Brainstorming an OSR kaiju franken-game

With that thing known as "real life" looming larger than usual these days, I'm somewhat consciously allowing myself to only obsess about one gamer "project" at a time.  Luckily, I've been able to stick to that pretty well as I daydream about what I'm just referring to as an "OSR kaiju game"...that is, a game involving giant monster combat that's at least vaguely inspired by old school D&D-based RPGs.  And since that fits this blog pretty nicely, I might as well brainstorm here...

Scale (Part 1)

While pretty much any miniatures-based game can be shifted up or down in scale, I'd like to keep something specific in mind as I imagine and fiddle with minis-oriented aspects of these OSR kaiju rules.  (Isn't playing with toys half the reason to play a kaiju game, anyway?)  I played in a 6mm battle earlier this year and think it's time I gave the scale a much better look.  It's convenient for quickly visualizing the size of an element on the table, since it has an easy 1 foot = 1 mm conversion factor.  There's a fair amount of 6mm miniature stuff out there already.  And, most importantly, it seems like it'll hit a "sweet spot" where monsters really can be the most imposing forces on the battlefield without having to reduce everything else to unrecognizable bits and pieces.  A common tank should be about an inch long at this scale; that seems about right to me.

Scale (Part 2)

As far as managing battles among forces of different sizes, I think I'll go with something like the size categories I proposed a little while back.  Basically, the stats assigned to any being are presented as if it's a human-sized D&D character.  So, for example, a 150-foot giant monster with a Strength of 10 only has average strength if you're comparing it to other 150-foot monsters.  Damage, to-hit probabilities, and attribute tests can be further adjusted according to where an individual falls on the size scale.  In the previous entry, I threw this together:

----------
Size Category (sort-of-rounded average height in meters/feet)
Small (1/3)
Medium (2/6)
Large (4/12)
Optimus Prime (8/25)
King Kong (16/50)
Godzilla Junior (32/100)
Godzilla (64/200)
----------

I think I'll keep working within this framework.  I do want to extend the scale a bit in both directions (so garden gnomes can get in on the action, and to allow for even gianter giant monsters), and my working method eases up on the mechanical jump from one size category to another.  Right now, I'm trying to let each step on the size ladder represent a +/-1 to hit and a +/-1d8 damage.

So that's where I am.  More to come.

Monster Monday: The Creature That Couldn't Die

All right...how 'bout we take a few moments this #MonsterMonday to check out another Kaiju of the Silver Age?  This evening's entry encountered my favorite Silver Age hero (or...close, at least) in 1960's Showcase #24.  This would be Hal Jordan's final Showcase appearance before gaining his own title a few months later.  It's also the first time he shared a cover with a giant monster.  Which I think is pretty cool.  (It's something I've never done.)

Here is The Creature That Couldn't Die (hereafter TCTCD):

...got this image from here...

Unfortunately, I only own this story in black and white (in the GL Showcase trade), and I don't have access to a scanner at the moment (just an outdated digital camera), so there are probably going to be a couple of janky pics following.  I did find one nice color image on the web that gives a little idea of TCTCD's scale and general kaiju-ness...

...and got this one from here...

TCTCD started life as a blob in a test tube.  We don't really know anything more about what it's made of, as the scientist responsible for its creation literally says (as he sees it growing in the tube):  "Great stars!  What's happening to the blob I placed in the test tube?"  A natural reaction, I suppose...although understandable when your research is on...wait for it...cosmic rays!

So...blob placed in test tube...cosmic rays turn it into a giant monster...giant monster rampages.

In typical daikaiju fashion, the usual modes of defense just aren't helping:

As luck would have it, the scientists who witnessed the genesis of the monster happen upon GL, who heads off to halt the destruction.  There's a twofold challenge for Hal, though:  First, because every Silver Age GL story apparently required Hal to work around his ring's weakness, TCTCD fires yellow beams from its eyes.  More importantly, though, being powered by a constant bombardment of cosmic rays makes the beast too powerful for even a Green Lantern ring to defeat.

Except that...well, Hal has an idea.  Maybe if he can block off the monster's power source, he can weaken it.  For extra irony, why not block the cosmic rays with a GIANT test tube construct...?  The results are remarkable:

TCTCD shrinks to become a lifeless blob, revealing as he does that his path of destruction was only a result of his own clumsiness.  His final words:

Now at last...thanks to you...I am no longer a menace...to myself...or world...

I unfortunately didn't come upon this story while I was a kid, because I think that would have been one of those comic book moments that would have stuck with me.

It's also a bit unfortunate that, even with that result, GL's encounter with the creature is sort of anticlimactic.  Around half the story is devoted to Hal's interactions with Carol Ferris...all that she-only-loves-Green-Lantern-and-how-ironic-that-I'm-him-but-I-can't-tell-her stuff.  Sometimes, though, I guess that's half the charm of these old stories.

As with last week, I'm not gonna stat this guy(?) up (yet).  I've been doing a lot of daydreaming about an OSR-based kaiju game, so when I start brainstorming for that here on the blog, I'll work in the Silver Age monsters I've covered.  Stats aside, though, I would like to be able to give an idea of how big this thing is...but the scale is pretty tough to figure on this one.  Based on the number of floors in the buildings it's next to when Hal defeats it, you could argue that TCTCD should only be about 70 feet tall.  In some shots, though, it looks like it's towering over skyscrapers in the Coast City skyline.  Maybe it's variable due to the effects of the rays...?

For simplicity, when I stat it up, TCTCD will probably stand around 100 feet.  That seems like a nice basic size for metropolitan kaiju.

Hopefully, I'll get my #MonsterMonday post up a little earlier next week...and hopefully with another giant creature from the Silver Sixties...!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon (completely out of context)

The Fantastic Four animated series that ran from 1967-1970 on ABC has some funny moments.

Y'know what makes those moments even funnier, though?  Taking them completely out of context and stringing them together to make a collage of superheroic cartoon nonsense.  I really like this video...

Another Dogwood City Drabble

Time for another foray into Dogwood City Drabble, in which I indulge my obsession with constructing 100-word stories based on Dogwood City characters (and presenting them to the world).

Today's edition features the greatest archer of the Dogwood City universe...the Arrow!

Quivering Words

featuring the Arrow

First rule of being a vigilante archer:  Know your arrows.

No one is better at this than the Arrow himself.  It’s more than a science.  It’s poetry.  A web arrow here…a smokescreen arrow there…whatever it takes to get the job done and make a statement.  He always has his words at the ready.

Right now, though, the Arrow doesn’t need a poem.  This isn’t a job demanding subtlety.  Reaching back without hesitation, he pushes aside a dozen clever turns of phrase and pulls out three exclamation points.

You can never really have too many boxing glove arrows, now can you?

Monster Monday: Kaiju of the Silver Age

If there's one thing I'd like others to say about me, it's that I can appreciate a good giant monster.  (Actually, that'd be way down on the list, but please trust me, I can appreciate a good giant monster.)

I'm also a pretty big fan of the Silver Age of comics.  The era that gave us the Green Lantern Corps, the Fantastic Four, the Challengers of the Unknown, Adam Strange, Animal Man, Thanagarian police officers protecting the Earth, and so on (for days...) is always worth celebrating.

I'm a lucky man, because the two are pretty much inseparable!  There's probably a lot that could be written about this connection (by folks a lot more knowledgeable than I).  It's interesting that superhero comics as we know them today and Japanese tokusatsu were forged in the same post-atomic era, were informed by the same drive-in movie aesthetic, and followed many of the same themes.  While the giant monsters of Silver Age comics rarely reached Godzilla's stature (physically or culturally), American superheroes tangled with daikaiju in one form or another quite a bit.  (Check out this post by Hugh Fox III, where he gives a really cool overview of DC heroes' encounters with giant monsters in the Silver Age...and a great starting point for checking out Marvel's contributions!)

Here on Monstrous Matters...and especially on days like today when we celebrate a fine #MonsterMonday...I was thinking it'd be fun to take a look at some of the iconic, near-iconic, or should-be-iconic giant monsters from Silver Age comics.  I'll start things off with one of the most important of the era, because we see it on the cover of one of the most important books of the era:

By the time Marvel Comics entered the heroic era with FF#1 in 1961, the company (along with its very recent predecessor Atlas Comics) was already known for the monsters it was putting out.  And when you have Jack Kirby on board to draw these awesome creatures...well, why not?  I think there's something very fitting about the cover to Marvel's first Silver Age superhero comic featuring a hero in the Human Torch that followed the DC Comics recycle-a-Golden-Age-super method, a giant monster as the antagonist, and a hero that helped define the Marvel approach to supers by being a "monster" himself (the Thing, of course).

That guy the FF is fighting...that's Giganto, a resident of Monster Isle and servant to the Mole Man.  Here's how we're introduced to it in the story...

To be honest, we don't learn much about Giganto at the time.  We have an idea that it's subterranean in nature...and we know it's big and strong...but the issue's action actually ends pretty soon after his appearance, as (spoiler alert) the team escapes the Mole Man's underground lair, and Johnny creates a rock slide that seals off the beasts that have been enslaved by the villain.

Giganto would make more appearances in the Marvel Universe.  When possible, his role in that iconic Silver Age cover is referenced.  Like here...

...and here...

...and here...

...and here, the book where we're finally able to learn Giganto's name...

I normally like to stat up these creatures when I post about them on a #MonsterMonday, but I don't know that it's worth it in this case.  Giganto would basically be a big (60', apparently) beastie with enough hit dice to be a threat and the ability to dig and hold its breath underwater pretty well.  At the moment (which is getting pretty late on Monday), I'd rather just appreciate the huge (no pun intended) role Giganto has had in the history of comics, and give it a big hand (pun intended) for that.

Saturday Evening Cartoon: The Boy Who Learned to Fly (Usain Bolt)

If I ever start to think that some of the names that show up in comics are just a little too coincidentally perfect to take seriously...y'know, characters like Victor Fries or John Henry Irons...I remember that the fastest man in the world is named Usain Bolt.

Here's one final Olympic-related post before the Games end...a little tribute to one of the most superhuman people of our time (...as presented by Gatorade, so...well, product placement...).

Modern Pentathlon: The RPG

The Rio Olympics come to a close in just a couple of days, and today marks day 2 of competition in one of the oddest events to maintain its status in the Games: the modern pentathlon.

Here's a quick video guide for those interested...

Most of us are probably somewhat familiar with the decathlon and heptathlon, track and field competitions that combine a variety (a total of ten and seven, respectively...naturally) of events so that men and women can run, jump, and throw their way to being declared the world's best athletes.

Compared to those, the modern pentathlon is kinda weird.  It has running, swimming, fencing, shooting, and horseback riding (specifically jumping with an unfamiliar horse).  When I first paid attention to the sport, I thought it looked like a reality competition for spies.  Apparently, it really was created with the idea of including things that were important for a cavalry officer to be skilled at in the early part of last century.  George S. Patton...later to be known simply by his surname...even competed in the first event in 1912!

In thinking about it lately, I've realized that the events of the modern pentathlon could also define a great RPG adventurer.  So...here it is...

Modern Pentathlon: The RPG

All characters start at level 1 and have 5 points to divide among the following skills: Running, Swimming, Riding, Shooting, and Swordsmanship.  Whenever a task is attempted that has a chance of failure, a player rolls 1d20 and adds their character's level and rating in the relevant skill.  If the total meets or exceeds a target number, the attempt is successful.

Target numbers match the ranges used in some of the games you're already familiar with.  A moderate task will have a difficulty of 10, a difficult task will be 15, and a very difficult task should be around 20.  In combat, use armor/defense class as the target.  When facing off in a sword-fight, characters can make opposed rolls, with the winner dealing damage to the loser.  If in doubt, damage should be dealt 1d8 at a time.

At the beginning of each adventure, players roll 1d12 for each level of their characters.  This is the maximum HP of the character for that adventure.  For each successful adventure, a character gains a level and can distribute 3 more points among the five skills.

If a character ever attempts a task that doesn't have an associated skill, the GM can houserule that players may double their level bonus to the roll.  But...this is the Modern Pentathlon RPG, so c'mon...work with me here.  If the adventure isn't all about running, swimming, riding...and so on...you should probably play something else.

David Svoboda

2012 Olympic Modern Pentathlon gold medalist

(and an actual Czech military officer)

Level 5, 33 HP

Running 4, Swimming 1, Riding 4, Shooting 2, Swordsmanship 6