We’re relaunching our successful Machinations of the Space Princess old-school swords-and-scifi game, and you’re invited!
For the time being this is FREE and includes a psychedelic and surreal space adventure of time-loops and cosmic pizza, as well as quickstart rules so you can try out the game for yourself, as well as pregenerated characters in case you want to start some trouble right away!
This is also the start of our forthcoming Machinations-Media project, which will present a monthly ‘zine supporting the worlds of Machinations of the Space Princess over the course of a year. More details on that are forthcoming soon!
Lastly, this is our first full attempt at finding ethical ways to use AI, strong human oversight that aims to use AI to assist the disabled and neurodivergent in completing projects and achieving a little independence, or helping older creators to keep working and earning.
We hope people will support this aim, and the use of AI in this context, helping rather than replacing human beings.
R&R is a set of supplementary material and options for ‘Old School’ games, with a bunch of innovations and choices to make it more fun and playable for more modern players. Inspiration is taken from the Rules Cyclopaedia, Old School Essentials and Lamentations of the Flame Princess amongst others as well as from the comic strip Feral & Foe from 2000AD.
In R&R you play monsters, and those monsters are all defined by ‘Race as Class’ or R&R (clever, eh?) In Palladium terms that makes them RCCs, or ‘Racial Character Classes’. I’ve done this precisely because I hate ‘Race as Class’ and I want to challenge myself as a designer to make them more fun. I also hate the de-emphasis on race (more properly species) in modern iterations of RPGs, and so have made this as a kneejerk reaction to killjoys who seem to think a gnome shouldn’t be statistically distinct from an ogre (and by extension, I suppose a mouse shouldn’t have different statistics to a mammoth).
This is just the rules options and changes I suggest for playing R&R. The actual racial classes (other than goblins) I’m going to nickel-and-dime you with, possibly collecting them all into one big tome at the end of the exercise with properly commissioned art.
Right now I have to pay for a bunch of repairs on my house, so you’ll have to forgive me for cutting corners here and there. A goblin’s got to make a dishonest buck after all.
A ‘Giallo’ (Italian pulp) style scenario/context for dramatic crime/supernatural adventures. A cast of strange characters, opportunities for conflict and suggestions for what may – or may not – be a supernatural threat.
System agnostic, but presented for Actual F*cking Monsters.
In this adventure, our Gorean heroes venture to Torvaldsland where the ‘native Kur’ appear to be organising again, around a messiah-like figure. Can they stand the massed might of the kurii and the suspicions of the Viking-like Torvaldslanders?
I have released a four hour video course aimed at priming new creators for unleashing their own independently produced RPGs onto the world.
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Did a really good first session, but after a few other games we’ve been playing over the last few years the speed and ease of play of Cyberpunk came as a pleasant surprise. Mission oriented play and the players trying to avoid mess and lengthy combat issues certainly helped, but we ploughed through a lot more than I had planned on! Fortunately Cyberpunk is easy to improvise for, so I was able to improv the additional adventures and we had a really good session.
Next time I’ll be able to start incorporating some of the characters’ personal hooks. Looking forward to it. Still, there’s no reason why other Cyberpunk 2020/Red gamers can’t take advantage of my work as well. Check out the previous video/posts for what it’s all about and the rules changes we’ve been making.
Australian Bushfires
This is one of the adventure hooks we didn’t follow up on, but various companies in-setting have been using the fires as an excuse to test new equipment and gear, from AI assisted big-data processing to better predict weather and the best points to ‘attack’, to drone-swarm firefighting and other techniques. One of these efforts was an Australian tech start up, applying military and therapeutic exoskeleton technology to rescue applications. This is something some companies are already looking into, for load-bearing and equipment carrying – especially in high-rise fires, I just took the concept a bit further to a whole suit of ‘power armour’ designed for firefighting.
The mission would have been to insert into the fire zone and to steal the prototype for an unknown client. The mission would have been complicated by the fact that the start-up (FARPAC – Fire And Rescue Power Armature Concepts, based out of Northern Sydney), had been hired not to really fight the fire, but to retrieve certain objects and data from a ‘civilisational panic room’ mansion owned by an Australian billionaire.
Anyway, here’s the Power Armour prototpe stats, if you want to use them.
Ricky Ryan – Deviantart
FARPAC Wahn X1 Proof of Concept Armature
Mission: Firefighting Unit Cost: Approx 250,000 euros in raw materials and technology, perhaps double that in terms of actual value and work sunk into it. A production version might cost 200,000. Chassis: Str 16, Lift 800, Carry 240 Toughness: 5 (Taken off damage before armour) Armour: SP 15 (30 Vs Fire/Heat – add 10 to both values if not using CPRed) Damage Modifier: D6+2 (Lethal) Sensors: Wideband Aperture Helmet Sensors and AR Overlay SIB: -2 DFB: +1 Controls: Advanced Utilities: Bodyweight Med System, Self-Seal Compression, 4 Hour Life Support, 8 Hour Powerplant (combination pneumatic/LiS battery system. I’ve allowed LiS batteries to double capacity in-setting with no extra cost).
Head: 4 SDP Internal: Wideband Aperture System SDP 15, Comm Link 5 SDP, 200 cost, 80km range.
Left Arm: 4 SDP Internal: 1 Winch and Grapple – 20kg – 500 bucks, SDP 40 Internal: 2 Fire Extinguisher 10 kg, SDP 20, 4 uses. 500 bucks. External: 1 Fire Extinguisher 10 kg, SP 10 SDP 20, 4 uses.
Right Arm: 4 SDP Internal: 1 Fire Extinguisher 10 kg, SDP 20, 4 uses. Internal: 2 Fire Extinguisher 10 kg, SDP 20, 4 uses. External: 1 Large Power Saw, SP 1/3rd, WA -2, 8D6AP, 1250 bucks, 15 kg, SP 10, SDP 25.
Torso: 12 SDP Internal: 1 Bodyweight Med System SDP 15 Internal: 2 Self Seal Compression SDP 50 Internal: 3 Self Seal Compression SDP 50 External: 1 Food/Filtration SDP 10 External: 2 Extended Life Support SP 20, SDP 20 – 4 hour support, 10 kg.
Left Leg: 8 SDP Internal: 1 Self Seal Compression SDP 50 Internal: 2 CO2 Scatter Pack WA +3 50 capsules, ROF 1d6, Range 50m, weight 2kg, SP 10 SDP 20 External: 1 CO2 Scatter Pack WA +3 50 capsules, ROF 1d6, Range 50m, weight 2kg, SP 10 SDP 20
Right Leg: 8 SDP Internal: 1 Self Seal Compression SDP 50 Internal: 2 CO2 Scatter Pack WA +3 50 capsules, ROF 1d6, Range 50m, weight 2kg, SP 10 SDP 20 External: 1 CO2 Scatter Pack WA +3 50 capsules, ROF 1d6, Range 50m, weight 2kg, SP 10 SDP 20
This is really little more than a wearable linear frame with lightweight, fireproof armour and an enclosed environment to protect from heat, smoke and fumes. The real innovation is in the sensor suite, heat shielding and feedback systems, enabling you to find and ‘feel’ your way as though you weren’t armoured at all.
Cryonics Heist
In the setting cryonics has fallen completely out of favour with tech billionaires since the advent of general intelligence AI and the prospects that creates for the potential of consciousness upload. That’s where all the money is going now, and so the bottom has fallen out – along with all the funding – for cryonics research, storage and preparation.
A new company, Osiris Medical Technologies has sprung up, consolidating the debts and resources of these groups and companies as they go bust. They only, however, seem to be taking on the corpsicles and frozen heads that are a) profitable or potentially profitable, or b) have been vitrified using more modern preservation techniques.
The client in this particular case has hired them to retrieve one particular frozen head from a shipment being moved across the country to San Francisco from Alcor in Scottsdale Arizona, which is being wound up.
The players created an epic distraction and went after the head before the convoy left, but I’d done prep as though they were going to attack the convoy. So here you go…
HEMTT A3 Hybrid Truck/Generator
Unit Cost: 450,000 euros Top speed: 65mph Utilities: All-Wheel Drive (Off Road), Military Radio, Improved Handling +1 SP: 44 Composite Armour (SP 25-35 in CPRed, assuming a ‘B-Kit’. Without B-Kit armour assume a basic steel-mantle armour of SP 15/10) SDP: 100 (Body 5 – If not using Maximum Metal just reduce all incoming damage by 5 before armour) ACC/DEC: 10/30 Range: 1200 miles Mass Rating: 13 tons.
Refrigerated Military Container
A standard size shipping container with armour and a backup generator.
SP: 15 SDP: 50 Electronic Lock: DC 25
HUMVEE Hybrid
An electric/diesel hybrid civilian version of the popular military vehicle.
Top Speed: 100 mph Utilities: Off Road, Pintle Mount. ACC/DEC: 15/40 Range: 520 miles SP: 10 (Upgraded, standard car body would have SP 5) SDP: 60 (body 3, if not using Maximum Metal just drop all incoming damage by 3)
Osiris Medical Technology Convoy
The convoy consisted of the following:
2 x HUMVEE 1 x HEMTT Truck Truck Driver x1 Hummer Driver x2 w/pistols Hummer Guards x2 with SMG Truck Guard x1 Elite w/Pistol Medical Technician – Unarmed
Guards: 14 base attack rolls (16 for elite), 35/18 HP. HK416A5 Carbine 15/10/15/20/25/30 WA +1, 100 round cassette, 5.56 (5d6) ROF 20 10mm Glock – 2d6+1 AP, 20 round capacity. Snap-Out Batons D6 Body Armour vest and legs (Concealed) – 7 SP. Smart Glasses/Wireless Smartlink/Biomonitor Wristband +1 WA.
Elite Guard: Right arm cyberarm 20 SP, SDP 30, Shield pop-out with gun brace – Protects head and torso, Skinweave (5 sp), Base Attack: 16
Tactics Under Attack: Rear car: brake, stop, leave vehicle and try to flank ambushers. Front car: interpose between truck and attackers, stay in cover/vehicle and, return fire. Truck: brake and reverse toward reinforcements. Otherwise ram through obstruction.
Osiris Medical Technology
“Taking you to the future.”
Total Assets: 600 million+ Incorporated: 10th August 2019 CEO: Dr Cranston Baird Headquarters: Building 3, Bridgehead Road, Oakley San Francisco. Associated Groups: 21st Century Medicine, ACS, BPF, LES Foreign Partners: KrioRus
Osirus Medical Technolog sprang, seemingly, out of nowhere and gathered up the assets of the various bankrupted and struggling cryonics groups and foundations in the USA. They’ve been utterly ruthless and have discarded or ‘returned’ all remains frozen prior to the vitrification process.
They claim philosophical issues around ‘continuity of consciousness’ make digital upload non-viable as a true immortality and are spending a great deal of money on improving fMRI and other scanning technologies, nanotechnology, cloning and other associated technology that would be useful for ‘resurrection’.
HUAWEI Raid
I was underprepared for this one, but it meant travelling with smugglers to Hong Kong, infiltrating mainland China and breaking into Huawei’s big tech campus around their headquarters. The old campus, not the new, weird, pseudo-European one.
Besides normal security guards, surveillance and tech (such as drones, cameras and so on) the Chinese government has a vested interest in many of their companies and post political officers and even armed guards at key installations.
Security Drones: SP 10 SDP 15 – Electrical dart guns AP 1/4, D6 Taser effect. Basic Power Armour: Body 12, Armour 20 +1 WA Smart Helmet.
Political Officers
30 HP QSZ-92s. Attack Roll: 12
Huawei Security Systems: DC 25
Server Smash
The mission here was to put a stop to an ‘open source AI’ project before it could ever take off. The nerds involved got backing from a splinter-gang of the Brainiacs, H-Squared, who were a bit more open to cybernetic enhancement beyond neuralware and ardent posthumanists.
Typical Gangbangers H-Squared
30 HP 2d6 Pistol +2 WA 2d6 SMG +2 WA Awareness 19+2 (Optics) Attack 12+3 Armoured Trench/Bodysuit/Skinweave combo SP11 Sensory Boosts/Software +2 Cyberoptics Massive amounts of skillware – Any skill they are likely to need at +3
Drone Swarm: 1HP each, form a cloud of whirling ceramic fans that do 1d6x1d6 AP1/4 damage per turn.
Mongrel Robotic Guard Dog SP 15 HP 20, Jaws 2d6AP.
This product is too spicy for DrivethruRPG, which means I cannot use their promotional tools etc, and I can’t link to it off their site. I would greatly appreciate it, therefore, if you could spam the ever-loving shit out of this link everywhere, so that people can be aware of it and buy it direct.
Vielen danke, kiitos, merci, arigatōgozaimashita.
This companion volume to badly named but well-executed horror RPG Actual Fucking Monsters is bigger than the original! 120 pages of content for your Actual Fucking Monsters games, too spicy for Drivethrurpg.
We’ve got random character generation if you’re into that sort of thing.
We’ve got a whole wedge of new Monster Powers so you can dissolve your foes with vomit or get in touch with their feelings.
Want to play a dark, evil magician? Got you covered.
Want to introduce boring stuff to worry about, like, ‘humanity’. I don’t think you should, but we’ve got you covered anyway.
Want to fight against the Monsters as a Hunter? You can do that now, with more details on the Hunter organisations from the main book, and new ones! Along with revised Hunter ‘Powers’.
Want to run your games safely without some absolute head-end crying to mummy that they didn’t know a game called Actual Fucking Monsters was about Actual Fucking Monsters? Details for the M-Card game insurance policy are included.
Need victims for your Monsters to do horrible things to? We’ve got a random victim generator and 100 pre-generated victims!
Player advice on how to have fun in an Actual Fucking Monsters game? You bet your sweet arse.
Some ideas for artefacts, and some examples.
A (very scant) idea of a sort of setting beyond the implicit. Learn where Monsters fit into the world.
And lastly, a long-ass example of play, to help you grok with fullness.
This is a Post-Mort.com and Lulu.com exclusive, so please, inform everyone you can that this is up for sale!
Loosely, and probably incorrectly, that translates to ‘Black Kabbalist’. They’re one of the Hunter groups detailed in the back of Actual Fucking Monsters. The main book doesn’t go into a tremendous amount of detail, but the idea is that this order of Kabbalists and their supporters came about during WWII to deal with supernatural threats to the Jewish people that existed alongside the very human monsters we’re all familiar with.
Some inspiration was taken from 2000ADs ‘Fiends of the Eastern Front’, particularly ‘Stalingrad’, the more modern story illustrated by the brilliant Colin MacNeil.
In the modern age the Schachr Mequbbãl are a black-operations group buried deep within MOSSAD, hunting down Nazi Monsters (many of which were immortal) and new supernatural threats that abound both within and without Israel.
The practice of Kabbalah is forbidden, and said to curse one in the eyes of god, but these select few are willing to make that personal sacrifice for the sake of their people.
I’m not one for ‘sensitivity reading’, this is fiction, but it does occur to me that I know quite a few Israelis and Jews who will be far more familiar with Jewish folklore than I am. Everyone knows about the golem, but I’d like to include some other things. Anyone got anything cool to add as a ‘kickassery reader’?
Postmortem Studios 