Character Creation: Luna

Eight characters in August! I'm unstoppable!

The Game: Luna
The Publisher: Gila RPGs
Degree of Familiarity: I ran a one-shot of NOVA once, which is set in the same world, but doesn't use the same system. Otherwise none
Books Required: Just the one 

Luna, as mentioned, doesn't use the same mechanics as its sister games (NOVA and Nest), which I appreciate - I think the game engine should go along with the tone and intended content of the game. Luna doesn't have combat, it's about infiltrating a settlement and turning the sun-shard that powers everything into a moonstone. Like Nest, it's meant to be a 3-5 session campaign or a one-shot, and there's actually support for either, all within a game of about 40 pages. 

The game engine is actually based on the Resistance System (of Spire and Heart fame), but somewhat less involved. 

First thing we do is choose a class!

As is often the case with Gila games, all four of these look awesome and pass the Chupp test easily. I think today I'm feeling assassin-y, though, so I'll go with Scythe. No slot on the sheet to write Class, that's odd. Well, anyway, my starting Skills are Compel and Fight, and my starting Domains are Sparks and Technology.

And now I answer some questions! These are:

1. How long have you been in the cult? Let's say that we're a new convert (it occurs to me that Tobias Stratton, my NOVA character, would make a terrifying Lunar cultist if his life had gone differently). My character is named Horizon, or at least, that's his name now. He watched his brothers become Sparks and just never come back, and one day he stole some gear and went out into the Dusk to find whatever remained of them. A Lunar cultist named Gear found him, brought him to safety, and told him the truth - The sun isn't going to rise...but the moon always will. The Sparks aren't going to save us. Anyway, that's a long-winded way to say he's only been in the cult for a short time, and Gear's indoctrination is still pretty fresh.
2. The cult has countless sects and shapes. What's a major belief that you hold onto? Gear told Horizon that worship of the sun-shards is doomed, because the sun is doomed - we've seen that. It's not just blasphemy to continue that worship, it's folly, and it's doubly heartbreaking because we have a better way! We can get ahead of this by changing them to moonstone! The "major belief" here, I think, is that if all of the sun-shards were allowed to die, everything would just work out. No more fighting, no more Corvus making trouble, just harmony in the shadows.
3. Who did you first kill for the cult? What cybernetic did you earn as a result? It was Jonnen, the quartermaster who had all the codes to the Sparks. Horizon blames him for his brothers never coming home, not that he'd admit that. The cybernetic he earned was implants in his legs that let him run and jump with amazing speed and power.

I get my core ability - I can kill someone once per session, or more if I want to take Body stress doing it. I get to pick an Ability from a list, and I'll go with being able to do incredible acts of strength and speech, as that fits with the backstory.

Advances! Let's assume we're playing a 5-session scenario, so I just get one. I think I'd like the Sneak Skill.

I get two Bonds, but one's with a PC so I'll skip that. The other is with an NPC who's responsible for maintaining my cybernetics, and asks how I keep their silence. I'll say that person is Fanla, my aunt. She knows that Horizon has...changed, but she doesn't know I've been indoctrinated into the Lunar cult. I suspect this story might end badly for her. (No spot for Bonds on the sheet, that's disappointing.)

Horizon doesn't really have a cover identity; he's the person he always was because he's from this city. He's young, skinny, lithe, and fast, but he's been thoroughly trained to keep his cybernetic prowess under wraps when he's not on-mission for the cult. I suspect he's going to do something amazing in front of people and get exposed that way at some point. Played by a young Barry Keoghan, maybe.

And that's it! 

One-Shot: Hell Night!

Yesterday we did a one-shot game of Hell Night. First, some quick thoughts on the game, then, the summary!

Hell Night nails the atmosphere, I'll say that. You're playing demons brought up from Hell to hunt down the Archons of Hell before Heaven invades at dawn, because the Dark Master has fucked off somewhere to do something else (there's a table to roll on if why he did that becomes important; there's lots of tables). The game is set in and, more importantly, inspired by the 80s, so there's a lot of 80s metal and biker aesthetic. The game book itself, therefore, looks like this in places:

This is some of the easier text to read

All of that is fine, and there is a plain-text version to download, but it's a pain to find any particular thing during play. The system is pretty easy - 2d6, roll under your stat, but if you hit your stat exactly you crit! In play, however, we found that if you don't really specialize in one stat (there's only three), you fail a lot. 

The game succeeds entirely when it comes to vibe - it makes you want to play it. I think if I were going to run it again, I'd need to make some mechanical tweaks or at least clarifications. 

But never mind that! On to the story! SQUEEDLY-DOO! (Lots of squeedly guitar in this game, as Strong Bad might say.)

It's Hell Night, and four demons emerge from a long, deep tunnel where time and space cease to mean anything. They are:

• Ernest Gravely, the Reaper: Burned as a witch in the 1800s, Ernest has risen through the ranks of Hell and now brings sinful souls out of it. He wears a plague doctor's mask...actually that might just be his face. He rides Toothboiler, a Hell Ride that can take the form of a rat when it needs to.
• Raizen, the Slayer: Raizen was birthed from the decomposing remains of a dragon! It resembles a classic devil; red, pointy tail, claws, and carries a war-hammer. It also wears armor made from human windpipes and rides upon Motherfucker, a Hell Ride that whines if it's left alone (it gets lonely). Motherfucker has a sidecar, in which rides Skipper, Raizen's little imp buddy. (We're not sure where he got the sailor's hat.)
• Belphegor, the Usurper: Belphegor was a slayer at one point, but was crippled by an angel and deprived of form. Now it possesses the bodies of humans as necessary. Because of that impermanence, Belphegor doesn't have a Hell Ride of its own.
• Xul-Na'Ful, the Fallen: Once an angel in service to the First Voice, Xul-Na'Ful has Fallen to Hell. He remains completely faithful to the ineffable plan, however. Xul-Na'Ful refuses to get dirty and wears a white suit, scotch-guarded within an inch of its life. 

The demons emerge into the last light of the setting sun on a highway, and pass a sign that says "Las Vegas - 10 Miles." Belphegor seems to have jumped into the body of a man driving a white Pontiac and wearing a white suit with a fabulous hat, and a gold tooth. The four of them continue on into the city, and stop at a huge pool with jetting fountains. Belphegor hears someone whistle. He peaks into the water, and sees his own reflection - but the reflection is him as he should be, the Slayer, before his defeat. "Nope, nope, nope. Someone else look."

The others look; Ernest sees himself burning, nothing but fire and charred flesh ("that's about right."). Xul-Na'Ful sees himself in his true, angelic form ("rude"), and talks with the reflection. The reflection tells them their mission: "Find the deceiving derelict at the fortress of 10,000 illusions." Belphegor searches his host's memory for something that might qualify, and remembers that there's a casino called "Mirror, Mirror" that has a illusion/mirror theme going on. The demons head out - Xul-Na'Ful gets into the Pontiac and leaves his own vehicle, an ATV, behind. Ernest has Toothboiler shrink down to rat form and hop into his pocket, and rides along as well. Before they go Raizen looks into the water and sees...only himself, the Dragon-Born Slayer. Perfect.

The demons cruise down the Strip, but when stopped at a red light, Raizen spots a human with a leather jacket, a deathly pall, and more immediately relevant, a spiked mace approaching the Pontiac with obviously hostile intent. Raizen draws back and flings his hammer, but misses the man. The hammer sticks into the side of a bus across the street. 

This does, however, given the demons in the car enough of a heads-up. The man smashes through the window at Xul-Na'Ful, who puts the seat back and dodges. The demons get out and Ernest attempts to throw chains at the dude, but can't quite manage to hit. Xul-Na'Ful yoinks the mace out of his hand and tries to reason with him; the man responds, but in a language Xul-Na'Ful has never heard (which is weird, because as an angel he speaks all the tongues of Babel). 

Raizen pulls his Hell Ride around and yanks his hammer out of the bus, and then rolls up and swings on the guy. Ernest uses his power to rot the man's flesh, but only succeeds in rotting his jacket ("at least we know it's real leather"). Raizen manages to get himself centered enough to hit with his hammer and knocks the guy down, and stabs him in the chest with the pointy bit on the end of the hammer.

He's expecting to be rewarded with a shower of blood, but instead there's just a little ploop. This guy was dead to begin with. Belphegor thinks about this, and recalls that some demons can pull a bit of their power into corpses in order to create minions, but can't recall any specific Archon that has a propensity for this. Xul-Na'Ful tries to heal the guy, but only manages to revive him momentarily before his chest implodes again. He does, however, figure out the language - it's English, but backwards! Searching his body, they find a bit of cash and a $5 chip from Mirror, Mirror. They're on the right track!

Weird. And also, violence on the streets. They hear a siren behind them (Belphegor: "The constabulary!") and head on to Mirror, Mirror.

Belphegor gives the valet a hundred to park the car, Raizen has Skipper handle Motherfucker, Xul-Na'Ful takes a flyer from an old hobo handing them out ("you could win! You could win!") and the four of them head into the casino. Belphegor heads to a lounge to listen for gossip, while Ernest goes to the bar and starts drinking. Skipper scampers off to the slot machines, and Raizen follows, yanking a bucket of nickels out of some old lady's hands and giving it to the imp.

Xul-Na'Ful watches a blackjack table for a while, then sits down, puts down the chip, and buys into the game. He immediately wins (he can count cards like crazy), and keeps winning. Eventually this does have the intended effect - a very large man approaches him and tells him he can play at other tables, but no more blackjack. Xul-Na'Ful doesn't argue, but does watch where the man goes. He looks back at a man standing and watching the casino, clearly a pit boss. When he sees Xul-Na'Ful, he goes through a door. 

The Fallen finds the other three - Belphegor hasn't managed to learn anything of interest ("these humans are boring"), while Skipper has moved on from slots to the buffet and eaten all the shrimp. Xul-Na'Ful tells them what he's learned, and lifts the keys to the door off one of the guards. The demons go through it, go down a hall, and emerge into a locker room.

Three large dudes, one still wearing a towel, and a few less-large employees stare at them. There's some tension - the demons try and bribe them with drugs (turns out Belphegor's host is carrying a bunch of coke), but it doesn't work and fight is on! This turns out to be...not great for them.

Ernest unleashes the vermintide! Rats stream in from the corners and start nibbling on everything in the room. The dude in the towel takes a swing on Xul-Na'Ful, who grabs his towel and yanks, hoping to put him on his ass. It doesn't work (the guy isn't modest), and the two square off. The third guy runs for his locker, and Raizen follows. He manages to get his locker open before Raizen reaches him.

Raizen is here to Slay, and has had enough of Not Slaying. He emasculates the man with one yank, and then wrenches his hand off and tosses it (it bounces off the head of the guy trying to beat rats with a stick). Belphegor drops a bag of coke to the rats, and Ernest delightedly tells them to snort it up! Now a horde of cocaine rats nibbles on the guards! 

Belphegor realizes he has a gun, and shoots the guy whacking rats in the arm. His arm explodes and he drops to the ground, screaming in pain, while the naked guy attempts to fight Xul-Na'Ful but isn't really getting anywhere (Xul-Na'Ful is far too fast). The Fallen reaches down and heals the man's arm, and then tells them both to get out of here before anything else happens to them. They agree, and run.

Ernest dismisses the rats ("you guys know about anything else going on? 'Cause I'm still ready to party!"). Xul-Na'Ful finds a sawed-off shotgun in the locker and gives it to Raizen, and the four of them head on to the pit boss's office. They find it, and him, and, figuring he's probably the Archon they came for, threaten him to get him back to Hell. He refuses, however, and produces a very large gun.

The demons square off, but this fight goes pretty quickly - a few gun shots, a bit of magic, and Angelo (the pit boss) slumps dead to the floor (I honestly don't remember the blow-by-blow). But when he does, his flesh just melts away and flows to the corners of the room. The demons realize it's going to Limbo - but that's weird, normally a human's body doesn't go there, and a demon's form certainly wouldn't.

This isn't over, they realize. Ernest asks Toothboiler to find the Archon, and it scampers down the hall to an exterior door. The door puts them out into an alley. They start thinking about their assignment - a deceiving derelict? Xul-Na'Ful remembers the bum that handed him the flyer - standing right outside Mirror, Mirror. 

They head down the alley and see the bum again, and surround him. The bum is actually willing to talk with them, but he's not very helpful - he refuses to go back to Hell, and reminds that Heaven is going to invade don't seem to matter much. They ask his name and he tells them "Olegna", which isn't a name they recognize, but of course, it could be an alias. Raizen isn't really interested in dicking around, and squares up with his hammer. Xul-Na'Ful uses his power of Splendor to make the citizenry form a rough circle so no bystanders get hurt, and Belphegor quietly gives the valet his ticket and tells him to bring the Pontiac around. Olegna whistles...and a bunch of those pallid, backwards-speaking punks emerge from the darkened alley. 

But Belphegor was ready for this! He guns the engine and floors it, hopping the curb and slamming into the Netherpunks! He knocks them all down like bowling pins, but also slams his head against the windshield and knocks his host's brain loose. Unable to remember anything that happened tonight, he gets out of the car just as it explodes.

Ernest summons up the cocaine rats again and they start nibbling on everyone in the area, sending the crowds scattering. Raizen calls up Motherfucker and has it breathe fire, but it doesn't bother Olegna, who scoops up a bat that one of the Netherpunks dropped and cracks Ernest across the head. Ernest drops, dying, but manages to rot Olegna's clothes away. 

Olegna is a very dirty individual (which makes Xul-Na'Ful blanche a bit), but he's also got what appears to be a vestigial head emerging from his shoulder. The demons aren't sure what the make of that. Belphegor swirls around a bit and possesses one of the security guards from the casino, who happens to be carrying a hand grenade! He runs over, pulls the pin, and tosses it at Olegna's feet.

It explodes, but Olegna is unhurt. He swings the bat on Raizen and wounds the Slayer; Raizen retaliates with the warhammer and breaks Olegna's ribs. Apparently he can be hurt - but will Raizen last long enough to finish the job?

Meanwhile, in Limbo, Ernest has finished the "return to Earth" paperwork and is wandering. He sees what looks like Angelo, the pit boss from earlier, sitting there as a lifeless husk, reforming itself. This is weird - if humans go to Limbo, they go to Limbo, but they don't do this. Ernest pokes at this thing a bit, and then consumes it, trying to get a sense of what it really is.

And back on Earth, Olegna gets a horrified look. He pulls on the vestigial head as though trying to speed something up, but it doesn't seem to work, and Raizen swings the hammer and breaks his leg! He grabs the head and rips it off, and Olegna surrenders - "Fine! You win! I'll go back to Hell!"

The group of them escort him to a nearby gate, and they begin the walk back to Hell. As they do, they watch Olegna's arms lengthen, his snout grow, until he is a baboon with a second head on his shoulder - the second head rots and putrefies as they watch. And they recognize him as Burzuth, Ruler of the Circle of Lies.

One Archon down, who knows how many to go before this Hell Night can end! 

Character Creation: There & Hack Again

Trying to get to eight characters for the month, you wouldn't think that was so hard, but y'know, first couple of weeks back to work and all. Anyway.

The Game: There And Hack Again
The Publisher: Lakeside Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

I dunno. On the one hand, it's yet another OSR fantasy game based on The Black Hack, and reading it feels very much the same as reading By This Axe I Hack (same company, actually, so I guess that follows) or any of the those riffs on early D&D. 

I will say, though, that this one at least has some cool art, and while there's not necessarily a detailed world, there's a bit of attention to tone and theme and setting in a broad sense. It spends a little too much time telling us what it's not than what it is, but I can forgive that. 

I still don't know if I'd run one of these games, but I'm much more likely to try this one out. Anyway, I picked this because it's quick and I have errands to do, so let's make a dude!

I can roll 3d6 for each stat, and the book says that if I prefer a more traditional approach I could assign them in order. I'm torn. On the one hand, I don't care for random stat generation, but on the other, I don't have a concept in mind.

Ooh, you know what? I'm gonna crack open The Weird and roll for a concept! I love this book; it's moved to a permanent residence on my "currently running" shelf because I use it so much when I'm prepping The Wildsea and (formerly) Thirsty Sword Lesbians, but even D&D and sometimes Chill. 

So anyway, rolling on the "Weird PC Backgrounds" table, I get...well, a few that don't make any sense or don't for this game ("three goblins in a trenchcoat trying to pass as human," which would be fun in the right game but I don't think this is it), but then this:

  

That's still a little out there for this game, but the book talks about how there's more of a fairy tale vibe, so I think it can work. So let's say my guy's name is Tourmaline. Tourmaline was the fourth son of a family of root farmers on the edge of the mountains (gotta figure if they're naming their kids after stones there's some stonework going on nearby). And then one day some kind of marauders rocked up and attacked the farm, Tourmaline got an arrow in the chest and fell into a crevasse...and then came back the next day, totally fine, no wounds, no magic on him, just...embarrassingly alive.

Let's assume his village didn't do the Highlander thing where they assumed the worst ("he's in league with Lucifer!" Good grief, Kate, couldn't it have just as easily been a miracle?), but everyone is sure that this means something. As such, Tourmaline is going to get pushed into adventuring, because like, he's gotta, right?

It's so tempting to make Tourmaline a halfling, but that feels really on the nose. Let's just say he's human.

There's a class called Wayfarer in this game that allows you to play a normal person "with a spark of greatness" rather than one of the standard heroic classes, and I think that's just way too perfect, so I'm gonna go with that.

OK, stats! Now I feel OK about rolling. My results are: 9, 9, 11, 16(!), 12, 7. That's not terrible, other than that last one. Let's stick that 7 into Wisdom and really lean into being a bumpkin, and let's put the 16 into Charisma so I'm really likeable bumpkin. Strength can get the 11, Constitution can get the 12, that leaves Dexterity and Intelligence at 9. 

As a human, I get a +1 to any one stat and an extra boon at level one (because humans are - say it with me! - ADAPTABLE!). I'll put the bump into Dexterity. 

As a wayfarer, I get base HP equal to my CON (so 12), my hit die is a d6. I get a few special perks: I'm Fate (I get advantage on Fortitude saves to survive when defeated in combat), I'm Hopeful (advantage on Will saves to resist Despair, which is perfect), I can reduce my Despair by 1 once per adventure, I'm Lucky (I can reroll once per scene with advantage), and I'm a farmer so I get advantage on farmer-related things.

And then I get three boons, because I'm a human! I'll take...ooh, there's a few that are perfect. I'll take Ancient Lineage (my STR goes up by one and I could live to be 200), Courageous (advantage on Will saves to resist fear), and Fellowship (all the other PCs get an extra point of Faith as long as I'm around).

Equipment! I get a dagger, a tinderbox, some trail rations, and a waterskin. I also get a weapon...I feel like a cudgel is fine. And then I get three common items. Let's see, I want...a cloak, some fishing gear, and a local map.

And that's it, folks! Tourmaline is about 19. He's got his mother's green eyes and his dad's brown hair, and it gets fluffy when it dries. He's definitely out of his depth with adventurers and heroes, but he's not easily intimidated - not haughty, not cocky, just...not afraid of you. He never brags about having "died," because he just doesn't remember it. 

Character Creation: Pro Patria Mori

"It is sweet and proper to die for one's country." Yeah, what's Latin for "fuck an entire bag of that?"

The Game: Pro Patria Mori
The Publisher: Mythworks
Degree of Familiarity: I've seen 1917 and Blackadder Goes Forth, but otherwise, none
Books Required: Just the one 

From the game studio that brought us The Wildsea and the same basic system as...um, Honey Heist comes a WWI RPG about crossing No Man's Land and maybe coming home a forever broken and changed person. 

Not a comedy, then.

I actually really like the Great War as a setting; I think Wraith: The Great War was really underrated and when I was still running WoD/CofD games, I always wanted to run a game of Hunter: The Vigil set in the trenches. It's this nice balance between the bleakness of war generally and the just pure horror of trench warfare when automatic weapons were just becoming a real factor, coupled with the leadership being unwilling to accept that things are different now. I am, granted, a fan of tragedy, and I can't ever find players who would be willing to get into this kind of game, but I think it's pretty compelling.

In this particular expression? I dunno. It's only 23 pages, and like I said, it's got basically the same mechanics as Honey Heist, so it's pretty minimalist. But probably that's all it needs, with the right table? 

Character creation is, shall we say, not very involved:

Well, suppose I'll be a Private. I can roll a d66 to pick a Backstory, so let's see what I get. Milkman! Awesome, that's a profession that never would have occurred to me. Doing a little bit of quick googling, I discover that by the early years of the 20th century, milk was being delivered in glass bottles, and the "milkman joke" was very much extant. 

So let's say my character, Jameson Beard, is a skinny lad. Maybe 20 years old, which would imply he didn't join up right away (if this is 1917) or that he's been in for a while and stayed alive. Let's say the former; his family owns a dairy farm and he was the one who was able-bodied enough to ride the bike around town and deliver milk, but he eventually ran out of excuses and went off to war. 

Jameson gets grief for that, and for being a milkman - everyone assumes he sleeps with everybody's wife. Jameson has never and probably would never; he had a sweetheart back in his village but it never progressed that way. Jameson is naive and perhaps a little queer, but he'll probably never figure it out because he's almost assuredly going to die in a field in France. Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori. 

What's a Hope he has? It seems a little basic to say "to get home alive", so let's say it's "get home before his father dies." His father was doing a bit poorly when he left, and while no one is exactly surprised (his father smokes and drinks entirely too much, and pushes himself to the limit every day), Jameson would like to see the old bugger off. And he certainly doesn't want his dad to outlive him. 

I get an Enfield rifle, a bayonet, and some Mills bombs (hand grenades). I don't know if I get any Rations (which aren't the sort you eat, they're more significant objects that can be used to change your stats a bit), so let's assume I don't.

And that's it, folks. Beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly.

Wearing the Cape: Cooley's Gulch

Into the exciting world of superheroics once again! Here's last time. (Brief session because one of our players was abducted by aliens mid-session. Not really, but that's more exciting than what actually happened.)

The heroes load up Wing Diesel into the back of Junior's trailer (he fits nicely, even if it seems like he should be too big) and drive out to Texas. Levee has a friend out there - one Waylon Crowe - who bought a ghost town intending to turn it into a tourist attraction. It didn't work out so well (like a lot of Waylon's get-rich-quick schemes), and now it's just kind of collected dust and lizards, but it'll make a nice training camp.

They pull in and Waylon shows them around. There's no power, but there's a generator, no running water, but plenty of bottled water, and there's a Piggly Wiggly a few miles up the road. He asks how long they're likely to be here and what they're doing, and then gets in his truck and heads off.

The heroes set up and get to work. The way they figure it, they have four broad lessons for DeCarlo: teaching him to conquer his fear, explaining the multiverse, teaching him to focus and visualize, and teaching him to pull what he wants out of his portals. 

They start with teaching him to overcome and control his fear, figuring that's the first and principle danger of his powers. Levee gets some construction paper and markers and starts working with some art therapy, and it goes OK, but the town is Eerily Quiet and there's a lull in conversation and a scary gust of wind just as he's drawing something, and it gets him anxious. Styx talks him down before he summons anything by accident, and they take a little break and reconnoiter. 

They have DeMarcus hang close, and Toby has Wing Diesel provide some Dragon Support, while Levee grabs some water from the water tower and shapes it into things that DeCarlo describes, moving from "scary" to "silly". It takes a while, but he manages to get his fears under control and come up with some strategies for working through it.

Next, Magnus tries to explain the multiverse. Levee advises him to think about how baby Magnus came to understand it, but Magnus thinks that's not a great idea - he left his own universe by accident and couldn't find his way back for years. (It put me in mind of The Time Traveler's Wife, actually.) Anyway, Magnus grabs some sheets of paper of similar, but not identical, color, and points out how they're all the same shape and thickness, but they gradually shift in color until one is completely different from another. It takes a while, but DeCarlo gets it.

By this point, DeCarlo is Tired and Distracted, so everyone takes a break and runs around to get the wiggles out. They have a camp-out in the afternoon; Magnus pulls a bunch of stuff from his hat to make an Awesome Campsite, and that evening they start working on helping him visualize. 

Magnus asks if he's got a favorite book; DeCarlo names Where the Wild Things Are. Magnus says that he's actually met Max, he's a good kid, and DeCarlo is a little struck to realize that the characters in a book might be real in some other reality. He, Magnus, and Styx work with his visualization skills and eventually manage to pull Max' wolf suit out of nowhere.

By this point, it's late. DeCarlo still has work to do, but he's making progress. We'll see what tomorrow brings! 

Pugmire: Mirror Match!

Yesterday was Pugmire! Here's last time.

Our heroes had battled the Night Ripper - actually their friend Graff Doberman - and prevailed! They even freed him from the possession and Boomer Pitbull ran all the way to Ellendonk carrying Graff to get him medical attention. And now we catch up with the heroes as they gather themselves and head to Ellendonk to check on their friends.

They arrive in the village and go to the church to meet Brother Corbin Shetland. He tells them that Graff is sleeping; with the quick application of magic and the blessing of Man, he should be all right and his jaw should heal. The Pioneers take a rest and then talk to him.

Graff thanks them all, and tells them that he was living in Ellendonk with the purpose of keeping an eye on the iron mine and making sure that his father lived up to his agreements with the Kingdom of Pugmire. After a few weeks, though, he started having terrible nightmares. In the dreams, he was in a pristine, unspoiled wilderness, but then dogs came in and destroyed it, building mines and houses and churches and so on. The dreams eventually wore him down and allowed possession by an incredibly powerful demon - It That Keeps the Wild.

Dire Newfoundland remembers that Finley, the former supervisor of the mine, mentioned that name after he was rescued. Graff continues: It That Keeps the Wild was in league with the Nagayaga (the cat-snake demon that was actually sending the dreams; Petunia Pibble notes that they found a dreamstone in the mine's barracks that would allow dream communication), but then the Nagayaga betrayed the other demons. It That Keeps the Wild wanted the mine destroyed, and the Nagayaga wants it to continue digging up relics, though Graff isn't sure exactly why it wants them. He does know, however, where the demon's lair is.

Peppa Papillon notes that a demon can often be destroyed in its lair, but the trade-off is that it's much more dangerous. If they had a way of preventing the demon from leaving, they might be able to kill it - they were making progress in the last fight. They decide to get a good night's sleep, and then go back to the mine and see if the relics they've uncovered might include some way to mitigate damage from lightning. 

In the morning, they gear up. Graff starts getting dressed as well, and Dire advises maybe that's not wise - he's still injured and some force at the mine has already seen fit to try and frame him as a demon. Graff says that he wants at least one Doberman of good conscience there, but defers to the Pioneers' judgement. Brother Corbin offers to go along in a wagon and dress Graff as an acolyte, and that seems a good idea (plus then the Pioneers can ride instead of walk).

They get back to the mine and are waved in, and they go and speak with Hotch Wiener, the supervisor. Hotch is surprised to see them (they kind of disappeared after going to fight the Night Ripper), but is happy they've resolved that particular problem. They tell him they're looking for a way to entrap a demon and perhaps protect themselves from some of its powers. He tells them they should talk to Ute Doberman.

Ute, of course, is one of the three remaining foredogs of the mine, responsible for identifying and cataloging the relics they find. She's also Graff's cousin and loyal to the Doberman family (meaning she's probably a Friend of Man, though not necessarily a demon worshiper). Ute strides imperiously over to them and listens to their request in her usual haughty way, and then says she might have something that will help. She sods off to her tent; Dire asks if anyone else finds her particularly punchable. Gelert Sausagedog says that most rich dogs are like that, but yeah, she's especially bad.

She returns, carrying a dried-out parsnip. She tells them that it's a ward - you break it, bury it, and then concentrate on what you want to repel. It lasts about a night, but it can work on lots of things - demons, cats, even just "scent" (Petunia recalls that when she sniffed around Ute's tent, she couldn't smell anything). They take it, and Peppa asks if she has more so they could maybe entrap the demon, but she says she only has a few left and she needs them. 

The Pioneers get a second opinion and talk with Robet Bedlington (another foredog). He doesn't have any relics of his own (Ute has been known to keep them rather than turn them in, but the feeling is they're basically all her family's anyway), but Hotch might have something useful. Robet also mentions that Ute has crates of those parsnip-wards ("Of course she does."). Robet remembers Bertha Bernard finding an relic that she referred to as "zappy", but doesn't know what she meant. They decide to press Hotch some more.

They go back and talk to Hotch, and he loans them a few things. The object that Bertha identified is actually a "Ring of No-Zappy" according to her; it repels lightning. Peppa takes it. He comes up with a necklace with a small, metal oval with some raised letters on it - incomprehensible to the dogs - that he said his scholars identified as a token of valor to Man. Boomer takes it, figuring it will protect him if the demon does that scary howl thing again. There's also a torch that will illuminate invisible creatures, but Hotch says that to activate it, you need to sprinkle it with an herb that isn't native to this area. It's colloquially called "bird-nip."

Dire perks up - he's actually got some of that! Hotch writes them a receipt for these items (he does expect them back, after all) and Sausagedog signs it, and they head out. Brother Corbin drives the wagon as deep into the forest as he can, and Graff points: "Just keep walking that way. The forest will get deeper and darker, and that's where you'll find its lair."

The Pioneers do just that, and eventually come to an area that even Boomer can't push through. There are two dead trees bordering an area of dense forest, and the dogs all sense horrific evil within. This is it.

Peppa casts some Death Wards on Petunia and Sausagedog, and then they bury the parsnip and focus it on demons. They enter the lair - it's still dense forest, and so seeing anything is difficult, as is moving quickly. They push their way through to what they assume is the center, and there they see some strange and horrific things.

There's a huge column of wood with a horizontal crossbar near the top, and a statue of a Man lashed to it, either tied or nailed. From his expression, he's obviously in pain. But just as strange, at the foot of this abomination are five wooden statues of the Pioneers. They are twisted and mad, but clearly Dire, Peppa, Petunia, Boomer, and Sausagedog.

Peppa casts Sacred Flame on one of them, just to see if it burst into flame. It doesn't, but they all leap up and attack! (The players nicknamed them Wire, Weppa, Wetunia, Woomer, and Wausagedog for "Wooden [character's name]," though it was pointed out that this works as a Wario naming convention, too.) Woomer flies into a rage and attacks Boomer, striking him with claws that leave huge black welts, and Wire does likewise to Sausagedog. Peppa backs up to keep her spells intact, while Boomer rages and strikes his double. Dire brandishes his hammer and charges into the fray, while Petunia throws a fiery elemental beam and scores a couple of them.

The dogs are worried - they know how dangerous Boomer is, and if Woomer is capable of doing the same things, he could kill them all. But then Dire has a brilliant idea! He pulls out his sack of holding, and slams it down over Wetunia! Boomer chops at his duplicate and manages to fell it before it can get another hit in on him, chopping off one arm and then the other, and the monster turns into a tree!

The Pioneers fight on, and Boomer notices through his rage that another creature is appearing next to him and striking, and then vanishing. It becomes clear that this is It That Keeps the Wild, and it manages to fell Boomer (with help from Wire and Weppa). But Peppa runs over and stabilizes him, and Petunia casts an ice spell and freezes the demon while Dire and Sausagedog destroy or capture the last of the cursed statues!

The demon, now the only one remaining, calls lightning. It fells Boomer (again) and Peppa, but the others manage to survive it, and Boomer pulls himself back from the brink of death. He smacks the demon with his maul and sends its head flying over the treetops!

Dire casts Spare the Dying on Peppa ("something of a role reversal, here"), and Boomer leans on his maul before collapsing. The dogs are still in the lair, but are largely spent, and apparently out of danger. Except, of course, that Dire has two demonic wooden statues in his sack of holding... 

Tidal Blades: The Attack of the Natural 1s

Last night we played Tidal Blades and wrapped up the storyline we were in. We also saw about the worst run of dice luck I've ever seen, which considering how long I've been doing this is saying something.

Last time, our heroes rescued Bait's dads from their croc captors by defeating said crocs in the Battle Ring, and then stayed for dinner with Angler. Angler, some of the heroes realized, is a former Tidal Blade who was exiled from the Citadel of Time some 15 years ago and came to be the de facto leader and pirate king of Angler's Cove (he's someone on whom it's helpful to make a good first impression, is the point). 

They talk about how they all got out here and then about the Dire Suchid, the giant hungry monster crocodile that supposedly sleeps in the water around here somewhere. They tell Angler the story, and Angler looks worried and asks whether one could consider this thing a monster or an anomaly. Faesli says it absolutely is, and Angler says that's a problem - he sold a device to the Appetite designed to attract monsters. Normally it's used to lead such creatures away from populated areas, of course...

The characters start trying to put their heads together and figure out the true location of the Suchid, so they can get ahead of any impending disaster. Trouble is...things kept happening (the players kept rolling 1s. Seriously, there were like five in a row). Bait is knowledgeable about history, but drank his jellyfish smoothie a little too fast and passed out (Angler: "Some people just can't hold their jellyfish."). Hobie is, of course, nearly expert in this particular legend because they just did an illustrated version on commission, but gets distracted by their pet mantis shrimp, Garnet, knocking over a cart of banclams. Faesli manages to pull some information together - the Suchid is an immense crocodile with a hunger big enough to swallow the world and all the seas. It got disappointed because it couldn't, according to legend, so it went to its lair to sulk. Said lair was in deep water and in a valley, because it liked to wedge itself into tight spaces ("tight" here being relative). Angler has one of his guys pull out a map:

They continue thinking on the legends (I decided they could get the info, it just took time, because while I subscribe to a general philosophy of "don't call for a roll unless you're prepared for success or failure" this was reaching a point where I was running out of good GM intrusions), and remember that the Suchid reportedly hates islands because it can't eat them. The characters figure maybe it's hide in the coves down the coast east from Angler's Cove, but then Bait (who's sobered up a little) recalls that this whole area was probably under much deeper water back when the Suchid was romping around. It could very well have wedged itself in the inlet where Angler's Cove now sits! 

Presently, though, it's late, so they decide to tackle this in the morning. They head back to the docks and discover that the Lunch, the ship they stole (and renamed Lunchbox, actually) is gone - apparently The Appetite stole it back. Grumbling about this, they camp out on the beach. 

Barely an hour goes back, and the ground rumbles beneath them! They all awake with a start, and see that buildings in the Cove are start to lean, the waters are getting rough, and they hear commotion from the people! Bait focuses a bit and realizes that the epicenter of the quake is come from further inland - the Suchid seems to be awakening! 

Bait and Sobek spring into action to steal another boat, but utterly fail to get it under control in the rough waters and it sinks (that is, more natural 1s). They find another boat and Bait's dads help out to get it under control. Faesli uses her Far Step power to leap inland see if she can see what's going on. She tries to dive down to find the croc, maybe stare into its eyes and uses a cypher she has that allows for mental contact, but she can't swim deep enough before the water displacement forces her back up.

She surfaces as the others rock up on their stolen ship, and they pull her aboard. Bait has a brilliant idea to sing the croc a lullaby to get it back to sleep ("always worked on me!"). Hobie really puts their tentacles to the grindstone and thinks about this - a lullaby might actually work, but knowing how to produce it would require some deeper insight into the croc's mind. That mind oculus cypher that Faesli has would allow that, but someone needs to dive deep enough to look the Suchid in the eye. Also, as long as the Brotherhood of the Forgotten Hunger is using this device to wake the Suchid, it's probably not going back to sleep. 

The heroes split up! Sobek and Faesli head onto the beach to find The Appetite and the device, while Bait dives down into the water to find the croc, and Hobie and Bait's dads keep the boat steady. 

Faesi and Sobek find the crocs quickly enough. The Appetite stares out over the water, nodding in satisfaction, as the Suchid rumbles. His flunkies, Amuse and Bouche, are maintaining the device. Deciding that this is not a time for subtlety, Faesli leaps into the midst of them and strikes the device with her battlestaff...which promptly snaps in two (yes, another 1). Sobek charges and wangs the device with a cypher he was carrying (it's a Best Tool, which gives an asset on any task that uses a tool; we joked that in this context it's a big rock). The device sputters and shorts out, and the fight is on!

Amuse and Bouche nod at each other, leap into the air, and tail-smack both of them! Faesli tries to bonk Amuse and run away, but fails to get clear (she does activate her resonance field, however). Sobek knocks Bouche off her pins with his big ol' hook. He then grabs the device and yeets it across the river! The Appetite joins the fight and grabs Faesli in a big bear (croc?) hug, but immediately gets zapped by the resonance field.

Meanwhile, Bait dives down into the water, pushes past all the silt and mud (using biorbs to light his wait), and comes face to face with an eyeball the size of a ship. He activates the mind oculus and searches for soothing sounds, and hears the croc's "lullaby" - a medley of ocean currents, birdsong, fish...voices, and so forth.

Bait takes a deep breath (as it were) and sings...and manages to reproduce the song. Between that and the device having been destroyed, the Suchid settles back into its lair and falls asleep.

The Appetite realizes that his plans are foiled, and calls his flunkies back onto the Lunch(box). "Well see you again!" he snarls as they sail off. 

The heroes reconvene and rest. Angler makes sure they have good accommodations. Hobie finishes up the telling of the Rescue of Bait's Dads and the Sleepening of the Dire Suchid, and Sobek reflects on his defeat of the Brotherhood. Faesli marvels at the worlds of possibility open here - the Droskani Desert? New Mingu? Vines? Where to next?!

Bait is having similar thoughts. On the one hand, he really wants his own ship. On the other, he's beginning to wonder who is birth parents are?
 

Character Creation: Heart: The City Beneath

Buh-bump. Buh-bump. TEAR UP THE FLOORBOARDS.

The Game: Heart: The City Beneath
The Publisher: Rowan, Rook and Decard Ltd
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Heart is a spinoff, I guess you'd say, of Spire. Whereas in that game, you play dark elves acting as revolutionaries against the high elves in the City Above, here you're either a dark elf, a high elf, a human, or a gnoll and you're in the City Beneath for some reason. The City Beneath is alive, and it gets more abstract and less logical the deeper you go. There are some vibes of Belly of the Beast here, but it's not quite as thoroughly biological. 

I've been wanting to try Spire out for a while now (like, years) and it's just never happened. I think Heart might be more my taste - it seems like it emphasizes horror/investigation a little more, which is a space I'm very comfortable in. But in any case, let's make a character and see where we land.

So, we start off choosing an ancestry. There's no mechanical difference here, all it really does is provide some stereotypes that I'm free to ignore. I think I'll be a human, how about. There's not even a slot on the sheet for it, that's how unimportant it is. It does, however, invite me to answer one of three questions and generate or choose some stuff I'm carrying.

One of the questions is: You were kicked out of a retro-engineering or magical college thanks to your unorthodox beliefs and practices. What did you do? I think I'm gonna take that a backstory, but I'll wait until I get a little further in the process to answer that question. As far as the stuff goes, however, I'll just roll 2d20 and pick a couple of things. I've got matching charm bracelet made from shell casings of different calibers, and three unopened cans of cooked eels. Yum. 

Ah, but calling is important! Calling is the reason for venturing into Heart to begin with. I want to go with Heartsong, basically I dream of the Heart and I can't ignore its siren song any longer. (Not to be too predictable, but I like the idea of the Heart as an oceanic analog.) We could tie that into why I got kicked out of magic-school. Let's make it a kind of Flatliners or Brain Storm kind of thing (or Altered States, actually) in which my character discovered a way to plug himself into the Heart on a conscious or subconscious level and got kicked out of school when it was discovered that he was attracting psychic attention. 

Neat! My core ability for Calling is in the blood. I get extra Echo protection, and I can shunt other kinds of stress off to Echo. And then I get more questions to answer!

1. Which three images, symbols, people, or creatures do you see when you dream?
2. What signs do you look for to recognize where the Heart is strongest?
3. (skipping this one, as it's about another PC)
4. Your connection to the Heart has touched you in some way. How does that manifest? 

Ooh. First off all, let's name this guy. One of the human example names is Raffid, and I like that. So Raffid dreams of the Heart, and when he does, he sees depth. The ground falls away and drops down into pits. He hears rhythm. It's cliché to say he hears a heartbeat, but he hears a regular thump, tap, or dripping sound whenever he dreams. And he sees a symbol that looks like a hexagon with an X drawn over it. He's not sure what it means and he's never seen it in any book or text.

When he's looking for where the Heart is strong, he checks for feelings of vertigo. The Heart is immeasurably deep, and even if you can see that depth, you can feel it. 

Finally, how does the Heart manifest? Let's say Raffid sweats blood, but only if he's sweating because he's afraid. If he's just warm, it's normal. 

I get to roll a d10 for another thing I carry. I get a bag of stimulant pastilles, which a quick search tells me are basically pills. We'll say he got those from his college; they told him to either take them so he didn't sleep as deeply or sod off. He chose the latter.

Class! As with Spire, this game passes the Chupp test with flying colors. I'm tempted by Cleaver, because they get to eat things and take their power and it'd be interesting to say that Raffid ultimately wants to eat the Heart (or be eaten by it, either one). Let's look at the others, though. Oh, Deep Apiarist is so tempting (you're a bunch of bees in a skinsuit), but I do that kind of thing a lot and it doesn't really fit here. Heretic is tempting...nah, I think I like the visceral counterpoint of Cleaver. If we're continuing the "Heart-as-ocean" metaphor, maybe I'm more like a shark.

Right, so I get the Hunt Skill, the Cursed Domain, a heart that still occasionally twitches as a Resource, a hunting knife, and my choice of a cleaver, bone charms, or a heavy-draw bow. I think I want the charms. I get Heartsblood (I get higher resistance as I go deeper into Heart) and The Red Feast (I can eat a resource and gain any Domains associated with it). 

I get one major and three minor class abilities. Hmm. Oh, darkling eyes, hell yeah (I can see in pitch dark). I'll take Dominion and get the Occult Domain. And hell yeah, I want Symbiotic (I can touch the wall and get +2 Fortune protection). For my major ability, I'll take Chimeric Strain - I can spend Stress and grow horns and go berserk and so on. 

And everything else I think I've already done. I'm not gonna do beats because that would matter in play...eh, actually, let's have a look. I think I'd want "Consume something of the Heart" and "undergo a trance-like vision that lasts for hours" as my initial beats.

And that's it! Raffid is kinda scraggly because he forgets to groom, but he's got a little pot belly going. If he cleans up, he really doesn't look like a Cleaver (which is one reason he doesn't; he's not ashamed). He has a habit of pressing his face to the walls in the Heart.

Wildsea: Dusty Fields

I've gotten out of the habit of doing write-ups immediately after games, but Michelle's playing a mission in Midnight Suns so I've got a little time. Here's last time!

Our wildsailors pull into Dusty Fields. It's kind of misnomer; there are no fields in evidence. Instead, Dusty Fields is a float, a ramshackle flotilla made of ships all lashed together. As they approach they see that many of the component ships are not in tree-worthy shape; they wouldn't float if they weren't attached. The central hub of the float is a huge cargo ship sticking bow-end out of the thrash, the words Move's Chorus written down the side in fading letters. 

They pull up and some dockhands moor their ship. Charness tells Chamberssen, Kazera, and Tztik that Rozek is a little under the weather ("she drank some tea and it's having...effects") so she'll catch up with them.

They disembark and Chamberssen talks with the dockhands. There's no docking fee, and the dockhand notes some damage to their runners and assumes that's what they're there to fix. He tells them to head down this main road until they come to a crossroads. If they want to see about repairs, he recommends going straight and finding an ironbound named Estramu. If he can't help them, he'll know someone who can. If they want to shop or trade, head left into the market. If they want to head to the shipwrights and talk with them directly, go right. If they want to go to the docks...turn around and walk back here. 

Chamberssen and Kazera decide to find Estramu, while Tzitik heads to the market (they want to find some scrap metal and wood and build a new shell to hold their spiders). Chamberssen and Kazera walk up to the Move's Chorus and see an ironbound chatting with a couple of folks in hoods - they're speaking Knock, which neither of the sailors understand. The two figures turn around and the characters can see that they're tzelicrae, like Tzitik. The ironbound makes a gesture like cracking one's neck, but his head just flips around entirely. 

They approach and say they're looking for Estramu. "You found him," replies the ironbound. Chamberssen explains their position - they need repairs and would be interested in making some improvements to their ship. Estramu asks after their ship and Chamberssen describes it, and Estramu asks what they have to trade.

Chamberssen leads off with the salt and the honey, but Estramu doesn't have any interest in those. "Tell you what you do," he says. "Go to the market and talk with Fetio. He's a Marketeer. He'll appraise your stuff and give you a voucher, you come back and give it to me and we'll talk." 

Chamberssen is willing to do that, but first he mentions the fightersap that they have on the ship. Estramu perks up at that - that stuff he's willing to trade for. They haggle a bit, and Estramu agrees to fix the damage to their runners and armor and do some improvements for them. He sends a couple of his guys to go get the fightersap, and tells the characters to find him a little later and they'll do up a contract.

Meanwhile, Tzitik looks about the market and finds a shop called Flotsam; it's basically a big building full of scraps of wood and metal. Perfect! The proprietor tells Tzitik to go talk to Fetio and trade whatever they're using as currency, and then bring the voucher he gives back here. 

Tzitik obligingly heads further into the market and finds an open-air office. A pale yellow Ketra sits behind a desk; Tzitik recognizes Fetio from the description the scrap salesman gave them. Tzitik introduces themselves and asks Fetio whether he'd have any use for salt or firebloom honey; Fetio isn't interested in salt but agrees with Tzitik that honey is useful (edible, calorically dense, doesn't spoil, medicinal, "and flammable," notes Fetio). He asks Tzitik where to find the stuff and dispatches two flunkies (one ardent, one ektus) to get it. He then takes a small wooden rectangle off a pegboard and dips two fingers into ink, putting a mark on it. Tzitik takes it back to the scrap salesmen and loads up a cart, tying stuff down with webbing.

Kazera and Chamberssen split up; Kazera heads back to the ship, while Chamberssen goes to the wordbearer post. He doesn't see anything that he needs to pick up, but he does have an envelope to deliver to someone called Wir. He asks around a bit and learns that Wir is an ektus, and can usually be found at a pub called Barb. He heads down the road and turns at someplace where a hole in the hull has been patched. He notes a gau touching the patch almost wistfully. Chamberssen makes contact and asks if she knows where Barb is; she tells him she'll show him. She stands up and one of her scarves (she is dressed in long, flowing fabrics) kind of pats him on the shoulder. Chamberssen realizes that all of her fabric is moving some. 

She leads him down the alley to a pub marked by a sign reading "Barb," held up with huge fishhooks. Chamberssen thanks her and enters, and notes that this place is an ektus bar - most of the clientele are ektus, a few gau, and one ironbound behind the bar. Chamberssen asks for a drink of whatever's local and good, and the ironbound draws him a glass of some black liquid. He tastes it and finds it has a strangely nutty taste. It's also making him hear whispers from the corners. 

He asks after Wir, and the bartender points him to the corner. Chamberssen approaches, and finds that Wir is an ektus with spikes up and down both arms - these spikes are longer and thicker than most ektus spines. She also wears a couple of pistols on her hips. A slinger, then. 

Chamberssen delivers the letter and she opens it with one of her spines. She reads it and mutters something in Brasstongue, which Chamberssen doesn't understand. He does, however, receives whispers from the dark corners and notes that Wir's demeanor isn't frustrated or annoyed. Actually she seems excited. Chamberssen tries to note the phrase she said so that he can ask Rozek (who speaks a little Brasstongue) about it later. He asks Wir if she has any messages that need delivered, and she questions him about their route. She doesn't have messages, she says, but maybe they'd transport her to Emerald Wheel? 

On the ship, Rozek emerges from her cabin and sees Dusty Fields for the first time (she can still taste light, but it's fading. That was good tea). She sees a few of the undercrew arguing with a couple of large fellows, and intervenes. The thugs - an ardent called Salas, and an ektus called Luarig - tell her they're here for the honey. She of course has no idea what they're talking about, and they tell her that their boss, Fetio, told them to come collect the honey as part of a deal someone on the crew made. "An ironbound?" she asks. "No, tzelicrae." "Ah." She makes them a cup of tea and goes to have the undercrew bring the honey out. As she does, she sees Tzitik and Kazera approaching with a cart full of scrap (Kazera met up with him as he was leaving the market).

"You traded all of our honey?" she asks. "Honey can be exchanged for goods and services," Tzitik responds. Rozek rubs her temples and tells Tzitik that in future, they're not to trade cargo without checking with the rest of the officers first. She also starts calling him "Sticky," but that's incidental. Chamberssen comes back and passes the thugs as they're leaving with the honey. He explains what he's been up to, and repeats the Brasstongue phrase for Rozek as best he can. She doesn't catch all of it, but the second half translates to "kill that machine". Might that be an ironbound? Maybe, but the marker that would indicate that "machine" in this context means "living being" would have been in the first part of the sentence. 

The crew talks over what they'd like to buy for their ship, and then takes a breather for a couple of hours. That evening, they all head to meet Estramu, who unrolls a sketch he did of their ship and asks what they'd like done. 

They ask for more cargo space; he says he can knock out a wall and widen some things. He'll also put some canvas netting on one side and a container of loam (for transporting unstable or dangerous substances). They want an outrider ship, and Estramu says he can cut open the back of the ship and refashion part of the hull into doors. He takes them to a small bay to look at some outriders, and they pick one with a flatbed (able to haul people or stuff). He tells them all this will take a few days, and has them move the ship around to the dry dock. 

The next morning, the crew is awakened by the workers starting to cut open the ship. They decide to go and explore. Kazera and Tzitik go back to the market. Chamberssen goes back to the Barb. Rozek goes to find food to learn what's tasty in local cuisine.

She finds a guy running a huge grill, with various bugs and animals cooking. They chat a bit, and she buys some lunch. She asks him if he's got recommendations for ingredients for making fermented tea, and he tells her to head to an alchemist in the market. He's got a powder that helps speed and stabilize fermentation.

Meanwhile, Tzitik and Kazera look around. Kazera chats with other ironbound, and Tzitik swipes a small jar of black powder from a store. He then notes a strange looking person - an ironbound, but instead of a collection of parts from ships, it's a construct that looks very much like an ardent. But it's also wearing a coat with an amazingly intricate pattern embroidered on it. As Tzitik watches this person, they spot an ektus watching him - an ektus with pistols on her hips. Recognizing Wir from Chamberssen's descriptions, Tzitik scampers up a wall and watches. They figure Wir is going to kill this dude; this was the "machine" she was after.

Rozek arrives and finds the alchemist, a gau, who's presently counting his jars of black salt, as he seems to be missing one. Rozek trades for some of the powder and some oak tea leaves, and talks shop for a minute. Kazera joins her (looking for Tzitik), and a moment later the construct that Tzitik was watching comes into the shop and strikes up a conversation. He introduces himself as Lod, and is very polite and erudite. He tells them he traded for this cloak in a place called Zalan's Rest, but if the markings have any significance he doesn't know it. 

Eventually, they head back to the ship. Tzitik follows when it becomes clear that Wir isn't going to attack her quarry in public, and Chamberssen meets them (now pretty drunk on blacknut whiskey). 

They all exchange notes, and Tzitik reveals that Wir seems to be stalking Lod. Kazera isn't willing to let this assassination happen, and heads back out into town. Rozek goes along to find Wir, and Tzitik goes along to watch. Chamberssen says he'll catch up, but for now, he needs a little lie down.

Character Creation: Duster

It's my birthday, I'm 51, and the 51st game down on the project list is...

The Game: Duster
The Publisher: Occupied Hex Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one 

Duster (actually I think it's meant to be in all-caps, but I don't know why, so I'm not gonna do that) is a post-apocalyptic Western sort of thing. I actually think it's very nicely put together. The text is very readable, both in terms of visibility and in language - it's familiar without being annoyingly chatty, and the first 80 pages or so are all the players would need to know, while the following 190-some pages are setting and history of the world, but all meant for the GM. I can get behind that.

The system is a pretty simple "roll a d6 and check against a stat" kind of thing; the only immediate wonkiness is that 1s count as 0 and 6s count as 7 (because you subtract or add 1 to the roll, respectively). I suspect it'd make more sense in play. A few little permutations; spending luck to reroll and the like, but in terms of mechanical complexity I'd put it lighter than D&D, crunchier than Fate.

So let's make a character! The first step is choosing a specialty (basically a class). There are a bunch, all themed around the profession or role you'd play in this world, and I have to say a bunch of them pass the Chupp Test for me. I think we're gonna go with Outrider. They're basically messengers and word-carriers, but since literacy is not at all common, generally you memorize the message. I'm gonna say my guy is a shade more literate than most people (like, he actually knows how the alphabet works and could sound out words given some time and good light), so he does little doodles on his coat to help him remember a message. The result is that his coat is a weird patchwork of charcoal and ink drawings. 

Right, so that gives me the Horsemanship talent. I get +1 to my Emotional energy (base attribute, basically). I get to pick Coordination or Intuition to have a Skill bonus...which means what, exactly? Oh, it means I'm "keen" in that Skill, which just means I get to roll two dice and take the better one. I'll be keen in Intuition, I think. I get an Old Mule as a starting item. Is that literally an animal? Yes it is! I get either Horse Ally or Beast Friend as a Gift; I'll take Horse Ally (does that mean I get a horse?).

I get to roll once for items on the Consumables and Melee Weapons tables, and doing so, I get...a pair of 6s! That means a can of push and a wicked piece of metal on a chair. I can dig it.

OK, now there's a list of things to do. I get 12 HP, that's easy. I get 1d6 Luck points...6 again! Noice. I have to pick which is my dominant hand; I'll be a righty. I also get 1d6 "ghost hand", which shows how irradiated I am to start. Don't want a 6 here! Nope, got a 4, that's OK.

I get my Horsemanship Talent through Skilled, which means I and people allied with me don't have to make a roll to get on the horse. Again, do I have a horse? Doesn't seem that way. That seems a bit silly. 

Well, anyway, I get 3XP to spend. I can level up my Horsemanship Talent, or I could unlock a new Talent and level it or Horsemanship up one, or I could be keen in another Skill. Well, I think I want another Talent. I think I'll take Sneak at Novice, which means I can understand hobo pictographs. And then I'll spend the last point to raise my HP to 13.

I need a name and a description. I'll roll on the "weird appearance" table and see what I get. Ooh, a mutation: the irises of my eyes have no color. Hmm. Wonder if that means they're black, or if they're pink like an albino's would be. Let's assume the latter. My guy is call "Redeye", for obvious reasons. Redeye can see just fine, his eyes just look almost bloody. He's in his early 30s, he's balding but he keeps his hat on most of the time. He's got an impressive mustache that grows wild very quickly, though his beard never seems to keep up. 

I get to make another inventory roll, too. Two doses of annadote, I'm good with that! ("Antidote," you see.) I get some other stuff, too - bed roll, pack, food and water - but the fillable PDF text boxes aren't formatted right so I can't write that in. Ah, well.

That'll do it, anyhow. Redeye is ready to jump on his trusty...mule. He really should have a horse. I think I'd make horses standard equipment if I was going to run this.

Character Creation: Be Like a Cat

MOW. 

The Game: Be Like a Cat
The Publisher: Critical Kit Ltd
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one 

This is a solo or duet game, which means I'm unlikely to try it out myself, but it's got chargen so here we go!

The game has you playing a cat (doy) who's expanding their territory; the phrases "Moggie Mafia" is used. I think a Blades in the Dark style game where you're animals of some kind claiming territory might be interesting, but cats don't exactly run in packs, so I think a solo game is probably the best expression of this.  

Step One: Choose your background. Feral, stray, or domestic. Let's be a stray. This means I start in a back garden (which is apparently UK for "backyard"), an alley, or bins behind a restaurant. Hm. There's a territory tracker sheet, which I'm not going to print, but I do wonder if the "starting location" blank on the character sheet is meant to refer to a grid coordinate from that tracker or just a description of the locale.

Well, in any case, I like the idea of a yard cat, so we'll say this old man's backyard is in serious need of care, there are mice and other critters around, and that means huntin' for me. 

I get to choose two Travel skills that I can "make with Courage." Guess I should figure out what the means. WOULD HELP IF THIS GODDAMN PDF WAS BOOKMARKED THO. Ah, OK. If I'm rolling "with courage" that means I can reroll anything that doesn't come up "1", once. OK, well, I'll say my kitty is good at Jump and Land (I love that there's a discreet Skill for landing). 

Ah, but I am scruffy-lookin', and I'm accustomed to help from humans, since I was once a housecat. I pick one Survival and one Social skill that I always make with timidity, which must be some kind of disadvantage. Let's say my kitty is not great at Mark (because he was taught not to do that) and Signal (better at communicating with people than animals). 

Step Two: Developing Skills. OK, so there are 16 Skills (four in four categories). They all start at 1, can go as high as 6, and the way this works is that I mark some for development and then roll to see if they increase. I could randomly determine if any given skill is marked for development, but I think I'd rather choose that. I get two in each category to mark. So let's see.

Survival: Let's mark Hunt and Prowl.

Social: Cute and Play. 

Travel: Jump and Balance.

Combat: Pounce and Bite. 

And now I roll a d6 for each of those. If I get anything higher than 1, I get to increase the Skill by some amount. If I do, I have to explain what experience my kitty had that helped him raise it. Well, let's start from the top! Actually, let's name the kitty first. We'll say he's called Nip (for his love of catnip, or his habit or nipping humans' ankles? The answer is "yes"). 

• Prowl: 2, so it goes up to 2. Nip's house included a small dog, and Nip learned to hide from it. 
• Hunt: 2 (score goes to 2). Nip had to hunt for food after getting turned out onto the street.
• Cute: 6, so my score goes to 4! Daaaaaamn! Nip had to compete with that damn dog for attention and love. 
• Play: 3, so score goes to 2. Playing with the dog, obviously. 
• Jump: Another 6! Nip practiced and practiced to jump from the back of the couch to the windowsill, and one night he actually made it...but the window was open. Oops. 
• Balance: 1. No change. Makes sense, because he didn't stick the landing on that sill. 
• Pounce: 5, so we go up to 3. As with Hunt, Nip had to feed himself. Mice are faster than he is, so the pounce is necessary. 
• Bite: 2, putting me up to 2. One good bite can kill a mouse, but Nip can't do it reliably yet.

The book says I now advance to young adult stage, but I think that all this skill increasing is actually part of that advancement. My max Health is 5, that's easy.

Nip is mostly white, except his front right and back left paws are black. Actually he's more dingy grey at this point because he needs a bath (noooo), and his fur is scruffy, especially on the back where he has trouble reaching. He winds up with burrs in his furs because he lives in a yard, and the mice here are getting wise to him. Might be time to move on. MOW. 

Wearing the Cape: Training Day

Last night, some super-hijinks! Here's last time.

Our heroes have spirited DeCarlo Stone away from the authorities, but they know they need to get him trained to the point that he can control his powers and soon - publicity is likely to be his only defense against getting disappeared. They head outside of town and call in a favor from Aaron "Swamp Rat" Bledsoe, Jr. He moves his trailer deeper into the swamp and near the water, Levee creates some water-barriers both for safety and obscuring purposes, and they get to work.

Magnus has DeCarlo reach into his hat (rather, he produces a smaller hat for DeCarlo to practice with) and tells him about focusing and paying attention, but also talks about a giant potato chip he once pulled out and DeCarlo creates a never-ending avalanche of bags of chips. Magnus puts the mini-hat (now pouring chips) back into his hat ("Fluffles can deal with that"), and Levee helps DeCarlo focus and keep his mind on what he's doing. DeCarlo pulls a Kit-Kat out of the hat, and everyone applauds him.

Meanwhile, Styx calls up a couple of ghosts to walk the area and watch out for cops, and Wing Diesel takes to the skies and circles. They notice that a small crowd his gathering around the area, apparently attracted by Levee's water walls (they don't know what's happening, but they know their hometown hero is involved!). 

Magnus gets to wondering if DeCarlo needs a receptacle to pull something the way he does, and indeed, if DeCarlo is actually conjuring things from the multiverse or if he's actually creating them. He tells DeCarlo to focus on the area behind the trailer and call up another Magnus. That, apparently, confuses DeCarlo, because he conjures something, but it ain't Magnus.

The thing that steps around the corner is close to 10 feet tall and is apparently made of a mass of swirling, glowing ribbons adorned with glowing runes. It shoves the trailer out of the way like a cardboard box (Swamp Rat, his son Emil, and DeCarlo's dad are all sitting on top of it and get scattered, but are unhurt) and makes for DeCarlo. Wing Diesel lands in front of it and body-checks it back. Its ribbons wrap around the dragon and carry intense heat, but that doesn't bother Wing.

Levee moves one of the walls between Wing and the monster and shoves it back into the water. Styx slips over to DeCarlo and helps him breathe, allowing him to focus enough to open a portal and the monster falls in. Swamp Rat dives into the water to look around (his hands get webbed and his eyes get nictitating membrane first, of course), and he verifies the thing is gone.

DeMarcus picks up his son and comforts him, and one of the ghosts approaches Styx and warns of encroaching cops ("blue lights"). She tells everyone else, and DeMarcus and DeCarlo jump on Wing Diesel and fly the heck away. 

Levee drops her walls, and the heroes see one cop car turn and start driving back towards the city, while another keeps approaching. Sgt. Guidry gets out and asks about DeCarlo, and of course the heroes don't tell him anything. He tells them, though, that they're under satellite surveillance, and that their big problem now is Wireless. He's looking for DeCarlo in an attempt to make his bones with the Department of Superhuman Affairs, and while Guidry isn't interested in screwing up DeCarlo's life, he knows that the powers-that-be are very nervous about the lad. The thinking amongst people who study this kind of thing is that you can't create something from nothing, and that summoning things from other universes isn't something that really happens, and now there's two breakthroughs that can do it with in a week. 

The others point out that DeCarlo needs to be trained - the last thing anyone wants to do is put him in a position where he's scared all the time, like, say, being arrested. Guidry agrees, but there's only so much he can do, and at the end of the day, if there really is a threat to the city, he has to address it. He leaves, and the heroes consider their options.

They need to get DeCarlo away, and further away than just an exburb of New Orleans. Levee ruefully suggests Texas (she's never left New Orleans; Toby asks if she'll lose her powers or something). Swamp Rat offers his trailer as transport for Wing Diesel; if they can hide the dragon, the government won't be able to track them as easily. Toby asks if that's going to be too be an inconvenience for Aaron and his kid, but he says that he's got plenty of family they can stay with. "Besides," he says, "whatever else I am, I'm a dad first." 

Swamp Rat gets some cousins to clear his stuff out of the dented trailer, and Toby calls DeMarcus and has him head for DeCarlo's school. Magnus pulls a point-to-point teleporter device from his hat, and DeMarcus brings DeCarlo into the school, and then teleports him back to the trailer. They do the same thing with Wing, get everyone into Styx's truck, get the truck hitched to the trailer, and start heading west. 

Levee makes some calls to arrange a place to hide out and train. Hopefully, they can get DeCarlo's powers under control enough that they can present him to New Orleans before Wireless figures out where they are. 

Movie #874: Taken

Taken is an action/thriller starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Holly Valance, Katie Cassidy, Olivier Rabourdin, Arban Bajraktaraj, Nicholas Giraud, and Xander Berkeley. You know the speech, it's a meme.

Former CIA agent Bryan Mills (Neeson) has retired from service to be near his teenage daughter Kimmy (Grace), but is having trouble competing with his ex-wife's (Janssen) rich new husband Stuart (Berkeley) who can afford to do things like buy her a whole-ass horse. He does manage to get her an in with a pop diva (Valance) when he saves her from a stalker while working security, but that plot point doesn't really go anywhere except making a nice capstone at the end of the movie, which it definitely needed (but we'll get to that).

Anyway, Kimmy and her friend Amanda (Cassidy) go to Paris with Bryan's reluctant blessing and are almost immediately kidnapped to be hooked on heroin and sold into sex slavery. Bryan happens to be on the phone with Kimmy when the bad guys come to get them, and delivers the iconic "I will find you. And I will kill you." speech. He then proceeds to do exactly that - uses his friends and contacts to narrow down what happened to her, gets over to France and starts systematically hunting down the fuckers responsible until he eventually nearly catches up with her...just as she's sold to a sheikh (Nabil Massad), so he kills that dude and his whole security force! And then we get the nice little capstone where he introduces Kimmy to the pop star (she's an aspiring singer).

So, I want to say up front that I enjoy this movie. It's a fun action thriller, and it catapulted Neeson into being an action hero with a very particular set of skills. But it also always felt cathartic, and I went into it this time thinking about that. There's a feeling, I think, when Neeson delivers the speech, that we as the audience are meant to understand that Bryan Mills is going to find his daughter. It's a race against time, but he's going to do it, and he's going to kill all these evil bad guys. The catharsis is that every father believes that, in a similar situation, he would do everything it takes to protect his kids. And that's fine, I'm a dad, I know that feeling.

But...there's also a weird "I wish a motherfucker would" feeling about it. The best thing I can liken it to is in Pulp Fiction where Vincent is talking about his car being keyed, and wishing he could have caught the vandal in the act. "It would have been worth him doing it just I could have caught him doing it." I don't think Neeson's character feels that way - he's all business and never once tells anyone "I told you so" (though you get the feeling he kinda wants to with his ex). I think the audience is meant to have that feeling, and if the movie took itself a little more seriously it would examine that a little, that brutal, paternal instinct not just to protect but to avenge, but the problem is you can't avenge without being wronged.

That's one thing. The other thing, and this is something I've thought of before but I really paid attention to this time, is that Bryan doesn't not give one single shit about anyone except Kimmy. He starts kicking in doors (well, curtains) where a lot of other girls are being raped and drugged, and never does a single thing to help any of them except the one that is wearing Kimmy's jacket. He finds her friend Amanda dead, handcuffed to a bed, and reacts, but he never tells anyone, never contacts her family, never contacts the police or the American consulate, hell, we never even see Kimmy reacting because she's never told (on camera). The sheikh buys three girls at the auction, all of them are hustled into his rooms before Bryan bursts in and shoots him, but we never see the other two girls again. What conclusion are we meant to draw there?

If we're being charitable, we could draw the conclusion that Bryan is realistic enough to know that he's never going to solve this problem or free all these girls, and that the best he can do is get Kimmy back. But I think there's a more obvious (and somewhat darker) conclusion: Those other girls brought it on themselves. Kimmy is a virgin (the movie makes sure we know that, it's mentioned twice, once while she's being auction off to shadowy men and she's actually referred to as "pure"), while Amanda is openly sexual and outright says she's going to fuck the guy that they shared a cab with (Giraud), who it turns out was a spotter for the sex trafficking organization. We don't know a thing about the other girls we see, but the couple that we do hear have Eastern European accents, and while that's a subtle thing, that tells us that they are not "western girls on vacation" who got kidnapped, but more likely girls from poorer European countries who agreed to come out here (under false pretenses, but still agreed). 

So at the guts of it, this is kind of a morality play or cautionary tale - if you're pure enough, maybe you'll have an avenging angel in the form of your father swoop in and visit bloody vengeance on your attackers. If not...well, sorry, Amanda.

My Grade: B
Rewatch Value: Medium-high

Next up: Last Night in Soho