The Amazing Adventures of Rachel Morgan

Wow. What a great week.  I finally got copy of "The Witch With No Name" and I have been doing a lot of stuff with Amazing Adventures.   I have also been going through all my material for the Castles & Crusades witch class.  

So I am seeing a lot of convergence here.

Amazing Adventures works well as a fully modern game as well as a Pulp era one.

I am toying with the idea that WIS is for casting Earth Magic, INT is good for Ley Line magic and CHA for Demonic and Elf magic.  Though I also really need for Rachel to be able to cast Astral Projection, she is 18th level.  True, the only real Astral plane is the Ever After so it should be a lower level spell.  But Rachel in WWNN is pretty damn powerful.

Camille as Rachel Morgan

Rachel Morgan
18th Level Witch (Amazing Adventures/C&C) (Arcanist)
Eclectic Tradition* (I have not worked out any traditions yet)
Race: Witch, now uncursed Demon

Strength: 12 (0)
Dexterity: 11 (0)
Constitution: 12 (0)
Intelligence: 15 (+1) P
Wisdom: 13 (+1) P
Charisma: 18 (+3) P

Hit Points:  70
Alignment: Chaotic Good
AC: 13 (Rachel likes leather)
BtH: +4
MEP: 114

Languages: English, Latin, Elven (native language is English)
Background: Runner (Law Enforcment) +4,
Traits: Spellgifted (demon curses)
Skill: Knowledge (Arcana)

Powers
Familiar: Bis the Gargoyle (ok Bis is not really her familiar, but close in this world).
Herb Use
Ritual Magic


Spells
Cantrips: (9) Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Illusion, Detect Magic, Light, Magical Aura, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Stun
First: (5+1) Change Self, Command, Daze, Identify, Shield, Sleep
Second: (5+1) Blur, Burning Hands, Hold Person, Knock, Pyrotechnics, Scare
Third: (4+1) Aid, Fear, Heat Metal, Nondetection, Remove Curse
Fourth: (4) Dispel Magic, Fear, Polymorph Self/Other, Seeming
Fifth: (4) Contact Other Plane, Magic Jar, Projection, True Seeing
Sixth: (3) Guards and Wards, Mislead, Veil
Seventh: (3) Power Word Stun, Teleport without Error, Word of Recall
Eighth: (2)  Symbol, Trap the Soul
Ninth: (1) Astral Projection

Magic Items
Splat-ball gun* (a paint ball gun with sleep potions in the paint balls).
Various charms, pain amulets, charmed handcuffs.

I like her!  I might need to fiddle with her stats just a bit to get the right feel, but I like what I have here.
Plus this will give a chance to try that Hollows/Dresden Files crossover I have been dying to do.

Don't forget the Amazing Adventures Kickstarter. Last Days!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676918054/amazing-adventures-rpg

BTW Witch With No Name is Awesome! Love it.

The Witch With No Name

Today the last Rachel Morgan book "The Witch With No Name" is released.

Rachel is one of my all time favorite witches. For the last few years I have enjoyed all 12 books (now 13) in the series. I have watched Rachel, Ivy, Jenks, Trent and even the demon Algaliarept grow into interesting characters.  It will be sad to see this at an end, but I am glad she is ending on the top of her game.
The Rachel Morgan/Hollows books are very much like another urban supernatural series I enjoyed and just ended on it's 13th book, the Women of the Underworld series by Kelley Armstrong. Both feature strong world building and great strong characters, male and female.   But Rachel as a character grabbed me more than Savannah, Eve, Elena or Hope ever did.  Armstrong's Savannah Levine might be the more powerful witch, but Rachel can think better on her feet.

My copy has not come yet.  I listened to the audio books while driving to Gen Con by myself one year and fell in love with Marguerite Gavin's portrayal of the characters.  So I have stuck with the audio books ever since.

Rachel Morgan for Classic Unisystem (WitchCraft/Armageddon)
I had done Rachel a while back for Cinematic Unisystem (Buffy/Ghosts of Albion) but in the later books she really becomes more and more a "WitchCraft" style witch. Even if there is really nothing like "Essence" in the books.
The Turn is, game wise at least, similar enough to the Reckoning discussed in WitchCraft and Armageddon to let me use the Armageddon book.  There are no gods per se, but there are some beings of great power like the Goddess of the Elves and of course the Demons.

Camille as Rachel Morgan

Rachel Morgan
Greater Gifted
Life Points: 39
Essence: 50

Strength: 3
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 2
Intelligence: 4
Perception: 5
Willpower: 5

Endurance: 35
Speed: 10 mph / 5 yrds/sec

Qualities
Acute Senses (taste, smell) (Witches in the world are more sensitive), Attractive 2, Contacts 3 (Weres, Demons, Witches, FIB), Gifted, Hard to Kill 3,  1, Increased Essence Pool 4, Nerves of Steel, Occult Library 2

Drawbacks
Adversary 4 (nearly everyone hates her wants her dead),  Honorable 2, Obsession (Help Ivy), Status -2 (she is a day walking demon)

Skills
Acrobatics 4, Craft (earth witch potions) 5, Guns (paint ball "splat" gun) 4, Humanities 3, Intimidation 3, Martial Arts 4, Occult Knowledge 8, Research 4, Riding (horse) 3, Rituals, Earth magic 3, Rituals, Ley Line magic 3, Rituals, Demon magic 5, Rituals, elf wild magic 1, Stealth  3, Streetwise 4

Metaphysics
Elemental (Earth Magic)
Lightning Bolt, Earth Tremor, Flame,

Find Person (Ley Line)

Shielding (Ley Line)
Essence Shield, Physical Shield,

Spirit Mastery  (Ley Line, Demonic)
Summoning, Dismiss, Compact

Spirit Travel (Ley Line)

Equipment
Earth magic charms, Red Splat gun with Sleepy-time potion ammo, cell-phone, knife

Camille *IS* Rachel Morgan

Can't wait to see what Rachel has in store for her last adventure and whether or not it will truly be her last.

Until you get your book check out Camille's Deviant Art Page for all her great Rachel Morgan cosplays.  One of the best, if not the best one I have seen.

A to Z of Witches. R

R is for Rachel Morgan

Rachel Morgan is the main character in the Hollows series of books by Kim Harrison.

She is a witch, turned day-walking demon in a world where most of the human population was killed by a genetically engineered tomato.  Since then ("The Turn") the vampires, witches, weres, elves and other supernatural types came out of hiding.  Witches look human but are a different species.  They marry and have sex, but can't produce offspring.  Witches are though more related to demons.
Rachel is an independent "runner". She is something like a bounty hunter/detective/occult problem solver.  She uses magic, but since magic has limits, complications and prep time she also uses a paintball gun where the paintballs are filled with sleep potions.

There are currently 12 books in the series with the 13th and last one, The Witch With No Name, out later this year.  I have not caught up yet to book 12, The Undead Pool (so don't spoil me!), but I hear it is good.

I will be honest I did not like Rachel at first.  I thought she was whinny, immature and didn't earn my interest.  Fortunately other characters did.  I was reading book 3, Every Which Way But Dead (all the books are named after Clint Eastwood movies) when Rachel finally grew on me.  Now she is a confident, mature, kick ass witch.  I am going to be really sorry to see her go.

I have stated up Rachel and her vampire partner Ivy before for Ghosts of Albion/Buffy and for Ova.  I ahve also used them as examples on how to build a cast using Cortex+.   I'd also like to try her out in Fate.

So who is your favorite witch?  What book(s) does she appear in?

ETA: Kim Harrison has part of the new cover for Witch With No Name on her site today!
http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/first-piece-reveal-of-the-witch-with-no-name/



Supernatural AtoZ

New Releases Tuesday

Time for the 2013 edition of New Releases Tuesday for two of my favorite authors (you can click to see 2012, 2011 and 2010).

Up first is my talented friend Amber Benson with the next installment of the tale of Calliope Reaper-Jones, the girl that would be Death in The Golden Age of Death.

This book is out today!

Next is everyone's favorite red-headed witch/demon, Rachel Morgan in Ever After.

Rachel has more trouble, this time cleaning up a mess she made a few books back.  Of course if she doesn't fix it all the demons in the Ever After will be coming for her.

This one has been out for a bit.

Happy Hallows Day!

Today is the day that Ever After by Kim Harrison is released.

I really enjoy these books. Rachel is growing not only as a witch, but a character.  She is not making the same dumb mistakes she was making in "Dead Witch Walking".  Though this time she has to solve a problem she made for herself.  And damn. Is that not the coolest looking cover?

I don't do Pinterest, but there is a collection of all the cool Hollows covers from Kim Harrison's site.  It's kind of cool to see so many different versions of Rachel and Ivy. 

Maybe I mentioned this or not, but I alternate between reading a Hallows book and a Dresden Files one.  I just finished the very awesome Cold Days and now Ever After is up.  Yeah me!

Of course this causes interesting thoughts in my head.  What would it be like if Harry and Rachel ever had to take on a case together?  Totally different worlds yeah, but maybe that is part of the problem.  Their realities are bleeding into each other.  How would they react to each other? Violence seems to be the likely answer.  What would Ivy think of Thomas? Jenks of Toot-toot? Trent of Mab or Marcone?  The possibilities of mayhem are almost too delicious to ignore!

Given that all the Hallows books' titles are plays on Clint Eastwood movie titles it is tempting to use something like "Le Streghe" aka "The Witches".   The movie was made of five different stories, so I could do five different games where Rachel and Ivy find themselves.  Hmm.

Ok. Here we go.  Rachel and Ivy are on a run.  They fight some bad guy and get some weird artifact. The artifact jumps them to different realities where they have to encounter different witches.

I could use some stats I have already put together for some of the games.

So I have Unisystem for their crossover to Willow & Tara's universe. The start of Cortext Plus for Smallville Crossover to meet up with Zatanna and OVA for some other crossover, maybe Witch Hunter Robin.  I would HAVE to do the Dresden Files RPG for that one and then one more game.
I'd do Harry Potter but Hermione is already involved in her own crossover.

Could be a lot of fun with the right people.

New Releases Thursday

So each year I let everyone know about the new releases of some of my favorite women in Urban Horror from two of my favorite authors.
Here are the previous posts, 2010 and 2011.  Here I am only a couple days late.

First up is the new Calliope Reaper-Jones book from Amber Benson, How to Be Death.

When we last left CRJ she was assuming the role as the new Death.  Don't pretend that just because she has the power and station means she has anything figured out yet.  I think this is my favorite cover of all the books so far.  Out on Feb 28.

Also new is Rachel Morgan's latest adventure from author Kim Harrison, A Perfect Blood.

If Calliope is Death, then Rachel is Dead.  Or at least that is what they keep telling her.  She was declared dead at the end of the last book and now no one from the FIB, to her Demon teacher Al or even the DMV can do anything about it.  Maybe Callie could help her...

I like this cover too.  We get to see more of Rachel.  This one is out now.

More Rachel and Ivy goodness

Yes. I am big fan of Kim Harrion's Hollows series.  I really enjoy the books and the characters.
In addition to the new books coming out, there are some reissues of the first books coming to the shelves in the UK and the cover art is fantastic.  I like it because you can really see Rachel and Ivy's faces now.

 

Very cool.  Might have to pick these up.
Now if we could only get a TV show that would be great.  Better yet, HBO.

There you are Rachel

The new cover of the next Rachel Morgan book, A Perfect Blood,  is now out.
http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/cover-of-a-perfect-blood/

And we get to see a bit more of Rachel's face.

Looking forward to this one!

Test Review

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Rachel is finally getting smarter, too bad so are her enemies.

Great road-trip style story and the ending is not what I had expected at all. I was just about ready to give up on the Hollows and now I can't wait for the next book.



View all my reviews

Any Witch Way You Can: Ghosts of Albion / Unisystem

So to follow up on my OVA post on Rachel and Ivy I thought I would post Rachel and Ivy in my favorite system, Cinematic Unisystem.  since Eden has gone back online and Ghosts is due out soon, this is a great choice! (ok, biased I know).

Actually stating up the characters for Unisystem worked out fantastic.  I might be biased but I am really pleased with how they worked out.   While I am very pleased with the OVA stats, I am thrilled with the Unisystem ones.

The world of Ghosts of Albion (or even Buffy/Angel) is a good fit for the world of Rachel and Ivy.  Demons, faeries, pixies, witches and vamps are all similar to those in Ghosts.  There are "living vampires" in The Hollows series, but I figure they have many of the same stats as regular vamps, only not as much.  So instead of +3 to Strength they only get +2 and +1 to all the other affected stats and skills.  They can move about in the daylight and are not affected by holy items, but are no more in a hurry to die than a human.  Plus they still need to feed.

Vamps in the Hollows can also "pull an aura" which is more of an Emotional Control than a full on Hypnotize.   I reflected this in Ivy's stats below.
Jenks of course is a Pixie and almost a by-the-book one.  Trent is an elf and can be built like the Royal Fae in the Ghosts core book.  Al is pretty much a demon out of the Angel book with some fae qualities like Glamour (only used as a spell).

Of course the big difference in Rachel and Ivy's world compared to say Willow and Tara's is magic is known to be real to everyone.  If Willow and Tara were in Rachel's world I would suspect that Tara would be an Earth Witch completely.  Willow of course would have started out as an Earth witch but moved to Ley Lines quickly.  Willow would almost certainly have some imbalance on her aura ("smut" in the books) and maybe a demon mark.

Rachel Morgan

Witch
Str: 3 Dex: 3 Con: 2 Int: 4 Per: 4 Wil: 5

Life Points: 36 Drama Points: 10

Qualities
Attractive 2, Contacts 3 (Weres, Demons, Witches, FIB), Hard to Kill 2, Heightened Senses (Witches in the world are more sensitive) 1, Magic 5, Magical Philosophy, Earth, Ley Line, Demonic (in Rachel's world you can have more than one), Nerves of Steel, Occult Library 2

Drawbacks
Addiction (Bad relationships) 1, Adversary 5 (nearly everyone wants her dead), Emotional Problems (hard for her to trust others) 1, Haunted (Pierce), Honorable 1, Obsession (Help Ivy), Reputation 3, Risk Taker, Secret (witches are really stunted demons, can do demon magic) 3

Skills
Acrobatics 3, Computer 2, Crime 2, Doctor 1, Driving 3, Engineering 1, Getting Medieval 2, Gun Fu 4, Influence 2, knowledge 4, Kung Fu 4, Languages 2 (English, Latin), Notice 3, Occultism 5, Science 1, Sports 2

Combat
by spell +15, special
Splat Gun +7, target falls asleep (paint balls filled with a sleeping potion)

(Image of Rachel found at http://valliantcreations.com/images/galleries/color.html)

Ivy Tamwood

Living Vampire

Str: 7 Dex: 7 Con: 5 Int: 3 Per: 5 Wil: 4

Life Points: 36 Drama Points: 10

Qualities

Attractive 3, Contacts 2 (Vamps, FIB), Emotional Influence ("pulling an aura"), Fast Reaction Time, Hard to Kill 3, Heightened Senses 2,  Iron Mind, Nerves of Steel, Regeneration (1 LP per hour), Resources 6, Vampire (Living).

Drawbacks

Adversary 2 (mostly other vampires), Fear (of dying and losing her soul) 1, Fear (of Rachel's magic) 1, Honorable 2, Love, Unrequited (Rachel), Obligation 1, Reputation 1 (living with Rachel has it's downside too)

Skills

Acrobatics 5, Art 2, Computer 4, Crime 4, Doctor 2, Driving 4, Engineering 2, Getting Medieval 6, Gun Fu 1, Influence 6, knowledge 4, Kung Fu 6, Languages 1, Notice 3, Occultism 2, Science 1, Sports 1

Combat
Sword +13
Hand to Hand +13

(image of Rachel and Ivy found at http://thwippersnapple.deviantart.com/art/rachel-morgan-and-ivy-tamwood-41669160)



All in all I really like these builds.  I think they capture the characters well.  I would love to add them to my Unisystem game, I just have not figured out how to bring them into the story yet.

I think I should put these two on the list of builds to try out for when I review Dresden Files.

Play Ivy For Me: OVA

So according to the official OVA RPG blog there will be a 2nd edition of the OVA RPG.
I have liked what I have seen so far of OVA, so the second edition should be fun.  July 17 is the release date.

Until then though I wanted to bring out some characters I have been dying to stat up for any game.

I just finished reading the latest Rachel Morgan book, Black Magic Sanction.  Like all the others it was fun ride and great to see Rachel, Ivy and Jenks again.  Given the nature of the series I thought an anime roleplaying adaptation would be perfect. Plus I am wrapping up OVA and just finished the book so it fits; for me anyway.

So what do you need to know with out getting to spoilery? Well.  Rachel Morgan is a witch living in Cincinnati in a world where everyone knows about magic, witches (like Rachel), vampires (like her roommate Ivy) and even pixies (like their business partner Jenks).  Rachel has so problems keeping herself out of trouble and then problems about getting herself much deeper in trouble once she is there.  Ivy is a bad mood away from going total bloodlust psycho thanks to years of mental (and physical) abuse from Cincinnati's former Master Vampire. And Jenks...well Jenks is a pixie and that means a lot in this series.

It is a very cool set of books and if you have not read them and you like modern supernatural then these are a treat.  I have mentioned them before but had not got around to doing any stats.  That changes now.

Like my Witch Hunter Robin write-up I am using the rule of a power cap of 10.  I want Rachel and Ivy to be about the same league as Robin, but obviously more powerful due to their world, age and experience.

Rachel Morgan
Concept: Trouble prone witch with a deadly secret. or two.
"I'm a white witch damnit!"

Abilities & Weaknesses
Beautiful +2, Combat Skill, Splat-gun (a paint ball gun filled with potions) +2, Combat skill, Hand to hand +2, Magic, Arcane (Earth Magic in the book) +2, Magic, Witchcraft (Ley Line Magic in the book +3),  Magic, Demonic (combining Earth and Ley Line) +5, Occult Knowledge +3, Perceptive +2, Weapon, Splat-gun +2
Code of conduct -1, Guardian, Jenks and Family (though they are more often her guardian) -1, Impulse Control (Rachel often acts before she thinks) -2, Obsession, help Ivy -1, Rivals (Al, Moral and Ethical coven, Trent) -3, Secret (demon spawn) -2, Special Weakness, Jerk Magnet (Rachel has terrible taste in men) -1.

Attacks
Hand to hand, +2
Splat Gun +2, special damage. Hit target falls asleep.

Defense
Take down +2
Magic Circle +3, ley line based

Health 40, Endurance 40

Character Notes: Rachel is a 25 year old witch and former IS runner.  She is now an independent runner for Vampiric Charms and no that is not a escort service.  Rachel is tall with long red, red hair and green eyes.  She has a demon mark on her wrist from her personal demon, Algaliarept "Al".  She has discovered a great many things in her short time as an independent and maybe one day she will be able to live to talk about it all.
She awful taste in men given that they either leave, are secretly thieves or are really ghosts.
If nothing else Rachel is a survivor and she might be the secret to the survival of all the Interlander Races.  If they don't all kill her first.

Ivy Tamwood

Concept: Living vampire with issues.  lots of issues.

"Damnit Rachel, you are going to get me killed. Twice."

Abilities & Weaknesses

Agile +2, Beautiful +3, Combat Skill, Sword +3, Combat skill, Hand to hand +3, Filthy Rich +2, Occult Knowledge +2, Perceptive +2, Quick +2, Strong +2, Weapon, fangs +1, Weapon, Sword +3(extra damage), Special: Vampire*

Code of Honor/Conduct (friends) -1, Impulse Control  -2, Love Interest, Rachel (Ivy is in love with Rachel, even if Rachel isn't) -1, Needs Blood -2, Obligation (Master Vampire) -1, Obsession, Survive her 1st Death -3, Rivals (rival vampire clans) -1, Special Weakness, Afraid of Rachel's Magic (Ivy won't use any of Rachel's magic) -1.

Attacks

Sword +3, damage: 2

Hand to hand, +3

Fangs +1

Defense

Parry +3

Health 50, Endurance 50 

Character Notes: Ivy is a member of the Tamwood family of living vampires.  That means she is stinking rich but one day she will die and rise as a soulless monster, a dead vampire.  She will do anything to stop that and she thinks Rachel is the ticket.  Of course the fact that Ivy is also in love with the head strong witch has nothing to do with it.  Almost nothing.  Ivy suffered years of mental abuse from the Master Vampire Piscary to mold her into the type of Scion he wanted. In fact Piscary had been molding her whole family for centuries to get the qualities he wanted.  So Ivy, with her dark hair, husky voice and slightly Asian features, is a knock out.  Even supermodels think she is hot.  But most of the time Ivy is in a bad mood.  She tried to go of off blood and that made difficult to live with, then she went back on to the blood and that made things even weirder.

And there you go.
OVA does not have a vampire ability really, so I just combined things that made Ivy who she is; quick, strong, agile, needs blood to live.

I like the OVA versions of them and can't wait to try them out in Ghosts of Albion or Witch Girls Adventures. 

New Releases Tuesday

It's book release day and two of favorite authors have new books out in the modern urban supernatural fantasy section.

 Amber Benson is letting us back into the weird world of Calliope Reaper-Jones in the second book of the Death's Daughter series, "Cat's Claw".

This one promises to be very interesting.  The first book dealt with the disappearance of her father, The Grim Reaper.  In this one Callie needs pay back the debts she amassed doing it.

Here is the Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Claw-Amber-Benson/dp/0441018432/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3

As I mentioned yesterday the next book Hollows Series by Kim Harrison is also out.   The new book, Black Magic Sanction, has Rachel doing what Rachel does best; getting into trouble WAY over her head.  Like Callie, I didn't like Rachel at first.  I thought she was, well, stupid.  She did things all the time that got her into trouble.  But soon I figured out that Rachel isn't stupid.  She is impulsive and being drawn into plots she would rather not have to deal with herself.  Like Calli, Rachel has powers and that doesn't mean she knows what she needs to do with them.  Rachel can be a total flake, but it works for her and now I love this character.

The Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Black-Magic-Sanction-Rachel-Morgan/dp/0061138037/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Both books are fun reads with interesting and engaging heroines.  I am going to try to get both books today.  I like to support authors when I can during their first week of release.

Dead Witch Walking

One of my favorite authors, Kim Harrison is gearing up for the release of her next book in the Hollows/Rachel Morgan series.

Black Magic Sanction is on the way, but to get up to speed you can get a FREE copy of Dead Witch Walking, book 1 of the series.

http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/black-magic-sanction-book-trailer/

http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=dead+witch+walking+free+with+bonus+material&box=Dead%20Witch%20&pos=1

http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/kim-harrison/dead-witch-walking-free-with-bonus-material/_/R-400000000000000199893

http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Witch-Walking-Hollows-ebook/dp/B000UMVN0O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1266853486&sr=8-3

Not too bad really.

Black Magic Sanction is out tomorrow.

Books for February and later

So February is usually the darkest, coldest, most dreary month on the calendar.   So it's a perfect time for some new books.  Good for me some of my favorite authors (an some I consider friends) have some new books out.

First up.  What's going on in the land of the dead?  Amber Benson and Calliope Reaper-Jones know.  The second book of the Death's Daughter series, "Cat's Claw" comes out on Feb 23.  I really enjoyed the first one and it is different than the "vampire" fare that is out now.  This book is firmly in the urban-fantasy camp and it's something like "Sex in the City" meets "Dante's Inferno".  A very different mix that I like.  What is really cool you can read this and then get a good feel for the sections in "Ghosts of Albion" Amber worked on.  I have not quite warmed up to Callie yet, but that is only a matter of time.  I like that despite her powers she is not all knowing.  She is still basically a 20-something woman living in the city and that doesn't mean she has all the right answers, or even good ones.

Here is the Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Claw-Amber-Benson/dp/0441018432/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3

Next is a series I have been reading non-stop since I discovered it about this time last year.  The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison.  The star of this series is Rachel Morgan, independent runner, witch, and soon to be target of a witch-hunt.  I first mentioned Rachel and her roommate the living-vampire Ivy, in Play Ivy for Me, and I still want to d more with this world.  The new book, Black Magic Sanction, has Rachel doing what Rachel does best; getting into trouble WAY over her head.  Like Callie, I didn't like Rachel at first.  I thought she was, well, stupid.  She did things all the time that got her into trouble.  But soon I figured out that Rachel isn't stupid.  She is impulsive and being drawn into plots she would rather not have to deal with herself.  Like Calli, Rachel has powers and that doesn't mean she knows what she needs to do with them.  Rachel can be a total flake, but it works for her and now I love this character.  The advantage Rachel has over Callie so far is I am 7 books deep into the Hollow's series now and only 1 in Death's Daughter.  And Rachel has that whole red-headed witch thing going for her. ;)
Black Magic Sanction is also out Feb 23.

The Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Black-Magic-Sanction-Rachel-Morgan/dp/0061138037/ref=pd_sim_b_1

And last up, a new author, but one I met before I knew she was an author.  Kimberly Pauley (her husband works with my wife) has part two of her YA/Modern Supernatural book, "It Still Sucks to be Me" the ongoing saga of teen-age vampire (maybe) Mina Hamilton.    I don't have much to say here since I am still reading "Sucks to be Me", but I really like what I have read so far.  Kim has a new take on vampires and there is not a sparkly on in the bunch!  Yeah I am a bit beyond the demographic for this, but it is a fun read.
"Still Sucks to be Me" is not out till May.

Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Still-Sucks-Be-Me-Confessions/dp/0786955031/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264958780&sr=1-1

Now here is the gamer in me.  Mina, Callie and Rachel are all sitting together in a local coffee shop.  What is each of them drinking?
My guesses:
Mina - hot chocolate, extra whipped cream.
Rachel - coffee, black, in a huge mug with a flaming bunny on it.
Callie - decaf green tea chai with soy milk.

And what happens next to put them all into an adventure.  Ok, Mina is a bit young, so it has to be something that would be good to drag a high school kid into.  Maybe Ivy is there and Mina was sent to learn from her by the head of the vampire council....too much of a stretch?  Yeah maybe.

And why am I thinking of all of these women in terms of Cortex stats?  Seems to work well.

Support these authors.  They are good people and write good stuff.

Play Ivy For Me

I have been reading the Rachel Morgan series of books, AKA the Hollows series, by bestselling author Kim Harrison. The books are set in an alt-history Earth where magic is real and there are witches, vampires (living and undead), faeries, ghosts, gargoyles and werewolves. This is not what separates it all from the pack of some many other "Urban Fantasy" books out there. In this series all the supernaturals were "outted" when a genetically re-engineered virus from a tomato whipped out a quarter (or at least a lot) of the humans. To keep society going and to also explain why they had not died off, the supernaturals (or Inderlanders) stopped hiding. That was 40 years ago and the world has kept on moving forward. The books are fun because of this alt history (but that is not the only reason I like them), and it is interesting to hear how Ms. Harrison has woven this event (called "the Turn") into the mythology of the books. There are new oaths people swear too ("Damn it to back the Turn!") or even the silly; for example humans are now terrified of tomatoes. On Halloween then Inderlander homes will put out pumpkins and tomatoes and give out candy to human kids and candy and tomatoes to inderlander kids.

Plus I enjoy that all the books are plays on Clint Eastwood film titles.

No. what has to be my favorite part of the books are the characters. Rachel Morgan is a witch and a "runner" (think Shadow Run, but she is more of a bounty hunter really). She used to work for the IS, Inderland Security, who deals with the crimes committed by or to Inderlanders. Now she works every so often for the FIB (Federal Inderland Bureau), the human run police. Rachel is great, she is very much the leap before you look type. Has all sorts of magic, and still can't figure out why she terrible luck with guys, has demons following her and manages to piss off nearly everyone in town, including a master vampire, an elf crime lord and what may be the oldest demon left alive. IT's never dull for Rachel. Helping her out is her friend Jenks, who is a pixie, and might very well be the coolest pixie on the planet. He has over 50 kids, knows how to break into nearly everything, swears all the time, gets drunk on honey and manages to do all of this while being just about 4 inches tall. Then there is Ivy.

Ivy has issues.

She is a living vampire, her mother gave her the vampire virus when she was in the womb. She has the bloodlust (and man does she have it), some of the strength, the fangs, but not all the powers nor the sensitivity to sunlight. She is from a long line of very well to do living vamps, the Tamwoods, so her place in vampire society is assured. Once she dies and becomes an undead vamp she will rule Cincinnati. Trouble is she doesn't want any of that. Ivy really only wants one thing. Rachel. Ivy is in love with Rachel and has been for a while. She left the IS when Rachel did, and they live in a church (as roommates) and run their independent runner service from there. Living with Ivy though is like living with a panther. She is sleek, beautiful, and can kill you in an instant. Rachel loves Ivy too, but is not ready to go the next step with her. Plus Ivy is a mess since her undead vampire master had spent years mixing sex, love and bloodletting with savagery that Ivy has a difficult time separating them all.

So these character have really grabbed me. I like them. I want to know about what happens to them and their future. And I can't but help think about how great they'd be in a game. I am going to try to knock together some stats for these characters here is a bit. Until then, here are some links.

http://www.kimharrison.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollows_(series)

http://www.facebook.com/kim.harrison#/pages/Kim-Harrison/65772714939?ref=ts

http://valliantcreations.com/images/galleries/images/color/RachelMorgan.jpg Rachel and Jenks, site link here: http://valliantcreations.com/

So keep an eye here. Certainly I'll get these three stated up for Ghosts of Albion, but I'd also like to try working them out for Witch Girls Adventures and Cortex.