Justin Howe's Blog, page 5

Orlando Furioso, XLII

We start in slow motion as Orlando watches Brandimarte fall. Fury once more returns to him and he stalks over to King Agramante and removes the king’s head before Gradasso can react. 

Next it’s Gradasso’s turn and soon he’s dead. Sobrino this whole time bleeding out on the ground. Then Orlando goes to Brandimarte whose head is half split. His last word is “Fiordiligi” and then he’s dead. Orlando frees Oliver from beneath the horse and they return to their tents, carrying Sobrino along ...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XLI

In this installment we are once again reminded that things have names. 

Knights have names. 

Horses have names. 

Swords have names. 

Also much cross-cutting ensues. 

On land Dudone knows he’s beat. Ruggiero hasn’t been giving his all. They decide to cease fighting. Dudone asks what Ruggiero wants as a prize and he says some of your prisoners. (There are seven Saracen kings here and they all have names I can’t bother remembering.) Dudone hands these people over and they alon...

INTO THE MYSTS

So after that TPK I mentioned a few posts ago, I switched my game over to Into the Odd.

We’re still using Mysthead 4 and going for a sword & sorcery vibe. I’ve added things like Cairn’s spell list and Weird North’s corruption into the mix. I’ve put links to all these games below. I also really like the idea of archetypes from Weird North and have made bespoke archetypes for my players. I’m not sure if this will be at odds with the initial semi-disposable nature of ItO characters as pre...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XL

I humbly beg your apologies. Last post I said that Orlando was the captain of the fleet, but I was wrong. It’s actually Dudone the Dane who is the captain. Mea culpa. I will find myself a suitable rock with which to pound my chest.

We start with a big sea battle that goes badly for the Saracens. Dudone employs Greek fire and soon Agramante’s fleet is ablaze. Agramante escapes, but the illustration paints a grim picture. 

Back in Africa, we find Orlando, Astolfo, and the gang getting rea...

TPK: Post-Mortem

Nine sessions into my latest game and the hammer came down.

A TPK.

Yes, at least one of my players would object to me saying that, since their character managed to flee the conflict wounded, reach an island, and crawl beneath their overturned rowboat as the buzzing of a group of stirges approached.
And as is always the case I wonder what went wrong.

Yes, there were bad decisions and bad dice rolls, and one night we should’ve called the game at a cliff-hanger point instead of pressing...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XXXIX

This is it.

This is the canto we’ve all been waiting for.

This is the canto where Orlando gets his wits back.

The canto where Orlando is FURIOSO NO MORE!

But first Ruggiero and Rinaldo continue with their slap fight, and while Rinaldo is all “I’m gonna kill him”, Ruggiero is all “I can’t because he’s my fiancé’s brother!”

Needless to say the Muslim army is like, Ruggiero, bruv, what are you doing? Even King Agramant is like, “This sucks.”

And that’s when Melissa the Sorcere...

Mysthead #4

And here it is…

Mysthead #4, a system neutral micro-setting for seafaring fantasy adventures.

Inside you will find multiple generators, a local region and the many peoples who live there, several unique curiosities, a hexflower encounter matrix for seafaring events, and more!

You can find it at DrivethruRPG (affiliate link) or here at itch.io: https://myxomycetes.itch.io/mysthead-4

Enjoy!

Orlando Furioso, Canto XXXVIII

The plot tidying continues!

Bradamante and Marfisa enter the camp of King Charles and everyone’s delighted to see Bradamante and they gawk at Marfisa. More than a few of the Christian knights fought her on the battlefield. Marfisa kneels to the King. She tells her backstory and asks to be baptized as a Christian. King Charles agrees and it’s set for the next day.

Then it’s back to the moon where Astolfo says good bye to Saint John and sets off back to Earth. He heals King Senapo/Preste...

Coming Soon: Mysthead #4

Mysthead is my occasional tabletop rpg fanzine. Issue #4 is on schedule for a December release. It’ll be 48-pages and detail a micro-setting for nautical swashbuckling adventure. In fact the setting I’m using in my current games!

Navigate the seas beneath the Vortex Maelstrum!

Learn the secrets of the Midnight Squid!

Cower before the head of Dead-Eyes Anderton!

And more…

You’ll be able to find it on my itch.io page when it’s done: https://myxomycetes.itch.io/

Orlando Furioso, Canto XXXVII

This is one of those cantos where I wonder if I should be looking up all the Italian historical figures Ariosto name drops because maybe when he has one of his stories about some horrible kingdom he’s actually throwing shade at some 15th century contemporary he mentions. But I feel like looking every one up goes against the nature of this project, which is that people should pick up old books and read them because they’re entertaining af and not because they’ll give you culture.

On to our...