RPGNow-01-04

RPGNowDownloader|Monthly

2003 Minion DevelopmentCorp. All rights reserved.

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Happy New Year!

We have plenty of preview material this month, so you can check outsome products before you buy them. Heathen Oracles Novice to Mastercontains some wonderful artwork and material for d20, and SteamPowerPublishings Cast of Thousands is perfect when you need extras for yourArrowflight (and d20 shortly) adventure. Additionally, Alternate RealtiesPublications has graciously submitted another of its weapons which youcan use with d20, Fudge, Action! System, and more.

Our final Nuts and Bolts article looks at smaller or non-open systemswhich can provide a good deal of fun. We had hoped to includeinformation on other products as well, but many were late in providing uscopies due to the holidays.

Absent again is the d20 article. If you are interested in contributing yourinsights regarding the d20 universe, please email me at the address below.We are missing review central as well, but not to worry, it will be back nextmonth.

Brett M. Bernste inEditor in [email protected]

Politically Incorrect Games[www.pigames.net]

Politically Incorrect Gamespublishes affordable andentertaining roleplaying gamesand accessories including SRuneStryders, Disposable HeroesPaper Minis, Two-Fisted Tales,and the free Active ExploitsDiceless Roleplaying system andits 10-sided cousin, ImpresaExpress.

Cover Imageby William McAusland[www.artmotive.com/rpg-art.html]

RPGNow Heavy Metal logoby V. Shane[www.vshane.com]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

More Nuts & Bolts 3Robert D. Taylor

Feature Review: 7En Ferreus Veritas

A Interview with 10Ben Redmond

Comic 15Liz Walsh

Big Bang Excerpt 16Beretta CX4Alternate Realities Publications

Novice to Master Excerpt 18Malkan KnightHeathen Oracle

Cast of Thousands Excerpt 22Azag BoneseerSteampower Publishing

RPGNow Top10 Charts 24

Editor in ChiefBrett Bernstein

Design/LayoutBrett Bernstein

EditingAnna DobrittJoe Mucchiello

Cover ArtistWilliamMcAusland

CREDITS

A D V E R T I S E M E N T



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A Fistful of Diceby Azathot LLC

While there is very little supporting materialfor this system, the game does not necessarilyneed very much supporting material. Thegame has the ability to fit almost any genreand any setting. With its relatively fluidmechanic and various talents, a player could make any kind ofcharacter they could ever want.

The system is relatively simple. The dice mechanic uses d6s andthe talent number denotes how many dice the player will roll.Once the dice are added up, the GM must determine if the dicebeat his or her target number. As for these talents, they arerelatively broad and applicable. Basically, the system combinesskills, attributes, abilities, magic, feats, talents, and all otherdescribers under the banner of talents. To aid the players

imagination, there is a very large list of talents for the players tochoose from. Once the talents are chosen, there are derivedstatistics that aid the character in general situations such ascombat. While the stats are derived from talents, the characterdoes not have to have the specified talents for the stats. However,the players should look closely at the whole book before jumpinginto the talents, because the wrong talents could lead toproblems for the character later on. The next and last part isequipment.

No character could start without all those wonderful toys, andthis game has got a huge selection. There are equipment lists foreach genre that include weapons, armor and items. While theyare not extensive, they do cover broad topics. Any GM should beable to come up with stats for any item with this range. Thisillustrates one of the better aspects of the game.

For the most part, the game does not add any extracomplexities. The combat system is fairly simple and

More Nuts & Bolts

For the last several months, this article has examined systems which can be licensed. In this issue, thearticle will examine universal systems that dont necessarily have a license agreement with the product.

Written by Robert D. Taylor[www.celestius-ex.com/]



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straightforward. It discusses the idea ofmoving the danger level up and down tomanage certain genres. With a simple dicemechanic, it gives pretty broad strokes ofrules. This assumes that the players andGM are smart enough to decide whatmodifiers and changes are needed in eachcircumstance. The game itself offers a lotto players wanting something a little morerefined but remain broad enough for anytype of roleplaying fun.

SOAP: The Gameof Soap OperaMayhemby Wingnut Games

This is a humorousgame that pokes funat TV Soap Operas.This is not a very complex game, but itdoes take advantage of the best aspects ofthis medium. To better explain this, thecharacter system needs to be examined. Todefine a character, there are Traits, Goal,Secret, and Home Set. To create acharacter, the player must write a coupleof descriptive paragraphs about thecharacter. From this, traits are determined.

They are words like callous, mean, loving,sweet and so on. The Goal is what thecharacter wants to do. An example of thisis: I want to kill my only sibling for theinheritance or To go to Europe and marryan Aristocrat. Then, there are secrets.They are a sentence that states a basicsecret. An example of this is: I have aillegitimate child with my step-sister,Elizabeth or Killed a man once to close abusiness deal. Finally, the Home Set isdetermined. This is basically a location likea beautiful beach house on an obscuretropical island or the study in hismansion. While this may seem strange,the system mechanics explain why theyexist this way.

The game mechanics are very different.There are no numbers in this game unlessyou consider counting tokens numbers. Toexplain this, the game goes from person toperson allowing them to say a sentence. Ofcourse, sentence does allow multiplesentences to be stated in that players turn.Then, the next person makes a statement.One of the unusual mechanics is that acharacter can narrate the actions ofanother PC. While this adds flair and fun,this does add a little contention, whichbrings up the tokens.

Every time a sentence shows one of histraits (mean: I slam the phone down andthrow the cat out the window.), thecharacter gets a token. They get extratokens by revealing aspects of their secretsand goals. With these tokens, the playersbet each other, similar to poker, until onegives up or runs out of tokens. The onethat doesnt give up wins and his or herstatement goes. Once a characters secretis discovered, the character dies ordisappears permanently from the game.Otherwise, a character that is maimed,killed or blown up comes back someway.This is pretty much all there is to the game.

For the most part, it is simple and easy toplay. Also, it offers a fair amount of fun forthe overdramatic. However, the playersthat can think on their feet better (thereare no rolls to rely on) will do much better.Although, good role-players and friendscan definitely help theyre slowercompanions during the game. To end thegame, the last character must state asentence as a cliffhanger to be picked upthe next time. With the next time and alittle more experience, things will changebut get better nonetheless.



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CORPSby BTRC

CORPS is a large andvery crunchy system.With rules that coveralmost any genre, ithas an extensive pointsystem that creates very balancedcharacters. There are a large amount ofskills and rules to govern every possible useof skills. To aid the player in duringcharacter creation, there are charactertemplates to map out certain decisions theplayer will face during character creation.Also, there are advantages anddisadvantages to help flush out thecharacters. While character creation is verydiverse with a diverse point system, thereare rules that cover every situation.

The system is fairly basic, but it detailsrules for many different situations. Forstarters, the system uses a 1d10 when thecharacter attempts a difficult task.However, the character does not have tomake a test if the skill rating matches thedifficulty or is higher. Then, there are rulesfor contested actions as well as severalother actions. Combat is just as extensive.

The most notable difference is the damagesystem. Damage is determined by a hitlocation system. Each location has anumber of slots that are marked off as thecharacter takes damage. Then, eachlocation has different penalties thecharacter will suffer when they make tests.Of course, there are rules for many kinds ofdamage. With such a foundation, thegame continues to build itself with rulesand ideas for various game types.

The final sections provide rules andadvice for game mastering, equipment andparanormal powers. These sections arewhat make CORPS even more useful for allgame genres. The GM gets a lot of advicefor doing any kind of game. Next, theparanormal section provides ideas andpowers that would fit magic or superherosettings. Finally, the weapons and armorsection gives a large overview of mostcommon weapons in most game genres. Inthe end, this game fits anyone who islooking for a broad, crunchy, balancedsystem.

Here are some other CORPS products:

Apocalypse: The Time ofReckoning is at Hand

This game takes place in alternatetimeline. With the aid of the Dark Angel,the Japanese are successful in World War 2even though the Atom Bomb wasdropped. From then on, the worldcontinues to get worse as the more of thesupernatural come into the world. Witharmies of undead fighting all and the DarkAngel raging his war against the Almighty,the world is upside down with most of itdestroyed.

While the game uses CORPS, it doesmodify it for the setting. It adds severalAdvantages/Disadvantages, skills and otherchanges. One of the real additions is thedifferent races of the setting. A player canmake Empyreals (angels), Diaboli(demons), Alferi (supernatural humans),Half-Alferi, Rotted Ones (disease sufferers),Monsters (mutants and fantasticalcreatures), Living Dead, and the Fallen(supernatural beings). Then, there are thesupernatural powers and cool equipment.Finally, the GM gets some help in thesetting. There are two adventures includedin this setting to aid the GM in getting agame going. Plus, there are large sections



www.RPGNow.com 6on the possible campaigns and the moverand shakers of the setting. All in all, thisserves CORPS as a great end-of-the-worldsetting.

TimelordsTimelords is about time traveling. The

background is that an ancient aliencivilization discovered a way to manipulatetime with devices known as Matrices.These matrices rely on the discontinuitiesin time-space continuum. For those playersthat want a much more detail explanationwith physics, there is an entire chapterdedicated to it with some plausible ideas.As for the rest of the story, the aliens givepart of this technology to a human namedLucifer. During this time, the aliens alsomake a new life form. However, theirFrankenstein turned on them anddestroyed their civilization. It calls itselfthe Great Destroyer. This creature destroysLucifers family and he seeks revenge onthe creature. They partially succeed, butthey now face each other. Most of thetime, the players accidentally end up witha matrix by accident then, they must runfrom other Timelords who are huntingthem.

The biggest contribution this book has isthe mechanics of time travel. The settingdetails them well with plenty ofinformation. Also, the gamemaster is givenquite a bit of advice on managing timetravel games. This includes types of gamesthe gamemaster could use. While this isnot a long overview, the game has plentyof information and meat for anyonewanting to play through time. This kind ofgame uses CORPS flexibility very well.

Guns!, Guns!, Guns!Guns have been apart of human history

for many centuries. This book not onlycovers gun, but it also gives rules forconstructing guns. Using the Fuzionsystem, it has a complex mathematicsystem that allows the user to build arather realistic conventional gun. Withthese principals and build system in place,the book goes beyond conventionalweapons. There are rules for muscle-powered weapons, railguns, particlebeams, lasers and other kind of weapons.Also, there is a large table for damagevalue conversions for most RPG games.This makes it a universal tool for any gameor GM. With there conventional rules, anypersonal firearm can be made with arealistic-level of detail.




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Contributed by GameWyrd[www.gamewyrd.com]

Gamewyrd is a roleplaying sitewith reviews, interactive fiction,forums, and much more. Thesite is a fantastic resource foradventure gamers.

Scores range from 1 to 10, 1being the worst and 10 thebest.


Heyoka Studios rejects all claims of liabilityassociated with acts performed after you readthis book. We have no liability for actsperformed with, but not limited to, this book,knives, bats, home made PVC claymores, thoseshuriken you buy from Army/Navy stores, beerbottles, tequila, freaky German porn, bowlingshoes, Apple Quadras, the Accursed Temple ofCazic Thule, flying monkeys, coconut Zingers,the truth about the grassy knoll, duct tape, orhamsters.

This seems like such an important disclaimerthat I just had to begin the review with it too!

En Ferreus Veritas is about rapiers. If you needto be told that thats a type of sword then itmight not be the best PDF for you. Mind you, Icant think of a better introduction toroleplaying friendly rapiers than En FerreusVeritas either, so lets say that the PDF is suitablefor every level of experience; its just up to youhave the interest.

Its misleading (and wrong) to write off EnFerreus Veritas as a PDF just about rapiers too.Theres a wider scope to the supplement thanthat. Rapiers are the inspiration for the productbut the supplement opens up to include fantasycities, whole realms, melee styles, spells andpsionics too. If youre a psionics fan and findyourself muttering that all too often the d20supplements forget entirely about you thenyoull be pleased to see stats for psionic rapiershere.

En Ferreus Veritas starts as it means to go on.We get an accurate and researched introductionto the history of rapiers but it is a succinctaccount and one written for roleplayers wantingto know only what they need to know for theirgame. As the download quickly tours theSpanish, Italian and French styles we learn whichone was concerned with dodging and whichone favored parrying. Importantly, we learn whythe styles evolved this way. Since roleplayingworlds typically dont mimic Earth history very

Feature Review:En Ferreus Veritas

by Heyoka Studios

A Review by GameWyrd SCORE: 7



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wellwhat with monsters and magicEnFerreus Veritas rather sagely introduces themade up Annwvyn and Moldovian styles.Annwvyan is based on a fairy-real BritishIsle style, where the canons of the RoyalNavy didnt make fencing obsolete. TheMoldovian style puts you in good steadagainst vampires and werewolves. Fancyhaving a cross build into the hilt of yourrapier or a silver tip? Learn the Moldovianstyle. Later on in the supplement wereactually given world information aboutMoldovia and Annwvyn.

Can you tell your forte from your fuller?No? It might be rather embarrassing thenext time youre playing a fighter and anNPC cautions that your fuller is choked. Mywhat? Theres a very brief but effectivesummary of the parts of a rapier and Ireally wish Id read it before my noblefencing game came to a close. Damn.

Once you know all that you need toknow about the different parts of thesword you can come look at customswords, magic and psionic rapiers withfresh eyes. If the rapier is made up of somany different bits and each bit has aseparate function and use then that opensup a whole new world of possibilities.Thats just what happens here. Its no

longer just important to have an especiallypointed tip or a slyly sharpened edge;youll want your basket guard andannellets to be better than youropponents too. Magic weapons arethankfully much more entertaining thanjust +2 damage with +1 randomelemental effect. Weve the likes of theQueens Defenders, the magical rapiersgiven to the fairy queen of Annwynspersonal guard (and lovers) and skittishblades that extend an aura of nervousness!

En Ferreus Veritas goes on to look at thedrop-in-and-play cities of Castille andVentia. We get the nations of Gascon,Annwvyn and Moldovia. Some gamersmight not like the fact that theyre subtlymodified real-Earth namesbut I do.There are just a few pages for each setting,enough to give a flavor to the place,suggest some suitable plot hooks (whichtypically involve fencing and rapiers) and,of course, supply some fencing styleinformation about each. It doesnt takemuch to rile me with massive sidesteps likethis; Ill claim filler at the drop of the hat.But not here, although these locationsarent 100% on topic Im entirely mollifiedby the foreshadowing and I feel that theydo enhance and improve the PDF. And

prestige classes. Theyre always popular. EnFerreus Veritas squeezes in some shortprestige class for each location. Werethere is a fencing style there are peoplewho have mastered it.

Fear not. If you couldnt care less aboutpre-made settings, especially just tobenefit from made-up fighting styles thenperhaps the cut and thrust of d20 feats aremore to your taste. Whereas I do like topoke fun at the system and point out thatit seems almost illegal to carry the d20logo without introducing some new feats Iwill admit that they fit En Ferreus Veritasrather well. The Half Circular Parry featmight seem rather redundant without aspecial rapier focus in your game but itsideal for this PDF. If you pull it off youveearned yourself another riposte. I thinkfeats like this bring back tactics andstrategy to one-on-one fights and I thatsjust what I want for a duel.

There are even new spells and psionicshere. It is only a 53-paged PDF. As youllhave come to expect these new additionsare built around a fencing focus. Spells likeDramatic Dodge actually lower thecombatants own BAB but allows her tochannel the points into damage reduction.A lunge rips a hole in the short or cuts off



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a lock of hairthats the thing, a dramaticdodge. Just combine this paragraph withthe one above; a half circular parry earns ariposte, which forces a Dramatic Dodge(and a splash of magic). Ooo. Well befighting on tables or swinging fromchandlers next.

Heyoka Studios isnt quite the householdname (gamer household that is) that somePDF publishers have managed to become.Give them time. Quirky but practical

products like En Ferreus Veritas will catchpeoples eye and hold their attention. It isa niche product but in many ways it seemsbigger than the niche. Its one of thoserare gaming accessories that youll buy forone thing (rapiers, in this case) and findyourself using rather more than youexpected.

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The company that bringsyou the RPG FreelancersGuide, SRD 3.5 andSRD 3.5 MonstersPDFs, and futuremapping products.

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An Interview withBen RBen Redmondedmond

by GameWyrd www.gamewyrd.com

The company name MalladinsGate comes from the DarkLorecampaign setting, right? How didthat come about? Is Malladin yourfavourite feature of the game?

Actually the name Malladins Gate is verymuch derived from a combination ofinfluences. What is now the DarkLorecampaign setting was in full swing as ourown D&D game long before MalladinsGate started up. Malladin himself wasbased on a combination of two historicalfigures, Charlemagne and Saladin. Thename is quite sneakily stolen from Saladin,just changing the first letter. There is a kindof unwritten rule that villains have namesbeginning with Mal, so it worked well tosubliminally suggest in the game that hewas perhaps a darker figure than theofficial game history dictates. Thecompany name came about over a

telephone conversation between me andNigel (my business and writing/designingpartner). We started off with our owngame system, a modern horror gamecalled ShadowFlux, and was going to callourselves Black Orifice Games, but afteranalysing the market place we decided togo with D20 instead (this was at the peakof D20 popularity when people werewondering if there would ever be asuccessful independent system). Hence weneeded a different name, so were trying tocome up with something more Fantasyoriented. At the time I was playing BaldursGate a lot and happened to have the CDcase sitting on my desk as we discussedthe issue. I said we need something likeBaldurs Gate, and Nigel said what aboutsomeone elses gate. It wasnt muchlonger before Malladins name came up.

What is it about British RPGcompanies and darker thannormal settings? Or is thatmisnomer?

Its interesting you should say that. Ithink theres a general trend not only inthe RPGs, but also in fantasy/SciFi literatureand other media. Tolkiens on the dark sideand I love the modern British writers suchas KJ Parker and Peter F Hamilton that keeptheir stories dark. A lot of American writerscan be seen to have a more colourful andchirpy outlook on the fantasy writing,emphasising the adventure. Dont get mewrong, Im a fan of this stuff tooDavidEddings and Raymond E Feist are some ofmy favourites, too. That said, theres also agood strong theme of comedy in Britishscifi, such as Pratchett, Red Dwarf andDouglas Adams. I think even these



www.RPGNow.com 11comedies have a dark edge, though. I thinkthe reason for this is the media throughwhich most SciFi is delivered in therespective countries. America has a lot ofbig budget TV shows, which have arequirement due to censorship laws totone down any real horror elements whilstmost SciFi and fantasy for the British fancomes on paper. Thats not to say thatAmericans are incapable of being dark.Robin Hobb is very dark at times andMidnight is so good we almost considerednot bothering with DarkLore.

Is Malladins Gate a smallcompany? Do you see yourselvesas a company or as gamers with afor sale product?

Technically were not a company, were aco-operative. In size, were tiny. Weve gotthree of us working on the writing sideand spend most of what we make on justkeeping things ticking over, getting art forthe books and perhaps a little bit of extrapocket money for RPG books every month.I definitely think were more on the lines ofgamers with a product to sell than a truecompany. We started off with bigambitions and targeted our productsaccordingly, looking for holes in the

market place that we could fill with ourown products. Hence the Forgotten Heroesline and the Academy Handbooks, a linewith the goal of producing a book for eachtype of specialist wizard. In more recentmonths weve been concentrating onthings we like. DarkLore is a labour of love,as will be Etherscope when we get time towrite it. Now that were concentrating onthese products were finding writing a lotmore fun, and weve decided that at theend of the day, that should be our goal.There appears to be no big publisherspicking off the best of the PDF market anymore, so I think well have to makeourselves content with putting outproducts that we love and having maybe100 others buy them.

Has it been difficult gettingnoticed? Whats been the mostchallenging obstacle tocommercial success so far?

Has it been difficult getting noticed? Yesand no. At first I was surprised how quicklywe took off. I think Forgotten Heroes:Paladin hit the marketplace at exactly theright time. There had been nothing onPaladins since Defenders of the Faith andthat was very strongly skewed towards

Clerics. Hence our book took off well and anumber of good reviews very early onhelped sales. We didnt really have to doanything. Our next book, St Johns Collegeof Abjuration, didnt sell well at all at first,and we couldnt figure out why. Therewere no reviews appearing as they did forPaladin and we were baffled. So I askedaround on industry message boards (ENWorld, RPG Net) and got a lot of helpfuladvice about marketing and getting reviewcopies to official reviewers. Since thenthings have gone okay but notspectacularly. It can get quite frustrating attimes. We seem to have hit a brick wall insales and are struggling to get over 100copies shifted, and not improving fromproduct to product. When we started therewere 4 or 5 companies that had deals withprint houses, and we thought if weproduced top quality products we mightget noticed. Unfortunately that no longerseems to be happening in the industry atthe moment and we seem to struggle toget the recognition we believe the qualityof our products deserves. Some peoplemay attribute our failures to things like abelow average art content or editing, butthese are all issues that we have takensteps to improve and have been getting



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gradually better in more recent releases.Its annoying that the expense in fixingthese issues is not carried over into sales.Hence were scaling down a bit and will beconcentrating on writing what we want towrite rather than what we think will get usnoticed. We constantly get good reviews.DarkLores our best yet and always seemsto be winning new fans, so maybe theressome commercial, or at least critical,advantage to choosing to develop ourfavoured ideas.

If you could have gone straight topaper and not dabbled in the PDFindustry first, would you havehad?

Yes, definitelyif wed had the moneyIm sure we would have done. But Im notsure that would be the best way to go. Theimpression I get is that it is very difficult toget distributed without any sort ofpedigree, which in turn you cant getwithout already being in print. The PDFplatform allows us to at least get somecritical acclaim for our works and then wecan know whether were barking up thewrong tree or not. The worst review wevehad was Average, so we cant be doing toobadly, can we? But the PDF and POD sales

are low compared to print, and if we wantto be successful we have to get in print.But thats not looking likely for anothercouple of years at least, so were going tohave to keep ourselves content with PDFsand good reviews.

Are gamers who buy PDF productsthe same sort of gamers who stickto traditional paper products? Oris there something fundamentallydifferent about gamers whorehappy to explore PDF games?

Im sure the market places are verydifferent. Im not sure if its anythingspecific to the types of people who buy asopposed to the types of things that areworth having in PDF rather than print. Ithink Phil Reeds (Ronin Arts) got the bestidea. They produce cheap 20-40 pagesupplements that are very open to use inlots of different games. Thats the key ifyou want to be successful in PDF alone.Keep it short and sweet and make sureanyone can use it. I think thats the currenttrend in all the recent successful products.If youre going to buy a book thats goingto be printed out on loose sheets of paperyou need it to be small. The market place istoo small to support products that get toospecific. Weve been trying to take this

approach with our own work of late.DarkLore was conceived as a 40 pageCampaign Primer and 20-30 pageexpansion supplements. The Primer grewto 80 pages and our supplements are likelyto be bigger than 30 pages. We just havetoo much stuff to put in. Even at twice theexpected size, theres still a whole heap ofother stuff I would have liked to have putin the DarkLore Campaign Primer. Id liketo think we can keep the page count downwith Etherscope, but were probably goingto fail at that:).

How does going to the trouble ofpreparing a professional RPGproduct affect your own view ofthe hobby? Do you even have timeto roleplay any more?

Ive not roleplayed for a while now, butthats not strictly concerned with thewriting. Ive not actually done muchwriting either since September. My wifeand I were blessed by the arrival of oursecond son last march. Whilst off work onpaternity leave (taking advantage of thenew statutory 2 week leave we now get inthe UK) I had time to think about where Iwas going with my life. I had beenunhappy in my job (as an analystprogrammer) for a good few years. I



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seriously looked at what it would take tobecome a full time writer, either as afreelancer or taking Malladins Gateforward with an investment and going intoprint. As soon as I did some sums andrealised it was never going to provide me aliving wage, I decided to think about otheravenues. Hence I am now studying tobecome a teacher. Ive got two years of anintensive course to complete before Iqualify, so my writing and gaming in slowdown as a result. Im hoping to get to playsome time in the New Year, provided I canget my assignments finished . Thebiggest difference becoming a writer hasmade to my view of the hobby has beenmore felt at the gaming store. I now buymore (I put aside my Malladins Gatemoney for RPG books only) but want less. Ifind myself put off by much of what isavailable in print because I dont agreewith the approach someone has made.One thing that I think we do well atMalladins Gate is having a kind of artistryabout the actual game mechanicsthemselves. Far too often I see a mechanicthat I think is messy or doesnt capture theflavour of its intended outcome, despite itbeing well balanced and perfectlyfunctional. Maybe Im just too anal about

it, but I now find messy mechanics painfulto read. I think it must be somethingspecific to me, because I never hear anycomments in reviews about such things.

What advice would you give toanyone thinking of setting out andproducing professional PDFgaming products of their own?

Go for it. You loose nothing. You can getstarted for next to nothing if you alreadyhave a computer, and provided you areconfident about the quality of yourmaterial, go for it and enjoy the praiseyoull get in the reviews. You might find itdifficult to get noticed at first, so take noteof all the advice on marketing you can get.I also think theres a lot of mileage inteaming up with others. Id personally liketo develop a more productive relationshipwith other PDF publishers, but most of ushave competing products, or at leastproduct lines, so it makes it very tricky. Themost important thing for a prospectivenew publisher to bear in mind, though, isthat this is not the first step to being afulltime print publisher. Write what youwant, dont aim for commercial success oryoull be disappointed (as we were).

If theres anything you couldchange in the PDF industry whatwould it be?

More customers! I just dont think weget enough people taking an interest inPDFs to make the market place properlycommercially viable. Id also like some printcompanies to support the PDF industry bypicking the best of the field and gettingthem into the shops, but in that I feel I amdreaming .

What has been your roleplayingindustry highlight of 2003?

Was D20 Modern 2003? I think that hasthe potential to make a massive change tothe D20 System over all. D20 Modernmoves away from the cookie-cutterapproach to classes and tries to use verygeneric classes, combined with lots ofmulticlassing, to allow you to createwhatever character concept you want.Weve already used this approach withDarkLore and will be doing the same withEtherscope. I just hope that morecompanies take the same approach. If thatwas 2002, though, my next highlightwould be Midnight. I really like DarkFantasy and Midnight is very well done. Italmost made us drop DarkLore, as we



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thought wed have too much overlap, but Ithink DarkLore has too much going for itto have forgotten about. Our approach tothe classes and systems I think is, so far,fairly unique and the world itself has a lotgoing for it, and is very different tomidnight.

How influential do you think PDFRPGs and supplements will be in2004? Will PDF products be moresignificant than theyve been in2003, less than or about thesame?

Thats a difficult question. Id like tothink that some of us who regularly turnout quality products will get noticed andthe PDF marketplace will prosper as aresult. However, I get the impression thatthis will not happen and I think thatanyone other than Malhavoc Press will trotalong at the same respectable rate.Malhavoc have had a great year withArcana Unearthed and look like onlyimproving their lot in the New Year.

What might we expect fromMalladins Gate in 2004?

Weve two products that are a fewmonths off release: Epoch, a D20 systemboard game of civilisations and Martial

Avengers, a D20 Modern class book forStrong and Fast Heroes. Epoch will have aname change, though as theres alreadysomeone out there with the name, butweve not decided on what yet. Were veryhopeful for Martial Avengers. D20 Modernsupplements have done very well onRPGNow of late and theres not a class-specific supplement out for it yet. Wevebeen very much hooked onto D20 Modernand really want to produce something thatcan become a classic of the line. Whetherwe will succeed, only time will tell. Otherthan that, were looking to get Etherscopestarted off and DarkLore expanded. Wevelooked into possibilities of producingEtherscope in print, for the sheer reasonthat we want it done properly. Even if no-one buys it, Id like to have a full-colourhardback copy of it on my shelf.Etherscope is even more a labour of lovethan DarkLore was, and its a question ofmaking sure we get it right. Weve also gota freelance writer working on ForgottenHeroes: Barbarian, so that may appear atsome point during next year. Weve alsogot a lot of other projects on the boil but Idont think well manage to get to any ofthem next year. Were thinking aboutreleasing our original ShadowFlux system

as an OGL system, with two supportingsettings; the ShadowFlux modern horror itwas designed for and a fantasy settingwith east African influences. Ive also gotan idea for a SciFi setting thats a mixtureof Supers, Cthulhu horror and low-tech,dark and gritty scifi. Ive got a whole newcrystal technology system created for thatone, which is awaiting the release of D20Future. Well probably want to expand onthe Modern Heroes line if Martial Avengersdoes well. On top of that, Ive beendeveloping a new D20 Modern game toplay with my gaming group, and if that iswell received Ill probably think aboutpublishing it. Its a strange mixture ofwhite-wolf style Goth-punk and low-levelsuper powers but without the traditionalgothic horror creatures. Nigel calls itSupers-Punk. Well just have to see whatwe think is best as we go forward.

What are you looking forward tomost from the RPG sector in2004?

Personally Im looking forward to D20Future. Not only do I have a campaignsetting already lined up for it, but I alsoreally like SciFi gaming and theres notbeen much going for it in the D20 system.



www.RPGNow.com 15

Comic by Liz Walsh[tog.litazia.com]

Liz Walsh is a geek ofall trades, living in thewilds of Canada. Hercomic, The Tao ofGeek, has beenrunning since June2002.

But perhaps my biggest anticipation is overthe Aeon timeline products that Swordsand Sorcery is developing. I was a very bigfan of Trinity and played it a lot, so I cantwait to see how they handle that in D20.My only nagging doubt is that Ill not likehow they converted it to D20 and be putoff.

Y2WV2K.2W,- Currently, Beretta is best known for its many

well-regarded semi-automatic pistols. While the company does manufacture a number of rifles, these weapons are relatively unknown outside military circles. In an effort to change the companys dismal performance in the rifle market, Beretta has introduced a new pistol caliber carbine targeted at the law enforcement market. This new weapon was introduced to the firearms market during the third quarter of 2003, with a number of demonstrations and prototype displays at various trade shows since February 2003.

This new carbine, the CX4 Storm, is an impressive looking weapon to say the least. Beretta teamed with the internationally renowned Giugiaro Design to do an extensive ergonomic study on the weapon, producing a rather futuristic design that is comfortable to carry and fire. The form is rounded in every way possible, drastically reducing weapon snag. The weapon is contained in a high-tech polymer shell, which is just the most visible use of polymers which were used extensively throughout the weapon to reduce weight, increase corrosion resistance, reduce manufacturing costs, and eliminate the problems associated with the breakdown of metal finishes.

Inside the rifle is equally impressive, providing a fixed barrel design with a long sight radius for inherent accuracy and the reliable semi-automatic blowback action design for rugged reliability. Topping it all off is the ability tool-free field strip the carbine, along with internally adjustable components that allow the weapons cross-bolt safety, magazine latch, bolt handle, and ejection port to be swapped for left or right handed use in the field. These controls are laid out in a fashion similar to the Beretta M92FS pistols, providing operational familiarity for hundreds of thousands of gun users around the world. This familiarity extends further with the carbine being available with compatibility with the magazines of the Beretta pistol

of your choice, with the compatibility extending to the 92, 96, 8000, 8040, and 8045 pistol series. The rifle is also caliber interchangeable with access to the appropriate parts.

The polymer shell is fitted with multiple sling mounting points, as well as a retractable forward accessory rail that extends out from the fore-end, allowing the quick mounting of commercial tactical accessories, like tactical lights or laser designators. The shell is also molded with hard mounting points which can handle various accessories, including top, side, and bottom Picatinny rails. The carbine comes prefitted with a side rail. The shell also incorporates reliable basic iron sights. The front post sight can be adjusted for windage and elevation, while the rear ghost ring has both long and short range aperatures. Both sights are protected by rugged ears molded into the shell and the sights can be folded down when other optics are placed on the carbine.

Weapon CX4 Storm Carbine Manufacturer Beretta Year 2003- Nation Italy

Caliber 9 x 19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, 9 x 21mm IMI

Mags 10, 12, 15, 20

Accuracy Group 22 cm @ 50 m MOA Kill Pen Velocity Energy Weight Empty 2.57 kg ROF SS 45 Loaded MB - Length 755 mm Burst - Range Effective 100 m Auto - Max. Cyclic -

Notes 9 x 19mm Parabellum and 9 x 21mm IMI ammunition do not require a parts interchange to be fired through the same weapon.

Y2WV2K.2W,-

Weapon Type ACC Con Av Caliber DM Ammo Rate of Fire Rel

Effect. Range

(meters)

Weight Empty

(kg)

Weight Loaded

(kg) Cost CX4 Storm 9mm Carbine RIF +3 T C 9mm P 0 10,15,20 2 [SS] RE 100 2.57 2.75 $687 CX4 Storm .40 S&W Carbine RIF +3 T C .40 S&W 0 10, 15 2 [SS] RE 100 2.57 2.75 $687 CX4 Storm .45 ACP Carbine RIF +3 T C .45 ACP 0 10, 12 2 [SS] RE 100 2.57 2.75 $687 Special Rules 9mm version can fire both 9 x 19mm Parabellum and 9 x 21mm IMI caliber cartridges. ! "#$# %&'(*)+%",-

Weapon Damage Critical Damage

Type Range

Increment Rate of Fire Mag Size Weight Purchase

DC Restriction CX4 Storm 9mm Carbine 2d6 20 Ballistic 35 SA 10, 15, 20 Sm 6 lb 17 Lic (+1) CX4 Storm .40 S&W Carbine 2d6 20 Ballistic 35 SA 10, 15 Sm 6 lb 17 Lic (+1) CX4 Storm .45 ACP Carbine 2d6 20 Ballistic 35 SA 10, 12 Sm 6 lb 17 Lic (+1) Special Rules 9mm version can fire both 9 x 19mm Parabellum and 9 x 21mm IMI caliber cartridges.

FUDGE Weapon Shots Rate of Fire Range Accy Dmg Cost Notes CX4 Storm 9mm Carbine 10, 15, 20 SA Good Great 3 $687 CX4 Storm .40 S&W Carbine 10, 15 SA Good Great 4 $687 CX4 Storm .45 ACP Carbine 10, 12 SA Good Great 3 $687 Special Rules 9mm version can fire both 9 x 19mm Parabellum and 9 x 21mm IMI caliber cartridges.

Action!

Weapon Dmg Type Acc Rmod STR Min Max Rng RoF Amm Wt Cost Notes

CX4 Storm 9mm Carbine 3d6+2 P/L +1 0 2 100 2 10,15,20 2.75 $687 CX4 Storm .40 S&W Carbine 4d6 P/L +1 0 2 100 2 10, 15 2.75 $687 CX4 Storm .45 ACP Carbine 3d6+2 P/L +1 0 2 100 2 10, 12 2.75 $687 Special Rules: 9mm version can fire both 9 x 19mm Parabellum and 9 x 21mm IMI caliber cartridges.

OGL Section 15 Copyright Notice This section is included specifically in reference to this two-page entry for Big Bang: The Mostly Illustrated RPG Guide to Modern Weapons. The remainder of the OGL can be found elsewhere in the master publication.

Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. System Reference Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on original materials by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. 'd20 System and the 'd20 System logo' are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 1.0. A copy of this license can be found at www.wizards.com. 'Action! System' and the Action! System logo are trademarks of Gold Rush Games and are used with permission. Original Fudge materials Copyright 1992-1995 by Steffan O'Sullivan, All Rights Reserved. The FUDGE System logo is a trademark of Steffan OSullivan and used under license. Big Bang: The Mostly Illustrated RPG Guide the Modern Weapons , CyberThriller and 2003 Dana Jorgensen. All Rights Reserved.

All weapon images taken from for-distribution press, review and promotional materials published by weapons manufacturers. Images are copyright their respective manufacturers. All Rights Reserved. Ultramodern Firearms D20 2002, Charles McManus Ryan

Designation of Open Content: The game statistics specific to use in the D20 System are designated as open content. The statistics appear in the small table above, second from the top, designated by the table heading of D20 Modern Roleplaying Game. The game statistics specific to use in the Action! System are also designated as open content. These statistics appear in last of the four small tables above, designated by the table heading of Action! This ends the designation of Open Content. FUDGE Notices ABOUT FUDGE Fudge is a role-playing game written by Steffan O'Sullivan, with extensive input from the Usenet community of rec.games.design. The basic rules of Fudge are available on the internet at http://www.fudgerpg.com and in book form from Grey

Ghost Games, P.O. Box 838, Randolph, MA 02368. They may be used with any gaming genre. While an individual work derived from Fudge may specify certain attributes and skills, many more are possible with Fudge. Every Game Master using Fudge is encouraged to add or ignore any character traits. Anyone who wishes to distribute such material for free may do so; merely include this ABOUT FUDGE notice and disclaimer (complete with Fudge copyright notice). If you wish to charge a fee for such material, other than as an article in a magazine or other periodical, you must first obtain a royalty-free license from the author of Fudge, Steffan O'Sullivan, P.O. Box 465, Plymouth, NH 03264. DISCLAIMER The following materials based on Fudge, entitled Big Bang: the Mostly Illustrated RPG Guide to Modern Weapons, are created by, made available by, and Copyright 2003 by Alternate Realities Publications, and are not necessarily endorsed in any way by Steffan O'Sullivan or any publisher of other Fudge materials. Neither Steffan O'Sullivan nor any publisher of other Fudge materials is in any way responsible for the content of these materials unless specifically credited. Original Fudge materials Copyright 1992-1995 by Steffan O'Sullivan, All Rights Reserved.

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Chap

ter

One

10

Chapter O

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Born to a small and insignificant tribe of goblins far to the north of Corvel, Azag was viewed as slow and weak by his kind. Constantly attacked by his own people, Azag grew up even more bitter and twisted than most goblins, his heart held nothing but hatred for all those around him. It was during these early years that he was noticed by the tribes shaman, a cunning goblin mage known asGorgath. It seemed that the young Azag had a predilection for knowing people, their souls, their futures, and he was often frighteningly right. The old shaman took Azag under his wing, quickly realising that his young apprentice had a natural aptitude for all things magical, especially divinations, something in which Gorgath had no real experience as he was far more interested in the necromantic arts. Seeing an opportunity to gain power, he began training Azag as a potential successor, and Azag learnt swiftly.

Azags training occurred over the course of several years and it was in this stretch of time that he made what was to be his greatest discovery. Azag had a liking for poisons and certain narcotics that gave him visions. While out gathering herbs one morning, he stumbled upon a bone protruding from the ground. He had not seen it before and supposed it had been unearthed in a recent storm. The bone was large, bigger than anything Azag had seen before, and he became curious. The young goblin cut himself a sliver to examine later and buried the rest, placing a small marker so that he could find the spot again. Many days later his wildest hopes and dreams were confirmed, it was the bone of some great dragon, perhaps a mountain dragon, at least five hundred years old when it perished. That night Azag went and retrieved the bone, hiding it from his master while spending the next several months carefully carving it into a set of ten runes, to be used as a focus for his magic. Azag did not speak of this to anyone and it was not long before he had worked the runes into

his magic and found the spells were much more powerful and far simpler to cast. Azag knew then that his time would come.

With a new found confidence Azag quickly began to seek more roads to swift and easy power. It was not long before he stumbled

upon the ways of Chaos, magic inspired by the great god Marg and powered by the Web of Life. This newfound knowledge filled Azag with confidence and he confronted his teacher and slew Gorgath with a ball of fire so huge it lit up the night sky for miles. Azags dragon bone runes glowed fiercely in the conflict and his command of Chaos drained the life force of the world for miles. From that day forth Azag became not only the tribal shaman, but also the tribal patriarch, guiding and leading those who had once scorned him. He never forgot their treatment of him and his hatred never diminished, but now Azag had tools to wreak greater destruction than he had thought

possible. Since then, Azag has been building his power, biding his

time. He has since become known as Boneseer because of his prophetic visions, knowledge of far off events and the eerie, chilling clatter of his dragonbone runes as they fall and seal the fates of his enemies. Soon, though, it will be time to strike, soon

Azag will command an army of murderous goblins ready to lay waste to the hated humans, elves,

dwarves and others in the lands to the south.

Appearance

For a race as agile and dextrous as goblin-kind, Azag is slow and clumsy, weak and scrawny and dresses in oversized, hooded robes of red and black that cover a full suit of ringmail, for Azag always fears the possibility of a knife in the back. His skin is a sickly-grey mottled hue, with spots of white. His fingers are slender, yet shake almost constantly; the only time that they stop

Azag Boneseeragent of chaos

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is when he is casting a spell, which he does often. Azag keeps poisons and narcotics in the pockets of his robe along with a crude set of runes carved from the bones of an unfortunate elf victim. His dragonbone runes are kept in a pouch tied around his neck. At his belt he wears a small crescent dagger, and he carries a tall, wooden staff with him wherever he goes. Azags face is the most striking part about him; his eyes burn with hatred, a cold fire that rages with glee when maliciousness and evil come to the fore. His mouth is set in a cruel and callous sneer and he walks with a conscious swagger, brandishing his power and confidence for all to see.

Personality

Azag is, at his core, bitter. Having spent so many years as the target of cruelty he now revels in seeing it dealt out to others. He is filled with hatred for all living things and rejoices in death and pain; he gains great pleasure from using the forces of Chaos to suck the Web of Life dry and slaying and torturing his enemies. This hatred, this core of savage resentment, has stained Azags soul dark with evil, malicious intentions. His only desire is to wreak havoc and destruction on as many living things as he can before he perishes. To this end he has focused his spite on the nations of elves and men to the south, and he is now consumed with plotting their downfall. To do this Azag knows that he must create an army of goblins to do his bidding. Azag now expends all of his considerable will to achieve that end.

Plot Hooks

The number of goblin raids has increased in Troilanos recently. Rumours abound of a new goblin chieftain, a mage of considerable skill. Lord Jakob Troilanos has sent out an open request for aid, which reaches the PCs.

Azag, in a fit of rage, has moved his tribe down to the lands of Corvel, gaining followers from among other tribes along the way. He now has a sizeable army and is poised to attack. Mercenaries and anyone else willing to help are drafted in the hopes that Azag can be stopped and peace maintained.

Rumours of a powerful and deadly Chaos mage stalking the night in northern Corvel reach the characters. Azag has come to test the lands of men and elves and is revelling in the terror and pain he is causing to his chosen enemies. If he is not stopped soon there is no telling the damage he might cause.

Azag BoneseerGoblin chaos mage

AGL 3Athletics 1Stealth 2PER 5Awareness 4Bargain 1Wilderness Skills 2DEX 3Craft: Bone Carving 3INT 5Education 2Language: Ancient 2Lore 3Natural Sciences 2Theoretical Sciences 2

STR 2Climb 2Endurance 4WIL 4Resist 3SPIRIT 1MANA 7Theory: Divination 5Theory: Elementalist 4

INITIATIVE 4/4SAVE 5/5ACTIONS 2

Note: Speaks Goblin as native tongue.

Weapons: Crescent Dagger WA0, WR1, DB+1Wooden Staff (WA+1, WR2, DB0)

Armour: Heavy Robes (AV1 Head)Ringmail (AV5 everywhere else)

Possessions: Carved Elf Bone Rune Set, Woodsong (10 doses), Blood Mold (10 doses), Pressed Duchess Root (4 doses), 10 Carved Dragonbone Runes

Spells:

Earthcall DIFF 1; Wall [Earth] (C); Duration 1 minute; Range 20yds; 20ft long wall; Requirements: dragonbone rune focus, hand motion, single word

Farsight DIFF 1; Scrying (N); Duration 1 minute 1 action; Range 40 miles; Requirements: dragonbone rune focus, circle, 2 Handed Motion

Firecall DIFF 1; Projection [Fire] (C); Range 40yds; WR2; Requirements: dragonbone rune focus, hand motion, single word

Foresight DIFF 1; Precognition (N); Range touch; allows the caster to see one year and one month into the future; requirements: circle, dragonbone rune focus, 2 actions to cast

Know Person DIFF 1; Read Soul (N); Range 40yds; Requirements: elfbone rune focus, single hand motion, single word

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