About Jurassic Snack

 Jurassic Snack is a board game by acclaimed designer Bruno Cathala, for 2 players, age 7+ (some editions have "8+" on the box, but I think 7 really is ok), with a 15-20 minutes duration.

And I love it!

I bought it about ten months ago at my FLGS. My son was not really old enough to play, at the time, but fell in love with the theme, of course, because DINOSAURS.

We've recently given it another try, and to my surprise he is now (5.5 YO) more than capable of handling all the rules, even though he's not yet competitive in the way he plays... but I assume he'll become better at it soon.

So what's cool about the game?

The materials are awesome. Nice plastic dinosaurs, big, sturdy and funny to look at, with painted eyes.

The game is simple enough for six/seven years old kids, but deep enough to keep adults engaged. It's got a nice mix of strategic decision (planning your moves to eat efficiently, decide if you want to eat a lot of leaves or try to scare all your opponent's dinosaurs away from the board), and random factor represented by the downside of the leaves counters, which introduce several effects.

One thing that's very good with young players is that you don't really know who's winning until the game ends and you count the points on the downsides of the leaves tokens each player has collected. This is good with kids who still struggle with losing...

10 QUESTIONS TO: Massimiliano Caracristi

Massimiliano Caracristi is the lead designer of Against the Darkmaster ("VsD"), the recently crowdfunded RPG of “Epic High Fantasy and Heavy Metal Combat”, and currently going strong on DriveThruRPG.

But who is Massimiliano? Massimiliano is a cat lover and a metalhead, and he strikes me as an introverted but resolute person.

1 Hello Massimiliano. Tell us about Against the Darkmaster as if you were trying to sell it to my aunt!

Ever wanted to be the protagonist of your very own novel? To leave the world behind for a few hours and live an exciting adventure, while comfortably sitting at home, sipping wine with your friends? With Against the Darkmaster you can!

You’ll take the role of a mighty hero, the last hope of the world against the threat of an immensely powerful being of pure evil: the Darkmaster.

You’ll travel to distant lands, face terrible dangers, uncover ancient items of power, and gather the armies of the world under your banner, in an epic fight against the ultimate evil. And all this without ever leaving your living room!

Come on, it’s your chance to finally get an answer to your “who’s winning?” question! 

2 Tell us about your job as lead designer, what’s the story of the development, and what are the rules that make VsD unique?

Against the Darkmaster is very much a group effort. Open Ended Games, our company, started as a simple group of friends on the internet. We would chat, play, and share house rules and “hacks” for the games we were playing. That’s how VsD started, too. We were talking about collecting all of our house rules for MERP, one of our all-time favorite games, and realized we could have made a completely new game out of them.

As the lead designer for this project, besides writing the bulk of the rules, my job is to make sure they fit together and support the theme of the game. Also, keeping track of the playtesters’ feedback is of primary importance, since it’s the only way to know if the rules work as intended!

Speaking of rules, I’d say that what makes VsD unique is that it emulates a very specific sub-genre of fantasy. You’re not going to play a party of simple adventurers or treasure-hunters but as a group of true heroes fighting the evil overlord threatening their world. So we’ve got a Passions and Drive system, designed to bring your characters’ motivations and goals into play and to help you spotlighting their heroic nature.

Detailed rules for long, epic journeys. Dangerous magic. Kins, cultures, and background options tightly tied to the genre’s tropes.

And, of course, rules for creating your very own Darkmaster, from his name and origins to his favored minions and his influence on the campaign setting.

3 So… what’s up with heavy metal?

Heavy metal is the law! For us, heavy metal and roleplaying always went hand in hand. Back in high school, we’d listen to Maiden or Priest while waiting to meet our friends for a session, named our PCs after band members, stole our adventures’ plots from the lyrics of Dio or Blind Guardian.

Against the Darkmaster is our homage to those days. We wanted it to have the same energy, strike the same chords.

Our art is heavily inspired by the Power Metal aesthetics and the combat system is fast and brutal like a Speed Metal solo. We even give you guidelines for turning the lyrics of your favorite metal anthem into your hero’s motivation!

4 Are you satisfied with the reception the game got so far?

We’re overwhelmed! We’d never expected such a positive reaction. I mean, we’re a tiny little company and the Core Rules have been out for what, three weeks? And yet we’ve been in DrivethruRPG top ten since then, together with giants like Onyx Path and Cubicle 7! You people are truly amazing!

5 Let’s talk about the Kickstarter that launched Against the Darkmaster. How do you rate this experience? What have you learned?

We’ve got mixed feelings about Kickstarter. We’re probably still too close to the campaign to give a completely objective answer. Running a KS campaign is an emotional rollercoaster. People will amaze and surprise you. One minute you’re on the top of the world, the next one it’ll feel as you’ll never make it. Be prepared!

6 Kickstarters have become more and more important for RPGs. Do you see that changing anytime soon? Would YOU like things to change somehow?

I think the trend is going to stay for quite a long time, can’t really see it changing in the near future. I’d like to see small indie creators be given more opportunities than big companies. On the other hand, those companies bring lots of people to KS, so it’s kinda a necessary evil.

7 You mentioned MERP before, can you tell us more about VsD's relationship with that game?

Sure. As I’ve said, Against the Darkmaster started out as a simple fan-made revision of MERP, ICE’s classic game based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. However, we soon realized that our project was growing on its own, and becoming something completely different. We had changed and rewritten so many things that we now had in our hands a new game.

Some have called VsD a retro-clone, but I’d say it’s more of a love-letter. MERP fans will find the VsD somewhat familiar, yet ultimately different from the game they remember.

But you don’t have to be a MERP fan to enjoy VsD! New players will have just as much fun as old grognards in joining the fight Against the Darkmaster!

8 Excluding Against the Darkmaster, what are your Top Three RPGs?

I’m currently pretty excited about Mörk Borg and the upcoming Flames of Freedom, but if I have to choose my all-time favorites I’d say MERP, The Burning Wheel, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

9 What are you working on now? Are you considering new projects?

We’ve got a few adventures and rules supplements planned, and we’re working on a third party license and community content agreement, that’ll allow anyone to publish their own Against the Darkmaster creations!

10 One last question before we say goodbye. Please point us to a song you think we should listen to.

You can’t go more VsD than Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill) by Blind Guardian.

Thank you for your time Massimiliano! Bye!!

Stay tuned for more interviews! Hit me on the Axian Spice Facebook page, on Twitter or even on Telegram to never miss one! 

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Guardians of Sol-Tau POD is available, and on sale for a week!

The proof copies of Guardians of Sol-Tau have just arrived, and they are awesome!

We decided to activate the Print on Demand option after considering all the available print formats on DriveThruRPG, and we settled for saddle stitched, comic-book size book. The pictures show the result.

The printed format perfectly matches the comic-book style of the cover, and you can enjoy the wonderful layout made by Matteo Ceresa with a book that you can actually spread open flat on the table.

The book is 48 pages and it feels really solid. It also looks neat because the cover sheet includes a section that functions as a spine, very much like a perfect bound book.

So we are completely satisfied with the proof copies... so much that we decided to have the print on demand version on sale for a week!

Until next Tuesday, you can get the printed adventure + PDF for $9.90.

We even set up a Print bundle with the GoST print + PDF and the Aces High PDF, priced $16.90... until next Tuesday!

About M. R. James's Ghost Stories, and Investigation RPGs

 I'm stuck home with a cold, and I've been reading an old book I found in my library, probably belonging to a friend who left me a several boxes of books about eight years ago, as he hurriedly left town to pursue a career opportunity in Denmark.*

It's a collection of M. R. James's ghost stories, which I had never read before (I know, shame on me!).

Mine is a cheap edition and probably not the best translation around (or at least I hope there's a better one!), but still decent for a few evenings' entertainment. It also gets (dubious) bonus points for being yellowed, old and stinky, like the ancient manuscripts featured in most of its stories...

I'm finding the stories quite enjoyable, and a perfect match for the early autumn weather.

I'm also finding they are very good for reaping ideas for certain types of horror RPGs!

Eldritch Tales is one of many intriguing alternatives to the obvious Call of Cthulhu...

Each story has a mystery going on, and such mystery involves a cursed object, manuscript, book, piece of furniture, architectural element, etc, and the background of the thing is discovered by the protagonists by investigating ancient libraries, diaries, letters, archives and local superstitions. In most cases, the protagonists are professors, antiquarians, scholars who discover (and occasionally re-awaken!) horrors that took place one or two centuries before. Does that sound familiar?

Several stories even include some kind of puzzle (the most famous probably is the FUR FLA FLE BIS latin gimmick on a templars' dogwhistle) ready to be stolen by GMs.

What got me thinking they could be good inspiration for horror RPGs is that the stories are simple. To the point that they occasionally are too simple to really be an interesting read.

But playing horror/investigation RPGs for years has taught me something: you don't need complex mysteries, you need simple ones. Your players aren't detectives, they are just your players!

Two pieces of advice for horror GMs I read years ago have stuck in my head (I'm sorry to say I have no idea who should be credited). EDIT: a reader pointed me to the source of the following "rule of three", this post from The Alexandrian blog.

The first is the rule of three: prepare three different ways for the players to find a clue. They are not detectives, they are probably going to miss one, and misinterpret another. Having a third one should be enough... So for example if the players should investigate the missing person's uncle, you should have his name pop up into three different ways, not just one.

The second advice is, well, good for when even the rule of three fails! If players are stuck and don't know how to proceed with their investigation, that's the time for the bad guys (or the supernatural thing) to strike... and leave a new clue behind. To continue the example: they missed uncle Bob? The next day, he's on the news as he's disappeared too, in similar circumstances!

Both these tricks seem to be at work for M. R. James's protagonists. They are not detectives themselves. They are just curious people who stumble upon some inexplicable events, and spend some time investigating documents and places and making questions... sometimes to their own demise.

I can certainly recommend James's stories to any horror fan who's never read them, and even more to GMs of horror/investigation games in need of fresh ideas.

Update:

Readers have pointed me to Casting the Runes, a role playing game based on the GUMSHOE engine and "set in the worlds of M. R. James", developed by The Design Mechanism.

It has been successfully funded on Kickstarter and is available for preorder, and a free preview is up on DriveThruRPG!

*I just realized with amusement, rereading the post, that this incipit itself sounds quite Jamesy!

Guardians of Sol-Tau: After the Adventure

Several players and GMs who have enjoyed Guardians of Sol-Tau have asked for possible follow-up adventures for the player characters, so I turned the question to Andrea Mollica, who wrote the story. This is what he had to say!

The conclusion of Guardians Of Sol-Tau leaves the heroes with a sense of accomplishment and fulfilling (assuming everything goes well and they defeat the Iods!), yet this does not mean their adventures are necessarily over.

If you want to see the shabby crew of the Astrid tackling new adventures, the finale of Guardians of Sol-Tau definitely offers room for further development.

Warning! Spoilers ahead! If you still haven't played GoST yet, I suggest you not to read on. Have fun with the adventure and check back here after that!

The Iod's defeat doesn't imply the entire destruction of their race. As described in the last chapter, several Iods die, but many of them still have the chance to start a new life in the Sol-Tau system - and they have no means to reach another solar system, anyway. How will the fare? Will they try to peacefully find a place to live, or their martial culture will cause violent conflicts? And how will the peoples of Sol-Tau react, now that the Iods have lost their military supremacy? It's entirely possible the surviving Iods will have to face distrust, hostility, or hate.

In both cases, our Heroes may be called upon to help. They may be regarded as the ones who can tell whether the Iods deserve a second chance, or where to deploy them. If the Iods behave aggressively, the PCs will be surely called to action, since they're the ones who destroyed their empire. Or, in an interesting turn of events, the group might be called for help by a group of Iods facing threats by people of Sol-Tau who don't want them as neighbors.

An entirely different lines of story development regards the new political assets of Sol-Tau system after the Iods' defeat. Most likely, a power vacuum occurs, and there may be someone who wants to exploit the situation in their favor, be they a criminal organization, a former rebel brigade, an entire people of one of Sol-Tau's planets or one of their governments.

Again, the heroes may be involved in several ways. Did they risk their lives against the Iods for nothing, just to see another dictatorship arise?

Since the PCs have acquired a huge fame within Sol-Tau, they are now considered an elite crew (even if their gaming stats may say otherwise...). There are many people willing to hire them for any sort of mission: transport, escort, smuggling, planetary research, body-guarding etc. Remember that, despite the dark years of the Iods, all the inhabited planets thrive with bristling life; many cities are huge and full of mystery and intrigue.

And, don't forget the Pilgrims. Who are they, after all? Whence the prophecy come from? What exactly was the supernatural power wielded by Hope? You can answer these questions in many different ways, and introduce more mysteries and conflict to involve the heroes.

But perhaps, the most interesting lead for a follow-up scenario would be answering the question: what's up with the Hrax? An impossible machine made of metal and dark energy, capable of killing suns! What's happened to it? Where has all that energy gone? What about the technology? What if a new villain of your choice found a way to tap into that energy and try to become the new ruler of Sol-Tau?

And all of those ideas could of course be mixed together into one scenario, of course. A Pilgrim gone rogue might trick the heroes into getting for him the means to use the residual energy from the Hrax, and the surviving Iods might become useful allies for another desperate battle against all odds!

All I can say to sum it up is, keep the Astrid flying!