Episode 113: Interview with Tony, Dave and Kurt from BattleLords
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Questions
How would you describe Battlelords of the 23rd Century?
Right away is anyone on the team current or prior military?
In Charlie Foxtrot there are a bunch of scenarios and example groups. Are they tied into the metaplot of the universe? And if so how?
While called “Battlelords”, the CRB discusses other types of campaigns that are possible in the setting – what is your favorite non-standard campaign and character?
There is a clearly retro-futuristic vibe for Battlelords, aside from the 3 “G”s, what do you consider essential for the setting to be Battlelords?
As a Gear heavy game, what is your favorite piece of Gear to use for a character?
With 30 years of history, how would you say Battlelords has changed? Stayed the same?
What part of the Battlelords universe do you want to hear about fans and gaming tables filling in?
What is your favorite part of the “secret history” of the world? Mine is the Atlanteans …
Is Uncle Ernie the embodiment of a chaotic evil force?
If a Battlelord Fott, Runequest Durulz, and Starjammer Giff were in a three way battle royale, who would prevail?
I read the short piece of Twas the Night Before Christmas. It is a family tradition to read this to my daughter on Christmas Eve and I thought I would share it with you all. Enjoy.
I Zendead and the host of Octoberpod the YouTube Channel do a pair of readings. They are the old school Victorian Ghost stories. My story is “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton” by Charles Dickens , and Edward October is reading an abridged version of “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens (1866). Hope you enjoy this Dive into an old tradition that I thought would be fun to do.
So we are just doing a bit of sitting back and chatting about the show. Just what we have been doing since we last checked in with everyone on here. We will be answering a few questions from our discord server members as well as our own questions for each other.
Sit back, relax, and let us chill for a while.
Closing remarks
Zendead – Jericho The days and weeks after a Terror attack
Guard-a-Manger – Holiday reflections. Sit back. Think about life, your friends, and what 2020 has shined a light on. Take the chance to think about Auld Lang Syne and let it really wash over you.
Music is courtesy of Sim on Twitter you can find him at @TheSimulacrae
Human monsters are pretty easy for people to make. Sort of. It is just take the things you find disturbing or deplorable and make the person do them. But creating a monster that is not human is a special kind of thought process. Creatures are a common feature and provide the chance to round out a world as well as indulge in the animal kingdom’s most inventive combinations. For this episode, we will save the automatons and non-living, or unliving, options for a different episode and focus on a bestiary enhancement.
A few ideas of ways to look at it are as follows:
Mash up: take to animals and smash them together and there you go
Mythical: Look to myth for the creations of different cultures
Cryptids: We talked about these guys in their own episode back on Episode 87
Dreams and nightmares: These are things right out of your psyche
Creations: these are things created from ideas you have and they can come from all of the above.
Mash ups- There is a great example of this in Dungeons and Dragons and that is the Owlbear. This guy is literally a mash up of an owl and a bear just like the name says.
Mythical- There are monsters in every culture of the world. A fun example is the Raijū. The creature can hide in people’s belly buttons. Now what could you do with a creature that hides in small spaces?
Cryptids- These are monsters that are part of the new mythology that is the world today. But what if the Mokele- Mbembe is real and wandering around in your swamps or sewers?
Dreams and Nightmares- There are a few examples that work so well as the Night-Gaunts created by H.P. Lovecraft. There are many others as well.
Creations- These are things that you come up with on your own. You might find a few examples of these in a few of the statblocks we have done.
Can you think of other categories that are broad like these? If so come find us on our social media platforms and let us know.
Stat Blocks
Zendead
Shadow Folk
The shadows in the old abandoned house seemed to flicker and move. Just like the shadows from a fire. There was only one small problem, there was no fire. They clung to the ceiling and the holes in the plaster walls. The forms were not animal, oh no they seemed humanoid.
The folk of this place make no sounds that regular people can not hear. If you have touched the darkness in the world then you might be able to hear them. Their voices are like hollow reeds crying in the wind. What makes them want to be in this world?
Once you stopped looking at them they started to drop from the places they had been hiding. Yes the shadows, that is where they hide from prying human eyes. As they touch down on the old worn floorboards there is only the slightest creak. And you spin back to see what made the noise. But too late the hand that grabs you is far too strong to be human. The form is almost visible but the feel of claws digging into your arms force you to drop the light you have. The rolling flashlight illuminates them as they close in to bite. How can the face be…
How to Use Shadow Folk in Game:
Shadow folk dwell in the in between places of light and dark. If you have a realm of shadow they could be rulers there. Maybe they are the shadows of men killed in the dark. Is it a demon or group of demons, possibly. There are lots of ways to use them in a game.
Guard-a-Manger
The Beast of Trolie Fen
Rarely have creatures like this ever stalked humanity as their prey. It is hard to hide when your very electromagnetic field gives you away – tingling the hunter’s special glands and warning them of your attempt to flee. It is harder even to make an escape when your predator glows faintly showing you how close it is … causing you to run faster and your electrical field to give you away even more. The poison you know awaits you if caught will leave you writhing in agony and swollen from its effects.
You try to escape, knowing the carnivorous beast is not far behind you. Legends and stories call the beast of this fen a true monstrosity, stitched together of the nightmares of all humankind. You know the scent of your own fear will give you away and try to make it to stream that feeds the lake around this fen. You slide into it quietly and shiver as you try to disguise your scent . . but lose hope as you realize it is splashing into the water not far from you. Even as it swims to you, outpacing your feeble attempts, you realize all is lost. Even as you feel the sharp pain of it’s poison spur you cannot believe your eyes.
Only as your scream falls into the garbled sound of your drowning in excruciating pain can you begin to believe you have been a victim of the legendary Dire Platypus of Trolie Fen.
How to Use The Beast of Trolie Fen in Game:
A Dire Platypus has many uses, chief among them terrifying your players, Keep the reveal back as long as you can for this monstrosity as a legendary creatures, escaped science experiment, or alien planet apex predator.
The old adage of location, location, location is not lost on us this time as we start talking about locations in your games. How do you make a location come alive? Each of us will have a few tips that we use and these are just our ideas.
So I have found that in some ways if you use a more is less approach it can work really well. I have found that when I run a game I build up the important feature or features and then let the players fill in the small details. Now if I have a location that is in a city then I might talk about a few things to let the group know what part of the city they are in. Then as the group comes closer to the place I will start to describe a point of interest or two.
I will leave it there or ask the players each what about the location stands out to them. That is really all it takes and if you are going to be using that same location a few times add something new each time. Or if you want to ratchet up the tension take something away and don’t explain it to them.
Lean into a single theme or identifier – Iconic and archetypal locations are convenient storytelling devices and there is nothing wrong with that. This helps you as a GM keep things straight as well so you don’t overly complicate your own bookkeeping.
Tie locations to people – Another way to bring out the character of a location is with a character. Use the location to work with or against an NPC or reflect a PC’s own nature and background.
Stat Blocks
Zendead
New Detroit
The Klaxons started roaring for 20 seconds then cut off for 20 seconds then back on like that for two minutes. Then they went silent for 3 minutes and started up again. This goes on for 15 minutes, the length of time to get from a working station to your secure shelter in the structure.
Then the whole world starts to shake and rumble as the structure starts to move from its current position on the ice shelf. Yes the ice shelf, while climate scientists kept saying global warming was the worry it was really just climate change. I know, I hear you ask, is there a difference? Yes there is and it is radical. One is about the climate only going in one direction whereas the other is about it going any direction.
The structure was built to run on nuclear power. It needs to move though from time to time as the shelfs start to get thin from the heat. This place is just one of a few such places and we call it New Detroit.
How to Use New Detroit in Game:
If you want to run a game in a strange post-apocalyptic world this might just be the way. Do you want to have a secret science location? Here you go. What if you need a superhero base? There are a ton of options that you could port it into. Enjoy.
Joules
CepheloMeme
Nearly a decade has passed since the research experiment began. A pHD student at the University of Hawaii submitted a thesis topic; to understand the nature of the intelligence and communication methodology of the various species of octopus. The thesis topic was approved and a research team was formed. The researchers injected many species of octopi with the latest and greatest nanotechnology. The nanotech could perform various scientific/experimental functions, receive new instructions, and broadcast information back to multiple data collection relays deployed worldwide.
It took months to gather data and even longer to interpret it. The initial results implied that the various octopus species used their chromatophores to communicate with non-hostile aquatic life. To confirm the hypothesis, the team wanted to see if the octopi could communicate specific ideas and concepts. So they sent a command to the nanomachines to “implant” various concepts for the octopi to display using their chromatophores. Initial results appeared to be successful. The octopi began to display a unique and consistent pattern of colours and shapes.
So, after a great run of successes, the research team wanted to really push the envelope. To see if they could give the octopi ways to communicate with humans. So the team programmed the nanomachines to connect to the web’s biggest communication sites; Twitter, tumblr, facebook, instagram, and other various social networks and waited. It worked, but not how the team hypothesized.
About a year ago, a diver was checking on one of the submerged data relays when an octopus swam up. The diver reached out, played a while with the octopus and then patted its head. The diver was then shocked to see the octopus use its chromatophores to display a smiley face emoji. A few crude hand signs, pantomimes and shocked facial expressions later, the diver realized that the octopus understood and could communicate back. What stunned the entire team was when, after realizing the diver could understand, the octopus displayed a picture of Dathon and Jean-Luc Picard with the phrase “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.”
“Oh Crap.” the head researcher commented. “They’re using memes and emojis.”
The past six months have been a whirlwind as various beach-goers and divers see octopuses display various memes and emojis to the humans visiting their aquatic homes. Everything from a laughing face emoji when a swimmer lost their swim trunks to pictures of baby yoda when being petted by a toddler who’s meeting his first octopus.
And the team has begun to see a darker side as well. A data relay in the pacific ocean recorded a bunch of octopuses displaying the angry face and poop emoji upon discovery of an illegal trash dumping operation. The ship was discovered 3 days later, abandoned, and the dumped trash strewn about the deck.
How to Use Cephelomeme in Game:
This can allow a lot of interesting “non verbal” communication opportunities. Uplifted species may communicate differently. It also gives a kind of puzzle component to your players who enjoy puzzles and logic challenges..
Guard-a-Manger
Frank’s Fresh Fruit
What’s the best way to use this space? What can you see filling this empty storefront? A long time anchor of the neighborhood, Frank’s Fresh Fruit had been a little run down but provided not only groceries in a selection beyond a bodega’s offerings but a real place, a third space, for neighbors to see each other and talk. Frank never had any children, and his slow decline was something nobody talked about.
When he died, an entire community wept. The slightly rusted awning above the door soon overlooked a bed of flowers and remembrances. Frank seemed prepared for this passing. The will had provisions for what do with whatever provisions were left in the store. The mayor issued a proclamation honoring small businesses like Frank’s and extolling the character of the unique neighborhoods of the city. Frank’s store provided for a block party, nearly a wake, to see him off.
You ended up in Frank’s will. Why? You have the deed and the keys. The door still squeaks a little when you open it, begging for oil. As you stand in the middle of the emptied store, you hear another creak. But it didn’t come from the door …
How to Use Frank’s Fresh Fruit in Game:
Frank’s is a location well suited to any modern game and easily adapted for other time periods, but can shine when transformed into the base for a supers campaign or the target of a blockbusting land development scheme in a noir game. But perhaps, it is the question of whether Frank’s ghost remains that is your greatest tool.
Lexicon
Shanty
noun (1) shan·ty | \ ˈshan- \
variant spelling of CHANTEY
: a song sung by sailors in rhythm with their work
shanty noun (2)
shan·ty | \ ˈshan-tē \
plural shanties
Definition of shanty (Entry 2 of 2)
: a small crudely built dwelling or shelter usually of wood
History and Etymology for shanty
Noun (2)
probably from Canadian French chantier lumber camp, hut, from French, builder’s yard, ways, support for barrels, from Old French chantier, gantier support
First Known Use of shanty Noun (2)
1820
Look-up Popularity
Bottom 40% of words
Closing remarks
Zendead – Doom Patrol– It is a great example of supers that aren’t really super. And they do have a great cast of characters in the show. It is great that you get to see Brandon Fraiser acting again. He has been pretty amazing and I want to see him back into the limelight.
Joules – Darkest Dungeon An amazing eldritch horror adventure. Will you try to redeem the honour of your house and hamlet or fall to madness that has consumed every other person who has tried.
Guard-a-Manger – Naps. Life has been really busy and hectic. Stress from events small and large is adding up so self-care is a good idea ahead of the unique holiday season for 2020. I recommend finding time for some extra sleep by way of napping when you can.
Episode 107: Raising up that reclusive Gamer at the Table
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Have you had or do you have that player that seems to just sit there? That player that never seeks the spotlight? You may have yourself a reclusive player. Is this a problem or an asset?
Well I do have to say that for me I can worry. Questions I will ask myself:
Am I not making it engaging for them?
Am I sticking to the spotlight hogs?
Are they just there to fill a chair?
Did they come as a Significant Other to one of the other players?
What do you do when you start to ask yourself these questions or notice that reclusive player?
First – See whether it is a problem. Get together with the player out of the game, either in person or digitally, and see if they are okay with it. Maybe, this is a player who enjoys being supportive and nodding along with other players. This player may make enough decisions during the day that they are happy to sit back and just watch. If the player isn’t okay, then you should ask why. It’s best not to put folks on the spot right then and there. Touch base during the usual bio breaks/food runs and ask if they’ve got a moment away from the table. They’re already kinda withdrawn right? Being discreet can keep from exacerbating the situation
Are they having fun?
Are they engaging with the game and the plot?
Are they being talked over by assertive players?
Does their character build seem not to be useful mechanically?
Second, how do you fix those problems if that is the case? Be aware that there are nigh infinite solutions, since the cause is most likely varied and nuanced. Do they like more “behind the curtain” kind of things? Are they a leader in real life and are thus suffering analysis paralysis and just want someone else to do it? So ask leading or probing questions. One and two word answers (“I’m Tired”) may give some insight into a temporary situation. However, if this is a systemic issue you’ll need to use the handy dandy open ended questions to gain some insight into the situation.
If the plot and story isn’t drawing them in, try to find out why – a desire for Politics and intrigue vs dungeon delving and adventuring?
Are other players talking over them? Bring a discussion to the whole table about wanting to make sure everybody gets a chance to contribute. As a GM make sure to ask those players at times what their characters are doing.
Is their build disadvantageous? Design some adventures to focus on what they can do. Give them an opportunity to respec.
Stat Blocks
Joules
Star Eaters
Hush child and stay near me. I will tell you a story. I swear to you that this is true, unlike the apocryphal stories of the rulers and priests.
They gazed upon us from above. The stars. They shone and danced nightly, as they made their way across the celestial sphere. The old legends described how monsters, heroes, villains, all that the gods deemed precious were placed in the sky.
Till they all disappeared.
It started slowly, in a darker corner of the sky. One by the one, the stars winked out. An ever expanding void blanketed the sky. And the last of the stars winked out, we heard them.
A cacophony of clicking and amelodic eldric chittering.
The Star Eaters.
Where they come from remains a black secret. And their final objective, a mystery as well.
Our priests, prophets and kings succumbed to the influence of the Star Eaters first. Our Leaders’ craving for power and control made them easy to influence and command. They became the Star Eaters’ perfect zealots and acolytes. And our people, terrified and lost, blindly followed their words. It didn’t take long for the populace to act solely in interest of the Star Eaters.
Know this, child. Without the stars, we are adrift and nearly helpless.
We cannot navigate. Long ago, we traveled using the stars as signposts, waypoints, and markers. Now we cannot travel to trade or explore. The stars determined the planting season and harvest time. Without the star’ guidance, our larders grow barren and winter supplies grow scarce. In times past, we used the position of the stars to determine fate and destiny for all things, great and small alike. Without the stars, no decisions can be made. So we stagnate. We die. We forget.
So why do I tell you this, little one?
Because there are so few of us left. There are so few who remember the night sky as it used to be. So few who know the truth, heretical though it may be.
And if the stars themselves are forgotten, then we, as a people, will be lost as well.
How to Use Star Eaters in Game:
There’s a lot of ways this can be used. It can be used to restrict your players movement. Present varied plot inroads to address it. Shroud your game world.
Guard-a-Manger
Harvik’s Purloined Mendacious Scripting
Mendacious script is a pernicious evil. Perhaps not so much evil as inadvertently responsible for launching a thousand ships on doomed quests. This script, this font, this particular way of arranging semiotic information can morph and change before your very eyes. The actual meaning may stay the same but the words themselves will change and flow into something different. Each time you open the page and lay your eyes upon what’s been transcribed or represented, it seems different. Harvik is the person who gets the credit or blame for identifying what was happening… but whether Harvik first found the Script or perhaps invented it is still unknown. Which version is the right version? Is there a right version?
How to Use Harvik’s Purloined Mendacious Scripting in Game:
If you ever wanted to mislead your players, here is your chance! The Mendacious Script may take forms suitable for many genres – from enchanted ink to viral nanites and can never seem to be controlled. Leave clues and ideas in these cryptic, or sometimes straightforward passages, and let your players tear their hair out until they realize what they have in their tomes.
Lexicon
Khamsin noun kham·sin | \ kam-ˈsēn \
Definition of khamsin
: a hot southerly Egyptian wind
History and Etymology for khamsin
Arabic rīḥ al-khamsīn the wind of the fifty (days between Easter and Pentecost)
First Known Use of khamsin
1685
Look-up Popularity
Bottom 10% of words
Closing remarks
Zendead – Raised by Wolves The basis is Earth has been destroyed and this pair of androids have to raise a small group of children in a Keepler Planet.
Joules – Jackbox Party Pack. There’s 7 of them. Play silly games with your friends. And you all don’t need the game, just one of you. You can play on a laptop or phone
Guard-a-Manger – Challenger: The Final Flight. A four part documentary series about the Challenger space shuttle: How we got there; what went wrong; and what we learned. If you are of a certain age, you may remember specific moments that are in the documentary so be warned and aware but it is a fascinating look at where we thought the future was going in the 1980s.
Music is courtesy of Sim on Twitter you can find him at @TheSimulacrae
What happens when you take a genre and you twist it with something else? You get a new idea or a genre subversion. So what are the possible options I hear you ask? The options are limitless once you put your mind to it. Some ideas that come from horror movies, which are great at doing this is Comedy/horror, supernatural/horror and a few others.
Then there is a true subversion when you take a genre like Romance and twist it into Survival or something that can play to type but things are flipped on their heads. Subversion is about more than just reversing expectations, but using the tools and tropes of a given genre to become another genre. These are common on television shows and provide some of the most memorable hooks in popular entertainment.
Juxtapose opposing genres like the comedy/horror example. Here you take a genre and your players will make characters in that genre but slowly realize that the game is a different kind of setting. This is used to great effect for teenage stories and games – Stranger Things for example.
Adjacent Genres are also easily used. It is simple to slip from one genre to another when they have a bit of overlap – a survival genre game could easily become a mystery story (That’s Lost by the way) or you can find a high fantasy adventure game transposed to one of intrigue (Game of Thrones for the middle seasons).
Bonkers. Sometimes you just go bonkers and throw an unrelated genre into a game. This is most often done in one offs and in adventures between larger campaigns. It can become a running theme, though, as a science fiction game lends itself to heist, or survival, or whatever else comes along should time travel be involved. Stargate SG-1 did a great job of moving between genres while always having an action adventure base to fall back on.
Guard-a-Manger throws a lot of this sort of subversion into his stat blocks, so when in doubt he is probably doing something to mess with your expectations in that section.
Stat Blocks
Zendead
D33p0ne
:: Neuraljack link Diagnosis ::
:: Link Damaged ::
>> Cause of damage? >>
<< NeuralNet Security Activated<<
The Neuraljack link disconnected from the nerve trunk and slithered back into the terminal housing. Part of the design feature of the Cydine Series. Also the only series that is compatible with the nerve structure of Cephalopoda species. Even the uplifted ones have a hard time getting the links to work.
It is funny how the silly rigids never think that an uplifted Pod can hack into the planetary grid. The humans still think they are the most intelligent beings in the solar system. They are so wrong. The few that don’t try to step on us on the way up find out we have been in the system almost as long as the system has existed. We camouflage in the digital world as well or better than we can in the real world, and that is saying something.
I like that the humans still think I am just a fan of Lovecraft. Not this nonhuman I hate him. Since he made cephalopods the villains of so many of his stories. If we are all villains then I will take what I need from the rigids and make this world bow down to me.
How to Use D33p0ne in Game:
D33p0ne is a hacker on a scale that is hard to understand. She can hack into government databases like present day hackers hack emails. She hacks Planetary databases and sites in hours not years. If you need to get information out she could be the true source of it. Though if you are not using a sci fi setting she could be magical and a master of Divination Spells. I hear you say I am running a modern day game make her a normal human hacker that has figured out how to crack massive government systems.
Guard-a-Manger
Midland Advanced British HVAC Repair
Coming and going. Going and coming. Hither and yon. It seems nearly impossible for one to catch one’s breath at this pace. There is no shortage nor stoppage of souls calling out for relief … or at least my well bargained assistance. It has gotten easier, the longer I’ve done this job, to extract payment. It’s certainly something that few ever question – inviting me in, offering me refreshments, signing whatever paper I put in front of them when done. They smile and sigh contentedly .. and I can just keep collecting that sweet sweet taste of the promised future. Time for my next appointment it seems –
*Knock, Knock, Knock*
Midland Advanced British HVAC Repair – May I come in?
How to Use Midland Advanced British HVAC Repair in Game:
What is more mundane than HVAC repair? This enterprising faerie ring has set up a way to be invited into homes over and over, without suspect, and extract payment from so many. It could be a front for something larger and more sinister, or the way to subvert a noir story into urban fantasy asn the world opens up to the more fantastical elements. Or your players just accidentally sign their souls over the Mab’s agents without realizing it one session.
Lexicon
Benefice noun ben·e·fice | \ ˈbe-nə-fəs \
Definition of benefice
1: an ecclesiastical office to which the revenue from an endowment is attached
2: a feudal estate in lands : FIEF
History and Etymology for benefice
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin beneficium, from Latin, favor, promotion, from beneficus
First Known Use of benefice
14th century
Look-up Popularity
Bottom 30% of words
Closing remarks
Zendead – DoroHeDoro If you want to watch something that is crazy and mindbending you need to check this out. The animation is fun and cool. The ideas it brings are a lot of fun.
Guard-a-Manger – Foucault’s Pendulum. Umberto Eco’s novel about conspiracies and semioticly created danger remains one of the high points of 1980s novels allowing Prof. Eco to indulge in his specialty of the study of creating meaning in a truly entertaining way. Also, a masterclass in how to subvert tropes and story expectations many times over.
Music is courtesy of Sim on Twitter you can find him at @TheSimulacrae
Episode 105: Cities More than Just Silent Backdrops
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The City with a capital C is it just a placeholder or can and should it be more in your games? If you are designing your city from scratch then it is usually more than just a placeholder. Or if you are using a real life city as the backdrop then it is a living thing. A great example of a city that was more than just a backdrop is the 90’s movie Dark City. It was a prop as well as a constantly changing place. Is this how your city should be? Not usually.
Thing is that we, as humans, often personify the inanimate. Ever gotten into a negotiation session with a toilet that is almost overflowing? Insulted your computer for crashing? Yelled at the trees for spring pollen? We inherently ascribe a personality to the world we live in. But it’s the things that are affecting us that we notice. The jerk pothole that just jacked up the car.. The sweet yet impish water fountain that occasionally sprays your face. It’s usually parts of the world you experience directly that defines it’s personality. So think about what your world would to your characters, how they would feel about it, and see if you can find words that would convey that personality.
There are a lot of things you can do to make the city be more than just the backdrop. A huge one is to have districts in the city or neighborhoods if you will. When you have different feels for them start doing other things like celebrations and festivals. If those things are important to the areas.
Some places could even be these bright sterile locations and why is that? Have answers to the questions and some of these ideas when described to your players might unnerve them and get them to ask why is this happening here. Let them dig into it and before you know it the characters in a place will be more than just a gun dealer maybe and he is the guy that helps to kick off a revolution. Ideas will come from the players as well. Steal them out right and maybe twist them to fit what you have going on in the area.
Stat Blocks
Zendead
Dreamlings of Sorrow
The feel of tears running down your face are almost the only thing that you can feel. The sound of the pen scraping across the paper is the only sound you can hear. The breaking of a heart is a painful and powerful thing that can drive the fire of creation. Does it matter what is created? Not as long as there is emotion and powerful emotion called forth by it.
The act of breaking a heart is a thing that when done by the Dreamlings when and how they want. Do they think like the rest of us? No, I don’t believe so. They pull power and life from the act of a loss. They are able to drive the broken to create things of wonder and beauty and power. Sometimes the broken create things that are so powerful that it can become stuck in the heart and souls of some of the people that witness the outpouring of these emotions. If enough people can feel the truth of the creation that can be the creation of a new dreamling.
How to Use Dreamlings of Sorrow in Game:
They can be the force that helps to create works of wonder and power in your world. As well they can be a force of destruction that brings about the end of things. Dreamlings can come in various forms that are pulled from a myriad of human emotions.
Joules
The Glow
Beaten and bloody. Exhausted and wretched. Each breath brings the echo of pain. With raspy breath, you slump down against the wall, the tendrils of despair omnipresent. Thinking back to your quest, your promise, your solemn oath. The obstacles seem insurmountable, now. Harsh, unyielding reality has set in and with it, the despondence. It is fate. It is inescapable. You will fail.
The path of retreat is barred. Whether by magic or by your own misguided force of will, you do not know. All that is assured is oblivion.
Yet in that moment, your soul screams out in mutinous aggression. It resonates. Building upon itself, wave upon wave. Calling out to others who have felt the same.
Then you feel it. A warmth. Gentle, like the sun at dawn.
A golden glow hums just beyond your reach. You extend your hand.
The smoldering embers of who you are reignite. The glow whispers to you. “Though we all have faced different ordeals, our journey is the same. Rise, sister. You are not alone.”
The glow’s blessing takes many forms. Some have been blessed with nigh invulnerability, while others have had near fatal wounds healed. A few have been gifted with artifacts of power. Some have been blessed with the knowledge of unique tactics and strategies. While others have had phantoms of gold appear beside them, willing to charge into battle.
The glow is the embodiment and blessing of the soul’s last howl of defiance and glory.
And you stand, once more.
How to Use the glow in Game:
There’s times where your players have messed up so bad there’s no way out. But it alluded to early enough, the Glow won’t come off as the deus ex machina device that it is. It also can be used to prevent grimdark from getting too much so.
Lexicon
Leman noun le·man | \ ˈle-mən
Definition of leman
archaic
: SWEETHEART, LOVER
especially : MISTRESS
History and Etymology for leman
Middle English lefman, leman, from lef lief
First Known Use of leman
13th century
Look-up Popularity
Bottom 30% of words
Closing remarks
Zendead – Dark Spot on Netflix is a pretty creepy French piece of TV. The location is pretty interesting and it leads you into some fun places. I am really enjoying it so far.
Joules – David JP Phillips. Guy is a professional public speaker. He’s had some ted talks about good public speaking. He just started a youtube channel though. Done some reaction videos on major youtube personalities as well as some modern famous individuals. There’s a lot to learn from this guy. And the best thing? He does his research. You may get some tips on how to be a better storyteller
Music is courtesy of Sim on Twitter you can find him at @TheSimulacrae
What is a pitch session and what is a session zero? Are they the same or are they different? Sometimes it is good to do them as separate sessions and other times it is ok to do them together. GaM’s definitely prefers to separate them out and to have them serve different functions. Pitch Sessions look at deciding on the game and setting to play, but not necessarily a Session Zero of character creation and setting the groundwork. Look back at the Choosing a System series in Episodes 64, 65, and 66 for more of that context to this discussion!
Pitch Sessions can help set the tone and the themes for the players and the GM, so when you run a pitch session, this should be the focus – large scale set ups and selling of the campaign. Session Zero lets everyone dig into making characters and building connections between them – providing you the GM with more of a handle on how to motivate the game that the Pitch Session shaped.
Things to take into account:
How familiar is everyone with the game?
Do you intend to use this as a one shot or ongoing campaign?
Are you planning on running this in perpetuity or do you expect to hand the steering wheel off to someone else
Are there quickstart rules/modules?
Do you need fleshed out character concepts? Or is there a RNG (Random Number Generator) type of character creation?
How long does character creation usually take (for veterans and N00bs). Take into account mental exhaustion for you and your players.
Do you, as the GM, have an idea for the game or does it depend on what your players create?
Is jumping into the game’s mindset easy or does it take a bit to ease into it?
Sometimes when your players create characters, you can start to see possible plots/stories/macguffins take shape. Take notes of this. Cause dollars to doughnuts your players won’t lock all of that down
Would the game/world/mechanics take a lot of time for your table to get comfortable? (Think RIFTS (crazy amount of time on rules but easy on concepts) vs Deadlands (RNG character generator plus playing cards and poker chips) vs Dungeons and Dragons (Roll 3d6 drop the lowest)
How much stuff can you send to your players to read beforehand (and how readable is it)? Is this something you can do between a Pitch Session and Session Zero?
Stat Blocks
Zendead
The Monks of Destan
The sting of incense burned the eyes and the nose. It was hard to see in this dimly lit room when you added the clouds of incense on top of it. In the back of the room is a shadow, it seems to be a robed figure. Of course it is you think. I can do this you tell yourself. No one will be able to stop me. You go to close the distance and each step forward appears to make the distance greater. As each step makes this seem more like it is going to be impossible to close the distance. Running is a short lived exercise in futility. Then as you stop the distance seems to become fluid and you are just inside the tent.
How do you close the distance? The monks said something stupid about looking back the way you had come. That is not a real answer on how to do anything. But at this point what have you got to lose? So you look back the way you have come. The flap to the tent is right there. You can not see the marks on the ground that you took to get into the tent. Taking a step toward the flaps and you feel the distance grow. You reach out to grab them and there is nothing to grab but air. As you traveled in just the blink of an eye the distance of a league or more.
How to Use The Monks of Destan in Game:
They could be a secret order of monks that meddle in time and space relations. Or possibly they are wizards that want to trap the gullible.
Guard-a-Manger
Legendary Battery of Tunaki
These things are supposed to be chrome, right? Shiny and minimalist with sharp angles and bright lights? It’s called a battery of immense power from the South Pacific, attributed to the legendary Tunaki Islands … but what is it really that you have found? It’s hard to know what to do with this baroque creation : no edge exists – instead rounded planes meet with ornamentation and embellishments across the entire face of the device. Some kind of ‘capacitor’ as it was described, several of the … nodules are warm to the touch, and glow a light purple when the sun is down and the moon is up. It is silent. Not just itself – as you draw near every other sound seems to melt away and you grow slightly chilled. You run your hands across the expertly worked surface and ask yourself how could you open this battery?
How to Use the Legendary Battery of Tunaki in Game:
An unusual artifact, and one that should make your players ask some deeper questions about their own expectations, the Legendary Battery of Tunaki may bear some relationship to the Legendary Antillian Torus in Episode 96. The Battery should evoke mystery and perhaps a quest to unlock it, but what sort of power is held inside should be scarcely controllable if at all. . .
1: the plank, stone, or piece of timber that lies under a door : SILL
2a: GATE, DOOR
b(1): END, BOUNDARY
specifically : the end of a runway
(2): the place or point of entering or beginning : OUTSET
3a: the point at which a physiological or psychological effect begins to be produced
has a high threshold for pain
b: a level, point, or value above which something is true or will take place and below which it is not or will not
History and Etymology for threshold
Middle English thresshold, from Old English threscwald; akin to Old Norse threskjǫldr threshold, Old English threscan to thresh
First Known Use of threshold
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Look-up Popularity
Top 10% of words
Closing remarks
Zendead – The show Grimm. It is fun to look at myth and folklore with some new lenses from time to time. This show does it. Lots of fun.
Joules – Batman Beyond. Passing Of the torch done right. Honestly shows how certain villains react to the hero with a new face.
Guard-a-Manger – Brimstone. An underrated late 90s show that was gone too soon. While the idea of souls escaping hell and the Devil enlisting someone to recapture them in exchange for freedom has been done often, the cast shined including an unforgettable John Glover as the Devil and Lori Petty in supporting roles with some really interesting episodes especially for the late 90s. If you happen to have a copy of it, contact the show so I can buy it from you.
Music is courtesy of Sim on Twitter you can find him at @TheSimulacrae
