Legend of the Elements: Cabbages and Explosions

Last night I ran a one-shot of Legend of the Elements (I'll do a character for it sometime soon). A good time was had by all. First, meet the characters:

• Brian played Chng Fa, the Fireshaper. Chng Fa is the ninth in a large family of magistrates and officials, and tried to depose his father for being corrupt and impure. It...didn't go so well. He wound up cloistered for years, and has only recently rejoined the world. His Chakras are excitable & energetic and volatile and explosive. 
• Sarah played Hin, the Earthshaper. Hin's family is known as rebuilders; when some disaster happens that wrecks a place, a Hin shows up and helps fix it. "Hin" is, in fact, a family title, not her actual name. Her Chakras are dedicated & stubborn, and intentional & thoughtful. 
• Michelle played Mei Lin, the Scholar. Mei Lin has been studying for years and is now interested to put some practical application to her knowledge. Specifically, she's interested in making better explosives. Her Chakras are excited & reckless, and absent-minded & unaware. 
• Megan played Yu, the Peasant. Yu was a cabbage farmer in a tiny village who had the misfortune to be around when Mei Lin was practicing new and exciting applications for gunpowder. She and Mei Lin escaped the ensuing fire and Yu swore to help Mei Lin in her studies. Her Chakras are cautious & superstitious and ignorant & sly. 
• Jerry played Janna, the Airshaper. Janna doesn't talk much about her past; she is as mobile and flighty as the wind, and moves from place to place as she will. She is dedicated to helping others and easing suffering; in fact, she helped put out the fire in Yu's village (well, she may have spread it a little). Her Chakras are hasty & quick to react, and resolute & forgiving. 

So then we did some world-building, which is always fun: 

The central, kinda shamrock-shaped island houses the Imperial University, where Mei Lin studied. There's a bridge leading to the mainland (constructed by Earthshapers), and at the base of the bridge is the City of Forbidden Delights, where one can purchase just about anything. Further inland, we have a mountainous region that includes Yu's village, and then further south (from your perspective), there's a mine that yield marble with gold veins. On the border of that region is a small village called Valley View, and that's where we set our story. 

The characters have been traveling together since leaving Yu's village. Mei Lin blew up Yu's farm, Janna helped put out the fire (kinda), and Hin rebuilt Yu's house. Chng Fa wishes to help Hin loosen up a little and be comfortable with his destructive power. They all roll into the village in the afternoon, and note that it's doing fairly well - the village sits atop a rise with a view of the valley (hence the name), and the people here grow poppies and create dye and drugs. 

Mei Lin and Yu talk with a weaver, and Mei Lin buys her servant a blanket, which Yu immediately treasures as the nicest thing she's ever owned. Janna observed the town, and notes that goods are lined up at vendors as though they expect to be sold or moved soon. This is normal - probably there's a wagon or caravan coming to bring goods to the City, but what Janna finds strange is a bunch of empty baskets outside one stall. The baskets themselves don't seem to be for sale, so what's happening there?

A wind picks up and whips through the town, but the townsfolk don't seem bothered - indeed, they seem to be used to it. Some of the character suspect that an Airshaper is nearby, and Chng Fa and Hin go up to the rise to see who's approaching. They see a caravan, led by a man in blue robes riding a horse. Some of the villagers identify him as Sen, coming to take goods to market.

Chng Fa slides on the rocks and winds up tumbling down the hillside, coming to rest near the caravan. Hin uses her powers to smooth out the rockslide into gravel so that it doesn't become dangerous, but can't do much to help Chng Fa. Sen helps the Fireshaper up and blows the dirt right off him - Sen is, in fact, an Airshaper. Chng Fa asks to ride on a wagon back up to the village, and Sen looks a little uncomfortable, but indicates one wagon back that has a seat.

Chng Fa winds up riding next to a stout, sturdy woman named Owa, whom he immediately becomes smitten with, and perceives that his general disdain for government and law is going to make him attractive to her. For her part, Owa starts out a bit guarded, but quickly warms to Chng Fa and informs him that the way to the City is long and dangerous, and she would appreciate him watching out for her. Chng Fa swears to do so.

Up in the villager, the caravan arrives and Sen amplifies his voice and informs the townsfolk that they need to bring their goods out to load up. Mei Lin speaks to Sen and asks if she and Yu can accompany their wagons to the City; Sen has no problem with that. The characters also notice that one of the wagons has a tarp over it, and is being pulled by three oxen - something in it is heavy. 

Sen goes to the home of the local magistrate and walks in without so much as a knock (Chng Fa is shocked, but Owa tells him that Sen and the magistrate are close friends). Mei Lin, overcome by curiosity, sneaks over to the wagon and peeks under the cloth covering whatever is in back, and sees something sparkle. One of the caravaners, though, smacks the cloth back down and tells her to move along. Janna, sensing trouble, zips over and interposes herself between Mei Lin and the henchman. Mei Lin walks off, but Janna, deciding to make things difficult, blows the cloth up and sees that underneath the cloth are a bunch of slabs of marble, riddled with gold. 

Now, the gold found in this marble, as Mei Lin knows, is a powerful incendiary. Mining it and transporting it without Imperial license (and a Fireshaper on standby) is highly illegal. Janna tells Hin what's going on, and they decide to talk with the magistrate and see if he knows what's happening in his village.

They knock on the door and someone inside tells them to enter. The magistrate is dressed all in black and his face is hidden, but his voice is deep and resonant. They tell him about the gold, and and Janna expresses her concern for the safety of the villagers. Hin, meanwhile, observes the magistrate, and realizes that he's not surprised to hear about this. The magistrate shows them an Imperial seal, and tells them that there was a Fireshaper, but he met with an unfortunate accident. Janna mentions that they have a Fireshaper with them, so they could accompany the gold to the City!

The magistrate seems to accept this, and the characters' suggestion that they move the wagon out of the village for safety's sake. Hin and Janna go back outside, and Sen comes out a moment later, informing his people to move the wagon. 

Mei Lin sees her chance! She figures that she can dissolve some of the marble and take some of the gold, and sneaks up to the wagon with Yu. Unfortunately, she gets the mixture wrong. 

The whole wagon goes up in flames. The tethers break and the oxen trot off, terrified, and the wagon disintegrates. The marble and gold is completely consumed. Sen, watching this, grows furious, and the skies darken. He points to Yu and Mei Lin, and the caravaners produce sharp weapons and close in. 

Janna swoops over, and Chng Fa, not at all understanding what's happening, calls up a wall of fire between Mei Lin and Yu and the caravaners. Janna calls up wind to push the fire closer to the folks with weapons, just to threaten them a bit, but overdoes it and sets them on fire (including Owa!). Chng Fa, horrified, calls on his newly discovered skills in Watershaping and extinguishes the fire. Mei Lin and Yu, having officially hit their limit, run away, liberate an ox, and climb aboard, figuring they'd better get out while the getting's good. 

Hin stomps, causing a small earthquake, which sends the other caravaners fleeing (Owa hides behind Chng Fa). Sen flies up and engages Janna, and causes a boom of thunder. Janna redirects this attack, but doesn't quite master it, and deafens Mei Lin and Yu. Janna recovers her poise, though, and forces Sen down with a blast of air, and Hin calls up the earth to immobilize him.

This seems to panic Owa, who asks Chng Fa to run with her. Chng Fa, swept up with passion, agrees, and they steal Sen's horse and gallop away toward the City. 

Janna gives an impassioned speech, saying that this was all a misunderstanding and asking for everyone to forgive. Sen, his rage apparently spent, agrees, and Hin releases him. Hin and Janna agree to accompany the caravan (now sans exploding gold) to the City, and they pick up Mei Lin and Yu on the way, who really have no idea where they're going. All in all, a bit of a comedy of errors, but the characters all feel like they've done the right thing.

Blue Rose: Those Below Revealed!

Last night we played some Blue Rose. Last session is here. ON WE GO!

Arlen, you'll note, had just asked the vata he was talking to who "Those Below" were. He didn't get much of an answer; everyone kind of hemmed and hawed and looked scared. Dobbin does some asking around, and just some straight-up observation, and notes that the tenor of the conversation is very much that Those Below are local boogeymen or hostile creatures, but this village isn't behaving like a place that constantly under attack or Corruption. Probably nothing to worry about, then.

The ceremony happens at dusk, and Verbran invokes the blessings of Felisar, god of travelers. The characters comport themselves well during the ceremony, with the exception of Whirlpool, who just can't stay still and fidgets the whole time. Arlen, however, stands out in his reverence and respect, and that kind of smooths things over (plus, like, who knows about sea-folk, anyway). During the ceremony, Dobbin notes that there's a bend in the river nearby, and there are guards posted there.

After the ceremony, the characters are expected to go to bed. Kisha starts to bed down, and Dobbin, not really sleepy, asks her to look after Pansy. Whirlpool fades into the background and sneaks down to the river to swim, and Arlen helps the forest folk clean up and get things squared away before night falls. He's used to ceremonies like this going into the night, and involving dancing and music and a big bonfire, so seeing it all wrapped up so quickly is jarring.

Dobbin goes down to the river to talk with the guards, and learns that they're posted there to watch out for "Those Below". She talks with them a bit and learns that while no one has ever really come to harm because of these mysterious creatures, sometimes things go missing, and a local cobbler had some of his shoes filled with something "that smelled awful." Dobbin again suspects that there's more to this than they realize, but then Whirlpool leaps out of the water like a beast and lurches toward the guards.

Whirlpool thinks this is funny as hell, of course, but one of the guards panics and runs for the village, screaming about Those Below. The whole village gets into an uproar, and Kisha grabs her weapons and rushes out to see what's going on. The lead guard (who has to kind of admit that it was a funny prank) sends another of the younger folks back to the village to get everyone calmed down, and relates to Dobbin that there's a dry riverbed nearby with a cavern that leads underground. That's supposedly where Those Below come from.

Kisha goes back to the hut, and realizes that the door is open and Pansy is gone...as is Whirlpool's beloved stew pot, Arlen's drawings, and Kisha's journal. Worse yet, the bag of flour containing the Ebban Mask is missing (but really, the characters are more concerned with Pansy and the stew pot). Kisha alerts the others and Dobbin starts calling out for Pansy, despite assurances from the villagers that if Those Below have her, she's gone (obviously they'll eat her, the savages). Arlen talks to Vebran who echoes these concerns.

Dobbin, though, listens carefully and hears Pansy barking...sounds like it's coming from below them. The characters get their gear (Whirlpool gets his trident from the boat), and they all head into the cavern. They realize it leads below the village, and it's pretty deep; this looks like it was once part of the Rose River, but erosion diverted the main river over and time and this bed remained dry.

Arlen conjures light so that Dobbin can see (as she's the only one without dark vision), and they head deeper into the caverns. They see footprints, which look humanoid, but are smaller than adult. Fey, maybe?

Deeper inside, Dobbin calls out to Pansy and Pansy runs up to her, unharmed and frisky! They follow the path from where Pansy came, and find a dip in the floor with a bunch of...beds? Bedrolls, made of woven roots and padded with moss. Whirlpool goes to take a sample, and a huge night-person with a club emerges from the dark, demanding to know what they're doing here.

Kisha, fortunately, is ready to parley, and talks with the night-person, apologizing for trespassing and asking who he is. He calls himself Grimat, and says that he and his people live her underground, descendants of the night-people that escaped from Kern many years ago. Kisha muses that these night-people were probably part of the same group that Fallia led out of Kern, they just felt more comfortable living here than in the village. Grimat, for his part, is dismissive and a little contemptuous of the forest folk ("Those Above"), and says that for the most part their two peoples don't interact.

But what about the stolen stuff? Grimat rolls his eyes and yells into the dark, "Grimalsh!" Several young night-people, one of whom is clearly Grimat's son, emerge, bearing the characters' good. They don't have the bag of flour, though, and they don't seem to know what it is. Someone else has the mask.

Kisha and Arlen suggest that maybe the night-people should make contact with the forest folk; they don't necessarily have to merge, but there's no reason they should be afraid of each other (Grimalsh's trickery notwithstanding). Grimat agrees, if the forest folk are willing, and the characters head back out.

They meet with Vebran and explain the situation, and Vebran, while initially resistant, agrees to meet with Grimat at twilight. But that leaves the issue of the Mask!

Kisha and Arlen stay in the village to search for it, while Dobbin and Whirlpool go back into the caverns to deliver the message to Grimat. Kisha casts Second Sight and realizes that the Mask is still nearby, but is moving. Arlen looks up and spots two sprites flying the bag between tries, and casts a spell to pull the bag back down to him. The sprites fly in to attack, and the characters realize that these sprites are mechanical - from Ebban Manor, perhaps?

Kisha makes quick work of the sprites with her staff and punch dagger, while Arlen keeps the Mask safe. Dobbin and Whirlpool return, having delivered the message, and the characters decide to stay another day, to make sure that the meeting between the two people goes well. Whirlpool decides to spend the day fishing, to whip up various fish preparations in celebration of the meeting between Those Above and Those Below. Fish fest!

Movie #494: Atomic Blonde

Atomic Blonde is a spy/action thriller starring Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Sofia Boutella, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, and Roland Moller.

It's Berlin in 1989, a few days before the wall falls (not that the characters know that), and Berlin is hot. There's all kinds of spy shit going on, and MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) is sent in to investigate the death of another agent (Sam Hargrave) and retrieve a list of agents from a German defector (Marsan). Oh, and while there, hook up with a rogue agent called Percival (McAvoy) who's immersed himself in the crazy corruption of the Cold War.

What follows is a mostly standard spy flick, with all of the violence, sex, intrigue, and double-dealing you'd expect from a Cold War scenario. But Atomic Blonde is a bit more than that, because Charlize Theron is fucking amazing.

First, the fight scenes. The fight choreography is designed, to my eyes, to highlight the fact that Lorraine is taking on multiple opponents who are usually heavier and stronger than she is (remember, she's fighting KGB and Stasi, not random dudes). She relies on ambushes, quick strikes to vulnerable points, and using her opponents' weight against them. When she goes in for gun-fu, she takes headshots and it's clear that although she's highly skilled, she's fighting for her life. The apartment building scene is multiple fights in one continuous shot, and it's incredible.

Second, the love story. The agent that Lorraine goes in to find was, at one point or another, her lover. She doesn't reveal that, of course. She hooks up with a French intelligence officer named Delphine (Boutella) in Berlin, and they become lovers, and it's played completely naturally - no one comments about them being a thing, the fact that they're both women doesn't really come up. The fact that they're both spies comes up, and that's the main point of contention.

And indeed, Lorraine gets hit on and uses her looks to her advantage, but there's no "she has to prove herself to the boys in MI6" subplot. A Russian dude calls her a bitch, once, right before she kills him, but beyond that I didn't see a hell of a lot of misogyny for the sake of it (compare and contrast with The Man With the Golden Gun, which I just watched the other day, and has Bond slapping women around and other casual mistreatment of the female characters all the way through).

Oh, and the soundtrack is a great selection of 80s tunes, set in nice juxtaposition to the action scenes ("Father Figure" used as cover noise during a fight is a particular favorite; actually it occurs to me that most or all of the music in the movie is diagetic, which is also awesome).

The movie is based on a graphic novel, and I haven't read it, but I might well have to pick it up.

My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Medium high

Next up: The Omen, I think, because we've already scheduled it, but we picked up a bunch of movies the other day

Character Creation: Wild Talents 2nd Ed

As I said yesterday, I've only got a couple more games left from the Pakistan bundle of 2010, so I think I'll finish them up this week.

The Game: Wild Talents 2nd Ed
The Publisher: Arc Dream Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: Not a lot; I'm pretty sure it uses the One-Roll Engine and so it'll look a little like Godlike and Better Angels, which I have a little more familiarity with
Books Required: Just the one

Characters in Wild Talents are built using points, and in fact the first thing I need to figure out is how many points I get. There's a discussion of the different genres of superheroics that the game can fit into; there aren't specific point totals attached, but it just notes that a gritty game tends to have fewer points than, say, a four-color.

Oh, wait, the book says that it recommends starting GMs give out 250 points. Sounds good to me. The GM is also supposed to brief the players on what kind of world we're in. I don't have a GM, of course, so I shall use the example "gritty world where mutants are hunted by the government". I don't think I've actually made a superhero character in such a world, so that's exciting.

This is frustrating; I get 250 points, sure, I have to buy Stats and Skills and so on, but I don't see a point cost for jut normal Stats & Skills. I see point cost for Hyperstats (basically superhuman attributes), but is it just one-for-one for the normal stuff? Ah, no, not in the slightest. Good grief, the only place the book seems to list those costs is on the reference sheet at the back of the freaking book, and there's no example of character creation (guys), so I'm just gonna screenshot the costs here so I have them for reference.

Holy shit, 5 points per normal stat die. Human average is only 2, which means I could spend 60 points and make all my stats average. But do I really want to do that? I guess I need to think of a concept.

Well, since we're in a gritty, X-Men-esque universe, I assume I want my character to be fairly young 20s or so. Since the government is hunting us, we'll assume that my character (and the other heroes in our hypothetical group) are living off the grid; whether we have some sort of Professor X figure with a dope mansion is undecided, but kinda unlikely given the setting. I want my character to have powers that are kind of scary, and what's more frightening than bugs?

My character was raised in a very strict, almost cult-like Christian household. He's still a believer, but obviously the particulars of his faith are shaken by the whole manifesting powers thing. I want his powers to be of the "commanding animals" variety, and maybe right now he can just do bugs and lower forms. He calls himself Dominion, after Genesis 1:26 ("Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.").

With all of that in mind, let's do some stats. I figure that he's mostly average, but I'll put Body and Sense a little higher (3d) and I'll put Charm a little lower (1d; he's a wallflower and he's pretty cowed because, y'know, cult). That's a total of 13d into Stats, 65 of my 250 spent.

Skills, then! These work more or less the same way as Stats, they're just cheaper. Let's see what my devout little mutie would have.

Well, Athletics at 2d is always good. Dodge at 2d, Drive (car) at 1d, Stealth 2d. Empathy and Perception can go to 3d, I think. I'll take Knowledge (Religion) at 4d, and I'll take Intimidation at 2d (highly devout people are scary, especially when they have spiders coming out of their ears). That's 16 Skill points, or 32 points spent, which puts me 97 in the hole in total (doin' fine! I think).

Next step is Archetype, and I have to check this chapter out to see if I want one. It doesn't look like there's a Mutant Archetype (which kinda surprises me), so let's build one.

I start out with a Source; first one's free, but I can take multiple Sources. I think "Mutant" is fine.

Hmm. Now this is interesting. Next thing is Permissions, which limit the kinds of powers I can buy. If I wanted to create a highly skilled sort of character, f'rex, I could take a Permission that just allows me to take Hyperstats or Hyperskills or both. If I want unfettered access to powers, I can take the Super Permission, but that's expensive. I don't know that I need that much wiggle room, honestly. I could take Power Theme, which allows me to buy whatever I want if it's in-theme (the theme for Dominion because animal command and control; the religious stuff is purely psychological). I think I'll do that, that's only 5 points.

Oh, wait, actually "Mutant" is an Archetype, and it's pretty much what I did, except it lists Genetic as the Source (which, like, fine, it said "genetic tampering" or something so I figured that was more an altered human/Spider-Man kind of thing). So that's easy; I don't get any Intrinsics and that's all I need to do for Archetype.

Powers, then. Hoo-doggies. The book lists "gourmet" powers (how to build your own) or "cafeteria" powers (pick 'em from a list), so I'm gonna see if the power(s) I want are listed first before I go trying to suss out how to build one. OK, nope, not really. Although, really, what I think I need to do is figure out what I want the creepy-crawlies to be able to do for Dominion in play, and structure the power(s) accordingly. This may take a minute.

Good grief. I like this system (it reminds me a little of Tri-Stat's Silver Age Sentinels in just how versatile it is, but wow, it's involved. I mean, sure, you can pick from the cafeteria, but as is typical with me, I gotta do it the hard way.

Well, let's jump in both feet. My power is "Animal Control." I need to choose its Qualities; Attack, Defend, or Useful. I don't think Defend makes a lot of sense, here, so I can Attack and Useful with this power.

I need to define, though, what I can do with the Useful bit. I'm gonna say that I can summon up whatever animals are in the area and I can send them to do my bidding, which allows me to short out machinery, freak people out, and I can see through their eyes (ooooh). I think, though, that although Dominion can control any kind of animal, he's got a mental block that prevents him from controlling anything but vermin (bugs, rats, bats, maybe snakes). It's a mental block because "vermin" is just how he thinks of these animals; rats are a lot more intelligent and complex than bugs, but to him they're all lower creatures.

OK, so, Power Qualities are 2 points per die. That means I need to buy dice for the Attack and the Usefuls, so I'd better define how many. Shorting out machinery is one, seeing through their eyes is another, but freaking people out I could take as a Hyperskill off Intimidation, I think. Unless there's a way to inflict mental damage or something. Ooh, there is, I can take Traumatizing. OK, that'll be a little easier, then. And actually I can take On Sight as a way to affect things with my bugs without actually seeing them, so that's nice.

Do I wish to make this really complex and take Variable Power so I can basically change up my effect whenever I use the power? Ooh, actually it's not all that complex, because I have a model I can work from - Cosmic Power. Except I don't need to be even that persnickety with it, because I don't need Attack or Defend there, it's just Useful with some wiggle room.

Good lord, are there example characters here? Oh, there are, thank goodness. OK, so now at least I have a little perspective.

So, I definitely want to make this a single power with all the effects I need. It has an Attack form, and then I think the Useful can have Variable so I can just have the bugs do what I need them to do. Let's do the Attack first.

Attack Quality is 2 per die. I'll add 1 for a Quality Level so it does an extra point of damage (3 per die). I get the Range Capacity for free, so that's fine. I kinda want Area to reflect that a horde of bugs or rats can swarm in and bite everyone. That's an extra 1 per area die, or 2 if I want hard dice. I think I'll skip that for right now, but it'll be easy enough to add in later. I'll add in Daze, though (it reduces my target's dice pool by my width for the next round, which I think makes sense). I'm up to 4 points per die. Oh, shit, I want Engulf (letting me hit all hit locations at once), which puts me to 6 points per die. Oh, wait, I like radius better than area, so I'll add that in and also Traumatizing, for a total of 9 points per die. Oy.

Ah, but Flaws. There are a bunch I like. I want Delayed Effect (takes a minute for the bugs to arrive), which takes me down to 7 per die. Horrifying makes perfect sense (6 per die), as does Obvious (5 per die). Reduced Capacities is good (which lowers my Range), so that's 4 per die. That's good.

And now, Useful. Rather, the Variable portion, since strictly speaking I can use it for any kind of Quality, unless I take If/Then to restrict myself. Oof. OK, so we start with 2 per die. I want Variable, obviously, so that's 6 per die right off the bat. I'll take On Sight to account for the "can see through the animals' eyes" bit, so that's 7 per die. I don't think I want any other Extras, but I do want Delayed Effect, Horrifying, and Obvious, which drops me to 3 per die for this part of the power.

Altogether, that's 7 points per die for my Vermin Control power. I've spent 97 points, so I have 153 remaining. Say I want 7d in this power plus one Wiggle die. 7d by itself is 49, and a single wiggle die is 28. That puts me down to 76 points. Doin' fine.

Well, shit, I have the points. I may as well buy up some Hyper-Intimidation. Hyperskills are just one per die, so I'll throw, what, 5d in there? That's 5 more points, still got 71, ffs.

Let's do Hyper-Stat in Command. I can add 5d in that for 20 points. Ooh, I kinda want to add Hard Dice to my Command stat, so that I can represent my mutant power of command, but have it be more or less not something he can control. Let's see. Hard Dice cost double, so if I want to take two Hard Dice in my Hyper-Command, it'd be 16 points right there. Add in 3d normally (so I can use my Hard Dice, but I don't necessarily have to), and that's 12 points, or 28 points altogether. Still got 43 points. Good lord.

Well, any other power-like things I should have for Dominion? I could take Hyper-Sense to represent his ability to see through animals' eyes, how about. That's 4 per die, and it feels like Wiggle Dice would be good here. So if I take, say, 4d (16 points) and 2wd (32), that's 48 points - crap, that 5 higher than I have. I'll drop my normal Sense to 2d, which gives me back 5, and that puts me even!

Oh, a couple of things I forgot. I have to do Base Will and Willpower. Base Will is Charm + Command, but does Hyper-Command count? Without the Hyper it's 3, with it'd be 9, depending on what Hard Dice do. Looking at the example characters, it does seem to count, so let's assume I have 9 Base Will. Willpower starts equal to that.

Now I do Motivations. I get 2, a Passion and a Loyalty, and they tend to conflict. I have to split points between them equal to my Base Will. Groovy. I'll say that Dominion is Loyal to God (7 points), and Passionate about Family (2 points). His Passion has been shaken pretty hard by his biological family disowning him, so the "family" in question is whoever lives at the X-mansion or whatever.

Dominion's real name is Noah Beacham. He's 19, I think - just out of high school, and his power manifested at a graduation party. Noah went to a public high school, but of course he was heavily involved in his parents' cult (like they were members, they didn't run it). He snuck away and went to a graduation party and his parents came and got him and started screaming about sin. Noah lost it and spiders, bugs, and all the other awful animals in the area swarmed in. They didn't really hurt anyone (too much), but it was terrifying for everyone, Noah included. Surrounding by a cloud of flies and with spiders crawling on his hands, he recited Genesis 1:26 (also manifesting that whole Hyper-Command thing) and everyone fucking fled.

Noah retrieved the robe that he wore for services; it used to be white, but it's pretty dingy now. He pulls up the hood when he needs to keep his face hidden, but he's not really concerned with concealing his identity, just his whereabouts. He's very confused as to how what he can do - and what other mutants can do - fits in with God's law, but it must, right?

Character Creation: Adventures in Oz

In looking at my project today, I realized that I've only got three games left from the DTRPG charity bundle benefiting the 2010 Pakistan floods. This bundle was really the thing that catapulted this project from "I'll probably finish this up sometime in a year or two" to "this will probably never be finished." Of course, I have significantly fewer demands on my time now, so who knows!

Anyway, the three game I have left from that bundle are Adventures in Oz, Wild Talents 2nd Ed, and Hot War. Of those three, the first seems like it's the simplest to brain (it's the shortest, anyway), and since I've got a couple of other things I want to do today, I'll do that one.

The Game: Adventures in Oz
The Publisher: F. Douglas Wall Productions
Degree of Familiarity: None, and I haven't read the Baum books, either, so I'm a little in the dark here
Books Required: Just the one.

 
OK, having now read through character creation, I was right - this is a damn simple setup (I like that!). My first step is to think about what kind of character I want to play.

As an aside, the first chapter of this book summarizes the history of Oz very, very briefly (kudos to Mr. Wall for brevity), and it is batshit. Like, I'm sure if you summarized Star Wars or any other long-running, beloved series it wouldn't sound any less crazy, of course, but I'm not familiar with the Oz novels. That's neither here nor there, just something that struck me.

So I need to visualize my character. Hmm. Well, one of the things you can do in this game is play an animal, either a large animal (like the Cowardly Lion) or a small animal (like Toto). One of the other things that's important is to think of a reason that this character is adventuring, since denizens of Oz don't really want for anything (they don't get sick, and there's no concept of money).

I want my character to be a wolf. He's seen his cubs grow up and have cubs and new packs have formed. He's seen the various wars come and go between factions of Oz, and he's interested in seeing what's beyond the Gugu Forest. He's simply known as the Elder Wolf.

Next I choose a template, but it's pretty clearly Large Animal. That puts my Size at 4, about the same size as the Cowardly Lion, which is a pretty big wolf, but that's fine.

The templates come with Skills and traits attached, and then I can raise one by 2 and two more by 1. The book says I can, if the GM is good with it, buy other traits or take a negative trait to bring some points back. I already have one negative trait (No Arms), inasmuch as I don't have hands that can do fine manipulation. I think I shall spend 2 to buy Deadly Weapon (Elder Wolf can still bite), pump 1 into Presence to make him impressive and scary, and the last one into...also Presence, because it starts at 1, not 2 like I thought.

Hmm. I actually don't like that, it leaves my Brains at 1. I'm gonna skip Deadly Weapon (Elder Wolf can still bite, but he's gotten old and slow over the years, which is at odds with the notion that things in Oz don't really age, but c'mon, it's in concept). I'll put both of those points into Brains.

And now I get a speciality. I'm gonna say that Elder Wolf's speciality is scent, in Awareness.

And finally, I get a friend (aw). Normally this would be the other PCs, with whom I go adventuring, but since it's just me, I pick the one friend that doesn't go adventuring but is still my buddy. I'll take Gugu the Leopard, the king of the jungle that bears his name. Gugu and Elder Wolf go way back, and Gugu hasn't aged, but Elder Wolf has, and once Gugu asked why. Elder Wolf said, "for there to be cubs, wolves must grow old. For wolves to grow old, they must first be cubs." Gugu doesn't necessarily get it, but he respects Elder Wolf.

Elder Wolf is a huge wolf, with black fur (grey at the muzzle, of course) and deep yellow eyes. He looks quite scary if you see him at night, but really he's a good sort, and once he's decided you're his pack, nothing is going to hurt you if he's there.

Blades in the Dark: Dockside Heist

Nice, easy heist of some crates in Coalridge. What could go wrong?

Last time, the crew did a little transport job and learned the name of the sea-demon that is bedeviling Doskovol. This time, they crew is out doing their thing: Siren is drunk and singing at the Veil, Cage is at the lair studying, and Copper is watching One-Eye create a murder-board in the back room of the Ruby (One-Eye has gotten paranoid, and she's creating elaborate theories about how this all ties together).

A bartender at the Veil motions for Siren, and lets her know that Madame Tesslyn at the Red Lamp wants to see her. Siren drunkenly stumbles out into the night and winds up at the Lamp, where Madame Tesslyn (after ascertaining that Siren is going to retain this) tells her that she has a job for them. A rich guy named Roland Wott has a cut-glass chalice that Tesslyn wants, but he won't sell it, so might the crew obtain it for her? Wott lives in a mansion Brightstone, and Tesslyn will, of course, pay. Siren says she'll bring it to the crew.

Meanwhile, at the Ruby, one of the staff tells Copper and One-Eye they have someone asking for them (for One-Eye, specifically). Copper goes out to meet her; One-Eye is busy and buzzing on stimulants. The woman turns out to be Sercy, one of the Grinders. She tells Copper that there are rumors going around that Lord Strangford - a very wealthy Dosovol resident and one of the most important Leviathan hunters - is into demon worship and other illegal activities. If this could be proven, it would be very profitable to the right people. Copper pays Sercy for the info and goes back to One-Eye, and they head out into the night to get some food on the way to the lair.

At a food stand (getting oyster buns!), a Bluecoat passes One-Eye a note with a star on it. It says "Warehouse in Coalridge, near Ironworks. Valuable goods inside, Bluecoats watching." One-Eye recognizes this as a communication from the crew's new patron, the Unseen.

The crew convenes at the lair and everyone lays out these potential jobs. No one's really interested in the chalice - the crew isn't really equipped for sneak-thief kind of things, not in Brightstone, and they're not ready to go back to the lands of the rich again. They're very interested in Lord Strangford, but they do notice that their crew's coffers are a little dry. They need some quick cash to shore themselves up, and the warehouse job looks like a pretty easy score.

They start doing some recon; Cage sends ghosts to check out the boxes in the warehouse and see what's in the them and learns that there are crates of spices and fabrics (and other sundry goods that aren't worth taking). Siren surveys the area with Bartok, her hunting bird, and sees that there are Bluecoats watching the warehouse. Copper asks around and learns that the warehouse was the site of a brawl between the Fog Hounds and the Grinders, and the Bluecoats locked it down after that, but the stuff is going to get picked up and sent out to where it goes soon. The crew needs to act quickly if they're gonna do this.

They decide to just pull the Black Lotus up to the dock, distract the Bluecoats, go in, grab the crates, and go. Simple enough. They pull up in their boat and start going inside, but a man watching the warehouse from a nearby workhouse spots them and runs for the dock. One-Eye tries to dart him with a blowgun, but misses and hits Bartok instead. Copper and Button run over and nab the guy before he reaches another dock (and aid), and Copper knocks him out and drags him behind some barrels. So far, so good.

Meanwhile, One-Eye and Cage rig a wagon on the main road to collapse, drawing the attention of the Bluecoats. They pop into the warehouse and splash some drift oil around, making the boxes float, and the crew loads up the Lotus. Copper stands lookout on the deck, and sees another boat coming in. It looks familiar, but she can't quite place it. As it gets closer, though, a lookout on it's deck spots her.

The crew finishes their loadout and One-Eye recognizes the incoming boat - it's the Fog Hound. Figuring that they're about to get some interference the crew heads out, but the Hound fires harpoons and hits the Lotus. Copper yanks one out, but puts a hole in the hull and water starts flooding in. One-Eye and Copper run to fix it, and Siren takes the wheel. Cage, meanwhile, sets up a cannon and blows a hole in the Hound.

With the hull fixed, Copper breaks the chain on the other harpoon, and the crew escapes into the narrower canals where the Hound can't follow. They head back to the lair, a job well done.

The Unseen help the crew sell the goods; they take a cut, of course, but that's business. Unfortunately, the Grinders start making trouble for the crew, and it doesn't help that Siren, Copper, and Cage all overindulge in their vices. Siren starts singing songs about how they beat out the Grinders for the goods, and the Grinders press, trying to take the Widdershins' fleet. The crew isn't about to give up their claim, though, so they're going to war.

The crew doesn't want this to drag out - they know that war is costly. They decide to hit the Grinders hard and end this. Siren hires some sailors to act as muscle. Cage, though, has dropped off the map for the moment, which means the crew needs to take this on without him.

Character Creation: Horrors - The Scary Story RPG

The Game: Horrors - The Scary Story RPG
The Publisher: True in One Games
Degree of Familiarity: None with this particular game, but the genre is of more than a passing interest
Books Required: Just the one.

 

I have to say, this game was a bit of a disappointment to me. I backed it on Kickstarter and I was looking forward to it. Not that a "horror RPG" with no further qualifiers is terribly innovative in itself, but there was something I liked in the presentation, the idea of creating a "Horror" and playing through a movie. Slasher Flick emulates a particular kind of horror movie very well, but I was keen to see something a little broader but with a distinct flavor.

Horrors doesn't really have that. It's very much a generic RPG with the mechanics built around the horror genre, so that's good, but there are bits of it that come off as a little too glib in the wrong ways. To wit:

Kinda problematic, I think. Also, you heal Willpower damage from sex and drugs...and that's it! Now, one could argue that it's in-genre, and within a very small subset of horror movies, maybe it is. But suppose I want to play It (which, OK, I'm talking about the movie, not the novel) or some other movies with kids as characters? Kinda...not great. Playing as kids is never mentioned in the book, which means that not playing as kids is never mentioned.

Anyway, stuff like that kinda made me read the book and put it back down. But I'm still gonna make a character, because it's what I do.

Starting off creating a Victim (which is what characters are called in this game; dunno how I feel about it), I'm meant to begin with the personality/name/description side of things. I find it interesting where different games include this step. There's not a right or wrong, and I suspect it comes down to the author's biases, but I dunno.

Anyway, I want to play the old guy that gets eaten by the Horror in the first reel, except this being an RPG rather than a movie, maybe I hang on a little longer. In reading the chargen system, I see this:

I...don't know if that's true. Like, sure, powerlessness is a staple of horror, but it usually comes from the situation. Sure, there are horror movies in which the monster is preying on poor people, but just as many where the protagonists are affluent, able-boded white kids (that's, like, most of the slasher genre, in fact). Anyway, just struck me.

My character's name is Barnaby, and don't you call him "mister," he works for a living. He's in his late 60s, his hair's gone white ("there's snow on the roof but there's fire in the furnace!" as he likes to say). He's a custodian - head custodian, thanks - in the facility in which this game is set.

Now, Attributes. There are six of them, and they start with a free point, and I get 5 more to throw around. Oh, wait, no, I get 5 points per column, so I get 5 to split between Vigor and Feeling, Vitality and Perception, and Reaction and Thinking. So I really get 7 points for each column, min 1, max 6.

OK, well, I see Barnaby as being a tough ol' bastard, and he's not really great with other people, so I'll do 5 in Vigor and 2 in Feeling. Vitality, well, he's not as young as he used to be and he tires easily, so I'll go 3 Vitality and 4 in Perception. And then Reaction and Thinking can be pretty close; 4 and 3, respectively.

I get Endurance equal to my Vigor + Vitality + Reaction, or 12. I get Willpower equal to my other three Attributes (9).

Now I get an Archetype, which determines my Skills. Let's see if they have "old coot" as one of them. Well, no, but there is one called Survivor, which I think works just fine for my purposes. That gives me Focus 1, Handy 2, and Notice 2. I'm also "locked" in Computer and Politics, which means if I want to buy those Skills I have to spend an extra point to unlock them.

And, indeed, I get 10 more points to spend on Skills. Well, I'll bump Handy up to 4 (that's kinda gonna be Barnaby's thing). I'll buy up Notice to 3 and put 2 into Outdoors. I've got 5 left. I'll put one into Stealth, two into Fighting, and the last two into Mechanics.

I could, if I wanted, take Flaws - Major ones (like Slut) give me an extra Attribute point and Minors give me two more Skill points. Do I have any glaring holes in my Skills? I dunno. There's stuff I'd like, but I don't know if any of it is crucial. Yeah, actually, I'll take Brash (Barnaby is crotchety, as stated) and give myself a point in Driving and a point in Stamina.

Finally, Contacts. I can take three Contacts - they're people I know that I can call on for favors, and each one excels at one Skill. Or, I can forego taking some or all of them and take a point of Skills for every Contact I don't take (I actually really like that; I know a lot of players who don't really groove on making up or using contacts).

Let's see. I think Barnaby mostly keeps to himself and most of his old Army buddies are dead by now. I think I'll his ex-wife Gertie as a Contact, and say her special Skill is Veterinary (she's a vet, duh). I'll leave it at that, though, and take two more Skills - Shooting, how about.

And that's it, actually! There's a slot of gear and Contacts, but it's another sheet and I don't feel like printing it, so we'll just take Gertie as read.

Character Creation: Exalted 2nd Ed

Rare is the day that I have literally nothing demanding my time and attention, but today is such a day, so I shall take advantage of that to make a character for a more complicated game. To wit:

The Game: Exalted 2nd Ed
The Publisher: White Wolf Publishing, back before the sales and mergers and Onyx Path and so on
Degree of Familiarity: None with this edition. I played 1st edition for a good long while
Books Required: Just the one, and I don't have any sourcebooks or anything anyway. I only have this PDF because it was in a bundle on DT

 
Exalted and I have something of a fraught history, less to do with the game itself and more to do with things going on in my life when I was playing it (and, on one terrible occasion, writing for it). All of my at-the-table experience is with the first edition, and I know that this edition gets a lot of flak, but it gets that flak from people with personal stakes in hating it, which, like, I'm so fucking done with this bullshit. Just play the games you like.

No soapboxes today, I promise. Let's get to it.

I've made two Exalted characters for this project, a Solar (1st Ed) and a Lunar (also 1st Ed). Oh, and I have an editable character sheet, thank the maker.

OK, so having skimmed through the Setting chapter and refreshed myself on what's basically happening with Creation, it strikes me that Exalted isn't so very different from a lot of long-winded fantasy games I've read. Starts with a lot of history, continues with a basic outline of the world, and so on. What makes the difference is that a) it's fairly well-written, so the eyes don't glaze over as easily and b) while the history is there, the focus is generally on what's happening now and how it's interesting and useful to the table, which means it's less "10,000 years ago, two gods arm-wrestled!"

In any case, the character creation process outlines six principles to keep in mind, most of which are pretty obvious to experienced players, but there are a couple (namely, your character is just starting out as an Exalt, but your character is a fucking demigod with all the epic potential that implies) that I'm really glad they included.

Anyway, Step One is, as usual, Concept, which I don't really have. I usually find it fun to think about where the character is from, and I'd like to do something different. I've played characters from the east (my Haltan Eclipse caste), the west (my sorcerer from the islands), and south (the zenith caste from Gem that I made for this project...10 fucking years ago). Never made a character from the north, and I've never made one from the Scavenger Lands, so maybe I'll read those sections real quick and see if anything inspires me.

Reading through the section on Great Forks, I kinda like the idea of playing someone who had his world completely upended by the Exaltation. Great Forks is interesting; it's described as one of the most enlightened cities in Creation, but its economy runs on slavery and drugs. I think my character ran a "pleasure parlor" call the Beehive - it's where you go to get honey, honey. He was the proprietor, made sure everyone was happy and drugged and that the slaves were tending to people (not that way, there are employees for that), and he never really thought much about the concept of people-as-property, and then he Exalted and suddenly he was "Anathema" rather than a person, and that shook him up.

That's a pretty good start for a concept. I like the idea of being on the run either in or from Great Forks, but that's something I'd have to deal with more with a group. What's next? Oh, caste, probably. Hmm. Well, not Dawn or Zenith, definitely. I feel like Twilight doesn't quite fit, either. I think I'll go with Night. I can see this guy being spy-like and sneaky (which, yes, is on-brand for how I like to make characters, so I'll be on the lookout for something interesting).

Next thing is Motivation (which I think must be something that was added for this edition because I don't recall it in 1st). It's meant to be something epic, and one of the examples they give is "end slavery in Creation." That actually makes a lot of sense for this guy, considering his history, so I think I'll co-opt that one.

OK, then, Step Two: Attributes. Standard Physical/Mental/Social distribution, 8/6/4 (although nowhere in the "allocate Attributes" section character creation are the digits written, so I had to read the paragraph looking for the words "eight" and "six" like some kinda weirdo).

Well, based on my guy's background I think I gotta go with Social/Mental/Physical. I'll put four into Charisma and just max it out, and split the other four evenly in Manipulation and Appearance (ugh). For Mental, I'll put two into Perception, three into Wits, and the last one into Intelligence (this guy got by on charm and cleverness more than learning and problem-solving). Finally, four dots in Physical. Y'know, there's really no point in doing anything other than putting two into Dexterity and splitting the other two between Strength and Stamina, since Dex is very much the uber-trait here.

Step Three: Abilities. These really should be called "Skills", but it's an OWoD holdover. Anyway, I get five Caste Abilities (Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny, and Stealth) and then I get to pick five more to be Favored Abilities. Cool.

OK, well, I need a combat Ability, and the best way to make this decision, I've found, is to think about what kind of fights one's character will look amazing and magical in. I actually don't want to do Thrown, shocker, I know. I see this guy as doing kung-fu like stuff, very fast and fluid snake-style, so I'll take Martial Arts as a Favored. I want the social stuff, so I'll take Presence and Socialize, and then I figure with this guy's background in drugs and sex, Medicine isn't a bad idea. One more. Hmm.

I'm tempted by Bureaucracy and War, for similar reasons. You figure that, to accomplish his goal of ending slavery, he's eventually going to have to see a battle or war for the freedom and change the law of the land(s). So the question is, which approach is he going to take? I think I'll go with War, actually, as the fugitive former sex/drug palace proprietor becomes a general (someday, far in the future).

OK, now I get 10 dots to throw into Favored or Caste Abilities, and a further 18 dots to spend anywhere. I can't go over 3 dots right now (though I can and probably will with freebies).

Let's start with the obvious stuff: three each into Martial Arts, Dodge, and Socialize, and then one into Stealth and that takes care of my first 10. For the rest, I'll put three into Presence, three into Athletics (you're stupid if you don't!), two more into Stealth, two into War, two into Medicine, two into Integrity, one each into Bureaucracy, Awareness, Larceny, and Linguistics. That'll do it for now, but I'm sure I'm putting some bonus points in here.

Step Four: Advantages. Here's where the complicated shit happens. First off, I get 7 dots in Backgrounds, but again, I can't go over 3 dots right now. I want this guy to be on the run with basically just the clothes on his back, so let's see what that'll get me.

Wow, a lot of these aren't really appropriate. OK, let's do this. I'll take a Familiar at 3 dots. Great Forks is full of small gods and spirits and so on. I'll hold off on deciding exactly what my Familiar is until I've spent my bonus points, in case I decide to raise the rating. I'll put three into Contacts - not everyone that my guy knew is itching to have him executed, and he has dirt on a bunch of them.

One more. OK, y'know what, I'm gonna say this guy is still in Great Forks. He's hiding, he's lost the Beehive, but he discovered a demesne in a secret, underground grotto. I'll put my last dot into Manse, giving me a level-2 demesne.

Charms! I get 10, half of which need to come from Favored or Caste Abilities. And of course they have pre-reqs, which means I may need to bump shit up with bonus points. Let's check it out!

Oh, lord, they complicated the actual hell out of this system, and it wasn't simple to begin with. Like, I'm sure it all works fine in play, but man, I don't think I could assemble a five-player group of people I know that could get into this.

OK, we start off with Excellencies, which are just Charms that you can buy for any Ability that allow you to add dice, add successes, or reroll failed dice. Why would you bother with the one that adds dice when you could use the one that adds successes? Ah, because it's cheap to buy dice. Hmm.

Well, I'll buy Second Dodge Excellency because I want to be able to purchase successes to get the hell out of the way. I'll buy First Martial Arts Excellency to make myself more awesomer at Martial Arts in a simple way. Now let's get on to the good stuff.

Martial Arts! Snake Style is included in the book, so shit, let's do that. I start with Striking Cobra Technique, and I don't want to go too deep into the tree, but I want a couple more. Well, I'll just take Serpentine Evasion for now. I kinda want Snake Form, but it'll involve raising my Essence and I want to look at other Charms.

The War ones are cool, but I don't see them as appropriate for this guy yet. What the shit is up with the Presence ones? They're all Essence two or more. That's ass. I'm supposed to buy Ox-Body Technique, but as I mentioned when I did a 1st Ed character, if a character isn't viable without a trait, it should come standard (plus I don't have any Resistance anyway).

OK, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that I'm gonna need to boost my Essence. Blah. Fine. 7 bonus points to do that gives me 8 remaining. Feh.

I want Flawless Diagnosis Technique and Ailment Rectifying Method; I see this guy as getting the other Medicine Charms someday, but start off with the basics. I also want to save some slots for Night stuff.

And here we go! Athletics! My favorite! Graceful Crane Stance, most definitely. Feather Foot Style seems appropriate (means I have to bump up my Athletics, but I was gonna do that anyway, so I'll spend a bonus point and go to Athletics 5).

This character sheet has nine Charm slots in a column. Could we really not fit 10? Weird. Anyway, two more.

Ooh, I like Flawless Impenetrable Disguise, but I need an Excellency for it. Fine, I'll take Third Larceny Excellency so I can take Flawless etc etc. Oh, shit, I only have Larceny 1. I'll spend 2 bonus to bump it to 4, and take my Stealth to 4 while I'm at it.

That's all my Charms, though I could in theory buy another one with bonus points. What's next? Virtues! I get 5 points to divvy up.

Well, I'm thinking Compassion might be this guy's big one. If I spread these out more or less evenly, I get Compassion 3 and everything else at 2. I'll say that Compassion is the root of his Limit Break. His Limit Break is...let's see. I think Compassionate Martyrdom works nicely.

And now I'm at Step Five: Finishing Touches! Whee! I get 5 Willpower, that's easy enough. I get as many as three Intimacies - just things I care about. I'll take the Beehive as one, and my Familiar as another. I'll leave the third one unspecified, and it doesn't matter anyway because there's no slot on the sheet for these (bad design!).

Essence - oh, wait, shit! I start with 2, not one! Callooh-callay! That gives me 7 bonus points back. Nice. I start with 11 Personal Essence and 28 Peripheral (unless I raise something). Health levels, I get the standard 7, because I don't have Ox-Body, which might stupid but I don't care.

OK, so, gotta do bonus points and then finalize a bunch of stuff. Cool. I now have 12 bonus points left. Let's do Abilities first. I'll bump 5 in there and raise a bunch of shit (I like having 5s in my important Abilities; I'm a goddamn demigod). That leaves me 7 left. I'll take Easily Overlooked Presence Method (4 points) as a Charm. That leaves me 3. Hmm. I'll spend them and bump my Compassion to 4. That give me more Essence, and ups my Willpower to 6.

That's all my points, so let's do the fun stuff. My character's name used to be Suhu, the Beekeeper, but he's lost his hive. Now he goes by Harsh (but with a slight roll to the r), and lives in the shadows and back alleys of Great Forks. His Familiar is a mospid (a raptor) named Feek, and because it's not a huge thing like a goddamn tiger, it's about as smart as a child and grants me Essence.

So let's think about Harsh's Exaltation. He was at the Beehive one night, glad-handing the regulars and making sure that everyone was taken care of, when he saw a slave crying. She wasn't hurt (physically), but Harsh realized that he had never seen a slave cry before - or if he had, he'd never really thought about what that meant. He took her aside and asked her what was wrong, and she told him that one of the cooks at the Beehive was being cruel, tormenting the slaves and keeping their rations back.

Harsh went to confront the cook, but the cook pointed out that the rules of the house (which Harsh himself had set) gave him the right to allocate food to the slaves. In any case, as long as they had enough to keep going, it was fine. And the master wanted them keep slim.

Every light in the place went out, and Harsh stood there with his Night-caste Anima blazing, a storm of whirling motes of shadow around a white-hot core. The cook cowered in fear, and Harsh told all the slaves they were free.

But they weren't. You can't just free a slave, you have to pay their manumission, and Harsh couldn't afford that (even if he weren't losing everything for being Anathema). Harsh lost everything, but his way is clear - people are not things. Great Forks first, then the rest of Creation, will be free.

Physically, Harsh is tall and thin, long fingers, long nose, white hair and icy blue eyes (his family might be Northern, I think). He dresses in simple brown clothing, the kind of thing anyone on the street might wear. Feek rides on his shoulder sometimes, but other times perches on rooftops so that Harsh can hear and see what's coming. Harsh is working on finding sympathetic ears to his cause (which would be where other PCs come in).

And that's it!

Character Creation: Phaethos

Spring break! I figure I can get caught up and even ahead of myself on this project this week. I'm actually only two characters off from one-a-week from the beginning of the year, so that shouldn't be too hard. And it ain't like I have a hell of a lot else goin' on, as Strong Bad says.

The Game: Phaethos
The Publisher: Simian Circle Games, which seems to be still in business, although this particular product seems to have been taken down, and I don't see any chatter about it after about 2009 (though of course I'm not gonna do a really deep dive on it, because all I want to do is make a character)
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one.

This is one of the games I've been putting off for a while, because it's pretty clearly a fantasy heartbreaker - someone's home campaign that they slaved over lovingly for a long time and tweaked from some earlier edition of D&D. That's fine, but it's not my usual jam.

Reading through the opening section, though, there are some interesting ideas. Sure, it's basically D&D in a lot of ways (you go and adventure!), but the classes are a little more interesting than "fighter." Several options of magic- and magic-ish type characters, which I like, and the setting overall includes elements of sci-fi and (the book says) steampunk. I'm getting a kind of Dark Tower vibe in some places, too, but I'm not sure if that's just because there are gunslingers.

I'm seeing a "ine" suffix on some classes, and it's weird to my ears, but that's probably my own issue. That doesn't mean anything as far as the game goes, but it's in my head and it's 8:30 in the goddamn morning and I ain't had coffee yet, so basically whatever tumbles out of my skull is getting typed.

OK, so let's try and get a sense of what we do in this game, and if there's anything to hang my hat on before I start trying to make sense of character creation (it actually looks pretty simple). There's a history section in the Introduction, but...ugh.

Y'know, I've ranted about this before, but see earlier comment (early, coffee, skull, etc.). The history section starts in mythological pre-history, with the creation of the worlds and the diddlings of the gods, and that's all very interesting (it isn't), but it tells me nothing about what I need to know as a player. Likewise, there is a section called "What do you do as a player?" but the answer is basically "control your character and do PC shit. You know, like in D&D."

I'm not saying that every game needs to be some dirty hippie indie thing with a razor-sharp focus on one particular kind of game, but some attention to making a game unique would be nice. Although, again, I like some of the classes in this game, so I'm thinking that's where the creative energy went, as far as trying to differentiate it from its parent games.

OK, as I'm looking through the book, this gets even weirder. There is no GM section. There's no bestiary, which really surprises me. There's a whole chapter on combat (duh), and then one on loot and rewards, and then one on NPCs, which is where I thought I'd find monsters, but it's just human NPCs. The book has an "Atlas," which has a lot of setting info, including other planes of existence and a primer on the various religions of Phaethos, but still no info on how to actually play this game other than having fights. Very weird.

Well, clearly I'm not going to get a lot of help from the text on the ins and outs of my character, so I'll just get started. Character creation has "three easy steps." I'll bet.

Step One is Choosing a Class. This choice actually decides a lot of your starting shit (chargen looks pretty fast) - in some ways, it's approaching playbooks. Let's see!

Oh, now, this is interesting. There's a class called "Symbiote." They're basically just people with this manta-ray looking thing living on them, bonded with them telepathically. They don't get any real cool powers other than the symbiote makes them heal faster, need less food, and communicate with other symbiotes ("we favor unreasonably huge subsidies to the brain slug planet"), but other people tend to view them as freaks or abominations.

Which, like...OK, that's kind of cool, but what the hell does it mean for group dynamics? Like, why is "Symbiote" a class and not just a thing that can happen? Other classes are all designed around what you do - Monster Hunter, Assassin, Engineer, etc. Symbiote is the only one designed around what you are, and I'm having a hard time figuring out what such a character's role in the group would be.

Anyway, I'm not picking that. I'm torn between Guine (gunfighter), Kineck May (magicky people who have magical tattoos, which is always something I find compelling), and Ragewine (psionic warriors).

I think I'll go Guine, actually. I like gun-fu and the new trailer for John Wick 3 just dropped the other day. The class write-up is interesting. Guine have a subculture; they're trained from youth, highly disciplined, and they wear black with the symbol of their respective Lodge on the shoulder. They're also banned in some places because people who show up brandishing guns aren't welcome in civilized society (something we in the modern day could stand to internalize), and there are Guine-hunters who make a point of killing them.

(Getting a kind of Ballad of Buster Scruggs sort of feeling, here, inasmuch as the Kid that takes down Scruggs might have been a Guine, since Scruggs himself was clearly a bad guy, despite the white hat.)

Next step is Attributes. I get a spread: 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3 and then a +1 in Dexterity (shit, this is like playbooks). I'm not idiot, I'll put a 3 into Dexterity to soak up that sweet, sweet bonus. I'll put my other 3 into Wits, I guess. Now the only question is: What's my dump stat? I think I'll make it Agility. I want my guy to be fat. You never see fat PCs in these games, and gunfighters in particular tend to be lean (at least, the successful ones are; there are some larger fellas in The Quick & The Dead but they all get shot).

Focus is the average of AGL, DEX, and WITS, or 2 (round down, boo). Age is 16 + a d10; a roll of 8 means I'm 24. Health is Endurance + 16, or 18. PE is Endurance + 8 (10), ME is Wits + 6 (9). Kore is magic stuff and I don't have access to it. Luck starts at 3.

I start with Firearms at 3 and Control Mount, Evaluation, Manipulation, and Tracking at 2 (and I'll get some points to buy more Skills in a minute here). One thing I absolutely love about this game is that they list out the equipment you start with:

 

Step Two: Skills. I get six points to buy Skills (twice my Wits), but this is annoying: They have to be applied to skills I don't have from my class, which means I'm locked in at being so-so at riding a damn horse and so on. Ah, well. Let's check 'em out.

OK, why is there a mathematics skill? When would I roll that?

I think I'm gonna take Jeweler at 2. This guy's family worked as jewelers in one of the bigger cities, I think. Actually, I'll just take it at 1; he was never really trained in the family business.

I'll take Move Silent (which should be Move Silently, but whatever) at 2. He's a big guy, but he can be stealthy. I'll take Bare Knuckle at 2 (figure he should be able to fight a little without a gun), and finally Reading & Writing at 1 because this game is stupid.

Step Three is Personality, and it has a bazillion questions to answer about the character. Normally I like that kind of thing, but the questions have nothing to do with a character of a given class or anything, it's just a lot of generic character-building stuff. That's OK, but I'm not gonna answer them all.

I am, however, going to look at Boons and Flaws. They're exactly what you'd think they are, but they're awarded at the discretion of the GM based on your character backstory, which I'm not a huge fan of (I've known too many GMs who try to be cute with shit like this). But I'm gonna take a look.

Wait, no, these are all stupid. (There is, in fact, a Flaw called "Dumb," but it doesn't make you mute, which is a separate flaw, it makes you cognitively impaired. Not...great.) Most of the Boons just give you bonuses to a given Skill, which, like...just take another point of the Skill. So I'm-a skip these and go right on to history and personality and whatnot.

Oh, lord. So, the Atlas chapter tells you that towns, cities, and whatnot exist, but doesn't give you any. There are a lot of geographical features (The Swamps of Insanity! The Maidenhead Mountains!), but no described civilizations. FFS.

OK, fine. My Guine is named Trine Cutstone. Trine was born to a family of jewelers in one the largest cities (probably near one of the mountain ranges), and was learning the trade when he fell in with a bad crowd. His new "friends" conned him into robbing his family of a bunch of uncut stones, but Trine wasn't great at keeping secrets. His family found out and the city guard arrested his buddies. They were all imprisoned (and probably still are), but Trine, as his family was wealthy, got sent off into the hinterlands to learn to be a Guine. He's recently completed his training and is in no hurry to go back home, but figures sooner or later he should go and see his parents. He keeps a small, uncut sapphire on him at all times - a reminder to always evaluate what people are asking him to do.

Trine has put on some muscle since becoming a Guine, but he's still pretty big (runs in the family). He wears a beard because if he doesn't, he looks like a giant baby. He's got a mop of brown hair that makes him glad that Guine are expected to wear hats, but he's got surprisingly long and nimble fingers.

There, that'll do it.

Character Creation: The World of Species

I'm sure there's a fascinating story behind how West End Games wound up with all of these movie tie-in game licenses, but I don't know it, so here we are.

The Game: The World of Species
The Publisher: West End Games
Degree of Familiarity: None with the game, but I know the movie pretty well
Books Required: Species and the MasterBook core

 

It's not the weirdest movie tie-in RPG I've ever seen, actually. I've mentioned in other places that I think Species is a pretty good Chill movie, as it revolves around a team of people investigating and then hunting down a monster (sure, it's sci-fi horror rather than supernatural horror, but eh).

The Species game posits that Sil escaped the final confrontation in the sewers of LA and fled to North Carolina, where she had a few kids, who have then gone on to sire or birth progeny of their own. Meanwhile, the government agency that hunted her down in the first place is now under more capable leadership, so they've...injected alien DNA into soldiers, which grants them either enhanced physical prowess or limited shapeshifting skills (OK, so maybe they didn't really learn anything). The book assumes you're playing agents hunting aliens, but does mention that if you want, you can play aliens being hunted by agents. You know, if you have the kah-razy idea that you want to play monsters. If you're some kinda weirdo.

Anydangway, I do not wish to make an alien character, though I may wish to make one of the shape-shifty people. Character creation works with packages (lol); they're arranged into tiers and different worlds allow different spreads. In the case of Species, it depends on what I want to do. Alien hybrids, psychics, and normal humans all get different spreads (though I have to say, I'm not having any trouble finding the info I need so far, and the different Backgrounds are all offset in little sidebars, so that's nice).

Well, I guess I better start with some kinda concept. I really liked Forest Whitaker in Species (the cast in general is really good, much better than the material). I like how his empathy powers happen whether or not he wants them to, but you can see the difference when he gets a feeling without trying and when he tries to force it (which doesn't always work). I think I'd like to play a psychic who gets recruited by Project Proteus.

My character is Hector Maloney. Hector is a student at Duke University, currently taking a medical leave of absence arranged by Project Proteus. He's in pre-med, and he still wants to be a doctor someday, following in his father's footsteps. His mother is career Army Intelligence, and she knows a little more about Project Proteus than she should, which I think the brass might well hold over Hector's head if he just wants to go back to school (he's not even allowed to drink legally yet, for crying out loud).

So, building a psychic is just like building a normal human, but I have to select "Special Effect" as my Column III Advantage. No problem. First thing, though, I have to do my Attributes. I get 68 points to divvy up among the 8 of them, 5 is minimum, 13 is max, 8-9 is average. Hokay.

Well, I don't think Hector is necessarily physically adept, but I don't want him to be too much of a wimp, either. If I divided the points up evenly (as I like to do, at least at first), I get 8 into each with 4 left over. Hmm.

Well, I think I actually want to put Agility, Endurance, and Strength a little lower than average (7s), which means I've spent 21. I'll put Dexterity at 10 (he wants to be a surgeon), Intellect at 10, Mind at 10 (they're too similar for my taste, but whatever), that puts me to 51 spent. 17 more to go to split into Charisma and Confidence. I'll put 8 in Charisma and 9 in Confidence. Hector is pretty average in generally, but better than most in the smarts department.

I get 5 life points, whatever that means. My Strength and Endurance give me 9 toughness points (there's a chart). My movement rates are all 21 divided by something (they're based on Agility and Strength), so that's easy.

Skills, then! This system works on "skill adds," which are basically just "you add these points to the controlling Attribute when using the skill". I get one in a given psychic ability because I'm gonna take the appropriate advantage, and I can add more if I want to, though the book notes that in Species, psychics aren't terribly powerful and it's rare to have more than one power. I think I actually do want to choose my psychic power first.

Well, I don't want empath because I don't want to be just like Dan in Species. I don't want medium because I don't think ghosts really fit the genre. I'm kinda thinking astral projection - it's not combat-related, but it makes Hector a great spy, and that's a good reason for Proteus to want him.

OK, so, what other skills do I want? (The Species book adds a bunch, but then it gives us a chart that includes all of the ones from the core and the new ones thank you thank you thank you).

Well, I want Stealth and Unarmed Combat (Hector's had a little training). I want Resist Shock, assuming it's what I think it is. Data Analysis makes a lot of sense. I need First Aid and Medicine, obviously, though probably not much. Research and Computer Ops round me out.

Oh, wait, how many skill points do I have? I get 20 (it's based on my Intellect and Mind and just happens to work out to their sum). I've only spent 8 so far, so I have 12 left to throw around. I'll add one more to Astral Projection, two more to Stealth, one more to Unarmed Combat, Resist Shock, Data Analysis, First Aid. I'll keep Medicine where it is, and that leaves me five more for Computer Ops and Research, so I'll throw three into the latter and two into the former.

I could have bought specialization, but eh. I'm feeling pretty good about this spread. I need to do my Advantages. I get three from Column I, two from Column II, and one from Column III. I have to take a like number of Compensations (basically disadvantages). I already know my CIII; Special Effect, which lets me be psychic.

For my CI Advantages, I take Wealth (dad's a surgeon), Skill Bonus (I get a +1 to Medicine, First Aid, and Resist Shock - I'm a natural at this "doctor" stuff), and Contacts (my parents). For my CII, I take Luck...actually, hang on, these are the maximums I can take. I don't have to take all these. OK, so what I'm gonna do is bump Contacts up to II (since my parents are pretty influential), and I wind up with two CI, two CII, and one CIII. I now need to take corresponding Compensations.

I'll take Age at CI; I'm not a minor, but I'm also limited in what I can do and no one takes me seriously (I'm sure they call me "Doogie" sometimes). I have to take a Quirk because I'm psychic, so I'll say that Hector's Quirk is that - wait, hang on. I can take a Psychic Surge that means sometimes I just go astral if I'm under stress. I'm good with that.

OK, so now I need two CII Compensations. I'll take Employed (Project Proteus; they have a lot of influence over me between one thing and another) and Advantage Flaw: Contacts (asking his parents for info or help involves a lot of jumping through hoops).

For my CIII Compensations, ehhh. I don't really like any of them. I'll take Enemy, that's always fun. Hector's enemy is a gamma alien hybrid that went rogue from the project. That hybrid, James Adair, nearly mated with a coed. Hector found him in astral form and led a team to him, and he barely escaped. He took it personally.

That's it for the numbers. Hector is 20 years old, tall, slim, and has his dad's black hair and his mom's blue eyes. He is completely unaware how deep he's in with Proteus, and is still laboring under the delusion that he could quit if he wanted to. Like it or not, he's in for the long haul, unless he decides to go rogue, which probably wouldn't be good for him or his family.

And that's it!

Board Game: Azul

Actually played this over the weekend, but then it wasn't the weekend anymore and I had other shit to do.

The Game: Azul
The Publisher: Plan B Games
Players: Me, Michelle, Jenn, Amanda
Time: About 25 minutes, I think

(I had more pictures but they didn't come out.)

Game Play: Everyone gets a game board with a lot of squares on it. And then there are a bunch of circular tiles, which are place in a ring, and each of them gets four plastic tiles drawn randomly from a bag. A-like so:

The first player picks all the tiles of a given color off a disc (so I could take, say, both of the reds off the disc in the bottom right of the picture, or both the blue, but not one of each). Anything else on that disc gets moved to the center. You can take all of a given color out of the center, but the first one to do that in the round gets the first player token in their "floor tile" row, which loses you a point.

When you take tiles, you put them in one of five rows on your board. The rows have between one and five slots, and they all have to be the same color. So, if I'd grabbed the reds, I could put them both in my second row and fill it, or put them both in my third row and I'd still require one more, and so on. You can mix tiles in the rows, though, and you have to place them all in the same row (any extras go to that floor tile row I mentioned, losing you more points).

It looks busy, but it all makes sense.

Next phase of the game, you move over one tile from each completed row into the mosaic on the right. So, if my two-tile row is full of reds, I move one of them over to the red square, and then ditch the rest (they go back into the box, and then back into the tile bag when it empties). You get points based on which boxes you fill, what else is adjacent, and the game ends when one player fills a horizontal row.

Opinions: This is definitely a game that seems more complex than it. There's a lot of strategic elements to it, but of course the first time we played we were just kinda bumbling our way through trying to figure out how it worked. Now that I know, I can see there's a lot to it - manipulation of where tiles are on the discs vs. which go to the center, f'rex, can wind up with more than five tiles of a given color in the center, but you have to take all of a given color and you have to take tiles until they're gone, so you can (and I did) get stuck with five or six tiles and nowhere to put them all.

All in all, it's a lot of fun and it's got great replay value.

Keep? Yes.