Anarchy in Your D&D...

... and other popular types of government.

Anarchy - A society without a publicly enforced government or political authority.  This can be a natural, temporary result of civil war in a country, when an established state has been destroyed and the region is in a transitional period without definitive leadership.  

Fictional Example: Mad Max 2 (George Miller) - 1982 saw the return of Max Rockatansky and in the intervening years what was left of civilation has fully descended into anarchy.  What passes for government is either the gang rules of the Lord Humungus' Marauders or the commune style democracy led by Pappagallo. 

Max doesn't fit neatly into either of these camps and only agrees to fight alongside the travellers because his car is held hostage.  In the original script Pappagallo was the CEO of 7 Sisters Petroleum and  interestingly some of the marauders appear to be ex cops, although it is not explicitely referenced.

Autocracy - A system of government in which supreme power (social and political) is concentrated in the hands of one person or polity, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control.  Autocracy has a nasty habit of turning into a dictatorship without appropriate impartial oversight or scrutiny.  Revolution and assassination tends to be the only outcome for these leaders.

Fictional Example: Ankhmorpork Discworld (Terry Pratchett).  Despite the "sharing" of power with the Guilds, the city is governed through a system of one man, one vote - the Patrician being the "one man" in question.  The best portrayal of Lord Vetinari can be found in the Sky mini series "Going Postal".  Charles Dance's performance is a masterclass in veiled menace and manipulation of Machiavellian proportions.

Matriarchy - Not so much a form of Government but a is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property.

Fictional Example:  Memory of Earth (Orson Scott Card)  In the first book of the Homecoming Harmony series we are introduced to the matriarchal society of Basilica.  All property is owned by the women and many of them hold high ranking positions within the government and academia.   Despite this being OSC's "Book of Mormon" I am quite fond of the concept of the oversoul and how it controls what technology is allowed to be invented to essentially prevent the warlike tendencies of humanity.

Plutocracy - Rule by the wealthy; a system wherein governance is indebted to, dependent upon or heavily influenced by the desires of the rich. Arguably every government is financed by plutocrats, as the saying goes "He who has the money makes the rules".  When the rules are made by the rich, who do you think reaps the greatest benefit? Oh it's the rich, funny that...

Fictional Example:  Game of Thrones (George R R Martin)  Technically this is a feudal monarchy with the various lords of the Seven Kingdoms being appointed by ruling King.  The position of the King is largely decided by the person with the biggest standing army or banners pledged to their house.  Financing this support comes from key houses such as the Lannisters and the Tyrells in exchange for grace and favour. 

Unfortunately the War of the Five Kings leads to Tyrwin Lannister becoming massively indebted to the Iron Bank of Braavos and when that line of credit dries up Cersei must turn to Euron Greyjoy to help her in the final battle for the Iron Throne.  Once again the stand out performances always come from Charles Dance as he pulls the strings, until he gets ignominiously shot by his son Tyrion whilst on the toilet.

Stratocracy - Rule by military service; a system of governance composed of military government in which the state and the military are traditionally or constitutionally the same entity. Citizens with mandatory or voluntary active military service or who have been honorably discharged have the right to govern.  

Fictional Example: Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein).  "Service guarantees Citizenship" was the oft quoted line in the Mobile Infantry recruitment ads.  Johnny Rico's rich parents both want him to go to Harvard.  When they are both killed in the Buenos Aires meteor bombardment it only fuels Johnny's desire to do his bit for the war effort.

Technocracy - Rule by the educated or technical experts; a system of governance where people who are skilled or proficient govern in their respective areas of expertise in technology would be in control of all decision making.  In fantasy fiction Technology would of course be replaced by Magic. 

Fictional Example: The Rift War Saga (Raymond E Feist).  Whilst all Tsurani are governed by the Emperor along the lines of a Feudal system, the Assembly of Magicians stands apart from the law and no magician can be compelled by any non magician.

Which just leaves...

Idiocracy - When a US Army cryogenics experiment goes wrong Private Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) and Rita (Maya Rudolph) awake in a nightmare future. Americans have devolved into idiots ruled by an ex Wrestler President Camacho (Terry Crews) and they are the most intelligent people in society by default.  I just love the craziness of this movie.

Long Live Long Dead RPGs: Justifiers

I recently joined the facebook group Fans of Dead Games, where members share their stories and pictures of Roleplaying Games throughout history.

Whilst my collection is myriad, it doesn't come close to some of the shelves I've seen shared in the brief time that I've been a member.  Here's my little contribution:

Justifiers RPG (ISBN: 1-878711-00-8) p128

Published in 1988 by Star Childe Publications, Justifiers RPG puts you in the role of a Betahumanoid.  A half human, half animal genetically modified hybrid, you are the property of your corporation and your job is to "justify" or explore newly discovered planets.  If anthropomorphic sci-fi adventure in the style of Traveller is what you want, then Justifiers is for you.

Reviews from Ryleh gave Justifiers a good going over 

The rule book also contains the scenario The Axon Confrontation written by Battletech author Blaine Pardoe.

Justifiers RPG
(Core Rulebook)

The Tower
(Adventure)

The Insidious Campaign
(Adventure)

Out of the Mists
(Adventure)

There are a handful of other books I do not (but would love to) own to complete my collection:

Aborigine Sourcebook

The Corporate Sourcebook

Poseidon
(Adventure)

The Hybrid Sourcebook

The CyberMedTech Sourcebook

Cold as Ice
(Adventure)

Silent Corp Sourcebook

Justifiers Boxed Set
(Dark Tower Enterprises)

UPDATE:  Thanks to the wonderfully generous people in the Fans of Dead RPGs facebook group I have discovered that there was in fact a reprint box set released in 1992 by Dark Tower Enterprises.  This contained: Core Rulebook, Hybrid Sourcebook, Aborigine Sourcebook, Poseidon Adventure, an unknown bonus adventure and a Poster.

I have also subsequently discovered that Justifiers is not technically dead and some of the books are available as Watermarked PDFs from Drivethru RPG.  Apparently more are in the works.

Other StarChilde Books

Domination: Sabot and Laser - I can't tell if this is a standalone game or a supplement for something else.  The cover has a modern soldier and a generic insect atop a WWII tank so this could be something completely unconnected.

UPDATE: This is the blurb from the back of the book:

"In 1961 mankind struck out into space...In 1992 space struck back! Play out the critical campaigns of mankind's most desperate war. On the one side the superior technology of the Kalotian Empire. On the other, men and women who know too well that the fate of the Earth rests with them. With a complete role playing interface for Domination."

 So clearly this is a standalone game and nothing to do with Justifiers.

Guardians RPG - StarChilde Publications also made this Superhero roleplaying game.  From what I can research this amounts to two even rarer books (someone should really create a Starchilde wikipage).

UPDATE: As with Justifiers RPG both of the Guardians books are now available on Drivethru RPG as Watermarked PDFs. 

Guardians RPG
(Core Rulebook)

Freedom Union
(Scenario)

If anyone out there has any more information regarding any of these books please drop me a message in the comments below.

Jessie's Prints: Episode 3 - Prismatic Walls, Hellraiser Jewellery Box

This week, I are mostly been printing... 

Prismatic Walls - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4292839

I'm really pleased how these came out and I covered the design and painting processes in earlier posts.  Thanks once again to RedBeardBoss without whose video I would never have have started this project.





Hellraiser Lament Configuration Jewellery Box - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1277931

Another prop print which has been on the bucket list for since forever.  Of course once you've printed the classic Lament Configuration you have all the other configurations thanks to the sterling work of designer Crashjensen although, I think his soul will have paid a heavy price to have this much knowledge.

A Trick of the Light Part 2 - Lenticular Colour Shift Painting - Prismatic Wall

I am a big fan of optical illusions so when I saw RedbeardBoss's Prismatic Wall, I knew I had to have a go.



In the last episode we covered how I created the model, which is available for free at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4292839.  If you like the model please consider leaving a like a comment or even a tip.

The Painting

Following RedBeardBoss's tutorial I primed the models in silver, just cheap automotive silver spray paint from my discount retailer of choice Poundland.

Once the silver was dry it was time to fire up the airbrush and christen the Big Box Project Mobile Miniature Painting Workstation.  My chosen colour combos were:

• Red / Green - Vallejo Game Air Blood Red / Vallejo Game Colour Dark Green 
• Red / Purple - Vallejo Game Air Blood Red / Army Painter Alien Purple
• Purple / Blue - Army Painter Alien Purple / Vallejo Game Air Electric Blue 

To achieve this lenticular effect we are going to spray the wall head-on starting from the small end (Green).  Keep the angle of the airbrush to no more than 30 degrees left or right as you pass down each side of the miniature.

The paint will hit only two sides of each hex as you pass down the miniature. Once your first colour has dried change to your second colour (Red) and spray in the opposite direction on both sides.

There will be a bit of overspray on your second colour which will help to blend the effect and the faces which run parallel to the long side will end up a combination of both your silver base coat and your two chosen colours.

A quick base coat in black and your mini should look like the one in the video above.

Reaper Bones #13 - Giants!!

Probably the two biggest minis in the Bones 1 Vampire level core set are the Giants. 

Male Storm Giant (Julie Guthrie SKU: 77163)

Yephima, Female Cloud Giant (Patrick Keith SKU: 77162)

These are some of my earliest attempts at airbrush painting and my lack of talent at this stage shows.  I struggled to get the right consistency of paint to avoid the dredded spiderwebbing.  I was also using a single action airbrush which is great for undercoating but lousy for anything else.  Seriously, if you are interested in airbrushing buy a double action brush.

For some reason the matte varnish coat that I apply to all my minis never really hardened properly giving it a bit of a gloss sheen and I will probably add another coat in the future to see if it fixes it.

Nothing but a repaint is going to fix those bloody eyes though!!

Bones Progress

Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 44

Related Posts

• Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats.
  
• Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds.
  
• Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons.
  
• Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.
  
• Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini.
  
• Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture.
  
• Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental Meets Novelty Lamp - Where I hack a mini with LEDs.
  
• Reaper Bones #8: Flaming Sphere LED Tealight Hack - Another mini LED lighting project.
  
• Reaper Bones #9: Elliwyn Heatherlark, Gnome Bard - Another PC mini.
  
• Reaper Bones #10: Horace "Action" Jackson - A Baddass disco dancing Motherfucker.
  
• Reaper Bones #11: Pirate Captain Thorin Stoneheart - A Swashbuckling Philanthropist.
  
• Reaper Bones #12: Monstrous Menagerie - Clay Golem, Eye Beast, Griffon, Owlbear, Marsh Troll