Mutated Musings From The Blogosphere

Seems that there are several developments on the post-apocalyptic RPG front recently. I'll try to summarize what I stumbled across in today's post:

Razed: Post-Apocalyptic RPG Coming Soon From Pelgrane Press

The folks who brought you Trail of Cthulhu and Ashen Stars are now working on a post-apocalyptic RPG based on their Gumshoe system. The game, Razed, has been in the works for a while and was playtested at Gen Con 2011. As a Gumshoe system game, the emphasis is on investigation and exploration. The world ended recently, but HOW did it end? WHY did it end? WHO else is out there? WHAT happened? These are the questions the survivors must deal with as they explore the recently-ended world. Pelgrane Press has been posting regular updates on the game's development and creator Will Hindmarch has been posting updates on Razed's progress on his blog as well.

Old School (Apocalyptic) Hack

Apparently, someone hacked a hack of a hack -- if that makes sense! Risus Monkey clued me in that David A. Hill over at the Old School Hack forums had reverse engineered Old School Hack, the recent Ennie Gold Award Winner for Best Free Product. Using the system as a base, Hill created Retrocalypse, a Fallout-inspired old school End Times RPG. Fans of the computer/video game will want to check it out!

Map Your Blasted Earth Landscape

Aeons & Augauries' blog-meister JDJarvis has posted a set of Post-Apocalyptic Hex Map graphics for use by readers as well as encourage input. Plans are to use these for future projects, so he'd like some constructive criticism as well. (Love the terms "Ashmire" and "Rusted Forest.")

Form-Fillable Mutant Future Character Sheet

This is an old bit of news, but a new discovery for me. The Venomous Pao over at Strange Stones created a form-fillable Mutant Future character sheet. Download the PDF, and input your character's stats and facts into the open fields. You can then print out your fully filled-out sheet for that evening's game. (The Mutant Future-specific font is a nice tough too!) He also has a similar form available for Labyrinth Lord. This sheet was instrumental in creating my Gen Con games' pre-gens, so thanks Pao!

Wander the Wastes in This Rogue-like RPG

For any folks who still while away the hours playing Nethack, Rogue, and other "roguelike," computer-based, ASCII-graphics RPGs, you'll be happy to know that there is an apocalyptic survivor roguelike game out on the Interwebs. In Alphaman, you start with two random mutations and then are sent into randomly-generated Blasted Lands. Just as surprisingly complex as its predecessors, Alphaman will have you fighting mutant chickens and badders as you try to determine how the world ended and what can be done before it happens again...permanently. Download it here and have fun!