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

“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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Merrick: The Sensational Elephantman

merrick-coverThought Bubble is the North’s premier Comic Con and for my money the best event of its kind in these fine Isles Of Albion. The convention has been steadily growing in size and reputation since its arrival almost eight years ago and it’s attracting some of the big names in the field of sequential art as well as providing an opportunity for a huge number of independent small press creators to get their work into the faces of the more discerning comic book fan. It is an event I enjoy immensely, with the added bonus that it’s virtually on my door step. I particularly relish prowling the small press tables looking for something new to take my fancy and that is where I happened upon Merrick. Fickle as it sounds my attention was drawn to the Merrick:The Elephant Man stall by virtue of the very rad Suicidal Tendencies shirt that the chap behind the table was wearing. I then noted that the Merrick shirt was a Black Flag rip, clearly this book was the work of a punker. With my interest piqued I had a quick chat with the books author Tom Ward (he was the fellow in the Suicidals shirt) decided he was a good bloke and I promptly laid my money down and grabbed issues 1 & 2 and a nice new shirt.
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All Creation Undone- Why Wayfarer?

Wayfarer/Rot In Hell Split cover by Glyn Smith

Wayfarer/Rot In Hell Split cover by Glyn Smith

Every so often amongst various groups of friends who are primarily into hardcore, or indeed any other harder/heavier genre of music, a common topic surfaces, best UK band. Now it would be really easy to think of other incredibly good current and defunct UK bands you could bring up at this point. Especially given that I only started going to hardcore shows in about ‘06/’07 twinned with the much more extensive years of experience in Corehammer Crew let alone the wider scene. I’m sure there’s hundreds of incredible relic demos stored in plastic storage boxes in attics across the country that would be incontestable contenders the title. Part of me toys with giving it to the soul swallowing Electric Wizard, the belligerent horror of Bradford’s Ironside or maybe the frenetic onslaught of Closure. But on this subject I always say that for me it’s got to be Wayfarer. This whole article maybe taken as some sycophantic super fan girls perfume stained love letter to any of the members of Wayfarer, or indeed anyone, that might read this and for that I apologise and also thank you for being that band. I’d think enough of my mates would know of my utter hatred for brown nosing.

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