This Old Bunker

So, you want to take over the world? You've got your doomsday device. You've got your army of henchmen in matching boiler suits. Now, where to put them all. Sure, the housing market in the U.S. is firmly the realm of the buyer, but what evil genius wants to set up shop on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs? Especially with today's gas prices.

Why not try Merry Olde England? A quick perusal of A Guide to Avengerland: A Guide To The Locations Used During The Filming of Classic British Television Series will show just how ripe Great Britain is for nefarious conspiracies. After all, if it's good enough for Professor Schnipps, it's good enough for anyone. Subterranea Britannica is a collection of maps and photos of abandoned military and scientific posts

h/t www.livingdice.com

Trask, the Last Tyromancer writes:

Malcolm Craig, author of "Hot War," the pointed me towards a fascinating site from the UK with dozens of maps and images of old military installations.

Most of the locations have both original images that show them in their prime, maps and modern images that show the ravages of time. This is one of the best gaming resources I found recently. The maps and images would make great supplements to any modern or post-apocalyptic game.

If you want to see what is available, this link takes you directly to the "good stuff," but check out the entire site. It is chock full of gaming goodness.



Bunkers and Installations


Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Things To Read in London When The World Is Dead
h/t hannibalchew

After The Rain (1958) by John Bowen
The Death of Grass (1957) by John Christopher
The World In Winter (1962) by John Christopher
The Ragged Edge (1962) by John Christopher
The Burning World (1964) by JG Ballard
The Drowned World (1962) by JG Ballard
The Wind From Nowhere (1961) by JG Ballard
Implosion (1967) by DF Jones
Denver Is Missing (1971) by DF Jones
Fugue for a Darkening Island (1973) by Christopher Priest

What Hath Alex Toth?

Rubin Espinosa has assembled an impressive collection of Alex Toth drawings, some of which I've never seen before, at his Collecting Fool site. These Huns were from Birdman, but the site also has examples of his work from everything from Herculoids to Huckleberry Finn. When I look at Toth's stuff and compare it to the Ren & Stimpy clones that pass for cartoon "art" these days, I weep.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, RPA Agent

There's only so many times one can listen to Queen's "I Want It All" or Iggy & The Stooges "Search & Destroy" while using the treadmilling machine down at the local gym ("Gime? What's a gime?"). Frequently, I like to listen to something nonmusical when I'm trying to work off that egg roll I had with the Kung Pao chicken I had for lunch. Sometimes I'll listen to Fox News or NBC or ABCBS, the three televisual options provided by the Young Men's Christian Association. Sometimes, I'll find me a bit of OTR ... Jungle Jim, Flash Gordon, or Terry & The Pirates. Lately, however, I've been on a podcast kick. My current favorite: The Sons of Kryos.

Last night, I listened to them run Cold City. I was first exposed to Cold City when I read Doug Pirko's excellent write-up of his own session. Listening to Jeff Lower and Judd Karima's adventure made me really get the hankering to run my own. For those unfamiliar with Cold City is a game set in postwar Berlin. The players take on the role of agents of the Reserve Police Agency, a multinational organization tasked with sweeping up the supernatural mess left behind after the fall of the Third Reich. Each hailing from a different nation, they must achieve the party goals as well as striving to fulfill their national and personal goals as well. Picture The Spy Who Came in From The Cold as written by Mike Mignola.

For a taste, check out the three parts of the Sons of Kryos Cold City session:

Download Part 1

Download Part 2

Download Part 3

Last night, I found Mwaantaangaand, a game that admittedly draws heavily on Cold City, but, in the words of game master Jonathan Walton, "runs on a largely 'structured freeform' system that has a bit of strategy and resource manipulation involved in the way corrupted spirits are fought."

Instead of playing multinational Cold-Warring strang-bedfellows, Mwaantaangaand PCs are a "coalition of soldiers from the various factions of the Angolan Civil War descending into the land of the dead to destroy the horrors created by Project Coast, South Africa’s biological weapons program." Walton's bent even won the praise of Malcolm Craig (Cold City's designer) himself.

It's certainly an interesting and worthwhile take on things. I've yet to fully finish re-reading it and fully digesting the entire thing, but so far I really like what i see.

Cheers
Malc

It was designed as part of The Sight and Sound Game Design Challenge