I AM IN THE PROCESS OF REMOVING ALL GAMES FROM THIRD PARTY WEBSITES THAT MIGHT BE IN VIOLATION OF THE EXCLUSIVITY TERMS AS DEMANDED BY DTRPG.
AFTER 21 JULY 2023 I WILL BE RESTORING MY GAMES. UNTIL THEN MY GAMES CAN BE FOUND HERE ON MY WEBSITE:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.
This set of rules started about the middle of 2022. An odd idea that formed into a completed project. I am rather proud of it. It combines some of my best ideas combined with a growing ability to format the book and come up with appealing art work.
One problem I had was that I made a number of different covers for The Hobo Way, but I could not decide which one I liked more.
Which do you like more?
What would you do if you suddenly became 2 cm tall?
In an alternate universe there is a galaxy very similar to our galaxy. In that galaxy there is a star very similar to our Sun. Circling that star is a planet very similar to our Earth. On that planet there are oceans, land masses, plants and animals very similar to what we find on Earth. Among those animals there is a very smart species of hominids very similar to humans.
And those hominids that are so very similar to us are governed in a very similar way.
Only on the other planet, unlike our Earth, the governments are mostly controlled by evil men and women who commit unspeakable crimes against the population of the planet. Yet the people of that planet are lazy, apathetic, and complacent. They are too obsessed with sports, entertainment, and consumerism to pay any attention to what the evil leaders of the planet are doing.
Of course this could never happen here on Earth.
On this similar planet in an alternate universe, the evil leaders hired mad scientists to create a deadly pandemic. Their goal was to kill the majority of the population of the planet so that the abundant resources would be entirely available to the elites and their loyal servants.
This is a game where a tiny percentage of the population in an alternate universe survived a sinister conspiracy aimed at killing 99% of the people living on the planet.
Your Character will be one of the Survivors who was not killed by the conspirators, and now must find a way to live in a harsh environment and then seek revenge against the leaders who betrayed you!
This is an adventure designed to be played with Pulp Kharma.
It is a mash-up inspired by two famous science fiction franchises. One seems a bit like a Western in outer space, and the other seems a bit like a kung fu movie in outer space. When you look at the Character Cards at the end I think you are going to be able to figure it out.
The PCs of this adventure are the crew of a space ship named Tranquility. They are struck by a strange cosmic phenomenon that can at best be described as a “space storm”. The ship is sucked into a strange vortex. The instruments mostly stop working, and some are damaged beyond repair. Luckily the engine, artificial gravity, and the life support are fine.
And everything is quiet. As if nothing had ever happened. There is no sign of any “space storm”. And they are not where they were when the storm pulled them into the vortex.
As the adventure proceeds they discover they are in a very strange place indeed. There is a planet named Bendor inhabited by short hairy humanoids called Ezoks. And there are other familiar characters as well, some not so friendly.
Pulp Kharma v.2 is a game ‘lite’ system that is fast and easy to play.
You may submit anything you like as long as it is based upon Pulp Kharma v.2.
Pulp Kharma v.2 is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This is the most open license under the Creative Commons and allows you to create content for any purpose you like as long as you provide attribution.
The game is now on ITCHIO, LULU, and AMAZON.
Here is a set of rules I came up with in an effort to remove all reference to the OGL 1.0a and any content that falls under it.
I have a problem with rules so bloated that no one can figure out what anything means without a ouija board. I also dislike rules that are so ‘lite’ that they leave out important parts that are required to make the game playable. T.W.O. RPG is intended to be a ‘lite’ yet complete set of rules.
This is just the Rules. I am working on additional sections: Wealth Weapons Equipment, Monsters, and Spells. Coming Soon!
With all the kerfuffle going on about the new WotC OGL 1.1 and the possibility that the old OGL 1.0a will be revoked, rescinded, unauthorized, whatever by WotC, I have been thinking about how to proceed in the future without the OGL 1.0a or anything whatsoever from WotC.
I do not make game modules, adventure settings, or anything else intended to be used with any WotC products. My games are all free standing and already ‘mostly’ non-derivative of anything associated with the OGL 1.*, the SRDs, or anything from WotC… except for the monsters. In all my role playing games (RPGs) I use the Hit Dice Formula from the SRD 3.5.
But let’s backtrack a bit. You may be asking, “What the heck are all these acronyms about; OGL, SRD, WotC, etc.”
Let’s start with OGL. OGL stands for the Open Game License which was introduced in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (WotC — I killed two birds with one stone there!). So far there have been two authorized versions of the OGL; 1.0 and 1.0a. Both give the licensee the ability to use designated Open Game Content free of any royalty to WotC into perpetuity (Section 4 of the OGL 1.0a) in consideration for extending certain rights to WotC described in the OGL beyond that normally given by copyright laws and other intellectual property laws. The various versions of the OGL were clearly intended to be irrevocable as described in the document itself and in FAQs issued by WotC:
Q: Can’t Wizards of the Coast change the License in a way that I wouldn’t like?
A: Yes, it could. However, the License already defines what will happen to content that has been previously distributed using an earlier version, in Section 9. As a result, even if Wizards made a change you disagreed with, you could continue to use an earlier, acceptable version at your option. In other words, there’s no reason for Wizards to ever make a change that the community of people using the Open Gaming License would object to, because the community would just ignore the change anyway.
Archived FAQ from WotC
The Open Game Content that is referenced in the OGL are the SRDs (man there are a lot acronyms here; SRD refers to System Reference Document). WotC have created three primary SRDs covered by one or more of the OGLs:
Anything from these sources are available under and subject to the OGL 1.0 or OGL 1.0a.
Ok, I think that brings us to the current problem. WotC is supposedly issuing yet another OGL to cover its newest version of D&D; OGL 1.1. From what I have heard this OGL is the very opposite of an ‘open’ license and as such is a gross misnomer. In supposed leaks of OGL 1.1 WotC describes the old OGL as ‘unauthorized’. It is not clear what that means. Is it ‘unauthorized’ for those who accept and use the new OGL 1.1? Or is WotC trying to ‘revoke’ the old OGLs, and if so is this revocation only as to the future or retroactive? I do not know, and if WotC follows through with this I suspect the only way it will be solved is in the courts.
As such, I no longer feel very comfortable using the OGLs, SRDs, or anything else from WotC in the future. I believe my past works are protected by the clear language of the OGL, the written and published interpretation of that language by WotC, and the legal concept of ‘reliance’ which protects those who reasonably rely upon the words, actions, etc. of another.
So I am trying to figure out how to remove any content from future games that could be in any way interpreted as coming from WotC so that I can proceed without the OGL. Since most of my games are not set in the sword and sorcery genre I thought this would be easy. In the past WotC has declared that the Character Creation process, which is excluded from all the SRDs, is proprietary and protected property of WotC. Regardless of whether this claim is legitimate, accepting the OGL 1.* puts the user into the situation that this interpretation should be respected. Another area that WotC has suggested as ‘proprietary’ protected process is the use of the d20 (20 sided dice); which I believe is a ridiculous claim. None of my games use the Character Creation process since I do not particularly like it, so I seem to be good on that one. As for the d20s, just to be ultra cautious, I think I will convert any 1d20 rolls to 2d10 rolls (d10; ten sided die) which has the added benefit of creating a statistical ‘curve’ for results.
Easy Peasy — No more OGL!
Then I realized I have a much bigger problem; the Hit Dice Formula used to create, define, modify monsters in the D&D system. If there is something proprietary, unique, and potentially protected as a unique ‘process’ as intellectual property it is the Hit Dice Formula. How to do without it?
And again, what the heck is the Hit Dice Formula?
Here is the Hit Dice Formula as used in the SRD 3.*:
| (X)d(Y)+(Z) X = Number of HD Y = Size of Dice (4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 20) Z = HD Bonus |
From this formula the monster’s level (X), attack bonus (X), and hit points (X * Mean Value of Die + Z) are derived. Replacing it would be a monumental task. Or at least that is what I am thinking right now.
What to do? I think I have a lot more research on this matter.
UPDATE 09 JAN 2023: I think I have sorted out the issue of the Hit Dice Formula to my satisfaction. A mathematical formula cannot get copyright protection. It ‘might’ by covered as a ‘process patent’ but if so the time period has expired. So I don’t think I have anything to worry about there.
Here is a first review for ‘Ancient Elements’:
“A well-considered variant on Microlite20 tastefully curated with neat houserules (even Grappling!). The author has made effective choices throughout. Liked it so much I bought the print version elsewhere. Nice job Alexander. Will be using it over the Xmas break.”
He liked it! He really liked it!
The game is now on ITCHIO, LULU, and AMAZON.
I decided to avoid DriveThruRPG. They have been irritating me and I am thinking it was a mistake to sign up with them for exclusive distribution. So hopefully this experiment with ITCHIO will work out!
https://www.bozbat.com/microlite20-rpg-system/small-survivors/
UPDATE (23 DEC 2022): Not only is Small Survivors now published, but it is also indexed! Yeah. It only took a bit over 2 weeks! I don’t know why it took so long to index (my other games have been indexed immediately after publication). I thought it might have been the subject matter; the game is about the characters being shrunk to 2cm tall, but the reason why they were shrunk to that size was potentially controversial given the woke and protective attitude of so many towards certain dystopian themes related to the BeerBug and the shot. Oh well. Its indexed now! It won’t get the benefit of showing up at the top of the ‘Most Recent’ list since it is now buried in the pile from two weeks ago, but whatever!
Dust Devils are nasty critters for sure. They are small, fast, and mean and generally travel in packs 4 to 8 in order to attack the unsuspecting traveler.
One on one they are not much to fear but in a pack they can be very dangerous. Dust Devils fly through the arid lands of the Wild West, and from a distance appear to be nothing more than a dirty cloud. But it is cloud that comes at you with evil intent.
The basic claw attack of a Dust Devil is more of an annoyance than anything else, but when combined with their special attacks and used in a coordinated pack they become very dangerous.
Dust Devil Stats: