#i wonder if this is a game thats a hidden gem because of its specific aim or because I released it too soon after transgender Deathmatch Le

[ratwavegamehouse]

One of the games in my month-long Hidden Gems Sale (also known as the the I'm unemployed pity party) is Fear the Taste of Blood. It's an asymmetric game using playing cards and dice to tell a story inspired by classic movie monsters: towering aristocratic vampires, frightful werewolves, constructed creatures and invisible fiends.

Throughout play you’ll record the attacks of the monster, how the survivors try to fight back and deal with the horror they are facing.

By default the game plays 3; one player acting as The Survivors, one player acting as The Monster and one player acting as the Night they're going through. It accommodates plenty of different sizes though.

It's based on the rules of Beyond the Rift via Anyone Can Wear the Mask.

There are rules for creating your own setting, monster and survivors but the game also comes with three pre-written scenarios. I sourced the art from old public domain horror magazines and comics.

Werecat by Night is werebeast story at an ice skating competition, with the human form of the Werecat among the survivors.

In The Widower of Count Dracula an all queer cast, including Jonathan and Mina Harker's grown up child, faces down the late Dracula's lover in post war London.

Man-Made Phantom is a mashup of the Invisible Man and haunted house stories, as well The Old Dark House.

I played both Werecat by Night and Man-Made Phantom at GenCon (with an expanded cast of 5/6 players including me) and had a lot of fun both times. Our Werecat by Night ended with the figure skating judge burning the Werecat to death with a flower and then a troubled skater choosing to take the blame for the attacks.

Here's a video from Philippa Mort talking about the game some more and recommending it for dark and spooky nights.

So yeah you can get 20% off as part of the sale or bundle all the Hidden Gems together for $40. I'll try and do some posts about the rest that's on offer this month.

[trpg-dingusmaster]

The plot was actually furthered! And a new character joins the party.

I missed a few sessions, not sure how many. Time isnt real.

anyway. a week or so ago, maybe two? The dm for the evening was running 90lbs FineCoal, though nobody knows I call it that.

a few things happened since I was there for this campaign.

- the new guy in the group (who I met during Bassun on the Sea) is playing a gnome pyrotechnic in this game

- the gang/faction we are most at odds with blew up a children’s hospital in what I assume was retaliation for liberating their sweatshop and stealing the rights to the land it was on but I’m not sure.

-new things were added to our base of operations but none of those were new bedrooms or a kitchen upgrade so its still cramped and weird like theres like 6-9 people living there but only 2 bedrooms? I assume this is what my character was doing while I was gone. 

this session, as we went into town to restock things and sell stuff we noticed a new faction running around putting up fliers and standing on corners looking official while giving an announcement.

“By the decree of the Templars in one week all citizens will be reporting for a mandatory community meeting. We will be patrolling the streets until then to be certain that everyone attends and that no trouble is caused. Nonattendance is punishable by law.”

we did some investigating on who these people are and found out that they’re pretty basically the military police? they are I think supposed to answer only to the highest authorities but its possible they may not be in full cooperation but maybe thats just me thinking too far ahead. They may also have, or at least at one time had, some kind of agreement with the gang the party is against the most. Rumors say they are probably the reason magic no longer exists in the walled up nation.

time passes and we head to the meeting, the gnome is dressed up and disguised to look more like a child in hopes he’d be able to sneak around and investigate further. Hugo supplies him with some booze, coal, and sawdust/wood scrap to assist in any explodey shenanigans he might need to get up to.

He is however captured, somehow they know right away that he was in disguise. Based on how the dm described the encounter its not clear  if its because of the rolls the gnome and healer made to craft the disguise OR if they had some other means, perhaps some magical means, to see through the disguise. 

they load him up in an armored wagon to pick up other stragglers to the meeting and he gets a view of just how numerous and well armed the templars are. the gnome, wanting to stall some of them from being at the meeting or maybe bringing them to a trap says that he knows of a factory where the children are still working and are being withheld from the meeting.  The templars say theres no time but would like to go there later and arrest the factory workers or something so he did the only reasonable thing and set the wagon on fire from the inside, eventually the wagon stopped and the doors were opened and he weaseled away to rejoin the party at the meeting.

mean while the oh so important address the templars wanted to give was a strange one.

-several books are now banned possession and reading of these books is punishable to the full extent of the law. some of these books were: the complete writing of alexander graham bell, the notes and diaries of nikola tesla, the legions, the crystal eye, history books from this year to this year, historical writings from these authors,  

-all crystals, precious, and semi precious gems are now outlawed, ownership and use of any is punishable to the full extent of the law

-immediate search and seizure would begin, no back aly, mine, sewer, or forest would go unchecked

this was an odd because most of the citizens and even the players themselves are unable to read in the first place and are much too poor to own any crystals or gems.

never the less how dare they and Hugo threw a bottle at the speaker. the gnome caught the tail end of this and he, the healer, and the healers sibling set to starting a riot. claiming that these new regulations were going to raise taxes and the seizure of the gems was literal out right theft from people too poor to probably have any of worth anyway, it would disrupt businesses and the searching would be more like ransacking and vandalism. 

hugo, the one handed girl, jamie, and the gnome then head off to the library once the riot seems to be getting going and the templars were all distracted. the healer- wearing a stolen high ranking gang uniform meets up with some lower ranking members if that gang  and convinces them that increased templar activity would mean without a doubt a crack down on their criminal activity. Sooner or later whatever hold the street gangs have over the people would no longer suit the forces that allowed them to gain so much power. these people spread that word. the people are in a full on frenzy now. 

Its also worth noting that a particular new npc was pointed out to us more than once during all of this: a very burly bald and beardless man well over seven feet tall but has otherwise only human features.

the group at the library find several books to steal but not quite enough and certainly not all the right ones. with further searching a secret door doubling as a book self hiding a spiral stair case is found and the one handed girl- being the one who can read the best of the lot is sent down to investigate. the rest stay upstairs waiting to hear her scream for help and to defend their position. the one handed girl finds several more books that the templars had listed as illegal but ALSO one that had a solid black binding and hundreds of blank black pages. upon picking it up she feels a powerful connection to it.

several templars enter the library and a fight begins, but it is quickly ended by the new oddly specific but unnamed npc. the group escapes, calling bruce the cabby to gather the party, drop three of members, healer, healers sibling and gnome head to the ruins hospital to loot. since there would be no one around to stop them what with the mayhem and murder happening. on the way the healers sibling witnesses and exchange between a templar and a higher ranking gang member, an exchange that suggested if the the two factions had any sort of agreement it was probably over/off the table now... but another interpretation could be: shut mouth don’t talk about that where someone could hear/see you. we don’t know yet. 

heres where I got confused because the prty split up, at some point during the looting the healer found a strage door that the bombing had uncovered? or made easier to access because it wasnt hidden anymore? with the gnomes help they enter leaving the sibling to continue to loot. there was a long tunnel? and then a strange chamber with strange device that when described was probably a tesla coil. There was also an unusually large person guarding the room about 8 feet tall and very burly. there was also a book in there. I’m pretty sure he was guarding the book, which I assume was the writings of tesla based on context. they gnome and healer question the guardian trying to figure out what he was and why he was there. for some reason a fight begins? the tesla coil is part of some kind of trap system that does some clever stuff but I didn’t catch it. the two kill him and loot his body we didn’t get a description of his face i’m pretty sure it was too messed up from the fight? or maybe I just missed it, but I cant help but wonder if he too was bald and beardless? 

when the group that headed to the cabin arrived, the one handed girl had begun investigating the books and discovered a note: unfortunately the note was a prop and the only one who could actually read all of the dms handwriting was me but HUGO cant read for shit, I’m not even sure he knew what books were until that day. but I don’t think the bits I picked out that others couldnt read were that important. 

what it amounted to seemed to be that, something happened and it might happen again and they- the templars we assume -could not let that happen. I’m pretty sure I read a bit that said like- ‘we cannot allow ‘them’ to rise again,” but I wont know if that particular bit is important until the rest of the books are examined but even if it is I think think the group will be fine.

there was also a very old bank note worth over 200 coppers but probably needs to be appraised, at least to figure out how old those books are/how long they were in that secret room? idk but I’m sure theres something important there... surely its not just because the dm is concerned the party will starve to death in winter and thought to give us extra money to survive with.

the three who went to the hospital got back to the cabin, I’m pretty sure they stole a wagon.

the plan is, to examine the books a bit, then wrap them in leather and seal the leather in wax to bury them where we will be building something, then also having some decoy holes dug/filled in? and if a templar is like wtf is all this- we explain that were in the middle of construction or something and thats where we’re building stuff? 

but I sort of suspect that have some magical or supernatural means of detecting things? so it might not matter... but if winters coming we probably need to have some weapons and defenses anyway because hungry wildlife is an issue we’ve been told.

the only book not getting buried is the black one- that is staying with the one handed girl. to what end? I’m sure we’ll find out.

Hugo is down to 44lbs FineCoal- the cabby requested payment in furs and meat instead of coal and copper this time around. 

the ruffian, the noble, and the nobles guard were not present again, I’m pretty sure they just don’t like showing up to these campaigns with the weird rules. 

[spicydadshowdown]

@katieshirogane so here are some ideas for my dumb V-O-L-T-R-O-N AU ive been spit-balling for awhile, in no particular order (these are all subject to change/refinement... also i got a real nasty headache today so this is going to be pretty scatterbrained , sorry!)

So basically this is like…. an magic/modern AU lol…so…. here’s just a few things, more will be added on a later date.

Shiro runs a business that’s like … a rescue, rehabilitation, and relocation center for magic beings; both sentient and non-sentient (they only have room to take in small to medium sized monsters though). They primarily specialize in helping sentient beings who’ve lost their homes do to urbanization/ floods/ whatever and try to help them find new homes. Also on top of sheltering magical beings they also fight some nasty monsters. (Shiro specializes in exorcism, also he has space distortion powers.) 

Shiro’s shelter is like, this small little hole in the wall that used to be a flowershop. Shiro bought it and renovated it. im debating whether or not i should make it into a flower shop or like…. a candy store?? or somethin’….maybe a bakery actually... cuz u know they gotta make money somehow lol. (All the profit they make goes into keeping the shelter up and running. Also i think im gonna role with bakery tbh)

Lance and Hunk made Shiro cute little business cards for both the sanctuary/shelter and the bakery. i havent decided on the designs for them yet… lol… but if u scratch the logo on the cards (the ones for his sanctuary/shelter) a ‘video’ will play of Hunk and Lance being goofs while trying to advertise Shiro’s business…. its a mess.

They have a alien at the sanctuary, it kinda looks like a frog and shes really chubby and feathery and makes the grossest snorting sounds and drools alot, and Lance and Hunk love her alot... even if shes the size of a great dane and crushes them whenever she tries sitting on them. Her favorite person is Lance. She hangs out in the store (shes got a collar that makes her look like a giant mastiff so the costumers dont get spooked)

In the magical business you dont give out your full name to just anyone - giving out your name to certain magical creatures will give them power over you and its easier for them to curse you and well… make your life miserable in general. Especially if you’re human, so whenever someone asks for his name he gives him his nickname: Shiro....obviously,,, (The rest of the gang also follows this rule.)

Keith lives at the shop, he rents out the spare room in the basement Shiro always tells him he doesn’t need to pay him but Keith kind of shoves the money in his face because goddamn Takashi you are way too nice i’m not gonna freeload on you so just take my money.

Hunk works in the back making the pastries (everyone takes turns making the pastries but Hunk does it the most bc he likes doin it ), he tries his best to not get involved with any of Shiros magical guests. He doesnt want anything to with that nonsense bc magical beings are assholes and theyre super dangerous and he just wants to live a relatively normal life thank you very much. He’s also in college, working on getting his bachelors degree in Aerospace engineering - specifically astronautical engineering.

That being said whenever there are children at the shelter Hunk just... HAS to make them smile and tell them everything will be okay, even if they are magical beings and make him a bit nervous.

Hunk and Lance are great with kids, so whenever there’s a family at the shelter and the kids are feeling real down Hunk and Lance always brighten up their days. They teach them how to knit and stuff and play games with them, Hunk teaches them the wonders of science, ect. 

When Lance isnt at the shop/at school he spends his time in the ocean, perusing water dragon caves, talking to fish (mostly sharks), surfing, sometimes goes to underwater parties and hits on merpeople. He can take the form of a tiger shark and a tiger shark merman. (One time after drinking a lil too much he let it slip that he was human and was almost alive eaten by the party-goers.) Lance is in college... though im still not sure what hes studying...

Also one time Keith made a bet with Lance that if he was able to steal some treasure from a water dragons lair - not only would he give Lance one of his cool magical weapons he’d also (metaphorically) kiss his ass for an entire month. So, not only did Lance bring home some Sweet Dragon Gold and gems he also brought home a fucking dragons’ tooth (that he punched out of the dragons mouth. Like, the thing was HUGE - it was half the size of Lance.) Keith....didnt actually think hed do it.... it was a joke....it was a joke.... now Lance will never let him live it down, his life will no longer know peace. 

Keith has a moderate sized collection of magical weapons - most of which he’s won at this underground arena Pidge and him go to once a week (its a secret, not even Shiro knows). Also his specialty is pyromancy... of course....

Pidge specializes in curses (mostly with removing them, but she can make some nasty ones too) and magic involving plants. Also, if u need someone to get u through a tough magical barrier Pidge is ur girl. She’s also in college studying nanotechnology (specifically its application to spacecraft) (and/or robotics..... maybe.... nanorobotics....hmmm)

She’s always putting hexes on Keith and playing mean pranks on him like:

making a entire forest grow in his room, bonus swarm of locusts hidden underneath his blanket and inside his pillow.

making everything in his entire room rubbery and doughy, like your walking on goddamn playdough and everything he touches? Playdough.

Hiding giant basketball sized spiders in his closet, double bonus: have the spiders come out of the walls in fucking droves.

Bewitching him with an incorrigible appetite for peanut butter and peanut butter cookies... u name it

He does get back at Pidge though, ruthlessly. They actually have prank wars all the time. 

Im still trying to work out the relationship dynamics with the characters... all i know is that Pidge and Keith have.... uh, ,,,, a very physical relationship.......like, they’re not dating or anything, they just hook up ...alot.... MY AU MY RULES.

sooooo thats all i got for now bc im running out of steam fast...so ye... (Oh and also The Holts will be present in this au...still gotta work it out lol)