Portrait of the Brain as Pâté-

2/3rds complete.

Lots of rain, so I'm happy.

Running the game tomorrow.

[Milieu] Funhouse Mirror Reflection-

This post just makes me so happy:

by bat

The People of the Summer Wind

“Hey Chalk, you gotta check this out!” called Koram from across the table as the adventurer leered at the attractive tavern girl.

“What is it?” asked the wizard as he poured over a text the duo had recovered from their last adventure.

“This girl has no belly button!” the fighter replied.

With a jolt the spellcaster reached across the table and grabbed Koram’s arm.

“We need to get out of here. Now!”

[“Just sit there and shut up, we aren't after you two idiots.”] hissed a voice in Chalk’s head.

Turning to the dancing girl Chalk saw her look him in the eye. And wink.

The People of the Summer Wind

No. Enc.: 1-4 (20)

Alignment: Neutral

Movement: 120’ (40’)

Armor Class: 4

Hit Dice: 1+2

Attacks: 1

Damage: 1d6 or weapon

Save: F5

Morale: 9

Hoard Class: VII

A mysterious offshoot of humans, from another material plane, the People of the Summer Wind are an enigmatic race who blend so seamlessly into human societies that it is nearly impossible to detect them as they can and do appear as any race or ethnicity. Their only distinguishing mark is the lack of a navel, or belly button and the fact that all of them are considered attractive by human standards (which sometimes makes them easier to pick out of a lineup in backwater places).

For the most part, the People of the Summer Wind monitor those around them, otherwise acting like normal people, yet they form secret societies within the communities they live and perform strange rituals to conjure weird monsters, sometimes creating elaborate traps within buildings in towns and cities to lure the unsuspecting in to meet their demise. All of the People of the Summer Wind have minor telepathic powers (being able to send and receive messages up to 1000′), the ability to cause Confusion as per the magic-user spell with the following adjustments: (Range 150′, Duration 5 rounds, affects 2d6 targets see Labyrinth Lord core rules, page 29 for reaction table) as well as the ability to conjure extra-planar creatures in relation to their number (i.e. a lone Person may only conjure a minor creature, a group of eight or more can summon a truly nightmarish beast).

The few sages aware of the existence of these strange humans have theorized that these traps set up by the People of the Summer Wind are not really fatal, but complicated teleportation rituals that send people to the plane of origin of the People of the Summer Wind. For what purpose is unknown.

I'll leave it to my readers to puzzle-out why.

[OT] Behind Enemy Lines (part III) + Structural Integrity-

The cat gave us a scare by somehow getting out last night and getting wounded in a glorious battle with either another cat, or a possum. He seems to be on the mend with anti-biotics and rehydration, but we'll be monitoring him more closely.

Book 4: British Commandos, and The Guns of Navarone arrived today, as did Albedo: Structural Integrity. All three look good, with lots of crunch to SI, and Commandos. TGoN looks like one of the better military adventures written.

Busy-busy...

Beta Update-

So as to CMA, I will tentatively suggest that a more realistic Beta .pdf release date will be July 7th, but it may be sooner. I'd rather give you folks a better product than a worse one. I'm certain you can understand and appreciate that.

On the plus side, I have made a test-run of the .pdf creation/hosting on LuLu and found it to be very simple.


A few things have changed through the editing process, and mainly affect character creation. These changes are simplifications which reduce what I perceived as an increasing tendency for PCs dependency upon Technical Skills (Pick Locks, etc.).
Now, there are two Characteristics: Knowledge and Technical, which establish a baseline value for all persons to be able to attempt non-Combat, non-Magic actions, such as the Apothecary's Assay, Concoct, Formulate, etc. Technical Skills still exist, but play a secondary role, as bonuses to specific applications of either Knowledge or Technical. Ethnic or Species modifiers still apply.

Another change is that of an expanded Ability Score range chart, opening it up to 0 -- 21, with significant differences between many/most scores (more so than B/X, and closer to Mutant Future's, but not exactly the same, and less crunchy than 1e). With this change, the explanation of the Characteristics (and Critical Tests) have been refined and unified in description.
Like Knowledge and Technical, a character's base combat ability has also been more clearly defined/presented as part of the overall Characteristics.

A few other minor changes make the character more important than any skills and brings things back closer to the Classic-play games, while retaining UWoM's unique 'Look and Feel'.

I'll be reading and replying to your blogs during this week, but am unlikely to post much otherwise.

Best,

Update-

The 16 Adventure Locations are finally complete (although now must pass through the assaying flame of my editor).

The twice-monthly C&C game is today, and although I still have work to do, I plan on enjoying myself with good guys and a fun GM running us through Freeport.

Tomorrow ought to be a rough day of compiling and forming a presentable .pdf
I may be delayed a day or two, as I hope to host it on LuLu, rather than my ISP, or something like Rapidshare, etc.

The Aberrations will have to be released as a separate file, as previously discussed.

I hope I don't come down with a bug, as I have been neglecting myself (especially sleep) these past few weeks.

Best,

[OT] Behind Enemy Lines (part II)-

It has arrived.
Apparently I was incorrect as to the dating. The Companions version I originally had was a later, 1985, version of the game rules, and FASA's was the original in 1982.
That said, sadly, I prefer The Companions version better. TC version had photographs instead of sketchy line drawings, and was better thought/laid-out overall.

In any case, I will be digging into this and my Victory Games' (and MISSION) soon after I put the wrap on the beta .pdf.

Speaking of which: Back to work.

[RPG] Cover Art Final-

To your right you will see the art final for the game's cover.

Peter Mullen is the man.