Saturday, December 23, 2006

The Wurst is yet to Come

We had some breakthroughs here at the beginning of black powder week. Luckily for us, we caught some breaks in this matter. Following certain leads, we discovered a message from Stark sent to Rudi, indicating he had given him the sausages. The urchins got ahold of the message Stark had sent to parties unknown, and it indicated that he was indeed behind the kidnapping. We also followed leads which had Noddin take the Fleischer’s next door neighbor to dinner at Chez Louis, a widow named Garten. She confirmed the mystery serenader, but more importantly he found out that Chez Louis had a performer named Maria de Miragliano who sang some nights at the restaurant. Not coincidentally, patrons of the restaurant had found items going missing during their dinners there. Putting two and two together, I figured that the singing was somehow charming the patrons in order that they could be robbed, and that this Maria was likely the same person who had been singing beneath Hannah’s window, thus enabling her kidnapping through sorcerous means.

The final piece of the puzzle was resolved by the discovery of the hovel where Stark was keeping poor Hannah imprisoned. I followed him there from his shop, and was surprised when one of Noddin’s urchins led the rest of my friends there later that evening. It was good though, because the padlock on the door was too heavy for me to break, but Noddin was quickly able to pick it.

Entering, we found Hannah chained to the floor. However, she had been horribly mutated, and indicated it had been tainted sausages which had done it. I immediately put her out of her misery, as there is no room in this world for that which Chaos spawns, even when it is forced on an innocent such as Hannah. Only the oblivion of the Ruinous Powers lay ahead of her.

She managed some dying words, but it was not information which I hadn’t already surmised myself anyway. The plot was clear: Stark was attempting revenge against his rival by destroying Hannah. He was using warpstone or something similar to created tainted sausage, probably using Albrecht’s shop. He had sent that sausage to Rudi, and therefore it was likely Rudi was either dead or hideously mutated. Stark was in league with Maria, using her to further his nefarious plans, which probably involved sneaking the tainted sausage into the Fleischer stores in order to discredit him.

We resolved to confront Stark immediately. At his shop, Noddin had some trouble with the lock. While he was working on it, a small dog (which I surmised to be Bonifaz, but was wrong) grabbed a string of sausage and bolted out the window of the shop. I feared it to be tainted, and so I gave pursuit. Furdok tried as well, but his short little legs kept stumbling over things in the street. I grabbed the little dog and prevented it from eating the sausage. Then I tied it to a tree while we went inside the shop.

Inside, we were confronted by Rudi the mutant monstrosity and a mad, cackling Stark who possessed a glowing medallion which seemed to control Rudi. Stark retreated down a hole in the floor while Rudi prevented our pursuit. Luckily, Rudi was easily overcome with little trouble. However, pursuit through the sewers of Stark proved more difficult. One of his hired hands was waiting in ambush down there, firing a crossbow at Furdok before fleeing.

Finally we emerged at the riverfront, where Stark had Maria tied up on a barge. He used the medallion to force her to sing to us, our first indication that she was not a willing accomplice. Luckily for us we had been braced for this assault, our minds strengthened by our previous exposure to the fiendish powers of Chaos, and nobody succumbed to the song. Stark, however, tried to use Nurglish sorcery on us, but luckily we avoided it successfully as well.

Furdok kept the henchman busy while the rest of us concentrated fire on Stark. It took a bit, but I managed to finish him off with a couple of fletches to his chest. Then the rest of my companions helped Furdok finish off the henchman. Maria we freed, but it was apparent that her power stemmed from some sort of mutation, which made her dangerous and tainted even if it was not visible. We took the medallion and the mutant songstress to the Sigmarites, and had them both destroyed.

In the end, we had to break the bad news to Herr Fleischer about his daughter. He was aggrieved, but appreciated our efforts and gave us our reward. We did not mention to him the fact that I had to kill her myself…my human compatriots seemed to think it would cause him unnecessary pain to tell him his daughter had been tortured and mutated, so I kept silent. Now we can concentrate our efforts on finding the owner of the sword. During this time, we spoke to Lady Becker and got some further leads towards locating the officers we were seeking, so we shall see what pans out.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Short but sweet

Journal- Digging

Furdok’s pestering the Nulnese dwarves did achieve us the knowledge of who had forged the blade whose owner we sought: a master craftsman named Grunbar. Apparently he had been commissioned to create the swords as gifts for seven regimental officers who were going to fight in the recent war. Unfortunately, he was then imprisoned by the Countess after she discovered that he had been making knock-off copies of the swords as well. This gave us at least one avenue to explore in order to find the owner, possibly more, but they all seemed somewhat difficult.

As we seemed to have nothing to do for at least a day or so while we waited for certain contacts to become available, we decided to avail ourselves of the job offer which the drunken sausage-maker had given us. We visited his house and he informed us that his daughter had disappeared and he wanted us to find her. He said she had last been seen with a friend of hers by the name of Karla Lindt, who claimed no knowledge of her whereabouts. He also told us that one of his shops had been broken into repeatedly, which he was not sure had any bearing on the disappearance or not.

While Konrad, Noddin, and I did that, Ulfred went to inquire about the job with the city watch captain, and Volkrad and Furdok went to the Temple of Verena in order to get a writ of passage for the Iron Tower in order to visit Grunbar. This was apparently easily accomplished. Afterwards, Furdok visited Grunbar and found out very little. However, he did say that he had delivered the swords to the Gunnery school, and that the one we possessed was indeed an orginal, so that helped.

The next morning, we decided to split up. Or rather, I decided to split us up. After Ulfred left early for his new job, it didn’t seem like anyone was too keen on making a decision. I would rather Ulfred take charge, but with him gone I felt like I had to say something or we would just sit in the inn all day. So I told Konrad, Volkrad, and Noddin to go ask around the sausage shops about the missing girl, and Furdok and I went to the Gunnery school to enquire about the swords. We decided to meet up later at Karla Lindt’s home to question her.

The Gunnery school required some gold to work through, but we got the names of three officers who had since returned to Nuln from the war. This was not all seven obviously, but we were working under the assumption that the person who we were looking for had come back. If not, our quest is much harder. The names were:

Gerlach Baer, Rolph Vogt, and Semund Tolzen. Having accomplished that, we left to go track down the Lindt home.

Eventually we met up with the rest, but the Lindt’s were not at home so we had to return the next day. So we visited the Green Bottle Inn instead and got the key to Albrecht’s shop from him. We searched for clues in the shop, and actually found a locket that belonged to Miss Hannah in the sausage grinding shed, which led us to fear the wurst. Er, worst. We also found a wooden leg, but that turned out to be Albrecht’s. We staked out the shop all night, but nobody broke in and made sausages in the middle of the night.

Volkrad and I tried to visit Lady Becker the next day but were told that she was not ready to see visitors yet, so we made an appointment for the morrow. We did manage to see Miss Lindt that day, as well as get some information from some street urchins. I believe that Furdok went back to the Gunnery school and got some information about the officers we were seeking. Konrad went to the Gunners Arms, and Noddin talked to a rival sausage maker named Stark. I’ll record what information they have gathered in my next entry.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The Next thing

This is the next thing that I'll surely be trying to kill you all with.

Check out Esoterrorists.

More more more

This I actually had done last week but I totally forgot to put it up.

Journal- The madness of dwarves

Despite the best efforts of whoever or whatever power is trying to stop us, we did manage to get to Nuln. This was in spite of a beastman attack on a shore traveler, an onboard murder, the reappearance of the mysterious cloaked fat man from Altdorf, and the increasingly odd behavior of Furdok.

This last began to become apparent during the first. We left the boat in order to go investigate a coach we had spotted from the ship which had apparently been attacked. Once we snooped around the scene a bit, it was clear to me that beastmen had been responsible and had dragged some of the people in the coach away into the woods to whatever dark purposes they employ. The symbol of Khorne was evident, and I discovered a large number of gold coins scattered around, as well as a generic invitation to a ball being thrown by the Electress of Wissenland herself. The captain indicated that I should give the coins to charity, which I thought was probably a good idea. He wanted me to give it all to an orphanage, but I decided to give some of it to Konrad. Every time he gets paid he has to turn over most of his gold to me because of his debt, and I feel bad about that. I wanted him to be able to keep his pay after this journey, so I took some of the gold I found and “paid his debt” for him.

Granted this was a wide interpretation of charity, but on the other hand given all that he has done for the Empire I think he deserves to be debt free for once. In any case, after I made the determination that the beastmen had taken some of the victims, Furdok became insistent that we go after them. There were any number of good reasons why we shouldn’t do this, and we gave him every one. Still he insisted, even said he would be happy to go alone. No matter what we said, he seemed determined to stay on shore, even planning to walk to Nuln. I can’t explain it, it almost seemed like he was afraid to get back on the boat. But perhaps it was just that his anger at the Beastmen has reached the point of a full-blown grudge, and he wants any chance to fight them. If that is true though, it could spell trouble for us. A dwarf who decides they have a blood-grudge against something like these bestial hordes of Chaos is no doubt on his way out of this world shortly.

Ulfred appealed to his honor, however, and he extremely reluctantly got back on board. His odd behavior continued, however. He started pretending to be Volkrad at the bar, and I believe he was drinking even more ale than usual, though it’s hard to tell. I worry about both of them now. Perhaps the strain of this life of warfare is too much for them. I was looking through one of Volkrad’s old books on the stars…he used to be fascinated by the heavens but now he barely acknowledges them. Anyway, there was a part about the star sign you are born under and their effect on your destiny. It seems the one I was born under is known as “Grugni’s Baldric” (which I find ironic, but…) and it indicates that one is meant to be a warrior. That would explain why I was drawn away from the priesthood and threw myself into the warriors the way I did. It might also explain why, despite the fear I feel every time we are faced with the snarling minions of Chaos, I am able to keep my head about me and not break under the strain of combat. But I digress.

I was going to talk about the murder of Reinalt Leitdorf. He was found dead in a cabin not his own, some time after a serious fight with another passenger named Matthias Alptruim. Naturally my first assumption was that Herr Alptruim had done him in, but after checking the facts of the case it appears that this is not what happened. In fact, I believe that it was the fat man in the black cloak from Altdorf who did the deed.

The body was discovered in an empty cabin which had been rented by an Arabyan named Antikari who had cancelled at the last moment. The murder seemed to have been committed with natural weaponry, in fact the discovery of a tooth broken off in the mess which used to be the victim’s face leads one to believe his was gnawed to death. Alptruim showed no sign of having broken any teeth, and in any case he seems more the type that would stab or poison an enemy rather than chew them to death. The assailant was probably a mutant of some kind.

Questioning of the passengers revealed that a Dagmar Langdorf had seen a man who matched remarkably the description of the man that Ulfred and I had seen following us in Altdorf: a heavy set man dressed in black robes who moved with remarkable speed and alacrity, able to navigate through obstacles without even looking where he is going. I followed a trail of blood from Antikari’s cabin all the way up to the top deck and rail, seeming to indicate that the killer had fled and jumped ship. Since all passengers were accounted for, I began to suspect that this cloaked man had stowed away and was the same person responsible for the murder.

Unfortunately, there is no way for us to conclusively prove this, but we were able to exonerate Alptruim from the charge of murder. I have a theory which I shared with my companions; that this mysterious fat man is either Antikari or works for him, and that the cancellation of his passage was just a ruse in order to allow him to operate on board without being detected by us. Leitdorf, perhaps trying to avoid Alptruim or for some other reason trying to skulk, ducked into the unused cabin and accidentally found that it was not in fact unused. Caught, the cloaked man killed poor Leitdorf and fled the boat.

Why the fat man is following us cannot be known for sure, nor can it be proven this is in fact what happened, but it is clear that he is interested in us for some reason. It is also clear that he has some unnatural abilities, which means that he is either a warlock, mutant, or both. No doubt we will run into him again, and perhaps this time we will catch him.

As far as Herr Leitdorf is concerned, we have determined to take his possessions to his family for final disposal once we locate them here in Nuln. The only thing we are keeping is another invitation to the Countess’ ball which gives us two. I’m not sure how they fit in, but Konrad made the connection that in both cases we found them the bearers had been murdered by apparent forces aligned with the Ruinous powers. Therefore they might be important.

When we debarked, the captain was kind enough to reward us by giving us some payment, a letter of introduction to a local noble lady named Elsbeth Becker, and the erasing of the tab which Furdok had run up under Volkrad’s name. The Lady Katherine also paid us, and so we entered Nuln flush with gold. If this city turns out to be anything like the others we have visited, no doubt we will need every penny of that before our job here is done.

Most of the inns in the city were filled up because of the festival, so we had to take what we could get. It’s all the same to me anyway, because I would rather sleep in the stable with Stormweather anyway. While seeking a vacancy, we rescued a man from some muggers (this is probably how we keep getting into trouble, interfering in things which aren’t our business) who then pointed us to a “tree” downtown near which he had posted some sort of job request. We managed to find the post in question, though there were many posters on the kiosk. I narrowed it down to three or four.

In the mean time, Furdok insisted he ask the local dwarves to get us some kind of introduction to the Leitdorfs in order to return his belongings. I don’t know why he was unwilling to just ask the Lady Becker who we already had an in with, but Furdok will be Furdok. In the meantime, we went shopping and stopped by the Becker manor to introduce ourselves. The Lady was not in, so we made an appointment to come back and see her when she arrived and had rested.

Monday, December 04, 2006

More log

Sorry this took so long to get up...have had little time.

Journal- Death on the Reik

Of course it would have been too easy had the Abbey been abandoned. No, there was a further infestation of foul Beastmen lurking within, and they almost managed to waylay us while we were trying to figure out how to get in the tower. Luckily for us I managed to spy them as they boiled out of the main building and charged us. The fight was short and brutal, but in the end we prevailed with little serious harm. In fact, even Ulfred managed to get away without a scratch, which was amazing.

I had thought that we were told a detachment of Imperial soldiers had cleared out the Abbey after it had been overrun, but the Beastmen band inhabiting seemed to suggest otherwise. However, once we investigated thoroughly it appeared as though a Nuln regiment had indeed been through and taken heavy casualties to boot, most of which they had piled in the Charnel house in the cemetery for some reason. The tower turned out to be where the last remaining priests had hung themselves rather than succumb to the beastman horde, and somehow it was there we found a copy of the very same journal that Noddin had plucked out of his dream. We were certainly in the right place.

Unfortunately, upon searching the hidden room beneath the altar, we found that the chalice had been removed. Nearby we found a well-crafted sword apparently dropped by an Imperial officer, suggesting that it was in fact a Nulner soldier who had taken the relic. I surmised that the Beastmen we had encountered here had been sent to search for the relic after the first band of attackers had failed to return with it. Perhaps the Nulners had come, destroyed the original beastmen, and then somehow found the relic and taken it. If so, it is very possible the person who took it has been corrupted by its influence. We took the sword in hopes that we could track down its maker and thereby find the owner who had left it.

The church itself had been defiled by the beasts who had occupied and searched it. While the rest were burying the bodies of the dead, Volkrad took it upon himself to burn down both the abbey and the sole remaining tower. This has added further worry to my concerns about his behavior. In truth, it may have been the right choice, but he used his magic and did it so wantonly it rather frightened me. He was not allowed to burn down the charnel house, which is to my mind exactly the reverse of what should have occurred. Man has an annoying tendency to leave their dead intact, rather than properly disposing of them by fire. This is why the ranks of the restless dead are swollen by the rotting carcasses of Men. Will they never learn?

We returned to Altdorf afterwards, and though we tried to uncover any clue we could find about the sword it seemed pretty clear that our answers would lie in Nuln. Conveniently, a certain Lady Katherine had offered us a job to escort her to Nuln via river boat. We accepted, but it seemed as though it was expected that our steeds would remain behind. Obviously, these men are ignorant of the relationship which exists between an elven steed and its master. There was no way I could leave Stormweather behind, and so I was prepared to ride her along side the river on the road until reaching Nuln. I thought Konrad would do this as well, being as how he is a roadwarden and not a riverwarden, but he elected to leave his horse behind. Unthinkable. Still, when this Katherine noted I was preparing to ride to Nuln she went ahead and procured passage for my horse as well.

Here’s where my inherent paranoia begins to kick in. It is so difficult to determine which Men to trust and which are working against us. This Lady Katherine I have discovered is not only paying us 20 Karls for our service, each; but payed 75 Karls for our passage on the boat. That is all told about 600 Karls just for escort to Nuln on one of the safest methods of travel in the entire Empire! An absolute fortune! Hence, I can only suspect she is setting us up for something. She probably works for some Ruinous Power and is keeping us close to make sure we fail in whatever endeavor we are attempting.

Of course, the Beastmen found us. They attacked the ship, firing arrows and boarding the boat while we were at out most vulnerable, without most of our weapons or armor. The crew sprang to the defense, but it was quickly clear that only our expert ability to deal with their threat was going to repel the foul spawn. I thought we would stay behind a defensive barrier and try to fend them off, but of course the dwarf charged right to the rail and began to melee with the boarders. Viewing the tactical situation, it immediately became clear to me that if I did not back him up, he would have 6 beastmen attacking him. And no armor.

I should digress at this point. I have never seen the dwarf out of armor before this boat trip. Something was bothering me, and it was at that moment I realized what it was. Looking at Furdok wearing only the spun cloth of an every day commoner, I suddenly realized what was different about the dwarf. And then I knew that Furdok and I had something in common…something that we would never have realized we might share. Without another thought, I drew my sword and charged into battle, taking three of the beasts at the rail.

The gods know how much I hate and fear these beasts of Chaos. I almost could not believe that I was doing this…I though for sure I was going to perish. But my training took over, and though the first beastman easily ducked my sword it unbalanced itself in such a way that I was able to plant my foot in its chest and send it plunging back into the river. I spun and sliced into the second beastman, somehow managing to parry its riposte and duck its companion’s clumsy blow. I turned and hacked at that beast, but took the creature beside me by surprise when I brought my elbow back into its throat, causing it to stagger back and follow its compatriot into the churning river.

Suddenly, it was just me one on one with a Beastman. I looked over and Furdok was hard pressed by all three attackers, although quickly being reinforced by Konrad, Ulfred, and Noddin. Meanwhile, Volkrad came to my aide and between us we made short work of the creature assailing me. After that and with superior numbers on our side, the last boarders were repelled.

Volkrad used magic on board without the express permission of the captain, something we were told was against the rules, and he has been summoned to speak with him. I can’t imagine the repercussions will be too serious, however. In the meantime, I am catching up with a little writing and hoping that I can make a successful business deal between myself, Furdok, and a rich elven merchant I met onboard named Camreanne Youngwood. She seems like someone we can deal with…I only hope Furdok can make it work.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Log, Log, it's big it's heavy it's wood

Journal- New Discoveries

It would not be my life or the life of my companions if things settled down with the destruction of the dagger. There is of course one last artifact left to be destroyed, and it seems as though Sigmar or Ulric or both has determined that we are the people for the job. I’m not sure why. In fact, as near as I can determine, none of my companions are particularly interested in the worship of either of those two gods. I of course am pledged to the gods of my kin, who have protected us and our forest home since the time of the sundering. In fact I find it very disturbing that the human gods have placed their mark upon me. I am not against upholding their struggle against Chaos by any means, but I feel that I am losing connection with my own gods. Perhaps they even find it insulting that I bear this mark and this task from these upstart godlings. I need to spend more time in worship and contemplation and hope for some kind of answer from Isha and Kurnous. In order to do that, I shall have to endeavor to get out of this city and spend some time seeking in the wilderness.

As for my other companions, Volkrad is pledged to Verena, Furdok to whatever rude dwarven gods he worships, and Ulfred seems to have invented his own god to worship. I’m not sure about Konrad…he doesn’t seem very religious at all. He has never really mentioned Sigmar or Ulric however, so if he does revere them he keeps it to himself. So why then would they choose us? I would think that if those gods had a task they needed performed, they would seek out a trusted worshipper or priest and give them the task. Certainly I would hope that if Isha or Kurnous ever had a sacred task they needed discharged that they would come to me before serving notice to some heathen band of impious humans (or gods forbid, a dwarf).

Perhaps that is why Noddin was chosen to present to us the next step in our pilgrimage. Though I have not known Noddin long enough to determine if he is a devout follower of the Imperial gods, I can think of no other explanation for the way in which he was pointed to us by Sigmar, if indeed it was he who sent him the dreams which led him to us. So let me say a little bit about him.

Noddin Alcapse is a young indigent street performer, not exactly what you would consider to be heroic material. In many ways he does not fit in with the rest of my human companions…even his name is odd. It was my impression that Imperial men all had names that ended in “rad”, but apparently this is not the case. I suppose it is possible that he is not entirely of Imperial lineage however…I know little of his heritage. As I said, he is not of a heroic mien, unlike Konrad who has dedicated himself to the protection of the innocent or Ulfred who is the very definition of heroism and sacrifice. Nonetheless, a dream was sent to him which seemed to indicate the location of the third artifact of the Red Flayer, a chalice which (if we are interpreting the signs correctly) lies hidden beneath a ruined monastery.

Lord Frederick, who has been unbelievably generous in his hospitality and aid to us, introduced us to the young Noddin who told us of the dream and the sign which he had received from within it, a written account of a man’s discovery of the chalice which somehow was pulled physically from the dream. Upon shaking hands with Konrad, the Mark of Unity was transferred onto Noddin’s flesh, a clear sign that he has been chosen by the gods to aid us in our quest. After a little bit of delving into the history of the monastery, we made plans to travel there and investigate taking along Noddin, Ulfred’s new valet, and a young Sigmarian initiate named Sigurd who we thought should bear witness to the state of the abbey which has not been visited since it’s destruction in the Storm of Chaos.

Along the way we were predictably set upon by a small group of Beastmen who predictably nearly killed Ulfred despite the new chainmail he had acquired. The rest of us escaped with minor injuries. I guess chain is not enough to protect Ulfred…it seems I shall need to work on getting him some plate armor. Maybe that will keep him healthy. Though I doubt it. As I feared, Volkrad has become a little worrisome now that he has turned to the red winds of magic. Whereas before he used his magic with a sense of reluctance and reserve, the glee with which he called fire down upon the beastmen was undeniable. Not that he was wrong to assail them suchly…I just wish it didn’t seem like he enjoyed his power so much. I don’t know, perhaps I am reading too much into it.

In any case, we have reached the abbey and are making preparations to investigate. It seems abandoned, however, so I don’t expect much trouble. I will resume my account of the delving once I return to Stormweather.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Fantasy Congress

Well, I did it.

I set up a Fantasy Congress league, because it may be the most ridiculous thing I've ever played.

If you would like to participate (and don't ask - I too have no real idea how it works) go to www.fantasycongress.com and follow sign up directions.

Our league is called Iowa Congressional Confederacy. The password is password.

It'll be a blast.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Goodies Galore

I went back and found the list of goodies y'all requested, and I believe Lord Frederick was more than happy to grant them all.

Likewise, owning warehouses will allow me to try out the new Trade rules from the Companion. I haven't looked at them enough to know if they'll work or not, but we'll see.

Finally, I went back and forth in my head a few times yesterday about encumbrance and the Sturdy Talent and the errata put out by Black Industries. The errata says that the Sturdy Talent makes the encumbrance of any armor you wear zero.

I'll leave it to you all to decide and (perhaps) revoke a decision I made last night. Which seems more fair to you - everyone has the same carrying capacity (eliminating the Dwarf advantage) but Sturdy makes your armor 0 encumbrance

or

make the Sturdy Talent the reason a Dwarf can carry twice as much as anyone else to start with, double the carrying capacity of anyone else who buys the Sturdy Talent through a career, and armor counts as its usual encumbrance value.

I'm leaning towards option #2 as opposed to option #1, although I said the opposite last night.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

More funny vids

Go to my myspace page and watch the video clip, it gives a new meaning to "role-playing."




Watch "Heroes" you fools!

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Bad Math

at http://www.livescience.com/othernews/061025_vampire_debunk.html we find...

******************

A researcher has come up with some simple math that sucks the life out of the vampire myth, proving that these highly popular creatures can't exist.

University of Central Florida physics professor Costas Efthimiou's work debunks pseudoscientific ideas, such as vampires and zombies, in an attempt to enhance public literacy. Not only does the public believe in such topics, but the percentages are at dangerously high level, Efthimiou told LiveScience.

Legend has it that vampires feed on human blood and once bitten a person turns into a vampire and starts feasting on the blood of others.

Efthimiou's debunking logic: On Jan 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600. A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on.

************

but this is bad math. Suppose every time the Vampire population reaches 20 or so, all but one of them are killed by angry villagers? Then vampires can exist.

Of course, this doesn't tell us where that first one came from on Jan 1, 1600....

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Funny!

Did anyone ever go and watch the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny?

Anyway, I found a new video I thought was pretty funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFB8izX2Uks

Thursday, October 05, 2006

A proposal

I've been looking at Google Groups Beta (cause it wouldn't be google if there wasn't a "beta" in the title.) I think it would be a better platform for us than Blogger. Here's why:

  • it's built from the ground up for collaboration
  • it runs more like a mailing list, you will get emails of the posts
  • it allows for the creation of pages, things like the Diary could have their own page for us to edit and comment on together
  • it has space for files to be uploaded also
  • i think it's easier to navigate the comments from posts
Now there are reasons not to do this also of course:

  • signing up for a new service might be a pain for some
  • of course we have all our content here, although we could keep this page up as an archive
  • it's a Beta so it might be a little wonky at first
I put a page up for an example to play in:





Google Groups Beta

Iowa City Gaming

Visit this group


Let me know your thoughts or questions. If you want an invite to play with the group page a little more, let me know.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Mystery Chart

I think - let me stress "think" - that I solved the thing.

Pardon the messy appearance.

Anyone else come up with anything yet?

Sunday - Mike - Aftermath - Community theme
Monday - Elmer - Twilight 2000 - Adventure theme
Tuesday - George - Chivalry & Sorcery - Justice theme
Wednesday - Bart - AD&D - Character Stories theme
Thursday - Kate - Boot Hill - Thinking Things Through theme

There's 2 hours of work that my employer will never have back...:)

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Using Your Resources

I think you guys would benifit from posting the outlines you've made of the fairy tale, along with your assumptions about what maps to what. You could use this forum to check one another's thoughts, and find false assumptions.

The Ultimate Showdown!

...of Ultimate Destiny!

Only one will survive! Go here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/285267

and click "watch this movie"

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

For the Stressed-out Gamer

http://www.saab-stuff.com/pop.swf

Monday, September 11, 2006

Supper at Gaming this Friday

Susan's TV group is going to be meeting this Friday at the same time we are (they will be in the abittoir with the door closed, and have promised not to bother us). But the thing is, they always have dinner as part of their routine, between 5 and 5:30 but set up so that those who come late can still partake. This time it is a sandwich bar, if any of you are interested. Susan and I will provide some sliced turkey and some sliced salami plus two loaves of bread ( probably a multi grain and a pumpernickel), some cheddar cheese and such mustards, mayos and such as we have on hand. Anyone that wants to kick in additional sandwich fixings or side dishes is welcome to, but not required. (Stock for the magic fridge is also an option for anyone who feels the need to bring something).

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Well well well

Turns out I had the diary last night after all.

I blame my dice luck for my failed Search roll.

(I even had the thing at the front of my folder so I wouldn't miss it. Impressive!)

Not a Precedent

I looked into the answer to your question about why you were a Wyrm, Shawn. As it happens, the code was fairy transparent in this case. The way the program works, it takes the list of monsters, which are in order of power rating, and truncates it based on A) how much emphasis your cards put into power rating as opposed to level and stats, and B) your dice luck. Dice luck is by far the more important criterion. Then it takes the truncated list and lets your cards vote on which monster you should play.

So your dice luck alone got you to power rating 10, which is the rating of the Wyrm. By contrast, Matt's dice luck gave him a power rating of zero, which his cards boosted at least to 2 thru their contribution, since his Warlock was a power rating 2.

As far as the vote that led to Wyrm, the "More Powerful than the DM realizes" card had little to do with it. His first three preferences, in order, were Centaur, Ghost, and Vampire.

Your "Gnome MU" card was looking for magical types, obviously.

Your other four cards, "Dwarven Fighter", "Berzerker", "Not a Mu", and "Disdainful Outsider" all ranked a constellation of primitive but tough monsters first, of which Wyrm was the second most powerful. If you had had a slightly higher power rating, you would have been playing a Shoggoth.

So there's a little insight into how you got to be a Wyrm.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The Diary (and a digression about 1982)

Digression first. Turns out my copy of Star Frontiers is copyright 1982. So I was mistaken or bluffing.

The diary....

************************************************

The Kingdom of Harmony and the Dragon of Discord

A Fairy Tale
by Lyse Clavington

Once upon a time, the Kingdom of Harmony was a fair land on a green hill. It was threatened constantly by the Dragon of Discord, but the King of Harmony always defended it with the loyalty of the Orchestra of Harmony, and with the aid of the Princess of the Fiddle, and with the help of the Prince of the Kingdom of Melody. And so in spite of the Dragon all lived happily.

Then one day an Evil Counselor came to the Continent of Music. He told the Prince of Melody that his tune was growing stale, and advised that he should seek for a new theme, and so the Prince of Melody set out for distant parts.

Then the Evil Counselor came to the Kingdom of Harmony, and telling one thing to one instrument and a different thing to another, he soon had the sections of the Orchestra bickering. When next the Dragon of Discord came to threaten the Kingdom the King was afraid, for the loyalty of the Orchestra was in doubt, and the Prince of Melody was nowhere to be found. The Princess of the Fiddle advised him to be true to the Music, but the Evil Counselor gained his ear, and told him that he could win the loyalty of the Orchestra back if he passed certain new laws.

So the King of Harmony implemented new polices, saying that each instrument would henceforth play whatever tune came into its heart, without regard to what the rest of the Orchestra might be playing. And the instruments were delighted, and played many wild tunes, and quickly made a great Disharmony. When the Dragon attacked again the King was defeated. Then the Dragon ensorceled the King to look like a dragon himself, and locked him in a dark dungeon, and the Kingdom was usurped by a Dark King wearing an emerald on his left hand. The Princess of the Fiddle was told she must marry the Dark King, and when she refused she was cast into an enchanted sleep.

So it was when the Prince from the Kingdom of Melody returned from distant parts, still looking for a new theme, that he did not recognize the Kingdom of Harmony. It was swathed in shadows, the sun only rarely peeking in, and he thought he was in a land he had never seen before.

Entering by the main road up the hill, he was set upon by the Percussion Section, who had become completely lost in their own sounds, and so they attempted to beat all that they encountered. At first he cut them down with his sword, but they rose and attacked him again, so he fled further into the Kingdom.

Meeting as he thought a poor beggar, who was actually the Evil Counselor in disguise, he asked what malady lay on the land. The Evil Counselor told him that an evil dragon threatened the land, and that the good king was at his wits end to find a champion to rescue the kingdom. For the Evil Counselor and the Dark King and the Dragon plotted to have the Prince of Melody slay his friend the King of Harmony, so that they might have the Kingdom forever.

So the Prince was sent to meet the Dark King, who asked him to destroy the brood of dragon eggs and thus save the Kingdom. But the glamour of a brood of dragon eggs had been cast on the Wellspring of Rhythm in the hope that the Prince would destroy it. But the knights of the Dark King were surly, with howling wolves painted on their shields, and the Prince was uncertain, and so went to one side and set upon a boulder to think about his situation.

And while he sat, pondering what to do, lo, the boulder spoke to him, and offered him sage advice. “Oh, Prince,” the boulder said, “if only you knew the true peril of this kingdom, you would not be in doubt.” And it laid out the whole situation. But the Prince was still uncertain, and seeing this the boulder said, “If you will not believe me, then seek the Princess of the Fiddle, in her enchanted sleep, and waken her by apologizing for the wrong you have done this Kingdom by listening to the Evil Counselor, and then she will tell you the same.”

But the Prince wasn’t sure that he wanted to listen to a rock, and so he went to see the clutch of dragon eggs for himself, to see if it was really just a glamour thrown on the Wellspring of Rhythm. On the way there he met Bruno, the Prince of Harmony, who had been enchanted to believe that he was the son of the Dark King. Bruno was accompanied by a troop of goblins, and he abused the Prince of Melody, and said, “I stand in defiance of my father, the Dark King, and as you serve him you may not come to the brood of dragon eggs, for if my father hates them they must be precious.”

So the Prince of Melody turned away, and came to what had been the Waters of Composition. There he found the Evil Counselor surrounded by his minions, the bullfrog men, who were croaking and cavorting in the Waters and polluting them. At last recognizing the Evil Counselor for what he was, the Prince attacked, but the bullfrog men were too strong for him, and he was forced to flee. Skirting the edge of the hill, he came to a field a black flowers, that had a heavy scent.

Among the black flowers grew the many reeds of the Woodwind Section, but the flowers muffled the air and all was silent. Occasionally one of the reeds would rouse itself long enough to take a deep breath from one of the flowers, but then it would go right back to sleep. The Prince attempted to waken one of them, but all he could get from it was, “Try the flowers; they’re prettier than music....” This seemed like nonsense to the Prince, but the scent of the flowers was strong, and it made the Prince woozy. Just as he was about to succumb, he saw the bullfrog men lurking nearby, planning to capture him once he fell asleep, so he made off once more.

He next came to the Village of the Strings, but it was abandoned. The Prince recognized the Village, and became convinced at last that he was in the Kingdom of Harmony, although it was much changed. He regretted not taking the advice of the boulder, and feeling that he had fooled up everything he went into the inn, and throwing himself on a table he wept.
But the boulder, being a worthy stone, had not given up on the Prince, and it sent three Spirits to comfort him, these being Faith, Hope, and Love. Faith and Hope began to search the Kingdom for any sign of the Prince, while Love went to the east end of the Kingdom to try to raise the sun. And at the inn Hope found the Prince, and said to him, “Do not despair, for you have allies in this place. Even now, my sister Love is seeking to waken the sun so that light can return to this land.” The Prince found this somewhat heartening, and hoping that it was true, he decided to go to the east end of the Kingdom to see for himself, and perhaps to help if he might.

On the way he ran into a company of the Dark King’s knights, with the wolfen shields, and when he sought to pass they stopped him and said, “Where now are you off to? The brood of dragon eggs is to the south; that is your errand.” He didn’t want to let them know that he had been tipped off, so he merely nodded, but they became suspicious and when he left they pursued him.

Thinking to escape them, he took refuge in a tower along the way, but they saw and laughed, for it was a tower full of evil wizards, who had been set by the Evil Counselor to pretend to be servants of the dragon, feigning that they were protecting the dragon’s eggs. The Prince of Melody didn’t know what to make of the wizards, who seemed evil and yet also seemed to oppose the Dark King, but just then the sun broke through the clouds for a moment, and shone down on the Kingdom. The wizards vanished, and out the window of the tower the Prince saw through the glamour of the dragon eggs, and sighted the Wellspring of Rhythm.

Thinking quickly, before the clouds could overcome the sun again, the Prince rallied all the servants in the tower, and showing them the Wellspring he got them to agree to defend it against the evil ones who sought its destruction. When a moment later the sun was gone, the wizards appeared again, but the servants rose up against them and bound them.

The Prince asked the servants where the easternmost point of the Kingdom was, but they didn’t know, being of the tribe of the Horns and thus thinking mostly about themselves, so they sent him to their kin, who lived nearby, but even though they lived in the east of the Kingdom they didn’t know it, also being Horns, and thus were unable to help him. Searching among their dwellings, he came upon a monolith, and he recognized it as the Ancient Metronome, although it was not in motion as it had been in happier days, but rather sat silent and foreboding in the darkness. Now he knew where he was, near the northeast corner of the Kingdom, but the darkness confused his sense of direction.

At the Metronome the spirit of Faith found him, and she chastised him for being wayward, and for having previously taken the advice of the Evil Counselor. She warned him also that the Wellspring was in danger, as the Dark King had discovered what the Prince had done at the tower of the wizards, and while the Horns there would protect the Wellspring from the east, other guardians were needed on the west, lest the Dark King send his wolfen knights to destroy it from that side. But Faith counseled that the Prince first seek Love at the east end of the Kingdom, for the Dark King would not act rashly, hoping still for an easier victory, and Love’s wisdom would be vital in countering the Dark King, the Evil Counselor, and the Dragon of Discord.

Taking this advise and following the direction he was given, the Prince of Melody sought the South east spur of the hill on which the Kingdom rested, and there he found Love striving with the clouds that covered the Kingdom. The spirit greeted him warmly, and said, “As many shadows lay upon the Kingdom, if you wished to restore Harmony you must first awaken the Princess of the Fiddle, by apologizing for your previous error in heeding the Evil Counselor. She sleeps in the Tower of the Archer, and will tell you much concerning the Kingdom’s peril.”

Returning toward the center of the Kingdom, the Prince came upon Bruno, guarding the brood of dragon eggs. Now he recognized him as the son of the King of Harmony, and he tried to reason with him, but Bruno would not listen. So at last the Prince of Melody said, “At least hear this, then. I am sorry for the role I have played in the fall of the Kingdom of Harmony, and I go now to make amends as I may.” Bruno was clearly moved by this, but would not relent in his enmity toward the Prince, and sent him on his way.

The darkness grew, and the Prince had much difficulty in finding his way. At the darkest hour, he came to the castle where once the King of Harmony had lived, but which was now the abode of the Dark King. Now the spell of the Dark King had a weakness, which was that in the darkest hour his wolfen knights must sleep, and so the Prince of Melody found the Dark King undefended, and slew him with his sword. Then, having regained his bearings by finding the castle, he quickly traveled to the Tower of the Archer.

The Princess of the Fiddle was fast asleep, but when the Prince sought to go to her to apologize, he was set upon by ogres that had been set to guard the Princess. The ogres were actually the knights of Prince Bruno, but they had been ensorceled along with so much else, but still they guarded the Princess.

The Prince of Melody fell upon the ogres with his sword, and cut his way through to the Princess. And as soon as he had apologized she awoke, and just then the sun broke through the clouds again. The Princess gave the Prince many sheets of music, which recorded the Symphony that was needed to free the Kingdom of Harmony, and she led him to the Village of the Strings, where Bruno was waiting for them.

When Bruno saw that the Princess was restored, he became more friendly toward the Prince of Melody, but was still somewhat skeptical, and so he set him a test, saying, “Go now to the west of the Kingdom, near where the dragon lies chained, and find my princely circlet and return it to me, and then I will believe that you are truly a friend of me and of the Kingdom.”

Just then the clouds overcame the sun again, and the Village was plunged into darkness, and Bruno vanished. But the Prince was undaunted, and reassured by the spirit of Hope he set out toward the west, but before he could go very far, he was set upon once again by the Percussion Section, who beat him soundly, and who drove him to take shelter in the Great Amphitheater.

Now the Evil Counselor had set a troop of actors in the Great Amphitheater to confound any who might come hither, and to serve as the gaolers of the String Section, who were imprisoned in the underworld there. The actors attempted to confuse the Prince, but he consulted the Symphony and realized their deception. Pretending to be taken in, he wandered about the Amphitheater, admiring its construction, until he came to a place where he heard the plaintive call of the Strings from the underworld. By a stratagem he distracted the actors, and going to the underworld he broke open the door and freed the Strings. As they attempted to flee, the actors fell upon them, and the Prince slew many with his sword, scattering the rest.

As the Prince returned to the Village of the Strings with the freed prisoners, the sun broke through the clouds again for a few moments, and Bruno appeared and thanked him for rescuing the Strings, but then asked harshly for his princely circlet. The Strings took the Prince of Melody to the nearby Tower of Healing, where all his hurts from the beating of the Percussion Section were tended. Then they gave him a uniform from the Bird’s Eye Messenger Service to protect him from the Percussion Section, and sent him west once more. But before he departed he spoke with the Princess of the Fiddle once more, and she told him to keep his eyes peeled for a pink flower shaped like a flamingo, and that if he saw such he should bring one away, but she would not say why.

When the Percussion Section came at him again, they saw the Fermatas on his shoulders, and they held. Then going to the Drumming Circle, the Prince saw that all the staves of music there were in disarray, with the notes all jumbled, as the Percussion Section had little need of notes, using only markings of rhythm. So the Prince set about correcting the staves, but at this the Percussion section attacked again, attempting to deliver a beating, but the Prince defended himself with his sword, and soon had the staves straight. Then the Percussion Section shook themselves, and realized that they had been under a spell, and they thanked the Prince and showed him the white bandleader uniform that they guarded, telling him that it would be his once he had brought the other sections back into Harmony. And they gave him a silver cymbal as a weapon against the darkness.

Going now to the high western peak of the Kingdom, the Prince found the ruins of what had been Bruno’s home, and there he fought a wild pack of sixteenth notes, a full measure, and gained possession of the princely circlet. In a nearby dale he also found the pink flower spoken of by the Princess of the Fiddle, and plucked one. It had a strange and refreshing scent. He returned to the Village of the Strings, but Bruno was not there, and the spirit of Hope told him that Bruno had gone back to the Wellspring of Rhythm, to defend it. Leaving the pink flower with the Princess, he departed.

The Prince hurried on along the Bass Line, one of the central roads of the Kingdom (the other being the Melody Line), and he came to the boulder on which he had earlier sat. Seeing his benefactor he stopped for a moment, intending to tell it all that had transpired, but the boulder shushed him, saying, “Time is short, and the Wellspring of Rhythm is threatened. Hurry you to the Sheet Music Library and there find what you must seek.”

The Prince hurried down the Bass Line, but just as he came to the gates of the Library he was attacked by bullfrog men, hurrying from the castle. He laid about him with his sword, and won through the gates, slamming them in the faces of the bullfrog men. But when he turned, he was suddenly set upon by the ghosts of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, and they were fresh from the grave and were terrible to behold, having been recruited by the Evil Counselor to prevent the use of the Library. The Prince’s sword was of little use against the decomposers, and there was a great chase up and down the stacks, until finally the sun broke through the clouds again and the decomposers were frozen, and the librarians came out from where they had been singing the blues in the jazz section and bound up the decomposers, and they agreed that they would guard the Wellspring of Rhythm from the west just as the Horns were doing from the east. And the spirit of Faith flew in the window, and stood waiting, and when the Prince inquired, she said, “The Princess of the Fiddle bids me say that the plight of the Woodwinds grows urgent, and she wishes you to go and consult with the spirit of Love and bring back a token as she directs.” The Prince said he would see to it as soon as he was able.

The clouds covered the sun again, and the Prince of Melody went to the Wellspring, still covered by the glamour of dragon eggs. There he met Bruno and gave him his princely circlet, and the spell on Bruno was broken and he realized all that had happened, and apologized for his previous surly behavior, and the Prince apologized again for having left the Kingdom in the lurch during the last attack of the Dragon of Discord, and Bruno said that was quite all right, but that there was still work to do and that they should both be about it. With this the Prince agreed, and he set off at once for the South east spur of the hill, where he found the spirit of Love.

The Prince told Love of his errand, that he sought a token to aid the Woodwinds. She directed him to the tribe of the Horns, saying, “In their keeping, in their Hall of Law, they keep a book on the mathematics of harmonics. Inspired by this book, you will be enabled to aid the Woodwinds.” So the Prince set out again, and as he passed the Ancient Metronome on the way to the Hall of Law, he again met the spirit of Faith, and she warned him, saying, “Take care once you have the book of mathematics in your possession, for the Evil Counselor will know of it at once and will send his minions to waylay you.”

The Horns were quite willing that he should take the book, after a certain amount of the prideful bickering that is common among their kind. Heading back to the Village of the Strings, the Prince took a roundabout way, hoping to avoid the minions of the Evil Counselor, but it did no good. He was set upon in a dark place by many bullfrog men and the remnant of the actors from the Great Amphitheater, and they tried to slay the Prince or take the book, but he hewed left and right with his sword and made good his escape, returning to the Village. There the Princess of the Fiddle advised him on exactly what he must do to waken the Reeds of the Woodwind Section, saying, “The bullfrog men have poisoned the Waters of Composition, so you must first cleanse them with the pink flower. Then the silver cymbal must be washed in the Waters, at the very center, to give them the song they must sing. Then, armed with the knowledge in the book of mathematics you must take the cymbals and use them to waken the Reeds in the very center of their field.”

After studying the book of mathematics for half an hour he took the pink flower shaped like a flamingo and the silver cymbal given him by the Percussion Section, and he went and wakened the Reeds of the Woodwind section. Afterward at his advice the Reeds set fire to the black flowers so that they should not succumb again.

And the sun broke through the clouds, shining brightly, and the clouds were banished from the center of the Kingdom, though they continued to linger to the east and to the west.

Returning to the Village of the Strings, the Prince of Melody sought the advice again of the Princess of the Fiddle, and the spirit of Hope, but Hope was not there, having gone to a rock concert that the Horns were throwing. The Prince said, “Well, my task seems mostly done, as the four Sections of the Orchestra of Harmony are now free again, and the Dark King is thrown down, and the Wellspring of Rhythm is protected. Why do clouds linger to the east and to the west?”

The Princess answered him, “The clouds to the west linger because the King of Harmony still lies in prison, and the clouds to the east linger because the Evil Counselor is not overthrown, but still hides in the castle that should belong to the King. Please take your sword, and slay the Evil Counselor before he makes more mischief.” So the Prince went and did this, and he fought a great battle with that last of the actors and the bullfrog men, and finally cornered the Evil Counselor by his throne and cut off his head, so that he would never again counsel anyone evilly. And the clouds to the east of the Kingdom were banished.

Then returning to the west, accompanied now by the spirits of Faith, Hope, and Love, he stopped at the Circle of Drumming to don the white bandleader uniform, and then he went to the western end of the Kingdom, where the Dragon of Discord lurked at bay, holding the King prisoner. And with the help of the spirits, and protected by the white bandleader uniform, he was able to slay the Dragon of Discord.

Then he struck the chains from the King of Harmony, and the two friends embraced and apologized to one another for their failures in their early dealings with the Evil Counselor. And the King of Harmony told the Prince of Melody that he could have any reward he named, and knowing that the King was soon to wed the Princess of the Fiddle, the Prince asked to be the bartender at the wedding.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Should I post diary?

I was thinking of posting the text of the diary that Chugs found at the end of last night's session, and wondered what you guys thought.

Upsides: It would help you guys follow the game better, and it would save time during play, since you wouldn't have to read it then.

Downside: It might violate people's sense of realism, since you would gain access to the information so rapidly in game time? (I don't think this would bother me).


What do you guys thing?

Friday, August 25, 2006

Asshole Game Theory Matrix

http://www.4blockworld.com/2006/08/religious_demog.html

This is not well thought out, in a blatant enough way that right away I knew this guy was an asshole.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Brilliant Game Theory Matrix

http://www.4blockworld.com/2006/08/dirty_harry.html

This is impressively thought out, in a subtle enough way that I wondered at first if it was a mistake.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Gaming Recommendations

I've had a lot of times on my hands while in Denver, so I thought I'd give some recommendations. Of course, this is nothing but a blatant attempt to get other guys I know involved so I have more cool opponents. :)

The first is the CCG Workshop. This is the same outfit that does the Vampire TES online. But, if you download their main engine there's a whole bunch of card and board games you can play for free. I've been playing Mythos online, you get access to all of the cards. Other games of interest to our group include: Babylon 5 CCG, Doomtrooper CCG (they are still making "virtual" expansions), Abduction card game (the one that you own Shawn), Kult CCG, Shadowfist CCG and even Mille Borne. It takes a little to get the hand of the interface, but it's pretty fun. You want broadband, because it takes a while to download all the card art for each game. I'd love to play any games with someone if you contact me.

Ok, no one was interested in Horror Clix. I've fallen in love with another mini's game called Dreamblade. It's the mini's game that could have been designed by Clive Barker. I have enough to show anyone the game.

Yes Shawn, I'm a freak. But I'm your freak.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Order of the Stick!

Whilst at GenCon, I discovered a very cool and funny comic. They were selling collections of the strips in book form there at the con, but all of the strips are available on the web (minus some bonus material in the books) here: http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html

As with many things, the second arc is funnier than the first, but I recommend going back and starting with strip number one and reading it through (though, you will probably not be able to read them all in one sitting, there are about 340 at this time).

It's hilarious at times.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

HorrorClix Anyone?

Ok. I'm interested in getting into the upcoming game: HorrorClix. But only if at least one of my fine gamer friends is interested in it also. So, I'm trying to see if anyone else is willing to get into collection little monster figs and playing the game with me. I wouldn't expect you to mortgage the house to play, but at least a starter and maybe a couple of boosters. So, anyone else interested?

You can get all the teaser information in the link above.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Someone with more time...

Check out the VASSAL Engine. It's for playing online board games. If you go to the module page, you'll see a huge list of games it supports, including things like Talisman 3rd edition with expansions. I don't have a lot of time right now, but I'll give a report when I try it out.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Dust to Dust

I'm ready to run a one shot on Monday. This will be using the New World of Darkness rules, so bring a fistfull of D10's.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

War of the Ring

I'm looking for a few good men (and orcs, elves, dwarves, and hobbits.) If anyone wants to play the super cool "War of the Ring" board game with me let me know. Looking for opponents this week on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday night, or anytime on Sunday. Don't worry my record is 1-4, including two losses to people I was teaching how to play.

Tim

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Um, we/I made a mistake...

Ok, I was reviewing the rules a bit this evening.... and found something that is making me sick to my stomach.
Even as a Kraken, Delphino is not allowed to take any Elemental Mastery until SEASONED rank, and then only one element a rank (which I have been following.)

Since Delphino just became a Veteran, this means that he is technically only allowed to have 2 elements max, not all 4.

Shouldn't have started w/ one and shouldn't have been able to purchase one in the Novice Level.

I am wondering how to correct this, since it obviously has impacted game play.

I am really sorry guys.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

King Zombie

Shawn Beta called me. He wants to get together a "Zombie March" in Iowa City. What's a Zombie March you say?

Well, Beta has a website all about it.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Don't Let Brad be the Only One....

Who gets the extra XP!

XP opportunity:

Write up your characters story of the "Battle of Brigandy Bay." Incorporate all those individual rolls and tell us what really happened. You don't even have to narrate the whole story, just pick a great dramatic moment of you prefer. I'm only looking for a couple of paragraphs, not necessarily a novella. (but go ahead if the mood strikes) People can team up if they feel their characters acted mostly together. This must be posted here before my run session is up.

--Tim

Monday, April 24, 2006

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Punishing myself

I was looking at my character sheet the other day and realized that I had made a mistake during the bar fight. I thought my spirit was d8 but it's my smarts that's d8. I was rolling a d8 for becoming unshaken, which was wrong. Because of that, I will be docking myself the xp I got from my bennies last session, since I may not have had them if I hadn't been making that mistake.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Here's Our Big Chance

The Sci-Fi Channel is looking for contestants for a show called Who Wants to Be A Superhero. Here's the pitch: "All you'll need is an original idea for a superhero, a killer costume, and some real superhero mojo. The winner of this six-week competition will walk away with their superhero immortalized in a new comic book created by Stan Lee himself. It gets better: The winning character will also appear in an original SCI FI Channel movie! In nationwide open casting calls, potential heroes will arrive in costume to prove their mettle — revealing the true nature of their superhuman abilities and invoking the noble credos by which they live."

http://www.scifi.com/superhero/

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Goodies Galore

Lord Frederick, in addition to giving each of you a shiny medal, will probably see fit to give each of you...something else besides that medal.

For instance, he seems very keen on finding Ulfred a Best Craftsmanship Breastplate.

What sorts of things are other people looking for? If it's a reasonable request, he'll probably come through for you.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Journal- Final two sessions

Journal- End Game

We followed up the lead she gave us and invaded the warehouse lair of the fiendish Carlott. It was clearly a trap, but we had no choice but to spring it. Six archers appeared above us and began to rain arrows down on us. I was able to get two quick kills right away, but then they began to target me more seriously making it more difficult for me to aim. Ulfred charged the door in an attempt to break it down, but failed and was struck down by an arrow. Volkrad took an arrow to the head and collapsed unconscious as well. Luckily Furdok and Konrad managed to get up to where the snipers were and began to engage them, allowing me to finish off the last couple of archers. Carlott then appeared, but fled when she saw her thugs were being cut down. I pursued her, but she got away. Still, her cult was smashed and posters of her face are now plastered all about town, so I’m sure her capture is only a matter of time.

Luckily, neither Volrad nor Ulfred were seriously injured; I was able to use my healing arts on them and they recovered satisfactorily. We then went home to rest from a night of conflict. The next day we went to see Maximillian Saer for the first time and got some relatively useful information, most pertinent of which was that he had had an affair with Klara Roban. We spoke to her as well, but she was completely intransigent and went so far as to imply that we were chaotic ourselves.

We went back to our inn, and after a little while the thief we had tracked down earlier, Solveig Thudrin, came to talk to us. She offered us the information that the same person who had hired her had also hired a man she knew named Andreas who also hung out at the Cockpit. She was very nice and gave us this information for free. Perhaps she felt guilty about robbing us? It’s hard to tell. You think you have these Men figured out, and they go and do something completely unexpected.

So we went to talk to Andreas who told us that the man who had hired him had gone by the name of Master Helsig, and had an office at the Empire House! Andreas had hauled several crates across town for him, through a side door there at the Empire House and to an office inside. He was payed well and never knew what was inside. We decided to investigate this lead next.

Knowing Lord Frederick knows EVERYONE who is anyone is ALtdorf, we went to see him yet again in order to secure entrance to the Empire House. This proved to be very easy, and we followed the directions that Andreas had given us to the side door he had gone through and thence to the office.

Except it wasn’t an office, it was a broom closet. Some of us began to have a sneaking suspicion that we’d been had. I was not sure myself, but Ulfred suggested we look for a secret door within the closet. To be honest, I thought that idea was silly…I mean, it seemed unreasonable to assume that there was some hidden chamber within the seat of Altdorf’s law enforcement center. And yet, once he made the suggestion, I rather halfheartedly stepped in to the closet and glanced around for the tell-tale sign of a hidden door.

To my surprise, there was one there, clear as day. To me anyway, the others did not seem to see it. I don’t know why, but I seem to be better than the Men and the dwarf at finding things concealed. Perhaps it comes of my life in the forest, where everything you need to survive or which is trying to kill you is usually well-hidden. You must learn to see the inobvious or you won’t see much of anything for long.

Once I pointed it out though, Ulfred saw it right away though it wasn’t until I pulled it open that the others could really see it. Behind it was a set of stone stairs leading down into a large chamber festooned with blasphemous symbols and a perfidious altar. While the others went to explore it for clues, I stood watch at the foot of the stairs in case someone stumbled upon us. Which, someone did.

Or rather, I should say, something. A demon appeared in a burst of flame at the top of the stairs and flew shrieking down the steps at me. I shouted to Volkrad to run, but he apparently did not see what I had seen and stood confused, only turning at the last minute as the fiend swooped at him. Luckily he ducked its claw and managed to stumble out of its way as Furdok and Konrad courageously charged it head on. Poor Lord Frederick, however, was not prepared for his first encounter face to face with Chaos, and fled as far as he could get to the other side of the room. Ulfred ran with him, determined to make sure Lord Frederick was safe and unharmed before he returned to bravely face the menace.

Now veteran daemonslayers, we five used every means at our disposal to quickly dispatch the creature, though several were dearly wounded in the process. Still, when the battle was over we stood victorious. I quickly began to see to the various injuries.

While I was doing so, that foul Bright Mage Wolfgang Shennect crept down the stairs and came upon us, tossing flaming death at Furdok, Konrad, and Ulfred! I knew he was evil! I knew it! Somehow, the three managed to survive the onslaught, and I began to shower Wolfgang with arrows while they gathered their wits about them long enough to charge him to prevent him from casting anymore of his flaming balls. His magic was powerful, however, and most of our blows seemed to do little or no damage to him. Soon, he was attempting to end Furdok’s life with a magical flaming blade he summoned.

With every spell he cast, Lord Fredrick was forming a crafty idea in his head. Finally he rushed over to the altar and smashed a small idol into pieces which he had seen there. Immediately, all of Wolfgang’s spells ended, and without them he was easily dispatched to his deserved reward. Apparently, the Lord had noticed that every time Wolfgang cast, the idol’s eyes would glow, and had rightly determined it to somehow be the source of his power. We congratulated him on his first victory over the forces of evil!

Flush with this achievement, he offered us the use of his manor house to rest and recuperate in for the remainder of our stay in Altdorf, which we gladly accepted. The next day Johann Shmidt came to see him. Looking back on what I have written before, I see that I neglected to mention him. We met him on a previous visit to Lord Frederick’s, and found him to be adventuresome but somewhat shallow. At first when I heard his name I thought he was the man we had met at the Three Feathers, but he was not. Apparently there are two Johann Shmidts!

Anyway, he was looking for action, and so we had invited him along with us but had, on that particular day, failed to find anyone who wanted to kill us (somehow). So he had left us rather in a huff. On this day, after the Lord regaled him with the tale of our various exploits the previous days, he was once again eager to join us. He mentioned that he had known adventurers before (adventurers? Is that really what we are? What a strange idea…I did not set out to have an adventure. I never have. Adventure, if that is indeed what you would call this non-stop attempt by the tides of Chaos to slay us, has just kind of happened to me. Us. I think most of us would rather be safe at home drinking ale or reading a tome. But alas, destiny seems to have other plans for us.) which made me perhaps wonder if he did not know the person we were seeking who had the ritual which could destroy the dagger.

By great luck, he did! Finally we managed to track down at least one of the people who had spent time traveling with the Kin from Ulthuan we had heard about. He told us he knew a Gabrielle Marsner, an Amethyst magister, who had indeed been part of such a group not too long past. We went to speak with her, and she told us that she did indeed have such a ritual and was willing to help us destroy the dagger.

The only obstacle which remained was Gottri Hammerfist, the insane dwarf (to be clear, I mean MORE insane than the average dwarf) witch hunter. We had to get him out of the way, and the only thing that seemed reasonable was to have him committed to someplace where Shallya could ease his mind of it’s burdens. However, that would require Klara.

She was firmly in Gottri’s court, but after giving it some thought I decided to try a desperate gamble in order to sway her to our point of view. I had to go see her alone, but for some reason Furdok demanded I give him 20 gold crowns for the privilege. See what I mean about their sanity? Well, I rather understood where he was coming from actually which really worries me. He was trying to make a point about trust…mainly, he did not trust me to make the right call with Klara. So I guess he was willing to trust me with the task if I was willing to trust him with my money. Gold means a lot to them, so I guess it was a big deal that I handed it over. I really don’t care about it too much, honestly, but in any case I was confident I could see this thing through successfully.

I went to see her, and I’m afraid I will have to keep the details of our conversation to myself for now, just in case someone reads this. Suffice it to say that she and I shared some things which made her see things in a new light. Once I told her that Gottri was claiming the entire Light College was a nest of cultists, she finally agreed he could use some “rest”, and agreed to set things in motion.

Unfortunately, Lady Baern stepped right in the way, preventing it from going through. After some desperate discussion amongst ourselves, we convinced Lord Frederick that the only way to get her to sway on this would be to give her a medal to get her the recognition she believed she deserved. We went to see her and informed her, obliquely, that if she were to cease to be an obstacle in Gottri’s remission to a Shallyan asylum, she would be awarded a medal in a public ceremony at the Gorgon Club along with several others who had gloriously thwarted the forces of chaos. She ate it up, and soon had agreed to allow Gottri to get some “rest”.

Finally, we got the dagger from Messner and delivered it and the things needed for the ritual to Gabrielle in the old cemetery. It was a long ritual, and we brought along Johann in case the dagger tried to bring help to prevent it’s destruction. Luckily, the only thing it could manage was another daemon, this one seemingly less difficult to slay than the one we had destroyed in Middenheim. Johann was no use, however, as he fled screaming from it at first sight. We killed it of course, but I can’t help noting that the ritual Gabrielle cast to destroy the dagger had nearly the exact same result, perceptually anyway, as the ritual which Liebnitz used to release the demon from the skull. We killed that demon, but were told the essence still survived and was loose in the world. Is the dagger’s essence truly destroyed, or has that escaped as well?

In any case, it seems certain that the third artifact lies in the path of our destiny as well. The questions are where is it, what is it, and who has it? Though I long to get out of this city, I fear we may be here for a while as those questions are answered. Meanwhile, I worry about the cultists which escaped us. Somebody burned down Gottri’s house, and the thing which disturbs me is that it happened after Wolfgang’s death. We had told him Gottri was standing in the way of our obtaining the dagger, and I would have expected a fiend like him to try to kill Gottri to get him out of the way, and fire would certainly be his modus operandi. So is there another corrupt Bright Mage out there who did not realize his Master had been killed?

You can’t trust anyone who works so closely with the winds of Aqshy, and now Volkrad has become one of them. I worry a great deal about this. I will need to keep an eye on him, for I fear that he may be led astray by the passions of fire in the same way Wolfgang was. I hope that he can contain the destructive urge which is such an integral part of the Lore of Fire.