Invulnerable Super Hero RPG: Vigilante Edition

The Invulnerable Super Hero RPG: Vigilante Edtion game designed by Joshua Kubli has been released on DriveThruRPG. Head on down there to purchase it for some supers action in your own super powered setting or use the native setting that allows you to create supernatural heroes, science heroes, mutant heroes, robot heroes, alien heroes and anything else you can think of! Create legacy heroes to add depth to your setting!

Here is a glimpse of the artwork I made for the game.

Buy the book at DriveThruRPG!

69 Months

Here are the 69 month photos!

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EOTE: Droid-like Typing Detected

Modesty Blazing 02

Episode 02: Droid-like Typing Detected

The Zeltron pilot Darter Kel had been detained for questioning by the authorities of Smallberries Skystation on Hypori. After all he was the one who dealt with and was up close with the former Captain Razi Sunmote.

The errant Captain Sunmote used a droid caller to muster an attack force made of dormant battle droids. The droids had been reactivated from salvage taken from the Hypori. After dealing death and destruction within Section 12 of the skystation, Sunmote and his droid force jettisoned their captured section and jumped into hyperspace on a desperate mission of vengeance.

But Darter's shipmates, the droid 41-VEX, the Trianii bounty hunter Qillian Ryn and Trandoshan hired gun John Tray'Essek, were released on their own recognizance, after a good word from the entrepreneur they rescued, Gir Tashkent.

The crew of the Modesty Blaze was waiting for Darter's questioning to end when a sharply-dressed human came knocking on the ship's ramp struts. VEX, in the lower cannon turret, spun the weapon at him in retaliation to the knocking. Qillian rushed down to greet the man, who introduced himself as Colonel Zev Sleen an Imperial officer.

He offered 4000 credits to take him to and bring him back from the nearby Khov system.

Qillian took over the pilot seat, apprehensive over having to fly the freighter without their designated pilot Darter. He had trained for some hours (buying 1 Rank in Pilot (Space) with the last of his XP) and had gotten slightly better at it in the last few hours.

It should have taken three hours to reach Khov, but VEX forgot to carry the one in his calculations (with no successes in Astrogation) so they arrived three hours late.

Khov System

There was a blue white planet shrouded with clouds. Its polar caps is too frozen to support life. VEX scanned and spotted an automated intermittent signal from the liveable equatorial region. Colonel Sleen confirmed from the coordinates that it was their destination.

Qillian fought the winds as he dove under the clouds, causing the drinks Tray was serving Sleen to spill. Soon he was flying the Blaze through an overwhelming ice storm. The clouds cleared to reveal a cliff wall before them. The Trianii - to his own surprise - banked away and threaded his way through a canyon (thanks to a series of Piloting successes).

The signal led them to an open hangar bay at the foot of an icy mountain. Fifty metres above it on the steep mountainside was a command structure with a large window overlooking the frozen countryside. Both were dark and did not appear to have any lights activated.

Qillian had a bad feeling about this. A sudden downdraft tried to force the Modesty Blaze into a crash as it came in for a landing, but Qillian - again to his own surprise (with a success that involved 2 Triumphs) glided in with hardly a tremor.

Our first double Triumphs!

EOTE: Modesty Blazing

Modesty Blazing

Episode 01: Skyfall

Note: This GOKL campaign follows the Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginners Game that started with GOKL Escapes Mos Shuuta and continued with GOKL Escapes The Insurmountable Ned. Now that the former Krayt Fang has been renamed Modesty Blaze (after a short stint as Babymetal before retcon renaming) after its major refitting on Rodia, the campaign will now be named "Modesty Blazing."

No Obligation roll just because.

Initial Destiny pool rolls resulted in this:

The Force was used repeatedly over the course of the game.

Ord Throsol

Ord Throsol was a white dwarf system with multiple asteroid fields and thick cometary clouds. The airless planetoid known as Ord Throsol was centre of mining refinery and manufacturing. The Modesty Blaze is berthed alongside the scout vessel, the YV-929 armed freighter Veracity Slush. The Blaze crew had just been commissioned to deliver machine parts to Gir Tashkent of Spacewell Manufacturing Inc. on Smallberries Skystation in the Hypori system.

But first, Zeltron pilot Darter Kel, the droid 41-VEX, the Trianii assassin Qillian Ryn and the new Trandoshan hired gun Tray'Essek bade farewell to Nora Romanova, the Wookiee Lowhrrick and Twi'lek Oskara who have joined the crew of the scout vessel for a job beyond the Saijo Sector. A moment later the trio was gone with the Slush.

As they prepared to raise ship, an RA-7 droid stopped them. He had a package that also needed to be delivered to former Imperial captain Razi Sunmote of Sunmote Trading on Smallberries Station. Darter was reluctant to take on any impromptu jobs but the droid was very transparent. He showed the holo message from Sunmote, which had the proper documentation, and opened up the package to reveal the old droid caller inside.

An extra 1000 credits earned from going to Hypori couldn't hurt.

On the Road

VEX calculated the hyperspace jump perfectly (with 3 Successes on Astrogation) shaving some time off the journey. However, they were violently pulled back into realspace 20 light minutes away from the planet Hypori. VEX scanned the area and discovered a gravity field projected from a nearby asteroid. Also, three R-41 Starchasers were accelerating to attack speed toward them.

Darter's superior piloting skills allowed him to execute a tight turn keeping the fighters boxed inward of their turning arc. (Successes and Triumph on Darter's Piloting roll gave everyone else an upgraded skill and a Boost dice.) 41-VEX angled the shield as Qillian loosed a barrage which missed. However, one of the Starchasers were slammed by Tray's multiple blasts and disintegrated catastrophically. First kill!

Most successes with the least dice we've ever seen thus far. 

EOTE Tabletop Day Episode: First Day on the Job

For International Tabletop Day today, Irfan a quick game of Edge of the Empire for Irfan. Then, Farid and Cikma came a-visiting and Farid joined the game.

Edged by the Empire

Episode 05 First Day on the Job

Previously: Hondo Pash and his little sister Yuzy Pash had finally freed themselves of the crime lord Teemo the Hutt. With their newfound friend the armoured bounty hunter Giin Lawquane and two astromech droids R2-8B8 and R5-K2, they began to carve a life for themselves in the spacelanes of the Outer Rim Territories with their YT-1300 light freighter Lava Jaeger. The first stop in their quest for their first freight job: the planet Rodia.

Formerly the Krayt Fang, the Lava Jaeger soars away from the Tatooine system. 

The ship set down in Landing Bay 4 in the small town of Port Trammel on Rodia. (Music played: "Approaching Rodia" by Kevin Kiner from Star Wars: The Clone Wars for atmosphere. You can find the mp3 at his website.)

Hondo is met by 32-VEX, the starport authority droid who welcomed him to Port Trammel. Hondo had 375 credits. After port fees, he now had 345 credits.

32-VEX asked, "Are you here for business or pleasure?"

Looking at his wallet, he said, "Definitely business. I'm looking for a freight jobs with my ship."

VEX informed him, "Although we're a small settlement, we do have requirement for offworld shipping. Feel free to ask around. Have a nice day."

After the droid left, Yuzy came running down with her walking staff, followed by Giin and R5-K2. The nine-year-old chirped, "Okay, Hondo. I'm off to go buy some food and provisions for the ship!"

Hondo was surprised. "Wait! We don't have the money to spend!"

"Oh," she grinned cheerfully. "I swiped 200 credits from Teemo's palace before we left. We'll be fine."

Giin shrugged. "You want me to go with her, bothth?"

"Yes. Protect her. Please."

"See you in three hours," said Yuzy with a smile. And then R5, Giin and Yuzy was out the landing bay doorway.

Man, I need a better gaming table. 

Mister Beargguy III

Here's my first ever fan art from the Mobile Suit Gundam multiverse.

It's not a Gundam. It's not a Zaku.

It's KUMA-03 Mr. Beargguy III from Gundam Build Fighters, the mobile suit Gunpla built and piloted by China Kousaka. 

Because Mr. Beargguy rocks.

Rafe's 27 Month Birthday

Twenty-seven months old now!

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Robotech RPG: The Sinkhole Situation

Irfan began a playing a new game today: Palladium's Robotech RPG. Sila had a copy back in our teenage years. I played less than her friends and her did because I was away from home for most of the time. We were totally into Robotech. Sila taped every episode for me to watch when I'm back from boarding school. We bought and read as many of the Jack McKinney novelisations as we could.

And 25 years later Irfan is now playing it. I'm running it. I admit I was curious to see how the system feels like when I'm now 40 years old.

He rolled up an RDF Veritech pilot named John Barnes, named after Troy Barnes of Community, played by Donald Glover.

Actual play report follows:

January 7, 2009

RDF Nouakchott Base 

Flight officer Barnes was an F-22 fighter pilot, assigned to the Robotech Defense Force base outside Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauritania. His usual missions were flying patrol sorties along the West African coast. He had been training in a VF-1 simulator for months, but he had never seen one before...

Until today.

A flight of three new fighters landed at the base early in the morning. They had livery of dark blue with light grey highlights. The Nouakchott base insignia was painted on both its tailfins. Although it resembled the obsolete F-14s, it had modules that fit onto the fuselage strangely. He knew what they were. It was time to see them at work.

Squadron Commander Shiryo Kikue ordered Barnes to fly the new VF-1J on a northwest heading at ten thousand feet and engage an F-35 in a mock aerial combat sent from RDF Gibraltar. The base had a dozen Destroids - ground-based mecha - assigned to it that was used to patrol the coastline and the wastelands surrounding the city, but this was the first time Veritechs were assigned to Nouakchott.

Barnes made himself comfortable in the VF-1J's cockpit and familiarised himself with the "thinking cap" helmet. Just after sunrise, the fighter was airborn.

68 Months

68 months now! Five and 2/3 years old! Whee!

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Night's Black Agents: Let Slip The Ovcharkas of War

Last time on Night's Black Agents: Jacob Novazembla, Nikolai Kaidanovsky, Sami Härkönen, Brendan, Shiina "Misha" Mikado and Zlatan Kljujic were finally reunited at the heavily fortified ranch of King Valentin the "Devil's Husband" after extracting his love, the Romani vampire Vienna "Vin" Cesarescu from the deadly R-Team, Inish Medical's special operations team. Leaving Faris Barrar and his men stranded in Bucharest, Romania, they fled across the Bulgarian border and the Danube river near Ruse and Shtraklevo. 

Day 05 Monday: Very Early Morning

Brunch Planning

It was late after midnight after everyone had some hours of catching up, rest and planning. 

Since Vin needed the Inish serum to function in daytime without adverse effects from the sun and going on a bloodlust, Nikolai - a former Russian GRU operative who was also a medical doctor - went immediately to work at the ranch's lab trying to analyse the vial she entrusted them with. She kept the other one, rationing it for herself.

Misha, who had arrived earlier with Brendan, told them that Julia, the cousin of Georgeta Andrea Grigore, their anti-human trafficking activist contact in Bucharest, was being held there - reminding them that King Valentin was still a human trafficking scum. They cannot rely on Valentin's help and would need to leave as soon as possible. But to where? Options include Stockholm (their allies from the Eurovision mission) and Novosibirsk (Nikolai's GRU allies), and how would they get Juila out as well.

Sami and Zlatan planned to take the Niva to scout the surrounding towns the next morning while the others would protect Nikolai and reconnoiter the ranch, looking for assets and exploits.

Zlatan used a burner cellular phone to call his former colleague Rosa Martinez in Munich. She was an American field office manager for Case Protection Services, a private military contractor Zlatan used to work for in Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda. She agreed to do a favour for him: to send a surveillance team over the border into Austria. If Farris Barrar and his team reached their safehouse in Vienna, Zlatan wanted to know. Zlatan told her, "Do not engage them whatever they do."

"What are you working on, Zlatan?"

"It's big. You'll know it soon. Thanks." The Bosnian wheel artist sent her contact instructions and hung up. Fatigue took its toll and he fell asleep.

Yaya's Super Frog

Yaya drew a super hero of her own design for Sila's birthday earlier in the year.

I prettied it up some more for her. 

Rafe's 26 Month Birthday

And now the boy is twenty-six months old!

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Two Female SWAG Thieves

No, not art thieves on the Star Wars Artists' Guild. Just drawing two Star Wars thieves as requested by their players for the RPG!

My first SWAG requests for the year.

Denma Hawat

requested by "hiei252".

Lorin Dall

requested by IJ Thompson.

Wandrella - With Stats!

From the first ever Star Wars original novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster, is the giant worm known as wandrella. It was visually defined by Chris Sprouse in the Dark Horse Comic adaptation mini-series. There is a link to the D6 stats below, and comparable (more or less) FFG stats are displayed beneath it.

Why would you not want your player characters face a giant slimy albino worm that couldburst out of the ground or a dark, dank cave during their adventures?

67 Months

Another month! 67 months old!

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Night's Black Agents: A Sunny Day in Pripyat

Previously in Bucharest, Nikolai Kaidanovsky, Sami Härkönen, Shiina "Misha" Mikado and Zlatan Kljujic were joined by the cleaner only known as Brendan. Their recent recruit, the French thief Marcel Clouseau was lost to the bite of thousands of vampire puppies and a well-placed thermobaric warhead near Lake Titan.

Nikolai, who was about to extract their ally Vienna "Vin" Cesarescu, suddenly found things at the Sunrise Hotel to be chaotic. Face to face with the lethal R-Team, Inish Medical's operatives sent to East Europe for a job, Vin's quick thinking saved Nikolai telling the others that he was a member of Julian Dragani's police cadre on their pay. But he found himself in a car fleeing the hotel with the driver Gregor, Faris Barrar, Mr. Chow and other members of Inish Medical's R-Team operatives.

The agents' tacnet still active, they began planning.

Misha and Brendan were to go directly to their teammate Jacob Novazembla (because their players were absent) who was with the Romani criminal cartel lord King Valentin, awaiting the retrieval of his love, Vin.

Sami and the visibly shaken Zlatan (at 0 Stability Points) still wearing their puce jogging suits and helmets drove their Lada Niva pacing the R-Team's vehicle as they headed away from city centre.

Jegergryte's Cartol's Emporium is Live

Audun "Jegergryte" Lovlie has released his fan-made Star Wars RPG supplement to Edge of the Empire. You might have seen the cover he requested for it in an earlier blog post here.

Entitled CARTOL’S EMPORIUM OF USEFUL THINGS: THE CATALOGUE OF SHINIES the pdf details the mobile shadowport known as Cartol's Emporium, where a nest of fringe characters dwell, as well as stats for various weapons and ships that the characters might need or encounter in their adventures.

Click here to check out the blog post with links to the file on Dropbox and Google Drive.

Barri - With Stats!

Like the space slug, the barri is another beast that lives in vacuum. A barri breaks down asteroids using its acid secretions with its mouth and absorb its nutrients. It can also propel itself by expelling gaseous waste underneath its quadridactyl base. (Yes. It farts though space between asteroids.) Being semi-sapient, it can form telepathic bonds with spacers allowing them permission to hitch intersystem rides on the hull of starships. It can also bestow instinctive astrogation figures to their mind-bonded spacers, giving them faster, better routes through hyperspace.

The creature first appeared in West End Games's Creature of the Galaxy in 1994. Its write-up and D6 stats can be found at pages 12-14. I have converted them (more or less) to Fantasy Flight Games' Edge of the Empire RPG system here.

Because the central theme of Edge of the Empire is spacers making a living in the galaxy, the barri would be a good creature to encounter in asteroid fields or in a cometary fragment when the navicomputer of a players' ship is busted. What if the barri has its own agenda? What if the barri decides to jump to an accretion disc of a black hole.

A Return to Bread

So it has been a very long time since I baked bread. My old toy's motor died in 2007 or early 2008 (after 3 years of weekly bread baking). Despite looking around for a handyman or an appliance repairer, we were unable to find one who would work on my poor mixer. Apparently, people no longer repair small appliances, they just go out and buy a new one! And then we were distracted by the arrival of a certain cantankerous addition to our home, and then another. So there was never any time to actually bake bread.

But now that the baby is two years old, and his sister is a toastivore, we decided it was time to go back to baking our own bread. And, since we couldn't get the old mixer fixed (I am still sad about that), we got a replacement for it.

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Teluk Senangin Picnic

During the trip back to Sitiawan, Atok and Opah thought it would be great for us to have a picnic at Teluk Senangin, a public beach accessible from the Sitiawan-Pantai Remis road. Because it was Chinese New Year, it would not be wise to have a picnic at Teluk Batik. In fact I don't believe we have ever been to Teluk Batik during major holiday periods.

There were many other visitors to the beach. But it was not packed. There was probably more visitors than usual because it was Chinese New Year and there was litter everywhere. The location did remind me of Teluk Batik before I left Sitiawan.  

Here are some photos from our excursion to the beach.