Character Creation: Wilderness of Mirrors

I find myself with a bit of time and I'm not quite ready to settle in to playing Spider-Man for the rest of the evening, so here we are.

The Game: Wilderness of Mirrors
The Publisher: John Wick Presents
Degree of Familiarity: None. I've read it. Since it doesn't seem to have been playtested, that's probably enough.
Books Required: Just the one (this is collected in the Big Book of Little Games)

 
Wilderness of Mirrors, like a lot of JWP games, seems to have sprung from folks asking John to make a game about [thing] and John doing that. I don't have any idea when this game came out originally, so I don't know if it predates games like Night's Black Agents or Blowback, both of which take on the spy genre in different ways.

Although, to be fair, Wilderness is taking on a very particular couple of facets of the spy genre - to wit, spies are hyper-competent experts who betray each other. As such, Leverage is probably the closest cousin it has in the RPG, at least as far as I'm aware, though maybe Cold City is in there, too.

In any case, character creation is dirt simple so I'm gonna blather a little bit more, because there are things about this game I find interesting (not good or bad, just interesting).

A big part of the game is centered around planning. Like, the way the game works is that the GM ("Operations") gives the players a one-sentence premise ("SOMEBODY'S POISONED THE WATER HOLE!" no, that's not in-genre, but like, that level of detail) and the players then come up with the details. As they supply details, the GM gives them mission points that they can spend to add dice to rolls later. This kinda crosses the line from "collaborative" to "players do most of the heavy lifting," but again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

And the other thing is, it's really funny to me to see the difference in attitude towards planning between this and Blades in the Dark. Blades assumes that planning is going to go round in circles, and it's better to take the plan as read and jump to the action. Wilderness assumes that planning is a large chunk of the fun, and it's drawing on its genre inspirations pretty directly for that, but I want to note that most of the time in RPGs when planning happens, the narrative load is on the GM. Here, it's on the players, which means they aren't planning the mission so much as creating it whole cloth. I wonder if that would obviate the big issue with planning that I've seen (to wit, players' tendency to overthink everything).

Anyway, the text of the game spends a lot of time in the meta and not enough time in the meat, but like, meat is an anagram of meta, so who's the real monster, here?

Moving along.

Characters have five areas of Expertise, and 35 points to split up, but the costs aren't one-to-one. That is, you can generalize (starting with 3 in everything), but don't you want to be badass in a particular area?

The Expertise(s) are Fixer, Grifter, Gunman, Heavy, and Shade. "Fixer" here is basically "gadget/tech spy," which isn't the way I'd use the word "fixer," but whatever.

(I note, too, that the only information on character creation is about spending the points. At no point are we told to name or describe our characters, and there's a lot of "you want to be James Bond, right?" kind of talk.)

Anyway, I don't want to be James Bond because I don't want to die of hyper-space-gonorrhea. There's no setting for the game as such (there's a sample uber-agency called Olympus 7, though, but it's made of agents from a bunch of different branches around the world). So I'm gonna assume my character is working for Olympus 7, just because it gives me a place to start.

I want my character to be Colombian. In 2011, the president of Colombia dissolved the existing intelligence agency due to scandals involving spy on politicians and judges. Sounds good to me! We'll say that my character was doing some of that spying, and Olympus 7 picked him up and faked his death. His name is Gabriél Marco Dominguez Rojas, but of course he doesn't use that name anymore. His code name is El Dogal (the Noose).

Now for Expertise. I think I want Dogal to be best at Shade and Grifter; while his code name implies violence, it's more about giving someone enough to rope to hang themselves (I have no idea if that particular idiom translates to Colombian Spanish, but I've already done more research for this character than I really needed to). I want to be best at Shade, I think, so I'll put that at 5. That costs me 10 points. 25 left.

I'll put Grifter at 4, which costs me 9 (14 left). I'm fine with Heavy being left low, so I'll leave it at 1, how about. I'll put Gunman at 3 (7 points, down to 7) and that leaves Fixer at 3 as well. Groovy.

And that's it, actually. Everything else is game-play related, so it doesn't go on the sheet. I could do a little description, though.

Dogal is about six feet tall, black hair, brown eyes, dark skin, lean and not much in the way of muscle. He's just shy of 40 (assuming this game is set now-ish, he was just 30 when his agency got dissolved). He knows that if you push someone just the right way, they'll put the noose around their own neck and jump out into the nothing. It's just a matter of knowing where to push.

And that's done, then!

Character Creation: Starguild

Feels weird not to have a "cold open" sentence, here, but I don't have much to say.

The Game: Starguild
The Publisher: Plane Sailing Games
Degree of Familiarity: None, I've read through most of it.
Books Required: Just the one.

 
I backed Starguild on Kickstarter, and picked it up last week to read it. The basic concept is "space opera noir," which is something I find really intriguing - I love noir and I think it could dovetail interestingly with the grandeur of space opera. Hell, there are moments when Star Wars inches close to noir (mostly involving Han Solo), though it never quite makes it.

With all of that said, Starguild doesn't quite evoke that as I read it. Now, I fully admit, I haven't played the game, which is really where the rubber meets the road as far as RPGs go. Reading it, though, it's structured like most other trad games and it feels more "sci-fi RPG" than "loving marriage of noir and space opera." But again, the best way to really get what a game feels like is to play it, so that's just a quick impression.

I will say, though, that the lack of a blank character sheet in the book is a weird omission. I have a character sheet, but it's a spreadsheet. Odd.

Anywhichway, let's make us a noir opera person!

The character creation process includes a running example throughout, thank you lawd.

Anyway, the first thing I need to decide is my level. That actually is a decision, because the text tells us that while most people don't have a level (meaning they're "level 0"), that isn't necessarily where a campaign starts. The example character, in fact, is level 2. I guess I'll start there as well, since I have an example to follow along with.

Next up is Ability Scores. There are 3 of them, Passion, Intellect, and Physique. I start with 0 in each (really, I start with +2 because of my level, but that's a later step) and I can shift points around as I wish to give myself as much as +5 or as little as -5. I should think about concept a little, maybe.

Well, if I'm doing noir and space opera, I could take a little dabble from each genre and see what comes up. If I take the dashing rogue from space opera and the corrupt cop from noir, that sounds fun (kinda like Denzel Washington's character in Training Day, maybe not quite that corrupt).

Sounds like my character would be strong in Passion and Physique, maybe not as much in Intellect, so I'll bust Intellect down to -2 and pump the other ones up by +1.

Now I do background, express as I'm a [talent] [profession] from [homeworld]. Talent first, then. Well, hey, Corrupt is a Talent! Booyah. That gives me 1 more to my Passion and the Bluff Edge in Swindler.

Profession is next. There's not a specific one for cop, but there are a few that would include cops - Gunslinger, Investigator, and so on. I want to be from a Core world rather than a Frontier one, so I'll pick Investigator.

Next up is Homeworld. I have to pick a Core world, and I think it needs to be from one of the Keron Federation; I don't see my guy as being from the Holy Republic (too churchy). Let's say he's from Halder, the most populous world - everything's tight and cramped and pickpocketing happens a lot.

Then I get a Relationship. In my case I get an Ally. I'll say that my Ally's name is Elddet. He claims to be of noble birth, but no one really buys that. He does, however, know a lot about nobles and how they work, and he's amazing at numbers and accounting and such, which is handy for folks who like to skim off the top.

I get Conviction equal to my level (2), and other than my name, that seems to be it. Folks in the Federation typically have surnames that indicate their profession or a family profession, but also a connection to a noble family. My guy's name is Jeffrey Judge ("Judge" is a family profession, and he's kinda like a judge) a Lorigga (connected to the Lorigga noble house through his mother's brother).

And then I'm level 2, so I can take 4 advances. Well, I want to be more dangerous, so I'll be trained in Aim and Brawl. I'll grab Specialties in Intimidation and Ballistic (under Coercion and Aim, respectively). And I'll increase my Social Saving Throw by 3 (I can talk my way out of anything).

Jeffrey is tall and stocky, keeps his hair perfect, but always has a bit of stubble. He's got steely eyes and a smile that just doesn't seem right somehow, but he's charming as hell. He wears his uniform when he has to, but he usually opts for street clothes and a conspicuous symbol of office.

And I think that's it! I could do an event, but it involves dice and I don't feel like figuring it out. Likewise, I ain't going shopping.

Chill: Trouble at the Ranch

Yesterday was Chill. Today was supposed to be Night's Black Agents, but it turns out if I miss one dose of my stomach meds I'm up all night with acid reflux, so I ain't runnin' nothin' today (I shall instead make a character).

Anyway!

Last time, the envoys ended a case successfully, for certain values of "success." In the aftermath of that case, Jennifer Joyce went home to Chicago, but almost immediately started having terrible nightmares. She dreamed of walking through a snow-covered tundra, her flesh turning purple and blue, and then collapsing and freezing to death. The dreams escalated from there, incorporating a new element: Hunger. Desperate to stay warm, in her dream she ate mice and rabbits, crunching their bones and feeling their organs pop, and she woke up with the taste still in her mouth.

Talking with other envoys in Chicago, she learned that she had a definite air of the Unknown going on - something was affecting her. She decided to go back to Boise and seek help and respite there, arriving just about three weeks after the events of the last case, one March 1 2018.

The other envoys have been getting along. Jordan, Mohammed, and Blake are still in the hospital, but should be getting out soon. BB is healing up, but not at 100% yet (he got shot, remember, and couldn't go to the hospital because of the legal implications, so he's been recuperating at home with the help of a doctor friend of Dee's). Darnell, likewise, is convalescing, and it seems to Jeanie (helping out more at the ranch since Darnell is injured) that things are tense between Ruth (Dee's niece), Chet (her boyfriend), and Darnell.

Jeanie, however, has her own issues. The envoys had to do something with the body of Franklin Wray, and so Jeanie dismembered it with a bone saw and chucked it in the incinerator. She's still a little traumatized by that whole experience.

Friday, March 2nd, then. Jennifer wakes up screaming, dreaming again of the frozen wastelands and eating small mammals. The envoys convene for breakfast, with BB lamenting that he can't eat solid food yet, and getting good-natured teasing from Darnell ("I could get a cheeseburger and wave it under your nose while you drink your shake, I guess." "I hate you."). Folks go about their day, but in the afternoon, Dee collapses while in the kitchen. Ruth takes her to the hospital and she's diagnosed with a TIA - not necessarily dangerous in and of itself, but can be a precursor to a stroke.

The envoys have a solemn dinner (Ruth stays with her aunt), and Dylan suggests they all go see a movie, just to get out of the house. The envoys go and see Black Panther, and Darnell stays behind (his shoulder is bugging him). Chet stays as well, but he actually didn't come down to dinner.

On the way back from the movie, they get ice cream and visit Ruth and Dee in the hospital. Dee is asleep, and Ruth says that tomorrow they're going to run a bunch of tests and maybe discharge her (depends how the tests go). She asks that the envoys check on Chet; he hasn't been answering her texts for a couple of hours. Probably he just left his phone in the bathroom again.

The envoys get back to the ranch and find Darnell in the great room, reading by the fire. Dylan goes up to check on Chet, and he seems fine; he says he let his phone die, but he's charged it now and gotten back to Ruth. The other envoys head to bed, but BB stays up and talks to Darnell, and gets the truth out of him - he and Chet have hooked up a couple of times. They haven't told Ruth, and Darnell feels awful about it, not least because whatever is going on with Chet's orientation, he is not handling it well. BB tries (not altogether successfully) not to be judgy, but is able to commiserate. He does say that they owe Ruth the truth, though.

Dylan stays in the same room as Jennifer and draws a sigil on the wall to ward off the dreams, but then both of them dream. They're walking (alone) on frozen ground, their shoes wearing thin and finally wearing off, and then they slide down an embankment. They each reach out and grab something made of meat, and bite in, only to realize it's an arm (Jennifer has Dylan's and vice versa). They both wake up sweating and panicked, and realized they've slept past sunrise - which is when the ward fades.

Saturday, March 3rd. Darnell makes breakfast, though Jennifer sticks to tea. Chet is already out doing chores, and Jeanie eats and then heads out to help him. She's cleaning the horses' hooves when she suddenly sees the pick in her right hand as a saw, and the horse leg in her left hand as a human arm. She freezes, and asks Chet to come over. He does, but the vision fades. Jeanie looks around and notes that the horses seem spooked, but not by her or Chet, just in general. She calls the other envoys out and explains what happens, and the envoys decide to look around a bit. Sensing the Unknown, Dylan feels a residual sheen of Unknown on Jeanie and the area, but isn't able to pinpoint it.

Figuring that between the dreams and the visions, something is here and fucking with them, they decide to look around and see if anything is out of place. Darnell and BB check the house, Dylan and Jennifer write down in detail what they dreamed to see if they missed anything, and Jeanie and Chet look around outside.

Dylan remembers that in the dream, the ground they were walking on was worked, tilled, like a farm in winter. Jennifer can't remember being on a farm lately, and the ranch has never been a farm, so they aren't sure if that's symbolic or literal. It's something, though.

Darnell and BB check through folks' rooms. They unlock Chet's door and search through his room, and don't find anything of note (Astroglide, barbells, etc.). It's not until they go into Ruth's room that BB realizes what's changed - they used to share a room. Nothing seems out of place in Ruth's room, either. There's a shotgun on the wall (she's an Adams, and they're a SAVE family), and everything is more or less where it should be.

Outside, though. Jeanie, somewhat reluctantly, checks the incinerator. It's open, and there are five bone fragments lined up in a room right outside of it. One of them, part of a femur, has a distinct cut through it from Jeanie's saw. She calls the other envoys out and they take in this grisly site. They decide to clean out the incinerator and take all the remnants to the river where they dumped Wray's ashes to begin with.

This done, they get back to the ranch and talk about what to do that night. They decide to all sleep in the same room, and Dylan will ward it to keep the dreams away. They choose the great room, and Dylan draws the sigil in chalk. They all bed down...

Dylan and Jennifer dream that they're running across the tundra, with something chasing them. It's a four-legged animal, judging from the gait, but they don't stop to look, they just run through the snow. But it slams into them, and they fall, bleeding, and scream as it starts to eat them alive, feet first.

Jeanie dreams that the's in a butcher shop with corpses hanging from hooks in the ceiling. She saws one apart and puts the parts into a bin, and labels it "Adams, D." She saws the next one apart and labels the bin "Barnes, C." She gets blisters on her fingers and her wrists ache, but she has to keep going or she'll be caught.

BB dreams that he's staggering through a building with concrete walls that are hot to the touch. Every so often a blast of steam comes out of nowhere. He's bleeding from a wound in his stomach, and he tries to run, but something bolas his legs. Three men walk up - he recognizes Chet and Darnell. Darnell says "There it is. Finish it off, BB." BB watches himself raise up a pistol and fire.

Everyone wakes up, panicked. It's three in the morning. The sun is still down, and the sigil has been wiped out. Chet is sitting in one of the chairs trembling, and Darnell is still fast asleep. The envoys take stock and realize that Dylan and Jennifer had the same dream, but BB and Jeanie didn't. The dreams seem sort of tailored to the recipients, but then why the shared dreams for the others? They check Darnell, who's dead to the world; BB remembers that he takes vicodin at night to sleep because of the pain in his shoulder. BB checks his hand and finds a thin line of chalk dust.

BB wakes him, but he's incoherent and has no memory of what happened. They decide to check his meds, which are (duh) in the medicine chest. Jeanie goes, opens the cupboard, and finds the pill bottle, but when she closes it, Franklin Wray is standing behind her with a hammer. She screams and falls into the tub. Jennifer comes running, but Jeanie sees only Wray trying to kill her until Dylan raises a Sphere of Protection, which ends the illusion.

Back in the great room, BB talks with Chet, who's clearly angry and traumatized. He tries to get Chet to talk about his dream, but he refuses, and heads for the stairs - if he goes upstairs to his room, at least the door locks. The others get back and BB explains why Chet left, and Dylan decides to try and get through to him. He goes upstairs and gets Chet to open up a little - Chet says that in his dream, he was "with" BB and Darnell, but then Ruth caught them and shot all three of them. He closes the door and Dylan goes back downstairs. The envoys decide to salvage what sleep they can.

In the morning, Darnell is up making waffles. Jeanie goes upstairs to check on Chet, and finds Chet is in bed, covered up from the shoulders down. She nudges his shoulder a bit, and his head rolls off the bed and falls on the floor. She yells for Dylan, who comes running, and sees the same thing as Jeanie. Dylan pulls the covers back and sees that Chet has been cut up, but is somehow still breathing. Dylan tries to raise a Sphere...and botches.

Both envoys, Jeanie especially, are used to the illusions disappearing in the face of the Art, but this stays. Jeanie backs off in horror, and Chet's head turns to Dylan and tells him that it was Jeanie who erased the sigil, that Jeanie will kill and dismember them all. He tells him not to make the same mistake that he did with Alex (his brother, now a werewolf, who was seemingly killed but disappeared back here). Dylan tries to ignore it, telling it "You're not fooling me, xaxog" (figuring it's the same creature that was causing illusions back at the steam plant), but it tells him "no, not that, this is much, much worse."

Dylan grabs a pillow and starts to smother Chet's head. Suddenly something grabs him and flings him back against the wall, and the illusion falls - Chet is standing by the bed, demanding to know why Dylan tried to kill him. Dylan mumbles something and leaves, going downstairs, and tells the others to keep him away from Chet.

BB figures that leaving Chet alone is unwise, so goes back upstairs, with Jennifer in tow. Chet is no longer in his room. They text Ruth and ask her to call Chet's phone, and they hear it go off in Ruth's room. They walk down the hall, BB talking to Chet, and BB hears a shotgun rack.

Not wishing to get shot again, BB evaluates the situation - if they go in, Chet might shoot at them. BB listens and hears Chet crying, and talking to someone, something about "not wanting to do it here." BB screws up his courage and goes in, and finds Chet opening the window. Seeing BB, he puts the shotgun under his chin.

BB acts quickly, leaping across the room and smacking the gun away with Feat of Strength. The gun goes off and blows a hole in the ceiling, but misses Chet entirely. He slumps to the ground and starts crying, and Jennifer and BB go over to comfort him. The others come up, and Darnell helps Chet downstairs and gives him a vicodin so he can rest.

The envoys eat some breakfast and try and make sense of all of this. Something is at the ranch, or exerting a lot of influence from somewhere else. They don't want Dee to come home until it's resolved, but they aren't sure how to handle it. Jennifer and Jeanie start doing the dishes, and BB asks Darnell if he'd like to play cards. Darnell agrees, but turns the TV on for background noise.

They've been playing for a while when a news broadcast comes on. A family - the McCarthys; dad, mom, and two teenagers - went missing a couple of weeks ago. Their car was found, empty, in a state park south of Boise. A massive search party is underway, so anyone who's available to help and able to slog over the wet, frozen ground would be appreciated.

Next time, we'll find out what the envoys do.

Blades in the Dark: Extortion

(The X makes it sound cool.)

Last night was Blades, here's the last session, on we go.

The crew (still sans Cage) wishes to move in to the section of Nightmarket that they've had their eye on for a while. It's Rail Jack turf, though, and they're comfortable neutral with the Rail Jacks at the moment. They don't really want to roll up and take it by force, for a couple of reasons. First, getting the Rail Jacks annoyed with them might have repercussions they don't like, even if the actual doing wouldn't be hard. Second, they are all highly wanted criminals, and anything too loud is going to bring a bad response. They decide to take this slow and see about finding a good angle.

They go to the Bar Car, a Rail Jack tavern they first visited back here. They spot Spur and his buddies, and send them a round, and eventually go and join them. Spur isn't necessarily unhappy to see them, as long as they're not here to make trouble. One-Eye mentions that she's heard the Jacks are trying to unionize, and Spur confirms that's the case, but no one in city government wants that and they're getting pretty serious pushback. They have a meeting coming up with Lady Slane of the Ministry of Preservation, but he's not optimistic.

One-Eye lays it out for him: If the Widdershins could be the "mafia" to their "labor union," would they be willing to relinquish the turf in question without a problem? Spur says that would be fine with him, if the Widdershins are willing to lean on Slane and her ilk a little. The crew agrees and they start investigating.

Copper takes dinner wit Captain Vale of the Bluecoats, and asks about Lady Slane. She learns that Lady Slane is the director of operations for the Ministry, and according to Vale is the second-most dangerous person there. The most dangerous (because of course Copper asks) is Captain Lannock, head of the Ministry's own private merc security force.

Vale cautions Copper: Widdershins' leadership is wanted and if they're arrested, they're never going to see daylight again. They need to do something to calm things down, and they need to avoid anything visible until they do. Copper thanks her and goes back to the lair to confer.

The crew decides that blackmailing Lady Slane is the best solution - they don't want to actually harm her, just have her decide things in a way that benefits them. Someone like Slane must have skeletons in her closet. One-Eye contacts Star of the Unseen, and tells her of their plans. Star agrees that this is a sound plans, and pledges to find some dirt on Slane that the crew can use.

Next session, we shall put this plan into action.

Movie #500: Once Bitten

Once Bitten is a comedy starring Jim Carrey, Lauren Hutton, Karen Kopins, and Cleavon Little. It's so 80s it hurts.

Mark (Carrey) is a senior in high school and wants desperately to go all the way with Robin (Kopins), his longtime girlfriend. He's a virgin at 18. That's literally his defining character trait. Robin doesn't want to do it until she's ready, which is literally her defining character trait.

But stalking the nights of Hollywood is the Countess (Hutton), a 400-year-old vampire who preys on the blood of virginal men. She has to feed on a virgin three times before Halloween to maintain her youth and beauty, and her stable of vampires from all across the ages benefit from her protection, whatever that means. They find Mark when he and his two friends (who are also virgins; this is relevant for reasons I'll discuss in a moment) go into Hollywood to pick up women, and gives him the bite. She then stalks him to bite him again, and all the while he's turning into a vampire - growing pale, instinctively dressing in black, drinking blood by accident, and so forth.

In the end, Robin and the aforementioned buddies rescue him from the Countess and her flunkies, and Robin figures out the loophole that gets them all off the hook - she bangs him in a coffin, the Countess becomes an old woman, and her longsuffering servant Sebastian (Little) takes her off with the promise to find a virgin in Nebraska or Kansas.

OK, so there's a lot wrong with this movie, and I'm aware that an early Jim Carrey comedy in which he gets second billing to Lauren Hutton isn't really deserving of this much analysis, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

First, there's the overtly problematic stuff. Mark pressures Robin for sex, but at least (and this is such a goddamn low bar, but like, 80s) he doesn't get overly physically pushy or manipulative, he just gets whiny and sulky. There's a not-inconsiderable amount of homophobia, and a one-off trans character played as a joke, so yeah, the usual stuff for the era.

But then on top of that, the plot and the events of the movie don't pass the "a clever 5-year-old could poke a hole in this" test. Like, first of all, Countess has a mansion and multiple vampiric servants. Why in the world would she let Mark leave after the first bite? Fuckin' put him in a room and lock the door and make sure you get your juice before Halloween!

Also, vampires can't detect virgins by sight (meaning they picked Mark out sheerly by behavior), but if they picked him out that way, they absolutely could have seen that his buddies Russ (Skip Lackey) and Jamie (Thomas Ballatore) are virgins, too. They're much less socially smooth than Mark (and I'm aware that "socially smooth" doesn't equate to "sexually experienced", but in the paradigm of an 80s comedy it kinda does). That means that the vampires have access to not one, but three virgin lads for the Countess.

And does the Countess specifically need a male virgin? Two of her vampiric cohort (Carey More and Robin Klein) are women, and Klein's character was turned recently (all of the vampires are stuck in the time of their death, and she's from the Summer of Love, which is less than 20 years ago from the movie's perspective). So does the Countess swing both ways? Can virgin blood of whatever gender sate her unholy thirst? WHO KNOWS.

It doesn't much matter, because these are the most ineffectual vampires ever. They have no powers except for slightly enhanced strength and unreliable hypnotism, the can be driven back by a tiny flame, and they can't outrun Jim Carrey with his pants around his ankles. It's amazing they survived this long.

Anyway, like I said, I've thought too much about this, but I watched this movie when I was a kid because I thought it was funny so it's been in my brain a long time.

My Grade: C-
Rewatch Value: Medium-high, if you hold your nose through the problematic stuff

Next up: Only Lovers Left Alive

Character Creation: Fear Itself 2nd Ed

Haven't done a Gumshoe game yet this year, and this is in fact the last one I own that I haven't done a character for (unless I have something on PDF that I've forgotten about).

The Game: Fear Itself 2nd Ed
The Publisher: Pelgrane Press
Degree of Familiarity: None with this particular game...oh, wait, that's not true, I played it at some con or other. Anyway, I'm very familiar with Gumshoe.
Books Required: Just the one.

 

Now, I made a character for the first edition of this game a while back. This version doesn't look all that different (the examples of campaign premise are actually the same). There's a sample campaign at the back of the book that involves all of the characters being in a drug trial for a medication that decreases anxiety and helps with focus (murdery hijinks ensue!), and that sounds fine.

Fear Itself sets itself apart from other "people encounter horror shit" games, like Esoterrorists and, to some extent, Chill, because the characters are explicitly normal folks without a great deal of expertise. That is, you're just folks thrown into the deep end. I like that, of course, provided that characters don't fail at every roll (and Gumshoe is pretty good at avoiding that).

So I need a concept, first of all. All I know about my character is that they would be willing to participate in this drug trial. I think this means my character doesn't have insurance, which doesn't narrow it down a heck of a lot. I'm thinking I don't want to play someone with any particular knowledge about meds or drugs, but that's easy to arrange in this version of Gumshoe. One of the example concepts is "fast talking dog trainer." I don't want my guy to be a dog trainer necessarily, but how about a dog walker?

We'll say my character is 23, college dropout, smart but just can't stay focused. He does a lot of odd jobs in the same vein as walking dogs - house sits, yardwork, temp office worker, and so on. He agreed to the drug trial because he knows he has focus issues and he did better on meds, but then his parents divorced and his insurance changed and he dropped out of school and gaah.

Risk Factor: Now, this is interesting. Whereas in the first edition, everyone had a risk factor and it was mostly your motivation for doing appropriately horror-movie stuff (like going into the dark basement), in this edition, the complexity of the Risk Factor is based on the style of game you're playing. To wit, if you're playing a one-shot, it's recommended that characters are very stock and stereotypical, while if you're playing a campaign, you need to get into the inner motivation a bit more.

Well, for my character, I think his Risk Factor is Lack of Danger Sense. For whatever reason, he doesn't really recognize risk well, and that leads him to follow other people into dark basements.

Right, abilities, then. If I were playing this game, I'm sure there would be at least 4 players, so I get 10 points in Investigative abilities. I'll put points into History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences, and Trivia (he's had some college, after all). And then I'll put points into Computer Use, Bullshit Detector, Bureaucracy, Reassurance, and...hmm. Outdoor Survival, how about.

60 points into Generals, then. Oh, this is cute. Hiding and Fleeing are half price if Infiltration and Athletics (respectively) are lower. That's to reward folks who act like, well, normal people in the face of horrors.

Well, anyway, I get 1 free in Health and Stability. I'll put Health up to 6 and Stability up to 8, so I've spent 12. I'll put 5 into Driving, 5 into Mechanics, and 5 into Filch (spent 27). I'll put 10 into Hiding (but it only costs me 5 because I'm not going to buy Infiltration), and 8 into Athletics (which means I've spent 40). 20 left. Kinda running out of places to put them. Hmm. Well, how about we put 6 into Fleeing (costing me 3), 9 into Sense Trouble, and then I'll put three more into Driving. That leave me 3. I'll put them into Filch; it's not something he's great at, but he's got one good roll in him.

Next up is Sources of Stability. I have 8 Stability, so I just get 2. I'll take Mrs. Robinson. Mrs. R owns two Dobermans; they're mostly layabouts, but they do need walkies, and Mrs. R's hips aren't up to it anymore. He walks her dogs and chats with her about life, and doesn't mind that she tells the same stories over again because he tends not to remember them anyway.

For my other one, I'll take running. He has a habit of just running and then getting lost in it, so he kinda "comes to" across town. Even so, it keeps him in shape and it helps him find his zen.

I think that's pretty much it, other than a name and some description. Doing the latter first, this guy is lean, built like a runner, brown hair, blue eyes, wears jeans and t-shirts he bought second-hand. He has good-quality running shoes, though (his usual Xmas present from his folks). His name is Tyler Prell.

Dreamchaser: Sister Swan

Yesterday we played Dreamchaser (as I mentioned in the chargen post I did last week). Here's our Dream!

Three players, plus me as Guide. The players came up with some pretty cool ideas for a Dream, but the one we landed on was "turn my sister back into a swan." The players came up with their characters, and it pretty quickly became clear that they were a coven of witches and that the swan-woman, Evelyn, was one of them.

• Ruth, the wise old woman. Ruth is the oldest witch in the coven and is an expert on Augury. Her Milestone is "assume my true form." She's Evelyn's sister.
• Catherine, the witch-in-training is one of the younger members and is bookish and earnest. Her Milestone is "find the swan-sister's egg."
• Arden, the loyal friend is also a younger witch, and was trained by Evelyn. She goes with her gut first and last. Her Milestone is "find the right spell."

We decided the order of Milestones made most sense going in the reverse order that I listed them above, so we started with "find the right spell." The witches are preparing to cast, but conditions aren't right - Ruth says no-go, so everything stops. They're on the shores of Glass Lake, but clouds are rolling in. Catherine goes inside to check the library, but the book she needs is missing. She asks Hortense, the librarian, but Hortense's eyes are shining a weird yellow and she's standing there slack-jawed. Catherine rings the alarm bell.

Outside, Ruth casts runes and realizes that something is interfering with the spell. One of her runes drops into the lake and she asks Arden to dive down and get it. Arden does, and is underwater when the weird cloud-blast hits, striking all of the other witches slack-jawed and yellow-eyed too. Arden resurfaces, unharmed, and the two of them hearing the bell ringing.

The race into the library and find Catherine there. She recognizes this spell as inherently non-harmful, but tends to be a precursor to an attack. The three of them cast a protective circle, and none too soon, as four beings appear from the door in a cloud of black smoke. They have no visible faces, wear black robes, and speak in a strange backwards tongue. One of them says something to Hortense, and she leads him(?) back into the forbidden section. 

Arden throws a spell at the other three, but this breaks the circle, and the fight is joined. The witches employ their magic and other skills to defeat the strange beings, and Arden manages to retrieve the book that they were going for before Catherine casts a summoning spell (since these things work backwards, you summon to banish). They now have the spell in question, and they can cast to find out how to transform Evelyn back into a swan. They realize they need her egg, which leads into the next Milestone. 

The egg, Ruth reveals, isn't an egg that Evelyn laid but the shards of the egg from which she hatched. They get in Ruth's canoe and travel to the Swamplands, where the swan-folk live. They follow the river into a close tunnel of mangrove trees, where Ruth sees eyes from the dark and tries to speak with the creatures therein. She learns that these creatures intend to eat them, and the fight is again joined. 

The creatures - ape-like things called berbalangs - drop down to bite at them. Arden tries to cast a blinding spell, but it goes horrible awry and winds up blinding all three of them (Arden winds up with the Blind Tag, so hers is sticking around). Ruth is able to cast a spell causing a high-pitched noise that upsets the berbalangs, and Catherine amplifies it to drive them away. They revive Arden but are unable to restore her sight, and they head out of the forest into a lake with a single island. 

The island sports one immense tree, and swan nests all around, some of which are very old. An immense catfish surfaces behind them, and Catherine asks him for help. He tells them that since Evelyn is still alive, some fragment of her shell must remain here. He says that he doesn't know which nest is Evelyn's (she's not a fish, after all), but does warn them that if they touch any shell that isn't hers, they will kill the swan to which it belongs.

They start looking - carefully! - around the nests. Ruth uses her magic to narrow it down, and Arden tries to help Evelyn remember (her memory of this place is spotty at best), but she trips and falls, crushing an eggshell. From out in the swamp, they hear the song of a dying swan. Arden weeps in grief, defeated (again), and the leaves on the tree above them turn into a thousand raptors, which flap about and divebomb them. 

Ruth squawks and tries to drive off the birds, but all that happens is that she attracts something bigger and reveals herself to be a transformed bird like her sister. The bigger thing - which Evelyn calls the Hunter - is a huge raptor that flies toward them. Just in the nick of time, they find Evelyn's nest, and she picks up her shell. The raptors return to the tree and the Hunter flies off, but they still need to find out how to break the spell that prevents Evelyn from becoming a swan. (And complete the final Milestone!)

The catfish agrees to take them to where the oldest bird in the swamp is, since maybe that bird remembers Evelyn and Ruth - they left the Swamplands 600 years ago. They find the birds of the swamp clustered around the body of a swan, the one that Arden inadvertently killed. A fishing bird takes them to task, but Ruth pleads their case, and the particulars of the case are revealed. Evelyn's mother transformed her into a human to leave the Swamplands in order to settle a debt. Ruth was transformed into a human to accompany her, and Ruth reveals that she has always been able to change back and forth between her human form and that of a great blue heron. Evelyn, though, says that she has always preferred to be what she is and not complicate things, and now she wants to fly again and return to the Swamplands. She was sent out to the human world to come back with wisdom. Has she?

Catherine argues that she has, since she can teach magic and witchcraft. But there's a hitch; Evelyn and Ruth share a curse, and Evelyn cannot return unless Ruth does. Ruth hates to give up her position in the coven, but she finally agrees, taking her true form, whereupon Evelyn also takes hers, and the two sisters fly back to the borders to the human world with Catherine and Arden.

Movie #499: The Omen

The Omen is a classic horror movie starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, and Holly Palance.

The movie starts with a dead baby, which is a heck of a thing. Robert Thorne (Peck) and his wife Kathy (Remick) have just had their first child while in Rome, but he was stillborn, or so says Father Spiletto (Martin Benson). Spiletto has a solution, though - turns out a young woman in the hospital just delivered a baby and died herself, and there's no family! Wanting to avoid the trauma this will cause Kathy, Robert agrees to take the mystery baby as his own. He is soon appointed Ambassador to the UK (turns out the President is his college buddy).

His son, Damien (Stephens) grows up in luxury in England, and then weird shit starts happening. At his 5th birthday, his nanny (Palance) hangs herself in full view of the party guests, and is replaced shortly thereafter by creepy-as-fuck Mrs. Baylock (Whitelaw). The Thornes try to take Damien to a wedding at a church, but he flips out, and that's about the point where his mother starts to suspect something is seriously wrong.

In the meanwhile, a crazed Irish priest named Brennan (Troughton) is following Thorne around spouting Bibley stuff at him (he tells him to drink the blood of Christ like seven different times, and it's a creepy notion on the best of days, but repeating it like that doesn't improve it), and a photographer (Warner) is figuring it out - people near Damien tend to die, and before they do, photographs of them bear omens.

Thorne eventually goes with the photographer to investigate, and learns the truth: Damien is the Antichrist, his own son was murdered and replaced with the little fucker, and he needs to kill the kid or the world will end.

He tries, to his credit, but he can't bring himself to stab the child he raised, and the police shoot him. Damien goes to live with his dad's old college buddy, the President.

Like many classic movies, The Omen has ripples throughout pop culture. Just the name "Damien" was shorthand for someone acting crazy or mean when I was growing up, and the Damien's little outfit with the cap is instantly recognizable. The acting in this movie is impressive; Remick and Peck are standouts, but little Harvey Stephens also does an amazing job, considering he has probably four lines in the whole thing (mostly he just smiles creepily, managing to look like an adorable little kids and the harbinger of Armageddon at the same time).

I know there was a remake in 2006, but it didn't seem to land (haven't seen it). I do recommend Little Evil on Netflix, though, which is a nice parody of The Omen.

My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Medium

Next up: Once Bitten

Blue Rose: Stillwater Cleanup

Last night we played Blue Rose, so here's the write-up. Last time here. ON WE GO.

The characters were in something of a pickle! Whirlpool, already having Corruption issues, had instinctively caught the Ebban Mask, and the water elemental they were fighting had popped out and grabbed Arlen, yanking him down into the water. Whirlpool dropped the mask, rather than putting it on, and Dobbin scooped it up with an arrow and stuck it to the boat.

In the water, Arlen cast Body Control to avoid drowning, and Whirlpool jumped in after him. He couldn't see the elemental, but could see Arlen struggling, and used Water Shaping to shove the approximate area of water away. Arlen swam to shore and yelled at Whirlpool to get the elemental above water, even a little, and Whirlpool threw more magic it at (fatiguing himself in the process).

Above water, though, the elemental was visible, and Arlen cast Plant Growth, tangling the elemental in seaweed (river-weed, I guess). Dobbin shot it with an arrow and seemed to wound it, so Kisha walked over and whacked it with her staff. Whirlpool tried to swim under and stab it, but couldn't quite make it (fatigue was impairing him).

The elemental flowed out of the weeds and on land, grabbing for the mask. Kisha pushed the boat over into the water, so the mask was away from the elemental, and Dobbin shot it again. Whirlpool grabbed his trident and stabbed the thing, and Arlen ran over and bashed its watery head in with his staff. The elemental melted into foul-smelling water, and the characters collapsed to the bank to catch their breath.

Kisha and Arlen both sensed that the area was host to a lot of corruption, but it seemed to be improving. Kisha sensed something at the bottom of the river that seemed to be feeding that Corruption, and Arlen dived down (Body Control) to retrieve it. It turned out to be a metal disc with Kernish writing - Ulasta's Spit. The characters knew that "Ulasta" was the Exarch of Envy. Kisha reasoned that the water elemental had either been summoned and then corrupted or just summoned that way, and then set her in this stretch of river, but why? And when? If it was recently, it may have been a trap for them.

Dobbin noted a more practical concern - their boat was damaged. They had maybe a day before it started taking on too much water to be safe. They decided to sail downstream and try and find a way to repair it in the Central Valleys. Failing that, they could always walk.

A few hours later, they'd passed beyond the last of the Pavin Weald and into the Valleys - rolling farmlands, vineyards, and a lot of smaller villages. They found a young man fishing, and chatted with him. He told them that there was someone in the village that could fix their boat, so they beached it and came ashore. He led them to his village, Riverside, and they immediately smelled something sweet baking. The young man, Trels, introduced them to the Baker, who was pulling out some buns sweetened with honey. Dobbin bought a few for the party, and they enjoyed their treat. Baker offered to put one of them up for the night (he doesn't have room for more than that), and Trels said that other villagers would probably be willing to do the same.

The women they wanted, Maiyon, was out in the eastern plains checking on the herds, and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. The characters relaxed - this place seems nice, and they don't mind staying a bit.

Character Creation: Parsec

Easter break! Wooo! Hopefully Bunny Jesus doesn't come for us all!

I should do a horror game, after that, but I ain't gonna.

The Game: Parsec
The Publisher: Jolly Roger Games, but something must have happened because the Jolly Roger site doesn't mention it at all, and it's being sold at DTRPG by the author (I think?)
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

 

This just goes to show how fucking lazy I am; I bought a copy of the PDF (I have the hard copy; bought it at some con or other*) so I could avoid driving to Office Max to photocopy the character sheet because I couldn't find one online. But now I've got one, so goodie, ready to go.

Anyway, the first chapter of the book takes us through the setting. It's nice; there's enough detail that it is a setting, but there's enough going on and enough blank space that the group has somewhere to play.

It's a sci-fi setting. The setting has FTL, but how exactly it works is a mystery that the authority (the World League of Nations) controls. Some planets outside our solar system have been colonized, and the moon and Mars have some human life. I can refer back to the setting chapter as need be if I need inspiration, but I think I can start things rolling for chargen.

I do, however, need a concept. The book advises a "group template," a discussion of what kind of game we're playing and what the stakes are going to be, so that the characters are compatible (this is such great advice, and I wish more games made it a fundamental part of session 0). Since it's just me, of course, I don't need such a template, but I do need to think about where my character is from and what they're all about.

Well, when I'm playing sci-fi games that include space as an option, I kinda like to be able to go there. But really, maybe "going to space" should be the goal. I'll throw out an 80s reference here and name my character Max Fennyman. Max wants to go to space. He doesn't want to leave the Earth behind and never see it again, but he's ready to be done with it for a while - there's too much garbage, too much information, too much, and on a spaceship things are pretty focused.

I think I'll develop more backstory for Max as I go. My first real step here is Birth - am I an Insider (privileged elite) or an Outside (everyone else)? I think Max feels more like an Outsider. For that, I get a starting Status of 1, 25 points to distribute to Attributes, and a free advance in Courage, Discipline, and Tolerance, whatever that means. I also get two free relationship slots (two minor or one major). So far, so good.

The next thing I choose is if I was born on Earth (Terraborn) or not (Colonyborn). I'm pretty obviously the former. That gives me nothing extra.

Oh, hang on, at the end of the section it neatly sums up what you get (the only axes that really matter as far as how many points you get are the ones I already did). I get:

Cool. Well, let's start with Attributes. There are six of them, and 4 is average, so I could split things up evenly and wind up average in everything, which is good. I think I want a low Connection score for Max - he's easily overwhelmed. So I'll put a 3 in Connection (22 points) and in Appeal (19 points), 4s in power, Precision, and Resilience, and a 7 in Mobility. My thinking here is that Max has wanted to get offworld for a long time, now, and has found a way to train in simulated zero-G, hence the higher Mobility.

OK, now I have to figure this "advancement" thing out. Stand by.

OK, I think I've got it. It looks like Skills start out at, like, nil, and then you advance them to Basic, then to Intermediate, and so on. I start with Courage, Tolerance, and Discipline at Basic because I'm an Outsider (those are Skills; I thought they were Traits or something).

Traits, though, are actually a different thing entirely, and seem to include equipment and suchlike. (FFS, why isn't there an example of chargen in the book? And no, a bunch of sample characters are not the same thing.)

Steps to chargen actually delineate this somewhat, so I've gotta rewind a little. I get my two relationship traits, so I need to figure that out because I can advance them in later steps. OK, this is pretty easy; a relationship is with an NPC and it's either minor or major. I'm gonna spend my Outsider picks to take a relationship with Tony May. Tony runs a simulated zero-G facility; it's where rich kids come to play spaceman (it's not a serious training facility, those typically involve joining the military). Tony has known Max since Max was a little kid, and Tony lets Max in to train on off days.

So now, I can do Education. I get to advance 5 Skills and 1 relationship, which means taking a new relationship because I can't push Tony any further. This phase of Max's life basically corresponds to school. I'll say that Max went to school and was good in physics (which is, as I think about it, a subtle theme for a lot of my characters, which is funny because I have no head for physics myself - it's too much math), and he had a classmate who used to play soccer with him after class and they'd talk about going offworld. That classmate - Tina - is still in the city, and Max sees her now and again. Tina's officially a minor relationship, but I might raise that.

Skills, then. I'll take Acrobatics, Athletics, Science, and Zero-G, and I'll bump Zero-G to Intermediate. Cool.

And I get a Trait, too, but I think I'll hold on to it for right now.

And now, work. The book notes that folks are usually pretty specialized; there's not much market for unskilled labor these days. Noted. So, here I get to raise an Attribute, three Skills, and a relationship. I'll bump up Max's Connection; I feel like it needs to be a little higher. For Skills, I'll take Basic Detection, and I'll take Intermediate Repair. He dropped out of school and learned to fix stuff from Tony, and did freelance work on folks' machines.

For my relationship, I'll say that Max met an Insider named Purvis who likes to slum it, and they became friends. Kinda; Purvis likes Max around because it makes him look dangerous, and Max likes Purvis because when they hang out, Purvis buys dinner.

Next up, Passion. Max's Passion is for Space Travel, obviously. I get one Skill bump here and one relationship, so I'll bump Zero-G up to Advanced, and I'll bump Tina up to major. Tina and Max are still looking to get offworld together - it's not a romantic or sexual thing (Max doesn't think?), it's just that they always promised they'd do it.

Now, I can take Scars if I want, corresponding to times in his life that Max got hurt or burned. If I do, I can increase Courage, Discipline, or Tolerance, but I also get a flaw for each one. Let me see what that means. Ugh, they're pretty intense. I'm gonna say no; it's not that Max has never had bad things happen, but not on the order of losing a limb.

So that just leaves my Traits. I have four Trait slots. Let's see how they work.

Well, I can take Modifications, but I don't see Max having access to that stuff. I do like Specializations, though. I'll Specialize Science in Physics, for a start. I'll put two there. I'll take a Running Specialization in Athletics and a Jury-Rigging one in Repair.

And that's actually it. My Status stays at 1 because I didn't do anything to raise it, but I think that's fine. Our game, here, would have to be focused around some Outsider folks trying to get offworld and getting themselves into hella trouble doing it, but I think that'd make for a good jumping-off point on the game. I also think Max has the makings of a good ship's mechanic or navigator, if he figures out the requisite skills before getting himself killed.

I think Max is of mixed Asian and European heritage; he speaks English and a few phrases in Mandarin. He grew up in a slum of Hong Kong in a community that once had a lot of British folks (hence the English, and folks named "Purvis"), but the slum was pretty contained and he doesn't really know much about the world outside his neighborhood. Max has black hair, brown eyes, can't grow a beard to save his life, and keeps himself lean because a) it'll be easier to get used to zero-g and b) he doesn't really have money for food often.

Sounds good!

*It was Origins 2013, because the book is autographed**.
**Now that I look, it's actually also autographed by Jacob Walker, who did the cover art for Parsec and also for Chill 3rd Ed and SAVE, which I'm sure is how I wound up purchasing the book. 

Persephone Returns

Today we said goodbye to Sephi, my black lab. As before, when we lost Leo, I want to tell you her story.

We bought Sephi from a breeder in late summer 2003; she was born in July of that year. I wouldn't go to a breeder again, but I'm very glad that we had Sephi. We met her when she was just about six weeks old, and she and her brothers and sister had little yarn "collars" on to tell them apart. Sephi showed us her personality right away.

Sephi's mother was a yellow lab named Diva. When I met her she was with her puppies, and she looked very proud of herself. Sephi's father was a black lab named Maestro, and he was 110lbs and not fat (most of it was head). He would take a toy to the top of the stairs of his house and toss it down, then go fetch it.

We brought Sephi home in September. I was still working for White Wolf, so I was working from home and I had plenty of time to look after a puppy. Of course, Sephi was a handful - she was opinionated, stubborn, and prone to chewing on things (including the wall).

She discovered her love of water when still a pup. Throughout her life she liked to swim, and when summers got hot and she was a little bigger, we bought a kiddie pool and filled it with cold water so she could lay in it during the day.

Sephi grew quickly, as puppies are wont to do. We took her to obedience and agility classes, and it worked, for the most part. She was still stubborn, and she wasn't interested in coming in the house until she was good and ready, which got to be a problem when she got big enough to be faster than me.

She was also pretty sneaky when necessary. One of my favorite memories of Sephi was her snatching a burrito away from my then brother-in-law; he was sitting in a lawn chair and was gesticulating with it, and she saw her opportunity and took it.

Heather and I took Sephi to a lot of different places, but orchards were always fun. I wish I still had the picture of her as a tiny puppy carrying a pumpkin by the stem, defiantly. I do have this one, though:

Sephi was just over a year old when Kai was born, and we sat Sephi down and told her that we were going to have a tiny person around and she had to be gentle, even if said babby pulled her tail or grabbed her skin. Sephi was always great with kids. She wasn't ever mean or bitey; she'd give off a wuff at times, and when she was younger she'd jump up, but she was generally very friendly. She liked to be petted and brushed, and would often nudge your hand with her big ol' head if you stopped petting her.

When we brought Leo home, Sephi quickly established that she was in charge (despite Leo's occasional habit of humping her head), and the two of them were companions and friends throughout Leo's life. Sephi liked to fetch; Leo liked to run alongside.

By the time Michelle moved out here, Sephi was slowing down. She could run on a good day, but her hips were getting achey. She still liked to fetch, but she couldn't get to the frisbee faster than Leo (and, later, Si), and so I had to take her out on her own to play.

By the time Si got past his puppy-hood, Sephi was well and truly the elder statesdog. She wasn't always in great health (she had a lot of allergies and the medications took a toll), but, characteristically stubborn, she held on. The vet offices got to know her well, and she always perked up when I took her there. She liked people.

Over the last couple of months, she started to decline. She wasn't able to get across the living room or out to the yard without help, and some days she really couldn't walk. She lost a good 15 pounds, and she didn't always want to eat. A couple of days ago, she lost the ability to walk altogether - just couldn't put weight on her back legs. Yesterday morning, Michelle and I made the decision to put her to sleep.

We (Michelle, Kai, Cael, and I) went to the vet this afternoon and said goodbye. We petted Sephi, and she nudged our hands if we stopped, insistent and stubborn to the last.

Sephi was the first dog I cared for on my own. My family had dogs growing up, but the last one passed when I was very young and we always had cats after that. Sephi was a good and constant friend - not as affectionate as some dogs, but very loving all the same.

This morning I woke up and my first thought, as usual, was whether I should take Sephi out before I left for work, but then I realized it was no longer a concern. It's going to be some time before the reality of the situation sinks in - Persephone has gone from the Underworld to be with her mother.

Persephone, Dog of the Underworld, "Sephi"
July 2003-April 2019

Character Creation: Dreamchaser

Trying desperately to stay ahead of my "one character a week" schedule and doing OK so far.

I mean, "desperately" is perhaps an exaggeration, but whatevs. On we go!

The Game: Dreamchaser: A Game of Destiny
The Publisher: Imagining Games
Degree of Familiarity: None apart from reading it. The author has explained it to me a bunch of times, and I can never figure out how to pitch it. That's not a condemnation; the game is beautiful and well-reviewed, and I'm looking forward to trying it out.
Books Required: Just the one.

So, in essence, Dreamchaser is a system-light, generic RPG in which you decide what you want to do, what the steps are to doing so, and then tell the story. So its schtick, I guess, is the focus on the "dream", but it's not like the game actually takes place within a dream or anything (unless you want it to). It's so wide-open that I find myself needing something to grab onto while I'm reading it, and I would really have liked an example of play (there are a bunch on the site, but nothing text-based that goes start to finish, not that I can see).

But I'm pretty smart, so I'm sure I can figure it out. The first part of the game is "Dream Mapping," in which we (the hypothetical "we" of the group) figure out a dream to follow and then the characters who are taking part in that dream.

The book gives us a whole bunch of example dreams:

Figuring out the dream says a lot about the setting, though a lot of it would be implicit. I also think it's interesting that a lot of the dreams up there seem pretty individual - like, what would a game look like in which the collective dream is "get the girl?" Likewise, "release the hounds" is typically something one says when ones is driving intruders away, but if it's the goal of a whole game, man, what the hell are these hounds? (That sounds pretty dope, actually.)

I think for my dream, I'm gonna pick "Ask the moon for a favor." That sounds like a really lovely idea.

So now that I have a dream, I get to imagine my Role. I'm meant to explain this Role in a couple of words (basically a High Concept Aspect, if we were playing Fate). I think I want to play a dying guide, someone who's on the journey to ask the moon for a favor but doesn't expect that it'll end well for him.

And as I'm doing this and listening to my iTunes on shuffle, this song came up:

There's only one verse:

Voy a navegar
Al puerto de alma
Cruzando el mar
Hasta qua llegar

("I going to sail to the port of the soul, crossing the sea until I arrive," if my Spanish is right.)

If that ain't goddamn perfect.

Next step is to make up Milestones. These are things that have to happen in the story - stemming from my character or happening to my character - before we can achieve our dream. The players involved pick a number of Milestones based on how long we want the game to be; for a one-shot, we'd pick one each. Let's assume we were playing a short campaign (3-6 sessions), so I'll pick two.

I want my character to be able to lead the party through danger, I think. I picture my character as an Aragorn kind of person; pretty damn capable on his own merits, but vulnerable, especially if he's looking after others. I can get more specific with Milestones, though, if I want, but I think my phrasing here ("lead the party through danger") is fine. I think I'll add the word "safely", actually.

For my second Milestone, I'll say "accept my fate and die." It sounds morbid, but it doesn't have to be. As Amigo the Devil tells us, there's only one kind of people in this world - people who die.

Now I describe my guide with 3 tags. These are just very brief descriptors or attributes that help flesh him out.

Well, I know I want him to be careworn (I like it better than "weathered" for some reason). I see him as having really sharp senses, so I'll take perceptive. And finally I'll take lorekeeper - he knows the secrets of the world, that's how he can guide you to the moon.

Next I get Strategies. These are effectively skills, but I can define them as I like. I get three, and I can choose their rating (4-7). Hmm. Do they all have to be a different rating? (This is why examples are good!) Hang on (there's an AP on Youtube). Ok, got it. I can have multiple Strategies at a given level, but only two because there are only two slots at each level.

I note, too, that Strategies are supposed to be exactly that - how my character approaches problems. I think my guide prefers to go around problems, missing them entirely, so I'm going to take Stealth as one, and I'll put it at The Best. I think that my guide can fight or use magic or something - ooh, actually, I think banishing magic. I'll put that at Expert. And then finally I think that my guide can talk his way out of problems, so I'll take Riddling as a Strategy, also at Expert.

Next up, I assign 10 points among Soul Skills. There's only two, Imagine and Reason. I'd use Reason when a Strategy directly applies to a situation, and Imagine when it might, but it's a fuckin' stretch. I like that. I see my guide as a pretty direct sort of person, so I'll go 4 in Imagine and 6 in Reason.

Now I get 12 points to split between my three types of Health (Body, Mind, Spirit). Hmm. I think I'll put 2 into Body (he's an old man, and frail), and then 5 and 5 in the others.

Next, three Relationships. Typically I'd use a PC as one of them, but I ain't got none, so I'll just have to make up three NPCs (or I could use two slots and make an Organization, but eh). I'll take Marlon, the Skull, as a Casual Relationship. I can get Spirit Gossip from him. I'll take Death as a Contact; I can get Perspective from him (I want the Pratchett version of Death, here). I can take things or places as Relationships, too, going by the examples, so I'll take the Map of Home as a True Love, and tag it with memories of my wife (ooh, tragic). We made the map together; it was the first one.

And then three iconic items (see, I could have put the Map here, I guess, but it's not clear what the difference is). I want a Patchwork Coat, repaired and restitched over a lot of years. I'll take a Black Knife ("it's not a dagger," he'll say if asked, "it's a knife. Knives are tools. Daggers are weapons."). And I'll take a Glove of Silver (used as part of banishing magic, I think).

Finally, I have to come up with a Name. My dying guide's name is Pallor (it's not his real name, but he doesn't give that out - too many bad memories).

And that'll do it! Just goes to show that left to my own devices I drift toward tragedy and bittersweet.

AFMBE: I'll Be Alright Without You/Any Way You Want It

More blood, guts, and pathos! Last session here.

Opening titles:

The (surviving) characters have been admitted to the hospital and put in quarantine. They're in a locked room, separated by plastic "walls", and have been given water and hospital gowns. Mia, Daisy, and Patricia have washed up, but Heather refuses to (and is having trouble acknowledging that Kyle is really dead). They argue a bit, and discuss the "fire" that Daisy seems able to summon and Patricia's strange ability to heal with a touch, but then the door opens and a bunch of people in hazmat suits come in.

One of them introduces herself as Sgt. Priest, and she says she is to act as a kind of liaison to them while they're here. The Army (USAMRIID in particular) is making sure that there's no chance of an outbreak, and they need to stay here while it's being investigated. To that end, they need some blood samples.

Mia and Patricia agrees, but the Bitcherman sisters refuse. The Army (overseen by General Grantham, who takes the time to step forward and introduce himself) has no time for this, nor for Daisy's demands for a lawyer - both girls are held down and blood extracted. The other folks leave and Sgt. Priest is able to answer a few questions.

The Army isn't sure precisely what's going on; they know that people are being found dead with their hearts torn out, but then those same people are reportedly getting up and attacking people. Obviously that's nonsense (Priest theorizes this is a chemical attack of some kind), but until they figure this out, the students are actually in the safest place.

The Bitcherman sisters disagree, of course, and express their intent to be uncooperative, but Priest points out that talking about blowing the place up (yes, the room is mic'd) and refusing to wash off is not really conducive to getting out. She asks if the girls have any requests (Mia asks for a Walkman so she doesn't have to listen to Heather, Patricia asks for a deck of cards). The sisters ask to speak to their father, and Priest leaves.

Officer Bitcherman does show up and talks to his daughters, but he isn't able to get them out and admonishes them to cooperate. He leaves, Priest returns and gives Mia a Walkman and a Pat Benatar tape (it's all she could find).

Downstairs, the rest of the sorority sisters have been asked to come in for some quick bloodwork and a statement. One of them, Lucille Williams, is among them (she's a new character! theme song here). She's been cleared, but Officer Bitcherman approaches her and asks if she would be willing to get some clean clothes for the girls from the sorority house. Lucille helpfully agrees, and they go to the house.

The house is pretty trashed, and Bitcherman gets the folks watching the house to let Lucille in to get some clothes. On the way back, she asks him what's happening and what she should be doing, but he says he doesn't know - he really doesn't have a good explanation for all this. She offers to pray with him and he accepts.

At the hospital, Lucille is admitted to the room with the other girls (wearing a hazmat suit), and hands out the clothes. She talks with Heather and prays with her (Heather isn't very religious, but she's happy to have the attention), and helps her wash up. The Army comes back and asks for a volunteer for an MRI, and Heather agrees; Daisy goes with her. Lucille stays with Patricia and Mia.

The MRI goes fine; Heather is initially worried about the tight space, but she gets over it and everything looks normal. Up in the room, Mia sketches the strange spines that the assailants have shown. On the way back from the MRI, Daisy and Heather see a woman getting into an elevator and close the door. They both recognize her - Stella Aminat, the TA of Dr. Susan Stephens. Stella went missing some time ago. They frantically inform Sgt. Priest and General Grantham, and Priest takes them back up to their room while the Army folks head downstairs to investigate.

Back in the room, Lucille is sitting on Patricia's bed rubbing her back, and has a vision. She sees the hospital morgue, a morgue worker with his throat torn out, and a woman standing before Kyle's body. She flips his body over on its stomach and runs her hand down his spine. The skin splits and the bones become visible, and red veins emerge from the flesh and wrap around the bones, resembling thread. The body stirs, and Lucille realizes she's pressing too hard on Patricia's back. She glances over at the sketches Mia has been doing, and realizes that's what she saw.

She tries to tell the others, but Priest's walkie talkie crackles to life and they heard shouting and gunshots. Priest tries to get out, but the room has been locked down - her card won't open it. Lucille uses her skill in electronics to short the door and open it, and they head out into the hall, Priest and a private taking point. The elevator door opens and Stella, Kyle, and several soldiers get out.

Music cue:

Mia unloads with a fire extinguisher, filling the hallway with white smoke. The zombies emerge from the smoke, and one of the soldiers leaps for Heather. She smacks it out of the way with her own extinguisher, but Kyle tackles her and bites her neck open. Stella pounces at Patricia and bites her, and Daisy avoids one of the soldiers and reaches out with her power, binding it. She sees its red back-threads explode from the spine and wrap it up, and she bashes it repeatedly with a fire extinguisher until it stops moving.

Priest yells at them to run, and they do, heading back down the hall into their room, and barricade the door. They take a second to regroup and Patricia heals herself and Heather, and they decide that staying here might be the wisest course of action.

And then a walkie-talkie crackles. "This is Officer Bitcherman. We're in the lobby. Multiple assailants, it's all blood - holy shit, what". And it cuts off.

Next time, we'll see what the survivors do.

Blades in the Dark: Grinding

Last session here.

The crew is at war with the Grinders, and their last experience with being at war with a faction wasn't any fun, so they're seeking to end this one quickly. Siren, walking through the city, gets a visit from a vampire named Pearl, a friend of Cage - Cage is off on a religious pilgrimage and referred Pearl to the crew, figuring they might need some muscle.

The rest of the crew meets with Pearl, and Pearl notes that they don't have a "face" and could really use one, but that's as may be. One-Eye notes that the Grinders are tight with Ulf Ironborn, which could get awkward for the crew as they do business with Ulf, too. They go and visit him, and he notes that the Grinders aren't exactly good for business or for improving the Doskovol image of Skovs. He isn't going to take up arms against the Grinders, but he's willing to step in and take over their assets if their leadership were to disappear or die.

The crew decides on a simple assault - they'll go to the warehouse HQ of the Grinders and hit the leaders (Hutton and Sercy). They arrive and a crew of Grinders comes out to meet them, but One-Eye has already rigged the dock to collapse when enough weight gets put on it. She and Copper herd the Grinders toward the rigged area and dump a bunch of them in the drink, while Pearl vanishes and yanks a few into the shadows to drain them. Siren and Pearl sneak into the building to find the leadership, and find Sercy, Hutton, and a huge bodyguard type guy digging in. Siren shoots the big guy, and Hutton yells "Burn it!" Sercy throws a bottle of something flammable and sets the building on fire. Pearl surges out of the dark and bites Sercy.

Outside, the fighting continues. One-Eye tosses some trance powder around to incapacitate the remaining Grinders, but Copper gets caught up too and starts seeing floaty lights. They head inside (and Copper, not noticing the heat of the fire, gets a little singed), and arrive just as Hutton tries to stab Pearl and Pearl blocks him with Sercy's body. One-Eye throws a knife and stabs Hutton in the side, and Pearl tears his head off.

The crew falls back to the boat and flees, just as Ulf and his crew arrive to help put the fire out. The crew gets away, having effectively crippled the Grinders, and leaves Ulf to pick up the pieces. That's all well and good - it ends the war - but the heat generated means that the crew is back on the radar of the Bluecoats and the city authorities. Siren starts doing some work with Skovic youths to try and get them on the straight and narrow, and One-Eye starts pushing the Unseen to get Widdershins clear a bit. Widdershins is better staffed now, though, and looking to expand their turf in Nightmarket. We'll see next time how that goes.