terje
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Post by terje on Dec 7, 2016 13:58:51 GMT -6
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terje
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
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Posts: 204
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Post by terje on Nov 30, 2016 8:06:17 GMT -6
I agree that Brackett is the bee's knees. Drell Master by Caroll “Poke” Runyon is pretty cool. www.amazon.com/Drell-Master-Poke-Runyon/dp/0971055203Some others worth checking out: HG Wells – First Men in the Moon E L Arnold - Gullivar of Mars Arnould Galopin - Doctor Omega Gustave Le Rouge – Vampires of Mars Jack Vance - The Planet of Adventure Lin Carter - Callisto / Green Star / Mysteries of Mars
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terje
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Posts: 204
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Post by terje on Nov 22, 2016 7:57:26 GMT -6
Death will come on swift wings to those who disturb the tomb of the Black Pharaoh! Haunted by evil both otherworldly and mundane, the tomb of the sorcerer-king Akhenseti lies waiting. Within its halls are secrets to be uncovered, enemies to be defeated, and weirdness to be encountered. “The Devil in the Crypt” is a sword & sorcery style OSR adventure for a party of 4-8 characters between level 1 and 3. It is designed to be system agnostic and compatible with traditional role-playing games. www.drivethrurpg.com/product/196964/The-Devil-in-the-Crypt
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terje
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Posts: 204
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Post by terje on Nov 21, 2016 15:32:16 GMT -6
When I run Carcosa i let all sorcerers have the LotFP Summoning spell as a class ability. And I use the spawn of shub-niggurat tables (+LotFP demon abilities table) to generate the creatures summoned.
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terje
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Post by terje on Oct 2, 2016 14:47:31 GMT -6
Its really hard to choose since there are so many good movies, but these are some that I return to now and again:
Bladerunner Tetsuo Pi
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terje
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Posts: 204
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Post by terje on Aug 20, 2016 5:30:56 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Aug 19, 2016 5:59:56 GMT -6
James Raggi's Esoteric Creature Generator is a classic. Carcosa has lots of tables for critters. But I guess you already know of them?
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terje
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Post by terje on Jul 30, 2016 5:57:22 GMT -6
I recently bought Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (but haven't read it yet). It seems to be an eminent example of science fantasy technology. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light
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terje
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Post by terje on Jul 20, 2016 8:20:17 GMT -6
Here is Black Amazon of Mars by Leigh Brackett: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p8RFQ7F6PIThis is not only a fine Eric John Stark story, the talisman described in chapter 1 is also a great example of the kind of Clarke-tech "indistinguishable from magic" that I prefer in science fantasy.
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terje
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Post by terje on Jul 16, 2016 7:35:14 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Jul 12, 2016 15:50:32 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Jun 27, 2016 13:02:39 GMT -6
Yes I found these to be a bit disappointing. Its like Moorcock decided to do a tribute to Burroughs but became trapped in slavishly following the masters formula instead of doing something interesting with the same concept. Reheated leftovers of Barsoom. It's sorta amusing how the books keep reminding you that Michael Kane travelled through both space and time, and that the Mars that he's adventuring on is the Mars of the distant primordial past, because people running around with swords on present-day Mars would just be silly. You know, he might have been on to something! Ancient Mars might have had liquid water and an oxygen rich atmosphere. gizmodo.com/ancient-mars-was-even-more-earth-like-than-we-imagined-1782680758This thundarr-meets-barsoom short story collection (http://www.chillwater.org.uk/writing/blackthorn/thunder.htm) had the mirror image of that concept - its set on a post-apocalyptic mars in the far future.
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terje
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Post by terje on May 17, 2016 12:19:03 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on May 17, 2016 12:16:37 GMT -6
Interface by Mother Horse Eyes: www.reddit.com/r/9M9H9E9/wiki/narrativeIts kind of like if HP Lovecraft David Cronenberg and William S Burroughs cowrote a creepy pasta. Its weird scifi horror with multiple naratives that weave in and out of each other. Some parts are written in the style of message board posts (in the same way as part of a novel can be in the style of a letter or diary), while other parts are more explicitly litterary.
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 31, 2016 16:28:00 GMT -6
Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner. Alien ruins half sunken in a swamp, degenerated toadmen, a godlike crystal being from beyond the stars - its like something from the works of Abraham Merritt. The main character Kane is warrior and sorcerer and reminds me of both Conan and Elric. But if he showed up in one of their adventures he'd be an antagonist, like Thoth-Amon or Theleb K'aarna. I like it quite a lot!
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terje
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Posts: 204
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Post by terje on Mar 21, 2016 7:06:14 GMT -6
Other than osr D&D variants I currently run Mutant Year Zero and play in Numenera. One game that we return to again and again is Call of Cthulhu. Mutant Year Zero? Is that the one that uses a 2d2 system? If so, I'd like to hear more about it. (Since there are 2d20 Conan and 2d20 John Carter games coming out soon....) Well, not really, its more like xd2. Here's a quote (from this review: www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/16/16316.phtml) on how the dice works: M:YZ uses six-sided dice. If a skill is used, the character rolls as many green skill dice as his skill level plus as many yellow base dice as the attribute number relevant to the skill. Gear dice can also be added if gear is used. If he rolls at least one 6 (ionizing radiation) irrespective of the amount of dice rolled, he succeeds. The more sixes are rolled the better; they can be used for stunts. Each skill description states how the skill is used, what happens in case of a success or a failure and what potential stunts might be. If however no sixes are rolled, things go wrong. Rarely does this mean 'nothing happens'. The GM is actively encouraged to state the consequences of failure. However, the player can always decide to push his roll in order to change his predicament. All dice that did not come up as biohazards can be rerolled. That strains the character however. For every biohazard that was rolled in either of the two rolls, the PC sustains a point of trauma to the relevant attribute. On the good side, each point of trauma gained this way gets the character a mutation point. These are indispensable to activate the character's mutations. In short, for a character to be able to activate his mutant powers more often, he needs to be pushing himself to the limit. Explosions on the gear dice mean that the gear degrades; it might or might not get fixed in the future. But my group uses the alternative BRP-based rules system since it suits our play style better and is closer to what we are used to from the old editions of Mutant.
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 15, 2016 3:22:40 GMT -6
Other than osr D&D variants I currently run Mutant Year Zero and play in Numenera. One game that we return to again and again is Call of Cthulhu.
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terje
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
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Posts: 204
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Post by terje on Sept 6, 2015 10:36:34 GMT -6
Its a cool ritual, and by cool I of course mean gruesome and horrible! To make it a bit more carcosa-esque you might let the disembodied entity materialize as an ectoplasmic ooze* that envelopes the sewen-together corpses. It extends thin wavering pseudopods two feet around the flesh golem. * Duh, I did not know there was such a thing as Ectoplasmic Ooze (but I should have guessed, its kind of obvious now that I think of it). Of course the thing animating the flesh golem need not be this specific monster. But some semi-transparent slime with tentacles would make the thing more lovecraftian-ish. :/
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terje
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Post by terje on Jul 21, 2015 5:18:46 GMT -6
Just finished Earth's Last Citadell by Moore and Kuttner. It was fun to read and conjured a far future dying earth ravaged by alien space gods and inhabited by the mutant remnants of humanity. Have started on Ptath by van Vogt, also far future science fantasy this time from the poit of view of a reincarnated godling.
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terje
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Post by terje on Apr 23, 2015 12:26:07 GMT -6
Cool! I'm always interested in science-fantasy stuff!
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terje
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Post by terje on Apr 7, 2015 6:07:18 GMT -6
A few weeks ago I finished Vandermeers Souther Reach trilogy, really nice weird fiction with sense of wonder and a great deal of mystery. It reminded me of Roadside picnic by the Strugatskij brothers and Solaris by Lem.
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terje
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
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Posts: 204
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Post by terje on Mar 30, 2015 8:32:40 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 26, 2015 12:58:12 GMT -6
"a fantasy horror short story greatly inspired by Tekumel" sounds really interesting! I'd love to see that in Fight On!
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 19, 2015 19:50:22 GMT -6
I'm glad you all liked it! Terje, this is a lot of good and fun stuff. I'm honored to see the influence of Carcosa. Carcosa was pretty much what set me down this particular path!
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 19, 2015 16:07:27 GMT -6
Here you can download a free pdf for my special snow flake campaign setting: cavernsmeasureless.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/xuhlan-campaign-supplement/In this pdf you will find: * A campaign map with one interesting feature for each of the 99 hexes * A description of the city of Yankara with important places, people, factions and rumours * New monsters, including the Alien Gods * House rules for psionic powers and combat * Super-science artefacts, including the Witch Stones * Other bits and pieces for science fantasy campaigns
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 19, 2015 7:31:53 GMT -6
Trailer for Finnish short film (24 min) celebrating Italian post-ap / sword & sorcery cinema: youtu.be/opD1q0KDzZY
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 5, 2015 14:59:15 GMT -6
I'll be gm'ing some EPT at a local OSR convention here in Umeå, Sweden.
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terje
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Post by terje on Sept 27, 2014 6:50:05 GMT -6
2. I am about 40% finished on a new Carcosa book that details a hex map (directly south of the published map) the same size as the hex map in Carcosa. This one has 235 hexes with a point of interest in each hex. (The other 100-something hexes on the map are pure water and thus don't get a point of interest.) Each hex is described in considerably more detail than the terse descriptions in the published Carcosa book. I'd estimate an average of 200 to 250 words per hex. (But like I said, I have typed only about 40% of the hex descriptions so far, so that average could change.) I plan to have this manuscript finished by Dec. 31 of this year, and to submit it for consideration to LotFP at that time. Wow, that is such great news! Feel free to tell us of any cool / awesome / terrible places on the new map!
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terje
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Post by terje on Feb 12, 2014 8:49:02 GMT -6
This is one of my favorite genres so I hope you'll forgive my enthusiasm. Favorite: All the Planet Stories by Leigh Brackett where earth men find adventure on Mars, Venus and Skaith. To me this is the best that the planetary romance / sword & planet genre has to offer. Brackett's language and style is enchanting, her worlds exotic and her stories filled with a kind of romantic but noir melancholy. A good place to start is the Fantasy Masterworks volume Sea Kings of Mars and Otherworldly stories. Also worth mentioning: Arnould Galopin's Doctor Omega and Gustave Le Rouge's Vampires of Mars (early french planetary romances about earth men venturing to the red planet, predates both John Carter and Gullivar of Mars) Otis Adelbert Kline - Swordsman of Mars, Outlaws of Mars (pretty much copying Burroughs Barsoom) Van Allen Plexico - Thunder on Mars (combines Barsoom with Thundarr the Barbarian) "Poke" Runyon - Drell Master (fun and original pulp adventure with airships, levitating islands, swashbuckling, weird science and sex magick) Jack Vance - The Planet of Adventures (four short novels about an earth man stranded on an alien world, lots of fascinating alien beings and cultures) Clark Ashton Smith - several planetary adventure stories (The Dweller in the Gulf, The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis, Vulthoom, and the Captain Volmar stories) HG Wells - The First Men in the Moon (perhaps the first planetary adventure, some earth men travel to an alien world by use of a fantastic device and encounter an empire of strange alien beings beneath the dead surface)
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terje
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Post by terje on Feb 12, 2014 8:24:41 GMT -6
I had the privilege to be part of this game and had lots of fun during this epic session. The adventure was certainly very psychedelic and surreal, just as advertised! The science fantasy complex beneath the dome was weird in itself, but the friendly / creepy green pygmies made it feel like some sort of demented fun fare, and when we found the playdoo-animals... man, I never imagined such bizarre scenes!
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