Saturday, July 10, 2021

Stalwart Age Update for the Week of 7/10/21


Here is your weekly update on all things Stalwart Age.

Over in the comics database, I have added two things: an archival entry for Doc's first meeting with Ro the Ravager (issue 77), and a prose adaptation of his more recent meeting Ro and his newer assistant (issue 254).

Meanwhile, in the character database, I have added a character profile for the Voice of Ro, for those times when you need a pretty powerful cosmic character to show up and lay the smack down.

FYI, this is the model for how I plan to build the game going forward. Every weekend, I plan to add 2-3 new things to the larger Stalwart Age database. I will endeavor to thematically tie these together; if you get a new Doc story, you probably get stats for one of the characters who appears in the story, or an adventure write up of the location from that story. I would like to move both the larger narrative and the game forward one step each week. I think, before long, there will be a pretty robust database at hand of both story and game material to draw upon. I already feel like the database is shaping up nicely, with 19 characters, 8 comics, and a bunch of resources there already. 

And remember, if you sign up as a patron, you get early access to all of this; I am already several weeks ahead with patrons, and they already have access to the next two Doc Stalwart comics and previews of two past issues that will be added to the database, along with other crazy goodness. Even a dollar a month will go a long way to keeping Stalwart Age content flowing. Thanks!

3 comments:

  1. Issue 254 was such a treat! The ending is so smart! I was struck by Doc's bravado at the end, and moved by the way that it failed to pay off. Somebody (Max?) said this over on the Patreon, I think, but I agree - the way you wrote this posed all sorts of interesting questions and left things open in delightful ways. I love the way this issue seems poised between eras (or full on starting a new one, while still cherishing - and adding nuance - to the old).

    BTW, quick rules question - how do you handle what other games call "Life Support" in the Stalwart Age (i.e., the ability to survive in cold, heat, high pressure, radiation, etc.)? Is it simply hand waved according to concept? (So, Ro the Ravager and the Voice of Ro need not worry about such things, because they are cosmic entities, but heroes or characters whose concepts don't call for it better wear the appropriate gear, or else?) I see that Air Supply exists as a gift (which would cover a fraction of what I'm asking about), but Ro and the Voice of Ro don't have it. Mind you, me asking this isn't a critique. I'm rather comfortable with hand waving this. I'm just curious about what you do.

    Oh, and another thing - I really like that The Stalwart Age is set in the 1980s! I'm toying around with starting a campaign temporarily calling "Supers with Bikes," which is riffing off of "Kids with Bikes," which is riffing off of Stranger Things. The premise would be that a bunch-o-1980s-kids sneak off to play a superhero RPG in the woods somewhere. The spot they choose happens to be "magical" in some reality altering way, and they end up manifesting the powers, abilities, tech, (and possibly identities) of their player characters. I'm still developing this, but I thought I'd share. :-)

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    1. First, your game idea sounds like a ton of fun. Second, I consider this all layered into a CON check; I would say that the environment would determine the CR of the check; walking into the heart of a nuclear reactor is probably on a order of a CR 36 CON check... taking a stroll through downtown Chernobyl on day one after meltdown is probably CR 20.

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  2. Awesome! Thanks for the quick response, Michael. And thanks for the encouragement regarding the campaign. On top of other things, the set-up is my solution to having a unified origin, but still allowing a full range of super heroic origins and backgrounds! 😊

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