The Friday Roundup (121512)

Although the tragedy of today (tragedies, really; some bastard in China stabbed 22 kids on the same day) almost made me forego this, I've decided the worst thing we can do is let fear and sadness keep us away from Life. So I am going to just push on and do my regular Friday Roundup.

I hugged my daughter a lot, I've sent all the positive energy I can out into the world, and this is one more thing I can do to keep my mind off the horror...

Umbrage of the Automaton (Über RPG: Steampunk scenario)

Umbrage of the Automaton and Professor Hawkstein's Steampunk Scavenger Hunt is the FIRST self-contained adventure scenario for beginning characters based on the award-winning Über RPG: Steampunk ruleset.

Join the hunt for fame and fortune by overcoming challenges created by the enigmatic Professor Hawkstein. Can you solve the ultimate mystery?

For 3+ Players.

Itras By (English)

Start a journey away from reality as you perceive it with your everyday senses. The means are elements from surrealism; an art movement from the 20’s which tries to portray the life of the subconscious. The method is roleplaying, a game where a group of people together create and partake in a story. The end is to free the thoughts from their usual patterns. The intention is to liberate impulsiveness and creative power, maybe even rendering everyone a slight bit wiser.

Itras By is a game turned into living fiction, where all participants are co-creators.

BORDERLAND KEEP: Deluxe Edition

The FOLD FLAT terrain system allows you to create fully modular 28mm scale terrain layouts for your RPG or wargame. This set, BORDERLAND KEEP: Deluxe Edition, gives you everything you need to create your own keep design in a downloadable PDF format, and once you have the set you can print and build as many pieces as you like and never run out or need to purchase more. Additionally, our layer options allow you to customize your keep with options such as gargoyles, soldier statues, stains, ivy and more. This new PDF terrain set features our exclusive Fold-Flat designs, allowing you to fold the majority of your pieces flat for easy storage.  

This set includes: 
• 6" wall 
• 4" wall 
• Large tower 
• Small tower 
• Gate House 
• Stable 
• Large Interior Building 
• Small Interior Building 
• Stairs 
• Ruined wall 
• Ground tiles 
• Portcullis
• Wooden gate doors
• Ballistas
• 1" grid, 1.5" grid & gridless options

The GM's Real-World Reference

The best stories, settings, and NPCs are often inspired by the real world. This book will take you from endless wastes to soaring palaces, through thrilling events and heart-stopping disasters, and introduce you to figures both treacherous and heroic. 

Need a military commander? Have a look at some of history's most colorful generals, like Lamachus, Tomyris, or Götz von Berlichingen. Need a barren wasteland? Don't send your PCs out into the deserts of Generica again! Model their destination on the spiny thickets of Madagascar, the Pripet Marshes, or the Ténéré. Need something unusual happening on the borders of the kingdom? Rather than another rebellion or mysterious cult, why not have it be the exploits of the Captain of Köpenick, the rise of Lysenkoism, or explorers searching for Prester John?

This is not a history book. It's a reference for GMs. We know that nitty-gritty details won't translate into your game. What GMs need is story. Striking, attention-grabbing story that will make your players sit up and say, "Wow! Where do you get these ideas?" 

The book itself is huge: 221 pages on 160 topics. There are subjects from all over the world and from all periods of history. Each topic contains all the information you need to run it at your table, and none of the information you don't. Plus, each one ends with tips on how to use the subject. The document is easy to navigate, with a terrific index to help you find exactly the topic you need for your game.

Second City Boxed Set

Twenty-five years ago, Rokugan fought a terrible battle against an invading gaijin army known as the Destroyers. Although the noble samurai of the Emerald Empire were victorious, the conflict was devastating beyond all others, and the lands of the Great Clans were left in ruins by the fighting. To spare her people the threat of further war, war which would surely lead to the death of an Empire, the Divine Empress sued for peace with the forces of darkness, and then dispatched her vassals to claim the empty lands left behind in the wake of the Destroyers.

A generation later, the untimely death of a prominent magistrate in Rokugan suddenly elevates a group of simple samurai to a position of authority, but the magistrate’s unfinished business sends them to the Second City to see it to completion. There, influential samurai from the Empire have almost limitless potential, but the distractions from duty are numerous.

In the Second City, will honor prove stronger than steel?

This digital version of the original boxed set for the Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game, 4th Edition includes the following:

• A complete sourcebook on the Second City, and information on the Colonies beyond its border.
• A sourcebook detailing the various individuals, groups, and agendas that comprise the Governor’s court of the Second City
• A complete campaign that brings characters from a position as minor deputies in the Emerald Empire to major players within the Colonies, and perhaps back again.
• A full map of the Second City, plus the original poster-sized map broken out into A4-sized panels, for home printing
• Yogo Tanaka's journal
• Ide Arahime's pillow book

So that's it.

Hug your family this weekend. A lot.

And, you know, maybe play some games with them.

Life is precious. All too precious...

~SPF