Pick #98: Wobbly arrows...

For all those of you who ever wondered why a flying arrow from a longbow seems to wobble: it does! And if you're wondering why it hits target, this video by "smarter every day" explains beautifully. And there's a sheriff with longbow skill 10.

I'm not sure whether this knowledge is much good for role playing games, but maybe describing the sight of a snaking arrow coming toward you is kind of scary and cool.

Santiago Joe Adventure RPG

For a limited time, the Santiago Joe Diceless Pulp Adventure game is available again for Pay What You Want. Always wanted to watch and play your own B-Movies, and never have the time to play except during short breaks? This may just be the game for you.

I fashioned the game originally for a 24-hour challenge, because I often want to play a fast game even when I don't have dice ready. I also tried to build a mechanism where you quickly make up the premise and heroes of the adventure together as a group - somewhat like in Fiasco, but again without dice. As players (STARS) and game master (WRITER-DIRECTOR), you take turns adding elements to the title and credit lists of your own movie, and then start playing the acts. Idea is to play fast - and keep the action rolling while ad-libbing the story. Players and game master just describe what they do, building on what's already described. As long as the action is new and fresh, and fits the hero, it succeeds - but the game master can think up a new challenge. Conversely, each time a player (or the game master) falters and hesitates to make up how to win a challenge or solve a conflict, their hero (or the game master's villain) fails in their actions and the opponent wins.

Also, I added the ten commandments of the pulp story game, to keep the action going - and a secret eleventh one for the game master. In the back of the book there are lists of settings and ideas to get you going.


Donations appreciated, and with enough interest I'll do a kickstarter for an extended version with extra adventures, ideas, random lists, and enhanced artwork. Be sure to let me know, and just leave a comment to motivate me ;-)

Eighteen Heroes and an Adventure

My new supplement for The World Beyond is now available in print. The sleek booklet is full color, with 18 ready made heroes which you can play out of the box. Each hero has their own sheet, front and back. I loved doing the artwork on each of the characters, trying to give each of them something special. Hope you will enjoy them too.

After counting pages I figured I had a few pages left, so I added a short adventure. It features a murder mystery on Samaris with a rather... Lovecraftian twist. I playtested the adventure a few times at the Dutch Role Playing Guild, and we had a lot a fun - even with quite large parties.

Each of the heroes is featured with their own three special contacts in the city of Samaris, so they are instantly usable in the Samaris setting. If you don't have the Samaris hardcover (yet), you can use the short descriptions and the extra map I've also included, instead.

Update: You can now order the 48p full color print from DriveThru or RPG Now!