MFTB

2011-12-31T15:11:00.000-08:00

Blackfell my new wizard in Ashley's new Jade Cove Campaign. I am a little late in posting this. The first session was back on November 19th. Anyway it was a blast.

Character Sheet
Back-story

Note: I don't really have a web-friendly character sheet yet... have to fix that.

Earth 1168 - A Little History

2011-12-31T14:35:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a long time, but we're finally getting ready for the next installment of the Mortality Algorithm, my Champions adventure for the weekend group.

Last time before the session I sent out selections of the standard Champions Setting's history for players who didn't have access to the books.

I have since collected all that stuff in one document here.

Max Krieg

2010-12-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

New campaign (Age of Wyrms), new character Max Krieg.

Character Sheet

Back-story

Thunderspire: Adventure Log Update

2010-04-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of game this weekend I finally updated the Thunderspire: Adventure Log. I waited waaaay to long this time.

I interleaved working on it the last few days with reviewing the module so neither felt like a slog. The log is definitely helpful for getting my mind back in the right place.

Still have a little more work to do before Friday, but I am really looking forward to this session. It could be epic.

Intergalactic

2010-04-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

What fun!

A little indie book I discovered out of the blue.

The story was amateurish, but entertaining.

Matt Olson's artwork is excellent, the characters are rendered with vitality and the main character has real charisma in her expressions. Love it.

Bottom line, the story won't stick with me, but was fun to read.

Kick-Ass

2010-04-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

Better than I expected, but my expectations were low.

JRJR's artwook solid as always.

Bottom line, meh.

No Hero

2010-04-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

Worst Warren Ellis comic I have ever read. What a contrast from Anna Mercury. Ryp's art, same as ever.

Bottom line, they should have just called it "No Good".

Jazzy

2010-04-06T01:19:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted any comics stuff in a while, but I been reading. In fact I have embarked on a fairly large comic book project I had been contemplating for a while.

I'm reading Amazing Spider-Man #39 - 125. Spider-scholars everywhere will immediately recognize that as more or less the initial "Jazzy" John Romita run (there are some issues mixed through-out contributed by other awesome dudes like Gil Kane, a post for another day...). Penciled by JR they were of course written by Stan the Man.

These are great comics. Arguably the high-point of the web-heads long and storied career. Not to take anything away from the incredible kick-off penciled by Steve Ditko, but I feel like Marvel, Stan and Spidey just kept getting better and better throughout this period.

I actually started reading Spidey right around #130 (so just after the JR run). The year was 1974 and I was just learning to read. The stories in the JR run were constantly flashed back to and referenced but were not necessarily all in reprints. So while the first dozen or so ASMs I have read and re-read over and over again as part of reprint collections, these stories not so much.

I just finished #50 "Spider-Man No More", one of the highlights I had read before and it was as good as I remembered.

That particular issue of course reminds me just how influential JR's run was on the Sam Raimi films, much to Mr. Raimi's credit. He really gets Spider-Man and these issues in particular.

After I finish up these books I will take a break from Spider-Man for awhile, but eventually I might plot out one of these read-a-thons for John Romita Jr.'s run on Spider-Man. He also put his own cool graphic spin on web-head literature.

...back to reading, True Believers!

Thunderbolts

2010-03-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

Justice like lightning...

First I missed this series completely. Then when I heard about it, I got it all wrong.

I don't read as many super-hero books as I used to but make no mistake, I love super-hero stories.

This one has a cool twist, and solid art. Mark Bagley's stuff has really grown on me.

I've only read the first 12, can't wait to read the rest.

Bottom line, fun!

The Death of the New Gods

2010-02-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

*SPOILERS*

I have avoided these books, The Death of the New Gods for months.

I am a fan of the New Gods.

I like Jim Starlin's work and I think he wants to do right by these characters.

I just finished reading the books moments ago. It's safe to say I have mixed emotions about them.

Scott Free's final moments were heartbreaking, but I'm not buying. Scott Free's overriding theme is not rationalism versus dark passion, it's individual freedom versus group oppression.

I don't like Darkseid surviving... at all. The confrontation with Orion at the end was the right thing and to have it not be the resolution is weak.

Bottom line, growing dissatisfaction.

KC Rants and Raves and Blogs...

2010-02-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

My friend Kacey started a blog. So I hooked him up with a link. I am sure it will be an interesting read.

Platinum Grit

2010-01-29T07:02:00.001-08:00

I discovered a cool web comic a while back, Platinum Grit.

The great thing about discovering something this way, is that you come at it with few preconceptions and little frame of reference. Making it a lot easier to just enjoy it for it's own merits.

The great thing about this book, is that it has charismatic characters (I would like to hang out with Nils, Jeremy and Kate), it feels like a personal story the author has to tell and it's a good story. It's got tons of great absurdest and surreal moments, is fun, and then has these inexplicably dark uncomfortable moments as well.

After I discovered it I read one or two then picked around at a few others, last week or so I went back and read the first 10, there are only 20.

Looking at it now, the book definitely has parallels with Tank Girl and similarities to Los Bros. but that's ok it's fine to have influences. I am just glad I got a chance to read it with a clear mind first.

Bottom line, wish there were more. I'll read the last 10 soon and since there have only been 20 in the last 15 years...

Powers

2010-01-09T02:23:00.000-08:00

I just read the first arc of Powers, "Who Killed Reto Girl?".

Entertaining. The dialog was maybe too sharp (not everybody is a great fucking communicator) and a couple of plot elements were a little loose, but they are really minor issues. I like these characters and the book has it's heart in the right place.

The art on this book has that great property, that the more you look at it the better it gets. Tons of great expressions, body language and subtle visual cues. The lighting and colors are great.

It's a bit of a double edged sword, I looked at this book for years and thought a solid "meh". Even though I knew the artwork was doing a lot, it just didn't immediately pull me in. Oh well I figure this is more my problem than the books. I like candy.

Bottom line, I am gonna' be reading a lot more of these.

New X-Men

2010-01-04T02:58:00.001-08:00

Don't have time for a long post.

I just finished all of Grant Morrison's X-Men (New X-Men, whatever) run.

I had read the first arc (114-116) a while ago, but just hadn't gotten around to the rest (117-154). Themes, ideas, characterization, were all very good. Plotting not so tight.

The final arc consisted of a story that would never happen because the characters got the Phoenix Force to basically prune them from the timeline. It all looked super-cool from our perspective, but from where those characters sit (Beak's grandson-never-to-be Tito, for instance) I doubt it would seem so hot.

Better than good art delivered throughout by (off the top of my head) Quitely, Kordey, Bachalo and Gimenez.

Bottom line, tons of fun, really enjoyed it.

Anna Mercury

2009-12-14T23:07:00.000-08:00

Bottom line, awesome.

Bad Planet

2009-12-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

This series started out super-strong, ended... weaker.

The plot degenerated into some wacky crap about the "alien with no name" attacking a tesla coil with an axe, waittaminute' what am I saying? That sounds awesome!

I hadn't read any Steve Niles before, because I am freakin' sick of vampires.

Interior artwork was solid. Covers were stellar, featuring the likes of Mark Schultz and Dave Stevens.

Bottom line, good fun, glad I read it.

Global Frequency

2009-12-12T22:59:00.000-08:00

This was a solid series, cool, interesting. Characterization was limited, but plots were tight, lots of mad ideas (as Warren Ellis would say).

The structure guaranteed it would be hit-or-miss, each issue was self-contained and had a different artist... ballsy. Anyway it paid off.

Bottom line the good ones more than made up for the weaker ones.

30!

2009-10-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

Another post about another role-playing milestone. I started playing DND 30 years ago this year.

I know that I started in 1979 because my grandmother Annabelle gave me my 1st ed. ADND books that year for my birthday. Whenever my grandmother gave a book as a present she signed and dated it.

Earlier that year in the summer, the kid from across the street (we were 11 at the time), asked me if I wanted to play a game called Dungeons and Dragons.

There were weird dice. I was a half-elf. I had a magic sword. In an underground cavern next to a lake I fought a terrible monster. I slew it and got a magic ring. It turned you invisible.

I remember walking across the street to go home that evening. A thousand fantastic thoughts raced through my head and one real-world concern, "How was I going to get to play again?". For the next four years of my life that would be my central preoccupation. If I wasn't playing DND I was trying to figure out how I would get to play again.

In the years since, that overwhelming urge to play has waxed and waned. I have gone many years without playing at all, while at other times been completely immersed again.

These days I am playing regularly and starting to share the game with my children. Despite all my years spent in fantasy land, that's something I never dreamed of.

Changes

2009-10-10T23:20:00.001-07:00

I made some changes to the blog today. While exploring various things I found that some old Blogger features had been improved. I decided to take advantage of the updates and streamline some things:

The Labels tag cloud is now just the default Labels widget with the cloud option turned on.

I added the search widget (actually did that a while ago).

I removed the Blogger Navbar since it's functionality was now redundant.

I changed the colors of the title area.

Overall I think it looks a little cleaner.

20!

2009-07-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

My D&D character Walker made 20th level last game. It is the first time I have played a character straight-through, legitimately, levels 1-20 in the thirty years that I have been playing D&D. Through version 3.5 level 20 was the final "regular" level of D&D. Guidelines for levels beyond that were generally considered optional or expansions.

To people who don't play the game, well I am sure they could care less (lol), but if they did care, some of them would probably be surprised. I think they would be surprised because they are used to games that have a single goal or objective, that you "win".

Most role-players will probably not be surprised. D&D is not such a game. You could have myriad goals for your character, acquiring certain items or getting certain abilities that have nothing to do with leveling. They might be role-playing goals or they might be mechanical. You might start your character after first level. You might end the campaign your character is participating in before 20th, the edition of the game might change or you might get interested in a different role-playing game. Your character could die. Your gaming group could split up.

Staying with the same campaign and characters for so many levels takes a long time and a lot of commitment. We have played consistently once a week for the last 5 years. We took some breaks along the way, maybe as long as 6 months, but we kept going. Notice it's all we. This is a commitment that has to be shared by about 5 or 6 people, come hell or highwater. No matter how much people want to play it can be hard to make the time to play.

I didn't really think about it much up until the last few months when it became clear it might happen. Then it started to seem like a great achievement.

I am happy and proud that we made it. Seeing these characters live has been a great thing.

Log of the Domeknockers

2009-07-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

Our new adventuring group in E's campaign decided to call themselves the Domeknockers. I scratched out a minimal recounting of their deeds just so we won't forget.

The Log of the Domeknockers

Spike

2009-07-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

Spike is a new character for E's Forgotten Realms Campaign (which I am tagging loudwater).

He's a pretty straightforward elf/rogue. He's basically my attempt to recreate a borrible in DND.

Due to the mechanics in 4E I felt the time was right to give it a try. It would be nice if there was Paragon Path that made slings really shine, but overall I think the "feel" is right. In the first session he was a blast to play.

Character Sheet
Back-story

Jax

2009-05-06T13:41:00.001-07:00

My new character for Isaac's Scales of War campaign, Jax:

Character Sheet
Back-story

Red Hand Undone?

2009-05-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Long ago a paltry handful of adventurers stood before a horde of evil and turned back the tide. Those "Dawn Raiders", held fast and eventually faced down an Aspect of Tiamat, but evil never ends and new dangers stalk the land.

The follow up to the Red Hand of Doom, Scales of War kicks off tonight!

Isaac sent the following summary of the Fifteen years since RHoD.

Link

In the very recent past events are happening quickly. Our group effected a Rescue at Rivenroar and now we have been alerted to an impending Siege of Bodrin's Watch.

Link

Alrion: The Order of the Gourd

2009-02-14T16:08:00.000-08:00

In our campaign Alrion, the party has taken the name, "The Order of the Gourd".

Many of them have sent me some pretty great background info on their characters. At first I kept this information to myself to try and encourage role-playing. Now that the party has known each other for a while and what was going to get role-played out, has been role-played out, it seems like a good idea to share this information. Hopefully it will spur further role-playing.

The Order of the Gourd:
Cletus "Pumpkinhead" Johnson
Kondell Urenthus
Lop
Falcone Agustus Triviski
Effram Zimbolist
Scale

Thunderspire: Adventure Log

2009-02-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

After completing Keep on the Shadowfell the party, now known as The Order of the Gourd has continued on to Thunderspire Labyrinth. Below is a link to the log of their new adventure:

Link

Solvarg and the Purple Curse

2008-11-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

My character Solvarg in Karl's Dark Nights campaign got turned purple!

Shortly after our characters had some downtime over the winter and we were encouraged to write up what they did. This is what I came up with:

Link

KotS: Victory!

2008-11-24T01:03:00.000-08:00

The party has completed The Keep on the Shadowfell emerging victorious!

I have updated the adventure log:

Link

Bishop Thane

2008-10-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

The inimitable Bishop Thane:

Link

Ottowal Threbach

2008-10-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

The History of Ottowal Threbach

Digned

2008-10-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

Daddy Coin - The Digned Story

Nevyyn

2008-10-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

A Drinking Tale of No One

Alrion: Campaign Handout

2008-10-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

The party nearly finished the Keep on the Shadowfell in our first session and our plan is to continue on into the next module Thunderspire Labyrinth.

So now that it's more than one adventure it seemed to make sense to start calling it a campaign. The campaign will be named Alrion, which is what I am calling my customized version of the default 4E setting.

Below is a link to the Campaign Handout.

Link

KotS: The Adventure Begins

2008-10-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

The party began their adventures in the Keep on the Shadowfell, so I updated the Adventure Log:

Link

KotS: Nentir Vale

2008-08-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have posted a document to share the basic information all PCs know about their world.

Link

KotS: Adventure Log

2008-08-12T01:48:00.000-07:00

To keep track of the parties actions for their reference and mine in Keep on the Shadowfell I have started an adventure log:

Link

CSQ Complete

2008-08-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

The evil lurking in the City of the Spider Queen has been vanquished. The complete chronicles can be viewed here:

Link

KotS: Module Introduction

2008-07-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

As promised I have put together some introductory information for playing the 4E module Keep on the Shadowfell. Follow the link below to the introduction:

KotS: Module Introduction

Solvarg

2008-07-07T12:40:00.001-07:00

DND 4E has shipped and we are finally making new characters and getting a little bit into it.

This post is related to my new character Solvarg, for Karl's campaign, Dark Nights.

There is no barbarian class for 4E yet so I had to build him as something else. Since my concept firmly fit the Striker role I created him as a Ranger. In my mind he had been a greatsword wielder, now he's a two-weapon fighter. Other than that cosmetic change though he came out pretty much exactly as I wanted. So far he has been fun to play. The Stiker role is a roller-coaster.

Character Sheet
Back-story

Audience With The Oracle

2008-03-18T06:20:00.001-07:00

In our last session the Moonwalkers contacted the Oracle near the ruins of Kellian, Quandode.

My character Walker scratched a bunch of notes in his journal.

My character uses these notes as the raw material for the book he is writing, The Three Spheres.

I really like the way these notes came out. I may expand them into an appendix to The Three Spheres, basically a Holy Lands Encyclopedia.

Dave Stevens R.I.P.

2008-03-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Dave Stevens died yesterday.

Mark Evanier has written a nice remembrance of him.

Washington Deveron Calcia

2008-03-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

Another character description for the Savage Tide:

Washington Deveron Calcia

Red Hand of Done??!?!?

2008-03-10T03:23:00.000-07:00

Well I just updated Xed in time to call RHOD done.

The Dawn Raiders have persevered and emerged victorious in their struggle against the dragon queen and all her vicious minions. Azyrkul has fallen and the dire bane great sword has gone snicker-snack!

Well done Isaac! Well struck Dawn Raiders!

"Hey what do you guys say? Do you think we'll have enough left for a stout or two if we get Ramses reincarnated by some hedge wizard in the Elsir Vale? Those True Rezz's are a little spendy..."
--Xed

The Story of Slade

2008-03-10T02:29:00.000-07:00

Character histories keep coming in for the Savage Tide, today it's:

The Story of Slade

Sad News Indeed

2008-03-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Gary Gygax has passed away.

Since I was just writing how much I love those games. It should be obvious that I think very highly of Mister Gygax's contributions to the world.

Rest in peace Mr. Gygax.

A Message From Durmoor

2008-03-03T14:37:00.001-08:00

Bob sent out a cool message from Durmoor detailing how he came to be in Kacey's world.

Seanut Brownberry

2008-03-03T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ashley has coughed up a nice background for his character Seanut Brownberry.

Savage Tide Recap

2008-03-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

Since it's been so long since we played and the GM has changed JVS has written a recap of the events so far in The Savage Tide.

Savage Tide: Approved Non-core Spells

2008-03-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

JVS has started a spell spreadsheet similiar to the one we use for The Holy Lands.

Since I am playing a spell-caster I actually have to deal with it this time.

High Tide

2008-03-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

As everybody knows JVS has revitalized the Savage Tide campaign.

As part of that he is making a bunch of information available. So expect more posts with those links under the st label.

Good luck JVS!

4E Previews

2008-03-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

There was a D&D convention this weekend called D&D Experience.

WoTC began to release some interesting info related to 4E:

Quick Rules Primer
Rogue Preview
Sample Characters

They also ran a bunch of preview sessions at the con. Those resulted in a lot of interesting but sketchy info as players tried to sort out what they were seeing and playing.

I might try to start my 4E online character sheet similar to my 3.5E sheet based on the sample characters, but I kind of doubt it. After studying the sample characters a little bit, I realized that the sheets were fairly specialized. They include a bunch of info specifically because the rules aren't out yet. So I doubt they will be very indicative of the official sheet.

So far I am pleased with a lot of the fixes in the Quick Rules Primer, #9 and #12 seem like they should go a long way toward fixing the broken relationship between Reach and Movement.

I am still waiting to see if they improve bonus stacking.

Look and Feel

2008-03-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

I have been tinkering with how the blog looks lately (mainly the header). I am still not happy with it, so I'll probably be tinkering some more.

Role-playing Games

2008-03-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

I was looking at this blog the other day and thinking to myself that there were too many posts related to role-playing games. In fact it has more posts than any other topic.

I played my first role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons in the summer of 1979 at the age of 11. I was immediately hooked. It would be the primary preoccupation of my life for the next 3 years. I have played off and on ever since.

This year there are a ton of interesting things happening. D&D is introducing their 4th Edition. Hero Games (the company I think technically has the best rules) has sold the Champions IP to Cryptic Software to make a Champions MMO and City of Heroes the MMO that I actually play is about to roll-out an online extension called The City Vault.

So I was looking at this blog the other day and thinking to myself that there were too many posts related to role-playing games. I was wrong. I love these games and there are going to be a lot of posts about them.

Ajax

2008-02-25T12:33:00.001-08:00

I have actually gotten to play Champions a few times lately, thanks to my friend JVS.

I have been playing my character:

Ajax

who is an homage to Orion of the New Gods.

Cody Blackstreet

2008-02-25T12:27:00.001-08:00

Cody "Fellwrath" Blackstreet is my latest character for KC's campaign Oerth. Lets hope he fares better than the last two.

Character Sheet
Back-story

Guitar

2008-02-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

I got a guitar for Christmas and have been trying to learn to play. I have found this site:

Justin Guitar

to be super helpful.

Moonwalkers: The Backstory

2008-02-22T15:16:00.001-08:00

Over time people provide more info about their characters that really makes the game and takes it to a whole new level. Such is the case with the Moonwalker's in The Holy Lands. Recently we've gotten new info about:

The Fate of Cyrus
Jahiera

and Walker started his book:

The Three Spheres

more of Walker's backstory can also be found at the end of his character sheet:

Walker

Holy Lands: Approved Non-core Spells

2007-11-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

Ashley has made available a spreadsheet for everybody to maintain their spells. It can be updated by the GM or players at the following link:

Holy Lands: Approved Non-core Spells

Hardscrabble and Dawn Keep: History & Geography

2007-11-18T08:51:00.001-08:00

More info from Fleschner about the Holy Lands, specifically Hardscrabble and Dawn Keep.

Holy Lands: Cosmology

2007-11-18T08:45:00.000-08:00

Ashley provided some details of the Cosmology of the Holy Lands.

The Three Spheres

2007-11-14T01:06:00.000-08:00

My character Walker in The Holy Lands has started writing a book, The Three Spheres. It is a combination journal, philosophy book and sword fighting instruction manual along the lines of Miyamoto Musashi's, The Book of Five Rings.

Trying to write down all of the characters adventures is a large task, but I thought I could at least jot down a fragment or two, to try and evoke the spirit of the thing.

Walker Faces Fetwuther

2007-11-14T01:02:00.001-08:00

Raven

2007-11-14T00:50:00.001-08:00

Raven is a character I've been playing for a little while now in KC's campaign Oerth:

Character Sheet
Back-story

Prophecy of Baeron

2007-08-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Cryptic words discovered by the Moonwalkers in a strange and forbidding place...

The Prophecy of Baeron

Now I can't stop...

2007-07-29T13:40:00.001-07:00

Now that I have started posting stuff from SDCC I can't stop:

Gigantor rules.

SDCC

2007-07-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

The San-Diego Comic-Con has been going on all week. I have been not thinking about it pretty much 'cuz it sucks not to get to go, but... I just saw this and it is the first news that is too cool not to think about:

*Edit*Iron-Man sneak preview from SDCC got pulled.

I feel Tony Stark and I are marching to the same drummer. :)

Happy Birthday America!

2007-07-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

By my calculation you are 231 years old today (that makes me feel a little less old, except that reminds me that I was around during the Bicentennial... oh... now I feel old again).

I was at this show the other day... it looked like this:

and even more patriotic rockin'.

Pretty cool somebody got videos... nice job Portland!

CSQ Timeline Update

2007-04-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

We had another awesome session of CSQ so the timeline has been updated.

Highlights:

Busted into colosseum
Defeated Kurgoth Hellspawn
Busted into Courtyard of Lolth
Defeated Nightwalker
Busted into Castle Maerimydra
Defeated 4 Malebranche Devils

John Doe Returns

2007-03-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

John Doe is coming back to town:

and he's got a new album on the way.

Awesome.

Some new Knitter's dates (or is that critter dates?) have been posted. A bunch of new (...old, new-old?) X-related stuff:

is starting to turn up around the Intertubes and I even saw a rumor of a new X album (last line of the 2nd link).

Wright...

2007-03-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

on.

Brother Jeff

2007-03-11T05:20:00.000-07:00

I literally don't remember the last time I played a cleric. Here goes nothin'... Brother Jeff:

Character Sheet
Back-story

CSQ Timeline, Notes and Letters

2007-03-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

Smitty sent out a timeline detailing what we have done in CSQ. I also unearthed an old attachment he had sent out with the letters we had found in the Underdark.

The Followers of Agat

2007-03-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

My character Smoke is a member of a religion I concocted called The Followers of Agat.

Radley Jagger

2007-03-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Radley Jagger is the first D&D character that I have put on-line that I am not actively playing anymore, who knows, maybe someday...

Character Sheet
Back-story

Dance Man

2007-03-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

This one's for my mom.

She is a Fred Astaire fan and I was suddenly reminded that like everything else a bunch of his best scenes have been captured on YouTube. Enjoy Ma!

The Horde

2007-02-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

Forged in the fires of the Nega-Beam a new band of heroes, The Horde:

Ghost Rider
Hermes
King Ghan
Old Glory
Tovok

Kick the can!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

2007-02-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

I love the internet. I realize that sounds ridiculous. Nonetheless it's true. There are many things that in the pre-internet days I thought had faded into obscurity for good. Now thanks to the internet if even just a few people are interested in these things they manage to hang around. This has always happened but it's a matter of degree, more information simply means it happens more and in this case more is better.

So here are a couple of the things I'm rambling about:

The Borribles
The Borribles Online

Thriller
The Unofficial Thriller Webpage

Buckaroo Banzai
The Banzai Institute
Buckaroo Banzai FAQ

Of course it isn't just some impersonal internet that did this. These things persist because of cool, insightful and dedicated people who help them persist. My sincere thanks to those people.

One day I'll get to writing about this stuff in more detail.

Good Cops

2007-02-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

I would love to see these guys play. Listening to their music takes me back to a happier time.

Back In the Saddle...

2007-02-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

Ok I am starting to look forward to this:

Nicholas Cage is a good actor and when I read this I started to get enthused.

Earth 1168 Genesis

2007-02-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

Character creation has gone really well and without giving anything away RP-wise you guys essentially now have:

1 Brick (Melee/Brawler)
1 Controller (Supernatural/Fire)
1 Blaster (High-Tech/Energy)

Champions isn't quite as role-oriented as D&D, so it's not like you guys have to have 1 from each role/class. It seems to inspire some folks when making up their characters though so I thought I would just throw out some info on general archetypes:

Fighter

Brick

Martial Artist
...

Spellcaster

Blaster

Controller
...

Defender

Buffer

Healer
...

Rogue

Gadgeteer

Speedster
...

This stuff is all very subjective and none of it is enforced by the game mechanics, so people shouldn't get hung up on it, your team will be just fine even if you guys come up with 5 Fighters. It's more to try and give some structure because creating your character is so unstructured in Champs.

This Is Our Country

2007-02-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

This is our country where people are garbage.

RIP Xed

2007-02-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

My Character Xed died in D&D last night, the victim of a friendly-fireball. He was a really fun character to role-play and I really liked the concept, but he was never able to keep up with the rest of the party combat effectiveness-wise, so I doubt he will return.

At a party Menahir threw to raise the spirits of the people of Brindol before the impending invasion Xed gave a brief speech:

"Good people of Brindol and the environs of the Dawn Way, if the Red Hand Horde is a sea, then you are the rock on which they shall break. Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain."

RIP Xed

Mutt

2007-01-31T03:52:00.000-08:00

This time it's my character Mutt who gets the treatment and has his character sheet and back-story added to my on-line archive.

Mirrorshade

2007-01-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

This new Sample Character Mirrorshade for my up-coming Champions Campaign Earth 1168 is a Blaster, plain and Simple.

He is only slightly more complex than Wrecking Ball, but he does show the use of a Multi-power and a variety of attacks with more interesting Advantages.

Updated CCCC

2007-01-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

While I was talking to Smitty I was reminded of some stuff and updated the Champions Character Creation Cheatsheet.

He reminded me of the formulas for computing Active Cost (the cost after Advantages), Real Cost (the cost after Limitations), which are ultimately the formulas for how you compute the cost of any power.

It used to be that you lived and died by these calculations. Nobody could make a character without knowing them and they would have been one of the first things I added to the CCCC. What changed? Hero Designer. The computer program does all this stuff for you, so pretty soon you don't think about it anymore.

The Champions Character Creation Cheatsheet

2007-01-19T21:39:00.000-08:00

Long ago I made the Champions Game Play Cheatsheet. It's pretty useful while you're playing, but the fact is that right now you guys are wrestling with Character Creation, not playing the game so I decided to try and make a similar sheet for Character Creation.

The Champions Character Creation Cheatsheet. The idea is to synthesize on one sheet the most useful information possible. I don't think it's quite as successful as the first one but if nothing else the page numbers should be useful.

Hideous

2007-01-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Hideous is another sample character for my nascent Champions campaign. Hopefully it will help people see how you can use the rules to translate a concept into a character. Specifically Mike wanted to see something Blob-like.

Hideous is a 10ft tall, 1000kg monster. When irritated it can will itself to be even heavier and stronger. When it feels truly threatened it goes into "Unstoppable Mode" where it moves very slowly but almost nothing can turn it from it's path let alone harm it (it's almost like a cross between The Blob and Juggernaut).

First how to make it tall and big? Well the rules say Growth and Density Increase are for characters that change their height and weight (p. 126). To model characters that are always tall and heavy you are supposed to buy regular powers and characteristics. They give you some templates to help(pgs. 573, 336).

If you look at Hideous's sheet you will see that it is built on the combination of the Large (p. 575) and Heavy (p. 577) templates. Once I had that base I was free to add whatever I wanted knowing that he already satisfied the requirements of being 10ft tall and 1000kg. I gave him additional STR, CON, BODY, etc... I also gave him additional Knockback Resistance and Armor. All this just reflects that he is even tougher than your average 10ft, 1000kg monster. :)

The next part of my concept was that when Hideous gets mildly irritated it can will itself to be heavier and stronger. Since this IS a case of him temporarily changing his body it is a good fit for Density Increase. So I just bought him a few levels of DI basically until I was satisfied his STR would let him inflict some decent property damage.

The final part of my concept was Unstoppable Mode. In this mode Hideous can barely move, but he's also almost impossible to stop or harm. This was a little tricky, here's what I did:

1. I bought Damage Reduction (p. 143), the key power of Unstoppable Mode
2. I bought more KB Resistance and Linked (p. 299) it to DR

At this point he is super-tough, but how do I make him super-slow when he activates his DR?

3. I lowered his regular DEX, SPD and Running.
4. I bought DEX, SPD and Running as Powers (p. 139).
5. I labeled these powers as "Hideous Movement".

Then the final trick that ties it all together:

6. I added the Limitation Lockout (p. 301) to his DR. Lockout says whenever I activate DR other powers of my choosing will stop working. So on my sheet I indicate the powers that will stop working are the ones labeled "Hideous Movement". Now we have modeled our concept.

A few other things to keep in mind about this character. It's a villain. It would make a terrible PC. It's powers are too great and it's limitations are too extreme. I would reject this character from a player out of hand just based on the DR alone. So I detailed "how" I did it because I hope that's what you'll take away from this example, rather than "what" I did.

BTW the picture used in the character sheet is indeed Karkas another of Jack Kirby's creations.

The Baddest of Them All

2007-01-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

Wrecking Ball is a sample character for my friends who are getting into Champions to take a look at. He is your basic "Brick", closer to Thor than Hulk in that he is strong and fast.

This character has all the basics covered. Good attack, good defense, solid movement, decent skills (your not gonna' get away with less than 20pts in non-combat skills). If you compare his character sheet against the tables in 5ER on p. 28, you'll see that he falls within all the ranges for a Standard Super-Heroic character. Based on the "OPTIONAL CHARACTER DESIGN GUIDELINES" table on p. 29 he is a "Characteristic Oriented Hero".

Champions Game Play Cheatsheet

2007-01-06T23:52:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about Champions (and now Hero System) has always been that although there are a lot of rules the whole thing boils down to just a few very simple mechanics. The ones I consider most important to running a Champions game can all fit on a single piece of paper, The Champions Game Play Cheatsheet.

I can pretty much run any Champs game with just that piece of paper and I'm pretty confident that if I have done it recently enough I could run it without anything.

Champions

2007-01-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

I've been playing role-playing games a long time. Since 1979 in fact (man I am old). Almost that long, since the early 80's I've been playing Champions. It's a great game that doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves. The underlying Hero System is very well factored and rules-wise pretty much my favorite RPG.

In the near future I hope to start up a new Champions campaign. Like all my other role-playing stuff I will post info about it here for my player's and for myself.

The first and most vital piece of info is the Hero Games website.

Norrin Loves Shalla?

2007-01-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

I want to love all the super-hero movies that come out. I did not love the first Fantastic Four Movie. On the other hand it was not the worst movie I ever saw. So it is with genuine enthusiasm and trepidation that I anticipate the next one.

Using the Silver Surfer and Galactus is a good start. This story done right has the potential to set people back on their heels, but will it be done right?

The surfer looks good:

As does the trailer.

'Nuf said True Believers.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T18:12:00.000-08:00

It's been a great day here at our new abode. You can read all about it on the family blog. I myself have been playing with my new scanner:

That's a sketch I made of Jack. I have been drawing a little lately which is one of the many reasons that we needed a new Printer/Scanner.

Chronicles of Celestia

2006-12-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

Label Cloud

2006-12-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

I have added a new Label Cloud to the blog for displaying the labels. Like Pig-pen's cloud it hovers around all the time, just over there on the right.

The code only took a second to cut and paste. I think it looks pretty good and it does its job in a reasonable amount of space.

Connor Durgan

2006-12-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

Another character on-line.

Slowly but surely I am getting them all digitized. This time it is Connor Durgan:

Character Sheet
Back-story

Art of the Saber

2006-12-09T06:10:00.000-08:00

Wow. These guys did a nice job.

Red Hand of Doooom!

2006-12-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

I am going to try and keep track of all the hard work our faithful DM has done to summarize our adventures here:

Welcome to the Elsir Vale
The Assault on Vraath's Keep
The Battle at Skull Gorge Bridge
The Evacuation of Drellin's Ferry
Of Brindol and Burnt Roadblocks
Battle at the Ruins of Rhest
Back Into the Horde

Xed

2006-12-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

Another one of my D&D characters... Xed. He is also part Monk. I guess I have been stuck in a rut.

Character Sheet
Back-story

Out of the Ashes?

2006-12-05T17:11:00.000-08:00

Could it be that there is some life left in this title? I thought CrossGen had gone the way of the dinosaurs. I sure would like to see Sojourn and The First finished.

War Story

2006-11-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

I read 300 the other day.

Like many comics I have mentioned lately expectations were very high. It is very good.

Bottom line given the current real-world political situation I am having trouble generating a lot of enthusiasm over a war story, even a very good one.