Tag Archives: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

A GMs Gift

6 March 2015 Rodney

March 4th was GMs day, so don’t forget to buy something nice for the GM in your life at the Drive Thru RPG GMs Day Sale. This post is dedicated to GMs everywhere, you lords and ladies rock! Secretly all of our posts are aimed at GMs, but nobody knows that, shhh.

This week is also our first post in the new time slot and we have loads of stuff for you, so let’s dive right in.

Avernos Unearthed
As promised, this week we venture into the Veiled Lands, the mysterious home of the elves.

Next week we’ll go beyond the Veil and into a whole other world, the fae lands.

Avernos Wiki

Campaign Journal
For my Marvel Heroic Roleplaying campaign I made my own Daily Bugle template in Word (docx 863kb).
You’re free to share it, just provide a link to this post by way of credit if you do. It helps me to keep doing what I love to do.

I use the Bugle to do “in character” session reports, which have been a great way to keep everyone informed and excited for the next session.

Rising Phoenix News
Yarr, ’tis swell ta be a buccanneer on the high sea, where every day be talk like a pirate day. Our new Sea Tiles let you create vast oceans and rivers on the tabletop. I made them to use with maps I already had in my collection, and I know you’ll find them useful too.

Raft vs Fire Elemental — Miniatures and raft model not included.

Grab them on
Drive Thru RPG

Inspired in Japan
The Ogre of Rashomon is a great little tale about a samurai and his battle against the menace of Kyoto, a fearsome oni. It would make for a good adventure.

Scene 1, the PCs are asked to investigate a string of murders at the Rashomon gate in town. They discover that all the murders happened at night, the only time the oni comes out, and so they wait for night fall.

Scene 2, before the Rashomon gate, during the darkest hours of night. The group is surprised by the oni, who attacks them after using magic like invisibility or darkness. Before the oni is killed, he uses magic to escape into the night. The heroes find his arm lying on the ground.

Scene 3, after finding no trail of the oni, several weeks pass before an old lady visits the party. Really the oni in disguise (disguise self), she attacks the party again, seeking to make off with her arm. If she escapes then you’ve got a very interesting recurring villian who might be all sorts of trouble for the party. That arm could even become a much sought after artifact, causing even more headaches as various daimyo send their ninja to claim the appendage.

If you’re playing Pathfinder, then both the fire yai and kuwa oni from Bestiary 3 would work, giving you a CR 15 and a CR 4 option, although I like the fire yai more, since he more closely fits the story.

The Books of Faces
I love the Internet, especially the way I can quickly test the strength of a concept. The Book of Faces hasn’t had the response I was hoping for, but that’s okay, because it has been a great chance to learn. As such, I’ve decided to pull the Book of Faces section from future posts.

I’d like to thank you for your interest in the project. Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy books were a big part of my youth, and I’ve really enjoyed writing my own adventure for you. Rest assured that the adventure will continue, and you can still play on the Facebook page, but it won’t be a regular weekly feature here from now on. This will give me a chance to work on the book and relaunch it later in a much more polished form.

That’s all from me until next week.
Tell Thrilling Tales

General, Maps, Tips and Tricks

RPGSS 2015 – Round 4 Voting

26 February 2015 Rodney

Voting for round 4 of RPG Superstar began this week, with voting open until March 2nd. Are you planning to play through any of the encounters?

Avernos Unearthed
I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes of Avernos, planning out the next phase of posts that will tie everything together nicely. In the coming months we’ll be digging even deeper into the elves for a bit before we briefly look at humans, then on to my favourite race, the dwarves.

Today’s entry is about the Great Betrayal, mentioned last week in the entry on elves. This pivitol moment in the history of Avernos needed its own section, enjoy.

Next week we’ll venture into the mysterious Veiled Lands, don’t miss it.

The Books of Faces
We have more adventure than you can fling a prune scone at. Make your move.

Post by The Book of Faces.

Vote for your next move on the Facebook page or stay updated at the Adventure Chronicle. Don’t forget to Like us on Facebook.

Campaign Journal
Last weeks game of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying was the third session in our campaign, with guest player Brent — from Comics League International — joining us to play the role of the mystical Dr. Strange. To kick things off, Thor, Black Widow and Dr. Strange went after Armadillo, who was rampaging through the streets of New York. The fight went from the street, through the City Bank and into a comic book store, where the heroes discovered old comics about the mysterious Sentry, last seen voluntarily locked up on the Raft.

Next up was a hunt for Mjolnir, Thor’s mighty hammer, lost during the fall of the Avengers Mansion. In a battle with the Wrecker and Bulldozer, Strange revealed his secret identity as Loki, when Thor — having found the hammer — summoned it, only to have Strange/Loki throw up an extra-dimensional portal in its path. Thor and Loki took their battle to the frozen wastes of Jotunheim, where Thor, wielding the Wrecker’s crowbar, brought the beat-down Loki deserved. In the final moments of the battle, Loki played his ace, sending the Casket of Ancient Winters through a third portal to Earth. Oh, that Loki.

The neat thing about having a villain amongst the players is that it’s so unexpected. It isn’t easy to pull off well though, because you’re essentially betraying the trust of the players, who expect every other player to be part of the team. Here are some factors I think play a part in setting up a good double-cross scenario:

Experience: Both Brent and I have played in at least one session where a PC turned on the party. Brent is also a very capable GM, so I knew I could trust him to deliver an awesome story instead of a nasty TPK.
Group Size: For various reasons we ended up with two players, Thor against Loki, which ment that Thor’s player could have felt very isolated if he wasn’t such a great player. I wouldn’t recommend the double-cross for small tables for this very reason.
Guest Stars: Brent has to take a four hour long round trip train ride to play with us, so we knew this would probably be a one shot for him. He could be the bad guy without affecting the existing group dynamic.
Rewards: One of my players wanted to play Loki, but we just couldn’t figure out how to give her that chance without the fued between Thor and Loki derailing the game. With Loki defeated, and probably stripped of his powers and turned into Kid Loki, it makes much more sense for Loki to be a playable option.

Have you ever set up a player vs player double-cross in your own sessions? I’d love to hear about it.

Rising Phoenix News
Ahoy there me matey! Next month we set sail across vast oceans with Sea Tiles, our next set of game tiles. They’re perfect for expanding the sea and ship maps in your collection and they’re coming soon to Drive Thru RPG.

Sea Tiles

Avernos and the Book of Faces has been taking up most of our time, but we’ve also started work on a mini campaign setting for Pathfinder, which is off with the play testers now.

Inspired in Japan
I was introduced to Go, not in Japan, but while LARPing in South Africa. It’s a facinating game which originated in China and is very popular in Japan, even today. It’s easy to learn. The guy who taught me described Go as “takes minutes to learn, a lifetime to master”. I love the complexity that arises from its simple rules.

I wonder if they’ll have a Go mini game in Shadowrun: Hong Kong?

You can learn how to play Go on Wikipedia, which has a bunch of other insightful links.

That’s all from me until next Thursday.
Tell Thrilling Tales

Tips and Tricks

RPGSS2015 – Round 2

29 January 2015 Rodney

Maps for round 2 of the RPG Superstar 2015 contest went in late last week and voting is now open. Go check out those entries and put in your votes.

Avernos Unearthed
This week we wonder on the edges of the mysterious Veiled Lands, as the Avernos Wiki adds the Fey tainted city of Pandatheon to the collection.

The Books of Faces
The strange wizard, excuse me, gnomeologist, is describing a quest to you in very vague terms. But then, what else do you do but strap on a sword and accept?

Post by The Book of Faces.

You can read the history of the adventure over at the Adventure Chronicle

Campaign Journal
This past Saturday we played our second session of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Unlike D&D or Pathfinder, there’s a lot of room for players to tell the story, so players need to pay attention when they’re not up. To help, I offered the MVRP award (most valuable role-player) and 3xp to whoever was voted the best player by the group. It was great incentive, and I hope it will continue to be a huge motivator in later games.

Do you have any rewards in your campaign beyond Xp? Leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you.

Rising Phoenix News
We’ve been working over the last year and a bit to get the Japan Roleplay Society going, a place for English speaking role-players who live in Japan to meet and find players. If you live in Japan or know someone who does, come check us out on FB.

Inspired in Japan
Setsubun is a Japanese festival that happens yearly on February 3rd, celebrating the start of Spring. One of the events held at this time is mamimaki which means “bean scattering”, a ritual intended to chase away bad spirits or oni. The man of the house dresses up as an oni and the rest of the household throw roasted soy beans at him to chase the bad “spirit” away.

What customs might revolve around local monsters in your campaign world? We’d love to hear your ideas.

Oni statue

That’s all from me until next time.
Tell Thrilling Tales

General, Tips and Tricks

Punchy Printouts

15 January 2015 Rodney

Today I’ve got some tips on making modern player handouts with more punch as well as updates on our current news.

Avernos Unearthed
Avernos is all about the darkness on the doorstep, the growing evil at the edge of vision. So it’s high time we took a look at the Abyss, this weeks newest addition to the wiki.

The Abyss is a massive hole in the ground, surrounded by the Jaws mountains and leading directly into the depths of hell. Not a place you want to go, unless you’re, say, a witch hunter, monster slayer or questing paladin.

This is one area that will probably see many more entries this year as we travel deeper into the dark. I hope your sword is sharp and your torch bright.

The Books of Faces
Last week I mentioned my big plans for the Book of Faces adventure. But what is it really all about?

The Book of Faces is content that I’m creating while players from all over the Internet are giving their feedback, deciding where the adventure goes. While that’s happening, I’m busy writing more content and drawing concept sketches for a final book version. I call it crowd-questing.

You can follow the history of the quest at the Adventure Chronicle or take part on Facebook.

Campaign Journal
Handouts are a great way to hook players in and say “hey, this information is important.” I made this secret SHIELD Brief for ACT 2 of Breakout for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

It’s easy to put something like this together in a text editor like Word.

Write out your text. Use formal language to make it sound official and important.
Use a font like Stencil for the header and Courier for the main body. A font like Freestyle Script is good for hand written parts, such as notes scribbled by NPCs or their signatures.
Add logos harvested from the web. A grey scale version of the logo makes a great watermark if it’s in the background.
As with logos, you can find stamp marks on the web. Better still, stamp them with a real stamp and red ink. Yet another option is to use the shape tool to create your own stamp, using a thick border and the Stencil font, all in red, to get it as close to the real thing as you can.
To make your document more intriguing for the players, use a black marker pen or white-out to hide important facts. You can also use this trick to create red herrings.

Rising Phoenix News

Rising Phoenix Games is 4! In all the commotion of the holidays I forgot that we’ve been working towards our goals since the very last day of 2010. For sure, it has been a great ride, and the best is still to come, with so many exciting projects itching to go live.
You can check out our publications for the past four years on DriveThruRPG.

Voting for RPG Superstar 2015 ended a day or so ago, but next week the round 1 winners will be announced over at Paizo.com.

Inspired in Japan

I’m not sure who the two people carved on this stone are, but my guess is they were a couple who lived in the area. Perhaps their descendants commissioned the carving after they passed away. What do the statues and carvings your players come across tell them about your world?

That’s all from me until next Thursday.
Tell Thrilling Tales

General, Tips and Tricks

New Games, Ancient Lands

8 January 2015 Rodney

Happy New Year! I hope 2015 is a great year for you.

This year I’m changing things up with the blogs focus. Each Thursday expect updates on my weeks gaming and project progress, as well as inspiration for your campaign. If you’re a GM, be sure to subscribe, because you don’t want to miss out. (Enter your email address on the right and hit “Join The Party”).

Avernos Unearthed
Each week I’ll bring you a new Avernos Wiki entry. The entries usually go live earlier in the week, but I’ll highlight them here.

This week South Fort expands with a look at the Sentinels. These fearsome totem-towers are both defence and rallying point for the people living in their long shadows.

The Books of Faces
Last year we embarked on an epic adventure with the crowd-game Book of Faces and this year I’m ramping things up. The game will still be available on the Facebook page, but has a new home on the site, with updates mentioned here.

Campaign Journal
After every game session I play I’ll post some thoughts aimed specifically at GMs.

Last Friday I ran my first session of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (MHR). Man! Am I sad they stopped publishing it. Anyway, I love this sort of story driven game. D&D and Pathfinder show their wargame roots, while MHR, like World of Darkness, Burning Wheel and my own Claustrophobia!, are much more free form systems that encourage great story telling.

Making the shift from Pathfinder to MHR was tough for me, but so worth-while. I learn’t more about GMing while fumbling through a new system than I would have if I played several sessions of the same old game. And most of that learning came from being out of my comfort zone and having to kick up the role-play a notch. I felt the game was much more immersive for it.

Nothing will improve your GMing like playing something new and unfamiliar, that’s for sure.

Rising Phoenix News
I’ll post weekly updates and teasers of our current projects, so watch this space. For now, you’ll find it worth subscribing to our YouTube channel, interesting things are about to happen there soon.

Also, don’t forget to vote in the 2015 RPG Superstar Contest at Paizo.

Inspired in Japan
Japan is full of history, culture, art and other inspirational things to fuel your creativity. I’ll be posting the videos, pictures and prose that have inspired me recently.

This girl was painted on the wall of a local train station and I immediately thought of the beautiful but chilling yuki-onna.

Anyway, that’s all from me.
Tell Thrilling Tales

Be the Hero