Thursday, March 16, 2017

Vampire Powered by the Apocalypse


Well, I know. There are already some works for doing vampires with the Apocalypse World engine, at least two that I know about.
One is the extensive add-on for the Urban Shadows game, made by +Tommy Rayburn, his add-on is huge and detailed, and is excellent for playing a World of Darkness campaign using the Urban Shadows game. You can find it here. In my personal opinion, though, this can be better exploited in a mixed game, with werewolves, vampires, wizards, hunters, and so on. Because that's the nature of Urban Shadows.
The other game is Undying, by +Paul Riddle. This is a vampire game, powered by the apocalypse. It looks quite interesting and it seems to explore the predatory nature of vampires quite well. I've never played a diceless game, though, and I would have to find a willing group to test it someday. Needless to say, this game is an original commercial product that has nothing to do with the World of Darkness universe. You can buy Undying here.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Castlevania on D&D

I don't usually love franchises in video games. A few have got my attention, from time to time. Assassin's Creed was one, but they lost me when Desmond story arc came to an end. And the movie? Well, I rather don't go there.

Netflix's Castlevania Poster
Another one I can consider myself a fan is Castlevania. Even thou I fell for it with Symphony of the Night, and I've not played all the games—specially the original, which I have tried but not played thru to the end. However, the theme is one of my favorite themes in fiction and gaming. And the music! OMG!
Lately, I've been working on a game design for 5th edition that I would likely try to publish via Kickstarter in the future. Is a thing I've been wanting to get going for a while now, based on this theme I said I love: gothic fantasy. So this project for the 5th edition of D&D is not just a setting, I want it to be a stand-alone game, and my main ingredients are the campaign setting I most love: Ravenloft, the plane I like the most: Innistrad, and one of the aforementioned gaming franchise: Castlevania. That's right, I'm aiming for a Ravenloft-Innistrad-Castlevania mash up I like to call Gothic Fantasy Action. Because I don't want a Gothic Horror genre, where the atmosphere and the story swallow helpless protagonists... the horror, the horror! Don't get me wrong, I love that kind of stories too, but not for this project. Nope, what I want are bad ass hunters—tragic perhaps, but not helpless—figthing fire with fire while trying to keep the corruption within themselves at bay. That's why I'm going for an action oriented system like 5th edition.