Gaming and More Gaming!

[Black Jack Rackham]

Star Wars went swimmingly, though the ending was a bit less exciting than I'd envisioned it. This week we begin another new experiment. We've been a group a long so we've been in a bit of a rut. But I am VERY excited for this new idea because I think it favors the ROLE players!

Essentially the plan is, rather than change every week we're going to change once a month. But we're also going to trim down the number of games we play. So, starting this week, we're going to do Pathfinder (with Eric running) for three weeks. Then we'll have one Boardgame week (think of it as a palate cleanser), then move on to our other game, Supernatural (which I will run) for three weeks. This way, there's still a month between sessions but you get a lot more time to get into character (and remember where the game is going).

Plus, I'm the BARD!

[Black Jack Rackham]

Week two of three for Pathfinder. We're stuck on a beach after the crew poisoned us and dumped us (with all our equipment) on a beach someplace on the way (or back somewhere, we haven't figured it out yet) Players are digging the +1 on EVERYTHING I add when I start singing (to hit, damage, saving throws, like I said, everything). Decided to play her seriously and that seemed to work better. We have a whole party of "Kill the monster (whatever it happens to be) and take its stuff" So none of this moral quandaries about the rightness or wrongness of our actions.

So I figure this campaign isn't long for this world. (Plus Eric's really geared up for Numenera)

Onto other games, David and the one friend who's still coming over to game once a month are now set on Shadowrun. We're going to do a Pink Mohawk campaign so they don't have to deal with all the consequences of their actions. Starting them out in the deadzone of Canarsie (NYC) which suffered greatly during the Quake.

They want to play a Street Sam and a Thief Adept (my littlest wants to join in too and wants to be someone who "makes stuff").

My plan is to give them a couple of quickie, one shot adventures (I'm envisioning them squatting in the burned out wreck of a school where they live under the protection (or possibly are allied with) the local gang). Also going to have a couple of interesting folks nearby, like the local Vory-run store and the local gun nut. Maybe some Humanis attacks since one's a meta).

So, any other thoughts?

[salamanca]

Why don't you just run "The Warriors"? Street Sam and thief being chased across Brooklyn by hangers. Your littlest could be a street doc that builds cyber gear that are devices instead of implants. And remember to clarify that they do not HAVE to wear pink Mohawks. I am rooting for a troll thief because it's a very distinctive skill set.

[Black Jack Rackham]

By coincidence I watched John Wick (the movie not the Games Writer) last night. I'm thinking that works perfectly for them (though I could add in the Warriors in the middle of it). Son of the head of the Vory is slumming and does bad stuff to someone they care about. PCs go get revenge (or try to) and that brings them to the Vory leader's attention.

As for characters I have been told, Human Street Sam (David), Elf Infiltration Specialist Adept (Owen), and "Guy who builds stuff, like knives and stuff." (Scott)

[salamanca]

Guy that builds knives and stuff... I know a 10year old kid that does that. I have an order in for next year.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Kids game went off swimmingly. They had lots of fun, though David's friend (the one who wanted to torture every NPC during the Hammer and Tongs campaign) gave away half of his profit to the homeless as they were going to do their assigned jobs (find a missing NPC).

Supers game on Sat night was fun. Heroes managed to thwart my plan of sending the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean (the radiation and shockwaves would have then awoken Godzilla). So it looks like I'm going to have to accelerate my plans for world domination!

Board games was a blast this week, and not just because I won. We did 7 Wonders (which I handily won. It was a complete surprise to me, since I had no army, no learning, and just a little bit of trade and victory points). Then we played Sentinels of the Multiverse, and I played a new character, Expatriette (who it turns out is just the Punisher). We defeated the Chairman in the time flux setting. Lots of fun.

Next up, we begin the first of three weeks of Supernatural.

[salamanca]

Once Expatriette gets ramped up, she is the upper tier for damage dealing. (With Ra and Wraith). Big fan.

On my weekend, tried out "Exploding Kittens". They spent that ridiculous kickstarter money on good cardstock and a box thatcould probably support a car ( and meows).

The game itself is Russian roulette with cards. I'd you draw the Exploding kitten card, you lose. The rest of the deck helps you skip drawing cards, force a player to draw more, peek ahead, shuffle, or steal cards. A few allow you to diffuse the Exploding cat and slip it back into the deck.

At 25 bucks, a little pricey. Find it for 15, you may want it for a quick silly game.

[daundelyon]

I'm inclined to agree about Exploding Kittens. Played it over the weekend, and after one round we decided to switch to Cards Against Humanity. The cards themselves were fun though.
In other news, I'll be running 7th Sea for a bunch of people this coming Saturday. Only mildly panicked at this point.

[salamanca]

If you like cards against humanity, telestrations just released an after dark edition that is exactly as horrible as you think it could be.

[daundelyon]

Hmmm, better stock up on beer.

[Black Jack Rackham]

An inauspicious start to Supernatural, as we had two of our five come down with some kind of ick. So we made characters and then just got started during the last hour of the session.

December 31st 1982, our Hunters-to-be are all friends who've grown up in the same neighborhood and whose parents are also friends. They're having a sleepover (as they do about once a month when the parents all go out together) at the McGillacutty house (Laura and Jen's characters) the most recent arrivals (having moved here some five years ago). The babysitter Missy, lets them stay up to ring in the new year but afterwards wants them to stay in bed, so she tells them a ghost story about Old Man Snider who lived just a short way from here and was murdered by teens years ago. The story ends with the admonition to stay in their room lest Old Man Snider come and get them!

So stay they do, right up until the scream of Mrs. McGillacutty wakes them. They soon discover that it wasn't them, but Missy that Old Man Snider came to get, and worse, none of the adults seem to realize it!

The next morning our Hunters started to do a bit of research about Old Man Snider and the house he lived in (and died in) over on Wooten St. They managed to get a few other names and some background information, but it all really lead to just one place, the Old Snider House, and the next step was to ride on over there and check out the place.

(that's as far as we got).

Next week, back to Supernatural and a search of the house.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Forgot to update this, hmmph. I must be slipping.

Hunters went through old Man Snider's house but found it suspiciously free from ghosts (the same cannot be said for pre-war banana flavored Twinkies*). But more importantly, they learned that the ghost of Old Man Snider was not a ghost since Old Man Snider was still alive and at a nearby retirement home.

One visit later and they'd all figured it out. The ghost story was true but the names were wrong. Old Man Snider was the one who killed the man who'd become the ghost, and it lived in the McGillacutty house (the basement was all that was left of the original house where the old man had died. He returned to (un)life as a Rawhead. The children were able to get enough gasoline to burn the house down and finally rid the world of this killer!

Cut to modern day, and hunters are now at one of the most famous haunts in modern Hunter lore. The Haunting of the Boston Molasses Flood. Once every ten years on the anniversary one of the ghosts of the dead returns for three nights. So hunters know right where it will happen (in the flood area) and when it will happen (two nights prior and the night of). But no one seems to be able to answer the question of why...

He made his presence known by destroying part of his old apartment and injuring the people who lived there. Things then got worse when a local cop showed up (whom he immediately attacked).

A bit of research later, and hunters discovered he was the ghost of a delivery driver who used his job to case rich areas of town in order to rob them. AND his haunting seems to have caused another ghost to materialize, one who's outside the flood area (and thus not part of the original haunt). This one, however, is just a death echo, so it can't tell hunters much about what it's doing here.

We'll start back next week on this one.

As for this weekend, I am going up to NH to the once a month group, where we will be playtesting a game that one of our members is writing. It's called MuHahahahahahaha a game of Supervillains.

*In what can only be described as a stunning turn of events, Hostess IS apparently re-issuing banana flavored Twinkies. I found this out after the game.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Muhahahahaha was awesome! Someone remind me to tell you the story when we're at Origins (it a bit too long, but very, very funny*).

Sunday we'll be doing Supernatural, Hunters are up to the third adventure were a number of folks have been dying of unrelated (and completely curable) diseases in northern Vermont.

Today, however, boys asked me if we could play Shadowrun. Ought to be fun!

*NOTE that "Funny" should not be misconstrued as being actually humorous, but rather another example of Mark being Mark in an RPG.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Everyone's leaving this weekend. Four of my five players will be MIA so just gonna have to cancel. I can always use the time to write. Mom is flying in on Saturday, so the kiddos are overjoyed. Next Sunday I have the NH game, and folks couldn't get together for that one either. So it looks like our next game will be Jan 3rd and should be a playtest.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Playtest in NH went ok, but the guy writing the system is severely in love with the old school. lots of levels combined with a mishmash of skill feats. I'm just not all that impressed.

This weekend, it's our own playtest of Ep. 13. We have fewer players than normal (though I do have a surprise coming for them). So if you have some free time, are in this area and I don't already know you're coming, give me a shout out and we can add you to the playtest!

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, we played the playtest, and I hope it went the way Mark wanted it to go. But he got some really good feedback because CHARLIE was here!!

It was so awesome to see him, and get to play in a game with him again.
Hopefully I'll see you again come Origins! (If I can afford to go.)

[Lady Grace]

I haven't gamed since the end of Aug. '15.

That changed this past Friday as I was nudged to dust off the ol' 7th Sea campaign and return to my title of Evil GM.

Soledad & Ulfen are guarding a botantist's shop in exchange for a sample of Blackwood sap. Nothing appears to happen...save only Soledad hears scratching and sees lights flickering and then hears the whimpering of her middle child. Ended up traumatizing Soledad's player during this. Oops.

(as a bonus, beforehand Soledad actually opened up and told Ulfen about what happened to her family! Progress!)

Meanwhile, Mike decides to Split the Party and have Luc stay back at the inn with Ulfen's pet goat to see if Vacher shows up. Well, some thugs do show up for a little chat. After some polite conversation, Luc convinces them to take him to Vacher. Which they're on the way to...until someone shoots them dead. But not Luc! He beats a retreat back to the inn.

Later on, Mike gets a note requesting more polite conversation at Cafe Kaffee. At the Explorers' Society chapterhouse, the last box of the relic is finally opened by the application of sap! To reveal it's empty inside. Brother Tedmund theorizes that maybe the boxes were meant to hold stuff. Maybe...maybe a piece of drachen bone?

Yeah, I think I'm Back...

[Black Jack Rackham]

Back to the regular game session (at least for one week) tomorrow. Single game of Pathfinder before we do the second playtest next week then board games in two weeks.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Second playtest this weekend! I'm much more confident about the re-write.

[Black Jack Rackham]

First of two boardgame weeks (January has 5 Sundays and that messes up our 3 weeks of RPG 1 week of boardgames). Had to run two tables since we had too many folks playing. I ended up playing Marrying Mr. Darcey (which is, apparently, a reference to Pride and Prejudice, a book I've never read).

Can't say too much about it, even if I did end up marrying Mr. Darcey (though I came in second place to my spinster sister who had a shitload of charm and other stuff). Apparently this is all terribly funny if you understand the characters...

Didn't get to play Colt Express but I'm rootin' for that for next week!

[salamanca]

Colt express is amazing.

Ghost, Django, Tuco, and Cheyenne are the strongest options. Probably in that order.

[Nutmeg_25]

Darcy.

Clearly I just need to find a group at one of the cons that knows the book. Thanks for humoring me anyhow.

[salamanca]

Sister Sonya might be down for that. As would Lady Bravada at Origins.

[Lady Grace]

I wonder if they'll have a zombie edition for it due to the upcoming movie...

[Sister Sonya]

Sister Sonya might be down for that. As would Lady Bravada at Origins.

I'm in!

And, I gave "Marrying Mr. Darcy" as a Christmas gift.