i review 'this house is haunted' and interview the author known as disaster tourism

 

Reading this book I felt excited, and when the book ended I felt excitement for a while (20-30 minutes).

I read or reread this book in bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, and at a 24-hour deli where nearby people were hating their lives and hating the universe, while staring at my phone.

This book seems afraid of boring the reader or using too much of the reader's time and like it wants to finish quickly and be a nice, considerate book; I like books and people like this, it feels like the author worked very hard deleting words and sentences that people might be bored by.

I want my books to have this quality.

If I like something I want more of it, I want everything to be like that, and it does not get 'annoying' and it is never 'enough'. If Disaster Tourism wrote five more 'This House is Haunted' I don't think I would ever say something like 'it was good the first three times but then it was like, come on, can't you do anything else, make something up'; I would be like 'yes, I like this; since I like this I want more, thank you'.

Any of the above would make for a good blurb.

I will write another blurb now.

'Disaster Tourism is a rising star. Rising out of the shit of the world. Into newer kinds of endless shit.' - Spooky Rusty

That is my blurb for the book. 

That is how I blurb.

It would help sell tens of copies if they'd put my blurb on this book.

The books has about a dozen 'system neutral enemies', some tables to generate encounters for locations, and provides tools to develop an increasingly spooky 'atmosphere'.

I'll roll on the 'd666 creepy things' table to show a few ways to further spookify any situation: 

 

551. a dollhouse that is a replica of this home, but is missing this particular room. 

415. pinboard of scalps

354. a knife that slices, dices, and julienne on its own

356. a door that will not let you leave

224. a white man with answers only presented through mansplaining

655. man-shaped tree or a tree-shaped man that moves closer and closer

511. serpent of unimaginable size flicks its tongue from a cramped space, laying in wait

This table alone is worth having for your horror games. There's some humor found here and other places in the book.

How about a house plant that can sprout up to a 100 homunculi? Fuck yes. Each 'enemy' in the book comes with a reaction table (like miens in troika) and wants.

Anyone purchasing this book should be able to immediately have a game ready for their friends with minimal preparation. It's that well laid out with the right amount of information. I would recommend not prepping much before hand and generating most of the house on the fly (there's a dung fly in here too) as the party investigate whichever rumors you gave them. Everything is written as 'period generic' so it should be easy to insert this into any of your campaigns. 

If you ever wanted to roll 16d6 at once to generate a mannequin workshop this book is for you.

Some of what you'll find in the book:
1. six tables to generate your own ghosts 
2. rats that vomit a pustulent boiling bile
3. expressive layout with several original art pieces
4. a gibbering doll that may recite poetry at a speed you can barely follow (more ttrpg products should involve poetry)
5. a mannequin workshop generator
6. a dried cow's tongue that swells when danger is near
7. a green house with 5 killer plants
8. a 9ft clown that has to hunch throughout most rooms in the house after you (this one really freaks me out) 

I recommend vibing out with music from Vatican Shadow if you run this game for your friends.

An interview with the author

Can you type a dialogue you've had in real life that you remember and liked?

Me: Luna what do we do to cops?
Luna: Say "fuck you" and give them a knuckle sammich


Can you type a dialogue you've had in real life you remember and disliked?

Me-in Walmart shoplifting a baby doll for my kid
My kid-Daddy you didn't pay for this!!!! (really loud)

What do you do on the internet if you're bored?

Usually watch horror movies.

If you could leave yourself a present in the future what would it be?

A cabin in the woods.

What did you do in place of writing before you started writing?

Painted a lot of miniatures and made model scenery and terrain. I'm a huge hobbyist.

What are you writing now?

Three re-writes of my last years Halloween games, Several as of yet unannounced Troika projects with a few cool people, and a mothership pamphlet. We'll see how those go. Also have a game coming out built on the WYRD framework that I'm releasing in November.

You can purchase 'This House is Haunted' on their website (if you order now you should get it before Halloween), follow Disaster Tourism on twitter, check out their other games on itch.io, and consider joining their patreon.

(if you'd like to support me there are links on the right where you can purchase my zines)

I test played a friend's game solo #ttrpg

My friend Kirby from the Necropolis discord server publishes TTRPGs under the name Disaster Tourism. They posted a message asking if anyone would be interested in play testing their new extremely minimal rules light cyber punk themed game. It's like a hack of one of their other games they released recently. 

Since my deployment I've really enjoyed playing TTRPGs solo. This game was just released today so I wanted to share my play through. 

I made it pretty detailed so you can maybe get inspired to try playing your own solo games and see how I run my own oracle (a way to emulate a game master for solo play).

Also here is the kickass music I was listening to.

You can get the game here! (There's free community copies still)

Wired Solo Test Play 1

(I’ll be listening to the dark synth AMV radio - brutal 80s beats on YouTube that streams 247 during this play through unless otherwise stated).

I’m using a method for an oracle where you grab a book and roll for a random page number followed by rolls for paragon and sentence. 

The book I will use is Psycho Nymph Exile.

The adventure I will be playing for this test play is the one included in the back of the new Cy-Borg TTRPG.

Tough: 1 

Wire: 1

Skill: 2

Vitality: 3

Encumbrance: 5

Chip Slots: 7

Gear: Fire Katana 1d3 2 slots. Medium sized.

Hack: Bypass 2 slots. 1d6.

Firewall: None. +2 bonus hack effect.

Armor: Leather shirt. 1 mod. 1 port. 2 slots. +1 small gear dmg

Street Red: 0

Narc: 0

XXX&soitbegins_)))

Xleo (my character is a woman in her early 30s. She has a buzz cut but her hair is aqua blue with white cheetah print and she’s heavy on her make-up and she really wants a new recursive synthesizer but for now REVENGE will have to do. She reeks of lighter fluid due to her fire katana).

Let’s roll for weather using Cy-Borg to get the scene started. 1d12. 11 Blinding fog.

Now to the adventure…

<the job>

To erase the debt of of Charlie Sand at the Casino.

Let’s just open the scene with Xleo playing slots and a doom punk band playing on the stage. Roll for random encounter.

A nearby guest screams. She just won jackpot on slot! Other guests approach her. 

Xleo looks over and sees a guest is trying to pickpocket some of the coins. 

“Hey he’s taking your coins!”

4 guards head over.

Perfect distraction Xleo thinks and heads to the staff door she’s been eyeing the last 45 minutes.

The door is unlocked but let’s ask the oracle if anyone is inside at the moment.

Roll 1d188 for page number then d6 for paragraph and d4 for sentence.

Pg. 64 paragraph 5. Sentence 1. “Stray lasers slam into the corpse mountain, knocking showers of blood from the roof of the flesh-tunnel.”

I’ll interpret that as the room is dead and empty. Lucky Xleo.

Lockers line the walls but there’s an elevator in the corner. Xleo gets in and press the down button.

The doors open and there’s 5 staffers watching cameras in the room. It’s a Sec Office. Fuck. There’s also an AI here. Book says they want no trouble though so maybe this is good for Xleo. Obviously they will notice her coming off the elevator so let’s ask the oracle how they react.

Pg. 55 paragraph 2. Sentence 4. “Like those healthy ones who have everything, but hunger for those who have nothing.”

Ok seems like they want a fight actually~!

We’ll say the 5 staff are basic enemies and the AI is rough.

Vitality dmg taken

AI 11

Staffer 1 5 -1=4

Staffer 2 8 -2=6

Staffer 3 6 -2=4

Staffer 4 8 -2=6

Staffer 5 6 -3=3

Xleo rolls for an attack with her flame katana against the first staffer. 1d6-skill+armor for Xleo that’s 2-2+1=1 

The Staffer has an enemy hd of 1d6 and rolled 3. SICK! Xleo goes first and hits Staffer with her Flame Katana (1d3) for 1dmg gashing the side of his face. His ear hits the floor.

Let’s roll again for combat against the next Staffer that charges her. Xleo got a 2. Staffer 2 got 4. Xleo slices him for 2dmg.

This time for combat Xleo rolls 4. Staffer 3 got 5. Xleo claps his cheeks for 2dmg. Let’s GO!

Xleo rolls 5 for combat. Staffer 4 got 6 (PHEW!) and takes 2 dmg.

Xleo rolls 0 combat against the last staffer. Course she will hit! 3 dm!

Xleo changes her stance as the AI approaches. Xleo got 1. AI got 1 and spin kicks Xleo across her face for 7dmg. 

Xleo’s neck snaps. The AI carries her limp body into the elevator and rides it up exiting in the staff room. 

They take Xleo’s katana and walk out the back door to the alley. The AI tosses Cleo’s body into the dumpster. 

The End

XXX0_r