Friday, January 27, 2017

High Speed Death

I pre-ordered the Gangs of Commorraghkkkkytjkjl from my club +Beer and Bolters 40K . Not because I dig on Dark Eldar, but the fluff is kind of cool and I need to stretch my wings a little now that the airbrush is arrived.  It's because it seems a distant offshoot hybrid of Necromunda and that Tie Fighter game, and for the price you get some nice models. Also, I'm not a great painter and my experience has mostly been basecoat/wash/drybrush highlights, ink wash the flesh, yadda yadda yadda.  Picking a new army or force would allow some different finishes and looks that might prompt me to do some new stuff.  I guess, in short, that I am bored at the moment with Space Marines, Sisters, and Imperial Troops generally (you might remind me that I am taking my sweet time with the Genestealer Cult - more on that, later)

The models look great! ๐Ÿ˜  The terrain looks hideous ๐Ÿ˜ฒ๐Ÿ˜’๐Ÿ˜’ Note: I don't expect much when I pay 45 bucks for 16 figures on stands with all kinds of cool options









Anyway, I thought of a pretty interesting 1-point perspective trick that I can use to make a 2x2 foot game board for my High Speed Pain-Addicted Perverts to zip around on, and in addition to this it will give me an excuse to make terrain that fits the bill.  I'm thinking a long drop into nothingness, clouds, some faux brushed metal towers, skulls, and polyfill.  More later, but this inspiring thing out:


It occurs to me that the Haemonculi and the retinue of the Archons are pretty cool; maybe I will try Dark Eldar out in the coming year... Need to practice my hideous runes and evil sigils!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

The Curse of the Nutcracker

(I watched my daughter gleefully pull a princess ballerina this morning, and I remembered this post from right before Christmas, which languished and had its roots in Candy Land, Uncle Wiggly, Ballet, and The Sugarplum Fairy. I haven't the steam today to gussy it up with pictures and links, except maybe a header image to grab your attention just so)



So, I'm a fan of +Kabuki Kaiser's Castle Gargantua.  Why, you ask? Well, you miscreant (today's favorite word, HO HO HO), it's because it presents to us a very interesting opportunity in the form of a hybrid of linear AND ALSO non-determinate adventure. It's a practically procedural way of doing an RPG session.  I used to wrassle, existentially speaking, with the Quantum Ogre and the Railroading of players... (link around here somewheres but meh - don't break my stride internal editor)

I think Castle Gargantua allows us to sweep away all of those concerns about placing my most-wished for bad guys into an adventure, or especially snarky puzzles, or twisted role-playing scenarios.  That Quantum Ogre is only Gargantua, and if you make it to the end of his Castle, then YES, MISCREANT, HE IS THERE!  Otherwise, his presence is felt all over this place by virtue of this pile of toys in the box which you YOU the adventurers will pull out, and your actions will not only impact the course of the adventure but will determine it to the largest extent.  Patrice solved a very vexing problem for me, in that if I have a Great Idea, then I will want it to be in The Game.  BUT, I don't want to make the games all about my Great Ideas (which are really only Better Than Average Ideas), but about the narrative that develops from the world we posit together and the interactions of the Players with Me and Each Other, and their PC's interactions with The World...

Castle Gargantua has a linear, candy-land style track for the overall plot, with each square having a flavor and gold squares (relatively rare) have special keyed areas.  The layout is chutes-and-ladders/snakes-and-ladders style, with some squares taking you back farther from the endpoint.  Everything else is procedural i.e. based on dice rolls and prompts. Note that the solo adventures Ruins of The Undercity and Mad Monks of Kwantoom have somewhat similar approaches. (Insert a link here to that article about Mentzer's dungeon philosophy which literally went around yesterday and meh, there's more editorializing, Superego Me).  As a notorious low-prep, shoot-from-the-hip DM this is perfect for me, and probably why I like Caste Gargantua so much.  I have tinkered with an Illustrator CS4 file to have a similar track that you can fill in yourself, and when I get it finished

I sat there a few weeks ago, my Kid in my lap, my Kid who was absolutely absorbed in the abstract communication of a story - The Nutcracker - that is done primarily in the World on the stage, the Music (overarching and eternal!) and the Dancing and Costumes.  I see a dance, but I make a Battle between little Men and ferocious Mice in my head.  My daughter may get some of that, but I think it could be ably and truly conveyed in a Role Playing game, and for at least two years I have said to myself "ehhhh, that would be fun to play around in, maybe". But I haven't the momentum to do it unless things slow down some, which they have (obviously).

NPCs:
Herr Drosselmeyer/The Owl - A wizard/Conjurer/Tinkerer.  Also, a Shapechanger.  His forces are always at war with the Mice and the Mouseking
Clara Stahlbaum/The Sugarplum Faerie (my daughter has conflated the two, as I would expect from a little girl, and also I think it's canon in some versions, and also I believe that multiple personalities and avatars are clever)
Fritz Stahlbaum, Petulant Little Brother. Maybe the Mouseking! Maybe a Tin Soldier. Maybe both, since it's a fairy-tale
The Nutcracker/The Prince/Herr Drosselmeyer's Nephew - rightful ruler of the Land of Sweets, cursed to war against the Mice until the spell is broken
The China Doll Vivandiere (I insert her since she was a fun NPC from a session of Castle Gargantua - a gift for Clara at The Stahlbaums' party). A wind-up china doll, a dancer, a creation of Drosselmeyer? She loves children, is fantastically naive, and practically indestructible except for the obvious blunt object problems.
The Tin Soldiers, and their Leader (as yet unnamed, something butch and warlike, but pragmatic, hubris, etc.)
The Mice and the Mouse-king (the Mouse King needs to be a DCC Patron, IMHO)
Rats, Big Mean Ones
Snow Crystal Faeries, and their ruler the Snowflake Queen
Various Candy Land entities, a somber and depressing version of Princess Bubblegum's candy kingdom but then The Prince returns.

Breaking the Curse ought to split all the separate individuals from their respective twins, and put reality back aright and hopefully no children are permanently affected.

Why does Drosselmeyer war on the Mice?  Because he's an owl, also.  Why is Clara tending the Land of Sweets as the Faerie? She assumes the persona of the Sugar Plum Faerie in her sleep, I don't know.  You really gotta assume some kid-logic, here.  I tell people all the time that the logic of children - the logic of faerie tales and mythology - is not always clear from a rational, adult, stand point, but often it is entirely consistent and sound.  The fact that it is un-informed in real facts and information is nothing to the kids.

I will write up the Mouse King as a DCC patron, later.  I will post the customizable (whatever that means) illustrator file for the game-board style track when I work out the best format and layout.

FOR NOW, BACK TO WORK, YOU MISCREANTS!

p.s. +Reynaldo Madriรฑan is  very nearly much closer to releasing his RPG BREAK! which I think would be terrific for something like this, but hey we shall see. My daughter has expressed interest in Sailor Moon, but frankly it's too scary for her just yet, so we're scoping out Princess Tutu and it's maybe exactly my interpretation of this in anime form...





Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Muties and Other Scumbags

Well, I've been sitting on a pile of lead for a long time, and it just got bigger. So big, in fact, that it's one of those things: I'm not sure, anymore, that I can git her done.

I'm sort of at the point where more figs await paint than I have time to paint and so maybe I need to make some decisions. But! I did not lose all motivations between then and now, and some progress is made... BEHOLD! Muties, Gangers, Monsters, and some scumbags, also.

My home table now has enough gangs and critters and low-life to run around in the hive as a prelude to some serious Sisters/Raven Guard (my updated Dark Angels are converted to a Raven Guard successor chapter called The Storm Crows)/IG/Genestealer Cultists action...

The Epidemic of Hive Quintus? Karloth Valois moves lesser gangs against each other in a prelude to the GS/Nurglite/Tzeentchian uprising, stopped by an Inquisitor of the Ordo Sepulturum (frankly the most bestest named Ordo, IMHO)

Maybe I need some Nurgle cultists to go with these Genestealers I am finishing?


Friday, December 9, 2016

On Hyperiridium

(reminded myself that I had an Evernote, and popped it open and found my fish-men solo adventure notes, as well as this, written in May 2015. Probably a way to tie Halthrag Keep and Space Dungeon to Black Powder Black Magic by +Eric Hoffman and +Carl Bussler  but I can't recall off the top of my head if it had been released, then)
 
Hyperidium is described in the scientific literature by Dr. Allan Whipplemark-Smythe of Future Earth 124/4b in the year QE2027. The entry from Encyclopaedia Galactica is abstracted, here.

On Aereth it is known in some places as Bale-Iron and Dweomer-Ore, and Green Orichalc by Alchemists. It has the curious and ominous property that it feeds on ambient magical energy and becomes more dense without decreasing in volume - depending upon conditions it adds mass from some other place and time but retains its shape and form.  It is especially common in Thrend, near the site of a meteor-fall that destroyed Halthrag Keep and turned the course of the Wizard Wars long ago (speculatively BE1078 +/- 7)

Any time an offensive spell is cast at a wielder of a Hyperidium weapon, attack and damage rolls (not Deed Dice!) are increased by +1d for the duration of the spell (which may allow, for instance only 1 attack in the case of instantaneous attacks).  The wielder may choose to give up this bonus to convert and dissipate the spell energy, whereupon the weapon gives off a baleful and sickly blue-green glow, and the spell result is decreased by one result category OR the wielder gains a Luck point until the next sunrise/resting period, which may take him or her above the natural maximum. In the case of instantaneous non-spell attacks, one attempted strike by the bearer will be affected.
 
For a wearer of Hyperiridium armor or the bearer of a shield, the effective armor bonus is increased by 1d6 each time an offensive spell is cast at the wearer, which stacks up to the maximum of 6 (so a single spell or multiple spells might drive the AC bonus to the maximum of 6).  In the case of instantaneous non-spell magical attacks, the next defended attack will be affected this way.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to hide or remain hidden as the armor's evil blue-green sheen radiates tell-tale light and marks it as magical.

Large quantities of this refined metal attracts succubi, wights, and Crystalline Arachnoidae who lust after it. It is refined from meteoric ore and the process requires strong acids; the ore from which it comes gives off a sinister blue-green glow. Much suspicion and bad folklore is attached to it in areas where it is found, and these creatures will always attack or target those who possess this metal (or even quantities of the raw ore) first.

see also: Warp Stone; Greenstone shards; Kryptonite (various colours).

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Mashups, Closure, Thread Necromancy

(this was started back in the summer, maybe? trying to go back and finish off some lost trains of thought and so this represents some months of doodling and the chronology is weird)

At first, this kid is thinking "DAMMIT"
I been thinking, see, and I have felt a real creative flag in terms of output of interesting gaming content.  I think it's the Roku I bought for 17 bucks at Staples - sapping my will away.  Maybe it's the return of Game of Thrones. (editor's note: this must have sat a while in the draft box)  I think G+ has taken a hard turn into commercialism and sharing of buyable shit that makes my skin crawl.  I'm not a hipster, but it used to be a lot of content was shared freely, and now it seems like it's behind the pay-wall, somehow.  I'm all about clue-ing people in to good stuff, and I like people to be reimbursed for their efforts but the G+ algorithm sends a great deal of kittie pictures, hot redheads, and Kickstarters my way.  Could be the purpose of it, maybe, but we somehow subverted it a little before if you take my meaning.  I'm sure that one book by that one guy is terrific, but I feel sort of like it's got some Hootie and The Blowfish Syndrome.  You play me, or try to sell me, the same goddam song on the radio every 5 minutes and you and me both get diminishing returns.  That being, you don't sell me that book (no matter how good it is), and I turn off the radio, Hootie.  You follow? Can you dig it, hepcat?

About the best thing I can manage of late is a mashup, and there've been no end of mashups for me this past few months.  I will put the peanut butter of DCC with any sort of chocolate, and so I've tried some Scooby-Doo/Space Dungeon mashup (it was good on paper), and this diesel-punk/Grease/Thundarr Mashup from a couple of weeks months ago.  I'm afraid as in matters of the bedroom, I have little staying power in the game room and lose interest quickly after the initial excitement wears off. Sorry if I don't have the creative stamina to keep it up for the long haul... The flipside is, at least I'm often satisfied by explosive bursts of fun/novel/interesting stuff but whether others are is for them to decide. We're all responsible, after all, for our own gaming enjoyment and to communicate to others what we might wish to have happen at the table.  Or else put up with it and be unhappy.

my first encounter with Amy Brightower indelibly affected my thinking, I'm sure.
I'm thinking of some juvenile/troma high/mutant crawl classics thing.  Class of Nuke 'Em High/Return of the Living Dead thing.  There's this old scandalous RPG illustrated by Erol Otus called Alma Mater, I think I wrote about it some time ago on here. Seems dimly amusing but the genre's the thing for me and maybe not the mechanics so much.  I don't anticipate rolling interminable dice around a virtual table to simulate an experience I loathed 23 years ago!!! On the other hand, the archetypes of High School are endlessly appealing, and (there was a cartoon about this when I were a prepubescent lad called Galaxy High) I think it might benefit from some complication and transmogrification.  But the premise is sort of interesting, to me.  A befouled, Death Wish 2/Warriors/80 Blocks From Tiffany's urban metropolis full of Wasted Youths and (of course, it's me we're talking about, here) Deadly Unreliable Robots, Scrofulous Mutants, and Ionizing Radiation.  edit: played this game during the summer, before Our President Elect was much more than a hilarious unlikelihood, and I'd like to return to it but I have no wish to go to the Camps in my middle age.  Also, it seems to me that if I wait long enough, maybe a year or so, we'll either get a new President or Thundarr will come to pass at last...  Wouldn't it be hilarious if all these post-apocalyptic Zombie fantasies we see on the screens really were TRAINING SCENARIOS FOR LIFE IN THE THEOCRATIC PRISON ZONES?

The America of 1986, now with more Grimdark! Coming in 2017!
Also, in terms of mashups, I proposed, and me and Doug K. and Michael S. toyed with a World Wide Wrestling/Space Dungeon mashup where the primary driver for the combination is to free myself and the other players from the constraints of physics, wrestling moves, and human anatomy and physiology.  I think it shows much promise for hilarity, since it takes all the drama and melodrama of professional wrestling and also the wacky tech, dark magic, and sinister corporate shenanigans of my home-grown toy DCC setting (maybe you can join it and read it on G+ but it's in Hypersleep mode for the time being).  WWW seems to me to be a terrific game, and all reports I have heard have been glowing (particularly from The Gauntlet podcast).  I look forward to pile-driving it into submission and I think I will probably do some gimmicks for it (classes) although the built-in ones seem to me to encompass a lot of room to flex... +Nathan Paoletta has a great deal of terrific games: (find them HERE).  I think I got into an early playtest version for WWW and I have thought about it a great deal, although I haven't played it straight, or run it myself, yet. I hadn't got much exposure to DW/PBtA when I stumbled on it, and it didn't make much sense, then. Now, I have more skills but it's a legit stretch to run it for me since it's not my usual genre/conventions/tone (hence my mashup!)

(hypocrisy noted) Also, I've gone through and invested in a couple of things - +Mike Evan's Kickstarter for Hubris delivered a final PDF product, which excites me very much.  Gets my juices flowing.  Since I drafted this post back in the Spring (gadzooks!) I also toyed with Beyond The Wall, which was maybe the most fun I've had gaming in a while - with a good group and some up-front bravery, you can have an amazing setting right from the start and the world-building and relationships go hand-in-hand. Lastly, I got +cecil howe 's very moody and evocative, and existentially chilly, add-on called "Do Not Let Us Die in The Dark Night of This Cold Winter". It's about trying to keep a quaint village from freezing and starving into non-existence, and since I cannot help to imagine what would happen if I combine this and that, I will probably try to build a village with some friends and BtW and THEN destroy it with winter.  On reflection, it bums me out but it could be fun to play with a heater on and some hot chocolate and warm socks. Segue into a weird world beyond the village, and in comes the Hubris thing, we're golden.  Some nefarious force is causing winter (not GoT, I know I know).  I had a good character last year in Pinkie, the synthetic-man Cleric of Santa, but I digress.

Anyways, thanks for watching.  You may have noticed I have not updated the DCC Class List for some time - my G+ associate +Stephen Murrish  is ably keeping better track lately than I am able or inclined to do. If you catch broken links, let me know and I may or may not update them (a problem is the blogger app for iOS is shelved and doesn't work anymore, which partially explains my low frequency of postings...)



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