Gaming and More Gaming!

[Lady Grace]

Well, we were going to actually play D&D, but the GM was late and Mike brought CAH with him, so we thought we'd kill some time and Brenna (the new gal) was enthused by it. Plus, it gave Nicci's roommate & boyfriend (2 separate people) a chance to hang out and play (They don't do D&D). By the time the GM showed up, it became "eh, let's just play this instead!"

[Black Jack Rackham]

Well it was Mark's Wacky Gaming Weekend this week and we got through the second part of my cold war spies game. PCs decided to interview, contact all of their target's assistants, and not only did they get one willing to help, she also gave them a couple of extra bonus suggestions (all for a promise of future benefits they have absolutely no intention of honoring).

Next time the plan is to go to the actual party, grab the target, and break into his lab in a search for some 'secret' notes the good professor hasn't yet released to the public. We'll see how that goes for them

My adventure for Yggdrasill (entitled This Frozen Land) is written, but I still need to make the characters (but given I have at least two months before we'll even start playing this, I'm not too focused on getting them done).

Next week local group is on hiatus as I head up to Nashua to run Dark Age Call of Cthulhu.

Speaking of, we got done a few minutes early so I had some time to go over the adventure with Eric (my muse). He had no suggestions, saying the thing flowed pretty well and that the twist was unseen (at least from his perspective). Characters are all finished and ready to go!

[Lady Grace]

Had an abbreviated session this past Friday as Nicci & Other Steve were unable to make it. Brenna gave input as to what sort of character she wanted to play and got herself an Aasimar Warmage. So, we set this up as a "flashback" episode with her meeting me and Mike and all of us dealing with a few ogres, their skullcrusher leader and a slaughterstone evicerator. Now that Mike remembered he has rusting grasp as well as having a handy huge fire elemental on call, this wasn't nearly as dangerous as it could have been. And I had my bit in neutralizing the skullcrusher by charming one of the other ogres to go bull rush tackle him after he had conveniently failed his reflex save in facing said elemental and got set on fire.

"Your boss is on fire! Make him stop, drop & roll!"

While Brenna had to step out for a bit beforehand, GM Steve put Mike & I to good use by rolling random percentiles for him. He guffawed quite loudly after one series of rolls from me -- something that involved a horn in our treasure for the evening.

In the meantime, me, Steve & Mike have talked about putting together another small 3.5 D&D game for when we have weeks when we're missing all the others with potential round-robin GMing. Mike's asked to start as he has an Evil Idea for a campaign. Meanwhile, I might dip my toes into trying a prestige class for once.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Once again time for Mark's Wacky Gaming Weekend. We were supposed to finish up the Cold War Spies adventure we were doing, but one of our four players won't be here. That leaves us with the Kuro adventure we were right in the middle of, OR given that I have a whole day to prepare, SOMETHING NEW!!!

I'm thinking maybe some Supernatural...

[Lady Grace]

As an update to our side game, now it might be me GMing instead -- for 7th Sea. This past Friday night I told Steve and Brenna about the system and they seemed really enthused by it. After a little hammering the point home to Steve that this ain't yer standard dungeon crawl, they sketched out some workable 100HP characters.

As did Mike.

Mind you, they all made Swordsmen, but I can make it work. Brenna's a Soldano-skilled priest with a Vendetta 3, looking for whoever killed her husband and child and interested in female-oriented heresies (gonna give her the write-ups on the Hellenites and Sophism [not the Daughters] in the GM Guide and see if either appeals to her). Steve is an Eisen mercenary who knows Eisenfaust, wants to "protect the innocent", is interested in joining a Knights of Columbus-type organization (KRC or the Order of St. Gregor's might come into play eventually here for him as he wants to reunite Eisen) and has Dracheneisen Heir 2. And Mike's a Montaigne sergeant who knows Valroux who did some questionable things during the War of the Cross and has Hunted 3.

So, I'm sticking them all in Altamira to start in order to rip off-- err, make use of the stuff in play from Mark's epic HoA.

[salamanca]

Well, it's time to circle their wagons. Steve should get involved in the DK looking for people involved in a heretical outfit that appeals to Breanna who is hunting a Man who killed her family during the war of the cross while Mike has to clear himself by finding a man who allegedly is dead (but is actually now DK).

[Lady Grace]

I'm not gonna do TOO much circling, to be honest. I don't think it's fair to them if their plots are all "coincidentally" intertwined like that.

But Brenna's (innocent) husband & child? Totally killed by the DK.

And I'm finally gonna bust some elements that I never got to use properly due to that (insert SEVERAL paragraphs of vulgarities) problem player killing the campaign during my "Spill the Wine" days 10+ years ago.

[salamanca]

Little play note on the Firefly boardgame... All players chose a starting location THEN draw jobs to complete. If a player happens to place on a spot and then draws jobs that not only begin one space away but also fulfill the game goals AND all end in the same corner as the final goal location it turns out there is very little one can do to beat him. But I'm still flyin'. #leafonthewind. (someday I will win a game again)

[smafdi]

That sounds like one amazing windfall that happened and isn't likely to happen again. Best of luck!

[salamanca]

I'm sure it was a great stroke of fortune. That rules editor needs a lesson in plurals however. "roll a dice and add your ranks". Turns out they mean "die" not dice.

[smafdi]

Well yea, but you find stuff like that in almost every rulebook. At least those rules are usable out of the box, I have a couple games where the rules actually hinder you trying to learn how to play.....

[Black Jack Rackham]

The once a month kids game is now coming along swimmingly. Have 5 players for the Hammer and Tongs campaign. Our new kiddo is going to take some work to get him out of the D&D mindset as he tried to rob every single bad guy they took down and he even told a poor apartment manager (who'd just lost his wife of some 30+ years) to "GET OVER IT!" Then he decided to go get drunk. So I let him, and I made him stay there while the others were dealing with the actual plot.

Then when it came time for rewards, I gave out some good Rep for the other four (and even a bonus for David who told a shopkeep that they didn't need a reward for doing the right thing), then proceeded to hand out a minus rep to the newbie as the apartment manager blabbed about what he'd said to some folks he knew.

Tomorrow it'd normally be Golden Age Supers but again the character who's central to the adventure won't be there, so we're going to do an extra session of Mark's Wacky Gaming Weekend, and finish up the Supernatural adventure we did two weeks ago.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Back to our regular schedule. Today will be Boardgames!

[Black Jack Rackham]

Alrighty folks, I have a question for you all. I had an idea for my wacky gaming weekend (involving some doomsday preppers who manage to get it right but come out of their burrow too late), but it turns out someone already wrote the game for me. Something called The Morrow Project. Anyone know/have played the game and can tell me about it? (Worth my time to get, not get?) I know there's a new edition that just came out via KS, but it also looks like the older games aren't all that expensive to get now.

ALSO, been thinking about doing a game based on Colonial Gothic. Any reviews of that either?

[Sister Sonya]

A friend, who ran a local game with his own homegrown rules a number of years ago, would often mention the Morrow Project as one of the games that he played when he initially got involved in adventure gaming.

I did not play the game myself. But from my memory of his description (and the context he used), The Morrow Project went into way too much nitpicky detail, requiring much recordkeeping.

Good luck!

[salamanca]

Keep in mind, that is Mike telling you it's nitpicky. That game came out during that era of heavy record keeping and stat tracking like Twilight 2000 and Traveller. If you can find a PDF, it would be good for background and wolrd building but there are probably newer systems you could use for stats including Spycraft.

[Black Jack Rackham]

They just did a new edition. I was thinking about getting that one.

[Sister Sonya]

Mark, the fourth edition is likely much easier to play.

However, what was amazing about the way my friend described the recordkeeping was that this was before there were desktop computers to keep track of it all! One had to keep records by hand.

[salamanca]

Wait, you guys keep character info on computers?. But paper is so much easier to write on. Seriously, I keep all that stuff marked down longhand.

[Lady Grace]

More and more, we are getting frustrated with the Deadlands game due to all the railroading, never even coming close to stopping ANY of the overpowered Bad Guys or alleviating any of the fear left behind and, oh yeah, playing baggage caddy and nursemaid to the Other GM's uber-Whatley PC with the conveniently "lucky" dice rolls. Not to mention GM 1 trying to drop the morality anvil NOW onto us.

Probably/hopefully be going to have a much needed discussion about this tomorrow night...

So, because of how impotent we felt, Mike & I had some MUCH needed strategizing and slaughtering of undead in the D&D game. GM Steve was expecting us to use invisibility around the pit holding various 100's of evilness, including 3 large charnel hounds, but since we had this lovely 80ft narrow staircase between us and them, we decided to take advantage of the bottleneck and went to town on them.

Basically, we've got a VERY synergetic party here.

Also, have a starting adventure in mind if I'm called to GM 7th Sea this Friday that involves neither bandits nor Prof. Screams-Like-a-Girl.

[Black Jack Rackham]

EVERY adventure should start with Prof. Screams-like-a-girl!

[salamanca]

And include bandits.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Tomorrow (well today really since it's past midnight) we're back to Mark's Wacky Gaming Weekend (and something about Laura's birthday but we know what's really important). This week the group should be all back together. So it's time to see if they can finish up the Cold War Spies adventure, In and Out!

After that, Yggdrasill! and a little adventure I like to call, This Frozen Land

[Lady Grace]

So, back in the Evil GM saddle...

...as stated, no bandits. No Prof. Screams-Like-a-Girl. No de Silvas (yet). Just a wedding to prepare for...what could POSSIBLY go wrong?

We start with Steve's character Ulfen situated in the newly developing "Eisen Quarter" of Altamira at a biergarten, where a Castillian and his two associates come across him. Impressed by his size and noticing his Swordsman's pin, the Castillian (an aspiring bullfighter named Ignacio Ortega) tells Ulfen of the lady (Mercedes Guzman) he is wooing who is betrothed to another (Tomas Sanchez) -- but he KNOWS that his rival does not love her! Ignacio hires the Eisen to intimidate his rival or get concrete proof that Tomas doesn't love Mercedes, paying part of his fee in advance. Ulfen decides to observe Tomas at the University for now.

Meanwhile, at the Guildhouse, Mike's character Luc is approached by two elderly Castillian men about the possibility of some bodyguard work. It seems that Fernando Guzman and Xavier Sanchez (who bears a striking resemblance to the Most Interesting Man in the World) are worried about the upcoming nuptuals of their children being disrupted. Tomas is not the most skilled with a blade and they fear that Mercedes' stalker might do him harm. Fernando talk about the surprising love letter Tomas sent, which surprised the widowed Xavier as his only son is very shy and never knew he was capable of such feelings.

My darling M.
The Sun and the Moon are but pale reflections to the beauty in your eyes...

Needless to say, both fathers are insistent that this wedding MUST take place!

And at the cathedral, Sister Soledad is trying to counsel the bride to be and her mother. And along for the hassle is Mercedes' younger brother Marco, who looks like he wants to be anywhere than there. Mercedes and her mother Imelda are proto-Kardashian in terms of attitude and are driving Soledad a bit crazy. The fathers arrive with Luc and order Marco to take him to the university to meet up with Tomas.

Back at the University, Ulfen finds Tomas and makes small talk with him. Tomas helps him find some better Castillian-to-Eisen dictionaries. Close by, Marco explains that he and Tomas met at University and how Tomas is studying medicine while he's studying astronomy. He seems uncomfortable about this wedding, but is vague on the details.

Cue the awkward meet-up then when Marco and Luc come across Tomas and Ulfen. Luc presents himself as a friend of the Guzman family while Ulfen presents himself as a newcomer to the university...at least until he accidentally lets slip the name "Ignacio". And cue Marco and Tomas growing REALLY scared about that. Luc encourages the two young men to head to a nearby kaffehouse to wait for them while he and the Eisen chat.

Which actually went well. Both swordsmen put their cards on the table about what each of them were doing there, finally suspecting there's more to this story than meets the eye. Back at the cathedral, taking a break from the dress measuring and flower arranging and Mercedes' yakking, Soledad is asked to hear confession -- where a young man confesses that he doesn't love his betrothed, but doesn't want to disappoint and shame his family, but he would be so unhappy otherwise and there's someone else he loves instead but they could never truly be together and...

Sister Soledad counsels about duty to family, but also being true to Theus as well and that there comes a time when people have to forge their own path. Then, she goes off to the kaffehouse for lunch.

Ulfen goes to try to find Ignacio. Luc goes to the kaffehouse to find a worried Marco, who says Tomas headed off to the cathedral. Soledad arrives. Marco finally confesses that the love letter Tomas sent wasn't to his sister, but to him -- and if their parents found out the truth, it wouldn't be pleasant. Luc tries to see if he can find Tomas to confirm matters for himself. And Soledad...eats lunch. And then leaves. And tries to assume Tomas is hiding in the stables.

Meanwhile, outside the bullfighting arena, Ulfen finds one of Ignacio's lackeys, who tells him that his services will no longer be needed. That Ignacio admits Tomas is the better man and wishes them NOTHING but many happy years and--

Yeah, the Eisen realizes the BS being dropped ain't from the bovines. A little intimidation later and the lackey reveals that Ignacio went to Xavier to blackmail him about his son. Angered, Xavier & the Guzmans are having the wedding RIGHT NOW and Marco is going to be shipped off to a distant monastery for "correction purposes". Luc and Soledad meet up with Ulfen and quick intros are made. Soledad insists if the wedding were to happen now she would have known about it as she's supposed to officiate it. Unless they got another priest...

The doors of the cathedral are shut. Ignacio has some brute squads ready for the swordsmen. Xavier & the Guzmans are threatening poor Tomas. Marco is nowhere to be seen. Mercedes is oblivious. Soledad insists the wedding is a sham and that they should have it elsewhere. Which the parents are MORE than happy to oblige as they drag Tomas out through the back and the brute squads attack.

Brute squads are taken out. Luc is the first to make it out the back to find a rather angry bull courtesy of a sneering Ignacio waiting for him. Ulfen is a step behind and tells the Montaigne to stop the carriage while he handles the bull. And Soledad wants to be Batman? Eventually, Luc makes it to the carriage and tries to use diplomacy. Xavier says if Tomas doesn't marry Mercedes he would be a disgrace and no longer his son and how dare he shame this beautiful young lady this way?! Luc suggests that maybe Xavier should marry Mercedes...which gives the families pause. And they agree to it. Ulfen stops the bull and gives Ignacio a panzerhand noogie. Tomas and Marco (who is recovered from the church basement) agree to leave Castille, the families give a huge pay-off to the church to keep the gossip away...

...and Soledad is asked to hear one last confession that night. Some man with an Eisen accent who claims that Legion walks the streets of Altamira -- and how the bodies of his wife and child cry for vengeance against their murderer.

Overall, folks had a good time. I need to do some reining in of Brenna though as she's taking undue liberties with things she hasn't purchased for her character. Not to mention the HUGE wangst-bomb of a background she gave me...

[Black Jack Rackham]

No regular game this week. Half the folks are away, and I am doing my once-a-month away game up in NH. This weekend its Stormbringer! (talk about a blast from the past). But Laura will be over tomorrow so we're thinking of doing boardgames.