I have a direction.

I do not believe it is necessary to defend the size of my Fictive projects. They are full of good stuff. It is not bloat, it is not splat, it is not crap. Still, I got to thinking.

I will make a version of Fictive Hack that is no more than 50 pages long; that’s 2 pages short of double the original Old School Hack game. But with a LOT more stuff in it. For example, 10 templates for normal humans, then 6 more; 4 for races, and 2 for spellcasters. The additional 6 can be used as-is or used as overlay templates on the others. From 60 templates (plus, if you count World Between and other innovations since “Talents and Templates” came out) down to 16 for the one-shot version.

I will also make a longer version of Fictive Hack with all the rest of the good stuff in it; I’m tentatively naming it “Fictive Hack, Campaign Book, Official TL:DR 2013.”

That should satisfy the one-shot itch, and also have the great resources for those who want more. So maybe I can get more of an audience among those who feel that 26 pages is the perfect length for a game and the rest bloats it up.

As part of that effort, I am working up a monster-builder to include in the one-shot book. I think it will be one of the best gifts I’ve given the Old School Hack community; so I’m clearly excited about it. More to come soon.

Thinking Out Loud

Last Friday instead of our scheduled game we played Arkham Horror. I didn’t get out the board expansions, we played with the base board and 4 characters. After a grueling 5 hours, we won; in that time we coped with 5 rumor cards and 2 burst gates and one devoured character.

We played with the characters released by Fantasy Flight games, instead of my super hero house rules or other custom characters. I figured it was good to get people familiar with the original style while one of my cohorts is making up the Supernatural set for us to play with, to help understand the different rhythm of that custom set.

I’m dealing with a diffusion of focus just at the moment. I’ve got ideas for my next set of Arkham Horror custom cards, and it makes me laugh, so I figure it must be good.

Lurking in the background, I am thinking I could finish up the last couple of missing pieces for my necrodwarves to make a single .pdf resource for that. I started my blog with that on July 4, 2011, and it might be cool to put out the finished .pdf on July 4, 2012, as a celebration of sorts.

I also feel the call of my Zelda project. I get more hits to the tri-force post than anything else on the blog. Sure, it’s likely from lost Zelda fans who wander to a strange place, but still. If I finished that up and put it in a single .pdf with monsters, quests, maps, and so on, that would be great. Of course, that’s a significantly bigger investment of time and energy.

While I feel the tug of loose ends on the blog, and the tug of my current projects I’m already invested in, I also feel the tug of new things. I’ve got a rules lite system that summarizes and condenses some of my learning from game design over the last decade that I’m thinking about fleshing out. I have not given up on Strip D&D either; I want to give it another chance in play.

My main project just at the moment is the World Between; I have lots more conversion and world building to do in that setting. I would say it’s the #1 project for the blog in general.

In my actual gaming life, a friend may be taking over the one game day a month format for the Breathing World in Old School Hack, which would be cool. The two games I’d then focus on would be Edge City an the Hunt for the Widow Dragon, which would be replaced with the World Between when it comes to a conclusion.

OSH Templates for the World Between: Berserkers

Here is another Old School Hack: the Fictive Way template: the berserker.

The Berserker

Jack Shear mentions this class here as a barbarian. He also notes my creation of this template in a post here, though I’ve just now gotten to putting it up as a post. I changed the class from barbarian to berserker because of this bit of text put up by Jack:

“Reflavoring: Of course, a barbarian character doesn’t necessarily have to hail from a barbaric culture. A barbarian might be a normal soldier who falls into a murderous rage in the heat of battle. Or perhaps a barbarian might be a normal man or woman who is sometimes possessed by the bloodthirsty spirit of a deceased maniac or murderer. “

If the most important thing is being crazy and killing stuff, then let’s focus on that instead of the cultural or geographic trappings. Hence, the template I present to you now.

Arkham Horror: Supernatural! The Rabbit’s Foot

Okay, one more item. This is from my wife’s favorite episode.

Arkham Horror: Supernatural! The other five allies.

Here are the last five allies.

Well, that’s it! I hope you enjoyed the Supernatural for Arkham Horror custom content.

Arkham Horror: Supernatural! Five allies.

Because I am a bit insane, I figured I’d do 10 allies with a Supernatural theme. That way you can replace the whole ally deck for a Supernatural themed game. Here are the first five. Since all the backs are the same, I’m only including one back.

Arkham Horror: Supernatural! Bobby Singer and Rufus Turner.

Here are the last two hunters, Bobby Singer and Rufus Turner.

 

Arkham Horror: Supernatural! Ellen and Jo Harvelle

Ellen and Joanna Beth Harvelle!

Arkham Horror: Supernatural! John Winchester and Samuel Campbell

Today we have John Winchester and Samuel Campbell!

Arkham Horror: Supernatural! Sam and Dean

This week, I’ll be posting 8 monster hunters from “Supernatural” for Arkham Horror. Here are the first two, Sam and Dean Winchester.