Want To Play Stormbringer? Come join the Retrospective.

 I made a thing.

This could be YOU!

Specifically, a Facebook page called the Stormbringer Retrospective where you can sign up to find people around the world who want to run or play the old Chaosium Eternal Champion games.

Here is the blurb I posted on the Stormbringer / Elric FB page:

"Greetings!

Here is the pitch.

Anyone wishing to GM chooses an adventure they've always wanted to run and announces it here. GM's choice of ruleset and timezone.

(Note I wrote Stormbringer Redux, a massive exploration of the 1E old rules with lots of clarifications & houserules on my blog Tomb of Tedankhamen . Feel free to steal from it. The only suggestion I'd make for all games is Hit Points could be CON + SIZ to increase hero survivability and my shield expansion, but as I said, it is all GM choice)

People interested in playing contact the GM. I imagine most games will be online, but we might have a miracle face to face game. DO NOT PLAY AN ADVENTURE YOU KNOW WELL. Try to come to the game with fresh eyes and not spoil the surprises for others.

As for the adventures, GMs are expected to Moorcock up their stories, adding weird or wistful touches, connecting to the Elric stories, etc. See my post A Moorcockean Bestiary on my blog for ideas. No D&D games in Moorcock's worlds. Also, groups should try to use ALL the mechanics - the Elan system, demons & virtues, etc - just squeeze as much juice as you can out of it.

I would like to run the original Stormbringer 1E sample adventure, the terrible Tower of Ykrath Florn. I have warped it out of all recognition with my crazy ideas and Moorcockean touches, so anyone is welcome to join. I am on Vancouver time, and when I get 4+ players I'll post details.

If this project interests you, please get a game together and let's get the dice rolling!

Play reports and videos very welcome!
Blood & souls for Mr Moorcock!"

The link to join is HERE.

Guest Lecture at University

Tomorrow (Thursday November 5th) I will be giving a guest lecture on indigenous representation in Canadian media and my RPG, NUNA.

Should be fun. I was a media studies instructor for 5 years in Japan, funnest job I ever had.

Great solo creator advice

I've been watching Luke Humphris ads for his indie RPGs and I am impressed.

Game look A+

Interesting concept A++

Like Seven Party Pact and Sword World, contains lots of extras (gameboard, stand ups, even an RV), so I figure this is the way of the future.

He is also a font of great advice for solo creators.

His thoughts are HERE

(Or link below)

 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EdgpnLSUZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Riddle of Audience Engagement

So, I have always had issues with audience engagement.

I started this blog for me, and proposed NUNA largely for myself, not expecting to win.

During the Kickstarter, I did socials religiously and it was exhausting. A mailing list was touted as THE thing to have, yet mine never gained any traction.

I ran Meta ads for a while, and got a half dozen great responses on the Nuna FB page with lots of great advice.

At the university, I've been given two assistants, one of whom suggests I need to do a social media cross post blitz everday!

Uh, no.

If I do that, who writes the game? Who runs it? Who feeds my son?

This is what I think of social media.

It can suck you dry if you let it.

I like this outdated blog the best. Zak S once called it something like a throwback to the 90's. I'm cool with that.

Discord is exhausting with all the conversations and notifications.

I've long since quit Twitter.

BlueSky is pleasant, and I go there to chill once a month maybe.

FB is a dumpster fire that I keep just to stay in contact with friends and family, and spread updates on my Nuna page, but otherwise it is a huge trap of doomscrolling and triggering content.

I did Japanese lessons on YouTube for a while some years back, and between filming and editing, it was a chore.

I get enough emails as it stands without starting a dedicated mailing list.

So when NUNA is done-done, I'll put it back on Kickstarter for free buzz, and see where it goes. I'll have copies printed by then, so can fulfill expectations and also sell online. Also will have digital and POD versions on DriveThru.

One thing that this art residency is teaching me is that the slow way is the living way.

Still, I miss connecting and interacting with people. If anyone has suggestions on how I could build and interact with community at my own pace, I am all ears. Until then, I'll just keep doing what I am doing, just with more support than I ever had before.

Thanks for listening.

NUNA Devlog Update Oct 29, 2026

Writing an RPG by your lonesome is a momentous endeavour, but I feel now that I am in the end stage, or at least late mid stage. I've been showing up every day and putting in the effort, so things are starting to come into shape.

Right now I am taking the Quickstart, splitting each section into its own Google doc, and expanding the rules so they are complete.

Next I have to take incomplete sections (Gear, Weather, Travel), write and playtest them. The university wants me to do an event in February, should be a blast.

I am also finding useful old posts from this blog, such as on social skills, and adding and adapting them.

I am also going back over Kickstarter posts to expand and clarify the lore.

I'm rereading the BRP gold book, but honestly there isn't much there for a post apocalyptic arctic setting, and a lot of the rule changes I proposed during the Kickstarter will be NUNA specific.

This won't be your normal BRP game.

This artist residency has been a godsend and I am thankful everyday for the opportunity and support.

I'll be taking a break late December, and hoping to finish and print the game by my birthday in February. I'm also starting some roleplaying just to relax and de-stress.

I've been doing art everyday as a habit and my skills are coming back. Here is a pic of sonny.

Nakkumek!

NUNA Devblog - Cultural Abilities

Here is an old version of the Cultural Abilities list.

Basically, these are non-magical abilities that reflect the skills you get living your life in a cultural role.

(The exception is Shaman Whisperer, which is connected to the supernatural trying to get back into our world).

I find most Feats or Abilities or what have you are rendered meaningless by combat optimization. In NUNA, there are three categories of abilities - Combat, Survival, and Caregiving. This reflects the fact that in the Arctic, combat is not the end all and be all, but that surviving in the environment and caring for other people is equally, if not more, important.

Enjoy thinking about these!

NORTH INUIT

COMBAT

Arctic Predator (Hunter)

Shaman Voice (Shaman)

Blade Expert (Healer)

SURVIVAL

Weather Sense (All)

Tundra Eyes (Hunter)

Immobility (Hunter)

Mystic Sense (Shaman only)

Whispers of the Dead (Shaman only)

Food Healing (Healer)

CAREGIVING

Ice Shelter (Hunter)

Food Provider (Hunter)

Healing Herbs (Healer)

Slow Thawing (Healer)

Dream Cure (Shaman Whisperer)

SOUTH INUIT

COMBAT

Rifleman (Trapper)

Weapon Modification (Tinkerer)

Unique Armament (Knowledge Keeper)

SURVIVAL

Traplines (Trapper)

Forest Eyes (Trapper)

Animal Ways (Knowledge Keeper)

Plant Ways (Knowledge Keeper)

Small Engine Repair (Tinkerer)

CAREGIVING

Slow Thawing (Trapper)

Healing Herbs (Knowledge Keeper)

Guiding Story (Knowledge Keeper) 

Small Engine Repair ( Tinkerer)

RIGGER

COMBAT

(All) Heirloom Weapon

(All) Improvised Arms

(Roughneck) Gun Slinger

(Whaler) Monster Slayer

(Engineer) Heavy Gunner

SURVIVAL

(Roughneck) Soak Pain

(Whaler) Ice Blood

(Engineer) Jury Rig

CAREGIVING

(Roughneck) Bodyguard

(Whaler) Warming Kiss

(Engineer) Med Tech

Viking

COMBAT

(All) Heirloom Weapon

(Berserker) Weapon Breaker

(Berserker) Human Weapon

(Valkyrie) Gun Fu

(Skald) Battle Hymn

(Smith) Hammer Wielder

SURVIVAL

(Berserker) Pain Soak.

(Valkyrie) Armor Flash

(Skald) Song of Full Bellies

(Smith) Fire Skin

CAREGIVING

(Berserker) Bone Setting

(Valkyrie) Warrior Death Dirge

(Skald) Song of Pain Ease

(Smith) Cauterize

NEW SCIENTISTS

COMBAT

Science Weapon

Pressure Points

SURVIVAL

Stasis

Pain Mitigation

Call of the Void

CAREGIVING

Healing Tech

Food Replication

Sword World & What Is An RPG?

 So this ad for the English edition of Sword World has been slamming my Facebook:

What is best in business?
To crush Backerkit,
 to see other FRPGs driven before you,
 and to hear the lamentations of gamer wallets.

Just like the Seven Part Pact, this really stretches the definition of what an RPG is. The ad picture has books, a book case, cards, special dice with trays, art prints, and plushies. It seems to be 50/50 playable game and art collection.

To be fair, if anyone can do it with the right attention to detail, it is Japanese creators.

But the whole 'kitchen sink' approach to crowdfunded RPGs has got me thinking - what exactly IS an RPG?

Let's do a little flashback.

RPGs At The Start of the Hobby

All you got were a book and some dice. This is the bare minimum of what you need.

Then came minis, useful but not necessary. This was followed by gameboards and dice towers. As these extensions proliferated, gameplay became more like a boardgame, with smaller battlefields and a higher financial buy in. Roll20 has brought all this online, saving your shelfspace but not your pocket book.

The big difference for me is, back in the day, we bought a game to PLAY it, not just COLLECT it. More and more games are collector's items, and the Seven Part Pact makes you wonder is it even playable? Could you figure it out, and could you get 6 people together for enough time to give it a fair shake?

I dunno.

I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, but my platonic RPG ideal is gamebook + dice, pencil, paper, Pringles and let's roll.

What Is Sword World Like?

I had Sword World 1.0 and 2.0 in Japanese. It reads like a math text. You roll 2D6 plus mods (from classes that act like skills if I recall), then refer to a Results Table so long you had to unfold it.

I had 2.0. They doubled the artwork (including cute rabbit characters), but still very mathey.

Aside from the charts, it is no worse than say Barbarians of Lemuria.

Is It Worth It?

If you have money and shelf space, why not? I'll be giving it a pass, might just pick up 2.0 again next time I visit Japan. Second hand shops are lined with them.

Is it playable?

Japanese people I knew played it for years and liked it better than D&D, which has always trailed behind Call of Cthulhu in Japan. Is this pride in a homegrown RPG, or is it really better? From the art and what I recall of the rulebooks I read, it is closer to Final Fantasy with mechs and artificers, so seems to have popular appeal.

But honestly I dunno.

The FRPG space is totally flooded with competing and indistinguishable games, and has been since the OSR started. Maybe this is the shake up it needs.

I'm Alive & Three Things

Hello all,

I am alive. Reduce salt, avoid those kidney stones gentlemen. Mine was an 11mm banger, needed explosives to clear my pipes.

In intense pain but still voted

Anyhow...

1) Review of the Skraeling Tree

I had this written up ages ago but may have deleted it during my deliriums.

TLDR review:

The Good - More Elric! He doesn't do much, but good to hear his insights on dream couches and other lives lived on them. Reminds me of how the throw away reference to the Clone Wars ballooned into its own saga.

The Bad - Not bad per se but a big swing by MM that doesn't always pay off. First, there is the tripartite structure, starting with Oona as protagonist, then switching to Elric, then to von Bek. There is no sense of urgency or danger in any of it, and of course Elric outshines the other voices. Also, the revelation that Melniboneans are related to real dragons is a bit ho hum Mary Sue, although I can see it as a counterpoint to their devolution to Oleb in the books. Richard Miller has hinted at incorporating this into the new Stormbringer game, so we will see what he makes of it.

The Ugly - As an Indigenous artist in residence, the depictions of indigenous people kept hammering me as all flat or just wrong. I understand that Moorcock was pulling an Alain Moore and using literary indigenous figures, such as Longfellow's Hiawatha, and not depicting 'real' indigenous peoples. But making young Elric into White Crow as an equal to Hiawatha, having the baddies insect-related indigenous who kidnap Von Bek, and the mystical mumbo jumbo talk just seems to be playing with tropes best left alone.

2) NUNA Developments

NUNA final rules are coming along. Characters are MUCH more robust than vanilla BRP characters, probably closer to Cthulhu Pulp which I have glanced at. For example, Hit Points are CON + SIZ, and all characters have Cultural Abilities that don't require rolls to work. This fits the post apocalyptic Arctic survival vibe so next round of playtests should be fun.

3) Don't Tell Your Dreams

Lots of pipedreams in the works - a better job to support the work, some travel. As soon as it becomes reality I will let you know.

Nuna Art Test

 

GREAT Horror Writing Advice

 Right HERE

Real life update

I have never felt this sick in my life

On the plus side, a laser destroyed a stone deep inside of me so it was kind of like playing asteroids while asleep

I have a shelf full of opioids covered with warnings that I’m too scared to use and now I see why there is an opioid crisis

Another plus side, Canada‘s bill 37, Or as we like to call it rape the land bill, puts the Canadian government in the running for the big bads of Nuna

Back to sleep

Oh wait my son just stogged the toilet back to work

Blog Hiatus Incoming

Hi all,

Between the new job, raising sonny, and a sudden health emergency (11 mm kidney stone), I will be tapping out of this blog for a while to recuperate and work on NUNA.

Take care

Avoiding Orientalist Adventures

So, I lived in Japan 22 years, mastered the language, published research about Japanese culture, and learned to navigate their social rules enough to get a position as a tenured professor teaching Japanese Society & Culture classes.

You can believe me when I say most Japan-themed roleplaying misses the mark in depicting Japan. When I first started this blog over a decade in Japan, I wrote a series of blogposts on this subject called The Weird in Mystic Japan that became a 'hit' on Reddit and garnered me my first monster viewer number, over 5000 for the first installment.

(You can jump to Part One, Two, Three, Four, and Five here).

Although I am proud of those posts, they were ways to adapt Japan to AD&D in a satisfying way (to me). Ultimately, they are still 'D&D in funny hats', so for people wanting to make their Japan based game more authentic on a deeper level, here are a few suggestions.

1 READ THESE

Although it is fun to read Lustbader novels and watch movies with ninjas, the large majority of it is derivative and an exaggerated, fictionalized Japan. The following works will give you a more grounded view of Japan.

The Idea of Japan by Ian Littlewood. No other book peels away the layers of western (mis)conceptions of Japan and identifies all the tropes mapped onto Japan in response to world events (WWII, postwar slump, Bubble economy). This book is the first step in stripping away the western prejudices and Orientalist images you may have picked up from pop culture depictions of Japan.

Musashi's Book of Five Rings: The Definitive Interpretation of Miyamoto Musashi's Classic Book of Strategy translated by Stephen Kaufman. I have read early versions of the Book, but always found them short, almost unfinished. Kaufman's work builds on recent scholarship to provide the most complete text plus a few other of Musashi's lesser known works. He also debunks the samurai as national identity myth that started in the Edo period, was used during the war, and continues to this day. If you want to inject the true spirit of swordsmen into your game, this is essential reading.

Daibosatsu Toge (The Great Buddha Pass) - English versions of the first three books are available on the U Washington server HERE. This is the quintessential fictional representation of Edo samurai, as written by a Japanese watching his country slide into nationalism and militarism. It was serialized in newspapers from 1913 to 1944, and is the bedrock of samurai fiction. The books contain TONS of adaptable material, from sudden murders, to ninja-like thieves, lost children, dishonest merchants, physically strong but good hearted simpletons, etcetera, and you will be nodding your head as you encounter the originals that inspired everything up to Blue Eyed Samurai.

2 WATCH THESE

Although I have some fantasical suggestions such as Dororo a few years back, here are some more nitty gritty depictions of Edo Japan.

Sword of Doom - I am cheating a bit as this is a film version of Daibosatsu Toge above. But Sword of Doom is an electric, violent 1966 film starring Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune. Akira Kurosawa reportedly called The Sword of Doom (1966) the darkest and most psychologically complex samurai film ever made. There were two other serviceable films made from Daibosatsu Toge, but Sword of Doom is a special experience that shows the brutal truth about Japanese swordsmen.

47 Ronin - The story of 47 samurai who sacrifice their lives to get vengeance on the crafty Lord Kira whose taunts caused their beloved master Asano to draw his sword before the Diamyo and be forced to commit seppuku. The 1941 Kenji Mizoguchi is an expansive version (it has been remade many times on stage and screen), and Mizoguchi was filming at the height of Japan's wartime samurai fetish, so it really encapsulates that uniquely Japanese prioritizing of duty over humanity. Over 3 hours long, possibly on YouTube (cough cough).

Ballad of Narayama - 1983 film by Showhei Imamura, detailing the lives of mountain farmers who must make cruel life and death decisions for their village to survive. One of the two films that inspired me to go live in Japan (the other was Tanpopo). A must watch for capturing that desperate sense of being caught in Japan's vertical society and ironclad traditions.

Jidai Geki (Historical dramas) - There are a TON of these out there, from the Golden Age of the 60s in 70s with names like Mito Komon (1969) and Ooka Echizen (1970). The Hissatsu series with its myriad of spinoffs is probably the most useful for RPGs, as it shows a group of Edo citizens from various ranks working together to right a wrong or solve a mystery. Watch it to understand the invisible walls of Japanese social interaction, but also be inspired by 100s of eminently stealable plot points. There is a Jidai Geki channel on YouTube that has many of these. 

3 GET GIRI-NINJO

My game Giri-Ninjou (義理人情 or Duty & Humanity) is a rules light, storytelling game of being Edo period Japanese trapped in a rigid vertical society. Coming out next year.

Response to 'You Don't Understand The OSR' Video & Advice For Gamers

I just caught this video of the Questing Beast talking with a 5E streamer. I was happy to find it was an intelligent discussion with a lot to learn for gamers of any system, and so I will throw in my two Large Bronzes.

Excuse the rough sketch, Ben.
I'm bedridden by a sudden health emergency but still try to practice my art everyday for work.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT GAME FOR YOU, DON'T DISS OTHERS, FEEL FREE TO CHANGE

My first takeaway is that the 5E guy's title should be "The OSR is too deadly... for me." It is all a matter of taste. I've played in 4E where no one was ever in danger and the players all chewed the scenery for hours between endless combats. I was bored, not my taste. Give me the specter of death and players who are focused on doing great deeds without fear of consequences. This is why I run Stormbringer and prefer to play games like it.

Even 5E guy admits that he once enjoyed a video-gamey campaign, but that it wouldn't appeal to him now. And this is a totally normal reaction. Over our gamer lives we should be trying different modes and games, and even I get tired of Stormbringer from time to time.

Get out to your local FGS and get in a game. It'll do you loads of good.

REALITY CHECKS ARE FINE, BUT REMEMBER THIS IS FANTASY

The conversation sadly gets bogged down a bit in Reality Checks, and references the TPK of the Light Brigade, real war casualty figures, etc. Listen chaps, you are playing a FANTASY game. The creeping sway of reality in RPGs is a blight on the fantasy genre. Whenever I see a post about someone's amazing 'build' in D&D where they use some kinetic spell to speed up cannons and go beyond the speed of sound and blah blah blah I think SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Reality is player knowledge. Back in the day, we split up player knowledge and character knowledge. You may be a physicist in the real world, but your orc berserker probably has no clue about gravity or opposing forces, so give it a rest about modifying your axe for greater kinetic power.

Case in point, Mr 5E is afraid of sinking ships in a fantasy game. He needs to read more fantasy novels, get out of the gamey mindset. Strassha saved Elric, Fafhrd and the Mouser romanced the Sea God's daughters, there should always be an out that comes with a cost (I made a table Less Death More Story). The story is not exclusively a game thing, it is an imagination thing. And if you only have mechanics without imagination, you might as well play a boardgame or video game. RPGs and fiction are the kingdoms of imagination, and this is true for other genres, such as sci fi, cyberpunk, or horror.

USE WHAT IS IN THE RULES TO GET THE TONE RIGHT

On a similar note, Ben points out that in video games all monsters are hostile vs the OSR, where monster reactions can vary widely. This is why the 4E I played was an endless Gauntlet style series of combats with no punch. I was happy to watch the new Golden Axe animated series reflected this when a new character, played by the wonderful Danny Pudi, befriended the two hammer wielding brothers of the old arcade game.

Although the series is getting trashed by YouTubers for being 'woke' or 'ironic' for losing the 'gravitas' of fantasy, on the contrary, 1980s D&D sessions were filled with humour. Go read The White Box and older versions of D&D - still playable, still loved by many, and filled with laughs. Goodman games leans into this.

One thing missing from the video was mention of alignment. As Ben noted, yes, you can put all monsters to Sleep. But stabbing all of them is definitely Evil or Chaotic. Lawful or Good might bind them or take them back to meet justice. Neutrals just ignore and head on to the treasure. Just as Reaction tables added a whole dimension of interactions with NPCs besides combat combat combat, Alignment conversely added restrictions on behavior and who you likely interact with. I really enjoyed the webcomic Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, which codified alignment visually into characters instantly getting along, laughing at the same jokes, and being able to talk to monsters. That comic finally made Alignment language click for me - just like in high school, the goody two shoes (Lawfuls), wall flowers (Neutrals), and Bullies (Chaotics) all spoke their own language.

BRING BACK ALIGNMENT LANGUAGES!

This also spilled out onto the table back in the day (late 80s early 90s). You couldn't play at the same table as some others because they always chose an alignment and acted in a way your character couldn't accept. There was a wizard player who was Chaotic on the 3 system, and would always torture captured NPCs and use them as living trap detectors. I was playing a Paladin at that time, and refused to adventure with him. In the end, he was banned from local tables in peoples' basement and (SURPRISE) started his own game shop where he assembled like minded folk.

DON'T ASSUME WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OTHER GAMES, GO AND SIT AT THEIR TABLE

Ben makes great points about not believing the marketing hype around 5E and other games. Whether it is the image of OSR deathcrawls or 5E LARPing drama students, he is right to suggest you need to get out and play at a wide range of tables to understand what good gaming can be. I am mostly over the OSR, but intended to play a DCC game the weekend when my health took a twist. But I am open to lots of gaming experiences, and I think Ben's video ends with the same message.

(PS Don't worry about my health, at home mending, read half of Monster of the Week awaiting surgery)

What Matters Most in Gaming? Safety, especially for women.

I just watched another good video by the Questing Beast (HERE).

He asks the question "What matters most in DND? and gives his 5 answers.

His list is as follows:

5 Physical Environment

4 Rules

3 Players

2 The Content

1 The Game Master

It is hard to find anything here to disagree with, and as TQB notes, the order of these shift around a bit.

As for me, I'd add a few things, what I call the 'hidden curriculum' of having a good game that has very little to do with externalities like the room or rulebook.

Here we go:

3 Buy In

By this I mean the game concept and how this is followed through. This is why early D&D was so popular and held people long enough to have campaigns - you were a party of heroes clearing out a dungeon to level up, find a relic, and save the world. I played in a year long campaign, and it was epic.

As other games grew popular in the 90s, this longform campaign became difficult to sustain. If you were playing superheros, you were emulating an episodic genre where everything reverted back to normal after the big bad was defeated. Ditto horror, where the chances of surviving and mechanisms for leveling up were absent, and saving the world was often a joke.

But the worst transgression I saw time and again was the GM who pulled a 'switcheroo' on the players and killed the game. If a GM pitches a supers game, but then sics a power leech on players to take away all their powers and hunt them down, (s)he should not be surprised when they all walk. As I have mentioned before, old school scifi games were BAD for this - promise players access to an infinite galaxy, then have them stranded on some backwater planet fighting primitives to get resources to repair their spacecraft.

TLDR make sure everyone buys into the game pitch, and follow through with it to have a satisfying game.

2 Style of Interaction

Another make or break aspect is the style of interaction of players and the GM. In teaching, we call this the 'Guide on side or sage on stage' dilemma. Does the DM handhold the players, or does (s)he sit back and riff off their roleplaying?

If the players are newbies, then the GM has to be in the driver's seat, but as the players become more skilled at improvisation, the GM can sit back and let them hand him or her story hooks to drive the narrative and keep interest high. This demands more from the GM, and new GMs can equally be overwhelmed by veteran players chewing the scenery and hogging the limelight.

To be sure, this is asking a lot of both GMs and players, which is why we should all strive to play at as many tables and in as many different games as possible to bring back skills and the consideration that allow us to match the flow of interaction at the table where we sit.

1 Game Mode

This is somewhat related to number 1, but focused more on player responsibility. This is what I call the 'Heroes or zeros' conundrum, as in some games like modern D&D promote (super)heroic playmodes, while OSR and horror games lean into characters who start as practically useless, and often remain that way.

I have seen modern D&D players try to swing from a chandelier while casting a spell and reloading a gun in a Call of Cthulhu game, and Cthulhu players meekly announcing one action at a D&D table. This mismatch really lets the air out of a game, so if you are checking that everyone has bought into to the concept, don't forget to remind them of the mode in which that game is best played.

Now, the biggest consideration, especially in light of recent events...

0 Player Safety

As you've no doubt heard, this past week the truth of the Cornell 57 and their (in)actions regarding preying on a female student have come to light. This may have come as a shock to some.

It sadly was not to me or many others.

During my MA, a senior professor constantly made lewd remarks to my female colleagues, and all of us who went to the office to protest were blacklisted and punished by lower marks and pressure to remain silent.

So higher education has a problem in its treatment of women. But so do roleplaying games.

I have personally seen a Vampire Storyteller go into graphic detail of a a female player's character being raped.

I have had a female friend ask me to come to a game and sit with her because she was afraid of the GM.

I am sure many of you have similar experiences.

About a decade ago 'safe words' and lists were a hot topic in the RPG sphere, and sadly were scoffed at by some.

Let me be clear - if you laugh at player or GM safety, you are part of the problem.

When I run a game, I always preface two things:

1) There is no rape in my game. If you get captured, you may be interrogated before you escape or are rescued, but it will never be sexual.

2) I gloss over intimate content. If you want your character to seduce an NPC, if it happens, it will be off camera.

(NB Other GMs may be fine with these things, but not me. And we all have to respect each other's boundaries.)

In my experience, games that include a diversity of genders and identities are always more interesting, and the first step in creating this kind of welcoming table is ensuring safety for everyone. But especially those who are most at risk.

Notes On Japan

 So, Japan just raised its Permanent Residence application fees 20x?!?


A few thoughts.
To be fair, it was ridiculously low. I think I paid $60. So an increase of 3 to 5 could be warranted for processing fees.
But the message of 20x increase is simple. Unless you're rich, we don't want you to stay here. And even if you are rich, we can still say no.
Funny story. When I first moved to Japan in the 90's, foreigners were rare. Japanese who saw me in the street would rush up and ask 2 questions.
1 Where are you from?
2 When are you going home?


I was shocked at first, and would reply, do you want me to go home? They would be shocked back, and apologize. I realized that they couldn't conceive of anyone leaving their home country without an idea of returning.
Japan is such a huge source of identity that many find it hard to leave. Even criminals who flee prosecution in Japan have a habit of returning to give themselves up after a few years, like the Red Army bombers of the 60's.
The flip side is that many Japanese feel stifled in Japan and emigrate to places like Vancouver. These people keep back door dual citizenship open for their kids, but again the Japanese government has stated it wants to close this avenue as well.

In a country where the population is in freefall, where big spending (and admittedly coarse) tourists are villified and hard working permanent residents who raise families and businesses are asked to pay the piper, these moves signal a very worrying us vs them mentality.
But the problem is this is always what Japanese culture has been built on - 内外, insider vs outsider. Welcome to sakoku 2.0.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

In Canada, today is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is also a day of mixed feelings.



The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation started as the grassroots Orange Shirt Day in 2013 to commemorate all the things taken from indigenous children at Canada’s vicious residential schools, from their clothes and innocence to their lives. From 2008 to 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented the history and impacts of the 140 federally run residential schools in Canada, and concluded with a report containing 94 Calls to Action. After this victory, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) was launched in 2016, and delivered its final report (Reclaiming Power and Place) with 231 Calls for Justice in 2019.



I was out of Canada, living in Japan when all this happened. I had left Canada in 1996, an indigenous person who had experienced racism many times during his youth here. When I returned to Canada in spring 2023, I was both hopeful with all the land acknowledgments and holidays that things were better. My mother was Nunatsiavut (status Labrador Inuit), and my great aunt had been a Labrador Inuit elder who advised the Labrador Foundation, the wing of Memorial University made to study Inuit culture there. The only reason I was not status was due to The Indian Act’s second generation cutoff / blood quantum, a colonial rule that was designed to reduce indigenous numbers by disqualifying mixed blood children of indigenous mothers, thereby cutting off the matrilineal identity that were central to indigenous peoples across the Americas. In my absence, the NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC) had fought for decades for recognition. Their efforts culminated in 2023 with the Newfoundland & Labrador premier’s apology to NCC for residential schools, which followed a 2017 apology by then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Any day now, I reckoned, there would be a breakthrough.



How wrong I was.




In November 2023, Natan Obed, the head of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), wrote an attack letter accusing the NCC of being a ‘shapeshifter’ organization because it changed its name (although the ITK has changed its name twice). Shapeshifter is a slur in Inuit culture, and Obed’s word choice was ironic considering he was born in New Brunswick, raised in the USA, and couldn’t speak Inuktitut. A week later, the head of the Nunatsiavut followed his lead, parroting Obed’s attacks and adding a complaint about the $75 million the NCC has received from the Newfoundland government (while omitting the $225 million his group has received).

For three years NCC members have been in an anguished limbo as Newfoundland’s media published hit pieces against them, and Memorial University called in mainland ‘pretendian hunters’, who were ignorant of Labrador’s history of assimilation, to create a report denying NCC claims. (I was in the focus group for the report, and as a former professor I was appalled by the unprofessionalism, such as changing ZOOM groups the night before to ghettoize NCC members and using mainland ‘experts’ with no background in anthropology, sociology, or history.)

On September 9th, 2026, Ottawa ended its talks with the NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC), ending their bid for recognition. This was especially painful since NCC includes residential school survivors, who were addressed in Canada’s 2018 apology to residential school victims. The Carney government had already denied the land claims of the Innu, the First Person group living in southern Labrador, who are now filing in Supreme Court. Then, days later, Mark Carney met with American billionaires to sell Canada, including Labrador’s hydroelectric potential and natural resources. Instead of having three indigenous groups to consult with, he has now whittled it down to one.

So today I will go to the Truth and Reconciliation gathering in nearby (colonially named) Queen’s Park, and like a ghost I will move through that conflicted space, neither fully Canadian nor status indigenous.



But I know who I am.

New Art Tools

 

NUNA Lore change

So rewriting NUNA now.

I had originally set it 500 years after the fall. That is a LONG time and no technology would still function.

Going to bring it down to under 100. Just a few generations after the fall, old tech still holding on.

Also, baddies will not only include Inuit and Viking folklore monsters, sea monsters for the Riggers, and mad science / cosmic horror entities, but also (drumroll) CAPITALISM!

Specifically, the inevitable result of our prime minister opening up Labrador's rivers for hydroelectric power and resources both mineral and animal for sale to billionaires worldwide. Although I had hinted at this in the Quickstart, going to lean into it for the final game.

As Sheeran found out, art must speak to power. RPGs as a hobby started about playing heroes fighting to make the world a better place. From Red Markets to Paranoia, some of the best games have this as a central tenet.

Thoughts On Horror & Terror In Games

I just saw (and LOVED) the Resident Evil movie. It is making me think about horror in RPGs.

What do I mean by horror? And what is terror? And how does tension fit in?

As literary critic Devendra Varma summarized, if terror is the smell of death in an old house, horror is stumbling over the savaged corpse. Terror is thus affective, emotional response, how your imagination runs wild at the thought of what you'll find, versus the horror of actually finding the blood and gore and the physical reactions of shock they entail. Between these two, Tension is the anticipation or stress between feeling terror and finding the horror, and amplifies the shock.

For example, in the Resident Evil movie (SPOILERS), when the protagonist moves through a winnebago blocking a tunnel, there is a burst of terror when a washroom door rattles and a plaintive female voice whispers "Help me..." from the other side. There is a splash of horror when we see that it is a mutated girl hiding, which shifts to unease then mounting horror as the hero sees to what extent she is infected.

Emulating horror is tough in movies, and is equally a sticky wicket in RPGs. From my Call of Cthulhu, Ravenloft, and CHILL experience, I can say games do horror passably well, but often lose the plot with terror.

D&D  

Old D&D (up to 2E) did horror well enough. Hit points were low and only the DM had read the monster manual, so there was palpable terror and tension with what you would find in the dungeon and what they would do to you. Creatures like green slime also embodied the horror as they were not only revolting in description, their ultimate horror was that they could infect you and turn you into one of them. The fear of the unknown and fear of death were the pillars of OD&D horror.

The last time I played was a 4E game, and the game had 0 tension in the fight after fight we were dragged through and the 4 page character sheet of kewl powers I had to evade any sense of danger.

As I discussed on the Breakfast in the Ruins podcast, the real horror of OD&D was level drain, a purely existential dread considering level advancement was the impetus of gaming back then. The fact that newer editions have nerfed this threat points to their prioritizing heroism over horror.

Call of Cthulhu

Like D&D, CoC has the low hitpoints and strange creatures that hardwire in the fear of death. Yet the main horror is the unkillable nature of the enemies, in keeping with the source material. Yes, you can get a bazooka and destroy Cthulhu, but in 24 hours he just coalesces again, and some power mad or just plain mad humans will help him. That said, lots of my games have been closer to black comedy as the easy of death and futility of fighting cosmic forces kick in.

Dead of Night

DoN Starts out like a trad RPG with its stats, but its Survival Points and Tension score take it off the rails into darker territory. Survival Points bring you closer to death as they are spent, while Tension warps the world as it builds up. Having Survival Points as basically spendable hit points really works to build tension and terror from player actions instead of GM fiat. The game is rules light and built to emulate horror genre films.

Ten Candles

This game is fittingly described as 'tragic horror.' You sit in a darkened room, each player having a candle before them, which goes out if their character dies. Character creation is shared between players and partially randomized, and this ceding of power contributes to the fear of the unknown and loss of control over who you play. Ditto the enemy, which is also randomized between player suggestions, so you never know what is coming. Finally, control of the narrative switches between the GM and players depending on dice rolls, amping up helplessness and the terror that accompanies it.

There are elements of LARP and gothic horror here, and they work well.

Dread

Like Ten Candles, this game externalizes the terror to a physical mechanic, in this case Jenga. Also like Ten Candles, it is rules light and focuses on minimal characterization so as not to distract from the game or make overcompetent / unkillable characters. The use of Jenga hardwires tension into the game, but can be derailed if players are too good or bad at taking blocks. Neither Dread nor Ten Candles are suited for longterm play, which is in keeping with a game where death is always at your elbow.

Conclusion

In traditional games, horror was based on fear of death and disempowerment of heroic characters. In more modern horror games, players cede power to create flawed everyday characters, while games have added externalities that either reflect the atmosphere or mechanically create tension.

I have no intent on making a horror game, but the above considerations are useful to any horror fans who want to.

Stormbringer Redux #33 - Elric On Drugs

(This article is one of the backlog that piled up when I went off on a much needed vacation. As I slowly get back into blogging and prep for fall semester, I'll be working my way through these in addition to more NUNA, game design, Coyote & Crow, and Stormbringer posts)

I just watched this amazing video about how medieval pharmacology was the engine of knighthood.

And it got me to thinking, doing drugs is a HUGE part of Elric's (pre-Stormbringer) life (and Moorcock's youthful writing practice). That said, every Stormbringer game I have played in or run never gets around to using drugs in any meaningful way. Heck, D&D has more of a reliance on potions than old Stormbringer.

So let's dive into Elric on Drugs, and see if we can't figure out how to juice it up! As always, I'll flesh out the rules based on what is there already, extend it to match the source material, emphasize themes such as addiction and the price of power in this case, and make easily-implementable suggestions that don't overbalance the game.

Let's go!

Imagine the mic is a sword
and that's my head canon Elric

ELRIC'S LUST FOR LIFE

From my long past readings of the Elric books, my biggest recollections of drug use are first and foremost the albino's daily need of drugs to survive, and his helplessness without them. My second recollection is of Elric avoiding the Noidel berries on Imrryr, which drive one 'blind then slowly mad.' Last, there is Elric and Moonglum's infamous partying while taking the Elixer of Invulnerability. Past the original books, in Fortress of the Pearl, Elric is tricked into taking a poison that revives him but will ultimately kill him unless he completes a task to get the antidote. Then there is Stormbringer itself, a potent metaphor for addiction, as Oona from The Pearl intimates.

With these in the back of our mind,  let's dive deep into drugs in the Stormbringer rules.

FUN THINGS WITH DRUGS PART ONE - ELRIC'S POISON CABINET

The rulebook does give us the basics of drug creation, but as usual details are scattered throughout the skill section with a lot of handwaiving. Let's put it all together.

Poison Lore [4.8.8]

Buying Poisons - The Poison Lore skill can be used to see if a merchant has the right poison to sell. A bit meta but poorly thought out - sellers don't appear because you have a high skill. Later on it states that large cities have apothecaries, with a natural 20 on D20 being a Poison Master (or just use POW x 1% Luck roll as I dislike arbitrary rolls).

Costs - No costs are listed (of course), but let's use a baseline of 100LB per level of poison. Moreover, people and city officials are likely to look dimly upon a poisoner in their midst (especially levels 2 and 5), so characters using poison openly should be targeted by the authorities. Also, a Demon or Virtue of Knowledge used by the authorities should be able to track down any successful poisoner.

Conditioned Immunity - Poisoners can also get immunity to poison after a time if they prepare in advance. No details given. I'd rule you can only do one poison type at a time, and can't adventure or exert oneself while doing so. Immunity takes a year to build and dissipates after a fortnight I'd say.

Learning Poisons - Poison Lore can't be learned from XP, only taught by other characters or Demons of Knowledge. I kind of like this, it provides atmospheric adventure seeds. Two players meet and talk, learn 0-9% off each other after talking for an hour (I would prefer a day, and limit the gain to the percentage the teaching character has. If you only have Poison Lore 5%, that is the max someone can get off you).

Knowing Poisons & Antidotes - The rules are a bit vague, but you can recognize and make an antidote if you have the right level for the poison. Make a roll if you don't for a Hail Mary play.

Antidotes - Max skill % is 200 due to Antidotes, skill is halved when researching or making them, 00 is ALWAYS a fumble. Yes, poison, like magic, should always have a chance of failure.

Poison Classes - Once again, the information is scattered throughout the section, so let's put it all in one place. Note that ALL classes can be either one of PAINLESS or PAINFUL. Painful poisons reduce ALL skills and physical attributes by half as they work.

Level 1 (01-20) Instant Damage. Antidote BEFORE poison. Considering how low HP are, these seem a tad high.

Level 2 (21-40) Slow Death. Antidote AFTER poison. No natural immunity.

Level 3 (41-60) Paralysis or Unconsciousness. Natural Immunity possible (CON x1% roll). Antidote AFTER poison.

Level 4 (61-80) Fake Illness. Natural Immunity possible (CON x1% roll). Antidote AFTER poison, Master must have 120% skill. Healing plants don't work. Needs more details, so roll on following:

 1 Nausea (lose balance, DEX and related skills at half) 2 Shakes (can't use hands) 3 Blindness 4 Deafness 5 Amnesia 6 Weakness (STR reduced to half)

Level 5 (81-00) Instant Death. Antidote BEFORE poison, Master must have 120% skill. No natural immunity.

Ambiguity # 1 - The rules state there is no natural immunity for 2 and 5 (death), but there are for 3 and 4 (paralysis or sickness). What about 1? I'd say yes as those damages can be high.

Ambiguity # 2 - How is poison delivered? Syringes are not a thing in The Young Kingdom (unless Jerry Cornelius arrives with his needle gun), so there are two methods.

Oral - The poison is put in food or drink. The imbiber has a chance of a Taste roll (minimum is INT x 1% unless skill points have been used) to notice the taste and stop drinking or eating.

Weapons - Poison can only be applied to small cutting weapons (daggers, darts at 1D4 damage), and last only 1 hour before dissipating. Only one application can be done at a time, and if a weapon does 1 HP of damage the poison is delivered and must be reapplied.

FUN THINGS WITH DRUGS PART TWO - PLANTS OF THE YOUNG KINGDOMS

Turning to Plant Lore [4.8.9], again we have the bones of a useful system with a lot of handwaiving and incomplete ideas. Let's build it up a bit.

Buying & Costs - There is even less in this section than the Poisons section. No costs are listed (of course). Foraging is usually done for free, but a Hunter could be hired for INT x 2LB per day to provide food in the wilderness. Apothecaries and merchants everywhere would definitely sell poisons, healing, and cures (levels 3, 5, and 6). Poisons are as previous section, 100LB per level, and frowned upon by authorities. Sorcerous herbs are usually sold by wizards or apothecaries in Chaotic lands for 400LB per use, highly illegal in Lawful lands (double price). Healing is usually administered by Priests of the temple for a donation of 25 LB for minor, and 50 or more LB for major, and 100 LB or more for a cure. Double these prices, if buying a herbal healing concoction to take with you. Stimulant potions or magical elixers are costly, so a flat 1000LB per potion and 1500LB per elixer. Moreover, Lawful people and city officials are likely to look dimly upon a brewer of potions or elixers in their midst (levels 9 and 10), so characters using potions openly should be targeted by the authorities. Stimulants would be limited to Nobles or High Priests in all lands, while Elixers (9-10) would be limited to Nobles and High Priests in Chaotic lands, both due to cost and the need to protect their power.

Learning Plants - As Poisons.

Right from the start the rules tell us we can recognize plants and their effects, but actual use is restricted to 10 levels. 

1 Recognition (01-10) General knowledge of plants.

2 Foraging (11-20) Basically can feed oneself if edible plants are available, I'd add that on a roll you can feed 1D4 others but must spend the day foraging. This could save a party trapped in the wilderness.

3 Poisons (21-30) Helps you recognize poisonous plants, plus gives you a free 10% in Poison Lore.

4 Sorcery (31-40) Effectively a stealth rule that you can't do demon summoning without getting these herbs and burning them. I would also allow it to give 10% in Sorcery skill, so learning Plant Lore becomes a gateway to magic.

5 Minor Healing (41-50) Helps you make a weak healing poultice (1D6 HP after 1D6 hours). Let's clarify this is for minor wounds incurred by combat or accident (falling, fire, etc).

6  Serious Healing (51-60) Allows you to make a stronger healing potion (2D6 HP after 2D6 hours), useful against wounds, poison, and disease. Note doesn't cure poison per se, just lets you outheal it.

7 Cures (61-70) Find plants to cure infections & disease in 1D6 days. Good as an adventure seed 

8 Mind Altering (71-80) Allows you to make hallucinogens, emotion-affecting drugs, aphrodisiacs, hate-agents etc.

9 Stimulants (81-90)  Allows you to make a potion that increases or decreases a single attribute by 1D20 for 2D6 hours.

10 Potions & Elixers (91-00) See below.

Addiction (NEW!) Since Elric's addiction to drugs then Stormbringer is a major theme of the books, this should be reflected in the game. For Plant Lore levels 8-9 (Mind Altering drugs and Stimulants), there is a POW x 5% chance of resisting addiction whenever these are taken, and the modifier for this chance is reduced by 1 each time the drug is used in a week. If a character fails to resist, they are addicted and cannot function without the drug. I leave details up to you.

NB - I may flesh out poison and drug details at some point, but for now I leave as is and suggest GMs craft effects that reflect the themes of Stormbringer.

MAGIC POTIONS ARE US

It is somewhat disappointing that the only genuine magic potion we get is the Elixer of Invulnerability, but since it comes straight from the novels, this can be forgiven. However, players and GMs demand more from a game, so let's just take new Elixers from [5.7.1.4 Special Demon Abilities], which already includes Invulnerability, and add 2 for fun. Remember, these all only last 1D6 hours, but are great ways to power up PCs to fight Elric level cosmic baddies or multiple groups of smaller foes who may just surrender if overpowered.

There are limitations. First, you cannot take more than 1 elixer at a time, as that power is too much for mortals. Also, only one a day to reflect human fragility and preserve game balance.

List of Elixers

1 Invisibility - Half chance to be hit, double surprise chance, ie Ambush roll I suppose

2 Life Drain - Soul Leech sounds better, sucks 1D6 POW from a foe in combat if a POW vs POW roll is successful. This is added as temporary POW to the Leech, so useful for Sorcerers or those needing high POW to fight off spectral attacks. Extra POW dissipates when used or by 1 a day till gone, does not increase actual POW attribute, as that would be OP

3 Strength Drain - Vampire sounds better, sucks 1D6 STR from a foe in combat if a POW vs POW roll is successful. This is added as temporary STR to the Vampire, so useful for Warriors or those needing high STR to do more damage, also may reduce the foe's damage bonus. Extra STR dissipates  by 1 a day till gone, does not increase actual STR attribute, as that would be OP

4 Regeneration - Regains 1D6 HP per turn, very useful and in keeping with fantasy literature

5 Fear - Intimidation sounds better. If POW vs POW is won, foes in combat cower in fear. The POW roll is only ONCE per target and you must make eye contact, so a good limitation and useful when outnumbered

6 Sleep - If POW vs POW is won, foe falls into a slumber for 1D6 hours. The POW roll is only ONCE per foe you make eye contact with, so a good limitation and useful when outnumbered

7 Invulnerability - Original rules state they ignore ALL physical damage, but magical weapons do half damage. Let's change this to the 20 points of armor of Demon abilities, normal weapons have 50% change to break when hitting the drinker, magic & demon weapons do half damage against them

8 Acid - Instead, change to Flame Form. Drinker is wreathed in flames that does no harm them, but does an extra 1D6 fire damage to any foe they hit, plus 1D6 per round to any foe in close combat (short weapons or grappling).

9 Speed - Gets first and last attack in any round, cannot be caught if chased

10 Teleport - Teleports 50 ft in one direction once per turn in addition to their normal attack. Can still be hit by missiles and melees if in range

11 Transformation - The drinker turns into an animal. INT and POW remain the same but everything else is rerolled. More fun if the animal is random. 1 tiger 2 great ape 3 bear 4 eagle 5 6 7 8

12 Intangibility - The drinker can only be hit by magical weapons, but cannot do physical damage unless holding a magical weapon. Can pass through non-magical walls, so good for escape or dungeoneering / scouting / spying.

MYSTICAL HERBS & WHERE TO FIND THEM

Finally, the availability & location of materials is handwaived in the rules, so let's nail it down a bit.

Poisons - Exist just about everywhere in The Young Kingdoms, like on Earth, but grow more readily in Chaotic nations (+5% to find) and especially ruined lands (+10%, Forest of Troos, Melnibone, The Silent Lands, Sorcerer's Isle, The Marshes of Mist, The Sighing Desert, R'lin K'ren A'a and Jungle Lands, etc).

Healing herbs - Exist just about everywhere in The Young Kingdoms, like on Earth, but grow more readily in Lawful or Balanced nations (+5% to find) or sacred lands (+10%, ie Tanelorn, Myshella's castle grounds, Myrrhn, etc).

Sorcery & stimulant plants - In all Chaotic nations (no bonus) and ruined lands (+5%).

Elixer ingredients - In ruined lands only (no bonus).

Foraging - For every day spent foraging to the exclusion of all else, roll on the following.

Critical - Get a double dose of what you search.
Success - Get one dose of what you require.
Failure - No luck, spend another day.
Fumble - No luck, also have an encounter.

SOURCES

https://nat20w.wordpress.com/2022/02/21/rereading-elric-2-1-drugs-are-bad/

NUNA Plans

Hi all,

Busy doing orientations here. After that I have to get to work while pay is flowing.

Week 1 - Turn notes about special rules into complete sections (Community, Culture, Transport, Weather, Shaman Whisperers, Super Science). Delineate between One Shot (as in the Quickstart) and Community Building play styles.

Week 2 - Rewrite the text from old guy prattling on to newer, welcoming text for beginners.

Lots of work but lots of fun.

Cover Sketches for NUNA

I've been working on cover sketches for NUNA. A lot of it has been derivative of other adventure RPGS.

So basically I have started over and am sketching around the themes of NUNA.

The Land

The People

Community

Culture

So, instead of the party mid fray with some beast, I am thinking of a party with an Inuit, a Rigger, and a New Scientist returning to a coastal community

Some issues.

My art skills besides sketching and drafting are fine, but coloring talent is severly atrophied. I am currently relearning watercolors now.

Labrador is hard to draw, Endless forests of trees, white expanses, rocky vistas drowning in sunset flames and blue skies, or shrouded in blowing snow.

Got my work cut out for me.

Style is my natural Bande dessinee / Manga. It is what I know.