Character Creation: Wild Skies

Last character of July! I've been shooting for six a month this year and I doubled that in July. Probably not going to be as "productive" in August because work starts back up, but we'll do our best.

The Game: Wild Skies: Europa Tempest
The Publisher: Wet Ink Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Wild Skies: Europa Tempest is a diesel-punk game in which you play anthropomorphic animals in an alt-history Earth where the first World War never ended. Tonally it's...interesting. Like, we have the fact that everyone is animals, so the comic includes fun stuff like the tortoise chef named Biscuits and the black sheep named Rambeaux. But then there's, well, this:

I think that bear would have a hard time screaming with his face blown through the back of his head

It reminds me in a lot of ways of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (that is, the comics and the RPG), and that's not a bad thing, especially since unlike TMNT it doesn't use the janky-ass Palladium system. So let's make a character!

I don't really have a concept handy, so howzabout if I let Apple Music pick a song at random? 

"Soup Kitchen" by Eva Trout, from the American Werewolf in Paris soundtrack, which isn't the most embarrassing album I own, but it's probably in the top 10. Anyway, this song calls to mind someone who has been through the wringer and refuses to succumb to adversity, or pity, or charity. I think this character is stubborn and bullheaded, but maybe has an artistic or even gentle soul. Good start, let's continue.

Step two is Select Primary and Secondary Attributes. 10 points to Brawn, Smarts, and Guts. Gotta have at least one, but no more than 10 (which isn't a probably because the max I could have is 8). Let's say 6 in Brawn, 1 in Smarts, 3 in Guts. 

Secondary Attributes are basically the same deal, except I have 18 points to split into six of them (Strength, Fleetness, Know-How, Moxie, Valor, Grit). Know-How can be low, but Moxie should be a little higher. I'll put one into Know-How for now, 5 into Strength, 2 into Fleetness (that's 8), 4 into Moxie, and three each into Valor and Grit. 

Next step is to Choose Animal Type. I think I'll lean into being bull-headed and make a bull. 

So this boosts Brawn, Strength, and Grit by one, which is cool. My starting Ability is Horns, and then I get two more Abilities, which have to be chosen from the Unique and Optional Abilities for my type. Let's see. I don't want Hauling (so I can do physical labor real good, la-di-da). Feat of Strength is pretty dope, though. I'll take that. Pack is cool, but I see my guy as being more of a loner than that. Natural Armor or Stubborn? I think Stubborn (which allows me to focus on a non-combat activity to the exclusion of all else and get bonuses for doing so) is more in-theme.

Choose a Size. I can adjust my Size one step in either direction for free, but I'm good with Large. 

Choose Perks & Quirks. I get one Perk for free, and then I can take up to two Quirks for a like number of Perks. I'll take Poet as a Perk, but honestly the rest of them don't really stir me. 

Choose a Nationality. From whence does my bull hail? Let's say he's Hungarian. 

Choose Careers & Skills. I get two Careers (this works much like Cairn, so I could be an Actor/Mechanic or whatever). Well, my bull isn't terribly smart or well-educated, so careers like Doctor or even Mechanic are beyond him. I think Thug/Revolutionary is the best way to simulate his hard-knock life. I get a skill die in Leadership, Social, and Sneak as a Revolutionary, and Melee 2, Athletics 1 and Drive 0 as a Thug. I get a Specialty in each of those, and then I get one more Skill (because of my 1 in Smarts), and then one more die to put in any of my Skills (because of my 1 in Know-How). Well, let's look at the Skill list.

I'll take Wrestling as my Athletics Specialty, Train as my Drive Specialty (most from riding the rails, I think), Aggravate for Leadership, Street Smarts for Sneak, Intimidate for Social, and Brawl for Melee. For my Learned Skill, ergh, I guess I'll take Knowledge. I'll take Language as the Specialty so my bull speaks German (if I were actually going to play him in a campaign, I'd take whatever the common language of the group was). 

One more Skill die to throw around. I think it's gotta go in Athletics. 

Build the Moral Compass. This is interesting. The Moral Compass takes the place of XP and alignment in Wild Skies; there are 8 axes and you arrange them on the compass rose to indicate which is important and which story arc and struggle you want to focus on. 

Well, for my bull, I think, Survival to Growth is the most important one. I'll put Survival at the "north" position of the compass, and Growth at the south. Defense to Destruction, Exploration to Rest, and Endurance to Change are the other axes that I think fit the character best. I'll put Endurance/Change and Defense/Destruction in the northern half; I think those are the ones that it would be most interesting to deal with. 

Finishing Touches! This is mostly just appearance and gear and so on. Guess I should give him a name, too. His name is Gyurka ("farmer"), and his family were simple laborers. He was born in 1900, which means he's 30-ish in the game's timeline. Also means he was a young bull (calf, I guess) when the Great War really got going, so he's seen his whole life blown apart. He's about seven feet tall, and isn't as bulky as some cattle, but he's used to being on his own and doesn't need your charity. That said, he'll always work for a living. 

Last thing would be Affiliation, but that really requires a group. I think Gyurka wouldn't actually be all that hard to slot into a game, and he'd be a decent brick character once he trains up a little. It'd be interesting to see him gain some loyalty to the people around him. (I'd also have to find a book of war poetry if I were going to play him.) 

That's it! Happy July!

Chill: Ooooh, Boy....

Tonight was Chill! As may be obvious from the title, things went a little pear-shaped. 

Recall that last time, the envoys were looking in a mysterious death at a concert in Boise, given by one Ti Papa and his band. They determined that the victim, Brandi Simon, died as a result of sudden blood loss triggering a previous undiagnosed heart defect. This had everyone thinking "vampire." 

They call in Dylan Reeves to the team, and Dylan looks at their data and does a little digging on SAVEpoint. He finds that while SAVE classifies vampires as undead creatures that feed on the living, that's a very broad, top-down definition. Different HQs further subdivide vampires in various ways - what they feed on, where they're from, how you destroy them - but without further information it's hard to know where to look. Dylan cross-references stories about vampires with lore from the Deep South, and finds legends about spinning a coffin at a crossroads, lest the deceased find their way back. 

Dylan also looks into the band a bit more, and finds that Ti Papa's real name is Arlo LeGrange. Neither LeGrange nor Ti Papa has much in the way of internet presence, though. Samantha looks up musicians who played with Ti Papa, and finds that most of them are dead. They would have been old, though, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Dylan checks on Ti Papa's music and recording history, and finds that he mostly does traditional songs or covers. On the occasion that he dos write his own songs, though, they invariably have something to do with night or darkness as a theme. In fact, perhaps his best known song (still virtually unknown outside Louisiana) is called "Bad Night in the Quarter." In the song, he talks about wanting to kiss a particular woman, but being unable to because she has "too much mint on her breath."

Knowing a clue when they see one, the envoys pick up some mints and gum. Jordan goes the extra mile and gets some fresh mint to put in her pockets, too. 

The characters head to the concert, and take their places severally around the theater. The concert goes pretty much as expected - Ti Papa and his band play, people applaud, and then when Ti Papa comes out for a curtain call, something very weird happens.

BB - and only BB - sees Ti Papa look around the theater, up into the balcony, and grimace as though annoyed. Then he moves into the house, so fast he's a blur, and BB sees that everything else is frozen and immobile. He bites Emily on the neck, and then gently kisses her lips, and then blurs his way back to the stage and resumes his curtain call. 

Emily suddenly feels drained, but apart from a little dizziness isn't harmed. BB, not taking any chances, reaches forward (he was sitting right behind Emily) and touches her, using Heal. Emily texts the others to tell them that she felt something, maybe an attack, but there's no immediate threat. The envoys get together in the lobby and Emily and BB explain what happened (Jordan, meanwhile, gives Emily a granola bar to get her energy back up). 

The envoys decide this pretty much confirms that Ti Papa is a vampire, but now what? Jordan goes backstage and finds the band's stuff, and rubs mint into the strings of Ti Papa's guitar. Past that, though, the envoys decide to go around back and see if the band is still here. When they get to the parking lot, though, the find the band has already left. They go to the hotel (which is right down the road), and see Jacob (the bassist/fiddler) and Fredo (the roadie) loading a trunk into the back of the van. Whatever it is, it's heavy. The envoys decide to follow the band and see where they're going. 

They follow, Emily driving, to nearby Ann Morrison Park. They shut off the headlights, but Emily follows a little too closely and someone notices her. Suddenly everything goes black and silent, and she loses feeling in her body. She keeps her head and slams on the breaks, and tries to talk but with no sensation in her mouth is unintelligible. Dylan uses Mental Shield and her senses come back, and the envoys realize that the jig is up. Jordan uses Line of Defense to ward the interior of the car (though she does point out to the others that this will not prevent damage to the exterior), and the envoys head into the park.

They find the van in a turn-off, and Emily stops. Samantha uses her Premonition discipline, and sees a gruesome scene. Some five minutes' walk from the van, the band members and Michel (the manager) stand in a circle around Ti Papa. Ti Papa holds a young man up by his lapels and bites his neck, throwing his corpse to the ground a moment later. Samantha relays this and that's really all Emily needs to hear; she opens the back of the SUV, grabs her assault rifle (I do not give a single fuck what "AR" actually stands for) and heads into the woods. The others follow, carrying their own weapons (Samantha grabs a stick that's sharp and thick enough to be a stake, too). 

They reach the clearing quickly, and it's just as Samantha described. As they break the treeline, though, the band members spot them. Aaron and Fredo draw pistols and fire, hitting BB and Emily (though their Resilience disciplines save them from serious harm). Ti Papa glances at Emily and she feels her muscles start to seize up, but she shakes it off. Ti Papa, however, bites the victim, just as Samantha foretold. 

Emily whips her rifle to her shoulder and shoots the vampire, blowing big-ass holes in him. He drops the man and staggers back. BB hurls his bola at Aaron and entangles him, and Michel gestures at Emily and she feels her lungs crackle as she struggles to breathe. Fredo shoots at them again, and Simon jumps in front of Ti Papa. Jennifer shoots him in the chest, and he drops, coughing up blood. Jacob turns tail and runs for his life.

Jordan arrives on the scene and her EMT instincts kick in. She rushes in to save Simon. Emily draws a stake and goes for Ti Papa, but Ti Papa melts into fog and vanishes. Michel gestures at BB and BB suddenly feels lost and confused. Not wanting to risk using his gun in such a state, he breaks a big branch off a tree. Samantha tries the same thing on Michel and manages to stab him in the chest with a stake, but instead of crumbling to dust like a vampire should, Michel just screams and bleeds. Samantha, horrified, drops the stake and tries to stop the bleeding, and Michel stabs her in the leg. 

Dylan activates Sphere of Protection as Jordan tries to save Simon. Simon whispers "just let me die" over and over to Jordan, but she refuses. Aaron struggles against the bola and then yells for Fredo, and Fredo touches it and it snaps. BB moves in and clocks Fredo in the head with the branch, and Emily fires a shot at Aaron and hits him in the arm. Jennifer dives in and uses Heal on the unfortunate young man that Ti Papa bit, and he draws in a desperate breath - not dead yet!

BB smacks Fredo with the branch again, and Jennifer shoots Michel, dropping him to one knee. Samantha tells Fredo to let her help him, but he snarls and gestures, and Samantha feels her will and vitality wane. Emily puts Aaron in a headlock and tries to choke him out, and Jordan continues to try to save Simon, but he's bleeding out. She gets his attention, though, and asks if Ti Papa is a vampire. Simon confirms that he is, and Jordan asks how to hurt him. Simon tells her that Ti Papa is afraid of mint and garlic, and that he can't cross a line of salt. But then he says something truly chilling - "He knows her." 

"Who?" 

"The girl, with you." Jordan names off the women in her group - Emily? Jennifer? Samantha? "Samantha," wheezes Simon. "He knows her. He wants her." And then he breathes his last.

BB, meanwhile, warns Fredo to stay down, but Fredo lunges for the stick. BB responds instinctively and hits him, and Fredo falls backwards, taking the stick with him. To his horror, BB realizes that a jutting stick on the branch got lodged in Fredo's throat, and he chokes on his own blood before BB can do anything for him. BB sits down heavily and stares - he is not a killer and was not expecting to fight human beings.

Emily finishes choking out Aaron, and he falls unconscious. The envoys drag the victim back to the SUV, and Emily puts Michel in a sleeper hold to incapacitate him. As the adrenaline begins to fade, they realize the enormity of what they've done - they've killed two people (really three; Michel is dead too) and incapacitated a fourth. Several of them have been wounded meaning the DNA is all over the place. BB is already in the system - actually all of them are. Jordan's phone rings. It's Detective Jackson, telling them that "shots fired" have been reported at Ann Morrison. They have a window to get gone, and it's closing.

The put the corpses in the van and head to the ranch. Things have well and truly gone sideways, and worst of all, they have no idea where Ti Papa is.

Character Creation: Exquisite Crimes, Goth Detectives

Wait, really? Yah rilly. 

The Game: Exquisite Crimes, Goth Detectives
The Publisher: Better Dreams
Degree of Familiarity: None, though it's strangely compelling
Books Required: Just the one

You know, I kinda feel like I was born too soon sometimes. Like, I would not want to be young now, what with the world overtly on fire and the people in power having abandoned all pretense that they want folks alive, but when I was a late teen/early 20-something, it was not uncommon for us (where "us" meant me, my brother, and two or three of whoever we were hanging out with that day) to say "hey, I have this game, never played it, want to give it a whack?" And we played a bunch of things like that - Nightlife, Toon, Tank Girl, and so forth. But we were limited by the games of the day.

But now, shit, we have games like Exquisite Crimes, Goth Detectives which is literally two pages (one for the players, one for the GM, there's not even a cover) and it's basically a story starter of a game. Would it have been a long campaign? Of course not, but I can already picture how a couple of my college buds would have approached it, and it would have been amazing. 

Ah, well. Time makes fools of us all. 

So anyway, in this game chargen is largely random. You wind up with...well, a goth detective. Starting off, I need to decide which of three stats is best, average, and worst. My choices are Deathly, Exquisite, and Sharp. I think I'll lean in to the "goth" bit and make Exquisite my best, Sharp average, and Deathly worst. Note that there is no slot to write which is which, so I just put B/A/W next to the appropriate traits.

Singular talent! I shall roll and d6 and I get...I can find a hidden door or entrance anywhere. Dark Power, likewise a d6, I get...oh, perfect. I can declare (once per case) that I had a doomed love affair with an NPC of my choice. 

I am haunted by (d6) my own dark deeds. Sure, why not. My inevitable DOOM is to die and return in the form of a spirit guide, in the shape of a wise but mocking raven. CAW CAW MOTHERFUCKERS.

Finally, name. Yes, there's random draw for this, too, but it requires a d20. My first name is Morrigan, and my last name is Ghoul. Morrigan Ghoul, Goth Detective. 

Morrigan is slim, gaunt, androgynous, pale (doy), and constantly smells of cloves, but you never see him smoking them. In addition to black, he wears black, but also some silver Celtic jewelry. He insists his surname is pronounced "gull" rather than /gul/ and that it has nothing to do with flesh-eating monsters. Likewise, the fact that he's often whistling something from Sweeny Todd isn't something you should read into.

Off to solve crimes! 

Character Creation: Vaesen

IT'S VASSIN' TIME!

The Game: Vaesen
The Publisher: Free League Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None yet
Books Required: Just the one

 

Vaesen is an investigative horror game, and if I'm honest it reminds me quite a bit of Chill, at least where story structure is concerned. Characters are folks with the Sight - the ability to see the titular vaesen (spirits, monsters, supernatural beings), who are otherwise invisible unless they want to be seen. Vaesen have always had a place in the world, but now (where "now" is "the 19th century") the world is getting industrialized and changing and the vaesen are reacting to it. PCs are folks who have learned of the Society, a group of people dedicated to investigating and/or hunting the vaesen, and are trying to restart the organization after it kinda fell apart.

Like I said, some clear parallels to Chill - investigative focus, secret society that is pretty much the underdog, protecting people from the horror of the supernatural even when people bring it on themselves. I may have to give this game a go at some point, though I might need to brush on my Swedish first. 

Now, there are two methods for making characters presented in the book. One is a pretty standard pick an archetype and fill in stuff by choice, the other involves random tables and lifepaths. And y'know, I don't have a concept and I love lifepaths, so let's do that!

First thing, I roll for class (as in, social class). I roll...ooh, aristocrat. OK, cool. My starting Resources is 5. Now I roll for Upbringing on the Aristocrat table. "Spoiled." 

So far, so good. Now we roll for Profession. Author. OK, then. That gives me +1 Resources, and puts me on the Writer table (not sure what that means yet). Oh, wait, I see. There's a life events table, which is where I'm rolling now! 

I roll Sweetheart! Basically I have, or had, a happy romantic relationship. Given where this comes up in my guy's life, it's likely to be young love, which is a very different thing than a September romance. 

I could now stop and say my guy is Young, or I could move on to Middle Age and roll again. I think I'll do that, actually. I roll again on the Life Events table and get...Addiction. Oof. Well, why not. 

I think I'll stop here and be Middle Aged. I have to lower an Attribute of my choice. I think I'll lower Precision and say that his hands shake now. 

Now I can raise an Attribute of my choice by one; I shall raise Empathy to 4. 

Two more Skill points; I can go to 3 in Inspiration if I want. Let's see. Presently I have: 

Ranged Combat 1
Stealth 2
Learning 2
Manipulation 2
Inspiration 2
Medicine 1

I think I will buy Observation 1 and Vigilance 1. 

And now back to random; I roll a d3 for Motivation, Trauma, Dark Secret, and Talent. (Trauma here is the trauma that gave me the Sight, and I might just choose that one.) Rolling for Motivation I get Revenge. That's...actually something I hadn't considered. Hmm. I don't love the example Traumas given. Oh, I've got an idea. 

Hugo Skytte married his childhood sweetheart Helena when he was a young man, and enjoyed a career as an essayist and novelist for some years. But then like his father before him, he started drinking very heavily. He was not an angry or mean drunk; he was much more likely to get sleepy. In fact, he was fast asleep at a party at a friend's country house the night Helena went walking in an orchard, got led away into by a will-o'-the-wisp, and tumbled down a hillside to her death. 

Hugo vaguely remembers the lights in the trees and hearing her scream, but he thought he dreamed it. It wasn't until he learned what happened that next day that he realized what those lights were. 

All of that in mind, I think Revenge works as a motivation. Probably not against that particular vaesen, but against any that take advantage of the innocent. Dark Secret, then? Actually, let's say it's that he's still drinking. 

And then, Talent. Oh, Wordsmith is perfect. I can ignore penalties from Conditions when making Inspiration rolls. Might as well call that one "functional alcoholism." And now I get an extra piece of equipment. I shall take a book collection.

Normally at this point I would come up with relationships between Hugo and the other PCs, but seeing as how it's just me, I think we call it done.

Hugo still dresses smartly, but his hair isn't as well groomed these days. It's shaggy and blonde, and his beard comes in white in places, perhaps a little prematurely. He drinks from a flask and chews mint leaves from his garden constantly to hide the smell, and he walks with a cane that he doesn't really need, but it keeps him steady on the bad days. 

Hugo is aware that other members of the Society find the vaesen fascinating or even beautiful. Hugo wants them all to burn while he screams his wife's name at them. 

And that'll do it! 

Character Creation: Black Seven

Annoyed at myself that I took this long to read this game.

The Game: Black Seven
The Publisher: Zero Point Information
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Black Seven is an RPG that takes inspiration from the stealth-action genre of video games, which includes Hitman, Dishonored, and some of my other favorites. Definitely going on my "run me" list. But let's make an agent!

The idea here is that members of Black Seven are freelance intelligence/wetwork/ agents. You show up, do the job, hopefully succeed, and lead a life of luxury in the meanwhile. The game reminds me a little of Blades in the Dark inasmuch as there's a lot of moment-to-moment narrative description going on, but it involves a great deal more planning on the GM's part (that is to say: any amount). 

So my first step in making an agent is to pick a codename. One's codename can be really anything; reference to a skill set, an incident or just whatever sounds cool. My agent's codename is "Sundew" - I want to specialize in traps and suchlike, and "Flytrap" just doesn't have the right ring to it.

Next, history. This is just a brief phrase touching on who Sundew was prior to being recruited by Black Seven. As tempting as it is to have him be a Jigsaw-like serial killer (no, not really), I think instead we'll say "mechanical engineer pushed too far."

Rate your traits! These are skills, broken out into three categories and linked to four attributes, so f'rex, "Trap" is a Mind/Mob trait. I pick one category to be primary, one secondary, one tertiary. Primary start at 5, secondary 4, tertiary 3. Makes sense. 

Well, Mob is gonna be Primary, which gives me 5s in Ambush, Snipe, Trap, and Scare. I'll make Force (Fight, Shoot, Throw, Shout) tertiary, and Infiltrate (Sneak, Crack, Retrieve, Manipulate) secondary. 

Rate your attributes! I WILL. Body, Mind, Speed, Communication. One gets to be exceptional, which adds one to all the linked traits, and one gets to be meh, which subtracts one. 

Well, I think Body can be meh. I think Sundew is very much the type of agent that can set traps and take precise shots, but fighting is not really his bag. That does reduce my Sneak some, but I'll live with that. that means I have Sneak 3, Fight 2, Ambush 4. For my exceptional, I think I'll go all-in on Trap which means putting the bump in Mind, giving me Retrieve 5, Throw 4, and Trap 6. 

Equipment! I start out with an armo(u)red camouflage suit, a secure communicator, and whatever I need for my traits. In Sundew's case, I'm figuring lockpicks, a palmtop computer, and lots of pockets and pouches where he stores adhesives, small explosives, flechettes, caltrops, and other trap accoutrements. 

Options is for stuff like cybernetics and psionics, so those don't apply. 

Concept is just further detail or history. I think that Sundew got radicalized by the US healthcare (and legal, and economic...actually just the whole thing) system and dropped off the grid. He started setting traps for politicians - nothing lethal (making martyrs doesn't change anything), but just to scare or humiliate them. He was about four seconds from getting picked up by the FBI when Black Seven scooped him up, and here we are. 

Character Creation: Starfall

Of course, "Starfall" is also the name of a children's educational software company, which took me a while to remember but is, in retrospect, why the title of this sci-fi RPG about an alien invasion of post-war Earth felt incongruous with the content. 

The Game: Starfall
The Publisher: Wordplay Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Starfall is weird in that it doesn't include a character sheet, but it does include pre-gens. I see games that don't include sheets every so often and I always wonder how they managed to get past the playtesting stage without someone saying "oh, hey, that's a thing we need." But whatever, it means I can make the character on my couch because I don't have anything to write.

The basic premise of Starfall is that WWII happened as in our world, and then in 1951 aliens show up and get quite rowdy. And these aliens are giant black bugs, affectionately called "Scarabs" by the population of Earth. They communicate via implanted telepathy radios, and human beings can have those implanted as well, so the USA got taken out of the fight with the aliens quite effectively by turning the Vice-President into one such "Quisling," after which Joe fucking McCarthy gets elected and shuts the borders, focusing entirely on rooting out alien collaborators and ignoring the damage the Scarabs are actually doing to the rest of the world. So that's depressingly plausible. 

Players take on the roles of members of X-Com the AEO (Alliance Earth Organization), but there's a lot of leeway within that. The character creation section opens with a sidebar listing six AEO missions, so since I don't have an idea for a character, I shall pick one of those missions and make a character that might be chosen to go on it. 

Well, of those, if you were to ask me as a player which one I would most prefer to spend an evening playing out, I think I'd go with one of the options that has a defined end point: that is, rescue, assassinate/expose, sabotage, maybe recover tech. Let's go sabotage, sounds like fun. Assuming we're a small team of operatives who need to get into a Scarab-controlled (or Quisling-controlled) area, plant the bombs or flip the switch or flibber the doobers, and get the fuck out before the exciting explosion chases us down a hallway. Sounds groovy. But which member of this crack team would I like to play?

I think it'd be fun to play a Scarab behavioral expert, someone who's studied the bugs' tactics and is there to advise the more fighty folks in case things go sideways. So let's say my guy was an entomologist who got a crash course in human psychology when the invasion began and is now the closest thing the AEO has (at least locally) to a xenopsychologist. This guy sounds like a "Linus" to me, so let's say his name is Linus Tinsley. 

Step One of chargen is a basic concept, but I've done that. Step Two is to pick a Background. I think Linus comes from money, so I'll take the Privileged Background. That gives me +1d Wealth. 

Step Three is to choose a Profession; Linus is obviously a Scientist. 4d Wealth.

Step Four is traits. Traits fit into three categories: Body, Mind, and Soul. I'm meant to have between six and ten in each category, and both my Background and Profession have a list, though those are suggestions. Let's start with Body!

Well, I don't think Linus is much of a powerhouse. I will give him the Skinny trait. However, I think he's not out of shape, so I'll also give him Running (traits can be skills) and Tireless. I'll give him Steady Hands (he's used to dissecting very small creatures, after all) and Fastidious (he's gotten really paranoid about bugs in general since the invasion). Hmm. Where would you put sense-based traits? Here or Mind? It doesn't seem to make a huge difference, so I'll take Sharp-Eyed as my last Body trait. 

On to Mind! Biology, Entomology, Psychology, Well-Educated, Anatomy, Pioneer in Xenopsychology, Neat Freak, Behavioral Science. That's eight, do I need more? I think that's probably fine, I could add another one if I think of something. Ooh, how about Dissection?

Soul! Raised Rich, Socially Stiff, Passion for Knowledge, Bookworm, Curious About Scarabs, Terrified of Quislings, Up-and-Coming Expert, Inherited Wealth. 

Next step, I assign numbers to the traits, thusly:

I have 23 traits, meaning two get 6d, five get 5d, 9 get 4d, and the remaining seven get 3d. Let's assign them a-like so:

Skinny 3d
Running 3d
Tireless 4d
Steady Hands 4d
Fastidious 5d
Sharp-Eyed 4d
Biology 5d
Entomology 5d
Psychology 4d
Well-Educated 3d
Anatomy 3d
Pioneer in Xenopsychology 6d
Neat Freak 4d
Behavioral Science 5d
Dissection 5d
Raised Rich 3d
Socially Stiff 3d
Passion for Knowledge 4d
Bookworm 4d
Curious About Scarabs 4d
Terrified of Quislings 3d
Up-and-Coming Expert 6d
Inherited Wealth 4d

Wealth! I have 4 from my profession + 1 for my background, so 5d. I can pick out a couple of things at my Wealth or below, let's have a look. Uh, I want an EMP Field Sensor (which can detect Quislings). A lab is 6d, which is some bullshit, but whatever, we'll assume I have a field dissection kit or something. 

Finally, Goals. I get three, and the game suggests a long-term goal, a short-term goal directly related to the mission, and a goal related to one or more of the other PCs. Since I have no other PCs, I shall skip that last one. 

Linus' long-term goal is to develop a cure for Quislings. His goal for the mission (which was to sabotage some Scarab industrial operations) is to apply his behavioral science methods to predict Scarab strategy. 

And that's pretty much it! I picture Linus as a thin, bespectacled British man, brown hair, brown eyes, worn clothes, expensive (but worn) shoes, and probably an expensive ring from his family. I suspect that the Tinsleys might have chided his interest in bugs, but they're not really laughing now (because they're all dead? Maybe...though it might be a better story if some or all of them are Quislings).

Atlantis: Ride the Lightning

So here is last time, and we're back in the land of Khem. The characters are making their way down the mountains after talking with the Impundulu - the Lightning Birds - and agreeing (though by no means promising) to kill the "snakes" in the village of Nehebu. 

They stop in the ruined village of Edfu and talk this over. Sure, none of them have any love for Set-worshippers or the Ahl-at-Rab in general, but they don't really know what the dynamics in Nehebu are like. Maybe the Ahl-at-Rab is a valued member of the community? Maybe no one there knows who it is? Hell, maybe there's not even an Ophidian there anymore; it's not like the Impundulu have a really good idea of what life is like in the world. 

The heroes decide to try something kind of risky - they decide to ask Shango, God of Lightning, Fire, and War, directly. They build a shrine around the lightning stone in the center of the ruined village, and Thanos creates an alchemical fire. Imani sacrifices a goat to Shango, and lightning lances down, and there stands the god in all his glory!

The characters don't look directly at him (that's unwise for a variety of reasons), but ask him about the Lightning Birds and his reasons for creating them, and whether he'd be willing to give them an egg. Shango thinks about this, and really doesn't remember the specifics of why he created them. He gifts them with the ability to "ride the lightning" until sunrise, and tells them to go back to the Lightning Birds and inform them that they need to finish their, or just kill them. 

The heroes find that they can summon up lightning bolts and fly with them, and they hurl themselves back to the Impundulu nests. Imani takes charge and tells them that Shango said to give them an egg, and the birds acquiesce. The heroes also tell the Impundulu that they need to finish their job and get into the Void, and the birds take wing, and fly down the mountain. 

Eithne, not wanting to be cursed any longer than she has to be, cracks the egg and slurps it down, but then suddenly and painfully turns into a Lightning Bird ("Honestly," says Akala, "you've never looked better"). Eithne shapeshifts back into herself, and just hopes this effect is temporary. The heroes fly down the mountain, and find the Lightning Birds destroying the village. 

As they watch, one of the birds spits lighting and sets a house ablaze, while another scoops up one of the villagers and flies into the air. Thanos sends the creature he summoned after it, and it snaps at the Lightning Bird. The Impundulu drops the unfortunate man, who tumbles to his death, despite Thanos' best effort to catch him. Meanwhile, Eithne conjures up a warded dome and calls all of the villagers into it, hoping to fend off the creatures' lightning. Imani hurls her spear at one of the Impundulu and pierces its flesh, but only barely. 

Akala realizes that without some edge, these Lightning Birds will probably win this fight. She racks her brain and remembers that Shango never gives out all of his gifts - he is the God of Lightning and Fire. She yells to the others to set the Lightning Birds on fire, and Eithne throws a plume of flame at one of them, enveloping it and sending it screaming into a spiral. Thanos follows suit, standing over the body of the man he failed to save and calling up a whirling firestorm, while Imani, taking the direct approach as always, grabs the one she was fighting and hurls it into the wreckage of a burning building.

The Impundulu retaliate, spitting lightning and attacking with their claws, but now that the heroes know how to hurt them, the battle is won. Eithne and Thanos burn one to ash with magic, and the remaining two swoop up and strike Akala with lightning. She plummets to the ground as Thanos flickers up to one of the Lightning Birds and burns it to death. The last remaining one strikes Thanos and fells him, but Imani lops it head off with her mong. The heroes tend to their wounded, and then help the villagers extinguish the fires.

The heroes are celebrated for beating the Lightning Birds, but there's more to be done here. After all, there may still be a Set cult present. And would the villagers like to return to Edfu, or remain here? In any case, the heroes need to rest and heal, but at the very least, Eithne's curse is broken and she can eat regular food again. 

She has no appetite for eggs, though, she finds.

Morts: To Market, To Market

Our third session opens with a planned trip to the farmer’s market and swap meet and a look at the updated chore wheel, along with a couple of other notes. The mayor’s efforts to cut the “budget waste” in the Morts program has trickled down to an effort by the station head to conserve ammo – anyone with less than five shots used by the end of the month gets special berry pies from the market, and those who go over get nothing. In addition, Molly (the station head) has noted a lot of stress in her people and is looking to have someone take on some group activity planning once a week or something – movie nights, whatever – and placed a note to that effect on the memo board. 

Edison is really excited by the concept of being in charge of entertainment and he basically corners Molly at breakfast the next morning with barely contained excitement over being in charge of entertainment, possibly doing plays or improv games. Molly tries to gently suggest that a group movie may be all people are willing to do, at least at first, and limits him to one improv/acting evening a month. Will that matter? Who can say?

Oscar is taking the budget issues to heart and has fixated on the idea of having goats at the Hub, providing meat, milk, fiber for yarn and fabric, and an additional way to help maintain the grounds, create fertilizer for his garden, and get rid of food waste. He hasn’t brought this up yet, but he’s secretly measuring out where they could live and doing the math.Bonesey has taken some of Randy’s notebooks and is reading them assiduously, in hopes of improving his necromantic skills and getting his little bone puppets working better. No one knows quite what to do with this but offer vague encouragement, and it’s not like he goes out of the way to tell anyone else what he has going on. Todd (on Team 2) suspects something, though. Bonesey is already an object of fascination for him, given his desire to join the Republic of Davis necromancy programs. He is paired with Bonesey this week on the chore wheel, and the result is that he won’t give Bonesey a minute to himself that he isn’t required to.

River gets paired with Miranda doing maintenance, and she’s really annoyed overall and fixated on getting this pool fixed. Oscar wants to turn it into more of a pond feature, and River is amenable to at least talking about that – anything that would create a decent amount of filtration is up for discussion. Miranda doesn’t want to do anything and has, in fact, locked herself in her room, playing loud music and yelling at anyone who tries to get her to come out. She agrees to come out and do dishes AFTER everyone leaves for the trip if they will just LEAVE HER ALONE. GOD, THIS SUCKS.

Taking some of the random stuff from Randy’s, the group goes with Molly to the market leaving Miranda and Rory at the Hub. Molly, River, and Oscar buy the food for the next two weeks or so, with Oscar hovering over the produce and the goat dairy stuff like a creepy fan. Edison finds the magic stuff trader and gets a medallion he found looked at, with the end result being “let me look this up and come back next time for more info.” Bonesey buys a file to file his finger bones into spikey talons, a move that makes everyone else vaguely uneasy, and River is approached by Mr. Patel (the owner of the farm and market) who asks if the Morts would be willing to look into a situation for a little extra pay.

With Molly’s encouragement, River listens and finds out that the farm’s been having small bands of alpha zombies attack. That’s not terrible – zombie attacks happen, and it hasn’t been in such numbers that anyone was really at risk. But they’ve realized there’s a pattern and food is being stolen from the fields at the same time. If the Morts would come and take a look and see if they can figure out who’s behind it (and ideally put a stop to it) they’d be happy to cut a deal/pay the Morts in food and services.  

River and the team agree, leaving out Todd from the equation (he doesn’t care, really, because he’s got other fish to fry, as it were). They get the food back to the station and then go out to the farm. The most recent incursion was two days ago, ravaging a section of a tomato field. They figure about two big burlap bags (about what one big or two medium people could carry) in nearly ripe tomatoes are missing. At the same time this happened, further down the fence line, a bunch of zombies had gotten into the orchard, which is where the family was, out of range to hear or see what was happening to the tomato plants. The team (guided by Priya, the Patels’ oldest daughter), they climb up into the barn to look out and see nothing in particular, except for clear land to the west (co-incidentally, the same direction as the cemetery from last session). They decide that they should split into two teams, once to look for evidence of the thieves, and one to track the zombies back. Any bets on which one gets into trouble first? Check back next time!

Pugmire: Get Wrecked, Doggos

Today was Pugmire. We finished up a story, everyone leveled up, and we had lemon ricotta pancakes for brunch (not in that order). Here's last time.

Our fuzzy heroes sleep in the storeroom they found in the tunnels, and then talk over whether to head back to Pugmire or to go searching for the Doberman Mines. They decide on the latter, but not to try and pick their way through the tunnels looking for a back entrance - Graff Doberman tells them that he can guide them to the mines, but he has no ideal about these tunnels. 

The group heads west into the mountains, and as they're climbing up a slope, the ground crumbles, sending them all down the hill in a pile of rocks and limbs. They quickly hide, but Petunia forgets to move her staff and when two Doberman guards show up, they spot her fidget spinner. They call out, but Gelert, thinking quickly, jumps out and claims that they're just lost travelers and got caught in a rockslide. The guards buy this lie and tell Petunia and Gelert to head east if they want to climb mountains. The others remain hidden, and the guards leave.

They head around the area into a forest, trying to get a different angle on the mines, but Dire trips a log trap. It swings down and catches all of the dogs (some more than others), and they decide that since the area around the mine is clearly heavily trapped and patrolled, it's probably better to head back to Pugmire before they get too wrecked. They get on the road, and begin their journey. They skip the road house this time; Dire is making noises about getting revenge on the dogs that cheated him and no one wants a fight. But on the third day, as they're passing by a lovely little lake, they are suddenly ambushed by a pack of strays! Leading the strays is none other than Rondo Border-Collie, one of Duke Heinrich Doberman's minions! (Not for the first time, I reflect on how this all sounds like utter gobbledy-gook if you don't know the characters. I do not care.)

Peppa is the only one that isn't caught completely flat-flooted (pawed?). She summons up a spiritual weapon and readies herself, warning off the attacks. They don't listen, however, and the strays leap to the attack. Rondo snarls "kill the casters first!" and slashes at Graff with a battle-ax, but Graff handily parries and counterattacks. One of the strays fires a magic missile at Petunia, but Petunia reflexively casts a shield and deflects the spell. Boomer flies into a rage and charges at the artisan, and Dire draws his great sword and dispatches one of the strays. 

The battle continues to rage; Dire charges between the strays, laying about with his sword. Boomer fells the artisan as he tries to run, and Peppa, not wishing to let a dog die so, runs over and casts Spare the Dying to save him. Petunia throws a chaos spray at Rondo, but he laughs it off. He does not laugh off, however, the sword strikes from Graff and Dire. Dire lops off his ear and realizes he's bleeding a horrible yellow stuff. And then Gelert combat-rolls out of sight and then leaps back in, whacks Rondo with his staff, and knocks him dead. 

Petunia moves in to check the corpse, and it shudders and vomits up a black, buzzing cloud. The dogs step back as the demon-cloud shrieks and then dissipates.

The characters calm down and check the bodies of the dead. None of them area carrying anything of particular worth (though Boomer does take Rondo's axe). Peppa casts some healing magic on the artisan and he revives, and thanks Peppa and the others for sparing him. He introduces himself as Jehahn Mutt. Gelert asks what he knows about Duke Heinrich's evil machinations, but he doesn't know anything - Rondo came to his village looking for muscle and he needed the plastic. The characters send him back home, and get back on the road to Pugmire.

Upon arriving, they decide to head for the palace and see if they can talk to Princess Yosha (rather than going to report to Heinrich, because, well, he's tried to kill them). When they get there, they are immediately taken to see the king and his seneschal, Murra Pug. The king tells them that Heinrich has reported them all dead, killed by malicious cats, and asks them to tell him of their journey.

Once they've finished, King Puckington tells them that he's conflicted - Duke Heinrich Doberman is a bad dog, but he's also very politically powerful and his mines provide materials and jobs for Pugmire. If the king exposes Heinrich, there is sure to be retaliation, perhaps even civil war. What should he do? The characters advise trying to expose Heinrich with evidence, gradually, and reduce the kingdom's reliance on him. Petunia, however, asks that the king help to resettle the village of Ellendonk, since Heinrich forced the residents out, and the king agrees and sets those wheels in motion.

The characters return to their storehouse for a well-deserved rest. What adventures will the future hold?! 

Character Creation: AZ: After Zombies

We have reached the point of the summer where I don't have any work-work to do, so chargen a-go-go!

The Game: AZ: After Zombies
The Publisher: Apocalyptic Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

After Zombies is, as the name would imply, a zombie apocalypse RPG. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Well, that's not really what I mean. It looks perfectly playable, it gives a lot mechanical support and attention to things like group cohesion ("Unity"), trauma, and survival, which is about what you'd want from such a game. When I read zombie RPGs, though, it's hard not to compare them to All Flesh Must be Eaten or (now) Zombie World. 

One thing I will say for AZ, though, is that the little fiction snippets telling the story of a group of survivors coming together organically to form a survivor camp in a university library was fun to read. Needs an editor, but the story was good and the characters were interesting. 

Well, anyway, let's make a survivor. First thing I do is pick a background, and since I don't have anything in mind I'll roll for it. A roll of 80 (percentile, y'see) gives me Academic. Gee, I think that might be too much of a stretch...

That's what I get as an Academic (that's all fixed values for my Attributes), and then I pick one to be my primary attribute, to which I add 3d10. Well, I think that my character was an adjunct professor of comp, not making enough money to live off, so he worked at the university rec center as well. He took advantage of the extra time there to get really good at archery (I think he went bow hunting in his youth and may actually have shot competitively at some point), and now that there are freaking zombies it's actually a useful skill. I think I'll make Quickness is Primary stat, which means I add 3d10 there, or I could take the average for 16 points. The dice say 22, so thanks dice! That bumps my QK to 62. 

Now I pick a secondary attribute, which gets 2d10 added. Let's make it Combat Ability, I add 13, making it CA 43. Ordinary attributes all get an extra 1d10, so that'll be Intellect, Insight, and Leadership. 8, 7, 2. Well, I'll put the 2 into Intellect (62), the 8 into Leadership (48), and the 7 into Insight (67). My last three Attributes, Health, Luck, and Strength, are weak, so I subtract 2d10 from each of those (OUCH). 12, 9, 18. Geez. I'll subtract the 18 from Luck (leaving me 22), the 9 from Strength (11), and the 12 from Health (28). 

Now I roll a random trait, if I wish. I do wish! A roll of 31 gives me Sex Appeal. I can dig it. Marksmanship is hawt.

Calculate derived attributes! This isn't the last step, so you'd better not be able to raise stuff after this! Hit Point is Strength + Health (39). Mental Toughness is Insight + Leadership (115). Action Points is 6 (QK/10). Endurance is double Health (56). Unity...oh, well, Unity I'll skip, because it requires a group to figure out. Karma is optional, but I'd start with 40, modified by various things, so I'll wait on that.

Disadvantage! These give you something extra now for troubles later. Sounds good. Oh, wait, dammit, these let you raise Attributes, which I would totally do, except that I already wrote them on my sheet because we did derived traits already (I KNEW IT). 

Well, I can use a disad to take a skill, too, so I'll take High Metabolism (my guy burns food like crazy).

And indeed, next up is Skills. I get one from Background and one of my choice, plus one more from my disadvantage. Well, I want Archery, which is my freebie. My choices from Academic are Chemistry, Engineering, First Aid, Medicine, or Psychology. Not really in my imagined field, I guess, but there's not really anything on the sheet that is. I suppose I'll take Psychology because it gives me synergy with Influence (you get bonuses to use synergy skills to the ones you're trained it). Figure he minored in Psych or something.

And then for my third Skill, I'll take Outdoorsman. My guy was a hunter and outdoors enthusiast as a younger man, and it's all coming back now. 

Starting equipment! Everyone begins with either a melee weapon, a pistol, armor, or a bow, and duh, I want the bow. 

And that's it, other than the details. Keen!

Rudy Norris was born in Murfreesboro, TN, and led a pretty normal life for his area. His parents were both professionals, his dad took him hunting and taught him to do outdoorsy stuff, and Rudy went to college and graduated with a degree in English and Psychology. Like a lot millennials, he graduated without a firm idea of what he was doing other than "going to college," and managed to get a job at his university as an adjunct (which he hated) and a manager at the rec center (which he did not hate). He was just starting to get really good at archery again when the zombies showed up.

Rudy has a fast metabolism bordering on a disorder; his body burns calories fast, especially when he's stressed. It's why he's not stronger or heartier, despite being in fairly good shape; he crashes quickly. Rudy is in his mid-20s, brown hair, blue eyes. His beard has grown out and it drives him nuts, but he's picky about shaving cream and he ran out a few months ago. He's skinny and getting skinnier, and that's the bigger worry right now. 

And that'll do it!

Character Creation: Prowlers & Paragons

Look! Up in the sky!

The Game: Prowlers & Paragons
The Publisher: LakeSide Games (there is also a newer edition from Evil Beagle, but I don't have that one)
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Amongst the throngs of superhero RPGs, we have this one! And...yeah. Looks perfectly serviceable. Aims squarely at a four-color, over-the-top interpretation of comic book heroes, which is fine. The book's writing is a little wackier in places than I think necessary (I've never been a fan of the whole "lol why are we doing a 'what is roleplaying' section 'cause you totally know what it is' thing), but there's nothing objectionable. I do find it a little funny that it felt like it had to find a BLANK & BLANK title and wound up with Prowlers & Paragons, 'cause "prowlers" doesn't really seem like it sends the right message. But that's all very nitpicky.

Actually, I think the game would work fine at the table. P&P works on sliding power scale, measured by how many dice you get to build a character. "Standard" is 36 dice, with a maximum trait rank of 10d (this works on a dice pool system, roll a bunch of d6s, evens are successes, 6s explode, but success/failure is about who narrates the result, not whether or not the action happens). It's very narrative focused, but combat has more robust rules because, as the game points out, that's where a lot of the source material lives, which I suppose is true. I do wish the book had an example of chargen, though. 

Well, anyway, let's a make a "standard" hero. First off, I need a concept. I've been replaying Spider-Man on the PS5 lately, and I have to say that swinging through New York is pretty fun. Don't think I've ever made a stretchy hero (well, I made a hero with stretching powers here, but that wasn't really the focus), so how about we do that? 

Theodore "Ted" Townes, by day, is a mild mannered clerk at a mild mannered bodega. By night (or, like, whenever the situation calls for it), he is ready to become...the Malleable Man! (If there's already a superhero with that name, I don't want to know.) I see Ted as very much the archetypal "don the costume and take off after the crisis" kind of hero, which means his bodega probably spends a lot of time closed or else he's got a long-suffering co-worker who isn't even supposed to be here today. Either works. (And this isn't Masks, so we probably wouldn't spend a lot of time dealing with that anyway.) 

OK, good enough concept for now. Let's put some dice into things! 

We start with mundane traits. I get an automatic 3d in each of these, unless I wish to bust any of them down to 1d and take some extra dice. I dunno. Offhand, I feel like Athletics, Charm, Might, Streetwise, and Toughness should probably get some beefing up. Raising these is one-for-one.

So let's bump Athletics up to 7d, Charm to 6d (and I'll pay one extra for the Disguise pro), 4d in Might (meaning I can lift about a ton), and then I'll put 3 each into Perception, Stealth, and Toughness, giving me 6d in each one. That means I've spent 18 points of my 36. 

Super traits! Obviously I need Plasticity and Swing Line. Plasticity actually costs double because, presumably, it lets me do a variety of things that aren't really enumerated, which makes me wonder if I need to take Swing Line. Let's assume I do. If I want 6d in Plasticity, I'd have to burn 12 of my remaining 18 points. Erm. Ok, well, let's put 3 into Swing Line, so I can swing through the city at a leisurely 8mph. I have 3d left for perks.

Well, I want Reach (allowing me to use my powers are distant targets as though they were up close), and I'll take Quick Change with my final die (I can change into my superhero form instantly; we'll assume that Ted can absorb his street clothes and "exude" his superhero costume). 

Flaws! I get three; they'd give me Resolve in play when they cause problems for poor 'ol Ted. I'll say he's Absent-Minded, Broke, and I'll take a Vulnerability to cold (I like the way it works; basically I get a Resolve point if I choose to just fail a defense roll against a cold-based attack).

And that's all the numbery stuff, now we just need the descriptive stuff. Ted is in his late teens, skinny, scruffy, been trying to grow a proper beard for a while and it's not happening. He favors jeans or cargo pants and t-shirts or hoodies (he's not above giving himself a six-pack when he wants to impress someone). 

As the Malleable Man, he's in constant flux - limbs are stretched and looped, neck like a silly straw, and his face isn't masked but it's unrecognizable because he's always changing it. He wears green spandex (which stretches, but not as much as he does), and goes barefoot. It's not like he leaves fingerprints or anything. 

Motivation! If you asked Ted why he does what he does, once he got done denying that he knows anything about this "Malleable Man" character, he'd probably say that doing the right thing is its own reward. That's maybe part of it, but mostly Ted feels that it's awesome and stretching feels good. (This to me speaks to a superhero who hasn't really faced a deadly challenge yet.)

Quote! Can be a catch-phrase or just something cool he said once. Hmm. I think that Ted has been in a couple of situations where he's saved people from a fall by turning himself into a slide or a net, and has yelled out "Enjoy the ride!" as folks plummet into the makeshift tarp or the safety slide he created. At the heart of it, he's having fun and wants other folks to do so, as well, but also there's a bit of "let's keep the mood light" in there.

Details! At this point I make up three details: one about me, one about one of the other PCs, and one about the game world. Well, obviously I don't have any other PCs, but that's fine. So we'll say that Ted works at Luis' Bodega. Luis himself is long gone; he retired and moved back to Colombia years ago. There's another superhero named The Reckoning in the same neighborhood, and he and Malleable Man inadvertently teamed up once, when a couple of local gangs decided to have a shootout in the middle of the damn street. He'd planned on talking to the dude, but he just vanished when the shooting stopped. And, finally, something about the game world. Well, let's say that the gangs that Ted and The Reckoning drove off have joined forces, and have a super-power patron now.

Connections! I need three NPCs. Well, I mentioned a coworker earlier, so let's say that's Tracy. Tracy, like Ted, is perpetually broke so she doesn't turn down the hours at the bodega, but she's a little annoyed at Ted for running out all the time. Bricks is a cab driver (unlicensed, yeah, what's it to ya) who frequents the area, and has on occasion given Malleable Man a ride. And finally, Detective Nunzio is a local who went to police academy and looks out for the neighborhood (or so he says, but it's not like the gangs ever seem to have trouble avoiding the cops...). 

Origin! Ah, yes, how did Ted get his powers? Was he bitten by some radioactive silly putty? Nah, I think Ted was cleaning out the back office of the bodega one day (penance for being late), and found a mason jar of brackish liquid. He set it on a table and then forgot about it, and knocked it over, and it fell, shattered, and splattered on him. He started getting stretchy the next day. He'd love to know what that stuff was, where it came from and why it was just...sitting the back office of a bodega, but he's got no idea where to start. 

I have 16 Edge (Athletics + Perception + Willpower), but that's the only thing left, so the Malleable Man is ready to hit the streets! And then bounce right off them!

Character Creation: Good Strong Hands

Cronch, cronch, says the Rock-Biter.

The Game: Good Strong Hands
The Publisher: Nerdburger Games
Degree of Familiarity: None, yet
Books Required: Just the one

Since this game is presently nominated for an Ennie, and since it's already been on my one-shot list once, I figure I'll give this one a go. 

Good Strong Hands takes inspiration from The Neverending Story (as is obvious to any Gen-Xer in the audience), and initially I was thinking it was a little thin - it's about the land of Fantasia Reverie and the Nothing Void coming to consume it. But then I read the list of inspirations, and in addition to the things I expected (The Neverending Story, Chronicles of Narnia, Willow, Labyrinth) I also found Annihilation, which threw me for a bit of a loop. It's perfectly in-theme, though, and I think if I were running this game for an adult group (as opposed to a group including my son), that's the way I might lean.

In any case, though, let's make a character! First thing is to choose a playbook. I'm torn between Paragon (an animal that is the fabled, Platonic ideal of its species; Aslan fits here) or a Redcap (Scottish folklore represent!). I think I'll go Paragon, because I had an idea for a snake character and it'd be an interesting twist. 

So that's my playbook. Now I divide 9 points into Body, Mind, Charm, and Heart. 2 is Average, 3 is above Average. Grr. I don't really see this snake as having anything below average, which means I pretty much have to go 2/2/2/3, so what gets the 3? I think Charm.

Now I pick two Specialties. My choices are Fighting, History, Leading Others, and Void Knowledge. Well, I think History and Void Knowledge, thanks.

Talents! I get one automatically - Eternal Shepherd. I can speak to other snakes, other snakes will defer to me, and when I die I can spend 3 Spirit and reincarnate. And then I get one more. 

Hmm. I like Channel Friendship, which would allow me to choose another character's Talent every morning and use it for that day, but I also like Void Sense. I think I'll go with Void Sense; kinda fits the "forbidden knowledge" vibe I've got going.

No Corruptions to start with, so skipping that. Fears! I think fear of cold makes sense, seeing as how I'm a snek and all. I guess a fear of burlap sacks is probably too narrow. How about a fear of heights? Clearly I'm not a tree snake, then, but that's fine. Oh, wait, no, open spaces. Nowhere to hide, too many blind spots.

Anchors! I get three of these, and they're basically just character traits. I'll take Wise, Subtle, and Flexible. 

That's pretty much it, other than name and description and stuff. The snake's name is Salem. Salem is a constrictor snake, very long and thick, rather like an anaconda. He's striped (greens and browns) with a yellow underbelly, and has deep blue eyes. He has a habit of wrapping around people when he's talking to them, but not, y'know, in a squeezy way.

I picture Salem as getting more predatory and scary as the Void takes hold, if it does, but always pretty much knowing more about the Void and the cycles of Reverie than he really wants to. He's got a very "I know I could just burrow into the warm places in the earth and sleep this out" vibe to him, and I dig it.

Slipstream: A Hero's Welcome (and also a new chair)

Back to space-y goodness! Here's last time.

The heroes are back on the Achilles along with about 20 former slaves, including Prince Boolar of Avia. Iris Blue programmed the punch card for the autopilot, and thinks that she programed it for Avia. But...then, some hours later, it becomes obvious that they are headed in the wrong direction. The ship dips low over the desert fragment of Gyptos. 

The Achilles is headed east, into the rich bit of New Gyptos City, and Prince Boolar (as the only one with any freakin' Streetwise) points out that if they land there in this ship, they are likely to be arrested and/or shot. Gyptos pays exorbitant taxes to Queen Anathraxa, and the rich folks will absolutely use turning them in as a way to ingratiate themselves. Iris tries to wrangle the ship again and manages to get it turned around and heading back west, toward the more rough-and-tumble half of the city, but not to land it. Zeenia tries her hand (tentacles), but all she manages to do is crash the ship.

The Achilles smashes down and everyone gets tossed around a bit, but no one is seriously injured. The passengers emerge and Iris looks around to see if any of the prisoners are going to be helpful - and indeed, there is a Gyptosian among them. He says they need to get off the street before someone turns them in, and says that he can probably arrange shelter, but would need, say, 1000 Slips? Zeenia is the only one with money, and she only has about 700 on her, so the guy zips off to make arrangements (he actually asks for the money up front, but even Zeenia is too smart for that) and the heroes and the prisoners wait in a residential block.

While waiting, they hear the unmistakable sound of someone's ass being kicked. They follow the sound and find six Gyptosians beaten up on a blue-skinned humanoid with prehensile hair! Iris recognizes this person as a Tropico, a native of the fragment of Sandpit, but she thought Queen Anathraxa had killed them all. This is irrelevant at the moment, though. The heroes leap in, and Iris delivers her usual monologue and knocks one of them right the fuck out.

Zeenia wibbles over and shields the Tropico from harm, and gives the Gyptosians beating him a chance to run, but they don't, so she goes murder-tornado and filets them. The others get the hint and flee, and the characters help the Tropico to his feet.

He introduces himself as Rastar, and says that he's here buying seeds, but the merchant he bought them from stiffed him and then sent these guys after him when he complained. The heroes ask if he's got transport off Gyptos, and he says he does, so they offer to solve his seed problem in exchange for passage. As it happens, Avia is right on the way to Sandpit, and he's got enough room on his ship for everyone (though it'll be a bit of a squash). 

The Gyptosian prisoner returns and takes the characters and the passengers to a warehouse near the river, and the heroes tell everyone to be ready to move. They accompany Rastar across the bridge into the richer section of New Gyptos City, and to a granary where a bunch of tough-looking dudes are working and an immensely fat Gypstosian in a gold headdress watches and fans himself. Rastar addresses the boss as Tut Amothop, and asks him to give him the seeds he bought, but Tut Amothop claims that Rastar tried to steal the seeds and tells them all to go away before he has his men sort them out.

Iris engages in her best diplomacy and tries to flatter Tut Amothop, but all he does is invite her to dinner (and it's not immediately clear whether that's a date or whether he intends to eat her). She refuses, and he gets frustrated and tells his men to give Rastar some seeds and send him on his way. However, as he takes his motorized hover chair back towards the warehouse, the heroes notice him nod at his thugs, and see trouble coming! The thugs pull batons and advance, but the heroes are having none of it.

Iris draws her ray gun and shoots one of the thugs down. One of them pulls a rifle from somewhere and shoots her in the chest. Her sparkly armor absorbs the worst of it, but she's still knocked down. Another shoots at Abbas, and Abbas fires at Tut Amothop, who has raised his chair halfway up the silo to give himself a better vantage. Three of the thugs advance on Zeenia, who warns them - this will not end well for them. Perhaps they should run?

They don't understand, or perhaps don't recognize the threat. They advance on her and beat on her with batons, but it's about as effective as that scene from Shaun of the Dead where they beat the zombie with pool cues to "Don't Stop Me Now." Zeenia unleashes her danger bling and kills them all, and the surviving thugs run. Abbas has shot Tut Amothop twice, wounding him but not seriously, and he wibbles and cowers. Iris yells at him that he should have given them the seeds, and he responds "take them, then! Take the seeds!"

They take his chair, too (well, Zeenia does), and they load up the seeds that Rastar is owed (he scrupulously refuses to take any more) and head for his ship. They load up all the people and get the hell off Gyptos before Tut Amothop turns them in, and head for Avia.

When they get there, they are directed to land in the royal landing pad and are met by King Throx and his entourage. They are handsomely rewarded for their service - the king gives them each a bag of gems, and promises to commission a memorial garden for Oola. He also tells them that their ship has been upgraded with a device they'll be very happy with (impish smile), and that if they want a crew, he's had all kinds of Bird-Men volunteering. 

Throx then addresses the court, and officially abdicates in favor of his son, Boolar. Everyone celebrates, and Boolar tells the heroes that while he was a prisoner of Queen Anathraxa, she boasted about a secret base on the fragment of Boroosh. It is there that her scientists produced the Death Dust that is now poisoning Simba. 

The heroes now have a strong lead, and destination for next time.

Character Creation: Chimera RPG

A monstrous mashup of beasts! The horrible fire-breathing...no, hang on. Just an RPG.

The Game: Chimera RPG
The Publisher: The Welsh Piper
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Chimera is a perfectly serviceable (-looking; I haven't played it so who knows how it plays at the table) generic RPG system. I have no idea why it's called "Chimera", though. In any case, as I thought back on the book today I kept thinking about Mettle instead and getting them confused, which probably tells me a) I need to limit how many setting-agnostic games I do in the same month to one and b) Chimera didn't make a lot of impact on me. I think it falls into the "playable but so what" category. 

And, unlike a lot of setting-agnostic games, this one doesn't include a sample setting, so I'm forced to make a character based on a very short blurb. To wit:

It's actually a pretty cool-sounding setup for a game and I wish it got more than this. The book was only 76 pages, could've spared 10 more. Ah, well. 

I'd kind of like to play a sorcerer. I'm thinking about the section of the story where the main characters go looking for allies and someone's like "I know a guy who can do magic" and another one's like "Oh hell no, I know who you mean, we're not going anywhere near-" and then smash cut to the sorcerer's house. So I want to play a sorcerer who makes people nervous, in a "he's not really going to summon a shoggoth, right?" kind of way. 

Step One: Character vision. Got that, more or less. 

Step Two: Select race. I'm thinking "human".

Of course, we're "adaptable."

Step Three: Select Class. Let's see if there's a "sorcerer" one. Oh, no, but Occultist is one. Let's do that. 

Step Four: Perks & stuff. I get three Improvement Points to buy stuff, but I can get more by taking flaws. I'm not 100% clear on how this works, but fortunately there's an example! 

OK, I see. I was thinking that "improvement cost" was a pool of points that was spent during chargen - not true! Instead, it's a cost that affects how much XP you get to use to raise shit later on. So, you can front-load your character, but that'll make for a high IC, which in turn means you'll need to earn more XP in order to be able to do stuff. 

That's kind of a cool idea, and I wish the game fucking explained it somewhere. Ah, well. 

So, with that in mind, do I wish to take another class? Yeah, why not. I'll take Scout as well. That gives me Explore and Sneak as class abilities. 

OK, so back to Step Four. I'll take my free special perks first, thanks. I want Spells from Occultist and Survivorman from Scout. This, by the way, puts my IC up to 8 (1 for being human plus 3 for Occultist + 4 for Scout), and my WL (wound limit) is 4. So far.

Right, three points! I have access to one "power school" from my Spells perk, so I want...ooh, Summoning, please. I can buy powers for one IP each. Let's see what's on offer! OK, I'll take Summon (call forth monsters) and Banish (do exactly that). Nice and tight.

One more point, unless I wish to take a flaw. Oh, well, I think I will take Strong Mojo as a perk, giving me even more juice to my Summoning magic. 

Flaws? Oh, sure, I'll take Outsider - I make Influence rolls with polite society (or even slightly polite society) as if opposed. I'll use the point I get to buy Resolve.

Step Five is equipment. Ugh. I get 3d6 x 10 in monies to buy shit; 11 gives me $110. Do I really wanna buy anything? No, I really don't. 

Step Six is IC cost. I haven't raised it since I added it up before, so it's 8. 

Step Seven is abilities. I have Academics, Explore, Sneak, and Wield as class abilities and Resolve as non-class. The class ones have an AR of 1d12, Resolve has an AR of 1d10. 

Step Eight is Wound Limit; again, that's 4. 

Step Nine is Movement, which is 20. 

Step Ten...OK, more derivative traits ahoy. Defense is 0 (no armor), Parry is 3, I start with 1d6 (roll...1, fuck) Mana. 

Step Eleven: Boon and Background. I can roll 2d10 to give my dude some flavor, so I shall. Roll of 15 gives me..."has connections to an influential organization." Sure. My island-dwelling summoner is actually the little brother of an officer in the Royal Navy. They don't really get along, but they're family, and my dude could go to him and ask for help if he really needed to. 

Step Twelve is name 'n shit. OK, then. His real name is George Ellery, but that name is his past. Folks nowadays call him "Cangrejo", "crab", because of the hunched and scuttle-y way he walks on his beach. He's perfectly capable of walking upright, though, wearing pants, and speaking in King's English. He'd just...rather not. He wears a necklace of dried shells and raggedy clothes (when he has to wear clothes), and he hasn't groomed his beard in entirely too long. His eyes are...a little nuts.

I have to admit, this game bores me but this character and setting sound fun, and it would be very amusing to have Cangrejo get all cleaned up to go undercover, since he was raised in society.