High Fantasy X

Well, my old Elemental Fantasy X has been converted to High Fantasy X. However, I wasn't doing anything actively with it. I stumbled across my old Eberron Remixed stuff, which reminded me of it, and I found that I was having problems signing in to my Microsoft Account (because of--supposedly--to many failed sign-ins. This is completely a problem that they caused, and then have not even attempted to fix; I remember when I was trying to sign in (after not ever having signed out) and getting locked out. And then my recovery email is one that I no longer have, because I don't use my Microsoft account for much of anything. I'm very frustrated with Microsoft right now, and decided to stop using OneNote entirely.)

In order to make it more useable, although I preferred an offline copy, like OneNote kind of would be, I also liked that I could synch OneNote manually if I wanted to use it on more than one computer, or my phone or tablet, etc. Instead, I transferred my OneNote status, such as it was, to a Google Site. I don't know that I trust Google Sites to be out there forever, but in the meantime, it's doing what I actually wanted OneNote to do, and because my Microsoft account got borked, OneNote isn't. 

Here's the link: https://sites.google.com/view/highfantasyx/home

It still has a lot of holes in it, but I did make some updates, and I'm pretty happy with its current status as a WIP that admittedly needs quite a bit more work to be useable. But I can do that fairly quickly, and then we'll see where it goes from there.

HFX was originally meant to be one of the modules for the Modular adaptation, but instead of actually proceeding (at least right now) with creating a base that can be modularized, I just have it as a handful of house-rules and a slightly revised race line-up for DFX. Because the two are quite similar, that works better than attempting to rewrite the core and make DFX a module, with HFX a separate module.

The rules changes are pretty modest, and listed below (not counting the races)

• Characters start with two Heroism tokens instead of one each session. (as an aside, you can still get more during the session as normal.)
• Sanity works as described, however the rules for a permanent Sanity check penalty do not apply, and that risk is eliminated entirely.
• When casting spells, if a character roles a natural 1, it is not automatically a critical failure; it is a critical failure risk. Roll another check at the same DC as casting the spell, and it is only a critical failure if this second check is also a failure. It is, however, still a regular failure.

Although not a rule, it's worth noting that using magic isn't illegal and a risk of lynching as it is in DFX. Mages (or sorcerers or wizards or warlocks or witches or whatever they call themselves) aren't seen as any more dangerous, necessarily, than any other expert with a deadly weapon, and a heavily armed and armored stranger strolling into town would be seen as potentially just as dangerous as a mage. Both are noted for their ability to be extremely dangerous, of course, but that's little different than a man with a gun on his belt walking confidently into an Old West town. Sure, sure... you don't make trouble with him, but you don't run away from him just because he showed up either.

However, a mage who uses his spells to bully, threaten or harm the populace will be immediately treated as a danger; but then again, so would a warrior doing the same thing with his sword. This change in the perception of magic is probably more important even than the slight change in the rules for using magic; although the fact that mages don't eventually all go insane despite their best intentions is a big deal too. They are still kind of Russian roulette situations, although with a notably lower probability of problems than in DFX.

Pulp Hero X

Back in this post on my modular modules, I didn't actually have a pulp hero module identified. Part of this is because I never actually did anything with the modules. Then again, there isn't really all that much that needs to be done. If by Pulp Hero X I mean something along the lines of Brendan Frasier's The Mummy or Harrison Ford's Raiders of the Lost Ark or possibly Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing, except also with the possibility of completely non-supernatural games, then what really needs to be done for Pulp Hero X that isn't already there in Horror & Macabre X, License to Kill X or Weird West X anyway? Pulp Hero X becomes more of just a setting than a full module, utilizing nothing new or original that can't be pulled out of the already identified modules. In fact, if Horror & Macabre X's default is a kind of Lovecraftian 20s or 30s, a la default Call of Cthulhu (which it probably would be) then Pulp Hero X is literally the same module, just played with a different tone.

Honestly, what does either of them need that Dark Fantasy X doesn't already provide? Eliminate the fantastic non-human races of Dark Fantasy X, redo the equipment section to focus less on Medieval-like items and instead include some "modern" stuff like guns and cars to replace all the swords and wagons, and you're pretty much good to go. You've got your Lovecraftian magic... if you want to use it. You've got lots of monsters... if you want to use them... and you've got everything you need to build a character. I noticed this when I made a Western appendix area in my Fantasy Hack X game, back when I was still more overtly Microlite derived. I replaced the black powder piratey and musketeer-like firearms rules that Dark•Heritage Mk. IV, the then current version of what is now DFX was, with six shooters and rifles that, honestly, would still be perfectly fine rules for most modern firearms today. Then I had more definition and detail around horses and horseplay, which seemed very genre appropriate.

For something like License to Kill X, I could do the same thing except instead of more with horses, do something about vehicle chases, including car chases, and have more detail and definition around guns because those seem genre appropriate. 

The modules under this paradigm can be as simple as a one pager detailing what elements of the DFX game not to use, and then some expanded stuff that's a little hyper-focused (to the degree these rules-lite rules are hyper-focused at all) on something that seems genre appropriate because the genre itself focuses on that aspect of play.

What brings this to mind right now is, as I've noted in a semi-recent post, is that I'm revisiting my Ruritanian alternate history timeline of a frontier Republic of Texas, except still existing in a Ruritanian section of the US way into the 20s, 30s or 40s, roughly, model railroad plan. As I've started to make more and more specific plans of more and more specific pseudo-dioramas on the layout, it's developing a kind of weird tales, pulp vibe. No doubt, that will make my layout even more anathema to the spergy crowd to disparagingly refer to anything unlike their boring layouts as "cartoonish", but I've long ago decided that I'm parting ways with the rivet-counters and operational spergs, and that my vision of the hobby is so different from theirs that it might almost be best considered another hobby altogether.

Of course, if I'm developing all of this Ruritanian Territory, as part of a fictional "pulp modern" Republic of Texas setting with all kinds of weird supernatural elements in it; archaeologists discovering "The Mound", Nosferatu out west, sasquatches, Dark Watchers, ghost stories, a kind of frontier analog to Arkham County, etc., then whatever I do with that setting for the model railroad plans certainly are appropriate for roleplaying usage too.

Modules

As promised, here's the titles. Espionage X, Old West X and Cthulhu X have all hit the road and are no longer under consideration.

First, the horror ones.

I can redo Eldritch and Macabre slightly; the drop shadow goes just off the image, and the text is bold, which doesn't look quit as good. I don't think. I'm undecided. None of these names is striking me as the clear favorite on seeing them as banners. Sigh.

Next, weird west.

I think I'm leaning slightly towards Weird West X, but we'll see. If nothing else, it at least has a different acronym than Dark Fantasy X.

How about the espionage techno-thrillers?

I'm honestly leaning towards License to Kill X right now. But I do like both of the other options quite a bit.

Just for completeness' sake, here's the ones that weren't under discussion:

I think I need to redo Space Opera X too. The drop shadow is a bit cut off on the right. Same on the bottom of the big X of High Fantasy X.

Sigh. That's what I get for doing them fast and then looking closely later.