Hey Man, well this is Babylon

WOW IT’S OVER. *sleeeeeeeeeeep*

Okay, now that that’s done with, I’m here to talk about GameStorm 2009, and how it was awesome. I spent the entire recently-past weekend at this local game con – some call it “Portland’s Best Game Con in Vancouver.” This was my third year in a row going, and my first year actually attending for the majority of the weekend.

My initial forecast at the beginning of the weekend: “I’m going to be fucking tired of gaming by the end of Saturday night.” I am plum-tuckered thrilled to state that I was absolutely, horribly wrong in that prediction. When it was all over, I wanted to game even more than I already had. The weekend was fabulous, in every way. I met great folks, played great games, and have some gaming memories to last a lifetime.

Rather than go step-by-step walking through the events of the weekend, I decided that this time, I’d make it a visual piece, a detailed collage of swag and memories.

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I honestly can’t remember the last time I found one of Yahtzee’s “Zero Punctuation” reviews to be amusing or informative. I think it might have been back when the music changed at the beginning of each episode, but I can’t be sure.

Your edge has dulled, mate. Find another schtick.

I’ve assembled a new set of self-hosted forums for Cannibal Contagion and my other current and future game projects. I don’t expect much activity at all at the moment, but I’m hoping to use it for feedback and discussions once the first run of orders is finally sent out.

Head on over, register, and say hello!

In less than one week’s time, I’ll be debuting three new scenarios for Cannibal Contagion at the local GameStorm convention. If you’ve been looking to try it out for yourself, then sign up for the con and register for one of the seats at the table. Each session is slated for a maximum of seven player slots, and some of them are filling up quickly. Current status of the games:




Name: Cannibal Contagion: the Unitologist Gambit
Time: Fri 5 PM to 9 PM
Description: This session: A game of horror, madness, and violent survival on a distant space mining colony. This game is based on the dark futuristic setting of the recent hit video game “Dead Space.” Familiarity with the franchise might be useful, but is not at all necessary, and there will be no spoilers of the events of the actual video game.
Status: 4 Slots left to be filled




Name: Cannibal Contagion: Occupant Necrodanger
Time: Sat 12 PM to 4 PM
Description: The sinister Parasol Collective has developed a new virus, codenamed “The Z-Contagion,” and they’ve decided to use the remote Possum Town as their first major testing experiment. Your characters are stylish-yet-clueless members of the local R.A.T.S (Rural Assault Team-Squad) Special Forces country militia unit, and must find a way to stop the contagion from destroying your way of life… and taking your jobs!
Status: 6 slots left to be filled




Name: Cannibal Contagion: The Jesus Camp Massacre
Time: Sat 6 PM to 10 PM
Description: It’s summertime, and you’re a plucky teenager who just wants to raise a ruckus and party on until the next school sessions begin. However, this summer, you just don’t get to. Your parents sent you away to Youthpastor Cody’s Righteous-Awesome XTREEM Revival Camp. Now instead of partying, your only hope is just to survive the weekend with your sanity intact!
Status: Only 1 slot left to be filled!

“Cannibal Contagion is a game of mental stress and violent survival against hordes of infectious supernatural cannibals. The players use high-stakes playing-card battles to determine the outcomes of their actions, with a heavy focus on pure primal narrative, stress-induced madness, and totally badass action. These pages contain a complete role-playing game, including rules detailing character creation, mechanics for resolution of mass-character conflicts, methods for generating your own custom Contagion effects, guides and advice on how to set up and run games with little to no prep time, examples of rules in play, and a slew of quick-draw tables to help you jump right in and play with but a moment’s notice. Read these rules, grab your friends and a deck of playing cards, and get ready for some zombie-murdering comedic survival horror adventures.”




Pre-orders are available now, to be shipped at the end of April. All pre-orders will be numbered and signed, and include a free full-color copy of the PDF as well. Final print will be 120 pages, cost is $20 + variable shipping (I do ship internationally!) – just click the button below to order!

I’d like to showcase a house rule that I’ve started using in all my Savage Worlds campaigns. It’s called the “Monkey Knife Fight.” My buddy Chris showed me this simple and fun time-wasting game a while back, and I’ve found that with a little bit of tweaking to the original method it works exceptionally well in combat for those times when groups of mooks and henchmen are fighting one another (usually while the main PCs are engaged in their own fights). Here’s how it works:

1. Count the number of fighters on each side, and set a single die down for each fighter. The die should equal their relative combat skill die (Fighting or Shooting).
2. Each side rolls all their dice at once. For each die that rolls a 4 or higher, remove the smallest die from your opponent’s dice pool. For each die that rolls a 1, remove that die from your own dice pool.
3. Repeat each round until one side wins or retreats, or the combat is otherwise resolved.

Should the story’s direct focus ever actually move to either side of this conflict, however, it is then handled as per normal rules. Meaning, if it ever actually becomes important to handle the combat with a more hands-on method, then by all means, abandon the Monkey Knife Fight and roll the dice as normal.