Cryptworld is Drive Through RPG's Deal of the Day! For the next 24 hours, the PDF of Cryptworld is only $4.77! If you've been trying to decide whether to check it out, now's the time to do it!
And, to entice new players (and reward current fans), I'm making The Sketchbook of Grotesqueries available again for 24 hours! I have compiled 17 Cryptworld things that
have appeared here at The Savage AfterWorld into a handy booklet for
use at your gaming table! The Sketchbook of Grotesqueries contains these
17 unique monsters for your Cryptworld campaigns:
Bloody Bones
Bloody Mary
Carnivorous Swarm
Cut-Up
Flotsam
Gravedigger
Humansquito
Krampus
Puppeteer
Screaming Skull
Slender Man
Smiley Face
Snallygaster
Strix
The Tooth Fairy
Werestag
White Noise
UPDATE: The 24 hours are up! Sorry you missed out.
GACY'S CLOWN NOSE Description: The object in question is simplicity itself -- a red foam ball, about 2 inches in diameter, with a slot cut into one side. The clown nose is designed to slip over the nose of the person wearing it, giving their nose a big, bulbous appearance.
Background:
This particular costume appliance was at one time owned by John Wayne Gacy, a notorious U.S. serial killer who murdered 33 young men in the 1970s. Gacy became known as The Killer Clown, due to his hobby of entertaining at fundraisers and children's parties as "Pogo the Clown." Although there's no evidence that he ever killed while in costume, his personal effects may have somehow been psychically imbued with his murderous intent. After his arrest, conviction, and eventual execution, some of the evidence from his trial vanished from the police holdings (whether taken by souvenir hunters or lost over time is unknown). One of those missing items is this simple clown nose.
"You know... clowns can get away with murder."
--John Wayne Gacy
Effect: Wearing the nose, even if for a few moments, fills the wearer with seething hatred as a wide rictus grin crosses their face. The skin starts to bleach and the hair becomes stringy and changed to a bright primary color. Within moments, the person will have transformed into a Cut-Up , a deranged Psycho Killer with a theatrical flair of murderous mayhem. The transformation lasts until the Cut-Up has claimed a victim, at which time the cursed victim will change back into their normal facade. Their bloodlust sated, they'll remove the nose and cover up any evidence of their involvement. They'll be able to keep their murderous urges at bay for a month or so until the craving for mayhem returns and they find themselves reapplying the nose for another evening of "slaying their audience."
Earlier today, I was at the local grocery store picking up a few necessities. As I walked through the laundry detergent aisle, I saw something that reminded me very strongly of my first roadtrip to Gen Con. What was that item that has such a strong connection to a gaming memory? This bottle right here...
I'll explain in a moment, but it's funny how memory works. A piece of music, a specific smell, anything can trigger a memory, even if that trigger is only loosely connected to the event. For example, I think most of us recognize this:
But how many of you are wondering, "What the hell is that bottle of booze doing in that dice bag?" That's what we're discussing today: non-gaming items that, to you, are absolutely connected to your world of gaming experiences. Here are mine:
1. A disc-firing plastic gun
When I first began playing D&D with my friends, we often played in Roger's basement rec room. There were always toys, games, gadgets, and gizmos scattered about as Rog was a bit of a collector. During one game, he had one of these guns on the table, playfully firing it here and there. I picked up one of the discs and began chewing on it absent-mindedly as I considered an action -- kinda the way you might gnaw on a toothpick. Anyway, I picked up that as a habit and, during future D&D games, I had a handful of those stupid discs nearby whenever I considered any character action.
2. Toto's "Africa"
One of my favorite D&D books is the Fiend Folio. I absolutely love that monster book, as it's filled with the most gonzo and bizarre fantasy creatures I had encountered in my early gaming history. I bought my copy at Waldenbooks (remember them?) and raced home to pour through it. As I plunked down in my bedroom to read my new treasure, I turned on the stereo. This song was just starting as I began to read. During the 4-minute runtime of this song, I flipped through the book, looking at the pictures and glancing at the names of the monsters: The Bonesnapper, The Sons of Kyuss, The Crypt Thing, The FLAILSNAIL. Ever since that day, this song reminds me of Githyanki and Xvarts.
3. The smell of Gain laundry detergent
Told you we'd get back to this. In 2011, I went to my first Gen Con. It had been a dream 20+ years in the making to get there, so I was super-pumped as I packed my stuff and prepped my car for the roadtrip. One of my little travelling quirks is that I have to scrub my car inside and out before any long trips. I dunno -- a clean car runs better, feels more "comfortable", and just makes the trip a bit better. Early that morning, as I climbed behind the wheel for the trip, I placed one last item in place -- a car air freshener I had picked up. I thought I had grabbed a pine-tree scented freshener as it was green. Wrong, I had picked up an air freshener that was scented with -- you guessed it -- Gain laundry detergent. I didn't even know Gain was an official "scent"! So, for 4+ hours as I drove to Indiana, my car and my sinuses were filled with the smell of Gain. My clothes smelled like Gain. The gaming materials in my car smelled like Gain. When I got to Gen Con, I forgot about the smell of Gain...until it was time to come home. My car still reeked of Gain so, for another 4 hours, all I smelled was Gain. That was 5 years ago. And, since then, the smell of Gain is absolutely connected to one of my favorite con experiences.
So let's hear from you. What non-gaming thing is forever connected to gaming in your expereinces?
The Savage AfterWorld presents rules, adventures, supplements, and discussion for many RPGs, focusing on the Old School Renaissance, DCC, MCC, Mutant Future, Labyrinth Lord, and the classic Pacesetter system. (There may also be some boardgame-related material too!) If you wish to contact me, email gameagain at gmail dot com (Replace 'at' and 'dot' with correct symbols though...)
Dead In The Water for MCC RPG Now Available!
Available at DriveThroughRPG! Click the cover for ordering information!
Creepy Comic Conversion Issues 1-4 for Cryptworld in PDF and Print
Available at DriveThroughRPG! Click the covers for ordering information!
Sketchbook of Grotesqueries for Cryptworld
Click the cover to download the free Cryptworld supplement!
One Year In The Savage AfterWorld For Mutant Future
Available at Drive Through RPG and Lulu! Click the cover for ordering information!
Deviant Database 2.0 for Mutant Future
Available at Drive Through RPG and Lulu! Click the cover for ordering information!
Deviant Database For Mutant Future
Available at Drive Through RPG and Lulu! Click the cover for ordering information!
The World of Thundarr the Barbarian for Mutant Future
Click the cover to download the free World of Thundarr supplement!
[Samson Sunday] Savage Menagerie: Rhinophant
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Rhinophant: Init +0; Atk trample +5 melee (3d4) or gore +2 melee (2d4); AC
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The Rh...
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With all the sewer sections I’ve been posting in the last few months, I
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Shock Shield ‘Drat! That hurts!’ Valance exclaimed as he took the
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When one walks into a LARP world, there should NOT be a HUGE rulebook to
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Reading book one of *Legend of the Condor Heroes* by Jin Yong, I've been
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[image: Lightning in front of Clock Face]
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I followed this Tracking Fob based on the Bounty Puck I picked up from the
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Toss Off Issue 9
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Hey. There's been nothing but static on the radio here. I think I heard
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Some DMs have a gift for coming up with the perfect name on the spot.
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After a lot of playing and thinking, finally Metatoy System v1.5 is out!
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The extended issue of *D.A.M.N. #1* contains an article I wrote called *It’s
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Here's another resurrected post, originally published 10 years ago.
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I had meant to do this for the August RPG Blog Carnival but missed it due
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*Just a few things to have some new material on the blog for comment
spammers to add links to their online betting sites and proofreading
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*Vis...
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Animating Chess Set; ebony & ivory, nice box, 1d30 pieces remain, one use
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This year, #RPGaDay consisted of single word writing prompts instead of
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This past Christmas I received a copy of Mutant Crawl Classics, an OSR
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This is a pair of short encounters for use with Basic Dungeons & Dragons
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Friday, I took the Geeklet to see the new Aladdin film, expecting it to be
passable. But WHOA was I wrong--it's awesome! Disney did a great job
updating t...
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A beloved father, devoted friend, and D&D Dungeon Master extraordinaire. We
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STOP ME IF YOUVE TOLD THIS SITUATION BEFORE: 5 MINUTES INTO A THE AVENTURE
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Session 4: Into the Wolf Creek Ruins
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Session 4 is in the books. This is the first session with @erik tenkar and
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We had two adventure hooks going in: working as an escort for a wagon bound
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The Kickstarter for *Zorro: The Roleplaying Game* closes in three days;
it's met its target of $15,000.00 but it needs a few more backers to reach
a cool $...
Christmas Eve with Full Moon Entertainment 2018
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Christmas Eve is here again! This is a night of personal and family
traditions, and I have several of my own. Now after a year hiatus, the
Amazing RPG Fun ...
My new blog: devilghost.com
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For months, I’ve been slowly moving entries from my old blog (here) to my
new blog. I want to escape Blogger both because of technology preferences
(I li...
"BARN DANCE" — AN OCTOBER VIGNETTE
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*Barn Dance*
Blood geysers from the stump where Mitchell Grovers' masked head once
connected to his torso. Thump, thump, thump rolls the noggin until...
Megadungeon Slum Encouter Table I
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An encounter table with 10 options to flesh out encounters in a megadungeon
slum.
*Megadungeon Slum Encouter Table I *
*1d10*
*Encounter*
*Description*
*Fu...
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Hey, I'm back. I plan on posting regularly, albeit less frequently that
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authored by "A...
Celebrate HPL’s 128 birthday with Eldritch Tales!
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After dwelling in primal darkness for countless aeons, the stars aligned
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*Wands and cards - an Etsy collaboration*
[image: JustALevel Etsy DMs Set Wand and Map and Dice Playing Cards]
Over on Etsy, the *Just Another Level* store ...
Advanced Labyrinth Lord now Kickstarting!
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On Saturday I launched the Kickstarter for *Advanced Labyrinth Lord*, which
will combine the core book with the Advanced Edition Companion into one
volum...
[Gaia] Aktuelle Timeline
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Nachdem es einige Fragen bezĂĽglich der aktuellen Timeline von Gaia gab,
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NatĂĽrlic...
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Resep Roti Sisir Nuttela Cinroll - Saya pernah buat roti parmesannya Ci
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Regarding ACKS and Autarch LLC
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One of the few RPG products that carries my name in the credits is the core *Adventurer
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Infinite Third
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Once more I am proud to present to you Billy Mays III's excellent musical
voyage. His music is hard to define as it explores avenues, rhythms and
concepts ...
Free OSR of the Week: Revised MAZES and MINOTAURS
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Looking for a free OSR game with a Greek Mythos theme?
Look no further than MAZES and MINOTAURS. Three core books plus a
companion, all free pdfs.
http:/...
Harbinger
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Since I last checked in I have played some *Labyrinth Lord* off and on, but
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cam...
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Well, its the end of the year and I just can’t justify the expense on this
hosting plan. Don’t worry. We’re not dead yet. The content has already been
move...
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Hello all,
It's been a bit since I blogged on gaming in general. Life has taken over
and I am pretty sure that blogs have been relegated to a bit of an o...
Night Ride Part 1
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Night Ride Part 1 “Look, Pa, it’s my turn. Also, Nana is having one of her
spells again and she has no idea who I am when she gets this way.” Saw
sighed an...
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to ...
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This is kind of an interesting idiosyncrasy of B/X. Its also one of those
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campaig...
WMLP! Issue No 7 is here!
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Hold onto your butts, mighty issue 7 of the fanzine of old school weirdness
has hit the shelves!
In addition to all the radness you've come to expect fro...
A Relocation of Sorts
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After checking with my editor/mentor today, I was given the go ahead to
post more about our project, *"The Valcoria Anthology"* currently under
contract wi...
The Blank of Four Years
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It has been a long time.
My last post was in a long ago November and we're a few months off from the
4th anniversary of me starting this little blog. In th...
Fungus Forest - Pay What You Want .PDF
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Fungus Forest - Pay What You Want
The Fungus Forest is available now as a Pay What You Want .PDF on
DriveThruRPG.com. Check it out and download now!
The ...
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HELLO GAMERS and HAPPY GM’S DAY! I have a special treat for you here, an
enormous shrine dedicated to Graz’zt! You can either use this as part of
Out of th...
The World Beyond hardcovers published!
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Yes, just before the new year, both *The World Beyond Basic Game* and *Samaris
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DriveThru...
The gallery is down, for now...
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So the gallery software we use to host the archive stopped working.
Fortunately we were already most of the way toward a replacement method
when the colla...
The Truth About Lies (2015)
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Play Full The Truth About Lies in High Definition FormatNow you can download
full The Truth About Lies in HD video with duration 120 Min and has been
launc...
Gencon Follow-up: My First Time in the Iron Arena!
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If you were following a bit of my run up to Gencon posts, you might have
noticed that within the last year I've really gotten back into Warmachine
with my...
Vanity, thy name is "A New Blog"
-
*"Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years..."*
- apologies to LLCoolJ for the use of his lyrics.
I've started a new blog. It's not the "OSR" blo...
Go Vote!!
-
Remember that poster I worked on a while back? Help us out, and help put my
knowledge of classic D&D to good use!
http://www.cinecoup.com/advancedwizardsan...
No Mean City Session 1.1 "National Express"
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Session 1.1 THE NATIONAL EXPRESS
* Take the National Express when your life's in a mess It'll make you smile
All human life is here...
The Dragons of Poppy Smoke
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The Dragons of Poppy Smoke.
When a man signs a contract with Old Scratch, Mr. Scratch, Boruta (or any
local variant of the Devil), with the express p...
2420 Sq Ft modern Kerala home
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Modern luxury house in 2420 Square Feet (224 Square Meter) (268 Square
Yards). Square feet detailsTotal area : 2420 Sq.Ft.No. of bedrooms :
4Design style :...
Art! Valère Bernard
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Just found this guy. I can't find much about him, other than he died in
the 30s. Some seriously awesome stuff, though - I've just spent the last
hour sur...
LARRYCON Begins!!
-
A really nice scene I caught on my phone the other night while out for a
stroll. The harvest is upon us!!
Well it has been a wonderful spring and early...
Random tables inspired by Amon Amarth
-
Random tables taken verbatim from the lyrics of Amon Amarth.
TITLES
1. Guardian of Asgard
2. Son of Thunder
3. Walker on the Wind
4. Deceiver of the Gods
...
DC Gameday XIV: Casino Karnstein
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DC Gameday XIV is coming up on the weekend of March 29th-March 30th and
player registration is already open. After a grueling couple of months of
real-worl...
Happy New Year!
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First of all, I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and a happy New Year's
Eve celebration. Mine was okay, and I'm kind of glad it's all finally over.
T...
Eat More Beholders: They're Good For You
-
Get Ready to Save vs Death Ray: A Dead-Ringer for the Real ThingChomp on
this: get your recommended daily allowance of monster meat by making some
fab Sco...
The Ferrowar
-
Sometimes the most fierce denizens of a dungeon are the smallest.
The Cat-taurs (a name the Ferrowar loathe) are a clannish breed of fae who
dwell in tun...
Superheroes don't get their due
-
*It should come as a shock to no one that I'm a huge fan of superheroes.*
In fact, I've often thought about retooling this blog to be more of a
"spells and...
Cthulhu vs. The Vikings Kickstarter
-
I wanted to point out an interesting project on Kickstarter which is live
right now called, Cthulhu vs. The Vikings. Those who have followed this
blog for ...
Meet the Party
-
I'm back in Poland for a few days. Which means it's time to move my D&D
campaign a bit. I have little time left to the session, so just take a look
at the...
Battlestar Galactica: the boardgame
-
Just today I had the chance to play the Battlestar Galactica board game,
and to be quite frank, I was impressed. It full-heartedly embraces the
paranoia an...
Post-Apocalyptic / Noir / Fantasy Mash-up
-
Instead of morphing Cyberpunk 2020 into my steampunk Fey Engine setting, I
am thinking of combining it with the Junkpunk feel I was going for with my
oth...
Pulp Fantasy Library: Pigeons from Hell
-
For his creation of Conan the Cimmerian alone -- never mind Kull of
Atlantis, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, and many others -- Robert E. Howard
enjoys a pr...
Pathfinder: the Comic Book #1
-
If you enjoy Role-Playing Games and Comic Books (who doesn't) you should
add this to your pull at your local comic book store. The fine folks at
Paizo and...
Asteroid Dragon
-
The Asteroid Dragon or "Rock Knucker" is a predator found on rocky moons
and rugged worlds along the fringes of known space. How these monsters have
manag...
Rental Equipment As a Business Strategy
-
During stock tracking, you might normally want to sell off rarely used and
even underused equipment. Turn these obligations into resources instead.
Create ...
Touchdown
-
Well, we finally did it. I managed to get my family relocated to Edmonton
in Canada. There's a zillion things we are catching up on and trying to do
so I c...
Strength In Numbers
-
Here's a silly idea I came up with while browsing some 80's retro toy sites
the other day. Collecting comics was my main addiction back then but I
occasio...
Good News! The OSR at GenCon Again!
-
I'm passing along a post by Bill Barsh of Pacesetter Games & Simulations...
:-)
I would like to announce that for the second straight year, there will be
...
Have a great 2012!
-
While all activity on this blog ceased suddenly and unexpectedly the
reasons for it where sound in retrospective. I wish you all a happy and
great 2012 and...
Games last night on google+
-
Circles is the key I think. Sort of like firewalls, you can basically
attach labels to people in your circles, creating chat rooms, adventuring
groups of p...
Actual Dungeon Design
-
With Issue 2 being the first to feature an actual dungeon level (Level 1 is
in layouts/waiting for one more article to complete), I've decided to put
to pa...
BX Companion!
-
I realize this blog is dead, but I had top post this somewhere.
I am the proud owner of the BX Companion. This is a project i have been
excited for for ...
Some of the art used in this blog was glommed from random places on the Internet and is used without permission. No rights are implied or assumed. If you are the original owner and would like it removed, please drop me a line and I shall be happy to do so. Thank you.