Gamma Red Death World: Image Overload

What survivors might see on a journey...

 

Gamma Red Death World: FLAILSNAILS on G+

Character creation document available here.

INTRODUCTION

Everyone thought the Martians had died. In a sense they had. 

But they left behind seeds that grew into even more horrible monsters and caused waves of genetic mutations. It seemed the Earth would be overgrown by this new alien ecosystem.

Humans with knowledge of ancient magic and weird science desperately tried to use the salvaged Martian technologies to  fight back this new threat.

Legends from every culture throughout the ages say there is another world.

An alternate world that is connected to Earth like a shadow.

A hidden realm made from the stuff of dreams and nightmares.

Most of the paths and gates to this world have been obscured or locked for millennia.

Now strange magic and arcane energies unleashed on Earth have spoiled  and eroded many forgotten portals to this mystic world.

Creatures thought to exist only in folklore are stepping through...

Gamma Red Death World is a game set on Earth in the late 1800's after an alien invasion. It uses Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future as the core rules.

The main reason being the game will be available for FLAILSNAILS crossover play on Google+. 

Another great reason is the fact that these games are available as free pdf downloads on Goblinoid Games website:

Labyrinth Lord PDF

Mutant Future PDF

CHARACTER CREATION

STEP ONE - Abilities

Roll 3d6 for each ability and write them down in the order rolled.

STEP TWO - Character Class

Pick a character class.

Humans

Cleric (LL pg. 8)

Fighter (LL pg. 11)

Magic-User (LL pg. 12)

Mutant (MF pg. 14)

Thief (LL pg. 12)

Non-Humans

Basic Android (MF pg. 12)

Dwarf (LL pg. 10)

Elf (LL pg. 10)

Halfling (LL pg. 11)

Mutant Animal (MF pg. 13)

Mutant Plant (MF pg. 13)

STEP THREE - Skills

Refer to the skill lists at the bottom of this post.
All characters roll two random General skills, then choose an additional General skill.

Clerics, Magic-Users, Androids, Dwarves and Elves also get to roll one random Scholar skill, then choose one additional Scholar skill.

Any character may trade two General skills to choose one Scholar skill.

Skills can only be rolled or chosen once. Re-roll duplicates.

STEP FOUR - Saving Throws

Record Saving Throws.

All characters use Wisdom as Willpower for mental combat.

STEP FIVE - Power Points

Choose spells or roll for mutations as appropriate for character class.
The following rules replace the normal rules for spell memorization and mutation use:

Power Throws 
Classes with powers, spells, mutations or psionics have a new score called power points, based on one of their attributes.

Cleric Points = WIS
Magic Points = INT
Mutant Points (Physical Mutations)  = CON
Psionic Points (Mental Mutations) = CHA

When using a spell, mutation or psionic, roll a power throw with 2d10.

Success: If the power throw is equal to or less than current power points then the power works as written in the rules. Subtract 1 point from power points.

Failure: If the power throw is greater than current power points then power fails to work. Subtract 2 points from power points.

Backfire: If current power points are 8 or less, each time a power throw fails something bad happens.

Characters recover 1d4 power points per level every 12 hours.
Total power points cannot be greater than the ability score they are based upon.

STEP SIX - Hit Points

All first level characters roll Hit Points for their class and add their full Constitution score.
Any Constitution score modifiers to Hit Points are not factored in to this initial roll.
At each subsequent level characters roll additional Hit Points as usual for their class, including Constitution modifiers.

STEP SEVEN - Starting Funds

All characters roll 3d8x10 for starting gold pieces with which to buy equipment.

SKILLS

Lazy Post, Random Drawings.

More random drawings. Enjoy.

SPEED DEMON!

A super villain character I'm playing in a Marvel FASERIP campaign run by Mr. Zak Smith.

This is me trying to learn how to draw digitally.

Information on, and an invitation to the series of G+ games can be found here.

SATHAR!

This is a drawing I did for a contest for Mr. Jeff Rients involving re-illustrating pages from the Lamentations of the Flame Princess RPG. I think I did okay and it was received well, but it didn't really fit the criteria of the contest. Here's some details on the first wave of entries.

DOOM!

 What else needs to be said? Dr. Doom vs. the Fantastic Four. Should have drawn the dice bigger. Oh well.

Marvel FASERIP Feat Table On It's Edge!

This is just the Feat Table for the Advanced Marvel RPG turned on it's side.
I find it easier to read this way.
*HERE IS -->THE PDF FILE<-- IS HERE*

1. Find the Rank of the Ability or Power you are rolling for.
2. Adjust up or down for any Column Shifts.
3. Roll percentile dice to see what color result you get.
The number in the color column is the maximum number in the range for that color.
      Example: Rolling percentile for a Typical Abillity.
                        01-50 =  White
                        51-80 =  Green
                        81-97 =  Yellow
                        98-100 = Red

Kamandi Ka-Monday: The Tiger Army

When we last saw Kamandi he had figured out how to drive a jeep like vehicle and was just beginning his journey of exploration.

Now, on the road, he sees something coming fast behind him. How does he see it, exactly?

Rear-view video!   BAM!!   Jack Kirby just saw the future!

 Ditching the vehicle in favor of stealth, Kamandi sneaks around to get a better view of the group that was behind him on the road.
After already seeing talking, bipedal wolves, he's not too surprised to see an army of man-like tigers dressed in Romanesque armor.
Kamandi seems to be adapting quickly to this strange new world.

Kamandi spots a sniper about to take a shot at the tiger's leader. Acting quickly, the young human takes out the would-be assassin with a clean shot from his trusty pistol.
He is then snatched up and onto the back of the tiger-man's horse.

 Turns out Kamandi has stumbled into the middle of a battle between the tigers and the leopards.
He has just saved the life of the tiger's leader, Caesar, and is being carried straight into a war zone!
Notice the leopard-man in the foreground looking straight out of the panel as if the reader were looking through a window at the action. Classic Kirby.

Overwhelmed by the superior numbers of enemy, Caesar reveals that his mace is actually an artifact weapon that seems to shoot either a flame or a kind of laser.
This could make a neat goal for a quest or maybe just on a random loot table.

The tiger leader seems to think Kamandi is just a dumb animal. He roughly hands him to one of his henchmen to be taken to the "Royal City".
So far the tiger society seems pretty complex. Armies. Cities. Royalty. Access to ancient artifacts.
Definately needs to be written up in Gamma World or Mutant Future.

And so Kamandi is "rail roaded" to the next set piece, the Royal City of the Tigers.
Captured and transported to the next scene.
Better that than dead.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Some Drawing Tips

Here's a few pages I made in an attempt at a basic drawing lesson. These are inspired by "How to Draw the Marvel Way" as well as variuos other books and articles.
Sorry for the crappy scan quality. I'll have to work on that.

1. Draw the stick figure very lightly.

2. Remember to express action and body language.

3. Start to lightly shape in the muscle masses.

4. Draw through the figure to keep perspective and proportion.

5. Select the lines that look right or cool to go over and detail.

6. Remember: Draw light at first. Select the lines that look right.

Erasing is just as important as drawing a line.

It doesn't have to mean you made a mistake, just that your are selecting the best lines.

THE ERASER IS YOUR FRIEND!

HAVE FUN IS RULE ONE!

Kamandi Ka-Monday: The Beginning

My Kamandi collection is incomplete. One of the issues I'm missing is number one.
Lucky for me I do have number thirty-two which is a double size issue with a reprint of number one.
It's a known fact that some parts of early Dungeons & Dragons were influenced by many sources including comic books.

The Kamandi series by Jack Kirby started in 1972. According to the Wikipedia aticle:
"DC editor Carmine Infantino had tried to acquire the license to make Planet of the Apes comic books but when this failed to happen he asked Jack Kirby for a series with a similar concept. Although Kirby had not seen the films he knew the rough outline and he had also created a very similar story, "The Last Enemy!", in Harvey Comics' Alarming Tales that predated the original Planet of the Apes novels. He also had an unused comic strip he created in 1956, called Kamandi of the Caves. So Kirby brought all those elements together to create Kamandi.^[1] Although his initial plan was to not work on the comic books themselves, the cancellation of Forever People freed him up to do so.^"

Metamorphosis Alpha, the precursor for the Gamma World game, was published in 1976.
We have some ideas as to the inspiration of the game from this Wikipedia article:
"Ward, the game's author, stated that the original inspiration for the game was Brian Aldiss's classic science fiction novel Starship (aka Non-Stop) (1958). In the British RPG magazine, White Dwarf, issue 1, Ian Livingstone wrote a review of the game and published his own additional rules for playing Metamorphosis Alpha on Aldiss's ship. However, it is often suggested that the game was inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's 1941 novel Orphans of the Sky.^[2][3] James M. Ward has stated that he was not familiar with the 1973 Canadian TV series The Starlost, a show with a similar concept, and that Metamorphosis Alpha is not based upon that series.^"

In any case, I'm going to be reading through the Kamandi series from the point of view of a Gamma World or Mutant Future GM.
I'll be comparing the characters, creatures, gadgets and such to published Gamma World material. I'm looking for any evidence that the comic series could have inspired parts of the game.
It's all just a theory at this point, but it should be fun at least.

Also, for an in depth look at Gamma World 1st edition please check out James Maliszewski's cover to cover posts on his Grognardia blog.

Issue one opens with a splash page of Kamandi paddling his raft through the waters of a flooded New York city-scape.
We are told that his name is "a dramatic tribute to the people who once populated Command "D", the last section of  a large underground bunker complex." (Italics are mine. More on that later.)

He is returning to the bunker where he was raised by his grandfather. He was sent out to explore what is left of the world and find any signs of civilization
He appears to be a pure-strain human equipped with minimal survival gear and armed with some sort of pistol.
After several days travel he spots what appear to be humans along the water's edge.

For reasons unknown to Kamandi, the people are startled by the sight of him. In a panic, they retreat into the forest and run away.
Later Kamandi arrives at the entrance to the bunkers. He finds that the booby-traps he set against intruders have been set off. Invaders have made their way inside.
The structure reminds me of a location in one of the scenarios in Gamma World module GW1: Legion of Gold.
Again, see the Grognardia blog for a discussion of this adventure.

Once inside, Kamandi races toward Command D to check on his grandfather.
As described in the panel, there are "miles of time-worn corridors filled with circuitry of a vanished technology!".
Sounds like a perfect set-up for a Gamma World mega-dungeon.
Also notice in the forground there is a broken sign reading "Command A".
Is it possible there could be other pure-strain humans out there named Kamanay, Kamanbee, Kamansee? Who knows?

Then...Kamandi arrives at the vault door entrance to Command D. The door is labeled "Strategic Planning Center" and apparently there are books and maps inside.
This must be the legacy of pure-strain humans and why some of them have a better grasp of the workings of high technology.
It's also reminiscent of the Vaults in the Fallout video games.

Kamandi enters and finds that the bandits have killed his grandfather.
Then he gets his first look at an intruder. He is shocked to find that it's a mutated humanoid wolf!
Very similar to the Ark species found in the Gamma World game.

A short melee ensues in which Kamandi demonstrates a superb skill in martial arts. In fact, he says he knows karate!
He is disarmed but knocks the wolf off it's feet. He must have a fairly high Dex score because he dodges gunfire and runs away into the bunker.
In a passage with water on the floor, he climbs up a wall and pulls an electrical cable off some device and drops it in the water.

As the wolfoid draws closer and walks through the water, Kamandi flips the switch and electrocutes him.
In game terms, Kamandi has demonstrated the workings of technology and electricity and has also taken advantage of the envirnment around him.

With nothing to keep him in the bunker anymore, Kamandi decides to leave and explore the larger world.
Outside he finds a vehicle that belonged to the mutant wolves.

He easily makes his "use artifacts roll" and begins his journey of exploration.

What's next for our hero? What mysteries to be encountered in this radioactive sandbox?

TO BE CONTINUED ...