Wednesday 10 February 2021

2000AD Playing Cards - What Better Way to Play Savage Dredd

6 months ago I thought I would be back in the community hall with my friends at my Roleplay Club in South East London, Dragons Keep running my Judge Dredd Savage Worlds campaign in the flesh.  

Savage Worlds uses a playing card deck to determine initiative order and so I turned to eBay to see if I could buy a Judge Dredd themed deck.  Strangely all I could find was the 2000AD Playing Cards given away as a promotional item in an issue of SFX Magazine.  

2000AD Playing Cards - SFX Magazine
2000AD Playing Cards - SFX Magazine Promotional Item

I'm now running my game online so I still get to use them by showing them to players via webcam but I would be cool to be able to add them to Roll20 as a custom deck of cards. 

I'd also love to know if anyone knows of any other Judge Dredd decks.  If you do leave a comment in the box below.

Tuesday 9 February 2021

Carlos Ezquerra Colouring Book

I recently discovered this freebie gem via Slaine and Ro-busters creator Pat Mills website.

Carlos Ezquerra's 2000AD & Judge Dredd Colouring Book includes 5 free sample images of classic 2000AD characters for you to print out and colour in.

You can also purchase a printed book or a PDF copy of the full version of the book which contains 50 of the late great 2000AD art droid's most iconic renditions of characters like Judge Dredd, Judge Anderson, Strontium Dog, Wulf Sternhammer and Durham Red.

Carlos also has a facebook group (Colour like Carlos) where you can upload your completed images for all the world to see.

Zarjaz!!

Colour with Carlos - Judge Dredd, Judge Death & Johnny Alpha
Colour with Carlos - Judge Dredd, Judge Death & Johnny Alpha


Monday 8 February 2021

Reaper Bones #26 - Translucent Terrors

Following on from last week's Ghostly Summons, this week I managed to finish off two more translucent minis.

Night Spectre - Julie Guthrie (SKU: 77099)

Reaper Bones Night Spectre Translucent

Spirit - Jason Wiebe (SKU: 77098)

Reaper Bones Spectre Reaper Bones Spectre Translucent

As you can see I haven't nailed the photography or the painting just yet.  Translucent minis are more difficult than you imagine especially if you are trying to incorporate lighting.  It's weird how some paints block the light and others don't. 

Still I am pretty pleased with how the Night Spectre came out.

Sunday 7 February 2021

Newsround - Jan 31st to Feb 6th 2021

In the best tradition of John Craven's Newsround here's my rundown of "What I Learned" on the Internet this week.

D&D Beyond Team Exit

I'm an occasional user of D&D Beyond so this almost slipped under my radar.  Several of the D&D Beyond team left parent company Fandom including co-founder Adam Bradford, Tom Kenreck and community manager Lauren Oboe.  Now this might not seem like a big thing, but it might also be a foreshadowing of things to come.  

From a managerial perspective it makes a lot of sense that you subcontract out the creation of game software to people who are expert at that sort of thing and reduce or shift the risk of development.  

However, if it's a big hit, you now have a situation that a significant proportion of your customer base is using a product you don't technically control and have to pay twice for the same content.  Whilst you might get a cut of that cash under a licensing deal with said software company, it's a significant barrier to your future growth.

Is this the precursor to a WotC acquisition? Potentially, but it could just be individuals wanting to take advantage of new opportunities which have arisen. Time will Tell. 

SJWs Don't like D&D Puppets with Big Bewbs

Arieola Borealis - Big Bewbed Lady Dragonborn Barbarian
Arieloa Borealis
(It's even in the name dudes)
As reported by Clownfish TV, apparently the social justice gatekeepers on Twitter are up in arms about the portrayal of one character in the new WotC approved D&D video stream The Stuff of Legends.  This outrage comes despite that voice actress Shanna Malcolm specifically requested that her puppet be a big bewbed lady Dragonborn Barbarian. 

I'm not usually a huge fan of these Critical Role style games but Stuff of Legends is doing something pretty cool which appeals to my generation raised on The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock.  IMHO, having the puppets acting out the scenes really adds to the seperation between character and player.  I love it.    

Honestly, I get so tired of the box ticking virtue signalling manufactured outrage that I feel the only answer is to say:

"You go girl!!" 

£438 for a Digital Boardgame!!

Dropping into my inbox thanks to Asmodee Digital was this article touting the latest innovation in boardgame technology, the digital boardgame.

SquareOne is essentially a square tablet with an interactive border giving you a new way to play some of the most popular boardgames on the market.  Obviously Asmodee are heavily invested in this with 3 of their titles (Ticket to Ride, Terraforming Mars and A Game of Thrones) already having implementations.  The indiegogo project is backed by some of the other big names in boardgames including Kosmos, Ravensburger and Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen.

Backers can get in on the action for a mere £438 for the standard edition with an 8 game starter pack.  Whilst my eyes watered at this sort of investment (remember these crowd funded projects aren't guaranteed) when you consider that the average cost of a board game these days is about £40 then you are approaching a price point parity.

However, one of the great attractions of boardgames for me is that they are physical products.  They don't require an ongoing subscription to an internet service to play them, or an app to be downloaded.  If I want to thin out my collection and sell one, I can.  Unlike technology they don't have a product lifespan and tend to hold or even appreciate in value. 

That said, I do own several digital editions of boardgames for my iPad.  One of my favourites being Race for The Galaxy (also on Android, Steam and Boardgamearena) which has to be the best card game implementation I know of.  I've playtested the crap out of it during COVID-19 lockdown and racked up some 2,000+ games.  I guess for me the holy grail is to have an implementation which can run on ubiquitous hardware which I already own and be a VTT for Role Playing Games.

I can see the appeal of having all your games in one little box compared to having a house full of cardboard (particularly for the millenial generation rent) and it does look like a pretty cool way of playing some of your favourite games.

See It on Board Game Geek Firefox plugin

If like me you are constantly firing up a new tab to check what BGG thinks about a game you have just read about then this firefox plugin is for you.  Simply highlight a word on a web page and right mouse click to open a new tab with the games BGG entry on it.  So simple even Oleg would approve.

Saturday 6 February 2021

Sector 55 Blues - Prog 1 - Suits You Sir

Sector 55 Blues is a Judge Dredd Campaign using the Savage Dredd unnofficial Savage Worlds Expansion.  This is an online only game with members from Dragons Keep Roleplay Club.

Judge Dredd: Sector 55 Blues

It's just another day in Sector 55 and Judge Belloch is giving his day watch briefing...

"Okay listen up cos I'm only going to say this once.  There have been increased reports of low level corpulent delinquency, the usual stuff, fatties hanging around outside munce burger joints and extorting the customers, blocking the pedways and just generally being a nuisance.  The head of local gang Mosh 55 got released from iso cubes yesterday so expect them to be full of juvie bravado.  Oh and there's an intermitten a fault in weather control so prepare for inclement weather.  Now get out there and bust some perps!"   

Juve Punk Lookout
Juve Punk Lookout

Judges Teal, Hammer and Uthred peel out of the sector house on their law masters and it is not long before sector control routes them to a disturbance at Slooty Zute's Suite You, an upmarket clothes store on the Melania Boulevard level of Trump Tower.

 As they park their lawmasters outside they see a juve punk cuffed to a holding post.  Teal challenges the punk and he reflexively raises both hands in surrender, clearly he is not cuffed to the holding post.  Uthred, unhappy with the lack of response from the punk, cuts to the chase and punches him squarely in the chest knocking him against the glasssteel door and he crumples to the ground winded.  The autodoors open automatically and the judges can see 3 more punks in the store. 

Hammer springs into action and moves into the doorway and shouts "Freeze Punks!".  The juve on the floor shouts "Its the fuzz Sid!" and lashes out at Hammer with his foot.  The punks inside turn their attention to the Judges and the leader Vicious Sid opens up with his spit gun cutting the manequins to pieces and showering Uthred and Hammer in shrapnel which bounces off their armoured jumpsuits.

Judge Teal runs through the door shooting a 3 shot burst at Vicious Sid as he runs for cover behind a trio of mannequins.  It is clearly this punks lucky day as with a click the first round jams in Teal's lawgiver.  Uthred dives into the store and brings down a solid blow against the red head girl who blocks the blow with her spit gun.  Hammer moves to get line of sight on the fleeing Vicious Sid and plants a couple of GP rounds in his back.  Sid's luck has run out and the punk crashes to the floor knocking the carefully posed mannequins over like skittles in a bowling alley.  The fat punk behind the counter unloads both barrels of his stump gun at Judge Hammer missing wildy and ducks behind the counter to reload.   

Debbie DestroyFat FreddyVicious Sid
Debbie DestroyFat FreddyVicious Sid

Teal moves to the corner of the display plinth, unjamming her gun but the fat punk behind the counter is behind cover so she throws her day stick bouncing it off the counter and onto his head.  Uthred cracks Debbie Destroy over the head concussing her as Hammer calls up an armour piercing round and shoots through the counter unsighted.  The round punches through the counter front but misses the perp.  Vicious Sid summons his last energy and desperately crawls towards the fire exit leaving a trail of blood behind him.        

Uthred runs onto the plinth and launches himself feet first over the counter landing squarely on fat freddy pushing all the air and what little fight was left out of him.  Hammer runs round to the pitiful gang leader Sid and tells him to give up.  Sid continues to scratch his way towards the exit.  The Judge notes his reaction and "Brings down the hammer" crushing the back of his skull with his day stick.

Cowering on the clothes store floor are 3 civillians.  Owner, Zlooty Slute, his partner Whistler Floot and a customer Dapper John.  They pick themselves up and graciously thank the Judges for their timely intervention.  

Zlooty Slute
Whistler Floot
Dapper John

Only then do the Judges realises that the juve outside is gone.  They cuff the perps to the holding post outside and call for a Pat Wagon and a Meat Truck to haul their carcases off to the iso cubes and Resyk respectively. 

Dapper John pushes his business card into Uthred's hand telling him that if he ever needs anything to give him a call.  Uthred has no idea who Dapper John is and looks back at him blankly.  Hammer recognises the citizen as a manscaping magnate and socialite who has several male grooming ventures throughout the city.

Judge Teal goes outside to see if she can see the juve punk.  The report of unexpected inclement weather is accurate as there appears to have been a short rain shower whilst they were engaged with the Mosh 55 punks.  Her observations are cut short by the piercing scream from the alleyway beside the clothes store.  Rushing to investigate she finds a hysterical woman leaning in shock against a wall pointing to the body of a bald headed man lying on the ground in front of a row of 3 vending machines.  Hammer and Uthred gain access to the alleyway through the fire exit.  

Turning the body over, the unfortunate man appears to be in his late 40s and has had his throat torn out severing the carotid artery.  Death would have been swift as he would have bled out in under a minute. 

Searching the body turns up an MC1 ID Card and a door key card.  The victims is an unemployed local resident, Rock Dwayneson, 48 of Apartment 738 Trump Towers.

On closer inspection of the corpse they notice that the victim is bald yet his ID shows him with a full head of hair.  An examination of the crime scene does not turn up a toupee.  Is this a case of a mullett mugging with menaces or did he have some cred chips on him?

The woman is Victoria Nobody a young window dresser on her way to work at Plenty Bags of Style from her apartment in Amundsen & Abba.  She was about to buy a Synthi Joe when she found the body.  Her story checks out as her outfit is spotlessly clean and the crime scene is showered in blood so the Judges let her leave.

Pondering the scene Teal buys herself a synthi-caf and the robo-vendo 3000 dispenses a perfect cup of joe with a cheerful refrain

"Always a pleasure to serve the Justice Department.  Have a nice day Judge Teal" 

It dawns on Teal that the vending robot may have seen the murderer.  Handing her caf to Hammer, she dials in another cup and asks the machine who used it today.  The machine cheerily replies "Back again so soon, you must be really thirsty.  You are my first customer today Judge."  A fresh hot cup of joe with a dash of hazlenut syrup plops onto the serving tray and the robots lights go dark.  Uthred suggests that they open it up and access its video logs.  A good idea if the trio were skilled Tek Judges but as Street Judges this is out of their particular skill and toolset.

At that moment the Resk  Meat Truck crew arrive to remove the dead bodies.  The Judges retrieve the gang's firearms and help load the perps into the Pat Wagon.  For their part in an Armed Robbery and a a serious assault this pair will be doing 40 years in the cubes before the day is out.

With a cold crime scene the Judges are left with three possible next steps:

  1. Visit Dwaynesons apartment to see if there are any clues and maybe find the missing toupee.

  2. Visit the vending machine supplier Robo-Vend to request copies of the vending machines video records.

  3. Get back on their bikes and dispense some justice.

PROG 2 - Hair Today Gone Tomorrow - >