Marvel: Evil Horse!

Time for thrilling horse-based heroics! Here's last time.

Our heroes are in the park near the waterfront in beautiful Believeland, when suddenly a big ol' black horse with demonic fire-eyes appears and starts busting up the place! People run, but the heroes spring into action. Magnus reaches into his hat and pulls out a vial of holy water and throws it at the horse, but it doesn't seem to have any measurable effect. Mirage creates a bunch of duplicates to surround the horse and reach out menacingly, and the horse kicks at one of them. Its hoof goes right through the duplicate, though, and it backs up, confused.

Whispers mentally probes the horse and realizes that it's acting as a distraction - someone else is here, about to take advantage of the chaos. She grabs Mirage and tells her this, as Night Fyre teleports onto the horse's back and tries to wrangle it. 

Magnus sees this and reaches into his top hat, and pulls out another hat (yo dawg) - the Hat of Wranglin'! He throws it to Night Fyre and she catches it, and is immediately imbued with the power of rodeo-ing! She continues to try and grapple the horse into submission, but it is far too strong.

Mirage picks up Whispers and levitates them up to get a bird's-eye view of the area, and Whispers, using her immense brain-power, spots a man with a handlebar mustache and a big blue cape watching the proceedings. Magnus pulls a lariat out of his hat and ropes the horse, and the horse gallops into the sky and pulls Magnus towards the Caped Man.

The Man gestures at Magnus and he finds himself in a cage made of psychic energy. Touching it causes pain, and of course Magnus' teleportation powers still aren't working. Night Fyre's are working fine, however, so she poofs over and tries to pull the cage away. She gets the same psionic feedback for her trouble.

Whispers notes something moving towards the battlefield really quickly ("Speedster incoming!"), and Mirage lands and socks the Caped Man and knocks him right the fuck down (Mirage is quite capable of lifting cars, so she packs a punch). Whispers reads his punch-drunk mind, and learns that he's called the Caped Man...and that's it. The horse is the Black Horse, the speedster is the White Rabbit, and somewhere there's a Woman in Green (which Whispers saw on security footage). They all answer to - were created by? - someone called Soliloquy. And they're attempting to kidnap Magnus.

As if on cue, the speedster zooms up and it's a huge, anthropomorphic white rabbit in a waistcoat. Magnus is initially overjoyed, but then the rabbit slaps on a pair of manacles that click and whir and restrain his hands ("Rude."). The Rabbit looks to the Horse and says "There, get him back to base!" but Night Fyre grabs the lariat and tries to teleport around the Horse to hogtie it.

It...doesn't work. Night Fyre misjudges the 'port and winds up on a food truck. Whispers, not sure what to do (and not aware that she has superhuman physical endurance and strength - it's never come up!) body-checks the White Rabbit and knocks him down. He looks up at her, obviously not expecting this outcome. The Black Horse tries to nudge Magnus onto his back, but Magnus dodges, and the Caped Man picks himself up and levitates into the air.

Mirage follows ("You want to have a levitate race? FINE.") but the Caped Man puts her in one of those psionic cages and that stops her. Whispers shoves Magnus out of the way and winds up pushing him halfway to the water's edge ("what the hell?"). The White Rabbit, skittish at the best of times, decides that's enough of this and leaps into the air. The Black Horse follows, galloping through the sky, and the Caped Man jumps on its back as it passes.

The heroes pick themselves up and Night Fyre burns through the cuffs to get them off of Magnus. A dude has been livestreaming this, which means that Whispers' existence has been exposed, but she refuses to identify herself to the adoring public (and mentally starts working on a script to replace her image with Rick Astley in the footage). The heroes get cheered for driving off these strange villains, and they retire to Whispers' lair. 

Analysis of White Rabbit's fur shows that it matches the fur they found in the robots' gears, and Mirage's hyper-touch power confirms particulate salt. The manacles are designed to contort with the wearer, preventing someone getting leverage or being able to move their hands, and they're clockwork and, like the robots, made from custom pieces that were apparently created out of nowhere.

The heroes decide to rest up and then head to the salt mines to investigate this "Soliloquy" character. Magnus tries to vanish into his Top Hat, but the power still doesn't work, so instead he crashes with Night Fyre.

Wildsea: Radioactive Giants!

It's just the one giant, actually. Here's last time. 

Kazera and Chambersson come back on board the Heart of the Seeker, and Jakesta emerges from her rooms. She's been feeling a weird sense of deja vu ever since getting close to this spit, and it was a bit overwhelming for a while, but she's coping now. 

They explain what they found to her - the tunnels, the giant bug, the glowy blue rocks - and Jakesta, always the cautious one, worries about what effect these rocks might have. But Chambersson is interesting in establishing communication across the wildsea, and these rocks - which harmonize with each other when struck - might hold a way to do so. Rozek brews tea from the green moss she plucked from the top of the spit, and in drinking it she sees the bottom of her mug become the blue pool in the shaft, and something waiting inside it, beckoning, and understanding settle in. The realization of truth long forgotten, tantalizingly close...but then gone. This convinces Rozek that they're something down there worth investigating...

They decide to rest for the evening, and then in the morning go back into the cave, pull up some more rocks, and let Jakesta look around (since she suspects she may have some ancestral memories of this place). 

The crew takes some time to recuperate. Chambersson dreams of a slow, comforting, crushing weight and wakes up to find he's wrapped his blanket around his neck. Rozek grates up some ironwood to get her pet salimini, Pearl, back to snuff, but in the more poor Pearl looks listless and sick. 

Jakesta realizes that the glowing blue rocks have a detrimental effect on living things, and so they put the few they brought up in a box and put that box in another box to prevent things from getting any worse. And then Kazera, Jakesta, and Chambersson lower themselves down on the ship's magnet crane to reenter the tunnels. Chambersson doesn't borrow Rozek's furs this time, and she refuses to let Pearl go back down there, so Chambersson decides he'll only go as far as he can push himself before it gets too cold. Kazera and Jakesta, neither of them "alive" in the fleshy sense, shouldn't have any problems.

They enter the tunnel and make their way into the central shaft, and Jakesta remembers again that she has been here before - or maybe not her, precisely, but she has memories of building this place and putting the coolant in the pool. They approach the pool and Jakesta looks in, but realizes the danger of this place and advises leaving. 

Chambersson, though, still wants to grab some of the rocks - if the coolant nullifies the harmful energy, maybe they can take some of that, too? But would the rocks' sonic properties still work if the rocks are the coolant? Chambersson wants to experiment with them, but both Jakesta and Kazera feel this is a bit more risk than necessary...

And as they're arguing, a hand reaches out of the coolant pool, and then another. A torso pulls itself out, a torso make of the glowing rocks and held together with a circulatory system made of the coolant. "JAKESTA," it moans. 

Jakesta turns and sees the creature, and she starts to back up. She yells to Chambersson and Kazera to run, that it probably can't hurt her; she's already dead. "NOT DEAD ENOUGH!" it booms, and reaches for her. 

The creature's fingers strike her just as she goes spectral, but it hurts and drives her back. The creature, which Jakesta somehow knows is called Americium, recoils, and the three of them flee. Chambersson paws through the tunnels, remembering the quickest way back, and finds a crack in the walls. He figures he can make a barrier and starts beating it with a pipe he carries. Kazera catches up and digs her fingers in to help, and they cause a minor cave-in, trapping Americium further down the tunnel. But they've also found a small room...

Jakesta looks into the room and sees that there are a bunch of placards on the walls, all written in unfamiliar writing. She instinctively grabs one and the three of them head back to the crane and pound on the cable.

Rozek hauls them up and they clamber onto the ship. Jakesta hands the placard off to a crew member and tells him to get it to someone who can translate it, but another one points to the island and asks if that is the monster that chased them. They see Americium burst up through the spit (probably out of the loose covering they made when they got here to keep the bug-monster away) and roar in rage and pain.

Jakesta uses a whisper (Hidden Sins) to quiet the crew and keep them focused on their jobs, and Rozek straps into the Storm Rail gun and fires a blast at the creature. It recoils, bits of rock flying off of it, but then lunges out across the wildsea at them. The Heart sets off, the voltaic runners on overdrive trying to outrun it, and Kazera goes to find the box of rocks and throw it overboard.

Chambersson, however, has already removed a couple of them and put them behind the Leviathan Heart in the engine room where no one will notice them. He's not ready to give up on his ideas of long-distance communication quite yet.

Rozek blasts Americium with the Storm Rail again, and more of the rocks and coolant fly off. Americium sinks into the tangle, and the Heart sails on, apparently to safety. Kazera throws the box of rocks overboard, just to be sure.

As things calm down, Jakesta gets the placard to Chambersson, and he translates the markings - apparently salt can be employed to siphon off the baleful energy from the blue rocks. Rozek has some table salt, but not nearly enough, and she demands they plot a course to somewhere they can buy some salt so she can heal her little friend Pearl. Jakesta thumbs through the Captain's Log they got from the Sanguine Dress, and finds there's a marking of an island that sells salt. The Heart sets sail, Rozek at the helm and forging ahead to get there quickly. They pass by a curious tree, with holes in the branches that whistle when the wind blows, but have no time to stop and investigate.

They arrive at the quarry - it's a huge, rectangular stone island with a big hole in the middle where they take the salt rocks out, and immense steam-powered grinders that crush it down to powder and bag it. There are docks for ships all around, but they're all full. The Heart pulls up next to a ship called the Gallant Wren, and a Gau on the deck halloos them.

Rozek calls back and asks how this works; the Gau, who introduces himself as Odsin, says that you just get in line, but it can take a while. She says that theirs is a medical emergency ("For which you need salt?" "YES." "Oh...sure, I don't know how you fleshy people work, I guess."), and Odsin agrees to trade his ship's place in the queue for the Chart of the Brittle Circle (there's a Gau colony near there, and Odsin is very interested!).

The Heart pulls up to the quarry and, after some haggling, trades the copper piping in their hold for some bags of salt. They pull away and Rozek gets to work treating it, and after an initial failure that results in a minor explosion and some smelly smoke, she figures it out. She mixes up enough of the treated salt to leach away the radiation from little Pearl, and starts the process for herself, Kazera, and Chambersson.

Where to now? Rokko, their passenger, reminds them of his existence, and they decide to head for Stonebark (which is actually where they were going when they found the Americium Spit). They set sail again, and Chambersson draws a map as they go. They come to a trading post - what used to be a big cargo ship that's now moored in place (and surrounded by ebony-black ivy leaves, as well as multiple signs saying "NO SINGING"). They disembark and enter the main building, and ask why the prohibition on singing. The proprietor only says that the black leaves react to singing, and leaves (lol) it at that.

They do some trading, a bag of salt for some trinkets - Jakesta finds a sword, Rozeks gets some willow wood and some actual tea, Kazera picks up a pair of iron hatchets, and Chambersson finds a metal disc inscribed with some weird writing. They set sail once again, and they spot Stonebark in the distance, just as a thick fog comes up. 

They circle the island for the night, resting, and wait for the fog to break. In the morning, it's at least thinner, and they head ashore to see whether Stonebark is as Rokko remembers it.

Character Creation: Part-Time Gods of Fate

Well, this is annoying. Not the game - that I kinda like - but I started reading it the other day and then went to find the printed sheet today and realized it wasn't on the list, presumably because I did a character for the base game in the Before Times and, while I put a dot on the book I never updated the list or my spreadsheet.

Yes, I take all this chargen stuff seriously. What else I'm gonna do? Learn to paint? 

The Game: Part-Time Gods of Fate
The Publisher: Looks like a joint venture between Third Eye Games and Encoded Designs
Degree of Familiarity: Some, see below
Books Required: Part-Time Gods of Fate and Fate Core

I ran a one-shot of Part-Time Gods back in 2013 when I wrote a review of it, and I'll say now what I said then: It's a cool premise, it's got an interesting and compelling setting, and it feels a lot like a World of Darkness game with a slightly lessened emphasis on horror. The Theologies are the splats, the special ideologies of the modern gods, and I personally think that if I were going to run this game I would either excise them altogether or use them as a more localized representation of groups of gods, rather than having PCs join them. 

How likely is it I'd run this? I dunno, it's not unlikely. I've always liked the premise of modern gods, even before American Gods came out (and I'm sure that saying that I liked that novel is going to be proof of something now, even though it wasn't last year, but that's how these things go), and I really like the notion of an RPG that lets the PCs be the "god of whatever." It's never been done quite the way I want it, I don't think. Actually I think Gods of the Fall comes the closest, but that's not a modern fantasy setting. 

Anyway, long story short, while I doubt I'd run this game exactly as written, I like the core premise and I think Fate is a good expression of the idea. So let's make a god.

I don't actually have an idea for what kind of god I want to make, and the thing I like least about this game is the Theologies, so I think I'm going to randomly pick a Theology and then go from there. My character for the original game was the God of Coffee and he was Phoenix Society, so I'll remove that one from the running. Actually I think I'll remove Puck-Eaters from the running, too, because I don't want to be a fucking cannibal, so that leaves six, which conveniently is how many sides this here die has! A roll of 5 gives me...Order of Meskhenet! Oh, nifty, I was actually reading them with some interest yesterday.

Bearing that in mind, we jump right into Aspects, so no more fuckin' around, I need a concept. I've been watching The Fall of the House of Usher lately, too, and while that family is a bit more toxic than what's described for the Order, I like the notion of a sect of the order built around the God of [Something] and who's going to be the next to inherit it. Ooh, how about this - my character was technically in line to inherit, but no one really expected him to do it. His uncle, the patriarch of the Rizetti family, liked him, but "like" doesn't translate to "would give the mantle of a god." But then my character (let's call him Canio Rizetti) was over at Carmine Rizetti's (the patriarch's) house playing their weekly game of chess, and Carmine keeled over dead from a stroke, and Canio wound up with the Dominion. 

Well, that's cool, but it doesn't give me my human aspect, so let's dig into that a little. What did Canio do besides play chess with Uncle Carmine every week? I picture him as being pretty young, maybe 22. I don't want him to be idle rich, I'm not making Prospero Usher here. Let's say that he's just graduated from college, but I don't want him to be in business or engineering or anything like that because ew. Let's say he studied English, just because it's something I can play and because it's a nicely generic degree for someone to get. And hell, given that his family are the inheritors of a divine spark, maybe it's not looked down on as much as it would be in a more money-centric clan. We'll call the human Aspect Youngest Scion of the Rizetti Dynasty, because I think that's probably the more important thing about his human life.

Next up is Divine Aspect, which means I need to figure out what he's the god of. Given his Theology, I kind of a want a very broad, basic, elemental Dominion, something that's been passed on for generations. I feel like there's some menace to how I've pictured the Rizettis so far; I'm thinking The Hunt or something night be interesting. But what if we subvert that expectation a little? What if Carmine Rizetti was the God of Dawn? I kinda like the idea that Canio, the youngest scion of the family, is a kind of new beginning that no one asked for or expected. So sure, he's The God of Dawn. 

Theology Aspect specifies his Theology, which we know is the Order of Meskhenet, but we need a little more detail in there. "Accidental?" Doesn't quite hit the note I want, it's not that he was an accident, he was technically always in the running for the mantle of God of Dawn, it's just that no one thought he'd get it. Let's phrase that as Dark Horse Order of Meskhenet.

And then I have two Aspects centered around Bonds, which is probably one more than I need. I actually get three because, as an Order of Meskhenet, I get a Mentor that represents my connection to the family. So actually, let's do that one first. Giorgio was Carmine's executive assistant and, if we're honest, fixer, but he was also a surrogate parent to all of the Rizetti kids. Now that Canio is the God of Dawn, Giorgio is his assistant, at least for the moment (Giorgio is not a young man). But Giorgio Always Believed In Me. 

I need some family drama, though, too, so let's say Canio's big sister Alba really wanted this. She thinks of herself as The Rightful Goddess of Dawn. And, finally, let's say that Canio has a Bond to the family home, with the Aspect It's Too Big For Me. 

Skills and Manifestations! Well, Skills are easy enough, it's the usual ladder from Core, though there are a few Skills that are a little different. Let's start at the top, what is Canio really good at? Oh, well, let's just lean into the rich stuff and take Resources, how about. Going along with that, I'll put my Goods in Contacts and Rapport. I'll put Knowledge, Deceive, and Provoke at Fair (look, he has a degree in English, but it was never really his passion), and I'll put Will, Physique, Empathy, and Athletics at Average.

And now, Manifestations! These are like Skills, but magical. I get a Good, Fair, and Average, and unlike Skills, I can't use these at all unless I have a positive rating. Also, I need a specialization in each one, which is basically just an effect that I'm especially good at (and get a bonus to use). It's a good idea, because these powers are so darned freeform so it helps you to think about how using the manifestations usually looks. 

Which means I should do that for Canio, which, in turn,means I need to think about what "dawn" means in the context of his godhood. I like the idea of dawn being a shift in circumstances for the better, or reprieve coming after adversity. So I think I'll put my highest Manifestation in Beckon, and have the Specialization be "summon help in a dire circumstance."

I like Journey, too, which enables teleportation and other movement kinds of things. How about if my specialization is "providing a last-minute escape?" 

And then finally, let's take Ruin and invert this idea, and say the specialization is "prevent a second wind". So like the van full of reinforcement goons drives off a cliff (or just gets a flat or something).

I get a "human stunt," which I think just means it's...a stunt. I kinda want something to represent the family's reputation, maybe? I think I'll say that I'm Still a Rizetti: +2 to Attack with Provoke if the target has heard about the family.

And then I get 5 Refresh, but I have to spend one of them on Divine extras - in  my case, worshipers, a relic, or a new Dominion. Well, I know I don't want another Dominion, so maybe a relic? Eh, relics are expensive and I don't have a good idea for one. How about a point into worshipers? Let's say there's a group of family retainers called the Clean-Up Crew, that comes in to put things back together after Divine shenanigans. I'll just put the one point into them; there were more, but since Carmine hadn't really done much shenanigans lately, the worshipers kind of dwindled.

That leaves me with 4 Refresh. Is there an Entitlement I want? Entitlements are basically Divine stunts...actually, I've got an idea. I want Canio's entrance into a scene to be a moment of hope for his allies, like a "oh, what a relief, he's here" sort of thing. I think the best way to represent that is for him entering a scene in progress to be accompanied by a scene Aspect with a free invoke, representing how his appearance changes the dynamic of the scene. That seems like a passive Entitlement, so that should just cost 1 Refresh.

That takes me down to 3 Refresh, and I don't have anything else I particularly want, so I think that'll about do it! Like I said, Canio is 22, of obviously Italian-American extraction, thin, brown eyes, black hair, prominent Roman nose, stylish but understated sense of fashion. He wears a gold ring with a rising sun insignia, gifted to him by Carmine, obviously.

D&D: The Enclave of Thorns

Last night was D&D, and in contrast to last time, where we very nearly had a TPK, this was pretty chill.

Our heroes continue their trek toward the southern border of Abhaile, and therefore the Enclave of Thorns. On the way, Keenan asks Dara, since she's from the Enclave, about what the Thorn Druids are really guarding everyone from. Dara says that she's heard stories, monsters from the south with huge claws and bleeding fangs, and some of the others have heard similarly dire tales (although they tend to get less specific the further north one gets). 

In a couple of days, they arrive. An elf named Cathal approaches them and greets Dara, and tells them that they're welcome, just follow the rules. The "rules" basically boil down to not crossing or attempting to cross the southern barrier, and if a druid tells you to do something or stop doing something, obey them. The party crosses an invisible threshold and emerges into the Enclave.

The Enclave sprawls out over a wide area, with living spaces in and at the bases of trees. Many of the inhabitants are elf druids, but there are other races - humans, half-elves, even the occasional halfling or forest gnome - represented. Aisling hears someone playing music and goes off with Fearg to track it down, while Dara goes to find Riona, the Archdruid, to tell her about the scroll that they took off the Bride-Gnoll. 

Riona recognizes the script as Abyssal, and tells Dara that they should probably study it further, even though touching it for any length of time makes one's fingers itchy and red. She has Dara take it to a druid scholar, who offers to teach Dara to read Abyssal - he does warn her, however, that once you learn it you can't unlearn it. Dara, more curious than cautious on the best of days, agrees.

Zook finds a halfling druid named Caragh training a small pack of large dogs, and asks what one would have to do to prove oneself worthy of having one as a companion. Caragh says that ultimately it's more about proving oneself to the dog, and Zook sets about getting to know the animals and joining the training. There's one in particular, with red-brown fur and a white ear, that seems very much in synch with him.

Clara goes out into the woods and finds a forest gnome foraging for mushrooms and roots, and talks with her about which fungi and plants are useful around here. She's happy to have the company, though she's clearly not an adventurer - she's happy here in the Enclave making stews and so forth.

Aisling and Fearg find the source of the music; it's a half-elf named Tadhg playing a wooden pipe. Aisling is fascinated; woodwinds are largely unknown where she's from. Tadhg is happy to teach her the fingerings, and Fearg slips away, reminding himself that this is what happens if you get involved with a bard.

Dara, having dropped the scroll off with the Scholar, spots Nuada in a tree, meditating. For context, Orla and Dara were a couple and Orla went behind her back with her hunting buddy, Nuada - that's why Dara left the Enclave and became an adventurer. She hadn't expected to go back here so soon, but that's where the journey took them. Having now talked with some of the druids about the...if not "cult," then "movement" of the Ghrian Trí Duillegoa, she's learned that they spend their time meditating in trees, or soaring on air currents in bird form. She talks with Nuada and he confirms as much, and says that Orcan, the druid that introduced this worship to the Enclave, has learned some pretty impressive magic into the bargain. 

Magic is all very well, says Dara, but it's this "worship" thing that she finds uncomfortable. In Abhaile, divine worship is uncommon - people recognize the existence of the gods, but they don't think of them as listening to the wants and needs and prayers of people. When people do speak to the gods, it's usually in the context of "we'll get through this whether you help us or not." But the Ghrian Trí Duillegoa take a more...contemplative approach? To the idea, and Orcan has learned to tap into that power and summon up a weapon from nothing, to enter a state wherein no one can harm him, or to call up fire that burns the evil. 

Dara is suspicious. She's curious, yes, but she's also a druid and knows the value of tradition. And Nuada is a little too cavalier about the idea of testing the southern border...

That night, the group comes together, plays music, has mushroom stew, and Dara shares what she's discussed with the others. The next day, she begins her study of Abyssal.

The Scholar helps her learn the structure of the language, and over the course of the day they translate the scroll in more detail. It is what it seems to be - a magical how-to for creating gnolls out of not-hyenas. But that's not the strange thing. The Scholar explains that while the scroll is written in Abyssal, the sentence structure is off. It's like this was written in some other language and then translated into Abyssal...but what language would that have been? Abhaile isn't exactly linguistically diverse; most people speak Abhaila (though there are dialects, but the basic grammar doesn't change). Druids have their own particular tongue that isn't taught to outsiders, and presumably the dwarves of the north have their own language, but otherwise it's pretty much Abhaila all the way down. 

Zook goes back to Caragh and works with the dogs some more, but they're being less cooperative today. Caragh tells him to take a break, and he goes wandering in the woods and bumps into Clara and Tinna (the gnome forager). 

Aisling and Fearg, the former out looking for a stick (the jokes write themselves), take a walk to the border to see the Thorn Wall. As they approach, they feel everything get colder. The Thorn Wall is exactly that, a barrier of brambles so dense that light doesn't seem to shine through it. Aisling has heard that the first arch-druid of the Enclave gave her life to become the Wall, and the other druids joined her, each giving up his life to protect Abhaile from something horrible. As they're looking at the wall, they're approached by a red-haired elf named Sionnach.

Sionnach is the warden of the Enclave, the kind of head of security. He's standoffish and brusque, but warms to them as they talk (it's hard not to warm to Aisling). He says that the truth of the story, as far as he knows, is that the first archdruid cast a spell that called up the Thorn Wall, but put so much of herself into it that it claimed her life. He also says (because Aisling asks) that he's seen one attempted incursion on the wall - about 50 or 60 years ago, someone or something tried to get through from the south and was cut to pieces. He thinks it might have been an orc, but it was unrecognizable pretty quickly. Either way, the Wall is doing its job. Of course, these Ghrian Trí Duillegoa aren't making his life easy now. He considers them a security risk, and doesn't get what they're trying to do anyway. "Who would trade the hum of night for sunlight?" he muses.

Dara, still wanting to learn more about the Ghrian Trí Duillegoa, finds Orcan, meditating in a tree. He explains that "worship" is the wrong word for what they're doing - they don't want to violate the barrier or encourage anyone else to do so. They just believe that there are divine forces that are benevolent, that could empower people, if only people would listen. Dara questions him further, and Orcan confesses - he was riding air currents as a hawk one day and drifted over the southern border out of Abhaile. He didn't see anything on the ground that looked markedly different - it was forest, not a blasted hellscape as some of the stories would have it - but he heard a voice in his head, a voice that explained the divine. He carried it with him back into Abhaile and has been meditating and communing, slowly learning the magic of Ghrian Trí Duillegoa, though the other followers haven't managed it yet.

Dara is now very concerned - Orcan broke the border and wound up with a voice in his head? She immediately goes to find Sionnach and explains the situation, and Sionnach, his suspicions confirmed, goes to find Riona.

Clara and Zook talk about the Enclave, and about the border - Zook is interested in seeing if it's possible to cross, maybe for just a minute, but Clara doesn't think that's wise. They're talking about all this when Dara finds them and explains what she's learned, and Clara and Zook decide to figure out how many of these sun-worshippers are actually in the Enclave. They know about Nuada and Orcan, of course, and they learn about a few more, including a half-elf named Senan, apparently Orcan's right hand elf. They find Orcan in a tree and climb up to talk with him, and he very politely talks with them about the Ghrian Trí Duillegoa and their beliefs. But then Senan flies up in bird form and whispers in his ear, and he excuses himself and tumbles off the branch to fly off ("these guys are such show-offs," mutters Zook). 

Senan stays and talks to them, and they tell him a little about their adventures. Zook mentions the succubus that they fought, and notices that Senan's demeanor changes, ever so slightly, when he does. Zook presses and talks about how the succubus was no match for four adventurers, and Senan asks if they got her name. Clara remembers the name the succubus was using, but never heard her actual name. Zook asks what Senan's interests are - they've met druids that forage, train dogs, and so forth. Senan says (after a strangely pregnant pause) that he's interested in fire - something dangerous for forest people, true, but something he finds fascinating. He asks Zook how much he's mastered of fire magic, and how it feels to begin a spell and then finish it (as opposed to Keenan, the sorcerer, who presumably has a more spontaneous approach to the process).

Meanwhile, Aisling and Fearg are heading back through the woods and come upon Riona and Sionnach arguing with Orcan. It's in Druidic, so they don't catch it, although Fearg gets a word here and there. "Violation"...no, "betrayal." Orcan storms off, and Riona sees the two of them and says that Orcan crossed the border. Sionnach advocates exile, but Riona isn't quite sure that's necessary.

Dara spots Orcan a little later, and he asks her flat-out if she told Sionnach what he told her. She confirms that she did, and he leaves, obviously angry. Dara glances around and notes that the curtain to the Scholar's area is drawn, and goes to check on him...and finds that he's paralyzed by a Hold Person spell. She waits for a moment until it falls, and he gasps "Orcan! He's taken the scroll!"

Dara runs out, raising the alarm...

Character Creation: Fearful Ends

I do love a good horror game. Not sure this qualifies. 

The Game: Fearful Ends
The Publisher: Watch Factory Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

The elevator pitch for Fearful Ends hooked me - it's a horror game that assumes that by the end of the game, all the protagonists are dead or mad. There are, of course, any number of horror movies that follow that formula, and the game mentions a few in its inspirational films section, but then it also mentions a few that I found interesting, though not quite a tonal fit (like 12 Monkeys, which qualifies inasmuch as Bruce Willis' character dies but it's hardly an ensemble cast, or The Prestige, which is not a horror movie). That's fine, you find inspiration where you find it. 

But the game is only 58 pages, and it's just a brief introduction explaining the intent behind the game in very broad strokes, several chapters of mechanics, and a scenario that's really not a tonal fit at all (it's a horror scenario built around a Princess Bride reference). 

With that said, the mental stress system is interesting - it uses a deck of cards with six different...I dunno, neuroses? Foibles? Hang on.

So, at certain points during the game, you put down cards that indicate how the stress of the situation is going to affect you, and then you play other cards face down under them (which have 1s on them) that indicate that you're starting to lose it. So I could put down this Anger card, and then play cards under it that would bump my character further into the Angry-dome, I guess. Like I said, it's an interesting approach. I don't see enough difference between 4 and 5, but whatever.

The dice system reminds me a lot of Savage Worlds (roll two dice and take the better one, target number is usually 4). Damage also uses cards, but I didn't read that as carefully because I was getting sleepy and I wanted to focus on the chapter on how the game actually plays at the table, except there isn't one. 

Well, let's make a character. There's a sample scenario, as I mentioned, so I'll use that as my jumping-off point. Ignoring what's actually happening in the scenario (which of course I wouldn't know if I were playing it), the backstory is that we're a bunch of teens in 2020 who have been in lockdown for months and we're kinda going stir crazy, and our friend Billy Everyteen has invited us all out to the old abandoned mill for a party!

BILLY EVERYTEEN

(His name's not really Billy Everyteen, I just realized I hadn't made a Futurama reference in a while.)

Anyway, there's my setup, what kind of doomed teenager would I like to make?

OK, I got it. My guy's name is Carey Rush. Carey was kind of a class nerd, but not in the "constantly bullied" or "won all the spelling bees" kind of way. He was just sort of...there, and largely invisible. And then everything went online in 2020, and folks started communicating on the classroom software message boards and suchlike, and folks discovered that Carey is actually really smart and charming and funny in text. He just gets tongue-tied IRL. So of course Billy invited him to this little shindig because he just cracks Billy up, and Carey is really looking forward to seeing folks and maybe talking a little more, now that people know a bit more what to expect? This could be fun!

(Carey is 100% going to fall into the mill pond and get eaten by the shrieking eels.)

We start with Attributes. They start at a d4, I get 6 points to bump up die types. You know, like SWADE. I think Carey can go d6 across the board and the extra one into Intellect, how about. 

Skills work about the same way; I get 12 points to buy them, can't go over d12, but I don't start with a d4 in everything. What's Carey good at?

Well, there's not a "be funny" skill, or indeed even a straight-up expression skill, so I guess we'll put three dice into Perform. I'll put two into Tinker, three into Knowledge, one into Athletics, one into Stealth. Where's that leave me? Two more points! Sure, I'll put them into Influence. 

Perks! These aren't chosen from a list, they're just things my character is good at. So we'll say Carey's perks are "funny on the internet," "knows a lot of worthless trivia" (I always find that easy to play, for some reason), and "used to be on the swim team" (you know, before all athletics were suspended). 

And that's it; there's a section for gear but character creation ends right after Perks, so I assume Gear isn't that important. I think Carey has a kind of soft, Edward Norton in Death to Smoochy but a teenager vibe to him. Not so much the wide-eyed optimism, but more the "looks harmless but is actually in pretty good shape" sort of thing. Carey definitely wears glasses, and I think he finally talked his parents into letting him dye his hair blue or something. Bon appetit, eels!

Chill: Blood on the Snow

Having watched all of Alaskan Killer Bigfoot, I feel better prepared to run this game. (Not really.)

So it's been about a month since our intrepid SAVE envoys committed completely justifiable arson. It's now Saturday, March 16, 2024 in-game, and about 11:30 in the morning, Amelia Rostov gets a phone call from "Granny" Beth Willard.

Granny Beth has appeared in the game before. She's a very old Native woman and is viewed as an expert on local lore and history, which makes her a good person for SAVE to know. She calls Amelia up on this particular Saturday because her great-grandson, Roger Brewster, left her a voice mail that she found disturbing. Amelia hits the group chat and lets everyone know to meet her at Granny Beth's place.

Mercy Williams is just getting up after a night shift. Britt Lepus is just getting up because she is not an early riser. Nicholas Failor has been up since sunrise and probably already made some supply runs, because he is an early riser. The four of them all meet over at Granny Beth's apartment, and she lets them in and makes them tea. 

In the meanwhile, they all mentally go over what they know about Roger. Most of them (other than Britt) at least know of him; he's in his early 20s and he's seen as...well, a little odd. He wears noise cancelling headphones almost all the time, and he has trouble holding down a job. He gets in trouble with the law sometimes for picking fights, and he loves to paint - there's a landscape that he painted hanging on Granny's wall, in fact. The envoys ask Granny what's up with him today, and she tells them that he got arrested Tuesday night at the Crab Pot. She bailed him out the next day, and took him home, but he didn't say much and was pretty upset. And then the next night (Thursday) he left her a voicemail, but she didn't get it until today because she doesn't always remember to check her messages. She plays it for the envoys:

"Hey, Granny. It's me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll pay you back. They were just really loud. I've got to find four more, and then I'll be back. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have told it yes, but it was loud. It was loud. I just wanted to paint. I'll see you soon."

From the tone of voice, Roger is whispering, and clearly in distress. Granny is worried, and now so are the envoys. They start doing their thing.

Mercy makes a call to a cop friend of hers and learns that Roger got into a fight with two tourists on Tuesday at the Crab Pot. This kind of thing actually happens with some regularity with Roger; he's sensitive to raised voices and so he goes to bars without much traffic, but someone gets loud and then he confronts them and things go badly. This time, though, someone pressed charges. The envoys make a note to go visit Sonny, the bartender there, later on, but for now they decide to go over to Roger's apartment and make sure he's not just, like, sick or something. They assure Granny Beth they'll find Roger, and head over to his place.

Roger lives in a studio apartment not far away. A quick search of the place reveals a lot of food trash in the kitchen - Roger seems to buy food and then either eat it right away or forget about it until it spoils, and he's not great about cleaning. He sleeps on a futon with a pull-out bed, and has a chair and a gaming rig in the corner. Britt checks when he last logged on, and notes that he hasn't done so since Thursday. He seems to like games involving stealth and planning - Hitman, Thief, stuff like that. 

There are a bunch of canvases around the place, including one recent work still on an easel. That one focuses on a great big tree, and Nicholas recognizes the area - it's Fort McGilvray, down a coast a little ways. Figuring that Roger probably doesn't drive, he calls his buddy Gary who drives a shuttle taking tourists to various spots, and learns that Roger was on the shuttle to Fort McGilvray on Sunday. Gary remembers that on the way back, Roger was sketching like crazy in his little sketchbook, but he didn't say anything or take his headphones off (but that's not abnormal). 

Nicholas looks around and finds multiple sketchbooks. Many of them have landscape scenes, but a bunch of them also have drippings of red paint, spattered in various ways. Maybe Roger's getting into impressionism? Britt looks at the other paintings and finds that a lot of them are of snowy scenes with blood spatter. There's no depiction of a body or overt violence, just...blood on the snow.

Amelia, whom you may recall if you've got a really good memory is phobic about blood, leaves the place and knocks on Roger's neighbor's door. The guy she talks to tells her that Roger came home Wednesday night and talked with an old lady in the hallway, but kind of blew her off and went inside. He hasn't seen him since.

Back in the apartment, Britt finds a footlocker and opens it up. Inside, she finds books about true crime, serial killers, and a textbook on forensics - Roger is apparently very interested in blood spatter patterns. She also finds a collection of hunting knives and a couple of whetstones. None of the knives looked used, just cared for. Disquieting, but not a huge red flag on its own.

Mercy, better at internet research than physical investigation, jumps online and manages to find Roger's reddit account. He posts pretty prolifically in subreddits about Alaskan artists, various parks and hiking trails, but also Dexter, Hitman, and subreddits related to forensic science (specifically, you guessed it, blood spatter). 

Nicholas wonders if Roger is on any meds - they've heard that he gets rides to the pharmacy on occasion. They check the medicine cabinet and find that, yes, he's on antidepressants and focus meds, and based on a quick pill count, unless he has some with him the last time he's had his meds would have been Thursday. With the dosage and meds he's on, he might well be getting brain zaps about now. 

The envoys head out and go down to the docks. The envoys go to the Crab Pot to talk to Sonny Quill, the bartender and occasional SAVE contact. Sonny confirms what they already heard about the incident Tuesday and fills in some more details. Two tourists came in, probably thinking this was a bar that catered to tourists (it's not) and instead of turning around and finding a better bar they had to mark their territory so they stayed in the place drinking (Sonny remembers one drank good Scotch and the other one drank mezcal). They got drunk and got loud, which of course upset Roger - Tuesdays are usually quiet at the Crab Pot because one of the other bars in the area does dollar beers and so they get the traffic. Roger picked a fight, punches were thrown, Sonny threw Roger out, but the guy he punched insisted on pressing charges, so Sonny had to call the police and Roger got arrested. Amelia asks if Sonny caught the dudes' names - sure, he wrote it down. The guy who pressed charges is named Aaron Lang, and he and the other guy are in town for a conference.

Well, actually, they're in town to get a ride to the conference - it's at Mountain Ridge, a resort south of Seward on Harris Bay, only accessible by boat or air. A ferry left Thursday to take them and a bunch of other people out that way. Nicholas knows the guy who drives that ferry, Ricky, so he goes and talks with him. He confirms that, yes, he took the ferry to Mountain Ridge Thursday morning, and now that you mention it, he swears he saw Roger get on the ferry, but that guy was wearing a suit. Does Roger even own a suit? He had headphones on, though. Ricky didn't have a list of names or anything, he was just hired by the conference to take a load of people to Mountain Ridge and pick them up Tuesday.

The envoys confab, and Mercy looks up Mountain Ridge. It's a newer place, only been open a couple of years, and it's pretty expensive. Presently they're hosting a retreat/conference for Elevance Health ("elephants health?"), complete with skiing and hiking and so forth. As mentioned, it's only accessible by plane or boat, and Ricky already has a charter to do or he'd totally take them out there. No problem, thinks Nicholas. He can borrow a seaplane and fly them there, it'll take about an hour.

The envoys each grab a go-bag in case something happens and they have to stay, and take off. As they're flying in, some of Nicholas' instruments start showing warnings and the plane starts losing altitude. Nicholas, however, puts the plane in the water perfectly, right up to the dock of the hotel, without letting on that the problem would have been a lot bigger if it'd happened twenty minutes ago. Of course the envoys are worried about Unknown influence, Mercy in particular ("if it can cause a heart attack, it can down a plane, right, it's all clogging tubes?") but a quick inspection shows that it's just a routine mechanical thing. Either the owner of the plane should have noticed it or Nicholas should have caught it in pre-flight checking. Either way he can fix it, given a little time.

An employee helps them off the plane onto the docks, and offers them a lift up to the lodge. Nicholas and Mercy decide to stay behind and fix the plane and then hike up, and Amelia and Britt get on the vehicle to go and try and find Roger Brewster.

Character Creation: Out of the Ashes

Out of the snow bank, more like.

The Game: Out of the Ashes
The Publisher: Modiphius
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Well, it's not the most exciting fantasy game I've ever read. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. Out of the Ashes is set in a fantasy world where the Nameless Emperor has been defeated, but his Ministers still rule portions of the world, so there's lots of evil undead and so forth to deal with. The game has you built a Community and asks some interesting questions about when (specifically during which thousand-age Age) the community was built, what its constituent cultures are, and so forth. Actually the community-building systems aren't too far off Cairn (the fuzzy animals one, not the OSR one), so that's cool.

But I dunno. It's one of those games that my brain just kind of slid off, as often happens with fantasy games with well-defined worlds. I have an easier time latching on to such worlds when there's an element of horror or something, I guess? Or when the system is something I know and I find fun. This, I think it would be fine at the table and if one of my players showed up and was really enthused about playing it, I'd run it, but it's brain-Jello otherwise.

I have a little time before Chill today, however, so let's make a character!

The first thing I'd be asked to do, in a group, would be to make a Community, but handily there's an example one that I can use. So let's assume my character lives in the community of Dassos. Dassos is a sizable community and has some military strength but not a lot of education or prospects, and some kind of vicious political shenanigans going on. 

Well, let's make someone who's suited for the governmental/official side of things, but without a lot of practical experience. Let's say that he's got a valuable skill - he's literate and versed in language and law and history. We'll say he's Vespan, since that'll fit in to Dassos (and I think it makes the most sense for the character). His name is Iakobos Aprena. 

Concept-wise, I don't think any of the listed ones are exactly what I want, so let's called his concept "Scribe." Concept doesn't dictate mechanical choices anyway, it's really just a guideline. Focus, however, does have mechanical implication. I can be a tough, determined, or magician...y (why it's not "magical" or just "magic" I don't know, since the other two are adjectives). 

Well, I don't see Iakobos as being tough, and that leaves determined or magic. Do I wish to fiddle with the magic system? Sure, why not. That means I get a bonus to Spirit and I know four, rather than three, keys. Pocket that for later when it'll make sense. 

Skills! I get to put 10 of them to level 3, and then I get 15 more points to spread around, but I can't go higher than 8 in any one. Sure. Let's do our 10 at level 3 first:

Sneak
Craft
Investigate
Lore
Notice
Conviction
Persuade
Insight
Song
Heal

And then 15 points. Well, I'll blow 10 and put Lore and Investigate to the max. I'll spend four and buy Shoot at 4, and I'll put the last one into Insight. 

Talents! I get 5 points, and there are a bunch of these, but magical styles are Talents. They cost 2 each, and then there are kind of sub-talents within them, but you can do magical things without those. Let's just see what Iakobos should be good at. Is there a linguist talent? Oh, yes there is. Well, I'll spend a point on that. I kinda want Heart of Power so I intrinsically know who's in charge, but I think Iakobos would develop that rather than start with it. 

Magic-wise, let's continue with the language-based thing and take Words of Power. And then I'll spend my last two points and take Word of Revealed Truth and Word of Sleep. I think putting someone to sleep is as close to violence as Iakobos is comfortable getting. 

And then I know four keys. These are weird; there are 10 keys, but they're in opposed pairs (Life/Death, f'rex) and you can't know both halves of a pair. But what does that mean in game terms? I can employ "petty magic" related to a key. Some examples would be nice, but I get the gist. Let's take...Calm, Light, Change (Stability is closer to how I picture Iakobos, but I'm thinking about his role in the Community longer term) and Community. 

Drives! I get two. These are motivations to get involved, and I appreciate making that something with game mechanics weight. For Iakobos, I think he's motivated to get Dassos educated again, so Teach Dassos to Read would be a good start. I also think he's really passionate about language and languages, and drives can just be passions, so sure, let's call it "Passionate about the languages of the world."

Connection! I get to specify one connection that Iakobos has. There's a specified NPC named Phillipos the Loremaster who also laments how ignorant Dassos has gotten, so that's an obvious one. I start with 16 Endurance, 14 Spirit, d4 in Wealth, and three items off a list...I'll take a book of lore (History of the First Age), a set of formal clothes, and a crossbow. 

And that's pretty much it! I picture Iakobos as young, thin, dark hair, studious, inquisitive. Played by Igby Rigney, maybe. I actually like this game more after making a character. I dunno, I'll keep it in mind.

Movie #838: The Last Voyage of the Demeter

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a horror movie telling the story of the titular voyage. It stars Corey Hawkins, David Dastmalchian, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, Stefan Kapicic, Woody Norman, Jon Jon Briones, Chris Walley, Nikolai Nikolaeff, and Javier Botet.

The Demeter, of course, was the ship that carried Dracula from Romania to England in the novel, and the captain's log makes up part of one of the chapters. The movie is a dramatization of that journey, and it takes a few liberties with the source material, but that's to be expected. To wit, no ship's doctor is actually mentioned in the captain's log, but our hero in this movie is Mr. Clemens (Hawkins), a man who graduated from Cambridge and then discovered that no one wanted to hire a Black man as a doctor. He winds up on the ship trying to get home, and immediately impresses the Captain (Cunningham) by saving his grandson Toby (Norman) from a falling crate. In the worst piece of failing successfully since DiCaprio's character won a ticket on the Titanic, he boards the Demeter and joins the crew...

...but almost immediately, shit goes fucky. A "stowaway" (Franciosi) is discovered in a box of dirt in the hold, and while the first mate Wojchek (Dastmalchian) advocates tossing her overboard, they do the decent thing and save her life. Of course, she's actually only there as provisions for the ship's real stowaway, Dracula (Botet), who sets about picking off the crew one by one.

I have mentioned before (when talking about Rogue One, for instance), that if you know your entire cast has to die in order for the story to make sense, it opens up a remarkable freedom for the story. Here, we know going in that everyone, including the adorable dog (alas Huck) and the young cabin boy are toast before the ship lands, wrecked, at Whitby. I feel like The Last Voyage embraces the tragedy of the situation in a lot of ways. We see the characters slowly unraveling in the face of their dire circumstance, and the movie doesn't shy from the horror of seeing, say, a character whose been presented as solid (Kapici's Olgaren) become a zombie-like creature and feed the boy to the vampire or said boy become a vampire and catch fire in his grandfather's arms. With that said, the addition of the character of Clemens as a POV is fine, but I rather wish his ending had been...a little more tragic. As it is, he survives and going into England searching of Carfax Abbey, and Dracula is there taunting him, but if you want to tie it back into the novel, maybe having him turn up raving and get put in Seward's asylum? If you want to get really mean about it, have Seward dismiss him because he's Black. 

The ending as depicted isn't actually any less tragic than that, because we as viewers know that Clemens is not involved in the death of Dracula at the end of the novel so the best case scenario is that he wises up and stops looking. If it seems like I'm harping on this one bit of discontinuity with the novel, it's because all of the other embellishments and changes to the source material - the addition of Anna, the addition of Toby, the slaughter of the ship's animals, etc - are made in service to bringing out the horror of the situation more vividly. 

And the movie does a good job of it! Most of the effects, including Dracula and zombie-Olgaren, are practical, with the result that it looks like there's actually a monster in the shadows rather than shadows someone added a digital monster into. The actors do a good job of depicting a crew that knows each other and the grudging respect they show Clemens, right up until shit goes sideways and then the bigotry starts to show up. And, and yes I'm gonna say this every time it's relevant, the ship feels like a real place (because it was, they built a huge single set with the deck and interior) and that allows a real sense of continuity to the events of the movie.

Overall it's a solid movie and it didn't do as well as it should have, and it's such an obvious premise I can't believe it hasn't been done before. I do find myself thinking whether they are other sections of Dracula that could stand on their own as features. Maybe the search for the "bloofer lady?"

My Grade: B+
Rewatch Value: Medium

Next up: They

Thirsty Sword Lesbians: Eat Your Spinach...Or Be Eaten By It!

Here's last session!

Our feisty protagonists fly off to the planet Kieron, in search of the mystical and mysterious Hidden Garden. Izzy has heard that only someone in true, pure love can get in, which she's pretty sure she can handle because all her loves are pure and true. Hedera, however, has just heard that you can't get in unless you know how, so clearly no one has an entirely full picture.

They make planetfall near an immense city built like a corkscrew up into the sky, with buildings and so on spiraling up, but they're not here for that. Hedera immediately touches Izzy on the shoulder and activates nature's touch, allowing Izzy to hear all the plants speaking to her.

This is immediately overwhelming, as the grass happily and loudly greets Izzy. She manages to ask about the garden, but she asks about someplace with trees and flowers and the grass knows lots of places like that. Hedera tries to clarify, and the grass gives thema vague direction but no sense of distance, so the four of them start walking.

After a while, they walk into a cultivate field with evenly spaced clumps of what looks like spinach, except it's deep red and each clump is nearly five feet high and seven feet around. Izzy wonders if it's edible, and Hedera offers to let her talk to it (the effect has worn off), which Izzy vehemently passes on (it made her brain itchy before and she had to take space-Benadryl). Hedera tries to talk to the plant, and it just makes a low mooing kind of sound to them. They try to figure it out, and it...lurchs forward and swallows them.

The others are, of course, taken aback, but Esme springs into action, draws her sword, and defies danger, cutting Hedera free. The other spinach-clumps seem to unfurl and swell, though, indicating their obvious intent to eat them. Hedera entices the plants, trying to talk their way out of this, but the plants are just hungry. 

Cleo transforms into her fearsome black-footed cat form and snarls, trying to make the plants back off, but one of them unfurls a long, fuchsia proboscis and yanks her into its innards. Esme fights it, slicing Cleo out, but the planets surround them. Izzy tries to taunt Hedera into talking with the plants and getting them out of this, and Hedera...does not. Instead, they awaken the wild, but instead of healing or calming the land, their eyes go completely black and all of the spinach clumps wither and die. 

Izzy stares at Hedera, and Hedera makes clear that these particular plants can go fuck themselves. Izzy, overwhelmed with guilt, promises not to flirt with anyone in the Garden, even though there's certain to be hot mermaids there. Hedera responds that they do not care. (There was some emotional support happening here, but not always successfully.)

The four of them head out and about the time they reach the end of the field, they realize that this is quite a long walk and they probably should have just taken a ship. Hedera summons theirs, and Cleo, with her sharp cat ears, notes that there's another vehicle incoming. And lo! The vehicle approaches, following Hedera's ship! It looks like a flying pigpen, a big rectangular hovering thing with a seat and controls at the front. Hedera, still feeling threaten (and still Angry from the fight), nearly has her ship lash out with a vine and kill the driver, but Esme realizes what they're doing and tackles her. The ship comes to a halt and a woman in coveralls hops down and asks what's going on.

Izzy greets her without flirting, which is something of a Herculean task but she promised, and tells her that these plants were just dead when they go there (you know, lying). She asks about the Garden, and the woman tells her (with a sort of "ugh, tourists") attitude, that if they keep walking to the treeline and then bear west, they'll go through a little valley and then start to feel like they're missing something or they left the stove on. That's where the Garden is, but getting in is their problem.

Cleo asks what's in the ship, and the farmer tells her that it's feeder pigs - they breed them to feed the spinach plants ("so we just could have waited a minute," mutters Izzy to herself). Cleo asks if she can have a pig, and the farmer balks at that - they're not really suited to be pets...or did Cleo want to eat it? She does let Cleo come up to the ship and see the pigs, and they're big, smelly, blue-colored spacehogs, but Cleo is thrilled and leaps down into the midst of them. 

The pigs are...not so thrilled, and either try to run away or eat her. Cleo grabs one and wrestles it, but the act overwhelms her delicate understanding of socially acceptable behavior and she transforms again. She pulls the pig out of the vehicle and leaps down, and the pig tries to run off but the farmer grabs it with a loop of plastic on a stick and puts it back in the pen. The farmer, probably a little confused and not at all flirted with, takes her leave, and the four of them head towards the treeline. (Esme and Hedera have resolved their little tiff.)

They eventually walk through the aforementioned valley, and they all start feeling like they're missing something, but Izzy realizes that means they're there. And...now what? The four of them try and suss out how to get in, and Izzy realizes she's a little Smitten with Hedera, but it'll never work, she doesn't like mushrooms ("I'm not a mushroom," Hedera reminds her, "I'm a flesh. I just talk to mushrooms"). Hedera, who most definitely does not reciprocate the Smit, sits down and meditates...and vanishes.

The other three panic for a moment, and try and figure where Hedera's gone. But then Esme pulls herself together and reflects on her own emotional state - concerned and a little hurt that Izzy's not paying attention to her - and then vanishes as well. Cleo is still Angry, she's been Angry since the fight, and she didn't get to eat or pet a pig, and she's just a very cranky cat...and she vanishes.

Izzy is left alone. She looks around for the others and reflects that she misses Esme, but manages to calm herself a bit and then disappears as well...and then all four of them are in the Garden, which we'll get into next session.

Marvel: Special Pint-Sized Issue!

You know, like the opposite of a SPECIAL GIANT-SIZED ISSUE! Little quickie session last night because we were playing online because Michelle and I were recovering from illness. Here's last time. On we go! 

The morning after their big fight with clockwork robots, our heroes head to the local hub and HQ of the NDEAC (National Department of Enhanced and Altered Crimes), Site 121. In contrast to the similar places Magnus has seen in his multiversal travels, this place is pretty cheery - the architecture isn't brutalist, there are actually colors and gardening and landscaping, and there are framed pictures on the wall of the lobby depicting some of Believeland's famous events involving superhumans.

The heroes meet with Agent Carlson (every universe has one), who takes them into the building to where the robots are being stored. To get there they all walk through a kind of metal detector; Carlson explains it's a quick analysis to make sure they aren't giving off any energies that are going to react explosively with anything down here ("learned that the hard way!"). 

Night Fyre and Mirage walk through with no issues; the machine makes different noises for each of them. Whispers, of course, isn't physically present, but is watching and listening through button cams on the others' shirts. Magnus walks through and the machine...does nothing. Carlson has him go back and walk through again, and again, nothing. A technician calls Carlson over and they have a quick confab. Magnus eavesdrops, and hears the conversation: "Nothing. He just doesn't have superpowers." "Oh, he's one of the ones without powers. That's fine. Just don't mention it, maybe he's sensitive about it." Magnus, who absolutely does have powers, is somewhat perplexed, but doesn't press the issue.

The three of them (plus Whispers, watching) enter a lab with the wreckage of the robots laid out on metal tables. They get to work doing analysis, started with just looking real closely. Night Fyre finds tufts of fur in the gears of the robots, and an analysis in the...furn-alyzer shows that it's rabbit fur. Magnus opens up a chest panel of a robot to see if there's a little wheel for a rabbit to run on or a control cockpit for a rabbit to pilot the robots (stranger things have happened), but nope, the robots are powered by steam and electrical discharge created by the steam (comic-book science!). 

Magnus does reach into his hat and pull out a rabbit ("Just checking if Mr. Fluffles was still there"), but it makes him think about the rabbit fur and how long and thick it is. This fur would have to belong to a rabbit...almost the size of a man. Whispers digs into the databases and looks for heroes or villains with a rabbit-theme, maybe something like Night Fyre, only a bunny instead of a bird. But no dice; the Lapine Avenger died some years back, and Evil Pink Death Bunny is doing life in prison. This is something new.

Mirage examines the robots from the perspective of metallurgy and archaeology, and notes that the parts used to make these things are clearly custom made, but there are no stamps or machining marks...almost like they were created in their current form, out of nothing. Whispers widens her search, looking for superhumans themed around Alice in Wonderland (white rabbit, after all). She does find something - a couple of years ago a dragon appeared in downtown Believeland, smashed up a block, but then was beaten back by the heroes of the city and just...vanished. The thinking at the time was that it was driven into its home dimension (Believeland does have a higher-than-average dimensional travel rate), but maybe it just un-created? Whispers discovers that someone nicknamed it...the Jabberwock.

The heroes decide to reactivate one of the robots and see if they can get a sense of how it was being controlled. Magnus and Night Fyre take it into a "danger room" for safety, while Carslon and Mirage watch from a booth. They heat the water in the canisters until steam courses through the robot, and it "wakes up"...but then stands there placidly. Magnus reaches into his hat and pulls out a thaumometer (a gizmo that detects magic), and it gets a slight reading from the robots, but it seems to be background energy rather than anything actively happening. He does note, however, that what counts as "magic" varies from universe to universe, but this at least gives them someplace to start.

Mirage, realizing that the robot isn't a threat, enters the room and uses her enhanced power of touch to analyze further. She feels that the robot is covered in a very fine layer of particulate salt...like you'd get if you were hanging out in a salt mine. Whispers jumps on the research, and finds that there are spokes in the mine that are active, spokes that are decommissioned, and spokes that have been bought by private interests. But strangest of all, there's a spoke that appears on a recent map but not on a map from just five years ago. Almost like the spoke just...happened.

The heroes thank Carlson and head down to the waterfront to investigate the mines, though first they stop to get lunch at Lucifer's Lunchbox, a food truck from which Lou sells hellfire-seared pork and deviled eggs (Believeland has an amazing food scene). Whispers joins them ("get me a combo, don't ask what's in it"), and as they're eating, they hear breakage and screams from down the wharf! 

"Dammit, I'm just trying to have a taco," mutters Night Fyre. They rush off to see what's happening, but what they discover is weirder than they were expecting. A huge black horse has appeared seemingly from nowhere and smashed up a couple of food trucks. It lowers its head, its eyes glowing the yellow-red of Hell ("I didn't call this horse!" yells Lou from offscreen), and charges. 

(Get your Bad Horse jokes out now, next time - horse battle!)

Character Creation: Stars Without Number

Second character of 2025, and we're going...to the stars! Whee!

The Game: Stars Without Number
The Publisher: Sine Nomine Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

I'd been aware of the "Without Number" games, but hadn't played them or read any until fairly recently when Ashes Without Number Kickstarted, and then a buddy of mine talked about running Stars and I realized I didn't have a copy and I COLLECT RPGS so anyway here we are.

And I didn't realize that it was an OSR game! That's what you get for not looking into games before you buy them (not that it would have been a dealbreaker or anything, I just didn't know). Having now read it, it's interesting. I like the faction game, I like the sector generation, I like the underlying setting, but I don't love the system. I just never quite grok what using the bones of 1st Ed D&D for anything is in aid of, unless you're going for the nostalgia of it all or something? But very clearly there's something I'm missing, because there are a bunch of games that feel more indie than anything else that use this system and it always feels jarring. 

Well, anyway, let's make a character! Shouldn't take too long.

Man, that's a busy sheet. Anyway: First thing we do is either assign the array of attributes or roll a bunch of dice. I'm feelin' random today, so we'll do that. I'm also supposed to assign these in order, so we get:

Strength 9
Dexterity 11
Constitution 13
Intelligence 9
Wisdom 9
Charisma 14

Well, nothing too terrible, I guess. The rules say if I roll randomly I can pick one to change to 14 (the thinking being that at least that way you've got one stat that doesn't suck), but of course I already have a stat at 14, does that matter? Oh, no, it doesn't, because the example of chargen has a 16 and he still gets the free 14. Nice! (This, game designers, is why having an example of chargen is handy.)

Anyway, I think I shall swap out my Wisdom for the 14. Never regretted having a decent Wisdom score.

Next we note modifiers, which are either 0 or +1 because I rolled more or less OK.

Now I've gotta pick a Background, which means I should probably think about concept at least a little. Oh, wait, I can pick it randomly. Well, I've been random so far, no sense stopping now. Rolling a d20 gets me...4, which is Criminal! Fine with me.

I therefore get Sneak-0, which means I'm basically competent. I can either pick skills or roll them, but if I pick them I can't pick from the Growth table (ew). I think I'd rather roll, thanks all the same. So I get three rolls and I can split them betwixt the Learning and Growth tables...as I wish? Well, I want to do two on Learning and one on Growth, anyway, so we'll alternate, which means I need two d8 rolls and a d6 roll.

OK, so I got a 2 and 8 on the d8s, which gives me any combat skill and Trade. Ooh, maybe I'm an arms dealer. I'll take Shoot. My d6 roll gave me 2, so I can add two points to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma in any combination. Well, shit, I'll put 'em into Intelligence (because I can't put them anywhere that they'll change my modifiers anyway, so I might as well raise the stat, I guess).

And now we choose a class! I can be a Warrior, Psychic, Expert, or Adventurer. Hmm. Well, as much as I love psychic/magic shit, I feel like with what I've got so far, Warrior makes the most sense. Actually, I'm gonna go Adventurer (which basically lets me multi-class) and be a Warrior/Expert. So what does that mean? Well, I get a free level in a nom-combat focus, and a free level in a combat focus. Uh, sure. I'll have to look those up. I get a max HP of 1d6 +1 for my Con modifier +2 for being a partial Warrior, so let's g'head and roll that...6! Nice! I get 9 whole HP. 

Oh, hang about, I get a focus of my choice, and the non-combat one from Partial Expert, and the combat one from Partial Warrior. Spiffy.

OK, so let's say I do want to be an arms dealer. Let's assume my character was from a world that, like most of them, got cut off by the Scream, but his particular world was a producer of gunpowder or laser batteries or whatever is needed to make weapons work (not just make the weapons themselves), and was within spike-drive reach of a world that could provide food. Over the years, a trade web built up where people would give our world (let's call it Tvastr) food, medicine, and other necessities, and the warlords of Tvastr provided the means to make the weapons work. Otherwise you're back to sharp sticks and rocks, pal. 

So my guy is one of a long line of folks who make these deals happen. Seems like I need something to represent deal-making kind of skill? Let's see what's available. 

Ooh, there's a few. Hmm. Authority, Diplomat, and Connected all work. I think I'll take the first two, and then I'll take Gunslinger for my combat one. I get 0-level in Lead, Talk, and Shoot (which raises Shoot to 1), and a few assorted perks (reroll 1s on negotiation/diplomacy, that kind of thing).

So that's my foci, now I get to add one Skill to represent other interests of the character's. Well, going with the spirit of this (because I would take Notice because it's almost always useful), I'll take Pilot and say my guy has an interest in fast ships.

Hit points are done, base attack bonus is +1 because I'm a Partial Warrior, and then...ugh, equipment. Good news is there are starting packages, bad news is the one that makes the most sense is Civilian, which gives me secure clothing, a compad, and 700 credits so I can buy my own shit. Blargh. Well, I'll buy a laser pistol and a laser rifle, and say that Tvastr produces batteries for such weapons. That leaves me 200 credits, which is fine. My Physical and Mental saves are 14 (15 - Con/Wis mods, respectively), Evasive save is 15 (same deal but with Dex). 

And finally, I need a name and a goal! Well, my guy's goal is to get the hell away from Tvastr. It's not that he doesn't like it, but well, it'd be nice to know that the district's ability to eat isn't going to depend on his ability to strong-arm someone into a deal. And besides, like, there are better places, with more interesting people and cooler ships. Mostly he's just bored and a little burned out. 

Let's say his name is Alexander Kapoor. Alex, like a lot of Tvastrans, has oddly pale skin from centuries of minimal sunlight and the side effects of the vitamin supplements everyone takes. His hair, likewise, went ash-gray in his teens. Alex is nimble and precise, but he'd really like to be careless and reckless, if just for a while. 

Movie #837: 2 Fast 2 Furious

2 Fast 2 Furious is, of course, the second in the Fast & The Furious series, and stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, James Remar, and Devon Aoki. 

Brian O'Connor (Walker), after letting Dom Toretto go at the end of the first movie, obviously loses his job as a cop and flees to Miami. He gets a job at the garage of his street racing impresario buddy Tej (Bridges), does a bunch of street racing, but then gets picked up by his former boss (Thom Barry) and Customs Agent Markham (Remar). They offer him the choice: go undercover and help them bust evil crime boss Verone (Hauser), or go to prison forever. He recruits his childhood buddy Roman (Gibson), they get into Verone's crew along with undercover sexy agent Monica (Mendes), and a lot of car chases ensue.

Look, it's a lot like the first movie, but there's more humor and less family drama. The first three movies in the franchise are all kinda finding their pace and figuring out what it is about the franchise that lands, and it turns out that "Vin Diesel" is a big part of that. Paul Walker is a good second fiddle, but he really needs some charismatic people around him to help him pop, and fortunately Tyrese Gibson fills that role nicely. Cole Hauser plays a convincing sonofabitch (see also Pitch Black), and Eva Mendes does fine with the very limited role she gets. Devon Aoki's Suki is the far more interesting character on a superficial level, but we never really learn much about her. 

I don't find this movie any more memorable than its predecessor, and while this is stupid, the DVD menu drives me crazy because it makes you jump (or drive) through a bunch of hoops to get to the "play" button. 

My Grade: B-
Rewatch Value: Low

Next up: The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Character Creation: Swords of Meropis

First character of 2025!

I've been shooting for 120 characters a year the last couple of years. In 2024 I did 116, so pretty close. I actually stopped a little shy of 120 because I presently at 901 characters done, and I want to end 2025 with an even 1000 (giving this post and this post 500 each). 

Of course, the other interesting data point is that in January 2024 I had 206 games left to do, I did 116 in 2024, and now in January 2025 I have...184 left to do. That means I somehow picked up 94 games during 2024. Maybe in 2025 I'll be a little more circumspect in what I buy or back. I am kinda running out of room for games. 

But then, I could second guess my hobby all I want, but the truth is I really like getting and reading new games. I like the occasional glimpses of real talent and originality I get. And, who knows, maybe in a few more years I'll be able to attend Origins without having a panic attack or anyone grabbing torches and pitchforks (I'm kidding, no one who would actually care that I attend has the courage to actually say anything to me about it). 

For now:

The Game: Swords of Meropis
The Publisher: Gallant Knight Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

The actual title of the game is Swords of Meropis And the Wretched Blood of the Undying Witchgod, which is more than a little unwieldy. I read this book a few months ago, or tried to, retained exactly nothing, thought "ugh, boring, I'll do it some other time" and then picked it up last night and read it...and I'm honestly not sure if I actually did read this game before. It's actually pretty cool. Reminds me a bit of Agon, inasmuch as its tone is a kind of mythic sword-and-sandals heroic sort of thing. Its setting is pretty reminiscent of Greek myth, especially with how the names sound, but it's an original setting (so far as I know) and it looks perfectly playable.

In addition, it does some pretty original things with XP and character advancement, and has a sample campaign that includes a whole hexcrawl system. I dunno, I think I'd give this a try. For now, of course, let's make a sword...guy. We start with 3d6 into each of the four Attributes (Wise, Hale, Agile, Mighty, which I just realized spells WHAM). Rolling gives me:

Wise 10
Hale 13
Agile 15
Mighty 4

JFC. Well, anyway, I can now choose to add 3 points into Attributes (either by raising one by 3, one by 2 and one by 1, or three by 1). I think I shall raise my Mighty to 7, thanks. 

I now get 10 Skill ranks to spend, but I can't spend more than 3 on a given Skill. Each rank raises a skill by a die type, meaning that the highest a Skill can be at chargen is a d8. 

Well, since my guy is quite fast and nimble (that's just the way the dice landed, I swear!) I shall buy Ranged up to d8. I'll raise Acrobatics, why not lean into my proclivities for the first character of the year. I'll put that at d6. I'll buy a d4 of Traveling, Politics, Reading/Writing, Religion, and Learning, and that's all 10. 

I get armor, a one-handed weapon, and a shield. My guy obviously has light armor, and I'll say the weapon is a javelin - he can stab with it, but would rather throw it. 

And I think that's it, actually. There are Knacks, but it doesn't say I get one to start (honestly the character creation section could stand to be a little clearer - this actually happens a lot, where character creation sections just kinda...peter out three-quarters of the way through but never say "OK, you're done!"). 

Well, my guy's name is Chysmas. He was originally meant to be a god-caller, studied at the temple of Theniena, Goddess of Passion and everything, but he just...couldn't find the voice. His teachers eventually told him to leave because he wasn't making progress, and he struck off on his own, determined to find something he could be passionate about. Maybe then Theniena will find him worthy. 

Tall, lanky, lean, like a lot of my characters (though in fairness we're approaching 1000, there's gonna be some overlap no matter what I do). Sandy blonde hair, cleft lip (javelin accident - turns out holding one while riding takes some practice), blue eyes. 

That'll do it!

D&D: Very Nearly Gnoll Nosh

Yesterday was D&D, and our heroes went hunting the rest of the gnoll infestation. Here's last time.

Our heroes wake up and do their morning spell preparations and whatnot. Aisling, who spent the night in the treetop with Fearg, wakes to him pouring water on his hair and flipping it back and relaxes to enjoy the show. 

Down on the ground, Zook chats with Keenan and asks after the fourth member of their party, Losh, the bard. Keenan tells him sadly that they went west into the badlands, and wound up exploring a cave system. It was a good adventure, there was treasure and interesting stuff to find, but somewhere along the way they got separated and Losh fell down a crevasse. They tried to recover her, but the crevasse was deep enough that they weren't sure they could get back up, so they made the decision to leave her body. (Up in the tree, Fearg has a similar conversation with Aisling, who promises to write Losh a song.)

Belle, who had been checking the surrounding area, reports that she's found the gnolls' trail, and reiterates the need to kill them. Dara agrees - they're playing merry hell with the creatures of this forest, and unchecked they'll spread and kill things until there's nothing left to eat. The two parties agree and join forces.

They set out into the forest, with Dara and Belle taking point. Fortunately, they spot the trap before stepping into it - a big net hidden on the ground in a clearing and attached to a deadfall. Unfortunately, the gnolls have already spotted them by then, and as they approach the net with the intent to disable the trap, the creatures attack!

The adventurers realize right away this is going to be a harder fight - there are a couple of fox-gnolls, a handful of wolf-gnolls, two bear-gnolls, and that's all bad enough. But the fox-gnolls are accompanied by a larger, more dangerous-looking such creature, and one of the bear-gnolls is likewise huge and carrying a club. Finally, a gnoll stands up from a pile of clutter, larger and sturdier, wearing skulls around her neck. Dara notes that this one is a more "classic", hyena-like gnoll, and is clearly in charge.

The battle is joined! Fearg flies into a rage and engages three of the wolf-gnolls, while Clara scampers over to another clump of them and strikes, wearing them down with repeated blows. Belle nocks an arrow and fires at the bride, but misses. Keenan takes two stones to the noggin from the fox gnolls and blows them back with a Gust of Wind spell, while Aisling throws a Bane spell on some of the gnolls. Zook casts Grease, effectively trapped some of the gnolls in a small area, which allows Fearg to strike repeatedly with his war pick. Dara is immediately confronted with the larger bear-gnolls, and, realizing she won't last long with these creatures attacking her, casts a Thunderwave.

This blasts some of the gnolls back, but unfortunately Keenan gets caught in the blast as well and is thrown against a tree. Zook throws another Grease spell and both of the bear-gnolls fall on their asses, and Keenan drags himself to one knee and flings a gout of flame at them. The grease bursts into flames and the smell of burning bear fills the air!

Unfortunately, the leader - the Bride of Yeenoghu - enters the fray. She brandishes a huge flail and strikes out on Dara, felling her. The gnolls attack relentlessly with daggers, fangs, and clubs, and all of the heroes wind up injured, sometimes critically. Clara beats a couple of the gnolls to death, but the fox-gnolls sneak over and fling stones at her. They immediately regret this, however, as her monk training allows to reflexively catch said stones and return them directly to the gnolls' snoots. 

The Bride advances, and Belle, frustrated at her inability to disengage with or killing the wolf-gnoll she's fighting, summons up a cloud of fog. Aisling notes that the Bride is standing in the net trap, and shoots the deadfall rope with her crossbow. The Bride is pulled up into the tree, giving Dara a moment of respite to heal herself. But the gnoll leader cuts herself down and fells Dara.

Aisling revives her friends with Healing Word spells, but it's stopgap at best - the bear-lord gnoll picks up Zook, bites him near-fatally, and then moves on to her. Dara, now awake, hits the Bride with a Thorn Whip and pulls her to the ground. The Bride bites her savagely, felling her once again, and leaps up to find a new victim, but Dara pulls herself away from death's door, enchants her staff with the Shillelagh spell, and bashes the Bride on the head.

Keenan attacks the fox-gnolls, electrocuting one of them to death with a Shocking Grasp, enabling Clara to engage the Bride. She fights bravely, but she's been injured in her fight and the Bride strikes her down. Keenan, realizing Zook is dying, shoots the bear-lord with his crossbow and throws himself on Zook. The bear-lord raises up his club to smash them both, but Keenan casts Burning Hands up the bear-lord's nose, finally killing it.

The Bride, now the last gnoll standing, turns to Dara, ready to rip her in half - and suddenly sports a javelin to the eye, courtesy of Fearg.

The party finally takes a moment to breathe, rest, and tend to their wounds. Fearg compliments Clara on her stamina and discipline ("never had the patience for your type of fighting, but I might need to rethink that"). Keenan cradles Zook's head in his lap until he regains consciousness, and Belle curses herself for getting locked up in melee combat. The heroes search the bodies and find a handful gems and silver pieces, obviously taken from the gnolls' victims. Clara finds a bronze mug with gold inlay - obviously of dwarven make. She ties it to her belt; dwarves make good stuff!

They also find a scroll, obviously made of human skin and inked in blood. None of them can read it, but Keenan recognizes the language as Abyssal, the tongue of demons and infernal creatures. Dara takes it, intending to destroy it, and the party makes a big pyre for the gnolls' bodies before resuming their journey to the Enclave of Thorns.