Player Tips Page Updated

The Host of the House of BTS, have been going through and cleaning up this beautiful and deadly old House.

In some cases Ive been adding links and information about the Creature Feature Sourcebook. In other cases Ive been removing information and answers to questions that have been covered in said sourcebook. However, while I was going through the Player Tips page, I spotted some grammatical errors, a few broken links and several bits and sections of information and detail that were in need of some updating and/or refining.

So, for all you players that are new to the genre (or BTS in general) and those who would like to read my thoughts on being a good contemporary horror RPG player, come on in and read all about it!

Creature Feature Sourcebook now available!

Greetings and Salutations!
Like me, I'm sure that you're here for the creatures.
I love creatures. From the classics like werewolves and vampires to the more modern monsters that reflect the worst in us or what we fear, I love them all. That's why I've
written and created so many creatures for my own Beyond the Supernatural (BTS) games over the years.

As a Game Master (G.M.), I just love using creatures in my BTS adventures. They're so much fun! I enjoy letting them lurk in the dark corners of the urban jungle. I love sending them after the intrepid characters of my players and to see how they deal with such unexpected foes almost as much as I love watching my players hunt and fight them. Creatures are just fun. One of my goals for Creature Feature is to help you find the fun of using supernatural creatures in your own games.

Are things a little too quiet in your game? Add a random creature or three!

Need a quick villain or antagonist for the player characters to deal with? Send in a creature or put the players on edge by letting them find the half eaten or mangled remains of the creature's victim(s). The actual monster responsible? A frightening
mystery to be uncovered before one of them or some innocent person becomes its next victim.

Does your dark overlord need minions in a hurry? Give him one or more monsters!

Need something to scare the socks off some poor human to get the player character's attention? Let that poor soul scream when a “horrible thing” shows itself outside the window or comes slithering out from under the stairs!

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In case you didn't already know, Creature Feature, my biggest writing project to date, is now available for purchase! You can order it at your local hobby store, or from Palladium Books directly.

Beyond the Supernatural is set in our modern world but seen through the lens of mystery and the supernatural. A lens that lets us see clearly the “things” – the creatures and powers – that science and our rational minds tell us are not real. It is a world of shadows and the uncanny where a monster may really be hiding under your bed or stalking the alley. Creatures that lurk in dark corners and prey upon the unsuspecting, the innocent, and the wicked.

Creature Feature is a journey into just a few of those dark corners. Places where strange and terrible creatures wait, and bold heroes and psychic investigators face their fears and fight against the gathering darkness.

• 15 supernatural creatures described in depth. Some are new. Some were pulled from the pages of The Rifter® but updated and expanded (many completely rewritten). All of them are dynamic, scary, and offer different horror adventure experiences.
• Each creature offers adventure hooks and ideas for more.
• The art of making and running monsters.
• Creature encounter table and tips on making unique creatures.
• Player paranormal investigator background table.
• Game Master source material and tips for running modern horror.
• More world setting and monster hunting lore.
• Rules clarifications and errata.
• A full adventure and numerous adventure suggestions.
• Paranormal encounter ideas, tips, advice, NPCs, and more.
• Written by Steven Dawes, Kevin Siembieda, and others.
• Art by Steven Cummings, Nick Bradshaw, and others.
• 192 pages - $26.99 retail  Cat. No. 704

THE MAN OF "SHEAR TERROR" HAS RETURNED!

Its fascinating how Kent Burles Psychic Killers always cause so much excitement whenever they arrive here at the House of BTS. It probably has something to do with all the House Guests and Staff running and screaming in terror, but you never can tell.

Whatever the reason,I'm excited to announce that Shears is back in the House for his yearly Thanksgiving visit!

Why does Shears return every year at Thanksgiving? Is he sentimental about the holiday? Does he love a good turkey dinner and pies? Does he love a target rich environment when everyone sits at the dinner table to give thanks and eat?

Who knows... maybe it's all three!

Shears has been a hot topic on various
“myth and urban legend” related websites for nearly fifteen years, said to use his altered and well sharpened pair of fabric shears as his weapons of choice. However, to a growing number of people in law enforcement, the few victims that have survived their encounter with him, and various members of the Lazlo Society, Shears is all too real. A true psychopath who mutilates (and incidentally killing) people all over North America!

With his effective Lucky Psychic abilities, his extremely willful determination to survive (if only to continue maiming and killing people), and the large flock of Scaring Crows that have bonded with him, Shears is not only surviving, but thriving! He’s a psychotic serial killer in the extreme, rivaling any “slasher movie” icon you can think of.

Shears chooses his victims at random, performing vicious acts of cruelty and brutality upon them without remorse, and then simply moves on to avoid being caught. The majority of his victims don't survive the encounter, eventually bleeding to death.

Living only for the suffering of others (their coincidental death by his acts of mutilation are of little interest to him), Shears is a true homicidal manic!

Shears stalked his way into the House this morning (leaving a trail of bodies in his wake) just in time to join in our yearly Thanksgiving feast with all of my beloved House Guests and Staff. As its thanksgiving, I feel I should say that I'm thankful for Shears cutting time out of his busy schedule to come to our annual Thanksgiving festivities. And if you manage to survive his visit to the House, that something else to be thankful for.

While Shears is here, I took the opportunity to re-do and update his character sheet for 2022! So be sure to download his character sheet to add to your collection, but hurry! Shears always leaves early on Friday morning as he likes to do Black Friday shopping for new cutlery.

Update: Shears has left the season, armed with new cutlery and scissors from Black Friday. But he will back next year... provided he isn't caught by the authorities first.

Scared Spitless!

Sometimes the Host just plain overlooks an article in the Rifter he shouldn't have.

I've had a copy of The Rifter #48 for years, since its release in fact as one of my articles (the Impersonator Zombie for Dead Reign) is in this book. Well, turns out the article in front of it went overlooked for all this time, until a House Guest recently pointed it out to me. Reading it, I instantly loved the article and have since placed it on my recommended reading shelf in the Library for all aspiring Game Masters.

The Rifter™ #48

Scared Spitless - Taking the Timid out of Intimidation:

This article is dedicated to expanding Horror Factor rules for all Palladium games. The Host of the House of BTS sees a variety of great ideas and practices in this article, and I encourage all Game Masters to at least read through it once and consider the potential of using these expanded rules in your own game.

Includes information on using a more robust ruleset, the additional of some new skills, and taking various aspects into consideration, like reputation, environment, combat and a supernatural creature's aura of fear. There's even tables to roll on for these various aspects for whenever a PC fails to save vs Horror Factor.

Happy All Saints Day!

Pumpkin Sam has disappeared for the year, leaving behind a trail of headless bodies once more. However, Sam will return for more headhunting next Halloween! I suggest you be prepared.

Also, all of Kent Burles' Psychic Slashers and Serial Killers have left the House for the season. But fret not, they will return for another season of spooky fun next year.
My advice however, watch yourselves... when they're not here... they're out there, somewhere. And wherever they are, no one is safe!

Thank you all for being a most gracious House Guests during this most spookular of seasons; I hope you all had a wonderfully Happy Halloween!

I also want to thank you all for your continued support of Palladium Books, the Beyond the Supernatural RPG and the House of BTS.

- The Host of the House of BTS

Random GM scene/encounter/event starter: “Passing Vehicle”
What appears to be blood is seen dripping from a passing vehicle. The blood could be dripping from inside the vehicle (spilling out from the seams of the car doors, out an open window or sunroof), from a storage compartment (like the engine hood or trunk), or even from the exhaust pipe or spewing and spitting out from the smokestack of a semi. If the player characters check the ground where the blood would've dripped, it might be real blood, it might vanish before their very eyes,
or there might not be any blood at all (was a vision or an illusion of some sort).

Pumpkin Sam has Appeared!

Bolt your doors, and fasten the lock
because Pumpkin Sam is on the clock!
If you see his axe, be full of dread
because Sam is coming to take your head!

-playground rhyme heard around Halloween

The premonitions of the psychics were correct...

I've just confirmed that Pumpkin Sam has arrived for his annual night of stalking, chasing and hunting down victims and taking their heads!

Its my understanding that Pumpkin Sam is a long-forgotten deity of some kind who's armed with a large axe, and he's an unstoppable killer! Even scarier is that Sam has gotten an update this year, and has only gotten more terrifying as he's now casting magic, including some unique “pumpkin magic” spells!

Artist Kent Burles was kind enough to provide the House with a sketch of Pumpkin Sam, and I cant thank him enough for his contribution. Knowing what he looks like so that you can avoid him will save lives.

If you see Pumpkin Sam on his annual head hunt tonight, I strongly suggest that you run the other way, and hope that you can keep running until midnight!

Note: I thank everyone who responded to my request last year to share their experiences with Sam as a GM or player and present any ideas and advice on how to improve or make him even more terrifying. Feel free to keep those thoughts and ideas coming! You can send them to me via e-mail a hostofthehouseofbtsATgmail.com or via the Facebook or Discord page.

UPDATE: Pumpkin Sam has vanished for another year, taking his collection of heads with him. May the effort of the Lazlo Society prove more effective at stopping him next Halloween.

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Creature Feature preview: The Gleaner

Gleaners are supernatural predators that have evolved a very specific ritual as part of their hunting patterns. On Earth they appear on Devil’s Night (the night before Halloween), harnessing increased levels of magical energy as the planet begins to enter All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween). After Halloween, on All Saints’ Day, the Gleaner has completed the prey-gathering portion of the ritual, and slowly builds up energy until it has enough power to send itself out of our dimension and back to its own.

Once a Gleaner manifests itself on our world, it will seek out a lair and a first victim, often at the same time. Drunks, junkies and homeless people often fall prey to a Gleaner’s first attack. The initial victim’s residence usually makes a good lair, but sometimes victims do not live alone or must travel frequently as part of their work routine. While not particularly intelligent, Gleaners have powers that allow them to read and sense the beings around them, giving them a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of human behavior and interaction.

For Gleaners, Halloween is the perfect time to manifest themselves and gather prey. Ley lines and magic energy levels run high during the three-day period covering Devil’s Night, Halloween and All Saints’ Day. This boost of energy allows Gleaners to travel to our dimension and find a lair in time to begin drawing in victims. At this stage, Halloween itself provides prey in the form of children trick-or-treating and costumed revelers heading out to parties. The large numbers of people and concealed identities works to a Gleaner’s advantage, making it difficult for others to tell when victims go missing.

Once someone has been lured into the lair of the Gleaner they are enveloped by the beast in a horrifying embrace that results in mental domination. Children are the monster’s favorite prey. They are also easy prey, simpler and more open-minded than adults. Their curiosity and naivete make them susceptible to the wiles of a Gleaner and its puppet-like Mind Slaves, who are used to performing simple errands and tricking others into entering the Gleaner’s lair. Mind Slaves’ faces are transformed into monstrous versions of themselves, but on Halloween most people assume the frightening visage is just a mask...

The Gleaner is being presented as a Creature Feature Sneak Preview, one that you can get on Halloween only!

© Copyright 2020 Palladium Books. All rights reserved.
Illustration by Steven Cummings.

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Spew is now haunting the House!

I was starting to get concerned as Spew is usually spotted somewhere around the House of BTS by now. The man (or perhaps the ghost) stands out, and is just impossible to miss. Even if you can only see the toxic cloud that surrounds him, you know its Spew. I was wondering if he (or it... I'm still not quite sure what Spew is) would be coming for the Halloween season this year.

But I'm happy to report that one of my gardener's just warned me that she'd spotted Spew over in the gardens behind the House. While the rest of my gardening staff wasn't so fortunate, she'd manage to survive the encounter with almost all her skin still intact.

If you're looking for Spew, he's a true spirit of the outdoors and can usually be found haunting the farmlands and agricultural communities nearby the House of BTS, working alongside the local Scaring Crows in haunting and terrorizing the neighboring communities... or what's left of them anyway.

The House Guests are getting Mauled!

Hey, I just heard someone screaming for help!
It came from somewhere in the vicinity of the front yard I believe. Hang on, I'll go and investigate...

Well, its a good thing I went to investigate as I'm happy to announce that I just spotted Maul in the front yard. That explains all the screaming... and all the blood on the sidewalk... and thew front steps... and all over the foyer.... and so on.

Now that Maul has arrived for the annual Halloween celebrations, he can usually be found in the gymnasium, giving free lessons in self-defense to various staff and house guests; whether they want the lesson or not. A few of them even manage to survive the lesson!

So head on over the gymnasium to watch Maul's latest lesson in self-defense.
Just pray you don't become today's training dummy!

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Whoa-oh, here she comes... shes a Man Eater!

As all of my regular visitors, House Guests, ghosts and ghouls know, I send out yearly invitations to several of Kent Burles' psychic slashers and serial killers for a stay at the House of BTS during the Halloween season. Some are prompt, some are fashionably late, some arrive in their own good time, and some of them never seem to get their invitation until last minute.

Our latest arrival is Pearl, who's known by the media as Man Eater. While she's here, Pearl always insists on setting up a rave in the ballroom every Halloween night, and this year is no exception. But until then Pearl always kills time by killing various unsuspecting men while she's here. You'll most likely find her upstairs in one of the many guest rooms, luring some poor male guest to his doom. Actually, that would explain the increase of blood curdling screams echoing around the House today.

So, head upstairs to find and meet her (not recommended for you male visitors, but I admire your bravery if you do) to collect her character sheet.
And don't delay, like all the other invited guests, Pearl is only here long enough to enjoy the Halloween season (and to lay low from the authorities for bit).
So get to know her while you can.

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WELCOME TO THE EYRIE!

Matt Cutter, a Rifter contributor and BTS fan, also known as The White Minotaur gave the House of BTS a shout out in his latest blog post, concerning playing a normal occupation character class in a Palladium Books RPG. The intro alone is enough to keep me reading...

Have you ever just want to role-play a normal occupation in a Palladium Books game?

I have.

The problem is that Palladium didn't really have a “regular Joe” in-game. Depending on the game, you picked an Occupational Character Class (O.C.C.) with a pre-determined list of skills and some player chosen skills, or you rolled for an level of education and picked a skill set based on the character’s education. That changed with the publication of Beyond the Supernatural (BTS) in 2005...

I encourage you to head on over to read The White Minotaur's thoughts on the subject, as well his thoughts on other RPG lines.

Random GM scene/encounter/event starter: “The Figurine”
This small figurine looks perfectly normal at a brief glance. The figurine is plain looking, nothing odd or weird looking about it. No traces of psychic or magical energies will be detected from it. It's not a supernatural being in disguise (like a Scurry Scree from the Creature Feature sourcebook for example). Its not made of a strange or unusual substance/material, nor is it unpleasant to the touch. It is ordinary and unnoticeable in every way. If anything, its strange that this figurine was made to be so unnoticeable

That said, if closely inspected, the figurine doesn't appear to obey physical laws.
Interior surfaces transmute into exterior ones when they shouldn't, and overall the statue seems to have a three dimensional Mobius object, like a brain teasing picture made real. Staring at it and trying to follow the various surfaces for long gives the player character a splitting headache... or something much worse!

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Chopper is here, and heads are gonna roll!

Halloween is in full swing here at the House, and so is Chopper's axe! Chopper arrived at the House this morning, and he's got an axe or three to grind.

Once sharpened, Chopper always brings his axes with him to the lovely, dark and deep woods behind the House of BTS, where he'll either be removing all the dead and unsightly flora and fauna, or he'll be removing the House Guests hiking the trails in the woods... you could say he'll be taking a head count of the hikers.

While Chopper is as capable at chopping down trees as he is House Staff and Guests, he sometimes offers a friendly hand around the House by maintaining the furnace and other household machinery, which is fortunate as I can never seem to keep maintenance workers around the House for very long.

For those of you brave enough to visit those lovely, dark and deep woods behind the House, and they are lovely, dark and deep... you can risk coming across Chopper by clicking here.
Good luck surviving the encounter.

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Kent Burles' Psychic Slashers & Serial Killers are back!

You feared it would happen again...
you believed they would come for you again...
you knew... somehow you knew, they would return again...
and now, they've returned! RUN!

Kent Burles' Psychic Serial Killers have returned for the Halloween season, and they're just itchin' from some killin'!

As is tradition, The Wacker arrived at the House this morning to get this party started with a bloody mess.
Come on in and meet him... if you dare!

Stay tuned as the others will showing up throughout the week... may you survive their return.

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Psychic Healer Pregen Jim Beavers has been updated!

Jim Beavers, one of the available pregens I've made available in the Pregen Suites of the House, sat down with me for a long overdue update, including the addition of the revisited Mind Bolt Psychic Ability from the Coalition Manhunters sourcebook as Healers can now take the ability (with a few restrictions that is).

Jim is a 56-year-old competitive fisherman, hunter & outdoorsman. As talented with axes, archery and rifles as he is with healing abilities, Jim is a useful character to include in any paranormal investigation team!

Click here to head on over to his suite to say hi and get your copy of his pregenerated character sheet.

New Psychic Ability Reviews are here!

Summer keeps me busy as usual, but I've been posting videos of the new, revisited and expanded psychic abilities from the Coalition Manhunters sourcebook.

If you haven't yet, feel free to watch some of them! :)

More videos will be coming soon, so hit the banner below and/or subscribe to my channel to watch the newest psychic ability reviews as they're released.

Brian DuChamp has been updated!

3/3/2022 - Brian DuChamp is one of my “Original Open House Six” pregenerated player characters and has seen a lot of playtime at my game tables over the years since then. He was also been long overdue for an updated character sheet, and the Host is happy to announce that Malcolm just got his update!

Brian is a 40-year-old writer of mystery and supernatural horror novels under the pen name of Malcolm Witts. Malcolm's supernatural horror and suspense novels are “fictional stories” that in reality are based on his first hand experiences of investigating the paranormal and the supernatural as a member of the Lazlo Society.

Want to catch up with an old friend and see what he's been up to? Well then head on over to the Pregenerated Characters Wing to meet up with Brian/Malcolm.
Who knows? He might even show you a snippet of the latest novel he's working on!

If you're here in response to the latest You Tube video...

Mind Bolt, Revisited!

Click here to download the revisited edition of the Mind Block psychic ability

Random GM scene/encounter/event starter: “Rain”
Its pouring rain outside as the PC's are investigating a house/building/indoor structure, and they can hear the rain coming down hard outside. However, while in any of the rooms directly below, or close to, an external roof, they'll notice that something's not right.

The heavy rain falling onto the tiles/shingles above has an odd sound to it; rather than it being the normal sound of rain, there seems to be whispered words interwoven within the sound of the raindrops. Listening closely doesn't reveal what the words are, but the sounds and the tone of the words feel... in a word, threatening.

Yegor, Priest of Vice and member of the Court of Tarot,
has been updated!

2/22/2022 - Yegor was commissioned by BTS fan, House guest and good friend Scott Zaboem while I was back in school, learning how to build websites.
Scott wanted a character based off his Priest of Vice P.C.C. he'd written (and has since submitted to the House). I had a LOT of fun designing Yegor and years later he's still one of my favorite commissions.

Recently, Scott joined in on one of my Discord PBP adventures and played Yegor to great fun and effect.
I realized while looking over his character sheets (all Priest of Vice characters should have two separate sheets) that they were in need of updating.

Well, you can click here to download the newest version of Yegor!

Luke Christianson (which Yegor's legally changed his name to years ago) is a 36-year-old Priest of Vice P.C.C. who's a traveling evangelist and agent of the Court of Tarot. Still preferring to go by Yegor in private, he's lives nearly twenty years as a Priest of Vice, and it shows; he looks several years older than he really is, and has a body full of aches, pains and scars. But even so, he's still one of the toughest psychics you'll ever come across (especially during a period of vice) as well as a gifted priest, or healer, or exorcist when you need one.

Coincidentally, the Priest of Vice P.C.C. was written by Scott Z., who also wrote the incredibly good Court of Tarot article in the Rifter #45. Its one of my personal favorite BTS articles and I refer to and use it regularly in my home games.

I had a lot of fun designing and creating Yegor, I think he's one of the most complex and intriguing characters I've ever created. Due to the dual nature of the priest, there are two character sheets for him, one which depicts him during a period of Vice, the other during a period of Virtue.

Random GM encounter/event starter: “Candles”

All the lit candles in the room suddenly go out, as if blown out by a puff of wind or a draft. This is strange as there are no open windows to account for the wind , and no drafts were felt by anyone present when the candles blew out.

Note:If the only light source(s) in the room is electrical, the lights could go on the fritz, or blink on and off, or start dimming out, or simply goes out in a similar fashion. If investigated, the light switch(es) is in the “on” position. What would make this scene even more strange is if the lights were the only thing to go out;
the TV, radio, stereo, computers and other electronics still function as normal.

Welcome to the Archives! This file cabinet is where I place all past news and information concerning the house that's more than six months old, but is still worth having on hand. Enjoy!

The Dead Reign Ranch is now open!

Howdy y'all! While the Host doesn't have the time to start another fan site dedicated to the Dead Reign RPG, he still enjoys hosting it on occasion and has written materials for it, including pregenerated characters, NPC's and adventures. So, the Host decided to construct a ranch right here on the property, where those BTS House guests who also enjoy playing DR can go visit for a spell.

So head on down to the Dead Reign Ranch and sit a spell. But when you've had enough zombie fun, y'all come on back to the House now, ya hear?

An Announcement and a New Room!

Hello again to all my wonderfully wicked House Guests! Your Host has been holding his tongue about some news that I've been dying to tell you all. A few months back I asked for help in covering some of the hosting costs of the House of the BTS for another year as the pandemic affected even the livelihood of one who's shed his mortal coil but still wishes to be the Host of this magnificent and haunted House.

Well, I'm honored and proud to say that many of you responded and helped chip in.
A few of you went above and beyond with a very generous donation. I don't want to reveal any names to respect your privacy, but you all know who you are, and know that as your Host, I am grateful to everyone of you. Together, not only were we able to cover the costs for the next year, but for the next 3 years! The House of BTS still stands; meaning it, and everything within it, will continue to haunt you all for years to come!

So as a way of saying thank you, I've finished one the house building projects I've been yearning to do for awhile. This room in particular has been near the top of my list as I've gotten a lot of requests over the years for a dedicated help area with creating character for Beyond the Supernatural. Well, this was the time to do it!

This house building project turned out to be no small project either. In the process of building this new room I had to check all the resources mentioned in it, which in many cases meant updating (if not nearly rewriting) the many bits of information and references throughout the House. In some case it meant fixing several of the rooms they're found within. It was all a much bigger undertaking than I had anticipated, and therefore it took more time than expected. The fact that my Hell Hound pup, Mycroft kept escaping during construction and/or eating many of the construction workers didn't help either. But in the end, I found shackles that are strong enough to hold Mycroft back (for now) and construction resumed until it was completed.

And now, the dust has settled, all the bodies have been removed, the blood is all mopped up, the walls are painted, and the furniture is in...

Welcome to the Grand Opening of
The Character Creation Room!

In this room you will find all the information needed to make a character for the Beyond the Supernatural RPG, and you'll be making it the Host's way. This includes providing you with the various house rules that I use, printable PDFs of useful information, the locations of other P.C.C. types, and more! If you happen to see something missing in this room you think should be added, let me know.
Now, come on in and get creative!

Thank you again everyone for helping the Host keep the House alive with horror, and enjoy the new room!

The question has been answered!

Its come to the Host's attention that BTS fans have often asked each other if the creature on the front cover of the 1st edition of Beyond the Supernatural is based on a monster from the book. Its a shame that no one ever asked me this question as I know the answer.
In fact, I've known the answer since the 1993.

You see, back in 1993, when the Host was a much younger being, I came across a collectable card series based on the artwork of Richard Corben, the artist of the front cover. I've kept this collector card close in my BTS related materials all these years and recently stumbled across it while looking for something else. For the fun of it I posted both sides of the card on the Facebook site.

Surprisingly, I began getting responses about it, with House guests excitedly replying that this was a question they've been asking each other for years. Well wonder no more, for the Host has your answer: Corben made it up himself. You're welcome!

12/16/2019 - The latest copy of the Rifter has been added to the Library, and its a good one as it has two BTS related articles, as well as a few articles that would convert easily to BTS rules and usage.

The Rifter™ #84

This issue focuses on dark places, monsters, magic, and the supernatural, just in time for the Halloween season. So its no surprise that it contains not one, but two Beyond the Supernatural related articles! But first, an article that converts well to BTS...

Spellbound by Ian Herbert
While this one was designed for Nightbane™ (which I'm a fan of),
it would work well with other modern based RPG's; BTS in particular.

The Spellbound is in essence an O.C.C. of ordinary people who work with the Seekers and have been infused with magic spells to help them in their various jobs / tasks / teams / missions / etc. I enjoyed this one a lot and found it inspiring enough to consider running a “Seeker” specific adventure one day (something I've not done before).

All Quiet on the Western... What? by Kyle Osterberg

  Two thousand, two hundred fifty men died every day on the western front in World War One. That is only the average. The British alone lost 19,249 men on the first day of the Somme offensive. This was a war that lasted over four years. All of that fighting creates a great mass of dead people.

  Unlike most other wars, most of the battles on the western front were mostly fought in the same place. There was very little ground gained by either side for the majority of the war. So much death in such a small space means a vast quantity of P.P.E. was being released. So much P.P.E., that it almost became solid and pool into holes like water before dissipating.

  At the moment of death the amount of P.P.E. being released is doubled. With so many people dying everyday, there would be an almost inexhaustible amount of P.P.E. to feed on for supernatural creatures. They would be attracted to it like a moth to a flame! True, it is risky. The creatures stood a good chance of getting killed themselves, but surely some would be willing to take the risk.

Playing soldiers in mission-based adventures during WWI, Kyle's adventure takes the players through the horrors of war... and the horrors of the supernatural!
Includes several confrontations with supernatural creatures and new creatures like the Trench Rats and the Life Force Drinkers. The article even goes so far as to add notes on WWI era weapons and The Citizen/Soldier occupational subclass.

Extra Bonus: Kyle O. has graciously sent the House all ten of the excel character sheets designed and used for this adventure! Click the links below to download them:
Eric Lufften/Charles LeJade/Richard Alto/John Pierce/Pierre Chouteau/Jasper Crowell/
Kevin Barbee/Elias Krendall/Giovanni Ravitonilus/William Darkhorse

The Dimma by Steve Dawes

  Movement at the corner of the outside passageway. A billowy cloud of mist rolled into view. It silently moved through and enveloped the books and shelving, but something about it was wrong.
It moved too fast, too direct€¦ seemingly with purpose. It was coming right at him. The air was getting cold and clammy as the mist approached.

  Somehow Allan had the courage to stand his ground as the mist reached him. It was unnervingly chilly and that rotting, decomposing smell saturated it. Breathing heavy with fear, Allan fought back the urge to cough and wretch at the stench, putting his hand to his mouth to provide some defense against the offensive fog that now enveloped him.

  Putrid, hot air brushed against Allan’s face and the hand covering his nose and mouth like someone with foul breath had breathed on him. Within the fog, Allan could just make out something taking the slightest resemblance of shape. Something that was grinning at him. A sharp, toothy, malicious grin. It stood just above his height, its sickly yellow eyes leering back at his. Its nose was missing like it had fallen off, or was never there to begin with. Its skin grey and wet looking, covered in boils, warts, sores and other malformations. The last sane thought Allan had before panic set in was that this thing reminded him of some kind of ghoulish creature or goblin from one of the many monster movies he’s watched.

A short story and new monster for Beyond the Supernatural„¢, the Dimma came from the Host's imaginarium as a response to the world needing a good fog/mist monster.
Its one of my better articles in my opinion, and includes two illustrations from from first time Palladium contributor Grae Steele; a friend and co-worker of mine.

12/11/2019 -
Seasons Greetings and Salutations!

I'm excited to share some news!
The Host has been hired/summoned to host a one-shot, Christmas themed adventure next weekend!

The adventure is shaping up quickly as I've always wanted to host a Christmas themed BTS adventure.
In fact, I've had several ideas that I've been sitting on for ages and the dam has burst!

I'll even be checking off a few monsters and dangers from my GM bucket list in the process!

I cant give away the details of the adventure in case any of the players are reading this, but I'll drop one hint... in the form of the illustration above.

12/4/2019- My lunch break show for the last few days has been "Marianne" on Netflix.

It has its shortcomings: the English dubbing (its a French series) is so horrible that I recommend listening to the original french with subtitles, there seems to be some cultural aspects I don't get, and I'm certain that the creators/writers were heavily influenced by one of my personal favorite video games "Alan Wake" (not a bad source to be inspired be, but it feels blatant in places).

Still, its got A LOT going for it. The gore is laid on pretty thick, the creep factor goes to 11, the heavily flawed characters in such a dreary coastal town setting works well, there are some truly disturbing scenes and images, and the actress portraying Marianne is absolutely horrifying!

For those looking for wicked witch-themed inspiration for their BTS games,
give Marianne a look-see!

11/2/2019 - Palladium fan Branden L. has been a busy bee, and recently posted about a side-project of his on the Palladium Books Role Players Guild on Facebook:

I wrote a small App that contains a searchable index of all issues of The Rifter to date. Feel free to check it out!
A few disclaimers:

1. This is a personal side-project; a labor of love.
I'm not making any money off of this.

2. Suggestions/feedback is welcome! But please be gentle. If you can't be gentle, refer to disclaimer #1.

3. This is a work-in-progress. I still need to add more tags and fix various typos. Please point them out if you stumble over any.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Making use of it myself, I came across an BTS article or two I wasn't aware of and will update the library page accordingly. I suspect you will find use for this App as well.

Click here to check out the App!

Deductive thinking time!

I don't recall where I came across this, but as you all know I love a good mystery, even quick brain teaser types.

So I've got a quick mystery for you to deduce! See if you can solve this case:

A man was found dead in his study. He lay on his desk, holding a gun in his hand. When you entered the scene, you noticed a tape recorder. You pressed play and heard the following message: "I can’t continue to live, life has no meaning", followed by a gunshot. The recording stopped.

Was this suicide, or was there foul play involved?

12/29/2019 - I got a surprise Christmas gift package from Kevin!

I hadn't ordered anything from Palladium Books recently, so I was surprised to see a box in the mail. Upon opening it, I spotted a pen with the Rifts logo and three separate wrapped gifts with my name on them!

With child-like joy and excitement I opened all three of them with glee and was delighted to find what was in essence a supernatural themed set of books to read and enjoy!

This bundle of gift wrapped packages included two fact and information books (Haunted America and Bizarre Truths), a limited reprint of Boxed Nightmares (which means I can now put my original copy from 1990 away for retirement, posterity, and safekeeping), and four different Rifter sourcebooks; none of which I'd picked up yet. To me, this means either Kevin got lucky in his selection of Rifter's, he's having me watched, or he's psychic. Perhaps all three.

Thank you so much Kevin! I love all of these thoughtful gifts and and have already been reading them! In fact, see the next section...

-Reading through my Christmas gifted Rifters, there are several articles that offers plenty of BTS worthy ideas, information and consideration, including:

Rifter #79: I've already mentioned Hendrik's wonderful
Gaming Through History article (which includes the
Flashing Blades of Horror adventure for BTS) over in the Library,
but there's more...

The Stage Magician, Expanded: Seriously, I'd love to see a stage magician type confronting the paranormal. I can see actions like these happening:
-A monster rushes at the magician, only to witness him dropping a few smoke bombs, sending up a cloud to hide in, or cover his escape, or relocate to a more advantageous position.
-Whipping out handcuffs to deftly cuff a zombie who was reaching out for him with both hands, making it far less effective in combat and grabbing him.
-The Magician juggling vials of Holy Water to taunt a Vampire and keep it at bay, throwing one at the vamp when needed.
-The screeching strobe lights, glue bombs, snares, a talent for debunking and other tricks of the trade offers lots of creative and fun ideas!

Rifter #81: The Super Sleuth, Expanded: Another article that provides a lot of ideas and abilities for players who desire brainy investigating PC's. Most of the materials in the article easily converts to BTS.

Rifter #82: Hitting the Gym (Physical Training, Expanded): This article offers some alternative options and ideas for the Natural Athlete or Physical Psychic P.C.C. with little change.

The Devil Serpent Tongue: Inspired by the Nick Bradshaw illustrated cover (and I can see why as I dig the hell out of it), this new monster is located in the Rifts Bestiary sneak preview on page 105. The D.S.T. is written very much like a BTS monster and should be considered for your BTS world.

Its a nocturnal hunter, it enjoys hunting in the big cities and does so successfully despite its size, and it excels at hiding from the public. Even those who know of it try to cover it up to avoid panic (cover up and deny is something any first responder worth his salt in BTS will do).

Also, some new skills from the Nightbane article “The Impact of Age” (page 55), including Social Etiquette, Con-Artistry, Civil Engineer and Demolition: Civilian. These were some some long overdue skills and I'm glad to see them.

I added a few House Rules, including my ruling on reloading handguns without the weapon proficiency, using Physical Prowess percentage bonus for Physical Skills and a ruling on the Telekinetic Punch ability (page 115 of BTS-2).

---

10/28/19 - Greeting and salutations to all my House Guests.

First off, I hope this post finds your Halloween Season to be providing you with lots of tricks and treats.

And speaking of tricks, I've recently lured a new artist and have trapped him within the tangled trap that is the Cavern of Webs (links page). Allow me to introduce him to you all...

Jeshields Patreon Page:
Creating RPG Stock Illustrations

“My name is James Shields, but most people online know me as Jeshields.
I create illustrations for the RPG industry. I have always wanted to give to the community in a meaningful and mutually beneficial way. This project allows me to create illustrations inspired by your ideas”.

I came across Jeshields illustrations and was immediately attracted to them.
In particular, I thought his eldritch themed banner based illustrations would look nice hung up around the House in various places. He was kind enough to oblige, and now you'll spot his illustrations peppered throughout the House of BTS.
But be careful... for they will be looking back!

“Here's looking at you, kid!”

“I want to give to the RPG community, so each week, one image will be released to the public for FREE. I may choose which illustration or I may allow patrons to choose.”

His Patreon page offers access to his stock art before anyone else, a voice to inspire the illustrations he creates, a discount when you buy art directly from him, commission work and opportunities for members to receive free commissions of their characters.

As for the future, we've chatted about the possibility of a collaboration project or two of his illustrating stirred into a bubbling cauldron full of my scribes, and mixed well.
This recipe sounds simply delicious to me, so here's hoping!

Halloween Update: Mr. Shield's stay as a house guest during this Halloween Season has been an eventful one. He's even released an illustration of a wicked looking... well, I'm not sure entirely what to call it. Perhaps "Demon Monkey Fish" works best. Claim your image... if you dare!

The Host would enjoy seeing any and all of your written stats and interpretations of this fiend. I may even design my own version of it to display in the house, perhaps even catch a trophy version of it to hang on a plaque over the fireplace.

Je Shields wishes you all a Happy Halloween and a free illustration!

---

10/10/2019 - Have you experienced Operation Minotaur yet?

“Think Indiana Jones meets The Dirty Dozen on a horror trip and you are in the right frame of mind to GM this adventure. Follow me back to the war-torn 1940s with an evil greater than many supernatural enemies, dark secrets and a mystery worthy of a tall tale”.

Operation Minotaur was conceived as a 4-6 hour gaming one-shot for the Palladium Open House 2012 and designed to showcase one of the many options of how to play Beyond the Supernatural (BTS). Contrary to the far more frequent mystery or detective type BTS game, this adventure offers an action packed and epic fight of good versus evil against the historical backdrop of World War II.

And now, its available for everyone to enjoy via The Rifter™ #83!

That being said, Hendrik -the writer of Operation Minotaur, an honored house guest, and a dear friend of the Host- took the time to design some very nice looking handouts to give to the players during the adventure.

Due to space constraints the handouts were printed only in a small version. However,
by the good graces of the people of Palladium Books, all the handouts are now available for download in the House of BTS, in their “full version”!

Hendrik and the staff of Palladium Books are getting into the Halloween spirit by giving you all such delicious looking treats! To make the handouts easy to find, I've given Hendrik's
“full version” the “full page treatment”, so click here or on the image to right to head over and download the PDF's!

The Shadow's Symphony can now be heard on the podcast!

For years you've been hearing the horror, the Gothic and the haunting sounds of the symphony coming from the shadows, echoing throughout the halls of the House of BTS with pride.

And now, you'll hear the Symphony's haunting tunes on the House Beyond the Supernatural Podcast as well!

At present there are six albums available from the Shadow's Symphony, and all are available on iTunes, Amazon, and eBay. You can also listen to them via their Youtube Channel.

I've been a fan of the Symphony's work for years now, and I expect to remain one for many years to come!

While I'm still more of a dead tree format kind of a game master and player, for those of you who prefer digital books, the 2nd edition Beyond the Supernatural is now available on Drivethrurpg.com!

Click here to head over and get your own digital copy! Get it, before it gets you!

5/10/2018 - I got an e-mail yesterday, asking about using
The Cursed P.C.C. from the Rifter #13. Specifically if it was an acceptable psychic class to add to BTS.

Well, I'd not looked at this particular P.C.C. in awhile and so I had to go dig it up, remove it from the cold, dead hands of the guy I'd buried it alive with, and I re-read it. After reading and thinking it over, I would say that you could absolutely include The Cursed to the list of P.C.C.'s for your BTS games. That said, there's a note or two worth mentioning...

-You would need to change the skills information to an occupation as you would per the BTS Character creation section; easily done.

-The player will need to understand that this P.C.C. is on par with a Latent Psychic (low on the totem pole power scale). The player also needs to understand that this P.C.C. was made for Nightbane and probably wont get as much milage out the sight ability as a BTS character would. There are monsters hiding in plain sight of course, but not to the extent of Nightbane. To make the P.C.C. a little more dynamic and interesting, I'd say that you could tweak the Sight ability to be able to also see ghosts, entities, astral travelers and other invisible beings.

I leave the GM to decide if they can see things like the Dybbuk inhabiting a body, a Syphon inhabiting an object, or a Tectonic Entity hiding or being obscured within a mass of objects and materials. For some GM's that may give away too many surprises too soon.

Note: You may already have this issue as its got several BTS P.C.C. types in it already like the Living Numbers & Curses, Arcane Archaeologist, Occultists, and Cryptozoologists, a BTS adventure and an article about Lucky Charms and Superstitions. If not, I highly recommend it offer you a link to the issue on RPGdrivethru here.

5/3/2018 - With the change in hosting service and dealing with all those damn Gremlins last month, I've had to clean up some things in the House. Most of it is stuff you probably wont notice, but I noticed it and so I fixed it.

That being said, this has given me an opportunity to add a few things I've been meaning to add, such as the new Reloading Rules on the House Rules page. Head on over the Guest Services desk to check those out.

Also, I wanted to point out that the demented people over at Stinky Bucket are working on a BTS friendly Patron project called Jack Wiz and Torple: Witch Beaters. You may recall that they are the minds that delivered the Stikini to the House a few months back, so you know just how horrific their work is. This means were all in for a treat!

I will add more soon, but I've got a commission to make a character for one of my favorite house guests to take care of first. If you're ever interested in supporting the House and getting a character crafted with love by the Host, head on down to the Basement Laboratory and find my work bench for details.

Brandon C. Clark, a cherished friend of the Host, a beloved House Guest, one of the lead architects of the House of BTS and the Man behind “Dark Chamber Comix“ wants to offer all the House Guests, which includes you, a free illustration of your favorite player character!

You see, Brandon is looking for subscribers on his Dark Chamber Comix You Tube Channel, and he’s willing to illustrate your PC’s to get them!

How to get your free illustration:
#1. Subscribe to the Dark Chamber You Tube Channel.
#2. Leave a comment that you were directed here by the Host of the House of BTS and include your e-mail or the best way to reach you. You can also contact him via e-mail at “goldbrandoniumATgmail.com” to let him know you subscribed (include your You Tube username).
#3. Brandon will then illustrate one character in black and white digital; it doesn't matter if it’s a head shot or full body. I strongly advise that you add lots of details about your PC as he’s really good at adding those details into his illustration.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go check out his You Tube Channel already!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWczvbyNJc3HuaTyAwYK-zQ

6/1/14 - In general I don't like to brag or pat myself on the back, but sometimes it's nice to get a compliment, if only to be reminded that I'm doing it right. Well, I must be doing something right; I've gotten plenty of compliments on the House (which is fantastic as I'm pretty proud of it), but there are a few compliments both directly & indirectly that I wanted to share.

-From a review by the Semi-Retired Gamer who had this to say about the house: “Even though I do not own or play BTS yet, I found the fan site to be extremely well done and should be of use to others. This site is basically what every gaming fan site should strive to be”.

-I spotted these in a BTS related post on the Palladium Forums:

ffranceschi wrote:“BTS has MrLoucifer and the best Palladium related website ever”...

Hendrik replied with: “House of BTS is awesome beyond the pale and getting better. Steven is an excellent writer chock full of excellent ideas and loves BTS”

-And while not House related per se, Stephanie, one of my players, had this to say about my home BTS game/materials:

“Another great GM is Steven Dawes... He's honestly the best GM I've ever played with. His Beyond the Supernatural games are brilliant."

I'm flattered to death by words like these; they help keep me and the House going.

3/16/14 - May I have everyone's attention please?

Brandon C. Clark is the interior decorator of the House of BTS, and in many ways I consider him my right hand concerning matters in the House.

Well, Brandon has run into a stitch that you can help unravel. In short, he needs character commissions, and the speedier your commission come the better.

I can tell you from personal experience, Brandon understands and knows the BTS vibe (or other RPG settings if desired), his character commissions are always top shelf quality, and he's expedient. I have a photo album dedicated to his work on The Facebook page (as well as spattered around the walls of the House) if you want examples of his fine work.

His standard rate is $25 for a character portrait (unless you want something intricate). Honestly, for the quality of his work, that's an outright steal!

Brandon has a Facebook page where you can befriend and reach him at, or you can contact him via his e-mail address at goldbrandonium@gmail.com (which coincidentally is the Pay Pal address you can send him funds through).

1/26/14 - The "Semi-Retired Gamer" is a blog featuring the game related ramblings and ideas of a role-player of over 30 years. I'm proud to announce that he reviewed the House of BTS on his blog! And what did he have to say? Heres a few excerpts:

"Even thought I do not own or play BTS yet, I found the fan site to be extremely well done and should be of use to others."

"This site is basically what every gaming fan site should strive to be."

Click here to read his full review; tell him the Host sent you while you're there.