Monthly Archives: February 2024

Idea Chest: The X-Files

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The X-Files was a groundbreaking American TV series that premiered in 1993 and continued until 2002 (later seasons were released in 2016 and 2018.) Created by Chris Carter, the show explores the world of unsolved paranormal cases and government conspiracies. The story follows two FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Mulder believes in the paranormal, while Scully is a skeptic and a scientist. Their contrasting beliefs form the backbone of the series, as they work together on “X-Files”, mysterious cases ranging from the truth behind alien existence to government cover-ups.

This is my most modern (and probably most mainstream) Idea Chest franchise to date. However, with the main series ending its run in 2002, I suspect a number of readers may have never experienced it. I was in my early 20s when the series started and connected with it right away. While this was very much a modern show, I always felt that there was a lot of good stuff to be mined here. The following are just some of the examples of ideas that I believe could be lifted and dropped into the fantasy TTRPG of your choosing.

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully: The iconic duo that introduced us to a world of conspiracies and the paranormal.

Serving the Dubious Crown: Mulder and Scully work for the US government. However, it’s not long into the series before they start to question the motives of their superiors or perhaps the government itself. Emulating this and creating a campaign where the party serves a kingdom or empire with a murky agenda could be interesting. PCs might be dispatched to investigate arcane anomalies, politically charged missions, or even interdimensional threats.

Over time, the party will likely become aware of the shady side of the government. However, they may need to wait to confront those in power until they have gained enough evidence and influence in the realm to make a difference.

Balancing Myth Arc with Side Quests: The X-Files offered viewers “mythology episodes” mixed in with “monster of the week episodes”. The former touched on the overarching story of alien conspiracy, while the latter tended to be standalone episodes that might explore a cryptid or some other paranormal phenomenon.

Consider having a central myth arc in your campaign that slowly unravels, punctuated by self-contained quests. This structure allows players to enjoy immediate adventures while building towards a larger, more complex narrative.

William B. Davis portrays C.G.B. Spender, a.k.a. The Cigarette Smoking Man, orchestrating things from the shadows.

The Untouchable Puppeteer: The “Cigarette Smoking Man” was the epitome of a shadowy puppet master, weaving plots and plans into the narrative without ever dirtying his hands. A villain like this might be seen in the courts of power, whispering in the ears of kings or leading councils, yet they are never where the blame can be laid. This villain’s machinations are intricate, and their presence is a constant reminder to the players that there are bigger games at play. As your party encounters this figure, let them grapple with the infuriating reality that direct confrontation is impossible, at least for now. Instead, they must unravel the web of deceit, cut the strings of the puppet master, and expose the true nature of the adversary, all while dealing with personal connections that make the quest not just a matter of justice, but of personal closure and revenge.

Mr. X. The enigmatic informant, shrouded in secrecy.

The Dynamic Duo: While most of these ideas would work in a standard game, sometimes a full table just isn’t in the cards. Taking inspiration from Mulder and Scully’s relationship, a campaign with just two players can explore deep character development. One character could be driven by faith or belief in the mystical, while the other relies on logic and evidence. Their differing views would create plenty of role-playing opportunities, especially when their beliefs are challenged by the adventures they undertake.

The Mysterious Benefactor: Both “Deep Throat” and “Mr. X” helped Mulder and Scully with their investigations. However, neither were totally reliable and neither could be fully trusted. Consider introducing NPCs who provide information with their own agendas. These characters can offer crucial insights but leave the party questioning the validity and motives behind the help they receive.

Assistant Director Skinner. The duo’s reluctant ally within the FBI.

The Reluctant Ally: Modeling after Assistant Director Skinner, create an authority figure who navigates the treacherous waters of the government with the party. They can act as a buffer between the players and higher powers, providing support while remaining distant and bound by their duties.

The Eccentric Helpers: The Lone Gunmen are perfect templates for quirky allies who offer assistance with a side of humor. Create a group of street urchins, oddball mages, or eccentric artificers who can aid the party with intelligence, unconventional wisdom, and gadgetry, all while providing comic relief.

The Lone Gunmen. A trio of quirky conspiracy theorists who often provide aid to the protagonists.

Secret Societies and Hidden Agendas: Inspired by the show’s shadowy organizations, introduce secret societies that manipulate events for their own ends. The players could find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, where discerning friend from foe is as challenging as the quests themselves. The NPC who provided invaluable aid to the party two sessions ago may merely be using the PCs as pawns.

Conclusion

Mulder’s iconic motto.

That’ll do it for this week. Are you familiar with the X-Files? Can you think of any good source material that I have missed?  Leave a comment if you can and let me know. Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget—The Truth is Out There.

For maps & plot hooks, go here.

For my Idea Chest posts, go here.

For some random tables, go here.

Want to help me to compile a list of TTRPG conventions? Click here.

Finally, for a bit about me and some general stuff, this is the spot.

Vintage Ads From White Dwarf Magazine #64

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This week I’m back with some more vintage ads. I’m turning to the pages of White Dwarf magazine. Issue #64 features cover art by Peter Andrew Jones and comes from April of 1985.

Launched in 1977 by Games Workshop, the company behind the Warhammer franchises, White Dwarf began as a general-purpose gaming magazine. Its early issues covered role-playing games, board games, and wargames. By the time this issue hit the stands in April 1985, White Dwarf had transitioned more towards supporting Games Workshop’s own products, though it still provided a wealth of content for the broader gaming community.

Growing up in the US during the 1980s, issues of White Dwarf were nowhere near as accessible as Dragon magazine (at least in Rochester, NY). However, I always tried to pick up a copy when I was able. A number of the monsters from the AD&D Fiend Folio had appeared previously in the pages of White Dwarf and somehow it just felt like a rare treat to get hold of one. At any rate, on with the ads:

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Rules

I don’t suppose I could showcase ads from an issue of White Dwarf with including at least on ad for a Warhammer product. Here we have an ad for the 2nd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

The boxed set includes three rule books—covering Combat, Battle Magic, and Battle Bestiary—along with character cards, a play sheet, and an introductory scenario titled “The Magnificent Sven.”

Outside of the occasional convention game I was never lucky enough to be exposed to Warhammer. The interest was there but my meager teenage funds wouldn’t have been sufficient to tackling buying and painting armies.

Talisman of Death

Next up is an ad for Talisman of Death, which was part of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. This particular entry to the series invites readers to take on the latest challenge set in the once-peaceful world of Orb, where dark forces are working to unleash the evil power of the Dark Lord.

These made their way to the US, though to what degree I cannot say. In Rochester, NY I vividly recall finding a copy of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (I believe the first of the series). Unlike the “Endless Quest” series produced by TSR Hobbies and other “choose your own path” books, the Fighting Fantasy titles added actual die rolls to the experience. This further simulated playing and actual role-playing game and I found it to be much more engaging.

Star Trek III Starship Combat Game

I have no recollection of this product. As I’ve mentioned previously, while I was fascinated with various wargames, most of my experience in the 1980s was limited to tabletop role-playing games. While I do vividly remember Star Fleet Battles by Task Force Games, this one escapes me.

The ad promises a thrilling experience where you can outmaneuver enemies to achieve victory, hide in asteroid fields, lay traps with gravity mines, and engage in battles for the control of planets. It emphasizes allowing players to command the legendary USS Enterprise, Klingon battle cruisers, Romulan warships, or various other starships available in the game.

The most interesting part of the ad to me lies in the fine yellow print at the bottom. Apparently Games Workshop licensed this one from FASA to sell in the UK. They has previously held the official distribution rights to Dungeons & Dragons and other TSR products in the UK.

Earth Wood

Earth Wood was another play-by-mail (PBM) game. These are still a bit fascinating to me. This appears to have been a PBM wargame. In a game like this, players would submit a series of orders, then the gamemaster would make any appropriate rolls or checks to determine the outcome and send out results to the player(s) involved.

Reading through the description, I can really see how it would be easy to get drawn in to a game like this. I would love to hear from someone who actually played one of these back in the day, as the concept has always been very interesting to me.

The thing that really gets me with these is the per turn charge, in this case £1.50/turn. I can’t swear to it but I believe that would have been roughly $1.95/turn back in 1985. It certainly would have been too rich for my blood back then.

The Chaos of Doom

This advertisement is for The Chasm of Doom which was apparently a book in the “Lone Wolf” solo role-playing adventure series. I’ve never encountered these so please chime in if you have some experience with them. The product is described as a “unique and action-packed solo adventure”, so it appears that these would be something also the same lines as the popular Fighting Fantasy series I mentioned up above.

Apparently, players would take on the role of the “Lone Wolf” and proceed to tackle continuing adventures. The game boasts over 50 line drawings plus a full-color game map and action chart. Unlike the Fighting Fantasy series, these seem to emphasize that no dice are needed due to their “unique combat system”. Again, I’d be interested in hearing what the mechanic was.  

De Luxe Fantasy Puzzles

This ad caught my eye, not because it was a game or game-related product but rather because it struck me as odd to see a product like this being licensed by Games Workshop. Never having been a fan of puzzles, I initially though it odd that there was a product like this. However, a bit of investigation showed me that TSR was producing Dungeons & Dragons puzzles during this same time period. As a matter of fact (and even more odd to me), even Wizards of the Coast has produced jigsaw puzzles. I honestly never knew puzzles were so popular. Are you a puzzle person?

Conclusion

That’ll do it for this week. Have you had any encounters with any of these products? Did reading through these bring back memories of any others? Leave me a note and let me know. In the meantime, stay warm and good gaming!

For maps & plot hooks, go here.

For my Idea Chest posts, go here.

For some random tables, go here.

Want to help me to compile a list of TTRPG conventions? Click here.

Finally, for a bit about me and some general stuff, this is the spot.

What Was Your Gateway to Adventure

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This was an old TSR Hobbies catalog. I can’t recall whether this came packaged in my Holmes Basic set or in the later Moldvay set.

1977 had been a big year already, with the release of Star Wars during the past spring. The summer had been spent running around the neighborhood, shooting imaginary Storm Troopers, and debating the fate of Darth Vader.

It was around Thanksgiving when I became aware of a new animated TV Special. The Hobbit was coming to television. Now, for those of you much younger than I, you must understand that the late 70s were a much different time. We had cartoons every Saturday morning, without fail. However, aside from the annual Charlie Brown specials and perhaps Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, animated specials were almost unheard of. If you are too young to have lived through this, it’s hard to describe just how odd this was to see on network tv.

Rumors had spread through my school like wildfire. The Hobbit was something totally different. Not only was this a new animated special, but it was a story of wizards, dwarves, elves, and even a dragon! Truly, this was something not to be missed.

I don’t recall what I did wrong. Perhaps I had knocked the gravy over and into my Aunt’s lap during Thanksgiving dinner. At any rate, as luck would have it, I found myself quite grounded for the world television premier of The Hobbit.  It was devastating. I was certain that quite possibly; nothing good could come of my life from that day forward. You see, in 1977, there was no streaming, no DVRs (or VCRs for that matter). As a matter of fact, there was a great likelihood that if you missed a show on TV or even a movie in the theater, that you may never have an opportunity to see it again.

During the following week, I was forced to listen to my young friends tells stories about The Hobbit.  They would go on and on about the goblins, the spiders, and even some strange thing that they referred to as “Gollum”.  I was devastated. Within the span of one year, I had been told that I was too young to have a poster of Farrah Fawcett and now I had missed The Hobbit.

This was the cover to my first version of The Hobbit in the late 1970s.

During the fall of 1978. I came home from school one day to find a paperback book lying on my bed. It was The Hobbit; my parents had purchased me a copy of the novel. While it was certainly quite a bit larger than any book I had read thus far, I was intrigued by the maps and “strange writing” which I found just inside the front cover. I set about reading it right away.

I was hooked immediately. Shortly after finishing The Hobbit, I moved on to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. By the time that these were all finished I was a fantasy junkie, devouring any new novels that I could land my hands on. As I recall, the next up were the Lancer/Ace Conan series with the striking Frank Frazetta covers.

It was some time after that when I heard a couple of my friends talking about some new game. They had been playing this game, with the older kids who lived on the next road over. The details were sketchy but apparently there were hobbits and goblins in it and it was different from any of type of game.

The Holmes Basic D&D boxed set.

The whole thing was terribly confusing and made no sense to me at all. When I asked them about the board, they said there was no board. When I asked if there were cards, they said there were no cards. I was a skeptic, to say the least. Certainly, if a game like this existed, it would have to be listed within the pages of the J.C. Penney Christmas catalog (everything worth having as a child was.) It was not.

Then, one day, my friend and I happened to accompany my mother on a trip to Scrantom’s (a local card & stationary store in Rochester, NY). As we were checking out, I saw a curious looking box, sitting behind the counter. The box was adorned with a picture of a large dragon, sitting on a huge pile of treasure. The words “Dungeons & Dragons” were printed across the top of the box. A look to my buddy confirmed that this was the game he’d been trying to tell me about.

I received that very box for my birthday (this was the Holmes edition Dungeons & Dragons Basic set.) Like a blind man who has never seen, I immediately understood about games without boards. Suddenly, I had the ability to do more than just read fantasy stories; I could create them and watch them unfold before my eyes. The years to follow were filled with all kinds of great gaming memories.

Conclusion

That was how I was introduced to the hobby. However, sticking true to the title of this post, I’m curious about you. What was your gateway to adventure? When were you first exposed to the hobby and what was your first game? I’ve always loved hearing these type of origin stories and I find it fascinating to read about. Drop a comment below and let me know.

That’s all for now. Have a great week and thank you for stopping by. Good gaming!

For maps & plot hooks, go here.

For my Idea Chest posts, go here.

For some random tables, go here.

Want to help me to compile a list of TTRPG conventions? Click here.

Finally, for a bit about me and some general stuff, this is the spot.

Idea Chest: Lonesome Dove

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I may be going out on a limb with this week’s addition to the Idea Chest but I will ask that you bear with me on this one. When I hatched the idea for this regular feature, it was out of the desire to inspire other gamemasters with franchises that had inspired me. I can honestly say that this property has influenced me both as a gamemaster and a player for over 30 years.

Lonesome Dove is a 1985 western novel by Larry McMurtry, as well as a 1989 TV miniseries starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall. The story tells the tale of two former Texas Rangers as they lead a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.

I was 15 years old when I found the novel laying around my house. My mother had finished reading it the week prior. Much like I suspect many of you are feeling at the moment, I had almost zero interest in westerns whatsoever. However, I was three weeks into my summer break from high school and I had nothing else to read. Thinking back, I did have Boot Hill from TSR Hobbies sitting on my game shelf. I suspect I was thinking that I might stumble onto a good idea for an adventure, if I just gave it half a chance.

I realize that a western is probably even less appealing to folks today than it was in 1985. That said, I can’t stop myself from suggesting it. Even for a fantasy campaign, I think it would be worth checking out either the novel or the miniseries. Both were excellent and I feel that at the very least you’d get some solid entertainment out of the experience. Without rattling on further, here’s what I find the most useful out of exploring the franchise.

The Epic Journey

The trope of the party getting hired to guard a caravan is probably as old as “the party meets in the tavern”. However, what if the journey was the point of the whole campaign? The central cattle drive in Lonesome Dove is an excellent framework for a campaign. Much like a religious pilgrimage, a crusade, or a grand expedition, a journey of that magnitude could provide everything you need to keep your players entertained.

As a GM, this type of campaign style would give you the ability to have a somewhat linear campaign, without really railroading your party. I mean, if the whole point of the campaign is to travel from point A to point B, it does really narrow the field in terms of what you need to prep for. For instance, the party may need to choose between Caradhras or Moria but at least they wouldn’t been choosing from anything under the sun.

Environmental Challenges

Still focusing on the journey, some of the most gripping parts of the story come from environmental challenges like dust storms or dangerous river crossings. It’s a good reminder that not all challenges need to be combats or monsters. Environmental obstacles can be just as compelling, testing the party’s skills and resourcefulness.

A Well-Crafted Party

While my previous Idea Chest posts have focused solely on GM inspiration, Lonesome Dove is great for players as well. The story is a virtual master class in interesting characters. The Hat Creek Cattle Company is essentially a party of adventurers, each member with their own backstory and role. Joshua Deets, Pea Eye Parker, Bolivar, Newt—they’re all vividly realized characters that could inspire PCs or NPCs in your campaign. If you encourage players to create characters with rich pasts and motivations, you’d be hard pressed to find a more dynamic group.

Twilight Heroes

The story’s protagonists, Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae, are former Texas Rangers in the twilight of their lives. This aspect alone is a gold mine for your games. Instead of starting as green adventurers, imagine characters who have already lived a life full of stories, coming together for one last grand quest. Even if you’re starting a new campaign with level 1 characters, there’s no reason that you couldn’t opt for the narrative the some of the characters are grizzled old veterans who are a bit rusty but gradually getting their skills back.

Blue Duck: A Versatile Villain

Blue Duck is a memorable villain who exemplifies how to craft a villain’s ominous presence. He could be a notorious bandit, a cunning warlord, or even a mystical threat, depending on your campaign’s needs. McMurtry skillfully weaves whispers about Blue Duck into the narrative, long before the protagonists come face to face with him. The fear and anticipation build through the stories told by others, and this sets a done of dread that could be useful in your game.

In addition, Blue Duck’s terror stems not from supernatural abilities but from his malevolence and the psychological impact of his actions. This is a great lesion that a compelling antagonist needs no extraordinary powers to be formidable. Instead, the villain’s reputation and the fear they instill can serve as powerful tools, engaging your players on a psychological level.

The Tragic Tale of Jake Spoon

No spoilers but Jake Spoon’s storyline is ripe for adaptation as a PC or NPC. He’s a charming character that can serve as a cautionary tale or a complex backstory, offering moral dilemmas and character development opportunities. Bottom line, memorable characters make for a great campaign as much as a great story.

Conclusion

That’ll do it for this week. Have you ever crossed paths with Lonesome Dove? Leave a comment if you have and let me know. While it’s a western, I believe there’s a lot to be mined from it, even for a fantasy campaign. I know it would be a stretch for a lot of you but I recommend giving it a read or watching the miniseries if you’ve never seen it. Thanks for stopping by. Good gaming!

For maps & plot hooks, go here.

For my Idea Chest posts, go here.

For some random tables, go here.

Want to help me to compile a list of TTRPG conventions? Click here.

Finally, for a bit about me and some general stuff, this is the spot.