The coastal survey of the island completed, the group set to shore in the Aelbaan craft.
The LGS owner and player of the Yaesh (horse-)Archer was in rare form, as was his roomie, the player of the silent and largely non-reactive Ari (the other WI Vrun lesser noble), except joking that they ought to kill Cici as well. This owing to their dislike of Delver/Cici's player.
--Beyond this, whether genuine or more artifice, they both claimed ignorance as to the mission to travel to the island to cultivate the fae-pods, instead claiming that Tybalt had said that the submarine they had no foreknowledge of was their reason for the mission. At best this was due to the LGS owner's duties at the shop on Fridays.
---The best part is that they read this blog: Take a bow, fellas.
Anyway, Tybalt's player was more plugged-in and we did our best to game on, including an investigation of a two+ century-old shipwreck of a Yaesh warlord's expedition apparently travelling via a rumoured all-water route from the heart of Yaeshan, through eastern Vrun, and along the northern edge of the Durn continent, to enter the Ocean of Storms and wreck some time later laden with both Yaesh treasures, but also those of Qhattan, and unknown cultures. A chest glowing in high-density arcane emissions is later opened facing a tree, which becomes carven with Yaesh script describing something oddly similar to the Demon of the East and something else about massive change and perhaps a bit of doom, too.
--Other goodies found, besides.
The 'girls', Tybalt's fae-daughters, have gone missing on the island.
The saving of Mela by ponyboy from a big catfish-thing also occurred.
A lizardy person, perhaps a 'druid', used body language to ask to escape the island with them, and was OK'd by Tybalt.
Tybalt soon-after popped over the treeline to see what was making all of that racket in the woods: a very long, sinewy, brightly scaled, wingless, bearded, serpentine creature with four legs, and a head the size of an adult bear, gliding/undulating above the ground toward them.
"Cliffhang."
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
[Blogs][Gaming] Stuff I've been playing...-
Except for my bat-fix over at Ancient Vaults, I have caught-up on my blog reading to a degree i can live with.
--Sorry about the relative silence. My mom and I agree that we now have about 1/3rd-less mental energy than we had prior to my father's death. I hope you folks don't mind, but I am devoting much of the remaining 2/3rds to UWoM.
I will say, though, that I have been playing the snot out of the WARCOSM ASSAULT playtest rules for Brett Bernstein of Precis Intermedia Games, and in reaction, tried one of my all-time faves, LASERBURN to compare the wounding mechanisms and durability of troopers.
--Prognosis: Sci-Fi minis games need to take a few lessons from low-level RPGs -- these generic troopers are ridiculously tough in comparison to fantasy pansies...
---So, I'll finally write-up my suggestions for WA, and write up the house-rule(s) we've cooked-up for LASERBURN, namely, that if one falls down due to a wound, one is out of the fight, period. This makes leg-wounds much more efficient, as they ought. No more, |Ow!, thud, > dust self off <, shoot, get shot, ow!|-stuff. Nope.
WARCOSM led to me breaking out my Star Fleet Battles Basic and Advanced boxed sets, the Prime Directive RPG, Marines, and Campaign Builder's Guide, then, to purchasing Klingon Armada.
--Golly, I'd forgotten how much fun Kzinti drone-carriers are! :D Mreow!
--Sorry about the relative silence. My mom and I agree that we now have about 1/3rd-less mental energy than we had prior to my father's death. I hope you folks don't mind, but I am devoting much of the remaining 2/3rds to UWoM.
I will say, though, that I have been playing the snot out of the WARCOSM ASSAULT playtest rules for Brett Bernstein of Precis Intermedia Games, and in reaction, tried one of my all-time faves, LASERBURN to compare the wounding mechanisms and durability of troopers.
--Prognosis: Sci-Fi minis games need to take a few lessons from low-level RPGs -- these generic troopers are ridiculously tough in comparison to fantasy pansies...
---So, I'll finally write-up my suggestions for WA, and write up the house-rule(s) we've cooked-up for LASERBURN, namely, that if one falls down due to a wound, one is out of the fight, period. This makes leg-wounds much more efficient, as they ought. No more, |Ow!, thud, > dust self off <, shoot, get shot, ow!|-stuff. Nope.
WARCOSM led to me breaking out my Star Fleet Battles Basic and Advanced boxed sets, the Prime Directive RPG, Marines, and Campaign Builder's Guide, then, to purchasing Klingon Armada.
--Golly, I'd forgotten how much fun Kzinti drone-carriers are! :D Mreow!
Friday, November 13, 2009
[RPG] Re-Working Character Generation-
I have been neglecting my blog reading responsibilities due to an intense work-period on UWoM, which, through chart rolls and interactive tasks, determines much of the second-tier crunch, including the Imperial Ancestry and how it applies to the character.
I hope to have more tangible stuff to show soon.
Best,
I hope to have more tangible stuff to show soon.
Best,
Monday, November 9, 2009
[Playtest Campaign] Friday, November 6th-
Let me back-track a bit:
When Delver passed through the screen, Tybalt executed a Jaunt, but was suspended in a 'buffer' of a nebulous milky-white light where he had the conversation with the voice.
I took Delver's player outside and explained that dying now would satisfy the bargain presented to Tybalt, that it would avert a danger that if he were present would be dire enough to cut the Threads of the rest of the party, and that the found non-magical sword (not detailed in the previous post) would house his entity until the blade were used to slay an, at least, human-sized creature from which he would reconstitute his body. This process was necessary for his eventual manifestation of his Avatar, an Aelbaan species meta-power.
--He agreed.
I was greeted by Tybalt's player who then whispered that he was beginning to study Delver's character for 3 Rounds, as per 'waylay.'
Delver consumed his entire Dynamic Pool to telepathically call out to his compatriots to kill him for the above stated reason, and most of them obliged him.
--Their purses were heavier by d100 Platinum (ultra-rare).
The rest of the group then watched as Ashta took control of the craft.
They took the craft downstream as a whirlpool began to form (they chose not to investigate the source), and after a day of travelling, ran afoul of a giant aquatic variety of a Grell-like thing from which they fled down another opening and entered another section of the craft, clearly dedicated to dark practises. This area sloped upward and after they discovered how to operate the crackling 'electro-riser,' they eventually left it behind in the narrowing corridor carven with figures and reliefs too darkly mesmerising to detail here.
--Eventually, they blasted through the doors of a temple and came to rest.
Alighting, they entered the temple replete with additional figures, pillars, implements, and a low and high altar. A swarm of two-dimensional, light-absorbing, flying things flew out from among the toppled pillars and buckled ceiling and floors, but the damage was only spooky to one character. Ashta gave a polite order to Mela to begin the mummification process upon Delver's cadaver, which eventually would yield 1 cup of dust from 1 gallon of slurried sediment. Shadow creatures, illusions, and/or Dryvv speak with them and then Lord Shadow deigns to manifest, asking for a sacrifice.
--Tybalt, the Shadow-blooded (also exploring shadow-mysteries), was attentive and they finally settled upon Delver's mummified body (minus the stuffing which constituted the 'dust' reduction), which pleased the Elemental Lord. Tybalt's reward was a potion that would allow for limited planar travel, so long as the start and finish were in shadow, and that the elemental plane of Shadow were the conduit. He also learnt additional shadowy stuff.
With that over, the group left in the vehicle and encountered a stretch of lava tube that was encrusted with fungi that cast beautiful light in the Dark- and Ultravisual spectra, as well as a lesser show in visible light. Samples were taken and critters caught for specimen. They pressed on and saw daylight and a storm over the open seas beyond the island from which they emerged --clearly a different island from the one they had entered the underworld.
--They performed an initial survey of the coast, using the Aelbaan vessel's sensors and recording suite. They noted ancient dwellings in the sheer cliff face overgrown with vines and runners. three-quarters the way 'round the island (larger than the previous -- and believed to be the pod-island) they could see signs of great upset in the jungles and forest as trees were tossed-about while some great battle of beasts was waged out of sight.
We held it there.
When Delver passed through the screen, Tybalt executed a Jaunt, but was suspended in a 'buffer' of a nebulous milky-white light where he had the conversation with the voice.
I took Delver's player outside and explained that dying now would satisfy the bargain presented to Tybalt, that it would avert a danger that if he were present would be dire enough to cut the Threads of the rest of the party, and that the found non-magical sword (not detailed in the previous post) would house his entity until the blade were used to slay an, at least, human-sized creature from which he would reconstitute his body. This process was necessary for his eventual manifestation of his Avatar, an Aelbaan species meta-power.
--He agreed.
I was greeted by Tybalt's player who then whispered that he was beginning to study Delver's character for 3 Rounds, as per 'waylay.'
Delver consumed his entire Dynamic Pool to telepathically call out to his compatriots to kill him for the above stated reason, and most of them obliged him.
--Their purses were heavier by d100 Platinum (ultra-rare).
The rest of the group then watched as Ashta took control of the craft.
They took the craft downstream as a whirlpool began to form (they chose not to investigate the source), and after a day of travelling, ran afoul of a giant aquatic variety of a Grell-like thing from which they fled down another opening and entered another section of the craft, clearly dedicated to dark practises. This area sloped upward and after they discovered how to operate the crackling 'electro-riser,' they eventually left it behind in the narrowing corridor carven with figures and reliefs too darkly mesmerising to detail here.
--Eventually, they blasted through the doors of a temple and came to rest.
Alighting, they entered the temple replete with additional figures, pillars, implements, and a low and high altar. A swarm of two-dimensional, light-absorbing, flying things flew out from among the toppled pillars and buckled ceiling and floors, but the damage was only spooky to one character. Ashta gave a polite order to Mela to begin the mummification process upon Delver's cadaver, which eventually would yield 1 cup of dust from 1 gallon of slurried sediment. Shadow creatures, illusions, and/or Dryvv speak with them and then Lord Shadow deigns to manifest, asking for a sacrifice.
--Tybalt, the Shadow-blooded (also exploring shadow-mysteries), was attentive and they finally settled upon Delver's mummified body (minus the stuffing which constituted the 'dust' reduction), which pleased the Elemental Lord. Tybalt's reward was a potion that would allow for limited planar travel, so long as the start and finish were in shadow, and that the elemental plane of Shadow were the conduit. He also learnt additional shadowy stuff.
With that over, the group left in the vehicle and encountered a stretch of lava tube that was encrusted with fungi that cast beautiful light in the Dark- and Ultravisual spectra, as well as a lesser show in visible light. Samples were taken and critters caught for specimen. They pressed on and saw daylight and a storm over the open seas beyond the island from which they emerged --clearly a different island from the one they had entered the underworld.
--They performed an initial survey of the coast, using the Aelbaan vessel's sensors and recording suite. They noted ancient dwellings in the sheer cliff face overgrown with vines and runners. three-quarters the way 'round the island (larger than the previous -- and believed to be the pod-island) they could see signs of great upset in the jungles and forest as trees were tossed-about while some great battle of beasts was waged out of sight.
We held it there.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
[RPG] A Work in Progress-
Copyright (c) 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis
The preliminary work on a Descriptor-based task resolution system on d24 (or 2d12) for Technical Skills (Track, Scale, Repair, etc.).
--I'm one of those folks who actually admire the aim of the ACT chart mechanism of 3rd Ed. Gamma World, and have been tinkering with a colour-chart of my own which potentially may tie-in with this stuff.
---It looks spiffy in any case. ;)
Mastery-
24+ : Alumeth - 'Infallible Perfection' - The very best possible outcome, no matter the odds against - Miraculous
23-22 : Eiryqos - 'Harmonious Emanations' - Sublime quality - A strike that knocks-sense into the victim - Virtuous
21-19 : Ienen - 'Cyclonic Pillars' - Awesome power, well restrained - Double Maximum Effect - Nullifying
18-16 : Oluniin - 'Incorporeality' - Move and Attack as a ghost - Lesser values pose no threat - Escape and Evasion
15-11 : Qelym - 'I, the Hermit' - Deep thought, examination, and investigation - Solving riddles/puzzles - Practise
10-08 : Uruden - 'Mountains of Contemplation' - Perfecting the art of observation - Present and Aware - Selfless
07-05 : Werenyn - 'Infinitesimal Substrate' - Stable for now - Temporal Success - True aim but windy day - Sandcastles
04-03 : Zaey - 'Little One of Great Potential' - Rough going, with setbacks and blood, but finally successful - Raw
02- : Y' - 'Cessation' - No influence - Enough knowledge to know one knows nothing - Base d24 roll
The preliminary work on a Descriptor-based task resolution system on d24 (or 2d12) for Technical Skills (Track, Scale, Repair, etc.).
--I'm one of those folks who actually admire the aim of the ACT chart mechanism of 3rd Ed. Gamma World, and have been tinkering with a colour-chart of my own which potentially may tie-in with this stuff.
---It looks spiffy in any case. ;)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Question: OSR Artists most liked for their critter art?-
** clarified **
Hi,
I am wondering if there are fan faves among the current OS Renaissance artists (ATOM, Mullen, Zeiser, etc.) specifically as regards their depictions of critters and monsters?
Please leave your comments as votes, and if possible, please include references to specific examples in extant artwork.
Thank you very much. :D
Hi,
I am wondering if there are fan faves among the current OS Renaissance artists (ATOM, Mullen, Zeiser, etc.) specifically as regards their depictions of critters and monsters?
Please leave your comments as votes, and if possible, please include references to specific examples in extant artwork.
Thank you very much. :D
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