Chimerical Realm

Comic Book Adventures (CBA) has been on my radar for a bit now. For those who don't know, it's a solo system for playing comic book style superheroes. Which is exactly what I was looking for. However, it's an add on for a game called Heroes Wear Masks (HWM), which I was completely unfamiliar with. So, while I have owned CBA for a while now, it was just the other day that I finally bit the bullet and bought HWM. Heroes Wear Masks is a Pathfinder -derived game, and is explicitly so. I think, to it's detriment. Not that d20 can't do superheroes ( Mutants and Masterminds after all), but because the authors assume you not only are very familiar with Pathfinder, but have a copy of the rules open in front of you. They skip large chunks of key rules (combat, skill resolution, feats) by just pointing to Pathfinder. As such, it's difficult to call HWM a complete game, and exists instead more as someones house-rules.

Solo Gaming Appreciation Month Metal Angel #5 With Cole’s escape , the scene is over, and I move onto the next prompt. The Hangman The reversal of a situation brings powerlessness, doubt, reunification, brings stillness and reflection. The head the rational mind - no longer controls so that a new and greater sense of life can emerge. Old pattern of behavior will die and with willingness and a full acceptance of the suffering that might be required implies an acceptance of waiting in darkness. This situation opens ourselves to life and life can hurt us, we feel terrible vulnerable. But this price of giving up our defenses and making the journey into loneliness seems to be necessary for any real sense of what supports us - the true faith can only be gained through risking ourselves in life. Cole came close to the purplish construct, a mass of undulating alien technology. It seemed almost alive, pulsating and writing, looking like a squid trapped in an old bronze tr...

Solo Gaming Appreciation Month Metal Angel #4 Following from the last scene , Metal Angel flies off to confront the robbers. Metal Angel soared over the city, following the old man’s directions. The outskirts of the city was full of dozens of seemingly empty warehouses, and it was impossible to determine which was the robbers hideout. Suddenly, a loud burst of purplish energy shot out of one of them, followed by loud womp of an electrical discharge! Metal Angel dove to the building, praying he was still in time. Metal Angel is flying around, so any attempt to avoid being noticed is a matter of luck. Do the robbers notice Metal Angel as he approaches the building? 78, Yes Do they wish to fight? 99 Yes and Unexpectedly…09 Upstaged. Upstaged means that an NPC makes a big move, and any motivations or goals they have “go into overdrive.” Since the only NPC with motivation is Dominic, and he desires revenge on Metal Angel, he come...

Solo Gaming Appreciation Month Metal Angel #3 After the last session , Metal Angel has brought the wounded Scarlet Wing home, and is surprised by a mysterious voice. Who is the voice and what do they want? To find out, I turn to the prompt. The next one is The Emperor . Father who embodies our spiritual ideals, our ethical codes, a god of inspiration and sudden creative vision, a revelation of the truth. Self-sufficiency, authority and ambition which drives us to achieve and the discipline and foresight necessary to accomplish our goals. The father within us also fosters self-respect, because it is this part of us which can take a standpoint from which to meet life's challenges. Responsibility as power, his strength can create and build. Pioneer, adventurer, urge for action, self-confidence and recognition, executive power, success, optimism, fulfillment of wishes. A good number of previous prompts from Loom of Fate (CRGE) indicated a plot thread was coming to a c...

 Solo Gaming Appreciation Month Metal Angel #2 Following the last scene , Metal Angel is flying across Eagle Harbor. A new hero, Scarlett Wing, is taking her first flight, and one of the men who almost killed him is watching her. And he’s dressed as a cop! For this scene, the prompt is The Empress . A matriarchal goddess, a beautiful earthy woman - experience of being part of nature and rooted in natural life, the appreciation of the senses and the simple pleasures of daily existence. Without this Great Mother within us, we can bring nothing to fruition, here is patience and gentleness to wait until the time is ripe for action. She governs the orderly rules of the seasons and the laws of the cosmic, she gives birth of new life, is initiative and has an eye for details. She is a caring and protecting wife and virgin, accepting the responsibility of own feelings, she has strength which nourishes and sustains. There is sweetness, passionate love and a playful erotic inv...

All right, the prep work is all done, now it's time to get to the game! As part of SGAM, I've been provided with a number of prompts from the Lone Wolf Community, which take the form of Tarot Cards. A number of people use a Tarot deck or other images (such as Story Cubes ) to help inform their solo gameplay experience, but I never have. So, this will be a new experience for me. I have to make a bit of a confession, though. Despite my interests, I really have no particular knowledge of Tarot beyond the most absolute basics. Given that, I'm going to be relying on the information provided by  +Todd Zircher 's Tangent Zero site, which is the source of these prompts. If the information provided is wrong, take it up with him. Any failure of interpretation, though, falls squarely on my shoulders. The first image is The Fool . Here's the info for this card: The roots of one's abilities, talents and potential. Decision to start fresh, open to new possibiliti...

As I discussed in my last post , for SGAM this year I wanted to do something more upbeat and hopeful than some of my other Actual Plays, and I've decided to go with a superhero game. Specifically, Palladium's Heroes Unlimited game. One of the great features of Palladium's games for a Solo player is how well them embrace randomness and uncertainty, which is something I plan to exploit for this game. But, before I begin, there are three rules I want to put into place: The character is going to be GOOD. He's going to be a Captain America, Spider-man, or Superman (Reeves) style character, not a grim dark avenger like Punisher, Venom, or Superman (Cavil).  He's going to have superpowers. Heroes Unlimited  includes rules for a variety of heroic types, but I don't want to play a gunslinger "hardware" character or a battle-suited hero or the like.  Combat is going to be "comic booky" non-lethal. Even if a character is using swords or guns, peo...

I had mentioned previously how much fun I find the Palladium system, and especially Heroes Unlimited. Especially when it comes to character creation. I rather glossed over this part when creating Yeoman (alas poor Yeoman!), but I figured my follow up character deserved a more thorough walk-through. Let's get weird.  For this character, I'm going to expand my range to include not only Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition , but also Powers Unlimited 1 and Powers Unlimited 2 (I, sadly, don't have 3 yet). None of these are available as PDF's, unfortunately. Palladium, it seems, hasn't yet full embraced that method of distribution, so you need to get these either at your FLGS or online--might as well go to the Palladium Store and get them directly. So, character creation in HU2 is broken down into 6 Steps--Attributes, Hit Points & S.D.C., Super Abilities, Skills & Education, Alignment, and Rounding out One's Character. Let's go through it Step-by-Step....

I was able to get a bit of playing in. Things did not go well for Yeoman. Unsure where to begin,  I rolled up a random crime from the Heroes Unlimited 2 G.M.'s Guide .  I got a group a group of two-bit thugs committing forgery in order to commit a crime, with a complication that the heroes couldn't get involved--like, it would expose their identity. It began on a typical night on campus. Scott and his room mate Chris were heading off to one of the computer labs to get some Quake time in (remember, this is mid-90's). Entering the lab, they stumbled upon a group of older students making fake ID's. The older students first tell them to leave, then intimidate them out (they have guns). Scott and Chris head to another lab, where Chris is able to hack into the system and see that they're making ID's that match various school administrators. Curiosity peaked, Scott decides to follow them and see what they're up to. He heads to the exit and hides, but a com...

I've finally managed to get the base line work done for my solo run of Heroes Unlimited. The initial world building stuff really helped to focus my energies, and I can't wait to take this game for a spin. First thing I had to do was put together my "GM kit." Even with games I know pretty well, I find it's helpful to have some cheat sheets. Back when I did a solo run of Vampire (a game I'm pretty certain I could run without any of the books), I still ran into the need for enemy stats and the like.  Oddly, this isn't as a big of a deal for me when I run a standard game. In a group situation, I feel much more comfortable fudging the dice rolls or making things up on the fly. In a Solo game, I feel a much more obligated to be "by the book." Not that it really matters, but I want to keep that dangerous feeling going. So, my GM kit for HU is pretty basic. One of the Palladium forum user by the name of Glistam hooked me up with an excellent NPC shee...

My brief forays into solo role-playing have fallen dormant. Work, family, "normal" games, and just life in general has a way of making that happen. However, I do really enjoy it and am looking forward to busting out the Mythic GM Emulator again! I still really like what Mythic did with their Emulator. There are plenty of other systems out there, and I was looking into them for my next game. Since the release of the second season of Daredevil, I've been wanting to bust out a superhero game.  I ran something like one a few years ago, but my actual experience playing supers is pretty limited. I poked around at various systems, some standard, others solo focused. None of them hit exactly what I wanted, so I'm going with my old standby, Palladium's Heroes Unlimited . There's a lot of negativity about Palladium's system, but it hits the sweet spot for me. Or, maybe it's just because I've owned the books for so long and never really got to play ...