Aldo's Character Building Walkthrough

Aldo did a fantastic job of walking us through character building for Stalwart '85. I really appreciate the time he took to make and post this. It's really helpful, if you've had trouble wrapping your head around how character creation works.

Thanks, Aldo! 

Stalwart Phile #5

The Stalwart Phile #5 is now available, and it expands Doc's world into a new location, Port City, with a new central hero, the Skarab. While Echo City is a street-level city that is largely controlled by the criminal empire, Port City is a more 'normal' city, with a more garish and motley collection of villains. I was tempted to give Messenger a sidekick and expand Gap City, but decided instead to add a whole set of new comics to the mix. 

Creative Cycles

I've written before about how I tend to do the bulk of my creative work (gaming and comics stuff) between about April and August... because my job as a teacher, and especially my work directing plays and musicals, has demanded the vast majority of my creative energy, leaving me sort of tapped out when it came to gaming-related stuff.

This year, obviously, is different. I was forced to retire in July due to my prognosis and treatment, so as the school year has gotten going, it's been doing so without me. I have to admit that the first few weeks, and a few benchmark events along the way, have been a bit rough. This last weekend was the high school's fall play, and that was my 'baby', so it was a little rough that the show must go on without me.

But... that also means that I have all of this bottled-up creative energy that is suddenly springing forward. First on the docket was a revision of my Army Ants game, and then it was back to Stalwart '85. Over the weekend, I put together Stalwart Phile #4, and I've already almost finished Stalwart Phile #5. I am really, really happy with my work on this, and with where my drawing is at. I put together this cover this morning, and thought I'd share it, since it's going to be nestled on page 1 of SP #5. I just have to draw a helicopter and do an editing pass, and I'll be releasing Stalwart Phile #5 in the next day or two... 

And I've already got plans for #6, which is going to be Christmas themed. I mean, you're not really a hero unless you've saved Christmas at least once... 

Next Stop... Port City

I spent some time today going through and organizing random ideas I had scattered across documents, putting them in one place so that I have my master brainstorming list together. I ended up with QUITE a list of character ideas. I mean, I have names and a quick blurb for 30 characters that I want to add to the game. The concern I have with many of them is that they don't 'fit' nicely into the world I have right now. Many of the characters are sort of odd street-level villains. I don't have a good hero to put them against; they are too low-brow for Doc. They fit scale wise in Echo City against Zealot, but he's a bit more serious in tone (more Daredevil I guess), and many of these belong in Spidey's rogue's gallery. So, I decided to create a new hero, and a new city for this hero. 

My meta backstory is going to be that this is the second generation of the PD character the Scarab, and he inherited his uncle's ring (although it gives him slightly different powers). This adds to his strength and coordination. He's also very smart and wealthy (he is an inventor who inherited his uncle's fortune), so he can have a secret lair, a cool vehicle or two, and gadgets. I picture him as a hybrid of Spidey and Blue Beetle, with a strange gallery of foes. He'll probably end up in the next Stalwart Phile or two, along with several of his villains. I can then expand them and their city over time. The meta comic hook is that his series was short-lived and published by another small publisher; Stalwart Press bought them out in the early 80s and rolled Skarab and his rogues into a background feature in Doc's book.

And, as you can tell, he uses my 'trick' of changing a letter in the name of a character to make him a little more copyright-proof... I probably do that a little too much :) 

 

Stalwart Phile #4

Stalwart Phile #4 is now available, providing an overview of the Circle of the Serpent and their base of operations. I already broke with my plan of alternating releases between PD characters and my own world; I think I'm going to lean towards expanding Doc's world more and on PD characters less, but we'll see. Some Christmas-themed write ups might be fun for next issue... hmm...

Getting Back in the Groove

This morning, I started work on Stalwart Phile #4, featuring the Circle of the Serpent, a snake-themed villain group/cult. It's coming along nicely, and I like the characters who are part of it. Here's a pic of Swamp Rattler, one of the three new characters. I'm also creating a map for the group's hideout, so you'll also get something of a mini-adventure to go with the new characters. I expect to have this done tonight or tomorrow...

In the interim, I've also updated the Stalwart Comics Database with the two issues that these characters first appear in (working on a cover now), and I've also updated some house rules that will appear in the issue as well.

I am glad that I did the Army Ants game. I feel like I got my juices flowing again, and I am back in the swing a little bit. Feels good.

  

I Love It When a Campaign Comes Together...

Mary and I have been playing for three sessions now, and I have started to have an idea for a way to turn this into a campaign (and I'm thinking of it as a comic series as well). 

• In session one, our characters were sent to a gnat encampment to recover secret plans from the gnats. They were part of a large squad, but their helicopter was shot down en route and only these two survived. The gnats had recovered these plans (among other things) from a crashed fly helicopter. Our characters were successful in defeating the gnats and recovering the plans.
• In session two, they started to foot it back to the Hill (20 meters), but Mary's character remembered that there was a ladybug safe house only two meters away. They got to the safe house and found that it had been overcome by flies (looking for the plans that had been lost), and the few ladybugs stationed here were dead. They managed to recover a helicopter, and they decided to fly this back to the Hill.
• In session three, en route to the Hill, they received a distress call from some crickets who were under attack. These crickets were in a tower defending a bridge, but were under attack by three flea-controlled armored cars. Mary and I had our characters intervene, using the helicopter to provide air support, and defeating the fleas. It turned out the fleas had been infected in some way, driven crazy by something or someone. At the end of session three, they reported back to the Hill and turned over everything they found. Mary made her rank promotion check (I failed mine), and she improved to W-2 from W-1.

Going forward, I think I have the next three sessions planned... the 'plans' they recovered are for a mutagen that turns bugs into mindless, violent berserkers. Intel is going to reveal that the mutagen was created by a fly scientist. Our characters are going to be sent to board a train in transit and kidnap the scientist (session 4). This scientist will know of the hidden fly lab where they were working on this mutagen (session 5 and session 6). I already drew a map that was going to be part of my megadungeon for my fantasy games, but it's actually perfect as the hidden lab (the map is obviously unfinished, but I thought I'd give you a peak ahead). They're going to have to clear the lab out, defeating a whole bunch of insects that have been experimented on (and the flies doing the experimenting). The collapsed passage is to a lower level where the mutagen got into the air, and that whole level is filled with toxic gas (which will require the team to wear gas masks, and will change the 'feel' of the place). 

I think maybe the finale is an assault on an old castle controlled by a fly commander from 'the old days' who wants to return the flies to glory, and who financed the creation of the mutagen. Maybe the team will also have to defend the Hill from an attack by mutated insects... or maybe the mutagen is released in the Hill while they are away, and they have to try and neutralize their own friends and family with non-lethal attacks. That would be pretty cool, too. I'm happy for how this is coming together as a mini-campaign, and I think it would make a pretty good sourcebook at some point.

Army Ants RPG is now live

The newest iteration of my Army Ants in RPG form is now available in both print and pdf (links below). This uses the same core engine as Stalwart '85, but with a whole bunch of modifications to make it work for the Army Ants and their world. Plus, I've changed the verbiage from "Michael T. Desing's Army Ants" to "Dr. Mike Desing's Army Ants", which may seem like a minor change, but to me it's an important re-branding. I'm looking at this is 'starting over' with the characters and the setting - looking at ways to tell new stories through it, merging comics and games as a 'medium' going forward. It leads off with a remastered copy of Army Ants #1, and then a spiffy game system that has all sorts of new fiddly bits rooted in the setting I've been building for 30 years.

You can order the PDF version here.

You can order the print version here.

Army Ants Character Sheets

I finished the character sheet this morning for the game, and created sheets for the characters Mary and I are using for our actual play sessions. 

I am using the 'greatest hits' from my various iterations of the Army Ants game; the character sheets I created for Army Ants: Twilight were awesome, and these are upgrades from that character sheet. I'm really, really pleased with how these have turned out. 

Two Games Diverged In A Wood...

The newest iteration of Army Ants, which I am just calling Army Ants the RPG, has officially become its own thing, mechanically shifting away from Stalwart '85 in some significant ways. I had originally ported over the rules for secondary resistant traits (Endure for Might, Focus for Mind, etc.), but realized deep into the draft that there is really no need for these. The only stat I really need is Evade, which I have replaced with a Defense stat. An ant's defense is going to be half their Reflex die rating + their level. Ants start at level 2 (capping out at level 5), and Reflex dice values range from D4 to D12... so Defense ratings will range from 4 to 11. These are the DT for landing a successful attack against you. The Army Ants game really doesn't have any need for the other passive traits; they largely exist in Stalwart '85 to provide a foundation for many of the superhuman gifts that characters have. Army Ants doesn't have any of these gifts, so there is little need for the secondary traits. You are free to take a look at the current version of the rules. I'd say that this is about 90% of the way to the finish line...