I know of two relatively obscure Science Fiction IP's that are becoming RPGs, and I love it.
I can get lost in the fervor of anti-Hasbro sentiment as I lament the stranglehold that D&D has on the RPG industry, and I forget sometimes just how diverse and healthy this hobby is.
Besides, if Elon Musk is going to jump on the Hasbro hate bandwagon, then I need to reconsider the messages that I'm sending here.*
The most important message is that I love RPGs, and if the market can offer us two super niche fandom driven projects as top tier professionally produced tabletop RPGs within a few months of each other, then I think my hobby is doing something right.
The two new Sci-Fi RPG products based on unlikely intellectual properties that I currently have my eye on are: the Space 1999 RPG from Modiphius Entertainment, and the Phantasy Star RPG from Skydawn Game Studios.
The new Phantasy Star RPG is based on another sci-fi RPG called ESPer Genesis which is itself based on 5th Edition D&D. So, if you are looking for a scifi RPG with familiar mechanics, this one looks like a winner.
The game is available for pre-order and based on what I've been able to find out, it's based more on the original 4 Sega Phantasy Star video games and only incorporates a little from the latter Phantasy Star Online.
My experience with the Phantasy Star universe is from Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II for the GameCube. I loved the game and played for many hours.
Although, I have never played the earlier video games that this upcoming RPG is based on, I'm super excited to give this new tabletop game a try.
Space 1999 was a Sci-Fi TV series from the 70's that sadly only lasted 2 seasons. The series was by Gerry Anderson who is best known for puppet animated adventure shows like the Thunderbirds.
Original episodes of Space 1999 can be streamed on Peacock. I've been watching them. Some episodes are pretty good. Some not so much.
This one is being published by Modiphius and uses their "house system" 2d20. I like the idea of Moonbase Alpha careening through space as a setting for an RPG. I'm pretty excited about this one. Clearly, the game's designer is too.
I watched some interviews with the designers of both the Phantasy Star and the Space 1999 RPGs, and it's very clear that these are passion projects that would never exist without the love and determination of these creators.
What about you? Is there some obscure book, movie or television show that you think would make a great RPG? For me, the proof can be found right here in my blog.
Prometheus Blade is inspired by the Highlander TV series, and I wrote my own Phantasy Star RPG based on Phantasy Star Online. I'm honestly not sure these are very good, but they are over in my side menu along with all my other RPG offerings if you want to give them a look.
If I were going to pick a project today, I have already mentioned Godzilla, but I also think the TV series, "The Good Place" would make a really interesting RPG.
* Elon Musk shared some hate against Hasbro in a comment to a post condemning the company for (among other things) their publication of inclusivity guidelines in the 2024 D&D Players Handbook.
But, to be realistic, Elon doesn't care at all about D&D or the RPG hobby. This maneuver creates a bit of controversy and that drives traffic to X (Twitter) which he owns.
Five by Five is my most played game. I mean that it is the game that I personally get to the table the most often when I want to play one of my games. I'm not sure which games of my design are still being played by the community at large. I have been contacted by various people over the years about certain games.
Game designer and owner of Grey Gnome Games, Jason Glover once contacted me with kind words about A+ Fantasy. At one time Hi/Lo Heroes had two different fan web pages and Keeton Harrington the owner of 1KM1KT posted it as 1KM1KT's first commercial RPG product. (Sadly, it didn't sell.) Hi/Lo was even translated into French!
Five By Five itself has been reviewed several times. Sadly, it's revision history is a mess. Back in February I decided to go back to the original version of Five By Five and escape the "bloat" of later experimentation with the system. I recreated the OG version of Five By Five with a few minor tweaks in an 8.5" x 5.5" 16 page zine format. It was good, but it wasn't perfect.
One big change to Five By Five that didn't exist in the original version was the removal of "doubles" as part of the roll results matrix. Removing doubles (by making them an exception) cleaned up the array of possible roll results, smoothing out the number ranges and the probability of specific roll results. I have decided to implement that change into the recent "OG Zine" edition of Five By Five.
The OG version of Five By Five now establishes all trait values as even numbers in increments of 2. This makes applying modifiers to the Traits to move probability up or down super easy. That's important as I want the game to be scalable, something that I am leveraging in the Five By Five "Monsters" book that I am currently working on. Other than changing a bit of the math, the game is the same as the original version, which is how I want it.
One major weakness apparent in Five By Five and in probably all of the games that I have worked on is the absence of GM advice. My games are more "Players' Guides" than core rules. It's because I write what I need to write to allow my players to make characters and understand the game mechanics, and I do everything else myself based on experience and instinct. I know what I want, so I have never bothered to write it down.
With that in mind, I plan to make the upcoming Monsters book a sort of GM's guide for Five By Five. It's going to be presented in the same zine format as the current OG core book and both will be available here in my side menu for free.
I also plan to create a page on itch.io. I'd like to expand my visibility in the free RPG community at large. It's been awhile since I have been active. I think both 10 Cubed and Little Colony are good offerings that might appeal to others out there, but I don't think anyone will ever see them if things remain the way they are now.
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Recently, I was contacted by someone about my RPG Duel Blade. I wrote Duel Blade back in 2007 after reading a review of a fighting game for the original Playstation called Bushido Blade. The review talked about Bushido Blade's "Body Damage System" which sounded very interesting to me, and I tried to create an RPG based on the idea, even though I had never actually played the video game.
The person who contacted me wanted permission to release his own version of Duel Blade which I very happily gave. Many of my works were produced before Creative Commons was a thing, but I consider everything that I write to be Creative Commons - Attribution - Share Alike. Just give me credit and don't be stingy with the stuff you make based on what I make. That's all I want. (I've added a note to that effect at the top of my blog page.)
I looked back at Duel Blade for the first time in years. It's not bad, but there's also not a lot to it. I did use it as the basis for Prometheus Blade, Powers Brawl, and Xceptional. So, I must have thought there was something to it back in the day. Looking now, I am actually pretty interested in revisiting the system especially how it manifested in Powers Brawl.
There are some clunky bits that need to be filed down, but I think that may be worth doing, and I enjoy having a project to work on. The person who contacted me also mentioned that they were very happy that they still had their PDF of Duel Blade. This made me aware that I wasn't offering a link to the game in my side-menu.
I had Prometheus Blade and Powers Brawl in the side-menu, so I just assumed that the lesser Duel Blade wasn't needed. My recent experience with Bigfoot should have taught me better. (Recent ... Heh. Back in February.) The point is: sometimes an improvement isn't an improvement, and I never know what bit of my work might appeal to someone. So, I have decided to make sure that all of my various works are available all of the time.
If you glance over at the side-menu on the right, everything is there now. I'm not sure how to get at this if you are on your phone. The menu doesn't seem to be accessible from the mobile version of the blog page. (But, you can choose "web version" in your browser to see it.) I consider some of these good, and some not so good, and sometimes I surprise myself when I look back at an idea that was forgotten -- like Duel Blade.
Who knows, maybe you'll find an interesting idea for your next RPG among my many experiments? I have certainly shared more than a few wacky ideas over the years.
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The Best Godzilla movies are a mixture of giant monster fighting and the stories of the humans that are affected by this conflict of titans. In some films it's humans vs Godzilla. In others it's Godzilla vs some other threat where the humans are just hoping to influence a favorable outcome.
However … while Godzilla (aka Kaiju) games are about giant monster battles, Godzilla movies are about the people. I'm thinking that a good Godzilla RPG should be less Mekton and more Call of Cthulhu. Except as frightening as a creature like Godzilla is (and must be) … he is still the hero (kind of.) I mean the feeling of a Godzilla game should be less horror movie and more hero movie.
I don't think a tabletop RPG exists that does what I am envisioning. I do think that a person could house rule any number of existing systems to support a Godzilla style campaign, but it would be nice to have a game that is built to give the players and the GM the tools to exist in this kind of world as the central characters.
I am sure that I'm not the only person to think about this, and if such a game already exists, I'd love to learn more about it, but for now … I'm letting this idea stew in the back of my mind for awhile.
Jeff
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Probably my favorite Godzilla suit design. I just spent an unreasonable amount of time editing a screen cap from the 1974 movie Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla to use as wallpaper on my laptop. Since I spent the time, I thought that I might as well share the results for anyone else who might want the wallpaper.
Image enhanced and resized for my laptop screen (1366 x 768)
Original image.
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I'm releasing Little Colony to the public. This was supposed to be an RPG Zine for ZineQuest in February, but producing a commercial product on Kickstarter is just too much for me. So, here then is another free RPG.
I'm a Godzilla fanboy. I love Godzilla. I read the Marvel comic Godzilla: King of the Monsters in the 70's. I watched the old movies. Those were my favorite. My Godzilla was a guy in a rubber suit. My Godzilla was feisty and cool. My Godzilla was a hero. I still think of Godzilla that way.
I really enjoyed the new series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters on Apple TV. It's wicked cool and highly recommended, but it's not really my Godzilla. Monarch is more Big Trouble In Little China meets Pacific Rim. I love it, but it's not the same. American made Godzilla isn't the same as Japanese made Godzilla, and modern Godzilla isn't the same as classic Godzilla.
That's okay. Things change. They evolve. The stuff that I loved from over 50 years ago were the products of their time. They can't exist today. I will enjoy them for the relics that they are, and bask in the nostalgic good feels that they give me. That's cool.
I will say that the films produced by American movie producers and those produced by Japanese movie producers feel very different. I have been very pleased with the last few Godzilla + Kong efforts. They have attempted to give my favorite monsters a bit of personality and I appreciate that. Those are awesome adventure movies. I haven't seen much from Japan. Maybe Godzilla Minus One is the first one in a long while? (I don't know. I'll have to do my research.)
Speaking of Godzilla Minus One, I just finished watching it.
It could arguably be the best movie that I have ever seen with the word, "Godzilla" in its title. Godzilla isn't in the movie a lot, and Godzilla isn't a hero. This is a story about the people left in the wake of inconceivable destruction. As a metaphor for war or for our current political climate it works just the same.
That's how Godzilla started, as a metaphor. The first Godzilla film was a cry out in protest of the destruction of the atomic bomb. The original film contained actual footage of the devastation and casualties left by the bomb. The film showed the world the horrors of war that were too terrible to conceive and hid them inside the pretense of a monster movie.
Godzilla Minus One brings the Godzilla franchise back to its roots. This time the movie focuses even more on the tragedy of loss. Where the first film focused on the enormous scope of the tragedy, Minus One looks closer. This Godzilla movie is personal, intimate in its look at the tragic effects of the devastation created by the King of the Monsters. Godzilla is no hero here.
The view isn't one sided. Japan takes a look at itself, at how it treated human life during World War II and it shoulders some of the blame. The story is layered and intelligent, and it's heartbreaking. In this movie, I didn't love Godzilla, but I did love this movie.
It's the story of a Kamikaze Pilot after World War II who is labeled a coward because he didn't die in the war. He is one of the first people from Japan to see Godzilla. He sees Godzilla when he was "just a dinosaur" before radiation transforms the creature into the enormous Kaiju that we know. The pilot fails to fire on Godzilla then, and this clouds his life with regret.
He denies himself a family. Although he takes in a woman and an orphaned child, he keeps them forever and tragically at arms length. War has broken him, and at the heart of this is his encounter with Godzilla. It's sad. It's personal. It's very Japanese, but still very relatable.
As the film neared its end, I was thinking that I might never want to watch it again. This is not because the movie isn't excellent. It's because the movie is too real. Yes, a Godzilla movie that's too real. This is because Godzilla itself is just a catalyst for the human story. This is something that I think the Japanese cinema does very well, but that American cinema generally fails at doing.
Stupid movie made me cry.
I've changed my mind. I will watch it again. I loved Godzilla Minus One. It's an excellent movie. It might be the best in the franchise, but comparing it to other films in the franchise might be unfair. As an homage to the original film, Godzilla Minus One might be the truest, purest Godzilla film that's been made since the original. As a modern Godzilla vehicle, it's different. It stands apart.
I'm giving Godzilla Minus One a 10 out of 10 as a movie movie and a 7 out of 10 as a Godzilla vehicle. Maybe that's not fair. Godzilla Minus One is true to the original film, and Godzilla as a franchise has proven itself to be one of the most versatile storytelling mediums out there. This movie continues the tradition of allowing a Godzilla movie to be greater than its titular character.
If you don't like Godzilla, you may want to watch this movie all the same. It's damned good. If you are a Godzilla fan like me, this movie is a must see. Sure I knocked it a few points as a Godzilla franchise "vehicle" but that's largely based on my own biases. Godzilla has been science fiction, and fantasy, and espionage adventure, even comedy. Here Godzilla is perhaps at it's most intimate, and that took me by surprise.
You have to watch this and decide for yourself where it lands. You won't regret it.
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Hughesville High is a TTRPG from Lakeside Games published in 2013 and written by Leonard Pimentel.
The name "Hughesville" is a reference to film director John Hughes who created a barrage of teen friendly "coming of age" films in the 80's. Among them: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, and the Breakfast Club. Hughesville High looks to capture the innocence and wonder of these madcap coming of age experiences in a tabletop RPG.
Characters are made up of "Mundane Roles" and a "Unique Role." All of the Mundane Roles are the same for all characters, but they will have different ranks. Your Unique Role is just that. It's special and unique to just your character. Players will also define the qualities: drive, baggage, flaw, style, and music for their characters.
Mundane Roles are the high school stereotypes common to the John Hughes films – and life: Brain, Delinquent, Jock, Nerd, and Royalty. (Not sure if these are pulled from the famous assignment read aloud at the end of the Breakfast Club, but they sound right.) All characters will have ranks in the different Mundane Roles. I would have scored high in Nerd and Delinquent, and low in Jock and Royalty.
Unique Role is special. It's something spectacular and supernatural. This pushes Hughesville High away from Breakfast Club territory and firmly into the Weird Science arena. That's okay with me. RPGs are fantasy escapism, and players need to have something to do aside from revisiting high school. A character's unique role gives them a way to do that.
Unique Roles are things like: alien, cyborg, ghost, dragon, and vampire. There are many to choose from. They are really out there, and they start at a high rank (5 out of 6) so players are encouraged to use them. This makes Hughesville High a mix between Ferris Bueller and Percy Jackson. I might have had a hard time selling players on a purely John Hughes "Sixteen Candles" experience. This fixes that.
But, the "high school" experience isn't to be ignored. It's at the core of everything. The supernatural stuff is just a bridge to hook your players and get them into the high school halls and locker rooms. All the other aspects that define a character: drive, baggage, flaw, style, and music are about leveraging the high school experience – specifically, the high school experience as seen in a John Hughes film.
Drive is the thing that motivates your character. When a character does something that connects directly with their drive it becomes a lot easier to do. The drives are: acceptance (from your peers), hormones (you're a teenager), independence (from your parents), romance (real love), and stuff (material possessions). Everyone is driven by these, but players choose which one motivates them the most.
Baggage is a negative thing that you can roleplay to earn plot points. Plot points are a meta currency that can be used to help your character later. The game lists the following forms of baggage: bully, burnout, crush, crushed, dweeb, experienced, frenemy, inexperienced, involved parents, one of them, one of us, practice, silver spoon, stress case, uninvolved parents, and wrong side of the tracks.
Flaws are like baggage and work to earn players plot points in the same way, but flaws must be directly connected to the character's unique role. For example: kryptonite would be a "reaction" flaw for Superman. The listed flaws are: aversion, compulsion, frenzy, hunted, light sensitive, need, nocturnal, oath bound, reaction, repair, uncontrolled transformation, and vulnerability.
Style is sort of your character's description, but it is more about the impression that they make than what they actually look like. Style can encompass how the character dresses as well as how they carry or present themselves (whether intentionally or not.) The listed styles are: broke, flashy, geeky, goth, plain, preppy, punk, sporty, surfer, tough, uniform, and western.
Music might be the kind of music that your character likes or just the kind of music that suits the character on the whole. It's what's playing in the background every time your character enters a scene. The game lists several types of music to choose from. Selecting a form of music completes character creation. (Although, I might ask my players to pick a personal "theme song" specifically from the 80's.)
Character creation does a lot to establish the nature of play that Hughesville High hopes to inspire. I believe it does a great job at focusing expectations and "building a world" through the eyes of its inhabitants. As I was writing this, I found myself imagining the kinds of characters that I might like to create and what their world would look like.
In the last few pages of character creation, the rules mention "Assets" which are special items or boons that provide a character with temporary unique roles. There's also a discussion of "Ordinary Kids" which provides guidelines on playing without unique roles and flaws. In case you really do want to just play out Sixteen Candles without any of the supernatural stuff.
Dramatic action is resolved through plot roles. Players will roll 3 dice. One die is a different color and is called the "critical die" – ignore it (unless you roll triples) and add the other 2 dice. Add the rank of one of your roles to the sum of those 2 dice to reach an outcome. Higher results are better and will give the player more narrative control. Lower results are not as good and give the GM more narrative control.
Rolling triples is great, as that results in a critical success that lets the player narrate something awesome. (Triples is the only reason you're rolling 3 dice, and when you roll triples the values on the dice don't matter. All triples are a critical success.) This dice system is clean and straightforward. It seems easy to implement and easy to explain.
Combat in Hughesville is true to the spirit of John Hughes films. This isn't Quentin Tarantino territory. The consequences of combat may result in unconsciousness or kidnapping, but never death. More likely these kinds of conflicts are "scraps" that end in torn clothing or messed hair that can negatively affect a character's royalty rank, or a minor injury that might affect their jock rank. Things like that.
Hughesville concludes with GM advice. This includes explanations about how Hughesville differs from other RPGs and how to make the most of the game's focus on narrative control. There's also a bunch of information to help GMs set the game in the world of the 1980's with all kinds of useful guidelines on capturing the look and feel of the period. There's even a random adventure generator.
I love Hughesville High. It's a great example of the "rules light, strong narrative" cross section of RPGs that really hit a sweet spot for me. I think character creation is clever and accessible and works to capture the intention of the game's theme. The resolution mechanic is clean and functional, and the whole thing screams, "Bring me to the table." Hopefully, I can make that happen.
Give Hughesville High a look for yourself. It's well worth your time.
Dedicated to the memory of John Hughes who died at the age of 59 of a heart attack. RIP John.
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Back in January, I slipped on our back porch in the snow and injured my left knee. The injury required surgery which was performed in early February. I have required the use of a walker since.
The initial recovery estimate was 3 months. Given that I have cerebral palsy, it was understandable that my recovery might take as long as 6 months. So we bided our time and I doubled down on the physical therapy.
After 7 months, we decided that something must be wrong and I had an MRI of the knee done. With much regret, the Doctor informed me of what he called, "worse case scenario." The MRI showed "slack" in the tendon that was indicative of another injury.
Had I done something to re-injure myself, or were the tissues in my leg simply too weak to sustain the repair? The best (or indeed only) way forward was a second surgery identical to the first. Basically, back to square one.
We scheduled the surgery for October 11th, and I've been in pretty low spirits. I'm tired of not being able to walk without the walker. The thought that I would have to go through this whole process a second time and endure it all again for the next three to six months was crushing to my spirit.
Then this Tuesday, September 24th, I had a heart attack. 100% of the primary artery to my heart was blocked. It's a heart attack called, "The Widow Maker" because few survive it. I was lucky, not only did I make it safely to the hospital, but also they were able to make a repair by inserting two stints into the arteries in my heart.
I'm fine now. If fine means alive and functioning. I'm writing this from my hospital bed and trying to see the bright side. I'm alive. That's good.
I'm on blood thinners, which means no knee surgery for at least a year. I need to change my lifestyle and my diet. So, the walker for at least another year, and the food … the food.
Many years ago when I was in my twenties, my friends got me a t-shirt as a gift with the words, "Food Vortex" printed on it. It was intended lovingly, in fun. I was that guy who could and did eat everything.
I loved food. It was not uncommon for me to make joyful "yummy" noises, that my friends affectionately dubbed, "food-gasms."
Of course, these things change. At some point in my mid 30's my metabolism did a downshift. I gained weight. I got a belly. It happened fast. It happened so fast that I had stretch marks from gaining the weight. I still love food. I have slowed down in my eating. I don't make joyful noises quite so often now.
I realize that I will still be eating some food that I might enjoy, but my relationship to food has to seriously change. Just the other day I posted a picture of my favorite breakfast on Facebook. I can't have that anymore. All the foods that I love are bad for me. I am determined to stop eating them.
I'm not the kind of person who can do something like this half way. I can't eat right most of the time and then allow myself a treat. I just can't. I'm going to have to change my relationship to food. I can't trick myself by eating healthy things that taste like the things that I like - veggie burgers will just make me want hamburgers. Good tasting healthy foods will just make me want good tasting unhealthy foods.
I need to turn eating from a joyful experience to a survival experience. Today I had some plain oatmeal (no sugar or salt) and some scrambled egg-whites (no salt). It was bland and filling. That worked. It supplied what I needed, and that's what I need food to do.
I know myself. The more I enjoy something, the more that I will want to enjoy something. It's why I collected comics. It's why we have 100's of board games. I have an addictive personality and eating is part of that addiction.
I need to make eating something that I have to do, but don't look forward to. Only then can I change my bad eating habits. And I need to resign myself to the reality that I won't be walking anytime soon. These are the thoughts crowding my mind. They aren't cheerful ones.
Take a look at the above image. Do you see at the bottom where it says, "As a publisher you cannot review non-publisher resources." That's me. I'm a publisher. Because of that I can't share my thoughts about games that I purchase on DriveThruRPG. I can't tell you how much that breaks my heart. I love this hobby and all I want to do is share that joy with others.
I even took down my publisher page in the hopes that this message might disappear. It hasn't. I could reach out to DriveThru to see if I could get my status changed, but lately I have been working on a new RPG. What if I want to sell Little Colony on DriveThru? So, I haven't pursued it further.
You want to know what's worse? Those ratings above? That average 2.5 out of 5 for 2 ratings? That's the rating listing for BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! It may be worth giving up any hope of ever selling a product on DriveThru just to give BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! a 5 star rating.
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is so good!
A 1 star review? Really? Did this reviewer do their research to learn about the kinds of games that Spectrum Games publishes? Did they even read the product description before purchase? I get that someone probably bought this game expecting one thing while getting another.
But BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is exactly what it claims to be, and like all of the publications by Spectrum Games the production quality is unequaled. This game should never get a 1 star review. (Gah! Now I'm sick to my stomach. Really. I'm so angry.)
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! deserves more love.
If you read this, and you have a heart, buy BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! and give it a real review. Yes, I found a few typos. (When you make an item or power "low budget" it costs 1 budget token instead of 2. In at least 2 places in the rules it says "... costs 2 budget tokens instead of 2." Which yeah, it's a mistake and confusing, but I figured it out!) But, 1 Star?! Really??!
The art is beautiful, the layout is stellar, the design is inspired. BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! might be my favorite superhero RPG. This game deserves better than 2.5 stars! What's the matter with people?
DriveThru's Publisher Policy
I'd like to say that I disagree with DriveThru's policy regarding allowing publishers to write reviews. Publishers are also consumers. We are probably some of their biggest consumers. I'd like to think that this community is friendly and honest and that we would only review games fairly (and not review our own games at all.) But, then I see this pathetic 1 star review, and I realize that maybe I am giving our community too much credit.
This all just makes me want to cry.
It also hurts my heart that there are only 2 ratings for this game. Did only 2 people buy it?
No.
I bought it, but I can't leave a review. Is every person who buys games on DriveThru also a publisher?
No.
So, why only 2 ratings? And why is one of those ratings a 1?! Garrrgh!!
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I am in love with BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! This might be the most excited that I have been to play a superhero RPG since the Supercrew!
Super Friends art by Arkan Theo
Character creation is simple. That's one of the things that really appeals to me. But, it doesn't help that actual super powers are an alternative rule. I understand why, but it means jumping around in the rules to figure out what to do.
Aquaman art by JSenior from Deviantart.
I finally just wrote my own quick short hand version to guide me.
The four core Attributes are: Action, Thought, Drama and Pluck. Players assign a total of 4 points to these. Values are from 0-2.
Next are Facets. Players write down 4 skills, items or powers and label them appropriately. Resolution in BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is narrative, not mechanical. So, there is no master list of powers and it's not needed. (There are plenty of examples.)
Initial powers and items have a rank of 1. They can be improved in the Enhancement step.
Batman art by JSenior from Deviantart.
Flaws are part of Facets, but they feel like a different thing. Players have the option of having from 0-2 Flaws. (Flaws grant a bonus in the Enhancement step and are helpful during game play.)
The last step is Enhancements. You get to choose 3, plus 1 for each Flaw that you took (if you took any.) Enhancements are basically level ups. This gives you a chance to improve and tweak your design to make your perfect hero.
Robin art by JSenior from Deviantart.
Character creation is clean and easy. It's low math, high creativity. The game system focuses on "Intentions." Attribute values speak to Intentions not strengths. There are no bench marks for simulationists in BIFF! BAM! KAPOW!
Superman art by JSenior from Deviantart.
Intentions aren't measures of physical and mental capability, they are tools for narrative control. It means that Superman can be as powerful as you want and that he can adventure right along side Batman as it was always meant to be.
In fact, to take BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! character creation for a test drive, I created the Super Friends! I used the alternative "powers" based character creation shown above, even for creating Batman and Robin. I am really happy with the results and I can't wait to try them out!
PS: I didn't write the "Quick Bios" for the characters. I pulled those directly from the splash pages of bronze age comics (late 70's) in my collection. Those and all characters are copyright DC Comics.
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I used to enjoy playing the game, "If you could cast a movie, what movie and what cast?" I was thinking about a Scooby-Doo movie. Julie and I have been streaming "Two Broke Girls" and I was thinking that Kat Dennings would make a great Velma Dinkley.
(I know that there's already a Scooby-Doo live action movie, but I think that it's about time for another.)
So, let's play ...
My Dream Scooby-Doo (2024) Movie!
Starring:
Kat Dennings as Velma Dinkley
So, if you "Google" Kat Dennings as Velma Dinkley, you get a lotof hits. I'm not the only person who thinks she would be perfect in the role.
Kit Harington as Fred Jones
Jon Snow from Game of Thrones might not be the popular choice as Fred Jones, but I just had to have "Kit" and "Kat" in my cast. Plus, he looks totally different without the beard.
Rose McIver as Daphne Blake
I love Rose on Ghosts and iZombie. She has to be my Daphne.
Wyatt Russell as Shaggy Rogers
I loved him in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and think that he would make an awesome Shaggy. Plus, I really think that he looks the part.
Wil Wheaton as the voice of Scooby-Doo
I can't have a dream movie without Wil. I know that he prefers voice work, and I bet that he would love doing this.
What's Your Dream Movie?
If you could cast any movie that you wanted, what would be your movie and who would you cast?
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This "genre" specifically encompasses the works of producer William Dozier. These include the Batman and Green Hornet TV series as well as never aired Batgirl and Dick Tracy pilots. I would also include Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1976) by Sid and Marty Krofft, as well as classic Doctor Who into the mix of TV shows that I believe would fit BIF! BAM! KAPOW! very well.
Unlike other games by Spectrum that I mentioned (for me) BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! seems to finally get the mix of storytelling emulation and RPG crunch just right. I've read Cartoon Action Hour many times. I really want to like it. It's an awesome game to read, but all the rules about series creation and genre emulation drag it down.
Maybe this is because Cartoon Action Hour tries to cover too wide a cross section of television? All the dials and tropes rules just get in my way every time that I try to imagine what it would be like at my table.
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is much more focused. It really only wants to tell one kind of story, and that is to it's benefit. I would much rather have a game that gives me a solid foundation that I can work with (including changing it to whatever I might want) than a game with a soft foundation that's trying to cover too much ground.
Art by Christopher Martinez
The book is beautifully illustrated and the third page is a tribute to artist Christopher Martinez who passed away while BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! was still in production. His artwork here is stunning. The pages of the book are all square which feels like a weird choice to me. I guess the intent is for the book to be shaped like the old TV sets on which the shows used to air?
The book jumps straight into explaining the basics and what it's trying to do. They can't actually claim to be Batman '66 (or the Green Hornet) TV show RPG. So, we get an original TV show, "The Adventures of Hoot Owl." Everything is concise and easy to grok. There are a few typos here and there that caused me momentary confusion, but I figured everything out.
Character creation is straight forward with characters having four attributes:
Action (A character’s overall physicality.)
Thought (A character’s general brainpower.)
Drama (A character’s ability to interact with others.)
Pluck (A character’s heart and willpower.)
These range from -1 to 3, but most will fall between 0-2.
Characters can have skills which provide bonuses and gadgets which provide powers. In these shows the characters were all normal people with advanced training and technology. (There is an optional rule for including actual "super powers" in the game, and I'll use that when I get a chance to play this.)
Use of "powers" in these shows required costly special effects. To reflect this, players have budget tokens that they must spend when they want to perform a stunt or use a power. It's a mechanical limiter that's good for game balance, but also thematic. I also like the idea of keeping the use of powers and big explosions and dangerous stunts as "high points" in a game rather than common place.
The Intention System
Task resolution is based on an "intention" system. I remember this system from Retrostar, and I really liked it there. It's made even better here. Basically, the player frames an intended outcome from a course of action. Note that I say, "course of action" here and not just "action." This is a game where broad strokes are going to be so much better than micro managing every little detail.
A number of dice are rolled based on your attributes and skills, but only two of the dice are added together. High totals are better. A result of 2-6 is a BIFF! A result of 7-9 is a BAM! And a result of 10 or more is a KAPOW!
BIFF! is a negative result. The showrunner (what BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! calls its GM) always narrates these results, and it means something not good for the heroes.
BAM! is a neutral result. It means that something good AND something bad happens. The player can choose to either succeed at what they are doing at the cost of gaining some new troublesome complication, or fail at what they are doing, but gain some other unexpected benefit.
BAM! results are normally narrated by the showrunner, but the player can take control of this narrative if they wish by spending a script token. (See KAPOW! below.)
KAPOW! results are unconditional successes. The player gets to narrrate the results, and they gain a script token to use later.
The Combat System
Perhaps the best way that BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! captures the spirit of the shows that it's designed to emulate is in its combat rules. Combats in BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! are called, "Climatic Fight Scenes."
I have gone on record many times saying how tired I am of typical RPG combat, but this isn't typical RPG combat.
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW!'s Climatic Fight Scene mechanics are a game changer! They're brilliant. They make the combats a narrative part of the story, and I love that.
Climatic Fight Scenes are the big fights at the end of each episode. Initially, the heroes are going to lose this fight. That's okay. They're supposed to. In this world, the heroes will get knocked out and then deposited into somekind of death trap only to escape at the start of the next episode.
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! sets this up perfectly, and the thing is, I don't understand why no one has done this kind of thing before. Comics always end with the seeming demise of the hero. The combat rules should support this idea.
It's a "cliffhanger" mechanism, and it's a mainstay of so many forms of adventure fiction. It's the reason that I said BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! would be perfect for emulating classic Doctor Who. It's just such a good idea.
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! accomplishes this by adding two decks of cards to help facilitate the combat process. One deck is the "Climactic Fight Scene A" deck, and the other is the "Climatic Fight Scene B" deck. The A deck is weighted against the heroes and the B deck is weighted against the villains.
Characters don't have hit points. This isn't a tactical battle of attrition or elimination. It's a story. It's Jackie Chan. When the heroes succeed, they gain momentum. When the heroes fail, they lose momentum. Heroes and villains both bounce back and keep fighting until five rounds have passed, then the heroes win or lose together.
It's the clubhouse fight in Rumble In The Bronx when Jackie fights an endless hoard of thugs to a standstill ending in a moral scolding. It's the duel between Inigo Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts that's as much about the banter as it is the fencing, and yes, it's the battle between Batman and Robin and the Penguin and his henchmen.
The heroes must conclude the combat at the end of the fifth round with four momentum in order to win. As mentioned, the fight decks are weighted. Combat outcomes aren't guaranteed, but they are designed to follow an arch.
If the heroes win the really tough Fight-A when the odds are against them, that's cool. Maybe this episode is a one-shot? If they lose after surviving the villain's death trap at the end of Fight-B when they were supposed to save the day, that's okay too. Maybe this story is a three parter?
Nice feature about the '66 Batman TV series.
Too Campy?
The campy nature of BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! might be a major turn off to some, but I think it's brilliant, and probably a lot more versatile than it might appear at first glance. There are so many levels of camp.
Doctor Who is camp. Rumble In The Bronx is camp. The Princess Bride, Galaxy Quest ... the list goes on. Yes, the rules of BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! encourage you to play it for the "cheese" but if that's going to get in your way, then forget 60's Batman and just play it.
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! follows a strict story structure that assumes that the heroes will go after a villain, be defeated and left at the brink of death and then recover to defeat the villain in the end. Follow that. Use it. That's good stuff. That feels like most of the comics that I read growing up. There's a reason all the Batman TV series was structured that way.
Don't let the campy keep you away from this game.
Players who really don't like the Dozier formula can shuffle the A & B Climactic Combat decks together and get all the benefits of BIFF! BAM! KAPOW!'s narrative combat system without the predictability. At that point, you're playing a different game, but I think these rules still work.
And if you like the Dozier formula? If you embrace the campy? You'll not find a better game for you than BIFF! BAM! KAPOW!
I love the campy.
Because you need more Electra Woman & Dyna Girl.
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Nerds like to debate their preferences within their various milieus of fandom. I am no different. I like Star Trek more than Star Wars, and Godzilla more than King Kong, and I like Superman more than Batman. I have my own reasons for these things, but relevant to this post is the Superman versus Batman debate.
Batman wears a mask to strike fear into the cowardly hearts of villains in order to defeat them. In his story, Batman is the core identity and crime fighting is the core mission. When Batman removes the mask to become Bruce Wayne, the Batman identity remains. Bruce Wayne is the facade, he is just another tool in Batman's arsenal. Batman's primary motivation is to punish evil doers and maintain his army in his war against crime.
Superman wears glasses to fit in among a world of humans in the hopes that he won't frighten them. In his story, Clark Kent is the core identity and his love for Lois and his friends is at the core of his being. When Clark removes the glasses to become Superman, the Clark Kent identity remains. The love remains, and his primary motivation is to help others and protect those that he loves.
And, yeah ... I know that this debate could be pushed in either direction, but my point is that Clark just wants to be normal. He wants to live a normal life, but is hindered by his differences. I can relate to that. Batman has given up on living a normal life. There will never be a time when all crime will be abolished and he can settle down with a nice family. He has resigned himself to that fate. I can't relate to that.
Superman has hope. Batman doesn't. Batman is darker and not optimistic, and because of that, for me he's less relatable and less fun.
Recently, I discovered an RPG called: BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! What does this have to do with my Superman versus Batman debate? Kind of ... everything.
There was a time when Batman was fun. That time was 1966.
This video contains fun facts not "dark secrets."
Yeah, it was campy and silly and a lot of comic book fans say that they hate it, but the 1966 Batman TV series was awesome, and Batmania gave comic book sales a needed boost at the time. (Also, Barbara Gordon's Batgirl was created specifically for the series. Without Batman '66, Batgirl as we know her wouldn't exist.)
This Batman is not dark and brooding. He works with the police in a way that feels more like a job than his life's calling, and he has his ward: Robin. The relationship between Bruce and Dick as depicted in the 1966 TV series humanizes the Batman character in a way that I haven't seen equaled. I love everything about it!
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is written by Cynthia Celeste Miller and published by her company Spectrum Games. I've been following Spectrum Games for awhile, but somehow BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! has evaded my notice despite being released in 2021.
The first RPG that I read written by Cynthia Celeste Miller was Four Colors back in 2001. She was one of those amazing creators making RPG content and providing it for free on the internet. We were doing this at about the same time. (Xerospace was shared on Unclebear in 1999.) I still have a copy of Four Colors and I cherish it. (It and the free site that hosted it are long gone.)
Recently, I was watching a reviewer on YouTube and he mentioned a game called, Four Color Heroics. It seemed like Spectrum Games might be releasing the original Four Colors and that excited me very much.
Cynthia Celeste Miller is awesome. She is clearly a huge superhero fan. She wrote Four Colors, and her company Spectrum Games released another ground breaking superhero RPG called, "Capes, Cowls, and Villains Foul" written by Barak Blackburn in 2012.
Capes does what most of Spectrum Games' catalog does. It emulates a genre rather than simulating an effect. It doesn't ask, "How can an RPG emulate superpowers?" It asks, "How do comic books tell stories, and how can an RPG tell the same stories?"
Cartoon Action Hour does much the same with Saturday Morning Cartoons of the 70's and 80's. Retrostar takes a stab at 70's and 80's Science Fiction Television.
I love what Spectrum Games is doing in theory. However, in practice I have never gotten any of these games to my table. For me, there seems to be too much "crunch" for the kind of games these games seem to want to be.
Four Colors was different. It was streamlined. (Some might say, "raw." I think that it was Cynthia's first RPG.) I had been meaning to run a game of Four Colors for a long time, but never managed it. So, I was super excited about Four Color Heroics. It seemed like Cynthia had gone back to her roots.
Four Color Heroics is good. It isn't the same game that Cynthia shared all those years ago, but it's got a lot of good going on between the covers.
However ...
That's not why I started this post. I started this post because when I visited Spectrum Games' website, I discovered something that I wasn't actually looking for ... something that I never knew that I wanted.
I'm going to talk briefly about an RPG product on DriveThru called: The Alchemist's Fire. It's a scenario and small campaign setting written for use with Dragonbane. I'm not going to go into much detail here because I don't want to spoil things for those who might play through the adventure. That includes my own play group.
Travis presents The Alchemist's Fire as part one of the "Sisters Three" campaign. This campaign focuses on a area consisting of three small hamlets surrounding a lake. Each hamlet was constructed around a mysterious statue. These statues are each one of the "Sisters Three." No one knows the true origins of the statues.
The Alchemist's Fire scenario focuses on one of the three hamlets, Lapis. The small community is described and NPCs included. There's good stuff here around which to begin a campaign. The book is written for use with Dragonbane, but I imagine that I could use it with any game system of my choosing with very little effort.
Among those things that really stood out for me with Alchemist's Fire is the overall presentation, pacing and look of the book. This was a pleasant read, and the art is beautiful. I will be following this campaign and the works of its author Travis Galloway in the future. Alchemist's Fire really impressed me and I can't wait to see more.
Julie is away at a business meeting, Kaylee is back at CMU, and I am home by myself, and it's storming outside. I mean it's really storming. It's dark. There's thunder, lightning, the whole thing.
It's storming, and I suddenly realize that I'm a little bit scared. At first, the thought of that seemed silly, but then I remembered that I haven't been alone, not really alone, in over 30 years.
I will talk about this in my memoir, but after Platt College, I will pretty much always live with someone else. I can't remember the last time that I was alone in the house in a thunderstorm.
It's not like I am cowering in the corner or anything. It's just this weird feeling of insecurity. Even when it was just me and Kaylee, I was there to comfort her, and that act comforted me. It made me feel strong.
So, alone, in a storm, for the first time in over 30 years. It feels weird.
I'm feeling a bit like Marvin the Robot from Hitchhikers' Guide these days.
Life ... Don't talk to me about life.
I've hit a point where I'm struggling with motivation to write. I worry that I talk about the same things over and over. I do still have new RPG's that I could talk about. I'm reading a two player only RPG called Pit Crawler that I am interested in trying out with my friend Dave. So, that review may be coming soon.
Work continues on Little Colony. I'm still very excited about that project and the kinds of stories it will tell. Originally, I planned to release it for ZineQuest in 2025. I may or may not adhere to that plan. Honestly, the financial responsibility of managing a Kickstarter terrifies me.
The point of forcing myself to write here everyday was to develop the "habit" of writing. I suppose that I have accomplished this, but sadly, the act of writing in and of itself hasn't gotten any easier. Plus, right now, life is busy.
We just took my daughter back to college. My stepson gets married in less than 2 weeks. We will be flying to Austin for the wedding. I am excited about the wedding, but I am dreading the travel. I'm still using a walker, and that makes any kind of travel more challenging.
My knee isn't better following a surgery in early February. After months of physical therapy, I still can't walk without holding onto something. Now, I am looking ahead at the prospect of a second surgery. That's not gotten me feeling the most optimistic.
All of this to say, that I'm kicking myself for not dragging myself in front of the keyboard a few days last week, but maybe I should recognize that I've been doing very well in my pledge and that maybe I should give myself permission to take a break ... just every once in awhile.
I'm going to rewind just a little. I had not yet quit my job at Platt College (but would very soon) and I believe we had just completed our first read through of the Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia. A few of us decided to go out for a celebratory drink. I had just gotten paid, and I had another reason to celebrate. I had sold some art.
I had two art instructors at Platt College. Both of them had a background as sports illustrators. One was Dayne Duddley and the other Jack Bender. I excelled in the "illustration" aspects of art class and made no secret that my dream was to become a comic book artist. I was originally in Dayne's class, but he knew that Jack had a passion for comic art and recommended that I move to Jack's class, which I did.
Jack and I became good friends and that rekindled his interest in comic book illustration. In fact he told me when he took the job as ghost illustrator for Alley Oop that he probably wouldn't have applied for the job if not for the renewed interest in comic illustration that he had fostered as part of our friendship. Jack taught me so much. He is one of the great influential figures in my life.
Our friendship continued as I moved from student to staff at Platt College. He recommended me for a job for a greeting card company that was looking for illustrations for seasonal greeting cards. I did a watercolor painting of a cartoon Easter bunny painting Easter eggs. It was super colorful with lots of pastels. They bought the painting for $400.
At this time, I did all of my banking via ATM. I would deposit my check and pull out the cash. I carried cash because we had not yet reached the point where businesses were expected to accept plastic. This brings me back to our night out at the bar. I had just been to the ATM and I had cashed not only my paycheck from work but also the $400 check from the greeting card company. My wallet was fat with twenty dollar bills.
Four of us had gone out. There was myself and George the director. There was another actor named Ken and the stage manager named Claire. I was high on my success and bought the first round, loudly declaring my triumph as I displayed way too much cash at the bar when I ordered the drinks.
Seven And Seven
Ken, Claire and George had beers. I ordered a Seven And Seven which was my drink of choice for years. Because of Chuck it was a long time before I could drink beer, and even now I will only drink dark stouts, not the nasty yellow stuff that Chuck drank. Anyway, I sat down to drink with my friends, when a beer (the kind I just said I won't drink) arrived at my table courtesy of two attractive young women across the bar.
Some girls had bought me a drink. This had never happened before in my life (and never will again - until the "Bless you, Jeff" girls, but that's another story.) I was thrilled. I excused myself from the table with my friends to go talk to the two women. I took the beer with me, and I thanked them. They asked me to sit down and introduced themselves. I honestly don't remember their names, but they seemed like nice wholesome girls that my mother would like.
They told me that they were both student nurses. We made small talk. They asked if I liked scary movies, stating that it was fun to get scared and then grab onto someone for protection. I admitted that I didn't like scary movies at all, and that my favorite movie was The Little Mermaid. Despite my obvious faux pas the girls seemed to like me. They asked why I wasn't drinking my beer. I admitted that I didn't like it.
I was doing everything wrong. I was just being myself and being oblivious. Then, one of the girls leaned over and kissed me. This was my first kiss. I was flustered. The girl's friend slid over closer to me as well, and they asked me if I wanted to go home with them. I was beyond flustered.
I explained that I was with some friends and that I should really get back to them. I didn't want to be rude, and I was super flattered, but I really needed to go. The girl who had kissed me gave me her phone number and they said goodbye. The two girls got up and walked out, and I went back to the table with my friends.
Ken welcomed me back and admitted that he was just about to come over to intervene.
"Why?" I had asked him.
"I wasn't going to let you leave with those two prostitutes." He responded firmly.
Sigh, that did make sense. I threw away the phone number when I got home. I was a romantic. I wanted true love. I began to wonder if that was even possible for someone "like me." I couldn't believe that my first kiss was with a prostitute.
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