The Strange - Dingo and the Cosmos - Session 1

Inaugural Game 

It's late August, Monte Cook Games' The Strange released just a couple of weeks ago and here I am, already a "veteran" of the game talking about some "inaugural" session.  While many gamers are just now cracking open their books and creating sly and cunning agents of The Estate, I've had the pleasure of being a playtester for The Strange, and have been exploring the Dark Energy Network regularly since last December.  A little over a week ago at Gen Con I ran a pair of terrific sessions, introducing nearly a dozen players to the setting and the Cypher System.  But while all of these playtest sessions and one-shot convention games have been incredible, tonight was the first time that I was able to play The Strange at my favorite game table, with my favorite people.  So for me, tonight felt like my first "official" game with Bruce Cordell and Monte Cook's marvelous new game.  

So being a first session for my gamer family, we had to spend a lot of time getting ready.  My daughters love playing dress-up, and when given the opportunity to do a little "secret agent kid" cosplay, Carrie and Evie jumped at the chance.  Earlier this morning we finished their characters, and my wife's as well, so we had an idea of what each future agent of The Estate looked like, and how they handled challenges.  It was fun listening to them rustle about their room for clothes, jackets, sports gear, and one very hard to find magnifying glass, and Carrie was thrilled that I let her borrow our Apple TV remote to use as a cypher.  

The results were right on target!

To make the evening even more special, my wife's cousin Sean dropped by.  Sean was an old veteran of my Eberron an Deadlands campaigns years ago, and when he showed up for dinner he offered to sit in on our very first game.  It had been at least a year since he rolled the twenty-siders before, and was completely new to the Cypher System, so I'd have the chance to show off the rules to a newbie again!

Agent Dossiers

Arianna Cosmo - A Graceful Vector who Looks for Trouble

Ms. Arianna Cosmo is a middle-school student who lives in suburban Pittsburgh.  Physically adept, and highly skilled at sports, Arianna excels in soccer, soft ball, dodge ball, and dance.  Her exceptional skills have earned her a special scholarship to a "special private school" located in Vermont and funded by an organization called The September Project Foundation.  Arianna is the biological daughter of John and Wendy Cosmo, owners of Cosmo's Pizza in downtown Irwin.  John and Wendy pushed Arianna to apply for the scholarship, and have insisted that she leave home at the end of the summer to go to the private school.  


Crystal Cosmo - A Strange Paradox who Works the System

An orphan with amnesia, Ms. Crystal Cosmo is the adopted daughter of John and Wendy Cosmo.  Having no specific recollections of her life with the exception of the last six months, Crystal mysteriously possesses incredible knowledge and understanding for her age.  Investigations show that Crystal is highly proficient in the sciences, and has a working knowledge of the Strange.  Crystal has reportedly experienced wondrous dreams and terrible nightmares of a place full of strange machinery and biomechanical organisms. She is a "person of interest" within The Estate. 


Jacqueline Dingo - A Skeptical Spinner who Solves Mysteries

Ms. Jackie Dingo is an agent of The Estate currently assigned to the Pittsburgh area.  Working undercover as a local librarian, Ms. Dingo's current assignment is to seek out and observe a pair of children.  One has been on the Estate watch list for some time and is suspected to be a native of Ruk.  The other appeared only a couple days ago, and is being actively watched by agents of the September Project.  The second child is most likely not native to Earth.  Ms. Dingo was specially selected for this mission as she herself is a Qephilim.  


Teddy Horton - A Sharp-Eyed Vector who is Licensed to Carry

Supposedly an heir to the Tim Horton's family, Mr. Theodore Horton is a Canadian who opened a bar and restaurant along Route 30 in Pennsylvania just before his inheritance ran out.  After discovering that he was Quickened, Teddy was recruited by The Estate, given a gun, and paired up with Ms. Jackie Dingo.  Teddy has been given three corrective actions while in service to The Estate, his next to lead to a three-day suspension.   

The New Kid

Estate Agents Dingo and Horton were on a stakeout across the street from a local suburban Pittsburgh middle-school.  They were observing three things at the school's playground: a local child named Crystal Cosmo, a second child lurking near the playground, and a silver impala with a pair of suspicious individuals observing the children as well.  Agents Dingo and Horton had been watching the first girl, Crystal, for the past few months, but the other girl was new to the area.  Given their distance to the other vehicle, Dingo and Horton were not sure who in the schoolyard the suspicious individuals were observing.

Arianna and Crystal Cosmo had a better look at the "new kid," though.  From across the schoolyard it seemed like the little girl, possibly eight or nine years old, was dressed as if she were headed for a renaissance festival.  She wore leather tunic and an old-fashioned floral dress.  A ring of alien flowers adorned her head, however her hair was tussled and caked with grass and debris as if she were sleeping on the ground at night.  The Cosmo girls started to approach the girl, but didn't make it before local school bully Chip started picking on the poor child.  Mocking her dress and appearance, Chip started to make the new kid cry, which made both Arianna and Crystal furious.  Both of the girls jumped to the new kid's defense, but couldn't get Chip to back down.  Crying hysterically, Chip's target fled the schoolyard and ran down to the soccer field.  Unable to strike back physically, Crystal tried to quickly hack the school's website with her laptop, to lash out at Chip, but got discovered by the school principal who was actively monitoring the firewall at the time.

Crystal couldn't hack the school computer

Meanwhile, as soon as the new kid started running away from the schoolyard, Dingo and Horton watched at the two suspicious characters got out of their Impala, tasers in hand, and started jogging towards the soccer field.  The Estate agents grabbed their gear and took off in pursuit.  Assuming that their two new targets were possible rogue agents, Dingo and Horton were ready for action, but had to keep things quiet.  As soon as they caught up to the thugs, Horton pistol whipped the first one while Dingo used her whip to trip the other.  Dingo then pulled her revolver and ordered the two rogue agents to stand down.  The rogue agents turned with their tasers in hand, both firing at Dingo but missing.  Horton tried to pistol whip again but missed, throwing his pistol into the dirt like a lawn dart.  When it seemed like one of the rogue agents was going to get the drop on the sharp-eyed vector, little sporty scrapper Arianna showed up with her baseball bat.  Arianna clubbed the one enemy agent right in the stomach, knocking him out.  

The Estate agents feared that they blew their cover, so Dingo tried to act as if she was a member of whatever group the rogue agents belonged to.  Even though she wasn't entirely convincing, Dingo was able to confuse the rogue agents enough so that they disengaged from their search for the now missing out-of-place girl.  Dingo ordered them to return the Cosmo girls back to the schoolyard, and then grabbed Horton so that they could continue their search.  Crystal and Arianna were not about to walk away with a couple of nefarious strangers, so they quickly slipped away and followed Dingo and Horton into the woods.  

Arianna made faces at the two rogue agents as she slipped away

When the four couldn't seem to find the odd girl, Arianna started calling out that she could take her "home." Immediately the young girl climbed out of the trees and to confirm what Arianna meant.  The girl told the party that her name was Anya, and that she was from Shalmarn.  Anya didn't know how she got to this "weird place full of machines that move," but she wanted desperately to go home.  Neither Crystal nor Arianna knew where Shalmarn was, but Agent Dingo sure did.  Shalmarn was a long ways away, located on the recursion of Ardeyn.  And if this girl, Anya, came to earth dressed in the traditional garb of her home, that meant that an inapposite gate was nearby… which was bad news indeed.  

Quotes

"He bro, what are you doin' to that girl?" - Arianna shouts at Chip the Bully during his encounter with little Anya.  

"Yeesh!  M.I.B.!" - Sean exclaimed when he heard that the rogue agents didn't have fingerprints.

"What part of 'low profile' do you both not understand?" - Jackie shouts at the two rogue agents, pretending to be a superior agent on their side while not knowing what side they were on.  

"Believe me, that part's going in the report." - Teddy tells Jackie, referring to Arianna's all out assault on one of the rogue agents with a kid-sized baseball bat.  

Avernus Availed - An Accursed Bedtime Story - Session 5

Carrie, Cooper, Jen, Evie

Dramatis Personae

• Avarice Avernus, Mummy Matriarch and Skilled Duelist, played by Jen (Mommy)
• Annaria Avernus, Dhampir Daughter and Scout, played by Evie
• Adelaide Avernus, Shade Daughter and White Witch, played by Carrie
• Rudolpho, Cranium Rat Spokesvermin, played by Cooper (4 years old)

If this is your first time reading our Avernus Availed stories, please feel free to check out previous posts before reading ahead!

• Campaign Design
• Character Design
• Session 1: An Addled Arrival
• Session 2:  Many as One
• Session 3:  Expedition to Arachnis' Lair, Part One
• Session 4:  Expedition to Arachnis's Lair, Part Two

Expedition to Arachnis' Lair, Part Three

Ahead of the Avernus family was a locked door.  The trio plus one (can't count out Rudolpho, no longer an NPC) worked out their lockpicking plan, and Annaria and Adelaide put their undead noggins together so that they could enter the chamber ahead.  Once through, the party found themselves in a large chamber with a raised dais and alter in the center.  On top of the alter, embedded in a small notch, was a beautiful ring.  Avarice recognized the jewelry as her enchanted engagement ring, given to her by her missing husband Alistair.  The mummy matriarch was filled with emotion as she saw the ring, but as her eyes moved upwards, she saw that the women were not alone.

Hanging from the ceiling was a massive spider, hissing from it's horrific mouth, and with venom dripping from four terrible fangs.  It was the demon-spider Arachnis!  Slowly the spider lowered itself to the floor and demanded that the party tell them why they were in her lair.  Annaria, the most positive and upbeat vampire-touched scout you'd ever meet, tried to put a positive spin on the encounter, asking Arachnis to just hand over the ring peacefully.  The demon-spider turned this down immediately, and demanded that the Avernus family leave her presence.  Although she admitted that she was not interested in devouring a trio of undead, she threatened Rudolpho's continued existence several times.  Avarice tried one last time to reason with Arachnis, offering to pay the spider for the ring, but was pushed off one last time and threatened with death.

"Come get some," Avarice growled.

Annaria was the first to jump into action, very quickly and quietly melting away from the demon-spider's field of view before climbing a wall so that she was just perched to launch herself on the monstrous beast.  Knowing that her sister was preparing for a special attack, Adelaide pulled out her component bag and crafted a spell that stunned Arachnis with a blast of positive energy.  As the spider reeled back, Avarice converted her sarcophagus armor into a bladed wagon and slid herself under Arachnis chopping off a pair of her legs.  Rudolpho entered combat behind the mummy as well, using his prehensile tail to rip one of the legs off of the demon-spider.  

With Arachnis still in shock, trying to regain her senses, the Avernus family continued their assault.  Adelaide fired her pistols at the beast, Avarice slashed with her two blades, and Rudolpho turned into a boxer using his tiny fists to pound away at the demon-spider's body.  But it would be quick thinking Annaria who would create the biggest distraction, dropping down onto Arachnis' huge body and using her bar of soap to blind the creature.  With all eight eyes stinging, Arachnis started to think about escaping the scene entirely.

Avarice tried to get her girls to press the attack, but before any of them could land a finishing blow Arachnis pulled back into another chamber.  The trio plus one followed the giant spider into a perfectly square room with a giant spiral staircase descending into the floor, but before they could react Arachnis closed a doorway at the top of the stairs.  The route was completely blocked, and if they had not seen the portal close the Avernus family would not have realized there was a door in the floor at all.  Quickly Avarice grabbed her ring and put it on, giving her a mastery over all abilities related to her spirit.  Their adventure could've ended there, however the Avernus family still wanted to settle their score with Arachnis.

Luckily for the group, Adelaide had her shade power to become incorporeal.  The youngest Avernus family member lowered herself into the floor to look for a latch or lever to operate the door.  Unable to find one, Adelaide crafted a spell to increase her strength by an incredible factor.  Annaria and Avarice were incredibly surprised to see little Adelaide lift the giant stone slab and push it aside, opening a path to the depths of the dark caves below.  

At the bottom of the stairwell the party found themselves in a large, open cavern and Arachnis was there regenerating in a pool of fetid water.  Arachnis cursed the Avernus family, and demanded again the they leave.  Avarice and Adelaide were ready to strike down the foul beast that had terrorized the lands surrounding Augsing when Annaria just smiled and called out to Arachnis:

"We can be buddies!" 

Annaria asked her mother to let Arachnis work for the Avernus family at Muridae Manor.  Not one to tell her children "no," Avarice turned to the spider and demanded that she lay down her… fangs… and submit to her new undead overlords.  Surprisingly Arachnis agreed to this, knowing that her only other option was death.  All three members of the family, plus one cranium rat, high five'd each other and led their new housekeeper back to the Avernus family estate in Augsing.  

Friends forever!

Quotes

"I want the blood!" - Carrie was pretty excited that Mommy was serving red juice that we were calling "blood" through the adventure.

"Mommy, you are just like a 'rescue bot' on Transformers!" - Cooper's take on Mommy's transformation into a blade wielding wagon.

"If you step out of line, we will have to kill you… but as long as you don't kill any of Mr. Rudolpho's friends, we'll be cool." - Avarice Avernus, with the help of her two daughters, talks Arachnis into being the party's new housekeeper.  

Evie drinking "blood"

Special Thanks

I have to thank my amazing daughter Carrie for crafting a special Rainbow Loom wristband for me while I was gone at Gen Con 2014 this past week.  Knowing that the three colors on the Accursed book were red, black, and grey, Carrie made me my very own Witchmarked Wristband!  I wore it during the game today, and will be certain to wear it often!  

We're continuing to use Glynn Seal's amazing map from MonkeyBlood Design.  Please go check out his work at his website!

Finally, if you haven't had a chance to check out Accursed yet, please make sure to give the game a look at www.accursedrpg.com!  You mean you haven't done this already!?!?

Like Father Like Daughter - Carrie Runs Basic Fantasy RPG

There are those moments in a parent's life that they will never forget.  First steps across a living room floor.  First time they go to school.  First vacation to Disney World.  If you are a geek dad, like me, there is one more of these important "firsts" in your child's life that you will treasure forever:

First time behind the Game Master's Screen on their own!

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that, along with my family, I run a local game club called the Norwin Game Knights.  We have board games, card games, dominoes, and all sorts of tabletop fun at our events, but there are quite a few of us who are avid role-players, including many kids.  That being said, even though we never have a shortage of players it's been a challenge to find folks willing to game master events.  It was especially difficult this week, because I wanted to play.  Bad!  My pal Craig, who went to Gen Con with me last week, was going to run Savage Worlds Fantasy, and to date I have never "played" Savage Worlds.  Certainly I've run the game, fairly regularly in fact, but to grab a wild die and spend some bennies, I was chomping at the bit!  

This is how I chomp at the bit!

Craig agreed to take all adults willing to play Savage Worlds (four of us in all), but we would need someone to take on the kids game.  Well Carrie, my 10 year old daughter and long-time player, stepped right up to the plate!  Grabbing her Basic Fantasy RPG core book, an OD&D clone by Chris Gonnerman, and the adventure "Fortress, Tomb, and Tower: The Glain Campaign," Carrie spent the last couple of days researching the adventure, cross-checking rules, and making sure everything was ready for her big debut.  She was a little nervous, because this time she'd be running the game… SOLO!  

Technically this wouldn't be Carrie's first time behind a GM screen.  Actually there were two occasions recently when Carrie helped me run an old school Dragonlance adventure with the family:

OD&D Dragonlance Family Game 1
OD&D Dragonlance Family Game 2

But to run a game on her own, with very limited help (I was on the far side of the room in which she'd be GM'ing), for a quartet of loud-mouthed kids, this was a first!  And I gotta say: Carrie had a lot of guts!  

From the sounds of it Carrie did a phenomenal job!  She was able to hold the attention of 3-4 kids at any given time (they started with 4, one dropped out and another joined in later), and they finished the segment of the adventure that they started.  But I hate stealing my little girl's thunder, so I offered her the chance to tell you  all about her epic excursion into the glorious realm of game mastering herself!  

Carrie's Corner (Written by Carrie herself!)

Character Time!!!!!

Our heroes were:

Ralph Redarm - A Mountain Dwarf Fighter, played by Jeremy 

Eric The Cleric - A Human Cleric, played By Tristan 

Doraleous - A Human Fighter, played By Dylan 

Getting Started

Since this was my first time GM-img by myself, I was kind of nervous, but I got over that pretty quick. They started out in front of the fortress.   There was one gate in front of them and two behind the first one. Seeing as the bars were bent, they decided to go through but, it was cover in green glowing light.  Ralph and Doraleous got through without being harmed, but poor Eric was fat (they all agreed on this.)  So he decided to suck in a ton of air, and squeeze through. Eric barely got through, but made it through safely. 

Then, they had to get through the other set of gates.  Choosing the one on the left, Ralph used his mighty strength to open the gate.  Now, they were in the first corridor.   Dylan and Jeremy said something about a trusty rock. At first I had no idea what they were talking about, but then they explained that it was a rock of trap deceiving abilities.  So Ralph threw the rock and nothing happened.  So Ralph thought it was ok.  Turns out, he fell down a 20 feet deep hole through a trap door on the ground.  Surprisingly, he survived with 3 points of damage taken away.

Ralph was now STUCK.  So Doraleous got out his rope and threw it down there and attempted to pull him up.  After several tries, Ralph decided he would climb up himself. Gladly, he was out of the hole.  Eric, being so tired, was resting aside on the wall and stumbled upon a secret door!!!!  Having nothing being in that hallway, they went out the other door at the end of the hall.  After wandering around a bit, they finally stumbled across an Anteroom with to crystal statues.  The statues seemed normal, but as they got closer, they saw that….. IT’S ALIVE!!!!!

2 Crystal Statues were about to attack!  Doraleous being swift, quicky grabbed his sword but failed.  Then came Eric!  He took out his mace and just made that thing explode!!! Having killed one, there was still one left and Ralph tried and axe swing and missed.   Now, it was the Crystal Statue’s turn.  I kind of based them on Weeping Angels form Doctor Who because it didn’t say their attacks.  So, Eric demolishing the first one, the crystal statue was mad.  He grabbed his wrist and was ready to break it.  Luckily for Eric, Doraleous took out his sword and cut the thing’s head off.  Now that that was over, they kept looking. Eric seemed a little tired so they looked for the lounge.   

When they got there, they saw a sleeping UrGoblin. Ralph thought about taking his long sword.  He did it, but woke up the UrGoblin.  So the UrGoblin tried to punch Ralph. He failed, and Doraleous did a swing and a miss with his sword, and Eric’s wrist apparently still hurt when he hit the goblin thing.  Finally when Ralph came around he stuck his sword from the UrGoblin right in his head!!!!!  When they finally got upstairs, they came across what looked like Kyleene and Vadarin as statues with an giant emerald underneath them.  They heard a voice inside the emerald saying something a Ralph took it and then they saw tons of chests on money and jewels galore!!!!!  I asked Jeremy to add it up at the end and it looks like they got 13,500 gps!!!!  After a little more looking though, they found the Duke’s bedroom with an emerald holder.   Ralph stuck the emerald in and the holder rose up and shined with a yellow glow.  The emerald then said, “ NO!!!!! YOU BETRAYED ME HOW COULD YOU!!!!!??????” And they did it! They won the adventure!

Once Upon a Gen Con

It's been a while since my last post, but I promise that I had a good reason to be absent from "Living for Crits."  This past week I attended my very first Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana and it was the trip of a lifetime!  I know that's a very cliche term, but its incredibly fitting for such a terrific trip.  Along with four friends of mine (Frank, Craig, Melinda, and Dante), our crew of "Norwin Game Knights" took to Route 70 and trekked across four states to the promised land where "the best four days in gaming" occurs each and every year.  

But I couldn't just go to Gen Con 2014 to "play" games, I had to take on the mantle of "game master" for the masses, just like I do here in Pittsburgh each and every week.  Thanks to the terrific folks at Monte Cook Games, I had the opportunity to help run events for their two incredible RPG's: Numenera and The Strange!  In fact, I ended up with an absolutely crazy schedule, running six games in all:

Thursday

12pm - 4pm:  Numenera, Into the Violet Vale - Only had three players show up, but they blasted through the adventure in just over three hours  What a team of ninjas!

10pm - 11:30pm: Adventures in the East Mark - I ran an unofficial, after-dinner pickup game of eXtra-Dimensional Publishing's steamy box of OSR goodness and managed to kill off most of the party… with the help of the other party members.  

Friday

10am - 2pm:  Savage Worlds, Weird Wars Rome, Appian Slay - The gladiator army of the slain Spartacus descended from their crosses and the players had to deal with the terribly brutal ramifications with a crack team of Roman Legionaries.  

Saturday

10am - 2pm:  The Strange, Eschatology Code - In which the party used Twitter and an over-40 fan club for an ex-child actor to take on the forces of evil.  

4pm - 8pm:  Numenera, Into the Violet Vale - Taught six brand new Numenera players the ins and outs of the Cypher System!

Sunday

10am - 2pm:  The Strange, Eschatology Code - Incredible mission planning led to a extremely well organized and precisely executed assault on Father Foss's compound!

The Top 5!

But with all this role-playing awesomeness, intermixed with shopping, dining, perusing, carousing, and general lollygagging, there were some stand out moments that I wanted to share!  Please note, that these are in no particular order of favoritism…

… except for the last one, which is FREAKING EPIC!

Jeremy and Lex at Scotty's Brew House in Downtown Indy

A Lovely Dinner With Friends

Following a successful run through the Ninth World with a trio of Numenera Hunters on Thursday afternoon I was hungry… real hungry!  I grabbed my friend Frank and headed out to the food truck area, looking for something to scarf down.  But after I finished my chicken pot-pie, and Frank his mac-n-cheese, we were left with nothing else on our schedule we wanted to do.  We both had board games scheduled, but neither of us really wanted to sit down to another four hours of gaming just yet.  Much to our delight, two members of my Tuesday online adventuring party, Jeremy Land and Lex Starwalker (our celebrity!) texted me wanting to know what I was doing.  I grabbed Frank and we took our whole crew down to Scotty's Brew House, where we met not only Jeremy and Lex, but Mrs. Starwalker (Nikki) and Gray Detrick (whom I had never met before).  Soon after my buddy Craig showed up and it was a party!

Even though Frank and I weren't hungry anymore, we didn't mind sharing some drinks, nachos, and gaming stories surrounded by cosplaying waitresses and a whole mess of Imperial soldiers guarding the front of the restaurant.  Jeremy even got accosted by a local homeless man while in the restaurant!  It was so great to just sit back, relax, and think about the amazing events to come at Gen Con.  Afterwards we strolled down the JW Marriott to see what was going on in the Monte Cook Games room before settling in for a semi-drunken game of Adventures in the East Mark.  Good times!

Matt lost it when Brian started praying to his dice so that he could hit another player

Savage Worlds Weird Wars Rome Education

I love Savage Worlds, but as much as I consider myself a "Savage", I really don't play anywhere near enough to be a rules expert.  So when five experienced Savages show up at my Friday morning game, each looking me up and down with that "so you're the GM?" look, I gulped and started to shake with fear.  The last RPG four of the players played the night before didn't go so well, and they were demanding satisfaction… or else!  So I carefully spun my four-hour yarn, hiccuping on rules here and there, and withstanding a few minor corrections while I crafted a tale about Roman Legionaries dealing with some supernatural ramifications of the Third Servile War.

In the end the party was victorious, Spartacus' revenants were re-slain, and there were grins all around.  The crew's "leader", Brian, approached me at the end of the game and looked me straight in the eye.  I was waiting for a "talking to", a few comments about how I needed to polish my Savage Worlds GM'ing skills and do a better job writing adventures.  I'm a big boy, I can take some positive criticism, or even negative criticism.  But no.  Brian commended me on the adventure, it's pacing, and the fun the team had playing the game.  I learned so much with this team of experienced players, and  I know I've got a ways to go before I've mastered Savage Worlds, but I left Room 312 feeling victorious!

David and Fred watch as Becki tries not to roll a 1

Accidental Pickup Game with Grumpy Cat

By Friday afternoon I was starting to drag a little.  Following the Savage Worlds game, Craig and I did a little shopping in the exhibitor's hall before catching an absolutely delightful Doubleclicks show!  Craig never heard the duo before, but I've been a fan for a couple years.  Afterwards we had dinner at Panera with Melinda before wandering back into the convention center.  I let Mel have my ticket to a Dragonlance storytelling event, and when she and Craig waltzed off I slumped against a wall and sat down.  Carrying 30lbs of books in a messenger bag is hard work!  I was tired, and needed rest, but after a few minutes felt terribly alone.  It could be a while before I saw my friends, and there really wasn't anything for me to do.  But that's when I saw "Grumpy Cat!"  

Fred Ramsey is a fantastic "art-finder" on the Numenera Facebook Group, searching the internet for images with a special Ninth World flair, and while the picture he finds are spectacular, his distinctive profile pic is of a stern, authoritative dignitary… just like Grumpy Cat.  

Which made it easy to pick out in a crowd!

"Fred!" I yelled, and he turned to me with this look of "who the hell is this guy?"  But after introducing myself Fred told me that he and his wife Becki were headed to the Open Gaming room where they would be playing Numenera… and Fred invited me to tag along.  Within minutes Becki and I rolled up brand new characters, and soon we were joined by David (now a new friend!) and Craig, who's Dragonlance event ended earlier than expected.  Fred's somber visage melted away as I experienced one of the greatest Numenera adventures I've played in the last year!  Each of us was smiling ear-to-ear, and Fred's adventure, a home-brew which perfectly embodied Monte Cook's vision of "the weird", was outstanding.  I was so incredibly lucky to have had nothing to do Friday night, and I can't wait to play in one of Fred's adventures again!  

  

Dante, Mike, Mike, Ray, Shannon, and I take on Father Foss

The Greatest Game of The Strange Ever

Have you ever heard of L.G. Babcock III?  In Bruce Cordell's adventure, The Eschatology Code, one of the characters (L.G.) was an ex-child star turned agent of The Estate.  How lucky were we that one of our players, Mike, decided to chose this character and play him to the limit!  In one scene, where the characters were dealing with terrorist/gremlin activity on a plane, Mike rolled a "1" for his initiative prompting a GM Intrusion.  L.G., waiting to get into the fight, turned to the right and locked eyes with a dozen older women, each a member of the L.G. Babcock fan club.  The women charged across the aisle screaming "we gotta save L.G. from the lasers," restraining him from aiding the rest of the party for a short while.  Well Mike took this scene to a whole 'nother level!  

After learning that the fan club was gathering at a local Dunkin Donuts in Sioux Falls, where the evil Father Foss was preparing to aid in destroying the Earth, the party engaged in an all out Twitter war with Foss and his parishioners.  Images of L.G. were photoshopped alongside the dark pastor, with tweets like #FrFossLuvsLG inciting rage within the All Souls Church.  Soon, L.G. had enlisted the aid of his fan club to cause a distraction at the church, allowing the party to gain easy access to their target: a quantum computer.  

I'm pretty sure we had the only team of Estate agents that used Tweets as an asset while at Gen Con.

Shanna, Monte, and Bruce had to hear me tell a "my player" story

Idol Worship

It's well known that most RPG player LOVE to tell stories about their characters.  In fact, at a gaming convention it's pretty much expected.  But to tell stories about your characters in Numenera and The Strange with the creators of Numenera and The Strange… well that's the epitome of awesomeness!  It was Saturday night, around 10pm at the Monte Cook Games fan bash, and I was getting the chance to rub elbows with all of the luminous folks who make my two favorite games possible.  We were telling various stories of our games, both from the convention and at home, when Matthew MacKrey and Jeremy Land started sharing a picture by Justin MacAuley portraying my character, Serbrus, and his epic tale of woe in Robert Schwalb's adventure, Beyond All Worlds.  In our regular campaign, run by Lex Starwalker, Serbrus (a Doomed Glaive who Consorts with the Dead) was looking for his wife in a "prison" called the Mouth of the Devourer.  Not to get into too many details, but my glaive found that a certain corpulent villain had a cannibalistic encounter with Mrs. Serbrus.  In an act of disgust, vengeance, and sorrow Serbrus struck down the evil bastard, then reanimated him and cut him down again.  

Well Justin MacAuley crafted a terrific, yet NSFW, artistic rendition of this scene which Matt, Jeremy, and I shared with Bruce Cordell while I told the somber story.  Bruce seemed to love it, and he grabbed Monte Cook so that I could tell it again while showing off the art!  In return, Monte Cook shared his own story of horror, terror, and disgust in a Robert Schwalb crafted adventure involving a blast of maggots with human faces!  More stories were traded, laughs shared, and I was so sorry to see the night end. 

Parting Words

The four days went by too fast, and Monday crashed like a terrible wave against the euphoria of this phenomenal experience.  When I walked into work today everything seemed faded, dull, and completely devoid of color.  Being that this was my first Gen Con, I wasn't prepared for the sudden flood of emotions.  My wife Jennifer often tells me that my time at home in the evenings and on weekends playing games with my kids and friends is my "real life," and that the drudgery of my work week is the illusion.  I lean on this sometimes, using the promise of the weekend to keep me warm when life is cold and hard. I can always say "just a few more days until the weekend," and the problems of everyday life melt away.  Gen Con is a bright shining beacon to those of us who enjoy telling stories, sharing games, and learning new things.  It's a place of wonder, acceptance, and cooperation, and so the memories I took with me from this last experience are especially powerful.  

Luckily for us it's just a few days (346 to be exact) until the next Gen Con!  

Numenera - Tales of the Broken Mask - Session 1

Characters

• Chase Rombek, a Mystical Nano who Sees Beyond, played by Frank
• Jak, a Mutant Glaive who Constantly Evolves, played by Craig
• Glyquorg, an Exiled Jack who Controls Animals, played by Andy
• Elehar, a Tough Glaive who Rages, played by Scott

Summary

In the city-state of Nihliesh, south of the Steadfast and at the very edge of the Beyond, mutants and their mutations are not only respected, they are also revered.  The Fahat, a syndicate of incredibly powerful mutants, rules in Nihliesh and shares a great deal of power and control with other organizations that have similar beliefs.  One such group are a collection of bounty hunters and assassins known as the Blessed Hunters of the Broken Mask.  Led by an "entity" known only as Typhaon, the "Broken Mask" recruits to it's ranks mutants and those seeking mutations as a means of self-evolution.  Many of the organizations believe Typhaon to be a god, while others belief it to be a mutant who has completely transcended form. 

Four "Unmasked Seekers", the lowest rank a member of the Broken Mask could hold, recently joined the guild and had one final test before their first true assignment.  Each seeker joined the Blessed Hunters of the Broken Mask for their own particular reason.  

There was Chase Rombek, a superstitious nano with powers of divination. Hailing from the Steadfast, Chase was an ex-Aeon Priest who followed a vision quest while in the desert.  Unlike the rest of his order, Chase believed the numenera to be true magic, and that supernatural powers, divine or arcane, fueled the incredible cyphers and artifacts.  Although not seeking mutations, when Chase heard of Typhaon and the possibility that it was a "god", the nano sought out the Broken Mask. 

Jak was a mutant warrior who placed great faith in his own evolution.  With mutations that gave him increased protection from poison and cold, sticky pads on his hands, and a severely deformed head covered in blue hair, Jak did not fit in with life in The Steadfast, and Nihliesh would be a place of solace an comfort.  Having met Chase while he was on his vision quest, it would be Jak's tales of Typhaon that would fill the nano's ears.  

Unfortunately, not everyone in the party accepted Jak's mutations.  Glyquorg as a jack-of-all-trades who preferred the company of animals, especially his shanu "Lemux."  Neither Glyquorg nor Lemux could stand the appearance of Jak's face, which was somewhat hypocritical of the party's lone jack.  Glyquorg himself had a simple mutation, cosmetic and minor, however this quirk forced the jack to leave the service of the Angulan Knights, and find another path.  The Blessed Hunters of the Broken Mask believed Glyquorg's connection to the Angulan Knights to be potentially useful, but the order's trust in the exiled jack was limited.

Finally there was the barbarian from beyond the Southern Wall, Elehar the glaive.  Suffering from poor impulse control, the ill-tempered Elehar was the only man in Nihliesh known to have been born and bred in the impossibly cold region of the Ninth World, but few ever got past his personality to ask him about his upbringing.  Like many Unmasked Seekers, Elehar desired the mutations bestowed by Typhaon, and had a special connection with Jak and his constantly evolving form.  Elehar also had a connection to Lemux, Glyquorg's shanu, and was continuously looking for an excuse to devour the monkey-lion.  

The party's first mission was to ambush the nano-pirate Karai, who operated off of the Ancuan coast and often traveled between an unknown village on the water and Nihliesh.  Rather than stealing treasure or numenera, Karai dealt in information.  The unbound seekers' mission was to assassinate Karai before he could enter the city-state.  Waiting along the side of a popular trail, the four seekers schemed for two days before Karai appeared.  The lone nano, riding atop a snowloper, slowly moved down the trail, not appearing to notice the four members of the Broken Mask.  Glyquorg had set a snare trap earlier, and was eager to prove the device's effectiveness.  But when Chase used his "enchanted mirror" to show that Karai was not truly walking in front of the party, Jak moved forward to investigate.  Strangely enough, Glyquorg's trap was loosed upon Jak, nowhere near where it had initially been planted.  Although the mutant glaive dodged the snare, he was then blasted by a cold and icy blast, which was nothing more than a cool breeze to Jak.  

Chase moved forward to investigate the image of Karai, which his scan revealed to have been an "old image", at least thirty minutes old.  Somehow the pirate-nano was manipulating time.  The party started searching the area, looking for signs of Karai, and Glyquorg saw that there was a hand buried just under the sand and snow of the desert.  In the hand was a cypher, and Jak shouted that the blast came from that direction.  Quickly Jak and Elehar started digging up the area around the hand and they found that Karai appeared frozen and yet was not cold.  Jak's battle-axe even shattered against the nano's frozen neck.  Believing this to have something to do with time travel, and that the body would reanimate soon, Chase directed Jak to tie up the pirate-nano.  Sure enough, thirty minutes later Karai awoke, and started to "monologue."  This was not to Jak's liking, and the exiled ex-Angulan Knight fired a crossbow bolt into the bound nano's chest just before Elehar used his great sword to strike down Karai.  

Quotes

Andy: "I have a small blue monkey-lion on my shoulder."
Scott:  "Not for long."  

"Well that's the job, I take a swing at him."  - Andy nonchalantly declares his attack against the bound Karai.  

Avernus Availed - An Accursed Bedtime Story - Session 4

Dramatis Personae

• Avarice Avernus, Mummy Matriarch and Skilled Duelist, played by Jen (Mommy)
• Annaria Avernus, Dhampir Daughter and Scout, played by Evie
• Adelaide Avernus, Shade Daughter and White Witch, played by Carrie
• Rudolpho, Cranium Rat Spokesvermin, Non-Player Character

If this is your first time reading our Avernus Availed stories, please feel free to check out previous posts before reading ahead!

• Campaign Design
• Character Design
• Session 1: An Addled Arrival
• Session 2:  Many as One
• Session 3:  Expedition to Arachnis' Lair, Part One

Expedition to Arachnis' Lair, Part Two

It was late in the Walls house, and bedtime was approaching, which means its the perfect time to break out the dice, cards, poker chips, and sourcebooks for a little Savage Worlds: Accursed!  Given the choice between a Berenstain Bears story and kicking spider-demon butt, I'm quite proud of my kids' preferences.  

   Evie donned the proper jewelry prior to starting

In our last session the Avernus family helped Casey Ryback and Badb find Beothatch, Badb's brother and fellow Revenant.  Before leaving Arachnis' lair, however, Rudolpho reminded Avarice that she still had to find her lost engagement ring.  Gathering up her two daughters, Annaria and Adelaide, Avarice bid Badb and Casey adieu and traveled back into the Howling Crypts of Cadogan Peak.  

Returning to the embalming room, where Baothatch was uncovered just a little while earlier, the trio came across a spiral staircase heading deeper into the bowels of the earth.  Annaria checked the staircase and found it trapped with sliding steps so Avarice disarmed the mechanism.  Adelaide, an able scout, traveled down the staircase in spectral form before coming to a locked door.  The lock was easy enough to pick but Adelaide had no intention of entering the adjacent room first, as there was a terrible stink of death and decay coming from the other side of the portal.  

Carrie's "friend" helped her roll tonight

Adelaide was happy to open the door, but she waited for her mom to enter the room.  Carefully, with torch in hand, Avarice crept into the large chamber.  Six tall columns adorned the room, with several dozen human-sized pods covered in webbing hanging from the ceiling.  On the opposite side of the room was a door, and Avarice hoped she could make it to the exit before something above her head "popped."  Already the hanging sacks of viscera and filth were dripping their contents on the floor, covering the ground in a think porridge of murky sludge.  

Halfway across the room, however, death descended upon the party of undead.  A massive swarm of spiders covered Avarice head to toe, forcing her to fall to the ground in agony as the horrible bugs sunk their teeth through the mummy's armor and straight to the flesh.  Not wanting to set their mummy mommy on fire with torches, Adelaide and Annaria ran up to Avarice and started kicking the spiders from her armored body.  Little damage was done to the swarm, which kept refreshing as a few spiders were stepped upon by Avarice's daughters.  As Avarice slowly started to drift away, unable to keep the beasts from chewing on her wrappings armor, parts of the swarm broke off and climbed onto Annaria.  

Evie wasn't a fan of the hard-to-kill monsters of Accursed

The party's dhampir faired better against the spider swarm than her mother, and she taught Avarice an effective stop-drop-and-roll technique that easy removed many of the spiders by crushing them with simple body weight.  Adelaide continued to stomp on the spiders, fearful that her area attack powers could hurt her teammates.  Eventually the arachnid threat was defeated and the party was able to move on to the door that led deeper into the chamber.  

Quotes

"I weigh 120 lubs…. " - Evie didn't know how to pronounce "lbs"

"I have my torch in one hand and a long-sword in another… and if I were Cooper I'd have a whole lot more!" - Jen referencing our last OD&D game and the running joke of 4 year old Cooper's Dragon

"Why are we laying down?" - Evie did remember that we were using a side scrolling map.
"Because this is 'side-view', like Super Mario Brothers!" - Daddy explains.

Evil GM Face!

Special Thanks

We're continuing to use Glynn Seal's amazing map from MonkeyBlood Design.  Please go check out his work at check out his website!

Finally, if you haven't had a chance to check out Accursed yet, please make sure to give the game a look at www.accursedrpg.com!  You mean you haven't done this already!?!?

Ready to Get Strange!

I wonder what kind of Recursions we can come up with?

Are You Ready for The Strange?

We sure are!  With The Strange coming out soon, and me being the crazy Numenerian/Cyphernatic fanboy that I am, I wanted to share a few ideas for Recursions ahead of the release of this masterpiece created by Bruce Cordell, Monte Cook, and all the other wonderful folks at Monte Cook Games.  If you are one of those few folks out there who don't know what The Strange is, please go check it out as soon as humanly possible!

Now I have to be up front with you all: I've been a playtester of The Strange since December, and due to my non-disclosure agreement can't give you any kind of sneak-peek behind this game, or mention anything that hasn't already been shared by MCG.  I'm pretty sure that even mentioning one tiny tidbit of top secret information from the playtest materials would cause a planetovore that would show up and ruin my day.

And don't give me any crap for mentioning planetovores and such, because I know it was covered by the many interviews on both Translating the Strange and GM Intrusions by Bruce, Monte, and Shanna... I'm pretty safe to say the word "planetovore"...

... right?

Anyway, what I did want to talk about today were some of the ideas for recursions and adventures that have been running around in my head recently.  Those few folks who played in my playtest games got a glimpse of the twisted realities that lurk inside my brain.  It's safe to say that five of them will never look at a Uhaul in quite the same way. 

It is wonderful that one of the stretch goals reached during the Kickstarter was an online database of fan-crafted recursions, although honestly I'm in no rush to create any original recursions right out off the bat for my own campaigns.  Heck, from what I've seen of the released material (my map came a couple weeks ago), I could run an entire fantasy campaign in Ardeyn without breaking a sweat.  But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that there were dozens of ideas already brewing in my noggin, and I thought I would share my top 3 so far. 

Dragonlance - The Other Guys

"Gator don't take no Draconians!"

Have you read the Dragonlance Chronicles?  Have you seen the movie "The Other Guys?"  

Can you say "mash-up!?!"  

In this adventure the players end up in the recursion of "Krynn" albeit with terrible timing.  While the legendary Companions are trying to flee the Inn of the Last Home in Solace through the back door, the players translate regrettably close to Raistlin before he casts a spell.  The dark and ominous red-robed mage has a serious mishap which causes much of the Inn to explode (GM intrusion!), and the party awakens in the middle of a bunch of dead bodies on the ground several hours later.  Amongst these bodies are humans, a wizard, a dwarf, a bearded half-elf, and ... gulp... a kender.  Clutching two important artifacts, the Blue Crystal Staff and the Staff of the Magi, our heroes must defeat Takhisis… 

...or something along those lines.

Labyrinth - Minions of Jareth

I don't know about all of you, but when I watch Labyrinth my favorite characters are the zany goblins who work for Jareth.  Well in this adventure our party of investigators chase down an odd and eccentric woman fascinated with the maternity ward of UPMC's Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh.  A car chase ensues (reminiscent of that awesome scene in Striking Distance), and when the woman (who looks a lot like an older Jennifer Connelly) is cornered, she says the words:  

"I wish the goblins would take you away, right now!" 

Poof, party translates against their will to the Labyrinth... as goblins!  Forced to work for the Goblin King, the party is shackled by artifacts that prevent them from returning to Earth unless they do... something.  I haven't worked out the details yet, but rest assured, I think I'll actually end up doing this one.  Don't tell my wife and kids, but it'll most likely be with their characters. 

 The Tenth Doctor's Wedding

I'm not sure if you Doctor Who fans know this or not, but the alternate Earth where the Tenth Doctor's human version and Rose Tyler live is actually ... wait for it... a recursion!  So in this adventure, our characters, who are quickened members of Torchwood, translate to the Alternate Whovian Earth (we can call it AWE for short), and find out that the human version of the Doctor is getting married soon.  But the scheming Daleks have found a way to harness the might of a planetovore and threaten death upon the whole of AWE unless AWE's version of Torchwood (led by Rose Tyler) hands over the human Doctor.  Of course, the Daleks know that the planetovore will still devour AWE, and they must be stopped with the help of regular Earth Torchwood.   

Obviously this adventure assumes that the regular version of The Doctor, now in his 12th incarnation (or 13th, depending on your take on the War Doctor), actually exists in your campaign, and that may not fit your idea of The Strange...

... but it certainly fits ours!