Out of Town and Out of Touch

I will be out of town and out of blog communication (love those work firewalls) until the 20th of December.

Once back I will be posting about my Warmachine Cygnar Precusor Knights and UA, Warhammer Lost and the Damned, Terrain and other things. Stay tuned.

3d Puzzle of the Riviera

I have been searching for good 3d puzzle terrain as quick scenery and to exercise my mind.

I found it in the Riviera 3d puzzle from Wrebbit for a measly $2.

 It looks very nice assembled with figures. Almost like a movie set.

 It is built to be separated but there is a problem...

...as the alleyways are even too tight for a Malifaux Neverborn Terror Tot.

Separating it again into four parts makes it really usable for the table as scenery. This is the best 3d puzzle i've found that fits what I need.

 My cat Leonardo approves.

Using TV shows as a Model for a One or Two person Role Playing Game

There are many TV shows whose formula would work well for a one or two player roleplaying game. I'll use two current examples: Sleepy Hollow
and Continuum.
 
Sleepy Hollow is a modern day adventure story with major supernatural elements taking place in one geographic area, the town of sleepy hollow.
One of the two main characters are a female policewoman, Lt. Abby Mills, who is struggling to make sense of the odd goings on while coming to
grips with the demon she saw when she was a teenager and the years of denial of what she saw. The other is Icabod Crane, a British national
who fought for the Americans during the revolutionary war and was a special agent for George Washington against the forces of darkness. This
was before he decapitated a mercenary and was put in suspension by his witch wife until modern times, where the headless mercenary who is one
of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, is looking for his missing head. The two characters are supposedly the two observers, written in the
bible in revelations, to witness the seven years before the apocalypse happens with all kinds of evil badness. Breaking it down it is:
 

-an adventure story with lots of supernatural elements but the main characters do not have supernatural abilities;
-takes place in one geographic area; 

-the main characters do not know what will happen next until it happens;
-both are a fish out of water for different reasons; and
-individual adventures have a beginning, middle and end with a thread that weaves through each adventure.
 
As I see it, it can be a perfect solo game with the main player-character (PC) playing the policeman/woman. Ichabod is the
information source, as he infodumps about what he's been through but he could also be a PC in the right hands. Each character has a past that
gets a bit of the surface scratched each of three to four part adventure in the form of flashbacks or visions. This type of campaign is light
with lots of winks and nods, because the police chief gives the PC latitude to do their own thing and nobody questions why weirdness is
going on in a small town on the American Appalachians. A solution is to have the trope that common people forget or remember things differently
and the named characters don't, which I've used in one of my campaigns.
 
Continuum is a modern day quest, police procedural with sci-fi elements. The main character is Kiera Cameron, a corporate policewoman or
Protector from 2077 in the city of Vancouver. Corporations rule the world and a terrorist/revolutionary organization known as Liber8 has been squashed and
the leaders about to be executed. Kiera is one of the Protectors guarding the prisoners when they activate a time travel device and
everyone in the vicinity is transported back to our time. Kiera mingles with the local police force as a liaison from section 6, a cover
invented by a young Alec Sadler (whom is one of the head corporate leaders and scientist in the future), to stop Liber8 from jump starting
their organization earlier than it originally happened. Kiera wants to reassemble the time travel device and stop Liber8 so that she can return
to an unchanged future with her son and husband. Breaking it down it has:
 

-quest story with heavy conspiratorial and ethical dilemmas. Kiera is basically good but will bend morals to get home and stop Liber8 while
Liber8 do not want to be slaves under a future corporate dictatorship but are willing to kill to achieve it.
-takes place in one geographic area;
-Main characters know what the end goal is but not always how to get there;
-are fish out of water; and
-adventures have a beginning and middle with complications skewing the little victories at the end as there are always little twists from
Liber8 or other players.
 
It is also a perfect game for a small amount of characters. Kiera is the main PC as its her quest the other PCs support so it could be a solo
adventure. Alec Sadler also is trying to live a normal life with the weight of helping to create a future he does not like. Her Vancouver
police partner, Detective Fonnegra is a smaller PC who initially is unaware of Kiera's past (future). Each of the episodes generally has a
scene from Kiera's future time that has relevance in her current time and many scenes of what other characters are doing to add to the story.
An role-playing game such as this is heavy on the plot and story with some room for improve but has an overall conspiracy, as having Kiera in
the past with Liber8 was not an accident.
 
As these two shows suggest, there is an overall arc but Sleepy Hollow is looser with the journey while Continuum is stricter. Both can work as
outlines for your roleplaying game either in parts or whole chunks. Just make it different enough that your players will not know what happens
next.

Mutants and Masterminds 10th Anniversary Rulebook

I took part in another kickstarter for my favorite superhero roleplaying game, Mutants and Masterminds. Its the 10th anniversary edition which has everything in the Hero's Handbook core rules with the following, taken from the kickstarter M&M site:

• $12,500: We’ll add a ribbon bookmark to the book. Funded!
• $15,000: We will incorporate the hugely useful Quickstart Character Generator into the book. This originally appeared in the GM’s Kit but it has proven so popular it really belongs in the core rulebook. Funded!
• $17,500: We will include a book plate signed by Mutants & Masterminds creator Steve Kenson. Funded!
• $20,000: We will add a special appendix to the book with essays by designer Steve Kenson, developer Jon Leitheusser, Green Ronin president Chris Pramas, and special guests about the design, development, and history of Mutants & Masterminds. Funded!
• $25,000: We will include Third Edition game stats for some popular characters from previous editions of Mutants & Masterminds in the special appendix. Funded!
• $27, 500: We’ll add a beautiful dust jacket and individually shrink wrap each book so it gets to you in great shape! Funded!
• $30,000: We’ll add a brand new 8-page adventure by Seth Johnson (Threat Report, Emerald City Knights, DC Adventures Heroes & Villains) set in Emerald City! Funded!
• $33,500: We’ll make Seth’s adventure 16 pages instead of 8! Funded!
• $37,000: New! We’ll add a brand new 8-page adventure by Christopher McGlothlin (Time of Crisis, Golden Age, Worlds of Freedom) set in Freedom City!
• $40,000: New! We’ll make Chris’s adventure 16 pages instead of 8!

I received it recently in the mail and I must say that it was worth it, even though I had the DC Adventures Hero's Handbook. Now to get the time to roleplay this great game!