It's a Party in the CIA with Madam Zero!

Some parody songs are more amusing and entertaining than the source they are based on. A perfect example of that is Weird Al's "Party in the CIA." It's got better lyrics than the original and its video even makes more sense.



It's a favorite of the NUELOW Gang, even if L.L. Hundal's Significant Other has banned it from their home, because Hundal would play it over and over while singing along as she searched through comics for us to republish.

I'm bringing it up here, because it also seems like a perfect theme song for the most recent release for ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters...

ROLF!: Zero vs. One is a full-fledged ROLF! supplement with two battle scenarios, four pre-generated characters, and a number of new Battle Maneuvers and Traits. In addition, it features the complete run of Madam Zero, an obscure back-up series from Fiction House's Fight Comics that featured one of comicdom's most mysterious heroines. And Madam Zero is exactly the sort of character that "Party in the CIA" is about.

Click here to see previews of ROLF!: Zero vs. One, or to get your own copy.

It's the First Day of Summer AND Free RPG Day!

To celebrate the first day of summer and Free RPG Day, we're offering three of our roleplaying games for free!

Until Midnight when June 21st turns into June 22nd, you can download Fists of Foolishness, which contains The Violent Worlds of Robert E. Howard RPG and a dozen short stories to get you the proper mood to run adventures with it; You vs. Me, a  crazy two-player, GM-less RPG by L.L. Hundal;; and Dyvil: First Edition by the legendary game designer and author Jeff Grubb, free of charge!

Additionally, the NUELOW Games Summer Special is still on sale at a reduced price. In addition to half a dozen summer-themed comics, it features a scenario compatible with both The Violent Worlds of Robert E. Howard and You vs. Me.

Check out the free games and summer deals before they are gone!

Planning a trip to the Underdark?

You're going to need some maps... and the NUELOW Map Pack #2: Underdark has just what you need!

Cover by Andrew Pavlides & Lee Elias

This new set of maps by Andrew Pavlides includes six different maps of tunnels and cavern systems. They can be used individually or joined at the edges as player characters move through the monster-infested underground. All the maps are indexed in an easy-to-reference PDF booklet and presented in both color and printer-friendly black-and-white formats.

As a special treat, we've included some drawings next to the maps in the index book to help give you some inspiration about what players may encounter in that area.

Click here to see previews or NUELOW Map Pack #2: Underdark, or do download your own copy (And, as always, we invite your feedback!)

Now Available: Character Portraits for Your Home Game or Publication!

The latest in NUELOW Games' series of stock art collections is the NUELOW Fantasy Character Stock Art #1: Spellcasters & Sorcerers. As with past stock art releases, your purchase and download of this product grants you a generous license to use the artwork in any personal or commercial product you choose. The only real restrictions are that may not resell the stand-alone illos individually or as part of a clip-art package, and when you use the art in products or public websites, you need to acknowledge the copyright of the artist in a way spelled out in the license.

Cover art by Darrel Miller (compiled using illos in the set)

 NUELOW Fantasy Character Stock Art #1: Spellcasters & Sorcerers contains 14 different character portraits (12 by artist Darrell Miller), 12 of which are presented both in color and grayscale. As always, individual jpg files are included, but this time around they're at 300dpi so you can use them in print products if you like.

Click here to check out previews of the set, or to download your own copy. (Be sure to let us know if you use the art in any publications or websites... we will give you a link here on the blog!)

Available Now: NUELOW Games Summer Special!

The NUELOW Games Summer Special continues our ongoing project of unearthing interesting material from the Golden Age of Comics and bringing them to modern audiences. This book documents entries in the teen comedy comics genre which thrived from the early 1940s until the mid-1970s, tracking roughly with the rise and fall of romance comics. In fact, there is much overlap between the two, with the teen comedies often involving romantic entanglements of some sort or another.

Artwork by Harry Sahle

The NUELOW Games Summer Special presents half-a-dozen summer themed stories, in which comic book teens hit the beach, and Black Cat hits the bad guys. It features work from such industry legends as Harry Sahle (one of the artists who established the look of Archie, the sole surviving teen comics character from those days), Al Feldstein (who went on to be a celebrated satirist and editor of MAD Magazine), Lee Elias (one of the Kings of Good Girl Art), and others.

In addition to classic comics, the book features a full-blown ROLF! supplement... although if you are a regular visitor to this blog, you've already seen much of it, since it's an expanded version of the "Kathy" battle scenario that was presented here earlier this month.

Click here to check out previews of the NUELOW Games Summer Special. It's currently on sale for half of its regular price. The sale price will remain in effect through June 21, the first day of summer.

Coming Soon: Warrior Maiden Starlight

We're currently putting the final touches on our biggest book yet -- a color collection of the complete "Starlight" series by writer Ann Adams and artist Ralph Mayo. Mayo was also the primary artist on NUELOW's Judy of the Jungle books, as well as being a collaborator of Frank Frazetta on Kathy.

Warrior Maiden Starlight collects all six Starlight episodes for the first time between two covers. The series debuted in Indians #2 and lasted through Indians #8, appearing and disappearing during the second half of 1951. Set during the mid-16th century, in a time prior to contact with European settlers, the series follows the adventures of a a rebellious Huron girl who is out to prove that she can out-hunt, out-fight and outsmart any warrior, any day. She was the last of the strong female lead characters that were a staple among Fiction House's anthology titles, with the premiere among them being Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

A number of critics have said that the only reason Fiction House published comics with female leads was so they had an excuse to present page after page of T-and-A, as their "strong female characters" usually appeared in very skimpy outfits. However, Starlight puts a lie to that theory in every way. She is always fully clothed, even in scenes that provide a perfect opportunity for her to strip down and provide some "fan service," so there's no question that this character exists to be a strong and positive leading lady figure. In Mayo's drawings, she's always beautiful but never turned into a sex object... something contemporary comic book artists should try. If they really were interested in presenting "strong female characters" (as the claim so often goes) they'd draw their female characters more like Starlight and less like Hustler Magazine centerfolds.

Warrior Maiden Starlight will be the biggest RPG/comics hybrid product from NUELOW Games so far, with a pagecount clocking in around 70. We hope you'll decide to check it out when it becomes available. In the meantime, here are ROLF! stats for Starlight, and a draft of the cover. The final cover will feature the full logo, as well as slightly different artwork.

STARLIGHT (Female)
Brawn 20, Body 17, Brains 7
Traits: Dead Eye, Nimble
Combat Maneuvers: Basic Attack, Castrate, Dodge, Double Strike, Sure Shot, Run Away
Important Stuff Worn/Wielded: Bow (Medium Ranged Weapon, deals 2 points of damage). Knife (Small Melee Weapon, deals 1 point of damage).

Where NOT to 'Tangle With Romance'.... A Battle Scenario starring Kathy and her Boyfriend Hank

NUELOW's lead editor and creator of the ROLF! game, L.L. Hundal, has been on a Golden Age teen comedy kick since we produced the Ginger and Snap book earlier this year. In recent weeks, she's sent me about two dozen teen humor stories that we're going to be doing collections of. Some will be along the lines of the Ginger and Snap collection, others will end up as part of an entry in the Complete Golden Age Oddballs series (like we've already done with Martin Filchock's "Teen Toons").

One book that we're set on is a collection of the "Kathy" stories drawn by Ralph Mayo and Frank Frazetta from the pages of Thrilling Comics. And even if all the stories were badly drawn and unfunny--which the Mayo/Frazetta ones aren't--we would at the very least be doing SOMETHING with this splash page:

That picture and the blurb that states that Kathy "tangles with romance" immediately made me think "choosing a graveyard as a place for that wasn't very smart"... and then a ROLF! battle scenario came to mind. A couple, actually...

Since it's been a while, here's a complete ROLF! battle scenario, with everything you need to play but rules. It's one of the ones inspired by that splash page, but drawing upon the "Kathy" series in general.

KATHY TANGLES WITH ROMANCE AND NECROMANCY

A ROLF! Battle Scenarios for 2-3 Players

By Steve Miller

BACK STORY 

On a balmy summer eve, as the full moon beams from a clear sky, Kathy suggests to her boyfriend Hank that they leave the soda shop and head for the picturesque cemetery off Old Church Road. 

   "It's such a beautiful place, and the full moon... it's so romantic," she says. "It's a perfect night for something I've been wanting do with with you for a long time.".

    Hank, barely able to contain his excitement, immediately agrees. The teens steal into the cemetery, and Kathy heads of a bench on a slight rise that is bathed in moonlight. The two sit, and she squeezes Hank's hand, smiling and looking into his eyes. "This is going to be something special," she tells him. "I've never done this with anyone else before."

   "Of course not!" Hank says emphatically.

   "This is going to be something very special." Kathy turns away to get something from her purse. She feels his hand on her shoulder, and she turns to smile at him... but her smile freezes on her lips, her eyes grow wide and her mouth drops open. During the brief seconds was reaching into her purse, Hank had managed to take off all his clothes! She gasped, she gulped, her gaze slid down his torso and then snapped back to his face as she shouted: "What are you doing?!"

   "Getting ready... I've wanted to--"

   "I wanted to read poetry with you!" She holds up a book. "I come out here some nights and read poetry. Oh my Gosh! You thought--"

   "Oh my Gosh," Hank says at the same time as her. He is mortified, horrified, at his mistake, and he reaches for his clothes--and find them floating in midair, suspended in what appears to be a wisp of fog. A skull-like face takes form in the mist and a hollw-sounding voice, that seems to make Hank and Kathy's very bones vibrate, says, "You care disturb this place with your carnal activities?!"

   "Jeepers!" Kathy says.

   The ghost throws Hank's clothes at him, and then attacks.

PRE-GENERATED CHARACTERS

These characters are used in the battle scenarios above. Kathy and Hank The traits and combat maneuvers not in the ROLF! core game are drawn from ROLF!: Bullets to the Head or ROLF!: Creature Feature. If this were an actual published products, they would be repeated here for each of reference.

ANGRY GHOST (Spooky!)

Brawn 20, Body 5, Brains 3

Traits: Dead, Natural Weapons (Claws)

Combat Maneuvers:: Basic Attack, Hypnotize, Slime (S

Important Stuff Worn/Wielded: Claws (Small Natural Weapon, deals 1 point of damage. Cannot be disarmed).

KATHY CRANE (Female)

Brawn 16, Body 18, Brains 5

   Traits: Comic Relief, Improv Master, Irrepressible Optimist

   Combat Maneuvers: Basic Attack, Dance Move, Dodge, Strike Pose, Walking Disaster Area

   Important Stuff Worn/Wielded: Cute blouse and skirt (clothes), Book of poetry titled Romantic Verse for Moonlit Nights (Small Melee Weapon, deals 1 point of damage OR One-shot ranged weapon that deals 2 points of damage). Purse (Small Melee Weapon, deals 1 point of damage)..

HANK DANIELS (Male)

Brawn 17, Body 18, Brains 5

   Traits: Nimble

   Combat Maneuvers: Basic Attack, Dance Move, Disarm, Dodge, Murderous Mitts

   Important Stuff Worn/Wielded: Literally nothing... he's in his "birthday suit."

HARUMON THE NECROMANCER (Male?)

Brawn 7, Body 6, Brains 7

   Traits: Coldhearted, Dour, Too Sexy for My Shirt

   Combat Maneuvers: Basic Attack, Debate Philosophy, Disembowel, Spellings (After Me, Die Die Die!, You'll Only Hurt Yourself), Strategic Bleeding

   Important Stuff Worn/ Wielded:  Necromancer Robes (Armor, Absorbs up to 1 point of damage). Ceremonial Knife (Small Melee Weapon, deals 1 point of damage).

THE BATTLE SCENARIOS

These scenarios can be played by two or three players, with one player controlling Kathy and Hank, and the other controlling the ghost and Haruman the Necromancer. If three gamers are player, Kathy and Hank are each controlled by a different player, while the third plays Haruman and the ghost.

Battle Scenario One

Kathy and Hank must defeat the angry ghost attacking them in the cemetery. The battle continues until either both Kathy and Hank are defeated, or the ghost is. If the teens win, they are restored up to one-half their starting health (if applicable), including if one should have been defeated, at the start of Part Two. If the Ghost wins, see "Aftermath" below.

Interlude

How did this ghost come to be in the cemetery? Well, Haruman the Necromancer was also enjoying the full moon while practicing a little black magic. Attracted by the shrieks and screams of the teens vs. ghost fight, he finds Kathy and Hank over the dissolving remains of his latest summoning.

   "Meddling kids," he cries. "It was made clear that I have the cemetery on the full moons in months with 31 days--you damn druids need to keep your naked moon-dancing to your own time!"

   "Wait," Kathy says. "This isn't what it looks like. At all."

  "Yes," Hank says. "We're not doing naked dancing!"

  "You want me to believe you came all the way out here just to fornicate?" Harumon snarls.

  "Yes!" Hank exclaims.

  "No!" Kathy shouts, smacking him on the head with her book of verse.

  "You will not make the fool of me," Harumon says, the black energy of evil magic crackling on his finger tips. "You will be taught respect and the meaning of keeping to an agreed-upon schedule."

   With that, he attacks.

Battle Scenario Two

Kathy and Hank must defeat Haruman. The battle continues until one side is defeated.

Aftermath

If Hank and Kathy are defeated in either scenario, they wake up on the ground in front of the bench as dawn is breaking, cold and sore and confused. Hank is still naked.

   Hank quickly gets dressed. He says, "Let's never mention this to anyone, okay? And I'm really sorry."

  "You should be," Kathy says coldly, remaining turned away as Hank dresses, but still stealing a glance. "I can't believe you thought--"

  "I'm really, really sorry!" Hank wails.

  "This place is great for reading poetry, but that other sturff? Too creepy."

   "What?"

   "You need a car, Hank Daniels. Don't you know anything? Now, how are we going to keep from getting grounded for life?"