An honest man in MoBu City

Thread on BW forum

A funny thing happened in tonight’s game. Pete asked me what we could use the Die of Fate for and I went over its uses.

In the game, Rifkin has gotten the crew back together. He has tossed Cerwin into a dry well to ween him from his addiction to Orcs’ Milk and Circled up Samarra to replace Teleki, the crew’s former gossip-finder, answer-man and researcher. Samarra went out to ask really dangerous questions as her first job for the crew and I know that she is going to get the wrong people on the Shadow Council’s attention.

Was she followed back to the safe-house?

Die of Fate, on a 6 she was followed.

Fascinated by the New Shadow

I am enthralled by the idea of the 4th Age and The New Shadow.

Through some elementary googling, found a neat online article that puts together a bunch of clues to be found in J.R.R.’s letters and Christopher’s Middle-earth texts.

I broke down and bought the hardcover, The People’s of Middle Earth, which has 13 pages that Tolkien wrote set in the 4th Age concerning the satanic orc cults and so on.

I have no idea where this will lead, maybe some gaming or perhaps some 4th Age fanfic.

The Last Watchdog

I’ve been looking over this idea and thinking it is a solo campaign concept that is in dire need of some play.

A solo campaign in a wild west that never was and has moved on, starting off in a ghost-town called Bridal Falls, winding through what is left of the Desert Territory and ending Back East.

Taught by the Ghosts elders, prophets and former dogs in the empty streets of Bridal Falls.

Walking through the wastelands of the Desert Territory dispensing justice.

Ending your journey Back East, among cabals of warlock rail barons and high society witches.

If your charater dies along the way, you choose a relationship you have as your next character to pick up your jacket, pistols, horse and sanctified earth and continue the journey.

I don’t really have any spots to time to spare and 2+ games a week is my upper-upper limit, without a doubt.  If something opens up, though, I’ll give it a go.

Shaven-headed Friday

Reading: Reading Before they are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie.  I need to brush up on the first book.  Other than its bombastic action sequences, I don’t recall too much.

Planning: Maybe some gaming this weekend and writing for some chapter exchanges I have set up.

Wearing: Red long sleeved thermal underwearish shirt and jeans.

Writing: Brushing up on a YA story that I’d like to get behind and finish.

And you?

Ascension and God-Killers

BW Thread

Probably the most interesting moment of the evening was the Duel of Wits with the captured god-killer. The god-killers are the mysterious terrorists of the setting, often mentioned or alluded to but never really discussed or delved into. After our last game session, we sat around and brainstormed ideas about them.

They are a democratic society that was once ruled by god-king despots who were overthrown from their step pyramid thrones. Now their civilization slays gods and topples monarchies, taking in cultures into their empire. It was nice to have an NPC to comment on the players adherence to the feudal government.

The Duel of Wits was a close one (with me and Storn scripting the exact same moves from two full exchanges). He was left with doubts (new Belief!) about the Empire of the 13 Cities and she let slip that not all of her god-killing cell were caught in the raid.

Good stuff.

Dark Sun Tweets

Sounds pretty damned cool. I’d love to see the environment be a real hazard, an enemy all on its own as it is in Mouse Guard.

From Critical Hit’s amazing coverage:

• Athas in Seven Sentences (pic to come later), 4e setting had to follow all of them or else they did it wrong.
• Area covered in Athas is “smaller than the state of Texas” unlike other settings.
• Trying to take all the parts that original Dark Sun fans loved and take them back to their first exposure.
• Dark Sun Campaign Guide: 8/2010, 224pgs, 2 new races, 10 character themes, paragon paths, feats, and gear.
• Incorporates “Cutting edge D&D tech” incl. new traps and terrain powers, revised skill challenges, etc.
• Theme is like a template for characters of any class. Things like Gladiators extend to all classes, so need another mechanic beyond classes
• Themes give one encounter power, as well as powers you can substitute your class powers for. Some limits & restrictions
• Gladiator gives a “controller theme” so it’s a backdoor way to get into a martial controller.
• Themes might make their way into core #dnd – could represent something like a Pirate.
• Creature Catalog: 144pg softcover, 50+ Dark Sun monsters in 120 varieties. 7 Sorcerer-Kings and Dragon of Tyr. +Templates, hazards, etc
• Retailers gave feedback that players wanted more of the description of the world in the book that they read for campaign guides
• Insights from Monster Manual 3 design were used in Creature Catalog. More flavor, more story, integration with hazards, other hooks
• Marauders of the Dune Sea, 32pg adventure for 1-3rd level Dark Sun characters, designed by @brucecordell
• Dark Sun will have support in D&D Insider
• List of setting questions is up- pic to come later. Things like using dungeons in Dark Sun, role of Gods, handling Dragons, etc.
• Q on Cosmology: decided to include core D&D cosmology. Part of the reason was for monster origins. Not that far from original Dark Sun cosmo
• Shadowfell is close to the Gray, magic deserts and remaining forests relate to the Feywild.
• D&D Cosmology included, mostly noticeable with monster origins. Dark sun twists on how the planes might be seen in Athas
• Dragonborn “aren’t just bolted on”, and Tieflings will be there as well, both with hooks back to the original setting.
• One of the themes emphasizes Psionic wild talent.
• Wild talents can also get some “cantrip-level” psionic
• In Dark Sun, trying to downplay the importance of magic items, and will use the options from DMG2 to achieve this.
• Two races in setting book are thrikreen and mul
• Mul is +2 Con and other choice +2 Str OR Wis. Edge against condition/status stuff.

From Wizards_DnD tweets:

• Dark Sun- Dessert, savage, arcane magic defiles, sorcerer kings rule with an iron fist, gods are silent, brutal environment
• Character Themes – A template that you can apply to any class. examples – Templars can be applied to casters, gladiator to melee combatants
• Themes will provide powers that you can take in lieu of class powers, also required for some feats and other character options Schwalb: Race and class are two legs in character creation – Themes can be a third
• DDI: Monthly support for Dark Sun. Maybe not an adventure for every month, but split between adventures for Dungeon and options in Dragon
• Goliaths are flavored as half-giant in Dark Sun. HG changing alignment no longer required. Still have fluctuating personality as an RP hook.
• Metal is scarce – Bone, stone and wood weapons are staple. No attack or damage penalties, but new breakage rules

Let us not forget our ideas for Dark Sun 4e back in the blog posts Dark Sun 4e and Dark Sun 4e: The Hard Parts.

Freezing Friday

Had to sprint after the bus this morning.  Driver drove away when I was seven steps from the bus door.  I was set to get pissed but kind of liked the exercise, having only been able to get to the gym one day a week due to knee twinges.  All in all, a four hundred meter sprint wasn’t a bad way to start the Friday.

Reading: I am juggling a bunch of shit right now.  The last few pages of re-reading Altered Carbon, The Man with the Getaway Face, The Player of Games and last night I picked up Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha with a 33% off coupon from Borders.

Planning: Shaving my head this weekend, other than that, not sure what is going on with the ladyfriend over the next coupla days.

Wearing: My good ole cotton union suit under some black Dickies slacks and a flannel shirt.

Writing: Trying to get some chapters together for a co-worker whom I have agreed to do a chapter swap with.

And you?

@ the Table

Friday Night Science Fiction: This is our Friday night game of Diaspora and it is going well.

I want to get in some spaceship combat and some platoon combat and then I will give more detailed play review of the game as it worked for us at the table.  The cluster creation has made a setting that is dense with adventure-stuffs.  That said, another few sessions and we will have to talk about flipping it to Chapter 2 or think about moving on to a different game, declaring this mini-campaign complete.

I have been meaning to write up the going’s on from our last game, in which we used the social combat rules to hire a crew for our newly salvaged New Ovidian battleship.

13 Cities: This was a solo game with just me and Storn but when the Friday night game went kaput and it was just me, Storn and Pete at the table, Storn suggested we head back to our shared setting.  Pete is a wonderful addition to this game.  He get’s where we’re going with it and contributes wonderful and surprising tidbits.

At the end of this current chapter, the 13 Cities will end up being changed irrevocably.  Once we find out what happens to the setting, we will start a chapter from the point of view of the often mentioned but never met God-Killers, most likely an assassination team sent to the 13 Cities to kill them a deity.

MoBu City: This is the game that has suffered at the hands of me and Pete being busy and tired come evening time.  The game was just getting good, with Rifkin, Pete’s former convict gathering his posse of thieves to do a big heist, something that could rock the city and incite gods, sorcerers and demons.

We need to get back to this fucking game, man.  Dag.

That is about it.  Dominion, Formula De and Ticket to Ride are all waiting for some play.  I ran a session of Mouse Guard with some housemates but I’m not sure it had momentum necessary to pick up further play.

What is happening at your table?

The New Shadow: Tolkien and Table-Top Gaming

I have had Tolkien on the brain lately.  It started with re-watching the uncut movies and for the first time, watching the making of features.  Then Cubicle 7 dropped their news.

Before going to bed tonight, I was peeking around at the Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Here are the juicy, game-able bits:

256 From a letter to Colin Bailey 13 May 1964

[An account of Tolkien's unfinished story 'The New Shadow'. (See also no. 338.)]

I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the Downfall [of Mordor], but it proved both sinister and depressing.  Since we are dealing with Men it is inevitable that we should be concerned with the most regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good.  So that people of Gondor in times of peace, justice and prosperity, would become discontented and restless – whiel the dynasts descended from Aragorn would become just kings and governors – like Denethor or worse.  I found that even so early there was an outcrop of revolutionary plots, about a centre of Satanistic religion; while Gondorian boys were playing at being Orcs and going round doing damage.  I could have written a ‘thriller’ about the plot and its discovery and overthrow – but it would be just that.  Not worth doing.

Not worth doing?  Oh man, what is wrong with thrillers?

Let’s get to letter 338:

…there would be secret societies practicing dark cults, and ‘orc-cults’ among adolescents.

Every once in a while there is a thread on RPG.net, in which someone complains about how their group has wedged itself into a really difficult and complicated moral situation that will make the world an entirely different place from what was initially envisioned and planned for.  They are looking for an answer, a way to set the campaign back to rights and to my eye, the campaign seems to be just getting good.

This is how I feel reading these letters.  Since this era untouched and unfinished, it feels ripe for gaming.

Descendants of Agaron and Arwen, struggling to live up to their ancestors’ legends, punk noble kids in Gondor who have taken their grand-parents’ artifacts from Mordor, dusted it off and made Sauron as suddenly hip.  Yeah, cool kids taking out their eyes, replacing it with dwarf-wrought clockwork glass so their parents do not know that they are worshiping the long dead Lord of the Rings, putting on tusked masks and going out orcing during moonless nights.

More?

Dig this answer to a letter asking about the other two colors of wizards:

I have not named the colours, because I do not know them.  I doubt if they had distinctive colours.  Distinction was only required in the case of the three who remained in the relatively small area of the North-west.  I really do not know anything clearly about the other two – since they do not concern the history of the N.W.  I think they went as emissaries to distance regions, East and South, far out of Numenorean range: missionaries to ‘enemy-occupied’ lands, as it were.  What success tehy had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and ‘magic’ traditions that outlasted the Fall of Sauron.

Now we’re talking.  As the governors of Gondor struggle to govern among the flawed and prideful spawn of Aragorn, Satanic cults start up among the Gondorian noble kids, and apprentices of failed angels arrive from distant lands.  Lands that are bankrupt now that their patron, the Lord Eye has fallen silent have come to the Men of the West in order to start trade and learn the fate of the other Istari (wizards).

What a glorious mess.

Now we’re gaming.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies – World’s Finest Couple

Did anyone else notice the sexual tension between Batman and Superman in this movie? And by sexual tension, I mean way more than even there usually is. The closeted gay subtext is made even more startling obvious by the Tom of Finland-looking animation style based on the comic book’s art by Ed McGuinness.

Whenever Lois Lane is mentioned, Batman acts exactly like a petulant, jealous boyfriend. There is a scene when they are pressed up against one another, buried alive and they exchange these quips with cute little smirks and I was sure they were going to make out.

As a straight-up (heh, get that joke, there?) comic book movie it was fairly flat. If the movie was about their gay relationship, with Lex as the president who is out to ruin Superman after their failed relationship back in the Smallville Superboy days it would have kinda rocked. Instead it never acknowledged where the story’s real tension was situated and just didn’t really work as well as the other DC animated movies.  The movie ends with the first appearance of Lois Lane and Batman skulking away, exactly like a spurned lover.

As it is, we already have Apollo and Midnight, the World’s Finest couple, who are out to the world and that will have to be enough.