A Quick Look At Anime-Ish RPG (Some Actually Japanese!)

Just a quick post to look at a few games which are 'anime'-like because, let's face it, in spite of having mostly posted content for games compatible with old school, D&D-derived stuff it has been no secret that to some degree I am a filthy fucking weeabo. Not a particularly loud one, mind you: I never ran around with anime t-shirt saying 'kawaii desu' or other cancerous shit. I'm already pathetic enough as is.

Doublecross

Status: Legally available and translated. Can be bought on DrivethruRPG.

Closest Equivalent: Anime X-Men meet A Certain Scientific Railgun meet NEEDLESS, I suppose?

Let's start with one I actually ran a full campaign with, Doublecross! This is an even rarer beast, which is to say a Tabletop RPG where I own a physical copy of the damn thing and not just a PDF. These are indeed few and far between but Doublecross, for some reason, is a game I own the core rule book in physical form. In DX you play as an Overed, which is the mandatory fancy word they use for 'person with bullshit anime mutant powers'. What can make or break DX is that, for one thing, it's mechanics and settings are quite tied together as your character's powers also act as a corruption meter of sorts where the more you use them the stronger you get but also risk permanently losing said character. The fact this ties into an XP penalty can be quite annoying. The game also suffers from that very Japanese TTRPG 'thing' of being overly structured toward extremely railroad-heavy play with extremely rigid scene structure and combat/non combat dissonance. You can make a vampire loli or a catgirl if you're a degenerate.

Kamigakari

Status: Fully fan-translated but also has a completed Kickstarter. There's a bit of an issue over which version is 'better'.

Closest Equivalent: The Nasuverse (Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, Kara No Kyoukai)

In many ways, I'm told this is the 'rival' to Doublecross. Both games are fairly similar in their 'modern day anime fighting stuff' focus. The key difference is that Kamigakari is a lot more focused on urban fantasy. I haven't played KgK yet but I can definitely see both games as trying to a appeal to a similar market and demographic. There is a lot in there that can make it even come off as an 'off brand' Nasuverse, especially once you piece together all the options from the various supplements. I'd say one key thing with KgK that's superior to DX is that the various race/classes options are a lot more evocative in terms of fluff that a syndrome with some connected and disconnected powers. You can make a vampire loli or a catgirl if you're a degenerate.

Valor: The Heroic Roleplaying System

Status: Can be bought on DrivethruRPG.

Closest Equivalent: Any mainstream Shonen Jump title about people hitting each others.

This one, unlike the previous two wasn't made in Japan so right away you can expect the art to look a lot more amateur-ish like those terrible 'how to draw anime' books. That said, given its not a Japanese system its not as much of a nightmare to work with and homebrew so that's a plus. Whereas the previous two were setting-specific, Valor is genre-specific meaning it focus a lot more on the 'shonen fighting manga' genre. That's your Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, Naruto Boruto's Dad, Bleach or, if you're a little kiddie, Black Clover and Demon Slayer. Anything which focus on fighting and getting stronger to fight even stronger stuff is 'shonenshit'. Wait. Does....that mean D&D is actually shonenshit? In any case, there is a system to create your power (what it does, usually a mega punch or a laser or something) and you can add things which make it stronger and reduce the cost with flaws, not unlike other games like M&M or even GURPS. Much like the others you can make a loli vampire or catgirl if you are a degenerate, provided that's what fit in the campaign.

Battle Century G

Status: Can be bought on DrivethruRPG.

Closest Equivalent: Any mecha anime. Or, more accurately, Super Robot Wars.

Okay now we're talking. Giant. Fucking. Robots. Do I need to explain this genre? It covers anything from saturday morning cartoon toy commercials in both the east and west (Transformers anyone?) to war drama (that sell toys) to weird pseudo intellectual existential nonsense (that also sell toys). There have been many mecha RPG but one thing I've tend to notice is that most games tend to focus more on the harder scifi take rather than having any mechanically feasible option to play the oversized action figure with rocket fists and combining. BCG can be a bit clunky but it has these options right from the get go, in the core book and that's all you need to know. This one is the least likely to have the vampire loli or the catgirl but you never know.

Big Eyes, Small Mouth

Status: Can be bought on DrivethruRPG.

Closest Equivalent: Deviantart?

The grand daddy of 'anime' RPG probably doesn't really need any introductions. Its a non-genre specific RPG system with point buy powers and isn't technically limited to doing 'anime'-styled games. Not much else to add because I'm going to assume people already know about it by now.

Urban Fantasy: Mages

What's an Urban Fantasy setting without mages of some kind, right? They are just as much a staple as Vampires and Werewolves (*cough*) so it come to no surprise there would be some form of primarily-human spell casters running around. There's a bit of just about everything under the sun rolled into these Mages. This leave 'magic' both a very specific thing within the greater ecology of the setting and also something that's rather hard to define as to what exactly they are. There is definitely some influence here from Unknown Armies and Shadowrun, I think.

On Mages

Oddly accurate.

To wield magic is to wield a power beyond conventional science and understanding. These powers can range from the subtle and etheric to the much more flashy and blatant, although the D&D-styled Vancian fireballs are quite rare in the modern world notably because wielding destructive magic is extremely hard to hide and also quite hazardous in any urban center. Mages come in all shape and form and all manner of levels of power, with the vast majority of them being rather weak all things considered. Magecraft exist in all cultures but how it is viewed and understood is something no two mages would ever agree on: indeed most would not recognize each others as a 'proper' practitioner of magic as their craft, tradition, culture and personal philosophy would vary. In the modern age there are just as many mages following ancient, half-lost traditions and techniques as there are self-taught weirdos whose entire magic and world view is shaped by their personal philosophy and beliefs on the nature of the world.

The first thing to understand is that a mage is created, never born. While there might still be highly isolated and insular bloodlines and clans of witches and the like somewhere in the world, the power that mages wield isn't something carried 'in the blood'. Mages are not a distinct sub-species of human nor do they really have a secret world where everyone is a wizard and treat each others as such. A mage is created when a non-supernatural human claim a fragment of cosmic power through its arcane research or pact. In theory this is a power anyone can acquire but there is a reason why this is just theoretical and not the reality.

One could argue that the things a Mage studies, examine, replicate and belief are impossible things. These can range from studying implausible supernatural creature and phenomena to being a loony with strange beliefs about the nature of the universe, ranging from some hardscore post modernist shroom-snorting and anarcho-whateverism to people who think that space is actually still aether and modern science is lying. Simply reading a text on the theory and principle behind another Mage's entire life work is not enough to grasp the process. One could ready such a detailed account (if it ever existed) and replicate all the experiments, all the movements, all the formula and all the rituals and not be able to cast a single spell. There's a very personal and also maniacal side to magic. Magic is a mindset. It is also a philosophy and a state of mind and each state of mind is unique to either a pre-existing magical tradition or one which is self created.

Becoming A Mage

This mindset, understanding and philosophy is the first catalyst to magecraft but it is also what limits the mage in the long run. It is the focus and angle through which one's magic is expressed and this isn't something that is changed. It is a fundamental, profound change and dedication. There are a few dabblers who are able to learn just about any weak spell and incantation but these are individuals who treat magic more as a tool, which forever locks away the truth depths of power from them.

The second catalyst is actual power (in an abstract) form, which is bargained or taken/stole from the universe. People have long debated how exactly this works and even to this day there's no real consensus because that explanation may just be an abstraction. Through years of dedication, study, experimentation and a lot of nutty ideas there is a real breakthrough for some mages and they become imbued with the power they need to wield their form of magic. Others however, bargain for it. They spend years beseeching the blessing of various and often disparate spirits, ancient deities and more and take this power into themselves. Other people believe this power is somehow 'stolen' but, again, this is all quite abstract. The final, quickest and most dangerous way to wield magic is to flat out sacrifice parts of oneself by offering it to entities willing to empower a mortal in a way not to dissimilar to the concept of Patron for Warlocks in D&D. Indeed it is likely most mages technically have one or more patron but that patron is unaware of their use of power. Those who contact an active, listening power can expect great results in a short amount of time...at a high, high cost. Many individuals fail at the transcendence, however.

Unsurprisingly, it is Demons which love to empower such a mage and the cost they demand is a steep one which invariably will doom the mage, either killing them or possibly damning them until they become a demon-like being of their own, even if the former scenario is the most common and likely. Demonic magic excel at destruction and corruption and often exert a physical toll on the user just as much as it exert a mental toll. These flaws in the magic are, of course, entirely deliberate in design since demons are assholes and revel in suffering and imperfection. Many of these demonic spellcasters become shriveled husks consumed by diseases and/or madness but by the time they have degenerated their sanity and morality (if they ever had any) are long gone.

But What For?

The thing is: why dedicate oneself to such a craft? Well, why do some people dedicate massive chunk of their lifespan to some hobbies? Or maybe drugs? Or, perhaps, to some ideology and way of life? There are a myriad of reasons and it would be somewhat reductive to simply state 'power' as an obvious choice. Power is nothing by itself: it is always a mean to an end. Generally speaking said end is often an attempt at a greater understanding of the universe, oneself and one's place in it. For others it is less about an understanding of said place as a desire to redefine said place. This is where the Mage's relationship with their patron or 'power source' if you will can greatly color their way of thinking. Most will never truly go far in their quest. A rare few, however, will achieve transcendence over their humanity.

Playing A Mage

This is where it gets complicated. There are so many ways to approach magic, so many different style and traditions that creating a spell list for Mages can get very complicated. Using Stars Without Numbers revised, a mage is a (Heroic) Magister class. This mean it naturally and automatically learn its spells, even if in-universe there might still be more work involved. Creating a spell list is where it would get complicated and need more works from a GM. Finally, it is generally assumed that Heroic Magister are a pure class and not a hybrid via the Adventurer, as their work is rather all consuming. The rare few Partial Magisters are mere dabblers in the art of magic, incomplete mages forever crippled and denied their full potential.

Urban Fantasy: Unusual Monsters and Individuals (Phantovores and Aberrations)

Not every critter out there is completely defined by mythology and pop culture. Sometimes there are just things out there which are not recorded into human history and stories. They could be brand new creatures and/or the seemingly logical conclusion of the 'ecology' created by the urban fantasy setting. Others are just really weird.

Phantovores

Cu Sith by Mark Delano

So Ghosts exist, right? The soul of dead or maybe some sort of psychic remnant of them which is crystallized and made manifest on a psychic dimension. Ghosts are a self-sustaining supernatural phenomena, a defiance of entropy. But what if something out there saw this reality and logic-defying entity, this self sustained phenomena as a source of food? Phantovores are Astral Entities which eat ghosts. They are rare entities of unknown origin: all that is known is they seemingly have a hunger for whatever metaphysical process makes a ghost and keeps it ticking. Phantovores could be allies to PC who are going against Ghosts or they could be a dangerous threat to some ally or friend who just so happen to also be dead and a ghost. It could be these beings are spawned into reality as some sort of cleaning mechanism for reality itself to get rid of ghosts.

Phantovores look like loosely bipedal, monstrous and bestial shapes with two or more heads. Their form is blurry and they themselves may very well look like ghosts. However they are not Ghosts but rather True Spirits. They have keen supernatural senses, insatiable appetite and their multiple heads aren't just for show as these creatures are able to multitask quite well. Very few of them talk and, while capable of being quite intelligent they seem to focus most of their intellect on the hunt. There are rumour and stories of fully socialized Phantovores who have become mercenaries who hire their service to destroy ghosts, aiming to locate and destroy places where such beings dwell such as gateways to the underworld where Ghostly towns exist. Some say Phantovores are not naturally created but rather born of specific (and powerful) magic rituals which extract parts of the mind and soul of a mage to spawn a ghost-hunting monstrosity: supposedly they are created not just to to hunt down and kill rivals but also consume their souls and memories,  trapping the individual as a ghost for slow digestion. That Phantovores are excellent, 'living' anti-spirit weapons would basically be a bonus if such a theory is true.

PHANTOVORE

HD: 2 AC: 16

Atk: +2* Dmg: 1d6 (Straight damage on Ghosts and beings currently in some kind of astral projection)

Effort: 2 Manifestation: C
*Gain an additional attack per head, usually up to three.

Phantovores are excellent hunters and trackers. They are have of special abilities to help them achieve their goals:

• They are instinctively aware of the presence of any Ghost in a 30 feet radius. This ability also extend to mortal spellcasters in astral projection, spirit form or whatever other effect make someone into an incorporeal being and/or allows them to project as such. Worthy foes/Ghosts with more HD than the Phantovore gets a Saving Throw. Any Spirit which pass the Saving Throw is immune to the Phantovore's ghost-detecting abilities for 24 hours.
• The Phantovore can Commit Effort for the day and target any Ghost (or similar being), inflicting it with unquantifiable dread and pain as its aura creeps over the target, giving them an early glimpse into the entropic gullet of non-existence they are going to end up. The target must pass a Mental Save or become stunned in place for 1 round. In such a state it cannot move away, teleport, dis-manifest or be forced to change location or plane of existence whatsoever by an outside force.
• Phantovore have an innate resistance to the abilities of Ghosts. Their HD are doubled for the purpose of determining if they count as a Worthy Foe when calculating if a power affect such a foe. Note that a mage n Astral Projection or beings in similar state 'count as' Ghosts.

More powerful Phantovores obviously have higher HD but such creatures are fortunately quite rare, even more so than other of their kind.

Aberrations

Not everything make perfect sense, especially not when it come to the unusual powers which some people can attain. Its easy to break down things into classes or even 'splat' (like the World of Darkness) but sometimes there are people who just don't fit in. There are cracks in the world, gaps in our knowledge of just how far the power of the mythical and supernatural can go and how it manifest. The ability to tap into the power of mind and dreams or that of spiritual realms is one thing, as is acquiring the power to wield supernatural powers through bargains and sacrifices. However, sometimes, people are just born weird. The potential for good and evil exist in all of us, but poor nurture and an unusual nature can create monsters out of us. Others unlock some strange power after a particularly traumatic event.

• It is said a living being ever experience a single, linear timeline even with some magic that alter the flow of time. People who claim to have lived multiple lives at once are usually liars...but not always. Some people pierce through the veil of the temporal dimension. What happen then can vary but some are driven insane as their various existences and alternate selves bleed into each others. Other, more strangely, become 'unstuck' from one timeline and end in another as some sort of temporal wraith.
• Some people have the ability to amplify or dampen certain concepts, many of them tied to magical forces. In their presence, abilities which already warp reality can find their potency increased or diminished. Particularly unusual people can become an almost reality-breaking singularity which dampen or unravel what would normally be powerful magic. Zero can become infinite and infinite can become zero. They become immune to alterations of their fate and become able to resist supernatural influence.
• Some people are unusually good at imagining. All thoughts and concepts exist as spirits somewhere in some space and time. There is a danger to the world if certain thoughts or fantasy take form. Perhaps some unhinged author's obsession to complete a story can manifest as some thought form. If the individual is particularly gifted then they may end up manifesting more and thought beings and become a singularity of their own, imploding into a mental black hole, ceasing to exist and rewriting themselves out of existence while bringing their creation further and further closer to reality.
• Others are odd dreamers obsessed with supernatural and impossible things and they attract unwanted attention, becoming a living beacon of power. That cliché of supernatural romance of how this boring ass, dry-as-cracker, personality-less blob somehow attract a few supernatural studs? That's an anomalous power which draws the supernatural to them.
• It is possible many type of supernatural beings began as some anomalous person slowly losing themselves to some higher power they cannot comprehend and which defies previous rules. None of the above powers are particularly easy to control and more often than not will simply break an individual and spiral into mental degeneration which will make them a monster.

Grimdark Future: 'Fluffy' High Elf Fleets Lists, Part 1

A focus on xeno scum this time around, with thematic lists for the 'High Elf Fleets' of Grimdark Future which are absolutely, totally not Eldars! Beside, Games Workshop call them Aeldari now. See? Legally distinct! In any case these fit the standard pattern for my fluffy lists, standing at up to 3000pts and trying to build a list which fit the playstyle of each sub-faction. The Eldar/Aeldari are 'space elves' and as such hit all the key conceptual elements of elves: smug, pointy eared, near-immortal and yet a dying race.

Iyanden: Ghost Warriors

Iyaden Wraithguard

Once one of the largest and most populated Craftworlds, Iyaden got its ass brutally handed to it by endless hordes of Tyranids from Hive Fleet Kraken. With most of its military forces killed, this Craftworld has since been forced to rely on Wraith-constructs to fill the ranks of its army, earning them the nickname and namesake of this list of 'Ghost Warriors'. Iyaden field armies heavy in Wraithguards and Wraithlords, constructs of wraithbone controlled by a dead Eldar warrior, making them quite close conceptually to Space Marine Dreadnoughts.

High Seer [1] x3 (170pts)

Wraith Suit Squad [5] x3 (1560pts)

Wraith Walker A [1] (465pts)

2x Flamethrower

Additional Weapon: Scatter Laser

Additional Weapon: Scatter Laser

Wraith Walker B [1] (575pts)

Additional Weapon: Taser Lance

Additional Weapon: Taser Lance

Tactics: This is an elitist army to the core, with few units but powerful ones, as each and every single unit in this army has Tough, meaning it has multiple wounds. Assign a Seer to each Wraith Suit squad (these are your Spirit Seers for fluff purposes). The Wraith Walkers each have a different loadout fit to attack different targets, with Wraith Walker A being an infantry-killer and Wraith-Walker B being your only reliable anti-tank. Since the list has a Psychic for each infantry squad, spam the crap out of any powers, especially Creator (to heal wounds) and Destroyer (to blast tanks and monsters).

Saim-Hann: Wild Riders

Saim-Hann warrior, here seen
without his bike for once.

The wild and rowdy, almost barbaric (by Eldar standards anyway) inhabitants of Saim-Hann are infamous for their love of fast vehicles whose speed and agility would make a Speed Freak ork blush if they had the necessary biology to blush. Saim-Hann's forces go to war mounted on their Jetbikes nearly exclusively, which they make great use of, creating this primarily 'mounted' list emulating cavalry charges. But with space elves on space flying bikes, of course.

Elven King [1] (150pts)

Laser Blaster & Energy Sword

Jetbike

Ancient Commander

Seer Council [3] (265pts)

Jetbike

Jetbike Squad [6] x6 (1440pts)

4x Twin Shardguns

2x Shard Cannon

Hunter Plane [1] x3 (1020pts)

2x Laser Lances

Tactics: This army is all about speed and hit-and-run tactics. The bulk of its forces are Jetbikes, whose primary utility is to ram into the enemy or harass them with their speed and mobility. Assign the Elven King to a squad (it doesn't have to be the Seer Council) and abuse his mobility boosting ability. Meanwhile, a trio of planes will swoop in and out of the battlefield: their goal is to blast apart the hardest enemy targets which the jetbikes cannot destroy, like tanks.

Ulthwé: Black Guardians

What a bunch of dicks.

The Eldars of Ulthwé are the closest to the Eye of Terror and are the most closely in contact with Chaos which, when combined with their psychic potency (even by Eldar standards) make people raise some eyebrows and wonder if being so close to that swirling insanity hasn't left a tiny bit too much connected to the Warp and Chaos, leaving a lingering taint. Ulthwé is most known for its Seers and as such has the least amount of Aspect Warriors of any Eldar Craftworlds, relying on a unique standing army of Guardians rather than the usual militia setup.

High Seer Farseer [1] (125pts)

Psychic (3)

Energy Spear

High Seer [1] x4 (340pts)

Seer Council [3] x3 (600pts)

Storm Squad [10] x2 (490pts)

8x Shard Pistols

2x Fusion Rifle

Defenders Squad [10] x3 (750pts)

+Gun Platform: Missile Launcher

Anti-Gravity Tank [1] (530pts)

Doom Cannon

Tactics: Psychic cheese up the ass. This is a more typical army than the other two lists but it support these baseline troops with a ridiculous amount of Psychics, namely a High Seer  for each infantry squad, including the mighty Psychic (3) Farseer to lead them all into battle. To top it off, there is a big tank in the back with a big, scary gun that is garanteed to be a target for enemies. Which is fine as it is all according to plan...

Godbound: Refluffed Gifts

The Godbound manual state that "you can spend 2 points to learn a lesser gift from another Word if you can explain how your own powers are creating that effect." So there's quite a bit of potential for refluffed Gifts in there. Personally I think Fate, Luck and Time are the most powerful Words in term of their ability to incorporate the Gifts of others into themselves but that is neither here nor there.

Mist On Water (Alacrity)

This is the power to move fast and unimpeded by matter. While associated with Alacrity, there are many other words which could allow this kind of power as the key elements of the gift are rapid re-positioning and ignoring physical matter.

• Fast As Wind (Sky)/Earth Glide (Earth): The Word of the Sky embodies the air and open space, so holding it down isn't easy. The Godbound of Sky dematerialize into either a burst of air and crackling lightning and reappears where he needs to, ignoring matter wherever he goes. While the Earth is considered a slow element it is certain one which is omnipresent and difficult to impede. By warping earthly matter around himself, the Godbound can rapidly travel, phasing through matter.
• The Traveler's Path (Journeying): A Godbound of the Word of Travel generally has power over long distance movement but, with sufficient mastery of their power they can extend and fine tune their gifts. The Godbound of Journeying cannot be impeded by matter.
• Form of Mist (Shapeshifting): The Godbound's mastery over their own form allows them to flow in and out of matter akin to a fine, particulate mist.

The Storm Break (Alacrity)

This is an Alacrity Gift which allows the Godbound to Commit Effort to gain a bonus round before the initiative order. Its a very powerful Gift but it is also one whose mechanics are so simple that it can easily be refluffed:

• The Warrior's Edge (Sword, War or Peak Human): The Godbound is so innately gifted and blessed in the ways of the warrior that he can never be truly taken off guard. Such is his skill that he can act in the blink of an eye, reacting to any and all combat scenarios.
• Split Second (Fate, Time): Either through their connection to the Word of Time or Fate, the Godbound is able to perceive events a few mere seconds into the future and immediately react before they come to pass.
• Perceived Patterns (Knowledge): The Godbound's knowledge is so vast that it come with a massive understanding of any and all possible scenarios, at least on some fundamental and instinctual level, allowing him to react within split seconds.

Deceiver's Unblinking Eye (Deception)

The power to spot lies isn't solely restricted to that of the Word of Deception. There are many ways to grasp that something is a lie without oneself being a complete and utter liar.

• Scent of Lies (Beasts): Even animals are known to use deception to achieve their end and the Godbound of Beasts can spot lies and deceptions, apex of beasts that he is.
• Light of Truth (Sun): The Word of Sun has power over truth, vision and purity and this is embodied by this gift which makes it nearly impossible to lie to someone bound to its power. Even the most minute of lies can be perceived.
• Know The Liar (Knowledge): The gifts of the Word of Knowledge come with such an understanding of words and others that lies can be easily spotted for what they truly are.

Cha'alt: A Very Early Impression (Not Actually A Review)

This is not a review because I'm too lazy, incompetent and irrelevant to do proper reviews. These are just rambling initial thoughts on Cha'alt. There's a lot of reasons I might end up regretting buying this, namely that I've never been good at running dungeons (let alone a megadungeon). The other one is that I've got some seriously mixed feelings on Venger Satanis, as he's one of those awful OSR-related people who at times is much more interested in his own ego and brand name than anything constructive and he's also a raging edgelord much like the other egomaniacs of the OSR scene, namely Pundit and Raggi.

Do I think Venger and his ilk ever deserve to be on the receiving end of cancel culture? Absolutely not. However that doesn't mean I can't think these people, at times, seem to be wasting genuine talent on childish drama, temper tantrum and a dick-measuring contest of 'edgier than thou', with Raggi getting on the receiving end pretty bad of social media-driven nonsense and rage. Ultimately there is nothing wrong with edge if done right but its hard to not think of them as shock jock that are trying too hard to be as politically incorrect for the sake of some punk-esque desire to give our current culture the middle finger. That's fine and dandy but the question deep down is: is there anything good in all this or is it going to be just edgy bullshit? Time for me to find out. Fitting with these people being a bunch of edgelords, I too will channel my own inner edgelord a tad more for this post.

Inital-est of all Initial Impression

Okay so, Cha'alt. "The Black Pyramid is like nothing you've ever seen before.  Unique design, purpose, feel, magic items, NPCs, monsters, factions, motives, agendas, strangeness, the works!" says the description (and presumably Venger). Not gonna lie, I do have some decently high bars set when it come to weird settings that are both interesting yet also usable, with Yoon-Suin the Purple Land being my all-time favorite. Will this other purple weirdness live up to the hype?

The cover, but everyone already knew that.

Honestly I can't say I dislike this cover, it looks like some cringy-yet-kind-of-funny drug-fueled indie band, which may or may not what Venger was going for. If his (or whatever the fuck his alien pronouns are, 'cuz yeah apparently he now identify as a tentacle alien!) intent was for it to look like the cover to the debut album of some weird '80 band then it totally work because that's the vibe I am getting. Internal layout and coloring is nice, simple and eye pleasing no problem there. Its in color, its good looking and looks quite polished so nothing to complain. At least it isn't MYFAROG (you know, the RPG made by that crazy fucker) whose interior use the Papyrus font. Maybe its unfair of me to put Venger in the same category as an actual murderer, however.

Overall its a decently good-looking book and maybe of even better production value than some of my favorite OSR books. That's praise I am not ashamed in giving where it is due, this isn't a bad looking book. Next question then is will it be filled with nothing but a thirteen years old definition of cool and edgy or will there be really good stuff that is genuinely inspiring? Because its hard for me to take a work where a major location is called the 'Gamma Incel Cantina' which I'm sure will age as fine as a joke as any single joke about Margaret Thatcher made back then or any jab at Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau once they leave politics. In general, socio political jokes age very poorly to the point many of them become meaningless once people get older. Will people know what an 'incel' is in 2040, for example?

More Disconnected Impressions

The initial setting description isn't particularly impressive, to be honest. Cha'alt tries to sell itself on uniqueness but we see basically yet-another-rethread of warmed over H.P. Lovecraft. Cosmic Horror, especially of the Lovecraftian bent, is becoming increasingly trite and the opposite of scary. Cha'alt was once a generic fantasy world but then generic evil tentacle cosmic alien gods came, then there was a high tech age and then finally Old Ones stirred again causing an apocalypse. Meh. Overall it isn't particularly unique so far but I can somewhat start to see where people have mixed it with Godbound, so maybe there's some good stuff in there for me to salvage.

Cha'alt already has a bit of a naming problem too, such as abusing the cliché of making stuff sound alien by adding an apostrophe: Cha'alt, Mela'anj, Kra'adumek and S'kbah are words used. One could be a lot more charitable and say this is a deliberate attempt to evoke the cheese of older Pulp works, in which case its fine enough in my book. Maybe I'm feeling a bit annoyed by it because it is a cliché I too indulged a tiny bit too much in the past with my own failed attempts at making weird fantasy and planetary romance. It wasn't very good or original which I why the project got axed and buried in concrete at the bottom of the ocean.

Drilling home the point of how trite this is compared to something like Yoon-Suin, the race section appoint with not one but six breed of elves. Yeah, fucking elves. That's so original and unique, Venger I've never seen that before. Adding insult to injury there aren't really any other new race added by default: while I'd be all in favor to leave this space blank for GM to invent their own thing, at least one truly unique race could have been neat. This section is a disappointment. I'd say make some table of the traits in Machination of the Space Princess and generate some weird alien freakazoid races, at the very least, to salvage this.

Overall, So Far?

This is honestly pretty disappointing and only further cement my belief that major OSR personalities are often more hype than actual content, with only RPGPundit out of that bunch so far having truly produced anything I find to be quite good. So congrats, Venger, my own curiosity to check this out got me suckered. I'll keep reading and see what else in there but this does not hold a candle to the works produced by Sine Nomine or to Yoon-Suin.

So far Cha'alt is kind of a dud. I know this will not earn me any fans but its true.

Age of Fantasy: More Refluffed and Mixed Armies

Consider it a sequel from last year's post about mix-and-matching army list from Age of Fantasy to create some new stuff.

Non-Specific Mixes That Work Well 

There's quite a few mixes of armies which, even with the barest of 'fluff', seems rather obvious as a potentially simple and efficient mix that could plausibly happen:

• Any Elves + Any other Elves: An unlikely alliance of two vastly different Elven nations, brought together by a great champion who has somehow managed to (even if just temporarily) unit these disparate Elves under a common banner.
• Any Undead + Any other Undead: The armies of a powerful Lich/Necromancer/Dead God or whatever, who has united all manners of monstrosities under his or her banner. This is one is quite the no-brainer.
• Daemons/Havoc + Another Army: A demon/chaos-corrupted version of another army/race, now thralls to their darker passion and slowly being corrupted into twisted minions of evil powers.
• Orcs + Goblins: A return to a classic time when both were one and the same.

Barbarian Kingdoms

Primary Army: Orcs

Secondary Army: Chivalrous Kingdoms

Art by Mitch Aseltine.

Across the world there are many, many disparate would-be kingdom, nations and people. Many of them are what the 'civilized' folks derisively call Barbarians: a more simple, brutish kind of people which for whatever reason often cannot afford luxuries like 'peace' or 'a good bed' or 'writing'. Many of these people live in monster-haunted lands. Others stay true to their ancient, primal ways and traditions and even go as far as to give themselves over to primal rage either through magic or hallucinatory substances. These wild people are larger, stronger, hardier, meaner and overall just plain more destructive in close combat.

This list refluff the Orc units into particularly nasty members of the barbarian tribes, those who are towering mountains of muscles and/or wild berserkers. They do have some heavier cavalry but is more rare, as steel is not easily understood by these savage people and traded or, more often than not, simply looted from their enemies. Rather than using the cheap peasant units, however, this army list use the mighty (refluffed) and much more savage Orc infantry as a mainstay of their forces.

The Fey Courts

Primary Army: Rift Daemons (any)

Secondary Army: Elves (any)

Art by Kim Van Deum(?)

The Fey are strange beings: neither fully mortal nor fully demons/magical entities. They are ancient and bizarre beings, possibly related to Elves or possibly their own thing. Indeed there is much we might never truly know about the Fey, who dwell in ancient locations, in kingdoms which exist 'sideways' from reality, where the wilderness of nature paradoxically coexist with baroque and complex kingdoms and domains, where beauty and ugliness exist in equal measure and where delight and terror are one and the same. The Fey, at the best of times, can be fickle allies of convenience or unusual temporary servants (demanding much in return) and at the worst of times are cruel, vindictive alien lords and wild huntsmen who come to snatch people away.

Fey Court armies are created by combining any type of Rift Daemons with any kind of Elven army list. What type of court they are and what they embody varies and the 'Daemons' should be refluffed as either mighty Fae lords, warriors and their war-beasts. So Daemons of War aren't hulking, raging red devils but tall Fae Warlords in gleaming, pearly war-plate wielding swords which shines like the sun for example. Plague Daemons could be refluffed as something else entirely or they could be vile, ugly Unseelie Fey and grotesque Fomorians.

Kobolds (D&D-style)

Primary Army: Goblins

Secondary Army: Saurians

Kobolds from D&D 4e.

The Kobolds of Dungeons & Dragons may have started off as something else but nowadays the race is fairly associated with being short, skittish draconic beings known for their craftyness and legendary cowardice. This army list very much embodies the concept/archetype: short, weak little lizard-ey dudes backed up by various dinosaurs draconic beasts and other underground critters. While individual Kobold tribes are weak, during war-time they set aside their pettyness and unite under draconic warlords and march into loosely functional armies.

This list primarily should focus on the Goblin units as the baseline 'count as' Kobolds, with the various contraptions of the Goblin list being quite useful and in-theme with the Kobolds overall. The Saurian list, meanwhile, should provide the muscles and monsters as the Kobolds bring to war various reptilian beasts they have (barely) tamed. The strongest Saurian infantry could be refluffed as slaves of stronger, more brutish races or even the rare Kobold champions whose tiny hint of draconic blood has been awakened by cruel experiments or perhaps even the direct blessing of some true draconic overlord leading the Kobold horde.

Tellus: The Underworld or, rather, Afterworld

Its basically near mandatory for D&D-related settings to have vast underground complexes to justify all the monsters and other things found deep inside the Earth. Tellus is, of course, no different and has an Underworld. Generally speaking, knowledge of the Underworld is limited: there is mostly only folklore and myths to go off as well as concrete knowledge of particularly large caves networks inhabited by monsters. The truth is a bit stranger.

The Tellusian Afterworld

The plane of Esper from Magic: The Gathering

The mythic underworld of Tellus is best understood as being two or more layers which somewhat intersect. The surface layer itself is what one would expect: it is a series of semi-connected caves, often areas of geomantic potency. Usually these are relatively large cave complex with running water connected to underground sea and odd local wildlife. There are many 'dungeons' in Tellus at least partially connected to these, namely because generally dungeons are ruins and ancient ruins have a tendency to have been built in geomantic locations to begin with.

While Tellus doesn't quite have Outer Planes, if one goes down enough, down the deepest chasm and the oldest ruins they will eventually transition into a more pocketed dimension, which is both inside the very surface of Tellus and yet not quite. There has been a lot of mentions here and there of Tellus taking cues from many concepts found in other JRPG (which themselves derive from mythology and philosophy), such as the Lifestream. The Afterworld of Tellus is akin to a mixture of an outer plane, the past and the akashic records made manifest. This Afterworld can be the setting to an entire campaign or, more likely, the type of map which would reveal itself in the final acts of a JRPG. In there are entire domains which are the distorted perception of past eras and zeitgeists. Possible use for the Afterworld (or one incarnation of it, anyway) in a game include:

• The domain from which an ancient evil, long thought defeated, operates from. This force would be from a world that is a horrid, twisted and broken place as a reflection of its cursed desires. In this case it would be the 'trippy final dimension' where the boss is fought.
• The idyllic yet haunting manifestation of some antechamber of the dead, where the spirit of a long dead hero could be beseeches for its guidance, to borrow its ancient artifact (or find the location of its tomb to obtain said artifact.
• The Afterworld could be, at least in one specific incarnation, a secondary world brought into conflict with the surface Tellus. This Afterworld would embody either a lost 'golden age', reflecting on the current degraded state of modern Tellus. Alternatively it could be a more brutal, barbaric place filled with nothing but contempt for the current one.
• The last home of a dying race currently gone from the current era of Tellus.
• As a source of ancient, long lost and forgotten technology.
• As an alternate setting.
• Or as something as close as possible to an Outer Plane as Tellus has, but that's a bit boring.

It should be noted these echoes of the past cannot be reached through simple spells available to players. These require physical travel or artifacts to travel to and from. If these ideas seem a bit too bare bones, I won't lie that they are still in their infancy and their full potential hasn't been tapped into yet.