Old School RPG Planet Has Shut Down

Sad news in the blogosphere. Alex Schroeder has announced that, effective immediately, his OSR blog aggregation site Old School RPG Planet has been taken down. Visiting the site will now take visitors to the RPG Bloggers Legacy D&D page.

I'm saddened by this development as Old School RPG Planet was one of my daily "go-to's". It always gave me a great overview of what was hot, who was talking, and what sites to stop by that day. I liked it so much, that I actually created a link button over there in the right-hand column of my blog to point other folks to the site. But, as of now, another corner of the Internet I liked to visit has boarded up the windows. But I didn't want the passing of this site to go by without some kind of mention and a public "Thank You" to Alex for running it all of these years. It was one of my favorite sites, and it'll be missed.

A New Look, A New Focus -- Welcome To Savage AfterWorld 2.0

Early in 2009, I made two online discoveries: the Mutant Future RPG and the RPG bloggerverse. I knew I wanted to be a part of both, so, on June 17, 2009, I launched The Savage AfterWorld as the foremost site to visit for post-apocalyptic RPG support and discussion. In the last four-plus years, I've made 700 posts focusing on gonzo apocalyptic gaming. I've created and released two Mutant Future supplements (three, if you count the Thundarr the Barbarian sourcebook). Mutants and creatures and adventures and artifacts littered across the Blasted Lands have filled this blog over the years.

However, my interests in gaming encompass far more than just the post-apocalyptic genre. Fantasy and horror and sci fi and western and comedy and board games and card games and yadda yadda yadda. Over the years, I have taken great pains to avoid posting any material to The Savage AfterWorld that was not Armageddon-genre-specific. (I'm kinda compulsive that way.) But it's time to open up this blog to the wide variety of games that are out there. I want The Savage AfterWorld to reflect my interests across the spectrum of gaming. I want to create and share new classes for Labyrinth Lord. New things for Cryptworld. New rules for Dungeon Roll. New options for DCC RPG. New black cards for Cards Against Humanity. Boot Hill and It Came From The Late, Late Show and Toon and Villains and Vigilantes. (And, yes, Mutant Future as well.) Discussions on old games, new games, classic games, obscure games, and everything in-between. And, as I did with Mutant Future, this blog will offer material and content that can be used and implemented in your own games -- not just mindless blather and empty rhetoric.

So, today, the apocalypse ends, and The Savage AfterWorld rises from the ashes. Thank you for your support and patronage over the years. And I hope you'll continue to stop by.

Play A Mechaborg As You Fight Gatorsharks In The Dungeon From A Distant Star!

Hey gang! Seems I've been neglecting the ol' Savage AfterWorld recently, but  other bloggers have swept in to bring us all some nifty-keen sci-fi/post-apocalyptic OSR goodies to play with. Thought I'd take a moment and pass along some of these offerings that would fit perfectly into your Mutant Future campaigns:

Mechaborg - A Race for OSR-based Japanese-themed Future/Postapoc Games
Over at Flaming Oil, blogmeister Neko-kun has created a new player character race that The Mechaborg are people with robotic bodies -- the best of both worlds! Neko has the race's game rules fleshed out as well as a random table to roll on to determine any specialized robotic abilities you have. Although Mutant Future has androids, replicants, and synthetics running around, the Mechaborg gives you another option for adventuring as a robotic wanderer!
is half-man, half-machine, and all-kickass!

The Gatorshark Lunges out of the Septic Swamps

MeanwThey Might Be Gazebos!, they've introduced a new Swords and Wizardry creature that looks like it would be right at home in the post-apocalyptic bogs of the Mutant Future. The Gatorshark looks like a terrifying critter, and it should be easy enough for you to convert its S&W stats to MutFut's. Plus, it appears the Gatorshark was inspired by its upcoming movie "Gatorshark versus Zombie Cheerleaders." (I don't know about you, but I'll be watching that film at some point. I'm a sucker for that kind of cheesy grindhouse flick!)
hile, over at

A Crashed Starship for your Sci-fi Dungeon Crawl

Needles over at the always enlightening Swords and Stitchery blog clued me in on the free Dungeon From a Distant Star available for free on Drive Through RPG. The one-page dungeon crawl takes place in the rusted-out hulk of an old starship that crashed to earth eons ago. However, as they PCs explore, they find the power still works...and something seems to be lurking! This nifty little adventure contains wandering monsters, random tables, and 23 rooms that are easily adaptable for your apocalyptic adventure needs!

Breaking News: Military Must Prep Now For "Mutant" Future, Researchers Warn

Note: This is an actual headline found on an article on Wired.com (Dec. 31, 2012):

Military Must Prep Now For "Mutant" Future, Researchers Warn

The U.S. military is already using, or fast developing, a wide range of technologies meant to give troops what California Polytechnic State University researcher Patrick Lin calls “mutant powers.” Greater strength and endurance. Superior cognition. Better teamwork. Fearlessness. But the risk, ethics and policy issues arising out of these so-called “military human enhancements” — including drugs, special nutrition, electroshock, gene therapy and robotic implants and prostheses — are poorly understood, Lin and his colleagues Maxwell Mehlman and Keith Abney posit in a new report for The Greenwall Foundation, scheduled for wide release tomorrow. In other words, we better think long and hard before we unleash our army of super soldiers.

Read more about it here.

Gygax Magazine Issue 1 Now Available

Turned in for the live unboxing of Gygax Magazine #1 today. They thumbed through that first issue to give folks a look-see at the internal layout and content. The fonts, the art, the articles, the "feel" -- folks this is truly the "heir apparent" to the classic Dragon Magazine of my youth. I'll have a review once the issue is in my hands. Issue #1 is 64 pages and $8.95 plus shipping. Four-issue subscriptions (shipped quarterly, as I recall) are $35, shipping included. And during the Q&A, they said it would eventually be available worldwide as well as in electronic eBook format.

www.gygaxmagazine.com
http://store.gygaxmagazine.com/magazines

Gygax Magazine Issue 1 Table Of Contents Released

 

Because I signed up for updates at the Gygax Magazine website, I just received the table of contents from their first issue, scheduled for release in the coming weeks. Some big names and familiar columns seem to be listed. I'm very excited to see this inaugural issue! So, without further adieu:

The Cosmology of Role Playing Games by James Carpio
Still Playing After All These Years by Tim Kask
Leomund's Secure Shelter by Len Lakofka
The Ecology of the Banshee by Ronald Corn
Bridging Generations by Luke Gygax
The Gygax Family Storyteller by Ernie Gygax
Keeping Magic Magical by Dennis Sustare
Gaming With a Virtual Tabletop by Nevin P. Jones
DMing for Your Toddler by Cory Doctorow
Great Power for ICONS by Steve Kenson
Gaming Through the Generations by Ethan Gilsdorf
Between the Dungeons by Ernie Gygax
Talents Off the Front Line by Dennis Detwiller
Adaption Decay by Michael Tresca
Gnatdamp: A Sanctuary in the Swamp adventure by Michael Curtis
The Kobold's Cavern - a special section edited by Wofgang Baur of Kobold Press:
---A Magical Miscellany for AGE by Randall Hurlburt
---Scaling Pathfinder Combat Feats by Marc Radle
---An AGE of Great Inventions by Rodrigo García Carmona
Comic - Marvin the Mage by Jim Wampler
Comic - What's New with Phil & Dixie by Phil Foglio
Comic - The Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew

This Just In: TSR Games To Live Again

Not a hoax. Not a dream sequence. The name and trademark have been secured by the folks who know the brand best:

 
And this fledgling company -- founded and run by Jayson Elliot, Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, James Carpio, and Jim Wampler -- will roll out their first product this December:

 I haven't been this excited since 1982.

The Perfect Survivalist Snack Cake Is No More

This just in on the Armageddon Newswire: Hostess brands has announced it is closing immediately. What does this newsflash have to do with the End of the World? Well...

According to The Elementary School Rumor Mill, only two things were ever going to survive a nuclear war: cockroaches and Twinkies. With a legendary shelf-life nearing that of plutonium, acquiring Twinkies was often a goal on any apocalyptic survivalist's To Do List. Case in point:

Family Guy's "Da Boom" episode took place after a nuclear exchange destroyed the world. As the Griffin family wandered the wastelands, Peter -- remembering that Twinkies can withstand such a disaster -- made it his mission to get the family to the Twinkie factory in a nearby town. When they got there, they saw that the golden spongecakes had indeed survived, feeding them all for years. A new post-apocalyptic village arose around the Twinkie factory ruins.

In the zombie survival movie Zombieland, Tallahassee has one goal in life after the apocalypse: to find and eat a single Twinkie. This quest of his takes he and Columbus to an abandoned Hostess truck by the side of the road; to a supermarket (where they meet Little Rock and Wichita for the first time); to a (sadly empty) Deep-Fried Twinkies booth at Pacific Playland. At the end of the movie, Tallahassee gets his Twinkie, leading to Rule 32: Enjoy the Little Things.

Apparently, store shelves have been laid bare upon the news, so if you haven't had a Twinkie in a while, you probably missed your chance. And there won't be any after the End of the World either.

(And truth be told, I'm a Zingers man anyway.)

Disney's Gamma World? More Likely Than You Think...

The RPG blogosphere is starting to tremble with recent rumblings and rumors that Disney is in talks to buy Hasbro. I haven’t found anything concrete to confirm this other than the usual “iffy” online sources, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be true. After all, I never thought I’d see the day when the House of Mouse would own The X-Men, Spider-man, Darth Vader, and Indiana Jones, yet here we are.

Anyway, Hasbro’s subsidiary list is far reaching, as they in turn own Parker Brothers, Kenner, Milton Bradley, Playskool, Tiger Electronics, and Tonka. Yes, they will own your childhood. But here’s the twist: Hasbro also owns Wizards of the Coast, Avalon Hill, and TSR. So if Hasbro goes to Disney, they will officially own Dungeons and Dragons, Magic The Gathering, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Dark Suns, and – yup – Gamma World. (Not to mention a bazillion other RPGs, games, and licenses to numerous to list here.)

It will be interesting to watch, to be sure. If this does happen, the question on every OSR fan and retrogame player should be “What will this mean for the Open Game License?” Disney is crazy-nuts-super-protective of its rights and products, so would they be able to overturn and/or end any further projects created under the OGL? Stay tuned…

Metamorphosis Alpha Kickstarter Successful!

The Starship Warden is officially in the launch bay as the Metamorphosis Alpha Kickstarter hits its $10,000 goal! There are still 8 more days to get in on the relaunch of this classic mutants-and-mayhem sci fi classic, so act fast or miss out! I for one am really excited to be a part of the next generation of Warden residents! 

And congrats to Jim Ward, Jamie Chambers, and Signal Fire Studios on their success! 

Metamorphosis Alpha Kickstarter Launched

(Tip of the hazmat helmet to Needles of Swords & Stitchery for cluing me in on this development!)

Signal Fire Studios in collaboration with game guru James Ward has kicked off a Kickstarter campaign to fund and release the newly revamped and redesigned Metamorphosis Alpha RPG! The new version is designed around the System 26 game engine by Jamie Chambers.

I mentioned this project-in-planning back in January, and I'm super-pumped to see it getting the Kickstarter treatment. It gives us all a chance to get in on the ground floor and help support a great classic Old School game (still simplified, but updated for today's tastes as well).

Please visit the Kickstarter page for the new Metamorphosis Alpha RPG and kick in a few bucks to help make this happen. I plan to go place my order as soon as I finish this blog post. After all, it's the least I can for the man who melted off my face.

Weekly Mutant Future "Wisdom From The Wastelands" Launches

Skirmisher Publishing LLC has announced the release of Wisdom from the Wastelands, a weekly publication dedicated to providing useful information, game content, and ideas for modern, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic table-top and role-playing games in general and Goblinoid Games’ Mutant Future RPG in particular. The first issue, "Artifacts, Manuals, and Tookits," was written by Derek Holland and Chris Van Deelen, authors of multiple Mutant Future supplements. Issue 1 is 5 pages and is now available at DriveThruRPG for 99 cents.

From the press release:

One of the most entertaining aspects of a post-apocalyptic RPG is the many sorts of artifacts. Mutant Future and other popular post-apocalyptic role-playing game rules have decent rules for figuring out and repairing artifacts. The first issue of Wisdom from the Wastelands covers several new rules related to this--from optional bonuses on figuring out artifacts, to manuals and toolkits. There are also rules that cover saving throws for artifacts and how much damage they can sustain before being damaged or destroyed.

Our goal is to release a new thematic issue of this publication nearly every week and to have it contain a variety of useful and earnest information that will inspire Game Masters and players alike and provide them with things that they can immediately plug into their games.

I'm looking forward to seeing what new concepts come from this weekly series, and I'll keep readers informed of new issues as they are released.

The Mutant Future Begins In 5 Minutes...

'Doomsday Clock' moves 1 minute closer to midnight

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of scientists that tracks the likelihood of a global cataclysm says the world is moving closer to doomsday.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced Tuesday that it has moved its "Doomsday Clock" to five minutes to midnight.

The group says inadequate progress on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and continuing inaction on climate change are the reasons for the change.

The clock had been set at six minutes to midnight for the past two years. It was previously set at five minutes to midnight from 2007-2010.

The group says in a statement that two years ago, there was reason for optimism "that world leaders might address the truly global threats we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed."

Donate To The "Bail Out The Warden" Fund

Jim Ward, game designer and father of the gonzo post-apocalypse RPG genre (author/co-author of Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World), has been fighting a serious illness for some time now. Although he is in good spirits and still active in the community, his medical expenses are continuously on the increase as he deals with his condition.

Game designing stalwart Tim Kask has set up the "Bail Out the Warden" Fund which accepts donations toward Jim's medical expenses. I'd like to encourage all of my readers as well as fans of the genre Jim created to please make a donation by clicking the header image above. I have also placed a permanent donation button over there in the right-hand column. This blog wouldn't exist without Jim's mutated vision and warped sense of humorous adventure, so please take a sec and toss a few plasteel coins in the fund. Thank you.

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!

Creatures Of The Tropical Wastes Now Available

The folks at Skirmisher Publishing have released their newest creature supplement for Mutant Future. Inspired after a trip to the Philippines, author Chris "Outlander" Van Deelen has written Creatures of the Tropical Wastes. Inside, you'll encounter:

• 50 new creatures, including the mysterious Ahas Folk, the insidious Egret Puppeteer, and the fearsome War Baboy.
• 30 new mutations, including numerous Plant mutations.

Also within the book's pages, you'll find

• A Foreword by Derek Holland, author of several licensed Mutant Future sourcebooks.
• Official Mutant Future Poison and Radiation Tables for convenience of reference.
• Original illustrations by fantasy artist Sharon Daugherty

The 64-page PDF supplement is $5.99 and is now available at RPG Now, Drive Thru RPG, Pazio, and Your Games Now.

Gamma World Coming To PSN, XBL, and PC This Fall

I actually have "Breaking News" on the post-apocalyptic RPG front. Just stumbled across this news item a few moments ago, even though it was apparently announced last week. At E3, Atari unveiled its new Gamma World videogame based on the new version of the classic Post-Big Mistake RPG. Here are the details straight from PS Nation:

GAMMA WORLD
Gamma World is an action RPG based on the Dungeons and Dragons influenced TSR pen and paper RPG of the same name. While the original Gamma World was set in the 25th century after a second nuclear war, the most recent (2010) edition takes place after the Large Hadron Collider causes multiple realities to all come together in “The Big Mistake”. From the press release:

In the fall of 2012, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, embarked on a new series of high-energy experiments. No one knows exactly what they were attempting to do, but a little after 3pm on a Thursday afternoon came The Big Mistake. Something unexpected happened, and in the blink of an eye, a multiplicity of possible universes condensed into a single reality. Welcome to Gamma Terra.

It’s essentially a third person shooter with RPG elements mixed in and it’s a game that definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously. In the game, you’ll get to customize your survivor by mixing two races. We saw the radioactive man/yeti fight his way across a number of levels. Your character will be subject to Alpha mutations triggered by radiation which will change your abilities and give you enhanced powers as you progress through the story. You’ll also use Omega technology to bend the laws of physics helping you gain an advantage over enemies.

You’ll also have a number of weapons at your disposal and the ability to upgrade and enhance them with parts found across each of the game’s levels. We got to see a sewer level but there will be cities, wastelands and more in the final release. There’s also the possibility of DLC adding more missions and areas depending on how well the game is received.

Developer Bedlam Games told us that you’ll be able to play solo, two player local co-op and up to 4 players online with full voice chat when the game releases on PSN this Fall. This looks like it could be a fun little Action RPG on the PSN for people looking for something a bit lighter than Fallout or Mass Effect.

And the cover art is something to behold. Click to embiggen:

And here's the booth they had:

Gamma World: Alpha Mutation could be the start of a new videogame franchise.

Mutant Future Revised Edition Coming In Late December

Goblinoid Games has announced that a revised edition of Mutant Future is coming in just a few short weeks! According to Dan Proctor, Mutant Future co-creator and Goblinoid Games' overlord, the revisions are going to be mostly cosmetic as the stock and public domain artwork is being replaced with shiny new illustrations by Mark Allen and Steve Zieser, although I assume some niggling errors and typos will be tackled as well. The revised edition is being released as a prelude for Mutant Future to enter general distribution! That's right -- spidergoats are about to invade your local Friendly Neighborhood Game Store!

I'll close with a preview of the new cover as drawn and designed by Mark Allen:

Start saving up your plasteel coins!

In December, Will You "NaBlo" or "NaGa"?

The month of November is always a busy time for me, as I usually participate in the yearly National Novel Writing Month, AKA "NaNoWriMo." My blog posts drop off significantly, and my game design plans are back-burnered as I desperately try to crank out yet-another "Great American Novel." Of course, I could use NaNo as the catalyst to focus on one of my hobbyist projects, but I really do enjoy the challenge of generating a 50,000-word book in a month. So November is filled with great writing productivity, but no RPG-related productivity. However, the month of December, that all changes. This post serves as both an announcement of my intentions as well as a call to other blog-meisters and would-be game designers to join me.

There are two NaNo-similar events that we as RPG enthusiasts can participate in--either one of which will increase our creativity and productivity, ending with something substantial of use to the RPG-playing community.

National Blog Posting Month, AKA "NaBloPoMo," is not held on a regular schedule like other "National Blah-blah Month." Rather, bloggers are encouraged to pick one month of the year and, during that time, post something each and every day. Bloggers from throughout the blogosphere with a wide variety of interests commit to posting something substantial on a daily basis for 30-31 days (or 28 days if you're a February slacker). In December, I challenge all RPG bloggers to commit to a daily post throughout the month. To make this useful for your readers though, I suggest that all entries have some kind of use to the RPG community, ie, new monsters, characters, rules, etc. Or if you'd rather create something more substantial...

National Game Design Month, AKA "NaGa DeMon," was founded by Nathan Russell of Peril Planet. His challenge is for you to create a game within 30 days, whether it's an RPG, boardgame, computer game, or other project. You "win" by actually creating and playing your game within the month. Now, NaGa DeMon is being held in November 2010 (in other words, it's currently underway) and so it collides with NaNo. (Nathan has suggested he may run the next event in February 2011.) Anyway, I plan to tackle NaGa DeMon in December, wrapping up 2010 with one (or two!) RPG projects I've been dragging my feet on. If interested in this challenge, why not try to finally hammer out that rules supplement for your favorite system? Maybe you have an adventure module you'd like to write, produce, and publish. Maybe you'll just come up with that ultimate RPG rule set and, once complete, release it for free to the world. The object is to finally put pen to paper and create that RPG game or supplement you've always planned on writing. (And really, a name like "Naga Demon" just SCREAMS for RPG involvement!)

Anyway, those are the challenges for December. You have two weeks from today to get planning on which you'd like to tackle. I'd really like to see an explosion of blog posts and/or multiple RPG projects coming to fruition during the month. Chime in if you plan on taking up the Gauntlet of either one! And watch for updates throughout the month as to my personal progress on my projects.

Post-apocalyptic Pathfinder Coming In December

Adamant Entertainment has announced the upcoming release of a new post-apocalyptic setting for the Pathfinder RPG system. Warlords of the Apocalypse will be released in December 2010. Here's the official announcement and description:

Civilization is cast in ruin, yet the Earth is reborn!

Wander the Wastelands and the Cities of the Ancients… Plunder technological treasures from long-hidden vaults… Fight to survive in a savage world of mutants, marauders and mental powers!

Warlords of the Apocalypse brings the gonzo, over-the-top world of classic post-apocalypse science-fantasy to the Pathfinder rules system! In this 256-page hardcover you will find:

• A complete post-apocalypse setting
• Rules for mutations
• Rules for Psionic Powers
• Weapons, gear and treasure spanning technology levels from the New Dark Age to the advanced tech of the Ancients
• New monsters, and rules for mutating any compatible monster into entirely new threats
• A Random Adventure Generator and dozens of Adventure hooks
• Guidelines for bringing your existing Pathfinder characters into this setting, or creating native characters
•…and much more!