Fannishness, Incompleteness, Imperfection, Fascination

We all like lots of things. We only gab all day about certain things. This is about why that is.

 

Stimulating The Gene

If someone old me they were going to make a movie where Boba Fett fights The Predator I would want to see that.

If the same person told me they’d done one where Indiana Jones fights Ernst Stavro Blofeld (a villain in the Bond films, including my favorite, Diamonds Are Forever) I would be like “Whatever. Is the movie good?”

This has little to do with how much I like the source media: I don’t really even like the Predator movies that much*—and I love James Bond movies.

Somehow, Predator and Boba Fett activate the fan gene and Indiana Jones and Blofeld do not.

Two Things

I think this has to do with two things.

First thing is simpler:

Boba Fett and Predator are toyetic. That is: they look like they’d make good toys. They also—and this is more elusive—act more like toys. What is interesting about them in the movies is very much their physical actions, what they are capable of. Indiana Jones is capable of action of course but also he's an interesting guy incarnated by the arguably greatest heroic actor of all time with all the personality and complexity of facial expression that implies—it is interesting to hear him talk. Boba Fett talking is just a prelude to Boba Fett doing something cooler than talking with a wrist rocket or some shit. His whole body, character design, look, is built to do things on the screen—he wears the backpack that he will fly with. His entire visual image is defined by actions he will take, his body is a threat—the same goes for the Predator, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Gundam mecha, a space marine, a wizard, a dwarf barbarian with an axe.

While these characters suggest to you what they might do, Indiana Jones is someone where you would wait to see what he will do. His story is as much about (cliché incoming) whats inside as what’s outside—that’s why God doesn’t melt his face. I wouldn’t dream of telling Indiana Jones what to do—that’s the job of people who invented Indiana Jones and want to tell me what he’s like.

This leads into the second thing:

There is always some sense, with toyetic characters, that what has been done with them is wrong. Maybe not totally wrong, maybe just not enough or surely not everything they could do.

I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark and I was happy. To me, Indiana Jones was basically a real guy and that thing I saw up on the screen was his greatest adventure and he told me about it. I did not need him to have another adventure or fight another guy (though if he wanted to, I was happy to hear about it)--that seemed enough for me.

When I saw Empire Strikes Back I was also happy. And I could started thinking of other, cooler things they could have Boba Fett do in the next movie. And this wasn’t just because he isn’t in it much—I liked the first Iron Man and had the same reaction.

Indiana Jones adventure seems complete because it is part of a good story where what is interesting about IJ is woven into and somewhat solved by the shape of that story—his possibilities are, if not exhausted, then explored thoroughly. While Tony Stark is similarly solved in the Iron Man movie, Iron Man’s not: there’s soooo many cool things they could do and didn’t.

Fascination

I would say that I love Raiders of the Lost Ark (and Julio Cortazar novels, and Wong-Kar Wai movies, and cheeseburgers), but I would say that not only do I am fascinated by games (and comic books, and giant robot cartoons). 

The things in the first category are great and satisfying. The things in the second category are great and unsatisfying. You not only always want more but somehow your brain just starts going “well what about..and what about…and what about…”. I am not going to blog about cheeseburgers—I am perfectly happy with cheeseburgers as they are and lack entirely the will to tinker with them.

There is something about the kind of media for children that also translates well for adults that is forever mysterious. Perhaps it is the point that—unlike a classically great work of art—it takes no arrogance to see the flaws, while still being wholeheartedly devoted to the result. These things work on your mind and should not. 

This week I went through every single comic Gil Kane ever drew looking for the really good ones. I read some really good ones. I came away happy and wishing he’d drawn the Flash more, and wishing that the scripts they gave him were better. It was great and unsatisfying—and fascinating. I can’t stop thinking about Gil Kane.

I feel the same way every time I open up an RPG. That was cool—why was it cool? How come it worked or didn’t? How can we do it better next time? 

I don’t know whether everyone in the RPG scene feels exactly this—but I think there’s a reason that we blog about some things and we just sit back and enjoy others.

*Except Prey, Prey rules).

-

-

-

"I Have No Other Role-Playing Book That Looks Like It"

 

15 minute review of Nebulith by a German dude.

Notes:

-He's very kind. He says it looks like nothing else and smells nice and is a cool setting so that's cool and it is basically a glowing review so I shouldn't complain.

-"It feels like an artifact out of that culture"--Oh good! It took a lot of research, handcrafted trickery and multi-hour phone calls with Molly, the graphic designer, to get us there so I am glad that mission was accomplished.

This is an original, pre-graphic-designed
page from the bestiary

-The monster entries are hard to read. A little. That's kindaaaaa unavoidable in my opinion once I decided to try to make it look like an artifact out of that culture because I had to find a way to write in standard English-language text that didn't look out-of-place using Japanese Edo-period style graphic design. I made funny stick-letters. If anyone finds a better solution to writing modern English while feeling like old Japanese I will happily hand the crown to them. One could argue that I should've prioritized readability over aesthetics but most of the monster entries are not terribly complicated, so I made a choice. A giant bat is a giant bat, most people using this book know what to do with a giant bat and will just look at the book for confirmation.

-"Many of these classes are designed in a way that facilitate teamwork". Again, glad someone noticed.

-Flip through and decent summary if you're looking for that.

-He says the classes are hard to convert if you don't use LotFP. That is weird to me because they are things like "Ninja have shuriken style: The ninja can throw shuriken at up to 4 guys for d4 and, if successful, the next attack (by anybody) on a target hit by these shuriken will get +2 to hit" which converts to basically any D&D-derived system so idk. But what is easy for one person is difficult for another so yeah.

-He points out that if you strip away the superficials that you can use the martial arts abilities for Eurofantasy-style fencing schools. I'd say this is 100% true but also point out that these abilities do make combat take longer--which we considered appropriate to a wuxia-focused setting but piling them onto a slightly more exploration-focused game like you'd expect in a vanilla Western setting might not be everyone's cup of tea if you want fast-and-dirty, Godfather-baptism-scene life-or-death fights. 

-The fact that the introduction pages become 2 pages you never need to read again once you use the book is a weird take since this is a pretty standard thing in an RPG book this thick and a pretty minor inconvenience but being German has a price I guess.

-I do love the efficiency of the review itself. I find most videos like this barely watchable.

-"It comes with its own tone and style I honestly haven't seen anywhere before". Thanks!

 -

-

-

Two-Player Head-to-Head D&D

Unfortunately for my wizard, Game 1
ended exactly the way this looks

1. Both players generate a 1st-level magic-user in any system.

-You each get a single 1st level spell

-You each get 12 hit points modified by Constitution modifier

-You have a maximum of 5 minions (see below for how you get minions), modified up or down by your Charisma modifier

-You get money and equipment as usual for your system

-Assume that Sleep and Charm don't work on your main wizards, so you could say they're elf magic-users if you like

2. Set up a board something like this:

Click to enlarge

-There are rectangular or square blocks which are spaced apart all the same width, one to two inches. (In our case, a width of one of the lettered building blocks, but it can be any size wide enough for a standard miniature to fit through.)

-Characters will not climb on top of the blocks, the blocks just mark paths between that creatures can use. (We used rectangular marker cases and wood building blocks but you can use whatever rectangles you've got that will fill your table.)

-There are starting places at opposite ends for each wizard.

-There are "mystery markers"--these can be indicated by any object that will fit in the maze paths, we used big dice. The markers are placed approximately evenly around the maze and none are in either starting wizard's position's line-of-sight. Although only three are circled on the picture in yellow, all the dice in the picture above are mystery markers.

-We have a pool with an octopus in it, that's a hazard and that's optional.

This one had 2 hazards: an octopus
pool and a undead spider pit

3. Each player rolls a d20. High roll gets to either:

-Pick which of the two starting places they start at.

or

-Go first.

The other player gets to do the other thing.

4. Turns alternate

-One player moves their wizard--and any other minion creatures they pick up--then the other player does. There are no initiative rolls.

5. On your turn your wizard may:

-Walk up to 6 inches and take any action they could do in D&D

or

-Run up to 12 inches

or

-Move up to 6 inches and teleport to a random location. There are lots of ways to pick a random location--we did this by rolling an alphabet die and then teleporting the wizard to a random location adjacent to the block with that letter on it.

or

-Walk up to 6 inches and shift any block in line-of sight the width of the dungeon path. Like so:

Or like so:

--You cannot shift multiple blocks at once.

--You cannot shift a block into an area occupied by anything--a creature or mystery marker or another block, etc.

-You cannot teleport on two of your turns in a row or move a block on two of your turns in a row.

-Remember, though, that the creatures can only go through the paths, not stand on top of the blocks.

6. As soon as either wizard is in line-of-sight to a mystery marker, something happens:

-The mystery marker "activates",

-This means you roll a die on a table to determine what the mystery marker represents.

-The table includes:

• 1. Trap (save or take d6 damage)
• 2. Random magic item (roll on whatever random magic item table you have)
• 3. A different random magic item from a different table (If you have more than one magic item table, otherwise treat as #2)
• 4. 1st level human with a sword and a bow (wizard picks class)
• 5. 1st level dwarf with a sword and a bow (wizard picks class)
• 6. 1st level elf with a sword and a bow (wizard picks class)
• 7. 1st level halfling with a sword and a bow (wizard picks class)
• The other results on the table randomize across every other miniature in the house. Do you have to number every mini you have? No. We did it like this:
• 8. Sandalwood box, top drawer
• 9. Sandalwood box, middle drawer
• 10. Sandalwood box, bottom drawer
• 11.Tackle box, top drawer, left compartment
• 12. Tackle box, top drawer, middle compartment
• etc.

If there's more than one miniature in a location, you take them all out and roll a die to randomly choose which miniature is placed on the table

For example--there are ten kinds of miniatures in my sandalwood box middle drawer--roll a d10 to decide which you get.

Note that I said "kinds"--if a location has, say, 15 wolves, one ghost, one goblin and a giant spider, just roll a d4--you don't have an increased chance of wolves.

-If it's a trap, resolve it. (The trap is where the wizard is even if the mystery marker itself is down the hall.)

-It it's an item, it is now sitting there, ripe for the taking or use in any way you might use a D&D item.

-If it's a creature then place that miniature there--it is now a minion of the wizard who found it.

7. Minions!

-Minions may begin to act on the next turn after they are discovered.

-They heed the bidding of the player whose wizard discovered them.

-Minions move a maximum of 6" no matter what.

-Otherwise they can act as the monster in the Manual or whatever standard monster book you're using. If it's a hydra, it has hydra stats.

-If the minion is a character model (like a little fighter) and the table doesn't say their level then roll d4+1 to determine their level.

-If there's ambiguity or the monster's unlisted, the players need to agree what it is and what powers it has. 

-When in doubt: 4hd, d6 damage, AC 15.

-Minions (even wizard minions) don't have the wizard's power to move blocks or teleport randomly.

8. Hazards

-Hazards (like the pool above) are optional.

-Line of sight doesn't cross hazards.

-You have to deal with some creature or thing to get across them.

-In our first game this was an octopus with 4hd that attacked any foe in the pool for d6.

9. Play until one team kills the other team's wizard!

-

-

-

The games we've played so far all ended in funny ways.

In one, I stymied a hydra with a darkness spell it was too stupid to easily navigate out of for several rounds but then I tried a teleport and ended up between it and a backstabby thief, after a rounds of everyone bumping around in the dark they massacred me.

In another, I managed to score a higher level wizard as a minion (I got a wizard mini and we randomly rolled he was Level d4+1, so: 5). The enemy's main wizard managed to run up and Sleep him, though. However, in the next round my goblin threw a spear blunt-end-first at my own sleepy wizard, conking him for 4 points of damage but waking him up so he could barbecue the enemy with a 5th level magic missile. 

 Game 2 ended better for me

-

-

-

Are Conservative Gamers Just Stupid?

 There's been a recent one of those fistfight-in-a-fishbowl things online. A go-round of grousing lately online, dozens of responses.

Conservative gamers complaining but its hard to know what about "This sucks!!!" why? Who knows?

The only concrete complaint to emerge about anyone is they don't like my maps.

Allegedly, from the point of view of utility.

So, real question for anyone who can answer it--why is this:

...with all the information literally on the map.

Harder to use than this:

...where you have to flip through dozens or hundreds of pages to answer a question like "I succeeded on my Listen roll--what's around the corner?"?

Does anyone anywhere know?

The Adept's Arena

 

A practitioner who has earned the confidence of local adepts in a major metropolis may given a sealed envelope with an address in a deserted district—and an indicated time deep in the black hours.

The sealed envelope will contain a key to the door at that address.

The door will lead to a stair and that stair will lead down and down beneath the city.

Eventually there will be another door, not locked, and inside a chamber.

(The difference between a chamber and a mere room is that chambers are private.)

The chamber is full of mages. Users of arcane magic of every stripe. They are gambling.

They occupy the circumference of a stone circle, in the center of which is a bloodstained summoning sigil.

Into this ring comes a competitor, she whispers to the master of ceremonies her name and the powers to which she aspires.

The master announces then ”Here is Vasylaa of Thrazz, who seeks secrets of the Eigth Octacle!”

The crowd roars and exchanges bets, the sigil begins, blackly, to bubble.

From the center comes some creature of the outer spheres, whose power is commensurate with the power Vasylaa seeks.

They duel, of course, to the death. If she wins, she gains sorcerous knowledge from the dimension from which the creature came—if she loses, her cares are at an end.

In Game Terms

State the level of the new spell you wish to gain—it must be at a level you are able to cast.

Then step into the ring and an extradimensional creature will be summoned randomly. It will have hit dice equal to the lowest PC level at which a standard magic-user is able to cast the spell level desired. It will have abilities to match.

The Lamentations of the Flame Princess Summon spell works well enough for this, though other options are fine so long as it’s random and can spit out a sufficiently interesting and powerful creature. If using LotFP, the initial magic save is also an initiative roll—if the magic-user makes the save they get initiative in the first round.

Good luck wizards.

Nebulith and Red & Pleasant Land Are Now Available in the US, Happy Halloween

Here is the Nebulith in the US webstore. 

And Red & Pleasant Land is here.

Break The Goblin Siege!

...an adventure.

Your assignment: break the goblin's siege and rescue the town.

Thee Fortyfied Towne

 

1. Goblins attack the front gate from a siege tower

2. A scout on wolfback protects the approach road

3. The Wicked Standard at the outer gate curses all who would interfere 

4. A rhiding rhinoceros trundles forward to attack

5. The lookout hides in the tower

6. Mighty Grovulous protects the rear-guard

7. Seetha the Unclean directs the siege

8. The townsfolk cower in the streets of the inner city

9. A thunder lizard batters the inner wall

10. A great troll hurls rocks to weaken the inner defenses

11. Sir Scorphis of Newle directs the defense of the town

12. Purkle Heems and Mulbor Wetwort 
take advantage of the tragedy to loot
their fellows

13. The prelate attempts to comfort the beseiged populace

14. Doomdrums of the Loud Shaman terrify all who hear

-

-