If anybody has not figured it out by now - I am a fan of Mantic Games.

Right now their Deadzone: Contagion Boardgame Kickstarter is in high gear.

Plenty of material here for miniatures that can be used in, oh... a Fantasy Craft/Spycraft 2.0 crossover -





Or something happening in a galaxy far... well, you know -



Or something a littler harder in its tech -



$150 is definitely the sweet spot - free addons with each stretch goal:
$150 - "Strike Team": Currently worth ~$280, 46 minis total.

- Deadzone Rulebook
- Gaming Mat
- Counters, Dice
- Digital rules .pdf
- Signed art print and art cards.

- Enforcer Faction Starter
- Plague Faction Starter
- Marauder Faction Starter
- Rebs Faction Starter
- 5 Plastic Terrain sprues
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x Enforcer Engineer ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 3x Plague 2nd Generation ($24 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x Marauder in Ripper Armour ($10 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x Rebs Grogan with Desolator ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 2x Enforcer Sentry Guns ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 2x Plague Hounds ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 2x Marauder Bombers ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 2x Rebs Drones ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x "The Survivor" Mercenary ($8 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x Enforcer Sniper ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x Marauder Sniper ($5 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x Rebs Teraton Brawler ($8 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 1x Plastic Terrain sprue.
- Kickstarter bonus: 2x Rebs Yndij ($10 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 2x Assault Enforcer ($10 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: 2x Additional sets of Marauder ripper suit arms.
- Kickstarter bonus: Game mat upgraded to rubber-backed mat. ($20 RRP)
- Kickstarter bonus: Nexus Psi campaign supplement .pdf

Plastic snap together terrain -

I have enough PDF terrain that I don't know if I will use it or not....



Gameplay uses D8s, and takes place on a field with a two inch grid.

The Alpha rules can be downloaded for free here.

Mostly though, I'm in it for the minis....

The Auld Grump - $150... so far....

A short series - but very, very good.

And, yes, there is plenty of steampunk inspiration in it!

The Auld Grump

Mega City One - last bastion of law in a devastated wasteland.

Maintaining that law are the Judges... Judge, Jury, and Executioner.

Some are famous and feared - the name of Judge Dredd is enough to cause a pause in conversation.

But this is the story of Judge William Minty.

Minty has spent his entire adult life policing the violent streets of Mega-City One and now he's slowing down. When a lapse of judgement almost ends his life, he knows that it's time to quit. He can choose to teach in the Academy, or he can leave the city and walk alone out into the anarchy of the Cursed Earth, taking law into the wilderness....

A fan made film, Judge Minty is well worth watching -
Judge Minty.

The Auld Grump

One of the people that made me love fantasy enough to spend time rolling dice around a table.

Rest in peace Mr. Harryhausen - you have enriched the lives of more gamers than I can count.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* More than any other image in my mind... this is what gaming is all about.

Remember Jack Chick and his religious tract Dark Dungeons? Well, a guy in Portland wants to turn it into a movie.

Sounds like fun.

Not Blackleaf! Nooooo!

The Auld Grump

Of course the folks in Boston acted like idiots - they were in a panic.

People in a panic become stupid!

Worse, after more than a decade of fear mongering the reaction is going to be worse, not better.

The Auld Grump, and remember - duct tape and plastic for your windows!

A: Palladium and Harmony Gold.

Q: What are two companies I have no interest in giving my money to, Alex?

Plus I have cringe at the butchering of back story and theme in Robotech. I need to go rewatch my Macross DVDs.

But good luck to them and their backers.

Yeah, also in the 'Let 'em rot!' camp. 

The Auld Grump

Here's one that I am going in for - Background Sound Loops for RPGs.

I'm in at $50 for the London 1860s loop.

*EDIT* An example that fits my game pretty well....

The Auld Grump

Say hello to Nethyrmaul from the Bones Kickstarter....



The Auld Grump, he wants to be your friend....

Mmmm, steampunk fantasy, set in me old stomping grounds - The Boston Metaphysical Society.

Will I be able to use this for inspiration in the Son of Scoobypunk game? Only time will tell.... (But seems real likely....)

The Auld Grump, I have only read the first comic....

Ornalafen spamming with a metric tonne of Louis Vuitton crap....

The Auld Grump

So, Gear choice, or Personal Lieutenant?

From the Reaper Bones line....

The Auld Grump

Dragon Transmech.  Of course, ever since I got the pdf, I see those all over the place now. 

I hadn't even thought of that possibility.

Should have, there was a Transmech in one of my steampunk arcs.... (Steam shovel transmech, and Firebrand labor organizer....)

The Auld Grump

So, Gear choice, or Personal Lieutenant?

From the Reaper Bones line....

The Auld Grump

Not necessarily direct inspiration - for me steampunk is more about the society than the tech. Values, morals, ethic and mores.

The tech is the icing on the 19th Century Dystopian Cake. It attracts the players, and gives them some hope in a bleak world.

Which may be part of the reason why tech went almost unused in the Scooby Punk game....

Added Ripping Streets to my shopping list - going to watch it with my girlfriend, then loan it to my players.

The Auld Grump

[Todd Breitenstein, Zombies!!! game designer, Twilight Creations founder, colleague, friend]

Todd Breitenstein, Zombies!!! game designer, Twilight Creations founder, colleague, friend

Fuck cancer.

Well... crap. 

Lost my father to Mesothelioma a while back. Asbestos while in the Navy killed him forty years later, and there was nothing that could be done about it, and nothing could have been done even if they had found it right away.

It is the feeling of futility that really hurts, when you know that he is going to die, and there is nothing that you can do about it.

The Auld Grump