Ministry - New Religion

Google told me I was a doorway with no depth.

© The Weirding, 2025

Champions Shadowrun Discussion

The world, so far, is too much like what I was going for in Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, but this will not be the outcome; Buffy sticks more to vampires and demons vs. PCs, whereas this includes fantasy races, more fantastic magic, and different systems. It is far more fantasy-related than anything I was doing with Buffy (excepting the fantasy stuff in Pylea).

It also isn't really Shadowrun. This is cobbled together from (mainly) Dark Champions, CyberHERO, Urban Fantasy Hero, and Hero Horror. Due to circumstances and what is available in PDF these days, it also includes products from three editions (3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th). These products are still available on DTRPG, but I'll link to them throughout the upcoming posts, as Google claims I am working as a doorway to sites like DTRPG... which has everything to do with Google's attempt to stranglehold advertising and nothing to do with me. 

To be sure, this is a blog, not a doorway to anywhere nor anything else. However, part of covering these topics is including links to more information, and I'm sticking to that. Google AdSense changes its direction constantly and wreaks havoc on the Internet. I still want the money I'm owed, though - even if it was only $1.00.

But back to the topic at-hand: Because I can't include tables and charts, I won't be able to provide everything I'm coming up with for this Shadowrun under HERO project to you here, and I don't think I'll be able to secure whatever rights I need to be able to include it in a webzine like I'd planned, but I can definitely post some things like packages, important NPC statblocks, and the like.

And I'm not abandoning Buffy! I still have a ton of stuff I've yet to share, but a blog is not the appropriate place for sharing it due to publishing constraints. I may be able to rewrite and change some things around, but that takes more time than it's worth here; we don't get a lot of traffic, usually. However, I'll still be adding more to Buffy along the way, I'll just be focused on this particular project for the moment.

Anyway, that's what's happening. And posting this helped me clear my own thoughts while informing a largely non-existent audience of my intentions. Now go visit these other people and places for more RPG, comics, and pop-culture -related content in which you are likely to be interested.

© The Weirding, 2025

Webzines, Rights, and Issues

Well, the webzine as I had envisioned it looks like it's a bust simply because I cannot clear the rights with all of the companies, many of which have long since either gone out of business or licensed the rights to someone else. While that is okay as far as I am concerned - it was just one idea of many, but one I really wanted to see come to fruition for all kinds of reasons - it brought up a lot of issues I have with trying to support RPG material and reminds me of why I did it this way to start with.

How do you expect anyone to hear about your game if you don't allow people to talk about it? Producing original material for use with our favorite games is a time-honored tradition within the RPG community. It's something a lot of us do just for fun between gaming sessions to scratch the itch, if nothing else. Reviewing games we're only going to play once just so we can review them is not a time-honored tradition amongst the community, nor something for which I have time. I understand wanting to control what is associated with your IP, but it's gotten out of control.

I have every right to expect a pittance for the time and effort I put into developing these things, regardless of the RPG system you decide to use it with. Not being able to key my material to any game other than D&D means it's going to make it harder for me to write well, and harder for you to use with whatever system you play... unless you play D&D. I doubt it surprises most of you to learn that no one comes here to read gaming content (sadly). If you do, count yourself among the dozen or so people a month who read those posts. I can't really take the time to do that for one person, and I apologize for that but (if you do the math), that's about the size of the audience here.

The webzine is not 100% dead, as there are a handful of things I can try, but it's more likely that I will produce some system agnostic supplements instead of the webzine format I was going for. I'll be slowing down here and not posting every weekday, at least not every week. Once again, it's just not something I have the time to do anymore; the audience is non-existent. I'll still be sharing Buffy and Hero material here and on RPG Geek, just not every day.

At this point, even if I get the go-ahead for some of the games I want to cover, the majority of the 'zine would be pages of OGL and CC rights notices, so let me adjust to the scene and get to know how to do what I want to do the right way, then I'll revisit the idea down the road.

© The Weirding, 2025

Disciple #1

Joe Quesada's new imprint, Amazing, brings us their first title. Quesada was the EIC at Marvel who oversaw retconning Spider-Man's 20+ year-long marriage to Mary Jane Watson by having the demonic Mephisto annul it.

© The Weirding, 2025

New Project: Shadowrun Under HERO System

Due to the copyright and trademark restrictions, I have no idea how much of this stuff I will be able to share here or publish elsewhere, but I've always liked the basic concept for Shadowrun, just not the system. I have always loved the HERO system, but it lacks lore and core concepts because it is a universal system. 

We were discussing this online when I decided to take the plunge and give it a go. There is already a serviceable Unisystem conversion online, and I have taken Buffy about as far as I can before getting it to a table or finding the right solo system for it, so it's time to move on to another project I have always wanted to try. The key here seems to be purchasing the right books, and there are more than a few.

I already have a substantial amount invested in Hero, and several books from the Shadowrun line, so I had a jumpstart on things. But adopting a new system or even project is not something I can afford to take lightly, and this is not going to be light on my wallet before it is done. Luckily, I can space-out my purchases over a few months and take the time to read what I buy.

My shadowrunning team consists of a cybertechnician, a cybermancer decker, a cybernetically-augmented dwarf with a magic axe, and a small team of occult-investigating mercs. Horror Hero has a superb scenario generator that lead me to create a villainous mad scientist intent on kidnapping one of the DNPCs (mercs), so I am all but off and running. I still have a lot of details to fill-in and will share what I come up with.

© The Weirding, 2025