Pugmire: Omelets & Eggs

Into the realms of Pugmire we go! Over Zoom, sadly, because Michelle and I are both a little under the weather. But that's fine, we all used pictures of various dogs as our profile pics. 

So! The characters are in the Fearful Forest, searching for the mythical Thunder Bird. Gelert Sausagedog catches up with them, and they continue working their way north into the pines. The find that as the forest fully gives way to pine trees, there are occasional clumps of needles and branches. Dire Newfoundland digs into one out of curiosity and finds skeletons - smaller than dogs, but clearly People. 

Gelert identifies the bodies as rats. Dire swipes a ring off one of their bony fingers, and Peppa Papillion notices and calls him out. Stealing from the dead isn't being a Good Dog - is he doing it so the families of the deceased might learn of their fate? Dire, though, is just following his compulsion; growing up on the streets of the Riverwall District, you take what you can. Peppa points out that he's not on the streets anymore and that if he needs something, the group will help him get it. 

Petunia Pibble looks at the bones a little more closely and notes that there are scratches on the bones, reminiscent of birds picking at the flesh. They decide to check the branches, and Dire hurls Gelert up into the tree, where he lands deftly. He finds a nest in the upper branches. The nest is long abandoned, but has pieces of eggshell as well as feathers and tufts of fur. Gelert descends and hands his findings over to Petunia, who identifies the fur and the feathers as belonging to young animals. "Maybe the birds eat bears?" suggests Dire.

Remembering that the tree that spoke to them yesterday mentioned that its older relatives might know about this "Thunder Bird," Petunia makes an entreaty to the pine to speak to her. It rustles its branches, and then speaks. 

It has never heard of a "Thunder Bird," but these rats and many others in these woods fell prey to the "barool." These fearsome birds feast on what they can kill, and then the forest floor covers the bodies. The dogs thank the tree and move along, Dire going one way and Gelert going the other. Petunia whistles at them to stop, and they decide it's definitely better to stick together. And just then, the barool attack!

The barool are horrible things with the bodies of raptors and the heads of bears. One of them swoops in, picks Gelert up by his shoulders, and starts flying off. Two more fly in, fangs and claws at the ready. Dire roars a challenge and beheads one, and Boomer Pitbull flies into a rage and charges at another. It claws him up pretty good, but Peppa steps up behind him and casts a Shield of Faith to protect him.

Gelert stabs the bird in the leg and it drops him into the upper branches of an immense, gnarled tree. Sitting on a broad nest is another barool, but this one is twice the size of the others, with yellow ruff around its neck. It opens its mouth to devour Gelert, but Petunia comes running and casts Featherfall on the ratter, and yells "Gelert! Jump!"

Gelert trusts his artisan comrade and leaps out of the tree, falling gently to the ground. The barool that grabbed him swoops down, but apparently gets caught up in the magic and slows nearly to a stop before reaching him. Gelert vanishes into the shadows, while Boomer hacks at another bird with his axe.

The bigger barool takes to the sky and swoops down at Dire, snapping and clawing. Dire fights back, but this bird is much tougher than the others. Petunia turns and casts Color Spray on the ancient barool, rendering it unable to see or smell, and it tries to fly off. It hits a tree and crashes to the ground, and the dogs attack again.

One of the barool fells Petunia, but Peppa rushes in to heal her. Gelert strikes the ancient barool with his staff, and it tries to fly away again, but Boomer hurls his axe at its back. It falls, and Dire and Gelert finish the monster off (Gelert striking the killing blow after a flourish and backflip). The last barool takes off, but Petunia fries it with an Elemental Ray. 

The dogs take a breather. Dire, true to his word, roasts one of the barool on a spit ("Tastes like chicken. And bear."). Gelert climbs back into the tree and checks the nest, and to his surprise, finds seven odd spherical metal objects with thin wire rings attached. He puts them in his rucksack and climbs back down, and shows one to the group. Dire immediately wants to play with it, but the dogs wisely remember the story they heard about the "eggs" of the "Thunder Bird" that "explode," and Peppa recognizes these things as relics of Man called, well, "explosive eggs." Keeping them out of Dire's paws, the group heads back to Pugmire and tells the whole story to Fiona Corgi and Bivi Affenpinscher. 

Fiona asks if Bivi is willing to be their trustee, and Bivi says that they showed courage, curiosity, and wisdom (by not giving Dire one of the eggs), so he'd be honored. The Guild takes the head of the ancient barool and the corpse that Petunia brought, to stuff and mount them for the group's storehouse.

And we'll detail said storehouse next time!

Character Creation: Kids on Bikes

Well, I think I'm gonna miss my six-a-month target for April, but in my defense, I've been fighting a cold all week. 

The Game: Kids on Bikes
The Publisher: Hunters Entertainment
Degree of Familiarity: None, really. I did a little writing for the game in the Before Times, but my name became a killing word before the book in question was published
Books Required: Just the one

Kids on Bikes is very much the same sort of genre as Home by Dark, and has some setup similarities, to the point that while I was reading KoB I kept thinking "didn't I do this game already?" But no, they just have some common DNA and some similar sensibilities. So here we go. 

The process

First thing I'm meant to do is pick a trope from the Playbook, but actually, the first thing I need to do is figure out what my setting is. This is the kind of thing that the GM would design or that the group would build collaboratively, but since it's just me, I shall use the example used in the World Building chapter, that of Perkins, CO. There are also a bunch of modules in the back of the book, but I like Perkins just fine. 

I actually could build a character from scratch rather than picking a trope, but I found one I like, so:

So my character's name is Sid Stevens. He's 16 years old. I can slot in the stats, so that's done. I need to make "trope-specific choices," so let's see what that means. Oh, easy enough. I get the Rebellious strength because I'm a teen, and then I get two Strengths and two Flaws of my choice (I can use the ones listed with the trope, but I don't need to). Let's check 'em out. Oh, this is easy, I want Easy-Going and Loyal. As for Flaws, I'll take...how about Restless and Absent-Minded. I like the idea that Sid is laid back, sure, but he has trouble settling. He doesn't get upset, and he's not in constant hyper motion, but he's not at peace, either. I think it'd be fun to play. 

The next couple of steps would involve a group, so I think I'll skip those. Just gotta think about fear and motivation, then! Oh, and answer the trope-specific questions. Heck, I'll do that first. 

What do you think of people who try much harder than you do? Depends why they do it. Sid has never been impressed with people who grub for grades or "hustle," and athletes just make him tired. People who bust their asses because they care about something or because it makes them hyped up, that he can respect. 

What are you willing to go the extra mile for? His uncle Sidney's approval. Sid was named for him, and Sidney is a teacher at the local high school and coaches track. Sid runs track (yeah, athletes are tiresome, but in track you can pretty much just do you thing and not get caught up in the rah-rah); he finds running kind of zen and it means he gets to see Uncle Sidney a little more. 

So, Motivation and Fear. I think Sid is afraid of a career. Not a job - whatever, he's already worked a couple of fast food gigs. But like, picking something to do is scary, and he doesn't think he can handle it. He's motivated by whatever feels good right now. Sid's not a big drinker...but if you've got beers, he'll have one. He's not into drugs...but if you've got a bong, he'll hit it. He's just generally game, and that's gonna get him into trouble.

Sid is lanky (he's a runner), with brown hair and brown eyes. His facial hair grows in patchy and he forgets to shave a lot (his uncle usually reminds him, in fact). Sid is a latchkey kid - both parents work, and his dad is out of town a lot, so he winds up on his own frequently. 

And that'll do it. Pretty simple, actually.

Movie #672: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is an action/comedy directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Mark Strong, Rachel McAdams, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly, and Robert Maillet. 

We start off with the titular sleuth (Downey Jr) and his trusty companion Watson (Law) interrupting a supposed Satanic ritual led by the villainous Lord Blackwood (Strong), who is promptly sent to hang for multiple murder (but I mean, with a name like "Lord Blackwood," what the hell else was he supposed to do?). Blackwood informs Holmes that he intends to rise from death and come back to do evil supernatural shit, which Holmes understandably dismisses, but then apparently does rise from the grave and rejoin his old mystic order in an attempt to murder Parliament and, like, rule Britannia. 

Into all this is Holmes' rival and love interest, Irene Adler (McAdams), who attempts to hire Holmes on behalf of her mysterious boss, who of course turns out to be Professor Moriarty (Andrew Jack or Jared Harris, depending on when you watch the movie).

Sherlock Holmes is portrayed, in some ways, closer to the source material than other cinematic depictions. He's a capable fighter as well as a detective, and also skilled in disguise and acting. But on the other hand, I don't remember Holmes ever doing bare-knuckle underground boxing on the side in the books (mind, I haven't read them all). It doesn't much matter; Ritchie and Downey Jr have an interpretation of the character and it works and it's consistent. The chemistry between Holmes and Watson makes them an old married couple, which of course means that Holmes' world is upended when Watson gets engaged to a lovely governess (Reilly). The action sequences also incorporate Holmes' ability to immediately deduce useful facts about an opponent and employ the information. 

I kinda wish Holmes had used his deduction magic-vision on Blackwood and then either been wrong or misled. While I also appreciate the scene of Holmes re-enacting the magic ritual in a grubby apartment, I've never been quite clear on why (other than because it makes for a cool montage-y sort of scene). But that's picking nits; it's a clever take on the source material, the cast makes the relationships between the characters work (although Blackwood stands out as an almost cartoonish villain, although that's probably deliberate to differentiate him from Moriarty, and also, like, they cast Mark Strong). 

Haven't seen the sequel, suppose I should watch it before Netflix goes belly-up.

My Grade: A-
Rewatch Value: High

Next up: Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

Chill: Alas, Melinda

Had to happen (again) sooner or later. Here's last time.

The envoys meet up the morning of Friday, December 13 and get ready to head out to the Fernandez Farm. They swing by and pick up Father Will, and Jordan intends to meet them later (as her player was under the weather). 

As they pull into the farm, the snow, falling lightly since they left the ranch, intensifies. Blake glances at the sky worriedly - if this gets too intense, they're quite a ways off the beaten path. Nothing for it now, though. They get out of the cars and are approached by Bernardo Fernandez Jr. 

Father Will does what he does best, and explains that they're all there to help out the family. Bernardo invites them inside (it's cold, after all), and they go through the back door into the kitchen. A toddler sits in a high chair happily making a mess of her yogurt, while a teen sits dicking around on his phone. Nardo tells the boy to clean up his sister and take her in the other room, and sits down to talk with the envoys.

Father Will offers to talk to Bernardo alone, and reminds him that anything he tells the father in confidence stays between them, no matter what. Nardo agrees, if hesitantly, and takes a walk. Nardo confirms that "something weird" is happening, and Father Will reveals that he and the other specialize in "weird", but that the Church can also help the family with more mundane issues, such as getting vaccinations and other care for the two youngest (something Nardo is worried about, since he isn't their legal guardian and their parents are gone). 

Meanwhile, Samantha, Blake, and Manny go out to the barn to look around. They find the dead animals and Blake notes that the flesh around the bite is frozen, but the center of the bite is frozen solid. Manny finds a bloodied, torn bridle outside the barn, and Blake uses it and the wounds on a horse's head to piece together a bit of forensic information. Whatever hit these animals, it had five-fingered hands with wicked talons, and it ripped the bridle right off the unfortunate horse's face before biting into its throat. 

Samantha uses her Postcognition discipline and looks back to the night of the fire, but before it started. She sees the animals alive in their stalls, and then part of the ceiling falls in and something lands on the horse. It's roughly the size of a chimpanzee, covered in brown fur, but it's got horrible sharp teeth and hooked claws...and wings. It looks almost like a living gargoyle. It kills the horse just as Blake described, and Samantha hears more carnage from a nearby stall - there's more than one, whatever they are. 

Melinda, as this is going on, stays inside to get to the know the family a little. She starts cleaning up the kitchen (might as well), and a young girl enters and asks, um, who she is? Melinda introduces herself and assures the girl (Elena) that she's not with any government agency, and that she and her friends are here to help out. Elena seems to accept this, and starts drying dishes (Melinda notices from the chart on the wall that it's Elena's day to do dishes, so she's probably glad for the help). She lets Elena talk, and notes that Elena talks about her parents as though they're dead - she never says as much, but she doesn't seem to be talking about people that are just "out of town."

And indeed, Nardo, giving confession to Father Will, reveals that two years ago, his father went outside during a snowstorm and never came back. They didn't call the police because his father and his mother are undocumented, and they never found his body. The next winter, his mother was attacked by...something. It bit her shoulder, and over the next week, she grew sicker and colder until she froze to death. Nardo and Maria, his oldest sister, put their mother's body in the car and were intending to drive into town and get help, but them something attacked them. Nardo claims he didn't see it - all he heard was a horrific shriek and he ran. The creature took both Maria and his mother away. This year, the creatures attacked the barn and kill the animals, and he burned it to try to cover up the attack, but now there's an investigation and he's scared.

Father Will talks through this with Nardo, and then tells him that although he can't reveal anything that Nardo told him, if Nardo does want to explain this to the others, they might be able to help. Nardo asks if they can kill these creatures, and Father Will says they can probably at least drive them away. They head back to the barn, and meet up with Manny and Blake. 

Nardo tells most of the story (he does omit running when the creature attacked his sister), and Blake asks whether anyone saw the attack. Nardo says that his sister Elena and his brother Chuy did, but he swore them to secrecy. He agrees to talk to Elena and have her explain this to the envoys.

Everything heads inside, and Nardo has his brothers set up the living room for the envoys to stay, as the weather has only worsened. Elena tells Father Will and Melinda what she saw that night, from the kitchen window. She watched Nardo and Maria put their mother in the car, and then something landed on Maria and slammed her head against the car. It then picked up their mother's body under one arm, Maria under the other, and flew away. The creature she describes matches what Samantha saw in her vision earlier. 

The envoys gather round and start talking strategy. Manny theorizes that light may hurt, or at least repel, these creatures, so he and Nardo go out to Nardo's truck to get a package of road flares. Manny keeps watch while Nardo opens the car door, but does not hear the creature coming. 

It lands on the car and leaps onto Nardo, biting his neck. Manny takes his fish club and hits the thing in the head, and it snarls and slashes him with its claws. 

The commotion attracts the other envoys, and they run out. Blake goes to get his rifle from the truck, but Melinda and Samantha are carrying pistols and shoot the thing. They see it bleed, but it doesn't fall. It gives off a hideous howl that chills the envoys' blood, and then it takes off into the night sky. 

The envoys bring Manny inside and call Darnell. He tells them there's a level 3 snow emergency, and he can't drive out there. They're going to have to wait it out. Samantha, fortunately, is trained as a medic stitches Manny up, and then turns her attention to Nardo. She finds some black ooze in his wounds, and notes that the flesh around the edges of the wound has ice crystals. Also, Nardo's body temp is dropping and they can't seem to get him warm. She does manage to stabilize him, though, and they put him by the fire while, and then Father Will talks with everyone, helping them process what just happened. 

The envoys regroup, and start doing research. Blake gets on SAVEpoint and tries to find some information about these things. He doesn't find anything concrete, but does find a a legend about people who freeze to death rising as flesh-eating monsters, when "evil spirits blow across their graves." Father Will, following up on that, finds a similar legend from the Southwest involving people dying of exposure in the desert, only their bite makes people become so dry that their bones rattle. What's different about these "sand ghouls", though, is that the legend mentions venom - and that a cure can be made from the venom. 

Talking through this on SAVEpoint, the envoys learn that the specific ingredients of such a cure probably don't matter as much as combining the venom with something medicinal. Salt is nicely universal, and so the envoys decide to give it a go. Blake mixes a lot of salt with boiling water, and then stirs in the bandages and swabs that Samantha uses to extract what venom she could. An hour or so later, and the stuff has cooked down to about half a cup of dark, brackish syrup. 

They take it to Nardo and give him some to drink. They don't see any immediate change, but then they don't know how long it might take to work. Father Will notes that since the first one of these creatures appeared after Bernardo Sr disappeared, and the second one after their mother's body was stolen, maybe these creatures once were the Fernandez? If so, might the cure work on them? 

The envoys talk through how they might trap the creatures, and they decide to get Blake's gear out of the truck. Father Will goes to the truck, as he's a proficient sprinter, while Blake, Samantha, and Melinda cover him from the porch with their guns.

Father Will and Samantha, however, do not notice the creature swooping in. Blake does, however, and fires a shot, but misses. The monster lands on Father Will, knocking him down and cracking his ribs. He screams, alerting the others, and Manny runs out with Peedee, his Doberman. Father Will flails and manages to knock the creature off of him, but he's too badly hurt to stand.

Up till now, Peedee's main role in the case has been distracting the kids, but now he shows his stuff. Manny directs Peedee to grab Father Will, and he manages to drag Will back towards the house. The creature snarls and snaps, but takes to the sky. The others realize, suddenly, that Melinda is gone.

Manny and Samantha drag Father Will the rest of the way into the house and Samantha starts checking him. She realizes that most of his ribs are cracked or broken, and he might have a hairline spine fracture. Plus he's got multiple puncture wounds from where the thing grabbed him. They need a real hospital, now.

Blake checks next to the porch where Melinda was standing, and finds a worrying amount of blood and one of her shoes. He finds a blood trail - just droplets, as though something was carrying her through the air - and follows it around the house and across the field. He doesn't see anything in the moonlight, though, and he resists any urge to charge out into the dark. Melinda is gone.

Blake goes back inside and relates this to the others, and they all agree that they're in no condition to keep fighting. They hole up and wait, and sure enough, in an hour or so, they see a snowplow tooling down the road with an SUV behind it. The plow clears enough of the driveway that they can get out, and it turns out the SUV contains Darnell! 

The envoys pile everyone, including the Fernandez family, into the cars and slowly head back into town. They're going to need backup, medical attention, and a breather before they attempt to fight these things again.

Board Game: Oceans

Been on a real "deep ocean" kick lately, watching a lot of nature doc shows about sea life and so on. I don't know, it just seems peaceful.

The Game: Oceans
The Publisher: North Star Games
Time: About an hour
Players: Me, Michelle, Amanda

Game Play: Oceans is a spinoff of Evolution, and the gameplay is similar, though much more elaborate. You've got four "zones" that have lots of little cardboard fishies, the Reef and then four Ocean zones. You play "Surface" cards to create and evolve new species, and then they feed, either by foraging in the Reef or attack other species, to gain population. 

I have never seen a board game with assembly instructions before

Michelle teaches engineers, so she's much more qualified than me to build shit

Anyway, when the Zones empty, other things happen. Each of the first two has a Scenario, which is just a little rules twist, ranging from "new species get 2 population" to "solar radiation means some of your fish swim back to the Reef every turn". Also, when the first Zone empties, the Cambrian Explosion happens, so everything evolves fast and dies faster. Much like Evolution, you count up your population at the end to see who wins. 

The Reef, complete

Ah, but, there's more! While the Surface cards give you things like "Tentacles" (feed more often) or "Apex Predator" (CHOMP), there's also a deck of Deep cards. These are unique, they cost points from your score to use, and they're much more potent. 

I didn't take a picture of Deep stuff, but trust me, it's cool

Opinions: Well, first of all, the production values and the artwork are just amazing. The Deep cards, in particular, run the gamut from haunting to outright terrifying to just kinda cool. The Surface cards are awesome, too, they just don't tend to have the same visceral response (Parasitic aside). 

As for the game mechanics, they're a flavorful refinement of the Evolution game. It takes some getting used to; the rules don't feel as forgiving of new species as the original game, and there are definitely some Surface cards you want to get in your first hand. But we played two games (well, really two and a half; first time through we did some stuff wrong and it was screwing with the flow of the game), and it became clear that there are a variety of card combinations and strategies that work well. 

Mah fisheez

I'm not sure if, all else equal, I'd rather play this than Evolution, because it has more moving parts and the little cardboard fish are kinda hard to pick up, but I love the oceanic setting and artwork, and I'm definitely looking forward to playing it again because I want to see more of the Deep cards. 

Keep? Yep

Movie #671: Shazam!

Shazam! is a DCEU movie (kinda) starring Zachery Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, John Glover, Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Cooper Andrews, and Marta Milans. 

Billy Batson (Angel), abandoned by his mother at a young age, has spent his life searching for, believing that he was just lost. After skipping through a bunch of foster homes, he winds up at a group home run by Victor (Andrews) and Rosa (Milans), and while he initially intends to run away from there, too, he gets in a fight defending his new foster brother Freddy (Grazer) from some bullies. He runs into the subway and gets off in a magic cave, where he meets a wizard (Hounsou), who gives him the power of magic and gods and so forth. By saying the name "Shazam" he turns into a tall, muscular dude (Levi) with the powers of flight, invulnerability, lighting zappy fingers, and super speed. The wizard claims that Batson is "pure of heart" and therefore gets to be his champion.

Of course, ain't nothing ever easy. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong) was tested as a child (played by Ethan Pugiotto) and found wanting. He spends his life searching for the cave, finally discovers it, steals a magical orb that allows him to absorb the embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins into himself. He promptly kills his abusive father (Glover) and everyone else who works for the family company, and goes about searching for the "champion" to kill him and take his power.

It's an origin story, so of course Shazam manages to find his inner hero and takes his powers a bit more seriously, and eventually shares those powers with the other foster kids in the home so that they can team up and defeat the Sins and Sivana. 

So, the DCEU in general is really hit or miss. This is a hit; Levi is perfect playing a teen in a grown man's body, and while Asher isn't altogether interesting on his own, his interactions with Grazer make his characterization come alive. I love that the other kids figure out Shazam's identity easily, and I didn't see the "Marvel Family" twist coming ("Marvel" as in Captain Marvel...no, the other one). 

But with that said, the villains are boring as hell. Mark Strong is appropriately menacing as Dr. Sivana, but since he takes quick, brutal revenge on his family, there's nowhere for his character to go. His motivation is pretty sound - he was told he was going to receive magic powers, but then he was told by yet another authority figure that he wasn't good enough and never would be. Like, no excuse for multiple murders, but at the same time, like, fuck yourself, wizard. But that's never really explored - he's a supervillain, and he's good for some meta-jokes, but there's very little real drama there.

The Seven Deadly Sins, likewise, are just slimy demons. Sure, Gluttony is fat, but that's as different as they get. Which ones were Pride, Sloth, Wrath, or Lust? No idea. We only know Greed and Envy because Sivana calls Greed out by name, and Envy sticking around in Sivana's body becomes a plot point. So why not have Sloth be a big blob thing that drags people into its guts? Why not have Lust actually look human and hot, or if that's too cliche, maybe have some kind of Apple of Discord power? Why not have Wrath fly into battle screaming and biting in a blind rage? They're boring villains because they're just mooks, and like, they should be more than that.

Don't get me wrong, I like this movie. It's funny, it's light, and it pokes some fun at superhero tropes while also having some touching moments of found family and support. It's just that this is one of the best DCEU movies, and it's the equivalent of, like, a mediocre MCU movie. 

My Grade: B+
Rewatch Value: High

Next up: Sherlock Holmes

One-Shot: WILD

Yay! A one-shot!

WILD (I made a character for it here) is a game in which you play folks delving into dreams. The kind of default scenario is a simulation, though...well, I'll just get into it. 

The waiting room of ClarIT (pronounced "clarity"), Inc. It's a chic place; trendy artwork on the walls, a water feature, comfy couches, snacks and drinks on the table. Four people sit around waiting to be called in. 

Carmen Rose is a flirty online influencer. She's always up for new experiences and adventures, and bring her many followers along with her. She's always the center of attention, and while her parents were pretty neglectful, she always wanted to be daddy's girl. She's here at ClarIT's invitation. 

Jessie Jade is another online personality, but she's much more on the tech side of things. She's here intending to scope out the technology. She's also got a kind of frenemy relationship with Carmen. 

Scotty Vale was born in a rough neighborhood and grew up surrounded by violence and abuse. He built himself up, though, made his own money, and he bought his own pass to this experience. He's always trying to be a better person.

Avery Thompson is a temp worker, living in a van, and unable to finish one project before starting another. And they have so many projects going on at any one time.

The four of them chat a bit, and Carmen and Jessie take some barbs at each other, and then a door slides open and a young man in a crisp ClarIT shirt introduces himself as Nigel. He gives them the spiel: ClarIT tech was developed by Connor Henderson, after his daughter Clarity had an "accident" at a graduation party and wound up in a coma. She showed unusually high brain activity, and so Connor developed the tech to enter her dreams with the intent of getting her out. That tech has evolved, and now is on the cusp of being commercially available. The four of them are going to enter a simulation of Clarity's comatose mind and try to "wake" her, but the device does allow entering a specific person's dream.

Jessie asks why they're doing a simulation rather than a dream, and Nigel tells her that when you enter a real person's dream, you have to be careful about how weird you let things get. If you're in your grandma's dream, for instance ("that's a scary thought," says Carmen), her experience and worldview is liable to be very different from yours, and if you changing things around too much it can have some disruptive effects. With a simulation, you don't have to worry about breaking anyone's brain. 

The characters are led back into the building, and told to use the bathroom before going under. They're shown to a room with several reclined seats, and each one of them has a headset put on them.

Nigel gives them each a quick puff of a sweet smelling gas from a canister, and they all feel floaty and drowsy. He talks them down into sleep, they see blue lights flicker on their headsets as they calibrate, and they fade out...

Location One: The Party. The oneironauts wake up a party! Everyone's dancing, the music is pounding, people are wearing glowing necklaces and bracelets, and they feel a little drugged already. Lights have chasers, voices have a weird reverb to them. People are handing around pills and pipes and drinks, and they see Clarity dancing and clearly a little under the influence. Carmen gets out on the dance floor and starts grooving, while Scotty goes up to the bar and orders a whiskey from the red-haired bartender. Jessie immediately starts trying to poke holes in the simulation. She notices that some of the people at the party are nice and crisp, and have distinctive faces, while a lot of them are just...a crowd, and her eyes slide right off. She strikes up a conversation with one of the crisp ones, who introduces herself as Jenna. 

Jenna seems to recognize Jessie and says she's glad to see her. This is clearly a graduation party ("class of '23, whooo!"), but Jessie asks questions to try and screw with the tech and everything stops for a second. It picks up again immediately, and Jessie muses that she didn't think it would be that easy to cause a glitch.

Avery walks the perimeter of the room, trying to see if there's a way out. They find a door with an EXIT sign, but it's closed and there's a bouncer standing near it. They try to ask him if there's a way to open the door, but all he says is "uh-huh." Not getting anywhere that way, Avery heads back into the party. 

Carmen, dancing with Clarity, asks if this is her party, or who's in charge. She says that "Killian" is really the host here, and nods to the bartender. Carmen watches her pop a couple of pills, but then she staggers a bit. Carmen brings her to a couch and tries to get her to rest a bit, but there's a fellow at the other end of the couch who looks pretty out of it. His nose starts to bleed, and Carmen dabs it and wakes him up. He mutters something about "the purple ones" and then slumps over, as does Clarity.

Carmen sends Avery to get some water from the bartender. Avery finds Scotty flirting with Killian, and gets a few glasses of water from him, and then heads back to the couch (Scotty follows). Jessie, meanwhile, notices that people are falling over - but only the people with distinctive faces. She walks around the room shoving people over, until she gets bored and goes back to the others.

Carmen checks Clarity's pockets and finds a tube of purple pills, but only two left. She Avery to go ask Killian if there's anything to give Clarity to counteract "the purple ones" (since clearly these are bad news), and Killian gives Avery a bottle of pills labeled "WAKEUP." Jessie shoves a few down one of the other unconscious partygoers' throats, while Carmen very carefully gives Clarity one.

The first guy starts to choke, and Scotty quickly gives him the Heimlich. He spits out a bunch of pills and thanks Scotty, and Scotty dresses Jessie down for nearly killing the guy. "It's not like he's real," she points out. Meanwhile, Clarity has come to, and says that she needs some air. They start walking towards the door, but then Clarity collapses. The others see the bouncer start forward to catch her, and hear sirens, and then everything goes fuzzy.

Location Two: The Hospital. The four of them wake up in the lobby of a hospital. The walls are white and blue and everything is fuzzy and indistinct. There are fish tanks on the walls, and they can hear people talking but can't make out any words. Avery, in particular, can't understand anything, including the other characters. They have trouble focusing their thoughts, and wind up just kind of following along without knowing why.

Meanwhile, the others talk about where they are - clearly Clarity OD'd and was taken here. This might even be how she fell into a coma! But now what? They need to find her, and they approach an information desk. No one's there, though, so Scotty tries to get the computer to work. He can't get in, though, and the computer locks him out. 

They start wandering the halls, but no sign of Clarity and no one will help them. Scotty decides to dead-reckon his way to the ER, and soon winds up staring at a security guard standing next to a nurse's station. The guard tells them that visiting hours are over, but Jessie talks him into letting her speak to the nurse. Jessie asks the nurse to look up where Clarity Henderson is, and she does, but then her eyes widen and she tells them she can't let them see Clarity. The oneironauts step back to discuss their options ("I could just punch out the guard," muses Scotty) and they realize that Avery is not with them.

Avery finds themself in a hallway, alone, confused. They focus enough to remember they're looking for Clarity, but not why. They see an orderly pushing a cart, and ask about Clarity. The orderly, wearing a name badge that says "Killian," tells Avery that they're all looking for Clarity, but Avery says that they're looking for a person, not the concept. Killian doesn't know where Clarity is, but does offer to look up the information if Avery will help get into the drug storage room. 

Avery, as it happens, is a skilled lockpicker, and opens the door easily. Killian loots the place (grabbing a bottle of pills labeled "PURPLE ONES," and then types on a computer to find Clarity. But when the information comes up, he panics and flees. Avery looks at the screen, but can't make a lot of sense of it. They do realize that Clarity is being kept in a "special wing" under the care of "Dr. Dragomir." 

Back at the ER, Carmen flirts with the guard (Lars) and waves the others by. They go into the ER and start looking for Clarity, but no luck. Then Carmen has the brilliant idea to use the "Find My Avery" app on her phone (what? Yes, she has one), and they see that Avery is just down the hall. Avery, for their part, finds a door labeled "DO NOT ENTER", but heads down another corridor instead, deciding maybe they should have the rest of the group together before doing through that one.

They meet up, and Avery brings the others back to the door. It's jammed, but Scotty draws back and kicks it open. Lars rounds the corner and spots them, and yells for them to stop. He draws a baton and charges, but Jessie kicks a cart towards him and knocks him over. They all rush through the door...

Location Three: The Ruins. The characters are still in hospital halls, but these halls are derelict, dirty, collapsing, and full of rats. Carmen freaks out a bit at the rats - she just had a dream recently about trying to rescue a puppy from a horde of rats and this is a little too real for her. The characters strike out through the halls, and wind up in what looks like an operating theater...full of rats.

Jessie, curious to see whether these rats will behave like, well, rats, grabs one, but all of the others surround her menacingly. Carmen takes the opportunity to run for the other side of the room. Jessie, not wanting to be munched by a million rats, throws her captive back into the horde. The rats seem to talk to one another, and then charge.

Avery hurls a chair into the sea of rats and gives Jessie a chance to run for it, but the rats turn and swarm all over Avery instead, biting their tender flesh. Scotty grabs Avery and yanks them out of the room (sustaining some bites himself), but the rats don't follow. The characters are now at in a hallway, and talk over which way to go before Avery just strikes off right. Carmen follows, and Jessie, curious to see if the simulation can handle two different threads, goes left. Scotty follows her.

The two of them come to a door with a push bar, and behind it, a much cleaner room. Several ALIS headsets hang on the wall, and Jessie excitedly puts one on. The HUD informs her that she can swipe down to go "deeper," and she does...and collapses. 

Scotty checks her and finds that she's asleep. Figuring that the only way to get her back is to follow her, he puts on a headset and swipes down. 

Meanwhile, Carmen and Avery enter a hallway with a chemical smell. They press on, but start to feel dizzy. Avery tries to find the source, and does - it's being pumped from a jet in the wall. Trouble is, Avery winds up taking a big whiff and blacks out. Carmen tries to go back the way she came and winds up in a laboratory, with a guy in a surgical mask and gown. Carmen asks for a mask, and he says she can't have one - she's not supposed to be here. Carmen spots Avery on a gurney in the corner and tries in vain to wake them up, but makes so much noise that the Chemist hands her a mask. She puts it on and realizes it smells sweet...and then passes out.

Location Four: The Riverbank. The characters all wake up on the bank of a rising river. A levee is barely holding it back, and the levee is being shored up by a bunch of people in reflective vests. A tent nearby fills thermoses with a hot beverage, while is then doled out to the works.

The characters, though, take a moment. They splash a little water on their faces and recenter, and Jessie relates what she found. She wonders if the simulation put them all together because it's easier that way. 

They decide to check out this levee and the tent, but are quickly asked if they wish to volunteer. Scotty, always ready to be helpful, starts adding sandbags to the levee (and Jessie pretends to do so), while Carmen and Avery check out the tent. The thermoses are full of tea, and a quick sip reveals it to be...tea. The group decides to split up again; Carmen and Avery head upriver, while Scotty and Jessie head downriver. 

Carmen and Avery note that the landscape doesn't change much as they walk, but then they both come to a threshold. They can't see it, but they feel it - if they keep going, they will be somewhere else. They decide to press on. 

Location Five: The Lake. Carmen and Avery find themselves at a lake, which feeds into the river. A bunch of children are playing in the water, and a bored-looking lifeguard idly surfs on a computer. They go and talk to him (he says his name is Ryan), but he's not a lot of help - he doesn't know Clarity, he doesn't know where these kids' parents are, he's just looking at his screen in a bored sort of way.

They decide to go swimming and will themselves to have swimsuits. They float on the water and talk to the kids, but the kids just tell them that they don't know Clarity either (but suggest asking Ryan; "he's so boring!"). Carmen swims down into the lake, but feels another threshold. She doesn't want to leave this area like that, though, so swims back to Avery. They decide to get on some inner tubes and drift back downriver, but as they do, they look ahead and realize they can't see the levee. Avery warns Carmen that dropoffs are dangerous, and they both start paddling to shore, but the tubes capsize and...

Nigel removes the headsets from their heads. They wake up, blinking, and find that a little tray with crackers, chocolates, fruit, and a glass of orange juice is sitting next to them. Nigel explains that they woke up - it happens sometimes, especially if water or falling is involved. He points to the brain scans of Scotty and Jessie, who are both still in the simulation.

Location Four: The Riverbank. Scotty and Jessie walk downriver, and they find that the riverbed is strewn with trash. Red Solo cups, pill bottles, hospital gowns...this all looks like detritus from earlier in the dream. Jessie looks more carefully and finds letters from Clarity to her father, old tests and papers, and dirty, chewed up stuffed animals. She muses that dreams are supposedly the mind's way of clearing away the junk, so maybe this is that junk in a literal sense. But it's not cleared away, it's just lying around. 

They arrive at one of those thresholds, but rather than keep going, they decide to go back to the levee and blow it up. The levee, after all, is preventing the river from washing all this crap away, and maybe that's what Clarity needs? They get back and Jessie thinks up a brick of C4, and sneaks out to the middle of the levee to plant it. She does, but the workers catch her and grab her. Scotty charges in and punches some dudes, but the levee blows up.

The river sweeps them away, and pushes all the trash away as well. They both find themselves in a kind of serene, suspended peace, and then everything fades...

Nigel removes their headsets, and points to the monitor displaying Clarity's (simulated) brainwaves. "You did it," he said, "you woke up Clarity. Nice job." 

Nigel tells them that he hopes to see them back at ClarIT again (Avery says it's not likely, but the others are game). Carmen invites everyone to come on her IG feed so she can ask them about their experiences.

Movie #670: The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a drama based on a Stephen King novella and starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore, William Sadler, Gil Bellows, and Clancy Brown. It's one of my favorite movies ever.

This parody video has a decent summary, but just in case: Andy Dufresne (Robbins) is wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, and sent to Shawshank Prison. He makes the acquaintance of Red (Freeman), a lifer who has become the prison's contraband expert, and they become friends over the years. Andy endures all manner of prison-related shit; rapes, beatings, and just the general indignity of it all. He manages to get in good with the evil warden Norton (Gunton) and the eviler head guard Hadley (Brown) using his financial skills, and launders money for the warden's various scams and kickbacks. 

And then, of course, a young inmate (Bellows) shows up who happens to know who actually killed Andy's wife, and the warden has him shot to keep Andy on his "staff." Andy, understandably, escapes and fucks off to Mexico. Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'. 

Now, that's a very bare-bones summary of the movie and misses out all of the good bits. The heart of the movie is the redemption arc that both Red and Andy go through. Red, who actually did commit murder (though we don't hear about the details), serves 40 years of his life sentence and then finally comes to atone, and be able to express his atonement. Andy, while he didn't commit the crime for which he was convicted, blames himself for his wife's death. 

I suppose the other way to look at it is that even for folks like Red who are guilty, prison is a monstrous exercise. The release and suicide of Brooks (Whitmore), paroled after 50 years in prison, underlines this perfectly: Brooks was imprisoned in 1905 and released in the mid-1950s. He missed both World Wars and all of the attendant misery and turmoil that came with it, and the world that he finds when he gets out is unrecognizable. Red isn't too far behind him, and it's only his relationship with Andy that keeps him level.

The overriding theme of the movie is hope vs. despair. Andy insists that hope is "maybe the best of things," and Red initially takes offense - hope has no place in prison. The arc of Red's redemption is as much about finding the courage to hope again as it is to atone for his crime. 

Well, so, anyway, the movie is fantastic. Every performer does his (there are only two speaking women's roles, which makes sense since it's almost entirely set in a men's prison) job near-perfectly. Morgan Freeman's narration of the movie paces it and grounds the emotional beats, and making the "main" character not the narrator frees Robbins up to just show us Andy's struggle. Gunton and Brown, meanwhile, are both evil but not cartoonishly so, just so drunk on their power and so accustomed to it that they don't register what they do as wrong on any level. Even Mark Rolston's Bogs, who's such a sack of shit that we actually feel good about Hadley beating him into paralysis, manages a moment of humanity when he gets out of solitary: "It's your world, boss."

I occasionally see Red listed as an example of the "Magical Negro" trope. It is not. The essence of the trope is the black character being selflessly helpful or a mentor to a white character, doling out advice and asking nothing in return. The only advice Red gives Andy in the movie is "grow eyes in the back of your head," which, a) duh and b) it doesn't help, because Andy still gets assaulted repeatedly. Apart from that, they become friends, and their relationship is not remotely one-sided. Hell, if anything, it's Andy who doles out the life advice to Red ("get busy livin', or get busy dyin'"). 

(Sorry, I get annoyed by the application of this trope to Red, particularly since it's only done because Morgan Freeman played him.)

Anyway. I love this movie and I cry literally every time I watch it, both during Red's final parole hearing and during his end monologue. It bugs the shit out of me that this was nominated for so many Oscars and won none of them, and it bugs me even more that it lots Best Picture and Best Actor to Forest fucking Gump. 

My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: High

Next up: Shazam!

Character Creation: Peculiar Tales

I like the word "peculiar." I think it's the velar sound in the middle giving it a sort of peak. 

The Game: Peculiar Tales
The Publisher: Frank Perrin, I guess? The publisher on DTRPG is just listed as "Peculiar Tales," and the website in the book seems to be gone
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Peculiar Tales sounds like it should be a setting agnostic kind of game, but it's not. It actually reminds me a little of Fae Noir; a recognizable, period setting but with fantasy races and magic and so forth. In this case, the setting is 1920s, in a world somewhat like, but not, our own. There was a Great War, but it involved elven nations in the land of Edemia. There's cultural revolution happening, prohibition, organized crime, but the particulars have this well-written and pleasantly easy-to-follow urban fantasy kind of thing going. I read through the whole book in one sitting, and I didn't feel my eyes glazing over in the history section, which is good.

The game is also card-based, and of course I have a soft spot for such games. Let's make a character.

Normally, the first consideration would the function of the team (archaeologists, paranormal investigators, treasure hunters, etc.), all with an exploration/discovery/adventuring kind of bent. Since it's just me, however, I shall jump straight to vocation. 

I'm picturing an unflappably polite fellow, someone at home in high society but not really part of it, like the maître d' or a butler. He's the kind of person who will never, never make a fuss, but if you really insist on a being a cad, well, there are people who deal with that. I'll say "butler" for vocation because it doesn't have an accent marks. 

Species is next. My options are elf, goblin, human, and ogre. 

Well, I'd prefer not to be human, I guess? I dunno, I like to play not-humans when I have the chance. I don't think goblin or ogre really works for the concept, though, so it's pretty much either elf or human. I think elf works pretty well; there are a lot of elven refugees because a lot of them got displaced during the War, so I can see an elf taking up a head-of-household position in England or New England or whatever. 

Attributes! I have 25 points to split up among the 5 of them. Minimum is 1, max is 8. I know I want Charisma and Smarts to be high, but I'd kinda like none of them to be low. Hrm. Well, 5s across the board, and then if I bump Assets down to 2, I can pump Smarts up to 6 and Charisma up to 7. I guess that works.

Perks! I get two, and there are a zillion in the book, so I gotta look through these. Hang on. 

Ooh, I'll take Hard-Boiled. Fatigue, which is actually a thing what might become a problem in this game, isn't as big of a problem for me (his work is never done and he's on call 24/7). 

For the second one, there are a couple that appeal. Sneak is appropriate (seen, not heard, and not seen if possible), and I like Linguist, just because it hints at his background before his job. But I think I'd like to game the system and take Well-Connected; my Assets is weak, but that perk gives me a way to succeed on specific kinds of Assets checks (namely, "I know a guy," which is appropriate for someone well-traveled). 

Connections! I get two; these are just people I know. I'll say that there's a goblin chauffeur who works for the same household as a me. Henri, for 'tis his name, is excitable and enthusiastic and just a little too fond of beer, but he's a great driver and mechanic. 

My other connection is Larr, an ogre who gets things ("what'd you want, a zebra? No problem. Got a mate with a warehouse full of the stripey bastards, can't shift 'em. They're like weird horses, yeah?"). Anything you need. Larr is a lump, but he's dependable. 

I start with 2 Respite, 4 Moxie, that's easy enough. My peculiarity is something that happened to me that led me to where I am today. I'll say that he was a solider in the Great War, and abandoned his unit to help a bunch of elven refugees get to safety. He's officially a deserter, but he's pretty sure he's clear of any consequences by now, surely?

Motivation! Specifically, motivation for going on adventures. This particular concept is a little tricky for someone who leaves home a lot, and really the only way I think it'd work is if the master of the 'ouse is also part of the team. But I don't want my character's motivation to be purely tied to the boss, so instead, I'll say that he's looking for his family. They were scattered all over the world after the War, and every time he goes out on an adventure, it's a possible way to chase a lead. 

And, Vice. I think that he's a fan of a nice, quiet, smoke on a pipe. Nothing major. 

And that's really it, as far as mechanical decisions. Just details and name and so forth. 

Well, one of the example elf names is "Canard," and I'll say that's what he goes by. Sure, it's French for "duck" and it's also used in a manner similar to "red herring," but that's fine, it's an alias. His real name is Sasoi. He's tall for an elf (that is to say, slightly shorter than the average human), and he has managed over the years to tame his unruly mop of black hair into something approximately respectable. He's learned to get by on very little sleep, and even less rest - all he asks is five or ten minutes a day to smoke a pipe and meditate a bit. He gets very cross if he gets interrupted during that time.

Sasoi was never a particularly good soldier, but he's always been a good leader. He's good at recognizing people's skills and delegating accordingly. That said, he's a stickler for manners and being loud, crude, or crass is a good way to get the cold shoulder from Sasoi very quickly. He typically dresses just a shade more formal than he needs to, but he's learned that you don't wear anything on an adventure that you can't stand to lose. 

And that's it!

Cairn: Like a Ripe Pumpkin

Ah, springtime in Cairn. Here's last time.

It's a lovely spring evening in Cairn, and the Traveling Knights are hanging out at the Cider Mill Inn. Rumdiggle Sunsong is talking with Sarafina Bushytail about lyrics. Rummy's songs tend to be more topical and immediate, while Sarafina's are about classical poems and older stories. 

Russelet Leatherwind is playing darts with some of the other patrons of the bar, and maybe picking their pockets a little, just for fun (obviously he doesn't keep anything he pinches). 

Ratatosk Longberry is just vibin', dancing to the music, and chomping on a bowl of acorns (which Allyere Lovegood refills when he's not looking). 

Snootbur Shadowbough is, after probably too many glasses of cider, explaining her plan for an amphitheater to Mayor Keeble Brownberry using forks, bowls, saltshakers, and whatever else is handy. 

And then CRASH! A sugar glider slams through the front window, rolls along the floor, lands against the bar, and passes the heck out. Russelet rushes to the bar to get a sugary drink (he knows that sugar gliders burn through sugar so quickly that sometimes they just...fall asleep), and Rummy checks to see if the poor guy is injured. He's cut up a little, but once he laps up the honey water that Russ serves him, he comes to. 

"It's coming!" he shrieks. "It's coming! Coming to eat us!" The Knights ask him to clarify, and he gasps, "the Bloodwalker!"

None of the characters have ever heard of a "Bloodwalker," but it doesn't sound good, and Smyrna Flutterwind, the glider, continues talking. It's huge, he says, and walks on two legs. It's got a snout like a ripper, but hooked claws. And it grabs people and bites off their heads to drink the blood!

This is all sending the good citizens of Cairn into quite the tizzy, so Keeble and the Knights take Smyrna into a back room to talk further. Smyrna reveals that he's from Sweetthorn Roost, a treetop village east of Cairn (mostly squirrels, sugar gliders, and bats). He was out looking for greenfruit and got lost, and then the Bloodwalker started chasing him. He lost it before the Swiftwater River, but then he realized he was close to Cairn and probably wouldn't make it home, so he dropped into the Cider Mill Inn (literally) to warn them - the Bloodwalker is headed their way!

The Knights don't waste any time. They load up their gear, and Keeble calls out the guard to shore up defenses. The Knights head east, and cross the river. They pause at the entrance to the woods, and Russ listens carefully. In the distance, he hears something big moving in the trees, cracking branches and so on. Ratatosk feels something horrible and bloody out that way. This might be it.

Russ sets up a net trap, while Rummy calls on her various totems to increase in size and power. Snoot and Ratatosk scamper off to find the thing and lure it. And find it they do!

It's hunched over at the base of a tree, digging. It's bipedal, a sickly grey color, and seems to be wearing a shirt. It's got fur, though, and when it turns around (hearing Snoot yell "Hey, you!"), it's got a muzzle much like a ripper. It sees Snootabur and bares its horrible teeth, lunging at her. She misjudges how fast it is, and it picks her up. She instinctively rolls into a ball and her quills poke its flesh, but it doesn't seem to care. 

Ratatosk jumps down from the tree he's in, lands on the monster's snout, and throws sneezing powder, but misjudges and gets a snootful himself (fortunately he knows how to breathe through it). Snootabur unfurls and deftly leaps through the thing's grasp, but it grabs Ratatosk by the tail. He bats it with his staff, but it won't let go. 

Russ, hearing the commotion, flutters over and finds a solid perch. Horrified by the creature though he is, he fires arrow after arrow at it. Some find their marks well, piercing eyes and nose, others miss. Snootabur, likewise, takes shots at the creature, but it doesn't bleed, just oozes black sludge. 

Rummy, realizing that the original plan has failed, charges in and swings at the Bloodwalker's legs, trying to knock it down. It keeps its feet, leans down and chomps on Rummy, picking her up and shaking her. Ratatosk, not getting anywhere by smacking the thing's hand, casts Thornsting. The thorns spring up and piercing the monster, just as Russelet shoots it in the hand. It drops Rummy and Ratatosk, and Rummy strikes its legs just right, knocking it to the ground. Ratatosk flings sleeping draught into its mouth, but no effect! He realizes that this creature has neither blood nor breath - it's undead.

Snootabur lights an arrow and fires, striking it in the head. Its head swells and pops like a ripe pumpkin, spilling black sludge, and the Knights step back to catch their breath. 

Investigating the corpse, the Knights are unable to identify whatever this was before it was animated, but they're very sure that it was dead recently. Ratatosk knows about necromancy - it's a form of magic that the Primal Powers abhor, the practice of reanimating dead flesh. They decide to burn the body and fall back to the river. 

As they're preparing the pyre, Rummy hears more crashing and cracking in the woods. The set the fire and retreat, but Russelet flits off to investigate. At the riverbank, as the sun rises, Snootabur helps the others get clean, and then Ratatosk leads them in a ritual to greet the dawn and Rummy leads them in a chorus of "Yeet the Noodle." Their spirits raised a bit, they wait for Russelet to return.

He does, and reports that he's found two more of these loathsome monsters. They're sitting at the bottom of trees in the clearing where they killed the other one (which is now full of smoke - not much chance of forest fire with the woods as damp as they are). They appear dormant; perhaps they sleep by day?

The Knights decide to head back into the woods and burn these monsters before they wake. Of course, that assumes that they are unable to awaken during the day...

Character Creation: Mythender

TAKE THAT, GOD.

The Game: Mythender
The Publisher: Ryan Macklin
Degree of Familiarity: None, just read it
Books Required: Just the one

This is a game I've been excited to read for a while, because I really like the premise. Basically, you're a super-powerful being called a Mythender, and you and your fellow Mythenders get together and kill - nay, End - more powerful Myths. That would be gods and their retinue of spirits, monsters, and so forth. 

The tone of the game is very much over the top action, and that can be SQUIDDLEY-DOO electric guitar or it can be a more somber, O Fortuna kind of ambiance. My reservations about the game are kinda similar to the ones I have about games like Blood Red Sands - the system is involved and it's important, and I don't know if I have enough players that would dig it. With that said, I did have an interesting idea about setting the Mythic World in the modern age and having the "Gods" in question be billionaires, so that'd be kinda fun. 

For purposes of this project, though, I shall assume Mythic Norden, the default setting, wherein Mythenders would be going after Thor and his ilk. So let's get going! 

First off, I need to choose a Heart, Past, and Fate. Heart is kind of an archetype, but really focuses on what the character values. Past is exactly that, and Fate is what kind of God this particular Mythender is Fated to become if (when) they embrace too much Mythic power and become what they despise most. Hmm. I've had bone marrow on my mind lately (don't ask me how my brain fuckin' works, at least I haven't been suicidal), possibly because there's a monster in GURPS Creatures of the Night called a marrowfiend that I've always liked and I thought about using it in my next Chill game. But I seem to recall there's a story about someone suckin' the marrow from the leg of one of Thor's goats...ah-ha, yes indeed!

So my Mythender is called Thjalfi (there are more accurate ways to spell that, but whatever). In mythology, Thjalfi (and his sister) were peasants who hosted Thor for a night, and then got pressed into service after sucking the marrow of one of his goats' legs. As far as Heart goes, I'm thinking either Warrior or Tempest. Physical might and skill or magic and sacrifice? Hmm. I'm not sure, I'll leave that sit for a moment.

Past, again, I find myself with a split decision: Child or Apostate? I think I'll go Apostate, and say that Thjalfi was indeed pressed into Thor's service before becoming a Mythender. 

For Fate, I think I'll say that Thjalfi is going to become a God of Judgment. He feels that it was profoundly unfair that he and his sister became thralls after they cracked the bone of a goat that Thor had slaughtered for their dinner (jerk). 

I think I'll go Warrior, actually. Moving on!

And now, Weapons! I get three Weapons, from the categories of Intrinsic, Relic, and Companion. I can't have all three of one type, but I can have 2/1 or 1/1/1. I want something representing the marrow I sucked from the goat (it just never sounds less weird, no matter how often I type it), so I'll say Strength and Resilience Absorbed from Thor's Goats. That's Intrinsic, of course. Ooh, kinda want my sister to be part of this. She doesn't have much of a presence in the myth, so I'll lean into that and say Röskva, my sister, silent as a shadow. And then I kinda want something feral and hungry. How about my insatiable appetite for marrow? Intrinsic as well, obviously. 

Now for Forms. My Mortal Form is, well, what I look like now, as a mortal (more or less). So I'll say that Thjalfi appears as a young man, lean and quick, blond as sunlight and hungry as winter. 

That's Mortal Form, and now we move into fate. I need to decide on my Personal Blight (the way I change the world when I'm around), as well as my Form as I get more and more Mythic. 

Well, for Personal Blight, I want people to feel starving, but smell cooking meat. For my Paragon Form, I'll say I appear as an emaciated man with his bones visible under his skin. In Supernatural Form, I appear as a crackling skeleton loosely covered with skin, oozing marrow. And finally, in Godly Form, I appear as an immense goat made of human bones, whose eyes are pure hunger. 

Judgement's Powers over Mortals and the Land...hmm. Thjalfi isn't really a Judge type of god, it's Judgment in a spiteful, "you broke the letter of the law now get fucked" kind of way. I'll say that his Fate allows him to make any action, word, or place taboo or forbidden, worthy of divine judgment. 

And that's actually pretty much it. I have a Storm Rating of 3, and everything else (that is, Bonds) would require a group, which I don't have. So that's Thajlfi, ready to kill Thor and suck the marrow from his bones. No way that goes wrong. 

Movie #669: Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings is yet another MCU movie (more! gimme more!), starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, Meng'er Zhang, Ben Kingsley, Fala Chen, and Florian Munteanu.

Xu Wenwu (Leung) is the owner of the mystical(?) ten rings, which allow him to do some kinda mid-tier supernatural/superpowery stuff, but also to live forever, which is kinda the bigger deal. He forms the Ten Rings and does some unspecified but very much worldwide crime, until the 90s when he goes searching for the mystical village of Ta Lo, finds a magical kung fu woman named Li (Chen) guarding it, and they fall in love through the power of martial arts in a scene that wouldn't have been too out of place in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 

He takes her back to his home on Earth, puts away his rings, and they raise two children: Shang-Chi (Liu) and Xialing (Zhang), and everything is great until his old enemies stop by and murder Li, and then Wenwu is, as John Wick says, thinkin' he's back.

But this movie isn't really about him, it's about Shang-Chi, happily living in San Fransisco as a valet, hanging with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), until a maniac with a lightsaber for a hand (Munteanu) attacks him for his pendant, and he has to go in search of his sister. 

Shang-Chi is not exactly a character that many casual superhero fans would know. Hell, I'm pretty knowledgeable about superhero lore, up to a point, and I'd never heard of him. But that's actually good, it allows the MCU to fold in some new characters and mythology without running afoul of, for example, people whining because Thor Ragnorak didn't faithfully adapt Planet Hulk. As with Iron Man way back in 2008, though, all of this hinges on the movie coming together.

And I think it does! Simu Liu is a wonderful break from dour or hyper-principled characters, and when he confronts his past, it actually means something because he hasn't been keeping it close all these years. Likewise, I enjoy that he's out of his depth but by no means unable to handle himself. Katy is fun comic relief, but also there for Shang-Chi and also makes herself useful during crunch time (and, yes, you can get persnickety about how she placed a shot perfectly after just learning to shoot, but look, it was a huge target and she only had to hit once). Xialing is continually undervalued and overlooked, even to the point that she never really gets a proper confrontation with her father, and I hope that's something that comes up when we see these characters again. Wenwu is a great villain, and while his motives in this particular caper are understandable, it's never hard to forget that he's a criminal and a warlord (although, granted, his fearsome Ten Rings could have been painted as a little more brutal - he's got a dude with a blade for a hand and he never gets to kill anyone, for crying out loud).

It's not a perfect film; the third act battle between color-coded armies seems a little...I dunno, on the nose? And I like that it doesn't go on any longer than it needs to before the Lovecraftian horror pops out and they pretty much all realize they're toast if they don't work together. It rings a little false that Wenwu is punching his way into the Dark Gate and gross little demons are wriggling out and he never bothers to look up and see what the screeching is about. But these are the kinds of niggles that only come to mind because we're 20-some films into this universe. 

There are few deleted scenes I wish had made it in, particularly one where Trevor Slattery (Kingsley) mentions that he feels like he's the Fool to Wenwu's Lear. In general, though, I feel like this is an injection of new blood into the MCU that works, and I'm excited to see these folks pop up again.

My Grade: A-
Rewatch Value: High

Next up: The Shawshank Redemption

Character Creation: All for One

Like many folks who were young in the 90s, any mention of the Musketeers or "all for one" makes me think of a) Tim Curry and b) this song.

The Game: All for One: Régime Diabolique
The Publisher: Triple Ace Games
Degree of Familiarity: None with this game, some with the underlying system
Books Required: Just the one

All For One is, as the name might imply, an RPG set during 17th Century France when the Musketeers were swashing their buckles all over the place. In the setting, demons are alive and well and living in various people in the higher echelons of the Church and the nobility (I mean, duh), and so you're playing a Musketeer who's not only, like, a Musketeer, but one who is or soon will be dealing with supernatural shit. 

All for One uses Ubiquity, same system as Hollow Earth Expedition and Desolation. It's notable in that it's a dice pool system where the number of sides on the dice don't matter, since you're just looking for evens. Also, you can "take the average" rather than rolling - that is, say you've got eight dice in your pool. You can roll them and get anywhere from zero to eight successes, or take the average (four successes) and, if that beats the roll's Difficulty, you're good to go. I remember the system going pretty smoothly in play once the players figure that out, and also how to use Style points. 

Anywhichway, let's make a Musketeer. 

First step, we pick an Archetype. Mind, an Archetype is nothing more than a loose concept for the character, and it doesn't mean a thing mechanically. I had an idea about making a horse trainer, though, and that's still rattling around in my head. Yeah, I'll say my character, Rémy (I'll give him a last name later), comes from a family of soldiers and horse trainers, and so serving the King is tradition. Of course, he's the first of the family to join the Musketeers since, um, it's 1636 and the Guard was just formed like 14 years ago.

Well, anyway, I guess "solider" is the closest Archetype in the ones listed, though again, I could just as easily write "horse trainer" and call it a day.

Step Two: Motivation. Why does Rémy do what he does? I think it's somewhere between Duty and Family Tradition. Let's call it Duty.

Step Three: Attributes! I get 15 points, they're assigned one-for-one (not all for one), and there are 6 of 'em. Let's see. Clearly Rémy needs a decent Charisma since that's what gets paired with Animal Handling, and I'm thinking Body should be fairly decent, too. I'll put 4 each into those, leaving me 7 more. Wait, that's maybe too much. How about 3 into Charisma and 4 into Body. That gives me 8 remaining, which means the other four Attributes are at 2, which is average. I think that's OK, I can probably make up any deficits with Skills. 

Step Four: Secondary Attributes. Size is 0 (human-sized), Move is Strength + Dexterity, or 4 in my case. Perception is Intelligence + Willpower (also 4), Passive Defense is 4, Active Defense is 2 (kinda better off just getting hit and hoping for the best), Stun is 4, and Health is Body + Willpower + Size, or 6. 

Step Five: Skillz. I get 15 points, also one-for-one (and all for love), and I can't go higher than five levels at chargen. I can, however, purchase specializations, which I probably will. Oh, and, I get level 0 in Firearms, Melee, Ride, and one other Skill of my choice. Level 0 just means I've had some training, so I can use the base Attribute to use the Skill in question rather than taking a penalty. Buying a 0-level up to 1 point costs half a point (out of my 15), so that's nice, it's a little price break on these Skills. I'll say my fourth 0-level is Animal Handling, then.

OK! I want to put 4 into Animal Handling with a Specialization in Horses (no place on the sheet to write Specializations, boo, bad sheet design). That's actually only 4 points, because I pay half a point to go from 0 to 1, three points to get to 4, and then another half point for the Specialization. 11 points left!

Well, clearly Ride needs to be good, so I'll put 3.5 points there for a rating of 4. I'll put half a point into Firearms for a rating of 1 (not Rémy's strong point), which means I've spent 7. I'll buy Archery up to 2 and take a Specialization in Nets (not sure why that's under Archery but whatever). 9.5. I'll spend 3 into Athletics; pricey but worth it. 12.5 spent. How about 1 into Medicine and .5 for a Veterinary Specialization, which takes me to 15 spent.

Talents and Resources! I get Followers and Rank at level 0 for free, and then I can pick a Talent or a Resource. I suspect I will want a Talent. There are a few dealing with riding, but most of them are combat-related and I don't think Rémy necessarily has a lot of direct experience stabbing people from horses (frankly if he did his Melee would be higher). So I'll take Evasive Rider, which allows me to use my Ride rating as Defense in certain conditions.

Flaw! I can take a Flaw if I wish, and I do. I'll take Aloof, which gives me a -2 to social situations with people. I think that Rémy isn't distant or cold per se; he likes people just fine. He's just better with horses. 

And, finally, I get 15 experience to spend. Hmm. I kinda feel like I should have some more Skills? I'll put six points into buying 2 points of Survival. I'll spend six more and buy two points of Brawl, and then I have 3 remaining, so I'll buy a Specialization in Brawl (Grappling). 

That's all the numbers, now for the finishing touchés (as they say in French).

OK, then. Rémy Fournier is a recent recruit to the Musketeers. He's skilled with horses, an expert rider and horse trainer, and can perform some basic medical treatments on a wounded horse (that is, shoot them) if need be. He's got chestnut hair and rosy cheeks, but he's losing his boyish looks and getting more rugged day by day (some of it is that his facial hair is coming in darker). Rémy takes his duty as a Musketeer very seriously, and hopes that one day the King will ride one of his horses - that would be something special! 

I think I'd start playing Rémy with him having no real knowledge of the supernatural just so he can freak the fuck out when demons arrive, but I also think he'd rise to the occasion of leading scared or wounded troops on a desperate ride to safety later on. 

Et voila.

Movie #668: Eternals

Eternals is an MCU movie directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harrington, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, and Bill Skarsgard. 

Forever ago, the Celestials created sent a bunch of super-weirdos to Earth to protect humanity, or so they say. Said weirdos are the Eternals, a group of immortal (rather, unaging) beings with superpowers who are there to kill Deviants and prevent them from eating everyone. Supposedly, the last ones died off in the 1500s and so the Eternals have been kinda moving around human society for 500 years, not really interfering in big ways, waiting for their boss Arishem (David Kaye) to let them go home to Olympia (their home planet, not the city in Washington). 

Except twist, there is no Olympia. Eternals were created not to shepherd or protect humanity, but just keep them breeding long enough to reach a certain population, whereupon the entire planet hatches and a new Celestial is born! 

All of that is really high-level stuff, however. The real meat of the movie is the interaction between the characters. Sersi (Chan) and Ikaris (Madden) were lovers for millennia, but he left when he learned what their real purpose on Earth was, knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep it from Sersi and that truth would shatter her. Thena (Jolie) is afflicted with a kind of dementia that causes her to attack the others occasionally, and so Gilgamesh (Lee) stays with her to protect her from herself. Druig (Keoghan) loves humanity but hates violence, and possesses the power to prevent it, but doing it involves mind control. Sprite (McHugh) is in love with Ikaris, and has the body of a young teenager...forever. 

And that's only half the main characters. 

Eternals has the dubious distinction of being the only MCU movie that has a "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While I don't necessarily put stock in reviews as an indicator of a movie's quality, I do think it's interesting that this is the one that didn't click with people (I mean, hell, Thor: The Dark World has 65%, while Eternals is stuck at 45%). I've been trying to put my finger on why, because I personally really like the movie. And I think it's a combination of things.

For one thing, it's really crowded. There are literally 11 of the titular Eternals, and none of them are characters that the MCU has depicted before so we have to be introduced to all of them. They've been around for more than 7000 years, which means there is a lot of history to go through. There's also a lot of MCU history and while the movie doesn't get bogged down in that, it does need to address the big questions (notably, "where the fuck these people been?"). And then there's the whole "the Earth is an egg" thing, which personally I think should have been a bigger deal. 

Also, it's a different tone than other MCU movies. Honestly, I think what Zhao and company were going for was the same kind of iconic, mythological take on superheroes that Zack Snyder tried (and failed) to achieve in some of the DCEU movies. The Eternals are a pantheon - they've even taken the roles of gods in human history - and that means that they fit into the world and its history different than, say, Thor, who also took the role of a god but had a childhood and development. There's some real nuance, there, and honestly I think the movie deals with it pretty well.

Partially that's because the performers are damn talented. The emotional turns don't get met with a quip or stony silence, they get met with tears and lashing out and real reactions. The major antagonist of Eternals isn't the power-stealing Deviant, Kro (Skarsgard), it's Ikaris, but he's only the antagonist because most of the other Eternals turn their backs on their mission. The movie is Shakespearean, even operatic, in its scope, and I think that MCU fans didn't always get on with that.

Of course, it's also the MCU movie that has two men kissing, a diverse cast of mostly non-white people, a Deaf superhero, and a sex scene (OMG! it's actually very tame, though), so who knows, maybe it's all shitheads bombing the reviews. I don't know. I think Eternals has a lot to recommend it, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the characters again. I also think it should have been a series, to give the characters a little more room to breathe. 

My Grade: B+
Rewatch Value: Medium 

Next up: Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings