Harder They Fall #4: Pre-Orders Up Now

Line Of Sight: Pic by Jeff Laisch

In a break from our scheduled programming, just a quick announcement that the latest issue of my very occasional punk fanzine Harder They Fall is now available for pre-order.  Issue 4 weighs in at 44 solid pages of content. No adverts, no filler. Interviews with Rancour from Wales, Ill Natured from Australia, Guilt Ritual from New England, xServitudex, Dan Duggan of Unholy Majesty/The Break In/Santa Carla and The Monster Merchants, Tom Pimlott of Arms Race/ Violent Reaction/Standpoint/ Marco Abiatello of Payday, Dan Capman from Firm Standing Law and Peter Falkous of Thirty Seconds Until Armageddon/ Grace/Vengeance Of Gaia/ Break It Up/ Jinn etc. Phew!

Alongside all that there’s the usual daft anecdotes and articles along with a slick layout courtesy of Falkous. This ones coming out via Static Age publishing so check it out HERE if you want to grab one!

Weaving a story out of a legend.

Looks quite homely now but back in November 1974… Let me tell you.

It wasn’t an easy ride working the real world Richard Bingham in to a character for an RPG but given the scope allowed within the GURPS system and the (almost) anything goes vibe of the Hellboy universe, I managed to get him to look and feel how I wanted with a bit of help from Boardie and Agers giant metallic bats. Couldn’t have done it without them.

So first up, how does he look? Well, pretty much like he did when he dissapeared on 7th November 1974, sharp suit, strong moustache game, expensive shoes, you see, in this game Binghams immortal, another throw back to Dexter Ward or even Dorian Grey. So how?

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At The Gates of Madness – Lord Lucan aka Richard Bingham

How does a member of the British aristocracy end up in Buckden Yorkshire chasing giant dogs and gods?

For anyone whose checked out the podcast lately, you’ll no doubt be aware we are running a new campaign based in  the BPRD/Hellboy universe, told by our storyteller Ager.

What you might not be aware of is this will be my first RPG campaign, having only played one RPG before, for 3 hours. That and I’d never read a BPRD/Hellboy comic, you might be asking yourself what I’d get out of this scenario. A fair bit it seems on reflection but that’s not what this is about, this is about character creation. Why did I choose do play as the character I did?

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“Wrote for Luck” Connor on creating Damus Nostre

I had a chat with my lad Connor about his BPRD pointman character “Damus Nostre” and taking him from a loose concept to a fully formed RPG character….

One of the things I enjoy most about roleplaying games is converting my ideas for a character onto my uncontaminated sheet of A4 paper and, with this being a BRPD game, the only limits the player has when creating their character is their imagination….although this is apparently somewhat limited in my case!

In my mind one of the things that makes the Hellboy universe fun is the concoction of the occult and the links to the real world, and I really wanted my character to embody that heady mix of influences. Like The Happy Mondays I wanted to blend lad rock (the investigation aspect of BPRD) with house music (those esoteric tendril MM has running through his world). As the rest of the party had somewhat normal human looking characters I took the opportunity to be the dick head of the group by combining influences from 16th century Europe and modern day doomsday cults and conspiracy theories. Continue reading

You Can’t Stop Progress – Hardware

 

Author: Andrew Carr

When Corehammer sounded the horn for people to write about cyberpunk, I knew I had to answer the call. Now, there is a wealth of amazing cyberpunk flicks out there and I was pretty spoiled for choice, so I decided to avoid the obvious classics and look at some of the more niche flicks out there. I considered the artier stuff (Burst City/Tetsuo: The Iron Man) and also the trash (Hands of Steel/Nemesis); however, I eventually decided on something that kind of sits in between and holds a special place in my miserable Lancastrian heart – Hardware.

I only found out about this film a few years back, as I was starting to discover all those movies whose VHS cover art I used to stare at longingly in the local Spar when I was about seven. Podcasts like The Gentlemen’s Guide To Midnite Cinema and The Cult Of Muscle reminded me of those glorious days, when Cliffhanger was next to Ninja III: The Domination and Coneheads was a couple of rows below. As a kid, I discovered cyberpunk through Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper and the rest of 2000AD. This evolved in my teens into an interest in Cyberpunk 2020, sci-fi movies and an unhealthy obsession with Fear Factory. As an adult, this finally morphed into a love of genre cinema from the 80s and 90s which, strangely enough, brought me right back to those days spent staring up at copies of Nemesis that I could never reach….. Continue reading

The Slugbait Rumor Mill and Other Stories


Author Nick Baran:

The start of my true love affair with miniature wargaming started with this box.

In 1994 I was part owner of a gaming store with some older, more mature, gaming friends of mine. I was in my early 20’s and playing in a straight edge hardcore punk band called, Halfmast. We were an unlikely group of game store owners: a chemical engineer (our chief investor), a mid-sized retail chain store manager, one of his employees, and myself – an irresponsible punk rocker. We opened the store on the tails of the first big wave of Magic: The Gathering hype. With all of the money we made selling M:TG in our first 6 months we had paid off the chemical engineer’s investment and had a pile of cash `to be invested into another game line. The distributors were pushing a game called Warhammer really hard, and we threw our all of our nested profit into it. Then we did it again with 40K. I started an army for both systems but didn’t fully fall in love with either until a new game dropped called, Necromunda…. Continue reading

Soul Of A New Machine – Cyberpunk World Building

Author: Henry Taylor

As a setting, cyberpunk is unequivocally a product of its time. Defined by its polarised classes and advanced technology, it could be considered as the rising sentiments of the 1980s taken to their extremes. While parallels and comments on society have to be purposefully added into other genres and other kinds of ‘higher’ science fiction (I’m thinking Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels, or Dune), cyberpunk’s social critiques define its very nature. Without that aspect of a yawning societal divide, it’s just science fiction. The word punk is there for a reason.

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“Fist of the North” Dungeonpunx do Hellboy

Creating a basic RPG player character (PC) is something that people find pretty simple…..the problem comes when you try and elevate the PC from a list of stats and skills on a piece of paper into a living breathing actual “character”. In this series we are going to look at the process we went through to get characters for our newest campaign from the stats into real life.

If you have been listening the dungeonpunx podcast over the past few episodes you will be aware of our change from our normal DnD game Nathan was running to a game based in the “Hellboy” universe created by Mike Mignola back in 1993. Ager has been running a campaign using ”Hellboy Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game” a system published by Steve Jackson Games…..(no not that Steve Jackson…..the other Steve Jackson) which is powered by GURPS 3rd edition.

you know you talk so hip man….call the cops!


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The Reluctant DM – 5 miniature companies for D&D

With the current interest in table top RPG’s at a new peak, we thought it high time that we launched our Dungeonunx section of the blog. Regular listeners to our podcast will dubtless be aware that the crew loves to role play. D&D, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, Gurps, Advaonced Fighting Fantasy..we’ll give owt a try. Indeed the DXP crew grows stronger and more productive by the day. Last week Boardy dropped his first Real Play podcast under the DXP banner. He’s GM’ing through a Shadowrun campaign with the Salford chapter. It’s a first effort so it’s a bit rough around the edges and the levels are a touch off but stick with it, the pods a great listen. DXP Real Play is going to be an ongoing thing, consider it a supplement to the regular Dungeonpunx pod if you will. Tune in HERE to get your head around Shadowrun and meet the crew…..

And so to business. We are gonna give you the nuts and bolts required for new players/DM’s to get their teeth into RPG’ing. Depending on how you come to RPG’s you’re gonna want different things. Some people are happy playing in what is called The Theatre Of The Mind, whilst others have a very real need for tangible props and miniatures to help them visualise what’s taking place in the game. It’s important to try and  immerse yourself in the game. With some investment you’ll you’ll find you get way more out of the experience and the whole thing becomes a lot more fun and intense!

If you’re coming to RPG”S from Wargaming like most of the DxP guys were, then one of the easiest ways to transition into a new gaming  “discipline” is by finding familiar things within that game to relate to. In this instance miniatures upon the table provided the necessary sweetener to put my players a bit more at ease.  Now as things progress you may find the need for miniatures becomes less of a requirement. As players get more comfortable with their characters and with the idea of roleplaying, often the miniatures can seem like unnecessary distraction.

But for those amongst us who thrill to the sight of a tabletop full of painted minis but don’t know where to start I’ve provided this quick guide to some of the most immediately accessible and useful manufacturers for your games!

 

Bad Squiddo  _ Annie Norman runs Bad Squiddo games outta South Wales and despite her perpetual cold she gets a lot of props from us here at the ‘hammer. Annie is your go to gal for female miniatures of the sensible/functional variety. No chain mail bikinis or slut drops here, rather a selection of excellent miniatures that will bring character to any RPG session. Not only does she carry stock from all reputable manufacturers but she’s also  dipping into the mini game herself. Have a browse of her Freya’s Wrath Kickstarter right here then check out her store HERE, her mail order quickness is second to none.

 

 

 

 

Oathsworn Minis

Diehard Miniatures

The aesthetic sensibilities of Diehard’s broad range  will strike a chord with anyone lucky enough to have been a kid into gaming in the 80’s.

 

Otherworld

Westfaalia

Northstar