Archive for the ‘Concoctions’ Category

Revamping Skeletons

Jason Morningstar, creator of Fiasco, proposed an interesting challenge on the Story Games forums a few days ago.

OK, Story Games global brain trust, let’s make skeletons cool and unnerving. What are the key components in skeletonry? What will make them badass and memorable? I want players to pee their pants when they hear that dry rattling down the corridor, not snicker and pull out their blunt smashing tools.

It’s a great thread, full of inspiring posts. Check it out. People offered up some very cool inspiring ideas. I was struck with a new take on skeletons, which I wrote up and posted on the forum.

Click that link or read on for the comment in full, a cool reply from Jason Morningstar and a Dungeon World move for these new ‘Mockingbardian Skeletons’, as Jason has dubbed them. Continue reading...

Australiana Apocalyptica

A few weeks ago I started up a solo game of Apocalypse World with my wife. We liked it but decided we wanted something different for a solo game and would wait for another month or two to play Apocalypse World with our main group once we’re done with Prime Time Adventures. This post has some custom moves that we were planning to use and probably still will – feel free to do whatever you like with them. I’ve also written up some brief setting details for an Australian apocalypse.

IAYC: Fantasy Newspaper (Free Download)

It’s done!

Life has run away on me this year, but I have finally managed to complete the fantasy newspaper I promised as my contribution for I Am Your Champion. I had some interest, but few donations, and that’s fine. I had fun making it and I hope those who donated to my charity are happy with the result. This isn’t just for them though, it’s a free download for everyone. I’ve made a parchment version and a print-friendly version. I hope you enjoy this and get some use out of it :)

Game masters can the newspaper for hooks, NPCs, adventures and worldbuilding or even just as a source of random rumours, information and goings-on. I think the best use for it, though, is for GMs to read it, think about it, then next time the PCs are in a tavern tell them “Someone’s left a newsletter on your table. It looks like this…” and then just give them the handout. I love doing this sort of thing in game and I hope you’ll enjoy my attempt at a fantasy newspaper, inspired by a thoughtful present my wife and friends made for me a few years ago.

If I get enough interest I might just make another issue. Enjoy :)

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ZILLA! – Free ‘Classic Character Pack’

It’s Free RPG Day again. Last year I released my first roleplaying game on Free RPG Day. It’s called ZILLA! and is a game of destruction, mayhem and love. You’re a giant zilla on a city-smashing rampage. Zillas are powerful and hard to kill, but they are prone to becoming enamoured with humans. Will you fight another zilla, escape the city to a better place, smash the city to the ground, or even… find love?

This year, I have released a free character pack with three pre-generated zillas for you and your friends to take to town. This is the ‘Classic Character Pack’ and it isn’t hard to see the inspiration behind Thoron, the giant lizard with atomic breath, Leoptra, an enormous psychic moth, and Kapparo, a gargantuan magma-infused tortoise.

Download the classic character pack for free. If you don’t yet have the game itself, download ZILLA! for free too.

Happy Free RPG Day, everyone!

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I Am Your Champion: Work in Progress Update

Remember a while back I was posting about I Am Your Champion?

There’s just been a lot going on lately, so unfortunately the Pyres have gotten a little cold. I just wanted to post to let you all know that I’m still around and I haven’t forgotten about the fantasy newspaper. I’m working on it, slowly, and still waiting to hear back from one person who donated. If you’re reading this and haven’t emailed me your donation receipt and information about the content of your article, please contact me at pyresofvam@gmail.com.

Anyway, below you’ll find a layout preview of the fantasy newspaper. There’s only one article there so far, but you’ll get the gist of the final product by checking it out. Feedback and comments are appreciated as I continue working on this free publication.

Download the ‘Word of the World’ Layout Preview (PDF 157 kb)

 

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Campaign Setting: Power of Youth

Here’s an outline of another campaign setting I’ve been working on. Feel free to use and alter it as you wish. If you do use it or have some ideas about it, I’d love to hear them.


It is said that the spark is in all of us, yet by the end of puberty it is gone. It is not known why, but children have a strong connection to the power of the spark. It flows in them in ways still not fully understood by adults.

Very young children use the spark sporadically, for play and their own simple purposes, without thought. As children grow older, they begin to understand their powers better, using them consciously and with more control. Around age 10 for girls and 12 for boys, Transition begins.

Children undergo many physical and psychological changes during this stage and it is when their spark is at is peak, very powerful and unpredictable.

Transition is a stressful and strange time for children and many lose control of their magic as the power flares and fluctuates, burning brightly before it is snuffed out entirely. Girls usually complete the Transition by ages 15-17, while boys usually complete it by ages 16-18. After this, the spark is dead forever.

Because adults are unable to harness magic, children are highly valued for their abilities. Many children do not utilise the spark effectively and are more dangerous to themselves than others, or are merely an annoyance. However, children of particular talent and power are recruited into harsh military programs to perfect their control over the spark and harden them into tools of war. Children are taught from a young age that fighting for their faction is the highest honour and the greatest deed that one could hope for. Propaganda floods the schools, homes and streets, and armies recruit children as young as 8 to train to fight their horrendous battles.

Campaign Setting: Hang Ups

Hang Ups is a random idea I had for a campaign setting. I haven’t played any or read much of InSpectres, but I have the feeling that Hang Ups could serve as an alternate setting for that system. Primetime Adventures, Spirit of the Century, Savage Worlds, or Otherkind Dice would work really well too. I’m looking forward to playing this one with my group this year for a few sessions.

Here’s the elevator pitch:

Emergency services are inundated with calls that they terminate because they appear to be pranks or non-emergencies. Stuff about aliens and werewolves. That kind of thing.

That’s where Hang Ups comes in.

They’re an independent (and not technically legal) group that intercepts these abandoned calls and sifts through them for seeds of truth. Armed with their knowledge of the paranormal, they respond to potentially legitimate calls to help those that the authorities ignore.

When I present this to my players, I’ll explain most of this as we go. But to get them excited for, it I made this one-page PDF flyer. Feel free to use it with your own group.

Savage Worlds Race: Satyrs

Savage Worlds again, while I’m on a roll. Here is a race for all you savages out there. Satyrs! But not as you know them.

Physically, they’re humanoid goats, not goat-legged humans. In fact, they look exactly like this. In addition, they’re much meaner and gruffer than satyrs are generally thought to be and have a bit of a darker edge – like all fae should!

I created them to serve as grunts and enforcers for the more important fae in my world, but also as a playable race with adventuring motivation built right in. Also, if you don’t like dwarves, or just want a break from them, these satyrs can fill their role quite easily.

If people want, I can also get a PDF of this together for you. For now, let’s meet the satyrs!

Savage Worlds with Aspects

In the Demonsea campaign I’m running for my wife, we’re using Savage Worlds. It’s a great system, and one of my new favourites. I like the Hindrances and Edges, but we found that choice there can sometimes be a bit limited and the ones my wife had picked for her character ended up not being very relevant. I know we could have changed them or made up our own, but that didn’t really excite us.

Instead, when we went to advance her character again we decided to try ditching Hindrances and Edges and incorporating Aspects, from FATE-based games like Spirit of the Century and The Dresden Files RPG. Now, I know this may be blasphemy to some, but we wanted to give it a shot. I’ve read a lot about SotC and DRPG, but haven’t yet had the chance to run either, so this was also like a test-run for using Aspects.

If you’d like an offline copy of these house rules, you can download a PDF here.

Demonsea: Ships of the Demonsea

Avast maties! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day! To celebrate we be postin’ a piratical article about the colourful characters ye be likely to meet if ye be so bold as to venture into Haulshore: a treasure-hunter’s paradise in the Demonsea campaign settin’. We’ve even got a big campaign seed for ye, and hooks for each o’ the captains. Ye could also use this here article for some other world, but if ye arrren’t privy to the secrets o’ the Demonsea, cast ya eyes yonder to read of a world of demons, pirates and adventure on the high seas!

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WHAT YOU'VE GOTTEN YOURSELF INTO

Pyres of Vam is run by Mockingbard and his alter-ego(maniac) Vam. It focuses on tabletop roleplaying but you'll find other things here too.

Mockingbard loves roleplaying, worldbuilding and stories. He posts setting ideas, session recaps, gamemastery tips and the like for fun, for himself and to get his creativity on.

Vam posts from the villain's point of view: debunking monster myths, providing adventure ideas for villains, and helping fellow villains and dastardly GMs deck out their lairs and complicate the lives of filthy adventurers.

We write this stuff because we like it :) Hopefully you'll find something you like here too.