Character Creation: The Dark Fantasy of Sundrah

This is another game I've had in PDF for a long time, and that came out of a bundle Today is a lazy Saturday and I don't have anything in particular to do, and I don't feel like playing Bioshock all day again, so let's do this.

The Game: The Dark Fantasy of Sundrah
The Publisher: Scaldcrow Games, although this particular game is not listed on the site or available on DriveThru anymore
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

 
Dark Fantasy of Sundrah starts with a foreword talking about how this game allows creation of whatever you want and came out of the author getting tired of the restrictions of RPGs, which of course were about a band of adventurers getting treasure and holy shit, guys. D&D came out in 1974, but like, I know for a fact there were other games available in the 80s, because I played some of them. Yeah, D&D was the biggest name out there, but like, it was by no means the only one.

Anyway, far be it from me to poo-poo someone perceiving a need in RPGs and wanting to fill it, but like "something other than D&D" was not an empty niche. Moving along.

The basic idea here is that the Old Gods signed a collective agreement of noninterference, that agreement gained sentience and gave birth to the Rune Gods, who are Not Good, and the "heroes" of the setting are people who are strong-willed enough to be able to be free of their influence. The game notes that good and evil might fight alongside each other against the Rune Gods, which, like, sure, but I'm waiting to see what "good" and "evil" are for our purposes. I also note that all of this is set in a fictional world created by the author, and yes, it very much reads like someone's home D&D campaign that got written up as a novel or something.

"A character CANNOT enter the game with a character without first completing a character record sheet." Well, OK, then.

Wow, that is one detailed map. And there's a sea named after Gargamel's cat, how nice.

All right, no way am I reading 20 pages of history, although that's actually not bad, considering (I've seen history chapters go much longer). Character creation uses a mix of random rolls and player choice, which sounds good. The book does advise to have a calculator handy, though, which makes me a little nervous.

Chargen is a 10-step process:

Since we start by generating Attributes, I'm not gonna bother with any conceptual stuff. Let's do this!

We start with 4 rolls of 1d10+10, which are our strongest traits. That gives me 19, 18, 14, and 12. Next we do 2d10 four times, which gives us our lower or average traits: 10, 11, 15, and 13. Now I roll a d4 (and get 2) and add it to one of my alpha numbers; I'll add it to my 19 and get a 21 so I'm really good at something.

Next, I can subtract from beta rolls and add them to alpha rolls, but I really don't know if I want/need to do that, since once this step is over the distinction ceases to matter. I think I'll leave it. That means my attributes bases are 21, 18, 15, 14, 12, 11, and 10. Now I get to assign them, although later chargen choices with modify them.

Well, hmm. Last character I made was pretty social. Have I done a jumpy-flippy-assassin type character lately? Not really. Cool, so I'll make my Attributes thus: Strength 11, Dexterity 21, Endurance 14, Size 10, Intelligence 15, Willpower 18, Charm 12, Speed 15.

And now I choose a race. Let's see what this game has to offer! Diverse humans? Underground dwarves? Elegant, willowy elves? Surprise me!

Ooh, angels. Wow, these things seem overpowered. I do like that you can pretty much play an angel of any god you want, and the big limitation is that you are a servant of said god, first and last. Don't think I want to play one, though.

Dwarves are indeed folks that live in tunnels. Pass. Elves actually have some interesting history and flavor to them, so I might consider them. There are a bunch of different types, but the blood elves are the ones I like. Let's keep reading, though. Goblinoids (goblins, trolls, gremlins), eh. Lot of species-related violence and I'm not feeling it. Humans are indeed populous and diverse. Low man, various hybrids, eh. I haven't found anything I like as much as blood elf, so I'm going with that.

Elves in general were creations of the Old Gods, but rebelled and were, like Bobby Brown, good to go solo. Blood elves developed partnerships with dragons, and formed cities called blood keeps, ruled by an elf and a dragon of equal age. That's pretty dope. They're militant and aggressive. Sounds cool. I shall add my bonuses to my attributes, giving me Strength 12, Dexterity 23, Endurance 15, Size 10, Intelligence 15, Willpower 20, Charm 12, Speed 18. I also get a bunch of racial advantages. To wit, I don't feel fear, ever, but I can detect it. I can see in the dark, I don't naturally die, I start at level 5 (not sure what that means in practice), and if I'm struck in battle I can automatically counterstrike. Oh, and I speak Draconic.

However, other races sees blood elves as bloodthirsty and arrogant. I am literally the opposite of bloodthirsty, though, because meat is toxic to elves. 

Cool! Moving on. Next step is "first contour." This is like a profession. Let's check the list! Hrm. Well, there's a few I don't dislike, but none of them really seem interesting (compare/contrast with the Expert Paths in Shadow of the Demon Lord, which are flavorful as heck). Seems like I should be a distance fighter, but do I wish to tell something of a story, here? I think maybe I do. I'll take Longbowman as my first Contour, and say that my blood elf was one of the city guard, but then his home was sacked and destroyed and he took to the wilderness (thinking about Ranger or Hunter for my second Contour, but I'm not for sure yet). Part of my issue here is that I'm trying to figure out skills, since they're germane to this. Hrm.

OK, I think I get it. I get Archery, Stealth, Navigation, and Longbow Mastery as Skills. I assume I get the levels 2 and 5 bonuses, too, but since those aren't skills I won't sweat it right now. I have to take Weaponsmith at chargen, but I don't get it for free. I have to take Archery as a primary skill (sure, was gonna do that anyway), and I have to take "arrogant" as an evil trait. Well, that fits with the race, anyway. Oh, wow. I have to take archery-related skills in primary slots. I'm heavily focused. "Must take 1d4 attribute bonus to speed or dexterity." Was that the thing at the very beginning? I mean, it's fine, I put it in Dexterity, but like, the attributes aren't even assigned when you do that. Weird.

Well, sure. What's next? Second Contour. Hmm. I had thought about Ranger, but it's too Aragorn for me. Also, god help me, I like spellcasters. I'm gonna take Sorcerer. Yeah, that sounds fun; Hunter leans too heavily on the "you're an uncouth outdoorsman." I'm gonna say that my blood elf was a longbowman, and then the keep got hit with some powerful magic that arrows couldn't kill. He decided that since he was already pretty much perfect with a bow (arrogant), he'd best learn some magic as well.

Add in some modifiers (my Willpower is now 23, that's pretty cool), and Focus (and magic stuff, but that's a whole other thing). What's next? Duplicated Skills. If my Contours gave me any skills in common, I'd get a bonus, but they don't, so moving on. My total Contour rating is 14, that's easy. My level is 5 because I'm a blood elf. To reach level 6, I'd need 49,700 XP (this is a balancing mechanic, I think; you can be an Urbanite and that's only Contour rating 3, which means you don't need as much XP, but you don't get as much cool shit, either).

Add up attribute scores, I did that already, good. Attribute modifiers go in their little column, that's fine. My Field Rating is the sum of my Attributes, which is 138. Evidently average for a PC is 126, so that's cool.

Derived traits are next. I'll just fill them in without typing them all out because this is long anyway. Well, except primary and secondary talent. These are things that my character is just naturally good at, but I have to select Perception, Stealth, Longbow Damage, or Archery as my primary. I'll take Perception, I think, and then I'll say Archery for the secondary. +2 and +1, respectively (but only because I'm level 5; if I were a normal level 0 character this wouldn't matter).

Magic stuff...need to pick a magic sphere, but they aren't listed in chargen so I'll wait on that because I'm almost done in this section. Personality traits...oh, goodness, they have values, and if you're more good than evil, then you're "good" for purposes of magic and so on. I'm skeptical, but sure. I already have "confident" as a good trait (sorcerer) and "arrogant" as an evil one (both of my Contours), so let's see what else. I'll take "careful" and "efficient" as good traits, and "proud" and "violent" as my evil ones. Checking the GM section, I get a Good score of 27 and an Evil score of 73. Welp.

And now Skills. I choose three Primary skills, but one of them has to be Archery. I get 10 total, three primary and seven standard, but I get some for free. Hang the fuck on, I gotta look at my Contours again. OK, I get some free skills (Archery, Stealth, Navigation, Longbow Mastery, Focus), but I have to put Archery as a primary, I can't take non-archery skills as primary, which is really fucking redundant and makes me wonder if I missed something, and I have to take Bowyer, Fletcher, Weaponsmith, and Rapid Fire. So I'm gonna put Archery and Longbow Mastery as primary, and then find something else to put as my third. And then I get six more skills of my choice. Jesus.

Oh my freaking lord, these are granular. "Pratfall" is a skill. Ugh. I guess I'll take Blind Archery as my third primary skill, even though I'd much rather take something magic-related, and now I get six more choices. Oh, wait, 7, because "Rapid Fire" doesn't appear anywhere in the book other than under the Longbowman Contour. I'll take Concealment (hide, then shoot), Deflect (to knock away arrows), Knots (to tie ropes to arrows), Fast Draw, One-handed Casting, Reaction, and Thrown Magic. Now I'll just figure the scores for these, and then move on to magic.

Magic is something of a mess. The Sorcerer and Wizard write-ups in Contours mention a "magic track," but that's the only time in the book that term is used. They also talk about "magic colleges," but then in the magic section, we talk about "spheres" (which are basically styles of magic). All magic is based on a Focus roll, though, which is fine. I'm gonna take War Song as my sphere, which gives my blood elf a lot of magical combat stuff he can do. Something I really like: You can cast any spell within your sphere, it's just that harder ones eat your reserve faster and have bigger penalties; presumably you get better at casting as you level up. There is nowhere to write magic stuff on the sheet. Boo.

Anyway, I start with 95 silver, and at this point I could buy shit, but y'know, I find that step boring and I've already spent a lot of time on this.

So, let's say this: Cardesh Xalin is a blood elf who studied hard to become a master archer and longbowman for his blood keep. When a cult of Rune God worshippers attacked, they blew a big hole in the fortifications with magic and had to be repelled by wizards and sorcerers, not arrows, which to Cardesh was just a slap in the face. He decided to learn both war and magic, so that he could defend his home and himself as necessary. Opening up his horizons, though, made him realize that the Rune Gods are a bigger threat than a lot of people realize, and sometimes - often - the best defense is an arrow from the dark.

Cardesh is on the short side for an elf (about 6'3"). He has deep grey skin, blood red hair, and silvery eyes. His bow is made of sturdy, black wood and he's notched it at the ends, and each of his arrows are scented with something - a flower, pig tallow, whatever Cardesh feels is interesting when he's fletching. Cardesh is egotistical and violent, but he's not, as Starlord says, 100% a dick. He's no fan of goody-two-shoes types, but he understands basic decency and he's not the sort to stab you in the back for no reason (that said, if he has a reason, he's more likely to shoot you in the back than stab).

That's me done, thank goodness.

Blue Rose: Beach Party Tornado

Last night was Blue Rose. Our intrepid heroes are still trapped in time. They've jump forward in time to a different city, and are standing amidst a crowd of people in mourning attire. Dobbin asks a nearby person where they are and what's going on, and learns that they're in the city of Falzanoth, at the funeral for Miriana the Seer. They also learn that the army of Gretta of the White Face is at the gates, and war is brewing.

The characters decide to stay with the mourners and visit Miriana's tomb. The procession takes them to the top of a hill, and they see a white crypt in which the Seer's body lays in state. Outside the tomb, they see her lover Karshenel, who rescued the frescoes from the temple in Austium. They offer condolences and Kisha asks if there's anything they can do. Karshenel tells her that the Prince of Falzanoth is riding to meet Gretta, and accompanying his retinue to show solidarity would be helpful.

The characters pay their respects, and then join the Prince's army and march along until they leave the city gates and meet the (much bigger) army of Gretta. They are, of course, far away when the two rules meet, but somehow they hear the conversation. Gretta demands the return of the fugitives, but the Prince refuses - they're in his city, they're under his protection. Gretta seems to accept this (not gracefully, but still) and rides off with her army, but the characters notice that some folks stay behind. One of them they recognize as Delkem, the enforcer who was trying to rip information out of a guy's mind back in Austium, before they stopped him.

The mists rise again, and when they fall, the characters are standing on a cliff overlooking the beach. Delkem and six robes associates are closing in on a group of Faenari civilians, knives out (which is a fantastic movie, by the way). Kisha calls out at him, and he looks up, recognizes the characters, and yells a command to his people: "Kill them all!" He raises his hands as if to cast a spell...

And the characters spring into action! Arlen casts a plant growth spell, tangling everyone on the beach, including Delkem and the two adepts standing close to him, but most of the assassins manage to wriggle out quickly. The move forward and, horribly, slay several of the civilians. Dobbin fires an arrow at Delkem, and Kisha rushes down the cliffside to engage. Whirlpool, characteristically extravagant, leaps into the air and lands on one of the assassins, and Pansy runs to back him up.

One of the adepts calls up a windstorm, rendering arrows useless, but Arlen, playing a little rougher than usual, picks the adept up with magic and hurls him into the sea. Whirlpool strikes with his trident, killing an assassin, and Kisha engages two of them, taking some injury for her trouble but luring them away from the surviving civilians. Delkem, meanwhile, tries to topple the cliff with Earth Shaping, but can't quite manage it.

The battle rages - Whirlpool and Pansy finish off some of the assassins, while Kisha takes on the others. Arlen flings another of the adepts out to sea, and Whirlpool uses his own magic to shut down the windstorm, which allows Dobbin to fire arrows at Delkem. Kisha approaches him and demands his surrender, but he refuses, calling up a psychic weapon and attacking her. Badly outnumbered, though, he succumbs to the characters' attacks, and Whirlpool knocks him out with the flat of his trident.

Arlen helps one of the civilians, but several are dead. One of the survivors picks up a knife and heads toward Delkem, but Dobbin stops him, telling him that this is how corruption gets into one's heart (which Whirlpool confirms). He stops and hurls the knife into the ocean, and starts to cry. The mists rise again, and the characters reappear back in Austium...

...but it's many years later. The city is surrounded by shadowgates, and they're pulsing with energy. As the characters watch, they explode. They are, apparently, witnessing the Doom of Faenaria.

Next time, we'll see how that turns out.

Character Creation: Pantheon

Ah, Thanksgiving break. The appetizer to Xmas Break's food coma.

The Game: Pantheon
The Publisher: The Lonely Die Press 
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

 

RPGs in which you play gods, deposed or otherwise, aren't exactly uncommon - Part-Time Gods, Scion, Exalted (you could argue), even Nephilim, kinda. Pantheon has some interesting history as its gimmick. Gods exist because of human belief (nothing new there), but Jehovah managed to pull a neat trick by being the only god to not only have multiple religions worshiping him and warring with each other, but also to have an army of non-god servants (angels) backing him up. Then there's a multi-century gap where gods are cut off from humanity, then they're back, and the implication seems to be that they're back in a pretty public way, which I like because that way it's less WoD-y (honestly, I'm a little over "our world but shit hiding in the shadows" for now).

Unfortunately, the game thinks its gimmick is that it relies on d12s, because they're the loneliest die. Yawn. This is not the only game to use this gimmick, and I think it's pretty silly. Folks use d6s because they're accessible, they use d10s because they make probability easy to sort out (I think), d12s have too big of a swing. But whatever, let's make a god-on-Earth!

Step One: Choose a God. Hmm. Do I wish to go Greek? I think maybe I do. There's no reason at all I couldn't play an Olympian, after all. I think I'll make Dionysus as a PC. I never realized how much of his origin story involves people going mad and killing their families, and it'd be interesting to play a character that has dominion over areas that are as double-sided as wine.

Step Two: Attributes. Of course, I don't start off at full power. I get 35 points to divide between six Attributes: Might, Agility, Stamina, Perception, Mind, and Charisma. Well, I obviously want a high Charisma, and I think Stamina also makes sense. With 35 points I could put 5 into all of them and have 5 points left over, so maybe I'll do that, and then drop Might to 4, and bump Charisma and Stamina to 8.

Step Three: Skills. I get 25 points to divide between skills, but I can't have a rating higher than 3, and I can't take Modern Skills at all. (I have to say, I kind of like that the game leans into the "you are still a recently-returned god" idea, but I also don't know how it would play.)

Anyway, I'll put 3 into Craft (Wine), Presence, Resistance, and Socialize. Dionysus is often depicted riding on a leopard, so I'll put 2 into Ride. I'll put 3 into Linguistics (in vino veritas, baby), 1 into Animal Handling, 2 into Athletics, 3 into Lore, and 2 into Medicine.

Step Four: Words of Power. Here's where things get interesting and weird. I get 15 power words, which I can combine into sentences to do magical shit. I can also bind power words to particular Godly Attributes (not unlike Aberrant's Mega-Attributes) to get bonuses therein.

Holy shit, this game needs an example of chargen. I like the Power Words idea, but I'd really love to see it in practice and there's no example, and no sample characters. Ah, well, just gotta bumblefuck through, I suppose.

Well, Power Words can be verbs, adjectives, or nouns. So, offhand, and looking at the legends of Dionysus, let's take: people, vines, madness, incite, enrage, drunk, euphoria, glory, render, awestruck, animal, nature, beguile, sleep, beauty.

I'll take some Divine Attributes, too. I need two Bound Words for the first level of one, so I'll Bind beauty and incite for a level of Unearthly Beauty...actually I'll bind render and drunk for a second level, because I like the associated power (it lets me retract my divine heritage and appear normal).

Any other fixed powers I want? I like Friend to Nature (animals can't attack me), but it's four words and I don't know that it's enough of a boon to spend that much. As it is, I can beguile people into sleep. Oh, I should have taken change as a power word, could have turned people into dolphins, then. Hmm. Well, I think I'll leave it, and say that Dionysus is still figuring out how this world works.

Step Five: Finishing Touches. I fill in my Health Pillars and my Trauma rating, and now I just have think about what Dionysus looks like these days. I think he's reverted to his "young man" form - slender, willowy, black hair cascading down his back, flowy shirts, looks kind of like Val Kilmer as Thomas More in The Saint. He's interested in viticulture and hiking and other outdoorsy stuff, but there's also a part of him that's angry, violent, and calloused, and he wants to rise above that. It's a matter of making sure his worshipers can hold their liquor, he figures.

Marvel Heroic: Equality, Act Two, Issue Three

Last session, Arcanix (the robotic Sorcerer Supreme) and Rift (mistress of the World Gate) struck off to find a suitable place to create a Sanctum, and perhaps a prison for superpowered people. Arcanix taps into the mystical energies of the world, and finds an abandoned castle in the (fictional) Eastern European nation of Valnovia. The turrets have long since fallen, but the castle sits on a nexus of ley lines, making a perfect place to create a magical space elevator to a prison high up in the stratosphere.

Arcanix and Rift arrive, along with the team of AEGIS agents that Rift is commanding, and Arcanix feels magical energies that have been used recently. In fact, he recognizes the feel of the power - it feels like the magic of Grimoire, a mystical villain that Rift and Arcanix (and other heroes) saved from demonic possession back here. He sends a mental telegram to Grimoire, telling him that the castle is now under the control of the Sorcerer Supreme, and is surprised to realize that the message doesn't have far to travel.

Just then, the AEGIS agents (who were establishing a perimeter) fall back toward the heroes, firing their weapons at a tentacled horror. Arcanix realizes that it's a construct, and blasts it into nothing, revealing Grimoire. He's cleaned up from when they last saw him, but his left eye is still pure white. He tells Arcanix that he's using this place now, and he's not willing to leave. The AEGIS folks use their gear to set up a force field bulwark, and Rift starts talking Grimoire down, pointing out that he's doing well and there's no point in making things bad again. Arcanix agrees, opening a gate to Hell under him to remind him what he's seen. Grimoire lashes out, but the magic washes over the shield and Arcanix' armor, and Arcanix zips up and punches him. Rift follows up by punching into a gate and hitting Grimoire, knocking him out.

Arcanix taps into the ley lines and restores the castle, consecrating it and turning it into his Sanctum Sanctorum (and fulfilling his Milestone!). Grimoire has the honor of being the first prisoner into its prison.

Meanwhile, half a world away, Inferno, Juno, and Spore take Baron Anguish to a computer hub (set up by Inferno) to help him burn the GENYS out of the Internet, and hopefully get it back. Anguish warns them that he's doing multiple things at once, here, and once he starts their location will be visible to the Kutya. Juno forms a force bubble around the two of them, and Inferno and Spore head outside to wait for the inevitable attack.

It comes quickly - a black aircraft, one they remember from the attack on the power station here, flies up. Three men jump out and land - the guy in purple with the unsettling grin (U4YA), the guy in the black hood with the pistols (Deton8), and the guy with poison fists that socked Inferno (Dafadae). Dafadae leaps up and punches at Inferno, but Inferno flies up and creates a sphere of fire around him, trapping him. Spore hits them with a spore-burst and they choke, and he sends his reprogrammed robot into the sphere to finish off Dafadae. It doesn't work out that way; they hear a crunch and the robot's head comes flying out.

U4YA points at Spore and he feels confused and euphoric - so much so that he loses integrity and falls into a huge pile of moss. Inferno flings fire and burns the others, and Deton8 hits a button in his gloves and the aircraft fires a missile at the building, blowing a hole in the roof and putting Juno into the fight. She thickens the bubble, which is good, because Deton8 punches it and tries to breach it. Inferno flies down and Dafadae punches him. U4YA tries to infect Anguish through the bubble, but Juno blasts him and sends him ass over tea-kettle. Deton8 fires at Inferno, but suckers him right into Dafadae's attack, and Inferno collapses, unconscious. The leaping villain lands by the bubble and stares creepily at Juno, and she charges the bubble with energy and takes his ass out.

Deton8 calls for extraction, boarding his aircraft and taking off. Anguish finishes his work, and tells Juno that the 'net is back up...now, perhaps they could go their separate ways? Juno tells him that the rule of law means he gets a fair trial and she'll fight for him as they agreed, but she can't just let him go. Anguish uses his powers to weaken her mind, but she rallies, and pushes him out of the bubble. He steps back into the elevator, and activates an escape route (of course he set one up). "You know I can't let this go?" she says. "Aye," he says, "I know."

The heroes have captured two more of the Kutya and reestablished global communications...but two of them have been taken down pretty hard. Next time, we'll see where this goes!

Shadow of the Demon Lord: Fauns on the Run

Last time Buboe died. This time, the fabric of reality frayed a bit at the edges.

The characters - that's Dagmar, Bashir, and Mayfly - are still wandering around the outskirts of Caecras looking for a place to set Bashir up as a farmer. They're in the ruins of the oldest part of the city when they see two identical fauns being chased by orcs. The fauns, they note, look more deer than goat, but that's secondary to the fact that the orcs will definitely eat them.

Bashir, not really cool with that, yeets a rock at one of the orcs and knocks him a little silly. The orcs turn to the characters and the fauns take a moment to hide in some nearby debris. Mayfly flings a spell at the orcs and dazes them, and Dagmar, not really having a good distance attack, scampers up and bops one with their staff.

One of the fauns pops up from the debris and casts a spell, and teleports the orc in front into a million pieces, raining gore over Dagmar (again). The other two orcs decide that "fuck this" is the better part of valor and run off, leaving the characters safe.

The fauns introduce themselves as Genevieve and Veni, twins. Genevieve hands Dagmar a pamphlet, which encourages overthrowing the empire...which has already happened. ("There's always another empire.") Genevieve also speaks in third person. Veni, meanwhile, is a bit more lucid, and clearly very educated; he notes that there's a tower near here that was supposedly built by the Fair Folk, and those towers haven't been opened in a thousand years. But when the twins got near it, it opened earlier - probably there's something valuable within (and they twins have a reason for wanting in, which they don't share). The characters, generally more interested in potential reward, agree to have a look, and they approach the tower...and a door opens.

Veni cautions them - he's very much aware of what the Fair Folk can do. Dagmar tries to study the tower, catches a glimpse of the twins, and feels reality break a bit. Demonic laughter echoes around, and Dagmar goes a little mad (just a little). Eventually the group enters. The room they find themselves in is round, bare, and alabaster white. They hear gentle, lilting voices saying: The shadows have cracked, the rivers are bled, the sky is gouged, the world is dead. Hours and hours, where will you go? To the end of the year, and then let the moon’s hand show.

Veni opines that when the Fae start speaking in rhyming couplets, that's never a good sign. Dagmar walks around the room and notes that there are four carvings on the walls, one at each compass point. One has a barren tree with a single leaf, one has Old Man Winter bound in chains, the next has a blossom, and the last has the Queen of Summer pursing her lips as though for a kiss. Veni sees this last and weeps, but is able to pull himself together enough to realize that these are magical locks or seals.

Mayfly flies up to the one with the tree and notes that the leaf at the top is quivering some. It taps the leaf, and the leaf flies off as though in a wind. The tree steps out of the walls, grows arms and legs and a head, and steps to the floor as a beautiful dryad. She looks around the room, spots Bashir (looking at one of the other carvings), and walks toward him. Veni yells a warning, but the dryad strokes Bashir's face and calls him beautiful, and asks him to join her in her forest. He wants to grow things - he can grow anything he wants, there.

Bashir follows her, and Genevieve, trying to help, changes into a replica of the dryad and tries to lure Bashir...but she still refers to herself as Genevieve in third person, so Bashir isn't fooled. Veni pulls out a little nub of iron and brandishes it at the dryad, driving her back, but Bashir still follows, wanting to grow apples. The dryad grows apple blossoms on her arms, but Mayfly zips over and sits on Bashir's shoulder and casts Denounce. The dryad recoils, horrified, and disappears into the wall. An apple blossom floats over to Bashir, and he sadly puts it in his hair. Giggling sounds from above - sprites, zipping about and watching the characters.

The characters put their heads together and try to think about the riddle (which the sprites helpfully repeat). It talks about the end of the year. Veni notes that the Imperial calendar reckons the end of the year in winter, so probably they need to open that door. That would probably involve freeing Old Man Winter from his chains, but Veni is concerned that they'll need to bind him again. Genevieve peers at the seal to try and get a sense of how it might work, and reality frays again. A tiny demon crawls through a break in the world, and leaps at them. Dagmar whacks it with their staff and stuns it, and Bashir cuts it in half.

Dagmar asks if Genevieve just thought about something so wrongly that it broke reality, and Veni says that, yes, that seems to be what happened. They pursue this line of questioning, and Veni finally admits that he's a faun - a person stolen by the Fair Folk. Genevieve is a changeling, left behind to replace Veni. A stolen child and its changeling replacement are never supposed to meet, but they have, and that seems to be...unraveling things a little.

Back to the matter at hand. Mayfly guesses, though, that these are just magical seals, so they should be fine, and it breaks the chains.

The room freezes. A sheet of ice covers the floor and the characters struggle to remain standing. A huge dire wolf with red eyes leaps from the wall and snaps at them. Bashir swings his ax at it and lands a blow, but the wolf bites him and knocks him over. Mayfly flies up and plants and arrow in its back; Veni tries to follow suit and misses. The wolf snaps at Mayfly and misses, and Dagmar takes the opportunity to bash it in the mouth with their staff. The wolf lunges, and Genevieve sneaks around and drives a dagger into its back, killing it.

The wolf vanishes, and the ice melts, creating a lake. It seems deep, but the characters can walk on the surface. At the bottom of the lake, they see a crescent moon symbol with a note in Elvish script: "ask, and I shall appear," written either as an invitation or a warning, depending on how you read it. The rhyme mentioned the "moon's hand," though, so Veni makes a formal invitation, and the Maiden of the Moon appears. The light brings madness to some of the group, but they hold it together. Mayfly feels a twitching in its pack, and remembers that it owns a petrified hand that twitches in moonlight. Mayfly pulls out the hand and sees it flexing, but the Maiden says that they called her too soon - they need to figure where to put the hand. She vanishes, but leaves her light.

The characters find the lock that was used to bind the Old Man, but sticking the fingers in that doesn't do anything. The sprites zip down, and Bashir talks to them (despite Veni's objections), and they say that they'll answer questions given the chance to ask a question of their own - or if the character gives them something impossible. Bashir asks about the hand and what it opens, and the sprites say that they need to find the right magical seal to open, but haven't yet. Genevieve offers to read their fortune from a book, but it's impossible, because she can't read (the sprites are nonplussed).

Veni thinks about it some more, and realizes that this building predates the Empire. As such, it's probably on the same understanding of the year that the Fair Folk use, which has the new year beginning in autumn, meaning the end of the year is summer. Dagmar impatiently walks up and smooches the Queen of Summer, and her face fades, leaving a handprint. They put the twitching hand there, and a staircase appears, leading up.

The characters run up the stairs and find a bare room with a single throne. Upon it is a man with a blazing skull for a head, a big white beard, and a blue robe. He chats affably with the characters, speaking whatever language they do (Elvish, Dwarvish, Common), and compliments Dagmar's beard. He also claims to be everywhere, though people aren't generally happy to see him, and Veni figures it out - he's Father Death.

Father Death tells them that the petrified hand once belonged to a goblin locksmith who could create moonlight to act as a "key" to locks he'd made, meaning that its utility as a key now is somewhat limited. He also tells them that the meeting between Veni and Genevieve ripped reality, and now the Shadow of the Demon Lord is falling upon this world. It's fallen over other worlds, and he's seen those worlds fall. He doesn't want it to happen here, because frankly that would a lot of work for him. However, he doesn't know specifically how to fix it - killing Veni or Genevieve won't help, nor will separating them. The damage is done.

He asks where the characters are heading next, and they decide to head to the Northern Reach, to see what they can learn about the Shadow and how to fix it. Father Death obligingly gives them some money and some magical trinkets, since they were expecting to find such things here. He says he'll be seeing them - he sees everyone, eventually.

The characters start heading north, and along the way learn their Expert Paths: Genevieve is an Assassin, Veni is a Wizard, Dagmar is a Ranger, Mayfly is an Oracle, and Bashir is a Druid. Fun fact: Bashir's magical implement is the apple blossom he got from the dryad. He's still a little smitten.

The Strange: Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin Song

Today, after quite a long hiatus, we played The Strange. Last session here.

Our intrepid investigators have spent a few months living in the Brewster mansion, studying the Recursion Ring, carefully cleaning the moss off the stones and researching the markings, and finally determined that they can probably map out the recursions that this place leads to, but they don't have a good point of reference. As such, they stand in the circle one day, and Carmen focuses on one stone and gives it a go. The others help, Roxanne to ease the translation and Arnauld to hasten acclimation, and they feel themselves shift realities.

The stones in the ring multiply and spread out, becoming cobblestone streets. Buildings rise up around them, forming a neighborhood made of tight streets and cul-de-sacs. A full moon hangs bloated in the sky, and they smell sweets in the air, wood smoke, and leaves. They see people carrying candles and wearing masks.

And they change to fit this place. Alexander's head becomes orange and rounded, becoming a jack-o-lantern with burning eyes. He stands nine feet tall and wears overalls and a flannel, and seems to be made of wood (he's now a Strong Vector who Abides in Stone).

Arnauld, by contrast, shrinks, turns green, grows big pointy ears, and finds himself wearing a sheet with eyes cut in, carrying a candle, and with some hard candy in his pocket. He's a goblin, but he knows deep in his heart that he can become a fearsome werewolf (he's a Strange Vector who Metamorphosizes).

Roxanne's body doesn't change much, but her clothes do - she's wearing all black, with a big pointy hat, and she's carrying a broom. She also wears a big emerald gem on a clasp, and she knows that it contains her soul. She's now an Intelligent Spinner who Practices Soul Sorcery.

Edward, too, doesn't change much physically, but now he's covered in tattoos and carrying a needle and a bottle of ink. He knows that his markings are magical, as he's a Skeptical Paradox who Inks Spells on Skin.

And finally, Carmen becomes a goblin almost identical to Arnauld, right down to the ghost costume and the candle. But Carmen also has a treat bag and a length of rope, as she's a Strange Paradox who Trick-or-Treats.

The group let themselves acclimate, and the reflect on what they instinctively know. Carmen realizes that she has taken the Vow of Begging, allowing her to get candy (which is currency here) by asking for it, and also to play tricks, as long as she keeps her candle lit. But if she breaks the rules, the denizens of Halloween can do what they like with her. Edward notes that this place is divided into neighborhoods, each with a Power of Night that rules it. The Power in this neighborhood is Gomez Snake.

Alexander knows the name of this neighborhood - the Hollows. Arnauld knows that this place is tightly governed by rules, and is magical in nature. The group also notice that passersby are staring at Alexander, but not as though they've never see anything like him. More like people on Earth would stare at someone walking an especially large dog.

The group decides to explore a big. Carmen does a bit of trick-or-treating, and Arnauld joins in. The person they beg from looks at Arnauld funny, but apparently doesn't suss out that he's not really a trick-or-treater. They move on down the street and Edward hears music and chatter - a pub. He approaches and finds the Old Hangman, and goes in.

The bartender serves him a pumpkin-colored beer, and he takes a seat. Roxanne follows, and orders a witch's brew, which turns out to be some blue liquid, some cream, and something out of a sack that wriggles. It tastes sweet and makes her see blue for a minute, but it's pretty good. The goblins and Alexander come in, and the bartender looks concerned, but checks with Carmen that her golem isn't going to hurt anything.

The group is there for a few minutes when a tall, impossibly thin man silences the bar and says that "Mr. Snake" will be holding the meeting, if anyone wishes to join. Some of the patrons go, and Roxanne asks the bartender what's happening. "You must be from one of the covens," he says. "Mr. Snake is the Power here, and he's holding a kind of town meeting. People can air grievances, make barters, that kind of thing."

The group joins the meeting (Alexander gets put in the back corner where he won't hurt anyone). Mr. Snake very much lives up to the name - a very dapperly dressed gent with the head of a snake. He asks if anyone has any business, and a man timidly raises his hand. "Roger Reaper!" says Snake.

Mr. Reaper explains that his recently deceased son's spirit is lost in the Graveyard, and he wishes to get it back from the Night Watchman, but the Watchman refuses to let him go. Mr. Snake tells Reaper there's nothing he can do except challenge the Watchman to Trial by Monster, and no one is going to be that foolish, will they? He looks around the room, and Carmen and Arnauld push Alexander forward.

Snake looks at the "golem" and then to Carmen. "You're volunteering?" Carmen confirms that she is, and Reaper looks at her with tears in his eyes. "All right then!" The meeting moves along, and afterwards, Reaper, Roxanne, Edward, Arnauld, and Carmen have a chat. Reaper tells them that his son Roddy was killed (by a pumpkin golem, as it happens). His body was interred in the Graveyard, but the ghouls dug him up (like they do), and now his spirit is doomed to wander.

The thing is, though, he tells them conspiratorially, is that he works with goblins - he's a cobbler by trade. The goblins tell him that it wasn't the ghouls that dug up Roddy's corpse, so he's not sure why it happened. He wants to get his son's spirit back to ask him, but the Night Watchman refuses. Trial by Monster would surely end badly for him - he's even seen the Watchman kill pumpkin golems before. But if the characters are willing to help...

Meanwhile, the tall man invites Edward to have a drink with Mr. Snake. Mr. Snake asks Edward where he's from, and Edward plays it coy, but Snake offers information about the world and the Trial by Monster. Arnauld, meanwhile, climbs into the rafters to listen in.

Edward finally agrees and confirms that he's not from around here - and Snake asks which recursion he's from. Edward confirms he's from Earth, and Snake tells him that Trial by Monster has to be agreed upon by both parties. The Night Watchman will choose a fight to the death if he can, because that's what he's good at, but it might be possible to beat him if they can make the fight something a little more favorable for them.

Edward leaves, but Arnauld keeps listening. The tall man comes over and speaks with Snake, and Snake tells him to have a couple of ghosts follow the characters. He says that he doesn't much care how this fight turns out one way or another, but he's interested. The tall man asks "but won't he be angry?" Snake grabs him by the head and hisses "I. Don't. Work. For. Him. Neither does the Night Watchman. We have a business arrangement, but he's not from Halloween."

Arnauld slips out, and the characters regroup. They head back to Reaper's shop to plan. A couple of goblins are there working on shoes, and they nod curtly to Arnauld and Carmen. Carmen pokes about for cyphers, but manages to knock over a shelf a bunch of shoes fall to the ground.

The goblins discuss what to do about this, and tell her to put them back before a timer runs out, but Carmen fails, so they send her on an errand - go to the Midnight Circus, get some fried dough and hot cider for them. Carmen grabs Arnauld to go along, and they head east. They come to the edge of the Hollows, a fence into the Graveyard, but they don't cross through. They just hug the fence until they hear circus music, and enter into the neighborhood called the Midnight Circus.

They see all kinds of vendors there, but they also see a clown in orange entreating them to ride the Carousel of Chance - they can pay a candy to ride, or take a chance on great fortune! Arnauld takes his chance, but when the ride comes to a stop, he's become mummified and his lips sewn shut. The clown tells him to go work at the fried dough stand...unless Carmen wishes to break the curse by riding the carousel herself?

Carmen, not seeing a lot of options, rides it, and upon stepping off, Arnauld returns to normal. The clown tries to get them to ride again, but they decide to move along. Arnauld finds a test of strength, pays his candy, and assumes werewolf form, but can't quite make the bell ring. Carmen buys the fried dough and cider, and the two goblins head back.

Meanwhile, Roxanne takes a shirt that belonged to Roddy and focuses, figuring she might be able to use her newfound power over souls to find him. She feels mist around her, and a feeling of being lost - Roddy's spirit is, indeed, lost in the Graveyard. Edward uses Premonition on the shirt and realizes that the owner has the spark - so Roddy is a conscious being, just like the characters.

The goblins get back and Reaper (and the cobbler-goblins) leave them along to strategize. Alexander, finally able to talk (golems don't, so he's been keeping quiet), opines that he's going to get turned into a pie if he goes up against the Night Watchman alone. But maybe there's another way - Carmen has a cypher that induces intense fear. If they can get the Watchman to agree to "first one to flee loses," they might be able to beat him that way.

With that as the plan, they all head to the Graveyard. Carmen lights her candle, but the ghouls quickly surround them all, looking at the characters and whispering about meat. Alexander grins at them, scaring them away, and the group arrives at the Watchman's shack. Carmen rings his bell and trick-or-treats, and he tosses a finger into her sack.

He emerges and taunts Reaper a bit, but Reaper challenges him, and they negotiate the terms. Carmen shows him the pumpkin golem (Alexander) as the champion. The Watchman agrees and suggests a fight to the death, but Carmen counters with a fight to the fear (first to flee loses). The Watchman thinks the terms are reasonable, but refuses to go in against the golem - golems don't feel fear, so it won't flee. Carmen steps up and says that she'll take it on.

She takes the cypher from Alexander, and the Watchman notices, but at no point did they stipulate no wands, so he lets it go. The ghouls draw a circle around them, and the Watchman leaps forward and slashes Carmen open. She's hurt, but she rallies, and points the cypher at him...and he runs away yelping.

The characters have won, and Reaper is ecstatic, but the ghouls surrounding the characters being to murmur. "Did we agree not to eat them if they won?" "No, we did not." "What would the Watchman do?" "He would want us to eat them."

The ghouls begin to close in. The characters aren't out of the graveyard yet.

Character Creation: The Day After Ragnarok

Been a while since I did a Savage Worlds game.

The Game: The Day After Ragnarok
The Publisher: Atomic Overmind Press
Degree of Familiarity: Never played this game, but I'm pretty familiar with Savage Worlds
Books Required: This one plus some version of the SW rules

The Day After Ragnarok is written by Ken Hite, and much like most of his other games, I read it and it hooks me. There's a care and attention to detail, a polish, that his work tends to have, and while I don't love this game like I do Trail of Cthulhu, that's largely down to my own tastes, I think.

Anyway, this game sees the Midgard Serpent rearing up during WWII, and then getting nuked all to fuck, and its carcass falls and squishes the UK. The world has restructured itself in the interim, the USA's eastern coast is underwater, and there's a lot of attention paid to the political and geographical changes that make this snake-filled world interesting (a fun note: in this world there's a Conan movie starring Ronald Reagan).

So anyway, there's not a default role for characters, so if I were making this character in a group, I would probably have some framework. As I do not, I'll just go and get my tea and think about it.

OK, I have an idea. Snakes are a big theme of this game; there are a lot of giant serpents around and they're nasty and venomous and so on. My character fucking hates them. He's a former soldier, and snakes killed and ate his unit. He had no family to go back to, and he's figured he's not long for this world (he got bit, but for whatever reason didn't die right away), so now he's going to kill and skin as many of these bastards as he can.

I don't remember if there's a "Dying" Hindrance in SW, but if there is I'll take it. My character's name is Thor Mitchell, because I like being really on the nose sometimes. Since I'm American, I get a free point to put in Fighting or Shooting.

Starting with the standard 5 points to put in Attributes, I already know I want to leave Smarts at d4. I'll put Agility up to d8, Strength at d8, and Spirit at d6. I'd really like a higher Vigor, so I'll see if I can raise it later.

Skills, then! Well, I know I want Fighting and Shooting at d8, and since I have a free point, that costs 5 instead of 6. Stealth d8, hell yes. I want Tracking, which keys off Smarts, which is too bad. The d4 costs 1, but the d6 puts it up to 3. That's life. Four points left. Riding d6, Notice d4 and Survival d4, and that'll do me.

I speak two languages, so for Thor that'll be English and German. 

Edges and Hindrances! I get a free Edge for being human, and then I can take up to three Hindrances, which of course I will. There's no Dying Hindrance, but there is one called Snakebit, that means I take a penalty to avoid snake venom damage, which seems appropriate (I'll just take the Minor version, though, since the Major one would have me fighting on the side of the snakes if I fail a check and that doesn't seem in-concept). I'll also take Luddite, also Minor (same as All Thumbs; Thor has trouble with modern tech). And finally, I'll take a Major Vow - All snakes must die.

Now for the fun stuff. I'll spend two to bump my Vigor to d6. For my free Edge, I'll take First Strike (snake move near me, snake get hit). Two points left, hmm. Feels like I should know something about snakes. I'll take Knowledge (Snakes) d4, and then put my last point into Intimidation.

Not filling in Gear because I find it boring, but suffice to say that Thor has boots, a coat, and probably gloves made from snakeskin, and he's always looking for more materials. He carries a few skinning knives, and a rifle. His skin has a sickly yellow cast to it in direct sunlight, and sometimes he coughs up gunk. He's got two puncture wounds on his shoulder that scab over, but never quite heal.

And that'll do it for Thor! Let's kill some fuckin' snakes.

Movie #530: Phantom from Space

Phantom from Space is another of these 50s monster movies with the word "Phantom" in the title. It stars Ted Cooper, Noreen Nash, Jack Daly, Harry Landers, Rudolph Anders, James Seay, and Dick Sands as the titular Phantom.

We're told via voiceover narration that this is all the story of a particular night in which panic almost broke out on a wide scale. The FCC tracks a strange signal while the Army tracks a UFO, and then there's a murder perpetrated by a guy in a diver suit but without a face. A police lieutenant (Landers) gets involved because of the murder(s), while an Army major (Seay) and his German scientist bud (Anders) get involved because of the weird signals. Anyway, it turns out that the bloke in the weird suit is an alien who's transparent in our atmosphere because [science], can only breathe our atmosphere for short period, and really just wants to communicate...something.

The heroes run around in the Griffth Planetarium a bit, and then the alien is finally revealed, tries to tap out his message, and falls over dead. The end.

You know, I enjoy some pretty terrible movies, and I admit that, but there's terrible and then there's terrible. And Phantom from Space is...well, odd. It's from an independent studio that was trying to bang out little quick sci-fi movies and save money where they could (hence the alien that you can't see for most of the movie), and that's fine, but there's an Ed Wood-ish lack of craft to the storytelling, and while it's kind of endearing in a way, it's still a pretty lackluster movie.

My Grade: F
Rewatch Value: IINSIAIFWT

Next up: The Phantom of the Opera

Zombie World: Chili in the Mall Food Court

Last night I ran a one-shot of Zombie World, a PbtA game that uses custom cards instead of dice (I made a character a couple of posts back, too).

Our enclave is the Great Western Mall, because the classics are classic for a reason. The mall as a huge parking structure adjacent, and also a movie theater, which is where the enclave keeps a large hoard of supplies and whatnot. There are also a lot of back passages into the mall, which enables dodging of zombies. In addition to our six survivors (we'll meet them in a moment), there are a number of consumers who are living here, as well as two security guards, Robin and Dylan.

The zombies in this apocalypse are the classic Romero-style zombies - slow, not terribly bright, and pretty easy to fool, but they're also tough. One good whack to the head isn't gonna put one down, and they'll overwhelm you in numbers and eat every bit of meat on you. And, of course, a bite is a death sentence.

And who has survived this long, indeed?

• Hunter was a prepper and, well, he was right. He's of the opinion that he's the best qualified to guide this enclave (he's the Leader). 
• Julia is a planner. She makes sure everyone is doing their bit, everything is running smoothly (Strategist). 
• Janice stays in the food court, making sure everyone eats and trying to make something tasty out of mall food. She's upbeat and tries to make everyone their best selves (Cook). 
• Karen is the youngest member of the enclave (~19), and stays quiet and out of the way (Follower). 
• Chad is, as the name implies, a bit of a bro, and is here to tell the hard truths and make sure people face realities, man (Contrarian). 
• Alan is a dedicated loner and introvert, socially awkward, and would probably prefer to be living in the mountains somewhere (Ranger). 

The relationships between these folks are...interesting. Hunter and Karen are having an affair, despite the fairly wide age difference between them. Janice and Karen are close, partially because they disposed of a woman named Anna who kind of lost it and attacked Janice and Julia. Julia knows Anna is dead, but not what was in the chili that night. Chad, likewise, was mixed up in this; he was involved with Anna and may have sent her over the edge. Alan and Hunter don't get along - they see each other as a threat to the enclave. Meanwhile, Alan and Chad have made a plan to get out of here if things ever go really off the rails.

On this particular May afternoon, Hunter is in the security office with Robin and Dylan. Julia is making the rounds, talking to folks and checking in. Alan is in his makeshift home in Pottery Barn, tending his plants. Karen and Janice are in the food court, trying to put something together for lunch. Chad is in the movie theater/supply hoard, doing a quick inventory. Chad smells smoke and radios in to the others. Hunter sends Robin and Dylan out to help (with fire extinguishers!), and the three of them split up and look through the theaters and other buildings. Chad finds the door leading into a room over the supply hoard, and smells smoke and feels heat. He calls in and Julia tells him to feel the door - if it's hot, don't open it! The other characters head toward the theater to help.

It's hot, but Chad (assisted by Dylan and Robin) does indeed kick it in. The door explodes outwards, singeing Chad but otherwise leaving him unharmed. Dylan catches fire and rolls down the stairs towards Julia, who pats him out, and Hunter, who runs upstairs to help. Chad and Hunter figure that they need to get the supplies out of the room below, because this ceiling is going to collapse at some point, so they run back downstairs and get to work. They manage to get most of the goods out...but the ceiling does indeed collapse. The debris crashes down and traps both Chad and Hunter. Robin emerges and calls Julia and Alan in, and they rush in. Robin and Julia go to free Chad, but the damage is done - Chad is dying. He breathes his last as he watches Julia rush back in to see if she can help Hunter.

Hunter, unfortunately, is alone when Alan finds him, and Alan decides that it's better for the enclave if Hunter dies. He pretends to try and lift the debris off him, but doesn't, and Hunter expires.

The enclave lets the fire burn out and manages to contain it, and Janice and Julia dispose of the bodies. Julia then puts a plan together to head over to Home Depot to get some supplies in order to build a roof garden and have some fresh goddamn food for once (Alan, as it happens, is way ahead of them, and is growing his own veg). Julia rounds up Janice, Karen, and Alan, and also three other folks: Estela, a former farmhand (an NPC); Bradley, a young and very perceptive man who acts as Lookout; and Jack, a tough and belligerent fellow who liked to hang with Chad and play video games.

Karen talks with Janice about her plans: She blames Alan for Hunter's death and wants to kill him (her Trauma is revealed to be Vindictive). Janice is very much on board with this (her Trauma is Predatory), and they figure that out in the world, where there are zombies, it shouldn't be hard to get Alan into trouble.

Julia makes a plan, and the group makes its way over to Home Depot and the garden center. Several zombies are hanging around, and Alan goes to scout out the garden center and see how bad it is. He steps in front of a motion-activated Halloween decoration and it makes noise, and the zombies head for it, but he manages to fool them into chasing the decoration instead of him.

Jack, meanwhile, decides that they can all tool up in the store proper, tear in there and kill the zombies, and load up some carts. Everyone grabs weapons, and they fight the undead, chopping heads in half, and clear out enough to load up. Janice grabs some toxic chemicals as well...just in case.

The group heads out, pushing their carts, but the wheel on Karen's breaks and she goes tumbling over the cart. Jack and Julia go back to help her, while Bradley, Alan, and Janice keep going. They get to the parking garage next to the mall, and manage to get in unseen. Alan goes ahead to scout, but loses his grip on his cart and it goes sliding down a ramp and smashes into a door. This, of course, has the effect of attracting some zombies.

Meanwhile, back in the parking lot, Jack - an Engineer in his pre-zombie life - fixes the cart. They get up and start heading toward the parking garage, and dodge some zombies to do it. Inside, they meet up with the others and head into the mall, but then Alan hears a scream. They do a quick head count - no Estela.

Alan, Bradley, and Jack head back out and find Estela on the roof a car, surrounding by zombies. Jack charges in and grabs her, pulling her to safety, and everyone gets back into the mall, winded, but unhurt and now with a bunch of gardening supplies.

We roll closing credits over this song, as Karen isolates herself in her home in Hollister's to plot murder, Alan teaches Estela about gardening, Janice stashes her poison in a garden gnome she took, Julia takes up the leader's position in the security office, and Jack and Bradley fix the door that Alan broke with the runaway cart.

Blue Rose: Little Earthquakes

Here's last time. Below is this time. Behind us is prehistoric time. Ahead of us is wolf time. Ahem.

The party is still in a strange city, apparently 800 years in the past (theories include an illusion, a time slip, and a dream). They hear people lamenting the loss of the "frescoes," and Whirlpool asks a passerby what that means, hoping to come off like a tourist. The passerby tells him that the frescoes are pictures in the Oculon, the city's main temple (just head towards that huge building over there). Not having much of a better idea, they head thataway.

When they get there, they see that the interior of the temple has 78 spaces on the walls where the frescoes used to be. They look like they've been ripped off, perhaps by magic. Arlen looks back in time with Object Reading, and sees a man with red hair telling a group of others that everything is going to be all right, and then magically pulling the frescoes down and shrinking them somehow. They still exist, then, so that's good. These frescoes, according to the citizens, are the cornerstones of divination at the temple, and clearly very important to the Faenari.

The characters see the mists come up around them again, and they're back in the forest, but then the mists part revealing a grove with a building in it...that's odd. The building and the grove are clearly parts of separate times or realities, but that's not what captures the characters' immediate attention. There's a group of city guards standing around a fellow in robes, and he's holding a citizen against the wall with a knife.

Kisha steps forward and tries to play her "I'm a noble" card, and one of the guards, buying this, tells her in hushed tones that they're here on the orders of Queen Gretta. The man in robes grabs the other guy by the head and casts an arcanum. Dobbin, always much less subtle, tells him to stop, and the victim looks over at Dobbin and whispers "help me."

This is all a man of action like Whirlpool needs. He flings his dirk at the man in robes, which doesn't penetrate his armor, but it does get him to drop the guy he's victimizing. He tells the guards to get rid of him, and they draw swords and charge the characters. The fight is joined, and wounds are exchanged on both sides - Arlen conjures a psychic flail and lays about, felling a couple of the guards. Whirlpool attacks with trident and cold magic, and Dobbin hangs back and fires arrows (but gets a few arrows for her trouble). The man in robes summons a psychic weapon of his own and slashes at Kisha, but Kisha remains, as always, nimble and difficult to hit. As the guards flee from the characters as their health dwindles (note: if you're going to hold PCs to task for killing sentient opponents, then said opponents can't act like robots when they're fighting - at a certain point survival kicks in), the man in robes flings his hands skyward and casts another spell.

The earth begins to quake, and the building they're standing next to crumbles. Dobbin zips in and grabs the guy the man was threatening before he gets crushes, and Arlen rolls to his feet to avoid falling into a fissure in the earth, but the characters for the most part remain standing (the remaining guards run, though). Dobbin, having had about enough of this guy, shoots him in the knee with an arrow, dropping him to the ground and ending the spell.

The Faenarian citizen thanks them, and tells them that the man in robes - Delkem - is an enforcer and agent for the queen. He was trying to learn where Karshenel had taken the body of the Seer and the frescoes, but because of the characters' intervention, he wasn't able to. Karshenel, he whispers to them, has gone north up the river.

The mists rise again and the scene fades, and when they fall, the characters are in a different city, but still in the same time period. They can taste salt water in the air, which Whirlpool relishes, but Kisha is worried. They seem to be in the city of Falzanoth, and that city is fated to fall into the sea.

Movie #529: The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues is a 50s monster movie starring Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs, Michael Whalen, Helene Stanton, Phillip Pine, Rodney Bell, and Vivi Janiss. Oh, and Norma Hanson as the titular phantom.

So, the phantom isn't really a phantom, nor is there any reason to call it one. It's a big lump monster living in the ocean, near a shaft of light from activated uranium or something, which is the area of special focus of Ted Stevens (Taylor), an oceanographer working for the US government. The uranium was activated by Dr. King (Whalen), a scientist at the nearby oceanography institute, who is trying desperately to hide his discoveries from his conniving secretary Ethyl (Janiss) and his creepy assistant George (Pine), who is actually a spy.

Anyway, people keep dying because the phantom burns them with radiation or manhandles them underwater, and Stevens falls in love with King's daughter Lois (Downs), and then King blows himself up killing the phantom.

It's a monster movie from the 50s, so clearly there's some fear of foreign spies going on, some fear of atomic radiation, and some really rubbery monster suits. The movie is fun to watch to get a window into the schlock of decades past, but the plot is meandering, there's a lot of bouncing between the beach and folks diving to get a look at the phantom, and the spies are really the greater threat (all the phantom seems to want to do is hang out near the light). The screenwriter could stand to learn the old lesson of finding the most interesting parts of a character's life and showing us that.

My Grade: C-
Rewatch Value: Low

Next up: The Phantom from Space

Character Creation: Zombie World

I'm running this game on Saturday, so I should make a character. BRAINS.

The Game: Zombie World
The Publisher: Magpie Games 
Degree of Familiarity: Never played this game, but I've played/run plenty of PbtA games and I'm well familiar with the genre
Books Required: Just the one. Less "book" and more "set of cards"

Zombie World is a card-based game, again, but unlike the last few games I've done it has a custom deck. And, unlike a lot of PbtA games, it doesn't use playbooks.

So, the first thing I'd do in a group would be to create an enclave (available sets include Prison, Hospital, Amusement Park, Farm, Caravan, and Mall). I don't really need to do that to make a character, though, so I think I'll skip it.

The first step in creating my Survivor is to deal out four cards: one Past (representing who I was pre-Rise), two Presents (representing who I am now and what my function is in the enclave) and a Trauma (some reaction to the bad shit that's happened). Normally my Past and Trauma would be secret until I reveal them in play.

My Past is Litigator. My Trauma is Amoral. My Present options are Visionary or Contrarian. Hrmm. That actually all goes together nicely. Probably not the sort of character I'd choose to make, but that's fine. Let's pick a Present. Both of them are pretty cool as far as their systems go, but I'll take Visionary because I personally can't stand contrarians.

Next I do Stats. I get 3, 2, 2, 1 to split between Savagery, Steel, Soul, and Survival. Well, I think given that I'm driven and amoral, Survival should get the 3. I'll put the 2s into Steel and Soul, leaving my Savagery at 1. That's fine, I don't see this guy as the "bashing in heads" type (though I do note that when Amoral gets revealed in play, I'd gain +1 Steel).

At this point I'd introduce my character to the other players and then we'd figure out relationships, but since it's just me I'll just tie everything together and finish up. So!

"Sonny" D'Anato was a public defender pre-Rise, and hated it. It's not that he hated his clients - he was pretty down with the whole "everyone gets their day in court" thing. It's just that he had a caseload of 212 when the zombies came, and that was three or four times what it should have been. He remembers very, very few of his clients, and he knows that he dropped the ball on multiple occasions. And it didn't make him idealistic or passionate, it just made him cold and hard. He's tried to lose some of that hardness now that the world's ended and he's got the capacity to help make justice in the enclave (because shit yeah, we still need a justice system) work fairly, but he has trouble summoning the same enthusiasm for fairness that he used to have. He still thinks it's important, intellectually, he just has trouble feeling it.

Sonny is in his 40s, black hair going silver at the temples. He was chubby before the Rise, but he's lost all that weight and looks maybe a little scarecrow-ish now. He's got flinty blue eyes. He keeps a silver pinky ring in his pocket (it doesn't fit him now that he's lost weight).

Looks good!

Movie #528: The Phantom Creeps

The Phantom Creeps is a serial starring Bela Lugosi, Robert Kent, Dorothy Arnold, Edwin Stanley, and Jack C. Smith. It kinda violates my "must have had a theatrical release" rule, because the version I have is the "edited down from 12 episodes" one that was shown on television, but eh, we watched it, might as well do the write-up.

So Dr. Zorka (Lugosi) is a mad scientist who has developed a huge robot slave, a belt that turns him invisible, and...a weird-ass device consisting of small metal discs that explode when they come into contact with robot spiders and cause anything nearby to fall unconscious. Zorka's motivations are initially comparatively benign; he's thinking maybe he'll sell some of this to a foreign power and cash out, but Dr. Mallory (Stanley) takes issue with that and reports him to the Army. Enter Bob West (Kent), our square-jawed protagonist, and Jean Drew (Arnold), his erstwhile sidekick. And then we get an hour of Zorka, his slave/henchman Monk (Smith), West, Drew, Mallory, other spies, and so on chasing each other around and shooting at each other until finally Zorka takes to the sky and drops vials of high explosives on things until Monk finally panics and Zorka grabs him and the plane crashes kablooey.

I have to imagine this would have been better as a serial, because as one contiguous movie it's just choppy. The edit is obviously designed to maximize Lugosi (which is fine, he's easily the best performer here - Michelle commented that he was overacting and I responded that it was everyone else who was underacting), but the result of that is that you could remove the "protagonists" entirely and it wouldn't change the movie much. It's fun to watch because it's an interesting window in the cinema experience of the late 30s/early 40s, but it drags and it just kind of goes in circles and then ends in a flurry of stock footage.

My Grade: D
Rewatch Value: IINSIAIFWT

Next up: The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues

Marvel Heroic: Equality, Act Two, Issue Two

Last night was Marvel. Woo! Here's last time.

We open in St. Louis with Inferno - in his civilian identity as Stephen Lewis III - at a board meeting of his company. The board is, perhaps ironically, roasting him, preparing to take a vote to oust him from the board. He's too young, too spoiled, to lead the company during this crisis. Stephen responds by offering to buy out all of their shares, and they scoff, but he's got the money to do it. The vice-chairman points out that even if he does have the money to do it, there's procedure here and he can't just throw money around and get what he wants. Stephen notes that everyone in the room is sweating, and there's a wisp of smoke coming from a trash can - he's losing control of his powers. He tells them that he understands their fear, and he'll step aside for the greater good. He heads back to his office to recenter and calm himself, and sees on the TV that there's a huge tidal wave issue in Puerto Rico. He sees a force-field bubble to the surface containing Rift and Juno, and, figuring they need help, flies off.

Meanwhile, at the Tidepool (the super-prison off the Puerto Rican coast), Arcanix questions Baron Anguish about why the Kutya marked him for death. Anguish tells Arcanix it's about the GENYS system, an AI developed by AEGIS that Anguish tinkered with a bit before he was imprisoned. GENYS is the AI behind the Kutya, the one controlling all the robots, but Anguish could probably find the weak points and squeeze. Juno enters at this point, and Anguish lays out his angle: He wants freedom for himself, Waves, and Decibel. They followed him and his ideals, and they too have been held without trial. Juno agrees to defend him, and the others if they ask for it, but she's not going to help them circumvent the law. Arcanix points out that given the scale of chaos and destruction that the Kutya are perpetrating, it's probably a bigger deal than wrongful imprisonment - Anguish can't conquer the world if there's no world left. Anguish eventually agrees, but plants a thought in Juno's head that she'll defend all three of them to the best of her ability.

Rift and Spore are outside helping the cleanup effort, and one of the AEGIS folks seconded to Rift notes something fast and hot zooming towards the island. Spore sends up a burst to see what it is, and realizes it's Inferno. Inferno, inbound, sees the spores, but then a huge wave lurches up out of the water and crashes toward him. He evaporates it, but the waters keep churning and then freezing into a huge sphere of ice. Spore sweeps through the water to grab the perpetrators (figuring it must be Oleado and the Root of the Mountain), but doesn't catch anything. Rift opens gates to try and break the ice barrier, but just manages to bring in more ice and chaos.

Inferno releases his anger and power, and channels a flame burst downwards, melting through the ice and exposing both villains. The robot that Spore infected/reprogrammed zips out and punches Oleado, knocking him out and carrying him back, but the Root sends shards of ice in all directions, damaging the robot (but not managing to harm anyone else). Inferno casts another flame blast down, incapacitating the Root of the Mountain, and Spore hauls his body back to shore before it sinks.

The AEGIS folks ask Risk where they should take these folks - the Tidepool is compromised (and maybe it's not a great idea to store the guy who can control water in an ocean prison anyway). Arcanix notes that this is why he needs a sanctum, and he and Rift decide to go and find or create such a place. Juno, Spore, and Inferno go to find Anguish, and get him working on taking down this "GENYS" thing. With two of the Kutya's heaviest hitters taken out, maybe this is a fight they can win!

Character Creation: Unbound

This is 400 characters for the project. I tried to see if there was some theme for every hundredth character, but there really isn't: Mouse Guard, Epyllion (ashcan), and Argyle & Crew. There's a vaguely whimsical thing going on, but not really much commonality. So my theme, I suppose, is "whatever happens to catch my interest at the time," and here we are at Unbound.

The Game: Unbound
The Publisher: Rowan, Rook, and Decard, I guess?
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

 
Huh, another game that uses cards instead of dice. That's like three in a row.

Anyway, Unbound is a really interesting-looking game. I love the cover - it's stylish and clean and communicates that we're not shooting for a particular genre, and yet it's really exciting at the same time. The game reminds me a little of Strike! in that there's not a specific setting and there's a defined battle system that's apart from the not-battle system, but it's so much simpler and cleaner. Making a character is going to take a little more fudging because of the lack of other players than I usually like to do for this project, but I like the game too much to skip it.

See, one thing I like, not that I want to turn this into a review instead of a chargen exercise, but fuck it, is that the game is designed to play a few sessions with a given group and then switch things up, making a saga with different characters. I think that if the system works at the table, that could be a lot of fun. But, like I said, this is just chargen, so let's get into it.

Step One is to pick a base setting and tone. We'd decide this by drawing cards and picking touchstones, and then meshing them together into a setting. OK, sure, I'll do that. I need cards, though. Normally we'd probably all draw two touchstones, but since it's me I'll draw three and see where that takes me. OK, I get "androids," "aliens," and "a lost civilization." That sounds pretty cool.

So let's say this: The PCs are androids that were reanimated when aliens landed on our planet. The civilization that built us is long-since destroyed and nothing but ruins remain. Our prime directive is to rebuild, but we don't have any idea where to start. The aliens, for their part, are dedicated to cataloguing lost civilizations and then, if the civilization is truly dead, recycling the planet's resources - but is our planet truly dead, if the androids are trying to restart it? It's an ethical dilemma, and the aliens aren't quite sure how to proceed.

OK, next we pick a core. Again, this would be a group decision since we'd all share the same core, but it's just me so on we go. "Core" kinda defines the whole raison d'etre of the group, and I think for the setting I've come up with, Magi makes the most sense. We're not actually magic, but we're exploring and gathering information (you could make an argument for "Devout," too). I note the Recovery power we'd get (which doesn't mean a lot to me without knowing how the system works), and then there's a list of questions that normally the whole group would answer, but I AM THE GROUP.

• What (or who) are we searching for? A way to rebuild the civilization that left us here.
• Where do we reckon it's hidden? In one of the many overgrown, half-destroyed, or dilapidated ruined structures of that civilization.
• Who would rather we didn't get our hands on it? The aliens hovering in orbit above, because they want to use the planet's resources.
• What happens if we don't get control of it? The aliens will mine the planet for materials, and we'll be destroyed or left to rot in a wasteland.
• Where is the first stop on our journey? I think some sort of power station or information hub, so we can see where we might look for our goal.

And then every player has to answer: What is my magical tradition? I'm not crazy about how that question is phrased, but that's fine, I'll just alter it a little and say it's not magic but scientific/world rebuilding. So my character is an agriculturist, a walking seed repository with knowledge of how to grow and cultivate plants (huh, my character yesterday also had seeds and was all about food - maybe I should grow a garden).

I'll have core foundations for my character, but that's later. At present I need a core foundation for the whole game, but that's easy: "Reactivated Androids Trying to Rebuild the World."

Now I pick a role, which is specifically for battle. I'll take Warden; I specialize in tanking hits and surviving. I'm bigger than the other androids, because I have a lot of armored compartments to protect soil and seed samples. Questions:

• What do you use to take our your adversaries? Fists with hydraulic power behind them.
• How do you avoid damage? Regenerating polymer armor plating under my "skin."
• Where did you learn to fight like this? Adaptive/augmentative programming; we all have it. 

I get Defense 3 and either Strike or Shoot 2; I'll take Strike. I get boosts for Shoot, Strike, Move, and Recover, and then I pick a power. I'll take Iron Constitution; when I take a wound, I get up to 3 temporary Stamina, whatever that means.

Now I pick a trait! A trait is my personal style for how I Warden. I'll take Mighty, just to keep with my theme of being kinda like Groot. I answer one of two questions, and I'll answer the first one: Who taught you to fight like this? I mentioned the adaptive/augmentative programming earlier. I think my android was the first to reactivate, and he went about finding his companions...but that put him in conflict with the fauna of this new world. He had to become a badass in order to fight them off, and so his new programming assumes it's him against a large number of foes. That's not always true, but it might be awhile before his programming adjusts again.

For my Mighty power, I'll take Knockback. I can...um, knock things back well. That comes with its own question, What's the biggest opponent you've taken down? I'll say it was a great big bear-like thing with horns and an extra set of legs for balance.

Now I get foundations. Normally I'd make up one and the other players would make up the other, but y'know. So my first foundation is "Walking Seed Vault." My second one is "Strongest of the Reactivates." (My thinking here is that my character has some hidden programming that means that if destruction ever seems a foregone conclusion, he's to prevent his own destruction at all costs and hibernate or something.)

Next, two fates (same drill, normally, one from me, one from group). Fates are things that will happen in the near future, designed to be dramatic scenes. For my android, I'll say "I spot a huge predator approaching" and "I get a message from the aliens."

Step Seven is for the GM, so I'll skip it. Step Eight is to draw for a scar. Neat! I get 7 of spades, which means...jealousy, a new adversary, hatred, a trademark scar. We'll say that my android knocked that bear-thing off a cliff, but it survived and it remembers his scent (or perhaps the scent of the seeds therein).

Last step! Description, name, and so forth. My android is humanoid, bulky through the chest, thick legs, and a waist that can turn him 360 degrees around. He's not as human-seeming as some of the others, but he's got a lot of storage space inside him and none of it is free. He's got a boxy, metallic head and lights where eyes should be, and unlike some of the other androids, his mouth doesn't move when he talks; it's just a couple of pieces of polymer covering a speaker. His name is "Gardener."

That'll do it!

Character Creation: Familiars of Terra

Comin' in hot at 399!

I don't know what I'm talking about. It does occur to me that when I do character #451, it's gonna have to be about fire or censorship or TV or something.

The Game: Familiars of Terra
The Publisher: Angry Hamster Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None; I've read it
Books Required: Just the one.

Familiars of Terra was on the short list for games to play with my family (we settled on Blue Rose), but it always looked interesting to me. Now that I've read it, it's very Pokemon-ish. There's not the emphasis on collecting 'em all, nor is the focus strictly on fighting, but everyone has an animal companion called a familiar. Rather, an animalkin familiar, since normal animals don't make the grade, but animalkin tend to have some magical shit going on.

The world is much like ours in terms of technology and so on, there was this big-ass war 50 years ago that scarred the land, and now folks called Seekers are romping about righting wrongs and having adventures. As PCs, we are Seekers. It's pretty simplistic, and I in no way mean that derisively. I like that the game is easy to understand and that our role is explicitly "adventurer" and that there's a logical (or at least established) place for adventurers in the setting. On we go!

Tiny complaint: I feel like the sheets for both Seeker and Familiar could have fit on one side of a page, but that's minor. Actually, looking at it, the sheet is missing some important stuff. There's nowhere to write what nation the character is from, which is the first decision we're asked to make in the chargen process. There is, however, an example of chargen, which I always appreciate.

OK, so, as I mentioned, first thing I need to decide is a home nation. I want to be from Fendair; the south of the nation (called Sou; a lot of stuff in this game is pretty on the nose) is mostly farmland, and I want my character's family to own an orchard because I'm drinking cider and it's delicious. I need to think about backstory, so I'll say that my character, Sedlan, is from a family that's been growing apples for generations. He's the first Seeker the family has produced, and just to turn a trope on its head, his family is hella proud of him and encouraged him and his familiar (I'll get to that) to get out there and adventure! Sedlan is fresh-faced, but not entirely naive; Fendairian folks are progressive and pretty well-versed in politics, and he's accompanied his family to the city to deliver their good all his life. He's from the country, but he's no bumpkin.

So now I pick a Calling, my motivation for Seeking. Hmm. I'm torn between Adventure and Beauty. I'll go with Beauty, and more specifically Nature - Sedlan is a kind of Johnny Appleseed sort of fellow. Large parts of the world are "Badlands," irradiated hellscapes, and Sedlan is pretty sure that can all be fixed with the power of apples.

Now I determine Attributes. They start at 7 and I get 5 points to divvy up. Hmm. I'll put two each into Wit and Charm, and the 5th into Agility. I'll leave Might and Awareness at 7.

Now we do Titles and Trophies. Titles are just that, while Trophies are physical things that I've acquired. My first Title is "of Fendair," meaning I get a +1 to Charm when I'm cooling emotions or negotiating a deal, which is appropriate. For the other...hmm. Jubilant is appropriate, but I think given my Calling I'm gonna go with Healer. I'm to detail a tragic event that inspired me to become a healer and a time I risked my life to heal another.

Well, I'll say that when Sedlan was young, his father took him and his sibling on a trek - almost a pilgrimage - north through Midden Fendair and Nor Fendair (told ya) to the southern edge of Endrill, to see the Badlands. Seeing the corrupted, stunted, horrible damage that had befallen the land, the plants, and the animals moved Sedlan to tears, and he begged his father to show him how to fix it. His father didn't have that answer, but said maybe someday Sedlan would.

For the second bit, we'll say Sedlan met a spy from Plinth (the country that started the war), a spy who had gotten cut off from help after the war and had just been outed. Sedlan, knowing that the locals would probably kill him, hid him in the orchard for a few weeks and then gave him food and told him to hit the road. Sedlan's mother knows about this, but no one else does. She understands why he did it, but can't bring herself to be proud.

Cool. Now I get a Trophy. I'll say that the Plinthian spy gave him a bracer that, when turned so the opal-like gem is facing out, gives him the ability to lift twice what he normally could.

I have 4 Health (which is "Hit points" on the sheet) and 1 Stash (which isn't on the sheet), and I think that's it for Sedlan. Time to move on to his familiar! I picture his familiar as being vaguely canine, but also having aspects of a flying squirrel. So it's got patagia under its legs and can glide from tree to tree, but a dog-like muzzle and a long, slobbery tongue.

I start with 5 in each Attribute, and I get 15 to divvy up, but I can also lower some to raise others. I'll put 5 each into Agility, Awareness, and Charm and leave the other two at 5. My Familiar isn't terribly strong or bright, but it's cute and quick.

And now I pick three traits for it. I'll take Wings (glide, fly, same diff), Heart Sight (my familiar can see the goodness of someone's heart) and Green (he turns green and controls plants).

Hand size and Health/Hit Points are both 4, that's easy. And then I get three powers. These powers are all combat related and they all deal with cards and how they're revealed; there's really no flavor text to them. I can figure out the idea from the context, though.

For my weird dog/squirrel thing, I want Heal 1, Dodge 1, and Dig 1. That way I can mitigate damage and I have a bit more mobility.

And then he needs a name, so I'll call him Dandy (short for Dandelion, because he wafts like a dandelion seed).

Sedlan is short, kind of chunky, and has the red-brown hair characteristic of his family. He carries a bag of seeds, a walking stick, and wears overalls and a red shirt. He often ties his shoes around his neck and goes barefoot. Dandy, his familiar, is about a foot and a half high, with a fluffy tail, a gray coat of fur (that turns green when it's time to do his plant-control routine), and a dog-like muzzle. His tongue lolls out pretty much all the time, but his under-arm skin flaps aren't obvious unless he's ready to fly or stretching out to lick something.

And that does it, I think!