Category: Game Systems

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Free! KILLpunk v0.2

As a restricted Christmas looms large, the pandemic is still wreaking its havoc around the world, and a Brexit deal remains as far away as it always was, RPGs are a light in the darkness.

So, I’ve been working on a lite RPG that is Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 by way of a holiday gift to everyone.

Welcome to KILLpunk.

Released in a tentative, unchecked, unplaytested, and half-written format the other day. I’ve now done some refining. I present version 0.2.

Download Hi-Res files: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asryxq7YIiBZh8VzavplfO1HEtK13Q?e=yk2zRK

The One Page RPG, KILLpunk.
The KILLpunk character sheet

These are the printer-friendly versions…

So, the idea I’m having with this is that the party can consist of a motley crew of characters from different genres. For example:

  • Aloo Bombay – A primitive barbarian from a jungle planet.
  • Oliver Cash – A human gambler from the Wild West.
  • R722 – A construction droid from Vesta IV.
  • Sir Ledger – A wizard-knight from a medieval planet.

But you can, of course, just play it straight with a party of characters all from the same genre and playing in the same world.

They can traverse through time to different worlds, exploring:

  • A cyber-dinosaur desert planet.
  • A jungle planet of mecha-apes.
  • A gravity-less spacestation floating through a rocky solar system.

I will provide further examples of the following as it develops:

  • Archetypes
  • Opponents
  • Equipment
  • Weapons
  • Enhanced Equipment
  • Armour

Here’s an idea of an Archetype, which you can pick rather than building a character from scratch. The benefit of an Archetype is that you can gain additional benefits over scratch-built Characters but, also have some drawbacks.

Arboreal Scout

Arboreal Scouts are primates that have evolved into an intelligent race that once thrived on the jungle planet of Yarroth. They were almost wiped off the face of the planet by the malevolent alien race known as the Oroth, who used napalm to burn the jungles in which they lived.

  • SKILLS: +1 Climbing, +1 Jumping, +1 Observing
  • Wealth: 1d10
  • Equipment: Electro-binoculars
  • Weapons: Laser rifle (1 HURT)
  • Armour: –
  • Improve: 1 (you can spend this before play)

Special:

  • Arboreal Scouts hate fire and all roll-offs related to fire are at -2.
  • They can use their tail to hold things, but not use them, such as hold a pistol, but not fire it.
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Sevens Sisters Ark Expansion

The players in JamesCORP’s Mutant: Year Zero campaign have expanded their Ark! See my previous post here: https://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/2020/10/16/sevens-sisters-ark/

The upgrades we talked about in the previous post have started to be constructed so we now have the additions of:

  • Sundial
  • Temple. The temple is built in a newly excavated area ready for the group’s further expansion of the Ark.

Check out some screengrabs of the new additions:

The Whole Seven Sisters Ark
The Sundial
The Temple

You can check out the live-streamed games here: https://www.twitch.tv/jamescorp, And this is where you can see the map reveal, and the players picking their hovels 🙂

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/767558174?t=00h47m36s

Thanks to James and his players!

You can also subscribe to the YouTube playlist here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdcO9C8ZuNs8jU_6bVUkzmRjVtCFJKR8

Over and out, Glynn

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Only 48 Hours Remaining

After almost 30 days of crowdfunding, we are approaching the final gates. The Midderlands for Fifth Edition Kickstarter ends this Thursday at 2:42PM UTC+0. The project is now counting down in hours not days!

Less than 48 hours remaining!

This may be the best 5E setting book you will purchase this year.

As I write this, we are at 308 backers and just under $12,500 USD in funding (that’s just under £9,600 GBP). As always, I am humbled by the support and pledges offered for what I believe to be the finest third-party setting book for 5E that I have seen. But then, I would say that.

It’s worth owning, even if you have the Swords & Wizardry version, as there is enough difference in its presentation to continue to inspire adventure.

There is still enough time to get on board, and with most of the work completed, it should be fulfilling pretty quickly!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/necromancergames/midderlands-setting-and-bestiary-for-fifth-edition

To whet your appetite, here are some secret screenshots from the PDF…

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Sevens Sisters Ark

I love post-apocalyptic games. I plan to create my own one day when I get chance. So , I was really excited when James approached me about drawing a map for his Mutant: Year Zero campaign. I’ve run MYZ myself, as a one-shot session for my no-longer-very-face-2-face group, so I understood the gist of the setting.

The visual goal was an Ark–a sanctuary for the player’s characters. It would be based on the actual underground station of Seven Sisters in Tottenham, North London. It needed to have locations for the relevant NPCs and be in a 3D/isometric style usable on VTT. Isometric works best for this as it has a consistent grid for placing tokens.

We would also include ‘upgrades’ to the map such as watchtowers, windmills, generators, lighting, and such for unlocking by the players as they level up their Ark. The basic map would not show these upgrades. I also wanted the map to have an old blueprint feel… (ah! the smell of ammonia!). Drawing in isometric really takes me back to my technical drawing and draughting days!

The thing I love about doing maps like this is having free reign to add some fun little details.

Anyway, feast your eyes upon the Seven Sisters Underground Ark for James.

Check out the live-streamed games here: https://www.twitch.tv/jamescorp, And this is where you can see the map reveal, and the players picking their hovels 🙂

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/767558174?t=00h47m36s

Thanks to James and his players (hey, pookie!) for the opportunity!

You can also subscribe to the YouTube playlist here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdcO9C8ZuNs8jU_6bVUkzmRjVtCFJKR8

Over and out, Glynn

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Exciting News!

The Midderlands for 5E is now LIVE on Kickstarter!

So far it’s 50% funded in 5 hours! Over 100 backers and climbing!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/necromancergames/midderlands-setting-and-bestiary-for-fifth-edition
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/necromancergames/midderlands-setting-and-bestiary-for-fifth-edition

We are super proud and excited to have this project back on the rails.
If you like 5E and want a sumptuous new setting and bestiary to stare agog at, then this is for you.

  • Standard and Collector’s 8.5 x 11″ Hardcovers
  • New Poster Map
  • All New Layout
  • All New Cartography
  • New Artwork, and some old artwork updated to glorious colour
  • Fully indexed.
  • New information on Gloomium
  • Additional info on the common 5E races and how they fit into the setting
  • 2 New cleric domains
  • 25 Fully-detailed creatures.
  • 29 Fixed hex descriptions.
  • 3 Random hex descriptions.
  • 16 Hamlets (5 mapped).
  • 11 Small towns (3 mapped).
  • 8 Large towns (5 mapped).
  • 25 Points of interest.
  • Short introductory adventure
  • Adventure ideas
  • 4 Flora
  • 13 Fauna (including birds, fish, bugs, and more)
  • 5 Spells
  • 13 Items
  • ‘Crap You Find On Midfolk’
You can download a taster PDF here:Download
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Last 48 Hours for Chewer of Fingers

The Chewer of Fingers Kickstarter is going strong, but you’ll need to be quick to get these Kickstarter Special Editions as we are into the last 48 hours.

  • 100% Funded in under 5 hours.
  • Over 200% funded so far…
  • Stretch Goal 1 (more page content) unlocked.
  • Stretch Goal 2 (additional seperate pregen character cards) unlocked.
  • Stretch Goal 3 (player handouts)…. soon to be unlocked.

Check out the Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monkeyblooddesign/chewer-of-fingers?ref=d1qpzd

Chewer of Fingers is a grim, old-school introductory adventure intended for The Midderlands setting. The adventure is written for Swords & Wizardry and therefore can be used in all retro-clones and old school role-playing games with little or no work.

The encounters in the adventure take place in and around the small hamlet of Fetterstone—a depressing place on the edge of a stinking marsh near the border between the Western Midderlands and Staffershire.

The PCs are heading to Fetterstone because there is a 20-gold quid reward for the capture of an escaped criminal called ‘The Finger Chewer’. He absconded from Middlemoor Gaol five days ago and is believed to be hiding out in the surrounding oft-foggy marsh. The marsh is notoriously dangerous and even the lure of 20 gold quids isn’t enough to entice the locals into its fetid clutches.

  • The adventure is in a handy A5-sized format.
  • The adventure features 4 encounter areas.
  • Four pre-generated adventurers.
  • Six beautiful hand-drawn and scanned maps.
  • The adventure is littered with extra details (game-juice) and adventure hooks that make this suitable for additional future adventures. Any Game Master could take the information contained and use it for their own campaigns.
A picture containing text, map Description automatically generated

Check out the Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monkeyblooddesign/chewer-of-fingers?ref=d1qpzd

Many thanks,

Glynn (MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing)

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Chewer of Fingers KS Coming Soon

Follow the Kickstarter here to get notified on launch:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monkeyblooddesign/chewer-of-fingers

Chewer of Fingers is a grim old-school introductory adventure intended for The Midderlands setting. The adventure is written for Swords & Wizardry (Free pdf here) and therefore can be used in all retro-clones and old school role-playing games with little or no work. The book contains swear words and mature themes.

The encounters in the adventure take place in and around the small hamlet of Fetterstone—a depressing place on the edge of a stinking marsh near the border between the Western Midderlands and Staffershire.The PCs are heading to Fetterstone because there is a 20 gold quid reward for the capture of an escaped criminal called ‘The Finger Chewer’. He absconded from Middlemoor Gaol five days ago and is believed to be hiding out in the surrounding oft-foggy marsh. The marsh is notoriously dangerous and even the lure of 20 gold quids isn’t enough to entice the locals into its fetid clutches.

  • The adventure is A5-sized (148mm wide x 210mm high OR Approx. 5.8″ wide x 8.3″ high) containing 24 interior pages.
  • The adventure features 4 encounter areas: Old Lady Harris’ Farm, The Village of Fetterstone and the Gloombug Tavern, Middlemoor Gaol, and The Marsh.
  • Four pregenerated adventurers are provided: Solomon Pilkington (Level 2 Human Cleric of Gael), Dergal Pock (Level 2 Wart Goblin Fighter), Norris Hitchcock (Level 2 Half-elf magic-User), and Elspeth Fallows (Level 2 Human Thief).
  • 6 beautiful hand-drawn and scanned maps. These will also be provided as separate unlabelled VTT versions with the PDF download.
Pregenerated Characters
The Border Marsh Region

This will be a Kickstarter Special Edition version (limited to 500 copies). Any later printings (post-Kickstarter) will feature a different cover, cost a bit more, and be unsigned.

Here are some 3D mock-ups (unedited and not final) showing what the print-version should look like.

3D Visualisation (not final, subject to change)
3D Visualisation (not final, subject to change)
3D Visualisation (Unedited. Not final, subject to change)
3D Visualisation (Unedited. Not final, subject to change)
  • The adventure is A5-sized (148mm wide x 210mm high OR Approx. 5.8″ wide x 8.3″ high) containing 24 interior pages.
  • The PDF version will be an A5, 24-page bookmarked PDF.
  • The Softcover PRINT version will be a stapled A5, 24-pages of 130gsm silk paper, with a full colour/ matt laminated cover with the green text and logo in spot UV.
  • This Softcover PRINT version of the book will be signed by Glynn Seal.

We have the following stretch goals…

  • £5,000 – I’ll add additional appendix information for making the adventure more useful taking the interior page count from 24 pages to 28 pages.
  • £6,000 – I’ll provide the pregenerated characters as four separate 250gsm sheets with blank rear, printed on uncoated paper for ease of writing upon. They will also still appear in the book itself too.
  • £7,500 – I’ll provide a separate 250gsm sheet with relevant game handout to both sides (one will be a list of old by-laws, the other is TBC).
  • £10,000 – I’ll upgrade the interior of the book to full colour with subtly textured background, colour art, and colour maps. This will only be available for the Kickstarter Special Edition version.

That’s it for now! Thanks for looking, Glynn

Follow the Kickstarter here to get notified on launch:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monkeyblooddesign/chewer-of-fingers

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Now Stocking Orbital Intelligence Products for DCC

We are now holding stock of Dungeon Crawl Classics products from Orbital Intelligence!

Hi Everyone!

We are excited to announce that MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing are now stocking some Orbital Intelligence physical products for shipment from our UK-based webstore.

Sean Richer of Orbital Intelligence develops fantastic content for Dungeon Crawl Classics working with fantastic artists, writers and editors.

Feel the Terror of the Stratosfiend!

Checkout the new products here:

Let me at it!

Here’s what we’ve got for you…

We hope you enjoy looking and if there is anything you’d like to see in the webstore please let us know.

Many thanks, Glynn & Sean

And if all that isn’t enough…
[Disclaimer! I am involved in this project and feature as a stretch goal!]

Orbital Intelligence are running an active Kickstarter for more glorious DCC content!

2 WORM 2 FURIOUS:
A DCC RPG FUNNEL & MINI-SETTING
A level 0+ adventure & mini-setting for 4-6 players.
CHASE A MUTATING GOD GRUB! For Dungeon Crawl Classics!
With Art by Scrap Princess!

Check out more about the project in this blog post over at MonkeyBlood Design:
https://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/2020/06/13/what-is-2-worm-2-furious/

But more importantly, check out the Kickstarter!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stratosfiend-2-zine/2-worm-2-furious-a-dcc-rpg-funnel-and-mini-setting?ref=8m3b3n

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Just 48 Hours Left for Folk Magic of the Haven Isles!

Hi Everyone!

If you are already a backer, thank you so much for your support.

If not, don’t worry, we are in the closing hours of the Folk Magic of the Haven Isles Kickstarter so there is still time to get onboard.

We are over 200% funded and still going strong, and the project is in a position to deliver on schedule.

Checkout the campaign page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monkeyblooddesign/folk-magic-of-the-haven-isles?ref=drb8ap

Here’s a taster…

We hope you enjoy looking at the project and we would welcome your pledge and support.


Many thanks, Glynn & Richard

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What Is 2 Worm 2 Furious?

GUEST POST ALERT!!

Hey, Sean over here at Orbital Intelligence (with great hits like Stratosfiend 1, Stratosfiend 1.5, Stratosfiend 2, Ternwillow, and Necrotic Edifices of Iron and Moon; the depth of time untold).

I’ve got a new Kickstarter live for my next book….

Kickstarter : 2 WORM 2 FURIOUS
  • Writing by Sean Richer
  • Art by Scrap Princess
  • Editing by MRC
  • Layout by MonkeyBlood Design

What Is It?

  • It’s a funnel, specifically a Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure for groups of 3-4 level 0s per player. For those not in the know, these can be meat-grinders… worm-grinders of adventures that reduce 24+ characters down to 4 adventurers ready to take on anything!
  • It’s a tiny worm, that grows and grows and grows, and rampages, and bursts into a colossal Doombringer Moth that’s a Patron, a Deity, and a raging behemoth. It grows and grows, its growth unlocks new abilities and reactions. It rarely acts the same way, and eventually it will rule. WORSHIP IT OR RUN FROM IT, IT DOESN’T MATTER!
  • It’s a mini-setting. A God-Queen, her throne-maidens, the legions of Sky-Knights (on their Worm-Hawks), Stilt-Walkers, and Knights that strike with the fury of a thousand hammers. In addition there’s a couple important NPCs stirring things up and causing problems. Ranging from a veteran sky-knight to turned bartender, to a Jester that loiters in the streets spreading whispers to those that live below.
“worm-hawks”

What Inspires Me For This Adventure?

  • Deep Carbon Observatory: I loved the chaos of the introduction and the relentless pursuit by the Crows. I hope that I’ve been able to channel some of this chaos.
  • Inferno Road: Again with that chaos theory, absolutely loved the perpetual mutation (and of course, the worms)
  • Fever Swamp: It’s a beautifully well constructed book, it’s easy to reference, tells you everything you need to know, and is a great introduction to the Hex Crawl as a medium. Also… Printed endpapers! 
  • Crypts of Indormancy: Adventure prose as an artform. I like the puzzles that it presents, and while the premise is simple enough at first, it has a fair amount of triggers and events that happen as a result of preparation, and the lack thereof. Also it’s beautiful.
  • Hobonomicon: It’s a funnel? It’s chaos? It’s beautiful tables and strange happenings. It’s also a rocket launch.
  • Wet Grandpa: I love that everything isn’t just spelled out for the players, or the DM, that you get to explore the adventure together.
  • Worm Witch: Need I really say more? I love the worm magic, worm witches, and the random encounters on the island.
“Kill me now”

Why Do You Want It?

  • You want a weird new adventure, something your players likely have not seen or played. Can they tame the worm?
  • You want a new mutating beast the likes of which you’ve likely not seen in this likeness, and you like keeping track of WORM DIE, CHILL DIE, and RAGE DIE
  • You want a neat tool-kit of knights, worms, villagers, bandits and encounters.

COME GET 2 WORM 2 FURIOUS