Blog Update 12/16/24

     Going to take another break today, it's another day of celebration here. I will still make a "mini post" as I have some things to share. I am super excited to go into the new year, though, I am moving into a twice-per-week schedule. Once on Thursday and once on Sunday. As of today, one of my posts hit *fifty reads!* This is insanely impressive and awesome to me; I never thought my writing would be that interesting to people! In addition, recently, my blog hit five hundred total views! 

    I have views from Germany, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and even Luxembourg! Thank you to everyone who has read my blog so far; it is one of my main motivators. If you want to see anything or hear anything on my blog, let me know, I have taken requests from readers for posts before, and they have come out great. Have a great new year y'all, I will see you next Sunday!

And on the twelvth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...a continuation of yesterday's adventure! At the point of starting here, the players are recommended to have at least five or so extra points, being rewarded for good deeds, creative ideas, role-playing, etc. If you haven't already, read yesterday's part of the adventure if you want the proper build up. If you just want the dungeon and surrounding information, you can start with this post. I recommend against reading this post if you intend to playing this as a player.

And on the eleventh day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...the first half of an adventure! It has finally come, the ultimate end of GURPSmas! The final surprise is an adventure playable in GURPS (theoretically, in any other system as well.) Today, I will post mainly the setup for the adventure, with the second half (a short dungeon) and enemies being posted tomorrow, as the final GURPSmas present. The adventure is called "The Mines of Tosid", Tosid meaning Armor in dwarven-speak. DO NOT click read more if you intend to ever be a player in a one-shot of this, as there are spoilers ahead. This adventure's power level is recommended at two to three characters with 150 total points, but higher is okay. TL can be anywhere from TL1 to TL4.

And on the tenth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...more dwarf lore! Now, this is quoted from a document called The Codex and is pre-written, so some things will be changed, but personally, I really like the lore I wrote for these dwarves. Now, this plunges you straight into my world of Thalmar, so if you have questions, I will answer them for you. Otherwise, read on! 

    "Jernoxse (formally called the Stoneborn Kingdom of Jernoxse) is just short of a mystery to any citizens not born into nobility. Very few are allowed entry, with fewer being able to learn how they operate. A major part of dwarven culture is to be hospitable to friends, with neutral figures being as good as enemies. Why this is, is not quite known, although many suspect it’s due to their distrust of many humans due to some allying with elves.

    Some may think the dwarves' hatred of elves is just another mythos, but to most scholars, it is well known that it is intrinsic for dwarves and elves to hate each other, although no man, elf, or dwarf has truly figured out why. Some say it is because elves have some features of orcs, although others say it is due to their mellow and peace-loving nature.

    If one thing is true about dwarves, it’s that they love to dig. Coming with digging deep, they tend to often be mad with lust for gems, gold, and wealth (called guldlyst or perlelyst by the dwarves) which can easily become the end of kings, noble houses, or entire cities and fortresses. A famous one is the Icy City of Myria, which fell due to the greed of their king. No one is truly sure why they fell, but they know that deep within Myria lies the Dræber, a mythical weapon that drinks the blood of foes to strengthen its power. It was said to drive the king mad, but what caused the collapse of the fortress is unknown.

    The greatest foes of the dwarves are the kobolds of the deep, which are scaly orange creatures that tend to raid and pillage dwarven settlements under the earth. They don’t wear armor, as their scales provide much defense against anything cutting or piercing. This has given way to dwarves preferring hammers and axes, due to their powerful ability to deal damage to the kobolds despite their powerful armored scales.

    They tend to also use Handgonnes, a weapon using 'fire power' to blast iron and fire everywhere. They are rather short-ranged and often have an axehead attached to the bottom of the front, due to their reload times. All kingdoms besides the dwarves refuse to use firepowder, mostly because of its cost.

    Making firepowder requires kobold scales, the flesh of a Wiederganger, and the essence of a Nachzehrer, none of which is cheap. The teeth of a Nachzehrer are four hundred crowns per pouch as it is, with everything else becoming much more expensive. Two thousand crowns of resources barely produce enough 'fire powder' to fuel twelve men.

    Dwarves are extremely industrious, with one dwarf at a cheap smithy out-producing three men in their best workshops. Dwarves are also extremely clever, using anything they have in their arsenal to their advantage. It is even said a dwarf can turn bronze into steel if he tries hard enough, and that may even be the truth. Dwarves are the only people who have discovered the secrets of steel, using this to their advantage by selling resources to any nation willing to pay their ludicrous prices for their steel, iron, coal, and anything else they mine. It is even said that they have the secrets of the old to forge Adamantine like their ancestors.

    Any dwarf can forge, but only Guildmasters get positions to use the ancient magic forges. They were created by Merlin the Sorcerer to create magical items, although now they are just used to magic alloys (without proper magical properties) like Black Bronze, which is used by burning Ebonwood magically, then mixing certain metals magically to produce a black alloy that makes no noise when swung, dropped, or otherwise maneuvered. It also does not shine, being perfect for dwarven spies attempting to assassinate their rivals."

    I did edit a lot of content in this post; that's why it took me all day. This came straight from an unrefined document I was working on from September to October, which still needs to be refined. It is the source book for the world of Thalmar, that I run in my campaign which is called "Tales of Adventure - A Thalmarian Tale", though you will most likely find nothing on that anywhere, unless you know exactly where to look.

And on the ninth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...a spin on dwarf fantasy! Yes, yes, yes, you all know by now that I love dwarves. Dwarves this, dwarves that. But today, as a prelude to things to come, I will write about a specific world that I no longer use, due to the campaign being stopped, but it is interesting nonetheless. Imagine a normal fantasy world. Elves, dwarves, humans, goblins, orcs, kobolds, etc. Magic ran rampant through the world, goblins and kobolds (also known as Cave Goblins) hated dwarves, elves and dwarves often fought, humans were human, and so forth. There is one major convergence in this world: The Great Frost.

    The Great Frost was a great ice age that wiped out most of everything besides dwarves, kobolds, and goblins. No one knows how the goblins survived, but they inhabit the surface realm now. The dwarves and kobolds live in vast underground labyrinths, fighting each other in an endless pointless war. Both cultures generally don't venture out of their homes too much, but those that do tend to not be able to return, as the dwarves don't like outsiders, even if they are dwarves.

    The outside world is completely uncharted and mostly abandoned, though there are some pockets of goblin civilization left in abandoned human cities. One notable encounter with this was the then-party going into an abandoned city together to search for things, finding a pack of goblins inhabiting a city block, where they almost died, but a party of bold adventurers held off the enemy forces. They ended up making it out, traveling back to a small camp of dwarves and goblins that they were helping set up.

    Now, this was before I really focused on intricate parts of my worlds, so there were gaps at times in my world lore, but I personally think it was interesting. Now, for the juicy parts. In the world, the dwarves were not inherent craftsmen, but rather fortuitous and magic-resistant warriors who had a strict way to do everything, hating anyone who strayed from order and being a guildsman. They also had a 1:10 ratio of dwarven women, because of an unexplained genetic defect, making dwarven women rare. I, sadly, no longer have the racial template, but I remember that it wasn't just the generic dwarf template and had things about magic resistance and innate abilities to use blunt weapons.

    The world itself was rather generic for the most part, but it was really fun to play, especially coming from playing lots of Dwarf Fortress. I would love to revisit the world in the future (wink), but currently, today's post of a prelude took precedence. Currently, I am feeling some GM burnout and want to be a player in a campaign, but that will take a while to find. As usual, thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate it a lot, the notion that people actually read my blog is really helping my energy to continue writing.

    

And on the eigth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...an example of the system presented in yesterday's post! I am going to run through a scenario that actually happened yesterday using my system, which I am simply calling Cosmo's Severity System, or CSS. It works best for medieval or historical fantasy games, or anything Low TL and not high powered. Also, if anything here was not presented in yesterday's article, mention it to me, I will have to append that later.

 

     Example: D'varok the Dwarf is a Dwarf with ST16 and HT14, meaning he has an MI of 448. During combat, he charges toward the Unknown Horror that he faces, making a charging attack. He succeeds, but it does no damage to the powerful Unknown Horror. The Horror turns and swings at the Dwarf, succeeding. His severity dice rolled is (18)*1.5, or 27. The knee was targeted with it's sword, meaning that he is targeting a Lesser Limb (meaning that it is less than half the body part in total). To lop the limb off, he needs to deal a wound that is equal to or greater than 89 severity.

    He manages to roll 183 (Major Wound) with a high chance of success with his severity, severing the knee, causing D'varok to fall down, but D'varok succeeds on a grappling success roll to bring the Horror down with him, making them fight on the floor. Every turn D'varok is without treatment for his wound, he takes one point of bleeding severity per turn. His companions, Karla and Jonas, manage to slay the beast with some lucky rolls, but D'varok is forever without a leg.

 

    If you like the system, go ahead and use it, I think it is fun and creative. With all the stuff in GURPS, there are few chances for me to innovate or make something new mechanically, but this system is good in my opinion for the types of games I run. It does slow down at the table if you have higher powered players as well, but it works rather well for what we tested. If you have any luck with it, please let me know. I'd love to feature you on my page! Happy GURPSmas, y'all!

And on the seventh day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...a complex damage model! Personally, I love Hit Points. But, there are times where I think I could take a crack at my own. Today's post is a long-winded one, that will be spread over two posts. Today, is the set-up for it. It is similar to Douglas Cole's Conditional Injury, but it is different (to a degree). The major difference from GURPS, is using d10. As well as this, it switches up the base hit-point system. 

    A few things to preface before that is, this system changes a few things vital to GURPS. It is a work in progress that is attempting to be used in not just GURPS, but another homebrew system me and a friend devised recently. As well as that, keep this in mind. This system is specifically meant for low powered games; you will have limited success with this in high powered games. For all math presented, round up.

    First up, is the basics. To start, let's look at damage, called Injury and Severity. First, you need to find out what your Potential Impact and Impact are. Potential Impact (PI) and Impact (I) aren't the same thing. Impact (not PI) is multiplied by any relevant multipliers from hit location or damage type AFTER you calculate PI. To calculate PI, first roll your GURPS damage dice. That number is your Potential Impact. Then, add your yards moved last turn to your PI, subtract any Damage Resistance from that, to get your Impact.

     Now, you might be wondering: How is this different from normal GURPS? Well, this is the more complicated part. Now, you need to calculate your Maximum Injury, which is (HT×ST)×2. For a basic human, it is 200. Once you have gotten the maximum, you need to calculate your: Digit Max (MI/50), Hand-Foot Max, (MI/10), Lesser Limb Max (MI/5), and finally your Greater Limb Max (MI/3⅓). Each one of these acts like a health-bar, getting crippled once you reach the MI maximum. At MI×2, it has been severed. The neck is a lesser limb, the head is a greater limb. Once you have written all these out, you can continue onto the next step. Damage towards the Maximum Injury is simply called SP (Severity Points or sev.)

     Third, is what makes this system more difficult to handle for lesser complicated games. You will need either a separate sheet to track your injuries and how close you are to death or a custom made sheet that has these parts written in. As you reach that Maximum Injury level, you will slowly accumulate Injury Severity Ranks, or just called Severity. These ranks will give you penalties to everything (anything purely mental has halved penalties). The penalties are as follows: Minor (MI/5), Major (MI/2½), Severe (MI/1.6), and Fatal (MI). A Fatal wound kills you, instantly. A blow severing the neck or head counts as Fatal.

    At the rank of Minor, you have -2 penalties to all tasks. At Major, -4 penalties. At Severe, -8. When a limb is crippled or a blow does damage to reach any of these, roll against HT minus the penalty. Now, unlike GURPS, if a limb is lopped off and it is enough to "kill you", you don't just die. If you have 180 sevs, and you have an MI of 200, a blow of 20 sevs to your arm lopping it off doesn't kill you. It does lower your maximum, but only after this fight has been completed. Tomorrow I will provide examples for these.

    Finally, Weapon Finesse is to be taken into account. The normal item qualities of GURPS (Fine, Very Fine, Cheap) provide bonuses or penalties to your I, as does anything else that modifies damage. This might be periodically updated, edited, or flat out reworked later down the line, as this is still in the works, but one of TWO surprises that I have up my sleeve for y'all. I am hard at work, just stay tuned. Thank you for reading this, seriously. If you've gotten to the end, it means you really do care. Again, thank you. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, contact me on discord at "basedcosmo" or on the forums as "FritzBC". If you spot a spelling mistake, issue, or contradiction in this post and point it out to me, I will put your screenname in a paragraph at the end of this post and the next, to commemorate your help.

And on the sixth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

    ...a teaser for what's to come! Tomorrow, I will release one of two GURPSmas surprises! It is something like Douglas Cole's Conditional Injury with my own twist, changing how GURPS' damage model works. All you need to record at a base level is Armor Quality (or DR), Impact (your strength halved), and a few notes about severity and long-lasting injury. If I don't post it, I apologize for empty promises. 

And on the fifth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...my thoughts on character progression! This one will be boring to most, but I find it interesting. Generally, character progression is a simple "Level, Experience" system, going up the tiers gaining more experience from slaughtering monsters (and people), gaining gold, and completing quests, much like cRPGs and MMOs of the 2000s. Now, this system has flaws, and I think GURPS handles them rather well, but not to say that progression in base GURPS isn't flawed slightly itself.

    Now, in GURPS, many GMs view progression like this: You get a quest, slay some monsters, save a princess/prince, and get your character points. Now, that is an overgeneralization of adventures and the hero's journey model, but you most likely understand where I am coming from. So, you're asking now (most likely), "If that's so flawed, what is soooo much better?"

    Well, first off, it is not all about character points. Progression can be in the form of progressing the story, gaining equipment that has ties to feats the players accomplished, social interaction, good teamwork in the game or at the table, or even things like what is described above! Now, the trick to it is to make it not just be one of these. You want your story to progress like someone's life would! Never has someone's life involved anything but killing fantasy monsters and ignoring everything else. People need to talk to each other eventually.

    Now, with this in mind, go out and reward your players with life lessons! I am joking, obviously, but the notion of that sounded funny to me. With life stuff, things are still busy for me, but soon-ish I will be able to have some more time for a while, which I will most likely spend writing on here and on some other projects I have been working on. Like all other GURPSmas posts, kudos to those who actually use what I provided here. If you do use it, I'd love for you to share your experience (or even write me an article!)

And on the fourth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...an update! Lately, life has consumed all my time along with Christmas, making me unable to really get today's GURPSmas done in time. I do apologize greatly; today's post should be something to give back to y'all, but I ran out of time to get it done. In return, I am going to give you all a surprise on the final day, something that you can all use and appreciate (for free!) Thank you to all those that read this blog, you've really kept me working at it to provide entertainment, stories, and mechanics for all to enjoy and read.

And on the third day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...another free NPC! This time, it's the Kringle himself, though not as you know him. Santa the Demonslayer is a spacemarine from 5620, part of the Third Sophian Empire. His once-white armor has been stained with demon-blood, due to the Empire being at war with the first alien species discovered, called the "D3-M0N Hivemind", colloquially called demons by the marines.

    He wields the weapon presented in yesterday's article, a green force blade, and marine armor. His most notable feature is his insane 30 ST and hulking overweight build. He has gigantism and will rip and tear all that stands in his way, including the demon mother he faces. They call his friends in his platoon the "elves" due to the way they have painted their armor green and wear spiked helmets and armor. 

    Again, Christmas time has absorbed my time and energy trying to put together today's post, so I didn't do as much as I wanted with this one. This one takes place in the RimWorld universe, but it can be ported into any space campaign. Again, like with the last NPC, if you use this in a game, I'd love to share how you used it (if it's okay with you of course.)

And on the second day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...a magical artifact! Yes, I am doing this much later than usual, but with all the Christmas stuff happening, I need help to keep up with everything. Today's post is going to be extra short as a side effect of this. I apologize greatly, I will make it up to y'all! So, today's item is the epitome of Santa's little helper!

    The "Elf-Blaster" 12g Shotgun is a mythical shotgun wielded by Kris Kringle himself. It is decked out with Chrismas lights, a holographic sight with a reticle in the shape of a Christmas tree, and it is loaded with pellets that glow red and green (they achieve this effect with fire and magical green-burning fire!)

    It does double damage and has an AD of (2) against all those who have been naughty this year, and the opposite to those who have been nice (x0.5, (0.5)!) If you can get it, your character will blast all those who stand in their way, especially those who are naughty! Its stats are below.

"Elf-Blaster" 12g Shotgun, acc 5+1, 2d+1 pi, range 75/200, ROF 3x9, 8(3i) shots, -5 bulk, 1 rcl, ST10✝

And on the first day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

    ...one free NPC! No, I will not be giving fifty-five things in total at the end of GURPSmas, but I will give you all a surprise (and ten other things in between!) In other news, it is the Yuletides, so I wanted to do this "GURPSmas" to give back to those who actually read this thing. Today's NPC is for use in any modern game, and her name is Ms. Duluth. She has long, blonde hair and slightly pointed ears, and also always wears sunglasses.

    Ms. Duluth is a no-nonsense woman in a black suit armed with a USP Compact and a briefcase. She is some sort of agent for a federal agency, though the group is never sure. She follows them around, keeping tabs on them until they talk to her. She will give short and concise answers to their questions, shake their hands, then leave. once the group talks to her, she will never reappear. 

    The point of her as an NPC is to mess with the players. She is one of Santa's elven agents, keeping an eye on the party and making sure they stay nice and aren't naughty. If they ever open her briefcase, they will each find a stocking with their names on it, including one piece of coal in each. If they stay nice during her observations, they will find the name stockings, but they each have a hand grenade and a box of ammunition for each of the group's firearms.

    Yes, this is stupid. That is part of why I started blogging, to share my stupid and out-there ideas. If anyone actually uses her in their campaign (or one-shot), contact me, as I would love to share your story on my blog. Because it is the Yuletides, I am going to be writing smaller posts for a bit; I do apologize. Now, go out there and kick butt and drink eggnog, folks!

"...and the wind said nothing."

     "Imagine a world like ours, where the wind and rain spoke to us. Generations of magical innovations built upon this, bringing us into the far future. As we grew mad with wealth and power, the wind and rain quieted until no peep could be heard. The snow and cold grew thicker, and our joy and wonder faded. Societies collapsed as the cold killed our youth and the snow buried our cities. Few still survive in the reaches of humanity, but the bitter cold and harsh snow have made us bitter ourselves. We have paid for our sins, and the wind said nothing."

    "...and the wind said nothing." (hereon referred to as ATWSN) is a post-apocalyptic setting set in northern-midwest North America, where a once magical society of unity and creation collapse into greed and envy, causing the magical landwights to fade, making cold and snow envelop the world. Survive as a band of raiders, scavengers, thieves, looters, heroes, saints, or trespassers, any way to survive is your way to survive. Every bullet, match, bottle of water, and can of food matters as much as the life of another.

    It is not about killing the most enemies or hoarding the most loot; no, it is about moral dilemmas and harsh survival instead. A single bullet can end your life, and cause you to melt into the snow like your ancestors did before they tamed the wind. Will you relearn how to tame nature, or will you die like all the rest that have come before you?

    Now, the reason why this is being posted here is because I am thinking about running a game in this setting soon. Keep an eye out in many social places that I am active in. The setting is going to be really weird and RP-oriented, with characters having very limited equipment and supplies. Open-World Exploration oriented as well. 

Rolling up a HârnMaster character

     After looking into HârnWorld for reasons I will show off at a later date, I took a liking to the system. Personally, I just like the similarities with GURPS, though some of the systems are rather interesting as well. Psionics, magic, psyche, and early versions of conditional injury; all had things I thought were very interesting. So, I rolled up a character and thought to share it.

    Keep in mind, this is most likely wrong for a few reasons, mostly because it is my second-ever character and I did it by hand in notepad with a calculator in one hand and the other on my keyboard and mouse. If you have played HârnMaster and have pointers or things that are blatantly wrong, let me know. Character starts after "read more".

Making cursed items cursed again!

     As most readers of this blog already know, I am an avid old-school roguelike fan. I spend a decent chunk of my spare time playing the classics like NetHack, Rogue, ADOM, etc. Something that always stuck with me from playing these old games, is how punishing the curses are on weapons, armor, and equipment! Personally, I loved how punishing not identifying an item was in those old games, so today I am going to introduce a new skill for players to use, called "Appraisal".

    Before I dive into that, first, this applies to a certain type of campaign only. One where players would have access to spells like Identify Spell and Remove Curse, so players can effectively identify and remove cursed items. As well as that, make sure that cursed items would not be detrimental to a character. If a -2 Cursed Shortsword would give a significant penalty to a fighter (with an example SL of 13), then don't give it to them. These cursed items are for adventurers that can take the penalty without being completely useless.

    Now, my usual system of determining the status of a weapon is as follows. A roll of a one means an object is blessed, a roll of a six means it is cursed, and a roll of a two through five means it is normal. When determining the actual level of blessed and cursed, roll 1d-3 with a minimum of one. For generating treasure itself, either see yesterday's post or grab DF8! The new skill helps with non-magical PCs trying to figure out if an item is blessed, cursed, or simply normal. It has two specializations, "Arms" and "Potions". Click "read more" to see the skills!

Quick Dungeon Loot Generator

     Your adventuring party has been in this dungeon looting for some time now, but has been getting the same old loot: Coins. Now, you don't just need loot to be "# coins", it can also be varied in weight, make, price, and even age. Using the systems presented, there are simple to generate this loot, using systems that I have read about in other role-playing game systems. The general naming convention for this loot is [Age Quality Material Object], in that order. An example is an "Ancient Cracked Golden Bowl". Roll once on each table to generate the loot.

 

   The order that you roll them is in reverse however, starting at Object, then going to Material, after that go to quality, then finally age. Roll each table once, with an allowed one re-roll if it does not fit the location (an example that comes to mind is a mithril crown in a random chest inside of an elven burial mound). Below is each of the tables. Today's post was short because of some new projects I have been working on, but all has been going well so far. The final part of the Russia 2028 Deep Dive will come Soon™!

My Core Fantasy Races

     Today's post will be short, though I am going to discuss my core five fantasy races, which I most commonly use in my games. First up, is the generic human. No special notes about this one, besides that they are the most plentiful because they have the shortest gestation period and are usually like large families in their cultures. Their favored arms are generally a heavy plate set along with a large sword.

    Next up is my personal favorite, the Dwarves. Dwarves are almost always drunk, angry, and warmongering folk in my worlds, though they do generally do not risk their lives and there are few of them, due to the sheer rarity of Dwarven women (who have a 1/6 chance of being born). All dwarven monarchs and leaders are generally women because of this. I do often go with more standard dwarf lore from media like Dwarf Fortress and J.R.R. Tolkien's work.

    Third, there are the elves. I am not going to write anything about elves besides that they are always stuck-up snobs who yell at people for cutting down trees and ravaging human farmlands during warfare to "free nature." Of course, they are the natural enemies of the dwarves, as the dwarves hate people who destroy their industry.

    Second to last, is the Goblins. Also, they are the enemies of dwarves, but mostly because generally in my lore goblins are the great descendants of the evil dark lord (which is usually a demon from a religion) and are on the earth to kill-murder-death any people that don't worship and follow their ancestors and who also aren't green. They are innately friendly with any demon-cultists.

    Finally, the cherry on top and the one you won't be expecting. Bearmen or Lionmen are my final race, with the race depending on the biome that I want for the region they are from. They play generally the same, being strong bipedal brutes that can tear through front lines with their Bad Temper and avoid being face characters due to how their voice works, which gives disadvantages toward using social skills.

    In conjunction together, these races are pretty fun to use together and are almost always a baseline for my fantasy worlds due to the simplified backstories and easy-to-remember lore outlines. If you haven't, I suggest using either Bear- or Lion-men in your worlds, as they can provide a link between humans and nature, which can be good for either northern barbarians, magical druids, or shamanistic citizens of rural towns in your game's kingdom or other society.

    

Deep Dive: Russia 2028 - Part Four: Preparing the Game (The Meat and Potatoes)

    You're finally versed in the background knowledge needed to run a game in this world and setting. First, you need to choose a faction for the group to play as. Unlike in the video game series, there are few scavengers and no universal alliance between them. Savages and Bandits are the two classifications of "scavengers", with the former being cutthroat loner types and the latter being organized crime gangs.

    In addition to what's listed above, players could play as the two main PMC factions, some abandoned RUAF, or even UNTAR soldiers trying to keep the peace in Tarkov. These further options give players more leniency in starting equipment, as most savages don't have a good selection of gear.

    Other things to consider when making characters and a campaign are what the group's goals are, who they know, as they won't know most or any of the known traders, if they are working for someone inside or outside the zone, what languages they know, etc. Some starting connections that the group might have would most likely be Prapor for BEAR PMCs and Raiders, Fence for Savages and Bandits, and Skier/Peacekeeper for USEC PMCs.

    A group of elite BEAR PMCs trying to bust TerraGroup even after they were cut off from command would have access to much more informational resources, weaponry, and supplies than a scavenger team of civilians. A BEAR PMC might toss away a half-broken AK-12, but that same AK-12 could be a blessing from the heavens for a bandit who is passing by and down on his luck.

    Books and material you might want for a Russia 2028 campaign are the obvious High-Tech and Tactical Shooting books, but also Action 1 & 7 are great. After the End 1 and the Pyramid 3 Magazine Articles The Last Gasp (PY44:4), Survivable Guns (PY44:36), Modern Warfighter: Gear (PY57:4), Fashion Forward (PY100:24), and Realistic Injury (PY100:32).

    Finally, the goal is not always to "escape from Tarkov". Try out different goals, or work your way towards escaping Tarkov. Maybe you're a group of grimy criminals trying to start a smuggling empire within the zone, or perhaps a more unrealistic campaign where you are gunslinging westerners trapped in the zone after a hotel stay went wrong? I am working on writing the final part of the deep dive, about the lore building up to the events of 2028 in the Norvinsk Region, but I am not quite done, I apologize.

The Arms of the Peasantry II

     After finishing yesterday's article, a reader had contacted me, asking questions about the previous post. I had responded to a few of the questions, although briefly, so I thought I would expand on what I had already written prior to this article. Thank you to the person that reached out with questions, it was much appreciated. Below is some comments and questions they had.

 

The Arms of the Peasantry

    In Low-Tech campaigns, not everyone will be using swords and halberds, the same with magic and sorcery. Sometimes, your characters will be simple foresters, poachers, farmers, and sharecroppers. A serf being armed with a sword? Very unlikely. What is more likely, is that your peasantry characters will be armed with axes, maces, and spears. 

    A good example of this is levies. Traditionally, levies were armed with spears or other cheap weapons. Why spears specifically is rather simple. A pitchfork or other long-handled weapon could easily have its head replaced by a spearhead. Many of these peasants already knew how to use polearms in a way as well, as many of the jobs levies would do involved tools akin to polearms or spears.

    Depending on the game you wish to run, sword and sorcery works just fine. But in a game where you have low funds? It's perfect. Now, there is a caveat to this. In a game where you face adversaries richer than you, like aristocrats or nobles, you will get your butt handed to you on a silver platter. Spears and axes work great against unarmored enemies and other levies, but knights in plate armor will pose a serious challenge. (This assumes players are in the 100/-25 to 150/-50 range, in a realistic campaign)

    I will run through a short scenario. A standard knight in this fictitious battle will have good armor, a mail hauberk and a steel breastplate, putting his DR at 9/7. An average peasant wielding a spear at ST 10 will have thr+3 imp (1d+1) damage. This isn't even enough to penetrate the armor that the knight has. Now, upping the ST to 12 means that you will have a chance to do one damage, on a rolled six. Though, against an unarmored opponent, the spear still shines brighter than most, earning its name as the "King of Warfare".

    Now comes the reason why even if you can't penetrate the armor, the spear still comes in great use against the knight: Range. If the enemy charges toward you, make a stop thrust against the knight, keeping it at bay. If it manages to get in range but not too close, your spear's range of two (or three, if you have a long spear) will outmatch the knight's shorter range. However, there are alternatives to spears.

    The Mace is an excellent option to defeat the armored opponent, due to their chainmail hauberk. At ST 10, the mace has an average damage of 6.50, meaning that you will not always penetrate the armor, but you will at least do some damage. At ST 12, the mace shows its true colors. With an average damage of 8.50, you will begin to fight back against the knight's damage prowess in Range 1.

    Onto the final option, which is the strongest. The Flail will destroy enemies that wear armor like our fictitious knight. At ST 12, the average damage of 9.50, with a minimum of 7, means you will be penetrating the armor 83% of the time. It also prevents the knight from using a shield or parrying your attacks effectively. 

    To summarize, as a levy in a realistic campaign, using the tools of your previous trade will destroy those in armor with ease, though you need to know how to use them to your advantage. A spear is to keep enemies at bay, a mace is to penetrate armor, and a flail is to beat enemies to a pulp. Good luck as a levy out there, you'll need it.

Player's Log: Dwarf Fortress: The Tale of Ast - Part One

"Dine well greybeard, your coffin draws your flesh down to the dirt!"

    

    Ast is a middle-aged Axedwarf from the city of Musorsong in Behal Birod. Before being an adventuring Axedwarf, he was an apprentice Clothier in his fortress. Since leaving his home, he has learned many skills. Ast was never a people person, preferring the company of animals. He is nervous in crowds and has grown to be a loner and has crippling shyness. Although he has shyness, he makes for a good adventurer. He does not fall in love easily, is very greedy, likes to brawl, is somewhat fearful in the face of imminent danger, and considers spending time alone much more important than associating with others.

    Despite his obvious social challenges, he is a monster on the battlefield. He wields a mace, shield, and a full set of mail armor. Many laugh at him for his studded leather skirt, though they usually are met with the business end of his mace before they can continue their laughter. At the start of this adventure, his occupation is only said to be "Goblin Exterminator".

    He has been traveling along a road for days now, heading toward an abandoned manor called Snoson, which is infested with the green scourge. About an hour or so before he was going to hit the manor, a foul stench rolled in. While he couldn't discern what it was, I presume it was just the stench of the goblins. I was also warned of a Forgotten Beast along with an abandoned human village named Lonoxxo nearby. Rumors say that the village might still have items of use.

    As Ast neared the manor, he grew weary of his surroundings, drawing his mace and shield, as he knew goblins were a slippery sort. Once he approached, he saw the manor in total disrepair, with light leaking through boarded-up windows. As he crept closer in, a large failure on a perception left him tangled in a trap that alerted the guards to his presence. Immediately after that, a goblin archer shot him in the leg with an arrow from a window, his leg armor protecting him greatly.

    He immediately raised his shield and turned to face the archer, walking to a crumbling door. Sensing danger from inside, he bashed the door down with his mace, revealing two more goblins. He then marched inside, immediately striking at the first goblin. He attempted a feint, but failed, then striking the goblin with his weapon. The goblin's chest was caved in by the blow, killing it instantly.

    The archer at the top of the stairwell had knocked another arrow and was preparing to shoot Ast on his next turn. He leaped toward the second melee combatant, making two strikes at each of its legs, both blows crippling the foul beast. He then quickly turned and blocked the arrow shot at him from upstairs. He finally made one last feint and struck at the goblin's face, who was now bleeding out on the ground. Its face was nothing more than a pile of flesh after that blow.

    As Ast ran up the stairwell to strike the final goblin, from below, another goblin came running toward him, although eight yards away. He slammed the goblin with his shield, sending it onto the floor, before striking it in the torso, giving it a nasty abrasion in the abdomen. Its last attempt at defending itself was futile, as it was not able to fire its arrow at me, before I slammed its head with my mace, twice. 

    After being covered in its gore, the goblin that had ran out of a hidden room managed to strike Ast unexpectedly, although neither of the blows went through his armor. He turned to face the goblin, screaming in a rage, swinging his weapon at him...

    And that's where we leave this adventure for today's post. Will the bloodthirsty Ast kill the goblin? Will the goblin strike back at the already wounded Ast? Will elves yell at lumberjack-dwarves??? All will be revealed in the next part of the adventure! Stay tuned!

    

    

    

Deep Dive: Russia 2028 - Part Three: Contract Wars and Hired Ops

    The Contract Wars and Hired Ops games take place around the same time, in the later half of the 2010s. The conflict first started when USEC operatives provoked open conflict with Russian Armed Forces (herein referred to as RUAF), with UN peacekeepers under the mission name UNTAR being sent to protect the civilians (including USEC). Due to BEAR's ties with the Kremlin, both BEAR and RUAF were on the same side of the conflict, never provoking each other in combat.

 

    According to Contract War's lore, at the time of the game the conflict had been going on for two years with no end in sight. The lore states that the conflict was planned out long before USEC was even hired by TerraGroup, although it does not elaborate on this. UNTAR Blue-helmets stand at key points, with RUAF and UNTAR guarding the border. Later in the conflict, they put up guard towers and walls to prevent anyone from coming in and out.

    The actual events of the contract wars (the event, not the game) are rather simple, involving armed conflict between the two groups. Not just small arms either, as both sides had access to helicopter transport and armored vehicles. Along with that, they had mortar and artillery support, making the conflict even more brutal. There was also more than just military losses, as civilians lost their lives during the conflict as well.

 

    During the contract wars, USEC was covering TerraGroup's tracks, preventing BEAR from getting evidence against them. TerraGroup Labs, the laboratory division of the company based in Tarkov City and Norvinsk City, was in the process of being discovered as of the contract wars, although by the events of Escape from Tarkov they had found it.

 

    TerraGroup Labs had not just USEC security personnel but automated turrets and more advanced defense systems as well. They also have connections to not just Russian governmental figures, but American and British as well. They are able to recruit top of the line operatives from America and Britain, as well as getting state of the art military small arms. TerraGroup also, as some lore suggests, tried to start the conflict in the Norvinsk region as a predetermined event.

 

    As the contract wars turned intense, with RUAF and UNTAR forces turning the Norvinsk region into an exclusion zone, some male civilians and all women and children were evacuated outside of the area's borders. Many of the men left behind are were the citizens of the past and the scavengers and bandits of today. Most scavengers, called savages or scavs by PMCs, are armed with civilian grade weaponry. More on that in tomorrow's post.

Deep Dive: Russia 2028 - Part Two: Factions

    Continuing from yesterday's post, today we are going to be talking about the two major factions of the Russia 2028 Universe: USEC and BEAR. They are each shortenings of company names, the first standing for United Security and the second standing for Battle Assault Encounter Regiment. Each of them are Private Military Companies, with the constituents being called either PMCs or Contractors. The first group we will dive into is USEC.

 

    United Security, founded in 1999 after a merger of SafeSea and KerniSec, is a western-based private military company, made up of American and British ex-military mercenaries, that have operated with both British and American government entities in the past, even being hired for operations in Iraq. They use western arms and armor, and are often seen wearing Tan "USEC" branded baseball caps. 

    

    KerniSec was originally founded by an American veteran, although SafeSea has no official lore. A common theory is that it is a British Naval Trade Route protection company, for defense against piracy. USEC is and has been hired by primarily TerraGroup since 2004, and have been used to fight proxy wars in areas near or in Russian territory.

 

    BEAR is a body of the Russian Armed Forces disguised as a private military company, although you should present this as alleged information to your players. They were established to fight actions of USEC and TerraGroup in and around Russia, getting into conflict with USEC long before the events of either game. Some locations include Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Iran. 

 

    Members of BEAR are specially trained Russian soldiers (or soldiers from other Cyrillic speaking countries) that must have already served in military service to be eligible to join. It is also a selection process, meaning that the veteran soldiers of BEAR are that much more trained. As well as this, they generally use the best Russian arms possible, including a Modified AK-12 in the standard kit.

 

    The two groups fight with or against one entity: TerraGroup International Corporation. TerraGroup and it's subsidiary in the Norvinsk Region, TerraGroup Labs, is a agriscience and bioengineering company, which was one of the many companies that helped fuel the Tarkov Scandal before the area turned into a warzone. USEC is what has prevented them from scandal until now, protecting them from the BEAR operatives that have tried to investigate them furter.

 

    There are confirmed sights and reports that TerraGroup Labs had performed experiments on human test subjects with biological weapons and other extremely illegal actions, with an object being seen in the RAID short-film that contains incriminating information about TerraGroup. As time went on with the conflict (the Contract Wars and Hired Ops games show this), eventually TerraGroup abandoned USEC in the Norvinsk region, with the Kremlin doing the same.

Deep Dive: Russia 2028 - Part One: Norvinsk Region

    The universe of Russia 2028 houses many of my favorite games. Contract Wars and Escape from Tarkov are the most prominent, although there is also Hired Ops, the live-action film series, short films (Chronicles of Ryhzy and RAID respectively), and the three books. It is my all-time favorite setting of any fantasy media, with RimWorld being in a close second. Obviously, this has led to me making GURPS campaigns based off of the source material. So, take your Tushonka and I will explain everything you need to know to run this world in GURPS.

    The Russia 2028 universe, despite its title, doesn't entirely take place in 2028. The first entry in the series chronologically is Contract Wars, then Hired Ops, then Escape from Tarkov, and finally the titular Russia 2028. Sadly, the final entry never came to fruition, although at the time of writing Nikita Buyanov has hinted that they are going to start on it.

    Now, there is also an immense background to this. Long before any of the conflicts in the Norvinsk Region happened, before the area was even established, the North Stream gas pipeline was being constructed. In the real world, this happened at the beginning of the 2010s, placing the earliest events of the universe to be around this time. The exact location of Tarkov City is unknown, but the lore states that it is on the other side of the Finn Gulf from Leningrad.

    During the construction of the pipeline, the Kremlin decided to name the area the "Norvinsk Special Economic Zone". While it is rather unclear what the actual benefits are, previous media and wikis say that they offer special tax statuses along with the "attention of government" making the area extra enticing for companies to move to. In no time, there were already two bustling cities; Norvinsk City and Tarkov City. The area is loosely based off of Skolkovo in real-world Russia.

    The two cities are rather high-tech, with Tarkov City having high-speed rails, a large port, and comfortable roads. Along with this, Tarkov City has lots of industry and raw-resource refining structures. Norvinsk City has more office buildings and financial companies in it, being the financial powerhouse of the zone. There is a large bridge that connects the two zones.

    If you have ever played Escape from Tarkov, the lore is vastly different than the original lore of Russia 2028. Zombie viruses, total lore rewrites from what was already present in the game, ignoring predetermined lore, overwriting lore from the books, etc. While some changes are good - like the Arena being an organized death sport and Lightkeeper being a main cult connection - many retcons are annoying. I will not be including some retcons or simplifications of the lore.