Me: I love my baby cat.
Mom: I hope she bites you.
Me: Why?
Mom: Because I'm crying.
Me: You're watching Torchwood?
Mom: Yes.

One of the things I've been known to occasionally do is post up characters that I've created for rpgs that I really enjoy. One such game system is Desolation, a post-apocalyptic fantasy rpg from the folks at Greymalkin Designs.

Last Friday night, a friend of mine treated me for my birthday by starting a game of Desolation, and I am getting to play in it this evening again. I have posted the character I'm playing up to my blog page. You can see the character here...

Sakhut, Mongrel Primalist

I hope that folks like the character, and that it encourages some folks to look at the Desolation rpg at some point.

Well not quite. I mean nature will never come up with monsters as stupid as some of the stuff in the Monstrous Compendium or the Fiend Folio. But it sure is capable of producing some oddities.

Like the armadillo-crocodile. Make it giant size, give it a flame breath, and maybe even some INT and spells and you have the perfect challenge for your next session.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/26923726.html

Anyone else have a favourite real-world creature that serves as an interesting and exotic fantasy critter?

(I am also quite fond of the Demon Duck of Doom - go on, google it).

Okay, so I'm finally getting a chance to read through some of the Free RPG Day swag.

I've only got a few of the books I picked up with me, so I'm gonna go through them.

Generally from Free RPG Days materials, I expect a few things.

I want it to give me a taste for the game, flavour and mechanics both. Generally, I expect a sample adventure, with a few pre-gen characters. I don't mind if the system is dumbed down a bit, since we only need to get the flavour of the game.

But there's one thing that's a bit of a game breaker for me.

The books are designed to be ready to go games. One of the elements there should be ease of preperation, particularly in getting the players their characters.

Of the handfull of books I got on FRPGD, I think only Mongoose's playtest guide for Corporation had PCs who were laid out as two page characters, ready to be removed from the centre of the book and handed out. I can't figure out why that's so important to me, but I really want to be able to just pull out the centre fold or two and just hand them off to players and go.

Geist seems to be particularly opposed to making the PCs easy to get to; The PCs are put in the back of the book over multiple pages. Getting them to the playes would require either everyone having a copy of the quickstart booklet, or enthusiastic photocopying.

It would have been easy enough to edit them so they were a set of two page characters in mid book, ready to be ripped and distributed, with a character sheet on one page, and rules explanation and background on the other (or the character sheet can be shrunk down to give more space for background and rules info). The key motif used in the borders is kind of nice.

Rogue Trader does a good job of making the PCs one page sheets, but they are in the beginning of the book. That means that there'll be either photocopying or two players sharing a sheet ripped out from an inconvenient place. It also makes me think it should be about bankers who get in over their heads and end up bringing down national institutions.

Admittedly, both of them look good, and their presentation and layout are pretty good other than the character quibble. Both of them interest me, although Warhammer 40K's aesthetic and world just don't grab me. Geist I'm interested in, although I look at it and my lizard brain says "You aren't my mommy, Wraith is my mommy!"

Dragon Warriors and Paranoia, which are also both from Mongoose, really drop the ball in terms of getting the players PCs.

Like Corporation, both of the books are half sized, and Paranoia really suffered for it, with cramped, tiny text scrolling down the page in three columns. Dragon Warriors is in two columns, but doesn't even include characters, instead including rules for generating either a Warrior or Barbarian character. Dragon Warriors made me interested in the game in spite of the presentation (although the sample monsters are a bit fey).

Paranoia was a pure mess, and I couldn't even get through the lousy presentation to make it to the game stuff inside. The characters seem to have been mixed into the book wtih a blender.

Corporation is the one game that seems to hew furthest from my interests. It's some kind of posthuman cyberpunk corporate espionage game, and the corporations listed within seem somewhat laughable, especially for 500 years in the future. But the book presents the world and setting well enough

All the books contained interesting elements, of course. Corporation managed to make a book that just was the most useful for me.

xposted to thebitterguy

I've decided to reward myself with a nice set of knives. One of the more annoying things about cooking is I have one small knife for vegetables—which is too small to cut a large red onion—and a slightly bigger one for meat. I kind of hate having to wash and dry the small one any time I have to cut a couple vegetables. I'd love to have a couple of longer, better ones so, every once in a while, I can just toss it in the dishwasher and forget about it.

At the moment I cook at a pretty basic level so I don't need anything too fancy, but I'd like to invest in a good starter set. I've seen sets on sale at department stores, but I'm hesitant to buy something just because it looks okay and it's on sale.

For you chefs out there, what would you recommend? I'm looking for "mid-priced," I guess, not the cheapest but not the most expensive. Hit me with suggestions and maybe we can narrow down.

Got an email from my lawyer, he cut a deal on my last outstanding credit card. My debt management program should be done about February of next year (I plan to call them in the next couple of weeks to verify) and after that, I will be (unsecured) debt free.

Free of over $X0,000 of credit card debt. Someone once asked me, "Do you at least still have all the things you bought with it?"

To which I responded, "You mean the weight I gained from all the beer I drank? Yes."

But I'm losing that too.

Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!

(There's still the lawyer to pay and my dad to recompense for covering my *mumble mumble* in taxes from 2008, but at least I'm no longer in danger of being dragged into court.)

today can really bite the wax tadpole

I had a simple mission today. I was to leave the house at 1:00 to arrive at my sisters house at 1:30 in order to proceed with her to a baby shower. I left my house at 1:11 because I am horrifically unpunctual. Someone was making a delicious egg and vegetable monstrosity in the oven and I desired eggs.

Things went as planned until I got roughly 13 blocks away from my house. Then I ran into a blockade. Because I am apparently a moron I failed to consider the date. I had assumed that a sensible town would not have its Fourth of July parade on July Fifth.

So, I turned towards the lake which in retrospect was a poor decision. I thought perhaps the parade was across town in a manner perpendicular to the fashion it was actually going. It was then I ran into the most amazing wall of traffic. It was bumper to bumper with barely enough room on the narrow streets by the lake.

There were clowns. There were people on foot. There were people on bikes. There were Cops blocking stuff off wherever I went. Finally, in a fit of rage, I called my sister while trying to move away from the lake. It was now around 1:45. I explained to her the sorry tale. She told me not to worry and gave me the advice that I should head towards the interstate for surely they can not parade upon I-94.

I finally got East of all the parade nonsense but traffic was still oddly backed up. I was crawling along the first clear road from the parade when I got stopped at a Y shaped intersection to let a series of Motorcycles with flags on the handlebars go past. They were followed by about 15 Shriners in their tiny cars and funny hats just driving along on the regular road Perhaps they were cuing up. By that point I could just laugh. When I got through that final intersection I called my sister again. She laughed.

I did not get to her house until about 2:05.

No one at the shower really cared that we were about a half hour late, fortunately. It was a very awesome casual affair.

The moral of this story is, I hate parades.

We've been brainstorming advice to players and refs for the science-fiction game we're developing, and I thought I'd dump our current storm on you. Some of it is genre specific and some system specific, but there's some general material in there too. What's your advice to players of your favourite game?

* as a player, accept the mechanics of a scenario as it is presented. the ref might be trying something, or looking to explore an aspect of the game. Let that happen and if necessary address it later.

*life teaches us to be safe. That's good, and it allows our species to continue: look both ways before crossing, diversify your portfolio, etc. In a game, playing safe rarely helps. More than anything else in role-playing, be prepared to take risks with your character. Walk down the alley, make a break for it, take the shot. the more interesting story comes not from being stupid, but from being willing to lose something.

* As a ref, recognize the differences between player strengths and character strengths. Some people play characters who are smarter than they are, or know more about weapons or science or tactics or whatever. That creates an imbalance that is easy to exploit: player limitations impede what the character can do. Work with the player to allow the strengths of their character to come through in a clean story.

* on entering a system, describe the astronomy: the gross view from the slipknot

* then the station, if it exists: vast solar sails? occasional puffs of r-mass? nothing? a thousand vessels? six? is the slipknot speckling with automated traffic?

* on arrival planetside, the sky: PCs I imagine are always looking outwards, so what's in the sky here?

* when an NPC is intended as a force for moving narrative, make sure they pick a PC and talk straight at them, making clear their interests and objectives. If the player likes the NPC, the player will adopt the NPC's motivations. Pleasant conversation is an avenue to making the NPC likeable.

* if there's no conflict, find one: a motivated and focused NPC can make her needs known. If she becomes desperate, maybe she will act desperately. Compel a PC. If no PC has Aspects you can latch on to, maybe stop and talk about revising Aspects. It's okay to break out of the narrative and talk about the progress of the game mid-way.

* before a session, as prep, find one Aspect on a PC with intent to compel it forcefully. Often you won't have to, but it's an ace up your sleeve.

* start the session with at least one secret. Reveal it archly, even melodramatically, so players notice it. Players will seem stupid. They're not -- they just have different motivations and filter input by their interest -- but you might have to treat them as if they are. Subtle narrative doesn't always play.

* when a player is not engaging the scenario, compel them. If you can't find a compel on them, maybe the scenario is the part that needs fixing. Find an Aspect and revise the "facts". Remember that until facts and secrets are revealed, they don't exist -- nothing is true until it's voiced at the table.

* ask for declarations. If a player narrates a fact, they are more likely to be motivated by it. Remember as referee you get to "yes, but..." and "yes, and...".

* as a player, if you're not engaged, find a away to be. Find something that's already going on and become enthusiastic about it. You might have to re-think your character. It's okay to ask for a pause to re-address Aspects and align them with the story.

* alternatively, offer compels to the ref. If you have an Aspect that you want in play and play is moving slow or against your interests, get paid to pull it on track. If you can't find an Aspect you want compelled AND you're bored, then your Aspects are all wrong.

* write Aspects about other characters and NPCs. This will make you more invested in their interests as well as your own, which increases your overall investment in the game -- the ref only has to hit one character's motivation button and the rest can cascade from it.

* don't assume the ref knows what you are thinking.

* if you imagine something about your surroundings that is cool, speak it. If you think it implies a change to the narrative, pay for it with a fate point. Then do something with it.

* if you want a fight, and none seems forthcoming, ask for one. "This needs social combat now; I want to figure out who is sabotaging us with an investigation." Do this instead of speculating out of character -- characters need to find out and they need to act to do so. The mini-games are all about action.

Someone mentioned they had this song in their head 24-7 lately. Appropriate for me today.

I am currently playing with my dice at work and reading back posts on the comm - it's been a while since I've been here. And I wondered...

What is your favorite dice set or single die you can't do without?

For me, it's the solid pewter set that I picked up at Games Plus outside of Chicago some years ago. I have NO idea who made them (I need to go ask, because I am missing the D4 - Caltrop of DOOM, I called it - and need a replacement). But nothing beats that set for bringing the rumbly thunder of initiative, attack, and damage - and making pretend threats at the DM. :) They are SO heavy. The husband has actually asked me to roll them in a box rather than on the table/mat, as they leave dents.

(That D20 has given me more natural 20s for my Deva Invoker of Ioun, it's not even funny. And right when I need 'em too.)

For my husband, it's his TORG D20 that came with the boxed set. He will not play without it. EVER. Even if he doesn't actually use it for rolls during the game, it has to be present somewhere on the table. He's also terribly fond of the flame-colored set I picked up for him from the Chessex booth at GenCon a few years back.

Anyone else got favorites? If anything it'll give me something to shop for next time I hit the dice displays in my FLGS or online. :)

Talking with a friend of mine, and the subject that has come up is the stagnation of magic and technology in fantasy setting. Most fantasy settings use a 'dark ages' to stymie the progression of technology, or throw in one or more 'great wars' -- but the thing we both accepted is that the dark ages as we know it wasn't a 'universal' thing -- it existed only in one small section of the world, while the rest of the world blithely continued to progress, and we accepted that warfare tends to promote the growth of technology, not hold it back.

In a fantasy setting I'm overseeing, I'm having the world slowly advance -- one nation, which really pushes the envelope in the sciences and study of magic, has went from 'early renaissance' to 'late renaissance' to 'early steampunk' recently. So, here's a question I'm throwing out: Do you allow the progression of technology / magic in your setting? If a campaign spans more than twenty to forty years in-game, do players see the growth and shift of society, and the advancements that come with it?

The OA list for '09 has been posted:

http://www.critical-hits.com/2009/06/27/origins-awards-2009/

Some excellent games/products among the winners list.

Highlights for me are:

RPG: Mouse Guard - Archaia Studios Press
RPG Supplement: Serentiy Adventures - Margaret Weis Productions
Board Game: Pandemic - Z-Man Games
Non-Fiction: Tour de Lovecraft: the Tales - Ken Hite
Fiction: Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons 2 - Devil's Due

A few surprises, but overall a great list.

Someone should make the ultimate 3D MMORPG that includes everything. Everything.

Discuss.

I don't care if I've used that quote for an Aliens post before, it's still one of my favorites. Why? No clue. Perhaps it's the awesome of Michael Biehn's delivery.

I was pretty upset last night for various reasons, so I popped in my Aliens DVD for comfort. When I told my mom, she said I'm weird. She's the one who took me to see it 6 times in the theater when I was 9 years old. Love that movie beyond words, and yet I still try to express it.

The movie never, ever fails to cheer me up. The whole first-encounter sequence when the marines find the cocoon: how many quotable lines? "What are we supposed to use, harsh language?" Gorman's incompetence and he finally gets pissed when Ripley starts up the tank to save the unit. Ripley's awesome expression just before she lights the nest on fire.

GAME OVER, MAN. GAME OVER!

What are your not-run-of-the-mill comfort movies?