Sharing My "Gaming Con Passport"

North Texas RPG Con is less than a week away, and I'm putting the finishing touches on my games. Chronoscooters are warmed up, members of ISCX are on alert, and a certain toon barbarian and his friends are on their horses and heading south. All that's left is the packin'.

I think most folks who attend gaming conventions like to pick up some souvenir to show that they've been there, done that. Like most, I have a pretty wide selection of con t-shirts, but I'm not too keen on packing them and wearing them at other conventions. For some reason, wearing a Gencon shirt at Origins just feels "off" to me. I also have several caps with convention logos on them I've picked up. (I may pack one to wear, but that's just my penchant for caps.)

But I'd like to share my favorite "gaming con passport" that I have with me at every convention I attend. I have a "neck wallet" that I use to hold my convention ID. (I'm sure many of you have something similar.) I got my first one at Gencon years ago, but this is the one I currently use. I recently had a custom lanyard made using the dungeon map cloth I designed. Well, tucked inside the wallet is my collection of con badges from all other conventions I've attended. The day I get home from a gaming con, the newest "been there, done that" ticket gets tucked in amongst the others. It's become a snapshot of sojourns I've taken. So, do you have a way to mark each con you've been to?

Looking For Artists For Deviant Database 2.0!

Hey gang,

Today's post is once again aimed at any artists out there -- from professionals to wanna-bes. I'm working on a follow-up to my original Mutant Future supplement, Deviant Database. I have a "sequel" of sorts planned, in fact, of 50 new creatures for use with Mutant Future. And if TSR can have a Monster Manual II, then I'm going to have a Deviant Database 2.0!

When I created the first Deviant Database as well as One Year In The Savage AfterWorld,  I made an offer: Anyone who illustrated any creature for the book would get artistic credit up front as well as the final PDF of the book. Anyone who drew three or more creatures got credit, the PDF, and a Lulu print copy of the final book. And the offer is being made once again... Contribute any illustration and you'll get artist credit and the final PDF when done. Contribute three, and I'll send the final print version of the book when done. Keep in mind that you do NOT need to be a professional artist with buckets of talent and a huge portfolio. Any "good faith" effort that isn't a copy or tracing of another's artwork is acceptable as this supplement begs for the "OSR, old-school, garage-print" treatment. (However, I do reserve the right to say "No thanks.")

Here's the current list of creatures I need art for (any that are "claimed" have been crossed out):

• Large patch of moss of lichens. A skeleton lays on the bed of moss.
• Several spiny sea urchins, but they aren’t underwater (they’re land dwellers).
• Horse-headed humanoid wielding really big damn guns.
• Imagine an elephant with a turtle’s shell and head with a beak. It’s got hypnotic eyes too.
• A giant 100-feet tall alien-like creature. Thin, spindly, clawed legs and arms, insectoid head with tentacled mouth.
• A turtle so large, it carries a huge island on its back.
• Cornstalks that explode, sending spiderwebs everyplace.
• A unicorn with a chainsaw blade for a horn.
• Giant praying mantis.
• A beautiful woman except that her head has opened up into a giant toothy maw to bite off the head of a paramour.
• A tarantula with flaps of skin between its legs, allowing it to “glide” like a flying squirrel.
• A three-headed creature on a barrel-shaped body with three arms and 9 tentacles it uses for locomotion.
• A golem made out of cast-off internal organs (hearts, brains, kidneys, etc.) A living “gut pile” in human form.
• A twisted cannibal human who lives in the swamps. Jagged teeth, pointy ears, and fingernail claws.
• Large toad with jagged vampire teeth.
• A giant pig-like boar. Three eyes, two mouths, and a set of horns that runs down its spine. Drools a lot.
• A small leech-worm that has three sharp hook-like fangs that it uses to latch onto a victim.
• A tyranousarus rex with strange hypnotic eyes.
• A firey, ashen smoke-monster in a shifting humanoid form.
• A large carnivorous flying fish that fires out a barbed tongue to snatch prey from the river banks.
• Giant Venus Fly Trap that can trap human-sized prey.
• A giant penguin with a mouth that’s as large as it is tall. Propels itself by sliding along the ground face-first, and scoops/eats its prey as it slides along into its open mouth.
• A rhino that’s on fire and surrounded by a flaming aura.
• A laughing donkey.
• A humanoid covered in a hardened scab-like crust.
• Large half-man, half-polar bear arctic monster.
• A T-rex with a tank turret for a head.
• A crab that is using a human skull for a shell.
• A hairless water-dwelling otter that is covered in green slime.
• A human with incredibly long arms and legs, twisted into bizarre directions. Runs on all fours, black skin, sharp teeth, barbed tongue, clings to walls like a spider.
• Giant stinkbug (like the name says…)
• Small insect that looks like a computer circuit board.
• An animated snake skeleton.
• A flaming human skull with wings. Yes, like the biker logo.
• A half-man, half-shark mutant humanoid wielding an axe.
• A crab with a squirrel’s head.
• A giant insect that looks like a fallen log walking on “branch/twig-like” legs.
• A giant centipede thing attacking a robot. It has a pair of sharp talons near its head that it uses to rip up machines…

If you would like to contribute a drawing or sketch for this new supplement, send me an email at gameagain at gmail dot com. Pick what you'd like to draw up, and send it in when you're done. Thanks for your consideration!

[Mutant Future] Savage Menagerie: Mechanobane

No. Enc.: 2d4 (1d8)

Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 3 (2 talons, bite)
Damage: 1d6/1d6/3d6
Save: L2
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: None

The Mechanobane is a long (8 ft. long) centipede-like creature that is incredibly destructive to any powered machinery it encounters, making it the scourge of robots, androids, and other artificial lifeforms. It is thought that the Mechanobane is incredibly sensitive to the vibrations and energy signals/patterns emitted by any kind of powered machinery. When it senses these patterns, it flies into a berserk rage, ripping and shredding into the offending device until it is no longer functioning.

The Mechanobane is a long segmented insectoid creature that scuttles about on multiple legs on its underside. It can sense any power signature (electrical, nuclear, etc.) emitted from any mechanical device in a 200 foot radius. Vehicles, weapons, computers, any device that uses a form of stored power to work can be sensed by the Mechanobane. Even something as simple as a 9-volt battery will be sensed, but the larger the signal, the more likely the Mechanobane will scuttle in to investigate. It's assumed that these energy patterns are somehow painful for the creature, prompting them to attack. Once enraged, the Mechanobane will not stop until it is dead or all offending signal-producing devices it senses are destroyed.

Toward the front of the Mechanobane's torso are two specialized "legs" that are much longer and sharper than the others. The Mechanobane can use these as talon-tipped "arms" to rip and tear into the offending machinery. Its multiple mandibled mouth can snap and bite as well, rending anything it comes into contact with. The creature's talons and teeth have evolved to be incredibly hard and sharp, able to tear and bite through metal with ease. The creature gets a +2 to hit bonus due to its natural weaponry in this regard.

Oddly enough, if the PCs power everything down, the Mechanobane will break off its attack. When crossing through a known Mechanobane region, it's advisable to "go primitive" as the creatures will ignore you if they don't detect any power-source signatures. Some anti-technology communities will keep nests of Mechanobanes nearby both to keep their citizens primitive and under control, as well as to keep technologically advanced visitors at bay.

Mutations: power signature detection, natural weapon

[Cryptworld] The Secret Of Transpacific Flight 810

Enough time has passed since Cryptworld's release that I'm ready to share an "easter egg" I tucked into "Red Eye," the introductory adventure found in the rulebook. To keep from spoiling anything for players who have not yet taken a ride on Transpacific Flight 810, I'll play it cagey by presenting the hidden in-joke by way of a puzzle to solve. Here you go:

The first and last name of the THING lurking in "Red Eye" can be rearranged into a three-word phrase.

_ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Originally, this was going to figure into the plot of the adventure. But I eventually scrapped that idea, although I retained the name of the THING for my own amusement.