TOP FUCKIN' TEN

Hey, Expanded Occupations: Geisha just hit #10 on the RPGnow top ten seller's list. Awesome! Nice thing to see after the day I've had today.
CHRIS

Reality Intrudes

Since 2008, I've worked at Whataburger, first one in Corpus and now one in Kerrville. Pay's crap, but better than most service industry jobs. No benefits, no respect from either coworkers or the general public, and tons of stress and responsibility without any actual authority to back it up. Anyway, I'm tired of it.

Life's been getting progressively harder, and it seems like it gets harder to live on what I'm making every month- add to things like computer repairs, bike repairs and a week off due to a workplace injury, not to mention another week closure to remodel the store and it gets even rougher. All those things happened in the last 6 months or so, by the way. Fuck, I'd like to go a month where I'm not turning in rent late, and where I can go get dinner in an actual restaurant once in a while without having to plan 3 weeks of finances around the excursion.

So I'm actively looking for another job. I just applied and turned in a resume for an assistant manager job at a CVS Pharmacy in town, and hopefully I'll get it. I sucessfully navigated their fucked up hiring website and did their online personality test-thingy, and I made good contact with the local hiring manager. I also applied for an assistant manager gig at a near by Pizza Hut. Things went less well. Not 30 seconds after I turned in my online app and resume, I got an email from the company saying they 'didn't have any positions that matched my qualifications'. Thanks, fuckers, that shit does wonders for the old self esteem. So Pizza Hut can go fuck a piping hot deep dish.

I'm also looking into a job in the kitchen of the local VA hospital- same job I do now, but they pay between $13-15 an hour and have excellent benefits. I'm not up to the challenge of the federal hiring online portal tonight though.

Anyway, wish me luck.
CHRIS

Geisha, Dhampir and Other Strange Things

Expanded Occupations: Geisha just hit at RPGNow. It's a short PDF exploring both modern and historical geisha. It's illustrated purely by awesome photos from Wikimedia Commons- though it was a very quick and simple book to put out, it's great looking.

If you pick it up, take a look at the layout and formatting. I'm thinking of using the same font and layout choices for Black Tokyo Unlimited. The font used is "flat earth scribe" and has a nice faux-Asian look to it, and I liked the mostly brownish layout. It contrasted well with the vibrant photos, and will work well, I think with the similiarly vibrant BTU.

Having taken a look at the old D7 Species Update file, I'll be releasing several of the races as short PDFs, in the vein of True Halflings or Noble Succubi. The Dhampir is first up, and I'll finish the book tonight. After that, I'm going to do a fallen angel type race and maybe a few other concepts, some of which will be very applicable to Black Tokyo or Otherverse America.

Speaking of Otherverse America, after I finished up with EO: Geisha, I did EO: Block Mothers. It's a 10-pager focusing on the Block Mother segment of Lifer culture- basically street vigilantes with Uzis who protect the Lifer Enclaves at the same time they're raising huge families. Interesting character type, really, and I like to switch up between doing Choicer and Lifer sourcebooks.

Anyway, hope you like what I've got for you this month,
CHRIS

Vapor Ware

A couple of posts ago, one of my fans left this in the comments.

"I have recently started a d20 Modern Black Tokyo game with my wife and a couple of interested friends and I have a question for you about races. In the Black Tokyo book, you mention races found in Species: Udates:

Celestial Exemplar, The Cityborn, The Crowfolk, Daughters of Stone, Forest Smile Humans, Fur Choice Humans, Brimstone Humans, Dragonscale Humans, Mageborn and Prime Humans, Kitsune (originally creatures of Japanese myth), Lie Spawn, Monster Brothers, Primordial Champions, Spider Souled, Succubi Kin, Living Toys, Unbreathing, Dhampirs and Wild Fawn.

Where do I find these species updates? My wife really wants to play a dhampir."

The answer is unfortunately, no where. The Department Seven Species Update was an early project I think I last worked on it during 2007 or 2008, but officially the project has been canceled. Several of the creatures in the book found their way into other settings. A less supernatural version of the Neverborn migrated to Otherverse America, the Cityborn found their way into the Psi-Watch campaign, and the Species Update's version of Tankui and Kitsune are pretty similar to the version of the races that appeared in last year's Races of the Tatakama.

That said, Kevin, if you and your group want a copy of Species Update, email me at chrisfieldotherverse@hotmail.com. The manuscript is a little rougher than a published work, and probably isn't fully compatible with the modern PFRPG rules (as I'm aiming for my most recent stuff to be), but it'll be an interesting read.

Also, if anybody wants some rough, alpha-playtest Black Tokyo material, let me know at the same address. I'll be glad to send some stuff along.

Finally, I pulled the Dhampir stats from the D7 Species Update and I'll post 'em up here, unchanged. (Though I might end up releasing some of the better creatures from the Species Update as standalone racial PDFs, after thoroughly re-editing them, of course.)

Damphir

Medium Humanoid

            Damphirs are the descendants of powerful vampire bloodlines. A handful are cursed by their ancestors actions, their pseudo-vampiric abilities a dim shadow, and unwelcome reminder of an ancestor’s depredations. No tie of blood binds these damphirs to their ancestors, they weren’t bit, the curse wasn’t passed genetically…. Instead the curse of vampirism is an unwelcome part of their family heritage, a mysterious curse that afflicts a few children in each generation. Other damphirs are the offspring of children convieved by vampire lovers, or the fruit of a vampiric womb.

·        Spot Check DC: DC 18. Damphirs resemble their human parents closely, but share some vampiric visual traits: elongated canines, oddly shaped or colored eyes or a lean and hungry look to their facial features. In most cases, Damphirs attempt to pass for humans with a deformity or congenital defect rather than normal humans, hiding their fangs and light sensitivity in plain sight.

·        Size: Medium. A damphir’s base land speed is 40 ft. Damphirs are far quicker and deadlier than their human counterparts.

·        Ability Score Modifiers: +2 DEX, +2 CON. Damphirs are incredibly fast and agile, and most share the physical gifts of their vampire ancestors.

·        Racial Skills: Damphirs receive a +2 racial bonus on the following skills: Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, and Spot. Like true vampires, they are natural superpredators, capable of bringing down dangerous humanoid game. 

• Enhanced Senses: All damphirs receive darkvision with a 60 ft range, low light vision and the scent special quality.

• Urban Predator (SU): Damphirs can move across walls and cielings as adroitly as any true vampire. The damphir can always climb sheer surfaces as if under the effects of the spider climb spell.

• Unnatural Weapons (EX): The Damphir possesses a natural bite attack which inflicts 1d6 HP, and threatens a critical hit on a roll of natural 20. The Damphir is always considered proficient in this natural attack mode, and is considered armed when attacking with his or her fangs.

• Fast Healing 1 (EX): The Damphir always heals 1 point of damage per round, so long as it has at least 1 HP remaining. When the Damphir is reduced to 0 HP or fewer, this regenerative ability is suspended. The Damphir’s fast healing abilities cannot negate damage based upon the creature’s racial weaknesses.

• Blood Feeder (EX): The damphir’s metabolism is tied to blood. At least once every three days, the Damphir must drain the blood from any medium or larger living creature, killing it in the process. A damphir can attempt to use its fangs to inflict a coup de grace on any living creature to satisfy this craving. The creature need not be sientient; Damphirs can choose to feed on animals instead of humans.

If the Damphir does not feed, it suffers 1d4 points of WIS and CON drain per day, and loses the Damphir’s racial fast healing ability until he or she finally feeds. This damage cannot be healed until the Damphir finally feeds.

           

• Racial Weaknesses: Damphirs share many of the weaknesses of their vampire ancestors. All Damphirs are light sensitive, suffering a –2 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks and saving throws when in sunlight or bright artificial light.

In addition, the Damphir must select an additonal racial weakness from the following list. Once chosen, the racial weakness cannot be changed.

            Daylight Mortality (SU): The touch of the sun does not burn the Dhampir. It does something worse: it makes the Dhamphir an ordinary man. The Dhaphir loses access to all racial traits, enhanced senses and racial attribute modifiers during daylight hours. These traits are supressed, and recover instantly at sundown. The Dhamphir also suffers the typical –2 morale penalty, in addition to becoming mortal. Sunlight utterly destroys the Dhamphir’s strength.

Dhampiric Fury (EX): If the Dhampir is ever reduced to ½ HP or less in battle, it immediately frenzies, entering a berzerk rage state, seeking to avenge the injury at all cost. While berzerk, the Dhampir will attack indiscriminately, killing anything that moves as quickly and efficienctly as possible. While raging, the Dhampir cannot attempt any skill or tactic involving patience or concentration.

Once the target of the Damphir’s rage is slain, the vampire spawn will turn on any one, even friends or civilians. If all targets in the area are slain, the Dhampir will actively search out new prey. Each round, and immediately prior to attacking an ally or non-combatant, the Dhampir can attempt a WILL Save to end the berzerk state. The WILL Save is initially DC 40; the DC is reduced by one until either the berzerk state ends or the Dhampir’s rage eventually ‘times out.’

            Hydrophobic Nature (SU): The Dhamphir cannot abide the purity and ever changing mystic nature of running water. If exposed to trace amounts of water (a household shower, a rainstorm, being hit with a squirt gun or having to cross a stream or lake) the vampire suffers a –2 morale penalty on attack rolls, skill checks and saving throws. A high pressure stream of water (from a firehose, for example) inflicts 2d6 points of damage per hit, as the flesh literaly peels from the Dhampir’s bones. The Dhampir’s fast healing ability can negate this damage.

            Ultraviolet Instability (EX): The Dhampir is as vunerable to sunlight as its vampire forebears. Each round the Dhamphir is exposed to sunlight or UV intense artificial light, it suffers 1d6 points of HP damage per round. The Dhampir’s fast healing ability cannot regenerate this damage; it must heal normally. If the Dhamphir is fully covered (thanks to clothing, shade or armor) the HP loss is reduced to 1d2 points of damage per round.

            Vampiric Curse (SU): The Dhampir may or may not be evil, but it is an unholy, demonic creature, despised by God and mistrusted by man. The Dhampir suffers a –2 morale penalty on any creature prominently wearing or brandishing any holy symbol. A holy symbol’s touch deals 1d4 points of damage; a dhampir reduced to 0 HP  by the presence of a holy object is destroyed completely. The Dhampir may be turned as an undead of its total hit dice/character level by a cleric or acolyte.

           

            Vampire Law (SU): The Dhampir is bound by the restrictions common to true vampires. The Dhampir cannot enter a private residence unles invited in by the rightful owner or tenant. The Dhamphir cannot enter any 5 ft square warded with garlic, and suffers a –2 penalty on attack rolls against anyone wearing garlic or garlic essensce. The Dhamphir does not have a reflection and cannot be seen in a mirror.

Action Galaxy is Selling!

Hey, Action Galaxy went on sale yesterday, and it's already in the Top 15 Sellers at RPGnow.com. Thanks a bunch, and I hope you like it. I'll definitely do some more work in the Action Galaxy.
CHRIS

Black Tokyo: Fetish and Folklore

Species	Appeared in Races of….	Size and Type	What Are They, Really?
Akaname	The Tatakama	Medium Undead	Pathetic, shit-eating undead
Bloodstrong Men	The Tatakama	Large Humanoid	Incestuous tribal warriors
Daughters of Kirin	The Tatakama	Medium Monstrous Humanoid	The superstrong daughters of an equine god
Dodoma	The Tatakama	Medium Humanoid	Many-eyed thieves
Doujinishi	Black Japan	Medium Outsider (native)	Oversexed refugee from a fantasy
Futakuchi	The Tatakama	Medium Outsider (good, native)	Severe, two-mouthed celestial harbingers
Goryohime	Black Japan	Medium Undead	Cute undead schoolgirls
Ironclub Oni	The Tatakama	Large Outsider (native)	Brutally strong but dull-witted giants
Kami	The Tatakama	Medium Outsider (native)	Helpful and skillful minor deities
Kijimuna	The Tatakama	Medium Plant	Innocent and playful plant creatures
Kitsune	The Tatakama	Medium Fey (shapechanger)	Mischievous, shapeshifting fox spirits
Koropokkuru	The Tatakama	Medium Humanoid or Animal	Dour, dwarflike folk that are more animal than human
Nekomusume	Black Japan	Medium Humanoid	An enslaved species of half-woman felines
Nikusui	Black Japan	Small Fey	Child-shaped and lethal protector of children
POETICA	Black Japan	Medium Monstrous Humanoid	Ultra-creative and loving companion robots
Tanuki	The Tatakama	Medium Humanoid (shapechanger)	Shifty, shapeshifting raccoon spirits with enormous magical testicles
Ubume	The Tatakama	Medium Undead	Mournful ghost of a woman who died while pregnant
Yurei	Black Japan	Medium Monstrous Humanoid	Endlessly enraged, ghostwalking killers

            Black Tokyo Unlimited: Races of Black Japan just hit at RPGnow, and I’m well into both a magic item sourcebook and a comprehensive atlas and revised monster manual for the Black Tokyo setting. I put together this chart last night to keep the 18 major races of the setting straight in my own head, and I figured I’d talk a little about how I chose these various races for Black Tokyo.

            As you can see by the character choices available to the players, Black Tokyo is anything but a standard fantasy setting. While nothing’s stopping you from playing an Elf or Dwarf, there’s very little mechanical support for it. Instead all the races are either drawn from traditional Japanese folklore, or else embody either a particular fetish or J-horror trope. Mechanically, I’ve done some different things with Black Tokyo than most other Pathfinder designers- for example, looking over that list you’ll find lots of Outsiders and three Undead player races to choose from. I’ve always wished that 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons (and later the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game) had included some kind of undead species as a core race, because allowing players to be undead opens up some great possibilities, both mechanically, and in terms of story.

            Anyway, most of the player races on the list are purely mythological, and the mythic races actually tend to be weirder than the stuff I come up with myself. Actually, that’s been true throughout the Black Tokyo writing process. One of the motifs I hope readers take notice of (especially in my upcoming atlas and magic items books) is that traditional Shinto folklore and Japanese ghost stories have the same imaginative, gory, ero-horror edge that the best modern hentai stuff has. I want to show an unbroken cultural continuity linking the old myths and stuff like Legend of the Overfiend.

That’s not to say I kept any of the critters in Black Tokyo culturally ‘pure’- rather I sorta view Black Tokyo as the “Ultimate Marvel” version of the old myths- keeping what works, molding the core concept into something taking place in the modern world and revamping whatever I feel is too silly or nonsensical. Rite Publication’s Kaidan setting, which I love and reference often, is doing much the same thing with Japanese monsters that I am, but hewing a little closer to the traditional versions than I am.

Next up are races that either embody a particular fetish or horror trope. These include the Goryohime, the Bloodstrong Men, the Akaname, and the Yurei, among a few others. Some of have clear analogues in J-horror- the Yurei are basically a player character version of Samara from the Ring, as I mentioned in a preview post a few months back. The rest embody a particular and popular extreme Internet fetish, and by their selection should tell the Game Master that the particular player wants to explore that specific fetish with their character (or the player just likes the mechanics behind a particular race, for power gamers).

 

Basically it works out that

Akaname = scat

Bloodstrong Men = incest porn

Goryohime = snuff sex & erotic asphyxia

Koropokkuru = bestiality (but are also a traditional folkloric race; the Daughters of Kirin could also be included in this fetish category)

Nekemusume and POETICA = sex slaves/harems (and the POETICA are a riff on cute androids like Chi from Chobits)

Nikusi = lolicon, but with a dark edge

Sooner or later, I’ll include a vore/cannibalism focused ‘hero’ race, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet, and so far I’ve limited vore and gynophagia elements to the villains of the setting.

            So is Black Tokyo is all about various fucked up fetishes intruding on a fairly standard Oriental Adventures type setting? Yes and no. Originally Black Tokyo was just something I put together over the course of a few months; it was only after the first edition started selling that I decided to revisit the setting, and I only began really building the world in Black Tokyo II: Chastity & Depravity.

Now, it’s become my biggest selling and most perverse setting. I don’t really have an editor, and there’s no one telling me what I can and can’t write, but I write differently for my different game lines. Galaxy Command and most of my generic Pathfinder Roleplaying Game stuff is fairly all-ages; Psi-Watch focuses on militaristic violence and implied sex. It’s like the old Image Comics that inspired it, R-rated but not necessarily mature. Otherverse America is my serious setting, my mature readers line, not really so much for explicit sex, but because the setting’s central themes are so heavy: abortion, prejudice, terrorism, religious hatred, ect.

Black Tokyo though- that fucking setting is where the wheels fall off the car. I actually force myself, a lot of times, to keep writing until I go past my comfort zones and actually squick myself out. And than I write a little more, try and make things just a little bit more fucked up. I’ve seen a lot of Internet criticism of the setting (which is a major reason I avoid 1d4Chan and Something Awful’s gaming forums) and a lot of the posts actually question my sanity (or casts me as some kind of drooling misogynist, which is kinda ironic, actually). Am I actually into all this weird shit? Not really; my subconscious is a pretty messy place, but not quite that dark. It’s a fun setting to play in, and the more research into obscure myths I do, and the more mythic elements I include, the more I like it. While revamping Black Tokyo I’ve been reading everything from badly fan-translated hentai to doctoral thesis on Japanese folklore. The combination of deep scholarship and fucked up fetish is a fun one to create, and should keep readers on their toes.

Anyway, that combination of folklore and fetish is on full display in the magic item book. Right now, I’ve got 150 magic items (WAY up from the 38 items in the original Black Tokyo), and already have art for a good number of them. At this point, I’m unsure if I will add additional items to the book, as 150 is a great round number for a sourcebook, or save any additional items for later splat-books. I previewed five of my favorite items a few posts ago, so take a look at the item roster.

CHRIS

Magic Armor

1.      Amaterasu’s Ribbon

2.      Bishamon’s Do

3.      Blessed Rice Coat

4.      Casual Steel

5.      Carp Scale Shirt

6.      Cold Winds Skirt

7. Demon Hunter II Tactical Body Armor

8.      Enenra Rubber

9.      Glisten Shirt

10. Idol’s Skirt

11.  Otome’s Slip

12.  Masochistic Swimsuit

13.  Police Lady Uniform

14.  Police Section Seven Duty Uniform

15.  Salarimn’s Suit

16.  Silk Coil Harness

17.  Sleepy Dress

18.  Tanso Middle School Dress

19.  Yakuza’s Suit

 

Magic Weapons

1.      Beauty Knives

2.      Collapsing Reed Cane

3.      Daikoku’s Blade

4.      Ebisu’s Harpoon

5.      Eyrines 5.7mm  SMG

6.      Exorcist’s .50 Caliber

7.      Flying Nagatana

8.      Gashapon Armada Bag 

9. Girl Hunting Tonfa

10.  Guro Blade

11. Guro Scalpel
12. Hell Annihilating Sniper Rifle
13. Hellclub

14.  Hero’s Mallet

15. Heroic Tanto
16. Jurojin’s Staff

17.  Kaishaku’s Katana

18.  Monster Brand

19.  Police Section Seven Tonfa

20.  Splattercore Shotgun

21.  Queen Satan Knuckles

22. TBMS Catcher’s Tonfa

23.  Yakuza’s Pistol

24.  Viper Tongue Mempo

25.  Yurei’s Cutter

Wondrous Items

(Cn) indicates Consumable Items

1. Adoration Smoke (Cn)
2. Ainu Kut
3. Aizen Myo Ona-Hole
4. Akaname’s Sticker
5. Animal Tail Plug
6. Athlete’s Egg
7. Baku Call Charmlets
8. Baku Pillow
9. Benten’s Headphones
10. Benten’s Stud
11. Binzuru Idol
12. Blushing Dildo
13. Cat-Girl’s Leash
14. Cat-Girl’s Neko
15. Centipede Bracelet
16. Chrysanthemum Seven Official Panties
17. Coinless Card
18. Convenient Yatai
19. Cosmic Tights
20. Cosplayer’s Bangle
21. Cum Vial (Cn)
22. Cute Purse
23. Daikoku’s Ring of Fortune
24. Daruma Doll (Cn)
25. Devotional Scroll (Cn)
26. Dosojin’s Phallus
27. Ecchi Charm
28. Enlightenment Face
29. Fisherman’s Stone
30. Fugen Cellphone
31. Fox’ Cape
32. Ghost Sight Goggles
33. Goetic Dildo
34. Goryohime’s Tiara
35. Gyaru Eyelashes (Cn)
36. Haramaki
37. Harigata
38. Healing Matcha (Cn)
39. H-book, the
40. Hospital Mask (Cn)
41. Hotei Fan
42. Junishi Bangles
43. Kami Pleasing Candy (Cn)
44. Kirin’s Shoe
45. Koropokkuru’s Whistle
46. Linemaker’s Polymer (Cn)
47. Lolita’s Lingerie
48. Maiden’s Bells
49. Manba Wool
50. Medicine Gloves
51. Misogynist’s Tie
52. Motherblood Bandings
53. Mongaku’s Robe
54. Namazue’s Coffin
55. Necromancer’s Phallus
56. New Day Panties (Cn)
57. Noh Mask, Geisha
58. Noh Mask, Ghost
59. Noh Mask, Kitsune
60. Noh Mask, Oni
61. Noh Mask, Samurai
62. Nudist’s Camera
63. Oni-Bane Memento
64. Oni-bane Ribbons
65. Otaku’s Ona-Hole
66. Otoku-San Doll
67. Perfection Change Soap (Cn)
68. Pervert’s Guidebook
69. Petit Mansion
70. Project: Cute Pet
71. Psychological Noose
72. Safe Wipe (Cn)
73. Salariman’s Tie
74. Salariman’s Watch
75. Shit Ofuda (Cn)
76. Slit Mouth Mask
77. Spearman’s Ring
78. Spellcaster’s Egg
79. Tantros ™ Pill (Cn)
80. Tatami of Peace
81. Temple Bell
82. Theological Egg
83. Torque of Moans
84. Train Ofuda (Cn)
85. Transmutational Gyno-Bed
86. Ukemochi’s Salt (Cn)
87. Ususama’s Tampon (Cn)
88. Yakushi’s Bowl
89. Yakuza’s Key (Cn)
90. Yoshiwara Linens

Minor Artifacts

1. Afterlife Armor
2. Deep Pulse Armor
3. Hell Coral Armor
4. Herskin
5. Kim-Un Skull Repository
6. Skin of Pain
7. Theotokotic Phallus
8. True Lotus Bud (Cn)
9. Wonderful Play

Major Artifacts

1. Ae-Oina’s Spear
2. Izanagi’s Spear
3. Kata Yagami, the Imperial Mirror of Japan
4. Kusanagi, the Imperial Katana of Japan 
5. The Magatama, the Imperial Jewels of Japan

Christians 1, Chris 0

So it's been a shitty week.

My bike chain keeps slipping off, and when I goggle the brand of bike, I find it's a common problem with that model. I think I've got the problem fixed, but it keeps coming back, and coming back and coming back. I get dumped when the chain breaks last Monday, and I badly sprain my wrist.

So I'm walking everywhere, because until this Monday's payday I've got something like 17 cents to my name. So Monday morning, I take the bike into the shop to get it fixed, because whatever's wrong with the fucking thing I obviously can't solve on my own.

Of course, the place where I usually cash my paycheck can't cash it because the little numbers on the bottom have a misprinted character at the end their computer can't read. So I end up walking my ass four fucking miles to this shitty payday loan store that cashes checks under pretty much every condition, but charges you your fucking firstborn child for the privilege. They fucking cash the thing, take a bite out of it like they were a Mafia loanshark, but it takes a fucking hour.

I stop next door at a hamburger joint called Culver's. Good food, the staff is very well trained and polite, and the place is clean to a level that I, who works in the restaurant biz myself, can appreciate. However, the place is playing full out gospel music on the overhead speakers. Ugg. Now the first song, it's all this Jesus-junkie nonsense, but I figure it's just a country song, and the next song in the rotation will be about pickup trucks and chewin' tobacco or something. Nope, the next song is more of the same; then the third song is about "there's a war between God & the Devil" and seriously, I'm about to puke up my fucking french fries.

On my way out, the manager is walking the floor, this little Filipino troll woman of about 4'2", and I go up to her, and I start the conversation with the fact the burgers were good, the service was polite, but that the gospel music really irritated me- I wouldn't even say it offended me, just made the whole dining experience less pleasant than it could've been. I tell her that yeah, there's a few non-Christians in Kerrville TX.  Her response "I guess some people just don't want to be happy." She blathers some standard managerial customer service blather and concludes with "Have a blessed day!" In this faux-cheerful loud voice. I fucking wanted to strangle this ignorant hobbit-sized bitch.

 So I walk back to the bike store to get my bike. Pay the man; it's ready the yuppie fucker says. Great, I pay him, take it out, and don't even get to the first light before the chain pops off again. I take it back, he does more work, and off I go for round two.

This time, I make it exactly 2.5 blocks before the chain snaps off. I trudge back to the shop for a THIRD fucking time, and again, some more work gets done. So I test ride it, go a couple more blocks and come back to say I think he finally fixed it. So I take it out, and this time I get nearly 3 blocks before the chain jumps. Ah, the sweet smell of progress.

At this point I say to fuck with this fucking cocksucking motherfucker of a bicycle. I toss the fucking thing in a dumpster and say screw it. This fucking thing either can't be fixed or is going to cost me more in repairs than the $95 plus tax I paid for the damn thing in the first place. So I need a new bike.

But first, I'm going to get fucking drunk.
CHRIS

Black Tokyo Mega-Update

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in RPG land. San Francisco 2107 has hit, and I’ve just completed Action Galaxy, which should be on sale soon. I’ve also been doing some work on the long promised Black Tokyo Unlimited.

The image to the right is something I found on Kotaku, not new BT art, unfortunately. But this image actually inspired the Hentai Hero class idea......

Black Tokyo Unlimited: Races of Black Japan goes on sale soon, and features six new player races. The Goryohime were previewed recently, and are a radical rethinking of the Hanging Maiden Advanced Class presented in Black Tokyo II: Chastity & Depravity. In Chastity & Depravity, the concept of an undead school girl was presented as an advanced class- here it’s a player race. I’m eventually going to revise the Hanging Maiden class itself, playing up its oracular and clerical nature, but the Goryohime is an indication of my current philosophy towards Black Tokyo Unlimited.

My largest revision work has been in terms of magic items. In the original Black Tokyo campaign setting, you had about 30 magic items. I’m planning a standalone item-book and right now, I’ve got well over 100 new magic items, and I want to have between 120-150, if not more, before I publish. More on this at the end of the post.

The Hentai Hero

I’m also working on revising most of the Advanced Classes found in Black Tokyo’s first edition. However don’t expect a straight conversion. Most of the original BT concepts, being designed for D20 Modern, don’t translate cleanly to Pathfinder. More to the point, some of the class abilities in the original book were just fucked up- overly wordy, mechanically unclear, poorly designed. By contrast, the core concept behind the classes were really cool, and I want to retain the flavor of evocative character concepts like the Flow Witch, Ghostkissed Investigator and Devil Heart Hunter, among others. Basically, I’m trying to take an early book by a then-rookie game designer, and apply the last five years or so of hard-learned lessons.

So how am I going to fix things?

Check this out. I’m building a new 20 level base class, with modular class abilities, similar to the Powered Hero, Sentai Hero and Modern Spellcaster called simply the Hentai Hero basic class. The first edition BT classes are being revised as Talent Trees, which opens up some really interesting customization options.

One key conceit I want to include is that Hentai Heroes are defined by their flaws, just like my Powered Heroes are defined by their origin. Each Hentai Hero selects a particular flaw from a list suggested by their first talent tree. The flaws are similar to my Fursona disadvantages or the social templates in Races of the Tatakama- they offer mostly invisible mechanical support to character flaws that would be purely roleplay-based in other games. It fits thematically, because hentai protagonists are deeply flawed, usually anti-heroic figures, defined by their rages, lusts and melancholies.

Magic Item Preview

I thought you’d like to see a sampling of new magic items for Black Tokyo Unlimited. I’m previewing five items here.

The first, the Blessed Rice Coat, originally appeared in Black Tokyo 1^st Edition; it’s been clarified and cleaned up. The next four are all new: a new armor, a new magic weapon, and two wondrous items. I chose the Masochistic Swimsuit, Guro Blade, Dosojin’s Phallus and Kami Pleasing Candy as my spotlighted items because they effectively sum up Black Tokyo’s fucked-up hybrid of traditional Japanese folklore and hentai fetish, and each feature some neat rules and interesting applications. Clever players should find a ton of uses of these weird and iconic items.

Enjoy,

CHRIS

Blessed Rice Coat

Aura strong abjuration CL 13^th

Slot body Price 46,800 gp (DC 31) Weight 3-5 lbs

            In the old stories, weak willed demons can be held at bay by a grain of rice blessed by a Buddha. Other stories tell of oni who are confused and tricked thanks to a clever human scattering grains of rice for them to count obsessively. The Blessed Rice Coat transforms an old legend into a new defense against Black Tokyo’s pan-dimensional predators.

            The Blessed Rice Coat is a designer leather trench coat, cut in an ultra slick, modern style. The trench coat’s silk inner lining is a silk-screened reproduction of a Hirosaki print of famers reaping the harvest and sewn between the leather and the lining are hundreds of blessed grains of rice. To humans, the Blessed Rice Coat seems as nothing more than an attractive, expensive designer fashion piece.

            The Blessed Rice Coat is +1 leather armor.

Once per day, the wearer can dramatically throw open the coat as a standard action. If any non-good creature of the Outsider type is present within 100 ft, the farmers in the print come to life. The silk-screened farmers thresh their rice, collecting the harvest, and the golden light of sunset emanates from the coat’s lining.

           

            All non-good Outsiders within 100 ft of the cloak when it is are subject to a Banishment spell cast by a 13^th level Cleric. The Blessed Rice Coat is considered to be an item the Outsider ‘fears or hates’ for the purposes of Banishment. Even if an Outsider succeeds at its WILL Save to avoid Banishment, they are either dazed for 1d6 minutes, blinded for 1d4 rounds by the intense golden light blaring from the coat’s lining, or rendered cowering for 1 round. The Blessed Rice Coat’s wearer chooses which effect to inflict on non-good Outsiders. All Outsiders affected suffer the same penalty.

Construction

Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, banishment, bestow curse

Cost 23,400 gp (DC 29)

Masochistic Swimsuit
Aura moderate necromancy CL 5^th

Slot body Price 30,000 gp (DC 30) Weight neg.

            This navy one piece swimsuit resembles the standard athletic wear for schoolgirls throughout Black Japan. The only difference: crusts of pinkish brown dried blood staining the white mesh inner lining.

            When worn by a female in the Young Adult age category or younger, the Masochistic Swimsuit works to keep its wearer alive while simultaneously increasing her suffering. The Masochistic Swimsuit’s wearer suffers a -2 penalty on FORT Saves, but the duration of harmful effects requiring a FORT Save are halved. In addition, on any round where the wearer suffers at least 5 HP worth of damage, there is a 25% chance that on Initiative count zero, the wearer recovers 1d6 HP. 

            Special: Only Young Adult or younger females can benefit form this magic item.

Construction

Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bestow curse, cure moderate wounds

Cost 15,000 gp (DC 27)

Guro Blade
Aura moderate conjuration CL 8^th 

Slot weapon Price 49,000 gp (DC 31) Weight 2 lbs

            This well balanced tanto’s hilt is strangely sculpted, resembling coiled loops of pinkish-red intestine curled tightly rather than an ordinary sword’s hilt.

           

            The Guro Blade is a +1 wounding tanto.

            As a full round action, the Guro Blade’s wielder can draw the weapon across their belly in a gesture similar to the ritual of seppuku. Doing so spills the wielder’s steaming guts out, where these loops of bloody intestine lengthen to incredible distances. This creates an area of black tentacles in a 60 ft cone directly in front of the wielder. In addition to constriction damage, creatures grappled by the tentacles suffer 1d6 points of acid damage per round.

            The wielder cannot dismiss the black tentacles before the maximum duration expires, and during this time, cannot move from their square. If involuntarily moved, or if the black tentacles are dismissed, the effect ends. The wielder is nauseated for 1 minute after the black tentacles effect ends. There is a 10% chance per activation that when the effect ends, rather than withdrawing back into the body, the wielder’s intestines remain severed. In this case, the wielder dies when the black tentacles effect ends.

Construction

Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bleed, black tentacles

Cost 24,500 gp (DC 29)        

Dosojin’s Phallus
Aura strong conjuration CL 13^th

Slot none Price 109,000 gp (DC 34) Weight 2 lbs

            This phallus is named for a kami of crossroads and cocks, travel and trade and penetration and sexual exchange. This rough stone phallus has been carved with a cross-like symbol of the crossroads; when the phallus’ magic is called upon, this etching glows a brilliant yellow.

           

            When a character masturbates with this phallus, either anally or vaginally, Dosojin’s Phallus teleports them elsewhere. Only the user, up to 50 lbs of personal possession and a familiar (if any) are transported. Dosojin’s Phallus can be used to teleport a user up to 3 times per day.

            Under normal circumstances, Dosojin’s Phallus teleports the user exactly 100 miles in a randomly chosen direction (1N 2E 3W 4S on d4). The user appears in the nearest safe, open space at their destination. If the teleportation would place the character in the ocean, the Phallus instead teleports them either 50 miles or 25 miles in the random direction instead, whichever distance would leave them on land. The Phallus cannot randomly teleport a character less than 25 miles, even if doing so would leave them in the ocean.

            If the character masturbates with Dosojin’s Phallus at a crossroads or street intersection, she may choose her destination, teleporting without error to a place within 100 miles.

            If a virgin character masturbates with Dosojin’s Phallus at a crossroads or street intersection, the character may choose to teleport to a randomly chosen but safe point in the Tatakama rather than traveling across the Earth Realm.

Construction

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, greater teleport

Cost 54,500 gp (DC 32)

Kami Pleasing Candy

Aura very faint divination CL 1^st

Slot none Price 25 gp (DC 5) Weight neg.

            This simple and cloyingly sweet magical candy is rooted in Shinto tradition. The candy’s golden foil is unwrapped and offered to the sky, and devoured by the petty gods (kami) of everyday life, it disappears in a flash of amber light.

           

            Sacrificing the Kami Pleasing Candy is a standard action. For one round after the sacrifice, the character receives a +1 luck bonus on all skill checks. If the character rolls a 1 on any skill check, he or she may reroll the check once, but must accept the results of the second roll, even if it is equally bad.

            Special: If a member of the Kami player race uses this item, she actually eats the candy herself. In addition to the standard effects, the Kami recovers a single Hit Point if wounded.

Construction

Requirements Brew Potion, guidance

Cost 13 gp (DC 3)