{"id":47160,"date":"2016-03-14T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roleplayerschronicle.com\/?p=47160"},"modified":"2016-03-13T21:08:38","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T02:08:38","slug":"guest-article-blackfall-press-rogues-gallery-cold-steel-wardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/roleplayerschronicle.com\/?p=47160","title":{"rendered":"Guest Article: Blackfall Press – Rogues Gallery (Cold Steel Wardens)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery<\/strong>
\nBy: A.P. Klosky<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/a>I\u2019m an unabashed comic book fan. Even as I was in grade school, I spent my free time reading through my uncle\u2019s collection of Worlds\u2019 Finest, Justice League of America<\/em>, Spider-Man<\/em>, and Fantastic-Four<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In a strange twist of fate, though, the first comic I ever read was Justice League of America, Vol. 1, #65<\/em>\u2026the issue in which time-travelling villain T.O. Morrow creates energy duplicates of the heroes\u2019 most deadly enemies to off the entire Justice League.<\/p>\n

I suppose it\u2019s there that my fascination with villains started. From the haunted halls of Arkham Asylum to the cold stone throne room of Latveria\u2019s Castle Doom, I couldn\u2019t get enough of the bad guys. In recent years, as comic book favorite heroes have dominated the silver screen, I find that so many of those movies rise and fall upon the strength of their villains. Would The Avengers<\/em> have been as good without Tom Hiddleston\u2019s sardonic smirk as Loki? I think not!<\/p>\n

While in undergraduate, I spent a semester abroad in Liverpool, UK, studying medieval history and literature. In one of my first classes of the semester\u2014in a lecture on Chaucer\u2019s narrative verse\u2014the professor said something that\u2019s been lurking at the heart of everything I\u2019ve read, wrote, or gamed since.<\/p>\n

\u201cConflict is the root of all literature. After all, what would King Lear be like if everyone just sat around saying, \u2018Pass the cornflakes\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

As I started the first draft of Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery<\/em>, I found this question rising to the surface again and again with each mook, metahuman, mastermind, and menace I created.<\/p>\n

The idea of a \u2018monster manual\u2019 suitable for a superheroic roleplaying game isn\u2019t a new one; nearly every superhero game seems to have at least one. While many are spectacular pieces, the best of these draw the GameMaster (and, through them, the players) in by providing instances of conflict. Not just mere combat, mind you\u2014actual, thoughtful conflict and moral quandary. Decision points that can shape an entire campaign.<\/p>\n

In CSW: Rogues Gallery<\/em>, those crisis points push the Cold Steel Wardens<\/em> setting\u2014New Corinth\u2014to the very brink.<\/p>\n

Case in point: Stonegate Federal Penitentiary. Many superheroic settings feature items such as \u2018power inhibitor collars\u2019 or \u2018metahuman-dampening cells\u2019. No such luck in Stonegate; there, the threat of a metahuman-led breakout becomes a very real occurrence, with Stonegate\u2019s warden at her wits\u2019 end trying to keep order.\u00a0\u00a0 Sections on prison psychology, race relations, and gang conflicts assist GameMasters in providing a setting where conflict is around every corner.<\/p>\n

As for the villains in CSW: Rogues Gallery<\/em> themselves? They run the full gamut of Iron Age Comics archetypes, while simultaneously providing new twists on those same concepts, all through the eyes of one of New Corinth\u2019s iconic vigilantes: the phasing private-eye, Sawbones. Sawbones\u2019 files comprise the bulk of CSW: Rogues Gallery<\/em>, providing unique perspective into his city while including ready-made documents\u2014police reports, newspaper clippings, psychological profiles, and more\u2014for a GameMaster to provide for their players.<\/p>\n

Case in point? An archer\/vigilante might be nothing new, but what happens when that archer steals the legacy and equipment of a now-dead hero, dividing the New Corinth vigilante community in twain? Whom will the players side with?<\/p>\n

When a darkness-manipulating metahuman seeks vengeance against the company who created him, how far will the players go to reveal the truth?\u00a0\u00a0 Are the Heroes willing to expose the iniquities beneath Lincroft Asylum, if it means that the patients (including some deranged metahumans) are turned away as the Asylum closes its gates?<\/p>\n

Those are the questions that Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery <\/em>raises. Will your Heroes answer the call?<\/p>\n

Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery<\/em> will be available on Kickstarter from March 15th<\/sup> to April 18th<\/sup>, 2016.<\/p>\n

For additional information on Cold Steel Wardens<\/em>, please visit:<\/p>\n