seneschal

I recently had a chance to listen to the book on CD version of "The Sea Devils." It struck me as very Lovecraftian: A mysterious series of shipwrecks centered around a remote North Sea oil rig put in mothballs because of the accidents and equipment failures that hindered its operation. An inmate of an isolated island prison (in this case, The Master) knows what is going on but won't tell. The investigators (in this case, The Doctor and Jo Grant) must dodge the patrols of a nearby naval base to sneak aboard the oil rig, only to discover one caretaker dead and the other roaming the dark, cavernous facility in a murder-inclined terror. And there are things shuffling around in the shadowy corridors. The whole tale could easily be repurposed as a Call of Cthulhu scenario.

"Put ... the candle ... back!" Despite the Difficulty rating, Bob Hope and Don Knotts always seemed to find the darned things.

While I value the access PDF gives me to quality gaming materials, I find I can't actually use and run a role-playing product in that format much longer than 10 pages. Even a 30-page booklet is too much. So, hard copy. As with pulpcitizen, brief PDF adventures are fine.

I did do a version of Superman here: Re: your list, I think a campaign including Caesar, Han Solo and Pikachu would be ... interesting.

Re: 100 death rays. It is a pulp convention that the Big Bad (or a hero like Doc Savage) makes only one prototype of his super weapon, usually because it is huge, expensive, complicated to operate, and requires constant tweaking. Don't think the Red Skull's portable Hydra disintegrator rifles from the first recent Captain America movie. Think the massive Death Ray(s) from numerous movie serials of the 1930s and '40s and the 1934 feature film Chandu the Magician. Such a gadget takes months to assemble, is packed with banks of delicate vacuum tubes and bulky manual switches and bus bars, and requires a staff of henchmen engineers to maintain. Sure, Baron Evil can threaten the world, but he can't simply pack up and relocate if the heroes figure out where his secret (or not-so-secret) base is. That's why Superman, the Masked Marvel, or Our Valiant Player-Characters can always find him and smash the works before he vaporizes Cleveland. By the same token, a hero inventor's wonder gizmo is equally easy to find by would-be villains who want to wreck (or steal) it. They'd have to seize the plans or a major component. The entire device would take a squad of semi-trucks to cart off.

The show has gotten mixed reviews. I've never seen it, other than this segment.

OK, we've often heard that the origin of Ducks is shrouded in mystery, a curse of some kind. However, new archeological evidence has surfaced that tells us how things really went down:

More item ideas: The Tinder Box (The Tinder Box) -- It is a small, waterproof, metal box with a carrying strap containing flint, steel and tinder for starting fires. But it has other uses. Strike a spark once and it summons a dog with eyes as big as saucers carrying a sack of copper pieces in its mouth. Two sparks, and a dog with eyes as big as dinner plates brings silver pieces. Three sparks, and a dog with eyes as big as platters brings gold pieces. The three dogs can all be summoned at one time and can be sent do their master's bidding -- such as carrying messages, performing a rescue, or spiriting away sleeping princesses. Flying Ship (The Good Comrades of the Flying Ship) -- Resembles a small caravel type vessel but with wooden wings as well as sails. It can fly, hover, or sail as a regular ship. Usually responds to the commands of only one person. Is found moored in unlikely places, such as a remote forest glade, ready to serve the right person. Knife of Well-Being (Childe Roland) -- Usually a pocket knife, but it can be a ring, pendant or some other personal object of metal. Usually given to a close friend or relative, the Knife of Well-Being remains shiny and pristine as long as the giver is safe and in good health. If the giver encounters trouble, illness or death, the knife suddenly rusts or corrodes. Singing Harp (Jack and the Beanstalk) -- A portable Celtic-style traveling harp of fine woods and precious metals. It can play on its own, takes requests, is sentient, and can provide vocal accompaniment to its music. It tends to become attached to its current owner and will cry out for help if someone else tries to seize it.

You know what they say ... "Dying is easy (especially in BRP) but comedy is hard."

No, no, no. The true horror would be the ability to make things (or people) go away if you managed to disbelieve in them. Very Lovecraftian.

Fantasy works best when it is built on a skeleton of fact. You have your one weird phenomenon or item or person, then everything else is played straight. It is the unusual intruding into the mundane. If everything is wild and strange, things can be weird but you lose the sense of wonder because it is all too much to take in. The reason Lord of the Rings works is because of the verisimilitude. Legendary events are happening, but the Shire keeps plugging along as it always has. I never "got" the Shadowrun effect, the need to dump D&D fantasy races into every setting. Because this is basically a post-D&D thing. It is like dumping the entire spice cabinet into the sauce instead of the pinch of oregano it needs. Alladdin -- Lazy boy off the streets is left for dead by a con man and stumbles upon a genie. Hansel and Gretel -- Kids abandoned to starve in the forest meet a witch. Cinderella -- Abused girl gets a break when her godmother, who has been hanging around all the time, uses magical means to enable her to crash a party. Each of these famous tales involves normal folks going about their often unhappy lives when a single unusual encounter occurs. It wouldn't have worked if they'd each had to tackle the entire monster manual.

Based on the discussion, it sounds like enchanted items should be GM property, not something the PCs can come up with. They're unique, one-of-a-kind artifacts of another age, another culture and technology, and cannot be duplicated. Like kitchen toasters in Gamma World. Never was a D&D-er, so I'm thinking of enchanted items from mythology and literature. Many of them don't have origin stories; they just pop up in odd places (like your great-grandmother's canning cellar): Trojan War Armor (The Illiad) -- It's an heirloom from your divine relatives, 147 times removed. The suit is gaudy, decorated to an extent that would seem to impair its effectiveness. Yet the craftsmanship is undeniable; it never scuffs, scars, stains or collects dust. Excellent protection, but you'll stand out on the battlefield and be more of a target. Cap of Summoning (Wizard of Oz) -- The fur-lined cap is a bit shabby, like something found in a rummage sale. But enables the wearer to summon a vast host of intelligent winged monkeys to do his or her bidding. The catch: the owner can only use the cap three times. After that the king monkey takes it and the furry army flies off to parts unknown. Djinn Ring/Djinn Lamp (Alladdin) -- They're a matched set, created long ago when King Solomon punished the spirits who refused to submit to him. Rubbing the ring summons a minor genie to do the wearer's bidding. He's a talkative fellow with useful information, but his abilities are limited. Rubbing the lamp summons a true magical powerhouse of a genie. He is bound to obey the owner of the lamp and can perform almost any task. But he's got a mind and an agenda of his own. An unwary, impious (by Islamic standards) or greedy master can offend him, and that's a very bad thing for the human who thought he was in charge. There is no limit to the number of times either genie can be summoned. Seven-League Boots (Jack the Giant-Killer) -- Heavy, badly scuffed leather boots, look like they belong in a garden shed. But they enable the wearer to move 21 miles with each step. Not faster than a speeding bullet but pretty good transportation nonetheless. You could have made a killing in the parcel delivery business, but noooo, you had to go try to rescue the princess instead. The boots are big and clompy but somehow adjust to fit whoever tries them on.

I agree with filbanto. This could get disgusting really fast. I'd never attempt it. Only way to make it work is to go for the comic relief angle. Borrow a page from O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief" with a good dash of Tex Avery and Looney Tunes thrown in. Make the intended victim (and how can the broo know for sure whether she's really a virgin?) such an unbearable Mary Sue idiot that the monstrous PCs will be desperate to ditch her. Maybe beneath those golden locks she's horridly ugly even by broo standards. Maybe her perfume or body odor drives the broo wild in all the wrong ways. Maybe she's had a repressive upbringing and is eager to escape and cut loose, regardless of who with and what the consequences might be. Maybe she's just found out she's got only a week to live anyway and just doesn't care. Maybe she's radioactive or has a disease even the broo can't stomach. She insists on fixing meals for her captors and is a terrible cook -- or she's a frustrated fashion designer and must have her captors model all her avant garde concepts no matter how ridiculous that makes them look. Maybe she makes stupid puns incessantly. She's loud. She's annoying. She's demanding. She just won't go away even if they cut her bonds. She prefers the PCs to her previous situation. They can't simply kill her because of their orders, and they can't get rid of her no matter what they try. She will follow them wherever they go. In the face of wild animals, accident, or broo enemies, she's indestructible. No matter where they try to hide, when they turn around she will be there, smiling. Push it as far as you think you can get away with, then keep going.

David was about 16 or 17, a wiry little farm kid with red cheeks. He had faith in God and independence and confidence honed by years of protecting his sheep all by his lonesome out in the middle of nowhere. When he volunteered, Saul, embarrassed, tried to loan him his own armor and weapons. David gave it up after trying merely to walk in armor. (Hmmm, shades of Rolemaster, which requires a skill to wear armor!) Instead, he faced Goliath with his normal work tools -- a stout staff and a sling. After all his blustering, Goliath was genuinely insulted when this scrawny punk came out to meet him. David had to use Goliath's own sword to cut off his head. David's motivation, in addition to faith, was that Saul had promised that whoever eliminated Goliath would get to marry his daughter and (along with his whole family) would be exempt from taxes for the rest of his life. Why did he stop and collect a handful of stones before charging the Philistine? It wasn't that he was afraid that he would miss, obviously. But Goliath had several brothers in the Philistine army, each as big and bad as he was. Later in the story, David and an elite band of fighters had to deal with them as well.

I am a believer, but whether you are or not the saga of David is pure soap opera campaign fodder. For those who came in late (as Lee Falk would say), Saul -- divinely appointed King of Israel and popular national celebrity -- disobeys God during a tense encounter with Israel's traditional enemies, the Philistines. He wins the battle but is told by the prophet Samuel that the kingship will not pass to his eldest son, Jonathan. While Saul frets and continues to strive against the Philistines, Samuel goes quietly to the ranch of an obscure Judean farmer, Jesse, and selects his youngest and least impressive son, David, as Saul's successor. Months later, the war grounds to a stalemate. His father sends David to the Israeli camp to deliver dairy rations and to get news from his brothers, who have been conscripted. He arrives just as the Philistine champion Goliath offers to end the bloody war with a one-on-one duel: Whichever side's hero wins the fight wins the war. Since Goliath is a badass veteran soldier -- and 9-feet, 9-inches tall -- nobody wants to take him on. Since Saul is tall, muscular and handsome -- the poster boy for Israeli manliness -- he might logically be expected to tackle the job. But his self-confidence has fled along with God's approval. He's hiding in his tent like everyone else (and hoping no one notices). To be continued ...

"Darien's Rise" is a retelling of the biblical story of David's struggle against a jealous King Saul. The reboot is set in Marus, a kingdom in a sort of 19th century Europe in which soldiers travel to battle on trains, snipe at enemies with muskets, but still fight primarily with swords. It's a low- or no-magic setting depending on how one interprets divine guidance but filled with derring-do, swashbuckling fights, and political intrigue. http://www.amazon.com/Dariens-Rise-Adventures-Odyssey-Passages/dp/1589975901 http://www.whitsend.org/passages/marusmap.aspx/ FYI. Hey, if you can loot Shakespeare for plots to fuel Japanese swordplay epics and Westerns, why not the Old Testament?

Spider-Man wasn't a wimp, but you're right. He won by out-thinking his foes rather than by out-muscling them. He packed a pretty mean punch but most of his enemies were ones he couldn't simply beat up.

It was part of an episode of the Looney Tunes Show, a 2011 reboot of the old Warner Brothers cartoon franchise.

The free download version of WoW was useful for me because it contained powers and abilities far beyond the page limitations of the Big Gold Book for superheroes. A lot of the Superworld powers made it into the BGB, but not all.

Oops! Have to turn in my anime quiz master card. But regardless of series, don't you want your mecha pilot to be able to go at least a couple rounds with a 20-something foot giant?

Unlike the robot fighters from StarBlazers. In one episode, one of the human heroes sneaked aboard a Zentradi battleship. In robot form, his fighter craft was the same size as one of the aliens. He briefly engaged in fisticuffs with an enemy soldier before his giant opponent tore him out of the cockpit.

And maybe the mistranslated ritual or spell still works ... but not as planned.

From Chaosium's web site, looks like CoC is available in French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, and Polish. Depending on the language, sometimes only supplements are available, other times only the core book.

The RuneQuest guys just announced an upcoming Italian edition for v.6. Chaosium advertises French and Japanese versions of Call of Cthulhu on its website. It is common knowledge that D100 games get a lot of love outside their English-speaking country of origin. So, which D100 lines could benefit from translation into which languages? I know our BRP Central grognards and fanatics come from all over the globe. Give us your input. Does the jumpin' gaming scene in India cry out for a Tamil edition? Let us know.

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