PDQ Week pt 6: The rest of the gang

So we're getting near the end of the week (I may take day 7 as a break, we'll see) and I've still got a fair collection of various PDQ games. So I'll go ahead and bunch the rest of them up together here.

Vox

Vox is...its...a bit tough to describe.

Vox is a bit like dead inside, a surreal mix of bizarre pseudo-philosophy mixed with horror, with a bit more on the "horror" side of things. The main gimmick (for lack of a better term) of the game is that each player has voices in their head. These voices have their own Qualities and are each role-played by another player (who also has their own character with their own voices controlled by another player). The exact nature of the voices is left to the GM to determine, or more likely not determine. If there's one common thread throughout Vox it's a pervasive, vaguely creepy ambiguity. The truth may be out there, but it is not necessarily something that can be known, only guessed at. Unfortunately this can make it very difficult to easily run, as there's no "default" mode of play or easy answer to the question "what should we do next"? However, if you do gather enough inspiration to put together a plot it creates an interesting and bizarre style of play.


While the Voice mechanic is interesting the real gold I found in Vox was the settings. The game comes with 4 settings....a modern conspiracy setting, a Victorian alternate history setting, a 1920's cosmic horror and a futuristic (maybe?) place called the Facility. The Facility was my personal favorite and one of my biggest regrets as a GM is that I have yet to be able to successfully manage to play a game set in it.

Sadly Vox is no longer available. The author has decided to bow out of the RPG industry and there's no current way to get ahold of the game. Who knows, this may change some day and hopefully it might eventually be available at least in pdf form.

Ninja Burger

Ninja Burger is an RPG by the same author as Vox, but fortunately it is still available through e23. Which is good because never has there been a game more suited to PDQ, I recall one of the first things I thought when I saw that ninja burger was being released for PDQ was "damn, that's just what I wanted to do!"

I'd explain Ninja Burger but the name really says it all. You're ninjas who deliver fast food. No delivery is too remote, no call is too dangerous. Occasionally you also battle pirates, samurai and other competitors in the fast food racket. It kind of epitomizes PDQ's "beer and pretzels" roots in that it's designed for fast pick-up-and-play games with minimal fuss and a concept that allows you to simply say "okay, everyone your manager gives you tonight's delivery address, get to work".

As a side benefit, the Ninja Burger default setting is San Francisco and the game provides and incredibly detailed write-up of the city.

Pirate, Monkey, Ninja, Robot: The RPG

Along with Dead Inside PMNR: The RPG is a PDQ elder but while Dead Inside is fairly serious PMNR is definitely beer-and-pretzels all the way through. It's a wacky game to pick up and play whenever you're too tired, burned out or frustrated to come up with any sort of coherent plot and just want to play something crazy and fun. Needless to say the game's pretty simple (it's adapted from a boardless board-game) and while it's fun there's not much there that you'd find that you'll be "missing" at this point in PDQ's history. You could easily play the game with just knowledge of the concept and most any other PDQ product in hand. But it's fun and if you're a PDQ completionist it's just 6 bucks to pick up the pdf.


Temple of the Lost Gods

There's not exactly a lot to bring up here...it's not a setting or even a full set of PDQ rules. However this little demo of PDQ written up by Chad way back when is a great way to show just how flexible PDQ can be and it provides a very compact and useful magic system. Really this is all you need to play an interesting, if perhaps a bit basic, PDQ fantasy game and it's a good way to get started (along with the free core rules) for those who aren't familiar with PDQ but are interested in trying it out.

PDQ Week Pt 5: Dead Inside

Dead Inside

Those who are more familiar with PDQ from humorous games like Questers of the Middle Realms and Ninja Burger or whimsical rpgs like the Zorcerer of Zo or Truth and Justice may be a little surprised at the cover to the right and the rather bleak title here. Well, Dead Inside isn't your average PDQ game or your average RPG in general. 

The game has a very unique concept tied to a twisted sort of urban fantasy and horror setting. Essentially the players are all characters who have lost their soul...perhaps they sold it, perhaps they were "broken" by some kind of horrific event or perhaps something simply cracked their soul like an egg and drained them dry. Souls insulate normal humans from the agonizing coldness of the Real World and those without this protection are left in constant, numbing pain. However, your soul also blinds you and limits you to your half-blind mundane senses and with that shroud lifted you can now see an entire world of horror, magic, madness and mystery. 

The game is essentially a quest to restore your soul and end your torment. The expanded perception of the Dead Inside allows them to explore the Spirit World, interact with the Imagos (sort of weird, Jungian spirit-guides) and other supernatural beings such as ghosts and pure spirits. Dead Inside can trade soul-stuff and may restore themselves by making deals or even stealing soul-energy from others. However, the stated goal of the game is to reverse the standard RPG cliche of "kill things and take their stuff", because one of the ways you can restore your soul is by doing good deeds, helping others and "cultivating" your soul energy. Likewise acts of selfishness and viciousness are a good way to cause soul decay and stunt your growth. 

In addition to your expanded perception the Dead Inside gain access to supernatural abilities that allow them to create changes in themselves or the world around them or create portals to the Spirit World. Of course these powers come at a price. They are fueled by Soul Energy...the resource that you're desperately trying to husband to make yourself whole. 

The setting of Dead Inside is very evocative and imaginative while being drawn out namely in broad strokes. The main focus is on the Spirit World (although there is also the Cold Hard World sourcebook which provides extra information on the Real World) and it's a place that can be full of beauty, surrealism and subtle (or not-so-subtle) horrors. It's like a mixture of Wonderland, Labyrinth and Neil Gaimen's Mirrormask. The game doesn't end if you restore your soul either, as once you've fixed yourself you become a Sensitive, a fully-souled individual who can still perceive the supernatural and if you continue to develop your spiritual muscles then you can eventually evolve into a Magi, a much more powerful spiritualist capable of warping reality and others and creating new spirits from pieces of their own soul. 

Now, I've spent most of this week fanboying-out over these games but for Dead Inside I think it's worth bringing up a few "cons". Dead Inside is a great setting and it's supported by the tough little PDQ system so it's still definitely worth the 13 bucks for the PDF but it is pretty much the first serious game for PDQ and it shows it. There's a variety of mechanics that are interesting but don't quite work. Far too much of the system is reliant on the Soul Point mechanic. The primary drive of the Dead Inside is restoring their soul and making themselves whole. However, Soul Points are also the primary form of currency in the Spirit World and the fuel for any supernatural tricks you might try. That means to really get involved with most of the really neat, weird and surreal aspects of the setting you've got to slow down your growth, which is hard to justify in-character. Likewise your Type Quality (Dead Inside for most PCs) is by far the most important Quality and it's impossible to improve other Qualities without actually reducing your Dead Inside Quality. At the same time it's actually quite easy to restore your soul, in fact you could probably do it in a handful of sessions, rendering the primary motivation and source of dread and angst slightly toothless. 

However, despite those gripes you've got a truly inspiring setting with some neat, original mechanics that is well worth getting.

Bonus Material: Dead Inside House Rules

So as I mentioned, Dead Inside has some mechanics that work against it, it was made at a time when the PDQ system was just finding its legs and hadn't really hit its stride with things like Truth and Justice. So here's some suggestions on systems that could be spliced from other PDQ games to make things run smoother.

Soul Points (Truth and Justice): The biggest problem with Soul Points is the fact that they are simultaneously your only form of currency, the fuel for your supernatural tricks, your "luck" points and, against some supernatural beings, a form of hit points. On top of that you've got to try and accumulate as much as possible if you want to restore your soul. The best solution to this issue is to use the Truth and Justice Hero Point system in place of Soul Points. The standard Hero Point pool can be spent to power your supernatural abilities or engage in soul-point barter, while character progression is handled by the MAX. That way a Dead Inside doesn't have to worry about crippling their progression if he heal a friend or ward away a hungry spirit predator.

It also helps to explain one of the odd little paradoxes of the setting. A common object is a Soul Egg, a device made to hold Soul Points as a kind of storage device. However, there's little justification to actually create one of these or use them. There's no normal limit to the number of soul points you can hold and the soul egg itself actually can make you vulnerable (by acting as an arcane line to someone else who holds one of your Soul Eggs). However, having a Maximum pool of Soul Points means that Soul Eggs are a necessity for those who trade heavily in Soul Points or steal them from others.

When using Hero Points a character's Type Quality can be improved at a MAX cost equal to it's new MOD +2 (so 4 points to go from Average [0] to Good [+2], 6 to go from Good [+2] to Expert [+4], etc).

Qualities, Damage and Recovery (PDQ#) One thing that may strike you when reading the Dead Inside character creation rules if you're used to other PDQ games is how few Qualities they get. The core PDQ rules (especially back then) tended to assume a very small collection of Qualities for quick, pick-up-and-play style games. However, it's pretty easy to see that the number of Qualities (and thus the durability and competence of most characters) has usually increased since then.

So for character creation I suggest looking to PDQ# and it's Core Qualities. Each Dead Inside character should have a Good [+2] Past Quality, a Good [+2] Defining Quality and a Good [+2] Personality Quality (I dropped Motivation, since all Dead Inside share a single, driving Motivation to begin with) and a Quirk (same as PDQ#'s Foibles). Then each character receives 4 additional Quality Ranks to buy new Qualities or to increase one of their Core Qualities.

I would also suggest using PDQ#'s rules for damage (being taken out only once all Qualities are Zeroed Out) and recovery (including the rules for being Mostly Dead).

PDQ Week Pt 4: PDQ# and Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies

Now we come to the latest PDQ offering. Technically speaking both of these are really the same game but I'm splitting the info up for reasons that should become apparent. 

PDQ#

PDQ# is the newest "edition" of PDQ. It's not a 2nd edition or a revised edition so much as it's an...alternate edition. Basically when working on Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies Chad incorporated a lot of ideas introduced in various other PDQ books along with several new concepts and by the end of it the final result was something different enough to be considered a new version of PDQ. He made the results of this new "core" system available on his website as PDQ# (or PDQ "Sharp").

Why doesn't this count as a 2nd edition of PDQ? Mostly because PDQ# is very focused on the genre of swashbucklers (of the Seven Skies). Swashes and the buckling thereof are threaded throughout the system. The system introduce a different form of Conflicts called Duels designed to be played out as one-on-one contests between characters as well as Techniques, special tricks or conditions that grant a bonus when using a Quality in a specific manner. 

However, despite the swashbuckling focus PDQ# introduces a ton of ideas that fit perfectly in other PDQ games, so perfectly that it's common for PDQ gamers to incorporate many of these new ideas when playing games designed for the original PDQ. Techniques especially are an incredibly flexible and useful tool to give PDQ characters a few more interesting tricks without really increasing their complexity. 

In addition to swashbuckling PDQ# likes to play around with new ways to get players involved in the action and storytelling. For example, the results of dice rolls (whether success or failure) are normally narrated by the player (although they can always pass the narration off to the GM or another player if they're out of ideas). The other major innovation of PDQ# is Style Dice. Fate/Fortune/Karma points are a very common thing to see in PDQ games, but Style Dice are a new breed, namely because of how they are spent and earned. GMs have two sources of Style Dice to hand out to players. The Bowl is the first and it's for rewarding creativity, flair and coolness but it is also limited by quantity. The Box is the second and it's unlimited, but only used for "mechanical" rewards such as being affected by your Weakness (called Quirks now) or similar misfortunes. However, any dice spent go back into the bowl, encouraging players to spend freely to ensure that the Style Dice economy flows smoothly. 

So even if you're not necessarily interested in running a swashbuckling game, PDQ# is practically required reading (fortunately it's free) for PDQ GMs so they can mine it for new ideas and mechanics. 

Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies

That's a cool cover right there. Now I talked about PDQ# earlier partially because if you want you can check it out separate from Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies (what is with PDQ games and the long names?) but also so I could get the mechanical stuff out of the way and jumping into the setting here. Because the setting deserves a lot of attention. 

It's not the first "complete" setting for PDQ (that honor probably goes to Dead Inside) but it's certainly the most fleshed out and robust. Since PDQ games are so player-driven and DIY-oriented mechanically it's no surprise that they have a lot of DIY when it comes to the setting. Most PDQ books are more like toolkits geared towards a certain genre sometimes with a light setting draped around to give things context and provide inspiration. That's not a criticism, it gives a lot of opportunity for freedom and inspiration in a light, compact form. However, at the same time a great setting can be a draw regardless of the system (just look at games like Exalted).

S7S is definitely an interesting and very well-thought-out setting. The magic, the history and the "geography" (areography?) are all well detailed and thorough without being just a massive fantasy atlas. So if you're looking for an original and well-written swashbuckling fantasy setting then I strongly suggest S7S. 

And while most of the game's system innovations can be found in the PDQ# document there are a few original ideas that you can only get in the full version. The most remarkable is the rules for ship-to-ship conflicts. It's a really great mechanic for teamwork and works equally well when taken into different settings (whether it's commanding a starfleet or soldiers on a battlefield). 

My only regret is that I don't currently have much in the way to offer with house rules (so sadly no bonus material today) because I frankly haven't actually had a chance to play a full game, this being the most recent addition to the PDQ family. However, I've made extensive use of the PDQ# rules already by incorporating them into other PDQ games. 

Battle Royale Preview

Since I don't have anything strictly new to add today I'll instead take the opportunity to talk a bit about my own upcoming PDQ game, Battle Royale. It's a game of the "toolkit" variety designed for playing martial arts themed games at a wide range of power levels. 

So with the addition of PDQ# there are now two primary forms of PDQ combat. You've got the traditional Conflicts from regular PDQ and the new Dueling rules from PDQ#. Now the Duel rules are great for adding extra tactical flair to PDQ but they suffer from one major problem...they're designed almost exclusively for one-on-one conflicts (or one PC against a group of Minions) and they aren't nearly as elegant when used in a situation where a larger group gangs up on one or two powerful foes (such as the classic "boss fight" scenario). 

So, while I wanted to keep the new ideas and strategy introduced by Dueling but I didn't want to limit how the players might want to engage their opponents. So I went with the simplest and most obvious solution: use both. Battle Royale will feature both standard PDQ Conflicts but also Bouts, one-on-one battles based on PDQ#'s Dueling rules.

PDQ Week, Pt 3: Zorcerer of Zo

Phew, keeping up a post-a-day is rough. Especially the long-winded posts I've been chugging out. So tonight's may be a bit shorter.

The Zorcerer of Zo 

Next up we have The (Zantabulous) Zorcerer of Zo. The Zorcerer of Zo is certainly a unique book, even when compared to other PDQ games. In a lot of my previous commentaries I talked about how the product showed you new ways to use the PDQ system and serve as a sort of "toolbox" for the system. Zo is a little bit different. 

Zo uses a version of PDQ known as "the good bits", a trimmed down version of an already impressively compact system. It's designed for maximum ease of play and making sure that the rules fade quietly into the background whenever possible. Instead of playing around with the system Zo is much more concerned with setting and story. 

The setting of the Land of Zo is interesting, drawing upon a variety of pre-existing fairytale ideas and characters and creating new ones by fusing them together. For example you've got the Blue Hood, a conceptual hybrid of Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood. Timothy, a noble talking cat who is a fusion of Puss in Boots and the Marquis De Carabas from Neverwhere. Then you've got the setting's ultimate Big Bad...wolf of course: Shaykosch, the Deathless Wolf. A combination of the obvious Big Bad Wolf and the mythic Koschei the Deathless. The Land of Zo is a great fairytale setting right out of the box which provides enough familiarity to tug at childhood memories but enough novelty to avoid being predictable. 

In addition you've got copious notes from the author on the nature of fairytales, storytelling and happy endings. You've even got about 50 pages devoted to notes on Chad's nearly year-long Zorcer of Zo campaign and notes on his preparation for the games. I cannot recommend the book enough as a great "starter" for anyone new to RPGs, it's got a simple system, a nearly universally appreciated theme and tons of inspirational material. 

And while the book's focus is certainly on setting and style it still manages to slip in some neat new ideas to the PDQ arsenal. It's magic system is unique and simple, although strongly tied to the fairytale theme. I quite like the idea that whenever a character attempts to do magic then magic will happen...it's just a question of whether it does what you wish it to. It also introduces Learning Points (a concept also used in Jaws of the Six Serpents and later in Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies) which are a great form of character development. Learning Points are earned when you fail a Challenge or suffer a setback in a Conflict. This means that characters are rewarded for trying difficult and seemingly impossible tasks, taking on great odds and tackling things outside of their normal skill set. 

Bonus Material: Dark Fairy Tales

Zorcerer of Zo is a refreshingly straightforward and innocent take on the fairytale genre (yes I know that most original fairtales are not nearly so innocent, I don't care). It's a nice dose of nostalgia and sweetness when placed alongside so many other games which twist or deconstruct these stories into darker forms. It's good to see a game that doesn't turn Red Riding Hood into an axe-murderer or wicked fairies into walking fetish fuel. 

So, all that said, I still like some good twisted fairytales from time to time. So here's a few things from a short-lived dark fairytale campaign I ran a few years ago. 

The Characters: These guys might be suitable as monsters or foes in your fairytale campaign...in mine they were the PCs. 

Lump, Ogre Baker

Lump is a huge, ugly brute of an ogre who wears a tiny little chef's hat atop his head. Although he mostly just wants to settle down and be left alone to bake and sell his bread he is often hounded out of towns he comes to because of his hideous appearance and the "secret ingredient" of his bread. This character is sort of a fusion of Shrek, the "grind your bones" giant from Jack and the Beanstalk and a bit of the incredible hulk.

Qualities: Expert [+4] Big and Burly, Expert [+4] Muscles Like Boulders, Good [+2] Baking, Good [+2] Keen Nose, Poor [-2] Dumb Lump

Special Move: Good [+2] Me Stomp! (Big and Burly)

Vort, The Living Poppet

 

Vort is a living doll...but he doesn't exactly fit in at the Island of Forgotten Toys. Vort is in fact a living voodoo doll. Fortunately he doesn't let his lot in life get him down and he's full of pluck and cheer. He also carries around some huge (compared to him) knitting needles. He's a bit of a combination of Pinocchio and the Scarecrow from Oz. 

Qualities:Expert [+4] I do Voodoo, Good [+2] Clever, Expert [+4] Small, Good [+2] Needle-Fencing, Poor [-2] Little Fellow

Special Move: Good [+2] Right in the Eye! (Needle Fencing)

I Do Voodoo is a Gift Quality that allows Vort to suffer a Damage Rank by stabbing himself to make an attack against a target he couldn't normally reach using the Quality. If he has a bit of hair or similar then he could even attack without them being present!

Mad Jack

 

This is a combination of the classic "Jack" of fairytales and the Mad Hatter, he is meant to be the Jack in fact...his many professions and personalities caused by his insanity. He normally appears as a spry, handsome young man who always wears a hat (it doesn't matter what hat, but he'll always insist that it's his and he's had it his whole life). 

Qualities: Good [+2] Handsome, Good [+2] Nimble and Quick, Good [+2] Unusually Persuasive, Good [+2] Fair Hand With a Blade, Expert [+4] Multiple Personalities

Special Move: Good [+2] Lucky Hat (Nimble and Quick)

Multiple Personalities is a Gift that allows Jack to dictate a new, personality-type Quality to replace it at the start of each session. During a session Jack may spend a Fortune Point to swap out for a new personality. So one day he might be Expert [+4] Brave and Bold while another he might be Vicious or Cowardly. 

Mister Boogey

The classic boogeyman (although perhaps mixed a bit with the one from Nightmare Before Christmas). Mister Boogey is a dapper, somberly dressed gentleman who is rail-thin and dark-eyed. He dislikes the light and prefers to lurk somewhere out of the way. He's a merchant and travels from town to town in his rickety cart full of odd and disturbing knick-knacks.

Qualities: Expert [+4] Invisible To Adults, Good [+2] Bug Magic*, Good [+2] Wiry But Strong, Good [+2] Merchant

Special Move: Good [+2] Snatching (Wiry But Strong)

Invisible to Adults is a Gift that means Mister Boogey fades out of the perception of anyone over the age of 14 or so (personality is more important than age though) and is normally unseen unless he draws attention to himself. Bug Magic is a Magic Star Quality that covers numerous magic tricks involving insects...summoning them, talking to them, seeing through their eyes, controlling them and possibly even becoming one. 

Dark Learning Points

This is a concept from Jaws of the Six Serpents that fits dark fairytales very well. Basically Dark Learning points are gained by succeeding at a roll rather than failing...but succeeding at a task that is disturbing or wicked. This works exceptionally well for stories that start more pure and become darker with time. Innocent protagonists might gain Dark Learning Points from stealing or breaking the rules or reading the wrong book...straying off the path. Later they're getting them for shoving witches into ovens. 

Dark Learning Points can either be spent to purchase "tainted" Qualities or abilities with a darker tone (perhaps wicked magic or just unpleasant personality Qualities). Alternatively they could be traded for Fortune Points that can only be used in a wicked way (which often means they'll come back...). 

PDQ Week, Pt 2: Silver Branch Games

Chad Underkoffler is the creator and dark lord (just kidding Chad) of PDQ but he's not the only author producing great PDQ material (which is good considering I'm trying to create one myself). The second most prolific member of the PDQ family is Tim Gray of Silver Branch Games. Tim has produced several PDQ games and supplements and I'll give a quick overview here. 

Questers of the Middle Realms

Questers of the Middle Realms is the "lighter side of fantasy gaming". Now, classic high fantasy adventure RPGs are a dime a dozen and D&D parodies are hardly less common but I still feel like Questers is something special. First and foremost it doesn't fall into the most common trap parody games suffer from: making everything a joke. A game with a sense of humor is great but it gets tiresome when every monster is a walking pun and every sword swaps your gender and hair color or makes a farting noise when you smack someone with it. Questers has a sense of humor but it's more than just a bare-bones RPG thinly wrapped in a lame joke book. If you felt like it you could ditch a few of the goofier monsters, slightly change a few locations and you'll find yourself with perfectly serviceable and interesting fantasy setting. 

One of my favorite parts of the book is the unusual take it has on the standard D&D fantasy races. Elves for instance are not simply long lived or ageless, they're actually highlander-esque immortals. Only complete dismemberment or destruction of their bodies will permanently put them down. As a result of their immortality they suffered from a massive population explosion, leading to the gods creating Orcs as ideal elven predators to hunt down and eat the pointy-eared bastards. Quester's contractually required "tiny folk", Hoblings, also have the best racial disadvantage ever. Forget stat penalties or reduced damage...they're delicious. 

The second great thing about the book is that Tim is not afraid to play around with the PDQ system and really see what it can do. While Truth and Justice is how I got started with PDQ it was Questers that actually made everything really "click" for me and showed me just how much this little system could do. Questers has all kinds of interesting and intriguing mechanics that can be used not only for Questers but just about any PDQ game. It has special rules for Racial Qualities, rules for the use of Props that are basically "free-floating" Qualities not tied directly to a character which can represent everything from magic swords to loyal mounts to sacks of cash. Questers and it's Book of Bewildering Beasts supplement provide the largest collection of pre-statted PDQ critters out there. Obviously it's easy enough to whip up your own but Questers still provides a great set of tools or templates to make the process even faster.

For me the shining jewel of QMR is the magic system. Even though it was released back in 2006 it still remains my favorite choice for PDQ magic. It's simple and supremely flexible without overwhelming non-magical characters. You've got Thaumaturgy, your classic wand-and-robes wizardry which can be powerful but potentially unreliable. There's also Mysticism which is a more limited but more reliable set of powers wielded by psychics or zen martial artists. Finally you've got Divine Aid which is not only my favorite god-based magic in PDQ, it's my favorite form of divine magic in any system. It's a system that makes using miracles more than just casting spells using a different mental stat (although amusingly the Qualities that influence miracles are those related to persuasion, fast talking and/or butt kissing) and allows just about anyone to call on a little bit of divine intervention here and there.

PDQ Week, Part 1: Truth and Justice

So it's been a while since I've managed to make regular posts here. I moved last month and with the amount of junk me and my wife have we've needed a month just to get mostly unpacked. There's still lots of work to do before things are actually done but we've also reached the point where we're fine just shoving lots of things into our spare room and dealing with them when we need to. So, I'm looking to get back into a pattern of regular postings here. That brings me to the PDQ system, readers of the blog know I'm a fan of the system and a recent thread over at RPG.net made me realize that I haven't given it much attention recently, certainly not as much as it deserves. 

Attentive readers may also remember that I'm working on an RPG of my own: Battle Royale. Well...I'm working on several actually (DICE and the Drive System are still alive somewhere in the back of my brain) but Battle Royale is going to be my first, serious publication. It's also going to be a PDQ-licensed product, using my own special blend of various PDQ versions to create something that will hopefully be quite a lot of fun. I haven't actually talked much about Battle Royale here in the past mostly because it's been quite hard to find the time to actually give the project the attention it deserves so it's moved on and off the backburner for a couple of years now. 

This has changed recently though. A combination of a new job and a fresh dose of inspiration has spurred things forward significantly in the past several months and now the game is well and truly approaching completion. Well...approaching the final stages of completion at least. We've still got some editing phases to go and we'll see how much reworking it needs. Here's hoping it's not too riddled with flaws. 

So, in the interest of picking up the posting pace here at Zombie Toast, showing some love to the PDQ system and providing some extra info on my upcoming book Battle Royale I'm declaring it PDQ Week here at Zombie Toast. I'm going to provide some info on the different PDQ games out there and help share what the system has to offer. These aren't exactly reviews, you can go ahead and assume that I'm recommending all of these products, they're more just info dumps to help pimp a relatively obscure system (on an extremely obscure blog...but that's a different issue). In addition I'm going to provide some of my own house rules, tweaks and concepts for each of the system. 

So, for our first entry in PDQ week.

A self-defense arsenal clearly designed for PCs

If there's one thing every RPG player knows it's that the more exotic and interesting a weapon is the better it is. In RPGs deadly assassins duel-wield Desert Eagles and vampires carry around a brace of katanas under their ubiquitous trench coats. So, here's some real-world weaponry that you'll almost certainly have some player try and fob off on you.

Knife: The Wasp Knife

So, what's the most ridiculous, over-powered knife out there? Are we talking some kind of grotesquely oversized bowie sort of thing? Or one of those insane Bud-k contraptions that has a dozen spikes, half of which will try and carve you to bits the moment you use it?

Nope, the Wasp knife is a fairly small, unassuming little thing. However, notice those three cartridges? Those are compressed air cylinders which are loaded into the knife and released through a vent that runs along the blade and out of the tip. The knife was apparently originally designed to defend against underwater predators like sharks...but it's equally effective against it's natural prey: the watermelon. Now, who can watch that without imagining the potential...especially with a bit of creativity (imagine a Wasp spear!).

And of course since the compressed gas instantly cools to below-freezing when released the knife obviously inflicts additional Cold damage as well. Of course, on the downside you've invested in the only knife you need to reload.

Handguns: The Pfeifer Zeliska .600

No, that picture isn't photoshopped. That's the Pfeifer Zeliska .600 Nitro Express. It's a handgun that's as hard to lift as it is to pronounce. The gun is 16 lbs and is pretty much the most powerful handgun in the world...it probably makes a pretty effective blunt instrument too.

Now, if the sheer size and weight don't indicate just how utterly ridiculous this weapon is then check out the picture to the right. That's the bullet. This is a handgun that fires elephant gun rounds.

Now ask yourself. Who in the world needs enough firepower to take down an enraged pachyderm in a package that fits (theoretically) under a jacket? Monster hunters and vampire assassins of course.  For when you absolutely, positively have to make the guy with the desert eagle feel inadequate. Of course if your PCs come up to you begging to be allowed to stat out this weapon...just remind them that it costs over $16,000 and $45 a bullet. At that price, just buy a used SUV and run over the eldritch horror.

Taser: The Bodyguard

 When it comes to taking down opponents there's very few PCs who look for a "non-lethal" solution. All too often the standard player's idea of "minimum force" is "don't double-tap them after they're down."

But come on! Look at that thing! It's an electric gauntlet. We've apparently started to live in the world of Shadowrun and I never even realized. Because who would settle for punching something...when you can punch it with lightning!




All-In-One: The OSA
If there's one thing everyone hates about monster hunting it's how damned resistant or immune they can be to just about anything. Sure, you'd love to solve all your problems with a flamethrower, but one day you're going to run into a critter that's just going to shrug it off and proceed to rip your face off. For the modern day adventurer who isn't sure what the hell they're going to fight next, we've got the OSA multipurpose pistol.

The thing can be chambered with four types of ammunition: mini flash-bang grenades (great for creatures with sensitive hearing or a vulnerability to bright light), flares (i.e. bonus fire damage), electric stun bullets (i.e. electric damage), tear gas cartridges (for those critters resistant to physical damage but vulnerable to poison) and rubber bullets (boring but good for taking down cultists without a murder charge).

The only drawback is its unintimidating size. Creative players should easily find a way to upgrade it to a 4-barreled shotgun-sized version however.