Category: Actual Play (Page 1 of 2)

Rising Tide Issue 4 – Cortex Prime Superheroic Campaign Journal

Rising Tide is an superhero campaign set in Boston, MA. I’m the GM, and this issue marks the first session since we converted from Astonishing Super Heroes to Cortex Prime by-way-of-Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. In this issue, I’m joined by my brother Joel, running two heroes: Minute Man (a not-man-out-of-time version of Captain America, whose legacy is a shield wielded by several past superheroes dating back to WWII) and Weather Woman (think Storm’s powers but Kitty Pride’s more girl-next-door origins).

I will be posting session reports (“campaign journal”) like this one of the campaign periodically. They will include commentary on — or tie into related posts about — campaign building, on-the-fly rulings, and even playtesting new game mechanics. If this is your first visit, consider starting with Issue #1 to get some of the campaign setting and character backstory. You don’t need to read Issue #2 and Issue #3 to understand this one, as it’s a side story. Unless, of course, you want to! If you’re more interested in general superhero campaign advice, take a look at how we built this campaign setting collaboratively as our session zero.

In Issue #4, we cut to nighttime in Los Angeles, California, where two heroes are performing their usual rounds. Suddenly, a call comes in about a prison break that doesn’t quite make sense, followed by a brawl between opposing supervillains. Just when things couldn’t get more inexplicable, the corporate security at Monarch Techtronics calls in for help, their security overwhelmed by mind control!

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Rising Tide Issue 3 – Astonishing Super Heroes Campaign Journal

Rising Tide is an Astonishing Super Heroes campaign set in Boston, MA. I’m the GM, and I’m joined by my brother Joel and my cousin Matthew. They each play two characters: Joel’s running DISK GIRL/Naomi Nikita Johnson and THE CAT/Bella Arthur, and Matthew’s running MONOCHROME/Simon Blake and THE SAINT (who is a sentient construct created by Monochrome, and thus has no secret identity).

I will be posting session reports (“campaign journal”) like this one of the campaign periodically. They will include commentary on — or tie into related posts about — campaign building, on-the-fly rulings, and even playtesting new game mechanics. If this is your first visit, consider starting with Issue #1 to get some of the campaign setting and character backstory.

In Issue #3, the heroes seek the final pieces of the puzzle behind Tom Wood murdering former police commissioner Thaddeus Kozer, in part because of the appearance of magical shadow monsters during what was supposed to be a less violent confrontation. Unfortunately, after they get their answers, they also get attacked by the superhuman mercenaries known as Halo Force!

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Rising Tide Issue 2 – Astonishing Super Heroes Campaign Journal

Rising Tide is an Astonishing Super Heroes campaign set in Boston, MA. I’m the GM, and I’m joined by my brother Joel and my cousin Matthew. They each play two characters: Joel’s running DISK GIRL/Naomi Nikita Johnson and THE CAT/Bella Arthur, and Matthew’s running MONOCHROME/Simon Blake and THE SAINT (who is a sentient construct created by Monochrome, and thus has no secret identity).

I will be posting session reports (“campaign journal”) like this one of the campaign periodically. They will include commentary on — or tie into related posts about — campaign building, on-the-fly rulings, and even playtesting new game mechanics. If this is your first visit, consider starting with Issue #1 to get some of the campaign setting and character backstory.

In Issue #2, the heroes investigate the scene of the crime: the uncharacteristically high-society estate that the retired police commissioner lived in. They come into contact with metahuman security mercs from Halo Force, and begin to realize things are a lot more complex than they first appeared.

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Rising Tide Issue 1 – Astonishing Super Heroes Campaign Journal

Rising Tide is an Astonishing Super Heroes campaign set in Boston, MA. I’m the GM, and I’m joined by my brother Joel and my cousin Matthew. They each play two characters: Joel’s running DISK GIRL/Naomi Nikita Johnson and THE CAT/Bella Arthur, and Matthew’s running MONOCHROME/Simon Blake and THE SAINT (who is a sentient construct created by Monochrome, and thus has no secret identity).

I will be posting session reports (“campaign journal”) like this one of the campaign periodically. They will include commentary on — or tie into related posts about — campaign building, on-the-fly rulings, and even playtesting new game mechanics. This first campaign journal will mostly be story setup; look for a related post on how I built the entire campaign setting and first scenario in just 6 or 8 total hours of work!

In Issue #1, the heroes are introduced to a fishy murder charge leveled at an inexperienced vigilante, and learn just how byzantine the collision between the metahuman community and the corruption in Boston can get.

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Enter The Nerdom Plays OSR-style Dungeons & Dragons – The Complete Adventure

All episodes of Enter The Nerdom‘s foray into the old-school goodness of Dungeons & Dragons are out now! Follow along as hosts Stan Moroncini, Chad Cook, and Watson Bradshaw join special guest Dan Mason, and delve into the depths of the Puzzle Dungeon: The Seers Sanctum by Directsun Games! We used a hack of Ben Milton’s incredible Knave to keep the rules simple and straightforward, maximizing our play time and keeping the players on their toes with every death-defying encounter and mystery they faced.

Here’s the complete episode listing:

You can catch all their podcast episodes here. Be sure to tune in, because they cover many amazing “nerdoms”: Ghostbusters fans, the  incredible Star Wars-based charity organization known as The 501st Legion, professional wrestling, anime, and so much more!

I’ve also released some of the assets we used for the game:

I’ll put up a few more bits of information and perhaps some more adventure-specific assets I used in the following days!

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