literally."

-"Can you prove you're the Fabritzio we're looking for? If you can, we'll help get you out of here."
"How can I prove it?"
"Tell us who Anema's father was."
"Probably some asshole!"
"He's not technically wrong."

-"Hey guards, I think we've got the wrong Fabritzio here, you can let us go now!"

-Meanwhile, the rest of the party has been put in more comfortable guest quarters while the Zombie Empire decides what to do with them.
"Do Vegans drink wine?"
"As long as it's free-range cruelty-free wine."

-The Hippomagus takes some time to teach the Vegan.
"The most important thing is to loudly announce the spell you're about to cast!"
"Are you teaching him wrong on purpose?"
"I'm teaching him as I was taught!"
"Who was your teacher?"
"The Rhinomagus!"

-"Wait.. am I turning into the Hippomagus?"
"Don't worry, you already were anyways."

-Heidi tries a classic escape attempt, feigning a fight with Harry, but it doesn't work.

-After Heidi's escape attempt, the palace guards come to arrest the rest of the party for rebellion. The zombie guard make their first mistake when they try to disarm everyone.
"Nobody takes my staff!!"
"Oh shit!!"

-All hell breaks loose when the Hippomagus attacks. The catboy hides under a couch, badly.

-The Hippomagus goes apeshit, the guards run for their lives, and the Hippomagus clings to his sunstaff.
"My precious!"

-"Great, just what we need, another place where we're the enemies of the state."

-The whole palace is in high alert. Down in the dungeon, the guards are barricading the stairs.
"If they get down here, we kill the terrorist."
"Just to check, that's Fabritzio, right? Not us?"

-"I hope this means your friends are trying to get us out."
"Friends is a very strong word.."

-The party upstairs starts trying to fight their way down to the dungeon. They run into a troop of 20 guards.
"I'll empty my clip at them."
"Vizi, you know that never works."
"Hey look, Vizi hit 19 out of 20 of them!"
"Holy shit.. that's shockingly effective."

-Mongo joins the battle, throwing an ancient bust at one of the guards. Then an ornate antique vase. He misses both.
"I think Mongo isn't really trying to fight, he's just happy destroying priceless artifacts."

-The Zombies are backed up by elite Wraith guards! Mongo throws a priceless faberge egg at one.

-"Mongo is injured, I'll try to heal him. He's neutral, right?"
"What makes a man turn neutral?"
"In Mongo's case? Retardation."

-Mongo finds Dracula's Spear, snaps it in two, and then throws both pieces at zombies.

-"It's the vegan's turn."
"I have literally nothing left to attack with. I'm morally broken."
"You were always morally broken."

-"Catboy, you're a waste of oxygen. You're worse than the Vegan, at least he fails!"
"I don't even try!"

-"The catboy at best might attract attacks."
"It doesn't look like it."
"He looks so harmless no one even bothers."

-The party keeps being attacked by successive waves of Zombies and Wraiths. The Hippomagus goes down, but he's still alive.

-Anema can't help much without destroying the entire kingdom and everyone in it (including the PCs), but she does shift into fire form in the hopes of scaring the undead.
"It didn't work, but I look better like this!"

-The Hippomagus drops for the second time (still alive though) as 15 more zombies arrive to attack! Things are not going well.

-The Vegan, the catboy, and the Hippomagus (for the third time) all fall. The Vegan and the Catboy both survive (astounding everyone, since neither have decent luck), but the Hippomagus is dead!

-The PCs try to use the Yogurt of Revival to save the Hippomagus, but sadly it fails.
"It was probably past its expiry date a few thousand years."

-The party finally rescuses Heidi and Harry, and frees Fabritzio, and Anema teleports everyone back to the Sun.
"Can you Jesuses heal us?"
"It's Jesi, plural."

-"Can you resurrect the Hippomagus?"
"What, you think we can raise the dead?!"

-"the Hippomagus is dead? Oh shit.. shit, this is bad. He wasn't supposed to die.. yet."

-Fabritzio remembers Anema, but he still has no clue about the "transit orb".  It takes everyone quite some time to finally figure it out: the "transit orb" is Anema's soul. Fabritzio was surprised Anema was still alive and not undead, because he'd drained her soul.

-This development means that Anema and Fabritzio need to act in harmony to open the path to the Crown of Creation.  Killing Fabritzio would just mean that they could never get there from here. And both parties must be willing to open the gate of their own free will, in harmony.
"Does in harmony mean they need to have sex?"
"Probably."

-Anema is interested in hooking up with Fabritzio, but he's very reluctant, weirded out by the whole situation. It doesn't help that Anema is coming on way too strong and getting all clingy. Sami takes Anema aside and tries to get her "woke".

-Captain Harry takes Heidi aside. He's deeply concerned that without the Hippomagus, the PCs will all die in the Crown of Creation and fail to stop Sezrekhan.
"I think there's something we might be able to do. I know the location, at this point in time, of a very powerful chaos-sword that's capable of slaying a Daemon. It might be able to give us a chance."
"So, why are you tell me this, specifically?"
"Well, Heidi, because... you're my grandfather."
"NOOOOOOO!!"

And on that bombshell, our session ends. Stay tuned for next session, when the PCs will undoubtedly be off to another side-quest while Anema and Fabritzio undergo couples counselling.


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Ashton Old Church Rhodesian + C&D's Crowley's Best

OK, so you got Lion & Dragon... now What?

Let's say you're the proud owner of Lion & Dragon, the best new OSR Medieval-Authentic RPG that's causing a revolution of medievalism in the old-school gaming world.  I mean, of course you would! It's already a Silver Bestseller and is on its 3rd month of being on RPGnow's top-10 bestseller list!

And you've read the book, love it, and already have a game planned. But if there's one thing I know about old-school gamers, is that they love additional material and support.  I generally make games as single-book products and that's it. I had tons of people asking if Lords of Olympus or Arrows of Indra would ever get supplements. And hey, never say never but it looks unlikely.

But I've sure smartened up since then.  Lion & Dragon already had supplements ready for it when the book came out. And now it's got more than ever, and there's still more coming! So here's a breakdown of what's available now, and what you should get if you want MORE than just the L&D rulebook:

1. Dark Albion

The most obvious choice is this awesome huge Medieval-Authentic setting. If you liked L&D, odds are very high you'll like Dark Albion. Note, maybe 15-20% of the stuff in the L&D book is in Albion too, but the other parts are well worth the additional material. You get rules on domain management and mass warfare, more details on law and justice, a gazetteer of the lands of Albion (fantasy authentic-medieval England), complete details on the Rose War, and much more. Click the link above to get information about how to get it in hardback (original or alternate cover), paperback, or PDF.

2. Cults of Chaos

Cults of Chaos is another obvious choice for Lion & Dragon players! In this sourcebook you'll get the most detailed set of rules and random tables to generate evil cults, sects, heresies, occult frauds and other sinister groups of Chaos. The generation system is set up to work along the lines of social class, and no two cults will ever be alike!  There's also rules on chaos mutation, lots of additional material on cults including details on several of the major cults or heresies through history, and an appendix with more material about the Elves. This book is practically an adventure-making machine since cults come with motivations and complications. If you're not interested in the Albion setting and you only get one book for L&D, this is the one! Available in softcover or PDF!

3. The Child Eaters

This is a 9 page adventure scenario supplement is about a witch-cult and the danger it represents to a border area. It's a great introductory adventure. Available on PDF for just $1.99


4. Three Medieval-Authentic Grimoires

5. The Book of the Art of Hours 

6. Two More Medieval-Authentic Grimoires

7. Advanced Medieval-Authentic Astrology

These four books will expand the magic system for you, expanding the possibilities of what medieval-authentic magic can do! They're all short supplements, some of them as cheap as 99 cents!


8. The Secret Order of the Red Lady

Another adventure-scenario for L&D, this 12-page module details a sinister aristocratic cult with a strange secret!


9. The Hunters

One more adventure, this one features a group of famous heroes and monster hunters. But could they actually be involved with the mysterious disappearance of several children near their manor?

And all that's just what we have for now! In a future post I'll have to remember to let you know a bit about the L&D products that will be coming out in the near future.


Finally, you're going to want somewhere to talk about L&D.  You can do that on theRPGsite if you did forums (you can also talk about all kinds of other RPGs). It's also where I'll gladly answer any of your questions about the game.

If you'd rather chat on G+, you can find lots of interesting Dark Albion and Lion & Dragon discussion in the Community of the same name!


So, that's it for today! Spread the good word about Lion & Dragon and all the support it's already got.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Half-Volcano + Sutliff Country Doctor