Character Creation: Pasión de las Pasiones

Real quick character before dinner.

The Game: Pasión de las Pasiones (ashcan)
The Publisher: Magpie Games
Degree of Familiarity: Some. I played it at Metatopia and I'm pretty familiar with PbtA games in general.
Books Required: Just the one.

So, Pasión is a PbtA game emulating telenovelas. I have never watched any of these shows, but I know melodrama and I love games with emotional stakes, and I cannot recommend this game highly enough if you're into those things. If I were playing this game for realsies, obviously there'd be a lot of talk about the tone of the show and where it's set and so forth, but I can keep it pretty generic for purposes of chargen.

First thing, as is typical of PbtA games, is to choose a playbook. When I played this game at Metatopia I played El Caballero, so I think I'd like to do something else this time. The characters are written as gendered (part of this is due to how Spanish works, of course), but there's nothing that says La Doña can't be male, f'rex. Hmm. I think I'll go with El Gemelo (the Twin); I almost chose this one last time.

So, as the name implies, El Gemelo is a twin, and my other sibling could be another PC or a supporting character, were I actually playing. Since that's not an issue, I shall continue. First thing is to choose a name similar to my twin's name. I'll say my character's name is Gilberto, and my brother's is Alberto.

Next question is: Are you taking advantage of your twin's reputation? I'll say sure. Alberto is a big shot, a gambler known to be amazingly lucky and skilled to the point that other folks will fold to his bluff a lot of the time (I may have seen Molly's Game today. Also the last time I played this game there was a lot of casino-related shenanigans).

Next: What are two things people notice about you? I'll say "winning smile" and "gold pinky ring." Alberto and I have matching ones, except his has a diamond and mine has a ruby.

Now I choose up to three props. Ooh. I'll take "your twin's home," "a fancy black car," and "a dashing scarf."

Relationships, I'll skip, because it's just me.

Hmm. "This Time On" sets up a plot point for me ("there is a big event that your twin is supposed to be at. How have you made sure you will also be there and to what purpose?"). I think there's some kind of high rollin', elbow-rubbin', mostly gamblers-and-rich-people kind of event. I'm looking for someone to loan me money, so I just called the place and claimed the dog ate my invite. We've both got invites now, so as long as I avoid Alberto, I should be fine.

Last time: Choose two moves. Ooh. I'll take That Wasn't Me and Twin Tied; basically allowing me to exploit identity confusion a lot (because that's totes how I'd play this character).

And that's it! How easy!

Character Creation: When the Dark is Gone

I picked up Seven Wonders at...GenCon, I think? 2016, I think. It's an anthology of story games, and it was nominated for an Indie Groundbreak Award last year, and I think it won, but the winners aren't posted on the IGDN site (whoops) and, embarrassingly, I don't remember who won. I'm like 90% sure Cat Tobin gave an acceptance speech, though, and she edited and published it.

Anyway, I felt like doing a storygame for my chargen project today, because I'm having trouble focusing on my own work and I tend to find them inspirational. Also they're often easier than D&D clones and other trad games, in the sense that I don't need to do math.

Not "easier" in the sense of "requiring less brain-power", of course, because holy cats. Right out of the gate.

The Game: When the Dark Is Gone
The Publisher: Pelgrane Press
Degree of Familiarity: None. I'm reading it; it's short.
Books Required: Just Seven Wonders

So, this is a game about therapy, not therapy as a game (as the text points out). The idea is that you're playing people who, as children, went to a magical other-world, returned to Earth, and now can't go back. Taking inspiration from C.S. Lewis and The Neverending Story and any number of other books wherein kids save the world by traveling to other dimensions, and asking the same questions as XKCD does here.

And aside: Not all of the games in this anthology present "character creation" in a way that works for this project, but a few of them do and have character sheets. Plus, I have the PDF, because Pelgrane is cool like that. So why does my list say that there's no sheet for any of these games? What the hell, past-Matt?

Anyway. The first thing we'd do if I were actually playing this is to list out banned topics, which I think is a good practice no matter what you're playing. Since it's just me, though, I'm not gonna bother with that.

Next thing: Name, Occupation, Age, and Description. OK, then. We assume this to be modern-day, which means I'm making an adult who went to a magical world as a child. His name is Raymond Ruth. He's (now) 40.

Occupation...hmm. I want to make him something that I could play. I don't think I want him to be a teacher or someone who works with kids; I think he'd find that a little too painful. I'll say he works in banking - he makes good money, no one asks him about his job except other people in the industry.

Description: Ray is skinny (he eats like a bird and he's not prone to putting on weight). He used to be bright blond, now his hair is thinning and grey. He has a light beard that he keeps neatly trimmed. He wears gold-rimmed glasses (bifocals, now). He always wears long-sleeved shirts and usually wears a carpal tunnel glove/brace on his left hand, sometimes both.

OK, the next bit is perhaps the hard part: The psychological disorder. These folks are in therapy for a reason, and the game makes it pretty clear that they're hurting people (self or others) with their behavior. I think for Ray I'm going to say he self-harms. And I'm gonna get personal for a minute, so feel free to skip the next paragraph if you just want to watch me make a character.

I cut myself when I was in high school. My usual method of self-harm is to punch myself in the face, and that persists (though I've got it under control), but there was a time there when I would take a kitchen knife to the back of my hand. I still have the scars, I can see them plain as life and I know exactly what they're from. If anyone in my house noticed, they never said anything, but I was pretty good at keeping it under wraps (as it were). It was a method of...punishment, I guess? Of feeling something sharp and quick and intense rather than the slow rot that my brain gave me? Anyway, that's why I'm going with this for Ray.

OK, back to Ray. Ray cuts himself, usually on the left hand, usually with something slim and sharp. I think the idea is that he remembers how things were in the other-world - they were intense and bright and colorful and sensation was amazing, and here in the real world it's just...not like that. I don't know if that's too much planning for the "why," though.

Anyway, the next sections in the book talk about relationships with the other PCs and why we're in therapy. If we were playing, I'd have specific relationship with two other characters. Since it's just me, I suppose I'll make a couple up. These are folks I knew as kids, but we have more adult relationships now.

First relationship: Joe Bathic. We roomed together in college and we're friends and drinking buddies now. I enable his drinking, because when he's drunk he gets angry and violent and sometimes I can goad him into hitting me. I figure if he hits me he doesn't hit anyone else. Secret: One night he was close to a moment of clarity and asked me to drive him home. I said he was fine and let him drive. We made it home without hurting anyone, but there was some damage to his car; he had no memory of any of it in the morning.

Second relationship: Carly Weiss. Carly came into my bank quite by accident and we remembered each other; she was working on refinancing her house. We wound up going out for drinks; not a date per se (I'm getting the feeling that Ray is largely asexual, though perhaps not aromantic), but just catching up and supporting each other. And Ray panicked and ghosted her and passed her case on to another banker, citing "conflict of interest" because they were friends, and the other guy just fucked it all up. Secret: Ray looked through her phone one night while they were out together, looking for any sign that she remembered what happened to them. He saw text messages talking about how "pathetic" a guy that Carly was seeing was, and he assumes that meant him.

Finally, Ray has a redeeming quality, something that people can recognize as good in him. I'll say that Ray is patient. He doesn't lose his temper, he doesn't fly off the handle, and he doesn't jump to conclusions. That also makes him a good listener, though of course he's abused that trait in the past.

The last thing would be that everyone contributes one memory of the magical world. In Ray's case, I've kinda already said it: Everything was vivid. Colors were brighter, sounds were more harmonious, sensations more intense, flavors more delicious. Everything was more vibrant. To Ray, it's left the real world feeling a little grey.

And that's it, actually. Intense little game, this. I like it.

Character Creation: Dresden Files Accelerated

First character of 2018. Yay!

So, in 2017, I made 39 characters for the project. My goal was 52 (one per week), so I fell a bit short. In particular, of course I went from late October to late November without doing any (some personal issues interfered, plus I went to three cons in as many weeks), and of course during the school year it's easy to go weeks without doing one because I tend to game and sleep on weekends.

I'm gonna set the same goal for myself in 2018: One character a week, for a total of 52. As a point of interest, there are presently 258 games on my list, and that doesn't count games that I've Kickstarted and just not received yet or games that I'll buy in future. If I managed to do 52 games a year, and assuming I only add 20 games per year to the list, I'd be caught up by the end of 2026. For context, I started this project in June 2008, right about the time Cael was born. He'll be 18 when I get caught up, assuming my math is right.

(hahahawheee i really do love this though)

Well, maybe this year I'll try and be better about blocking off time every week to read a game and make a character. What the heck, it's more likely than weight loss.

The Game: Dresden Files Accelerated
The Publisher: Evil Hat Productions
Degree of Familiarity: A decent amount. Michelle ran a game set in Baltimore wherein I played a kinetomancer, and I ran one set in Lexington. They weren't using this ruleset (except for the very end of Michelle's game), though.
Books Required: Just the one.

So, of course I made a character for the first version of this game some time ago (some time ago. More than seven freaking years ago). Anyway, the essence of the game hasn't changed much, just the mechanics have.

The first thing that I'd do if I had a group would be setting creation, but I haven't got that. There's a handy example right up front, though:

So I'll use that! I love New Orleans, anyway. First thing I do is choose a Mantle. Last character I made was a White Court vampire, and the character I played is a focused practitioner. I don't want to make a wizard, I don't think. Hmm. Suppose I make a changeling? What would it look like to play a Winter Court changeling in a town that doesn't get "winter" the way other places do...especially since the climate is changing now? I like that notion.

OK, to make a changeling, I pick a Pure Mortal mantle and then add changeling on top of it. I have an idea.

Bartholomew Griggs (please just call him "Griggs," not "Bart", for the love of god) is a forensic pathologist. He works in the shittiest hospital in New Orleans, and that means he pulls bullets out of bodies and compares wounds to weapons a lot. I'm taking the Medic mantle and then adding Changeling, too. So I get Medical License as a Condition, and then First Aid and Medical Care as stunts. I can choose one more for free, so I'll take Forensic Pathology.

For Changeling, I get the Called Condition (I can mark it to use Fae stunts, but if I fill it I have to choose to become fae or human, or abstain from magic for a while). I also get one Fae stunt as a core stunt. I'll take Cloak of Shadows - I can see in the dark and, once per session, hide perfectly. Griggs hears "holy shit, Griggs, how long you been standing there?" a lot.

Next up: Aspects! High Concept is easy enough, that's just Shadowy Changeling Coroner. Trouble Aspect is a little tougher, though, and requires that I think about Griggs a little more.

OK, so, Griggs is a doctor, so why is he this kind of doctor? I think he figured out he was a changeling while in his residency "upstairs." He was doing a psych rotation and they brought a guy in raving about "the Cobblers." He saw Griggs, stopped, gibbered, pointed, screamed "You! You're one of them!" and then ripped out his own eyes. Griggs isn't sure why, but in that moment he knew. He was one of the Cobblers, or at least, he half was. He took his next rotation in pathology and found that it fit.

See, death is very much a part of the Winter Court, but it's not about killing, it's about remembering the dead and paying them their tribute. Griggs has always felt that memento mori is important, and now as a pathologist, he helps the dead gain justice, peace, and closure. The trick is, though, that he's not a wizard dealing ghosts or ectoplasm. He's a changeling dealing with death on a much more story-focused level. He closes the books on the story of a person's life, and it's often inconvenient for him if they don't know when to leave. He often concludes autopsies by saying "Thank you for being here," and he considers that the end of it.

So what's his Trouble? His Trouble is that the dead don't always start quiet. I think that'll work as an Aspect, actually: The Dead Don't Know Their Place.

And then a third Aspect. I like the idea that Griggs is spooky, but regarded as wise. I'll take Basement Sage as the Aspect - other doctors come down here to ask him questions, if they can work up the nerve.

Next is Approaches. One Good, two Fair, two Average, one Mediocre, standard FAE allotment. The names are a little different, but they work more or less the same way.

I think Grigg's Good should go in Intellect. I'll put the Fairs in Haste and Focus, the Averages in Force and Guile, and the Mediocre in Flair (Griggs is, obviously, not a flashy guy).

I get 3 refresh, though I can spend some on stunts, if I want. I want to pick up Ghostbane, which lets me interact with ghosts as though they were incorporeal. And, oh heck, there's one under Medic called Psych Rotation, which lets me use my First Aid stunt on emotional or mental conditions. Shit yeah.

And then about does 'er. Griggs would be an interesting character because the thrust of the character's conflict, at least at the beginning, isn't on the Choice, but on some of the kind of knock-on effects of him being a changeling. I think the Choice would come up in play, but in a different way than I've seen it happen in other games.

Blades in the Dark: Turf Expansion

There were blades, it was dark, yurz.

So, last time, the scoundrels got in a spot of bother with the Lampblacks and agreed to kill a couple of Red Sashes in order to clear their debt. Not quite ready to jump into that, though, they looked to expand their turf instead.

They zero in on three options. First, they could procure the services of a high-end fence named Cricket. Cricket normally didn't work with arcane or ghostly smuggling things, though, and that's basically the crew's bread and butter. Sure, they could turn her, but they weren't sure who she was already beholden to, if anyone, and decided just expanding operations was a better idea for now.

And then there's the Island, a gambling den near their lair. It's called that because you access it via a thin gangplank. The crew didn't know if they could continue to turn a profit with it, but the location would be useful for boating purposes.

Finally, a brothel called the Ruby, run by a Tycherosi woman named Jayan. The Ruby catered to a higher-class clientele, folks who were happy to buy and sell while enjoying the services. Useful place to drum up jobs or find fences, but the Wraiths apparently had some influence there.

The crew decides to split up and check these places out. Copper and Cage got to the Island (Copper is thrilled, as she's a gambler at heart; Cage less so). The place is dirty and rough, run by Skovlander refugees, and they're proud of it - they've taken a bunch of NO SKOVS signs from other establishments and nailed them to the walls in defiance. Copper fits in pretty well; she bets on some rat races and chats up Whip, one of the Skovs running the place. Cage plays some Liar's Dice but loses, and in general isn't as happy to be there, but they do learn that the place answers to one Ulf Ironborn, a Skovlander trying to carve out some room in the underworld for himself. He's based in Dunslough, which is a bit of a trek, so maybe they could negotiate a way in, or smoke the Skovs out?

Meanwhile, One-Eye and Siren hit the Ruby. One-Eye talks to Jayan and tries to ferret out some information about the Wraiths, but Jayan is reticent and all One-Eye learns is that Jayan considers the Wraiths "the devil I know." Siren, meanwhile, buys the services of a submissive girl and gets some information out of her. Specifically, the Wraiths don't really run the place or exert much influence. Instead, they sometimes steal from the clients, and sometimes use the place to find buyers for stolen goods. One-Eye, likewise, slips into the lounge and talks with Varuin, a client, relaxing after a session. He tells her more or less the same thing - you have to watch your wallet around here, but it's a nice place and the clientele here is friendly to commerce.

The crew reconvenes and talks about their options. Cage is interested in getting into the Ruby, in no small part because the owner, like him, is Tycherosi. One-Eye worries about trying to muscle in on the Island because she's a Skov (though other Skovs view her as a sell-out), and she knows how pig-headed they can be. That said, they're probably too far away from Ulf Ironborn to be a really firm hold.

The other issue is, the crew's position with the Wraiths is already tenuous. If they hit the Ruby, they risk going to war, and that has the potential to attract more attention and take up more focus than they're ready to commit. So, they could hit the Wraiths directly, weakening their hold, and then take the Ruby. They could try to lure Wraiths away and get them to join up, and work toward assimilating them. The crew decides to do more research.

Cage goes to the Ruby and talks to Jayan, and learns that the Wraiths don't have any real claim on her except that she's afraid they'll hurt her or steal her shit if she stands up to them (Jayan is violence and crime averse in general). One-Eye hangs around the Ruby and watches, and sees that the Wraiths use the back-ways, the staff entrances and hallways, and avoid Jayan's notice. Siren and Cage trail a Wraith back out of the Ruby and find that they have rooftop perches and use lamps to communicate across the city, back to a tower in Silkshore.

The tower, which the crew also investigates, is the remains of an old watchtower (much like theirs). Getting in would be hard; the stairs don't really work and the Wraiths get in by climbing the outside. The crew figures they could unleash some ghosts or otherwise sabotage the place, but that would pretty much ensure war, and all they want is the Ruby.

Instead, they decide on a deception score. They'll release some ghosts in the Ruby, and then show up in their capacity as purveyors and traffickers of spirits to deal with them (you know, putting the Frighteners on people).

So! The score begins with the crew distributed severally around the brothel, and two nasty ghosts tearing the place up and sending the clients out. One-Eye jumps in to help people with medical issues, but the others figure they need to pick their moment. They see a Wraith jump down off a building and start drawing a rune. One-Eye tosses a smoke bomb and Cage tries to mess up the rune, but misses, and the rune works - the ghosts back off. Copper throws her drink at the rune and ruins it, but the Wraith figures out the con and runs, probably intending to get to the lamp and summon help.

Copper hits him with rage essence and drives him into a frenzy. He tackles her, but Siren knocks him out with the butt of her pistol. Figuring that they can deal with him later, the crew now has to deal with the ghosts. Siren shoots one with spectral bullets and dissipates it, and the other one charges at her. Cage shoves it roughly into a spirit bottle, and the folks standing around see that Widdershins handled the ghosts (though not gracefully; there was some bumblefucking due to missed rolls, Cage nearly hit Copper with a lightning hook, that kind of thing).

One-Eye drugs the Wraith and tells him that he got possessed, but that Widdershins helped him, and he agrees. But now the rest of the Wraiths arrive, and it's time to negotiate...which is a skill that this crew is, shall we say, less than stellar at. The crew stays focused - they want the Wraiths to give up the Ruby, not go to war over it, but their best social action is Command, which means they basically have to intimidate them into it. Cage finally manages it, but at the cost of taking Trauma. He becomes Unstable, uncorks one of the spirit bottles, and threatens the Wraiths with rampaging ghosts if they don't just piss off.

The Wraiths decide that this really isn't worth and it leave. Their position with the crew worsens (they're not at war, but it's close).

The ruckus in the street attracts some legal attention, though, and Cage gets arrested. He spends the next month in Ironhook, and comes out of it...changed (poor sucker got another Trauma for his trouble). During that time, Copper finishes training Button, and One-Eye finishes her designs for her alchemical eye (now she just needs to build it).

Next time, they need to look into the Red Sashes a bit more. Cage is ready to stab someone anyway.

Movie #439: The Last Witch Hunter

The Last Witch Hunter is a fantasy/action film starring Vin Diesel, Michael Caine, Elijah Wood, Rose Marie, and Julie Engelbrecht. It's apparently the adventures of Vin's D&D character put to film, and lordy, it shows.

Kaulder (Diesel) is a witch hunter in old-timey Europe who gets cursed with immortality while slaying the Witch Queen (Engelbrecht). Ignoring the fact that "immortality" is a lousy way to curse someone, he spends the next several centuries working with a faction within the Church, hunting down and killing, then incarcerating witches. He always has a "Dolan," a priest who acts as his chronicler and assistant. When the most recent one (Caine) retires, he meets the new one (Wood), and then Old Dolan seemingly dies, murdered by witches.

Here in the modern era, though, witches and witch-hunters have a truce, so Kaulder is hunting down rogue witches who are trying to bring back the Witch Queen. He meets a young witch named Chloe (Marie) who helps him remember the truth - the Witch Queen's heart still beats, which is what makes him immortal. And then Young Dolan betrays him and a new plague nearly gets unleashed but they kill the Witch Queen, mostly, but keep her heart around so that Kaulder remains immortal because, as Chloe tells him, there are worse things waiting in the shadows than the Witch Queen.

I cannot imagine how you'd begin to enjoy this movie if you weren't a gamer. Well, I mean, I guess folks liked Constantine and Blade, so maybe they'd dig this, too, though it's not as good as those two. I do enjoy that Kaulder seems to be enjoying his long life and he is obviously hurt by the loss of his family, but he's not a brooding jackass like Blade because of it. Likewise, the banter between Kaulder and Young Dolan and Kaulder and Chloe is fun, though there's not really much chemistry between Diesel and Caine.

It's a fun movie and it'd be interesting as a setting for Dresden or Witch or something, and the witches use a nice variety of magic. And hey, I can't say that if I had Diesel's money and connections, I wouldn't make a movie about one of my characters.

My Grade: C
Rewatch value: Medium, I think

Next up: Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Blades Notes

Oh, right, sometimes I run games, not just make characters.

Tonight is Blades in the Dark, so players should stop reading about....

....

NOW.

Movie #438: The Girl with All the Gifts

The Girl With All the Gifts is a recent horror/drama based on a novel by Mike Carey, starring Sennia Nanua, Glenn Close, Paddy Considine, Gemma Arterton, Fisayo Akinade, and Anthony Welsh. It's a zombie movie, but it goes some places that most zombie movies don't.

The zombies in this story are controlled by a fungal infection, and are referred to as "hungries." They basically stay in one place, gently swaying, until they smell food (and they'll eat basically whatever meat they can catch), and then they run at it full-tilt. In a government facility in England, though, a class of children is being taught (in part) by a woman named Helen Justineau (Arterton). Said class includes a very bright young girl named Melanie (Nanua). All of these children are hungries, but are capable of thought and language. Dr. Caldwell (Close) is working on finding a cure or a vaccine based on their relationship with the fungus.

But then it all goes south; hungries overrun the compound, Melanie escapes with Justineau, Caldwell, a couple of soldiers (Akinade and Welsh), and Sergeant Parks (Considine). They flee toward London, looking for a way to find food and stay off the hungries' radar, until finally they learn the truth - the next stage in the fungus' evolution is airborne spores that will infect anyone who breathes them, effectively ending the human race. Caldwell figures she can still cure it, but Melanie, upon learning that she's really alive and not just mimicking life, sets this event in motion, figuring that it's not fair for humanity to live if it means her people should die out. (Or as she puts it to Parks, "It's not ending. It's just not yours anymore.")

So as zombie movies go, it's both bleak (humanity ends), chilling (Justineau survives, but trapped in a mobile lab to protect her from the spores and giving lessons to zombie children forever), and hopeful (Melanie is right - she absolutely has the right to survive as much as humans do).

Having read the book (which almost never happens), I can say too that it's a pretty faithful adaptation, and while you miss some context for why certain things happen, I don't think anything of crucial importance got cut out. It's creepy, gory in places, and the scenery and production design are beautiful in a Life After People sort of way.

My Grade: A-
Rewatch Value: Medium, I think

Next up: The Last Witchhunter