Chimerical Realm

 New Year, New Character   Day 25    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness  In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness  (TMNT), one is not required to play a teenager, a ninja, or even a turtle. You do, however, end up playing a mutant. An animal who, through some manner, has been altered and changed and turned into something resembling a human. Resembling, but not quite.  Though there is a bias towards learning ninjitsu, because this was the published in the '80's and ninjas were just the shit back then. The game is, obviously, a licensed property. But one based on the Eastman & Laird comic books, rather than the animated show that really made the Turtles a "thing." As such, the game is much more brutal and violent than one might expect from the title alone. In fact, the "kiddiefication" is allegedly why Palladium end up dropping the game back in 2000, and so this is not only an old game, but a long out of print on...

Owls Go Hollywood Penthouse Blitz The Owlmandos have entered the air duct from the roof, ready to wreck SoloChem’s nefarious plans. The narrow, twisting air ducts empty into a cramped, two foot high crawlspace that stretches out on all sides for as far as you can see in the dim light. The crawlspace floor is made of flimsy tiles suspended from the ceiling with metal struts. The area is filled with electrical wiring, plumbing, sprinkler system machinery, and ventilation shafts. You hear murmuring voices directly below you, and thin streams of light shine up from cracks in the flimsy tiles below your feet. You suddenly realize that you are in the drop ceiling above the labs. The crawlspace “floor” is made of lightweight ceiling tiles suspended below the roof of the building. The two foot gap between the real ceiling and the drop ceiling is just enough room…to travel freely. Tristan gently lifts one of the tiles and the owls crowd together to peer inside. They see a nu...

Created by the eccentric and brilliant billionaire Doctor Thurston Rheinhart, these avian heroes were raised to protect and cherish humanity. Working with Detective Jack “Bulldog” Payne and his elite Special Investigation Squad, they take to the night to battle those threats too strange, too bizarre, and too dangerous for the NYPD. Threats only the Owlmando’s can handle! Or, at least, that’s what they were raised to believe. In truth, Jack Payne is a disgraced EX cop, drummed out for corruption. He and Doctor Rheinhart are employees of The Syndicate , a ruthless criminal organization bent on running the streets. Their arch-foes are the Shadow , a criminal Ninja clan. Unable to defeat these feared master assassins on their own terms, the Syndicate created the Owlmando’s as their very own “heroes.” Since their debut a few months ago, the Owlmando’s have become a popular “urban legend” around New York, and have successfully thwarted The Shadow numerous times. Now they are focu...

I’m starting up a new series of Solo play, for “Solo A Module Month.” In this event, Solo gamers take a crack at playing a traditional party-based module and playing it Solo. My attempt last year fizzled out for me, but I’m eager to give it another go. After quite a bit of sifting, I’ve decided to go with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (TMNT) by Palladium Books . This game is currently Out of Print, unfortunately, but I still have my copy sitting on a shelf, and I haven’t had a chance to play it in years. The basic system is the Palladium (or ”Megaversal”) system. Combat is essentially d20 based, while its Skills are Percentile. Nothing too radical, and its clearly an “Old School” system. Given that it is a somewhat quirky system, I’ll be including quite a bit of the mechanics of the game as they come up. I’ve done a previous series using the Palladium system, the Metal Angel series was based off of the Heroes Unlimited game, which is, in many ways, ...