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The Outer Presence
by Brian C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/13/2019 21:27:20

I've not read through the adventure portion of this product, only the system. I like it. Very simple and effective. Easy to hack (for example, I'm thinking of hacking in rolling for initiative as well as using dice for opposed rolls...very, very easy to do). Some may not like the lack of crunch but I think there's just enough here in this system to unleash creativity and keep things fair while not getting bogged down in systems issues in the middle of play. I think that this simple system could be used to power other investigative horror rpg scenarios, not just the included adventure. Making characters takes literally a minute, and that's good, as characters can get wiped out with a single die roll. These are 'normal' people investigating Things Humanity Was Not Meant to Know, not pulp or super-powered characters. You won't find deep characters here, in terms of mechanics, but again, the system is great for creating and enabling tear-away 'normal' characters and there's no real bookeeping between sessions. If you want a dirt-simple, pleasantly effective system for high-lethality gaming, this may just be your go-to choice.

Update to review 1.15.18:

Had an opportunity to run The Outer Presence again on Sunday for a couple of friends. It’s just so easy to take off the shelf and get a game on with this minimal (yet satisfying!) game and game system. There was myself as GM and two players. One was an archaeology professor and the other was a Catholic deacon. I love how the Outer Presence system handles professions: anything an archaeology professor could be expected to know, roll 3d6. Anything a Catholic deacon might be good at, roll 3d6. Otherwise roll 2d6 (or 1d6 if somehow hindered). Brilliant, just brilliant.

Without giving away any spoilers, my intrepid pair of investigators into the unknown got a lot further into the jungle and the mysteries therein than my players last week. Both groups suffered Total Party Kill, however, since lethality in this game is so close to real life. And I love that. You go into any dangerous situation, there’s a good chance you’re coming out wounded or not at all. And it’s all handled with a bare minimum of dice rolls, so the GM can just get on with describing the scene, and the players can get on with describing how their investigators act or react, and there’s no page-flipping or rules lawyering.

The included adventure in The Outer Presence is pretty lethal. Again, no spoilers here. But it’s a meat-grinder when you look at how frail characters are in the game. That’s not necessarily a criticism, just an observation that most groups that persevere to the end of the mystery will very likely lose many characters in the process.

Going forward, I’m going to experiment using The Outer Presence with the bookshelf of Cthulhu adventures I’ve acquired over a long history of being a gamer. They can be converted on the fly, as long as the Game Master is comfortable eyeballing the npcs and creatures published in other systems and converting to 2d6, 3d6 or higher if we’re talking monstrous abominations. Same with insanity ratings. It's just so easy to tinker with the simple insanity system in The Outer Presence that you can flavor it to taste without any headaches. It demands some subjective discretion on the part of the Game Master, and some trust between players and Game Master that all is in service to the narrative of the game, but it’s so refreshing not to get bogged down tracking individual point-loss for various menaces and the minutiae of character sheets or monster stat blocks.

Having the simple, rugged, adaptable system of The Outer Presence allows me to adapt just about any Lovecraftian adventure from any other game system with no thought to conversion headaches. This effortless flexibility cannot be undervalued.

One of my players remarked that The Outer Presence will work well for gamer groups where folks really like the unfolding story - including their own contributions to it via their character’s actions - rather than groups who love getting into the minutiae of building a character like kit-bashing a hot rod car and fine tuning every little element for maximum performance. Some gamers just love the details: their exact skill rating in spotting hidden things, the rate of fire of their handgun, the points they’ve put into their smarts or dexterity attribute (or whatever). The Outer Presence is not for them, where a character is almost entirely summed up with “your profession is X. When doing stuff that X would be good at, you roll 3d6. Otherwise it’s 2d6.” That ain’t gonna fly with a whole slew of gamers that love every little detail of their character sheet, and distributing advancement points to get better in certain abilities, and so forth.

BUT! If your Game Master (like me) wants to unchain his/her imagination from stats and just have the barebones but serviceable minimum to whip together a great investigative horror scenario...and your players want that same barebones but serviceable minimum to put into their character stats (and focus on the personality and actions of said investigator instead of managing ability points to the nth degree...)...well then, The Outer Presence is a win, win, win. I’m so glad I found it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Outer Presence
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Crimson Dragon Slayer D20
by Judd G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/09/2019 20:49:07

This book is a lean, tight, and interesting take on traditional fantasy roleplaying tune for online or chat play. Cruft gets chopped away with a chainsaw to serve the speed and low-prep necessities of that format.

The author dubs this "O5R" roleplaying because it combines the feel of the newest hotness in dungeoneering with that scrappy indie OSR vibe. It's a gaming goulash ready for a dungeon to delve into.

I knew I liked it because I started house ruling it a bit before I was even done. Chances are, you will too, but that is what the OSR is about.

The book looks great as well, with colorful page presentation. Easily worth twice the price! (grin)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Crimson Dragon Slayer D20
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THOT Police
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/20/2019 06:31:35

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This Alpha Blue-module clocks in at 21 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 19 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

As always, this is an Alpha Blue adventure. Alpha Blue is a sleazy scifi-game in the vein of 70s/early 80s scifi porn parodies that uses the dice-pool based VSd6-engine, and as such, the pdf contains a couple of suggestive images and sexual themes. As far as Alpha Blue is concerned, these are pretty tame, though – there is not a single exposed beast to be seen inside. Impressive, btw. – we get an array of cosplay-ish photography to serve as interior art, with one of the pieces being somewhat suggestive. These pictures are all high-quality, and in case you’ve got something against the depiction of drawn nipples, rest assured that not a single nipple or form of nudity is included within. I know several pop videos that are more lewd than the pictures. That being said, if sexuality is a hot button topic for you, then you probably won’t want to play Alpha Blue in the first place.

All right, so, as always: This is an adventure-review. As such, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players will want to jump ahead to the conclusion. … .. . All right, only BDSMs (Bold Dungeon Space Masters) around? Great! So, if you did expect a straight sequel to THOT Audit, you won’t get that here. The pdf starts with the premise that the PCs, as opportunists, have joined the THOT police as bounty hunters – but there are 6 different reasons for why they may be late to the party regarding assignments. The adventure takes place during Space Christmas, and police captain Harass and the others seem to be congratulating one Zammy Zathwell on his draw – he got an assignment to a very well-paying job on a New Martian citadel. The citadel is btw. called Nakatomi. Hence the Christmas-theme. Thing is, the PCs probably want in on that job, but their ship will end up being stolen – and it’ll be parked in an area studded with laser mines – and botching here may well wipe out the whole party, so better be careful!

The ship will be found at a refueling station, which’ll allow for a confrontation of the fully statted thief. After that, the PCs will have to get past the Mars blockade, of the Federation, and doing so will be risky. The checkpoint will be risky (one of the officers can telekinetically squeeze the balls of males…), and Karlsbad, the guy in charge, thankfully, can be bribed…or, well, the PCs may use an attempt of a space corvette to sneak past to their advantage… (And yes, we do get stats for the officers and Karlsbad.) Said corvette-driver, by the way? He’s more important than it looks – he is a relic smuggler (fully statted) names Souda, who, as a being of pure energy, can help allies…and is totally invulnerable to lasers! He’s also carrying The Bad Luck Eye Of The Little Crimson God, stolen from the Crimson Da’awn syndicate! It is worth a fortune and may be used to create a doomsday weapon – and yep, he’ll conveniently crash near Nakatomi Citadel if left to the federation…

Speaking of the Crimson Da’awn: The syndicate is planning a hostile take-over of Nakatomi Citadel in order to steal the bare-naked bonds stored there, with the grand plan of opening Alpha Blue-themed restaurants. Think of that as space-hooters, just more lewd. The hostile takeover announcement is btw. represented by a bit of read-aloud text. The leader of this strike-force, Maddek Skwa, has a pretty powerful ability that’ll make others bow and comply, and he and his cutthroats are properly statted. He also carries a magical portable gloryhole, with random effects.

But I’m getting ahead of myself – the takeover attempt is a floating encounter that will probably take place after the PCs have entered the place – provided they figure out a way to get past the leech-covered concierge…who, once more, has unique abilities! This is something that really deserves mentioning: Even regular guardsmen tend to get unique descriptions AND abilities – the guard Thwib (who looks like a turtle except for a Nietzsche moustache and a giraffe’s neck), for example, has a chance of incapacitating targets on double sixes due to a summer spent in ninja bootcamp. The gift shop contains snowglobes (12 provided; including an easter egg for Kort’thalis fans) – I liked those, but the lamprey-faced ballerina that may be hostile or nice? It’d have been neat to get stats for her.

In the bar, the PCs can meet the powerful Federation office Ja’an Maclem, who always has a hidden weapon somewhere. (In case the Die Hard references so far were to subtle…) The museum would allow the PCs to get the Shroud of Tu’uran, which makes for a very potent, if sacrilegious defensive item. The different ladies that would qualify as to-be-taxed THOTs btw. also get their proper stats; my favorite there would be one whose eyes show you a destiny you may have. The lady working at the lingerie shop can daze hostile males and is particularly dangerous in combat when near poles, and makes for a cool potential ally. Less cool: There is a guy who has a rape whistle. Blowing it has a chance of tentacles spontaneously manifesting and…you get the idea. Not a fan of that inclusion. Two reasons: 1) I really don’t like random things and abilities humiliating PCs, unless they earned it. 2) It may be me, but I really don’t think that references to rape, even tentacle rape, should feature in a happy-go-lucky beer-and-pretzels-style game about fun and casual sex. Still, this is a personal opinion and as such will not feature in my final rating; it’s just as easy to picture folks that don’t mind its inclusion – heck, and ex-girlfriend of mine was really into those types of hentai...and it’s not my place to judge anyone’s kinks. Still, figured I’d mention it, and before you ask – it’s literally a throwaway line in one item. Redacting it is a 0-effort job for the BDSM.

A fully-statted parody of Jean-Paul Sartre can also be found (in Space Starbucks); there is a tanning salon in which a female is masturbating, a lawyer’s office (fully statted lawyer); there is a security guard (whose name’s missing an “a” in one instance); the PCs can engage in a slave auction ( 4 different statted slaves provided), and in the art-gallery, there is a hint to Cha’alt. Beyond an insectoid drug-dealer in a Subways (Where’s the BDSM sub-pun there? Missed chance…), we also have a really depraved massage parlor that includes a nice alien…and there is a pretty unfair, sucky room, wherein the PCs have a 2-in-4-chance of dying; 1-in-4-chance of backstabbing the PCs. That is…not fun. It’s just random, and not in a good way. I highly suggest at least providing some way for PCs to evade this random insta-gib.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to the impressive two-column full-color standard of the latest Alpha Blue-modules, and text is white, to set it apart from the background. I’m prone to migraines, but this one didn’t trigger that, so yeah. Artworks inside constitute of nice full-color photography, as noted before, and is pretty cool. The citadel comes with a properly keyed, full-color map that may not have a scale, but needs none, considering how Alpha Blue operates. Big plus: We get a VTT-friendly, unlabeled version of the map that can bused as a handout, and all versions of the map are provided as .jpgs as well. The pdf does not have any bookmarks, which constitutes an unnecessary comfort detriment.

Zoltar Khan Delgado’s/Venger As’Nas Satanis’ new direction for Alpha Blue is great to see. The direction taken in THOT Audit, to provide proper adventures instead of vignettes, is a boon for folks that actually play Alpha Blue, particularly since they feature his trademark weirdness without compromising the overall usability. This module depicts a nice sandbox with a floating “oh damn, shit got real”-moment, leaving how everything plays out to the PCs and the interactions with NPCs – which is a big plus as far as I’m concerned. That being said, the Trap Room mentioned is just dumb, frustrating and random, and not in a good way. Similarly, the lack of bookmarks is a comfort detriment in an otherwise nice adventure. On the plus-side, the creativity that went into the NPCs does salvage a high score for this – the author went above and beyond regarding unique effects, tricks, gear, etc. – the stats provided are creative, and we get quite a lot of them. Considering that and the low price point, my final verdict will round up from 4.5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
THOT Police
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Totally Random Tables
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/19/2019 05:58:34

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This supplement clocks in at 13 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page kort’thalis glyph, 1 page space for notes, leaving us with 10 pages, so let’s take a look!

Okay, so this pdf contains a total number of 30 different d6 tables, which sport 6 entries per table; per page, you usually get up to 4 different tables, for up to 24 entries per page. This doesn’t exactly use space economically, is what I’m trying to say. I usually print out pdfs, but here, I probably won’t do that. On the plus-side, each table gets its own color, chosen from 6 different ones, which helps remember them.

It should also be noted that this is NOT a dressing file. This is IMPORTANT. Were I to rate this by the same metrics as e.g. Raging Swan Press’ focused and flavorful dressing-files, this’d be a total failure, because, as its name implies, this is TOTALLY RANDOM. None of the tables have a header or a concise leitmotif, nor do they have a unifying theme.

To give you an idea of the breadth, let’s take a look at the first table: We have “Carbon scoring” as one entry, and “My favorite color is cherry, says the voice.” As another; another table has a wand with 1d12 charges that can reduce a targeted opponent’s hit points to 1d20. (Range would be nice, as would be a note if this is permanent or affects current hit points.) The very same table has a Purple Prizm reference (Alpha Blue’s choice softdrink; also represented in a reused, but awesome artwork) and a rusted sheriff’s badge.

You can find giant fruit flies with suckered tentacles, Metallica cassette tapes, black stockings, oreo candy canes, a cap that probably was inspired by Cloak & Dagger…or Disney World.

The tables herein are absolutely, utterly and totally random, and apart from a one-page, really nice b/w-artwork…that’s kinda it. So…what’s the use of this pdf? What do you do with it? Well, use number one, is simply to get the creative juices out of a routine, but the introduction proposes another use – a means for the GM to challenge themselves. Roll a couple of times on the table before running the game, and see whether you can integrate the disparate elements. Thos are actually the uses of this pdf that are truly salient and work – as noted, for dressing, this is, well…too totally random.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal level, only good a rules-language level where applicable. Layout adheres to the rather beautiful two-column full-color standard with veins that Kort’thalis Publishing likes to use. The pdf is layered, allowing you to make it very printer-friendly, if you do print it out. The pdf has no functional bookmarks, but doesn’t necessarily need them. As noted before, the artworks featured within are pretty impressive.

Venger As’Nas Satanis’ random tables left me kinda puzzled, to be honest. Not as a person, but as a reviewer.

How in all hells am I supposed to rate this?

The entries of the tables oscillate in theme, originality and depth in such a massive manner, the themes are so different from one another, it’s frankly even hard to complain about the depth of oscillation between the specific and general.

As a dressing file, this’d be, at best, a 2-star file, as it lacks focus and direct utility at the table. On the other hand, when used as a challenge for the GM, as a means to hone one’s improvisation craft in Iron GM-style (or to prepare for Iron GM), then this may well be a rather awesome training run pdf that can help freshen up GM styles and get GMs out of creative ruts.

Whether this is worth getting, ultimately, is extremely contingent on what you want from it. I can see folks liking this…and others considering it useless.

This could well be a 4-star file for you, or…well, not. I have to take both positions into account. The relative brevity of the supplement (It could have fitted its content on half the pages, easily) is the most significant detriment for me, and as such, I will round down from my final verdict of 3.5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Totally Random Tables
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THOT Audit
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 02/27/2019 05:17:39

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This scenario for Alpha Blue clocks in at 16 pages, minus 1 page front cover and 1 page editorial, leaving us with 14 pages of content. The pdf comes with a .PNG map of a cargo freighter, which comes in four versions – a full-color version with background, a full-color version without a background, and a b/w-version, and no as well a version that is fully player-friendly and unlabeled. I really applaud that!

All right, as always, this is an Alpha Blue supplement – in case you didn’t know, the game is based on 70s scifi-porn parodies, and is firmly rooted in the aesthetics of these movies. As such, this supplement obviously does contain drawn/CGI’d nudity in the artworks. If themes of sex or sexuality make you uncomfortable, then this obviously is not for you. Rules-wise, Alpha Blue is a very rules-lite game that uses Venger’s VSd6-engine of d6 dice pools. I’ve reviewed all supplements for the game so far. If this type of thing is not for you, then this module won’t change that, but if your main gripe with the game so far, like me, were the incomplete-feeling adventure-vignettes that make up a bulk of Alpha Blue’s content so far, then please, do continue reading.

All right, as always, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion. … .. . All right, only BDSMs (Bold Dungeon Space Masters) around? Great! So, the module begins with the federation cracking down on sex workers, not just to end “exploitation”, but also to make them pay the draconian taxes the corrupt government imposes on its citizens. Thus, Alpha Blue’s girls are called to audit…and instead of complying, they are calling for a full-scale revolution! Until yesterday, Beeblebox Prime was a neutral territory, a safe zone for sexworkers – and today, it’s at a tipping point. Half in favor of the Federation, half in favor of the boiling anti-Federation resentiment – the government is calling it Breastix, and the cities are filled with yellow-vested citizens. Yeah, you don’t have to be a rocket-scientist to note that, funnily enough, the visuals employed here take basically the visuals of the alt-right in Europe and beyond and flips them to the other side of the political spectrum, which I considered to be kinda funny, really.

We begin this module with a 6-entry background story of how your PC may have been affected by the THOT audit. (THOT, btw. – acronym for “That Ho Over There.”) The introductory read-aloud text paints the picture how the PCs got into the kerfuffle at the start of the module: They tried to get out of Beeblebrox Prime, saw a freighter, and then, the ship was targeted by surface-o-air missiles…only avoiding atomization due to it containing Blue Sky (lol for Breaking Bad allusion), the purest form of crystal ultra-amphetamine in the galaxy. Federation hailed: Prepare to be boarded. A Federation ship got past the photon torpedoes, and now, the PCs have to stay alive until their buddies show up – two hours, and it’s kill or be killed! Note that, the PCs don’t know what else is on the ship, courtesy of trying to get off Beeblebrox Prime ASAP.

Thus, they may not have noticed the utterly stoned galaxy hitchhikers – on a mission from Templar Oz, they should warn the local planetary bishops of the audit, for the clergy uses internet girls to remain celibate. snicker The audit may, ironically, ruin the church. In the mess hall, a decadent THOT investor banquet’s going on, and a random table allows for different strategies to use in face of the audit. The ship also contains a premium sex-chat with a d12 table for sets and fetishes. There just may be an undercover agent waiting here, fyi.

Folks swallowing “Pills from the Red Planet” (like Princess Meridian, the girl on the cover) get advantage on combat situations for an hour…but disadvantage for an equal amount of time after that. The pills come with proper costs noted and don’t require MeowMeowBeenz to purchase, just fyi. This is further complicated by a pleasure-replicant on her trail. Said replicant ma ybe met at the ship’s glory hole, just fyi – and yeah, 6 random entries there.

Magenta-hued ladies are somewhere on the ship, and so is a Virtual Reality Amplifier mohawk’d punk turned real attempting to take control of the ship with his crew (would have been nice to know how many members of his crew there are). Fully stated klyngons make fun of the first episodes of the latest grimdark (and oftentimes, nonsensical) Star Trek series, and there is an anthropomorphic watermelon with a giraffe-like neck, who also happens to be a telepath. (Douglas Adams reference included.)

Ladies stuck in engineering, preparations for a clone-orgy, lobotomized drones piloting the ship (now there things turned grim quickly…), but more funnily, there are two fully stated folks in the disco longue, a notorious gambler, and a lady that can stun targets by showing off her Haley Joel Osmond tattoos.

The Federation troopers, the main antagonists, can be easily slotted in whatever place the PCs are exploring and they actually have names and individualized statblocks (one of them having vorpal caltrops!), which was a pleasant surprise to see. The pdf also comes with a default nameless NPC statblock (nice – though that would have made sense in the core book), and the appendix contains a table of d12 different, color-coded alerts. The module also covers a d6 table for when you’ve had sex with an alien that’s not your species…and the module expands the powers of female PCS. Basically, you get a random table that represents how well you prep your looks, etc. – and how you can use that to make folks do whatever you want. This ties in with Battle Star: Trek Wars’ table that lets you determine how pussy-whipped you can make a target, just fyi. I generally like this, though, again, if there’s a revised version of Alpha Blue at one point, this should probably be in the core rules.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to a very nice two-column full-color standard, and the pdf has no bookmarks, which is borderline, but still something that may be stomached at this length. The pdf does come with a printer-friendly version that features white backgrounds, but leaves the artworks in color – kudos for the inclusion of that version. The cartography is rather nice and the inclusion of a proper player-friendly map for VTTs and guys like yours truly, who suck at drawing, is a big plus.

Okay, so here’s the thing: This is Zoltar Khan Delgado/Venger As’Nas Satanis by far best Alpha Blue scenario to date. It does have the beer and pretzels style gameplay, but it’s no mere vignette – is has the stats and represents a fun, sandboxy environment, and one that dares tell a longer story – or at least, I hope that we’ll see the whole audit angle develop further. It is vastly better structured than previous modules released for Alpha Blue, and it can be pretty much run as is without requiring that you fill in a ton of stuff. This represents an overdue evolution I’ve been waiting to see, and the inclusion of abilities for the ladies made this a supplement that renders playing them in Alpha Blue more interesting. So yeah, this easily is the best scenario penned for the game so far. This is impressive and hopefully a shape of the things to come. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars +seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
THOT Audit
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Sexual Predators
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 02/18/2019 03:10:09

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This Alpha Blue supplement clocks in at 60 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page inside of front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page kort’thalis glyph, 2 pages for note-taking, leaving us with 55 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

NOTE: Review was upgraded to account for addition of the player-friendly map!

This supplement’s rules are based on Alpha Blue’s iteration of the VSd6 engine, which is d6-dice-pool based and rather rules lite; due to the focus on random tables and ideas over mechanics this sports, it does allow for relatively painless conversion to most OSR-games like Stars Without Number, which is still my go-to scifi OSR-game.

Let’s address the elephant in the room before we get to the actual content, shall we? The title of this supplement. I am genuinely not sure if it’s a bit tone-deaf, intentionally controversial or something else. Now, the cover artwork makes clear what’s meant – the predators from the scifi franchise. Which are, at least to me, both cool and ridiculous. I distinctly recall all the observations by various people, of predators having a vagina dentate mouth back when I was in puberty. Anyhow. Alpha Blue is a 70’s/early 80’s scifi-porn-parody inspired game, as you all by this point probably know. And Venger As’Nas Satanis’ aesthetics are deeply rooted in the exploitation film genre, wherein taboos are broken, boundaries pushed. The most defining feature of exploitation cinema, indubitably, would be the transgressive nature of the subject material depicted. As such, a title like this shouldn’t have been a surprise to me – but it still was. Why? Because I did not expect to see a title that evokes tragedy and trauma as a title for a fun, beer and pretzels style game.

Personally, the last thing I want to think about, even for a second, particularly in the context of a funny, juvenile rules-lite roleplaying game that focuses on unrepentant smut and casual sex, is being reminded, for however briefly, of the vile scum that turns one of the best aspects of the conditio humana and ruins it or attempts to do so. The title, even though intended as an obvious reference to the predator-franchise, left a bilious taste in my mouth. It did what very few supplements have achieved – it made me feel genuinely uncomfortable posting this review; it kinda offended me. That being said, it is not up to some reviewer like yours truly to tell you what you should or should not consider to be bad taste; it’s subjective, and perhaps (I certainly hope so!) you did not have the same associations I had when reading the title. I do maintain that, for a light-hearted RPG that’s supposed to be funny, the choice of title is utterly inappropriate, and if I reacted this way, there are bound to be more folks out there that felt the same way, or worse. I don’t advocate censorship – I never have, and never will; it is not conductive to discussion and debate, but I do maintain that, for this particular product line, a vagina dentate-based pun-title might have been smarter…

After some serious deliberation, I decided to go review-bot mode here, abstract my personal bias here completely, and refrain from penalizing this supplement for the title, in the hopes that all you fine people out there are self-determined and mature enough to engage with this in the manner you see fit, that you consider appropriate.

Anyhow, it’s not my task to discuss what an individual considers or doesn’t consider appropriate. It’s my task to take a look at the content within, which I intend to do.

So, after a brief discussion of how Alpha Blue’s sexual freedom is an anomaly in the federation, we do get a random table to determine how sexually restrictive a given sector is. After this, we receive an interesting essay of sorts, titled brothel shyness. Condensed down, one can sum it up with the paraphrasing of a LaVey-quote provided, namely that “There is a beat in man that should be exercised, not exorcised.” For most sane folks, this holds certainly true and, given my somewhat hedonistic tendencies, is a sentiment I can get behind. In the context of this essay, we are basically told that, while restraint in everyday life is very much a part of the glue that holds society together, no restraint needs necessarily be shown in imagined settings. (As a personal aside – I would have personally resounded the per se feasible statement here wholeheartedly, were it not for those damn associations that this pdf’s title evoked in me…which made my mind wander to dark and unpleasant places in the context of this sentiment.)

Anyhow, next, we get a new profession/career for Alpha Blue, namely the righteous tradition of porn salvage! A funny and interesting aspect would be “the Last Alpha Blue Optional Rule” (I believe it when I see it…) – this rule acknowledges that days and weeks mean different things in different places of the cosmos. As such, whenever a PC or NPC forgets to put “standard” before a unit of temporal measurement, you can roll on a random table.

All right, this out of the way, let us take a look at the first scenario within – “Earth Girls are Not Easy.” I will proceed to thoroughly SPOIL what follows, so consider this the SPOILER-warning. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion. … ..

. All right, just BDSMs (Bold Space Dungeon Masters) around? Great! So, there is a predator called Upgrayedd, and there’s a chance the PCs have heard of this guy before –a d6 table lets you determine it. There’s a fat bounty on the predator, who stole Professor Quandry’s time machine, after giving the poor man a lethal dose of space herpes. He used this device to travel to…Earth! 2018, to be precise. Why? Earth girls are the hardest to conquer, or so the rumor goes. The PCs are bound to follow the predator through time, arriving back in time, somewhere in an abstract South America jungle-ish scenario. Here, the module pretty much drops any pretense of providing a storyline per se, and instead opts for some roughly sequential encounters, with the random table of time distortion effects acting as a kind of glue, I guess. While these distortions rock, it’d have been nice to get e.g. stats for sudden influxes of dinosaurs in the jungle. The vignettes include a hub of sorts, El Sleazo Cantina, which is pretty much Titty Twister V.2.0, including sexy space vampires that can only be staked by plastic dildos. I never thought I’d write that last sentence. At one point, the PCs will meet mandatory’an Da’ave, who wants “Back to the Future”; there is Will Ferrell, who has mechanically-relevant cowbell. And there is, obviously, Arn’ld! (Whose stats are powerful, but for Arn’ld? Still a bit pitiful – okay, 4d6 dice pool, I get that. Choking out foes in one round? Yeah. But only 55 hit points? It’s Arn’ld!! There’s a zero missing! ;) (Sorry, I’m a huge fan – I even have the Austrian Death Machine albums…) Anyhow, Arn’ld is still better than Upgrayedd, better than the inevitable Alien that will show up, and yes, better than The T-111 Termination Droid, so I’m good there. I do like that we get stats for all those folks, but I also kinda wished there’d be more adventure here, instead of one location and some admittedly cool NPC-pop-culture references.

Scenario #2 would be “Kaiser So-You-Say”, who is btw. the grey eminence of the Terra Nostra, who has invited the PCs (and the galaxy’s best martial artists) to a tournament on his laser-shark guarded moon Ha’an. While he, until this point, seems to have worked with the Hunan empire, a covert missive offers serious credits for killing him off – due to, ostensibly, him having joined the federation. Random events during the tournament and one “accidental” death match, including stats, are provided. Somewhat to my disappointment, we don’t get sample competitions or rules to resolve them, which makes the whole tournament angle basically window-dressing. Ultimately, the PCs will get an audience with the mastermind – and the chance to pull the lever that will activate his doomsday weapon and annihilate 1/4th of the Federation. Federation agents will teleport in, though, while Kaiser runs – and inside the moon, there is a tentacle god-thing! This is per se a great adventure outline, but one that, more so than usual for Venger’s scenarios, really would have benefited from a bit more meat on its bones; competitions, mini-games, an idea how the whole moon/tournament site actually looks like – you know. Perhaps even a timeline. You can easily make this a fantastic module, but prepare for some serious work fleshing this fellow out. As written, only about 40% of the work’s done here.

“Crimson Dwarf” is, no surprise there, basically the Venger-ized take on red Dwarf. All the crew of the ship has died while the PCs were in stasis, and 8 random reasons for why the PCs were in stasis are provided. Not only do we get a full mapped and keyed (!!!) version of the fantastic map of the vessel, we also get a high-res jpg. version! EDIT: Venger has listened to feedback (KUDOS!) and included a proper, unkeyed version of the map as well! That is amazing and provides VTT-compatibility! A robot asking the PCs to check their organic privilege, a crystal pirate with a nasty droid, psionic, tentacle sharks, a zenobite, a nasty and rather unpleasant AI. Space siren strippers cloaked by illusions – this one is a great little sandbox that has a lot going on; its rooms are contextualized properly, and while there is no linear plot, this still represents easily the best Alpha Blue scenario Venger has penned so far.

“Dude, where’s my starship” is basically the Alpha Blue version of the classic movie, including nods to Leisure Suit Larry (I loved those games back when they were actual adventures…),and it represents a return of sorts to the source: Alpha Blue needs saving, as a species of psionically potent aliens has taken control. Making use of established entities like Grabba the Butt, the plot has the PCs defeat a nasty fellow, only to hear about Repo-men from the 8th dimension coming – the dude they just off’d had serious debts, you see….and ultimately, the PCs may be pressed into service by Grabba…One of the better adventure outlines for Alpha Blue, this has plenty of stats and its reference of the base station and established players helps contextualize it.

“Ra’aj Blake” is about the man of the same name; nay, the legend. Insurrectionist, terrorist, freedom fighter – it depends on who you ask, and a d12 table of rumors are provided. It’s a fact that he’s coming out of hiding, and the PCs travel to the mauve zone to meet him, with a table of odd things happening in transit allowing for a bit of flavor. The man, as it turns out, has crafted the shadow algorithm, which ostensibly can shut down federation AI…and now a lot of people want him. Pirates, Darth Kray-Kray and psychopathic space-clowns are included. Whether Ra’aj is lying or not depends on your game, fyi.

The next adventure outline, “Order 66” has the PCs witness an assassination (or attempt thereof, if they’re fast) of a woman that tells them that someone knows about order 66. The lady, should she survive, does btw. not really contribute much to the story here – the following text seems to assume that she’s dead, as the PCs actually get to do a bit of basic investigating, which is a nice change of pace. There are assassination cyborgs, and order 66…is actually something that made me smile. And no, I’m not going to spoil that here.

“Messiah of Po’on” casts the Pcs in the middle of a religious conflict between two factions of the space muslims of Po’on. Interestingly, the PCs have a chance to sabotage the rite to call a space Jihad, and the set-.up here allows for more than one way to achieve this. If anything, this set-up would have really benefitted from being expanded into a full-blown module, with notes of the culture, environments, etc. It’s interesting in its weirdness.

The book also features an appendix that contains tables to determine lady bits, locations of vaginas and clitoris, means of pleasuring them, 30 different surprises, 100 different scents down there, 84 types of relationship agreement, d8 punishments for violating them…and thus, this supplement ends. If you’re (more) into males, sorry, no new tables there.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules language level. Layout adheres to a nice two-column full-color standard, and the pdf sports plenty of artworks that range from risqué to being pinups or Mad Magazine-style drawings. The artworks help make the tone as light-hearted as it is intended. The cartography of the Crimson Dwarf is excellent, and inclusion of the map as a high-res jpg is great, and EDIT: The map now also comes with a keyless, player-friendly version perfect for VTTs. Two thumbs up! The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Venger’s, äh, I mean Zoltar Khan Delgado’s supplement here actually ranks as one of the better Alpha Blue supplements, as far as the structure is concerned. In contrast to some of the previous outlines, the new ones do feel tighter and smoother in their implementation, and we get quite a lot of stats, which is a plus! This is more immediately usable than before. That being said, this is still an Alpha Blue supplement, which means that you will need to do some work on the respective adventure outlines. They are sketches, at least for the most part. The most efficient and probably best Alpha Blue scenario penned so far, “Crimson Dwarf”, with its proper map and site-based chaos, is a boon for sore eyes, and I honestly wished we had gotten the same attention to detail everywhere. Venger can write classic adventures, he just elects not to for the most part, which, I think, is a pity.

Vignette-wise, “Dude, where’s my starship?”, is probably my favorite herein, mainly because it kinda cheats a bit and lets the BDSM use previously established and fleshed out components and slot them into the outline pretty seamlessly.

In short, from a craftsmanship perspective, this may be the best or one of the best Alpha Blue supplement as far as adventure outlines are concerned. (For dressing, rules, etc., “Universal Exploits”, for example, is better). That being said, I also wished that its title wouldn’t leave such a sour taste in my mouth.

How to rate this, then? Well, if the title didn’t offend you to the Alpha Blue station and back, and if you enjoy the sleazy, sometimes puerile pop-culture reference laden game, then this will deliver some truly evocative outlines to work with, with “Crimson Dwarf” being perhaps my personal highlight for the whole product line. That being said, the structural shortcomings, while lessened, still somewhat mar a few of the scenarios within. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars. EDIT: Now, this supplement also features a proper, VTT-friendly version fo the cool map. My final verdict will now thus be rounded up. Kudos!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Sexual Predators
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Beneath Kra'adumek
by Peter S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/08/2019 05:36:15

A nicely planned dungeon, with some very dangerous and hilarious situations. Magic use is especially dangerous, so be sure to bring an extra mage in your party in case the first one explodes.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Beneath Kra'adumek
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Beneath Kra'adumek
by A customer [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/08/2019 03:45:06

BIAS UPFRONT - I'm a fan of Venger's work, most especially his Islands of the Purple Putrescence, which I consider my favorite OSR setting book. Gonzo Fantasy is my jam. I've also reviewed a couple of Venger's books previously after he sent me free PDFs.

HERE is why I gave this PDF five stars: 1) It's a FREE dungeon. Free. Free. Free. 2) It's a preview of the Cha'alt setting, so you get to try before you buy. BTW, Cha'alt was a successful Kickstarter and this freebie was the enticement for attracting backers. 3) It's an excellent introduction to Venger's work. AKA, you will know whether Venger's style works for your GMing style. 4) It's a solid introduction to gonzo techno-fantasy. AKA, if you aren't sure if Lovecraftian mythos, plasma guns and D&D mix well at your table, this freebie will answer the question. 5) It's easy to run in 4-6 hours in either OSR or 5e, or really whatever rules light fantasy you enjoy. It would make a fun DCC funnel. 6) This may be crazy, but I'm really tempted to run it with Traveller.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss II
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 01/21/2019 03:21:40

An Endzeitgeist.com review

The second of Venger’s advice-pdfs on the art of adventure-writing clocks in at 18 pages,1 page front cover,1 page kort’thalis glyph, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 15 pages of content, though it should be noted that there are no less than 4 truly stunning full-page b/w-artworks inside. (Plus a half-page one.)

The original Adventure Writing Like a Fucking Boss pdf, ultimately, at least for me, turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, as it focused on adventure writing for a group, and did not even briefly talk about the aspects of, you know, commercial adventure writing and the ins and outs there, so let’s see if this fares better!

We are off to a promising start, where Venger outlines his personal 3-month writing process, and then proceeds to note an overview of the module – her, I’d like to note that most customers, me included, actually do prefer getting a synopsis to contextualize the adventure, so yeah, his notion of providing an overview may be noted as not exactly required, and he is right in that insertion, but it’s definitely something that’s preferred by most folks out there.

We next move towards the importance of artwork and the importance of a map and when to include them. Personally, I’d like to add that a key-less, unlabeled map, sans secret doors etc., particularly in the age of VTTs, is a big draw. Include one, if at all possible! Venger’s discussion of artwork, particularly cover art (and interior art) also is wise. Folks will want nice artwork, and his suggestions for art-distrubtion make sense. I also like how he explicitly notes that there are multiple styles, and that full-color artwork doesn’t always trump b/w-artwork – a fact that this book perfectly illustrates with its lavish artworks. In a hilarious “teaching by showing moment”, he has a sentence in an atrocious font in the middle of the page, stating that the module should, you know, use a proper font that’s easy to read. As someone who has actually gotten migraines from having to stare for hours on end on a sucky font that is hard on the eyes, I found myself thinking: “Yes! This x1000!”

His discussion on finding a balance between being overtly descriptive and being bland, the daring to leave gaps for further adventuring, also rang true. I also liked that he clearly states that you don’t want just an outline – other folks will run it, so you need to abstract what you know and provide a more detailed adventure than some GM-notes. I genuinely did not expect to see this piece of advice, as Venger is very fond of evocative adventure outlines, but yeah – big kudos for abstracting author-bias here!

The next page then deals with the ingredients of your adventure – you should offer an evocative location, and the pdf does note that the PCs should have means to chew the scenery, interact and gain benefits…but balance that with not handing things out too easily. The insertion of complications also helps here. I’d also like to affirm that we don’t need a full curriculum vitae for every NPC. Unless it’s relevant for the plot, the GM doesn’t need to have spelled out that a certain NPC is lactose intolerant, when specific NPCs have their bowel-movements, etc. Crucial details to set them apart help, but don’t go overboard.

This piece of advice also ties in with a truly helpful observation: Monsters should have something to do. An ogre in a barrel-filled room? Boring. An ogre in a drunken rage, barricaded behind barrels, throwing them at PCs? Now that is interesting! Adverbs and adverbials are your friends, even in brief encounter-lines. This aspect, mechanically, also ties in with GM agency, something that you should definitely account for. The pdf also provides notes on (optional, obviously!) twist endings, so you don’t end up Shyamalan-ing your module. We all know at this point that Venger’s fond of random encounter tables, and so am I – his advice here is something that I’d second – though I’d note another aspect that the pdf doesn’t mention. Random encounters can be used to ground a module in a semblance of realism and plausibility. Many classic-style adventures do that, focusing on a few bandits and humanoids, perhaps some animals and vermin – this can end up being boring if the module doesn’t offer much more exciting this, but if you need to contrast the regular landscape from the dimension-tearing hellscape that this meteorite impact created, well, then a deliberately mundane random encounter table, contrasted by a full-blown bonkers and weird one, can really help distinguish components.

The pdf also provides a few notes on encounter design – if the encounter’s barely worthy of a footnote, describe over it. Don’t let mighty heroes (and their players) waste their time with crappy low-level foes…unless they are still a threat and part of a war of attrition before the big bad guy, but then again, they’ll be mid-level foes then…but that is my addition to the advice provided. Conversely, advice for which encounters to maximize and tweak is also noted. (Nice aside: A little box features a great twist that will make many a GM better for having read it…no, not going to spoil it here…)

4 general, different types of ending scenario are presented as well, and some bullet points to determine what should and shouldn’t be included in NPC-introduction are rather helpful. The formatting of stuff that is obvious, and stuff that is hidden, as noted in the advice provided for room description, is nice. If the module has a map, you won’t need dimensions – if it doesn’t, be sure to note them! Otherwise, the GMs and players will be stumbling through an abstract blob of a dungeon, and not in a good way. The pdf also notes that not all trailer-like first ideas can, in the end,c arry a whole adventure – and that linear dungeons are boring as all hell.

Venger came up with a good phrase here: “Needs more tentacles” – this doesn’t refer to tentacles per se, but is a call to be exceptional, to add this one twist to make it dark, make it weird, make it memorable. Similarly, his notion of creating images that stick “like Golden Honey” is something that can I can subscribe to; while a flawed freshman offering, Venger’s very first module, “Liberation of the Demon Slayer” may have a couple of weakpoints…but it’s not boring. In fact, many of his adventures have at least this one resounding, great imagery that just…sticks. The means by which a greater whole and moods can be conveyed is also highlighted here.

The pdf also, another pleasant surprise, actually deals with rules required for an adventure – that you should not rewrite game-rules, but that you well should provide new ones if required. The potential importance of factions and how to make them compelling is similarly discussed.

And then, the supplement provides advice that really helped ole’ me. How to be funny. I am not funny. I suck at writing funny or cute. I do horrific, dark and disturbing rather well, but that’s about it – the advice provided here is definitely appreciated. Aesthetic concerns, like how to present vital information, makes sense and quite a few folks should take a look here. He also notes that getting excited about writing something’s a good sign…and vice versa. We also, once more, have a serious and helpful checklist that should help authors avoiding railroading players.

And finally, the pdf talks about reviewers and roughly categorizes them in three categories, which somewhat mirrors my experiences. I certainly hope that I’d be classified as a neutral reviewer, i.e. someone who talks about the good and bad of a product. I’d also like to state that his advice on finding a reviewer that understands your design is appreciated – and his warning that one has to acknowledge that nothing’s perfect would make my job infinitely easier. If I had a dime for every time someone take criticism of a supplement as a direct attack and responded with vitriol…

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no typos or the like. Layout is gorgeous, as we’ve come to expect from Kort’thalis Publishing – veins and splotches lighten the pages without diverting attention from the text. The b/w-artworks, with a Conan/Red Sonja piece, warriors and a slightly suggestive (but perfectly PG 13) one, as well as that of a female being dragged, unconscious, into the maw of a monster, while a hero jumps down, axe ready, are pretty damn kickass; certainly beyond what you’d expect from such an inexpensive file. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and also features a second, more printer-friendly version.

Venger’s second advice-booklet on the art of adventure-writing turned out to be an impressive surprise for me. This little booklet compiles a ton of genuinely helpful and clearly put pieces of advice that really help you start making great adventures. While it is, by necessity of scope and by being system neutral, not an all-encompassing advice pdf that can get into the details of the respective systems, but it’d be unfair to expect this.

What we do have here, is a little gem of a checklist, quite frankly the opposite in utility when compared to the first pdf. Much to my pleasant surprise, Venger has succeeded in extrapolating much of his own aesthetic bias, which only shines through where it belongs – in examples, in the way in which he illustrates his points. We’re left with a surprising amount of wisdom and plain good guidance for new adventure-writers, particularly considering the brevity of this pdf. This is much more useful than many comparable books, stripped of superfluous meanderings, and, and that is important to note for Venger’s writing, it is genuinely well-structured. It doesn’t jump back and forth and provides a vivid and helpful guideline for writing modules that is, as a final plus, also surprisingly fun to read. All in all, this can be considered to be a resounding success, well worthy of 5 stars + seal of approval…and if this represents his accumulated knowledge, consider me very excited about his current project Cha’alt!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss II
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Kobayashi Maroon
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 01/18/2019 03:47:10

An Endzeitgeist.com review

The first part of what once was supposedly the last Alpha Blue supplement, released on its own as this file, clocks in at 25 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page kort’thalis glyph, 1 page blank, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 22 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

As always, the following disclaimer applies. Alpha Blue is a gleeful parody of 70’s/80’s scifi porn spoofs, and doesn’t take itself seriously; there is puerile humor, drawn nudity and the like herein. If you are offended by naked bodies or the like, then steer clear. This supplement makes use of Alpha Blue’s iteration of Venger’s rules-lite VSd6-dice pool system, which is based on d6s, so mechanically, there isn’t that much depth (unless you combine all the disparate optional rules spread throughout Alpha Blue’s catalogue), but since the main-draw here would be concepts anyhow, I don’t see why you couldn’t create stats of the like for systems like “Stars Without Number”, should you choose to do so. If beer-and-pretzels gaming is what you’re looking for, then stick to Alpha Blue, obviously. I assume familiarity with Alpha Blue in my review, so if you have no clue about the setting, I’d invite you to read my reviews of its supplements. I’ve covered all of them released up to this one, and if you read this in a couple of months/weeks after release, probably all of the,

The supplement does start with a couple of pieces of advice for roleplaying in Alpha Blue, easing them into the more explicit themes.

All right, that out of the way, let’s dive in! The following discussion contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion. … .. . All right, only BDSMs (Bold Dungeon Space Masters) around? Great! The PCs start aboard the vessel “Get Woke Go Broke”, when they witness a distress signal by the space-luxury line “The Vanessa”, which is breaking apart due to proximity to a pink hole. The first set-piece lists a bullet-point suggestion of what may entail when the PCs do enter the rare space phenomenon. Some suggestions for strategies to save the folks will help – but in the aftermath, the PCs will witness a Great Old one oozing from the hole, asking them its favorite color – further exacerbating the situation, and potentially killing PCs for answering incorrectly. And yes, as the title suggests, this was a simulation – and the PCs get to roll on random tables if they shat their pants. But why? There are 6 random reasons for having subjected yourself to it. All of this fits on two pages, and as you make have noted, this is pretty much an adventure outline.

The second chapter, episode #2, starts as a solo-adventure, but may be quickly expanded to cater to a whole crew of PCs. This episode takes place during Pr0n Fa’ar – the Vulcan parody should be readily apparent for everyone. The module begins with read-aloud text that references a Hendrix song, as well as a wife wanting to take the space cardboard with you. I…could relate there. Minus space, obviously. XD As the PC returns, he finds himself cuckolded by an alien, and, to make things worse, the no-longer-BAE lady has actually been an agent in disguise all these years. Both the alien and the unfaithful wife are btw. fully stated, in case the first reaction of the PC has something to do with an itchy trigger-finger…or otherwise existent pseudopod. Going through Agent Spectra (true name of the wife)’s phone will yield a reference to a space station, where the agent is not there – his vorpal whoopee-cushion, though, is. (Including a d8 appendage severing table.) Random (and kinda funny): If the agent-contact is killed (stats provided), the PCs will be teleported by his failsafe device into the middle of a Mexican standoff between S’pock, two martians from Sesame Street (I meant, the Seza’ame System…), Fade Hardkockian, Clint Eastwood…and a Tron Girl, for a fat battle royale – for the price of the last female of an all but extinct species, including sexual encounter aftermath random table. Funnier than the first one (objective though that may be), I enjoyed this quick series of encounters more than the first scenario; it’s more of an adventure, and less of an outline.

Episode 3 is the longest of the 3 short modules and begins with a read-aloud message for zith lord try-outs, with a fortune and the right of the first night in the whole system. Thus, they are sent to a big VIP-laden party, which is supplemented by 8 sample, suspicious NPCs. This section also has notes on “safe language”, which translates to being penalized for blowing stuff out of proportions. Space muslims attack the party, and when a bonafide zith lord enters, things can become more dangerous…though the contest for the title may also be resolved via a vagina eating contest, which is resolved in a quick and dirty (haha) mini-game with the usual dice pool mechanics.

The pdf also has a rule for sneak attacks, a d100 table of “WTF are NPCs doing right now” (and a d6 table to determine how they take the interruption)…and, apart from the backstab rules, also a pretty interesting optional rule – for blue balls (or ovaries, I guess): Not having sex in Alpha Blue, with this system, will brutally penalize you, the less often you get off. 7 steps, from bonuses to brutal penalties, are provided, and the pdf comes with a Blue Ball tracker (also included as separate pdfs in color and mono). This brings me to one point: Right now, the best rules of Alpha Blue are spread out over x supplements. At one point, a second edition that collects a new array of core rules may be a smart move. Just sayin’, since this is a nice method to gamify and reward roleplaying in convention with the system’s lewd themes. It should also be noted that an 8-name table (with a column for male, female and non-binary entities) is provided, and we do get stats for none other than Venger Satanis himself, who btw. does come with full stats. He’s brutal.

As you could glean here and there, there are a few politically charged terms used herein, which may or may not annoy you. It is not my place as a reviewer of RPG products to comment on the lampooning of these terms in a product for a game that focuses on parody.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level; Venger’s (pardon, Zoltan’s) rules-fu precision has increased. Layout adheres to a beautiful two-column full-color standard, and the pdf comes with several nice full-color artworks, which of course feature nudity. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Venger’s (Pardon, I mean: Zoltar Khan Delgado’s) Kobayashi Maroon collection alternates in its usability somewhat. The great premise of the eponymous scenario, episode #1, is somewhat marred by being little more than a sketch; while the second episode does feel a bit random, it is also wild – the scene on the cover? That actually happens in the adventure! The third scenario is a bit more straight-forward. While they all have wild vignettes, they ultimately feel like brief sidetreks – which they are. The presence of proper stats for all involved is a plus, though, and the optional rules herein rank among the best in the whole series. Frankly, the blue-ball tracker mechanic is smart, and having a visual representation helps. Backstab rules are overdue as well – these rules should become core, should there ever be a second edition of Alpha Blue.

So yeah, within the confines of the rules-lite VSd6-system, the rules were my favorites here; simple, cleanly presented, easy to grasp, fun. This may actually be the first Alpha Blue supplement where I genuinely liked the rules presented and what they bring to the Alpha Blue table more than the modules/adventure outlines did. If you’re no fan of Alpha Blue, this will not change your mind. If you like what you’ve seen so far, this provides more of the same, with some cool vignettes, but ultimately, the variant rules will be the biggest drawing point…with the probably and notable exception of the scene on the cover. Which is pure, glorious madness.

That being said, while Venger, äh, Zoltar, has definitely improved the structure of his writing, I couldn’t help but wish that one of these scenarios had instead been extended to proper module length. As written, Alpha Blue has a metric ton of sketch-like vignettes, but not that much in the vein of longer modules – at least not without the GM extrapolating from Venger/Zoltar’s outlines. All in all, I found this to be an enjoyable addition to Alpha Blue’s canon, though the influx of politically-charged terms may irk some folks. It’s not the best supplement in the product line, but for the low price point, it represents a fair offering. My final verdict will clock in at 4 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Kobayashi Maroon
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THOT Audit
by Andrew M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/27/2018 21:09:47

Loved it. Funny and well-ordered. Keep these artists on for all subsequent product, please!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
THOT Audit
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Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss
by steven s. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2018 14:34:32

I bought this for my players and they have all become more boss since, jumping into character and having a blast. I was looking for something to give new players for a long time and Venger came through again. Game Masters Buy this for your players.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss
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How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss
by steven s. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2018 14:32:33

This is probably the only Game Master advice book I have read(and I've read a lot) that went out of its way to say be confident in yourself above all and the game will come together. That advice really stuck with me, and then he covers almost all the basics from improv to encounters. I cannot recommend this book enough to old and new Game Masters alike.



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[4 of 5 Stars!]
How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss
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The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence
by steven s. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2018 14:27:19

The Good

  • Evocative and atmospheric
  • Random Tables (Dark Secrets table)
  • Fun treasure
  • Hex Crawl with unique encounters (clowns man)
  • Juvenile fun
  • Great art The Bad
  • Unorganized
  • Vengers motif is not for everyone, tongue firmly in cheek

Venger Satanis makes bawdy tongue in cheek adventures and this was the first one I ever bought in hard cover too. Its easy to use but does require a full read or two to find everything.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence
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Sexual Predators
by Leslie F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/27/2018 04:48:39

This is a very usefull addition to a very perverse game. The cultural references and Cheech Marin flashback were well worth the price. The random tables answere a lot of questions no one thought to ask, like "where does that alien sexpot keep her clit". Well done.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Sexual Predators
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