Showing posts with label willow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label willow. Show all posts

Friday, May 17, 2013

Willow & Tara: BASH! (and Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia)

Today is the first day of the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia
http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com/2013/03/hop-against-homophobia-and-transphobia_15.html



As I mentioned earlier in the week that for the time period between May 17 to May 27 I will donate all the money I make from The Witch and from my DriveThruRPG Affiliate money to The Trevor Project.

I signed up for this hop to talk about characters. Honestly, who better to talk about than Willow and Tara. Plus Tara herself is a big fan of the Trevor Project.

Here is something that has been hanging out in my "drafts" for a long time. I think today is a GREAT day to finish it.

Willow & Tara: BASH!

Willow & Tara by Foxfire141

BASH! or as it was known, Basic Action Super Heroes is a great, fun game.

I have talked about it before with my super heroine "Justice", and of course I have done Willow & Tara as superheroes and as animated/cartoon/comic characters.  Bash is sort of the ultimate combination of all of that. While some supers games are "comics" games and others "supers in a real world" games, BASH is certainly a "supers by way of cartoons" game to me.  Trust me, this not a bad thing.

As always I am going with the "Dragon and the Phoenix/Season of the Witch" versions of the girls.  Though if I had stuck with my games this would have been part of Season 3.
The versions I am using are part of a game I never got to run; the Season 3 of my Willow and Tara game.  Basically they are attached to some school for magical/powerful students.  Tara is one of the teachers there so they appeared as NPCs/GMPCs only.  OR they would have been played if I had found someone to play them.  You can see more details of that game in their Cartoon Action Hour, M&M2, M&M3 and Icons write-ups.

Normally I'd do BASH! heroes about 40 points for a starting supers game.  That is what I did with Justice.  Here though the girls don't have any flashy powers.  They have magic and lot of it, but that is different.  Plus they are certainly more "Street Level" or 25 points.  I think I'll split the difference at put them at 30 or 35 points with 10-15 points for stats (like the 25 point level) and the rest for powers.  Plus the "Buffy" like character in the book is aimed at 20 points.  Depending on how I do magic they will end up in the 30 to 40 point range.

Willow Rosenberg
Name: Willow D. Rosenberg
DOB: August 1, 1981
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Part time computer instructor; Private Computer Security Systems Analyst.

Brawn: 1
Agility: 1
Mind: 5 (she is considered to be one of the smartest people in the game)

Soak: 1
Defense: 1
Mental Defense: 5

Powers
Super Senses (magical sensing, vision, hearing)  2
Clairvoyance 1
Telekinesis 5
Magic* (limitation: casting) 5 (use any power at 5)
- Force field
- Arcane blast
- Mind Control
Telepath (restricted to Tara only) 3

Skills
(1 physical, 5 mental +1)
Athletics (running)
Computers (hacking), Humanities (Religion), Investigation (Analysis), Occultism (Monsters), Science (Chemistry), Technology (Repair)

Advantages
Headquarters, Quick-thinking, Security Clearance

Disadvantages
In a Relationship (Tara), Minority (out married gay, jewish, witch), Susceptibility (anger issues)

Mental Malfunction: To right wrongs, punish the guilty.


Tara Maclay
Real Name: Tara A. Maclay
DOB: 11/07/1980
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Youth Counselor and Art instructor at <> Academy

Brawn: 1
Agility: 2
Mind: 4 (Tara is lot smarter than given credit for)

Soak: 1
Defense: 2
Mental Defense: 4

Powers

Super Senses (magical sensing, vision, hearing)  2
Clairvoyance 1
Telekinesis 4
Healing 3
Magic* (limitation: casting) 5 (use any power at 5)
- Force Field
- Arcane blast

Telepath (restricted to Willow only) 3

Skills
(2 physical, 4 mental)
Perform (Dancing), Riding (Gallop)
Humanities (Art), Medicine (first aid), Occultism (Rituals), Social Science (History)

Advantages
Grimoire (The Journal of Tamara Swift), Headquarters,

Disadvantages
In a Relationship (Willow), Minority (out married gay, witch)

Mental Malfunction: To protect the innocent

All in all similar to their Icons counter-parts.   Obviously this is a better choice of system for supers and not supernaturals.  But I expected that and wanted to try it out anyway.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

TBBYANR: Author Friends

The next two blogs belong to two people I consider friends. Both were huge help to me when I was working  on Ghosts of Albion.

Bobert the Hoosier expatriate

http://bbovenguy.livejournal.com/
Robert Black is someone I have known for more than 10 years.  We were both deeply involved involved in Willow & Tara fandom over at the Kitten Board. It was in my discussions with him that helped me formulate a lot of the ideas I had for the Dragon and the Phoenix and Season of the Witch.  Bob also came up with the original idea for the Sisters of Paradox.  Tara's father Robert in Season of the Witch is named after him. So I owe the guy a debt of gratitude for all the work we did back on the Kitten.
Bob is a YA author. Something he learned well as a writer on the classic "You Can't Do That on Television" back on Nick.  He is the only writer of that show to have dumped green slime on Alanis Morissette.

Dave Chapman's Autocratik
http://autocratik.blogspot.com/
Dave Chapman was working on Conspiracy X 2.0 the same time I was working on Ghosts of Albion.  I used to comment that only Eden hires a guy from Chicago to write a game about Victorian England and an Brit to write an American Conspiracy game.  We helped each other out a lot and then he had come in and do some playtests on Doctor Who.
Dave talks about a number of topics, but mostly related to games he likes.

I say pop on over and check them both out. If you like what you read there pick up one of their books and tell them I sent you.


This week I am running my irregular feature "The Best Blog You Are Not Reading" every day.  If you can instead of replying here, go to the blogs I am featuring and reply there.  I think the owners would like that.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

"The new witch is adorkable"


If you have not been watching the BAMF Girls Club on Comediva then you are missing out.

The premise is that Buffy, Hermione, Katniss, Michonne, Lisbeth and Bella are all sharing a house in a reality show ala the Real World.

Episode 7 features a familiar witch!
http://www.comediva.com/bamf-girls-club-ep-7



Episode 8 though might have the best line in series.
http://www.comediva.com/bamf-girls-club-ep-8


Lisbeth: "I'll give him a special tattoo, 'I am a sparkling douche-bag.'"

I think the actresses are great.  I have to do a double take any time I see "Hermione" in that Allstate comercial. ;) My boys love the show too.

I'd love to build a game around this idea.  Players take any character from any media and throw them all together in a house and make them try to get along.

Something like Cortex+ would be the serious choice, but I am thinking something more along the lines of QAGS or Macho Women With Guns.

What game system do you all think would work the best?

Anyway.  Watch it. It is funny as hell.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Willow and Tara: Amazing Adventures

Amazing Adventures is a fun game.  When I first got my hands on the playtest copy the first thing I noticed (granted I was looking for it) was the Arcanist class.  What I enjoy about it is how flexible it is in concept.  It's not just a wizard, cleric or witch.  It is one class that can do all of that.

So of course I wanted to test it out.  I grabbed my binder of witches and thought about who would be good for a Pulp Age witch.  Or more to the point, which three since I wanted to try this out using the three types of "builds" the Arcanist can use, INT, WIS and CHA based.  My choices really though were made for me.

The great thing about using Willow and Tara is it does give me the chance to try out the INT and WIS based Arcanists.  Also they are characters I know quite well so stating them up usually is only as slow as my familiarity or unfamiliarity with the system.
Plus I have stated them up for d20 before, so I had a base idea of what they needed to look like.  For these builds I used my base Modern d20 and little bit of my Macho Women with Guns d20 one.

The hard part isn't that, but it is deciding on how it is they could be in a Pulp World, 50 years before they were born.  For this I go back to the Uber concept.  Last month I posted the Call of Cthulhu versions of the girls.  In many ways the AA versions are the same as the CoC versions, but these AA versions cleave a little closer to my own Dragon and the Phoenix canon.

I have to admit the idea of a Pulp-ish Willow and Tara came to me from the strangest of places.  I was watching "If These Walls Could Talk 2" and there was an older lesbian couple in the first sequence.  While older in 1961, they could have been the adventuresses of the early Pulp Era.  In the 1920s and early 30s they would have been in their late 20, early 30s.  So why not.
I guess think of these stats as the continuation of the CoC ones from the early 1920s.

Willow and Tara in Amazing Adventures
Willow and Tara in the 1930s are just out of college.  They discovered each other from their shared use of magic and now they much adventure across the world search for more arcane secrets, stopping the forces of evil in both human and nonhuman form all while being perused by cultist and Nazis.

Willow Daniel Rosenberg
Gagdeteer 1/ Arcanist(INT) 12
Human Female, Lawful Neutral (Good),
hp: 45
MEP: 114
AC: 12 (locket of protection)/ 15 (when in physical contact with Tara)
Move: 30'

STR: 9 (0)
DEX: 11 (0)
CON: 11 (0)
INT: 18 (+3)
WIS: 16 (+2)
CHA: 17 (+2)

Languages: English, Latin, Hebrew, French* (extra language)
Background: Scientist +4 (+2 initial, improved at 5th, 10th level), Mathematician +2
Traits: Spellgifted (offensive), Reckless
Skill: Knowledge (Arcana)


Spells per Level

9/6/6/5/3/2/1
0: Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Message, Open/Close, Prestidigitation
1: Arcane Bolt, Burning Hands, Identify, read Magic, shocking Grasp, Sleep
2: Bullet Proof, Darkness, Enhance Attribute, Invisibility Scare, Shatter
3: Blink, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Fly, Lightning Bolt, Magic Circle
4: Confusion, Locate Creature, Scrying,
5: Telekinesis, Telepathic Bond
6: Chain Lightning


Tara Ann Maclay


Arcanist (WIS) 11
Human Female, Lawful Good
hp: 42
MEP: 100
AC: 12 (locket of protection)/ 15 (when in physical contact with Willow)
Move: 30'

STR: 12 (0)
DEX: 9 (0)
CON: 12 (0)
INT: 16 (+2)
WIS: 18 (+3)
CHA: 16 (+2)

Languages: English, Latin, Greek* (picked this one up along the way)
Background: Historian +4 (+2 initial, improved at 5th, 10th level), Artist +2
Traits: Spellgifted (defensive), Polite
Skill: Knowledge (myth and legend)

Spells per Level

9/6/6/5/3/2
0: Blinding Flash, Detect evil, Detect magic, First Aid, Know Direction, Light, Purify Food & Drink, Message, Prestidigitation
1: Animal Friendship, Command, cure Light Wounds, Protection from Evil, Remove Fear, Shield of Faith
2: Aid, Darkness, Delay Poison, Hold Person, Lesser Restoration, Speak with Animals
3: Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Magic Circle against Evil, Remove curse, Spiritual Weapon
4: Dismissal, Restoration, Wall of Force
5: Dispel Evil, Scrying

I like how they turned out and am looking forward to trying out some of this flexibility.

Links for Amazing Adventures

http://www.trolllord.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=211
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/106153/Amazing-Adventures%21?affiliate_id=10748

Friday, November 9, 2012

Willow and Tara: Call of Cthulhu

I was talking with my good friend Dr. Lloyd from my days on the Kittenboard.  He was interested in my old RPG sessions of The Dragon and the Phoenix.  I updated him and he was thrilled.  He shared with me this idea he has had to run his own "Call of Cthulhu" game with Willow and Tara.
We talked back and forth for a while and this is what he came up with.

He came up with this "Uber" campaign. What is Uber you ask? Uber has it's roots in Xena fandom.
You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uberfic

Well where Xena and Gabriel go, Willow and Tara often follow.  This is some I have used in my games many times. It was a central feature in The Dark Druid, Heaven Bleeds, and This Blessed Plot.

And of course I am not the only the only one who does this.  There is an entire subsection of fandom that is dedicated to this.  You can see some of them on the "Uber Willow & Tara" site "Through the Looking Class".

Below is an "uber" version of Willow & Tara for the Call of Cthulhu RPG.  This one is set in the 1920s.  These would be the prior incarnations of the girls prior to their appearance in the 1980s (birth) to the present day.

The following was all created by Dr. Lloyd & Rebecca Ashling, enjoy!

When Buffy met Lovecraft

 This is a character build out for a BTVS campaign centering on Willow and Tara that is set in the 1920's world of HP Lovecraft.
There are two build outs for these characters.  One is the "Canon" one, where Buffy is the slayer abet 75 years earlier and everything is the same otherwise.  The other is the "Uber" campaign where Buffy is merely far too inquisitive young woman investigating the super natural.

Willow Rosenberg

Investigator Name: Willow Rosenberg
Occupation: Student/Witch
Colleges, Degrees: Sunnydale
Birthplace: Sunnydale, CA
Mental Disorders: Insecurity, Monomania, also Homosexuality was treated as one
Sex: Age: 20
STR: 8 DEX: 11 INT: 18 Idea: 90
CON: 11 APP: 14 POW: 22 Luck: 110
SIZ: 8 SAN: 110 EDU: 20 Know: 100
99-Cthulhu Mythos: 74 Damage Bonus: -1D4

Accounting 10% Anthropology 11% Archaeology 11%
Astronomy 46% Bargain 5% Biology 41%
Chemistry 46% Climb 40% Conceal 25%
Credit Rating 30% Cthulhu Mythos 25% Dodge 22%
Drive Auto 20% Electrical Repair 30% Fast Talk 25%
First Aid 40% Geology 21% Handgun 20%
Hide 10% History 50% Jump 25%
Law 20% Library Use 60% Listen 25%
Locksmith 1% Machine Gun 15% Martial Arts 1%
Mechanical Repair 20% Medicine 35% Natural History 30%
Navigate 10% Occult 40% Operate Hvy. Machine 1%
Other Language: Hebrew 36% Other Language: Latin 36% Persuade 25%
Pharmacy 26% Photography 10% Physics 56%
Psychoanalysis 16% Psychology 25% Ride 5%
Rifle 25% Shotgun 30% Sneak 30%
Spot Hidden 25% Submachine Gun 15% Swim 25%
Throw 25% Track 10% Fist/Punch 50%
Head Butt 10% Kick 25% Grapple 25%

Willow Rosenberg is a Jewish, Lesbian, Wiccan, and well educated young woman, which in 1920s America *any*of those qualifiers will drawn unwanted attention.  Her father ,Ira, is an investor in the shipping business, and her mother Shelia has a Masters degree in Sociology and is very active in local philanthropic and charitable women’s groups as well as supporting her husband in any business functions. Her father travels a good deal, and her mother is frequently involved in social work. As such this means Willow is almost always left to her own devices.

Her closest friend and companion growing up was the son of the housekeeper, Xander Harris.  They went to school together and while Shelia isn't too happy about their friendship, it makes her feel progressive that her Daughters best friend is a working class child.   Xander's father died of Influenza years before.  In many ways Xander is her "beard" to deflect unwanted questions about marriage.

Willow met Buffy in school in a similar way to "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and worked under the mentor ship of local antiquarian and librarian  Rupert Giles.   She met Tara and fell in love with her as a Freshman in college.  While their closest friends know about their relationship, almost no one outside that circle do and would be hostile if they did.

Having said this, two single women living together for the entirety of their lives itself would not raise any eyebrows even if it led to them both being termed spinsters.
In the uber campaign she and Tara have limited access to magic, and almost all of it is complex ritual magic.  However, because of the emotional, romantic, and spiritual connection between the girls, they are able to work as a Coven of 2.

 This means for the purposes of spells they can combine their POW and Magic points, and loose 50% less sanity from ritual magic when together.

In the "Canon" campaign they have a wider list of spells, and when holding hands use 50% less MP for a spell.

Tara Maclay

Investigator Name: Tara Maclay
Occupation: Student/Shop girl
Colleges, Degrees: Student in California college
Birthplace: Birmingham, Ala
Mental Disorders: Shy, beleaves she may be evil
Sex: F Age: 21
STR: 8 DEX: 12 INT: 15 Idea: 75
CON: 13 APP: 14 POW: 18 Luck: 90
SIZ: 9 SAN: 90 EDU: 19 Know: 95
99-Cthulhu Mythos: 99 Damage Bonus: none

Accounting 10% Anthropology 21% Archaeology 1%
Astronomy 26% Bargain 25% Biology 1%
Chemistry 41% Climb 40% Conceal 40%
Credit Rating 15% Cthulhu Mythos 0% Dodge 24%
Drive Auto 20% Electrical Repair 10% Fast Talk 5%
First Aid 50% Geology 1% Handgun 20%
Hide 50% History 35% Jump 25%
Law 5% Library Use 55% Listen 50%
Locksmith 1% Machine Gun 15% Martial Arts 1%
Mechanical Repair 20% Medicine 5% Natural History 20%
Navigate 10% Occult 50% Operate Hvy. Machine 1%
Persuade 15% Pharmacy 21% Photography 10%
Physics 1% Pilot: Read Latin 55% Psychoanalysis 1%
Psychology 40% Ride 5% Rifle 25%
Shotgun 30% Sneak 50% Spot Hidden 60%
Submachine Gun 15% Swim 25% Throw 25%
Track 10% Fist/Punch 50% Head Butt 10%
Kick 25% Grapple 25%

Tara Maclay is an independent young woman who is a student as well.  She lives far from her estranged family in Alabama, and lives on meager resources.  She works as a shop girl in a local book store and has a small inheritance from her dead mother that was ostensibly for her Hope chest.  Her stutter is more pronounced in this world, and her knowledge of occult even great that Willow's because of her family traditions.   She formerly was sure she was damned for her Witch tendencies, but has learned from Willow and Buffy that this is not the case.

To help set the structure of the campaign, here is a description of Buffy.


Buffy Summers

Investigator Name: Buffy Summers
Occupation: Slayer
Colleges, Degrees: Sunnydale HS
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Mental Disorders: None, but suspected
Sex: F&nbspAge: 20
STR: 21 DEX: 21 INT: 13 Idea: 65
CON: 20 APP: 15 POW: 16 Luck: 80
SIZ: 18 SAN: 80 EDU: 12 Know: 60
99-Cthulhu Mythos: 79 Damage Bonus: +1D6

Accounting 10% Anthropology 1% Archaeology 16%
Astronomy 1% Bargain 25% Biology 11%
Chemistry 1% Climb 65% Conceal 55%
Credit Rating 35% Cthulhu Mythos 20% Dodge 42%
Drive Auto 20% Electrical Repair 10% Fast Talk 50%
First Aid 40% Geology 1% Handgun 20%
Hide 45% History 20% Jump 55%
Law 15% Library Use 35% Listen 55%
Locksmith 1% Machine Gun 15% Martial Arts 66%
Mechanical Repair 20% Medicine 10% Natural History 10%
Navigate 10% Occult 35% Operate Hvy. Machine 1%
Persuade 35% Pharmacy 1% Photography 10%
Physics 1% Pilot: Detect Vampires 70% Psychoanalysis 1%
Psychology 35% Ride 15% Rifle 25%
Shotgun 30% Sneak 50% Spot Hidden 65%
Submachine Gun 15% Swim 50% Throw 65%
Track 60% Detect Undead 65% Fist/Punch 50%
Head Butt 10% Kick 25% Grapple 25%
Stake 65% Sword 55% Axe 55%

Buffy is the daughter of the  well off and often wooed widow Joyce Summers.  Her father was a well off Military officer  but died in the great war.  Her mother took the loss hard, and turned to spiritualism and mediums to deal with the loss.

In the "Uber" campaign Buffy tried to use the numerous magical paraphernalia her mother had to divine her future, and accidentally got a tiny glimpse of the horrors about us.
Her strength,  speed, and fighting skills are all within normal human parameters but are very high.  She was close to her father and he taught her some martial arts he learned in Philippines during the rebellion, and now she is determined to make the best of it.

In the "Canon" campaign the above is still true, but the trigger to her adventuring  was her watcher contacting her as in the show.

The Buffy in both of these worlds is far more fatalistic than the one in the show, she is aware that the cosmic deck is stacked against her and is not optimistic of her having a normal life.   There would be a feeling from her and the other Irregulars that the horrors of the Great War were part of a larger scheme to end the world by unknown forces.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Binders full of Women?

Yeah have that too.




And men, elves, dwarves, halflings, superheroes....but still mostly witches.



Friday, October 12, 2012

Willow & Tara: Slasher Flick

Willow & Tara for Slasher Flick

It's been a been a while since I stated up my favorite witches for a game.  While reading through Slasher Flick yesterday I could not help but think how well these two would work in a slasher flick like movie or game.

So I am going outside of the the Dragon and the Phoenix canon here and going back to when the girls where young.  Given the universe they don't have a lot of magic.  So this is a geekier, computer expert Willow and a quiet, but has a scary power Tara.  They end up being the Last Girls because our slasher is out cutting up all the male/female couples having sex, but doesn't know what to do about these two.   If Buffy is a slasher flick turned on it's head, then I am turning Buffy on it's head.

Or something like that.

Anyway here are my girls.  Just in time for Halloween. And look it's Friday the 12th. So, not at all like Friday the 13th.

Willow
Primary Character
Stereotype: Geek Girl/Computer Nerd

Brawn: Poor
Learned Fighter: Positive

Finesse: Normal

Brains: Good
Analyze Info: Positive
Computers: Positive
Occultism: Positive
Science: Positive

Spirit: Good
Attractive: Positive
Brave: Positive
Impatient: Negative
Prone to Anger: Negative

Special Ability: Versatile (Computers, Science)
Tidbits: In love with Tara
Items: Flashlight, Laptop


Tara
Primary Character
Stereotype: Quiet-Shy Girl/Psychic

Brawn: Normal

Finesse: Poor
Learned Fighter: Horse Riding

Brains: Good
Occultism: Positive
Perceptive: Positive
Psychology: Positive

Telekinesis: Positive

Spirit: Good
Attractive: Positive
Socially Awkward: Negative
Willpower: Positive

Special Ability: Psychic Power
Tidbits: In love with Willow
Items: book of magic lore

So they are last ones to survive the film.  They build some sort of trap with Willow's skill and they try to lead our killer into it. Of course he comes in the wrong way and it looks like he has the girls cornered, till Tara pushes him into the trap with her TK.  He dies a horrible death.....or does he!!?!?

My numbers are a little high in the above builds, but that is ok really.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Zatannurday: MachSabre Superwomen

One of my favorite artists is MachSabre, aka David Reynolds.

Long time readers here might recognize the name or at least his art.  David was one of the two Davids of the ShadowGirls fame and I have featured his art here many times.  I am doing that again today. Mostly because I like his art and Dave loves Supergirls.

So to celebrate the announcement that David is part of a new comic, Shadow of the Black Banshee, here are some of my favorite pieces, featuring of course Zatanna.


Zatanna by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Raven by ~MachSabre on deviantART


The Scarlet Witch by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Ms. Marvel vs. Power Girl by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Hawkgirl by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Kim Possible 02 by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Last Daughter of Atlantis by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Starfire by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Wonder Woman by ~MachSabre on deviantART


Wonder Spin by ~MachSabre on deviantART

This one of all the Batgirls was my desktop bitmap forever.

Chiropteras by ~MachSabre on deviantART

And of course you have all seen this one,


Commission - Tara and Willow by ~MachSabre on deviantART

But imagine my surprise when I found this one!


Willow and Tara Cuddling by =AstronSoul on deviantART

AstronSoul is just another fan like me that had D Rey make this.  I think it is cool.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

So Long City of Heroes

It has been announced that City of Heroes, the Supers MMORPG is closing up shop.

http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/news_archive/thank_you.php

I never played CoH, but I did playtest the RPG version that Eden was working on back in the day.
Of course I stated up some characters.


What can I say? This was at the height of my involvement with The Dragon and the Phoenix.
I have to admit I liked how these turned out.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Willow & Tara: World of Darkness (new)

Willow and Tara in Mage the Awakening

Following up on my post from earlier today on The World of Darkness RPG.

One of the reoccurring themes in Willow & Tara fiction or games is their shared growth of magical power.  As they grow together and grow more in love, their powers increase to a near phenomenal level.  Sort of like the powers wielded in Mage the Awakening.

Now in my last Buffy campaign, "Season of the Witch", I had Willow and Tara become "mages".  Not exactly what is here, but very close.  I would be lying though if I didn't say there was some influence. There was. You can read about that in the last three adventures of that game:
This is also a common theme in the various Willow & Tara fanfics out there. In fact one of the best Willow/Tara fan fics out there is “Unexpected Consequences” by Lisa Countryman.  Lisa even uses the word “mage” to describe their power level even though I know for a fact she has never seen any White Wolf game.  In Lisa’s “Unexpected Consequences” Tara’s Awakening happens too soon and it causes, well, all sorts of unexpected consequences.  It takes place during season six and is far, far better than what happened on TV.  In the sequel fic “Milestones” Lisa deals quite well with Willow and Tara’s true Awakening some 10-15 years in the future.  Not only does she capture 30-something Willow and Tara quite well, it is an excellent narrative of how an Awakening can happen or be done.  Willow and Tara knew it was coming, and yet they are still totally unprepared for it.  It also shows what an Awakening must be like through the eyes of a mundane or other non-awakened witches.

So as they grow old together Willow and Tara will get much more powerful.

Presented here are a possible Willow and Tara right after the events of Season of the Witch.  I am borrowing heavy from Lisa here as well as my own World of Darkness (old) stats.  This would have lead up to my Season 3 that would have been more magically focus. In fact these conversions lead right from my Mutants & Masterminds 2.0 conversions in terms of when they happened (game wise) and when I wrote them (real time).  It was because of these two games that gave me the idea to move the girls to Boston.

Their Awakening in Brief
Lisa and I both consider Willow and Tara to be “old souls”, they have both been reincarnated many times and have shared many lives together.  Our separate visions of this were so compatible that we meshed them.  I had considered their first incarnations to be “Bodhmal” (Willow) and “Liath” (Tara) from Celtic Ireland, Lisa’s are “Belen” (Tara) and “Damara” (Willow).  In either case Willow and Tara’s Awakening in Mage is a similar event to awakening their Old Soul in WitchCraft; contact with their primal soul-selves. In Mage Revised this would have been their avatar. In Mage the Awakening this is the primal spirit that instructs them on who they were, who they are now and what they are to become.  I choose them both to take the Path of Thyrsus.  While they are not really “shamans”, there is an earthy quality about Tara.  It was more for their seeking of their Primordial Soul-selves. Plus in Lisa’s fiction Willow and Tara’s awakenings was always about a surplus of life and life-power. In UC Tara becomes faster, stronger and more confident.  Something she tries to maintain later in MS. What also struck me was the description of the Thyrsus’ extreme emotions.  This also fits Lisa’s fictions.

Delving deeper into the “Tome of The Watchtowers” (which also inspired the name for Episode 13) we learn that Thyrsus was the only Watchtower formed by a woman. The sexual nimbus fits with sex=magic we saw on TV and Lisa’s description of Adourflame (Episode 11).

I could have chosen Acanthus as well since this communication with their previous souls is across time and space, but I did not feel either of them fit the “Fool” or extremely lucky archetypes.

Willow Rosenberg

Path: Thyrsus   Order: Mysterium

Virtue: Justice. Willow is very much about what is right and what is wrong.
Vice: Wrath.  Some people bring a gun a knife fit, Willow brings a flame thrower.

Attributes
Intelligence: 5 Strength: 1 Presence: 3
Wits: 3 Dexterity: 2 Manipulation: 2
Resolve: 3 Stamina: 3 Composure: 3


Skills
Mental Physical Social
Academics 4 Athletics 2 Animal Ken 0
Computer 5 Brawl 1 Empathy 1
Crafts 1 Drive 0 Expression 1
Investigation 2 Firearms 0 Intimidation 1
Medicine 2 Larceny 1 Persuasion 2
Occult 3 Stealth 1 Socialize 1
Politics 1 Survival 1 Streetwise 1
Science 4 Weaponry 1 Subterfuge 1


Merits
Allies
Ambidextrous
Encyclopaedic Knowledge
Language 2     
Striking looks 2
Size: 5
Speed: 8
Initiative Mod: 4
Defence: 2
Health: 8
Willpower: 6/6
Morality: 6



Mana: 9
Gnosis: 5
Wisdom: 8



Personal Data
Age: 27 (in 2008)
Ht: 5’3”
Wt: 115#
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Gender: Female


Arcana

Death: 0
Fate: 0
Forces: 3
Life: 2
Matter: 1
Mind: 2
Prime: 2
Space: 0
Spirit: 1
Time: 0




Tara Maclay

Path: Thyrsus   Order: Mysterium

Virtue: Temperance. Tara is nothing if not understanding and temperate
Vice: Sloth. She is not lazy, but she likes things to move a little slower. She does not enjoy fighting monsters.

Attributes
Intelligence: 3 Strength: 2 Presence: 3
Wits: 4 Dexterity: 1 Manipulation: 1
Resolve: 3 Stamina: 3 Composure: 4


Skills
Mental Physical Social
Academics 3 Athletics 0 Animal Ken 2
Computer 2 Brawl 1 Empathy 3
Crafts 1 Drive 1 Expression 0
Investigation 2 Firearms 0 Intimidation 0
Medicine 1 Larceny 0 Persuasion 0
Occult 5 Stealth Socialize 1
Politics 0 Survival 1 Streetwise 1
Science 1 Weaponry 1 Subterfuge 0


Merits
Allies
Encyclopaedic Knowledge
Language 3
Striking looks 2
Size: 5
Speed: 9
Initiative Mod: 4
Defence: 2
Health: 8
Willpower: 7/7
Morality: 8

Mana: 10
Gnosis: 4
Wisdom: 8

Arcana

Death: 0
Fate: 0
Forces: 2
Life: 3
Matter: 1
Mind: 2
Prime: 1
Space: 0
Spirit: 1
Time: 0


Personal Data
Age: 28 (in 2008)
Ht: 5’4”
Wt: 125#
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Gender: Female

Of all the re-builds I have done of the girls these are in my top 5.
If I were to pick-up playing these characters again I would seriously consider using the nWoD/Mage rules.

For Arcana I gave Willow 11 dots and Tara 10.  This actually might be a little light.
I would love to play around some more with this game some day, but I can't find people to play it.

---

This is my last post for the YAM Magazine LBGT Blogathon.  I wanted to end with Willow & Tara and using one of the most accepting RPG I have ever known.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Dark Druid

Something different today for the YAM Magazine LBGT Blogathon.  Today, not a character so much as characters  and an adventure.  I wanted to repost a link to the first ever Buffy adventure I ever wrote; updated to feature Willow & Tara more prominently.  Also updated with a new download link.
Originally posted here in 2010.


The Dark Druid: The Director's Cut



A bit of history.  Back in 2002 Eden was getting ready to release their newest game, The Buffy the Vampire Slayer game.  As you may know, I had already been playing a Willow/Tara focused WitchCraft game for about a year, so I was pretty excited by this.  Well I got asked by Eden to write the first Buffy adventure that would appear in "Games Unplugged" along with an interview with C.J. Carella talking about the game.

I took an idea I had been working on for my other game (tentatively called "All Soul's Night") and thus the Dark Druid was born.

I had been reading a ton of Irish myths then.  Among those were the stories of Fionn MacCumhaill ("Finn MacCool") and his foster mothers Bodhmal and Liath.  It occurred to me that Liath and Bodhmal were lovers, and to tie it more directly to my work in Buffy, they were reincarnated later on into the form of Willow and Tara.   Since that time anytime I read a story about Fionn MacCumhaill I can't help but read Bodhmal and Liath as lovers.

The original featured, rather prominently, Willow and Tara, as to be expected.  I had to make some changes to make it playable for others and to make it an "intro" or season opener type episode.  The plot dealt with an enemy from the Cast's past as a portent to greater evil in the future.  It was designed to be a opening episode of the season, but one that may or may not be directly related to the seasonal arc.  We were going to use this i n part of the great "Djinn" story, but that never happened.

Fast forward a few years and I was finishing up work on Ghosts of Albion and another adventure that sprang from "All Soul's Night" called "Blight" (which I have played at Gen Con before).  I felt it was time to bring back the Dark Druid and restore it to the mythology that I had created in my games.  Now you can have it too.  So it became a Prequel or an Episode 0 for my huge Willow & Tara series, The Dragon and the Phoenix.  This adventure and the Dragon adventures were designed to feature Willow and Tara.  My players were extremely pissed off at Tara being killed, so this was our way of getting our own way.

I updated it not only to fit better with my world-myths, and with some of the work I did on Ghosts of Albion and the adventure Blight.  In fact you can run Blight and The Dark Druid as co-adventures, separated by time.

The story is rather direct and linear.  This was partly due to the nature of the story and what is was supposed to do (introduce new players to the game) and part of just me writing for the Buffy game for the first time.  I have opted not to change that here, despite nearly 10 years of Cinematic Unisystem adventure writing since then.  It is supposed to be a quick, fun little adventure dealing with past lives.

The episode was well received and even has a bit on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffyverse_role-playing_games#Adventures

It was the first. The start of a series of adventures that led me personally down a crazy path.  It's hard to gauge the effect it has had, it was so fundamental.  From this point my writing increased maybe a 100 or 500 fold.  Hard to say really.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Willow and Tara Digital Comics

I don't read the Buffy comics. No desire really, and the world I had created with the RPG was far more interesting to me anyway. 

But when Amber Benson and Christopher Golden team up to write a Willow & Tara based comic, well how can I possibly say no?

This month Dark Horse re-released the two (well three, two stories in three books) Willow & Tara comics.  Wanna Blessed Be and Wilderness. 

You can get them here:



I enjoyed the heck out these and went ahead and bought them again in digital format.

I ran a Ghosts of Albion adventure loosely based on these, it seemed appropriate.  The adventure still needs some work, but I do like it.  And it has a pedigree. 

So here they are.  Thought you might like to check them out.

Now if someone would make a comic of the Dragon and the Phoenix I'd be thrilled to death! 

Sunday, May 27, 2012

More Free Downloads

In the interest of providing you, the reader of the Other Side, only the finest in gaming accessories I give you a couple more more character sheets I have used in the past.
These were designed for my "Willow & Tara RPG", which was a mix of Eden's Buffy, WitchCraft and Ghosts of Albion games.

The Character sheet is a one page deal.  The Journal is nine pages to track everything for your Unisystem character.


Monday, May 7, 2012

Willow and Tara: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

I am still playing around a bit with Marvel Heroic Roleplaying now that I have seen it out in the stores.  Saw a copy at my local Barnes & Nobel last night in fact.  I thought this might be appropriate for today.

"Willow and Tara" by David Reynolds

Willow and Tara in the Marvelverse
I have to admit, that anytime I think about the girls in a super hero universe I always think of it in terms of DC.  But the roleplaying and character development aspects of MHR are too good to ignore.
I have already done up my two DC go-to characters Zatanna and Justice with this system.  And I have stated up Willow and Tara in one other version of Cortex in the past.

For the girls in this universe I'll start with the assumptions that the events in my previous games, The Dragon and The Phoenix and Season of the Witch happened.  In fact even though this game was not part of the original plan it would work fine as part of the Generation HEX season I started and never finished.


Name: Willow
ID: Willow D. Rosenberg (public)
Age: 32 (2012)
Base of Operations: Boston, MA

Affiliations: Solo d8, Buddy d10, Team d6  (Willow in highschool was certainly more Team, but this is an older Willow)

Distinctions:
Bad Ass Wicca
Technophile
Quick to Anger

Power Sets
Sorcery d10
Magical Spells d10, Blast d10, Senses (magical) d10, Teleport d10, Telekinesis d10
Limit: Conscious Effort
SFX: Versatile
SFX: Area Attack

Anamchara d10  (Willow and Tara can combine their powers)
"I will always find you." (Telepathy) d8,  "I am you know...yours" (Combine) d10
Limit: Distance/focus
SFX: Multipower
SFX: Boost

Specialties 
Mystic d10
Tech d10
Cosmic d8
Science d8

Milestones
Magic
1xp You uncover some plot that is magical in nature.
3xp You discover some new magical tome or artifact.
10xp You defeat the main villain without magic.

Anger
1xp When you loose your temper
3xp When someone you are helping takes trauma
10 xp When your anger threatens the world, or saves it.

Willow in "Generation HEX" is one of the most power spell casters in the world.  But her own issues surrounding her anger still plague her.  She has turned to magic as a means of not just obtaining control over her situation, but of herself.  She is slowly getting there.


Name: Tara
ID: Tara A. Maclay (public)
Age: 33 (2012)
Base of Operations: Boston, MA

Affiliations: Solo d6, Buddy d10, Team d8  (Tara does best with Willow or in a group)

Distinctions:
Witchy Woman
Loyal
"Tara hide your magic" - Tara is a deep, quiet, well of magical power, but she has been told her whole life to hide it.

Power Sets
Sorcery d10
Magical Spells d10, Blast d8, Senses (magical) d10, Telekinesis d10
Limit: Conscious Effort
SFX: Versatile
SFX: Healing

Anamchara d10  (Willow and Tara can combine their powers)
"I will always find you." (Telepathy) d8,  "I am you know...yours" (Combine) d10
Limit: Distance/focus
SFX: Multipower
SFX: Boost

Specialties 
Mystic d10
Psych d10
Cosmic d8
Science d8

Milestones
Magic
1xp You uncover some plot that is magical in nature.
3xp You discover some new magical tome or artifact.
10xp You defeat the main villain without magic.

Soulmates
1xp When you or Willow are dragged into a problem together
3xp When someone uses you to get to Willow or visa-versa
10 xp When you have to work together after being apart to stop the threat

Tara is more self-actualized than Willow is.  She knows and accepts the dangers and responsibilities of her power.  What she is most afraid of is loosing Willow; either to death or darkness.   In my games the girls have seen many alternate realities, any reality without a Tara in it results in Willow turning evil and destroying things.

Willow and Tara have a lot of linked powers and milestones, as to be expected given their lives together.

To follow along with the Generation HEX plot ideas, they are living in Boston teaching at a school that has a lot of magical kids enrolled.  In my game they would of course know of Zatanna and I would still have to say they are not up to her power level on their own, combined though they could give Zee a run for her money. Not that they would mind you, Tara is a HUGE fan of Zatanna, I have this on authority.

Of course this would also be a good episode to have the girl visit the wilds of Canada and check out the Cave of Cool.


Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Willow and Tara: Doctor Who Adventures in Time & Space

I think it is an obvious conclusion, but if Willow and Tara had been characters during Russel T. Davies run of Doctor Who, they would have fared far, far better than they did on some other show.  Heck even under Steven  "Tipping the Scales" Moffat they would have been better off.

But that is the fantastic thing about RPGs.  They let us go places and do things we otherwise never could.

So what you have Willow and Tara been like as companions to the Doctor?

Willow, the Doctor, Tara and the Dodecahedron (my clock-face d12)
Well let's take them back a bit to when they were younger, maybe when Tara first showed up on the show.  Given that it is tempting then to use my WitchCraft RPG stats as a point of origin.  But there is an issue with that.  There is no magic really in the Doctor Who universe.  There are plenty of things that look like it and there are psychic abilities, but nothing like the magic I typically have the girls doing.  So for completeness sake I am going to look at stats I did about the same time the 10th Doctor was doing his thing. Something like my FudgeChill or Mutants and Masterminds stats. So maybe instead I'll go with their ages then.

So here is an idea.  Play up Willow's tech back ground a lot more.  She becomes, what is known in the game is a Boffin. Some one that can argue with the Doctor on tech and science. Sort of like what River Song can do now or how Romana was.   Tara is still shy and quiet, but she has a very good reason, she is psychic.  Like scary psychic. Makes for some great plots and gives me something weird and alien to work with, maybe even giving her some Carrionite ancestry.

I like it.

Willow Rosenberg (circa 2006)
Story Points: 12

Attributes
Awareness 2
Coordination 2
Ingenuity 6
Presence 3
Resolve 4
Strength 2

Skills
Athletics 1
Convince 1
Craft 2
Fighting 1
Knowledge 4
Marksman 0
Medicine 2
Science 4
Subterfuge 0
Survival 1
Technology 4
Transport 1

Traits
Ambidextrous (not in the book, but in my reality), Attractive, Boffin, Photographic Memory, Technically Adept, Insatiable Curiosity

Equipment
Laptop, Smart Phone (PDA Phone)

Home Tech Level: 5

Nationality: American
Profession: Software Engineer
Education: B.S. in Computer Science, 2003 University of California, Magna Cum Laude


Tara Maclay (circa 2006)
Story Points: 10 (2 points used)

Attributes
Awareness 4
Coordination 2
Ingenuity 4
Presence 2
Resolve 3
Strength 3

Skills
Athletics 1
Convince 0
Craft 1
Fighting 1
Knowledge 3
Marksman 0
Medicine 1
Science 2
Subterfuge 1
Survival 1
Technology 2
Transport 1

Traits
Attractive, Animal Friendship, Empathic, Psychic, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Code of Conduct, Eccentric

Equipment
Cellphone

Home Tech Level: 5

Nationality: American
Profession: Part time QMHP.
Education: B.A. in Art History, 2003 University of Southern California, Cum Laude,
M.A. in Psychology, Counseling emphasis, 2005 University of Southern California.

Looks good to me.  Now to see if they will ever run into Vastra and Jenny.