New System Thursday: ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying

This week, we’re bringing you something new; Something fun. Something for the little superhero in all of us. Introducing ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying.

What kid raised in recent generations hasn’t pretended to be a superhero at some point: worn a cape, “flown” around, bounced imaginary bullets or shot “blasts of power” from hands or eyes? Why not? After all, the superhero is the perfect modern fantasy: powerful, respected, and loved by the public, but with a message of responsibility, duty, truth, and justice that appeals to parents as well as kids. In countless comic books, graphic novels, cartoons, and live-action television shows and films, superheroes continue to thrill and capture our imagination while also celebrating some of our better qualities. Who wouldn’t want to be a hero?

With ICONS, you can be!

Steve Kenson, the designer of the best-selling Mutants & Mastermindsdelivers a superpowered new role-playing game, inspired by the fast-playing old-school games and the new generation of narrative role-play! Within its pages are complete rules for character creation, abilities and powers, random adventure generation, a rogue’s gallery of villains, a complete adventure and all the superheroic action you can handle!

Interested in trying it out? Well I have good news for you! For a limited time, the rulebook PDF is 50% off! You gotta love those RPGNow/DriveThruRPG guys, huh? So… what are you waiting for? Grab the rules, grab some friends, and make an ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying game now!

A couple of updates

A few updates tonight. Just a couple small things I’ve been working on.

Campaign Quick Jump

A constant source of pain for me is trying to get to a particular campaign. I’ve heard grumbles from many of you as well, so I decided to simplify things a bit. I’m not sure if this is the permanent location, as I may move it around somewhere else, but the campaign quick jump bar is here to stay. Just choose the campaign you want to jump to and you’re there.

Requesting new dynamic character sheets

We want to know what systems are the most requested for dynamic character sheets. I have my theories, but I thought I’d set aside my guesses and leave it up to all of you. Now you request a DST for any given system. I’ll keep an eye on the votes, and we’ll be offering cash bounties to anyone willing to make one of the more requested ones. More on that later.

Email Notification Tweaks

When I started playing with this I had no idea the rabbit hole I was heading down. Now, after further complaints, I’ve modified it so that if you’re editing a page and set it to gm-only, then it will unselect any non-gm to receive email notifications. You can re-select them if you wish, but then why are you setting it to gm-only if you want people to know about it?

That’s it. As always, we’re constantly moving and never sitting still. Every time you log in, something’s a little bit different. It keeps things exciting, to say the least!

July’s Featured Campaign: Shadowrun – Into The Breach

It’s a new month, and with it comes Shadowrun – Into The Breach, a new Featured Campaign. I had a whole write up ready for this one, but the DM for last month’s Featured Campaign Arsheeh beat me to it. Let’s hear what he had to say.

Campaign Highlights

Among the many features of Into the Breach worthy of note are the following:

• Innovative HTML and Graphics work:
  As previously mentioned, Jim has invested allot of effort into the layout of his site, both in terms of HTML/Textile formatting, and in terms of the graphic images that he has either created or found to adorn the site. Into the Breach exudes the dark cybernetic aesthetic that is the hallmark of cyberpunk. I am not exaggerating when I say that this site layout is one of a very small handful of the coolest and most innovative on the Portal.
• Character Dossiers:
  Jim has created a really clever set of dossiers for each of the characters in his campaign that is well worth checking out.
• Karma, Achievements & Special Abilities:
  Jim has adapted a system that rewards players with cool character abilities both for in-game and meta-game contributions to the campaign.
• Classifieds & News:
  Another really clever innovation to this campaign site is the introduction of a set of News stations and classified adds which offer a variety of story hooks. This allows for a great deal of story options for the players.
• The Subterranean Village of Throal:
  I just love this idea! Seriously, you gotta read about this location for yourself.
• Weapons, Vehicles & Equipment:
  Into the breach contains a host of detailed, visually impressive entries on futuristic technology that ought to make any Shadowrun DM drool!

It’s hard to argue with any of that. To celebrate his acheivement we asked JimTriche to tell us about his newly featured campaign.

Obsidian Portal: How much of the campaign/system is original content developed by you and your players?

JimTriche: The world exists as it is, we’ve made up some weapons, made some organizations and corps, and whatnot to populate it, but for the most part what we use exists somewhere to some degree in the original sourcebooks. Some stuff we’ve borrowed from other campaigns or stories we read, and parts, notably the subterranean Kingdom of Throal are creative evolutions based on other material. (Earthdawn, in that case) The storyline is an original construct, and some of the house rules are either fixes for shortcomings in the Shadowrun 2nd Edition rules or developments that were entirely missing. The Achievements idea was taken from other Obsidian Portal members through general forum brainstorming. I wish more people used them.

Obsidian Portal: Your campaign looks great, can you tell us more about it?

JimTriche: Well, the campaign actually has been going off and on for a few years, and it’s ever evolving. We have 2 guys that GM, and we switch off occasionally, though we tend to guard our plothooks even from each other. It helps to keep things fresh I think. It’s currently in a bit of a Steampunk mode, they’re searching for legendary artifacts to battle a Horror, which Shadowrun and Earthdawn share as major badguys. The goal at the moment is to tie the world together and show a bit of the scope of FASA’s creations, as well as tying them together. Who knows, if we play long enough we may evolve into some Mechwarrior fluff as well!

Obsidian Portal: Where do you get your inspiration the story and the world?

JimTriche: The world is Earth, didn’t need a whole lot of inspiration there, it’s just a bit… run down. The storylines come in as conglomerations, various sci-fi/fantasy books, frankensteined adventure modules from various systems, and bad movies and television. What makes for horrible cinema often makes awesome game plots. Then we mix and match. Tolkien+Gibson+King+Lovecraft= a good start.

Obsidian Portal:  How well do you know your players?

JimTriche: I’ve been friends with them for about 10 years. I met two at work when I first moved into New Jersey, and the others were friends of theirs for closer to 25 years. It’s a good group of people, the kind of guys who have keys to your house. The kind of guys that’d be sharing a cell with you. Good guys.

Obsidian Portal:  What kinds challenges are you faced with in your campaign?

JimTriche: Mostly it’s scheduling logistics, our work schedules all differ, Three of us are married, I have 3 kids, one is a farmer, and so on. Sometimes distractions pop up during game too, in the form of random internet pages or accidents at the corner near the house. Usually we keep things moving pretty well though. I’d love to get the players more into using the Portal, but the geeky stuff is my general domain (and I couldn’t have made the campaign wiki look half as nice without some major help from your forum regulars)

Obsidian Portal:  What aspects of your campaign are you really proud of?

JimTriche: I’m liking that it seems genuine. When I say that I mean that the world feels like it makes sense. The NPCs have their own lives, the players have freedom that I lacked in a lot of my games in years past, I like being able to entertain friends as well. Of the campaign plot itself, I like the way Throal is shaping up, Massive Dynamic (Yes, inspired by Fringe – the other GM’s baby) has become a great resource in game, and the overall story is taking a life on it’s own, while remaining malleable enough that we can still switch off GM duties and run our own subplots while keeping the metaplot in full swing.

Obsidian Portal:  According to your players, what have been the highlights of the campaign?

IncCamaro – “I am extremely interested in what’s happening with the Throal thing here. I definitely want to see where this goes.”

Schweedit – “The whole cabin scene was great, it’s not every day someone unleashes a horrific scourge upon the entire world.”

Blitzkreig8881 and CarlPaul71 were not available for comment, though their likely responses would have been “I like to shoot things” for Blitzkreig, and “I hate your stupid Bear” for Carl.

Obsidian Portal:  What future plans do you have for your campaign?

JimTriche: The metaplot is set, either they defeat the critter they let loose or the world dies. Either way, at the end we’ll regroup, restart or continue on with a new metaplot and campaign. We’ll of course be using the portal from the beginning on that one.

Obsidian Portal: Do you have anyone you’d like to thank?

JimTriche: Thanks to Arsheesh, Hardhead, Chainsaw, Gaaran, Idabrius, FrankSirmarco, MadEd, Gnunn and anyone else I forgot at the moment for all the help and support! Also calabacita for making me extra happy very soon.

Congrats again to JimTriche and all his players! If you have a suggestion for next month’s Featured Campaign, drop us a note on the forums!

Become an Obsidian Portal Emissary

With convention season in full swing, it’s the perfect time to let the rest of the gaming community know about how great Obsidian Portal is. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), we’re not a huge mega-corporation that can afford to set up exhibits and hire booth babes to represent us everywhere. Instead, we’re going to rely on you, our awesome users, to get the word out. We want you to represent Obsidian Portal at your favorite conventions as an official Obsidian Portal Emissary.

Bringing illumination to the savages

First things first: we’re not asking you to stand on a corner handing out fliers. Instead, we just want you to go to your favorite conventions and meetups and play games like you always do. If there’s a good time during the game to mention Obsidian Portal, then by all means please do so. Hand out some fliers and stickers to the other people at your table. Tell them to check out the site. That’s it!

We don’t need a hardline sneaky salesforce. As most of you know, it doesn’t take a lot of convincing to get someone to like Obsidian Portal. Basically, once you give it a try, you’re hooked. The hardest part is letting people know that we actually exist. That’s where the Emissaries come in.

As an Emissary, we’ll send you a small kit with some stickers, fliers, and one of our snazzy t-shirts. Plus, you’ll also receive our deepest thanks and a free 3-month Ascendant upgrade. Toss the fliers and stickers into your gaming bag on the way to the con and you’re ready.

Obsidian Portal Needs You!

If you’re going to a convention, meetup, or anywhere gamers hang out, and you’re interested in representing Obsidian Portal as an Emissary, send me an email at [email protected]. Let me know your Obsidian Portal username, what conventions you’re going to, and when. We’re going to start small, with only a handful of Emissaries. If things go well, we’ll step it up. So, even if you don’t get selected at first, we may come back to you once we get the hang of it and are ready to ramp up.

Update: Full Up for GenCon

We’ve got plenty of people for GenCon, so we’re going to close that off for now. However, if there’s a small or local con in your area in the next month or two, we’d still like to get you hooked up.

Tuesdays with Nicole: PANORAMA-RAMA

I know I usually start these off with some extra fluff, but this week’s entry is so awesome, lets just get right to it.

See? What did I say? Awesome! Ok so two more things.

1. Interested in having your content showcased by Nicole? Leave a comment here, or message calabacita with a link and a brief message on why you think she should sketch it!
2. Nicole and her art are being featured at Gamma Ray Games in Seattle on July 8th from 6 pm to 10 pm. Dan will be there, and so will Nicole. Stop on by and say hello!

Free System Friday Hi/Lo Heroes

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Free System Friday! Yes Free System Friday, able to leap over an entire week in a single bound. Bringing truth, justice, and free RPG systems to an eager public. Today’s offering is Hi/Lo Heroes by Jeff Moore.

Hi/Lo Heroes is a role playing game set in a city of costumed heroes… Hi/Lo is a reference to the game system and its die roll mechanic. In the Hi/Lo RPG, players roll 2 dice and read the value of either the HIGH die (hi) or the LOW die (lo) depending on upon their skill or power.

Zamph! Pow! Fop! Grab some friends, grab the rules, and play Hi/Lo Heroes today!