A New Year's On The Way...

The numbers are in and I'm pleased to say that I've lost 31.35 lbs. in 2017 and exercised 122 times. I started in Jan of 2016 and am now down a total of 68 lbs. Several more years of this to go before I hit my target weight, but it now seems like an inevitability, rather than something that requires difficult and constant striving. Here's hope to all who make a New Year's Resolution to lose weight and get healthier succeed! It sure isn't easy.

On a professional note, I'm working through Arden Vul editing and my excitement with the project continues unabated. I've an Advanced Adventures manuscript or two that I should also be editing and one that I'm writing, both of which will see more attention next month. And long-term, I'm still slowly (oh so slowly) chugging away on Sorcery and Super Science! 2 using the ICONS system.

But now, back to editing, and the music of choice is the wonderful Diablo I soundtrack, released a little more than 20 years ago. (FRESH MEAT!!!!) :-)

The Bee Gees and the Post-Apocalypse

I wrote much of Sorcery & Super Science! to the dulcet tunes of the Bee Gees, so now when I hear them I think of crazy post-apoc madness. Which, come to think of it, isn't really that different than the late 70's. :-)

Vehicle Combat in Sorcery & Super Science 2nd Edition

Vehicles in Combat
Vehicles can generally be treated just like characters in combat situations. Attackers target either the vehicle or its passengers; hitting a passenger requires at least a major success and you cannot target a passenger completely concealed within a vehicle. Use the lower of the vehicle’s Handling or its pilot’s Coordination of the vehicle’s pilot for its defensive reactions. Passengers gain the benefit of the vehicle’s armor while inside provided it’s reasonable to assume the attack would be lessened by the vehicle’s presence. A vehicle can be used for a charging attack. Treat this as the vehicle crashing into the target, using the target’s Damage Resistance as Material level—this can result in some vehicles being destroyed by crashing into very tough targets!

Vehicles react differently to Slams, Stuns, Kills and to the effects of bleeding weapons and draining weapons. A vehicle cannot be slammed, stunned, or killed unless it currently has a Structure of less than 8. However, a successful Called Shot can slam, stun, or kill a vehicle regardless its Structure (Aim for the tires, Boo, aim for the tires!).

Slamming Vehicles: If an attack achieves a potential slam outcome and inflicts 0 or more Structure damage to the vehicle, after resistance, test the full damage level against the vehicle’s Structure. Attacks inflicting less than 0 damage cannot slam a vehicle.

• Marginal Success reduces the vehicle’s Handling by 1 for the next round.
• Moderate Success knocks the vehicle off course. The driver must spend their move the next round correcting this unwanted change or crash if there is anything nearby to crash into. The vehicle’s Handling is reduced by 1 for the next round.
• Major or Massive Success sends the vehicle off course. The vehicle’s Handling is reduced by 1 for the next round. The driver must spend the next turn correcting this unwanted change with a successful Handling Test equal to the full damage level of the Slam. If this test fails, the driver crashes into something if there’s anything nearby to crash into.

Stunning Vehicles: If an attack achieves a potential stun outcome and inflicts 0 or more Structure damage to the vehicle, after resistance, test the full damage level against the vehicle’s Structure. Attacks inflicting less than 0 damage cannot stun a vehicle.

• Marginal Success reduces the vehicle’s Handling by 1 for the next round.
• Moderate Success knocks the vehicle off course. The vehicle’s Handling is reduced by 1 for the next round. The driver must spend their move the next round correcting this unwanted change or crashes if there is anything nearby to crash into.
• Major or Massive Success reduces the target’s Structure to 0 and renders the vehicle nonfunctional.

Killing Vehicles: If an attack achieves a potential kill outcome and inflicts 0 or more Structure damage to the vehicle, after resistance, test the full damage level against the vehicle’s Structure. Attacks inflicting less than 0 Structure damage cannot kill a vehicle.

• Marginal Success reduces the vehicle’s Handling by 1 for the next round.
• Moderate Success forces the driver to succeed on a Handling Test equal to the full damage level of the Kill. The vehicle’s Handling is reduced by 1 for the next round. If this test fails, the driver crashes into something if there’s anything nearby to crash into.
• Major or Massive Success reduces the target’s Structure to 0 and renders the vehicle nonfunctional.

Bleeding Weapons: Bleeding weapons reduce a vehicle’s Speed by 1 in addition to their normal damage. A vehicle’s Speed can be reduced by 2 Levels maximum in this manner.

Draining Weapons: Draining weapons drain 1 Armor Level in addition to their normal damage. A vehicle’s Armor can be reduced by 4 Levels maximum in this manner.

Suppressing Fire for Sorcery & Super Science! 2nd Edition

Finally figured out how to simulate suppressing fire for S&SS using its modified ICONs ruleset. Pleased with this....

Suppressing Fire: A ranged attack used to pin down an opponent, forcing them to choose between staying put (losing their move) or suffering a potential attack if they decide to move. Suppressing Fire can be performed using any ranged weapon that fires every round. If your target decides to move regardless your Suppressing Fire, they’re subject to your normal attack with the suppressing weapon and they suffer a -1 on their roll.

Suppressing Fire can also be performed by groups of individuals firing weaponry with longer reload times. Groups armed with ranged weapon can use Suppressing Fire if they collectively reduce their Reload time below 1. For example, a group of two Slingers can perform Suppressing Fire (Reload Time of 1, divided by 2 Slingers = 0.5), as could a group of 4 musketeers (Reload 1 (black power) + Reload 2 (musket ball) = 3. 3 divided by 4 Musketeers = 0.75). If a target moves while under group Suppressing Fire, the person with the best attack is used to target them. In other words, the best shot of our 4 Musketeers above would roll to attack the moving target.

Pump-Action Broadsword for S&SS! 2nd Edition

This magic item as always cracked me up ever since I made it up several years ago... :-)

Pump-Action Broadsword
Value: 500 bv
Spirit Recipe: Good (5) Chaos and Death
Determination Points: 2
Description: Appearing as a normal well-crafted broadsword, a pump-action broadsword shoots a magical broadsword from the blade when the wielder moves their hand along the hilt in a pump-action motion. The sword is treated as a normal sword for hand-to-hand purposes, albeit with an Incredible (8) Material Strength and a Break of 10. Its missiles deal 4 points of Slashing Damage with Medium Range. The missiles dematerialize after 20 seconds.

The Clan of the Claw Revealed!

The lobster men ruling the former coast of Maine have finally been brought to light. These cold-blooded bastards look upon normal muties only as food, so watch the waters!

I've reached the end of the critters for Sorcery & Super Science! 2nd Edtion - 55k words done and now I'm on to the fiddly clearing-up bits today.

Demon Dogs!

Every gonzo-post-apoc game's gotta have some demon dogs! If you read the description, you'll find out why they're an epithet. :-)

ZiL-29061 Blue Bird Screw-Propelled Vehicle

Another great ATV for a post-apoc world, the ZIL-29061 Blue Bird Screw-Propelled Vehicle. This little beauty makes short work of muddy terrains as well as water. As an added bonus, the video is in Russian which always sounds menacing to me since I grew up during the Cold War. Hell, I'd probably find Russian cooking instructions to sound scary thanks to my childhood associations... :-)

Sorcery & Super Science! 2nd Edition 6 Monster Preview

Today's preview is a beaver/moose hybrid because ya gotta put the Gon in the Gonzo! This sucker's six feet tall at the shoulder.

Sorcery & Super Science! 2nd Edition Monster Preview 5

What's the post-apoc without some social commentary? Below's the Fortunate Son, the spirits of those born on third base who think they've hit a triple.... who simply refuse to just go die!

K-Wagen "Kolossal-Wagen" Super Heavy Breakthrough Tank

Another fairly ridiculous WWI tank that would loo perfectly in place in a post-apoc world, this one reminds me of the M577 Armored Personnel Carrier from Aliens. The K-Wagen lived up to it's name: 9 ft tall, 9 feet wide, and 15 feet long, and a crew of 22. It had 4 77mm guns and 7 machine guns and traveled at a blazing speed of 4.5 mph. Only two were produced. (The image below has the front on the right, rear on the left.)

The Daimler MarienWagen - A WWI-era "tank" for your Post-Apoc Worlds.

This tank looks like a primitive Jawa sandcrawler to me. It was to be equipped with two machine guns, two 20mm cannon, and a flamethrower, but by the time it was ready to be tested the Germans had already realized it wasn't up to AFV status (it was more of an APC), and then they had a terrible test trial in which the vehicle tipped over (as it was obviously top heavy). None entered production.

A Post-Apoc Tank That Never Was

Continuing with ideas regarding post-apoc vehicles, here's a tank idea that never went anywhere in reality (from the July 1936 edition of Popular Mechanics), but could certainly show up in a post-apoc world. I must admit the inability of the gunners to actually SEE anything could pose a problem (snicker), but if you used a bit of transparent aluminum, you could solve that problem... :-)

Hi-Res Below the Shattered Moon

Had a request for a hi-res version of the Sorcery & Super Science! North America map, so here it is!

SHERP ATV, another perfect-for-the-post-apoc vehicle

Unlike land trains, the SHERP isn't a military vehicle, but it's nonetheless impressive. It would provide excellent mobility for a small group in cold and boggy terrains. I'd worry about the tires in a firefight, but with a bit of rpg-magic, one can create tires that are safe from small arms.

Post-Apocalyptic Land Trains!

Overland trains are, IMO, a cool post-apoc idea. Steal 'em and run with it! The biggest was the TC-497 Overland Train Mark II described below...

LCC-1 was so successful that in 1958 the Army contracted for a larger version, the TC-497 Overland Train Mark II. Generally similar to the LCC-1 in concept, the Mark II included a number of features to allow the train to grow to any length.

One change was the removal of the Cummins engines and their replacement with gas turbine engines of higher power and lower weight. Whereas the LCC-1 had a single 600-hp engine, the Overland Train had four 1,170-hp Solar 10MC engines, one in the "control car" and three others spread through the train. New power trailers could be added at any point along the train.To further reduce weight, most of the vehicle was built from welded aluminum.

Steering such a train proved to be a serious problem. If the train rounded a corner, the trailers would normally want to even the angles between themselves, forming into a long arc. If there was an obstacle that the driver had avoided, the trailers might eventually hit it as they rounded a corner. To solve this problem, the new trailers were all equipped with steerable wheels. Steering commands were sent from the control cab to each set of wheels in turn, so they started turning at the same point where the driver had. This allowed the train to make sharp right-angle turns, for instance.

The Mark II had a much larger six-wheeled cab that was over 30 feet (9.1 m) tall and was no longer articulated due to the ability for all the wheels to be steered. The turbine engine was much smaller than the diesel it replaced, allowing the interior to support a crew of six with sleeping quarters, toilets and a galley. It was even equipped with a radar. An additional two power cars and ten cargo cars were built for testing. In total the train now stretched over 570 feet (170 m). On flat ground it could carry 150 tons of cargo at about 20 mph. Range at full load was normally 350 to 400 miles (560 to 640 km), but additional fuel trailers could be added to extend it.

Final specifications were completed in 1960, and construction took most of 1961. After preliminary testing, it was handed to the Army in February 1962, and shipped to the Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. In testing under the "Project OTTER", for "Overland Train Terrain Evaluation Research", the vehicle performed well. But in the end the Army gave up on the idea as newer heavy-lift helicopters like the S-64 Skycrane made the train concept outdated.

The vehicle remained unused for a time, and was then put up for sale for $1.4 million in 1969.[9] All that remains of the Mark II is the control cab which remains at Yuma, the rest was sold off to a local scrap dealer. The Mark II retains the record for the longest offroad vehicle in the world.

There are Many Sources of Inspiration for Post-Apoc

One of the fun things about the post-apoc genre is that you can draw from so many different sources when creating a post-apoc world. Pretty much anything is possible and even cartoon characters can come to life - their humor replaced by horror, of course. Below is another critter beneath the shattered moon that's not nearly as funny as its inspirational source.

Easter Eggs in Sorcery & Super Science!

I like to put little Easter eggs in the writing that I do, particular in S&SS, for instance the geo-political area of "New Fargo" contains a reference to Famine in Far-Go(1) as well as a reference to the movie Fargo (2). I sometimes wonder if they're ever discovered, but I know if they are, whoever discovers them gets a great little bit of "I see what you did there!" feeling.

"Six years ago, John Foodfinder located and claimed an automated chicken processing factory as his own(1). This discovery saved his village and all those from neighboring settlements moved, forming New Fargo around this plant. In the past six years, King John has grown his territory by small steps, as the area around New Fargo seems unusually beset by radiated horrors.

Although one would assume New Fargo is named because the ruins of that ancient city lie within the kingdom’s boundary that is not the case (2). The ruins of ancient Fargo are on an island in the Center Sea. New Fargo is named in honor of that ancient city’s world-renown prosperity. If traveling in the area, New Fargo certainly needs to be visited, for it is one of the few safe places in the sparsely populated kingdom. Additionally King John has tapped into the energy supply of the factory, and New Fargo is awash in lights and power. Trading opportunities abound, as canned chicken is produced in large quantities here (1), and small fortunes have been made via its transportation. Finally, the ruins of ancient Brainerd (2) may provide some scavenging opportunities."

(1) - This refers of course to the central plot of Famine in Far-Go.
(2) - This refers to how the movie (and subsequent series) Fargo was almost entirely not in Fargo. And on the map "New Fargo" contains Brainerd, which is where most of the movie Fargo occurred.

Sorcery & Super Science 3rd Monster Preview

Hey, look! Another critter from beneath the shattered moon! An abassy's a nasty piece of work - a spirit of the dead that remains only to punish!

Another 2nd Edition Sorcery & Super Science! monster preview

So the prior preview was for one of the weakest horrors out there beneath the shattered moon. This one, a groue horror, is much, much worse.