MOST BADASS PARTY EVAR!!1

Seriously, I want to show this video to all my players from now on whenever they are going to be stating up new characters. So many adventure ideas from this 3minute 46 second video- PLUS the music is super legit.

The song is called "Iron", it is by WOODKID

This Assassin's Creed game trailer that features the song is pretty awesome as well...

The First Age

And then mighty IO saw that his newly created world needed inhabitants. He created all manner of beast to walk, swim and fly, and all manner of plant and flower to bloom and grow across his world. And then for each habitat he created a great race there to flourish. In the depths of the mountains IO made the first Dwarfs, the Oceans he gave to the Merfolk, the forests went to the Elves, he sky he gave to the Krocn, and in the burning deserts he made the Genii. Each of these races were to be immortal.

And then IO created his greatest work yet. A race to be cast from his own image, to rule the other races and to be the stewards of his world, the Titans he named them, and he granted each a small portion of himself, this gift was to become known as a soul.

IO raised a vast track of land and set it around the middle of his world like a belt. From this paradise the Titans would rule.

For a long time there was peace on Alkrin, and IO was happy with his children.

The Titans were a bold and prideful people however, and they began treating the lesser races with contempt. IO uttered a curse against his favored children, stripping the Titans of their immortality, to teach them humility.  Instead the Titans rose in anger and together with the dark hearted Genii tried to overthrow IO.

Instead of slaying IO the Titans merely succeeded in rousing his wrath.

IO bound the Genii in unbreakable chains and banished them from Alkrin. Then turning on the Titans he cursed them over and over. IO shattered Alkrin with his fiery condemnations, marring and scaring his once perfect world.  

Thus ended the First Age and thus begun the Age of Malediction.

Remembering

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.
~G.K. Chesterton

In the beginning...

..there was nothing.

And then there was IO.

He stretched out his hand though the void, crushing the emptiness together in his fist. When he released his fingers the great nothing had compressed into the Universe.

From the swirling chaos IO careful crafted the cosmos, forming the planets and the stars.

In the very center he created his masterpiece, which in time the so called enlightened of the lesser races would name Alkrin.

Alkrin, the cradle of life.  In Dwarven Alkrin translates literally to "All-Kin"., meaning all life, and also implying that all life is interconnected.   

In Elven Alkrin, means "center" or more specifically the center of the being, the soul.

And so the Universe was created, and so the world of Alkrin bore life.


-Not terribly original I know, but it's what I've got.

More on this later...

QZ play report 2

Quarantine Zone

Around 9:00 Saturday evening our heroes heard a surprising broadcast crackle over the radio.

-" To anyone still alive out there, we have a helicopter and are landed on the roof of the University, we will take as many passengers as we can, but we leave at midnight. Don't be late!"

Gathering up some weapons the 3 heroes set out.

There was a quick scuffle in front of a local KFC which resulted in the destruction of all three zombies. One hero thought she recognized one of the undead but was able to pass a nerve check and take it out. Another hero killed a zombie but her fireaxe broke. One of the zombies was wearing a backpack which contained pistol ammo, unfortunately no one had a pistol.

The heroes busted into a hardware store and quickly grabbed a bunch of loot, replacing the broken axe.

At the top of a rise, at an intersection on the Trans Canada Highway, the heroes were able to look down and see many zombies milling about at the next intersection. They decided to go left and cut through a plaza.

Although initially they planned to loot a liquor store they just ran past when they realized zombies were inside.

They kept going and ran through a big grocery store, meeting a mob of zombies near the back exit.

2 Slouchers, 2  Juggernauts, a Crawler and a Twitcher were all quickly defeated, although one hero was mauled by a Juggernaut.

The heroes kept moving a looted another larger hardware store, this time looting bicycles and a whole bunch of weapons. They decided to bike down the road behind the University and then hike through the forest trails right up to the back of the school, thus bypassing a lot of the crazyness they suspected was on the main road up to the school.

All went according to plan and they arrived at the helicopter with just minutes till midnight.

(I was getting a bit drunk and their plan sounded good, so I pretty much just gave it to them at this point, and more or less handwaved  their trip through the woods and escape by helicopter.)

It was pretty fun overall and I think everyone had fun. I learned some stuff too, which I will post under a new rules article soon. But the main thing I learned is not to let the players dictate too much to me. The player plan to go the long way around was very clever, and definitely should have been rewarded. I shouldn't have just given them a free pass though. QZ while a simple system, does require prep, most of the prep I think needs to go towards taking familiar locales and "zombieapocalypsizing" them.

The forest behind the school should have been burned out and cut back. There should have been a overrun military style perimeter close around the school- sandbags and fences, maybe a minefield. An abandoned shanty town on the grounds of the school would have been badass and creepy.

It is easy to think of the places you know as they are, but in QZ you need to throw some curve-balls and change stuff up. Just because your players know what a nearby location looks like now doesn't mean it is going to be like that in QZ- thats the big attraction for a game like this, in my opinion.

More on this later.

Best Girlfriend ever

My awesome cool, pretty lady got me this rad shirt. It's from Teefury. There is a new limited edition shirt on the site each day, but it's only available for a single 24 hour period. So I am super happy she snagged this for me. It looks great. Now I just need one of those sweet Miskatonic U sweatshirts.

Roaming the Dungeon

Alright, Halloween is in just a few days so I've been thinking about my Ravenloft/Castlevania  inspired mega-dungeon Losh Nekkar.

I'm thinking the random encounter tables will be really small, probably only d6 or d8 tables, because there will be lots of planed encounter areas with more interesting stuff, and I don't want a huge number of random creatures running around.

So the creatures in each area should kinda be simple stock creatures and make sense for that level of the dungeon Exterior sections will have both night and daytime random encounter tables.

Like I said earlier though I want monsters to start to roam and migrate as the players unlock  different areas. To this end the 6th entry (or 8th if that's what I go with) on each table will be a redirect to a monster from a random adjacent (and unlocked) area of the castle.

So say I'm rolling a random encounter for the Great Hall and I get a 6- which indicates the encounter is a creature from a nearby area. I then randomly determine its from the Ballroom. I roll on the Ballroom encounter table and get a 3- A dancing ghostly couple appears in the Great Hall. If I had rolled a second 6 it would have meant a roll on the Treasury encounter table. Using this method something could theoretically crawl up from the Crypts and menace the PCs out on the Battlements.

I'm going away for a bit and might not post for a week or so.
 So....
Happy Halloween!!!

Dwellers in the Dark

The Shadows where the Mewlips dwell
Are dark and wet as ink,
And slow and softly rings their bell,
As in the slime you sink.

You sink into the slime, who dare
To knock upon their door,
While down the grinning gargoyles stare
And noisome waters pour.

Beside the rotting river-strand
The drooping willows weep,
And gloomily the gorcrows stand
Croaking in their sleep.

Over the Merlock Mountains a long and weary way,
In a mouldy valley where the trees are grey,
By a dark pool´s borders without wind or tide,
Moonless and sunless, the Mewlips hide.

The cellars where the Mewlips sit
Are deep and dank and cold
With single sickly candle lit;
And there they count their gold.

Their walls are wet, their ceilings drip;
Their feet upon the floor
Go softly with a squish-flap-flip,
As they sidle to the door.

They peep out slyly; through a crack
Their feeling fingers creep,
And when they´ve finished, in a sack
Your bones they take to keep.

Beyond the Merlock Mountains, a long and lonely road,
Through the spider-shadows and the marsh of Tode,
And through the wood of hanging trees and gallows-weed,
You go to find the Mewlips - and the Mewlips feed.
-The Mewlips by Tolkien 

In the dark lonely places of the world things lurk. Dark things, evil things, HUNGRY things. No one really knows what the Dwellers are, but they seem to be horrid mockeries of the human form. Not much is known about these elusive cannibals, except that they crave hot blood and cold flesh. Dwellers are thankfully very rare, or at least very rarely encountered. Although Dwellers are usually solitary creatures they on rare occasions will band together in a small group. Physically weak but devilishly cunning Dwellers use traps or tricks to disadvantage or separate their prey, attacking when the victim is injured, asleep, alone- or preferably all three.

Livin the dead life

Immortality. Powerful men and women have committed some of the most atrocious acts to cheat death.  There are many methods used by the corrupt and desperate, many vile strategies passed down throughout the ages.

Warriors will arm themselves with powerful magic weapons and armor, melding their life essence with these tools of war. In death only the most horrible butchers will be able to exert their will over the souls those they massacred in life. Raising armies of slaughtered soldiers to sustain their vile existence these warriors will rise from their tombs and cairns as unholy Wights.

Wizards who seek to unnaturally extend their years will eventually become Liches. The process of becoming a Lich melds arcane science with pure evil and requires the life force of many innocents.

Evil priests who please the gods of darkness are sometimes able to continue their work beyond death. The priest is specially prepared in a ritual which turns the body of the deceased into a perfect receptacle for their spirit to live on within. Virtually immune to aging the body of the priest is wrapped in fine cloth bandages and robes and adorned with unholy vestments wrought of pure gold.    

The master thief can steal virtually anything, but immortality is elusive. A thief who hopes to steal the secrets of immortality must put aside every last shred of morality. The thief becomes an insubstantial shadow, the ultimate assassin or burglar. Able to glide through walls and stab through their victims chest to pierce the heart, without marking the skin. The Geist is sustained by its own dark personality, greed driving it forward, it covets treasure without having any mortal use for it.

 click to bigify

Black Ops Classes

Alright, so I have been playing the Xbox 360 game Call of Duty Black Ops a lot. A LOT.
It is very fun and addictive, even though I'm not great at it. One of the things that makes the online multiplayer so fun for me is the class customization.

You start off with 6 class slots you can customize. As you play you earn more points that you can use to buy new weapons and equipment as you unlock them and level up.

Here's the best picture of a class creation screen I could find.

 














So you get:

• one primary weapon 
• one secondary weapon
• a lethal option
• a tactical option
• an equipment slot
• three perk slots

The first perk slot changes your appearance, as well as gives you a powerful advantage.
'Ghost' for example makes you invisible to enemy spy planes.
The other perks don't change what you look like but still break the regular rules.
For example 'Hardened' makes your bullets penetrate deeper though walls and cover, and 'Tactical Mask' makes you immune to the effects of a Nova gas grenade.

I was wondering how well this approach to character creation would work in a pen and paper rpg. For character creation and as well as for equipment and armament purposes. The perks would turn into your class and different class archetypes or fighting styles. Instead of a encumbrance system a character would instead have 'equipment slots'.

I donno.

More on this later probably.