Episode 51: Convention GMing

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If you are the volunteering type, you may have been roped into volunteering to run games at a convention! Convention GMing is its own peculiar species of GMing and requires a different set of tricks than you may use for your own home game! This week, we have a special guest – Bull the Best Ork Decker you’ve never met, is joining the Seize the GM crew to talk about running games at conventions and what sort of adjustments may be needed for you to take on this vaunted task.

 

  1. Be aware of time! At a convention, you are more a slave to the time of the session.  Each convention is a space premium so how you keep a group on track at a convention is a specific task of steering them in the right direction without it being rails. Both the people running the game and the players have other events to get to! Keep a clock handy and don’t be afraid of asking the players to tighten up the game.
  2. Know what Paths are Available! Each story and each scene has a way in and a way out – know that those ways out are more limited and know what the ways forward are. Players are creative; let their ideas find one of the existing paths or make sure they fail spectacularly.
  3. Deal with Players who may derail! Start by taking the attention of the player privately.  Have a quick conversation off table about how they are disrupting it for the rest of the players. If you have a room captain, make sure you know how to get their attention and what it takes to have someone removed from a room.
  4. Engage All The Players at the table! Give every player an opportunity to act with agency and to engage the game.  Make sure the chance is there but don’t force the issue. Everyone is there to have fun so make sure everyone has an opening to be involved. Be aware of any limitations or assistance a player needs in the hectic chaos of the game room.
  5. Take Care of Yourself! Don’t forget bio breaks, water, coffee, and snacks that you need to be a functional humans. Give yourself mental space to decompress or to be able to handle confrontational players – talk; stretch your legs; get to a place you can be simple.

 

Bull’s Contact info

Facebook

Twitter

 

Stat Blocks

Zendead- Grouper

 

In the darkness after the collapse of the world generations will pass before they can truly start to rebuild. But even then the people that will come out of it will have changed. Maybe from the fallout maybe from the shift of the poles. But for some reason mystical energy has flooded the planet. This is the world Grouper lives in. She is the truest Urban Primitive. She has made this urban wasteland her home finding relics of the lost time. Finding her in this place is possible if you have read the signs.

 

Grouper is unique in that she is trying to rebuild a society. She uses her talents and her true power to get wanders to come to find her and her tribe. Her true power is maybe mystical or maybe it is a mutation, but it is powerful. She is able to shape concrete and metal and glass into shapes that it has never been in. Also the scale is part as well. When she takes and molds the old structures of the lost age into symbols and language that you can see from outside of the old places. These tell you where you can find her or places she can find you. Do you look for her. Of course you do that watercan isn’t going to fill itself after all.

 

Joules – Crystal Hearts

 

They’ve corrupted everything loved and cherished..

All treasured memories covered in sludge and tar.

All protections lost.

Then there is a light.

It’s warm.  Almost too bright to look at. There’s a figure there.  A silhouette so sharp you could almost cut your finger on the edge.  

The Crystal Hearts. A subset butterfly warriors. They are the most powerful warriors that fight against the denizens of closetland.  These are the children who combined their soul with the power of their belief. They are the only warriors from whom the seven kings flee. Even the Boogieman knows to give them a wide berth.

Why haven’t they won against the darkness?

 

Unfortunately it’s part of the pact they make when they merge their soul and their belief.  The Crystal Hearts… They burn so bright but for only half a lifetime. And they no longer can raise arms for themselves.  They can only raise arms on behalf of someone else. They can only go on the offensive in the act of defense. They no longer can defend themselves.  They can only defend someone else

 

How far would you go?  What would you risk? What keeps your fighting?  When everything is stripped from you, and you can no longer lift your arms to defend yourself?  How do you find the strength to fight on? Would you throw your life away to defend a weakling. A stranger.  A nobody.

 

Guard-a-Manger – The Most Glorious and Exalted Congress of Fine Fellows and Distinguished Ladies

 

Greetings and Salutations! Why, yes, you were expected here amongst your fellows.  Who am I? Oh, that should be not of your concern, young Master. I am not more than furniture and not less than a butler.  I buttle well.

You can place your coat and bag here in the foyer and I shall attend to them. Your meeting is about to begin and I would not want you to make a poor first impression at the table.  Why, yes, the study is down the hall and to the left young Master. You shan’t miss it opposite the globe in the hall. I do expect you are just in time to hear about the next stage of the plan.

Oh, it wouldn’t be my place to discuss that plan.  That is for you and your fellows who have made the preparations.  I will be just an observer to this and to the inevitable future. Oh, pish posh.  I am quite certain you are exactly where you should be.

That is of no matter that you hadn’t realized the congress was tonight.  Your arrival was ordained and, as I have already mentioned, you were expected.  

Now, off with you to the study! The dimensional rifts shan’t open without your vote!

I will bring along tea and crumpets presently.  

 

Nulloperations – The Coin of Cats and Dogs


It’s large for a coin, taking up your entire palm from pinky to thumb, and is embossed with the mold of a dog on one side and a cat on the other. As you turn it over though, you notice the size of the canine and feline figures seem to change, large, small, heavy, scrawny. Never quite the same, but distinctly cat on one side and dog on the other.

 

It’s only when you’re out on the town and trying to pass the time you notice something odd. First, as you’re holding the coin, any dog or cat you see seems to have a glow to them. Not a true light source, but as if the very colors radiating off them are set several stages higher. Your eyes are drawn to them.

 

And then you flipped the coin.

 

The coin lands cat side up, and the dog you look at suddenly shifts to an identical image of the impression of a cat. Large, fluffy, and all together very undog like. You pick up the coin and flip it again. Dog side, only this dog is leaner, muscular, like some noble’s hunting dog rather than the mutt that was digging through trash a moment ago. There’s a commotion and the dog runs before a set of city guards comes storming by. They’re all shouting a name, “Lord Paws,” as they rush past you. The fleeing dog stops a moment in recognition and starts to run back.

 

And then flip the coin again.

 

Cat side, only, the embossed image is much larger than a house cat. More muscular. Bulkier.
The tiger doesn’t look happy. You really hope you can flip the coin again before it reaches you.

 

Lexicon

 

Seminal  adjective  sem·i·nal \ ˈse-mə-nᵊl \

 

Definition of seminal
1 : of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen
2 : containing or contributing the seeds of later development

 

Origin and Etymology of seminal
Middle English, from Latin seminalis, from semin-, semen seed

 

First Known Use: 14th century

 

Popularity: Top 30% of words

Closing remarks

Zendead- Detroit: Become Human

 

Joules- Dark Souls Remastered

 

Guard-a-Manger- Blue Beetle – Specifically, the Jamie Reyes version and any of the collections of the first series that introduced him.  Quite simply, it was a reimagination of a concept that blended together golden, silver, and bronze age Beetle’s while also giving DC a great teenage hero to explore that coming of age story.

 

Nulloperations- Rereading Trader’s Tales From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper, by Nathan Lowell. Starting with Quarter Share, Half Share, and Full Share, it’s a currently 8 part series set during a future where star-faring merchant marines make a living sailing in and out of stellar gravity wells, trading goods. It’s a fascinating set of stories that center on Ishmael Wang, a recently orphaned colonist from a corporate planet now forced to get off world after the death of his mother. The stories are touching, a little corney at times, but overall charming.

 

Bull- State of Decay 2 – Zombie Action Survival Game with online play capacity across Platform and desktop computers.

Larry XL Origins Comedy Show

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

Find us

Show- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook

Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter

 

And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment

Find us on Patreon

Argonauts – Espionage

Espionage is another character about as old as Atomic Avenger because do you know what 11 year old boys like? Ninja! Especially super-ninja like the comic books and cartoons of the day would show.  Lo and behold, a ninja-like character sprung from my head complete with mysterious and shrouded pasts. The background story for Espionage has only changed minorly and his design has been refined but it remains a straightforward example of what I would term a “super soldier” or “generasupe” character.  As one of the originals, he is getting a Power Level bump each new volume so he is one of the two Power Level 12 characters in this Card Catalog Write Up.

A Super Ninja is just what every 11 year old needs

System Notes

Powers are going to be the lightest of the build areas for Espionage, partially because we will be heavily investing in Abilities.  Physically, as one of the premier hand to hand combatants in this world, a Fighting of 10 is our biggest splash with Agility and Dexterity of 7 each.  Strength and Stamina both come in at 5 making him a significantly impressive well rounded physical specimen. The remaining abilities don’t go below 3 either making him an all around better than average or even above average human.

Because there will be few powers involved, I am also spending a good chunk on increasing Defenses even without powers involved.  I’m going to raise his Dodge and Parry to a 12 which is going to end up better than most of the characters, but not as good as a moving Speedster.  Both Fortitude and Will are also getting an increase.

A quick note about Devices and Equipment – Equipment is purchased as an Advantage and will generally reflect normal, everyday items of use while a Device will be something that is more identified with the character.  Since his armor and his family sword are both items that have a story potential in them, I have them purchased as Devices/Powers for 3 and 5 points respectively. He also has 25 points of regular equipment he can carry with him for any of the adventures of missions. The most significant part of Espionage’s sheet are some of the least expensive – his Human Advancement powers of Retarded Aging and Regeneration.  These are a big part of his backstory and the world but are only 1 point each.

On advantages, there are a lot so I won’t go threw them all.  This is one place where a non super powered individual can even some of the scales.  AMong the notable Advantages our of the 20 or so on his sheet are the Benefit: Cipher which explains his tendency to be a mysterious individual and makes it harder for anyone to dig up his past; Hide in Plain SIght which allows him to make the sudden disappearances; and a host of Teamwork or Set Up advantages that are all used to enhance his field leader position in the Argonauts.

For skills, you may be surprised at the limited levels some of them have, such as Close Combat: Unarmed only having 4 ranks.  The level of attack is limited by your power level so that the damage plus the Ability and Skill cannot exceed twice the power level. This prevents a min-max approach on a single attack that is perfectly accurate and means characters who tend to have expanded fighting skills are not the most damaging.  The 9 ranks of Investigation is the largest skill total and besides what you would expect from a ninja-inspired character, I have also added Expertises in History, Politics, Law, Ikebana, and Calligraphy to round out his long life and show how he tries to leave his “day job” behind. He is about 3 points over, but I am going to let that stand as one of the “big guns” of this comic book world.

The Complications from Mutants and Masterminds blend the nature between the crunch of construction and the incoming character notes.  Every starting character has a Motivation and one other Complication which, if they come up in a session, may allow for Hero Points to be earned. Espionage’s Motivation is Responsibility because he feels that the current state of the world is his family’s fault or is his family’s legacy which he must contain.  For further complications, Espionage has Honor as something that will limit his actions, for all that he is a sneak around in the dark type, he won’t fight dirty or take advantage of an unfair situation. Since he has been around for a while, and through several reboots and volumes of the Argonauts book, we will also give Espionage Secret as his true family origin is something that would create all sorts of problems in the world and Enemy in the form of Slugger, who now heads a major political party and will be running for President shortly This all has to do with the character history.  

A bit of a later redesign

Character Notes

Espionage’s story does not start with him.  It instead begins with his father – Doughboy. Espionage’s father was the involuntary face of the United State’s war effort in the Great War as a soldier who happened to have been born as a more advanced human – one stronger, faster, tougher, and smarter than other humans.  His patriotism led him to the war effort, but the war effort nearly broke his idealism. The front lines and the gas and the horror of war left him needing to escape from what he knew. He went AWOL and settled into rural Japan, far away from the prying eyes of the United State’s. As you may have guessed, there was love, and there was a birth.  Ishikawa Kenichi Yohane was born in 1926 and had an unremarkable life for a decade.

In 1936, Doughboy was taken by agents for a group that called themselves American Patriots.  He was being returned to the United States because his body and powers may hold the key to future war efforts and future efforts in general.  Doughboy managed to keep them from ever seeing or knowing about his son, but he was gone from his son’s life. Kenichi’s mother told him the story and the truth about his father and that he also possessed the same gifts his father had shown.

The next decade of Ishikawa Kenichi’s life was difficult.  As Imperial Japan’s involvement in World War II began, his obviously mixed heritage was a liability.  He hid in the mountains of Japan and began to learn the ways of combat and of internal peace. One would not be taught without the other, and that was the price to pay for being sheltered and protected through the war.  After the war, and the horrors of the atomic bombs, Kenichi left Japan to travel across the face of the planet reshaped for a second time in only two and a half decades. By now, it was becoming apparent that he would not age like others would and the further he was from where his father stayed the safer his mother would be.   

For several decades, and under several names, Kenichi worked as a mercenary and explorer honing skills and contacts he has to this day but it was during this time that he was first introduced to agents of the Global Commonwealth Agency.  He began to work with them and for them helping the cold war never escalate too far, but also to use the GCA resources to try to find the American Patriots and possibly what happened to his father. It wasn’t until the 1980s that someone at the GCA put two and two together realizing that the nearly unaging Ishikawa Kenichi was actually Doughboy’s son.  And Espionage was born.

These American Patriots had been at work in the background for the past century, ensuring that they had influence across the the United States from corporate, to political, to social, and protecting Kenichi’s identity became imperative.  Under a mask and without a name, Espionage undertook covert action for the GCA becoming a legendary figure in the intelligence communities. When the Argonauts were formed, Kenichi was tapped by the GCA to be the field leader and to try to wrangle these disparate personalities into a team.  Stepping back into the light, even masked, has been difficulty especially with what he has learned since that day.

You’ve already heard how Kenichi has found that he cares for Anthony Chandler, Atomic Avenger, but what you haven’t heard in why Eidolon was hunting the Argonauts.  Slugger sent her to wipe out the Argonauts, but especially to make sure Espionage was brought back. The Argonauts were proving to be too great of a hindrance to the New Millenium Patriots, having rejected allegiance to just one country.  Slugger is not just the current leader of the New Millenium Patriots but is a successful clone of Doughboy. The NMP have successfully cloned Doughboy a handful of times and spliced his DNA into multitudes of others. Confronting the shadowy NMP after surviving Eidolon’s attacks, Slugger revealed himself to Espionage. He had put the pieces together and wanted to torment Kenichi. He told Kenichi about his own past claiming to be a truer heir to Doughboy’s legacy and teased that Doughboy was still alive in a lab, but that Ishikawa Kenichi would never see him again.

Espionage Character Sheet Here.

Argonauts Overview Here.

 

Additional character imagery from Hero Machine 3.

Mutants & Masterminds © Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. References to other copyrighted material in no way constitute a challenge to the respective copyright holders of that material. Mutants & Masterminds, Super-powered by M&M, Green Ronin, and their associated logos are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. Please also see the Open Game LIcense from Wizards of the Coast regarding the use of the d20 system and underlying components that are not designated product identity of Green Ronin Publishing.

Episode 50: Canon away

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Every game comes packed with an amount of story or canon to choose from, use, or ignore.  We look at how much we each use and what the pros or cons are of the different levels of story or fluff behind our favorite gaming settings.  

 

Guard-a-Manger – I probably start with 90 to 95% of existing canon as the basis for the campaign.  Have the structure within which to improvise, more jazz than jam band, is preferable to me and allows for greater storytelling.  As campaigns progress, that number tends to decrease because the players actions will have a butterfly effect on the rest of the world. For me, knowing what the world already has in it makes it easier to use that in the campaign.

 

Joules –  I get basic cannon from the core rule book.  

 

Zen – I start closer to the core book only and after that I want my players to help to make the game ours. I feel like if we build things together then we make things unique. If a game has no real cannon then you get to build it with the players and make all of it yours. But if the players love the canon then do what they want. Since in the end it is collaborative in nature.

 

Pros of High Canon– The established framework usually has story ideas falling off of it in droves.  There is a structure in which the players fit or conflict with to create a dynamic for the ongoing campaign. The more printed material for inspiration, the easier it is to expand the scope of the campaign without unbalancing it.

 

Cons of High Canon – Some worlds are so full and developed, there is little left to discover. Players may have trouble separating meta knowledge from character knowledge of the world or setting. Players and GMs may feel overly tied to maintaining the canon or being shackled to other peoples stories.

 

Pros of Low Canon– Unbridled freedom to do whatever you want.  If you or your players decide that you want to see what’s over that hill, it is entirely up to you to do so.  Nobody will tell you that you got it wrong! Easier to make a collaborative world wholecloth in the whitespace with the players.

 

Cons of Low Canon– It is a significant ask on the GM to be able to populate the world, the history, and the entire campaign on the fly. It is easy to get stumped about what is over the next hill or have a conflicting set of answers between sessions. It can be repetitive if the GM is stressed or strained.

 

Stat Blocks

Zendead-

Krakatoa

Dr. Seamus Grats was at one time the world’s leading volcanologist. While out researching a new volcano that seemed to grow overnight he was lost. The research team that was with him was very excited by this new find. They set up a base camp not to far from the site. They had the backing to have all the latest toys. Once there they started to do the initial groundwork that might help to figure out why they erupt sometimes with no warning.

While out at the site on the third day something happened. All the equipment stopped feeding the information that would have told them something was wrong very wrong. The lava tube they were near just poured lava like something from a movie not at all like it was suppose to move. The entire team was presumed dead.

While everyone in team was covered by the lava flow something happened to the Dr. His suit did not save him for long, which is what the other doctors monitoring the situation wanted. As the lava started to eat the suit a strange thing started to happen to Grats. He started to fuse at a cellular level with this lava that is something more than just lava. He changed in both body and mind. The process gave birth to the creature we call Krakatoa today or Living Lava.

 

Joules-

The Last Farewell

To quote a great and sonorous sage, war never changes.  From soldiers meeting on the field of battle to flying aces dogfighting in the skies.  And since war never changes, there are those who will never say be able to say goodbye.  And from this sadness and longing, the last farewell was born.

 

No one knows the true nature of the last farewell.  Divine, Mystical, Psychological? It seems to fit and defy all of them.  Maybe Death sees value and allows it. Maybe the strength of the human soul will not be denied its final desire.  

 

The last farewell has been described many ways.  A pocket dimension. A psychic link. Standing before the gates of heaven.  

 

A heartbeat before the last breath seems to be eternity.  And in that eternity, the last farewell manifests. It allows the dying to say goodbye to one person.  The one who they love the most. A boy dying on the fields of Halidon Hill cries for his mother. Wanting to be held one last time.  As his final breath leaves his body, he sees his mother and feels her arms around him. She whispers as tears fall from her eyes, “I love you, son.”  “I love you, ma,” he whispers back. And he is gone.

 

His mother, miles away wakes up.  Fresh tears on her face. And she knows what happened.  She was allowed to say goodbye, and kiss her son before he died.  And unlike most dreams, it will never fade from memory. She will remember it all with perfect clarity.  And she whispers a small prayer of thanks. So she tells her friends and family about her experience. And the story of the phenomenon of the Last Farewell grows.

 

The Last Farewell is the last bit of grace for the dying and for the one that they love and who loves them in return.  This shread of grace has prevented angry spirits and reduced the darkness that surround battlegrounds. It has occasionally prevented hatred from festering.  And it has changed mankind slowly over the centuries.

Because if war never changes, then it is mankind who must change.

 

Guard-a-Manger

The Captain’s Stained Shield

Sometimes it takes an epic sacrifice, a valiant but ill fated action to create a lasting legacy in this world.  Stories and legends build the power around the items passed down from generation to generation. You can scarcely believe your eyes when you stumble on this shield … this bastion of the older era.  It’s design fits everything you’ve heard. The slight embossment, the odd battered edge misshapen by a powerful blow, and the very aura about it bring it all to mind and the stories wash over you.

It was another age, one lost to history and to dreams of the immortals.  It was the fall of the first human empire and the last stronghold’s final stand.  The captain of the guard stood true, and ensured that the messages of their loss would make it to the crown.  The captain of the guard stood firm and heard the hooves of the horses thunder away from the fort. The captain of the guard stood.  Alone.

The captain stood long enough, and longer than any thought, but it was a foregone conclusion that this captain would fall.  The story isn’t that the captain stood and that the captain fell, but that his shield and armor surface every generation. They find their way into the hands of new wielders, from humans to dwarves, to titans, and to kobolds.  They find their way into the hands of those who would protect their kith and kin. This is the Captain’s Stained Shield, but where is the armor and what will you be facing that calls to this legendary item?

 

Lexicon

Kirk   noun \ ˈkirk , ˈkərk \

 

Definition of kirk
1 chiefly Scotland : church
2 capitalized : the national church of Scotland as distinguished from the Church of England or the Episcopal Church in Scotland

 

Origin and Etymology of kirk
Middle English (northern dialect), from Old Norse kirkja, from Old English cirice —

 

First Known Use: before 12th century

 

Popularity: Bottom 30% of words

 

Closing remarks

Zendead- Unplug and spend a night doing something with your family.

 

Joules-West of Loathing

 

Guard-a-Manger- Star Wars Rebels – An example of taking canon in a respectful but new direction.

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

Find us

Show- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook

Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter

 

And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment

Find us on Patreon

Card Catalog – The Argonauts

Every young geek’s thoughts turn eventually to superheroes and comic books.  We truly live in a glorious golden age of superhero pop culture right now, and the language of super heroes has permeated the mainstream culture without a doubt.  For this installment of Card Catalog, we will look at a superhero team made with Mutants & Masterminds 3e, with a little exploration of the D20 system’s myriad uses!  First, if you can track down Green Ronin’s DC Adventures series, I highly recommend it.  That is what actually started this concept, but as I dug into the system and Green Ronin’s history, the underlying Mutants & Masterminds architecture came out.  I will also engage in a little bit of a selfish option here and write up a handful of supers that come from my own comics universe I began imagining back in the late 1980s.  

System Notes

Mutants and Masterminds is built on the D20 system that you may remember from the previous installment on Babylon 5.  Mutants and Masterminds, however, looks wholly different because it jettisons much of the existing mechanics you are familiar with.  What is retained it the primary method of resolution using a D20 plus modifiers either opposed against another roll or with a static Target Number.  There are no levels or classes. There are different attributes. The character generation is a fluid point buy system reminiscent of GURPS and HERO. In all openness, this is the first time I have used this system, so this will be a learning experience from the ground up.

The first thing to look at for a character is their Power Level! This is what defines the overall effectiveness, with many PCs being a Power Level 10 as a default, but with characters who are the “Big Guns” of their Universe at Power Level 12 and the iconic characters being Power Level 14. This level determines how many points you start with to build your character as well as providing limits to defenses and your other abilities creating a cap on the effectiveness of a character.  

When designing the character, your power points total is 15 x Power Level to be used throughout the entire creation process.  You need to budget your power points as you work through creation since the same point reservoir is used for Abilities, Power, Skills, Advantages, and more!

Abilities are your statistics and include: Strength, Stamina, Agility, Dexterity, Fighting, Intellect, Awareness, and Presence.  These are also used for certain derived Defenses that you can increase with some power points. Powers are just what they sound like – superpowers! These powers can be modified through a system of advantages and disadvantages to customize the rather broad and generic powers as we will show in the subsequent character generation. Skills are those learned abilities that are not powers while advantages fall somewhere in between the two.

Assigning the points will have you make certain choices that we will go into when we look at each of the characters in this Card Catalog Entry. The underlying mechanics are innovations on how to use a d20 + Modifier roll as well including the use of Hero Points that are awarded in a session when your Complications come up as well encouraging broad based character balance in the defenses and limits based on Power Level.

Setting Notes

For all these discussions, please note some of these ideas came from a very young Guard-a-Manger in the late 1980s with some occasional updates since then.  We are now at the equivalent of the third Volume for this comic book but some of the corny ideas from the contemporary inspiration remain and I won’t be ashamed. I read the Giffen & DeMatteis Justice League, Nicieza & Bagley New Warriors, and the West Coast Avengers.  A decade later, it was the Busiek/Perez Avengers & the Morrison/Porter JLA. I even tried drawing some of them which has various levels of success but eventually resorted to tracing the outlines of other figures.  I’ll include a few of those for fun along the way. As what would now be called a “tween”, an international team of heroes made sense and I originally divided them up for membership by continent and called them the Argonauts because of my early love of Greek Mythology.  The roster changed some as the years went by with characters being killed, going missing, and the world’s history advancing, but the notes for this world remained. Pardon my indulgence of using my own world and continuity but please enjoy seeing what started for an 11 year old boy and has kept with him over the decades.

Notes from 1989-2009 on the roster

The Argonauts

No one is quite sure how or why powers started popping up in human, much less when they started.  What is clear is that the rate of powered humans, aliens, and magical beings showing up on Earth is increasing at an alarming rate.  It had been a hundred years since the modern era had started with these extraordinary beings stepping onto the battlefield of World War I including the likes of Doughboy and Janissary.  The 1960s saw the worldwide spread of these special people like Slugger and Der Kommissar which continued through the 1980s revival of battlesuits even as Slugger founded a third political party in the U.S. reshaping the global power structure. When a self proclaimed “Demon Lord” made itself known collecting a coterie of villains to challenge the status quo, the planet couldn’t sit back anymore.  

The original design for “Demon Lord”

An incomplete redesign of the long running “Demon Lord” antagonist

With less likelihood of full scale conflicts, but a heightened frequency of small skirmishes between nation-states, the Global Commonwealth Agency, which replaced the League of Nations after World War I. was empowered to establish a peacekeeping force  and to specifically deploy powered beings to counter threats found across the globe. It was the birth of the Argonauts. There has been a lot of change since that day, with deaths, retirements, and politics dictating different line ups but the constant heroism of the Argonauts is a comfort to many and a warning to others. Some of the current roster include

Atomic Avenger (PL12)
Blaster
May 29, 2018

One of the elder statesmen of the Argonaut, Dr. Anthony Chandler was one of the first powered individuals to sign up but at the time he was encased in a suit of powered armor of his own design.  Atomic Avenger has been through some of the most changes,with the most obvious difference being that he no longer wears a powered armor and that he has been acknowledged publicly. An almost archetypal power set of flight and energy projection, Anthony has been questioning recently whether he should continue and what changes have been going on “underneath the hood”.

Espionage (PL12)
Super Soldier
June 05, 2018

Espionage wasn’t recruited, but has been the field leader of the Argonauts since its inception.  For the public, Espionage holds a great deal of mystery as he is seen almost exclusively enshrined in his black armor from head to toe. Even in private, he maintains his reserve and is Taciturn but somewhat paternal in his behavior, few have gotten any closer to him outside of Atomic Avenger.  Fewer still have had the opportunity to learn why he was chosen and what he isn’t telling about his past.

Bright Star (PL11)
Mentalist
June 12, 2018

Maria Silva is a child of hope and disaster.  She is the fortunate and the driven. Her life in Sao Paolo was never meant to intersect with the world of flying heroes and dastardly villains, but an unscrupulous corporation, alien dna, and a healthy dose of luck both good and bad landed her here.  Called the Bright Star of Brazil, her shimmering gold telekinetic powers and telepathic abilities have let her help many in her home country, with an eye to the poorest and least advantaged among the people. Her parents had put great hope in her dancing to take her away from the thin line between poverty and sustenance but they died seeing her literally rising above Brazil to protect others – she is their bright and shining star that now leads the world to a better place.

Titan (PL11)
Brick
June 19, 2018

Sometimes, the questions are not even worth asking.  The gregarious and quick to laugh Titan was brought onto the Argonauts and he had a straightforward role of punching and lifting things.  This is not a bad gig, after all and stood in contrast to his time spent as a CPA in Nigeria’s growing financial services sector. While there were never answers to where his powers came from, that was only because there had not been questions.  He still never asked the questions, but recent events included an answer to that …. And a slowly increasing temper Titan isn’t used to.

Autobahn (PL10)
Speedster
June 26, 2018

Autobahn is new.  You might say she still has that new car smell as she is a speedster, moving far faster than the eye could follow.  As her name may suggest, she is German and joined the Argonauts only recently to replace the missing in action Bionic Knight.  Her outfit certainly has some mechanical enhancements that imply she needs a little extra support to use her powers to their full potential, but they are *her* powers. Her powers are actually natural, and something that she was born with.  No government, organization, or extradimensional power forced a change on her, but instead she is an example of what sort of seed exists within humanity. In the meantime, and in between racing up and down the German streets, she is constantly following social media and trends with a snarky and slightly confrontational outlook on this post-postmodern life.

Mutants and Masterminds is © Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. References to other copyrighted material in no way constitute a challenge to the respective copyright holders of that material. Mutants & Masterminds, Super-powered by M&M, Green Ronin, and their associated logos are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. Please also see the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast regarding the use of the d20 system and underlying components that are not designated product identity of Green Ronin Publishing.

Argonauts – Atomic Avenger

Atomic Avenger is one of the oldest characters I made up, and you can tell this is high on the list of tween or young teen boy “cool” ideas.  His original battlesuit concept evolved as I advanced the story in that little universe to where we are now on the third volume of this comic book.  As one of the originals, he is getting a Power Level bump each new volume so he is one of the two Power Level 12 characters in this Card Catalog Write Up.

A design a 12 Year Old Boy Loved

System Notes

Since this version of Atomic Avenger is very much a blaster archetype, the powers are going to be a heavy lift on the costs.  Because of the history of Atomic Avenger, the clearly superhuman and exceptional attribute is going to be Intellect at 9 which is described as clearly super human.  He is, after all, still a brilliant inventor and scientist. The rest of the Attributes are in the unimpressive levels of 1-3 but this reflects his underlying human nature where a “0” is average adult human.

To increase the defenses involved, I am going to use some special effects and power based enhancements.  Specifically, I am going to link an enhanced Dodge to the Flight power and increase both the Will and Fortitude defenses on the special effect of “Growing Energy Being.” We will explore what that means in the Character Notes.  Promise.

In his powers, there are three things that must be address – protection, flight, and energy blasts.  This is the basic load out for a blaster archetype. I keep the flight to around 7 Ranks so that we have a reasonable supersonic speed and link the enhanced Dodge Defense to this.  When looking at the Protection, which is an Atomic Force Field, I cap it at 10 levels of protection. The combination of Dodge and Toughness (which includes the Protection power) is capped at twice the Power Level, so for AA it is a 24 total limit.

I mentioned the Growing Energy Being special effect, and including in that are going to be a handful of small powers that will grow into his future: Immunity to Radiation, a single rank of Immortality, and a single rank of Persistent Regeneration.  The big final power is the blasting for the blaster, but I am going to use one of the more interesting components of Mutants & Masterminds for that – the Array!

An Array is a grouped set of powers that are Alternate Effects for a single power.  These are powers that can’t be used at the same time, effectively pulling power from a pool that can be put into each slot.  You can choose a Dynamic slot for additional costs to rebalance the powers between them, but this is a straightforward collection of Atomic Blasts that show different aspects of the same power! The obvious start is a straight up Atomic Blast which is a 10 Damage Ranged Blast power which is augmented in the Array with the Atomic Flash 10 Rank visual dazzle power to blind his opponents, an EMP Pulse which is a 7 Rank Burst Area Nullify Electronics, and similar ways to manipulate that sort of energy projector utility.  

I’m going to look at the Skills and Advantages together because Atomic Avenger started as an almost stereotypical battlesuit building genius.  Obvious choices are 12 ranks of an Expertise: SCIENCE, 9 Ranks of Technology, with the Advantages of Skill Mastery: SCIENCE, Jack of All Trades, and Inventor.   This makes Dr. Chandler a leading luminary and world renowned scientist with a mastery of the creadth of comic book science that only happens in the Comic Books with the ability to improvise in the field as well as attempt any skill check.  A few other advantages like Evasion and Instant Up relate to his flight power while Ranged Combat with the Blast Array balances out his 12 Rank Array with another 12 ranks of to hit for his POwer Level Limit. Check the link below for the last few powers and advantages added to the sheet.

The Complications from Mutants and Masterminds blend the nature between the crunch of construction and the incoming character notes.  Every starting character has a Motivation and one other Complication which, if they come up in a session, may allow for Hero Points to be earned. For his motivation, Atomic Avenger has Thrillseeker as he has fallen in love with the energy and excitement of being a hero. For further Complications, Atomic Avenger is Slowly Losing Humanity as the transition to an energy being continues without his control. Since he’s been around from the beginning, we’ll add extra complications for him – Fame as one of the premier heros on the planet, he has a constant stream of fans and media attention as well as protesters over his ‘Atomic’ nature; and Relationship with Espionage that finally came about can leave him distracted in combat.  

The later version of AA from my late 20s

Character Notes

Dr. Andrew Chandler is absolutely brilliant. His mind is beyond once in a generation but perhaps once in a century.  He rapidly was recognized by his parents as far smarter than an ordinary child … indeed he was far smarter than his parents.  To his ever thankful history, his parents upper middle class, suburban lifestyle was exactly what an idyllic americana childhood should be … if it meant being left alone in the public library reading every book that he could get his hands on.

He was first recognized by the public and the media when at age 12 he was accepted to high prestige colleges and announced his intention to be working on his PhD by 14.  It wasn’t quite as big a deal when he succeeded at that. As a 13 year old at college, he didn’t really have a normal upbringing or normal socialization. His habit of asking questions of *everything* hadn’t abated by the time he had his first PhD at 17, or his second at 18.  While grant applications were easy to write, Dr. Chandler had limited experience with anyone who wasn’t a lab assistant or graduate student.

The idea of a self-contained, atomic powered and shielded suit had stuck in his mind after Vyrkolas had tried to ignite chernobyl-style meltdowns across Soviet Union.   This was troubling for sure because the human species would face extinction. He threw himself into the task at hand with great aplomb and little sleep. The initial few tests went well, and the engineering grad students were very helpful in perfecting the specific designs in the suit.  The prototype and the first generation suit were both ready when disaster struck. Okay, when sabotage struck. One of those grad students was well and truly seduced by large payments from the underworld o set in motion the almost inevitable explosion.

Dr. Chandler’s lab was ruiner, and the grad student escaped in the prototype suit to become Fireflight – a twisted reflection of everything that Dr. Chandler would become.  The first generation suit allowed Dr. Chandler to be The Atomic Avenger! It didn’t take more than a few years of flying around and blasting trouble makers that he was welcomed onto the Argonauts.  A super scientific energy blasting battlesuit is almost always desirable in a super team, after all. It was on the Argonauts that Dr. Chandler became Anthony and found his voice and his place.

He had fun.  Yes, it was serious and dangerous with world shattering consequences, but the excitement was like nothing he had ever experienced before.  

It was through the Argonauts that friendships grew, and Anthony even grew closer to Espionage – the taciturn and mysterious leader that the Argonauts had.  Perhaps,as he became one of the first to learn his story it was more than just friendship. In the course of saving the world, the second generation Atomic Avenger suit was pushed into use sooner than it probably should have been, but Anthony needed the power upgrade.  A fight with Demon Lord damaged it, and the power coupling’s slow leak sealed his future fate. A year later, when Eidolon literally ripped him out of his armor and threw him from the top of Uluru (Ayers Rock, when I first came up with this before the dual naming policy in 1993, so consider this one of the retcons from a world shattering event), Espionage and the few Argonauts left standing thought he was dead.  While Espionage and Magique dispatched Eidolon, Anthony flew back to rejoin them … under his own power.

It seems that the damage from Demon Lord had left an energy leak that has been slowly changing Anthony to something even further from Dr. Chandler.  While he is outwardly happy with his life as a premier world saving hero with Espionage at his side away from the public eye, he doesn’t know what the future holds as he continues to shift from the flesh and blood Anthony Chandler to whatever he is slowly becoming.

 

Argonauts Write Up Here.

Atomic Avenger Character Sheet Here.

©2014 Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. References to other copyrighted material in no way constitute a challenge to the respective copyright holders of that material. Mutants & Masterminds, Super-powered by M&M, Green Ronin, and their associated logos are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. Please also see the Open Game LIcense from Wizards of the Coast regarding the use of the d20 system and underlying components that are not designated product identity of Green Ronin Publishing.

Episode 49: Print vs. PDF

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Episode 49: Print vs. PDF
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We live in a golden age of gaming where books are available forever and universally able to be found! Those of us from the dark ages where limited print runs and local stores created scarcity sometimes wonder at the PDF libraries available, or perhaps indulge in stocking a library we never could have maintained in our youth.  Print and PDF or other electronic formats provide two different ways to enjoy gaming books, but which is better?

 

Print – Classic Product with literal weight.  Some psychological studies show that retention is superior for most people with printed material.  Marginalia notes and house rules fit in the margins. Tabbing it for easy reference can be faster than electronic bookmarks.

 

PDF – A literal ton of books in a half pound tablet.  Searchability especially for PDFs without an Index. Bookmarking facilitates easy searching. Easier to organize and often copy from.  Printing individual pages versus the entire book.

 

Which do you prefer? Let us know on Twitter or the Facebook group!

Stat Blocks

Zendead-

The Picaroon Pot

The rusty old crab pot swings from the edge of the ship. Caught in the spray and the wind of the ship. There is a patch of old fabric woven in the wires. As the ships bell rings the end of work for the day the spray coalesces into several small crabs. As strange as this seems the crabs grow just a little bit more till they are the amount someone can eat in one sitting.

The Picaroon Pot as it is called comes when someone makes a deal after they have been stranded on an island with something otherworldly. It is capable of doing two things. One is if kept in the spray of water it will create a portion of fish or seafood for one person for one meal. And secondly if submerged it creates a feast for up to 5 people for one meal. If the first is done it can do this 3 times a day, and once a day for the second. There is no need for bait to create these effects.

But with all things from the ocean and otherworldly help there is a cost. Maybe it is that is only works a small number of times or maybe it poisons the user slowly. Make the rewarded get their just desserts.

 

Joules-

Summoning the God of Fire and Chrome

 

Legends whisper of a god of fire and chrome.  A lord of speed and power. Whose yawp would shake the earth.  Whose scream would arc across the sky as lightning. In whose flesh you would see a more perfect reflection of yourself.

 

In the 6th world, the urban shamans have now found a way to summon him.  Your local rigger more than likely has helped with this summoning.

 

It requires a car.  The actual make doesn’t matter.  But the body of the car has to have been built for speed and power and used as such.  Retired drag race cars are a fave.

 

Next comes the engine.  Scavenged parts of old racers.  Engine blocks from an urban assault vehicles.  Exhaust pipe molded from metal struck by lightning.  Anything that contains a fragment of the god of fire and chrome can and should be incorporated.  

While the being assembled, appropriate music must be playing to appease the god of fire and chrome.  And appropriate beverages must be used to quench the steel and to christen the engine as the god’s temporary new home.  A local rigger swears that a mix of meade, sweat and rainwater is the god’s favorite.

 

Has the ritual appeased the lord of fire and chrome?  You won’t know until you start to lower the engine into the car.  If the god of fire and chrome is pleased, he will make his approval known.  Some shamans claim to hear “Jesus Built my Hotrod” by Ministry. Other swear that “Legacy” by the Gone Jackals started playing out of the car’s stereo.  The ritual has pleased the god of fire and chrome.

 

So turn the key.  Slam the accelerator to the floor.  And let him take the wheel

 

Guard-a-Manger-

Big Tent Hippodrome and Spectacular

Everybody loves the circus, and the Big Tent Hippodrome and Spectacular is no exception! Coming into town fills the citizenry with delight and anticipation.  It is a show that brings the world under one tent and into three rings. The Big Tent has been travelling the world for years and always seems to be able to reinvent itself trip after trip, adding a new attraction or performer while staying true to the rustic and ramshackle origins of a good circus.

Time and time again, the Big Tent finds itself embroiled in dust ups in these towns and cities.  Maybe the locals think that Big Tent Hippodrome and Spectacular has more money hiding somewhere deep in those wagons.  Maybe they have just fallen deeply in love with the way that the performances make them feel. Eyes wide, heart open, and mind full of wonder in an almost infectious feeling as the elephants dances, the lions roar, and the acrobats flip through the air.  

Be it money or amazement, something is trying to trap the Big Tent in town and you need to help them escape … or maybe you want them to stay.  No matter that the ringmaster tells you, no matter where you look under the tent, you can’t figure out the inspiration that flows from the Big Tent Hippodrome and Spectacular.

Because it is the tent, no more no less, that fuels the performers and the audience.  It is the big tent under which dreams are born and dreams take flight,.

Lexicon

 

Antediluvian  adjective an·te·di·lu·vi·an  \ ˌan-ti-də-ˈlü-vē-ən , -(ˌ)dī- \

 

Definition of antediluvian
1 : of or relating to the period before the flood described in the Bible

 

2 a : made, evolved, or developed a long time ago
   b : extremely primitive or outmoded

 

Origin and Etymology of antediluvian
ante- + Latin diluvium flood

 

First Known Use: 1646

 

Popularity: Bottom 50% of words

 

Closing remarks

Zendead- Fall Out Boys new Album MANIA

 

Joules- The BonfireSide Chat

 

Guard-a-Manger- Field Notes notepads

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

Find us

Show- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook

Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter

 

And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment

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1 Archer, 3 Ways – Earthdawn

System Notes

Earthdawn is a high fantasy game that was originally published by FASA corp. Beginning in the 90s and is now published under license by FASA Games.  Earthdawn exemplifies many of the best aspects of the 90s era games with a rich and deeply engaging world that is coupled with a well designed and iconoclastic rule set.  The CoreStep system is also used in FASA’s 1879 game which we looked at for The Cermak Street Irregulars.

Earthdawn is set on the continent of Barsaive which is recovering from The Scourge, or the period of highest magic when extradimensional entities called Horrors were feeding on all of the residents of Barasive.  Protection from this Scourge was granted by the wards of Thera which exchanged fealty for the wards becoming an Empire spanning most of the globe based on this trade. These wards were used to create protected underground kaers or sealed off citadels but the wards didn’t always work, leaving some monster infested and waiting for discovery to this day.  

The Player Characters are all Adepts, or individuals with a connection to magic that chanel it into the Archetypal Disciplines, such as Archer, Beastmaster, Warrior, or Elementalist.

Every player will select a Discipline which has a set number of Discipline and Optional Talents that fit within that archetype which are like magically fueled skills.  When selecting your Discipline, you get a limited number of slots into which you can use your starting Talents as well as your starting ranks in the non-magical skills. Talents are often fueled by Strain, which is marked off from and part of the same track as your health.

Like 1879, Earthdawn defines the level of prowess of a character in “steps” that are the result of combining and Attribute with a Skill or Power for a “Step Number” that tells you how many of what kind of dice to roll.  This is one of the parts that can be confusing to players new to the CoreStep system is that each step changes the die rolled, but the statistician’s allure to this system is that the Step Number is the statistical average of the dice rolled, so a Step 10 should on average result in a 10.  If you manage to roll the maximum on a die, such as an 8 on a d8 or a 6 on a d6, you roll another die of that same type and add to your results. Additionally, Adepts like the PCs may spend karma to add an additional d6 to a Talent roll.

Opposed rolls have target numbers based on the defense of the target, be it physical, magical, or social, which is a derived statistic from your attributes.  There is a great deal of complexity and beauty in the spell casting system of Earthdawn, but we will save that for a day when a spell caster is on the agenda.

 

Design Notes

We already know that we are starting with a human and an Archer, which means that we would normally be making a beeline for Perception and Dexterity as our main attributes, but the Balama character concept means that we will want a good bit of Charisma as well.  The initial designs in a CoreStep system lend themselves to making a well balanced character and offer a greater ability to spread things and when we talk about advancement you will see why I set out Balama’s attributes as Dexterity 15 (Step 6), Strength 13(6), Toughness 13(6), Perception 14(6), Willpower 10(5), Charisma 15(6) looking like a fairly balanced beginning.

With 8 Ranks of Talents to start, Balama is going to spread them out across Arrow Weaving for Magical Threads, Missile Weapon, Avoid Blow, Mystic Aim, and True Shot as Discipline Talents with one each.  The remaining three will go to Awareness and First Impression as Talen Options and Versatility. Versatility is the Human Racial feature that allows a human adept to learn a talent from another discipline.  While you cannot spend karma on it, and so it functions like a skill in many respects, it can be learned more quickly. Every rank in Versatility allows for a single talent to be learned in this manner.

For skills, I am going with an Artisan skill of Singing, Languages of Throalic (the Dwarven language that is the common tongue of Barsaive) and Theran, and literacy in Throalic.  Two Knowledge ranks will be split between Barsaive History and Military Organizations. The eight general skills are going to Melee Combat, Diplomacy, Physician,

 

Advancement Notes

While in Earthdawn, could could power straight through to Fifth Circle with about 15,000 Legend Points, but I am working with about 25,000 just to have some fun.

You have a limited ability to increase Attributes in Earthdawn – you can only raise each Attribute a total of three times with an increasing cost each time.  Charisma and Dexterity were both put on the cusp of the next Step, so 800 Legend Points each raises them and boosts their Step to 7.

To raise your Circle, you have to advance your Discipline Talents, but not your Optional Talents or in this case Versatility Talents, to the target level and be trained by someone of a higher circle.  We spend a large chunk of our Legend Points to raise our original 5 Discipline Talents to 5 and the new Discipline talents of Mystic Pursuit, Anticipate Blow, and Long Shot. I keep Awareness and First Impression at that same level too. Additionally, along the way, we raise Versatility to pick up the Versatility Talents of Leadership and Conversation and raise some skills.  As you can see, the Versatility Talent is allowing us to expand the Leadership and Noble bearing sort of talents from our concept. While you can’t spend karma on the Versatility Talents, you can raise them more quickly and cheaply than Skills.

I also began to provide a forged Longbow and made the family armor a thread armor to enhance her abilities as well.  Mystic weapons and Armor in Earthdawn has its powers unlocked as you discover parts of its history and magical Pattern.  You weave magical “threads” to that Pattern, tying your pattern to its.

At Fifth Circle, we pick up the first rank of Spot Armor Flaw Discipline Talent and the Talent Option Etiquette as well as having the ability to crease a mystic projectile from thin air if out of arrows and enhance the damage of ranged attacks with karma.

Earthdawn provided the most flexibility of all the systems we looked at here to advance Balama but that flexibility did come with complexity.  Of our three Balama’s, I think this one is the middle ground in a lot ways but with a truly unique rule set that I distinctly enjoy.

 

Character Notes

The kaer had been opened for some time by now.  Those of Kaer Domine who made it through the Scourge were a proud sortand Balama had a reason to be prouder than most.  Born since the end of the Scourge, when the kaer had been opened, Balama was from the line that descended through the Scourge from the old Burgers and had become hereditary rulers.  The most obvious sign of this blessing from the passions is the calling to the Archer Discipline in her family line. Only those with power and fortune would be Archers when there was no need for a Long Bow underground for hundreds of years.  

Balama was particularly glib, or some would say charming when she began to use ehr words and see through the deceits of others.  Her calling to the Archer Discipline came as a bit of a surprise when many assumed she was destined to be a Troubadour. Being born to parents who recalled the quiet and dark caverns that kept the kaer safe and sealed, only further fired the desire in Balama to travel and see this frightening land.  Her chance came quickly, though not as she had hoped.

Kaer Domine had allied with Throal, in opposition to the Theran Empire when the Therans returned after the Scourge laying claim to all of Barsaive.  The hundreds of years of self sufficient freedom in the kaer had sparked the flame of independence and stoked by the dwarves Book of Throal laying out the basis for modern Barsaive.  Empires, however, do not take such answers easily. The Theran-Throalic conflict roiled across Barsaive, and Kaer Domine was swept up in the fight. Laying near the Badlands, not far from Travar, the Kaer had to defend itself from the Therans and their House K’Tenshin T’Skrang allies.  Here the Archers shone. Here Balama was given the first taste of travel and true leadership.

After the war, Balama had a desire, a need, to see more of Barsaive when not under constant threat of Theran attack.   Her family’s leather armor that stayed polished and well kept during the Scourge went with her, and a hint of her family’s pre-Scourge past began to surface. It wasn’t easy to leave home but she had to do it. Had to follow her own path that was fired from the heart of her kaer and into Barsaive.

Balama Domine – ED

1 Archer, 3 Ways Overview.

 

Earthdawn is a registered trademark of FASA Corp and used without license. Any use of FASA trademarks or copyrighted material is not intended as a challenge to those trademarks or copyrights. Seize the GM is not associated with and does not represent FASA Corp in any capacity, official or otherwise.No claim of ownership is intended or implied to the copywritten or trademarked works and marks.

Episode 48: Permanent Player Loss/ Death

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Episode 48: Permanent Player Loss/ Death
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Sometimes, you lose a player, and not just a character from a game.  Someone at your table is not coming back because they moved away, can’t spend the time on gaming anymore, had a falling out with people in the group, or even die.  How do you handle that in game and at the gaming table?

 

It isn’t easy when a player leaves a game or gaming group.  This hobby is built around the friendships and personal interactions that happen at the gaming table while we tell stories with the assistance of the rules and books.  If someone is leaving because they are moving or have to reallocate their time, you may have enough time to have a story arc to finish their character’s story. If you have the time to let the story reflect the player’s departure, all the better for the group and the characters.  The characters story continues with the chapter closing for that one player, but more importantly, it lets the group itself recognize and have closure with the player’s departure. Talk to the leaving player about what they want to accomplish or how they want their character to go out – maybe it’s a blaze of glory, or maybe its a character building realization. Work with them to tell that story.

 

Sometimes, a player leaves because a conflict develops between players (or the GM) which requires a greater understanding by the GM in handling this.  It could be cathartic to take out the frustrations or animosity that exists around the table on the now departed player’s character but that isn’t always the best plan.  Fostering the additional animosity at the table could bleed back into the world away from gaming and if there is enough of a falling out to fracture the group, you need to be the judge of your table to make that call.  An off panel death or betrayal may be sufficient and when it happens away from the P.C.s view, there are always ways to change it later.

 

Finally, the hardest player loss to handle at a table is when that player dies.  The sad truth of the world is that we all will likely game with people who will die before us at some point. As the GM, you have a delicate balance to walk where the group deserves to be able to mourn and express their loss but also to keep the group together.  A slow decline in health may provide you the time to plan something out about the character that reflects the loss and let’s the group find a cathartic release or purgation by using the in-game loss as a proxy for the in-person loss. Sudden deaths, though, don’t leave you with that option.  Functionally, there are two ways you can handle it – a sudden and off screen event or a session where you as the GM work the character out of the group. A sudden off screen event can help simulate for he characters what their players are feeling and can enhance the ability for the players to sue the characters as an emotional proxy.  Opening at the scene of a fight or accident where that player’s character died can be all the cue a session needs to act as a chance to address what the players lost, even if in the voice of their characters. If you take control of the character for a session or two, do it in service of providing the character closure similar to what we discussed above.  Instead of grieving and focusing the loss into the characters, this method may help smooth over the gaming group and help the group carry on with an easier transition to a table without your missing player.

 

Stat Blocks

Zendead-

Oun

The dark passage yawns from the roots of the great yew tree. As you crawl down into the darkness the smell of old damp things and rot fill your nostrils. You crawl down the passage for what feels like hours and after a sharp turn the light from the small fire is blinding. There is just an earthen floor and diaphanous drapes hanging from the roots of the great tree above. From behind the drapes you hear the sound of something scraping on the floor. As the hanging moves you see someone start to move from the shadows.

The hand flashes forward and small pieces of something wooden bounce off of you. The person scrambles forward to grab the ones that hit you. And the light hits the middle age woman as she finishes scooping up the wood chips. She doesn’t say anything to she has them all and then motions to the earthen floor near the fire. Still silent she starts to lay the wood out which is when you see the runes carved into the chips. And she starts to tell you of the things to come and things that have past before.

The feeling as you crawl back up to the surface is like being born. Or what you think it must be like the worlds possibilities sing to you from the voice of Oun.

 

Joules-

The Playground

 

There are many stories about the playground.  Older kids whisper it’s legends and lore to the younger ones.  Usually dire warnings and the like. The stories about the playground are usually so horrible and gruesome that most kids avoid playgrounds that fit the vague description given to them by their peers.  But not all kids. I mean, who would think that a playground is something to be feared, something to be avoided?

 

The playground usually appears in vacant lots.  You know the kind of lots you stumble upon when exploring or having an adventure?  The metal swings, metal slide and metal jungle gym are surprisingly sturdy given their age.  There’s even one of those old merry go round spinners and a metal hidey cave. You remember those right?  Kind of like a habitrail for kids? And they all work just fine. Heck they’re a lot more fun than those plastic safety jungle gyms that don’t let you slide fast and you just get all static-y.  These throwbacks to bygone days are so much FUN to play on.

 

Running up and down the jungle gym, swinging on the monkey bars, and going down the fireman’s pole and slide as many times as possible.  The kids don’t notice the faint whiff of wood smoke. They mentally attribute them sweating to running around or wearing the stupid looking sweater that mom thinks makes them look so grown up (ugh!).  They start getting tired, but there’s still so much fun to be had. So they start swinging on the swings and playing in the cave. There’s so much laughter echoing in the cave that they don’t hear the faint click of the latch.  And they don’t realize that there’s no way out until it’s too late.

 

A few hours later, the playground disappears.  Leaving behind a pile of ash and the faint smell of wood smoke.  Many monsters of yore had to grow and adapt to modern times. Seems that Baba Yaga made the transition to modern day just fine.

 

Guard-a-Manger

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Lexicon

Omen   noun \ ˈō-mən \

 

Definition of omen
: an occurrence or phenomenon (see phenomenon 1) believed to portend a future event : augury

 

Origin and Etymology of omen
Latin omin-, omen

 

First Known Use: 1582

 

Popularity: Top 40% of words

Closing remarks

Zendead- Stardew Valley

 

Joules- Wapsi Square

 

Guard-a-Manger- Alabama 3 (A3), especially the debut album Exile on Coldharbour Lane. Mixes rock, electronic, blues, country, gospel, and spoken word styles.

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

Find us

Show- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook

Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter

 

And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment

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1 Archer, 3 Ways – Palladium Fantasy RPG

System Notes

The Palladium Fantasy Role Playing Game was updated to Second Edition after Rifts came out and the final pieces of Palladium’s Megaversal system has been developed.  For example, the original Palladium Role Playing Game had a different style of Hand to Hand skill available to each class and was devoid of things like personal S.D.C. for the players.  The Character Class system was also modified to better map onto the rest of the Megaversal system.

If you read the write up of T-Ball’s Pack, you know that we discussed Rifts at great detail and I am going to borrow some of the same descriptions from that write up here. The PFRPG, and the Megaversal system, start from a randomly generated set of eight attributes – I.Q.; M.E. (Mental Endurance); M.A. (Mental Affinity); P.S. (Physical Strength); P.P. (Physical Prowess); P.E. (Physical Endurance); P.B. (Physical Beauty); and Spd. (Speed).  A normal human rolls 3D6, but a result of 16-18 adds an additional 1D6 to the total. If that bonus d6 rolled a 6, you could roll again for a maximum of 5D6 or 30 on any stat. The PFRPG has always offered a wide variety of races as playable options including their version of kobolds, Orcs, and my personal favorite the Wolfen. Some races roll different dice for attributes, such as the lower 2D6 for WHAT or 4D6 for Orc’s Strength. PFRPG characters have both I.S.P. (Inner Strength Points) that fuel Psionics and P.P.E. (Potential Psychic Energy) that fuels magic.  After you roll your stats, you choose an O.C.C. (Occupational Character Class) that provides the framework for your character including the O.C.C. skills, a list of “Other” skills that may be selected with bonuses, and “Secondary” skills that round out your character without bonus. Skills are expressed as a percentage to roll under, with bonuses from high I.Q., O.C.C.s, and advance by level with the character. The character gets to be rounded out a standard gear list for each O.C.C. with some extra credits to gold and personalize your equipment.

Combat is handled by opposed D20 rolls to hit and to dodge or parry.  The bonuses available for combat come from the training, skills, and attributes of the character.  The high P.P. character has bonuses to strike and dodge in this fantasy setting while a character with a high P.S. has a bonus to damage. Similarly, Saving Throws are also on a D20 while damage is rolled on a variable number and face depending on the specific weapon.

The PFRPG has what I described as a bevy of optional random charts to determine things like disposition and family history to help flesh out your character.  I’ll be making use of those except where the underlying concept has already answered that question.

The Palladium World is a rich and well developed world with thousands of years of mythology in the setting and an immersive world for the game.  The book includes the basic history of the world, and possibly the universe, going back to the Old Ones, a difficult to describe powerful beings that seem related to the alien intelligences like the Splugorth in Rifts. The defeat of the Old Ones, the two thousand year war between the Elves and Dwarves, and the slow and inexorable rise of the humans in the past thousand get us to the PFRPG present where multiple nations stand on the verge of war, the map isn’t filled in entirely, and the heroes can yet uncover forgotten lore, history, and magic long hoped lost. Also, the Core Book provides a detailed world map of the present to go along with that history making it simple for Balama to be from the very open Eastern Territories.  

Also, if you look back at our Rift’s Card Catalog, you may see that Palladium does not choose to support fillable PDFs but is not opposed to character generation tools so long as they are not being shared widely.  In that light, the same spreadsheet style sheet converted to a PDF is being used here.

Design Notes

I am sticking with a human to make Balama Domine in the Palladium FRPG, so the eight attributes are all rolled on a 3D6 pool. To keep things similar across the different versions, I am going to apply the same stats from the D & D version of Balama to the PFRPG equivalents.  As a reminder, those rolls were 16, 12, 13, 15, 17, 14!

The obvious parallel between Dexterity and P.P. means Balame starts at a 17 there, but with the PFRPG rules she gets a bonus 1D6  and rolled another 5 upping her starting P.P. to 22. Charisma isn’t as straightforward a comparison, but I choose M.A. as the equivalent because it is the attribute that has the most impact on leadership and inspiring trust in others.  The 16 there gets a bonus 1D6 as well, bumping M.A. for Balama to 20. The remaining attributes are easily identified as I.Q. of 15, M.E. of 14, P.S. 12, and a P.E. 13. I roll twice for P.B. and Speed getting a 15 and 10 respectively to start.  The +4 bonus to Strike, Parry, and Dodge from the P.P. of 22 is going to be a great way for Balama to shine with that Long Bow.

For a Long Bow character, the easiest class to choose is the Long Bowman.  The only other class that has the ability to use Weapon Proficiency: Long Bow is the Ranger, and we already decided against that archetype.  This is a spot where the PFRPG does make character generation pretty easy – Long Bowman get Special Abilities like the Superior Bowmanship that mitigates penalties when on horseback or unsteady, increases the effective range of the Long Bow, and provides a better advancement of shots that can be fired per combat round.  The O.C.C. Skills do require Balama to have Wilderness Survival as well as W.P. Sniper, so there is going to be some amount of wilderness style to this version of Balama that wasn’t present in the others.

For her Other Skills, I looked at what sort of skills to take as a Noble, to play into the concept and background so I picked up Literacy, Heraldry, History, and General Horsemanship to demonstrate her noble birth and training.  SInce we had some wilderness and potentially sneaky components from the O.C.C. skills, I took Surveillance, and Prowl to heighten that, added Recognize Weapon Quality, and upgraded her Hand to Hand Combat from Basic to Expert. Her Secondary skills to start are Weapon Proficiency: Whip, Climb Walls, Basic Math, and Running.  With Athletics in her O.C.C. skills and Running, I went back and made the changes to her attributes.

Random Charts

The PFRPG has 9 random charts you can use in character creation to help round out your character.  These are all rolled with percentile dice and I will roll for 7 of the 9, with two already being chosen in the character background. I will see what I can do to work them into the Character write up below. 

  • Birth Order: First Born of Twins (78)
  • Height: Average (31)
  • Weight: Husky (66)
  • Age: 30 Years Old (94)
  • Disposition: Mean and Bitter, suspicious and vindictive (08)
  • Land of Origin: Eastern Territories*
  • Type of Environment: Medium to large town or city where magic and/or psionics or the supernatural were commonplace
  • Social or Family Background: Noble, could be wealthy or poor (fallen from power)*
  • Racial Hostilities/Biases: Changelings (46)

Advancement Notes

The PFRPG has the easiest advancement of the three different systems because there are the fewest choices that have to be made! The skills and Combat abilities increase accordingly, with the skills adding a set percentage per level and the combat abilities in both Hand to Hand and Long Bow Archery adding specific abilities and bonuses reflected in the sheet.  At Fourth Level, a new Other and Secondary skill are chosen so I added First Aid and W.P. Knife as the sort of things Balama may have learned or realized she needed to learn while adventuring.

Character Notes

The Eastern Territories carries as many secrets as it does fame. The Domine family’s land and lordship is a fame that also holds secrets as befits the freewheeling and varied Eastern Territories.  Hidden but not entirely hidden, the Domine lands have flourished with the more open acceptance of the magical and psionic powers of the Palladium world. Indeed, even the magical and supernatural pushed out from other Eastern Territory domains would find a home there.

The strength of the Domine lands rested on the Domine family line, and the twins born to the Lady Domine were surely a sign of blessings from the gods.  Balama and her younger brother Morino were to carry the family forward and protect their lands even as the Wolfen began to organize to the North. Balama was treated as a child, but a child of wealth.  She played outside and in the surrounding woods for long hours and even longer runs. Her talents and inclinations ran to the physical, while Morino’s ran to the magickal. They both learned the ways of a noble house and the languages of old.  They both were groomed to read herladic symbols, read the histories, and keep the books of the lands. They were to be responsible for these Lands Domine.

Despite having a safe home and a warm fire, Balama found herself ranging wider and wider from home while her brother took to studying many late nights and beginning to show the hints of magickal talent that was cherished in the Domine lands.  It was on these adventures that Balama saw her family’s military practice and saw the Long Bow fly through the air. As headstrong as ever, this was where she decided to spend her time.

Always a headstrong youth, Balama had the natural talent for getting people to believe her her, to trust her, and when she showed she had the talent with the bow as well, it was a natural that the archers taught her … no matter what the Lord and Lady may have preferred for their precious Balama.  At 16, she was allowed to test herself with a mercenary company promising to not be too involved in great battles, but to see if the taste for that life would sour in her mouth. She lied a little and was involved in some great battles, but moreo importantly her skill and leadership had the soldiers listen to her lead.  While a woman may have been a rarity in the mercenary company, Longbow proficient soldiers were too valuable to turn a single one down. Balama was distinguishing herself as someone with a bright future.

Her return 4 years later hardened her heart.  She heard her father was sick and that she was needed so she returned … and she is the one who discovered the deceit behind her father’s illness.

Morino had been replaced by a Changeling at some point … but when exactly? This storied magical race was said to date back to the time of the Old Ones in the Tristine Chronicles, and legends told of their attempts to rule over all the other races with an iron fist.  The culling of the Changelings had obviously not stuck and all Balama could think was how she lost a brother that she had always counted on getting to know later. She lost a brother in the dark of night and the foul ways of the Changelings.

She did not hesitate or listen to the creature’s pleas once it was unmasked from the salt that it could not stand.  She did not hear it’s claims to be protecting the Domine or that her father has cherished something to replace what had become of Morino.  She would not hear these lies. And she struck.

She tried to help her Mother for several years, but she could not bear to stay in these lands.  Her younger brother was more than able to take over the day to day affairs on their lands. And she left again, broken and bitter.  The past 8 years has seen her travel the world and hone her skills as an Archer. Her bearing is noble, even if she holds little patience for those she meets.  Her aim is true, and she has never stopped looking for more Changelings so she can finish culling them from the world. Her presence is magnetic, and others quickly follow her word. She is Balama Domine and she is on a mission to avenge.

Balama Domine – PFRPG

1 Archer, 3 Ways Overview

Palladium Books, Mega-damage, M.D.C., S.D.C., P.P.E., Triax, Xiticix, Splugorth, Erin Tarn, Victor Lazlo, and their likenesses, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game(r), Heroes Unlimited(r), Beyond the Supernatural(r), Ninjas & Superspies(r), Rifts(r), The Rifter(r), RECON(r), Splicers(r), The Mechanoids(r), The Mechanoid Invasion(r), Coalition Wars(r), After the Bomb(r), The Mind Mage, Diabolist, Summoner, Tristine Chronicles, Dragonwright, Wolfen, Baalgor Wastelands, Yin-Sloth Jungles, Adventures on the High Seas, Monsters & Animals, and Megaverse are trademarks (Registered trademarks noted as ®) owned by Kevin Siembieda and/or Palladium Books, Inc. Any brief excerpts and descriptions of the contents of the book are done for review purposes through the fan creation of example characters.  No claim of ownership is intended or implied to the copywritten and trademarked works and marks.

Episode 47: GM Chat with Insomniac Zac

GM Chat
GM Chat
Episode 47: GM Chat with Insomniac Zac
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We get to sit down with a brand new GM. After his first session my buddy Zac.

 

Insomniac Zac lives in the Chicagoland area, with his wife and son- who was born a cat, where he toiles endlessly on a webcomic, dabbles in FATE games, and watches far too much 80s horror. He has guest hosted on episodes of the movie discussion podcast “The Beta Male Experience”.

He can be found on Twitter

@Insomniac_Zac

 

Wearing the Cape

 

Closing remarks

Zendead- Serial Killers

 

Joules- Wapsi Square

 

Insomniac Zac- God hates Astronauts

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

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