Category Archives: Strontium Dog

Breaking News Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 A.D. comes to an end

Judge Dredd, news, Rogue Trooper, RPG, Strontium Dog

EN Publishing have just announced that their license to publish 2000 A.D. related products is coming to an end.

No real reason is given in the announcement. However we can speculate as to why until the sun goes down and still not know the truth. So I’m not going to even try.

What I will say is that this is a bloomin shame. I really liked the WOIN system they based everything on. I loved that the source books followed major classic story arcs.

However you will still be able to buy the current 2000 A.D. related products until March 2022, remaining stock levels permitting of course. Plus from Dragonmeet time next month there will be a half price sale on the rulebook.

You can read the full announcement HERE.

An idea “borrowed” from an episode of Scandal

Alien, Cyberpunk Red, D&D, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, RPG, session planning, Strontium Dog

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

Ok this warning may be over dramatic but this post is here to record an idea down for a future session. I needed to capture it before I forgot all about it. So by reading this post, it may spoil an upcoming session for them.

I’ve been binge watching the tv series Scandal on Disney+. I’d seen it before but there are many things I like about it that warranted a second watch years after first watching it.

In Season 5 episode 21 there is a scene between the main character of the show Olivia Pope, her father Command (ex-head of a secret Government shadow organisation) and one of her love interests who also happens to be one of her fathers shadow agents, Jake Ballard.

Olivia is trying to help Jake escape from her fathers influence, and has turned up to take him away to “safety”. However a stand off develops with her father pointing a gun at Jake’s head. During this stand off Command says the following (I’m paraphrasing) “It may look like it’s my hand on the trigger, it may look like I’m pointing a gun at his head. But it’s an illusion. In fact it’s you whose doing it.”

That’s so cool.

Those words spoke to me. Inspired me.

I can use them, use this scene in a campaign.

The most obvious use would be in say a modern or scifi setting where there are guns. But I can see it working in a fantasy setting also with maybe a knife at the persons throat.

It could easily be the culmination of a rescue mission where the big bad replaces Command, the party replaces Olivia and the hostage replaces Jake.

I like how it adds a “final” twist to overcome for the party. It’s not an original twist. There are many examples of the kidnapper being cornered and holding the victim at gun point trying to save their own skin. There is a NCIS scene that comes to mind immediately for example.

But the word illusion also inspires. What if the person holding the gun/knife to the victim looks like one of the party using an illusion spell? Will it make them doubt who the real one is, mistrust the person, confuse?

How the party handles the situation will be interesting. I have no idea how it would play out, what the outcome will be. That’s something that’d be decided at the table at the time.

Quest Models

Cyberpunk Red, D&D, DM/GM Tips, Eberron, genesys, Judge Dredd, Paranoia, Rogue Trooper, RPG, Strontium Dog, Uncategorized, W.O.I.N.

This recent video by Sly Flourish is one of many short DM advice videos that he has released recently. They are rather nifty, and brilliant for those with busy lives.

The reason I’ve embed the video and talking about it here is that I think this advice is pretty universal to which ever RPG system you are playing.

The three common quest models Sly briefly covers in the above video are:

  • Kill the boss quest
  • Recover the artifact
  • Rescue somebody

Sly points out that it’s the flavour that makes these quest models interesting. To aid in that flavour I think the adventuring party needs a patron of some kind. Whether that patron is a crime lord, guild leader, a fixer, wealthy, powerful, a corporation (I think you get the idea) they are a handy plot device to use to introduce one of the quest models above, and not just away to give the party useful equipment.

For instance they could have to eliminate a rival crime lord, steal a top secret device/plans from a rival corporation, or rescue hostages.

This isn’t the first time that Sly has talked about quest models. In the video below he talks about “The Three-of-Five Collection Quest”.

“The Three-of-Five Collection Quest” is a variation of “recover the artifact” quest. Sly also lists three other quest models within the above video, the “heist”, “kill the lieutenant” and “destroy the thing”. But in reality to the initial list from the quest models video we are only adding one new quest to our tool box.

  • Kill some-one
  • Recover the thing/heist
  • Rescue somebody
  • Destroy the thing

I would argue a heist is a variation of the recover the thing quest model, if not the same thing. I don’t see any difference between the “kill the boss” and “kill the lieutenant” quests. They are basically go kill some-one for some reason. So I think count as one.

UPDATE: adding a fifth quest model escort/protect someone/thing.

With these handful of quest models it should be easy to come up with quests for your campaign or even at a push on the fly.

Oh while I’m talking RPGs. It struck me as I was binge watching Leverage for the third or fourth time that the Leverage team is the perfect party make up for a cyberpunk (Red or Android) party.

I’m not sure what the mastermind role would map to, but they are basically the brains of the group. But every other role maps I believe. At a push this could be a D&D party too. What do you think?

Start of my horror notes

Cyberpunk Red, D&D, genesys, Judge Dredd, netrunner, Rogue Trooper, RPG, Strontium Dog, W.O.I.N.

Today I decided to start making some notes about horror in relation to RPGs instead of just dumping clippings into a note app entry on my iPad.

I’m using the excellent iThoughts mind map app to organise them. It allows me to create something like below.

Basically I’ve captioned headings, sub headings, etc and turned them into mini mind maps on one big mind map.

The plan is to expand each of the mind maps with further notes. Which naturally will take sometime.

But thought I’d share this incase it’s of interest to anyone.

Strontium Dog vs the Dark Judges

Strontium Dog

I’m not a big solo gamer. Despite the fact I do look for that option when I buy a game. When it comes to playing a game solo though there seems to be a barrier that puts me off. I think it’s all the setup and tear down. It seems a lot of hassle. Especially if there is an app version of the game.

So my actions this morning were totally out of character for me. I actually played Judge Dredd Helter Skelter with the Dark Judges expansion solo.

I think the main reason was that I was curious how the game would play.

Instead of going with the classic matchup for this solo play of Team Dredd vs the Dark Judges, I went with Team Strontium Dog vs the Dark Judges.

For the record you can not play Judge Dredd Helter Skelter solo, you need the Dark Judges expansion to do so. Playing solo means you chose one of the base games four factions (and I can see no reason why you couldn’t use one of the Wildlands factions as well). This is the team you will be playing. You will always be going up against the Dark Judges. It is not an option to play them in the solo variant.

The actions of the Dark Judges during play are determined by a small deck of cards. On the Dark Judges turn you turn over the top card of the deck and it shows the actions each of them will do that turn. When you have to decide who a Dark Judge targets or direction of travel the deciding logic is always the nearest opposing character. It’s a simple rule but effective.

Naturally there is a bit of randomness involved in the setup with the positioning of the fragments you need to collect, the Dark Judges and your team. I had three characters next to the Dark Judges during setup. But that was countered by having a character near to two fragments and not even close to a Dark Judge.

The Dark Judges are a pain to take down. You basically have to do a double attack. The first taking out the Dark Judges shield, and the second to do the actual damage. The shield resets at the end of a players turn. Luckily Psi attacks get through this. The reward for taking out a Dark Judge is high, which justifies the high risk. You double the number of fragments you have captured. By the time I took out Judge Fear I had three fragments already. So his demise was enough to give me the win.

I actually liked the solo mode. It worked surprisingly well. There was very little overhead and flowed really well. I can see myself playing the game solo again.

Strontium Dog RPG first impressions

Judge Dredd, RPG, Strontium Dog

With the pdf of the Strontium Dog RPG in the hands of those that pre-ordered the physical version from the EN Publishing for a couple of weeks. I thought it was about time I shared some early thoughts/impressions.

First up I need to stress that this is not a stand alone RPG. So don’t go buying this thinking you have all you need to start play a Strontium Dog adventure. As the cover clearly points out you also need a copy of the Judge Dredd & The worlds of 2000 AD RPG. So factor that into the costings when you are considering to purchase this or not.

I should also point out that these thoughts are based on the pdf version of the rules. Granted it’s the version that was sent off to the printers by the publishers. So there should be no difference really.

I’m a fan of Strontium Dog and have been reading his stories since he appeared in the pages of Starlord and then made the jump to 2000 AD when the sales of Starlord forced it to be swallowed up by the better selling title.

I like what EN Publishing are doing with the characters they have access to. With Judge Dredd they are releasing campaign books that follow major story arcs from the comic strip, in the order that they appeared with comics. They are also not rushing them out, and making sure they release a quality product. So it is my hope that they continue this trend with Strontium Dog.

Within the pages you get no surprises, the expected rules for creating characters, equipment, setting information, some interconnected adventures, stats for NPCs and creatures/robots.

I think like me most people that get this source book will be wanting to create and play Strontium Dogs. When it comes to creating our character this rulebook basically replaces step 2 (choosing a species), step 4 (choose one of five careers) and step 9 (equipment). For the remaining steps of the character creation process you need that Judge Dredd rulebook.

Species wise we can either be a gronk, howler, human, mutant, robot or stix. But let’s face it most people are going to want to play a mutant of some kind. And there are nice tables that that cover corporeal, metabolic/metaphysical, and cosmetic mutations.

Strontium Dog careers are either civilian, outlaw, or S/D Agent. Compared to the Judges career paths the S/D Agent is pretty simple, and we get a much smaller, more easily digested diagram showing the flow of them.

Equipment we get the iconic electronux, der happy stick, plus generic details for blasters. Naturally there is a nice selection of bombs also to chose from with the obvious dimension warp and time bombs being amongst them. These two particularly can be game changing when used.

Which brings me to time travel and travelling to other dimensions. The rules do advise not to over use these within a campaign. I was hooping for more on the time travel front. What we basically have are some guidelines that amount to ‘keep it light and fun’ and a couple of paragraphs detailing a couple of options for handling time travel.

I like the tables for creating bounty contracts for an S/D Agent to go after.

The timeline with reference to the actual comic strips covered is a great touch.

We get a chapter of six interconnected contracts for S/D Agents to undertake. So these are basically adventures. I always look at this section pretty early on as this is the blue print for how the publisher sees an adventure to be planned. There was an absence of any maps here. I’d liked to have seen some pre-gen characters here as well, along with a generic floor plan or two of a starship.

Overall this lives up to the usual high standards that I’ve come to associate with EN Publishing. If you already have the core Judge Dredd rules, I think this is a no brainer if you are a Strontium Dog fan, or want a change of setting. However if you are coming into this as a Strontium Dog fan wanting to play as an S/D Agent in an RPG with your friends, and don’t already have the Judge Dredd rules, at roughly £70 to pick up both. I think you’d have to be a pretty dedicated fan, desperate to play an S/D Agent, with deep pockets. I just don’t think it’s worth in that scenario. Oh and I’m going to predict now that’s going to be my thoughts for when the Rogue Trooper rules come out.

A couple more to watch to inspire Strontium Dog RPG games

Judge Dredd, RPG, Strontium Dog

I’m totally ashamed of myself.

How in the previous post did I forget to mention these two?

They are Westerns through and through. Two series that I love. Both watched more than once. And will be watched again and again.

So I find it hard to explain how I forgot to mention them. Old age. Failing memory.

Just go watch these two even if you aren’t planning on playing a Strontium Dog RPG session. They are that good!

Some inspiration for a Strontium Dog adventure/campaign

Judge Dredd, RPG, Strontium Dog, W.O.I.N.

I like doing lists. I’ve done one or two in the past about sources of inspiration for other RPGs. So with the Strontium Dog rules dropping digitally for the Judge Dredd and Worlds of 2000 A.D. system I thought I’d do one for that.

Strontium Dog can be looked on as a “sci-fi Spaghetti Western” crossed with “interstellar bounty hunting“.

Let’s get my disclaimer out of the way. This is by no means a comprehensive list. Just stuff that came to mind at the time of writing.

There is only one natural place to start and that’s the source material, the original comic strip. You can still pick up the collected reprints for a reasonable price. A good place to get the reading order is the wiki page.

I’m a western fan, and there are a lot (understatement) of films out there to call upon. So I’m recommending some of my favourites that I think are relevant.

First up are the two Trinity movies that I love starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.

When you are talking westerns you can’t miss out Clint Eastwood, especially his spaghetti western roles. However I’m recommending some of his other efforts that I feel are more fitting. And yes Pale Rider is a remake of High Plains Drifter.

These next two are most definitely classics, but look at what happens at the end for the gun fighter. An interesting idea to explore within an RPG.

I love these next ones. Definitely worth “borrowing” the plot lines for an adventure or two.

Battle Beyond the Stars is basically The Magnificent Seven in space. It’s a little cheesy and generic, but still worth a watch. Killjoys and Firefly are mentioned as sources of inspiration with in the Strontium Dog rules. So had to throw them in. Although Killjoys only spends at best a couple of seasons actually bounty hunting.

I hope these suggestions have helped, remind you of something I’ve missed.

Strontium Dog RPG now available to pre-order

Judge Dredd, news, RPG, Strontium Dog, W.O.I.N.

It seems to be the week for pre-ordering RPG related stuff. Yesterday EN Publishing made it possible to pre-order the hardcover version of the Strontium Dog RPG rules from their website, along with being able to purchase the pdf version straight away.

If you pre-ordere the physical version you automatically get the pdf version as well free.

Not a bad deal. And one I took advantage of. So I now have the pdf version of the rules to read at my leasure, knowing that some point at the end of August I will get the hardcover posted to me.

The publisher also put up this morning on their Patreon page for patreons a short Strontium Dog adventure as well. Flicking through this adventure very quickly it is designed to be playable whilst going through the character creation process. Which is an intriguing twist to character creation. Plus there is a combat mission for the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game from Warlord Games. I’m sure at some point in the near future this will turn up on the publishers web store for non-patreons to buy it.

The one thing they need to do between now and the actual physical publish date is add to the resources section Strontium Dog related resources, such as character sheets, and some pre-gen characters.

We’ll look at sources of inspiration for adventures in another post. Probably the same one that I briefly look at the rules.

Muties incoming

Judge Dredd, RPG, Strontium Dog, W.O.I.N.

If you listened to the latest episode (that’s number 97) of Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk you will be rather excited with the news that the pdf for the Strontium Dog rpg is possibly dropping pretty soon. Potentially around the 7th of May if we are really lucky.

I do like the WOIN system used by the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 A.D. So I’m pretty excited to see how they bring this great character and being a strontium dog to life.

I hope that Strontium Dog also gets the same level of support that Judge Dredd has campaign book wise.

The three campaign books for Judge Dredd so far follow major story arcs from the long and rich history of the comic strip. Naturally they have started off with the earliest ones first, and going forward in chronological order.

What I like about these campaign books is that they expand the world of Judge Dredd, new exploits, careers, weapons etc. The usual stuff that you’d expect, themed around the story arc being covered by the campaign.

Along side the campaign that follows the story arc (which are Judge focused naturally) you get short adventures based around a handful of stories from the issues that followed that arc. Plus a campaign themed around the story arc for perps and citizens.

Although the Cursed Earth breaks that formula a little focusing more on hooks etc that can be used instead of short adventures.

So having these campaign books as a guide I’d love if EN Publishing did something similar for Strontium Dog, even if it gathers two or three arcs together.

In the meantime I’m digging out my collected Strontium Dog books and rereading them.